iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Two Washington D.C.-based automaker groups are slamming President Donald Trump's decision to launch an investigation into auto imports, which could lead to tariffs on foreign-made vehicles.



"To our knowledge, no one is asking for this protection. If these tariffs are imposed, consumers are going to take a big hit," said John Bozella, President of Global Automakers, a trade group representing foreign manufacturers doing business in the U.S. "This course of action will undermine the health and competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry."



The legal mechanism for the investigation "has rarely been used and traditionally has not focused on finished products," said Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman for Auto Alliance, a group that represents foreign automakers like Volkswagen and BMW in addition to U.S. manufacturers like GM and Ford.



"We are confident that vehicle imports do not pose a national security risk to the U.S.," Bergquist said.



Trump ordered the investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to restrict imports that threaten U.S. national security, including levying tariffs on foreign goods which excessively displace domestic goods or cause substantial unemployment.



"Big news coming soon for our great American Autoworkers. After many decades of losing your jobs to other countries, you have waited long enough," Trump tweeted in the hours before the announcement, which came amid reports that North American Free Trade Agreement talks between Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. have stalled over auto manufacturing rules.



According to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose agency will lead the investigation, "there is evidence suggesting that, for decades, imports from abroad have eroded our domestic auto industry."



According to the department, over the past two decades, passenger vehicle imports have grown from 32 percent of cars sold nationwide to 48 percent, while employment in motor vehicle production has declined.



Since he first appeared on the campaign trail, Trump has bemoaned the loss of auto manufacturing jobs, and promised in his State of the Union address to "get the Motor City revving its engines once again."



The investigation "will consider whether the decline of domestic automobile and automotive parts production threatens to weaken the internal economy of the United States," the Commerce Department said.



Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany an South Korea are among the biggest exporters of cars to the U.S.



But automakers' advocates argue that domestic production remains strong.



"Contrary to the assumption underlying the investigation on import vehicles, the U.S. auto industry is thriving," Bozella said.



"Last year, 13 domestic and international automakers manufactured nearly 12 million vehicles in the U.S. The auto sector remains the leading exporter of manufactured goods in our country," Bergquist said. "During the last 25 years, 15 new manufacturing plants have been launched in the U.S.  resulting in the creation of an additional 50,000 direct and 350,000 indirect auto jobs throughout America  and new plants are on the way."



"We urge the Administration to support policies that remove barriers to free trade and we will continue to work with them and provide input to achieve that goal," she said.



This isn't the administration's first foray into a Section 232 investigation.



In March, Trump used his Section 232 authority to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum  another hotly contested policy move.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Twenty-two Republicans have now signed onto a petition to force a freewheeling immigration debate in the House of Representatives, as Speaker Paul Ryan continues to warn that the rare procedural maneuver will not produce legislation President Donald Trump would sign into law.



GOP Reps. Tom Reed of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania signed the discharge petition on Thursday, and with just a few more GOP signatures needed, that inches Congress closer to an immigration floor fight as soon as next month.



Preferring not to team with Democrats on a DACA remedy, Ryan said he and his leadership team are trying to find that sweet spot on an alternate immigration package that would garner a majority vote behind only Republican ayes.



Were having a very productive conversation with our members, Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday. Obviously we dont think a discharge petition is a good idea. It will not produce a result that will make it into law, and so were having very constructive conversations with our members about how we can find consensus on a bill that could actually solve the problem and make it into law.



House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer also signed the petition, pushing the total to 213 signatures - just five short of the 218 needed to succeed.



If all 193 Democrats sign on, 25 Republicans would be needed to satisfy the threshold. Right now, two Texas Democrats, Reps. Filemon Vela and Vicente Gonzalez, have maintained they wont sign the petition, so in all likelihood, the effort needs five more Republican signatures to succeed.



If we go down this path or that path, meaning failed paths that are guaranteed no law gets made, its kinda an exercise in futility as far as Im concerned, Ryan said.



The House Republican Conference will meet June 7 for a special immigration meeting to plot out a course of action, as leaders strive to find elusive consensus on legislation that will receive a vote before June 25, when the discharge petition fully ripens.



In the case of the discharge petition, moderate Republicans and most Democrats are hoping to advance H.Res 744, bipartisan legislation introduced in March. The bill would allow the full House to debate as amendments a range of four competing DACA proposals, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlattes Securing Americas Future Act.



House Republican leaders have worked for months to advance the Goodlatte bill, but concede they are far short of 218 Republican votes needed to send it to the Senate.



Two more bills that would advance to the floor during the debate are the bipartisan Dream Act of 2017, introduced by Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., as well as the USA Act of 2018, fronted by Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. That bill is essentially comprised of the DREAM Act with an extra $25 billion added for border security.



Ryan would also be able to choose any other single piece of legislation to plug the fourth slot in the "Queen of the Hill" approach.



Under Queen of the Hill rules, if more than one alternative obtains a majority, the winner is the one that receives the greatest number of votes. It is unclear if any of the competing measures would garner a majority.



Despite Ryans pessimism, Pelosi believes the Queen of the Hill approach would at minimum produce a bipartisan product to send to the Senate.



Queen of Hill gives Congress a chance to work its will in the most generous way, Pelosi, D-Calif., said. Everybody will have their chance to vote on, whether it's Goodlatte, the Make America White Again bill, or it's pure DREAM Act, which would be ideal.



Ryan and the GOP leadership team have pressured rank and file Republicans to stay off the petition.



Now, they are threatening Committee assignments, support in campaigns, Pelosi observed. We hear all kinds of things that they are threatening Members if they do not abandon this. But we'll see. Let's see.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Cisco's Talos Intelligence Group revealed that new malware, which it dubbed VPNFilter, has infected at least 500,000 devices in 54 countries. The malware is said to target Linksys, Netgear, TP-Link, and MikroTik small and home office (SOHO) products as well as unidentified NAS devices. Activating the malware could render affected devices inoperable, which could, in turn, cut off hundreds of thousands of people's internet access.

VPNFilter is said to have steadily infected more and more devices since at least 2016. Cisco said the malware doesn't rely on any specific exploit--instead, it spreads by taking advantage of known vulnerabilities in each individual product. That's made possible at least partly because people neglect to update these devices' firmware, and because they're rarely covered by antivirus solutions and other consumer security tools.

Cisco said VPNFilter could be used for three major purposes: conducting attacks that are mistakenly attributed to the malware's victims; collecting information from devices connected to the affected products; and cutting off victims' access to the internet via the built-in "kill" command. None of these possibilities are particularly welcoming, but the last one, in particular, could be devastating if it's used on many devices.

Unfortunately, knowing about VPNFilter doesn't make it all that much easier to defend against it. Cisco explained in its blog post:

Defending against this threat is extremely difficult due to the nature of the affected devices. The majority of them are connected directly to the internet, with no security devices or services between them and the potential attackers. This challenge is augmented by the fact that most of the affected devices have publicly known vulnerabilities which are not convenient for the average user to patch. Additionally, most have no built-in anti-malware capabilities. These three facts together make this threat extremely hard to counter, resulting in extremely limited opportunities to interdict malware, remove vulnerabilities, or block threats.

It's important to note that Cisco published this report before it finished its research into VPNFilter. That's because the company detected a spike in the rate with which the malware was infecting new devices on May 8, with "almost all" of the newly infected devices being located in Ukraine. Another spike occurred on May 17. Cisco decided to reveal VPNFilter's existence before finishing its research because of these spikes.

A Big Problem Borne Of Many Small Ones

Remember that VPNFilter doesn't rely on new vulnerabilities in networking or NAS products. Instead, the malware spread by taking advantage of a bunch of known flaws that simply haven't been fixed, either because the product makers didn't fix them, or device owners didn't install them. The reason why doesn't matter--what matters is that VPNFilter provides another example of how small vulnerabilities can grow in importance.

This is why experts keep advising companies to stay on top of their products' security, telling consumers to stay up-to-date with security patches, and pleading with regulators to force action on these issues. VPNFilter poses a very real threat to hundreds of thousands of people, many of them in the already embattled Ukraine, and there isn't anything just one company will be able to do to address this threat. It takes a village.

Cisco said in its blog post:

While the threat to IoT devices is nothing new, the fact that these devices are being used by advanced nation-state actors to conduct cyber operations, which could potentially result in the destruction of the device, has greatly increased the urgency of dealing with this issue. We call on the entire security community to join us in aggressively countering this threat.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has disrupted the VPNFilter botnet revealed by Cisco's Talos Intelligence Group. After obtaining permission from Pennsylvania courts, the FBI seized a domain used by the botnet's command-and-control infrastructure, effectively crippling its ability to act on infected devices. Yet the Justice Department was careful to note that VPNFilter has been crippled, not slain outright.

Cisco said when it revealed VPNFilter that more than 500,000 devices in 54 countries--with a particular focus on Ukraine--had been compromised by the botnet. The malware targeted small and home office (SOHO) products from Linksys, Netgear, TP-Link, and MikroTik, as well as unidentified NAS devices. These products make particularly good targets because they're rarely protected by antivirus solutions and other security tools.

Targeting SOHO products and NAS devices also gives VPNFilter's operators plenty of options. Cisco said the malware could be used to collect information that passes through the infected devices, to conduct attacks that appeared to be conducted by their victims, and even to render the devices completely inoperable, which could in turn potentially disrupt the internet access of hundreds of thousands of people.

Cisco also said that it had noticed two spikes in VPNFilter activity in May (one on May 8, one on May 17) which is why the company decided to reveal the botnet's existence before finishing its research. It's no wonder, then, why the Justice Department announced that it was taking action to disrupt VPNFilter the same day it was revealed. VPNFilter isn't a potential problem; it's considered a real threat to national security.

Here's what the Justice Department said about its efforts to disrupt VPNFilter:

In order to identify infected devices and facilitate their remediation, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania applied for and obtained court orders, authorizing the FBI to seize a domain that is part of the malwares command-and-control infrastructure. This will redirect attempts by stage one of the malware to reinfect the device to an FBI-controlled server, which will capture the Internet Protocol (IP) address of infected devices, pursuant to legal process. A non-profit partner organization, The Shadowserver Foundation, will disseminate the IP addresses to those who can assist with remediating the VPNFilter botnet, including foreign CERTs and internet service providers (ISPs).

The Justice Department also advised anyone who owns SOHO or NAS products that may have been infected by VPNFilter to restart their devices. That should temporarily remove the second stage of the malware from the device, and even though the first stage will linger and attempt to reinstall the second stage, the FBI's seizure of the domain used by VPNFilter's command-and-control infrastructure should block those efforts.

VPNFilter Appears To Be The Work Of Russian Hackers

Cisco didn't attribute VPNFilter to any particular organization, but it did talk about what nation-state actors could do with the botnet, prompting fears that it was controlled by a government organization. The Justice Department went a step further and outright attributed VPNFilter to the Sofacy Group, which also goes by APT28, Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm, and other aliases and has been active since at least 2007.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security said in December 2016 that the Sofacy Group was connected to Russian intelligence services and government officials. Combine that with VPNFilter's apparent focus on Ukraine, where Russia currently holds a military presence, and the connection between this botnet and an organization with at least some loose ties to the Russian government becomes even clearer.

That doesn't mean other countries have nothing to fear from the botnet, however. Cisco said it had already found infected devices in 53 countries outside Ukraine, and the apparent targets (Linksys, Netgear, etc.) ship products around the world. Hence the Justice Department's swift response.
HTC released the first major software overhaul for the Vive Focus standalone VR headset. The new update includes several new features, such as smartphone integration, support for 6-DoF (degrees of freedom) controllers, and improved support for expandable storage.

The Vive Focus System Update 2.0 enables seamless integration with HTCs U12+ flagship phone, which allows you to receive messages, view notifications, and take calls without taking the headset off. The new update also allows you to stream content on the U12+ to the headset, such as videos or Android games.

The update also supports streaming game content from a host computer via a 5GHz WiFi connection. An optimized version of the Riftcat VRidge software is available on the Viveport M store, which supports the Vive Focus headset and allows you to play Viveport or SteamVR content with a Vive Focus headset. HTC said that you could use an Xbox or another third-party controller to interact with Steam content.

The headsets wand controller also gets a new driver, which upgrades it from a 3-DoF controller to a 6-DoF controller. The update uses the headsets cameras and a proprietary AI computer vision algorithm to track the movement of the controller with six degrees of motion, which enables you to interact with room-scale SteamVR games as you would with a tethered Vive headset, though the Vive Focus includes only one controller. The update also supports gesture recognition, and HTC released an SDK to help developers integrate gestures with their experiences.

The Focus now has improved storage options, like support for installing applications directly to a microSD card to expand storage capacity. HTC also partnered with Seagate to create a portable hard drive device called the VR Power Drive, which adds storage space and doubles as a battery backup that doubles the battery life of the Vive Focus headset.

HTC also introduced two new usage modes for the Vive Focus headset. Passenger Mode optimizes the headsets for use in a moving vehicle, offers improved battery life for video playback (four hours as opposed to three hours), and supports seated VR experiences. The software update also includes Surroundings Mode, which enables use of the passthrough cameras so that you can see the real world without taking the headset off.

The Vive Focus System Update 2.0 also sets the stage for HTCs global launch of its standalone VR headset. The Vive Focus store now supports purchases from international credit cards, which means that developers from around the world can use the headset for leisure now, not just development. HTC hasnt yet announced the North America release date for the Vive Focus, but the device should be available before the end of the year.
Its been less than two weeks since Volkswagen announced that it will skip the 2018 Paris Motor Show, and Lamborghini has now revealed that it will join its parent company in not setting up a booth at one of the worlds most important car shows. Volkswagen and Lambo are only two of many automakers that wont show up in Paris, including Ford, Infiniti Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, Subaru, and Volvo.

This isn't the first time when Lamborghini skipped Paris, though. The Italian firm also did it in 2016, alongside Bentley, Aston Martin, and Rolls-Royce

This isnt the first time when Lamborghini skipped Paris, though. The Italian firm also did it in 2016, alongside Bentley, Aston Martin, and Rolls-Royce. But while its not entirely surprising for carmakers to pass on certain auto shows, it has become a trend in recent years. Volvo, for instance, said that its planning to quit auto shows altogether and organize its own events for new car launches. In addition, BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz announced that they will skip the 2019 Detroit Auto Show and display new products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. CES occurs a few days earlier in January, and it has become a big event for new car technologies.

Are Auto Shows Dying?

Automakers are simply embracing the 21st century and the wonders of the widely available internet

While it may seem like it, theyre not. Automakers are simply embracing the 21st century and the wonders of the widely available internet. Back in the day, when there was no or limited access to internet, auto shows were a great place to show new cars and technologies to customers and the media. Now, high-speed internet enables companies to showcase their new models online, and some opt to do so rather than spend millions for a booth in Geneva, Paris, Detroit or New York. Auto shows will be there for decades to come; its the approach that will change.

Is the 2018 Paris Motor Show still worth it?

Definitely! While some automakers will skip the event, several have announced their attendance. The list includes major companies like Jaguar, Land Rover, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Audi, and Porsche. The event will also include cars from Peugeot, Kia, Hyundai, Citroen, Smart, Suzuki, Skoda, and Seat. As usual, it will also feature a number of concept cars, so its definitely worth it if youre planning on buying tickets.

References

Read more Lamborghini news.

Read more Paris Auto Show news.

Source: Car Magazine
The National Trust of Trinidad and Tobago says it has been approached, in view of its statut
The people debating the 2022 budget are supposed to represent us. They are from among us and
My opinion is a professional opinion but I give up. I'll also comment about the overuse of antibiotics. Prescribing them when they're not necessary drives the development of antibiotic resistant strains, such as MRSA. Now THAT'S something to be worried about!

I did emphasize that medical care may have been warranted. We don't know anything about the scratch. If it didn't get past the epidermis and there was no bleeding a trip to an MD was merely a precaution to settle nerves. That's OK. Prescribing unnecessary treatment is another matter.

I also speak from some experience. My daughter picked up some sort of intestinal virus during one trip to Costa Rica and when she told her US doctor were she'd been, he ordered a complete panel of tests for a bizarre array of tropical diseases. Most of the vectors don't exist in Central America.

Very few MDs in the US or Canada are totally unfamiliar about the risks of travel in many parts of the world. There are other people with advanced degrees that know more and my MD friends and relatives recognize that. Some doctors won't ever admit that their knowledge is limited, especially when they stopped reading medical journals long ago.
My sister and I are hoping to take my mother to CR for her 70th birthday in July. I'm trying to plan an itinerary and am looking for feedback.

Day 1 Arrive SJO (although LIR is an option as we haven't booked anything yet) rent a car and head to Poas Volcano. Is the hike here long? Steep?

Day 2 From there I'd like to hopefully do the volunteer homestay at Proyecto Asis.

Day 3 and 4 Next I'd like to stay at a hotel that does mud bath tours - looks like Guancaste area - any suggestions? I can't seem to figure out if there are hotels that do this or tours.

Day 5, 6, 7 Return car to Liberia and fly to the Caribbean side around Puerto Viejo or Cahuita. Heading there to enjoy the beaches and for the chocolate/culture tour and Jaguar Rescue Centre.

Day 7 or 8 Return to SJO for flight home

Does this itinerary seem reasonable/doable? Any other suggestions on what to do? Would it make sense to do it in reverse and start at Liberia, then mud baths, then Fortuna, etc.? Any suggestions on where to stay on the Caribbean coast? Hotel rooms with 3 beds are my preference. Any feedback is appreciated and welcomed! TIA
AT&L is headquartered in Hanoi with offices in HCMC, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. We used their Travel Vietnam affiliate to plan and execute our recent four-week visit to Vietnam.

The trip was a resounding success. Ms. Thanh Huyen of the Hanoi office was our trip coordinator, and she was a marvel! She took our bare-bones trip outline ideas and turned them into an extraordinarily interesting itinerary. During the planning phase, she responded immediately to our emails and suggestions. Her attention to detail was outstanding.

Upon our arrival in Hanoi, Ms. Huyen met us at our hotel to discuss details and gave us a map and a cell phone with her number and the numbers of all of our hotels programmed in. Then, during our visit, she checked in with us periodically to make sure everything was going well.

The activities which Ms. Huyen and AT&L included allowed us an extraordinarily detailed and fascinating look into Vietnamese culture, traditions and history.

AT&L executed perfectly in all aspects. Their transport vehicles were luxurious: a ten-passenger Ford van with all leather captain's chairs and a high-end Toyota SUV, Their drivers, especially Mr. Quyen in the Mekong Delta, were highly professional, reliable and always on-time.

And their guides were outstanding: Mr. Thien in Hue, Danang and the Marble Mountain; and Mr. Trong Vinh through the Mekong Delta. Vinh was a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge of Vietnam history and culture; it was a true pleasure to spend time with him.

I am sure one could find a larger, more expensive and perhaps better know travel agency through which to explore southeast Asia. But I can assure you that you will NOT find one which will do a better job for you, and at rates which we found to be quite reasonable. So, give them a shout at www.asiatravelandleisure.com.....you won't regret it!
From where we're from, we can fly to Liberia in 1 day or fly to San Jose in 2. Flying home they're both 2 days but no flights from San Jose when we would need to be leaving so thinking about heading back to Liberia to fly out as well.

We've been to Guanacaste twice, so understand a little the conditions of the roads and slow travel. It is completely unreasonable to think of traveling halfway from Liberia one day, staying somewhere neat along the way and then traveling the rest of the way to Cahuita the next day? I'm hoping maybe it'd be scenic and we could enjoy the national parks along the way?

Thoughts?

(trip will be 10 days in October)
- Highly contradictory rulings applied in near similar cases, and drawn from the same Penal Code, have left many questions unanswered

-A predictable pattern of the rich prevailing in barely every case against the poor has left Wanjiku feeling helpless and cheated

Recent court rulings have left Kenyans in limbo, with many wondering on how near similar cases can have such paradoxical conclusions.

Two different courts recently issued two extremely contradictory rulings in separate cases involving a man and a woman who had sex with minors.

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If public opinion on social media is anything to go by, many neutral observers felt increasingly dazed by the highly contarly nature of judgments being made in corridors of justice.

READ ALSO: Woman kidnapped, assaulted and dumped in Juja at mid-night after family fails to pay ransom

Amid highly punitive sentences for the poor, it is a wrist on the slap for the corrupt rich.

In the incompatible rulings on similar cases, there seems to be concurrence that inconsistency is the Judiciarys only consistent attribute.

Below, we take a look at some of the court rulings which have left tongues wagging so far in 2018.

READ ALSO: Kenyan woman sends internet to laughter, narrates how she got rid of hubby's mpango wa kando

1. Woman to serve 15 years for having sex with an adult-looking boy

A Kisumu court sentenced 24-year-old Judith Wandera to 15 years in prison for defiling a 15-year-old boy she said looked like an adult.

In her defense, Wandera had revealed to the court that the boy was a boda boda operator who had dreadlocks and who offered to buy her drinks when they first met in a drinking joint, factors she said convinced her he was a man over 18 years.

Yowh!!!! 15 Years??? Giving 15 years for this yet the looters walk free. Well Done Kenyan Judiciary! one Ashik Muhammad tweeted.

2. Man set free for defiling a 13-year-old girl who behaved like an adult

Judge Said Chitembwe said the minor enjoyed the repeated sexual escapades. Photro: Business Daily

On the same day in Malindi, a High Court judge set free a man, also 24 years old, who had been jailed for defiling an underage girl, arguing that the minor behaved like an adult and seemed to enjoy repeated sexual escapades with the accused.

In contrast to the Kisumu ruling, Justice Said Chitembwe ruled courts should consider the conduct of the complainant before passing judgment in such trials, as it plays a fundamental role in a defilement case.

He argued that if age and the carnal act were made the key ingredients in the conviction, then young girls would freely engage in sex and then report to the police whenever they disagreed with their boyfriends.

READ ALSO: Willis Raburu wa Citizen TV ampagawisha mkewe kwa mapenzi kocho kocho (picha)

3. Man sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing 155 rolls of bhang

On May 16, a drug peddler was jailed for life by a Mombasa court after being found in possession of 155 rolls of bhang worth KSh 23,250.

In a ruling that shocked the nation, the presiding magistrate argued that drug menace has caused more harm to young people and rendered them unproductive.

4. Pastor James Maina Nganga acquitted of causing death by dangerous driving

Earlier in May 2018, a Limuru court acquitted televangelist James Nganga and three others in a case in which the pastor was charged with killing a woman by dangerous driving three years ago.

Despite overwhelming evidence  and a whole 30 prosecution witnesses  strongly implicating the accused persons, Chief Magistrate Godfrey Odour ruled the prosecution had failed to prove its case against them.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Noordin Haji, has since appealed the ruling amid overwhelming national outcry that the late Mercy Njeri's family was denied justice.

5. Surveyor fined peanuts despite video evidence of him driving dangerously, killing

On February 26, a Nairobi court fined a surveyor who killed a university student as he dangerously drove on the wrong side of the road to avoid an alcoblow test, a meager Ksh 350,000 fine, failure to which he would be jailed for up to three years.

The ruling elicited public uproar, considering the overwhelming evidence - including Citizen TV footage of the incident  that was presented before the court against Job Wangila Wandera.

6. Twenty three suspected NYS looters set free without even defending themselves

On March 9, 2018, a Nairobi court acquitted a former Devolution PS and 22 other suspects accused of conspiracy to steal millions of shillings from the NYS without even placing them on their defense.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has since appealed the decision that infuriated the public and put the Judiciary on the spot.

7.Ex-PS and town clerk jailed for roles in KSh 283 million cemetery scandal

Former Local Government PS Sammy Kirui and ex-Nairobi town clerk John Gakuo were on Tuesday, May 15, jailed for three years each, and fined Sh1 million each for their roles in the KSh 283 million cemetery land scam.

Many Kenyans felt this was a highly lenient penalty in a proven case, given the harsh punishments meted on Wanjiku for comparatively minor crimes.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

High Court Judge Luka Kimaru orders for the release of Miguna Miguna - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
- Raila is known for his firm stand on matters corruption which has put him at loggerheads with previous governments

- The opposition chief has in the past unearthed some mega scandals in government

- His recent handshake with Uhuru has however made him go mute on various scandals especially the recent NYS heist

- A number of suspects who were summoned by DCI over the scandal admitted to have supplied nothing yet were paid

Irked by the heist at the now infamous National Youth Service (NYS), Kenyans have asked NASA leader Raila Odinga to forever hold his peace.

For the better part of Thursday, May 24, evening, the online community mocked Raila, who is known for his firm stand on matters corruption, over his unusually deafening silence over the latest KSh 9 billion scam.

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The opposition chief has in the past unearthed some mega scandals in government parastatals involving loss of millions of taxpayers money.

READ ALSO: Lupita ashindwa kujizuia, abebwa na jamaa ndani ya mkahawa; ni mpenziwe?

Irked by corruption heist at the now infamous National Youth Service (NYS), Kenyans asked NASA leader Raila Odinga to forever hold his peace. Photo: NASA/Facebook.

READ ALSO: 40 suspects lined up for grilling over alleged theft of Ksh 9 billion at NYS

Tweets came in fast and furious and majority taunted the NASA leader over his promise to deliver Kenyans from the bondage of wanton misdeeds and take them them to 'Canaan'.

"So far, River Jordan is full of crocodiles and then we noticed land of Canaan is still under ownership of the Kenyatta family. We need another strategy, that's why Baba (Raila) is silent trying to figure out how we can land there safe)sic),"Julius Mmasi said.

However, there were those who hailed Raila, saying Kenyans had the perfect opportunity to right the wrongs in the previous elections but still opted to vote into office the same faces.

"In 2013 after the SC(Supreme Court) unanimously upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as president, in his concession speech, I remember vividly Raila saying we should not weep for him but for ourselves and our children," said Ronald Odongo.

The ongoing probe, initiated by the DCI, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and other agencies in 2017 following new fraud allegations, has so far found at least 36 companies were used to steal money from the NYS.

A number of suspects who were summoned by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to shed light on the alleged multi-billion heist admitted they received millions of cash from the youth empowerment programme for supplying nothing.

Public Service and Youth Affairs Principal Secretary (PS) Lilian Omollo and the NYS Director General Richard Ndubai, both of who voluntarily stepped aside on Friday, May 18, to pave way for investigation, have also been lined up for questioning.

Although initial reports on the latest heist showed over KSh 10 billion had gone missing, the PS Omollo said the figure was exaggerated.

According to Omollo, only KSh 121 million, allegedly sent to the fictitious companies, was under investigation by the various agencies.

Thirty-year-old Ann Wambere Wanjiku Ngirita, one of the key suspects, confessed she did not tender to supply goods but all she needed was a node from unnamed NYS procurement officer.

Disturbing details indicated Wanjiku received KSh 60 million for supplying nothing.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

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Source: Tuko.co.ke
- Kevin Kilplimo, a Bondo University student, had his arm chopped off after a device exploded

- His brother was also left with leg fractures when a Fragmentation Rifle Grenade (FRG) exploded in the hut they were in

- Police could not determine where the two got the highly explosive and dangerous device

- The siblings were both admitted at Nyahururu County hospital

A university student lost his left arm and suffered multiple leg fractures in an explosion that also left his younger brother with multiple fractures in Kirima location, Laikipia West on Thursday, May 24, evening.

Kevin Kilplimo 23, a Bondo University student, was in a hut within their homestead with his brother, Albert Kirui 18, a student at Olmoran Secondary school, when the incident happened, police said.

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Their mother, Flora Chepleting, said she heard a loud explosion from the hut at around 4pm and rushed there, only to find both her sons with serious injuries and multiple fractures.

READ ALSO: Bearded woman cries out after she was forced to strip by police officers

In the hut was a Fragmentation Rifle Grenade (FRG).

Kiplimo suffered horrific injuries in the blast which tore off his left lower arm while his brother had multiple fractures on both legs.

Police and the victims mother said the missing arm was never found at the scene.

The two were rushed to Olmoran health centre before being transferred to Nyahururu County hospital for specialised treatment

Detectives who visited the scene found the shell of an FRG but the victims could not explain where they got it from.

READ ALSO: Lupita ashindwa kujizuia, abebwa na jamaa ndani ya mkahawa; ni mpenziwe?

The FRGs are very powerful and lethal grenades that explode on serious impact. They are usually mounted on rifles especially G3 rifles

Investigations were launched to establish where the victims got the powerful explosive from.

Detectives had however not recorded statements from the two siblings due to their state.

The incident came just two days after six armed Pokots shot and seriously injured a 14-year-old boy in Kahuho sub location.

John Kimani was on his way home from Olmoran trading centre when he met the armed men who on seeing him, shot him on the stomach.

He ran up to his home where he was then rushed to Olmoran health centre before being transferred to Nyahuru County hospital.

READ ALSO: Please forgive us, weve reformed - 2,500 prisoners plead with Uhuru

Elsewhere in Achers Post, Muslim Primary school pupils found a bomb while playing in the school compound.

The head teacher, Jamal Isaac, informed the police who visited the scene and established the bomb had remained buried for a long time.

Bomb experts from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) School of Combat Engineering Isiolo were called and exhumed it and later destroyed it. Nobody was injured.

Story by Lucky Omenda-Tuko correspondent

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Source: Tuko.co.ke
-West Pokot residents want their governor to sack his deputy who is missing in action

-The Deputy Governor has not been seen in the county since taking oath of office

-It is said he is a doctor working in the US and does not visit the county

-Governor Lonyangapuo has two weeks to replace his deputy or face the residents' wrath

West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo might be forced to fire his deputy governor following his prolonged absence which has elicited public outcry in the county.

Residents are up in arms over Nicholas Atudonyang's disappearance since he took oath as the DG accusing him of having fled the country in search of greener pastures.

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In a Facebook post by one Roby Roberts seen by TUKO.co.ke, on Friday, May 25, leaders under the Independent Pokot Leaders Forum (IPLF) complained that Atudonyang has been in the country for less than one month since he assumed office.

READ ALSO: How does a film on lesbianism help Kenyas economy? Ezekiel Mutua

Residents want West Pokot governor John Lonyangapuo to sack his deputy governor. Photo: John Lonyangapuo/ Facebook

The area residents asked Lonyangapuo to sack his assistant arguing he had abandoned the country for the last 8 months to work in the US.

The irked residents gave the county boss two weeks to sack and replace his deputy.

He must relinquish the position if he cant stay in Kenya and work for the Pokot. We have many challenges due to poor leadership .We have seen many referrals to Eldoret and shortage of drugs, said IPLF chairman Ezekiel Pyegoh.

READ ALSO: Kenya Police to compensate officers who pursue higher education and TUKO.co.ke has the details

Pyegoh warned if their demands were not met, they will collect signatures and institute proceedings for the DG's removal.

The forum divulged that, Atudonyang, who works as a neurosurgeon in Texas, left immediately he was sworn in after the August 2017 elections.

READ ALSO: Lingala Ya Yesu hitmaker Pitson flaunts pricey Range Rover, thanks God for blessings

The runaway DG also holds position for County Executive Member for health and has been blamed for what the county terms as worsening the state of the county health sector.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Socialite Bridget Achieng wants to be Kenya's next president. Tuko / Tuco - Kenya

Source: Breaking News
- Comedian Njugush told Kenyans the bitter truth about their electoral choices

- He called out Kenyans for getting angry after the fresh KSh 9 billion NYS scam

- Njugush called Kenyans pretenders who only complain yet vote in same people during elections

- The latest NYS scam forced angry Kenyans to organise a demonstration against corruption scandals

Celebrated Kenyan comedian Njugush threw a jibe at Kenyans over their furious reactions following the KSh 9 billion NYS scandal which has caused public outcry.

The comedian chided Kenyans for their poor choice in 2017 General Election which saw them vote in thieves.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

In the hilarious video seen by TUKO.co.ke, on Friday, May 25, Njugush scolded Kenyans telling them to continue venting.

READ ALSO: William Ruto calls for swift action on NYS, NCPB scandals

Several high ranking state officials were summoned to appear at the DCI offices for questioning

He lambasted Kenyans for their poor political decisions based on tribal affiliations.

READ ALSO: Again!14 dead in grisly Bungoma road accident involving PSV and cane tractor

This comes even as Kenyans are still smarting from reports concerning theft of KSh 9 billion belonging to the youth empowerment programme.

As reported by TUKO.co.ke, several National Youth Service (NYS) officials were on Sunday, May 20, suspended as probe into the alleged theft intensified.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service Lillian Omollo refuted the claims boldly stating it was impossible for the cash to disappear from NYS under her tenure.

READ ALSO: No money has been lost at NYS - Suspended PS Lilian Omollo

Listen to the hilarious video below:

Several individuals including high ranking state officials were summoned for questioning by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DIC) over the saga.

Outraged Kenyans went on to organise a demonstration in Nairobi to protest the ongoing corruption scandals in the country.

Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Small business Ideas for Kenyans with low investment - On Tuko TV

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On Sunday, the Ministry of Health reported that the country had recorded seven more cases of
Militants launched 36 attacks on positions of Ukrainian troops in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in Donbas over the past day.

This is reported by the press center of the JFO Headquarters.

"Over the past day, Russian-occupation forces violated the ceasefire regime 36 times, firing mortars and artillery on Ukrainian positions 12 times," the report reads.

As noted, the most active military operations took place near Luhanske (59km north-east of Donetsk), Zaitseve (67km north-north-east of Donetsk), Novoluhanske (53km north-east of Donetsk), Novoselivka (66km south of Donetsk), Novotroitske (32km south of Donetsk), Bohdanivka (41km south-west of Donetsk), Hranitne (57km south of Donetsk) and Chermalyk (31km north-east of Mariupol).

The invaders continue to violate the norms of the international humanitarian law. Yesterday morning, they opened fire from 152mm guns and 120mm mortars on the town of Toretsk (43km north of Donetsk).

At 4:45, the enemy insidiously fired 152mm guns on the village of Stara Mykolayivka from the residential quarters of Horlivka.

According to intelligence, four militants were killed and five more were wounded in last day.

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The U.S. House of Representatives has approved the allocation of $250 million in security assistance to Ukraine within the framework of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.

The act was adopted on Thursday, the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States reports.

"The sum, which is proposed to be allocated [as part of the defense act] to assist Ukraine in security field, including by provision of defensive weapons, is set at $250 million, which is $100 million more than the House of Representatives proposed to allocate in 2018 fiscal year," the statement reads.

It is noted that the act includes the main provisions of the draft law on cybersecurity cooperation with Ukraine. In particular, they stipulate the assistance to Ukraine in strengthening its capabilities to protect itself against cyber attacks, ensuring security of computer networks of public authorities, reducing dependence on Russian information and communication technologies, promoting participation in information exchange programs.

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Ukrainian intelligence observes an active concentration of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine, which may testify to the preparation for large-scale provocations and offensive actions.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov said this during a meeting with military commandment and heads of security forces in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area, the NSDCs press service reported.

"Turchynov reported that Ukrainian intelligence observed an active concentration of Russian troops in the immediate vicinity to the Ukrainian-Russian border, which testifies to the preparation of Russian military and political leadership for large-scale provocations and offensive actions that can be unleashed at any time," the report reads.

At the same time, the NSDCs secretary noted that "the Ukrainian soldiers are ready to firmly respond to any provocations by the Russian occupying troops."

According to Turchynov, the largest amount of shellings in half-a-year period has been conducted during the last week; not only positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine but also populated areas have been massively shelled.

"Artillery, tanks, multiple-launch rocket systems, prohibited by the Minsk agreements, are used," he said.
Ukraines economy will manage to reach its pre-crisis level in 2021 if the GDP grows by 3-4% annually.

First Vice Prime Minister  Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv said this at the meeting of the National Investment Council, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The forecast for Ukrainian economy growth for 2018-2019 remains positive. According to the government's estimates, GDP will grow by 3% in 2018 and by 3.6% in 2019 ... We will restore the pre-crisis state of the economy in 2021 if such a growth rate is maintained," Kubiv said.

According to him, powerful and tangible result requires the GDP growth of 5-7%.

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has held a meeting with President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti.

This was reported by the press service of the head of state on Thursday, May 24.

"We have a great history of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. The Beskyd tunnel has been opened  it is the largest infrastructure project in Ukraine, implemented with the help of international partners, including the EBRD. I am sure that every year we can jointly implement a number of major projects in different spheres," the Ukrainian president said.

The parties discussed the state and prospects of Ukraine-EBRD partnership development. The head of state called on the president of the EBRD to double the funding of the projects and expand the scope of their implementation in Ukraine.

The presidents paid special attention to the implementation of reforms in the banking, energy and energy efficiency sectors.

The interlocutors noted that the meeting of the National Investment Council to be held on May 25 should be an important event for presenting the results of the reforms to foreign investors and attracting investments for Ukraine's economic development.

The president of the EBRD expressed willingness to continue supporting Ukraine on the way of implementation of structural reforms in the economy.
The United States has welcomed the publication of the findings by the Joint Investigation Commission (JIT), which established the involvement of the Russian military in the crash of Flight MH17.

Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Heather Nauert said this in an official statement published on Thursday, May 24.

"The United States has complete confidence in the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) as presented today by the Dutch Public Prosecutor: the missile launcher was used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 originated from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Brigade of the Russian Federation, stationed in Kursk," the statement reads.

As noted, these findings "confirm and add detail to what we have said from the earliest days of this tragedy: MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia and Russia-led forces."

In this regard, the U.S. recalled the UN Security Councils demand that those responsible  be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability.

"We call upon Russia, in particular, to respect and adhere to UN Security Council Resolution 2166 (2014). It is time for Russia to cease its lies and account for its role in the shoot down," the U.S. Department of State stressed.

The spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State expressed confidence in the ability of the Dutch criminal justice system to prosecute those responsible in a manner that is fair and just.

"We again extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims and call for justice on behalf of the 298 innocent civilians who lost their lives on that day," the U.S. Department of State said.
Ukraine and Romania plan to sign a protocol of mutual understanding, which will consolidate positions on the implementation of the language article of the Ukrainian law on education.

Ukrainian Minister of Education and Science Lilia Hrynevych and Romanian Minister of National Education Valentin Popa discussed this during a meeting held in Paris on Thursday, the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science reported.

"The Law "On Education" includes European values in the national education system, in particular provisions allowing national minorities to study their language in the minority language. At the same time, the law ensures the role of the state language as a tool of social unity and integrity. Our goal is to provide all Ukrainian students with equal opportunities. The law corrects the current discriminatory situation, when children of a national minority have a very low level of knowledge of the Ukrainian language. This means that they do not have access to further education in Ukraine, as well as access to work and basic social services throughout the country. They will either move abroad or remain closed in their communities," Hrynevych said.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed strengthening of cooperation between the countries in the field of digital education development.

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Ukraine is holding a full-fledged dialogue with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Vice Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko said this during a Government Question Hour meeting on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"In our talks with the International Monetary Fund, there is no place for blackmail, ultimatums, threats to Ukraine. It's a normal, full-fledged dialogue. Our main goal is to improve living standards for Ukrainians. And of course, cooperation with international organizations is aimed not only at obtaining funds, said Rozenko.

He noted that any government decisions are made in favor of Ukrainians.

As reported, the key IMF requirements for Ukraine are the creation of an anti-corruption court and the revision of gas prices for population.

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Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says that Russia should explain its involvement in downing Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was proven by the Joint Investigation Team.

This is reported by the press service of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia.

The Joint Investigation Team, which also [apart from Australia] includes member nations - Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine - has concluded that the BUK missile system that was used to down MH17, belonged to the Russian Federations 53rd Anti-Aircraft Military Brigade That a sophisticated weapon belonging to the Russian Army was dispatched and used to shoot down a civilian aircraft should be of grave international concern. We are discussing these findings with our partners and considering our options, the minister stated.

According to Bishop, Australia has full confidence in the independence of the JIT and in its thorough investigation.

Australia and our JIT partners are united in pursuing justice for those who lost their lives  and to hold to account those responsible for this atrocious act, Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop stressed.

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Australia and the Netherlands say they are holding Russia responsible for downing a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014.

"On the basis of the [joint international team's] conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17," Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok said, BBC reports.

According to him, the government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable.

On the Australian side, Ms Bishop wrote: "The only conclusion we can reasonably now draw is that Russia was directly involved in the downing of MH17."

Australia and the Netherlands have asked Russia to enter talks as a first step, but held out the prospect of taking the case to an international court.

The Boeing-777 passenger airplane owned by Malaysia Airlines, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down by Russian-backed militants in Donbas in July 2014. There were 283 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board the plane, and all of them died.

May 24, the Joint Investigative Team reported that MH17 flight had been shot down over the occupied territory of Donbas on July 17, 2014 by the Buk anti-aircraft missile system originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade from Kursk, the Russian Federation.

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Russia must immediately respond to the charges brought against it by the Joint Investigation Commission (JIT), which is investigating the tragic crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

Foreign Minister of Canada Chrystia Freeland said this in the statement on the MH17 investigation.

"The JIT investigation concluded that the missile used to bring down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 came from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, based near Kursk, Russia. We call on Russia to urgently address these conclusions and to cooperate fully with the JIT," Freeland said.

Canada continues to urge other countries to defend a rules-based international order in which those responsible for the downing of Flight MH17 are held accountable for their actions in line with international standards. This is consistent with the call for accountability and cooperation unanimously adopted in UN Security Council Resolution 2166. We must continue to demand justice for victims and their families, including a Canadian citizen who perished in this horrible attack, the minister stressed.
The memorandum will be submitted to the International Court of Justice on June 12.

Ukraine will add the fact of the delivery of the Russian-made Buk missile system to Donbas, which shot down Malaysia's MH17, to a memorandum on the financing by Russia of terrorism.

"The fact that everybody knew why Russia used its veto at the UN Security Council in 2015 and blocked the creation of a tribunal to investigate the circumstances of the crash of the MH17 flight has been proven today," Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for European Integration Olena Zerkal said on Facebook after a report by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on MH17. "But even such a bold move cannot let individuals involved in the downing the plane and the state that supplied such a powerful weapon escape responsibility."

The memorandum will be submitted to the International Court of Justice on June 12.

"The transportation by the 53rd anti-aircraft brigade of the Russian Federation's Armed Forces of the Buk used to shoot down MH17 is direct evidence of Russia's supply of weapons used to down a civilian aircraft, a violation of the 1971 Montreal Convention and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism," she said.

Read alsoInvestigators say identify Russian military unit in MH17 downing  Reuters

Zerkal recalled that it was decided in 2017 that the court of the Netherlands would consider a criminal case against persons involved in the downing of MH17. Ukraine concluded a respective agreement with the Netherlands. "The [Ukrainian] government has carried out all the necessary procedures and submitted proposals to the president to ratify the agreement and amend legislation for its implementation," she said.

The diplomat also noted that the JIT "has brilliantly been conducting a highly complex investigation without access to the crime scene and most of the witnesses."

"We are all aware that under such conditions it is impossible to carry out an investigation quickly, but we are sure of an independent and professional investigation," she wrote, stressing that "the perpetrators, accomplices and those who ordered the crime will be tried in the Kingdom of the Netherlands."
Nauert stressed the U.S. remains confident in the ability of the Dutch criminal justice system to prosecute those responsible in a manner that is fair and just.

The U.S. State Department has said Russia must be held accountable for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in July 2014.

"The United States has complete confidence in the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) as presented today by the Dutch Public Prosecutor: the missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 originated from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Brigade of the Russian Federation, stationed in Kursk," Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Heather Nauert said in a press statement on May 24.

"Today's announcement confirms and adds detail to what we have said from the earliest days of this tragedy: MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia and Russia-led forces," reads the report.

Read alsoFact of delivery of Buk to Donbas to be added to Ukraine's memo on Russia's financing of terrorism

"We recall the UN Security Council's demand that 'those responsible be held to account and that all States cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability.' We call upon Russia, in particular, to respect and adhere to UN Security Council Resolution 2166 (2014). It is time for Russia to cease its lies and account for its role in the shoot down," Nauert said.

She also stressed the U.S. remains confident in the ability of the Dutch criminal justice system to prosecute those responsible in a manner that is fair and just.

"We again extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims and call for justice on behalf of the 298 innocent civilians who lost their lives on that day," Nauert added.

UNIAN memo. All 298 people on board flight MH17 were killed when it was struck by a missile on July 17, 2014, and crashed into fields in the part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia's proxy forces. Two-thirds of the passengers on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were Dutch.

The Joint Investigation Team's preliminary report concluded that the plane was shot down by a BUK missile "controlled by pro-Russian fighters". It was also established that the Buk launcher had been brought from Russia and then hastily taken back.

The JIT conclusions have been disputed by Russia claiming that it was the Ukrainian forces who were responsible for the plane's downing.

Prosecutors investigating the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 said on Thursday they had identified the missile used to shoot down the plane as coming from Russia's armed forces.
In 2018, some $200 million was allocated to Ukraine for military assistance, including armament.

The House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress on Thursday, May 24, approved the allocation of $250 million in 2019 to provide Ukraine with military assistance, including the supply of defensive weapons.

Read alsoUkraine conducts first Javelin launches (Video)

The relevant article was included in the adopted bill on financing and policy of the U.S. Department of Defense for the next year, the Embassy of Ukraine in the USA wrote on Facebook.

In particular, according to the explanatory materials, the project proposes to finance the president's request [Donald Trump's] on Ukraine, including $250 million for lethal weapons.

A similar item of expenditure has already been envisaged in the law on financing and policy of the U.S. Department of Defense in the last few years. In 2018, $200 million was allocated to Ukraine for military assistance, including armament.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine successfully conducted first launches of U.S.-made Javelin antitank missile systems at a military training ground on May 22.
A number of commercial structures in Kyiv and Odesa illegally sold air tickets from Russian cities to the Simferopol airport and back on flights of Russian airlines.

Members of the Ukrainian SBU Security Service in Odesa region together with the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the National Police have blocked the illegal sale of air tickets for flights from Russia to temporarily annexed Crimea.

"A number of commercial structures in Kyiv and Odesa illegally sold air tickets from Russian cities to the Simferopol airport and back on flights of Russian airlines, including those placed on the sanctions list of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC)," the SBU reported.

Read alsoUkraine imposes sanctions against oligarch Kurchenko, Gazprom CEO Miller

Law enforcers opened criminal proceedings under Part 2 Article 332 (illegal transfer of persons across the state border of Ukraine), Part 2 Article 332-1 (violation of the order of entry to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and departure from it), and Article 334 (the moment of acquisition of the property right under the contract) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As UNIAN reported, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on May 2 decided to impose sanctions against legal entities and individuals related to Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The sanctions were introduced at the initiative of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the SBU Security Service of Ukraine, and the National Bank of Ukraine for three years, or indefinitely in respect of individuals and legal entities involved in Russian aggression against Ukraine. The sanctions are also applicable to those who were engaged in preparing and holding illegal presidential elections in the Russian-occupied Crimea, as well as to members of the Russian occupying administration in Crimea, fighters of the Russian armed formations in the occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Sanctioned are also those who are involved in information and cyber attacks on Ukraine, in illegal actions against Ukrainian citizens who are illegally kept in Russia; as well as members of the Russian State Duma and members of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, and others.

On May 18, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the relevant decree to enact the NSDC's decision.
The ministry said the serial number on the missile engine clearly indicates that it was made in the Soviet Union in 1986.

The Russian Defense Ministry has said the serial number of the missile indicates that it was made in the Soviet Union.

Read alsoRussia must be held accountable for MH17 downing  U.S. State Department

"The serial number on the missile engine clearly indicates that it was made in the Soviet Union in 1986. At the same time, the warranty period of this type of anti-aircraft missiles is 15 years," the ministry said, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

As UNIAN reported earlier, prosecutors investigating the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 said on Thursday they had identified the missile used to shoot down the plane as coming from Russia's armed forces.

On May 25, Australia and the Netherlands formally accused Russia of being responsible for downing a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet in 2014.
The president also expressed his belief that the final version of the law will be agreed with foreign partners.

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, will vote for the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court next week.

"It is very important that we decided to create the anti-corruption court," he said at the session of the National Investment Council, the president's press service reported.

The president expressed willingness to sign this law. He recalled that the process of creating the anti-corruption court had been blocked by the registration of the bill in the parliament, which hadn't allowed him, as the president, to submit his version. "This process has been blocked for a year and only in late December, when the parliament managed to revoke it, the presidential bill was registered immediately the next day," he said.

Read alsoUkraine's Poroshenko: we've listened to foreign partners on corruption law  media

Poroshenko noted that his bill on the creation of the anti-corruption court was supported by almost a constitutional majority. At the same time, the president stressed that the deputies submitted 2,000 amendments to this project. "On Wednesday, the Verkhovna Rada began its consideration. It worked two days and 1,200 amendments to the presidential bill were rejected," he said.

The president stressed that the consideration of the bill in the second reading is continued. "And I hope that a historic moment will take place next week when the Verkhovna Rada will be able to adopt this bill as a whole," he said.

"Of course, I emphasize that 2,000 amendments do not contribute to objective consideration, people's deputies slow down the process. But I want to emphasize that my political will is to make a decision on this new institution. This new judicial institution must be established," Poroshenko emphasized.

The president also expressed his belief that the final version of the law will be agreed with foreign partners.

"We have to find enough strength and MPs have to support the bill. In June, Ukraine has to vote and I have to sign this important bill," he said.

Poroshenko also stressed that the given law was not important for the IMF or the Ukrainian international partners: "First and foremost, it is important for Ukraine, for the confidence we gained in the world."
Lozhkin stressed that the World Jewish Congress in the person of its president Ronald Lauder is ready to support the Ukrainian Jewish community internationally.

Businessman Borys Lozhkin was elected the president of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine.

He informed about this on his personal Facebook page. The former head of the confederation, Boris Fuksmann, became the honorary president of the organization.

"A detailed work plan for the confederation will be approved in the course of the following meetings. In the meantime, I can say that we will focus on combating antisemitism, as well as on the support for Ukrainian Jewish community both in Ukraine and abroad, on supporting the independence of the State of Israel and keeping the memory of the Holocaust", Lozhkin said.

The Jewish Confederation of Ukraine was established in 1999 by the country's largest Jewish organizations. The tasks of the confederation include protection of the interests of the Ukrainian Jewish community both on the country level and internationally, on charitable aid for the most vulnerable groups of the Jewish community of Ukraine, and on promoting Jewish culture in Ukraine. The main projects are the reconstruction of the Kyiv synagogue in Podil, the creation and support of a compact home for the elderly Jews, an educational center and a recreation center.

"I want to emphasize that the activities of the confederation will be out of politics. In addition, we are not and do not strive to be a lobbyist organization", Lozhkin stated.

He also stressed that the World Jewish Congress in the person of its president Ronald Lauder is ready to support the Ukrainian Jewish community internationally. "Mr. Lauder fully supported us in striving to strengthen the representation of the Jewish community of Ukraine in the international arena", he said.

Borys Lozhkin is a Ukrainian businessman, investor. A founder of UMH Group  Ukrainian media holding, which after twenty years of operation had become one of the largest media holdings of Eastern Europe. After the successful sale of the group, Lozhkin served as the Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine for two years, and afterwards returned to business. Now he owns the investment company "Samaan Capital" together with Andrei Pivovarsky.
During the 12-day visit, Melzer will meet relevant authorities and human rights institutions, as well as civil society organizations, victims of torture and their families.

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment will visit Ukraine to assess the situation and developments related to the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment in the country.

The Special Rapporteur, Nils Melzer, will visit the country from May 28 to June 8, 2018, at the invitation of the Government, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has reported.

Read alsoOHCHR report: Hostages released from detention in Donbas subjected to torture

"I look forward to engaging with the Ukrainian Government on challenges arising with a view to preventing torture and ill-treatment, promoting accountability for violations, and fulfilling victims' right to redress, in particular in the larger context of the crisis which broke out in early 2014," said the independent expert.

During the 12-day visit, Melzer will meet relevant authorities and human rights institutions, as well as civil society organizations, victims of torture and their families. The special rapporteur will also conduct visits to places of detention such as police stations, pre-trial facilities and prisons. In eastern Ukraine, Melzer will visit cities under the control of armed groups.

Melzer will present his final report on the visit to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2019.
There is no official information from the Kremlin if Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov remains Russia's envoy to the talks.

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker says that UN peacekeepers should replace Russian troops in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.

"I think the most important message for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is that Europeans want to see peace in Ukraine. They want to see the territory of Ukraine restored. And they want to see the implementation of the Minsk agreements," he said via teleconference hosted by The Brussels Hub, Belgium. "And this is all in Russia's hands. We need Russia to implement these things."

In his words, the decision to change Russia's behavior depends on Putin.

Read alsoVolker: Even Russian-speaking residents say Donbas needs to be returned to Ukraine

"And this is important for President Putin as well. If he wants to reestablish a strong relationship with Europe, if he wants to see sanctions lifted that have been put in place because of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, he needs to act to solve the conflict," Volker said.

The support of the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission to Donbas is significant in Europe, he said.

"There's a great deal of support across Europe for the deployment of a UN mandated peacekeeping force and if President Putin would seriously agree to such a force, not just a protection force on the line of conflict to protect monitors, but a genuine peacekeeping force, I think we could see some significant progress. I think that's the key message for President Putin," Volker said.

However, he said he had no official information from the Kremlin if Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov remains Russia's envoy to the negotiations on Ukraine.

"That it's clear that Russia needs to make a fundamental decision to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, to remove its forces, and if it would allow for a UN-mandated peacekeeping force to replace it, I think that's the best hope we have. So we'll do everything we can to keep the channels of dialogue open," Volker said.
According to intelligence data, the enemy suffered losses: four militants were killed, while five others were wounded.

Russian-led forces mounted 36 attacks on Ukrainian troops in Donbas in the past day, using artillery systems and mortars 12 times.

"Hostilities were most active near the villages of Luhanske, Zaitseve, Novoluhanske, Novoselivka, Novotroyitske, Bohdanivka, Hranitne and Chermalyk," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on May 25, 2018.

Read alsoUN peacekeepers should replace Russian troops in Donbas  Volker

The occupiers continue to violate the norms of the International Humanitarian Law. Yesterday morning, they shelled the town of Toretsk, using 152mm artillery systems and 120mm mortars.

At 04:45 Kyiv time, the enemy started firing 152mm artillery systems at the village of Stara Mykolaivka from residential quarters of the town of Horlivka.

According to intelligence data, the enemy suffered losses: four militants were killed, while five others were wounded.
Yevhen Lystopad left his boss in 2015, fled from the 'DPR,' received an amnesty and defends Ukraine for two years, the journalist said.

Ukrainian TSN journalist Andriy Tsaplienko has said Yevhen Lystopad, former guard of one of the militant leaders, a Russian citizen Arseniy Pavlov aka "Motorola," who was killed in Donetsk on October 16, 2016, is fighting for the Ukrainian army near the town of Horlivka.

Read alsoAnother commander of Russian-led fighters killed in Donbas

"I did not expect to meet the former guard of 'Motorola' in the Ukrainian trenches near Horlivka. Yevhen Lystopad left his boss in 2015, fled from the 'DPR,' received an amnesty and defends Ukraine for two years. Yevhen is convinced that it's time to advance, but not to storm the occupied towns, rather to surround them. The Ukrainian army needs an order and a little time to encircle Horlivka," the journalist wrote on Facebook.

As UNIAN reported earlier, one of the militant leaders, a Russian citizen Arsen Pavlov aka "Motorola" was blown up in the elevator in Donetsk on October 16, 2016. The self-proclaimed leader of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" Alexander Zakharchenko accused Kyiv in terminating Arseniy Pavlov, calling it a "declaration of war."
Russia had so far failed to cooperate "at all" with the criminal investigation into the incident.

Russia should pay compensation to the families of the 38 Australians killed by the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, according to Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Ms. Bishop said the families of victims want to see Russia held to account.

"They want to see closure but they also deserve justice and we will be seeking reparations for the atrocities caused by this conduct," Ms. Bishop said, as reported by ABC News.

"We hold it responsible under international law for its role in the bringing down of MH17."

Read alsoRussian GRU officer involved in delivery of Buk to Donbas  CIT

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the Netherlands and Australia had "asked Russia to enter into talks aimed at finding a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing of MH17".

He said Russia had so far failed to cooperate "at all" with the criminal investigation into the incident.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that Russia had not been a fully-fledged participant in the Dutch investigation into the incident and could not therefore trust its findings.

When asked if the Kremlin denied allegations of Russian involvement, he said: "Absolutely."

Mr. Peskov referred a question about possible compensation for families of the victims to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Australia and the Netherlands on Friday formally accused Russia of being responsible for downing a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet in 2014.
The complaint will be filed no later than on June 13.

A group of 270 relatives of the Dutch victims of flight MH17 downed in July 2014 in Russian-occupied Donbas will lodge a complaint against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Their U.S. aviation attorney, Jerry Skinner, told the Dutch EenVandaag current affairs program about the plans, the Ukrainian news outlet Yevropeiska Pravda said, citing the De Morgen newspaper.

The complaint will be filed no later than on June 13, he said.

Read alsoFact of delivery of Buk to Donbas to be added to Ukraine's memo on Russia's financing of terrorism

The family members of the Dutch victims would thus join the complaint filed on the same case on behalf of the 33 Malaysians, Australians and New Zealanders, who had been brought it before the court earlier.

The 270 people are relatives of at least 130 victims, including 100 who were from the Netherlands.

Skinner did not specify the amount of compensation that can be estimated at millions of euros. The attorney drew attention to the fact that the European Court of Human Rights is the only court that can examine individuals' complaints against Russia.

The international Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that investigates the MH17 incident announced on May 24 that the plane had been shot down by the Buk anti-aircraft missile system of the 53rd anti-aircraft brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, stationed in the Russian city of Kursk.

Australia and the Netherlands have called on Russia to take on responsibility and cooperate with them to ensure justice. Australia and the Netherlands also demand compensation from Russia for the families of the MH17 victims.
The government of the Netherlands has begun to take steps to hold Russia accountable for the downing of the MH17 flight.

The European Union has called on Russia to acknowledge its responsibility for the downing of Malaysia's flight MH17 over occupied Donbas on July 17, 2014.

"The European Union reiterates its full support for the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2166, which demands that those responsible for the downing of flight MH17 on 17 July 2014 be held to account and that all States cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability," EU High Representative Federica Mogherini said in her declaration on behalf of the EU on the findings of the Joint Investigation Team on the downing of flight MH17.

On May 24, 2018, the Joint Investigation Team presented further findings of its independent, professional and impartial investigation. It concluded that the BUK installation used to bring down flight MH17 belonged beyond doubt to the armed forces of the Russian Federation.

Read alsoSome 270 relatives of Dutch MH17 victims to sue Russia in ECHR

"The European Union calls on the Russian Federation to accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability," Mogherini said.

It became known on May 25 that the government of the Netherlands had begun to take steps to hold Russia accountable for the downing of the MH17 flight. This process will be handled separately from prosecuting individuals involved in the incident.

Australia said it would seek compensation from Russia for the families of the MH17 victims.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko instructed Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to immediately submit proposals on joining the Netherlands-Australia-initiated process of prosecuting Russia at the interstate level for the downing of the aircraft.
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Friday said the Punjab government has banned the inter-district as well as inter-provincial movement of flour which is illegal and unethical.

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018) : The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Friday said the Punjab government has banned the inter-district as well as inter-provincial movement of flour which is illegal and unethical.

The move would create a sense of deprivation among the people of other provinces dependent on Punjab's wheat while it is also against the provisions of the Constitution, it said. The government of Punjab wants to sell subsidized flour in green bags during the holy month to gain political mileage but the move has raised concerns among other provinces and the business community, said Ghazanfar Bilour, President FPCCI.

In a statement issued here today, he said that the flour mills of Punjab have been barred from producing and selling flour, sell it to other provinces or do the business of private grinding. The flour mills in Punjab are allowed to grind wheat provided by the government and sell flour in the green bags only in the local market resulting in undercapacity.

The decision has not only hit the flour millers but also left thousands unemployed while it can result in shortage across the country, he added. Ghazanfar Bilour said that if any white flour bag is spotted in any of the mills or with any shopkeeper it results in swift registration of an FIR which is creating unnecessary harassment.

He noted that the decision aimed at gaining popularity at the cost of other provinces would not help bring provinces closer while it has also resulted in shortage across the utility stores. Steps should be avoided that can result in food security issue or a countrywide strike by flour millers which can fail the Ramadan package he warned.

The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet should look in the issue of restrictions on the transportation of flour and take a decision in the public interest, he demanded.
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Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) will hold 2nd National Graduate Conference within next couple of months, this was announced here on Friday.

Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018) : Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) will hold 2nd National Graduate Conference within next couple of months, this was announced here on Friday.

It will provide a platform to the academicians and researchers to share their research-based work that helps to address society-related socio-economic issues. This is the part of the University's regular activities to promote creativity and innovations in the academic pursuits.

The conference is being organized by the varsity's Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC). Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui has decided that the conference will be a regular feature to promote research culture in the country.

The graduate forum provides an opportunity for the graduate students (Masters and above) to share their research work that has already been finalized or is in process.

The participation in the conference will be open for the students other than the AIOU The Second National Graduate Conference will add an extraordinary element of thinking beyond the limits of disciplines and bringing up the ideas of interdisciplinary conversations as well as innovative research ideas.

The forum will enable the graduate students for developing their research works into publishable literature. The University will offer a space for inter-disciplinary interaction for developing cross-disciplinary research proposals and to bring innovation in research at graduate level, the announcement added.
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Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak would visit Hazra division on Saturday to inaugurate various developmental projects before the end of his tenure.

ABBOTTABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak would visit Hazra division on Saturday to inaugurate various developmental projects before the end of his tenure.

The CM would inaugurate Havelian Dhamtoor bypass and Murree road in district Abbottabad.

Before this ceremony, CM Pervez Khattak would also inaugurate two other road projects in district Haripur including the dulalization of Hattar Industrial Estate road worth 2.6 billion rupees and Lora Chowck to Kohala double road.

He would also be the chief guest at the Haripur Bar Club where the newly elected body would take the oath.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Murree Municipal Corporation has deployed Dolphin Force to provide a safe environment and restore confidence of the tourists

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :Murree Municipal Corporation has deployed Dolphin Force to provide a safe environment and restore confidence of the tourists. An official of Murree Municipal Administration told APP that banners were also placed on 17 important intersections that display important numbers of the local civil administration and the creation of a control room and help desk.

The official rejected the social media movement, terming it propaganda against Malka e Kohisar, Murree. "It is our responsibility to provide a safe environment to tourists, treat them properly and provide facilities" the official added.

The Dolphin Force personnel have been deployed at all popular picnic spots in Murree to avoid any untoward incidents. If anyone registers a complaint, the force will alert the nearest police station, he added.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has considered about the need for developing a framework for raising standards of teaching with an aim to enhance quality standards in all universities.

In this regard a meeting was held Friday between Dr Ian Willis, Educational Development (EdD) on Internationalization Research, University of Liverpool and Prof Arif Khawaja, Programme Director, International Centre of Innovation and Learning and Teaching, Global Institute of Human Development (GIHD) with Dr Arshad Ali, Executive Director HEC, a press release said.

Senior HEC management were also attended the meeting. It also deliberated on how to advance national plans regarding improvement in standard through educational technologies and frameworks. Future plans including development of international certification in university education, training educational technologists, and integration of project plans were also discussed in the meeting.

The meeting observed that educational technologists must bridge the space between ICT specialists and teaching staff. They must be familiar with basic educational or learning theory and practical technological tools to help learning.

They must have good knowledge of higher education sector. The meeting participants also underlined the need for building digital capability among faculty members so that technology enhanced learning may become a core teaching skill.

The meeting participants emphasised encouraging institutional change by formulating policies and strategies for standards in learning and teaching, evolving specific action on Technology Enhanced Learning, taking action on standardised evaluation systems, and conducting research in learning and teaching practices.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif once again criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan's performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Narowal, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018) : Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif once again criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan's performance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"I do not understand how opposition parties criticise us. Did Imran Khan make even one new hospital?" the Punjab chief minister said while addressing an inaugural ceremony at District Headquarters Hospital in Narowal on Friday.

"Niazi Sb, you have destroyed Peshawar," Shehbaz said while referring to the PTI chairman. Sharing the development projects launched in Punjab and health facilities in the province, Shehbaz said, "They [PTI] used to call me 'Showbaz Sharif' and termed Lahore Metro Bus project 'jungla bus' but now they are spending billions to make a metro bus for Peshawar." "It is still unknown when the Metro Bus will build in Peshawar.

The nation has now run out of patience. Stating that the poor and the rich are being provided with equal facilities across Punjab, the provincial chief minister said, "In KP, not one hospital university or college has been built in the last five years." Zardari has ruined Karachi and committed corruption worth billion of rupees." "Even Sindh has been destroyed.

Just look at what has been done in Karachi," he added.

Punjab CM asserted that every year billions are spend over health care in Punjab. "On what basis do the opponents criticize us? 5000MW electricity has been produced from gas in Punjab and is being transmitted in whole Pakistan," he told.

"Millions of people had not sacrificed for the Pakistan of influential people. We have provided economical facilities of treatment to the poor in the province. Free CT scan will be done 24 hours while its report will be issued from Lahore.

In the past CT scan machines would have stopped operation at 2pm," Sharif maintained.  Shehbaz further said, "Punjab government has initiated a new phase of public health in the country." "Millions sacrificed so the poor could be provided quality health care," he added.

The Punjab chief minister said, "We have completely transformed District Headquarters Hospital and CT Scan services will now be provided around the clock." "We have also installed automatic surgical beds," he added while delving into details regarding the facilities being provided at the hospital.

"Free treatment of kidney-related diseases and medicines are being provided in government hospitals across Punjab," Shehbaz said. He stressed, "South and Central Punjab are equal for us."
Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018) : Foreign Office spokesman said the World Bank has assured Pakistan that it would make utmost efforts to resolve Kishanganga and Rattle dams issues within the parameters of Indus Basin Treaty.

Dr. Muhammad Faisal, who was part of the Pakistan team that recently visited Washington and held talks with world Bank on the issue, said this at the weekly news briefing in Islamabad today. He said Pakistan believes inauguration of Kishanganga dam by India without resolution of the disputes is violation of the treaty.

The water talks between the World Bank and Pakistan concluded on Wednesday without reaching any agreement on a way forward to address Islamabad's concerns regarding the Kishanganga project. A four-member delegation, led by Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf, arrived at the World Bank head office to apprise the Bank authorities about the country's concerns of more than a dozen projects that India intends to complete along the Indus Basin, that Pakistan deemed in violation of the Indus Water Treaty.

Pakistan had the view that these projects would disrupt its water supplies, and insisted that the design of the recently-inaugurated Kishanganga Hydroelectric plant was not in line with the criteria laid down under the Treaty.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry told media earlier that its Foreign Ministry had suggested changes in the basic design to avoid Treaty violations but those proposals were ignored.

As opposed to the claims made by Pakistani officials that the delegation was to meet with the World Bank president for three days to discuss technicalities of the project; the World Bank confirmed that the delegation actually met with senior officials, including the CEO Kristalina Georgieva and the regional management for South Asia on May 21 and 22 at Pakistani government's request to discuss issues and opportunities within the Treaty.

During these meetings, several procedural options for resolving the disagreement over the interpretation of the Treaty's provisions were discussed, according to the World Bank, "an agreement on the way forward was not reached at the conclusion of the meetings." The Bank maintained that it will work with both countries (India and Pakistan) to resolve the issues in an amicable manner and in line with the Treaty provisions.

The Treaty brokered by the World Bank in 1960 is a profoundly important international agreement that provides an essential cooperative framework for India and Pakistan to address current and future challenges of effective water management to meet human needs and achieve development goals.

In a statement issued by the spokesperson, the World Bank clarified that, "as a signatory of the Treaty, the World Bank's role is limited and procedural. In particular, the role in relation to "differences" and "disputes" is limited to the designation of people to fulfill certain roles when requested by either or both parties." In a statement issued by the spokesperson, the Bank said that it remains committed to act in good faith and with complete impartiality and transparency in fulfilling its responsibilities under the Treaty, while continuing to assist the countries.

Pakistan had raised this issue in September last year as well, when delegations from both sides were at the World Bank to talk out their disagreements and concerns about the construction of the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power plants.

They disagreed over whether the technical design features of the two plants contravene the Treaty. The plants are on respectively a tributary of the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers. The Treaty designates these two rivers as well as the Indus as the "western rivers" to which Pakistan has unrestricted use.

Those talks could not reach any conclusion either. Meanwhile, the World Bank (WB) is non-committal for taking any steps to resolve water disputes between Pakistan and India. According to the statement issued by Washington based lender World Bank after holding two-day meetings with Pakistani delegation that demanded of the Bank to play its role on construction of Kishenganga Hydropower Plant by India which Islamabad termed violation of Indus Water Treaty (IWT) signed by the two countries under the guarantee of the Bank.

"As a signatory to the Treaty, the World Bank's role is limited and procedural. In particular, the role in relation to "differences" and "disputes" is limited to the designation of people to fulfill certain roles when requested by either or both parties," the WB states.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has established a heritage museum in Laspur valley of district Chitral. A spokesman of Tourism Corporation told that the museum has been constructed with the financial assistance of Swiss agency for development and cooperation, Radio Pakistan reported.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has established a heritage museum in Laspur valley of district Chitral. A spokesman of Tourism Corporation told that the museum has been constructed with the financial assistance of Swiss agency for development and cooperation, Radio Pakistan reported.

The items put on display at the heritage museum include weaponry, household utensils, traditional dresses, wood work, agricultural tools and music instruments dating back to 11th century.
(@Aneesah05582539)

Opposition in Senate on Friday demanded comprehensive briefing over persistent violation of Indus Water Treaty and the inauguration of Kishanganga Hydropower Project by India recently.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :Opposition in Senate on Friday demanded comprehensive briefing over persistent violation of Indus Water Treaty and the inauguration of Kishanganga Hydropower Project by India recently.

Speaking on a point of order, Leader of the Opposition in Senate, Ms Sherry Rehman said India was diverting Pakistani waters in violation of agreements and government should brief the House about measures taken to cope the situation.

Senate should be taken into confidence regarding negotiations with the World Bank. The Chairman directed the government to brief the House in this regard. She said People's Party during her rule had raised the issue of construction of dams by India over Indus River in the Occupied Kashmmir.

Speaking on a Point of Order, Senator Raza Rabbani said India was persistently violating Line of Control (LoC). World community has failed to take notice of Human Rights violations in Occupied Kashmir and Palestine.

Civilian population was being targeted along with LoC.

He said it is surprising that news about jointly writing a book by former Director General ISI Lt Gen (Retd) Asad Durrani and former chief of Indian Intelligence Agency (RAW).

Had General Durrani wrote the book with prior permission of Federal government, he posed the question. Chairman Senate directed Ministry of Defense to brief the Upper House of the Parliament on the issue.

Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said Pakistani and Indian Intelligence chiefs' book was worrisome and house should be taken into confidence over the revelations of the book. Chairman directed Interior Ministry to brief the House in this regard.

Speaking on a point of Public Importance, Senator Azam Khan Swati said police remunerations should be increased. Senator Sussui Palejo demanded resolution of the issue of loadshedding in Sindh. Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldeni demanded taking notice of loadshedding in Quetta. She said a mother and three children were murdered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Such incidents should be avoided.
Punjab Chief Minster Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said the Punjab government had set an example of public service by working as a team

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :Punjab Chief Minster Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said the Punjab government had set an example of public service by working as a team.

The CM expressed these views while addressing a ceremony of high-ranking officers here at Darbar Hall, Civil Secretariat. He said that officers had worked with vision, commitment and shared determination and he salutes the hard working and professional officers of the Punjab government.

He said that officers had set examples in every sector and positive results have been shown in education, healthcare and other sectors. The Punjab government has ensured the provision of best services to the masses, he said and added that provincial bureaucracy, police and other officers had discharged their obligations wholeheartedly.

He said that appreciation of Punjab in other provinces and at international level was in fact acknowledgement of your hard work. He said that civil servants worked round the clock for public service.

The Chief Minister also distributed cash awards and commendatory certificates among the civil, police and administrative officers for showing outstanding performance.

Shahbaz said that Punjab was fast moving on the way of development and progress and world also had acknowledged the speedy progress of Punjab province.

He said the Punjab government had always given priority to transparency, quality and speed. He said the speed with which energy projects were completed is unprecedented and an example of its own.

The CM said the duty bestowed five years ago had been fulfilled amicably. He said the tremendous work done by civil, administrative and police officers is the service of the country. He said that positive results were witnessed due to revolutionary measures taken by the government in every sector.

The Chief Minister said that the time which he spent with Punjab administration was the best time of his life. He said that he was sorry, if anybody was hurt by any of his actions. The meeting was also addressed by Chief Secretary and Inspector General Police.
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The Chief Court Gilgit Baltistan dismissed a writ petition in which police recruitment process on 500 vacancies at Special Protection Unit (SPU) was challenged by Hunza advisory.

GILGIT, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :The Chief Court Gilgit Baltistan dismissed a writ petition in which police recruitment process on 500 vacancies at Special Protection Unit (SPU) was challenged by Hunza advisory.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice, GB Chief Court, Justice Wazir Shakeel Ahmed and Justice, Ali Baig after hearing arguments and examined records, dismissed the writ petition filed by Hunza Advisory on the ground of being non-maintainable.

Advocate Muhammad Shafi appeared on behalf of Hunza advisory, praying that great injustice was made with people of Hunza in recruitment process on all 500 vacancies at SPU.

He maintained that Hunza being a hub of CPEC was attracting large number of tourists, therefore, top priorities may be given to people of Hunza in recruitment at SPU.

He argued that reserving quota on the basis of population was an injustice with Hunaz people and should be declared null and void. A total of 41 petitions were placed before the division bench against which judgment was delivered on 10 petitions, two petitions reserved and four cases were admitted for hearing.
(@mahnoorsheikh03)

Somebody advised Khan to attend the session or he will lose his support: Rauf Klasra

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News  25th May, 2018) Renowned journalist Rauf Klasra while talking on a tv program commented on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khans statement that he does not remember when he last came to National Assembly.

Klasra said that he went to Assembly over someones advice that if he does not attend the session today, he will lose his support.

The journalist said that Imran Khan has got much support in Pashtun belt.

A wise man gave him an advice that FATA Merger Bill will be presented in National Assembly on Thursday, therefore his presence is necessary over there, he said.

The person giving an advice to Khan should be lauded and so should be Khan for understanding this, because if Khan would not have attended the session, he would have been bracketed with the two people opposing FATA reforms. These two people are Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

Khan came to the Assembly just to avoid getting bracketed with these two politicians, Klasra added.

The journalist said that if Khan had not attended the session, the media and his opposition would have greatly criticized him. The adviser saved him from this.

In a landmark development, the National Assembly on Thursday approved a much-awaited constitutional amendment bill regarding the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the majority. At least 229 members of the assembly voted in favour of the introduction of the bill while 11 others voted against it.

In a surprising move, PTI chief Imran Khan, who has been forcefully supporting the Fata merger, also reached the NA after nearly two years to take part in the landmark event. However, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party members boycotted the session.
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Alzaabi hosted an Iftar dinner at a local hotel here Thursday for enhancing communication among community members and media representatives in an informal way and benefit from the bounties of the Ramadan.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :The United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Alzaabi hosted an Iftar dinner at a local hotel here Thursday for enhancing communication among community members and media representatives in an informal way and benefit from the bounties of the Ramadan.

It was attended, among others by the ambassadors of various countries and community members from different sections of the society. The heads of missions of Arab and Islamic countries, military attachs and representatives from the Pakistan government, the military establishment, heads of Pakistani institutions, businessmen and media representatives were welcomed by the envoy.

He had an informal chat with them on matters of mutual interest. The ambassador thanked them and prayed that may Allah accept their fasting and blessed them all.

"We have been keen to meet in this holy month in an atmosphere of love, intimacy and fraternity, and the gathering aims to enhancing communication in a spirituality far from official work," the envoy said.

In an informal chat with a group of media figures, the UAE ambassador affirmed that this gathering was in line with the vision and strategy of the UAE to communicate with the members of the community and others as well.

He said such meetings constitute an opportunity to exchange brotherly conversations and dialogue. He said representatives of various media were partners of the embassy in covering various events as the media also played an important role in the development of a society.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Oman's Sultan Qaboos Bin Said exchanged congratulatory messages on Friday, announcing the establishment of strategic partnership between the two countries and hailing the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations

BEIJING, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :Chinese President Xi Jinping and Oman's Sultan Qaboos Bin Said exchanged congratulatory messages on Friday, announcing the establishment of strategic partnership between the two countries and hailing the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.

In his message, Xi said during the past 40 years since China and Oman established diplomatic relations, the governments and people of the two countries respected each other, treated each other on equal footing and forged deep friendship.

Bilateral ties have undergone fast and comprehensive development and achieved sound results in cooperation in various fields within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, which have brought the two nations and two peoples tangible benefits, Xi said.

Xi added that he highly values the development of China-Oman relations and is willing to announce upgrading bilateral ties to strategic partnership together with Qaboos, using the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity.

Xi said he believes that such moves will provide a strong political guarantee for the development of bilateral ties, lead the two countries to achieve more results in Belt and Road cooperation, safeguard the two sides' common interests in international and regional issues so as to elevate bilateral relations.

Qaboos said Oman attaches great importance to its relations with China and cherish positive outcomes of bilateral friendly cooperation over the past 40 years. Oman is ready to establish and continuously strengthen the strategic partnership with China to further promote their common interests, Qaboos said.
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Bangkok, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th May, 2018 ) :Thailand's women made their first ever Uber Cup final on Friday after a stunning 3-2 upset of defending champions China. In the men's Thomas Cup semis held the same day, powerhouses Japan and China advanced to the finals.

But the women's win captured the attention of the crowd and sets up an unlikely showdown between underdog Thailand and Japan on Saturday after the top seed defeated Korea 3-1 earlier in the day.

Thai player Busanan Ongbamrungphan was once again the star, as she confidently dispatched Olympic champion Li Xuerui -- who was returning from injury -- 21-11, 21-9 in the last game. "Finally we did it, I never expected that today would really come," Busanan told reporters afterwards.

"It's lucky that the event was held in our country. I'm proud that once in my lifetime I played at home and have made people in my country happy," she added. Thailand's victory also meant that China's women would not be going to the finals of the cup for the first time since the team started playing in 1984, according to the Badminton World Federation.

In the Uber Cup, Japan is the favourite going into the final, but the Thai win sparked jubilant on-court celebrations, hugs and ended a see-sawing matchup with tournament leader China. World number four Ratchanok Intanon won the first singles game, grinding out a 15-21, 21-9, 21-14 win over China's Chen Yufei, who is ranked one place behind her.

With crowds shouting "Thailand! Thailand!" Ratchanok hit smash after smash to come back after losing the first game to win two in a row. Thailand lost the first doubles, but singles shuttler Nitchaon Jindapol clawed her way back from a set down to beat Gao Fangjie in another thriller that had the crowd on their feet.

The second doubles went to China levelling up at 2-2, leaving Thai hopes pinned on Busanan, just as on Thursday when she performed under pressure to clinch a victory against Indonesia. - 'Tough battle' - Japan had an easier time against South Korea in their Uber Cup semi, with doubles pair Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi securing their spot in the final.

World number two Akane Yamaguchi got the team off to a flying start, easing to a 21-10, 21-13 win against South Korea's Sung Ji-hyun, while Nozomi Okuhara dispatched Lee Jang-mi 21-9, 21-15 after South Korea had levelled at 1-1 with the first doubles.

Japanese world number nine Okuhara has yet to lose in this year's biennial Uber Cup. "I think it will be a tough battle whoever I face tomorrow," she told reporters afterwards as Thailand and China were still doing battle on court.

The tournament is played alongside the men's Thomas Cup, whose semis were held later Friday, with China, Japan, Indonesia and Denmark all hoping to move forward. Returning champions Denmark were back to attempt a repeat with world number one Viktor Axelsen leading the team.

But Axelsen got the team off to a slow start against Japanese star Momota Kento, losing 21-17, 21-9. The two national squads were tied at two wins apiece until Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama secured the final victory 21-18, 21-11 against Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen.

China has fielded an all-star cast of players as they seek to regain a title lost on home soil two years ago, going one step further by handily beating Indonesia 3-1 to advance. China's Olympic champion Chen Long is joined by this year's All England champion Shi Yuqi -- and the player he conquered in the final, Lin Dan.
San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) E. David Crawford gave a talk regarding the state of prostate cancer diagnostics and specifically focused on the role of PSA cutoff for evaluation. First, most people, including in the auditorium, are unsatisfied with the current state of prostate cancer detection. In his interactions with practicing urologists and family practice/internal medicine physicians, most are concerned  for different reasons. Common areas of concern: screening parameters, informed decisions, risks and benefits of PCa screening. However, both fields feel there is value to PCa screening.Unfortunately, beyond the changing USPSTF recommendations, there are so many biomarkers and tests that family physicians, who do most of the initial PCa screening, are confused by the message! The PSA cutoffs have changed from 4 to 2.5. Additional PSA tools, including velocity and density, were introduced. But what are they do with all of these?In order to make it usable, we need to simplify the message for the people that actually order PSA  family physicians and internal medicine physicians. He then cited a few studies to help address his point.In an update and review of the PLCO trial, a prostate cancer screening study flawed by contamination in the non-screening arm, they found that patients who had an initial PSA < 1.0 ng/mL had a very low rate of developing PCa in the following 5 years. So, this was the first evidence that low PSA could help reduce PSA screening.Crawfords team explored this further.They used the 350,000 Henry Ford HMO system to determine what initial PSA values could tell us about future PCa risk. Median PSA was 1.0, mean age 55, 30% African-American. In this important study, they found that patients with PSA < 1.5 had a 0.51% risk of developing prostate cancer. Yet, with a PSA between 1.5-4.0, the risk increased 15-fold to 7.85%, and in PSA > 4.0, risk was 10.39%. So, they felt that PSA 1.5-4.0 was a danger zone and needed closer follow-up. Approximately 25% of men have a PSA 1.5+; 75% of men have a PSA < 1.5.However, he made it clear that this does not mean everyone with PSA > 1.5 gets a biopsy! It just means they need to be evaluated for PCa risk  with adjunct tests and biomarkers, to rule out BPH, prostatitis, etc.Now, how do we know we arent missing significant prostate cancer in men with PSA < 1.5. A recent study by colleagues at the University of Toronto, which was also presented as an abstract at AUA, demonstrated the results of an aggressive prostate biopsy in younger men (age < 50). In these men, 1.5 remained an important cutoff. With a PSA < 1, 92.9% had no cancer. In men with PSA < 1.5, 73.7% had no cancer; and only 8% had a clinically significant prostate cancer.Lastly, he reviewed common molecular markers (4K, PHI, SelectMDx) and found that in men with PSA < 1.5, they were rarely positive, corroborating the need to be less concerned in these men.As such, at this time, his recommend algorithm for the future is as follows:Men with PSA < 1.5 should not get a repeat PSA for at least 5 years.Therefore, PSA 1.5 should be the new cutoff for family practitioners to remember  simple and useful. However, while this will generate a referral to the urologist, it should not automatically trigger a biopsy. Clinical tests and biomarkers should help select patients for further evaluation!References:1. Crawford ED, Moul JW, Rove KO, Pettaway CA, Lamerato LE, Hughes A. Prostate-specific antigen 1.5-4.0 ng/mL: a diagnostic challenge and danger zone. BJU Int. 2011 Dec;108(11):1743-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2011.10224.x. Epub 2011 Jun 28.2. Goldberg H, Klaassen Z, Chandrasekar T, Wallis CJD, Toi A, Sayyid R, Bhindi B, Nesbitt M, Evans A, van der Kwast T, Sweet J, Perlis N, Hamilton RJ, Kulkarni GS, Finelli A, Zlotta A, Fleshner N. Evaluation of an Aggressive Prostate Biopsy Strategy in Men Younger than 50 years of Age. J Urol. 2018 May 11. pii: S0022-5347(18)43127-8. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2018.05.017. [Epub ahead of print]Presented by: E. David Crawford, MD, University of ColoradoWritten by: Thenappan Chandrasekar, MD, Clinical Fellow, University of Toronto, @tchandra_uromd at the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting - May 18 - 21, 2018  San Francisco, CA USA
San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) Andrei Iaguru, MD provided an update the status of molecular imaging in GU malignancies. First, he focused on FDA-approved pharmaceuticals.1.FDG PET  the longest available molecular imaging, it utilized the increased glucose metabolism in cancer cells as a marker of malignancy. Based on NCCN guidelines, it can be used in certain GU malignancies.- Bladder cancer: may be useful in select MIBC patients and pT3+ patients.- Penile cancer: consider PET/CT for staging (skull-base to mid-thigh)- Testicular cancer: in seminoma, particularly in post-chemotherapy setting.2.F-Fluciclovine (Axumin) PET/CT- FDA approved for biochemical recurrent Prostate cancer- Uptake not specific for prostate cancer and may be seen in other malignancies/BPH- It is not perfect, but may be helpful3.C-Choline PET/CT- Short half-life makes its use limited from a logistical standpoint- Better at identifying bone mets than soft tissue mets  also in setting of BCR Prostate cancerNext, he reviewed current research pharmaceuticals. Far and away, the most common is the PSMA PET scan.1. PSMA PET/CT- PSMA (prostate specific membrane antigen)  it is not prostate specific, not is it a membrane antigen! Yet, despite the misnomer, it has become an important adjunct  more easily available internationally than in the US.- It is increasingly being utilized in all stages of prostate cancer management  but the most common is also in BCR prostate cancer- Stanford is currently using it in a research protocol for newly diagnosed intermediate risk prostate cancer as well as in the BCR prostate cancer setting2. Gastrin-releasing peptide Receptor (GRPR) Imaging in prostate cancer- GRP-R are overexpressed in many malignancies, including prostate cancer- As such, Stanford is also assessing this in the biochemical recurrence population- Initial results demonstrated that it exceeded the detection rate of MRI for oligometastases- As with other PET imaging modalities, it was PSA dependent  best in PSA > 5.- Detection rates varied from 42% (PSA 0.2-1.0) to 92% (PSA>5.0).3. Imaging angiogenesis (Integrin alpha5-beta3)- Prostate cancer, along with other malignancies, are often very vascular with high degree of angiogenesis- As such, novel imaging modalities are targeting angiogenesis markers- These are much earlier in the development pathwayLastly, he reviewed future directions of molecular imaging. Theragnostics  the combination of therapy and diagnostics. In this field, a therapeutic agent is linked to the diagnostic marker, thereby carrying the treatment right to the tissue of interest.1.Lu-PSMA radioligand therapy  the best known and published so far. Lutetium is linked to PSMA targeting agents and is taken directly to the tissue. Early reports have been promising with some patients having dramatic response. However, larger series and long-term results are pending.Further work in this area may help expand treatment options for patients with prostate cancer!Presented by: Andrei Iaguru, MD, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CAWritten by: Thenappan Chandrasekar, MD, Clinical Fellow, University of Toronto, @tchandra_uromd at the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting - May 18 - 21, 2018  San Francisco, CA USA
As Africa celebrates Africa Day on 25 May, the continent would do well to heed the message of Pope Francis: Corruption is not countered with silence,

Paul Samasumo  Vatican city.

Pope Francis says we must denounce corruption

In a widely distributed February 2018 video message, made with the participation of the Holy Sees Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Pope Francis addressed himself to the importance of fighting corruption. He said, the best way to fight corruption is not to remain silent, because that only strengthens criminal organisations.

Corruption is not countered with silence, the Pope says in the video. We must speak about it, denounce its evils, and try to understand it so as to show our resolve to make mercy reign over meanness, beauty over nothingness.

This years Africa Day celebrations centre around the African Union (AU)s theme of Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africas Transformation.

The AU vows to fight corruption on the continent

In 2018, AU Member states decided to mark Africa Day, with a sober introspection on the corrosive effects of corruption on the continent.

According to Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index, there is both bad news and some good news for Africa. The bad news is that though corruption is a global phenomenon, many fragile governments on the continent have serious challenges fighting the vice. The endemic conflicts on the continent do not help. Invariably the lowest-scoring countries on the Corruption Perception Index are often those where there is conflict or war. Such nations include Somalia and South Sudan. Nevertheless, Transparency International also observes that some countries, though not at war, have more serious challenges than others with corruption. Such countries include Liberia, Malawi and Guinea Bissau.

Corruption can be eradicated

The good news is that there are examples on the continent that show that corruption can be reduced drastically. This means there is hope for a cleaner continent. Transparency International, this year, listed several countries that consistently continued to push back against corruption, and with notable progress. These include Cote dIvoire and Senegal. The continents usual favourites for the Transparency International least corrupt countries are Botswana, Cabo Verde, Mauritius and in recent years, Rwanda. The secret? These countries have learned what works best in their communities and pursued these tactics with commitment.

The long and short of it all is that if corruption is not dealt with as a matter of priority in Africa, progress will elude Africa for a long time to come.

The continent celebrates cultural diversity

Apart from the AU driven theme, 25 May - Africa Day on the continent and for those in the diaspora, is also marked as a time to pray for the continent and highlight the diverse vibrancy of cultures, foods and traditions of the people of Africa.


Freeds Bakery, a family-owned establishment of 59 years and featured bakery on Food Networks hit show Vegas Cakes, will celebrate Fathers Day with custom cakes for the holiday on Sunday, June 17 (Pictured: Freeds Bakerys Fathers Day Icing Tie Cake).

Fathers Day cakes will include: Freeds signature Icing Tie cake for Dad, a quarter sheet cake decorated as a shirt and tie with the choice of any flavor including: vanilla cake with Bavarian cream or strawberry puree, chocolate cake with Bavarian cream or raspberry puree, almond cake with Bavarian cream filling, red velvet cake with cream cheese filling, marble cake with chocolate mousse, or lemon cake with lemon mousse or Bavarian cream and strawberry puree, priced at $50.35; and the Canvas Cake, a buttercream iced, DIY dessert with your choice of flavor and filling, covered with white fondant and paired with edible markers for at-home decorating, priced at $57.15.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday the much-anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he, Trump, canceled Thursday could still place as originally scheduled.

"Well see what happens," Trump said before leaving the White House to deliver the commencement address at the nearby U.S. Naval Academy. "It could even be the 12th."

WATCH: Trump on North Korea summit



Trump said U.S. and North Korean officials are engaged in talks aimed at reviving plans for the summit. "They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it. Were going to see what happens."

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis echoed those remarks Friday, telling reporters at the Pentagon that ongoing discussions between Washington and Pyongyang could put the summit back on track.

"That diplomats are still at work on the summit, (the) possibility of a summit, so thats very good news," Mattis said.

When asked if the summit could still be on June 12, Mattis was non-committal, saying only, "The diplomats are working it but nothing's changed."

Earlier Friday, Trump said North Korea's response to his cancellation of the summit was "warm and productive" and expressed hope it would lead to "long and enduring prosperity and peace."

North Korea said Friday it is still willing to sit for denuclearization talks with the United States at any time, (in) any format.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, a longtime nuclear negotiator and senior diplomat, said in a statement carried by state media that the North is willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities to reconsider talks.

What prompted cancellation



Trump canceled the planned talks with Kim on Thursday, blaming recent threatening statements by Pyongyang to pull out of the summit over what it saw as confrontational remarks by U.S. officials.

The North Korean diplomat said Pyongyang's recent criticisms had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric, and that the current antagonism showed "the urgent necessity" for the summit.



"We have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other U.S. presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit," Kim Kye Gwan's statement said.



In a letter released by the White House on Thursday, Trump said, I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate at this time to have this long-planned meeting."



The White House said Trump dictated the letter himself.

According to a senior administration official, other factors also led the president to cancel the summit, including poor communication, broken promises and the North Koreans' failure to show up for a preparatory meeting in Singapore.



We simply couldn't get them to pick up the phone, a White House senior official told reporters on Thursday.

The last straw, according to the White House, was an insult of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence earlier Thursday in a statement by North Koreas vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui. She called Pence a political dummy and warned - in rhetoric typical of that uttered by Pyongyang - of a nuclear confrontation. In his letter, Trump responded in kind, referencing U.S. nuclear capabilities so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.



Trump has emphasized that sanctions and the maximum pressure campaign will continue to be applied on North Korea while expressing hope Pyongyangs leadership would decide to join the community of nations.

Reaction from Asia



Trumps letter caught allies by surprise. The president did not call South Korean President Moon Jae-in or Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to inform them of it, White House officials confirmed.



Moon expressed deep regret over the summits cancellation and urged that direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang be held as soon as possible.
In this episode of Straight Talk Africa host Shaka Ssali explores what can be done to bring peace to South Sudan. After five years of civil war South Sudan is in the middle of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, affecting seven million people who are struggling to survive. Shaka talks with Brian Adeba, Deputy Director of Policy, Enough Project, Ambassador Gordon Buay, Republic of South Sudan and Dr. Isaac Gang , Official Representative of the SPLM-IO to the United States.
North Korea and its neighbors in the region reacted with caution to U.S. President Donald Trumps decision Thursday to cancel the U.S.- North Korea nuclear summit.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement released by the Norths central news agency (KCNA) that his country remains open to resolving problems with the United States whenever and however, and offered praise for President Trumps diplomatic engagement efforts.

We had held in high regards President Trumps efforts, unprecedented by any other president, to create a historic North Korea-U.S. summit, said the vice foreign minister in a statement released Friday by KCNA.

Tone and substance

The conciliatory tone that came from Vice Foreign Minister Kim stands in sharp contrast to earlier criticisms, insults and threats made by another North Korean official that prompted Trump to cancel the June summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

On Thursday North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy and threatened a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown with the U.S. over comments made by Pence calling for North Korea to follow the Libya denuclearization model.

The Libya model refers to the rapid and complete dismantlement of that countrys nuclear program in 2003 and 2004, before the easing of any sanctions. But North Korea is acutely aware that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed by his own people a few years later, with support from a multinational military coalition that included the United States.

Pyongyang has called for a more incremental process that links concessions to partial nuclear reductions and postpones complete denuclearization until its undefined security demands are met.

Trump blamed the tremendous anger and open hostility from Pyongyang for forcing the cancelation of the summit, but many analysts say the issue was more about substance over tone and the unbridgeable gap between the two denuclearization positions.

But North Koreas measured reaction to Trumps rejection letter also offered the opportunity for the summit to be held in the future, raising hope that diplomatic progress is still possible.

I think it is worth positively evaluating North Korea showing its willingness to continue the talks with the U.S., while calmly assessing the current situation, said Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

South Korea

Trump reportedly made the decision to withdraw from the summit without consulting other key countries in the region affected by the North Korea nuclear threat.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a late night national security meeting to assess the fallout from the summit cancelation. Moon reportedly said he was perplexed by the decision to cancel and urged Trump and Kim to communicate directly to resolve the impasse.

Moon had been instrumental in facilitating U.S.-North Korea talks by persuading Kim to agree to a broad denuclearization goal at the recent inter-Korean summit.

On Friday, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said South Korea would continue to strive to fulfill the peace building goals of that summit, and said he believes North Korea also remains committed to finding a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff.

It appears that (the North) remains sincere in implementing the agreement and making efforts on denuclearization and peace building, the unification minister said.

WATCH: Trump Pulls Out of Summit With N. Korea: What's Next?

Japan

In Tokyo, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga voiced support for President Trumps decision to pull out of the summit with North Korea and called for continued enforcement of the United Nations sanctions in place that ban 90 percent of trade with the North.

In order for North Korea to change their policies, it is necessary for Japan and the U.S. and South Korea to continue to apply pressure, including the United Nations sanctions and importantly with the nations that supported these (the sanctions), including China and Russia, Suga said.

China

The Communist Party newspaper, China Daily, ran an editorial Friday calling on the U.S. and North Korea to maintain their commitment to dialogue and continue to work toward an end to hostilities and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

However, President Trump had earlier suggested that China may have emboldened the Kim government to take a more confrontational position toward denuclearization talks. Trump said he noticed a change in attitude from the North Korean side after the second Kim meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this month, and later on Twitter urged China to maintain strong sanctions enforcement.

Nearly all North Korean trade goes through China, and there have been observational reports of increased trade along the border region, although Beijing denies it has eased sanctions restrictions.

However it would not be surprising for Beijing to allow increased informal trade with Pyongyang, given Kims improved relationship with Xi, and the unilateral good faith measures taken by the North that include the destruction of it nuclear test site on Thursday, the release of U.S. prisoners, and the continued suspension of further nuclear and missile tests.

Although China publicly says that it is fully following the U.N. sanctions against North Korea, it will ease the sanction compared to the past in the process of improving the relations with North Korea, said Seo Jeong-kyung, a professor with the Sungkyun Institute of China Studies in Seoul.

Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said, we took this news with regret, in reacting to Trumps announcement canceling the North Korea summit. He also voiced support for his North Korean ally, saying Kim had done everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts of his countrys nuclear testing site.

Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report.
The U.S. oil export infrastructure is straining to keep up as the countrys crude oil exports hit new highs and China snaps up more of it than ever before.

U.S. crude production has surged to a record 10.7 million barrels a day, driven largely by growth from the Permian shale patch in West Texas, which pumps more than 3 million barrels per day.

However, the infrastructure to move it abroad is lagging, even as U.S. prices are well below the Brent benchmark, a discount that sits just off three-year highs at $8.09 per barrel.

U.S. crude exports peaked at 2.6 million bpd two weeks ago, but are expected to keep rising.

What is US export capacity?

No definitive data are available on how much crude the United States can export, though analysts estimate a nationwide capacity of 3.5 million to 4 million bpd. Most terminal operators and companies do not disclose capacity, and the U.S. Energy Department does not track it.

So far, export capacity is keeping pace, but we are walking a tightrope, said Bernadette Johnson, vice president at Drilling Info.

That capacity may begin to be tested next month, as Sinopec, Asias largest refiner, bought a record 16 million barrels, or about 533,000 bpd of U.S. crude, to load in June, two sources with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday.

For the last six months of available data, ending in February, the United States exported about 332,000 bpd to China.

Terminals designed for imports

Analysts are concerned about how quickly the crude terminals at Gulf Coast ports, many initially designed for imports, can shift to handling exports. Only the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port can handle supertanker exports, but it only started testing in February. The supertankers, known as VLCCs or very large crude carriers, can handle about 2 million barrels of oil, the amount preferred by Asian buyers with bigger ports.

Theres only one dock on the Gulf Coast that can handle a VLCC deepwater, and thats LOOP. And the LOOP has only started to export, said Sandy Fielden, director of research in commodities and energy at Morningstar.

Port of Corpus Christi in Texas is developing its Harbor Island port, which will accommodate 120 VLCCs per year, said Jarl Pedersen, chief commercial officer at the port, with a targeted completion of late 2020.

Kpler, a cargo tracking service, Thursday estimated that up to 4.8 million bpd can be moved from the top crude-exporting ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Port Arthur and New Orleans. Their estimate in October was 3.2 million bpd.

PIRA Energy Group put the U.S. overall crude export capacity at 3.5 million bpd, while Morningstars estimate is 3.8 million bpd at most.

Pipelines lacking, too

In addition to port constraints, inadequate pipeline space has created a glut of supply in West Texas, pushing the principle cash grade there to a $13 discount to benchmark U.S. crude futures this month, the biggest in 3 years.

The constraint is really the pipeline coming down from the Permian to Corpus Christi, Pedersen said. However, the ship channel still needs to be deepened, a $320 million project in development with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

There is 3.4 million bpd of pipeline capacity, while total output from tight oil and legacy production from vertical wells in the Permian is at more than 4.2 million bpd, according to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

The combined volumes mean that the infrastructure is crammed full  theres little or no room for incremental volumes, R.T. Dukes, head of U.S. Lower 48 oil supply at Wood Mackenzie said in a note.

About 300,000 bpd of new pipeline capacity is to come on by the end of January, but its really from next summer that well see big new capacity, Dukes said.

In the second half of 2019, another 1.25 million bpd will be added, lifting total capacity up to 5 million bpd, he said.

Thats when the big discount of WTI at Midland will narrow, Dukes said.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers huddled Thursday in classified briefings about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 presidential election, a highly unusual series of meetings prompted by partisan allegations that the bureau spied on Donald Trumps campaign.

Democrats emerged from the meetings saying they saw no evidence to support Republican allegations that the FBI acted inappropriately, although they did express grave concern about the presence of a White House lawyer at Thursdays briefings. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News he had learned nothing particularly surprising, but declined to go into detail.

Extraordinary briefings

Still, the extraordinary briefings drew attention to the unproved claims of FBI misconduct and political bias. The meetings were sought by Trumps GOP allies and arranged by the White House, as the president has tried to sow suspicions about the legitimacy of the FBI investigation that spawned a special counsel probe.

Initially offered only to Republicans, the briefings were the latest piece of stagecraft meant to publicize and bolster the allegations. But they also highlighted the degree to which the president and his allies have used the levers of the federal government, in this case, intelligence agencies, to aide in Trumps personal and political defense.

Under direct pressure from the president, Justice Department officials agreed to grant Republicans a briefing, and only later opened it up to Democrats. The invite list evolved up until hours before the meeting, a reflection of the partisan distrust and the political wrangling.

A White House lawyer, Emmet Flood, and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly showed up for both briefings, although the White House had earlier said it would keep a distance, drawing criticism from Democrats.

For the record, the presidents chief of staff and his attorney in an ongoing criminal investigation into the presidents campaign have no business showing up to a classified intelligence briefing, Sen. Mark Warner tweeted after the briefing.

The White House said the officials didnt attend the full briefings, but instead delivered brief remarks communicating the presidents desire for as much openness as possible under the law and relaying the presidents understanding of the need to protect human intelligence services and the importance of communication between the branches of government, according to a statement.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats attended both meetings, the first at the Department of Justice and the second on Capitol Hill.

Trump has zeroed in on, and at times embellished, reports that a longtime U.S. government informant approached members of his campaign in a possible bid to glean intelligence on Russian efforts to sway the election. The president intensified his attacks this week, calling it spygate and tweeting Thursday that it was Starting to look like one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history.

What was learned?

It was unclear how much information was given to lawmakers. According to a U.S. official familiar with the meeting, the briefers did not reveal the name of an informant. They brought documents but did not share them, and made several remarks about the importance of protecting intelligence sources and methods. The person declined to be identified because the briefing was classified.

In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan wouldnt say what he learned, but said he looked forward to the prompt completion of the House Intelligence Committees work now that they are getting the cooperation necessary.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter, had originally requested the information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation. The original meeting was scheduled for just Nunes and Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, but the Justice Department relented and allowed additional lawmakers to come after Democrats strongly objected.

Nunes and other Republicans eager to discredit special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation used Trumps complaints to obtain the briefing from the Justice Department, whose leaders have tried for months to balance demands from congressional overseers against their stated obligation to protect Muellers ongoing investigation into ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

Nunes attended both briefings Thursday. According to the U.S. official and another person briefed on the Capitol Hill meeting, Nunes did not speak during the briefing. The second person also declined to be named because the meeting was classified.

Democrats' statement

Democratic lawmakers declined to comment on the substance of the briefing, but gave a joint statement afterward saying their view had not changed that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump Campaign, or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols.

The statement was issued by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, and the top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence panels, Warner and Rep. Adam Schiff.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr also attended the briefing but did not comment afterward.

It remained unclear what, if any, spying was done. The White House gave no evidence to support Trumps claim that President Barack Obamas administration was trying to spy on his 2016 campaign for political reasons.

Its long been known that the FBI was looking into Russian meddling during the campaign and that part of that inquiry touched on the Trump campaigns contacts with Russian figures. Mueller took over the investigation when he was appointed special counsel in May 2017.
The Trump administration will make available an additional 15,000 H-2B visas, meant for temporary non-agricultural workers, for this fiscal year, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Friday.

The U.S. government had already issued 66,000 such visas this year, but businesses had complained that they had not received enough visas to operate, particularly during the busy summer tourist season, and were on the verge of shutting down.

"The limitations on H-2B visas were originally meant to protect American workers, but when we enter a situation where the program unintentionally harms American businesses it needs to be reformed," DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in the statement.
Two dying Ebola patients were spirited out of a Congo hospital by their relatives on motorcycles, then taken to a prayer meeting with 50 other people, potentially exposing them all to the deadly virus, a senior aid worker said Thursday.

Both patients were vomiting and infectious and died hours after the prayer session in the river port city of Mbandaka, Dr. Jean-Clement Cabrol, emergency medical coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), said.

Democratic Republic of Congo is racing to contain an outbreak of the disease, which spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids including vomit and sweat.

The Health Ministry said late Thursday that a new case had been confirmed in the town of Bikoro and another in the nearby village of Iboko, where the epidemic is thought to have started.

This brought the total number of confirmed cases to 31, it said in a statement, out of 52 suspected cases.

Ninth outbreak in Congo

Congo's ninth recorded outbreak of the disease is thought to have killed at least 22 people so far, according to government figures released Wednesday, fewer than the last estimate of 27, after some of those deaths turned out not to be Ebola.

"The escape was organized by the families, with six motorcycles as the patients were very ill and couldn't walk," Cabrol told a news briefing in Geneva after returning from the affected region. "They were taken to a prayer room with 50 people to pray.

"They were found at two in the morning, one of them dead and one was dying. So that's 50-60 contacts right there. The patients were in the active phase of the disease, vomiting." The patients got out of the isolation ward Monday.

Earlier reports did not give details of the escape or where they went afterward. A third patient who left the ward survived.

Health officials started trying to trace the motorcycle drivers and other people who came into contact with the patients as soon as the escape was reported, Dr. Peter Salama, head of emergency response at the World Health Organization (WHO), told Reuters on Thursday.

"From the moment that they escaped, the (health) ministry, WHO and partners have been following very closely every contact," he said.

'Hard to predict'

WHO's three-month budget for the crisis has been doubled to $57 million to carry out a complex operation in a remote, forested area, Salama said.

"All it takes is one sick person to travel down the Congo River and we can have outbreaks seeded in many different locations ... that can happen at any moment. It's very hard to predict," he said, referring to the river linking the trading hub of Mbandaka to the capital Kinshasa, whose population is 10 million.

"It is going to be at least weeks and more likely months before we get this outbreak fully under control," Salama said.

There have been major advances in medical treatment of the virus since it ravaged West Africa in 2014-2016, including the use of an experimental vaccine to protect medical staff.

But local skepticism about the dangers and the need to isolate infected patients continue to complicate efforts to contain it. In past outbreaks, mourning relatives have caught the hemorrhagic disease by touching the highly contagious bodies of dead loved ones, sometimes by laying hands on them to say goodbye.
A new European data privacy law took effect Friday, ushering in an era intended to better protect the personal data of citizens and overhaul how companies collect, process and store such information.

The new law takes effect as social media giant Facebook has come under fire in the United States in a privacy scandal.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which supersedes a collection of regulations in individual countries dating back to 1995, more stringently enforces existing privacy rights.

Companies will continue to gather and analyze data from phones, apps and websites. The significant difference is that companies must now justify reasons for collecting and using the data. They are also prohibited under the new law from using the information for a different reason at a later time.

The new regulations apply to the 28-nation EU, but will also affect both large and small U.S. businesses.

They require firms to clearly explain how they gather and use information. As a result, companies are eliminating legalese as they rewrite their privacy policies.

GDPR specifies six ways companies can justify the use of personal information, including one called "legitimate interests," a broad reason for companies to keep using data. In such cases, companies must prove that their needs exceed the potential effect keeping the data can have on users' privacy, according to David Martin, senior legal officer for BEUC, the European Consumer Organization.

Companies must also give consumers the ability to delete information and object to data use under one of the specified reasons. Firms also have to clarify how long they store data.

The rules require companies that experience data breaches to disclose them within 72 hours. It took Yahoo two years to reveal a breach that involved 3 billion accounts.

U.S. companies such as Goggle also have to comply with the new rules. Violators could be fined up to $24 million, or 4 percent of annual global revenue, whichever is greater.

EU-based companies are required to offer the new privacy protections to all their users, even if they are not EU residents.

It remains unclear how GDPR will affect visitors to Europe. A legal officer with the London-based group Privacy International said many questions will be addressed by the courts and the legislature.

Companies can still be less aggressive in obtaining permission to collect data outside of Europe, as they typically assume consent unless the user says otherwise. Firms can delay seeking consent until users visit the EU, at which time they may receive a pop-up notice.

Some companies are implementing EU-type protections to users everywhere, including U.S. software manufacturer Microsoft.

If other countries do not adopt similar privacy rules, which is not expected to happen in the foreseeable future, many firms likely will maintain two sets of privacy standards.
Former U.S. FBI Director James Comey said that social media companies needed to "worry" about foreign political propaganda on their networks, but he had few ideas on how to counter it.

In an interview with Reuters, Comey also said he would be leery of the Federal Bureau of Investigation trying to track propaganda in the United States, let alone take action against it, while acknowledging that it was a major problem for the U.S. political system.

"I don't have a great answer for them," Comey said of social media companies including Facebook and Twitter, which were major venues for what U.S. intelligence agencies have said was a Russian-sponsored effort to help President Donald Trump win the 2016 U.S. election.

Comey's comments on Wednesday follow former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's conclusion in a new book that the Russian election meddling, which allegedly included illegal hacking and leaking of stolen information as well as propaganda, had a decisive influence in electing Trump.

Trump fired Comey as the FBI investigated the Russian election interference, setting the stage for the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his wide-ranging inquiries.

Comey has been criticized for the FBI's failure to counter Russia's election meddling while it was happening.

But Comey said the FBI should not get involved in fighting propaganda because it is a "rule-bound institution," with strict policies that serve as an appropriate check on its power.

"You'd want to be very thoughtful about having the FBI, without having a predicated investigation, be monitoring speech in the U.S., because it's often very difficult to tell, is it coming from a nation state?" Comey said. "So, in theory, that might involve collecting more broadly on speech in the United States."

He said those same concerns had kept the FBI from tracking an influence campaign that included Russian-driven Facebook posts that reached more than 100 million people on that social network alone ahead of the 2016 election.

Spy claims

Comey avoided answering questions about the ongoing Mueller probe and his own role in the earlier version of the investigation, but he scoffed at Trump's accusation this week that the FBI had planted a spy inside his 2016 campaign.

Comey said he could not comment directly on the claim, floated this week by Trump and Republican supporters in Congress.

More generally, Comey said, "The word 'spy' is not an accurate characterization in any case of the FBI's use of confidential human sources, which are a critical tool in all of our investigations  people telling us things that they know."

Asked whether he could deny that the FBI sent someone to get a job working full-time inside Trump's presidential campaign, Comey laughed and said: "I'm tempted, but I've got to leave it to the Bureau to comment."

Uncrackable encryption

Comey is best known in Silicon Valley for leading an Obama administration charge against end-to-end encryption uncrackable by law enforcement.

In the interview, he conceded that one of the technology companies' major objections to giving U.S. authorities special access  that it would then have to do the same for governments in Russia, China and elsewhere  was "reasonable."

But he said some companies were already aiding such regimes by storing data in those countries and allowing access to source code. If they were sufficiently worried, he said, they could stop doing business in those places.

Comey said his goal was a process under which companies would grant access to authorities only according to strict standards of due process, such as relying on independent judges.

If the companies refused backdoor access until the other countries changed their legal system, "it would be good for the people of China and Russia."
This time of year, many college and university graduates sit patiently through long graduation ceremonies, fanning themselves in the heat and waiting for the main event: a movie star, celebrity, politician or world leader to deliver words of wisdom.

It's graduation season, meaning many colleges and universities feature speakers who are well-known or well-respected for their accomplishments. The speaker's role is to offer graduates advice about launching into the world.

This year's speeches have been delivered by people such as Chadwick Boseman of the Black Panther superhero movie, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine LaGarde, former U.S. Secretary of State and oil executive Rex Tillerson, and America's wealthiest African-American woman and celebrity, Oprah Winfrey.

"You need to know this: Your job is not always going to fulfill you," Winfrey said to graduates at the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism.

"There will be some days that you just might be bored. Other days you may not feel like going to work at all," she said. "Go anyway, and remember that your job is not who you are. It's just what you are doing on the way to who you will become. With every remedial chore, every boss who takes credit for your ideas  that is going to happen  look for the lessons, because the lessons are always there."

She also advised students to "eat a good breakfast."

Tillerson spoke to graduates at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, telling them to be grateful for the people who helped them succeed, such as parents and teachers.

He also talked about democracy, transparency and truth.

"It is only by a fierce defense of the truth and a common set of facts that we create the conditions for a democratic free society," Tillerson said. "If our leaders seek to conceal the truth or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no longer grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom."

Boseman, star of the blockbuster 2018 Black Panther film, spoke at Howard University in Washington, D.C.  the school from which he graduated, known as a graduate's alma mater. (Former U.S. President Barack Obama spoke to Howard grads in 2016.)

Howard is a leader among historically black colleges and universities, or HBCU, in the U.S., but was recently involved in a corruption scandal involving student aid money. Boseman referred to the scandal and other problems facing students, especially African-Americans.

"Many of you will leave Howard and enter systems and institutions that have a history of discrimination and marginalization," he said.

But, Boseman suggested, those problems can make them better people.

"I don't know what your future is," he said. "But if you're willing to take the harder way  the one with more failures at first than successes . . . then you will not regret it.  Remember the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose."

Winfrey encouraged students to vote and take action.

"Pick a problem, any problem, and do something about it," she said. "Because to somebody who's hurting, something is everything."

IMF's Lagarde asked graduates at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, to look further into the future to consider what effect their next choices and actions will have.

She asked the graduates to think about how different the world is now compared to 10 years ago, and how different it may be in 10 years.

"What kind of country, what kind of world, will you help build?" she asked. "What values will you respect? What will drive your life and the lives of others? Ten years from now, when the class of 2028 stands here and prepares to graduate, what will you have done to help them?"
Honduras will keep fighting the scourge of gangs whether or not the United States decides to cut off aid, the security minister said Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened aid cuts.

Trump announced Wednesday that he is working on a plan to reduce U.S. aid to countries he accuses of doing nothing to stop MS-13 gang members from crossing into the United States illegally. Trump did not provide details on the plan but said it would radically change the way U.S. foreign aid is structured.

The notorious crime group was founded by Salvadorans in Los Angeles in the 1980s and spread to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala as the United States deported waves of migrants.

El Salvador said on Thursday that Central America suffered most as those deportations ramped up in the mid-1990s, giving way to gang-fueled extortion, drug trafficking, killings and the recruitment of children.

It said it is committed to helping deportees resettle and to reducing irregular migration to the United States.

We express our firm and total disagreement towards those who characterize all of our migrants as criminals, Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren said in a statement. The great majority of Salvadorans on U.S. soil are workers and industrious.

Honduran Security Minister Julian Pacheco told reporters that the government is working incessantly to break up gangs and otherwise stem the tide of migrants fleeing the violence for better prospects in the United States.

No one can say Honduras is giving up on this struggle. Were almost alone as we fight it and were doing so with our own resources, Pacheco said.

International aid is very important, but if there isnt aid we cant just lay down and cry, he said.

The United States has pledged $750 million to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador through the Alliance for Prosperity announced in 2014, seeking to curb migration through development projects and law-and-order funding to crack down on gangs.

At the start of 2017, $125 million went to Honduras and $98 million to El Salvador.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it will end temporary protections for immigrants in the United States from Honduras by early 2020, leaving potentially 57,000 people vulnerable to deportation.

Last January, it cut the same protections for 200,000 Salvadorans who had been allowed to live and work in the United States since 2001. Their status will expire in 2019.
The people of Ireland appear set to liberalize some of the world's most restrictive abortion laws by a landslide, an exit poll showed Friday, as voters demanded change in what two decades ago was one of Europe's most socially conservative countries.

The Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI exit poll suggested that voters in the once deeply Catholic nation had backed a ballot proposal by a margin of 68 percent to 32 percent. A second exit poll was due to be published by 2230 GMT (11:30 p.m. in Dublin).

Turnout could be one of the highest for a referendum, national broadcaster RTE reported, potentially topping the 61 percent who backed gay marriage by a large margin in 2015, as voters queued outside polling stations throughout the day in the blistering sunshine.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who was in favor of change and called the referendum a once-in-a-generation chance, said earlier Friday that he was "quietly confident" that the high turnout was a good sign.

Vote counting begins at 0800 GMT on Saturday (9 a.m. in Dublin), with the first indication of results expected at midmorning.

Voters were asked if they wished to scrap a 1983 amendment to the constitution that gives an unborn child and its mother equal rights to life. The consequent prohibition on abortion was partly lifted in 2013 for cases where the mother's life is in danger.

Ireland legalized divorce by a razor-thin majority only in 1995, but became the first country to adopt gay marriage by popular vote in a 2015 referendum.

But no social issue has divided its 4.8 million people as sharply as abortion, which was pushed up the political agenda by the death in 2012 of a 31-year-old Indian immigrant from a septic miscarriage after she was refused a termination.

"I think this issue is important because it's been 35 years since any person has had a choice to vote," said Sophie O'Gara, 28, who was voting "Yes" near Dublin's bustling Silicon Docks, home to some of the world's biggest technology firms.

"So many women have traveled across to England to take care of their family and health care needs, and I think it's a disgrace and it needs to change," she said, referring to women who travel to Britain for abortions.

Fierce campaign

The fiercely contested vote has divided political parties, seen the once-mighty church take a back seat, and become a test case for how global internet giants deal with social media advertising in political campaigns.

Unlike in 1983, when religion was front and center and abortion was a taboo subject for most, the campaign was defined by women on both sides publicly describing their personal experiences of terminations.

"Yes" campaigners have argued that with over 3,000 women traveling to Britain each year for terminations  a right enshrined in a 1992 referendum  and others ordering pills illegally online, abortion is already a reality in Ireland.

Although not on the ballot paper, the "No" camp has seized on government plans to allow abortions with no restriction up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy if the ballot proposal is approved, calling it a human rights issue and a step too far for most voters.

"I think it's important that we protect the unborn babies. People don't care anymore about the dignity of human life. I've a family myself and I think it's really important," said John Devlin, a marketing worker in his 50s voting "No" near Dublin's city center.

The Irish government's push to liberalize the laws is in contrast to the United States, where abortion has long been legal, but President Donald Trump backs stripping federal funding from women's health care clinics that offer abortions.

Home to vote

Videos shared on social media showed scores of voters arriving home at Irish airports from abroad. Ireland does not allow expatriates to vote via mail or in embassies, but those away for less than 18 months remain on the electoral roll.

As with the gay marriage referendum, those using the #hometovote hashtag on Twitter appeared overwhelmingly to back change. Many posted photos of themselves wearing sweatshirts bearing the "Repeal" slogan.

"Women and girls should not be made into health care refugees when they are in a time of crisis," said Niamh Kelly, 27, who paid 800 euros and traveled 20 hours to return home from Hanoi where she works as an English teacher. She called the vote a once-in-a-lifetime chance "to lift the culture of shame that surrounds this issue, so it was really important to me to be part of that."
U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, lost a bid on Friday to have certain criminal charges filed against him by special counsel Robert Mueller dismissed.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over Manafort's case in Washington, said in a ruling that she would not dismiss one of the charges against Manafort related to false statements concerning whether he was required to register as a foreign agent for Ukraine's then pro-Russia government.

However, she said the arguments his attorneys made regarding dismissing one of the charges could be re-examined after his criminal trial later this year.

A spokesman for Manafort declined to comment on the ruling.

Jackson's ruling marked yet another setback for Manafort. Earlier this month, the same judge refused to dismiss the entire indictment after Manafort's lawyers argued unsuccessfully that Mueller had overstepped his prosecutorial powers.

Manafort is facing two indictments, this one in Washington and another in Virginia, which both arose from Mueller's investigation into potential collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

Manafort is the most senior member of Trump's campaign to be indicted, though the charges do not relate to campaign activities.

In both cases, Manafort's lawyers claimed that the indictments should be dismissed on the ground that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein violated Justice Department rules when he tapped Mueller in May 2017 and gave him too much power.

Manafort's lawyers also filed more targeted requests to dismiss certain charges in the Washington case on more technical legal ground.

They argued that Jackson should dismiss one of two charges against him related to false statements because they target the same underlying offense and are therefore "multiplicitous" and violate the double-jeopardy clause of the U.S. Constitution. That clause prohibits charging a person twice for the same offense.

One of the charges in the indictment relates to making false statements, and the other alleges he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act when he filed false documents with the Justice Department.

Jackson said that in prior cases it was found that it is possible to violate one of these laws without violating the other and they are not necessarily redundant charges.

She added that, in light of these circumstances, it would be better to "defer this determination until after the trial."

She has yet to rule on a third request by Manafort to dismiss a money-laundering charge.
A jury has decided Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for illegally copying some of the iPhones features to lure people into buying its competing products.

The verdict reached Thursday is the latest twist in a legal battle that began in 2011. Apple contends Samsung wouldnt have emerged as the worlds leading seller of smartphones if it hadnt ripped off the technology powering the pioneering iPhone in developing a line of similar devices running on Googles Android software.

Patents infringed

Previous rulings had determined that Samsung infringed on some of Apples patents, but the amount of damages owed has been in legal limbo. Another jury convened for a 2012 trial had determined Samsung should pay Apple $1.05 billion, but U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh reduced that amount to $548 million.

The issue escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court , which determined in 2016 that a lower court needed to re-examine $399 million of the $548 million. That ruling was based on the concept that the damages shouldnt be based on all the profits that the South Korean electronics giant rung up from products that copied the iPhone because its infringement may only have violated a few patents.

$1 billion or $28 million?

Apple had argued it was owed more than $1 billon while Samsung contended the $399 million should be slashed to $28 million. The revised damages figure represents a victory for Apple, even though it isnt as much as the Cupertino, California, company had sought.

Todays decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages, Samsung said in a statement. We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.

An eight-person jury came up with the new amount following a one-week trial and four days of deliberation in a San Jose, California, federal courthouse.

Apple expressed gratitude to the jury for agreeing that Samsung should pay for copying our products.

This case has always been about more than money, a company statement said. Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design.
Imer still has fragments from a bullet in his back. The 43-year-old Mexican immigrant, who asked to be identified only by his first name, fled the Mexican state of Guerrero more than 20 years ago after he was shot in the back by a Mexican drug gang.

He entered the U.S. illegally in 1998 and settled in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he made a living working in construction. Two months ago he was arrested and put in detention in the York County Prison in south-central Pennsylvania.

Ive never committed a crime, not even a traffic ticket, he said, as he choked up with tears. Now, I dont know whats going to happen to my family if I am deported, he said. Imer has two American-born children.

Recently, he was among a dozen detained undocumented immigrants, all from Latin America and dressed in orange prison overalls, sitting at a long table in a small room inside the detention center listening to a presentation in Spanish about their legal options. Fernanda Castillo, a staffer from the Pennsylvania Immigration Resources, or PIRC, explained the legal remedies they might pursue.

Our main goal is to let them know what are their rights, what to expect in immigration court, Castillo later told VOA. Well talk about a couple of defenses to see if they are eligible for something and we talk about bond and voluntary departure as well.

PIRCs orientation class is indirectly funded by the U.S. Justice Department under the Legal Orientation Program, or LOP. Created in 2003 under the Bush administration, the LOP is aimed at giving detained immigrants some understanding of their rights and possible relief under U.S. immigration law. Administered by the Vera Institute of Justice, the $8 million-a-year program is carried out by PIRC and 17 other nonprofits in more than 30 detention centers from California to Virginia.

Legal orientation program

The orientation class lasts about an hour, as Castillo explained what the detainees could expect when they appear before a U.S. immigration judge. Most wanted to know about getting bail.

Am I eligible for bond? How low is the bond, how high is the bond, Castillo said. We get a lot of voluntary departure questions as well, a lot of people will not know the difference between a voluntary departure and a removal order, which can be an excruciating decision.

Voluntary departure means someone may be able to return legally someday, though usually years later. With removal, theres no chance, as Castillo explained to the class.

PIRC gets $200,000 a year for the information sessions and one-on-one workshops it conducts at the York County Prison.

PIRC Executive Director Mary Studzinski says the sessions have a direct impact on the immigration court process, now laboring under a backlog of more than 700,000 cases.

It allows someone when theyre done with that class to have a better sense of whether they have any hope of staying, and if they do, what might be an avenue that they could pursue, Studzinski told VOA in her office less than 2 kilometers from the prison.

If you know you have no remedy under law and theres no way you can stay, then probably your best answer is that, No, your honor, I would like to leave. (LOP) has an impact on the courts; it makes the courts more efficient, she said.

This kind of impact saves the U.S. Treasury almost $18 million a year, according to a 2012 government study of the LOP that included data and other information from the Vera Institute. A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo last year endorsed the LOP, saying informed detainees complete their cases faster.

Yet U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has expressed concerns about the program. Earlier this year, he suspended funding pending a review. But responding to congressional pressure, Sessions later told a Senate panel last month that funding would continue as the LOP is evaluated.

The judges job

A Justice Department spokesperson later told VOA that it is time for a new review.

We believe the reviews should be done on a more frequent basis, the spokesperson said. Theres a question about the (Vera Institute) methodology, and also we maintain that theres a large overlap between what the LOP does and what the immigration judges do. They (the LOP) explain the rights to the detainees but this is also done by the immigration judges.

But PIRCs Studzinski says theres no comparison. While some judges are more thorough than others, Ive seen it done in less than five minutes and they certainly dont take an hour.  So if you ask me if a judges advisal is the same thing as a legal orientation, I would say no. Do I think advisals are important, yes they absolutely should remain in place but they are in no way a substitute for the Legal Orientation Program.

Studzinski adds that PIRC this year is on track to orient 2,600 detainees, a figure much higher than two years ago.

The increase were seeing is people being swept in from the community who in the previous administration would never have been picked up, Studzinski said. These are people who have been in the community for 10, 15, 20 years, who have not violated any laws after entry.

Like Imer, who is hoping to apply for asylum. During the recent PIRC orientation class Imer said he had paid a lawyer $3,000 but had not heard from him in the two months he has been in jail. PIRC later found out the lawyer was simply a notary. The organization is now working to help Imer find legal representation.
In a marshy section of Cow Meadow Park in Freeport, Long Island, longtime resident Cory Brewer bikes through the thick air and stops to take in the greenery before continuing on to the waterfront.

Trailing nearby, a flock of baby geese, supervised by a parent, crosses a dirt path and plops into the water. A Latino father and his two kids watch the birds swim.

But somewhere across the vast 171-acre park, a reminder of Freeports history of deadly gang violence lingers. There, in October, FBI authorities found the remains of a missing teenager, Javier Castillo, believed to be a victim of the violent street gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13.

In a span of two years, there have been more than two dozen MS-13-linked deaths across Long Island, New York. But as disturbing and alarming as the gangs gruesome murder methods are to residents, some feel the focusing of the national spotlight on their community is curious, following President Donald Trumps visit Wednesday, his second gang-related event in Long Island since taking office.

Cory Brewer, who grew up in Freeport, lost several acquaintances to MS-13 murders dating back to 2000.

Trump gets into office, and now theres a big whoop-dee-doo about it, when  what I know about this situation  people have been dying from these situations with the MS-13 gang for quite some time, Brewer said.

A publicity stunt?

Since taking office, Trump has used the machete-wielding criminal network with Salvadoran roots as part of a larger push to crack down on illegal immigration.

During Wednesdays roundtable discussion in Bethpage, Nassau County, he used a controversial reference for MS-13 gang members for the third time in a week  These are not people, theyre animals  to the cheers of attendees and local supporters.

Long Island resident Patricia Dwyer, who had donned a Women for Trump T-shirt for a small rally in Bethpage, said she is concerned about her immigrant neighbors, who are most often the targets.

They come here. They think theyre safe. Theyre gonna work through and try to get citizenship or whatever, and theyre terrorizing their own communities, Dwyer said, and theyre like, We came all this way to experience the same thing? Thats not what America is.

Were Long Islanders, so were in this together, Dwyer added.

But others wonder why more attention isnt paid to other community safety issues.

I dont understand why people are not as concerned when we talk about shootings and other stuff. Is it about race? Thats what Im feeling now, said Gabriela Andrade, an Ecuadorian immigrant and community organizer with Make the Road New York in Brentwood, Long Island, a hamlet with a heavily concentrated Salvadoran community.

Is it because were Latinos and were brown? she asked.

One of 33,000 gangs

With an estimated 10,000 gang members across the country, MS-13 accounts for just a fraction of the 1.4 million members of criminally active violent gangs, according to FBI statistics, and is one of 33,000 gangs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Migrants fleeing El Salvadors 12-year civil war in the 1980s, flocked to Long Island, which by 2012 had grown to 100,000, according to U.S. Census data.

During Wednesdays roundtable, Nassau County Police Department Commissioner Patrick Ryder said there are about 500 MS-13 members in the county, half of them active.

In 2017 we had six kids that were murdered in Nassau County by MS-13, Ryder said. Of those six, one was shot in the face. One was shot in the back of the head. Four of them were violently butchered by machetes and buried in shallow graves throughout our county, he said.

If he (Trump) can do something, God bless him. But I dont see how anybody is going to stop this, said Dave Pinero, a lifelong resident of the area. I know a lot of people from El Salvador, but theyre not MS-13, you know? Theyre hard-workers, how do you weed em out?

Separating gang members from immigrants

To me, its a war on immigrants, Cory Brewer said.

Its just another way to use an excuse to invade peoples privacy, so that you can look into them and see if you can basically deport them out of the country in some form or matter, he said.

Yet, immigrants among the towns residents welcome the idea of eliminating the gang.

When immigrants do bad things, I think that each country takes care of that and tries to fix the situation, said Javier Lechuga, a 26-year resident of Freeport. I dont think the U.S. is any exception.

Originally from Barranquilla, Colombia, Lechuga, who has worked as a waterfront restaurant cook and handyman on Woodcleft Avenue since he arrived in the U.S., feels the MS-13 gang has become less menacing in recent years, to his relief as the father of two, including a 17-year-old son.

But across Long Island, he says any solution to eradicate a violent group without placing targets on law-abiding Latinos  like his own family  is complicated. He looks to his son as an example of the success that comes from hard-working immigrant families.

My son received honors in school, and one of his certificates has the signature of President Trump, said Lechuga, holding back tears.

That makes me very proud, because if theyre talking about my community, I believe my son exceeds the bad reputation sometimes attributed to immigrants.

Spanish Service reporter Celia Mendoza contributed to this report.
Nations that remain in the Iran nuclear deal meet on Friday for the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump left the pact, but diplomats see limited scope to salvage it after Washington vowed to be tougher than ever on Tehran.

British, Chinese, French, German and Russian officials will try to flesh out with Iran's deputy foreign minister a strategy to save the deal by keeping oil and investment flowing, while circumventing U.S. sanctions that risk hurting the economy.

The 2015 accord rests on lifting sanctions and allowing business with Iran in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear program. The deal's proponents say it is crucial to forestalling a nuclear Iran and preventing wider war in the Middle East.

But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday threatened the Islamic Republic with "the strongest sanctions in history" if it did not change its behavior in the Middle East.

"Pompeo was like taking a cold shower," said a European diplomat. "We'll try to cling to the deal hoping that there is a possibility of a transaction, but we're under no illusions."

At the heart of Friday's talks, chaired by the European Union, Iranian officials will seek guarantees from the Europeans that they can protect trade. They will also want assurances that all parties will continue to buy Iranian oil.

Iran's supreme leader set out a series of conditions on Wednesday for Iran to stay in the deal.

"This is a very important meeting that will show whether the other parties are serious about the deal or not," an Iranian official told Reuters. "We will understand whether, as our leader, said, the European can give us reliable guarantees or not."

Highlighting how difficult it will be, the U.S. Treasury announced Thursday more sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies and a number of aircraft in a move targeting four Iranian airlines.

Some Western companies have already quit Iran or said they may have to leave because of U.S. sanctions.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said he expected the other signatories to present "a new package" that would be within the boundaries of the agreement, but did not include "any other issues."

Trump denounced the accord, completed under his predecessor Barack Obama, because it did not cover Iran's ballistic missile program, its role in Middle East conflicts or what happens after the deal begins to expire in 2025.

While European nations share those concerns, they have said that as long as Tehran meets its commitments, they would remain in the deal.

The U.N. atomic watchdog policing the pact said on Thursday Iran continued to comply with the terms of the deal, but could be faster and more proactive in allowing snap inspections.

"The European desire to remain in the agreement does not, however, detract from the concerns we have with regard to Iran," France's foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday.

"That is why we proposed to establish a comprehensive negotiating framework with Iran. We want Iran to understand the value of a cooperative approach."
North Korea said Friday that it was still willing to sit for talks with the United States at any time, (in) any format, after President Donald called off a summit with the Norths leader, Kim Jong Un.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, a longtime nuclear negotiator and senior diplomat, said in a statement carried by state media that the North is willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities to reconsider talks that had been set for June 12 in Singapore.

Trump canceled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, blaming recent threatening statements by Pyongyang to pull out of the summit over what it saw as confrontational remarks by U.S. officials.

I believe that this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and, indeed, a setback for the world, said the president in noontime remarks in the White House Roosevelt Room before signing an unrelated bill.

The president also warned that the military forces of the United States are more ready than we have ever been before, along with allies South Korea and Japan, should North Korea take any foolish or reckless acts.

'Urgent necessity' for summit

Kim Kye Gwan said North Koreas recent criticisms of certain U.S. officials had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric, and that the current antagonism showed the urgent necessity for the summit.

We have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other U.S. presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit, Kim Kye Gwan statement said.

We even inwardly hoped that what is called Trump formula would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue, he said, without elaborating.

On Thursday morning, the White House released a letter Trump wrote to Kim saying: "I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate at this time to have this long-planned meeting."

According to a senior White House official, "the president dictated every word of the letter himself."

North Korea's reaction was subdued and conciliatory.

WATCH: Trump Pulls Out of Summit With N. Korea: What's Next?

The North's official news agency put out a statement by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan saying, "We had set in high regards President Trump's efforts, unprecedented by any other president, to create a historic U.S.-North Korea summit. We tell the United States once more that we are open to resolving problems at any time in any way."

But the statement said Trump's decision was not in line with the world's wishes and that Kim made the utmost effort to hold the summit.

The North Koreans were a no-show for a preparatory meeting in Singapore last week, part of a trail of broken promises, lack of good faith and poor communication prompting the president's decision, according to administration officials.

"We simply couldn't get them to pick up the phone," a White House senior official told reporters during a background briefing Thursday afternoon.

The last straw, according to the White House, was an insult of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence earlier Thursday in a statement by North Korea's vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui. She called Pence a "political dummy" and warned  in rhetoric typical of that uttered by Pyongyang  of a nuclear confrontation.

In his letter, Trump responded in kind, referencing U.S. nuclear capabilities "so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

The Pentagon said it is poised for any "provocative actions" by Pyongyang.

"We are in a boxer stance, we are ready to respond," Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, director of the U.S. military's Joint Staff, told reporters Thursday.

Trump emphasized in his on-camera remarks that sanctions and "the maximum pressure campaign will continue" to be applied on North Korea, while expressing hope Pyongyang's leadership would decide to join the community of nations.

Trump's letter caught allies by surprise. The president did not call South Korean President Moon Jae-in or Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to inform them of it, White House officials confirmed.

Moon hastily convened a middle-of-the-night meeting of his top security officials before expressing "deep regret" over the summit's cancellation, urging direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang and adding that denuclearization of the Korean peninsula should not be delayed.

North Korea had threatened to pull out of the unprecedented summit after U.S. officials called for the so-called Libya model approach, which involved that African country's total nuclear dismantlement before any concessions were granted.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in Senate testimony Thursday, when asked about his meetings in Pyongyang with Kim concerning North Korean total denuclearization, responded that "there was little doubt in my mind that he understood the scope of what we were asking for."

A number of analysts tell VOA News there could still be a Trump-Kim summit soon.

"Don't cancel your reservations for Singapore just yet," former U.S. deputy secretary of state Anthony Blinken told VOA's Korean Service. "This is unlikely to be the final word. President Trump and Kim Jong Un are engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken based on the shared assumption that the other wants and needs the summit more."

According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology associate professor of political science Vipin Narang, "This is an inflection point in the administration policy toward North Korea."

Narang, an author of two books on nuclear strategy, told VOA News that "one camp may prefer to see if working-level diplomacy can get things back on track, and maybe eventually get to a summit. Another camp may try to use this as evidence that diplomacy is doomed to fail, and that denuclearizing North Korea by force  attacking a nuclear weapons power  is the only remaining option."

The hardline camp would be emboldened and empowered by any future North Korean nuclear or long-range missile test, predicts Narang. "So, if Kim is truly interested in some deal  well short of disarmament, obviously  his smartest move now is to exercise restraint."

Trump has responded to North Korea in "a particularly ham-handed way," according to John Feffer, the director of the Foreign Policy in Focus project at the Institute for Policy Studies. "Trump didn't just cancel the summit. He sent a veiled threat of using nuclear weapons. I hope this won't be his only opportunity to help resolve the conflict with North Korea."
U.S. efforts to combat terrorists based on the African continent are running into a myriad of problems, perhaps none so vexing, or dangerous, as the constantly shifting alliances and aims of the terrorist fighters themselves.

No longer beholden to one group or ideology, or even to the highest bidder, these terror operatives are steadily blurring the lines dividing one group from another.

The result, according to Western and African defense and intelligence officials, is new type of higher-level terror operative, willing to work for competing, brand-name terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State, sometimes simultaneously.

"You need a bit of a decoder ring and you really have to keep up on it to figure out what one group of fighters is currently aligned with what other group," Christopher Maier, director of the Defeat ISIS Core Task Force at the U.S. Defense Department, told VOA.

"They do mergers and acquisitions basically on a regular basis," he said. "Most of the capability in terms of fighters and leaders moves as it serves their local interests."

As a result, terror attacks can be harder to attribute, with successes at times possibly the result of help or planning from more than one group, even from both al-Qaida and IS.

Such attributions have even become the source of disagreements among U.S. counterterrorism agencies and officials.

Tunis attack

One example is the March 2015 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis that killed 22 people.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials pinned responsibility on IS. Two months later, a U.S airstrike targeted a prime suspect, IS planner Noureddine Chouchane, a Tunisian national who had also been moving IS fighters through IS camps in Libya to other countries.

"Chouchane's removal will eliminate an experienced facilitator and is expected to have an immediate impact on ISIL's ability to facilitate its activities in Libya," said then-Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook, using an acronym for Islamic State.

While Chouchane may have been the prime suspect, it was clear he was not working alone.

In the time since the strike targeting Chouchane, some U.S. officials came to believe he had help from another terror facilitator familiar to African counterterror officials, Wanas al-Faqih.

Only that was a problem. Whereas Chouchane was working for Islamic State, Faqih was known for his work for IS's northern African rival, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

"Wanas al-Faqih is an AQIM associate who planned the March 18, 2015, Bardo Museum attack in Tunis, Tunisia, that killed at least 20 people," the State Department said in a statement this past January, when he was named as a specially designated terrorist.

U.S. counterterrorism officials outside the State Department quickly pushed back.

"The 18 March 2015 Bardo Museum attack in Tunis was conducted by ISIS-aligned Tunisians operating out of Sabratha, Libya," a senior counterterrorism official told VOA. "AQIM was not involved with planning the attack."

Yet State Department officials insisted Faqih was involved, just that he was not acting on behalf of the al-Qaida affiliate.

"Wanas al-Faqih is dual-hatted," a State Department counterterror official clarified to VOA. "He has worked for both AQ [al-Qaida] and ISIS."

Fluid terror landscape

The terror landscape in Africa has always been fluid. Some counterterrorism officials have at times described various hot spots on the continent as jihadist resorts, where low-level fighters can rest and resupply before joining up with a new terror group.

Yet even as IS and al-Qaida compete for followers and affiliates, the willingness for higher-ranking jihadists to be "dual-hatted" has taken some by surprise, especially since it has long been discouraged at the very highest levels of both terror organizations.

"It's been a long-evolving process," said Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a U.S. Defense Department institution.

That has been especially true in parts Mali and Burkina Faso, where AQIM has been trying to expand since 2012, at one point taking major Malian cities like Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu with the help of seminomadic Tuareg rebels.

Despite that initial success, analysts say, AQIM was never able to solidify support among local jihadists.

"These groups are broken off, they re-form in different configurations, they change names," said Siegle. "Sometimes there's rivalry, sometimes there's cooperation."

And that fluidity extends up the chain of command.

"We see a lot of exchanges happening, either leaders going from one group to another or creating their own group when they're not happy with the group they were in," he said.

Problematic counterterror response

The constant state of flux on the ground has made the fight against the jihadist groups more difficult, both for African states and the U.S.

"Most people actually think that the threat is ended once you close them inside cells. That's wrong," Ambassador Mohamed Salah Tamek, delegate general of Morocco's Penitentiary and Reintegration Administration, said during a visit to the U.S. late last year.

"The point is not to put these offenders in prison but rather convincing them to disengage from religious extremism," he said, adding the key is not to take on the group or brand but rather the underlying thinking.

"These people are understanding religion differently," Tamek said. "The religious discourse is misleading them, or they're being misled by wrong ideas about jihad."

For the United States, which has about 7,500 troops and contractors in Africa, the challenge is just as daunting, as evidenced by the October 2017 ambush of a U.S. team in Niger by an IS affiliate that left four Army Special Forces soldiers dead.

While a months-long investigation into the incident found the joint U.S.-Nigerien mission was plagued by problems up and down the chain of command, it also revealed a jihadist threat that was more vibrant and capable than previously thought.

Unseen magnitude, capability

"They knew activities went on there, but they had never seen anything in this magnitude  numbers, mobility and training," General Thomas Waldhauser, commander of U.S. Africa Command, told Pentagon reporters earlier this month.

Since the ambush, U.S. Africa Command has not only increased the firepower available to its forces on the ground but also has ramped up its use of drones and other surveillance to get a better sense of the size and composition of the jihadist groups they are facing.

"ISIS-GS [Islamic State  Greater Sahel] is one of the many violent extremist groups in that particular region of the Mali-Niger border," Waldhauser said. "They change allegiances quite frequently, because there's underpinnings to AQIM and a group called JNIM, Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin."

The fluid state of play is also forcing U.S. and African forces to put a greater premium on tracking individual leaders, like Doundou Chefou, currently a key player in the IS affiliate in Niger who was being targeted by U.S. and Nigerien forces at the time of the October 2017 ambush.

"These groups tend to combine around personalities and different, more localized interest," the Defeat ISIS Core Task Force's Maier told VOA.

The way they identify or brand themselves has increasingly less to do with ideology and more to do with pure convenience.

"Sometimes it behooves them more on what they're trying to achieve to put the ISIS brand on them, much as in the past it was an al-Qaida-type brand," Maier added. "Opportunistic is kind of how we tend to think of those groups down there."

VOA's Carol Guensburg contributed to this report.
Pakistan rejected Friday U.S. assertions American diplomats in the country are being mistreated as relations between the two uneasy allies in the "war on terrorism" continue to deteriorate.



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the issue Wednesday about the treatment of U.S. diplomats serving in Pakistan during a Senate panel hearing.

"My officers, our state department officers are being treated badly as well, folks working in the embassies and councils [and] in other places are not being treated well by the Pakistani government either," Pompeo said.



When asked about Pompeo's assertions at his weekly news conference Friday, however, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal disagreed.



"The Foreign Ministry has not received any specific complaints from the U.S. side after the establishment of the mechanism to resolve the issue on treatment of U.S. diplomats in Pakistan," he said.



Faisal noted that "every possible support as per international laws and norms as well as reciprocity" is being given to diplomats from all countries in Pakistan.



Earlier this month, Washington ordered Pakistani diplomats in the U.S. not to travel beyond 40 kilometers from their posts without prior permission. Islamabad retaliated and imposed similar restrictions on American diplomats in the country.



In January, President Trump suspended nearly $2 billion in military assistance to Pakistan until the country moves decisively against terrorist sanctuaries on its territory being used to launch deadly attacks on American forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

The allegations have long dogged Islamabad's relations with Washington. Traditionally mistrusted mutual ties have been particularly on the downslide since August when President Donald Trump announced a new South Asia Strategy, blaming Pakistan for fueling the Afghan conflict by supporting Taliban insurgents.



Islamabad rejected the Trump strategy as an attempt to scapegoat Pakistan for U.S. security failures in Afghanistan.



In rare comments Thursday, U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko also questioned Washington's narrative of singling out Pakistan as the key problem.

"We keep referring to Pakistan as being the key problem. But the problem also was that the Afghan government at times was viewed very negatively by their local people," Sopko noted.



He was delivering a public talk at the Brookings Institution in Washington on U.S.-funded stabilization programs in Afghanistan. Sopko has until now avoided comments on external dimensions of the Afghan war.



SIGAR has been submitting quarterly reports to Congress with a mandate to prevent fraud and recommend better spending of U.S. taxpayers' money in Afghanistan. In its quarterly reports, the oversight authority has regularly cited Afghan political tensions, governance issues and corruption as main drivers fueling the Taliban insurgency.



"When we poured so much money into these unstable environments we contributed that problem of creating more warlords, more powerful people who basically took the law into their own hands. So, in essence the government we introduced, particularly some of the Afghan Local Police forces, which were nothing other than warlord militias with some uniforms on, were just as bad as the terrorists that were there before," said Sopko.



Former commander of U.S. and foreign forces in Afghanistan, retired Gen. John Allen, who hosted Sopko's talk, also underlined the need for tackling simultaneously the triangular threat of the Taliban, narcotics and criminal patronage networks operating in the country.



"If we are not properly mixed that way we will fool ourselves to believing we have defeated the Taliban in a particular area only to find out that now we got the criminal patronage networks to work in. They are deeply embedded in the society and they are well fueled with their drug enterprise."
More than 3,000 members of the Hazara minority have been killed in targeted killings and terror attacks in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province since 2001, leaders of the community told the country's Senate Thursday.

The Senate's Committee for Human Rights held a special session to hear the grievances of the Hazara community, which has experienced a surge in attacks in recent years.

"We have put our case in front of the committee with a hope that the government will take action against the unlawful killings of Hazaras," Jalila Haider, a Hazara lawyer and human rights activist, told VOA. "Most of the Hazara community members were killed and targeted in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. We have continued to face the brutality for over two decades now because we belong to a certain ethnic and minority group."

Senator Muhammad Ali Khan Saif, a member of the human rights committee, told VOA that the Shiite community "has remained vulnerable for decades in Balochistan."

"It is our responsibility to listen to their grievances. Based on their statements, we will compile our recommendations and send it to relevant authorities for further action," he said.

The human rights committee will meet again in June to assess the situation.

Hazaras are largely based in and around Quetta, Balochistan's capital. In the 19th century, the ancestors of Quetta's Hazaras sought refuge in the area to escape persecution and poverty in central Afghanistan.

'Constant fear'

Members of the Hazara community said they hoped the meeting with Pakistani lawmakers would help ease their plight.

"We are forced to live in a state of constant fear. We have restrictions on our movement due to security concerns. We hope the government will listen to our concerns," Abdul Khaliq Hazara, an ethnic Hazara politician, told VOA.

"During the month of April this year, there were at least four separate incidents of killings against us in Balochistan. These people come out of nowhere and kill us for no reason. And there's nothing the government or the security forces have done to stop this atrocity," he added.

Government stance

The provincial government rejects allegations that it is not protecting the community. The government said it has taken adequate measures to prevent attacks.

"The government is committed to taking action against terrorism indiscriminately. Hazaras are our brothers, and it is our priority to ensure those who are involved in killings against the group will be arrested," Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Balochistan's home minister, told VOA.

In early May, a large number of Hazaras went on a hunger strike in Quetta that lasted more than five days to pressure the government to take measures against racial profiling and targeted killings.

The protest was called off after Pakistan's army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, met with community leaders to assure them that their concerns would be addressed.

"Those targeting the Hazara community will suffer twice as much, and the state and Pakistan army will provide security to the community," Bajwa assured them.

Pakistan's military later issued a statement saying security forces in Balochistan had killed a senior pro-Islamic State militant commander who was wanted for the killing of more than 100 Hazaras and policemen in the province.

Fleeing the country

Because of insecurity and continued attacks against the minority group, thousands of Hazaras have left Pakistan in recent years.

"Due to the continuous targeted killings against the community, around 90,000 families have relocated to Indonesia, Turkey and other countries," Haider said. "In the name of security, we're being forced to live in concentration camp-like conditions under the vigilance of security forces. This is not a life we want. We want to enjoy freedom."
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says if Iranian leaders accept U.S. demands to behave like a normal nation, Americans will visit Iran and treat it as a friend.

In an exclusive interview with VOA's Persian service broadcast Friday, Pompeo said the goal of the new Iran strategy that he revealed earlier this week is to set conditions for Iran's Islamist rulers to behave like "normal leaders." Speaking to VOA at the State Department on Thursday, he said "normal" leaders do not loot from their people or waste their money on "adventures" in Syria and Yemen, as he put it.

"If we can create conditions where [Iran's leaders] will stop that [behavior], the Iranian people will have great success, and we will have Americans visiting there, and we will have all the great things that we do when there are friends and allies," Pompeo said.

The top U.S. diplomat elaborated on one of the 12 conditions from his strategy speech by saying Iran should allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect military sites and research laboratories. In the May 21 speech, he had called for the IAEA to have unqualified access to "all sites throughout the entire country."

In his VOA Persian interview, Pompeo also expanded on the U.S. demand for Iran to end threats to destroy Israel and end other threatening behaviors toward neighboring states. He said Iranian leaders should not only stop encouraging public chants of "Death to Israel," but also "Death to America."

"When you have senior leaders [and] others fomenting these sort of fake gatherings to do nothing but  chant, 'Death to America' or 'Death to Israel,' the Iranian leadership ought to stop  because it is not the right thing for their people," he said.

Pompeo reiterated that the U.S. does not seek regime change in Iran and advised exiled Iranian opposition groups not to do so, either. "We do not want them advocating for regime change," he said. Pompeo said that as long as such groups are working toward the same goals as the U.S., he welcomes their efforts.

But, Pompeo said some "smaller" opposition groups have not always aligned themselves with U.S. goals, without naming which groups he was referring to. "We want them working on behalf of the Iranian people, ordinary Iranian citizens who want nothing more than to live their lives, to be able to take their hijab off, to be able to go to work and raise their families and worship in the way they want to worship."

Pompeo said the Trump administration will support congressional efforts to pass legislation that would try to expose the hidden wealth of top Iranian leaders, whose many critics inside Iran view as corrupt.

"The Iranian people deserve the truth. You have senior leaders that are pocketing money, using businesses that are nominally fronts, and frankly, just stealing. To the extent we can prove that and demonstrate that, I would welcome the chance to expose it so the Iranian people can judge for themselves whether these are the individuals they want to lead their country," he said.

The Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act would require the U.S. Treasury Secretary to publish reports about the estimated financial assets of senior Iranian leaders suspected of corruption. The bill passed the House in December and has been taken up by a Senate committee.

Pompeo also said the State Department is working "every day" to try to bring home Robert Levinson, an American who disappeared March 9, 2007, while visiting Iran's Kish Island as a private investigator.

"As for other Americans [detained in Iran], we hope that the Iranian leadership [President Hassan] Rouhani, [Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif, [Supreme Leader] Ayatollah [Ali Khamenei] all would see that it is in their best interests  and for nothing more than basic humanity  to allow these innocent Americans to return to their families."

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Persian Service.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed an international investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airliner MH17 over east Ukraine in 2014 as deeply flawed, after investigators concluded Russia's military provided the missile used in the attack that killed all 298 people aboard.

Asked about the Joint Investigative Team (JIT) report during a press briefing with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron in St. Petersburg, Putin said that, while he had been too busy to read the report, "I can say right away, even not knowing what's in it."

"From the very beginning, we offered to work together on the investigation into the tragedy. To our surprise, they didn't allow us to participate," said the Russian leader.

Putin complained that, while Russia had been excluded from the investigation, neighboring Ukraine was invited to take part.

"The Ukrainian side is there, despite the fact that Ukraine violated international law and failed to close its airspace over territory where a military conflict was happening."

Putin's comments follow a report by prosecutors from six nations that identified a Russian military unit  the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade in the Russian city of Kursk  as the source of the "Buk" missile that brought down the passenger plane.

It also comes amid mounting international pressure for Russia to acknowledge the veracity of the JIT findings.

The Netherlands, which lost 193 citizens in the attack, informed Moscow on Friday that it held the Russian state legally responsible and would pursue compensation. Dutch authorities say Australia would pursue similar legal action.

The United States, European Union, United Kingdom and NATO have also called on Russia to accept responsibility and fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability.

Theories debunked

Malaysian Airliner MH17 was shot down over territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine in July, 2014 en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. At the time, intense fighting raged between the Ukrainian army and the Moscow-backed separatists.

Russia has always denied any involvement in the tragedy and provided a range of theories  since debunked  arguing Ukraine was behind the attack.

On Friday, Russia's defense ministry again issued a denial, saying "not a single anti-aircraft missile system" from the Russian Federation had ever crossed the border into Ukraine, despite photographic evidence presented by the JIT investigation to the contrary.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also dismissed Russian culpability, saying the case resembled accusations against Moscow following the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the UK.

"It looks much like the Skripal affair when they said it was highly likely done by Russians," said Lavrov. The foreign minister then accused western powers of using the tragedy to pursue political goals.

Meanwhile, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin suggested Russia was already preparing for additional sanctions.

While the JIT report places blame squarely on Russia for providing the missile, investigators say they have yet to determine individuals behind the attack.
The warring parties in South Sudan are facing renewed international pressure to honor a cease-fire and reach a peace deal, after failing to reach any kind of agreement at talks in Addis Ababa this week.

The East African bloc IGAD, which mediated the talks, has said it will consider "punitive measures" against violators of last year's cessation-of-hostilities accord. The African Union gave a similar warning ahead of the talks.

Neither the AU nor IGAD outlined what those measures may be. Envoys from the United States and Britain said more countries need to impose sanctions on individuals and groups seen to be blocking the peace process.

"We have taken an approach using sanctions where we want to apply pressure and also to hold people accountable," said Brian Shukan, director of the office of the U.S. Special Envoy for South Sudan. "That is something we think needs to be echoed as much as possible by countries in the region and in the international community."

Christopher Trott, Britain's special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, agrees.

"We are in the process of looking [for] ways in which we can introduce sanctions on individuals, both for corrupt practices and for obstructing the peace process," he told VOA's South Sudan in Focus.

Brian Adeba is the deputy director of policy for the Enough Project, which researches alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in several African countries.

He says corruption is at the heart the war between President Salva Kiir's government and opposition groups.

"What is at the root cause of this conflict is an incentive structure, a financial incentive structure that allows this intransigence to perpetuate itself and we need to tackle that incentive structure. Unless we do that, I don't think we are going to see peace in South Sudan at the moment," he told VOA.

South Sudan's resources have dwindled since the start of the war in December 2013 but the government still earns money from oil sales and fees for various services, such as passports.

"The system itself is so corrupt, corruption is not an aberration, it is the system," Adeba said.

The war, now in its fifth year, has driven more than four million South Sudanese from their homes and caused a humanitarian crisis that has left some seven million people in need of aid.

Last year, the U.S. imposed travel and financial sanctions on two top South Sudanese government officials and a former army chief. The European Union imposed sanctions on the same three men in February.

In March, the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on 15 South Sudanese oil companies that it said were key sources of cash for the government.
Two Ebola patients who fled a hospital quarantine area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo later attended a prayer meeting, potentially exposing at least 50 participants to the dangerous virus.

The incident demonstrates the risks of limited public awareness of Ebola and how the virus spreads. So governments and aid groups are boosting efforts to educate the public as part of a broader response to an Ebola outbreak that as of Thursday was suspected in 52 cases of hemorrhagic fever. Of those, 31 have been confirmed as Ebola, with 13 likely and eight possible, the DRC health ministry said. The death toll was revised from 27 to 22, but its expected to grow.

We try to raise awareness and tell people that, no matter their beliefs, it is crucial for patients to remain in health centers for treatment, the health minister, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, told VOA in a phone interview. This is part of the community awareness campaign, and it must continue and reach all groups in the population.

Religious and traditional leaders must be involved, because there are many beliefs surrounding the Ebola virus, Kalenga said, later adding that a pastor helped officials find one of the patients who fled.

How it starts, spreads

The disease, initially transmitted to humans from wild animals such as fruit bats, monkeys and forest antelope, spreads through direct contact with an infected persons bodily fluids. Early symptoms can include fever, sore throat, fatigue, muscle pain and headache. Symptoms can take up to 21 days to emerge.

The outbreaks epicenter is in a remote area of northwestern DRC, in Equateur province. Several cases have been confirmed in its provincial capital, Mbandaka, where the patients had fled from the Ebola treatment center. The city has more than 1 million residents, heightening the risk of further infection.

The hospital where it currently is located is in the middle of the city, with many people coming and going, Kalenga said. So health officials have decided to relocate the treatment center, run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders, to a site outside the city. That facility is expected to open later this week.

Coordinated messaging

Aid groups, coordinated by the World Health Organization, have been working to support the Congolese governments response.

A Red Cross team arrived earlier this month in Equateur province with supplies including chlorine disinfectant, safe burial kits and informational posters.

The most important tool that we have, the only tool to tackle viruses, is information and sharing it, Julie Hall, special adviser on health for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in a video clip posted Thursday on Twitter.

The IRFC also posted an animated, one-minute video explaining safe burial practices and why they should be observed.

Dangers of misinformation

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said health workers have hit stumbling blocks in explaining the risks of Ebola and how an experimental vaccine, introduced this week in Congo, might help.

Some people see Ebola as witchcraft, he told VOA. Health workers and burial teams have reported threats amid rumors that theyre bringing the disease with them.

Misinformation also helped fan the West Africa outbreak that began in late 2013 and, over the course of more than two years, killed at least 11,300 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Reports surfaced of attacks on health workers or burial teams accused of disrespecting corpses.

It took aggressive, targeted messaging to allay fears and change behaviors, said Jennifer McQuiston, an official with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an expert on infectious disease. She had deployed to Sierra Leones capital as the Ebola caseload there started rising dramatically in October 2014.

An international communications group had assembled 200 critical messages,important but hard to absorb at once, McQuiston recalled in a phone interview Thursday. So, guided by data on where and how Ebola was spreading, the group came out with an Ebola big idea of the week.

First up: Safe burials save lives. McQuiston said people were urged to accept burial teams with protective gear and disinfectant to safely remove bodies, characterizing this as an honorable measure. They also were encouraged to pledge that if you died of Ebola, you would want your loved ones to give you a safe burial.

Another week, the message was to seek early treatment, to deconstruct the myth that people [with Ebola] were better off at home, McQuiston said. Going to an Ebola treatment center gives you a much better chance of surviving, and its going to save your familys lives.

Messages were delivered across radio, TV, social media and billboards, including in picture form, essential in areas with low literacy rates.

McQuistons detail lasted less than two months, and she returned to the United States.

I actually went back to Sierra Leone a year later, in October 2015, and they were on the cusp of being declared Ebola-free by WHO, she said. They were proud. They changed their behavior.

Control measures

With the current DRC outbreak, health experts have rolled out an information campaign that encourages vaccinations not only for front-line health workers but also for relatives and friends of those who have contracted Ebola. The WHO said some 10,000 people should be vaccinated within the next month.

Health officials are identifying and monitoring those whove come in contact with infected individuals.

Meanwhile, Kalenga said all the people traveling in and out of Mbandaka were being monitored for elevated temperature that might indicate infection. In the West African outbreak that began in late 2013 and killed more than 11,000, airport monitors used non-contact thermometers.

Nigeria, too, has reactivated temperature screening at its land borders, airports and seaports. The continents most populous country, with 186 million residents, experienced an outbreak in July 2014 that left seven dead. The WHO pronounced it Ebola-free that October.

Information campaigns also promote washing hands with a chlorine solution to kill the virus.

Handwashing stations have surfaced in public places. UNICEF has set up them up at entrances to schools, and teachers have been instructing students to forgo regular greetings of hugs or handshakes. During the West African outbreak, youngsters waved to or bumped elbows with each other.

This reporting originated in VOAs Africa Division. Contributors include Paul Alexander and Carol Guensburg.
Its been almost two decades since Illinois farmer Scott Halpin drove a newer tractor through the fields of Grundy County.

Thankfully, as he helps pour soybean seeds into the planter that eventually will place them in the soil, the equipment his family is using is well-serviced and so far  reliable.

Hopefully, that doesnt change anytime soon, because Halpin says he cant afford it.

Not under this farm economy, he told VOA, peering at the fields and the iconic green and yellow tractors his family owns, made in America by John Deere, headquartered in Moline, Illinois.

New equipment more expensive

John Deere saw a surge in sales and profits in the early part of 2018, but that was before aluminum and steel tariffs were imposed by the United States on China.

Now Deere, which uses steel in its equipment, plans to increase prices for 2019 models to protect profits.

That means it isnt getting cheaper for Halpin to make a new purchase.

The increased cost of equipment with the declining farm economy right now doesnt make it real smart for us, or doesnt make it what we want to do for our farming operation here, he said.

As tensions ease somewhat over a potential trade war while negotiations continue between the U.S. and China, uncertainty remains about tariffs and the eventual impact on the U.S. agricultural industry. Its taking a toll on U.S. farmers like Halpin, heading to the fields to plant this years crop. Its also a growing concern for companies that supply the U.S. agricultural industry.

Hit from both sides

For companies like John Deere and Caterpillar, they really get hit on both sides of the trade dispute spectrum, said Mark Grywacheski, an investment adviser with the Quad Cities Investment Group. He explained that the cost for farmers and their suppliers to do business expands beyond the additional tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on imported aluminum imposed by the U.S.

So, if John Deere makes a routine purchase of $10 million of imported steel, they now have to cut another check for $2.5 million to the federal government, and that increases their operating costs, Grywacheski told VOA. On the other side, you have China threatening the U.S. with $150 billion of their own tariffs, primarily targeting the U.S. agricultural industry. Not only does that impact farmers, but it impacts those companies with ties to the farming industry.

A daily effect

Increased cost for farm equipment and concerns about competitive access to a big market like China, which has depressed prices for corn and soybeans, is creating the perfect economic storm for farmers like the Halpins.

The decline in the market has a daily effect on every farm in this country. Halpin said the relentless news about renegotiating trade deals and tariffs also has a daily effect and what he wants most, almost as much as favorable weather this year for his crops, is some sense of stability.

With the negotiations the way theyre happening, it can hurt when things happen on a daily basis. Its just kind of uncertain times here in farming, he noted.

Its a time when, even before new tariffs, the U.S. Agriculture Department projected net farm income in 2018 to reach a 12-year low.
South Korea said Saturday it is carefully watching the developments between the United States and North Korea, after 24 hours of uncertainty as U.S. President Donald Trump canceled then mused about reinstatement of a historic summit June 12 in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

We see it as fortunate that the embers of dialogue between North Korea and the United States werent fully extinguished and are coming alive again, Seouls presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement.

Striking a more optimistic tone, U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that the White House is having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit.

In an evening tweet, Trump said the talks will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.

The newest development came after North Korea said early Friday that it remained willing to meet with Trump despite his decision to scrap plans for the historic meeting in Singapore with leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump canceled the planned talks with Kim on Thursday, blaming recent threatening statements by Pyongyang to pull out of the summit over what it saw as confrontational remarks by U.S. officials.

The North Korean diplomat Kim Kye Gwan said Pyongyangs recent criticisms had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric, and that the current antagonism showed the urgent necessity for the summit.

WATCH: Trump Says US-North Korea Talks Could be Back on

We have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other U.S. presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit, Kim Kye Gwan's statement said.

In a letter released by the White House on Thursday, Trump said, I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate at this time to have this long-planned meeting.

The White House said Trump dictated the letter himself.

According to a senior administration official, other factors also led the president to cancel the summit, including poor communication, broken promises and the North Koreans failure to show up for a preparatory meeting in Singapore.

We simply couldnt get them to pick up the phone, a White House senior official told reporters on Thursday.

WATCH: For Trump, There's Always a 'New Deal' on the Horizon

The last straw, according to the White House, was an insult of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence earlier Thursday in a statement by North Korea's vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui. She called Pence a political dummy and warned  in rhetoric typical of that uttered by Pyongyang  of a nuclear confrontation. In his letter, Trump responded in kind, referencing U.S. nuclear capabilities so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

Trump has emphasized that sanctions and the maximum pressure campaign will continue to be applied on North Korea while expressing hope Pyongyangs leadership would decide to join the community of nations.

Trumps letter caught allies by surprise. The president did not call South Korean President Moon Jae-in or Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to inform them of it, White House officials confirmed.

Moon expressed deep regret over the summits cancelation and urged that direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang be held as soon as possible.

North Korea had threatened to pull out of the unprecedented summit after U.S. officials advocated a so-called Libya model approach, which involved that African countrys total nuclear dismantlement before any concessions were granted.

Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement Thursday canceling a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sparked reactions from disappointment to approval. Trump said the angry rhetoric from Pyongyang makes the meeting on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula inappropriate at this time. Critics say recent statements by Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Adviser John Bolton were not helpful. But as VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports, some analysts say there may be another reason.
The U.N. special envoy for Burundi urged the African nation's government Thursday to quickly restart dialogue with the opposition following a referendum that will allow the president to stay in power until 2034.

Michel Kafando told the Security Council Burundi can only solve the current political crisis through "an inclusive dialogue." If this doesn't happen, he warned, the opposition's challenge to the referendum's results "will further polarize an already tense political situation characterized by human rights violations and other abuses as well as the deterioration of its socio-economic and humanitarian situation."

Burundi's main opposition coalition asked the country's constitutional court earlier Thursday to invalidate the results of last week's referendum. The election commission on Monday said over 73 percent of the 4.7 million votes cast supported constitutional amendments, including one allowing President Pierre Nkurunziza to remain in power for 14 years after his current term ends in 2020.

The opposition coalition said the referendum was marred by intimidation and abuses. Before the vote, observers expressed alarm at reported violence and intimidation of the government's perceived opponents, including threats of drowning and castration. A presidential decree criminalized calls to abstain from voting, with a penalty of up to three years in jail.

Kafando drew the Security Council's attention to Burundi's expulsion of experts from the U.N. Human Rights Council on April 26. Their visas were canceled while in Burundi and the U.N. envoy called on the government to facilitate their return. The government also suspended BBC and Voice of America broadcasts.

The constitutional court validated Nkurunziza's third term in 2015, which the opposition and many international observers saw as unconstitutional. Months of deadly political turmoil followed, with more than 1,200 people killed and hundreds of thousands fleeing the country.

Kafando said the security situation is now "generally calm" though there are isolated grenade attacks and reports of bodies being discovered, some in military uniforms. He said the killing of 26 people, including women and children, on May 11 by unidentified armed men in Buganda showed that "the environment continues to be volatile."

The council meeting demonstrated a sharp divide among its five veto-wielding permanent members over the referendum. France, Britain and the United States protested human rights violations and the government's crackdown on the opposition and strongly backed Kafando's call for an inclusive dialogue. Russia and China supported Burundi's government.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the constitution's revision goes against the Arusha accords adopted in 2000 to end a 13-year civil war in Burundi that killed about 300,000 people. He warned that mechanisms to protect the Tutsi minority in the Hutu-majority country "are weakened and will even disappear."

Delattre said there has been no success in efforts to start a dialogue between the government and opposition, a push being made by the East African Community, which comprises six countries in the Great Lakes region  Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

"Nonetheless, the priority should remain a genuine, inclusive national dialogue without any conditions," the ambassador said.

U.S. deputy political coordinator Elaine French echoed the call for talks with the opposition, saying the referendum further aggravates "acute political tensions." Its results "leave us concerned that Burundi is moving closer to one-party rule," she said.

Britain's political coordinator, Stephen Hickey, also urged Burundi's government to pursue an inclusive dialogue and preserve the Arusha accords. "The risks in Burundi are huge and the case for preventive diplomacy is overwhelming," he said.

On the other side, Deputy Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky called the referendum "strictly a domestic affair for Burundi." He said the situation in the country doesn't threaten regional or international peace and security and should therefore be taken off the council's agenda.

Chinese Counselor Zhang Dianbin stressed Burundi's sovereignty and said the referendum "fully proves the Burundi government and peoples' ability to properly address relevant issues" and handle its own affairs.

Burundi's U.N. ambassador, Albert Shingiro, called the referendum "a victim of its success" and sharply criticized unnamed countries that he said "propagated alarmist scenarios" before the vote.

He insisted the new constitution fully respects the Arusha agreement, "to which the government attaches great importance," and guarantees democratic principles, national unity, protection of minorities, ethnic and gender quotas in institutions, and protection of human rights.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent in Rio Bravo, Texas, shot and killed an undocumented immigrant Wednesday, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP said in a news release the law enforcement officer was responding to a report of "illegal activity near a culvert where he discovered the group of three migrants."

During the encounter, the agent shot the migrant in the head.

"Initial reports indicate that as the agent attempted to apprehend the group, he came under attack by multiple subjects using blunt objects," the statement said.

A Webb County Medical Examiner said officials are in touch with the Guatemalan consulate to identify the woman.

The names of the agent and the deceased have not been released.

A local woman, Marta Martinez, who lives on Centeno Lane where the incident happened, livestreamed the aftermath on Facebook.

Martinez said she heard the shot around 12:20 p.m. and decided to go outside to see what was happening.

In the video, Martinez said she saw a woman lying on the ground and border patrol agents walking out of what looked like an abandoned building with two people in handcuffs.

"Why are you mistreating them? Why are you mistreating them? Why did you [shoot] at the girl? You killed her. He killed the girl. She's laying there and she's dead," Martinez said in the video.

Three people were detained by agents.

Martinez told BuzzFeed News she saw agents "flip the woman over" and "she was bleeding heavily from the left side of her face."

The officer, who shot the woman, gave her CPR until emergency responders arrived at the scene, the statement said.

"The agent fired at least one round from his service issued firearm, fatally wounding one of the assailants. The rest of the group fled the scene," according to CBP.

Fire Chief Juan C. Gonzalez of Rio Bravo Fire & Rescue told CNN Gonzalez still had a pulse when they arrived around 12:47 p.m. However, by the time rescue team got supplies, Gonzalez no longer had a pulse.

Rio Bravo is on the border with Mexico, about 170 miles south of San Antonio.

The incident is under investigation by the FBI and Texas Rangers.

FBI agents are expected to interview the three people taken into custody, the law enforcement source told CNN on Thursday.

Martinez said federal agents are often seen patrolling the street since it comes to a dead end. Because of its proximity to the Rio Grande River, it is a popular place for people who want to cross the border illegally.

Martinez told the New York Times she often sees officers "chasing after suspected undocumented immigrants," but in the 20 years she has lived there, she said she had never heard of a Border Patrol agent fatally shooting someone.
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U.S. tech companies would be forced to disclose if they allowed American adversaries, like Russia and China, to examine the inner workings of software sold to the U.S. military under proposed legislation, Senate staff told Reuters on Thursday.

The bill, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, comes after a year-long Reuters investigation found software makers allowed a Russian defense agency to hunt for vulnerabilities in software that was already deeply embedded in some of the most sensitive parts of the U.S. government, including the Pentagon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and intelligence agencies.

Security experts say allowing Russian authorities to conduct the reviews of internal software instructions  known as source code  could help Russia find vulnerabilities and more easily attack key systems that protect the United States.

The new source code disclosure rules were included in Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagons spending bill, according to staffers of Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

Details of bill, which passed the committee 25-2, are not yet public. And the legislation still needs to be voted on by the full Senate and reconciled with a House version of the legislation before it can be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

If passed into law, the legislation would require companies that do business with the U.S. military to disclose any source code review of the software done by adversaries, staffers for Shaheen told Reuters. If the Pentagon deems a source code review a risk, military officials and the software company would need to agree on how to contain the threat. It could, for example, involve limiting the softwares use to non-classified settings.

The details of the foreign source code reviews, and any steps the company agreed to take to reduce the risks, would be stored in a database accessible to military officials, Shaheens staffers said. For most products, the military notification will only apply to countries determined to be cybersecurity threats, such as Russia and China.

Shaheen has been a key voice on cybersecurity in Congress. The New Hampshire senator last year led successful efforts in Congress to ban all government use of software provided by Moscow-based antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab, amid allegations the company is linked to Russian intelligence. Kaspersky denies such links.

In order to sell in the Russian market, tech companies including Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co, SAP and McAfee have allowed a Russian defense agency to scour software source code for vulnerabilities, Reuters found. In many cases, Reuters found that the software companies had not previously informed U.S. agencies that Russian authorities had been allowed to conduct the source code reviews. In most cases, the U.S. military does not require comparable source code reviews before it buys software, procurement experts have told Reuters.

The companies have said the source code reviews were conducted by the Russians in company-controlled facilities, where the reviewer could not copy or alter the software. McAfee announced last year that it no longer allows government source code reviews. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has said none of its current software offerings have gone through the process.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with VOA Persian Director Setareh Derakhshesh Thursday afternoon to discuss the Trump administration's plans for a new security framework aimed at ending Iran's nuclear program. They also discussed recent protests in Iran, and the administration's efforts to free Americans being held by the government.

Setareh: Secretary Pompeo, thank you very much for doing this interview with us.

Pompeo: Its wonderful to be with you.



Question: As secretary of state, you chose Iran as [the subject of] your first major foreign policy speech. Why Iran? Is it because of the urgency or the importance of it?



Pompeo: I think its both. Its something that the president has viewed as a serious threat to Middle East stability and therefore to American national security and it also looks at the place that the Iranian people find themselves, and he thinks its a place America can help make a difference. He has long thought that the agreement that the previous administration entered into didnt serve any of those interests  the interests of the Iranian people or Middle East stability or, frankly, for America. And so it was a priority for him and thus I wanted in the first weeks since the secretary of state to have an opportunity to lay out how President Trump thinks we can make things better in each of those three situations.



Question: What is the ultimate goal of the proposed new security framework, and how is it different  how does it differ from the initial JCPOA?



Pompeo: Yeah, so very different. Different in breadth and I think different in its goal. The first agreement was very narrow. It was an effort to say that the Iranian regime was spending a ton of money on its nuclear program and it wanted to halt that  a noble objective, a good goal, a worthy one. But the threat that Iran presents is so much greater than that, right. Theyre taking  theyre launching missiles into Muslim countries. Theyre taking the human rights away from their people.



All of these things I think President Trump cares deeply about, and so his vision is that if we begin again to set out what we think are pretty basic ideas, right. So these 12 things that I listed are all pretty straightforward. Were not asking a lot from the Iranian leadership, just behave like normal leaders; dont loot your people, dont waste your peoples money on these adventures in Syria and Yemen and in Lebanon and in Iraq, the list goes on; lead your people, build a great nation, use the resources you have for that. Thats all were simply looking for.



Question: Is that going to be part of the new proposed security framework that Iran would stop or should stop meddling in other countries affairs?



Pompeo: Yeah, so weve asked for that. Look, weve asked them to stop spreading terror around the world, not to build out militias in Iraq, not to put Iranian dollars and Iranian citizens, who are losing their lives in Syria  its inappropriate for Middle East security and its bad for the country. So our aim is to set conditions where Iran will behave like a normal nation, right. And if they do that, if they  and this is not the Iranian people - this is the Iranian leaders who have taken control and done this damage. If we can create conditions where theyll stop that, the Iranian people will have great success, and we will have Americans visiting there, and well have all the great things that we do when there are friends and allies as opposed to folks who are presenting risk to our country.



Question: Im going to get to the human rights issue also, sir. But if I may, I want to continue on the security framework if possible. How about a requirement for Iran to let inspections in the military sites? Is that going to be part of also the framework?



Pompeo: So it is. With respect to the use of nuclear material in Iran, just as we have in Saudi Arabia, just as we did with the United Arab Emirates, we dont believe its appropriate for Iran to have the capacity to create fissile material, to enrich uranium or have a plutonium facility. If they want a peaceful nuclear energy program, fine, but they could import that material. And other countries do it; it works for many countries around the world. And in order for us to achieve that, to get comfortable that thats the case, there will have to be inspections. That would include inspections at military sites and research laboratories and all the places that had been participants in previous iterations of Irans program.



Question: And you mentioned human rights. There are protests, anti-government protests, all around Iran. I wanted to get your take on that. What do you  how do you feel about these protests? And do you think that the United States can maybe support the protesters?



Pompeo: We can certainly provide moral support. I think importantly, the Iranian people will make these decisions for themselves. These protests have been ongoing now for months and months  some of them very small, some of them larger  often very much in sync with what I laid out this past week, their  how this wealth gets distributed to Qasem Soleimani and not the ordinary citizen in southeast Iran or in Tehran or wherever it might be. This wealth is being squandered so that ordinary Iranian citizens are both sending their young men off to fight and die and living lives that arent as secure and as wealthy as they could be if Iran would simply change its behavior.



So its not about  you asked about regime change. Its not about changing the regime. Its about changing the behavior of the leadership in Iran to comport with what the Iranian people really want them to do.



Question: So it is what earlier John Bolton had said, that the goal of the administration is not regime change in Iran?



Pompeo: Thats correct. Yes, maam.



Question: And how do you feel about the opposition groups in the United States and in Europe? Do you support their efforts?



Pompeo: Yes. They should be  so long as theyre working towards the same goal that we are. Ive seen from time to time that wasnt always the case with some of the groups, some of the smaller groups, frankly. So long as theyre working towards the same thing. We dont want them advocating for regime change either. We want them working on behalf of the Iranian people, ordinary Iranian citizens who want nothing more than to live their lives, to be able to take their hijab off, to be able to go to work and raise their families and worship in the way they want to worship. This is for the Iranian people to do, and so if there are those on the outside who are working towards that goal, we certainly welcome it.



Question: Mr. Secretary, two years ago as a congressman you personally wanted to go to Iran, you were prepared to go to Iran, and you wanted to press the leadership  Khamenei and Zarif  to give you access to the American hostages. As secretary, are you going to press the Iranian leadership again to free the American hostages? And as you know, Bob Levinson disappeared more than 11 years ago.



Pompeo: I know the story of Mr. Levinson well. I pray for his safe return, and our team works for it every day. As for the other Americans, we hope that the Iranian leadership  Mr. Rouhani and Mr. Zarif, Ayatollah  all would see that its in their best interests to  and for nothing more than basic humanity - to allow these innocent Americans to return to their families. There are big, big issues out there, but it seems pretty basic to me that one ought not hold innocent people from returning to their loved ones.



So yes, well work on it. Well pray for it. And we hope that one day, in the same way that we were blessed to have three Americans return from North Korea a few weeks past, we have that same kind of day for those that are being held by the Islamic Republic of Iran.



Question: I wanted to ask you about the chants, the slogans that we still hear inside Iran: Death to America, and Death to Israel.Before any type of agreement that Iran or Tehran and the United States would have about Iran, dont you think that it should be a requirement for Iran to stop that?



Pompeo: Yeah, their leaders most especially. In America, people say all kinds of things. We have a wide-open democracy. There are people who like President Trump and who dont. I find that just fine. I am untroubled by that.

When you have senior leaders, when you have others fomenting these sort of fake gatherings to do nothing but come after and talk  chant, Death to America or Death to Israel, the Iranian leadership ought to stop. They ought to stop that because its not the right thing for their people.



I think most Iranians  I think most Iranians look at what weve been able to accomplish here in America and how blessed weve been, and think that thats a model that works in the sense of well certainly adopt a different form of democracy, and well have a different form of government, and well have different values and beliefs across a certain set of things, well have different religions, and that  thats all fine. But the basic common understanding of humanity, that you treat every human being with dignity and respect, that you dont export violence around the world, that you dont steal and plunder from your people, those core values that are civilizational, theyre historical  I think the Iranian people share those in the same way that the American people do.



Question: Mr. Secretary, I want to go back to something that you said, part of your speech. You stressed that  stressed, and you just mentioned it, that no more wealth creation for Iranian kleptocrats. What is your take on congressional efforts to expose the hidden wealth of the corrupt leaders of Iran, from Ayatollah Khamenei to the president? And if there is such a bill that would pass Congress, would the administration support this exposure?



Pompeo: We would. We think its very important. Its just as important as an informational matter. The Iranian people deserve the truth. You have senior leaders that are pocketing money, using businesses that are nominally fronts, and frankly, just stealing. To the extent we can prove that and demonstrate that, Id welcome the chance to expose it so the Iranian people can judge for themselves whether these are the individuals they want to lead their country.



Derakhshesh: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.



Pompeo: Thank you very much, maam. It was great to be with you.



Derakhshesh: We appreciate it very, very much.
Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to police Friday morning to face the first criminal charges to be filed against him after months of sexual abuse allegations from scores of women that destroyed his career and set off a national reckoning known as the #MeToo movement.

Weinstein, 66, stepped from a black SUV and walked slowly into a Manhattan police station before a crowd of news cameras. He didn't answer respond to shouts of his name.



The exact charges against Weinstein still had not been made public early Friday. Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press the case will include allegations by Lucia Evans, an aspiring actress who has said the Hollywood mogul forced her to perform oral sex on him in his office. She was among the first women to speak out about the producer.



One official said it's likely the case also will include at least one other victim who has not come forward publicly.



The officials spoke Thursday to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation.



Weinstein was expected to be charged at least with criminal sexual act, a crime that carries up to 25 years in prison, the officials said.



Weinstein's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment when first contacted about the charges late Friday, but previously said in court paperwork that the allegations that Weinstein forced himself on women were "entirely without merit" and that he never knowingly broke the law.



Evans confirmed to The New Yorker that she was pressing charges.



"At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind," she told the magazine.



Evans told The New Yorker in a story published in October that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex during a daytime meeting at his New York office in 2004, the summer before her senior year at Middlebury College.



"I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,' "she told the magazine. "I tried to get away, but maybe I didn't try hard enough. I didn't want to kick him or fight him."



Evans, who is now a marketing consultant, didn't report the encounter to police at the time, telling The New Yorker that she blamed herself for not fighting back.



"It was always my fault for not stopping him," she said.



Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance had been under enormous public pressure to bring a criminal case against Weinstein. Some women's groups, including the Hollywood activist group Time's Up, accused the Democrat of being too deferential to Weinstein and too dismissive of his accusers.



A grand jury has been hearing evidence in the case for weeks.



In March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took the extraordinary step of ordering the state's attorney general to investigate whether Vance acted properly in 2015 when he decided not to prosecute Weinstein over a previous allegation of unwanted groping, made by an Italian model. That investigation is in its preliminary stages.



More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing around the globe. Several actresses and models accused him of criminal sexual assaults, but many of the encounters happened too long ago for any prosecution. Film actress Rose McGowan said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah, "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992 and Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008.



McGowan told the AP on Thursday that she is gratified but "still in shock" that Weinstein was expected to surrender.



"The justice system has been something very elusive," McGowan said. "I hope in this case it works. Because it's all true. None of this was consensual."



The statute of limitations for rape and certain other sex crimes in New York was eliminated in 2006, but not for attacks that happened prior to 2001.



New York City police detectives said in early November that they were investigating allegations by another accuser, "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta, who told police in October that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010. She is not one of the victims in the case on Friday; hers was still pending, officials said.



Authorities in California and London also are investigating assault allegations. Britain has no statute of limits on rape cases; some of the allegations under investigation there date to the 1980s.



Harvey and his brother Bob Weinstein started his now-bankrupt company after leaving Miramax, the company they founded in 1979 and which became a powerhouse in '90s indie film with hits like "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love." The Weinstein Co. found success with Oscar winners "The Artist" and "The King's Speech."


Tim Cocks

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - The Marie Stopes Ladies who drive from village to village in the remote north of Burkina Faso offering free contraception, advice on family planning, sexual health and sometimes abortion, may have to stop work in June.

The ten have been entirely funded by a $1.25 million grant from USAID but the U.S. development agency cut all money for Marie Stopes International when it refused to comply with a rule reinstated by Republican President Donald Trump in January 2017.

It bans funding to any foreign NGO carrying out or offering advice on abortions anywhere. The goal is to please Christian conservatives who strongly oppose abortion and are a major part of Trumps political base.

MSI and the International Planned Parenthood Federation are among only four to reject the conditions of the order. They offer abortion services, in accordance with local rules, and say it is a last resort in preventing unwanted or unsafe births.

USAID says 733 other NGOS still receive funding. But in Africa, MSI and IPPF are the two largest NGO providers of free contraception and family planning advice.

The NGOs say the contraceptive programs are crucial in Burkina, where the fertility rate is 5.5 births per woman.

In some villages the MS Ladies operate from government centers, supplementing the limited services on offer. The same grant also pays for training for health workers in 80 government clinics.

MSI says the cuts mean programs affecting thousands of people in Burkina Faso are under threat.

All those women whove been receiving free contraception will have to stop using it because they cant afford it, Georges Coulibaly, Marie Stopes Burkina Faso manager told Reuters in the capital Ouagadougou.

The U.S. policy says foreign NGOs must certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in foreign countries or provide financial support to any other foreign ... (NGO) that conducts such activities, as a pre-condition for getting global family planning aid from the U.S. government.

This is the case even if the abortion care or advice itself is being funded by other donors.

The rule was first introduced by Republican President Ronald Regan in 1984. Republican presidents since have signed it, while Democrat presidents disagreed with the policy and reversed it.

This means funding for such NGOs has been volatile  the policy has been in force for 17 of the last 35 years.

A spokesman for USAID and an official for the State Department declined to say how much money the United States now provides for global family planning programs.

In 2015 when Democrat Barack Obama was president, it was $638 million. MSI received around $30 million a year, around 9 percent of its total funding, before the cut.

SEEKING OTHER DONORS

MSI say the cuts forced it to ax a voucher program in Madagascar and 22 out of 62 outreach teams there. In Uganda, 17 out of 35 teams are gone. And in Zimbabwe, where MSI has an extensive presence, it has shut down half of the 1200 teams it had going from village to village.

IPPF has shut 22 programs in sub-Saharan Africa and has others closing this month in Togo, Ethiopia and Ivory Coast. This is because it has lost USAID funding, Caroline Kwamboka, IPPFs senior advocacy manager for Africa said.

The USAID money for the MS Ladies in northern Burkina was due to run out in April but UK development agency, UK Aid, stepped in to keep it afloat until June.

Coulibaly is hoping other donors will fill the gap to keep the project open. They include the Hewlett-Foundation, the Waterloo Foundation, the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Gates Foundation.

IPPF operations are not under threat in Burkina Faso as other donors finance its projects there.

Attitudes toward contraception in Burkina Faso are mixed. Some religious leaders say it is immoral and abortion is illegal except for cases of rape or where the mother or baby is at risk.

But as in other West African countries government campaigns to persuade them to space births out for the sake of maternal health have been effective in recent years.

In 2011, West African governments signed up to the Ouagadougou Partnership to try to reach an extra 2 million contraceptive users by 2020.

SCRAMBLING FOR FUNDS

With their funding under threat, NGOs and others are looking for ways to keep their coffers full.

In February Trump singled out the UNFPA, the single largest provider of free contraception in Africa, for a funding ban, on grounds of complicity in forced abortions in China. The UN agency denies this.

The American people do not want to be complicit in killing unborn children in the United States, in Africa or anywhere else, said Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey told Reuters by phone.

In 2015 the agency received $32 million in U.S. funding. But other country donors were so alarmed by Trumps cut that they covered the shortfall and increased the budget in 2017, said UNFPAs West and Central Africa director Mabingue Ngom.

There was a positive impact from the (U.S.) cuts to our funding, he said. It ended up bringing us more resources.

NGOs rely on a more varied mix of funding so closing the gap is harder.

An official for the U.S. State Department, which is responsible for USAID, said if an NGO loses its funding, it tries to help shift operations to other NGOS.

When an NGO has declined to agree to the policy, affected departments and agencies work to transition the activities .... to other partners, the official said.

MSI and IPPF are taking steps to shift away from U.S. funds.

We made a conscious decision to ensure that more (recipient) countries had more funders. This meant ... designing our proposals to include more country profiles that matched our donors priorities, MSI spokesman Will Haris said.

The fluctuating funding has also been a wake up call for African leaders who promised in 2015 to boost healthcare to 15 percent of government spending. Most are behind target.

Commitments have been made, but the money has not been forthcoming, IPPFs Kwamboka said. This reliance on aid from other countries...it cannot go on.

Additional reporting by Thiam Niaga in Nedgo and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; editing by Anna Willard
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VOA Persian Service Director Setareh Seig discusses U.S. policy on Iran with U.S.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who explained that President Donald Trump sees Iran as a serious threat to Middle East stability and therefore to American national security. Pompeo also weighed in on the Iran protests.
One on One with Joe Korkowski, as heard Saturdays on KXRA-1490AM (@7:40am) and KXRA-92.3FM (@8:00am), as well as each Sunday morning on KXRZ Z99.3fm (@10:15am).

The interview is also re-broadcast on Monday mornings on KX92 at 10:00am and on Z99 at 9:10am.
David Tongue replaces Martyn Hales who retires after ten years in role. St Georges British International School, Rome, has appointed David Tongue as its new principal, replacing Martyn Hales who will retire at the end of 2018 following a decade in the role and 37 years' service as a teacher at St Georges.

Tongue joins St Georges from Brighton College Bangkok where he was responsible for leading the start-up, growth and academic development of two international campuses of Brighton College, in the UAE and Thailand.

Prior to joining the Brighton College group, Tongue was head of the Falkland Islands Community School and before that he held a senior role at Runnymede College in Madrid. He has a background in teaching geography and began his career in the UK in 1999.

A statement from St George's described Tongue's appointment as representing an "ambitious and exciting new chapter" for the school, reinforcing its "commitment to inclusiveness and academic excellence."

St Georges British International School was founded in 1958 to serve the demand for a British-style education amongst Romes expat community. Today the school educates 860 children from 77 countries across its two campuses. Pupils at St Georges follow the UK national curriculum culminating in (I)GCSE examinations at the end of Year 11 (age 16). In the final two years of study, students undertake the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP).

The schools main campus is at La Storta, in north Rome, which caters for ages three to 18. Last year St Georges opened a new Junior School site for ages 3 to 11 at Via di S. Maria Mediatrice, close to the Vatican.

Admission to the school is open year-round. For enquiries contact admissions@stgeorge.school.it or tel. (39)063086001.
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President Trump at a Dec. 2 fundraiser at Cipriani restaurant in New York, one of several fundraising events in the city that day. (Susan Walsh/AP)

The letter, circulated to dozens of wealthy entrepreneurs in China last week, looked official. Topped with the insignia of a real Republican committee raising money for the party and President Trumps reelection campaign, it purported to offer a handshake and a one-on-one photo with the president for $100,000  a VVIP trip to be remembered for a lifetime.

The invitation, which Republican Party officials say they had nothing to do with, was not the only such offer. At least two other China-based companies circulated similar solicitations in the past week, offering access to Trump at an official fundraiser in Dallas on May 31, and charging two or three times the price of a ticket.

In an interview with The Washington Post, a Beijing man who claims to be an organizer of the excursion to Dallas said he coordinated a previous U.S. trip, bringing members of the Chinese business elite to snap selfies and pose for photos at a swanky Manhattan fundraiser headlined by Trump in December.

As part of his promotional materials for the Dallas trip, the man circulated pictures of wealthy Chinese business leaders, including a businessman known as the countrys first owner of a Ferrari, standing shoulder to shoulder with Trump in formal wear and giving a thumbs-up.

While U.S. election law prohibits campaign contributions from anyone but U.S. citizens and permanent residents, foreign visitors may attend fundraisers as long as they do not pay their own entry.

But some campaign finance experts say there would be ethical concerns if foreigners were routinely gaining access to the U.S. president through fundraisers. And the solicitations, if offering a legitimate service, raise questions about whether attendees are indirectly paying for their tickets through a U.S. donor, which would be illegal.



The first page of an invitation to a fundraiser for President Trump that was circulated to wealthy Chinese business people. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

Republican Party officials confirmed the presence of Chinese nationals at the December fundraiser but said they knew nothing about the Dallas solicitations. After being contacted by The Post, they referred the invitations to federal authorities.

Weve never heard of these people, nor are we aware of any effort by them to illegally attend our events, said Blair Ellis, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, which helped organize both events. We maintain strict compliance with the law and have a zero-tolerance policy toward anyone who attempts to take advantage of the system in order to attend our events.

Mica Mosbacher, a member of the Trump 2020 national advisory board and a GOP fundraiser in Texas, said the board had no knowledge of the solicitations to the Dallas event and would not endorse this activity.

A Republican Party official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss individuals at a private fundraiser said the Chinese visitors to the Dec. 2 gathering in New York  which encompassed several events, including a breakfast with Trump  were guests of a U.S. citizen donor, whom the official declined to name.

The Chinese guests had minimal exposure to President Trump. They attended an event with hundreds of individuals and took a photo from a photo line, the official said.

Every guest at an RNC event where the president or vice president is present must go through a rigorous vetting process with the Secret Service, the official said.

The fundraiser in Dallas next week is set to take place at a very sensitive time in the White Houses trade talks with China. Just two days after the event, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will be in China meeting with senior officials about boosting U.S. imports. Chinese officials have already made clear that they are trying to extract concessions from the White House in exchange for any agreement, making the talks very fluid. Business groups in both countries could stand to win or lose billions of dollars based on the outcome of the talks.

Sun Changchun, who described himself as the head of a Chinese cultural exchange company, is promoting the Dallas event on WeChat, a Chinese messaging service. He claimed to have arranged both the Dallas and New York trips. He told The Post that he planned to give the Dallas ticket proceeds to the RNC, but provided no evidence to substantiate that assertion or any relationship with the RNC. His understanding, he said, was that the RNC would in turn donate the money to charity.

Suns invite claims that he and his associates have prior experience participating in three Republican president dinners in 2017, including the New York visit. The Post could not independently verify his involvement in any trips.

In the interview, he said his Beijing-based company aims to raise the profile of Chinese entrepreneurs. The $100,000 per-person price tag includes airport pickup, lodging, meals and translator, the invitation says.

When I started this company, I thought we could maybe act as a bridge between the two sides [U.S. and China] . . . to provide exchanges, Sun said.

One of the influential Chinese guests who attended the December event was Li Xiaohua, the Ferrari owner and chairman of Huada International Investment Group, according to Chinese media reports, which published photos of him with Trump.

At least three other Chinese visitors attended RNC events that day, and one was photographed with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Chinese media reports said.

The Post contacted several Chinese guests whose U.S. trips Sun claims to have facilitated, including Li, but none agreed to an interview.

The solicitations follow a history of campaign finance controversies involving foreign money and U.S. elections, notably under the Clinton administration.

Before the 1996 presidential election, federal authorities found, the Chinese attempted to direct foreign contributions to the Democratic National Committee and later to President Bill Clintons legal defense fund. A longtime fundraiser for Vice President Al Gore was convicted in 2000 for her role in arranging more than $100,000 in illegal donations to the DNC.

Among the issues being examined by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III in the Russia investigation is whether foreign money flowed into U.S. political campaigns.

The legal access that foreigners have to U.S. political fundraisers has long worried some campaign ethics experts.

Lets assume that its all actually domestic money being spent here. Then you have a question of access and influence, said Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and the president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. Its enormously beneficial for people, whether they are from America or whether they are foreign nationals, to show they have a picture with the president.

Matthew Sanderson, who served as a campaign finance lawyer for the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign, said claims such as those in the Chinese invitations might get the attention of authorities. What a regulator or prosecutor would be interested in is whether this is essentially the foreign national making a donation through a U.S. person, he said.

Thats a problem both because foreign nationals are prohibited from making campaign contributions and because the campaign finance disclosure reports are supposed to disclose the ultimate source of funds, Sanderson added.

In addition to the invitation crafted to appear as though it was sponsored by the Republican Party, a different solicitation carried the logo of the China Construction Bank, one of Chinas largest state-owned banks.

That invite claimed representatives from ZTE Corp. would attend the event, according to a copy obtained by The Post. This month, Trump announced via Twitter that his administration would be taking steps to prevent the Chinese telecommunications company from going out of business because of new trade restrictions.

ZTE officials said this week they had no part in the invitation or the fundraiser. There are no representatives from ZTE Corporation or ZTE (USA), Inc., who have ever, or are planning, to attend such fundraisers, Andrew Elliott, vice president of strategic marketing for ZTE USA, said in an email.

The invite purported to offer a photo opportunity with Trump and a ticket to the dinner for $150,000  three times the amount charged by the RNC.

In order to strengthen Sino-U.S. business exchanges, CCB Private Bank extends a special invite to Chinese entrepreneurs to visit the U.S. as VIP guests at the dinner event, for in-depth exchanges with American business tycoons, the invite read.

Officials with CCBs Shenzhen branch released a statement saying it had investigated reports of the invite and found that some employees were involved. Our branch did not participate in organization, the statement said.

Bank officials found that the invitation was organized by a group registered in Hong Kong called the Chinese Commercial Counsellor and Entrepreneurship Association and the Shanghai Vvisa Tourism Service Co., a Chinese tourism service.

In a statement, a company affiliated with Visa, Weijia Travel Consulting Services, said it was organizing the event with an American foundation. The event will still take place under normal arrangements, the statement read. Shanghai Weijia organises this event with multiple organisations, fees for the event are paid for by clients who participate.

Rauhala, Denyer, Amber Ziye Wang, Luna Lin, Shirley Feng and Yang Liu contributed from Beijing to this report. Lee, Narayanswamy, Damian Paletta and Steven Mufson contributed from Washington.
In Brisbane homes this week, young teens have bawled themselves to sleep, unable to get rid of the image of someone being raped with a mop handle.

Others have admitted dry-retching at the image of a teen boy, not much older than they are, bleeding from the head and being held down a toilet until he almost drowns.

Netflix's 13 Reasons Why has drawn complaints over its season two finale. Credit:Netflix

Some of these teens might have told their parents what theyd seen on a mobile phone in the school grounds, or at swimming club, or even Scouts.

But they will be in the minority; many, many will not - and therein lies the danger in Netflixs second series of 13 Reasons Why.
While the rest of us have been worrying about wage stagnation, Australia's rich listers added a cool $49.6 billion to their collective wealth last year, according to the 2018 Financial Review Rich List.

For the 200 members of this exclusive club, it represents a staggering 21.2 per cent rise in their personal fortunes to $282.7 billion. They were led for a second consecutive year by cardboard billionaire Anthony Pratt, who clocked up net wealth of $12.9 billion.

Cardboard billionaire Anthony Pratt remains the richest of the rich. Credit:Bloomberg

Hot on his heels was property developer Harry Triguboff with wealth of $12.77 billion and mining billionaire Gina Rinehart with $12.68 billion.

The trio have collectively added $11 billion to their wealth over the last two years, with most of this fortune falling Mrs Rineharts way thanks to a rising iron ore price. It has helped her more than double her wealth since 2016.
An escaped criminal who skipped the country accused of a string of armed robberies across Sydney more than three decades ago has admitted in court to another holdup despite never being charged.

Ian John Steele, 58, had been on the run since the 1980s over his alleged role in a gang of armed bandits that targeted banks, betting agencies and businesses across the city.

Ian John Steele, escaped criminal and bank robber, pictured in 1983. Credit:Fairfax Media

Steele was last year deported from the United Kingdom and charged after detectives met him in Sydney.

He pleaded guilty to more than a dozen offences, mostly linked to stickups between 1982 and 1987.
Trent Thorburn, who admitted to sexually abusing Tiahleigh, his foster sister, was jailed for a maximum of four years in September 2017 after pleading guilty to four charges, including incest. His older brother Joshua Thorburn was sentenced to three months in July 2017 after pleading guilty to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Rick's wife Julene Thorburn served six months in jail after pleading guilty on November 2017 to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Prosecutor Carl Heaton QC told the court a phone call to Crime Stoppers as well as police-installed covert listening devices led to the arrest of Rick Thorburn. Cindy Palmer (left), the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, is seen arriving at the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Friday. Credit:AAP/Dan Peled

A call to Crime Stoppers about seven months after Tiahleighs disappearance tipped off investigators it was believed Trent Thorburn had sex with her. Listening devices were then installed at the familys home, which captured conversations between the family members, including Thorburn telling his wife and sons to stick to the story about him dropping Tiahleigh at school and to keep Trents relationship with Tiahleigh quiet. Trent Thorburn was jailed after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing his underage foster sister. Credit:Instagram Mr Heaton said it had been determined the 12-year-old was killed between 8pm and 11pm on October 29, but the body was too decomposed to determine a cause of death. The only injury noted was a bruise on her scalp.

Mr Heaton recommended a non-parole period of 20 years for the charge of murder and no allowance for a sentencing discount because of Thorburn's guilty plea. He added the sentences for the other four charges should run concurrently. Defence barrister Greg McGuire revealed Thorburn had spent time in care after the death of his mother when he was nine years old. He added Thorburn had attempted suicide shortly after his arrest and had also lost a considerable amount of weight.

In sentencing, judge David Boddice described Thorburns act of murder as cold, calculating and callous. You murdered a 12-year-old child who was in your care because her own mother was unable to properly care for her, he said. The reasons for that murder and your conduct can only be described as cold, calculating and callous. Thorburn, who pleaded guilty to the murder of his foster daughter, carried her coffin at the funeral. Credit:AAP/Dan Peled Judge Boddice said Thorburn showed no respect for Tiahleigh, even in her death.

He said he gave regard to Thorburns plea of guilty and personal circumstances, including his criminal history, but said none of the circumstances explained his horrendous actions. Thorburn will be eligible for parole on September 12, 2036. Tiahleigh's mother Cindy Palmer made a brief statement outside the court shortly after Thorburns sentencing. Today marks the end of a long and painful fight for justice for Tiahleigh, she said. As her mother, no sentence will ever be enough.

Tiahleigh was a beautiful young girl who had her entire life to look forward to. Rick Thorburn took that away from me, from our family and most importantly Tiahleigh. I need time to process todays sentencing and to grieve with my family in private. I would like to thank the community and the police for all their help and support throughout this tragic ordeal. Regional crime coordinator for south-east region Detective Superintendent Kerry Johnson said he hoped Thorburn thought about the life he had cut short every day.

What Id like to talk about is first and foremost is Tiahleigh herself, a 12-year-old girl and as we know had her whole future ahead of her, which was cut short by this person, he said. It is the ultimate act of betrayal, she was put in a foster care situation where people were supposed to look after her and care for her and its the very same people who allowed this to happen. "Its an absolute tragedy and inexcusable." Superintendent Johnson thanked the public and the media for their help during both Tiahleighs missing person case and the investigation after she was found deceased. Without the public and media help in that it would have been an impossible task, he said.

Child Safety Minister Di Farmer said Queensland had strong and robust system for the approval of foster carers. "Tiahleigh Palmer was the victim of an evil crime committed by Rick Thorburn," she said. Ms Farmer said in the wake of Tiahleigh's death, urgent reviews made more than 100 recommendations to improve child safety in Queensland. "Implementation began before the reviews were completed and is continuing," she said. "None of them are any consolation for Tiahleigh's murder.
Two men, one a father with small children, are dead and another worker is fighting for life after inhaling a toxic gas at a paper mill near the Victoria-NSW border.

Emergency services were called to the Norske Skog site in Ettamogah, near Albury, about 1.30pm on Thursday after a man down alarm was sounded at the mill.

Two workers have died and one is fighting for life after a toxic gas leak at a paper mill in Albury on Thursday. Credit:James Wiltshire/Border Mail

Ladders and ropes were used to get the three men - who are believed to have fallen unconscious after inhaling hydrogen sulphide - down from the top of a 15-metre high tank where they had been checking valves.

Hydrogen sulphide is also known as rotten egg gas due to its odour.
The state government will attempt to capture more of the lithium battery production process with the establishment of a lithium taskforce.

Thursdays announcement came the same week as Premier Mark McGowan, Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston and Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan met with representatives from battery maker Tesla to discuss WAs booming lithium industry.

WA minister Bill Johnston inspects a Tesla vehicle powered by a lithium battery. Credit:Hamish Hastie

The taskforce will oversee development of a lithium and energy materials strategy to build on WAs competitive advantages and to develop an energy materials industry.

Mr Johnston will chair the taskforce, which will consist of senior government representatives.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services has downgraded warnings for two bushfires that ravaged the Great Southern region on Friday.

A bushfire advice is in place for people north of South Coast Highway, west of Link Road, and south of Gunn Road and Redmond-Hay River Road including the Albany Greens Subdivision in Redmond, Marbelup and Elleker.

The alert level for this fire has been downgraded as rain has helped to suppress the bushfire.

There is a lot of smoke in the area and although there is no immediate danger residents need to be aware and keep up to date in case the situation changes.
"I warmly congratulate Mehreen and look forward to assisting with the coming state and federal election campaigns," she said.

The senator announced her early retirement on Facebook , saying she will be finishing up 10 months before her term is due to expire in mid-2019.

NSW Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has announced she's quitting her seat in mid-August to make way for NSW MLC Mehreen Faruqi.

The senator said her time in Parliament had been "fruitful", and she remained "passionate and as committed as ever to our collective struggle for a fair, just, ecologically sustainable and peaceful world."

"In some ways I am an accidental politician," she said.

"When I was young, Parliament was where we went to protest, not to get a job. My years as an MP have strengthened my belief that it is peoples action that drives progressive social change."

Senator Rhiannon said it had been "a pleasure and an honour" to work as a Greens MP, and thanked her staff, activists, unions and community groups for their support.

She signed off: "See you in the streets."
That's because the most important part of a successful negotiation is understanding the person on the other side of the table. What do they want? What do they fear? What might they be willing to give up? What incentives do they face? What forces are pushing against them? If you don't know those things, you can't be successful. And as Trump has shown time and again, he just doesn't care about the person on the other side of the table. He thinks that negotiation is about bullying: Show them you're stronger than they are, threaten to abandon the negotiation, and they'll back down and give you what you want. As far as he's concerned, all negotiations are zero-sum; either you're the winner or the loser, and you have to be the winner. When it comes to North Korea, there is one fundamental fact that should have guided the Trump administration's strategy: like any dictator, Kim Jong Un lives in fear of being deposed, and he believes - not without reason - that his nuclear weapons are the ultimate guarantee of his continued power and even his very life. The fact that he just shut down a nuclear test site doesn't diminish this in the slightest; the North Koreans got what they needed from that site, and if they want to, they can open another. Once you understand how Kim sees his nuclear weapons, you realize a couple of things. Credit:AP Once you understand how Kim sees his nuclear weapons, you realize a couple of things. First, you're going to have to offer some pretty fantastic incentives to get him to give up those weapons. Second, the negotiations have to proceed with care, because he won't give them up unless he feels safe and reassured. But instead of trying to make Kim feel safe and reassured, the Trump administration did exactly the opposite. They offered threats and bluster, which were bound to have the effect of convincing Kim that we want to overthrow him and he needs his nuclear weapons now more than ever.

National security adviser John Bolton said "the Libya model" is the one we should follow with North Korea. On the surface, he was talking about the deal made with Moammar Gaddafi in 2003 to give up his nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic assistance. But as Bolton knew full well, North Korean officials regularly bring up Gaddafi's experience, as well as that of Saddam Hussein, as the reason they should never give up their nuclear weapons. Gaddafi and Hussein gave up the quest for nuclear weapons and were later deposed and killed. Many speculated that Bolton, who has been eager for a military strike on North Korea, made this incredibly provocative statement in an attempt to spur the North Koreans to abandon negotiation. Once someone explained all that to Trump, he publicly said that we wouldn't be pursuing the "Libya model," though in his statement he appeared to think the Libya model referred only to the US role in Gaddafi's ouster. ("In Libya, we decimated that country. That country was decimated.") But in trying to clarify Bolton's remarks, Trump only repeated the threat to depose and kill Kim, saying that Libya's experience shows "what will take place if we don't make a deal." US Vice-President Mike Pence. Credit:AP In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence again repeated the threat that the United States would depose and kill Kim if an agreement were not reached. "You know, there were some talk about the Libya model last week. And you know, as the president made clear, you know, this will only end like the Libya Model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn't make a deal," he said. "Some people saw that as a threat," said the interviewer. "I think it's more of a fact," Pence replied. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress yesterday, "We have made zero concessions to Chairman Kim to date, and we have no intention of doing so."

So what does this all add up to? Kim Jong Un already believes that as formidable as his conventional deterrent might be (all that artillery aimed at Seoul), the fact that he has nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them all the way to the US mainland are the most important deterrents against an effort by the United States to depose him. Instead of trying to convince him that we aren't interested in removing him and he should feel secure enough to give up those weapons, the Trump administration has done exactly the opposite: worked to make him feel more threatened and less secure. That's on top of the fact that Trump just pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement, in which that country curtailed its nuclear program and allowed in international inspectors, only to see this president say that it wasn't good enough and renege on the deal. If you were Kim, would you trust the United States right now? That's what Trump just can't seem to wrap his head around. Even if we're the most powerful country on Earth, if we want Kim to give up his nukes, he's going to have to trust us. And Trump is doing everything possible to make that impossible. Finally, we should say that there can certainly be an agreement without a summit between the two leaders; there have been agreements with North Korea before without such a meeting. In fact, that might be better, because if you put Trump in a room with Kim, there's no telling what he might say, do or give away. So today's development doesn't mean there's no more chance that we might get North Korea to denuclearise. It might still be salvageable. But if there's a way to screw up that effort, you can be sure Donald Trump is going to find it.
London: Britain's Foreign Office on Thursday criticised "childish" Russian pranksters who phoned Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson posing as the leader of Armenia.

The Guardian newspaper said that Johnson was called by Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, known as Lexus and Vovan.

One pretended to be new Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, and the newspaper said that Johnson spoke to them for 18 minutes, discussing topics including the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal.

The Foreign Office believes the pranksters, who have previously caught out other politicians, made the call with the blessing of the Kremlin to "save face" after it was shamed over the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
GREENWICH  Looking to continue their momentum after uncommonly strong results in last years municipal elections, Greenwich Democrats on Thursday formally presented the slate of candidates they hope will break town Republicans stranglehold on representation in Hartford.

These are candidates with very, very strong credentials, said Democratic Town Committee Chair Tony Turner. We think they will better represent the values of the community going forward and theyre going to make a very strong team in Hartford.

First they have to get there. The last time a Democrat was elected to represent Greenwich in the state Senate was in 1930. And there hasnt been a Greenwich Democrat in the state House of Representatives in more than 100 years.

But working as a united team with a focus on the town and the state, not on partisanship, Turner said the DTC-endorsed slate would prevail, and be able to bring back to Greenwich a more fair share of what we as Greenwich taxpayers are sending up to Hartford.

At a morning press conference, Alexandra Bergstein, candidate for the 36th State Senate District; Stephen Meskers, 150th State House District; and Laura Kostin, 151st State House District, all presented plans for the campaigns to come.

The DTC comes into the election season with momentum, Turner noted, after municipal elections in 2017 that saw Democrats take control of the Board of Estimate and Taxation for the first time in recorded history, elect Democratic Tax Collector Howard Richman and perform far better than expected in the first selectmans race, though still coming up short.

Were seeing in the electorate that people are fed up with partisanship and votes down party lines, Turner said. Weve given the Republican delegation in Greenwich a decade to solve the problems and they should be the leaders in solving the problems. Weve seen no leadership in solving the states problems.

Bergstein said she wants to shine a light on what happens in Hartford to allow voters to make more informed choices.

Noting the current 18 to 18 split in the state Senate between Republicans and Democrats, Bergstein said does not want to see the Republican agenda in Washington change policy in Connecticut on issues such as gun safety, the environment, childrens health and womens rights.

Though we have made progress on these issues, now everything hangs in the balance, Bergstein said. Since the 2016 election, the political dynamic in our country has become significantly more partisan. We see our rights being rolled back in Washington and Connecticut is just one vote away from having that same extreme agenda here.

All spoke in favor of bringing back tolls to state highways to modernize transportation infrastructure with an eye on economic development.

We cant grow the economy if it takes you an hour to get to work or if it takes an hour for a supplier to bring his materials in to manufacture or a manufacturer needs to take an hour to get out of state, Meskers said. In the short term its not about the toll road. Its about how we build the infrastructure and how we grow the economy.

Kostin called for overall change.

When your representatives votes go against your values and the greater good, its time for them to go, Kostin said. When your representatives start playing favorites with the tax code, its time for them to go. When your representatives are too cowardly to fund improvements to our infrastructure, and our state dearly needs them to keep and grow jobs, its time for them to go.

All of the candidates were nominated by the DTC this week just as the Republican Town Committee formally renominated its full slate of incumbents. State Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-36, and State Reps. Livvy Floren, R-149th, Michael Bocchino, R-150th, and Fred Camillo, R-151st, are all running for new terms in November. The incumbents announced their candidacies earlier this year.

Floren will be unopposed in the 149th District.

RTC Chair Richard DiPreta said the towns values are already well represented by the Republican team.

We have a fantastic delegation running on a record we are all proud of and are prepared to defend, DiPreta said. Our delegation helped push forward a Republican budget in Hartford for two years in a row, the only minority party in a legislature to do so, and this year that resulted in a budget that had no tax increases and no tolls.

DiPreta also said the values of the community are reflected in the Greenwich delegation.

Our candidates were raised in this town and are connected with the community, DiPreta said. They know their constituents and are acting in their best interests.

Meskers and Kostin are on the Representative Town Meeting but this is the first run for state office for all three of the Democratic candidates. Turner pledged they would run vigorous campaigns that would show contrast on how the values and solutions differ from the Republican delegation.

They bring fresh ideas, Turner said. They bring an independent approach to solving the states challenges.
William Vornkahl, president of the Westport Veterans Council, announced Lawrence Larry Aasen has been selected as the grand marshal for this years Memorial Day parade and services.

Aasen graduated from Hillsboro High School in North Dakota in 1941 and the University of North Dakota with a journalism degree in 1947. In 1949, he received a masters degree in public relations from Boston University.

In World War II, Aasen was a sergeant in the 13th Airborne Division in France. The division was half paratroppers and half glider soldiers. The divisions mission was to drop behind lines and destroy anything of military value to the enemy. Aasen was a cryptographer, and his job was to encode and decode secret messages. For this job, he had to have security clearance from the FBI.

In 1963, Larry and his wife, Martha, moved to Westport. He served on the Westport Representative Town Meeting for 17 years. He is also a member of the Democratic Town Committee, Westport Ys Men and the Westport Rotary.

The Memorial Day parade will take place May 28, beginning on Riverside Avenue at 9 a.m. Memorial services will be held immediately following the parade on Veterans Green. If the parade is cancelled due to weather, the services will be at 10 a.m. in the Town Hall Auditorium.

Westport resident makes deans list at Belmont University

Noah Miller, of Westport, qualified for the spring 2018 deans list at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Eligibility is based on a minimum course load of 12 hours and a grade point average of 3.5 with no grade below a C.

Approximately 30 percent of Belmont Universitys 8,080 students qualified for the spring deans list.

Belmont Provost Thomas Burns said, This achievement for the spring semester indicates that these students have placed a high priority on their work at Belmont and have invested time and energy in their studies. It is our strong belief that consistent application in this manner will reap great benefits, which will equip them for a lifetime of learning and growing.

Local residents named to WPI deans list

Westport residents Kyle Ehrlich and Conrad Mera were among 1,474 students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute named to the universitys deans list for academic excellence for the spring 2018 semester.

Ehrlich is majoring in computer science and mathematical sciences, and Mera is majoring in industrial engineering.

The criteria for the WPI deans list differs from most other universities as WPI does not compute a grade point average. Instead, WPI defines the deans list by the amount of work completed at the A level in courses and projects.

Loiacono named to SNHUs Presidents List

Victoria Loiacono, of Westport, has been named to Southern New Hampshire Universitys winter 2018 Presidents List. Eligibility for the Presidents List requires that a student accumulate an academic grade point average between 3.7 and 4.0 and earn 12 credits for the semester.
WESTPORT  William Vornkahl, President of the Westport Veterans Council today released the Line of March for the Memorial Day parade and the program for services to be held on Veterans Green immediately after the parade on Monday.

Vornkahl also announced that in honor of all veterans and first responders, there will be a helicopter fly-over by Eagle One out of Stratford, Conn. during the parade. The fly over will be dependent upon favorable weather conditions.
Best known to her legions of fans as Mary Morstan in Sherlock, Amanda Abbington is returning to the stage for the UK premiere of Andrew Lippa's A Little Princess, which plays the Royal Festival Hall on 28 May.

Her previous theatre credits include Abigail's Party at Theatre Royal Bath, God Bless the Child at the Royal Court, and Love Me Tonight at Hampstead Theatre. A Little Princess marks her musical theatre debut. She is also set to star in Jonathan Church's new season at Theatre Royal Bath, in the tenth-anniversary production of God of Carnage.







1. What is The Little Princess about?

It is an adaptation of a book by the same name, about a young girl sent away to live in a Victorian London finishing school, and how she is bullied by the head teacher and ultimately tries to find her way back to her father again.

2. What appealed to you about working on it?

I have never done a musical before, I can't sing, I was asked, liked the script and the people involved and thought it would be a challenge.

3. Are you nervous about doing a musical?

Yes. I am absolutely terrified and can't now think why I agreed to put myself through it.

4. What can audiences expect from the show?

I have no idea! Hopefully a good night out. We only had six days rehearsals and it has morphed into a full scale musical. So who knows!

5. They say don't work with children and animals. How have you found working with the children in the cast?

The girls are astonishing. Beautifully talented, professional and sweet. I love them.

6. What's Arlene Phillips like as a director?

She's great. Funny and interesting and so good at getting it all together.

7. It's been a while since you've done stage work, have you missed it?

Yes. I love theatre. It scares the pants off me but I love it.

8. The Sherlock gang have an avid fanbase, how have you found that?

Sherlock fans are the best. They are loyal, lovely and totally supportive. The best. Wouldn't be without them.

9. Are you going to return for the fifth series?

I don't even know if the show is returning for a fifth series! Do you know something I don't?

10. What is your earliest memory in theatre?

My next door neighbour taking me to see The Nutcracker ballet at The Royal Opera House when I was eight. It was a truly magical experience and cemented my yearning to work in this profession.

11. What do you consider to be your big break?

I think it would have to be Sherlock.

12. In an alternate reality, what would you do if you weren't a performer?

A director. Or a spy. I think I'd make a good spy. Actually, thinking about it, I'd be terrible. Perhaps a Greenpeace Warrior. I like the sound of that.

13. What would your dream role be?

Lady Macbeth, Sally Bowles and a zombie. Probably in that order.

14. What has been the most embarrassing moment of your career?

This, I think Me singing in this show.

15. How would you describe your work ethic?

Work hard, be nice, be good, welcome everyone, do your job to the best of your ability with minimum fuss. But above all, be nice and be good.

16. Who are your idols?

Frances McDormand, Edie Falco, Judi Dench, Julie Walters, Bette Davis and Shirley MacLaine.

17. What have you seen onstage recently?

The Prudes at The Royal Court. An incredible play. Beautifully, beautifully acted and not a long one either.

18. If you could go back in time and change one thing what would it be?

Agreeing to sing in this show.

19. What advice would you give to aspiring musical theatre performers?

Do not give up. Enjoy your work. Be nice, be good and be professional but make sure you have fun. When it stops being fun, look for something else to do.

20. What do you do in your spare time?

Raise my two children and eat really good food with my boyfriend. And worry about when I am going to work again. Life really.
Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham will lead a new initiative to support aspiring writers by collaborating on a project at Wilton's Music Hall this autumn.

Entitled Sketching and based on Charles Dickens' first novel Sketches by Boz, Graham and director Thomas Hescott (Tory Boyz) will oversee a new piece based in and around the Music Hall in east London, with undiscovered writers contributing with texts of their own. The show is billed as "Love Actually meets Magnolia on stage".

Writers, especially those currently underrepresented in the industry, are encouraged to submit stories and character ideas by visiting sketchingtheplay.com. Successful applicants will receive 1,000 for their story, as well as expenses to attend a masterclass week with professional artists and writers. The deadline is 4 June, with the website wanting writers who have never received a professional production of their solo play.

The play's website says: "Led by James, we're basically crowd-sourcing a play. But we want ideas and stories. Not money."

Graham said: "We're all aware of the growing deficit of opportunities for emerging artists from working class, regional backgrounds. We know there are far too few writers finding stages who are women or people of colour, a mix of nationalities and faiths. We're looking for a team of writers to contribute strands, to help us work together to interweave them, and collaborate on generating more, together."

Graham's Quiz is currently running in the West End, with his play Ink recently announcing a Broadway transfer.

The final piece will run from 26 September to 27 October at Wilton's, with tickets on sale today.
When I first met with Madani Younis, the artistic director of the Bush Theatre, to discuss the design of Leave Taking he had a challenge for me. The play is a naturalistic one. The writing is detailed, human and domestic. It sits comfortably (and beautifully) in living rooms and bedsits, with chairs, tables, props and lampshades but "We've seen that production" said Madini "We know it works". Instead, he wanted us to create a production that would stretch the play in order to reveal its deeper, more universal, more timeless themes. The writing is robust, we decided, it could take a bit of pushing and pulling.

Leave Taking is an account of a second generation immigrant family. It focuses on the differences in experience of a Jamaican mother and her teenage daughters. It pays tribute to the journeys taken and the sacrifices made by the Windrush generation. It acknowledges a history of movement: "It must be some kinda curse that condemn our people to wander the earth like ghosts who can't find rest."

This idea of movement and of journeying became interesting to us; the ships, the sea, the wood, the water. It felt right to move in an elemental direction that focused on raw/real materials. Jamaica itself is "the land of wood and water". This was our key.

Design became a patchwork of history that would allow our actors to fluidly move in and out of focus.

With this in mind we concentrated on the physical shape of the design. An early conversation had already confirmed to us that we should configure the space in the round. It creates an immediate equilibrium with actor and audience  this is everyone's story. It stops us from relying on large pieces of scenery or fakery to tell a story and forces us into something more authentic.

A sketch for the designs for Leave Taking

 Rosanna Vize

Taking time to sit in the Bush furthered our thinking  it's an honest space, we aren't looking at black paint covering up, we are looking at real materials; brick, concrete. When you work in spaces like this, you have to make a decision  to play with or against; there's no room for in-betweens.

It slowly became clear that the space needed to be used as an entire and total environment. Consisting only of stained plywood the design became a patchwork of history that would allow our actors to fluidly move in and out of focus. This fluidity, we hoped, would help us move between naturalistic scenes and more heightened moments. We then created a sort of cut out in the middle of the space, taking advantage of the Bush's rarely exposed pit. This cut out offered layers and provided a sense of architecture without requiring walls.

We therefore began experimenting with ways in which water could enter and leave the space

So we have wood  what about water? In the physical action alone we see glasses of water thrown, alcohol drunk, kettles boiled but could we push this further?

A language started to develop that connected Enid's memories of her past to water  something that is initially suppressed but eventually unavoidable. We therefore began experimenting with ways in which water could enter and leave the space. This idea evolved further in the rehearsal room through discussion with Sarah Niles (Enid) who helped us pinpoint the exact emotional journey of the water in relation to her character.

Adjoa Andoh in Leave Taking

 Helen Murray

Similar conversations existed in the rehearsals around costume. As a designer I find it is important to collaborate closely with the actors when approaching something as personal as clothing. This felt doubly important in this production as the five actors all have a close relationship with Winsome Pinnock's play and the experience of the characters.

Working on Leave Taking has been a collaborative and exciting process. I'm proud of what we've made and endlessly impressed with the group of people I am making it with.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/5/2018 (1235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The premise offers up pathos on a Little Match Girl scale.

Lonely, isolated 12-year-old Alyosha (Matvey Novikov) has come to a horrifying realization that, in the demise of his Muscovite parents' marriage, his mother Zhenya (Maryana Spivak) and his father, Boris (Aleksey Rozin) are engaged in the worst kind of custody battle.

Neither parent wants him.

It's not his fault. Both parents seem to view him as a symptom of the disease that infected their marriage. Both are intent moving on to new partners, and if that means exiling him to a boarding school/army future, so be it.

Boris, it emerges, has impregnated the younger, naive Masha (Marina Vasilyeva) and sees their life together as a do-over.

Zhenya has herself taken up with an older man, Anton (Andris Keiss) whose own grown daughter is safely out of the picture, so she looks forward to a luxurious and childless existence.

What's a boy to do?

Well, he can disappear.

Mongrel Media Matvey Novikov in Loveless

And so Alyosha vanishes mysteriously. And in keeping with the emotional removal of his parents, it's two days before his mother even notices he's missing, thanks to a phone call from his school telling her he's been absent through two days of classes.

We've already seen Boris making discreet inquiries as to how a divorce might affect his career in an organization in which his Christian boss demands strict adherence to monogamous morals. A missing child, we can infer, will be a serious blot on his performance review.

And so it goes in this bleak yet weirdly captivating drama by Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, whose film Leviathan likewise framed a human story as an indictment of national Russian malaise, writ in microcosm.

No thriller, Zvyagintsev's film moves at a stately pace as we bear witness to the personal dynamics that steers these characters to tragedy. Title notwithstanding, people do make love in this movie. Both Zhenya and Boris have fairly graphic sex scenes suggesting both are more attentive to sexual gratification than they are to its byproduct.

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Zvyagintsev gives up a significant clue as to Zhenya's hostile character when she and Boris are obliged to visit Zhenya's monstrous mother (Natalya Potapova), whom Boris describes as "Stalin in skirts," but who more closely resembles the Slavic sorceress Baba Yaga on a bad day.

Beyond that, Zvyagintsev imbues the film with symptoms of a larger issue of widespread narcsicism; Zhenya and Boris are seen looking at their phones more devotedly than they ever might glance at their son.

It's a quiet condemnation of neglect by self-absorbed people. But at the risk of being a little too on-the-nose, Zvyagintsev suggests in the film's final few minutes that this de-humanizing condition has led to the wider abuses of Vladimir Putin's ruthless regime.

Given the current political climate, the story has undeniable resonance on this hemisphere too. Indeed, this is one of the rare foreign-language films wherein an American remake would be wholly justified.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing
Winnipeg is about to become a major global centre for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of helicopter engines as a result of reorganization within StandardAeros Canadian facility network.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/5/2018 (1235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg is about to become a major global centre for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of helicopter engines as a result of reorganization within StandardAeros Canadian facility network.

One of StandardAeros six Winnipeg plants is in the process of being retrofitted to take on helicopter work that had been done at a shop in Richmond, B.C.

The reorganization announced Thursday comes six months after Scottsdale. Ariz.-based StandardAero bought Airbuss engine-repair division, Vector Aerospace. Vector had more than US$700 million in annual revenue in 2016, and 2,200 employees  900 based in Canada, including approximately 280 at the Richmond shop scheduled to be gradually phased out.

In addition to StandardAero making Winnipeg its hub for helicopter engine maintenance, the company is also moving turboprop engine work to Summerside, P.E.I., and helicopter airframe/component work to a shop in Langley, B.C.

The Richmond, Summerside and Langley shops were all acquired as part of the Vector deal.

The helicopter work will move into StandardAeros building at 570 Ferry Rd., which currently handles Pratt & Whitney PW100 and PT6A work. Those turboprop engines are used in smaller regional aircraft like ATRs, Twin Otters and Dash 8s.

Mike Scott, the Winnipeg-based chief financial officer of StandardAero, which is now a US$3-billion-per-year business since acquiring Vector last November, said the company plans to spend about $7.5 million on retrofitting the building and adding new equipment.

Initially, no changes are expected for the Winnipeg workforce. Technicians formerly working on turboprop engines will be retrained and recertified on helicopter engines.

But, Scott said the company is confident the helicopter engine business is going to grow, and that additional workers will be needed in Winnipeg in the near future.

"Today, we just do Rolls-Royce helicopter engines (in Winnipeg)," Scott said. "Going forward, we will expand to include GE and Safran, which is a new relationship for us. It creates a better, more diversified portfolio of helicopter engine models in Winnipeg."

Rick Stine, StandardAeros Cincinnati-based president of components, helicopters and accessories, said, "The market engine we are bringing into Winnipeg has a much broader growth market than the product that is leaving."

The expectation for growth in the helicopter business is one of the reasons Standard-Aero acquired Vector  its ability to attract new business.

Thats partly due to the relationships StandardAero has with aerospace companies around the world, and also because of the fact that other helicopter manufacturers will be more comfortable sending work to StandardAero than they might have been to Vector, since Vectors former owner, Airbus, is also one of the largest helicopter manufacturers in the world.

"All the other helicopter OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) did not want to deal with them (Vector) because they were the competition," Stine said. "The fact that Vector is now owned by an independent company  we are now getting discussions with (other helicopter) companies like Leonardo Helicopters and Bell, back again. They were not happening when Vector was owned by Airbus. We are already making some inroads."

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Exchange Income Corp. (EIC) likely owns the largest fleet of turboprop planes using those Pratt & Whitney engines in Manitoba. But StandardAeros decision to move that work to P.E.I. will not affect them.

"To be honest, we had been a Vector customer in the past," David White, EICs vice-president of aviation, said.

"Our engines were already being serviced in P.E.I. We have always had a good relationship with StandardAero and Vector and Pratt & Whitney themselves."

Winnipeg is the largest facility in StandardAeros network, both in terms of workers  1,250  and revenue.

Moving a slower-growth line in the turboprop engines, and replacing it with a growing business line, should mean Winnipeg will retain bragging rights as StandardAeros largest and most important centre.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
The smoke in Little Grand Rapids was so thick that people couldnt see the sun in the middle of the day.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/5/2018 (1236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The smoke in Little Grand Rapids was so thick that people couldnt see the sun in the middle of the day.

The air was thick with ash and it was tough to breathe, said Paul Duck, one of more than 1,000 fire evacuees brought to Winnipeg from two fly-in communities. Since Tuesday, members of Duck's community have been flown into the city in batches, while some remain stranded.

The out-of-control fire has torched 20,000 hectares of land near the only place hes ever called home: Little Grand Rapids First Nation. It is still burning.

"Everybody is in shock. The last we saw, there was still some homes standing up. But it was hard to see because there was so much smoke. It was like a meteor just hit," Duck said.

Standing outside one of the Winnipeg hotels where the Red Cross has arranged rooms for evacuees, Duck said he's concerned about what, if anything, will be left of his home when he returns. A woman from Little Grand Rapids walked over and told him 21 homes have burned to the ground.

Duck shakes his head. If true, the loss of 21 homes is a big hit for a community that already has a housing crisis.

CANADIAN ARMED FORCES Military staff and evacuees fly to Winnipeg on a 435 Squadron CC-130H Hercules from Red Lake, Ont.Evacuees were flown to Red Lake by helicopter from Little Grand Rapids.

"Weve been dealing with a housing crisis for a long time. I dont know how theyre going to work this out now. Well just have to see how it will be when we go back home," he said.

Duck was in the first group of evacuees flown into Winnipeg, on Tuesday. He came on an early flight, accompanying many of the communitys most vulnerable members: elders, children and those with medical conditions.

Drug fears OTTAWA  Federal and provincial politicians worried Thursday about whether officials are doing enough to steer this weeks wildfire evacuees away from Winnipeg drug dealers. During last Augusts evacuation of Island Lake, the Red Cross placed residents in hotels across Winnipeg, where some claim the citys drug dealers plied young people with free samples of methamphetamine to get them hooked. click to read more OTTAWA  Federal and provincial politicians worried Thursday about whether officials are doing enough to steer this weeks wildfire evacuees away from Winnipeg drug dealers. During last Augusts evacuation of Island Lake, the Red Cross placed residents in hotels across Winnipeg, where some claim the citys drug dealers plied young people with free samples of methamphetamine to get them hooked. Just this week, a small group arrived in Ottawa from the Island Lake region down to Winnipeg and across Ontario. Theyre seeking a treatment centre to deal with an uptick in deaths, suicide and child-welfare apprehensions. Meanwhile, an Island Lake band councilor claimed a known sex-offender had been housed alongside evacuees in the RBC Convention Centre, leaving grandmothers to take shifts through the night to make sure their children dont get preyed upon. Others complained about being dispersed throughout the city away from family members, including those with medical needs, while some said they were turned away when offering to translate at the slow-moving registration table. Canadian Red Cross spokesman Jason Small said his officials are working to make sure things go smoothly for the evacuees, but wouldnt get into specifics. A lot of its the small, little-detail things, he said Thursday morning. We certainly have learned a lot. Indigenous Services Canada said officials have been co-ordinating "all essential supports" with chiefs and councillors "including mental health services. ISC Minister Jane Philpott said shes working with the Red Cross and others to make sure that all issues in terms of cultural safety are addressed and that people are being well cared for. We know that there were some issues in the evacuation centres last year in Winnipeg. We have taken lessons from that. Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux raised a similar concern in the provincial legislature on Thursday; the ministers noted that the evacuation centre is co-ordinated federally. The Red Cross is undergoing a five-year review with any First Nation in Manitoba interested in developing emergency plans, so evacuations are done in culturally sensitive ways that use locals skillsets. That review, funded by Ottawa, started with debriefing sessions with Island Lake communities. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca Close

As much as he felt he should stay behind and help fight the fire, he thought he might best serve his community by helping the elders get settled in Winnipeg. Hes also been co-ordinating a donation drive with his sister, Catherine Duck, who lives in the city.

He says the situation has been incredibly tough on the community, especially children, and many people didnt want to leave. But when the wind shifted and the First Nation was under siege from the flames, Duck says many people felt they'd been abandoned.

"It happened so fast and at the last minute. Just, Hey guys, everybody has to evacuate immediately. Leave everything behind, just grab what you can grab and go. There was a lack of preparedness. I think the evacuation should have been called right away," Duck said.

On Wednesday, as hundreds of residents piled into the local school to wait for planes to fly them to safety, Morgan Owen said the gym was so hot and smoky it was almost unbearable.

"(Outside), it was like night time during the day, ash falling all over... The smoke would waft into the gymnasium. They kept telling people not to go outside. There was a lot of heat, body heat and smoke filling in there. Most people stayed up the whole night. I didnt get any sleep," Owen said.

When asked if hes scared to see whats left of his community when he goes back home, Owen shook his head, saying quietly, "I dont know. I dont know what to say."

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He paused, before adding, "Out in the bush, the trails I walk around every day, theyre gone."

That sentiment was echoed by Duck, who said hes concerned not only for his community, and the homes and buildings lost, but also the surrounding environment and animals.

"Its just very disappointing and hurting the way all the trees are gone now. Its upsetting. Where are we going to go? What about the animals? Those are things you think about," he said.

"The moose, the bears, the squirrels, you name it. All the animals we survived on, lived on, all the green and the trees, the environment, gone away."

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

@rk_thorpe
Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand hopes to call Premier Brian Pallister as a witness in next month's federal hearings on a $453-million Manitoba Hydro transmission line project to Minnesota.

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This article was published 25/5/2018 (1235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Metis Federation president David Chartrand hopes to call Premier Brian Pallister as a witness in next month's federal hearings on a $453-million Manitoba Hydro transmission line project to Minnesota.

The National Energy Board will hold oral traditional evidence hearings June 4-8, and conference-room formal hearings June 18-22.

Chartrand said in an interview Friday that MMF lawyers are exploring whether they can force Pallister to appear and be cross-examined about his decision to order Hydro to cancel a $67.5-million 50-year deal with the MMF that involved the proposed line to Minnesota.

The NEB said Friday that such a request would be a first, but didn't rule out that Chartrand could be successful in getting the premier to appear.

"Such a request has not been made in the past. The board will consider any motion (or procedural request) put before it and decide accordingly," NEB communications officer Marc Drolet said from Montreal.

In addition to the premier, Chartrand wants his lawyers to be able to question Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen at the NEB hearings.

The premier's office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Cabinet ordered Hydro to kill the deal in March. Pallister and Cullen believe the deal would deprive future generations of Metis people of their rights.

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Pallister told the legislature the $67.5 million was hush money to buy off a special interest group. Cullen has said the MMF does not speak for all Metis people.

However, Chartrand believes the land-entitlement deal was negotiated as part of the reconciliation process; in 2-14, the province gave Hydro and the MMF the green light to reach an agreement.

The federation had agreed not to oppose the transmission line, which is supposed to be sending power to Minnesota by 2020.

In a separate legal action, the MMF will file a motion asking the courts to reverse the province's decision to kill the deal.

Further details on the NEB hearings in Winnipeg are expected next week.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
The three-wheeled vehicles city police once used for zipping between cars and parking in minuscule spaces are making a comeback.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 24/5/2018 (1236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The three-wheeled vehicles city police once used for zipping between cars and parking in minuscule spaces are making a comeback.

A pair of vintage Cushman Trucksters are being restored by students at the Manitoba Institute for Trades and Technology, in preparation for their new home at the Winnipeg Police Museum.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Grade 11 MITT automotive services student Mathieu Hrynchuk pulls apart the carberator from a Cushman Truckster students are restoring at the trade school. The vehicles were origionally used by "Meter Maids" by the city, and later parking commisionaires.

"This is a new venture for us to reach out and partner with students," said Winnipeg Police Service deputy chief Gord Perrier.

Secondary and post-secondary automotive students will work on the restorations, and save the downtown museum some money. In turn, the museum will purchase parts, and help with tuition for some students in need. A dollar figure was not disclosed.

The Cushman Trucksters were formerly used by Winnipeg police for parking enforcement, dating to the 1960s.

The small vehicles were not for the actual patrols out issuing tickets but rather for the sergeants checking up on those patrols, said Jack Templeman, the former long-time curator of the police museum (who still volunteers there).

The two models being restored became part of the police fleet in 1981. By 1983-84, responsibility for handing out parking violations was transferred to the Winnipeg Parking Authority, and the vehicles found a second life transporting staff in city parks.

The City of Winnipeg had been in possession of one of the two models being restored. The other found its way years ago to a man in Ontario, who later sold it to a man in Manitoba, who eventually donated it to the museum.

The trucksters have about 40 years of dirt, dust and grime coating the dashboard and hardened into the grooves of the rubber corduroy flooring.

They are basic motor vehicles, with just a steering wheel, gear shift, and a few gauges. There are two side vents that serve as air conditioning, along with sliding windows.

They also top out at roughly 30 to 40 km/h  which should be ample for their future life in the museum, and once in awhile getting out for events such as the annual Santa Claus Parade and Teddy Bears' Picnic.

The Cushman company, founded in 1903 by Everett and Clinton Cushman, is based in Augusta, Ga. It made the trucksters from 1952 to 2002, but its speciality was scooters (which it still makes).

Trucksters are light-duty vehicles used for work such as selling ice cream, transporting staff in parks and stadiums  and parking enforcement.

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Mathieu Hrynchuk, a Grade 11 student at MITT, is in charge of the restoration projects. The trucksters need a lot of work, he said.

"A lot of parts need to be replaced like the master cylinder, the muffler. There needs to be a complete rewiring and expensive bodywork needs to be done," Hrynchuk said.

He said the restorations could be complete by early 2019.

The police museum has become a popular spot since it moved into the new WPS headquarters (245 Smith St.). A police spokesman said visits have gone from a few hundred when the facility was in Westwood, to 10,000 last year.

The museum is expecting up to 1,000 visitors this weekend for the annual Doors Open Winnipeg event, when the public can view many buildings noted for architecture or history at no cost.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
The Winnipeg Police Service and the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba are doubling down on collaborative efforts to address Winnipeg's street-drug problem.

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This article was published 24/5/2018 (1236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Service and the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba are doubling down on collaborative efforts to address Winnipeg's street-drug problem.

"In order for us to combat this crisis, we must collectively mobilize resources, engage with our communities and collaborate with partner agencies in order to build a safer, stronger and healthier community," said Insp. Max Waddell, commander of the WPS organized crime unit. He noted methamphetamine and opioids continue to emerge as safety threats in the city.

The new drug enforcement unit  a squadron of seven officers established about a month ago  made its first major busts last weekend.

On Thursday, the WPS showed off the items it seized from two homes, one in East St. Paul and one in the Lord Roberts area. They included one kilogram of cocaine (valued at $60,000), 2,500 rocks of crack cocaine (valued at $62,500) and six kilograms of marijuana (valued at $26,000).

Waddell said the new unit will be focused solely on "detection, disruption and dismantling" of the drug trade in Winnipeg.

All of the officers on the force will be trained in basic intervention skills to assist people with drug addictions in getting help, he added. Officers have started offering Manitoba Helpline information cards to people they meet who express interest.

AFM medical director Dr. Ginette Poulin said there's much more work to be done.

"Despite these goodwill efforts, we see the societal need is outmatched and we believe that relationships can be strengthened to enhance the sources, increase education and tools and improve pathways of earlier intervention and move people towards the appropriate care for their addictions and mental-health issues while reducing unnecessary interactions with the criminal system and emergency systems," she said.

There's still a great need for treatment facilities to help those with addictions get out of "this vicious cycle that is certainly bogging down our police services, as well as our emergency services," Poulin said.

Mayor Brian Bowman applauded the joint police-AFM effort.

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"Enforcement alone isnt going to address all of our challenges. No city can expect a police department to single-handedly enforce its way out of the challenge of illegal drugs. Educating people before they use illegal drugs and intervening with those currently using are just as important and are also two key pillars of the illicit drug strategy," Bowman said.

The mayor compared the battle against opioids and methamphetamine to other difficult issues Winnipeg has grappled with in the past.

"I do know, however, that when faced with what seems to be an impossible challenge, our community knows how to respond. In the early 2000s, when arson and auto theft plagued our city, we came together to knock both back. We know how to get it done and we know that getting it done means working together," he said.

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu
OTTAWA  Officials expect to fully evacuate the 1,400 residents of two fly-in First Nations by Thursday evening, rescues that a local chief and the province say would have come earlier if it wasn't for communication foul-ups.

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This article was published 24/5/2018 (1236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Officials expect to fully evacuate the 1,400 residents of two fly-in First Nations by Thursday evening, rescues that a local chief and the province say would have come earlier if it wasn't for communication foul-ups.

"I feel frustrated right now," said Little Grand Rapids Chief Ray Keeper.

His community, as well as nearby Pauingassi, has been engulfed in wildfires since Monday night. Residents were sent to Winnipeg through a chaotic evacuation that echoes the last-minute removal of Island Lake residents last August.

GRAEME BRUCE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS / MAPBOX / NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA This map shows the size of the estimated fire perimeter as of May 24 near the two evacuated communities.

On Monday, Keeper was attending meetings in Winnipeg when his son called, saying he saw smoke on the far end of the lake. The chief phoned provincial officials, who told him the situation was under control. Staff at the federally run nursing station told him smoke inhalation wasnt an immediate danger to most of the community.

MARIANNE CROW / FACEBOOK Residents of Pauingassi First Nation (northern Manitoba) wait for evacuation.

"Initially the fire was one-tenth of a hectare and crews believed it could be contained," Manitobas Sustainable Development department wrote in a statement. "However high winds picked up, and the fire got into a section of brush with taller trees and the fire began to run along the treetops."

By Monday evening, fire had engulfed 5,000 hectares, and the department "tried to reach out to the chief and council" about an evacuation, but "were not able to reach anyone from the council, and left a number of messages at the band office."

Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler suggested Thursday that band officials may have had their cell phones turned off, or have neglected to charge them, but wouldnt name anyone. "We understand people are stressed," he said.

In any case, Keeper said nobody got a call.

"Finally I just took things in my own hands, and just started calling for help." He declared a state of emergency Tuesday, which the province said reserves normally dont do until theyve co-ordinated with the province and Ottawa.

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) said Little Grand Rapids First Nation first contacted them on Tuesday afternoon, and that officials started planning how to remove the ill and elderly.

ISC Minister Jane Philpott said federal officials worked through the night and asked the military Wednesday morning to help the Red Cross in evacuating people.

As of midday Thursday, ISC said that Little Grand Rapids was 94 per cent evacuated, while Pauingassi was at 22 per cent.

The military was set on Thursday afternoon to provide one last trip with a Hercules plane to bring evacuees to Winnipeg from an airstrip in Ontario, to where people had been airlifted with two large Chinook helicopters.

Keepers telling of events echoes testimony last fall by leaders from Island Lake, in northeast Manitoba. Before being evacuated last August, Island Lake officials said they tried persuading the province and federal bureaucrats to send water-bombers. The fires forced one of the three communities to cross the lake by boat, and two women claim they had miscarriages as a result of the stress.

The Houses Indigenous-affairs committee heard last fall that Island Lake had a less organized response because, compared with British Columbia, Manitoba doesnt have as much co-ordination with the federal government during evacuations.

"We're in the same situation this year; the Prairies are on fire," said Kildonan-St. Paul MP MaryAnn Mihychuk. "Lessons were learned, people listened, and I'm confident that things will be better this year."

Yet the area's NDP MP, Niki Ashton, said this is the worst co-ordination shes seen in response to any natural disaster over the past decade.

She said it was "completely outrageous" for the province to be "essentially blaming the Chief and Council" when they had asked for water bombers to beat down the fires.

On Wednesday, the Southern Chiefs' Organization echoed similar concerns. Premier Brian Pallister said hed consider those complaints when the situation was under control.

"I wont comment on criticisms during an emergency. Well always evaluate post-emergency to make sure we do the best job possible," he told reporters.

In question period, NDP leader Wab Kinew urged Pallister to improve outreach to remote communities. "There was some sort of communications breakdown," Kinew said.

MARIANNE CROW / FACEBOOK

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Pallister responded that all natural disasters provide an opportunity to learn, and the premier predicted the climate change will bring even more forest fires.

Philpott struck a similar note.

"We obviously will do an analysis at some point in terms of how well all of the communication took place, but the response that we have had so far I think has been exceedingly rapid, and we're very pleased that people are safe," she told reporters.

Schuler told the legislature Thursday afternoon that nine water bombers  four from Quebec  and 20 helicopters were fighting the northern fires, while another 40 firefighters were set to arrive from Ontario.

- With files from Nick Martin and Larry Kusch

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
A House of Commons committee recommended recently that provinces increase their jury pay rates to at least $120 per day. The committee report further suggests provinces cover jurors expenses, including transportation and meals. That works out to $15 per hour plus expenses, assuming eight-hour days.

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Opinion

A House of Commons committee recommended recently that provinces increase their jury pay rates to at least $120 per day. The committee report further suggests provinces cover jurors expenses, including transportation and meals. That works out to $15 per hour plus expenses, assuming eight-hour days.

Not coincidentally, thats what Albertas minimum wage will become on Oct. 1. The provincial labour minister, Christina Gray, justified the increase by stating "this is exactly the time for a fair wage."

A similar increase is under way in Ontario. Liberal Kathleen Wynne, now running for re-election, has said "we need to make certain that our workers are treated fairly."

So if these provincial governments are serious about fairness, they should implement the federal recommendations. They need to start paying jurors at least the minimum wage for trial participation.

Suppose you are one of the thousands of Canadians summoned to courthouses each year for possible jury selection. In most provinces, your employer is obliged to release you, but isnt obliged to pay you while youre missing work.

You first spend several hours at the courthouse waiting to see if you get picked. If so, you attend your assigned trial for however long it lasts, but you wont be paid much in return for your hours of time.

Ontarios miserly jury pay

If youre a juror in Ontario, you get paid nothing during the selection process, nor during the first 10 days of duty. You then receive $40 per day for days 11 to 49, and $100 daily thereafter. So if the trial lasts a month (say, 21 court days of perhaps six hours each), you receive only $440 for your obliging and obligatory service.

Compare that to someone earning Ontarios minimum wage of $14 per hour. They receive $84 for a six-hour day. Thats $1,764 per month, four times what jurors get.

Under the provinces planned increase to $15 in 2019, a minimum wage employee will begin earning $1,890 monthly.

Other factors make the pay gap between jurors and employees even worse.

First, jurors receive no vacation pay. That extra four per cent boosts a workers monthly total to $1,834 at current rates, or $1,966 after the proposed increase.

Second, while serving on juries, most people give up eight-hour days at their regular job, not six. They thus miss out on at least $2,446 or $2,661, respectively.

Third, most employees (thankfully) earn more than minimum wage. The Canadian average is $27.95 hourly, or about $4,696 per month. Thats 11 times Ontarios jury pay.

Maybe jurors should apply for social assistance. Singles get up to $706 monthly; families receive more.

Most provinces under-compensate

Manitoba is even stingier. Jurors receive nothing for the first 10 days, and only $30 daily thereafter; thats $330 for a month-long trial. By comparison, working six-hour days at the provinces $11.15 hourly minimum wage yields $1,461 per month, including vacation pay.

At the other extreme, Quebec leads the way on jury compensation. It offers $103 per day, with extra pay for long days or extended trials. A month-long trial pays $2,163. It also reimburses meals, transportation, child care and counselling.

Newfoundland takes a different approach. Instead of paying jurors, it requires employers to provide paid court leave. Thats good for employees, who get their full wages and benefits. But it dumps jury costs onto employers.

Such underpayment would be illegal for other employers. For example, Ontario has repeatedly cracked down on unpaid student internships. Yet their own juror "interns" go unpaid for two weeks and underpaid for eight. Why do our governments continue to exempt themselves?

Civic duty

Some traditionalists argue that jury service is different because its a "civic duty." Jurors do indeed provide (mostly) honourable service; but thats a reason for more pay, not less. Soldiers and police also serve society. But even an army private gets $2,985 per month.

Some jurors have said their court experience was interesting and educational. But many find it stressful or even traumatic, especially for long trials of violent crimes.

There are several reasons, aside from basic fairness, that we should pay jurors better. Since Im a business professor, Im focusing here on financial issues.

First, it would encourage jury participation rather than absenteeism. Low-paid workers would no longer suffer financially as jurors. Higher-paid ones would at least feel less penalized. Some folks, like part-timers and the unemployed, might even find service attractive.

As the Commons committee notes, this could also help make juries more representative of the general population. A lack of juror diversity has led to controversy around high-profile trials like the Gerald Stanley verdict in the death of Colten Boushie.

Good for the economy

Second, we have the same economic arguments that support minimum wage increases. More than two million Canadians are unemployed or earning minimum wage. Putting more money in their threadbare pockets while theyre on juries would be good for their families and the economy.

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Finally, paying jurors properly could provide political leverage for the minimum wage increases underway in Alberta and Ontario. Those steep hikes face stiff resistance from business groups. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business for example is "shocked and appalled."

Provincial governments look like hypocrites when they force other employers to provide higher wages, while still underpaying their own jurors. They should instead put their money where their mouths are and start paying at least $120 plus expenses daily. Then they can claim to be "sharing the pain."

When discussing the minimum wage, Wynne has said: "Its time this rate reflected the reality of peoples lives."

Lets hope all the premiers soon say that about jury pay, too.

Michael J. Armstrong is an associate professor of operations research at the Goodman School of Business, Brock University.

This article was first published at The Conversation Canada: theconversation.com/ca.
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Lake cores may solve mystery of Easter Island civilization

Sedimental story: Nick Balascio and his student James Van Hook pictured near Rano Kau, one of the lakes where the team collected sediment cores. Photo by William D'Andrea

Head quarry headquarters: The primary target for sediment coring was Lake Raraku, the site where stone for the islands iconic statues was quarried. Photo by Nick Balascio

Coring for history: Nick Balascio and a team of scientists plan to use sediment records to chart Easter Islands environmental history over the past 4,000 years. Photo by Nick Balascio Photo - of - Hide Caption

The Rapa Nui people of Easter Island are best known for carving hundreds of giant heads out of volcanic rock. For paleoclimatologists like Nick Balascio, the Rapa Nui are known for something else entirely. They have been used as a case study for how poor environmental stewardship can lead to societal collapse.



A remote outpost in the South Pacific Ocean, Easter Island is located some 2,300 miles west of South America and 2,600 miles east of Tahiti. When Polynesian explorers first arrived between 800 and 1200 AD, the island landscape was lush with palm forests. The prevailing theory holds that settlers slash-and-burn farming practices led to extreme deforestation, explained Balascio, an assistant professor of geology at William & Mary.



The result of such deforestation has been referred to as ecocide, social upheaval and dramatic population decline as a result of rapid ecological change, Balascio said. When Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen arrived on the island in 1722 AD, he described a sparsely populated territory destitute of large trees. However, more recent work has shown that this prevailing theory may not entirely be true.



Balascio hopes the key to understanding the rise and fall of the Rapa Nui people rests in sediment he recently collected from Easter Islands biggest lakes. He and a team of scientists plan to use the sediment records to chart the islands environmental history over the past 4,000 years.



Theres holes in the existing data that have been used to tell this story, Balascio said. Were trying to address those holes.



Balascio explained there are three main questions driving his research: When did people first arrive on the island? What is the long-term climate variability of the island? And what evidence exists for widespread burning on the landscape? By working to solve those three questions, he hopes to gain a broader understanding of how humans can affect their habitat and how past civilizations were influenced by environmental changes.



This civilization developed to a point where they could create these giant statues and then became pretty withered away, Balascio said.

In order to tell the full story, Balascio realized he needed to pair geology with archeology. The sediment cores provide precise chronological information about the islands climate. To see how environmental stressors (like overexploitation of resources) may have influenced society, Balascio had to overlay his climate data onto records of what the civilization left behind.



We started working with archeologists, trying to use these tools of what lakes can provide  their continuous sediment records  to augment the archeological data, Balascio said. With the overall objective being to better understand human-environment interactions on Easter Island.



The field team was comprised of climate scientists and archeologists alike. Balascio and his senior thesis student James Van Hook joined William DAndrea, associate research professor at Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and his Ph.D. student Lorelei Curtin, Raymond Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at UMass Amherst, and Chilean archeologist Andrea Seelenfreund.



Funding for the fieldwork came from William & Marys Reves Center for International Studies, the Center for Climate and Life at Columbia University, the Vetlesen Foundation and the Explorers Club of New York.



While Balascio, DAndrea and Bradley have worked together for years, their research has been primarily conducted in arctic climates, working to track environmental change over thousands of years. The recent trip to Easter Island was the trios first foray into the South Pacific. For Van Hook, it was his first time out of the country.



Talk about a great first use of a passport, Balascio said.



Just getting to Easter Island required nine months of legwork. The team had to secure permits to conduct fieldwork on the island. They had to seek special approval from the local Rapa Nui council and the Chilean Council of National Monuments to collect samples from culturally significant locations on the island. Balascio had to receive a soil permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for transporting the samples into the U.S. and storing them in his lab.



We have a lot of research experience using lake sediments as archives of past environmental change, Balascio said, but this trip was different from other climates weve worked in. In the past we were in the arctic, coring lakes and trying to reconstruct how big glaciers were over time. While this was our first experience in the South Pacific, we have been applying these same techniques for years.



The primary target for their coring techniques was Lake Raraku. The lake is an ideal place to core because it contains a continuous sedimentation record of the past 4,000 years. Its also the site where stone for the islands iconic statues was quarried.



There was only one quarry on the island that was used to make these things, Balascio said. If you think of the island like a small triangle  its only about 14 miles across  then picture these statues being moved all over that area. You find them everywhere.



Lake Raraku is significant from both a geological and archeological standpoint, Balascio explained. He believes the lakes sediment holds evidence of the dawn of quarrying activity, a key moment in the history of the Rapa Nui civilization.



It tells us about a time when people came together, Balascio said. There were these different groups, who lived on different parts of the island, but at some point they had to come together because they were all working out of the same quarry.



The lake was also an important source of fresh water for the Rapa Nui, which meant it served as a gathering place as well. The research team plans to extract DNA preserved in the sediment and sequence it to target markers for rat and chicken, the principal food source brought by Polynesian explorers. Balascio hopes the DNA will help date the arrival of the islands first settlers.



The team will also be analyzing the sediment for molecular biomarkers that relate to burning, certain organic compounds that get produced by burning wood and carbon. They hope to be able to find what they call the deforestation signal, evidence from when the islands greatest natural resources ran out.



When a resource was overconsumed, it led to social strife, Balascio said. All that evidence gets washed into these lakes.
Intensifying US economic, diplomatic and military pressure on China, and the Chinese regimes counter-offensive, are fuelling rifts inside Australias government and the corporate and political establishment as a whole.

The Trump administration is threatening a trade war against China, while accusing Beijing of militarising the South China Sea and seeking to coerce North Korea into a deal that would endanger Chinas strategic interests. Under these conditions, the US military-intelligence apparatus is reinforcing its insistence that there must be no wavering by Australia from lining up against China, its biggest export market.

Renewed accusations of Chinese interference in Australia are being promoted in the media, to try to poison public opinion against China. These are in preparation for potential military conflict and to hit back against voices of concern in ruling circles about the impact on the multi-billion dollar profits at stake for Australian capitalism.

Washingtons push produced extraordinary scenes in Australias parliament this week. First, on Tuesday, the chairman of the joint parliamentary intelligence and security committee, Andrew Hastie, a Liberal-National Coalition government backbencher, threw what the media called a grenade into recent government efforts to overcome a chill in relations with China.

Hastie, an ex-SAS military commander, used parliamentary privilege to accuse a prominent Chinese-Australian billionaire, Chau Chak Wing, of having co-conspired to bribe the president of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe, in 2013. Chau, whom Hastie declared had extensive contacts in the Chinese Communist Party, became an Australian citizen about 20 years ago and conducts business, mainly real estate dealings, in both countries.

Hastie cited a briefing he received when he recently led a delegation to the United States to discuss the Australian governments foreign interference bills, which particularly target China and Chinese Australians. During his speech, Hastie tabled sealed US FBI documents.

By using parliamentary privilege, Hastie cut across defamation proceedings that Chau is taking against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Fairfax Media for previously reporting the unproven claims against him. Hastie also launched another broadside against Chinese interference, citing, as examples, Chaus donations of $4 million to the Liberal-National and Labor parties, and $45 million to universities, since 2004.

Hastie delivered his bombshell with the support of Labor MP Anthony Byrne, who is the deputy chair of the intelligence and security committee. Byrne gave leave to Hastie to table US documents in parliament, saying: Leave is most definitely granted in support of my friend and colleague.

Questioned in parliament the next day, however, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull insisted he knew nothing about Hasties speech until after it was delivered. If that is true, Hastie and his backers secretly worked behind Turnbulls back to strike a blow at recent government attempts to mend fences with Beijing.

Turnbull next told parliament that the US briefing, which he said was attended by at least one Labor MPwas not classified. Asked whether he had sought information from our intelligence agencies about the implications of publicly sharing the details of an FBI investigation, Turnbull simply said yes.

Earlier in the week, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop requested a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the margins of a G20 gathering in Argentina. Bishop sought to end an apparent Chinese freeze on ministerial contacts between the two countries.

Bishop said her discussion with Wang was very warm and candid and constructive, but a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman provided a more frank assessment on Tuesday. He said Wang stressed that if Australia sincerely hopes that the relations between the two countries could return to the right track then it must break away from its traditional thinking and take off its tinted glasses to look at Chinas development from a more positive angle.

The next day, an editorial in the Global Times, a Chinese state-owned publication, called for trade retaliation against Australia. Sino-Australia relations have remained on a steady downward slope since last year due to distorted reporting on behalf of Australian media and remarks made by Australian politicians on Chinas alleged interference and infiltration in Australian internal affairs, it said.

China should not be too hasty about burying the hatchet simply every time Canberra puts on a smile. Last year, Australia exported $76.45 billion in goods to China. Lowering Aussie exports by $6.45 billion would send cold chills up and down the spine of Australia. Of course, it would be an even greater shock if the import reductions totaled $10 billion.

A speech by Australian Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe on Wednesday displayed the concerns gripping sections of big business about the potential economic damage. Lowe said Australias deepening economic relationship with China meant both countries have a strong interest in managing this important relationship well.

Making an indirect criticism of Trumps protectionism, the central bank chief said: Together, we can also be a strong voice for the importance of an open international trading system and for effective regional cooperation.

Lowe said the Chinese economy, the worlds second largest, was on track to become twice as large as the US economy when Chinas per-person income reached half of that in the USsomething which should be achievable. He noted that China accounted for one-third of Australias exports and about 25 percent of inbound tourism expenditure, and Chinese student enrolments in Australia had doubled to nearly 200,000 during the past decade.

Lowe highlighted Australian capitalisms vulnerability to a US-China trade war. Among the largest economic risks that Australia faces is something going wrong in China, he said. And perhaps the single biggest risk to the Chinese economy at the moment lies in the financial sector and the big run up in debt there over the past decade.

Significantly, Lowe delivered his remarks to the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, which has a building named after Chau Chak Wing, a major donor.

The institute is headed by former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr, who was branded Beijing Bob by a recent book, Silent Invasion, which provocatively accused Beijing of plotting to take over Australia. The author, Greens member Clive Hamilton, damned Carr for urging the US to accommodate to Chinas rise.

Hamilton also travelled to Washington this year, where he testified to a congressional committee on the alleged threat of Chinese influence in Australia, which the US political and security apparatus regards as a key testing ground for the battle to retain US hegemony over the Indo-Pacific. In his book, Hamilton fed efforts to create a wartime-like atmosphere, suggesting that a US-led war would be the only means of preventing China conquering Australia.

Yesterday, Hamilton was again featured in the media, exploiting Hasties speech to reiterate his claims and demand that the University of Sydney hand back a $15 million donation from Chau for a museum and study centre.

Labor MP Byrnes role in assisting Hasties tabling of FBI files highlights the Labor Partys alignment behind Washington. Labor leader Bill Shorten initially expressed concerns that Hastie had violated US secrecy rules. In parliament, he asked Turnbull whether Hastie had provided details from a confidential briefing from US authorities.

However, Hastie was soon praised by other Labor MPs. Defence spokesman Richard Marles said Hasties speech showed how important it is that we get our foreign interference laws passed.

Likewise, the shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus denied there were any fractures within the security and intelligence committee, whose report on the legislation is overdue. He said Labor was working constructively with government members of the committee on the bills and will continue to do so.

These bills not only target China. They constitute a far-reaching attack on freedom of speech, especially anti-war opposition, including by outlawing political activity in cooperation with foreign or international organisations. These extraordinary, chilling measures are bound up with Australias ever-closer integration into the US military preparations for war against China.
As President Emmanuel Macron slashes wages and conditions in workplaces across France, the countrys 13 wealthiest people have become $27.6 billion richer since the start of 2018. This has made France the country in the world where billionaires are increasing their wealth the fastest, according to a report published by Bloomberg last week.

Since January alone, the wealth of French billionaires has increased by a whopping 12.2 percent. This compares to 7.1 percent growth for Japanese billionaires, 6.3 percent for Chinese billionaires and 1.2 percent for American billionaires.

The class divide revealed by the figures in the Bloomberg report could not be more stark. On the one hand, Macron arrogantly denounces workers opposed to his policies as lazy because they earn 9.88 per hour (7.83 after tax) and criticize his cuts to social spending and income taxes for the rich. On the other hand, he is overseeing the transfer of more than $900,000 every hour into the pockets of this tiny group of financial parasites, corporate raiders and fashion heiresses.

The two richest individuals in France, Bernard Arnault and Francois Pinault, have raked in an additional $22.3 billion during this calendar year. Arnault, the chairman of luxury products conglomerate LVMH Moet Louis Vuitton SE, is the richest person in Europe and the fourth richest person in the world, with an estimated fortune of $76.4 billion.

Pinault, who has a fortune of $35.5 billion, is the founder of luxury conglomerate Kering, the owner of brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, and of the financial holding company Artemis.

As Macron eliminates the Tax on Large Fortunes (ISF) and slashes corporate tax, the surge in the stock market values for LVMH and Kering is going directly into Arnaults and Pinaults pockets. Bloomberg wrote, Renewed demand for luxury goods from China and a growing presence in e-commerce have lifted sales and propelled both holding groups into the ranks of Frances most valuable companies. A surge in art sales at Pinaults auction house Christies has also contributed.

Similarly, lOreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers added $3.7 billion to her net worth, and the brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, the owners of Chanel, added $2.4 billion to their fortunes.

These figures make clear that the policies of the Macron administration are based on lies. Masses of people are being told they must accept cuts to wages and salaries, the evisceration of unemployment benefits, a broad expansion of temporary work, planned cuts to health care and pensions, and the end of lifetime employment in the public sector because there is no money. But this is a political fraud.

In fact, there is plenty of money. The problemin France as around the rest of the worldis that it is being diverted into the bank accounts of a parasitic and money-mad ruling elite.

In the run-up to the 2012 French presidential elections, economist Thomas Piketty published a report on wealth inequality in France based on 2010 statistics. It showed that the top 10 percent of French society held 62 percent of the wealth, and the top 1 percent held 24 percent of the wealth. The bottom half of French society, in contrast, held only 4 percent of the wealth. After eight years of economic crisis and social austerity, the class divide is doubtless even more blatant today.

The social inequality revealed in such reports is a condemnation of the capitalist system. Last year, the world was shocked by news that just eight billionaires owned as much wealth as the bottom half of humanity. The Bloomberg report underscores that French capitalismdespite its pretensions to be a kinder, gentler and more regulated social orderis riven by the same insoluble social contradictions as world capitalism as a whole.

There is little in terms of social physiognomy and outlook to distinguish the billionaires who dominate French society and economic life from their US or British counterparts.

Arnault, whose family ran a local construction firm, used his political connections and availability of state subsidies to restructure and downsize the textile industry, vastly increase his fortune, and ultimately acquire LVMH in the 1980s. He left in his wake a trail of shuttered factories and devastated communities across northern France, which is now an electoral base of the neo-fascist National Front. He has become fabulously wealthy by strategically acquiring ever more fashion and luxury brands to add to his conglomerate. He endorsed Macron last year.

Similarly, Pinault came to prominence in the 1980s as a financier and corporate raider, making vast sums by restructuring and downsizing bankrupt wood and paper companies while pocketing state subsidies designed to help distressed firms. Like Arnault, he used this initial fortune to acquire an empire of luxury, finance and retail firms through which he became one of Frances wealthiest billionaires.

As for Bettencourt-Meyers, she inherited her wealth last year from her mother, the late Liliane Bettencourt. Bettencourts holding company owned a massive stake in LOreal, the cosmetics firm of Bettencourt-Meyers grandfather Eugene Schueller, a leading Nazi-collaborationist and financer of French fascist groups in World War II.

A financial aristocracy has emerged in France that is no less entrenched, arrogant and sclerotic than the feudal aristocracy overthrown by the French revolution two centuries ago. As Macron seeks to remove all barriers to their enrichment by liquidating the social rights won by the working class in France over decades of struggle in the 20th century, the only appropriate response of the working class is to fight for the expropriation of their ill-gotten wealth.
A landfill in Camden, Tennessee, approximately 80 miles west of Nashville, was abandoned by its owner last year, leaving a likely candidate for a federal Superfund site and nearby residents facing years of continued exposure to toxic waste.

Environmental Waste Solutions (EWS) walked away from the 42-acre site, nicknamed Black Mountain by those who live in the area because of toxic sludge leaking out of the 30-foot-high landfill, after its owner declared bankruptcy last year.

The landfill is leaking heavy metals including lead and cadmium, which is a very big problem, environmental attorney Elizabeth Murphy told the Tennessean. Cadmium is dangerous because it causes liver damage.

Murphy is representing residents of Camden in Benton County, one of the poorest counties in the state. With an estimated 2016 population of about 16,000, Benton Countys median family income is just $32,720 while the median household income is only $28,679.

Although the employment situation in Benton County has improved recently, it still lags behind the state and nation. In January of this year, the unemployment rate was 6.4 percent, higher than the state rate of 3.8 percent and the national rate of 4.1 percent.

About 15 percent of the population and about 12 percent of families live below the poverty line, including almost 24 percent of those under the age of 18 and 11.7 percent of those 65 and older, according to Homefacts.com.

Poor, sparsely populated rural communities are prime targets for operations like landfills to conduct business out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Often, residents are desperate for jobs and local officials are prepared to look the other way, letting landfill operators get away with environmental crimes that put workers and their families at risk.

In April of last year, Benton County District Attorney Matthew Stowe huffed, puffed and threatened to prosecute the company and its executives over their abandonment of the landfill.

We are looking at felony charges based on the current lack of safety-ness and white-collar charges based on how they were operating, Stowe said. The entire time they were operating they should have been putting money aside to close this place down. If they havent done so, the operation is a fraud and we will pursue white collar crimes. We will not allow large corporations to bully their way into our communities under false pretenses, endanger the lives of innocent children and the property of our citizens, and walk away.

But walk away they did, and so far, there is no evidence of pending indictments or criminal charges.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) was left to clean up the mess. But the state agency does not have a sterling record of clean-ups, nor has it covered itself in glory in dealing with the landfill, despite county residents complaining since EWS took over the dump.

According to the Tennessean, TDEC promised residents to begin closing the landfill last fall, but they have since delayed the timeline for months.

Rather than antagonistic, the relationship between the landfill operator and the state agency has the appearance of a joint venture aimed at maximizing profits with minimum regulations, and when problems arise there are safe hands to be found, often the same hands that created the problems.

According to the Tennessean, the TDEC hired the firm Civil and Environmental Consultants to test groundwater near the landfill after hazardous waste was first detected in 2016. This was the same environmental consulting agency used by EWS to design the landfill.

The Camden residents lawyers sued, and discovered the firm neglected to include in its permit design plans that the citys drinking water line flowed under the landfill blueprint, which would have derailed approvals for the landfill to operate under state environmental law, the newspaper reported.

When EWS took the landfill over in 2011, it was being used for disposal of construction demolition debris and shredded automobile tires. But the new owners, with the approval of TDEC, soon began accepting special wastes, defined as either difficult or dangerous to manage, the Tennessean reported.

The USA TODAY Network in March of last year reported that TDEC had approved hundreds of such permits statewide to dispose of special wastes in landfills permitted for construction debris and household waste.

Some of the waste in Camden came from Nyrstar, a mining and metal company in Clarksville, Tennessee. Nyrstars record of pollution prompted Forbes magazine to put Clarksville on its list of most toxic places in the United States, according to the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle.

Once the Camden landfill began taking in Nyrstars special wastes, residents began complaining of the strong smell of ammonia coming from the dump, dusty residue on their cars, burning eyes and headaches.

Mike Melton lives next to the landfill and has complained about headaches and the smell of ammonia coming from the dump. But he is concerned for more than just himself.

I am concerned about where we are going from here, Melton told the Tennessean. Who will own the property and who is going to maintain it? Who is going to keep testing the water? I have grandkids, and we have to be sure that were not leaving them in a mess where theyre going to have to be dealing with this 20 or 30 years from now.
After a month of protests sparked by draconian pension cuts mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Nicaragua, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights announced in its preliminary report that there have been 76 killed and more than 800 injured from indiscriminate use of live bullets and other repressive methods by the state forces and para-police shock groups. Dozens of others are missing.

As the government of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) shows the true face of left nationalism by trying to drown in blood the protests against austerity, anger and protests have continued to mount across the country.

On Tuesday, Nicaraguas National Episcopal Conference, the Catholic bishops who have mediated the talks between the government, the business chambers and the right-wing opposition announced that this national dialog had been suspended. The announcement came hours after Nicaragua Foreign Minister Denis Moncada declared that the 40-point agenda submitted for discussion amounted to an attempted coup against the government.

Last Friday, a weekend truce was reached behind closed doors as part of this national dialog. Student leaders agreed to remove roadblocks in return for the withdrawal of police and pro-government shock forces from the streets. On Saturday and Sunday, in the largest protests so far, tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands joined marches and caravans of cars and bikes across the country.

On Saturday night, the government broke the truce agreement by mobilizing several busloads of police who were caught on video shooting volleys of rubber and live bullets and cannisters with shrapnel against a peaceful picket of students at the National Agrarian University (UNA) in Managua, leaving at least eight injured. In response, roadblocks reappeared on some of the main arteries of the country on Sunday.

As part of a global resurgence of the class struggle since the beginning of the year, the monthlong social convulsion in Nicaragua is only the initial expression of the deep social anger against more than three decades of deepening inequality and austerity imposed by both the FSLN and the right-wing opposition.

Frightened, the local bourgeoisie is increasingly calling for the resignation of President Daniel Ortega, and his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, to be followed by snap elections. Seeing the dramatic speed with which working-class opposition to the FSLN administration is spreading, the ruling class is nevertheless divided about how to channel the protests behind the national dialog in order to continue its austerity regime.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), which works at the behest of US foreign policy, has been allowed to investigate the repression since last Thursday and has participated in the national dialog, which is also supported by the UN.

The US corporate media and legislators have significantly reduced their commentary on Nicaragua after being alarmed at the breadth of the first week of protests. This suggests that Washingtons approach toward Nicaraguaone of continued pressure upon, but ultimately confidence in, Ortega, reflected in initial calls limited to asking Ortega to stop the repression and accept term limits and eventually leave powercould be undergoing a significant reformulation.

At the same time, the Spanish daily El Pais reported speculation in the country about the militarys attitude toward growing demands within the ruling elite to oust Ortega. A military spokesperson last week said the army will not obey orders to repress the protests, except for the protection of vital infrastructure.

What produced the social upheaval?

On April 18, the Social Security Institute (INSS) announced an executive order cutting existing pensions by 5 percent (11 percent for future ones) and increasing the amount that workers and employers have to pay into the fund. The following day, retirees and students in Leon and Managua took to the streets with indignation and were immediately attacked by Sandinista Youth shock groups. During the following days and weeks, protests erupted among workers and youth in all major cities, including traditional FSLN strongholds, and were heavily repressed by the government.

Ortega suspended the pension reform on April 22 and agreed to negotiate, but the protests and the repression continued to escalate. On Thursday, Ortega and Murillo arrived at the Catholic seminary for the National Dialog, escorted by 21 police cars carrying at least 100 police, two helicopters, and police squads on motorcycles, with protesters on every corner yelling Murderers!

During his intervention, Ortega dismissed out-of-hand calls by students to stop the repression and step down. Without really condemning the act, he referred to the killing of 60 and injuring of thousands of unarmed protesters in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces virtually as an appeal to Washington and other major powers to give him the same blank check for repression.

He sought to instill fear by threatening that 160,000 workers would lose their jobs due to the protests, and that he was prepared for a civil war to stay in power. Finally, Ortega expressed hope that the dialog and the IAHCR visit could provide a veneer of justice, but his declarations angered the students and the meeting was broken up amid shouts.

Several church and business leaders are now asking for Ortegas removal. Last Thursday, denouncing the FSLN government for worsening the situation and warning that the country is already coming to a halt, Michael Healy, president of the agricultural employers chamber and one of the leaders of the business council COSEP, which accounts for about half of Nicaraguas GDP, called for a new transitional government to impose order and after that call for free elections.

The same day, Fitch Ratings, a Wall Street credit agency, reported that the economy is decelerating due to the crisis, calling into question the continuation of the government until 2021, adding that snap elections will likely be held.

More importantly, a drastic political shift is occurring among Nicaraguan workers. Seventy-eight percent of those polled May 5-15 by CID Gallup think the government is guiding the country in the wrong direction, compared to 35 percent in January, while 51 percent have no hope that Daniel Ortega will fulfill his promises to students, namely to end the repression.

The growing anger over inequality and continued attacks against democratic and social rights has reached an inflection point. About 200 Nicaraguans have more than $30 million in wealth, with two banker billionaires owning as much as 30 percent of the countrys GDP, while close to 85 percent of wage earners have an income insufficient to keep an average-sized household out of poverty, according to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

One of those killed in the protests, Alvaro Gomez, a 23-year-old screen printer in a free trade zone and a university student, left work early to join the protests on April 20. He received a gunshot wound to his chest, according to witnesses. His father, a math teacher who lost his leg in 1987 as a volunteer soldier for the Sandinista army, was notified that night of a Facebook image of his dead son. When speaking to journalists, he expressed a deep sentiment of betrayal that is now becoming generalized: I joined the fight [civil war] because they were telling me that the Somozas were the owners of Nicaragua, the rich. Now, in this country, the owners of Nicaragua are the Ortega-Murillo family.

In 2007, the FSLN returned to power after organizing large protests against the free trade agreement with the US (CAFTA). While mixing religious appeals with demagogic attacks against US imperialism, Ortega chose as his running mate Jaime Morales Carazo, founder of the BANIC financial group and former chief representative of the US-backed Contra terrorist army. On November 2006, president-elect Ortega was already telling George W. Bushs assistant secretary of state that the FSLN actually supported and would work with CAFTA because unity in the Americas depends on the will of powerful countries, such as the United States, according to a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.

After the financial crisis of 2007, the FSLN government, Nicaraguan employers and the large trade union federations signed an Emergency Economic and Labor Agreement to deepen the exploitation in free trade zones, which were greatly expanded under CAFTA. Within the framework of establishing labor conditions that guarantee the opportunity to preserve investments and jobs, minimum salaries, which are paid to most workers at the free trade zones, were set at about US$195 per month in 2010already the lowest rate in the region. Last year, the unions boasted that the renewed agreement included yearly 8.5 percent nominal increases until 2022, when the minimum salary will still be US$196.

The threat of US imperialism

A major study by the Florida International University and SOUTHCOM, titled Nicaraguan Military Culture, was published last year with the patent aim of exploring the possibilities of turning the Nicaraguan military into a US political instrument against the FSLN. It found that, after the FSLN lost power, the Nicaraguan military was reduced from almost 100,000 troops to 9,000 by 2006. After formal military relations were reestablished with the US in 2000, Nicaragua even sent troops to support the US occupation of Iraq. US-Nicaraguan military-to-military relations have remained strong, albeit limited, the document states.

The authors complain bitterly, however, that Ortega has sought over the last decade to regain control of the army through methods characterized as anti-US posturing and greater dependency on Russia as Nicaraguas top arms supplier. The authors claim Russia is seeking to make Nicaragua its geostrategic epicenter in Latin America  a primary threat to US influence in the region.

In a US Senate hearing last year, Adm. Kurt Tidd, chief of the US Southern Command, which oversees Pentagons operations in Central and South America, advised escalating efforts to tackle Russian, Chinese and Iranian influence in all of Latin America, especially Moscows renewed focus on Nicaragua. US officials have also expressed strong opposition to the interoceanic canal concession handed to China in southern Nicaragua.

As US imperialism prepares to undermine Russian and Chinese influence globally as part of a renewed imperialist repartition of the planet, such conclusions by the Southern Command make clear that not only is Latin America expected to be an exclusive supplier of materials for US war production, as in the Second World War [1], but that it will be part of the global battlefield.

All signs suggest that Ortega has no principled concerns about embracing the US military drive against Russia and China. Nicaragua recently hosted a visit by a Friendship Flotilla of Taiwanese warships. However, the US ruling elite increasingly sees Ortega as a liability for bourgeois rule, whose demagogy and anti-US posturing have worn increasingly thin.

The US corporate media is expressing alarm at the unexpected uprising in Nicaragua, but the deep political crises gripping pink-tide governments and their right-wing successors represent for imperialism a general breakdown of its penultimate line of defense in the region. As the entire US political establishment is buttressing efforts by the military-intelligence apparatus and Wall Street to consolidate a dictatorship in Washington itself, discussions are certainly underway in US ruling circles about a return to puppet military dictatorships in Nicaragua and the region.

Notes:

1. The destination of Nicaraguan exports changed from 67 percent to the US and 25 percent to Western Europe in 1938 to 91 percent to the US and less than 1 percent to Western Europe by 1944, with production focusing on food staples, minerals, rubber and wood (Source: UN Economic Commission for Latin America).
The White House announced yesterday it had called off the planned June 12 summit in Singapore between President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un. The cancellation is intended to ratchet up the military and economic pressure on North Korea.

The aim is to compel Kims regime to submit to the main US pre-condition for a possible rapprochementthe destruction of its small arsenal of nuclear weapons and the shutdown of its nuclear facilities and programs.

Trump declared that the US military, backed by South Korea and Japan, was ready if necessary if North Korea retaliated by doing anything foolish.

The formal letter sent by Trump notifying Kim of the decision asserted that the cancellation was due to the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement. Trump again threatened North Korea, saying US nuclear capabilities are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

The latest North Korea statement was published on May 24 in the name of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui. He responded to comments by US Vice President Mike Pence in a Fox News interview on May 21.

Pence stated that if North Korea did not agree to dismantle its nuclear weapons program, the situation would end like the Libyan model ended.

In December 2003, Libya agreed to give up its nuclear and chemical weapons capabilities in exchange for diplomatic normalisation and an end to economic sanctions. Less than eight years later, the US and European powers reneged on the agreement and attacked Libya with a massive air assault, killing thousands and devastating the country. American-backed Islamist rebels hunted down and murdered Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on October 20, 2011.

The Pyongyang regime denounced Pences implied threat of war and Kims assassination. Its statement labelled Pences remarks as ignorant and stupid and asserted that it had the military capacity to make the US taste an appalling tragedy. Washington had to choose between dialogue or encounter us in a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown. The foreign ministry said it would suggest that Kim reconsider the June 12 summit.

Before the North Korean statement, Trump had already foreshadowed calling off the summit. Standing alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in on May 22, he told journalists:

Were moving along and well see what happens. There are certain conditions that we want and I think we will get those conditions. And if we dont, then we dont have a meeting If it doesnt happen, maybe it will happen later. Maybe it will happen at a different time.

According to CNBC, White House officials told journalists that a North Korean delegation failed to attend a pre-summit discussion in Singapore and communication had basically ceased.

On several occasions, Trump has blamed China and Chinese President Xi Jinping for North Koreas shift on earlier statements by Kim that it would agree to denuclearise in exchange for security guarantees and a peace treaty to formally end the 195053 Korean War.

The broader US and South Korean offer to Pyongyang includes opening the north up to large-scale capitalist investment while continuing the division of the peninsula into two states. North Korea would be transformed into a cheap labour export zone and tax haven for transnational corporations. The ruling clique around Kim could enrich itself by serving as joint owners of various enterprises.

The strategic objective of US imperialism is to flip North Korea from being a buffer for Beijing against American forces in East Asia into a militarised US client state on Chinas northern border.

There is little question that the Chinese regime is applying all possible pressure on North Korea, including through offers of substantial economic assistance, for it to reject the US overtures and remain within Beijings sphere of influence.

Substantial divisions may exist within the North Korean elite itself. Countries that have sought deals with US imperialism have, as one North Korean official stated, met a miserable fate.

Iraq was invaded in 2003 and its leader Saddam Hussein hung. Libya was destroyed in 2011. The same year, Syria was plunged into a murderous civil war that continues to rage. The North Korean regime may have concluded that its best chance of survival is to seek Chinese backing and defy the US.

The Trump administration, however, has clearly not given up on the possibility that it can draw North Korea into a rapprochement that drastically changes the balance of forces in East Asia to the detriment of China.

The ongoing effort is reflected in Trumps letter to Kim yesterday. Alongside the implicit threat of nuclear destruction, Trump referred to the wonderful dialogue the two leaders had developed. He very much looked forward to meeting you. If Kim had a change of mind, he should not hesitate to call me or write.

On May 22, in the most sweeping overture yet made to North Korea, Trump had suggested that denuclearisation would not need to be a rapid process, but could take place over an incremental period of time. Under definite conditions, such as if North Korean missiles were aimed at China instead of South Korea, Japan and American targets, the US would not necessarily oppose the missiles existence.

The terrible alternative that has been posited by the White House, and for which the US military is preparing, is a catastrophic war on the Korean Peninsula that could see the use of nuclear weapons and cost millions of lives.

Pence blustered on May 21: President Trump made it clear that the United States of America under his leadership is not going to tolerate the regime in North Korea possessing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that threaten the United States and our allies. A military option to disarm North Korea, the vice president declared, never came off the table.
The Northwestern University Buffett Institute for Global Studies hosted a roundtable event in the Chicago area on May 23 titled, The Kremlins Global Reach, moderated by Medill journalism professor and Washington Post veteran Peter Slevin. The panel showcased the institutes first Distinguished Visitor, Strobe Talbott, former deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration, president of the Brookings Institution think tank from 2002 to 2017, and a key architect of US imperialist strategy in relation to the breakup of the USSR in the 1990s.

Also present were political science professor Jordan Gans-Morse, public opinion pollster Dina Smeltz, lecturer and former US ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly and historian John Bushnell.

The event took place amid a steady escalation of US militarism against Syria, Iran and Russia. Just two days earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered an ultimatum to Iran demanding a capitulation to the US in the face of additional sanctions. This followed on the heels of the Trump administrations scrapping of a nuclear agreement reached in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group, the US, UK, France, Germany, China and Russia. Earlier this month, the US relaunched a naval force, the Second Fleet, in the North Atlantic in preparation for military confrontation with Russia.

The political perspective of the event was clear from Slevins opening questions: What is to be done? How do you solve a problem like Vladimir Putin?

Strobe Talbott outlined three main challenges faced by the current Russian government: its internal problems, including economic and demographic decline; the threat from the Islamic world, its the southern belly and its very vulnerable; and finally, potential conflict with China over access to natural resources. They know Russia has resource wealth and human poverty that could spell trouble down the line, Talbott said.

To the question, Do we have another Cold War? Talbott answered, Yes, weve got a Cold War. Its the old McCarthy line: If it quacks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, its a Cold War.

In line with this reactionary narrative, Talbott presented the conflict between the US and Russia as one between democracy and tyranny, while some of the other panelists admitted that is not the way the conflict is viewed in Russia and Europe.

Later, Talbott emphasized the challenge to US hegemony posed by the Balkans, particularly Serbia, citing their cultural and religious affinities with Russia. In 2015, Montenegro entered NATO.

Historian John Bushnell raised only one objection against the panels official State Department line. Referring to the 2014 US-German-led coup in Ukraine, he said, The Russians, I think with some justification, point out that John McCain didnt need to show up in Kiev. There was no reason for a top State Department official [Victoria Nuland] to be caught giving advice, deciding who would sit in the next Ukrainian cabinet. There clearly was a direct American intervention in Ukrainian politics. 

A number of the panelists interrupted at this point, some laughing nervously, others strongly protesting.

Slevin, in concluding the discussion, posed the question of regime change in Russia, stating, How does this end? How does Putin ... fall? Retire? Get replaced? What is the fate of Vladimir Putin?

The main obstacle to regime change in Russia was, according to the panelists, the chaos it would inevitably unleash. Kelly emphasized at different points in the discussion that there is no plan for succession in Russia after Putin. He said, There really is no succession plan.  And in many ways, that is absolutely terrifying. Because if everything does depend on one man, do we really want to push Russia to the edge with more sanctions, and try and undermine their regime? Because if there is no successor, then you have a similar situation without any kind of management of the transition that we had in 91, with a country that has thousands of nuclear weapons and chaos.

However, expressing the position of significant sections of the Democratic Party, aligned with the US state-military-intelligence apparatus, Talbott concluded, Putin has presided over Russia in a way that is very, very much like the Soviet Union. That didnt work. This wont work. He will be an aberration. It would also help if we had a different president in the United States.

A notable feature of the event was its casual militarism. In introducing himself, Kelly noted that the US has recently provided both Georgia and Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank weaponry.

In line with the propaganda pumped out about the US media and political establishment, the panel speakers presented a picture of reality turned upside down: Russia was presented as an aggressive, expansionist power, and a growing threat to the American way of life. In fact, it is the US government and its imperialist allies which have increasingly encircled Russia via NATO expansion, crippled its economy with sanctions and sought to provoke a military conflict.

As US Defense Secretary James Mattis noted in releasing the Pentagons new National Security Strategy, Great power competitionnot terrorismis now the primary focus of US national security.

Before the audience assembled by this national security institute, which appeared to include only a handful of undergraduate students, these leading political figures spoke more bluntly about imperialist foreign policy than they would normally do on national television or in supposedly democratic arenas like the US Congress.

The WSWS wrote in 2016 that the establishment of the Buffett Institute at Northwesternwith the assistance of a $101 million donation from Roberta Buffett Elliott, the sister of billionaire Warren Buffettwas part of an international effort of the capitalist elite to transform leading universities into ideological centers of imperialist military strategy.

At the time of the Buffett Institutes founding, university students and faculty protested the appointment as its head of former the US commander in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, whose qualifications were based on military rank and bellicose politics, rather than any academic credentials. Northwestern faculty members charged that he advocates instrumentalizing the humanities and social sciences research to advance US soft power.

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality are leading the opposition internationally to the transformation of colleges and universities into think tanks for imperialism and militarism. Contact the Socialist Equality Party to start an IYSSE chapter on your campus.

The author also recommends:

Northwestern University faculty oppose selection of US general to head global studies institute

[23 March 2016]

New York University: A center of militarism, mass surveillance

[19 March 2018]

Foreword to Scholarship or war propaganda? The return of German militarism and the dispute at Berlins Humboldt University

[10 August 2015]
On February 27, the Oxford Union sponsored a debate, Whistleblowing: exposing injustices or undermining institutions?

The Oxford Union is a prestigious debating society, whose members are drawn mainly from the University of Oxford. It set out the purpose of the Whistleblowing Panel debate in a blurb on Facebook :

The issue of whistleblowing concerns potential clashes between national security, intellectual property rights and the need for public scrutiny. In an age where Wikileaks is able to release millions of documents in an instant, how should these issues be addressed? Are whistleblowers acting morally, and are they being treated fairly?

The three invited panellists, as described by the Oxford Union were:

Ewen MacAskillThe Defence and Intelligence Correspondent for the Guardian, MacAskill was one of the journalists that released the Snowden disclosures about the NSAs surveillance programs.

Heather MarshA human rights and internet activist, Marsh was the Administrator of WikiLeaks Central between 2010 and 2012.

David SheddA former CIA operative and Deputy Director of National Intelligence before becoming acting Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency.

According to the Oxford Unions Facebook post, there were 51 attendees. But there is no account of the meeting. No reports, no transcripts or videos. There is only one comment to the post, two days before the event: How about providing a short apology to people next time you advance the date of an event three days before its due to happen?

According to an anonymous submission to the World Socialist Web Site, the event has been censored. The submission states: For the first time in history, Oxford Union has censored an entire Whistleblowing Panel to silence critique of U.S. Policies.

The submission claims that the impulse for the panel to be censored came from David Shedd. It alleges that he demanded that the entire video (not just his parts) be suppressed. It further notes: He objected to Marshs contributions, which were not complimentary to the human rights records of many in [US President Donald] Trumps inner circle, including Mike Pompeo and Erik Prince. It is not just his own speech he has successfully persuaded the last bastion of free speech [Oxford Union] to censor, it is the rest of the panel, a third party action that has never happened at the Oxford Union before and which has serious implications for any future Oxford Union debates on U.S. Policy.

The submission says this flies in the face of a publicity contract that all panellists are given when invited to speak and a release waiver agreeing to a video of the panel being posted on YouTube that all the panellists signed.

The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) has not been able to independently verify these statements. Though it has written to those responsible for more information, including contacting the Oxford Union and Heather Marsh, it has received no response.

An Internet search for this event proves to be in vain. It confirms that aside from a posting to the Oxford Unions own website and the one Facebook post that replicates this and contains a small catalogue of photos of the panelists, there is no evidence the event even took place.

The submission poses that either the Oxford Union feels it is too risky...to offend even former U.S intelligence...and has chosen to make official their increasingly evident role as the mouthpiece for the U.S. far right or David Shedd has exercised some official secrets power to cover the personal embarrassment of an ex-US intelligence officer (which is even more ironic since the abuse of NDAs [Non-Disclosure Agreements] and official secrets to protect those in power was one of the topics covered in the panel).

A search on David Shedd cites him as one of the most influential American intelligence officers in the post-September 11 era, according to an article in the Majalla .

The Majalla is a Saudi-owned, London-based political news journal. The article, A conversation with David Shedd, notes that he served on the National Security Council during the Bush years before moving on to the position of deputy director of national intelligence for policy, plans and requirements. In this position, he implemented sweeping intelligence reforms and a new National Intelligence Strategy. Under the Obama administration, in August 2010, he was named deputy director of the Defence Intelligence Agency. In 2014, he took the post of acting director.

In the interview, published October 2017, he raises his concerns over the narrow focus on ISIS (Islamic State), which fails to adequately take into account Iranian and Russian gains from an ISIS defeat.

Beacon Global Strategies, a strategic advisory firm specialising in international policy, defence, cyber, intelligence, and homeland security for which Shedd is an advisory board member, notes that until January 2015 he led the Defence Intelligence Enterprise workforce comprising more than 16,500 military and civilian employees worldwide.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Shedd was based in US embassies in Costa Rica and Mexico, holding senior management assignments at the CIA, including chief of congressional liaison. Shedd also sits on the Government Advisory Board of Dataminr, a social media big data company that broadly services the federal government

It is common practice for the Oxford Union to upload videos of their events to roll out to a broader audience. If it is the case that a panel on whistleblowing has been censored, this occurs against the backdrop of the British government blocking facts through the issuing of D-Noticesas the World Socialist Web Site recently noted regarding leaked facts surrounding the alleged poisoning of Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

The Oxford Union claims that it is the bastion of free speech. Bursar Lindsey Warne told the Oxford Mail in 2013, There are very few places left in the world where you can have students challenging the views of heads of state on a one-to-one basis. It is a unique institution because it is not partial and does not hold a particular view. Anyone is welcomefree speech is essential.

In April 2018, the Oxford Union stated: Beyond defending the principles of free speech, the Union has become a place where systematically oppressed voices can engage with a global audience, advocate important causes, and spark movements, noting as one of the issues it will be taking up, Venezuelas oppressive regime and ending the term with former Crown Prince of Jordan HRH Prince Hamzah bin Hussein OSJ among the speakers.

However, there is a well-known case of censorship involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

In February 2013, WikiLeaks accused the Oxford Union of censoring Assanges address to the debating society. While his speech and a following Q and A were broadcast, WikiLeaks objected to the censoring of the video that formed Assanges backdrop. The video known as Collateral Murder released by WikiLeaks in 2010 shows the gun crew of a US Apache helicopter firing on Reuters journalists and civilians in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007.

The Oxford Union replaced this video with a still of the Oxford Union logo, claiming it was not an act of censorship but a potential issue of copyright. WikiLeaks rebutted that by law and practice the US government does not claim copyrights on footage or documents that it produces.

The mantra of the bastion of free speech is most forcefully promoted when it comes to justifying the invitations of far-right and other odious political figures. In 2013, Marine Le Pen, leader of the French neo-fascist National Front, was invited to speak, unopposed and with no media presence, on Western values.

The WSWS noted that this was part of international efforts to rehabilitate and legitimise the far-right, especially in Europe.

The submission to the WSWS notes that there seems to be an increase in the number of invites extended to Trumps own inner circle. The leadership of the Oxford Union has become ever more closely connected with the right wing of the Conservative Party, as shown by its long list of former officers and presidents.

The IYSSE poses the question to the president at the time of the Whistleblowing Panel, Laali Vadlamani, and the current president, Gui Cavalcanti: Is it true that transcripts of the debate have been suppressed? If so, on whose authority and on what grounds?

We send an appeal to anyone who has more information on this event and is concerned about democratic rights and the struggle against war to share this with us and shed more light on this case.

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality are holding a series of meetings titled: War, lies and censorshipFree Julian Assange!

We urge attendance at our meeting in Oxford at the Fusion Arts on Saturday May 26 at 2 p.m. Full details below and Facebook event here .

War, lies and censorshipFree Julian Assange!

Saturday May 26, 2 p.m.

Fusion Arts, 44b Princes Street

Cowley Road

Oxford, OX4 1DD
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In Stores This Week Around The World - Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection & More
While Abby Lee Miller continues her cancer battle, shes struggling to stay positive.

She has two more chemo sessions to go, but shes in a really bad place  mentally and emotionally, a source tells PEOPLE. Shes really losing it.

In April, one day after undergoing emergency surgery for what was initially thought to be a spinal infection, the 51-year-old former Dance Moms star  newly released from prison  was preliminarily diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer that develops in the lymphatic system.

It was not an infection, it was a type of a non-Hodgkins lymphoma  its a type of a cancer, said Dr. Hooman M. Melamed, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Cedar Sinai Marina Del Rey Hospital who has been treating the star. Were getting an oncologist involved and we have to figure out what the next steps are as far as chemotherapy or radiation or more spine surgery. Depending on the tumor type, depending on the sensitivity of the tumor  it just depends the type but I feel more than yes, she will undergo chemotherapy or radiation.

The doctor added that it is a preliminary diagnosis pending pathology and oncology results.

Miller went into the emergency room after she experienced excruciating neck pain and weakness in her arm. and after her condition deteriorated over the next couple days, Dr. Melamed performed emergency surgery for a multi-level laminectomy.

RELATED VIDEO: Abby Lee Millers Surgeon Reveals Star Was Going to Die After Developing Serious Spinal Infection

If we didnt do something, she was going to die, Dr. Melamed told PEOPLE. Her blood pressure was bottoming out. She was not doing well.

Miller had been living in a halfway house since serving her 366-day sentence for bankruptcy fraud at the Victorville Federal Correctional Institution in California, which she entered in July.

She was transferred at the end of March to the Residential Reentry Center in Long Beach, a facility that provides a structured and supervised environment where shell be given employment counseling, job placement and financial management assistance.

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While the Miller is scheduled to be released from custody on Friday, it is unknown if the Dance Moms star will return to a halfway house once shes healthy.

After the hospital shell be going into a rehab facility, so everything is still up in the air, the source says. Right now theyre just focusing on her health.

Miller has been counting down the days until freedom via social media.

In May 2017, Miller received a sentence of one year and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release for bankruptcy fraud. She was additionally fined $40,000 and ordered to pay the $120,000 judgment, as well as give a DNA sample relating to her felony charge.
13-Year-Old Girl and Teacher Injured in Indiana Middle School Shooting as Student, 13, Is Suspect

A 13-year-old female student and teacher were injured during a shooting at an Indiana middle school Friday morning and a male student, 13, is in custody as the suspect, police said.

The shooting took place at Noblesville West Middle School.

There are two victims en route to Methodist from the Noblesville West Middle School Active Shooter, Sgt. John Perrine of the Indiana State Police wrote on Twitter.

The condition of the injured victims wasnt immediately clear.

Authorities escort kids from Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana, site of a shooting this morning. https://t.co/UxCiYPZNGj pic.twitter.com/KGc7pW5yhV  WPEC CBS12 News (@CBS12) May 25, 2018

In news footage, authorities could be seen escorting children out of the school. Students were taken to Noblesville High School but were cleared out after a threat came into the school, officials said.

According to the Indianapolis Star, the teacher injured Friday tackled the alleged 13-year-old suspect, bringing an end to the violent incident. The paper identified the hero teacher as Jason Seaman, a science teacher.

Seaman has been an instructor for Noblesville schools for nearly four years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He also coaches the seventh-grade football team.

Noblesville is just north of Indianapolis. Its population was about 52,000 in the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Hamilton County and the 14th largest municipality in the state.
Gwyneth Paltrow is high on California living.

The actress and lifestyle guru, 45, admitted that she smokes marijuana on occasion during a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show.

Sometimes, she revealed, after being prompted by Stern. Its legal now in California, she explained.

When Stern asked if her famous engagement party guests, which included Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon, smoked with her that day, Paltrow noted that Hudson doesnt smoke because shes pregnant.

She added, We werent smoking weed though. Not at the engagement party.

While the drug remains federally illegal, recreational marijuana sales became legal in California on Jan. 1, after Proposition 64 was voted into law. Still, there are restrictions on purchasing marijuana.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuck at their engagement party.

The law permits adults 21 and up to buy 1 ounce of cannabis per day, which is enough material to fill a few dozen joints. You can alternately purchase up to 8 grams of cannabis concentrates found in marijuana edibles such as candies, brownies and breakfast bars, according to Politifact.

RELATED VIDEO: Gwyneth Paltrow Says She Feared Intimacy Before Adult Relationship with Brad Falchuk

After returning from a bachelorette getaway in Cabo, Mexico, with pals, Paltrow and her fiance Brad Falchuk celebrated their engagement at the Los Angeles Theatre in April. The duo announced their engagement in January after three years of dating.

We had a big engagement that was the big thing, Paltrow told Stern. As for the wedding, she said, I think well do something very small.

Paltrow previously opened up about her upcoming nuptials, saying she was excited to plan her wedding.

Im excited about everything! she told PEOPLE. Ive never had a wedding before. [Paltrow and ex-husband Chris Martin eloped in 2003.] So even though Im 45, I sort of feel like a 21-year-old.
Though theories on exactly what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will likely persist for years to come, the four-year search is coming to an end.

The Malaysia minister of transport told reporters on Wednesday that the hunt for the passenger plane, which mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014 while carrying 239 people en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, by a private U.S. company is ending next week.

There will be no more extensions. It cannot continue forever, Anthony Loke told the Associated Press. Lets wait until May 29 and we will then decide how to proceed.

After an official search of the southern Indian Ocean by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off in Jan. 2017 after spending estimated $160 million, according to Time. Malaysia signed a no cure, no fee deal with Ocean Infinity in Jan. 2018 to resume the hunt for evidence of the plane, the AP reported. However, after two extensions of the search, the seabed exploration firm has not recovered any answers.

RELATED VIDEO: Families Upset With Lack of Info from Malaysia Airlines Flight

60 Minutes Australia shared the results of their investigation into the mystery earlier this month, with experts asserting the passengers and crew onboard were victims of a tragic act carried out by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah rather than an accident.

He was killing himself, claimed Canadian Air crash investigator Larry Vance. Unfortunately, he was killing everybody else on board, and he did it deliberately.

RELATED: He Was Killing Himself: Investigators Say Malaysian Flight 370 Pilot Deliberately Crashed Plane

Shahs family disputed the panels conclusion, telling CBS News in a statement that pointing a finger toward him does not make them expert investigators  they have to find the plane.

Zaharie Ahmad Shah

Vance added that he believed the plane was not scattered all over the bottom of the ocean.

The right wing may be off, the engines are separate, but you basically have four pieces of the [airplane] down there, he said.
After making their relationship Instagram official in January, Shailene Woodley and her rugby player boyfriend Ben Volavola stepped out on the red carpet for the first time as a couple last night.

The duo were all smiles at the premiere of the actresss new movie Adrift. Woodley wore an eye-catching silver metallic gown while the fullback for the Union Bordeaux Begles opted for a navy blue suit.

Woodley also posed on the carpet with the real-life inspiration for the film, Tami Ashcraft, who got caught in a hurricane while sailing across the ocean with her fiance in 1983. After the storm, she spent 41 days lost in the open water before being rescued.

In January, the Big Little Lies actress, 26, confirmed their relationship by sharing a photo on Instagram stories of her kissing Volavola. They had previously attended the Valentino Haute Couture Spring Summer 2018 show as part of Paris Fashion Week in France.

The actress shared another photo of her and her beau posing against a Valentino sign with the caption, This date tho

Shailene Woodley and Ben Volavola.

Woodley was spotted getting cozy with Volavola in October outside of a cafe in New Zealand. Later that same day, the couple packed on the PDA by sharing a kiss on the sidelines during a team practice.

The duo reportedly met in Fiji where Woodley was filming Adrift.

While Woodley has been linked to Divergent costar Theo James and musician Nahko Bear, the actress has not gone public with a boyfriend before. In 2014, she told Teen Vogue she had not had a boyfriend in almost five years. Ive never been hooked up with anybody Ive worked on a movie with.

The following year she spoke to Elle magazine about what she looked for in a relationship.

When youre truly in love, for me, youre my lighthouse! Youre somebody who holds me high, keeps me safe, youve got my fing back. You also love me whole, wild and free. You let me do me and Im gonna let you do you. And Ill be the home that you return to.
A middle school boy allegedly opened fire at an Indiana school Friday morning, police said, leaving a teacher and another student injured, the latest in a string of school shootings this year.

"I heard gunshots and a few screams," a seventh-grader who was across the hall from the shooting told ABC News. "I was scared, I was in shock."

The suspected shooter, a student at Noblesville West Middle School, located about 27 miles north of Indianapolis, asked to be excused from class and then returned to the room armed with two handguns, Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt said at a news conference.

The teacher and student victims were shot in that room, Jowitt said, adding that the situation was resolved quickly. The suspect, who wasn't injured and wasn't identified, was taken into custody, police said.

PHOTO: People hug after a shooting at Noblesville West Middle Scholl in Noblesville, Ind., May 25, 2018. (Chris Sikich/IndyStar via USA Today Network)

PHOTO: Law enforcement agents gather after a shooting at Noblesville West Middle Scholl in Noblesville, Ind., May 25, 2018. (Robert Scheer/IndyStar via USA Today Network)

One student said he was in class taking a test when the suspect came in with a handgun and started shooting aimlessly, "waiving his hand around," reported ABC affiliate RTV in Indianapolis.

The teacher -- whom multiple students identified as Jason Seaman -- allegedly stopped the shooter, the student told RTV.

The family of Ella Whistler, the student injured in the shooting, released a statement Friday night saying her "status is critical" but she's "stable."

"Our daughter, Ella Whistler, was involved in a horrific shooting today at her school. We will spend the next days and weeks processing what happened and why," the statement reads. "But first, we wanted to say she is doing well at Riley Hospital for Children. Her status is critical, yet we are pleased to report she is stable. Wed like to thank everyone across the country who prayed for our family today. Weve felt those prayers and appreciate each of them. Wed also like to thank the first responders, Noblesville police, Indiana State Police and the medical staff and surgeons at Riley."

PHOTO: An officer directs traffic following a shooting at Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Ind., May 25, 2018. (Robert Scheer/IndyStar via USA Today Network)

Seaman was struck three times and underwent surgery, according to a Facebook post by his mother.

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By Saturday he had been discharged from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and was photographed at Noblesville West Middle School shaking hands with U.S. Rep. Susan W. Brooks.

The local politician praised him for his bravery.

Jason Seaman selflessly put himself in harms way to protect his students and it is because of his heroic actions more students were not hurt," she said, according to a release.

Seaman's wife, Colette, provided an initial statement to ABC News from Jason.

"First of all, thank you to the first responders from Noblesville and Fishers for their immediate action and care," the statement from Jason said. "I want to let everyone know that I was injured but am doing great. To all the students, you are all wonderful and I thank you for your support. You are the reason I teach."

Students were forced to shelter in classrooms and barricade doors during the incident.

"I was thinking, 'It's not real, it's not real, everything is going to be OK,'" student Gabbie Manns told ABC News of her time barricaded in the classroom. "We are holding hands holding tight ... people I didn't even know that well came over and held my hand and we all felt really united at that moment."

"There was people crying ... it was really chaos," she added. "I thought about all the other school shootings."

PHOTO: Students stream out of Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Ind., after reports of a shooting, May 25, 2018. (WRTV)

PHOTO: Students are loaded onto school buses at Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Ind., after reports of a shooting, May 25, 2018. (WRTV)

Tanner, an eighth grader, said he was in class when he saw kids running and screaming.

There was only three of us, we had to barricade the door to make sure no one came in, he told ABC News.

I was shaking for my life, he said, overcome with emotion. I just didnt wanna die.

Kendall, a sixth grader, said she heard an announcement over the intercom, telling students to get in their rooms and barricade the door. She and her classmates got in the corner and the teacher turned off the lights.

I was really scared, I didn't really know what was going on, she told ABC News. My teacher let me use his phone to call my mom.

"I heard gunshots and a few screams," seventh-grader CJ Livingston, who was in a classroom across from the shooting, told ABC News. "We were all trying to be quiet and there were a lot of people crying around me."

PHOTO: People stream out of Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Ind., after reports of a shooting, May 25, 2018. (WRTV)

"I was scared, I was in shock. I didnt really know what to do," he continued. "I just thought I really needed to protect my peers and my friends and if something happened, I was petrified."

He said they threw chairs at the door as a barricade and then lined up behind the desks to hide.

"When I think about how that really must have felt for him I start sobbing," CJ's mother, Kristin Huber, told ABC News. "Something you dont want your children to ever have to experience."

"When you get a text message from your son saying, 'Mom, theres an intruder, I just wanted to tell you I love you,' just thinking about him texting me that is pretty tough," she said. "It was devastating. I was grateful when he let me know he was OK."

PHOTO: Students are loaded onto school buses at Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Ind., after reports of a shooting, May 25, 2018. (WRTV)

The school has a full-time school resource officer who was in the building at the time, Jowitt said.

The school does not have metal detectors, officials said.

At the nearby Noblesville East Middle School, "everybody just got so scared" and a lot of people were crying, one sixth-grade girl told RTV.

"It's a surreal feeling," the girl's dad added. "You don't think it's happening in your own town."

"A secondary threat" was also made at Noblesville High School, Jowitt said.

"We have not received any information that this has been anything other than a communicated threat," Jowitt said. "We are securing the high school and taking steps to make sure that it stays secure."

"All this says to me is insanity has hit Indiana," one man whose wife's grandson attends school in the district told RTV.

One by one, students being released to their parent in line @rtv6 pic.twitter.com/xXQKLepjLh  Stephanie Wade (@stephmwade) May 25, 2018

The man, who described the shooting as "chaos," said the boy texted his mother, "come get me."

Vice President Mike Pence, an Indiana native, said he is "praying for the victims."

To everyone in the Noblesville community -- you are on our hearts and in our prayers, he wrote on Twitter. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.

Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana. To everyone in the Noblesville community  you are on our hearts and in our prayers. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) May 25, 2018

Gov. Eric Holcomb said he was monitoring the shooting.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation, Holcomb said.

Speaker Bosma, Pro Tem Long & I are monitoring the situation at Noblesville West MS on plane to Indy from Europe. @indstatepolice are working with local responders & will offer all assistance needed. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation.  Eric Holcomb (@GovHolcomb) May 25, 2018

Friday morning's shooting comes one week after a teenage boy allegedly stormed his Texas high school, shooting and killing 10 and wounding 13 others.

ABC News' Alex Perez, Andy Fies, Rachel Katz, Teri Whitcraft, Ryan Burrow, Briana Montalvo and M.L. Nestel contributed to this report.
A Texas woman could face charges for falsely accusing a state trooper of sexual assault who had arrested her for drunk driving, authorities said.

Sherita Dixon-Cole, 37, of Grapevine, Texas, was stopped in her white Chevrolet Malibu early Sunday morning by Texas Department of Public Safety officer Daniel Hubbard, who said in an affidavit that her driving was "erratic and unsafe for the roadway" and it took "several miles" to pull over the vehicle. Hubbard said he administered multiple field sobriety tests and found what he believes was vodka in two open containers in the backseat and a cup in the driver's seat of Dixon-Cole's car.

Hubbard then arrested Dixon-Cole for driving while intoxicated and transported her to Ellis County Jail in Waxahachie, Texas, according to the affidavit obtained by ABC News.

The following day, Dallas-based civil rights attorney Lee Merritt released a statement revealing Dixon-Cole's startling allegations. She claimed Hubbard repeatedly told her she could be released in exchange for sexual favors. When she told him no, she claimed the highway patrol trooper sexually assaulted her outside and inside of his police cruiser during a prolonged arrest, Merritt said in the statement Monday.

Dixon-Cole was released from jail Sunday night after her family posted the required bond, according to Merritt.

Her story was quickly picked up by multiple news outlets and widely shared on social media.

PHOTO: Footage from a Texas state trooper's body camera showing a traffic stop on May 20, 2018, was released after he was falsely accused of sexual assault. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

In response to her claims, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it immediately checked footage from the trooper's dashboard and body cameras and then presented the video to the Ellis County and District Attorney's Office for review. On Tuesday, they released nearly two hours of video captured by Hubbard's body camera that contradicts Dixon-Cole's allegations.

"Following the arrest, spurious and false accusations related to this traffic stop were made against the Texas trooper," the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement. "The video shows absolutely no evidence to support the egregious and unsubstantiated accusations against the trooper during the DWI arrest of the suspect. The department is appalled that anyone would make such a despicable, slanderous and false accusation against a peace officer who willingly risks his life every day to protect and serve the public."

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Alleged abduction ruled a hoax intended to show online

FBI rolls out new campaign to warn the public against posting fake threats: 'Think Before You Post'

PHOTO: Footage from a Texas state trooper's body camera showing a traffic stop on May 20, 2018, was released after he was falsely accused of sexual assault. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

After watching the video, Ellis County and District Attorney Patrick Wilson said, "What happened to that officer is a shame."

"I see an officer who conducts himself exactly as society demands police conduct themselves today: Beyond reproach," Wilson told ABC affiliate WFAA in Dallas. "Tragically, that officer still was publicly and maliciously persecuted."

Wilson said there was "no apparent motive" for the claims against the trooper, and he's "flabbergasted" as to how the story came out. He said his office is "investigating the possibility" of charges against Dixon-Cole.

Assistant Ellis County and District Attorney Ann Montgomery told ABC News in a statement Thursday that "a decision whether to file charges against Dixon-Cole has not been made at this time."

"Our office is still investigating to determine exactly what was said and to whom it was said," Montgomery added.

PHOTO: Footage from a Texas state trooper's body camera showing a traffic stop on May 20, 2018, was released after he was falsely accused of sexual assault. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

Dixon-Cole's attorney said in a statement Wednesday that the footage "directly conflicts" with his client's accusations and there's no "readily apparent evidence" of tampering. He apologized for "amplifying these claims."

"Officer Daniel Hubbard seems to comport himself professionally during the duration of the traffic stop and arrest and -- without more -- should be cleared of any wrongdoing," Merritt said in the statement. ""It is deeply troubling when innocent parties are falsely accused and I am truly sorry for any trouble these claims may have caused Officer Hubbard and his family. I take full responsibility for amplifying these claims to the point of national concern."

Merritt noted that his law firm "regularly receives hundreds of complaints of abuse from across the nation" and is "obligated to filter these messages thoroughly" before publicizing them.

"It is our responsibility to call for swift, transparent and thorough investigation into any such accusation," he added. "Our calls for professionalism and adherence to protocol, however should not be misconstrued as a rush to judgment. To the contrary, our goal in presenting claims of misconduct is to arrive as quickly and as accurately as possible to the truth."

Merritt thanked members of the community who called for transparency and justice in the wake of his client's claims.

"However, in this matter it seems your righteous vigilance was abused," he said.

Dixon-Cole could not be reached for comment Thursday.
I am sitting with Adam Rippon just as the latest dish about him hits Page Six and then lands in my newsfeed: that his boyfriend is about to relocate from his native Finland to Rippons home of Los Angeles. Its Wednesday and, fresh off his Dancing With the Stars win, Rippon has dropped by the New York City Build studios with his cha-cha partner Jenna Johnson to talk on camera about everything from their intense friendship to meeting Tonya Harding on set. Afterward I grab him for a little sit-down backstage and mention the cohabitation news, and it leads to a chat about instant fame.

Its a little weird, Rippon admits about the boyfriend announcement. But I think that because Im 28, and Ive lived  at least within the skating world  with people paying attention to what I was doing, that Ive sort of been prepared for this moment my whole life.





That moment crystallized for him  and the rest of the world  at the Olympics, when Rippons gorgeous figure skating, for him, sometimes took a back seat to more interactive endeavors.

I think I had a sort of life-defining moment, and it was chatting and interacting with people and feeling like I was Americas best friend, he recalls about his time in PyeongChang. I realized why skating was so important to me  because it was an outlet for me to perform. It almost felt like, once I was there, I was an entertainer who also was an athlete. I had to really actively remind myself I was there to be an athlete first. So while it was often difficult to have to sometimes turn down interview opportunities, Rippon says, I needed to remember I had worked my whole life as an athlete  that people knew who I was now and hopefully that would stick. Ive been really lucky that it has stuck, and its so much fun.

But back to the boyfriend

Good boys Finnish first A post shared by Adam Rippon (@adaripp) on Apr 2, 2018 at 5:32am PDT

Rippon met Jussi-Pekka Kajaala at the start of skating season, in the fall, while he was in Finland for a competition. I was single and on Tinder, just sort of swiping left and right, and I remember the first message he sent me was super cheeky and funny and we started chatting a little bit, he says. And I think because I knew were probably never going to meet that I really was talking to him pretty openly about a lot of things, and we got to know each other really well and were really honest with each other.

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Kajaala had lots of questions about California, because he had already planned to move there, but that geographic connection grew into something deeper. It just felt like a great match, Rippon says. Hes still in the process of moving out here. If there was a plan for him to move out here and move in immediately then I would tell you, but theres not. But when he moves out here, well move in together. I wish we could go faster!

Adam Rippon and Jenna Johnson pose after winning the Dancing With the Stars: Athletes Season 26 finale on May 21 in Los Angeles. (Photo: Getty Images)

Faster is pretty much how Rippons life has been moving since competing at the Winter Olympics and winning his bronze: He has done whirlwind press tours, performed across the country with Stars on Ice, competed in and won Dancing With the Stars: Athletes, and has been an outspoken activist, particularly for LGBT youth, through work with GLAADs Campus Ambassadors Program and by plans to host, along with fellow gay Olympian Gus Kenworthy, the Trevor Projects TrevorLIVE New York Gala on June 11. In short, he has become a beloved queer role model. (If somebody was like that in my life while I was young, he said onstage at Build, it wouldve made my whole world so completely different.)

Still, while becoming a professional gay is something that has been largely foisted on Rippon by his fans, its a role hes been able to embrace, without feeling boxed in, because he has reached a point of confident grace regarding his self-identity.

I dont think that being gay is a quality that defines who I am; I think its just part of who I am, he says. As a young kid I struggled with being gay, and I realized it was such an unimportant part of who I was  but it was important to share it. I think that the difference between who I was and who I am now is that I dont ask for people to like me  I just assume that they do, and I assume that because Im a good person, that Im funny, that I try to be kind and giving, and also, like, Im gay.

Its important to share that piece, Rippon believes, because I know there are a lot of people who struggle with it. In my coming-out experience, I felt so liberated  but it simmers down. And then you can really be yourself [instead of] putting up this guard of trying to be something that other people are going to like, or rebelling against being your old self. Before coming into his own, he tried on various personas, like a hyper version of what I thought I wanted to be, or a hyper version of the opposite, and then it all kind of settles down and youre like, OK, Im learning more about who I am.'

As we roll into June  Pride month across the country and in many cities around the world  Rippon reflects on the importance of celebrations that come with it. Pride month is a great time for us to learn about our gay history  to learn about what others did before us that made our path a lot easier, he says. I think its an important time to just embrace who you are, embrace being queer. A lot of times we kind of feel less than, or different, and its a great time to remember that were awesome and were strong.

While the gaymous Rippon is not exactly sure how hell personally celebrate Pride yet or where hell be making official appearances (though there will be some, to be sure), he is prepared for a good time  from possessing a new drag name to always being ready to hit a dance floor.

I think one of my favorite things is to come up with drag names, he says, explaining that his latest came courtesy of Kenworthy while they were doing a joint cover shoot for Out magazine recently. We were way out in the Valley in this [part of L.A.] Tarzana, and he was like, You know what a great drag name would be? Tarzana California. Which Im just like, that is so flawless. Its so good! Tarzana? Are you kidding me?

As for favorite music of the moment, Rippon has been a bit of a slave to the rhythms of his Stars on Ice and Dancing With the Stars routines. Im listening to Adele and Ida Corr and every song I danced to on Dancing With the Stars, because I was so afraid I was going to forget my choreography! I listened to Scooby Doo Pa Pa like 10 million times, he says. And theres nothing like a playlist that has Scooby Doo Pa Pa and Anything You Can Do on the same track list. Nothing like it, let me tell you.

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Game of Thrones may not be returning until next year, but Emilia Clarke has news that will fill the Khaleesi-shaped hole in your heart. Her character Qi'ra in the new Star Wars spinoff movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, she says, is shockingly similar to HBO's beloved warrior queen. "They are both very powerful women, and theyre both survivors," the actress tells InStyle. "Theres a kind of need in them to keep moving forward in a world that maybe otherwise would reject that [from] a woman."

We caught up with Clarke at the New York City premiere of Solo, hosted by Fiji Water and The Cinema Society at the SVA Theatre, where fans were introduced to a younger Han Solo (the character Harrison Ford made famous in the original films). Clarke enters the film as Solo's love interest, but, true to the mold of female fighters in the Star Wars universe, she's so much more than that. Clarke's Qi'ra is a leader who knows how to get aheadwith enviable fighting skills to boot. Her motivations are nearly always tainted with ambiguity, but she's a clever survivor of oppression. Sound familiar? We're looking at you, Daenerys.

RELATED: The Solo: A Star Wars Story Bromance Totally Eclipses Its Actual Love Story

But both badass characters are individuals through and through, says Clarke. "I try to do different things in both projects. And I think that on paper theyre quite different. So whilst Ill be bringing similarities [to both characters] I didnt really lean on one for the other."

Clarke did get to keep a couple Qi'ra pieces to remember her time on the Star Wars setand others she swiped from set. I got given a beautiful piece of jewelry, and I borrowed a dress I havent given back!"

Clarke also talked about what it's been like working on a major production in the wake of Hollywood's sexual harassment reckoning, and to a degree, shes already seen positive changes.

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"I definitely felt the temperature change after #MeToo, thats for sure. And that shift was awkward, for a minute," Clarke says. "I was fortunate to be on a set that was not like that," she adds, referring to Harvey Weinstein's crimes. "I felt and I do feel like both that set and my Game of Thrones set are respectful of that space."

But Clarke knows she's not in the majority. And she thinks that "awkwardness" she's observed on set is actually just what Hollywood needs in order to change. "I can just hope that the conversations that are happening will make things so awkward that it will change," she says.

RELATED: What Men Should (and 100% Shouldnt) Do to Support #TimesUp, According to Scandals Tony Goldwyn

Solo: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters May 25.
Ireland will vote tomorrow, Friday, May 25, on whether to repeal the eighth amendment of their constitution, which is effectively a ban on abortion. Ireland still has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, despite other progressive political changes that have occurred in recent years. In 2015, for example, same-sex marriage became legal in Ireland, also through a referendum voted on by the public. If the country does change its laws, it will be a huge, history-making event, the culmination of decades of lobbying by feminists and womens rights advocates. Heres everything you need to know about the referendum:

What is the eighth amendment to Irelands constitution?

The eighth amendment was added to Irelands constitution in 1983, through referendum. Abortion was already illegal in Ireland under the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861, which was an act of Parliament passed when Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom. In 1983, anti-abortion activists successfully lobbied to get the language added to the Irish constitution itself, the language of which reads as follows: The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right. 66.9 percent of people who voted cast their votes affirmatively for the law, which effectively gives mother and unborn child equal legal rights.

What are the exceptions to the eighth amendment?

The abortion ban in Ireland is suspended if pregnancy poses a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother. In 1992, changes to the law were prompted by Case X, an anonymous 14-year-old girl who became pregnant as a result of rape, and who was said to be suicidal. Three referendums were held simultaneously to determine whether she could have an abortion because of the risk the pregnancy to her life: The 12th amendment, removing suicidal risk as a legal reason for abortion, was defeated; a 13th and 14th, which were passed, said that women could travel abroad for abortions and that they could learn about these outside services in Ireland. About 10 women make the journey from Ireland to the U.K. every day to have an abortion.

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What led to this months referendum?

International pressure has mounted to change Irelands abortion law. In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland was violating the European Convention on Human Rights. That resulted in the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which spelled out three scenarios in which abortion was legal due to risk of loss of life: physical illness, physical illness in an emergency, or suicide. Irish feminists have long lobbied for abortion rights, and achieved other progressive legislative victories since the 1983 amendment was put into place, like legalizing divorce and contraception.

When will we know the results of the referendum?

Some parts of the country began early voting on Thursday, May 24. Voting takes place over the next day, Friday, May 25 and results will be officially called on Saturday, May 26.

What happens if Ireland repeals the eighth amendment?

If Ireland votes yes, the new law will say that provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy. The proposed legislation would allow abortion if there there is a risk to the life of the woman, a medical emergency, or a fatal fetal abnormality, or up to 12 weeks without justification, but the debate will continue on the details after the referendum occurs.
The top six breakout designers from the fall/winter 2018-2019 season of Fashion Week Tbilisi. (Photos: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi; art: Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Lifestyle)

If you havent heard of Tbilisi before, you are about to, because the Georgian capital is well on its way to becoming the next global fashion capital. The city is nestled in the Caucasus region where Asia meets Europe, near Turkey, Russia, Armenia, and the Black Sea. And although the country of Georgia is small (with a population of only 3.9 million), its influence on the fashion community has been strong over the last few years.

Take, for example, its biggest breakout star, Demna Gvasalia, founder of Vetements, one of the hottest streetwear labels to surface since Supreme. Gvasalia also works as the creative director for storied French house Balenciaga, an appointment he received within six years of launching Vetements. Gvasalias quick ascension to success put a spotlight on a relatively unknown city  and it has since proven to be a melting pot for fresh design talent.

One of Georgias newest rising stars is George Keburia, who founded his eponymous label eight years ago. Since then, hes been credited with jump-starting the now ubiquitous tiny glasses trend, which has shown up on major runways, such as those of Alexander Wang and Prada, and has been popularized by celebrities including Solange, Bella Hadid, and Kourtney Kardashian. Tamuna Ingorokva is another Georgian designer who sprouted from the Tbilisi fashion scene to become a favorite among top models Gigi Hadid, Doutzen Kroes, and Romee Strijd, who have worn her tailored, silky jumpsuits.

The fashion industry is undergoing a great sea change, from reevaluating the fashion week calendar to changing creative leaders, and it is eager to modernize. This includes challenging the old way of thinking that the big four fashion capitals will forever be Paris, Milan, New York, and London. Thats paving the way for Tbilisi to stay at the forefront of new and emerging fashion cities.

The immense success of young Georgian designers in a relatively short amount of time can largely be attributed to one woman, Sofia Tchkonia. She is the founder and creative director of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi and has elevated the Georgian capital to be a primary source of fresh talent. With her discerning eye, she handpicks the designers who show their creations during fashion week, in turn getting them seen by the top international fashion editors and buyers from Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Bergdorf Goodman, and more.

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Not only is Tbilisis creative talent genuinely exciting, but the city itself is beautiful, so its no surprise that tourism to Tbilisi has risen tremendously over the past few years, with the New York Times naming it one of the top 52 places to visit in 2015. Aside from its boisterous fashion scene, the city boasts delicious cuisine and flavorful wines, all set against the stunning backdrop of a centuries-old place with a complicated past.

The FW18-19 season of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi showcased 42 designers, with the majority of shows set inside the historic, Soviet-era Tbilisi Circus rotunda. Below are its top six breakout designers, all with the potential to match Gvasalias success. Scroll on to learn all about them.

The top four looks from the fall/winter 2018-2019 Anouki collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi; art: Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Lifestyle)

Anouki Areshidze

Anouki is led by founder and creative director Anouki Areshidze, who established the Tbilisi-based label in 2010. After studying fashion design at the Istituto Marangoni and Accademia del Lusso in Italy, Areshidze returned to Georgia to create her brand. This latest collection was all about glitz and glamour for the working woman. A series of models strutted Areshidzes stuff inside the Georgian Writers House  glimmering gowns, tailored blazers, and velvet dresses  making it clear that the Anouki woman is fierce, confident, and moves through life with purpose.

The top four looks from the fall/winter 2018-2019 Materiel by Lado Bokuchava collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi; art: Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Lifestyle)

Lado Bokuchava

Lado Bokuchava graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and quickly began working at Kikala Studio as an art director. He debuted his first collection for Atelier Kikala in 2013 and then became the head designer for Materiel, a Georgian design collective and one of the oldest fashion retailers and manufacturers in Georgia. He showed his first collection for Materiel in 2015, and since then, Bokuchava has proven that he has an eye for modern, sensual dressing. This seasons collection was one of my personal favorites for its burst of pink and orange sherbet shades, along with exaggerated forms of tailored suiting and coats.

The top four looks from the fall/winter 2018-2019 George Keburia collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi; art: Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Lifestyle)

George Keburia

Keburia is entirely self-taught and founded his eponymous label in Tbilisi in 2010. His main claim to fame has been his immensely successful tiny sunglasses, which have become a fan favorite of both Bella and Gigi Hadid. Still, while sunglasses are where Keburias success originated, his ready-to-wear designs show tremendous promise, effortlessly blending masculine silhouettes with feminine cuts and colors.

The top four looks from the fall/winter 2018-2019 Situationist collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi; art: Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Lifestyle)

Irakli Rusadze

Rusadze, another self-taught designer, started his career when he was just 15 years old, working at a few Georgian and Azerbaijan fashion houses. He established his own brand, Situationist, in 2008, when he was just 17. Now hes considered one of Tbilisis biggest fashion darlings, Hes unafraid to experiment with a variety of textures and unexpected cuts, and this seasons collection included a rich mix of supple leather jackets, boxy blazers, and svelte cut-out dresses.

The top four looks from the fall/winter 2018-2019 Materiel by Aleksandre Akhalkatsishvili collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi; art: Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Lifestyle)

Aleksandre Akhalkatsishvili

Akhalkatsishvili is another young Georgian designer who works within the Materiel fashion house. After graduating from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, he was one of the winners from the Be Next Fashion Design contest (also led by Sofia Tchkonia). His collection this season oscillated between fresh, bright plaid suits and rich forest-green corduroy coats or leather trousers cut and spliced around the ankles. It was cool, edgy, and undeniably refreshing.

The top four looks from the fall/winter 2018-2019 Ingorokva collection. (Photo: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi; art: Quinn Lemmers for Yahoo Lifestyle)

Tamuna Ingorokva

The founder and creative director of Ingorokva is one of the most seasoned designers on the fashion calendar. She consistently produces high-quality, tailored pieces made of rich leather and luxury silk. And this season, Inogrokva designed feminine sheer tops and dresses overlaid with prints to pair with slouchy boots and trousers. Her designs were elegant and understated but entirely covetworthy.

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A hanger featuring a picture of Savita Halappanavar. (Photo: Andrew Cowie/Getty Images)

Update: On Saturday, ahead of the official announcement that the 8th amendment would be overturned (exit polls show about 69 percent of constituents voted to repeal the abortion ban), Irelands prime minister Leo Varadkar called the vote a quite revolution. Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTE, he said that country is united on the landslide decision and that the referendum allows us as a nation to come of age.

One evening in November of 2012, I left my office in Dublin City, Ireland, and walked quietly across the St. Stephens Green park to a sit-in protest at the gates of the countrys national Parliament. Days earlier, a 31-year-old Indian dentist named Savita Halappanavar had died of septic shock after miscarrying.

Shortly before her death, Halappanavar, who was 17 weeks pregnant, and had been told that she would inevitably suffer a miscarriage, was denied an abortion. A midwife at the hospital in Galway, my hometown, told her that termination of the pregnancy, so long as there was a fetal heartbeat, was impossible, because Ireland is a Catholic country. Halappanavars husband told reporters that her death was horrendous, barbaric, and inhuman.

Abortion in the Republic of Ireland was effectively illegal then, and it is effectively illegal now. But the historic, once-in-a-generation referendum that took place on Friday has the potential to change that.

The Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution protects the right to life of the unborn in Ireland except in those limited circumstances when the mothers life is deemed to be at sufficient risk. Even then, doctors and medical practitioners have been, in the absence of absolute clarity on timing and other variables, reluctant to make the call. If the amendment is repealed, the way is paved for legislative reform.

In theory, abortion is illegal and not available to Irish women. In practice, some 3,000 women leave the country each year to procure abortions in countries where it is lawful (the majority travel to England), typically at great expense and risk. On top of that, the use of unregulated abortion pills  ordered online and administered at home without medical advice or support  has, according to one leading provider, increased by roughly 50 percent so far this year.

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Returning to Ireland this week after months of watching the campaigning from the United States, where I, as a dual-citizen, now live, has been as surreal as it has been moving. Never have I witnessed such energized public interest surrounding a vote, most remarkably and particularly in young people. Never, on a political question, has there been more street art, more pins on lapels, or more statement sweatshirts. Grafton Street in Dublin the night before the vote was lined with young canvassers. Social media is ablaze.

Nobody under the age of 53 in Ireland has had the opportunity to vote on abortion before, a fact that is palpable on the streets and on the airwaves. People who live overseas have been returning in droves to vote (many have been sharing their journeys on using the hashtag #HomeToVote). The counting of their votes, and everybody elses, begins early Saturday morning.

Halappanavars death in late 2012 sharpened the national and international focus on the restrictive Irish regime, and put the issue of abortion firmly back on the political agenda. Since then, and especially over the past year, Irish women have bravely shared their stories of crisis pregnancy and often devastating loss, many relating experiences that took place on airplanes or in hotel rooms.

For a long time, Ireland has been forced to consider access to abortion through the prism of a number of very difficult and troubling legal cases. The women and girls at the center of them have been anonymized in case law, with the most high-profile examples being Miss X, Ms. Y, and Miss P.

Ms. Y was an asylum seeker who, upon arriving in Ireland, discovered she was pregnant as a result of a rape in her home country. Detained in Ireland and, as a result, barred from accessing abortion services, she became suicidal and went on a hunger strike. After a court order, Ms. Y was hydrated. The baby was delivered by C-section.

Miss P was pregnant when she was pronounced brain-dead, but was kept on life support against her familys wishes while a fetal heartbeat remained. The High Court, because of a lawsuit filed by the family, eventually authorized doctors to suspend dramatic medical intervention that had been sustaining the pregnancy.

Miss X was a suicidal 14-year-old victim of rape, whom the Attorney General initially sought, on the basis of the Eighth Amendment, to stop from leaving the country to abort her pregnancy. At the Supreme Court in 1992, it was decided that a real and substantial risk to the mothers life would constitute an exception to the ban. Miss X miscarried shortly after the judgment was handed down.

At the gates of Parliament buildings on that night almost six years ago, I spoke with a gathering of older women who told me they had brandished placards on the same street corners 20 years before, in favor of the right to information about abortion and the right to travel to access abortion, just after the X case.

Six years of contention and deadlock, for me, has felt like a lifetime. I cannot fathom 26 years, or 26 before that, or 26 before that.

A woman lays flowers next to a mural showing Savita Halappanavar in Dublin, as Ireland goes to the polls to vote in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution. (Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire)

In the last 10 days, I have had a greater number of generous and curious conversations on the subject of life and choice than in my life to date. But elections, we know, are tricky. It remains to be seen whether a marked outpouring of support for choice will be reflected in the ballot box.

Meanwhile, on Friday afternoon, supporters of repealing the amendment in Dublin laid bouquets of flowers and posted Ive voted stickers around a mural of Savita Halappanavars smiling face.

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Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

Photo: Courtesy of Fantavitelli

In the 1980s and early 90s, a new youth wave hit northern Italy. The movement was underscored by something referred to as Afro/cosmic music, a blend of synthesized disco sounds and African-inspired dance beats that swept through the nightclubs of small towns like Brescia, Bologna, and Verona. No one wrote about it or photographed it much at the time and since its heyday, its been largely forgotten. Thus, it was a challenge for Italian designers Mauro Simionato and Carolina Amoretti to surface reference points for a collaborative collection inspired by the underground raver-meets-punk-meets-hippy era. Their capsule is an extension of both of their brands and their M.O.s as designers. Simionato launched his quirk-filled knitwear label Vitelli in 2016 in Milan, with production based in Schio, where artisan knitters handcraft all of his pieces. Amoretti started her business around the same timeFantabody is a brand of retro-inspired bodysuits meant to empower women of all shapes and sizes. M.I.A., Solange Knowles, and Dua Lipa are all fans.

The two young creatives and close friends both had the idea to take traditional modes of Italian fabrication and aesthetics and turn them upside down, creating clothes made locally and in the old way but with a modern point of view. Together, theyve created a line of Afro/cosmicinspired knit bodysuits called Fantavitelli. So little is known about the cosmic style in terms of clothing, Simionato explains. We had to search through many small blogs, Facebook groups, and peoples personal pages in order to find pictures from some of these nightclubs. Their research uncovered images of girls who were mixing everything they could find in these small towns on the Riviera, he says. Leather pants and skirts from thrift stores mixed with Italian knitwear, neon leggings with classic button-down shirts, Americana denim from vintage stores, and cut-off T-shirts. Grace Jones was featured in one photograph that they unearthed.

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Most Italian brands act like there is nothing to say about our subcultures, Simionato notes. Looking back on the history of our youth culture forces us to observe the roots of our own fashion references, choices, and associations with our own tastes. Simionato was born in the knitwear mecca of Italy that is Veneto and as such, he wanted to continue to keep that tradition alive while pushing boundaries. Similarly, Amoretti was a fashion photographer in Milan and wanted to take the Italian ideas of beauty and perfection and open them up to a wider group. In the Italian market, there arent a lot of brands that are dedicated to real, non-stereotypical women, she says. I wanted to aim Fantabody at all types of women and encourage young girls to be confident with their body and with their flaws.

In the spirit of dressing real women, Amoretti and Simionato chose Ana Andrade, a Central Saint Martins graduate and knitter for Vitelli, to model their capsule collection. They shot the lookbook at the ruins of one of the cosmic-eras most popular clubs, Melodj Mecca in Rimini. The kids used to spend all night on the huge outdoor dance floor there and then go to the beach all together at dawn, Simionato explains. The colors of the collection were borrowed from the hues of the outdoor tent and the paint on the Riviera beach shacks. The pieces they created feel homespun and wild in the most alluring way. That, in fact, much like the free-spirited and mysterious movement on which they are based, is entirely the point. I once saw an exhibition of Leonard Freeds The Italians exhibit in Venice, Simionato remembers. At the end of the gallery, there was a quote from him written on the wall that read: Your search for perfection will eventually kill your vitality. If what were doing with Fantavitelli can help someone younger to revamp their own vitality, then were doing a good thing.

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As young people continue to organize around gun violence and school safety, yet another school shooting has taken place just one week after the mass shooting where 10 were killed at Santa Fe High School in Texas  this time, at an Indiana middle school.

According to press reports, three people were taken to the hospital following the shooting at Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis. So far, few details about the suspected shooter have been released, but CNN reports that a male student at the school is in police custody.

The student in custody is the only suspect.

According to CNN, the Noblesville Police Department reported that two people, a student and an adult, were taken to the hospital following the shooting. A local hospital told CNN that it was treating three people who were at the school, one of whom was a student who suffered an ankle injury. One of the adults injured was a teacher who tackled the suspected shooter.

The Independent reports that the teachers name is Jason Seaman. Jasons mom, Kristi J Hubly Seaman, posted to Facebook that he had been shot three times but was in good condition and undergoing surgery.

BREAKING: Student says science teacher at Indiana middle school tackled gunman, knocked weapon away.  The Associated Press (@AP) May 25, 2018

According to the Associated Press, a witness, seventh-grade student Ethan Stonebraker, said the shooter asked to be excused from class during an exam, then returned with two handguns and began firing. Stonebraker also said the teacher in the classroom tackled the suspected shooter, knocking a gun out of his hands.

Police further told CNN that the shooting was reported just after 9:00 am local time, and that the situation at the school is now contained. Students were evacuated from the middle school and taken to Noblesville High School. Parents were told they could pick up their kids at the high school.

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In 2017, the United States had 44 elementary/secondary school shootings where someone was shot or killed. -Killed: 25

-Injured: 60 So far in 2018: 28 incidents. -Killed: 40

-Injured: 66  Gun Violence Archive (@GunDeaths) May 25, 2018

According to the Gun Violence Archive, 2018 is outpacing 2017 for both injuries and deaths caused by gun violence in schools. In 2017, there were 44 elementary or secondary school shootings that resulted in at least one person getting shot and injured or shot and killed. In total, 25 people were killed and 60 were injured in school gun violence last year. This year has seen 28 incidents of gun violence so far, resulting in 40 deaths and 66 injuries.

What do you think? Tell us about it on Twitter @BritandCo.

(Photo via Getty Images)
Meghan Markles wasnt the only fairy tale that played out on the world stage over the weekend. Another Americanone whose rags to riches tale makes us more than a little tearyjoined the British royal family on Saturday, and this furry addition just so happens to be a Southerner.

Surely you remember Markle's dog, Guy the beagle? The now-famous pup that had the distinct honor of arriving at Windsor beside Queen Elizabeth? And how could you forget! Peering out from the backseat of the monarchs personal Range Rover, seated just inches away from the Queen, little Guy looked like hed prepared his whole life for that moment.

But that couldnt be further from the truth. Once upon a time, Guy was living in the Montgomery County Animal Shelter in Mt. Sterling, Kentuckya small, rural city about 35 miles east of Lexington.

Its fair to say that the handsome beagle had a rough start in life. But according to The Courier-Journal, everything changed for Guy in 2015, when a Canadian rescue group called A Dogs Dream Rescue came knocking. They often work with the low kill shelter in Kentucky to find pups their furever homes. It was at one of their adoption events that Guy met Markle. She was there looking for a friend for her other dog, Bogart. Legend says that one walk is all it took to seal the deal. And now Guy, an unwanted Kentucky beagle, is BFFs with the Queen of England.

Shelter employees told The Courier-Journal that they knew an actress on Suits had adopted Guy, which was cool enough. But when they learned she was engaged to Prince Harry?

"Oh my goodness," shelter director J'Rie Elliot recalled people saying. "We have puppy royalty."

WATCH: Just Like a Southerner, Megan Markle Appreciates a Handwritten Note

She added that Guys new home her faith in humanity.

"Our motto, 'adopt don't shop,' has been heard on such a high level," Elliot told The Courier-Journal. "She could have any dog she wanted. She can afford to buy any breed. And she opened her heart and home to a shelter pet. That makes all the long hours, sleepless nights and transports worth it."
Update: On June 5, Haaland won the Democratic nomination in New Mexico's 1st district, moving her one step closer to a historic role in Congress.

Original story: Deb Haaland stands to make history. If the New Mexico Democrat's campaign is successful, the single mom could become the only Native American woman to ever serve in the United States Congress.

A citizen of the Laguna Pueblo nation, Haaland grew up the daughter of military parents. She went on to put herself through college and law school at the University of Mexico, often scraping by on food stamps and student loans to get by. In 2008, she worked the phones as a full-time volunteer for Barack Obama's 2008 campaign. Four years later, she was back on team Obama for his reelection campaign - this time as the Native American vote director. That experience encouraged Haaland, now 57, to step into the political foreground and run for Lieutenant Governor in 2014.

Related: 6 Ways Women Are Getting "Angrinized" - That's Angry and Organized - For the 2018 Election

"I had traveled across the state many times working in Indian communities to get out the votes [for Obama]," Haaland told POPSUGAR. "And I just felt like I had a vast network of people across the state." While she didn't win the seat, Haaland wasn't deterred. Like so many women across the country - including a historic number of Native American women - she was inspired to throw her hat into the ring and run in the 2018 election. While the New Mexico field of candidates is crowded, Haaland has good reason to be hopeful about her chances at a June 5 primary win; earlier this month at the state Democratic convention, she won 35 percent of the vote, more than any of the other five candidates in the running.

We spoke with Haaland, who counts economic equality, reproductive rights, and combating climate change among her key issues. Shortly after her convention victory, she reflected on her trailblazing run, the connection she sees between the Native American and American immigrant communities, and why she thinks it's time to elect more politicians who know what it's like to struggle.

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POPSUGAR: You could be the first Native American woman - or one of the first two - to serve in Congress if you win this race. What does that mean to you?

Deb Haaland: Well, we all know how important diversity is, right? I think that diversity is the most important thing right now for elected offices, because we need everyone at the table. We need everybody's input on how to solve the issues that are plaguing our society. It's been evident to me that having a first Native woman would help to move the conversation forward in maybe a different way than it has. Not only that, but look: all women of color are underrepresented. So I would be proud to represent Native women in Congress.

"I feel very strongly that this administration's immigration policy is racist."

PS: In this post-Standing Rock era, what are some issues that matter to the Native American community that you think are routinely ignored at all levels of government?

DH: Well, I think since Standing Rock - I mean, it might just be me - but it looks like some folks are paying closer attention to some of these issues. They were set to sell land leases in the Chaco Canyon area. That's my ancestral homeland. It's a treasure to all New Mexicans and all Americans. And Secretary [of the Interior] Zinke eventually decided to withdraw those lands from public auction because he said it needed more environmental review, so that's a good thing. We brought attention to that. People were protesting. I mean, it's a lot of land. It's a lot of water issues.

We saw that a number of Native Americans, including the president of the Navajo Nation, were dead set against the administration shrinking Bears Ears in Utah. And in this era where climate change is really becoming a massive threat to so many communities, I think it will help us to pay attention to the issues that Native folks have known [about] for years. I mean, this is their homeland.

PS: You've spoken about how the commonalities between Native American and immigrant communities have impacted your stance and views on immigration, as well.

DH: I wholeheartedly support our Dreamers. I feel very strongly that this administration's immigration policy is racist. I mean, when you think about it, it's, 'Send the Dreamers back. Ban Muslims from our country. Let's build a wall.' All of these things are not based in humanitarian efforts, at all.

My grandmother and my great-grandparents, they were all separated from their families in the United States' effort to assimilate Indians into mainstream society, when they sent these kids off to boarding school at a very young age. My grandmother was sent to boarding school when she was eight years old and separated from her family until she was 13. I don't think it's ever okay to take that stance in separating families, and I will do everything I can to make sure that families stay together. That's the most important thing. We need to base our decisions in humanity.

PS: You've been very critical of Trump and the Trump administration. What angers you most about his presidency?

DH: Oh my gosh. Besides everything [laughter]? I mean, what I think of immediately when I think of President Trump is that he has not lived a life like I have. He has not lived a life like 99 percent of the people in district one of New Mexico. He's never had to struggle. He's never had to worry about putting food on the table. He's never had to worry about making sure that he paid the rent for the month, or that his kids had shoes to wear to school. He's never had the struggles that everyday Americans have had. He doesn't think about the things that we go through, and that's not the kind of leader that I feel will make decisions based on my best interests. He's going to base his decisions on the world that he knows, which is billionaires, millionaires, Wall Street folks, and people who don't necessarily need the help of the government other than to give them tax breaks.

So, when I think about leaders in our country, I want leaders who have had to struggle; who know what it's like. And that is certainly not Trump, or Paul Ryan, or any of the Republicans that I see making decisions to keep our dreamers out, or not raise the minimum wage, or do anything for workers that we know need to be done to give them an opportunity to have a happy life.

PS: You worked on Obama's 2012 campaign, so I'm just curious: what was the biggest lesson you learned from that job?

DH: It was the hardest job I ever had. It was 18 hours a day - but I was up for it, because I truly believed in my candidate and making sure that he won reelection. It was worth every second I spent. I think it really reaffirmed my work ethic. And that's an important part of running a campaign. That's an important part of serving the people, the district, and the people in the state that you love. So I guess, in a way, it helped me to really reaffirm that that I could do anything I put my mind to. Working on that campaign really helped me to realize my abilities.

PS: If there is someone out there who's mulling running for office, but maybe isn't sure where to start, or might feel intimidated, what would you say to her?

DH: The first thing I would say is make contact with your Emerge America chapter. It's a women's political leadership training program for Democratic women that trains women, gives you the tools, helps you build a network of folks who will help you when you decide to run. And the second thing I always suggest - and I always, always suggest this - is get involved in campaigns. Start volunteering if you haven't yet. Go all out. Do as much work as you can, because you learn the ropes. You build your network. When you're ready to run, there will be people who believe in you, because you've shown that you can work hard and you have the folks to back you up.
Voting is under way in Ireland as citizens decide whether to liberalise one of Europes strictest abortion regimes.

Polls for the historic referendum opened across the country at 7am, with voters opting to either retain or repeal the Eighth Amendment of the states constitution, which prohibits terminations unless a mothers life is in danger.

The result is expected to be announced on Saturday.

A total of 3.3 million citizens are registered to vote, with 6,500 polling stations open across the country.

Voting began at 7am (Rex)

The referendum is asking whether people want to repeal the Eighth Amendment and replace it with wording that would hand politicians the responsibility to set future laws on abortion, unhindered by constitutional strictures.

The Catholic Church is among influential voices arguing that the life of the unborn should be sacrosanct.

But the retain campaign faces a major challenge from a Yes camp which has portrayed itself as modernising and in step with international opinion.

Polls suggest that those voting to repeal the amendment could secure a narrow victory.

Irish opposition leader Michael Martin casts his vote (Rex)

However, there is still doubt over the final outcome.

Indications suggest rural voters are more likely to say No than their urban counterparts, while a significant number of dont knows have cast a degree of uncertainty over the final result.

If the public votes Yes, the Irish Government intends to legislate by the end of the year to make it relatively easy for a woman to obtain the procedure in early pregnancy.

Ministers have promised to allow terminations within the first 12 weeks, subject to medical advice and a cooling-off period, and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

Voting has begun in the historic referendum (Rex)

The debate during eight weeks of campaigning has been divisive, with the leaders of all the main political parties, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, backing change.

They argued that a Yes vote represented the compassionate choice for thousands of Irish women forced to travel to England for the procedure.

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Opposing them was a vocal No camp, including the bishops, which insisted the life of the child is sacrosanct and interference in that right is immoral.

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Hundreds of people have flown home to take part in the vote, with videos shoing cheering crowds greeting them at Dublin airport.

However, there was a shock for some heading to Ireland from Stansted on Friday morning after their Dublin-bound Ryanair flight was struck by another jet on the runway.

There were no injuries, but the incident caused delays.

There have also been concerns that the vote might be influenced by social media, including Facebook, campaigns.

This has led to fears that the abortion vote could be influenced by factors emanating from outside Ireland, in similar ways to which the US presidential campaign and the Brexit vote was influenced, claim critics.

Anti-abortion groups have also flown in to try and persuade undecided voters in the run-up to Fridays ballot.

Ireland, you've shown the world how awesome you are before when it comes to voting for the rights of your people, please keep that awesomeness up today. Good luck. Thinking of Ireland. #repealthe8th #VoteYes pic.twitter.com/VBQwzqaGld  Louise Atkinson (@MsLouAtkinson) May 25, 2018

Streets in the capital Dublin were festooned with posters from both camps urging people to vote in what has been described by leaders as a once-in-a-generation referendum.

The Eighth Amendment is a clause in the constitution which was written after a previous referendum on the issue in 1983 recognised the right to life of the unborn child.

It protects the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn and effectively prohibits abortion in most cases.

As Ireland goes #hometovote to #RepealThe8th today, please remember Savita Halappanavar who died of sepsis after being denied an abortion for a pregnancy even after doctors said miscarriage was inevitable. Her death was a catalyst for this referendum. She was 31. pic.twitter.com/EcZm95xrEl  Charlotte Morabito (@MorabitoCM) May 25, 2018

In 1992, women were officially given the right to travel abroad, mostly to the UK, to obtain terminations. Pro-repeal campaigners said almost 170,000 have done so.

The liberalisation campaign gathered momentum after an Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar, died in hospital in Galway aged 31 when she was refused an abortion during a miscarriage.

Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, said she repeatedly asked for a termination but was refused because there was a foetal heartbeat.
Good evening! Catch up on your pop culture news with our roundup of todays top stories.

1. Harvey Weinstein is arrested

Harvey Weinstein, right, appears at his arraignment with lawyer Benjamin Brafman in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 25. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News via AP, Pool)

The fallen Hollywood power player turned himself into authorities on charges of sex crimes Friday in New York City. Weinstein, who reportedly faces up to 25 years in prison, was released on $1 million bail with the requirement that he wear a GPS monitor and remain in New York or Connecticut. His lawyer said he would move to dismiss the charges. Meanwhile, ET reports that his ex-wife, Georgina Chapman, is struggling. Read more>>

2. Nicki Minaj says shes dating Eminem, but

After a fan asked the Big Bank rapper on social media if she and Eminem are dating, Minaj answered simply, Yes. While Minaj does rap about him on her new track, some fans suspected she was trolling them with her reply. Read more>>

3. Angelina is back on Jersey Shore

People are still talking about Thursdays episode of Jersey Shore Family Vacation, when Angelina Pivarnick, who infamously quit the show in 2010, returned. What happened between her and her former nemesis, Mike the Situation Sorrentino, wasnt what anyone expected. Read more>>

4. Spotify walks back decision

Spotifys leaders have changed their minds about the new misconduct policy. (Photo: Guillaume Payen/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when Spotify announced plans to remove R. Kelly from its playlists? Well, the company also removed others as part of its new policy not to promote artists accused of misconduct. But after backlash over censorship concerns, it has changed its mind, although Kelly is still out. Read more>>

5. Steve Martin and Martin Short have arrived on Netflix

Steve Martin and Martin Shorts new Netflix special is a welcome showbiz throwback. (Photo: Netflix)

Looking for something to watch over the long weekend? The Three Amigos stars stage show, An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life, is new on Netflix. And its pretty funny. Read more>>

Thanks for reading! Come back Tuesday morning for your a.m. pop culture roundup.
An endangered 62-ton tree, a protist found in an aquarium in San Diego, an imperiled great ape: These are just three of the fascinating new species to make the 11th annual Top 10 New Species List.

The list is compiled by the International Institute of Species Exploration, which is part of State University of New Yorks College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and it is released in May each year to honor Carolus Linnaeuss birthday. Linnaeus is known as the Father of Taxonomy, and according to the University of California, Berkeley, his system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms is still in wide use today (with many changes).

The top 10 organisms  plants, bacterium, fish, and even extinct mammals  are just a sampling of new species discovered, and they are chosen by members of an international selection committee.

We name about 18,000 [species] per year but we think at least 20,000 per year are going extinct, Quentin Wheeler, ESF president and founding director of the IISE, said in a statement.

So many of these species  if we dont find them, name them and describe them now  will be lost forever, Wheeler continued. And yet they can teach us so much about the intricacies of ecosystems and the details of evolutionary history. Each of them has found a way to survive against the odds of changing competition, climate and environmental conditions. So each can teach us something really worth knowing as we face an uncertain environmental future ourselves.

Here are the top 10 species:

1. Ancoracysta twista

Ancoracysta twista Electron microscopy of an ultrathin section through a cell. The central nucleus is positioned between two dark-stained, oval extrusomes (ancoracysts), which are involved in prey capture. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Ancoracysta twista is a new single-celled protist, which was discovered in a tropical aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, Calif. Its origins in the wild remain unknown.

2. Dinizia jueirana-facao

Dinizia jueirana-facao, type specimen. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Dinizia jueirana-facao is a critically endangered tree that is found in Brazil. There are only 25 known trees (half of which are in a protected area). It can be up to 130 feet tall and weigh around 62 tons.

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3. Epimeria quasimodo

Epimeria quasimodo paratypes, adult, color in life. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

As you may have guessed, Epimeria quasimodo was named after Victor Hugos hunchbacked character Quasimodo, because of its shape. According to ESF, it is one of 26 new species of amphipods of the genus Epimeria from the Southern Ocean.

4. Nymphister kronaueri

Anterior view of Nymphister kronaueri attached to an Eciton mexicanum army ant worker Image credit:  D. Kronauer. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

These tiny beetles live in Costa Rica, and it would take 16 of them lined up to reach the length of an inch. They live amongst a species of worker ants and hitchhike on the back of the ants to travel  their bodies are the same size, shape and color of the ants abdomen. The beetle uses its mouthparts to grab the skinny portion of the host abdomen and hang on, letting the ant do the walking as they move from place to place, an ESF release explains.

5. Pongo tapanuliensis

Pongo tapanuliensis is the most imperiled great ape in the world. Only an estimated 800 individuals exist in fragmented habitat in Sumatra.

Pongo tapanuliensis, or the tapanuli orangutan, is an endangered great ape that lives in Sumatra. There are only around 800 of them left.

6. Pseudoliparis swirei

Pseudoliparis swirei, the Mariana snailfish

The swires snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei) lives in the deepest part of the ocean the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, where this four-inch tadpole-shaped fish appears to be a top predator.

7. Sciaphila sugimotoi

Sciaphila sugimotoi female flower. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

This four-inch-high flower is found on Ishigaki Island in Japan. Unlike most plants, which sustain themselves through photosynthesis, Sciaphila sugimotoi is heterotrophic meaning it gets its nutrients from other organisms. In this case, the plant is symbiotic with a fungus from which it derives nutrition without harm to the partner, ESF explains.

8. Thiolava veneris

Detail of Thiolava veneris colonizing submarine volcanic rocks. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Thiolava veneris was discovered three years after the submarine volcano Tagoro, located off the coast of El Hierro in the Canary Islands, erupted in 2011. This proteobacteria form long, hair-like structures composed of bacterial cells within a sheath, according to ESF.

9. Wakaleo schouteni

Reconstruction of Wakaleo schouteni challenging the thylacinid Nimbacinus dicksoni over a kangaroo carcass in the late Oligocene forest at Riversleigh, Australia. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Unlike others on this list, scientists only have fossil evidence of the Wakeleo schouteni. Around 23 million years ago, during the late Oligocene era, this marsupial lion roamed in northwestern Queensland, Australia.

10. Xuedytes bellus

An active individual of Xuedytes bellus. Credit: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

This beetle is adapted to the darkness, and it was discovered in a cave in Duan, Guangxi Province, China.
An Indiana middle school student has been taken into custody after allegedly opening fire on schoolmates Friday, officials said.

The unnamed boy was detained after police rushed to Noblesville West Middle School on reports of shots fired at 9:06 a.m., Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt told reporters at a press conference.

The suspected shooter asked to be excused from class and returned to the room with two handguns, Jowitt said.

A student and a teacher were rushed to local hospitals for treatment of gunshot wounds.

Their conditions were not provided by police.

A science teacher in the room was responsible for disarming the student, according to reports.

The unnamed educator tackled the shooter to the ground and swatted the gun away from him, a student who said she was in the classroom told WXIN-TV. Police have not yet confirmed that account.

A secondary threat was made against Noblesville High School, but officials believed it to be only a "communicated threat" and not something being acted on, Jowitt said.

Authorities were working to secure the high school Friday.

Police from several local communities, as well as the FBI and ATF, responded to the school, located about 30 miles north of Indianapolis.

Parents were advised that if they did not receive a phone call from school officials, their children were fine.

Students could be picked up at any time by parents, but a regular-timed dismissal was planned to go on as scheduled.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is from Indiana, said on Twitter he and his wife, Karen, are "praying for the victims of the terrible shooting."

"To everyone in the Noblesville community  you are on our hearts and in our prayers," Pence wrote. "Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders."

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HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's aviation regulator said on Friday 18 out of 44 airlines it contacted have changed how they refer to Chinese territories on their websites by the 30-day deadline it set. China's civil aviation administration last month sent letters requesting airlines remove references on their websites or in other material that suggests Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are part of countries independent from China, in a move described by the White House as "Orwellian nonsense." The letters were dated April 25 and airlines were given 30 days to comply, indicating a deadline of May 25. 26 airlines have asked for more time to comply due to technical issues, the aviation regulator said in a statement, while some airlines had promised to comply by July 25. Australian airline Qantas Airways on Thursday said it had been given more time by the Chinese authorities. Airlines such as Air Canada, Lufthansa and British Airways have made changes to their website descriptions, according to Reuters' checks. The Taiwanese foreign ministry last week asked Air Canada for a "speedy correction" after the carrier made changes. (Reporting by Meg Shen; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
maduro military

AP/Fernando Llano

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro secured another term last weekend in what was widely seen as a fraudulent election.

One research firm thinks Maduro could be overthrown by the military before the end of 2018.

But some think the military lacks the leverage, credibility and motivation.

Hours before Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro declared another six years of presidency on Sunday, military commanders took to state television to defend the legitimacy of an election widely seen as fraudulent.

"The entire electoral process, the whole Operation Republic has been developing in complete normality, without any disturbance that would prevent the electorate from exercising their right to freedom of suffrage," Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said.

Meanwhile, government officials dangled food benefits in front of the handful of starved Venezuelans with enough energy to make it to the polls. Socialist activists awaited voters, who had been promised a "big prize" for casting a ballot, ready to scan state-issued cards that track food rations and money transfers in the country.

Few were surprised by behavior of top defense officials amid election irregularities. The military has long been seen as the very force propping up the presidency of Maduro, who led the unorthodox economic policies that drove Venezuela into the ground and continues to refuse direct international aid for the collapsing country.

"Maduro is there because he's militarized the government," Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst who is now head of global commodity research at RBC, told Business Insider. "He has essentially made the military his copilot."

Members of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela hold top cabinet positions and run state energy operations. And in turn for these positions, which come with access to food and supplies that have all but vanished from the crisis-ridden country, members pledge political allegiance to Maduro.

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But as the crisis spirals, some think loyalty among military members could wane. While still noting a "high degree of uncertainty" around Venezuelan politics, analysts from Fitch's BMI Research predict the United Socialist Party of Venezuela will be "removed from power by a military coup before the end of 2018."

"We believe that the countrys economic collapse will eventually leave the government completely unable to pay its bills, causing the patronage structures that have ensured the loyalty of the military to this point to fail," they wrote in a note to clients.

The theory isn't new within the international community. Sen. Marco Rubio, a harsh critic of Maduro, wrote an op-ed in the Miami Herald earlier this year that seemed to be encouraging a military coup. (Rubio was notably the subject of a possible assassination plot crafted by socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello last year.)

"The most stable and peaceful path forward for Venezuela is for a united front of disaffected government insiders and military personnel, with popular support from the Venezuelan people, to remove Maduro and his inner circle from power," he wrote.

And in neighboring Colombia, a top place of refuge for those fleeing the Maduro regime, President Juan Manuel Santos earlier this month said he predicted there would be a "regime change" in Venezuela, without elaborating on how that might take place.

But civilians who have watched the reach of the Maduro regime unfurl firsthand aren't convinced a coup is possible.

"Our institutions are so destoyed  the armed forces and PDVSA, where negative mentality is most profoundly entrenched  that it's hard to see someone coming from there that has the moral, intellectual and technical capacity to come up with and drive the significant change we need," a Caracas-based doctor, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told Business Insider.

Days after the election, 15 military officials were arrested for "political reasons," according to local rights group Penal Forum. And that was just the latest in a string of incidences that seem to signal military dissent. Internal military documents recently obtained by Reuters show the number of soldiers detained for "treason, rebellion and desertion" more than tripled to 172 in the first four months of 2018.

Croft said it's clear that discontent is rising in the ranks of the Venezuelan military, but remains skeptical a successful coup could take place since most dissent seems to be among junior officers.

"The senior officers will want to preserve the system of spoils they have in place," Croft said. "So, the question is, could you have another branch of the military effectively take control? Officer coups are often unsuccessful and bloody."

Alejandro Velasco  a Venezuelan historian at New York University and author of Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela  noted the military lacks credibility abroad as a transitional or democratic agent.

He said the calls for a military coup come from a small portion of the international community who understand democracy in "a very narrow way."

"They see democracy as a policy and not a process," Velasco said.

Even if the military were able to overthrow Maduro, it's unclear what that would mean for the crumbling country. A university study last year found that about 90% of civilians were living in poverty and most lost an average of 25 pounds in body weight. And things have only gotten worse since then as sanctions pile on and as operations at state-run oil company PDVSA, formerly lifeblood of the country, fall apart.

"It has the human development indicators of a country that's actually suffered a war," Croft said. "Someone is going to have to come in and save Venezuela. It's not enough for Maduro to be gone."

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SEE ALSO: Venezuela's oil industry is bleeding - and its collapse could mark the end of President Nicolas Maduro
Macron Ginni Rometty Mark Zuckerberg Angela Ahrendts

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella, and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty were among the millionaires and billionaires headed to France this week to meet President Emmanuel Macron and take part in events.

Collectively the executives are worth around $80 billion or more.

Their presence is testament to France's star rising as a tech hub within Europe, thanks to its strengths in AI, its wooing of international startups to Paris, and the UK's impending exit from the EU.



Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are all having a lovely trip to Paris right now.

The trio are some of the biggest and wealthiest execs in tech, and they're joined by other high-net worth CEOs including Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, among many others.

Mark Zuckerberg Satya Nadella happy laughing

Reuters

Collectively, the execs are worth around $80 billion, and perhaps more. Most of that wealth belongs to Mark Zuckerberg who is worth more than $70 billion alone.

It's pretty unusual to see this kind of collection of tech CEOs in one place  normally Silicon Valley's millionaires and billionaires hang out at the annual Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, or at the Burning Man festival.

Ginni Rometty Mark Zuckerberg

Reuters

So it's testament to the rise of France's tech scene and the dynamism of President Emmanuel Macron that they've made the trip to Europe. (Zuckerberg, in fairness, was due to visit anyway to apologise to European politicians in Brussels about the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.)

France, and Paris in particular, has long been considered a European tech hub to rival London and Berlin, but its star has risen in the last two years. That's thanks to the startup supercampus Station F, which hosts up to 1,000 startups allocated to accelerators run by the likes of Facebook, Microsoft, and ZenDesk. That was founded by Xavier Niel, a French telecoms billionaire who is considered to be the country's Steve Jobs.

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Emmanuel Macron Dara Khosrowshahi

Reuters

It's also down to the youthful Macron and his determination to turn France into an international tech hub, partly through economic reforms which would allow the wealthy to keep more of their wealth. French investors and founders told Business Insider last year they were relieved Macron won the French election  the major alternative was "fascist" Marie Le Pen.

Emmanuel Macron Mark Zuckerberg

Reuters

Paris has also developed a reputation for its artificial intelligence talent, one of the fastest developing areas in tech right now. Facebook and Google both expanded their AI hubs in Paris over the last two years, and Uber is about to launch a flying taxi research centre in the city.

The CEOs all gathered for a photo at the Tech for Good event on Wednesday, and Zuckerberg, Nadella, and Khosrowshahi are all due to speak at the VivaTech conference on Thursday.

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From left: Jeffrey Tambor, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat, Jason Bateman, Jessica Walter, David Cross, and Tony Hale take part in SiriusXMs Town Hall with the cast of Arrested Development. (Photo: Getty Images)

Fallout continues from this weeks controversial interview with the cast of Arrested Development. Netflix has canceled a planned press tour in the U.K. ahead of the shows upcoming fifth season.

We had planned to have most of the Arrested Development cast in London this week to support the launch of the new season and meet fans, Netflix said in a statement. At this time we have decided not to move ahead with promotional activity in the U.K. but hope to bring the cast back at another time.

Jessica Walter appeared on Bravos Watch What Happens: Live last night but did not address the incident.

On Wednesday, outrage erupted after an uncomfortable New York Times interview was published with stars Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Tony Hale, Jason Bateman, Alia Shawkat, Will Arnett, and David Cross. In the sit-down, Walter emotionally recalled an incident when Tambor  who was fired from Transparent earlier this year after sexual-harassment allegations  was verbally abusive toward her on-set.

In like almost 60 years of working, Ive never had anybody yell at me like that on a set, she exclaimed. Afterward, all of the men essentially made excuses for Tambor while Walter sat there in tears. Shawkat was the only person to come to her defense.

On Thursday, Bateman issued a lengthy mea culpa on Twitter, followed by Hale.

I have reached out to Jessica personally to apologize. Arrested Development is one of my families. Regardless of my intentions, it is clear that my words, both said and unsaid, served to minimize Jessicas pain and for that I am extremely sorry.  Tony Hale (@MrTonyHale) May 24, 2018

Now, Cross has come forward and apologized  something that will make his wife, Amber Tamblyn, happy.

Ill say this: Two people that I deeply respect, and I listen to and I love and appreciate, expressed to me after that interview their discomfort with it, Cross told Gothamist. One of those was Alia and the other was my wife. I listened to them, and I cant and wouldnt ever dismiss their take on something. And they are also two people who are aware of the bigger picture. So, it means even more than it normally would, which is a lot.

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Cross continued, So I will unequivocally apologize to Jessica. Im sorry that we behaved the way we behaved. Whatever the criticisms are, I will own up. I dont even know what they are; as I said, I saw the initial thing but I jumped off at the behest of various people. And also I had to put my daughter to bed, so it was time to, you know, focus on whats really important in the moment.

He added that there is never an excuse ever for yelling at somebody and humiliating them in front of other people.

Earlier, Tamblyn took to Twitter to clap back at those calling her out for being silent  which shes not.

Twitter

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
An Australian woman who claims she was the victim of an internet romance fraud was sentenced to death in Malaysia on drug trafficking charges Thursday after judges overturned her earlier acquittal.

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 54, will face the mandatory death penalty after Malaysias Court of Appeal found her guilty of drug smuggling, Australias ABC News reports. Her lawyer said Exposto would appeal to the Federal Court in Malaysia, her final legal resort.

Its disappointing as there was clear evidence that she was the victim of an Internet romance scam. She was a drug mule, Expostos lawyer, Tania Scivetti, told the Associated Press.

Exposto, a mother of four and a grandmother, was arrested while carrying 1.1 kilograms (2.4 lbs.) of crystal methamphetamine through Kuala Lumpur International Airport on a layover between Shanghai and Melbourne in 2014.

Exposto contends that she was duped into transporting the drugs by her online boyfriend, who she had flown to Shanghai expecting to meet. Instead, she received two bags, which contained drugs stitched into the lining. Exposto said that she did not know about the drugs, which were discovered by an X-ray machine.

Exposto was acquitted in Dec. 2017, when a judge ruled that she had been groomed over a period of two years by an imposter. She was prohibited from flying home to Sydney, however, while prosecutors filed an appeal. That appeal was upheld Thursday.

Multiple Australians have been executed under Malaysias notorious narcotics law, which carries a mandatory death sentence for trafficking over a certain quantity. Brian Chambers, 29, and Kevin Barlow, 28, were hanged in 1986 after being found with nearly 180 grams of heroin. Michael Denis McAuliffe was executed in 1993, also for heroin trafficking.
Boba Fett is ready for his close-up. (Photo: Lucasfilm)

The galaxys baddest bounty hunter is finally ready to get his time to shine. With Solo blasting into theaters this weekend, theres news that his sometime nemesis (and fan favorite) Boba Fett is going to get a Star Wars Story of his very own.

The Hollywood Reporter says that James Mangold, the Oscar-nominated writer-director of last years Wolverine swan song, Logan, is in the midst of developing a standalone feature about the Mandalorian mercenary, who first appeared onscreen in animated form in the Star Wars Holiday Special before helping to capture Han Solo for Jabba the Hutt in The Empire Strikes Back. Despite having only a few minutes of mostly dialogue-free screen time and apparently meeting his demise in the dreaded Sarlacc Pit in The Return of the Jedi, Fett has enjoyed a popular afterlife in the prequel trilogy, animated series, books, comics, video games, and toys.

Boba Fett was a much chattier character in The Star Wars Holiday Special:

Plot details are under wraps but would, like Solo, be set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars, A New Hope, just like the other Star Wars Story in development, a film centering on Obi-Wan Kenobi and helmed by Stephen Daldry.

This represents Lucasfilms second attempt to launch a Fett-based film. Previously, Lucasfilm pulled the plug on a project reportedly focusing on Boba Fetts early bounty-hunting escapades that was to be helmed by Josh Trank and would have followed Rogue One into theaters. But after the filmmakers disastrous Fantastic Four reboot, he and Lucasfilm announced that they were parting ways. (Both Fantastic Four and Logan were produced by Simon Kinberg, who has also worked on the Star Wars animated shows and was at one point rumored to be heading up the Fett movie.)

While the news will no doubt be cheered by genre fans, given Mangolds track record with Logan, the Star Wars directors chair remains the domain of white men. Although Lucasfilm is run by a woman, Kathleen Kennedy, and has gone to extremes to diversify the galaxy far, far away onscreen, every single Star Wars installment produced or in development is being helmed by white men  from Ron Howards Solo to the upcoming film trilogies being helmed by The Last Jedis Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to the live-action TV series in the works from Jon Favreau. No wonder there was so much cheering when J.J. Abrams, who is helming 2019s Episode IX, hired a black woman, Victoria Mahoney, as second-unit director for that project, which promises to end the Skywalker Saga.

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A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a migrant woman Wednesday in the Texas town of Rio Bravo, setting off an investigation over whether the use of force was justified.

The woman, who has not been publicly identified, was traveling with a group of unauthorized immigrants through the border town outside Laredo when a Border Patrol agent confronted them after receiving reports of illegal activity, according to Customs and Border Protection. When the agent tried to apprehend them, some in the group resisted using blunt objects, CBP said Thursday.

The agent, who has been with Border Patrol for 15 years, said the group refused to get on the ground and instead rushed at him, CBP said in a second statement on Friday. The agent fired at least one round that struck the woman in the head and killed her.

After the shooting, the agent called for emergency medical services and administered first aid to the woman, according to CBP. Three other unauthorized immigrants on the scene were apprehended later.

The FBI and Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting. CBP did not specify whether the three immigrants are in immigration custody slated for deportation or whether they will remain in the U.S. during the investigation.

News of the shooting circulated widely after a local resident filmed the aftermath and uploaded it to Facebook. Why did you shoot at the girl? You killed her! the woman who filmed the encounter says in Spanish as she approached Border Patrol agents at the scene in the video. She wasnt doing anything.

The footage appears to show that shooting took place in a neighborhood street.

Viewers had watched the video 3.5 million times by midday Thursday.

While the details of Wednesdays shooting remain unclear, it highlighted the need for greater accountability, said John-Michael Torres who is with LUPE, a south Texas advocacy group that works with immigrants.

One of the big concerns for us is that Border Patrol has avoided so many accountability measures that other law enforcement agencies have adopted, like body cameras, Torres said. So when they tell us information about an incident like this, how do we believe what they say?

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Since the beginning of 2017, there have been at least two other reported fatal shootings by officers on duty. In November, a CBP agent shot and killed a suspected unauthorized immigrant, who the agency claimed wrested control of another agents gun. In September, Border Patrol agents shot and killed a man after a car pursuit and exchanges of gunfire, CBP said. At least seven people have been killed in car accidents since the beginning of 2017 while fleeing border agents.

CBP reported 17 instances of use of force involving firearms in the 2017 fiscal year and 979 incidents not involving them. The previous year, there were 26 incidents involving firearms and 947 involving other use of force, according to CBP.

Border Patrol reported a massive increase in assaults against agents in the 2016 fiscal year, but The Intercept revealed the tally was based on highly unusual counting methods. One incident involving seven Border Patrol agents was counted as 126 assaults.

President Donald Trump is seeking to dramatically expand Border Patrol in a broad crackdown on unauthorized immigration. He ordered the hiring of 5,000 additional agents as Border Patrol struggles with retention problems and the fact that most applicants fail their background checks.

Karina Alvarez, a DACA recipient who helped found the community group Laredo Immigrant Alliance, told HuffPost that incidents like Wednesdays shooting undermine local confidence in law enforcement, especially in light of the presidents ongoing hostile comments about immigrants.

Laredo is very safe  we dont need a massive amount of border patrol or national guard, Alvarez said. They see us as animals. And its very frightening to live in a border town now.

This article has been updated to include information from a second statement from Customs and Border Protection.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
The first two satellites of Europes Galileo navigation system being fired into space in 2011 (Reuters)

The UK government is to insist the EU repays around 1bn if it is locked out of the Galileo satellite navigation system after Brexit.

The prospect of clawing back funds invested in the project is included in a document to be published today by David Davis Brexit department.

Its designed to increase pressure on the EU to give the UK full access to the system, which has become one of the major disputes in Brexit negotiations.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said the bloc has no choice but to limit UK access because it cannot share sensitive data with third countries.

That could see the UK locked out of the encrypted signal vital for military use.

British firms are also to be excluded from bidding for work on the project and a ground control centre is set to be moved from the UK.

In todays paper, the UK government says its exclusion from Galileo contravenes the Brexit deal done in December and would limit security cooperation.

Current EU restrictions on UK participation will have implications for the ceiling placed on future UK-EU security cooperation, states the paper seen by the BBC.

Brexiteer MEP Diane James said the EUs stance over Galileo is bizarre and potentially dangerous (European Parliament)

It also warns the EU would be left with delays and extra costs for the project without the UK.

France is among half a dozen EU countries keen for the UK to retain full access to the system, according to the Times.

But the paper reports today that a German clique led by European Commission General Secretary Martin Selmayr is taking a hard line on the UKs exclusion.

The story prompted a furious row over the issue in the European Parliament today.

Brexiteer MEP Diane James said she found it absolutely bizarre that the EU would do something to weaken security cooperation.

But Labours leader in the European Parliament, Richard Corbett, said the UK had voted for the rules which excluded third countries for full access to the system.

Far from the EU being the one throwing Britain out, its the British government that has taken the decision to leave, he said.

In response to James, Portuguese socialist MEP Ana Gomes said: It really was a treat to see a Brexiteer actually regretting that the UK had excluded itself from Galileo and much more.

MORE: EU faces Brexit rebellion as German politicians stand-up for UK over Galileo
Montreal (AFP) - Mass surveillance by government agencies is increasing, especially in the United States, whistleblower Chelsea Manning told a Montreal audience on Thursday as she called for limits on the development of artificial intelligence.

"Ten years ago, I was working in military intelligence and I could feel the power, and could see how technology is implemented," Manning, once jailed for leaking classified information, said at the C2 Montreal business conference.

Manning said she is stunned now by the "dramatic change in policing style, and aggressive (government) surveillance."

It is "getting worse, especially in the United States," she added.

She urged programmers and computer scientists working on artificial intelligence and machine learning "to consider the ethical implications of the technology that they are building and developing."

Manning, now 30, was an army intelligence analyst sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The revelations by Manning, who is transgender and was then known as Bradley Manning, exposed covered-up misdeeds and possible crimes by US troops and allies.

Her actions made Manning a hero to anti-war and anti-secrecy activists, but US establishment figures branded her a traitor.

Then-president Barack Obama commuted her sentence, leading to her release in May 2017.
China has criticized the U.S. for disinviting it from a major multinational naval exercise in the Pacific, saying that Washington would never be able to stop it from protecting its interests in the disputed South China Sea.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that China would no longer be invited to the upcoming Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) biennial exercise, considered the world's largest international naval training and cited China's "continued militarization" of contested islands in the South China Sea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang responded Thursday by asserting his country's "indisputable sovereignty over the islands and reefs in the South China Sea and the adjacent waters."

"I also want to stress that it is the U.S. who proposed to enhance mil-to-mil exchanges between the two countries in the first place. If it thinks that it can blackmail China into giving up its inherent rights by manipulating one or two exchange programs, it is indulging in unrealistic thinking to no avail," Lu told a regular press briefing.

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"No matter if China is invited or disinvited, or whether there is this military drill or not, nothing will change Chinas resolve to play a positive role in upholding peace and stability in the South China Sea region or sway its firm determination to safeguard its security and sovereign rights and interests," he added.

RTX5NPNY

Stringer/Reuters

China has intensified its military activity in the South China Sea, performing more frequent and larger-scale drills. Chinese officials have said these activities were a message to separatists in Taiwan, a self-ruling island nation that China claims as part of its own. The U.S. recognizes China as the sole legitimate government, but has sold arms to Taiwan and, under the recently-passed Taiwan Travel Act, expanded diplomatic contacts in defiance of Chinese warnings.

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Nevertheless, the U.S. does not recognize Chinese claims to the nearby Spratly Islands. The formation of islands, islets and reefs are also partially claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Beijing has denied Washington's longstanding accusations that China was militarizing the area, but the Chinese military announced last week that it landed nuclear-capable H-6K bombers on several of the islands, a move that may have led to the U.S. decision to exclude China from RIMPAC.

Related: U.S. Is Asias Strongest Power, but China Is Catching Up and Russia Is Helping

China's Defense Ministry also spoke out against the U.S. reversal on China's participation in RIMPAC. Echoing Lu, ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang said in a statement that, "No matter whether China is invited to participate in the RIMPAC-2018 exercise or not, it is impossible to shake Chinas determination to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests."

Most popular: Donald Trump Says North Korea Talks Back On, June 12 Meeting Could Happen After All

Ren criticized the U.S. decision as "not constructive" and called on Washington to "focus on the overall situation, abandon the zero-sum mentality, properly handle differences, and try to make the mil-to-mil relationship a stable factor for China-U.S. relations."

While the U.S. remains militarily far superior to China, Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed a greater emphasis on advancing his country's military capabilities, especially at sea. Last month, China's first homemade aircraft carrier conducted its maiden voyage last week and country's only in-service aircraft carrier participated last month in military exercises that were unprecedented in scale for the Chinese navy.

China has also sought a closer military relationship with neighboring Russia, a fellow U.S. rival that shares Chinese anxiety about the U.S. boosting the presence of its own armed forces in the Pacific region. The U.S. claims some 250 military bases surrounding China and, after meeting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi highlighted well-established U.S. military installations in areas such as Guam and Hawaii.

Wang called the U.S. decision "imprudent and unconstructive" and said it "will not help to enhance mutual understanding and trust between the U.S. and China, which are both world powers. The two nations can definitely cooperate regarding maritime security."

This article was first written by Newsweek

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South Korea sought to reassure its northern neighbor Friday after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Koreas Unification Ministry said it would do its part in working toward improving relations with North Korea and formally ending the Korean War as agreed in a historic meeting between the two longtime foes on April 27.

Officials in the South were left blindsided Thursday after Trump penned a letter telling Kim he was canceling the summit because of tremendous anger and open hostility displayed by the North.

President Moon Jae-in called an emergency meeting and government spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters, We are trying to figure out what President Trumps intention is and the exact meaning of it.

While officials scrambled to make sense of Trumps change of heart, the reaction among those in the capital, Seoul, was mixed.

In Itaewon, a popular Seoul nightlife district Thursday night, 20-year-old Jae Hye-rim told TIME she was happy the talks were off because she did not want unification with the North for economic reasons. Businessman Kwon Jae-won, 47, said the two Koreas were at an important juncture in their history but doubted Trumps sincerity, dismissing his letter as a fake political strategy.

I think [canceling the June 12 summit] shows how inconsistent Trump is with his policies, a 21-year-old student at Seouls National University told TIME. Her friend, also a National University student, said the move would further unsettle East Asian allies concerned that America First means Trump is just going to do whatever he wants.

Read More: South Koreas President Moon Says Talks With Kim Will Resume When U.S. Air Drills End

A recent survey commissioned by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, however, found that South Koreans were more concerned about air pollution than Pyongyangs nuclear weapons program.

In the citys Gwanghwamun Square Friday, a group of about 30 protesters holding the banners of South Koreas left-wing Minjung party had gathered to demonstrate against the cancellation of summit. The group had erected cardboard cutouts celebrating Moon and Kims recent meeting at the DMZ. Between the two Korean leaders bobbed the cardboard head of Trump. Protest slogans blared through megaphones as school groups and office workers milled in the square.

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A protestor wearing a face-mask depicting President Donald Trump kneels between cardboard cutouts of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in during a rally calling for more dialogue between the three leaders, outside the U.S. embassy in Seoul on May 25, 2018.

Nearby, across the street from the U.S. Embassy, about 20 more protesters aligned with South Koreas leftist Peoples Democracy Party (PDP) had gathered with placards bearing images of Trump sporting Nazi regalia and surrounded by warplanes. One sign, written in English, read withdraw U.S. troops. A 22-year-old student-committee member of the PDP who declined to give his name said police were blocking him from delivering a letter to the Embassy criticizing the U.S. President.

Also demonstrating near the embassy were members of an all-womens delegation of representatives from civil society groups based in the U.S., U.K., Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, and other countries. The 30 women had arrived in Seoul on May 22 to show solidarity with the Korean people and highlight the role of women in peace building. They announced they would be holding a candlelit vigil Friday evening in response to Trump canceling the summit.

One of the members of the delegation was Ann Wright  a retired U.S. army colonel who resigned from the U.S. State Department over opposition to the Iraq War. She told TIME that despite National Security Advisor John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pences provocative references to the Libya-model, and North Koreas warning of a nuclear-to-nuclear-showdown, she was shocked that Trump had canceled the summit.

Bolton had earlier enraged Pyongyang by suggesting the country follow a Libya-model of nuclear disarmament. Libyas leader Muammar Gaddafi was executed following a Nato-backed uprising less than eight years after surrendering his nascent weapons program. On Monday, Pence suggested that North Korea may end up like Libya if Kim doesnt make a deal.

Read more: Did President Trump Deliberately Sabotage the North Korea Summit to Save Face?

Wright urged Trump to resist the hawkish influence of Bolton. The Korean train for peace is moving and if the U.S. wants to be a part of it, they better get moving. Because if they attempt to derail this, the world will again castigate the United States, she said.

According to the White House, U.S. officials had become frustrated by North Koreas elusiveness in the run up to the planned summit. Pyongyang reportedly promised to meet Trump administration officials in Singapore last week to discuss logistics for June 12, but the North Koreans never showed. They simply stood us up, one White House official said, according to the Washington Post.

Read more:President Trump Canceled the North Korea Summit to Get the Upper Hand

Nevertheless, the door for talks between the U.S. and North Korea remains open. On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told South Koreas Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha that, despite Trump pulling out of the summit, the U.S. remained committed to dialogue with Pyongyang, Yonghap news agency reports. In an apparent conciliatory statement Friday morning, North Korea also expressed its willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format.

Park Jung Eun, Secretary General for Peoples Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a civil society organization that advocates for democracy, also condemned Trumps move. We believe that the only realistic way to resolve the military conflicts surrounding the Korean peninsula and achieve a peace regime and denuclearization is dialogue and negotiation, she said in a statement.

Park tells TIME that although the young generation of South Koreans tended to be skeptical of improvements in inter-Korean relations, Moon and Kims April 27 meeting had inspired the young generation to see North Korea differently.
Some lawmakers cheer President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his summit with Kim Jong Un, while others worry about what he will do next.

Members of Congress push Trump to keep up economic pressure on Pyongyang and continue to search for a peaceful solution.

Trump is pushing for North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs.

Members of Congress tentatively approved of President Donald Trump 's move Thursday to cancel his planned summit with North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un  but questioned where the president will go from here.

Some Republican lawmakers saw the meeting as potentially treacherous or doomed to fail and expressed suspicion about Kim's intentions for coming to the table.

Trump had planned to push North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs during the summit. Certain members of Congress urged Trump not to give up on those efforts to seek peace with Pyongyang.

Some Democrats, however, worried about whether Trump had a plan moving forward, and warned him not to go back to the aggressive rhetoric he employed toward North Korea at times last year.

Here are some of the reactions from notable lawmakers:

House Speaker Paul Ryan

In a statement, House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday questioned North Korea's intentions. The Wisconsin Republican pushed Trump to keep up the economic pressure campaign carried out through international sanctions.

"The North Korean regime has long given ample reason to question its commitment to stability. We must continue to work with our allies toward a peaceful resolution, but that will require a much greater degree of seriousness from the Kim regime. At the same time, Congress has provided significant tools to hold North Korea accountable, and it is important that the United States not relent in this maximum pressure campaign."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi , the top House Democrat, called scrapping the meeting "a good thing for Kim Jong Un." The California Democrat said the "thug" Kim is "the big winner" after getting "legitimized" by Trump.

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"This takes preparation ... which the president didn't make. It's clear he didn't know what he was getting into. And now he's walking away from it," she said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

"I think [Trump] did the right thing" in canceling the summit, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., told reporters.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Thursday he worried the summit would not have yielded real results. The New York senator urged Trump to achieve a "concrete, verifiable" end to Kim's nuclear program if another summit takes place.

"The fear many of us had was that the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un would be a great show that produced nothing endured. If a summit is to be reconstituted, the United States must show strength and achieve a concrete, verifiable enduring elimination of Kim Jong Un's nuclear capabilities," he said on the Senate floor.

Rep. Ed Royce, House Foreign Affairs Committee chair

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., urged Trump to "continue to look for opportunities while applying maximum diplomatic pressure."

"Our goal is to peacefully end North Korea's nuclear threats. The administration should continue to look for opportunities while applying maximum diplomatic and financial pressure against Kim Jong Un. Our allies  including South Korea and Japan  need to stand with the United States. There can be no daylight between us."

Sen. Bob Menendez, Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member

Sen. Robert Menendez , the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Thursday that "the art of diplomacy is a lot harder than the art of the deal." During a hearing, the New Jersey lawmaker called it "pretty amazing" that the Trump administration "might be shocked that North Korea is acting as North Korea might very well normally act."

"And while we applaud the robust diplomatic efforts to try to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, many of us were deeply concerned that the lack of deep preparation that is necessary, before such a summit is even agreed to, was not taking place," he said.

Sen. Ben Cardin, Senate Foreign Relations Committee member

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin , D-Md., called Trump's decision to walk away from the summit "puzzling," according to NBC News.

He added that he has not seen anything to date that would change the need for direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Sen. Marco Rubio, Senate Intelligence Committee member

In a tweet Thursday, Sen. Marco Rubio , R-Fla., called Trump's move "100% the right decision." He argued Kim "doesn't want a deal."

"He has deliberately sabotaged the talks over the last two weeks & was setting us up to take the blame," Rubio wrote.

Rubio tweet

Rep. Eric Swalwell, House Intelligence Committee member

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., told NBC News he feels "talking is better than walking away."

He urged Trump not to revert to "bellicose war talks" and "stick to the strategy of applying pressure."





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Terrance Williams was arrested early Saturday morning near his Dallas-area home and charged with public intoxication after police found his blue Lamborghini crashed into a light pole not far from the Cowboys practice facility in Frisco, Texas.

Police determined the car was his after finding it at 4:41 a.m., and then went to Williams nearby home, where they found him swerving heavily on an electric bicycle and arrested him.

According to the Cowboys wide receiver, though, he wasnt the one driving the 2017 Lamborghini.

Williams claims that he wasnt driving the car, but that it was Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Kendall Wright who crashed the Lamborghini. Williams claims he was at home, and had let Wright borrow his car for a date. He said he got a call from Wright around 1:45 a.m. informing him of the crash, according to USA Today.

Williams initially released a statement, saying that contrary to media reports he didnt hit a light pole. However, the Frisco Police department released photos on Thursday of Williams damaged car and a fallen light pole  and broken pieces of the car are clearly seen near the pole.

Both of his statements contradict what he initially told police, too.

The driver in front of me slammed on his brakes and I turned to the left and hopped the curb to avoid hitting him, Williams initially told police, according to USA Today. I got his insurance information and my neighbor picked me up when my car wouldnt drive.

Terrance Williams mugshot after arrest in Frisco for public intoxication. pic.twitter.com/13KWnZbAgL  Kate Hairopoulos (@khairopoulos) May 19, 2018

Williams attorney, Chip Lewis, told the Dallas Morning News on Thursday that Wright wasnt driving the car, and that the pair  who played in college together at Baylor  had been out on Friday evening, but that Williams was alone in the car when he crashed.

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All I have is what Terrance remembers, Lewis told the Dallas Morning News. All of that is news to me. Anytime you hit a curve going about 60 mph and struck his head, I dont know, but were going to find out. I have to do the work necessary when you have an injury like this when you hit your head if there is any head trauma as far as a gap in memory.

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Williams claim that Wright was involved is completely inaccurate, too.

I have spoken directly with Kendall and his agent and both have assured me there is no truth to the matter, Spielman told the Star Tribune in a statement on Thursday.

From USA Today:

In the police report, officer Stephen Byrom said when officers went to Williams home  located in a gated community  he saw Williams driving an electric scooter out of the property in suburban Dallas. Byrom said he saw Williams swerve heavily before falling over the handlebars and onto the ground. Byrom wrote in the report that Williams had bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech, and had a strong odor of alcohol.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Williams told Byrom that he was going literally nowhere, and to pick up his friend, that hed never put himself in a [messed] up situation where we would be there, and stated multiple times throughout [the] conversation that he would never put himself in a bad situation and he would not lie to us.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he had read Williams statement about the incident, but that he still didnt know all of the facts.

I know Terrance, Jones told USA Today while at league meetings in Atlanta this week. Hes solid, real solid. Im hopeful. I dont know the details. I read his public statement about it and take it at face value.

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On The Tonight Show, in honor of New York City's annual Fleet Week, Darius Rucker and Jimmy Fallon remade the Hootie & the Blowfish hit, "Only Wanna Be with You." It was a very special occasion as the entire audience was filled with men and women in uniform, in honor of New York's 30th Fleet Week. So, Fallon and Rucker wanted to show their support. The two parodied the original song with a new version titled "Only Wanna Thank the Troops," in which Fallon and Rucker sang, "Army, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Marines, here's to the Navy for protecting all our seas. You serve with bravery, you serve with style, you serve with six-pack abs, I can barely run a mile. Well, we owe it all to you. I only wanna thank the troops." The all-military Fleet Week audience totally enjoyed the performance as they stood up, danced along and laughed to more hilarious lyrics like, "You fight for freedom all across the land. I hope while you are here you have a one-night stand. Let loose in New York and make it great. Hope when your captain pukes you get it all on tape. Just don't post it on YouTube. I only wanna thank the troops."
Delilah Belle Hamlin during the Active show at Fashion Week Australia on May 17 in Sydney. (Photo: Getty Images)

Delilah Belle Hamlin, the daughter of Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna, expanded her modeling career down under earlier this month, strutting the runways at Fashion Week Australia. Hamlin opened the show for Koral, walked for I Am Gia, and even managed to get in some tourist time around Sydney.

At just 19, Hamlin is already a unique force in the fashion industry. And, as she has climbed the ranks, she has also been open about her struggles with anxiety  at least through her mom, who discussed on a recent episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills how her daughter has struggled with anxiety attacks since age 11. She would not leave the house and was instantly agoraphobic, Rinna said, noting that she feared elevators, airplanes, and other enclosed spaces.

Delilah isnt the only Hamlin to deal with mental health issues. Her younger sister, 16-year-old Amelia, recently opened up about her eating disorder on Instagram.

Last year at this time there was no doubt that I was not okay. Not only physically but also mentally, she wrote. One in 200 women in the U.S. suffer from anorexia. And I want to help. The first photo, taken today, is not a photo of the perfect girl. That is a photo of me, trying to figure out my body, and owning my curves that I naturally have, and not forcing myself to starve them away.

The Hamlins are in good company. Increasingly, celebrities have shared their stories of anxiety and other emotional struggles with fans. Top models like Kendall Jenner and Gigi and Bella Hadid are open about their issues with anxiety, especially as a side effect of their work. Anxiety was a huge hurdle for me to deal with this past year (and security concerns didnt help), but I think Im finally learning how to cope, said Jenner last year. Sometimes I have to literally sit myself down and be like, You are a good person, Gigi Hadid has said. Model Adwoa Aboah even started an organization, Gurls Talk, to minimize stigma around body issues and depression.

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It may seem like anxiety disorders are especially prominent in the modeling industry, but psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the industry is just a microcosm of the rest of the world. Anxiety disorders are pervasive whether someone is a student, a schoolteacher, a clerk at a store, a reporter, or a model and actor, says Alpert.

For models, specifically, the heightened expectations and focus on physicality can exacerbate existing disorders. Theres an expectation to be flawless, which can heighten anxiety and make it more intense, Alpert says.

For young models at the start of their careers, Alpert advises having a thorough understanding of the industry. Models who believe they arent living up to their expectations would do well to realize the industry is built on unachievable ideas of perfection. A lot of models that Ive worked with, when theyre young in their career, they have unrealistic expectations and theres eventually a huge wakeup call. Going in knowing what the industry is like can be helpful, he says.

Ultimately its the industry that needs to focus less on perfection and more on showcasing real women. But in the meantime, Alpert works with young success-strivers to adjust or reframe their inner narrative and create realistic expectations.

As the young Hamlins move forward in their careers, theyd be wise to continue sharing their stories  both of success and struggle  with fans. Any time a famous person comes out and talks about their affliction with a medical or mental health issue, its a reminder for the public that the rich and famous still deal with anxiety, depression, body image issues, says Alpert. And it tells the young actor or model, Im normal.'

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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While U.S. President Donald Trump is a political tyro known for histrionics  threatening fire and fury and tweeting conspiracy theories and slurs  his vice-president, Mike Pence, is quite the opposite. He is a seasoned operator who stays on message. And so when Pence, completely unprompted, chose to compare North Korean nuclear disarmament to the Libyan example on Fox News on Monday, he presumably had the full backing of the administration.

Nobody in the White House would have been surprised when North Korea reacted by calling Pence a political dummy and threatening a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown, given similar comments by National Security Adviser John Bolton also earned a stinging rebuke last week. North Korea is extremely sensitive that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was executed by U.S.-backed rebels eight years after relinquishing his nuclear weapons, and threatened to pull out of the Singapore summit altogether because of Boltons remarks. We are no longer interested in a negotiation that will be all about driving us into a corner, said a spokesperson.

So why did Pence deliberately bring up Libya again on Fox? Its anyones guess, but North Koreas entirely predictable response was all Trump needed to cancel his historic summit with Kim Jong Un set for Singapore on June 12. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history, Trump wrote in the rambling missive published Thursday that had the peculiar tone of a Dear John, blaming the regimes open hostility for the cancellation.

North Korea was palpably shocked. Vice-foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan said the decision was extremely regrettable and his government was willing to talk at any time in any form.

So where to lay the blame? Referencing Libya  laid the foundation for the collapse of any negotiations, says John Tierney, executive director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. For Anwita Basu, an analyst on North Korea at The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), The cancellation of the Singapore summit was more a reflection of the fact that the U.S. president probably found himself unprepared for the negotiations.

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Read More: President Trump Canceled the North Korea Summit to Get the Upper Hand

Trump likely felt he was losing control of the situation. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the administration had received a lot of dial tones when reaching out to North Korea regarding the summit. According to reports, U.S. officials who traveled to Singapore for preparations last week were completely stood up by their North Korean counterparts. They waited, and they waited, a senior White House official told the Washington Post. The North Koreans never showed up. Multiple news reports suggest that Trump decided to nix the summit before Kim had the chance.

The president puts his ego above traditional strategic and national interest calculation, says Robert Kelly, professor of political science at Pusan National University. He doesnt want to be the bride left at the altar.

Its uncertain where this leaves efforts to rein in North Koreas nuclear threat. Because progress was being made. There was the historic summit between Kim and South Korean president Moon Jae-in last month. The regime did, as Trump mentioned in his letter, return three American hostages. It did, on Thursday, blow up its only known nuclear test ground at Punggye-ri under the watch of international journalists (though not, notably, international weapons experts.) Now it seems these efforts will go unrewarded.

The U.S. is a global power. North Korea is a weak link, says Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert at Troy University in Seoul. So weak states at times might have an incentive to a bluff and to engage in rhetoric, but for a major power it can be very counterproductive. Because your reputation matters. And for a major power to obtain the benefits of transactions in the international system, you have to commit yourself in a way that credibly signals you will not act opportunistically.

The U.S. already has a trust deficit because of situations like what happened in Libya, as well the erroneous claim that Saddam Hussein wielded weapons of mass destruction that predicated the Iraq War. Trump himself has just nixed the Obama administrations hard-fought denuclearization deal with Iran, despite Tehran ostensibly complying with its terms and the opposition of all the other signatory states.

But American capriciousness does not just jeopardize handling adversaries like North Korea. South Korean President Moon was just in Washington specifically trying to save the Singapore summit. Moon Jae-in will be furious [about the cancellation], adds Kelly. The Trump administration did not even let the South Koreans know. The EIUs Basu agrees, calling it a clear humiliation of South Koreas president.

North Korea has a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capable of devastating any American city. Reaching a deal to nullify that threat will require the concerted effort of all parties. Not alienating a paranoid adversary, while humiliating a key ally, must come before Trumps worries of losing face by being stood up by Kim.

But that said, not everyone agrees that Pences baiting of North Korea was a deliberate ploy, especially when he made several rudimentary mistakes in the Fox interview, like saying Kim and Moon met at South Koreas presidential Blue House (they met at the DMZ). Dont rule out incompetence, says Prof. Stephan Haggard, a Korea expert at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy. You cant look at this administration with the assumption that they have a coherent strategy.
Updated |Self-proclaimed political trickster Roger Stone reportedly attempted to reach out to WikiLeaks for potentially damning information on former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.

Stone, who has previously denied seeking such information on Clinton in order to help President Donald Trumps campaign, contacted radio personality Randy Credico via email to try and reach WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing emails.

Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30particularly on August 20, 2011, Stone said in one email to Credico in September 2016, referencing Clinton by her initials.

Trending: Donald Trump Says North Korea Talks Back On, June 12 Meeting Could Happen After All

Stone was specifically seeking information about Clintons work as secretary of state while a possible Libyan peace deal was underway.

Credico, according to The Journal, suggested in response that WikiLeaks would likely have posted such information already, but Stone shot back: Why do we assume WikiLeaks has released everything they have ???

Credico told The Journal that he had tried to fend Stone off when he replied: That batch probably coming out in the next drop...I cant ask them favors every other day. I asked one of his lawyers...they have major legal headaches riggt [sic] now..relax.

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Credico said he never contacted Assange for Stone. Stone told The Journal he received nothing from Credico, and that his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in September was complete and accurate.

Stone previously told lawmakers during his testimony that he had merely wanted confirmation that WikiLeaks had information about Clinton.

If there is such a document, then it would mean that his testimony was either deliberately incomplete or deliberately false, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California told The Journal about the emails and Stones testimony.

Story continues

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Getty Images/Mark Wilson

Stone has denied any sort of collusion or previous knowledge of Russias efforts to interfere in the 2016 election in favor of Trump. Russia has long been accused of attaining emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee and funneling them to WikiLeaks, which released them in 2016. WikiLeaks and Assange have denied Russia was the source of the hack, and any alleged ties to the Kremlin.

"I turned over all emails that met the precise wording of their document request," Stone told Newsweek Thursday about the House committee's request. "I supplied the emails to the WSJthey fell outside the scope of their request. Any claim to the contrary by the congressman from California is bullschiff"

Russias interference in the election led to Special Counsel Robert Muellers appointment and probe a year ago. And while Stone and Credico claim they have not been contacted by Muellers team, a former Trump campaign adviser and friend of Stones, Sam Nunberg, claimed Sunday Stone would be indicted by the special counsel over a financialmatter.

This story has been updated with a comment from Roger Stone.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Donald Trump has cancelled his highly anticipated meeting with Kim Jong-un - REUTERS

Donald Trump threatened Kim Jong-un with military action on Thursday as he returned to bellicose rhetoric after cancelling their June 12 summit in Singapore.

The US president said the American military was ready if necessary to react with its allies should North Korea take any foolish or reckless acts.

Mr Trump had formally pulled the plug on his historic meeting with Kim earlier in the day through a letter released by the White House.

The US president wrote to Kim: We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. I was very much looking to being there with you.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

Mr Trump said this missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history and appeared open to the talks being rearranged, saying: If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

Sadly, I was forced to cancel the Summit Meeting in Singapore with Kim Jung Un. pic.twitter.com/qEoi9ymUEz  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2018

But the US president also issued a clear threat: You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

Mr Trump later said he had talked to James Mattis, the US defence secretary, and the US joint chiefs of staff, adding that our military is ready if necessary.

The announcement appeared to blindside the South Koreans, with President Moon Jae-in summoning his top aides to a late-night meeting and later expressing deep regret.

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, declined to say whether South Korea or Japan  both American allies - had been notified of the cancellation before it was made public.

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North Korea has announced that they will dismantle Nuclear Test Site this month, ahead of the big Summit Meeting on June 12th. Thank you, a very smart and gracious gesture!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2018

The move follows the sudden deterioration in North Korean-US relations over the last fortnight after months of diplomatic improvements.

Donald Trump N Korea letter

The immediate trigger for Mr Trumps letter appeared to be criticism of Mike Pence, the US vice president, by a senior North Korean official.

Mr Pence had said in an interview on Monday that the Libyan model  where Muammar Gaddafi gave up his nuclear programme in the early 2000s  would only be used if Kim Jong-un doesn't make a deal.

The Libyan comparison had previously angered North Korea given Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, was eventually toppled and killed by a mob in 2011.

Choe Son-hui, a senior North Korean official, reacted on Thursday by calling Mr Pence a political dummy whose remarks had been unbridled and impudent.

As a person involved in US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing from the mouth of the US vice-president, Ms Choe said.

She added: Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behaviour of the United States.

But Mr Trumps decision to pull the meeting  deemed so historic that the White House Communications Agency had already minted commemorative coins  had been developing for days.

Mr Trump said Kim's recent rhetoric was to blame Credit: AFP

North Korea last week publicly rejected Mr Trumps stance that the regime should unilaterally denuclearise before any economic sanctions were lifted.

Mr Pompeo revealed on Thursday that America had reached out to North Korea in recent days to discuss details for the summit but had not had a response.

The developments came despite North Korea blowing up its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, in the countrys northeast.

Journalists present reported hearing a huge explosion.

Mr Trump on Thursday said the maximum pressure campaign of sanctions would remain in place, meaning North Korea will continue to suffer economically in the coming weeks.

A senior White House official on Thursday gave more details about why the meeting had been cancelled, detailing the profound lack of good faith displayed in recent weeks.

The official revealed senior White House figures had gone to Singapore for scoping talks with the North Koreans ahead of the summit but their opposite numbers never showed up.

They waited and they waited. The North Koreans didnt show up, the White House official said, adding: They simply stood us up.

North Korea also was said to have gone back on a promise for international experts to witness the destruction of its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, raising fears it was not permanently put out of action.

The senior White House official hinted that more North Korean individuals, entities and ships could be hit with economic sanctions, saying they US had not yet reached its bid to create maximum pressure.

North Korea | Kim Jong-uns fiery relationship with the US
Mount Everest's Hillary Step -- a rocky outcrop just below the summit -- is now a slope, say climbers who recently returned from the mountain.

The condition of the rock face named after Everest's first summiteer Edmund Hillary has been the subject of intense speculation since climbers last year declared it had gone. Others disagreed saying fresh snowfall had caused the confusion.

Mountaineers returning from the summit this month have unanimously said that what was once a near-vertical 12 metre (40 feet) rock face is now a gradual snowy slope and makes the final ascent quicker and easier.

"The Hillary Step is not like we've known it to be," said Nepali guide Dawa Phinjo Lama Bhote, one of seven climbers AFP spoke to.

"A big stone of about five metres is gone. The area is now easier to climb," added the seven-time Everest summiteer.

The step formed part of a narrow, exposed ridge connecting Everest's south summit (8,749 metres) with the true summit (8,848 metres).

Hillary and Tenzing Norgay famously scrambled up the sheer step in 1953 when they became the first climbers to conquer Everest.

Since that first successful summit, all climbers summiting Everest via the southern route have used ropes to pull themselves up the formidable obstacle, before swinging one leg over a "saddle" at the top.

But straddling the top boulder and shuffling along the precipice is no longer necessary.

"The Hillary Step has changed. We now climb it on the right hand side going up a snow slope," said British climber Kenton Cool, who made his 13th summit of Everest last week.

"It clearly doesn't have the little corner between the snow and the rock that used to be there. There's not the rock on the top of the step that you used to go 'a cheval' (straddle) and shuffle along."

- Easier and faster -

Climbers say the disappearance of the step has left little more than an undulating ridge to the summit.

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"The area of the Hillary's Step is a moderately steep snow ridge, but does not stand out more prominently than any other section between the south summit and main summit," said a climber who declined to be named.

Climbers began speculating in 2016 that a powerful earthquake in Nepal the year before could have radically altered the step.

Geologists, however, have questioned if the 7.8-magnitude earthquake was powerful enough to shift rocks near Everest's summit, which stands 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the epicentre.

Climate change has emerged as another possible culprit. Some peaks in Europe's Alps have been dramatically altered by warming temperatures as ice has repeatedly melted and refrozen, loosening rock and causing landslides.

But Dr Jeffrey Kargel of the US-based Planetary Science Institute said Everest's extreme altitude would protect the Step from such a "freeze-thaw" cycle.

"It is far too cold near Everest's summit, even on sunny summer days and (at) high noon," said the climate change scientist, leaving the question of what has happened to the fabled rock hanging.

Nepali authorities -- who make millions from climbers paying to ascend Everest each year -- last year insisted it remained unchanged.

Head of Nepal's tourism department Dinesh Bhattarai this year stood by that claim, saying: "I have not heard anything different this year."

Meanwhile, climbers told AFP they were instructed by the department not to speak to the press about the fabled step, and warned they could face a mountaineering ban if they did.
By Katya Golubkova, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Rania El Gamal ST PETERSBURG/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil production by some 1 million barrels a day, sources said, while OPEC's chief said a complaint from U.S. President Donald Trump over high prices had triggered the idea of upping output. Riyadh and Moscow are prepared to ease output cuts to calm consumer worries about supply adequacy, their energy ministers said on Friday. Saudi Arabia's Khalid al-Falih and Russia's Alexander Novak both said any such move would be gradual. Raising production would ease 17 months of strict supply curbs amid concerns that a price rally has gone too far, with oil having hit its highest since late 2014 at $80.50 a barrel this month. OPEC began a discussion about easing production cuts following a critical tweet from Trump, OPEC's Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said. Trump tweeted last month that OPEC had "artificially" boosted oil prices. "We pride ourselves as friends of the United States," Barkindo told a panel with the Saudi and Russian energy ministers in St. Petersburg at Russia's main economic forum. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia have agreed to curb output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) through 2018 to reduce global stocks, but the inventory overhang is now near OPEC's target. In April, pact participants cut production by 52 percent more than required, with falling output from crisis-hit Venezuela helping OPEC deliver a bigger reduction than intended. Sources familiar with the matter said a rise of about 1 million bpd would mean compliance would be at about 100 percent of the agreed level, rather than exceed it. Barkindo also said it was not unusual for the United States to put pressure on OPEC as some U.S. energy secretaries had asked the producer group to help lower prices in the past. Oil prices fell more than 3 percent towards $76 a barrel on Friday as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they were ready to ease supply curbs. NEAR TARGET Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said current cuts were in reality 2.7 million bpd due to a drop in Venezuelan production - somewhere around 1 million bpd higher than the initially agreed reductions. Novak did not say whether OPEC and Russia would decide to boost output by 1 million bpd at their June meeting. But he said an agreement of a gradual easing was the likely outcome. "Different options will be put forward. But, it is likely that this will be a gradual easing," Novak said in comments published on the Russian energy ministry website. Initial talks are being led by the energy ministers of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia at St. Petersburg this week along with their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, which holds the OPEC presidency this year, the sources said. OPEC and non-OPEC ministers meet in Vienna on June 22-23, and the final decision will be taken there. Current discussions are aimed at relaxing record-high compliance with the production cuts, the sources said, in an effort to cool the market after oil hit $80 a barrel on concerns over a supply shortage. China has also raised concerns about whether enough oil is being pumped, according to a Saudi statement issued after Energy Minister Falih called China's energy chief on Friday to discuss cooperation and to review the oil market. Nur Bekri, administrator of China's National Energy Administration, told Falih he hoped Saudi Arabia "can take further substantial actions to guarantee adequate supply" in the crude oil market, the Saudi Energy Ministry statement said. While Russia and OPEC benefit from higher oil prices, up almost 20 percent since the end of last year, their voluntary output cuts have opened the door to other producers, such as the U.S. shale sector, to ramp up production and gain market share. A final production number is not set yet as dividing up the extra barrels among participants in the oil deal on cutting supply could be tricky, the sources said. "The talks now are to bring compliance down to the 100 percent level, more for OPEC rather than for non-OPEC," one source said. RALLY CONCERNS OPEC may decide to raise oil output as soon as June due to worries over Iranian and Venezuelan supply and after Washington raised concerns the oil rally was going too far, OPEC and oil industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday. However, it is unclear which countries have the capacity to raise output and fill any supply gap other than Gulf oil producers, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia, the sources said. "Only a few members have the capability to increase production, so implementation will be complicated," one OPEC source said. So far, OPEC had said it saw no need to ease output restrictions despite concerns among consuming nations. The rapid decline in oil inventories and worries about supplies after the U.S. decision to withdraw from the international nuclear deal with Iran, as well as Venezuelas collapsing output, were behind the change in OPEC's thinking. (Additional reporting by Olesya Astakhova, Alex Lawler, Vladimir Soldatkin and Katie Paul; Writing by Dale Hudson; Editing by Adrian Croft and Edmund Blair)
Bogota (AFP) - Colombia votes Sunday in the first presidential election since the government's 2016 peace deal with the former rebel movement FARC -- an agreement the campaign's conservative frontrunner is determined to upend.

Opinion polls show 41-year-old senator Ivan Duque as the favorite, buoyed by support from the Democratic Center party of hardline ex-president Alvaro Uribe.

The latest opinion polls show Duque with 41 percent of voter preferences, some 12 points ahead of his nearest challenger, the leftist former Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro.

If the opinion polls are confirmed, neither candidate can win outright on Sunday and will face each other in a run-off on June 17.

That alone would be a staggering performance for Petro, a former member of the now disbanded M-19 rebel group, making him the first leftist politician to reach a second round in conservative dominated Colombia in recent years.

The vote is taking place against a background of tentative change in the Latin American country where the peace deal, in effect for little more than a year, remains fragile.

The FARC has transformed into a political party which has thus far failed to win much popular support, but Colombia -- gripped by corruption and glaring inequality -- is still struggling to emerge from the longest armed conflict in the Americas.

The world's leading producer of cocaine, the country remains contorted by an ongoing struggle against a slew of armed groups vying for control of lucrative narco-trafficking routes in areas once dominated by FARC guerrillas.

- Step towards peace -

President Juan Manuel Santos, who forged the 2016 peace deal, said the election is "very, very important for this new Colombia that we are building, a Colombia in peace."

Santos announced the deployment of an extra 155,000 troops to ensure security for the election, for which the country's last active rebel group, the ELN, has announced a ceasefire.

A former economist with the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Duque is still something of an unknown quantity after only four years in politics as a senator.

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"As a politician, he is little known because he is under the wing of Uribe...Nobody knows yet whether he has his own ideas or if he will obey orders," said analyst Fabian Acuna of Javeriana University.

Duque wants to rewrite the peace treaty, which he believes was too lenient on former guerrilla leaders who waged a decades-long campaign of violence against Colombians.

Although the FARC polled only 0.5 percent in legislative polls, it was guaranteed 10 seats in parliament under the peace deal.

"What we Colombians want is that those who have committed crimes against humanity be punished by proportional penalties, which is incompatible with political representation, so that there is no impunity," Duque told AFP.

The young senator has pledged to eradicate "the cancer of corruption" and work to revive a sluggish economy, in campaign speeches which focused on the defense of traditional family values.

- No more fear of the left -

Petro drew bigger crowds to his rallies the longer his campaign went on, in what some analysts see as public support for the peace deal and the rehabilitation of FARC as a political party.

"Society has overcome the fear of violence and terror, and what we are seeing today is the political expression of that, filling public places and drawing crowds," Petro told AFP in the final days of his campaign.

"His rise can be explained by the great polarization in the country, he being one of the polar opposites," said analyst Andres Macias, of Externado University.

Petro defends the peace deal with the FARC and continuing dialogue with the ELN. Duque has said he intends to suspend negotiations with the ELN.

But Petro has had to push back against attempts to taint him by association with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

His critics, including Duque, have been referring to him as a "Castro-Chavista", a reference to late Cuban president Fidel Castro and late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and accuse him of being likely to lead Colombia down the road to populist ruin as Maduro has in neighboring Venezuela.
On the White House lawn in June 2017, President Donald Trump announced that "we're getting out," referring to his plan to pull the U.S. out of the historic Paris climate agreement  a deal he considers bad for the American economy.

But new research suggests that Trump is sorely mistaken.

The climate agreement, which is intended to limit the severity of climate change, will likely be a substantial benefit to most of the world's economies, argue researchers in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Not placing limits on climate-warming carbon emissions, however, would be costly for nearly everyone.

SEE ALSO: Air conditioner use will triple by 2050. That's bad news for a warming planet.

The plan  which was even signed by North Korea  hopes to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, back in the 1800s when the atmosphere had substantially less carbon pollution.

Until now, there's been an inadequate understanding of how nations might fare economically from collectively meeting these climate goals.

To figure that out, researchers combed through both temperature and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data from 165 countries between 1960 and 2010, finding that 90 percent of the global population will likely benefit from meeting the ambitious Paris carbon target of limiting warming to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).

Higher than average temperatures, they found, can drain economic productivity.

Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning are now the highest they've been in hundreds of thousands of years.

Image: nasa/Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record

"As temperature's warm, output level falls," Marshall Burke, lead author of the study, said in call with reporters.

It's particularly important that scientists get some sense of how economies will respond in a warming world, in part, because the Earth's climate is already changing.

The planet may soon breach the 1-degree Celsius benchmark above pre-industrial levels, although some scientists think it already has.

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It's unknown exactly how climate change will affect each and every country in the coming decades, said Burke, but he emphasized that "the benefits of meeting the stringent targets vastly outweigh the costs."

And it appears humanity has underestimated how large the magnitude of these costs  which include pummeling storms, declines in crop yields, and the spread of disease  truly is.

"As we further grasp the consequences of disrupting the fundamental environment on which modern civilization depends, projections of these costs continue to climb," Sarah Green, an environmental chemist at Michigan Technical University who was not involved in the study, said over email.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that in 2017 the U.S. "experienced a historic year of weather and climate disasters," with 16 separate billion-dollar disasters.

The world's three largest economies  the U.S., Japan, and China  are all expected to benefit from meeting the 1.5 Celsius carbon target, although the researchers found the poorest nations in the world, which are generally also the hottest, serve to benefit the most.

Overall, this means avoiding the nearly unfathomable losses of income associated with a warming climate. For example, if the world were to warm to between 2.5 and 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, the researchers project that global economic output would fall between 15 and 25 percent, which amounts to tens of trillions of dollars.

Some of this loss is caused by the direct impact of heat on our bodies.

The dead bodies of heatwave victims at the Edhi Foundation morgue in Karachi, Pakistan on May 22, 2018.

Image: IMRAN ALI/AFP/Getty Images

"Humans function really well when the temperature is mild," said Marshall. He notes that heat makes us less productive, affecting labor output, cognitive abilities, and the fact that "people are more violent went you crank up the temperature."

Transforming massive, complicated economies to meet the 1.5 or 2 degree Celsius targets certainly won't be a simple, nor cheap, task.

Tearing down fossil fuel burning-power plants while constructing renewable energy infrastructure has a massive price tag, perhaps costing nations a considerable chunk the all the money they bring in each year, known more formally as Gross Domestic product, or GDP. (U.S. GDP in 2017 was over $19 trillion.)

If a country wanted to cut emissions in an extreme way, it would need to spend the equivalent of a few percentage points of GDP, David Victor, a professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego who had no involvement in the study, said in an interview.

"Thats a lot of money," said Victor. "Thats the amount of money you spend on a war."

But, he notes, politicians nearly always emphasize the costs of energy transformation, often ignoring the economic benefits illustrated in this study.

Simply put, it costs money to make money.

And even if nations don't meet the 1.5 Celsius target, these benefits can still be momentous.

"It's not an all or nothing game," Kate Larsen, the former White House Council on Environmental Quality Deputy Director for Energy and Climate Change under the Obama Administration, said in an interview.

"There's a spectrum of impacts that go from pretty bad to only minor," she said. "There will still be impacts if we meet the Paris goals, but we would have avoided some of the most damaging consequences."

But not meeting the Paris goals, either the more stringent 1.5 degree or 2 degree Celsius targets, will likely hit nations in the place they care about most: their wallets.

"Temperature affects the fundamental building blocks of economies," said Marshall.
A 70-pound octopus named Fred not only has eight arms, but possibly nine lives.

Last week, a fish market in Morro Bay, California saved Fred from being served up for someones supper,

Giovanni DeGarimore, owner of Giovannis Fish Market, makes his living selling fish and other forms of seafood. But he recently decided against selling octopus products after learning about how intelligent the animals are.

DeGarimore told the San Luis Obispo Tribune he met a friendly octopus while diving in Fiji.

Essentially, we played a game of hide-and-seek for 15 minutes under the ocean, he said.

On May 14, DeGarimores dock manager told him a local crab fisherman was selling a 70-pound octopus, putting DeGarimore in an awkward position. He said he no longer wanted to financially reward those who capture octopuses, but also didnt want to cut up such a beautiful animal.

So DeGarimore bit the bullet and purchased the octopus for what he says was a couple of hundred dollars.

The octopus was named Fred and spent a few days at the fish market before being released in a safe place.

A spokesperson for the fish market told local news station KSBW TV that the decision to spare the Freds life was personal for DeGarimore.

Hes an avid diver and lover of the ocean, and though Gio makes his livelihood on selling seafood, he felt conflicted when it came to these magnificent and arguably sentient beings, the spokesperson said.

Comparative psychologist and octopus expert Jennifer Mather spoke to Scientific American at length about octopus intelligence in 2009.

I would say intelligence means learning information and using the information that youve learned, she said, explaining that this is an ability researchers have observed in octopuses.

She added that octopuses engage in play and have distinct personalities. The complex environment of tropical reefs likely helped spur their intelligence, according to Mather.

Theres such a huge variety of situations, lots of kinds of prey, lots of predators, and if you are not armored, youd better be smart, she said. The octopus has gone the smart route.

Story continues

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This undated image provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation shows Toola, a sea otter who died at the aquarium, Saturday March 3, 2012, in Monterey, Calif. Believed to be 15 or 16, Toola succumbed to natural causes and to the infirmities of age, an aquarium spokesman said. (AP Photo/Monterey Bay Aquarium)

A California sea lion and a walrus kiss each other during a show at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

A red lionfish (Pterois volitans) swims in the aquarium of the Schonbrunn zoo in the gardens of the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna on October 16, 2012. The red lionfish is a venomous coral reef fish. ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/Getty Images

A two-day-old female white whale swims with her mother at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Saturday, June 30, 2012.(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

A seahorse swims in an aquarium in the zoo of Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A Cownose Ray swims in a tank during a preview of the newly renovated Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Neb., Wednesday, April 4, 2012.The aquarium opens to the general public on Thursday, April 5. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

King penguins stand in an enclosure at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012.(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

In this photo taken Thursday Aug. 2, 2012 and released by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a male weedy sea dragon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium swims with some of his newly hatched babies on in a sea dragon display thats part of the aquariums special exhibition, The Secret Lives of Seahorses. in Monterey, Calif. The inch-long fish, Australian relatives of the seahorse, were carried as eggs on a brood pouch under the father sea dragons tail. (AP Photo/Monterey Bay Aquarium, Randy Wilder)

Activists from environment campaign group Greenpeace wearing cardboard tuna cutouts hold a protest in front of South Korea's embassy in Manila on November 29, 2012. The activists sought conservation commitments from the fishing powers in the upcoming global summit on Pacific tuna fisheries to be hosted by the Philippines next week. NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images

This Sept. 5, 2012 photo shows Serena, a dugong at the Toba Aquarium in Toba, Japan. Dugongs, a sea mammal related to the manatee, are rare in captivity. The aquarium gift shop sells stuffed dugongs and dugong cookies. (AP Photo/Linda Lombardi)

This May 9, 2012 photo provided by the New England Aquarium in Boston shows a rare calico lobster that could be a 1-in-30 million, according to experts. The lobster, discovered by Jasper Whites Summer Shack and caught off Winter Harbor, Maine, is being held at the New England Aquarium for the Biomes Marine Biology Center in Rhode Island. The lobster is dark with bright orange and yellow spots. (AP Photo/New England Aquarium, Tony LaCasse)

Pterophyllum scalare fish are displayed at the 2012 Taiwan International Aquarium Expo in Taipei on November 9, 2012. More than one hundred fish tanks from many countries will be on display in the four day exhibition at Nangang Exhibition Hall from November 9 to 12. Mandy Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

In this Oct. 15, 2012 photo provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society, Mitik, an orphaned Pacific walrus calf rescued off the coast of Alaska, emerges from his tank at the New York Aquarium in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Mitik suffered from a number of ailments when he was rescued in July but is making progress as he receives round-the-clock care at the aquarium. (AP Photo/Wildlife Conservation Society, Julie Larsen Maher)

Phenacogrammus interruptus fish are displayed at the 2012 Taiwan International Aquarium Expo in Taipei on November 9, 2012. More than one hundred fish tanks from many countries will be on display in the four day exhibition at Nangang Exhibition Hall from November 9 to 12. Mandy Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

This photo taken July 4, 2012, at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska, shows a baby beluga calf being rehabilitated at the center. The whale was approximately two days old when it was found in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and separated from its mother. Staff from the Alaska SeaLife Center is receiving help with the whale's care from the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Shedd Aquarium in ChiCago and SeaWord in San Diego.. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

A Pacific white-sided dolphin calf swims along with its mother Piquet, Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. The baby male dolphin, which does not have a name, was born on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

A seahorse (Hippocampus Reidi) is displayed during a news conference before the 2012 Taiwan International Aquarium Expo in Taipei November 5, 2012. More then one hundred tanks of fish from many countries will be on display in the four day exhibition at Nangang Exhibition Hall from November 9 to 12. Mandy Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

A still unnamed King penguin chick that hatched on April 9 is unveiled at The Aquarium at Moody Gardens, Monday, April 23, 2012, in Galveston, Texas. A blood test will be conducted to determine the gender of the bird who came into life weighing about 20 ounces. This chick is the 14th King penguin chick to have been successfully bred at the aquarium. Due to space limitations, this chick will be go to another facility once weaned from its parents. The chick currently is in the main penguin exhibit at the aquarium which also home to Gentoo, Macaroni, Rockhopper and Chinstrap penguins. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Johnny Hanson)

A Rock Beauty angelfish looks out from its tank at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium in Cleveland Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Developed by Marinescape NZ Limited, Ohio's only free-standing aquarium opens Thursday with two preview days for annual pass holders and opens to the public Saturday, Jan. 21. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

This image provided by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium shows a female Argonaut, or paper nautilus, a species of cephalopod that was recently scooped out of the ocean off the California coast. The baseball-sized animal is making herself at home at the aquarium, bobbing up and down in her tank furling and unfurling her sucker-covered arms. This strange octopus is rare in California, because it only lives in tropical and subtropical waters. (AP Photo/Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Gary Florin)

In this photo released on Friday April 27,2012 by the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach showing Shelby, one of the Aquariums female harbor seals, who is 16 years old and gave birth to her first pup today Friday April 27,2012. The newborn female seal weighs approximately 20 pounds. Aquarium of the Pacific mammal and bird curator Dudley Wigdahl says Shelby 16 years old and gave birth to her first pup when most seals start having pups at 4 or 5.(AP Photo/Terri Haines, Aquarium of the Pacific)

Turkey fish swim in an aquarium in the zoo of Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A Magellanic penguin swims in the June Keyes Penguin Habitat exhibit at The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., Wednesday, May 16, 2012. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Mark Rightmire)

A common spider tortoise is seen in its enclosure at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday, May 1, 2012. The creature is part of a new exhibit, Madagascar Journey, opening at the aquarium on Saturday, May 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)

A blue caribbean tang swims over an artificial coral reef inside the Greater Cleveland Aquarium in Cleveland Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Constructed in an old powerhouse, Ohio's only free-standing aquarium opens Thursday with two preview days for annual pass holders and opens to the public Saturday, Jan. 21. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

A new baby Fairy Penguin swims at the Sydney Aquarium in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Three juveniles were born at the aquarium and have been separated from the main group since birth to ensure a healthy growth rate and to keep them safer while they were still young. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

This image provided by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium shows a female Argonaut, or paper nautilus, a species of cephalopod that was recently scooped out of the ocean off the California coast. The baseball-sized animal is making herself at home at the aquarium, bobbing up and down in her tank furling and unfurling her sucker-covered arms. This strange octopus is rare in California, because it only lives in tropical and subtropical waters. (AP Photo/Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Gary Florin)

In this Monday, Aug. 27, 2012 photo, Mauyak, a beluga whale at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, swims with her newly born calf at the aquarium's Abbott Oceanarium. Shedds animal care team estimates that the calf is 4 feet long and weighs about 150 pounds. The newborn is the sixth successful birth as part of Shedds collaboration in the beluga whale breeding cooperative. (AP Photo/Shedd Aquarium, Brenna Hernandez)

Freshwater exotics Greater Cleveland Aquarium in Cleveland Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. Ohio's only free-standing aquarium opens Thursday with two preview days for annual pass holders and opens to the public Saturday, Jan. 21. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)

Walrus, (Odobenus rosmarus), Neseyka swims in the new aquarium in the Hamburg Hagenbeck zoo, Thursday, July 5, 2012. (AP Photo/dapd/ Philipp Guelland)

In this May 24, 2012 photo provided by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Cayucos, bottom left, an orphaned sea otter pup, swims with other otters as she makes her first public appearance at the aquarium's Abbott Oceanarium. The sea otter was found stranded on a beach in California and named after the beach where she was rescued. The staff at Shedd has nursed the 7-month-old otter back to health. She has put on 11 pounds since arriving at the aquarium in January and now weighs 26 pounds. (AP Photo/Shedd Aquarium, Brenna Hernandez)

A male walrus pokes his tongue out at his trainer during a practice at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium-amusement park complex in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

In this photo taken on May 7, 2012 and distributed by Japan Coast Guard's 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters Thursday, May 17, a fugitive Humboldt penguin swims in the water in Tokyo Bay. The one-year-old penguin Number 337 which escaped from a Tokyo aquarium in March has been spotted alive in the water busy with many ships throughout the day. (AP Photo/Japan Coast Guard's 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters)

In this March 2012 photo provided by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Piquet, a Pacific white-sided dolphin, swims at the aquarium. Care experts are preparing for Piquet to give birth this spring. Veterinarians and other staff members are planning a sleepover at the aquarium when it is shutdown because of the upcoming NATO summit May 20-21, 2012. Shedd officials say they're worried about being able to get to the aquarium, which is in close proximity to the summit and protest route, quickly if needed. (AP Photo/Shedd Aquarium, Brenna Hernandez)

This undated photo provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium shows a dwarf seahorse at the aquarium in Monterey, Calif. The government will study whether the inch-long seahorse  the smallest of four species found in U.S. waters should have federal protection. The dwarf seahorse lives only in seagrass beds in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Monterey Bay Aquarium, Randy Wilder)

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When former Colombian guerrilla leader Seuxis Hernandez was arrested in April for plotting to traffic 10 tons of cocaine to the U.S., his fate became tied to that of his countrys fragile peace deal.

Hernandez, widely known by his alias Jesus Santrich, is a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and helped negotiate the FARCs peace deal with the government in November 2016, ending a 52-year civil war that killed 220,000 and displaced millions of Colombians. If Colombia extradites Santrich, as the U.S. is calling for, it may violate the headline point of that agreement, which says crimes committed by the FARC before the deal was signed must be investigated by a special transitional justice tribunal (SPJ)without the possibility of extradition.

Santrich suspended a 41-day hunger strike on May 19, two days after the SPJ demanded the prosecutors office halt the extradition process until authorities can prove that his drug crimes took place after the signing of the deal. The Attorney General challenged the decision on May 22.

Colombias presidential elections on Sunday, the first since the end of the war, will be decisive for both Santrich and the peace process. The right-wing front runner, Ivan Duque, 41, is a fierce opponent of the agreement, which he says grants impunity to FARC criminals and has repeatedly pledged to extradite Santrich immediately on entering office.

Duque is currently polling at 41.5%. His main rival, leftist Gustavo Petro, 58, who supports the deal and is himself a former guerilla from the now defunct M-19, is on 24.6%. Petro says he would wait for the SPJ to determine when Santrichs drug crimes took place before extraditing him; he has asked them to communicate better with the FARC about the issue.

Duques more hostile stance is not uncommon. President Juan Manuel Santos pursued the deal despite 50.2% of voters rejecting an initial version of it in a referendum in October 2016.

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People are very polarized on the issue. Some think it was too soft on the FARC, says Miguel Silva, a political analyst at Pontifical Bolivarian University in Medellin.

The deal meant some 12,000 guerrillas downed their weapons in exchange for the transitional justice arrangement, lighter sentencing for rebel leaders, and the right to form a political party with 10 guaranteed seats in parliament until 2026. Amnesty International said the deal marked the beginning of a new and hopeful chapter in Colombian history, but was flawed in terms of victims rights. Former President Alvaro Uribe, Duques mentor and one of the most popular politicians in Colombia, threatened to leave parliament over the FARCs guaranteed seats, saying, My soul is not prepared to debate with criminals.

Santrich was directing the FARCs party and had been due to take up a seat in parliament.

Santrichs case is the first test of the peace process and his extradition would set a really bad precedent, says Silva. The deal is so recent that everyone is very wary. Theres no trust. The FARC doesnt trust the state and the state doesnt trust the FARC.

Many former guerilla leaders are scared they will be arrested next. Ivan Marquez, the FARCs second in command, says Santrichs arrest has left the peace process in its worst moment and at risk of being a real failure. He calls the case against Santrich, a set-up orchestrated by the U.S. and opponents of the peace process.

The countrys former chief peace negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, who is also running for president, warned in April that the country is sleepwalking into war. The United Nations has urged caution on the Santrich case, saying the governments actions will have profound consequences for the peace process in Colombia.

While its unlikely that that the majority of former guerrillas would take up arms again, there are several hold-out factions that did not accept the peace process and could welcome more rebels if it fails now, says Silva. And there is some suspicion in Colombia that they didnt give up all their weapons or could easily get more on the black market. So its definitely possible, he adds. But it would be very difficult for them to be as powerful as they once were.

The issue of how to deal with the FARCand the violence and drug trade they stimulateddominated Colombian politics for decades. Now, the war is over, homicide rates are down in most parts of the country, and for many voters the FARC and the peace process will take a backseat to more conventional electoral matters on Sunday.

While economic growth is relatively steady and tourism is booming, a 2014 drop in the price of oilColombias main exportled to a slowdown from which the economy is only just recovering, and the country suffers from one of the highest rates of inequality in the world. The specter of Venezuela, whose dramatic economic crisis has sent more than a million refugees pouring into Colombia in the last year, weighs heavily on the presidential campaigns. Petros critics cast him as a Hugo Chavez-in-waiting, saying he would recreate the late Venezuelan presidents socialist revolution and its disastrous reliance on oil exports, which many blame for the countrys woes. Investors would be far happier with the market-friendly Duque, who promises business tax cuts and has spent much of his working life in Washington. But Petro taps into many Colombians anger at corruption and inequality. He calls the latter the main generator of problems in Colombia and has pledged to destroy the countrys feudal structure by taxing and nationalizing unproductive land.

Colombia has never elected a left-wing candidate to the presidencypartly because the lefts ideology has been tainted by the violence of the Marxist FARC, and partly because of a strong conservative religious undercurrent in politics. Petro is a clear underdog. But, with the FARC issue partially diffused, many are now predicting a late upset. Duque appears unlikely to secure the 50% of the vote he needs to take the presidency in the first round, according to risk analysts IHS Janes, and a face-off between him and Petro could mean that a divided left unites with supporters of the peace process to keep Duque out.

If theres a second round, Duque may harden his opposition to the peace process in order to gain more votes, says Silva. Or on he might try to get moderate votes by dialling back his stance. Itll all depend on the electoral math.

And when it comes to Sundays vote, Santrichwatching from a secure compound in Bogotawont be the only one hoping for electoral math in his favor. So too will supporters of Colombias peace process around the world.
A 130 million-year-old skull of an ancient animal that likely resembled a squirrel has shaken up the scientists' idea on when the supercontinent Pangaea likely split up, and suggests this break-up occurred about 15 million years later than previously believed.

The near-complete skull, which is described in a new study published online in Nature Wednesday, was discovered this year in Utah. It is of a new mammalian species named Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch, and lived side by side with the dinosaurs, The Independent reported. The rabbit-sized animal is proving a real enigma for science.

Although a new species, similar fossils of closely related animals with similar dental traits were also found in northern Africa in previous digs. The animals are closely related and lived during the same time period, suggesting that creatures were able to freely roam between what is now North America and Africa for about 15 million years longer than previously suggested.

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Today, we recognize that Earth has seven continents, but it was not always this way. Several hundred million years ago, all the continents were joined as one giant supercontinent called Pangaea. This continent was surrounded by a single ocean called Panthalassa, Live Science reported.

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Reuters/Handout

This is not the first time that scientists have suspected that Pangaea existed for longer than previously noted, but this tiny piece of evidence helps to strengthen this theory. The skull also shows that early mammals were more widespread and more diverse than previously noted, and it demonstrates how fascinating they really were.

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"For a long time, we thought early mammals from the Cretaceous (145 to 66 million years ago) were anatomically similar and not ecologically diverse," Adam Huttenlocker of the University of Southern California, who was involved with the research, told The Independent. "This finding by our team and others reinforce that, even before the rise of modern mammals, ancient relatives of mammals were exploring specialty niches.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Paris (AFP) - Two former French spies have been arrested after being accused of passing classified information to China, officials revealed on Friday, highlighting what experts see as Beijing's push to develop its foreign intelligence capabilities.

The suspected double-agents were charged and detained last December, but the incident only came to light late Thursday following French media reports and a statement from Defence Minister Florence Parly.

"Two French agents in our service and probably one of the spouses of these agents are accused of serious acts likely to be considered acts of treason, on suspicions of delivering information to a foreign power," Parly told CNews television.

Speaking from Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron called the alleged conspiracy "extremely serious" and said the justice system would investigate and judge the suspects.

A security source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed French media reports that the two agents at the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE) were suspected of working for China.

At least one of them had been posted in the country, according to the "Quotidien" programme on French broadcaster TMC, adding that the men had been uncovered by domestic counter-intelligence agents.

Beijing has long been accused of commercial spying to capture valuable intellectual property, but its intelligence operations are thought to have expanded in step with its growing foreign ambitions.

"They're trying to learn what other powers intend to do in terms of politics, diplomacy, etcetera, while of course continuing their hunt for economic information," said Alain Chouet, a former head of intelligence and security at the DGSE.

- 'Fish in deep water' -

According to French researcher Philippe Marvalin, writing in the "Dictionary of Intelligence" published in March, China has 18 spy agencies employing some 7,000 people handling 50,000 agents known as "chen diyu", or "fish swimming in deep water".

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"The US is their main target, and in Europe they are especially active in France, Britain, the Netherlands and Germany," he wrote.

Another former spy chief, who insisted on anonymity, told AFP that Beijing has sent agents to all corners of French industry, including attractive students to French universities who can be used to entrap targets.

"You meet someone here or there: It's quiet infiltration, nothing dramatic. It's not like the movies," he said.

Francois-Yves Damon, a China specialist and historian who consulted for the DGSE, recalls surprising a Chinese student at the elite ENA school, which produces France's top public servants, photocopying huge piles of documentation.

"Anything he could get his hands on!" Damon told AFP.

"Knowing the capacity of China's secret services, seeing two former DGSE agents caught and imprisoned doesn't surprise me a bit," he said.

- 'Extremely vigilant' -

The revelations came just a few weeks after US authorities indicted a former CIA operative on charges of spying for China, following his arrest in January.

And concerns about Chinese spying in Australia led to reforms to espionage and foreign interference legislation last year which singled out Beijing as a focus of attention.

Asked Friday about the arrests in France, China's foreign ministry said it was unaware of the situation.

The agents are now retired but Parly said they were "quite likely" still in service at the time, though investigators were still determining how long they had been passing along intelligence.

She also declined to specify the nature of the compromised information, nor to reveal if the two agents were working together.

But a source close to the inquiry said prosecutors have requested the declassification of DGSE documents dating from July 6, 2016, to April 19, 2017, suggesting the agents may have been compromised for months.

In a statement, the DGSE -- similar to Britain's MI6 or the United States's CIA -- said the revelations "are a major area of focus for the DGSE as well all French counter-intelligence services."

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ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 24 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he hoped the United States and North Korea would continue working towards denuclearising the Korean peninsula after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a planned summit.

Speaking in a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, Macron said he hoped Trump's move "was just a glitch in a process that should be continued".

Putin said Moscow regretted the cancellation of the summit between the United States and North Korea, scheduled for next month. He said he hoped it would take place nonetheless.

Earlier on Thursday U.S. President Donald Trump called off the meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accusing Pyongyang of "open hostility."

Putin also told the news conference that Russia appreciated efforts by Europe to save the Iran nuclear deal despite the withdrawal of the United States and warned of "lamentable consequences" if it was not preserved. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Paris (AFP) - The French government has agreed to absorb 35 billion euros in debt from the state railway SNCF, a top union official said Friday, as it seeks an end to nearly two months of strikes.

Luc Berille, the head of the UNSA union, said that the state had proposed taking on 35 billion euros (41 billion dollars) of the SNCF's 46 billion euros of debt, starting with 25 billion as soon as 2020.

"The prime minister was specific," Berille said after talks with premier Edouard Philippe, adding that the government would increase infrastructure investment by 200 million euros a year to reach an annual total of 3.8 billion euros.

"The issue is moving forward" and "there is now dialogue", he added.

All trade unions representing staff on the SNCF have backed the longest ever strike sequence on the network which began in early April and has seen workers stop work on two out of every five days.

Absorbing the debt has been a key demand from unions, but it looked unlikely to to break the deadlock, with the hardline CGT union saying it would continue the strikes.

Earlier this week, the results of a poll organised by unions showed that 95 percent of respondents rejected the government's proposed rail reforms, the CGT announced on Wednesday.

- 'Major concerns' -

Philippe is holding meetings with the main rail unions on Friday and plans to make a statement around midday, before meeting with SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy in the afternoon.

Roger Dillenseger, of the UNSA's rail branch, the second-largest union at the company behind the CGT, said it would consult members about whether to continue the stoppages.

But he said that for now the union remained mobilised against the overhaul because "the official plan is the one that will emerge from the Senate," which is scheduled to vote on the rail reform law on June 5, Dillenseger said.

"We still have major concerns" but "the negotiations are paying off," he said.

President Emmanuel Macron has pledged extensive changes aimed at making French trains more efficient and less costly to operate ahead of the opening of the European market to passenger rail competition starting in 2020.

Unions also oppose the transformation of the SNCF into a joint-stock company whose shares would be held by the state -- which they see as a first step to privatisation -- and want the state to take on the bulk of its legacy debt.
Paris (AFP) - The French government has agreed to absorb 35 billion euros in debt from the state railway SNCF, union officials said Friday, raising the chances of an end to nearly two months of strikes.

Luc Berille, the head of the UNSA union, said the state had offered to take on 35 billion euros ($41 billion) of the SNCF's debt load of 46 billion euros, starting with 25 billion as soon as 2020.

"The prime minister was specific," Berille said after talks with premier Edouard Philippe, adding that the government would increase infrastructure investment by 200 million euros a year to reach an annual total of 3.8 billion euros.

"The issue is moving forward" and "there is now dialogue", he added.

All trade unions representing staff on the SNCF have backed the longest-ever strike sequence on the network, which began in early April and has seen workers walk out on two days out of every five.

The conflict between centrist President Emmanuel Macron and the rail unions, a historic bastion of the labour movement, is seen as a key test of the president's resolve and ability to push through change.

Absorbing the debt has been a key demand from unions and the government's pledge raised the prospect of an end to the standoff, but probably not immediately.

Roger Dillenseger, of the UNSA's rail branch, the second-largest union at the company after the hardline CGT, said it would consult members about whether to continue the stoppages.

"We still have major concerns" but "the negotiations are paying off," he said.

The CGT, which has spearheaded resistance nationally and organised numerous protests against Macron, said it planned to keep up the stoppages which are scheduled to last until the end of June.

Earlier this week, a vote among SNCF employees organised by unions showed that 95 percent of 90,000 respondents rejected the government's proposed rail reforms, the CGT announced Wednesday.

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But the strike has been progressively weakening since it began, with participation falling among staff.

Public opinion remains marginally on the side of the government as the rail reform legislation winds its way through parliament, with a vote in the upper house scheduled for June 5.

- Money for reform -

Philippe is holding meetings with the main rail unions on Friday as he seeks an end to the conflict and will meet with SNCF chief Guillaume Pepy later in the day.

The state's decision to take on a large part of the SNCF's debt, built up over decades of investment in high-speed lines and other expenses, was always expected -- but the government had made it conditional on other reforms.

Macron has pledged extensive changes aimed at making French railways more efficient ahead of the opening of the European market to passenger rail competition starting in 2020.

Most controversially, he wants to end the job-for-life protections and special status enjoyed by railway workers -- but only for new recruits.

The unions this week indicated they would accept the phasing out of the special status in exchange for guarantees that the government will ensure a "strong" new collective labour agreement for rail workers.

The unions also oppose the transformation of the SNCF into a joint-stock company whose shares would be held by the state, which they see as a first step towards privatisation.

The government has repeatedly denied this.
A series of protests between March 30 and May 15 on the Gaza-Israel border resulted in the deaths of roughly 110 Palestinians, as Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition and toxic tear gas across the border in an attempt to temper demonstrations that were largely peaceful.

On May 14, Israeli soldiers killed roughly 60 Palestinians and wounded over a thousand as demonstrations coincided with the controversial opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

I recently returned from Gaza, where I captured not only the combat, but the human element of a conflict that has raged on for decades.

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In Pictures: U.S. Embassy Move to Jerusalem Sparks Violent Clashes Between Israeli Troops and Palestinian Protesters

I took this photo on the first afternoon that I arrived and ventured very close, possibly too close, to the fence that divides Gaza and Israel.

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The Israeli Defense Force was shooting live ammunition across the border and a number of people were being shot within just several feet of where I was standing. I was snapping hundreds of shots and this photo was quite spontaneous, but I think it shows the classic Palestinian struggle: A young man hurling rocks into a country that is responding with real bullets and toxic tear gas.

When you take a step back from the front lines you realize the amount of luck that is involved in being able to just walk away.

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This photo was taken in Rafah, a town near the Egyptian border, during the funeral for Jamal Affana, a 15- year old who died from a gunshot wound during the protests at the border fence.

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Funerals in Gaza are very chaotic and emotional, and this was no different as hundreds of people were flowing down narrow streets carrying Affanas body.

Most teenagers in Gaza, many around the same age as Affanna, are equipped with smartphones that give them access to the outside world. (The Israeli military has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, cutting off the Palestinian territory from the outside world.)

With such high unemployment and poverty rates in Gaza, young people are left without much to do and often talk about getting out. It is deeply saddening that Affana will never get that opportunity.

The area immediately around the border fence is so chaotic, and many of my photos tend to be bloody or filled with dozens of hands and arms. But several hundred yards away from the fence the mood is very differentfamilies are gathered for picnics, vendors are selling food, and people are gathering for prayer.

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This photo depicts a moment of solitude where a woman, whom I didnt meet, looks very poised and calm while using a phone to record the situation around her.

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The death of eight-month-old Leila Anwar Ghandoor, pictured here, became a point of contention among the Israeli Defense Force and the Palestinians.

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Anwar was with a relative during the violence at the border fence when tear gas canisters were fired at the crowds. Later, rumors began to swirl that Anwar suffered from congenital heart defect that might have actually caused her death. The Israeli military issued claims, unsupported by evidence, that it held information that disproved the familys account. The disagreement around the death of a baby shows that nothing is sacred in this war anymore and how far away the two sides are from peace.

Images like this one have proven to be very powerful during times of conflict as they often spread across the world and tug at the heartstrings of people thousands of miles away. In a sense, Anwar has become the face of the recent spate of violence in the region.

Though the demonstrations are often fast-paced and violent, there are ebbs and flows in which protesters take time to pray, smoke a cigarette or grab a cup of tea. Here, these men are only a few hundred feet from the border fence as they gather to regroup before pushing forward again.

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

I remember feeling very vulnerable here as Israeli snipers are in position across the border and one stray shot could result in the loss of a limb, or worse yet, death. But, photographing conflict requires incurring a certain amount of risk to capture the most poignant photos.

Spencer Platt is an award-winning photographer who joined Getty Images in 2000. He has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo and Ukraine. In 2007, he received the World Press Photo of the Year award for his picture of young Lebanese survivors surveying bombing damage in Beirut during the Lebanon-Israel crisis of 2006.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Europe and the United States remain deeply divided over how to proceed after Washington's exit from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday after back-to-back meetings with two senior U.S. officials. Maas issued his sober assessment after a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying the two officials had restated their known positions, but no new information emerged. "I think we're still far away from a compromise," said Maas, who met earlier with John Bolton, U.S. President Donald Trump's new security adviser, who is known for his hawkish views. "We're pursuing two completely different paths." He said he hoped more concrete details might emerge about Washington's plans for Iran if a four-way meeting among Germany, Britain, France and the United States could be arranged. Maas said he told U.S. officials that Europe remained "very, very united" in supporting a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran because it feared a proliferation of atomic weapons on its doorstep. Trump pulled the United States out of the accord earlier this month, shrugging off appeals from Washington's European allies which argued that the deal had succeeded in curbing Tehran's nuclear program in return for a lifting of sanctions. Scrapping the deal would allow Iran to resume its nuclear program and this would "massively jeopardize" Europe's security, Maas told reporters after what he called a frank but constructive meeting with Bolton. "Europe is very, very united in its position on the nuclear accord with Iran, and that will not change... We don't want a proliferation of nuclear weapons in our expanded neighborhood," Maas said. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Trump's rejection of the nuclear deal showed that the Islamic Republic could not deal with a country that could not keep its commitments. "DIFFICULT" DISCUSSIONS AHEAD Maas said European countries shared U.S. concerns about Iran's continued development of ballistic missiles and its behavior in the Middle East, but believed those issues should be addressed without undermining the nuclear deal. On Monday Pompeo threatened Iran with "the strongest sanctions in history" if it did not curb its regional influence, accusing Tehran of supporting armed groups in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Senior officials from the remaining parties to the accord - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - will meet their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Vienna. The meeting will assess what can be done to keep the deal alive and circumvent extraterritorial U.S. sanctions that are impacting foreign business appetite for Iran. Maas said he expected the coming discussions to be "difficult" but gave no details. He also said European leaders were concerned about the future of the transatlantic relationship, but expected it to withstand differences over Iran and other thorny issues. Maas said he had also discussed the Syrian civil war and the overall situation in the Middle East, as well as trade disputes in his meetings. European countries have also been rattled recently by Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Reuters Television; Writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Gareth Jones and James Dalgleish)
By Andreas Rinke and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - China welcomes German firms and will protect their investments, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday after meeting visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said Germany supported Chinese investment there.

Merkel faces a delicate diplomatic balancing act on her two-day China visit, which is clouded by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade threats and his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.

Germany and China, two exporting nations that run large trade surpluses with the United States, have found themselves in Trump's firing line and are scrambling to preserve the rules-based multilateral order on which their prosperity rests.

But while Merkel's hosts may be keen to send a message of total Chinese-German solidarity in Washington's direction, German officials have suggested that Merkel must avoid the appearance of siding too openly with China in a confrontation with Germany's longtime ally.

Li, in a joint media appearance with Merkel at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, said China and Germany both upheld global free trade, and stressed the huge potential for cooperation between them.

Though the two countries had problems, they could be overcome, and increasing cooperation was good for Europe and the world, Li said.

"China's door is open. You can say it will open even wider," he said, standing next to Merkel.

China welcomes German producers of autonomous vehicles to invest in China, Li said, pointing out the country had already lowered entry requirements for new energy vehicles.

The two countries needed to strengthen two-way investment in an open and inclusive way, he said.

"If they come across any problems during their investment, especially when it comes to legal protections, I can clearly tell you that China is striding forward to being a country with rule of law," Li said.

China will protect their interests in accordance with Chinese law and China will adjust its rules as needed, he added, without elaborating.

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Merkel welcomed China's recent announcements that it would further open its financial sector to foreign participation and reduce Chinese joint venture requirement in sectors such as automobiles, a mainstay of German investment in the world's second-largest economy.

In reality, Merkel's government shares many of the Trump administration's concerns about Chinese business practices, including what many Western countries have complained are state-backed efforts to pressure foreign companies into giving up trade secrets.

But Trump's "America First" trade policy, his administration's professed disdain for the World Trade Organization, as well as his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, have pushed China and Germany into closer alignment, German officials say.

Merkel went to Washington last month to lobby Trump to stay in the Iran nuclear pact, only to see him withdraw days later and threaten sanctions against European firms that continue to respect it.

The trip is Merkel's eleventh to China since becoming chancellor in 2005. Accompanied by an industry delegation of roughly 20 German executives, she later in the day attends a dinner hosted by President Xi Jinping.

(Additional reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)
It takes about 20 minutes to walk from the European headquarters of Facebook and Google, near Dublins docks, to the seat of the Irish Government. If you walk that route today you will pass 50 or 60 posters petitioning you to vote for or against this weeks referendum on legalizing abortion. Take your phone out of your pocket, and you will be equally bombarded with digital ads.

Posters are highly regulated in Ireland, but there are no rules governing the videos interrupting your Facebook feed or the images popping up in your gaming app. This regulatory blindspot is made more worrying by the nature of online ads, which can be highly targeted based on analysis of data about a personas we saw with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Britains vote to leave the EU and the 2016 U.S. presidential election showed us how ads can share misinformation under the radar. Ads can also be purchased from abroad. It is predictablebut still depressingthat groups both inside and outside of Ireland have exploited these digital loopholes to try to influence the Irish abortion referendum.

With a strong constitution that can only be changed by referendum, Irish people frequently vote on social issues. A 1995 referendum legalized divorce, another in 1998 consented to the Northern Irish peace agreement, and most recently in 2015, the electorate voted to allow gay people to marry.

To keep these processes fair, Ireland does not allow political ads on TV or radio. This means posters and door knocking have been the mainstay of campaigning for generations. This activity has strict rulesposters and leaflets must say who paid for them, donations are limited to Irish citizens and businesses in small amounts, and TV and radio broadcasts must present both sides of the debate. More importantly, campaign images and messages are fact-checked and debated in radio shows and newspaper columns.

Yet online, in the past few months we have seen examples of overseas organizations from the U.S., U.K., and parts of Europe paying Facebook to target Irish voters with emotive content intended to sway their votes. We have seen untraceable groups paying to get lies about medical evidence and about their opponents in front of voters. We have seen numerous examples of unregulated spending on highly produced YouTube ads and banner ads across the webfrom news websites to music streaming apps.

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We only know about many of these examples because of a project I set up with some friendsthe Transparent Referendum Initiative (TRI)which is crowdsourcing a public database of digital ads. By the day before the vote, we had captured 1,300 referendum related ads on Facebook alone.

We want to enable a fair, truthful and respectful debate during the referendum on the 8th amendment, by bringing paid social media ads out into the open. pic.twitter.com/RlMM1cjkWt  Transparent Referendum Initiative (@TransparentRef) February 13, 2018

Journalists have turned this data into stories, enabling debate and increasing scrutiny. Yet the information is partial. Just 600 people are helping us crowdsource ads, and for non-Facebook ads we have to rely on screenshots. We have no way of knowing how much is spent, by whom, or who is being targeted and why. Only the companies selling the advertising space know this information.

Read more: Irish fear unregulated online ads will turn abortion referendum into the next Brexit

As stories based on our data intensified, Facebook took the unprecedented decision on May 8 to block overseas groups from buying political ads. The next day Google announced they would not allow any referendum related ads at all on their platforms.

Has this self-regulation worked? Well, it doesnt appear to have had a strong impact on the overall level of online ads. Ads on Facebook have increased exponentially. While YouTube ads stopped, large numbers of digital ads across the web continued, as spending shifted to platforms run by other companies.

In fact, when we told the Guardian newspaper that political ads were appearing on their site, investigated, they found that Google infrastructure was being used to serve political ads against their knowledge. They noted that with decisions being made by algorithms, news websites are finding it hard to stop them appearing on their sitesa fact that has been exploited by campaigners.

After Facebook and Google took these unanticipated steps as private companies just a couple weeks before the vote, some campaigners reacted stronglyclaiming that these companies are themselves interfering in our democratic process by not allowing the adverts to appear.

Very little information was given about these decisions. Campaigners, as well as the Transparent Referendum Initiative, called on Facebook and Google to detail exactly what they saw in their records that prompted them to act to protect what they called election integrity. So far, they have made no public statements.

One positive result, however, is that this crisis has prompted commitments from the Irish government to reform traditional rules around campaigning. This will hopefully mean that the restrictions that exist for traditional campaigning will be extended to cover digital ads.

The next challenge is figuring out how to do this. Because, while it may only be a 20 minute walk from the tech companies to our parliament, they might as well be light years apart in terms of how they view the world.

Tech firms, with the ethos of move fast and break things, are the antithesis of the deliberative and slow-moving institutions we entrust to make our elections and referendums fair. On the flip side, technology is evolving so fast, and following such opaque algorithms, that those with responsibility to make rules about the things that affect us deeply are not able to keep pace and adapt.

We are playing regulatory whack-a-mole, and we are doing it with blindfolds on.

But what Ireland has shown is that transparency of online activity helps to bridge this gap. If the companies genuinely care about election integrity in Ireland and around the world, they will recognize that it is not their role to regulate it.

Rather, they must make available the information on their powerful tools, and highlight the ways they are being usedso that our institutions can do their job. Regulation is hard, and it has to be about enforcing our democratic values online and offline.

It needs to be based on deep insight into technologybut it needs to be done by the government.
More than three decades after holding 10 people hostage for 21 hours at a Virginia school, James Stevens is on a mission to stop campus shootings.

In 1982, Stevens, armed with a high-powered Mossberg hunting rifle, walked the corridors of Lake Braddock Secondary School, firing off rounds.

"I just started shooting," Stevens told Inside Edition. "The kids were running down the hallway. I was shooting from the hip. There's screams and yelling and just total fear."

Inside his head, Stevens said he heard "many, many voices," and they were screaming, "Kill, kill."

Stevens was 18 at the time, and a breakup with his girlfriend drove him over the edge, he said. And like the Columbine, Parkland and Santa Fe school shootings, the campus was evacuated.

But he took nine students and the principal hostage. For nearly a day, he talked with hostage negotiators.

"I was threatening the police with the hostages' lives," he said.

Bethany Searfoss, then an eighth grader, remembers running to get away from the gunfire and chaos.

"I was scared," she says now. "But in the moment, there was just a lot of confusion. I was escorted out by a SWAT team."

She has made peace with what happened, she said, and she forgives Stevens.

Stevens surrendered without harming anyone. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

He now tries to give insight into the mindset of a mass shooter. "The first 10 to 15 minutes is the worst time of any shooting situation, because the rage is so strong," he says.

"My goal at 53 years of age is to reach out to the lost and get them to chose life instead of the path of destruction and death."

Stevens volunteers as a sound man and musician at the What's New Worship center, where he has made a commitment to reach out to troubled teens, for more information, click here.

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President Donald Trumps cancellation of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Thursday could have serious geopolitical consequences, not least because Trumps letter included a veiled threat about the United States massive and powerful nuclear weapons. But, for many, the first question was: what happens now to the commemorative coins for the planned summit that were put out by the White House earlier this week?

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Oh noes! Supreme Leader Summit Canceled! Now what do we do with all our minted commemorative coins and our Nobel Peace Prize Pinata stuffed with Obama doll heads? Is it Fake News when we celebrate something that never happened? pic.twitter.com/mLGNQMNdAM  David Boles (@DavidBoles) May 24, 2018

What happens to the Trump-Kim commemorative coins?  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 24, 2018

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The revelation of the coins, which depicted Trump and Kim over a background of the U.S. and North Korean flags together with text that referred to Kim as the Supreme Leader had already been met with criticism.

"I urge the White House to take Kim off the coin," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted. "Challenge coins are a time honored tradition and certainly appropriate in this situation, but Kim Jong Un's face has no place on this coin. He is a brutal dictator and something like the Peace House would be much more appropriate.

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As well as the depiction of Kim, there were questions as to why a coin was being made when the planned June 12 summit was already in doubt.

"This is a standard procedure by the White House Communications Agency," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday. "These coins are designed and done by that organization.

GettyImages-962109282

Win McNamee/Getty Images

The coin could yet be relevant. Speaking following the release of his letter to Kim Thursday, Trump suggested that the historic meeting may still happen.

Hopefully, everything's going work out well with North Korea, Trump said at the White House. A lot of things can happen. Including the fact that, perhaps, it is possible that the existing summit could take place or a summit at some later date"

Most popular: New Friday the 13th: The Game Update Includes Single-Player and Dizzying List of Tweaks

Whatever happens regarding the summit, the coin will remain on sale.

The coin will be made whether or not the summit occurs as scheduled because the theme is coming closer to peace and celebrates the act of communication among countries, read a note on the White House gift shop website, where the coin remained on sale for $24.95.

The note continued: If summit does not occur you can request a refund but most supporters have said they want this heirloom of political history regardless of outcome.

Along with the breakup letter, Trump also sent Kim half of the Peace Summit Coin, imploring him to wear it around his neck until they're reunited, in love pic.twitter.com/USjVHiDoWh  Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein) May 24, 2018

One former Trump administration employee, though, was far from impressed at the decision to go ahead with the coin.

Who's the idiot in the WH that green-lit those commemorative coins for a summit that almost certainly wasn't going to happen? Amazing. #OnlyTheBestPeople former aide A.J. Delgado tweeted shortly after Trumps cancelation.

Who's the idiot in the WH that green-lit those commemorative coins for a summit that almost certainly wasn't going to happen?

Amazing.#OnlyTheBestPeople  A.J. Delgado (@AJDelgado13) May 24, 2018

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to authorities on Friday in connection with a sexual assault case.

The Manhattan District Attorneys office is expected to charge Weinstein with at least one case. The New York Times and the New York Daily News reported the case would involve allegations that he forced Lucia Evans to perform oral sex during an audition in 2004.

Weinsteins attorney, Ben Brafman, declined to comment.

Evans first told her story to the New Yorker in October, saying she went to the Miramax offices in Tribeca for a daytime meeting. She said she was ushered into a room where Weinstein was alone. During the meeting, Weinstein said she would be great for Project Runway, if she lost weight, and mentioned a couple of scripts. He then took out his penis and forced her to perform oral sex, she said.

I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont,' she told the magazine. Weinstein just kept on, and later acted as if nothing had happened, she said.

Evans later told her story to the New York Police Department. NYPD investigators have also talked with Paz de la Huerta, who alleges that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010.

I was so terrified of him, she told Vanity Fair. I did say no, and when he was on top of me I said, I dont want to do this. He kept humping me and it was disgusting. Hes like a pig.

Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance has been criticized for not filing charges more swiftly. The state attorney generals office has also launched a query into the D.A.s handling of a 2015 allegation that Weinstein groped Italian model Ambra Battilana. The D.A.s office declined to charge Weinstein at the time, citing alleged flaws in the investigation.

More recently, NYPD investigators have said they are ready to arrest Weinstein, and have expressed public frustration with the prosecutors office. The Los Angeles County District Attorneys office is also considering five cases against the producer, and he is under investigation by Scotland Yard in London.

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More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Some told of being trapped in hotel rooms, of being coerced into massages, or of being pinned down while the producer masturbated. One of his assistants, Sandeep Rehal, alleged in a lawsuit that she had to buy lingerie and erectile dysfunction drugs to prepare for his sexual encounters, and that she had to clean up afterwards.

Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex. Recently, he has sought to obtain his work emails from the Weinstein Co., which is now in the process of a bankruptcy sale. Weinsteins attorneys have contended that his emails with the alleged victims would help disprove some of the criminal and civil allegations against him.

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Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to authorities in New York on Friday to face criminal charges related to allegations of sexual assault.

The move would mark the first criminal charges leveled against the disgraced producer since the start of the #MeToo movement last fall, when dozens of women came forward with accusations against him and other prominent men.

Investigators in New York and Los Angeles have been looking into allegations against Weinstein for months, but these charges are expected to involve allegations by former actor Lucia Evans, according to the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press.

Evans was among the women who told her story in The New Yorker last October, when the magazine--along with the New York Times--published investigations that led to Weinstein's downfall. In the New Yorker piece, Evans alleged that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex during a meeting in his office in 2004.

Dozens of women have now accused Weinstein of harassment and assault, and women's groups, including the Time's Up movement, have called on authorities to take more action against the former mogul.

In November, New York police detectives also said they were investigating allegations against Weinstein by actor Paz de la Huerta, who said the producer raped her in 2010. It was not immediately clear if Fridays charges would include allegations related to additional women.

See original article on Fortune.com

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Harvey Weinstein plans to turn himself in to New York City law enforcement on Friday morning, The New York Times reported Thursday citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, along with other news outlets.

The Manhattan District Attorneys Office has been conducting a criminal probe into accusations against the disgraced former Hollywood producer.

Inspired by October exposes in The New York Times and The New Yorker, dozens of women began coming forward late last year with stories about the alleged sexual abuse and harassment they sustained at his hands. Reporters for the Times and The New Yorker  Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Ronan Farrow  received the Pulitzer Prize for public service earlier this year for their effort to expose Hollywoods culture of abuse.

Their work is credited with sparking the Me Too and Times Up movements against sexual misconduct.

After the Times delivered the first devastating blow, Weinstein issued a bizarre statement quoting Jay-Z to apologize for his actions. He explained that they stemmed from growing up in the 60s and 70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different.

Protesters attend a Me Too rally to denounce sexual harassment and assaults of women in Los Angeles, California on November 12, 2017. (Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Since then, Weinstein has repeatedly denied engaging in any nonconsensual sex acts through his attorneys.

A number of women spoke out against Weinstein following the lead of Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan and Asia Argento, who were among his first public accusers.

Hollywood stars including A-list actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie began sharing stories that started feeling grossly similar to those told by women who agreed to be named in initial media reports. A pattern of abuse quickly emerged: Much of the time, Weinstein would use his position of power to lure individual young women to his hotel rooms, offices or other private spaces under the guise of speaking about work. Sometimes he would tell them another woman would be present in order to make his female guests more comfortable; the woman would either be completely absent or quickly leave.

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Their accusations have ranged from uncomfortable sexual harassment to brutal sexual assault.

The charges against him are reportedly related to an accusation made by Lucia Evans, who told The New Yorker the disgraced Hollywood producer forced her to perform oral sex during a meeting ostensibly on a work opportunity.

As part of its investigation, the NYPD also examined the alleged 2010 sexual assault of Boardwalk Empire actress Paz de la Huerta, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In 2015, New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. let Weinstein off the hook for an alleged sexual assault by an Italian model, deciding there was insufficient evidence for charges after he allegedly groped her. In March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) ordered the state attorney general to review the decision, which Vance has defended.

Weinstein was fired from the studio he co-founded, The Weinstein Company, in October 2017.

He had been reportedly spending much of his time at a rehabilitation facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, after becoming a pariah in the industry where he once loomed large.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, facing numerous allegations of sexual assault and abuse, is set to turn himself in to police Friday morning, according to multiple US media reports.

Mr Weinstein, 66, has previously denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer Benjamin Brafman has told The Independent he is not commenting on the matter at this time.

The former executive of Miramax was accused by several actresses - including Salma Hayek, Lupita Nyongo, and Ashley Judd - of sexual harassment. At least 75 women have come forward accusing him of misconduct of some kind, reported first by the New York Times last year.

Mr Weinstein, producer of Shakespeare in Love, Pulp Fiction, and Gangs of New York, will probably surrender on charges related to a case in New York state court. Just yesterday, a state grand jury had convened to hear evidence in that case regarding the sex abuse allegations and it was unclear if the jury had decided to indict Mr Weinstein or not.

The New York police, for months now, had been calling for a warrant for Mr Weinstein's arrest. They argued they had evidence of his alleged assault of two women - Paz de la Huerta and Lucia Evans. Mr Weinstein's lawyer said his client denies any claims made by the women.

The exact charges Mr Weinstein may be brought up on are unclear at this time. The Manhattan District Attorney's office has not immediately responded to a request for comment.

Mr Weinstein's legal troubles do not end with local police. Investigators in Los Angeles and London are also looking into claims of his alleged misconduct in those cities, where he lived and frequented over the years of reports.

The New York Attorney General's office is suing the Mr Weinstein's former company of for "egregious violations of New York's civil rights, human rights and business laws".

Former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement that the Weinstein Company "repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation, and discrimination". The lawsuit, filed in New York County Supreme Court, was brought on by the attempted $500m sale of the movie studio to a former official of President Barack Obama's administration, Maria Contreras-Sweet.

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Ms Sweet, who ran the US Small Business Administration from 2014 to 2017, had been in negotiations for several weeks and had promised to set up a majority female board and set up a fund to assist women who claimed Mr Weinstein sexually harassed them, according to the LA Times.

The Oscar-winner was fired from the company in the wake of the many allegations, which he ran with his brother Bob Weinstein.

Mr Schneiderman recently resigned from his post amid allegations of sexual assault.

Federal authorities are also investigating the Reservoir Dogs and Il Postino: The Postman producer, suspecting him of violating federal stalking laws and looking into any possible financial impropriety.

The Trump administration, specifically Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had allegedly asked the FBI in October 2017 to open the investigation over fears the Hollywood producer would remain in Europe after his rehabilitation and avoid prosecution as film director Roman Polanski had, according to The Daily Mail.

However, his lawyers confirmed in March of this year that Mr Weinstein had travelled to Scottsdale, Arizona, for sex addiction rehabilitation.

The explosive New York Times report which first made public the charges against Mr Weinstein also sparked the #MeToo social media movement for people to come forward about sexual harassment and abuse.

It had a ripple effect across several industries and in its wake other prominent men in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and US politics have been publicly accused resulting in resignations and lost elections. It also catalysed the #TimesUp movement, which calls for gender equity in the workplace and is a fund established by several actresses to provide legal defence funds for those who need it.
Harvey Weinstein is expected to be served with criminal charges by the Manhattan District Attorneys office and will turn himself in to authorities on Friday, according to the New York Daily News.

The news of an arrest comes after a months-long investigation by New York law enforcement into accusations of sexual misconduct. According to the Daily News, Weinstein faces charges in connection with accusations made by aspiring actress Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in his Manhattan office in 2004.

A grand jury convened several weeks ago was also presented evidence related to crimes of financial fraud, the paper reported, though it is unclear if he will also be charged for any financial crimes.

Also Read: Federal Investigation Against Harvey Weinstein Launched by Prosecutors (Report)

The Manhattan D.A.s office and Weinsteins attorney, Benjamin Brafman, have both told TheWrap they will not comment at this time. Weinstein has consistently denied that he ever engaged in non-consensual sex.

Authorities in New York, Los Angeles and London have all been investigating the disgraced mogul for accusations of sexual assault and other crimes.

Since the first bombshell reports about Weinstein broke in the New York Times and the New Yorker last October, more than 90 women have come forward to accuse him of various forms of misconduct, including sexual harassment, assault and rape.

In March, NYPD Chief Detective Robert Boyce told reporters that considerable evidence has been gathered in its sexual assault investigation against Weinstein, and that it is up to District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. to decide if and when to indict him.

Also Read: Asia Argento Condemns Harvey Weinstein During Cannes Awards: 'This Festival Was His Hunting Ground' (Video)

Authorities in New York were investigating claims by at least two accusers. In addition to Evans, Boardwalk Empire actress Paz de La Huerta told investigators that he raped her twice in 2010.

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Boyce said in March that detectives have spoken with witnesses who are prepared to testify in secret before a grand jury.

British police have been investigating accusations by at least 10 women for incidents that they have said occurred between the 1980s and 2015.

In addition, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office has been reviewing five sex-crime cases against Weinstein, including three submitted in February as well as two submitted by Beverly Hills police late last year.

Also Read: Gwyneth Paltrow: Brad Pitt Told Harvey Weinstein 'I'll Kill You' After 'Weird' Hotel Encounter

Criminal investigations also expanded to the federal level on Wednesday, as the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. district attorneys in New York were investigating whether lured or induced any women to travel across state lines for the purpose of committing a sex crime.

Weinsteins storied Hollywood career quickly unraveled after the initial reports of sexual misconduct. He was fired by the board of The Weinstein Company, the studio he founded with his brother, Bob Weinstein, which filed for bankruptcy in March.

He was also expelled from the academies that sponsor the Oscars, Emmys and BAFTA Awards as well as the Producers Guild of America. Weinstein currently faces several lawsuits, including a class action RICO suit filed by several of his accusers and a separate one filed by actress Ashley Judd, who accused him of sabotaging her career.

The New York Attorney Generals office has also filed a lawsuit against The Weinstein Company, claiming that the company violated business regulations as well as civil and human rights laws by improperly handling HR complaints filed by employees against Weinstein.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Federal Investigation Against Harvey Weinstein Launched by Prosecutors (Report)

Gwyneth Paltrow: Brad Pitt Told Harvey Weinstein 'I'll Kill You' After 'Weird' Hotel Encounter

Asia Argento Condemns Harvey Weinstein During Cannes Awards: 'This Festival Was His Hunting Ground' (Video)
Harvey Weinstein does his so-called perp walk as he exits the 1st Precinct station in New York City with police officers on May 25, 2018. (Photo: Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Harvey Weinstein surrendered to authorities on Friday morning at 7:25 a.m. ET, arriving at a New York City police station carrying reading material (three books on theater and film) and seeming somewhat jovial (there were smiles) despite his reported overwhelming worries about the impact of his arrest on his family.

That wasnt the only glimpse we were given of the disgraced movie mogul. After being arrested inside on rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse, and sexual misconduct charges for encounters with two women, including former actress Lucia Evans (the other victim hasnt been identified publicly), he was then given a so-called perp walk, when police walk the accused perpetrator out in cuffs as the press snaps pictures. (Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex.)

The perp walk has a long history  youll remember that after Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy, he was murdered by Jack Ruby in front of the press while being walked through the Dallas Police headquarters. Perhaps because the NYPD doesnt publicly release mug shots, the practice has become known as New Yorks ultimate walk of shame, according to the New York Post, a rite of passage for criminal suspects that a fat bankroll, A-list status, or friends in high places can rarely help to escape. Despite the efforts of French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn to bring an end to the controversial practice (many argue that it goes against the U.S.s fundamental principle that one is innocent until proven guilty), it continues.

According to the All Things Considered show on NPR, the walk of shame is a staple of the law enforcement system around the country, and in New York City its been done for more than 100 years. New York Daily News special correspondent David Krajicek explained how it works: The press office at police headquarters will notify reporters the time and place that the perp walk is going to occur. And while police will neither impede nor promote photos, its used as kind of an atta-boy for cops to pat themselves on the back for working a case to the arrest phase. Often the cops walking the accused perp arent random  theyve played large roles in investigating a case. Krajicek said that perp walks trace back to former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who knew that it was great PR for citizens of America to see one of his public enemies in handcuffs.

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A smiling Harvey Weinstein is led out of the New York Police Departments 1st Precinct station in handcuffs after being arrested and processed on charges of rape, committing a criminal sex act, sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct. (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Weinstein has certainly been a public enemy since the publication last fall of back-to-back articles in the New York Times and the New Yorker accusing him of sexual misconduct  and the list of accusers just exploded after that, growing to more than 70. (Accuser Rose McGowan, who has accused him of rape, has said the number she is aware of is closer to 100.) For his perp walk, leaving the precinct in handcuffs on the way to court, he was surprisingly jovial under the circumstances. He could not carry his books, though, due to the handcuffs.

A clip of Weinstein walking gives a better view of the scene. There was a massive crowd of onlookers outside, many of whom called him by name, hoping to get him to look up for a photo  as if he were at a premiere. After hearing stories about his infamous temper, however, we cant help but imagine what he said when he got in the car with police, where he couldnt be photographed.

Weinsteins handcuffed parading continued  into court. After being arrested and processed, he was taken to Manhattan Criminal Court  again smiling  for his arraignment.

Harvey Weinstein is seen arriving with police officers at 100 Center St. on May 25, 2018, in New York City. (Photo: Raymond Hall/GC Images)

Inside, his attorney Benjamin Brafman said that the movie mogul vehemently denied the charges and would ultimately be exonerated of the rape and other sex charges. His client appeared decidedly less happy inside court.

Harvey Weinstein appears at his arraignment with his attorney Benjamin Brafman in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 25, 2018. (Photo: Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News via AP, Pool)

Then, after being released on $1 million bail and agreeing to electronic monitoring, Weinstein left the courthouse  sans cuffs  through a back door.

With the cuffs off, Harvey Weinstein leaves the Manhattan Criminal Court building. (Photo: AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

As you know, Weinstein isnt the first celebrity to be arrested (oh, the list is long) or subjected to the perp walk. There have been many before him  including people hes worked with  who have walked the same path, but with decidedly less severe charges against them.

For instance, Russell Crowe had a look that could kill after he left the same police station in 2005. If you remember, he threw a phone at a SoHo hotel concierge.

A handcuffed Russell Crowe is led out of the 1st Precinct station on his way to being arraigned June 6, 2005, in New York City. (Photo: Thos Robinson/Getty Images)

Johnny Depps troubles have been well documented over the last few years, but in his early days he found himself in the custody of the NYPD, in 1994, after trashing his $1,200-a-night hotel room amid a dispute with then-girlfriend Kate Moss.

Johnny Depp at the time of his 1994 arrest. (Photo: Lawrence Schwartzwald/Sygma via Getty Images)

And Christian Slater was perp-walked uptown after he was arrested for drunkenly grabbing the buttocks of a 52-year-old stranger on New Yorks Upper East Side in 2005. He had major troubles in his early years  from coast to coast.

Christian Slater is led away in handcuffs from the 19th Precinct police station in New York after being charged with third-degree sexual abuse in 2005. (Photo: Splash News)

Weinsteins accusers have been reacting to finally seeing him in cuffs. McGowan, who gave several interviews on Friday, said, I have to admit I didnt think I would see the day that he would have handcuffs on him. I have a visceral need for him to have handcuffs on.

And its not just the alleged victims who are cheering this moment. Ronan Farrow, whose New Yorker article told the stories of many of the accusers, was also in amazement over the moment.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras will keep fighting the scourge of gangs whether or not the United States decides to cut off aid, the security minister said on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened aid cuts. Trump announced on Wednesday that he is working on a plan to reduce U.S. aid to countries he accuses of doing nothing to stop MS-13 gang members from crossing into the United States illegally. Trump did not provide details on the plan but said it would "radically" change the way U.S. foreign aid is structured. The notorious crime group was founded by Salvadorans in Los Angeles in the 1980s and spread to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala as the United States deported waves of migrants. El Salvador said on Thursday that Central America suffered most as those deportations ramped up in the mid-1990s, giving way to gang-fueled extortion, drug trafficking, killings and the recruitment of children. It said it is committed to helping deportees re-settle and to reducing "irregular migration" to the United States. "We express our firm and total disagreement toward those who characterize all of our migrants as criminals," Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren said in a statement. "The great majority of Salvadorans on U.S. soil are workers and industrious." Honduran Security Minister Julian Pacheco told reporters that the government is working "incessantly" to break up gangs and otherwise stem the tide of migrants fleeing the violence for better prospects in the United States. "No one can say Honduras is giving up on this struggle. We're almost alone as we fight it and we're doing so with our own resources," Pacheco said. "International aid is very important, but if there isn't aid we can't just lay down and cry," he said. The United States has pledged $750 million to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador through the "Alliance for Prosperity" announced in 2014, seeking to curb migration through development projects and law-and-order funding to crack down on gangs. At the start of 2017, $125 million went to Honduras and $98 million to El Salvador. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it will end temporary protections for immigrants in the United States from Honduras by early 2020, leaving potentially 57,000 people vulnerable to deportation. Last January, it cut the same protections for 200,000 Salvadorans who had been allowed to live and work in the United States since 2001. Their status will expire in 2019. (Reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Nelson Meza in San Salvador; Writing by David Alire Garcia and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Grant McCool)
Rep. Jeff Denham said he was hopeful that Republicans could come up with the outlines of an immigration deal as soon as Thursday. (Photo: Tom Williams via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  House Republicans say theyre making progress on a plan to do the long-impossible: unite a fractured GOP conference on the issue of immigration.

With GOP moderates still pushing for a slate of votes on immigration, House Republicans generally are feeling the pressure to come up with a plan to finally address the precarious state of the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program.

A small group of GOP moderates, conservatives and leaders emerged from a meeting Wednesday afternoon saying they were getting closer to an immigration bill that might be able to pass the House with almost exclusively Republican support.

Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), one of those leading the effort to force a series of immigration votes through a discharge petition, told reporters he was hopeful that Republicans could come up with the outlines of an immigration deal to address DACA as soon as Thursday.

Were getting pretty close, he said.

Other Republicans also sounded optimistic about the prospects of a deal. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said members have been having some really good talks. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said there was more than a reasonable chance that Republicans would strike a deal by Thursday. And Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), another moderate immigration advocate, said the roughly hour-and-a-half meeting in the Capitol was not a waste of time.

But as bullish as Republicans were on Wednesday, there were still some key sticking points that could ultimately prevent an immigration agreement.

For one, moderates and conservatives dont have a shared concept of a permanent solution for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. Denham noted Wednesday that his preferred idea is to allow them to file for legal status for five-year periods, with the ultimate goal being legal permanent residence in 10 years, and Curbelo said a permanent solution for these types of childhood arrivals was essential to any deal.

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Meadows, however, said it was important that any deal has no special pathway to citizenship, although he did say he was open to allowing undocumented immigrants to work toward citizenship.

These differences over the endpoint, which may seem like minor distinctions, are actually major policy disagreements that lawmakers have yet to sort out. And there are some Republicans who just dont see a way to split the difference.

Immigration hardliner Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told HuffPost on Wednesday that he saw himself as diametrically opposed to Denham on immigration and that he felt there were many members who would vote the interests of their individual districts rather than just accepting a deal.

Moderates believe that one solution could be to offer multiple votes on multiple bills during an immigration vote-a-rama. But conservatives see that proposal as hardly any different from what moderates want anyway, and Meadows was emphatic Wednesday that, if there were a deal, it had to consist of one bill.

Another problem standing in the way of GOP consensus is that moderates and conservatives both believe they have the upper hand. Moderates note that they are getting dangerously close to having enough Republicans and Democrats signed on to a discharge petition to force a vote on a slate of different immigration proposals. That means they could pass a bill through the House with the help of roughly a few dozen Republicans and every Democrat.

Meanwhile, conservatives believe any immigration deal that Republicans strike among themselves would skew more toward the conservatives ideology, considering the small number of moderates in the 235-person Republican House majority. They also note that any immigration deal would have to win Senate approval and secure President Donald Trumps signature to become law.

On that point, lawmakers are left to mostly guess where Trump would do.

The Senate tried and failed to pass immigration legislation of its own earlier this year, sunk in part by hardline demands from the White House. Trump rejected bipartisan proposals to increase border security measures and grant legal status to Dreamers, and his administration lobbied senators to oppose those proposals in favor of a bill that included measures to restrict legal immigration and end protections for immigrants at the border.

The Trump-backed bill ultimately received only 39 votes  less than the bipartisan alternatives that received a vote. But the president has shown no indication that hes willing to budge from his demands for a sweeping immigration bill. In the months since, he has only doubled down on calls to toughen policy against asylum-seekers and children at the border  two items Democrats adamantly oppose.

Still, Trumps past vow to support any immigration bill that Congress sends him rings in the ears of moderates, and many of them believe the president is personally more open than his staff to a solution with a pathway to citizenship, particularly if it also includes money for a border wall.

Lawmakers have been grasping for an immigration bill since last year, when Trump rescinded the DACA policy that allowed nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, often called Dreamers, to stay and work. DACA recipients are currently able to renew their protections because of court injunctions, which helped quiet some of the calls for action from Congress. But GOP moderates from districts with large immigrant populations see a pressing need to resolve the issue.

While those moderates believe they have the votes (with Democrats) to get a bill through the House utilizing a discharge petition, they are also open to a negotiation with their fellow conservative Republicans and GOP leaders in the hopes that it could result in a bill becoming a law.

We want an opportunity to pass a bill that can be signed by the president, Curbelo said Wednesday.

And even though it seems like moderates and conservatives are on mainly opposite sides of the issue, both factions at least want to exhaust all options within the Republican conference before they truly square off  either to strengthen their case that there is no solution or to actually, somewhat miraculously, come to an agreement.

As Meadows tried to explain the reasons for his optimism that an immigration deal could come together shortly, he said that even though Republicans have been arguing over this issue for decades, he thought that now they could finally write something that would win over almost everyone in the conference.

Im used to accomplishing the impossible, he said.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Bernardo Gabriel has always had faith in law enforcement.

A few years after his family crossed the border from Mexico in 2004, he called the cops to report his father for beating his mom.

The police intervened, his dad got deported and Gabriel and his family eventually received U-visas, reserved for undocumented victims of crimes who cooperate with police.

Thanks to the U-visa, he was able to work, pay taxes and eventually get a green card. Outside his full-time job in sales and customer service at an online jewelry store, Gabriel is a volunteer firefighter and is taking classes to become an EMT. In a little over three years, hell be eligible to apply for citizenship  if he doesnt get deported first.

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Salwan Georges/Washington Post via Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images, Charles Reed/ICE

Last summer, Gabriel found himself in another domestic violence situation when his wife became violent during an argument, punching him several times while he was driving with one of his nephews in the car. He says he pulled over and called the police, hoping they could help him defuse the situation. But when the cops arrived, Gabriel says his wife accused him of assaulting her and he was the one who wound up in handcuffs.

Because he was arrested in Frederick County, Md., where sheriffs deputies have been engaged in a partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help enforce federal immigration law since 2008, Gabriel was asked about his immigration status upon being taken to the local jail/detention center.

Gabriel says he was released that day without bond and when he showed up to court, the prosecutor decided not to pursue the case. He was relieved, but even though the case was cleared, his information had already been entered into ICEs system, and when he returned from visiting his family in Mexico in February, Gabriel discovered that the incident had repercussions. He says he was pulled aside while going through customs and told by an immigration agent that if he gets arrested again, hell be deported.

Gabriels story is just one example of the real-life ramifications of the 287(g) program, a long-standing and controversial federal program that trains and deputizes state and local police officers to enforce some aspects of federal immigration law. Participation in the program has varied over the years, but is being revived under the Trump administration. Gabriel had the misfortune to live in one of a small number of jurisdictions  a total of 78 in 20 states, double from a year ago  that are currently enrolled.

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Photo: Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Press

Such ICE partnerships exist in both rural and urban areas across the United States, though a large percentage of jurisdictions currently enrolled in 287(g) agreements are located in the Southeast  and in Texas, where 18 county sheriffs offices have enlisted since last year.

The communities they cover range greatly in size and demographics. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, for example, serves the approximately 2 million people living in Nevadas Clark County, 22 percent of whom were born outside the U.S. But in Goliad County, Texas, which is home to just over 7,000 people total, just 2 percent are foreign-born.

The blandly branded 287(g) program dates back to 1996, when it was enacted as part of that years Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (known by the equally catchy abbreviation, IIRAIRA). Through the program, state and local law enforcement agencies request a written agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to deputize  under ICE supervision  a select few officers within their agencies (who must be U.S. citizens with at least a year of law enforcement experience) to enforce federal immigration laws in addition to their regular police duties.

After undergoing four-week ICE training (followed by a required refresher every two years), deputized officers are generally authorized to question individuals about their immigration status, check DHS databases for such information, transfer non-citizens into ICE custody and launch deportation proceedings by issuing official Notices to Appear in immigration court. They are also able to enter personal data into the ICE database, recommend non-citizens for detention and immigration bond as well as voluntary departure and issue requests for immigration detainers to hold people until they can be taken into ICE custody.

Over the past 22 years, the 287(g) program has undergone a number of changes. Federal funding for the training and oversight aspects of the program peaked under the Obama administration between 2010 and 2013, then declined as some local agencies chose to withdraw, citing among other factors the programs high cost and relatively little emphasis on serious criminal offenders, among other concerns.

Historically there have been three types of 287(g) agreements: the task force model, which allowed deputized officers to question and arrest alleged non-citizens who they encounter during the course of their daily police activities; the jail enforcement model, under which deputized officers may only interrogate and initiate removal proceedings for suspected non-citizens whove been arrested on other charges; and the hybrid model, which combined aspects of both.

Northern Virginia Gang Task Force officers partner with ICE officers to arrest several alleged MS-13 gang members in Manassas, Va. (Photo: Melina Mara/Washington Post via Getty Images)

But at the end of 2012, amid concerns about the programs effectiveness and potential for abuse, ICE announced it would discontinue the task force and hybrid models. To the relief of some 287(g) opponents, that decision has remained in place under the Trump administration. All of ICEs current 287(g) agreements now operate under the jail enforcement model.

While proponents of the program insist it primarily targets serious criminals or threats to national security, various reviews of the programs implementation over the years have found that not to be the case, including an oft-cited 2011 report by the nonpartisan think tank Migration Policy Institute , which concluded that about half of 287(g) activity involves non-citizens arrested for misdemeanors and traffic offenses.

A more recent study published by the libertarian Cato Institute in April zeroed in on several counties with 287(g) programs in North Carolina and found that the program had no impact on the crime rates or police clearances in those counties. When the Knox County [Tenn.] Sheriffs Office applied for a 287(g) agreement, not one of the crimes they listed under top five arrest charges for foreign-born individuals was a violent offense, and four of them were driving-related.

For some police agencies, however, the program seemed to provide both permission and the tools necessary to pursue their anti-immigrant agendas. ICE was forced to sever ties with Arizonas Maricopa County Sheriffs Office when a Justice Department investigation found that, after entering a 287(g) agreement, deputies of notorious former Sheriff Joe Arpaio had engaged in a pattern of constitutional violations, including racial profiling.

ICE terminated an agreement with the sheriffs office in Alamance County, N.C., after a separate investigation found evidence of similar practices directed against Latinos.

By 2014, federal funding for 287(g) had dropped to half of what it had been during the previous four years, as other programs were deemed to be more effective. Still, it always remained in use, and toward the end of Obamas tenure, ICE had begun to slowly rebuild its list of state and local partners while agency leaders set out to reexamine the programs historically opaque system for vetting applications by local jurisdictions.

A former ICE official familiar with this review told Yahoo News that the analysis revealed a weak application process requiring remarkably little evidence of a departments need for the authority to enforce immigration laws.

ICE policy explicitly prohibits racial profiling under 287(g). But such a low barrier to entry, compounded by some of ICEs own language on the application itself seem to undermine, if not contradict, this rule. A former ICE official told Yahoo News he was troubled by a reference on the application to foreign-born criminals and foreign-born gang members.

Why are we identifying foreign-born gang members? the former ICE official asked, noting that plenty of foreign-born people may be citizens or otherwise legally authorized to be in the country.

Being foreign-born doesnt really get to root of the underlying problems of immigration and customs enforcement, suggesting something like foreign nationals, might be more appropriate. Instead, ICEs language seems to paint anyone who may have been born outside the U.S. as a person of interest.

Thats when you start getting into this idea of profiling, because youre looking for foreign-born individuals, the former official said.

The program has also proven to be ripe for political exploitation, with a large majority of 287(g) partnerships being pursued by sheriffs, generally an elected position.

The former ICE official told Yahoo News that the agency had been considering ways to make the 287(g) vetting process stricter, more transparent and less vulnerable to political exploitation or racial bias, but the project ended with the Obama administration.

Less than a week after Trump took office, he called for expanding the 287(g) program in his executive order on Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.

During a panel discussion at the Justice Department last week, Nathalie Asher, assistant director of ICEs Enforcement and Removal field operations, promoted the recent growth of 287(g) and plans for further expansion. With her on the dais was a small group of sheriffs touting their own jurisdictions success with the program. Among them was Sheriff Chuck Jenkins of Frederick, Md., where Bernardo Gabriel was arrested.

Sheriff Chuck Jenkins of Frederick County, Md. (Photo: Ricky Carioti/Washington Post via Getty Images)

Jenkins called 287(g) a flawless program, and stated that in the 10 years his department had been collaborating with ICE, he hadnt received a single complaint of racial profiling.

Nick Steiner, legal & public policy counsel of the ACLU of Maryland, said the lack of transparency around 287(g) has made it difficult to track complaints of racial profiling against the Frederick County Sheriffs Office, but the idea that there have been none is just beyond belief.

Frederick Countys 287(g) program plays a role in an ongoing wrongful arrest lawsuit brought by Roxana Orellana Santos, a Salvadoran who was arrested in 2008 after two sheriffs deputies reportedly questioned her about her immigration status while she was eating lunch outside her workplace. In 2013, a federal appeals court affirmed Santoss argument that the deputies violated her constitutional protection against unlawful search and seizure, ruling that state and local authorities cannot arrest someone simply based on suspicion that they are in the country illegally.

Now the case is back in Maryland District Court, where Jenkins and county officials are claiming that they should not be held liable for Santoss unlawful arrest and subsequent 37 days in jail. Attorneys for Santos argue that her arrest was the result of the countys 287(g) program. Jenkins has maintained that the Santos case had nothing to do with Frederick Countys ICE partnership, noting that the deputies involved were not trained under the countys 287(g) program, which operates under the jail enforcement model. But attorneys for Santos have argued that her arrest is proof that the program leads to racial profiling.

Last year, University of Tampa economics professor Michael Coon published the results of a study that examined the impact of Frederick Countys 287(g) agreement after it took effect in 2008.

The study compared the monthly arrest rates from 2006 to 2014 for whites, blacks and Hispanics by the Frederick County Sheriffs Office and for the Frederick [City] Police Department, which is not engaged in a partnership with ICE. While Frederick Countys Hispanic population actually grew during that time period, Coon found that arrests of Hispanics by both city police and sheriffs deputies significantly decreased relative to arrests of blacks and whites. Given that crimes most commonly involve victims and perpetrators of the same race, Coon inferred that the implementation of 287(g) in Frederick County had a chilling effect, leading fewer Hispanic residents to report crimes to avoid any interaction with law enforcement.

Jenkins dismissed the report as nonsense at the time.

Maricopa County Sheriffs Deputy Dwight Williams, left, checks the ID of a Phoenix resident who was detained during one of then Sheriff Joe Arpaios crime sweeps, July 2010. (Photo: Roy Dabner/EPA/REX/Shutterstock)

But a variety of other research has highlighted similar trends in other communities with 287(g) agreements. One study by the University of North Carolina School of Law and the ACLU of North Carolina found that, among other issues, the implementation of 287(g) programs in North Carolina had resulted in a fear of law enforcement that causes immigrant communities to refrain from reporting crimes, thereby compromising public safety for immigrants and citizens alike.

In Maricopa County, neighborhood sweeps and other aggressive efforts to pursue illegal immigrants not only eroded trust between the community and local law enforcement, but also led the sheriffs office to neglect its other law enforcement duties, allowing a rash of alleged sex crimes, including child molestation, to go virtually ignored.

Of course, Maricopa is one of, if not the most, extreme example of 287(g) gone wrong. Supporters of the program insist racial profiling is generally not a problem.

I understand there have been some agencies that have pulled out of the program, some that have been removed from the program for reported abuses, but [I] dont see it as a problem, said Sheriff A.J. Lauderbach of Jackson County, Texas. Lauderbach, who participated in last weeks panel, is one of 18 Texas county sheriffs who launched 287(g) partnerships with ICE last year. He praised the program as in the best interest of public safety.

Jonathan Thompson, head of the National Sheriffs Association, also dismissed the idea that theres any link between 287(g) agreements and racial profiling, suggesting reports associating the program with such abuses amount to someone trying to make story out of something that doesnt exist.

Theres always going to be abuses of any system whether its news reporting or law enforcement, Thompson told Yahoo News. Its very clear in every agreement that they sign what the expectations are. They have to follow the laws and the Constitution.

Asked to comment on ICEs current effort to expand 287(g) partnerships with state and local law enforcement, Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, who unseated Arpaio after 24 years last fall, acknowledged the potential public safety benefits of sharing resources with a federal agency like ICE, but emphasized the need for local law enforcement agencies to to stay true to our individual missions with an unwavering commitment to lawful practices.

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone. (Photo: Matt York/AP)

The 287(g) program may provide benefits to address the challenging issue of enforcing immigration laws, yet it is the abuse of this authority that has led to the existing restrictions on my office and the men and women tasked with delivering public safety, Penzone said in a statement to Yahoo News. Ultimately, our community now pays a much greater price, both financially and in law enforcement resources, as we work to restore the office to full capacity without the federal oversight.

Unlike Penzone, Sheriff Terry Johnson of North Carolinas Alamance County is eager to rejoin the program five years after he and his office had their 287(g) agreement terminated over allegations of racial profiling.

Johnson told the Burlington Times-News last year that ICE had approached him about rejoining the 287(g) program and I immediately agreed. ICE does not disclose pending applications, and has yet to confirm whether it will, in fact, renew its partnership with Alamance County.

Asked at last weeks panel about Alamance County and other jurisdictions that may seek to resurrect 287(g) agreements, ICEs Asher did not address any specific jurisdictions but insisted that ICE takes very seriously any misconduct and we do not promote racial profiling.

But the former ICE official predicted that, without imposing a more stringent vetting system, any effort to expand 287(g) amid the current climate would absolutely attract more sheriffs and other law enforcement leaders who seek to exploit the program for their own personal bias or political gains, and warned ICE leaders to be cautious as they recruit new partners.

If you start seeing a flurry of 287(g) requests, I think you have a responsibility to the community, to the greater community, to ensure that theyre entering into this agreement for the right reasons; to go after actual criminal threats to society, criminal threats to the community at large, and not to profile.

For Bernardo Gabriel, his experience has forced him to think twice if I want to call the cops for help again. Who is going to get arrested, me or the actual offender?

Undocumented immigrants wait in a holding cell at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in lower Manhattan. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)

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At least two people have been taken to hospital, and a student is in custody, after a shooting at an Indiana middle school.

A teacher and a female student were taken to hospital the wake of the incident at Noblesville West Middle School. A male student has been detained and is considered the suspect, according to Noblesville police chief Kevin Jowitt.

Mr Jowitt added that there had been a "secondary threat" communicated to Noblesville High School - and police are monitoring that situation.

Indiana University Health spokeswoman Danielle Sirilla said the adult victim was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and the child was taken to Riley Hospital for Children.

Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said that the suspect is believed to have acted alone.

Noblesville Fire Department tweeted that it also in the scene. Helicopter footage showed students being led from the school, with Mr Orem saying they were being taken to Noblesville High School's gym, where they could be picked up by family members.

One of the parents who rushed to the school was Erica Higgins, who told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home. I just want to get my arms around my boy, she said.

The Indiana State Teachers Association, through its president, Teresa Meredith called the gun violence "senseless".

Our hearts go out to the students, educators, families and community members of Noblesville who this morning faced a senseless act of gun violence at Noblesville West Middle School," Ms Meredith said.

"This national crisis has landed in our backyard," she added. "We all have a responsibility to keep our kids safe from violence, and its unconscionable that they live in fear that one day their school may be next. When is enough, enough?"

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, said that he and other local officials were "monitoring" the situation while on a flight back to the state from Europe. Dozens of state police officers had been made available to work with local police.

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Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation, Mr Holcomb added.

Noblesville, which is about 20 miles (32km) northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people. The middle school has about 1,300 students.

The attack comes a week after an attack at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers.
Indonesian ride-hailing app Go-Jek said Thursday it would expand into Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines as it takes on regional rival Grab in the fast-growing Southeast Asian market.

The move marks Go-Jek's first expansion outside Indonesia and comes after US-based Uber this year said it would sell its struggling business in the region to Singapore's Grab.

Go-Jek operates a fleet of motorcycle taxis, private cars and other services -- from massage and house cleaning to grocery shopping and food delivery -- all available at smartphone users' fingertips.

The company said it would invest $500 million in its international expansion, starting with ride-hailing services in the next few months. Other offerings would follow in the future, it said.

Go-Jek has won financial backing from investors including Google, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Chinese internet giant Tencent.

Southeast Asia's ride-hailing market is expected to reach $20 billion by 2025, according to research done by Google and Temasek.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  A popular Democrat's exit from the Iowa governor's race Thursday amid sexual misconduct allegations could impact the party's efforts to coalesce behind the eventual nominee and regain power in a state that has moved sharply to the right in recent years.

Nate Boulton, a Des Moines attorney and state senator, suspended his campaign less than 24 hours after The Des Moines Register reported three women alleged he touched them inappropriately several years ago.

Boulton's departure comes less than two weeks before the Democratic primary for governor. More than 13,000 Democrats already had cast their ballots through early voting as of Wednesday, when the newspaper's report was published.

The winner will aim to unseat Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November. She has been serving the remaining term of former Gov. Terry Branstad, who stepped down last year to become U.S. ambassador to China.

Iowa Democrats have been sidelined by several election cycles that gave Republicans nearly complete control of the state's congressional seats and a majority in the Legislature. Democrats insist the race shake-up and the circumstances surrounding it would not hurt their chances of winning in the midterm election.

"People are engaged no matter which candidate it's for," said Megan Card, a 25-year-old state government employee who has been supporting one of the five remaining Democratic candidates. "That just doesn't disappear when that candidate drops out. People realize it's bigger than ourselves right now."

Boulton's exit is expected to have a tangible impact on the June 5 primary. Iowa law requires a primary candidate to secure at least 35 percent of the vote to win an election. Anything less and a party convention of activists will pick the winner.

It's unclear for now how many people voted for Boulton during the early voting period, but the figure could affect the required voting threshold for the remaining candidates. Boulton was polling second among the contenders in the race, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released earlier this month.

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Businessman Fred Hubbell, the apparent front-runner who has spent millions of his own money ahead of the primary, could pick up enough of Boulton's supporters for a flat-out win. A party convention might lead Democrats to ultimately back a different candidate who may have been behind the pack for months. The remaining other candidates are union leader Cathy Glasson, physician Andy McGuire, longtime party organizer John Norris and former city mayor Ross Wilburn.

Sexual misconduct has become a top issue in politics around the country, as a cultural reckoning over inappropriate behavior and abuse continues to take down powerful men in various industries.

Democrats in Iowa and elsewhere have sought to draw a distinctive line in their response on the subject.

In Iowa, Sen. Minority Leader Janet Petersen called out Senate Republicans earlier this year for how they handled the firing of a former caucus staffer who said in a lawsuit she was let go after reporting verbal harassment. The state settled her case last year for $1.75 million.

Petersen, who had endorsed Boulton's candidacy, released a statement Thursday calling on Boulton to resign from the chamber and said she would "support a full, independent investigation" if he doesn't.

The state Democratic Party said in a statement that it also supports such an investigation.

Boulton told KCCI-TV on Thursday he is discussing with his wife whether to resign.

Cody Woodruff is a 20-year-old student at Iowa State University who was an early backer of Boulton and had already cast a vote for him. Woodruff said he does not expect the scandal will tarnish Democrats in the general election because of their swift response.

"Everyone, for the most part, has a pretty unified message that it was right for him to step aside from the governor's race," Woodruff said.

Glasson, who had been trailing Boulton in the Iowa Poll, has called for progressive policies that include a $15 hourly minimum wage and a single-payer health care system. Hubbell, who hasn't called for such polices, has branded himself as the best positioned to take on Reynolds in a general election.

Holly Brown, a 37-year-old Democratic activist from Cedar Rapids who backs Glasson, said the last-minute change in the race could help Reynolds if she ends up running against a man. Glasson and McGuire are the only other two women in the race.

"There will inevitably be some people who will feel more comfortable voting for her because they will feel that she is less likely to have incidents like this in her past come up," Brown said.

Reynolds has been scrutinized for how she handled the March firing of a longtime political ally, Dave Jamison, who was accused of harassing female subordinates as the head of a state housing agency. Reynolds says she fired Jamison immediately after learning about the allegations, but she was criticized for keeping general details of the allegations secret for more than a month.

In the Register report, one woman said Boulton repeatedly grabbed her buttocks at a bar in 2015. Two other women said he rubbed his clothed crotch against them in separate incidents more than a decade ago.

Boulton, who had been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, declined to address the specific accusations but did not deny them. He apologized to the women.
By Francois Murphy VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran continues to comply with the terms of its nuclear deal with world powers despite the U.S. withdrawal, but could be faster and more proactive in allowing snap inspections, the U.N. atomic watchdog policing the accord said on Thursday. In its first such report since U.S. President Donald Trump announced Washington's pullout on May 8, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran remained within limits on the level to which it can enrich uranium, its stock of enriched uranium and other items. But the IAEA seemed to rebuke Iran for dragging its feet on so-called "complementary access" inspections under the agency's Additional Protocol, which Iran is implementing under the deal. Such inspections are often carried out at short notice. "The Agency ... has conducted complementary accesses under the Additional Protocol to all the sites and locations in Iran which it needed to visit," the IAEA said in a confidential report that was sent to member states and obtained by Reuters. "Timely and proactive cooperation by Iran in providing such access would facilitate implementation of the Additional Protocol and enhance confidence," it said. The report came with France, Britain and Germany scrambling to salvage the deal's core bargain of sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on Tehran's atomic activities. Trump is reimposing U.S. sanctions against Tehran, threatening to scupper the deal and prompt Iranian retaliation. The IAEA has repeatedly defended the deal, saying it created "the world's most robust verification regime". Speaking at a news conference with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg, French President Emmanuel Macron said the report went in the "right direction and was comforting". Diplomats who follow the agency said an inspection last month went down to the wire, but a senior diplomat also familiar with the IAEA's work said on Thursday the report was not taking Iran to task. "There was no problem. It's just an encouragement. The IAEA wants to make sure that there won't be any problem," he said, adding that there had been no change in Iranian behavior either over the first quarter of 2018 or since Trump's announcement. Trump sees various "flaws" in the deal, including that many of its restrictions lapse over time and that it does not address Iran's ballistic missile program or its role in regional conflicts like the wars in Syria and Yemen. Some Western companies such as French oil giant Total have already said they may have to quit Iran because of the U.S. move. Senior officials from the other countries that signed the deal - France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and Iran - are meeting in Vienna on Friday to discuss next steps. At a meeting with the European Union's foreign policy chief in Brussels last week, the French, British and German foreign ministers pledged to preserve the deal by trying to keep Iran's oil and investment flowing, but acknowledged they would struggle to provide the guarantees Tehran seeks. Iran's supreme leader set out a series of conditions on Wednesday for Iran to stay in the deal, including that European banks should safeguard trade with the Islamic Republic. (Additional reporting by Michel Rose in Saint Petersburg; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Tehran (AFP) - She fought through a male-dominated world to become perhaps Iran's first female manufacturing boss, and was on the cusp of major success with the help of a European investor.

Until Donald Trump brought her crashing back to earth.

When Leila Daneshvar was a little girl, she used to sit on the floor of her father's workshop, asking for small jobs.

"He was a mechanic, and I always had the most fun when I was in the garage with him," she told AFP.

"But in those days, there were no mechanical careers in Iran, so I went to college in India. Even there, I was the only girl in my year of 139 students. I had a hard time."

But she persevered. Now 37, she runs her own company in Iran, making mobility equipment for hospitals and the elderly.

"I went to Europe and saw how disabled people live happy, independent lives. I wished my own people had this equipment, and I thought: 'This doesn't look complicated. I'm a mechanical engineer -- I can do it.'"

The breakthrough for the company, called KTMA and selling under the brand "Lord", came in early 2016, just after Iran's nuclear deal with world powers came into force, lifting international sanctions.

Within a couple of months, a Swedish investor, Anna Russberg, had agreed to buy 25 percent of the company, bringing much-needed business acumen and capital.

"Leila had a reputation for quality production, which was practically unknown here. But I needed to turn the business upside-down," said Anna.

"It worked. People could tell we were a good mix. We respect each other's knowledge. She's the engineer, I'm the businesswoman."

Being women in Iran's patriarchal business world could be tricky, but also an advantage.

"Hijab is difficult when you're a manufacturer. You have to climb things, go below things," said Leila, laughing.

"But being a woman has its advantages. Everyone remembers you."

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Anna added: "People don't know how to treat us exactly, which is useful in negotiations."

- 'Breaks my heart' -

Things were looking up: low production costs meant they could charge five times less than foreign firms and they were doubling sales each year, finally landing a major contract with Qatari hospitals.

But then Trump happened.

Even before he pulled the US out of the nuclear deal, the American president's constant threats to reimpose sanctions had a chilling effect on trade.

It soon became hard to import crucial raw materials, particularly stainless steel.

"We already had problems in getting raw materials... and now it's impossible. Either I have to close the factory, or have to continue with much higher prices," said Leila.

"We had to let four or five workers go last month because we couldn't pay their salaries, and it breaks my heart."

She watched Trump deliver his speech on May 8, reimposing sanctions on Iran, with a mix of horror and fury, particularly when he claimed to be on the side of the Iranian people against their government.

"That made me so angry. These sanctions are not on the government, it's on the people. I can give less to disabled people, to the elderly. Our saying was that we are providing European quality with affordable prices. Can I do that anymore? I don't know."

Anna remains defiantly positive.

"Iran has 10 million older or injured people who can use our product. With or without Trump, we still have a business," she said.

But whether or not the business can survive the Trump administration's vow to "crush" the Iranian economy with sanctions, it is already clear that investors like Anna are no longer coming to Iran.

The dream of the nuclear deal -- that hundreds of small businesses would blossom with European support, creating an important constituency supporting good relations with the West -- was dead long before Trump finally yanked the US out of the agreement.

"It's a real pity. Being an investor in Iran is a rollercoaster -- you take one step forward, three steps back. But it's an amazing country with great opportunities," Anna said.

Leila stays positive by remembering her father, who passed away last month.

"When I become weak and tired... I remember his strength," she said.

"There is no going back. Iran faces so many problems, but I learned from him that the strength is inside me, and my partner. When we believe we can do it, we will do it."
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi authorities have launched an inquiry into this month's parliamentary elections after intelligence services found that the voting machines used were vulnerable to hacking.

The May 12 poll delivered a shock win for populist cleric Moqtada Sadr, who faces a huge task to form a governing coalition despite winning the most seats in parliament.

But with the results yet to be ratified by Iraq's Supreme Court, a government official told parliament on Thursday that intelligence services had conducted tests which showed it was possible to hack voting machines and manipulate the results.

The cabinet decided to form a commission "to study reports and information on the electoral process" and make recommendations, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised address.

Experts said the probe could lead to anything from local recounts to the entire vote being annulled.

Multiple candidates and parties are expected to appeal the results of Iraq's first poll since the defeat of the Islamic State group.

Limited recounts have already been ordered in the flashpoint multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk, where clashes between communities prompted authorities to impose an overnight curfew.

The International Crisis Group said Thursday it was "deeply concerned" about the possibility of further inter-ethnic violence there and called for a recount "to restore confidence in the institutions vital to manage deeper divisions over the contested, oil-rich area".
The most restrictive abortion laws in Europe could be repealed on Friday, should a majority of Irish voters vote yes on the ballots of a referendum on the eighth amendment of their constitution.

The amendment protects the "right to life of the unborn," giving it equal status to the rights of the mother, and was introduced 35 years ago via a controversial referendum.

Since then, Irelands eighth amendment has been the subject of a series of Supreme Court battles, a spin-off referendum in 1992 as well as being the reason why thousands of pregnant women and girls travel abroad every yearat least 10 every day, according to Amnesty Internationalto access abortion services in England that are banned with a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison in Ireland.

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The question of repealing the amendment has already been discussed in the country's Citizens Assembly, a consultative body made up of 100 randomly selected citizens who are called to make recommendations on a series of issues affecting the country and its future. After five meetings held between 2016 and 2017, the assembly voted 64 percent in favor of having no restrictions in early pregnancy.

05_24_Ireland_Vote_Handmaiden

Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

What Would Change

The question will now be posed to all Irish citizens. If they vote yes to repeal the eighth amendment, lawmakers will become empowered to create laws regulating the termination of pregnancy.

Under the current proposed bill, women will be able to have an abortion for any reason within 12 weeks of their pregnancy, provided a waiting time of 72 hours between a doctor certifying that the 12-week period hasn't elapsed and the procedure itself. Past that point, abortion will be available up to 24 weeks if at least two practitioners, including an obstetrician, find there is "a risk to the life of, or of serious harm to the health of, the pregnant woman."

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Such a provision might have saved the life of Savita Halappanavar, who was denied an abortion in 2012 and was 17 weeks pregnant when she was died after suffering a miscarriage and septicemia. Her death became a turning point in the movement for a new vote on abortion laws.

A Divisive Issue

The referendum predictably divided the country. "It's a divisive issue, and it's hard to find a middle ground," Gail McElroy, professor in political science at Trinity College Dublin, told Newsweek. She explained, "We are going from very restrictive abortion laws to quite liberal ones."

05_22_ireland_abortion

Artur Widak/AFP/Getty Images

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Ireland isn't new to making radical changes via referendum. In 2015, around 2 to 1 voters backed same-sex marriage in a landslide vote. The health minister at the time, Leo Varadkar, celebrated the referendum result as a "social revolution"he has since become the country's first openly gay prime minister.

The result in favor of marriage equality was seen as a clear sign of the fading influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the deeply religious country. But Friday's referendum is unlikely to present a similar landslide result.

A Sunday Business Post/Red C poll that surveyed voters between May 10 and May 16 quoted in Reuters found that 56 percent of them would vote yes, an increase of 3 points compared to the previous month, while support for no grew by 1 point, standing at 27 percent. Fourteen percent were still undecided.

"It won't be anything like the 65 percent of marriage equality," Elroy said. While in countries like the U.S. support for abortion rights is usually correlated to support for LGBT issues, this isn't the case for the Emerald island. "In Ireland, there is something in the Irish psyche about abortion and represents that kind of religiosity and cultural historical influence of the Irish Catholic Church," Elroy said.

05_24_Ireland_Vote

Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Jane Gray, professor in sociology at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, agreed that the marriage equality result is unlikely to be replicated on Friday.

"[The referendum on marriage equality] was about including people that had been previously excluded from the understanding of the family into a broader, more inclusive understanding," she told Newsweek. "In many ways, it was consistent with Irish people's family views and practices."

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The Reasons for Yes and for No

According to Gray, the vote won't depend as much on what the church will tell families, as its influence has been decreasing in the past few decades. "People still have faith, and many people are active in the church, but there is a shift toward people feeling that this is something they'll make their own minds rather than being dictated to," she said.

Voters' decisions on the referendum can be the result of deeply personal experiences. Mary Kenny, an anti-abortion campaigner from Limerick, became pregnant at 19 years' old and had no doubt she wanted an abortion because she never wanted to have children. But her passport had expired, so she could not travel to England, and the abortion pills she ordered online never arrived.

Not knowing what to do, she confided with a colleague. "She actually touched my stomach and she said, 'You have a human life growing inside you,' and then she said, 'You can do this, you will be fine,'" Kenny recalled.

Her view changed completely, and she no longer believes it is a matter of choice. "What is the choice?" she said, "It's intentionally killing the right of a child, or a baby, or a fetus. However you want to call it, you're ending a life."

Kenny, whose baby Hollie was born in 2013, wants to retain the eighth amendment. The vote is a Catch-22 for her. "It's so sad we are having a referendum to write out the right to life out of our constitution. At the same time I am happy we have a voice in it," she said.

05_22_Ireland_Eight

Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Other women had different experiences, as testimonies collected by the Together for Yes campaign showed.

Some women (names have been changed for privacy), like Siobhan and Catherine, already had several children and were using contraception but had a crisis pregnancy. Nicola was instead 15 when she traveled to England in 1992 to get an abortion. She is now a 41-year-old mother of two and she said, "I have always been happy with the decision, and I have never regretted it."

The British Department of Health's statistics on abortions in England and Wales in 2016 also show that, while the majority of women getting abortions in the country are 21 to 22 years old, abortion rates for women under 25, and particularly for teenagers, have been declining. The biggest increases are recorded for women age 30 and above.

A big focus of the Yes campaign is also on the women who have had to travel to England to get an abortion because the fetus presented anomalies.

Siobhan Donohue, a Dublin-based doctor who shared the story of her emotionally devastating journey to England with the Together for Yes campaign, was told that her pregnancy would last only about 20 weeks and decided she couldn't continue knowing the baby would not survive.

She is now advocating to repeal the eighth. "I think I would have been able to cope so much better if I could have done this is in my own country and be shown the care and compassion the eighth amendment does not allow for," she said.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Dublin (AFP) - Ireland voted overwhelmingly to liberalise some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe on Friday, according to exit polls in a historic referendum in the traditionally Catholic country.

The vote to repeal a constitutional ban on terminations except in cases where the mother's life is in danger was predicted to win by a two-thirds majority.

An Irish Times poll of 4,000 said the "Yes" camp was leading by 68 percent to 32 percent. Another poll by national broadcaster RTE suggested an even bigger victory, with 69 percent to 30 percent backing reforms.

The Irish Times survey suggested that women voted by 70 percent in favour of the proposal and 30 percent against. Support among men was 65 percent pro-choice and 35 percent anti-abortion.

"Thank you to everyone who voted today. Democracy in action. Its looking like we will make history tomorrow," Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who backs the reform, said in a tweet.

People over 65, however, voted mostly against change.

Among the youngest voters, 18-24-year-olds, the poll found 87 percent had voted to allow abortion, according to the poll.

Nearly 3.5 million voters were asked whether they wanted to overturn the ban after an emotional and divisive campaign.

People arriving at polling stations from the early morning spoke about the momentousness of a complex decision that in many cases pitted moral against religious beliefs.

Chris Garvin, a 20-year-old working in human resources in Dublin, said: "It's a very, very important matter and I think it's going to affect everybody's lives in some way."

Ireland has traditionally been one of the most religious countries in Europe. However, the Roman Catholic Church's influence has waned in recent years following a series of child sex abuse scandals.

The referendum came three months before a visit by Pope Francis for the World Meeting of Families and three years after Ireland voted to legalise same-sex marriage despite the Church's opposition.

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"The fact that it's illegal for somebody in Ireland to seek medical treatment, having to travel outside the country and to feel that guilt, shame and isolation, it's absolutely shocking," said Belinda Nugent, 43, a community activist voting in north Dublin.

"I took it really personally, this vote."

But across the city, Finbar O'Regan, 50, said he wanted a "good, strong No vote".

The unemployed Dublin voter said his mother had been sent to England to have him born and adopted.

"I'm a staunch No. It's the life of an unborn baby. I'm one of the lucky ones," he said.

- 'I'm very emotional' -

The count begins at 9:00am (0800 GMT) on Saturday, with the result expected to be announced at Dublin Castle later in the day.

Dublin voter Helen, 47, who did not want to give her surname, said: "I've been awake all night. I'm very emotional about this.

"We've been marching about this for years and desperately trying to get successive governments to do something. Hopefully our day has come," she said, outside a polling station opposite Dublin's cathedral.

Lawyer Rachel Cadden went to vote with her husband near the Dublin docks.

"I'm pregnant so it's especially important for us," the 30-year-old said.

"It means I can get the proper medical care that I should get and that my needs are put first whenever it comes to me being in hospital."

At present Ireland's eighth amendment -- which could be repealed in the vote -- recognises the "right to life of the unborn" with an "equal right to life of the mother".

But in the small town of Kilcullen, some 50 kilometres (32 miles) southwest of Dublin, voter Sean Murphy told AFP: "I don't see any reason to change from the position we are in at the moment".

Canvassers were out on the streets holding up signs and wearing t-shirts. One in southwest Dublin offered hugs to people who voted in favour of repealing the ban.

- 170,000 women -

The eighth amendment to the Irish constitution was installed following a 1983 referendum which approved outlawing abortion.

Anyone terminating a pregnancy in Ireland could face 14 years in jail.

The ban has led to thousands of women travelling each year to neighbouring Britain, where terminations are legal, or increasingly turning to abortion pills sold online.

Since 1983, around 170,000 Irish women have gone abroad for terminations.

The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life is at risk.

The Irish government has proposed that if the eighth amendment is repealed, abortion will be allowed up to 12 weeks and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.
Ireland is one of just a handful of countries in Europe that outlaws abortion. But that might change on May 25.

The referendum

Irish citizens will vote in a historic referendum on Friday, which could see a change to the country's restrictive abortion laws. The referendum will ask whether they want to remove the Eighth Amendment, thereby allowing politicians to create new abortion laws in the future.

According to the BBC, the precise wording of the referendum will be: Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancies.

In March, Ireland's Health Minister, Simon Harris, outlined what this government legislation would look like if the people voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

Abortions would be accessible to women who are in their first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Beyond that, abortions would be permitted only if the woman's life or physical or mental health is at serious risk, up to 24 weeks. There would also be an exception in cases of fatal fetal abnormality.

The law--as it stands

While women are not prevented from seeking abortions in other countries, there are currently few circumstances in which an abortion is permitted in Ireland. Since 2013, they are allowed only when the mother's life is at risk, including from suicide.

Accessing an illegal abortion is currently punishable, with a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

The Eighth Amendment

All of this stems from the Eighth Amendment, which was passed in 1983. Prior to that, many of Ireland's laws were retained from the U.K., including a law that criminalized abortion.

In the 1980s, when many other countries began to loosen restrictions around abortion, pro-life activists in Ireland wanted to avoid the same from happening at home. As such, they lobbied the government for a referendum, which passed, with more than 65% in favor. The Eighth Amendment was then introduced to the country's constitution, and it read:

"The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right."

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Subsequent amendments

Since then, Ireland has held a number of subsequent referendums, which have loosened the restrictions somewhat--but not legalized abortion entirely.

Three referendums were held in 1992, resulting in the adoption of the 13th and 14th amendments. They allow women to travel abroad for abortions and to access information about abortion services from other countries, respectively.

A third amendment, which sought to remove suicide as grounds for abortion, was rejected in 1992 and again in another referendum in 2002.

In 2013, this was finally taken off the table with the passage of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. The law clearly defined three circumstances under which an abortion could be performed: risk of loss of life from physical illness, risk of loss of life from physical illness in emergency, or risk of loss of life from suicide.

Whatever the outcome, this referendum is historic: it will be the first time anyone who came of age since 1983 will have an opportunity to influence the abortion laws in Ireland.

See original article on Fortune.com

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Ireland is voting on whether or not to repeal the countrys Eighth Amendment (Getty Images)

Irish women are flying home from across the world to vote in the referendum over whether to overhaul the legislation that currently outlaws abortion in almost all circumstances.

Posting under the hashtag #HomeToVote, hundreds of women and men are sharing the journeys they are making on Twitter.

Citizens on both sides of the argument are travelling from as far afield as Queensland, Sydney, Buenos Aires, Tokyo and LA to cast their ballots.

The referendum will ask voters to have their say on whether to repeal the eighth amendment  a law banning abortion except in a small number of circumstances.

Im coming #hometovote! Thirty hours from Bangkok to Dublin on a mission to repeal that eighth and get my bodily autonomy #voteyes #together4yes #repeal #RepealThe8th pic.twitter.com/CKgLO0NDxk  Louise Barry (@made0fglitter) May 23, 2018

Boarding a 13 hour flight from Buenos Aires to London. London to Dublin tomorrow. No one at airport knows what my repeal jumper means. No one here knows why I'm travelling. If this feels isolating for me, can't imagine how lonely it must be 4 her, travelling 2 the UK #HomeToVote  Ciaran Gaffney (@gaffneyciaran) May 22, 2018

All the way from Sweden to Kerry, a 12 hour journey to cross a big fat YES on the ballot paper #HometoVote #repealthe8th pic.twitter.com/psC2utM3K5  Nora (@tea_and_biccies) May 23, 2018

I'm so delighted two of my kids have come home from college to vote NO and maintain Ireland as being the safest place on planet earth for expecting mothers & bright eyed children #hometovoteno #prolife #savethe8th #savethe8thvoteno #hometovote #dublin #cork #limerick #waterford  John Ruane (@johnruane_) May 24, 2018

Niamh Downey, an account executive living in London, is flying back to her hometown of Dundalk in order to vote to repeal the eight amendment on Friday.

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Her two younger sisters are also flying home to cast their ballots, one travelling from Valencia, Spain, and one also from London.

Niamh said: There are a lot of No posters around my home town.

For me the concern was that more liberal counties such as Dublin may come across as having a lead for Yes in the polls, but I think perhaps that there might be a stronger No contingency in my home town.

Were flying home simply to vote, Ill be back on Saturday.

Niamh Downey is travelling from London to Ireland to vote to repeal the Eight Amendment

The #HomeToVote movement on Twitter has made for poignant reading for the women flying back to their home towns.

Its very emotional reading through [the hashtag] on Twitter, Niamh said.

I feel a reassurance that, perhaps, these Irish ex-pats are going to swing this vote, because at the minute its very close.

This is a highly emotive debate, and I do understand and appreciate that, but its a very simple ad clear decision for me. Ive had family members and friends impacted by the eight amendment.

Women have died. They have had no choice since 1983 and before that.

Pro-Life and Pro-Choice posters stand side-by-side on a roadside in Ireland

26-year-old Karen Fahy is flying from London to vote against repealing the ban on abortion.

She told the BBC she doesnt want abortion to be the first and only choice for women who have unplanned pregnancies.

We should be investing and providing support for women in crisis pregnancies, she said.

In those very difficult situations when theres a very severe disability, we should provide more child benefit and support women in education.

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People living in Ireland are offering help to the people who are flying home to participate in the referendum, from offers of accommodation to lifts to and from the airport.

Author Paraic ODonnell is acting as a free taxi service from Dublin airport to reduce costs for people who had travelled back.

He said: This is a really tiny contribution. There are activists who have given years of their lives to make this happen  I dont want to overstate my role.

This is a historic moment for us. Its an opportunity to correct a historic injustice and I dont want to look back and wonder if there was more I could have done.

The eighth amendment was brought into law in 1983 after a referendum, meaning that voters under the age of 54 have never had their say on the matter before.

Its a once in a generation vote. This wont happen again, maybe in 30 years time, said Niamh.

We need to recognise the effort and the money spent by Irish ex-pats coming from all over the world, no matter what the outcome is.
Rome (AFP) - Italy's prospective new prime minister Giuseppe Conte laboured Friday to finalise his government team as a battle heated up over the eurosceptic coalition's pick for economy minister.

After a new day of negotiations, Conte went to the presidential palace Friday evening for an "unofficial meeting" with President Sergio Mattarella to discuss the future cabinet, Italian press agencies reported.

Mattarella on Wednesday approved Conte's nomination to be prime minister of a government formed by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right League.

But as Conte, 53, held a meeting Friday with Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio and League chief Matteo Salvini to discuss their cabinet picks, the issue remained over Salvini's favourite for the economy ministry, the noted eurosceptic Paolo Savona who once described the euro as a "German cage".

Mattarella is reportedly worried about giving the Savona the role, and his approval the new government cannot get off the ground.

On Thursday Salvini said that he could not see "why anyone would say no" to 81-year-old Savona, adding "there can't be any vetoes" on the ministerial team.

Salvini's comments irritated Mattarella's staff, who underlined that as per the Italian constitution the discussion over ministers was now a matter for Conte and the head of state.

"The issue isn't vetoes but the unacceptability of diktats towards the prime minister and president of the republic," the president's office said in a statement.

Despite the question mark over Savona's fate, Di Maio told journalists that Friday's meeting "went very well" as he left.

"It's as if we've been working together for years," he said.

"There is a total synergy and harmony and we are working fast to deliver the "government of change" as soon as possible."

Italian media said that Salvini was expected to become interior minister, while M5S leader Di Maio, would head an expanded Ministry of Economic Development and Labour.

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- Economic concern -

The suspense over the future finance minister of the third largest economy in the eurozone is causing concern in Brussels and on the financial markets.

The difference in yield on Italian 10-year sovereign bonds compared to Germany's reached 217 points Friday afternoon -- the highest level since December 2013 -- before dropping slightly to 206 points at close.

Officials in Brussels have voiced concern that Italy could trigger a new eurozone crisis by refusing to stick to the bloc's public spending and debt targets.

The joint government programme unveiled by Five Star and the League last week pledges anti-austerity measures such as drastic tax cuts, a monthly basic income and pension reform rollbacks, which Di Maio and Salvini claim will boost growth.

The European Commission's vice-president for the euro, Valdis Dombrovskis, issued a new warning to Italy on Friday as he arrived at a meeting with EU finance ministers.

"Our message from the European Commission is very clear: that it is important Italy continues to stick with responsible fiscal and macro-economic policies," Dombrovskis told reporters.

That was the second time in a week that he had warned Italy against "irresponsible" spending, and on Thursday the European Central Bank (ECB) offered similar guidance.

"A loosening of the fiscal stance in high-debt countries could impact the fiscal outlook and, by extension, market sentiment" towards governments when they try to sell bonds, it said in its bi-annual financial stability report.

The ECB holds around 17 percent of Italy's 2.3-trillion-euro ($2.7-trillion) public debt.

On Friday, outgoing centre-left prime minister Paolo Gentiloni shot a warning at the nascent government during his departure ceremony.

"Going back up the slope as Italy has done these last five years is not simple, it requires perseverance, consistency and sacrifice. To undo this work, it doesn't take five years, sometimes a few months, even a few weeks," he said.
Avril Haines, Donald Trump. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Michael Brochstein via ZUMA Wire, Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

The woman who oversaw the Obama White Houses response to the Russian election attack said she was never briefed on the FBIs use of an informant to investigate the Trump campaign and that it was ridiculous for President Trump to claim that the matter amounted to one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history.

Avril Haines, who served as deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration, made the comments during an exclusive interview with the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery. In her first first full-length interview since leaving government, Haines also said she had been very concerned in 2016 about the degree to which Russians might have gained influence within the Trump campaign  concerns that were fueled by Trumps public comments about Putin that she found wildly disconnected from reality.

No, absolutely not, Haines said when asked if she was ever told about the confidential FBI informant who made contact with three members of the Trump campaign. We didnt even know at the time there was an [FBI] investigation as such, she said. Haines said the FBI briefed the National Security Council on a regular basis about what she termed counterintelligence issues but that it had not told the council that any formal probe of the Trump campaign had been initiated.

Over the past week, Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed that the Obama administration had planted a spy inside the Trump campaign for political purposes, prompting them to demand that the Justice Department and FBI turn over documents about a confidential informant  a former University of Cambridge professor  who had contacted three campaign advisers. Law enforcement officials have countered that using such informants amid counterintelligence investigations  which the FBI had launched in late July 2016 into Russian efforts to penetrate the Trump campaign  is standard procedure.

Asked about one of Trumps tweets referring to the use of the informant as Spygate and claiming that it may be one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history, Haines said: Surely, you realize that I think thats ridiculous.  Its very unfortunate that the current president of the United States goes after the institutions that he is responsible for in a way that is not at least apparently the product of deliberation and thoughtfulness.

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Haines, who had previously served as deputy CIA director under John Brennan, was charged by the White House in the summer of 2016 with overseeing the U.S. response to the Russian election attack. The response was a highly secretive process that she said was further complicated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells refusal to go along with a bipartisan warning about the Russian efforts. In a highly controversial decision, the White House chose not to respond to those efforts until after the election, fearing that it might disrupt the voting. Instead, Obama warned Putin privately during a summit in China  a move that officials thought was productive because the White House detected no further Russian attempts to tamper with state election databases, which was their chief worry at the time.

Still, Haines acknowledged that there were aspects of the Russian attack  especially the exploitation of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter  the White House and the U.S. intelligence community did not fully understand at the time and that continued after Obamas warning. The picture you have now we didnt have then, she said.

Honestly, we could have done better from the policy perspective, Haines said in assessing the impact of the Russian social media efforts.. In thinking that through, I think we all have a piece of that to live with. I do think, though, even knowing that, Im not sure our reactions would have been any different.

More Skullduggery from Yahoo News:
What would you do if you ever got pregnant? Its a question many women in Ireland frequently ask themselves and each other. Because of Irelands eight amendment, which virtually bans all abortion, its a question that many Irish women think about. What would we do if we ever found ourselves in a situation where we would want to, or have to, terminate a pregnancy? In 2012, this hypothetical question became a reality for me.

I grew up in County Monaghan, Ireland with the revelations of the Magdalene Laundries and the exposure of the Catholic Churchs child abuse scandals. It was also a time when being a single mother no longer meant you were castigated from society, and a time when people started questioning the role of religion in their lives.

I have always been a feminist and unequivocally pro-choice, but I never really considered what choice meant in a country where abortion is illegal until I unexpectedly became pregnant at 23.

My boyfriend and I had been together since university and were living together in County Donegal when out of the blue my period was late. I bought two pregnancy tests and took them in secret, one at midnight and one at 5 a.m. When both were positive I booked an appointment with my doctor. When she confirmed that I was pregnant I burst into tears. I asked: What if I dont want to be? She replied, Im sorry, I cant give you any more information. It was a huge shock that the one person I would need in this situation was unable to provide me with any support. I told my partner and we decided that we werent ready to be parents. That was our choice alone and it was a difficult one to make.

The next stage is a bit of a blur, but through calling different family planning clinics I found a Womens Health Center in Letterkenny, a town in County Donegal, where we were living at the time. They were connected with different clinics in England and provided me with all of the necessary information and assisted us with making an appointment at a clinic in Liverpool, but we had to wait.

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We didnt want to borrow the money as it was a private matter between us alone, so we waited for four weeks in order to save up enough of our salaries to get the procedure done and afford the airfare to England.

Those weeks were torture. I was terrified people would realize that I was expecting; I was also scared that by the time we had enough money that it would be too late. When we finally saved up enough, we took a 6 a.m. flight to Liverpool. We told our families that we were going away for my birthday for a long weekend.

The clinic in England was full of wonderful doctors and nurses. I remember asking one of them if they saw many Irish women like me, and the nurse told me she saw Irish women every day. It was the first time I realized how wrong our countrys eighth amendment was. I had accepted the journey as something we just had to do without considering the hundreds and thousands of women making the same journey day after day, year after year and decade after decade. I was very proud to be Irish and it was saddening to realize that I was something that needed to be swept under the rug. The procedure took place under general anesthesia and I was treated with great care and compassion. Even though I wasnt in much pain it was a great relief that we were staying longer, and I would be able to recover a bit before going home. With any medical procedure there is always a small risk of complications, but these fears were intensified for me because I wouldnt have a doctor at home that I could turn to if I needed to.

My boyfriend and I are no longer together, but we talk often and openly about the journey we took and the reasons why. As the referendum to repeal the eighth approaches, weve discussed how it wasnt fair that we had to travel to another country, and that we really wish that such a personal and private experience could have taken place in our home country. We made the right decision for us at the time, and its a shame that we were made to feel like criminals and fugitives for our choice.

Thousands of Irish women make the same choice as I did every year. Others try to end their pregnancies on their own with pills purchased online. Irelands eighth amendment is so stringent that even women with serious medical emergencies and complications are sometimes denied abortions, and any provider or woman whos found guilty of performing or having an abortion can be imprisoned for years.

Its been six years since that long summer in 2012, and were on the cusp of a monumental day for Ireland. Ive been sharing my experience with friends and family for a long time now, but ever since the referendum was announced, Ive been a lot more open about my abortion and have heard many stories from Irish women with experiences just like mine. The eighth amendment has relied on a culture of silence to be successful. But as more of us tell our stories, we erase the shame and stigma that help create the silence. Its why I joined the London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign in 2017.

The last few months have been an opportunity for me, and the people of Ireland, to shed the unwarranted shame of our choices and raise our voices. We have a long, dark history and in many ways this referendum has allowed us to shine a light on it. Women and men from every corner of this country have told their stories and have been shown great empathy, compassion and kindness from people who both support and oppose the referendum.

I now live in London, and watching this all unfold from afar has been both a joy and a frustration. A joy because I never thought this would happen in my lifetime, and a frustration because I cannot personally cast a vote for something that means so much to me and others. But I can share my story, and hopefully itll bring some comfort to anyone else whos gone through a similar situation.
The former personal attorney and self-proclaimed "fixer" for President Donald Trump reportedly received a payment of at least $400,000 to set up a meeting between Trump and Ukraines president last year.

Embattled lawyer Michael Cohen helped arranged the meeting between Ukraines Petro Poroshenko, which took place in June 2017, BBC News reported Wednesday citing unnamed sources. The report indicated that Poroshenko used Cohen to facilitate a meeting with Trump because the Eastern European countrys diplomats and lobbyists in Washington were unable to secure longer sit-down with the president.

The Ukrainian leader reportedly needed the meeting with Trump to look more like talks rather than a simple meet-and-greet with the U.S. president, and he was attempting to create a backchannel to Trump.

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Under U.S. law, a person cannot work on behalf of a foreign official or government unless they register with the federal government. Cohen is not a registered lobbyist and had a small law practice with only three clients.

GettyImages-951519056

Getty Images/Spencer Platt

Poroshenko, who came to power in 2014, was said to be concerned about how his actions against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort could affect his relationship with the new president. Believing Hillary Clinton, and not Trump, would win the presidency, Poroshenko had reportedly directed Ukraines anti-corruption bureau to leak information that showed Manafort had received payments from a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party.

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Following Trumps meeting with Poroshenko, Ukraine all but completely dropped its investigation into Manaforts dealings with the Party of Regions.

The exact amount Cohen received remains unclear. The report cited a second source out of Kiev as stating Cohen was paid $600,000.

Cohens attorney, Stephen Ryan, did not immediately respond to Newsweeks request for comment.

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There is no evidence that Trump had knowledge of monies paid to Cohen for the meeting.

The revelation followed reports of Cohen cutting deals worth at least $2.95 million with various companies, including AT&T, that were seeking information on how to handle an unfamiliar Trump administration last year. No report has indicated that Cohen had any meaningful impact on Trumps decisions or administration.

One Ukraine-based intelligence source told BBC that former Trump business associate Felix Sater had helped Cohen, although it was not clear either how or to what extent.

Sater, a childhood friend of Cohens in New York, previously worked with Trump in the presidents signature New York tower. Both Sater and Cohen worked, during Trumps campaign, to start a Trump Tower project in Moscow that spilled well into the summer of 2016 after the billionaire had secured the Republican nomination.

Saters attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Michael Cohen, former personal attorney for US President Donald Trump, walks with his children as he exits the Loews Regency Hotel: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Donald Trumps personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was reportedly paid $400,000 (300,000) to arrange talks between Mr Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The payment was allegedly arranged by Ukrainian intermediaries looking to secure a backchannel to Mr Trump, in hopes of getting Mr Poroshenko more time with the US president when he visited last June, the BBC reported.

Mr Cohen served as Mr Trumps attorney for more than a decade. He is not registered as a representative of Ukraine, as would be required by US law if he did bidding on the country's behalf.

There is no suggestion that Mr Trump was aware of the payment to to his then-attorney. Rudy Giuliani, an outside lawyer for Mr Trump in the special counsel investigation, said he had "no reason not to believe" Mr Cohen, who denied the allegations.

"Payments can be proved pretty easily, so it would be silly to deny it if it happened," Mr Giuliani told Business Insider. "And he never registered as a foreign agent. And as far as I know, never acted as one."

The White House and an attorney for Mr Cohen did not respond to The Independents request for comment. Mr Cohen told Reuters news agency the story was "completely false".

Two Ukrainians who were said to have opened the backchannel also denied the allegations. The Ukrainian presidents office called the story a "blatant lie, slander and fake".

But Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for an adult film star currently suing Mr Cohen and Mr Trump, said that Suspicious Activity Reports filed by Mr Cohen's bank to the US Treasury showed the lawyer had received money from "Ukrainian interests".

Ukrainian intermediaries reportedly contacted Mr Cohen last year, ahead of Mr Poroshenkos visit to the White House. Existing Ukrainian lobbyists and the countrys Washington embassy could not secure promises of a lengthy meeting  which the White House had billed as a drop-by  so the intermediaries reached out to Mr Cohen.

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Negotiations over the meetings length reportedly lasted into the early hours of Mr Poroshenkos visit. But the Ukrainian president seemed satisfied afterward, calling the talks substantial.

A week later, the Ukrainian Anti Corruption Bureau dropped its investigation into former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. The investigation was moved to the state prosecutor's office.

Mr Poroshenko was reportedly eager to meet with Mr Trump because of an earlier incident involving Mr Manafort. Several sources told the BBC that Mr Poroshenko, thinking that Hillary Clinton would win the US election, authorised the August 2016 leak of a document appearing to show that Mr Manafort received money from pro-Russia interests inside Ukraine.

Mr Manafort was forced to step down from his role and was later charged with conspiracy against the US, among other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Cohen himself is currently under investigation for possible bank and tax fraud, as well as possible campaign law violations linked to payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to Reuters. FBI agents raided his apartment and offices last month, taking business records, emails and documents.

The attorney also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies like AT&T and Novartis in the wake of Mr Trumps election, after promising them exclusive insight into the incoming administration. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
(Photo: Rawpixel / Getty Images)

In spite of enduring threats to LGBTQ rights in the U.S., a recent poll found that Americans overall are more supportive of same-sex marriage than ever before.

Gallups annual Values and Morals poll, conducted May 1 through 10 and released on Wednesday, found that 67 percent of Americans surveyed said same-sex marriage should be legally valid.

Thats up 40 percentage points from 1996, when Gallup first asked the question, and it is the highest level of support on record.

(Photo: Gallup)

Same-sex marriage has been legal nationwide since the Supreme Courts landmark 2015 ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case. The decision was a historic victory for gay rights activists, who fought for years in lower courts for marriage equality, and it came over a decade after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. By 2015, 37 states and the District of Columbia already recognized marriage equality.

Activists have noted, though, that despite the steady rise in popular support, same-sex marriage faces very real and persistent threats. Fewer than half the Republicans polled  44 percent  said gay marriage should be legal, according to Gallup. Other polls have found support to be even lower among the most conservative Republicans and Christian evangelicals, who dominate the GOP base, which President Donald Trump has catered to since declaring his candidacy. From signing discriminatory religious liberty orders to banning transgender people from the military, Trump and social conservatives have found ways to challenge LGBTQ rights.

Trumps Supreme Court appointee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, is known to oppose same-sex marriage and in 2017 sent a message to state courts that they should challenge the Obergefell decision.

As HuffPost editor-at-large Michelangelo Signorile warned, The greater threat in the short term than outright overturning Obergefell is the effort to turn same-sex marriage into second-class marriage.

Some cities and states have thrown into question whether same-sex couples should receive spousal benefits, be allowed to adopt children and have both spouses names listed on birth certificates.

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Despite such obstacles, the percentage of LGBTQ Americans in a same-sex marriage has steadily grown since the Supreme Court ruling. As of June 2017, when Gallup last released findings on the topic, just over 10 percent of adult gay and lesbian Americans said they were married to their partner.

That was far below the 50 percent for American adults overall, according to Pew Research, but was up from roughly 8 percent pre-Obergefell. Its likely that the percentage of married LGBT adults in the U.S. will continue to grow as new generations of same-sex couples enjoy their newfound rights, Gallup writer Justin McCarthy said.

This rise in gay marriages means that Americans are increasingly likely to know someone who has wed a same-sex partner, which Gallup said may play a role in reversing previously held opposition to the legal status of such unions.

Now that its been legal for nearly three years  and even longer in certain states  some opponents to gay marriage may be rethinking their previous opposition, McCarthy wrote.

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Zagora (Morocco) (AFP) - They roam Morocco's southern desert, braving the searing heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky.

These celestial treasure hunters are searching for meteorites to sell on a burgeoning international market.

Equipped with a "very strong" magnet and magnifying glass, retired physical education teacher Mohamed Bouzgarine says that discoveries "can be more valuable than gold".

The price "depends on the rock's rarity, its shape and its condition", the 59-year old adds, sporting a dark blue tracksuit, lighter blue scarf and sunglasses.

"Rocks coming from Mars are very expensive, sometimes as much as 10,000 dirhams (around $1,000, 900 euros) per gram," he says.

Bouzgarine stops in front of a hollow, hoping it could be a crater formed "very long ago" by extraterrestrial matter.

"It's a first sign," he says, ready to get down to work, in the township of M'Hamid el Ghizlane.

For four years now, he's been sifting rocks in the sand, inspecting them for telltale signs of burn incurred during fiery journeys through the atmosphere.

And while he is yet to strike it lucky, the success of some of his hundreds of peers provides the stamina to plod on.

- Rich hunting grounds -

Likewise Abderrahmane, a 48-year-old paramedic who is spending his vacation searching for meteorites.

Others "have made a lot of money... one meteorite hunter found and sold 600 grams for 7,500 dirhams (660 euros, $780) per gram," Abderrahmane says, dressed in a blue safari suit.

"From the 2000s, all the nomads started to look for rocks," he says.

A few foreign specialists are also drawn to the quest for extraterrestrial fragments in the desert landscapes of Erfoud, Tata and Zagora.

These parts of southern Morocco are rich hunting grounds, as the wind uncovers meteorites and their black hue is easy to spot against the near-white sand.

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"At least half the scientific publications on the subject are made on the basis of meteorites collected in Morocco," geochemist Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane tells AFP.

Desert zones are "favourable to the accumulation of meteorites, there is no vegetation... (and) ... the risk of alteration is low," adds Aoudjehane, who teaches at Casablanca's Hassan II university.

For scientists, these rocks harbour valuable information about the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, as well as the planets and their internal composition. One in every five meteorites is valuable.

Demand from scientists and specialist brokers has raised prices and inspired meteorite hunters.

Unlike other countries, where the state stakes a claim, there is no legal framework governing discoveries in Morocco, so it's a case of "finders keepers".

While several meteor showers have occurred in Morocco in recent years, a bonanza known as the "black beauty" was the most lucrative.

- 'Like playing the lottery' -

In 2011, fragments of this Martian landing fell in southern Morocco's Tata region, setting in motion a scramble that saw seven kilograms of fragments recovered.

The haul fetched prices of between $500 and $1,000 per gram.

Back on the desert plains, it can be frustrating work, requiring a lot of patience.

Twenty days into his "holiday", paramedic Abderrahmane has been "searching for fragments" without finding anything of note, he says.

But he remains undeterred.

"It is a question of luck -- it's like playing the lottery," he smiles.

And he knows how he will handle a major find.

"The sale is made discreetly -- it is necessary to get the vendor's confidence," he says.

Transactions are also made online, in specialist forums and even on classified advertising sites.

The most valuable finds are sold at auction in Paris or New York.

"What one finds in the (local) souks are just odds and ends," says Abderrahmane.

And there's not much money to be made at the bottom end of the meteorite sales chain.

Slimane, an old man with a white beard and blue turban, sits under a tent in a souk in M'hamid, surrounded by coloured fabrics, outdated jewels and old coins.

He dips into a leather satchel, retrieving some rocks accumulated over the years.

But they're "not worth much", he confesses.

"I have not risen above penury through rocks," he laments, arms raised to the sky.
Woody Allens son Moses Farrow came to the filmmakers defense on Wednesday in a long essay that accused his mother, Mia Farrow, of child abuse.

Farrow, 40, disputed sister Dylans claim that Allen sexually abused her as a child and blamed their mother for years of turmoil in their household.

Im a very private person and not at all interested in public attention, Farrow wrote in an entry on his blog titled, A Son Speaks Out. But, given the incredibly inaccurate and misleading attacks on my father, Woody Allen, I feel that I can no longer stay silent as he continues to be condemned for a crime he did not commit.

Allen has denied Dylan Farrows claims, and no charges were filed after an investigation. But the accusations have resurfaced amid the Me Too movement against sexual misconduct, and Allen has been reduced to a pariah in some circles. Some actors have denounced him or donated salaries they earned on Allen films.

Moses Farrow wrote that the abuse his sister alleges never happened, and pointed to what he said were inconsistencies in her claim. Of Dylans recollection that she was abused in an attic while Allen asked her to play with an electric train, Moses said there was no train in the attic and the space was too small for anyone to play there.

Mia Farrow, Moses wrote, had been telling the children for months that their father was a monster, he added. None of us would have allowed Dylan to step away with Woody, even if he tried.

Actress Mia Farrow with her children (back row) Matthew, Sascha, Soon-Yi; (front row) Daisy, Fletcher, Moses and Lark. Moses Farrow wrote a scathing essay accusing his mom of repeated physical abuse. (Photo: David McGough via Getty Images)

It was Mia Farrow, Moses wrote, who was the abuser. He said she struck him multiple times, and once made him strip and stand in a corner. She dragged physically disabled siblings down a stairway and locked them into a closet, he claimed.

She punished her son Thaddeus, a paraplegic, by shutting him in an outdoor shed overnight, Moses said. She was especially hard on Soon-Yi Previn, Allens future wife, Moses wrote. Farrow threw a porcelain centerpiece at her head and beat her with a telephone, he alleged.

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For all of us, life under my mothers roof was impossible if you didnt do exactly what you were told, no matter how questionable the demand, Moses wrote. It was important to my mother to project to the world a picture of a happy blended household of both biological and adopted children, but this was far from the truth.

Dylan Farrow responded to her brothers claims with a statement on Twitter, calling them beyond hurtful to me and easily disproven.

All I have to say with regard to the latest regarding my brother. pic.twitter.com/8WVAXOMKZV  Dylan Farrow (@RealDylanFarrow) May 23, 2018

Ronan Farrow also weighed in on Moses Farrows claims, saying Mia Farrow did an extraordinary job of raising them.

All Im going to say about efforts to deflect from my sisters allegations: pic.twitter.com/IRrj5fzMqV  Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) May 24, 2018

A rep for Woody Allen declined to comment. Mia Farrows rep didnt immediately respond.

Read Moses Farrows essay here.

This article has been updated to include Ronan Farrows comment.

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NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 12: (L-R) Keith Richards, Patti Hansen and Derek Blasberg pose at the launch of "Patti Hansen: A Portrait" hosted at the Gordon Bar at Sixty Soho on Nov. 12." (Photo by Yvonne Tnt/BFA)

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 23: (L-R) Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis play ping pong at Clayton Kershaw's 6th Annual Ping Pong 4 Purpose on August 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Kershaw's Challenge )

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 23: Former NY Giants player Victor Cruz and Kate Mara attend AT&T NFL Sunday Ticket 25th season kickoff party at The Blond at 11 Howard Hotel on August 23, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/WireImage)

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 23: (L-R) Sarah Hyland and Bryan Cranston attend Clayton Kershaw's 6th Annual Ping Pong 4 Purpose on August 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Kershaw's Challenge )

HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 22: Simon Cowell and Kelly Clarkson attend the ceremony honoring Simon Cowell with a Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame held on August 22, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JB Lacroix/WireImage)

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 22: Actress Regina Hall arrives at the premiere of Magnolia Pictures' 'Support The Girls' at the Arclight Theatre on August 22, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 21: Travis Scott (L) and Kylie Jenner are seen in SoHo on August 21, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 21: Rapper Iggy Azalea attends the Build Series to discuss 'Survive the Summer' at Build Studio on August 21, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 20: Jennifer Lopez speaks onstage during the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 20: Cardi B attends the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 20: Camila Cabello accepts the award for Video of the Year from Madonna onstage during the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 20: Jennifer Garner Honored With Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame on August 20, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 19: Kylie Jenner on August 19, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/GC Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 19: Blake Lively poses outside the Crosby Hotel on August 19, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/GC Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 18: Janet Jackson and Daddy Yankee celebrate 'Made For Now' at the 44th annual Harlem Week on August 18, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/WireImage)

LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS -- Episode 725 -- Pictured: Actress Jessica Biel arrives on August 16, 2018 -- (Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 16: Zoe Kravitz is seen at 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' on August 16, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 16: (L-R) Ruth Wilson, Lenny Abrahamson and Domhnall Gleeson attend 'The Little Stranger' New York Premiere at Metrograph on August 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Paul Zimmerman/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 16: Oscar Isaac attends the 'Operation Finale' New York Premiere at Walter Reade Theater on August 16, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 15: Jordan Smith attends the Build Series to discuss his new album 'Only Love' at Build Studio on August 15, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 14: (L-R) Actors Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne and Ethan Hawke attend the 'Juliet, Naked' New York premiere at Metrograph on August 14, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage)

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 14: (L-R) Actors Michelle Yeoh, Henry Golding, Constance Wu, Ken Jeong and Awkwafina visit Build Series to discuss the film 'Crazy Rich Asians' at Build Studio on August 14, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Desiree Navarro/WireImage)

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 13: Katy Perry performs at Qudos Bank Arena on August 13, 2018 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Hanna Lassen/WireImage)

HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 13: Mandy Moore attends an Evening with 'This Is Us' at Paramount Studios on August 13, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 12: (L-R) Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk, Antoni Porowski, Tan France and Jonathan Van Ness attend Netflix's Queer Eye and GLSEN event at NeueHouse Hollywood on August 12, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

INGLEWOOD, CA - AUGUST 12: (L-R) Vanessa Morgan, Madelaine Petsch, Camila Mendes, KJ Apa, Lili Reinhart, Cole Sprouse and Mark Consuelos of 'Riverdale' accept the Choice Drama TV Show onstage during FOX's Teen Choice Awards at The Forum on August 12, 2018 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

INGLEWOOD, CA - AUGUST 12: Katherine Langford attends FOX's Teen Choice Awards at The Forum on August 12, 2018 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

INGLEWOOD, CA - AUGUST 12: Nick Cannon attends FOX's Teen Choice Awards at The Forum on August 12, 2018 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA - AUGUST 12: Vanessa Hudgens attends The Celebrity Experience held at Universal Hilton Hotel on August 12, 2018 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Michael Tran/Getty Images)

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HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 06: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Jason Statham attend the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures and Gravity Pictures' 'The Meg' at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on August 6, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Singer Kelly Rowland arrives for the premiere of Focus Features' 'BlacKkKlansman' at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California on August 8, 2018. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP) (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - AUGUST 08: Executive Producer Amy Poehler of the television show 'I Feel Bad' speaks during the NBC segment of the Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 8, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 07: attends the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' 'Crazy Rich Asiaans' at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on August 7, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - AUGUST 07: ETAF Ambassador and Co-Host Colin Farrell attends the House of Taylor dinner benefitting The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation at House of Taylor on August 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for ETAF)

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Rome (AFP) - Around 1,500 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean on Thursday and Friday in operations involving the Italian navy and ships chartered by NGOs and the EU border agency Frontex, the Italian coastguard said.

On Friday alone, seven separate operations picked up 1,050 people as they tried to make the crossing to Europe. The operations were coordinated by the Italian coastguard.

The German NGOs Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye said they had rescued nearly half the total picked up -- 450 -- from three overcrowded vessels.

As the occupants of the third boat were being picked up, a Libyan patrol boat came on the scene prompting some of the migrants to jump into the water to avoid being taken back to Libya. The Libyan vessel, however, maintained its distance and all the migrants were rescued by the two NGOs.

In recent months the Libyan coastguard has taken responsibility for a growing number of rescue operations, subsequently returning those rescued to Libya.

On Thursday, an Italian navy ship rescued 69 migrants, while a Portuguese navy boat taking part in Frontex's anti-trafficking Triton Operation rescued 296 more.

The new arrivals are in addition to 10,800 migrants already registered in Italy since the start of the year, according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures.

The figure is around 80 percent lower than in the same period last year, largely attributed to agreements reached between Italy and Libyan authorities and militias.

The Libyan coastguard intercepted more than 6,500 migrants in the same period, IOM figures showed, while 383 people were reported dead or missing off Libya.
(Updates after Blok news conference; Russia repeats denial)

By Stephanie van den Berg and Toby Sterling

THE HAGUE, May 25 (Reuters) - The Netherlands and Australia said on Friday they held the Russian state responsible in part for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014 that killed all 298 aboard, and will seek compensation.

MH17 was shot down over territory held by pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014 as it flew from Amsterdam en route to Kuala Lumpur. Victims were from 10 nations and included 193 Dutch and 28 Australian citizens.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said a possible next step would be presenting the case to an international court, though first the Netherlands and Australia would seek a more substantial reaction from Moscow.

"It has now been indisputably proven that there is a direct link between the rocket that hit MH17 and the Russian army," Blok told a news conference in The Hague.

"We call on Russia to accept its responsibility and cooperate fully with the process to establish the truth and achieve justice for the victims of Flight MH17," he said.

Russia has always denied any involvement, and said on Thursday none of its missile launchers had ever entered Ukraine - despite photographic evidence presented by prosecutors. .

Blok said he had spoken by telephone on Friday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. He described Lavrov as "standoffish" and said Lavrov had repeated that Russia was not responsible.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Friday that Russia had not been a fully-fledged participant in the Dutch investigation and could not therefore trust its findings. When asked if the Kremlin denied allegations of Russian involvement, he said: "Absolutely."

The Dutch cabinet made its announcement a day after an interim report by prosecutors investigating the plane's destruction said the Buk missile that shot it down came from a launcher in Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade.

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Prosecutors stopped short of saying who actually fired the fatal shot.

"Russia has not cooperated at all (with the criminal investigation), Blok said.

He said the Netherlands and Australia would seek financial damages "but also compensation in form of cooperation."

Blok said that attempts to hold Russia responsible for the plane's downing under international law would be a different, parallel process from the ongoing investigation by prosecutors seeking to establish individual criminal responsibility.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling, with additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Niamey (AFP) - Ten international NGOs including Amnesty International and Oxfam called Friday for the release of 26 civil society activists detained since March after a banned demonstration in Niamey.

A joint statement published on Oxfam's website called on "the authorities in Niger to ease the situation by releasing the detainees and bring an end to the prosecutions".

Adama Coulibaly, Oxfam's regional director for West Africa, said in the statement: "This situation is of deep concern for international human rights and development organisations who believe that widening the civic space does not impinge on the government, but instead allow citizens to engage in a constructive dialogue with the authorities."

The majority of the 26 detainees, including three leaders of civil society organisations, were arrested on 25 March after banned clashes in Niamey between police and protesters, who say new taxes are "antisocial".

The 26 were prosecuted for "organisation and participation in a forbidden march" and "complicity in degrading public and private property," according to their lawyers.

On May 11, their lawyers denounced the slowness in the judicial process and said that they had filed with the prosecutor a complaint over the "arbitrary detention" of their clients.

All the defendants were eventually heard between 14 and 17 May by an investigating judge in the presence of lawyers.

Since October 2017 and the preparation of the 2018 budget, elements of civil society, the political opposition and some unions have regularly organised demonstrations to demand "the abrogation" of the finance law.

The economy of the largely desert country has been hit by falling prices for oil, which it officially began exporting in 2011, and uranium, of which it is a major exporter.

The government says it is cash-strapped as it has to spend resources to combat attacks by Boko Haram, whose Islamist insurgency has spilled over from Nigeria, as well as from jihadists, including the Islamic State group, near the border with Mali.

Finance Minister Hassoumi Massadou said in February that the 2018 budget would "barely affect" people in the countryside, where more than 80 percent of Niger's 20 million people live.

The 10 NGOs are: Oxfam, Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, Publiez Ce Que Vous Payez (Publish What You Pay), Tournons La Page (Let's Turn the Page), FIDH/OMCT, West Africa civil society Institute, Centre for civil and Political rights, CIVICUS, and West Africa Human Rights Defenders Network.
Nick Diaz has been arrested on domestic violence charges after an alleged incident at a Las Vegas residence.

MMA fighter Nick Diaz, who just recently became eligible to fight again, was reportedly arrested in Las Vegas on Thursday night on several charges of domestic violence.

According to MMAJunkie, the police were called to a Las Vegas home around 7:20pm. Twelve units were dispatched, and Diaz was reportedly combative with officers during his arrest. The victim of the alleged incident was a woman, and she was taken to a local hospital to treat her injuries. TMZ reported the victim was allegedly thrown to the ground and choked. She reportedly told woman police that Diaz had been using cocaine.

Diaz, 34, has been charged with felony domestic battery by strangulation and misdemeanor domestic battery, MMAJunkie reported. Hes being held on $18,000 bail at the Clark County Detention Center. Hell stay there until his hearing, which is scheduled for Saturday morning. Once the hearing takes place, Diaz can post bail.

In April, Diaz accepted a 12-month suspension after failing to appear for three drug tests over the span of a year. The suspension was retroactive to April 2017, so Diaz was eligible to fight that same day. He hasnt officially announced a return to the UFC, but if there were any plans in the works, those are obviously on hold for the time being.

The last time Diaz fought was January 2015. He took on he took on Anderson Silva at UFC 183, and Silva won via unanimous decision. However, that decision was overturned and changed to a no contest when both Silva and Diaz failed drug tests  Silva tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, and Diaz tested positive for marijuana.

     

Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Thursday that it had not increased the already high-level of vigilance or changed its posture on North Korea after President Donald Trump called off a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "There is a high state of vigilance - the state of vigilance that we always have because they have proven to be unpredictable in the past," Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, joint staff director, told a news briefing at the Pentagon. "But it is not a heightened state of vigilance. It is the normal state of vigilance that we maintain." Trump canceled the summit a few hours after North Korea said it followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its main nuclear test site, which Pyongyang said was proof of its commitment to end nuclear testing. McKenzie said the U.S. military was still assessing the damage. "We're looking at pictures of it right now and we don't have a final assessment," he said. "They obviously did some visible destruction of (the) entrance to the tunnel." The announcement came as U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and other top U.S. military commanders gathered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado for a ceremony to usher in a new commander to oversee U.S. forces in North America, whose responsibilities include defending against an incoming missile attack. The Pentagon acknowledged that Mattis knew about Trump's decision ahead of his public announcement. But it was not immediately clear whether the two spoke ahead of time, how long they spoke or whether Mattis provided any direct input ahead of Trump's decision. Trump, in public remarks, noted he had spoken with Mattis and other U.S. military commanders, adding "we are more ready than we have ever been before" for a potential conflict with North Korea. McKenzie said there had been no change in the U.S. military's support to a U.S.-led campaign to pressure the North to denuclearize. He said the military was ready to respond to any North Korean provocations, but did not speculate further. "We'll see what develops over the next few days, if any provocative actions occur from DPRK, we will certainly, in concert with our allies and partners in the region, by ready for it," he said. (Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Bill Trott and Marguerita Choy)
UPDATE: 11:40 a.m. EDT In a press briefing, Noblesville Chief of Police Kevin Jowitt confirmed that at 9:06 a.m., police received a call of an active shooter at Noblesville West Middle School and that local agencies responded immediately. The situation is contained.

There are two victims, one adult teacher and one juvenile student. There is a male student who has been detained. We believe he is the involved suspect, Jowitt said.

There was a secondary threat made at Noblesville High School, Jowitt said. There are officers on the scene ensuring students and staff there are safe. 

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UPDATE: 10:11 a.m. EDT Indiana State Police Public Information Officer Sgt. John Perrine confirmed two victims were en route to a nearby hospital after an active shooter situation at Noblesville Middle School. The families of the two victims had been notified, he said, though he did not give details regarding their conditions.

The suspect in the shooting was in custody, Perrine confirmed.

Students were being taken to nearby Noblesville High School, where parents were asked to pick them up.

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UPDATE: 9:44 a.m. EDTThe Noblesville Fire Department said on Twitter that a suspect was in custody following an active shooter situation at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana Friday. Both the fire department and the police department were on the scene.

Original story:

An active shooter situation was reported at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana Friday, according to a local fire department.

The school is located some 30 miles north of Indianapolis, at 19900 Hague Road.

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The Carmel Fire Department wrote on Twitter that first responders were headed to the scene and that a suspect was in custody. Newsweek reached out to the Noblesville Police Department but had not yet heard back.

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It was unclear whether there were any injuries.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.

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(PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea)  North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists.

The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the Norths sparsely populated northeast were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area.

The planned closing was previously announced by leader Kim Jong Un ahead of his planned summit with U.S. President Donald Trump next month.

The demolition came as the North lobbed another verbal salvo at Washington, calling Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy and saying it is just as ready to meet in a nuclear confrontation as at the negotiating table.

The Norths decision to close the Punggye-ri nuclear test site has generally been seen as a welcome gesture by Kim to set a positive tone ahead of the summit. Even so, it is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet Trumps demands for real denuclearization.

By bringing in the foreign media, mainly television networks, the North is apparently hoping to have images of the closing  including explosions to collapse tunnel entrances  broadcast around the world. The group included an Associated Press Television crew.

The North did not invite international inspectors to the ceremony, which limits its value as a serious concession.

The outburst at Pence, issued in the name of a top Foreign Ministry official, comes on the heels of another sharp rebuke of Trumps newly appointed national security adviser, John Bolton, and has raised concerns that a major gap has opened between the two sides just weeks before the June 12 summit in Singapore.

In both cases, Pyongyang was trying to push back against hard-line comments suggesting North Korea may end up like Libya if it doesnt move forward quickly and irreversibly with concrete measures to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

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Choe Son Hui, a vice minister of foreign affairs, was quoted Thursday by the Norths state-run news agency slamming as ignorant and stupid comments Pence made in an interview with Fox News that compared the nuclear-capable North to Libya. Libya gave up its program at an early stage only to see its longtime dictator overthrown and brutally killed years later.

The summit plan has hit a number of speed bumps recently as both sides have begun trading barbs and taking tougher positions. Trump met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday at the White House for consultations and suggested the summit could be delayed or even called off entirely.

Even so, both sides still seem to want to hold the meeting, which would be unprecedented.

Success in talks would be a huge accomplishment for Trump. Meeting with the U.S. president as an equal on the world stage would be a major coup for Kim.
North Korea claimed to be surprised and full of regret at President Donald Trumps decision to cancel the planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

The North Korean regime rejected responsibility for the summit cancellation in a statement released by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday and attributed to Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, translated and quoted in 38 North, a web journal that provides analysis and insight into North Korea.

The vice foreign minister expressed great regret for Trumps sudden and unilateral announcement, for which, he said, it was hard to guess the reasons. It could be that he lacked the will for the summit or he might not have felt confident, Kim Kye Gwam suggested, poking at presidents ego.

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In the letter to Kim Jong Un, Trump said he thought the atmosphere was too hostile for the two of them to meet, a reference to a recent statement from North Koreas vice-foreign minister Choe Son Hui in which she called Vice-President Mike Pence a political dummy for comparing her country to Libya.

05_25_Kim

Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Branding Trumps decision as not consistent with the desire of humankind for peace and stability in the world, Kim Kye Gwam referred to his country by its official name, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), and said Choes statement was just a reaction to the unbridled remarks made by the U.S. side which has long pressed the DPRK unilaterally to scrap nuclear program ahead of the DPRK-U.S. summit.

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Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea had inwardly highly appreciated Trumps bold decision to meet with Kim Jong Unindeed, a meeting with a U.S. president had long been a foreign policy goal of the North Korean regime, which saw it as an opportunity to be presented as an equal to a global power on the world stage.

North Korea vowed to continue to pursue that goal and took the opportunity to paint itself once again as a reasonable, peace-loving nation, extending an olive branch to the U.S. We will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the U.S. side time and opportunity, Kim Kye Gwam wrote.

The first meeting would not solve all, but solving even one at a time in a phased way would make the relations get better rather than making them get worse. The U.S. should ponder over it, the vice foreign minister advised, making it known to the U.S. that North Korea remained willing to talk and solve problem regardless of ways at any time.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Kyle Mizokami

Security, Asia

Yes, this is true.

North Korea Has a Secret Weapon: Underground Air Bases

Once located, there are three ways of dealing with the sites. The first and safest way to deal with them is to bomb them from above. This presents the least risk to allied forces, but it will also prove difficult to determine whether air or artillery strikes have had good effect. The use of bombs or artillery shells may cause cave-ins that prevent allied forces from entering an underground complex and exploiting any intelligence found inside.

North Korea, one of the most secretive countries in the world, is no stranger to building underground military facilities. Whether a tunnel dug under the demilitarized zone designed to pass thousands of troops an hour, or bunkers to accommodate the regimes leadership, North Korea has built extensive underground facilities designed to give it an edge in wartime.

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One of the earliest examples of North Korean underground engineering was the discovery of several tunnels leading from North Korea under the demilitarized zone to South Korea. The first tunnel was located in 1974, extending one kilometer south of the DMZ. The tunnel was large enough to move up to two thousand troops per hour under the DMZ. A U.S. Navy officer and South Korean Marine corporal were killed by a booby trap while investigating the tunnel. Thanks to a tip from a North Korean defector, an even larger tunnel was discovered in 1978, a mile long and nearly seven feet wide.

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Since then at least four tunnels have been discovered, with reinforced concrete slabs, electricity for lighting and fresh air generation, and narrow railway gauges to shuttle dirt and rock back to the tunnel entrance. Collectively, the four tunnels would have likely been able to move a brigades worth of troops an hour under South Koreas defenses.

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Its difficult to determine how many tunnels exist. One report says that Kim Il-sung, the founder of the North Korean state and Kim Jong-uns grandfather, ordered each of the ten frontline combat divisions to dig two tunnels. If completed, that would theoretically mean another dozen or so tunnels remain undiscovered. A former South Korean general, Han Sung-chu, claims there are at least eighty-four tunnelssome reaching as far as downtown Seoul. The South Korean government does not believe Hans numbersnor the claimed ability to reach Seoulare credible. A forty-mile tunnel would reportedly generate a seven-hundred-thousand-ton debris pile, which has not been picked up by satellite. Despite the warnings, the last major tunnel was discovered in 1990 and South Korea seems to believe that the tunneling danger has passed.

If it has passed, it may be because North Korea has decided to tunnel in different ways. The North Korean Peoples Liberation Army Air Force is believed to have three different underground air bases at Wonsan, Jangjin and Onchun. The underground base at Wonsan reportedly includes a runway 5,900 feet long and ninety feet wide that passes through a mountain. According to a defector, during wartime NK PLAAF aircraft, including MiG-29 fighters and Su-25 Frogfoot ground-attack aircraft, would take off from conventional air bases but return to underground air bases. This is plausible, as one would expect North Korean air bases to be quickly destroyed during wartime.

Another underground development is a series of troop bunkers near the DMZ. A North Korean defector disclosed that, starting in 2004, North Korea began building bunkers capable of concealing between 1,500 and two thousand fully armed combat troops near the border. At least eight hundred bunkers were built, not including decoys, meant to conceal units such as light-infantry brigades and keep them rested until the start of an invasion.

Other underground facilities are believed to have been constructed to shelter the Norths leadership. According to a South Korean military journal, the United States believes there are between six thousand and eight thousand such shelters scattered across the country. This information was reportedly gathered from defectors in order to hunt down regime members in the event of war or government collapse.

North Korea is believed to have hundreds of artillery-concealing caves just north of the DMZ. Known as Hardened Artillery Sites, or HARTS, these are usually tunneled into the sides of mountains. An artillery piece, such as a 170-millimeter Koksan gun or 240-millimeter multiple-launch rocket system, can fire from the mouth of the cave and then withdraw into the safety of the mountain to reload. These sites are used to provide artillery support for an invasion of South Korea or direct fire against Seoul itself. As of 1986, and estimated two hundred to five hundred HARTS were thought to exist.

According to a report by the Nautilus Institute, North Korea is also thought to have radar sites in elevator shafts that can be raised up like a submarine periscope; submarine and missile patrol boat bases in tunnels hewn in rock; tunnels a kilometer or more in length for storing vehicles and supplies, or to hide the population of a nearby city.

How would the United States and South Korea deal with these underground facilities in wartime? First, it would have to locate the facilities. These facilities are hard to spot via satellite, and gleaning information from defectors is perhaps the best way to learn about them in peacetime. Once war commences, signal intelligence will pick up radio transmissions from previously unknown underground locations, enemy troops will from concealed positions or tunnel entrances, and artillery counter-battery radars will fix the positions of HARTS. It is likely that, despite advance preparations, many of these positions will be a surprise to Washington and Seoul.

Once located, there are three ways of dealing with the sites. The first and safest way to deal with them is to bomb them from above. This presents the least risk to allied forces, but it will also prove difficult to determine whether air or artillery strikes have had good effect. The use of bombs or artillery shells may cause cave-ins that prevent allied forces from entering an underground complex and exploiting any intelligence found inside.

Another option is to simply station troops outside tunnels and shoot anyone who ventures outside. While also a safer option, an underground complex will always have multiple exitsthe tunnels Kim Il-sung ordered his divisions to dig were to each have four or five exit points. The most thorough way to deal with the tunnels would be to enter them. This would be by far the most effective way to deal with regime holdouts, but also the most dangerous.

Pyongyangs eventual defeat in any wartime scenario is a given, but its underground headquarters, fortifications and troop depots have the potential to not only enhance the Korean Peoples Armys ability to mount a surprise attack, but also to prolong the war, confounding the high-tech armed forces of its adversaries. Such underground shelters, wherever they are, will likely be the site of the endgame phase of the war, as the regime is driven underground by rapidly advancing allied forces. Only then will we discover the true extent of North Koreas extensive underground empire.

Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national-security writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in the Diplomat, Foreign Policy, War is Boring and the Daily Beast. In 2009, he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. You can follow him on Twitter: @KyleMizokami.

This first appeared last May.

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North Korea says it is still willing to sit down for talks with the United States at any time, at any format after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan issued a statement Friday saying North Korea is willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities to reconsider talks.

Kim says North Koreas objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged.

Kim is calling Trumps decision unexpected and very regrettable, and says the cancellation of the talks shows how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says hes very perplexed that the U.S.-North Korea summit wont go ahead as planned.

Yonhap news agency cited Moon as urging direct talks between President Donald Trump and North Koreas Kim Jong Un.

Moon was speaking at an emergency meeting of his top security officials in Seoul after Trump announced he was canceling the summit because of North Korean hostility.

Moon was quoted as saying: I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-U.S. summit will not be held on June 12.

He said, Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed.

Moon met Trump in Washington on Tuesday, but appeared caught unawares by the presidents decision Thursday.
Mike Pence said North Korea could end up like Libya, whose former leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed - Bloomberg

North Korea hit out at US Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday, calling him "ignorant and stupid" as the reclusive state made a renewed threat to cancel an upcoming summit between the two countries.

Choe Son Hui, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, released a statement via the state-run KCNA news agency lambasting a recent media interview Pence gave to Fox News.

"I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president," she said in the statement.

In his Monday interview with Fox, Mr Pence warned North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that it would be a "great mistake" to try to play Washington ahead of a planned summit with President Donald Trump next month in Singapore.

He also said North Korea could end up like Libya, whose former leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in an uprising years after giving up atomic weapons, "if Kim Jong-un doesnt make a deal".

Kim Jong-un has the USA and South Korea exactly where he wants them

Choe responded to that interview with an angrily worded statement in which she slammed the "unbridled and impudent remarks" from Mr Pence, adding Pyongyang would not be forced to the table by threats from Washingtons leadership.

"We will neither beg the US for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us," she said.

"In case the US offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the DPRK-US summit," she added, using the initials of North Koreas official name.

Similar comments comparing North Korea to Libya from Trump's hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton caused the first threat by Pyongyang last week to cancel the Singapore meeting.

"Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States," Choe added.

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Rocket man: How Kim Jong-un emerged from his father's shadow to silence the doubters

Politically, Trump has invested heavily in the success of the planned summit, and so privately most US officials, as well as outside observers, believe it will go ahead.

Hand-picked aides - including deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin and deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel - are traveling to the Southeast Asian city state designated to host the summit, officials said.

They are expected to meet their North Korean counterparts and iron out details of the meeting.

But Trump has also become increasingly lukewarm about meeting Kim, teasing his commitment to talks as keenly as any of his "The Apprentice" season finales.

"On Singapore we'll see. It could very well happen," he said Wednesday, adding cryptically: "Whatever it is, we'll know next week."

Trump enthusiastically embraced the idea of talks earlier this year - the first ever meeting between a US president and a leader of North Korea.

But as the date draws nearer, the yawning gulf in expectations between the two sides is coming into sharp relief.

N Korea nuclear test site

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North.

But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

Some analysts have suggested both sides still want to meet in Singapore but are playing hardball in the run up to the summit to leverage a better negotiation position.

Ostensibly the Trump-Kim talks will be about peace on the Korean peninsula and North Korea's nuclear and ballistic weapons.

But even before talk of test freezes, decommissioning or inspections, Washington and Pyongyang are engaged in a public relations battle.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - who has met personally with Kim - said whether the summit goes ahead is now up to North Korea.

"That decision will ultimately be up to Chairman Kim," he told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. "He asked for the meeting, the president agreed to meet with him. I'm very hopeful that that meeting will take place."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang Credit: AFP

His remarks reflect an effort to perhaps lay the groundwork for blame should the talks fail.

As part of its own charm offensive, North Korea invited some foreign journalists to witness the slated destruction of the isolated regime's nuclear test site.

The gesture, which experts agree would do little to curb North Korea's long-term nuclear capabilities, is meant to signal that the regime is serious about change.

Pyongyang said it planned to "completely" destroy the Punggye-ri facility in the country's northeast when it made the surprise announcement earlier this month.

The demolition is due to take place sometime between Thursday and Friday, depending on the weather.
Moscow (AFP) - Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with her ex-spy father in Britain in March, said in a video statement Wednesday she would like to eventually return to Russia but first needed to get better.

"I was discharged from hospital on April 9th but my treatment is continuing," Yulia Skripal said in a video statement to Reuters which was broadcast on national television in Russia.

"In the future I hope to return home back to my country," said the 33-year-old woman who wore a light blue dress and a visible scar on her throat.

Yulia Skripal, who is under the protection of the British government, spoke in Russian from an undisclosed location and smiled as she began to speak.

"It's still hard for me to come to terms with the thought that we came under such an attack," she said, adding she was in a coma for 20 days.

"I woke to the news that we had both been poisoned," she said.

"The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking," she added. "We are very lucky to have survived this assassination attempt."

She said she was grateful to Russian diplomats for their help but said she "was not ready" to accept assistance from the Russian embassy at this stage.

"I don't want to go into details but I would just like to say that the treatment was invasive and deeply depressing," she said in her first media appearance since the March 4 poisoning in the British cathedral city of Salisbury.

"I try to take one day at a time and want to help my father until he fully recovers," she added.

"My life has been turned upside down and right now I am trying to come to terms with incredible changes in my life, both physical and emotional."

She called on everyone to respect her family's privacy and thanked all those who helped her.

"My recovery and that of my father remain my priority," she said.

- Russia demands access -

Russian ambassador to London Alexander Yakovenko has repeatedly demanded access to Yulia Skripal.

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After her video statement, the Russian embassy in London said it was happy to see that Skripal was "in good health".

However the diplomatic mission suggested she might be held in Britain against her will and insisted that Russian diplomats needed to see her.

"The United Kingdom has the obligation to give us an opportunity to speak to Yulia directly to make sure that she is not being held against her will and is not making statements under duress," the embassy said.

"So far we have grounds to suspect the opposite."

The embassy suggested that her statement in Russian was translated from English, implying she had been told what to say.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found slumped on a bench in the English city of Salisbury in March, sparking a bitter diplomatic crisis between Moscow and London, which says a Soviet-made nerve agent dubbed novichok was used on the pair.

Moscow has furiously denied any involvement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wished Sergei Skripal good health after he was discharged from hospital earlier this month.

"God grant him good health," Putin said during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week.

"If a military-grade poison had been used, the man would have died on the spot. Thank God he recovered and that he left (hospital)."

A number of Russian chemists who worked on the novichok family of nerve agents had said earlier that the poison was so potent the Skripals might not recover and could suffer debilitating consequences for the rest of their lives.

Yulia Skripal was visiting her father when the attack took place.

Sergei Skripal moved to Britain in 2010 as part of a spy exchange after being imprisoned in Russia for selling secrets to British intelligence while he was working for the GRU, Russia's foreign military intelligence agency.
Najib Razak

REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin

Police seized $28.6 million-worth of cash, which included 26 foreign currencies, from properties reportedly linked to former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The seizures happened on six properties linked to Najib last week, where 284 designer handbags and 72 bags were found stuffed with cash, jewelry, and watches taken.

Police needed 22 bank staff and 11 counting machines to track and verify all the cash found.

The raids appear to be part of an investigation into suspicious money transfers from the state investment fund which lost billions of dollars.



Police recently seized $28.6 million-worth of cash from a residence reportedly linked to former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Najib lost a national election earlier this month in a dramatic turn of events which led to the first transition of power to the opposition alliance in the country's independent history. Najib's popularity began to plummet in 2015 after billions of dollars went missing from the state fund 1MDB, and hundreds of millions were reportedly found in Najib's personal bank accounts.

After being sworn in as the new prime minister Mahathir Mohamad promised to continue the investigation into 1MDB, saying he expected charges to be laid against Najib. Last week, police conducted raids on six properties linked to Najib and seized 284 luxury handbags and 72 bags of cash, jewelry and watches. At the time.

Amar Singh, head of Malaysia's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID), said in a press conference on Friday that 35 of 72 bags contained cash totaling about $28.6 million.

"We've counted since 21 to 23 May, and yesterday we sat with the bank to tally the amount in that seizure. I can confirm that the money in those 35 bags is about 114 million ringgit ($28.6 million). It's in 26 currencies, Malaysian ringgit, US currencies and various other denominations," Singh said.

Singh had been unable to provide estimates of the amount of cash seized earlier "because it was a lot," he said. Police used 11 counting machines and 22 bank officers to count and verify the 26 foreign currencies that were seized.

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The luxury handbags and bags of cash and jewelry was seized from an empty apartment in the Pavilion Residences on May 18. Nothing else was in the apartment except for furniture, Singh said.

Though Singh would not confirm whether the apartment was linked to Najib, the raid occurred at the same time police began searching Najib's home, and the apartment of each his son and daughter in the Pavilion Residences. From Najib's home 500,000 ringgit ($125,000), plus additional foreign currency, was also seized.

Experts will soon start the process of authenticating and appraising the remaining 37 bags of jewelry and watches.

Of the remaining 284 designer handbags found in boxes, most of these were from Hermes which can cost up to $200,000 each.

"We have already discussed with Hermes and we'll take pictures and send it to Paris to certify from the aspect of authenticating it and also the price," Singh said.

Earlier this week, Najib gave a testimony to Malaysia's anti-graft agency over $10.6 million found in his bank account, which allegedly originated from a former 1MDB subsidiary.

Najib set up the 1MDB fund in 2009, but in 2015 nearly $700 million was reportedly found in his personal bank accounts, which a royal Saudi family member said was a personal donation.

A number of countries, including the US and Switzerland, are investigating $4.5 billion that was allegedly siphoned off from 1MDB, some of which was used to fund "The Wolf of Wall Street" movie and diamonds for supermodel Miranda Kerr.

Najib is currently barred from leaving the country.

NOW WATCH: 80% of startup money goes to 3 states  here's what one visionary is doing to help spread the wealth

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SEE ALSO: In a historic election, Malaysia's allegedly corrupt prime minister lost to his 92-year-old former mentor who ran on behalf of a man he put in jail
President Donald Trump returned to his real estate deal-making playbook on Thursday when he abruptly canceled his summit with North Koreas leader and demanded that Kim Jong Un personally step in to keep the talks on track. The move showed that Trump was increasingly concerned that Kim might have the upper hand in the lead up to the highly anticipated June 12 meeting in Singapore, and that the U.S. had lost control of the planning process.

For several days, Kims government had stopped returning requests from U.S. negotiators to discuss the summit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told lawmakers on Thursday. In the meantime, North Korean officials had released statements taking a harder line against denuclearization calling stupid and ignorant a comparison made by Vice President Mike Pence comparing talks with North Korea to Libyas nuclear disarmament. Pence is not one to improvise his remarks, making the pronouncement all the more troubling for the North Koreans. (The Vice Presidents office did not respond to a request for comment.)

Speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon, a senior White House official shed more light on what happened. According to the official, North Korea had promised the U.S. a meeting in Singapore last week to work out logistics for the June 12 summit. The Trump Administration sent representatives, but North Korea never showed. They simply stood us up, the official said. The official also said that North Korea had promised that international leaders and nuclear experts would be invited to witness todays demolition of the nuclear test site; instead they only invited journalists. And the official said the U.S. was worried when North Korea objected to a routine annual joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea. There has been a trail of broken promises that gave the United States pause, he said.

Trump had railed to his staff in recent days about the comments coming out of North Korea, but was repeatedly assured they came from mid-level officials and did not seem designed to derail the talks, according to a White House official. But alarm bells for were going off for Trump, who has often said that a negotiator must be willing to walk away to avoid looking desperate for a deal.

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Trump worried that his side was increasingly looking like it wanted the meeting more than Pyongyang, the official said. News stories showed the White House had minted commemorative coins for the Singapore summit, Trump himself had said everyone thinks he should win the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, and Trump Administration staff were setting aside hotel rooms in Singapore for the formalities.

Read More: White House Gift Shop Offers Discounts on Commemorative Coins for North Korea Summit

Trump abruptly decided to cancel the meeting Thursday morning  in much the same way he had accepted Kims offer  with little consultation with his staff, American lawmakers or allies.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger displayed in your most recent statement, Trump wrote to Kim. I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

The White House official said that Trump met with Pence, Pompeo, Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser John Bolton and others Thursday morning, and after considering his decision, Trump dictated every word of the letter himself.

But even as Trump spiked the meeting, he left the door open for Kim to make an overture. In the letter, Trump went out of his way to say he felt a wonderful dialogue was building between the two leaders and that he appreciated the beautiful gesture Kim made in releasing three American prisoners. Its possible that the existing summit could take place, or a summit at some later date. Nobody should be anxious. We have to get it right,  Trump told reporters in the White House later in the day, adding that if and when Kim wants to talk: I am waiting.

The news reportedly prompted South Koreas President Moon Jae-in to call a late night meeting in the presidential mansion in Seoul as news broke that the summit was off. Just two days before, as Moon sat next to him in the Oval Office, Trump said he was prepared to guarantee the security of North Koreas dictator and provide economic support. Trump was also willing to do something North Korean leaders had wanted for decades: to meet with an American president as an equal power. Trump is now betting that Kim wants that symbolic face-to-face badly enough to make the next move.

North Korea needs this summit more than the US  make no mistake of that, Trumps lawyer Jay Sekulow, who also hosts a conservative talk radio show, wrote on Twitter. Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, wrote on Twitter that he didnt see Trumps cancellation at the end of talks, but instead, said it was about maneuvering, lack of predictability and leverage.

David Pressman, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for special political affairs, now a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, dismissed that Trump was following a well-thought out negotiation strategy. He said Kim desperately wants the credibility and legitimacy that comes with meeting an American commander-in-chief, but added that President Trump is winging it. There is no plan. There is no strategy. There is no grand chess game of out-crazying our adversary. There is just dizzying lack of coordination, and a fetishistic obsession with symbols coupled with little interest in details, Pressman told TIME in an email.

Even as Trump sent overtures to Kim, he held out the possibility of U.S. military action, writing in his letter to Kim that the U.S. nuclear capability is massive and powerful. In a briefing with reporters later in the day, Pentagon spokesman Dana White said the U.S. military stands by its motto to be ready to fight tonight on the Korean peninsula against North Korean aggression.

Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., director of the U.S. militarys Joint Staff, added that the 28,000 American troops in South Korea, along with the array of missile defense systems in the region, would be prepared to respond quickly should Pyongyang ever launch an offensive. Theyve proven to be unpredictable in the past, he said, regarding the North Korean military. McKenzie added that although there was visible destruction to the entrances of the tunnels to North Koreas Punggye-ri nuclear test site, no final assessment had been made on the capability to restart it.

Congressional leaders were caught largely off-balance by the announcement and scrambled to discern whether the meeting was actually canceled, or if the Presidents letter was merely a negotiating ploy. Conservative media outlets such as Fox News suggested Trump was using a page from his best-selling advice book, The Art of the Deal. The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it, Trump wrote in his 1987 best-seller. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then youre dead.

Lawmakers who phoned the White House for guidance were told the Presidents letter spoke for itself.

Trump allies outside government suggested the President would rejoin the meetings in short order. They pointed to the Presidents letter, which seemed he was deeply disappointed and seemed to beg for North Korea to call him, and a tweet that said he sadly had to walk away.

Trumps about-face put his Republican loyalists in something of a bind. Many of the longtime critics of attempts to negotiate away nuclear weapons had made peace with Trumps belief that he could talk North Korea into de-nuclearizing. Some had even taken up the unofficial campaign that Trump should win a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in bringing the parties to the table.

Then, the talks appeared to collapse and those same lawmakers forced themselves to praise Trump for walking away from them. It was merely the largest reminder of the indignities that President subjects his nominal allies to.

Privately, some Republicans were trying to read the tea leaves for what the exit  at least for now  means for White House power. Pompeo had been taking the lead on talks with North Korea, including high-profile meetings. He had an ally in Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

But Trumps national security adviser, John Bolton, was seen a major critic of the diplomatic efforts and was pushing a hawkish line of attack. Trumps letter indicates Boltons worldview was prevailing, and Pompeos scheduled testimony in the Senates foreign policy panel began awkwardly with the nations top diplomat reading Trumps surprise letter. The session about the State Departments budget had little to do with dollars and cents.

North Korea has a long history of demanding concessions merely to negotiate, said Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. While past administrations of both parties have fallen for this ruse, I commend the president for seeing through Kim Jong Uns fraud.

 With reporting by Tessa Berenson, Philip Elliott and Nash Jenkins in Washington
President Donald Trump suddenly announced Thursday he is pulling out of the meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, ending  for now at least  the hopes of a historic reconciliation with the nuclear-armed hermit regime.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and and open hostility displayed in your recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long planned meeting, Trump said in a public letter addressed to His Excellency Kim Jong Un.

The letter was sent one day after North Korea claimed it had demolished its nuclear test site, something Kim had said he would do in anticipation of the summit. But, according to the Associated Press, no international inspectors were invited to the demolition, raising questions about how serious the move was taken.

In the letter, Trump made sure to mention that the United States nuclear capabilities were far superior to North Koreas.

Sadly, I was forced to cancel the Summit Meeting in Singapore with Kim Jung Un. pic.twitter.com/qEoi9ymUEz  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2018

You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used, he wrote.

The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history, Trump concluded at the end of the letter.

The summit had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, but its fate had been in jeopardy following tough rhetoric from Pyongyang. Kim Kye Gwan, North Koreas first vice foreign minister, said in a statement that North Korean leaders were considering cancelling the summit because they felt the U.S. was manipulating them into completely abandoning their nuclear weapons program. We are no longer interested in a negotiation that will be all about driving us into a corner and making a one-sided demand for us to give up our nukes, the statement read, according to the AP.

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Reactions in South Korea were mixed, particularly given that Trump had floated the possibility of unifying the North and South into a single country just two days ago.

Jae Hye-Rim, 20, was smoking outside a convenience store in Seoul when the news broke late Thursday local time. She said that she was happy Trump had cancelled the summit, and doesnt want unification because of the economic differences between North and South Korea.

But businessman Kwon Jae won, 47, said through an interpreter that this was an important time in the two Koreas history. He doubted the sincerity of Trumps cancellation, saying he thought it was a fake political strategy.

This will say a lot to the East Asian eyes here, like Korea, Japan. I feel like people here have been worried Trump is just going to do whatever he wants, a student at Seoul National University said after learning of the announcement from TIME.

Still, the student said, she and other young Koreans had grown cautiously optimistic that the summit could result in a historic peace.

Only days ago, Trump and Republican allies in Congress were suggesting that the President should receive the Nobel Peace Prize if the summit resulted in peace on the Korean peninsula.

The tensions between the two countries had begun to increase in recent days after Trumps new National Security Adviser, John Bolton, compared the situation with North Korea to Libya. Libyas former leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed to abandon the countrys nuclear weapons program in 2003 in exchange for sanctions relief. Gadhafi was overthrown and killed eight years later during the Arab Spring, which undoubtedly sparked fear in Kim Jong Un.

After Vice President Mike Pence reiterated in an interview on Fox News Monday that North Korea could end up like Libya if there was no deal on nuclear weapons, Choe Sun Hoi, North Koreas Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, called Pence a political dummy and threatened a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in flew in to Washington earlier this week to try and salvage the meeting. But even as South Korean officials were expressing almost complete confidence the summit would happen, Trump was telling reporters there was a chance it wouldnt. Were moving along. Well see what happens, he said. If it doesnt happen, maybe it will happen later.

Trump did not entirely close the possibility of holding a summit in the future, but told Kim Jong Un that he should write or call him should he change his mind. Trump also thanked him for releasing the three American hostages earlier this month, calling it a beautiful thing.

Read the full text of the letter below.

Dear Mr. Chairman:

We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore. We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place. You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and very much appreciated.

If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

Sincerely yours,

Donald J. Trump

 With reporting by Joseph Hincks/Seoul
Demonstrations against a copper smelting plant in southern India ended in violence Tuesday after police opened fire on protestors, killing 12, local authorities confirmed.

Thousands of protestors assembled for hours in Indias southern Tamil Nadu to demand the closure of a British-owned copper plant due to worries over pollution, Agence France-Presse reports. Protestors set fire a local administrators office and burned more than 110 vehicles, according to police, who responded with batons and tear gas before firing on the crowd. About 20 police officers were also injured in the skirmish, which occurred in the southern port city Tuticorin.

The violence has sparked outrage from Indian public figures and celebrities. Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party, called the incident state sponsored terrorism.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami defended the police response in a statement, citing unavoidable circumstances and blaming the protestors for resorting to repeated violence. Palaniswami added that families of the victims would be offered one million rupees ($14,700) in compensation.

Local residents have been protesting for months against the plant, which is operated by Sterlite Copper, a subsidiary of London-based Vedanta Resources. Environmental activists say the cooper plant is polluting local water resources, allegations the company denied as false propaganda.

The plant has been closed since March, when it shut for maintenance, but it has since been denied an operating license over failure to observe environmental regulations, Reuters reported. It is scheduled to reopen in June and plans to double its capacity.

The plant was also briefly shut in March 2013 after a suspected gas leak left hundreds of local residents struggling to breath and suffering from nausea and throat infections, according to AFP.
(Photo: NicolasMcComber via Getty Images)

Protests prompted supermarket chain Publix to suspend all political contributions after it was revealed to have given more than half a million dollars to a Florida Republican who called himself a proud NRA sellout.

Publix was found to have given $670,000 in donations over the past three years to Adam Putnam, Floridas current agriculture commissioner, who is now running for governor. But in Florida, where a school shooter in Parkland killed 17 people earlier this year, many locals arent about to let a National Rifle Association sellout run their state.

On Wednesday, Parkland shooting survivor and gun-control activist David Hogg issued a call on Twitter for people to stage a die in at the grocery store, which has locations throughout the Southeast.

.@Publix is a #NRASellOut

In Parkland we will have a die in the Friday (the 25th) before memorial day weekend. Starting at 4pm for 12 min inside our 2 Publix stores. Just go an lie down starting at 4. Feel free to die in with us at as many other @Publix as possible.  David Hogg (@davidhogg111) May 23, 2018

Prior to the demonstration, Publix issued a statement expressing regret that its political contributions had led to an unintentional customer divide. On Friday, it released a new statement saying it would be suspending political contributions.

We would never knowingly disappoint our customers or the communities we serve, the company said in a statement provided to HuffPost. As a result, we decided earlier this week to suspend corporate-funded political contributions as we reevaluate our giving processes.

The same day, Hogg attended a protest at a Coral Springs Publix, where he and supporters lay on the floor for 12 minutes.

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USA over NRA! the activists chanted at one point.

'Where shooting is a pleasure:' Parkland school shooting survivor and activist David Hogg organized a 'die-in' protest at a Publix supermarket in Coral Springs today. Inside, they were met with shouts from National Rifle Association supporters >> https://t.co/nhFfywze9i pic.twitter.com/IoDM4BwjyG  WTXL ABC 27 (@abc27) May 25, 2018

Suspended means nothing, Ryan Deitsch, a March for Our Lives activist at the Coral Springs store, told the Sun Sentinel. Publix knows were not going away.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
In an address to Harvard Law School graduates on Wednesday, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake sharpened his critique of President Trump and Congress, which he said is failing its constitutional obligations to counteract the power of the president, and in so doing is dishonoring itself, at a critical moment in the life of our nation.

Flake, a Republican who is not seeking reelection, has long been a vocal critic of Trump.

Our presidency has been debased by a figure who has a seemingly bottomless appetite for destruction and division and only a passing familiarity with how the Constitution works, Flake said Wednesday.

You might reasonably ask, where is the good news in that? Well, simply put: We may have hit bottom, he continued. Oh, and thats also the bad news. In a rare convergence, the good news and bad news are the same  our leadership is not good, but it probably cant get much worse.

Part of Flakes speech echoed advice that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired by Trump in March, gave to graduates at Virginia Military Institute last week, in which he warned them to seek out employers who set high standards and to maintain their integrity in the face of career pressure.

There are times when circumstances may call on you to risk your career in favor of your principles, Flake said in his commencement address. But you  and your country  will be better for it. You can go elsewhere for a job, but you cannot go elsewhere for a soul.

Read Flakes full speech from the Class Day ceremony here:

Dean Manning, graduates, class marshalls, families and faculty:

It is such an honor to stand before you today, on this very special day of celebration and accomplishment for you and your families, in this annual season of advice-giving. That is why I am here. I am very much hoping you can give me some advice.

Ill soon be in the job market myself.

I feel truly privileged by your invitation. Congratulations to the Harvard Law Class of 2018! To be here in this place that has produced so many of our nations leaders and our finest legal minds is deeply humbling. An institution that gave the world Oliver Wendell Holmes, a majority of the current Supreme Court, and not only Barack but Michelle Obama, too  well, it all has me wondering if I didnt somehow receive this invitation by mistake.

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Ill always remember the decadent celebration after graduation at my beloved alma mater, BYU. Bowl after bowl of rocky road, double fudge chunk and butter pecan. Hey, when youre Mormon, ice cream is all youve got.

I am not only humbled by this place, I am also humbled by this moment in the life of our country. You see, you are set to inherit the world in just the nick of time.

I am also especially humbled given the fact that I come to you today from the political class. In utter seriousness, it is I who could benefit from listening to you today rather than speaking to you, as I am not so sure that there is much distilled wisdom to be imparted from Washington these days, given what has lately become the tawdriness of my profession. I am here today as representative of a co-equal branch of our federal government  which is failing its constitutional obligations to counteract the power of the president, and in so doing is dishonoring itself  at a critical moment in the life of our nation.

And so, with humility, let me suggest that perhaps it is best to consider what I have to say today as something of a cautionary tale 

-about the rule of law and its fragility;

-about our democratic norms and how hard-won and vulnerable they are;

-about the independence of our system of justice, and how critically important it is to safeguard it from malign actors who would casually destroy that independence for their own purposes and without a thought to the consequences;

-about the crucial predicate for all of these cherished American values: Truth. Empirical, objective truth;

-and lastly, about the necessity to defend these values and these institutions that you will soon inherit, even if that means sometimes standing alone, even if it means risking something important to you, maybe even your career. Because there are times when circumstances may call on you to risk your career in favor of your principles.

But you  and your country  will be better for it. You can go elsewhere for a job, but you cannot go elsewhere for a soul.

Not to be unpleasant, but I do bring news from our nations capital. First, the good news: Your national leadership is not good. At all. Our presidency has been debased by a figure who has a seemingly bottomless appetite for destruction and division and only a passing familiarity with how the constitution works.

And our Article I branch of government, the Congress (thats me), is utterly supine in the face of the moral vandalism that flows from the White House daily. I do not think that the founders could have anticipated that the beauty of their invention might someday founder on the rocks of reality television, and that the Congress would be such willing accomplices to this calamity. Our most ardent enemies, doing their worst (and they are doing their worst), couldnt hurt us more than we are hurting ourselves.

Now, you might reasonably ask, where is the good news in that?

Well, simply put: We may have hit bottom.

(Oh, and thats also the bad news. In a rare convergence, the good news and bad news are the same  our leadership is not good, but it probably cant get much worse.)

This is it, if you have been wondering what the bottom looks like. This is what it looks like when you stress-test all of the institutions that undergird our constitutional democracy, at the same time. You could say that we are witnesses to history, and if it were possible to divorce ourselves from the obvious tragedy of this debacle, I suppose that might even be interesting, from an academic perspective. The way some rare diseases are interesting to medical researchers.

But this is an experience we could and should have avoided. Getting to this state of distress did not occur naturally. Rather, this was thoroughly man-made. This disease of our polity is far too serious to not be recognized for what it is, the damage it threatens to do to our vital organs is far too great for us to carry on as if all is well. All is not well. We have a sickness of the spirit. To complete the medical metaphor, you might say that we are now in critical condition.

How did we arrive at a moment of such peril, wherein a president of the United States publicly threatens on Fox & Friends, historians will note  to interfere in the administration of justice, and seems to think that the office confers on him the ability to decide who and what gets investigated, and who and what does not? And just this week, the President  offering an outlandish rationale, ordered an investigation into the investigation of the Russian attack on our electoral process  not to defend the country against further attacks, mind you, but to defend himself. Obviously, ordering investigations is not a legitimate use of presidential power.

I pick this egregious example of recent presidential conduct not because it is rare in terms of this presidents body of work, but because it so perfectly represents what we have tragically grown accustomed to in the past year and a half. Who would have thought that we would ever see encouragement coming from the White House for chants at rallies calling for the jailing of a defeated political opponent. When you dont even know that there are limits on presidential power, then you might not even care when you are abusing that power.

How did this happen to us? And what might we learn from it? How did we get swept up in this global resurgence of the authoritarian impulse, which now has democracies teetering on the brink, strongmen placing themselves above the law, and in our own country a leader who reveres some of the most loathsome enemies of democracy in our time?

Have we really grown tired of democracy? Are we watching its passing, cheered on by the America First crowd even as we cast aside global institutions that have fostered freedom, prosperity and peace for more than a half-century?

For just a moment, let us marvel at the miracle that is the rule of law. We have seldom been moved to pause for such an appreciation, as we have been too busy taking it for granted and assuming its inviolability  like gravity. But unlike Newtons Laws, the rule of law was neither innate nor inevitable. What goes up must come down is a piece of cake compared to curbing the impulses of man and asking free people to abide rules and norms that form a country, and foster civilization.

It took centuries of war and sacrifice and social upheaval and more war and great civil rights struggles to establish the foundational notion that no one is either above the law or unworthy of the protections afforded by a robust legal system, a system that took us from feudal servility to a constitutional model that is the envy of the world. And will continue to be, with your help.

We trace the beginnings of this radical egalitarianism  of the awesome and leveling effect of the law  to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which saw the death of the divine right of kings, as even the monarch from that point forward would be subject to the law  and the parliament even threw in a bill of rights for good measure.

But we are now testing the durability of this idea that William III first had the good sense to agree to, an idea which was then forged and tempered over the ensuing centuries. And we are seeing its vulnerabilities. In other parts of the world where democracys roots are not so deep, we are seeing it being torn down with sickening ease and shocking speed. And worse, we are seeing the rise of simulated democracies, Potemkin democracies, democracies in appearance and affect only.

Rule of thumb: If the only acceptable outcome in a matter of law or justice is a result that is satisfactory to the leader, then you might live in a democracy that is in trouble. If the leader attacks the legitimacy of any institution that does not pay him obeisance  say, the independent judiciary, or the free press  then you might live in a democracy that is in trouble. Further to that point: when a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesnt suit him fake news, it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.

It will be the work of your generation to make sure that this degradation of democracy does not continue  to see to it that our current flirtation with lawlessness and authoritarianism does not become a heritable trait to be passed down from this presidency.

The rule of law is an elemental value, a value that preceded and gave rise to our Constitution. It is not an ideology subject to the pendulum swings of politics, or something to be given a thumbs-up or thumbs-down in a call-in to your favorite morning show. It is the basis of our system of self-governance. America without the rule of law is no longer America.

I am a conservative Republican, a throwback from the days when those words actually meant something, before the collapse of our politics into the rank tribalism we currently endure. My sounding this alarm against a government that was elected under the Republican banner and that calls itself conservative makes me no less Republican or conservative. And opposing this president and much of what he stands for is not an act of apostasy  it is, rather, an act of fidelity.

Because we forget this fact far too often, and it bears repeating a thousand times, especially in times such as these: Values transcend politics.

As a conservative Republican, I dare say that my idea of government may differ with the beliefs of many of you here today. I will be thoroughly presumptuous and assume that in terms of policy prescriptions, we disagree on much. (Call me crazy.)

But I have long believed that the only lasting solutions to the problems before us must involve both sides. Lawmaking should never be an exercise in revenge, because vengeful people are myopic, self-interested, and not fit to lead. I believe that our government should include people who believe as I do, just as I believe it must include people who believe as my friend Tim Kaine does, or as my friend Cory Booker does, to name but two.

The greatness of our system is that it is designed to be difficult, in order to force compromise. And when you honor the system, and seek to govern in good faith, the system works.

Which brings us back to our current peril. It is a testament to our times  and to the inflection point that we face  that I am here today. For, setting aside the usual requirements of politics, and the usual ways that politics keeps score, the things that normally divide us seem trivial compared to the trials that have now been visited upon our democracy.

In the face of these challenges, we agree on something far more important than a legislative program, even more important than our thoughts on the proper role of government in the economy and in the lives of individuals: We agree on the need to safeguard the health and survival of constitutional democracy in America and the preservation of the American idea itself  at a time when the values underpinning our constitutional system and that extraordinary idea are under threat, from the top.

The values of the Enlightenment that led to the creation of this idea of America  this unique experiment in world history  are light years removed from the base, cruelly transactional brand of politics that in this moment some people mistakenly think is what it means to make America great.

To be clear, we did not become great  and will never be great  by indulging and encouraging our very worst impulses. It doesnt matter how many red caps you sell.

The historian Jon Meacham, in his splendid new book, The Soul of America, reassures that history shows us that we are frequently vulnerable to fear, bitterness, and strife. The good news, he says, is that we have come through such darkness before.

Perhaps. But not with both nuclear weapons and Twitter. And certainly not with such an anomalous presidency as this one. But I take your point, Mr. Meacham, and am heartened by it.

We will get through this, of course. But at the moment, we are in it, and we must face it squarely. Because too much is at stake for us to turn away, to leave it to others to defend the things we hold most dear.

A culminating event such as the election of our current president scrambles normal binary notions of politics, and I am as disoriented as many of you are at this dealignment. We find that many of the days biggest issues simply dont break down neatly to familiar ideas of left v. right, but rather more along these lines:

 Do you believe in democracy, or not?

 Are you faithful to your country, or to your party?

 Are you loyal to the law and the Constitution, or to a man?

 Do you reflexively ascribe the worst motives to your opponents, but somehow deny, excuse, or endorse every repulsive thing your compatriot says, does or tweets?

These questions have sent some of us wandering into the political wilderness. And it is in that wilderness where your wonderful letter of invitation reached me.

Well, the wilderness suits me fine. In fact, I so love the way Washington has become that in recent years, during congressional recesses, I have taken to stranding myself on deserted islands in the middle of the ocean to detoxify all these feelings of love out of my system. I am not kidding.

I once spent a week alone, voluntarily marooned, on a tiny island called Jabonwod, a remote spit of sand and coconut trees in the central Pacific, about 7,000 miles from Washington.

As penance, and determined to test my survival skills, I brought no food or water, relying solely on what I could catch or collect. That, it turned out, was the easier part. More difficult was dealing with the stultifying loneliness that set in on the first night and never left me.

By day three, for companionship, I began to mark the hermit crabs that wandered through my camp with a number, just to see if they would reoccur. By the end of the week I had 126 numbered friends. I still miss number 72, who rarely left my side after developing an addiction to coconut scraps. I was less fond of number 12, who pinched my big toe.

Now, I would not recommend such drastic measures to escape your situation, but I hope that should you be presented with the hard choice, you too will eschew comfort and set out into the wilderness rather than compromise your conscience.

From my cautionary tale to you today, I urge you to challenge all of your assumptions, regularly. Recognize the good in your opponents. Apologize every now and then. Admit to mistakes. Forgive, and ask for forgiveness. Listen more. Speak up more, for politics sometimes keeps us silent when we should speak.

And if you find yourself in a herd, crane your neck, look back there and check out your brand, ask yourself if it really suits you. From personal experience, I can say that its never too late to leave the herd.

When you peel off from the herd, your equilibrium returns. Food tastes better. You sleep very well. Your mind is your own again. You cease being captive to some bad impulses and even worse ideas.

It can strain relationships, to be sure, and leave you eating alone in the senate dining room every now and then. But thats okay. To revise and extend a remark the president himself may recognize: You might say that I like people whose minds werent captured.

That one was for you, Senator McCain. Were all pulling for you.

Politically speaking, I have not changed my beliefs much at all. But my goodness, how I have changed. How can we live through these abnormal times and not be changed?

Our country needs us now. Our country needs you.

We need each other, and it is a scoundrel who would prosper politically by turning us against each other.

From our time, let us send a message into the future that we did not fail democracy, but that we renewed it. That a patchwork of populist resentments and authoritarian whims that for a while succeeded in its cynical mission of discord had the ultimate effect of shaking us from our complacency, reminding us of who we are and of our responsibilities to each other. Of reawakening us to our obligations as citizens.

Let us be able to say in the future that we faced these forces that would threaten the institutions of our liberty and tear us apart and that we said: NO.

I leave you today with more good news and bad news. This time I will start with the bad news, which is: All of this is yours to fix. All of it.

And that of course is also the good news: All of this is yours to fix, and our country could not be more fortunate than to have people of your high character, strong principle and awesome talent soon taking the helm.

I grew up as a kid on the F-Bar Ranch in rural Arizona, and if we needed to gauge the condition of the range or to measure the damage after a flood, we would find the highest hill or butte and ride our horses to the top. From such a vista we could dispatch cowboys to gather cattle, machinery to shore up roads, or workers to repair fences  to restore some semblance of order.

There are no tall buttes in Washington. But it is nonetheless our obligation to assess the condition of our politics, then to mitigate and repair the damage.

It is the story of America, though, that we will be better for the hard lessons of this experience. We are much better and more decent than Washington shows us to be. We are a good people. And we are a deeply resourceful and resilient nation, and our greatness is based on no one man  no one man who alone can fix it, but rather on enduring ideas of self-governance and the rule of law that have been a model for the world for centuries. Ideas that can be mocked, but not marred.

No, there are no high buttes in Washington, but still we must gain the high ground, and survey the damage. And the thing about gaining the high ground is from up there you can see beyond the damage, too. You can see everything. Everything that is good and decent.

That is the job before us  to get through this, and beyond it. And youre just the ones to take us there.

Thank you. And once again, congratulations to the Harvard Law Class of 2018!
The first sign of trouble substitute teacher David Briscoe heard on that fateful morning at Santa Fe High School was screaming. Gunshots followed. Next, the fire alarm.

It was only his third time substitute teaching at the Santa Fe, Texas, high school when 17-year-old Dimitrious Pagourtzis allegedly opened fire in the art building early in the morning on May 18, killing 10 people and injuring 10 others. Briscoe wasnt familiar with the classroom; he didnt know any of the students. But the 24-year-old substitute teacher found himself grabbing the first table he could see to create the beginnings of a barricade to block the doors. He told the students to lay on the ground and cover their mouths with their hands to soften the sound of their screams. He shut off the lights. He locked the doors. He had never participated in an active shooting drill at Santa Fe High School before, but his protective instincts kicked in.

The shooter never entered Briscoes classroom. As he hid in the classroom, two other substitute teachers  Cynthia Tisdale and Glenda Ann Perkins  were shot and killed.

Briscoes reality  though, he says, it still feels like a dream  is a nightmare for any teacher. As educators in the United States grapple with the chance a shooting could occur with preparations, training programs and drills, substitute teachers are often put in a precarious place. The classrooms they inhabit are foreign rather than their second homes. Sometimes, they arent given keys to lock a classrooms door. Other times, the classroom doors lock automatically but they are unaware of proper protocol. Indeed, the possibility of having to escape or hide in an unfamiliar place at a moments notice presents an additional set of challenges for substitute teachers  not just for ensuring their own safety, but for protecting the lives of the students they just met.

Its a real concern for substitute teachers and for the students that they teach to have a teacher who is brand new to the schools environment, may not even have the contact number for the school principal or the teachers next door, said Tara Kini, the director for state policy at the Learning Policy Institute. In a crisis situation, theyre really on their own in a classroom filled with students they havent previously met before.

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In Briscoes case, he told the students to cover their mouths based off of what he had heard occurred at other school shootings in the past. That was something I never learned in training, Briscoe, who earned around $12 an hour substitute teaching at Santa Fe High School, said. It was something for me that just clicked. This fight-or-flight mentality applies to all teachers thrust into these terrifying situations  whether they had gone through training or were familiar with the space or not, Briscoe said. But with two mass-casualty school shootings this year thus far, the layout of a classroom and lockdown procedures are on the top of the minds for some substitute teachers at each new gig.

Were expected to go in there and do the same job, said Ginger Swanson, a 44-year-old substitute teacher based in Ohio. We should have access to the same tools and information.

In addition to dealing with all the usual complexities of being a substitute teacher, educators like Briscoe and Swanson are also now being tasked with possibly risking their lives for around $107 a day on average, according to Indeed.

Any time Swanson walks into a new classroom now, she thinks: Is there more than one exit? Whats this buildings floor plan? Can I open that window? Can the kids fit out the window? Can I? Where does the window lead to? What could I use to barricade the door? You cant just read your lesson plan and have a day with the kids, Swanson said. You have to keep [the potential for a shooting] in the back of your mind now.

Swanson didnt have these thoughts back when she began substitute teaching in 2012. She now wants schools in her counties to host orientations for substitute teachers so they can have a better sense of its protocols, lockdown procedures, layout and more.

Sayzie Koldys, a substitute teacher based in Maine who has taught along the East Coast over the last 20 years, has those thoughts now, too. A couple of years ago, the middle school she was teaching at for the day went into a lockdown. At that point, she realized she was unprepared for an emergency if one were to occur. Im focused on learning students names, best techniques for maintaining order when I dont know students, and learning lessons so that I can teach them to students, Koldys told TIME in an e-mail. I havent been focused on the best escape routes out of different areas of the building.

The shooting in Santa Fe, she said, was a tipping point for her. At her teaching gig at a high school in Maine Wednesday morning, Koldys checked the window to see if she could easily unlock it to escape.

While schools often have binders filled with emergency procedures and evacuation plans in each classroom, substitute teachers told TIME the information can be a bit too general. At some schools, full-time teachers have started taking it upon themselves to include information on emergency protocols and lockdown tips on top of the lesson plans they leave behind, according to Grayson Bodenheimer, a substitute teacher based in Monroe County, Indiana. That began, he said, after an expelled student killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentines Day this year.

A teachers concerns, Bodenheimer said, are supposed to be about childrens growth  developing them into people, individuals, and to adults. And theyre having to be concerned about leaving detailed enough notes for a substitute just in case somebody decides to try to take these students lives.

Floated by President Donald Trump after the Parkland shooting, the proposal of arming teachers with guns to take down school shooters did not sit well with some teachers and substitutes. Indeed, outside of emergency preparations or worries, many educators are struggling to make ends meet as the average salary for public school teachers falls, benefits dwindle, and class sizes grow. Many teachers take on second or third jobs, pay for their classroom supplies out of pocket  and some educators are quitting their jobs to find more lucrative sources of income. The teacher shortage crisis, as a result, has brought more substitute teachers and educators without the same qualifications as full-time ones into the classrooms. More than 100,000 substitutes and educators without full-time teaching certifications taught around the country from 2016 through 2017, said Kini of the Learning Policy Institute.

When Briscoe created barricades and instructed his students at Santa Fe High School to be quiet last week, he leaned on them for support just as they leaned on him. He was focused on creating a barrier to make it more difficult for a shooter to enter the classroom  and luckily, the shooter never did. But, when theoretically thrown into a fast-moving, dangerous situation, the substitute teachers who spoke with TIME grappled with the same moral quandary: Would I sacrifice my life to save a student I just met?

If Swanson, the Ohio-based substitute teacher, jumped in front of a kid to save them, she said, she would leave her own child motherless. Bodenheimer, who started substitute teaching in Indiana at the beginning of this school year, worries about his parents and his wife.

It turns into almost this sick calculous of: If this situation comes up, whose potential lives are worth more? he said.

Now, after Santa Fe, some substitutes want to leave their jobs. Running these calculations and watching school shootings time and time again take the lives of educators and students has presented an unexpected challenge. Perhaps it was the two substitute teachers who were killed, Koldys, the Maine-based substitute teacher, said. Perhaps it was just that Id reached a point when I could no longer ignore the results of my constant risk-benefit analyses. But I do know that I dont want to do this anymore. I dont want to walk into an often-used soft target for minimum wage.

After Santa Fe, Briscoe wants to stop teaching altogether. He flew home to New Orleans to stay with his parents a day after the shooting to get his mind off of it.

When death is so close to you, it changes you, Briscoe said. Is this really worth it? Is this really worth laying my life down for a school?
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump has often bragged of his friendship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, but recent events point to growing stresses between Washington and Beijing.

This week, the Pentagon pulled its invitation for China to participate in maritime exercises in the Pacific, then Trump on Thursday scrapped a summit with North Korea after suggesting Xi may have exacerbated a breakdown in communications.

And all this against a backdrop of simmering trade tensions -- and a bizarre case involving a US official and a possible "sonic attack."

- Summit sunk -

Trump on Thursday scrapped the historic summit with Kim Jong Un -- set to take place June 12 in Singapore -- to discuss the "denuclearization" of North Korea.

Before he pulled the plug, Trump had suggested Xi might have played a role in a recent toughening of North Korean rhetoric.

"There was a difference when Kim Jong Un left China the second time," Trump said.

"There was a different attitude after that meeting and I was a little surprised. ... And I think things changed after that meeting so I can't say that I am happy about it."

On Monday, Trump suggested China might have prematurely eased up on enforcing economic sanctions against Pyongyang, a move that runs counter to the US leader's "maximum pressure" campaign.

China insists it is strictly enforcing sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council.

- Pacific exercise -

The Pentagon on Wednesday withdrew its invitation for China to join maritime exercises in the Pacific because of Beijing's "continued militarization" of the South China Sea.

China hit back at the decision to disinvite it from the Rim of the Pacific exercises, calling it "very non-constructive" and saying it was taken without due reflection.

"It's also a decision taken lightly and is unhelpful to mutual understanding between China and the US," China's Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi said.

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- Trade war -

China and the US have stepped back from a potential trade war after Beijing officials were reported to have offered to slash the country's huge surplus by $200 billion.

But no formal deals have been struck, and China has denied that any figure was set during negotiations in Washington.

Trump -- who once accused China of "raping" the US -- said he was "not satisfied" with the agreement and the issue is sure to keep grating on relations with Beijing.

- Sonic strains -

On Wednesday, the US embassy in Beijing issued a warning after reporting that an employee in the southern city of Guangzhou was diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) apparently linked to "abnormal sounds."

"The medical indications are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

In Cuba last year, 24 diplomats and their family members were left with mysterious injuries resembling brain trauma, which were suspected of being caused by a "sonic attack."

China said it had investigated the issue but hadn't found that any organization or individual had "carried out such a sonic influence."

Related Video: US-China Trade Tensions Grow More Confusing

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Rudy Giuliani attends the Conference on Iran on May 5th. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images)

WASHINGTON  After weeks of describing Junes planned meeting with North Korea as all-consuming, President Donald Trumps lawyer said the canceled summit does not mean Trump will soon be speaking with prosecutors investigating his campaign.

No, Rudy Giuliani said with a laugh. It means he can talk to me.

He said the cancellation of the Singapore meeting that had been set for June 12 gives him more time to work with Trump to decide next steps.

We could probably decide by June 12 whether to testify, Giuliani told HuffPost on Thursday.

That decision, though, will apparently hinge on whether Trump is given whatever report is produced following a Justice Department probe of the FBIs use of an informant to learn about his campaigns contacts with Russia. Trump demanded the review on Sunday following a coordinated effort by his Capitol Hill allies and conservative media to discredit the informant.

Are we going to get a report on spygate? Giuliani said, using the term Trump invented this week.

Giuliani allowed that, as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, he never would have turned over all of his investigatory material to a potential target in that manner.

But I wasnt investigating the president, he said, justifying the demand for the FBI informant details. You cannot compel criminal process on the president.

Giuliani said he still would prefer for Trump to avoid Mueller completely.

I would not like to talk to Mueller at all, he said. I dont see what you gain from that.

But, Giuliani added, Trump himself has the opposite opinion. He has a strong view that he should testify, Giuliani said. He believes hes telling the truth: He didnt collude with the Russians and he didnt obstruct justice.

Giuliani conceded that Trumps habit of saying false things on a near-daily basis could create a problem for him. But, he added, that could be avoided if Trump had enough time to prepare for a session with Mueller.

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If we sat him down for an interview, we would be careful that it would be a solid explanation, Giuliani said.

He added that he has not asked Trump to stop issuing tweets about the investigation  based on his unsuccessful attempts to persuade Trump to stop tweeting during the 2016 campaign. No use, he said. Didnt work.

But Giuliani has come up with a strategy he thinks might be working: taking a higher profile with inflammatory public comments of his own.

Its one of the reasons Ive become so aggressive, so his tweeting would be confined to the subject that weve chosen for the day, he said.

Giuliani said the cancellation of the trip to Singapore next month opens up more time for him and Trump to plan strategy, in addition to the daily or twice-a-day phone calls they have been sharing. He said he met Trump for half an hour Wednesday evening in New York City, where Trump had traveled for a fundraiser. That half hour was devoted to the investigation, Giuliani said.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded during the 2016 campaign that Russia was interfering in the U.S. election, and was actively trying to help Trump and hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The FBI began its probe of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians well before Election Day. Control of the investigation was shifted to special counsel Robert Mueller after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Soon after, the president told NBC News, as well as senior Russian officials visiting the Oval Office, that he had done so because of the investigation.

The fact that he did it because of the Russian investigation is not obstruction of justice, Giuliani said. If he did it for that reason, that would be a legitimate reason to fire [Comey]. He works at the will of the president.

Muellers investigation has so far resulted in the guilty pleas of five individuals, including three former Trump campaign staffers, and the indictment of 14 other people and three companies. That total includes 13 Russians, Trumps former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and the Internet Research Agency troll farm that was used to create and disseminate propaganda to help Trump win.

A related investigation by Giulianis former office is examining the dealings of longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. A former business partner has agreed to cooperate in that probe and plead to New York State charges.

Giuliani, though, said Muellers investigation thus far has been tangential to Trump, and asserted that none of those who have pleaded guilty or are under indictment have any information that can hurt Trump.

They havent gotten anyone to flip on this, Giuliani said, using courthouse slang for those accused of crimes to testify against associates in return for leniency. Theyre not going to do it on the bullshit that they have. Manaforts not flipping. Cohens not flipping. And he has nothing to flip about.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Russia has test-fired a surface-to-air missile 50 miles further than anyone has before, U.S. intelligence sources have revealed.

With little fanfare, Russia successfully used the S-500 surface-to-air missile system to hit a target 299 miles away, which is 50 miles further than any known test, CNBC reported.

Moscow says that the system can intercept hypersonic missiles, drones and stealth warplanes like the F-22 and the F-35 and would allow it to destroy targets at near space range. The test used a modified version of the missile used in the S-300V4 surface-to-air system.

Trending: Lindsey Graham Parts With Donald Trump on 'Spygate': I Dont Think Hes a Spy'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier in May that he wanted to prepare the S-500 systems for mass production, giving Moscow the ability to engage multiple targets, state news agency TASS reported.

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Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS

He also announced Moscow would modernize its strategic nuclear forces and rearm 14 regiments with the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile systems by the end of the year.

Don't miss: Iran Tells U.S.: We Were Invited to Iraq and Syria, What About You?

The military display comes after U.S. intelligence experts said last week that Moscow will have the hypersonic glide vehicle called Avangard ready by 2020.

Able to carry a nuclear warhead and glide at the top of the atmosphere, it is believed that no country can defend against it. CNBC reported that it had been successfully tested twice in 2016.

Also this week, Russias ballistic missile submarine Yuri Dolgoruky tested four Bulava nuclear-capable missiles, unleashing them within 20 seconds. Russias Defence Ministry said that the test salvo on May 22 targeted the Kura shooting range on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

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The Bulava missiles can carry multiple nuclear warheads and can reach a range of around 5,700 miles.

Information about Russias missile capabilities emerged after it was reported that a Russian-owned surface-to-air missile downed the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014 over eastern Ukraine. Moscow has denied responsibility.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Sao Paulo (AFP) - The mayor of Sao Paulo declared a state of emergency in Brazil's economic capital Friday due to a five-day-old truckers' strike that has left the country virtually paralyzed.

The measure would allow city authorities to "seize private goods such as fuel, for example, that is stored in a service station," the mayor's office said in a statement.

It also plans to set up a crisis committee and, if the shortages continue, may declare a public holiday.

Other measures that could be adopted include the suspension of non-essential administrative work to protect fuel reserves in the city of more than 12 million people.

The truckers have attempted to put a stranglehold on movement of goods in Brazil to protest fuel price rises.

The walkout has left much of the country virtually paralyzed and caused acute shortages of food and fuel.
Edinburgh (AFP) - Scottish nationalists rebooted their case for independence on Friday with a study claiming that Scots could be A4,100 (4,700 euros, $5,500) per person better off annually outside the United Kingdom.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the separatist Scottish National Party, said the report would "restart the debate" about independence for pro-EU Scotland as messy Brexit negotiations drag on.

Scotland voted against independence by 55 percent in 2014, but then voted by 62 percent to remain in the European Union in a 2016 referendum, generating a rift because the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave.

Sturgeon immediately made plans for a second independence referendum, but momentum stalled when polls showed little change in Scottish attitudes and even less appetite for another vote.

The SNP lost seats in the parliaments in Edinburgh and London in subsequent elections. But the nationalist grassroots have been agitating for a swift return to the ballot box.

Referring to Friday's report, Sturgeon wrote on Twitter: "So much better to be debating how we maximise our potential as a country than just focussing on how we limit the damage of Brexit."

But David Mundell, the UK government's most senior lawmaker in Scotland, urged Scots to "maximise the opportunitiesa of Brexit rather than leave the UK.

"The public do not want another divisive independence referendum," he said.

- Keep the pound -

The report outlined 50 recommendations to grow Scotland's economy to match "the very best small countries in the world", comparing an independent Scotland to countries like Denmark, Finland and New Zealand.

It proposed keeping the British pound for "an extended transition period", before moving to a more permanent solution which could lead to a new Scottish currency.

The UK government forcefully rejected SNP proposals to maintain a currency union with Scotland if it left the UK in 2014, but the nationalists insist Scotland can still use the pound in the same way that Panama uses the US dollar.

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Critics have pointed out this would leave Scotland's fiscal policy in the hands of a foreign power.

The report also included measures to encourage immigration amid fears Brexit will cause a decline in Scotland's working age population and put pressure on public spending through falling tax receipts.

North Sea oil revenues should be treated as a windfall and invested in a fund similar to Norway, rather than used for day to day spending, it said.

Andrew Wilson, the report's author, said: "Brexit will mean a long-term hit to jobs and living standards.

"In contrast, our report looks at how we build a better economy, how we build a better society and how we build a better country," he said.
A jury has awarded the victim $1bn damages: iStock

A security company has been told by a jury to pay $1bn (750m) to woman who was raped by one of its guards when she was 14-years-old.

Hope Cheston was with her boyfriend outside a party in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2012, when the armed security guard approached, her attorney said. The guard told the boyfriend not to move and raped Ms Cheston.

While the media never normally identify victims of rape  and it would be illegal to do so in a British case - but Ms Cheston, now 20, waived her anonymity.

The full-time college student who plans to spend her summer working with an organisation in Atlanta that helps homeless people, said she wanted her story to provide strength for other sexual-assault victims.

The guard, identified in the lawsuit as Brandon Lamar Zachary, is serving a 20-year prison sentence, according to online prison records.

Ms Chestons mother, Renatta Cheston-Thornton, filed a lawsuit in 2015 on behalf of her daughter.

The jury has now handed down the verdict against Crime Prevention Agency, the security company that employed Zachary.

Zachary, who was 22 at the time, should never have been hired because he wasnt licensed as an armed guard, attorney L Chris Stewart Stewart said.

The judge had already determined the security company was liable, so the jury was only determining damages, Stewart said. After reading the verdict, jurors immediately left the jury box  without waiting for the judges permission  to hug Ms Cheston and her mother.

Attempts to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful.

Online corporate registration information for Crime Prevention Agency shows that it was dissolved in 2016. The phone at a number listed online for Mario Watts, who is named on the corporate registration as the CEO and identified in the lawsuit as the companys registered agent, were unanswered.

A lot of women who suffer sexual assault dont pursue justice, choosing instead to put it behind them, Ms Cheston said.

I feel like my case is just to show that you may not get it immediately, but you will get what youre worth. This shows that people do care about the worth of a woman.

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Mr Stewart said: I was really proud of the jury because there is no basis in the legal world for how high a rape verdict can be, he said.

Verdicts in the tens of millions of dollars, or even hundreds of millions, are not uncommon, Jeff Dion, director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association said in an email. But hes never heard of a $1bn verdict in a case with a single victim.
Wendy Vitter inched closer Thursday to getting confirmed to a lifetime seat on a U.S. District Court.

WASHINGTON  The Senate judiciary committee voted Thursday to advance U.S. District Court nominee Wendy Vitter, a vocal opponent ofabortionrights who initially didnt tell senators about her past extreme comments on the topic.

Every Republican on the committee voted for Vitter, a New Orleans lawyer and PresidentDonald Trumps choice for a lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Those GOPers were Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Orrin Hatch (Utah), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas), Ben Sasse (Neb.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and John Kennedy (La.).

Every Democrat voted against Vitter.

During her April confirmation hearing, Vitter, 57,repeatedly avoided sayingwhether she still agrees with a May 2013 speech she gave in protest of a new Planned Parenthood clinic in New Orleans.

Planned Parenthood says they promote womens health, shesaid at the time, per New Orleans Clarion Herald. It is the saddest of ironies that they kill over 150,000 females a year. The first step in promoting womens health is to let them live.

Many of Trumps court picks have records ofbeing anti-abortion. Vitter, who is general counsel of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans and is married to former Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), has been pretty upfront about her background, too.

But her refusal to say whether she stands by her past comments didnt sit well with Democrats on the committee. It didnt help that she failed to disclosethat speech to the panel, along with other speeches shes given.

Vitter also didnt tell senators that she moderated a panel at a 2013 anti-abortion conference peddling false information about the dangers of abortion  or that she urged audience members to tell their doctors to put materials in their waiting rooms saying that abortions cause breast cancer, which isnot true. Vice Newsuncoveredthese missing materials in March.

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Omitting details like this is a big no-no to senators on the committee, who expect a thorough submission of background materials for judicial nominees. It also at least creates the appearance of Vitter not wanting the panel to know about some of her controversial comments.

All Im looking for are judges that are fair and impartial, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said in Thursdays hearing. They need to exhibit judgment, not to mention common sense. Ms. Vitters public endorsement of these obvious falsehoods... and her urging of the audience to distribute materials containing such obvious lies shows she lacks the judgment for a lifetime appointment.

Vitter hasalso taken heatfor not saying if she agreed with the landmark civil rights case that desegregated U.S. public schools, Brown v. Board of Education.

Her nomination now heads to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been confirming Trumps judgesat a breakneck pace and has vowed to confirm every court nominee this year who makes it out of the judiciary committee.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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Andrew Oldham testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit, on April 25, 2018. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM[/caption] The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to approve three Texans to serve on the federal bench, including Andrew Oldham, a nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit who, upon confirmation, would make it the nations most conservative appellate court. By a party line, 11-10 vote, the committee referred Oldham, who serves as Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts general counsel, for confirmation by the full Senate. President Donald Trump has nominated five people for the Fifth Circuit, the most of any circuit court in the nation. Oldham, who is expected to win Senate confirmation, would join Trump appointees James Ho, a former Texas solicitor general, and Don Willett, a former Texas Supreme Court justice. Trump also has appointed Kurt Engelhardt, a former Louisiana U.S. district judge, and Kyle Duncan, a Louisiana attorney, to the court. If you add on the two Louisiana judges for the fifth, it clearly solidifies the Fifth Circuit as the most conservative court in the nation, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor who monitors federal judicial nominations, of Oldhams nomination. At his committee hearing a month ago, Oldham faced hard questions from committee Democrats about his hard-line positions on immigration and abortion while serving as Abbotts lawyer, including a 2016 speech in which he called government agencies like the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency fundamentally illegitimate and enraging. Oldham told the senators that the positions he argued as an attorney would have no bearing on his perspective as a jurist. The committee also approved the nomination of Michael Truncale, a partner in Beaumonts Orgain Bell & Tucker, to become a U.S. district judge in the Eastern District of Texas, again by an 11-10, party-line vote. Truncale, who will replace U.S. District Judge Ron Clark of Beaumont, also faced tough questions from the committee, including about 2014 remarks in which he stated, while running as a Republican for Congress, that voter fraud makes a mockery of our elections. Truncale told the committee the comments were a political matter and that judges should refrain from sharing their political beliefs. The committee also approved of the nomination of Alan Albright, a partner in the Austin office of Bracewell and a former U.S. magistrate judge, to become a U.S. district Judge in the Western District of Texas. Albright, whose nomination is not considered controversial, would replace U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco. Smith retired in disgrace in 2016 after the Judicial Council for the Fifth Circuit concluded he sexually harassed women inside the Waco courthouse.
While we were all hoping for a true breakthrough in North Korea by President Donald Trump, lets face it: the history was never encouraging. Despite similarly hopeful moments in the past, the North Korean pattern is depressingly uniform: come to the peace table, encourage everyone to believe peace is at hand, make promises to denuclearize, gain major trade and economic concessions (a whole thumb drive full of them this time, thoughtfully provided by South Korean President Moon Jae-in), then slowly unwind the package of promises and revert to form as a dangerous international outlaw state. Whats different this cycle is the speed: a bipolar burst of seemingly instant high, followed by a crashing low with nuclear threats from both sides again suddenly on the table  all within 60 days. This is the Korea crisis in the key of Trump to be sure.

Given this sudden shift and President Trumps withdrawal from the planned summit between the two nations, we should be thinking about the challenges before three distinguished military officers: General James Mattis, the Secretary of Defense; Admiral Harry Harris, just nominated as U.S. Ambassador to South Korea; and Admiral Phil Davidson, nominated to replace Admiral Harris as the Commander of the vast U.S. Pacific Command. Collectively, they own the problem of how to return to full-bore deterrence and, if necessary, give the President new options for military strikes in this failed negotiation scenario. I know each of them extremely well from decades of service and my own time both in the Pacific Fleet and as NATO Supreme Commander. They are the right trio of leaders in these crucial jobs in this difficult moment. But what will their counsel be to the mercurial President? How will they shape the arc of the negotiation?

Lets start with Secretary of Defense Mattis. Despite plenty of focus on the Middle East over the course of his career, he has spent a great deal of time in the Pacific. He knows the players and the issues cold. He is a cautious, thoughtful strategist with a deep sense of history  essentially the opposite of President Trump, who will continue to largely shoot from the hip, ignoring both briefings and intelligence presented to him, and remain inclined to swing for the fences, if not in a summit, then in a preemptive strike of some kind.

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Mattis will counsel patience and caution regarding a strike. He will provide options tightening sanctions (once again), and perhaps present ideas for a naval blockade. More emphasis on cyber, intelligence and missile defense will be on the table, alongside options for both limited and massive strikes. Whichever the immediate U.S. actions are chosen will likely play out in a three-way conversation between the President, Secretary Mattis and new National Security Advisor John Bolton. Though the flow of information and advice into that discussion is complex. (For instance: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has articulated a tough stance toward North Korea but was clearly excited about the summit, will be a key actor in resolving the crisis; he will probably position himself between the caution of Mattis and the likely aggressive stance of Bolton.)

Ambassador Harris, himself a Japanese American, will be parachuting into high drama. President Moon, who had invested excessively in relationship building with Kim, will be wounded both politically and personally. His first question to the new Ambassador will be, Why did the Administration start talking about Libya? Clearly, doing so was like throwing a chunk of kryptonite into the room with Seouls Superman, effectively wilting the strength and powerful possibilities of the meeting. Harris, who knows the Korean War Plans better than anyone on earth at this point, understands exactly how devastating a war on the Peninsula will be  and both he and his wife Bruni (herself an expert on Asia and a Japanese speaker) are sitting in ground zero. Expect him to join Secretary Mattis in taking a cautious approach.

The newest member of the senior decision-making group will be Admiral Phil Davidson, who was confirmed by the Senate in late April for the position of Commander, U.S. Pacific Command  a joint assignment with responsibility for the entire military structure in the Pacific, and a headquarters in Pearl Harbor. He is currently coming from a strictly Navy job in command of the overall U.S. fleet, but has been focused largely on the Middle East throughout much of his career. However, he is an extremely creative thinker, with deep intellectual capability. For example, he was hand-selected as a one-star to build a new diplomatic-operational structure for Afghanistan-Pakistan, working with Richard Holbrooke  an unusual assignment for a Navy Admiral, and one that would have led many to call it quits. He is close to outgoing Pacific Commander Harris. Both of the Admirals will be extremely skeptical of jumping into a war with North Korea, or even a limited strike (the so-called bloody nose option). They will both support Secretary Mattis in his cautionary approach.

While each of these senior leaders will be part of the ultimate decision-making conversation in the Situation Room, the command relationships are complicated. Ambassador Harris technically reports directly to the President, but in reality communicates through the Secretary of State. Admiral Davidson technically reports directly to the Secretary of Defense, but in reality coordinates and communicates largely through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. John Bolton reports only to the President, and it is his difficult task to present these views honestly in the interagency to the President. Given the complexity of the challenges and the divergence of personalities engaged in solving them, this will likely be very contentious  that is, if the President even goes against his personality and doesnt willfully disregard slow, thoughtful and measured advice.

The winner at this moment is Chinese President Xi Jinping. He was always highly uncomfortable with the direction the talks appeared to be heading as the conversation was turning into a U.S.North Korea dialog, with South Korea a bit player and China completely off the stage. In all probability, the sudden course change by North Korea was the result not only on the ill-timed Libyan example, but also encouragement from China to North Korea to abandon the summit train. China will now be able to become a fence-mender that may be able to construct what we should have had from the beginning: four-party talks with all four nations at the table. In the Nobel Prize sweepstakes, Id say Xi is rising, and Trump and Moon are slumping.

The ultimate wild card, of course, will be Kim Jung Un himself. Expect to see his side ratchet up the offensive rhetoric, which will be matched quickly by President Trump. Little Rocket Man and the Dotard will be making their not-so-triumphant return. The ultimate next step to shock the world would be an over-ocean nuclear test (thus far, they have been underground). That seems unlikely, but look for a reaction in the middle  a conventional attack on South Korean forces, more oversea ballistic missiles tests (perhaps headed toward Guam) or a cyber attack would all be plausible. Kim will want to demonstrate his strength in crisis and his lack of willingness to surrender his weapons.

Most observers saw this coming  just not so quickly. Hopefully there is a way to resurrect a diplomatic path. But we need to bear in mind that, given the example of Libya, the chances of Kim giving up his nuclear weapons are roughly the same as of Mexico paying for the wall. The officers in charge of outlining our next steps will need to help develop a more nuanced negotiating stance and garner Chinese cooperation in order to land this crisis without a fight.
In a statement following the release of video showing Milwaukee police officers using excessive force against him, Bucks rookie Sterling Brown vowed to tell his story in hopes of preventing future injustices. That process began Friday in an interview with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America.

This happens from coast to coast, Brown told Roberts. Its something thats being shown more now that technology has advanced. Its something thats been happening for years, and peoples stories have not been told, peoples stories have not been heard, and I feel like me doing this helps a lot.

I feel like its my responsibility, and its something that I hold dearly.

Sterling Brown recounted the incident

If you havent seen the video already, its disturbing.

Brown was admittedly parked illegally across multiple handicapped spaces in an empty Walgreens parking lot around 2 a.m., when an officer identified by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as Joseph Grams approached him this past January. Grams harassed Brown, accusing him of getting up in his face, which did not happen on camera. Grams called for backup, and when a half dozen more officers arrived on scene, Brown was eventually tackled and tased despite no visual signs of resistance.

Heres what you dont see, according to Brown: My hands were behind my back, and they still tased me. After that, I was still on the ground for about 10 minutes, still wet, face to the ground, knee in my neck. Now, its: OK, how do I just get out of this? How do I get home? How do I see my family?

Brown to Good Morning America: I was defenseless

Everybody thought I was combative, thought I was being aggressive, but I get mad every time I watch it, because I was defenseless pretty much, Brown recounted to a national television audience on Friday. I couldnt do nothing, and they still did what they did. The video shows justice of what really happened. Its a body cam, its close, and you can hear my screaming or whatnot. Its tough every time I watch it, but thats why Im here doing what Im doing legally. Thats why Im speaking to you, just to draw attention to it and try to be a voice and try to help as many people as I can in that situation.

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There are those who will excuse the officers actions, suggesting Brown could have avoided the situation had he not parked illegally, had he moved back more than three inches when Grams asked him to, had he removed his hands from his pockets when they demanded he do so, but that would ignore the reality that a composed black man was harassed and tased over a simple parking ticket.

As Brown explained, Whether I parked illegally or not, it shouldnt have led to what it led to. I couldve just got a ticket, went home, paid however much money, and that shouldve been that.

He added, They wanted to control the situation. They wanted to show their force, their power.

Brown was arrested for resisting an officer. The charges were eventually dropped.

Bucks guard Sterling Brown returned to the court hours after the incident. (AP)

Brown vows to hold the officers accountable

In the statement Brown issued through the Bucks on Wednesday, Brown said the common denominator in his incident and other minorities who have suffered a worse fate at the hands of police is racism towards the minority community, the abuse of power, and the lack of accountability for officers involved. As such, he announced plans to sue the Milwaukee Police Department.

Asked why he was filing a lawsuit against the department, Brown told Roberts, Really just to hold the officers accountable, hold future officers accountable and have the city make a commitment to people in the community, saying that theyre going to try to change some of the ideas and thoughts and policies and try to help as many people in the community not get involved in a situation like this.

The lack of repercussions  is offensive

In a press conference following the videos release, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said, As a human being, I am offended by what I saw on the video, and police chief Alfonso Morales apologized on behalf of the department in a statement, vowing disciplinary action against the officers involved.

However, the Milwaukee Police Association accepted zero responsibility, instead deflecting blame on Brown and city leadership for understaffing the department. The union went so far as to preemptively warn the community on Wednesday that the death of subjects may result from similar incidents.

The Milwaukee Police Association, union for rank-and-file officers, has released a statement on the Sterling Brown video/arrest: pic.twitter.com/Jb5fV7SzxX  Ashley Luthern (@aluthern) May 24, 2018

A day later, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the police department suspended Grams for just two days in addition to issuing slightly longer suspensions for two more officers involved.

Considering Brown said in his original statement, The lack of repercussions for the police officers involved in so many of these cases is offensive, its easy to understand why hes speaking out now.

What we can do is just keep fighting, he told Roberts, keep bringing attention, keep putting pressure on police departments and officers and mayors and everybody to try to make change.

      

Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian state media said a military airport near Homs city had come under missile attack which was repelled by its air defense systems on Thursday. "One of our military airports in the central region was exposed to a hostile missile attack, and our air defense systems confronted the attack and prevented it from achieving its aim," state news agency SANA said. SANA earlier reported sounds of explosions heard near the Dabaa airport, about 20 km (12 miles) southwest of the central Syrian city of Homs and 10 km (6 miles) from the Lebanese border. Syrian state media did not comment on the origin of the missile attack. Israel, which fears Iran and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah are turning Syria into a new front against it, has struck targets in the country many times during the war, hitting the Syrian army, Hezbollah and what it has characterized as Iran-backed positions. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops belonging to Hezbollah and other militias allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are stationed in the Dabaa military airport. It had no information on casualties. Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner, when asked about reports of the attack, said the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria did not carry it out and the coalition does not target Syrian government positions. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Additional reporting by Dan Wiliams in Jerusalem and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
By Jess Macy Yu TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's air force scrambled aircraft on Friday as Chinese bombers flew around the self-ruled island, just a few hours after Taiwan vowed not to be cowed having lost another diplomatic ally amid growing Chinese pressure. Taiwan is China's most sensitive territorial issue and a potential dangerous military flashpoint. China claims the island as its sacred territory and has vowed not to allow any attempts at what it views as Taiwan separatism. Tension between democratic Taiwan and its big neighbor has increased in recent months, with China suspicious the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen wants to push for the island's formal independence. Tsai, who took offer in 2016, says she wants to maintain the status quo, but will protect Taiwan's security and not be bullied by Beijing. In the latest flight by Chinese aircraft around Taiwan, two H-6 bombers passed through the Bashi Channel which separates Taiwan from the Philippines in the early hours of Friday and then rounded Taiwan via Japan's Miyako Strait, to Taiwan's northeast, the island's defense ministry said. Taiwan aircraft accompanied and monitored the Chinese bombers throughout, the ministry said, describing the Chinese aircraft as being on a long-range training mission. The people of Taiwan should not be alarmed as the air force was well able to monitor the Chinese aircraft as they approach and during their missions and can ensure Taiwan's security, the ministry added. There was no immediate word from China. It has said these missions, which have become increasingly frequent, are to send a warning to Taiwan not to engage in separatist activity. On Thursday, Taiwan lost its second diplomatic ally in less than a month when Burkina Faso said it had cut ties with the island. Tsai said Taiwan would not engage in "dollar diplomacy" and would not cower to China's pressure. Speaking in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang would not say directly when China would establish ties with Burkina Faso, saying instead there was nothing surprising about countries wanting to develop normal relations with China. Taiwan has only one diplomatic ally left in Africa  the tiny kingdom of Swaziland - and formal relations with just 18 countries worldwide, many of them poor countries in Central America and the Pacific like Belize and Nauru. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told university students in Taipei that Taiwan needed allies to give it a voice on the international stage, as the island was excluded from most forums like the United Nations due to China's objections. Wu also defended Taiwan's aid projects in its allies, saying when Taiwan was poor others helped it, and now it was time for Taiwan to help others. "Taiwan absolutely cannot abandon this responsibility," Wu said, according to media. "This isn't dollar diplomacy. This is diplomacy." (Reporting by Jess Macy Yu; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Taiwan gathered its fighter jets to shadow Chinese bombers that were conducting drills around the self-governed island Friday, just hours after Burkina Faso cut diplomatic ties with Taipei.

On Friday, Taiwan dispatched several fighter jets to track the movements of two H-6 bombers from Beijing that were encircling the island, Singapore's Today reported. The aircraft flew over the Bashi Islands in the early hours and then rounded Taiwan by flying through the Miyako Strait.

We are fully monitoring the situation and taking efficient responsive measures to ensure defense security, the Defense Ministry said, adding that people should not be alarmed.

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RTXWTJA

Reuters

Beijing still views Taiwan as a wayward province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. Taipei is proudly democratic and has strongly rejected the notion that it is run by the mainland.

In 2017, the Chinas People's Liberation Army executed 16 drills near the self-ruled island. Beijing said the exercises were routine but reiterated that it will not tolerate any attempts by the island to declare independence.

Don't miss: Should We Colonize Space? Some People Argue We Need to Decolonize It Instead

At the National Peoples Congress in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Taiwan that all attempts to split with China would be doomed to fail and will invite the punishment of history. Xis speech came days after President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which allows and encourages high-level official visits between Taipei and Washington. The legislation aims to deepen ties between the two lands.

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Earlier this week, Burkina Faso abandoned its support for Taiwan, reported CNN. It was one of Taipei's dwindling allies to do so within the past month. Although the West African country has not formally established ties with China, Beijing warmly welcomed the move.

On Thursday evening, Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council retaliated by announcing that it would tighten screening for Chinese officials who wish to visit the island. The reason: [to] prevent the Chinese communists from dividing and disturbing social order in Taiwan with their unification propaganda measures, the council said in a statement.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Conservative Fox commentator Tomi Lahren is recounting how she was targeted during a brunch at a downtown Minneapolis restaurant.

Video shows a woman flinging a cup of water at Lahren and her mother. A heated confrontation followed, with a man off-camera shouting profanities at Lahren and calling her a racist.

On "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, the pro-Trump commentator described the incident. "Unfortunately, there was a group of people, probably around my age, who thought it would be funny to throw water at me."

The 25-year-old Fox personality added that the act of the brunch patrons was "disheartening."

Her endorsements of Trump's anti-immigration views has sparked criticism, as did her remarks in a since-deleted tweet, comparing the Black Lives Matter movement to the Ku Klux Klan.

"Meet the new KKK," she said. "They call themselves Black Lives Matter,"

On Wednesday, Trump tweeted his support of Lahren, calling her "a truly outstanding and respected young woman!"

Comedian Kathy Griffin also chimed in on social media, saying on Twitter that while she disagrees with Lahren's views, "I don't think it's cool to resort to physical actions to make your point."

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Antananarivo (AFP) - Madagascar's constitutional court on Friday ordered the president to form a government of national union in a bid to end a prolonged political crisis.

It issued a judgement requiring President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to dissolve the present government "and proceed to the nomination of a consensus prime minister within seven days."

Madagascar has been rocked by violent protests over electoral laws that the opposition says are designed to bar their candidates from participating in elections expected this year.

The court said the composition of the unity government should proportionately reflect the outcome of the last legislative elections.

The new government will also be tasked with organising "early elections during the 2018 dry season," a period that typically runs from May to September, it said.

Since April 21, hundreds of opposition supporters have occupied a key square in the heart of the capital Antananarivo, demanding Rajaonarimampianina resign.

The row centres on new electoral legislation that the opposition says is loaded in Rajaonarimampianina's favour.

The opposition also accuses the government of trying to sideline opposition candidates out of general elections due this year.

It filed a lawsuit to the constitutional court to demand the president's ouster.

The court, in its judgement on Friday, did not give an opinion on the lawsuit. However, it ordered the high court of justice, which is mandated to rule in disputes involving current and former presidents, to meet "as soon as possible."

The crisis has triggered international concern, with the African Union, the UN and regional bloc Southern African Development Community (SADC) all dispatching envoys to try to defuse the crisis.

Madagascar has seen a series of popular protest movements since the island nation gained independence from France in 1960, often resulting in bloodshed.

In 1972, students lead a revolt against the government. A crackdown after the city hall in Antananarivo was set alight left around 40 demonstrators dead, but the protesters forced the resignation of President Philibert Tsiranana who handed over power to General Gabriel Ramanantsoa.

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The first mass demonstration in the capital in 1991 demanded an end of the socialist constitution of 1975, when President Didier Ratsiraka came to power.

General strikes crippled the country and hundreds of thousands gathered peacefully to demand the resignation of the government. However, around 100 people were killed when presidential troops opened fire on marchers near the head of state's palace.

In 1993, Albert Zafy won a presidential election, although three years later Ratsiraka wrestled back power after Zafy was dismissed by the Constitutional High Court.

Antananarivo's mayor Marc Ravalomanana in February 2001 proclaimed himself president, but in the ensuing crisis the capital was blockaded and dozens of people lost their lives on both sides.

Threatened with arrest, Ratsiraka went into exile in France, leaving Ravalomanana in charge.

In early 2009, hundreds of people died as violence spilled on to the streets as supporters of Andry Rajoelina, then the mayor of Antananarivo, demonstrated. In March that year, Rajoelina was named president.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday said it plans to set up a facility to mass manufacture hydrogen fuel cell stacks, a key component of fuel cell vehicles, as it seeks to ramp up production of hydrogen-powered cars and expand their usage as a zero-emission alternative to gasoline vehicles.

The new unit will come up on the grounds of its Honsha plant in Toyota City near the automaker's global headquarters, the company said in a statement. It is also constructing a dedicated line at the nearby Shimoyama plant to produce tanks for storing high-pressure hydrogen gas inside vehicles.

Toyota declined to give details about their latest investment in this technology, but said mass production of components will begin around 2020, enabling the company to meet its target for global annual fuel cell vehicle sales of more than 30,000 units, including passenger cars and buses.

"As a technology, fuel cells are mature and ready to scale up," Toyota said in a statement. "In order to encourage more widespread use of hydrogen-powered zero-emission vehicles, popularization needs to start by the 2020s."

Toyota already sells the Mirai sedan, the world's first mass-market fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), in Japan, in the United States and also some European countries. The model starts at about 7.2 million yen ($65,807.51) in the Japan market.

Due to its high cost and complexity of building its components, the Mirai is produced in small lots. Only around 5,300 units have been sold since its 2014 launch, a fraction of regular production models.

Mass manufacturing of the two components - hydrogen fuel cell stacks and hydrogen tanks - will enable Toyota to lower the price of FCEVs, and expand its fuel cell technology.

Honda Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co also manufacture fuel cell vehicles, while other automakers are also developing the technology. However, many automakers, including Nissan Motor Co and Tesla Inc, are focussing on all-battery electric cars as a solution to reduce vehicle emissions.

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Toyota, which developed the Prius, the world's first gasoline hybrid vehicle, sees hydrogen FCEVs as a zero-emission alternative, which requires less time to refuel compared with the time it takes recharge electric vehicle batteries.

($1 = 109.4100 yen)

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu, Editing by Robert Birsel and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
Donald Trump has cancelled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, blaming increasingly hostile rhetoric from Pyongyang.

After several days during which the president appeared to be signalling that secret negotiations ahead of his planned meeting for June 12 were not going well, he said he was pulling out of the meeting because of the tremendous anger and open hostility in a recent statement from Mr Kim. He called it a missed opportunity and truly sad moment in history.

It had been Mr Trumps ambition to secure a peace deal with North Korea  something that none of his predecessors were able to do  and that has now apparently been placed on the back burner.

I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, he said in a letter to North Korea which was made public. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.

In a remark that may have reflected Mr Trumps desire to see himself as the master negotiator, he appeared to leave open the window for a future meeting, if Mr Kim altered his mind. In such circumstances, he said, he hoped Mr Kim would contact him.

Yet the letter also contained a threat that was barely veiled. You talk about your nuclear capabilities but ours are massive and powerful and I hope they will never have to be used, he said

In his comments, Mr Trump said he believed that he had been developing a wonderful dialogue with the man whom just months ago he mocked as rocket man and whose country he threatened to totally destroy in a speech at the UN General Assembly.

Some day I very much look forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now at home with their families, he said. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.

A number of commentators have voiced concerns that planning for the June 12 summit, which would have represented one of the most signifiant geopolitical encounters since the end of the Cold War, was progressing too quickly. Experts said it may have been more productive to allow Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his team prepare the ground work for the summit, rather than trying to fix a date so soon.

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Mr Pompeo, who met Kim twice in Pyongyang, explained the cancellation by saying North Korea had not responded to contacts in recent days and Mr Trump had made his decision after meetings on Wednesday, in which he concluded the summit would not be successful.

We got a lot of dial tones, Mr Pompeo said, adding it was disappointing but frankly not a surprise.

Speaking at the White House later, Mr Trump said he remained open to dialogue but had spoken to Defence Secretary Jim Mattis and warned North Korea against any reckless act.

He said US allies South Korea and Japan also were ready to shoulder much of the financial burden if an unfortunate situation is forced upon us by North Korea. He added the United States would continue its maximum pressure campaign of sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Yet, Mr Trump appeared to be caught up in the idea of a breakthrough on an issue, that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had warned would be one of the toughest challenges he would face during his presidency.

At the same time Mr Trump, a natural showman, wanted to pull off something no other US president had done; no sitting US president has met with either of the three members of the Kim dynasty that have ruled North Korea since its creation in 1948.

The announcement by Mr Trump followed ten days or do during which it had become clear that talks with North Korea may not be going so well. While the White House had said the aim of the summit was to bring about the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, different members of his team made public differences about how this might be achieved.

Two weeks ago, North Korea puled out of a planned meeting with South Korea, citing ongoing joint military drills between the US and South Korea and describing them as a provocation. The cancellation of the meeting, coming so soon after historic April 27 summit between Mr Kim and South Korean president Moon Jae-in in the demilitarised area between the two countries, startled many observers and led some to suggest something was wrong.Such suspicions were confirmed when North Korea denounced comments made by Mr Trumps hawkish national security adviser John Bolton, who said North Korea should scrap its weapons as a starting point for talks.

After North Korea reacted negatively to such remarks, Mr Trump appeared to try and reassure Mr Kim that the US did not want to pursue the so-called Libya option for North Korea, a reference to Muammar Gaddafi unilateral decision in December 2003 to give up his nuclear warning in exchange for better relations with the West. He was ultimately killed in October 2011 following the Arab Spring uprising, after rebels were supported by Nato war planes.

While Mr Trumps comments were seemingly intended to push the point to Mr Kim that he would remain the leader of his country which he said would have a bright future, he also said Mr Kim would receive Gaddafis fate if he did not give up his weapons.

On Thursday, North Korea reacted strongly to Mr Pences comments, calling him a dummy for comparing North Korea to Libya.

Choe Son Hui, a vice-minister in the North Korean Foreign Ministry, said if the US continued on its current path, she would suggest her nations that they reconsider the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Breaking: Trump issues letter to Kim Jong Un cancelling their summit. pic.twitter.com/r7UdVj0Pcn  Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 24, 2018

Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behaviour of the United States, Ms Choe said in comments carried by North Koreas state-run KCNA news agency.

It is not clear whether Mr Trumps announcement he was cancelling the summit, which came hours after Ms Choes comments or because of other issues relating to preparations for the summit. Little has been made public about the negotiations that have been led by Mr Kim and Andrew Kim, head of the CIAs Korea Mission Centre based in Langley, Virginia. A White House official said Ms Choe's condemnation of Mr Pence as a political dummy was the last straw that led to cancelling the summit.

Christine Ahn, a Korea expert and founder of Women Cross DMZ, a global movement of women that has worked for peace on the Korean peninsula, said from Seoul she was not entirely surprised by developments, given the USs rhetoric towards North Korea.

She said she believed there were people within Mr Trumps administration, notably figures such as national security adviser Mr Bolton, who did not want the talks to proceed. As such, he had undone much of the work done by Mike Pompeo.

Trump has left open the door, there is still the desire there, she told The Independent. But he needs to start acting like a global leader and stop talking about his weapons.

She added: Clearly what we all want is deescalation. We need both sides to put away their differences and put decades of mistrust aside.Following Mr Trumps announcement, Mr Pompeo said North Korea did not respond to repeated requests from US officials to discuss logistics for the now-cancelled summit.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader in the House, claimed Mr Trump had not known what he was getting into with his planned talks with Mr Kim. She said cancellation of the summit was a "good thing for Mr Kim".

The development came as a small group of international media selected by North Korea witnessed the demolition of tunnels at the Punggye-ri site on Thursday, which Pyongyang said was proof of its commitment to end nuclear testing.

Reuters said the apparent destruction of what North Korea says is its only nuclear test site has been widely welcomed as a positive, if largely symbolic, step towards resolving tension over its weapons. North Korean leader Mr Kim has declared his nuclear force complete, amid speculation the site was obsolete anyway.

Dr Sojin Lim, senior lecturer in Korean studies at Britains University of Central Lancashire, said the process of denuclearisation would undoubtedly become more complicated now that the summit has been cancelled.

A carefully thought-out, step-by-step approach to building a relationship is desperately needed, but this has so far been complicated by Donald Trump and Kim Jong-uns conflicting personalities, she said.

It will now be up to South Korea to try to bring the two countries back into some sort of dialogue  however, North Koreas burgeoning relationship with China means that it is now far less dependent on the US, so it will be even more difficult to re-establish negotiations between the two countries.
By James Oliphant and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would know next week whether his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would take place on June 12 in Singapore as scheduled, casting further doubt on plans for the unprecedented meeting. White House aides are preparing to travel to Singapore this weekend for a crucial meeting with North Korean officials to discuss the agenda and logistics for the summit, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Visiting Washington, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that if the United States seeks peace with North Korea and wants to make history, "now is the time" for the two countries' leaders to hold their first-ever summit. The U.S. delegation, which includes White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin and deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel, was being dispatched after Trump said on Tuesday there was a "substantial chance" the summit would be called off amid concerns Pyongyang is not prepared to give up its nuclear arsenal. Asked on Wednesday whether the summit would go ahead, Trump told reporters: "It could very well happen. Whatever it is, we'll know next week about Singapore. And if we go, I think it will be a great thing for North Korea." But he added: "We'll see." Trump did not say, however, whether the preparatory talks between U.S. and North Korean officials in coming days were expected to clarify the situation. Pompeo said on Wednesday the United States is prepared to walk away from nuclear negotiations with North Korea if the summit heads in the wrong direction. Pompeo said he was "very hopeful" the summit would take place but said the decision was ultimately up to Kim, who the secretary of state has met twice in less than two months. Trump raised doubts about the summit in talks on Tuesday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who came to Washington to urge Trump not to let a rare opportunity with reclusive North Korea slip away. It was unclear whether Trump was truly backing away from the summit or whether he was strategically coaxing North Korea to the table after decades of tension on the Korean peninsula and antagonism with Washington over its nuclear weapons program. The White House was caught off guard when, in a dramatic change of tone, North Korea last week condemned the latest U.S.-South Korean air combat drills, suspended North-South talks and threatened to scrap the summit if Pyongyang was pushed toward "unilateral nuclear abandonment." North Korea's vice foreign minister said the future of the summit between Pyongyang and Washington was "entirely" up to the United States. "We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us," said Choe Son Hui, according to a report by North Korea's central news agency on Thursday. Choe said she could suggest to leader Kim that North Korea reconsider the summit if the United States offended the North's good will. If the summit is called off or fails, it would be a major blow to what Trump supporters hope will be the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency. 'BAD DEAL IS NOT AN OPTION' Pompeo insisted the Trump administration was "clear-eyed" about North Korea, which has a history of making promises in negotiations and then backtracking. "A bad deal is not an option," Pompeo said in his written opening statement for a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. "If the right deal is not on the table, we will respectfully walk away." Pompeo, who was director of the CIA before becoming secretary of state in April after Trump fired Rex Tillerson, is the highest-ranking Trump administration to meet Kim. On his most recent trip he brought back three Americans who had been held by North Korea. Pompeo said a U.S.-led sanctions pressure campaign would not be eased until North Korea gives up nuclear weapons. We have made zero concessions to Chairman Kim and have no intention to do so, he said. "Our posture will not change until we see credible steps taken toward the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he said. Meeting Wang later in the day, Pompeo said the United States expects all countries, including China - North Korea's main trading partner and ally - to "meet their obligations" to enforce sanctions on Pyongyang. Trump suggested on Tuesday that Kim's recent meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping had influenced Kim to harden his stance ahead of the summit. China's foreign ministry said, however, that Beijing had played a positive role on the Korean peninsula. Also on Wednesday, a United Nations Security Council committee approved travel by North Korean officials to Singapore for the summit, diplomats said. Singapore had asked the U.N. sanctions panel for a blanket waiver for the North Koreans' participation. (Reporting by James Oliphant, Patricia Zengerle and Lesley Wroughton; additional reporting by Christine Kim and Cynthia Kim in Seoul; Matt Spetalnick, John Walcott and David Brunnstrom in Washington and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Bill Trott and James Dalgleish)
By Roberta Rampton and Christine Kim

WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday dangled the possibility that a June 12 summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un could still take place, just a day after he cancelled the meeting citing Pyongyang's "open hostility."

Trump indicated the summit could be salvaged after welcoming a conciliatory statement from North Korea saying it remained open to talks.

"It was a very nice statement they put out," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We'll see what happens - it could even be the 12th.

"We're talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it."

After years of tension over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, Kim and Trump agreed this month to hold what would be the first meeting between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader. The plan followed months of war threats and insults between the leaders over North Korea's development of missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Trump scrapped the meeting, planned for Singapore, in a letter to Kim on Thursday after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out over what it saw as confrontational remarks by U.S. officials demanding unilateral disarmament. Trump cited North Korean hostility in canceling the summit.

In Pyongyang, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea's criticisms had been a reaction to American rhetoric and that current antagonism showed "the urgent necessity" for the summit.

He said North Korea regretted Trump's decision to cancel and remained open to resolving issues "regardless of ways, at any time."

Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea had appreciated Trump having made the bold decision to work toward a summit.

"We even inwardly hoped that what is called 'Trump formula' would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue," he said.

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DIPLOMATS AT WORK

Trump's latest about-face sent officials scrambling in Washington. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters diplomats were "still at work" and said Trump had just sent a note out on the summit, which could be back on "if our diplomats can pull it off."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Katina Adams declined to give details of any diplomatic contacts but said: "As the president said in his letter to Chairman Kim, dialogue between the two is the only dialogue that matters. If North Korea is serious, then we look forward hearing from them at the highest levels."

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters Trump did not want a meeting that was "just a political stunt."

"He wants to get something thats a long-lasting and an actual real solution. And if they are they are ready to do that then ... were certainly ready to have those conversations," she said.

"If the meeting takes place on June 12, we'll be ready, if it takes place on July 12, we will be ready."

Sanders indicated it had yet to be decided whether White House officials would stick to a plan to travel to Singapore in coming days to prepare the summit.

North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by NATO-backed militants after halting his nascent nuclear program.

"TRUMP FORMULA"

Trump had initially sought to placate North Korea, saying he was not pursuing the "Libya model" and Sanders said he was following "the President Trump model."

U.S. regional allies Japan and South Korea, as well as North Korea's main ally, China, urged the two countries to salvage the summit on Friday.

At an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said it was necessary to ensure security on the Korean peninsula, which touched on China's core interests.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the same forum, regretted the cancellation and said the world should keep doing its bit to make the summit happen.

South Korea also would continue efforts to improve ties with the North, the office of President Moon Jae-in said after Moon's top security advisers met for the second time on Friday.

Some analysts worried that canceling the summit could prompt a resumption in hostilities, including renewed shorter-range missile tests or stepped-up cyber attacks by Pyongyang and increased sanctions or deployment of new military assets by Washington.

In his letter, Trump warned Kim of the United States' greater nuclear might, reminiscent of his tweet last year asserting that he had a "much bigger" nuclear button than Kim.

While the Trump administration had insisted on North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of its nuclear program, Pyongyang had always couched its language in terms of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

It has said in previous, failed talks that it could consider giving up its arsenal if the United States provided security guarantees by removing its troops from South Korea and withdrawing its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.

GRAPHIC: North Korea's nuclear test site http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES-NUCLEARSITE/0100702F05C/PUNGGYE-RI2.jpg

GRAPHIC: Nuclear North Korea http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES-NUCLEARSITE/0100702H05E/index.html

(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Idrees Ali, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in WASHINGTON, Christian Lowe, Denis Pinchuk and Katya Golubkova in St Petersburg; Writing by So Young Kim and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott)
The FBI has obtained secret wiretaps collected by Spanish police of conversations involving Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russias Central Bank who has forged close ties with U.S. lawmakers and the National Rifle Association, that led to a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. during the gun lobbys annual convention in Louisville, Ky., in May 2016, a top Spanish prosecutor said Friday.

Jose Grinda, who has spearheaded investigations into Spanish organized crime, said that bureau officials in recent months requested and were provided transcripts of wiretapped conversations between Torshin and Alexander Romanov, a convicted Russian money launderer. On the wiretaps, Romanov refers to Torshin as El Padrino, the godfather.

Just a few months ago, the wiretaps of these telephone conversations were given to the FBI, Grinda said in response to a question from Yahoo News during a talk he gave at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. Asked if he was concerned about Torshins meetings with Donald Trump Jr. and other American political figures, Grinda replied: Mr. Trumps son should be concerned.

Donald Trump Jr. at an NRA event earlier this month. (Photo: Sue Ogrocki/AP)

The comments by Grinda were the first clear sign that the FBI may be investigating Torshin, possibly as a part of special counsel Robert Muellers probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Torshin  a close political ally of Vladimir Putin  had multiple contacts with conservative activists in the United States during the election, seeking to set up a summit between the Russian president and then candidate Trump. Although the summit never transpired, Torshin did meet briefly with the presidents son at a private dinner in Louisville during the May 2016 annual convention of the NRA. A member of the NRA since 2012, Torshin has been a regular attendee of the groups conventions in recent years and hosted senior members of the group in Moscow.

Grinda said that the FBI, in its request for the evidence to the Guardia Civil, the Spanish National Police, provided no explanation as to why it was interested in the material and he didnt ask for one. I dont have to ask them why they want this information, he said. But Grinda added that if Mueller or any other U.S. prosecutor seeks to use the material as part of a court case, they would have to make a second, more formal request to do so to the Spanish government.

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Spokesmen for the FBI and Muellers office did not respond to requests for comment. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr., said he was in a meeting and was unable to comment when contacted by Yahoo News.

Torshin has been the subject of intensifying U.S. government and congressional scrutiny over the past year and was recently among a lengthy list of oligarchs and Russian political figures sanctioned by the Treasury Department. As reported by Yahoo News and the Spanish newspaper El Pais last year, the Spanish National Police were preparing to arrest Torshin in August 2013, when he was expected to fly to the Spanish island of Mallorca in August for the birthday party of Romanov. The arrest plan, which involved the deployment of more than a dozen police officers at the airport and at the hotel where the party was supposed to take place, grew out of a lengthy investigation headed by Grinda into Russian organized crime and money laundering. As part of the probe, the Guardia Civil wiretapped Romanovs phone and picked up 33 conversations with Torshin.

But Torshin never showed up for the party and he was never arrested. Grinda confirmed in an interview after his talk that some in the Guardia Civil suspected that Torshin had been tipped off to the arrest plan by Russian officials who had been asked to cooperate in the Spanish probe. But Grinda added that he was unable to prove that was why Torshin never showed up for the party.

Spanish anticorruption prosecutor Jose Grinda, center, in Barcelona. (Photo: Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images)

Despite the suspicions about his ties to Russian money laundering, Torshin continued to travel frequently to the United States and even showed up as part of a Russian delegation in February 2017 to the National Prayer Breakfast, where he was at one point scheduled to meet with President Trump. (The meeting was canceled the night before, after National Security Council officials raised concerns about it.) More recently, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden sent multiple letters to the NRA asking about its ties to Torshin and other Russian figures, questioning whether Russian money was funneled to the NRA to help pay for the more than $30 million the group spent on political ads and get out the vote efforts during the 2016 election.

An NRA lawyer, in responses to Wyden, said that Torshin has only paid his membership dues to the group and that, based on an internal review, the NRA received a total of only $2,500 from about 23 Russia-linked contributors since 2015. However, the NRA is now reviewing its relationship with Torshin in light of the Treasury Department blacklisting him last month. Based on Mr. Torshins listing as a specially designated national as of April 6, we are currently reviewing our responsibilities with respect to him, NRA general counsel John Frazer wrote to Wyden.

An NRA spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Read more from Yahoo News:
New details have emerged regarding clashes between a U.S.-led coalition and an alliance of Syrian and Russian forces fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a new, dramatic report.

Citing interviews and documents obtained by the newspaper, The New York Times revealed how a four-hour firefight erupted February 7 in eastern Syria, leaving hundreds of pro-Syrian government fightersincluding Russiansdead. Syria has blamed the U.S. for the bloodshed, which the U.S. argues was in self-defense. Russia has distanced itself from the incident, telling the Pentagon that the Russians involved were volunteer fighters, not part of Russia's armed forces.

When the dust finally settled, the article cited a Pentagon estimate of 200 to 300 "pro-regime" forces killed. Only one member of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and none of the roughly 40 U.S. Special Forces involved were injured.

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

The U.S. and Russia are both involved in operations against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in eastern Syria. The U.S. backs the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish alliance that includes Arabs and ethnic minorities, while Russia supports the Syrian military and various pro-government groups, including Iran-backed militias. The two offensives have occasionally clashed but no instance was as serious as the one that occurred February 7.

The report claimed that, prior to the battle, U.S. officials observed a gathering of hundreds of troops along with armored vehicles on the western side of the Euphrates River that divides the two anti-ISIS campaigns. The U.S. military contacted Russian defense officials using a deconfliction line established to avoid incidents between the two powers, but Moscow maintained it had nothing to do with the pro-Syrian government formation.

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By evening February 7, more than 500 fighters and 27 military vehicles were approaching the U.S.-held Conoco gas plant, according to the article. Green Berets and Marines in a nearby outpost about 20 miles away prepared to provide back-up should the pro-Syrian government forces launch an attack. The first shells reportedly flew around 10:30 p.m.

U.S. commandos ran for cover as mortars and artillery pounded their positions. The oncoming attack advanced as the U.S. troops attempted to repel it with anti-tank missiles and machine guns, according to the Times. Shortly after the incident, the U.S.-led coalition told Newsweek that U.S. air power intervened "after 20 to 30 artillery and tank rounds landed within 500 meters [about 547 yards] of the SDF headquarters location."

When attempts at reaching Russia proved fruitless, the U.S. summoned major back-up, including Reaper drones, F-22 stealth fighter jets, F-15E Strike Fighters, B-52 bombers, AC-130 gunships and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The back-up reaction team entered the fight as well once hostile artillery strikes had died down.

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Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

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The pro-Syrian government forces were annihilated by U.S. airstrikes over the next three hours. The incident caused an uproar among Assad supporters, who accused the U.S. of instigating the attack. Russian Senator Frants Klintsevich said, "The actions of the U.S. coalition do not comply with legal norms. Beyond all doubt, it is an unprecedented act of aggression."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry was also extremely critical, calling the attack "a brutal massacre" and an "aggression" that "reveals again, beyond any doubt, the real function of this coalition and the role played by Washington in supporting ISIS" in a letter addressed to the United Nations.

The U.S. has stuck to the official story that the decision to use deadly force was taken in self-defense, as it was again days later when a pro-Syrian government T-72 tank was bombed by a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone, also called Predator B. Defense Secretary of Defense defended the U.S.'s actions and told Congress in March that a third incident was avoided after the U.S. contacted Russian forces via the deconfliction line.

President Donald Trump and his administration have also used the incident as evidence that he has adopted a hard-line stance against Moscow. During his nomination hearing last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "the Russians met their match. A couple hundred Russians were killed." A week later, Trump himself referenced a "very severe" and "very sad" fight "between our troops and Russian troops" in which "many people died."

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Israel has been pressuring the U.S. to recognize its self-proclaimed ownership of the Golan Heights, a southwestern Syrian territory seized by Israel during a 1967 conflict and later annexed without international recognition.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz made the revelation in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, saying such a follow-up to Washington's recognition of the disputed city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would likely come within the upcoming months. Katz said accepting Israeli control of the Golan Heights would target not only longtime foe Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but also an even more powerful enemy: Iran.

Israel has targeted Iranian and pro-Iran positions in Syria for years and Katz said President Donald Trump's recent decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and exit from the 2015 nuclear agreement meant it was "the perfect time" to escalate the administration's anti-Iran campaign.

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"The most painful response you can give the Iranians is to recognize Israels Golan sovereigntywith an American statement, a presidential proclamation, enshrined [in law]," he told Reuters. "You want to destroy [U.S. ally Israel], to generate attacks [against it]? Look, you got exactly the opposite."

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Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

Katz said the move, which he expected to happen this year "give or take a few months," would be a message to Assad as well. The Syrian leader has welcomed Iranian and Russian support in a civil war against rebels and jihadis in the wake of a 2011 uprising sponsored by the West, Turkey and Gulf Arab states. Israel has officially maintained neutrality in the conflict, but has said it would not tolerate the proliferation of Iranian troops and their allies, including the Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement, which has fought with Israel in the past.

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"This is a moment of truth for Assad. Does he want to be an Iranian proxy, or not? Katz told Reuters. "If he becomes an Iranian proxy, then sooner or later hes condemning himself, because Israel is acting against Iran in Syria ... If not, then we have always said we have no interest in getting involved there."

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The statement echoed previous threats made by other Israeli officials, including Israeli Energy Minister and fellow cabinet member Yuval Steinitz. Earlier this month, Steinitz warned, "If Syrian President Bashar Assad continues allowing the Iranians to operate out of Syria, it would be the end of him, the end of his regime."

As Trump broke with fellow signatories China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K. in abandoning the Iran nuclear deal on May 8, the Golan Heights became the venue for the most serious clashes between Israel and Syria since 1973. Israel had already put its troops in the region on high alert prior to Trump's announcement and, shortly after, conducted pre-emptive airstrikes on a suspected Iranian military position south of Damascus.

Rockets that Israel said came from Iranian forces then targeted Israeli forces in the Golan Heights and Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes that destroyed infrastructure and killed personnel.

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INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR/MAPS4NEWS/ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES/REUTERS

Israel first occupied the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War fought between Israel and forces from several Arab countries, especially neighboring Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Israel held on to the area through the 1973 Yom Kippur War and officially annexed it in 1981 in a decision not recognized by the international community and condemned by U.N. Security Council resolution 497. Past attempts to reconcile the issue between Israel and Syria have failed.

When prompted by Reuters, U.S. officials declined to confirm nor deny whether Israel had in fact compelled Washington to recognize the disputed territory. The Trump administration has, however, displayed a solid pro-Israel stance as it voted to recognize Israel's control of Jerusalem, a holy city also seized along with all of Jordan-controlled East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Israel voted to annex the eastern half of the city in 1980, a move also panned by the U.N.

In December, Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was condemned 128 to 9 in a U.N. General Assembly vote in which even the U.S.'s closest allies turned on Trump. The White House continued to defend Israel as its security forces killed dozens of Palestinian protesters demonstrating on the Gaza border against the U.S. Embassy opening in Jerusalem on May 14. The U.S. and Israel blamed Palestinian Shiite Muslim group Hamas for inciting the violence, while the U.N. Human Rights Council said Israel was mostly responsible and called for an investigation.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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U.S. Naval Academy graduation U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen celebrate during their graduation ceremony in Annapolis, Md., on May 25, 2018. (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump delivered remarks during the United States Naval Academys graduation and commissioning ceremony, Friday, May 25, 2018, in Annapolis, Maryland.

He told graduates that we have begun the great rebuilding of the U.S. military.

Trump said Friday that we will have the strongest military that we ever had. He added and when did we ever need it more?

Trump said the best way to prevent war is to be fully prepared for war and said that if a fight must come, there is no other alternative. Victory.

Trump praised the military, saying of the Navy you dont give up, you dont give in. He also stressed his commitment to veterans.

More than a thousand students graduated from the Naval Academy this year. (AP/Getty Images)

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(This May 22 story corrects to show timing of release of funds to be distributed "by July," not "later this week," in paragraph six) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior Trump administration officials warned Congress on Tuesday of ongoing efforts by Russia to interfere in the 2018 midterm congressional elections as the federal government prepares to hand out $380 million in election security funding to states. At a briefing attended by about 40 or 50 members of the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives, the heads of FBI, Homeland Security Department and the director of National Intelligence said states and cities overseeing elections need to be prepared for threats. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told reporters she agreed Russia was trying to influence the 2018 elections. "We see them continuing to conduct foreign influence campaigns," Nielsen said, but added there is no evidence of Russia targeting specific races. Nielsen said DHS is watching other countries that have the capability to influence U.S. elections, including China and Iran. "We need to be prepared," she said. Chris Krebs, a senior DHS cybersecurity official, told Reuters that the administration was sending states guidance on how to spend the $380 million approved by Congress in March to help safeguard U.S. voting systems from cyber attacks. Nearly all of the funds are expected to be distributed by July, the Election Assistance Commission said. DHS is assisting 48 states with election security. It handed out a chart at the briefing to members that said states need to have auditable systems, spend time on planning, training and drills and they should "consider investing in full system architecture reviews." Representative Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said after the briefing that members are concerned that "not only Russia but possibly other foreign adversaries are now going to start looking at how they can meddle in the midterm elections and we need to be prepared. We were caught off guard last time." U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian leadership at a very high level was involved in the attempt to interfere in the U.S. election in order to boost President Donald Trump's candidacy. Russia has denied interfering in U.S. elections. Several Democrats after the briefing expressed concern that the federal government was not doing enough to safeguard elections. "It is clear that our government must do more and whatever possible to secure our elections from foreign interference. The integrity of our democracy is at stake," said Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee. UNPRECEDENTED, COORDINATED A May 8 U.S. Senate report said that in 2016 "cyber actors affiliated with the Russian Government conducted an unprecedented, coordinated cyber campaign against state election infrastructure." Russian actors "scanned databases for vulnerabilities, attempted intrusions, and in a small number of cases successfully penetrated a voter registration database." The report said in a small number of states, "these cyber actors were in a position to, at a minimum, alter or delete voter registration data." Krebs said on Tuesday that DHS wanted states to "increase awareness" and have a "layered defense." If a voter's information was missing, for example, they could request a provisional ballot. "If we do detect something, we can overcome it," he said. During the 2016 campaign, hackers stole emails from the personal account of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman and from the Democratic National Committee, and they were used to embarrass Clinton. Representative C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, said members of Congress need to be aware of cyber risks. "We need to focus on it, make it a priority," he said. DHS said in March it is prioritizing election cyber security above all other critical infrastructure it protects. The agency has said that 21 states had experienced initial probing of their systems from Russian hackers in 2016 and that a small number of networks were compromised, but that there remains no evidence any votes were actually altered. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters the federal government should quickly alert states if they learn of election system hacking. He also wants a "real-time communications channel" between the intelligence community and technology companies in order to assure that internet firms are notified if evidence emerges that Russia is creating fake Facebook Inc pages or taking other actions to influence the elections. (Reporting by David Shepardson; additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; editing by Bill Berkrot)
President Donald Trump has called off a landmark summit with North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un, raising fears that the alternative to diplomacy is military action against the reclusive, nuclear-armed state.

In a letter addressed directly to "His Excellency Kim Jong Un," Trump cited a recent statement carried earlier Thursday by the official Korean Central News Agency as the reason he canceled what would have been the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and North Korean supreme leader, slated to take place June 12 in Singapore.

The statement, attributed to North Korean Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui, branded Vice President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid" as well as a "political dummy" for threatening to overthrow Kim as the U.S. did Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi. Threatening to walk away from the summit, Choe said it was up to the U.S. to respect the talks or face a "nuclear-to-nuclear showdown."

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Trump responded to this, directly writing, "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used." He later told a press conference, "Our military is ready if necessary," along with Pacific allies Japan and South Korea "should foolish action be taken by North Korea."

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South Korean Defense Industry/Getty Images

Trump is not alone in hoping that the U.S. does not unleash its nuclear wrath on North Korea. Experts have estimated that even a non-nuclear conflict would result in up to a million casualties, and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in August that such a conflict "could result in more victims than World War II," making it the deadliest ever. While the U.S. military is far more powerful and advanced than North Korea's armed forces, defense officials have warned of the unpredictability and difficulty of waging such a battle.

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Trump's decision to nix an unprecedented diplomatic opportunity between the U.S. and North Korea may also empower administration hard-liners such as national security adviser John Bolton, a traditional proponent of regime change against U.S. foes. He championed the so-called "Libya model" that spurred the first cracks in what was already a tenuous peace process.

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"The cancelation is unfortunate and risks derailing the legitimate openings of recent months. There is no chance of freezing or rolling back the Norths nuclear weapons program if we dont talk to themand the 'military option' would be an absolute catastrophe. The cancelation could empower hawkish voices in the administration to push for even greater pressure against the DPRKand potentially even military action, which Bolton fully supports," John Carl Baker, Mellon-ACLS Public Fellow at the Washington, D.C.based Ploughshares Fund.

"Trumps letter contained a not-so-subtle nuclear threat, which at the very least signals a willingness to break from the conciliatory stance of the last few weeks. We arent quite there yet, but a return to 'fire and fury' is certainly possible, especially if North Korea responds to Trumps letter with further brinksmanship," Baker added.

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2018 INTER-KOREAN SUMMIT PREPARATION COMMITTEE/REUTERS

Bolton was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations when Qaddafi decided to abandon nuclear weapons for better relations with the West in 2003, the same year the world watched the U.S. invade Iraq on weapons of mass destruction charges that later proved to be false. Bolton, a staunch Iraq War supporter, lauded Qaddafi's decision and asked North Korea to do the same. Fifteen years later, after Qaddafi was overthrown and killed by a 2011 rebellion supported by the U.S., Bolton felt the framework for such a deal was still relevant.

North Korea disagreed. First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan issued a scathing response last week, asserting that "the world knows too well that our country is neither Libya nor Iraq, which have met a miserable fate" and argued that Trump "will be recorded as a more tragic and unsuccessful president than his predecessors" if his administration did not change course from such remarks.

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Trump then appeared to disavow Bolton's words, saying, "The Libyan model is not a model that we have at all when we are thinking of North Korea" and conceding that the North African country "was decimated" by the policies of former President Barack Obama. Trump vowed to keep Kim in power and that a U.S. deal would make him "very rich."

Pence, however, revived the Libya model in Monday's interview, saying, "As the president made clear, this will only end like the Libyan model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn't make a deal." It was this comment that prompted Choe's Korean Central News Agency statement. North Korea has developed its nuclear weapons in pursuit of a credible deterrent from U.S. invasion, often pointing to countries like Iraq and Libya as examples of those who gave up weapons of mass destruction only to later be invaded anyway.

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KEVIN LAMARQUE/KOREA SUMMIT PRESS POOL/REUTERS

Rorry Daniels, deputy project director for the National Committee on American Foreign Policy's Asia-Pacific Security Forum, said there was likely a deep debate within the different branches of the U.S. governmentsuch as Congress, the Cabinet, the military and diplomatic corpsover "how much regime security the U.S. can offer to the DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea] given their political system and history of provocations." While the U.S.'s top goal may be denuclearization, North Korea's priority is guaranteeing the safety of Kim and his government, she explained.

"We see these two competing priorities clash in the recent statements by top administration officials about whether or not a deal would follow the Libya modelan upfront dismantlement of the program without a long-term security guarantee for the regime," Daniels told Newsweek.

"In the absence of any mutual trust between the two sides, these statements and the follow-on responses from North Korea laid bare these divisions at a sensitive moment when both sides are testing the sincerity of the other to listen to and understand their goals. And coming to a common understanding of the goals of the summit is critical to ensuring both sides can declare it a success," she added.

The U.S. and North Korea have not fought directly since the 1950s Korean War that spawned the ongoing hostilities between the two. However, as IRIS Independent Research President Rebecca Grant pointed out in a statement sent to Newsweek on Thursday, "The U.S. Forces Korea motto is 'Fight Tonight' for a reason."

This article was first written by Newsweek

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The Trump administration is implementing a new system that may make it easier for some disabled veterans to erase their student loan debt.

The Department of Education announced last month that it's working with the Department of Veteran Affairs to identify veterans with service-related disabilities who borrowed federal student loans.

These borrowers will be notified via mail of their potential eligibility and receive an application for a Total and Permanent Disability Discharge, known as TPD discharge. Filling out and submitting the application is the next step borrowers with severe physical impairments can take to erase their student loans.

Under the current law, the Education Department can't discharge these loans automatically because these borrowers need to provide documentation of their disability. But experts say the new program provides essential outreach to many disabled veterans who may be unaware that they could be released from their legal obligation of repaying their student debt.

The Education Department will now match borrowers on the National Student Loan Data System who have federal student loans or aid through the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education, or TEACH Grant Program, to the VA's database.

[Discover more methods of student loan forgiveness.]

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, there are likely tens of thousands of severely disabled veterans who don't know they qualify.

"Simplifying the loan forgiveness process and proactively identifying veterans with federal student loans who may be eligible for a discharge is a small but critical way we can show our gratitude for veterans' service," said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in an April statement.

For disabled veterans who borrowed federal student loans, here are few things to know about discharging student debt.

There's no longer a federal tax penalty for student loans forgiven due to a permanent disability. Prior to the recent federal tax code overhaul in December, forgiven debt from a TPD discharge counted as taxable income. Student loan experts say this caused undue hardship, since many disabled veterans faced a larger tax bill because they qualified for debt relief. For instance, there was a highly publicized account last year of a disabled veteran who owed more than a $60,000 tax bill on a $223,000 debt discharge.

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Borrowers whose student loans are forgiven after Dec. 31, 2017, due to death or total and permanent disability no longer have to pay federal income taxes on forgiven loans.

[Know these three tips for securing student loan forgiveness.]

Mark Kantrowitz, a college admissions and financial aid expert, adds that the tax-free benefit is likely also to apply at the state level. "To the extent that state income taxes base income on the federal definition, this will also exclude such discharges from income at the state level. Of course, borrowers should check with a tax preparer to be sure," he says.

Veterans identified as eligible for a TPD discharge don't have to submit supporting documentation. Veterans who have been contacted about their TPD discharge based on information provided by either the Social Security Administration or the VA don't have to provide supporting documentation showing that they're totally and permanently disabled, according to DisabilityDischarge.com, a website serviced by Nelnet Inc. on behalf of the Department of Education. These veterans qualify for TPD discharge because of a service-connected disability that is 100 percent disabling, or they're totally disabled based on an individual unemployability rating.

[Check out careers that offer student loan forgiveness.]

The DisabilityDischarge.com website instructs: "If we contacted you regarding TPD discharge based on information we received from the VA, you do not need to submit documentation with your application."

Applicants can begin the process online. While the Department of Education will be sending identified veterans information about TPD discharge and application via mail, qualified borrowers can still begin the process online before being notified -- although they may have to submit supporting documentation on their disability, experts say.

"For federal loans, you can complete and submit the application for Total and Permanent Disability Discharge right away or on your own through DisabilityDischarge.com," says Andrew Josuweit, CEO of Student Loan Hero, a company that combines tools with financial education on student loans. "If you're disabled and have private loans, I'd recommend you contact your loan servicer and explain your situation. Some private lenders, but not all, offer student loan discharge in the case of disability."

Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.

Farran Powell is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at fpowell@usnews.com.
She may not have looked particularly joyful as she arrived with husband David Beckham for the royal wedding, but Victoria Beckham still knows how to have a laugh.

Victoria Beckham, pictured with husband David at the royal wedding, got grief over her neutral facial expression. (Photo: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

The fashion designer and former Spice Girl was roundly criticized for looking miserable at the May 19 nuptials. Despite her lack of a smile, Beckham insisted in a post-wedding interview that she enjoyed herself immensely.

It was such a beautiful, incredible wedding, the 44-year-old Brit, whose designs have been worn by bride Meghan Markle, told the Evening Standard newspaper. It was just the best day. They looked so happy, and everybody was just so happy for them. Meghan seems like a genuinely lovely woman, who really loves him. It felt very real, very honest.

And while Beckham might not be one for flashing a huge grin, she certainly has a sense of humor. Her latest Instagram sees her spinning her smile shaming into a clever marketing ploy.

When youre smiling on the inside, she cracked as she posed in a Dark But Happy Place sweatshirt from her Victoria Beckham fashion collection. True to form, she is not smiling in the photo.

Behold, the Posh pout. (Photo: Chris Radburn  WPA Pool/Getty Images)

While some commenters continued to chide her for not showing off her pearly whites  one person mocked her face like thunder  loyal fans argued that everyone should give her a break about her facial expression.

You dont need to explain yourself at all, one commenter wrote. I actually feel for you having to defend yourself over ridiculous comments and remarks on appearance. Youre a wonderful beautiful lady who doesnt have to show a fake smile or keep up appearances to suit others.

Need to keep a sense of humor when faced with unfair and unnecessary negative comments, another supporter said.

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And lets not forget: Anyone married to David Beckham is no doubt having the last laugh  whether it shows or not.

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By Mathieu Rosemain PARIS (Reuters) - Europe should set global standards for tougher regulation of digital technology, finding a way between an excessively lax United States and an over-restrictive China, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. Addressing the bosses of U.S. giants Microsoft and IBM at a Paris technology conference, Macron said the European Union's new data privacy regulation, known as GDPR, demonstrated Europe's ability (EU) to lead the way. "For me, the U.S. model is not sustainable because theres no political accountability," Macron said, adding that U.S. tech rules had been driven by corporate interests. Speaking in English, he continued: "On the other side, you have a very strong Chinese model. But this model has not the same values as the ones we have." The Chinese model was, he said, "over-centralized". The young French leader has openly courted investments in artificial intelligence and "deep tech" since his election last year, pitching himself as a champion of the younger plugged-in generation and start-up enterprises. However, he wants tech companies to do more for the "common good" in society and has led European efforts to force Google, Amazon, Facebook Inc and Apple Inc (GAFAs) to pay more tax at the source of revenue. He has also pressed tech giants to fight harder against abuse of personal data as well as the dissemination of fake news on social media. His proposals have been slow to gain traction so far, with his GAFA tax plan dividing EU member states, while Berlin, London and Rome have been preoccupied by domestic politics over the past year. DATA PRIVACY Macron told the VivaTech conference that citizens around the world were demanding better protection from their governments, and that failing to act could be politically destabilizing. He also said there was a risk that China would fill the void. "I dont want my people, my citizens, my start-ups being regulated under de-facto dominance of a sort of a Chinese regulation," Macron said. Macron, a former banker, hailed GDPR as a "big step forward". The EU regulation, which comes into effect on Friday, will cover companies that collect large amounts of customer data including Facebook and Alphabet's Google. It is designed to give EU citizens more rights to control the use of their personal data online and has a slew of demanding requirements. On Thursday, Macron held one-on-one meetings with several CEOs including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, IBM's Ginni Rometty, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. Macron told Europe 1 radio that he and Zuckerberg had agreed to work together on new rules to fight hate speech online. "We gave ourselves six months (to work on this)," he said. "I also told him that France would push for European regulation, as we can't bet on the mere goodwill of companies alone." (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Additional reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Richard Lough and Kevin Liffey)
New York (AFP) - Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape and a sex crime in New York on Friday, in what was hailed a landmark for the #MeToo movement, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of accusations of misconduct.

The former mogul -- once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars -- smirked as he was escorted into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs to face the first criminal charges lodged against him.

Weinstein, a 66-year-old twice-married father of five, was charged with rape in the first and third degrees, stemming from an attack on a woman in 2013, and a criminal sex act against another woman in 2004. Neither victim was named.

"Today's charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, thanking "brave survivors" for coming forward and urging others to call a sex crimes hotline.

Standing alongside his defense attorney, the former Tinseltown powerbroker looked glum during the brief arraignment, agreeing to post bail at $1 million cash, surrender his passport and be fitted with a GPS monitoring device.

Weinstein's career went down in flames in October over sexual assault allegations following explosive articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment reckoning across the United States, in multiple industries.

Nearly 100 women have now accused Weinstein of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back decades.

New York authorities have been investigating the disgraced producer for months, under growing pressure from Hollywood actresses to bring him to justice, and their probes are ongoing.

Weinstein already faces a slew of civil lawsuits, is reportedly under federal investigation, and his former studio has filed for bankruptcy.

But these were the first criminal charges against Weinstein.

Defense attorney Ben Brafman told reporters that his client would plead not guilty and still denied any non-consensual sexual activity.

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"We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges," Brafman said.

"Bad behavior is not on trial," he added. "Mr Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood."

His case was adjourned until July 30.

- Handcuffs -

The former studio boss surrendered to police shortly before 7:30 am (1130 GMT) wearing a white shirt, pale blue sweater and dark blazer, as dozens of television cameras and photographers mobbed the street outside.

He walked into the station clutching several books, apparently including the Rodgers and Hammerstein biography "Something Wonderful" and a volume on late director Elia Kazan.

He left handcuffed, without the books, after his mugshots and fingerprints were taken.

Police said he was "arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct."

Out on bail, Weinstein's travel will be restricted to New York and the neighboring state of Connecticut.

- 'Inevitable descent to hell' -

Former actress Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004, is thought to be one of the women whose cases triggered the New York charges.

New York police previously confirmed another credible rape allegation after "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta accused the former producer of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010.

Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are among more than two dozen actresses who say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.

"I have to admit I didn't think I would see the day that he would have handcuffs on him," McGowan told ABC television.

"Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice," tweeted Argento.

The Time's Up anti-harassment movement -- launched on January 1 -- said the producer "shattered the lives of an untold number of women," adding that it looked "forward to seeing justice prevail."

The #MeToo movement has seen people around the world come forward with cases of sexual mistreatment, leading to the downfall of powerful men across industries, including Oscar winner Kevin Spacey.

Weinstein has reportedly spent months in treatment for sex addiction. His fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, has left him.

But for all the media circus, experts warn that any trial -- let alone a criminal conviction -- would still be a long way off.

Sexual assault cases, particularly those that allegedly happened years ago, are notoriously difficult to prosecute and often lack substantive forensic evidence.

Weinstein's lawyer is one of America's most celebrated criminal defense attorneys. His past clients include former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who escaped criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011.
The White House is set to hold separate bipartisan briefings with House and Senate leaders to discuss a confidential source in the Russia investigation, following a backlash over the suggestion Democrats would be excluded.

Having initially suggested that Democrats would be briefed by intelligence officials on the classified information in a separate meeting in June, the White House walked back on its decision and announced the bipartisan Gang of Eight would be briefed on Thursday.

The Department of Justice will also keep to its planned meeting just with two Republicans, House intelligence chairman Devin Nunes and House Oversight Committee chair Trey Gowdy, who will be briefed at noon on Thursday.

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White House

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The Gang of Eight meeting is scheduled to take place immediately afterward, CNN reported.

The briefings are expected to touch on the FBIs confidential informant, who was used to aid its investigation of President Donald Trumps then campaign team, and has prompted accusations by the president that the FBI infiltrated his team with a spy.

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Democrats had pushed the White House to hold a meeting for the Gang of Eight, which includes top Democrat and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees, after hearing its meeting would not be held until June.

Indeed, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer slammed the decision to hold a meeting on the classified information as highly inappropriate, accusing the White House of making the information-sharing political.

Defending the White Houses initial decision, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the briefing was only set to include Republicans because they had requested the information.

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To my knowledge, the Democrats have not requested that information so I would refer you back to them on why they would consider themselves randomly invited to see something theyve never asked to, she said.

But Schumer told Reuters that such a briefing needed to have Democrats as well as Republicans present as a check on the disturbing tendency of the presidents allies to distort facts and undermine the investigation and the people conducting it.

And although Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had requested a briefing in writing on Wednesday, their request came for one meeting for all those involved rather than a separate meeting to the Republican-only briefing, The Hill reported.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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President Donald Trump has canceled an upcoming historic summit with North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement targeting the U.S.

Trump's announcement came just as foreign journalists observed the demolition of North Korea's Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, a gesture intended to prove that Kim was serious about denuclearization talks and moving closer toward his stated goal of eventually reuniting with U.S.-backed South Korea. Trump's surprise cancellation of the first-ever face-to-face talks between a sitting U.S. president and North Korean supreme leader, set for June 12 in Singapore, may be a huge step back for elusive peace on the Korean Peninsula.

"Diplomacy is often difficult and messy," Jessica Lee, interim executive director at the Council of Korean Americans, told Newsweek. "Both the U.S. and North Korea should calm down rather than overreact to the latest overtures. Progress has been made on both sides, and we cannot revert to brinksmanship again, especially when the alternative is war."

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Here are five reasons why Trump may have called off the summit:

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Kevin Lamarque/Korea Summit Press Pool/Reuters

1. North Korea insulted Vice President Mike Pence

In a Fox News interview aired Monday, Vice President Mike Pence warned, "It would be a great mistake for Kim Jong Un to think he could play Donald Trump," and threatened Kim with the same fate as late Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi (who was overthrown and killed in a 2011 NATO-backed rebellion after giving up his weapons of mass destruction in 2003) if the North Korean ruler did not abandon nuclear weapons. Earlier Thursday, the official Korean Central News Agency cited a harsh response by North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui, who called Pence "ignorant and stupid" and branded him a "political dummy."

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2. North Korea threatened a nuclear showdown

In that same statement, Choe threatened a "nuclear-to-nuclear showdown" as the only viable alternative to peace talks. North Korea has always argued its nuclear program was solely for self-defense purposes and intended to deter a potential U.S. invasion. Trump and Kim's war of words through 2017 often included nuclear threats lobbed by both sides, but North Korea's most recent statement may have pushed the administration over the edge.

3. Pressure from hard-liners in Trumps inner circle

In March, Trump made two high-profile cabinet changes that were widely seen as having pushed the administration in a more hawkish direction. First, he swapped Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for CIA Director Mike Pompeo. A number of commentators, including former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, credited Tillerson with having contributed to the fragile U.S.North Korea dialogue. Then Trump exchanged national security adviser H.R. McMaster for John Bolton, who championed the so-called "Libya model" that North Korea condemned and who has long advocated for military action against enemies of U.S. foreign policy.

4. Trump felt he got a big enough concession already

Trump's announcement came shortly after the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site was destroyed. Punggye-ri, located in North Korea's remote northeast, is the country's only known nuclear test site. While some reports have indicated the site may still be operational, Kim ostensibly came through on his promise last month to demolish the testing grounds, as well as freeze nuclear testing and longer-range missile launches. With the site apparently razedor at least heavily damagedTrump may feel he has the upper hand on his North Korea foe.

5. Trump felt he could not walk away from the summit as the clear winner

Trump said last month that he was prepared to "respectfully leave the meeting" with Kim if the conversation did not prove "fruitful." While the U.S. has not publicly admitted it, both sides appear to have offered some sort of concessions leading up to the planned summit. The U.S. did not include nuclear assets in joint military exercises with South Korea, and North Korea has halted nuclear testing, blown up its only known nuclear test site and released three U.S. prisoners. Still, past administrations have gotten seemingly far with North Korea only for talks to fall apart, and Trump may have felt he was unable to sway Kim, who has proven himself an astute statesman in his own right.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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On Friday, Ireland goes to the polls in a historic referendum that could overturn one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. Its a landmark moment: giving the Irish public the biggest chance to change the law since a 1983 referendum when the population voted by 67% to enshrine in the constitution an equal right to life for a mother and a fetus. That vote came in the wake of the 1973 Roe v. Wade case in the U.S. that decriminalized abortion, prompting Irish conservatives to fear their own country could follow a similar path.

In Ireland, like the U.S., the conversation about abortion never stopped. But the social climate todaywith an increasingly secular populationhas made Ireland ripe for change that was not possible in the 1980s. In the run up to the abortion referendum, younger generations have mobilized including by encouraging members of the Irish diaspora to come home to vote.

On Friday, they will vote yes to repeal the eighth amendment or no to leave it in place and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said if the yes vote wins, his government will introduce legislation allowing abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The vote is set to be close.

It is the second time in three years that the worlds eyes have turned to Ireland. In 2015, 62% of voters decided in favor of equal marriage, the first country to do so by public vote. While there are similarities between the twothe Irish diaspora has come home to cast their ballots in both cases, and the campaigns have galvanized younger votershistorians and activists are aware the issues are very different.

There was a difference with marriage equality, Buckley says. It was more a question of do you believe in love and family and marriage, which is not the hardest sell in Ireland. The campaign to repeal the eighth amendment has faced different challenges.

But the tenor of the debate in Ireland reflects the way the country has transformed in the last three decades. Heated discussion once focused on the morality of the law and the word abortion was barely used; in 1983, debate instead centered around the substantive issue, referring to the wording of the amendment. But there are now people speaking openly about their own experiences of terminating pregnanciesor not being able to do so because of the eighth amendment. And many of them have found creative ways to draw attention to the individuals affected.

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This referendum is long overdue, says Julie Morrissy, one of the founders of X-ile, a photography project gathering portraits of people who have traveled for abortions. No person under the age of 35 has had the opportunity to vote on this issue. People understand that this is a human rights and equality issue. Her group is one of several supporting the yes campaign finding new ways to showcase the experience of individual womenand engage people with their arguments.

A poster calling for a 'NO' vote in the referendum to retain the eighth amendment of the Irish constitution seen near Liffey river, in Dublin's City Center on May 16, 2018.

That doesnt mean the campaign has been free of controversy. Some have still used the graphic imagery of fetuses so often used by anti-abortion activists outside clinics worldwide. Ten days before the votein one of the rarer instances of government input into what has largely been a grassroots-led debate Varadkar criticized posters from the no-vote supporting Save the 8th campaign that claimed In Britain, 90% of babies with Downs Syndrome are aborted.

He said his government has made it very clear in the proposed legislation that disability will not be grounds to end a pregnancy. The proposed legislation would allow for terminations in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and any after that period would only be permitted in cases of fatal fetal abnormality or when pregnancy poses a serious risk to a womans health. (Activists have pointed out that many women dont realize they are pregnant until after 12 weeks.)

One of the most striking things for people long familiar with the issue in Ireland has been the openness with which people are now prepared to discuss abortion. Across newspapers, on radio, television and the internet, people on both sides have spoken about their own experiences. There is no shortage of women with stories to share: an average of nine women a day travel to the U.K. for abortions (and some go elsewhere in Europe), while three women a day are estimated to use illegal abortion pills.

Thirty-four years ago, you heard little or nothing about real people affected by abortion. Women couldnt speak up, Ailbhe Smyth, Co-Director of Together For Yes campaign and a campaigner during the 1983 vote, said at a campaigners event last October.

Since March, Irelands public service broadcaster, RTE, has run a radio series, Abortion Stories, with contributors including a girl who was raped and regretted her abortion, to a man who felt his wifes health was put at risk by the eighth amendment. On Facebook, the group In Her Shoes has become a place for women to share their stories directly, gaining over 100,000 followers in less than three months and much attention, from both the media and from anti-abortion activists, who targeted the page with 1-star reviews in April and prompted an investigation by Facebook.

'Yes' vote campaigners cover anti-abortion group's graphic images related to pregnancy and abortion, with Irish and rainbow flags, and white billboards, outside Leinster House, the Irish Parliament, on Friday, May 4, 2018, in Dublin, Ireland.

Mara Clarke, founder of the Abortion Support Network, a charity that advises and provides funding for women seeking abortions, has been tweeting about the women that haunt herincluding the women who never made it to the center for help. She works to shed light on the dangers of the law for the marginalized, who cant travel or buy pills; women who cant read; refugees and others without travel documents; the women who couldnt prove they were suicidal enough to qualify for an abortion to protect their own lives; the teenager told by a rogue clinic that an abortion would give her cancer.

Using the arts to highlight the individuals affected by the law has been a frequent theme in the Yes campaign. X-ile started collecting its portraits in 2015 as a visual way to destigmatize abortion, Morrissy says. There had not been a platform for people who travel for abortion care to show their faces and to demonstrate that [they] are ordinary members of our communities who deserve our respect, support and trust, she told TIME.

Performance activists Speaking of IMELDA (Ireland Making England the Legal Destination for Abortion) put on plays across the country about womens history, clad in a bright red familiar to viewers of the Handmaids Tale but used as a reference to Irelands own history of restricting reproductive choicesactivists in the underground Irish Womens Abortion Support Group (IWASG) used to wear red so that people seeking abortions abroad would recognize them at the station.

Ann Rossiter, a member of the IWASG and a founder of IMELDA, says, The referendum on same sex marriage had a real feel good factor about it. Abortion is a very different story. The perceptions are very different to giving control of reproduction to women or child-bearing people.

But in 2018, the wider conversation has changed. The debate is no longer framed in terms of black and white morality, and has instead been pushed into the realm of human rights, healthcare and the tangible effects of the law. The vote isnt about abortion, but giving an equal right to life as a woman, says Clarke of the ASN. Our hope is that Ireland decides that its time for Ireland to take care of Irish women.
In 2004, my wife Helen and I heard that the baby we dearly wanted would not survive longer than an hour after birth. She was 11 weeks into the pregnancy when we learned the fetus had a condition called acraniameaning that the skull would not form properly around the brain. And because we were in Englandrather than my home country of Irelandwe immediately requested a termination, and received one just a few days later.

Any man would have done the same. Unless of course, they lived in Irelandwhere they would have to do far more. There, Helen would have been forced to carry the pregnancy to term, or face a 14-year prison sentence for procuring an illegal abortion.

Irelands solution to this problem has always been England. On average, nine women travel to the U.K. each day to receive the compassion and care denied to them by their own country.

On Friday, Ireland votes on whether to repeal an amendment in our constitution that puts the life of a pregnant woman on a par with the life of the fetus. Im hoping people vote Yes to repeal, but to tell the truth, Im still shocked were having the vote at all.

Read more: Thousands of Irish citizens are flying home to vote in the historic abortion referendum

I thought the aversion to abortion ran far too deep in my home countrya country full of people formed by dim memories of the videos shown to us in school by The Society for The Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). Violent, upsetting and misleading grindhouse documentaries designed to repulse our moral sense and send us home shaken, primed to become good Catholic child soldiers who would protect defenceless wee babbies from their own mammies.

The most famous of these films, The Silent Scream, featured an ultrasound of an abortioninitially run at slow speed, but then sped up on the arrival of surgical instruments to give the impression that the fetus was thrashing around in pain, or perhaps trying to defend itself. Showing these videos to children was a subtle form of abuse and highly effective propaganda. I feared the Silent Scream would always drown out the actual voices of living Irish women.

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I was a child soldier myself. I didnt have to watch a movie to know that abortion was an abomination. When the priests who taught us described this barely believable horror (killed by their own mammies??), they had few answers for why a woman might voluntarily put herself under a surgeons knife. And we didnt know what questions to askbecause we didnt know there were questions to ask.

John Irvings The Cider House Rules was the novel that upturned my belief system and probably altered the whole course of my life. In it, Irving interrogates the subject of abortion from multiple directions through his protagonist, Homer Wells, an American doctor at the time of the Second World War. Although deeply troubled by performing the procedure himself, he feels he must; the alternative is to let his pregnant patients take poison, throw themselves down stairs or endure the horrors of improvised backstreet surgery.

Irving taught me that women must have access to safe, legal abortions because without that access, they will have unsafe, illegal abortions.

Today, the moment an Irish woman sets foot on the tarmac of a British airport, she assumes full control over her own body. Her rights, stolen from her by another referendum in 1983, are suddenly returned by the miracle of flight and the miracle of people like Mara Clarke, who runs the Abortion Support Network.

Ireland is dependent on England for abortion, she says. Think of the level of desperation that drives our clients to contact a group of strangers in England, involve them in their pregnancy, and ask for money for an abortion. One of them said to me Im so ashamed to be asking you for help and we said, Its not your shame. Its Irelands shame.

Some men, possibly out of a misplaced sense of chivalry, have said that they wont be voting as its a womens issue and should be left to them. But if the No vote wins, women will go back to having no voice, no say, no choice in their own medical care. Evil will flourish because of good men doing nothing.

In The Cider House Rules, mentor and father figure Wilbur Larch sums up Homer Wells predicament, which is, of course, the predicament of my country.

Here is the trap you are in.Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them have no choice in the matter, and youbecause you know how to perform themhave no choice, either. What has been violated here is your freedom of choice, and every womans freedom of choice, too. If abortion was legal, a woman would have a choiceand so would you. You could feel free not to do it because someone else would. But the way it is, youre trapped. Women are trapped. Women are victims, and so are you.
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When the massacre lie appears in the first act, the United Nations Human Rights Council will appear in the third act, to help Hamas.

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The UNHRC, as we all know, has an automatic majority of unenlightened anti-Israel countries. Even if all European countries had voted against the new commission of inquiry, whose conclusions we already know, the resolution would have been adopted.

The thing is that the representatives of the unenlightened countries are not alone. The enlightened are providing them with ammunition. How long after this weeks Gaza massacre are we going to continue pretending that the Palestinians are non-people? asked Robert Fisk, the Middle East correspondent of The Independent.

Anti-Israel protest in Berlin (Photo: Reuters)

With Fisk, its already a tradition. When the Palestinians fired rockets, he was there to explain that they are simply reminding the world that they were expelled by Israel. If we adopt his logic, Ukrainians should fire rockets at Poland, because thats where they were expelled from. And Germans should fire rockets at the Czech Republic, because they were expelled. And Finns should fire rockets at Russia, because they were expelled. And Greeks should fire rockets at Turkey, because they were expelled. And Turks should fire rockets at Greece, because they were expelled.

We can go on. The list is long. And we have yet to mention the Jews, who according to Fisks logic were not only supposed to fire rockets at Germany but also to wipe it off the face of the earth in acts of retaliation. Interestingly enough, nothing happened. And had it happened, no one would justify it.

But the Arabs are allowed to do it. They attacked the newly established Jewish state with a declared goal to destroy it, violating the UN resolution. Their plot failed. Some of them, it should be mentioned, have gotten over the annihilation aspirations. But the different Hamasniks are openly declaring that their goal is to destroy the State of Israel. And they, of all people, have regiments of Fisks, including Jews and Israelis, to provide them with justifications.

There are countless journalists and academics who are repeating the same lie, that Israel is the result of a crime and that it keeps committing crimes nonstop. The most poisonous propaganda campaign belongs, as always, to Al-Jazeera. I dont think five minutes passed in the past week without the word massacre being uttered. The different Fisks, in the media and in the academia and in politics, are legitimizing the incitement campaign.

This incitement campaign is a boomerang. Israel is the target, but the incitement leads to a radicalization of the Muslim communities across Europe. Because when there is a consensus among Muslims in the continent that Israel committed a massacre in Gaza last week, the obvious result is that theyre allowed to respond with a massacre. Theres no need for thousands to respond. A few individuals are enough. The sympathetic atmosphere is already there. So every media manipulations turning Israel into a criminal adds supporters to the Salafi groups that already exist in Europe.

Palestinians riot near Gaza border fence (Photo: EPA)

Only several days ago, a report emerged that a neighborhood in the La Verriere commune in France was turning into a Salafist stronghold. Occasionally, the French take a firm hand and expel imams engaged in incitement. But when certain neighborhoods include a religion police, which is stronger than the security forces, the next terror attack is only a matter of time. The perpetrators of the attacks, against Jews or against a country in Europe, will cry out that its in retaliation for Israels crimes. Of course it is. They believe in this lie with all their heart. They have been brainwashed by the Fisks and Al-Jazeera.

Sometimes, it should be mentioned, Israeli groups add fuel to the fire of hatred. Hamas has already admitted that 50 of the Palestinians who were killed were Hamas operatives, and Islamic Jihad admits it has three shahidim on the list. But that wont help. The massacre claims have become a consensus in progressive circles, in Israel and worldwide.

This includes the New York Times main headline, Israeli forces kill dozens in Gaza, with a shocking image of bodies. Every human being who isnt familiar with the facts would rage over what seems like crimes against humanity. This isnt another lie, because most journalists covering this topic know Hamas is sending its people to the fence. They know this isnt an innocent civilian protest. But they are insisting on providing their share of incitement. They and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are one and the same. It makes them, in their own eyes, enlightened.

The result will be another rise in the level of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, hatred and terror. And when blood is shed, and it will be shed, the Fisks will keep going. In the preliminary stage, they presented Israel as a monster committing atrocities. And when terror strikes in the West again, they will explain that we must understand those raging about the atrocities.
More than a dozen people were injured in explosion on Thursday in a restaurant in Mississauga, a suburb of the Canadian city of Toronto, media reported.

Some 15 people were taken to the hospital after the blast at the Bombay Bhel restaurant. Three people had critical injuries, the Peel Regional Paramedic Service said in a Tweet.

The blast occurred just after 10:30 pm, media reported. There was no word on the cause.

The blast comes a month after a driver plowed his white Ryder rental van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15.
Egypt has opened its border crossing with Gaza for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, temporarily easing a blockade it has enforced, along with Israel, for the past 11 years.

But thousands hoping to travel are on a waiting list, a backlog created by long periods of closures, and Egyptian border officials process them at a slow pace.

Most Gazans can't travel under the strict blockade imposed after the Islamic Hamas terrorists seized the territory in 2007. Israel permits only a small number of medical patients, business people and aid workers to exit each month and also allows the entry of thousands of trucks carrying humanitarian aid each day.
On the backdrop of the a US-led coalition strike on Syrian army positions in the vicinity of the Syria-Iraq border overnight Thursday, a Syrian Air Force (SAF) cargo aircraft was spotted making its way from the Syrian capital of Damascus to the city of Albu Kamal in the Syrian Desert en route to Tehran.

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Assad's army held several cargo flights over the past week to the Albu Kamal area that was bombarded overnight Thursday, as reported by Ynet.

Cargo aircraft making its way from Damascus to Teheran

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 12 pro-regime fighters were killed, including foreign nationals.

Aviation enthusiasts are trained to detect military aircraft in real-time using special software. Despite the fact that the detection of military aircraft depends on the civil radar's limited coverage range, there are websites that detect military aircraft by processing the flight data, including their altitude and speed.

The SAF has four Russian Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircrafts. Three of them have been detected in action over the past month, and the fourth one is likely not operational.

Russian Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft's route

The aircraft landing at the bombarded compound departed last week Wednesday from Damascus to the Albu Kamal area and returned the next day.

The aircraft had flown last Sunday to the same area and returned three and a half hours later.

Notwithstanding the US's demand that Iranian forces withdraw from Syria, the SAF continues dispatching aerial convoys using cargo aircrafts to the Revolutionary Guards' posts.

The logistic sorties are held despite American and Israeli strike in the area. Over the past two weeks two Syrian cargo aircrafts have been recorded heading from Teheran to Damascus.

Russian Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft (Photo: shutterstock)

While the precise content loaded onto the aircraft is unknown, the pre-flight time returning back to Damascus took four hours

ISIS controlled the stricken area of Albu Kamal until last year when it was reoccupied by the SAF.

One part of the area is currently held by the SAF, Iran and Hezbollah and the other is controlled by the Kurdish forces that receive aid from the US-led coalition.

The US have denied Syrian reports that it is responsible for the strike, and the Pentagon has claimed it knows nothing about the US-led coalition's activity in the area.

"We have no operational reporting of a US-led coalition strike against pro-Syrian regime targets or forces," Captain Bill Urban, a spokesperson for US Central Command, said.

Another Pentagon official speaking anonymously reiterated Urban's statement saying, "We have no information about what happened there."
Five years since a long-range missile testing facility in a desert in the Iranian city of Shahrud was destroyed in an explosion, Western intelligence officials believed that Tehran had abandoned the site.

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However, a New York Times report published on Wednesday claims that a group of American weapons experts have been looking closely at new satellite images from the site and are now warning that Iran is surreptitiously developing intercontinental missiles there which will be capable of reaching Israel, Europe and the US itself.

Senior officials at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in California suggest that they have found a trove of evidence of advanced technological development for missiles.

The investigation highlights some potentially disturbing developments, said Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the INSS who reviewed the material and who was quoted in the NYT.

A breakthrough in the discovery came by surprise when last year an Iranian site published a photo of a senior Iranian missile development programmer Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, who presided over the development of a secret, second facility in the Iranian desert which experts say is operating to this day.

Moghaddam was killed in 2011 in a mysterious explosion at a missiles site, which was attributed to the Israeli Mossad. Dozens more people belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were also killed in the blast.

In 2017, the report explains, a significant clue fell into the hands of Western intelligence agencies about where the work on the missiles was taking place when an Iranian journalists association posted a photo of Moghaddam standing next to a senior lieutenant and a box marked Shahrud.

The American researchers stumbled across the Iranian facility shortly after a young research fellow, Fabian Hinz, proposed studying Iranian state media material on Moghaddam to see whether it could provide any information on the extent of Irans missile program prior to his death.

Comments made by Moghaddams colleagues and family members in the Iranian media indicated that his work had not ended with his death, the researchers say.

Suspicious of the continuation of his work, Americans analysing satellite images of the area began to take a closer look, which soon convinced them that the program was still underway.

Poring over years of satellite imagery, the researchers noticed something: The number of buildings, they say, had slowly increased over time, the report says.

They also spotted a detail that would stand out only to an obsessive follower of General Moghaddams career: The buildings were painted a striking aquamarine, it continues.

General Moghaddam, known as eccentric and strong willed, had ordered his first facility, the one that was destroyed, painted that color. Now the same color appeared 300 miles away on a cluster of nondescript buildings in the desert, the report explains.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (Photo: EPA)

While the color of the paint was not in and of itself incontrovertible evidence of the continuation of the clandestine program, the closer inspection revealed a host of further evidence.

For example, the agencies began to detect ground scars around Shahrud that were likely caused by the testing of missiles.

The researchers, piecing through satellite photos of the area around Shahrud, found, in a crater a few kilometers away, what they say were two telltale ground scars. They were larger than those at General Moghaddams publicly known facility, according to the report, which also noted that the scars were fresh, with one appearing in 2016 and the other as recently as June 2017.

After studying the missile test stands, which are required to be installed outdoors, the researchers concluded that the stand weighed around 370 tons with a power capability sufficient for intercontinental missiles. Two other stands were even larger.

Other clues began to emerge, including the discovery of three pits usually used for creating rocket components, according to the researchers. One of the pits was notably larger than the sort used for Tehrans medium-range missiles.

Using an advanced form of satellite imagery analysis, the researchers were able to show prove that the site was being used.

We can see human traffic, human activity that isnt visible on your traditional satellite, said David Schmerler, one of the California-based researchers. Theyve been driving all over the crater where the engine tests are done.

Further evidence came to light from the absence of fuel that could be detected at the site, which the experts say raises the possibility that the facility is building engines that burn solid fuel, which is more dangerous and more difficult to develop than liquid fuel and which also can be applied both to civil as well as military programs.

Liquid-fueled missiles must be fueled right before launch, which requires time and access to special fueling facilities, making them easier for enemy forces to find and destroy. But solid-fueled missiles can be hidden in remote locations and fired at a moments notice, the report explains.

David Wright, a missile expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, has noted the unusual choice to burn solid fuel if the site is intended for a civil space program.

If the goal is to launch satellites, it makes more sense to use liquid-fuel rockets, he said, adding that solid fuel is a convenient way to also develop the technology for a solid ICBM.
Russia has tested its S-500 aerial defense system, US official told CNBS.

The system succeeded in striking a target at a distance of about 480 kilometers the longest distance measured so far, according to the report.

Russia says the system is able to intercept missiles, drones, and F-22 and F-35 jets.
Kensington Palace says Prince William will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories at the end of Junethe first British royal to make an official visit there.

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The prince will begin his June 24-28 trip in Amman, Jordan, then travel to Jerash in Jordan; Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel; and Ramallah in the West Bank.

          (Photo: AFP)

This is the first official political visit by any member of the Royal Family to Israel. It comes at the British government's request.

The visit by the second in line to the throne is at the request of Her Majestys government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities, the palace said in a statement.

The trip was announced earlier this year, but the dates and destinations were disclosed Friday.

William's father, Prince Charles, attended the 2016 funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in a private capacity.

Prince Charles (Photo: MCT)

Prince Charles also attended a birthday celebration on Thursday marking Israel's 70th anniversary at Londons Royal Albert Hall which was a rare occurrence since the Royal Family has generally refrained from participating in Israel-related events.

During the celebrations in the UK, Charles sat in a royal box next to the Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky.

At the end of last year, Prince Charles came under attack following revelations that he penned a letter advocating for the US administration to take on the Jewish lobby and attributing unrest in the Middle East to the influx of foreign Jews, according to reports first published in The Mail on Sunday.

In the letter written to a close friend, Laurens van der Post in 1986, the prince highlights the exodus of European Jewry over the course of the 20th century as a phenomenon that "helped to cause the great problems."
Iran wants European powers to present it with measures by the end of May to compensate it for the United States abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal, a senior official said on Friday, and Tehran would decide within weeks whether to quit the accord.

The 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers lifted international sanctions on Tehran in return for it agreeing to curbs on its nuclear programme.

Since President Donald Trump pulled the United States out last month, European powers have been trying to find a way to ensure Iran still receives economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal. But that has proven difficult, with European firms frightened away by US sanctions.
A Syrian war-monitoring group says suspected Israeli strikes hit a military base overnight in central Syria that houses Lebanon's terrorist Hezbollah group alongside other factions allied with the government in Damascus.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that it's not clear if there are any casualties in the strikes on the Dabaa air base in central Homs province. The base is north of the town of al-Qusair that Hezbollah captured in 2013 from rebels, a turning point in the group's role in the Syrian war.

File photo (Photo: EPA)

Syria's state media reported late Thursday that a military base in central Syria came under attack from "enemy" fire. It said Syrian air defenses responded.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah pointed the finger at Israel for the attack, saying, "every day the Israeli enemy enters our airspace. Yesterday, from the skies of Lebanon, it attacked in Syria."

Speaking in a televised address on a day commemorating 18 years since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanese territory, Nasrallah reassured such aggression is not tolerated, and should Hezbollah go to war with the IDF, it will surely win.

"The weapons Hezbollah had before the Israeli withdrawal were few and incomparable with the amount it currently has," Nasrallah said. "When I get asked about a war with Israel, I say that, if it happensIm certain of our victory."

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah

Hezbollah and Iran's role in Syria has alarmed Israel and the United States, which have threatened action.

The US even resorted recently to sanctioning them to curb ther 'malign activity' in the region.

Nasrallah scoffed at the sanctions targeting Hezbollah's leadership, saying "we have no money to put in banks, nor do we have any bank accounts or transactions." But he added that the sanctions were harmful to individuals the state should defend, rather than "act more American than the Americans."

Syrian state media and a military media unit run by Hezbollah said early on Thursday that the US-led coalition targeted Syrian army positions in Syria's desert, but US military officials denied any knowledge of the strikes.

"Some of our military sites between Albu Kamal and Hamimia were exposed at dawn today to aggression launched by US coalition jets," state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

Military airbase in Homs

A Syrian news agency also reported overnight Thursday that Israeli jets were responsible for carrying out a separate strike against the Dabaa military airfield in Homs.

An explosion was heard Thursday evening in the airfield near the Syrian-Lebanese border, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. The source of the blast was initially unclear.

Opposition news sites also reported that 25 Iranian and Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the strike, but the figure has not yet been verified

Syrian state media added the military airport had come under a missile attack, which was repelled by its air defense systems.

A news site affiliated with the Syrian opposition reported in the past that the Assad regime had already begun transforming the Dabaa air base, which is situated 30 kilometers west of Homs, for civil purposes in cooperation with the Iranians.

The goal of the Syrian regime, according to the report, was to build an alternative international airport to that currently being used in Damascus, which has also been subject to constant attacks by rebels in the country, which has been beset by a bloody civil war.

The pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al Akhbar reported on Friday morning that the attack on the military airbase was the largest by the Israeli Air Force since the night of the missiles," a term used in reference to the night in which Iran launched 32 rockets at Israeli targets earlier this month.

Israels response was one of the heaviest barrages in Syria since the conflict there began in 2011.
The German government regrets that a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been cancelled, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

"From the German government's point of view, dialogue at the highest level is an important step towards de-escalation on the Korean peninsula," the spokeswoman said.

North Korea said on Friday it was still open to talks with the United States after Trump called off the summit, saying it hoped the "Trump formula" could resolve the standoff over its nuclear weapons program.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman says Turkish and American officials are meeting in the Turkish capital of Ankara for talks on the strategic northern Syrian town of Manbij that has driven a wedge between NATO allies Turkey and the United States.

Turkey is pushing for the withdrawal of US-backed Kurdish-led forces from Manbij and has vowed to retake the town and other Kurdish-held territory along the Syrian-Turkish border by force.

Hami Aksoy, the spokesman, said ministry officials were discussing Manbij's status with US State Department officials on Friday.

He says Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US State Secretary Mike Pompeo would meet in Washington on June 4 to discuss the issue and other topics.

Ankara views the Kurdish militia in Syria as an extension of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey.
Israel will be harming itself if it chooses to recognize the Armenian Genocide, Turkey warned on Friday in the latest verbal sparring match that has bedevilled the two countries' relations in recent weeks.

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The warning comes two days after Knesset Speaker Yoel (Yuli) Edelstein said Wednesday that "Israel must recognize the Armenian Genocide," signalling a potential departure from years-long Israeli policy to refrain from granting recognition to the Ottoman government's systematic murder of 1.5 million Armenians.

We believe that the fact that Israel is placing the events of 1915 on the same level as the Holocaust will cause harm to (Israel) itself, said a spokesman for Turkeys Foreign Ministry to a group of journalists.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo: EPA)

The Knesset approved a proposal by Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg and MK Itzik Shmuli (Zionist Union) for an order calling on Jerusalem to recognize the genocide of the Armenian people between 1915 and 1917which has also been called the Armenian Holocaustwith 16 supporting the move, and 10 opposing it in the sparsely-filled chamber.

MK Shmuli hailed the important discussions after the Knesset vote and was confident that Ankara would not cut ties with Jerusalem if the bill was adopted.

MKs from the coalition and from the opposition have expressed great support for the bill proposal, Shumli said in an interview with Ynet.

There have already been states that have recognized the massacre and the Turkish responsibility and Turkey has not dared to nullify its diplomatic relations with them, he added, before attacking the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his repeated scathing remarks against Israel.

Even in these days, when the barbaric and anti-Semitic sultan from Ankara dares to preach morality to the State of Israel, when he bombs the Kurds every day in northeastern Syria, the MK said, adding that I imagine that apart from the Joint List, the bill will be supported.

Memorial marking Armenian Genocide (Photo: AFP)

Despite extensive historical research into the Ottoman Turks extermination of the Armenian population, Ankara disputes the figure of 1.5 million, insisting that it was significantly lower and arguing that the victims died as part of the civil war rather than a systematic murder program.

For years, the sensitive issue has been a focus of Turkeys foreign policy, with the country applying pressure on countries to refrain from recognizing it as a genocide and imposing sanctions on those who do.

In April 2015, the world marked 100 years since the beginning of what some historians describe as the first holocaust. The same month, Turkey recalled its ambassador from the Vatican after Pope Francis described it as a genocide.

The European Parliament further sparked Turkeys anger when it passed a non-binding resolution to commemorate the genocide of the Armenian people.

Last Friday, Erdogan compared the actions of Israeli troops in Gaza to Nazi Germany's treatment of Jews in World War Two, further denting the two countries' ties.
Flinching when he heard himself described as a man who used power to prey on women, Harvey Weinstein was charged Friday with rape and another sex felony in the first prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him that sparked a national reckoning over sexual misconduct.

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Seven months after the accusations destroyed his career and catalyzed the #MeToo movement, the once-powerhouse movie producer turned himself in to face the charges. They stem from encounters with two of the dozens of women who have accused him of sexual misdeeds ranging from harassment to assault.

This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually, Manhattan Assistant Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said in court. Weinstein, who had been staring grimly ahead, grimaced and raised his eyebrows as he heard her words.

Harvey Weinstein (Photo: Reuters)

Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Friday that he would fight to get the charges dismissed, saying theyre factually unsupported and constitutionally flawed.

And he began to take aim at the accusations and accusers, noting that the alleged attacks werent reported to police when they happened and suggesting potential jurors wouldnt believe the women.

Assuming, he added, we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.

Asked about the raft of allegations that made Weinstein a symbol of sexual misconduct, Brafman said: Bad behavior is not on trial in this case.

Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood, and to the extent that there is bad behavior in that industry, that is not what this is about, the attorney said.

Weinstein was released on $1 million bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on traveling beyond New York and Connecticut. He left through a courthouse back door less than three hours after his arrest.

By agreeing to surrender, he had sped through the citys criminal justice system, where most people accused of rape spend hours in police stations and holding cells before going to court, and he arrived with a $1 million cashiers check for his pre-negotiated bail.

He has until Wednesday to decide whether to testify before a grand jury.

As he turned himself in, Weinstein, 66, found himself surrounded by lights and cameras in a spectacle he couldnt control.

You sorry, Harvey? came a shout from a throng of media as the once powerful movie mogul walked into a lower Manhattan courthouse in handcuffs, his head bowed. Asked what can you say? he mildly shook his head and softly said no.

Weinstein was charged with rape and a criminal sex act, both felonies.

Weinstein lumbered into a police station early Friday wearing a blazer and carrying books including Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammersteins Broadway Revolution, about the Broadway musical duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and Elia Kazan, about the famed film director.

The rape charge relates to a woman who was not identified and does not appear to be among the people who have told their stories publicly. A court complaint says Weinstein confined her in a Manhattan hotel room and raped her in 2013.

The criminal sex act charge stems from a 2004 encounter between Weinstein and Lucia Evans, a then-aspiring actress who has said the Hollywood mogul forced her to perform oral sex on him during a daytime meeting in his office in 2004. She was among the first women to speak out about the producer.

This is an emotional moment. We are relieved and grateful that justice is coming, but we also mourn the cases where it didnt, her lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Evans told The New Yorker in a story published in October that she repeatedly told Weinstein to stop but didnt want to kick him or fight him.

More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing, and authorities in California and London are also investigating assault allegations. Brafman also has said that Weinstein was a principal target of an investigation being conducted by the US attorneys office in Manhattan.

New York City police also have been investigating allegations by Boardwalk Empire actress Paz de la Huerta, who told police last fall that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010 when she was drinking and not in a condition to give consent.

Other women who have publicly accused Weinstein of criminal sexual assaults include the film actress Rose McGowan, who said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah, Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, who said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992, and Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe, who said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008. Another aspiring actress, Mimi Haleyi, said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in his New York apartment in 2006.

Until the scandal, Weinstein was among the most influential forces in American film.

Miramax, the company he founded with his brother, Bob, in 1979 helped reinvent independent cinema with hits like Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love. Their later company, Weinstein Co., distributed Oscar winners The Artist and The Kings Speech.

But there were rumors in Hollywood for years about Weinsteins pursuits of young actresses. He narrowly escaped prosecution in 2015 when an Italian model went to New York City police and accused him of groping her during a meeting.

Police detectives set up a sting where the woman recorded herself confronting Weinstein. After a short investigation, though, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. decided not to bring charges because of a lack of evidence.

Vancea Democrat who faced public pressure from womens groups to prosecute Weinstein this timesaid Fridays charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation.

The public allegations against Weinstein helped prompt a broad public outcry about sexual misconduct.

Major figures in media and politics have lost their jobs or had their reputations tarnished by allegations that they subjected women to unwanted advances or outright assaults. They include TV hosts Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, comedian Louis C.K, Democratic US Sen. Al Franken, chef Mario Batali, casino magnate Steve Wynn and, most recently, Democratic New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Turkish police detained 51 suspected members of Islamic State in Istanbul on Friday, anti-terrorist police said.

The suspects were believed to be planning to travel back to conflict zones in Syria, they said in a statement, adding that all those detained were foreign nationals.

Islamic State has carried out numerous bombings across Turkey in recent years, including an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul on Jan. 1, 2017, in which 39 people were killed and a bombing in the city's historic heart that killed 12 in 2016.

Turkish operations against Islamic State suspects intensified at the end of last year ahead of the anniversary of the nightclub shooting.
The Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza announced Friday that the name of an eight-month-old baby has been crossed off the official list of people killed during recent deadly border riots, pending further investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

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Last week it was reported that the baby, identified as Leila al-Ghandour, was killed after inhaling tear gas during the bloodiest day of the violent protests, which left over 60 Gazans dead as thousands descended on the border where many engaged in violent activities and attempted to breach it.

The Associated Press later learned that the little girl had been suffering from a pre-existing medical condition and that her death could not be attributed to the inhalation of tear gas during the May 14 riots.

Leila al-Ghandour

Ministry spokesperson Dr Ashraf al-Qidra was quoted as saying that an investigation is still underway into the matter. "Leila al-Ghandour is not listed among the martyrs because we are still waiting for the report," he said.

According to Dr. al-Qidra, the infant was dead when she arrived at the hospital and her "family said that she has inhaled tear gas during the protests. It was not clear at the beginning if she died because of this or not. Therefore, we transferred the matter for an investigation."

The doctor also said that during the weekly riots that have taken place on along the Gaza border as part of the " March of Return " protests, a total of 112 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF.

Israel says that the use of force is necessary to prevent multiple attempts by Palestinians, often armed, to breach the border. "This is a very sensitive issue," Dr. al-Qidra added.

"The occupation forces want to prove that she wasnt killed by the firing of tear gas. I am not saying she was, but an investigation in needed."

The infant, at the time of her death (Photo: AFP)

IDF Head of the International and Social Media Branch Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that the IDF has evidence that cast doubt on the veracity of the claim that the baby died of tear gas inhalation.

"It is based on intelligence and on various reports, she suffered from other things, she did not die from inhaling gas," he said.

Leila's family blamed the Israeli army for her death, but the New York Times quoted family members who said she suffered from a congenital heart disease.

A copy of a preliminary patient report obtained by the Guardian from the hospital Leila was admitted to lent credence to this, indicating she suffered from "heart defects since birth" that caused a "severe stop in blood circulation and respiration."

It was not claimed that inhalation of tear gas contributed to her death.

Israel has so far rejected the calls for an independent investigation into the violent incidents that led to the deaths of Palestinians at the events along the Gaza border, and stressed that the use of live ammunition was legal and justified.
The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah has called on the Lebanese state to stand up for citizens being slapped with sanctions by the United States.

Speaking in a televised address Friday, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says the new government, which prime minister Saad Hariri has been appointed to form, cannot "turn its back" on those individuals.

The US, which considers the Iranian-backed militant Hezbollah group to be a terrorist organization, has been imposing sanctions on the group for decades. The US and its Arab allies however have issued a new wave of sanctions this month that targeted the group's top leadership, as well as businessmen and companies that Washington says are funding the group.

Nasrallah described it as a "losing battle" and said his group would not be impacted.
A Russian oligarch with links to the Kremlin met Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen at the Trump Tower in New York City less than two weeks before Trump's inauguration as president, a source familiar with the meeting said on Friday.

During a discussion in Cohen's office, located on the skyscraper's 26th floor eleven days before the inauguration, Cohen and Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg talked about improving relations between Moscow and Washington and arranged to meet again at the inauguration, the New York Times first reported. The paper quoted Andrew Intrater, an American who attended the meeting and manages investments for Vekselberg.

The source, who asked for anonymity as private conversations were being discussed, confirmed the New York Times' account to Reuters by telephone.

Cohen and a lawyer for Intrater could not immediately be reached for comment.

The paper reported that days after Trump's inauguration as president in January 2017, Intrater's private equity firm, Columbus Nova, gave Cohen a $1 million consulting contract, which was now under investigation by US federal authorities.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is conducting an extensive investigation into alleged contacts and dealings between Trump, his associates and Russia, before and after the 2016 US presidential election.
An explosive device was thrown at an IDF force north of the Gaza Strip border Friday, according to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, as "March of Return" protest sees clashes between Gazans and Israeli soldiers renew once again.

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There were no casualties in the incident.

Gaza border rioters (Photo: Reuters)

Some 1,600 Palestinian protesters have gathered in two locations along the Gaza border security fence. Most of the participants kept their distance and remained about 800 meters from the fence. Dozens of youths, however, advanced to around 300 meters distance and burned tires at one protest spot. East of Gaza City some youths came right up to the fence and tried to pull it apart.

Israeli troops fired tear gas and live rounds. Soldiers also fired at kites with flaming tails to try to bring them down before they landed in Israeli farmland and set crops alight.

Gaza health ministry officials said at least 109 protesters were hurt. Medics said at least 10 were wounded by live rounds.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and the groups Gaza leader, Yehya Al-Sinwar, joined separate protest encampments raising cheers from the assembled crowds.

"The marches of return are not over. They may be smaller but we are continuing," said Ali, a participant who masked his face with his t-shirt at a protest east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Protesters dispersed as dusk fell to prepare to break their daytime fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, About 87,000 Palestinians passed through the various crossings along the Green Line from the West Bank to Jerusalem Friday morning to pray at the Temple Mount for the holy month, with some 8,000 worshipers visiting the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

IDF forces were deployed in reinforced forces and work in cooperation with the Shin Bet, the Civil Administration, the Border Police and the Police in order to allow the Ramadan prayers alongside the defense of the settlements and the roads and maintaining order and security in the sector.

Dubbed the March of Return, the protests were launched on March 30 to demand the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants to family lands or homes lost to Israel during its founding in a 1948 war.

Protests along the border reached a peak on May 14 when Gaza medical sources said at least 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire. The violence has tapered off since but there are still sporadic flare-ups.

Since the border protests began, 113 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, Gaza medical officials said.

Gaza has been controlled since 2007 by the Islamist group Hamas. Israel and Egypt, citing security concerns, maintain a de facto blockade on Gaza, which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse.

Israel has blamed Hamas for provoking the violence.

"Theyre pushing civilianswomen, childreninto the line of fire with a view of getting casualties. We try to minimize casualties. Theyre trying to incur casualties in order to put pressure on Israel, which is horrible," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS News last week.

Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official in Gaza, told a Palestinian television channel that the majority of those killed on May 14 were Hamas members.
President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort lost a bid on Friday to have certain criminal charges by a US special counsel dismissed, including one count that he conspired to launder money.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over Manafort's case in US District Court for the District of Columbia, said in a ruling that she will not dismiss charges against Manafort related to money laundering or false statements concerning whether he was required to register as a foreign agent for the then pro-Russia Ukrainian government.

However, she said the arguments his attorneys made for why they should be dismissed can be re-examined later during his criminal trial later this year.
Prices in the countrys premium housing market appear to have cooled more than those in the more affordable segment.

In the 12 months to April 2018, property values in the premium category (those priced in the upper 10% of all properties) have been falling versus other price groups that have seen restrained growth over the same period, according to the latest CoreLogic Docile Report.

The premium properties saw a 4.3% decline, while all other sectors logged growth above the 0.2% national average  In April, premium properties were those valued over $1,212,486. In contrast, those in the most affordable range were priced $256,786 or lower.

The softening premium property market trend became even more evident when we assessed it from a quarterly basis, with values trending lower across the three most expensive property deciles, CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher said.

By contrast, the more affordable decile ranges remained in subtle growth over the past three months, and it was the most affordable 10% of properties that recorded the greatest quarterly value increase, up 1.6%. This data highlights how weakness across the most expensive property values can exacerbate weakness across the broader housing market, Kusher added.

The analyst identified Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney as the markets where the affordable end of the market is the strongest, while Perth showed the best performance in the premium end. Adelaide is demonstrating good strength in the middle valuation brackets, while Hobarts growth appears to be very broad-based.

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News

Washington, DC - President Trump today signed Space Policy Directive-2 implementing four recommendations made by the National Space Council on February 21, 2018 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This directive will encourage American leadership in space commerce by creating more certainty for investors and private industry, while focusing on protecting our national security and public-safety. As President Trump says, Were a nation of pioneers, and the next great American frontier is space.

As a sign of our administrations commitment to America leading in space again, President Trump will host the next National Space Council meeting at the White House on June 18, 2018.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Fifty students from Yuma and La Paz high schools will be residing in Arizona Western Colleges Residence Halls for five weeks as part of the TRIO Upward Bound Summer Camp.

Participants will attend classes such as math, English, science, foreign language, and electives in addition to evening activities to help them prepare for the upcoming academic year and become familiar with the college environment.

The camp will begin on May 29 and end on June 29. The students will stay on campus Sunday through Friday each week.

The camp will culminate with a week-long university tour trip during the first week of July. Upward Bound students will have an opportunity to visit University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University.

The TRIO Upward Bound program serves students in the ninth- through twelfth-grade who will be first-generation college students and/or meet the federal low-income criteria.

For more information about the camp, contact Director of TRIO Programs Michelle Thomas at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (928) 344-7763.
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Arizona Western College announces their 2017-2018 NISOD Excellence Award recipients, who will represent AWC at the NISOD Conference this summer.

Arizona Western College recognizes excellence in teaching at the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Developments, NISODs, Annual International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence Banquet. One Full-Time Continuing or Probational Faculty is honored from each Academic Division: Business and Computer Information Services, Career Technology, Communications, Fine Arts, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Nursing, Science, and Social Sciences, annually.

The Center for Teaching Effectiveness and Professional Development Committee identify three criteria for the NISOD Excellence Faculty Recognition Program:

Excellence in Teaching

Commitment to Students

Demonstrated Collegial Support within Division

From October 9-14, 2017, Full-time Faculty participated in an election within their respective Divisions for NISOD Excellence Division Faculty. Honorees were visited by CTE (Career Teaching Effectiveness) staff weeks 14-15 of the fall semester and presented with a plaque. Honorees were presented to their peers at the Spring Start-up All Faculty Meeting, January 12, 2018. NISOD Excellence Faculty will represent Arizona Western College at the NISOD Annual International Conference in Austin, TX, May 26th-29th, 2018.

Since its inception in 1978, the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) has emphasized the importance of teaching and leadership excellence in institutions of higher education. In 1989, in connection with a University of Texas national study of teaching excellence, NISOD hosted its first ceremony honoring recipients of the NISOD Excellence Award. The response to that ceremony was so positive that NISOD decided to begin what has become a celebratory tradition. Each year, the NISOD Excellence Awards allows for the honoring of the world's best in higher education.

The AWC Center for Teaching Effectiveness proudly presents the NISOD Excellence Awards to the following Faculty:
Through Moesha Boduong movies, one can easily spot a rising star. She is an inspiration to all those still championing for a breakthrough in this competitive industry. Even though she has not been in the movie-spotlight long enough, her reputation is gradually spreading across the country. She has hopes of winning an Oscar award in future and certainly, through her works, she fits the profile.

Source:MyJoyOnline.com

READ ALSO:Best of Majid Michel movies

About Moesha Boduong

For those who are still in the dark, a Moesha Boduong profile features a beautiful Ghanaian actress and model, with an artistic well-contoured body, matched with a natural African complexion, and a very attractive face.

Thanks to the internet, she feels proud letting the world acknowledge her real African beauty. Her photos are constantly updated on various social media channels, letting men drool and reply with flattery comments. Indeed, she continues to get all the attention her beauty demands. Men across Ghana are constantly head over heels in love with her figure and general attitude.

Source:Kuulpeeps

Where does Moesha Boduong come from?

She is from Bipolar in the upper West area of Ghana. Daughter of Rtd. Major Boduong and the late Tina Boduong. Born on March 10, 1990, she eventually completed her primary education at Nyhiaeso International School and Martyrs of Uganda Basic School in Kumasi. Her Senior schooling was at Accra Senior High School before furthering her studies at Ghanas premier University and finally to University of Ghana, Legon. Her diploma in Theatre, Music, and Dance is what people may refer to as Beauty and Brains.

Soource:GhGossip

Other than Acting and Modeling she was also rumored to be joining Big Brother Africa Naija, representing our country in that continental show. Her popularity was enough to stir mix reactions among members of the public, as some could not wait to watch her contest at that international live show. All in all, she has always been a center of media speculation and controversies. Therefore, such unconfirmed stories are always bound to hover around her name.

Movies of Moesha Boduong

She has featured in quite a number of movies. Her performance has been impeccable, to say the least. In particular, there are ten featured movies depicting how talented this star is. The journey has not been that easy, and it takes courage and determination to fit into her shoes. Moving from grass to grace is what defines Moesha as an icon. One of her recent works is The hero: service to humanity.

Source:MyJoyOnline.com

The hero: Service to humanity

Acting as Miss Dwomoh in this emotional movie, Vultures of, Moesha got a chance to prove to herself and the world that she is certainly a talented professional who can confidently fit in any role. Normally, she is known for the bad girl characters. The shift of roles as a decent teacher, full of dignity, has surprised those unaware about that side of her.

She admits facing some challenges in various scenes in the movie, particularly overwhelmed by emotions of how sad the storyline is. But then again, she managed to keep her tears in check and took control of herself.

The plot of the movie is based on social problems being endured by women in Africa. It involves a young courageous girl, Lamisi, from the northern region of Ghana who was determined to bring change in the society while living with a mentally ill guardian.

Miss Dwomoh was her teacher who discovered she has a special talent. She then nurtures and prepares her for a contest for just a local quiz. Her success from the simple local competition made her climb up the ladder and finally represent Ghana in the West African quiz challenge.

Source:TheNET.ng

Amakye and Dede

This yet another blockbuster movie that went viral in 2016. This time, due to her publicity stunts and free-spirit attitude, Moesha performed excellently acting as a bad girl gold digger. She fitted seamlessly in that role. Her dressing costumes also did not disappoint those who cannot get enough of her. Her curvy body and some skin were meticulously revealed for the audience to feast their eyes on.

READ ALSO:List of all Mercy Johnson movies ranked

This movie featured some big Ghanaian stars that Moesha got to interact with. Figures such as Majid Michael, John Dumelo, Roselyn Ngissah and Emelia Brobbery and Ahoufe Patri. It premiered in March 2016 and helped put Moesha in the spotlight.

Source:Ellis Gh

Grey down

Even though she acted a minor role as Betty, getting an opportunity to feature in this drama movie has always been considered baby steps for Moesha into the industry. The movie which got released in 2015 was an unarguably a hit and received massive viewership from across the region. It features a lot of dilemma and drama as it is equally thrilling and absorbing.

The movies writer, producer, and director is none other than Shirley Frimpong-Manso. A reputable name in Ghana, with so many actors, never hesitate to work with her. She is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sparrow Production, a film, advertising, and television company. She won Best Director at the sixth Africa Movie Academy Awards and ranked as the 48th most influential persons our country has ever been blessed with.

In her movies, women are always portrayed as fierce people who can be breadwinners as well as lead complex lives. This is modern Ghana and women have a voice. This is clearly depicted by Manso as she elaborates that her drive into filming industry was mainly to change how Ghana was portrayed. Indeed, over the years Moesha has also been seen as fierce and well driven.

Source:SakaMusic.Com

Yvonnes tears

This is yet another blockbuster Nollywood-Ghallywood movie that became part of Moeshas stepping stone into becoming a distinguished star. Its a 2015 romantic/drama movie and though she was already in the industry by then, she had not received her breakthrough yet. Her role was minor and was overshadowed by some other big names that had already established firm grounds.

The story line in T involves a womanizer who finally meets the girl of his dreams after messing around with so many girls. Unfortunately, her dream girl happens to be the roommate of yet another girl whom he impregnated and ran off. So much about Karma when confusion, regret, and disappointment takes control of the whole movie. The story line is as impressive as the cast itself.

In this play, yet again, she got a chance to act alongside Yvonne Nelson, Jessica Williams, James Gardiner, Khareema Aquiar, Prince David Osei among other renowned figures in the industry. Indeed, this is all it takes to sharpen her skills and attain practical experience.

Source:Ghanacelebrities.com

Pool party

o is yet another trending movie which actress Moesha Bodoung had an opportunity to feature in. Her role may have been minor but still very significant, as it contributed to the movies overall success. It was released in 2011 and just like in her other movies, it featured big-screen stars such as Majid Michel, Yvonne Okoro, Martha Ankomah and Yvonne Nelson.

It was basically a drama movie with a very sophisticated twist of events as a man realizes that his brother had become his wife's lover. There is the tone of betrayal, revenge, and murder throughout the scenes which makes it even more entertaining.

Generally, there are quite a number of movies that the beautiful Moesha has featured on-which also emerged to be successful and very much popular. They include; Only you, Victims, Assault case, the last part, Hostage, Vultures of horror, Die with Me, Mysterious Girls as well as Bloodline.

All those movies have shaped her career and overall experience into becoming an icon that she is today. The Hero: Service to humanity, which is actually her first movie to be in a major role and have a decent character, is a revelation that she is ready to fly and brush shoulders with so many other international actors.

Source:Youtube

Apart from the most prominent movies expalined above, Moesha also acted in other movies including:

Vultures of horror

Acting as a personal assistant in this horrific movie, Vultures of horror, Moesha was simply stunning. She vividly brought out that respectful persona towards her boss, or rather her superiors, but a mean attitude to strangers-especially those were a nuisance in her line of work.

The movie was directed and written by Chidi Anyanwu Chidox with a strong Christian message in its story line. And so, in as much as it may be thrilling, its also educative.

Hostage

Who would have thought that Moesha could act so well as a humble emotional housemaid. In a story that is filled with conspiracy, romance, and hatred, Hostage is one of the movies that really depicted Moeshas marvelous acting skills.

Die with me

The title tells it all, Die with me is about friendship and love. The storyline is based on two friends- Mike and Fred- who had been inseparable from childhood. But later on, circumstances forced Fred to distance himself.

Well, honestly its an emotional movie. The lovely Moesha played the role of Freda, who was actually Freds sister. Acting all caring and somehow concerned for her brother, she nailed that role.

Victims

Acting as a housemaid in a wealthy mans fancy house in the movie Victim, Moesha looked stunning in this movie. Her costume and makeup were rather intense for a maid. But whichever way, she was serving in a rich-house setup and therefore played the part. She acted her role perfectly as naive, obedient and somehow fearful servant, just like a typical maid. Her role was significant in the dramatic plot of the movie.

Generally, the movie features a young girl who had been a victim of rape from an old rich man. Being wealthy and successful, the rich man played by Paul Wilson wanted sexual favors from the girl-having paid her college fees. There are so many twists and turns as revenge, hatred, and sacrifice takes most parts of the movie.

Source:Metro941.fm

There are quite a number of movies that the beautiful Moesha has featured on-which also emerged to be successful and very much popular. They include; Only you, Assault case, the last part, and Mysterious Girls among others.

All those movies have shaped her career and overall experience into becoming an icon that she is today. The Hero: Service to humanity, which is actually her first movie to be in a major role and have a decent character, is a revelation that she is ready to fly and brush shoulders with so many other international actors.

Challenges faced by Ghanaian female actors

People always think that the greatest challenge in acting is staying ahead of the competition, and always being perfect at your roles. Well somehow it still is, if you are incompetent, you will definitely find yourself being overrun by some newbies who are still afraid of theater lights.

However, one other challenge that actors face especially ladies, as echoed by Moesha Bodoung, is the coercion of male producers to have sex with them. This trend has been going on for a very long time, costing many of them their dignity. Moesha, for instance, laments that she has been confronted a number of times by producers who either directly or indirectly ask for sexual favors in exchange for roles.

It's not until recently that that actress Vicky Zugah accompanied by Moesha Bodoung spilled the beans. Being liberal minded, they took to the social media to address this issue and ask for intervention from the relevant authority.

Source:Kemi Filani

Vicky Zugah explains that sex for movies roles is not a guarantee that you will certainly secure the position. At the end of the day, these people are still businessmen and want only the best actors for their movie roles, so as consequently, they can generate more income. That basically means that even after favors of intimacy you still need to put extra effort to outdo the rest of the applicants.

But then again, Film Producers Association of Ghana has made it clear that such allegations are yet to be received by them, as no one has ever filed a formal complaint in any way. Its, therefore, the responsibility of every female victim to fight for justice by keeping the authority in the loop.

READ ALSO:Genevieve Nnaji husband: Who is he?

Moesha Bodoung 2018

Always mixed in controversy and media speculation, this year has not been any different for the one and only Moesha Bodoung Ghana actress. She bought herself a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe and was proud to flaunt in the social media for the haters to see. This sparkled agitation as people took it to the online platform to express their suspicions of where she may have gotten the car from. Fortunately, such stories never last long.

There are always critics trying to pull her down with various allegations and rumors. According to her, she has been working very hard to be where she is today, and no one can stop her from enjoying her life. That is why she is considered a free minded iron lady who never apologizes for being who she is.

Source:Pulse.com.gh

There has also been recent tension from the members of the public regarding comments she made on Cable News Network (CNN) in a show hosted by Amanpour. The show which was dubbed sex and love Moesha confirmed that a greater number of ladies have sex with older married men in exchange for monetary support and payment of bills such as rent.

Hell broke loose in the social media after the comments hit the airwaves, as people referred to her as a disgrace to Ghanaian women. The irony is, not everyone woman disagreed with her.

Source:Ameyaw Debrah

As for wedding bells, the public may have to wait a little longer since there are no signs of any engagement this year. She is always known for her peculiar opinions on marriage and connections as a whole. Being single has usually been the way for her.

Nonetheless, since she is always passionate and well talented in acting, not to mention her well-certified credentials, Moesha probably is working on her new 2018 project for her fans. By keeping us posted on her Instagram page as well as her show on Viasat 1 TV hopefully we receive some information on her acting career.

In conclusion, for a woman to be as strong as Moesha, it requires strength and determination. She is frequently on medias radar with people throwing insults at her for very petty issues-even though others also praise her. But regardless of all that, she still keeps her head held up high and continues to live her lavish life. She also speaks freely without any fear of contradiction, she is bold. With such a personality, she is definitely an inspirational figure.

Source: Yen
- Many prophets have made death prophecies about only celebrities publicly

- Prophets Owusu Bempah, Nigel Gaisie, Cosmos Affran have prophesied the death of Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, Lilwin, others

- Prophet Daniel Amoateng said most of these prophets do this in order to make a name for themselves

Prophet Daniel Amoateng, founder and leader of Power of Worship international Church has said the rate at which some prophets are quick to make prophecies in public is uncalled for.

According to him, these pastors do this in order to make a name for themselves and become superstars.

This, he said, is not right because prophecies are supposed to be made in private and not public like has been the norm with some prophets now.

Prophet Amoateng

READ ALSO: Meet Kuami Eugenes fashionable 99-year-old grandma who is causing traffic on social media

Over the past few months, many Ghanaian celebrities have received death prophecies being made by some self-acclaimed men of God.

This started after the death of the Dancehall superstar, Ebony Reigns in February 8 this year.

Ebonys death seemingly opened the flood gates of death prophecies.

Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, Nkansah Lilwin and others are part of those who have received this prophecies.

Interestingly, the prophecies were all made via social media.

READ ALSO: How Kwesi Nyantakyi caused Songo to lose his job at Multimedia - The full story

But in an interview with Accra-based Hitz FM, Prophet Amoateng rubbished this rather worrying trend.

According to the Man of God, prophecies of those nature need to be communicated in private.

However, the quest for some men of God to become superstars have moved them to do the wrong thing.

READ ALSO: Songos perceived action after an order to arrest GFAs Kwesi Nyantakyi was made

The simplest thing to do by wisdom is to talk to the celebrity after service, not to the whole congregation.

When I see something during service, Im not supposed to say it publicly. Yes, God showed it to me but Ive to contact you privately to give you the information and pray with you concerning the prophecy so that everything will be well.

John Dumelo and I are friend; we completed the same school so if I see something about him, should I wait for him to be at my church before I announce to the congregation in order to make a name for myself? Prophets are not supposed to be superstars, Prophet Amoateng said.

READ ALSO: Songo will be applauded after Anas' work on corrupt GFA is aired - Kwame Sefa Kayi

Ghana Trends: Dumelo's Wedding And J.B Danquah Founded Uni | Yen.com.gh

READ ALSO: Video of how Prophet Songo prophesized Nyantakyis sad end hits social media

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Source: Yen.com.gh
- Counselor Lutterodt has described men who think of marriage after landing their first good jobs as foolish

- The counselor stated that a man must earn around GHC40,000 before he can start thinking of marriage

A young man starting life must not be obsessed with getting married, relationship expert Counselor George Lutterodt has advised.

According to him, only a fool will think of marriage after he lands his first well-paying job.

You are in your late 20s and by Gods grace you have gotten a good job and you start thinking of marriage. You are a big fool. You are an idiot. I am saying it,  Counselor Lutterodt stated.

READ ALSO: Anas angry with Akufo-Addo over Kwesi Nyantakyi's arrest?

Counselor Lutterodt explained that it is not in the best interest of a man who marries without enough financial security.

For him, a young man must earn up to 40,000 cedis before thinking of marriage and any young man who does anything dieffrent has foolishness in his heart.

Any man who gets a job and immediately marries will suffer in his marriage. Any man who marries at 30 will marry again, he insisted.

READ ALSO: Nyantakyi's beautiful new wife must be the unhappiest woman in Ghana right now

Counselor Lutterodt made the statement while giving advice on a relationship programme.

When confronted with the fact that the case in point was about a guy whose girl had suffered with him for about four years and now wants to marry her after landing a good job, Counselor Lutterodt burst out loudly saying if he has been with the lady for four years and so what? What an idiot!

So the lady wants to use four years to emotionally blackmail him. Four years and so what? he asked, emphasising that When you get a job, marriage is not the first thing to think about. There are better things to make."

READ ALSO: So you married at 16 years? Social media users quiz Samuel Inkoom as he shares wild photo to celebrate 12th wedding anniversary

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Source: Yen
- There is leaked tape of a conversation between Rev. Owusu Bempah and Appiah Stadium

- In the audio, Owusu Bempah is heard suggesting that former President John Mahama may win the 2020 elections

- However, Owusu Bempah has insisted that tape does not reflect the exact conversation he had with Appiah Stadium

Founder and leader of the Glorious Word Power Ministry International (GWPMI), Reverend Isaac Owusu Bempah has responded to reports that he has ditched President Nana Akufo-Addo for former President John Mahama in the 2020 elections.

The reports follow a leaked conversation between him and and NDC serial caller and staunch Mahama supporter, Appiah Stadium, which has been making rounds.

In the audio recording which YEN.com.gh heard on Peace FM's prime time news on Thursday, Owusu Bempah is heard suggesting to Appiah Stadium a win for former President John Mahama in the 2020 elections.

READ ALSO: Nadia Buari's fans are stunned as photos of her selling popcorn on the streets pop up

Being close to president Nana Akufo-Addo and his NPP, Owusu Bempah's turnabout in the leaked audio has come as a surprise to many people.

Moreover, Owusu Bempah has on countless occasions stated that Mahama will never come as president again.

But reacting to the emergence of the tape, Owusu Bempah who admitted to speaking to Appiah Stadium on phone stated that the audio making rounds was not painting the exact picture of their conversation.

READ ALSO: 'That guy is brave' - 'Close friend' reveals he and Anas got initiated into a powerful secret cult

According to him, though he spoke on a number of issues with Appiah Stadium, he did not exactly say Mahama was going to come back to power but it was rather Appiah Stadium who suggested that he will tell the former president that he (Owusu Bempah) had predicted victory for him (Mahama).

Owusu Bempah explained that he did not object to Appiah Stadium's suggestion because it was something Appiah had been saying for a long and he thus saw it as no big deal.

Speaking on Peace FM, Owusu Bempah suspected that the tape was the handiwork of his detractors who have cut and pieced together parts of his speech to discredit him.

READ ALSO: Anas angry with Akufo-Addo over Kwesi Nyantakyi's arrest?

He insisted that his earlier prediction that Mahama will not become president of Ghana again still holds and that he was not saying that out of hate for the former president.

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

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Source: Yen.com.gh
A Nigerian student in the United Kingdom identified as Fola Ogunsemo has said she was ashamed of being a Nigerian after partaking in an examination where Nigeria was used as a question about internet fraud.

Ogunsemo who schools in Manchester, United Kingdom, lent her voice against internet scam by Nigerians, noting that it has tarnished the image of the country abroad.

The lady, who said she was ashamed of being a Nigerian, took to her Instagram page on Thursday, May 23, to share the extent of the damage internet scam has done to Nigeria's image.

YEN.com.gh notes that Ogunsemo shared her examination question paper in which one of the questions revolved around advance fee fraud, and Nigeria was part of the four options she and other students had to choose from.

READ ALSO: Owusu Bempah ditches Akufo-Addo; Caught in leaked audio predicting 2020 win for Mahama?

She captioned the screenshot thus: "This is my exam paper for a module named Law in a business context with the red circle which I did today 23rd of May. Stepping out of the exam hall my friends were like Fola how did you feel about question 22 and for the first time in my life, I felt ashamed of being a Nigerian. I believe fraud is being committed everywhere but for it to be recognised and used as an exam question in UK, then it is VERY BAD for Nigeria. My lecture slide showed a typical example of a yahoo boys storyline in the green circle, I went further to search for Advence-fee scam with the belief that it was exaggerated in my lecture slide and I found the information in the blue circle. I am short of words at the moment realising the fact that theres been so much issues lately about yahoo boys on social media, this is not a good reputation for Nigerians at all....... This matter tire me ooo my people"

See the screenshot below:

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), an advance fee scheme occurs when the victim pays money to someone in anticipation of receiving something of greater value  such as a loan, contract, investment, or gift  and then receives little or nothing in return.

READ ALSO: Nadia Buari releases new 'unusual' photos and fans can't get enough of her

It must be noted, the issue of advance fee fraud is not only prevalent in Nigeria as many Ghanaians are also known to be engaged in it.

In Ghana, it is called 'sakawa' and it has gained notoriety with some reported cases of young men going for 'juju' to help them scam their victims.

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

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Source: Yen.com.gh
TCN News

GENEVA: UN human rights experts* are calling on the authorities in India to act urgently to protect journalist Rana Ayyub, who has received death threats following an online hate campaign.

Ayyub is an independent journalist and writer whose work has included investigations into alleged crimes committed by public and government officials. Recently, Ayyub made into the news after the release of her book titled Gujarat Files, the book which came as a result of undercover investigations of alleged fake encounters in Gujarat when current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was serving as the chief minister of the state.

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According to information received by the experts, the issue intensified after a malicious Tweet on April 20 falsely quoted Ayyub as supporting child rapists and saying that Muslims were no longer safe in India.

After the Tweet was published, Ayyub received a barrage of hate-filled messages, which included calls for her to be gang-raped and murdered, and made numerous references to her Muslim faith. Her phone number and home address were posted on a social network, and the threats against her are continuing even though she has clarified that the Tweet was false.

We are highly concerned that the life of Rana Ayyub is at serious risk following these graphic and disturbing threats, said the UN experts, recalling the murder of another Indian journalist, Gauri Lankesh, following death threats in September 2017.

The experts expressed further alarm that a faked pornographic video purporting to show Ayyub was also recently circulated online, triggering new threats.

While police began an investigation into the threats 10 days after Ayyub filed a complaint, she has reportedly not yet received any police protection.

We call on India to urgently take steps to protect Rana Ayyub and to ensure the threats against her are promptly and thoroughly investigated. The Government has an obligation to provide effective protection to those who receive death threats and to protect individuals from foreseeable threats to life or bodily integrity, the experts said.

Governments also have a responsibility to build a safe environment for independent voices, including those of journalists critical of the authorities. We have previously urged the authorities in India to take active steps to reverse a political climate that, in recent years, has become increasingly polarised and hostile, especially to the media and those exercising the freedom of expression, they added.

The experts include Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and Dubravka Simonovic, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, who have been in contact with the Government of India regarding the situation.
[May 25, 2018] Vonage to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences

HOLMDEL, N.J., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG), a business cloud communications leader, today announced that management is scheduled to present at the following investor conferences: 15th Annual Craig-Hallum Institutional Investor Conference

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Minneapolis, MN

One-on-one format Robert W. Baird & Co. 2018 Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference

Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 3:10 PM ET

New York, NY

A live webcast and replay of the event will be available on the Vonage Investor Relations site. Citi 2018 Small & Mid Cap Conference

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

New York, NY

One-on-one format William Blir 38th Annual Growth Stock Conference





Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 3:30 PM CT

Chicago, IL

A live webcast and replay of the event will be available on the Vonage Investor Relations site. About Vonage

Vonage (NYSE:VG) is redefining business communications. True to our roots as a technology disruptor, we've embraced technology to transform how companies communicate to create better business outcomes. Our unique cloud communications platform brings together a robust unified communications solution with the agility of embedded, contextual communications APIs. This powerful combination enables businesses to collaborate more productively and engage their customers more effectively across messaging, chat, social media, video and voice.



The Company also provides a robust suite of feature-rich residential communication solutions.



Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Israel. Vonage is a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing LLC, owned by Vonage America Inc. (vg-f) View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vonage-to-present-at-upcoming-investor-conferences-300654678.html SOURCE Vonage

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In comments likely to frustrate the White House, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany and China will stand by the existing nuclear accord with Iran, even as the US has withdrawn and expects its European allies to follow suit. As CNN writes in the article China, Germany to stay in Iran nuclear deal as Khamenei lists demands, Merkel made the statement during a joint news conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing, Reuters has reported. Her remarks come hours after Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a set of demands to European powers in which he voiced skepticism that they would remain committed to the 2015 deal. He also warned that Iran would restart its nuclear activities if they failed to act swiftly.

"The heads of European countries say different things. For our economy, we cannot rely on JCPOA and the Europeans," Khamenei said in statements that were published on his official website. He was referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, otherwise known as the Iran nuclear accord. Khamenei said the JCPOA could only continue if the Europeans fulfill six conditions including: Promising not to ask Iran about its ballistic missile program or its regional activities; guaranteeing that Iran's oil will continue to be sold and compensating for any losses and buying any remainining stock; and having European banks guarantee financial transactions with Iran. "If the Europeans linger over our demands, Iran has the right to resume its nuclear activities," Khamenei continued. "When we see that the JCPOA is useless, one way forward is to restart those halted activities."

The US was like Tom in "Tom and Jerry"

Khamenei said Iran had learned its lessons and could no longer "interact with the US." Speaking with Iranian government officials on Wednesday, Khamenei said the US had "plotted various political, economic, military and propaganda schemes against the Islamic Republic," all aimed at overthrowing the regime. "All their plots have failed .... just like Tom from the well-known Tom and Jerry cartoon; and they will fail again in the future." Khamenei and other Iranian officials have been on the attack since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iranian nuclear accord on May 9 this year. Trump had long excoriated the deal, claiming it didn't go far enough in deterring Iran's ambitions in the Middle East, or doing anything to curb its ballistic missile program. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told reporters in Tehran on Wednesday that Iranian support in Middle Eastern countries was only there because those countries had requested it. "As long as these governments want us to maintain our presence we will help, and the aids we provide is to the benefit of the entire world," Zarif said.

Iran has funded and equipped proxy forces in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, as well as Houthi rebels in Yemen who are fighting pro-government forces. It has also provided for Shia militias and their commanders and politicians in neighboring Iraq. Rockets fired into Saudi Arabia from Yemen are reported to have been supplied to the rebels by Iran. And Israel has sustained attacks along its borders with Lebanon and Syria from Iranian-supported forces.

Khamenei and Zarif were also reacting to comments from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who on Monday gave his first policy speech after assuming the role of the country's top diplomat. He set out at least 12 conditions for Iran to meet if it wanted to avoid the painful "sting of sanctions" that would include "unprecedented financial pressure." Among Pompeo's demands: Iran allowing a full account and verification of its nuclear program and the permanent and verifiable abandonment of it; an end to enrichment; access for the International Atomic Energy Agency into all weapons sites across Iran; the end of ballistic missile proliferation, the release of all detained US citizens; and the end of its support to militant groups including Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. "The length of the list is simply a scope of the malign behavior of Iran," Pompeo said in his speech at conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC. "We didn't create the list, they did."

Now, pressure on allies

When it comes to Iran's demands, it insists that its oil sales continue unperturbed regardless of the impact of whatever sanctions the US might impose. Right now, the biggest consumer of Iran's oil is China. And with Li standing beside Merkel as she declared the two nations would remain committed to the deal, those sales seem less in doubt. In his comments on Monday Pompeo said he expected not only "European friends" to support the US strategy, "but much more than that." "I want the Australians, the Bahrainis, the Egyptians, the Indians, the Japanese, the Jordanians, the Kuwaitis, the Omanis, the Qataris, the Saudi Arabians, South Korea, the UAE and many, many others worldwide to join in this effort," he said. But so far, the responses have been muted. The Europeans and other world leaders had urged the White House not to walk away from the deal. Along with Merkel, the leaders of Europe and the European Union have said they intend to stick to the deal, while leaders in Russia and Turkey criticized the US decision. Votes of support are few, and have so far come from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order pardoning 634 people on the occasion of the centenary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Among the pardoned, there are 39 foreign citizens, including 11 citizens of Georgia, 5 citizens of China, 4 citizens of Russia and Iran, 3 citizens of Turkey and Bangladesh, 2 citizens of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, citizens of Uzbekistan, Cameroon, India, Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as 3 stateless persons.

Under the presidential order, 607 convicts are released from the unserved part of their prison sentence. The order also released one convict facing a deferred sentence and nine people serving a conditional sentence.

Also under the order, six persons were freed from the remainder of their correctional labor, and 11 persons were freed from fines.
Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska has stepped down from his role as non-executive director of Russia's Rusal, the company said in a statement released today via the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The world's second largest aluminum producer, said in a statement that the decision was taken in order to "protect the interests of the company and its shareholders." Deripaska's departure follows those of the company's CEO and seven other directors, which were announced yesterday.

Earlier, First Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov approved of Rusal managements decision to leave the company. "That's good, that means that sanctions will be lifted soon," he commented on the news of the departure of Rusal's management.

According to the minister, it would be nice to see the American sides sound approach to this issue.

Chairman of the State Dumas Financial Market Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Deripaska's departure could serve as a precedent for getting sanctions lifted from Russian companies, but only if the United States really lifts the restrictions imposed on Rusal. "In some cases, I think this can be repeated," the deputy said.

According to him, after the departure of Oleg Deripaska and his people from the top management of Rusal the US sanctions will almost certainly be cancelled. "The Americans will try to do everything to show their effective fight against those who are perceived to be undesirable persons, and at the same time to show what happens to the organization if it follows the recommendations of the US authorities," Anatoly Aksakov emphasized.

A leading analyst of the National Energy Security Fund, a lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Igor Yushkov, in turn, Deripaska's departure from Rusal will be an exception. "I do not think that this creates a significant precedent, especially for the companies and personalities who were under the first and second wave of sanctions. The case of Deripaska is unique because he was suspected of participating in some negotiations with US politicians who influenced the US presidential election. He was sanctioned precisely for this, that is why Washington imposed sanctions on Rusal," he recalled.

"But in the case of this year's sanctions against businessmen allegedly close to Vladimir Putin, their withdrawal from the companies from the point of view of the United States will change nothing, according to the US. For example, Gennady Timchenko was on the blacklist, he owns NOVATEK, which is under sanctions, but if he sells his stake in NOVATEK, the company will not be withdrawn from the sanctions list, and vice versa - Timchenko owns a stake in SIBUR, but SIBUR was not placed under sanctions. Therefor, it can be a precedent, only if companies are subject to sanctions in the future for the same reason as and Rusal - because its owner allegedly interfered in US internal affairs. Then we can expect that such a businessman will sell his assets and leave the company's management to withdraw the company from sanctions," Igor Yushkov explained.
Senior diplomats from Iran and five world powers (Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany) showed their determination to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the Iran nuclear deal at the special meeting of the Joint Commission of parties to the JCPOA. This was announced at the end of the meeting by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to International Organisations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, who represented the Russian delegation.

"We received a positive impression from the meeting," TASS cited him as saying. Mainly it was due to the fact that "the unity of the joint commission's remaining members and their determination to achieve salvation and fulfillment of the nuclear deal were clearly demonstrated," Ulyanov specified.

"In particular, they agreed to focus more attention on the issue of minimizing damage from US extraterritorial sanctions," he added.

Following the meeting, "there are grounds for cautious optimism, although there are many problems," the Russian permanent representative said.
Fuad Poladov was a unique and irreplaceable actor, actress, People's Artist of Azerbaijan Lyudmila Dukhovnaya said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

"I always thought that Fuad Poladov was a very reliable partner! I could always rely on him. He never brought his personal problems to the stage, he was always in good mood! And he also had an excellent quality: he could hear and listen. We performed one play for 12 years and we never had any problems with the text," actress recalls.

According to her, Fuad Poladov always had his own unique style. "He stood out among other actors thanks to his charisma and charm, his intelligence and modesty," she noted.

In addition, Lyudmila Dukhovnaya pointed out that Fuad Poladov can and should be set as an example to younger generation of actors. "He was very passionate on stage, with his wonderful sense of humor and taste, always elegant and always in excellent shape. He was never late for rehearsals. Younger artists should learn from him," she concluded.
United States is offering Turkey alternatives to Russia's S-400 air defense systems, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

Asked about Turkey's purchase of S-400, Pompeo said talks are continuing to change Ankaras mind.

He claimed the purchase would strain ties between Turkey and NATO due to military incompatibility, saying the U.S. had offered an alternative to the S-400.

"We are pressing diplomatically to make clear, we are trying to provide them alternatives as well," he said.

"We are trying to do the things that will encourage them to come back," Anadolu Agency cited Pompeo as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, touched upon key issues on the domestic and international agenda, including major changes in the Russian tax regime, the construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline and the main areas of cooperation between Russia and France.

The Russian leader said that the government is working on a draft tax regime changes. "Right now, the government is working to introduce certain changes to the tax system, but after we do this, we will keep it in place for 6 years," he assured.

The president also said that Russia has a whole program in store to change the business climate and expressed the hope that it will be implemented. Speaking about taxes, Putin added that "business can be confident that tax conditions will be respected." He also assured that further development of the infrastructure as a whole is planned, "because infrastructure development is one of the priorities identified in the State of the Nation Address to the Federal Assembly."

He also promised to reduce administrative loops and administrative pressure on business. "There is room for reform here. It's not just our problem. I know that the business community runs up against this in other countries as well," the Russian leader noted, and promised to maintain direct financial support and privileges for those projects that are considered to be nationally significant in Russia.

Speaking about the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project, Putin also said that Russia will welcome new participants from Europe joining the project. "Frances Engie company participates in Nord Stream 2, we will also welcome new participants, including Total. We can add other European companies to the list," he said.

According to the president, exports of Russian gas to Europe sooner or later will be liberalized.

Putin added that today five European companies participate in the Nord Stream 2 project. "If Total becomes the sixth company - this means direct participation in transporting gas from Russia," he said.

"Of course, we will think about liberalization of gas supplies via pipelines to Europe," Putin said. "We can indeed talk about this, we can discuss it. Sooner or later it will be done in an absolutely liberal regime," he added.

Putin stressed that Russian pipeline systems have no competition on the European market according to the price of gas for consumers.

"All of our pipeline systems linked to main consumers in Europe, have almost no rivals. If, of course, Europe wants to remain competitive and not buy from other producers for exorbitant prices," Sputnik cited the Russian leader as saying.

Touching upon the key issues of Russian-French relations,

Putin said that the amount of investments France poured into Russia and the level of Russian investment in France is insufficient. According to him, the volume of direct French investment poured into the Russian economy comes to $15 bln, whereas Russian investments into the French economy total more than $2 billion. "It's not enough, but the volume of French ones is small as well," Putin said.

Putin also commented on French President Emmanuel Macrons earlier statement, in which he hoped that France would be able to push Germany out of first place in terms investment levels in Russia.

"Ill have to disappoint Emmanuel - Germany does not occupy first place, China took first place long ago - both in terms of investments and trade turnover," he said.

According to Putin, the volume of Russian-Chinese trade turnover comes to the tune of $86 bln and there is a certainty that this figure will reach $100 billion very soon.

"The Russian economy is very open to our partners and very reliable," President Putin stressed, recalling that the Russian authorities managed to achieve macroeconomic stability, "which is important for investors."

Putin could not ignore another statement by Macron, who said that France believes in Europe from Lisbon to the Urals. Before giving the floor to the Russian President after the speech of the French leader, the moderator of the business dialogue, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, said that it should be about Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok, and not the Urals.

"He did not let me say this, that scoundrel!" Putin jokingly reproached Shokhin. "I was just about to start with this, but he stole this (opportunity) from me."

Further, the Russian leader expressed satisfaction that the economic relations between Russia and France are very diversified. As an example, he cited the space sphere, in which Russia and France cooperate. He also recalled bilateral cooperation in the aviation sphere.

The 22nd annual International Economic Forum (SPIEF)is being held in St. Petersburg on May 24-26.
An agreement to create three trade corridors between Russia and Georgia, including through Abkhazia and South Ossetia, is to move forward, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin. Karasin met with the Georgian PMs Special Representative to Russia, Zurab Abashidze, on Thursday in Prague, OC Media reported.

The pair were discussing the implementation of a 2011 deal on customs monitoring, among other issues, which was a precondition for Georgia giving the green-light to Russias World Trade Organisation membership that year.

Following the meeting, Karasin said they had reached the important decision to continue [negotiations]. We are interested in implementing the 2011 agreement he added.
Armenia's ex-prime minister Serzh Sargsyan will continue to be the head of the Republican Party, the possibility of changing the party's head is not being considered at the moment, the chairman of the National Assembly, RPA member Ara Babloyan said.

According to him, the party is ready for talks with new prime minister Nikol Pashinyan's government on reforms in the electoral system.

When asked about the possibility of making amendments to the Electoral Code of the country, Babloyan noted that different political forces have different positions in this regard, News.am reported.

But, in his view, democratic approaches and the protection of Armenias constitution require that all steps comply with the basic law of the country and that a precedent of unconstitutional actions is not established.

"If the political forces come to an agreement on making amendments [to Armenias election law], some steps need to be taken," the NA speaker said. He added that each and every political force has the right to its respective position, which, however, can change as a result of negotiations and discussions.

Ex-mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that despite the formal describing itself as the opposition and minority, the RPA headed by Serzh Sargsyan still has the majority of seats in the parliament and remains a significant political force. "After nominating any legislative act to the parliament, the RPA can block it, so everything in the parliament will depend on the political task set for the republicans by their leader Serzh Sargsyan. In reality, the RPA has no power over the people, our people support Pashinyan, but the formal majority still belongs to the Republicans," he said.

"The RPA said that it will not resist amending the Electoral Code, but I do not believe this. Everyone understands that after the electoral reform in the new parliamentary election, the Republicans will not get any votes. Therefore they will provide maximum resistance to the reform," Vahagn Khachatryan stressed.

According to him, Sargsyan remained in the office in order to prevent the party from dissolving. "Everyone understands that the RPA will not be able to survive for a long time, but they still hopes that after a while the people will change their attitude to the Republicans. Life has changed, people have felt the opportunity to live and work freely, without corruption and harassment from the authorities, but the RPA will not be able to change - so already at the next elections it will be outside the parliament and politics," the former mayor of Yerevan expects.

The deputy chairman of the Armenian National Congress party Aram Manukyan, in turn, considers keeping Serzh Sargsyan as head of the RPA a formal decision, which affects nothing. "Now it does not matter whether Sargsyan leads the party or not, the next generation of politicians will win in the next parliamentary election," he said.

In this regard, it is to be expected that amendments to the Electoral Code will be adopted without great difficulties. "For our part, we are ready to help the authorities reform the electoral system - we have a ready package of amendments and we intend to propose it to a working group in the government. In general, our proposals coincide with those they want to implement," Aram Manukyan said.
Britain is disappointed at the cancellation of the planned meeting next month between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May said.

"We are disappointed that the meeting will no longer go ahead as planned," May stressed.

"We need to see an agreement that can bring about the completely verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and we will continue to work with our partners to this end," Reuters cited the spokeswoman as saying.
Turkey will retaliate against the United States if Washington refuses to purchase Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets to Ankara, Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said.

According to the minister, Ankara had fulfilled all requirements to procure Lockheed Martin's F-35 jets from the United States and that Ankara expected all sides to carry out their responsibilities.

He also said that Turkey will take every initiative to protect its firms from Washington sanctions, a day after the United States imposed sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies in a move targeting Iranian airlines, Reuters reported.

A U.S. Senate committee passed its version of a $716 billion defense policy bill on Thursday, including a measure to prevent Turkey from purchasing the F-35 jets.
HCM CITY  Vietnamese mobile phone brand Mobiistar is set to start selling in India on the countrys biggest online store, Flipkart, by the end of the month.

It will launch its Star Selfie series smartphones Mobiistar XQ Dual at under US$130 and CQ at around $73.

Talking about the launch, Ngo Nguyen Kha, co-founder and CEO of Mobiistar said: Mobiistar has received tremendous love and popularity in Viet Nam and knowing that it is an opportune time to enter India, we are very excited.

We studied the Indian market where the consumer, while choosing a smartphone, is often faced with the dilemma of features and quality and price.

Flipkart, recently acquired by giant US retailer Walmart, said in a recent press release it has entered into a long-term tie-up with Mobiistar.

Ayyappan Rajagopal, Flipkarts senior director, mobiles, said: Mobiistars Selfie Star series has truly democratised selfies. Along with a great performance, this unique offering from Mobiistar has taken the entire budget segment to the next level.

This is in line with our overall Flipkart objective of ensuring great smartphones for every Indian.  VNS
HA NOI  The Viet Nam Sugarcane and Sugar Association has voiced concerns against the Ministry of Finances proposal of imposing special consumption tax of 10 per cent on sweet drinks.

According to the draft of the five revised tax laws, including the law on special consumption tax, the ministry has proposed to levy a special consumption tax of 10 per cent on sweet drinks, excluding milk, and to increase their value-added tax (VAT) by two percentage points from 2019.

The ministry finished collecting feedback on the drafts of amendments to these laws at the end of 2017, including laws on VAT, special consumption tax, corporate income tax, personal income tax and natural resources protection tax.

The aim of the proposal is to protect the health of consumers, especially to reduce obesity and diabetes. However, the Sugarcane and Sugar Association, businesses and consumers disagree with the proposal.

The association said the State should review the proposal comprehensively.

It said special consumption tax on sweet drinks is neither a popular practice in the world nor in the region, which comprises 25 per cent of the total countries in the world. Moreover, there is no evidence that levying tax on sweet drinks can improve the health of consumers, reported Nguoi lao ong newspaper.

Tax or health experts too do not guarantee that increasing taxes on sweet drinks will reduce cases of diabetes and obesity because there are many causes of these diseases besides food. Moreover, increasing taxes is unlikely to reduce sweet drinks consumption in urban areas, where middle- and high-income people can afford higher prices.

Therefore, the association has proposed the Ministry of Finance to reconsider its decision.

It said there is a need for a comprehensive report on the impact of this policy on domestic sugar and beverage production industries as well as on consumers and domestic economy.

The Viet Nam Beer, Alcohol and Beverages Association has also opposed the proposal. It said the price of beverages would surge by at least 12 per cent if the State imposes the special consumption tax on sweet drinks of 10 per cent, and increases VAT for those products from 10 per cent to 12 per cent and VAT for sugar from 5 per cent to 6 per cent.

Enterprises in the beverage production industry will find it difficult to compete and face the risk of a reduced scale of production, it said.

At the same time, the Viet Nam Sugarcane and Sugar Association said the State needs to exercise tight control on the use of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the raw material for the production of beverages, to protect consumers health. HFCS is a sweetener made from cornstarch that has been processed by glucose isomerase to convert some of its glucose into fructose.  VNS
HCM CITY  To meet the growing demand for organic foods, retailers are scouring for producers and also planning to invest in organic agriculture themselves.

Vinamit Joint Stock Company has recently begun to sell a range of organic farm produce through Big C supermarkets.

Nguyen Lam Vien, general director of Vinamit, said this is part of their co-operation to promote sales of organic produce.

The company supplies 15 different vegetables, five to six fruit varieties and organic rice to six Big C supermarkets in HCM City now, but in future plans to distribute to all Big C stores in the country, he said.

It also plans to supply temperate vegetables and fruits and organic pork and chicken in future, he said.

Vien said the company also supplies some organic vegetables to Co.opmart under the Co.op Organic brand.

Vinamit sells a total of 300-500kg of vegetables a day. If demand increases, it plans to increase output accordingly, he said.

A Big C spokesperson said the supermarket also sells organic vegetables and fruits supplied by other distributors and the number of suppliers in the market is rising steeply.

Big C would to like to tie up with producers who have international organic certificates.

Last year, Saigon Co.op began distributing four groups of organic products meeting international standards  rice, vegetables, basa fish fillet and black tiger shrimp  under its Co.op Organic brand name in HCM City.

The company has a 300ha organic farm in Ca Mau Province whose produce is certified by the USDA, JAS of Japan and the EU.

Pham Trung Kien, deputy general director of Saigon Co.op, said there is great demand for organic products.

The entry of more players would make the market more competitive, and consumers would benefit, he said.

Saigon Co.op is looking for more suppliers, including overseas, to diversify supply, he said.

oan Diep Binh, head of PR and events at LOTTE Mart Vietnam, said: Demand for organic products is expected to increase because demand for safe and high-quality food products is on the rise.

Lotte Mart stores are selling many organic products, including OrgaGro organic rice. We plan to expand the list of organic items.

A recent survey by the High Quality Vietnamese Product Business Association found that food safety continues to be a major concern for Vietnamese consumers and they are willing to pay for products that are good for their health.

Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the association, said organic foods have become very popular in Viet Nam. A study of organic producers estimated the current market capacity at VN3.5 trillion (US$153.5 million) a year.  VNS
HA NOI  Shares retreated on Thursday on the nations stock exchanges, reversing from Wednesdays unexpected rebound.

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index slid 0.31 per cent of its value to close at 985.92, reversing from its gain of 0.31 per cent on Wednesday.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost by 0.88 per cent to end the session at 117.07 points. The index had risen by 1.19 per cent on Wednesday.

Both benchmark indices opened in negative territory as sell orders increased amid weak demand.

Market trading liquidity plunged, worsening investor confidence, with more than 155.7 million shares being traded on the two bourses, worth VN4.5 trillion (US$197 million).

Thursdays trading figures were down 38 per cent in volume and 27 per cent in value compared to Wednesday.

The market breadth was negative, with 257 declining stocks against 202 gaining stocks.

Large-cap stocks traded poorly as 24 of the 30 largest stocks, in terms of market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 Index, declined while only five of them ended higher.

The VN-Index dropped below 975 in continuous order matching before rising back to 985, supported by the recovery of a number of blue chips in the latter half of the session.

Those shares include Vincom Retail (VRE), dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) and steel maker Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (HPG).

Notably, the two largest stocks by market capitalisation, Vingroup (VIC) and its real estate arm Vinhomes (VHM) were also two supporters of the index, rising 1.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively.

However, heavy selling pressure was seen across the board and increased in the last few minutes of the trading session, hitting many blue chips in the banking sector, including the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and VPBank (VPB).

Some other blue-chips also suffered, including steel maker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) (3.7 per cent), confectionary maker Kido Group (KDC) (3.1 per cent) and FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company (ROS) hitting the daily limit decline of 7 per cent.

Foreign investors on Thursday net sold VN147 billion on the HOSE, focusing on Vinhomes (VHM) (VN154 billion), banker HDBank (HDB) (VN43 billion) and Vingroup (VIC) (VN40 billion). They also net sold VN4.7 billion on the HNX.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), low liquidity and continuous net selling value of foreign traders were bad news for the overall market.

Due to weak bottom-fishing cash flows amid heavy selling pressure on large-cap stocks, the market is likely to stay on a downtrend in the short term, BVSC said in its daily report.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) edged down 0.36 per cent to finish 53.88 points, reversing from its gain of 0.64 per cent in the previous session.  VNS
HA NOI  The Viet Nam-Belarus Business Council, intended to accelerate bilateral trade and investment relations between the two business communities, made its debut in Ha Noi on Thursday.

In his speech at the event, the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) vice chairman Hoang Quang Phong spoke highly of close co-operation in many areas between Viet Nam and Belarus over past years.

The development and integration process of the two nations has opened up many opportunities for their businesses, Phong said.

However, he said, there remains room for firms to enhance broader co-operation, especially in the sectors of engineering and manufacturing, infrastructure development, construction, agriculture and education.

For his part, Vladimir Goshin, the Belarusian Ambassador to Viet Nam, said the Viet Nam- Belarus relationship must be s trengthened by extensive economic co-operation.

The ambassador said he hopes the business council will act as a good dialogue channel for businesses and government agencies on both sides.

He emphasised the importance of bringing the two countries trade relations to a higher level with the establishment of industrial zones and join-ventures to produce goods not only to serve the domestic market, but also for export to others in the ASEAN bloc.

He suggested that Vietnamese enterprises should focus on taking full advantage of building specific business strategies for overseas markets, including Belarus.

Earlier in March, Vietnamese and Belarusian firms agreed to set up a joint auto venture, worth US$60 million, and a dairy factory with a capacity of 100-200 tonnes of milk per day in the northern province of Hung Yen.
HA NOI  Vietnamese start-ups will have the opportunity to attend professional training courses, receive consultations from experts and seek investment capital by attending the K-Startup Grand Challenge 2018.

This is a project conducted and financed by the South Korean government, said Mai Duy Quang, vice president of the Viet Nam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA), at a press conference in Ha Noi on Thursday to introduce the programme.

The K-Startup Grand Challenge aims to promote the expansion of an open entrepreneurship ecosystem in Asia, he said, adding that Vietnamese start-ups will have the chance to win US$100,000 as the first prize and receive assistance from the South Korean government.

Youn Jung Park, director of the Korea IT Co-operation Centre, said Viet Nam had a young and proactive start-up community with many innovative ideas.

Some 80 start-ups worldwide will receive $11,130 each to pay for their cost of living during the three-and-a-half-month training and will be able to connect with investors in South Korea, she said.

The top 40 start-ups will be supported with more than $22,000 each for business establishment and operation in the first six months in South Korea. Interested entrepreneurs can register for the programme on http://kstartup.vinasa.org.vn by June 14.

The qualification round will be held on July 9-10 in Ha Noi and July 11-12 in HCM City. Potential start-ups will be chosen to compete in the final round in South Korea. So far, 37 start-ups have registered for the programme, including 16 Vietnamese firms.

This is the third edition of the K-Startup Grand Challenge held on an international scale. In the first two events, 41 start-ups collected $26 million from investors. They inked 46 contracts and over 300 cooperative agreements, with over 80 start-ups cooperating with large South Korean corporations.  VNS
SINGAPORE  Indonesias ride-hailing start-up Go-Jek announced on Thursday that it will invest about US$500 million to move into four new markets in the next four months - Singapore, Viet Nam, Thailand and the Philippines.

The move will heighten its rivalry with Singapore-based Grab, which already operates in Indonesia, South-east Asias largest ride-hailing market.

The expansion into the four countries will start with ride-hailing services, but the company is also aiming to replicate its other services offered in Indonesia to its new markets, Go-Jek added.

It said it is currently working with regulators and other stakeholders across the region to pave the way for the new operations.

Go-Jek also said it will seek out local partners with interests and expertise in each of the new markets.

Go-Jek has reportedly been in talks with Singapore taxi giant ComfortDelGro to explore a tie-up. Both companies said last month they would not comment on rumours or speculation.

Go-Jek raised about US$1.5 billion in a fund-raising round in February, higher than its initial target of $1.2 billion.

The company said on Thursday that its latest fund-raising round brought investment from Astra International, Google, JD.com, Meituan, Tencent and Temasek among others.

Go-Jek chief executive and founder Nadiem Makarim said: "Consumers are happiest when they have choice, and at the moment, people in Viet Nam, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines dont feel that theyre getting enough when it comes to ride-hailing.

"We hope that as we arrive in new markets, we will quickly become everyones go-to lifestyle app. That is our aspiration. In the meantime, we hope our presence will provide the welcome competition markets need to thrive."  The Straits Times
HA NOI  The US Department of Commerce (DoC) has notified the exemption of measures if Vietnamese steel export enterprises prove that the exported products are made from material not using Chinese-origin substrate.

This was reported by the Viet Nam Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The ministry said it would continue to coordinate with relevant businesses to meet the requirements of the DoC procedures to receive exemptions as prescribed.

Earlier on May 21, DoC had announced the conclusion in the anti-dumping investigation of the evasion of anti-dumping tariff and anti-subsidy tax on corrosion-resistant steel and cold-rolled steel imported from Viet Nam.

Under which, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will continue to collect anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) cash deposits on imports of corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) produced in Viet Nam using Chinese-origin substrate at the rate of 199.43 per cent and 39.05 per cent, respectively. CBP will also collect AD and CVD cash deposits on imports of cold-rolled steel produced in Viet Nam using Chinese-origin substrate at the rate of 199.76 per cent and 256.44 per cent, respectively.

The United States announced the preliminary findings of the investigation in December 2017. According to DOC, tax was evaded for these two products from China through Viet Nam to be exported to the United States.

MoIT has cooperated with the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) and relevant businesses to closely monitor the case since the beginning of the investigation starting November 2016.

The ministry has repeatedly expressed its views on the case to the United States and asked the DoC to conduct an objective investigation in accordance with World Trade Organisation rules and US practice.

Meanwhile, VSA and Vietnamese steel makers have worked closely with the United States to clarify the origin of raw material and processes of steel production in Viet Nam.  VNS
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump's nominee for the top State Department position for refugees and migration has drawn fierce criticism over several of his past comments about immigrants.



Dr. Ronald Mortensen, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a former Foreign Service officer, is known for his hardline views on immigration. He's also criticized top Republicans as advocating for amnesty, and he accused Arizona Sen. John McCain of rolling out a welcome mat for ISIS.



The White House formally nominated Mortensen Thursday to be the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, the agency's top diplomat tasked with solving refugee crises overseas and potentially resettling refugees in the U.S.



The Trump administration has admitted a historically low number of refugees so far this fiscal year, and advocates are concerned he "has been sent to dismantle the refugee protection and resettlement program at the State Department," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigrant group America's Voice.



"This is like Richard Spencer being appointed head of the civil rights unit at [the Department of Justice]," Sharry told ABC News, referring to the white supremacist. "It's not the fox guarding the chicken coup. It's a monster in charge of the chicken coup."



The previous assistant secretary also was critical of Mortensen's nomination.



Anne Richard, appointed by President Barack Obama and now a professor at Georgetown University, told ABC News in an email: "I'm hoping the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will use the confirmation process to determine whether we are still a country that welcomes refugees and immigrants. This was an unshakable part of our identity as Americans, but the Trump administration has unilaterally changed this 241-year old policy."



Neither the White House nor the State Department have responded to requests for comment.



Mortensen has written extensively about his views on immigration, consistently arguing, as he wrote in an op-ed for The Hill last year: "The vast majority of adult illegal aliens are committing felonies by virtue of being active in America."



He's also said immigrants in the U.S. illegally are "lying, cheating and destroying the lives of innocent American children for their own selfish purposes."



Although his views aren't too far from Trump's, Mortensen also has bashed other Republicans like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for being "amnesty advocates."



But some of his sharpest words have been for McCain, whom he accused of "roll[ing] out the welcome mat for ISIS on America's southern border."



"McCain has provided ISIS with unfettered access to the United States for both its personnel and their weapons of death and destruction," Mortensen wrote in a 2014 op-ed. "Should ISIS or some other terrorist group take advantage of McCain's welcome mat, he will only have himself to blame as he goes in the eyes of many from war hero to collaborator."



He went on to claim that ISIS may be "pre-positioning" on the Mexican side of the border "with car bombs ready to go."



Some advocates said they were skeptical Mortensen would be confirmed because of his comments about Republicans because, as is true with most assistant secretary positions, that's up to the Senate.



For all of his pieces on immigration, however, Mortensen has written and said little about refugee resettlement in America, let alone the massive refugee-aid programs to which the U.S. contributes, including endeavors to protect, repatriate and locally integrate refugees, migrants and others displaced by conflict.



The Trump administration was strongly criticized for admitting less than a quarter of the 45,000 refugees it set as a cap for the fiscal year at the halfway point. The 45,000 figure was already the lowest ceiling in the refugee resettlement program's 43-year history.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
HA NOI  Vietnamese seafood exports to the European Union last month crashed over a shortage in EU-compliant raw materials, the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said.

In April, Viet Nams tuna exports to the EU fell by 10 per cent year-on-year, while squid and octopus exports decreased by 41 per cent and mollusk exports went down by 19 per cent, VASEP said.

VASEP General Secretary Truong inh Hoe said the decline was due mainly to a shortage in raw materials for processing. While demand for Vietnamese seafood exports to the EU is currently quite large, the number of exploited seafood meeting the EUs requirements in traceability is not high.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said the three provinces that specialise in tuna fishing caught about 7,400 tonnes in the first four months of 2018, down 14 per cent year-on-year. Binh inh saw the steepest drop in tuna output at 18 per cent year-on-year with just 4,150 tonnes caught.

Vinh Thuan Sai Gon Seafood Company Director Tran Ngoc Tuoi said domestic supply could meet only 40 per cent of her companys capacity. Because EU importers only accept products that come from Vietnamese waters, this lack of materials has affected the companys revenues, she said.

The decrease in Vietnamese seafood exports to the EU shows that the yellow card slapped on Viet Nam by the union due to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has begun to affect EU shipments negatively, VASEP said.

While domestic exporters are making efforts to meet EU requirements on IUU, a lack of experience in conducting procedures in the field, especially in the export of products that are sourced from many ships and localities, has affected export activities, it said.

On October 23, 2017, the European Commission (EC) issued a "yellow card" warning to Viet Nam, after the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progress in the fight against IUU fishing.

The EC required the Vietnamese seafood industry to implement nine recommendations between October 23, 2017 and April 23, 2018.

A delegation of the European Commission is visiting Viet Nam from May 15-24 to check on the countrys compliance with measures against IUU fishing. The EU is expected to decide on whether to withdraw the yellow card from Vietnamese offshore seafood exports after the inspection.  VNS
HA NOI  Shares concluded the week on a negative note as investors remained cautious on the market outlook amid low volatility and constant net selling by foreign traders.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 2.23 per cent, or 22 points, to end at 963.90 points. It had lost 0.31 per cent on Thursday.

The minor HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange lost 2.21 per cent to close at 114.49 points, extending its loss of 0.88 per cent on Thursday.

More than 194 million shares were traded across the two local exchanges, worth VN5.4 trillion (US$239 million).

The market breadth was negative with 326 declining stocks against 132 gainers.

Foreign investors on Friday sold net VN521.51 billion on the HOSE, focusing on real estate developer Vingroup (VIC) (VN209.7 billion), transportation and warehousing company Viet Nam Sun Corporation (VNS) (VN103.4 billion) and Vincom Retail (VRE) (VN66.2 billion). They also sold net VN14.7 billion on the HNX.

Of the 20 industries on the stock market, securities, energy and retail industry were the three worst hit by investors strong selling pressure, data on vietstock.vn showed.

The three indices lost respectively 2.9 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 9.3 per cent.

Among securities firms, the three biggest  VNDirect Securities (VND), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and HCM City Securities Corp (HCM)  sunk 3.1 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 6.3 per cent.

Dropping three days in a row, oil prices hit the lowest level in two weeks. Therefore, energy stocks also traded in negative territory.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), world oil prices slumped on Thursday to a two-week low after Russia signaled the possibility of easing output limits.

In New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell by 1.6 per cent or US$1.13 per barrel to settle at US$70.71 per barrel  the lowest since May 11, 2018.

Curbing supply with OPEC since 2017, Russia on Thursday implied that the country can raise its crude output. Also, US inventories expanded by 5.8 million barrels in the week ending May 18, compared to the analysts forecasted drop of 1.6 million barrels.

BVSC said in its daily report that these two pieces of news put major pressure on oil prices recently.

Amid the slide of oil, oil-gas stocks on Friday such as PetroVietnam Gas (GAS), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD) and PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) all hit the floor prices.

Due to weak bottom-fishing cash flows amid heavy selling pressure on large-cap stocks, the market is likely to stay on a downtrend in the short term, BVSC added.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) was down 1.38 per cent to 53.13 points, extending its decline of 0.36 per cent in the previous session.  VNS
HA NOI  Illegal dumping of waste and building materials has become an urgent issue in the capital city of Ha Noi, concerning local residents and officials.

Discharging rubbish illegally takes place in many areas of the city. It is said that whenever there is unused land, waste will be dumped there illegally. This action does not only pollute the environment, affecting the citys aesthetic beauty, but also threatens traffic safety, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Vu Thi Lien, who lives in Ha ong Districts Kien Hung Ward, told Viet Nam News that the illegal dumping of waste often took place at night, between 9pm and 4am.

Drivers usually operate cars which carry soil and construction waste at high speed. They stop and discharge waste in just a moment and then ran away, she said, adding that it was impossible for local residents to inform competent agencies to deal with the matter in time.

Nguyen Thai Hung, another resident, said he felt displeased as he saw piles of waste along the road to his house.

At first, its just a small dumping site. However, in time, more and more people discharge waste, it turns into a mountain," he said, adding that he sometimes had no choice but to drive on the pavement.

A trader who used to engage in illegal dumping activity and has since retired said that whenever receiving a garbage dumping contract, they usually take charge of transporting and choosing locations of dumping at the same time, ensuring that garbage is transferred as quickly as possible.

Normally, there would be a group of people working together. Each person is assigned to take over one duty. First, they load the waste into vehicles and hide it in a suitable place. Then, some persons would ride their motorbikes to inspect the dumping sites which meet the requirements that facilitate the transportation of cars and are easy to escape from if detected. After feeling secure, they would transport the waste to the sites. They earned between VN3-7 million (US$130-304) depending on the quantity and kind of rubbish per dump.

The dumping sites were also changed regularly to avoid detection, he said.

The fact that the activity occurs at night and is conducted in a professional way makes it difficult for competent agencies to discover and settle it.

For example, only after following an incident for a week did the environmental police from Nam Tu Liem District catch red handed a truck discharging waste illegally in ai Mo Ward.

Another truck was caught by Ha Noi Police while dumping construction waste in Hoai uc District after keeping close watch for many days.

According to Tran Van Khai from Ha Noi Urban Environment Co Ltd, nearly 3,000 tonnes of waste was discharged illegally along Thang Long Avenue last year.

He said the illegal dumping of waste affected the citys aesthetic beauty, traffic safety as well as the citys budget as it costs much money to clean up waste.

We [the company] have spent over VN500 million ($21,800) to tidy up waste along the route which was once considered the most beautiful one in the city, he said.

The incident was also reported in Hoai uc District, a suburban area with much unoccupied land.

Piles of waste can easily be seen at An Thuong and Song Phuong communes.

Local authorities have erected no waste dumping signs and barbed wire to prevent cars from discharging rubbish. However, the efforts failed to produce the desired effect. Once violators were hindered at one site, they would seek to dump waste at the other one.

Nguyen uc Khoa, chairman of Song Phuong Communes Peoples Committee, acknowledged local authorities have so far failed put an end to the incident.

The communal police force has just 10 people while the Thang Long avenue section passing through the commune is more than 2km long, he said.

Hoang Mai District is also one of the "hotspots" for rubbish dumping. The most popular areas where waste is discharged include under Thanh Tri Bridge, and the Nguyen Khoai dyke and along the Lu River in ai Kim District.

The illegal dumping of waste occurs widely in Ha Noi despite the fact the city has issued penalties for those caught illegally dumping waste since 2010.

Under the rules, people who illegally transport solid waste could face fines of up to VN10-15 million ($439-658), while those caught littering on city streets with solid waste could be fined VN5-10 million ($219 -439).

Solutions

According to the municipal Department of Construction, as many as 3,000 tonnes of solid construction waste are discharged every day in the city.

While construction waste from demolished works could be recycled as it has economic value, others like bricks and concrete are transported to landfills for burial. However, most of them are discharged illegally, polluting the environment.

Nguyen Manh Hung, head of the Technical Infrastructure Division under the Ha Noi Construction Department, blamed the illegal dumping of waste on low awareness on environmental protection regulations and a lack of responsibility of waste owners and waste collecting units.

Over the past few years, the city authority has set up four construction waste collection points in Thanh Tri, ong Anh and Hoai uc districts, as well as four transit sites which can recycle construction waste. However, it failed to meet the demand of households or project developers.

To put an end to the above-mentioned issue, Hung suggested the city authority to speed up investment in building of a waste treatment plant.

Strict fines should be imposed with a view to discourage people from discharging waste in the public areas.

It is necessary to tighten regulations which stipulate that investors and contractors must sign contracts with waste collecting units, he said.  VNS
HCM CITY  The Southern Womens Museum of HCM City has launched a contemporary exhibition featuring embroidery items made by Vietnamese women soldiers who were imprisoned during the American war.

The Embroidery Memorabilia of Women Revolutionaries exhibition showcases 100 items including handkerchiefs, fans, baby clothes, and paintings.

The works patterns feature messages and poems about freedom, such as a fan made by Le Thi Huong, who was imprisoned at Tan Hiep in 1971.

Vietnamese heroines and the Buddha are featured in paintings by Quach Kim Anh, who was imprisoned in Con ao Island from 1954-1958.

All the decorative details reflect women soldiers love for their country, their families and children, and their optimism and aspiration for freedom and a happy life.

Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, director of the museum, spoke at the events opening ceremony on May 23. Women across Viet Nam in general and women in the South made great contributions to the countrys liberation.

Despite being imprisoned, women revolutionaries showed their love for the country and their beloved people and trust in a victory through their embroidery works, said Tham.

The exhibition remains open until September 30. The museum is at 202 Vo Thi Sau Street in District 1.  VNS
The Kien Giang University in Viet Nams southern province of Kien Giang and Cambodias Chea Sim Kamchaymear University inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on co-operation in the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh on May 24. Photo nhandan.com.vn

PHNOM PENH  The Kien Giang University in Viet Nams southern province of Kien Giang and Cambodias Chea Sim Kamchaymear University inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on co-operation in the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh on May 24.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Quang Minh said during the 16th meeting of the Viet Nam-Cambodia Joint Committee on Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Cooperation in Ha Noi last week, the two countries agreed to enhance collaboration in personnel training and sustainable development of each side.



Accordingly, the two sides will accelerate the establishment of a Vietnamese study centre at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Viet Nam will continue to grant hundreds of long-term scholarships to Cambodian students every year. In response, Cambodia will help train Vietnamese students at the request of Vietnamese ministries, agencies and localities.



Ambassador Minh described the signing of the MoU between the two universities as a step to realise the cooperation between the Governments, ministries in charge of education and training, and localities of the two countries.  VNS
HCM CITY  Chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong yesterday met with Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgrove to discuss the development of bilateral relations in trade, investment, education, high-tech agriculture, defence and development aid.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations and 20 years of defence cooperation between the two countries.

As of April, Australia had invested in 182 projects in HCM City, with a total capital of US$188 million.

Bilateral trade between HCM City and Australia last year reached US$915 million, while HCM City last year welcomed 273,000 Australian visitors, according to Phong.

Jetstar Airlines last year launched two direct flight routes from HCM City to Melbourne and from HCM City to Sydney, and Vietjet Air plans to launch a direct flight from HCM City to Brisbane in early 2019.

Phong said this was an important driving force to further promote relations of the two countries.

The Governor-General visited peacekeepers and officers at the level-2 field hospital at Military Hospital 175 and attended the Viet Nam-Australia Innovation Showcase at RMIT University during his stay in the city.

Anniversary of diplomatic relations

Speaking at the reception for the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Australia yesterday evening, the Governor-General said that our willingness to keep working together and supporting each other is amply demonstrated by the signing of the Strategic Partnership.

The Partnership reflects our desire to work together for our mutual benefits and for stability and prosperity in our region and across the world.

The Australian Defence Force is supporting Viet Nams UN peacekeepers in South Sudan.

The two countries are cooperating on new agreements such as the CP-TPP, and the development and application of new technologies.

There are nearly 60,000 Vietnamese alumni at Australian universities. This year, 800 Australian students are expected to study in Viet Nam under the Australian Governments New Colombo Plan.  VNS
HA NOI  Ha Nois Peoples Committee has predicted ten risks that could result in disasters including those related to fire, pollution, transport, health and nuclear power plants.

A project on the management and mitigation of risks facing the city has been approved by local authorities so that they can prepare responsive plans.

Among the risks determined in the project was radioactive dust from three nuclear power plants located in the south of China threatens to pollute the air and water sources in the city.

The above mentioned plants include a 1,000-megawatt plant in Guangxi, a 600-megawatt plant in Guangdong and a 650-megawatt unit of the plant located in Hainan. All were put into operation in 2016.

The plants are located close to the northern border of Viet Nam. The one in Guangxi is 50km from Mong Cai City in Quang Ninh Province, and less than 500km from Ha Noi.

Ha Noi will be one of northern localities affected the most severely if any of the three plants were to leak radiation, according to the project.

In the event that a disaster occurs, the municipal Department of Science and Technology, alongside relevant agencies, has been assigned to consult with local authorities on scientific and technological solutions in order to prevent or mitigate radioactive leaks and nuclear incidents.

Another disaster-inducing scenario is the breach of the Hong (Red) River dyke. If the water level in the river was to exceed the third warning level (11.5m), it would threaten millions of people and cause huge property damage.

The project also noted the risk of fires, explosions and the potential collapse of 1,600 outdated apartment buildings in the city.

A scenario of traffic accidents caused by elevated trains was also forecasted. If a train carrying 500 passengers was to fall onto the street below, then it is predicted that it would cause massive casualties among passengers and people on the street.

Among other risks assessed were stampedes at crowded events, cyber attacks, epidemics, widespread power outages, and water pollution.

To effectively respond to the predicted risks, the citys authorities aim to improve the capacity of disaster response, as well as search and rescue agencies, while strengthening the accuracy of warning systems.

Relevant agencies have been required to draft detailed plans to prevent and respond to disaster-including risks.

The city will continue to invest in environmental monitoring systems, particularly with regard to air and water pollution.

Ha Noi used to experience frequent natural disasters. A flood in 1971 with water rising up to 14.3m in Red River Delta broke three dykes, killing 100,000 people and affected more than 2.7 million.

The rains in 2008 flooded the inner city for five consecutive days, causing human losses and property damage worth more than VN3 trillion (US$130.5 million).

A tragic train accident in 1982 killed more than 300 people in Trang Bom District in the southern province of ong Nai. A fire at the ITC building in HCM City in 2002 injured over 100 people.

It is essential that such disasters are averted in the future to prevent the tragic loss of human life and ensure that the country develops in a sustainable way.  VNS
GIA LAI  When authorities of the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai decided to build the Ayun Ha irrigation system in 2000, hundreds of local residents in Phu Thien Districts Chu A Thai Commune were relocated to a new resettlement area.

But 18 years later, many of them have returned to live in their old villages, despite the poor living conditions there. They refer to the five Nos in their village: no electricity, no roads, no schools, no health stations, and no future.

The 70 residents of the Heg Village are among those who left the resettlement area to return to their hometown. According to village head inh Jai, after the completion of the irrigation system, some senior members of the village revisited the area where the village was once located, finding it remained intact, and decided to move back there.

Lying between the three mountains of Cheng Leng, Lo Pa and NNheng, the Heg Village is accessible either by a boat ride across the Ayun Ha Lake, or a 10km walk through a forest.

The distant, deserted village is not an ideal place for children to grow up. None of the local children  who are of the Banar ethnic minority  have been sent to school, taught the national language, or been vaccinated and provided with other social services.

Villagers have to go a long way to seek professional help when they get sick, because the village has no health station. They have three options: travelling 6km to neighbouring Chu Se District, 8km to the resettlement area, or 15km to the Mang Yang District to see the doctors there.

Such long journeys make it more difficult to save lives, said village head inh Jai. Some of our people died because they couldnt reach any health facilities in time.

But none of them have any intention of leaving the village.

This is our birthplace, said inh Jai. We will cling onto it as long as we can.

Located on top of the Cheng Leng Mountain is the Plei Cheng Leng Village of some 20 households; the oldest one has been there for over 20 years.

Similar to those in Heg Village, Plei Cheng Leng residents abandoned the resettlement area to return to their birthplace due to the lack of agricultural lands at the new place, said villager Rmah Trui.

But their dear village also lacks a resource essential for life: water.

Life is rough here without water, said Rmah Trui. We never have enough water for farming, drinking, even for taking care of our personal hygiene.

Living in isolation in the temporary, self-built houses between the Chu Se and Phu Thien districts, these villagers have no household registration or identity cards, and cant enjoy any social welfare policies.

There is neither any electricity nor schools in sight, which dulls the future of local children. Some of them have reached their teenage years but are not able to read and write.

The provincial authorities are trying to persuade these villagers to return to the resettlement area, said Phung Trung Toan, chairman of the Peoples Committee of Chu A Thai Commune.

We are reviewing the number of households in an attempt to provide them with better management, he said.

We have decided to give part of the communes lands to those in need of farming lands, he said, adding that they had done that once, before asking villagers to relocate to the resettlement area.

But it is such a difficult mission to ask these ethnic minority people to leave their hometowns again, Toan added.

Making a living farming on high mountains has been their custom for generations, he said.  VNS
HA NOI  Overwhelming heat since early May seemed to signal a harsh and long summer this year. While many seek to hide from the heat in comfortable rooms cooled with fans or air conditioners, many workers dare not use too much electricity for the privilege. They are poor, and paying more for power than they should.

o Thi Linh left her mountainous hometown of Tuyen Quang for Ha Noi to work in the Bac Thang Long industrial zone. She rented a room adjacent to her company, and was irritated by the electricity price quoted by her landlord.

I have to pay VN3,500 (20 US cent) for a unit. Summer has come which means I will have to use more electricity, and that means more money will be spent for it while I still have so many other things to cover, Linh said.

It was quite expensive compared to the highest rate possible a household should be paying if they use more than 401kWh, at VN2,701 per unit.

Linh said that she questioned her landlord over such a costly rate, and the answer was not that pleasing to her ears.

He said that all landlords here charged that amount, and if I complained about it, why I did not just go buy my own house, she said.

Thats how it is. I have to accept it.

Pham Thi Diem and her family got an even worse rate when their landlord in HCM City announced that electricity this summer would cost VN4,000 a unit, a steeping increase from the previous price of VN2,500.

Diem and her husband were both workers at the Tan Binh industrial zone, with a combined monthly income totaling only VN8 million ($348).

We have a small child, so the demand for power usage is quite big. With the new price, it is so hard for us, she said.

Hard for landlords too

Many landlords leasing rooms specifically for the blue-collar workers admitted that the power price they quoted was beyond reasonable for the poor tenants, but they did not have much of a choice.

According to the Electricity of Viet Nams regulations, any households leasing rooms will have their power usage charged at business rate, which could possibly be doubled what a normal household using electricity in an unconstrained manner might have to pay.

Le Van Tien in Ha Nam Province built 20 rooms to rent out for a total of 43 workers with their 16 children. He charged each room VN3,000 per power unit.

To ensure security in the area, my family had to install 15 high pressure sodium lamps and turn them on from 5pm to 7am the next day. We also give the workers a vacant land lot to grow vegetables, and run a pump to get the water to the land, Tien said.

He said with such regular power usage, there were several months where the average price for one unit already reached VN2,700 after he divided evenly the total bill for his family and 20 household renters.

Tien suggested that the Government should issue regulations supporting the landlords, for example allowing them to pay the bill at a normal household rate other than the business one, if it really wants to help the workers.

Another landlord named Tan in Ha Nois ong Anh District said that he understood how hard it was for the workers with such high rate of power, but he must do it otherwise he would be at loss with all the initial investment for the rooms.

Companies should raise the workers salary to help them, and the Government should stop charging the landlords at business rates to make the power and water price for the workers cheaper, he said.  VNS
HA NOI  The Ministry of Health has agreed to further co-operation with the Global Tuberculosis (TB) Programme by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and signed other agreements at the 71st World Health Assembly, which runs from May 21 to 26 in Geneva (Switzerland), Vietnam News Agency reported.

In a meeting with representatives of Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea, Le Quang Cuong, Vice Minister of Health, urged further co-operation between the two, which would be brought to the table when the South Korean Minister of Health and Welfare visits Viet Nam.

Both sides also pointed out the need of accelerate the process of authorising practising certificates for medical personnel.

The Vietnamese official also proposed further co-operation to Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme.

Kasaeva asked Viet Nam to share experience on countering Tuberculosis with other countries, before proposing Viet Nam attend the UN High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis which will be held in New York in September.

On the occasion, Cuong also signed the action document at the Ministerial Call for Action to eliminate Malaria before 2030 in the Greater Mekong Subregion.

On the sidelines of the health assembly, head of Ministry of Healths International Cooperation Department (ICD) Dr Tran Thi Giang Huong discussed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about countering cancer in Viet Nam via developing human recourses, predicting cancer and irradiation treatment.

Huong discussed with Resolve to Save Lives President and CEO Dr Tom Frieden about solutions for decreasing high-blood pressure by reducing the percentage of sodium in food and countering strokes on a community scale.

Resolve proposed to send a representative to Viet Nam in July for further discussion. The project has succeeded in many Asian countries including China, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Vietnamese health representatives also met their Thai counterparts to propose Viet Nam hosting the 10th time Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health (AAAH).

Furthermore, Viet Nam has agreed to co-sponsor South Korea and Swedens conference about antibiotics resistance. Huong has joined the Operation Department of the conference and shared Viet Nams experience in countering antibiotics resistance.  VNS
QUANG TRI  Saigontourist has launched a tour called Heritage and Spiritual Journey to the central province of Quang Tri.

The province is renowned for its breathtaking landscapes, exotic culture, spiritual values, and friendly people. It is also famous for a multitude of war-related historical sites that attract great numbers of local and foreign tourists such as Hien Luong Bridge, Vinh Moc Tunnels, McNamara Line (electric fence), ancient citadel, Ta Con Airport, and Lao Bao Prison.

Travellers from HCM City will land in Hue city, visit the Imperial Citadel and enjoy Hue specialties before going to the neighbouring Quang Tri Province.

On the first day in Quang Tri they will visit the ancient citadel built in 1827 by King Minh Mang. After 81 days and nights of fierce fighting there in the summer of 1972, the citadel became known around the world.

On the second day tourists will explore Con Co Island in the morning, learning the long and interesting history of the small island where many war-related objects are exhibited.

Visitors can enjoy swimming in the beach or dive to explore coral reefs.

On the third day they will visit the Demilitarised Zone and Truong Son National Martyrs Cemetery.

After lunch they will visit ong Ha city before returning to HCM City.  VNS
SEOUL - A top North Korean official said Friday his country is still willing to talk with the US, responding to President Donald Trumps abrupt decision to pull out of his planned summit with the Norths leader.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan issued a statement carried by the Norths state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It came hours after Trump announced the surprise decision to withdraw from his summit with Kim Jong-un set for June 12.

"We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format," he said in the statement.

Kim said the US decision to cancel the upcoming talks demonstrates how serious the animosity between the North and the US remains, which he said underlines the urgent need of a summit between the leaders of the two countries.

He said that the North Korean leader has made all-out efforts to prepare for the summit with the US, saying his meeting with Trump will serve as a good start.

"Despite all of this, the US unilateral decision to scrap the talks causes us to reconsider whether all of the efforts and the path we have taken is really the right one or not," he said.

Kim said that the North remains open to talks with the US.

"Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the US," he said.

In a publicly disclosed letter to the North Korean leader, Trump said Thursday night (Seoul time) that the cancellation was due to the "tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement."

Trump apparently pointed to the remarks by Choe Son-hui earlier Thursday in which the Norths vice foreign minister lambasted US Vice President Mike Pence for bringing up a Libya-style approach in ridding the North of its nuclear programme and threatened to walk away from the summit with the US.

"I want to conclude that President Trumps stance on the North-US summit does not meet the worlds desire for peace and stability both in the world and on the Korean Peninsula," Kim said.

"The tremendous anger and open hostility that President Trump mentioned is just a backlash in response to a unilateral denuclearisation being pushed ahead of the planned North-US summit," he added. - YONHAP
Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel is determined to roll back Iran's aggression at the Tel-Nof Air Base during the second day of the international convention for air force commanders.

"We will not let Iran establish military bases in Syria and we will not let Iran develop nuclear weapons," Xinhua quoted Netanyahu as saying

"The Israeli Air Force plays a crucial role in implementing this policy and it has done so consistently and effectively now for the past several years," he said.

Netanyahu appreciated the "strong leadership" of US President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's 12-point plan to block Iran's aggression.

"I can tell you with confidence that the appreciation that I just expressed is shared, broadly shared, by many others in the Middle East."

"This is not just an Israeli position. I hope that this clear American message was well understood in Tehran. And like the US, we in Israel have no quarrel with the people of Iran," said Netanyahu.

--IANS

qd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

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Market Research Future adds the Cystic Fibrosis Market Research Report- Global Forecast till 2022 report to their unique collection. It is estimated that cystic fibrosis market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.5% during the forecast period 2016-2022.

Market Scenario

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic, genetic disease which affects the overall progress of entire body leading to severe disability and early death in many cases. CF is mainly caused due to several mutations in the gene which encodes for cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein. According to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation (CFF), currently there are approximately 70,000 people who are suffering from cystic fibrosis worldwide.

Chest Physical Therapy (CPT) is a technique which is mainly done in cases of cystic fibrosis to drain out the mucus out of the body. In CPT, patient uses gravity to pull out the mucus by getting into different positions. While the patient is lying, the caretaker or the medical nurse taps or vibrates the chest of the patient in order to dislodge the thick mucus inside the lungs.

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Development of new drugs and therapies, and financial support from CFF in research and development of CF drugs are the key drivers fueling the growth of the market. In 2015, CFF announced a grants of $23 Million to 11 cystic fibrosis research and development centers in the United States. In total, CFF has invested around $425 Million in order to boost the drug development for this disorder. The constant financial support from the foundation encourages the biopharmaceutical companies to involve in the research of rare disease leading to the development of novel drugs. Despite these drivers, high cost of the drugs and treatment may hamper the growth of the market. The two most effective drug treatments for cystic fibrosis come with huge price tags, Kalydeco ($311,000/year) and Orkambi ($259,000/year). These high prices makes the CF treatment unaffordable for most of the patients.

It is estimated that cystic fibrosis market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.5% during the forecast period 2016-2022.

Intended Audience

Cystic fibrosis manufacturers & suppliers

Contract Research Organizations (CROs)

Research and Development (R&D) Companies

Government Research Laboratories

Independent Research Laboratories

Government and Independent Regulatory Authorities

Market Research and Consulting Service Providers

Academic Institutes and Universities

Segmentation

The global cystic fibrosis market is segmented on the basis of treatment method. Treatment method is further segmented into medication, devices, and other treatments.

Key Findings

The global cystic fibrosis market is expected to reach USD 1,192.2 million by 2022 at a CAGR of 13.8%

On the basis of treatment method, medication market is expected to command the largest market share of 76.4% over the review period and it is also expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 14% during the forecast period 2016-2022

The North America hold the largest share of the cystic fibrosis market and is expected to reach USD 521.0 million by 2022

Europe is the fastest growing market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.1% over the 2017-2023

Regional Analysis

The North America dominates the cystic fibrosis market owing to the high incidence rate of cystic fibrosis. According to cystic fibrosis foundation, more than 30,000 patients are living with cystic fibrosis in the U.S. and nearly, 1000 new cystic fibrosis cases are diagnosed each year. According to CFFs national patient registry, the median age of the person with cystic fibrosis is currently 33.4 years.

European region stands second in the regions affected by cystic fibrosis. According to the European Cystic Fibrosis Society (ECFS), considering the 26 major countries in Europe, more than 35,500 people were suffering from cystic fibrosis in 2014. Among the CF patients in Europe, 51.8% were adults with age 18 years or more and 48.2% were less than 18 years old. Countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania, and Bulgaria have higher birth prevalence of CF.

The prevalence of cystic fibrosis is seen to be very low in the Asian region. The exact prevalence is not known but the risk of child birth with cystic fibrosis in Asian people is 1 in 100,000. The prevalence of CF is rare in the East Asian countries like China and Japan.

The Middle East and Africa holds the least share in the market owing to the presence of poor and slow developing countries, especially countries in the African region.

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Key Players

Some of the key players in this market are Vertex Pharmaceuticals, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, AbbVie, Gilead Sciences, Novartis, Genentech, Pharmaxis, Chiesi Farmaceutici, Forest Laboratories and others.

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United States Proton Therapy market is expected to reach nearly US$ 1 Billion, potentially US$7 Billion by 2025.

United States Proton Therapy Industry

United States Proton Therapy market is expected to reach nearly US$ 1 Billion, potentially US$7 Billion by 2025.

Market growth can be attributed to factors such as rising cancer incidence, increasing number of proton therapy centers,decreasing cost of proton therapy treatment,technological advances and market adoption.However, high costs involved in the establishment of the center is likely to restrain growth in the forecast period.

The research report titled United States Proton Therapy Market: Demand, Insights, Analysis, Opportunities, Growth Potential and Forecast 2018  2025 examines the market dynamics, competitive landscape and discusses major trends. The study describes an indepth analysis of the United States actual and potential proton therapy market.

The report contains a granular analysis of the present industry situations, market demands, reveal facts on the market size, volume, revenues and provides forecasts through 2025.A comprehensive analysis has been done on market share of US proton therapy center (installed base) and treatment room by company.The report also provides information on the proton therapy current applications and comparative analysis with more focused on pros and cons of proton therapy and competitive analysis of eight companies.

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The report further sheds light on the number of treatment rooms,current and upcoming proton therapy centers. In addition, the report also provides essential insights on number of patients treated at US proton therapy centers from 2008 to 2015.

The report also includes assessment of US reimbursement scenario, proton therapy clinical trialsand offers a clear view of the proton therapy center component analysis. Key trends in terms of venture capital investment, collaborations, partnerships, licensingand development agreements are analyzed with details. The report also explores detailed description of growth drivers and inhibitors of the US proton therapy market.

The report concludes with the profiles of major players in the USproton therapy market. The key market players are evaluated on various parameters such as company overview, product portfolio,US proton therapy centers developed by the companies and recent development & trends of the proton therapy market.

Key Highlights of the United States Proton Therapy Market Report:

Proton Therapy Current Applications

 Pros and Cons of Proton Therapy, Radiotherapy and Carbon Ion Therapy

 Proton Therapy Competitive Analysis: By Company

 Market Size & Analysis: United States Proton Therapy (2012  2025)

 Market Opportunity Assessment: United States Proton Therapy (2012  2025)

 United States Number of Treatment Rooms and Forecast (2012  2025)

 United States Proton Therapy Center (Installed Base) and Treatment Room Market Share: By Company

 United States Proton Therapy Center Infrastructure Analysis: Treatment Rooms & Proton Therapy Accelerator

 United States Number of Patients Treated at Proton Therapy Centers (2008  2015)

 United States Proton Therapy Reimbursement Scenario

 Proton Therapy Center Component Analysis

 Proton Therapy Clinical Trail Insight by Phase, Institute & Country

 Proton Therapy Market  Major Deals

 Key Market Drivers and Inhibitors of the United States Proton Therapy Market

 Major Companies Analysis

Key Companies Covered in the Report are as follows:

Optivus

 Hitachi

 Ion Beam Applications(IBA)

 Varian Medical Systems

 Mevion Medical Systems

For Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @ https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2464533-united-states-proton-therapy-market-demand-insights-analysis-opportunities-growth-potential

Some points from table of content:

1. Executive Summary

2. What is Proton Therapy

3. Proton Therapy Current Applications

4. Proton Therapy Comparative Analysis

4.1 Pros and Cons of Proton Therapy, Radiotherapy and Carbon Ion Therapy

4.2 Proton Therapy Competitive Analysis: By Company

5. Market Size & Analysis: United States Proton Therapy (2012  2025)

5.1 Proton Therapy Patients Treated Statistics (Volume)

5.2 Proton Therapy Market Analysis (Value)

6. Market Opportunity Assessment: United States Proton Therapy (2012  2025)

6.1 Potential Proton Therapy Patient Base (Volume)

6.2 Potential Proton Therapy Market Demand Analysis (Value)

7. Key Market Drivers and Inhibitors of the United States Proton Therapy Market

7.1 Market Drivers

7.2 Market Inhibitors

8. United States Number of Treatment Rooms and Forecast (2012  2025)

9. United States Proton Therapy Center (Installed Base) and Treatment Room Market Share: By Company

9.1 Proton Therapy Center (Installed Base) Market Share

9.2 Treatment Room Market Share

10. United States Proton Therapy Center Infrastructure Analysis: Treatment Rooms & Proton Therapy Accelerator

10.1 Current Proton Therapy Centers

10.2 Demand for Proton Therapy Centers

11. United States Number of Patients Treated at Proton Therapy Centers (2008  2015)

12. United States Proton Therapy Reimbursement Scenario

13. Proton Therapy Center Component Analysis

13.1 Proton Accelerator

13.2 Beam Transport System

13.3 Beam Delivery System

13.4 Nozzle

13.5 Treatment Planning System

13.6 Image Viewers

13.7 Patient Positioning System (PPS)

13.8 Human Resource

14. Proton Therapy Clinical Trail Insight by Phase, Institute & Country

14.1 Year 2017

14.2 Year 2016

15. Proton Therapy Market  Major Deals

15.1 Collaboration Deals

15.2 Licensing Agreement

15.3 Exclusive Agreement

15.4 Partnership Deals

15.5 Venture Capital Investment

15.6 Development Agreement

16. Key Companies Analysis

16.1 Ion Beam Applications(IBA)

16.1.1 Company Overview

16.1.2 Product Portfolios

16.1.3 United States Proton Therapy Centers Developed by IBA

16.1.4 Recent Development

16.2 Hitachi

16.2.1 Company Overview

16.2.2 Product Portfolios

16.2.3 United States Proton Therapy Centers Developed by Hitachi

16.2.4 Recent Development

16.3 Varian Medical Systems

16.3.1 Company Overview

16.3.2 Product Portfolios

16.3.3 United States Proton Therapy Centers Developed by Varian

16.3.4 Recent Development

Continued.

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Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.

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Managing Director and CEO Succession

Sydney, May 25, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Lithium Power International Limited ( ASX:LPI ) ( OTCMKTS:LTHHF ) ("LPI" or "the Company") announces today that its Managing Director and CEO, Mr Martin Holland, is departing the business. Mr Holland has resigned his directorship of LPI effective today and will remain in the role of CEO until 30 June 2018.The Board of Directors has commenced a search for suitable CEO candidates and expects to announce a replacement in due course.There will be no impact on the day-to-day operations and development of the Company's flagship Maricunga Project in Chile, which continues to be managed by Santiago-based Mr Cristobal Garcia-Huidobro, the CEO of the joint venture company, Minera Salar Blanco SA. The Maricunga Project remains on track to deliver a Definitive Feasibility Study by the end of 2018.Mr Holland co-founded LPI in 2015 and was instrumental in the Company's successful IPO and the acquisition of the Maricunga Project. He led the Company through successful capital raisings after its IPO, which generated in excess of $62 million of new equity.Mr Holland said today: "I am extremely proud of what the Company has achieved and the condition that I am leaving it in. After successfully closing the IPO in 2016, we completed capital raisings that funded the acquisition, exploration, development and finalised our buy-in at our flagship Maricunga Project. I leave the Company in a very strong financial position. In addition, LPI has a prospective suite of assets in Western Australia and is in the process of selling its Centenario lithium project in Argentina.""LPI is entering the next phase of its development at Maricunga and, as a significant and supportive shareholder, I look forward to its continued success. Now is the right time for me to depart as LPI ramps up its next stage of growth, moving from explorer to developer, which will involve final investment decision, offtake partners and construction of this significant lithium project. I thank all LPI shareholders, the Board of Directors, the broader LPI team and our joint venture partners in Chile for their support. Most importantly, I thank my wife and children. I look forward to spending more time with them, whilst embarking on the next journey of my professional business career."LPI's Chairman, Mr David Hannon, said: "Martin has made an invaluable contribution to LPI. His vision and leadership have been instrumental in the Company's growth and success. He is leaving LPI in a strong financial position as we embark on the next, exciting phase at the world-class Maricunga Project. We look forward to Martin's continued support as a substantial shareholder and wish him and his young family all the best."Mr Hannon further added that the search for a replacement CEO is underway and will in no way impede the ongoing DFS and permitting process in Chile for the Maricunga lithium brine project.About Lithium Power International Ltd

Lithium Power International Limited (ASX:LPI) is a pure-play lithium explorer and developer, focusing on developing and fast-tracking to production the high-grade Maricunga lithium brine project in Chile.

LPI has a well-known performing technical team with the experience to take the Maricunga project all the way through the development stages to production.

The regions that LPI is currently focused on are:

1. Maricunga JV (Chile) - Located within the "Lithium Triangle", Maricunga is Chile's highest grade and most advanced lithium project outside the Salar de Atacama. The project lies 170 km northeast of Copiapo and 250 km from the port of Caldera.

2. Pilbara (Western Australia) - LPI has three granted exploration tenements covering 203 km2 in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. The largest granted exploration tenement is the Pilgangoora tenement which is 2-3 km west of the Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Altura Mining (ASX:AJM) lithium deposits.

3. Greenbushes (Western Australia) - LPI has two granted exploration tenements covering 400 km2 in the Greenbushes area of southern Western Australia. The tenements are adjacent to the world's largest hard rock lithium mine owned and operated by Tianqi/Talison.

4. Centenario (Argentina) - Through its Argentinian subsidiary, Lithium Power holds a total of seven granted tenements in the Centenario lithium brine salar within the Salta province of the Puna Plateau. In total, the seven granted tenements cover an area of 68.46 km2.

With the exception of the Maricunga JV, all tenements are 100% owned by LPI or LPSA (including rights to the Centenario tenements).
INDIANA-- A student and a teacher are in the hospital after a shooting inside an Indiana Middle School. Hena Doba has more on the attack and the suspect who is now in custody.

Students ran to waiting busses to evacuate after police say a student opened fire inside a classroom at Noblesville West Middle School around 9am. Kaley Sweeney's sister was inside.

Kaley Sweeney said, "My Mom and I were both crying and freaking out hoping she was okay."

Police say an adult and another student were injured before the suspect was taken into custody

Kevin Jowitt, Noblesville Police Chief said, "A male student from the school was detained."

Students were bussed to the high school where parents, lined up for blocks, could pick up their children.

But the scare did not end there, in an email to parents the district said a new threat was made at the high school.

Mackenzie Buchanan, a high school student said, "We piled desks in front of the door, we were starting to get freaked out."

Austin Duncan, another high school student said, "I was terrified, I just wanted to get a hold of my mom."

Parents were then told they would be able to pick up their kids after that threat was cleared.

Tina Duncan, a parent said, "You can't believe it, this can't be happening."

One hundred State Troopers have been brought in to help local police, long with ATF and the FBI who are assisting with the investigation.

Both victims were taken to the hospital. Their conditions are unknown.

Stay with Action News Now for all of your local, and national coverage.

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The Slow Exodus of Assyrians From Baghdad

The threat of violence defines everything in Iraq. Whether it is the defining feature of how one safely lives or how society organizes to achieve change, the possibility of violence is always present. This leaves Christians in a challenging predicament. Their neighbors regard them as a peaceful, and thus vulnerable, community. When positive changes come to Iraq, Christians win the least. When negative changes come, Christians lose the most. This year's incidents in Baghdad, Iraq's capital, are just a snapshot of how Christians are impacted by the country's political, social, and economic conditions. In the Spring, Baghdad's Christians were shocked by two murders that took place just weeks apart from each other. In the second attack, the armed group also stole the murdered family's valuables. Father Biyos Qasha of Baghdad Maryos Church told Rudaw, "This (attack) means that there is no place for Christians. We are seen as a lamb to be killed at any time." He also shared his concern that "these are the signs of a start of a (new) plan to force the Christian population from their homes and out of the country." Christians in Baghdad are no strangers to targeted waves of violence. Basim currently lives in Kurdistan, having left Baghdad in 2006, "when the civil war between the Sunni and Shia was at the top level." He shared, "We used to live in the Dura district, which was the best area to live before 2003. Unfortunately, it became the worst during the civil war. We had to be home before the darkness comes because unknown militias were randomly building temporary fake checkpoints and if the checkpoints were Shia, then they were looking for Sunni and vice versa. But as Christians, we were more afraid of the Sunnis' checkpoints." Daily life in Baghdad, as well as the rest of Iraq, would only grow more dangerous for Christians as the days passed. "I can say 2004 was better than 2005, and 2005 was better than 2006, which means things are getting worse and worse until 2014, when ISIS attacked our Christian villages," added Basim. It has now been 12 years since he left Baghdad and tensions in the city remain too high for him to feel comfortable returning. Yet, this was the city of his birth, so he must regularly travel there to maintain his family documents. He remarked, "I don't like going... it is not safe and it is not the Baghdad that I ever knew and lived. Everything has changed. I don't mean that the street became dirty, generators everywhere, high noise and unofficial shops everywhere, all that is disgusting. But the people even changed, their faces are not as before." As long as Basim remains in Iraq, he will always have to return to Baghdad to maintain official paperwork. This situation, combined with the escalating security risks across the country, is why so many Christians from Baghdad have left Iraq altogether. Um took her family to Syria from Baghdad in 2005. Like many other Iraqi Christians who fled the country, her family would wander from one neighboring country to the next. She explained, "We left Iraq looking for safety and security and a better future for Fadi (her son). But I didnt know that the memories of Baghdad would live this long. I still feel like I am in love with our house in Baghdad, I never felt at home in Syria or Turkey or Lebanon." Despite this longing for home, Um never has any intention of returning to Baghdad and currently lives as a refugee in Lebanon. Um shared, "In 2008, we went to Baghdad to renew our passports. It was a short trip for two or three days." She recalled, "I was sad when I passed through our home's street. I couldn't recognize the neighborhood because it has totally changed. Most of the people whom I knew had left, and it seemed like people came from the south and lived there." Ethnicity also further complicates the challenges facing Christians. Peter Betbasoo, publisher of AINA and originally from Baghdad, estimates that there are only a few thousand Assyrian Christians left in Baghdad. There is also a smaller number of Kurdish and Arab Christians who live in the city. Peter, who lived in Baghdad under Saddam, remembers experiencing religion-based pressure in the city. It was "mild, but it was there. For example, the pressure to circumcise the boys. There was wide discrimination in the civil service jobs... In the Iran war, Assyrian Christians were shot from behind by Muslim Iraqi army members." Peter added, "There is no future for Assyrian Christians in Iraq because there is no security or equality." With such a long history of persecution that worsens with each passing year, it is not surprising that Christians who currently live in Baghdad feel vulnerable. One believer observed, "(The city) is a capital which stays up all the night. People used to go and hang out or visit each other in the evenings, especially Christians because the tradition is to visit each other on both happy and unhappy occasions. But also Christians visited each other because this is the community for them, they cannot ever be fully melted with the non-Christian community." The slow exodus of Christians from Baghdad has left churches empty, and those Christians who remain in the city are isolated and fearful of their neighbors. "We are suffering a lot now to rebuild [the] local Christian community," an Anglican priest told ICC. Sadly, this difficulty has left Iraq's capital increasingly void of Christians. Yet without security, restored trust, equality, and rule of law, Christians will continue in this exodus from Baghdad
Malaysia Airlines freight arm, MABkargo, has organised a charter flight from Germany to Malaysia with almost 72 tonnes of oil and gas bulk cargo.

The charter, which used a Silk Way West Boeing 747-400F, originated from Leipzig and arrived in Bintulu Airport (BTU), Sarawak of East Malaysia, after a quick transit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The MABkargo team conducted a detailed planning process to prepare the bulky cargo for loading into and unloading from the aircraft. To support the freighters operations in BTU, ground support equipment were specially brought in from Kuching and Miri airports.

Amiroel Shazrie Yussof, MABkargos sales & marketing general manager, said: The oil & gas industrys charters have always been very challenging and more often than not, present logistical intricacies.

In this case, we had to prep a small airport to receive a big aircraft. With the support of a great ground handling team and local airport authorities, we made it happen today.

He continued: Charter flights are ideal for the oil & gas industry as they allow our customers to work on their own schedule utilizing the most convenient airports.

Over the years, MABkargo has gained immense experience from coordinating and successfully delivering oil and gas equipment to a number of destinations worldwide.

We have also handled many types of charters  oil & gas, Grand Prix, concert equipment and livestock movements being the major ones.

Our experience in handling charters created a niche strength for us and has secured the trust of our customers. Today, charter flights are a key revenue generator for MABkargo.

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Global ferrous scrap prices softened during the week ended Friday May 25, with falling Turkish scrap prices and the countrys weaker lira muting trade activity both within the country and internationally.

The fall in the value of the lira reduced the number of cargoes booked this week, leading to weaker offer prices. The markets in the United States and India both stagnated as a result of the Turkish situation, causing buyers to step back and wait until market conditions improved.



Taiwan scrap prices were also affected by the falling Turkish market, with prices dropping in response.



Turkey imports

Steel mills in Turkey continued to struggle with the weakness of the lira against the US dollar, caused by the political uncertainty in the Middle Eastern country arising from the calling of early elections.



Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) agreed, in a surprise move, to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24 this year, 17 months before they were required to be held.



This is affecting the local market very badly, while demand for finished steel in the export markets was also sluggish, according to market sources.



Everybody is watching to see where the lira will stop falling. It is getting worse every day, one source said.



The exchange rate was seen at 4.73 lira per dollar on Thursday May 24, compared with 4.44 lira per dollar a week earlier on May 17.



Some Baltic Sea merchants reduced their offers to $345 per tonne, Metal Bulletin was told, although other sources believed that offers were not below $350 per tonne cfr.



Turkish mills cannot accept those offers under the current economic conditions. Only mills which need scrap urgently would pay $330-335 per tonne cfr for [80:20 heavy melting scrap], a mill source added.



But a steel producer in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo on May 24, comprising 10,000 tonnes of an 80:20 mix of No 1 and No 2 heavy melting scrap (HMS), 9,500 tonnes of shredded, and 5,000 tonnes of plate and structural scrap (P&S) at an average price of $347.50 per tonne cfr.



Mills are securing short-sea scrap for their urgent requirements. They were buying A3-grade scrap at around $330 per tonne cfr, but they have already cut their bids to $325 per tonne due to the liras weakness, one market source said onThursday.



Late on May 24, however, a steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo comprising 16,000 tonnes of 80:20 heavy melt at $338 per tonne cfr and 4,000 tonnes of bonus scrap at $348 per tonne.



Around the same time, another steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a UK cargo comprising 7,000 tonnes of 80:20 heavy melting scrap at $333 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes of bonus at $343 per tonne cfr.



US exports

US bulk ferrous scrap export prices were stagnant, with Turkish mills continuing to bypass the country in favor of more affordable European and Baltic material, and with prices for containerized scrap on both the US East and West Coasts starting to crack under the pressure.



No cargoes were confirmed sold from either US coast over the week, although sources said that demand for US bulk scrap was increasing in the secondary markets.



I am seeing demand out of Mexico and even Brazil, one trader source said. In the past two weeks, there has been increased demand for shredded scrap from Turkey and strong demand for full shred cargoes from South America.



Buying activity was likely to become more robust in the coming weeks with Latin American countries - as well as emerging Asian markets such as Thailand and Malaysia - waking up, a broker source noted.



Turkish steelmakers were buying cargoes at a sedate pace, preferring to stay mostly on the market sidelines due to slow rebar export demand, the diminished business activity during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and the weakness of the lira.



Sources believed that Turkish mills will have to buy during Ramadan this year because they have been holding back from deep-sea purchases in the hope of lower prices.



The Turks need cargoes. They have to buy. But the question is whether they will go to Europe or come to the US. I think they will probably head to Europe first because European suppliers are more willing to take lower prices right now, the broker said.



Even though shredded scrap currently commands a premium in the bulk market due to healthy demand, the same resilience was not reflected in the containerized market on the US East Coast. Market participants indicated that prices for containerized shredded scrap slipped to $335-345 per tonne fas from $350-355 per tonne fas a week ago.



On the US West Coast, the market for containerized 80:20 heavy melting scrap was also facing downward pressure from buyers. Prices drifted on the low end of the range to $320-330 per tonne fas from $325-330 per tonne fas a week earlier.



I think that many West Coast dealers will be out of the market if prices drop by more than $5 [per tonne], a West Coast broker source said.



American Metal Markets weekly US East Coast ferrous scrap export indices for heavy melt and shredded scrap were stable on Wednesday May 23 at $327.75 per tonne fob New York and $333.75 per tonne fob New York, respectively.



Taiwan imports

Import prices for containerized HMS-grade material in Taiwan decreased this week, with sentiment in the spot market turning bearish.



Metal Bulletins assessment of import prices for US-origin 80:20 heavy melting scrap sold into Taiwan was $340-345 per tonne cfr for the week ended May 25, down by $5 per tonne on the high end from a week earlier.



US scrap was offered at $350 per tonne cfr Taiwan in the earlier part of the week, before dropping to $345 per tonne cfr Taiwan on Friday.



There were deals heard done for such material at $340-345 per tonne cfr Taiwan, down from $340-350 per tonne cfr Taiwan heard last week.



A major buyer purchased 1,000-2,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap at close to $340 per tonne cfr Taiwan, citing sufficient raw material inventory as the principal reason not to buy more.



Bulk Japan-origin 50:50 heavy melting scrap was offered at $355 per tonne cfr Taiwan, down from $355-357 per tonne cfr Taiwan last week, with buyers bidding $348 per tonne cfr Taiwan. Bulk Japan-origin No 2 heavy melt was offered at $343 per tonne cfr Taiwan.



Market sources pointed to the weakening of Turkeys lira and the lower scrap import prices there as being among the key reasons for the downturn in sentiment in Asia, because sellers would be willing to send more cargoes to Asia due to the more attractive prices there.



The price may continue go down in the near term because the Turkish economy is not expected to improve any time soon, a second Taiwanese trader said.



India imports

Metal Bulletins weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India was $382.90 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on May 25, little changed from $382.31 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on May 18.



Market participants estimated the highest achievable offers for shredded material into India to be $385 per tonne during the week, down from $390 per tonne the week before.



One deal for UK-origin material was reportedly made at $385 per tonne cfr Nhava Shava, but material was available at prices as low as $375 per tonne on the same delivery terms.



The market was quiet this week. We will sell our material next week. Were waiting for the right price, a trader said.



There are no buyers in the market. Prices are not viable. We will wait and watch, a second trader agreed.



The market has gone down by about $5 per tonne the past few days. No buyers want to do deals. People want to wait, perhaps for one week. Lets see what happens, a buyer source commented.



Traders have been actively looking to other markets such as Indonesia and Pakistan. Buyers are going to need to buy at some stage, [and] then everybody will come to the table. Its a strange time of year, its difficult to [discern] a direction [in the market], a seller said.



The problems in Turkey affected the international scrap markets over the week, sources said.



We expect a price correction in the international market of around $10-15 per tonne. The local market is good, prices are stable, but people are holding back. The Turkish market is also down. People will start buying when prices fall a bit, a second seller said.



We are not keen to buy because we want to see what happens in the market. We will be back trading next week. Were not trading in big quantities until the market situation is clear. The lira went down a lot, so people will not buy for a few weeks, a third trader said.



Its risky. Its quiet everywhere, not only in India, but also in Pakistan and even in Turkey. Prices will fall a lot if it stays quiet. And the market in the UAE is quiet because there are fewer working hours due to Ramadan - which means less exports, a third seller said.



Turkey domestic

Turkish domestic scrap prices increased in line with the rise in finished long steel prices over the week to Monday May 21, sources said on Monday.



Steel producers in Turkey and a major scrapyard increased their buy prices for auto bundle scrap by TRY25-80 ($6-18) per tonne over the preceding seven days.



Metal Bulletins weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle scrap (DKP grade) in Turkey was TRY1,380-1,560 ($294-333) per tonne delivered on May 21, up from the previous weeks TRY1,370-1,530 per tonne.











Paul Lim, Singapore; Cem Turken, Mugla, Turkey; and Mei Ling Toh, New York, contributed to this report.






Photo credit: Sonam Wangchuk

High in the Himalayas in northern India, at a remote village near Phyang Monastery in Ladakh, stands two gigantic ice cones. They were built last winter by piping water from glaciers and streams high up in the mountains, and allowing the water to freeze in the cold winter nights. All throughout spring, the sun slowly melted the cones providing a steady supply of water for the villagers to irrigate their fields of barley, apples, and other crops. These ice cones are called ice stupas, because of their distinct shape resembling the mound-like Buddhist shrine. If everything goes as planned, there will be fifty more of these ice stupas everywhere in Ladakh providing farmers with tens of millions of liters of water to irrigate their crops with it.

The Ladakh region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India is a cold desert. Being located on the leeward side of the Himalayas, monsoon clouds are denied entry leading to a dry and rainless climate. The main source of water here is the winter snowfall on the mountains.

Each winter large shelves of ice form at high altitudes and melt throughout the spring, flowing downwards as streams around which civilization thrive on the mountain. But during the two crucial months of April and May, when farmers plant new crops, the streams dry up. By mid-June, as temperature rise sharply, fast melting of the snow and glaciers in the mountains causes an excess of water and even flash flooding at times. By autumn, all farming activities ceases and yet, a small stream continue to flow throughout the winter steadily and wastefully going into the Indus river without being of use to anybody.

Phyang monastery in Ladakh. Photo credit: Stefan Walter/Rolex Awards

In 2014, a Ladakhi engineer, innovator and education reformist Sonam Wangchuk, came up with a solution to the problemcollect the wasting winter water from the streams and store it in giant ice mountains that melt in spring and feed the farms when water is most needed.

The idea grew in his mind one warm May morning when Wangchuk noticed ice under a bridge, which made him realize that it was direct sunlight that was melting the ice on the ground and not ambient temperature.

Wangchuks solution is very simple and elegant that requires no pumps or power to work. An underground pipe brings water from high up the mountains, usually 60 meters or more, to lower altitude where it is allowed to spray out into the freezing winter air by the pressure of gravity alone. The water instantly freezes before it falls to the ground, slowly forming a huge ice cone roughly 30 to 50 meters tall. The cone shape also has the advantage of having a low surface area in comparison to its volume, exposing very little of the ice to direct sunlight, and thus delaying its melting.

One of the first prototypes Wangchuk built was 20 feet tall and contained 150,000 liters of water. It lasted throughout the spring and into mid-May even when the temperature was above 20C. Another much larger stupa grown near a forest survived until July.

The two ice stupas Wangchuck built near Phyang Monastery are about 80 feet tall and contained enough water to irrigate 10 hectares of land throughout the dry months. It was entirely a crowdfunded project. For his work, Wangchuck also received financial assistance from the Swiss watch giant Rolex. The money, he says, will be used to build more ice towers.

Prayer flags decorate the ice stupa near Phyang Monastery. Photo credit: Sonam Wangchuk

Photo credit: Sonam Wangchuk
Posted on: May 25, 2018 3:18 PM

[Anglican Journal, by Joelle Kidd] A massive fire that swept downtown Brandon in central Canadas Manitoba province, coupled with wildfires in Western Manitoba that caused the evacuation of Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, have caused hundreds to be displaced from their homes. But in the diocese of Brandons St Matthews Cathedral, the community has rallied with donations of clothes and other essential items. Saturdays (19 May) blaze in downtown Brandon destroyed three buildings and spread to the roof of 58-unit Massey Manor, a low-income housing complex. About 150 people were forced to leave their homes and are now living in a nearby hotel.

In response, Brandons Bear Clan Patrol leapt into action. Dean of St Matthews Cathedral Don Bernhardt is a member of the Bear Clan, a community group that patrols downtown Brandon and often provides support in the form of food or clothing for those living in the citys core. The primarily indigenous group is led by a womens council. Because of the groups work in the area, many of the residents of Massey Manor were known by Bear Clan members. Previous experience had taught them that a clothing drive would be a good way to respond, says Bernhardt, as the Red Cross does not distribute clothing donations.

Bernhardt offered space in the cathedral for the donations, he says, and then, I basically just stood back and watched in amazement.

They put out a call to the community that they would be accepting donations between 1 pm and 4 pm the Sunday after the fire. By 1.30, 2.00 pm at the latest, we had our crypt completely full. I had to open up another room in the cathedral in the basement, and that was filling up. We had the landing of the cathedral completely full of boxes and bags, says Bernhardt. People were stopping in the middle of the street and bringing stuff in. It was amazing.

The donations continued to pour in. The Sunday of Pentecost, we saw the Holy Spirit in action in a really powerful way, says Bernhardt.

The majority of volunteer work has been organised by the Bear Clan, with assistance from the St Matthews clergy and a host of parishioners and community members, says Bishop of the diocese of Brandon William Cliff. Its just the perfect community effort.

Working with the indigenous-led Bear Clan is also a good sign of reconciliation, he says.

The whole area under the cathedral is now laid out like a mall, Cliff says. Theres menswear, womenswear, childrens, different sizes. Theres bathing suits here, theres a whole section of soap and tooth brushes and toothpastes, everything. Bear Clan members shuttle groups of people from the hotels where they are staying to go through and collect what they need.

Both the Massey Manor residents and the evacuees from Sepotaweyak Cree Nation were forced to leave their homes with little notice, and many have only the clothes on their backs, he says.

Wildfires have spread through the province in recent weeks as an unusually dry spring has fostered tinderbox conditions. According to the CBC, nearly 700 people were forced to leave their homes in Sapotaweyak early this week. About 200 of the evacuees are now in Brandon, being housed in hotels.

Because of the enormous response to the fire, the church has ample donated clothes and other items for the Sapotaweyak evacuees. We still have boxes and boxes of clothes that havent even been touched yet, says Bernhardt.

Excess donations will be passed along to community help centre Samaritan House Ministries.

Cliff says Massey Manor residents may be allowed to visit their apartments on Friday to collect some items. Were being alerted to make sure that people understand were here for support, he adds. Its going to be a pretty emotional, shocking thing to go in and see the state of your home after that kind of a fire.

In the moment, theres a lot of shock and fear and anxiety, says Bernhardt, who spoke to residents the day of the fire. Despite this, he says, I get a real sense that the folks know that there are people who care, and there are people who are going to help them adjust to this. . . Were going to get through this as a community.

A service of thanksgiving will take place at the cathedral on Sunday (27 May), to celebrate the work of first responders and volunteers so far. That will sort of put a comma on things, says Bernhardt, who says that the immediate emergent need is done, but the work is not done.

The diocese is also offering to cover the cost for a week at diocese-run Anglican Memorial Camp for any children or families affected by the fire. Donations through the diocese of Brandon can be made online.
Posted on: May 25, 2018 3:57 PM

The Soul Survivor charity, which runs youth discipleship and worship events throughout England, will close after its 2019 events, the trustees announced today. Soul Survivor began in 1993 when Mike Pilavachi was released by St Andrews Church in Chorleywood with 11 others to plant a new youth-focused Anglican church, Soul Survivor Watford, which now meets in two neighbouring warehouses in an industrial estate in north Watford, Hertfordshire. The Soul Survivor events were organised by the church and grew into an ecumenical charity reaching thousands of young people every year.

We know this will come as a shock to many but we believe that God has spoken and that this is the right time for us to step aside and make space for others to rise up, Mike Pilavachi said this afternoon in a message on the charitys website. This is not a decision we have taken lightly but something we have been wrestling with for a substantial amount of time. Our leadership team and board of trustees came to this decision unanimously and believe that, after 27 years of events, 2019 is the right time for Soul Survivor to end.

We are enormously sad that this means we wont be hanging out with you in the same way after 2019  it has been the greatest joy and privilege to journey with you  but we want to make the most of this summer and next. We also want to commit to serving you as well as we can in this next season God has called us into whether thats through celebrations at our church in Watford or through myself and other members of the team travelling around the UK and abroad to encourage and cheer you on.

He said that he would continue to work with the other members of the Soul Survivor leadership team  Ali Martin and Andy Croft  and said that the trio remain committed to encouraging the whole church to move in the power of the Holy Spirit and will explore new ways to do that.

In his message, he said: Right from the start of Soul Survivor we always said that when God told us to stop, we would. We believe that time has come and we want to be obedient. Weve always been humbled by the amount of support youve shown us and so we know some of you may feel sad about this decision but we know that God said, I will build my church  he never said, I will build my Soul Survivor. Our passion has always been to support the local church where faith is lived out as family week in and week out, not to create our own movement.

Soul Survivors church in Watford will continue, but its national ministries will come to an end. It will run three Soul Survivor events in 2019, in Scotland, Stafford and Peterborough; as well as a Naturally Supernatural (NSN) event in Stafford.

The events usually run for five days. Last year some 25,000 young people gathered at Soul Survivor. The rest of the year we keep busy with lots of other events such as weekends away, equipping days and Saturday celebrations. Plus we run Soul Action to put Gods heart for justice into action, and SoulNet to support and encourage youth leaders, Soul Survivor explained on its website.

We run events because were passionate about seeing people meet with, and be changed by, Jesus. Weve often found that as we focus on God he does incredible things; he meets us where were at, and we are changed. At our events we always give space for three things: times of sung worship, teaching from the Bible and times of prayer ministry.

The charity will now work with other organisations to point young people to other events after Soul Survivor in 2019.

In 2014, the Archbishop of Cantebury Justin Welby took part in Soul Survivor in Stafford, where he was prayed for by some of the young people who attended.
Posted on: May 25, 2018 6:12 PM

[Episcopal News Service, by Lynette Wilson] Love your neighbour, the neighbour you like and the neighbour you dont like, your black neighbour, your white neighbour, your Latino neighbour, your Muslim neighbour, your Christian neighbour, your Democrat neighbour, your Republican neighbour. That was the message Presiding Bishop Michael Curry took to a standing-room-only crowd that overflowed onto the steps at National City Christian Church and into the Lutheran church across the street in Washington DC yesterday (Thursday 24 May).

We are not a partisan group, we are not a left-wing group, we are not a right-wing group, we are a Jesus Movement, Curry said to rousing, sustained applause from those gathered to reclaim Jesus. And we came together, Protestant, Catholic, evangelical, we came together, Republicans, Independents and Democrats, we came together, liberal and conservative, and whatever is in the middle, we came together because what binds us together is Jesus of Nazareth and his way. . .

This is not a protest march, this is a procession of Christian people. This is what they did on Pentecost. This is a Pentecostal moment and we are committed to following the way of Jesus.

During the 90-minute church service that preceded a candlelight procession to the White House, one-by-one speakers addressed issues ranging from the rise of white nationalism to mistreatment of and violence against women, to LGBTQ inclusion to immigration reform, the spreading of falsehoods and the normalisation of lying and moves toward autocratic leadership.

The Reclaiming Jesus declaration says that we believe there are two things are at stake: the soul of the nation and the integrity of our faith, said the Revd Jim Wallis of Sojourners, who co-led the service and the procession alongside Curry. Why do we say that? Because we love our country and we love our churches even more. We see people bringing politics into faith. Tonight we are bringing faith into politics.

And theres a big difference. . . The early Christians did everything they did in the name of Jesus, not in the name of their churches or organisations.

This is not tonight about Donald Trump, its about Jesus Christ.

The service and procession of public witness were part of Reclaiming Jesus: A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis, an ecumenical Christian elders initiative launched in March to reclaim Jesus from those believed to be using Christian theology for political gain.

In total, more than a thousand people processed in pubic witness by candlelight from National City Christian Church to the White House, where they reassembled across the street in Lafayette Square Park and sang This Little Light of Mine before crossing the street to stand on the sidewalk directly in front of the White House.

The events in Washington followed last weekends royal wedding, where Curry delivered a sermon on the power of love at St Georges Chapel in Windsor, garnering him international attention.

Since the wedding, Curry has become an international sensation, appearing on everything from the BBC to TMZ , with stories about him in The New Yorker, Esquire and Vanity Fair and a parody on Saturday Night Live.

During an event today (Friday) at the National Press Club, Wallis said God used a royal wedding to get people to start talking about Jesus, before turning the podium over to the presiding bishop.

The truth is I suspect what began to happen last night, and has been building and is just beginning, is maybe we are helping  no, maybe the spirit is helping the church to re-centre itself and its voice on Jesus, said Curry.

Maybe the spirit is helping us to reclaim Christianity, not as ideology, not as anybodys political party. Jesus cant be bought. But to re-centre Christianity and have it named and heard and understood as grounded in the teachings of Jesus, who said blessed are the poor, blessed are the poor in spirit, the Jesus who taught us love God and love your neighbour, the Jesus of the parable of the Good Samaritan . . . to re-centre ourselves on this Jesus.

And as that happens, not in high lofty terms, as that happens to the average Christian, the average person sitting in churches, Protestant, Catholic, evangelical, I dare say they become the movement that actually can move forward.

Since its release, other Christian leaders have requested to sign on to the statement, and more than 2 million people worldwide have accessed it. The elders conceived of it as a tool for discipleship intended to move people to the streets in their own communities.

In an interview with Episcopal News Service today following the press club event, Curry encouraged Episcopalians to study and reflect on the Reclaim Jesus declaration and study materials.

Its a document worth studying, its grounded in scripture, its based in theology, its an attempt to articulate some of the core Christian beliefs that have to do with our values and our values having their origin in the teachings and spirit of Jesus, he said.

Adult formation, Bible studies and other groups can use the document and the study guide to come to areas of agreement and disagreement and to reflect on them.

This is not the word from on high, but it can be used to help people identify what are the core Christian beliefs that actually matter in my life, and how do I live them out following the teachings of Jesus, he said. And then what action steps will I take, what actions steps will we take to be witnesses to this way of following Jesus in our lives.

And so, my hope is that our folk will take it and study it and reflect on it, pray on it and then decide what are we going to do about it?
TUNIS - After the Cannes film festival this year, Italy has scored another goal connected to the sector's industrial development - a strategic alliance between Italy and Tunisia. An agreement was signed at the Italian Pavilion to create a 'bilateral fund for aid to development for the co-production of Italian-Tunisian films'.

The accord was signed by the director generals of, respectively, the Italian culture ministry, Nicola Borrelli, and the Tunisian national center for cinema and image (Cnci), Chiraz Latiri, with the participation of Maria Giuseppina Troccoli, who is in charge of the international activities of Dg cinema and Gisella Vocca, president of the MedFilm festival.

For the year 2018-2019 the fund will have about 280,000 euros, Gisella Vocca told ANSA. She added that the signature of the agreement, which will become affective after it is validated by the culture ministries of the two countries, ''opens new strategic fronts for the industry of Italian cinema that eyes countries on the southern Mediterranean shores, starting from Tunisia which has already become part of the European cultural system with the program ''Creative Europe''.

In light of these important results, added Vocca, the fourth edition of the festival of Italian cinema in Tunis will be held on June 18-23, at the new Cite de la Culture in Tunis, in cooperation with the Italian cultural institute.

Applications are open for the 24th edition of the MedFilm festival in Rome on November 9-18 which high-quality films premiering in Italy from countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. Vocca expressed the wish that, during the next edition of the MedFilm festival, the first Italian-Tunisian coproduction can be launched, based on the accord that has just been signed.
AGRIGENTO - Agrigento in Sicily will host a three-day event starting Friday to be attended by researchers, politicians, economists and historians to discuss cultural diversity and peace.

The congress 'Mediterranean of civility and peace' is organized by Civita Sicilia and promoted by the foundation Terzo Pilastro in cooperation with UNESCO's Mediterranean center in Valencia, under the patronage of the regional culture councilor.

It marks the 20th anniversary of 'Multaqa', which means 'open and friendly meeting' in Arabic, an international conference of the Mediterranean representing Islamic, Jewish and Christian culture.

''This meeting - said Emmanuele Emanuele, president of Terzo Pilastro - brings as a unifying force the concept of peace and dialogue between Mediterranean cultures and religions''.

''No 'gym' like the Mediterranean one can keep alive the hope in people's goodwill and the concept of peace''.


Med: Dialogue and peace at 'Multaqa' congress in Agrigento On May 25-27 a meeting on the main monotheistic religions

(ANSAmed) - AGRIGENTO, MAY 25 - Agrigento in Sicily will host a three-day event starting Friday to be attended by researchers, politicians, economists and historians to discuss cultural diversity and peace.



The congress 'Mediterranean of civility and peace' is organized by Civita Sicilia and promoted by the foundation Terzo Pilastro in cooperation with UNESCO's Mediterranean center in Valencia, under the patronage of the regional culture councilor.



It marks the 20th anniversary of 'Multaqa', which means 'open and friendly meeting' in Arabic, an international conference of the Mediterranean representing Islamic, Jewish and Christian culture.



''This meeting - said Emmanuele Emanuele, president of Terzo Pilastro - brings as a unifying force the concept of peace and dialogue between Mediterranean cultures and religions''.



''No 'gym' like the Mediterranean one can keep alive the hope in people's goodwill and the concept of peace''. (ANSAmed).




ANSAmed - Weekly diary from May 28 to June 3

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MAY 25 - Weekly diary of the main events scheduled in the Euro-Mediterranean area from May 28 to June 3: MONDAY MAY 28 MODENA - Casa delle Culture, 6 PM. 'Project for a Social and Fair Trade Economy in Tunisia: Reflections on the Context in Movement'.



BRUSSELS - EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides will be receiving human rights advocate Vanessa Redgrave, British Labour politician and former MP Alfred Dubs, and actress Mimi Denissi to discuss the living conditions of refugees in Europe. BRUSSELS - EU Foreign Affairs Ministers Council (also 29/5). TUESDAY MAY 29 NO MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULED WEDNESDAY MAY 30 ROME - Italian Society for International Organization (SIOI) will be hosting a conference to launch 218 World Refugee Day at 11 AM. SIENA - Complesso Didattico San Francesco, 11 AM. 'A Bridge across the Mediterranean: the Erasmus Plus Siena-Tunisia program' (also 31/5).



STRASBOURG - EU forum on the future of Europe with the head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.



THURSDAY MAY 31 BRUSSELS - EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will be receiving a delegation from the Syrian Negotiation Committee. FRIDAY JUNE 1 NO MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULED SATURDAY JUNE 2 NO MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULED SUNDAY JUNE 3 LJUBJLANA (Slovenia) - Early elections. (ANSAmed).




ISIS claims Benghazi car bomb attack Against 'soldiers of the tyrant' Haftar

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, MAY 25 - The Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for a car bomb that killed at least 7 people and injured over 20 others on Friday morning. In a message that appeared on several Twitter accounts and was reported by media outlets including Alwasat, the Cyrenaica branch ("Welayet Barqa") of ISIS claimed that ''lone wolves'' of the ''caliphate'' had targeted a ''group of soldiers of the tyrant'' Khalifa Haftar. The soldiers of the general, ''enemies of God'', were hit with ''a blessed suicide operation that killed or injured dozens of them'', the message stated, warning that ''the next will be even worse for the apostates in Haftar's Karama''. The reference was to "Amaliyet al Karama", or ''Operation Diginity'', launched by the general in May 2014. Last year the operation resulted in the capture of jihadists that had barricaded themselves in some areas in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, for three years. On Wednesday, the UN mission in Libya - after a car bomb had blown up the previous day near Ajdabiya, killing at least two of Haftar's soldiers - warned about the seriousness of the threat posed by ISIS attacks in the unstable North African nation.



(ANSAmed).




Libya: Benghazi car bomb kills at least 7, injures 22 According to security forces

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MAY 25 - A car bomb has exploded in downtown Benghazi, in Libya, killing at least seven people, including a young woman, and injuring 22, security forces were quoted as saying by local media on Friday.



The blast occurred along Jamal Abdammaser street, not far from the Tibesti hotel.



Images after the attack show the street devastated by the blast and several cars on fire. (ANSAmed)
TEL AVIV - Israel's High Court of Justice has ruled that the West Bank Bedouin village of Khan el-Ahmar and its adjacent school can be demolished because they were built without the required permits, Haaretz reports.

The court's judges late on Thursday rejected the appeals filed by the village's 200 residents who don't want to relocate to the nearby area of Abu Dis, a move that would force them to abandon their nomadic life.

The village's so-called 'rubber school' is a project carried out by Italian NGO Vento di Terra.

According to Haaretz, operations to demolish the village could start any time in June.

The newspaper reported that the ruling is raising concern among other Bedouin communities in the West Bank - including one in Susya - who fear they will be forced to relocate to areas designated by Israeli authorities.

Two weeks ago, the heads of the EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah urged Israel not to demolish Khan el-Ahmar and expressed ''deep concern'' for the situation of the Bedouin community there.

The Palestinian presidency has condemned the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court.

''The policy of ethnic cleansing - accused the PNA presidency - is the worst form of racial discrimination that has become the predominant characteristic of the Israeli government's practices and decisions''.

''The only objective of this repulsive and racist policy - also said the statement issued by the PNA presidency - is to eradicate Palestinian citizens who are legally in their land to control them and replace them with foreign settlers''.

The presidency, concluded Wafa, launched an urgent appeal to the United Nations and countries that have signed the conventions of Geneva to ensure that this ''racist'' decision is not carried out and to guarantee the protection of the Palestinian people, according to the news agency.
Israel calls on EU to stop funding pro-boycott groups NGOs have received over 5 mn euros in EU funding

(ANSAmed) - JERUSALEM, MAY 25 - The Israeli strategic affairs ministry has urged the European Union in a report published Friday to stop funding non-governmental organizations that promote a boycott against Israel.



Over 10 European and Palestinian organizations ''received over five million euros from the EU'' in 2016, said the report, which was quoted by pro-government daily Israel ha-Yom.



Israel asked the EU to ''immediately stop'' funding the organizations saying that the financial support violates the EU's stated position against boycotts targeting the Jewish State.



The report also raised the suspicion that ''elements with ties to terrorist organizations'' benefited from EU funding.



In particular, it mentioned the Norwegian People Aid (NPA) which in 2016 received EU funding for 1.76 million euros and which, according to the Israel ha-Yom newspaper, supports the boycott against Israel. Moreover, added the paper, in recent years the NPA cooperated in projects in Gaza with Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which have been listed as ''international terrorist organizations''. (ANSAmed).




MADRID - Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy reacted to the presentation of a no confidence motion by the PSOE on Friday by claiming that it is ''bad for Spain and harms national stability''. He added that it only serves the interests of PSOE leader Pedro Sanchez. Rajoy added, in response to a request for early elections from Ciudadanos, that it is his prerogative to dissolve the parliament. In an unscheduled press conference after the weekly government meeting, Rajoy criticized the opposition leader and accused him of ''wanting to be prime minister at any costs, with the backing of anyone, including separatist parties''. Rajoy said that he did not intend to step aside and that he was aiming to arrive at the end of the legislature in 2020. ''As far as I am concerned, all legislatures last four years,'' he said. After the 'Gurtel sentence' on Thursday that found corruption within the PP, PSOE on Friday filed a no confidence motion in the Congress against the PM. Ciudadanos, Rajoy's main ally, asked the head of government to call early elections ''in the next few weeks'', threatening that otherwise the party would back a no confidence vote leading to elections.


ISTANBUL - If he will be reconfirmed as president of Turkey in early elections on June 24, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will abolish the ministry for European affairs, which will become part of the Foreign ministry, Hurriyet reported on Friday. The newspaper said that the initiative is part of a plan already announced by Erdogan to cut down the current 25 ministries to 14 or 15 in the future government, which will be led by the head of State under a new presidential system that abolished the premier.

One of four vice-presidents that Erdogan would like in his potential new administration will likely be in charge of relations with Brussels.

The electoral manifesto presented by the current Akp ruling party says that, if it wins, ''Turkey will further strengthen its political and economic relations with different regional entities, in particular with the EU''.

The most significant mergers include economic policies that would be managed by one minister who would also be in charge of finance, economy and development at a critical time for the Turkish economy, especially due to the monetary crisis of the lira.
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images(SEOUL, South Korea) -- Many South Koreans were shocked when President Trump called off the June 12 summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Many also believe the historic summit could still happen.



Eventually, Kim Jong Un has no other choice but to come and meet Trump, Kenneth Choi, an international editor for a South Korean newspaper Chosun-ilbo, told ABC News. President Trump left a little opening door [for the meeting] at the end of his letter.



Kim Ye-jin, who participates in the Reserve Officers Training Corps in Chung-ang University, said, Although the meeting was put off, I still think there is hope for peace.



Paul Lee, a former youth organizer, said Kim wants the meeting because "he needs to seek legitimacy."



"This would be a great loss for [North Korea] to suddenly quit the summit," he added.



Some pointed out that Trumps way of abruptly calling off the summit went too far.



It was like Trump canceling a dinner reservation, Kim Sung-min, who represents a group of progressive and liberal university students, told ABC News. One-way cancellation of a summit between the leaders of two countries seemed like an irresponsible act to me.



Freelance reporter Youn Sang-un said he was surprised by North Korea's response.



You never expect that soft stance from the dictatorship regime, he said.



In a statement, Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's vice minister of foreign affairs, said his country feels great regret for the unexpected cancellation and that he and other government officials would still like to meet with U.S. representatives "any time."

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Emirates Airline Foundation has been recognised by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) for its outstanding humanitarian and outreach projects and work that spans the globe.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; presented the award to His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman & Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group.

The awards ceremony honored donors, humanitarian and charitable institutions across the UAE for their commitment to supporting humanitarian initiatives and their long-standing contributions to providing much-needed aid around the world.

The Emirates Airline Foundation is a non-profit charity organisation which provides humanitarian, philanthropic aid and services for children in need. The Emirates Airline Foundation was launched in 2003 and supports 35 projects in 18 countries which help to improve the lives of children in need around the world.
TKM to produce models developed by Suzuki for sale in India through each of the Toyota and Suzuki brand network.

Toyota and Suzuki in March concluded a basic agreement for supplying hybrid and other vehicles to each other for Indian market.

New Delhi: Japanese auto majors Toyota and Suzuki today announced expanding scope of their collaboration, including plans for Toyota Kirloskar Motor to manufacture models developed by Suzuki for sale in India through their respective brand networks.

Moreover, the two firms are looking at cooperation in exports of models developed by Suzuki, including those produced by Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) -- the Indian arm of Toyota, from India to Africa and other markets through their respective global sales networks, the two companies said in a joint statement.

Besides, Toyota and Suzuki which had in March concluded a basic agreement for supplying hybrid and other vehicles to each other for the Indian market, will also discuss Toyota and Denso Corporation providing technological support for a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain to be developed by Suzuki.

"Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) have agreed today to start discussing new joint projects in the fields of technological development, vehicle production, and market development," the statement said.

The two companies have also been broadening the scope of their partnership considerations to include joint efforts related to production and market development, it added.

The discussion topics include "TKM to produce models developed by Suzuki for sale in India through each of the Toyota and Suzuki brand network", it said.

The discussions also cover "supply of models developed by Suzuki, including those to be produced by TKM from India to African and other markets by Toyota and Suzuki, employing each of the Toyota and Suzuki sales networks to sell such vehicles, and advancing cooperation in the domains of logistics and services".

Commenting on the development, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, "As members of Indian society, Toyota, along with Suzuki, will do its best to enhance freedom and fun in a future society of mobility and to make 'Make in India' vehicles cherished in Africa and in many other countries around the world."

He further said Suzuki was the first among Japanese companies to enter India responsible for pulling forward India's automotive society representing the spirit of 'Let's do it'.

"Breaking from a future that adheres to convention, Toyota has chosen a future in which the path is created by one's own hands. For this, the spirit of "Let's do it" is necessary. Through our business partnership with Suzuki, I would like to learn more about this spirit," Toyoda added.

Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki said he hoped the new joint projects would contribute to the future success of both companies, not only in India, but also in the global markets.

"Now, we will receive support for the development of a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain that is vital to Suzuki, and we will focus our utmost efforts on development," Suzuki said.

In March this year, in continuation of their partnership discussions that kicked off in 2017, Suzuki agreed to supply premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza to Toyota, while Toyota will supply sedan Corolla to Suzuki.

These models were to be sold by the respective Indian subsidiaries of Toyota (Toyota Kirloskar Motor) and Suzuki (Maruti Suzuki India) through their sales networks. In February 2017, Toyota and Suzuki had concluded a memorandum towards business partnership and since then, they have been exploring concrete projects for collaboration in areas including environmental technology, safety technology, information technology, and the mutual supply of products and components.

Subsequently, in November 2017 the companies announced an MoU to consider a cooperative structure for introducing battery electric vehicles in India around 2020.
However, seems like all didnt turn out the way the former Miss World wanted it to.

Priyanka Chopra, who is also the Goodwill Ambassador of United Nations Childrens Emergency Funds (UNICEF) for child rights apart from an actress, visited the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladeshs Coxs Bazaar  one of the largest refugee camps in the world. The Quantico star shared many pictures from her visit on her social media and even asked her fans to support children who have no future in sight.

However, seems like all didnt turn out the way the former Miss World wanted it to. Priyanka was, in fact, mercilessly trolled for visiting the Rohingya camps. One of the Twitter users, Ahmed Raza(@KingAhmedRaza) wrote, This visit should be aimed at helping refugees and not just a selfie stunt (sic). While another user, Shivam Srivastava (@shivam_D12), tweeted, Another Useful Idiot working for a elite-nexus, who turn BLIND-EYE TO GAZA, SYRIA. where worst killing happened few days back, since 2014 (sic).

Other tweets

abhishek kamble (@abhi_kya): Hello lage hath kashmiri pandito ke camps bhi dekh lo wo apne hi desh me refugee bane baithe hai,ya aapki or unisef ke liye hi humanity reserved hai rohingya ke liye ;bloody double standard bollytard

srinivasam (@subramaniumsri): Remember you doesnt represent 1.2 billion people sentiments. If you have no sympathy for indians then give your land and money to rohingyas and settle in Bangladesh permanently. From now onwards no more your movies for me and my family. Shame shame not expected from you.

Somit Gope (@imSomit): Sorry for saying big thing.. but I just want to ask .. we have d same problem in India , forget India .. in Mumbai itself how many time did u visit n went there n thing about their problem n needs ??? Will appriciate if spare some time also at least nearby of our places. Thanks
Portions of the film were shot in Afghanistan and the topography was matched in Ladakh.

Great actor Balraj Sahnis portrayal of the Kabuliwala in the 1961 classic film was par excellence and trying to equal the intensity of Balraj is not an easy task.

And veteran actor Danny Denzongpa, who is rarely seen on screen nowadays, is not going to attempt doing that in director Deb Medhekars Biocopewalla.

To equal Balraj Sahni is not even a possibility. He is such a great actor. Im doing it my own way, hoping to make some impact, says Danny, who is best known for his villainous portrayals in films like Agneepath and Dhund.

Kabuliwala, based on Rabindranath Tagores short story has a great emotional pull and moved the actor completely. When a young director from the Film & Television Institute Of India came to Danny with the idea of re-doing Tagores Kabuliwala, the actor instantly fell in love with it.

It is a modern take on the classic. But the basic story of a homesick Afghan dry-fruit sellers ties with a little girl in Kolkata remains the same, says Danny, adding that he has played the role with great restraint.

My interpretation of this Afghan character is much more subdued than what I did as an Afghan in Khuda Gawah. In fact, I got the role of the Kabuliwala on the basis of Khuda Gawah, adds Danny.

The actor is all praises for the cast of Biocopewalla; he says, The co-actors were so committed. I worked with an actress from the North East, Gitanjali Thapa, who is wonderful. I didnt know she was a National Award winner for her first film. As for the director, it is so refreshing to work with new talent. Deb is filled with innovative ideas. He has done his version of Tagores story.

Portions of the film were shot in Afghanistan and the topography was matched in Ladakh.

The actor is now excited to see how far this film goes. The producer Sunil Doshi plans to take it to film festivals. This film is a process of self-discovery for me.
Demonstrations were staged by the DMK, its allies Congress, IUML and other friendly parties in several parts of the state and Puducherry.

Chennai: The bandh called by the DMK-led opposition parties to condemn the Tuticorin violence in which 13 people lost their lives and to demand the resignation of Chief Minister K Palaniswami began in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

Demonstrations were staged by the DMK, its allies Congress, IUML and friendly parties like MDMK, VCK, CPI, CPI(M) and MMK in several parts of the state and neighbouring Puducherry.

Raising slogans denouncing the government and asking Palaniswami to tender his resignation, demonstrations were held at locations including Egmore and Saidapet here.

Former Chennai Mayor and DMK leader M Subramanian, party Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, VCK chief Thirumavalavan, MMK leader M H Jawahirullah were among the leaders who participated in the demonstrations here.

In the wake of the protest, traffic was disrupted in several locations in the city and security was tightened in all the districts of the State.

Buses of the state-run transport corporations were being operated as usual and all steps were being taken to ensure that normalcy was not disrupted, according to government authorities.

No fresh violence was reported so far on Friday from Tuticorin, which witnessed large-scale violence on May 22 and 23. Buses with police security were operated to a few locations from Tuticorin city.

Also Read: Tuticorin violence: Rajnath Singh appeals for peace amid deadly protests

Violent protests erupted in Tuticorin on Tuesday as locals took to the streets demanding the closure of a copper factory of the Vedanta group over pollution concerns.

Meanwhile, in a BSE filing, Vedanta said its Tuticorin plant closure was ordered by the State pollution control board.

"The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) vide its order dated May 23, 2018 ordered disconnection of electricity supply and closure of the company's 'Copper Smelter Plant 1 at Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu' under provisions of Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Section 31A of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1971, with immediate effect," it said. "We would also like to inform that the plant was not operating since March 27, 2018," it added.
Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa escorted Ramesh Kumar to the chair.

Congress' K R Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, after BJP candidate S Suresh Kumar pulled out of the race. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Bengaluru: Congress' K R Ramesh Kumar was today unanimously elected the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, after BJP candidate S Suresh Kumar pulled out of the race, in a major victory for the JD(S)-Congress coalition before Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy faced the floor test.

Shortly before the start of the proceedings, Suresh Kumar said he was withdrawing his nomination following a direction from the BJP leadership.

"On the directions of our party, I had filed the nomination for the post of Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Now, after discussion in the party, it is felt that the Speaker has to be elected unanimously following the parliamentary traditions. I'm withdrawing my nomination," Suresh Kumar tweeted.

Suresh Kumar, a 5th term MLA from the city, had filed his papers on Thursday, in an apparent indication by the BJP that it wanted to give the JD(S)-Congress coalition a run for its money in the race for speakership before Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy faced the floor test.

As the House met and pro-tem speaker K G Bopaiah took up the matter, BJP's Sunil Kumar stood up and said he was not moving the motion proposing Suresh Kumar for the Speaker's post. Suresh Kumar then said, "I accept it."

Ramesh Kumar's name was then proposed by former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and seconded by Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara. The motion was unanimously adopted by the House.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa escorted Ramesh Kumar to the chair.

The move by the BJP, which is the single largest party with 104 MLAs, apparently came because it failed to muster support of additional lawmakers required for the victory of its candidate.

The Congress-JD(S) combine has claimed support of 117 members. The Congress has 78 MLAs, Kumaraswamy's JD(S) 36, and BSP 1.

The alliance has also claimed support of the lone KPJP MLA and an independent. Kumaraswamy had won from two seats.
Besides Kranti Shirsath, four other Indians were aboard the missing Malaysian aircraft, MH-370.

The 90-day search for MH370 by Ocean Infinity ended in April without any finding. It was extended till May 29 on the Malaysian government's request. (Photo: File/AFP)

Pune: The search for missing Malaysian Airlines, MH-370, is in its final week, Malaysian authorities have informed a Pune resident, whose wife was on the aircraft. The plane that went missing on March 8, 2014, had 239 people aboard.

"Today I received an email from the Malaysian government informing that the search operation is in the final week," Prahlad Shirsath, the husband of Kranti Shirsath, who was on the aircraft when it went missing, said.

Shirsath said he would not give up the hope that some news about the plane would surface one day. The plane was headed from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it went missing.

The Malaysian government had entered into an agreement for the search of MH370 with Ocean Infinity Limited, an American exploration firm, in January this year. The 90-day search for MH370 by Ocean Infinity ended in April without any finding. It was extended till May 29 on the Malaysian government's request, the email received by Shirsath said.

"We hope that Ocean Infinity would be able to find the aircraft. We will continue to engage the authorities to get more updates on this, including what happens next, and will keep you informed," the email added.

Besides Kranti Shirsath, four other Indians - Vinod Kolekar, Chetana Kolekar, Swanand Kolekar and Chandrika Sharma - were aboard the missing aircraft.

"Since the plane went missing four years ago, this is the fifth or sixth search operation to trace its remains. Every time it begins, we have new hope, which turns into despair eventually," Shirsath said.

He and the relatives of other missing passengers receive regular weekly updates from the Malaysian government about the search, he said.

"Even if the present search operation is likely to end on May 29, I am hopeful that someday, we will hear about the missing plane," he said.

The family has already received the death certificate of his wife from the Malaysian government, he said.

"We, the families of the missing passengers, still appeal to the Malaysian government to continue the search," he said.
BJP lawmakers staged a walkout from the state Assembly ahead of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumarswamys floor test.

B S Yeddyurappa said, 'We will hold a state-wide bandh on May 28, if Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy doesnt waive off farmer loans.' (Photo: File/PTI)

Bengaluru: BJP lawmakers staged a walkout from the state Assembly ahead of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumarswamys floor test.

The party walked out of the assembly after BJP's B S Yeddyurappa said, We will hold a state-wide bandh on May 28, if Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy doesnt waive off farmer loans.

"We walked out on the issue on farmers' loan waivers. We will hold state-wide bandh May 28. We will be aggressive now," BJP MLA R Ashoka said.

BJP lawmakers stage walkout ahead of H D Kumaraswamy's trust vote in the Karnataka Assembly. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

This is the second time BJP staged a walkout in less than a week. The party walked out soon after B S Yeddyurappa resigned from the post of chief minister minutes before floor test in the assembly last Saturday.
Yeddyurappa said that his fight would not be against the Congress, but the corrupt, power hungry father-son combination.

Karnataka CM H.D. Kumaraswamy, with other JD(S) and Congress leaders, waves to the media after his coalition government won the trust vote by voice vote at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. (Photo: PTI)

Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy won a vote of confidence by voice vote on Friday after BJP staged a walkout in the Assembly before the floor test, in an unexciting end to the 10-day high-voltage political drama after the polls yielded a hung House.

Mr Kumaraswamys motion seeking the confidence vote was declared passed by new Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar, a Congress MLA, who also got elected smoothly at the start of the days proceedings in the House after the BJP stood down from contesting the Speakers election.

Mr Kumaraswamy described the BJP walkout before the trust vote as escapism while defending his partys decision to take Congress support to form the government. He promised a new kind of coalition government that would become a model for the country and complete its full term of five years.

I have not become chief minister today happily. I have pain. I had placed several issues in front of people during election feeling that they will trust me, but people of the state have not shown trust in me, he said.

Im not running a majority government, but people have not given majority to any one...They may have given you (BJP) 104, but it is not majority..., Mr Kumaraswamy added.

Hitting out at the Opposition BJP, the chief minister said, You (BJP) may be feeling that this government will go in two or three months, it will not go in two months or one month, but will stay with stability for five years.

HDK appealed to members of the Opposition to lay politics to rest and concentrate on development of the state and promised to also stop criticising them. The CM also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had tweeted that in Karnataka no party other than BJP could form the government, and also the new leader of the Opposition and former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had said that he approached Opposition MLAs to ensure that the democratic institutions were saved under PM Modi at the Centre and himself in the state.

Mr Kumaraswamy wondered if the BJP held any contract for saving democracy in the country and reminded them that one of their ministers had spoken about changing the Constitution.

The chief minister took on the BJP, which was his coalition partner during his last stint in power in 2006, with the old coalition partners sparring on the floor of the House, exchanging accusations and viciously running each other down.

Mr Yeddyurappa warned the Congress to be careful of the appa-maga, the father-son party as he described the JD(S), recalling his 20-month association with it as the biggest mistake of his life. He warned that the father-son duo destroy everyone who helps them.

Mr Yeddyurappa said that his fight would not be against the Congress, but the corrupt, power hungry father-son combination.

He also used terms like betrayers, cheats, frauds, destroyers and many more words against Mr Deve Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy. He also said that Congress leaders would soon regret their decision to suspport the JD(S).

Even before Mr Kumaraswamy could reply to his allegations, Mr Yeddyurappa and BJP members staged a walk out in the House.

Shortly before the start of the proceedings, BJPs MLA Suresh Kumar said he was withdrawing his nomination following a direction from the BJP leadership.

On the directions of our party, I had filed the nomination for the post of Speaker. Now, after discussion in the party, it is felt that the Speaker has to be elected unanimously following the parliamentary traditions. Im withdrawing my nomination, Suresh Kumar tweeted.

Mr Kumaraswamy, earlier, dismissed the BJPs argument that it was customary for the governor to invite the single largest party to form the government, noting that during the last one year, many governments were formed in the country ignoring the single largest party. Even in neighbouring Goa, the single largest party was the Congress, but the governor did not invite it to form the government, he pointed out.

I should thank the Supreme Court, which asked Mr Yeddyurappa to prove his majority within a day. We dont know what would have happened if more time was given, HDK added in a jibe at the BJPs sustained attempts to get Congress and JD(S) legislators to cross over.

Reacting to the BJPs counter allegations of resort politics, against the Congress and his party, Mr Kumaraswamy recalled that both the saffron party and the JD(S)s legislators were also holed up in a resort when their coalition government was formed in 2006.

He also said the government was committed to waiving farm loans, as promised during the elections.

Mr Kumaraswamy accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of using its agencies like the Income-Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate against its political rivals.

He alleged that fake documents had been created to claim that he had floated a company in Malaysia and had huge properties there.

An ED fellow asked me about it. I am ready to face any inquiry, the chief minister said, asserting he would not be cowed down by such bullying tactics.

Ahead of the confidence motion, the JD(S)-Congress coalition had claimed the support of 117 MLAs in the 224-member House with an effective strength of 221. While the Congress has 78 MLAs, the JD(S) has 36, and BSP 1. The alliance also claimed support of the lone KPJP MLA and an independent.

As Mr Kumaraswamy had won from two constituencies, the 104-member BJP needed seven more MLAs to defeat the motion. But like on May 19, when Mr Yeddyurappa failed to muster support of as many lawmakers required to anchor his governments ship safely, and stepped down, the BJP did not go for a showdown.
Dr Parameshwar said, no one has sought any position from him or Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Bengaluru: On the eve of the trust vote, deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar said the Congress-JD(S) coalition was yet to discuss modalities about Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy continuing in the post for a full five-year term.

We have not yet discussed those modalities, he said in response to a question whether Mr Kumaraswamy will be the Chief Minister for the full five-year term.

He told the media here on Thursday, We are also yet to decide on what portfolios have to go to them and what should be with us, then five years term- whether they should be or we should also...all those modalities we have still not discussed.

When asked again whether Congress was okay with giving the Chief Minister's post to JD(S) for a full five year term, Dr Parameshwar, also KPCC chief, said....after discussing.. looking at the pros and cons (we will decide), our main intention is to give good administration. Ahead of his swearing-in, Mr Kumaraswamy had dismissed reports about his party working out a power-sharing formula of heading the government for 30 months each, with its coalition partner the Congress, saying "No such talks have taken place."

Responding to a question about several leaders being unhappy over party's choice for the Deputy Chief Minister post and on issues relating to portfolios, Dr Parameshwar said, no one has sought any position from him or Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

I have seen reports about (this) only in the media, he said. Ruling out any differences between the leaders, he said there was nothing wrong in asking for the position. In Congress, there are several leaders who are capable of becoming Deputy Chief Minister or Chief Minister....that's the asset of the Congress party." "It is left to the party high-command to decide on who has to be given what position in this situation when we are in a coalition government, he said.
Robert Gwynn, was reported to police after DNA tests revealed he had abused his Bedlington Terriers, Taff and Ben.

According to reports the RSPCA discovered the animal abuse after he was spotted having sex with the pooches. (Representational Image/ Pixabay)

A man who sexually abused his two pet dogs has been banned from keeping pets for 10 years.

Robert Gwynn, was reported to police after DNA tests revealed he had abused his Bedlington Terriers, Taff and Ben.

The 60-year-old appeared at Newport Crown Court and admitted performing sexual intercourse with animals.

According to reports the RSPCA discovered the animal abuse after he was spotted having sex with the pooches.

Speaking to the media, Inspector Izzi Hignell said, This was a disgusting and horrific case to investigate, with this man admitting to have forcibly had intercourse with two Bedlington Terriers.

She further added, These poor dogs have been subject to such a disturbing act which would undoubtedly have proven a truly horrendous ordeal for both animals involved.

Hignell also revealed that the man was seen penetrating one of the dogs.

Following a DNA test, it was found that both dogs had human DNA on them, while the man had dog DNA on his penis.

Gwynn of Pontlottyn, near Caerphilly, was handed a three month suspended sentence and banned from keeping animals for 10 years. He was also ordered to pay 500 costs and a 115 victim surcharge.
Proceedings will be video recorded

New Delhi: Having agreed to join the investigation in the chief secretary assault case, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia will now be quizzed on Friday evening. On Wednesday, Mr Sisodia was sent a notice to join the probe, days after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned for over three hours in connection with the matter.

In a reply to the Delhi police, Mr Sisodia said that he will be joining the investigation on Friday at 4.30 pm. The police said the proceedings will be video recorded.

Due to some work exigencies, I may not be able to join the investigation at 11 am. I would request you to defer the time on the same day at 4.30 pm and kindly communicate at the earliest, Mr Sisodia said in a letter to the SHO of the Civil Lines police station.

A Delhi police team will visit Mr Sisodias residence at Mathura Road on Friday, a senior police official said.

You (Mr Sisodia) are required to attend the investigation and be available at your residence/office on May 25 at 11.00 am. In the event that such timing is not convenient to you due to official exigencies, kindly intimate an alternate time, the Delhi police notice had said.

Chief secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly attacked during a meeting at Mr Kejriwals official residence on February 19. The police said the chief minister and the deputy chief minister were present when the alleged assault took place.

The Delhi chief minister was quizzed last Friday.
The state government released its first electric vehicle policy by amending the Motor Vehicles Act.

As per the policy, battery-operated cars would get incentives from the government to push the scheme.

MUMBAI: While Maharashtra has received investment proposals worth Rs 30,000 crore under its electric vehicle policy, corporates have expressed their inability to set up charging stations for e-buses. About the governments plan to retrofit 5,000 buses to battery-powered ones, there is little or no clarity, said industry leaders.

The state government released its first electric vehicle policy by amending the Motor Vehicles Act. As per the policy, battery-operated cars would get incentives from the government to push the scheme. However, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which is reviewing the policy, expressed a few doubts over the infrastructure required to run battery-operated vehicles.

At the same time, manufacturers of electric vehicles reportedly proposed an investment of Rs 10,000 crore in the state. Therefore, the UNEP has asked the government to chalk out a plan in which current public transport can be converted into electric vehicles to boost the policy. In a note to the government, UNEP representatives said, We need better clarity on who will install the charging stations for the e-bus launch. Better understating is needed to complete these modalities between partners and stakeholders.

The state government has also proposed installation of electric charging points at parking zones, residential areas, bus depots, railway stations and other public places. The government will install such points, should the demand for charging points in certain areas come from individuals, groups of citizens or organisations. The government launched its electric vehicle policy with a view to making the state a pioneer in the manufacture of such vehicles.

An industries department official said, Electric vehicles are environment friendly and they are the future of transport. In Nagpur, a pilot project of electric auto-rickshaws was launched, which received a good response.
On the day of induction, the BJP announced that Mr Davkhare would be its candidate for the Konkan graduate constituency of the legislative council.

Mumbai: Even as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday welcomed former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLC Niranjan Davkhare in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), many within the BJP were unhappy with the move.

On the day of induction, the BJP announced that Mr Davkhare would be its candidate for the Konkan graduate constituency of the legislative council. As a result, BJP leaders who were hoping to get the ticket were disappointed and felt that the party is giving preference to outsiders over the loyal BJP karyakartas.

Adding salt to their injury, the CM announced that more people are in line to join the BJP in near future and their names would be revealed soon. The BJP has adopted the policy of inducting strong leaders of Congress and NCP to increase its strength.

Though there are many people in BJP who have been working for the growth of the party for many years and hoping to get party ticket at some time. But it seems that the leadership has more faith in outsiders and are not willing to give opportunity their own cadre, said a local BJP leader, who did not want to be named.

Niranjan Davkhare's father, late Vasant Davkhare, was a veteran NCP leader from Thane-Palghar region and had served as deputy chairman of the Council for nearly 18 years.

Vasant Davkhareji was a well-known leader and active in politics for many years. Niranjan was in contact with us for several days. He wanted to join a national party and enter the mainstream politics. We too thought he should work with us and hence, he decided to join the BJP, Mr Fadnavis said.
The HC had directed that a committee of experts from the BMC and MHADA, should visit the site and ensure that no excavation work was carried out.

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) chief Ajoy Mehta has assured the Bombay high court that he and his officers will follow all the directions of the HC pertaining to the dilapidated condition of the Bhatia building, a south Mumbai residential structure.

On Wednesday, the court had observed that despite its order, excavation work near Bhatia building had not stopped and it had directed the BMC commissioner to remain present before the court. Accordingly, on Thursday, the BMC commissioner met Justice Kathawala in his chamber and assured complete compliance with the courts directions. The building tenants had alleged that the landlords were carrying out unauthorised construction on the ground floor, which had damaged the building's foundation beams. Last month, the landlords assured the court that they would not carry out further work, and would repair the damage caused to the foundation. The petition had also claimed that excavation work on a plot behind the building was also causing cracks.

The HC had directed that a committee of experts from the BMC and MHADA, should visit the site and ensure that no excavation work was carried out. However, the court was informed two days ago that excavation work on the plot was still going on.
This is not the first time Facebook has found itself under the scanner for allegedly accessing user information.

This file photo shows a Facebook logo being displayed in a start-up companies gathering at Paris Station F, in Paris. (Representative image/ AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

A new filing in California lawsuit has alleged that Facebook gathered information on users through their texts and photos. It is not the first time Facebook has found itself under the scanner for allegedly accessing user information.

The lawsuit against the company is part of a suit by now-defunct startup Six4Three, Cnet reported. The allegations suggest that Facebook used several methods to collect information it could use for commercial reasons.

The information includes tracking users' locations, accessing texts, recording from the microphone, monitoring use of competitive apps and tracking the calls.

Facebook said the claims are baseless and that it does not log their call and text history without their consent.

The company further said the logging of the information is part of an opt-in feature for Messenger and Facebook Lite on Android and users are required to explicitly agree to use the feature and can turn it off anytime.

Six4Three is suing Facebook over its defunct app Pikinis. After a change to Facebook's policy in 2015, third-party developers were restricted from accessing friend data, which the company complained hurt its business model.

Facebook, in its defence, said it gave all third-party developers ample notice about the change and worked closely with developers to update their apps.
Some 15 people were taken to the hospital after the blast at the Bombay Bhel restaurant.

Three people had critical injuries, the Peel Regional Paramedic Service said in a tweet. (Photo: @Peel_Paramedics/Twitter)

Mississauga: Two unidentified men walked into a restaurant on Thursday in the Canadian city of Mississauga and set off a bomb, wounding more than a dozen people, and then fleeing, authorities said.

The blast went off in the Bombay Bhel restaurant at about 10:30 p.m. Fifteen people were taken to hospital, three of them with critical injuries, the Peel Regional Paramedic Service said in a Tweet.

The two male suspects went into the restaurant and detonated their improvised explosive device, Peel Regional Police said in a Tweet. The men then fled.

2 suspects attended the scene, detonated an Improvised Explosive Device within the restaurant. Several injured were taken to local hospital and 3 in critical condition were taken to a Toronto Trauma Centre. pic.twitter.com/yzCT59UVN6  Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) May 25, 2018

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Police posted a photograph on Twitter showing two people with dark zip-up hoodies walking into an establishment with one of them appearing to be carrying an object.

The attack in Mississauga, Canadas sixth largest city, comes a month after a driver plowed his white Ryder rental van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15.

Mississauga is in Lake Ontario about 20 miles (32 km) west of Toronto.

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj took stock of the situation and stated that the MEA was in constant touch with the Consul General in Toronto and Indian High Commissioner in Canada.
Allegations of vote tampering and fraud hover over Iraqs elections following an intelligence investigation of the electronic machines used in voting. Several candidates have filed appeals. Multi-ethnic (and oil-rich) Kirkuk is among the disputed areas. An electoral commission is set to examine reports and documents related to the electoral process.

Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The Iraqi authorities said that they are prepared to re-examine the whole electoral process that led, on 12 May, to the victory of radical Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr and his populist anti-regime movement.

The decision follows allegations of fraud, irregularities and tampering with the electronic voting machines that might have changed the final results.

Two weeks after the polls, the outgoing government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi  backed by the international community  held a special cabinet ministers to analyse the elections outcome and claims of electoral fraud.

The Iraqi Supreme Court has not yet formally ratified the election results and some lawmakers have called for the dissolution of the Independent High Electoral Commission.

There is a broad view that the vote was manipulated, especially in Kurdistan, where some local parties have threatened to boycott the political process if the vote is not cancelled.

In Parliament, a government representative said that the intelligence services tested some of the electronic voting machine, raising questions about possible manipulation in favour or against various parties.

On the basis of early findings, the cabinet met with the top officials in the ministries of justice and security. They also decided to set up a commission of investigation to examine reports, documents and information related to the election, Prime Minister al-Abadi said.

At the end of the inquiry, the Commission will present its conclusions "to the Government, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Supreme Court and the Electoral Administrative Court who will be tasked with "taking the necessary measures while respecting each one's skills and fields".

However, it is unclear how soon the newly-created body will complete its work. Overall, the impact could range from changes to local results to (worst case scenario) the cancellation of the election itself.

So far, only a few checks have been carried out at a local level, in particular, in the oil-rich multi-ethnic area of Kirkuk, which has been claimed by both Arabs and Kurds, and where most complaints have been filed. Interethnic clashes have led to the imposition of a curfew

The electoral commission now has to examine each appeal, but this will not prevent negotiations for the formation of the new government.

In short, the various factions are working behind the scenes to form a new government, which will be burdened by accusations and appeals that might invalidate the whole process.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The Christian religious symbol was found smashed next to the St Cajetan Chapel. The desecration took place in the village of Raia. Last year a 50-year-old was accused of desecrating more than 150 religious structures, but the charges against him were dropped and he is currently out on bail.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - A cross has been smashed into pieces in Goa and police have registered the case against unknown persons.

Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), reports to AsiaNews "a growing climate of intolerance against the Christian faith" that manifests itself "even towards the pastoral letters that the bishops address to the faithful".

Citing the case of the archbishop of Delhi who asked Catholics in his diocese to pray and fast in view of the general elections of 2019, the Christian leader says: "Even pastoral letters issued to the faithful are being exploited as a tool to intimidate minorities even more " . On the contrary, yesterday talking to some journalists, the Interior Minister had said that there is no intolerance in India and that all minorities are safe.

The desecration of the cross took place on May 22 in the village of Raia, about 40 km from Panaji (South Goa). In the night the religious symbol was found in pieces next to the chapel of San Gaetano. An agent reports that "some people have found the damaged cross and immediately informed the chapel committee". The following day the church authorities filed a complaint in the Maina-Curtorim station. A forensic unit has been deployed on site to collect evidence.

Sajan K George complains that in 2015, "in the State of Telangana hit by a severe drought, the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to spend 70 million rupees [more than 872 thousand euros, ed] for the 'Ayutha Chandi Maha Yagam', a Hindu ritual of 10 days. Since the new Indian state was created [in 2014, editor's note], at least 1,840 peasants have committed suicide, but the extreme right-wing forces remain silent in the face of these rituals that are celebrated in a state plagued by poverty and debts ".

The president of the GCIC recalls that in the State of Goa numerous desecrations of Christian places of worship occurred in July last year. "Following these incidents - he adds - a 50-year-old named Francis Pereira, from the village of Curchorem was arrested. The police claimed that he was involved in the desecration of more than 150 religious structures in the last 15 years, after being indoctrinated against the worship of idols by a former Israeli cellmate, during a brief period of imprisonment ". Instead, he concludes, "at the time the accused was released on bail, after a court at the beginning of this year rejected the three cases against him".
by Mathias Hariyadi

One of the main difficulties that hinders the nuns work is the lack of necessary professional qualifications. For four days, the women religious discussed various legal issues with experts and professionals. For Sister Kristina Fransiska, "The goal is to have a shared perception and standard operating procedures".

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  In order to provide paralegal aid to victims of human trafficking, 19 Indonesian nuns, a Franciscan seminarian, a Muslim woman and a Protestant clergyman took part in a symposium on legal issues in East Jakarta between 15 and 18 May, with legal experts and professionals.

For many years, the nuns, who come from various congregations, have been engaged in the fight against human trafficking. One of the main difficulties that hinders their work, however, is the impossibility to follow the criminal proceedings in courts due to the lack of necessary professional qualifications.

Sister Kristina Fransiska, a Passionist nun from Malang (East Java), told AsiaNews that thanks to the seminar, participants were able to understand what they must do to give legal standing to their presence in the courtroom.

"Since we want to take care of victims of human trafficking, it is our interest to take part in the discussion of each case," Sister Kristina said.

The nun is a professional legal expert and a former professor at the Widya Karya Catholic University in Malang. "For year, we have been prevented from accompanying these people to court. This is quite painful," she explained.

The symposium was organised by the Counter Women Trafficking Commission (CWTC), a body of the Association of Indonesian religious women (Ikatan Biarawati Seluruh Indonesia, IBSI).

Through CWTC, IBSI has involved all of the countrys superiors in exploiting the professional skills of the nuns working in the humanitarian apostolate.

Some communities of women religious have built shelters to received and help the victims of trafficking before their return to their village of origin.

Experts and professionals from the Indonesian Human Rights for Women (LBH APIK) presented the topics discussed by workshop participants.

"The goal is to have a shared perception and standard operating procedures when we have to deal with issues relating to victims, especially women and underage workers, said Sister Kristina. In recent years, the most vulnerable people have been women."

Some of the topics covered are: gender differentiation and sexual issues; human rights for women; human advocacy movements, groups and communities; public service for victims; counselling programmes and methods; identification of cases, actors and victims; and paralegal competence and other skills.

Sisters Vincent Pmy, a legal expert who graduated from the Unika Soegijapranata University of Semarang, was among the women religious who took part in the workshop.

The seminar aimed at creating a new atmosphere that allows our work to achieve better results, she said. It is a hope that the sisters involved in this particular apostolate can do their best until the trial in court ".

(Sr Kristina Fransiska CP and Sr Vincent Pmy contributed to this article)
Trump's decision is not "consistent with humanity's desire for peace and stability in the world". Seoul, "very perplexed" by the decision, promises to continue efforts to follow up on April agreement. Puzzlement and concern of the international community.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Pyongyang says it will leave the door open to dialogue with Washington. North Korean deputy minister of foreign affairs Kim Kye-gwan, twas speaking to the official Pyongyang news agency, Knca, in response to the US president's decision to cancel the meeting with Kim Jong-un, scheduled for June 12 Singapore.

"We would like to make known to the U.S. side once again that we have the intent to sit with the U.S. side to solve problem regardless of ways at any time," says Kim Kye-gwan, adding: Trump's decision is not "consistent with the desire of humankind for peace and stability in the world, to say nothing of those in the Korean peninsula".

Yesterday, the first reactions to Trump's letter came from Seoul. The Blue House is "very perplexed" by the decision of the United States, of which it was not aware. South Korean President Moon Jae-in called his security officials for an emergency meeting at 11:30 last night, and called on Trump and Kim to keep "a more direct and close dialogue".

Today, South Korean Unification Minister, Cho Myoung-gyin, said that the North appears "sincere" in its commitment to denuclearise, and that the Seoul government will continue to do its part to implement the agreement reached last month by the two Korean leaders.

Even Singapore, which was supposed to host the historic summit, expressed "displeasure" for the cancellation. In a tweet, the Foreign Ministry hopes that "efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula will continue".

The UN Secretary, Antonio Guterres, said he was "deeply concerned by the cancellation of the planned meeting in Singapore between the president of the United States and the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Voices of dismay come also from Europe. The spokesperson for Premier Theresa May said the United Kingdom was "disappointed" by Trump's decision. For his part, the French president Emmanuel Macron on a visit to Moscow, said that he hopes that this move is "just a mistake in a process that should be continued". At his side, also Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped that the dialogue will be resumed, continued and that the summit will be held ".
QUOTE=MJAus!2018 -I sure wish I had found this forum before I lodged my 309 partner/family visa application last November. Instead, I found it two months later. As I started to read, I found myself feeling uneasy about my application.



*** Yes many of us have had that 20/20 vision.



We thought we had done our homework. We even paid for advice from an immigration lawyer and explained our situation. We had done a ton of reading on the DIBP (now DHA) website and we felt good about applying on our own.



*** My personal view is that home work and research is important well before a consultation with a immigration lawyer (RMA) and DIBP (DoHA) website information and questions put to their staff are to be taken as a guide only and often a bad one.



Over the months, I started commenting and asking questions for myself on this forum. Recently, with some prodding from others (especially from one person in particular), my husband and I decided to contact a reputable migration agency that was recommended to us here on this forum. Well, the news was/is not good, but it was solid and informative. We now know that we have a long road ahead of us and we have big decisions to make.



*** It is always best to ask your own questions on your own threads here - even if that question has been asked 100 x's before. A bit of detail always helps as every case is different. The end goal is to have "solid and informative" information to work from. Road trips often build fond memories, and decisions made are best made with understanding of the variable options.



I felt the need to say these things, because I want others to know that very knowledgeable people frequent and comment on this forum. Take the advice of the senior members and, of course, the moderators. As you go through the questions and comments, you will get a feel for those that know their stuff. If you question something that is said in a thread, post your own question in your own thread. If the senior members/moderators say you should seek a RMA, then do so (some of them are migration agents themselves). They may even recommend a particular someone. I'm not saying that every piece of information is correct here, but if it comes from a senior member/moderator, investigate it. Don't set it aside and think all will be well.



*** The fact is often information given by non RMA's is wrong (or very flawed), this is done often unknown at times or is close to the fact, but easier to explain to a poster until they understand a factor they have zero comprehension about. Then we can deal with very basics of visa requirements and show the problems they need to think about. A number of us post very bluntly at times - this is to be clear and reduce confusion for persons with limited English.



Hopefully, you are one of the lucky ones that find your way here on this forum before your application is lodged. If I had, it would have saved me and my husband a lot of heartache and money! Good luck to everyone! Hopefully, one day I can call Australia my home. I'm hoping I don't have to give up on that dream.



*** Your obviously a bit down just now, It is just a challenge but yes it requires effort - stay strong and focused. Money, well I am much happier with less these days. Family is the important thing.



Regards and best of wishes



Aaron
Just got a fantastic job. Living in Perth on a 462 visa. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep the job and also leave to work for 3 months north of the tropic of capricorn to extend the visa for 1 more year.



Additionally after that I dont know what I'm going to do.



My immigration lawyer suggested going to school but it seemed like he was getting paid to get me to go to school and didn't really care about me.



I've looked at the skilled migration list and all of them seem like things I wouldn't enjoy. I've also heard that if you dont get into hospital work, social work, or accounting you won't get permanent residence. Even though other things are on the list.



Most random aussies I talk to say to just get married. I don't like the thought of marrying someone for a visa.





I hate america and dont want to go back. If I cant figure this out I'm going to pick a random english speaking country and go there next. But I absolutely love australia and I've never been this happy or successful in my life.





What do I do?





Update:

I have no education or qualifications. My work experience is crap. I worked at Uber and Amazon delivery in america and thats it. Here in Australia I got a security license certificate 2 for crowd control and normal security. And I just started work. I have 7 months left on my visa.



The only thing I can think to do is fly out to northern territory. Work the 3 months and get the 2nd year extension (im assuming I can get the 2nd year???). Then work for the second year. Then go to school for something I would want to do and cross my fingers I find a wife.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 45F. WNW winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low around 45F. WNW winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
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For Immediate Release, May 25, 2018 Contacts: Bob Wright, Friends of the River, (916) 873-5258, bwright@friendsoftheriver.org

John Buse, Center for Biological Diversity, (323) 533-4416, jbuse@biologicaldiversity.org

Adam Keats, Center for Food Safety, (415) 430-9403, akeats@centerforfoodsafety.org Lawsuit Challenges Delta Plan's Water Exports to Southern California SACRAMENTO A coalition of environmental groups today sued the California Delta Stewardship Council for amending the states Delta Plan to back construction of two enormous tunnels to divert water that would otherwise nourish the Bay-Delta to Southern California. The twin tunnels  also known as California WaterFix  would cause enormous harm to fish, wildlife and people who depend on the Delta. Todays lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, notes that the council violated the Delta Reform Act and the California Environmental Quality Act by amending the Delta Plan to give the tunnels priority over restoring the Bay-Delta. The council also failed to comply with a state law declaring that access to safe, clean, and affordable water is a basic human right. The new suit follows a 2016 legal victory in which a judge invalidated a previous version of the Delta Plan for failing to balance environmental protection with water supply reliability. History is repeating itself, but this time the Delta Stewardship Council made an even more environmentally damaging mistake, said John Buse, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Delta Plan is supposed to be the blueprint for restoring the Delta. Instead, its become a ratification of the tunnels boondoggle, which would wreak havoc on one of Californias richest and most beautiful ecosystems. Instead of planning the Deltas recovery as the Delta Reform Act requires, the council has done everything possible to aid and abet the Deltas destruction, said Bob Wright, attorney for Friends of the River, Sierra Club California, Planning and Conservation League, and Restore the Delta. They have done so by amending the Delta Plan so it is focused on taking more water away from the Delta instead of increasing freshwater flows through the Delta that would finally begin Delta restoration. This is a terrible missed opportunity for the Delta to get the protective long-term management plan the council was supposed to develop. Watching the state agency tasked with protecting the Delta become a WaterFix enabler is disturbing," said Adam Keats, senior attorney with the Center for Food Safety. "It goes to show how thoroughly Big Ag and Big Money own our state agencies, and it's time the people  and our elected representatives  rise up and end it." The 2009 Delta Reform Act charged the council with developing the Delta Plan, which was supposed to be a comprehensive management plan for the Delta that promotes the coequal goals of environmental protection and water supply reliability. In 2013, after the council adopted a Delta Plan that fell short of these goals and instead laid the foundation for the Delta tunnels, some of the same groups sued the council and successfully invalidated the Delta Plan. In 2016, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny ruled that the plan failed to promote options for new and improved infrastructure relating to the water conveyance in the Delta, storage systems, and for the operation of both to achieve the coequal goals as required by the Delta Reform Act. These water conveyance options include less environmentally damaging alternatives to the Delta tunnels. But in 2017 the California Department of Water Resources approved the Delta tunnels project, which is the subject of multiple other lawsuits, intense public controversy, and escalating cost estimates. When the council amended the Delta Plan, it followed the departments lead and incorporated the tunnels project in its plan for meeting the Delta Plans coequal goals, despite the 2016 ruling that invalidated the plan for not considering alternatives to the tunnels.
Trump's Latest Assault on Alaska's Wolves and Bears Trump's wildlife thrill-killers are at it again. This week they launched a new effort to end Obama-era rules in Alaska that banned trophy hunters from gunning down wolf pups in their dens and baiting bears so they can be shot.



The new rule will turn places like Denali National Park and Preserve into a killing field. It's an awful expansion of the kind of trophy hunts Trump implemented in Alaska a few days after he took office. Once again the Center for Biological Diversity will fight back.



"Cruel and harmful hunting methods like killing bear cubs and their mothers near dens have no place in our national reserves," said the Center's Collette Adkins.



We need your help in this fight. Please consider giving to our Trump Resistance Fund.
Society's challenges are well known and fundamental. Issues such as poverty, inequality and environmental sustainability are pervasive and large. Statistics SA has reported that more than half of South Africa lives in poverty.

Nick Rockey speaking at Trialogues eleventh annual Business in Society Conference

Formulated initiatives and frameworks

Cases of success and abject failure

Beyond CSI

Collaborative initiatives

Taking a stand on the socio-political issues

Bolder alternatives available

Public, private interests overlapping

Major forces like globalisation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution serve to marginalise those less educated and unable to find their way into the formal business sector. Government retains the primary responsibility for addressing these issues through policy frameworks and spending of taxes.So what then is the obligation of business to get involved and can it respond in a way that makes a meaningful difference?We are familiar with various initiatives and frameworks formulated to address these national and global challenges. Our own National Development Plan provides a blueprint to end poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. Globally, the Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action to protect our planet and work towards peace and prosperity. Such guidelines, frameworks, codes and standards are confronting or encouraging business to get involved.By spelling out priorities and common measures or methods, business is provided with the necessary guidance to contribute. Importantly, these standards provide a means for a collective response which in turn should translate into improved odds for achieving societal change.Whilst a coordinated and collective effort by business should be encouraged, the individual response of a company can yield vastly different outcomes. When considering business and society, one immediately thinks of corporate social investment (CSI), and there are those that are disparaging of the impact that CSI programmes are able to achieve. Criticism stems from lack of collaborative effort, at best symptomatic relief as opposed to effective systemic change and lack of evidence of outcomes and change. Trialogues work in this field has predictably uncovered examples of success and abject failure. In the latter case, we have found projects where funds simply have gone to waste and peoples expectations left shattered. Yet there are many examples where lives have been changed for the good, where initiatives gain momentum and are able to sustain positive outcomes. The extent of benefit derived from CSI in its totality is somewhat dependent on the extent to which initiatives prove to be effective or not.I would suggest that in the main, a great deal of good is achieved, even if this cant be easily quantified. A sobering reality, though, is that CSI in itself remains limited when one considers the extent of socio-economic need and the quantum of funds available (CSI expenditure is estimated by Trialogue to be R9.1bn, which is in the order of just 1% of what government spends on developmental functions).How then can this valuable and limited corporate resource be used effectively? Clearly, the contribution of business in society goes beyond CSI to include investment in skills, enterprise development and the like. Such contributions are substantial but only assist those already located within the company value chain. To reach into those elements of society which fall outside of the confines of business, CSI provides a useful tool.However, so much more can be achieved if CSI is not separated from the business, but rather used to integrate the business with its societal stakeholders. This way, CSI can be combined and aligned with business imperatives to achieve more for development whilst reaping some return benefit for business as well. Real impact is achievable when business integrates CSI and other citizenship activities strategically into the way it operates. By way of example, think of the reach to millions of subscribers a cell phone company has. By tapping into this network at marginal additional cost, coupled with a dose of innovative thinking and business expertise, massive social impact can be achieved.There are other ways that CSI can box above its weight. Investment in collaborative initiatives that have an expressed aim of achieving systemic change provides another opportunity to leverage limited CSI budgets. Social problems are deep, complex and multi-faceted. To get to the cause rather than address the symptom, initiatives need to involve all role-players.Extensive engagement is required over long time periods. Patience and perseverance need to be prioritised over quick wins or PR opportunities. To play a part in achieving systemic change, companies will have to leave their comfort zones of providing contained support for limited scope projects. The upside though could be profound for those prepared to travel this road.Another choice for companies wanting to make an impact is to invest in advocacy. In such cases, relatively small contributions can lead to behavioural change of others who control larger budgets or influence policy outcomes. Already we are seeing companies taking a stand on the socio-political issues of the day, with leaders voicing their companies positions, either individually or through business alliances. Once shy of standing out for fear of being ostracised, business is now finding its voice.The response to the dismissal of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene in December 2015, which galvanised business and led to its leaders meeting with the ruling party, is a case in point. Much could be achieved by utilising CSI to champion causes that could impact on the national or sectoral climate for doing business. This seems a missed opportunity if we consider that based on Trialogues annual CSI research, less than 1% of spend went to social justice organisations.The options presented above represent new territory for many companies. Business is most comfortable when it understands the boundaries of contributions made and can be provided with evidence of the good achieved. This approach is not to be belittled. Yet there are bolder alternatives available to those more ambitious.At Trialogues eleventh annual Business in Society Conference on 8 and 9 May in Johannesburg, we unpacked some of these alternatives. We explored the opportunities and risks associated with supporting social justice and the potential of collaborating with other companies, a necessary ingredient to achieving systemic change.Our keynote address by former public protector Thuli Madonsela, now chair in social justice in the Stellenbosch University Law Faculty, discussed closing the inequality gap. Bonang Mohale, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa, shared his views on leadership in the current environment.Panel discussions and breakout sessions incorporated organisations such as Section 27, the Social Justice Initiative and Equal Education. Delegates discussed how CSI strategies could be enhanced to achieve lasting change, debated whether activism has real impact, considered the challenges of partnerships and collaboration, heard about the role of ICT in development, and learnt from companies already contributing to such initiatives.The times they are a changing (apologies to Dylan). Georg Kell, founding director, UN Global Compact, has said : Public and private interests overlap more and more in our fragmented world. Recognising this overlap and devising strategies and actions that advance both private and public interests is increasingly a winning concept.It is fast becoming an imperative for business to reconsider how to respond to societal challenges, and I would suggest this is best achieved in an integrated manner.
This company article has been removed.
This job expired on 28 May 2018.
Canada NewsWire

OTTAWA, May 24, 2018

OTTAWA, May 24, 2018 /CNW/ - Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, presented a Meritorious Service Medal to Maestro Kent Nagano, conductor and music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal, during a ceremony in Montreal, Quebec, on May 24, 2018.

Included below is the recipient's citation as well as background information on the Meritorious Service Decorations.

Kent Nagano, M.S.M.Montreal, Quebec

As the music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal (OSM), Kent Nagano rejuvenated the OSM, increasing its profile worldwide and instilling a sense of pride into the City of Montreal. He has toured with the orchestra, travelling from Yellowknife through Nunavik to St. John's, showcasing music as a source of cultural dialogue and as an outlet to creating unity in diversity.

About the Meritorious Service DecorationsThe Meritorious Service Decorations celebrate those who have performed an exceptional deed or activity that brings honour to Canada. The decorations are separated into military and civil divisions, with two levels each: a cross and a medal.

The Civil Division recognizes remarkable contributions in many different fields of endeavour, from advocacy initiatives and health care services, to research and humanitarian efforts. The contributions can be innovative, set an example for others to follow, or improve the quality of life of a community. For more information or to nominate a deserving Canadian, visit merit.gg.ca.

Follow GGJuliePayette and RideauHall on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

SOURCE Governor General of Canada
Canada NewsWire

TORONTO, May 24, 2018

Toronto lab to help lead global AI research & development; joins UK, and Russia as part of a network of Global AI Centres

TORONTO, May 24, 2018 /CNW/ - Samsung Research America (SRA), announced that it is establishing a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI) centre in Toronto, as part of a new venture to tap into and contribute to the flourishing AI industry growing in Canada's largest city. The opening of the Toronto AI Centre comes on the heels of the company's global announcement of two additional and newly established AI Centres in Cambridge, UK and Moscow, Russia. The Toronto Centre will work in partnership with the company's Silicon Valley team to pioneer AI research and development for the region.

Located in Toronto's downtown core at MaRS Discovery District, the new Samsung AI Centre will contribute to building the connected future by accelerating the adoption of intelligence on multiple devices ranging from household appliances to cars. The Toronto AI Centre is a part of a network of research Centres dedicated to research and development in the field of AI. The Centre is the second Samsung AI Centre to be established in North America, with the other in Mountain View, California. The North America AI Centres are led by senior vice president, Dr. Larry Heck, a renowned expert in machine learning for spoken and text language processing, who also co-leads the expansion of Samsung's AI Centres around the globe.

"Toronto and the GTA are epi-centres of machine learning and one of the world's foremost hubs for AI research and development. Home to not only world-class talent, but also some of the most innovative start-ups in the artificial intelligence field," said Dr. Larry Heck, Co-Head of Global Artificial Intelligence Research. "We are looking forward to contributing to this vibrant AI community and to help push the field forward as we move towards our goal of making all Samsung connected devices intelligent by 2020."

With a rich history in innovation and discovery, Toronto serves as an ideal place for research and development for speech recognition, where machine-learning technology was applied many years before it was widely applied to other fields. The vision is that the Samsung AI Centre will now serve an important role in the advancement of AI with a focus on language understanding and computer vision technologies that will ultimately reduce the friction between the user and the device/service, whether it be mobile phones, TVs, appliances, or cars.

The Toronto centre will be led by Dr. Sven Dickinson, newly appointed as the head of the Toronto lab, professor on leave and past chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. Dr. Dickinson is an expert in computer vision technologies, especially in the field of object recognition. He will play an integral part in Samsung's research of core AI technologies that entail language, vision and other multi-modal interactions.

Samsung will officially celebrate today's announcement of the Toronto AI Centre with an opening ceremony and presentations at MaRS Discovery District from key Samsung business leaders and special guests including Samsung's CEO of Consumer Electronics, Hyun-suk Kim, the Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade, Dr. Larry Heck, Senior Vice President of Samsung Research America, and key stakeholders and partners from major universities in Canada.

"Canadian ingenuity and innovation is getting noticed and together with our investments in skills and superclusters focused on next generation products like artificial intelligence, the world's investors are choosing Canada. Congratulations to Toronto and to Samsung for recognizing Canada is the place to be!" said Honourable Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade.

Key contributing factors for the location selection include the availability of key AI talent, including leading AI researchers at the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo who have had longstanding relationships with Samsung. Establishing an AI Centre in Southern Ontario also enables Samsung to better collaborate with regional start-ups and expand the current ecosystem. As one of the world's largest urban innovation hubs, MaRS Discovery district supports promising innovators and ventures tackling key challenges in the sectors of cleantech, finance & commerce, and work & learning. In addition, and importantly, the vast MaRS community fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration which drives breakthrough discoveries and new solution for global audiences.

"We are proud to welcome Samsung to MaRS," said Yung Wu, CEO, MaRS Discovery District. "We both recognize the important role Toronto  and Canada  play as a destination for innovation talent, research and start-ups. We look forward to collaborating and connecting with the Samsung team on a variety of exciting opportunities as this project comes to life."

Today's announcement compliments earlier 2018 news of plans to launch additional AI centres in North America. Dr. Darin Graham will spearhead the opening of new labs in Canada as the head of Samsung's Canadian AI Operations. Until recently, Dr. Graham helped lead the creation and formation of the Vector Institute  the renowned Canadian AI research institute, as a member of the founding team. The opening of AI centres in Canada will allow Samsung to expand its outpost for industry collaboration and talent recruitment in the major AI hubs in North America.

"Investments like this are proof that Canada is truly a world-leader in artificial intelligence. Our talent and innovation ecosystem make us an attractive place for companies to grow and create well-paying jobs for Canadians. Our government is proud to partner with companies like Samsung, as we continue advancing our machine learning knowledge and further establish our place on the world stage as an AI leader," said the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.

To date, Samsung has had great success in leveraging Canada's unique R&D talents for global impact. The Company's Vancouver-based R&D centre has contributed to a number of in-market innovations and more than doubled its workforce, since opening with over 100 employees. With the addition of the AI centre in Toronto, the company plans to increase the R&D in Canada from current 100 to 200 in the near future. Additional developments and talent in Canada have been recognized through Samsung Electronics Canada subsidiaries, AdGear Technologies Inc. in Montreal and SigMast Communications Inc. in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Samsung Electronics inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at news.samsung.com.

SOURCE Samsung Electronics Canada Inc.
LOWER MAKEFIELD >> Fire roared through a 2008 Subaru making for a dramatic scene behind Station 80 in Lower Makefield Friday night As a column of thick gray and black smoke billowed into the night sky, a crowd of several hundred onlookers were feeling the heat during a Fire Prevention Open House hosted by the Yardley-Makefield Fire Company. A lot...
University at Buffalo, Roswell Park and University of Rochester to lead $47 million partnership to advance drug discovery in Upstate New York

The Empire Discovery Institute will support commercialization of drug candidates discovered at the three institutions

New York is home to world-leading institutions producing cutting-edge research, advancements, and breakthroughs in human health. The Empire Discovery Institute will harness New York's wealth of academic capital and provide the resources needed to bring life-changing discoveries out of the lab and into the economy, generating new jobs, new companies and new investments in the growing life sciences sector. 

The Empire Discovery Institute will streamline New Yorks efforts to translate our wealth of groundbreaking life science research into viable treatments and medicines  which in turn will catalyze new jobs, new companies and new investments in this cutting-edge industry, said Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Howard Zemsky.

"New York is home to world-leading institutions producing cutting-edge research, advancements, and breakthroughs in human health," Governor Cuomo said. "The Empire Discovery Institute will harness New York's wealth of academic capital and provide the resources needed to bring life-changing discoveries out of the lab and into the economy, generating new jobs, new companies and new investments in the growing life sciences sector."

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the new partnership will receive $35.4 million in funding over five years from Empire State Development, in addition to $12 million worth of in-kind support from the partner institutions.

The partners are establishing the Empire Discovery Institute (EDI), an independent, nonprofit entity that will identify promising drug candidates and move them toward clinical trials. The institute will help UB, Roswell Park and University of Rochester researchers conduct preclinical testing of promising compounds discovered in their labs. Researchers will also receive assistance in designing new drugs for drug targets they have identified through their work.

BUFFALO, N.Y.  The University at Buffalo, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of Rochester have joined together to form a powerful new drug discovery partnership that aims to convert the institutions scientific breakthroughs into viable pharmaceuticals for commercialization and strengthen the region as a hub for life sciences research and development.

Judith Dunn, PhD, a former vice president of pharmaceutical giant Roche, has joined EDI as its first CEO. Dunn brings 25 years of pharmaceutical development experience to Upstate New York, having served as global head of clinical development for Roche and head of the companys Innovation Center.

"From our state-of-the-art new home of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to our innovative Clinical and Translational Research Center, UB has invested significantly to build upon our strengths in bench-to-bedside research and training, said UB President Satish K. Tripathi. Now, with Gov. Cuomos Life Science Initiative spurring the growth of a world-class life-science research sector, we are able to establish this important partnership with Roswell Park and the University of Rochester. The EDI will allow us to leverage UBs established life science infrastructure and our wealth of research expertise to usher drug discoveries from ideas to proof of concept to  ultimately  the marketplace. This will provide life-changing treatments to patients across the world while fueling innovation and economic growth right here in Western New York.

There are so many promising ideas originating from our basic-science teams, and this groundbreaking partnership will accelerate our ability to translate those Roswell Park discoveries into life-saving cancer therapies, said Candace S. Johnson, PhD, president and CEO of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Empire Discovery Institute will shepherd collaboration between researchers and industry experts, overcoming the many barriers that hamper innovation from moving from bench to bedside, and directly benefitting cancer patients.

Biopharma companies are increasingly dependent upon academic research for the development of new drugs. Rochester and Buffalo academic institutions provide a strong foundation of research and development in critical life science fields, said Mark Taubman, MD, CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center. We are deeply grateful for Gov. Cuomos leadership and the opportunity to bring the University of Rochesters rich history of biomedical innovation to partnerships with industry. Together, we can nurture a vibrant and growing life sciences economy in the region.

Each institution will have two members on the EDI board. Tripathi, Johnson and Peter Robinson, COO of the University of Rochester Medical Center, will serve as EDIs founding board members, as will Venu Govindaraju, PhD, UB vice president for research and economic development; Taubman, with the University of Rochester Medical Center; and Thomas Schwaab, MD, PhD, chief of strategy, business development and outreach, Roswell Park.

EDI to focus on early-stage drug discovery

UB, Roswell Park and the University of Rochester are already major players in New York States life sciences economy. Together, they have received significant federal and other funding for life sciences research, with awards totaling over $1.15 billion from the National Institutes of Health alone from 2013 to 2017.

EDI will support the partners in converting research discoveries into viable drug candidates. In assessing the potential impact of this initiative, UB, Roswell Park and the University of Rochester have identified scores of drug targets currently under study in the three institutions. These targets represent considerable untapped potential for discovering drugs to treat Alzheimers disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis, hearing loss, diabetes and drug abuse, among other conditions. Without this initiative, most of the potential human health impact of existing and future drug target discoveries by investigators at the academic partners would go unrealized due to the lack of research resources, expertise and funding needed to validate targets, design and synthesize compound libraries, and conduct preclinical validation.

The goal is to generate new economic activity in Upstate New York by ultimately moving the new drug treatments through EDI, leading to licensing deals with pharmaceutical and biotech companies and the formation of startup companies that will continue developing the drugs. These new companies may ultimately partner with or be acquired by larger companies, providing job-growth opportunities to the region and investment returns to EDI and the institutions.

EDIs focus will be on early-stage drug discovery. This includes identifying and designing drug candidates and assisting researchers in examining new drugs efficacy and safety in animal models and early-stage clinical trials.

These efforts will focus on helping new discoveries overcome what is often referred to as the valley of death, or the period of time after the initial funding for the research has ended but before continued development of the drug has been taken over by a biotech or pharmaceutical company. Moving new drug candidates more efficiently through the discovery and validation stages adds tremendous value, making them much more attractive to industry partners and investors.

To help with this research, EDI will employ its own scientists  researchers with industry expertise in fields such as medicinal chemistry and protein engineering that are crucial to translating basic research into viable products. The institutes staff will also provide guidance on meeting federal regulations and industry needs.

Generating new startups, licensing deals

Similar academic collaborations have been created in other areas of the country with concentrations of life sciences academic institutions, including more recently a partnership in New York City between Columbia University, Rockefeller University and Cornell University.

During EDIs initial five-year funding period, the institute is forecast to accept about 20 new projects. This means the institute will work with UB, Roswell Park and University of Rochester researchers to advance the development of about 20 promising drug candidates.

By the end of the five-year period, its expected that several of the projects will have advanced to the point where a drug can be licensed to a pharmaceutical firm, or a startup can be formed.

EDI will provide partner institutions with financial resources as well as pharmaceutical development expertise previously unavailable to them during the early stage of drug discovery, said Dunn. This is vitally important, as such support for early-stage drug development research is often unavailable in academic settings.

Drug discovery is expensive and there is a high rate of attrition as projects progress through the various phases of development. Prior to investing in rights to drug candidates or early stage companies, potential pharma and venture partners require completion of key experiments which mitigate some of this risk. Together with the academic investigators, EDI will design and prosecute experiments which will address key drivers of value and risk in order to make these early stage programs more compelling to potential investors.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a community united by the drive to eliminate cancers grip on humanity by unlocking its secrets through personalized approaches and unleashing the healing power of hope. Founded by Dr. Roswell Park in 1898, it is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. Learn more at www.roswellpark.org, or contact us at 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or ASKRoswell@roswellpark.org

The University of Rochester is one of the countrys top-tier research universities with strengths in neuroscience, musculoskeletal and immunology research. The School of Medicine and Dentistry was founded in 1925 as one of the first to integrate basic science and clinical practice, which is still a focus of the institution. In 2017, the university was awarded $19 million from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science to coordinate a network of more than 50 institutions to help researchers turn scientific discoveries into health benefits faster. In addition, Rochester received approximately $159 million in NIH funding in 2017, making it the largest recipient of NIH funding in upstate New York.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's nearly 30,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.
A man who attacked a 96-year-old D-Day veteran with a claw hammer and stole his bank card before going on a spending spree across Somerset, including in Burnham-On-Sea, has been found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to 20 years.

Following a trial at Taunton Crown Court, 40-year-old Joseph Isaacs, right, formerly from Exeter in Devon, was given an extended jail sentence after being found guilty of attempting to murder Jim Booth at his home in Taunton on Wednesday 22nd November.

Isaacs used Mr Booths bank card to buy food at Proper Job in Burnham-On-Sea and a McDonalds fast-food restaurant in Bridgwater after the attack.

Isaacs had previously admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent, aggravated burglary and seven counts of fraud, relating to the use of Mr Booths bank card.

Mr Booth, 96, who was involved in a secret operation during the D-Day landings in Normandy, was left with life-threatening injuries to his head and body.

DCI James Riccio of Avon and Somerset Police, who led the investigation, said: Joseph Isaacs called at Jim Booths home posing as a workman.

Pictured: Jim Booth, 96, was left with life-threatening injuries to his head and body

When Mr Booth declined the work being offered, Isaacs forced his way in, demanded money and subjected Mr Booth to a prolonged and barbaric ordeal.

He used a claw hammer to strike Mr Booth repeatedly to the head and body  even hitting him multiple times while he lay on the floor.

It was a cowardly act and its a miracle Mr Booth survived these horrific injuries.

The Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT) launched a full inquiry and discovered Mr Booths bank card had been used at a number of shops in Bridgwater and Burnham-On-Sea in the 48-hour period following the assault.

CCTV footage was obtained and the offender was linked to a Vauxhall Zafira caught on CCTV outside Asda in Bridgwater  one of the locations where Mr Booths card was fraudulently used.

Pictured: Joseph Isaacs used Mr Booths card to pay for fast food at a Bridgwater restaurant in the 48-hour period following the assault

DCI Riccio added: As a result of these enquiries, officers stopped a Vauxhall Zafira on the A370 at Congresbury on the morning of Friday 24 November and arrested the driver, Joseph Isaacs.

Isaacs clothing was seized and we were able to find traces of Mr Booths blood on his jeans. A cheque belonging to Mr Booth was also found in the footwell of the Zafira.

Although he declined to comment in interview, Joseph Isaacs was left with little alternative but to admit he carried out the attack on Mr Booth.

This has been an emotive case which has affected everyone whos worked on it.

Mr Booth has showed immense strength of character and spirit to survive the injuries he suffered and while he may never fully recover, he has a close network of family and friends to support him.

Pictured: Joseph Isaacs used Mr Booths card to pay for a range of items at Proper Job in Burnham-On-Sea and other businesses

Id like to thank everyone whos worked on this inquiry to achieve this successful prosecution and our thoughts and best wishes are very much with Mr Booth and his family.

Their support of our investigation has been unwavering and I hope this outcome will help them move on from this awful experience.

The family of Jim Booth have released a statement following the sentencing of Joseph Isaacs at Taunton Crown Court.

It reads: Our father is an honourable, gentle, compassionate and generous person. He is the head of the family, a dearly loved father to his four children, and adored by his grandchildren and great grandchildren, to whom hes known simply as The Legend.

Pictured: Joseph Isaacs at Bridgwater Services shortly after the attack

On November 22nd last year, a light was shone on the very best and worst of humankind, when our father was subjected to a brutal and cowardly attack inside his home. Miraculously, though left for dead, and against all odds, he survived.

In the very difficult six months since, our father has shown extraordinary courage and determination as hes battled with the pain and long-term effects of the injuries. He is truly inspirational.

Characteristically, he worries about the impact of his attack on us, his family. We are all devastated and deeply shaken. The memory of first seeing him in hospital immediately after the attack will stay with us forever. We share the revulsion and incomprehension expressed by the hundreds of people who kindly sent their best wishes and offered support.

Pictured: Joseph Isaacs was captured on CCTV holding the bank card

We are grateful to everyone who has helped our father; the staff at Musgrove Park Hospital; Avon and Somerset Police; Senior Crown Advocate Rachel Drake; friends and neighbours; members of the submariners community and complete strangers whose kindness has been extraordinary.

Our father is, and always will be, our own family hero, our Captain of the Gate and we are immensely proud of him every day. His faithful heart continues to beat at the core of our family. Soon to celebrate his 97th birthday, he remains unbowed, an unconquerable soul, and we look forward to many more happy and memorable times spent together.

During the war, Lt Cdr Booth joined the Combined Operations Pilotage and Reconnaissance Parties (COPP) and trained for covert beach explorations at a wartime military base set up on Hayling Island in Hampshire in 1943 under the instruction of Lord Mountbatten.

At the age of 23, Lt Cdr Booth became a pilot for the X-craft, tiny submarines that waited on the seabed for days at a time, and sailed from Portsmouth to Normandy to scout out where British forces could safely land.

On D-Day, Lt Cdr Booth climbed into a fold-up canoe and shone a beacon out to sea to guide Allied craft safely to shore. Lt Cdr Booth, who was later awarded the Croix de Guerre military medal by France for his gallantry, has four children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and was described as their hero after the attack.

VIDEO: Joseph Isaacs being cautioned for attempted murder of Jim Booth

VIDEO: Body worn Police video showing Joseph Isaacs arrest
Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

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The Mekunu cyclone is likely to cause the western coast to receive "heavy spells of showers", an IMD official said on Thursday. Taking note of the weather forecast, an advisory was issued in Goa on Thursday asking locals and tourists not to venture into the sea for the next 72 hours. The IMD has warned fishermen not to venture into ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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Religion can be a sticky subject in any part of the world. Particularly so in India where it often also becomes a political hot potato.

Anil Couto, the archbishop of Delhi, would know, having recently found himself in the eye of one such storm. In a letter, Couto had asked the priests in his parish and religious institutions under the Delhi Archdiocese to pray for the nation every Friday, especially given that the general elections were a year away. It would have passed as a harmless call for prayer had Couto not gone forward and described the political ...
ICICI Bank is taking the digital route for growth, by partnering and investing in financial technology companies, as well as, setting up an innovation lab and a team to conceive digital solutions. We want to be digital at the core, remove paper and as many people as possible and have end-to-end processes driven by technology, said B Madhivanan, Group Executive and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), ICICI Bank. 82 per cent of the banks transactions by savings account customers are currently digital, excluding ATM transactions.

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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Facebook says it will not compensate users in the scandal over the misuse of their personal data by political consultancy

The company made the statement on Friday in a list of written replies to questions by European Union lawmakers. The answers were promised after testimony earlier this week by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Brussels had left EU lawmakers frustrated about a lack of responses.

used the data of millions of Facebook users to target ads during political campaigns, including the US presidential vote.

EU lawmakers said that would make Facebook liable for compensation toward EU users.

Facebook said that was a "breach of trust," but no bank account details had been shared. And it said there was no evidence EU user data had been involved.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Trump attempted a revolutionary approach to North Korea  a gamble that negotiating prowess and deal-making charm in a face-to-face meeting with Kim Jong-un could accomplish what no American president or diplomat had dared to attempt in the 65 years since an uneasy armistice settled over the Korean Peninsula. It was a bold and innovative approach, and one worth trying, to take on the related goals of a peace treaty and eradicating the Norths now-substantial nuclear arsenal. The fact that it fell on Thursday before getting out of the starting gate, though, underscored ...
Six civilians, including a child, lost their lives and more than 20 were injured in a car bombing incident in Libya's Benghazi city on Friday.

As reported by Anadolu agency, the bomb was planted on Jamal street in central Benghazi which led to casualties.

The injured were admitted to Al-Jalaa and Benghazi hospitals, as per security forces spokesperson Captain Tarek al-Khazar.

Meanwhile, an exhibition on Syrian industries was underway at the bombing site.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Libya has been a conflict-ridden territory since the death of its former President Gaddafi in 2011 which was followed by a violent uprising across the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
'Mudbound' director Dee Rees is returning to Netflix for Anne Hathaway-starrer 'The Last Thing He Wanted'.

Rees will direct, produce, and co-write the film, which is an adaptation of the Joan Didion book of the same name, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Set in 1984, the novel was published in 1996.

The 'Ocean's 8' star will play the role of a journalist named Elena McMahon, whose career takes an unexpected turn when she inherits her father's job title as an arms dealmaker.

Netflix film group head Scott Stuber spoke highly of Rees, whose 2017 drama-film 'Mudbound' received four Oscar nominations.

"Dee Rees is an incredibly talented filmmaker who continues to make provocative and entertaining films. We are thrilled to continue our relationship with Dee and proud to have her part of the Netflix family," said Stuber.

The shooting of the film is expected to begin this summer.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat on Friday said that the Pakistan needs to take initiative to establish peace along border by stopping infiltration.

"We want peace at borders but as you know Pakistan continuously violates ceasefire that causes loss of life and property and in such a case we have to retaliate but if Pakistan wants peace, we expect them to take initiative, which will start with them stopping infiltration," he said.

Hinting that NICO (Non-Initiation of Combat Operations) could continue, Rawat said the operations were suspended to show people the atmosphere of peace.

"We suspended operations to show people atmosphere of peace and I believe people are happy, if things continue in a similar way we can say that continuing of NICO (Non-Initiation of Combat Operations) can be thought of, but if terrorist activities continue we cannot do so," the army chief said.

It is to be noted that the Centre last week ordered to suspend the security operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir during the holy month of Ramzan.

However, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) clarified that the security forces "reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people."

Ramzan is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad, according to Islamic belief.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Beijing is willing to work with Germany to strengthen their bilateral ties and take them to a higher level.

Merkel, who is on a two-day visit to China, was invited by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

It is Merkel's 11th visit to China.

In 2014, the two countries had launched an all-dimensional strategic partnership. Since then, the ties between the two sides have enhanced with mutual cooperation, Xi said.

Xi said China and Germany must advocate a new type of international relations which would set an example of a win-win cooperation, Xinhua reported.

"We welcome Germany to grasp opportunities arising from China's new round of reform and opening up," said Xi.

He also spoke about industrial expansion and market cooperation.

Talking about informal relations, Xi said the two countries need to boost cultural and people-to-people exchanges and jointly deal with global challenges.

He also appreciated Germany's support for the Belt and Road Initiative.

Issues like international trade and the Iran nuclear deal were also discussed by the two sides.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to look into the petition filed by a lawyer seeking probe into the deaths of 13 people during a protest in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi against Sterlite Industries.

A single judge bench of Justice Rajiv Shakhder asked the NHRC to consider the representation made by the petitioner, advocate A Rajarajan.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 60 injured in the police firing during a protest against the construction of a new smelter plant by Sterlite copper mining Industries in Thoothukudi.

Earlier, the NHRC had issued a notice to Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan and Director General of Police (DGP) T.K. Rajendran and sought a detailed reply from them within two weeks over the incident.

Till now, 67 people have been arrested in the matter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Indian Army on Friday ordered a court of inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi.

Major Gogoi was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Police from a hotel with a woman on May 23. He was allegedly involved in a brawl with the woman at the hotel.

Earlier today, Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat said that Major Gogoi would be given "exemplary punishment", if found guilty of any wrongdoing.

"If anyone in the Indian Army, at any rank, does any wrong and it comes to our notice then strictest action will be taken," General Rawat told ANI.

"If Major Gogoi has done something wrong then I can say that he will be given due exemplary punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example for others," he added.

Major Gogoi had earlier also made headlines when he tied a civilian to the bonnet of his vehicle as a "human shield" and drove through Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam last year.

He took the step in the wake of an alleged stone-pelting attack at the army during the bypolls to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India and Bangladesh are separate nations but attached with cultural ties which are defined by several public policies.

While attending the convocation ceremony of the Vishwa Bharti University along with Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Modi identified the occasion as a rare one when leaders of two countries are present together in a university event.

Highlighting the importance of Indo-Bangladesh bilateral relations, Prime Minister Modi said, "We could learn multiple lessons from each other and Bangladesh Bhawan is one of such examples which is soon going to be inaugurated."

Prime Minister also highlighted the problem of lack of clean drinking water in the university premises as he assured that being the university's chancellor it will be his responsibility to ensure that none of the students remain bereft of the basic facilities.

He further recalled the teachings of poet-scholar Rabindranath Tagore, fondly known as Gurudev.

"During the Vedic era, there have been certain values imparted to the country which were then taken forward by individuals like Rabindranath Tagore," Prime Minister Modi said.

While highlighting the value of the phrase "Vasudeva Kutumbakam", Prime Minister continued saying that Tagore desired to develop this entire University (Vishwa Bharti) into such a place where everyone would desire to live in.

He further said Gurudev dedicated his entire life to uphold the values of this mantra.

He called on the citizens to be aware of trans- culture, traditions, and languages but at the same time cautioned them not to forget the traditional Indian values.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said even after US President Donald Trump called off the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Washington is still willing to continue its efforts to have a dialogue with N Korea.

Pompeo said this to South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in a telephonic conversation and asked the latter to devise a strategy to exchange views in this situation.

Pompeo explained the background of Trump's move to Kang and also told her that the U.S. has a "clear will" to continue dialogue with N Korea, as per Yonhap.

There was a mutual agreement to create conditions for talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

The much-anticipated United States-North Korea summit that was scheduled to be held on June 12 in Singapore, now stands canceled.

In a tweet, Trump said, "I have decided to terminate the planned Summit in Singapore on June 12th. While many things can happen and a great opportunity lies ahead potentially, I believe that this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and indeed a setback for the .."

In response to Trump's tweet, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan on Friday morning said his country is still willing to give the U.S. "time and opportunities" to talk anytime and in any form.

As per a release by the White House on May 24, Trump blamed the 'hostility' and anger displayed by North Korea regarding the US-South Korea Max military drills for calling off the summit.

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, l feel it is inappropriate at this time to have this long-planned meeting," Trump said in a release.

Trump further took a dig at Kim Jong-Un saying "You talk about your nuclear capabilities. But ours are so massive and powerful that l pray to God they will never have to be used."

He further extended his gratitude towards Kim for releasing three US prisoners, Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-Chul, who were held captive on charges of espionage or for doing "hostile acts" against the North Korean government.

"I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated," he said.

"If you change your mind having to do with this summit, don't hesitate", as referred to canceling of the summit as a missed opportunity," Trump added.

On May 24, it was reported that Kim had threatened to back off from the summit following the military drills as he was quoted by Fox News saying, the United States doesn't stop committing 'unlawful and outrageous acts'.

Earlier on May 23, Donald Trump had said that the fate of the planned summit with Kim Jong-un would be decided next week.

The two leaders were expected to discuss denuclearisation of North Korea in the now-cancelled summit.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
eBuX recently announced its partnership with Mars Chocolates and Kraft Heinz making further inroads into the FMCG sector with its e-tailing commerce and analytics solutions.

eBuX is a scalable solution, built on machine learning algorithms and robust technology that is scalable and stable, for brands that aids in driving brands' performance across e-commerce marketplaces. Customers today are steadily moving to the online space to make their everyday purchases. In this scenario, it becomes critical for brands even with low ASP (average selling price) to be present online.

According to a recent report by Boston Consulting Group and Google, 40 percent of all fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) purchases in India will go online by 2020, making it a $5-6 billion

Also, large FMCG firms in India will spend 20-25 percent on digital advertising by 2020 and even reach 50-70 percent for select premium brands. With the improvement of infrastructure, online shopping will grow exponentially in cities beyond the metros and together it is expected to comprise more than 50 percent of the total online shopper base by 2020.

Understanding the impact on this segment, companies in the FMCG sector are moving towards digital transformation in order to adapt to the changing consumer landscape and shopping habits. Both Mars and Kraft Heinz have signed up for e-content services, optimized brand visibility and procuring solution license through their partnership with eBuX.

When it comes to a product being visible on the digital shelf, what matters is search optimization, quality score of content, and share of search for the product. eBuX crawls all this data and gives a collaborative information deck to the brand manager. Further, it helps the brand enhance its product discoverability through content solutions, such as imagery and brand storytelling.

eBuX helps the brand know their stock hygiene, e-ORM, promotions planning, brand page score on the digital shelf, on-site visibility in their category and content quality score across platforms.

Some of the key challenges that brands look to resolve are - creating a single window access to their key performance drivers across Omni-channels and help them win the digital shelf by creating enhanced shopper experience.

Shweta Sharma, Chief Officer, eBuX at AdGlobal360, said, "We are very excited to partner with Mars Chocolates and Kraft Heinz for our eBuX solutions. As the shopping patterns of consumers evolve, these are exciting times for the FMCG marketplace. Through eBuX we are looking to add value to their brands by creating an enhanced shopper experience across marketplaces and insights through data analytics across marketplaces. We customize strategies as per brand needs as each brand needs a bespoke dedicated communication and execution solutions."

Rakesh Yadav, Chief Executive Officer, AdGlobal360, said, "We are delighted by the tremendous progress made by eBuX in the FMCG space by helping marquee and leading brands in their mission to enhance their digital presence across e-commerce platforms in such a short span of time. We welcome Mars Chocolates and Kraft Heinz to the rapidly growing eBuX family. eBuX is an online channel analytics solution for product manufacturers, and an innovator at the forefront of the eCommerce analytics.

It helps brands with data points such as on-site discoverability and Share-of-Search across marketplaces of Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, Grofers, Big Basket etc. eBuX Analytics is constantly attuned to the evolving dynamics of the online shopping eCommerce revolution, delivering e-commerce Insights and Online Store Audits to manufacturers around the world."

Reckitt Benckiser, Nestle and Coca Cola India are some of the other prominent FMCG brands that are using the eBuX solution.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A new filing in California lawsuit has alleged that Facebook gathered information on users through their texts and photos.

It is not the first time Facebook has found itself under the scanner for allegedly accessing user information. The lawsuit against the company is part of a suit by now-defunct startup Six4Three, Cnet reported.

The allegations suggest that Facebook used several methods to collect information it could use for commercial reasons.

The information includes tracking users' locations, accessing texts, recording from the microphone, monitoring use of competitive apps and tracking the calls.

Facebook said the claims are baseless and that it does not log their call and text history without their consent.

The company further said the logging of the information is part of an opt-in feature for Messenger and Facebook Lite on Android and users are required to explicitly agree to use the feature and can turn it off anytime.

Six4Three is suing Facebook over its defunct app Pikinis. After a change to Facebook's policy in 2015, third-party developers were restricted from accessing friend data, which the company complained hurt its business model.

Facebook, in its defence, said it gave all third-party developers ample notice about the change and worked closely with developers to update their apps.

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The Ghaziabad District Magistrate has ordered all unrecognised schools in the district to be closed.

Around 10,000 students studying in the Ghaziabad district will now be enrolled in recognised government schools by June this year.

The district magistrate said that at least 5,000 students have been enrolled in council seasons.

The measure has been taken to prevent the students' session being wasted.

The Primary Department has issued a number of unrecognised schools running in the district. The Ghaziabad district administration has appealed to the parents to check the list before enrolling their child in any school.

As per media reports, the district magistrate had earlier issued a notice to close 209 unrecognized schools in the district. At least 231 non-recognized schools were identified in the 2017-18 session. Of these 44 schools were closed in 2017.

Despite this, most unrecognised schools were running undetected and was playing with the careers of the children. In regards to this, the Ghaziabad District Administration has imposed a fine of Rs. 1 lakh for the same.

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Talking about her alleged experiences with Harvey Weinstein, actress Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed that her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt threatened to kill the disgraced mogul.

During an interview on Sirius XM's The Howard Stern Show, Paltrow said Pitt had confronted Weinstein after learning the mogul sexually harassed her in his hotel room.

"It was the equivalent of throwing him against the wall," she said, as reported by Variety.

The 'By The Sea' star then allegedly told Weinstein, "If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I'll kill you."

More than 50 women, including stars like Ashley Judd and Angelina Jolie, accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, which the former has denied.

Weinstein is expected to surrender to the New York police on Friday to face the charges against him.

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Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein on Friday turned himself in to the New York Police Department (NYPD) to face the charges against him, reports Fox News.

Various media outlets on Thursday (local time) reported that the 66-year-old will surrender to the NYPD on sex crime charges.

According to New York Daily, sources said, "Weinstein is expected to be charged with preying on Lucia Evans who told investigators that the former forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004."

The case was probed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and New York City Police Department, the sources further said, adding that evidence related to Weinstein's possible financial fraud was presented before the jury.

However, it is not clear as of now whether the charges, expected on Friday, will include money mishandling allegations.

More than 50 women, including stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and Angelina Jolie, accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, which the former has denied.

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Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual assault by number of women, is expected to surrender to the New York police on Friday to face the charges against him.



According to New York Daily, sources said, Weinstein is expected to be charged with preying on Lucia Evans who told investigators that the former forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004.



The case was probed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and New York City Police Department, the sources further said, adding that evidence related to Weinsteins possible financial fraud was presented before the jury.However, it is not clear as of now whether the charges, expected on Friday, will include money mishandling allegations.More than 50 women, including stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and Angelina Jolie, accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, which the former has denied.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Delhi Government, on a plea seeking quashing of direction which prescribes 25 as the legal age of drinking and asked to formulate minimum legal drinking age in Delhi.

The court also asked the Delhi Government to file a response on the plea and listed the matter for further hearing on October 9.

The plea was filed by social activist Kush Kalra through his counsel Charu Walikhanna who sought quashing of section 23 of Delhi Excise Act, 2009 which prescribes 25 years as the legal age of drinking in the Capital Territory of Delhi.

"It is a well-settled principle of law that when there is equality and uniformity within each group, the law will not be condemned as discriminative. However, the huge variations as practised by Delhi Government towards young persons as against the minimum Legal age of Drinking in different states is creating a disparity for adverse consequences and encouraging disdain for the law" said the petitioner.

The petitioner said it leads to discrimination against residents of Capital Territory of Delhi compared to other citizens of India living in different states where the legal age of drinking is less than 25 years.

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Friday that India should play an important role in ensuring the safe repatriation of the Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar.

Addressing a gathering at the newly-inaugurated Bangladesh Bhavan here, Prime Minister Hasina said her government had provided humanitarian support to the Rohingyas while calling for international help to ensure that Myanmar takes back the refugees back to their country safely.

"Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh. We have given them a place on humanitarian grounds. We want them to return to their country as early as possible. I request you to help us to interact with Myanmar so that they take Rohingyas back," she said.

It may be recalled that in August last year, over 700,000 Rohingyas fled a brutal military campaign in Myanmar's Rakhine state and are currently languishing in Bangladeshi refugee camps, most of them being concentrated in Cox's Bazar. The refugees have also accused security forces of committing mass killings and sexual assaults.

Both Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed on a repatriation plan to ensure the safety and security of the Rohingyas back to their country within a specified time frame.

Recalling the Liberation War of 1971, she invoked former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was instrumental in securing the complete independence of Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan) from then West Pakistan (present-day Pakistan).

Prime Minister Hasina lambasted the erstwhile West Pakistan's "oppressive" rule over Bangladesh claiming that its forces had suppressed the cultural heritage of the Bengalis and Rabindra Sangeet (Tagore Songs) was banned in the country.

She added that when the Pakistani forces were committing genocide on the people of Bangladesh, Gandhi had intervened in the middle and ensured that the Pakistani forces did not succeed.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister also called prominent poet Rabindranath Tagore a "great" as he composed two anthems for India (Jana Gana Mana) and Bangladesh (Aamar Shonar Bangla - or My Golden Bengal).

"Rabindranath Tagore belongs to both the countries because he has written the anthems of both the nations. He wrote most of his poems in Bangladesh and that is why we can claim a greater right over him," Prime Minister Hasina further said.

Thanking India's opposition parties for passing the landmark Land Boundary Agreement in the Parliament, Prime Minister Hasina said it gave an option to every citizen to become a proud Indian or a proud Bangladeshi.

Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Hasina inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan earlier on Friday to symbolically highlight the warm bilateral cultural ties between the two countries.

The inauguration of Bangladesh Bhavan inside the Vishwa Bharti University complex took place in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Bangladesh Bhavan features a museum that showcases renowned poet Rabindranath Tagore's association with that country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.

It has been built at a cost of Rs. 25 crore, which was provided by the Bangladesh government. A fund of Rs. 10 crore would be given to help maintain the museum premises.

Prime Minister Hasina, who is on a two-day visit to India, on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, was received by Banerjee.

As per reports, both Prime Ministers will hold a bilateral meeting.

Prime Minister Hasina will return to Bangladesh on Saturday night.

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Make way for actress Maika Monroe as something really big is in the pipeline for her.

The 'Independence Day: Resurgence' fame star has been roped in for Shia LaBeouf's meta-biopic, 'Honey Boy', as per The Hollywood Reporter.

Monroe will play an aspiring actress named Sandra.

Directed by Alma Har'el and co-written by LaBeouf, 'Honey Boy' will depict the story of the 31-year-old actor's relationship with his father at two different stages in his life: as a young boy starting out as an actor and a young man with a burgeoning career.

LaBeouf is playing his own father at both stages of the story.

The report further said that LaBeouf, and Lucas Hedges and Noah Jupe, who are playing the 'Transformers' actor at different ages, have already started shooting for the indie drama.

The cast also include Natasha Lyonne, Martin Starr, Byron Bowers and Laura San Giacomo.

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North Korea on Friday said that its leader Kim Jong-un is still willing to meet United States President Donald Trump "at any time and in any way," after the latter abruptly cancelled their historic June 12 summit.

Kim Kye Gwan, a top official at North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said in comments published on Friday by the country's state-run media KCNA that Trump's decision runs counter to the global community's wishes for peace on the Korean Peninsula, CNN reported.

"We reiterate to the US that we are willing to sit face to face at any time and in any way," said Kim Kye Gwan.

Donald Trump, who cancelled the upcoming summit with North Korea on Thursday, said that calling it off is a lost opportunity for the latter and the

According to local media, during remarks at the White House, Trump termed the summit's cancellation a 'tremendous setback' for the North Koreans and the alike.

"The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history," Trump said in a letter to Kim Jong-un.

As per a release by the White House on May 24, United States President Donald Trump blamed the 'hostility' and anger displayed by North Korea regarding the US-South Korea Max military drills for calling off the summit.

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, l feel it is inappropriate at this time to have this long-planned meeting," Donald Trump said.

Trump further took a dig at Kim Jong-un by saying that "You talk about your nuclear capabilities. But ours are so massive and powerful that l pray to God they will never have to be used".

He further extended his gratitude towards Kim for releasing three US prisoners Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong-Chul who were held captive on charges of espionage or for doing "hostile acts" against the North Korean government.

"I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated," Trump added.

He further said that "If you change your mind having to do with this summit, don't hesitate", as referred to canceling of the summit as a missed opportunity.

Earlier on Thursday, it was reported that Kim had threatened to back off from the summit following the military drills as he was quoted by Fox News saying, the United States doesn't stop committing 'unlawful and outrageous acts'.

Earlier on May 23, Donald Trump had said that the fate of the planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would be decided next week.

The two leaders were expected to discuss denuclearisation of North Korea in the now-cancelled summit.

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday said the Boao Forum was not an appropriate platform to discuss Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed with Chinese officials.

Abbasi said the matter wasn't discussed even before his participation in Boao Forum last month, Geo News reported.

Earlier, it was speculated that Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Boao Forum summit had suggested transferring Saeed to some other country.

Saeed is the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Ten Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed to Mumbai in November 2008 from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks that killed 166 people and injured over 300.

The case is now in its 10th year, but Pakistan is yet to punish any of the suspects.

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HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, India's third largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, launched its AI enabled Chatbot 'DIA' on Google Assistant, which enables the users to access the service through the Google Home device. DIA will also be available to customers with mobile devices in which the Google Assistant application can be installed. Through this launch, 'DIA' will now be accessible 24/7 to a wider audience providing instant solutions to their queries related to general insurance, thereby delivering superior customer service experience.

Post the successful launch of DIA on Amazon Alexa, this new development by HDFC ERGO will offer customers a more intuitive way to interact with the company. Also, since the beginning of the year, the usage of Google Assistant has tripled in the country, allowing the company to spread its wings wide and reach out to the consumers to demystify general insurance, through a simple voice command - "Ok Google, Talk to HDFC ERGO".

Ritesh Kumar, MD and CEO, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company said, "At HDFC ERGO, the customer is at the core of all that we do and hence we are always exploring new trends and opportunities to ensure we reach out and offer the best experience possible. Leveraging newer platforms, like Google Assistant, to help provide customers with richer experiences and simplified solutions therefore, becomes imperative for us. The integration 'DIA' with Google Assistant is a step in this direction to reach out to the large and wide spread audience who have mobile devices and engage with them to provide a 24/7 support for all their general insurance related queries."

The primary mode of interaction will be through voice, but input through the devices keyboard is also supported on the Assistant. Using this approach, the Google Home device searches the internet for the information requested, through the Assistant. Customers using Google Home or any mobile device, with Google Assistant, can get access to enable the services from HDFC ERGO.

To enable this, customers must enable or install Google Assistant on their mobile phones. DIA will be available at your service on calling out the phrase "Ok Google, Talk to HDFC ERGO" or simply typing "Talk to HDFC ERGO". Customers can easily use DIA to locate the nearest network hospital, network garage or HDFC ERGO branches, understand the products offered by the Company and even get answers to various queries related to general insurance. It will also guide the customers on queries like "How long does it take to process claims?" or "How can I renew my policy?" or even get a response to complex questions on topic like Salvage, No Claim Bonus and so on.

HDFC ERGO understands the power of technology and integrating its AI enabled Chatbot, DIA on Google Assistant is a step ahead in simplifying things and taking customer experience to the next level. With time, more services will be enabled and made available on Google Assistant to raise the bar of customer service experience.

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A study recently conducted found that Pneumonia patients who are obese and overweight are 20-30 percent less likely to die than patients of a normal weight.

The study, conducted by the European Association for the Study of Obesity, used the Nationwide Readmission database of the United States from 2013 to 2014 to identify patients hospitalised with pneumonia.

Use of mechanical ventilation was used to stratify pneumonia of different severity. Hospitalised pneumonia patients were categorised into normal (body mass index [BMI] under 25), overweight (BMI between 25 and 30), and obese (BMI over 30).

To minimise baseline differences between patients with different body weight, the authors carried out a technique call propensity score (PS)-matched analysis. PS contains 41 variables including demographics, social economic status, chronic comorbidities, and severity of pneumonia.

Patients were matched 1:1:1 using this technique across the three groups of normal weight, overweight and obese. The authors then used computer modelling on the PS-matched pairs to assess the association between body weight and 30-day in-hospital mortality.

A total of 1,690,760 pneumonia hospitalisation episodes fulfilled the inclusion criteria, of which 17,992 were overweight, 195,889 were obese, and 1,476,879 were normal weight.

Compared with normal weight patients without the use of a ventilator, overweight patients were 23 percent more likely to survive and obese patients 29 percent more likely to survive.

Similar results were obtained in the cohort of more serious pneumonia requiring the use of ventilator -- overweight and obese patients were 21 percent and 30 percent respectively more likely to survive than normal-weight patients (see table 1 full abstract).

"Using a large and nationally representative sample of over 1,000 hospitals in the US, we found that increase in body mass index was significantly associated with improved survival in patients hospitalised with pneumonia. We also found that severity and comorbidity burden had a modifying effect on survival," concluded the authors.

The study was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, Austria.

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Pakistan extended its heartfelt condolences to the family of deceased Sabika Sheikh who lost her life in the shooting incident at Santa Fe in southeastern Texas City of Santa Fe on May 17.

As per an official release by Pakistan's spokesperson on Friday, late 17-year-old Sheikh was studying at the Melbourne Polytechnic Institute Preston.

Sheikh was among the eight students and two teachers who were killed in the attack.

As per media reports, earlier on Wednesday, hundreds had gathered for Sheikh's last rites.

Further, the gunman was identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis who was later convicted of murder and aggravated assault.

The attack had intensified demands for stringent gun ownership controls across the United States.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan here on Friday to symbolically highlight the warm bilateral cultural ties between the two countries.

The inauguration of Bangladesh Bhavan inside the Vishwa Bharti University complex took place in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Bangladesh Bhavan features a museum that showcases renowned poet Rabindranath Tagore's association with that country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.

It has been built at a cost of Rs. 25 crores, which was provided by the Bangladesh government.

A fund of Rs. 10 crores would be given to help maintain the museum premises.

Reportedly, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will also be signed between Vishwa Bharati University and the Secondary and Higher Secondary Division of the Bangladesh education ministry.

Prime Minister Hasina, who is on a two-day visit to India, on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, was received by Banerjee.

As per reports, both Prime Ministers will hold a bilateral meeting.

Prime Minister Hasina will return to Bangladesh on Saturday night.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina arrived at Santiniketan to attend the convocation of Visva Bharati University.

Hasina, who is on a two-day visit on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi to India, was received by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The two leaders will now inaugurate the Bangladesh Bhavan within the campus here, as a symbol of the cultural ties between the two countries.

The Bangladesh Bhavan features a museum that showcases Rabindranath Tagore's association with the country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.

It was built at a cost of Rs 25 crore, which was provided by the Bangladesh government.

A fund of Rs 10 crore would be given to help maintain the museum premises.

Reportedly, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will also be signed between Visva-Bharati and the Secondary and Higher Secondary Division of the education ministry of Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Hasina is also scheduled to visit the Netaji Bhawan in Kolkata, the ancestral home of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

As per reports, both Prime Ministers will likely hold bilateral meetings.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister, Education Minister, and Cultural Affairs Minister will be accompanying Prime Minister Hasina, as per The Daily Star.

A formal meeting is expected to be conducted between the two Prime Ministers.

Prime Minister Hasina will return to Bangladesh on Saturday night.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Modi will proceed to Jharkhand's Sindri from Kolkata to lay the foundation stone of various projects of the Indian government and the state government.

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The ties between India and Taiwan have been on an all-time high and have become a great talking point in recent times. At the end of last year, India and Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to promote mutual industrial cooperation and the relations between the two countries are very cordial, especially as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen initiated the New Southbound Policy to strengthen Taiwan's exchanges with India.

Bilateral trade reached USD 4.7 billion from January to September last year, an increase of over 40 percent compared to the same period last year. India is now Taiwan's 18th-largest trade partner.

There are over 100 Taiwanese companies in India, with an investment of over 1.5 Billion USD. Taiwanese investments in India are in a number of areas including auto components and parts, chemicals, engineering, financial services, information and communication technology. Given its huge expertise in the fields of smart solutions, hardware manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, mine exploration, electronic manufacturing, logistics, automobiles, food processing and others, Taiwan has already been playing a vital role in the success of the Indian government's "Make in India," "Digital India" and "Skill India" initiatives.

In the light of this scenario, Taiwan has in the recent past been aggressively bringing multiple platforms and knowledge forums to exchange opportunities and knowledge sharing between the two countries. Recently leading Taiwanese brands like Advantech, HIWIN, MOXA and Tokuyo undertook an impressive initiative to share valuable knowledge with India over smart solutions.

Taiwan has the world's most advanced ICT capabilities which has made it a global leader in smart solutions. Several Taiwan-based companies are well known for the solutions they have created for various significant projects around the world. Taiwanese companies have been seeing great potential in expanding its trade association in the technology space in various sectors like for smart city, Pharma, agriculture, food, machineries, ICT etc.

At a recently held seminar on 'Smart Industry and Electronics Manufacturing', five award-winning Taiwanese brands presented their expertise in creating superlative smart IOT solutions. Advantech, the world leader in providing trusted innovative embedded and automation products and solutions, shared knowledge about its key initiatives for several IoT projects and the solution architecture it has provided to projects worldwide.

Among them was India's first automated traffic surveillance project and its intelligent chillers systems project. Also under discussion was Israel's iAgriculture project that covered Smart Agriculture Management Solutions enabling real-time data monitoring from all crop sensors in one easy-to use application. The company threw light on its expertise for Mexico's Livestock Management Smart project too as well as Turkey's IoT solution for its Airport Digital Signage project and another IoT project in China.

HIWIN Technologies Corp, a global manufacturer and distributor of Linear Motion Control product, shared information about its Smart risk prevention design in HIWIN medical robots. It covered various topics including risk-based design and verification, Robotic Gait Training System, Robotic Endoscope Holder, HIWIN Robotic Endoscope Holder etc.

Moxa, a leading provider of edge connectivity, industrial computing, and network infrastructure solutions for enabling connectivity, spoke about different kinds of connectivity infrastructure solutions provided by the company. The company displayed facts about its pioneering new connectivity innovations that place real-world applications at the centre of its design thinking process. Moxa's solutions include smart rail, smart grid, intelligent transportation, factory automation, oil and gas, marine, and more.

Tokuyo Biotech Co Ltd shared knowledge about Smart Healthcare that involves IoT in healthcare which enables to achieve improved care for patients and providers. It covered various aspects including image management, visualisation, healthcare delivery system, population health management, financial management, healthcare asset tracking, patient flow analysis, a general IoT healthcare system etc.

QNAP Systems that is known for its high-quality network attached storage (NAS) and professional network video recorder (NVR) solutions spoke about some highly advanced network attached storage systems. It presented about its optimal solutions for smart homes, hybrid backup systems etc.

The seminar held on the sidelines of Taiwan Expo's first India edition was jointly organised by Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Federation of All India Information Technology Associations (FAIITA) and Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA). The seminar focused mainly on highlighting the strides made by the electronics industry in Taiwan and its advances in providing smart solutions.

Walter Yeh, President and CEO, TAITRA expressed happiness at the very encouraging response that the forum received from Indian industry bigwigs. Manish Sharma, Co-chairman, FICCI Electronics and White Goods Manufacturing Committee and President and CEO, Panasonic India Pvt Ltd discussed about the current Indian industry scenario. Sunil Vachani, Chairman, Dixon Technologies (India) Pvt Ltd, spoke on behalf of Indian industry. Pratap Padode, Executive Director, Smart Cities Council India, presented the Indian perspective on smart cities. Saket Kapur, General Secretary, FAIITA, gave an overview of smart technology in India.

"Several cities in Taiwan have been early smart solutions adopters. Many Taiwan based companies are already working with governments across the world to provide smart solutions in various areas ranging from increasing carbon usage efficiency to renewable energy and hardware solutions. Platforms like these are providing them with a great opportunity to showcase the various smart solutions they have effectively implemented in an array of areas," said Walter Yeh.

Taiwan Expo is considered to be an important milestone in the development of Taiwan's bilateral trade relations with its neighbouring countries. It was conceived as a result of the implementation of Taiwan's new southbound policy to create mutually beneficial partnerships with its southern neighbours.

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The Tamil Nadu Government on Friday submitted its report to the Ministry of Home Affairs in connection to the protest in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district against Sterlite Industries.

The Madras High Court earlier in the day asked Tamil Nadu Government to state the reason behind blocking the internet services in Thoothukudi district and demanded a reply on the same.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 60 injured in the police firing during a protest against the construction of a new smelter plant by Sterlite copper mining Industries in Thoothukudi.

Earlier, the NHRC had issued a notice to Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan and Director General of Police (DGP) T.K. Rajendran and sought a detailed reply from them within two weeks over the incident.

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The Turkish military neutralised six terrorists in northern Iraq on Friday.

As reported by the Anadolu Agency, the Turkish General took to his official Twitter account to inform that a military operation was carried out in Hakurk region which has been identified as a stronghold of militant group Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

In PKK's terror campaign against Turkey, which has lasted for more than three decades, over 40,000 people have been killed, including women and children.

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Highlighting the BJP-led government's commitment to make Assam safe from illegal immigrants, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday said, "the target for completion of sealing of Indo-Bangladesh border is December this year."

He told that the riverine areas along the borders will be will be sealed with non-physical barriers, and the one on land will be secured with smart fencing to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing over.

He further said that his government has been cracking down corruption, apart from preventing the inflow of illegal immigrants in the state.

On that note, Sonowal's government on Wednesday completed two years in the state.

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Dr Reddys Laboratories announced that its subsidiary, Promius Pharma LLC has filed a lawsuit for patent infringement in the United States District Court for Eastern District of Texas against Perrigo UK FINCO Limited Partnership, Perrigo Israel Pharmaceuticals, and Taro Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in response to two paragraph-IV notice letters received for its twice daily topical spray SERNIVO (betamethasone dipropionate, 0.05%) product.

Promius anticipates this lawsuit will trigger a 30 month stay of FDA approval of Perrigo's and Taro's ANDAs.

SERNIVO spray, 0.05% is protected by six Orange Book patents that expire in 2030. Promius will continue to vigorously defend its SERNIVO intellectual property rights against infringement wherever they are challenged

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The long-term outlook for the Asian thermal coal prices is improving, amid rising regional demand and falling mining investment, which partly reflects tighter environmental policies at banks, says Fitch Ratings. Mining companies in the region are likely to face less margin pressure than under our previous price assumptions, which, along with lower capex, could support deleveraging. However, there are more constraints on their ability to generate new revenue streams, while refinancing risks may also rise for smaller miners.

The current coal price of over USD100/tonne for Newcastle 6,000kcal - close to a five-year high - looks unsustainable, given rising supply in China and Indonesia. Chinese production increased by 3% to 3.4 billion tonnes in 2017, and the government has issued guidance to producers to increase output to 3.7 billion tonnes in 2018 to support power providers. Indonesian coal exports rose by 13% yoy in 1Q18 and are likely to increase further as producers respond to high margins.

However, falling coal mining investment suggests the long-term outlook for coal prices has turned less downbeat. The prolonged industry downturn from 2013 to 2016 has dampened mining firms' appetite for investment, particularly in low-margin ventures, while growing environmental concerns are affecting their funding options.

Fixed-asset investment in Chinese coal mining, for example, dropped by 50% to CNY265 billion in 2017.

Banks' increasing reluctance to fund fossil-fuel projects is likely to be a constraint on any recovery in coal investment. Many global and regional banks have toughened their stance on lending for coal mining, reflecting concerns about climate change and, in some cases, pressure from environmental groups. Financing for low-grade, greenfield mines, in particular, is becoming more costly and difficult to obtain, while small, inefficient and environmentally non-compliant coal companies are finding it harder to secure loans.

Regional supply could also be held back by policies in Indonesia - the world's biggest coal exporter - that will limit the amount of coal that leaves the country, as the government looks to meet growing domestic power demand. These policies have not had much impact on coal exports in recent years, as domestic demand failed to meet the government's expectation due to completion delays in power projects, but export curbs could start to bite as the state power company Perusahaan Listrik Negara and independent power producers add coal-fired capacity over the medium term.

Meanwhile, the commissioning of new coal-fired power plants elsewhere in emerging Asia will partly make up for declining Chinese imports. In many of these countries, electricity needs are more pressing than environmental concerns, so power plants have not faced the same financing challenges as mining projects.

Fitch's latest coal price assumptions, published in May 2018, have long-term prices of USD75/tonne for Newcastle 6,000kcal/kg grade coal beyond 2020, compared with our price assumption of USD67/tonne set in October 2017. We do not expect rating actions in Asia-Pacific following these revisions, as ratings of most Fitch-rated Indonesian coal miners are capped by their small scale, while ratings of Chinese miners are capped by the credit profiles of their parents.

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The stock is quoting at Rs 6603, up 4.58% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare Ltd is up 23.99% in last one year as compared to a 10.14% jump in NIFTY and a 11.93% jump in the Nifty FMCG index.

GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare Ltd is up for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 6603, up 4.58% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.51% on the day, quoting at 10567.85. The Sensex is at 34815.69, up 0.44%. GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare Ltd has gained around 11.06% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty FMCG index of which GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare Ltd is a constituent, has gained around 0.73% in last one month and is currently quoting at 28500.25, up 0.18% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 42789 shares today, compared to the daily average of 15028 shares in last one month.

The PE of the stock is 37.85 based on TTM earnings ending March 18.

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Hong Kong share market closed session down on Friday, 25 May 2018, as concerns about the historic US-North Korean summit dented risk sentiments. The Hang Seng Index fell by 0.56%, or 172.37 points, to 30,588.04, taking its weekly losses to 1.48%. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index lost 0.86%, or 104.87 points, to 12,047.75. Turnover increased to HK$93.6 billion from HK$89.9 billion on Thursday.

U.

S. President Donald Trump called off a June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility", and warned that the US military was ready in the event of any reckless acts by North Korea. Trump, in a letter to North Korea released by the White House, called off the June 12 summit, citing tremendous anger and open hostility in a recent statement by Pyongyang. The cancellation came even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site.

Adding to investor worries about a trade war, the Trump administration has launched a national security investigation into car and truck imports that could lead to new US tariffs similar to those imposed on imported steel and aluminum in March. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit China early next month for another round of talks amid ongoing trade frictions between the world's two largest economies.

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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday condemned the blast in an Indian restaurant in suburban Toronto, calling it as a "cowardly act of terrorism".

The blast left around 15 people injured at the 'Bombay Bhel' restaurant in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga in Canada on Thursday night.

Expressing pain and shock over the incident, Amarinder Singh said that the dastardly attack on innocent people was totally unjustifiable and unpardonable, and underscored the gravity of the problem of terrorism.

"The incident, which comes just a month after 10 pedestrians were mowed to death by a van driver in Toronto, had once again highlighted the global dimensions of terrorism, said the Chief Minister, adding that it showed that no nation was immune or safe from this menace.

Pointing out that he had raised the issue of the Canadian soil being increasingly used by radical forces with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the latter's India visit in February this year,he stressed that no country could afford to ignore the growing danger of terrorism except at their own peril.

The Chief Minister also appealed to the Central government to take up the issue of terrorism with the Canadian government so that the two countries could work in close coordination in the war against terror.

The Indian community in Canada is dominated by immigrants from Punjab.

--IANS

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Thousands of Android devices including those from manufacturers like ZTE, Archos and myPhone are being shipped with pre-installed malware globally including in India, global cyber-security company Avast claimed on Friday.

A majority of these Android devices are not certified by Google and carry an adware that goes by the name "Cosiloon" and creates an overlay to display an advertisement over a webpage within the user's browser, said a report prepared by Avast Threat Labs.

The report said it has found such adware pre-installed on several hundreds of Android models.

"Thousands of users are affected and in the past month alone, Avast Threat Labs has seen the latest version of the adware on around 18,000 devices belonging to Avast users located in more than 100 countries, including Russia, Italy, Germany, India, Mexico, the UK as well as some users in the US," the company said in a statement.

The adware which was previously described by Dr Web (a Russian IT-security solutions vendor) has been active for at least three years and is difficult to remove as it is installed at the firmware level and uses strong obfuscation.

The Avast Threat Labs said it was in touch with tech giant Google and the latter has taken steps to mitigate the malicious capabilities of many app variants on several models, using internally developed techniques.

Google has reached out to firmware developers to bring awareness to these concerns and encouraged them to take steps to address the issue, it added.

"Malicious apps can, unfortunately, be installed on firmware level before they are shipped to customers, probably without the manufacturer's knowledge," said Nikolaos Chrysaidos, Head of Mobile Threat Intelligence and Security at Avast.

According to the report, it is not clear how the adware got onto the devices.

The malware authors kept updating the control server with new payloads. Manufacturers also continued to ship new devices with the pre-installed dropper.

"Some anti-virus apps report the payloads, but the dropper will install them right back again and the dropper itself can't be removed, so the device will forever have a method allowing an unknown party to install any application they want on it," the report informed.

Users can find the dropper in their settings (named "CrashService", "ImeMess" or "Terminal" with generic Android icon), and can click the "disable" button on the app's page, if available (depending on the Android version).

This will deactivate the dropper and once Avast removes the payload, it will not return again, the company said.

--IANS

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The thunder of helicopter breaks early morning silence as mountaineer Arjun Vajpai lands in this eastern Nepal village after scaling Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak.

Vajpai has become the youngest person in the world to have scaled six peaks above 8,000 metres.

The 24-year-old achieved the feat on May 20, after a gruelling climb that saw him battle the changing weather patterns and depletion of his oxygen supply near the summit.

He did not feel scared during the arduous journey that posed risks of avalanches, falling rocks and crevasses.

The feat has special significance for Vajpai as he rates the climb to 8,586-metre Kanchenjunga as "technically" the toughest of his high mountain ascents so far, including the Mount Everest.

The young mountaineer has come back to Kanchenjunga base camp after scaling the peak and had been waiting for his father retired Colonel Sanjiv Vajpai, who eventually could reach him and bring him down to Chairam in a challenging helicopter sortie on Thursday.

Arjun Vajpai intends to become the youngest person in the world to scale all 14 above 8,000 metre-peaks. The next mountain on his list is Shishapangma (8,013 metres) in Nyalam County, Tibet.

Describing the 15 minutes he spent on the third highest peak in the world at the Kanchenjunga summit, Vajpai said it was "a very beautiful feeling".

"That's the place I feel like being at. That's the place I am running to be at through the year. So when I am on the summit, it is feeling of 100 per cent content. I have no desire, no dreams, no unrest from within," Vajpai told IANS.

He scaled Kanchenjunga at 8.05 a.m. (IST) on May 20, and said he was surprised by the summit push from Camp 4 as it was "up, up and up".

"Generally on a mountain there are places you can take off your back pack. On this particular summit push, after Camp 4 (about 7,400m) there is no place where you can probably take out your back pack. There is no place where you can probably rest. That was intriguing and after a point got annoying, exhausting."

He said the peak was not visible from about 8,300m and it looked the summit push would never end.

"The trek was just unending. My feet had gone cold. It was 12-13 hours of continuous climbing," Vajpai said, adding that a thought came if he should keep going ahead or return.

He said the final summit ridge is very long and entails crossing the width of the mountain. "And that was another very big challenge."

Arjun Vajpai's desire to become a mountaineer arose when he, as a young child, went with his grandparents to Sahyadri ranges and saw the setting sun.

He went for basic and advance mountaineering courses in 2009 and scaled Mount Everest (8,848m) the next year. In 2011, he scaled Lhotse (8,516m)and Manaslu (8,156m).

The next four years did not see any success and he had near death experience during expedition to Cho Oyu (8,201m) in 2012 when his left side was paralysed.

After recovering he attempted to scale Makalu (8,481m) in 2013 and again in 2014 but had to return from relatively small distances from the peak.

He finally scaled both Makalu and Cho Oyu in 2016. Vajpai, who does his prayers during the climb, had attempted to scale Kanchenjunga in 2017 also but could not reach the summit due to tough weather conditions.

He said coordination between sherpas and climbing members was much better in 2018 and though the weather conditions were bad initially, things finally fell into place.

His moment of euphoria during the climb, that began from Kathmandu on April 4, was seeing Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu together from outside his tent at Camp 4.

"I saw the three mountains on the horizon of the earth. And that moment, I had flash of memory of my journeys. I felt how far we had come in this journey. How far had we survived. How far had we all dreamt. How big can dreams be. How much they can motivate you. How far they can push you to be here."

The beverage brand Mountain Dew has been partnering with Vajpai since 2016.

Naseeb Puri, Director Mountain Dew, Pepsico India, who was at Tseram to receive the mountaineer, said they take his journey as also of many others to the masses to inspire youth to achieve the extraordinary.

"We strive to inspire the youth to conquer real mountain -- the one that resides in each one of us. The Risk Takers of India platform showcases real life heroes," she said.

Tseram village is at an elevation of 3,870m and is about 1,500m below the Kanchenjunga advanced base camp.

Vajpai's next aim is to scale a peak above 8,000 meters without taking supplementary oxygen.

(Prashant Sood was in Nepal at the invitation of Mountain Dew. He can be contacted at prashat.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's nearly six-year refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London is "in jeopardy" as he faces possible arrest by British authorities and subsequent extradition to the US, a media report said.

Assange has in the past claimed his position in the embassy was under threat but his current situation is "unusually bad" and he could leave the embassy "any day now", informed sources told CNN on Thursday.

"He will be forced out or made to feel so restricted that he might choose to leave on his own," the sources said.

Earlier this year, the Ecuadorian government cut off Assange's access to the internet, making it virtually impossible for him to manage WikiLeaks.

He has also had his access to visitors severely restricted. Assange is now only allowed to see his lawyers, who said their phones are jammed while they are inside the embassy.

British authorities have said that they would issue a warrant for Assange's arrest if he were to leave the embassy, CNN reported.

He faces charges in the UK for breach of bail for failing to surrender for extradition to Sweden, despite the fact that Sweden stopped investigating an allegation of rape against Assange in 2017.

Swedish prosecutors however, maintain the right to resume the investigation if Assange leaves the embassy.

The US has prepared charges to seek the arrest of Assange, who US intelligence agencies believe Russia used as an intermediary to distribute hacked emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

Ecuador's President, Lenin Moreno, is under increasing pressure from the US to expel Assange.

--IANS

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The Netherlands and Australia on Friday declared Russia responsible for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane over rebel-held territory in Ukraine, an announcement that came a day after Dutch investigators said the missile and the launch system used in the attack belonged to a Russian military brigade.

Flight MH17 was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014 when it was struck by a Buk ground-to-air missile, which caused the aircraft to explode and disintegrate in mid-air. All 298 people on board were killed.

The decision was announced in a statement from the Dutch government and by Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, the BBC reported.

"On the basis of the (joint international team's) conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17," Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said.

"The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable."

Russia, however, denied any involvement in the plane's destruction. Moscow's Defence Ministry said it "rejects the version of the Dutch investigators". It previously insisted that none of its weapons were used to bring down MH17.

"Not a single anti-aircraft missile system of the Russian Armed Forces has ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border... This is an example of baseless accusations aimed at discrediting our country in the eyes of the international community," the Ministry said.

On the Australian side, Bishop wrote: "The only conclusion we can reasonably now draw is that Russia was directly involved in the downing of MH17."

Australia and the Netherlands asked Russia to enter talks as a first step, but held out the prospect of taking the case to an international court.

"We call on Russia to accept its responsibility and cooperate fully with the process to establish the truth and achieve justice for the victims of flight MH17 and their next of kin," Blok said.

Meanwhile, Malaysia said that it was determined to "prosecute those responsible" for the downing and "resolved to seek justice for the victims".

The statement came a day after a Dutch-led international team of investigators said it was "convinced" that the Buk missile system used to bring down the plane came from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian Army from Kursk, near the Ukrainian border.

--IANS

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A suspected killer and one of Britains most wanted fugitives has been placed on a global most wanted list after more than two years on the run, a media report said on Friday.

Shane O'Brien, 30, is alleged to have killed 21-year-old Josh Hanson in an unprovoked knife attack in a bar in Hillingdon in west London in October 2015, reports the Guardian.

He has now been placed on Interpol's worldwide most wanted list and there is a 50,000 pounds ($66,760) reward for information leading to his arrest and prosecution.

O'Brien left the UK on a privately chartered flight from Biggin Hill airport shortly after the attack.

Since fleeing the UK, he is thought to have lived in the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates before returning to Europe, authorities said.

It emerged that he was arrested in Prague in early 2017 on suspicion of criminal damage and assault before he was released on bail.

The police said he has been travelling "extensively" and there were reported sightings in Gibraltar (Spain), Nice (France) and Prague.

He is also on the National Crime Agency's most wanted list.

--IANS

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China on Friday said Pyongyang's move to dismantle its nuclear test site reflected its intent to ease the tensions in the Korean peninsula and hoped that the US moves in a positive direction, a day after American President Donald Trump called off his scheduled summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

China also brushed aside Trump's insinuation that a sudden change in the North's attitude -- from soft to belligerent -- had to do with Beijing's influence on Pyongyang.

It urged both the countries to be patient and move in the positive direction and said the matter was between them and Beijing had a limited role in it.

"China's position on this issue is consistent and clear-cut. We believe that as a party concerned to the issue, the DPRK-US summit can play a role in promoting the denuclearization of the peninsula," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.

"Under the current circumstances, we hope both DPRK and the US can cherish the recent positive progress, stay patient, demonstrate goodwill, move in the same direction, continue to stay committed to promote the denuclearization of the peninsula and resolve the legitimate concerns through dialogue and consultation."

On Thursday, Trump took the world by surprise by announcing to cancel the one-on-one meet with Kim in Singapore next month after hectic parleys and a flurry of diplomatic activities. He blamed Pyongyang's renewed "hostility" for his move.

The decision came hours after the North scrapped its nuclear test site, with the international media recording the event.

"From the TV, we can see that the DPRK has taken concrete measures to dismantle its nuclear test site. China welcomes it as an important step... It is of positive significance.... worth acknowledging and encouraging," Lu said.

"We hope relevant parties can continue to move in the same direction and stay committed to the dialogue and consultation to promote the denuclearization and political settlement of the peninsula issue," Lu added.

After announcing the shock move, Trump hinted Beijing's role in the North's hardened stand.

In the run-up to the summit, Kim's government had threatened to pull out of the summit as it said it felt heavily pressured because of the US demand that Pyongyang destroys its nuclear arsenal to receive the economic benefits.

Prior to this, North Korea cancelled its meet with the South in the wake of military drill between Seoul and Washington.

"Our position remains unchanged... When holding talks with the DPRK and the US, China has always stated our position in this regard," Lu said, responding to a question about Beijing's role in influencing the North.

"At the same time, we have also said that political settlement of the issue call on all relevant parties especially the parties directly concerned to move in the same direction and demonstrate goodwill."

--IANS

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Congress legislator K.R. Ramesh Kumar was on Friday elected unopposed as the Karnataka Assembly Speaker, pro tem Speaker K.G. Bopaiah announced.

Congress legislative party leader Siddaramaiah proposed Ramesh Kumar's name for the Speaker's post, which was seconded by Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara.

"(The) Congress legislator is elected unopposed as Speaker of the Assembly," said Bopaiah on the floor of the hung Assembly.

Ramesh Kumar was elected the Speaker after the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) senior legislator S. Suresh Kumar withdrew his nomination for the Speaker's post minutes before the Assembly session began.

The 68-year-old Congress legislator is a six-time MLA who won the May Assembly election from Srinivaspur in Kolar district.

Ramesh Kumar has been elected the Speaker for a second time after his first term when Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda was the Chief Minister (1994-96).

He was also the Health and Family Welfare Minister in former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's cabinet.

--IANS

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The key Indian equity indices traded in the positive territory on Friday afternoon supported by heavy buying activity in auto, oil and gas and IT stocks.

However, weakness in the global markets after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the planned talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, limited the gains on the Indian indices.

At 12.06 p.m., the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded at 10,566.35 points, up 52.50 points or 0.50 per cent from the previous close of 10,513.85 points.

Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had opened at 34,753.47 points, traded at 34,837.24 points (12.06 p.m.) -- up 174.13 points or 0.50 per cent -- from its previous session's close of 34,663.11 points.

The Sensex has so far touched a high of 34,869.60 and a low of 34,700.52 points. The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,348 advances and 959 declines so far.

So far, the major gainers on the BSE were Tata Steel, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Infosys and Yes Bank while State Bank of India (SBI), ITC, Coal India, Adani Ports and HDFC were the major losers.

On the NSE, the top gainers were Hindalco Industries, GAIL and Bajaj Finserv. The major losers were Vedanta, SBI and Bajaj Infratel.

--IANS

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The long-awaited General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that gives citizens in the European Union (EU) more rights to control their privacy came into effect on Friday -- a move that should inspire other countries, including India, to protect individuals' digital rights.

While the EU regulations give individuals greater control over how their data is being collected, processed and used, violations of the norms can cost companies a fortune -- either 20 million Euros or four per cent of annual turnover.

Any company in the world having operations in the European Union is liable to comply with the new regulation.

"The EU has been very proactive about protecting consumers' rights. We would like to see more countries like China and India come forward and make strong laws like GDPR to secure individuals' privacy," Shane Wall, Chief Technology Officer at the global printing and PC major HP, told IANS.

In India, the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment last year declared privacy a fundamental right. This set the government in motion to take steps to bring a new data protection legislation for the country, the draft of which is expected in a few months.

According to the nation's leading cyber law expert Pavan Duggal, India should not cut-paste any other country's law as it has to deal with a different set of problems.

"India's social realities are entirely different. The country has to deal with the huge issue of Aadhaar which is reeling under variety of cyber attacks because we have failed to apply cyber security as an integral part of the Aadhaar architecture," Duggal told IANS.

According to him, India's approach has to be based from its soil and the country must strive for data localisation.

At a time when several technology companies have come under the scanner for misuse of personal data of users, the new EU legislation, passed in April 2016, is seen as an attempt by the lawmakers to restrict the powers of the technology companies.

But the technology companies are not the only ones that deal with data. The regulations will impact all the sectors of the economy, including banking and finance that collect and use user data.

The reverberations of this ground-breaking legislation are set to be felt across the world as rampant data breaches and misuse of personal data for driving corporate profit become increasingly unacceptable.

The new regulations give the users of tech companies the right to see what information about them is being collected and also have it deleted if they wish so.

It also makes it mandatory for companies to tell all affected users about any data breach, and inform the overseeing authority within 72 hours, according to a BBC report.

Major technology companies have said that they are ready to comply with the GDPR rules.

According to Michelle Dennedy, Chief Privacy Officer, Cisco, the digital economy can only flourish when you connect people, process, data and things in an ethical, meaningful and secure way.

"That includes creating an environment in which everyone can easily do business and know their data is safeguarded," Dennedy told IANS, adding that they are committed to help customers and partners by protecting and respecting personal data, no matter where it is from or where it flows.

Microsoft this week announced that it will extend the core rights guaranteed under the new regulations to all of its customers worldwide.

According to Rana Gupta, Vice President-APAC Sales, Identity and Data Protection at digital security firm Gemalto, "we will continue to see tightening of the regulatory environment with respect to data privacy and enforcement of penalties on firms as well as fiduciary officers in the wake of data breaches resulting out of inadequate protection measures."

In order to be compliant, a business must begin introducing the correct security protocols in their journey to reaching GDPR compliance, including encryption, two-factor authentication and key management strategies to avoid severe legal, financial and reputational consequences, Gupta suggested.

--IANS

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Four people, including three policemen and a civilian, have been injured after militants hurled a grenade at a police vehicle here in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

According to the police, militants lobbed the grenade at the police vehicle near Jammu bus stand around 11 p.m. on Thursday in which Station House Officer Rajesh Jasrotia, driver Arjun Kumar, Constable Shah Israr and a civilian, Jagdev Raj, were injured.

All the injured were rushed to S.M.G.S. hospital.

The area was cordoned off but the militants managed to escape, police said.

The attack takes places at a time when the security forces in the state have halted their operations against militants as a goodwill gesture during the holy month of Ramadan.

--IANS

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The General Data Protection Regulation -- better known as GDPR -- that gives citizens of the European Union (EU) more rights to control their personal information comes into effect from Friday.

With the new regulations in force, companies working in the EU -- or any association or club -- must now get express consent to collect personal information, or face hefty fines, the BBC reported.

At a time when several technology companies have come under the scanner for misuse of personal data of users, the new EU legislation, passed in April 2016, is seen as an attempt by the European lawmakers to restrict the powers of the technology companies.

The new regulations give the users of tech companies the right to see what information about them are being collected and also have them deleted if they wish so.

It also makes mandatory for companies to tell all affected users about any data breach, and inform the overseeing authority within 72 hours, the BBC report said.

To ensure that companies in the EU comply with the GDPR rules, EU member states must set up supervisory authorities which will work in a coordinated manner.

Major technology companies have said that they are ready to comply with the GDPR rules.

Microsoft this week announced that it will extend the core rights guaranteed under the new regulations to all of its customers worldwide.

"GDPR is an important step forward for privacy rights in Europe and around the world, and we've been enthusiastic supporters of GDPR since it was first proposed in 2012," Julie Brill, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.

"That's why... we are announcing that we will extend the rights that are at the heart of GDPR to all of our consumer customers worldwide," Brill added.

"Known as Data Subject Rights, they include the right to know what data we collect about you, to correct that data, to delete it and even to take it somewhere else. Our privacy dashboard gives users the tools they need to take control of their data," she said.

Facebook said it was committed to transparency and providing people with control over how their data is used.

"Starting this week, we're asking everyone on Facebook to review important information about privacy and how to control their experience," Erin Egan, Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer said in a statement.

Twitter also updated its privacy policies ahead of the GDPR coming into effect.

--IANS

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Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to the police in Manhattan on Friday on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him, according to law enforcement officials.

The New York Times reported that the charges follow multiple accusations against him that led women around the world to come forward with accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men, leading to the #MeToo movement.

Ahead of his arrest, Weinstein is more concerned about his family than himself.

"Harvey will abide by standard legal protocol and in the meantime, he is staying true to his self-improvement recovery journey and relying on friends and family and his inner strength," a source told people.com.

"He still has his sense of humour and is more concerned about everyone else before himself, especially his family," the source added.

Investigators in Manhattan are preparing to place the mogul, 66, under arrest on Friday following a lengthy investigation into the allegations.

According to variety.com, the Manhattan District Attorney's office is expected to charge Weinstein with at least one case. The New York Times and the New York Daily News reported the case would involve allegations that he forced Lucia Evans to perform oral sex during an audition in 2004.

As per sources, a grand jury was convened weeks ago to hear the evidence against Weinstein, reports people.com.

Weinstein is known for producing movies like "Shakespeare In Love", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Shall We Dance?" and "Lion".

--IANS

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Without mentioning the contentious Teesta issue, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday hoped that the two countries will be able to resolve all their problems amicably.

"We always want to walk together as neighbours. There can be issues between neighbouring countries," Hasina said after inaugurating the Bangladesh Bhavan here with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present.

"We have resolved many issues. Maybe there are a few left. I don't want to raise the issue and spoil this beautiful function. But I do hope whatever the problem is, it can be solved amicably," she said.

Hasina's remarks came a day after Bangladesh Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor reiterated that the Modi government does not have any objection to the Teesta water sharing treaty.

Besides the Teesta issue, there are several other bilateral issues including the trade imbalance, rail and water connectivity.

Claiming that a water sharing deal on Teesta river with Bangladesh may jeopardise the daily lives of residents in northern West Bengal, Banerjee has said she would have no problems in providing water to Dhaka provided the Centre was ready to look at "suitable alternatives".

Banerjee has suggested that the two countries carry out a study on tapping water of rivers like Torsa, Dharla and Mansai.

In September 2011, Banerjee had embarrassed then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by pulling out of his delegation to Bangladesh over the water sharing agreement, forcing India to drop it from the agenda.

Incidentally, Hasina, during her visit to India in 2017, had said that a resolution of the long-pending Teesta water sharing issue would transform bilateral ties with India.

Banerjee and Hasina are slated to meet in Kolkata on Saturday but the former on Thursday ruled out any discussions on the Teesta issue.

--IANS

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The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Delhi government's response on a plea seeking to minimise the legal age drinking -- currently 25 -- in the national capital.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar listed the matter for October 9.

The plea was filed by social activist Kush Kalra through his counsel Charu Walikhanna who sought to minimise legal drinking age in Delhi while focusing on responsible consumption and responsible sale of alcohol in the city.

The petitioner has sought quashing of Section 23 of Delhi Excise Act which prescribes 25 years as legal age of drinking in the national capital and said discriminated against the residents of Delhi.

He mentioned the legal drinking age of other state like Sikkim, where it is 18 and Goa - 21.

"It is a well-settled principle of law that when there is equality and uniformity within each group, the law will not be condemned as discriminative.

"However, the huge variations as practised by the Delhi government towards young persons as against the minimum legal age of drinking in different states is creating disparity with potential for adverse consequences and encouraging disdain for the law," the petitioner said.

He also sought directions to the Delhi government to conduct awareness programmes on responsible consumption of alcohol among college and school-going students by including it in the curriculum.

--IANS

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An engineer working with HCL Technology Ltd in Noida has been kidnapped for ransom, police said on Friday.

The police said that Rajiv Kumar, a resident of Ghaziabad, did not reach his home till late in the night on Thursday. His wife received a text message from the abductors, demanding Rs 15 lakh as ransom in order to free him.

They warned her not to inform the police and threatened to kill her husband if she did.

But the distraught wife did lodge a complaint with the police, who assured her that her husband would be rescued safely.

"We hope to nab the criminals soon," said police officer Atish Kumar Singh.

--IANS

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The Indian Premier League (IPL) has become one of the largest sporting extravaganza in the world with the search volume for keyword "IPL" being 1.8 million, according to a study conducted by SEMrush, a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and search analytics software.

The software provides intelligence data, including website traffic information, keywords projected AdWords spend, and other SEO-related data.

The SEMrush's research, which digs into the online user behaviour of 192 million viewers, has come up with this data.

The keyword "IPL" has more than 22,520,00 related keywords. While the IPL keyword volume in April 2017 was 823,000, in April 2018, it has risen to 1.8 million, said a statement.

"When it comes to big-ticket events like IPL, marketeers get only one chance to create a campaign that perfectly targets their audience in the context of that event. This means, they should rely on hard data more than intuition when developing creatives and crafting the right brand message.

"Data lets us analyse what worked in the past, as well as upcoming trends, and gives us a better shot at connecting with customers," said Rohan Ayyar, Regional Marketing Manger- India, SEMrush.

--IANS

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Following a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Friday, a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official expressed hope about saving the landmark Iranian nuclear deal after the US' recent exit, media reports said.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that he is "more confident about preserving the nuclear deal" after the talks with five other parties to the deal on Friday, Xinhua reported.

"In the meeting all the member states in JCPOA unanimously expressed their commitments to the deal," Araqchi was quoted as saying.

They also regretted the US withdrawal from the deal and announced their determination to adopt measures to preserve Iran's interests as well as normalizing economic ties with Iran, he said.

Iran is waiting for the measures by Europe, Russia and China to safeguard his country's interests under the historic deal after the US withdrawal, Araqchi was quoted as saying.

Over the next weeks, the negotiations will continue at different levels, and the Islamic republic will then decide whether to stay in the 2015 nuclear deal, said the Iranian diplomat.

On Friday, Araqchi met his counterparts from Europe, Russia and China to discuss the future of nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

--IANS

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Rome, May 25 (IANS/AKI) Luigi Di Maio, leader of Italy's populist Five-Star Movement on Friday claimed that talks on a cabinet with far-right League party leader Matteo Salvini and premier designate Giuseppe Conte were "going very well".

"The talks have gone very well. There is total synergy!" Di Maio told reporters at the parliament.

"We are working rapidly to ensure a government of change takes office as soon as possible.

"There is a lot of unity," Di Maio added.

"Conte, Salvini and I understand each other straight away," he said, declining to comment on alleged 'dikats' and vetos during the ongoing cabinet negotiations.

Conte, Di Maio and Salvini were on Friday hammering out the list of proposed ministers that Conte is due to present to Mattarella for his approval.

Italy has been in political limbo since the inconclusive March 4 national polls in which populist parties made strong gains but no single political force won a outright parliamentary majority.

Five-Star is the biggest party while the centre-right alliance led by Salvini is the largest political bloc. Mattarella on Wednesday invited Conte - Salvini and Di Maio's pick of Prime Minister - to try and form a government.

--IANS/AKI

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"Mi Gente" hitmaker J Balvin has unveiled his new album titled "Vibras".

"I've had a clear idea about this album title from the moment we saw 'Mi Gente' start to connect with audiences around the world, wanting to create more tracks that fused global beats and rhythms with a combination of old-school and refined reggaeton in order to create a sound all people could vibe with," J Balvin said in a statement to IANS.

"That feeling of connecting with the sound of our culture, then opens the door for more people to understand what we have to say with our language."

Jose Alvaro Osorio Balvin, better known as multiple Latin Grammy winner J Balvin, hails from Colombia.

He has a distinctive style of his own that pays respect to the first-wave of reggaeton stars from Puerto Rico, but fused with additional Colombian and mainstream hip-hop rhythms, more seductive than boastful lyrics, and a strong passion for fashion.

J Balvin has also become one of Latin music's most in-demand collaborators, having now worked with artistes such as Beyonce Knowles, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, Liam Payne, Nicky Jam, Pharrell Williams and Ariana Grande.

--IANS

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Universal Pictures India's "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", which was scheduled to release on June 8 in India, will now open a day before.

The film is all set to now release in India on June 7. The second instalment of the "Jurassic World" series will open on Thursday in more than 2300 screens, two weeks before its US release date, read a statement to IANS.

It will clash with superstar Rajinikanth's "Kaala".

"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" will release in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

In the film, directed by J.A. Bayona, stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will reprise their roles from "Jurassic World" as Owen and Claire, respectively. Actor Jeff Goldblum will returns as Dr. Ian Malcolm.

The film begins three years ahead of the previous film where the theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. The island Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles.

--IANS

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The Karnataka government led by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday won the confidence motion with a voice vote in the new Assembly after opposition BJP members walked out ahead of the floor test.

"The confidence motion has been put to vote and won by a voice vote in favour of Kumaraswamy," declared newly elected Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar.

The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)-Congress coalition government won the floor test as 116 members voiced their favour for the confidence motion.

After addressing the members and replying to an emotional speech by opposition Bharatiya Janata Party leader B.S. Yeddyurappa, Kumaraswamy moved the motion, saying "I seek the support of this house to the confidence motion".

Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar then put the motion to vote, which was backed by 116 members, including 36 of the JD-S, 77 of the Congress and one each of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janata Party and an Independent through voice.

Speaker Kumar did not vote.

As the 104 members of the BJP walked out before the floor test, Kumar declared that Kumaraswamy had won the motion by 116 voice votes with none against.

Though the Assembly strength is 225, including one nominated member, elections were held on May 12 in 222 constituencies only, which threw up a hung house, with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party with 104 seats.

--IANS

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After a series of legal and government battles, Maharashtra woman police officer Lalita Salve on Friday underwent a successful sex-change surgery to become a policeman.

The sex-change operation was conducted for over four hours by leading plastic surgeon Rajat Kapoor and his six-member team at the St. George Hospital here.

Salve, who has already taken the new name Lalit Kumar, was admitted to the hospital on May 22 and underwent a series of pre-surgery tests and procedures.

She was wheeled into the operation theatre around 8 a.m. and after the surgery, he was brought into the ICU where he will remain for the next few days.

An official of the St. George Hospital, declining to be identified, said that this was the first such "complex and ultra-sensitive" operation for changing the sex of an adult person, conducted in this leading government healthcare facility.

"All his vital parameters are normal, he is currently under observation and will not be allowed to meet with anyone for at least three days. He is likely to remain in hospital for around a week and then discharged," the official told IANS.

The former woman official, Salve, 28, had joined the Maharashtra Police in May 2010 and was posted in Majalgaon City Police Station in Beed district.

A graduate in Literature, she had developed transsexual gender symptoms around three years ago and in 2016, had even taken her seniors into confidence about her agony and plans for a sex-change operation.

However, since her trauma went unheeded, she later made an application for a sex reassignment surgery (SRS) which was declared as "strange" and rejected outright by her superiors.

Undaunted, she filed a plea before the Bombay High Court which directed her to Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, and even appealed to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Finally, in November 2017, Fadnavis seemed inclined to favour her cause which had wide ramifications on the issue of gender equality, discrimination and rights of sexual minorities, and asked the Police Department to consider her plea.

The CMO directed the Home Department to examine her case positively, which in turn forwarded it to Law & Judiciary Department, and then on to the Director General of Police, followed by Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil.

After Patil's green signal last Monday, the final clearance came in writing from the government with the Superintendent of Police, Beed, G. Shreedhar allowing her medical leave for SRS.

Salve, now a male officer, is expected to resume his duties after around a month of post-operative care and recuperation.

This much-debated case has set an unusual precedent in Maharashtra where the state bowed before the wishes of a serving government official to undergo a sex-change surgery, surmounting many odds at various levels.

--IANS

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The army on Friday ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major L. Gogoi who was detained along with a local girl by police for questioning from a hotel here this week.

"Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles regarding an incident that occurred on May 23.

"If found guilty, appropriate action would be taken against him," Defence Ministry spokesman, Col Rajesh Kalia told IANS here.

Sources also told IANS that Gogai's commanding officer is being shifted out for alleged lack of command and control over his subordinates.

They also said that Gogoi has been taken off from field duties and attached to headquarters till the completion of the inquiry.

Replying to questions on this incident, Army chief, Gen. Bipin Rawat said that the officer would face "exemplary" punishment, if found involved in any unlawful act.

--IANS

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BJP President Amit Shah on Friday said that the Modi government has worked for every section of the society and none can accuse it of being either anti-farmer or anti-industrialist.

"This is the government of farmers as well as of the industrialists. It has ended any debate on how the same government can work both for farmers and also help the industries to flourish," Shah told the media here.

He was meeting journalists ahead of the Modi government's fourth year anniversary on May 26. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government had strengthened the democratic set up in the country.

"In 2014, the people of the country had started thinking that the multi-party democracy system is a failure here. But the BJP has proved it wrong as it ran the government properly and reposed their faith in the multi-party system," he said.

"In the last four years, this government has changed the image of the country globally."

On the occasion, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave a power point presentation on the government's achievements.

--IANS

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The Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh on Friday discussed a number of bilateral issues, including security and politics, in the sylvan surroundings of the Visva-Bharati University here founded by Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore - the composer of both countries' national anthems.

The half-hour talks were preceded by two events - the 49th convocation of the university, as also the inauguration of the Bangladesh Bhawan on its campus by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina.

The two leaders, accompanied by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, spent over three hours at this campus housing the university and located in Birbhum sub-division of West Bengal's Birbhum district, 160 km from Kolkata.

Modi set the tone for the talks during his address at the inauguration of the Bhawan, when he remarked that the two countries have scripted the golden chapter in their relations over the past few years.

He mentioned the Land Boundary Agreement and the resolution of the sea border dispute, saying "complex bilateral issues which seemed impossible to be resolved even some time back, have been solved now. In roads, rail, waterways, coastal shipping, we are moving fast in the areas of connectivity."

On the other hand, Hasina paid glowing tributes to India, and its then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for its role during her Bangladesh's liberation struggle, and the shelter that she provided to her after the assassination of her father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - the leader of the Bangladesh liberation war and first president of independent Bangladesh.

She also expressed happiness over the two countries implementing the LBA, after the Indian parliament "unanimously passed the bill concerned", and thanked Modi and Banerjee.

Asked about the talks at the Bangladesh Bhawan after the inauguration ceremony, a Bangladesh minister said bilateral issues were discussed.

"I was not there when they held the talks. But, suffice to say bilateral issues, issues related to regional security and were discussed," said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam.

On Hasina seeking cooperation from everybody to put pressure on Myanmar to take back the 1.1 million Rohingya refugees, who have taken shelter in Bangladesh, he said his country was on the "same page" with India on the issue.

Alam referred to the assurances from Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during her visit to Myanmar and said "she articulated India's views so that the Rohingya refugees could return safely and in a dignified manner".

He said track two dialogue was on regarding the Teesta water sharing issue.

Earlier, during her speech at the Bangladesh Bhawan, Hasina did not mention the contentious Teesta water sharing issue, but hoped that the two countries will be able to resolve all their problems amicably.

"We always want to walk together as neighbours. There can be issues between neighbouring countries," she said in the presence of Banerjee, known for her firm opposition to the treaty.

"We have resolved many issues. Maybe there are a few left. I don't want to raise the issue and spoil this beautiful function. But I do hope whatever the problem is, it can be solved amicably," Hasina said.

Both Modi and Hasina repeatedly referred to the shared cultural ties between the two nations, with Tagore coming up repeatedly in their speeches.

Modi thanked Hasina for building the Bangladesh Bhavan here, and said India on its part was renovating the Kuthibari - the house of Tagore - in Kushthia district of Bangladesh.

Praising Hasina and the people of Bangladesh "from my heart", Modi referred to the country launching its first satellite 'Bangabandhu'.

He said India was now using space technology to improve the standard of living of the poor and introduce more transparency and exuded confidence the sector will open new vistas of cooperation with Bangladesh.

Averring that the constant connect between him and Hasina was giving a further momentum to the bilateral relations, Modi also referred to challenges like climate change.

"Climate change is before us, if the burning sun is a challenge for us it can also be of advantage to us. PM Hasina has come up with a vision of 'power for all' by 2021, while in India we have set up a target of electricity to every home by next year."

Comparing the journey of development of the two countries to a beautiful garland with which both are attached, Modi said: "In the last few years the eternal truth emerged before us is that the friendship between India and Bangladesh is must for progress, prosperity, peace and stability, happiness and cooperation."

Banerjee expressed her government's desire to build a Bangabandhu Bhavan in the memory of Mujibur Rahman.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday laid foundation stones for projects worth over Rs 27,000 crore in Jharkhand, including the Sindri urea plant.

The Sindri urea plant in Dhanbad district of the state had been shut 16 years ago.

"The urea plants of Sindri, Baruni (Bihar) and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh will help in the second agriculture revolution in the eastern India," Modi said addressing the gathering at Sindri.

Modi also laid the foundation stone for a 750-bed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and an airport in Deoghar district.

"People of eastern India have to go to New Delhi for AIIMS treatment. Now we are opening AIIMS here, so that people can avail the same treatment here," the Prime Minister said.

While laying stone for a gas pipeline project in Ranchi, he said: "After Ranchi, the gas will be supplied to the 70 districts of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal through pipeline."

Modi also laid online the foundation stone for 800mwx5 super thermal power plants in Patratu of Ramgarh district. This is a joint venture between Patratu Thermal Power Plant Station and National Thermal Power Plant.

In the first phase, three units of 800mw each will be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 18,668 crore. The project is envisaged to be completed by 2021-2022.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted the Central government's commitment towards revitalising the educational infrastructure and boost an innovative mindset among students.

Addressing the 49th convocation of the Visva-Bharati University here, Modi said Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was still a global citizen and recalled his vision for

"During my foreign visits, I have witnessed how people there fondly remember their association with Tagore and his visits. Tagore was, and even to this day, continues to be a global citizen," said Modi, also the Chancellor of the university built by Tagore in Bolpur sub-division in West Bengal's Birbhum district.

"Gurudev used to believe every human being is here with a distinct aim and plays a very significant role in enabling him or her to achieve that target. That is why, he used to say is not just only which is imparted in schools," said Modi.

"He wanted the students to learn about how things are happening across the world, how people live in foreign countries, their social values and cultural ethos. But at the same time, he also wanted people to retain their Indian-ness," said the Prime Minister.

Talking about his own vision of a new India by 2022, Modi detailed his government's commitment in building up the country's educational infrastructure.

The Prime Minister said "125 crore Indians have resolved to build a new India by 2022 and eminent institutions like these have a major role to play. Such institutions provide new energy, new directions to the youth".

He said the Central government will be spending Rs 1 lakh crore in the next four years under Revitalising of Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE), a scheme to shore up educational facilities.

"Besides spending Rs 1 lakh crore under RISE for strengthening the education system, the government has initiated the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) with Rs 1,000 crore investment to give a major push for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions," he said.

An initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), HEFA would be formed as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) within a public sector undertaking (PSU) bank/government-owned Non Banking Financial Company.

He also said 2,400 schools have been identified under the Atal Tinkering Labs to promote an innovative mindset among young students.

Atal Tinkering Labs are dedicated work spaces where students (Class 6-12) learn innovation skills and develop ideas. The labs are powered to acquaint students with the state-of-the-art equipment such as 3D printers, robotics and electronics development tools, Internet of Things (IoT) and sensors.

The lab activities are designed to light the spark of creativity, and go beyond regular curriculum and text book learning.

Modi, along with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, also inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan within the campus. It features a museum that showcases Tagore's association with the country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.

"Rarely do you see two Prime Ministers attending a convocation," said Modi, pointing towards Hasina.

"India and Bangladesh are two nations but are linked through cooperation and coordination. Be it culture or public policy, we can learn much from each other. The example of that is Bangladesh Bhavan," added Modi.

Reminding students about Tagore's immortal song "Ekla Cholo Re", Modi exhorted them to make efforts towards nation building.

--IANS

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A North Korean minister said on Friday that Pyongyang was still willing to talk with Washington, in response to US President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to pull out of his planned summit with Kim Jong-un.

"We would like to make known to the US side once again that we have the intent to sit (and) solve problem regardless of ways at any time," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan as saying.

North Korea's response came hours after Trump announced his surprise decision to withdraw from his summit with Kim Jong-un set for June 12, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The Vice Foreign Minister said the US' decision to cancel the talks demonstrates the extent of the animosity between Pyongyang and Washington.

He said a summit between the leaders of the two countries is desperately needed to resolve the hostile relations.

He added that the North Korean leader has made all-out efforts to prepare for the summit with the US, saying his meeting with Trump will serve as a good start.

"The US side's unilateral announcement of the cancellation of the summit makes us think over if we were truly right to have made efforts for it and to have opted for the new path," he said.

The minister emphasized that the North remains open to talks with the US.

"We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the U.S. side time and opportunity," he said.

In a publicly disclosed letter to the North Korean leader, Trump said on Thursday night that the cancellation was due to the "tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement".

Trump apparently pointed to the remarks by Choe Son-hui earlier on Thursday in which the North's vice foreign minister lambasted US Vice President Mike Pence for bringing up a Libya-style approach in ridding the North of its nuclear programme and threatened to walk away from the summit.

Choe also said the summit's future was "entirely dependent" upon Washington.

Last week, Pyongyang threatened to pull out of the summit due to the White House's pressure to impose a "unilateral" denuclearisation model, while Trump had spoken on Tuesday of a possible postponement.

The Singapore summit would have been the first meeting between a US president and a North Korean leader in the almost seven decades since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

--IANS

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World No.1 Rafael Nadal said on Friday that the absence of Switzerland's Roger Federer from French Open did not detract from what could become his 11th title at Roland Garros.

For the second year in a row, Federer opted to quit the entire clay season, where Nadal is always the favorite, to focus on grass court-play, which kicks off in June, reports Efe.

"It (a possible victory) would be the same, whether Roger was there or not," Nadal said at a press conference prior to Roland Garros, which begins on May 27.

Nadal stressed that Federer's absence was "bad news for the tournament, not for me."

The 16-time Grand Slam champion said he was aware of the danger his first-round rival Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine could pose, despite having a 7-2 lead in their head-to-head record.

--IANS

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A wide range of books and scholarly readings on Mahatma Gandhi will be published by the India office of Oxford University Press (OUP) to mark his 150th birth anniversary.

The publisher informed IANS that a series of new books will be commissioned, acclaimed old titles re-published, and online contests as well as giveaways will be used to promote these books, and create a deeper understanding about Gandhi. Some of them will also explore "newer angles" on the man, widely hailed as India's Father of the Nation.

"Gandhi is one figure who has his share of admirers and detractors. For all that he stood for, he is a political icon that cannot be ignored -- the icon who made the world sit up and notice. We are very excited about bringing new writings on the unexplored aspects of Gandhi. The fresh perspectives will help people across generations to see Gandhi in a new light," said Sugata Ghosh, Director, Academic India, OUP.

The initiative, the publisher said, will encourage discussions around Gandhi's socio-political contribution to India and the world. They will also highlight his inspiring intellectual legacy and create a space for both his followers and critics.

The series of books on Gandhi are timed to coincide with the celebrations around Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary and is a year-long exercise that will culminate on October 2, 2019.

The books on Gandhi will be made available in both print and digital formats. In addition, under OUP's Indian Languages Publishing Programme, some of these books will also be made available in Hindi and Bengali.

A department of the University of Oxford, Oxford University Press (OUP) is a leading publisher globally and its India office is fast setting a benchmark for scholarly and academic offerings.

--IANS

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Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja on Friday said that things were under control vis-a-vis the containment of Nipah virus and that the WHO had stepped in to help the coastal state.

"There need be no fear or panic as just one patient tested positive out of 22 samples send for testing in the past two days. All other cases reported negative. Things are under control," Shailaja told the media here.

She said that the World Health Organisation had helped procure medicines from Australia to treat Nipah virus patients.

"The first batch of 50 doses of medicines have already arrived and will be given to patients undergoing treatment," the Minister said.

"All arrangements are in place to take care of medical professionals engaged in treating the patients. WHO officials have complimented the Health Department for being able to identify Nipah virus cases very quickly," Shailaja added.

The Nipah virus affected Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, where around 200 patients suffering from fever have been kept under observation.

Nipah virus is transmitted to humans through infected fruit bats, pigs or other Nipah-infected persons.

--IANS

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Pakistan on Friday said it was expecting India to release 54 Pakistanis who had completed their prison term but were still languishing in various Indian jails.

Foreign Office spokesperson Muhammad Faisal told the media that it should be done to reciprocate a friendly gesture Pakistan extended towards India earlier.

He said the government was also waiting for India to respond to humanitarian proposals with regard to the exchange of prisoners above 60 and below 18 years of age.

"Pakistan has made positive gestures on the humanitarian track vis-a-vis India, as reflected in the release of civilian prisoners, fishermen and the facilitation of visits of pilgrims to religious shrines. We expect our friendly gestures to be reciprocated," Faisal said.

--IANS

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Following the failure of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the opposition to reach a consensus on the name of a caretaker Prime Minister, the issue will now be sent to a parliamentary committee for deliberations, it emerged on Friday.

Following the cancellation of a meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the opposition leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah on Thursday, the latter told reporters in his chamber on Friday that there would be no more meetings between the two leaders on the issue, Dawn news reported.

According to Shah, the PML-N had backed off from its earlier stance on the names for a caretaker Prime Minister.

"Initially, the PPP was willing to nominate retired judges for the caretaker post but the PML-N insisted that retired judges should not be nominated for the post, so we changed our mind and nominated Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani," he said.

The ruling party, however, later changed its stance and insisted on the names of retired judges, said Shah.

The opposition leader said that he will be leaving for his hometown in the evening and will return on Monday, after which he will send the two proposed names to the National Assembly speaker.

He said he will also write a letter to the Prime Minister, apprising him about the Pakistan Peoples Party's reservations.

The term of the present government expires on May 31, after which the caretaker set-up will be put in place to hold elections which are expected to be held in July.

In an earlier meeting, Abbasi and Shah had agreed that they would not disclose the names of their respective nominees for the office of caretaker till the last moment in order to avoid "controversies" over the names.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already warned that if the government and the opposition failed to reach an agreement on the name of a caretaker Prime Minister, a bipartisan committee of lawmakers will be created to resolve the matter.

If that committee is also unsuccessful, the matter will be referred to the ECP, which will then pick a name of its own choosing.

--IANS

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Friday that Pakistan has violated the ceasefire with impunity during the holy month of Ramadan resulting in loss of precious lives during the month of prayer and penance.

The Chief Minister visited families in R.S. Pura sector of Jammu district to condole the deaths of their kith and kin in recent shelling by Pakistan Rangers.

"What Pakistan has been doing during the holy month of Ramadan is becoming increasingly intolerable. It has been violating the ceasefire when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared a ceasefire in respect to the holy month.

"It appears that despite being a Muslim country, Pakistan has scant respect for the holy month which Muslims spend in prayer and penance".

She said the ceasefire agreement signed in November 2003 between India and Pakistan had brought in a modicum of normalcy in the lives of thousands of residents of border areas on both sides of the border.

"But, that atmosphere of peace and tranquillity has been shattered because of frequent ceasefire violations by Pakistan", the Chief Minister said.

State Public Health Engineering Minister Sham Choudhary and Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Javed Mustafa Mir accompanied the Chief Minister during her border visit.

--IANS

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"Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran", Starring John Abraham, Boman Irani, Anuja Sathe, Diana Penty; Directed by Abhishek Sharma; Rating: **(2 stars).

If good intentions made good cinema then every propaganda film by films division would be a classic. In the absence of a hefty grip and a budget to rev up the key sequences pertaining to the historical nucleur explosions "Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran" ends up more as a fable of one man's heroism than the saga of a nation that woke up to a nuclear dawn.

The facts are twisted into commercial shapes including a flash point button-on-the-fingertip climax where the film's editor runs with breathless bravado from pillar to post trying to keep the audiences' interest alive.

But all in vainm, Parmanu is like a promised havoc that never goes beyond a wound-up whimper, the film's opening shows the bureaucrat-hero Ashwat Rana (John Abraham, starchy and imperturbable) grappling with a roomful of bored colleagues who are more interested in the samosas than Ashwat's plans to nucleurize Apna Bharat Mahaan.

It's an opening paying a direct homage to Shimit Amin's "Chak De".

Throughout John Abraham remains in character, implacably committed to the mission even if it means pissing off his wife (played by Anuja Sathe who was excellent just recently in Blackmail, what happened here???) and even if America gets on the wrong side.

"America" is imagined with outrageous tackiness, a bunch of Caucasians (probably tourists picked from Gateway Of India) sitting in front obsolete computers monitoring India's nuclear movements, that's Uncle Sam watching.

The computers and one antiquated celphone are just about the sum-total of period references that work in the film. The film gets its Mahabharat sinfully wrong, firstly, the serial by B. R. Chopra shown being aired in 1998 when the serial was on Doordarshan until 1990, names of the five Pandavas are used as code names for John and his four colleagues thrown at the vortex of the Pokhran deserts even if it means pissing off the entire government machinery.

With one man (Boman Irani) from the PM's office supporting Ashwat Rana's mission India's nuclear prospects have nothing to fear.

With John Abraham playing the rebellious anti-establishment hero helbent on doing right no matter what the cost, the film reads more like a Hollywood cops thriller than a faithful chronicle of India's nuclear makeover in the deserts of Pokhran.

While sections of the film get unbearably jingoistic, towards midpoint the plot gets absurdly 'espionaged'.

An immoral spy (who is the film's most interesting character) from Pakistan named Sajjan snoops into our hero's hotel room in Pokhran, plants an eavesdropping device and gets Ashwat's wife to suspect him of infidelity.

It all seems highly improbable and manipulated, by all means, honour the country with flag-waving films, but at least make sure that the film does not prove unworthy of its nationalistic aspirations.

--IANS

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Film: "Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran"; Director: Abhishek Sharma; Cast: John Abraham, Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Anuja Sathe, Aditya Hitkari, Mark Bennington, Yogendra Tikku, Vikas Kumar, Ajay Shankar, Darshan Pandya; Rating: ***

"Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran", is dedicated to all the unsung heroes -- engineers, scientists and soldiers, who helped our nation make a mark in the war of nuclear supremacy.

The film is rousing and entertaining, and you get your money's worth, as it gives you an insight into how India achieved becoming a global nuclear superpower. It is definitely an untold story that is sincerely presented.

The narrative begins with informing us that after the disseverment of the USSR, and faced with the dilemma of tackling other superpowers and Pakistan's close association with the US, we had no choice but to conduct the nuclear weapon detonation at Pokhran, a remote location in the Thar Desert region.

The core action takes place in 1998 after a failed attempt in 1995 when Himanshu Shukla (Boman Irani) the Principal Secretary of the then Prime Minister, calls upon Ashwat Raina (John Abraham), a disgruntled and disappointed IAS officer to assist him in this endeavour.

In fact, in 1995, while working in the Research and Development Ministry, Ashwat had put forth his radical views of conducting the nuclear test. But due to politics and red tapeism, he was side tracked and the mission failed.

How Ashwat puts up a team of diligent workers and executes the mission in total secrecy, forms the crux of the narrative.

While the film has its fair share of drama, there are no moments that sweep you off your feet. Even the patriotic card that plays to perfection at the end makes one uncomfortable as you root for the unsung heroes with some trepidation. Your logical mind is torn between patriotism and leaving a legacy for the future generation -- being a superpower at what cost?

Those raised on summer action films, too will find this disappointing as there is minimal action in fact, only one fisti-cuff scene and a chase that ends in a humourous manner at the police station.

John Abraham stars, in a powerful and effective performance as Ashwat Raina. He puts forth a sincere performance and does well in group scenes, but fails to rise above the basics when the camera focuses on him solely.

He is aptly supported by Anuja Sathe as his wife; Diana Penty as Ambalika Bandhopadhyay in charge of security; Aditya Hitkari as Dr. Viraf Wadia from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC); Yogendra Tikku as Dr. Naresh Sinha from Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO); Vikas Kumar as Army Major Prem Singh and Ajay Shankar as Puru Ranganathan from ISA.

The others who also make their presence felt are Darshan Pandya as the Pakistani spy and Mark Bennington as his American counterpart. They are all effectively perfunctory.

Technically the film is well-mounted with excellent production values. The songs, "Shubh Din", "Jitni Dafa", and "Thare Vaaste" are snuggly fit into the narrative.

The cinematography by Zubin Mistry is striking. He captures the locales, action and scenes competently. And his live action scenes are meshed effortlessly with the stock news reels and the background-score by the editing team.

Overall, the film is worth a watch for the unsung heroes of the tale.

(Troy Ribeiro can be reached at troyribeiro@yahoo.com)

--IANS

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Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan on Friday a began hunger strike, demanding the Andhra Pradesh government to find a solution to the kidney disease in Uddanam region of Srikakulam district.

The Jana Sena chief launched the hunger strike at the place where he is staying in Etcherla mandal (block) of Srikakulam district at 5 p.m. He will continue the fast at Srikakulam town amid people.

Jana Sena leaders said the hunger strike would continue till 5 p.m. on Saturday. Leaders of the Left parties will also call on Pawan to express their solidarity with his fast.

Pawan, who is currently on a state-wide tour, had earlier demanded that the state government find a solution the problem in 48-hours, failing which he will go on hunger strike. He has said that Chandrababu Naidu government is not interested in solving people's problems and it is focused only on their votes.

The actor said that the Uddanam problem was taken to the notice of the government but it had failed to respond to the situation.

Leaders and activists of Jana Sena will observe fast in Vijayawada to express support to their leader's protest. The party is demanding that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government take immediate steps to safeguard the health of affected people.

Jana Sena has urged the government to immediately set up a research centre to find out the reasons for high incidence of kidney ailments in Uddanam.

Stating that the Sri Lankan President is personally monitoring the areas affected by kidney diseases, the party is demanding that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu focus on Uddanam. It is also demanding that Naidu immediately appoint a Health Minister.

Pawan had visited Uddanam in January last year and had set two-day deadline for the government to spell out how it proposed to help the victims.

He had later met Naidu on the issue and expressed his satisfaction over the measures announced by him. Jana Sena chief now said the state government tried to wash its hands off by starting only three dialysis centres.

Pawan claimed that over 20,000 people of all age groups have died of chronic kidney diseases in the region during the last two decades.

He said lakhs were affected with this chronic kidney disease known as 'Uddanam Nephropathy' and alleged that successive governments could not address this issue effectively.

--IANS

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Malaysian police have uncovered $29 million in cash from a property linked to ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak as part of their investigation into the state investment company 1MDB corruption scandal, while 37 bags of jewellery, watches and gold bars seized are yet to be valued.

Police Commissioner Amar Singh said on Friday that it had taken 22 bank officers two days to count the cash, which was in 26 different currencies -- mainly Malaysian ringgit, US dollars and Singapore dollars, the Guardian reported.

The cash was stuffed in 35 out of 72 bags that were found during a search last week of an unoccupied apartment in Kuala Lumpur's affluent Pavilion Residences building, thought to be linked to Najib. "We had a search warrant for this empty premise where we found all these goods," said Singh.

Two hundred and eighty four boxes containing designer handbags were also seized while the 37 other bags, which Singh confirmed contained jewellery, watches and other valuable items, were still being authenticated and valued by police.

Police did not confirm who owned the property, saying only that the raid was part of the 1MDB investigation. It appeared no one was living in the apartment and it was being used just as a storeroom with the bags of money and jewellery and boxes of handbags stashed together in a corner.

Twelve locations had been searched in relation to the reopened probe into the 1MDB scandal, the state investment fund from which Najib is accused of siphoning off billions of dollars. Over $4 billion was embezzled from the government fund and spent around the world.

The sum of $681m from the fund is reported to have ended up in Najib's personal bank account. He gave testimony earlier this week to the Malaysian anti-corruption commission about this transaction and his involvement in the fund.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing.

Police also raided homes of his son Nor Ashman and daughter Nooryana Najwa, who also live in Pavilion Residences condominiums. Another 150 handbags and shoes were found from the former Prime Minister daughter's home.

Both Najib and UMNO, the political party that Najib led before his election loss, claimed that the cash in the former leader's home was campaign funds being transferred to new party leadership.

--IANS

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The Indian Army on Friday ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi who was detained along with a Kashmiri woman from a Srinagar hotel this week.

"The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles regarding an incident that occurred on May 23.

"If found guilty, appropriate action would be taken against him," Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia told IANS in Srinagar.

The probe was announced after Army chief General Bipin Rawat said Gogoi will be given "exemplary punishment" if he was found guilty of violating rules.

"If Major Gogoi has done anything wrong I assure you that he will be severely punished and I will give such punishment that it will become a precedent,'' General Rawat told the reporters in Pahalgham.

"If anyone in the Indian Army, at any rank, does any wrong and it comes to our notice, then strictest action will be taken. If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, then I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example."

Sources also told IANS that Gogoi's commanding officer was being shifted out for alleged lack of command and control over his subordinates.

They also said Gogoi, who was in the middle of a row when he tied a civilian to the bonnet of his vehicle in Kashmir last year, had been taken off from field duties and attached to headquarters till the completion of the inquiry.

Gogoi was briefly detained by the police after he was involved in a row with the staff of a hotel, where he had booked a room in his name online.

The woman and another man came to the hotel and wanted to go to Gogoi's room and got into an altercation with the hotel staff when they were not allowed inside.

The officer was later handed over to his unit in Budgam. The woman has recorded her statement before a magistrate.

The police is already conducting an investigation into the incident.

--IANS

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"Queer Eye" season two will launch globally in June.

It's been 15 years since the Emmy Award-winning series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" revolutionized reality television.

The series returned to Netflix in 2018 going global and introducing audiences around the world to a modern aesthetic, diverse perspective and a brand new Fab Five: Antoni Porowski (Food and Wine), Bobby Berk (Interior Design), Karamo Brown (Culture), Jonathan Van Ness (Grooming) and Tan France (Fashion).

This season, the Queer Eye Fab Five return to the Georgia heartland, forging connections with communities from a wide array of backgrounds and beliefs often contrary to their own, touching on everything from self-love and faith, to immigration and how to make the perfect homemade poke bowls and more.

It will premiere on Netflix on June 15, read a statement.

--IANS

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North Korea said on Friday that it is ready to sit down for talks with Washington anytime to solve problems between them, after the US side cancelled a planned summit with Pyongyang.

The North Korean side expressed regret over US President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the summit with Kim Jong Un, previously scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

Kim Kye Gwan also said that Trump's decision does not conform to the international community's aspiration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world.

Trump on Thursday sent a letter to Kim Jong Un, saying that their planned meeting will not happen.

--IANS

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Dozens of protesters took to the streets here on Friday following the cancellation of the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Around 100 people demonstrated near the US embassy in Seoul after Trump cancelled on Thursday the planned summit in Singapore with Kim.

The protesters, who came from three different groups, carried signs and placards criticising the US President's decision and urging the two adversaries to talk, Efe news reported.

Some signs read "No war yes peace" while one protester wore a large mask of Trump's face with notes attached to him that read in Korean "Talk now with North Korea/Apologize for cancelling the summit".

There were no reports of police intervention in the protests.

Trump and Kim had planned to hold a summit in Singapore on June 12 to discuss the possible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but the US President called off the meeting in a letter addressed to Kim.

In his letter, Trump said the meeting was "inappropriate" at this time because of North Korea's alleged "anger and open hostility".

The cancellation followed a period of rapprochement between North and South Korea, with one of the high points being the meeting of Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27 at the border village of Panmunjom.

Kim and Moon said they wanted to sign a peace treaty this year to end the technical state of war that has existed between the North and South since the Korean War of 1950-1953.

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Friday said the state governments across the country can allocate remaining seats in post graduate medical courses in private medical colleges on the basis of all-India NEET merit list.

A vacation bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Indu Malhotra also extended the applicability of its order passed for private unaided medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh to all the states.

"We appreciate the suggestion ... that similar dispensation can be followed in other states, if they so desire, while ensuring that the cut-off date of 31st May 2018 is strictly adhered to," the court said in its order on Friday.

Noting "peculiar situation" that 41.95 per cent of post-graduate medical seats in the private unaided medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh have remained vacant for the year 2018-2019, the court accepted the suggestion by Assistant Solicitor General (ASG) Pinki Anand that the state's Director General of Medical (DGME) be entrusted with the task to nominate candidates on the basis of all-India merit list.

The cut-off date for filling these seats was May 18.

Directing the Uttar Pradesh DGME to take immediate steps in this regard, in right earnest, the court said, "... In the larger public interest, Dr. K.K. Gupta, Director General of Medical Education, ... must take up the responsibility of allotting students from the all-India NEET merit list in order of merit to the respective colleges by 31st May 2018."

"We find this suggestion to be most appropriate and also assuages the grievance of the private medical colleges and opens up new opportunities for the aspiring candidates in the merit list who otherwise could not secure admission in other medical colleges," the order said.

Observing that the cut-off date of May 31 must be "adhered to in its letter and spirit", the court order said: "Be it noted, no request for extension of time for any reason whatsoever will be entertained hereafter."

The court made it clear that no candidate, who is already admitted in post graduate medical course, would be allowed to participate in this admission process as it would have a cascading affect on the seats that would be vacated by them.

"We make it clear that in the guise of recommending names of candidates to private colleges, the candidate who has already secured admission elsewhere cannot be permitted to resign from the college concerned to avail of the opportunity under the stated dispensation," the court said in its order.

The court also took on record the assurance by the Centre and the Medical Council of India (MCI) that its decision would be "forthwith published" in the official websites of the MCI, Medical Counselling Committee and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The court's order came on a petition by the Uttar Pradesh Unaided Medical Colleges Welfare Association.

Appearing for the MCI, counsel Gaurav Sharma said the situation had arisen because of high fee being charged by the private medical colleges.

---IANS

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NITI Aayog on Friday signed an agreement with actor Sushant Singh Rajput to support two of its initiatives -- the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and BHIM app.

WEP motivates aspiring women entrepreneurs to start their business. It provides them knowledge and ecosystem support for helping them foster entrepreneurship.

"As brand ambassador of WEP, which already includes over a 1,000 women entrepreneurs, this partnership will further drive our mission to establish a vibrant, enabling entrepreneurial ecosystem for the women of the country," said NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.

Sushant would also be supporting NITI Aayog in promoting the Women Transforming India Awards 2018, the theme for which is 'Women and Entrepreneurship' and whose nominations are currently ongoing.

BHIM is a payment app that lets users make simple and quick transactions using Unified Payments Interface.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday iterated that Nobel Laureate polymath Rabindranath Tagore's vision has shown the way in maintaining world peace.

"In maintaining world peace and cooperation, Tagore's vision has always shown us the way and will keep doing it always," Modi wrote in the visitor's book of Rabindra Bhavan, the museum of Visva-Bharati University.

Modi, accompanied by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, went round the Rabindra Bhavan.

The Prime Minister said he was extremely happy to visit the University, where he took the stage for the convocation ceremony.

This was Modi's first visit to Santiniketan -- the sprawling campus housing the university built by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bolpur sub-division of West Bengal's Birbhum district.

Ascribing his "good luck" in bringing him to the varsity, "the great creation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore", he said: "I wish that keeping up with the beliefs of Gurudev, where the upcoming generations learn about humanity and politeness in Shantiniketan, they should keep achieving their goals towards the process of nation-building endlessly.

"I hope the young minds being nurtured in the unleashing environment of Visva-Bharati will keep contributing towards the development of human beings," Modi wrote, expressing her "heartfelt devotion" for the bard.

--IANS

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Taiwan on Friday scrambled its fighter jets to monitor two Chinese bombers that flew very close to its territory, according to the Defence Ministry.

Two H-6 bombers passed through the Bashi Channel separating Taiwan and the Philippines earlier Friday and later flew around Taiwan through the Miyako Strait, near Okinawa, Efe news reported quoting a ministry statement as saying.

The Taiwanese jets closely followed the Chinese bombers and the situation was under control at all times, it added.

On Thursday, other Chinese military planes flew near the median line of the Taiwan Strait and similar incidents have occurred twice in the last 10 days, according to the Taiwanese military.

The actions by China come shortly after the island lost another diplomatic ally, Burkina Faso, on Thursday, following the break in ties with the Dominican Republic on May 1, taking to four the total number of allies that have broken ties with the island since President Tsai Ing-wen took office.

--IANS

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Automobile majors Toyota and Suzuki on Friday said they would commence discussion on possible joint vehicle production.

According to a joint statement, the automobile giants "agreed to start discussing new joint projects in the fields of technological development, vehicle production, and market development".

"After having concluded a memorandum of understanding toward business partnership on February 6, 2017, Toyota and Suzuki have been pursuing concrete forms of cooperation and have announced the mutual supply of vehicles for the Indian market and other joint efforts," the statement said.

"Meanwhile, the two companies have also been broadening the scope of their partnership considerations to include joint efforts related to production and market development."

As per the statement, Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation will discuss "Denso Corporation and Toyota to provide Suzuki with technological support for a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain to be developed by Suzuki" among other topics.

Commenting on the development Toyota President Akio Toyoda was quoted in the statement as saying: "Suzuki was the first (among Japanese companies) to enter India, and, together with the people of India, has been a presence for pulling forward India's automotive society."

"As members of Indian society, Toyota, along with Suzuki, will do its best to enhance freedom and fun in a future society of mobility and to make 'Make in India' vehicles cherished in Africa and in many other countries around the world."

Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki was quoted as saying: "Now, we will receive support for the development of a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency power-train that is vital to Suzuki, and we will focus our utmost efforts on development."

"It is my hope that the new joint projects will contribute to the future success of both companies, not only in India, but also in the global market."

--IANS

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US President Donald Trump said on Friday that a nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could still take place as scheduled on June 12, just one day after he cancelled it blaming Pyongyang's "open hostility".

"We'll see what happens. It could even be the 12th," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for the US Naval Academy to deliver a commencement address.

"They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it. We're going to see what happens," he was quoted as saying by the US media.

Earlier, North Korea issued a conciliatory statement in response to Trump's decision to scrap his meeting with Kim.

"We reiterate to the US that there is a willingness to sit down at any time, in any way, to solve the problem," said a top official at the North Korean Foreign Ministry.

Trump, in a morning tweet, hailed Pyongyang's statement, saying: "Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea."

"We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!"

Asked earlier whether the North Koreans were playing games, the US President acknowledged they were -- and suggested he was too, CNN reported.

"Everybody plays games. You know that," he said when asked about the ongoing talks. "You know that better than anybody."

Minutes before his Friday tweet, Trump claimed Democrats were "rooting" against his administration in its negotiations with North Korea.

"Democrats are so obviously rooting against us in our negotiations with North Korea... Dems have lost touch!"

He wrote a letter on Thursday to Kim informing him that their June 12 meeting in Singapore was off due to Pyongyang's "open hostility" towards Washington.

After the news the summit was called off, Democrats criticized Trump for the decision. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the cancelled summit was "a good thing for Kim Jong-un".

Republicans, however, hailed the President's action as a tough negotiating move.

Trump's comments fuelled the uncertainty and confusion surrounding his attempts to broker a nuclear agreement with North Korea.

A senior White House official said that it would be extremely difficult to hold the summit on the original date, especially because North Korea cut off contact with the US regarding planning and logistics.

"June 12 is in 10 minutes," the official said.

--IANS

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Veteran actor Robert De Niro did not ban the US President Donald Trump from his Nobu restaurants, the actor's representative has said amid contrary reports.

Last week, the Daily Mail had reported that at the Nobu Hotel Marbella launch, De Niro said of Trump: "I don't care what he likes. If he walked into a restaurant I was in, I'd walk out."

However, on Thursday, the actors' representative clarified that the reports were untrue, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

When The Daily Mail publication asked who De Niro's dream dinner guests would be, he allegedly replied that Trump would be stopped from entering the restaurants if he ever tried.

Japanese chef Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa, co-owner and co-founder of the Nobu restaurants with De Niro, then said: "It's my dream for Trump to sit next to Bob. To make them sushi!"

"Bob has not banned anyone from dining at Nobu," said the representative.

Regarding Daily Mail's story, the representation said: "I know what they wrote. No one is banned."

--IANS

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After directing NASA to return humans to the Moon, US President Donald Trump has now signed a new policy directive aimed at reforming America's commercial space regulatory framework.

Under the Space Policy Directive-2, signed on Thursday, Secretary of Transportation will have to work on transforming the licensing of commercial space flight launch and re-entry.

The directive prescribes a single license for all types of commercial space flight launch and re-entry operations and replacing prescriptive requirements in the process with performance-based criteria.

On December 11, 2017, Trump signed Space Policy Directive-1, instructing NASA to return American astronauts to the Moon, followed by human missions to Mars.

In a statement on Friday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the Space Policy Directive-2 is another step towards bolstering America's dedication to uncovering new knowledge and developing breakthrough technologies.

"A light but focused regulatory touch will help our industry partners provide the best and safest services for our nation and expedite their work. There are many innovative companies across this nation working hard to build a bright future in space, and our policies should help ensure their success on all fronts," Bridenstine said.

NASA said that as it shifts human exploration back to the Moon, US commercial partnerships will be a key to expediting missions and building a sustainable presence on the lunar surface.

The agency is orchestrating a robotic lunar campaign with a focus on growing commercial base of partnerships and activity that can support US science, technology, and exploration objectives.

NASA on Thursday said it is planning a series of robotic commercial delivery missions as early as 2019 ahead of a human return to the Moon.

These missions will deliver NASA instruments and technology to the surface of the Moon to conduct scientific experiments and prepare for human exploration.

--IANS

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Turkey will retaliate if the US suspends delivery of F-35 fighter jets, the country's Foreign Ministry warned on Friday.

A US Senate committee bill aiming to prevent Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets was "against the spirit of our alliance with the US", Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said.

"This is not a programme managed merely by the US. It's a multinational programme and we expect everybody to fulfil their obligations."

If the US takes such steps, "we will have to respond", the spokesman warned.

Aksoy also vowed protection of Turkey's firms following a decision by the US Treasury Department to impose sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies in a move targeting Iranian airlines.

On Thursday, a US Senate committee passed a bill to block Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 jets over its detention of the US priest Andrew Brunson. The bill also demanded steps against Turkey's agreement with Russia to buy S-400 surface-to-air missiles in December 2017.

Lockheed Martin was expected to deliver the first F-35 fighter jet to Turkey on June 21.

Turkey is scheduled to buy more than 100 F-35 fighter jets while negotiating with Washington over the purchase of Patriot missiles.

--IANS

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Two people were critically injured after a shooter fired at students on Friday in a middle school in the US state of Indiana, media reports said.

The shooting was reported shortly after 8 a.m. local time at Noblesville West Middle School. Noblesville is located north of the state capital Indianapolis, Xinhua reported.

According to police, one victim was a 13-year-old girl and the other wounded was an adult.

The situation is contained and the suspect is in custody. Police were reported to be on the scene, and the school was on lockdown.

A teacher inside the school said students were being moved to Noblesville High School.

--IANS

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Two persons, including one who visited Kerala recently, were admitted to hospitals here with suspected Nipah virus infection even as the Telangana health authorities have advised people to avoid visiting Kerala.

The Health Department officials are conducting a campaign to caution people against visiting Kerala, at least till the dreaded Nipah virus comes under control.

K. Shankar, director, Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) said on Friday that people should postpone their plans to visit Kerala in view of the situation here. He said people should avoid visiting affected areas.

Officials of Medical and Health Department also said that they were advising people not to visit Kerala at least till the situation comes under control.

The authorities are conducting campaigns in residential colonies to create awareness among people about Nipah virus and also to advise them against visiting Kerala.

They were also screening people at airport, railway and bus stations for suspected symptoms of the dreaded virus.

Telangana Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy said samples of two persons were sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. One of them returned from Kerala with suspected symptoms and he has been isolated at IPM.

Though the 25-year-old man did not visit the area which is affected by the virus, the authorities did not take any chances and sent his samples along that of another man, who is admitted to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) with rncephalitis.

The official said the test reports were expected in a day or two. He said there was no need for panic as the state had not recorded any confirmed case of Nipah virus.

The authorities have advised people to take all precautions. Rames Reddy said people should avoid eating cut fruits. The fruits and vegetables should be washed properly before using them. People were also advised to avoid pork as pigs are also suspected to be carriers of the virus.

--IANS

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Tripoli, May 25 (IANS/AKI) The United Nations mission in Libya on Friday strongly condemned the "ruthless" car bomb blast in the eastern city of Benghazi that killed at least seven people including a toddler, warning that such attacks are possible war crimes.

"This week has seen a series of ruthless attacks in Libya," the UNSMIL mission said in a statement.

"UNSMIL maintains that there is no justification whatsoever for such attacks, which may amount to war crimes, and that those who have organised and enabled this attack must be brought to justice and held to account."

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which targeted a populous residential area.

The car bomb exploded late Thursday behind the city's largest hotel, Tibetsi, on a busy market street selling mostly Syrian produce, and besides those killed, 20 other people were injured, Al-Jazeera reported.

"The Mission stands in solidarity with the people of Libya in resisting attempts to spread fear, intimidation and hatred," UNSMIL said, adding that it was committed to peace in the war-wracked country through a "Libyan-led" and "inclusive" political process.

A twin car bombing killed at least 35 people in Benghazi in January and left more than 50 others wounded. Ahmad al-Fituri, a security official for military strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces, was among those killed.

Forces loyal to Haftar took control of Benghazi in 2017, after a three-year campaign against rival armed groups. The fighting has left large areas of the port city in ruins.

The Tripoli-based Presidential Council and the eastern-based Tobruk parliament on Friday deplored the "cowardly" car bombing in the port city of Benghazi in which at least seven people died and 20 were injured.

The Presidential Council - which has the function of head of state in Libya - said such crimes "will increase the Libyan people's determination to fight throughout the country".

Benghazi city council also condemned the blast, which took place in a busy market street in a populous area of the city.

Authorities in eastern Libya said it was a "terrorist car bomb explosion carried out by sleeper cells," the Libyan Observer reported on its website. But the paper cited locals as saying the blast was caused by a quarrel between rival militants in which a hand-grenade was thrown in to a notorious militiaman's ammunition-packed car, killing him and his brother.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

--IANS/AKI

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Voting was underway on Friday in a historic referendum on Ireland's abortion laws.

The vote will decide whether to repeal a part of the constitution, known as the Eighth Amendment, which effectively bans terminations in the country, reports the BBC.

Currently, abortion is only allowed when a woman's life is at risk, but not in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 10 p.m.

More than 3.2 million people are registered to vote in the referendum, with more than 100,000 new voters registering ahead of the poll.

The referendum is the result of a decades-long debate about abortion in Ireland and will be the country's sixth vote on the issue.

The Eighth Amendment was introduced after a referendum in 1983, the BBC reported.

The ballot paper does not mention the Eighth Amendment or abortion, instead asking: "Do you approve of the proposal to amend the Constitution contained in the undermentioned Bill?"

Counting of the votes will begin on Saturday morning, with a result expected later in the evening.

--IANS

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The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday told the Supreme Court that the security of Youth Congress leader Abid Imitiaz Bhat has not been reduced below the required level.

Counsel Shoeb Alam told a bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Indu Malhotra that Bhat had been provided the requisite security as per his entitlement (X-2 category).

The states response came on a plea filed by Bhat for initiation of contempt proceedings against authorities for withdrawing his security cover without notice.

Earlier, the apex court had sought the government's response on Bhat's plea.

State Director General of Police (Security) Munir Ahmad Khan said in an affidavit: "The petitioner (Bhat) has the requisite security as per his entitlement on the date of filing of the contempt petition and even as on date. The security provided to the petitioner has not been reduced below his entitlement as X-2 category protectee."

"Since the petitioner has the grievance of his movement being restricted within the state, due to alleged refusal by his Srinagar PSO to not travel beyond Srinagar district, in order to avoid any miscommunication in future, it has been decided that, henceforth, the petitioner shall be provided with such PSOs, as per his entitlement, who can accompany him on his visits throughout Jammu and Kashmir," the affidavit added.

As per X-2 category security entitlement, two personal security officers (PSOs) are provided to Bhat in Kashmir region and one PSO in Jammu region.

Alam told the bench that Bhat was currently in Delhi and is provided security as and when he visits Jammu and Kashmir pursuant to his intimation to the security control room.

Bhat had complained that pursuant to the top court's order, four security guards were provided to him by the state but authorities recalled almost all of them.

The All India Youth Congress Secretary contended that he is practically left with no security as a security guard attached to him is not willing to travel with him outside Srinagar. Bhat said he was injured in a blast earlier in a locality where his house and office are located.

Srinagar Senior Superintendent of Police withdrew his security cover when he was in Delhi, the YC leader said.

In March, the state informed the apex court that X-2 category security had been provided to Bhat, after he complained of threat to life.

The court directed the authorities to continue providing the security cover unless there was a change in threat perception. In a different petition filed by the YC leader earlier, the court said he should be given due notice before his security cover is withdrawn.

--IANS

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The CBI today told the Delhi High Court that the 2G spectrum case allegedly involving former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others was "a case of monumental loss and a shame to the nation".

Challenging the acquittal of the DMK leaders and others, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justice S P Garg that huge loss to the public exchequer has been caused due to the spectrum allocation scam.

"This is a case of monumental loss and a shame to the nation," Mehta said.

The ASG also opposed the plea of the accused seeking more time to file their response saying "delaying tactics" were being adopted by them to prolong the proceedings.

The High Court has now posted the CBI's plea challenging their acquittal by a special court in the 2G spectrum case for August 2 while the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea has been fixed for August 6.

During the hearing, lawyers for some of the accused in the case said that a number of charge sheets have been filed in these cases and they should be heard separately.

The high court had earlier issued notices to Raja, Knimozhi and others on the CBI's plea challenging their acquittal by a special court in the 2G spectrum case.

A similar order was passed by Justice Garg on the plea of the ED challenging their acquittal in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam case.

The court had also allowed the interim plea of the ED for maintaining status quo with regard to the properties worth around Rs 223 crore which the agency had attached in the money laundering case.

The ED did not want the properties to be released from attachment, a consequence of the acquittal in the money laundering case, saying that third party rights might be created in them.

On March 19, the ED moved the high court challenging the special court's order acquitting all the accused in the money laundering case arising out of the 2G scam.

Yesterday, the CBI too challenged in the high court the acquittal of the accused in the case.

A special court on December 21 last year had acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others in the CBI and ED cases.

Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka of STPL, Asif Balwa and Rajiv Aggarwal of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd, film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, Director of Kalaignar TV in the ED case.

The ED, in its charge sheet, had alleged that Rs 200 crore was paid by Swan Telecom (P) Ltd (STPL) promoters to DMK-run Kalaignar TV.

On the same day, the trial court had acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others, including former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI's 2G case.

The CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 30,984 crore to the exchequer in allocation of licences for the 2G spectrum which were scrapped by the top court on February 2, 2012.

Special Judge O P Saini, however, had held that the prosecution had "miserably failed" to prove the charges.

The special court, which was set up on March 14, 2011 for hearing 2G cases exclusively, had also acquitted Essar Group promoters Ravi Kant Ruia and Anshuman Ruia and six others in a separate case arising out of the 2G scam probe.

The first case, prosecuted by CBI, had 17 accused, while the second matter, pursued by ED, had 19 undertrials. The third one had eight accused including Essar promoters.

In the CBI case, Raja, Kanimozhi and 15 others were tried under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery among others.

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The Delhi High Court today left it to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to decide a lawyer's representation for an independent probe into the killing of people in police firing during protests against Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher said the NHRC has already taken up the matter on its own and sought a report from the state's chief secretary and the director general of police and asked the Tamil Nadu-based lawyer to appear before it to obtain suitable directions.

The court also said his representation should be placed before the Commission for directions on May 29.

Violence broke out on May 22 during protests demanding the closure of the factory over pollution concerns with police opening fire, resulting in the death of 10 people. The agitation has been going on for over three months for the closure of the factory.

A plea was yesterday moved in the High Court by petitioner-lawyer A Rajarajan for direct intervention of NHRC into the incident.

The plea said he gave representation to the NHRC on May 23 seeking its earliest intervention into the "unlawful killings" and claimed the commission refused to consider it as a matter of urgency and ignored ground realities.

It has alleged that "human rights violation and continuous unlawful killings by indiscriminate police firing was happening even after the case was suo motu taken and report was requested by respondent (NHRC)".

The petition has alleged that unless the NHRC directly intervenes in the issue at the earliest or through an independent agency, the "unlawful killings by police" will continue and there is a possibility of destruction of evidence.

The NHRC had sent a notice to the Tamil Nadu's chief secretary and police chief.

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The Madras High Court today issued notice to the CBI on a PIL seeking a probe by the agency into the police firing in Tuticorin in which 13 people lost their lives.

A vacation bench of justices T Ravindran and P Velmurugan directed the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary to consider the representations of the petitioner, an advocate, in this regard.

The bench posted the matter to May 30 following a request from Narmadha Sampath, Additional Advocate General, representing the Home Secretary, for filing the counter.

The petitioner alleged that it was prima facie clear that several police personnel were directly involved in the killings.

Submitting that the CBI on its own cannot initiate investigation and the concurrence of the state government was necessary, the petitioner said he had already sent representations in this regard to the Home Secretary.

Only a probe by the central agency, which is answerable only to the special bench of the high court, would infuse confidence and assure people that the law of the land is prevailing, the petitioner submitted.

Referring to the shutdown of Internet services in Tuticorin and surrounding districts, the petitioner said people were unable to know the "real happenings".

"The state has no right to deny its citizens the right to use Internet services," he said.

Responding to a query from the bench on Internet shutdown which has affected students applying for engineering courses, the AAG submitted that normalcy was restored only after Internet services were snapped in the three districts of Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari.

Besides, the facility for submitting applications in these districts have been extended for another three days, the AAG said.

Violent protests erupted in Tuticorin on May 22 as locals took to the streets demanding closure of a copper factory of the Vedanta group over pollution concerns, leading to police firing.

Over 100 people were arrested for protesting police firing on Tuesday and Wednesday in the port city that left 13 dead.

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Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today inaugurated four pilot plants and a food testing lab at the NIFTEM campus here in order to provide business incubation for entrepreneurs.

The new facilities at the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), set up with an investment of Rs 50 crore, can be utilised by both in-house students as well as entrepreneurs by paying fee which is yet to be fixed.

"The pilot plants are at par with industry level in terms of scale and standard. The purpose is to encourage more and more entrepreneurs who can be job providers," Badal told media after inaugurating the facilities.

The entrepreneur skills can be strengthened further by providing a platform for students to sell their processed food items under the "NIFTEM brand", she said.

"NIFTEM should think about setting up its own NIFTEM brand of processed foods that are healthier, fresh and cheaper. It can be sold at outlets, may be in Parliament, railway stations and other places," Badal noted.

NIFTEM brand can develop to a extent that it can take on FMCG firm Patanjali in many food items, she said.

According to NIFTEM, the pilot plants will offer modern facility to develop products and test production in four categories -- ready-to-eat and traditional food, milk and dairy product, fruits and vegetables and meat and poultry processing.

"Some fee will be charged for using pilot plants. There will be different rates. It will not be very expensive and at the same time not cheaper," NIFTEM Vice Chancellor Chindi Vasudevappa said.

The pilot plants will be self-sustaining as these would generate revenue from target user groups to meet operational expenses and would also recover capital investment in due course of time, he added.

About new food testing laboratory, the vice chancellor said the lab would not only serve as a centre for certification of food products but also for undertaking research and innovation for solving problems of the food industry and other stakeholders.

NIFTEM, set up in 2012, offers an integrated program on food technology and management education for developing a pool of professional managers with deeper understanding of the food and business to serve the processed food industry.

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The ED today said it has attached assets worth Rs 14.5 crore of a Gujarat-based firm for allegedly defrauding SBI and Bank of Baroda (BoB) to the tune of over Rs 804 crore.

The agency said it has issued a provisional order for attachment of two immovable assets-- one located at Nariman Point in Mumbai and the other at Nikumbh complex in Ahmedabad-- under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Ms ABC Cotspin Pvt Ltd and its director Ashish Sureshbhai Jobanputra and others.

"The properties have been attached against the amounts remitted outside India," the ED said in a statement, adding that they were valued at Rs 14.5 crore.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had taken over the case against the Gujarat-based firm taking cognisance of a CBI FIR.

The CBI FIR had alleged that Ms ABC Cotspin Pvt Ltd and its director entered into a "criminal conspiracy" with officials of the BoB in Ahmedabad and the State Bank of India (SBI) in Gondal (Rajkot), and defrauded the two banks to the tune of Rs 804.49 crore, the ED said.

The agency said the probe revealed that "the company was availing bill discounting facilities from the two banks against Letter of Credit (LC) of prime banks",



During 2014-15, it said, Jobanputra "without" making any genuine export got prepared and signed the export documents and presented them to the banks.

"The bank officials also discounted the export bills without proper scrutiny of the bills and without ensuring that shipping bills issued by the Customs authorities are provided for, which is mandatory and are available at the time of discounting.

"They (bank officials) also discounted export bills on the basis of LC issued by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which was restricted," it said.

Probe revealed that the company siphoned off Rs 79.49 crore out of India on the pretext of false import that "never" took place, the ED said.

The ED alleged that Jobanputra is the "master mind" of the fraud and that he along with his family left India soon after conducting these illegal transactions and has now settled in the US.

"Enquiries against Jobanputra are also contemplated under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, 2018," the ED said.

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The Punjab government today suspended an executive engineer and a sub divisional officer over the recent molasses spill into Beas river, which caused massive damage to aquatic life.

The suspension of executive engineer Kuldeep Singh and Batala SDO Amritpal Singh Chahal comes a day after the state's pollution control board slapped a fine of Rs five crore on the private mill from where the molasses leaked.

Punjab Minister Om Prakash Soni said the two officials did not properly monitor the Kirri Afghana area which falls in their jurisdiction, leading to the spilling of the byproduct from Chadha sugar mills.

A large number of fish were found dead on May 17 in the river near Beas town, about 40 km from the Amritsar.

The contaminated water even entered Rajasthan through the Indira Gandhi Canal, prompting the authorities in that state to stop drinking water supply from the canal as a precautionary measure.

The Punjab Pollution Control Board yesterday ordered the mill to deposit Rs 5 crore with it as environmental compensation.

The money shall be utilized for conservation and restoration of the ecology of Beas river, including rejuvenation of aquatic life, it said.

The board also ordered the filing of a criminal complaint against the mill.

The Punjab Minister said today that laxity by officials would to be tolerated.

Soni asked all department officials to take appropriate action against industrial units violating norms.

He said no industrial unit would be allowed to release hazardous waste into the rivers and strict action would be taken against the owners.

The minister said the Punjab government was committed to creating a congenial atmosphere for the industry but no industry would be spared if it harms the environment.

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Israel's Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon today said beekeeping is a tool to ensure food security and sustainable development.

"It (beekeeping) not only empowers farmers but also boosts local and national economies," he said at an event here.

"We are very proud to have cooperation with Haryana on beekeeping which can provide support for farmers across India in this integral field," he said.

MASHAV, Israels Agency for international development cooperation, held a seminar at the Indo-Israeli centre of excellence for beekeeping here.

Lectures and discussions were held on importance of maintaining healthy bee colonies and empowering beekeeping farmers.

Over 110 beekeepers took part in the seminar.

This year MASHAV chose to participate in marking the World Bee Day in order to raise awareness of the need for bee populations conservation and its importance for the entire ecosystem, an official release said here.

The integrated beekeeping development centre in Haryana, established under the Indo-Israel agricultural project (IIAP), is the first of its kind in India.

It implements and demonstrates innovative technology and know-how, thus benefiting the local farmers.

MASHAV is providing the knowledge and agro-technical support.

The centre conducts training programmes for local farmers and generates beekeeping protocols for key practices, the release said.

The centre was inaugurated on November 10, 2017.

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Ruling Biju Janata Dal president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said it was his party's stand to maintain equi-distance from both BJP and the Congress.

BJP has been alleging that BJP will form an alliance with Congress in order to keep the saffron party out of power in the state.

Rejecting the allegation, Patnaik said "That (possible alliance with Congress) is incorrect and baseless."



"You can be sure that within our party, we keep equi-distance from both the BJP and the Congress," he told reporters here.

As part of BJD's equi-distance policy, Patnaik did not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy despite invitations by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

Since the Congress was part of the government headed by Kumaraswamy, the chief minister preferred not to attend the swearing in ceremony held in Bengaluru, a BJD spokesman said.

Asked whether BJP has gathered strength in Odisha as it will be holding a rally in Cuttack tomorrow to mark the completion of four years in power at the Centre, Patnaik replied curtly "I do not think so."



Two senior Odisha Congress leaders - Bhakta Charan Das and Sarat Rout had stated after the Karnataka assembly polls that the party may not hesitate to hold BJD's hands in the event of a hung assembly in Odisha after 2019 elections.

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BJP leaders Ganeshi Lal and Kummanam Rajasekharan were today appointed as Governors of Odhisa and Mizoram respectively.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, Prof. Ganeshi Lal will take over as the new governor of Odhisa, a post which had fallen vacant in March this year after veteran Naga leader S C Jamir completed his tenure.

Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik had been given additional charge of Odhisa.

Lal is a former Haryana BJP chief.

"The President of India has been pleased to appoint Prof. Ganeshi Lal to be the Governor of Odisha with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office," the communique said.

In his second order, the President appointed Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan as the Governor of Mizoram.

He will be replacing Lt. General (Retd.) Nirbhay Sharma, who is completing his tenure on May 28, 2018.

Sixty-five-year-old Rajasekharan had given up his government job to became 'pracharak' of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. He was appointed as the state BJP chief in 2015.

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The Brazilian government and transport unions struck a deal late yesterday to halt for 15 days a nationwide truckers' strike that has caused severe shortages of fuel and food in some areas.

The union heads "commit to suspending the strike movement for 15 days, when a new meeting with the government will be held," announced President Michel Temer's chief of staff Eliseu Padilha, on the night of the fourth straight day of road blockades that threatened to paralyze the vast South American country.

After seven hours of negotiations, the government pledged to abolish at least one tax on diesel and implement subsidies to maintain a temporary 10 percent fuel price reduction announced Wednesday by state oil company Petrobras.

Truckers had attempted to put a stranglehold on movement of goods in Brazil to protest fuel price hikes -- blocking main roads in 26 of the 27 states in the large country, which has only limited rail services.

Earlier yesterday, airports and gas stations were running out of fuel, food prices were spiralling and agricultural exports were hit.

The increases are the result of a politically sensitive decision made in late 2016 to allow the Petrobras oil giant autonomy over its pricing, as well as a rise in world prices in recent weeks.

But the determination of the truckers caught center-right President Michel Temer's government flat-footed, five months ahead of presidential elections.

As a way of defusing an increasingly out-of-control situation, Petrobras yielded to pressure on Wednesday and reduced fuel prices for 15 days, sending its shares plunging by around 14 percent on the Sao Paulo stock market by close yesterday.

In the port of Santos near Sao Paulo -- the largest in Latin America -- there were virtually no arrivals or departures of trucks for three days, the management said, even if the "loading and unloading operations of ships continues normally" for now.

In the capital Brasilia, the airport was allowing only planes to land that had enough fuel to take off again, and schools were closed.

At five other airports, including Recife in the northeast and Congonhas in the economic capital of Sao Paulo, fuel reserves could run out yesterday, the G1 site said.

Various abattoirs have also halted operations, affecting a key export sector.

Prices of fruits and vegetables were rocketing in some places to 400 per cent, due to supply problems.

Pump prices were also higher, and long lines formed at many gas stations. A spokeswoman for Rio's fuel retailers' union Sincomb told AFP that the main service stations were last supplied on Monday.

"There is a lack of fuel in practically all the service stations that we have contacted," she said.

The movement appeared to have some popular support.

"I think that this has been provoked by poor management by the federal government," said Ana Maria Lobo, a driver waiting in line at a gas station in Sao Paulo, who also noted "all these corruption scandals."



As a temporary measure ahead yesterday's agreement, the lower house of congress had decided late Wednesday to suspend the introduction of two taxes on diesel until the end of the year -- a proposal that sparked government tensions. Head of the Abcam truckers' association, Jose de Fonseca Lopes had said the strikes would end if the Senate approved the suspension yesterday.

But the spokeswoman of the National Transport Confederation (CNT) had insisted that blockades would continue until the president signs the measure into law.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
For the first time in its history, the UK's intelligence agency, MI6, has invited application from the British-born children of migrant parents as it lacks black or other minority ethnic officers in its senior and junior ranks.

Britain's overseas spy agency has also launched a new recruitment campaign with its first-ever television advertisement to attract more spies into the fold.

The agency associated with James Bond films has decided to become slightly more flexible with its recruitment policy, allowing British-born children of migrant parents to apply for the first time in its history.

Until recently, the parents of all applicants had to have lived in the UK for a certain number of years but that will now be changed to help MI6 recruit a more diverse workforce.

Official data shows that there were no black or other minority ethnic officers among the senior ranks and among non-senior employees the proportion was 6.8 per cent as of March 2016.

"There is no standard MI6 officer: if you have what it takes then apply to join us. Our work is exciting, intellectually challenging and it matters," said Alex Younger, the chief of MI6 known as "C", who believes it is vital for his agency to reflect the diversity of the UK population.

"Regardless of background, if you have the skills we need and share our values, I want you to consider a career in intelligence, in a service that reflects today's UK society," he said.

The first-ever TV advert shows a shark circling an aquarium tank watched by a young child. As it comes back into vision he steps back and is caught by his mother the subtle message being that MI6 wants individuals who can read signals and act.

The advert, which is aimed at potential intelligence officers, has the tag line: "Secretly, we're just like you."



MI6 hopes the campaign will attract people from areas of society who would not traditionally think of applying to work for the intelligence service.

The agency also revealed that it had seen a surge in applications following the deadly nerve agent attack on former Russian double agent and his daughter, Sergei and Yulia Skripal, in the town of Salisbury in March.

"We have had more highly motivated candidates come forward," said an MI6 recruitment officer.

Intelligence officers at MI6 are typically split into three categories target identifying individuals who may be willing to provide information to MI6 as 'agents'; case officers build and manage relationships with those agents; and requirements officers deliver and present the intelligence to government departments.

The starting salary for an intelligence officer is between 35,000 and 37,000 pounds.

Those who pass the selection process, which can take a number of months, then must clear national security vetting, which can take even longer.

While the traditional tap on the shoulder recruitment approach continues, the agency is now keen to get more people applying via its website like any other job.

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The candidates who had appeared in the May 13 Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and complained of glitches, could make online representation by 7 PM of May 27 to the two-member grievance redressal committee set up by National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), the Supreme Court said today.

A bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra was informed by the counsel for NUALS that they have constituted a two-member panel, headed by retired Kerala High Court judge, Justice M R Hariharan Nair, which would look into the complaints from the students.

NUALS, with the aid of private firm M/s Sify Technologies Ltd, had conducted the CLAT 2018 on May 13 for admissions in the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in law courses offered at premier law schools. The results of the examination is scheduled to be declared on May 31.

Soon after the exam, several pleas were filed in six different high courts across the country and also in the apex court seeking quashing of the CLAT alleging inconsistencies and technical glitches during the May 13 online test.

The bench today said the panel, which also comprises Dr Santhosh Kumar G, Head of Department of Computer Science at Cochin University of Science and Technology, would examine the complaints and representations received from the students till 7 PM of May 27 and take appropriate decision on a case-to-case basis after "due analysis".

The court was informed by the NUALS counsel that they would create a dedicated e-mail account on which the students could send their complaints, and its publicity would be done on the official website of CLAT "very shortly within two hours".

The bench said the students could register their complaints and representations on the dedicated e-mail account.

"The committee will examine every singular representation received online till now and any further representation which would be received till 7 PM of Sunday (May 27) and after due analysis, appropriate decision on a case-to-case basis will be taken by the committee," the top court said.

It directed that the committee should first scrutinise around 250 complaints which have already been received, and take appropriate decision by May 29. Then in the second phase, it would deal with the new representations which are received online.

The apex court said a report giving the status of the complaints and decisions taken on them be filed before it by May 30.

The bench also made it clear that the grievances of the students, who have approached the high courts and the apex court, would also be dealt with by the committee.

When the counsel for the petitioners raised the issue of cheating in the examination, the bench said, "Let the committee examine all this. Let the status report be placed before us and after that if there is something required to be done, we will see".

Initially, the bench said it would keep the "window open" for students to give their complaints or representations to the committee till 5 PM of May 28, but later the time decided was till 7 PM of May 27 after the NUALS counsel said the results of CLAT 2018 were scheduled to be declared on May 31.

At the outset, the NUALS told the bench that a two-member committee has been constituted to look into the complaints raised by various candidates, who had appeared in CLAT 2018, and after perusing the complaints, the panel would determine if the candidate have genuine grievances and would also suggest measures to address it.

The pleas filed in the apex court have alleged that the candidates faced several technical glitches during on-line test, besides poor infrastructure at examination centres and lack of proper guidance from staffers.

They have also sought an interim stay on the publication of final result till the decision on their plea.

The high courts of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bombay, Punjab and Haryana and Rajasthan, both the Jaipur and Jodhpur benches, were hearing the pleas challenging the CLAT 2018 examination and notices have been issued in some of these matters.

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Climate change could expand the agricultural feasibility of the global boreal region by 44 per cent by the end of the century, according to a study.

However, the scientists warn that the same climate trends that would increase land suitable for crop growth in that area could significantly change the global climatic water balance - negatively impacting agriculture in the rest of the world.

Scientists from the University of Leeds in the UK assessed the impact of climate change on land that could support agriculture in the boreal region, which includes large sections of Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia and the US.

They found that the upper edge of land suitable for crop growth could shift as far north as 1,200km from the current position with the most dramatic changes occurring in the inner-continental regions of North America and Eurasia.

Currently only 32 per cent of the boreal region falls into 'growing degree days' - the climate parameter linked to crop growth - and rainfall requirements for small cereal crops, such as oats and barley.

Using global climate models the team was able to predict the future extent of growing degree days and changes in rainfall.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, estimates that by 2099 roughly 76 per cent of the boreal region could reach the right conditions for agriculture.

However, the study also warns that while total rainfall will generally increase on an annual basis, a warmer climate will also lead to more evaporation with potentially dramatic impact on the climatic water balance, both geographically and across seasons.

For example while the inner continental regions would suffer drought conditions during the summer, the regions around the ocean's rims could see an increase in water available to crops.

Additionally, regions that would suffer temporary summer droughts might see wetter autumns which would have a negative impact on the harvest season.

"Climate change will have a profound impact on our agricultural regions. A projected consequence is the loss of farmland and crops from areas that are currently productive, which is cause for concern regarding long term global food security," said Joseph Holden, a professor at the University of Leeds.

"Therefore we need to know whether in northern high latitudes new areas will become suitable for crops," Holden said.

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Coal stock at some power stations in the national capital region has dipped to an "alarming" level and if it is not replenished at the earliest, Delhi could be staring at "black-out" situations, city's Power Minister Satyendar Jain said today.

Jain said that he has already written to Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal apprising him about the situation and sought his intervention into the matter.

"It has been brought to my notice that coal-based generating stations of NCR i.e. Dadri I & II and BTPS (Badarpur Thermal Power Station) are facing coal shortage and at present some of them have coal stock availability for only one or two days," he said in the letter.

Interacting with reporters at his office at the Delhi Secretariat, he said there is a shortage of coal stock at Jhajjar power station too.

"There is no surplus coal at these stations and if the stocks are not replenished, there could be a black-out situation in Delhi," Jain said, adding, "This could become a serious problem, if not addressed timely."



According to sources, the situation was brought to the notice of the Delhi government by power distribution companies.

In his letter to the Union Power Minister on May 17, Jain also said, "It has also been gathered that this coal shortage is due to non-availability of transportation rakes/wagons with Indian Railways."



The minister has requested Goyal to "intervene and resolve this crisis-like situation at the earliest" in the interest if consumers of Delhi, and the power sector.

"As you are aware that peak summer season has started and during summer season Delhi experiences very high power demand, this year the peak demand of Delhi is expected to touch 7,000 MW. With the rising temperatures and increasing power demand, this coal stock position is very alarming and needs immediate attention in order to avoid load shedding or any major grid incidents," Jain said in the letter.

He urged Goyal to issue necessary instructions to the ministries/offices concerned to not only resolve the current situation at the earliest, but also to take steps to avoid such situations in the future.

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Coast Guard Director General Rajendra Singh was on a two day tour of Mumbai to review the infrastructure development and coastal security mechanism of the Western Coast.

The visit, which ended today, was aimed at bolstering ties with all stake holders of the coastal security mechanism in Maharashtra, a Coast Guard spokesperson said.

The Director General was briefed about the coastal security mechanism and preparedness of Coast Guard Region (West) to tackle maritime emergencies arising especially during monsoon, such as marine oil pollution, grounding of ship, cyclones etc.

An insight into the regions infrastructural developments was also presented to the Director General.

During the visit, the Flag Officer inaugurated the Coast Guard Sailors Residential Area at Tunga, Powai and laid the foundation stone for construction of sailors married accommodation at Borivili.

This is a major milestone that has been achieved by Coast Guard Region (West) which will go a long way in mitigating the shortage of married accommodation for Coast Guard sailors posted at Mumbai, he said in a release.

The Director General also interacted with officers, sailors, civilians and their families during his visit.

The Flag Officer lauded the efforts of all personnel of Coast Guard Region (West) for its multiple successful search and rescue missions, humanitarian aid and assistance to fishermen.

The DG made special mention about the successful search and rescue mission of container ship Maersk Honam in which 23 people were saved and which grabbed international attention and appreciation of the organisations reach and commitment in Indian Ocean Region.

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Seeking the trust vote in the Karnataka assembly, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today asserted that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would complete its five-year tenure.

He also said he was conscious that he was not running a majority government.

"I am also pained that the people have not placed their trust on me," he said as he moved the motion seeking vote of confidence, apparently referring to his party JD(S) not being given a clear mandate by the voters.

He said, "we will be stable for five years. We will work for the people. We are not here to fulfil our personal interests."



Kumaraswamy said neither he nor the Deve Gowda family ever hankered after power, and pointed out that they had spent much of their political life in the opposition.

"I am not hankering after power... nor my (Gowda) family... we have spent much of our political life in the opposition," he added.

Kumaraswamy also said there was a "blot" on JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda after he joined hands with the BJP to form a coalition government in 2006.

But he was now relieved that the "blot" had been removed (with the formation of a coalition government with the Congress).

He also said the government was committed to waiver of farm loan as promised during the elections.

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The Delhi Police questioned Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia for nearly three hours today in connection with the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.

After the questioning by a team led by Additional DCP Harendra Singh at Sisodia's official residence at Mathura Road, police said it was "satisfied" with the deputy chief minister's response, and if needed, he will be quizzed again.

Sisodia was asked around 125 questions, the police said.

"Delhi police questioned deputy chief minister for around 165 minutes. Once the investigation is completed, a final report will be prepared. He not answered a few questions and our investigation team will look into them.

"At present, the investigation is at an important stage. If required, we will again question that deputy chief minister," Singh said.

The questioning proceedings were videographed.

Police said that Sisodia claimed during questioning that the meeting was convened by Kejriwal, who had also decided to call the MLAs there.

Sisodia's lawyer B S Joon, meanwhile, said around 60-70 questions were asked by the Delhi police. Police were "completely satisfied" with the answers of Deputy Chief Minister, he added.

Sisodia hit out the Centre and the Lieutenat Governor alleging that they have unleashed the Delhi Police and other agencies against the AAP and Delhi government to harass them by implicating then in false case.

"Today, the Delhi Police questioned me, which went well. The police is not at fault but there is a lot of pressure on them to trap us. We have been effectively trying to address the issues of corruption, put an end to ration, private school and tanker mafia. The BJP-Congress is afraid of our popularity," Sisodia said.

Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash was allegedly attacked during a meeting at Kejriwal's official residence on February 19. Police said the chief minister and the deputy chief minister were present when the alleged assault took place.

Kejrial was quizzed on Friday. The police have already questioned 11 AAP MLAs present at the chief minister's residence for the meeting.

Two of the party MLAs -- Amantullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal -- were arrested in the case.

Last month, Kejriwal's private secretary Bibhav Kumar and party volunteer Vivek Kumar were also questioned in connection with the case.

Kejriwal, his former advisor V K Jain and Sisodia were also present in the meeting. Jain was also questioned in the case.

On February 23, a police team had examined the CCTV system installed at the chief minister's residence in the Civil Lines area and seized the hard disk. The forensic report on the hard disk is still awaited.

The alleged assault on the chief secretary had triggered a bitter tussle between the Delhi government and its bureaucrats.

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Daniel Craig is returning for the fifth time as James Bond in the 25th film on the fictional British spy, to be directed by "Slumdog Millionaire" fame Danny Boyle, producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced today.

To be produced by EON and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios (MGM), the film will be distributed by Universal Pictures globally, starting with a traditional earlier release in the UK on October 25, 2019.

MGM will release the film theatrically in the US on November 8, 2019 through its new joint venture for domestic theatrical distribution with Annapurna Pictures.

Production on Bond 25, written by "Trainspotting" scribe John Hodge, is set to begin from December 3, 2018.

"We are delighted to announce that the exceptionally talented Danny Boyle will be directing Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as James Bond in the 25th installment of the franchise. We will begin shooting Bond 25 at Pinewood Studios in December with our partners at MGM and thrilled that Universal will be our international distributor," Wilson and Broccoli said in a statement.

Universal's Donna Langley said, "The unparalleled combination of Danny's innovative filmmaking and Daniel's embodiment of 007 ensured we simply had to be partners in the next chapter of this iconic series.

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In its efforts to solve the killing of an unidentified woman, whose body was found 10 days ago near the Shanti Van here, the Delhi Police today claimed to have solved the murder of another young woman whose body was found in Gurgaon in April.

The police today arrested 22-year-old Gulam Rabbani for allegedly killing his 22-year-old girlfriend Nandini on April 18 in Gurgaon.

According to the police, Rabbani has confessed to slitting her throat and dumping her body near Hero Honda Chowk.

During investigation into the Shanti Van case, which is being monitored by the Delhi High Court, the police claims it received information that the deceased may be Nandini, who has been missing from the area for over a month.

Based on the information, further probe revealed that she was intimately involved with auto-rickshaw driver Lakshay, who was also known as Gulam Rabbani and Neeraj Jha, police said.

Rabbani, who had been allegedly evading the police, was apprehended with the help of technical surveillance and secret information from the Minto Road area here when he was on his way to Connaught Place from Ramlila Ground, a senior officer said.

During interrogation, he initially tried to mislead the police, but later confessed to having killed Nandini and dumping her body in Gurgaon.

When his claims were cross-checked, it was found that an unidentified female body was found in Gurgaon on April 18 and a case of murder has been lodged there, police said.

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Delta Air Lines, a leading American carrier, today announced launching its nonstop flights between New York and Mumbai beginning next year, almost a decade after it withdrew its services to India.

The airlines was forced to exit Indian market and suspend its non-stop flights to Mumbai in 2009 after subsidised state-owned Middle Eastern carriers made its services economically unviable and hurt its ability to operate in parts of Asia, the airline said in a statement.

"It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the US as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said.

The announcement came following agreements between the US and the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to address the issue of subsidies being provided to state-owned carriers.

The framework created by the agreement allows Delta to move forward with service to India, a market long impacted by government-subsidised Middle Eastern airlines.

"We are thankful to the president (Donald Trump) for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible. We are looking forward to providing customers in the US and India with Delta's famously reliable, customer-focused service operated by the best employees in the industry," Bastian said.

Delta said it also intends to expand its existing code-share relationship with partner Jet Airways to provide seamless connections to other destinations within India, subject to government approvals.

Full schedule and details of the New York-Mumbai service will be announced later this year. Currently the United Airlines and Air India operate non-stop services between India and the United States.

It takes around 14 hours of flying time to cover a journey of 7,800 nautical miles from New York.

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A top American airlines Delta Air Lines today said that it would resume its non-stop services from New York to Mumbai next year.

The major airlines had suspended its non-stop survives to Mumbai in 2009. It had then blamed Middle Eastern airlines for hurting its ability to operate in parts of Asia.

"It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the US as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally," said Delta CEO Ed Bastian.

Delta's announcement in this regard follows agreements between the US and the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to address the issue of government subsidies provided to state-owned carriers in those nations.

The framework created by the agreement allows Delta to move forward with service to India, a market long impacted by government-subsidised Middle Eastern airlines. This move will mark a return to India for Delta, which was forced to exit the market after subsidised state-owned airlines made service economically unviable, the airlines said in a statement.

"We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible. We are looking forward to providing customers in the US and India with Delta's famously reliable, customer-focused service operated by the best employees in the industry," Bastian said.

Delta, in the statement, said it also intends to expand its existing codeshare relationship with partner Jet Airways to provide seamless connections to other destinations within India, subject to government approvals.

Full schedule and details of the New York-Mumbai service will be announced later this year. Currently the United Airlines and Air India operate non-stop services between India and the United States.

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Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited today said subsidiary Promius Pharma LLC, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in a US court against Perrigo UK Finco Limited Partnership, Perrigo Israel Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Taro Pharmaceuticals, Inc over its topical spray Sernivo.

In a filing with the bourses,it said the case was filed in the United States District Court for Eastern District of Texas against the three companies "in response to two paragraph-IV notice letters received for its twice daily topical spray Sernivo (betamethasone dipropionate, 0.05%) product."



A notice under Paragrap IV will be issued to a patent holder when a generic company wants to make a similar drug.

Promius said it anticipates this lawsuit will trigger a 30 month stay of Food and Drug Administration approval of Perrigo's and Taro's Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA).

Sernivo spray is protected by six Orange Book patents that expire in 2030.

The publication Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (commonly known as Orange Book) identifies drug products approved on the basis of safety and effectiveness by FDA under the Federal Food,Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) and related patent and exclusivity information.

Promius will continue to vigorously defend its Intellectual Property Rights against infringement wherever they are challenged, the filing said.

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The Delhi University will hold 'Open Days' session for those aspiring admission to postgraduate, M.Phil and PhD courses next month to address their queries.

For PG students the session will be held on June 1, while for other two courses it will be on the next day in the Conference Centre near Gate 4 of the North Campus, the varsity said in a statement.

"The session will be held in two slots -- 10 AM t0 11.30 AM and 12 PM to 1.30 PM. In the session, information about registration, admission process and schedule and other related information will be provided," the statement said.

After a short presentation, panellists representing various departments of the university will make their remarks.

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A Dubai-bound passenger was arrested by Customs officials at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle out foreign currency worth Rs 2.94 crore, the Customs department said today.

The accused was intercepted when he was completing formalities to travel to Dubai on Tuesday.

Both the passenger and his accomplice, a travel agent, have been arrested.

Officials became suspicious when they questioned the passenger about the purpose of his visit and the contents of the baggage, a statement issued by the Customs.

"Detailed personal and examination of baggage of the passenger resulted in the recovery of foreign currency amounting to USD 4,40,000, which he was attempting to smuggle out of the country illegally," it said.

The foreign currency seized is equivalent to Rs 2.94 crore, it said.

The currency was concealed by the passenger between layers of 14 sarees in his checked-in baggage, the statement said.

The passenger said the bag along with his air ticket to Dubai was handed over to him by a travel agent in Delhi, according to the statement.

The passenger also admitted that he had carried a bag containing foreign currency during his last three visits to Dubai. The bags were handed to him along with his air tickets to Dubai by the same travel agent.

However, the quantum of foreign currency carried by him was never disclosed by the travel agent, the Customs department said.

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The EU today removed the Caribbean nations of the Bahamas and Saint Kitts and Nevis from a black list of tax havens, bringing the number of jurisdictions to seven.

The nations were struck from the list after providing good conduct commitments to EU authorities and will now move to the so-called grey list -- a list of countries that have promised to do better.

The blacklist now covers just 7 jurisdictions: Guam, Namibia, Palau, Samoa, American Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago as well as the United States Virgin Islands.

"Having fewer and fewer jurisdictions on the (black) list shows the success of this procedure," said Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, whose country holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, after his counterparts agreed to remove the two nations.

The EU blacklist, adopted in December 2017, was a first in EU history and initially contained 17 countries.

But that was halved in January, with eight countries, including Panama, having provided good conduct commitments and being transferred to the grey list.

This reduction, particularly Panama's withdrawal, had provoked outrage among many activists.

The adoption of this list was undertaken in the wake of a series of tax evasion scandals, including the LuxLeaks and the Panama Papers revelations.

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Army Chief Bipin Rawat today said exemplary punishment would be given to Major Leetul Gogoi if he was found guilty of "any offence".

On May 23, Gogoi was briefly detained by police in Srinagar after an altercation when he was allegedly trying to enter a hotel with an 18-year-old woman, according to a police official.

"If any officer of the Indian army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action," Rawat told reporters at Pahalgham while on a visit to the Army Goodwill School.

"If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest...the punishment will set an example," the army chief said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has initiated an inquiry into the incident involving Gogoi, whose decision to tie a civilian to the bonnet of his vehicle in Kashmir last year sparked a row.

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Lalita Salve (29), a police constable from Maharashtra's Beed district, today underwent the first stage of her sex reassignment surgery (SRS) at the state-run St. George's Hospital here.

"The first stage of surgery got over successfully today. The second stage operation will be conducted after six months," Dr Rajat Kapoor, plastic surgeon, said after the surgery.

Salve, who had received the final nod from the Maharashtra government for the surgery recently, was consulting a team of doctors under the leadership of Dr Kapoor.

Salve has already undergone a series of procedures such as X-ray scan, electrocardiography (ECG) examination and blood tests to establish her medical fitness for the surgery.

The constable, who is posted at the Majalgaon police station in Beed, had moved the Bombay High Court in November last year seeking a direction to the state DGP to grant her leave to undergo the surgery.

She had approached the high court after police authorities denied her request for one month's leave for SRS.

The court had asked her to approach the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) since it was a matter related to her service.

Salve received a letter from the state home department on Sunday allowing her to go on leave to undergo the surgery, following which she got herself admitted to St George's Hospital on Tuesday.

"I have lived as a woman for 29 years. I will finally get free from this state now. I am looking forward to my new life," the constable, who now prefers being called Lalit, had earlier said.

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Two former French spies have been arrested and face treason charges after being accused of passing sensitive information to China, France's defence minister and security sources said today.

The two suspected double-agents were charged last December, but the incident only came to light late on Thursday following French media reports and a statement from Defence Minister Florence Parly.

"Two French agents in our service and probably one of the spouses of these agents are accused of serious acts likely to be considered acts of treason, on suspicions of delivering information to a foreign power," Parly told CNews television.

"I can't say much else," she added. "France has partners but we live in a dangerous world, and unfortunately these types of things can happen." A security source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that the men were suspected of working for China.

At least one of them had been posted in the country, French television show Quotidien on the TMC channel reported, adding that the conspiracy had been uncovered by French counter-intelligence.

The revelations came just a few weeks after US authorities said they had indicted a former CIA operative on charges of spying for China, following his arrest in January.

Concerns about Chinese spying in Australia led to reforms to espionage and foreign interference legislation last year which singled out Beijing as a focus of attention.

The country has long been accused of commercial spying to capture valuable intellectual property, but its national security operations are also thought to have grown in step with its expanding foreign activity.

Asked today about the arrests in France, China's foreign ministry said it was unaware of the situation.

The arrested French agents are now retired but Parly said they were "quite likely" still in service at the time.

Investigators were still determining how long they had been passing along intelligence, she said.

She also declined to specify the nature of the compromised information, nor to reveal if the two agents were working together.

A judicial source told AFP late yesterday that two of the three suspects are being prosecuted for "delivering to a foreign power information that undermines the fundamental interests of the nation" and "compromising the secrecy of national defence".

"One of them has also been charged for direct incitement to the crime of treason," the source added.

The third person -- believed to be the wife -- has been indicted for "concealment of treasonable crimes" and placed under judicial control, meaning they are subject to constraints pending trial, according to the same source.

In a statement, the DGSE -- similar to Britain's MI6 or the United States's CIA -- said the revelations "are a major area of focus for the DGSE as well all French counter-intelligence services." "We are being extremely vigilant in this matter," Parly told CNews.

The three people were charged on December 22, 2017, and two have been detained since then, the judicial source said.

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Two former French spies, one of whom was reportedly posted in Beijing, have been charged with passing intelligence to a "foreign power", a disclosure that has rocked the country's intelligence services.

Defence Minister Florence Parly, who oversees the country's General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), said today that she was not in a position to identify the country which recruited the agents, who were discovered and indicted in December.

"Two French agents in our service and probably one of the spouses of these agents are accused of serious acts likely to be considered acts of treason, on suspicions of delivering information to a foreign power," Parly told CNews television.

"I can't say much else," she added.

"France has partners but we live in a dangerous world, and unfortunately these types of things can happen." French media reports, citing sources close to the inquiry, said China is suspected.

Parly said the agents were "quite likely" still in service at the time but investigators were still determining how long they had been passing along intelligence.

She also declined to specify the nature of compromised information, nor to reveal if the two agents were working together.

A judicial source told AFP late yesterday that two of the three suspects are being prosecuted for "delivering to a foreign power information that undermines the fundamental interests of the nation" and "compromising the secrecy of national defence".

"One of them has also been charged for direct incitement to the crime of treason," the source added.

The third person -- believed to be the wife -- has been indicted for "concealment of treasonable crimes" and placed under judicial control, meaning they are subject to certain constraints pending trial, according to the same source.

The armed forces ministry said: "These acts of extreme gravity have been detected by this service, which has brought these facts to its knowledge to the Paris prosecutor."



The revelations came just a few weeks after US authorities said they had indicted a former Central Intelligence Agency operative on charges of spying for China, following his arrest in January.

France's domestic intelligence service, the General Directorate for Internal Security, first discovered the suspected double agents, before alerting the defence ministry, which began its own investigations.

In a statement, the DGSE -- similar to Britain's MI6 or the United States's CIA -- said the revelations "are a major area of focus for the DGSE as well all French counter-intelligence services." "We are being extremely vigilant in this matter," Parly told CNews.

The three people were charged on December 22, 2017, and two have been detained since then, the judicial source told AFP.

Yesterday, France's Quotidien television programme and Le Monde newspaper reported that four people were suspected of having been recruited by the Chinese authorities to spy on French foreign intelligence operations.

The defence ministry has refused to comment on the reports.

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Goa's sole abattoir, which has been shut since October last year, could not restart after a new stunning gun, used as part of the animal slaughtering protocol, developed snags.

The state's abattoir, called the Goa Meat Complex Limited (GMCL), is located at Usgao village.

"The GMCL authorities yesterday asked us to bring animals for slaughtering as they had purchased a new stunning gun which is part of the slaughtering protocol. But when we got the animals, properly certified, for slaughter, we were told that the stunning gun had developed a technical snag," Quraishi Meat Traders Association of Goa (QMTAG) president Manna Bepari told PTI today.

He said that the animals had to be then taken back.

He said that non-functioning of the abattoir since October last year was resulting in a shortage of beef in Goa.

"The actual requirement of beef in Goa is to the tune of 20-25 tonnes per day which can be met only if the state government-run GMCL starts functioning," Bepari said.

He said that logistical issues in bringing beef from neighbouring Karnataka meant that only about 10-12 tonnes could be brought in every day.

"Traders bring only about 10-12 tonnes of beef every day from Karnataka due to logistical issues. That does not fulfil the market requirements, forcing us to shut our shops by afternoon," he rued.

The QMTAG has around 70 beef traders registered with it.

He said that the state's tourism industry was also hit as beef was a regular raw material for restaurants.

Traders also alleged that some NGOs, working in the field of cow protection, were unnecessarily harassing them despite the presence of valid documents for all the animals.

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The BJP in Goa will connect with religious heads of various communities as part of its "Jan Sampark Abhiyan" to brief them about the developmental work done by the Narendra Modi-led government, a senior party leader said.

The BJP's state general secretary Sadanand Tanavade today said that the party would meet the Archbishop of Goa as well as Hindu and Muslim religious authorities during the Jan Sampark Abhiyan from May 26 to June 11 to commemorate four years of the Modi government.

He said that several functions would be organised as part of this campaign in north and south Goa.

"During the event, we will also be interacting with over 7,000 people from the Schedule Tribe and Schedule Caste communities to enlighten them about the various schemes introduced by the Modi government for their welfare," he said.

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Militants hurled a grenade towards an Army camp in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir this evening, but there were no reports of any casualty, police said.

The grenade attack targeted the 34 Rashtriya Rifles camp at Nehama in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, a police official said.

He said there are no reports of loss of life due to the explosion.

Further details were awaited, the official said.

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Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel today clarified that social media posts and reports that the BJP had asked for his resignation from the position and that he had decided to quit the party were baseless and aimed at tarnishing his image.

His clarification came after some reports, based on social media posts, claimed that he had been asked to resign as the deputy chief minister by BJP president Amit Shah. The reports further speculated that Patel was extremely unhappy after he was asked to resign and had decided to quit the BJP along with his supporters.

Patel asked his supporters to not believe in such propaganda and said that he would consider taking legal action against those spreading these rumours.

"There is an attempt to tarnish my image. I started my political career with the BJP when I was a student and will remain in the BJP. There is no question of quitting the party," he told reporters here.

Last night, Patel had tweeted, "For the last few days, some people are posting false and baseless posts on me to tarnish my image on social media. I request all my well-wishers, party workers and people in general to not believe in such rumours."



The opposition Congress tried to take advantage of the situation saying that Patel was not valued by his party.

"Patel has not been rewarded properly for the hard work that he is doing for the BJP," Congress state president Amit Chavda said.

Another post on social media claimed that he would participate in the 'Patidar Mahapanchayat' organised by Patel quota leader Hardik Patel on May 26 and declare his support to the quota agitation.

The deputy chief minister, a Patel face of the BJP, has been with his party even during the turbulence of the Patel quota agitation and had managed to win from the Mehasana Assembly constituency in the 2017 state elections.

About Hardik's Mahapanchayat, Nitin Patel said, "We don't have anything to do with it. He was a man who tried to defeat the BJP's Patel candidates. He is working on the Congress' agenda."



He said that if such fake posts continued to appear on social media, then he would have no option but to take legal action against those spreading such rumours.

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Disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein today surrendered to the police here today on charges of raping a woman, months after he was accused by scores of women of misconduct triggering the global #MeToo movement.

More than 70 women have accused Weinstein, once the most powerful man in the American film industry of sexual misconduct, including rape, with some allegations dating back to decades.

Manhattan prosecutors will charge Weinstein, 66, with first- and third-degree rape in one case and a first-degree sex act in a second case, CNN reported.

He's expected to appear in court later in the day.

As part of a bail package negotiated in advance, Weinstein will put up USD one million in cash and agree to wearing a monitoring device. His travel will be restricted and will have to surrender his passport, the New York Times reported.

His arrest and charges follow innumerable accusations levelled against him by several women from the movie industry.

As women opened up about Weinstein's history of sexually abusing and assaulting them, women from across the world come forward with their own accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men, triggering the global #MeToo movement.

"Weinstein had until recently seemed untouchable, harnessing his wealth and his influence in the movie industry to intimidate women out of speaking publicly and, only three years ago, withstand an investigation into groping allegations," the NYT report said.

The criminal sex act charge against Weinstein stems from an encounter with Lucia Evans, who told The New Yorker and then investigators from the Manhattan district attorney's office that Hollywood producer forced her to perform oral sex on him during what she thought would be a casting meeting.

The victim in the rape case has not been publicly identified.

Weinstein has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting movie stars and employees of his former namesake company over the course of decades and then paying them or coercing them to stay silent.

Weinstein's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment, the report said.

In the past, Brafman had said that Weinstein denies any allegations of "nonconsensual sex".

Authorities opened investigation into Weinstein's conduct. Prosecutors in the office of the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance conducted dozens of interviews in New York and elsewhere and issued hundreds of subpoenas, and their inquiry is not over.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to the police in New York today on charges of raping a woman, US law enforcement officials said.

Weinstein, 66, once one of the most powerful men in the American film industry, has agreed after months-long probe to surrender himself at a police precinct in Manhattan and will be arrested on a criminal complaint, the New York Times reported.

He is then expected to be taken to Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned on the charges.

As part of a bail package negotiated in advance, Weinstein will put up USD one million in cash and agree to wearing a monitoring device. His travel will be restricted and will have to surrender his passport, the report said.

Weinstein will be charged with first-degree rape and third-degree rape in one case besides a first-degree criminal sex act in another where he forced a woman to perform oral sex on him, the report quoted law enforcement officials as saying.

His arrest and charges follow innumerable accusations levelled against him by several women from the movie industry.

As women opened up about Weinstein's history of sexually abusing and assaulting them, women from across the world come forward with their own accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men, triggering the global #MeToo movement.

"Weinstein had until recently seemed untouchable, harnessing his wealth and his influence in the movie industry to intimidate women out of speaking publicly and, only three years ago, withstand an investigation into groping allegations," the NYT report said.

The criminal sex act charge against Weinstein stems from an encounter with Lucia Evans, who told The New Yorker and then investigators from the Manhattan district attorney's office that Hollywood producer forced her to perform oral sex on him during what she thought would be a casting meeting.

The victim in the rape case has not been publicly identified.

Weinstein has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting movie stars and employees of his former namesake company over the course of decades and then paying them or coercing them to stay silent.

Weinstein's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment, the report said.

In the past, Brafman had said that Weinstein denies any allegations of "nonconsensual sex".

Authorities opened investigation into Weinstein's conduct. Prosecutors in the office of the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance conducted dozens of interviews in New York and elsewhere and issued hundreds of subpoenas, and their inquiry is not over.

An investigative grand jury, still convened, will look into other sexual assault allegations against Weinstein as well as possible financial crimes relating to how he paid women to stay silent, the report said.

"Among other things, the grand jury is delving into whether Weinstein used employees of his former production company to identify women for him to assault, to set up meetings with the women or to discredit them if they complained," it said.

Prosecutors have also gone through Weinstein's financial records in an effort to uncover any possible improprieties.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today hailed India for standing beside her country in times of crisis and said negotiations in an amicable way have led to the resolution of many bilateral issues.

In the past, the two countries had settled border disputes with the signing of Land Boundary Agreement for exchange of enclaves, she said.

"Together we have resolved many bilateral issues in an amicable way for the benefit of both the countries. Although there are issues that still need to be taken care of, I do not wish to mention them at this programme," Hasina said.

Inaugurating the Bangladesh Bhavan - a centre dedicated to cultural cooperation - at Visva Bharati University campus, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hasina expressed gratitude to India for "standing beside Bangladesh in times of crisis".

"We shall never forget how India stood beside us during 1971 liberation war," she said.

Bangladesh was working hard to alleviate poverty in the region, which poses a major problem for a developing country, Hasina said.

"We are getting all cooperation from India, as both the countries want to alleviate poverty in this region. By 2041 we want to develop Bangladesh into a 'Sonar Bangla' (Golden Bangladesh)," she asserted.

Talking about Bangladesh Bhavan, set up by her government, Hasina said, "We are delighted with our share in Visva Bharati University. The students, scholars and teachers will be immensely benefitted from this Bhavan."



Remembering Rabindra Nath Tagore, Hasina said the bard had built the university to give shape to his ideals.

"Tagore belongs to both India and Bangladesh because he has written the national anthems of both the nations. He wrote most of his poems in Bangladesh and that is why we can claim a greater right over him," she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following are the highlights at 2030 hours:



NATION



MDS19 KA-LD KARNATAKAKarnataka drama ends as Kumaraswamy wins trust vote without contestBengaluru: The three-day-old Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka today won a vote of confidence without a contest, with the BJP MLAs walking out of the Assembly before the floor test, in an unexciting end to the 10-day high-voltage political drama after the polls yielded a hung House.

DEL29 BIZ-EPFO-INTEREST



Govt notifies 8.55% interest on PF for 2017-18, lowest in 5 years



New Delhi: Retirement fund body has asked its field offices to credit 8.55 per cent rate of interest for 2017-18, the lowest rate since 2012-13 fiscal, into the PF accounts of around 5 crore subscribers.

CAL16 LD INDO-BANGLA



Last few years a golden chapter in Indo-Bangla ties: Modi



Santiniketan: The last few years have been a golden chapter in India-Bangladesh relationship when complicated issues of land and coastal boundaries were resolved, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here today.

CAL20 HASINA-LD ROHINGYA



B'desh seeks 'cooperation of all' in sending back Rohingya refugees



Santiniketan (WB): Bangladesh today sought the "cooperation of all" to put pressure on Myanmar to take back the around 11 lakh Rohingya refugees given shelter in the country on "humanitarian ground".

DEL33 JK-ARMYCHIEF-2NDLD GOGOI



Court of Inquiry ordered against Major Gogoi; Army chief for strict punishment if found guilty



Srinagar: The Army today ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi for alleged violation of rules and regulations after he was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Police earlier this week following an altercation when he had attempted to enter a hotel with an 18-year-old woman.

DEL31 CBSE-RESULTS



CBSE class 12 results to be announced tomorrow



New Delhi: The results for CBSE Class 12 examinations would be announced tomorrow, a senior official said today.

DEL27 POL-ANNIVERSARY-BJP



Modi govt's schemes benefitted 22 crore poor families: Shah



New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah today said the Modi government's welfare schemes in its four years have benefitted 22 crore poor families and set an example of how a pro-people dispensation is run.

MDS26 KL-VIRUS-ANTIBODY



Ker procures 50 doses of monoclonal antibody to combat Nipah



Kozhikode: With the help of Indian Council of Medical Research and World Health Organisation, the Kerala government has procured about 50 doses of a monoclonal antibody from Australia to combat Nipah virus, state Health minister K K Shylaja said today.

MDS18 TN-VIOLENCE-LD-BANDH



Oppn sponsored bandh against Tuticorin violence peaceful



Chennai: The bandh called by DMK-led opposition parties to condemn police firing at Tuticorin in which 13 people lost their lives and press for Chief Minister K Palaniswami's resignation passed off peacefully today.

LEGAL



LGC4 BH-COURT-2NDLD BODHGAYA



NIA court convicts five IM militants in 2013 Bodh Gaya blasts



Patna: A special NIA court here today convicted five Indian Mujahideen militants in the 2013 Bodh Gaya serial blasts case in which several people including Buddhist monks were injured.

LGD22 DL-COURT-LD TERROR



10 LeT men charged for preparing to revive outfit's activities in India



New Delhi: The NIA today charged suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives Sheikh Abdul Naeem and others in a Delhi court for allegedly preparing to revive the terror outfit's activities in India on the directions of Pakistan-based handlers.

LGD8 SC-VIOLENCE PIL



Tuticorin violence: SC for urgent listing of matter on May 28



New Delhi: The Supreme Court today asked an advocate, who has filed a petition seeking a court-monitored CBI probe into the deaths of protesters during the anti-Sterlite rally in Tamil Nadu, to mention the matter for urgent listing on Monday 28.

LGD18 DL-HC-TN-LD VIOLENCE



Anti-Sterlite protest: HC leaves it to NHRC to decide lawyer's plea



New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today left it to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to decide a lawyer's representation for an independent probe into the deaths in police firing during the protests against Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district.

FOREIGN



FGN40 CANADA-4THLD BLAST



15 injured in powerful explosion at Indian restaurant in Canada



Toronto: A powerful explosion at an Indian restaurant in Canada's Ontario province injured 15 people, three of them seriously, when two unidentified men detonated an improvised explosive device, police said today.

FGN39 TRUMP-KIM-LD SUMMIT



Summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un could still go ahead on June 12: Trump



Washington: US President Donald Trump today said his summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un could still happen on June 12 after officials on both sides started talking, a day after he cancelled it, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility". By Lalit K Jha



FGN41 US-4THLD WEINSTEIN



Harvey Weinstein arrested, arraigned on rape charges



New York: Harvey Weinstein was arrested and arraigned in a court here today on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him, months after the disgraced movie mogul was accused by over 80 women of sexual misconduct which sparked the global #MeToo movement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The ideals of Hindutva are not visible in the younger generation of the BJP, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said today.

Replying to a query about whether he regretted that his party has been an ally of the BJP for 25 years, Thackeray said: "Unfortunately, there is regret about some things, because the ideals of Hindutva are not seen in the younger generation of the BJP."



Speaking to a Marathi channel, he said the BJP has become "arrogant" after coming to power. He said the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll on May 28 would be a fight between arrogance and loyalty.

"They have become arrogant after coming to power. But we are contesting the Palghar polls to show them the truth," he said.

The Sena chief slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for not removing his footwear while garlanding a portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji during a public rally in Virar earlier this week.

"It is basic respect to remove one's footwear before bowing in front of Shivaji Maharaj, who is revered as God. Yogi did not do so. What else can be expected of him? It is an insult to Shivaji Maharaj," he said.

Thackeray said if Adityanath was a yogi, Shivaji was a "shrimant yogi" (an ascetic despite his magnificent wealth).

Responding to another query, Thackeray said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has not yet understood the meaning of stabbing.

He said if former Congress leader Rajendra Gavit was to be given a ticket from Palghar, would it not mean stabbing the Sena, which already has an MLA there, in the back.

"If you really wanted to give (Shrinivas) Wanaga (late Palghar MP Chintaman Wanaga's son) a ticket, why did you not do so before? Why wait so much? Why did you not talk to him (Shrinivas) before speaking to Gavit," Thackeray questioned.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has created a film facilitation centre to make it easier for producers from other countries to get permission to shoot in India, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said today.

The initiative to create a single-window clearance system has made the process simpler for getting permissions for shooting films in India, he said.

"We have created a film facilitation centre in the Information and Broadcasting (ministry) for any of the producers from any country to come and produce films in our country by a single window clearance.

"We reduced all the bureaucracy and red-tapism and made it simpler for producers from other country to shoot in India," he said while inaugurating the ASEAN India Film Festival here.

Around 32 films from 11 countries would be screened during the festival.

Rathore, the Information and Broadcasting Minister, said Indian films are screened at various film festivals held abroad, which is one of the ways to improve relations and bonds with the other nations.

The ASEAN India Film Festival celebrates the excellence of cinema by showcasing films from the ASEAN countries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The objective of the law is to resolve an and revive an asset for the collective good and not to maximise value for a chosen few, and Board of chairman M S Sahoo said on Friday, urging committee of creditors to do more for all stakeholders.

The head of the regulatory oversight board for the nascent and Code, 2016 (IBC), rued that we are not making the best use of the code.

"CoC is (committee of creditor) in a custodian and trustee position. It has higher responsibility to look at the interest of all the stakeholders. The objective is to work in unison to resolve an insolvency through a process," Sahoo said at an event organised by industry lobby Ficci here.

The CoC, which includes both financial as well as operational creditors of a company, should be "proactive" to create value in an asset, Sahoo said, underlining that the primary priority should be to ensure that the going concern continues to being in business and not to liquidate.

"The objective of a CoC is to generate competitive resolution plans, and then approve that plan which maximises the value for everybody, in contrast to recovery which maximises the value only for one set of people. There is a lot of facilitation in the law for making it happen. The objective is to revive if viable, or close it (the asset), if not viable. You can't directly go to liquidation," Sahoo said.

"We are not making the optimal use of the law, we are after maximising value because the code says so. But the code (also) says that it is for the maximisation of the value of the assets of the corporate debtor and not for a stakeholder, or set of stakeholders," Sahoo added.

He said there is a lot of scope in the law to make resolutions happen, asserting that with the introduction of the IBC, we have moved away from recovery.

"Probably we are not making the best use of the code (IBC). The code is a much more powerful thing, it can be used for much more higher purposes so that the resolution is sustainable. If the objective was just to discover a price, get a big value, perhaps we could have had gone to the stock market," Sahoo said.

"The code offers much more potential that is not being realised. It can look at changing the management, technology, product portfolio. A resolution plan allows you do much more than what is happening today," he added.

The CoC, he said, has a "special responsibility" to ensure such resolutions happen, Sahoo said, adding that it has financial creditors who have the understanding of a business and the financial ability to continue with a resolution.

"This is the set of people (financial creditors) who have the ability to take a business decision and take the risk of postponing the recovery," he said, adding that they have the "stamina to wait for a while, turnaround a company and recover from the performance of the company."



The government passed the IBC in 2016, which was followed with an ordinance barring some promoters from bidding for the assets. The Cabinet cleared further amendments earlier this week equating home buyers with operational creditors, among others, which is yet to be passed.

Sahoo said 800 cases have been admitted to the 12 benches, up to 2,500 have been rejected, while there have been 200 voluntary insolvency cases which have also been filed. There are over 100 cases are resolved, he said.

The IBBI chairman said he is broadly satisfied with the progress done under the insolvency law, even though there have been some setbacks which will serve as a learning.

He also sought to dismiss notions that the 270-day timeline is not being adhered to, underlining that a maximum number of cases have been resolved within the timeframe. It can be noted that most of the cases that are making media headlines have not adhered the timelines and have seen frequent legal challenges at multiple stages.

"When we are doing something for the first time, everyone is learning. There will be some issues which will require time to sort out. We have to go through this process. Once the issues are sorted out, we will be with the timeline on every case," Sahoo told reporters on the sidelines.

He also defended the call to treat the micro, small and medium enterprises differently, saying it is a "rational" approach followed all across the world and will help ensure that small businesses flourish.

Sahoo, however, did not comment about the cabinet decision on Wednesday, saying he has not yet seen the detailed contours of it, which will be known only once the ordinance is issued.
Tata group's hospitality arm Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) today posted 70.42 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 79.30 crore during the March quarter, due to improvement in EBITDA margins and optimisation measures.

Its profit stood at Rs 46.53 crore in the same quarter last year, IHCL said in a regulatory filing.

Total income grew by 8 per cent to Rs 1,154.02 crore, compared with Rs 1,069.23 crore.

"The strong performance is a result of our focus on margin enhancement through optimisation measures within an environment of growing demand," IHCL managing director and chief executive officer Puneet Chhatwal told PTI here.

The EBITDA margins in the quarter improved by 4.6 per cent, he said.

The company's revenue per available room (RevPar) growth has been positive almost everywhere except Chennai and Gurugram due to oversupply, according to Chhatwal.

"Chennai and Gurugram have been witnessing oversupply, however, other markets have been seeing strong growth. This will help us in achieving our five-year business strategy, Aspiration 2022," he added.

Going forward, the company will witness more growth in number of hotels under its Ginger brand, compared with Taj or Vivanta, he said.

"We have 44 Ginger hotels in operations and another 10 in the pipeline. We have identified 80 cities for Ginger, of which 10 have the potential of multiple presence of the brand," Chatwal said.

Vivanta has huge potential, both in India as well as overseas, he said, adding Taj will continue to grow selectively overseas and in India.

For financial year 2017-18, the company reported a net profit of Rs 103.52 crore, against a loss of Rs 45.80 crore in the previous year.

Total income increased to Rs 4,165.28 crore, against Rs 4,075.51 crore.

During the year, Chatwal said, the company opened 10 hotels, with a total of 697 keys, including a Taj hotel in Andamans and nine Ginger hotels.

IHCL signed five new hotels across its brands in the last financial year a Taj hotel at Vikhroli in Mumbai, Vivanta in Bhopal and three Ginger hotels in Lucknow, Vadodara and Goa.

Meanwhile, in a separate filing, the company today declared a dividend of 40 paise per share.

Its scrip ended flat at Rs 137.10 on the BSE today, against 0.76 per cent rise in the benchmark.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The India-Bangladesh border in Assam will be sealed by December employing technical solutions on the river part of the frontier and smart fencing on the land area, Chief Minister Sonowal has said.

The CM, who completed two years in office yesterday, said the move was a part of the state's initiative to curb cross-border infiltration and smuggling.

In keeping with the promises, the government would be taking effective measures to make the state "economically vibrant" and free from "scourge of illegal migration and insurgency", he told reporters at a press meet here.

"While non-physical barriers will be used to seal the riverine areas along the border, the portion on land will be secured with smart fencing," the CM said.

Talking about the widespread protests in Assam over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, he said, the state government would never go against the interests of its people.

The Bill seeks to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of their residence in India.

"Assam has taken initiatives to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) under the directions of the Supreme Court. Ours is the first and only state in the country undertaking this exercise to document bonafide citizens of the state," Sonowal added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has voiced concern over the lack of genuine political will in ensuring adequate funding for UN peacebuilding, saying funds available for such efforts are not even one per cent of the annual peacekeeping budget.

India is the largest cumulative troop contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, having provided almost 200,000 troops in nearly 50 of the 71 peacekeeping missions mandated over the past six decades, including 13 of the current 16 missions.

As on March 31 last year, the UN owed a total of USD 777 million to member states for peacekeeping operations.

The UN had to pay a total of USD 55 million to India for its contribution to the world body's peacekeeping operations, the second highest outstanding payment to any member country.

UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak last month lauded India's contribution and "commitment" to UN peacekeeping operations.

Sandeep Kumar Bayyapu, First Secretary in India's Permanent Mission to the UN said here yesterday: "Building peace and prosperity for all remains a major objective for the international community.

"Despite the growing attention, the concept of peacebuilding that expanded the focus to post conflict situations and led to the establishment of UN's peacebuilding architecture around a decade ago continues to struggle due to lack of adequate funding that betrays a lack of genuine political will".

The Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) during last year supported projects in 31 countries including the six country-specific configurations that were on the agenda of the Peacebuilding Commission, he said.

"While the high donor contributions to the Fund in 2017 were a clear sign of confidence in UN peacebuilding activities, the funds available for peacebuilding efforts are not even one per cent of the annual budget for UN Peacekeeping," Kumar said at the General Assembly debate on report of the Secretary-General on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace.

Bayyapu said India welcomes the specific financing options presented by the Secretary General in his report for peacebuilding efforts and these need to be given serious consideration in order to address the current levels of funding that remain very inadequate.

He said that more than one-third of the funds were allocated to support gender equality and women's empowerment during 2017.

The contribution of the Fund to UN's efforts in designing and implementing peacebuilding programmes that prioritise the inclusion, participation and leadership of young people, cross-border efforts of the Fund, as also its partnership with regional organisations and other multilateral funds are positive steps.

Given that the concept of sustaining peace requires engagement of all pillars of the UN, efforts of the Secretary General to strengthen operational and policy coherence and improved capacity across the UN system need to be supported, he said.

Given that the concept of sustaining peace requires engagement of all pillars of the UN, efforts of the Secretary General to strengthen operational and policy coherence and improved capacity across the UN system need to be supported, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India needs to be central to what the Trump administration does in South and Central Asia, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told lawmakers today, asserting that India "ought to be" one of America's closet partners.

"For scores of reasons, India needs to be central to what we do. Specific issues -- South Central Asia issues, Southeast Asia issues. They ought to be one of our closest partners and we ought to do everything we can to make sure that we achieve that," he told the members of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Pompeo, who was till recently the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was responding to questions from Senator Chris Coons from Delaware about how to further strengthen the US-India relationship.

"Mr Secretary, if you would like to say anything about how we can work with this most populous democracy, a potential strategic partner to strengthen that relationship, I'll make that my last question," Coons asked.

He said sustaining a strategic dialogue with India was something that "would enjoy strong support here".

Pompeo responded that, "Defense Secretary (James) Mattis and I will jointly meet with our Indian counterparts in a dialogue that the two countries have had. I don't know that the date's been set but we're looking to do it. I think it's set this summer, very important."



Pompeo and Mattis are expected to host their Indian counterparts -- External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman -- some time this summer for the inaugural 2+2 dialogue.

The decision about this was taken when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House on June 26 last year.

The US-India relationship enjoys bipartisan support in the US Congress.

Early this week, a top US State Department official said the Trump administration supports India's emergence as a leading global power and as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific region.

"The US-India partnership is rooted in shared democratic values and a commitment to a rules-based order. We support India's emergence as a leading global power and as a key partner in our efforts to ensure that the Indo-Pacific is a region of peace, stability and growing prosperity," State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The suspension of combat operations in Jammu and Kashmir can be extended further if the atmosphere of peace continues in the state, but any action by terrorists would trigger a rethink immediately, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said today.

Rawat also said Pakistan should stop sending militants into the state if it was interested in peace.

"If Pakistan really wants peace, then we will want them to take the first step by stopping infiltration of terrorists into our side. The ceasefire violation mostly takes place to aid infiltration," Gen Rawat told reporters at a function here, 95 kms from Srinagar.

The army chief said India wants peace along the borders but Pakistan was continuously violating the ceasefire, which caused loss of life and property.

"When such an action takes place, we also have to respond. We cannot sit idle. If there is ceasefire violation, then there will be action from our side," he said.

Gen Rawat said for peace, it was imperative that cross-border terrorism comes to an end.

"It is imperative to stop terrorism from across (the LoC), the camps which are there where training is given to them, from where the ammunition is infiltrated into J-K and India, that should stop. If that happens, then I can assure you that peace will prevail on the borders," he added.

The Army chief said the suspension of anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir was an attempt to make people realise the benefits of peace.

"The suspension of operations or what we call NICO (Non initiation of combat operations) has been done to make the people believe and see how the atmosphere is when there is peace. The way an atmosphere of peace and calm is here right now, in my opinion, the people here are very happy with that," he said.

The Union home ministry had announced on May 16 that security forces would not launch any operations in J&K during the holy month of Ramzan. However, the security forces reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people.

Gen Rawat said the Army will think about continuing the unilateral ceasefire if the peaceful situation continues in the valley.

"If this atmosphere of peace continues, then I assure you that we will think about continuing with NICO. But if there is some action by the terrorists, then we will have to rethink on this ceasefire or suspension of operations or NICO," he said.

Gen Rawat was here to launch Digital Education in five Army Goodwill Schools which has been established with the help of Power Grid Corporation and Extra Marks Foundation.

"Children in AGPS should get right kind of education. Their education standards should keep improving. Knowledge and education today needs infusion of technology. With this aim, we have taken help from PGC and Extra Marks foundation to start Digital education here," he said.

Gen Rawat said the Corporation has contributed nearly Rs 25 lakh and Extra Marks foundation is providing support.

"This will be started in five army good schools on pilot basis. We would like to extend this technology to other Army Goodwill Schools also. We want the children from here develop and progress in life," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a first for the government-run flying training academy IGRUA in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi district, private budget carrier IndiGo will recruit pilots for its fleet of Airbus 320 planes.

Traditionally, trained pilots from the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), an autonomous body under the Civil Aviation Ministry established in 1985, get jobs at the state-run Air India or its subsidiaries.

Officials at the flying training academy as well as the airline have confirmed the development.

"With this campus selection, we complete the first phase of inducting these candidates who will subsequently be assessed based on an extensive evaluation process, which includes psychometric tests, group discussions and one-on-one interviews, respectively," IndiGo told PTI in a statement.

"Selected candidates will then proceed for type-rating training for Airbus A320 aircraft and will be inducted as Junior First Officers (JFOs) at IndiGo after completing their type-rating (a regulating agency's certification of an airplane pilot to fly a certain aircraft type)," the airline said.

IGRUA Director Air Vice Marshal Nalin Tandon said the country's biggest private airline coming to the institute for hiring is a good sign.

"It's a very good starting for us. The standing of any (educational) institute is known by the placement it secures for its students," said Tandon, who took over the reigns of the premier academy last month.

Tandon, also the Vice Chancellor of the Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University, said a total of 75 candidates appeared for the initial phase of the recruitment held on its campus at Fursatganj, Amethi yesterday.

IGRUA is the only central government-funded flying training academy in the country. Currently around 200 students are under-training at the institute for commercial pilot's licence (CPL).

"The aviation industry in India is growing at a fast rate and it is important that we train students for the emerging situations," he said, adding that the institute has a track record of "producing pilots on par with international standards" over the past three decades.

Capt Ashim Mittra, Senior Vice President, Flight Operations, IndiGo said India is a "highly underpenetrated" aviation market in the world.

"And since we have one of the youngest and highly productive population in the world, it is important that we provide the right platform and opportunities to tap the potential of our home-grown talent," he said.

IndiGo's arrival at IGRUA breaks a dry spell of nearly three years for the state-run institute, which last had a major recruitment drive from Air India Express in 2015.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iraq today announced it had carried out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, the third cross border aerial operation inside a month in its war-torn neighbour.

"Iraqi F-16 planes carried out (Thursday) morning raids against the headquarters of IS terrorist gang leaders and an explosives depot occupied by terrorists in Syria's Hajin region," a statement by Iraq's operations command said.

A video released with the text shows a strike on a huge building surrounded by palm trees and a wall.

The images show the wall and the building collapsing simultaneously.

Several strikes have been carried out by Iraq or the international coalition since yesterday against the centre of Hajin, the last major area held by IS in Syria, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

At least 65 senior IS leaders live in Hajin, the Observatory's director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. Hajin is in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, about 50 kilometres from Iraq's border.

It has been surrounded since the end of 2017 by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by the US and France, Abdel Rahman said.

Several hundred prisoners are still held by the jihadists in Hajin, he added.

Since April, Iraq's air force has carried out several air strikes on IS-held Syrian territory close to the border between the two countries.

IS seized a third of Iraq in 2014, before the government declared victory in December, but the military has continued regular operations along the porous Syrian border.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who underwent a successful kidney transplant at the on May 14, was shifted out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and he was recovering.

His post-operative recovery was being closely monitored by a team of transplant surgeons, endocrinologist, nephrologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist and critical care experts among others.

"He was shifted out of the ICU to a private ward of the Cardio-Neuro Centre during the weekend. He is recovering well," a source at the hospital said.

According to sources, the kidney was donated to the 65-year-old minister by a distant relative, a middle-aged woman.

This fell under the category of 'live unrelated donation'.

"Living, unrelated donor could be anyone who is emotionally attached to the recipient, such as friend, a relative, a neighbour or an in-law. The authorisation committee had given its approval before the procedure," he had said.

During transplant surgeries, the recipient is put on immunosuppressants in order to lower the body's ability to reject a transplanted organ and thus is kept in isolation to avoid any infection.

The surgery was carried out at the cardio-thoracic centre by a team of 20 personnel, including transplant surgeons and transplant anesthesiologists.

The team included former chief of renal transplant division Sandeep Guleria, currently working with Apollo Hospital, surgeon V K Bansal, nephrologist Sandeep Mahajan and AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.

Sandeep Guleria is the brother of Randeep Guleria and a family friend of the minister.

Jaitley had confirmed his illness in a tweet on April 6. "I am being treated for kidney related problems and certain infections that I have contracted," he had tweeted.

In September 2014, he underwent a bariatric surgery to treat a long-standing diabetic condition and weight gain. The surgery was first performed at Max Hospital, but he had to be later shifted to AIIMS because of complications.

Jaitley had a heart surgery several years ago.

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today condemned the killing of a man by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants in Bandipora district last night.

The chief minister said the incident showed that perpetrators of the inhuman act have no respect for the holy month of Ramzan or the teachings of Islam, an official spokesperson said.

He said Mufti has extended her sympathies to the bereaved family.

Police today recovered a throat-slit body of a man in Hajin area of north Kashmir's Bandipora district.

Mohammad Yaqoob Wagay was brutally killed by the militants near his home at Gunda Preng village in Hajin area, a police spokesperson said.

He said the investigation indicated complicity of banned LeT outfit's local militant Saleem Parrey in this killing.

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With the help of Indian Council of Medical Research and World Health Organisation, the Kerala government has procured about 50 doses of a monoclonal antibody from Australia to combat Nipah virus, state Health minister K K Shylaja said today.

The antibody will be brought to the state soon, the minister told reporters here.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had written to the Queensland government in Australia asking it to provide the antibody developed there to test if it can "neutralise" the virus in humans.

Speaking to the media after an all party meeting here, the minister said the situation, in the aftermath of the outbreak of the deadly virus, was under control.

It has not spread throughout the state, she said.

Measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the caregivers in hospital, she said, adding, steps have been taken to ensure that the virus does not spread to other areas.

The steps taken by the government to combat the virus were reviewed at the meeting.

Of the 32 samples sent for testing for the virus, all were found negative, health department sources said.

There are 14 confirmed cases of Nipah, of whom 11 have died and three, including a nursing student, are undergoing treatment.

Of the 11 deaths, eight are from Kozhikode and three from neighbouring Malappuram.

The minister said the state was preparing to develop its own anti-viral drug for Nipah with the help of ICMR and community medicine department of Thiruvananthapuram medical college.

Discussions in this regard have begun, she said.

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Key World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries, including India, will meet in Paris next month to deliberate upon issues like increasing protectionist measures by certain developed nations.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said global trade is facing one of the "toughest" times in the last forty years.

"We feel that in the last 40 years, we are facing the biggest challenge for the global trade. So we want to make sure that institutions like the WTO survives. So I will be meeting important members of the WTO in Paris. I will tell them about our concerns," Prabhu told PTI.

He said the WTO chief too has called him to take up the important issues in that meeting.

This informal discussion will take place on sidelines of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ministerial council meeting in Paris in June.

Prabhu will be visiting Paris in the first week of June.

The issue of appointment of appellate members in the WTO's dispute settlement body is also likely to come up at the meeting. Further delay in these appointments would create crisis in the functioning of the dispute settlement mechanism.

The dispute settlement mechanism is an important arm of the WTO to resolve trade disputes among member nations. The appellate body is the apex institution to adjudicate disputes.

This WTO meeting comes at a time when the world is facing trade war kind of situation following imposition of heavy duties on certain steel and aluminium products by the US. This move by the US evoked sharp reaction from both developed and developing countries of the Geneva-based organisation.

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Kim Jong-un is not a weak leader and that he has shown tremendous capacity to lead North Korea, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is the only top US official to have met him twice in recent weeks.

Pompeo's statement came after US President Donald Trump cancelled his proposed summit meeting with Kim on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump described the cancellation of the summit as "a tremendous setback" for North Korea and warned that the US military is ready to act should Pyongyang take any "foolish and reckless" action.

Pompeo first travelled to North Korea in his capacity as the CIA Director last month and again this month as the Secretary of State.

Both the meetings, he said, laid the ground work for a meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump.

"I spoke in English. There was a translator. But our team confirmed that the translator said what I said.

"I had two meetings, maybe three hours plus, total, enough that I understood him to have understood what I was saying," the top US diplomat told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.

"When I heard back from him (Kim), there was little doubt in my mind that he understood the scope of what we were asking for, the nature of what would have to take place, the verification that we would need to undertake in order to be comfortable that we could begin to deliver the assurances that he, in return, asked for," Pompeo said when Senators asked him if he was able to convey the message to Kim properly.

"I think we were having a real conversation where there was real understanding between the two of us. It's what caused me to recommend to the president that I thought the time would, in fact, permit us to have a real opportunity to do something historic," Pompeo said.

He said that he was still optimistic that the US will reach the point.

"I know the president is (optimistic) as well," he said.

Responding to a question, he said he does not believe that Kim is a weak leader.

"Is it your opinion that this decision by Kim Jong-un is a result of a weak leader who lacks the internal support to go forward with a meeting on denuclearisation? Or was this just poor negotiating strategies by Kim Jong-un?" Senator Robert Menendez asked.

"I don't think it's the former. I don't think it's a weak leader. In fact, he has demonstrated an enormous capacity to lead his country and his team," Pompeo said soon after President Trump cancelled his meeting with Kim.

Trump attributed this to the changing behaviour of Kim and North Korea.

"I don't really know that I want to speculate as to why it is they (North Koreans) took the actions, because I don't think we know. What I am hopeful is that we can continue to have conversations and put this back on track, so that we can get to a place where we can achieve the outcome.

"We talk a lot about summits and deals and the like. It's not about the deal. It's about the outcome. It's about achieving this permanent, physical change and transformation that will have opportunity to change the world," Pompeo said.

A corollary to that is a fundamental change in North Korea that would lead North Korea to have this opportunity for prosperity and all the things that their neighbours to the south have, he said.

"There will have to be a deal to get us to that point. But we shouldn't spend all our time thinking about the deal, without focusing on here's what this needs to look like in order to what president has said, to keep Americans safe from the threat that North Korea presents today," Pompeo added.

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The estranged wife of city mayor Sovan Chatterjee was today arrested following his complaint that she was trying to barge into the flat where he has been staying for the last six months, the police said.

Claiming that the Mayor has been delaying signing papers for their daughters study abroad, his wife Ratna Chatterjee held a night-long demonstration in front of the flat in south Kolkata's Golpark area, they said.

Officers from Rabindra Sarobar Police Station, after receiving a complaint from Chatterjee, reached the flat and requested his wife to move out of the place.

"We received a call from the Mayor about the matter and went to the place and tried to convince Mrs Chatterjee. But, we failed in our attempt," a police officer said.

Parnasree Police Station officers also came to the Golpark residence to persuade his wife.

"In the morning, we took her to the police station where she was initially detained and then arrested as per the complaint of the Mayor. She was booked for continuing to assemble even after she was commanded to disperse," the officer from Rabindra Sarobar Police Station said.

The Mayor's wife was later released on bail, he added.

"If she (Ratna) has to get my signature on some papers, she could have reached me some time early, not at midnight," he said.

Chatterjee and his wife have been fighting a battle for divorce.

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President Ram Nath Kovind returned to Delhi today after his six-day sojourn to Shimla.

He was given a warm send-offat Kalyani helipad by Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

I have seen nature at its best and felt that how nature worries about human beings and loves and nurtures them like a mother," the president wrote on Facebook.

Many a times, big thoughts crop up during small journeys and a thought came to my mind that how the 'mother earth' looks after us and what can we do for conservation of natural resources so that these are preserved for posterity," he added.

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The three-day old Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka today won the vote of confidence in the Legislative Assembly amid a walkout by the BJP MLAs.

The motion expressing confidence in the Kumaraswamy government was adopted by voice vote in the presence of JD (S)-Congress coalition MLAs and other lawmakers supporting the government.

The BJP members staged a walkout before the trust vote was taken.

Leader of the Opposition B S Yeddyurappa made a blistering attack on Kumaraswamy, describing the ruling coalition as "unholy".

In his speech, Kumaraswamy said his government would carry all sections together, and would take into consideration suggestions made by the Opposition.

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A group of people in Sri Lanka's north district today protested against the police firing on the protestors in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu that killed at least 13 people.

On Tuesday, police opened fire on the protestors agitating against the expansion of the Sterlite Copper plant in Tuticorin, killing 13 protestors, including two women.

Holding placards condemning the alleged police brutality, the group staged a demonstration at Jaffna this morning.

Meanwhile, a Left leaning trade union, United Federation of Labour has written a letter condemning the firing on protestors.

In the letter, addressed to the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo, they urged that their protest be conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E K Palaniswami.

"The United Federation of Labour vehemently protest against the brutal attack and killing of the workers and 17-year-old girl of Sterlite copper plant of Thoothukodi (Tuticorin), Tamil Nadu", they said in the letter yesterday.

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The Centre has allowed the Arunachal Pradesh government to start the next academic session at the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) at Naharlagun with an intake of 50 MBBS students, paving the way for the state's first medical college.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued a Letter of Permission to the state government in this regard, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said.

This is another milestone achieved this year. I congratulate the state department of Health and Family Welfare, authorities of TRIHMS, newly-recruited faculty members, employees and would-be MBBS students on this achievement, Khandu said after receiving a copy of the letter.

The letter is the formal permission granted for establishment of a new medical college at Naharlagun. The permission has been accorded initially for a period of one year and will be renewed on yearly basis subject to verification of achievement of annual targets as stated by the state government, an official release said.

The process of renewal of permission will continue till such time the infrastructure and expansion of hospital facilities are completed as norms of the Medical Council of India and the college is recognized, it said.

This college will be an invaluable asset for our generations to come and let us all pledge not to put any hindrance for personal interest in its growth, expansion and recognition, he appealed.

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A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Delhi court for stabbing an 85-year-old man and his son to death six years ago when they were sleeping in their house.

Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Jain handed down the jail term to the man, a south Delhi resident, for murder and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.

"Considering the gravity of offence, the convict needs a commensurate sentence which may satisfy social and legal expectations. The convict is accordingly sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life," the judge said.

A complaint had been lodged by Jagbir Singh who witnessed the horrifying sight of his father and brother being stabbed by the convict and his men in 2012.

The court, while holding Sunder Singh guilty, relied on the post-mortem reports and Jagbir's statement.

It also relied on the statement of the aged father, who died 10 days later during treatment, that he was attacked along with his son by Sunder and some other persons.

According to the prosecution, on the night of December 7, 2012, Jagbir was at his dhaba near Saket here, when Sunder went there in a drunken condition and they both had an altercation.

Later that night, Sunder went to Jagbir's house with a knife but when he could not find him, he stabbed his father and brother, who were sleeping in the courtyard of their house, it said.

While Jagbir's brother died on the spot, his father died 10 days later during treatment, the police said.

However, the accused denied the allegations and claimed that he was falsely implicated.

The court, while punishing Sunder, observed that a delicate balance had to be struck while deciding the sentence.

"Sentencing is the most delicate aspect of criminal law. There are no set parameters and therefore, the sentences bear individual stamp of the sentencer," it said.

"The sentence needs to be adequate and in consonance with the offence committed, it should neither be harsh nor should be light. Striking such a delicate balance is very crucial for a judge in the role of a sentencer," it said.

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With the Calcutta High Court paving way for screening of the film Danga The Riot in which Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's character is cast in the lead role, in West Bengal, its Director Milan Bhowmik today said he would request Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to see the movie.

Bhowmik said that his film had been cleared for screening in West Bengal in an order by the Calcutta High Court on May 23.

"Now I would urge the Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee to see the film. Considering her busy schedule, we would be grateful if she finds time to go through the story line and script of the film for once," he said.

"We are hopeful once Banerjee, who loves works of art, comes to know about the film's content, that it talks about unity among different religions at a time of bloodshed and violence, she will very much appreciate the film's message," one of the producers of the film added.

Informing the film was slated to be screened at 37 theatres across Kolkata on April 27 after granted U/A by Censor, Bhowmik said, "That did not happen. But, now I am hopeful it will be screened in all these theatre halls in next few days."



Bhowmik said he had moved the court earlier this month alleging his movie was facing problem of release and the court gave order for screening on May 23.

However, the Kolkata Police in a post on social network during the end of April had said there was no attempt on the part of administration to stop screening of a film which had been awarded a U/A certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification.

The director said he was also exploring option to rent auditoriums in different parts of the state and screen the film for the public.

Bhowmik said the film is themed on a love story during communal discord and bloodshed in the backdrop of 1946 communal riots in Kolkata and the character of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee came as someone who had saved thousands of lives and was popular among people of both communities.

"It is a commercial film which talks about brotherhood and justificably touches on Mukherjee's contribution in building the nation, he said.

The movie has been made in Hindi and Bengali language.

The Hindi version of 'Danga' is running successfully in theatres of Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand, Bhowmik claimed and added "The Hindi version is doing well in other states. I am facing problems only in Bengal."



The film, set in Kolkata of 1946, featured historical characters such as Nehru, Jinnah, the British-ruled Bengals last Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of the then Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's character is essayed by TV actor and former Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Chairman Gajendra Chauhan.

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The Delhi Police has arrested a man accused of being a major distributor of marijuana in the city and seized 270.4 kg of the contraband from his vehicle.

The Inter-border Gangs Investigation Squad (IGIS) of the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police arrested Dharamveer Kumar (28) from Dichao Depot in southwest Delhi and seized the huge cache of marijuana from his vehicle.

The arrest was made after the team received a secret information that a distributor of ganja would come near the Dichao depot in a Mahindra Champion vehicle.

"The Crime Branch team laid a trap near expected place of his arrival and the accused was successfully apprehended," police said.

It said that his interrogation revealed that he belonged to a lower middle class family residing in Patna, Bihar.

Due to financial constraints, he had come to Delhi in 2012 in search of livelihood and started working as a waiter in different banquet halls and farmhouses in and around Dwarka, police said.

During this period, he came in contact with one Naresh, hailing from Bihar, who was allegedly involved in supply of ganja at a large scale to several drug peddlers in the national capital region.

"Lured by the huge income and profits in this illegal trade, accused Dharamveer started working as a distributor of ganja for Naresh," police said.

It said that Naresh taught him the basic lessons of this illegal trade and Dharamveer was involved in this for the last three to four years.

This was the first time he was arrested, police said, adding that the accused earned a hefty margin of Rs 300 to Rs 400 per kg.

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In a major security breach, a man broke the safety cordon for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give him a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore at the Visva Bharati convocation today.

When Modi was leaving the dias after declaring the convocation closed, the man suddenly went up the platform to give him the portrait. The prime minister took the portrait and handed it over to his security personnel.

SPG personnel caught the man and removed him from the dais.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had left the dais by then.

Multi-layer security arrangements had been put in place in Santiniketan in view of the visit by the dignitaries, which included West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi.

When contacted, officiating Visva Bharati Vice-Chancellor Sabujkali Sen told PTI "I have seen the incident, I was present on the dias then. I don't know the person."



The police said the incident is being probed.

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Days after a farmer died while waiting in the scorching heat at a Mandi to sell his crop, another man has lost his life due to heat stroke at an agricultural market in Madhya Pradesh.

Siddhnath Mali (48) fell unconscious while carrying a sack of chana (gram) at Akodiya Mandi in Shajapur district yesterday afternoon.

Earlier, a 65-year-old farmer had died outside Lateri Mandi in Vidisha district on May 17.

According to Akodiya tehsildar Avnish Mishra, Mali had come to sell the gram crop of his father who is registered as a farmer with the Mandi.

The gates of the Mandi were closed as there were too many trucks offloading inside, Mishra said.

Mali got down from his vehicle and started carrying the sacks of gram inside on his back, but fell unconscious, the official said.

He was taken to a local hospital and then to a hospital at Shajapur where doctors declared him brought dead.

Autopsy report said he died of a heat stroke, Mishra said.

District collector Shrikant Banoth announced an aid of Rs four lakh for the family.

On May 17, Moolchand Maina, a farmer, died of heart attack outside Lateri Mandi in Vidisha after waiting for four days to sell his crop. As per the officials, there was a rush at the Mandi as too many farmers had arrived at the same time.

Opposition Congress had slammed the government over the incident.

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Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militants killed a man in Bandipora districts of Jammu and Kashmir by slitting his throat last night, police said today.

"Police, in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, recovered throat-slit body of a man in Hajin area of north Kashmir's Bandipora district," a police spokesman said.

He said Mohammad Yaqoob Wagay was brutally killed by militants near his home at Gunda Preng village in Hajin area.

"Investigation indicates complicity of banned LeT terror outfit's local terrorist Saleem Parrey in this killing," the spokesman said.

Police have registered a case and started investigation into the matter, he added. PTI MIJ .

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Visva Bharati University today to participate in its convocation, apologized to the students for paucity of water during the programme.

"When I was coming I saw some students gesturing to me that they have no drinking water. As the chancellor of the university I apologise to the students for this problem," Modi said at the beginning of his convocation address.

Unruly scenes were witnessed inside the convocation venue 'Amra Kunja' just before the prime minister arrived there as students protested over paucity of water, an official said.

The students alleged that some of them fell sick as there was inadequate arrangement for water and other facilities at the venue.

The university authorities, however, said the protesters were outsiders and had nothing to do with Visva Bharati.

"Some of the protesters were identified and asked to leave the venue. The problem has been taken care of," said an official of the university.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina arrived at Viswa Bharati University this morning to attend the convocation ceremony.

The PM arrived in his chopper at Panagarh in Bardhaman West district around 10am and left for the convocation venue soon after.

He was greeted with a bouquet of flowers by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on his arrival. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and senior leaders of West Bengal BJP unit were also present at the helipad to welcome the PM.

Both Modi and Hasina signed the visitors' book at the university before taking to the dais at the convocation venue.

Earlier in the day, the university witnessed unruly scenes as youths were seen protesting outside the convocation venue over paucity of water, an official said.

The youths alleged that some students fell sick as there were inadequate arrangements for water and other facilities at the venue.

The university authorities, however, said the protesters were outsiders and had nothing to do with the university.

"Some of the protesters were identified and asked to leave the venue. The problem has been taken care of," said a university official.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina held talks here today on a host of issues, including security and of the region.

The half-an-hour-long meeting at the newly-inaugurated Bangladesh Bhawan was held after its inauguration, a senior official of the Bangladesh High Commission said.

"Although I was not present at the meeting but we can say that bilateral issues were discussed. Issues related to the security and of the region were also discussed," Bangladesh Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam told reporters.

Bangladesh and India are on the "same page" with regard to the return of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, he said referring to Hasina's comments on the refugees, who are now lodged in Bangladesh.

"Bangladesh is grateful to India because both countries are on the same page - specially the assurances made by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj after she visited Myanmar. Swaraj had expressed India's views regarding safe and dignified return of the Rohingya refugees," Alam said.

Hasina had in her speech said that Bangladesh was ready to "even share its food" with the large number of Rohingyas who have taken shelter at Cox's Bazar but Myanmar should take them back.

When asked whether Bangladesh is looking for a joint mechanism to tackle the Rohingya issue and put pressure on Myanmar, Alam said there is no such mechanism.

On whether the issue of Teesta water sharing will be discussed in the meeting, Alam said "Our prime minister had said that issues can be solved through discussions. And we have full faith on Prime Minister Narendra Modi ... Track two dialogue is already on regarding this issue.

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The Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Sigrid Kaag, today emphasised the need to reform and improve the World Trade Organisation for trade collaborations through negotiations.

Speaking at the launch of #StartUpLink, an Indo-Dutch startup initiative here, she said some challenges that affect trade collaborations must be sorted out.

Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had raised this important issue, she said the Netherlands was committed to the two nations engaging around it.

On challenges to be sorted out in trade collaboration between the two nations, she said these involve international trading rules, the WTO and some governments' 'unilateral decisions.'



"We are concerned and we want to keep up the system that has been built. We believe that WTO should be reformed, can be improved, but we do this through negotiations. Now India is a country that works very actively multilaterally within the international system," said Kaag.

On technology collaborations, she said there are agreements in the field of agriculture, health logistics, water management, IT, financial services and waste to energy.

She said FDI between India and Netherlands was excellent and there was scope to do better.

"In an era post Brexit, we want to further consolidate our presence in the emerging markets. India is the third largest economy at present. We foresee future growth in a lot of areas.

"If I take agriculture as one sector where you have a need, the Prime Minister has distinctly declared a number of programmes that are his priority. We feel that our expertise, government and non-government private sector has a lot to contribute to the achievement to the national agenda of India," she said.

Kaag also highlighted the scope for higher education in Netherlands, especially in technology. She said a lot of research is done in Dutch universities like Delft and Twente.

Regarding the #StartUpLink, she said that with the link, her government was not only assisting Dutch startups to 'Make in India,' but enabling Indian startups find their way in the Netherlands as well.

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Scientists have developed a quick and robust blood test that can detect liver damage before the symptoms appear.

The test developed by researchers from the University College London in the UK could address a huge need for early detection of liver disease.

It distinguishes between samples taken from healthy individuals and those with varying degrees of liver damage, researchers said.

The study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, describes the new method of detecting liver fibrosis, the first stage of liver scarring that leads to fatal liver disease if left unchecked, from a blood sample in 30-45 minutes.

"We hope that our new test could be used on a routine basis in GP surgeries and hospital clinics to screen people who face an elevated risk of liver disease, but don't yet show signs of liver damage to identify those with serious fibrosis, so that they can access treatment before it's too late," said William Rosenberg, a professor at UCL.

"This may open the door to a cost-effective regular screening programme thanks to its simplicity, low cost and robustness," he said.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts in the US designed a sensor that uses large molecules called polymers, coated with fluorescent dyes that bind to blood proteins based on their chemical properties.

The fluorescent dyes change in brightness and colour, yielding a different pattern of fluorescence depending on the protein composition of the blood sample.

The team at UCL tested the sensor by comparing results from small blood samples (equivalent to finger-prick checks) from 65 people, in three balanced groups of healthy patients and those with early-stage and late-stage fibrosis.

They found that the sensor could identify different patterns of protein levels in the blood serum of people in the three groups.

"By comparing the different samples, the sensor array identified a 'fingerprint' of liver damage," said William Peveler, who completed the research at UCL.

"This method is known as a chemical nose, as it can recognise the difference between healthy and unhealthy blood samples without relying on known disease markers," said Peveler.

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Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri today said the new metro rail policy announced by the Centre, making PPP mandatory to get financial aid for new projects, seeks to enable realisation of growing metro rail aspirations of a large number of cities in a responsible manner.

The investments for metro rail projects through PPP was made 'compulsory' to meet the demand for capital intensive assets like metro, he said.

The Housing and Urban Affairs Minister stated this after flagging off the metro rail service from Nehru Park to Central Metro and Little Mount to AG-DMS, here, together with Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

"The policy seeks to enable realisation of growing metro rail aspirations of a large number of cities in a responsible manner," he said.

The Union government had on May 23 approved a new metro rail policy for expanding the network across various cities.

"If the cities are the engines of economic growth, the public transport system functions as the wheels of the engine", he said, adding a good and efficient transport system in cities is essential for development.

Puri said the unveiling of metro rail service in various cities showed that the Centre and State governments could together take urban transport systems to new heights.

"We are going to have metro services in major metropolitan towns, providing first class world class services which our commuters so badly need", he said.

Phase I and Phase I extension of MetroRail service covers a total of 45 km, of which 28.5 km is already operational.

"Today another 6.8 km has been launched and we are hoping that Phase I extension will provide reliable, convenient and affordable mode of transport to people of Chennai", he said.

Puri also thanked the Japanese government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for offering financial assistance to the metro rail project.

Palaniswami, in his address, requested the Centre to give early approval and sanction the Union government's share of funds for Phase-II of the project.

The government has estimated that Phase II,covering three new routes across 107.55 km, for which it had given in principle approval, would cost about Rs 79,961 crore.

This huge investment would not only boost the economy of Chennai, but also create several jobs, he said.

Palaniswami said JICA came forward to fund the 52.01 km route (of 107.55 km) and construction would begin once the funds were received.

With completion of Phase I and II metro rail projects, the city would have world class infrastructure, he said.

Palaniswami said a feasibility study would be done to extend metro rail service from Chennai airport to Kilambakkam village on the outskirts of the city, where a second moffussil bus terminus is planned.

The present one is at Koyambedu in the city.

The Chief Minister also recalled his earlier announcement in the Assembly that Chennai Metro Rail Ltd is compiling a project report to set up a service in Coimbatore, to be funded by German development bank KFW.

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The NIA today filed a charge sheet in a Delhi court against suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Sheikh Abdul Naeem and nine others for allegedly preparing to revive the terror outfit's activities in India on the directions of Pakistan-based handlers.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed the final report before the court of District Judge Poonam A Bamba, naming ten persons, five of whom have been arrested, while five were absconding.

The charge sheet also names two persons who have turned approvers.

The accused were charged under various sanctions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Passport Act, Aadhaar Act and Arms Act.

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IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is all set to inaugurate, on May 28, a cloud-enabled National Data Centre at Bhubaneswar, which will offer round-the-clock operations with secure hosting for e-governance applications of ministries and departments.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has set up the data centre at Bhubaneswar, an official release said.

The NIC has national data centres at Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune, and the upcoming one at Bhubaneswar is expected to enhance the range of data centre related services offered by the government body.

"A centralised cloud environment has been established to host multiple applications with simplified operations and increased application responsiveness to support the new generation of distributed applications...," the release said.

Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will also be present at the inaugural ceremony of the National Data Centre.

"The unified and shared infrastructure is flexible enough to rapidly respond to infrastructure requirements and also accommodate future technology enhancements, distributed applications, database applications, virtualised applications...and cloud-based applications that are available on demand," the statement added.

The cloud services will provide benefits like on-demand access to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) infrastructure for easy availability and quick deployment of applications and standardised platforms of deployment.

Coinciding with the inaugural event, the NIC will also unveil e-saubhagya-mobile application.

The cloud service offerings of NIC would allow departments to provision infrastructure and add to the computing capacity on demand.

"This elastic nature of the cloud allows departments not only to bring the solution to deployment quickly but also to scale up based on the demand of peak or low loads. In the traditional model, department has to budget and procure infrastructure at the commencement of the project, this results in either over provisioning of infrastructure or under-sizing of the requirements which leads to scalability challenges," the release added.

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A Nigerian national has been arrested for allegedly cheating people by posting fake advertisements on an online portal by offering used cars at cheaper price, police said today.

Oladeji Olayemi was arrested today while another Nigerian, Samuel Kidoodo, his partner in the crime, was arrested in March, a police release said.

Another accused is still at large, it said.

The trio used to post advertisements for selling used cars on Olx at low price to attract the gullible public with deceitful intention, the police said.

The victims were asked to deposit amounts in different bank accounts and the accused used to withdraw it, the police added.

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The sudden outbreak of the Nipah virus in north Kerala has dashed the hopes of the state Tourism sector, which was expecting a huge inflow of domestic and Gulf holidayers in the coming months.

The deadly virus has claimed 11 lives so far and reportedly affected some more people.

The southern state is now witnessing wide cancellation of hotel bookings and tour packages and many holidayers are even demanding safety assurance from tour operators to visit 'God's Own Country', industry sources said.

Many industry players blamed the media for blowing out of proportion the virus outbreak, which has affected only some districts.

Though May-June-July-August months are generally considered off-season, the state used to witness large number of domestic tourists as well as those from Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE during the period.

However, following the outbreak of the virus, some states and Gulf countries have cautioned against travelling to Kerala, they said.

Rajesh Pillai, a Kochi-based tour operator, said cancellations have been a daily affair since the rare virus claimed 11 lives in the two districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram.

Businesses worth Rs 30-40 lakh has been affected during May-June months, he said.

"The Nipah issue has affected the industry so badly. Even the bookings for the month of August and September have been cancelled," he told PTI.

The bookings of group and family packages have been the most affected, he said.

"Tourists are saying that they cannot take risk. They are also asking if any assurance can be given for their safety. They believe that the entire state is facing threat from the Nipah virus," Pillai, the Kerala head of a leading tour group, said.

"The visitors are not prepared to believe that the outbreak had happened in a tiny village in Kozhikode and only some districts have been affected due to it. Unfortunately our media reports gave them such an impression," he said.

Prasad Rao, a pilgrim-tourist from Hyderabad, said he and 14 others were about to reach Kerala today but they cancelled the trip due to the warning from their tour operator.

"We were on our way to Kerala. We wanted to visit major temples of the state including some in Malappuram and Kozhikode, the epicentre of the Nipah virus," Rao said over phone from Chennai.

"Our tour operator said there is a health advisory against travelling to Kerala in the backdrop of Nipah. So we decided to skip the state and changed our schedule," he said.

E M Najeeb, senior vice president, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), said the industry has suffered a huge setback due to the outbreak of the virus, but expressed hope that things would be improved soon.

"Cancellation is a reality...the virus outbreak has hit the tourism sector. It has created some anxiety among tourists to visit the state. But, I hope that things will improve soon after the situation comes under control," he said.

Najeeb said the stakeholders have been conveying to the tourism industry within and outside the country that all the holiday destinations of the state are safe as usual.

Kerala State Tourism Advisory Council would meet on May 27 to discuss the steps to be taken for damage control and reassure the industry players, he said.

Najeeb also praised the state government for its effective intervention to tackle the sudden outbreak of Nipah.

Jose Dominic, a leading state-based hotelier, said though the industry setback was temporary, it would bounce back soon.

"It is true that cancellations and postponements (of tour programmes) are happening. But it is such a critical situation...and so we should give more priority to the safety of the visitors," he said.

Following the outbreak of the virus, the Kerala government had issued an advisory asking travellers to avoid visiting four northern districts of the state -- Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur.

Issued by Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan, the advisorysaid travelling to any part of Kerala was safe, but if travellers wished to be extra cautious, they may avoid the four districts, it said.

Another section affected has been fruit merchants for whom the Ramzan season would have been a money spinner.

According to the Kerala Fruits and Merchants Association, there has been a 40 per cent dip in the sales in the state due to the outbreak of virus, while in Kozhikode district alone, where the virus first erupted, there has been a fall of 90 per cent in sales.

The Nipah virus is a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans.

The natural host of the virus is believed to be fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus.

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With the mercury soaring to 46 degrees Celsius and water hard to find, an NGO has stepped in to quench the thirst of animals in two villages of Bundi district by replenishing ponds and other reserves with tank water.

Summers in Bundi, about 235 km from the state capital of Jaipur, are marked by a scorching sun and temperatures touching 46 degrees Celsius and sometimes even beyond that.

For the last week, water tankers are being sent daily to Chainpuriya and Devdungri villages in the area to fill up empty reserves and tanks meant for animals in and around the two villages, said Sanjeev Sankhala, head of the Help Suffering Lives Society (HSLS).

HSLS decided to intervene after newspapers reported that cattle and other animals were dying of thirst in these areas, Sankhala said.

He added that the service will continue till the monsoon rains arrive and there is sufficient water available.

The NGO has also kept teams of veterinarians on standby so they can rush to the aid of sick animals when called upon to do so.

Though intended for the animals, the additional supply is also helping villagers meet their daily water needs.

According to Kamlesh Sharma, who is coordinating the water supply operations of HSLS in Bundi, over 1,600 villagers are availing drinking water from the tankers.

The water tankers sent by the government are of little help, he said. Supply is irregular and the timings erratic, he added.

The water service in the two villages has saved lives of several animals and is also quenching the thirst of locals, said Birdhilal Bheel, a grateful resident of Devdungri.

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National Conference (NC) leader Omar Abdullah today sanctioned Rs 1.30 lakh to the family of a girl detained by police along with Indian Army Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi from a hotel here.

The money was being given to the family, living in extreme poverty in Budgam, to construct a house, Abdullah's political secretary Tanvir Sadiq said on Twitter.

"Our local party office bearers have visited Check Kawoosa area of Beerwah. After a first hand report and finding the family living in extreme poverty and living in a tin shed, Mr @OmarAbdullah has released an amount of 1.30 lakh...," Sadiq tweeted.

The money would be released from the constituency development fund of Abdullah, who represents Beerwah in the state assembly.

Sadiq has also written a letter to the District Development Commissioner of Budgam, on behalf of the NC leader, requesting the release of money. He also shared the letter on Twitter.

The 18-year-old girl had accompanied Gogoi and his driver to a hotel on Wednesday. They were detained after Gogoi and his driver got into an altercation with the hotel staff over being denied entry.

Gogoi sparked a row in April last year when he tied a local, Farooq Ahmed Dar, to his jeep and paraded him through 28 villages in Budgam district, apparently to escape stone pelting.

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The bandh called by DMK-led opposition parties to condemn police firing at Tuticorin in which 13 people lost their lives and press for Chief Minister K Palaniswami's resignation passed off peacefully today.

Demonstrations by DMK, its allies Congress, IUML, MMK and other parties like MDMK, VCK, CPI, and CPI(M) were staged across Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Puducherry.

State-run transport corporation buses, autos, taxis and trains operated as usual while banks, hotels, commercial establishments and markets were open.

Attendance in government and private establishments was normal, officials said.

The bandh call, however, evoked good response in several regions falling under Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts, adjoining Tuticorin, besides Coimbatore, Tirupur and Tiruvarur.

Though most shops, retail outlets and commercial establishments were closed in such regions, public transportation was not affected.

In Tuticorin, no fresh violence was reported today and the port city appeared to limp back to normalcy with operation of buses to select destinations like Tirunelveli beginning today with police security.

The vegetable market also opened.

Prohibitory orders, however, continue to be in place.

In Congress-ruled Puducherry, normal life was hit. All shops and establishments, restaurants,cinema houses, vegetable and fish markets remained closed. Autos, private and Puducherry government run buses were off the roads.

DMK Working President M K Stalin said such protests would continue till Palaniswami quits and demanded that government make an official announcement that the Sterlite plant would be shut permanently.

Protests would be held till such an official declaration was made, he told reporters at a hall where he was lodged by police after he led a protest at Madurantakam in Kancheepuram district.

He alleged that those in the AIADMK government were "bribed", vis-a-vis the Sterlite row.

Hitting out at the AIADMK regime, Stalin said he and his party colleagues went to the Secretariat yesterday to lay siege to the chief minister's office.

"We were there to tell the Chief Minister to quit his office and go home and not to give any petitions," he said.

Violent protests erupted in Tuticorin on Tuesday as locals took to the streets demanding closure of a copper factory of the Vedanta group over pollution concerns.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly claimed that it was the protest led by him that goaded Chief Minister Palaniswami to break his silence on Thursday on the Tuticorin violence.

Referring to a case filed against him for defying prohibitory orders, Stalin said his partymen had faced several cases and were not afraid of going to jail for people's cause.

He demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the High Court into the violence and said his party cannot agree on the inquiry by a retired judge (Aruna Jagadeesan) which the government had announced on May 23.

A large number of cadres carrying placards against the violence participated in the demonstration.

Later, Stalin was removed from the spot along with his party workers by police and they were detained in a marriage hall.

At Chennai, former Chennai Mayor and DMK leader M Subramanian, party Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, VCK chief Thirumavalavan, MMK leader M H Jawahirullah were detained after they staged a protest, police said.

Similar protests were held by DMK-led Opposition parties including the CPI(M) and the CPI across the state.

All those detained would be released later in the day, police said.

Internet services, which were suspended in Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli districts on May 23, were restored in these districts today, unconfirmed reports said.

Along with Tuticorin, internet and mobile data services in the two districts were suspended on May 23 to check rumours and provocative messages on social media.

Violent protests erupted in Tuticorin on May 22 and 23 as locals took to the streets demanding closure of Vedanta group's copper factory over pollution concerns and 13 were killed in police firing.

In a BSE filing, Vedanta said Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on May 23 ordered disconnection of electricity supply and closure of its copper smelter plant at Tuticorin adding it was non-operational since March 27 this year.

The Madras High Court today issued notice to the CBI on a plea seeking a probe by the agency into the police firing.

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Pakistan said today it expected India to reciprocate its "friendly gestures" and release 54 Pakistani prisoners held in several Indian jails despite the completion of their prison terms.

Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal told reporters here that Pakistan also wanted India to respond to its proposal about the exchange of prisoners.

"Pakistan is pursuing the matter of release of 54 Pakistani prisoners from Indian jails, who remain incarcerated despite completing their sentence.

"We also await New Delhi's response to Pakistan's humanitarian proposal for exchange of prisoners above 60 years and children below the age of 18, shared with the Indian side on March 7 2018," he said.

Faisal said Pakistan made positive gestures on the humanitarian track vis-a-vis India as reflected in the release of civilian prisoners and fishermen.

Faisal claimed Pakistan facilitated visits of India pilgrims to religious shrines despite New Delhi's denial of visas for Pakistanis and also showed "good-faith humanitarian gesture of allowing Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav's family to visit him".

"We expect our friendly gestures to be reciprocated," he said.

Faisal said Pakistan was gravely concerned at the inauguration of the Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project (KHEP) and "believes that the inauguration of the project without the resolution of the dispute is a violation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)".

He claimed that India went ahead with the construction while efforts to resolve were still going on.

"This intransigence by India has made the Treaty dysfunctional," he said.

"Pakistan urged the Bank to raise this violation of the IWT with India and bring an end to the impasse. Pakistan reiterated that as the custodian of the Treaty, the World Bank should urge India to address Pakistan's reservations on Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project (KHEP)," he said.

He said a delegation led by Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali discussed the issues related to Kishenganga (KHEP) and Ratle (RHEP) Hydroelectric projects under the Indus Waters Treaty with bank official and conveyed the concerns.

"The Attorney General reminded the Bank of its obligations and emphasised the need to abide by its commitments.

"The delegation stressed the need to revisit the design and impact of KHEP. He also urged the US government to actively support the Bank in resolving the KHEP and RHEP within the ambit of the Treaty," said Faisal.

He said the "water disputes with India carry the potential to escalate into full-scale conflict between both sides".

"Pakistan is an agro-based economy in dire need of water. The government has recently released a comprehensive water policy to tackle the acute shortages of water in the country. Pakistan is doing whatever is necessary to raise the alarm bells and share our concerns with all concerned," he said.

Faisal said Pakistan wanted a peaceful neigbourhood where all countries can focus on meeting the socio-economic needs of their people, rather than squandering their resources on a futile arms race and acquiring destabilising weapon systems and technologies.

Faisal alleged that according to the Army, Pakistan had sufferd 28 civilian deaths and injuries to another 117 in 2018 due to over 1050 ceasefire violations from the Indian side.

He also said Pakistan will submit the counter-reply in Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav's case to the International Court of Justice in July.

When asked about former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt General Asad Durrani's claims in the book 'The Spy Chronicles' that Pakistan did not tackle the case of Jadhav properly and that he will be handed over to India, Faisal said "This will never happen".

Faisal also alleged that maltreatment of minorities in India and rising extremism were evident by the recent killings of Muslims.

Speaking on different issues about US allegations regarding mistreatment of its diplomats in Pakistan, he said the Foreign Office had not received any specific complaints from the US side after establishment of the mechanism to resolve the issue of treatment of American diplomats in Pakistan.

"Diplomats hailing from all countries enjoy diplomatic privileges alike and are provided every possible support as per international laws and norms as well as reciprocity," he said.

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Pakistan today said it expected India to release 54 Pakistanis who had completed their prison terms in several Indian jails.

The Foreign Office (FO) here said Pakistan expects the friendly gestures it had extended towards India to be reciprocated.

During a press briefing here, FO spokesperson Muhammad Faisal said that Islamabad was pursuing the release of 54 Pakistani prisoners who he claimed were currently in Indian jails despite completing their sentences.

He said Pakistan was also waiting for India to respond to humanitarian proposals with regard to the exchange of prisoners above 60 and below 18 years of age.

"Pakistan has made positive gestures on the humanitarian track vis-a-vis India, as reflected in the release of civilian prisoners, fishermen, and the facilitation of visits of pilgrims to religious shrines. We expect our friendly gestures to be reciprocated," Faisal said.

He also raised the issue of the Kishanganga Dam in Jammu and Kashmir saying that a Pakistani delegation had met World Bank officials to discuss the issues under the Indus Waters Treaty.

He said Pakistan regretted Indian attempts to make the Indus Waters Treaty dysfunctional and that the inauguration of the Kishanganga Dam by India is a "flagrant disregard" of the commitments to the World Bank and an "utter violation" of the treaty.

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The Delhi High Court today sought response from the AAP government on a PIL seeking quashing of a provision in the Delhi Excise Act which prescribes 25 years as the minimum legal age for buying and drinking alcohol.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Jusice C Hari Shankar issued a notice to the Excise department of the Delhi government on the plea which cited the lower drinking age in other states of the country.

The matter is listed for next hearing on October 9.

The High Court was hearing a plea filed by lawyer Kush Kalra seeking quashing of section 23 of Delhi Excise act, 2009 which prescribes 25 years as legal age of drinking in Delhi.

The plea has also sought to know what steps the Delhi government has taken towards prohibiting and regulating the sale and supply of alcohol to persons under the age of 25 years in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

In his plea, Kalra said that while the legal age to drink in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Telangana, Jharkhand was 21, in Rajasthan and Puducherry it was 18.

"A person coming to Delhi from a state which legalises drinking at the age of 18 years is likely to continue consuming alcohol thus criminalising their behaviour. On the other hand young persons from Delhi travel to states which have lower legal ages to consume alcohol which raises the question how a person by moving his/her location becomes responsible," the plea said.

The petition also contended that according to reports about 67 per cent of the population in the age group of 18-25 years purchased alcohol from liquor vends but are never asked for age proof.

It has sought directions to the Delhi government to conduct awareness programmes on responsible consumption of alcohol among college and school going students by including it in the curriculum.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a blistering attack on those accusing him of working for the rich, saying people "neck-deep in vote bank politics" should answer if moneyed people lived in the 18,000 villages where his government had provided power for the first time since Independence.

Repeating his 'naamdar (dynast)' barb at the Congress, he said they did not know the pain of 'kaamdars (ordinary workers)' and were accusing him of working for the wealthy.

"Those guided by fashion of showing devotion towards the poor by bad-mouthing the rich should answer, are there any moneyed people living in the 18,000 villages kept in darkness since Independence before our government provided electricity to them," Modi said.

"I wish to question these 'naamdars' about this (why 18,000 villages lived in darkness), who does not know the pain of 'kaamdars'," he said.

Those "neck-deep in vote bank politics", who had no time to spare for these 18,000 villages living in darkness even after 60 years of Independence during their time, were accusing him of working for the wealthy, the prime minister said.

Modi had earlier used his "naamdar" barb apparently targeted at Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the campaign for the Karnataka assembly election.

The prime minister was addressing a function at Sindri, about 20 km from Dhanbad town, after inaugurating five projects worth Rs 27,000 crore for Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Governor Draupdi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Power Minister R K Singh, Minister of State for Health Ashwani Choubey and Dhanbad MP P N Singh were present at the event.

The PM said that besides electrification of these villages, the Union government has set a target to provide power connection to four crore families having no electricity through the "Saubhagya" scheme.

Out of the four crore families, 25 lakh hailed from Jharkhand, he said.

Modi said in addition to the Rs 27,000 crore worth of projects, works are underway in projects earmarked for the state at an estimated cost of Rs 80,000 crore. Fifty such works are in progress, he added.

The five projects which were inaugurated today by the prime minister included revival of closed Sindri urea fertiliser unit, thermal power plant with a capacity of 2,400 MW at Patratu, AIIMS and an airport in Deogarh and taking gas pipeline to households in Ranchi.

The PM recalled that it was Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee who as minister at the Centre had started the Sindri urea unit.

Modi said that during campaign for the 2014 parliamentary election he had urged people that if they elected a BJP government at the Centre too along with Jharkhand, the "double engine" would propel development of the mineral-rich state.

"Today this double engine of Jharkhand government and one at Delhi working in the same direction is taking the state to greater heights of development," he said.

Saying that in democracy, election is the yardstick to gauge people's satisfaction over performance of governments, Modi cited the saffron party's victory in panchayat polls in Jharkhand to buttress the point.

Modi had flown straight to Sindri from Santiniketan in West Bengal where he addressed the university convocation and also inaugurated Bangladesh Bhawan with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

From Sindri, he flew to Ranchi to have a brief session with District Magistrates of 19 "Aspirational Jharkhand districts" and Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The prime minister recently launched the "aspirational district" programme to ensure all-round development of these areas.

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US Secretary of State has urged the Congress to provide the necessary waiver so that its sanctions on Russia under CAATSA does not impact countries for which it is not intended for.

Provisions of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) threaten India and several other close friends and allies of the US with sanctions.

CAATSA is a US federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia. It includes sanctions against countries that engage in significant transactions with Russia's defence and intelligence sectors.

India is planning to purchase five S-400 Triumf air defence systems for around USD 4.5 billion from Russia, which US officials say could be considered as a significant military purchase.

"Will you make a commitment that you'll help (Defence) Secretary (Jim) Mattis get the waivers that he needs in order to make sure that these sanctions don't hit folks that were not intended to be harmed by these sanctions?" Pompeo asked Senator Robert Menendez, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a Congressional hearing yesterday.

Pompeo was referring to the letter written by Mattis to the Congress in which he has sought waiver for certain countries from CAATSA legislation, which was signed into law by the US President Donald Trump in August 2017.

Under this any significant purchase of military equipment from Russia would attract American sanctions.

Mattis recently wrote a letter to the Congress seeking waiver for certain provisions.

"I know it's not my day to ask questions, but it is my day to ask for things that I think we need," Pompeo said.

Menendez, a strong advocate of CAATSA sanctions, urged Pompeo to go ahead with the sanctions. He remained non-committal to waiver move.

"I have to see the specifics of what Secretary Mattis wants," said the Democratic Senator from New Jersey.

"I also have to say, if we're going to allow countries that are sanctioned, because we believe in the sanctions policy, and they want to get off the hook because there's some other benefit, well then we begin to erode the sanction policies and we pick and choose. And other countries will seek the same questions. I'm open to listen to it. But it has to follow, in essence, what our policy is trying to achieve," Menendez added.
Britain's Prince William is to become the first UK royal to make an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories next month.

The Duke of Cambridge will begin his five-day tour of the Middle East on behalf of the British government in Amman, the capital of Jordan, on June 24 and end in Jerusalem. He will also visit the Jordanian city of Jerash, Tel Aviv in Israel and the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

His grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, and father, Prince Charles, have previously visited Jerusalem, but not as part of an official tour. Kensington Palace said the visit to the region is being made at the request of the UK Foreign Office.

Alistair Burt, the UK Foreign Office minister, said that the 35-year-old's visit was an important and unique opportunity to promote diplomatic and cultural ties in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a historic visit and the first of its kind, adding that the prince would be welcomed "with great affection".

Prince William's tour comes at a tense time for the region. Earlier this month, the US inaugurated its first embassy in Jerusalem, despite Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem not being recognised internationally. Britain, France and Germany boycotted the embassy opening ceremony on May 14, which took place on the 70th anniversary of Israel's founding and was marred by deadly protests in Gaza.

It is expected that Prince William may visit the grave of his great-grandmother, Alice of Battenburg, the Duke of Edinburgh's mother whose body was moved to the Mount of Olives in 1988. He is also likely to visit Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust - Yad Vashem - in Jerusalem.

The prince will be travelling without his family, with wife Kate still on maternity leave after giving birth to their third child Prince Louis last month.

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With films like "Vicky Donor" and "Madras Cafe" John Abraham has established his credibility as a producer and the actor believes the reason for his success is the fact that he does not consider himself as the "hero" of every project.

The 45-year-old actor, who has made some unusual choices like "Jism", "No Smoking" and "Taxi No 9211" in his close to two-decade-long acting career, says his production ventures are never about him.

"With me, the only problem as a producer is that I love taking time on development. The advantage of me as producer is, I don't look at myself as a hero of every project. If I feel Varun, Tiger, Rajkummar Rao, or Sonakshi Sinha suit the role better, I will go to them.

"Production is not a vanity project for me. Being a producer is a way of telling stories which I believe in. Even if I am not an option in the film, I am happy with that," John told PTI.

The actor, whose latest production "Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran" released today, says commercial success of films is important to him but he will never compromise on the content.

"You should not be in the business of filmmaking if you cannot make commercial sense out of it. For me, everybody in the distribution chain should make money. But at the same time, I am a creative person. I am not going to compromise on my creativity to belt out some crap.

"I will not make a film because I have got 'A' actress and 'B' actor in it. I am not here to make proposals, I am here to make films. I want to tell good stories because I am not afraid of failure."



John says as a producer he is attracted to stories which have left an impact on him and "Parmanu" was one such incident. The actor, however, promises the film is not jingoistic in its approach.

"I thought it impacted me so it will also impact young audience and make them feel that it is cool to be Indian. I just want the young audience to come and watch an engaging thriller. Patriotism is a by product of this film. We didn't go out of our way to make an overtly patriotic jingoistic film."



Citing the example of "Madras Cafe", John says it was an "intelligent" film and with "Parmanu" he has tried to do the same, but with an intent to reach a wider audience.

"'Madras Cafe' was a intelligent film with lots of information that is why it reached out to niche audience. With 'Parmanu', I want to reach out to wider audience without dumbing my film down. I wanted to make a film which had intelligent quotient. I want Parmanu to reach everybody. I hope people accept it," he says.

John, who will soon start working on spy-thriller "Romeo Akbar Walter" (RAW), says he may be more frequent in action films but comedy has always been his favourite genre as a performer.

"Comedy is my favorite genre. My fans love me in comedy. I am waiting for someone to offer me a comedy script. Wherever I go people praise me for my role in "Garam Masala" and "Dostana". Making people laugh is the toughest thing to do and I want to produce and act more comedy films".

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said today the rocket that shot down flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine in 2014 was "of course" not Russian, dismissing the Dutch and Australian decision to blame Moscow for the tragedy.

Asked at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg if the rocket was Russian, Putin said: "Of course not." The Russian leader added that there is "nothing that inspires confidence" in the international investigation and that "several versions" of what happened exist.

The Netherlands and Australia today took the first step towards dragging Russia to court over the shooting down of the flight, accusing Moscow of being responsible for the disaster.

The move won swift support from international allies, a day after investigators concluded that the Russian-made BUK missile which tore apart the Boeing 777 passenger plane in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a Russian military brigade based in the southwestern city of Kursk.

"There is but one conclusion to be made from yesterday's presentation, namely that Russia is thoroughly responsible for the deployment of this BUK system," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters.

All 298 people on the flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when the missile slammed into the plane as it flew over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The Dutch government said in a statement that, together with Australia, it was holding Moscow "formally accountable" for the tragedy, and may now move towards submitting the complex dossier to an international judge or organisation.

Russia has repeatedly denied any responsibility in the disaster. Moscow has come up with numerous theories to deflect the blame and pointed the finger at Kiev.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday he had been informed by his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok that "they have practically no doubt that the BUK came from Russia." "I asked him about facts proving these claims. He did not give me any facts saying they want Russia to help establish them based on unfounded suspicion," Lavrov added.

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi today remembered his party leaders who died in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh on this day in 2013, saying they gave their lives for the country.

"5 years ago on this day today, I lost my friend Nand Kumar Patel in a frightening naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, senior leaders V C Shukla ji, Mahendra Karma Ji and many others, who lost their lives and were injured.

"All these patriots gave their lives for the country. We salute their valour and courage," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

At least 26 people were killed in the Naxal attack on a convoy of Congress leaders in Darbha Valley in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on May 25, 2013.

Former state minister Mahendra Karma and Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel were among those killed. Former union minister and senior Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla, who was seriously injured in the attack, succumbed to his injuries on June 11, 2013.

The attack happened a few months before the assembly elections in the state.

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Wonder man from Afghanistan Rashid Khan produced an all-round effort to guide Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 13-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the second qualifier and take the visitors to the final of the Indian Premier League season 11 here today.

Rashid (34 not out off 10) first played a late cameo with the bat to help Sunrisers overcome a wobbly start and post a challenging 174 for seven and then returned with a 3/19 spell from his four overs to guide his side to their second IPL final appearance.

Besides his exploits with the bat and ball, Rashid grabbed two important catches at deep mid-wicket in the final over of the innings to emerge as the stand-out performer.

Sunrisers will now take on two-time champions Chennai Super Kings in the summit clash in Mumbai on Sunday.

In their pursuit of 175, KKR were off to a scintillating start scoring 40 off 3.2 overs before Sunil Narine perished caught by Carlos Brathwaite off Siddharth Kaul (2/32).

But by then Narine and Chris Lynn (48 off 31) had already done the initial damage as they went hammer and tongs against the Sunrisers bowlers from the word go.

Narine made 26 off 13 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six before departing.

But that didn't stop Lynn and new man in Nitish Rana (22) as the duo continued to bat aggressively and picked up boundaries and sixes at will to take KKR to 81 for one after eight overs.

Just when it looked KKR were on course, four quick wickets brought Sunrisers back into the match.

First Rana got run out in the ninth over and then a struggling Robin Uthappa was cleaned up by Rashid in the 11th over as the batsman went for an expansive reverse sweep.

To make matters worse for KKR, skipper Dinesh Karthik was castled by Shakib Al Hasan in the 12th over before Rashid caught set batsman Lynn plumb in front of the wicket in the next over as the Australian went for a sweep.

Rashid then came back an over later to dismiss dangerous Andre Russell as the West Indian edged a googly straight to Shikhar Dhawan at the lone slip as KKR slipped to 118 for six.

Piyush Chawla scored a run-a-ball 12 before getting out but it was young Shubman Gill (30) who kept KKR in the hunt, hitting Kaul over mid-off boundary in the last ball off the penultimate over to bring down the equation to 19 off last over.

Shivam Mavi then hit Brathwaite for a boundary in the first ball off the final over before the West Indian picked up Mavi and Gill with consecutive deliveries to shut the door for the hosts.

Earlier, in their bid for a place in the final for the third time, KKR bowlers responded to Karthik's decision to bowl first as they never allowed Sunrisers batsmen to break free initially.

Kuldeep Yadav stole the limelight with a 2/29 spell that inluded the prized wicket of Kane Williamson (3), the leading rungetter of IPL-11, whlie Narine (1/24) was once again at his tidy best conceding just two runs in the 17th over.

But Sunrisers snatched the momentum scoring 50 runs in the last three overs with wily Afghan spinner Rashid making the difference with his 34 not out off just 10 balls (four sixes and two fours).

Rashid stepped on the gas in Prasidh Krishna's final over with two sixes that yielded 24 runs.

Having started off on an impressive note, Krishna finished with poor figures of 56 runs from his four overs to undo all the good work done by Kuldeep and Narine.

Earlier, KKR bowlers did not get a wicket inside the powerplay but their pace battery of Mavi, Krishna and Russell bowled with pace and accuracy to stymie Sunrisers run flow.

Drafted into the side in place of Javon Searles in a bold move by KKR to go in with three overseas players, Mavi troubled Wriddhiman Saha with his pace and movement off the seam en route to a fine spell of 1/33 from his full quota.

Returning after five matches, Saha looked awfully out of sorts with six runs from 12 balls and carried on with a dash of luck after being dropped on five when Karthik grassed a skier.

It did not matter much in the scheme of things as KKR got three wickets in five overs after the powerplay with Kuldeep giving breakthroughs with a twin blow in the eight over.

In his first ball, Kuldeep trapped the dangerous-looking Dhawan (34) and in the fifth ball he deceived the 'Orange Cap' holder Williamson (3) with a wrong one.

Kuldeep flighted the ball and Williamson failed to read the wrong one and the ball kissed the edge with Karthik not faltering this time to dismiss his Hyderabad counterpart.

Saha's pathetic knock of 35 from 27 balls finally came to an end after a brilliant stumping by Karthik.

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Rashid Khan's late cameo helped Sunrisers Hyderabad overcome a wobbly start and post a challenging 174 for seven against Kolkata Knight Riders in the second qualifier of Indian Premier League here today.

In their bid for a place in the final for the third time, KKR bowlers responded to Dinesh Karthik's decision to bowl first as they never allowed Sunrisers batsmen to break free initially.

Kuldeep Yadav stole the limelight with a 2/29 spell that inluded the prized wicket of Kane Williamson (3), the leading rungetter of IPL-11, whlie Sunil Narine (1/24) was once again at his tidy best conceding just two runs in the 17th over.

But Sunrisers snatched the momentum scoring 50 runs in the last three overs with wily Afghan spinner Rashid making the difference with his 34 not out off just 10 balls (four sixes and two fours).

Rashid stepped on the gas in Prasidh Krishna's final over with two sixes that yielded 24 runs.

Having started off on an impressive note, Krishna finished with poor figures of 56 runs from his four overs to undo all the good work done by Kuldeep and Narine.

Earlier, KKR bowlers did not get a wicket inside the powerplay but their pace battery of Shivam Mavi, Krishna and Russell bowled with pace and accuracy to stymie Sunrisers run flow.

Drafted into the side in place of Javon Searles in a bold move by KKR to go in with three overseas players, Mavi troubled Wriddhiman Saha with his pace and movement off the seam en route to a fine spell of 1/33 from his full quota.

Returning after five matches, Saha looked awfully out of sorts with six runs from 12 balls and carried on with a dash of luck after being dropped on five when Karthik grassed a skier.

It did not matter much in the scheme of things as KKR got three wickets in five overs after the powerplay with Kuldeep giving breakthroughs with a twin blow in the eight over.

In his first ball, Kuldeep trapped the dangerous-looking Shikhar Dhawan (34) and in the fifth ball he deceived the 'Orange Cap' holder Williamson (3) with a wrong one.

Kuldeep flighted the ball and Williamson failed to read the wrong one and the ball kissed the edge with Karthik not faltering this time to dismiss his Hyderabad counterpart.

Saha's pathetic knock of 35 from 27 balls finally came to an end after a brilliant stumping by Karthik.

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Vadodara District Judge J C Doshi has asked the local bar association not to allow any kind of religious activity on the court premises, saying it violates "principles of secularism".

Doshi stated this in a letter to Baroda Bar Association president Nalin Patel, after two rooms in the newly-constructed court building were opened to allow Muslim lawyers to offer namaaz.

"As the judiciary represents the Indian state, showcasing the symbology of one particular religion amounts to violating the principle of secularism," Doshi said in the letter, which was shared with media by Patel.

Earlier, Kedar Biniwale, secretary of the BBA, had provided two rooms to Muslim lawyers for offering prayers during the ongoing month of Ramazan, which some members of the association had opposed.

Biniwale argued that there was no mosque nearby where Muslim lawyers could offer prayers.

However, judge Doshi said in the letter that India is a secular country, and "fundamental rights make it a constitutional mandate for the state not to discriminate on the basis of religion".

"Premises of court and government buildings can not be allowed to be used for conducting such religious activities," the letter said, adding that members should refrain from conducting any religious activity on the court premises.

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Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today asked Pakistan to "respect the sentiments" associated with Ramzan and end ceasefire violations along the border, as she met the affected people in the frontier areas.

Twelve people including two minor children and two BSF jawans were killed and over 60 people were injured due to shelling by Pakistan troops along the border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua in nine days, where over one lakh people have migrated from the IB. However, there has been a lull in the firing for two days.

The halt of security operations during Ramzan by the Centre "has led the people of the state to heave a sigh of relief," the chief minister said, adding Pakistan should respond positively by bringing peace on the border.

She reminded the people that complete peace prevailed along the borders for more than a decade after the ceasefire in 2003 and appealed to the leadership of Pakistan to respect the sentiments associated with the holy month of Ramzan.

Mehbooba Muftivisited the border areas of R S Pura, Samba and other places of Jammu province which have been severely hit by the cross border shelling during the past few days.

She interacted with the affected people, who apprised her of their difficulties. The minister for Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction and Disaster Management, Javed Mustafa Mir, accompanied the chief minister during the visit.

In R S Pura, she met the affected people who have taken shelter at the local ITI, Chakroi Farm and Satarian.

Interacting with the people, the chief minister said she was deeply distressed and anguished due to the continued flare up on the borders and sought an immediate end to it "to save the people of border areas from more losses of life, property and peace".

Responding to the demands of the locals, Mehbooba Mufti announced that her government would examine the issue of raising a battalion of JK Police comprising of youths exclusively from border areas.

She also assured them that her government would look into their demand of bringing people living in areas along International Border (IB) on a par with those of LoC areas in terms of facilities and other incentives.

The chief minister also said that steps would be taken to construct Border Bhawans in urban areas where they can stay during the difficult times.

She said her government has already got the loss to livestock included in the compensation package by the Centre.

Responding to other demands, Mehbooba Mufti said the local hospital at R S Pura would have more facilities in terms of equipment and manpower and also the local veterinary unit would be upgraded.

The minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Choudhary, and MLA Gagan Bhagat were also present.

Later, the chief minister visited Samba and interacted with the people from border areas at Thandi Khui and Chichi Mata Mandir.

Here also, the people raised similar demands.

The chief minister said that she will look into the issue of late settlement of compensation cases and ensure early resolution.

The minister for Health & Medical Education, Devinder Manyal, was present.

The chief minister gave away Rs one lakh each to the kin of those killed in cross-border shelling in these areas. This is in addition to the ex-gratia extended to them by the Jammu Divisional administration.

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The prime minister of South Korea today expressed sadness that the planned summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been cancelled.

Speaking through a translator during a trip to Austria, Lee Nak-yeon told reporters that "we find it very sad that the summit that was announced between the United States and North Korea can't take place after all."



Lee said that South Korea still hopes to build on a recent historic meeting between North Korea's Kim and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in to make progress on a peace deal between the two countries.

Lee said that "we will continue to work to create peace on the Korean Peninsula." Trump cancelled the planned summit yesterday, citing "hostility" displayed by North Korea.

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South Korea's Unification Minister said today that Seoul will press ahead with improving ties with North Korea after US President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a summit with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un.

"Our government will do its part in carrying out the Panmunjom Declaration," Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told reporters according to Yonhap, referring to the landmark agreement to bolster ties and push towards denuclearisation signed last month by Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

"It appears that (the North) remains sincere in implementing the agreement and making efforts on denuclearisation and peace building," he added.

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Indian mountaineer Arjun Vajpai this week became the youngest person in the world to scale six peaks over 8,000 metres when he summited the treacherous Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world.

But the real pinnacle, says the 24-year-old, would be when he achieves the "grand slam" of mountaineering -- scaling all 14 mountains over 8,000 metres across the world.

On May 20, the Noida-based mountaineer scaled the 8,586-metre Kangchenjunga at 8:05 am IST, but could not come down from the Advanced Base Camp till Thursday morning due to severe weather conditions.

Vajpai, who became the third youngest person to scale the Mount Everest at the age of 16 in 2010, started his journey to the Kangchenjunga peak on April 26 from the Advanced Base Camp, situated at a height of 5,400 metres.

Supported by Mountain Dew India's 'Risk Takers of India' campaign on his adventurous journey, Vajpai says the feat is the result of the combined effort of a team of sherpas and mountaineers.

There was no perfect recipe but a little of everything mixed into the mess. So in the end it was like a beautiful montage of things falling into place, Vajpai said as he prepared to return home to Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

"This time we had a great team with us. The coordination between the sherpas and the climbing members was much better. We did better planning before embarking on the mission," he said.

The weather conditions were initially very tricky, Vajpai said. The weather reporters would predict something and the ground reality would turn out different.

His friend Alex, who filmed the whole experience till the summit, was a great morale booster, he said.

"The credit also goes to a strong fixing team that included three-four sherpas who played a vital role in helping us solve this challenge," Vajpai said.

This year's expedition was Vajpai's second attempt at scaling the peak. Last year, he had to return from Camp 2, at a height of 6400 metres.

Sharing the pride, Naseeb Puri, director, Mountain Dew, PepsiCo India, said, "At Mountain Dew, we are firm believers that we have the ability to break out of the ordinary. We strive to inspire the youth to conquer the real mountain the one that resides with each of us."



He said they were inspired by Vajpai from the first time they met him.

"We aim to take his story, and many others, to the masses in an attempt to inspire youth to achieve the extraordinary. We are privileged to be a part of this incredible journey."



Vajpai, who took to climbing at the early age of 10, has so far scaled Mount Everest (8,848 mtr) in 2010, Mt Manaslu (8,163 mtr) and Mt Lhotse (8,516 mtr) in 2011, Mt Makalu (8,486 mtr) and Mt Cho Oyu (8,201 mtr) in 2016, according to the Himalayan Database, a record keeper of mountaineering feats.

With his eyes set on the loftier aim of scaling all 14 mountains over 8,000 metres, up next is the Shishapangma mountain in Tibet that stands at 8,027 metres above sea level.

Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Nepal so far holds the record of being the youngest climber of all 14 peaks at the age of 30.

As he makes his way to the ascent of his ambitions, one peak at a time, Vajpai is hoping to beat that record.

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Legal experts from SCO member states today met in the Pakistani capital and discussed proposals to increase cooperation to combat extremism and terrorism.

Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that the legal experts' group meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) started on May 23 and ended today.

"Member states discussed various proposals for enhancing regional cooperation in countering terrorism and extremism. The legal experts also discussed administrative and organisational matters," the FO said.

It said the meeting of legal experts in Islamabad also deliberated on the agenda of the 33rd session of the council of SCO-RATS, which will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in October.

This was the first ever SCO meeting to be held in Pakistan since it become a member of the grouping in June, 2017 along with India.

The FO said legal experts from eight member states, namely China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, as well as representatives of the SCO-RATS executive committee participated in the meeting.

The SCO-RATS, based in Tashkent, was established by the member states of the SCO in 2001 to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.

As a permanent organ of the SCO, it is a regional forum for exchange of views and best practices on countering terrorism and extremism. The highest decision-making body of the SCO-RATS is the council, which meets once in six months.

The decisions of the council of SCO-RATS are prepared and vetted by the legal experts working group, which meets thrice before every council meeting. These expert-level meetings are held in all members of the SCO on voluntary or rotational basis, the FO said.

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Odisha Police has put in place elaborate security arrangements in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit tomorrow.

As many as 100 platoons of police force (80 in Cuttack and 20 in Bhubaneswar) will be deployed as a part of the PM's security arrangements.

Modi will address a public meeting at Baji Jatra ground on the banks of river Mahanadi in Cuttack, marking four years of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

"Five teams each of the SAG, STU will also be deployed along with two teams of ODRAF," Cuttack DCP Akhilesvar Singh said.

Four control rooms have been set up to monitor the security arrangements, Singh said.

Special arrangements have also been made for traffic management, and there will be a few diversions on different routes to prevent road congestion.

Meanwhile, a report from Malkangiri said that Maoists have put posters opposing the PM's Odisha visit.

The posters were seen at different places in Kalimela police station area of Malkangiri district, an official said.

Meanwhile, Opposition Congress has decided to stage demonstrations against the BJP government during Modi's visit tomorrow.

Mahanadi Bachao Andolan convenor Sudarsan Das has announced that it will organise 'Jal Satyagraha' at Jobra in Cuttack.

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A 38-year-old software engineer was allegedly kidnapped a night before his birthday in Radhakunj Nandgram colony here, police said today.

Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Krishna said Rajiv Kumar, a native of Ranipur in Haridwar who works in multinational IT company, returned to Ghaziabad in a cab on Wednesday night.

He got down at the intersection of Rajnagar extension at Delhi-Meerut road to board a bus for Haridwar, the SSP said, Kumar was going to Haridwar to celebrate his birthday the next day with his family members.

His family members had already reached Ranipur, Krishna said, adding his family last heard from Kumar when he at Rajnagar Extension.

As Kumar did not reach Ranipur till late last night, his family returned to Ghaziabad to trace him, the officer said.

Late last night around 11.00 pm, Kumar's wife, Renu, received a text message from Rajiv's mobile number claiming that her husband has been kidnapped and to pay a ransom of Rs 15 lakh to free him, Krishna said.

The abductors threatened her of dire consequence in case she informs the police, he said.

However, Renu immediately approached police and a case was registered in the matter, the SSP said, adding three police teams are trying to find Kumar with help of call details.

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Spain's biggest opposition party, the Socialists, filed a no-confidence motion today against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy after his conservative Popular Party was found guilty of benefiting from illegal funds in a mega graft trial.

The motion was filed in Spain's 350-seat lower house of parliament, a Socialist party spokesman told AFP just as Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez began an emergency meeting of the party's federal committee to discuss the parliamentary vote seeking Rajoy's ouster.

To succeed, it will need the support of an absolute majority of 176 lawmakers, a difficult task as opposition parties are deeply divided.

While far-left party Podemos has already called for a no-confidence vote, the motion will need the unlikely support of centrist party Ciudadanos, Rajoy's allies in parliament, or that of several tiny regional parties, including Catalan separatist parties.

Sanchez has in recent months clashed with the Catalan separatist parties over their independence push which has violated Spain's constitution.

In Spain's deeply fragmented parliament, the Socialists and Podemos do not have the votes on their own to defeat Rajoy, whose Popular Party (PP) lost its absolute majority in parlaiment over two years ago.

Spain's National Court said yesterday it had uncovered a vast system of bribes given to former Popular Party (PP) officials in exchange for lucrative public contracts between 1999 and 2005 in various regions including Madrid.

The court sentenced 29 people in jail for a total of 351 years for corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the so-called Gurtel trial, named after the code name of the police investigation.

The PP itself was not on trial for direct involvement in the scheme but was found to have benefited from funds obtained illegally.

It is the first time that a ruling party in Spain has been found guilty in court, and the PP was ordered to pay back 245,000 euros (USD 290,000).

"Devastating sentence," headlined Catalan daily newspaper El Periodico today, while top-selling daily El Pais said in an editorial that "there is no precedent in democratic Spain for such a blow".

The court ruling "badly affects the credibility of a party that has ruled this country between 1996 and 2004 and again from 2011." The case was just one of many graft scandals to have hit the PP over the years, in a country where corruption cases are widespread.

The graft scandals have taken their toll on the PP.

The party has 24 per cent support according to a poll by Sociological Research Center (CIS) published earlier this month, down from 33 per cent at the last general election in June 2016, giving it just a slim lead over Ciudadanos in first place.

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A special NIA court here on Friday convicted five Indian Mujahideen militants in the Bodh Gaya serial blasts case of 2013.

Special NIA judge Manoj Kumar Sinha held all the five accused - Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi - guilty in the case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act.

The court fixed May 31 as the date for pronouncement of the quantum of sentence.

The pilgrim town of Bodh Gaya was rocked by a series of explosions in the morning of July 7, 2013 which had left a number of people, including some Buddhist monks, injured.
US President Donald Trump today said that his administration is now talking with the North Koreans and hinted that the summit with Kim Jong-un could still go ahead on June 12, a day after he cancelled it.

"We'll see what happens. We are talking to them now," Trump said at the White House before boarding Marine One for a commencement address in Annapolis.

"They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it. We will see what happens," he said.

Trump appeared to be optimistic even about the cancelled June 12 summit in Singapore. "It could be even on 12th June, he said in response to a question. "We will see what happens," said the US President.

A day earlier, Trump in a letter to Kim announced to cancel their June 12 summit meeting in Singapore. He blamed Pyongyang's "tremendous anger" and "open hostility" for his decision.

Later the White House said a "trail of broken promises" by the North Koreans, including keeping a team of US officials waiting in Singapore for a preparatory meeting, left Trump with no choice but to cancel his proposed summit with Kim.

In a statement, North Korea regretted the cancellation of the summit and said that it was willing to meet anytime in any way. Trump described it as a very good

"It was a very nice statement they put out. We will see what happens," he told reporters in response to another question.

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Alert cops today foiled a weapon-snatching bid by the militants in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Two militants attacked the police personnel guarding the Wanpoh grid station in Kulgam district and tried to snatch the weapons of the cops posted there, a police official said.

He said the cops opened firing, forcing the militants to flee from the spot.

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Union minister Smriti Irani today said the textile sector has attracted up to Rs 27,000 crore investments since the announcement of incentive package last year, and is likely to get more investment from international and domestic markets going forward.

The government in June last year announced a Rs 6,000 crore special package for the textile and apparel sector, which included several tax and production incentives.

"As per the record of textile commissioner's office, an investment of up to Rs 27,000 crore has come in, and we are hopeful that with the government's intervention, we will get more investments, both from the international and domestic markets," Irani said while addressing the textile summit, Texellence 2018, organised by industry body CII here.

The minister said that she is positive about the future because the industry and the government have found an ecosystem where the two work together on a day-to-day basis.

"One of the challenges the government and the industry need to address is turnaround time for our goods after the production," Irani added.

The government for the first time created a logistics department within the commerce ministry to reduce the turnaround time significantly, she said.

The minister said that she will be meeting commerce minister Suresh Prabhu in the next three to four days to discuss various issues being faced by the textile industry and the WTO challenge that the country is set to face.

Meanwhile, the textile industry today requested the minister to raise the issue of free trade agreement (FTA) with the commerce ministry for exports growth since the competitive countries were enjoying the duty-free status.

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Thailand's women battled their way into the final of the Uber Cup today with a stunning 3-2 upset of defending champions China, with Busanan Ongbamrungphan once again emerging as the star with a nerveless last game defeat of Olympic champion Li Xuerui.

To the roaring approval of the fiercely partisan home crowd, Busanan crushed Li -- who was returning from injury -- 21-11, 21-9, setting up a showdown on Saturday against top seeds Japan.

Earlier Japan brushed off a challenge by South Korea 3-1.

But the day belonged to the Thais, whose win sparked jubilant on court celebrations and ended a see-sawing match up with tournament favourites China.

World Number 4 Ratchanok Intanon won the first singles game, grinding out a 15-21, 21-9, 21-14 win over China's Chen Yufei, who is ranked one place behind her.

With crowds shouting "Thailand! Thailand!" Ratchanok hit smash after smash to come back after losing the first game to win two in a row.

"I was a bit excited because every point was important, especially in the final rounds," she told reporters afterwards.

"I thank the Thai sport fans that come to support."



Thailand lost the first doubles, but singles shuttler Nitchaon Jindapol clawed her way back from a set down to beat Gao Fangjie in another thriller that had the crowd on their feet.

The second doubles went to China levelling up at 2-2, leaving Thai hopes on Busanan, just as they did on Thursday when she performed under pressure to clinch a victory against Indonesia.

On Saturday the Thais now face top-seeded Japan.

They beat South Korea in their semi, with doubles pair Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi securing their spot in the final.

World number two Akane Yamaguchi got the team off to a flying start, easing to a 21-10, 21-13 win against South Korea's Sung Ji-hyun, while Nozomi Okuhara dispatched Lee Jang-mi 21-9, 21-15.

South Korea had levelled at 1-1 with the first doubles pairing but Matsutomo and Takahashi settled the tie.

Japanese world number nine Okuhara has yet to lose in this year's biennial Uber cup, which is being held in Bangkok.

"I think it will be a tough battle whoever I face tomorrow," she told reporters afterwards.

The tournament is held alongside the men's Thomas Cup, whose semi-finals are being held later Friday, with China, Japan, Indonesia and Denmark all hoping to move forward.

Denmark are returning champions, and are back to attempt a repeat with world number one Viktor Axelsen leading the team.

But China have fielded an all-star cast of players as they seek to regain a title lost on home soil two years ago.

Olympic champion Chen Long is joined by this year's All England champion Shi Yuqui -- and the player he conquered in the final, Lin Dan.

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The Uttar Pradesh Police is in contact with different intelligence agencies in connection with a number of MLAs receiving threatening messages, and the matter would be worked out soon, DGP O P Singh said today.

Over 22 state legislators, most of them from the ruling BJP, have got texts or WhatsApp messages, asking them to pay Rs 10 lakh or their families will be eliminated.

"The state police is in contact with different intelligence agencies, besides the Intelligence Bureau, and work is in progress in this regard... The case will be worked out soon," the Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) told reporters in Bareilly.

"There is no need to panic... It (threat call) is not just to the state's MLAs, but also to eminent personalities elsewhere, who are not public representatives. They, too, are getting such messages," Singh said.

The state police has issued an advisory, asking people not to be scared. The issue could be the handiwork of "professional hackers", who are using a proxy server to create panic, it said.

Yesterday, DIG (Law and Order) Pravin Kumar had said, "A detailed inquiry has already started and state authorities are in touch with central agencies for assistance."



"We have got some vital clues," the DIG had said.

He had said "some more time" would be required to arrive at the logical conclusion and that whosoever was involved would be arrested.

"This has happened mostly in Lucknow and some other districts of Uttar Pradesh," Kumar had said.

The state police has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the threatening messages from someone who seemed to be claiming a past link with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

In all the messages, the sender has given out his name as Ali Budesh Bhai from Dubai, a reference to a gangster once linked to the now Pakistan-based Ibrahim.

The SIT was set up on the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who took strong note of the threats.

The MLAs who got the messages include Veer Vikram Singh (Meeranpur Katra in Shahjahanpur), Manvendra Singh (Dadraul in Shahjahanpur), Prem Prakash Pandey (Tarabganj in Gonda), Vinay Kumar Dwivedi (Mehnam in Gonda), Vinod Katiyar (Bhognipur in Kanpur), Shahshank Trivedi (Mahauli in Sitapur) and Anita Rajput (Debai in Bulandshahr), Dhirendra Bahadur Singh (Sareni-Raebareli).

The opposition has attacked the Adityanath government over the messages, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claiming, "No one is secure in the present regime. The MLAs are being threatened of dire consequences. There is no law and order in the state."



The Congress, too, has levelled a similar charge, saying the threats to legislators "expose the tall claims of the BJP government.

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CPI today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister K Palaniswami, owning moral responsibility for the police firing on protesters in Tuticorin that has claimed 13 lives and left scores injured.

The Left party charged the state government with "state sponsored killing" of the protesters and "protecting Sterlite's interests".

"The Chief Minister should own up moral responsibility for the deaths and step down. Sterlite should also go," CPI National Secretary D Raja said in a statement.

Alleging that the company was known for looting natural resources and polluting the environment,he said since it could not set up the plant in other states, including Goa, "it established the plant in Tamil Nadu with state support."



Police firing on May 22 and 23 following violence against Vedanta's copper plant in Tamil Nadu's port city of Tuticorin left 13 dead and over a 100 injured.

CPI was among the DMK-led opposition parties which today held agitations as part of a State-wide shutdown call against the police firing and violence,besides seeking the resignation of Palaniswami.

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Following are the top foreign stories at 17:00 Hours:



FGN15 CANADA-2NDLD BLAST



Two men detonate explosive device at Indian restaurant in Canada; 15 injuredToronto: Two unidentified men detonated a powerful improvised explosive device at an Indian restaurant in Canada's Ontario province and fled, injuring at least 15 people, police said.

FGN16 US-H4-LD VISA



Rescinding of H-4 visa work permit in final stages: Trump admin tells court



Washington: The move to rescind work authorisation to certain categories of H-4 visa holders is in final stages, the Trump administration has told a US court, a decision that could hit tens of thousands of Indians. By Lalit K Jha



FGN22 DRCONGO-BOAT-ACCIDENT



50 dead in boat accident in northwest DR Congo



Mbandaka (DR Congo): Fifty people died in a boat accident on a river in remote northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), officials said. (AFP)



FGN26 RUSSIA-SAUDI-OIL



Russia, Saudis see oil output boost in third quarter: ministers



Saint Petersburg: Russia and Saudi Arabia say they believe a deal is possible to gradually boost oil output from as soon as July as world oil prices have recently hit highs last seen in 2014. (AFP)



FGN13 NKOREA-US-2NDLD SUMMIT



N Korea open to US talks 'any time' despite Trump axing summit



Seoul: North Korea says it is willing to talk to the United States "at any time" after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a summit, a decision that once more casts a pall of uncertainty over the the turbulent Korean peninsula. (AFP)



FGN14 KANGCHENJUNGA-VAJPAI



Scaling ambitions: India's Arjun Vajpai world's youngest to summit six peaks over 8,000m



Kathmandu: Indian mountaineer Arjun Vajpai this week became the youngest person in the world to scale six peaks over 8,000 metres when he summited the treacherous Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. By Manish Sain



FGN23 MALAYSIA-EX PM-LD RAIDS



Almost USD 30 million, 400 handbags seized in raids linked to Malaysia's Najib



Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian police say they seized over 400 handbags and cash amounting to almost USD 30 million in raids on luxury apartments as they probed corruption allegations swirling around ousted leader Najib Razak. (AFP)



FGN25 US-POMPEO-LD INDIA



India ought to be one of America's closest partners: Pompeo



Washington: India needs to be central to what the Trump administration does in South and Central Asia, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told lawmakers, asserting that India "ought to be" one of America's closet partners.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Japanese auto majors Toyota and Suzuki today announced expanding scope of their collaboration, including plans for Toyota Kirloskar Motor to manufacture models developed by Suzuki for sale in India through their respective brand networks.

Moreover, the two firms are looking at cooperation in exports of models developed by Suzuki, including those produced by Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) -- the Indian arm of Toyota, from India to Africa and other markets through their respective global sales networks, the two companies said in a joint statement.

Besides, Toyota and Suzuki which had in March concluded a basic agreement for supplying hybrid and other vehicles to each other for the Indian market, will also discuss Toyota and Denso Corporation providing technological support for a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain to be developed by Suzuki.

"Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) have agreed today to start discussing new joint projects in the fields of technological development, vehicle production, and market development," the statement said.

The two companies have also been broadening the scope of their partnership considerations to include joint efforts related to production and market development, it added.

The discussion topics include "TKM to produce models developed by Suzuki for sale in India through each of the Toyota and Suzuki brand network", it said.

The discussions also cover "supply of models developed by Suzuki, including those to be produced by TKM from India to African and other markets by Toyota and Suzuki, employing each of the Toyota and Suzuki sales networks to sell such vehicles, and advancing cooperation in the domains of logistics and services".

Commenting on the development, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, "As members of Indian society, Toyota, along with Suzuki, will do its best to enhance freedom and fun in a future society of mobility and to make 'Make in India' vehicles cherished in Africa and in many other countries around the world."



He further said Suzuki was the first among Japanese companies to enter India responsible for pulling forward India's automotive society representing the spirit of 'Let's do it'.

"Breaking from a future that adheres to convention, Toyota has chosen a future in which the path is created by one's own hands. For this, the spirit of "Let's do it" is necessary. Through our business partnership with Suzuki, I would like to learn more about this spirit," Toyoda added.

Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki said he hoped the new joint projects would contribute to the future success of both companies, not only in India, but also in the global markets.

"Now, we will receive support for the development of a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain that is vital to Suzuki, and we will focus our utmost efforts on development," Suzuki said.

In March this year, in continuation of their partnership discussions that kicked off in 2017, Suzuki agreed to supply premium hatchback Baleno and compact SUV Vitara Brezza to Toyota, while Toyota will supply sedan Corolla to Suzuki.

These models were to be sold by the respective Indian subsidiaries of Toyota (Toyota Kirloskar Motor) and Suzuki (Maruti Suzuki India) through their sales networks.

In February 2017, Toyota and Suzuki had concluded a memorandum towards business partnership and since then, they have been exploring concrete projects for collaboration in areas including environmental technology, safety technology, information technology, and the mutual supply of products and components.

Subsequently, in November 2017 the companies announced an MoU to consider a cooperative structure for introducing battery electric vehicles in India around 2020.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump today alleged that a spy was placed within his 2016 presidential campaign even before the opposition Democrats raised the issue of reported Russian collusion with his election team.

"The Democrats are now alluding to the concept that having an informant placed in an opposing party's campaign is different than having a spy, as illegal as that may be. But what about an 'Informant' who is paid a fortune and who 'sets up' way earlier than the Russian Hoax?" Trump said on Twitter.

In a series of tweets, Trump indicated that he is more than convinced that the then Barack Obama administration placed a spy inside his presidential campaign. reports on this have also started appearing in the American media.

"Can anyone even imagine having spies placed in a competing campaign, by the people and party in absolute power, for the sole purpose of political advantage and gain? And to think that the party in question, even with the expenditure of far more money, LOST!" he tweeted.

He also quoted a senior journalist.

"Everyone knows there was a spy, and in fact the people who were involved in the spying are admitting that there was a spy...Widespread spying involving multiple people," Trump said quoting Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway, in a tweet.

"But the corrupt mainstream media hates this monster story!" he alleged.

The Democrats, he said, are "so obviously" rooting against his administration in the US negotiations with North Korea.

"Just like they are coming to the defence of MS 13 thugs, saying that they are individuals & must be nurtured, or asking to end your big tax cuts & raise your taxes instead. Dems(Democrats) have lost touch!" Trump tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today Tokyo was disappointed by the cancellation of the summit between the US and North Korean leaders, saying it was necessary to make progress.

"In the future we need such a meeting -- it is indispensable to resolve the problems which have accumulated," he said at Russia's annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg.

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled the high-stakes summit with Kim Jong Un, following what the White House called a "trail of broken promises" by North Korea.

However today Trump said it was possible the summit could still go ahead, perhaps even on June 12 as originally planned.

"Nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction, an effective means of destroying all these types of weapons is needed," said Abe, over whose country North Korea has fired missiles as it has tested its efforts to build rockets that can reach the United States.

"That is the main goal of negotiations between these countries (US and North Korea) and it is namely by holding such a summit that we need to move things forward," he added.

Abe said other countries should continue to put pressure on North Korea to respect UN resolutions concerning its nuclear and missile programmes. "The most important (thing) is that we continue our efforts," said Abe.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump is set to address the 2018 graduates of the United States Naval Academy.

Trump will give the commencement speech in Annapolis today, a day after highlighting American military preparedness as he cancelled a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump will speak to 1,042 newly-commissioned ensigns and second lieutenants. He is expected to highlight his efforts to boost federal defense spending.

On Twitter today, Trump said he looks "forward to being with some of the greatest people on earth!" It will be Trump's first-time speaking to the academy's graduating class. Last year, Trump addressed the Coast Guard Academy.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump today welcomed North Korea's response to his decision to cancel the historic summit next month with Kim Jong-un as "very good news" after Pyongyang said it was still willing to talk to the US "any time in any form".

Trump yesterday cancelled his proposed summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore and blamed Pyongyang's "tremendous anger" and "open hostility" for his dramatic decision.

His announcement came hours after North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site yesterday.

Reacting to Trump's letter, North Korea today said it was still willing to talk to the US though the President has cancelled the summit.

"The abrupt announcement of the cancellation of the meeting is unexpected for us and we cannot but find it extremely regrettable," Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister, said in a statement.

"We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem," Kim was quoted as saying by the state-run KCNA agency.

Trump in his first reaction to the North Korean statement welcomed Pyongyang's reaction.

"Very good to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea," Trump said in an early morning tweet.

"We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!" he said in another tweet.

Though he cancelled June 12 summit, however, kept the door open for future talks with Kim.

"If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history," Trump had said in his letter to the North Korean leader.

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of North Korea. But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Soon after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy proved his three-day-old government's majority on the floor of the assembly, parleys began betweencoalition partners Congress and JD(S) on cabinetexpansion in Karnataka.

Within hours after the trust vote, Congress and JD(S) leaders, including Kumaraswamy, met at former Chief Minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah's residence on cabinet expansion, sources said.

Among those who attended the meeting were Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC chief G Parameshwara, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal and JD(S) leader H D Revanna.

Both the coalition partners had earlier decided to discuss the cabinet expansion, after the trust vote.

According to sources, Congress leaders are likely tofly to Delhi soon to discuss with the high-command thecabinet expansion and allocation of portfolios.

Parameshwara had yesterday said the coalitionpartners are yet to discuss the modalities on sharing of portfolios between both the parties,as also about Kumaraswamy continuing as Chief Minister for a full five year term.

It has already been decided that Congress will have22 ministers and JDS 12, in the new cabinet.

With a growing number of aspirants for Ministers posts inboth parties, especially Congress, the leaders are up for a tough task.

Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar, who emerged asa key figure in keeping party MLAs together before the trust t vote of BJP's Yeddyurappa government, is reportedlyupset over not getting the Deputy Chief Minister's post.

He is reportedly seeking a major portfolio along with the KPCC chief post, which Parameshwara is expected to vacate following his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister.

Leaders of the coalition parties are also likely to decide on a coordination committee soon, and will form an empanelled group to formulate a common minimum programme for thesmooth functioning of the government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Haryana police today said they had cracked a double murder case with the arrest of two men from Punjab's Ludhiana district.

The accused, identified as Satte alias Satpal and Sulledin, were absconding after allegedly shooting at Palwal market committee's former chairman Santraj and his cousin Birpal, a Haryana police spokesperson said.

They were arrested yesterday, he added.

Santraj and Birpal were sitting at a shop in Billochpur village on December 5, 2017, when Satte and Sulledin came in a car with an associate and opened fire at the brothers over an old grudge.

A case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Hasanpur police station, the spokesperson said, adding that nine others have been arrested in the case.

Carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 each, Satte and Sulledin are also wanted in several cases of murder, attempt to murder, robbery and loot in different police stations, the spokesperson said.

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: The two suspected cases of Nipah virus infection tested negative after their blood samples and throat swabs were examined in the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, a senior government official said today.

The Telangana government earlier today said it has sent blood samples and throat swabs of two patients suffering from fever to the NIV for tests for the Nipah virus infection.

"Both the cases tested negative. They are normal and there is nothing to panic," the Director of Medical Education Ramesh Reddy told PTI.

Reddy had said one of the patients recently visited Kerala, but not Kozhikode where the disease is prevalent and that the other never went to Kerala recently.

The patient who reportedly visited Kerala was first admitted to a private hospital with fever and later shifted to Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases, also known as Fever Hospital, while the other patient is undergoing treatment at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, he had said.

In Kerala, the Nipah virus has so far claimed 11 lives and the state government has stepped up efforts to contain the outbreak.

A Union Health Ministry advisory has said that the virus, which commonly affects animals such as bats, pigs, dogs, and horses, can spread to humans, causing serious illness.

Spread of the virus to humans may occur after close contact with other Nipah infected people, infected bats, or infected pigs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
UN head Erik Solheim will visit Cochin International Airport, which is the world's first completely solar-powered airport, tomorrow, the agency said in a release here.

More than 10 million people travel through the airport each year, and it has made considerable monetary savings through its solar power plants (present installation capacity 30 MWp).

The power plant is accompanied by a solar farm, with vegetables grown below and between solar panels.

Ahead of his first visit to the state, Solheim, Executive Director of the UN Programme, said, "Kerala has long been a leader in human development and I am excited to be visiting the state and learning more about environmental innovation."



Many countries in the world have much to learn from the state's experiences with the first fully-solar powered airport in the world, a clear example that being environment-friendly is now a conscious business decision for many, a UNEP release quoting Solheim said.

During his a day-long visit tomorrow, Solheim will also use the opportunity to learn more about other green initiatives in the southern state.

He will interact with school students participating in the Student's Empowerment for Environmental Development (SEED)programme.

The programme reaches out to over 3 million students to create awareness on environmental degradation and create a "green" culture in the state.

Airport managing Director V J Kurian said this high profile visit will give a fillip to CIAL's green initiatives.

"CIAL has become the first airport in the world; fully powered by solar energy in 2015. The company has already signed an MoUwith Ghana for setting up solar power plants in three airports," he said.

Kurian said countries like Liberia and Burkina Faso have expressed their interests for bringing in CIAL's consultancy for similar projects and the discussions are going on.

"We are delighted and looking forward for Erik's visit," Kurian said.

At present CIAL is produces 0.125 million units of power a day from its eight power plants with a total installation capacity of 30 MWp.

This will be scaled up to 40 MWp by July 2018.

Solheim will also call on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and discuss areas of collaboration with UN

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) today claimed to have solved the murder case of an advocate, who was shot dead in Allahabad earlier this month.

Rajesh Srivastava was shot on May 10 when he was going to the Allahabad district court, where he used to practice. He was declared dead at a hospital.

"The advocate's killers were hired by Pradeep Jaiswal, the owner of Crown Plaza Hotel," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Anand Kumar told reporters here.

"The STF has arrested shooter Vishal Vishwakarma from Pratapgarh, and two of his associates Raees and Shamshad. Vishal had shot Rajesh Srivastava, while Raees was riding the motorcycle, which was stolen," he said.

The UP STF also claimed that Jaiswal was constructing a hotel illegally over a drain, which was opposed by the advocate.

This angered Jaiswal, and he allegedly hatched a conspiracy to kill Rajesh, it said.

The police have registered a case against the accused under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Arms Act.

Close aides of Jaiswal, Ghanshyam Agrahari and Anjani Lal Srivastava, who had allegedly arranged the shooters, are at large.

The killing had sparked an outrage and lawyers blocked roads in protest.

The Allahabad High Court lawyers had called a strike to protest against the "worsening" law and order situation in the state.

The state government had announced a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the deceased's family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A "trail of broken promises" by North Korea, including keeping a team of US officials waiting in Singapore for a preparatory meeting, forced US President Donald Trump to cancel his proposed summit with Kim Jong-un, according to a senior White House official.

It was on March 8 that a delegation visiting from South Korea came to the White House to deliver a message from Kim Jong Un to Trump. The message conveyed from Kim was that he was committed to denuclearisation, the official familiar with the process told reporters.

He also pledged to refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests and said he understood that routine joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States would continue, he said on condition of anonymity.

The summit would have been the first time a sitting US president had met a North Korean leader.

The official said the North Korean leader also expressed his desire to meet with Trump as soon as possible.

"In light of all this, President Trump accepted Kim Jong Un's offer to meet in person," the official told reporters hours after Trump in an open letter to Kim said he was cancelling his June 12 summit meeting with him in Singapore.

Since that day, when Trump accepted Kim's invitation, the United States has made significant efforts to prepare for their meeting, and it has done so in good faith, said the official.

"But there has been a trail of broken promises that gave the US pause. Last week, North Korea objected to a routine annual joint military exercise between the US and South Korea. They called our exercises "provocative military disturbances." They cancelled their meeting with the South Koreans. That constituted a broken promise," the official said.

He said after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his second trip to Pyongyang, North Korea promised that the two sides would meet in Singapore to jointly work on logistical preparations for the summit.

"The White House sent its Deputy Chief of Staff, who leads White House planning in advance of presidential visits and his advance teams to Singapore. They waited and they waited. The North Koreans never showed up," the White House official said.

"The North Koreans didn't tell us anything, they simply stood us up," the official said.

Referring to the North Korean claims to have destroyed its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, he said the US certainly hopes that was the case, but it is not sure about it.

"What may be to you is that Secretary Pompeo and the South Korean government were promised by the North Koreans that international experts and officials would be invited to witness and verify today's demolition. But that promise was broken," the official said.

"Instead, journalists were invited and we will not have forensic evidence that much was accomplished. It's possible that the tunnels were detonated in a way that will still allow them to be used in the future..," the official said.

He said the US has over the past week made numerous attempts to communicate with the North Koreans, but they did not "respond".

"In fact, the first communication that we've received in a week arrived last night in the form of a propaganda release, in which North Korean regime issued a statement threatening the US to quote "meet us in a meeting room or encounter us at a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown". The letter claimed that North Korea was a quote "nuclear weapons state," and of course the North Korean regime also singled out and attacked the vice president of the United States," the official said.

So this strange lack of judgment combined with the broken promises over the past weeks and North Korea suspension of direct communication with the US suggests a profound lack of good faith, he asserted.

"The president was always clear that he was prepared to walk away from this meeting and he has kept his word. The president, in his letter, showed that he remains open to meeting Kim Jong-un someday, but the president's overarching goal isn't a meeting, it has always been the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, and the president will never compromise the safety and security of the United States or our allies," the official said.

The move to cancel the summit apparently started on Wednesday night after North Korea issued a strong statement slamming Vice President Pence.

"The president was briefed by his staff last night on this statement when it came in. The president took it in stride and slept on it. He gathered his national security team," he said. After a series of meetings, Trump dictated the letter, the official said, adding that the president dictated every word of the letter to Kim.

In the letter Trump said that sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in North Korea's most recent statement, he felt it was inappropriate at this time to have this long-planned meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US House of Representatives has passed a whopping USD 717 billion annual defence spending bill for the fiscal 2019, which among other things seeks to bolster defence ties with India and greater American commitment in the strategic Indo-Pacific region in view of the challenges being posed by China.

The National Defence Authorisation Bill or NDAA-2019, was passed by the House of Representatives by 351-66 votes. It now needs to be passed by the Senate, before it can be sent to the White House for the President Donald Trump to sign it into law.

"In the Indo-Pacific region, the United States faces a near-term, belligerent threat armed with nuclear weapons and also a longer-term strategic competitor," said Congressman Mac Thornberry, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

"In fact, four of the five key security challenges - China, Russia, North Korea, and terrorism - reside in the PACOM area of responsibility. Critical to meeting all of the challenges in the region is our relationship with our allies and also with countries with whom we share interests," he said.

The USD 717 billion bill seeks renaming US Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific Command. It seeks a better defence relationship with India.

The NDAA bolsters the Department of Defence's efforts to plan for and provide the necessary forces, military infrastructure, logistics capabilities, and bilateral and multilateral training in the region through the Indo-Pacific Stability Initiative.

It invests in critical military capabilities to deter aggression and respond rapidly to crisis and supports strong missile defense systems to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, including the DoD's development of new capabilities and efforts to provide for a layered defense of the homeland.

NDAA renames US Pacific Command to US Indo-Pacific Command to emphasise the Commands' responsibility across the Pacific and Indian Oceans and requires the Department of Defense to conduct a study on the operational requirements needed for language expertise in Korean, Chinese Mandarin and Russian and a plan to address any shortfalls.

To counter aggression in the region, NDAA requires the Administration to construct a whole-of-government strategy to address China's activities.

It requires as assessment and planned responses to address activities by the Chinese Communist Party to include the use of political influence, information operations, use of intelligence networks, economic and military tools, and cyber activities and a US strategic communication plan to counter Chinese influence.

It also highlights China's provocative military, maritime and air activities in the Indo-Pacific region by requiring a quarterly report to Congress that may be disseminated to allies and partners.

NDAA modifies the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative by renaming it Indo-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative.

It would include India as a covered country and allow for the inclusion of additional countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

In an accompanying report, the House said the US should continue to "develop and deploy robust missile defense" in the Indo-Pacific region.

It allows the Pentagon to conduct missile defence exercises in the Indo-Pacific region with US regional allies and partners to improve interoperability, it said.

Supporting quadrilateral cooperation among the United States, Japan, Australia and India, NDAA said Secretary of Defense may conduct a quadrilateral naval military exercise with these countries.

NDAA also adds new reporting requirement on India-US defense relationship.

It now would include a description of the progress on enabling agreements between the US and India, any limitations that hinder or slow progress, measures to improve interoperability and actions India is taking or the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State believe India should take, to advance the relationship with the United States.

Authorising USD 700 million as Coalition Support Fund to Pakistan, NDAA as passed by the House says that not more than USD 350.0 million may be provided until the Secretary of Defense certified that Islamabad is taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani terror group.

It also required the Defense Secretary to submit a report to the congressional defense committees not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act describing the manner in which the Department provides assistance to Pakistan.

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Deeply concerned over the report on the alleged killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Salvation Army (ARSA), the US on Friday said there was an urgent need for a credible and independent investigation into the human rights violations in Myanmar's restive Rakhine province.

"We are deeply concerned by Amnesty's report on the killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Salvation Army. Accountability for all those responsible for human rights abuses and violations in northern Rakhine state remains critical," a US State Department spokesperson told

He said the report further highlights the urgent need for a credible and independent investigation in Rakhine state to further determine all facts on the ground to fix accountability and provide justice to victims.

"The continues to support such an investigation," the spokesperson said.

In its report early this week, the said a armed group brandishing guns and swords was responsible for at least one, and potentially a second, massacre of up to 99 Hindu women, men and children as well as additional unlawful killings and abductions of Hindu villagers in August 2017.

"At around 8 am on 25 August 2017, ARSA attacked community in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, in a cluster of villages known as Kha Maung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township. At the time of the attack, villagers lived in close proximity to Rohingya villagers, who are predominantly Muslim. Rakhine villagers, who are predominantly Buddhist, also lived in the same area," Amnesty said in its latest report.

In a statement Burma Task Force, a coalition of 19 US and Canadian Muslim organisations, slammed the for "such a report". "It is a major public relations bonanza for the genocidal Burmese regime. It puts 60,000 Rohingyas in even at more risk than they already are," it said.

"The Amnesty International report presents, as fact, evidence and conclusions that are both seriously questionable, and by doing so it aids the propaganda efforts of a regime whose every action suggests it is bent on carrying out genocide," the task force said.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorisation Act 2019, which addresses the issue of alleged ethnic cleansing in

"This provision imposes new sanctions on Burmese military officials and bars their forces from US joint drills," Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

Over the past year, the Burmese military has escalated its decades-long campaign against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 7,00,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee and thousands have been slaughtered. Entire villages have been burned and bulldozed, he said.
A USD 50 million gift from Tata Trusts to the prestigious Harvard Business School in 2010 has come under scrutiny in the US with questions being raised about public money from India being "apparently misdirected" to the most privileged and wealthy in the world.

Alan Beard, managing director of Interlink Capital Strategies, a Washington-based financial advisory firm, and a former adjunct professor at Georgetown University, writing in the website The Daily Caller questioned "how does one of America's most prestigious institutions catering to the elite manage to have its silver spoon taken from the most destitute? And how can such a revered institution of business management be so blind to the ironies of accepting questionable funds that go against every tenet of good governance?"



In 2010, Harvard Business School received a gift of USD 50 million from Tata Companies, the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the Tata Education and Development Trust, philanthropic entities of the Tata Group.

The gift, the largest from an international donor in the school's 102-year history, funded a new academic and residential building on the HBS campus in Boston for participants in the school's broad portfolio of Executive Education programmes. The building was named Tata Hall.

"Because of the ethical questions raised in the way the funds were donated to HBS and the subsequent impropriety of a perceived quid pro quo between Dean Nohria and Ratan Tata, it would appear that Harvard has some explaining to do.

"The nature of Tata's gift may prove to be a public relations disaster if the Indian government's investigation determines the funds should have never been taken from poor Indians and sent to rich Westerners," Beard said.

Beard cited media reports from India to say that the USD 50 million gift is now under investigation by the Indian government.

He said India's Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) sub-committee on Direct and Indirect Taxes has two principal concerns - first, the USD 50 million donation in question came directly from Tata Trusts, an Indian philanthropic organisation, rather than Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata's personal funds, second, this donation inappropriately took advantage of the tax-free status of donations from charitable trusts.

"Recent revelations regarding the naming of Tata Hall at the Harvard Business School (HBS), if true, are deeply disturbing and morally reprehensible," Beard wrote.

The Indian government sub-committee investigating this matter has stated that "construction of (Harvard's) Tata Hall did not amount either to charity or international welfare in which India was interested," but instead was for the "promotion of personal interest of one/some of the trustees of various Tata Trusts".

Beard said in the report that the purpose of a public charitable trust in India is to benefit the country's poor and downtrodden.

"But instead, by using these funds to construct Tata Hall at Harvard, public money has apparently been misdirected to the most privileged and wealthy in the world," he said.

Beard also questioned the "conspicuous role" played by HBS Dean Nitin Nohria in the "now-questionable transaction", saying that three months before the completion of Tata Hall in September, 2013, Nohria was appointed a non-executive director to the board of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao and several other leaders called on Bandaru Dattatreya today and condoled the death of the BJP MP's son this week.

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Md Mahmood Ali, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav and former Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy were among others who visited the residence of Dattatreya, BJP sources said.

BJP president Amit Shah spoke to Dattatreya over the phone and expressed his condolences, they said.

Dattatreya's son Vaishnav (21), a third year MBBS student, died of sudden cardiac arrest on the night of May 22.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A group of villagers pelted stones at a police team when it tried to take an accused into custody in Sancholi falling under Kosikalan police station of the district, a police officer said today.

The police team led by sub-inspector Yogendra had gone to the village last night to arrest Ibrahim who, along with Mubarak, is accused of setting afire the house of his neighbour, Deputy Superintendent of Police Chandradhar Gaur said.

As the police team was taking Ibrahim to the police station, about three dozen villagers started pelting stones at the policemen.

In the melee, Ibrahim managed to flee.

Police have registered a case against six named and over two dozen unnamed villagers for the stone pelting, the police officer said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A "trail of broken promises" by the North Koreans, including keeping a team of US officials waiting in Singapore for a preparatory meeting, left the US President Donald Trump with no choice to cancel his proposed summit with North Korean leader Kim Jon-un, according to a White House official familiar with the process.

It was on March 8 that a delegation visiting from South Korea came to the White House to deliver a message from Kim Jong Un to Trump. The message conveyed from Kim was that he was committed to denuclearisation. He also pledged to refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests and said he understood that routine joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States would continue, he said.

The official said the North Korean leader also expressed his desire to meet with Trump as soon as possible.

"In light of all this, President Trump accepted Kim Jong Un's offer to meet in person," he told reporters hours after Trump in an open letter to Kim said he was cancelling his June 12 summit meeting with him in Singapore.

Since that day, when Trump accepted Kim's invitation, the United States has made significant efforts to prepare for their meeting, and it has done so in good faith, said the official, who spoke with reporters on condition of anonymity.

"But there has been a trail of broken promises that gave the United States pause. Last week, North Korea objected to a routine annual joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea. They called our exercises "provocative military disturbances." They cancelled their meeting with the South Koreans. That constituted a broken promise," the official said



He said after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his second trip to Pyongyang, North Korea promised that the two sides would meet in Singapore to jointly work on logistical preparations for the summit.

"The White House sent its Deputy Chief of Staff, who leads White House planning in advance of presidential visits and his advance teams to Singapore. They waited and they waited. The North Koreans never showed up," the White House official said.

"The North Koreans didn't tell us anything, they simply stood us up," the official said, giving details of the entire process.

Referring to the North Korean claims to have destroyed its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, he said the US certainly hopes that was the case, but it is not sure about it.

"What may be to you is that Secretary Pompeo and the South Korean government were promised by the North Koreans that international experts and officials would be invited to witness and verify today's demolition. But that promise was broken," the official said.

"Instead, journalists were invited and we will not have forensic evidence that much was accomplished. It's possible that the tunnels were detonated in a way that will still allow them to be used in the future. And I think Ben Tracy of CBS said it best. I just saw a report he filed. He said quote "the problem is we're journalists. We're not nuclear experts, so there was no one on site, no outside expert to verify that what North Korea claims it has done, closing its nuclear test site, has actually occurred," the official said.

He said the United States has over the past week made numerous attempts to communicate with the North Koreans, but they did not "respond".

"In fact, the first communication that we've received in a week arrived last night in the form of a propaganda release, in which North Korean regime issued a statement threatening the United States to quote "meet us in a meeting room or encounter us at a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown". The letter claimed that North Korea was a quote "nuclear weapons state," and of course the North Korean regime also singled out and attacked the vice president of the United States," the official said.

So this strange lack of judgment combined with the broken promises over the past weeks and North Korea suspension of direct communication with the United States suggests a profound lack of good faith, he asserted.

"The president was always clear that he was prepared to walk away from this meeting and he has kept his word. The president, in his letter, showed that he remains open to meeting Kim Jong-un someday, but the president's overarching goal isn't a meeting, it has always been the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, and the president will never compromise the safety and security of the United States or our allies," the official said.

The move to cancel the summit apparently started Wednesday night after North Korea issued a string statement slamming US Vice President Mike Pence.

"The president was briefed by his staff last night on this statement when it came in. The president took it in stride and slept on it. He gathered his national security team together this morning. He met with the vice president. He met with the chief of staff. He spoke with Secretary Pompeo and with John Bolton, and after considering it, he dictated this letter," the official said, adding that Trump dictated every word of the letter.

In the letter Trump said that sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in North Korea's most recent statement, he felt it was inappropriate at this time to have this long-planned meeting. "And therefore please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit for the good of both parties but for the detriment of the world will not take place," the letter said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Jammu and Kashmir Police today told the Supreme Court that a youth Congress leader, who has claimed that the security provided to him was withdrawn by the authorities without notice, was an 'X-2 category protectee' and was being provided with security as per his entitlement.

Denying the claims of Abid Imitaz Bhat, national secretary of the All India Youth Congress, the state police told a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra that his security was not withdrawn and the February 19 recommendation of Security Review Coordination Committee (SRCC) was implemented in his case.

In an affidavit filed by Munir Ahmad Khan, Additional Director General of Police (security), Jammu and Kashmir, the police has said that Bhat's case was placed before the SRCC and after assessment of threat, he was categorised as a 'X-2 protectee' by the panel at its meeting on February 19 this year.

"It is humbly submitted that the present petitioner has requisite security as per his entitlement on the date of filing of the contempt petition and even as on date. The security provided to the present petitioner has not been reduced below his entitlement as X-2 category protectee," the affidavit, filed through advocate Shoeb Alam who represents the Jammu and Kashmir government, said.

"The entitlement of an X-2 protectee is that of 2 PSO's (personal security officer) in the Kashmir region or one PSO in the Jammu region," it said, adding, "It is false and denied that after March 12, 2018, the security of present petitioner was ever reduced below his due entitlement as X-2 category protectee." The X-2 level is one of the sub-categories of the X level security.

The affidavit said that Bhat was stationed in Delhi and as per the procedure, he was provided with security as and when he visits Jammu and Kashmir pursuant to his intimation to the security control room.

"The state is duty-bound to follow all directions passed by this court and it is most respectfully submitted that there is neither any violation of any undertaking nor wilful disobediance or otherwise of any orders or directions of this court," it said, adding it has been decided that Bhat shall henceforth be provided with PSO, as per his entitlement, who can accompany him on his visits throughout the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

During the brief hearing, Bhat's counsel said they would file a rejoinder to the affidavit, after which the bench posted the matter for hearing after summer vacation.

When Bhat's counsel said the affidavit should have been filed by the chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, advocate Shoeb Alam said, "chief secretary has nothing to do with it. The affidavit has been filed by the ADGP (security)".

On May 22, the apex court had asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to file an affidavit on the plea by Bhat who has sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the authorities for withdrawing his security without giving him any notice.

In March, the state government had informed the top court that it has provided X-2 category security cover to Bhat, who has complained of threat to his life.

The apex court had then directed the state to continue to provide security cover to him unless there was a change in threat perception and said the state government should give due notice to Bhat before his security cover was withdrawn.

In his fresh plea seeking contempt action against the J and K authorities, Bhat has claimed that pursuant to the apex court's order, four security guards were provided to him by the state, but later almost all of them were recalled.

The SRCC, which comprises senior officials of the state and the Centre, assesses the threat perception and level of security cover required for citizens, including VIPs.

Bhat had initially moved the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the state to provide security to him and his family members on the ground that he faced threat to his life.

The high court had summoned the chief secretary of the state after its counsel had failed to inform the court about the next date of meeting of the high-level SRCC.

The J and K government had later moved the apex court challenging the orders of the high court summoning the chief secretary. The apex court had later stayed two orders of the high court summoning the chief secretary of state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
By Francesca Landini, Maria Pia Quaglia and Martinne GellerMILAN/LONDON (Reuters) - Drinks companies are converging on an unusual cocktail recipe: less alcohol.In bars from London to New York, sales of "aperitifs" such as Aperol, Lillet and Martini Rosso are growing rapidly as younger drinkers in particular opt for lower-alcohol concoctions over stronger traditional cocktail spirits like vodka.As a result companies such as Italy's Campari, Britain's Diageo and France's Pernod Ricard are snapping up aperitif brands or launching new marketing drives for existing ones. Global sales volumes ...
By Rania El Gamal, Olesya Astakhova and Alex LawlerDUBAI/MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia will discuss raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil output by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), easing 17 months of strict supply curbs, sources familiar with the matter said.An increase of about 1 million bpd would bring compliance with global supply curbs down to 100 percent from around 152 percent, the sources said.The initial talks are being led by the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia at St. Petersburg this week along with their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates ...
By Stephanie KellyNEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than $2 per barrel on Friday as Saudi Arabia and Russia discussed easing production cuts that have helped push crude prices to their highest since 2014.Brent crude futures fell $2.35, or 3 percent, to settle at $76.44 a barrel. The global benchmark lost about 2.7 percent this week, its largest weekly drop since early April. The contract hit its highest since late 2014 at $80.50 last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slumped $2.83, or 4 percent, to finish at $67.88 a barrel. For the week, WTI tumbled about 4.9 percent, ...
NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - India's top explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp has awarded its first mini-term tender to sell Brazil's heavy crude oil Ostra in June-November to Shell, three sources familiar with the matter said. ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of ONGC, owns a 27 percent stake in Brazil's BC-10 block, and would sell its entire Ostra crude entitlement from the block over the period of the contract. In the tender, ONGC offered to sell 750,000 barrels for lifting in June, but it specified no quantities for the remaining months of the period, according to a tender document ...
Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil production by some 1 million barrels a day, sources said, while OPEC's chief said a complaint from US President Donald Trump over high prices had triggered the idea of upping output. Riyadh and Moscow are prepared to ease output cuts to calm consumer worries about supply adequacy, their energy ministers said on Friday, with Saudi Arabia's Khalid al-Falih adding that any such move would be gradual so as not to shock the market. Raising production would ease 17 months of strict supply curbs amid concerns ...
By Orathai Sriring and Enrico Dela CruzBANGKOK/MANILA (Reuters) - Sujinda Cherdchai, who represents inter-regional bus operators in Thailand, told government officials this week that without any government support her industry has two options: higher fares or cutting services for some routes.One day later, the government, faced with sluggish domestic demand and high household debt, said it will use money from the 30 billion baht ($933.7 million) state oil fund, which is separate from the central budget, to subsidise fuel prices."If retail oil prices rise 1 baht, the fund will help 0.50 baht," ...
By Shihar AneezCOLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has accepted an eight-year China Development Bank $1 billion syndicated loan to repay loans maturing this year, two top Finance Ministry officials said on Friday. The bank was chosen from among four bidding for the loan, which the government plans to use towards repaying other loans, one official told Reuters. "All three others had three-year tenure and only China Development Bank had a bid for an eight-year tenure. The effective rate of return is around 5.3 percent," the official said."It was a good offer. The loan has a three-year grace period. ...
By Zeba Siddiqui(Reuters) - India's largest drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said on Friday it expects its 2019 revenue to come in short of analysts' expectations due to pricing pressure in its main market, the United States.Makers of generic drugs have seen poor sales as uncertainty grows in the global market for copycat drugs due to rising competition and pricing scrutiny in the world's largest healthcare market.The warning compounds problems at Sun, which has been struggling to get clearance for its factories that are under U.S. supply bans due to quality control failures.It now ...
By Krishna N. DasNEW DELHI (Reuters) - London-listed Vedanta Resources hopes to restart its copper smelter in a city in Tamil Nadu and still wants to double its capacity despite protests demanding its closure that killed 13 people this week, a company executive told Reuters on Friday.The company's position comes a day after Tamil Nadu, where the smelter is located, said it was seeking a permanent closure of the plant due to allegations that it pollutes the air and water of the locality."We're not in that stage to look at setting up a plant elsewhere," P. Ramnath, chief executive of Vedanta's ...
Outgoing Utah Speaker of the House Greg Hughes appeared on KVNU's For the People on Thursday, May 24, 2018

He became Speaker of the Utah House in 2015 after the first female speaker didnt seek reelection. Becky Lockhart succumbed to an extremely rare degenerative disease in mid-January of that year.

Current speaker Greg Hughes announced earlier this year that he will not seek re-election to his position. But as he told the media earlier this year dont consider him a lame duck, but a wounded wolf with much work left to do this year.

Hughes was in Cache Valley on Thursday and was on KVNUs For the People program. Under his oversight, the House has taken a more prominent role when it comes to Utah issues.

My time in House leadership, as a Majority Whip, was during Speaker Lockharts time as speaker. So I was part of her team for four years before I ran for speaker and won. When you describe Speaker Lockhart and then myself, I was part of her team and learned much from her approach.

She did have that approach where there wasnt nodding and there wasnt toeing any line. There was real policy discussion and a battle of ideas, said Hughes.

He said the late speaker tried to build consensus with lawmakers and thats what he has tried to accomplish in managing a large caucus. As far as life after being the Speaker of the House, he has not ruled out a gubernatorial run.

Just names off the top of my head, but if you had Jason Chaffetz and you had Lt. Governor Spencer Cox and you had Rob Bishop (whos name has been batted around), if you had Josh Romney, whos name has been batted around.

People have asked me  Ive not ruled it out, Ive not decided  but if I was there, make the pool as deep and as tough as possible. Make those candidates earn the support of Utahns, and I dont know how you could go wrong. What would be wrong with seeing that kind of election cycle coming up in 2020?

Hughes said he likes the current governor but hes been in for 10 years next year and maybe a new face is needed. Paul Mero, host of the weekly Mero Moment, which runs Thursdays on KVNU, has made the case for Governor Herbert to run for a third term.
The centennial of the Bolshevik Revolution in November 2017 was a strange jubilee. Despite the revolutions central importance in world history and its global importance, the centennial received scant attention in Russia. Most other post-Soviet countries plainly ignored it. The marginalization of the Revolution went along with a sharp decline in the popularity of Eurasianism, whose proponents emphasized the symbiotic or organic relationship between Russians and other ethnicities of the former USSR. Eurasianism also emphasized a Russia-centered historical narrative of the Soviet Union and the Russian empire. The decline of common historical space reflects a discursive and geopolitical vacuum, which the rising China will most likely fill.

BACKGROUND: A common historical narrative is the product of a common socio-political foundation. Yet, the narrative does not necessarily die immediately after its foundation ceases to exist. While the USSR disappeared more than a generation ago, the memory of common historical experiences during the Soviet era has lived on and taken on new features. Eurasianism is a prominent example of this. The major tenet of Eurasianism is that most peoples of the tsarist empire and later the USSR lived in a condition of symbiosis, or represented one quasi-nation. Even a cursory view of Eurasianism indicates that it constitutes a peculiar transmogrification of Soviet ideology. The popularity of Eurasianism in the 1990s and fresh memories of the Soviet experience indicated both nostalgia for the USSR and vague dreams about its possible resurrection in some form. However, by the centennial of the Bolshevik Revolution in 2017, both the Soviet experience and Eurasianism have faded in public consciousness.

The disintegration of the imperial Russian and related Soviet legacy is clearly visible in the Central Asian states, which either marginalize or ignore Russian and Soviet history, or consider it a dark part of the nations past. The marginalization of the Soviet/Eurasian experience is apparent even in Kazakhstan, where the elite has preserved at least some elements of the Soviet legacy and related images from the pre-revolutionary past. Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have almost completely sought to erase their history as subjects of the Russian and Soviet empires.

The declining interest in the Soviet/Russian legacy is a function of Russias comparatively weak role in the region as well as new geopolitical realities. First, it indicates the final and irreversible disintegration of the post-Soviet space  not just in terms of the disappearance or reinterpretation of the common socio-political framework. It also represents the death of common cultural and historical images that survived the death of the state for decades.

Second, it indicates the complexity of the new Central Asian reality. Some countries, most prominently Kazakhstan, still attach significant importance to their relationships with Russia. Thus, Kazakh historians spend considerable energy on assuring their readers that Kazakhstan was as great as Russia in the distant past, and actually was one of the centers of world civilization. For Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the relationship with Russia has lost its centrality. Consequently, their historians have engaged in polemic debates with each other, emphasizing their respective nations superiority in every possible way. Their historical narratives have become chaotic, relating to Central Asias geopolitical fragmentation. By extension, this opens space for the emergence of a new, unifying narrative built around the rising China.

IMPLICATIONS: The collapse of the existing geopolitical and historical space prepared Central Asian states for the acceptance of a different grand metahistorical framework. The most obvious candidates are the Turkic and Iranian historical narratives, although these coexist with purely self-centered notions of history.

The Turkic narrative has become highly popular in Kazakhstan. Kazakh historians have searched for the roots of Kazakh statehood and even ethnicity among the Bronze Age population on the territory of present-day Kazakhstan almost 4,000 years ago. Yet the main thrust of this narrative is the arrival of Turkic people. The great empire of Genghis Khan is considered as Turkic and in Kazakh popular lore, Genghis Khan has become not just a man of Turkic origin but Kazakh. Consequently, the Kazakh state, which according to official history emerged in the 15th century, descended from the Mongol or actually the Turkic empire, and dealt with the emerging Russian state as an equal until the 18th century. This Turkization of Kazakhstans historical narrative provided the ideological framework for Kazakhstans multi-vectorism.

Tajikistan has respectively seen the increasing popularity of an Iranian narrative, according to which Tajiks are direct descendants of Indo-European Aryans who dominated Central Asia and beyond from the Bronze Age. They created a sophisticated culture and are in this narrative implicitly seen as not only culturally but also racially superior to Turkic peoples, especially Uzbeks.

Uzbekistan, in turn, has also downplayed the significance of Soviet experiences and Russias presence in the area, and its historical narrative has evolved in opposition to that of the neighboring Tajiks. Yet Uzbekistan has promoted a mix of the Turkic and Iranian narratives, motivated by two key interpretations of Uzbek ethnicity. In accordance with the first, Uzbeks trace their ancestry to both indigenous Indo-Europeans and equally indigenous Turkic peoples. Second, they consider Indo-European Aryans to constitute a social group rather than a particular ethnicity. In this interpretation, Turkic peoples are indigenous to Central Asia since the Bronze Age. At the same time, this narrative depicts Tajiks as newcomers that emerged in Central Asia comparatively recently. Undergirding this representation of Uzbeks as indigenous to Central Asia is the portrayal of Timur as a great conqueror who incorporated the entirety of Central Asia into his huge empire. Timur has become Uzbek in this narrative.

In contrast to Kazakhstan, the Tajik and Uzbek narratives are less concerned with Russia than with their territorial claims on each other and control over water resources. Indeed, this preoccupation has been a key driver in the effort to identify indigenous people in the region and their historical roots.

As the notion of a common past is declining, indicated by both Russias diminished role and the Central Asian states increasing attention to regional affairs, the emerging historical and geopolitical narrative has opened for an increased role of China as a rising hegemon in Central Asia. While rebuilding the Silk Road, intended to ensure Chinas future domination in Eurasia, China has also undergone an official reconstruction of the countrys past. Reflecting Chinas increasing power and ambition, its historical narrative increasingly stresses its expansion and interaction with the global community. The very notion of the Silk Road implies not just Chinese ambitions, but also the nature of the encounter. Chinas relations with the world have not been defined predominantly by conflict, which demanded the building of the Great Wall, but more importantly by the peaceful exchange of goods and ideas, in which China played the role of a benevolent economic and cultural Kulturtrager.

Chinas official ideology increasingly emphasizes Chinese integration with the broader Eurasia. At the same time, these notions have not yet obtained prominence in the thinking and historical narratives of Central Asian elites.

While potentially a powerful trend, Chinese Eurasianism is just in the making. Yet, with Chinas increasing influence in the region, such a narrative is likely to emerge in the future. In this case, it could be similar to Soviet or Russian Eurasianism, however, placing the regions geopolitical and historical center in Beijing rather than Moscow.

CONCLUSIONS: The Kremlins disregard for the centennial of the Bolshevik Revolution and the marginalization of Soviet history goes along with a similar process in Central Asia. This disintegration of historical space has profound implications, even as Russia and some Central Asian states engage in closer cooperation within the frameworks of the Eurasian Economic Union or the Collective Security Treaty Organization. For Kazakhstan, participation in these arrangements appear to be purely pragmatic whereas it reemphasizes the distance from Russia by constructing a Kazakh historical narrative to this effect.

For Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Russia has become marginal or almost irrelevant judging by their historical narratives, which focus largely on neighborly rivalries. This disintegration of historical space and is chaotic conditions create a peculiar discursive and related geopolitical vacuum, which China will most likely fill. China is in the process of rediscovering its Eurasian past as an ideological framework for the countrys Eurasian expansion. While structurally similar to Russian Eurasianism, it will relocate the center of the Eurasian universe to Beijing.

AUTHORS BIO: Dmitry Shlapentokh is Associate Professor of History, Indiana University at South Bend.

Image source: By: Public Domain via Wikimedia, accessed on 5.25. 2018
Carnage W. Musa

More than 20 persons have died in Menka, Pinyin Clan in Santa Subdivision, Mezam Division in the North West region of Cameroon. Their death came after Military invaded a motel in the area shooting and killing everyone around the vicinity.

It was a black Friday in Pinyin following the incident, locals who fled from gunshots early Friday only came back to find compounds and farms littered with dead bodies.

Sources have revealed that Military invaded a motel popularly called Star Hotel where it is believed Separatist fighters have been lodging since Wednesday night but that the fighters had left before the military could arrive.

However when Soldiers came, they fired shots at the motel killing every passerby and those who were said to be Ambazonia fighters.

The victims, mostly men and one girl of 18 years were sent to their early graves. Over 20 have been reported dead while some have been reportedly taken to the hospital for treatment.

This Military Massacre in Pinyin is the first of its kind where more than 20 people are killed and littered on the streets. While some sources say they were Separatist fighters, it remains unclear whether they retaliated to the shots because no incident on the side of the Military has been reported yet.

Reacting to the killings today, Barrister Abgor Ball, President of Fako Lawyers Association said, Pinyin, Bali and Batibo our hearts are with you during this painful moment. Seeing images of more than 40 youths dead in 48 hours. We must stand up together as one and reverse this senseless war.

There have been a general outcry and calls for investigations into the matter to ascertain whether or not those killed were innocent civilians or Ambazonia fighters.
Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria W. Musa

The essence of this relocation exercise by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and the Nigerian Government is to ensure that the Cameroonian refugees live in safety, and in respect of the international humanitarian norm that refugees should stay at least 50 kilometres from the borders.

On May 22, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, moved some 331 Cameroonian refugees from Abande to Anyake, Kwande Local Government Area (LGA) settlement, in a move intended to help provide care and protection to people forced to abandon their homes mostly in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon.

To date, UNHCR, together with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), has registered some 21,291 refugees in Nigeria; children and women constitute 77 percent of the refugee population.

Living in 40 different locations across four states  Cross River, Benue, Akwa Ibom, and Taraba  the refugees have been arriving in Nigeria since October 2017.

Addressing the community leaders and members of the host community gathered to witness and welcome the arrival of the refugees in Anyake, Boubacar Bamba, the Assistant Representative for Operations, stated that UNHCR is actively engaged with partners and the government authorities to find creative ways to address the current refugee situation more sustainably. Refugees who can learn, contribute, and provide for their families in exile are better placed to rebuild their lives anywhere  including at home once its safe to return, he explained.

For his part, Emmanuel Shior, the Executive Secretary of the Benue State Emergency Management Agency, commended UNHCR for its active role and commitment to responding with much-needed assistance for the Cameroonian refugees. According to Mr Shior, two of its staff who were stationed in Abande will be redeployed to Anyake, where they will continue to provide support as the refugees settle into their new environment.

Over the past few months, UNHCR, state authorities, Norwegian Church Aid, and the residents of the host community worked tirelessly to construct a transit site, two multipurpose housing facilities, 32 temporary shelters, and 24 latrines in preparation for the move to Anyake, located 66 kilometres from Abande, Benue state. Over the next few months, there will be more voluntary relocations to Anyake settlement, which can host some 3,000 to 4,000 Cameroonian refugees.

Do not take advantage of vulnerable girls and women, cautioned Chief Zaki of Anyake. Stressing the need for peaceful coexistence between the refugees and the host community, the chief stated that he would remain available to work with both the host community and the refugees to prevent and mediate cases of conflict.

UNHCR appreciates the contributions of its partners, the Nigerian government, and members of the host community to help Cameroonian refugees. UNHCR remains committed to working with the Nigerian government to step up and strengthen structures that will promote respect for human rights to safeguard the rights and well-being of internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugee returnees, refugees, and asylum seekers.

UNHCR
| BY Ricki Green |

Says Dave Jansen, EP, Infinity Squared: What I love about Lincolns work is that its culturally relevant his tight knit relationship with guys like Monster Children, Deus and fashion brands proves he gets how to create for channel. For us it continues to be about finding innovative ways to connect with audiences and Lincoln will help us to do that.
| BY Ricki Green |

To promote improved child safety strategies and techniques for parents, Goodoil Films director Justin McMillan and Byron Studios have teamed up to release provocative film, Gone, to compliment the Australian Federal Police National Missing Persons Coordination Centres (NMPCC) efforts for International Missing Childrens Day 2018.

Working in consultation with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) NMPCC, the projects genesis was a bedtime conversation held between McMillan and his young son. When his son inquired after the fate of a missing child, McMillan found himself at a loss; conflicted in an uncomfortable balance between honesty and sensitivity.

How can a parent remain truthful with their child whist also protecting their innocence? How can parents alert their children to societys dangers without unduly alarming them? What simple and effective techniques can be employed to improve child safety?

The short film (starring actors Rob Carlton and Lisa Kay) opens with the real-life scenario experienced by McMillan: a father reading a bedtime story to his son is asked about the whereabouts of a missing child. In attempting a tender though cautionary response, the father crafts an elaborate fantasy, taking his son on an adventurous quest that culminates in a spectacular ending.

Says Justin McMillan, writer/director: Id never before been faced with having to explain to my son the reality of missing children. After I finished telling him a fictional story, I got to thinking about how horrific the experience must be and the challenges it must raise for communication within a family.

I felt obliged to find out more about how I could help prevent this situation from happening, and upon further research I discovered tools, such as the password system, that I could implement to help better protect my child. I was surprised to learn that so many parents, with whom I researched the concept with, had no idea about the password system or any other child protection tools so I immediately knew I had to try and change that.

The main aim of the website is to provide all parents with instructions on how to increase the safety of their young children. The film is designed to provoke and engage parents by promoting the website, where they can discover basic but effective strategies to help guard against abduction and abuse.

AFP spokesperson and acting national coordinator Missing Persons and Exploited Children, D/A/Superintendent Jayne Crossling highlighted the importance of parents, families, organisations, leaders and members of the community recognising the vital role they play in the safety and education of our children.

Says Crossling: Education and empowerment is the key for children to protect themselves against threatening or harmful situations. The AFP hopes that initiatives such as Gone will equip parents and guardians with the skills and confidence to have these uncomfortable but necessary conversations with their children.

The film features a stirring and atmospheric score from Michael Yezerski (Australian Symphony Orchestra), and a visually spectacular final scene with special effects provided by Cumulus VFX via Byron Studios.

To visit the website, click here.

Client: Missing Persons (Australian Federal Police)

Production Company: Goodoil Films & Byron Studios

Writer/Director: Justin McMillan

Executive Producer/Script Writer: Matt Long

Executive Producer/VFX Supervisor: Will Gammon

Director of Photography: Tim Tregoning

Producer: Andrew McLean

Editor: Simon Njoo

Assistant Editor: Trent Mitchell

Art Director: Pete Davies

Production Manager: Emily Morrison

Drone Operator: Guy Alexander

Drone camera DOP: Ewan Donnachie

VFX: Cumulus VFX via Byron Studios

VFX Producer: Gabrielle Joosten

Compositor: Stanley Jones & Kate Auld

Storyboards: Johannes Leek

Sound Designer: Joe Mount

Sound Post Production Company: Sonar Music

Music Composer: Michael Yezerski

Executive Producer: Sophie Haydon

Producer: Tom Pastro
| BY Ricki Green |

To drive awareness for its new Smart Living offering amongst first home buyers, Porter Davis has unveiled The Rich Parents, a new promotional campaign, created by The Monkeys part of Accenture Interactive, that puts a cheeky twist on millennials willingness to lean on the Bank of Mum and Dad to get a foot up on the property ladder.

The promotional concept is built on research from Digital Finance Analytics research (January 2018) that shows 55 per cent of Australian First Home Buyers (FHB) rely on financial support from their parents to borrow on average $88,450 to purchase their first home.

Enter: The Rich Parents You Never Had. Aisha & Stu McFernlayson never had kids; they own 11 properties and generally have too much money. Theyre on the hunt to adopt a First Home Buyer and share their wealth, becoming the rich parents you never had by gifting a $170K Smart Living Home deposit.

Developed using the insight that FHBs are leaning on the Bank of Mum and Dad for financial support, the campaign includes a competition to win a $170,000 deposit for a Porter Davis Smart Living Home, whilst showcasing the house and land packages. To enter the competition, first homebuyers can visit: https://richparentsyouneverhad.com.au/.

Directed by Matthew Saville (Josh Thomass Please Like Me and Chris Lilleys We Can Be Heroes), the campaign will roll out across home advertising, digital, radio, press, and on Porter Davis-owned social channels.

Says Lee Lowndes, group content director, The Monkeys: In a media environment where were constantly hearing about the challenges for first home buyers, who wouldnt wish for some generous rich parents to contribute $170k to a new house?

Its a new take on a promotional giveaway we hope will both entertain and capture the attention of young home buyers who might currently think a Porter Davis home is out of their league.

Says Shaun Patterson, general manager, digital & marketing, Porter Davis: Our Rich Parents campaign aims to increase awareness of the Porter Davis brand within the first home buying market.

The campaign resonates with the barriers Victorian first home buyers are facing in purchasing their dream home in a unique and irreverent tone. We are thrilled with the collaborative partnership that has formed with The Monkeys. Their strategic rigour and agility to deliver our latest campaign is to be commended.

Watch further episodes at: https://richparentsyouneverhad.com.au/.

Client: Porter Davis

General Manager, Digital & Marketing: Shaun Patterson

Marketing Manager, Channel Strategy: Kelly Jones

Marketing Manager, Digital & Social: Maxine Dare

Head of Creative: Matt Collings

Agency: The Monkeys

CCO: Ant Keogh

Planning Director: Gareth Evans

Group Content Director: Lee Lowndes

Content Director: Jantine Wigboldus

Content Manager: Casey Nguyen

Copywriter: Siobhan Fitzgerald

Art Director: Connor Beaver

Integrated Producer: Emma King

Integrated Producer: Katie Wellbelove

Production Company: The Directors Group

Director: Matthew Saville

Executive Producer: Craig Griffin

Editor: Jon Holmes

Director of Photography: Hamish MacGregor & Marcus Cropp

Grade: Martin Greer

Sound Engineer: Paul Le Couteur, Nylon Studios

Executive Producer: Ceri Davis

Photographer: Neil Bailey, Coco Productions
| BY Lynchy |

This week marks a significant milestone for Singapore-based independent branding network Bonsey Design. In addition to celebrating its landmark quarter of a century in operation, the regional branding and design agency has added Graham Hitchmough (pictured left) to its management team as Regional Chief Operations Officer.

Jonathan Bonsey, Chief Executive and Creative Officer has developed the business on a regional basis since 1993. Having established a powerful reputation in FMCG and consumer branding, in recent years Bonsey Design has also developed signature Service Branding programmes for Maybank, POS Malaysia, Cebu Pacific, FGV, Unionbank and Mediacorp. In 2014 Bonsey Design forged a partnership with Sydney-based digital agency The Jaden Group, to create Bonsey Jaden, now one of the leading regional independent digital agencies and the last four years have seen the two businesses collaborate and grow with increasing potency across the region.

We set out to provide our clients customers with seamless, integrated brand experiences both online and offline. As a result our digital business has doubled in size every year as the combination of powerful digital strategy married to insightful brand design makes a real difference to our more ambitious clients. Bringing Graham onboard will add depth and strength to our strategy and design team and support the integrated service offer, said Bonsey (pictured left). Grahams talent and expertise will be of enormous value to our clients and with his help we will really be able to make an impact on their brands performance.

Hitchmough has been in Asia Pacific for over twelve years and based in Singapore for the last decade. He was most recently CEO for Brand Union in Asia Pacific and prior to that held a number of senior roles with brand consultancies advertising agencies and corporates in Bangkok and London. In his new role Hitchmough will be able to apply his extensive experience of the regional marketplace to augment the existing management team of Bonsey Design and its partner Bonsey Jaden: developing strategies for growth, collaboration, service development and client delivery across the businesses markets of operation and extending areas of expertise.

Hitchmough said, Anyone who has been involved in the branding industry in this region over the last couple of decades will have heard of and have great respect for the Bonsey name. But what has really excited and attracted me is the drive to constantly reinvent, recalibrate and reorient the business to better meet client needs, to get the very best out of our talent and to act as a magnet for fresh talent and ideas. Every network in town might talk a good game on agility and integration, but its a very different thing putting it effectively and profitably into practice and maintaining a strong challenger culture as an independent.

The partnership with Bonsey Jaden was a clear signal of intent and I firmly believe that Bonsey Design is now ideally placed to provide the interconnected strategic, creative, channel thinking and application that client businesses crave. My job is just to help bring it all together and get our tremendously powerful proposition across.
| BY Lynchy |

What better way to appeal to the creatively inclined than to have a communications plan designed for them, by fellow creatives.

As Wacom Singapores prominence steadily grows across the region, the increasing need for a creative partner to solidify their brand identity on social media became apparent. With Hakuhodo Singapores expertise in digital content management and strategy development, the collaboration between the two organisations only came naturally.

We are especially thrilled to have Hakuhodo Singapore on board as a creative partner, said Adriel Chan, Manager Geo Marketing (S.E.A) of Wacom Singapore. Hakuhodo Singapores core values and philosophies are strongly in line with ours, which is a key advantage when it comes to designing an effective online campaign.

As an agency who truly understands what it means to captivate a digital audience, we are confident that Hakuhodo Singapore can effectively establish and maintain an online relationship with budding creatives and experienced ones alike.
| BY Lynchy |

MullenLowe Lintas Group India have been ranked #1 most effective agency across Asia-Pacific in the Global Effie Effectiveness Index. Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai are ranked at #2, McCann Worldgroup New Delhi are ranked #6, DDB Mudra Group #7 and The Leo Group India #10.

Most Effective Marketers:

Unilever, PepsiCo, Nestle, The Coca-Cola Company, Mars

Unilever retained its title as the most effective marketer, the fifth time since 2011 that it has held the top spot. PepsiCo, fueled by a strong showing in Latin America, moved up three spots as the second most effective marketer. Nestle moved to third, while The Coca-Cola Company retained its fourth-place ranking. Mars broke into the top five for the first time, based on successes in North America and Asia Pacific. Global FMCG companies continue to dominate the most effective marketer ranking. Procter & Gamble ranked sixth  falling out of the top five for the first time since 2011. Global brewers AB InBev and Heineken, along with McDonalds and mobile phone leader Vodafone round out the top 10.

Most Effective Brands

Pepsi, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Movistar

Pepsi moved up three spots, replacing Vodafone as the most effective brand. Consistently ranked in the top five since 2011, this is the first time that Pepsi holds first place. McDonalds jumped up to number two, while Coca-Cola slid to third. Vodafone ranks fourth, with Spanish telecommunications company, Movistar, completing the top five. A diverse range of industry sectors continue to populate the top 10, including technology giant IBM, along with Chevrolet, MasterCard and fast food leaders KFC and Burger King. Burger King shares the 10th spot with two Colombian beverage brands  Poker from Bavaria Brewery and Sr. Toronjo from Postobon.

Most Effective Agency Holding Groups

WPP Group, Omnicom, IPG, Publicis Groupe, Dentsu

The top five most effective holding groups remain unchanged from 2017. WPP Group has remained the most effective holding company for the seventh consecutive year, followed by Omnicom, IPG, Publicis Groupe and Dentsu, respectively.

Most Effective Agency Networks

McCann Worldgroup, BBDO Worldwide, Ogilvy, DDB Worldwide, OMD

McCann Worldgroup unseated BBDO as the most effective agency network. Consistently ranked in the top five since 2011, this the first time that McCann has topped the ranking. BBDO dropped to second, followed by Ogilvy, DDB and OMD (the first time a media network has appeared in the top five globally).

Most Effective Agency Offices

Sancho BBDO, FP7/DXB, MullenLowe Lintas, OMD, Ogilvy & Mather

Sancho BBDO (Bogota) retained its title as the most effective individual agency office, given its success with brands like Visa, Sr. Toronjo and Winny, among other regional and global brands. McCann Worldgroups FP7/DXB (Dubai) moved up one spot to number two followed by MullenLowe Lintas (Mumbai). OMD (Bogota) returned to the top five for the first time since 2013, ranking fourth, while Ogilvy & Mather (Mumbai) rounded out the top five. The top 20 effective agency offices feature a globally diverse mix of agencies from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Israel, New Zealand, Peru, Turkey, UAE, and the United States.

Most Effective Independent Agencies

ACG Advertising Agency, Madre Buenos Aires, Kinograf, MINT MENA, Banda Agency

For the third year in a row, Budapest-based ACG Advertising Agency retained its title as the most effective independent agency. Madre Buenos Aires moved up three spots to rank second, followed by Kiev-based Kinograf and MINT MENA from Dubai. A second independent agency from Ukraine, Banda Agency (Kiev), rounds out the top five.

Now in its eighth year, the Effie Index recognizes the companies that create the most effective marketing communications ideas from around the world, determined by their cumulative success in more than forty-five national, regional and multi-national Effie Awards competitions. The 2018 Effie Index is compiled from 3,476 finalists and winning entries from worldwide Effie Awards competitions between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017.
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Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 6:29PM

With Samsungs partnership with Disney, its not surprising that the Incredibles 2 are getting the AR Emoji treatment. All five members of the superhero family as well as Frozone are available for you to play around with. AR Emoji has been likened to Apples Animojis. These emojis use your facial expressions to animate the characters you see on the screen. This latest pack is already available in the cameras AR Emoji mode. Just a reminder that only the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus have access to this feature.

Source: Android Authority
Award-winning mental health expert Dr. Radu V. Saveanu of the University of Miami discussed the latest advances in mental health treatment at a special luncheon hosted by SalusCare Monday, May 14.

More than 130 people attended Shattering the Stigma, which was presented in honor of Mental Health Month.

Dr. Saveanu and his colleagues assisted a local family as they struggled to find the correct mental health diagnosis for their young adult son. Through videos and honest first-hand accounts, Dr. Saveanu and the family shared the journey that ultimately led to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

About 5 percent of the U.S. population has bipolar disorder, although 40 percent of the cases go untreated, Dr. Saveanu said.

Primary care physicians are the first ones to see patients with bipolar disorder. They see more patients with bipolar than psychiatrists do, Dr. Saveanu said.

He said bipolar disorder is treatable, although the illness may change over time requiring adjustments in medication. He encouraged everyone to talk about mental illness in the community to shatter the stigma.

Dr. Saveanu is currently a professor and vice chairman for education in the University of Miamis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He has special expertise in psychotherapy and conducts clinical research in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.

He received his medical degree from Tufts University Medical School. Prior to joining the University of Miami, he was chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at The Ohio State University.

About SalusCare, Inc.

SalusCare, Inc., is a mental health and substance abuse treatment program in Southwest Florida, serving nearly 16,000 people per year of all ages from seven locations in Lee County. The non-profit organization offers crisis stabilization, detox, outpatient, residential treatment, community-based services and an Employee Assistance Program for more than 50 area companies.

The majority of programs are accredited by CARF, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facil-ities.

SalusCare services are not free. Fees are charged on a sliding scale, based on family income. In many cases, private insurance is accepted. SalusCare is a United Way partner agency.

For additional information, visit www.saluscareflorida.org
Veterans returning home from duty often navigate a minefield of obstacles when acclimating themselves back into the civilian world.

A lot of these men and women bring their battles home with them, coping with the post-traumatic stresses of active duty military.

The American Military Veterans Foundation is currently in the works on new technology for veterans at risk; the CAMO Alert.

National board member of AMMILVETS and Veteran Service Officer Keith Campbell is hoping this program will be a vital resource for veterans and help save lives.

This system is to help community and law enfacement understand the severity of a missing veteran or first responder that may not be in their right thoughts, he said.

This alert would be similar to Amber and Silver Alerts  giving name, last known location and other details about the person sought.

These alerts would be used in serious situations, when red flags arise and, potentially, even a suicide note left.

Veteran suicide is an epidemic across the country, something the AMMILVETS takes very seriously.

Their initiative for Florida veterans is to help our military veterans, active duty personnel and their families cope with PTSD and everyday stresses; and to educate communities about PTSD and suicides.

People dont want to talk about suicide or PTSD, said Campbell, We need to stop pushing mental health to the side.

According to a suicide data report conducted in 2012 by the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Service Suicide Prevention Program, 22 veterans take their own life every day in America, as does one active duty solider.

This may just be scratching the surface though, as this 13-year study did not include the two states with the largest populations of veterans  California and Texas.

Florida is home to the countrys third largest veteran population with over 1.5 million full-time residents.

Of all the states polled, Florida held the highest veteran suicide deaths by state, at 26 percent.

Veterans can feel they are a burden to their loved ones, they think My family will be better off without me,' Campbell said.

What may be surprising to some, is that 65 percent of veteran suicides are white males over the age of 50, leading the AMMILVETS to believe that some recessed thoughts come back when veterans retire and maybe have more free time to think.

We get lots of crisis calls, when these men and women have down time and idle minds, bad memories can creep back. For the younger generation, they come home and dont block it out. Theyre not getting the assistance they need and are turning to drugs or alcohol. Before, it was one tour and youre done; now, these men and women are returning over and over to war zones, they get used to the adrenaline rush and search for it. Weve seen suicide by cop and even motorcycle; they look for that rush and it ends their life.

David Souders, president and founder of AMMILVETS as well as a former Marine and Air National Guardsman (active side), says the biggest challenges for veterans returning home is the civilian community doesnt understand us, and we have a difficult time adapting back to an un-regimented lifestyle.

Souders, with 17 years of military experience, knows what its like to return home from active duty and how tough it can be to reintegrated into everyday life.

His biggest concerns are for his brothers and sisters, especially those in Florida.

The number of suicides among our veteran community is the driving force behind CAMO Alert; were losing too many veterans. We can help protect veterans with mental health issues and physical disabilities with suicide prevention, along with keeping them out of the legal system, Souders added.

Getting this alert into action is a process though, one the AMMILVETS are tackling head-on.

Initially, state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto was to draft the bill and present it for approval, but in recent times, her involvement with CAMO Alert has come to a stand-still, according to AMMILVETS.

Were writing the bill ourselves, with help from a local attorney who is also a veteran, along with others, Campbell said.

The rest of the committee is comprised of Sauders, Joan Colosimo, a Blue Star Mother who is also on the board of directors at AMMILVETS, Megan Contreras, formerly of Wink News and Wendy Hayes-Boaz, nurse and Blue Star Mother.

Campbell said they want to keep the bill simple and to the point and hope to have it done by the end of June to present in July for submission. If approved, the bill would be voted on in next fall session.

The issue of PTSD among our veterans is of the utmost importance, Benacquisto said. Our office has hosted a PTSD Summit to hear from veterans organizations as well as law enforcement officials in our community. Additionally, we hosted AMMILVETS representatives in Tallahassee to meet with the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs so that they could establish a plan to help save the lives of veterans moving forward. I thank the proud men and women who have served and continue to advocate on their behalf. I will always work diligently to continue Floridas tradition of being the most veteran friendly state in the country and do all that we can to honor and protect our veterans.

So how does the program work?

AMMILVETS would like CAMO Alert teams established in Florida to assist with veterans that are missing or in distress.

CAMO Alert teams are formed and on call 24/7, 365 days a year, whenever a veteran is in need.

Local law enforcement can use CAMO Alert in quick fashion to alert communities.

The program would also post updates on the situation using county, city and state-wide communications to eliminate the limitations of law enforcement.

Expectations by AMMILVETS of the program include a veteran resource handbook by district to be updated annually, CAMO Alert teams to stand up, educate and bring awareness to Florida communities and PTSD and suicide prevention, State of Florida Officials to meet with established CAMO Alert teams at least once a year, CAMO Alert teams to meet quarterly with local officials and State of Florida officials working in conjuncture with CAMO Alert teams to establish Veteran Safe Zones.

We want this to be a nation-wide thing, Campbell said. Wisconsin already has a similar program in place and Texas will have one as well by the end of the year.

A vital resource for these men and women will be Veteran Safe Zones.

Our AMMILVETS headquarters, along with other veteran centers, as well as churches and some fire stations are locations veterans can go to and feel safe, were working with communities to get them up to speed, Campbell said.

These places must be drug, alcohol and weapon-free, have a friendly veteran environment and willing to offer crisis and stress management training from former veterans.

We try to partner anyone feeling troubled with a peer mentor who shares similarities, usually someone from the same branch who may have fought in a similar climate who they can relate to, said Campbell.

With PTSD, there is no script, you have to gain their trust, Campbell continued. We have veteran organizations all over the state we can reach out to and ask Hey, do you have any Navy guys to peer mentor, or whichever branch, and get them set up with someone they can confide in.

Campbell tells of a female veteran who found success in the programs methods that potentially saved her life.

We had a veteran who went missing three times in two weeks who was showing signs of wanting to end her life. We sent out a CAMO Alert on every social media platform we have and to other veteran groups. A veteran up in the Tampa area saw the alert, and found her in her vehicle in a Walgreens parking lot passed out and unresponsive in the back seat. They called police and EMS who brought her to the hospital, treated her, and released her. We were in contact with the law enforcement officer in Tampa who placed her in solace care for 5-6 days. Upon her release, she was brought down to Lee County and we provided her with the best care we could, including peer-to-peer mentoring and helping restore her military benefits. As of a couple of weeks ago, shes doing well and said CAMO Alert was the best thing that couldve happened to her.

The AMMILVETS and their team are also working on different tiers of alert status, from low to severe and are reaching out to local law enforcement of how to break those levels down.

Any veterans looking for support can visit the AMMILVETS headquarters at 1490 N.E. Pine Island Road, suite 5D, in Cape Coral, or call 239-257-3410.
author: Anna Vodopyanova

Shares of Acorn International Inc. (NYSE: ATV) jumped nearly 26 percent in early trading after the company announced that it would issue a one-time cash dividend of $14.97 per American depositary share.

The Shanghai-based marketing and branding company, which develops, promotes, and sells self-branded and third-party products, said its shareholders as of June 4 would receive the cash dividend on or about June 22.

The announcement sent the company's stock up nearly 26 percent to $31.45 per share in early trading, before retreating to $29.10 in the afternoon.

"Our shareholders have repeatedly pointed out the opportunity to unlock value on our balance sheet, create liquidity, and return cash to shareholders," the president and chief executive officer of Acorn, Jacob Fisch, said.

"Following the recent sale of our wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary Bright Rainbow Investments Ltd. and underlying non-core assets, our board has approved this return of capital to our shareholders," he added.

Each ADS represents 20 ordinary shares. The total amount of the dividend to be paid is approximately $40 million based on 53,437,890 outstanding ordinary shares, which is approximately 2,671,895 ADSs.

For the first quarter, Acorn reported it had $18.7 million in cash and equivalents. In April, the company received over $50 million from selling its Hong Kong subsidiary, Bright Rainbow Investments Ltd., together with Shanghai HJX Digital Technology Co. Ltd., which owned a plot of land in Shanghai measuring nearly 19 acres. Acorn retained a 37.5 percent stake in a joint venture, titled "HJX Transaction," established with the purchaser.

In a statement, Robert Roche, the executive chairman of Acorn, called the sale of Bright Rainbow a "disposition of another non-core asset" and said he hoped it would lead to greater financial flexibility of the company, as well as the expansion of its core business.

The sale was not the first in Acorn's recent downsizing. In 2015 and 2016, Acorn sold some of its properties in Shanghai and Beijing worth $14.5 million, reduced its owned warehouses from four to one, and outsourced its logistics. As part of its cost-control measures, the company ceased the operations of its Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen leased facilities in 2015. The company continues to lease manufacturing units in Zhuhai, where it makes Youngleda oxygen generators.

The company attributed a general decline in its revenue, from $143.8 million in 2013 to $20.3 million last year, to government regulations of TV infomercials, internal restructuring, cutting back on distributor incentives, and legal disputes among its managing shareholders.

Acorn said its net income in 2017 was $12.5 million compared with $3.4 million in 2016, thanks to reduced operating losses and the disposal of non-core assets. In its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it was continuing its shift from TV sales to e-commerce, reducing costs, and liquidating non-core assets.

"In 2018, we are seeking to increase revenue by growing sales of our proprietary-branded products as well as third-party branded products through e-commerce, our other direct sales channels and our distribution network," the company said.

In a statement today, Fisch said: "Looking ahead, our capital management plan will focus on additional ways to create value for our shareholders while pursuing our core strategy of profitably growing our legacy brands and incubating new businesses."

Acorn soared nearly 26 percent in early trading Friday on news of a cash dividend.

Its shares were trading at $29.10 per ADS, up 16 percent in the afternoon.

(Source: Thomson Reuters Eikon)
Photo: Contributed

Kelowna gold medallist Kelsey Serwa, Olympic biathlete Julia Ransom and local philanthropist Thomas Budd will be pedalling for dollars at the YMCAs Cycle for Strong Kids charity event.

The Ys largest fundraiser of the year is set for Sunday, under a big tent outside Kelowna's H2O Centre.

Participants will cycle on stationary bikes to raise money that helps underprivileged kids attend Y programs, such as child care, day camps, aquatics, employment readiness and before and after school enrichment.

More than a quarter of the kids who take part at the Y are only able to do so because of the financial assistance provided by our generous donors, says Margo Buckley, Y fund development officer.

The events goal is to raise $100,000.
Photo: Google Maps

David Polsom hopes somebody will come forward with information concerning a crash he was involved in Tuesday evening on Highway 97 in Kelowna.

Polsom said he was attempting to make a left turn off the highway southbound onto Dilworth Drive.

"When I was in the intersection the light went yellow, so I waited for the cars to clear. I turned, and the guy decided to gun it and slammed into me," said Polsom.

"He would have run the red light, but he said it was still green and turned yellow when he went to the intersection."

Polsom said the force of the crash left him with a banged up shoulder and back, which didn't allow him to exit his vehicle.

He spent the balance of the evening in Kelowna General Hospital.

"The police officer agrees with me...but I have to prove it," said Polsom.

He said police told him he needs to canvas for witnesses because, he says, nobody stopped immediately after the crash.

If you saw what happened, Polsom hopes you will reach out to him at 403-700-7674.
Madison Erhardt

The Pulp Fiction Coffee House family and much of Kelowna is in mourning after community dog Robbie passed away early Saturday morning.

"It was 2:00 in the morning and he started crying. I grabbed my pillow and blanket, and laid down beside him and he died at 4:00 a.m.," said Pulp Fiction owner Max Sloan.

Robbie the black fluffy Poodle has been a part of Pulp Fiction since its inception.

"Since day one he has been here. He was always with me 24 hours a day, everyday since he was just a baby," Sloan said.

Hundreds of community members have taken to social media to share their deepest sympathies.

"Thankful to have had the ability to refer to your place as "Robbie's Coffee Shop" for the years we did, and that my daughter always knew where we were going. My girl especially loved the hide-and-seek game with him, such a good memory with your boy," one Facebook post read.

"I knew he was loved but I had no idea. It just blows me away. We have had flowers and cards and over 230 comments on Facebook," Sloan added.

No dog will ever replace Robbie, but Pulp Fiction says eventually another black standard poodle will be sitting by the book store greeting all who walks in.

"We would never ever consider changing the name of Robbie Rare Books. It will aways be Robbie Rare Books," Sloan added.
Photo: Debbie Palmer

More than 20 dead fish were spotted floating lifelessly, by a paddle boarder in Okanagan Lake.

Debbie Palmer said she was travelling around Shelter Cove, about 22 kilometres north of Westside Road, when she looked down and saw the fish floating on their sides.

They were all around the same size and colour, about 20 centimetres or so, she said.

She also paddled out about 500 metres into the middle of the lake and found three more.

Fisheries Biologist Eric Hegerat said localized fish kills, such as this, are quite common in Okanagan Lake this time of year, especially with strong winds.

"The reported quantity of fish is quite low, and I dont believe there is any immediate cause for concern," he said.

Hegerat tells Castanet the fisheries management section will continue to monitor the situation and potentially collect samples for analysis, if additional kills are reported.
Chelsea Powrie

Dawn Adamson was abused as a child, and the feelings of being unworthy she developed carried on into her marriage.

"I was in an abusive relationship for eight years," Adamson said. "My names that I was called on a daily basis were 'dumb,' 'stupid' and 'idiot.'"

She suffered with the emotional abuse and controlling, manipulative behaviour for years, without knowing how to explain what was happening to her.

"I didn't know what abuse was. Never in school...where did we learn this?" she said.

Adamson finally left her husband, and went through eight years of therapy to deal with the emotional ramifications, during which time her ex was still harassing her and members of her family.

Still, she persevered, and earned two bachelors degrees and a masters degree in counselling, with the aim of help women in similar situations to her own.

"If I had gone into addiction or if I had just stayed the victim, if I had just laid in bed for the rest of my life and just wallowed in pain, then he would have won," Adamson said. "But I knew I had the strength to heal myself, and I did."

Adamson is a speaker at the fifth annual South Okanagan Women in Need Society's Walk to End Abuse, coming up on June 3.

"Likely everybody that is going to attend that walk has had some form of abuse in their life," SOWINS development advisor Marni Adams said. "We all need to talk about it, heal from it, find the support and resources."

The walk is sponsored by Parker's Chrysler, whose general manager Jim Tabler is thrilled to be offering assistance to what he called an important organization in the South Okanagan.

"Anyone seeing the difference SOWINS has made and how their programs continue to impact the community will see clearly why we are committed to them," Tabler said.

The event raises funds through donations given to participating teams and individuals, as well as raising awareness.

"Women and children are going to be watching us," Adams said. "Let's show them that we can break that silence, we can stop that violence, together."

The walk starts at Rotary Park at 10 a.m. with breakfast provided by Earls and ends at Loco Landing. To register to participate in the walk or to donate, visit the SOWINS website here.
Castanet's Evening Update for Thursday, May 24, with reporter Wayne Moore.
Photo: Contributed

I met with a very good friend yesterday.

I have visited him quite a few times over the past several weeks as he has endured radiation therapy for a very rare form of cancer.

We were in business together several years ago and his exuberant attitude used to lift people up around him, even in the most challenging times in our business.

At the time it reminded me why we raised our family with the understanding that being happy was a decision and not a feeling.

Feelings aside, we can, daily, make a decision to be happy.

I would say if you make that decision every day, the feeling which is haunting you may itself disappear.

Notwithstanding, some people need medical support for conditions that require attention to help them live a normal life.

In some sense, my friend was in that same position. He was doing his best to stay positive every day as he undertook a gruelling regime of radiation therapy.

On top of the therapy, I witnessed his weight drop from a healthy 200 pounds to about 135.

His goal was to live long enough to get to an operation, but along the way he developed a condition that prevented him from eating.

If he could not keep food down he would be denied surgery because of the low chance of success.

I stopped off to see him yesterday en route to a car rally in the Columbia Valley. He was back.

He was his jolly, uplifting, funloving self again: Planning a future, scheming some big business ideas and generally looking forward with confidence.

Not the same guy I had witnessed who was slowly losing the fight.

He shared with me that one morning he found it hard to wake up. He was almost in a coma. He looked at two choices.

He could not fight, give in, and say goodbye to his family. The other (the friend that I knew) was to get up one more time and make a decision to live.

Interestingly, that was about the same time he met a gastrointestinal expert that prescribed him a series of pills that completely changed his condition.

Over the next four days, he ate like a horse and showed up for his operation  that was a week ago  the friend I knew was back, except his hitch-hiker is no longer with him.

Every day, we have multiple decision points. Human nature skews us to the path of least resistance, the easy way out.

Thank goodness, my friend took the hard route.

We are going fishing in a few weeks  after we have eaten a big meal together.
Photo: Contributed

UPDATE: 11 a.m.

Officials with the Kelowna RCMP say officers descended upon the area around KLO and Lakeshore Drive Friday morning after receiving a report that an emotionally distraught man, believed to be armed, was broadcasting live on social media.

The man was believed to be in Kelowna.

Given information available, Cpl. Jesse O'Donaghey says officers went to the area and restricted traffic in the 3300 block of Lakeshore Road.

"Investigators were able to determine that the subject was not in the Kelowna area, but rather, in another jurisdiction," said O'Donaghey.

"As a result, all area roadways were re-opened shortly after 10 a.m."

ORIGINAL STORY: 10:25 a.m.

About a half dozen RCMP cruisers descended upon the area around K.L.O. and Lakeshore Roads Friday morning.

Police had some lanes of traffic blocked off with officers standing with guns at the ready.

According to police at the scene, there was a tip someone wanted on a Canada-wide warrant may have been spotted in the area.

Police are now saying the report was false, and they've since cleared the scene.

Businesses around the area of K.L.O. and Lakeshore remained open during the ordeal.
Photo: RCMP

Kelowna RCMP need your help to identify a suspect involved in a heated incident at a retail business earlier this month.

Officer's are trying to identify the man seen in this composite still image taken from security video at the store, located in the 2300 block of Baron Road.

The person-of-interest is described as male, possibly Native, approximately 25 to 35 years of age, 6 feet tall, with buzzed black hair.

RCMP responded to a report of a confrontation inside the retail store on May 3, 2018, after a patron inside the store reportedly confronted an unknown male, who was believed to be acting in an inappropriate manner. When confronted by the victim, the unknown male fled the store on foot in an unknown direction.



RCMP will not release specific details on the alleged actions of this unknown male, in order to protect the police investigation, which remains active and ongoing at this time, says RCMP Cpl. Jesse ODonaghey of the Kelowna RCMP. He adds, that being said, police are taking the matter seriously and we strongly encourage anyone who may have any information at all to come forward to speak with our investigators as soon as possible.



Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300 and cite file number 2018-23106. Or remain completely anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477
Ongoing Rise is collecting donations of backpacks and school supplies for local students of all ages from elementary school to high school that will be handed out before the new school year begins. Students can come in to the Rise Thrift...
Eurofins Scientific announces that it has opened a new food testing laboratory in Suzhou, China with a surface area of 3,900m2. This new laboratory, together with the laboratory opened in Qingdao last year, highlights Eurofins commitment to serving its clients in China and Asia Pacific with world-class testing services. This project represents a total investment close to EUR 3m.

Eurofins Suzhou was founded in November 2006, as the first wholly-owned food testing laboratory of the Eurofins Group in China. The new laboratory, which is nearly twice the size of the previous laboratory, significantly upgrades Eurofins Suzhous facilities and office environment. Eurofins Suzhou employs 120 staff. With the support of Eurofins Contaminants Competence Centre in Hamburg, Germany, and Eurofins Suzhous continuous in-house research and development efforts, the new laboratory offers a broad range of testing capabilities including general chemistry, nutrition, dairy, mycotoxins, pesticide residues, contaminants, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and heavy metals. Eurofins Suzhou also provides compliance testing for food and feed samples based on regulations from China, the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA) and Japan.

Comment from Mr. Jason Qin, Managing Director of Eurofins Food Testing China: The relocation of our Eurofins Suzhou laboratory was a major project for Eurofins China. With this new state-of-the-art facility, together with our planned investment in other strategic areas in the country, we will be much better equipped to fulfill our mission to Contribute to a safer and healthier world. We will strive to continuously improve our testing capabilities and the level of service we offer to our customers to positively contribute to food safety within and outside China.
Researchers using powerful supercomputers have found a way to generate microwaves with inexpensive silicon, a breakthrough that could dramatically cut costs and improve devices such as sensors in self-driving vehicles.

"Until now, this was considered impossible," said C.R. Selvakumar, an engineering professor at the University of Waterloo who proposed the concept several years ago.

High-frequency microwaves carry signals in a wide range of devices, including the radar units police use to catch speeders and collision-avoidance systems in cars.

The microwaves are typically generated by devices called Gunn diodes, which take advantage of the unique properties of expensive and toxic semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide.

When voltage is applied to gallium arsenide and then increased, the electrical current running through it also increases - but only to a certain point. Beyond that point, the current decreases, an oddity known as the Gunn effect that results in the emission of microwaves.

Lead researcher Daryoush Shiri, a former Waterloo doctoral student who now works at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, used computational nanotechnology to show that the same effect could be achieved with silicon.

The second-most abundant substance on earth, silicon would be far easier to work with for manufacturing and costs about one-twentieth as much as gallium arsenide.

The new technology involves silicon nanowires so tiny it would take 100,000 of them bundled together to equal the thickness of a human hair.

Complex computer models showed that if silicon nanowires were stretched as voltage was applied to them, the Gunn effect, and therefore the emission of microwaves, could be induced.

"With the advent of new nano-fabrication methods, it is now easy to shape bulk silicon into nanowire forms and use it for this purpose," said Shiri.

Selvakumar said the theoretical work is the first step in a development process that could lead to much cheaper, more flexible devices for the generation of microwaves.

The stretching mechanism could also act as a switch to turn the effect on and off, or vary the frequency of microwaves for a host of new applications that haven't even been imagined yet.

"This is only the beginning," said Selvakumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. "Now we will see where it goes, how it will ramify."
Mondelez  the Deerfield-based snack and candy company known for brands like Oreo cookies and Ritz crackers  informed union members Wednesday that it planned to implement wage increases and move forward with its plan to transition workers from from a pension funds defined benefit plan to a 401(k)-style plan, which has been a prime point of contention.
"He said they didn't think it was the right thing to do; [the employee] needs to feel like they have a day in court," she recalls. But he also said that if the Supreme Court decided the consolidated cases as they did this week, "he said 'I would be crazy' not to advise [his employer] to have these provisions, especially the class waiver, because it protects the company from liability."
The owners of a French bulldog who died during a United flight after being stuffed into an overhead bin have reached a confidential settlement with the airline.

The death of the Robledo family pet Kokito on a flight from Houston to New York in March sparked national outrage about how animals are treated on airplanes.

Lawyer Evan Oshan told the Daily News on Thursday that the matter has been "amicably resolved by all parties."

"We are encouraged that United has taken steps to provide better pet travel policies," Oshan said. "We hope that all airlines will promote pet policies which show understanding, compassion and empathy for the passengers."

During the flight, Catalina Robledo said she listened to Kokito's repeated cries for help before the dog died.

"I paid to bring him on the plane, not so they could put him in a bag to suffocate him," she told Telemundo 47 in Spanish at the time. "The dog barked and barked but I couldn't stand up because I'm carrying my baby.

She said that there was turbulence and there were no flight attendants in sight.

Robledo said she asked the crewmembers why she had to put the dog in the bin, but they told her she had to.

The confidential settlement with United was first reported by TMZ.
After this heroic opener, Freeman clearly needed to turn down the dial. He did so in the most introspective piece of the set, his idiosyncratically titled Enchance, conceived in homage to Tyner. Its dark tone and incantatory phrase-making may not have evoked Tyners cyclonic approach to the piano, but it surely expressed Freemans profound reverence for the man and his music. Not surprisingly, pianist Hill stepped to the forefront here, offering his own Tyner homage in the form of copious melodic invention and constantly driving rhythm (though Hill erred by plunking a final chord after Freeman had closed his last solo).
I looked up. She said GOD-oh, the common pronunciation of the play in Samuel Becketts native Ireland, as distinct from the more common (and Francophile) god-OH usually heard on this side of the Atlantic. My mood lifted. God-OH, in all its linguistic pretension, really sums up what can go wrong with this play when its treated as a weighty work of absurdism, a classique of the last century performed with actorly earnestness and directorial pretension. But the perky, chippy, ironic GOD-oh, not that far removed from the Australian Gday but Irish nonetheless, is emblematic of all thats right about this masterful touring Druid Theatre Company production, as directed by its veteran co-founder Garry Hynes.
"In other words, the longer way to explain it is, just because somebody I know does something s---y, and behavior I disagree with, it doesn't mean I'm going to drop him as friend. I support my friends, I continue to support my friends," Cross said. "Jeffrey's not the only guy I know accused of s---y, bad hurtful behavior. I don't condone it, but it's not like, 'Hey I'm never going to talk to you again and I'm only gonna talk shit about you.' If I had a family member who did something bad, I'd go visit them in prison."
For our first Christmas together, she asked Santa for liposuction, at a cost of $7,600. I told her I didnt have that kind of money, so she suggested we start saving. She refuses to work. At first, she told me that she would work when she got legal status. Now that she has the right to work, she tells me she will look for employment only when she is ready.
Why was Chicago such a leader in literature, art and dance in the first half of the 20th century? Olson offers a few theories but is too careful a researcher and writer to settle on one in particular. She notes that writers like Sandburg, and later Brooks, not only wanted to write about the working classes but also wanted to be read by them. They wanted to be new but also accessible. The modernist movement in Chicago appears to be directed more at people than at literary critics. Chicagoans, who were in a new city primed with new money, were a great audience for modern ideas about art. This helps to explain the big crowds at the Armory Show, or the warm reception for Gertrude Stein in her visits here.
This cover image released by Crown Publishing Group shows "Becoming," by Michelle Obama, which comes out Nov. 13. (Crown Publishing Group via AP)
Providing specialized medical care to survivors is known to help them heal, increase their willingness to pursue justice and increase the number of successful prosecutions against offenders, she said. We must do better for the thousands of women, children and men in Illinois who are victims of sexual assault every year.
Half of the seafood were already eating is farmed, said Julie Qiu, an oyster connoisseur and marketing director for Massachusetts-based Australis Aquaculture, which farms barramundi, an Asian sea bass, in United States and Vietnam. If were absolutely meeting demand, we wont have enough wild seafood to feed everyone in the world. To put it in perspective, we should be having two servings of seafood a week, according to health experts. If we were to achieve that by only relying on wild catch, wed need four planet Earths to sustain that. Farm-raised seafood has to step in and take on some of that volume.
The lingering question is how the city will pay for the project. In addition to the $10 million for the land, Emanuel is planning to use $20 million from the sale of land near Goose Island  the subject of Fridays vote  and an additonal $5 million from the sale of a River North firehouse. The mayor hopes to get at least $23 million from selling other police and fire training buildings, according to David Reynolds, commissioner of the city Department of Fleet and Facility Management.
The 32-year-old man was shot twice in the torso and twice in the arm, police said. The 28-year-old man was shot five times in the left arm and grazed in the head and was taken to the same hospital, where police said he was in critical condition.
Other shootings Friday included a 38-year-old man who was shot in the back in the 7800 block of South Evans in the South Side Chatham neighborhood at about 2:40 p.m., police said. He was standing on a porch when he heard shots and felt pain. An ambulance took him to the University of Chicago Medical Center where his condition was stablized.
Over the next hour, Moore allegedly took a silver Jaguar at gunpoint in Bucktown, carjacked the undercover officer in her black Ford Escape on the Near North Side and tried to carjack a black Nissan Altima but ended up shooting the 37-year-old driver in the shoulder and running away, according to police.
Among the findings that have been changed so far is the death of a man found after a small fire broke out in an apartment in the 7900 block of South Greenwood Avenue on Oct. 9, 2017. Cavanaugh said he could not make a conclusive ruling on the cause of death, but the review found evidence of injuries from an assault and his death was ruled a homicide.
At least three of them bolted to the gas station. Down the block, a wounded teen was bent over on his knees on the sidewalk on the east side of Laramie Avenue. The 17-year-old leaned against a short fence surrounding a patch of grass in between the sidewalk and street.
The measure would amount to an expansion of how police departments would be allowed to use drones four years after lawmakers first put restrictions in place. Now, police can use them in certain circumstances, including when there has been a threat of a terror attack, a natural or public health disaster, or a missing person.
But it can be difficult for lawmakers to get things done at the end of the spring legislative session, when state budget talks often overshadow attempts to make other deals. In the months before the November election, Democrats in control of the General Assembly want to show they are addressing sexual harassment, but historically have been wary of adding legislative oversight. And Republicans aligned with business interests fear any new regulations may drive up the cost of operating in Illinois.
Before that could happen, two aldermen used a parliamentary procedure to delay the vote until the next council meeting, a tactic opponents of particular issues sometimes use to give themselves more time to try to sway their colleagues to their side. In this case, Ramirez-Rosa said he deferred it because he wanted the academy opponents to have a chance to be heard. He was joined Wednesday by Ald. David Moore, 17th, who said he needed more information about the funding. Moore voted in favor of the ordinance Friday.
The Quincy location is of note as the location of the post-Civil War veterans home where 13 people have died since a Legionnaires disease outbreak in 2015. Usually, debates held Downstate are in Springfield or central Illinois and in southern Illinois in or near Carbondale, the home of Southern Illinois University. But they are not typically held in a west-central Illinois community of about 40,000 people along the Mississippi River.
There continues to be intermittent explosions at the summit that have been sending plumes of ash into the sky. On Wednesday, the volcano belched a plume that reached about 7,000 feet (2,133 meters), scientists said. Right before the explosion, there was a 3.9 magnitude earthquake at the summit.
"The speaker came on and said we were on lockdown and people rushed in and we went to the back of the room. I went into this little room in the back with three other people," he said calmly standing between his parents as they picked him up.
"So we hope that the meeting will go forward at some point," Nauert said. "We weren't getting the right signals previously, so hopefully we will in the future. But we didn't want to go to a meeting just for the sake of going to a meeting. There had to be something to come out of it."
DACA is now in the hands of the federal courts, some of which have blocked its termination. It is also in the hands of Congress, which could approve the DREAM Act in some form. But despite broad public sentiment for letting the Dreamers stay, nothing has been enacted and nothing is likely to be.
So how can we get a better understanding of the underlying rate of crime? Surveys typically don't help: People who get away with committing serious offenses aren't likely to admit it, even if they're guaranteed anonymity. The one notable exception is marijuana use, which  though still illegal in most places  is mild and socially acceptable enough that people are willing to tell the truth. Hence, if we compare the reported rate of marijuana use to the arrest data, we can gain some insight into how useful the latter really are.
That, of course, is a relatively benign approach to controlling foreign coverage. But the regime also has a proven record of trying to control journalists based overseas by subjecting them to harassment, surveilling them and even imprisoning their family members. And when it's a matter of responding to Iranian journalists, the government doesn't hesitate to resort to thuggery that's even more overt. Clearly, these are the only tools the authorities have left.
But the Supreme Court case isnt about this partnership. Janus, instead, focuses on public sector unions ability to collect fees from nonmembers. Mark Janus, a child support specialist for the state of Illinois, chose not to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, but the law says hes required to pay fees to the union. The logic is that since Janus compensation is determined by a contract negotiated between AFSCME and the state, Janus should be required to pay fair share fees to the union. Otherwise, he could be accused of freeloading.
Cassidy, who has demonstrated independence from Madigan in recent years, in February criticized his handling of sexual harassment and bullying complaints within his political and statehouse offices. Cassidy argued publicly that those complaints should be investigated by an independent entity, not one with ties to the speaker. Days later, she says, Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes called the sheriffs office and inquired about her employment status there. Told about the call, Cassidy interpreted it as a warning.
After graduating from Audubon High School, he moved to Chicago. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army, which put him in the Signal Corps. During training, he met Betty Kaplan, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and married her in Stuart, Fla., before he was shipped to the Pacific. When the Army finally let Red go in 1946, he and Betty settled in Chicago. He returned to Audubon and Westphalia, Iowa, working as a custom butcher. He later worked the railroad, most of the time for the Chicago & North Western. He married three times, with two of his spouses passing away.
Here's hoping that if the president is indeed on the right track, he chooses a better way to enunciate what he believes is best for the nation and the world. And, if he's not on the right track, rectify that mistake ASAP.
Some may argue that the Obama center will be inspirational. Perhaps so. But would not the publics money be better, more appropriately spent on other things, such as funding the public school system (so that visitors to the Obama center will be better equipped to understand and analyze that which they see there), providing better health care, dealing with the citys debt and pension problems, and so on?
Smith, from the sheriffs department, and Cassidy both say the bills sponsor in the House, Rep. Bob Rita of Blue Island, a top Madigan ally, made note of the conflict in separate conversations with them. Smith said she detected nothing ominous about Ritas expression of dismay that Cassidy wasnt supporting her boss, but, again, Cassidy said she considered it a threat to use her job as a lever against her.
I was deeply humbled and touched to learn that a total stranger, on the other side of the world, has looked after my brother Jim all these years, he said. It has given me great peace. I dont know how I can ever thank Mrs. Verkennis for her kindness and dedication over the last 70 years to honoring Jims memory and the ultimate sacrifice he made for all of our freedom. I only regret that I never had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Verkennis and personally thank her for her kindness.
"When you look at this cockroach, its really not as scary or as gross as you think it is. Were just trying to show people how cool these animals are, having fun and making sure people at our shows have fun with it.
Leading someone from the chamber actually only happened once for Hornburg, although he said he was close to it several other times. It was during one of the legendary verbal battles between former Mayor Tom Weisner and former Ald. Rick Lawrence, when the mayor asked Hornburg to take Lawrence from the chamber.
She said the group is telling people who to contact if they are approached by ICE, no matter what their status is, whether they are refugees or legal permanent citizens, a legal status for someone awaiting citizenship.
According to police, around 10:30 to 10:45 p.m. shots were fired from what was described as a dark-colored, newer sedan occupied by more than one person.
Sanchez got out of the car and tried to run away. Williams chased him and fired two shots from a .25 caliber handgun, striking Sanchez in the leg and head, according to the release. Williams returned to the car and he and the co-defendant drove off.
A vehicle matching the description of the car was spotted by an officer near Galena Boulevard and Broadway shortly after the incident, police said. The vehicle was pulled over and its four occupants were questioned and released without being charged.
After eight years at Fulton County, he returned to the Aurora area as a dean of students at Oswego East High School. Henry went on to serve as assistant principal for 10 years at various schools in the area including Hill Middle School in Naperville, Richards High School in Oak Lawn and Alan B. Shepard High School in Palos Heights, according to the release.
That's 23 students who might not have ever had a chance to go to school who will now be able to attend, graduate and begin their careers with no college loans to pay off at all, West Aurora High School Principal Charles Hiscock said.
The allegations that a government official, who obviously held a position of authority over his victim, would use that position to satisfy his sexual desires is revolting, Berlin said. This alleged breach of the public trust and what is expected of our government employees will not be tolerated and will be met with the full force of the law.
Ellis was at a party April 2 at in the 17700 block of south Rosewood Drive in Lansing. The childs father was hosting the gathering and put the girl down in the bed. He kept a legal handgun near where the girl was sleeping, prosecutors said.
After a Lincoln-Way High School District student was charged with aggravated disorderly conduct when he allegedly threatened teachers and a school shooting in Florida, the administration cited safety reasons in the spring when it eliminated public pool usage during the day. It maintained early morning hours because swimmers paid to use the pool until the end of the school year, and evening use continued three times a week, Tingley said.
A home visit that is zero to 10 miles from her Midlothian base starts at $60, which includes exam, she said. The farther she travels, the more the cost, she added, but even 20 miles out, the base price is $70.
I think local municipal officials can do more to address the operations of warehouse developments they allow in their communities. This region is desirable because of its location as a transportation hub. Local officials shouldnt have to give away the store through tax breaks and incentives.
Among the Land of Lincolns largest cities, there should be particular concern for Rockford. Twenty miles from the Wisconsin border, it's been shrinking every year this decade, and has fallen to the fifth-largest city in the state this year from the third largest in 2015.
Trustees Barbara Struthers and William Seiden voted against the project last month and against discussing it further May 21. Trustees Robert Benton and Mary Oppenheim voted to approve the request and have further discussion. Trustee Dan Shapiro opposed the structure in April but was in favor of the June 4 discussion.
With that much evidence you have to sit down and have meetings and decide, Whats the likelihood were going to get fingerprints off of something? The state crime lab would only take five or 10 items no matter what and then it would take quite a while to examine those, he said.
So how does this all end, this reign of the gun? The logical answer is when enough people rise up and demand more than their politicians have delivered to-date. When the threat of the ballot box is greater for these candidates than any form of intimidation from the NRA. And when the shame of their indifference to all the bloodshed is simply more than even their consciences can bear.
This years event follows unfortunate news last year, when library officials had to cancel the banding and naming event, and the live web camera viewing of a family of falcons that had a nest on the library roof. Last year, one egg did not hatch, while another hatchling died and a third was believed to have been taken away by its parents.
People in my age group often dont think about it and then somebody gets the disease, Stefanie Paget said. They see how it affects them and their families and they want to do their part.
Galassini said his interest in marine life brought him to an internship on rescuing seals in Ireland, and on a research ship to study dolphins in Bimini. He also talked about the many programs the Shedd offers to high school and college students, such as the teen learning lab, high school lake ecology project, internships and assistantships in different areas.
After an hours-long standoff, a man and woman inside the apartment were taken into custody without further incident. Covelli said the woman was not charged. The man taken into custody at the Antioch Township apartment was also released without charges, and Covelli said while it had been the mans vehicle that hit the squad, he was not in the car at the time.
He said he decided what we need to do is to preserve our way of life so they will not have died in vain, and live the life they didnt have the chance to live  It has to be a personal commitment  to experience the joy of living that (fallen soldiers) can no longer experience.
If (the) question is, did I press anyone once the formal investigation started, I would say no. I didn't even know who the potential interviewees were, Plascencia wrote. Of course, there would be passing comments made, and I had a general knowledge that the investigation was on-going; however, I did not interfere or try to keep track of the participants.
When I met Matteo, I decided I was very interested in him because I respected the way he thought. He was nice to my friends and he always made me laugh. That has been something we have talked about as what happens when you lose your sense of humor. I treasure every moment when there is some humor because Matteo still comes up with great double entendres and good lines, but it is hard because you lose some of this wonderful soul.
Our goal is definitely to get younger members, because even the Vietnam guys are getting old, said Proia, 79, of Vernon Hills. We have to develop some reason for them to join. I dont know what that is yet, but if someone else does were willing to listen.
Its about working with people, so you really count on your principals and work with them on being the academic leaders, and my role is to work with them to understand the culture and climate they and the district created and want to advance, Myers said following Tuesdays meeting. Its about listening to the professionals. Its not any different than here at the high school.
The suit alleges police officers coerced Amors confession that he intentionally started the fire in the Naperville condo where he and his wife, Tina Miceli, lived with her mother. The complaint alleges police entered into a conspiracy to pin the crime on Amor. The suit was filed against the city of Naperville, four members of the police force at the time of the investigation and the estate of a deceased officer.
Tracey Conrad of EOS said her agency works to ensure every student who wants to go to college or a post-secondary endeavor takes at least one AP class during their high school years. We believe, and research will back us up, the number one predictor of college success is having a rigorous high school experience, Conrad said.
I can say this, Stan, there is no one more detailed than you. Everything is done to the T, said Raczak, who has known Gorbatkin since 1991. Every program that you ran, whether it was the band trip that we took to Michigan or the one-to-one implementation for the entire district, has been done in a meticulous manner that just serves our kids,
The DuPage event is set for 2 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial near the pond on the DuPage County Government Campus in Wheaton. DuPage County residents who have lost their lives in military action, beginning with the 1832 Black Hawk War up through current campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, will be honored, DuPage public information director Evan Sheilds said.
Theres a temptation to tax this one last source, which would be bad for retirees. You will see people rise up in protest on this. That would be one thing that would drive my friends out of state. Thats what we dont want. Family is here. I dont want to leave. But if it becomes much more difficult to live here, you have to give that some consideration.
How has school changed over the years? I dont feel like I can say this yet since Ive only been teaching for eight years. I will say its been interesting for me to experience a variety of careers and schools in general. Prior to teaching at North, I taught at Maine South and Maine West high schools and at Kenwood Academy in Chicago Public Schools. It doesnt matter where you go, kids are kids. They all have worries and challenges and dreams and passions. Those things just look different from place to place.
Perhaps I should have kept him inside at all times. He would have been safe. He was a gray, black and brown tabby, and not always easy to see. But whoever hit him must have known they hit something in the middle of the road. They must have not been paying attention while driving and I believe they did not stop to check see what they hit.
The schools and districts we recognize this year represent a diverse group of urban, rural and suburban districts and demographics. Along with a strong commitment to music education, there are two common traits that each program shares: consistent funding that anchors music education as part of the core curriculum and music programs that are located in communities where music education is viewed as a jewel of the school system, NAMM Foundation Executive Director Mary Luehrsen said in the release. Parents, administrators and community members are proud of these local music programs and attend them regularly.
It is good to see Elmwood Park High School continue to be recognized, but even better to know our ranking has improved in accordance with the metrics, said Superintendent Nicolas Wade. I do feel all the good work that has been done, is being done and will be done will continue to make the high school, and the district and the community as a whole a place for families to continue to come to.
When we first started it was tough for some of the students to even pick up the little cups and sugars, and over time you can see theyre really starting to get good at it, he said. You can see the smiles on their faces when staff and students come talk to them.
How does it measure up? Spot on, he said, standing in the parking lot Wednesday after lunch. If anything, the service is better than back home, he says.
The property is across the street from a controversial four-story, largely multi-family development currently under construction at 400 Talcott Road, the site of a former car repair shop. Neighboring residents had tried to block the construction, and a second lawsuit, asking a judge to put a stop to the project, was filed by several residents last year. In the case, which is still making it way through the court system, the residents argue that the building is being constructed against Park Ridges Urban Design Guidelines and they object to its height and density.
There are a lot of vocals for our shows, she said in a recent email interview. Its so fun to be able to go back and forth between instrumentals and vocals. About half the show is vocal and half is instrumental. We play some old favorites from my solo CDs. And we rock a lot of our new material from our two records as Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers.
It showcases many, many different techniques and ways that the instrument can be played, with different variations where the violinist uses different bow strokes, different rhythmic patterns, and basically showcases much of what a violin is capable of, said Todorova, who has appeared as a soloist with various orchestras and ensembles in Finland, Sweden and America.
Clinton said he had so much hate for Vann, but he knew Teaira wouldnt want me to have hate in my heart for you. That hate will go away when Vann eventually dies in prison, he said.
Representatives from Dunes Action have said that the plans will limit access to the pavilion by the beach-going public and families. The $18,000-a-year, long-term lease agreement between Pavilion Partners and the DNR drew instant criticism from Dunes Action when it was released three years ago because of a lack of transparency surrounding the project and the use of a public park for private profit.
The task force completed its investigation Thursday into the shooting and are now in the process of completing the documentation of their findings, Mance said. Those findings are expected to be turned over to Highland police by June 1, according to Mance.
Kelly Goodpaster, with the Hobart Park Department, said five boulders identifying the Hobart Nature District have been installed and a sixth and final one will be going in by Robinson Lake Park. The boulders were purchased with funding from the Legacy Foundation, she said.
She said there are only a few dozen safe houses in the country. She said there will be an app that only law enforcement will be able to access that will list all safe houses in the country where they can send victims once they're rescued.
He said there are a variety of situations that could trigger an investigation of a public official by his office. In one case, a contractor approached the office on his own, saying he was tired of being squeezed for money by a government official. A newspaper article could provide another lead.
Purdue University Northwests (PNW) College of Technology will offer free cybersecurity summer camps for high school teachers and students from Northwest Indiana, Southwest Michigan and the Chicago metropolitan area through a $194,010 grant, jointly funded by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Two week-long sessions for high school students are slated for 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 11-15 and June 18-22 at PNWs Hammond campus, 2200 169th St. One session for high school teachers is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. July 16-20 on the Westville campus, 1401 S. U.S. 421. Instruction will be led by PNW faculty in the Department of Computer Information Technology and Graphics, as well as the College of Technology and School of Education and Counseling. The workshops will encompass cybersecurity fundamentals, robot game design, cyber forensics, ethical hacking and principles key to cybersecurity awareness. More information and applications are at 219-989-2035 or at https://centers.pnw.edu/cybersecurity/gencyber-camps/.
Though (the sergeant) was not wounded in the battlefield, he had wounds we could not see, Horn said, adding there is a stigma of weakness around the struggles the sergeant faced, and he was not weak. (He) fought battles long after we left Iraq, and he lost those battles.
In the meantime, Vann was charged in two additional cases in Lake County. He was charged with rape and attempted murder, among other charges, for a February 2014 incident with a Sauk Village, Ill., woman, court records state. He also was charged after throwing his urine and feces at a Lake County Jail guard, records show.
Our world is full of people who just want to be right all the time. We dont really need any more of those people, he said. What we need are people who choose kindness as their guiding principle.
Something for you to think about instead of blaming everything on the NRA ad guns. Why not look at the failure of the progressive education agenda under President Obama? Since most of these issues with guns in schools started during this time. It could have to do with taking discipline out of the school system. Protecting students that are troublemakers while endangering the student body, usurping power from local and state governments by federal institutions illegally, and many other progressive agendas that failed the school systems.
River Forest detectives, in collaboration with the Chicago Police Departent and the Chicago Police Department Marine Unit, conducted numerous searches of the area where Mr. Waxs vehicle had been located on the Chicago Skyway bridge, OShea said. River Forest detectives conducted an exhaustive search of the area on May 24 and located Mr. Waxs remains.
As student representative, Pabijan will have the dual responsibility of reporting to the school board as well as to the students she represents. She will be required to attend all full board meetings, serving as an advisory, non-voting member. She will be excluded from closed session discussion, as well as committee participation, unless otherwise directed.
The mayor doesnt want to see real debate and real democracy. Its ridiculous that we will spend hours on honorary resolutions, but we cant even spend five seconds on a decision that will allocate close to 100 million dollars to build a police academy, when we have seen police violence cause so much harm in our neighborhoods, when we have such a dire need for investment in our communities, he said, noting that the city allocates more than 40 percent of its budget toward policing.
Taylor Swift's 1989 album was playing as Cesar Hernandez, 18 and his friend Sam got ready the night.



"Queer Prom has really made me feel like I can express who I am," Hernandez, Senior at Mather High School, said as he was putting on glitter eyeshadow.



Instead of attending his High School prom, he decided to attend the 'Queer Prom' in Pilsen, even though his prom is 'now inclusive' of all sexual identifications.



Hernandez stopped for a second and began telling his story.



"I decided to come out in 2012 when I was in 8th grade," he recalled, "My friend and family were supportive, I wasn't expecting that response from my friends," he laughed.



He remembers being afraid, but came out because he "wanted to be that voice that everyone was afraid of having because they were going to get bullied," he explained.



According to Hernandez, the Southwest side of the city was not supportive of queer youth but his family and friends supported him.



"My family is my backbone," Hernandez said as his mother walks into the house from work.



"There's not a day I don't talk to her," he smiles.



Fast forward 4 years later, Hernandez is ready to graduate high school and attend college in the fall. He is an active staff member of the Chicago Freedom School and a community activist and an advocate for LGBTQ rights.



"When I came out, there was not a lot of support for the LGBTQ youth, but I took all the negativity that was thrown at me and converted it into energy to really boost myself up," Hernandez said.



"Queer Prom is a way to bring that support and celebrate us," he added.



For 11 years now, the Queer Prom has taken place at the National Museum of Mexican Art. Along with food and music, it brings different organizations that provide support for the young LGBTQ community.



This year, was no exception. From high school kids to Gay rights activists, they began to arrive promptly at 6 p.m., some wearing nightgowns and others rocking their jeans.



"It includes every bit of our community and gives a place where young people and older people can be under one roof and feel comfortable," Hernandez narrated the environment of the event.



"There is so much support out there now, such as the Center on Halsted, Boystown, the Chicago Freedom School, Queer Prom," Hernandez said.



"It's a gay world out there once you step outside," he laughed.
Our weekly round up of other news affecting foreign investors throughout Asia:

Corporate Taxes in the Philippines

In the Philippines, all companies  domestic or foreign  are liable to pay corporate income tax (CIT). The tax liability for a corporation is determined by its residency status and is based on the net income it obtains.

Indias Halal Market: Opportunities in Cosmetics, Personal Care Segments

India has the worlds third largest Muslim population at more than 150 million, and presents huge market opportunities for halal-based entrepreneurs.

Russia Targets Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce with New Luxury Cortege Aurus Brand

Russia has taken the first steps in launching its prestigious Cortege project of high end automobiles with Russian President Vladimir Putin debuting the Cortege Aurus at his inaugration in Moscow.

A Digital Free Trade Agreement for Africas Silk Road

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was signed into being on March 21, 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda, where 44 African heads of state and governments met and agreed to the binding commitment.

Vietnam Increases Investors Equity Ratio for PPP Projects

Vietnam has increased the equity ratio for PPP investors, in addition to other changes. As demand continues to grow for infrastructure investments, PPPs will play a vital role in filling the infrastructure gap.
You are here: Arts

Acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhangke said Wednesday that his latest film Ash Is Purest White will be shown in Chinese cinemas starting September 21.



The film, whose Chinese name translates to "Sons and Daughters of Jianghu," tells a turbulent love story spanning 17 years, that involves figures in the criminal underworld.

Set in modern times, the couple -- Qiao and Bin -- experience gang fights, separation, prison, betrayal but eventually live up to the trust and convictions of "Jianghu," a Chinese term for society that is often used in martial arts literature.

The film premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival on May 11, as the only representative of Chinese cinema in the official competition.

Jia, from north China's Shanxi Province, rose to acclaim with his directorial debut, Xiao Wu, in 1997. His Still Life won the Venice Film Festival's top award, the Golden Lion, in 2006.
Having soared to become one of the most-downloaded iPhone and Android apps in China within three days, the dating website SeekingArrangement was banned on Thursday from WeChat, the country's most-used social networking platform.



Infamous for connecting wealthy older men with young women online, and sometimes referred to as a "sugar daddy" app, SeekingArrangement entered the country in 2015 with a Chinese language site and apps. It has been in the spotlight since Tuesday, after the Global Times newspaper posted an article calling for the government to shut down its business in China for arranging "sugar dating". The article had been clicked more than 740,000 times as of Thursday.

Yi Shenghua, a criminal lawyer, said the services provided by such websites, though disguised as dating or matchmaking, can be classified as organizing or sheltering prostitution, and the website's founder and operator could face criminal charges, depending on the amount of cash traded and the number of people involved.

Administrators of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, where the website's Chinese business is registered as an information technology company, said local police and government bodies have begun investigating the case.

"Our Chinese product is exclusively developed for the local market and would definitely abide by the law here," a worker at SeekingArrangement told China Daily, insisting on anonymity.

He argued that the Chinese website and applications are designed as a premium platform that functions like any other legal dating site in China. The only difference would be that it targets "successful men of high quality and fine taste".

He added that the company has zero tolerance for words such as "sugar daddy" or "sex-for-cash" in its members' profiles, which are all screened manually by staff members.

But the platform does ask its male members to list their financial status during registration-annual income starting from 300,000 yuan (US$47,350), and net assets from 600,000 yuan, though the company acknowledged that it doesn't require any bank documents for verification.

Males are also required to pay a monthly membership fee of 400 yuan, while females can choose between enjoying free services or paying 100 yuan a month to have access to more functions.

SeekingArrangement was created in 2006 by Brandon Wade, a Singaporean-American who has been quoted as saying "love is a concept invented by poor people". Its Chinese platform now claims around 300,000 registered members and is growing steadily at 20 percent year-on-year. The proportion of male to female members is now about 50-50, according to the company, though it said it would prefer to raise the percentage of females to provide higher-paying male members more candidates to choose from.

"Matchmaking success with beauty is a universal value and common pursuit of humans," the worker at SeekingArrangement said.
U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc is banking on its newly launched Snapdragon 710 chipset to bolster its artificial intelligence efforts and propel more smartphone makers to use the company's AI-enabled chips.

The product launch in Beijing came on the same day that Qualcomm Technologies Inc, a unit of Qualcomm Inc, announced plans to establish Qualcomm AI Research, an institute to power forefront AI research across the company, reiterating its desire to accelerate AI development.

"We are constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI," said Jim Thompson, executive vice-president and chief technology officer of Qualcomm Inc.

"We are dedicated to bringing together some of the best minds in the field to shape the road map of AI hardware and software platforms. Our goal is to make on-device AI ubiquitous," he said.

Chipsets, or mobile processors, are the brains behind everything from photo processing to data speeds. By incorporating key AI capabilities and performance advancements, the new chipset is targeting "premium midrange" phones.

It aims to make premium smartphone features less expensive as customers are looking for devices that offer flagship features similar to the iPhone X, but at a lower price. Xiaomi's forthcoming smartphone is likely to be one of the first smartphones that will use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 710.

According to the company, unlike the Snapdragon 660, the 710 has significant improvements including a 20 percent growth in performance, 25 percent rise in web browsing speeds, and 15 percent faster in application launch time.

"We have improved our AI performance by 200 percent in the past 12 months. Along with 5G, AI is poised to help drive innovation and generate economic benefits for consumer and industrial devices," said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm Inc.

In addition, Qualcomm Technologies Inc said it would team up with Thundercomm Technology Co Ltd, an internet of things solution provider, to create AI-enabled products in China, including factory controllers, car accessories, retail cameras and robots.

Qualcomm Technologies Inc also inked a deal with NetEase Youdao to accelerate the implementation of Youdao's real-scene augmented reality translation.

Yitao Duan, chief Scientist of NetEase Youdao, said that it is a set of new visual interaction-based translation solutions that incorporate leading AI technologies, including dynamic tracking and neural network translation.
A restaurant selling cooked wheat noodles in Chongqing created headlines in recent days for charging 1,314 yuan (about US$205) for a single serving  described by some as a "sky-high" price, the Chongqing Morning News reported on Thursday.

The restaurant, located at the Minquan Road in the city, belongs to the Guzhou Wangcheng Food Co. Ltd. in Chongqing, and the costly noodles are served in the restaurant's private rooms.

One customer uploaded a photo of the dish to the internet, showing nothing more than a regular-looking bowl of noodles with cucumbers, minced meat and red peppers. However, it is reported that the order also comes with fruit, a beverage and dessert, and that customers are treated to a violin performance while dining in the private rooms.

Restaurant manager Mr. Hu explained that this set menu is offered particularly for couples and lovers, as the number "1314" sounds like "forever" in Mandarin, which by extension can mean a happy marriage.

Hu added that the restaurant promises an additional service  couples ordering the set who are still together three years later will be welcomed back to enjoy the same menu free of charge.

Despite the shockingly high price, customers are streaming in for the experience. According to the Chongqing Morning News, the restaurant's business has been so good in the past weeks that customers must make advance reservations to get a spot at a table.

Comments online reveal a range of public responses. Some have called it irrational consumption, while others simply doubt the price management. Some have also recalled a similar case three years ago, when a traveler was billed 2,000 yuan for a shrimp dish at a restaurant in Qingdao. The customer reported the case to the local police, which triggered a hot debate on illegal prices charged by certain restaurants.
An official online platform has helped solve the disappearances of 2,980 children in the past two years, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

Tuanyuan, named after the Chinese word for reunion, releases information about missing children and was developed for the authorities by e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Since its launch in May 2016, 25 new media platforms and mobile apps including Amap, Tencent QQ and the Baidu have connected with Tuanyuan, allowing people to receive alerts about missing children.

Chen Shiqu, deputy director of the ministry's Criminal Investigation Bureau, said by May 15, the platform had shared information on 3,053 missing children, 48 of whom had been abducted.

Other reasons children were missing included running away from home, becoming lost, and fatal accidents. Some 97.6 percent of the cases posted on Tuanyuan have been solved.

In addition to updating information about children who are missing or found, the platform also releases data about traffickers and identifies false information.

An updated version of Tuanyuan, launched on Thursday, is connected to four more platforms: Xinhua News Agency's app, China Central TV's audio and video app, online food-delivery platform Ele.me, and logistics company Dianwoda.

"Now those four have joined, Tuanyuan will expand its scope and channels for releasing information about abducted children, and more missing children might be found and reunited with their families," Chen said.
 Flash

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday sent a letter to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s top leader, Kim Jong Un, to cancel their planned meeting in Singapore on June 12.





The letter came on the heels of the escalating exchanges of accusations between the two sides.





In the letter released by the White House, Trump said that although he was very much looking forward to being in Singapore with Kim, it was "inappropriate" at this time to have this meeting "based on the tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed in the DPRK's most recent statements.





"Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place," Trump said.





However, he added that he still looks very much forward to meeting Kim "some day."





"I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters," Trump said. "We greatly appreciate your time, patience and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties."





He also thanked the DPRK for releasing the three U.S. detainees, noting it was "a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated."





Earlier on Thursday, the DPRK repeated the warning that it would reconsider whether to attend the scheduled meeting with Trump.





Choe Son Hui, the DPRK's vice foreign minister, said she would put forward a suggestion to Kim for reconsidering the DPRK-U.S. summit if the United States continues with hostile remarks and actions, according to the Korean Central News Agency.





The DPRK's strong reaction came after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview earlier this week that the country might end like Libya.





Calling his remarks "ignorant and stupid," Choe said that Pence should seriously consider the "terrible consequences of his words" before making such comments.





This is the second time within days for Pyongyang to warn Washington that it might cancel the meeting because of provocative anti-DPRK remarks by top U.S. officials.





DPRK last week expressed anger at words by U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton that United States would use the "Libya model" to denuclearize the country.





Yet on May 22, Trump said the summit "may not work out for June 12" during his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.





"If it does not happen, maybe it will happen later. Maybe it will happen at a different time. We will see," said Trump.





Earlier this month, the DPRK called the "2018 Max Thunder" joint drill between the United States and South Korea a deliberate challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration issued by the two koreas' leaders. It also announced to suspend high-level talks with South Korea infinitely.




 Flash

President Xi Jinping Thursday told visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel that China will work with Germany to push bilateral ties to a higher level.





Xi welcomed Merkel on her 11th visit to China, hailing the great importance she has attached to bilateral ties.





Since the two countries launched an all-dimensional strategic partnership in 2014, bilateral ties have improved significantly with the cooperation width and depth reaching an unprecedented level, said Xi.





He said China and Germany must set an example of win-win cooperation, take the lead in promoting China-Europe ties, advocate the new type of international relations and override the ideological differences for cooperation.





"This should be the direction that bilateral ties will move to in the next stage," said Xi.





He called on both sides to maintain high-level exchange, enhance top-down planning on bilateral ties, encourage bilateral cooperation in various areas and give full play to dialogue mechanisms.





"We welcome Germany to grasp opportunities arising from China's new round of reform and opening up," said Xi.





He said the two countries should expand industrial and market cooperation, driven by innovation, and jointly explore the third-party markets.





The two countries need to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges to consolidate the basis of friendship, and jointly deal with global challenges, said Xi.





"We would like to promote global governance and multilateralism together with Germany within the multilateral frameworks," said Xi.





China appreciates Germany's support for the Belt and Road Initiative, and welcomes German enterprises' active participation, he said.





For her part, Merkel said she was glad to visit China soon after her re-election as German Chancellor in March.





Echoing Xi's comments on Germany-China ties, Merkel said China is an important member of the international community and an important trade partner of Germany.





As Germany-China ties have entered into a new era, Germany is ready to take the new opportunities of China's reform and opening up to expand cooperation on trade and investment as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges, she said.





On European integration, Xi said China has always firmly supported Europe in choosing a path of integration. He added that China hopes the European Union will maintain unity, stability, openness and prosperity.





China is willing to work with the European side to advocate multilateralism and send more messages that are clear, predictable and confidence-boosting, for the development of international situation that is stable and conducive to all, Xi said.





Merkel said because the international situation has undergone great changes, Germany and China must enhance communication and coordination on international affairs, intensify cooperation within multilateral frameworks such as the G20.





Germany backs Europe-China cooperation, she said.





The two sides also exchanged views on international trade, the Iran nuclear issue and other issues of common concern.





Merkel is paying an official visit to China on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.





Also on Thursday, Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, met with Merkel, calling for more cooperation between the two countries' legislatures.
 Flash

China appreciates Burkina Faso's decision to cut "diplomatic" ties with Taiwan, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing on Thursday.





The government of Burkina Faso earlier announced its decision to sever its "diplomatic" relationship with Taiwan.





Spokesperson Lu Kang said it is known to all that in October 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Resolution 2758, specifying that the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government that represents China.





The one-China principle acknowledged in the resolution has become the universal consensus of the international community, Lu said, adding that it concerns China's core interests and the feelings of the 1.3 billion Chinese people, and serves as the premise and political foundation for China to maintain and develop friendly and cooperative relations with foreign countries.





Noting the sound development of China-Africa comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation, Lu said the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to be held in September this year will bring a new upsurge of friendly cooperation between China and Africa.





"In recent years, Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe have normalized their relations with China and returned to the big family of friendly cooperation between China and Africa, which fully indicates that the one-China principle corresponds with the will of the people and the irresistible trend of the times," Lu said.





"We welcome Burkina Faso to join in China-Africa friendly cooperation as soon as possible on the basis of the one-China principle," said the spokesperson.
 Flash

A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday criticized the United States for withdrawing the invitation to China to the Rim of the Pacific 2018 multinational naval exercise.





Ren Guoqiang, spokesperson of China's Ministry of National Defense, said the United States exaggerated so-called "militarization in the South China Sea" and used it as an excuse to disinvite China to the joint exercise.





"The U.S. decision is not constructive. Shutting out communication at any time does not help build trust or promote cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries," he said.





Ren said that China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters.





"It is a legitimate right for China as a sovereign state to carry out construction activities and deploy necessary defense facilities on its own territory. Such acts have nothing to do with so-called militarization, but are necessary measures to safeguard sovereignty and maintain regional peace and stability," Ren said. "The United States has no right to make such irresponsible remarks."





"Being invited or not, China will not change its determination to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, protect its sovereignty and security interests," Ren continued. "It is in the interests of both the United States and China to develop a healthy and stable relationship between the two armed forces. The relationship needs to be protected by both countries."





"The United States should look at the big picture, drop its zero-sum mentality and properly handle differences," Ren said. "Let's make the China-U.S. military relationship a stability factor for the overall bilateral ties."
 Flash

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Thursday with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, and they agreed to further boost bilateral cooperation for the benefit of both countries and the whole world.





In their meeting, Wang conveyed to Putin Chinese President Xi Jinping's sincere greetings and best wishes, saying that Xi attaches great importance to China-Russia ties and cherishes his friendship with Putin.





The Chinese president, added Wang, looks forward to meeting Putin again to jointly chart the future course of bilateral relations as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which is scheduled to hold this year's summit in June in China.





The heads of state of the two countries have made painstaking efforts for and injected robust energy into bilateral cooperation, continuously steering the China-Russia relationship forward, said Wang.





He pointed out that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is of great significance not only to the two countries themselves but to the world at large.





The two neighbors, he said, respect each other, trust each other, cooperate on the basis of equality, and enjoy mutual understanding and support on major international affairs.





In so doing, they have set a model of major-country relations in the current world and made great contribution to safeguarding global strategic stability and building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind, added Wang.





The Chinese vice president stressed that it is a choice both of history and of the people that China and Russia steadfastly pursue development paths that suit their respective national realities.





Now the Chinese people, under Xi's leadership, is vigorously pushing forward the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, said Wang, adding that China's development is making rapid and remarkable progress.





Meanwhile, the Chinese side firmly believes that under Putin's leadership, Russia will grow stronger and more prosperous, said the vice president.





China, he added, resolutely supports Russia's development, and stands ready to carry out strategic and long-term cooperation with Russia, lift the level and quality of bilateral practical cooperation more swiftly, and achieve deeper integration of interest, so as to bring more benefits to the two nations.





Putin, for his part, asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings and best wishes to the Chinese president, saying he is confident that Xi will lead the Chinese people to new achievements in China's development.





The Russian leader added that he is looking forward to visiting China and meeting Xi again.





Russia-China ties have kept developing at a high level, he said, noting that political mutual trust is deepening, bilateral practical cooperation is strengthening, the structure of economic and trade relations is witnessing sizable improvement, cooperation on large projects are speeding up, and exchanges and cooperation in people-to-people areas and at local levels are gathering steam.





Meanwhile, it serves as an important stabilizer in the world that the two countries maintain close communication and coordination as well as mutual support on major regional and global issues, said Putin.





The Russian side, he added, is willing to work with China to further deepen all-around cooperation, cement mutual understanding and support on international affairs, and keep lifting the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to higher levels.





Wang is here for the 22nd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The ongoing overseas trip, his first as vice president, will also take him to Belarus for a visit.
 Flash

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday voiced surprise and regret over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his meeting with top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, which was scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

DPRK First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said the DPRK is ready to sit down with the United States any time in any manner for talks to solve the problems existing between them.

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Kye Gwan also said Trump's decision disappoints the international community that is happy to see peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

He noted that the DPRK's initiatives made to end decades-long hostility and distrust with the United States are supported by the international community.

The DPRK's preparations for the planned leaders' meeting were also entering the final phase when Trump announced his decision to cancel it, to the surprise and regret of Pyongyang, he said.

The first vice foreign minister also denied Trump's accusation that Pyongyang "displayed tremendous anger and hostility" towards Washington recently, which Trump said was the reason for canceling the Singapore meeting.

Those were only a natural response to the excessive rhetoric made by U.S. officials to mount pressure on the DPRK on denuclearization before the scheduled meeting was even held, said the official.

He said the DPRK still appreciates the decision and efforts made by Trump towards a meeting with DPRK, making him the first sitting U.S. president to have ever done so.

Pyongyang is still willing to push for such a meeting with Washington and would like the two sides to solve their existing problems step by step through dialogue, he said.

The "DPRK's resolve to safeguard peace and stability at the Korean Peninsula and the world will not be compromised," he added.
By Anthony Deutsch, Reuters | May 24, 2018

Prosecutors investigating the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 said on Thursday they had identified the missile used to shoot down the plane as coming from Russia's armed forces.

Wilbert Paulissen, head of the crime squad of the Netherlands' national police, said the missile was fired from Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade.

"All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces", he told a televised news conference.

Russia has denied involvement in the incident.
By Michel Rose, Reuters | May 24, 2018

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday pressed Russia to deal constructively with a Dutch investigation into the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine in 2014.

Dutch prosecutors have identified a Russian military unit as the source of the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people on board.

Russia repeated on Thursday that it had nothing to do with the incident.
China said on Thursday that it appreciates Burkina Faso's decision to cut its "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan.

"We welcome Burkina Faso to join in the China-Africa gathering of friendly cooperation as soon as possible on the basis of the one-China principle," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

The foreign minister of Burkina Faso, Alpha Barry, said in a statement to reporters issued on Thursday, "The government of Burkina Faso decides, as of today, to sever its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan."
Editor's Note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy.

Mental health awareness has been increasing in China during the past few years due to improved living standards. In May 2012, China's long-awaited national legislation on mental health was implemented.

The Mental Health Law helps improve patient access to timely and appropriate treatment, a field in which the country still lags behind most developed countries.
BEIJING - A China-Germany media dialogue was held in Berlin on May 7, focusing on social media and the role of international news in the spread of globalization.

It was the seventh media dialogue between the two countries jointly sponsored by the State Council Information Office of China and the German Foreign Ministry.

The topics of this year's event were "Globalization and Media Role" and "International News in the Era of Social Media".

Andreas Michaelis, state secretary of the German Foreign Ministry, said at the opening ceremony of the dialogue that in the economic field, China is Germany's biggest partner in Asia and one of its most important partners anywhere around the world.

Last year witnessed frequent high-ranking exchanges between the two countries, and dozens of dialogue frameworks have boosted bilateral exchanges, Michaelis said.

"In the backdrop of rising trade protectionism globally, this dialogue is of special significance nowadays," Michaelis added.

Guo Weimin, deputy director of the SCIO, said at a keynote speech that since the two countries are important information producers and consumers, the development of media in both countries provides a solid foundation for cooperation and exchanges.

"The China-Germany media dialogue has become an important annual event for media practitioners of the two countries to exchange ideas and strengthen cooperation," Guo said.

Guo added that Chinese and German media should be committed to consolidating China-Germany strategic partnerships, fostering bilateral trade and economic ties and strengthening people-to-people exchanges.

"We should promote economic globalization, support free trade and fight against protectionism, and we should also discuss on how to report international news during a time of widespread social media," Guo said.

More than 40 media practitioners and experts took part in the dialogue. Chinese Ambassador to Germany Shi Mingde also attended the opening ceremony.

Established in 2011, the China-Germany media dialogue is an annual government-to-government exchange mechanism that is held in Berlin and Beijing in turns.

Xinhua - China Daily

(China Daily 05/25/2018 page7)
Demand from scientists, brokers raises price to $1,000 per gram

ZAGORA, Morocco - They roam Morocco's southern desert, braving the searing heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky.

These celestial treasure hunters are searching for meteorites to sell on a burgeoning international market.
Exhibition of Taiwan architect takes place in Shanxi ( chinadaily.com.cn ) Updated: 2018-05-25

Lee Chian-lang introduces his work at the exhibition. [Photo/chinanews.com]

Taiwan architect Lee Chian-lang introduced an exhibition showcasing his hand-painted works of ancient Chinese architecture at the Shanxi Museum on May 18. The exhibition is to last until Aug 8, featuring over 100 paintings with 20 architectural styles.

Lee Chian-lang, 69, is an architecture professor at the Chinese Culture University in Taiwan and he has been studying ancient Chinese buildings in Shanxi since the 1980s. In his paintings, he dissects the enigma of ancient Chinese buildings with western techniques including linear perspectives and cutaway.

"Professor Lee's painting is as artful and precise as a surgeon's scalpel and takes viewers on a visually stunning journey to appreciate the wisdom of ancient craftsmen," said Zhang Yuanchen, curator of the Shanxi Museum, "it is also a superb opportunity to enhance academic exchanges between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan and bring Chinese culture to a worldwide audience."

Shanxi Province, also known as "the museum of ancient Chinese architecture", holds over 70 per cent of China's ancient wooden buildings. Lee was enchanted by Shanxi's ancient buildings the first time he came here in 1982 and he has dedicated his life to their preservation.

"Ancient buildings bring history alive and hold the key to understanding our own culture," said Lee Chian-lang, "I hope my paintings help educate people about the art and history of Chinese architecture."

Lee Chian-lang has completed over 100 works and hopes more people join him in preserving these architectural wonders.
Local School Gives Personal Information to Billionaire Bloomberg PAC

Contact: Karen England, Capitol Resource Institute, 916-212-5607, KEngland@capitolresource.org



ROCKLIN, Calif., May 24, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Rocklin Academy has given private information, emails and phone numbers, of Rocklin Academy families to the campaign committee Families & Teachers for Antonio, a political organization supporting Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor, and funded by liberal billionaire, Michael Bloomberg.



"For a school that goes to extreme lengths to protect the privacy of students and their families, it's unacceptable that Rocklin Academy and the CCSA is using our personal emails and phone numbers to ask us to support a political candidate, especially one who does not share the values of many in our community," says one Rocklin Academy mom. "Room moms were not even allowed to send direct emails to parents about class parties or baby showers for teachers, but we can be solicited for a political campaign? Once again, all parents are not being respected."



Rocklin Academy's own handbook states:

Student and family contact information (telephone number, address, and email) will not be released. To protect the privacy of Rocklin Academy families, all emails must be sent from the teacher, official PSP (Parent School Partnership) representative, or the office. Any communication sent must be related to official school business and approved by the school.

Rocklin Academy has clearly arrogantly violated their own policy.



Some of the emails from the campaign committee to Rocklin Academy Charter School parents include lines such as:

"Like you, Antonio Villaraigosa has a personal connection to California public schools."



"As a charter public school supporter, Antonio Villaraigosa is the ONLY candidate for Governor that shares your support for charter schools."

The California Charter School Association is leading charter schools into becoming progressive activist groups, a great disappointment to charter parents and supporters everywhere.



"Rocklin Academy has illegally shared parents' emails and phone numbers with Families and Teachers for Antonio, and they now need to explain to the parents what other campaign and political activities they are sharing private information with," says Karen England, Executive Director of Capitol Resource Institute.



Rocklin Academy has proven over and over that progressive political activism is far more important than the education of children, respect for parental rights, or privacy. They are using their charter school more like a liberal campaign office than a place of learning.


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Columbia NashvilleMore than two years after Tim McGraw released his inspirational hit, "Humble and Kind," in English, the superstar is putting out a new Spanish version of the song.

Claudia Brant translated Lori McKenna's original composition into "Nunca Te Olvides de Amar," which actually means "Never Forget to Love."

"Recording this song in Spanish has been my hope of making it truly universal," Tim tweeted. "I know my Spanish may not be perfect, but I hope that you can feel the sentiment and intention behind the song."

The English version of "Humble and Kind" was a multiple-week number one, and won the CMA Song of the Year trophy, as well as a Grammy.

Tim also shot a new version of the "Humble and Kind" video to match the new Spanish recording. You can check it out on YouTube now.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Fox News 'Democrat' Uses North Korea Debacle To Smear Pelosi

As the cohosts of Outnumbered cheered on Donald Trump's sudden, impulsive withdrawal from the North Korea summit, "Democrat" Capri Cafaro helpfully rerouted the conversation to an attack on Nancy Pelosi by distorting her comments on Trump and North Korea.

The five Outnumbered panelists ignored both the danger posed by Trump's withdrawal as well as his provocations of North Korea that preceded it

There's plenty to be concerned about in Trump's withdrawal. For one thing, as Politico noted, "One danger around the possible collapse of the nuclear talks is a return to the threats and brinksmanship of 2017 which could lead to a catastrophic conflict." Although Trump's letter to Kim Jong Un was mostly diplomatic and left open the door to a future meeting, the letter also included this ominous line: "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

None of that was mentioned by the four cohosts of Outnumbered, nor the #OneLuckyGuy, former George W. Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer.

Cohost Sandra Smith raised questions about Trump's wavering: "You wonder how many times the president can pull out of a planned summit. They agreed to this and he sort of, kind of went back and forth," she said.

But the rest of the gang was full of praise for Dear Leader's Wisdom.

"I salute him for not following the normal playbook," Fleischer said.

"He's left the door open but he's saying 'I'm not gonna play these games,'" cohost Katie Pavlich said. "Yesterday, they [North Korea] again threatened us with nuclear war. That is not something that any president of the United States can accept."

Pavlich conveniently "forgot" those tensions escalated after the Trump administration repeatedly brought up the "Libyan model." In that case, Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi gave up his nuclear weapons but was later killed in a western-backed intervention.

Cohost Cafaro was on the Trump train, too. "There is no way that you can stand for North Korea saying that they are willing to engage in nuclear war," she said. "There is only one way for President Trump to play this at this point and that is to walk away because you can't let North Korea do that. President Trump and the United States of America need to remain in control of this or else it's going to spiral out of control." It never seemed to occur to her that Trump's provocations might have nudged the situation out of control.

 Story continues below 

"Democrat" Cafaro gratuitously launched the attack on Pelosi



Cohost Harris Faulkner asked Cafaro whether Democrats, who were "warming" to Trump's handling of North Korea would "stay there" given that "the conversation is not over yet" between the two countries.

That prompted Cafaro to bring up Pelosi. Earlier, she had slammed Trump's withdrawal as "a good thing" for Kim Jong Un:"He got global recognition and regard. He's the big winner. And when he got this letter from the president saying, 'OK, never mind,' he must be having a giggle fit right now, there, in North Korea."

Instead of considering what Pelosi meant, Cafaro launched right into a GOP/Fox-friendly attack:

CAFARO: Essentially, the tenor and tone of it was, I think, pretty childish.  That's not the way that you engage in a diplomatic discussion. That's not the way that you show that you're willing to govern and come to the table for a national security issue that impacts everybody, Democrats and Republicans. And this is why we continue to lose as Democrats because we are not engaging in a constructive manner.

In focusing on "the tenor and tone," Cafaro ignored the important point that Pelosi was saying. As her full statement makes clear, Pelosi was arguing that the Trump administration's incompetence had bungled the negotiations, which she explicitly said she supported, in a way that benefitted North Korea. Meanwhile, Cafaro conveniently gave a pass to the far greater childishness of Trump.

The other Outnumbered panelists falsely accused Pelosi of treating North Korea as a joke  without challenge from Cafaro

Faulkner agreed about Pelosi's "whole tone and tenor" after getting in a few digs about her age. "You got crumbs, you got giggles from Pelosi," Faulkner later sneered.

"For someone like Nancy Pelosi to say that there's giggling involved when we are talking about potentially millions of people, including people in South Korea  " Pavlich began.

Cafaro jumped in  not to correct the record but to validate the dishonest smear: "Exactly," she said.

"And our own people!" Faulkner added.

"It doesn't have to be nuclear war for the people of South Korea and Nancy Pelosi is acting like this is a joke, talking about giggling. It's disgusting," Pavlich said self-righteously.

The Fox News panel went on to falsely accuse Pelosi of siding with Kim Jong Un over the U.S.

Later, after a partial clip of Pelosi's statement, Fleischer said, "This is a blame-America-first statement." He equated being a Democrat with being anti-American."For no reason other than she's a Democrat, she wants to score points over Trump," he said "Americans should be unified against Kim Jong Un." As if she had not made that clear.

Faulkner laughed at how "interesting" Fleischer's comment was. "She doesn't pick the dictator, she picks the president of the United States!" Faulkner sounded delighted.

"That's my point, she's so anti-Trump," Fleischer said. He didn't come right out and call Pelosi an enemy of America but I doubt any of the viewers missed the inference.

But Cafaro did. Either that or she agreed. Or maybe Cafaro's concern for "constructive" behavior took a far back seat to a desire for more Fox hits. She did, however, go on to scold Democrats for not being "consistent" and losing "credibility" as a result.

Watch this disgraceful display that any Democrat or liberal with integrity would have called out above, from the May 24, 2018 Outnumbered.

Originally published at Newshounds.us
Two years down the drain. Two years of vacillation, obfuscation, cowardice, sabotage and outright betrayal. And that's just from our own Government.

On June 23, 2016, in a referendum, 17.4 million people voted to leave the European Union. No ifs, no buts.

The question on the ballot paper was unambiguous, the so-called catastrophic consequences spelled out in plain English in a brochure distributed to every single home in the country by a Government which was desperate to Remain.

Campaigning was exhaustive, lasting six whole months. We knew exactly what voting Leave would mean.

No single market, no customs union, no more submitting to the jurisdiction of European courts.

Recent developments could mean leaving the European Union will take longer than it did to defeat Hitler and Nazi Germany, writes Richard Littlejohn

We would be retaking control of our borders, our laws, our traditional territorial waters and our national destiny.

Project Fear did its worst and failed. More people voted Leave than have ever voted for anything in our history. By now, we should be as good as gone, with only a few minor details to be ironed out.

Yet two years on, just as I feared, we're no nearer the exit. Every day seems to bring yet another blatant attempt to derail the process, to keep us subjugated in perpetuity as prisoners of a sclerotic, anti-democratic European superstate.

The latest comes from a group bankrolled by the billionaire hedge funder George Soros, a Hungarian-born American who made his fortune betting against the pound on Black Wednesday in 1992.

Having earned the nickname of the Man Who Broke The Bank Of England, he is now determined to become The Man Who Broke The Will Of The British People.

What right does Soros have to interfere in the internal affairs of a foreign country, especially one which voted conclusively to regain its full sovereignty from a remote pan-European technocracy?

Yet the same people here who are squealing about Russia meddling in the U.S. election (because that delivered the 'wrong' result, too) are cheering him on.

This self-appointed fifth column will stop at nothing to overturn the referendum result. The stitch-up started the moment the result was announced.

We've had endless legal challenges, and the disgraceful attempts by the unelected, self-serving Lords to stop Brexit.

Project Fear  far from admitting it lost fair and square, packing up its tent and going home has been ramping up the volume, aided and abetted by the BBC, the Financial Times and the political establishment.

The head of Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs, John Thompson, joined in this week, warning that technology designed to keep trade flowing seamlessly after Brexit would cost businesses 20 billion and take at least three years to introduce after the proposed 'transition' period is due to end.

What right does [George] Soros (pictured) have to interfere in the internal affairs of a foreign country, especially one which voted conclusively to regain its full sovereignty from a remote pan-European technocracy? Asks Richard Littlejohn

Such a delay would keep us in the customs union until December 2023. That's seven years after we voted Leave  longer than it took us to defeat Nazi Germany.

Thompson obviously hadn't read Robert Hardman's brilliant dispatch in last Saturday's Mail from the port of Felixstowe, where a comparable system works without a hitch and could easily be applied elsewhere, including the Irish border.

The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, a siren voice of Project Fear, waded back in by claiming every British family would be 'up to potentially' 900 a year worse off after Brexit.

What does 'up to potentially' actually mean? I'll tell you  he made it up. It's a guess, pure and simple. This figure is about as accurate as all the other scaremongering forecasts the Bank put out during the referendum.

Carney, a Canadian, is one of the worst of the Remoaner stooges. He's supposed to be independent, but owes his job to the political establishment.

He maintains Brexit will be a retrograde step, an economic disaster, but at the same time is said to harbour ambitions of becoming the next Prime Minister of proudly independent Canada.

So let him explain something. This time last year, I was sitting in a waterfront seafood restaurant on the Detroit River, looking across at Windsor, Ontario.

The distance from the U.S. to Canada at this point is about the width of the Thames at Dartford.

The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, a siren voice of Project Fear, waded back in by claiming every British family would be 'up to potentially' 900 a year worse off after Brexit

Every day thousands of trucks trundle across the border in either direction, carrying imports and exports of everything from car components to Canadian bacon.

If Carney does stand as PM, will he tell his fellow countrymen that all this trade will have to stop unless they agree to be ruled by America, have their laws decided in Washington and surrender the right to decide who lives in their country? Of course not.

So why should the prosperity of Britain, the world's fifth biggest economy, be determined by whether or not we belong to the EU and take orders from Brussels?

Look, we expect Remoaners to insult our intelligence, tell us we were too stupid to know what we were voting for, and fight to the last ditch to stop us leaving.

We just have to live with it, although I can do without the constant bombardment of anti-Brexit lies and intimidation masquerading as 'news' which seems to dominate every TV and radio bulletin.

Labour is a lost cause, too. Despite promising in its last manifesto to respect the Brexit vote, Labour is now only interested in bringing down the Government  even if that means betraying the millions of traditional Labour supporters who voted Leave.

My biggest worry all along has been the Tory Government itself, even before Theresa May sacrificed her majority in that vainglorious General Election last year.

Regular readers will know I'm no fan of Mother Theresa. I thought Boris deserved the job when Call Me Dave committed hara-kiri.

He was the figurehead for the Leave campaign and the spoils should have gone to the victor.

Theresa May's (pictured) inherent indecision, which has characterised her career, has enabled the opponents of Brexit to seize the initiative at every turn

If he'd screwed up, we'd be no worse off than we are now. At least Boris believed  and still believes  in Brexit and is about the only Cabinet voice making an optimistic case for our bright global future once we can break free of the EU yoke.

Frankly, I've never thought Mother Theresa was up to the job. I'm not even sure her heart is in leaving the EU, despite promising that 'Brexit means Brexit'.

She's bungled the negotiations, has been captured by the Civil Service and has allowed herself to be bullied not just by Barnier and his team, but by the Remainiacs in her own party.

Tory Brexiteers aren't 'rebels', as they are frequently described disparagingly. They were on the winning side and speak for 17.4 million people, outside the Westminster bubble, not a handful of hardcore metropolitan malcontents.

May's inherent indecision, which has characterised her career, has enabled the opponents of Brexit to seize the initiative at every turn.

She should never have agreed to give the EU a penny, let alone 39 billion as a basis for negotiation, and she should have simply ignored their cynical posturing over the Irish border.

Allowing them to raise the spectre of a return to violence was monstrous.

They're doing it again over the Galileo satellite project, saying the UK will be denied vital defence intelligence.

Two can play at that game. Our response should be to tell the EU that they can forget about any co-operation from GCHQ, Scotland Yard and British security services.

And anyway, our American allies have got a perfectly good satellite system which they are happy to share with us. Have a nice day.

Mrs May hasn't had a bad three months, after her trials and tribulations last year. Is it too much to hope that she might be emboldened to take a tougher line on Brexit, at home and abroad.

She should start immediately by creating 800 new peers. They will only be appointed if they agree to two conditions: 1) Vote through all Brexit legislation. 2) Once that's done, they must vote for the abolition of the House of Lords.

Their reward will be that they can keep the titles, which will help them secure a few directorships and jump the queue at fashionable restaurants. Trust me, there'd be no shortage of applicants.

As I've long maintained, we won't get an acceptable deal from the EU negotiators unless Mrs May is prepared to walk away, Renee. Shamefully, the Government seems ill prepared for No Deal.

Nobody should need reminding that Europe has more to lose than Britain  both economically and militarily.

Surrendering to every demand from Brussels is not, and should not be, an option. Nor is trying to appease the Remainers in her own party.

Do the Soubrys, Morgans and Grieves really want to risk bringing down their own Government and ushering in the Corbyn terror? May should read them the riot act  not demonise Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is only speaking for the majority of voters.

If the PM has learned one thing this year it is that standing up to bullies pays off. Her popularity and reputation rocketed at home and abroad when she faced down Putin over the Salisbury poisoning.

If Mother Theresa can find the courage to stand up to Russia, then isn't it time, after two years of vacillation and capitulation, that she summoned up the backbone to face down the EU?
Jeremy Corbyn is the arch-hypocrite who likes to pose as a champion of 'kinder, gentler politics'

Years ago, I had a friend who took a holiday job working as a nanny for a tricky couple in London  he a producer of right-on, socially conscious TV documentaries, she a child psychologist from New York.

My friend was shocked by the lousy manners of her employers two spoilt young offspring and spent most of her waking hours trying to teach them the basics of their Ps and Qs.

One glorious morning at breakfast, she placed a bowl of cereal in front of one of her charges . . . and, to her astonishment and delight, the little girl whispered: Thank you.

Though the words were barely audible, my friend was jubilant. At last, her tireless efforts seemed to be bearing fruit.

Yet, far from sharing her employees pleasure, the childs American mother was distraught. With tears brimming in her eyes, she told her little daughter: Gee, honey, you dont have to say thank you! And all nannys work was undone.

Since I was told about that exchange, Ive been wondering quite why my friends employer was so upset by her daughters uncharacteristic display of politeness.

I suppose the answer must be that in this age of #MeMeMe (or whatever its called), nothing is deemed more vital to our mental wellbeing than our self-esteem.

And, as every child seems instinctively to understand, even the smallest gesture of courtesy, respect or gratitude to a fellow human being  a please, a sorry or a thank you  is a tiny act of self-abasement, an acknowledgement that other peoples feelings are at least as worthy of recognition as our own.

If this theory is true, then heaven knows how much psychological damage my wife and I must have inflicted on our own four sons and their self-esteem when they were growing up, as we tried to drum into them the importance of good manners.

I recall countless occasions on which I fetched our young from their friends birthday parties and had to hiss at them through clenched teeth as they said their goodbyes: Now, what do you say?

At this, whichever boy it was would stare at his shoes and chant, slowly and grudgingly, in the ding-dong tones of the Avon ladys doorbell chimes: Thanggg . . . Kyeeew. But this father from hell would never leave it at that. Now, look Freds mummy in the eye, I would tell him, and say it as if you really mean it.

Only after years of this treatment (there, that wasnt so difficult, was it?) did the boys start to express gratitude convincingly and without prompting  though Im sorry to record that they never quite got the hang of being polite to their father.

Today, if an international study this week is to be believed, there are still a great many of us sticklers for courtesy in this country (though, I suspect, we may be a dying breed). Indeed, researchers at the universities of Sydney, York and Helsinki claim to have found that we British say thank you more often than the people of any other nation on the planet.

Before we congratulate ourselves too extravagantly, however, they add that even we say it on only one in seven occasions when others perform a service for us and gratitude may be considered in order.

As for how the researchers arrived at this conclusion, it seems they examined hours of footage of people interacting in domestic settings all over the world  from Australia to Eurasia, Africa and South America  and recorded how they reacted when they received help in response to requests such as: Could I have some water?

Writing in the Royal Society journal Open Science, they found that the Chapalaa speakers of Ecuador never extended thanks to each other (theres no word for it in their language, apparently), while Russians did so only 3 per cent of the time. We Brits scored highest, expressing some form of gratitude on 14.5 per cent of occasions.

John Bercow described described Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom as a stupid woman and f****** useless

On average, it seems, the people of the world say thank you only once in 20 occasions when others have helped them  which makes our score of one in seven seem almost respectable.

Two things in particular surprised and interested me about this study. One was the researchers theory that it may not be because theyre rude or ungrateful that Chapalaa speakers have never found a use for a word or phrase that means thank you. Rather, it could be because theirs is a highly integrated society.

As the reports co-author Simeon Floyd puts it: Very close-knit community ties allow people to co-operate without ever needing to say thanks.

My other surprise  or, rather, regret  is that the researchers didnt extend their study into the English-speaking world beyond the UK. Id like to have learned more, because Americans (child psychologists aside) have been among the most polite people Ive come across. In my experience, they positively gush with gratitude over the smallest kindness.

That said, it has sometimes been noted that Americans tend to say please less often than the British  for example, when ordering food or drink (Can I get a Budweiser?). But this is testimony, so its said, to an egalitarian society in which a willingness to serve each other is taken for granted and the word please can be thought condescending.

What is certainly true is that one of the politest young men Ive ever met was a Texan friend of our second son, who stayed for a delightful couple of days in which he insisted on addressing me as sir and my wife as maam. Though we kept urging him to call us by our Christian names, Mrs U veritably squirmed with pleasure at his old-world, new-world courtesy.

But if we Brits really do hold the No. 1 in the global league tables for politeness, I cant see us staying there long. Every day, Im appalled by more evidence of declining standards in the nations manners.

One member of the Labour Party suggested Emily Thornberry was 'too old for ISIS'

Hale and hearty young people, plugged into phones, refusing to surrender their seats to old ladies on the bus . . . passengers pouring on to the Tube without waiting for others to get off . . . supermarket checkout girls chatting together, without so much as glancing at the customer theyre supposed to be serving . . . people spewing bile at strangers over the internet, without a thought for anyone but themselves . . .

Paradoxically, among the worst offenders are followers of Jeremy Corbyn, that arch-hypocrite who likes to pose as a champion of kinder, gentler politics.

Bad enough are his own increasingly foul-tempered performances in the Commons, where he yells and spits at Theresa May across the Despatch Box at Prime Ministers Questions (am I ridiculously old-fashioned in finding it distasteful for a man to address a lady in such a way?)

More offensive are his cheerleaders on the hard-Left. Take the Labour chairmans aide, Paul Robertson, who posted on Facebook a photo of Mrs May wearing a smart hat, with the comment: Lord help us! When another thuggish misogynist commented: Do you have to keep putting pictures up of that ugly harridan? Mr Robertson replied: She would look better with a noose around her neck.

Or take the supposedly moderate chairman of Lewisham East Labour Party, who tweeted about the Shadow Foreign Secretary: Emily Thornberry is too old for ISIS. They wont make a sex slave of her. Theyll behead her and dump her in a mass grave. In another poisonous tweet, he ruminated: Maybe shed agree sex slavery to one man only, provided he didnt sell her on or insist on gang rape.

And theirs is a party so anxious to be seen as PC that it even allowed a male hoaxer to stand for a women-only job, after he claimed he self-identified as a female (though only on Wednesdays!).

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the Commons Speaker described Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom as a stupid woman and f****** useless.

With role models like these holding prominent positions in public life, how much longer can Britain expect to be seen as the world capital of courtesy? Id give it about a week.
Every day, the road to Brexit seems to get bumpier. The mixed messages coming from Downing Street certainly dont help.

The latest confusion was caused when, on the one hand, the Governments Chief Whip, Julian Smith, said he plans to bring the EU (Withdrawal) Bill back to the Commons for a vote earlier than expected, in a move that pleased Brexiteers who want to face down Remain MPs as soon as possible.

However, on the other hand, Downing Street was briefing that the Government may give hope to Remainers by asking the EU for a second Brexit transition period to run until 2023.

No wonder so many of the 17.4 million who voted Leave are getting deeply frustrated.

The new prime minister, Guiseppe Conte, heads a rag-bag coalition of the anti-Establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right League

But while Brussels negotiators continue to stymie Brexit, European politicians are facing a much bigger threat to the European Union.

I refer to events of the past few days in Italy, which will be Europes third largest economy after Britain leaves the European Union.

This week, a new government was formed  Italys 66th since the end of World War II.

The new prime minister, Guiseppe Conte, heads a rag-bag coalition of the anti-Establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right League.

They agree on very little but there is one policy on which they are in harmony: a hatred of Brussels.

It is no exaggeration to say that Mr Conte, a former law professor at Florence University, has the power to bring about the collapse of the EU.

He came to power on a wave of burning national resentment over Italys membership of the EU, which millions of Italians believe has been an unmitigated disaster for their country.

Above all, there is the problem of immigration, which was a key issue in Marchs elections.

Brusselss freedom of movement rules are blamed for record numbers of migrants in the country.

At least one million, for example, have settled in Italy from Romania, a fellow EU member. But huge numbers have made their homes in Italy after crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.

From Libya alone in the past four years, an estimated 600,000 migrants and refugees have reached Italy.

Five-Star Movement leader, Luigi Di Maio, leaves from a restaurant in the centre of Rome

These people know that once on Italian soil, they have a very good chance of being able to begin a new life there or exploit freedom of movement to live in any other of the 28 countries in the EU.

Italys new government has pledged to deport up to half a million migrants, to clear illegal gipsy settlements in towns and cities, and to recruit more police and build new prisons to deal with the problems.

This hardline reaction to Brusselss soft approach to illegal immigration amounts to a huge challenge to its authority and imperils the cohesion of the EU.

But immigration is not the only issue over which Italys new government is at war with Brussels.

The country, once an economic success story almost as remarkable as Germanys, has been brought to its knees by Brussels.

This tragedy dates back to Italys decision to join the euro at its launch in 1999. It proved to be a calamitous error.

With its own currency, the lira, the Italian government was able to manage its own affairs and devalue its currency if necessary to make itself competitive.

However, the euro has imposed a financial strait-jacket which has led to the closure of thousands of businesses, with millions of people put out of work.

Shockingly, Italy has not seen any cumulative economic growth since it signed up to the European single currency.

The Italian people know that their membership of the EU is to blame for mass unemployment, social collapse and uncontrolled migration. The new Italian PM, Mr Conte, is the first political leader to genuinely represent the national mood of outrage  and sorrow  at their post-lira impoverishment.

Italys national debt is a staggering 132 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product  the second highest in the EU, after Greece.

The new prime minister, Guiseppe Conte, heads a rag-bag coalition of the anti-Establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right League

To try to prevent a crisis of ever bigger proportions, the European Central Bank lent Italy 600 billion (about half a trillion pounds sterling) in order to stop it going bankrupt.

Meanwhile, Mr Conte is promising tax cuts and public spending increases to try to undo the damage to his countrys economy.

As night follows day, though, the Brussels bully-boys  the same ones who have been trying to block Brexit  will threaten him with dire consequences unless he backs down.

We witnessed a similar stand-off when Greeces economy hit the rocks and had to be bailed out with billions of euros in loans from Brussels.

The Greek people reacted to this national humiliation by voting for a vehemently anti-EU government three years ago.

But they were then shabbily let down when their new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, abjectly caved in to the strong-arm tactics of European leaders.

Mr Conte is unlikely to yield in the same way.

Italy is ten times bigger than Greece. Unlike Greece, Italy is too big to fail.

It is quite possible that Mr Conte will threaten that Italy will pull out of the euro  a move that would instil terror in Brussels and Frankfurt.

Returning to the lira would be a desperate measure, but it would be the economically sane thing to do.

It would give the Italian economy a chance to be competitive again and end the stagnation and mass unemployment which have wrecked countless hundreds of thousands of lives over two decades.

Theresa May takes a break from Brexit as she enjoy the action at Lord's cricket ground

Leaving the euro would mean that Italy would renege on its 600 billion in loans from the European Central Bank.

Without doubt, the bank would collapse. The EU would go into financial and political meltdown.

The ineluctable truth is that Italy is now a ticking time bomb, and I fear it is only a question of time before it explodes, with consequences for the continent which are impossible to predict.

How ironic that the founders of the EUs predecessor, the EEC, were driven in part by a desire to prevent a repeat of the terrible bloodshed of the two great wars of the 20th century, but their hubristic attempts at political and economic union have instead created division and hatred.

Europe is not just creaking  it is falling apart.

Is it any surprise the British people had the good sense to vote to leave the EU?

The worrying message: Britain approves torture

Two weeks have passed since Theresa May apologised for the Blair governments role in the kidnap and torture of Libyan dissident Abdul Hakim Belhaj.

Mrs May was not to blame for this repugnant case. The two men most responsible were then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and MI6 official Sir Mark Allen.

Yet Straw remains a Privy Councillor and Allen keeps his knighthood. Both men have brought shame on Britain, and if they arent stripped of their honours it will suggest that the British State approves of torture.

One of the fiercest critics of the Prime Ministers handling of Brexit has been the Institute of Directors, the organisation representing Britains most senior business people.

What a pity that it cannot handle its own affairs. Membership has almost halved from 55,000 in 2005 to just over 30,000 today.
More customers are choosing to shop online from the comfort of their homes to beat the crowds, get the latest stock before it sells out and avoid the headache of trying to find a car park.

But as FEMAIL discovered, there may be another reason consumers are sitting behind their laptops rather than sifting through the racks: poor customer service.

At Australia's largest department stores Myer and David Jones - who have both made a conscious effort to enhance their shopping experience - we found deserted cash registers, disinterested staff and a distinct lack of help.

FEMAIL visited Myer and its main competitor David Jones at their Pitt Street flagships in Sydney to gauge their level of customer service

Empty! When a reporter visited Myer on Thursday mid-morning there weren't many staff members to speak to in some departments

Someone? Anyone? Our reporter Matilda Rudd began trying on shoes hoping someone would approach her - but it wasn't easy

Initial surveillance told us there were a number of workers in the general area, many in clusters chatting amongst themselves

So what do the numbers say? Myer * Myer Holding Limited share price rose 6 per cent last week. * Myer reported that total sales were down 2.7 per cent to $635.3 million for the quarter and same-store sales decreased by 3.1 per cent. * Online sales increased by 49.4 per cent to $35.9 million. David Jones * Sales at the department store chain fell 3.8 per cent over the six months to December 24, 2017, compared with the same period a year ago. * David Jones' profit dropped 38 per cent to $66 million in the December-half. Source: Australian Financial Review Advertisement

The experience in the stores in 2018 was unfortunately not dissimilar from our report three years ago, which suggested both retailers could do much in the way of improving their service.

In 2015, we waited up to 15 minutes for staff attention in the lower-priced sections of women's fashion.

At David Jones, an employee couldn't tell us where the store's once-famous homewares section could be found.

So has anything changed?

When FEMAIL entered the women's general fashion section of Myer in Sydney's Westfield store at 11.20am on Thursday there were hordes of shoppers.

An initial glance around told us there were a number of workers in the area - but many were chatting amongst themselves in pairs.

After five minutes, a friendly woman approached our reporter and asked if she needed any help - which was a good start to the day.

At last! After five minutes a very friendly woman approached our reporter and asked if she needed help

Homewares (left) was also empty with the reporter having to do two laps of the expansive area before finding a manned cash register

Moving towards the designer women's section, four staff members appeared to be discussing a new layout for the area.

One of the coworkers paused the conversation to ask how our day was going before pointing out new stock - perhaps feeling obliged because of the more expensive nature of the brands.

However all manner of service fell by the wayside when we made our way to the shoe department - with our reporter picking up and trying on one side of a number of shoes, aimlessly looking around for someone to offer her the other one.

Many of the workers even met her gaze before swiftly walking in a different direction. Because some of the staff where fetching footwear from the back there weren't enough people on the floor to cater to the growing number of customers.

HOW GOOD WAS THE CUSTOMER SERVICE?

TIME WAITING FOR SERVICE (MINUTES) SERVICE LEVEL MYER

Women's Fashion 5 4 out of 5 Women's Shoes 10 1 out of 5 Homewares 12 1 out of 5 Women's Designer Fashion 3 2 out of 5 DAVID JONES Women's Fashion 6 3 out of 5 Women's Shoes 16 1 out of 5 Homewares 12 1 out of 5 Women's Designer Fashion 4 4 out of 5

How we assessed the customer service in both stores FEMAIL went shopping in four departments in both Myer and David Jones. These were Women's Fashion, Women's Footwear, Homewares, and Women's Designer Fashion. We timed how long it took staff members to approach us and ask whether we were in need of assistance. The above figures for 'time waiting for service' show the length of time it took before we asked for help. For the service level we scored the retailers out of five based on factors such as helpfulness. A clear trend saw us struggling to find helpful staff in the less expensive sections of the retailers, while being served by attentive and courteous employees in the ritzier parts. Advertisement

The homewares department was also similarly empty with the reporter having to do two laps of the area before finding a manned cash register.

At David Jones up the street it was a flurry of lunchtime activity at midday with what felt like endless staff members scheduled on to work.

Where are they? It took 16 minutes before anyone noticed us gazing at a pair of Jimmy Choo ballet flats (which retailed for $1,050) before inquiring if we'd like to try a different size

A few members of staff were looking at their phones when we glanced around

Hello? The shoe department was rather empty - with many of the footwear on sale worth thousands of dollars

On the general women's fashion floor, there were a few members of staff greeting people who got off the escalator, but they didn't ask whether we needed help looking for anything.

We waited a further six minutes until a bubbly young worker walked over and complimented the reporter's shoes, before swiftly turning the conversation to their new arrivals.

Our reporter even stopped to stare at a group of workers next to a cash register - but nobody asked her if she needed a hand

If you're looking to buy something you'll have to wait patiently for someone to arrive

It was a similar case in the designer area - with a worker even going to the lengths of holding up a coloured dress he thought would be a good addition in her wardrobe.

However, a few members of staff were looking at their phones when we glanced around.

The shift in experience didn't last in the retail giant's shoe section with many of the staff members huddled around the registers talking to each other - only moving over to the display desks to straighten a heel after a customer left.

A David Jones spokesperson said they were disappointed by the reporter's findings

'We're sorry to hear that your reporter was kept waiting and experienced a level of service that is not line with our standards,' David Jones said

It took a whopping 16 minutes before anyone noticed us gazing at a pair of Jimmy Choo ballet flats (which retailed for $1,050) before inquiring if we'd like to try a different size.

A David Jones spokesperson said they were disappointed by the reporter's findings.

'We're sorry to hear that your reporter was kept waiting and experienced a level of service that is not line with our standards,' they said.

And this isn't the first time Daily Mail Australia has dropped by... In 2015 our reporter Freya Noble stopped by the same Myer and David Jones stores to survey their customer service levels. She found staff working in the homewares and women's fashion sections appeared unresponsive when she visited in July. We waited up to 15 minutes for staff attention in the lower-priced sections of women's fashion, but the service was top-shelf in the expensive designer sections. At David Jones, an employee couldn't tell us where the store's once-famous homewares section could be found. We observed many employees playing on their phones, staring at computer screens or chatting with other workers when this reporter entered their flagship stores in Sydney's city centre. Reporter Freya Noble (pictured) visited the iconic department stores in July, 2015 Advertisement

'Our customers are at the heart of our business and as such, we are always looking for ways to improve their experience and our level of service across the business. We have made significant investments in a number of initiatives to improve in this area.

'Specifically, our training focuses on a personalised shopping experience where our team members connect and collaborate with customers to better understand their needs and deliver a bespoke solution.

FEMAIL reporter Matilda Rudd wandered around the David Jones store, looking for a staff member to talk to

'Improving our customer experience remains a key focus for our business and one we will continue to invest in to deliver a consistently positive service experience across all categories within our business.'

Myer's website explains how it's working towards generating a better customer experience.

'We have a valuable footprint of 67 stores in prime retail locations across Australia that is complemented by our well-recognised brand and supported by our recently enhanced online, digital and mobile platforms,' it read.

'This combination sets the platform for a leading omni-channel experience for our customers, however they choose to shop with us.'

A Myer spokesperson said they always take this kind of feedback on board.

'Myer is committed to providing our customers with a positive shopping experience. We continue to invest in service initiatives and innovation to improve our customers' experience,' they said.

''We take the feedback we receive from customers seriously and use it to improve our service and product offering.'
New mother Zoe Marshall has offered a glimpse inside her gender neutral nursery.

The 33-year-old Sydney media personality - who gave birth to baby son Benjamin Fox three months ago - transformed the space with the help from one of Australia's top fashion designers Steven Khalil.

The wife of NRL star Benji Marshall shared the first photographs of her little boy's enviable bedroom as she revealed the inspiration behind the decor.

A look inside shows framed baby animals, plush toys, tiny shoes, children's books and crisp white furniture.

Zoe's nursery reflects a growing trend that sees expectant parents style their baby's bedroom in gender neutral tones.

New mother Zoe Marshall has offered a glimpse inside her baby son's gender neutral nursery

A look inside shows framed plush toys, navy print stars on the wall and a woollen sheep mobile

Zoe and NRL star husband Benji Marshall welcomed their son Benjamin Fox three months ago

The now-three-month-old boy was welcomed into the world on February 26

'This I found super overwhelming. I am in no way an interior designer and I have no confidence when styling furniture. I knew I wanted something cute but classic,' she wrote on her blog.

Zoe explained she wanted premium quality furniture at an affordable price.

'I wanted to make sure everything was safe and high quality... Something I didn't want to skimp on for a baby,' she said.

She purchased Babyhood's Kaylula cot.

'[It's] super trendy and something I usually wouldn't have the confidence to go for. It starts as a circle bassinet and grows as the baby grows into an oval cot (Yes Fox is already in this size  he is a big boy!) and then it turns into a toddler bed and eventually a little table and chairs set. This is serious bang for your buck,' she said.

Zoe explained she wanted premium quality furniture at an affordable price, including the cot

The 33-year-old mother said she opted for a white-coloured nursing chair with comfort

The new mother has been documenting about motherhood on her Instagram since the birth

With the help of her fashion designer friend Steven Khalil, Zoe said she called him in so he could add some finishing styling touches to the space (pictured together)

Other baby furniture included an oval change table and dresser and Zoe opted for a comfortable nursing chair - The Vogue Feeding Glider.

'Let me tell you, when it's three in the morning you want comfort for you and the baby. It was really hard for me to find comfort and something that isn't horrendously ugly,' she said.

'It's white, plush, so comfortable it has lumbar support  it's unbelievable how sore your back and neck gets from nursing.

'Even though its white its easy to clean and wipe down. It's stain and scratch resistant so it stays pretty too. It also reclines and the biggest thing it doesn't rock, it glides, making it a perfect soothing chair when Fox is unsettled too.'

The gender neutral bedroom features framed baby animals and navy-coloured stars on wall

The bookshelf has been filled with fox's gifts, including a collection of children's books

The wife of NRL star Benji Marshall shared the first photographs of her boy's enviable nursery

Decor features of the room include navy stars wall decals, a tiny woollen sheep mobile hanging from the light, a rug and a book shelf filled with gifts Fox had been given.

And with the help of her fashion designer friend Steven Khalil, Zoe said she called him in so he could add some finishing styling touches to the space.

'Not only an amazing couture dress designer but also a baby room stylist,' she said fondly about Steven, who she jokingly describes as her 'gay husband'.

'He ripped down the curtains I bought, and bought me some dark navy block out curtains (block out is so necessary). He and Benji hung the framed baby animal pictures. Steven scattered the star decal so perfectly.

'Moved around the furniture and tweaked the styling on the bookshelf. He nailed it. I have quality safe furniture and gorgeous styling from the master.

'And most importantly Fox loves it too.'
In an age where time-pressed people are shopping from the comfort of their sofas more than ever, supermarkets need to step up their game.

And step up their game they certainly are. Grocery stores around Australia are already introducing new measures to make food shopping more of an experience.

From picking your own 'living lettuce' from a greenhouse at the supermarket to stores using micro-location technology and personal shopping assistants, here FEMAIL takes a look at the futuristic developments happening in Australian retail.

FEMAIL takes a look at the futuristic developments afoot in Australian retail supermarkets (pictured: Woolworths)

In the Living Lettuce Corner (pictured), customers can choose their own 'living lettuce' from a hydroponic growing setup - and the lettuce keeps growing until you put it in you trolley

NEXT GEN IN STORE FARMING

Earlier this year, Woolworths unveiled their state-of-the-art Marrickville store in Sydney, where customers can enjoy a whole host of new ways to shop.

Top of their list is their Living Lettuce Corner, where customers can choose their own 'living lettuce' from a hydroponic growing setup - and the lettuce keeps growing until you put it in your trolley.

Elsewhere, you can visit the Cheese Cave - where you can shop from over 200 cheeses and olives.

At the store, you can also watch artisan bakers and sushi chefs at work - or buy a flame-roasted chicken, which is stuffed, marinated and cooked in front of you in store.

Woolworths Supermarket Managing Director, Claire Peters, said: 'Our teams have spent a great deal of time understanding how our customers like to shop, looked across the globe for inspiration and designed the store with the local customer at the forefront to create this next generation grocery shopping experience.

'Every possible angle and aisle in this process has been revisited and the result is a rustic yet future-proof design with a real community spirit.'

At Woolworths, you can also get 'ready to create' bags, which offer meal kit convenience for customers who want to cook great recipes from scratch without the hassle of shopping for all of the ingredients.

At the Woolworths store in Marrickville, you can also watch artisan bakers (pictured) and sushi chefs at work

At Woolworths, you can also get 'ready to create' bags, which offer meal kit convenience for customers who want to cook great recipes from scratch without the hassle of shopping for all of the ingredients

HELPING HAND

We all know that shopping for food can be a nightmare. From busy supermarkets to heavy shopping bags, what if things could be made slightly more seamless?

They can. Dan Murphy's has recently rolled out a new format in several stores around the country, which features micro-location technology in order to help you pick up your alcohol more easily.

The Dan Murphy's app sends a push notification to tell customers when their order is ready, and the customer can then use the app to let them know they are close.

A member of Dan Murphy's staff will then meet that person with their order at the door:

'Time is increasingly an Australian household's most important currency, so we have reinvented our online order and collection system from the ground up to create a seamless and ultra convenient shopping experience for our customers,' Dan Murphy's General Manager, Mr Campbell Stott, said.

'Customers are in charge of their shopping trip and are able to alert us to when they are getting close to the store, so our team can have the order ready on arrival.'

Coles have also introduced an app, the Cole App, which is designed to be a 'personal shopping assistant to help customers plan their shop'.

'It helps our shoppers to build their shopping list faster from home by scanning the products in their cupboard,' a spokesperson said.

'The shopping list is sorted by aisle numbers, making it easier and quicker for customers to navigate around their local store.

Customers can also share their shopping list by email or SMS, so if they're sending their loved ones to do the shopping, we've made it easy to never forget an item again.

'One of the functions our customers love is the "Watching" feature, which alerts them when their favourite products are on special. We want to help our customers plan their shop so its most cost-effective for them and this feature allows them "watch" their favourite products and buy them for less.

'The most watched items are bananas, raspberries, Frozen Roast Potatoes, AA Batteries and Frozen Onion Rings.'

Dan Murphy's (pictured) recently rolled out a new format in several stores around the country, which features micro-location technology in order to help you pick up your alcohol more easily

On site sushi chefs and artisan bakers are there to cater to all of your needs (pictured: Coles)

DARK STORES

Elsewhere, to fight the likes of Amazon, Coles and Woolworths are opening up a number of 'dark stores' - whereby there are no customers, just employees picking online orders from the shelves in order to get people their orders as quickly as possible.

Coles have also introduced a 'quiet hour' in many of their supermarkets, where lights are dimmed by 50 per cent, music is turned off and scanner volumes are lowered.

This initiative was brought about from a partnership with Autism Spectrum Australia, and has been designed to help people who experience sensory overload and distress in busy stores.

'At Coles, we are always looking at ways we can meet the differing needs of our customers by creating a shopping environment in which our customers and team members feel comfortable,' a spokesperson said.

'Following the success of the trial [in two stores], we worked closely with Aspect to identify areas where residents would benefit from Quiet Hour and based on community feedback, Coles introduced Quiet Hour an additional 68 stores across Australia from Tuesday, 21 November 2017.'

Other supermarkets are embracing soft lighting and neutral tones in a bid to win over shoppers to their stores - Coles has also introduced a 'quiet hour' free from music and noise

Last but not least, Aldi (pictured) is moving with the times and transforming some of their stores so that the supermarket shop is more of an experience

DESIGN LED FEATURES

Last but not least, Aldi is moving with the times and transforming some of their stores so that the supermarket shop is more of an experience.

Gone are the yellow tiles, peacock blue walls and brown panelling. Instead, think soft lighting, neutral tones, quirky captions and more space to navigate the aisles.

'So many customers ask us how we have been able to make our stores bigger,' Aldi Project Director, Ben, said.

'We haven't increased the floor space at all, we have just been smarter about the layout.'
A mother-of-three who was diagnosed with lung disease was brought to tears after receiving a stunning ambush makeover while celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary.

Cristina Schaad, a 54-year-old former teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio, traveled to New York City with her husband, Ed, in the hope of being plucked from crowd in the Today show plaza for an ambush makeover.

Both Cristina and Ed were teary-eyed as they explained how much the trip and the surprise makeover meant to them after a difficult couple of years.

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Before and after: Cristina Schaad, 54, from Cincinnati, Ohio, received a stunning ambush makeover on Thursday's episode of the Today show

Emotional moment: Cristina's husband, Ed, surprised her with a trip to New York City for the anniversary in hopes that she would be picked for a makeover

Good argument: She carried a sign that said: 'After 25 years of marriage and 3 kids I need an ambush makeover'

After being diagnosed with lung disease 10 years ago, Cristina decided to retire from teaching to focus on her family.

'This is really exciting,' she told Today fashion expert Jill Martin. 'My kids had planned this as a surprise with my husband for our 25th anniversary.'

Ed was just as emotional when he explained all the reasons why Cristina deserved to be primped and pampered.

'She's been the most wonderful wife I could have asked for,' he said. 'She's been ill for a few years now, and now we're here to celebrate our 25 anniversary. We're very excited.'

Story: Cristina (pictured on her wedding day) was diagnosed with lung disease 10 years ago and made the decision to retire from teaching to spend more time with her family

Thrilled: 'Wow, look at you!' her husband gushed when she stepped on stage

Tears of joy: Cristina's eyes started tear up when she saw her new look for the first time

Cristina looked amazing when she stepped on stage to show off her transformation, and Ed couldn't wait to take off his blindfold to see her.

'Wow, look at you!' he said, prompting his wife to joke: 'I can't.'

'You look gorgeous,' Ed gushed, and Cristina was just as stunned when she turned around and checked out her new look in the mirror for the first time.

Cristina's eyes started to well with tears, and Today host Kathie Lee Gifford admitted that they couldn't tell if she liked her makeover.

'I do,' she assured them.

All smiles: Cristina's hair was cut a few inches shorter, and she was given warm highlights

Look of love: Ed couldn't wait to give his wife a big kiss after her makeover

The mom's hair was cut into a sleek bob that is longer in the front and shorter in the back. However, celebrity hairstylist Louis Licari admitted he had a bit of a 'conundrum' when choosing her hair color.

'The husband likes dark hair; the wife likes blond hair,' he explained. 'So what do I do? I try to come up with something in the middle.'

Louis opted to give her brown highlights to warm up her chestnut-colored locks.

Meanwhile, Jill dressed Cristina in a flowy black blouse, skinny black pants, black pumps, and red statement earrings.

Transformation: Roberta Anderson, 60, from Denver, Colorado, also received a new look on Thursday morning's show

Surprise! She had woken up to go for a walk around the city, and she ended up at the Today show plaza, where she was chosen for a makeover.

Kathie Lee could tell that Ed was eager to go over to his wife, and she couldn't help but ask: 'Do you want to go kiss her?'

'I do,' he said, and he happily walked over to Cristina and gave her a sweet smooch.

Roberta Anderson, 60, from Denver, Colorado, also received a new look on Thursday morning's show, but hers was a true ambush makeover.

She had woken up to go for a walk around the city, and she ended up at the Today show plaza, where she was chosen for a makeover.

'You look beautiful': Roberta's friend Sheryl was stunned when she saw her new look for the first time

New 'do: Roberta was given a short layered haircut with long bangs, as well as warm highlights

'I'm sort of excited, sort of nervous,' she told Jill. 'I mean I just rolled out of bed this morning to walk over here  literally rolled out of bed  so I'm surprised.'

Roberta was all smiles when she stepped on stage in a flattering A-line dress and a new 'do.

'You look beautiful,' her friend Sheryl told her.

She was given short layered cut with long bangs, and Louis made her highlight a bit warmer.

Roberta's tweed dress was paired with nude pumps, and she was also given statement earrings to pull together her look.

'Just wonderful,' her friend said. 'What a great end of our vacation.'
Hardly a day goes by without the styles of Kate Middleton and Princess Mary being compared - to such an extent that the pair have been called unofficial 'royal sisters'.

And when Princess Mary dazzled in a white broderie anglaise dress in Aarhus on Thursday, fashion critics were quick to comment on how similar the Crown Princess's pretty Temperley London dress was to something worn previously by the Duchess of Cambridge.

Here, FEMAIL recalls the times that English-born Kate Middleton, 36, and Australian-born Princess Mary, 46, have dressed alike.

From their attire on the slopes to how they dress on race days, for official state visits and more, it's uncanny how often the two royals have looked like style sisters.

When Princess Mary stepped out in a white lace dress in Aarhus (left), fashion critics were quick to compare the outfit to something worn by the Duchess of Cambridge (right), when she visited Australia

While Princess Mary's dress was by British designer Temperley London (left), Kate Middleton's was by Australian label, Zimmermann (right)

The pair have also both favoured a block colour on occasion (pictured), such as royal blue (Kate Middleton pictured in 2016; Princess Mary pictured in 2017)

Most recently, on Thursday, 46-year-old Princess Mary looked immaculate in a white lace dress as she and her husband, Prince Frederik, continued celebrations for his 50th birthday.

The $1,691 dress, by Temperley London, was remarkably similar to several white lace dresses the Duchess of Cambridge has worn, including one she wore in 2014 when travelling Australia.

Making the most of the Sydney sunshine, Kate Middleton then dressed in a white dress by Zimmermann, which retailed for $495.

Both wore their dresses with nude heels, but while Mary opted for an elegant chignon and stilettos, Kate uncharacteristically paired her outfit with sandals and her trademark glossy blow dry.

When hitting the slopes, both favour fluffy hats, faux fur trims and photo calls with their adorable children (pictured)

The Duchess of Cambridge (pictured) drew plaudits for her red Jenny Packham dress when she attended her very first state banquet in 2015 and clinked glasses with the Chinese president

Just the following year, Princess Mary (pictured) also opted for regal red and a tiara when she clinked glasses with the late Prince Henrik at a State Banquet at Fredensborg Palace

For the occasion, the Duchess of Cambridge (pictured) wore a Cartier tiara

Princess Mary often wears red (pictured), such as when she did in 2004

Elsewhere, the pair have dressed similarly, once even both pairing a Royal blue dress with a circular pendant and loose curls.

On the slopes, the royals favour cosy bobble hats and fake fur-trimmed jackets.

When Princess Mary visited Verbier in 2013, she paired a khaki, fake-fur-lined ski jacket with grey hat and black salopettes.

Meanwhile, when Kate Middleton visited the Alps with Prince William and their then-two children in 2016, she opted for a white jacket, red salopettes and fluffy hat.

White coats have also been a staple in the princesses' wardrobes (pictured left, Kate Middleton in Max Mara and Princess Mary with the Duchess of Cornwall in 2012)

At Royal Ascot in 2016, fashion critics were quick to draw attention to the 'lookalike' princesses stood together - saying they looked like sisters (pictured)

At royal appointments and state visits, their styles have remained extremely similar.

The Duchess of Cambridge drew plaudits for her red Jenny Packham dress when she attended her very first state banquet in 2015 and clinked glasses with the Chinese president wearing her Cartier tiara.

Just the following year, Princess Mary also opted for regal red and a tiara when she clinked glasses with the late Prince Henrik at a State Banquet at Fredensborg Palace on the first day of a State visit of the President of The United Mexican States.

Floral patterned dresses have also been sported by both royals (pictured)

After Kate Middleton wore the famous Issa navy blue dress (left) to shoot her engagement photographs, Princess Mary later wore a similar style in 2017 at an event for the UN (right)

When it comes to their approach to fashion, both Princess Mary and the Duchess of Cambridge favour clean lines, sharp looks and the odd splash of block colour.

They also both love to wear a wrap dress, and after Kate Middleton wore the famous Issa navy blue dress to shoot her engagement photographs, Princess Mary later wore a similar style in 2017 at an event for the UN.

At Royal Ascot in 2016, fashion critics were quick to draw attention to the 'lookalike' princesses stood together.

The pair could have easily been mistaken for sisters, with Kate plumping for an ethereal white lace Dolce & Gabbana dress, and Mary wearing a vibrant orange number by Marc Jacobs.
Queen Maxima stole the show at an orchestral concert in Luxembourg on Thursday.

The Queen of the Netherlands put on a glamorous display in a full length scarlet gown at the Philharmonie yesterday evening joined by husband King Willem-Alexander.

With such a dramatic look Maxima, 47, stuck to simple accessories in the form of a small red box clutch and an aqua statement necklace.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands stole the show in a scarlet gown as she and King Willem Alexander attended a concert in Luxembourg on Thursday

Her famous blonde locks were coiffed to perfection and she added a slick of rouge lipstick to complete the look.

King Willem, meanwhile, looked his dapper best in a full black tie, dressed in a tux and dickie bow as he accompanied his wife to the concert.

The couple joined the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg on Thursday who were the guests of honour at the concert.

The couple joined the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg on Thursday who were the guests of honour at the concert

With such a dramatic look Maxima stuck to simple accessories while King Willem looked dapper in black tie

Duchess Maria Teresa made a statement in a bold black and green printed dress accessorised with green jewellery and a clutch.

Duke Henri rivalled the Dutch King in an equally dashing tux as the foursome posed for photos on the red carpet.

The royals attended the Contra Performance for Grand Duke and Duchess at the Philharmonie last night.

It marked the second day of Maxima and Willem's three day state visit to the country.

The foursome attended the Contra Performance for Grand Duke and Duchess at the Philharmonie

Having spent the past two days together the two couples appeared to have become firm friends

Earlier that day the royal couple joined the duke and duchess for a visit to an historic blast furnace in the city of Belval.

Maxima and King Willem-Alexander were given a tour of the industrial city by their royal hosts, along with the Minister of Family and Integration, Corinne Cahen.

On day one of their visit they attended a glittering banquet hosted by the country's royal family.

The couple were joined by Grand Duke Guillaume, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, King Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg.
A pair of toddlers with Down's syndrome have formed an unbreakable bond after they were brought together by their parents.

Clara and Cutler, who are both two, have been inseparable since Clara's mum Lana Beaton, 39, and Cutler's mom Amy Sanders, 43, began arranging play dates for their children when they were just a few months old.

Amy, a school teacher, and stay-at-home mom Lana knew each other growing up in Grand Forks, North Dakota, but were never close friends until they both welcomed children with Down's syndrome within months of one another.

Now the adorable pair spend at least two days a week together and share their physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions.

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Clara and Cutler, who are both two, have been inseparable since they met when they were a few months old

Both Cutler and Clara, who were born within months of one another, have Down's syndrome

They were introduced by their mothers, who as luck would have it were childhood friends

Mom-of-four Lana, who gave birth to Clara in November 2015, sent Amy a Facebook message after she heard from a mutual friend her son Cutler, born in February 2016, also had the condition.

The parents arranged to meet in a local Starbucks in April 2016, where Clara and Cutler hit it off, and the mothers say their toddlers have been best buddies ever since.

The moms say bubbly Clara has a positive influence on Cutler, who is a little shy, and is one of the only people who can bring him out of his shell.

The pair love playing tag, watching movies and getting up to mischief together.

The adorable pair spend at least two days a week together and share their physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions

Lana, who gave birth to Clara in November 2015, sent Amy a Facebook message after she heard from a mutual friend her son Cutler had the same condition

The parents arranged to meet in a local Starbucks in April 2016, where Clara and Cutler hit it off and the toddlers have been best friends ever since

What is Down's Syndrome Down's syndrome is a genetic condition that typically causes some degree of learning disability and certain physical characteristics. Symptoms include: Floppiness at birth

Eyes that slant down and out

A small mouth

A flat back of head Screening tests can uncover Down's syndrome during pregnancy but are not completely accurate. It is caused by an extra chromosome in a baby's cell due to a genetic change in the sperm or egg. The chance of this increases according to the age of the mother. A 20-year-old woman has around a one in 1,500 chance of having a baby with Down's syndrome. Women in their 40s have a one in 100 chance. There is no evidence women can reduce their chances of having a child with Down's syndrome. Down's syndrome does not have a cure. Treatment focuses on supporting the patient's development. People with Down's syndrome have more chance of health complications such as heart disorders, hearing problems, thyroid issues and recurrent infections. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

Lana said: 'Amy and I knew each other growing up - our parents were good friends.

'However, we never really ran in the same circles and as we grew up we lost touch.

'A friend of mine came over to see Clara one day and she told me that she was certain that Amy had just welcomed a little boy with DS.'

Lana found out at her 20 week scan that Clara had Down's Syndrome and she joined local support groups in the area where she lives.

She continued: 'I thought [by] my connecting with Amy we might be a good support for one another.

'I sent her a sensitive message asking her if Cutler had an extra chromosome like Clara and Amy wrote back within an hour.

'We met up about a week later in a local Starbucks and we really connected.'

The babies' bond was evident straight away, when their mothers laid them down and let them interact with each other.

'We laid the babies out on a blanket and they started touching each other - you could see that there was a connection there between them,' Lana continued.

Amy said: 'It was really amazing to connect with Lana because she's such an amazing advocate for Down's Syndrome.

'We first met up at the bookstore and we brought the babies with us.

'Lana is such a calming and confident person and became a great support to me. We arranged some playdates for them both the rest is history.'

The pair may share the same condition, but their personalities couldn't be more different.

Amy said: 'Clara is very outgoing and she will tell you what's what! Cutler is shy and reserved.

The moms say bubbly Clara has a positive influence on Cutler, who is a little shy

Lana found out at her 20 week scan that Clara had Down's Syndrome and reached out to other mums for support

The babies' bond was evident straight away when their mothers laid them down and let them interact with each other

The moms said that everyone they know is 'blown away' by the toddlers' close bond

'He admires people from afar but he's definitely more cautious than Clara.

'We try to have playdates as often as we can and they have their speech and occupational therapies together twice a week.

'Everybody is blown away by their friendship. Everybody is smitten with them.'

Despite her big personality, Clara has faced many medical setbacks

Clara underwent open heart surgery when she was just three months old and is fed through a tube in her stomach

Clara also has Hirschsprung's disease, a condition that impacts the nerves in her colon making it difficult to go to the toilet

She watches videos of Cutler in her hospital bed when the pair are kept apart by her illnesses

The toddler underwent open heart surgery when she was just three months old and as a result she is fed through a G-tube in her stomach.

Clara also lives with Hirschsprung's disease, a condition that impacts the nerves in her colon making it difficult to pass stool.

Although Clara is always in and out of hospital, her mom Lana says she loves watching videos of Culter from her hospital bed.

The pair like to chase each other and watch films, with Clara's favourite being High School Musical

Their mothers say they know their children continue will continue to support each other as they grow up

Down's syndrome is a genetic condition that typically causes some degree of learning disability and certain physical characteristics

'You wouldn't think it from her personality, but Clara is a medically fragile child so we are always in and out of hospital.

'But they stay in touch with videos which is great.

'When they are together they have such fun, they chase each other and watch movies - right now Clara is obsessed with High School Musical.'

Cutler's mom Amy said: 'I think Cutler has an amazing ally in Clara and we know they'll be a great support for one another growing up. They make my heart happy.'

The condition is caused by an extra chromosome in a baby's cell due to a genetic change in the sperm or egg

The mums teamed up to create a blog 'Clara & Cutler', which they hope will help other mums of children with the condition

They say it has given them a chance to 'network' and make friends with other families who have a child with Down's Syndrome

They said they feel 'blessed and lucky' to have toddlers who have such a special bond

The moms have teamed up to create a blog, 'Clara & Cutler', which they hope will provide a helpful platform for other parents who are raising children with Down's Syndrome.

'The blog has been such a great way to network with other parents and we love keeping everyone up to date with Clara and Cutler.

'It's been a lot of fun. They're just such a great team, I think we all feel very blessed and lucky that they're in our lives.'
A new Channel 4 series will explore what happens when love faces prejudice so strong that it threatens to tear relationships apart.

Bride and Prejudice follows six soon-to-be wed couples as they confront a deeply held opposition to their marriage from within their own families - all while trying to organise their weddings.

Each couple that appears on the show faces opposition from at least one family member who is dead set against their wedding ever taking place.

In the first episode viewers meet a 24-year-old politics student named Dee, from Hull, who is weeks away from marrying local councillor John, who at 59, is 35 years her senior.

The series also follows builder Rob, 38, from Cambridgeshire, who wants to know why his parents seem to have taken no interest in his wedding to 31-year old events manager Simon, and 23-year-old graduates Shaaba and Jamie from Colchester who are recently engaged, despite intense opposition from Shaaba's mum.

John, 59, and Dee, 24, face strong opposition from her family who think the age-gap between the pair is odd

Politics student Dee sees no problem with her age and says that 'it shouldn't matter if people really care about each other'

The five-part series follows the couples in what should be one of the most exciting times in their lives - the build up to their wedding days.

But while most couples worry about the playlist and the seating plan, these couples are also desperately striving for the support of their loved ones.

Dee's grandfather, Paul, who helped raise her, is just eight years older than John and has never been able to comprehend their relationship.

The bride-to-be is desperately seeking the acceptance she craves from her grandfather in time for her big day.

'Age doesn't matter if two people really care about each other,' Dee says ahead of her wedding day.

The series will leave viewers to wait until each of the couples' respective wedding days to find out whether their relatives were won over, and set aside their disapproval to celebrate as a family.

The documentary follows the couple as they prepare for their big day while managing their family members

Dee hopes that her own grandfather will give her the acceptance she craves, but at eight years older than John he has concerns

Shaaba and Jamie, 23- year old graduates from Colchester, have to battle with her mother Fai who objects to her marriage

For Shaabas mum Fai, her daughters choice of partner is far from ideal.

Brought up in a traditional Mauritian household, Fai had always dreamed Shaaba would marry someone from a similar cultural background.

And this isnt the only reason why Fai objects to her daughters relationship, who can be heard saying in a trailer for the show: 'I don't mean to be racist, but obviously he's white.'

Builder Rob, 38, (right) from Cambridgeshire, wants to know why his parents seem to have taken no interest in his wedding to 31-year old events manager Simon

Meanwhile Rob's parents seem to have taken no interest in his wedding to 31-year old events manager Simon.

His parents have always struggled with him being gay and avoided any talk of his sexuality.

His mother said: 'Never did we think they would get married, we always thought they would just be a couple of gays.'

But with the wedding looming, and Rob determined to get his parents on side, hes getting them to confront the issue for the first time.

With the couple waiting to make their vows, will the objecting family turn up or stay away?

Bride and Prejudice starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday June 5th at 9pm
Princess Charlene of Monaco showed off her edgy side while sporting a chic leather bomber jacket to visit the racetrack on Friday with her husband, Prince Albert II, and their twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella.

The 40-year-old former Olympic swimmer paired the jacket with a form-fitting white top and black skinny jeans for the family trip to the Monaco racetrack ahead of Sunday's 76th annual Monaco Grand Prix.

British racing driver Lewis Hamilton, 33, was seen walking alongside the family in the pits at the racetrack while getting ready for the highly-anticipated Formula One race.

Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene and their children, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella visit Lewis Hamilton and the paddocks

British racing driver Lewis Hamilton , 33, was seen walking alongside the family in the pits at the racetrack while getting ready for the highly-anticipated Formula One race

Sporty look: Princess Charlene of Monaco (pictured with her son, Prince Jacques) donned a leather bomber jacket while visiting the racetrack with her family on Friday

Stylish: The 40-year-old royal wore a leather bomber jacket over a form-fitting white shirt and black skinny jeans

Outing: British racing driver Lewis Hamilton, 33, was seen walking alongside Prince Albert II, Princess Charlene, and their three-year-old twins, Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella

Hamilton has spent time with Prince Albert II, 60, and Princess Charlene on previous occasions, and he chatted away with the royals during their visit to the track.

Princess Charlene looked ready for race day in her nearly all-black outfit that accentuated her trim figure.

Her pale blonde bangs were brushed to the side of her face, and she added a pop of color to her look with cheery red lipstick.

The royal wore simple diamond studs in her ears, and she expertly balanced three-year-old Prince Jacques on her hip at the racetrack.

While she was holding their son, Prince Albert II, looked after their daughter, Princess Gabriella, who seemed happy to be walking alongside her father.

Added touch: Princess Charlene (pictured chatting with racing driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland) wore red lipstick for a pop of color

Mom duty: The former Olympic swimmer expertly held her son her hip during the outing

Fashionable tots: Jacques and Gabriella both wore child-size Ray-Ban sunglasses

Both of the twins were wearing white Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport 2018 T-shirts, the same one that Mercedes driver Hamilton had on.

In addition to their racing tees, the tots had on jeans, white sneakers, and child-size black Ray-Ban sunglasses for their day at the track.

Albert, meanwhile, opted for a more business-casual look, sporting a navy blazer over a crisp white button-down shirt and khaki pants.

In addition to spending time with Hamilton, the royal couple also stopped to talk with Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland.

Prince Albert was seen lifting his sunglasses to the top of his head while they chatted.

Helping hand: The mother-of-two helped usher the twins through the crowd at the racetrack

Ready for race day: The kids matched the crew and racing drivers in their white Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport 2018 T-shirts

Getting a better look: Prince Albert II, 60, was seen lifting his sunglasses up to chat with Valtteri Bottas

Ready for race day! A few days ago, Princess Charlene snapped a photo of her children posed in a toy Formula One car, and the image was shared on her Instagram page

The family is clearly excited for the grand prix, and just a few days before Princess Charlene shared a photo of her twins posed inside a toy Formula One race car.

'Getting ready for the GP, the Instagram image was captioned, along with the hashtag #startyourengines.

Organizers of the Monte Carlo race are set to defy Formula One's rulers by employing models before Sunday's race, and Hamilton has welcomed the return of the grid girls for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Liberty Media abolished the long-standing F1 tradition at the beginning of the year after denouncing the practice as 'at odds with modern-day societal norms.'

Liberty has since rolled out its grid kids scheme, with 20 children already involved in the junior ranks of motorsport lining up in front of the drivers prior to the start of the race.

Sticking to tradition: Hamilton (center) has welcomed the return of grid girls for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix

throwback: Organizers of the Monte Carlo race are set to defy Formula One's rulers by employing models. Grid girls are pictured at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix

Opinion: Hamilton said that grid girls were appropriate for 'a very elegant grand prix' in Monte Carlo

The grid kids will still be used in Monte Carlo on Sunday, but the glamorous race is also primed to see the return of grid models.

Both female and male representatives of Tag Heuer  the Swiss watchmaker which shares a long-term relationship with the Monaco Grand Prix  will take to the grid in the moments before the race, capturing pictures of the drivers, which will be posted to social media, and also relaying messages from the sport's fans.

The models, however, will not hold the drivers' grid placards, which had been the sport's long-term practice until this season.

'Women are the most beautiful thing in the world,' Hamilton said. 'Monaco is a very elegant grand prix and when we pull up to the grid and there's beautiful women on the grid, that's the Monaco Grand Prix and that's a lovely thing.

'I definitely don't think we should ever be supporting or pushing these women in general to feel uncomfortable. And if they are, then we shouldn't do it.'
The full English breakfast is an iconic British dish, as as such is available in cafes around the world.

But one British holidaymaker was left horrified by the fry up he was served in Cyprus, which bore little resemblance to the ones he enjoys back home.

The Reddit users was so appalled he shared a picture of the restaurant's efforts online; a chopping board loaded up with one frankfurter sausage, undercooked bacon, a single, watery egg, and - perhaps most surprisingly - a salad garnish.

It prompted a flurry of responses from equally underwhelmed Reddit users, including one who described the attempt at an English breakfast as 'an abomination'.

A Reddit user shared a snap of a full English breakfast that he ate while on holiday in Cyprus

In addition to the very non-traditional frankfurter sausage, the breakfast, which was served at an unnamed restaurant in Cyprus, arrived with a side of unbuttered bread.

It included a portion of baked beans in a dish, and came on a chopping board in lieu of a plate.

User Spicerldn said: 'This is what's classed as a Full English Breakfast in Cyprus.'

The picture sent Reddit into meltdown, leaving many confused at how the breakfast could be considered a full English.

The picture was mocked by other Reddit users, who called it an 'abomination' and a 'state'

One commented: 'It's like if someone learnt about it from a game of Chinese whispers.'

'What in the hell is this abomination??' another posted.

A third said: 'Its like someone explained to them what one was, but they'd never seen or eaten one before --all the components are technically there. However, I contend that the addition of Lettuce renders this a salad.'

One person said he shouldn't be ordering a fry up abroad and should instead sample the local food

'The absolute f***ing state on that,' a fourth ranted.

However, some Reddit users said the person who shared the picture shouldn't be ordering a full English while abroad.

One posted: 'Who the f*** goes to Cyprus and orders a full English? You should have got a proper Cypriot breakfast.'

'I'd be ashamed that i'd ordered a FEB anywhere outside the UK,' another said.
Before the brain tumours Mrs Nicklan also had breast, lung and liver cancer

Despite being told she wouldn't see Christmas 2015, she has defied expectations

She discovered the treatment by doing her own online research

A mother-of-two who survived 17 brain tumours as well as breast, liver and lung cancer has defied doctors' odds.

Sue Nicklan, 54, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in October 2015 and told she was unlikely to make it to Christmas  but she says she 'refused to give up'.

However, despite having successful treatments and bouncing back, Mrs Nicklan was dealt another blow when, in January 2017, she was told she had 17 brain tumours.

After desperately doing her own research online, she asked doctors for Gamma Knife therapy  a radiation treatment which accurately targets brain tumours.

Gamma Knife, alongside chemotherapy and immunotherapy, has successfully shrunk her tumours to a fraction of their size.

Mrs Nicklan, a nurse from Chelford, Cheshire, is now looking forward to the future and sharing her story in a bid to give others hope.

She has regular scans to make sure the tumours haven't grown back and says: 'I'm now three years post my 12 weeks life expectancy which is amazing.'

Mrs Nicklan, a nurse from Chelford, Cheshire, fought off breast, lung and liver cancer only to find out she had 17 tumours in her brain

Mrs Nicklan had been battling cancer in her breast, lungs and liver since 2012, and was given just twelve weeks to live in October 2015.

And despite surgery to remove the tumours in her lungs and liver as well as invasive chemotherapy, Mrs Nicklan's cancer continued to spread across her body and brain.

By January 2017, she had 17 brain tumours and was offered full brain radiation, something she rejected due to the risks of permanent brain damage.

In a race against time, Mrs Nicklan did her own online research and found out about gamma knife radiation.

Metal brace screwed to the skull for Gamma Knife

Gamma Knife is a type of treatment that uses beams of radiation to target each individual tumour in the brain, and is offered by the NHS.

After months of gruelling treatment  which involved having a metal brace screwed to her skull for the targeted radiation  Mrs Nicklan has defied all doctors' expectations.

After doing her own research, Mrs Nicklan received Gamma Knife radiation therapy, which required a metal brace to be screwed into her skull for the sessions

Sue Nicklan's MRI scan, which shows a dozen cancerous tumours in her brain  'I knew it would be almost impossible to beat as normally people have one or two [tumours]'

The mother to Ellie, 23, and Sam, 22, said: 'Last January I was initially diagnosed with 12 brain tumours but that soon became 17.

'I was devastated and knew it would be almost impossible to beat as normally people have one or two not over a dozen.

'I was first offered whole brain radiation by the NHS which I declined as I was worried about the side affects such as brain damage.

Mrs Nicklan also had chemotherapy and immunotherapy to fight off her illness

'After doing my own research, I decided to go with gamma knife radiation as this targets the brain tumours directly and does not affect the rest of the brain.

'I had to go through it twice because after the first time, there were still cancerous cells in my body producing the tumours.

'I refused to give up'

'I also underwent a mixture of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, something I knew was the best option after researching treatments online.

'Despite only being given 12 weeks to live, I refused to give up.

'Luckily the treatments were successful and after a scan in April last year I was told the tumours were tiny.

'I was so happy that all my hard work of online research and undergoing to gamma radiation had paid off.

'I'm three years past my 12 weeks life expectancy'

'I now have regular scans each year to ensure the tumours haven't grown back and I'm now three years past my 12 weeks life expectancy which is amazing.'

Mrs Nicklan was first diagnosed with stage three HER2 breast cancer in 2012.

Despite chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and surgery, it returned two years later in her lungs and liver.

She realised when on holiday with her husband Mark, 51.

She added: 'I knew there was something wrong in 2014 as I was tired, I had trouble breathing and I couldn't even stand.

Mrs Nicklan says she is grateful and lucky to have had the support of her family  husband Mark, daughter Ellie (pictured) and son, Sam

Sue Nicklan with her husband Mark, who drove her 13 hours home from France when they realised she was seriously ill on holiday

Mrs Nicklan received cancer treatment on and off for five years between 2012 and 2017, and now has to return for regular scans to check the tumours aren't growing back

'I was on holiday in France but I was feeling so ill that my husband had to drive thirteen hours to get me back to the UK.

'The emergency scan showed that unfortunately the aggressive cancer was back and had spread to my lungs and liver.

WHAT IS GAMMA KNIFE RADIATION THERAPY? The Gamma Knife is not an actual knife but uses beams of gamma radiation to treat lesions in the brain. The technique provides an alternative treatment for conditions for which brain surgery is not advised. Numerous beams of radiation are all targeted at the same spot in the brain, resulting in an intense, short blast of radiation directly to the cancer. Because each individual beam is targeted and not very intense on its own, the technique minimises damage to normal brain tissue around the tumour. Whole brain radiation, however, is less targeted and can cause damage to normal tissue and has a higher risk of brain damage to the patient. Source: The National Centre for Stereotactic Radiosurgery Advertisement

'But this time I had become allergic to the chemotherapy drugs and by the October of 2015 I was told I was unlikely to make it to Christmas.'

But she battled against the odds.

'I have a future to look forward to'

After treatment with a chemotherapy drug called docetaxol in a combination with immunotherapy  a mix of drugs that slow cancer growth and allow chemotherapy for a longer time  and gamma knife radiation for her 17 brain tumours, she is still alive and fighting against her prognosis.

Mrs Nicklan said: 'I'm so thankful I have a future to look forward to, I have been incredibly lucky to survive not one but 17 tumours.

'I was lucky enough to have my husband Mark and my children Ellie and Sam by my side.

'During my treatment I was also supported by the Maggie's Centre who support those affected by cancer and now I'm going catwalk to raise money for the charity on June 16.

'It is a beautiful place. It is a big glass building where you can relax, seek advice from specialists and get all the support you need.

'It has a very positive vibe, it is a fun place to go'.

Find out more about Maggie's Centres online.
A husband has revealed his heartache at losing his childhood sweetheart due to a brain aneurysm as he is left to raise three children alone.

Rayan Cosme went from being overjoyed by the birth of his daughter Grayan on November 20 2017 to heartbroken when his teenage sweetheart Arlene Padawag-Cosme suddenly collapsed from a brain aneurysm four days later.

Ms Padawag-Cosme, who had complained of a stiff neck and migraines, slipped into a 11-day coma before dying in hospital last December 5 aged just 37.

Her husband claims he 'tried everything' to wake Ms Padawag-Cosme, including renewing their wedding vows, christening their newborn daughter and serenading her to her favourite song, all by her hospital bedside.

Now left to raise their three daughters alone, Mr Cosme said: 'I've just tried to be the best dad I can be to them.

'Their smiles and laughter are what keep me going. Every time I look at them I see their mother and it always makes me smile.'

Widower Rayan Cosme has revealed the lengths he took to wake his comatose wife Arlene Padawag-Cosme, who died just days after giving birth to their daughter Grayan (all pictured)

The teenage sweethearts married in 2006 after first meeting on public transport in 1997

In an attempt to try and wake his wife, Mr Cosme and their family gathered around her bedside to renew the couple's wedding vows. He also had their daughter christened in the hospital

WHAT IS A BRAIN ANEURYSM? A brain aneurysm is a bulge or ballooning blood vessel. This can leak, causing bleeding in the brain, which can be life threatening. Symptoms of a ruptured aneurysm include: Sudden, severe headache

Nausea and vomiting

Stiff neck

Blurred or double vision

Sensitivity to light

Seizure

Drooping eyelid

Confusion

Loss of consciousness An unruptured aneurysm may not have any symptoms and could not require treatment. The causes of brain aneurysms are often unclear. Risk factors include high blood pressure, smoking, heavy drinking and old age. Treatment may include surgery or medication to restore blood flow and relieve pain. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement

'She never woke up from the surgery'

Speaking of the birth of their youngest daughter, Mr Cosme, 38, an engineer, said: 'We were so happy when we found out we were having another baby.

'Arlene was such an amazing mother and to have three daughters was such a blessing.

'She gave birth to our beautiful baby girl and we couldn't have been happier. Everything just felt right and our family felt complete.'

Mr Cosme, who is also father to Gracie, 10, and Gwynnete, 6, added: 'I never could have imagined anything like this would ever happen to her.

'Arlene looked like such a healthy woman. That's why I can't understand it.

'Looking back, she would often experience headaches and migraines, but we never thought too much of it.

'Four days after having the baby, she had come home and I was saying goodbye to her as I left for work.

He added: 'She told me she had a stiff neck, so I told her to rest and take care of herself but that afternoon she collapsed.

'When I rushed there from work she was awake and I thought she was going to be alright, but just 30 minutes later she collapsed again.

'She fell into a coma. Doctors operated on her brain straight away, but she never woke up from the surgery.'

The couple were overjoyed by the birth of their daughter, feeling their family was 'complete'

Mr Cosme described his wife as an 'amazing mother' saying they 'couldn't be happier'

Although the birth went to plan, Ms Padawag-Cosme started to feel ill just days later

'My whole world came crashing down'

Speaking of how he tried to wake his wife, Mr Cosme said: 'I stayed by her bedside for 11 days until she died. I never lost hope that she might wake up.

'I did everything I could think of to wake her up. I sang our favorite songs to her and played my guitar.

'I had our daughter christened at her bedside.

'The last thing I thought of was to renew our wedding vows. I thought it might keep her fighting and keep her alive.

'I tried everything I could. But even though it didn't wake her up, I still think it made her very happy in her last days.'

Despite staying by her side throughout her illness, Mr Cosme was not there when his wife passed away.

He said: 'I'd come home to do a few things and then I got a call from the hospital telling me that Arlene had passed away.

'My whole world came crashing down. I felt completely numb.

'Nothing can ever prepare you for that. I didn't know how I could raise my kids on my own.

'I sat my daughters down and explained to them that they wouldn't be seeing their mum anymore. We all just sat together hugging and crying.

'I told them that their mum will always be in our memory and in our hearts.

'My oldest daughter than asked me "what will we do if you die too, dad?" I broke down after that and just kept hugging them both.'

Ms Padawag-Cosme collapsed from a brain aneurysm and spent 11 days in a coma

Mr Cosme had to break it to their daughters that they would never see their mother again

The girls asked their father what they would do if he died as well as their mother

He claims his wife's 'beautiful spirit' lives on in their three daughters

'Her spirit lives on in my beautiful daughters'

Moving forward as a single father, Mr Cosme said: 'I've just tried to focus on my job and my kids, and to be the best dad I can be to them.

'It was hard to get used to, especially the first three months.

'I wake them up, make breakfast, pack their lunches and send them to school.

'They go to a family friend's house after school and I'll pick them up from work.

'Then I'll make dinner, wash their school uniforms, make sure their bathed and tuck them into bed. Without them, I wouldn't be able to deal with this.

He added: 'I think about Arlene every second. I miss her so much and I always find myself tearing up at random times.

'She was such a beautiful person and her spirit lives on in my beautiful daughters.'

The married couple first met as teenagers in 1997 in their hometown of Baguio city, the Philippines.

Ms Padawag-Cosme was a regular passenger on Mr Cosme's 'jeepney', an iconic Filipino public transport.

After discovering they attended the same university, they quickly became inseparable and eventually married in 2006.

The family moved to New Zealand with their two eldest daughters after Mr Cosme was offered a job there in 2014.
A teenager who survived liver failure and meningitis was later diagnosed with cancer as a result of the medication she took to prevent her body rejecting a transplant she had been given.

Sophie Houghton-Hinks, 19, from Poole, developed meningitis just weeks after receiving a life-saving liver transplant from a donor.

Within weeks of the surgery, the teenager began to feel unwell and was later diagnosed with viral meningitis.

After pulling through again, Ms Houghton-Hinks was dealt a third blow when she was told she had cancer of the throat, lungs, liver, spleen, abdomen and brain.

She is thought to have developed the tumours as a result of the medication she took to prevent her body rejecting her liver transplant.

Ms Houghton-Hinks endured six months of grueling chemotherapy, which caused her to lose four stone and suffer paralysis down one side of her body.

Now in remission, Ms Houghton-Hinks is speaking out to encourage others to make the most of every day.

She said: 'Appreciate the life you have, it is so precious you have to live it to the fullest.'

As Media Drum World reports, 19-year-old Sophie is now in remission and hopes to be an inspiration for other people living with cancer or having gone through a transplant

Before falling ill with liver disease when she was 16-years-old, the teenager was a keen dancer who loved sports. Her liver failure was caused by an autoimmune disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) which affects the bile ducts in and surrounding the liver

Sophie Houghton-Hinks, 19, from Poole, was fortunate to receive a life-saving liver transplant only to then contract meningitis that left her brain scarred to later receive a potentially deadly cancer diagnosis - but now she is in remission she insists that the disease has made her stronger

Liver failure caused by autoimmune disease

Before falling ill with liver disease when she was 16-years-old, the teenager was a keen dancer who loved sports.

Her liver failure was caused by an autoimmune disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) which affects the bile ducts in and surrounding the liver.

Sophie was transferred to London's Royal Free Hospital and doctors told her there was no other option than to have a transplant.

Her brother, Daniel, went through the tests to see if he could donate half his liver but she received the call in May 2017 letting her know that another match had been found from the organ donation register.

Less than two weeks after liver transplant, Sophie was discharged and she excited to start her brand new life and was back at the gym a fortnight after coming home

Sophie, 19, lost around four-stone due to appetite loss during chemotherapy. Her doctors became very worried about this and therefore she had a J-Peg feeding tube inserted into her stomach

The brave 19-year-old decided to cut her hair short. She said it is important to 'show off your scars, embrace the bald look from chemotherapy and most importantly learn to love yourself'

Weeks later she developed meningitis

After nine hours of surgery she was awake, in intensive care and with a new liver.

Less than two weeks later, Sophie was discharged and she was excited to start her brand new life and was back at the gym a fortnight after coming home.

Then, just a few weeks later, Sophie started to feel unwell and was diagnosed with viral meningitis which was treated at the Royal Free Hospital.

Several weeks later, Sophie was admitted to hospital again and was diagnosed with stage four Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder (PTLD) in October 2017.

Sophie receiving cancer treatment. She said she wants people to know that the battle they are going through, either cancer or having a transplant will make them a stronger person

Sophie with a friend who visited her in Royal Free Hospital in London in hospital back in November 2017

Sophie enjoying a stroll on the beach after the operation back in 2017

Fed through a nasal tube

She found out that she had cancer in her throat, lungs, liver, spleen, abdomen and brain and she was transferred to University College London Hospital for treatment.

'My liver failure was caused by having an autoimmune disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, which I was diagnosed with when I was sixteen-years-old. It was December 2016 when I first collapsed due to my liver failure,' she said.

'I was then subsequently admitted to hospital in Poole.

'Due to Poole hospital not having the specialist doctors which I needed I was rushed up to the Royal Free Hospital in London. I was fed through a tube which went through my nose, as I was unable to eat.

'It wasn't long before I had an operation called an ERCP, which was to try and open up my bile ducts.

'They attempted this twice before admitting that there wasn't any other option than a liver transplant.'

The teenager's brother went through the process to donate half of his liver to her. He only had one more test to do before he could donate when he got the call at two in the morning on the ninth of May to say that they had a liver from the organ donation list

Sophie at a family meal out in March 2018 to celebrate leaving hospital. Sophie discussed the side effects of treatment and spoke about the problems her family had to overcome during her treatments

'My brother went through the process to donate half of his liver, he only had one more test to do before he could donate when I got the call at two in the morning on the ninth of May to say that they had a liver from the organ donation list.

'We travelled up to London straight away and at four o'clock that afternoon I was taken down to surgery. After nine hours of surgery I woke up in ICU, with a new liver.

Sophie in intensive care after her liver transplant, but her battle did not stop there. After just thirteen days, she was out of hospital she became very ill again. She had viral meningitis

Following from her liver transplant and meningitis, the teenager also suffered from Methotrexate Encephalopathy, which is swelling on the brain. This caused her to be paralysed all down her right side and she was again rushed to intensive care for this as she couldn't speak and had really bad rigors

'I was out of hospital after just thirteen days, and I began to start my new life. However, my body didn't agree with my decision and I became very ill again. I had viral meningitis. They rushed me back up to the Royal Free where I was given treatment to alleviate the symptoms. Having the meningitis scarred my brain permanently.

'A few weeks after this I began to feel unwell again and was admitted to Poole Hospital once more. They did a CT scan and they found suspicious findings, so therefore I was rushed back to the Royal Free where they did further investigation.

'They found the cancer in my throat, on my lungs, on my liver, in my spleen and pockets of it across my abdomen, and brain. I was then transferred to University College London Hospital.'

Medication caused cancer

Sophie found out that the medications she was on to prevent her body rejecting her new liver caused her to get lymphoma.

After her cancer diagnosis, Sophie had six months of gruelling chemotherapy treatment which was administered directly into the spinal cord and through IV.

Sophie discussed the side effects of treatment and spoke about the problems her family had to overcome during this.

'I had horrendous side effects, from burning sensations in my hands and feet, to my stomach and bowels shutting down. I suffered from mucositis badly, from ulcers in my mouth to it spreading to my stomach and bowels, which caused me to be rushed to intensive care,' she said.

'I also suffered from Methotrexate Encephalopathy, which is swelling on the brain. This caused me to be paralysed all down my right side and I was again rushed to intensive care for this as I couldn't speak and I had really bad rigors.

'Throughout the chemotherapy I lost my appetite completely, sometimes going two to three days without eating anything. I lost around four-stone due to this, my doctors became very worried about this and therefore I had a J-Peg feeding tube inserted into my stomach.

'I also suffered with sepsis as I had no immune system.

'There were a few things that worried me during treatment, would the chemotherapy damage my liver and my mum's financial situation.

'Before the Clic Sargent charity provided free accommodation for my mum, she had to pay ridiculous amounts of money to stay in housing near the hospital, and it was made even harder by the fact she lost her job so that she could stay with me in London.'

As Media Drum World reports, 19-year-old is now in remission and hopes to be an inspiration for other people living with cancer or having gone through a transplant.

Sophie embracing her feeding tube before her liver transplant. She hopes to be an inspiration for other people living with cancer. 'Appreciate the life you have, it is so precious you have to live it to the fullest'

Sophie, 19, fighting the disease with a smile and positive spirit. She is now focusing on learning sign language so that she can work with children with special needs

She is now focusing on learning sign language so that she can work with children with special needs.

'I want people to know that the battle they are going through, either cancer or having a transplant will make them a stronger person,' she said.

'Appreciate the life you have, it is so precious you have to live it to the fullest.

'If you are struggling in life, either physically or mentally, believe in yourself. Show off your scars, embrace the bald look from chemotherapy and most importantly learn to love yourself.'
Water-resistant sunscreen products dramatically lose their effectiveness in sea water, a consumer group has warned ahead of the summer holidays.

The consumer group, Which? tested water resistance claims made by two popular sunscreens  one own-brand and one well-known international product  and found the sun protection factor (SPF) dropped by up to 59 per cent after forty minutes in salt water.



The group said its findings expose flaws in the current testing regime  which only requires a volunteer to be immersed in a bath of tap water that circulates to simulate 'moderate activity'.

'Our research shows water resistant sunscreens don't live up to their claims when subjected to rigorous tests  raising serious questions about the current guidelines,' said Nikki Stopford, Which Director of Research and Publishing.

The consumer group, Which? tested water resistance claims made by two popular sunscreens  one own-brand and one well-known international product  and found the sun protection factor (SPF) dropped by up to 59% after forty minutes in salt water

A public health warning

With 15,400 new cases of melanoma (skin cancer) each year in the UK, public health officials are concerned that consumers aren't doing enough to protect themselves against strong sunlight.

The current tests allow manufacturers to claim a product is water resistant if the SPF drops by up to 50 per cent after two twenty minute periods of immersion.

Which? says it carried out more rigorous tests in salt water, chlorinated water and fast-moving water  conditions that more closely resemble those encountered on holiday.

With 15,400 new cases of melanoma (skin cancer) each year in the UK, public health officials are concerned that consumers aren't doing enough to protect themselves against strong sunlight

Popular sunscreens fail tests

It found that the well-known international product's SPF dropped by 59 per cent after 40 minutes of immersion in salt water and in moving water.

The popular own-branded product's SPF dropped by 34 per cent in both salt water and chlorinated water. (Which? didn't name the brands.)

Sun protection is likely to drop even further because of factors such as reflection (from water), heat, light, sweat, toweling and rubbing which reduce the effectiveness of sunscreens.

As a result, consumers can't know what SPF they'll end up with after going into the sea or pool when they make a purchase.

Sun protection is likely to drop even further because of factors such as reflection (from water), heat, light, sweat, towelling and rubbing which reduce the effectiveness of sunscreens

Australia and US have stricter rules about sunscreens

Other countries  including Australia and the United States, have stricter requirements where the SPF on the label must be the SPF it provides after immersion in tap water.

In separate tests, Which? looked to see whether 15 widely available sunscreens meet their SPF claims, and all passed.

In 2017, the group labelled Avon's Sun+ Multi Protection Moisturising Sun Lotion SPF30 (150ml) a 'Don't Buy' as the product failed the SPF tests.

The sunscreen continues to be a 'Don't Buy' this year as it has not been reformulated and is still available to purchase.
The number of morbidly obese adults across Britain is expected to double to more than four million over the next 17 years, according to disturbing new projections.

There were 1.9 million morbidly obese people in Britain in 2015. That number is expected to jump to 4 million by 2035.

The highest prevalence rates will be seen in Wales, with around 13 per cent of Welsh men and 9 per cent of Welsh women are likely to be morbidly obese by 2035 if current trends continue.

Britain's soaring obesity rate 'is likely to weigh heavily on healthcare systems and economies,' said study authors Laura Keaver from the CRISP research group at the Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ireland and Dr Laura Webber from the UK Health Forum, London.

'Strong measures to reverse this future trend must be an important public health priority.'

The number of morbidly obese adults across Britain is projected to double to more than four million over the next 17 years

Extreme obesity on the rise everywhere

By 2035, about 6 per cent of English men aged 55-64 are likely to be morbidly obese.

While overweight and obesity trends for England, Wales, and Scotland have been projected to 2035, until now, no trend estimates existed for morbid obesity.

Morbid obesity entails far more serious health consequences than moderate obesity and is associated with a higher risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, mental illness and some cancers.

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BODY MASS INDEX - AND WHAT IT MEANS Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on your weight in relation to your height. Standard Formula: BMI = (weight in pounds / (height in inches x height in inches)) x 703 Metric Formula: BMI = (weight in kilograms / (height in meters x height in meters)) Measurements: Under 18.5: Underweight

Underweight 18.5 - 24.9: Healthy

Healthy 25 - 29.9: Overweight

Overweight 30 or greater: Obese Advertisement

The prevalence of morbid obesity is increasing worldwide, with numbers doubling in the past 20 years.

In the UK, morbid obesity is already a huge burden on the economy and health services, accounting for around a third of all obesity-related costs.

Poorer people will be hit harder

Past research has suggested that people in a lower socioeconomic position are more likely to be overweight.

Given that socioeconomic inequalities are increasing in many parts of Europe, a key question is how the obesity epidemic will unfold across different segments of the UK population.

In their study, the researchers relied on height and weight data from the Health Survey for England, Welsh Health Survey, and the Scottish Health Survey (2004-14) for adults aged 15 and older.

The data was used to create a model predicting BMI trends - healthy weight, overweight, obesity, and morbid obesity - over the next 17 years.

The gap between manual and office workers

By 2035, obesity rates will be highest - and see the greatest rise - in adults working in routine and manual positions, according to the new projections.

As a result, the difference in obesity levels between those in managerial roles (29% males, 31% females) and those in routine and manual roles (39% males, 40% females) is expected to widen in England and Wales.

The exception is English females where the difference in obesity levels is expected to decline.

By contrast, the gap in obesity levels between those with less than tertiary education (i.e., university or trade school/college) and those with tertiary education is projected to close in England, Scotland and Wales.

The exception is Welsh females where that gap is projected to increase.

Morbid obesity entails far more serious health consequences than moderate obesity and is associated with a higher risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, mental illness and some cancers

An urgent call to tackle obesity

The projections should be interpreted cautiously, however, because the data is not uniform.

For example, weight and height was self-reported in Wales but measured in England and Scotland.

And past trends not always predict future trends.

Nonetheless, the authors say, 'Our findings highlight that future interventions to tackle obesity must be accessible to everyone and should be designed to impact all sectors of society to further reduce these inequalities.'

The data is being presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, Austria.
Weight loss surgery could be the key to revitalizing sex drive and fertility in obese men.

Excess weight interferes with natural sex steroid metabolism, converting testosterone into estrogen, in a process known as hypogonadism.

Until now, it has not been clear whether this effect on hormones could be significantly reversed.

But a new study on 29 men, presented today at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, has shown that weight loss after bariatric surgery does reverse obesity-related hypogonadism, and any dips in fertility and sex drive the men had experienced.

In fact, they found, the effects were seen within four weeks.

Excess weight crushes testosterone levels in men and drives up estrogen levels. This impacts sex drive and fertility - but weight loss after bariatric surgery can reverse that, a study shows

The goal of this study was to investigate levels of sex steroids immediately after rapid weight loss in a group of obese men who had undergone bariatric surgery, to determine how quickly those changes occurred.

Previous research has only evaluated the effects of weight loss surgery years after, so it was not clear what the relationship was between the body fat reduction and the hormone shift.

This study, however, tracked 29 men, with an average age of 40, from before their surgery to a month after.

They had an average body mass index of 43.4kg/m2 - above the obesity threshold of 40kg/m2.

One month beforehand, the team performed blood tests to track their total plasma testosterone, the sex hormones dihydrotestosterone (DHT), estradiol, luteinising hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), as well as sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG).

They also recorded their prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) levels, and leptin.

These tests were performed again after they underwent a sleeve gastrectomy to reduce the size of the stomach.

Another 19 healthy age-matched, non-obese males were also monitored as controls.

The majority obese subjects had lower testosterone levels than the healthy controls.

The study found that among the obese subjects, 51.6 percent had hypogonadism and of those who had subnormal total testosterone.

It was more common among those with metabolic syndrome, which leads to diabetes: 45 percent of them showed lower plasma testosterone, compared to men without metabolic syndrome.

Their BMI and waist circumference, however, did not determine testosterone levels.

A month after the sleeve gastrectomy, the obese subjects all showed a significant weight reduction, dropping an average of 17.2 kg.

Importantly, the proportion with hypogonadism had fallen to 11.6 percent.

Average testosterone levels increased by 85 percent - even to a higher level than in the healthy control group.

Estradiol levels fell by 35 percent while PSA levels rose by 70 percent.

The researchers say the study is a clear endorsement of bariatric surgery, and subsequent weight loss, as a treatment not only for excess weight but also hormonal issues that impact many other things.

'The clinical significance of the rapid increase in PSA plasma levels observed one month after bariatric surgery is still obscure and has to be confirmed on a larger number of subjects and after a longer period of observation after surgery and weight reduction maintenance,' the authors said.

They suggest that 'it could be due to the rapid testosterone increase stimulating the prostate and/or to the rapid reduction in plasma volume after weight loss'.

They say: 'If you consider that obese males, as with all people with obesity, have higher prevalence of some type of cancer, including prostate cancer for men, this information could be of importance, since it could lead to doctors potentially missing cases of severe prostate disease in obese men.'
A Holocaust denier who sang about Auschwitz being a 'theme park' before mocking Anne Frank was sacked as a cruise ship entertainer and has been abandoned by her family, MailOnline can reveal.

Alizon Chabloz, 54, a controversial blogger who said the gassing of millions of Jews was a hoax, has been kicked out of the home she shared with her elderly parents and hasn't spoken to her daughter for three years.

The blogger - described by former friends as 'highly manipulative and controlling' - laughed and sang as her 'grossly offensive' songs mocking Holocaust survivors were played in court before she was convicted of hate crimes today.

Today she was convicted at Westminster Magistrates' Court of three charges relating to her songs when judge John Zani said he was satisfied Chabloz intended to insult Jewish people.

Alison Chabloz grinned as she arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court today where she was convicted for hate crimes over anti-Semitic songs where she called Auschwitz a 'theme park'

Chabloz, who was born in Manchester, has been abandoned by her family over her holocaust denial. She was also kicked out of a band she played in called Pig In The Middle (pictured). Bandmate Ralph Smethurs (right) described her as 'highly manipulative and controlling'

The elderly parents of Chabloz (pictured performing one of her songs on YouTube) have kicked her out of their home in Derbyshire home where she moved to after she was sacked from her job as a cruise ship entertainer for her anti-Semitic views

Chabloz beamed as she arrived at court and her supporters cried 'shame' from the public gallery.

But behind her bravado, the YouTube blogger who claimed the Holocaust was a hoax, has a bleak personal life.

She has been jobless since 2014 when she was ordered off a cruise ship where she worked - and was forced to move into the home of her parents, Leslie and Audrey Tyrer, in Charlesworth, Derbyshire.

But Mr Tyrer, 78, a retired insurance broker, told MailOnline that he had kicked her out several months ago.

'I have no contact with her,' he said. 'The last thing I want in life is my 50-odd-year-old daughter getting in contact with me. She used to live here at the family home but doesn't now.'

Her daughter Carmel, 26, a ski instructor, who lives with her father above his small flooring business in the pretty mountain village of Chateau D'Oex, hasn't spoken to her mother for three years.

'I'm not in contact with my mother at the moment and I don't know anything she's doing,' she said.

Carmel's father Pierre, who was married to Chabloz for 22 years, has 'cut all connection' to her, as has his brother Christophe Chabloz, according to Christophe's ex-wife, Isabelle.

Chabloz, pictured performing the anti-Semitic quenelle gesture, a reversed Nazi salute, has no contact with her daughter, a ski instructor, who lives with her father in Switzerland

Chabloz, born in Manchester, pictured right making the offensive quenelle gesture, has been jobless since she was ordered off a cruise ship where she worked. During her trial for hate crimes she even travelled to France to perform at the IV Forum De l'Europe, a far-Right nationalist convention where she posed with a statue of Joan of Arc (right)

'We have no contact with her at all, nothing and we don't even know where she is,' said Isabelle, who lives in nearby Echallens.

Chabloz, who went to school at Bredbury Comprehensive, in Stockport, was sacked by the German cruise company Aida when an activist complained about her anti-Semitism and left stranded in Germany when she was unable to board the ship.

A former friend Fiyaz Mughal, founder of anti-Islamophobia charity Tell MAMA, initially stood by her and offered her money to get home.

But he told MailOnline it was a mistake and he has since cut all ties with her, adding: 'We felt used and it was a wake up call for us that anti-Semites were trying to use us.'

In 2016, Chabloz was expelled from her folk band, Pig In The Middle, because of her 'obsessive anti-Jewish fixation'.

Chabloz was banned from the Glossop Labour social club (pictured) where she used to perform at pro-Palestinian events

A letter from the Glossop Labour Club to Alison Chabloz banning her from the premises. In it they said: 'We feel that some of your specific posts and the general tenor of what you are communicating has become anti-Semitic.'

Ralph Smethurs, one of her two former bandmates, said that he 'wouldn't touch her with a bargepole'.

'She is highly manipulative and controlling, and she has daft views,' he said.

'She said she seriously suspected the earth was flat. We tried to turn a deaf ear but we couldn't ignore it. She's crackers. It's a shame because we had a good sound.'

The same year she was barred from the Edinburgh Fringe comedy festival after being pictured performing the anti-Semitic quenelle gesture, a reversed Nazi salute.

She was also barred from her local Labour social club where she used to perform at pro-Palestinian events.

In a letter, they told her: 'We feel that some of your specific posts and the general tenor of what you are communicating has become anti-Semitic.'

Gwyneth Francis, the club secretary, added: 'We had absolutely no idea about her racist views and if we had we would never have been associated with her.'

Chabloz, who studied at University of Liverpool before moving to music college in Geneva where she met Pierre, describes herself as a 'white nationalist' on her blog.

She claimed she was being victimised because of her talents as part of an effort to cut down the 'tall poppies' and 'spoil the chances of a nationalist revival'.

She also boasted that 'whatever the verdict [of her trial], it's a win-win situation' as it would gain publicity for Holocaust denial and 'British nationalism'.

'There is no doubt in my mind that a guilty verdict as far as my music is concerned will have been worth every note, every bar, right down to the final chord,' she bragged.

Alison Chabloz, third from left, poses with former bandmates at a pro-Palestinian concert at the Glossop Labour Club. She has since been thrown out of both band and club

In a show of defiance, during her trial Chabloz even travelled to France to perform at the IV Forum De l'Europe, a far-Right nationalist convention.

She also attended a march by the Parti Nationaliste Francais, an extreme French far-Right party, where she posed with a statue of Joan of Arc.

In April she appeared on an underground anti-Semitic internet radio programme when she said: 'There is something in Jewish behaviour which leads to them being hated... in fact it's the Jews who've never learnt.'

And last year she performed at the London Forum, a 'white supremacist' event where the notorious Holocaust denier David Irving gave a rambling speech and Chabloz again performed the quenelle salute.

Chabloz will be sentenced later today.
Survivors of last week's shooting at a high school near Houston told gripping stories of dodging bullets, hiding from the attacker and seeing classmates get shot as they pleaded with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday for more armed security to keep campuses safe.

The emotional three-hour discussion marked the end of three days of meetings Abbott held on school safety and mass shootings. And while the governor has appeared to embrace ideas of boosting security and tracking student mental health, there is little expectation the staunch gun-rights supporter will push for major changes to restrict owning firearms or buying them.

The Republican, who is campaigning for re-election, organized the mostly closed-door meetings shortly after eight students and two substitute teachers were fatally shot inside Santa Fe High School. Abbott said he wanted to find 'swift and meaningful' ways to stop future shootings.

Grace Johnson, a student at Santa Fe High School in Texas (center) speaks during a roundtable discussion in Austin, Texas, Thursday, May 24, 2018, hosted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Students and staff members at the school told Abbott stories of how they survived the May 18 attack

More than 30 students, families and staff members from Santa Fe High School participated in the meeting on Thursday

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (left) told the survivors and their families Thursday 'we are going to do more than just talk, we are going to act'

He hasn't said when or what he'll recommend, but told the survivors and their families Thursday 'we are going to do more than just talk, we are going to act.'

So far, the governor has ignored calls from a handful of state lawmakers from both parties to call the Legislature into special session to address gun laws, which is a sharp contrast to the response in Florida after a high school shooting in February killed 17 people. Three weeks after that massacre, Florida politicians, who were already in session, passed a gun-control package after a lobbying campaign led by student survivors of the attack.

Lawmakers aren't scheduled to meet until January 2019 in Texas, a state that embraces its gun-friendly reputation and has more than 1.2million people licensed to carry handguns. And unlike the students in Florida, several students at Santa Fe High School have been vocal opponents of increased gun control, including some of those who were invited to meet Abbott on Thursday.

The only tweaks to gun safety Abbott mentioned as possibilities were stronger laws on gun storage and reporting of lost or stolen weapons, and quicker reporting to law enforcement when a court order denies someone access to a firearm.

Several of the families who met with him Thursday said they didn't want to talk about gun restrictions or the politics of gun rights.

'This is not a gun thing,' said Jay Horn, whose son was injured in the shooting and hospitalized. 'Evil's going to happen with anything.'

Abbott has signed bills in recent years that reduce the cost and training needed for a handgun license and expanded where handguns can be legally carried. During a National Rifle Association meeting earlier this month, Abbott said the violence problem isn't caused by guns but by 'hearts without God.'

Abbott is pictured on the left comforting an emotional man during Thursday's roundtable discussion the governor held to discuss school safety and mass shootings

Several students and parents said during Thursday's meeting that schools need more armed security guards and armed teachers to prevent future attacks

Eight students and two substitute teachers were killed in last week's attack. Two children are pictured at a memorial for Santa Fe shooting victims

Women visit a memorial for the Santa Fe High School shooting victims outside the school

This week's meetings included representatives of both gun rights and gun control groups. However, Alice Tripp, legislative director of the Texas Rifle Association, an affiliate of the NRA, said her group found 'no common ground' on gun restrictions and would be cautious of anything that would deny access to buy or own guns.

Thursday's meeting included more than 30 students, families and staff members from Santa Fe High School. Scot Rice described hiding behind a parking lot garbage bin, hearing bullets whiz by as he could see his wife Flo, a substitute teacher, pretending to be dead after getting shot. She survived. A police officer was able to carry her to safety.

Also attending were two survivors of the November church shooting in rural Sutherland Springs, Texas, that left more than two dozen people dead. Stephen Willeford, the church neighbor and former NRA gun instructor who was hailed as a hero for grabbing a rifle and firing back at the attacker, also was at the meeting.

Several students and parents said schools need more armed security guards and armed teachers to prevent attacks. Texas law allows school districts to arm teachers who pass training courses and they must keep their guns concealed. Others debated whether schools should have metal detectors.

'Arming teachers, and not knowing who is armed, that is what we need,' said Grace Johnson, a Santa Fe senior who hid in a band room attic during the attack. 'I cannot tell you how much safer I feel in public with my father having a gun on him.'

Johnson said her government class wrote to Abbott's office in February after Santa Fe High School had a three-hour lockdown that month, shortly after the shooting at the Florida high school.

Gunman Dimitrios Pagourtzis is being held without bond on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault of a peace officer

'We wrote letters to you, my entire government class, on why is this happening and what can we do to fix it. We didn't get anything back. We didn't get acknowledgement,' she told Abbott. 'It finally happened to our school and we weren't surprised. ... It's happening everywhere.'

Abbott spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said the governor's office has no record of the letters, but that Abbott 'appreciates the time Grace took to bring her concerns directly to him today.'

Better security, metal detectors and new programs to track student mental health would cost money, and the state's public schools are already living under strained budgets.

The Texas State Teachers Association has resisted calls by Texas Republicans to arm more teachers. Texas Democrats urged Abbott to address gun issues.

'Greg Abbott's track record is that nothing of substance will come out of this that keeps weapons out of the hands of school shooters,' said Manny Garcia, deputy director of the state Democratic Party. 'Texans need leadership at a time when they are afraid to send their kids to school.'

Rhonda Hart, a military veteran whose daughter Kimberly Vaughan was killed in the Santa Fe shooting, has been outspoken this week on the need for more gun control. She wasn't invited to the meetings this week.

'You should have to wait a week, have counseling and walk through lines of protesters who tell you you're a murderer' to buy a gun, Hart said.

Gunman Dimitrios Pagourtzis is being held without bond on charges of capital murder and aggravated assault of a peace officer.
In June 2017, the Daily Mail commissioned a freelance reporter to make contact with various individuals linked to a high-profile criminal case. During the course of those enquiries, the freelance  who was acting on behalf of the newspaper and without the knowledge of MailOnline  unwittingly revealed the names of potential victims to third parties. Warwickshire Police complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation on behalf of three victims. Its complaint was upheld under Clause 2 of the Editor's Code and the Daily Mail is required to publish the following adjudication. It does not relate to any actions taken by MailOnline or its journalists:

Warwickshire Police complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation on behalf of three people that the conduct of a journalist acting on behalf of The Daily Mail breached Clause 2 (Privacy) of the Editors' Code of Practice. The complaint was upheld, and IPSO has required the Daily Mail to publish this decision as a remedy to the breach.

The complainants represented three individuals who had given evidence as victims in a criminal case concerning allegations of non-recent sex offences.

The complainants alleged that during the course of the trial, the journalist's enquiries had identified them as victims of sexual assault, and had intruded into their privacy.

The first and second victims said that a reporter had attended their friend's home in order to ask him about the [perpetrators'] case. The friend said that the journalist had shown him a list of names, and he had recognised their names, as well as the names of their parents. He had then told their parents what had happened. Before this, they had been unaware that they were victims in the case.

The third victim said that the reporter had told their parents that he was seeking a 'victim's story', had referred to the court case, and had asked if they could contact their child. The third victim said that this enquiry identified them as a victim of sexual assault to their parents.

The newspaper said that its freelance journalist contacted the friend of the first and second victims because he had believed that the friend had direct involvement in the case. The friend had said that he would 'know those involved', and the journalist had asked whether he knew the second individual, and he had confirmed that he knew victims one and two. At no stage had the journalist deliberately shown him the list of victims connected to the criminal case, which he had in his possession; any disclosure had been inadvertent.

The newspaper did not accept that the journalist had told the parents of victim three that they were seeking a 'victim's story' or that their child was an alleged victim of a sexual offence. The journalist had said that he was hoping to get in touch with their child as he understood that he 'might have been involved' in the criminal case, or known those who were.

While the newspaper did not consider that its representatives had breached the Code, it said that it had raised the concerns with those involved and with senior executives. It also offered to write a private letter of apology to the victims, and to make a charitable donation.

The Committee considered that the reporter should have been acutely aware that, in contacting third parties about the complainants, there was a risk that he would identify them as victims. He had identified the well-known, local criminal case he was researching, and said that he was looking for named individuals who had been 'involved in the case'. Reporting of the case had explained the nature of the crimes, where they had taken place, and the profile of the victims. In this context, to identify the complainants by name as 'involved in the case' made clear that they were, or were likely to have been, victims, particularly given that they fitted the general descriptions of the victims that had previously been reported. They had been identified to their parents, as a result of the enquiries.

The fact of their involvement in the case as potential victims was extremely sensitive and personal information about which the three individuals had a reasonable expectation of privacy. This represented a gross intrusion into their private lives in breach of Clause 2. While there was a public interest in carrying out enquiries in order to report on the criminal case, this did not justify disclosing such private information to third parties without consent. The complaint under Clause 2 was upheld.

To report an inaccuracy, please email corrections@mailonline.co.uk. To make a formal complaint under IPSO rules please go to www.mailonline.co.uk/readerseditor where you will find an easy-to-use complaints form. You can also write to Readers' Editor, MailOnline, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or contact IPSO directly at ipso.co.uk
Discovering that her teenage daughter was pregnant was a monumental shock for Shannon St. Andre, just as it would have been for any concerned mom.

But given that Shannon's daughter had been in a lesbian relationship for two years and had never so much as dated a boy, the news was not only shocking, it was highly suspicious.

The 18-year-old 'confessed' to a one-night stand at a party but when Shannon called at the supposed father's home she was told no such person had ever lived there.

Indeed, when she checked public records for any trace of the mystery man there was nobody matching his description anywhere in the state of Michigan.

It would be nine months later as she cradled her newborn grandson and gazed into his hauntingly familiar blue eyes that Shannon contemplated the unthinkable: Could her husband Greg have impregnated his own daughter?

Shannon St Andre, left with her daughter and grandson, has opened up about her husband Greg St Andre, who is in jail accused of incest with his now 20-year-old daughter and fathering her child when she was 18

Greg St Andre was charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact, third-degree (incest) with someone 'related by blood' in April 2016. Each felony is punishable by up to 15 years

Today, Greg St. Andre is in jail accused of incest with his now 20-year-old daughter, who DailyMailTV is choosing not to name because her family alleges she was the victim of grooming that begun when she was underage.

His arrest is vindication for mother-of-four Shannon, 37, who says she was 'laughed out of the police department' when she first reported her suspicions and had to turn into a detective to gather evidence herself.

Shannon used her iPhone to secretly record 37-year-old Greg, her high school sweetheart and husband of 14 years, making a partial 'confession' that he could be the father.

His taped explanation - that he innocently handed his daughter a cup of semen to help her conceive but did not know what she did with it from there - was as preposterous as it was revolting.

But it was enough to convince police to seek the crucial DNA test that would confirm the boy was his son and lead to two charges of criminal sexual conduct with someone 'related by blood'.

'He's a very disgusting person,' Shannon told DailyMailTV in an exclusive interview. 'I don't even want to call him a man - a man doesn't do these things. A father doesn't do these things.

'I feel that sitting in jail isn't punishment enough to be truthfully honest. On some level I wish Michigan had the death penalty back because that's exactly what he deserves.'

There's no question in Shannon's mind that her eldest daughter was the victim of her predatory father.

She dotes on her precious one-year-old grandchild and all three happily live together in Warren, just outside Detroit, along with Shannon and Greg's other kids aged three, 12 and 14.

Two years ago, however, Shannon says her relationship with her eldest daughter was at breaking point with her husband doing everything he could to portray the part-time cashier as the 'evil mom'.

Maintenance man Greg would ply the girl with gifts and treats and take her on special solo outings.

Greg and Shannon Andre were high school sweethearts who were married for 14 years before Shannon reported him to police for impregnating their daughter. The estranged couple have five children together

Boys were strictly off-limits and his behavior, according to Shannon, was 'obsessive and clingy'.

While their marriage was more or less over by then, Greg's behavior made her increasingly uneasy.

Then out of the blue she received a text message from her daughter in April 2016 promising 'important news' that would turn Shannon's world upside down.

'I said just "Tell me, don't beat around the bush". She responded with "I'm pregnant",' Shannon recalled.

She added: 'I asked "How are you pregnant", because she had been dating a girl for well over two years and was not interested in boys to my knowledge.

'She told me she went to a party and had sex with a person at the party so she could get pregnant so her and her girlfriend could have a baby, they could move out together, they could live happily ever after.'

Stunned by the news, Shannon demanded details of the alleged father.

She went to the house where he supposedly lived but there was nobody there with that name. A friend who works at a court then ran a detailed background check but that drew another blank.

It was only when Shannon first laid eyes on her grandson, whose name DailyMailTV has also decided not to publish, that she was certain Greg was the biological father.

'Many people came to me saying how he resembled my husband and resembled my own children,' she revealed. 'The blue eyes, the light skin - honestly it was like looking at baby pictures of my own children.'

Shannon says she reported her concerns to Child Protective Services (CPS) while her daughter was still in the hospital recovering from childbirth.

When a month went by without anything being done to remove her husband from their home, she walked into the Warren Police Department with screen grabs of text messages Greg had allegedly sent their daughter

Greg told Shannon that he had given their daughter a cup of sperm because she wanted to become pregnant and start a life with her girlfriend

'He referenced her as his wife. He told her she can't have boyfriends and he was the only one who was going to love her,' Shannon added. 'The Warren Police never believed me.

'They basically laughed me out of their police department and said I was being petty and vindictive. I don't think they ever took anything seriously.

'I think that out system is very faulty. Maybe if they would have listened just once ever maybe a lot of things could be different.'

After filing for divorce last July, Shannon did not want to share custody of their younger kids and decided to prove once and for all her husband was her grandson's biological father.

By then she had moved out of the marital home with the children but she asked Greg to meet so they could talk amicably about their separation.

With an app on her iPhone secretly recording the conversation, she challenged him to come clean about the child's conception.

'He told me he decided to put his semen in a cup and hand it to our daughter,' Shannon said. 'And what she did with that from there he had no idea.

'He just knew a little while later he had a grandson but it might not even be his [child]. He claimed that my daughter wanted to have a baby with her partner and they figured it was best to use someone's semen that they know.

'After two minutes I told him I had to leave and go to work. I hurried up and I left the house because I was afraid of what I may do after what he said.'

While Greg has maintained that the baby's paternity was due to his sperm donation, Shannon does not believe it.

'I didn't buy it the minute he said it. I knew it wasn't true. People don't spend millions of dollars trying to have babies just for it to be simply done like that. It doesn't work,' she added.

Shannon says that when she threatened to make the recording public in January the Warren Police Department assigned a detective to the case.

While Greg has maintained that the baby's paternity was due to his sperm donation, Shannon does not believe it. Shannon recorded Greg saying that he could be the father of his daughter's child. He is pictured above with his and Shannon's other children

Within weeks the officer had arranged a sit-down meeting with Greg where he presented him with a warrant for a DNA test. The result proved he was the father.

According to a CPS report seen by DailyMailTV, Greg admitted to the detective that he had sex with his daughter 'one time only' when she was an adult.

While he maintained he couldn't be sure of who he was having sex with at the time, he later realized it wasn't his wife because she was at work and has a tattoo on her back which he didn't see.

The documents state that in a subsequent interview with CPS, Greg further admitted to having sex with his daughter on one occasion in March 2016 and 'they never talked about it since'.

The balding dad - who lists his relationship status on Facebook as 'It's complicated' - was charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact, third-degree (incest) with someone 'related by blood' in April 2016.

Each felony is punishable by up to 15 years.

Shannon sees Greg's arrest as vindication, but admits she still doesn't know what happened between her husband and daughter because she wants to give her daughter 'privacy'

Greg was released on $5,000 bond but was taken back into custody earlier this month and the sum raised to $60,000 amid accusations he continued to contact his daughter using an app to disguise his number.

The CPS documents suggest the daughter initially backed Greg's claims about the cup of semen and the insemination ploy, claiming she used a child's medicine dropper to inseminate herself.

Officials confronted her with text messages suggesting her father had professed to being in love with her when she was still underage - but when it was suggested she was a victim, the girl replied: 'Of what?'

Since then, however, DailyMailTV understands the daughter has given a further interview to detectives.

If she alleges that any sexual conduct took place before her 18th birthday her father could be hit with more charges.

The papers also state the opinion of CPS professionals that the pair believed they were in a legitimate relationship.

Shannon acknowledges that she still does not know what occurred between her husband and daughter.

'I don't know any of those details. I've chosen to give her that privacy,' she said. 'If she wants to come to me and tell me that's her choice, but I'm not going to force that issue.

'I would never say she was in a relationship with her father. That's her father, he's the authority figure.

'She's going to listen to what he says, he controls the discipline, he controls the punishments, so of course she's going to do what he says.

'And on some level that's her father, she does love her father, I can't fault her for that. I can't fault any of my children for loving their dad.

'But at the same I think now she knows it's not the right kind of love. He wasn't showing the parental kind of love he was showing the relationship kind of love.

'I don't feel betrayed. I feel sad for her more than anything. I don't feel it's her fault in any way. He was the adult in this situation and he took advantage.'

Shannon says law enforcement have to take incest seriously rather than treating it as an obscure taboo. As Greg languishes behind bars, the son he allegedly conceived with his own offspring is growing into a boisterous, well-adjusted toddler, to the delight of his mother and grandmother

While legal experts say incest prosecutions are rare, the St. Andre family case comes just months after Virginia dad Steven Pladl was revealed to have married and impregnated his 20-year-old daughter Katie Fusco whom he gave up for adoption but met for the first time when she was 18.

Both were charged with incest in January but before the sordid case could play out in a courtroom, Pladl shot dead Katie and their seven-month-old son Bennett as well as Katie's adoptive father, Anthony Fusco, before turning the gun on himself.

Shannon says the two cases demonstrate that law enforcement have to take incest seriously rather than treating it as an obscure taboo.

'I think this isn't just going on in my home, I think this goes on in many people's homes and people are either too afraid to speak up or they have spoken up and no one gives them the help,' she said.

'We've had people reach out since this has come to light saying, "We are in the same boat, no one will listen, how do we get them to take us seriously?" Something needs to be done to change that.'

The Warren Police Department declined to discuss the case with DailyMailTV, citing an 'active investigation'.

Greg's attorney did not respond to a voicemail and an email asking for comment.

The accused dad remains in custody ahead of a June 26 pretrial conference at Macomb County Circuit Court.

As he languishes behind bars, the son he allegedly conceived with his own offspring is growing into a boisterous, well-adjusted toddler, to the delight of his mother and grandmother.

'He didn't pick or choose his parents. He's a happy little boy who runs around and causes trouble just like all the rest of the kids,' said Shannon, breaking into a broad smile.

'You can't look at him and condemn him for how he was brought into the world. It was never his fault.'
Billy has seen his seizures reduced from up to 100 per day to just a few after being treated with cannabis oil

Time is running out for a desperate mother to keep her son from a fatal epileptic seizure after the Government ordered his doctor to stop prescribing him cannabis oil.

Billy Caldwell, 11, suffers from intractable epilepsy which means his horrific seizures can last for hours, and he must be pumped with medicine to stop them.

Billy from Country Tyrone, Ireland, became the first person to receive an NHS prescription for cannabis oil containing Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in 2017 after it was proven to dramatically reduce his seizures from as many as 100 per day.

He was first given the medical marijuana in Los Angeles where his mother Charlotte Caldwell took him for treatment, until a year ago.

When they returned to the UK Billy Caldwell doctor Brendan O'Hare continued with the prescriptions.

But when he informed the Home Office a year ago, they ordered him to stop.

Ms Caldwell is pleading with the Home Secretary to reverse the ban now that she has just 14 days' worth of the oil left.

Billy Caldwell experiences seizures which are so severe he must be brought back from the fit with medication

Billy's mum Charlotte is campaigning for her son to be able to keep his prescription for cannabis oil

Charlotte Caldwell is fighting for her son's life as she fears his next seizure will be fatal. The Government recently stopped his prescriptions for cannabis oil

Cannabis oil containing THC has kept a boy from having near-fatal seizures up to 100 times per day

Ms Caldwell has described the 'horrific' seizures endured by her son, fearing the next one will be fatal.

She told MailOnline: 'Billy's seizures are silent. I call them the silent killers.

'He has status epilepsy which means he can't come round from the seizure on his own, he needs medicine and oxygen because he starts turning blue. One seizure can kill him. If it doesn't work I have to call 999.

'Our house is 50 minutes from the hospital and they begin working on him in the back of the ambulance.

'When we arrive I can't go in and I have to sit outside while they give him medicine to try and bring him back.

'The nurses are so lovely, they come and give me updates, and they tell me 'we don't know if we'll get him back this time'.

'One seizure lasted seven-and-a-half hours a few years back.'

Billy Caldwell, now 11, suffered seizures which lasted up to 7.5 hours before he began using cannabis oil

Billy, who also has high spectrum autism has improved dramatically since taking the oil, with his focus and balance also coming on leaps.

However his mum has said it is not a magic cure, and she is only campaigning for medicinal use of cannabis not recreational.

Ms Caldwell says she has been left 'gobsmacked' by the government decision, which could see her lose her son to a seizure.

She said: 'When he started the treatment the duration of his seizures started to reduce they started getting shorter.

'Then the number of seizures he was having reduced until Billy was seizure free'

'I want to be clear  I would never say my son is cured.

'But I want to say medicinal cannabis has given me back my right as a mother to hope for my son, and it has given my son back his right to life. Please don't take that away from us.

'We are just appealing for an individual from the Home Office to meet with us now.

'It wasn't a computer that made this decision

'All I am saying is let's sit down and talk  I think that is reasonable.

'We have a solution. I have been working extremely hard with researchers on legislation for medicinal cannabis.'

Conservative MPs Crispin Blunt and GP and MP Dan Poulter have each met with Charlotte in Westminster.

What is Tetrahydrocannabinol? Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is one of 113 cannabinoids (diverse chemical compounds) identified in cannabis. THC is psychoactive and is the part of the class-B plant which provides the high. Cannabis oil which contains only Cannabidiol, or CBD, is legal to buy. However, most patients with severe forms of epilepsy need both THC and CBD combined. Advertisement

They have both given her a 'positive response' and the mother is hopeful she will soon get to see the Home Secretary.

Recently politicians have indicated a change across the front and back benches in terms of cannabis reform.

Charities across the nation are also calling for change.

Genevieve Edwards, the MS Society's director of external affairs said cannabis could help around 10,000 people with multiple sclerosis to relieve pain and muscle spasms when other treatments haven't worked.

She said: 'Because Sativex, a licensed treatment derived from cannabis, is rarely available on the NHS, many people with MS feel forced to turn to illegal forms of cannabis.

'It's wrong that people are driven to breaking the law to relieve these relentless symptoms. Other countries offer a safe and legal way to access cannabis for medicinal use. It's time we did too.'

This week, Members of the Royal College of Nursing voted overwhelmingly in favour of lobbying the Government to change the law around the drug.

Billy's mum is now asking for help from GPs and parents to sign an open letter to the Government to help her son.
After stripping off for a spot of topless scything, Aidan Turner became the heartthrob of Poldark.

But the BBC1 dramas star will be given a run for his money when series four starts next month, with a new hunk set to come between Ross Poldark and his wife Demelza.

Max Bennett, 33, will play villainous MP Monk Adderley who takes a particular interest in Demelza, played by Eleanor Tomlinson.

Heartthrob Ross Poldark carrying his wife Demelza from the sea in the popular BBC1 drama

Ross and his wife have already cheated on each other, with Demelza kissing naval officer Hugh Armitage, played by Burberry model Josh Whitehouse, in the final episode of series three.

It came after she was told that Ross had kissed Elizabeth Warleggan, his first love and former fiancee.

Adderley, a former Army captain, is expected to cause even more trouble with the couple, being described as an unscrupulous society figure who is on a collision course with the Poldarks.

Bennett, who is a Cambridge-educated former head boy, is relatively unknown, having appeared mainly in West End productions.

Villainous MP Monk Adderley who takes a particular interest in Poldark's wife Demelza

He said of his character: His interest is particularly piqued by Demelza and that is where the collision course occurs.

'Apart from being beautiful, Demelza is very unusual in his social circle, she is an outsider and that is intriguing to him.

On his manipulative side, he said: He also just likes playing with people so having a new and slightly naive person on the scene is fun for him and is also a chance to stick the knife in with Ross.

Ross and Demelza. The pair have already cheated on each other in previous episodes

Writer Debbie Horsfield described Bennetts character as a vibrant and exotic new addition and warned that he will have a major impact on the lives of Ross and Demelza.

She said: Monk Adderley is famed for his duelling and his scandalous affairs. He is utterly without conscience or loyalty and takes a twisted pleasure in wreaking havoc in the lives of others.

Harry Richardson will return as Demelzas brother Drake Carne. Off-screen, the actor is thought to be in a relationship with Miss Tomlinson, who this week said she should be paid the same as star Turner, arguing that while he was the bigger name when the series began, they are both now co-leads.
Thousands of drivers have escaped millions on dollars in speeding and red light fines after a bug wiped out cameras and shut down the system.

About 70,000 motorists avoided being hit with hefty penalties after the WannaCry computer virus broke road cameras across Victoria for three weeks.

About 55 state-wide traffic cameras were dysfunctional in June 2017 after the same bug previously causing chaos around the globe.

About 70,000 drivers have escaped millions in speeding and red light fines after a bug wiped out cameras across Victoria (stock image)

About $19 million in revenue was lost in penalties after computer virus, WannaCry, broke road cameras across Victoria for three weeks

Police Minister Lisa Neville said $19 million was lost during the lengthy shut-down which could disadvantage the state.

'It is ugly and that money goes straight back into road improvements ... but at the same time if people don't trust the system ... then we have a major issue,' Ms Neville told 3AW.

The traffic cameras were switched off leaving the state vulnerable and unaware.

'We were played as fools - the government was played as fools,' 3AW's Neil Mitchell claimed.

'We don't know what happened, almost a year on.'

The bug reportedly infested the network, which is operated by three companies, when a staffer used an infected USB.

Police Minister Lisa Neville (pictured) described the incident as 'ugly' because the lengthy shut down could disadvantage the state through 'road improvements'

The systematic service left the virus spreading to dozens of the 280 road cameras.

The virus encrypts files on the computers and blocks their access unless a ransom payment in bitcoin is paid to decrypt them.

The bug has previously impacted high-profile systems around the world including Britain's National Health Service.

An Office of the Road Safety Camera Commissioner report claimed the WannaCry infection did not 'affect the integrity of speed and red light camera infringements'.

'There is no evidence of any infringement data being in any way compromised,' the report stated.
Pro-EU supporters are being trained to 'ruthlessly' target MPs in a series of nationwide roadshows aimed at stopping Brexit, the Daily Mail has claimed.

The Best for Britain campaign, which is backed by billionaire George Soros, is allegedly using the events to highlight ways activists can 'press the right buttons' to frighten politicians into voting against leaving Europe.

The strategy reportedly includes getting negative stories about MPs in the local and national papers because these will 'get to them on a personal level'.

It also encourages mass phone-ins and letter-writing campaigns to get MPs with slim majorities into believing they will lose their seat if they support Brexit, the paper claims.

Best for Britain, which is being backed by George Soros (pictured), is reportedly getting supporters to target MPs in a bid to stop Brexit

Activists are told: 'Like anyone, an MP is worried about keeping their job.

'This is a very personal motivator, and raising uncertainty in their mind about this can have an enormous impact on their actions.'

Supporters are also encouraged to stop people in the street and try to convince them to lobby their MP on the issue.

The details of the anti-Brexit roadshows come after the Mail was given leaked papers that show Best for Britain has launched a six-month plan to stop the UK leaving the EU.

The group, which aims to spend 5.6 million on the campaign, plans to contradict whatever final agreement Theresa May strikes with Brussels  arguing it is 'not what we voted for'.

A key part of the campaign is a series of so-called 'Barnstorming' events in halls and schools around the country.

Pro-Remain group Best for Britain is planning to thwart Brexit with a 5.6million campaign, the Daily Mail claimed a leaked dossier reveals yesterday

Meetings have already been held in Bedford, Glasgow, Stirling, Bangor, Dudley and Exeter and further events are planned in Canterbury, Reading and Scotland next month, the Mail reports.

A 'guide to fighting Brexit' handed out this week at the event in Bedford, where Labour MP Mohammad Yasin has a majority of just 789, said the main objective is to make it is possible for MPs to 'come out in support of No Brexit and still win re-election'.

It added: 'Conversely, where those MPs will perhaps never support a No Brexit position, it is our job to ruthlessly campaign against them.'

One of the techniques encouraged was making phone calls 'en masse' during 'phone-in parties' where hundreds of people phone MPs' offices and urge them to publicly support a No Brexit option.

A similar tactic is advised for a letter-writing campaign, with organisers stressing 'it's more impactful if they all arrive on the same day'.

Campaigners are also allegedly encouraged to convert Brexiteers to the Remain side by organising a 'neutral persuasion event'.

Best for Britain was launched last April ahead of the snap general election. It was fronted by Gina Miller (pictured), who took the Government to court over Brexit

The events organiser, who previously worked for a MP, said: 'We do a lot of work behind the scenes, talking to MPs directly about where their vote is, but at a local level providing a large group of very vocal constituents that they know vote, it can only help tip them over the balance.

'If they see they've got a majority in Bedford of 700 and something, so if you can find 800 people to write in, and they know those 800 people vote, that's their majority gone.'

Another technique was encouraging 'bad press' about MPs in the local papers by writing to the letters page, he said.

'MPs are absolutely certain to read the local paper and the opinions of the local paper and a prominent story in the local paper is definitely going to make them spend an afternoon worrying about how they respond.'

Best for Britain was launched last April ahead of the snap general election.

It was fronted by Gina Miller, who took the Government to court over Brexit, but quit in June last year and later criticised the group's hardline tactics.

It has accepted a 400,000 donation from Mr Soros, the Hungarian-born financier who bet against sterling on Black Wednesday in 1992  earning him 1 billion.

He then promised 100,000 more, matching a crowdfunding push, and later gave another 300,000.

Board members include Lord Malloch-Brown, who was a foreign minister under Gordon Brown, and chief executive Eloise Todd, who worked in Brussels for Bono's charity ONE.

It has been putting up billboards around the country calling for a second vote.

On its website, Best for Britain declares: 'We are fighting to keep the UK open to EU membership.

'Because that is what's Best for Britain. We are working to make sure citizens of the UK can make a fully-informed decision on the future of our country, in or out of Europe.

'The biggest decision on Brexit is yet to come: whether we should accept or reject the final deal.'

The documents revealed by the Mail yesterday said the group's strategic goals included 'stop Brexit' and 'win a people's vote to stay and lead in Europe'.

It sets out a three-pronged strategy to persuade 'soft' Leave voters to change their minds, mobilise hardline Remainers into action, and shift the Labour Party into an anti-Brexit stance.

The documents say: 'We've raised 2.4 million, we need another 3.2 million. Our activity is essentially scalable  how many we reach is directly proportional to what we can spend.'

Miss Todd said: 'We believe in training people to campaign in their areas, contact their MPs and try and persuade them that there is a better future for Britain if we stay in the EU.

'If some Brexiteer MPs are worried to hear from their voters and fear trying to defend their discredited case for Brexit, then maybe politics is not for them.'
Nathan Carman (pictured) has been accused of murdering his wealthy grandfather in 2013

A 24-year-old man accused of shooting his grandfather dead for inheritance money said there's no way he would have done it because the elderly man was already supporting him financially.

Court documents unsealed on Wednesday reveal Nathan Carman, 24, had his rent, utilities and education paid for by his grandfather John Chakalos up until the 87-year-old was murdered in December 2013.

He has been accused of killing Chakalos by his three aunts, who are in a bitter court battle over the multi-millionaire property developer's estate.

His aunts filed a 'slayer action' against him, a legal instrument designed to ensure someone who kills can not profit from their victim's estate.

But Carman, who has maintained his innocence throughout the bitter feud, says the generous financial support he had been receiving provided him with no reason to murder Chakalos.

In court documents served to a New Hampshire judge, Carman says if anything, he has lost out financially as a result of his grandfather's death.

Carman says as well as the 'love and personal support for each other which my grandfather and I shared in our [familial] relationship', he had been bestowed with countless financial and social benefits.

The 24-year-old wrote in newly released court documents he had no incentive to murder the man, who had been very generously supporting him financially with housing, schooling and spending money

John Chakalos (right) paid Carman's rent, utilities, furniture renal and provided a credit card with a $5,000 limit on it, which the 87-year-old paid off monthly. Chakalos was a multimillionaire property developer

'My relationship with my grandfather represented the best personal opportunity for personal and professional growth which I had ever had,' he wrote.

'It held the promise of future opportunities to receive financial support if I should ask or should the need arise, as well as opportunities to be introduced to and develop relationships with high level business leaders and other distinguished individuals.

'These benefits were ongoing at the time of my grandfather's death.'

Carman had his rent of $2,400, as well as the lease of his furniture - totaling more than $1,000 a month - and utilities including cable television, paid by Chakalos every month.

The young man was given a credit card with a $5,000 limit which was paid off every month, and gifted a Nissan pickup truck worth $20,000.

He claimed Chakalos had also offered to pay his living and educational expenses for the remainder of his schooling before his death, a promise that went unfulfilled as a result of his shooting.

Carman revealed in his statement that his grandfather had initially offered to purchase him a brand new Ford F-150 pickup truck, with a value of $50,000.

Chakalos was shot dead in 2013 on the same night he had dinner with Carman, but the 24-year-old was never criminally charged over the death

Carman has also been accused of drowning his mother Linda in 2016 after their fishing boat sank and he was the only person to make it to a life boat

He claims the offer was retracted after 'angry and persistent criticism from my aunts Valerie and Elaine', who were upset the value of the car far exceeded the value of a car purchased by Chakalos for his cousin.

Carman is also the sole heir to his mother Linda Carman, 54, who went missing after the pair went on a fishing trip in September 2016.

He claimed the boat 'Chicken Pox' sank and he had spent a week floating in a life raft in the North Atlantic sea. Neither his mother nor their boat were ever found.

Carman has denied killing both his mother and his grandfather, and has not been criminally charged over their deaths.

As police executed a search warrant on his apartment in 2014, one neighbor told police Carman was 'a time bomb waiting to go off', and another referred to him as 'murder boy', based on their personal experience with him.

One officer also spoke with family members, who claimed they were so concerned for their personal safety they had hired private armed security details for their homes.

The pair had gone on a fishing trip together and neither Carman's mother nor their boat has ever been found
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North Korea released fresh images of what it says was the demolition of a nuclear test site on the same day it expressed regret over President Donald Trump's decision to cancel a June 12 summit with ruler Kim Jong-un.

North Korea on Friday said it was still willing to talk to the United States 'any time in any form' after Trump's announcement, a decision Pyongyang described as 'extremely regrettable'.

North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister said Kim had been preparing for the talks and expressed surprise at the cancellation.

The second tunnel and an observatory of Punggye-ri nuclear test ground is blown up during the dismantlement process in Punggye-ri

A photo taken on May 24, 2018 shows a general view of a dust cloud surrounding the area near the entrance to a tunnel at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test facility

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the completed Koam-Tapchon Railways in Gangwon-do, North Korea in this photo released by Pyongyang today

'The abrupt announcement of the cancellation of the meeting is unexpected for us and we cannot but find it extremely regrettable,' Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister, said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

'We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem,' Kim added.

President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming 'open hostility' from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any 'foolish or reckless acts'.

In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, following what the White House called a 'trail of broken promises' by the North.

In his Friday statement, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim said the North Korean leader had been preparing for the summit to go ahead.

'Our Chairman (Kim Jong-un) had also said a meeting with President Trump would create a good beginning and had been putting effort into preparations for it,' Kim said.

The above photo shows the entrance to a nuclear test tunnel at North Korea's Punggye-ri test facility

A photo taken on May 24, 2018 shows the entrance to a nuclear test tunnel at North Korea's Punggye-ri test facility prior to its demolition

It is not known to what extent the northeastern Punggye-ri facility has been demolished, but foreign journalists invited to witness the destruction described a series of 'huge explosions'

The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were reportedly centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area

A North Korean soldier stands guard in front of the third tunnel of Punggye-ri nuclear test ground before it is blown up during the dismantlement process

Rocks cover the entrance of a second tunnel at the Punggye-ri nuclear test ground

The remains of the day: People inspect the ruins of a structure in the aftermath of an explosion at an entrance tunnel during the first day of dismantling

Documenting: Journalists look around the third tunnels of Punggye-ri nuclear test ground before it is blown up

Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North's nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb

North Korean soldiers close the gate of the third tunnel of Punggye-ri nuclear test ground before it is blown up

Experts are divided over whether the demolition will render the site useless

A loud of dust rises from the gate after an explosion during the first day of dismantling at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site in Punggye-ri

Blown up: This satellite image from yesterday shows the Punggye-ri test site in North Korea, which has now reportedly been demolished

The chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face between Trump and Kim had recently been thrown into doubt, with the U.S. President pointing a finger a China for the change in tone.

On Thursday, Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric by attacking US Vice President Mike Pence as 'ignorant and stupid'.

That broadside appeared to hit a nerve with Trump, leading to him abruptly pulling out of the talks.

'Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,' read Trump's letter to Kim, which was dictated word-for-word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official.

Earlier this week Trump appeared to blame Beijing for what he perceived as a 'change in attitude' from Kim, who visited China three weeks ago and met President Xi Jinping.

'There was a difference when Kim Jong Un left China the second time,' Trump said. 'There was a different attitude after that meeting and I was a little surprised.

China has today urged the United States and North Korea to be patient and 'show goodwill'.

'The recent easing situation on the peninsula is hard won, the political settlement process is faced with a rare historic opportunity,' foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular press conference.

'Under the current circumstances we hope both the DPRK and the US can cherish the recent positive progress, stay patient, show goodwill, move in the same direction and continue to stay committed to promoting the denuclearisation of the peninsula,' Lu said, using North Korea's official initials.

Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had 'completely' dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.

President Donald Trump said Thursday at the White House that a nuclear summit with North Korea's dictator, which he had canceled hours earlier, might still take place  but he warned Kim Jong-un that America's military might stands ready to keep him in check

Kim was to meet with Trump on June 12 in Singapore but Trump called off the meeting in a strongly worded letter after a North Korean official hurled insults at Vice President Mike Pence

While the photos of Kim inspecting the railways were released today, it is not known when they were taken

'You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never be used,' Trump wrote to Kim

It is not known to what extent the northeastern Punggye-ri facility has been demolished, but foreign journalists invited to witness the destruction described a series of 'huge explosions'.

The explosions at the nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were reportedly centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area.

'There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud,' Sky News' Tom Cheshire, who was among the journalists invited, wrote on the British broadcaster's web site.

Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North's nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Experts are divided over whether the demolition will render the site useless.

Skeptics say the facility has already outlived its usefulness with six successful nuclear tests in the bag and can be quickly rebuilt if needed.

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, also told Vice News that North Korea has two further tunnel complexes running into adjacent mountains that are undamaged from previous tests.

North Korea also did not invite any independent observers, raising speculation that it was simply destroying evidence of its nuclear program with the blessing of the United States.

This is also not the first time that North Korea has demolished one of its nuclear facilities without hampering the country's progress in building a nuclear bomb.

A North Korean airport official is seen guiding South Korean journalists upon their arrival at North Korea's Kalma airport in Wonsan yesterday

In 2008, a cooling tower at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center was demolished in front of the eyes of the world's media.

The tower was part of the complex that produced polonium used in the country's first nuclear test, and at the time was seen as a symbolic move toward disarmament.

Youngbyon had ceased operating the year before after a series of complex negotiations between North Korea, China and the US.

But it is believed North Korea only closed the site having enriched enough material for several nuclear tests, only to reopen it years later when it needed more.

The country claimed to have restarted the site in 2015, and in 2016 the International Atomic Energy Agency agreed that the plant was probably operational.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-in (seen left with Trump at the White House on Tuesday) says he's 'very perplexed' that the U.S.-North Korea summit won't go ahead as planned

Meanwhile, South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he's 'very perplexed' that the U.S.-North Korea summit won't go ahead as planned.

Yonhap news agency cited Moon as urging direct talks between Trump and Kim.

Moon was speaking at an emergency meeting of his top security officials in Seoul after Trump announced he was canceling the summit because of North Korean 'hostility.'

Moon was quoted as saying: 'I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-U.S. summit will not be held on June 12.'

He said, 'Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed.'

Moon met Trump in Washington on Tuesday, but appeared caught unawares by the president's decision Thursday.

'Ready to fight TONIGHT': Trump's Pentagon ramps up the rhetoric and he boasts of 'massive' nuclear arsenal after canceling North Korea summit with Kim - even though he says talks might still happen

President Donald Trump's Pentagon issued a warning to North Korea late Thursday, hours after he canceled a planned nuclear disarmament summit, that U.S. forces are ready 'to fight tonight'.

Pentagon joint staff director Gen. Kenneth McKenzie told reporters that American military forces in South Korea are in 'a high state of vigilance,' adding that the U.S. is always prepared to respond to provocations from Kim Jong-un's dictatorship 'because they have proven to be unpredictable in the past.'

He spoke hours after Trump himself used a letter to Kim to tell him he was walking away from the talks, and said: 'You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never be used.'

President Donald Trump said Thursday at the White House that a nuclear summit with North korea's dictator, which he had canceled hours earlier, might still take place  but he warned Kim Jong-un that America's military might stands ready to keep him in check

Trump later warned Kim Jong-un that the United States military stands ready to jump into the breach if he tries anything 'foolish.'

'Hopefully everything's going to work out well with North Korea, and a lot of things can happen, including the fact that perhaps  and we'd wait  it's possible that the existing summit could take place or a summit at some later date,' Trump said before a bill-signing event in the White House's Roosevelt Room.

'Nobody should be anxious,' he counseled. 'We have to get it right.'

Moments earlier he declared that he had 'decided to terminate' the meeting and challenged dictator the dictator Kim to scrap his nuclear ambitions in favor of joining the civilized world and escaping the West's economic stranglehold.

'All of the Korean people, North and South, deserve to be able to live together in harmony, prosperity and peace,' Trump said, but 'that bright and beautiful future can only happen when the threat of nuclear weapons is removed. No way it can happen otherwise.'

'If and when Kim Jong-un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, I am waiting,' he continued, punctuating the last three words.

Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana White (left) and Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie (right) told reporters Thursday that America's armed forces are locked and loaded, and ready to strike North Korea if called upon

'In the meantime, our very strong sanctions, by far the strongest sanctions ever imposed, and maximum pressure campaign, will continue as it has been continuing.'

Trump's letter to Kim on Thursday boasted of America's gargantuan nuclear arsenal, and he drove the point home at the White House.

'I've spoke to General Mattis and the Joint Chiefs of Staff,' he said. 'And our military, which is by far the most powerful anywhere the world  that has been greatly enhanced recently, as you all know  is ready if necessary.'

'Likewise I have spoken to South Korea and Japan, and they are not only ready should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea, but they are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any of the costs associated by the the United States, in operations if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us.'

'Hopefully, positive things will be taking place with respect to the future of North Korea,' Trump told an audience of one watching in Pyongyang. 'But if they don't, we are more ready than we have ever been before.'

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told reporters that the Defense Department represents one prong of Trump's 'maximum pressure' strategy, which combines economic sanctions, diplomatic tension and the weight of a constant military presence.

'We are ready to fight tonight. That's always been the case,' said White.
George Osborne has taken his eighth job after joining a major European investment firm.

The former chancellor, 47, will work for Exor, a multi-million pound holding company which controls the Fiat car empire.

It is not known how much he will be paid, or how many days a year he will commit to it.

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has just taken his eighth new job

Mr Osborne, who stepped down from Parliament last year, is also editor of the Evening Standard newspaper and an adviser to investment management firm BlackRock.

He is also chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, a fellow at US think tank the McCain Institute, and an unpaid honorary professor of economics at the University of Manchester.

And he makes regular after-dinner speeches around the world for the Washington Speakers Bureau, for which he is understood to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

Last year Mr Osborne, 47, took his seventh position, distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution in California.

On top of being editor of the London Evening Standard, Mr Osborne (pictured) will now work for Exor, a multi-million pound holding company which controls the Fiat car empire

For his one-day-a-week post at BlackRock, he earns no less than 650,000 a year and was criticised for taking the job over concerns that the Wall Street firm may have benefited from reforms to pensions rules made when he was chancellor.

Exor, which is registered in the Netherlands, is controlled by Italy's Agnelli family and has investments in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Ferrari.

HIS 7 OTHER HATS Editor of London Evening Standard Advisor to investment management firm BlackRock (650,000 a year for one day a week) Chairman of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Fellow at US think tank the McCain Institute Honorary professor of economics at the University of Manchester Regular after-dinner speeches for the Washington Speakers Bureau (more than 500,000 a year) Distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution Advertisement

Mr Osborne will chair the firm's 'partners council', which brings together highly successful business leaders representing a wide range of companies, nationalities, backgrounds and experiences.

It will include senior figures from investors GG and Index Ventures, consultants BMGI and Chinese internet company Alibaba.

In a statement, he said: 'I am delighted to have been asked to chair this impressive panel of business leaders.

'They bring a wealth of experience from different industries and geographies. I look forward to chairing discussions that I am sure will provide useful insights and ideas for Exor and its companies.'

John Elkann, chairman and chief executive of Exor, said: 'Our partners council offers the opportunity to exchange ideas and explore ways in which to collaborate with friends and partners.

'I'm delighted that as chairman, George Osborne will bring his unique knowledge and viewpoint to the council's work.'

Before taking the job, it would have been signed off by the watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.
Michael Templeton, 31, (pictured) had ice in his system when he killed a father-of-six Kari-Pekka- Maunus in March last year

A truck driver who crushed a father-of-six to death with his 15 tonne vehicle claims the accident happened because he was reaching for a can of coke.

Michael Templeton, 31, has pleaded guilty to killing Kari-Pekka Maunus when he drove over the top of the 49-year-old father's Toyota Hilux in his freight truck.

Blood tests revealed the Victorian truck driver had ice in his system but rather than blame intoxication he told his psychologist he crashed because he was reaching for a drink.

The court heard he was driving erratically before he approached slow traffic on the Calder Freeway at Taylors Lakes in March last year.

Templeton was speeding in the 80km/h zone before he drove over the top of the Mr Maunus vehicle.

Widow Mia Maunus (pictured right with Kari) described the truck driver's actions as 'selfish and reckless'

Mr Maunus was killed instantly in the horrific accident.

Widow, Mia Maunus described the truck driver's actions as 'selfish and reckless'.

'You were prepared to risk the lives of others to serve your own needs,' Nine News reported.

The fatal accident happened o at Taylors Lakes, Victoria after peak-hour traffic backed-up on the Calder Freeway.

During the plea hearing at Melbourne's Magistrate Court, Templeton sobbed and whispered 'sorry' throughout.

The court determined he was remorseful as he attempted to take his own life after the crash.

Templeton pleaded guilty on Thursday to culpable driving which could result in a maximum 20 years sentence.

The freight driver will be sentenced next week.
An Australian grandmother sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia for drug trafficking says she was the victim of a love scam run by a US soldier.

Maria Elivra Pinto Exposto, 54, from Sydney's west, was given the death penalty on Thursday after a Malaysian appeals court reversed an earlier acquittal.

Ms Exposto's lawyers said they plan to appeal the verdict, but if the challenge is unsuccessful she will become the first Australian executed in Malaysian in 25 years.

The grandmother and mother-of-four claimed she was duped by a mystery American who asked her to carry a bag containing 1.5kg of methamphetamine.

She said she had fallen for a complex online romance scam that tricked her into believing she was in a two-year-relationship with a 'Captain Daniel Smith'.

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Maria Elivra Pinto Exposto (pictured), 54, from Sydney's west, was given the death penalty on Thursday after a Malaysian appeals court reversed an earlier acquittal

An Australian grandmother (pictured) sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia for drug trafficking says she was the victim of a love scam run by a US soldier

Ms Exposto voluntarily offered her bags for customs inspection and the drugs were discovered (pictured)

'Smith' allegedly told Ms Exposto he was a Special Forces soldier based in Afghanistan.

Ms Exposto said 'Smith' told her he was leaving the military and needed her to pick up his discharge papers and take them to the US embassy in Australia.

She said she flew to Shanghai and received a bag from his 'friends' she thought contained the papers and clothes, but had the drugs hidden in the lining.

'He made me feel loved, he made me feel wanted,' Ms Exposto told the previous court hearing, saying the alleged US serviceman would send her photos of himself.

'Smith would sing to me a few times a day and send love poems as well,' she added.

Ms Exposto said 'Smith' had also asked to marry her in September 2013 at a time when her relationship with her husband was getting 'a bit sour'.

Exposto was initially found cleared of any wrongdoing but on Thursday an appeals court overturned the verdict and sentenced her to death

Relations between Australia and Malaysia soured under Mahathir after the hanging of Australian drug runners Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers (pictured) in 1986

She and her husband have since separated, and the couple were planning to divorce before Ms Exposto's arrest.

Australians who faced the death penalty in Malaysia 1986 - Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers from Perth hanged for heroin trafficking 1993 - Sydney barman Michael McAuliffe hanged after serving eight years in jail for heroin trafficking 2013 - Dominic Bird, 34, acquitted after being charged with allegedly selling drugs to undercover officer Advertisement

Ms Exposto was caught with the drugs in Kuala Lumpur in December 2014, while on her way back from an attempted meeting with 'Smith' in Shanghai.

After failing to meet her supposed love interest in Shanghai she ended up being given a bag by a stranger, who asked her to take it to Melbourne.

When she arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to change flights, she mistakenly went through immigration as she was unfamiliar with the airport.

She voluntarily offered her bags for customs inspection and the drugs were discovered.

Exposto's lawyer, Tania Scivetti, said a three-member appeals court 'found there was merit' in the prosecution's appeal, though it didn't say on what grounds.

Ms Exposto's (pictured) lawyers said they plan to appeal the verdict, but if the challenge is unsuccessful she will become the first Australian executed in Malaysian in 25 years

The grandmother and mother-of-four (pictured) told officials she was on her way back from Shangahi where she met a US serviceman with whom she had an online romance

She said Exposto was shocked but calm.

'It's disappointing as there was clear evidence that she was the victim of an Internet romance scam. She was a drug mule,' Scivetti said

Ms Scivetti said the decision will be appealed in Malaysia's top court.

Malaysia has a mandatory death sentence for anyone found guilty of carrying more than 50grams of a prohibited drug.

The prosecution in the appeal argued Exposto had been wilfully blind, that her defence was made up and she had engaged in a 'sly game'.

Australian grandmother Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto pictured in a Malaysian court in 2017

Her lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah responded by telling the court that Exposto was an innocent carrier hoodwinked by an internet romance scam.

After her acquittal in December last year, Scivetti said Exposto was immediately arrested by immigration officials as her visa had expired.

Following the prosecution's appeal, she remained in custody because she couldn't afford to pay bail.

Exposto was handcuffed in court where she was consoled by her lawyers and Australian Embassy officials after the verdict.

Shafee Abdullah, told Exposto Thursday's sentencing was a temporary setback and said 'you will win and you will walk away' following a further appeal.

Australian Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto arrives at the magistrates court in Sepang, near Kuala Lumpur on January 23, 2015

Ms Exposto (pictured in 2015) claimed she was the victim of a set-up after she was found with the drugs in her bag after arriving on a flight from China in 2014

He said a new appeal will be lodged in the Federal Court on Friday.

'It's the most shocking decision ever,' Shafee said.

'It's a perverse judgment, no reasons were provided.

'The High Court judge examined every detail in the evidence and in today's decision they simply reversed the decision without reason and sentenced her to death.'

He also said there remains the prospect that the case could become politicised given the return of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to the helm of Malaysian politics.

Australian national Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto is escorted by Malaysian customs officials as she arrives at the Magistrate Court in Sepang on April 30, 2015

Relations between Australia and Malaysia soured under Mahathir after the hanging of Australian drug runners Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers in 1986.

'That's a danger because Mahathir still holds a peculiar view of Australia,' Shafee said.

In a statement on Thursday evening Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said 'Australia opposes the death penalty in all circumstances for all people'.

She said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would continue to provide full consular assistance to Ms Exposto in Malaysia following the overturning of her acquittal and imposition of the death sentence.

Ms Exposto (pictured) claims she was asked to carry a bag full of clothes, but was unaware it also contained 1.5kg of crystal meth

There are at least 900 people on death row in Malaysia, officials have said, but executions have been rare in recent years.

Malaysian lawmakers have voted to amend legislation so that capital punishment is no longer mandatory in drug-trafficking cases.

But the changes have not yet come into force as they must be passed by the upper house.

Michael McAuliffe was hanged for heroin trafficking in Malaysia in 1993, following Barlow and Chambers - the first Westerners to be executed in the country.

In 2013 Dominic Bird, a former truck driver from Perth, was acquitted of drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with 167 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
Attorneys for the Eastern District of New York have made a surprise filing in federal court as they continued to gather evidence in their case against Nxivm.

A verified complaint was submitted on Wednesday in which the prosecution announced that they would like to seize property from the home of cult founder Keith Raniere as well as the townhouse owned by Allison Mack.

Raniere's property, which has been referred to in some court documents as 'the library,' is where he is accused of having sex with up to 20 woman who served as his slaves inside the Nxivm cult.

Those slaves would then return to Mack's home, with the founder's number two housing the woman when they were in town according to federal court filings.

Both homes are approximately 15 miles away from Nxivm's main campus and located in the town of Halfmoon, just a few blocks away from one another.

Seizing season: A complaint was filed by federal prosecutors looking to seize all property from the upstate homes of Allison Mack ajnd Keith Rainiere

Masters: The filing in the case also identified Lauren Salzman as a slave master in the cult (above with Allison Mack in front of Mack's house)

Brothel: The sex lair where Raniere had sex with a harem of 20 women he ordered to remain monogamous to him

Federal prosecutors are looking to seize anything from the properties which would support the charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit false labor.

Both Mack and Raniere have been indicted on two counts of trafficking and one of forced labor, with the two looking at sentences of 15 years to life.

The complaint outlines some of the reasons that prosecutors believe they might be able to seize vital evidence from the properties while revealing new details about the cult.

It starts off however with outlining the DOS faction that Raniere set-up with Mack back in 2015, a group in which he was the lone male.

'Based on information obtained during the course of this investigation, since ESP's founding, Raniere has maintained a rotating group of 15 to 20 women with whom he maintains sexual relationships,' states the complaint.

'These women are not permitted to have sexual relationships with anyone but Raniere or to discuss with others their relationships with Raniere.'

It goes on to note: 'Some of the Nxivm curriculum includes teachings about the need for men to have multiple sexual partners and the need for women to be monogamous.'

The document also details the ways in which Mack and Raniere allegedly made sure that their slaves would be loyal.

'From the time of its inception through in or about Spring 2017, DOS masters recruited slaves mostly from within Nxivm 's ranks,' reads the court filing.

'When identifying prospective slaves, masters often targeted women who were currently experiencing difficulties in their lives, including dissatisfaction with the pace of their advancement in Nxivm.

'While avoiding the words "master" and "slave" in the initial recruiting pitch, a master would tell her prospective slave that the prospective slave had an opportunity to join an organization that would change her life.

'The master then told the prospective slave that, in order to learn more, she had to provide 'collateral,' which was meant to ensure that the prospective slave would keep what she was about to learn a secret.

'Collateral consisted of material or information that the prospective slave would not want revealed because. it would be ruinous to the prospectiveslave herself and/or someone close to her.'

Among the forms of collateral that were provided by the women were 'sexually explicit photographs; videos made to look candid in which the prospective slaves told damning stories (true or untrue) about themselves, close friends and/or family members; and letters making damaging accusations (true or untrue) against friends and family members and assigning the rights to certain assets.'

Prosecutors then name a second woman they claim is a slave master, Lauren Salzman.

Raniere is currently facing 15-year-to-life in porison

A branding scar on a Nxivm member

There is also more information given about the witnesses in the case, which further spell out some of Mack's actions.

'In or about February 2016, Mack invited Jane Doe 1 to join a "womens mentorship group," but asked that Mack first provide collateral. At Macks direction, Jane Doe 1 wrote letters detailing false and highly damaging accusations against her family members. Once Jane Doe 1 had.provided this collateral, Mack told her about DOS, referring to it as "The Vow,"' states the filing.

'Jane Doe 1 agreed to become Macks slave, provided more collateral (eventually including her credit card numbers with letters granting Mack permission to use the numbers to make charges) and began receiving assignments.'

It added: 'Throughout her time in DOS, Jane Doe 1 was living in Brooklyn, New York. Mack ordered Jane Doe 1 to travel to Halfmoon nearly every week from Brooklyn.'

Special Agent Michael Lever states that Raniere came up with the idea for Nxivm's DOS program during the summer of 2015.

A woman by the name of CC-1, who was revealed to be Mack in subsequent filings, was his first 'slave,' and provided 'colateral' which guaranteed she would remain faithful to him by providing Raniere with damning material.

'CC-1s email was titled "vow 3" and included an attached letter. The letter pledged CC-1s "full and complete life" to 14 RANIERE,' reads the complaint.

'In the letter, CC-1 used the terms "slave" and "master" to refer to herself and RANIERE. Moreover, the letter identified "collateral" to "cement" the vow made by CC-1.

'This collateral was described as: (1) a letter regarding CC-1 's mother and father that would "destroy their character"; (2) a contract that transferred custody of any children birthed by CC-1 to RANIERE if CC-1 broke her commitment to RANIERE; (3) a contract that transferred ownership of CC-1 's home if the commitment to RANIERE was broken; and (4) a letter addressed to social services alleging abuse to CC-1 's nephews.'

It is not clear if any of the claims made in those letters were true.

Soon, CC-1 was recruiting slaves of her own and filling out the pyramid that Raniere had hoped to create, selecting Jane Doe 1 as one of these women.

Jane Doe 1 stated that her first meeting with Raniere ended with the leader questioning her devotion, but soon things took a bizarre turn.

'The next night CC-1 again received a text message from RANIERE, woke Jane Doe 1 in the middle of the night and assigned her to meet RANIERE and tell him she would do anything he asked her to do. Jane Doe 1 did as she was assigned, and RANIERE led her to a house across the street,' reads the complaint.

'RANIERE directed her to remove all her clothes and made comments about her naked body. RANIERE then blindfolded Jane Doe 1, led her into a car and drove her around in a manner that made Jane Doe 1 believe RANIERE was trying to prevent her from knowing where they were going. '

RANIERE led, Jane Doe 1, still blindfolded, through some trees, into what she believed was a shack, and tied her to a table.

'Another person in the room, who Jane Doe 1 did not previously know was present, began performing oral sex on Jane Doe 1 as RANIERE circled the table making comments.

'Jane Doe 1 did not want to participate in this sexual activity, but believed it was 17 part of her commitment to DOS and that if she broke her commitment to DOS her collateral could be released.'

Mack's compound

Raniere's home

Jane Doe 1 said that she then began to frequently have sex with Raniere while also frequently posing nude for CC-1, who on one occasion sent 'close-up pictures of [her slaves'] vaginas' to Raniere.

This was not the only task Jane Doe 1 had to undertake, as she was also responsible for reading, reviewing and editing Raniere's writings and texts.

Allegations of Raniere's alarming and illegal sexual predilections are also outlined in a letter sent by US Attorney Richard P Donoghue to Judge Steven M Gold back in March.

'According to confidential sources, the defendant had repeated sexual encounters with multiple teenage girls in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s,' reads the letter.

'In one instance, the defendant met a fifteen-year-old girl while he was in his 20s and had repeated sexual contact with her. In another instance, the defendant met a twelve-year-old girl whose mother worked for the defendant and began tutoring her.'

The letter goes on to say: 'Shortly thereafter, the defendant began having regular sexual intercourse with her, including at his home where he lived with multiple adult sexual partners.'

Raniere is also said to have voiced his belief that the age of consent should be lowered to when a parent believes their child is capable to sexual activity.

Mack was arrested and arraigned on federal charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor last month.

Those are the same charges thatRaniere, 53, is being charged with, and both are facing a possible sentence of life behind bars.

Raniere could be spared from serving any time though, with a former publicist for Nxivm telling DailyMail.com that Oxenberg has said she is willing to take the fall for Raniere if it will keep him out of prison.

Frank Parlato, who has been covering Nxivm extensively on Art Voice, said that the female members of the cult have devised a plan they hope will save Raniere.

First, all female members are prepared to deny that they were ever forced or coerced into performing sex acts in an attempt to discredit the allegations made by the two former members whose grand jury testimony resulted in the indictments of Mack and Raniere.

If that does not work, member India Oxenberg, Mack and Mack's wife Nicki Clyne are prepared to testify that they alone were responsible for coercing members into having sex claims Parlato.

'Mack, Oxenberg and Clyne have made a pact to go to prison, saying privately they are ready to walk into prison tomorrow if Raniere could be free today,' reports Parlato.

Parlato tells DailyMail.com that Mack's arrest had been in the works ever since Raniere's extradition from Mexico to the United States back in March.

He posted video of Raniere's arrest at the time, which showed Mack in a state of disbelief as officials dragged away the self-proclaimed Svengali.

The grand jury indictment states that Mack did 'benefit ... financially and by receiving a thing of value, from participation in a venture ... knowing that means of force, threats of force, fraud and coercion, and a combination of such means, would be used to cause such persons to engage in one or more commercial sex acts.'

The first of the women to testify in front of the grand jury, Jane Doe 1, also said that Mack 'did knowingly and intentionally conspire to provide and obtain the labor and services of a person .... by means of serious harm and threats.'

Mack has yet to comment but has reportedly retained a lawyer.

'As alleged in the indictment, Allison Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere,' United States Attorney Richard Donoghue said in a statement on Friday.

'The victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants benefit. This Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to prosecuting predators who victimize others through sex trafficking and forced labor.'

Mack had been serving as leader of the cult for the past three weeks DailyMail.com previously revealed, a role she assumed after Raniere was arrested by authorities in Mexico last month.

Both her initials and those of Raniere's were branded on the pelvic area of women who joined the organization.
A sweaty and shirtless bikie obsessed with Instagram fame has been charged after being caught on camera in a brutal free-for-all outside a fast food restaurant.

Former Hells Angel enforcer Ben 'Notorious' Geppert, 26, was filmed brawling with another man outside a KFC restaurant in Robina, Queensland.

A 26-year-old Robina man has been issued with a notice to appear in relation to a violent behavior public nuisance offence, Queensland Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia.

In the video, Geppert was seen charging across a car park as a female accomplice screamed, 'it's your turn now, idiot!'

Ben Geppert and another man were filmed scuffling in a KFC carpark. An adjoining McDonalds was seen in the background

The pair raised their fists at each other outside a KFC - while an onlooker screamed that the man in the olive T-shirt should take his gold rings off

The pair scuffled and swore at one another ('eat a d**k', one said) until the second man toppled into a white Range Rover.

The camerawoman taunted Geppert's nemesis by yelling 'suck s**t' but also tried to defuse the incident by warning police would be on their way.

'Do youse want to get done for affray or do you want to leave?' she cried at the end of the melee.

Few blows connected between the two men. Online, people joked 'the Range Rover was the only one to get a hit in'.

Geppert only recently posted an Instagram video of himself with scratches on his face and boasting about a scuffle.

But it is unclear if that was related to the incident, and Daily Mail Australia understands the clip may have been filmed some time ago.

'Do youse want to get done for affray or do you want to leave?' a woman was heard screaming in the video. Geppert is pictured above with girlfriend Allaina Vader (Jones)

Queensland Police arrested Geppert and his girlfriend Allaina Jones during a raid on their Gold Coast on Tuesday. When officers arrived, they found Jones (right) naked inside the home

Geppert and his girlfriend, Allaina Vader (also known as Jones), 27, were arrested after police raided their home.

The court reportedly heard uniformed police allegedly tackled a 'naked' Vader during the raid.

It's believed the arrests related to separate alleged incidents to the car park brawl.

Geppert was accused of harassment, drug and domestic violence offences.

Vader was charged with assaulting a woman during a road rage incident on May 17. Police alleged she bit the face of a 40-year-old woman and stomped on her head.
Mugshots of police suspects later found innocent should be automatically erased, MPs said yesterday.

They said it was unacceptable that a Home Office database of convicted criminals also contains photos of hundreds of thousands of people who have been cleared  or never charged. These individuals are entitled to ask police forces to erase their images from the database  but very few are aware of this right.

Members of the Commons science and technology committee questioned the legality of the deletion on application scheme as opposed to an automatic process. Official figures, obtained under a freedom of information request to 37 out of 43 forces, show that only 67 people had applied to have their images removed.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb, pictured, believes police forces should delete mugshot photographs from their databases if the suspect is later found not guilty

Just 67 people have applied to police to have their mugshots removed from their database

There is no precise figure for the number of images of innocent people held on the Police National Database but it is believed to run to hundreds of thousands.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb, the committees chairman, said: Large scale retention of the facial images of innocent people amounts to a significant infringement of peoples liberty without any national framework in place and without a public debate about the case for it.

A Home Office spokesman said: We expect the new police IT systems that we are putting in place will be able to automatically delete custody images by linking them to conviction status.

We understand the need to strike a balance between protecting individual privacy and giving the police the tools they need to keep us safe. The storing of custody images helps police solve crime but it must be done in a way that is legal.
An 18-year-old who put his suburban Kansas City high school for sale on Craigslist has been banned from his own graduation after the senior prank went awry.

Kylan Scheele put Truman High School in Independence, Missouri, on Craigslist for the bargain price of $12,275 last week.

In his joke ad, he described the school as a 'Huge 20+ room facility' with 'Newly build football field' and listed the reason for the sale as 'the loss of students coming up'.

Joke gone wrong: Kylan Scheele has been barred from his own graduation after he put Truman High School in Independence, Missouri, on Craigslist for the bargain price of $12,275

This choice of words was interpreted as a threat to students, and the Independence School District reported the posting.

The teenager explained to FOX 4 that he had, of course, meant the upcoming graduation of the senior class as the 'loss of students'.

'They tried to relate it back to all the recent school shootings and everything, but I don't see how it was a threat at all,' Scheele told FOX 4.

'A three-day suspension, sure, but denying me the ability to walk? That's a lifetime moment. I think they're overreacting.'

Punished: Scheele stating that the reason for the sale was 'the loss of students coming up' made the school ban him, despite his explanation that he had clearly meant the upcoming graduation which would see students leave the school

Scheele has apologized, but has nevertheless been suspended for the three days that remain of the school year, and will not be allowed to take part in his own graduation ceremony on Saturday.

Independence School District spokeswoman Jana Corrie says significant hours were spent tracking down the post's source.

She says police even issued an emergency subpoena to Craigslist before determining there wasn't a credible threat.
The glitz and glamour of the film industry is far from the squatting reality of director and actor Iain Herridge.

Mr Herridge said he was now homeless after the local council evicted him from his adopted 'castle'.

The squatter was living rent and mortgage-free in the 1910 three-bedroom cottage with no water, no connected sewer or electricity for the past two years.

Its original owner died 15 years ago leaving the property in limbo.

The public trustee recently sold the 1.7 hectare property in Adelaide's east for more than half-a-million dollars to repay rates owed by the deceased owner.

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Iain Herridge (pictured) has been booted from his adopted 'castle' after it was sold for half-a-million in Adelaide's east to repay rates

The squatter was living rent and mortgage-free in the 1910 cottage (pictured) with water, no connected sewer or electricity until the public trustee sold the 1.7 hectare property

The former actor and director, who has lived at the property (pictured) for years, said he understood why people might be upset with his squatting but claimed it was not his intention

'It appears they (the State Government) spent about $100,000 to make me homeless,'Mr Herridge told Adelaide Now.

The former actor said he understood why people might have been upset with his squatting but claimed it was never his intention but the cottage 'kept ticking all the right boxes'.

The self-proclaimed modern day bush hero said he was 'doing the right thing' and had wanted to 'win the right to live long term in the abandoned house'.

'The Aussie dream is getting out of other people's reaches. I've dug in pretty well and understood the law pretty well. I'm here for the long run,' he previously said.

Mr Herridge, who appeared in film The Battlers, fought a long fight to continue the controversial living arrangements.

A professional poker player help the squatter by paying $19,000 in council rates to prevent the government from selling the property in 2016.

The 53-year-old was later evicted after he failed to pay further outstanding rates, despite raising money through a GoFundMe page.

Mr Herridge, who appeared in film The Battlers, fought a long fight to continue the controversial living arrangements at the property east of Adelaide until his eviction

The self-proclaimed modern day bush hero said he was 'doing the right thing' and had wanted to 'win the right to live long term in the abandoned house' (pictured)

Mr Herridge, who starred in an array of films including 100 Bloody Acres in 2012, previously said he enjoyed the upkeep of the old house because it 'felt like home' (pictured)

The 120-year-old Rangeview Road home was previously owned by Polish migrant and chicken farmer Zdzislaw Felix Gajdzinski, who died in Germany in 2003 and left no will.

Mr Herridge, who starred in and directed an array of films including 100 Bloody Acres in 2012, previously said he enjoyed the upkeep of the old house because it 'felt like home', ABC News reported.

While squatting is illegal in South Australia, a squatter who has lived in a property for 15 years can apply for ownership.

The father-of-one said he was 'disgusted' by the way he was evicted - which included a public campaign.

A Public Trustee spokesman said the cottage would be settled next month and any remaining funds will be given to 'any beneficiaries'.
This is the horrifying moment a family discovers a deadly red-bellied black snake hiding in their dishwasher.

Video footage shows the huge reptile curled up in the drawer of the kitchen appliance hidden between pots and pans before a snake catcher is called.

Snake-catcher Stuart McKenzie is seen bravely scooping up the snake before taking it out of the house.

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Video footage shows the huge reptile curled up in the drawer of the kitchen appliance hidden between pots and pans before a snake catcher is called (pictured)

In the video, McKenzie is seen holding a snake handler in the kitchen while bending down to inspect the dishwasher where the snake was known to be hiding.

According to McKenzie, the snake was about a metre long, adding that it was 'medium-sized'.

The camera moved closer to get a good look at the snake's hiding place.

After he slid away the tray filled with cups and bowls, the reptile was seen curled up underneath.

McKenzie deftly used his snake-handler to scoop up the snake, holding it near its tail-end while the snake's head was bobbing up and down by the snake-handler's hook.

'Oh, he's a healthy, chunky little fellow,' McKenzie says in the video. 'Beautiful little red-bellied black snake, it's all good.'

McKenzie faces the camera again after rescuing the reptile and lowers his snake-handler onto the kitchen floor, where he lets the snake wiggle around a bit as he continues to hold it near its tail-end.

McKenzie then grabs his bag and swiftly places the snake inside.

McKenzie lowers his snake-handler onto the floor as the snake wiggles around (above)

'Cheers, mate,' McKenzie says afterwards.

It was a sunny morning in Queensland when the incident occurred. Situations like this make for a normal work day for McKenzie, who has been rescuing snakes discovered in odd places.

It is not unusual to have snake sightings in the area or even inside a home, which is why snake-catchers are always on call.

Stuart McKenzie is the owner of The Snake Catcher 24/7 in the Sunshine Coast, where he spearheads a team of ten professional snake-catchers.

McKenzie has had a reptile license for over 15 years now and has been based in Queensland for four years at present.
Controversial Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied has whinged that Love Island's toned and apparently all white cast is making her feel unattractive.

The Nine Network's upcoming reality show putting four babes and four hunks on a tropical island has triggered the 27-year-old ABC presenter.

The Sudanese-born, hijab-wearing writer has already taken offence, days before the first episode of the dating show airs on Sunday.

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Controversial Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied has whinged that Love Island's toned and apparently all white cast is making her feel unattractive

'Ive never watched a show like this,' she tweeted to her 58,200 followers.

'But the advert kinda demonstrates why I grew up in Australia never thinking a person with a darker shade of skin or different features (like myself) was even remotely attractive.

'And Im not even really dark skinned. Hot damn.'

Australia's version of the hit show, based on the British format, will air on 9Go! and 9Now from Sunday night.

As the reality program debuts, the Brisbane-raised founder of Youth Without Borders, now based in London, is hosting the upcoming a five-part ABC series, Hijabistas!.

Love Island, focuses on good-looking young people going to a a tropical island for five weeks to find love.

It features muscular hunk Charlie Taylor and buxom babe Erin Alysha.

It features muscular hunk Charlie Taylor (pictured) as one of the eight contestants
A number of Grenfell Tower survivors have accused the London Fire Brigade of strategic failures which they say contributed to the amount of lives lost in the blaze.

Survivors hit out at the amount of time it took the fire service to change their advice to residents from 'stay put' and wait for rescue to evacuating urgently.

It has emerged that the first emergency call was made at 12.54am on June 14 last year, but crucially it took the fire brigade almost two hours to call for an evacuation at 2.47am - by then it was already too late for some, prompting fury from relatives.

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Survivors hit out at the amount of time it took the London Fire Brigade to change their advice from residents to 'stay put' and wait for rescue to evacuating urgently. Flora Neda (left), 53, hit out at the fire service for what she considers their slow reaction to the crisis

Flora Neda, 53, an Afghan refugee and one of only two survivors on her floor, hit out at the fire service for what she considers their slow reaction to the crisis.

'If the fire brigade had evacuated straight away, everybody would have got out alive.

'The fire brigade knew the fire is very huge an they could not control it. At least if they told us you must save yourselves I am sure most other people would still be alive,' Ms Neda, whose husband perished in the blaze, told The Telegraph.

Speaking with her son Farhad, 25, who was the only other to escape the 23rd floor, the heartbroken widow spoke of her former army officer husband who was killed.

While fellow survivor Nabil Choucair, 43, whose mother, sister, brother-in-law and three nieces all died, said it was undoubtedly the brigade's fault for not changing their 'stay put' order earlier.

It comes as the sister of a refugee who died in Grenfell Tower told an inquiry that her trust in Britain was destroyed by the fire.

Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanosi, 73, was found on the 23rd floor alongside her children Abufars Ibrahim, 39, and Isra Ibrahim, 33.

The public inquiry into the tragedy was told that the mother-of-two had fled persecution in Sudan and set up a new home in west London.

Speaking with her son Farhad, 25, who was the only other to escape the 23rd floor, the heartbroken widow spoke of her former army officer husband who was killed

Her sister Hayat Elsanosi said in a statement read through a friend on Thursday afternoon: 'Fathia came to this country as a refugee seeking security and safety after her struggle with the regime in Sudan, where she and her children had been subjected to harassment.

'She felt safe here in London. Because of the way she died, this now feels like a illusion for us and definitely for her.

'Our trust in this country has been destroyed. I cannot begin to describe my life without my sister, her death was a terrible shock for me and I find it very difficult to cope without her.'

The grieving sibling said she had been injured by fire as a teenager, making the manner in which her sister died all the harder to bear.

The sister of a refugee who died in Grenfell Tower told an inquiry that her trust in Britain was destroyed by the fire. Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanosi, 73, was found on the 23rd floor alongside her children Abufars Ibrahim, 39, and Isra Ibrahim, 33 (pictured Hayat Elsanosi today)

It was the fourth day of commemorations for victims at the public inquiry, which is due to begin public evidence sessions in the coming weeks.

Earlier, it was heard how a mother, Amal Ahmedin, 35, cradled her three-year-old daughter Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin as flames devoured Grenfell Tower on June 14, trying in vain to 'squeeze the nightmare away'.

Her husband Mohamednur Tuccu, 44, was found dead outside its wreckage, while cousin Amna Mahmud Idris, 27, was cruelly caught up in the tragedy during a visit.

Their grim fate was rued by relatives during a tearful morning of tributes.

Ms Ahmedin's sister Feruza Afewerki said nearly a year on she 'still hadn't been able to make sense of the senseless deaths of innocent and precious lives'.

She told the hearing: 'Those we grew up with, who shared our fondest memories with, celebrated and mourned, have had their lives stolen from them while the whole of London watched.

Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanosi, 73, was found on the 23rd floor alongside her children Abufars Ibrahim, 39, and Isra Ibrahim, 33

'It has been completely surreal and the most painful and devastating time of our lives.'

Her other sister, Winta, fought through tears as she paid tribute to the lost family.

Mother and daughter were found next to each other on the 23rd floor, while the body of Mr Tuccu was recovered close to the nearby leisure centre.

She described how her sister, with whom she shared a bedroom when they were children, used to hold her tightly to 'squeeze the nightmares away'.

She said: 'I would hold her (Amaya) tight just like Amal did to me when I was a kid. And that's where they were when they were burned alive, holding each other tight trying to squeeze the nightmare away.'

Ms Idris had the terrible fortune of visiting the tower on the night it was destroyed by the worst fire to hit Britain since the Second World War.

Her husband Ibrahim told the hearing: 'She came to live with me in the UK in March 2016. After one year I lost her forever.'

A man who lost five relatives in the fire said he was 'extremely proud' his siblings did not abandon their frail parents in the blaze.

Kamru Miah, 79, Rabeya Begum, 64, Mohammed Hamid, 28, Mohammed Hanif, 26 and Husna Begum, 22, were found on the 17th floor.

Mohammed Hakim said: 'I can say with my hand on my heart that I am extremely proud of my family remaining close to each other in their last moments before passing away.

'I am even more proud as a brother that my siblings did not leave my parents behind, even though they might have had the chance to escape.'

Mother and daughter Victoria King and Alexandra Atala were also remembered on Thursday.

Sister Penny Pearce said in a statement: 'They were, and are, still together and that is what is important. The fire is a tragedy for all of us.'

Personal portraits of the 72 victims are expected to continue until next Wednesday at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, South Kensington.
A semi-autonomous Tesla car involved in a headline-making crash in Utah this month increased in speed by almost 10 kph just seconds before it smashed into a firetruck stopped at a red light.

A police report of the incident says the electric Tesla Model S was on semi-autonomous Autopilot mode when it sped up from 55 mph (89 kph) to 60 mph (97 kph) in just 3.5 seconds before it hit the truck.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who issued a scathing attack on media credibility yesterday, has been vocal against those who criticize Tesla cars, despite growing concern about their safety.

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The Tesla involved in the May 11 crash accelerated while in semi-autonomous mode moments before it hit the back of the firetruck that was stopped at a red light

The speed of the Model S increased from 55 mph (89 kph) to 60 mph (97 kph) moments before it rear-ended the truck

Both drivers of the Tesla and firetruck were left injured in the accident that has raised more concerns over the safety of Elon Musk's vehicles

Police understand the Tesla was initially travelling at 55 mph (89 kph) to match the speed of another vehicle that may have changed lane, according to a report seen by Associated Press.

It is thought the car then automatically sped up to its preset of 60 mph (97 kph) without noticing the stopped cars ahead of it.

Data shows the time elapsed just before the Telsa plowed into the firetruck was just 3.5 seconds.

The driver of the car Heather Lommatzsch, 29, told police she thought the vehicle's automatic emergency braking system would detect traffic and stop before it hit another vehicle.

Lommatzsch said the car did not provide any audio or visual warnings before colliding with the firetruck which happened on on May 11 on the Utah highway.

She had been driving 80 seconds in Autopilot before the crash.

Tesla says on its website the Autpilot function is designed 'to detect objects that the car may impact and applies the brakes accordingly.'

Lommatzsch also said her hands were off the wheel at the time of the accident.

She told police she was looking at her phone comparing different routes to her destination.

Tesla said it repeatedly warns drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and maintain control of their vehicle at all times while using Autopilot.

Lommatzsch broke her foot in the crash and this week was charged with a misdemeanor traffic citation.

The driver of the firetruck told police he had injuries consistent with whiplash but did not go to a hospital.

Telsa co-founder Musk has been ardent in his defense of Telsa vehicles which have been the subject of several accidents in recent months

At the time, Musk said it was 'super messed up' that the incident was garnering public attention, while thousands of accidents involving traditional automobiles 'get almost no coverage.'

'What's actually amazing about this accident is that a Model S hit a fire truck at 60 mph and the driver only broke an ankle,' Musk tweeted. 'An impact at that speed usually results in severe injury or death.'

The billionaire tech mogul took to social media again yesterday in a lengthy tirade bashing media who criticize Tesla.

He says will start a website to rate the 'truthfulness' of journalists.

Tesla's Autopilot has been the subject of previous scrutiny following other crashes involving the vehicles.

In March, a driver was killed when a Model X with Autopilot engaged hit a barrier while traveling at 'freeway speed' in California. NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating that case.

Earlier in May, the NTSB opened a probe into an accident in which a Model S caught fire after crashing into a wall at a high speed in Florida.

Two 18-year-olds were trapped and died in the blaze. The agency has said it does not expect Autopilot to be a focus in that investigation.

This week, Tesla said Autopilot was not engaged when a Model S veered off a road and plunged into a pond outside San Francisco, killing the driver.
Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP leader who pretended she was black only to be unmasked as a white woman in 2015, has been accused of welfare fraud.

Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, was charged this week with theft by welfare fraud, perjury and false verification for public assistance.

Court documents said she illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017.

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Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP leader who pretended she was black only to be unmasked as a white woman in 2015, has been accused of welfare fraud

Court documents said she illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017. Dolezal is pictured with her adopted brother, Izaiah Dolezal, (left) and her son Franklin Moore (right) in June 2015

An investigation started in March 2017 when a state investigator received information that she had written her autobiography, In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.

Documents say she had deposited nearly $84,000 into her bank account without reporting it.

An investigation started in March 2017 when a state investigator received information that she had written her autobiography (pictured)

She reportedly told investigators she 'fully disclosed her information' and declined to answer further questions.

Dolezal, 40, from Spokane, Washington, sparked outrage when her parents revealed she was posing as a black woman three years ago.

She came under fire once again in March after Netflix released the first trailer of her documentary.

The streaming giant was criticized for spending money to promote someone who is 'fraudulent and problematic'.

Dolezal's teenage son Franklin, who is biracial, is featured in the trailer where he implores his mother to stop publicizing her beliefs.

'I resent some of her choices and I resent some of the words she has spoken in interviews,' Franklin said during the documentary's trailer.

Netflix also submitted her documentary, The Rachel Divide, to the Tribeca Film Festival, which took place in April.

Dolezal is a former civil rights activist and African studies instructor.

Documents say she had deposited nearly $84,000 into her bank account without reporting it. She reportedly told investigators she 'fully disclosed her information'. Dolezal came under fire in March after Netflix released the first trailer of her documentary (pictured)

In June 2015, Dolezal's parents  with whom she has long feuded  revealed to the media that she was born white, but presenting herself as a black activist in Spokane

In June 2015, Dolezal's parents  with whom she has long feuded  revealed to the media that she was born white, but presenting herself as a black activist in Spokane.

After the story became an international sensation, Dolezal was fired from her job at the NCAAP.

Dolezal was also kicked off a police ombudsman commission and lost her job teaching African studies at Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney.

She has not been able to find regular employment since the bombshell reveal.

Dolezal claimed in a BBC interview last year that ethnicity is not biological and compared being 'transracial' to being transgender.

She then released her book titled In Full Color and people said she was using her 'white privilege' to make her arguments.

Dolezal claimed in a BBC interview last year that ethnicity is not biological and compared being 'transracial' to being transgender. She's pictured (right) with her son

In Dolezal's memoir, she likened being forced to do household chores as a child to indentured servitude and noted that she developed a 'similar resourcefulness' to what slaves were forced to develop in order for her to complete her chores

In Dolezal's memoir, she likened being forced to do household chores as a child to indentured servitude and noted that she developed a 'similar resourcefulness' to what slaves were forced to develop in order for her to complete her chores.

She claimed that the mere act of forcing kids to do household chores was similar to 'the institution of chattel slavery in America'.

Dolezal also wrote about how her first marriage ended because she was 'too black' for her African-American husband.

She detailed the way she evolved over the years from being a blonde white girl with freckles into her current state of 'Blackness'.

Dolezal also revealed the myriad ways that being 'outed' as a white woman while she was passing as a black woman has impacted her life.
Prince Phillip wasn't going to let a cracked rib keep him from his grandson Prince Harry's wedding after a fall in the bath a few days earlier.

The 96-year-old managed to soldier on through the immense pain for the one-hour ceremony at Windsor Castle and reception on Saturday.

The grandfather of the groom seemed cheery with a beaming smile as he arrived at the St George's Chapel with the Queen, walking unaided without a cane.

Prince Phillip, 96, managed to soldier on through the immense pain of a cracked rib for the one-hour ceremony at Windsor Castle and reception on Saturday

The grandfather of the groom seemed cheery with a beaming smile as he arrived at the St George's Chapel with the Queen, walking unaided without a cane

'The Duke is not a fan of showering and prefers to bathe. But he's a determined man and nothing was going to stop him attending nor would he take any kind of walking aid,' a royal insider told The Sun.

Prince Phillip took the British stiff upper lip to new heights as even a slightly cracked rib is extremely painful with a stabbing pain at each breath.

The Duke of Edinburgh was already recovering from a hip replacement operation just six weeks before the big day.

He got back in shape for Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle by walking up and down the stairs for days until he was fit enough to attend.

Family biographer Penny Junor described his attendance at the wedding, without even sporting a limp, as 'completely heroic'.

'Given that he is 96 years old and the operation was just six weeks ago, I think that shows what an extraordinary man he is,' she said earlier this week.

Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family including Prince Philip, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the Princess Royal wave after the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor Castle

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive ahead of the wedding of Harry and Meghan at St George's Chapel today

The Duke of Edinburgh was already recovering from a hip replacement operation just six weeks before the big day, getting in shape by running up stairs for days

'That will have meant a huge amount to Prince Harry. He is enormously fond of his grandfather.'

Ms Junor, and the millions of others watching the wedding, would not have known just how heroic the great-grandfather was that afternoon.

His surgery in April followed a series of missed public appearances, including a ceremony at Windsor Castle to formally hand over his role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards to his son Prince Charles.

He retired from public duties last year  which Buckingham Palace stressed was not health-related  but still accompanies the Queen on some public appearances.
PUGH: 'On the bright side it's eating all the bamboo grass'

It is a device normally used to check the weather forecast or order more toilet paper.

But Alexa can now summon a prayer to say grace before your evening meal or give thanks to God before going to bed at night.

Amazons virtual assistant has been picked up by the Church of England to make being a practising Christian easier.

In response to a simple command, its app gets Alexa to read out the Lords Prayer or the Ten Commandments, for those concerned about wrongdoing.

Along with other Google searches, users can ask how to become a Christian, how to pray and who God is.

And as well as searching for their nearest supermarket or Italian restaurant, the assistant can now be used to locate the nearest church.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who features in a YouTube video to promote the new Alexa skill, said: Were thrilled to be launching the Alexa skill today, to enable regular churchgoers and those exploring faith to connect with God in another way at a time thats right for them.

A quarter of UK households now own a smart device and, after transforming the Church of Englands and Archbishops national websites last year, this fast-growing area was identified as a priority for development.

The Amazon echo and other products can get assistant Alexa to find religious prayers and the Ten Commandments

The Alexa idea follows an online campaign to get people to church for Christmas last year and the announcement in March that the Church of England is seeking to start taking contactless payments for services such as weddings and christenings at more than 16,000 churches.

Users must activate the Church of England skill, which works similarly to a mobile phone app, by saying Alexa, open the Church of England.

Amazon Echo Dot: All of the technology which uses Alexa can now help their owners with religious readings

Then they can request a prayer of the day, an evening prayer or for the voice assistant to say grace before a meal.

Alexa can read out the Ten Commandments or the Beatitudes - the blessings which sum up Jesuss teachings on how to live in Gods kingdom, including Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

The technology can also answer questions on who Jesus is or how to pray.

It is integrated with A Church Near You, a national church finder that gets 13 million page views a year to find the nearest services and religious events.

The Church of England is pursuing a digital strategy and its latest figures show 1.2 million people a month view its videos, podcasts, blogs and images online.

The average Sunday attendance at church, in contrast, is 740,000 people, according to statistics from 2016.

Adrian Harris, head of digital at the Church of England, said: Platforms such as Alexa give the Church the ability to connect people with God and to weave faith into daily lives, whether for daily prayers or exploring Christianity.
Weinstein faces allegations that he raped one woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.

It is the only criminal case to arise from dozens of allegations against the Oscar-winning film producer.

Other accusations, including from some of the world's most famous actresses, range from inappropriate massages to rape.

Here is a list of some of the women who have come forward so far.

Mimi Haleyi

The production assistant has accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her in his child's bedroom at his former New York home. She tried to deter him by revealing she was menstruating but she claims he did not stop and even removed her tampon.

'I was mortified. I was in disbelief and I was disgusted,' Haleyi said. 'I would not have had anyone do that to me even if that person was a romantic partner.'

Dominique Huett: The actress claims the mogul sexually abused her in 2010 after luring her to his Beverly Hills hotel room. He demanded she give him a massage and he perform oral sex on her.

'He would not take 'no' for an answer', her legal complaint says.

Mimi Haleyi, pictured, accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her

Natassia Malthe

The Norweigan actress claims Weinstein raped her in a London hotel room after the 2008 Baftas.

The Elektra star said the mogul turned up at her hotel room and started banging on the door.

When she let him in he 'pushed her back and forced himself' on her without using a condom.

'I was completely grossed out. I believe that I disassociated during the time that he was having sex with me. I laid still and closed my eyes and just wanted it to end. I was like a dead person. Afterwards I lay there in complete disgust,' she said.

Actress Natassia Malthe is one of nine women accusing Harvey Weinstein of rape

Lysette Anthony

English actress Lysette Anthony claimed he raped her in the hallway of her London home in the 1980s. 'He pushed me inside and rammed me up against the coat rack in my tiny hall and started fumbling at my gown. He was trying to kiss me and shove inside me. It was disgusting,' she said.

Ms Anthony tried to resist but was unable to fight off heavily-built Weinstein. She said: 'Finally I just gave up. At least I was able to stop him kissing me.

'As he ground himself against me and shoved inside me, I kept my eyes shut tight, held my breath and just let him get on with it.'

'He came over my leg like a dog and then left. It was pathetic, revolting,' she told The Sunday Times. 'I remember lying in the bath, crying.'

Anthony began her career on the stage before moving to Hollywood. She claims she was raped by Weinstein

Lupita Nyong'o

The Oscar-winning actress says Weinstein got her to massage him while his children were downstairs

Lupita Nyong'o claims Weinstein once told her that to be in the business she had to be 'willing to do this kind of thing'. She is pictured at the CFDA Fashion Awards in 2017

At a private screening at his home, Weinstein interrupted the film after just 15 minutes and lead her to his bedroom, announcing that he wanted to give her a massage.

'I thought he was joking at first. He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe,' she wrote.

The actress says she panicked and offered him one instead - writing that this would allow her to be physically in control of the situation and where he placed his hands.

But when the producer announced that he was going to remove his pants she decided she had to leave.

On a separate occasion he tried to entice up to his hotel room and told her: 'If you want to be an actress, then you have to be willing to do this sort of thing'

Heather Graham

Heather Graham is another actress who says she refused Weinstein's advances

According to the Boogie Nights actress, Weinstein implied he would put her into a movie if she slept with him. He then tried to get the star alone in his hotel room but she dodged the meeting. She never starred in one of his movies

Sean Young

The Blade Runner actress claims Harvey Weinstein exposed himself to her while she filmed 1992 Miramax movie Love Crimes

Lena Headley

The Game of Thrones star has revealed Weinstein became furious with her when she spurned his advances as he led her to his hotel room.

'We walked to the lift and the energy shifted,' Headey described. 'My whole body went into high alert, the lift was going up and I said to Harvey, 'I'm not interested in anything other than work, please don't think I got in here with you for any other reason, nothing is going to happen,' I said. I don't know what possessed me to speak out at that moment, only that I had such a strong sense of don't come near me.'

'He was silent after I spoke, furious. We got out of the lift and walked to his room. His hand was on my back, he was marching me forward, not a word, I felt completely powerless, he tried his key card and it didn't work, then he got really angry.

'He walked me back to the lift, through the hotel to the valet, by grabbing and holding tightly to the back of my arm.'

'He paid for my car and whispered in my ear: 'Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent.' I got into my car and cried.'

Teen assault: Kate Beckinsale says Weinstein tried to ply her with alcohol and met her in his bathrobe when she was just 17

Kate Beckinsale

In an Instagram post the Underworld star said Weinstein made a move on her when she was just 17.

'When I arrived reception told me to go to his room. He opened the door in his bathrobe. I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him. After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy but unscathed. A few years later he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting.I realized he couldn't remember if he had assaulted me or not.'

Paltrow (pictured with Weinstein in 2002) told the New York Times that when she was 22 Weinstein touched her and suggested having joint massages in the bedroom

Gwyneth Paltrow

The star said that when she was 22, Weinstein touched her and suggested having joint massages in a hotel bedroom before she started shooting the 1996 Jane Austen adaptation Emma. She told the New York Times: 'I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified'.

She said she told her then boyfriend Brad Pitt about the incident and he confronted the mogul. She said Weinstein then told her not to tell anyone and she feared getting fired.

Gwyneth Paltrow, 45, is an American actress, singer, and food writer who made her name starring in Seven (1995) and Emma (1996).

Jolie (pictured speaking ahead of a screening of her new film In the Land of Blood and Honey) told the New York Times she had to turn down advances from Weinstein in 1998

Angelina Jolie

The actress told the New York Times she had to turn down advances from Weinstein in 1998 and chose never to work with him again. She said she warned other women about him.

She said: 'I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.'

Angelina Jolie, 42, is cited as Hollywood's highest-paid actress. She made her screen debut as a child alongside her father, Jon Voight, in Lookin' to Get Out (1982).

Cara Delevigne

The model wrote on her Instagram page about a meeting with Weinstein in which he 'asked her to kiss another woman.'

She wrote: 'As soon as we were alone he began to brag about all the actresses he had slept with and how he had made their careers and spoke about other inappropriate things of a sexual nature. He then invited me to his room. I quickly declined and asked his assistant if my car was outside. She said it wasn't and wouldn't be for a bit and I should go to his room.

'At that moment I felt very powerless and scared but didn't want to act that way hoping that I was wrong about the situation. When I arrived I was relieved to find another woman in his room and thought immediately I was safe. He asked us to kiss and she began some sort of advances upon his direction. I swiftly got up and asked him if he knew that I could sing. And I began to sing....i thought it would make the situation better....more professional....like an audition....i was so nervous. After singing I said again that I had to leave.He walked me to the door and stood in front of it and tried to kiss me on the lips. I stopped him and managed to get out of the room'.

Cara Delevigne, 25, is an English fashion model and actress. She signed with Storm Model Management after leaving school in 2009.

Eva Green

Green's mother says Weinstein sexually harassed her during a meeting at his suite in Paris.

The Bond Girl, 37, managed to escape however after being summoned to the movie mogul's hotel room, her mother Marlene Jobert said in a radio interview on Friday.

'He operated with her the exact same way he acted with all the others, under the pretext of a professional meeting, of a script that had to get to her with a nice part into the bargain,' said Jobert.

'Since his office was also in his hotel suite, she [Eva] followed him, and the exact same thing happened to her as to the others. She managed to escape, but he threatened to destroy her professionally.'

Jobert added: '[It was] the usual scenario, the same pattern he used for all the other victims.'

Lea Seydoux

The French actress accused the mogul of jumping on her and trying to kiss her.

She wrote in The Guardian: 'We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me. I had to defend myself. Hes big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. He tried more than once. This was never going to be about work. He had other intentions  I could see that very clearly. All throughout the evening, he flirted and stared at me as if I was a piece of meat.

The French actress (pictured in Spectre) accused the mogul of jumping on her and trying to kiss her

'It was hard to say no because hes so powerful. Im an actress and hes a producer. We are in the same industry, so its impossible to avoid him. Ive seen how he operates: the way he looks for an opening. The way he tests women to see what he can get away with. Thats the most disgusting thing. Everyone knew what Harvey was up to and no one did anything. It's unbelievable that hes been able to act like this for decades and still keep his career.'

Lea Seydoux, 35, starred in Bond film Spectre and was nominated for the Cesar Award for Best Actress for her role as a lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette in the film Farewell, My Queen (2012).

Minka Kelly

The Friday Night Lights star said she met Weinstein at an event and soon after was asked by her agent if she would be willing to meet him at his hotel room to discuss her career.

Kelly said that she agreed to the meeting but refused to go to Weinstein's room, and instead met him at the restaurant inside his hotel with an assistant.

Minka Kelly said she met Weinstein at an event and soon after was asked by her agent if she would be willing to meet him at his hotel room to discuss her career

'He bulls*** me for 5 minutes re: movies he could put me in, then asked the assistant to excuse us,' said Weinstein.

'As she walked away, he said, "I know you were feeling what I was feeling when we met the other night and then regaled me with offers of a lavish life filled with trips around the world on private planes etc.

'IF I would be his girlfriend.'

Kelly posted a photo of a cross stitch alongside her post that read: 'Boys will be Boys.'

The second 'boys' was crossed out at the bottom however, and stitched in was 'held accountable for their f***ing actions.'

Kelly claimed the alleged encounter was the day-to-day b***shit of being an actress.'

Tara Subkoff

The actress claims Weinstein sexually harassed her when she was up for a part in one of his movies in the 1990s.

She told Variety: 'That night I was offered the role, and I went out to a premiere after party that was also at.

'He motioned for me to come over to him, and then grabbed me to sit me on his lap. I was so surprised and shocked I couldnt stop laughing because it was so awkward.'

She said he could then feel him getting an erection.

'It was implied that if I did not comply with doing what he asked me to do that I would not get the role that I had already been informally offered,' she added.

'I laughed in his face as I was in shock and so uncomfortable. I left the party right after that.'

After denying his advances, Subkoff claims she was stripped of the part.

Asia Argento

The Italian actress has accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her when she was 21.

She told the New Yorker: 'He terrified me, and he was big. It wouldn't stop. It was a nightmare.' She said she went on to have consensual sex with him over the years that followed. She documented the alleged attack in her 2000 film Scarlet Diva.

Asia Argento is an Italian actress, singer, model, and director, best known for the role of Yelena in the action film xXx (2002).

Asia Argento (left with Weinstein during 2004 Cannes Film Festival) accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her when she was 21

Zoe Brock

Model Zoe Brock was 23 when she allegedly had to lock herself in a hotel bathroom to escape Weinstein's advances.

She wrote on Medium: 'Harvey left the room, but not for long. He re-emerged naked a couple of minutes later and asked if I would give him a massage. Panicking, in shock, I remember weighing up the options and wondering how much I needed to placate him to keep myself safe.

'I told him I was uncomfortable and that I was angry that I had been tricked into this position. He pleaded with me to let him massage me and I let him put his hands on my shoulders while my mind raced. Harvey chased me, d**k, b**ls and all, and banged on the door with his fists, pleading with me to come out.'

Zoe Brock is a model and actress who was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, and raised in Australia.

Claire Forlani

The Meet Joe Black actress appeared in the 2000 Miramax film Boys and Girls. She says she escaped Harvey's advances five times.

'I had two Peninsula Hotel meetings in the evening with Harvey and all I remember was I ducked, dived and ultimately got out of there without getting slobbered over, well just a bit.

'Yes, massage was suggested. The three dinners with Harvey I don't really remember the time period, I was 25.

'I remember him telling me all the actresses who had slept with him and what he had done for them.'

I wasn't drinking the cool aid [sic], I knew Harvey was a master manipulator.

'He also announced to me at the last dinner I had with him at Dominic's that his pilot knew to be on standby because he could never get me to sleep with him, to which I did what I always did, make light of the situation, a joke here or there and moved on.'

'I'd had a fair amount of experience. Sometimes I got angry, really angry. I wondered why I had Prey stamped on my forehead but this I kept to myself.'

Louisette Geiss

The actress said she was called to a late night meeting with Weinstein in 2008. He allegedly emerged in a bathrobe and told her he would green light her script if she watched him masterbate. She left the meeting.

Geiss made her accusations in a press conference with high-profile attorney Gloria Allred on October 10.

The star was born in Miami, Florida. She is an actress and producer, best known for Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001).

Judith Godreche

The French actress says Weinstein tried to massage her and pull off her sweater after asking her up to his Cannes suite to see the view in 1996, the NYT reported.

Judith Godreche, 45, is a French actress and author. She has appeared in more than 30 films and will soon star in an HBO comedy about a French woman moving to Los Angeles.

Dawn Dunning

The actress says she was called to a meeting about future film projects in 2003 aged 24. When she arrived she says Weinstein presented her with three scripts for his next three movies which he would let her star in, only if she had three-way sex with him. She fled the hotel, she told the NYT.

Dunning is a former actress turned costume designer best known for her role in Alias: The Roughest Cut (2006).

Tomi-Ann Roberts

The aspiring actress was 24 when she met Weinstein while serving tables as a college junior in 1984. She says he told her to meet him at his home. When she arrived, she says, he was naked in the bath and told her she would give a better audition if she was nude. She says she refused and left, reports the NYT.

Katherine Kendall

The Swingers actress was told Weinstein had to stop off in his apartment to pick something up after a screening in 1993.

He changed into a bathrobe and told her to massage her, she said. When she resisted she said the mogul returned naked and chased her, reports the NYT.

Kendall, 48, is an American actress from Tennessee. She made her name in Doug Liman's Swingers (1996).

Lucia Evans

The actress, formerly known as Lucia Stoller claims Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004. Speaking to the New Yorker, she said that she suffered years of trauma after the incident which occurred in a 'casting meeting' in a Miramax office in Manhattan. He reportedly called her late at night after the incident.

Mira Sorvino

The Mighty Aphrodite actress told the New Yorker that Weinstein tried to massage her in a hotel room at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival.

He then went to her home in the middle of the night but she called a male friend to protect her, she claimed. She said turning down the mogul adversely affected her career.

Sorovino, 50, is an American actress who came to prominence after winning the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a hooker with a heart of gold in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995).

Rosanna Arquette

The actress also said her career suffered after she rebuffed Weinstein's advances in the early 1990s. At a hotel meeting he tried to put her hand on his erect penis, she claims in the New Yorker.

Rosanna Arquette, 58, is an American actress, film director, and producer. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the 1982 TV film The Executioner's Song.

Rose McGowan

The actress, who made her breakthrough in 1996 in the Weinstein-produced slasher revival movie Scream, reportedly sued Weinstein after he assaulted her in 1997 at the Sundance Film Festival.

She signed a non-disclosure agreement at the close of the suit and has only referred to him obliquely in social media since. She referred to being abused by a 'monster' and has previously referred to being raped by a studio head.

Ashley Judd

Judd says that during filming for 1997 thriller Kiss the Girls Weinstein repeatedly asked her to watch him shower.

She was one of the women who spoke out to The New York Times this week, saying: 'Women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it's simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly.'

Emma De Caunes

French actress Emma de Caunes said that she met Weinstein in 2010. Soon after he told her he had a script he was producing based on a book with a strong female character. Weinstein offered to show her the script, and asked her up to his room at the Ritz in Paris, where he began to take a shower.

He then emerged naked and with an erection, asking her to lay down with him on the bed and telling her that many had done so before, she told the New Yorker. 'I was very petrified,' said de Caunes. 'But I didnt want to show him that I was petrified, because I could feel that the more I was freaking out, the more he was excited.'

Sophie Dix

The British actress was 22 when she was invited up to his room at The Savoy after being cast in The Advocate alongside Colin Firth. Weinstein tried to massage her and started pulling at her trousers before he started masturbating.

Harvey Weinstein is accused of accosting Sophie Dix in a hotel room

'As soon as I was in there, I realized it was a terrible mistake. I got to the hotel room, I remember talk of a massage and I thought that was pretty gross. I think he showed me his big back and I found that pretty horrid.

'Then before I knew it, he started trying to pull my clothes off and pin me down and I just kept saying, No, no, no. But he was really forceful. I remember him pulling at my trousers and stuff and looming over me and I just sort of  I am a big, strong girl and I bolted  ran for the bathroom and locked the door.'

'I was in there for a while, I think. He went very quiet. After a while I remember opening the door and seeing him just there facing the door, masturbating, so I quickly closed the door again and locked it. Then when I heard room service come to the door, I just ran.'

She said the incident left her bed bound with depression for six months and she decided to end her movie career.

'I decided if this what being an actress is like, I dont want it.'

Lauren O'Connor

The former creative executive at The Weinstein Company, told executives there in the fall of 2015 that there was 'a toxic environment for women at this company' after one of her colleagues told her that Weinstein had pressured her into massaging him while he was naked, the NYT reported.

A former creative executive at The Weinstein Company told executives there in the fall of 2015 that there was 'a toxic environment for women at this company'

Ambra Battilana

The Italian actress and model, 24, told the NYT that in March 2015 Weinstein invited her to his New York office. There, she said, he asked if her breasts were real before grabbing them and putting his hands up her skirt. She reported the alleged incident to police, but they did not press charges. According to the NYT, Weinstein later paid her off.

Jessica Barth

Weinstein reportedly pressured Jessica Barth (pictured) to give him a naked massage

Weinstein reportedly pressured the actress to give him a naked massage in the Peninsula Hotel in 2011.

Jessica Barth, 39, is an American stage and film actress, known for portraying Tami-Lynn McCaferty in the film Ted and its sequel.

Laura Madden

A former production assistant and the Weinstein company, she told the NYT that Weinstein had asked her to give him massages from 1991 onwards, while they were both in London and Dublin. 'It was so manipulative,' she told the NYT. 'You constantly question yourself - am I the one who is the problem?' Weinstein denied knowledge.

Emily Nestor

Nestor was a temporary employee of the Weinstein Company for just one day in 2014 when Weinstein approached her and offered to boost her career in exchange for sex, the NYT reported.

Zelda Perkins

Perkins was an assistant of Weinstein's based in London. Aged 25 in 1998, she reportedly confronted Weinstein after she and 'several' others were harassed and later settled out of court.

She said she was subjected to inappropriate requests or comments in hotel rooms.

Zelda Perkins reportedly confronted Weinstein after she and 'several' others were harassed and later settled out of court

Elizabeth Karlsen

Produced Karlsen told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday that almost 30 years ago an unnamed young female executive who had worked at Miramax with Weinstein had found him naked in her bedroom one night. The exec was in a house rented by Miramax at the time to cut its overheads.

Karlsen, 57, is the Oscar-nominated British producer of Carol and The Crying Game.

Liza Campbell

A freelance script reader, she told the UK's Sunday Times that Weinstein had summoned her to his hotel room in London before telling her to get in the bath with him.

Campbell, 58, (pictured in 2004) said that Weinstein had summoned her to his hotel room in London

Campbell, 58, is an artist, calligrapher, columnist and writer, born in the north of Scotland and currently living in London, England.

Lauren Sivan

The former Fox news host said that Weinstein trapped her in a closed restaurant and masturbated in front of her to completion in 2007.

He allegedly took her to a closed restaurant beneath a club she had visited and attempted to kiss her, then when she refused he cornered her and made her watch him touch himself, according to The Huffington Post.

Sivan is now a TV reporter in Los Angeles and was a local journalist in New York 10 years ago when her encounter with Weinstein allegedly occurred.

Jessica Hynes

Hynes said she was invited to audition for Weinstein when she was 19 - in a bikini. She said she refused to wear the skimpy item - and lost the job.

British actress Hynes, 44, formally known as Jessica Stevenson, is best known for her roles in the Bridget Jones movies and for co-creating and co-writing the sitcom Spaced.

Romola Garai

British actress Romola Garai said she felt 'violated' following a meeting with Harvey Weinstein in his London hotel room when she was 18 in which he was in a bathrobe.

Garai, best known for her role in Atonement, said she had already been hired for a part but was told to audition privately with the Hollywood mogul because 'you had to be personally approved by him'.

'Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein,' she told The Guardian. 'So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy and he answered the door in his bathrobe. I was only 18. I felt violated by it'.

Garai, 35, is an English actress, writer, and director. She is known for appearing in the films Amazing Grace, Atonement, and Glorious 39.

Florence Darel

French actress Florence Darel has claimed that she was harassed by the producer in 1993.

Darel, 49, who first came to notice in Eric Rohmer's 'A Tale of Springtime' in 1990, told French media that Weinstein had promised to help make her big in America if she became his 'part-time' mistress.

She said she first had to beat off his advances after Weinstein's company Miramax bought the 1993 fashion industry comedy 'A la mode' in which she appeared.

The following year, pushed by her agent, she agreed to meet Weinstein in a Paris hotel, where he he asked her to be his mistress 'a few days a year'.

Actress Florence Darel, 49, revealed on Thursday to French media that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had promised to help make her big in America if she became his 'part-time' mistress

Unnamed assistant

Weinstein allegedly behaved inappropriately toward a woman employed as his assistant in 1990. The case was settled out of court.

Another unnamed assistant

In 2015, Weinstein reportedly pressured another assistant into giving him a naked massage in the Peninsula Hotel, where he is also said to have pressured Barth.

Unnamed Miramax employee

At one point in the early 1990s, a young woman is alleged to have suddenly left the company after an encounter with Weinstein. She also settled out of court.

Unnamed woman

A woman who did not wish to be named because she feared Weinstein's connections told The New York Times that the producer had summoned her to his hotel at an unknown date and raped her.
Britons are rejoicing today after the slew of GDPR emails clogging up their inboxes for weeks finally stopped.

Many are wishing friends 'Happy GDPR day' while others exulted in their quiet email accounts after receiving hundreds of messages in recent days as businesses rushed to meet last night's midnight EU deadline.

Social media has been swamped with people exhausted by the amount of spam they have been sent before today and now their relief that the deluge is over.

Brussels says the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most important change to data privacy rules in 20 years.

It starts today and is meant to give people more control over how their personal information is used, find out who has their details and also new rights to ensure they are deleted.

Companies have been bombarding customers with emails - sometimes several times per day - asking them to opt in because they face fines of up to 18million.

Non-EU businesses must also comply and some have blocked customers in Europe from using their websites or shut them down completely to avoid any heavy penalties.

Britons are celebrating today as the great GDPR onslaught of 2018 ended as the EU's deadline passed

Non-EU businesses must also comply and some have blocked customers in Europe from using their websites or shut them down completely to avoid any heavy penalties

A&E Networks, which is owned by Hearst and Disney and runs history.com, has also blocked EU visitors

What is GDPR and why were we being bombarded with emails? The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most important change to data privacy rules in 20 years, according to the EU. It was passed in 2016 and comes into effect on May 25, 2018. The rules were designed to give people more control over how their personal information is used. This means companies must ask for permission to collect and use information such as names, email addresses and internet browsing habits collected online. To update their rules firms are currently writing and emailing all the customers on their databases so anyone who no longer wnats to be contacted can opt out. Firms must also report data breaches more quickly and individuals will be able to request all the data held on them within 30 days. They also only allow businesses to send letters to the public if they have specific permission or a legitimate reason. Companies who break the rules face fines of up to 18m or 4pc of their annual turnover - whichever is higher. Advertisement

In America IT experts are cashing in on the fear GDPR has caused by offering to 'geo-block' all European customer for a fee.

Mobile advertising company Verve, which set up in Europe two years ago, is shutting down its offices in London and Munich rather than deal with the new privacy regime.

It laid off around 15 staff on May 11, according to The Drum.

Popular email unsubscription service Unroll.Me has also stopped working in Europe while it works out how to comply with the new rules.

Gamers have also been hit because of GDPR.

Online games Ragnarok and Super Monday Night Combat are shutting down servers for European users because it the cost of complying is too high to keep going.

The Tunngle Service gaming platform has also closed.

A&E Networks, which is owned by Hearst and Disney and runs history.com, has also blocked EU visitors.

Some news websites are also blocking European readers.

Titles belonging to the publishing company Tronc, which also include the Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun, are showing the message: 'We are currently unavailable in most European countries'.

Dozens of websites have temporarily shut down in Europe with Britons unable to access them as new data protection rules come into force today.

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) give people in the EU new powers to access and control their personal data, as well as giving regulators greater power to levy fines on firms who mishandle data or fail to be transparent in how they collect and use it.

But American news websites including the New York Daily News and Los Angeles Times are among those which have temporarily shut down in Europe as the new law is rolled out.

The page URLs include the term GDPR, referring to the new General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into effect today promising to bolster consumer rights.

Meanwhile USA Today said it was directing British users to its 'European Union Experience' which was compliant with the new data protection rules.

Meanwhile TIME magazine and the Washington Post required users in the European Union to agree to new terms of service.

The GDPR gives people in the EU new powers to access and control their personal data, and gives regulators greater power to levy fines on firms who mishandle data or fail to be transparent in how they collect and use it.

Many are wishing friends 'Happy GDPR day everyone' while others exulted in their quiet email accounts after receiving hundreds of messages in recent days

Consumers have faced a torrent of emails asking them to opt in to further messages from companies required to comply with the GDPR.

Internet companies that track users online, whether for shopping, banking or other reasons, are set to face significant scrutiny.

The new rules require that they have specific justification, such as consent, for using personal information.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on Thursday that 'with GDPR, we will now have to operate recognizing that privacy is a human right'.

Microsoft said this week it would apply European data rights to all its clients worldwide.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, also speaking at the conference, said GDPR means adding some controls, but he insisted it is 'not a massive departure' from what Facebook does.

Popular email unsubscription service Unroll.Me has also stopped working in Europe while it works out how to comply with the new rules

The New York Daily News and other titles belonging to Tronc were among those affected

Some American news websites have temporarily shut down in Britain as GDPR takes effect

The Los Angeles Times is among the titles in the Tronc group not appearing in the UK

TIME magazine was among the websites which allowed users access if they agreed to terms

GDPR: How does it affect you? New data laws come into force in Europe today, but how will the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affect businesses and the general public? What is GDPR? The General Data Protection Regulation is a new, EU-wide law that gives greater power to regulators to penalise companies who mishandle personal data or are not transparent about how their business uses it. For consumers, it brings new powers that require firms to obtain clear consent from users before processing their data, as well as grants users a right to easily access the data collected from them and transparency on how it is being used. What are the key aspects of the regulations? As well as those already mentioned, one key element is the increased jurisdiction GDPR gives regulators. Under the new rules, any company that controls or processes the data of EU citizens must adhere to the GDPR guidelines, ending territorial-based accountability used by some firms not based in the EU to previously avoid sanction. The law also states that notification of a data breach must occur within 72 hours of being first discovered, increasing transparency around such incidents. The weight of fines able to be issued will also increase under GDPR. Regulators will be able to issue penalties equivalent of up to 4% of annual global turnover or 20 million euro (17.5 million) - whichever is greater. For tech giants such as Google and Facebook, this could mean the risk of fines running into the hundreds of millions. Will it make a difference to business? It already appears to be. Many large technology and internet companies have begun the process of making their data practices more transparent with the threat of large fines hanging. Both Facebook and Twitter have been rolling out updates to their privacy policies, adding clearer language and description of data use, and offering more tools to users to share or remove their personal data from that platform, as is required by GDPR. The recent Cambridge Analytica scandal has also increased public scrutiny on data use, with Facebook acknowledging it has received more questions from users recently on how it gathers and shares personal data. Am I likely to be affected? Yes. Whether you own a business, run a charity, or have signed up to newsletters via social media or online shopping websites, the GDPR is likely to impact us all. The Act will give individuals easier access to the information that organisations hold about them - free of charge. Currently, there's a 10 fee for a Subject Access Request (SAR), which businesses and public bodies can charge in order to release any personal information. However, the GDPR means this will be scrapped and requests for personal information can be made free-of-charge and must be released within one month. What happens if I ignore it? Everyday users have to do very little to comply with GDPR - it's more targeted at big online businesses. Many people will have already noticed emails from organisations asking whether they still want to be on the receiving end of their mailing list and other information. However, these are not necessary in every case and if you have an existing relationship with a firm from which you have purchased products or services, you do not need to give fresh consent. Advertisement

A costly victory for privacy? From today, everyone from charities to your church must have YOUR permission to contact you. But confusion already reigns, writes ROSS CLARK

Over recent weeks, millions of us have been deluged with polite begging letters and emails.

They all ask us to give them our express permission to keep bombarding us with marketing material and to continue harvesting our most personal information.

Such correspondence comes from a host of organisations  such as those which we have used to buy products (and they have subsequently kept our details), charities, farm shops, local societies which send us newsletters and internet giants such as eBay and Google.

Internet giants such as eBay and Google are among the companies deluging millions of people with polite begging letters and emails asking us to give them our express permission to keep bombarding us with marketing material, writes Ross Clark

So we may be contacted out of the blue by a small florist from which we bought Auntie Doris a birthday bouquet or from Save The Children, to whom we once gave a donation.

In essence, they are obliged by law to get us to instruct them that we wish to remain on their mailing list.

This is the result of an EU-inspired rule called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into force today.

It represents the biggest shake-up in data protection rules and changes to privacy laws since the internet was conceived.

It is designed to ensure consumer protections are fit for a world where more personal data is being generated and stored by third parties than ever before.

As well as putting a curb on the ability of behemoths Google, Facebook, Apple etc to barrage us with unwanted correspondence, it offers a welcome opportunity for us all to cull the number of emails and junk letters we receive.

It represents the biggest shake-up in data protection rules and changes to privacy laws since the internet was conceived

As from today, it will be illegal for data giants to use and sell peoples information without their express consent.

The new rules also make it easier for us to access the information that organisations hold about us.

As ever with such a major piece of new legislation, there will be winners and losers.

Worryingly, many small charities fear they will lose contact with donors and therefore their income will be reduced.

Other small organisations are concerned that the extra bureaucracy involved may become intolerable.

But there will be advantages  apart from the chance to halt the flood of junk mail  such as the right to ask any company for the data it collects about us, and that includes asking our employer.

Therell be a right, too, to be sent a copy of that personal data, free of charge, and in electronic format.

For their part, businesses have inevitably raised concerns about the costs of compliance, which include the requirement for firms with more than 250 employees to hire a data protection officer to deal with all these issues.

Those who break the rules face fines of up to 10 million, or two per cent of global turnover (whichever is higher), for small breaches of the new regulation, rising to 20 million, or four per cent of global turnover, for more serious offences.

The GDPR places a duty on every company or organisation that holds personal data  such as names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and IP addresses (the number assigned to individual electronic devices)  to ensure they have the consent of the owner of that data.

Hence the flurry of begging opt in messages.

Initially, I was overjoyed to learn of the General Data Protection Regulation. This week, my email inbox has been overflowing  as always.

There were the never-ending requests from companies and organisations I have used only once or never heard of.

One asked, for example, whether I was having complications after my hernia surgery. However, I have never had hernia surgery.

God knows how the firm got my email address. Another, bizarrely addressing me as Judith, wanted to sell me property in Dubai.

No wonder I thought the introduction of the GDPR would be a once-and-for-all opportunity to ignore emails and never be contacted again.

And yet, this new EU legislation has a downside.

I run the cricket club in the Cambridgeshire village where I live, and regularly send emails to a list of 40 players of varying involvement and enthusiasm.

Under the GDPR, I will have to get the consent of everyone to keep sending them correspondence, or potentially face a fine.

Similar sports clubs all over the country have the same problem.

ArcheryGB, an umbrella organisation for dozens of clubs across Britain, has had to give advice to its members.

It says theyll need to comply with the regulations or penalties could be imposed, including very big fines.

It explained that the GDPR will apply whether you pay staff or are all volunteers, whether you have a clubhouse or not, whether you have ten or 1,000 members  there are no exemptions!

And its not just sports clubs.

A churchwarden, who puts together a list of volunteers to read the liturgy at his parish church, worries he will be breaking the law.

He says he will not be able to include anyone in a rota unless they have given him their express consent.

Forlornly, he says: The wonderful European Union has produced a regulation, directly enforceable in English law, which decrees I can be fined up to 20 million.

I do not understand why we all just give in to this sort of appalling nonsense. Do we really object to continuing to receive emails from people with whom we have been happily communicating for years?

The responsibility for incorporating the new regulation into law has been delegated to Britains Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

Naturally worried about my village cricket club correspondence, I referred to its website.

But it is full of vague statements, such as: You should document what personal data you hold, where it came from and who you share it with. You may need to organise an information audit.

How are church volunteers, local cricket club secretaries and anyone else who helps run a community organisation expected to carry out an information audit?

The Information Commissioners Office website went on: You should review your current privacy notices and put a plan in place for making any necessary changes in time for GDPR implementation.

But there is no clear explanation what those necessary changes are.

Confused, I rang the ICO, seeking reassurance with a series of hypothetical issues that I might confront with my fellow cricketers.

A spokeswoman told me: We dont answer theoretical questions.

Instead, she sent me more guidance. An online questionnaire, which I completed, concluded: Yes, you do need to get ready for the new law.

Separately, a statement by Steve Wood, the deputy information commissioner, set out to dispel a number of myths and misunderstandings surrounding GDPR.

Contrary to the advice of the questionnaire, he said that clubs were not necessarily prevented from sending out newsletters without the permission of recipients.

So much for clearing up misunderstandings!

Also, Mr Woods statement added: Where you have an existing relationship with customers who have purchased goods or services from you, it may not be necessary to obtain fresh consent.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg being questioned in Washington last month about the social network's use of data

Surely this negates a key aim of the GDPR?

In any case, the word may is hardly reassuring when breaches can lead to heavy penalties.

So I rang the ICO again and asked: If I got someones email address five years ago, do I now need to seek their permission to send them emails?

They couldnt answer, but told me: Were not going to come after people who organise church rotas. As for large firms, our advice is not to panic.

At least theyre promising to show a bit of common sense.

But that doesnt change the fact we are about to have a powerful piece of new law, with provision for huge fines, and yet few seem to know what it means.

Meanwhile, unwanted emails keep dropping into my inbox  such as a firm inviting me to enlarge my breasts.

Will the new regulation do anything to stop them?

Probably not, as there is already a law which is meant to cover the sending of unwanted marketing emails  the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations of 2010.

Although many firms have been fined heavily for breaching these, the regulations seem to have had little impact on the amount of unwanted emails we all receive.

Indeed, a lot of these messages, especially the fraudulent emails asking me to transfer money from my bank account in return for a large financial reward, come from abroad and are therefore beyond the regulations remit.

Of course, commercial firms are busy trying to find loopholes in the General Data Protection Regulation and will undoubtedly exploit the fact it only covers what happens in Europe.

In fact, I bet you 20 million that all the big Silicon Valley-based data giants who make such handsome profits by plundering our information will find a way to duck the rules.

Facebook, for example, has already changed the territory where about 70 per cent of its users are registered  from Ireland to the U.S.  and thus away from the reaches of European authorities.

It doesnt take a genius to realise that billionaire data company bosses and fraudsters will carry on pretty much as before, while the lives of church volunteers and village club secretaries are made much more difficult.

I would ask you to send me your tale of woe about these new regulations  but it would probably get lost among the avalanche of unwanted nonsense already bunging up my inbox.
Abandoning supermarket trolleys could land you a $5000 fine in one Australian city which is battling to stamp out the practice.

More than 230 supermarket trolleys were abandoned in four days in just one suburb, prompting an Adelaide council to crack down and enforce a maximum $5000 fine for trolley dumpers.

The City of Marion, a 20 minute drive south-west of Adelaide, collected 232 trolleys in four days after receiving complaints from the public.

The trolleys were found in the streets surrounding Adelaide's Westfield Marion and Castle Plaza shopping centres.

Mayor Kris Hanna told the Daily Mail Australia that trolley dumping was a nation-wide problem.

'It's not just the City of Marion, this is happening around shopping centres right across Australia,' he said.

'It's not just an eye sore, but it is actually a dangerous obstacle in some cases.'

Across social media, supermarket trolleys have been abandoned in a series of odd locations, including trolleys balanced precariously on top of four-metre high poles (pictured)

The Daily Mail has found Australian shoppers abandoning their trolleys in odd locations.

On social media, pictures have emerged of trolleys placed on top of four-metre poles and mounted vertically on wire fences.

Following these antics, Mayor Hanna said '[i]t is irresponsible, it is careless and we have to do something'.

'It's been a persistent low level problem for a long time, but because of recent complaints, Marion Council felt they had really had enough and therefore made a point of counting every single trolley that we've collected in the last week.'

An Adelaide council has cracked down on trolley dumping and is considering enforcing a $5,000 fine for shoppers who abandon their trolleys on the streets surrounding local shopping centres

On Thursday, the council launched a campaign to stop trolley dumping, which will continue until a summit with other local councils in July.

The campaign aims to encourage residents to return trolleys to the supermarket instead of abandoning them in the street.

It is a multi-faceted campaign, which involves a video advertisement, dedicated Facebook page to report missing trolleys and letters and fridge magnets which will be posted to local people.

The council has started a dedicated Facebook page, TrolleywatchSA and released a publicity video shaming residents for abandoning their shopping carts.

On Thursday, Mayor Kris Hanna of the City of Marion in Adelaide (pictured) launched a campaign to encourage local people to return their trolleys to shopping centres instead of leaving them on neighbourhood footpaths and streets

'We need to fix this problem. We're going to start fining people who leave them on the streets,' said Mayor Hanna in the video.

'It shouldn't be Marion rate payers who are paying for our staff to pick them up, when they should be out fixing the reserves and the streets, what we're paying them to do,' said Mayor Hanna.

According to Mayor Hanna, trolley dumping is a form of littering which attracts a maximum fine of $5000.

After finding over 232 abandoned shopping trolleys in four days, the City of Marion in Adelaide has launched a campaign which tells local people to return their carts to shopping centres or they could face a $5,000 fine

'It's hard rubbish and that attracts a fine of up to $5,000,' he said.

'Leaving a trolley around is not going to be at the upper end of that range, but Marion Council is seriously considering fining people, atleast in a short term campaign, while we're educating people about what they ought to be doing,'he said.

As yet, nobody has been fined for dumping trolleys, but the council is considering issuing on the spot fines in the next few months to discourage people from dumping the carts.

'The right thing to do is to return the trolleys, but maybe we have to bring fines into the mix, along with education and other measures,' he said.

Mayor Hanna warned of the dangers of abandoned trolleys saying, 'Many of these trolleys are left on the actual road way. Many are left on the actual footpath and we do have a number of people in wheelchairs and on scooters that actually have to navigate around these things'

Left around the neighbourhood, these unsupervised trolleys pose a safety risk as they could roll away and crash into pedestrians and vehicles.

In addition, they obstruct footpaths and roads causing obstructions.

'Many of these trolleys are left on the actual road way. Many are left on the actual footpath and we do have a number of people in wheelchairs and on scooters that actually have to navigate around these things,' Mayor Hanna said.

Mayor Hanna said the council will consider suggestions including gold coin donations, trolleys which automatically brake before leaving shopping centres and GPS tracking, in a summit with other local councils, retailers and possibly manufacturers in July.

'[C]learly, what is being done so far hasn't worked, some of the major retailers have a trolley collection service that goes around to nearby streets and collects trolleys. But they're clearly not putting in enough resources to really fix that problem, he said.

'Ultimately, it comes back to the individual responsibility and people simply not caring enough. How we solve that problem in society, I don't know,' said Mayor Hanna.
Almost 100 towns and cities will have a third of their population as pensioners in less than a decade, it has been suggested.

Data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed the population in England is set to boom as a result of both immigration and the ageing population.

The startling rise in the age of 97 places in the UK was revealed in the new ONS population forecasts.

It compares with 36 areas which had 25 per cent of their population aged over 65 in 2016.

England's OAP population is set to boom. An elderly couple eating ice cream in the hot weather, in Regent's Park, London

The projections said that the number of over-65s in London will grow by nearly a quarter by 2026.

There will also be increases of a fifth or more in the older population in the East, the South East, and the East Midlands, and in the South West the forecast increase in people over 65 is 19.9 per cent.

The number of people in England aged 65 and over is projected to grow 20.4 per cent  faster than any other age group.

The census in 2011 recorded the population over 65 in England and Wales as 9.2 million. Experts have warned that the increase in the elderly population will lead to new pressures on communities.

Of the 3.23million increase forecast in the population of England in a decade, nearly half - 1.72million - is accounted for by immigration.

The rest is almost all down to the gap between birth rate being higher than the death rate.

The proportion of local authorities where more than a quarter of people are aged 65 or over is expected to treble, from a ninth to a third.

ONS population expert Andrew Nash said: 'While the overall populations of all regions in England are projected to increase over the next decade, reasons for these increases vary greatly depending on where you live.

'For instance, projected population change in London is mainly caused by natural change  the difference between the number of births and deaths  and not migration.

'This is because London's net inflow of international migrants is offset by a similar number of people moving to other parts of the UK.

'That contrasts with the North East, where growth is mostly down to migration.

'What's also clear is that the population is ageing in all regions, with the number of people aged 65 and over growing considerably faster than younger age groups.'

Almost 100 towns in England will have a one third elderly population in then coming years as older people live longer

All the regions in England are expected to get bigger soon and London could grow to become a megacity due to its population in the next ten years.

The East of the country is due to rise 7.3 per cent to 6.57million over the decade, and the South West will see a 6.6 per cent increase to 5.88million.

In the South East numbers will top 9.54million by mid-2026, up some 6.4 per cent.

The North East is set to have the lowest growth at 1.9 per cent.

Only 15 local authorities in England are expected to see numbers fall.
An incident in which Canberra Airport allegedly held a Qantas plane 'ransom' on the runway has stoked the ire of the airline's chief executive, who likened the airport to a crew of Somali Pirates.

'Maybe the airport should be called 'The Canberra Pirates' because you wouldn't have this in Somalia,' Mr Joyce chided at a recent aviation industry event.

'You wouldn't have this in other parts of the world. It is unbelievably appalling behaviour.'

Qantas was at loggerheads with Canberra Airport in March 2017, when a flight made an unexpected landing there due to bad weather and was allegedly strongarmed into paying a diversion fee when a car blocked its takeoff

Qantas was at loggerheads with Canberra Airport in March 2017, when a flight made an unexpected landing there due to bad weather and was subsequently prompted to pay an $18,000 diversion fee,The Canberra Times reports.

The airline accused the airport of effectively ransoming the plane by parking an escort car in its way and blocking its take-off until the fee was paid.

Canberra Airport rejected the claims, stating that the plane was only delayed for eight minutes while a diversion agreement was negotiated, leaving in time to make its allocated landing slot in Sydney.

'It was the last in a series of unannounced diversions by Qantas that posed a safety risk at Canberra Airport,' said a spokeswoman.

'You wouldn't have this in other parts of the world,' said Mr Joyce (pictured). 'It is unbelievably appalling behaviour'

Canberra Airport (pictured) rejected the claims, stating that the plane was only delayed for eight minutes while a diversion agreement was negotiated, leaving in time to make its allocated slot time in Sydney

The airport has a tense history with Qantas, repeatedly calling them out on the rate of cancellations on flights between Sydney and Canberra.

The spokeswoman suggested that this recent stoush was simply the result of bad blood and animosity from an airline that doesn't like being stood up to.

But Mr Joyce wasn't the only one who voiced incredulity at the way the incident was handled.

The airport has a tense history with Qantas, repeatedly calling them out on the rate of cancellations on flights between Sydney and Canberra

Speaking at an industry meeting for Airlines for Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, group chair Graeme Samuel, said Canberra Airport's actions were worse than one might even expect in a third-world country.

'I can't contemplate any place in the world, except perhaps Somalia or perhaps Nairobi, where an aircraft would... [have] had a car parked in front of the aircraft, saying you cannot move until the airline provides a Visa card,' he said.

'That's not Australia. That's a third world country.'

Canberra Airport claims to have had a positive meeting with Qantas on Wednesday, and is allegedly focused on repairing its relationship with the airline.
Sharon and Julio Carrillo have two other children, a one-year-old and two-year-old, who are in the care of Julio's parents

After Kennedy's death, the couple took the child's body to the basement and left it for several hours trying to make the death seem like an accident

Sharon Carrillo beat the girl because she thought the child was faking her injuries

A day or two before Kennedy's death she woke up and could not walk or talk without slurring her words, authorities said

They admitted to beating the girl every day from October until her death

Marissa Kennedy, 10, was found dead in her parents home in Maine in February

Sharon Carrillo gave birth to a baby boy three months after she was charged with beating her daughter Marissa Kennedy to death

A Maine woman has given birth to a baby boy just three months after she was arrested and charged with beating her daughter to death.

Joseph Kennedy, the father of Sharon Carrillo, told the Press Herald that he received a call on Wednesday notifying him that his 33-year-old daughter had given birth to a healthy baby boy.

'I have received a call, not from a hospital, not from the prison, that Sharon did have her baby,' he said. 'Seven pounds and healthy, that's all I can tell you.'

It's not clear what hospital the baby, named Nicholas Isaiah, was born in.

Sharon Carrillo (left) gave birth to a baby boy on Wednesday, three months after she and her husband Julio Carrillo (right) were charged with the murder of her daughter

Marissa Kennedy, 10, died in February following months of abuse by her mother and her step-father

Investigators said Sharon and Julio Carrillo beat Kennedy multiple times every day from October until her death in February

Sharon Carrillo and her husband, Julio Carrillo Jr, are both being held at the Two Bridges Regional Jail on charges of depraved indifference murder for the February 2018 death of Sharon's 10-year-old daughter, Marissa Kennedy.

The little girl was found dead at her mother and step-father's Stockton Springs home on February 25 after Julio Carrillo called 911 to report that the child had been hurt in an accident.

According to an affidavit, the couple would use leather belts, their fists and a metal mop handle to beat Kennedy

Sharon and Julio Carrillo later confessed to police that they staged a scene in the basement of their home to make Kennedy's death look like an accident, the Press Herald reports.

According to a police affidavit filed in Waldo County District Court, the couple beat Kennedy multiple times every day from October until her death. The affidavit states that they used leather belts, their fists and a metal mop handle to beat the girl. Julio Carrilo, 51, is also accused of breaking the metal handle over Kennedy's ribs.

Investigators said a day or two before Kennedy's death the girl woke up and could not walk or talk without slurring her speech.

Sharon Carrillo allegedly beat her daughter one more time because she thought the girl was pretending to be injured, authorities said.

The next day, the couple found the 10-year-old unresponsive.

Instead of calling police, the couple tried to make Kennedy's death look like an accident. Police said Julio Carrillo carried the girl's body to the basement boiler room, put her on the floor and then knocked down a couple chairs and a stool.

A day or two before the child's death she woke up and could not walk or talk without slurring her words. Sharon Carrillo beat the girl again because she thought the child was pretending to be injured

The girl died in the couple's Stockton Springs home. Sharon and Julio Carrillo initially tried to cover up her death

Sharon and Julio Carrillo then left the girl in the basement for several hours before Julio Carrillo returned to the basement to retrieve the body.

While Sharon Carrillo tried to clean the girl's body, the woman's husband called 911 saying the girl was badly hurt and needed medical attention.

Throughout the police investigation, investigators discovered that the couple also punished Kennedy by making her kneel on a tile floor and force her to hold her hands above her head while they beat her.

A medical examiner determined that Kennedy died of battered child syndrome, and had a pool of blood around her brain as well as a lacerated liver. She also had multiple injuries covering her body.

Sharon Carrillo's attorneys have said that the 33-year-old mother has intellectual disabilities that made her susceptible to manipulation and coercion by her husband, who allegedly physically and verbally abused her.

The couple's two other children are in the care of Julio Carrillo's parents. Joseph Kennedy said his in-laws have already applied to take custody of the newborn.
Raging bushfires are threatening lives and homes in Albany Western Australia, five hours south of Perth.

Two buildings have been destroyed and four families have left their homes, the Western Australian reported.

The fires are still out of control and residents in Albany and nearby towns of Redmond, Marbelup, McKail and Elleker are in danger, Emergency WA warned.

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Bushfires are threatening lives and homes near Albany Western Australia, five hours south of Perth. A picture of the fire burning in the Stirling Ranges is pictured

The fires are still out of control and residents in Albany and nearby towns of Redmond, Marbelup, McKail and Elleker are in danger, Emergency WA warned on Friday morning

Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington described the situation as 'absolute mayhem' to the ABC and said he has 'never seen' a fire on this scale.

'I've never seen anything like it  it's just absolute mayhem,' he said.

People were warned 'leaving now would be deadly' by the WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

A bushfire emergency warning has been issued for people in an area bounded by Redmond Hay River Road, Down Road South, South Coast Highway and Redmond West Road in Redmond, Marbelup, McKail, Elleker Redmond, Marbelup, McKail and Elleker in Albany.

People were warned 'leaving now would be deadly' by the WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

WA's Department of Fire and Emergency Services released an emergency warning at 8.18 Perth time warning people the bus

'You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive. There is a threat to lives and homes,' the warning stated.

'It is too late to leave, leaving now would be deadly.

Two buildings have been destroyed and four families have left their homes

'You need to shelter in your home and actively defend it. Go to a room away from the fire front and make sure you can easily escape.'

One local posted on social media she had been putting out spot fires all night.

'Fires are raging, very scary,' she said.

'Please keep the people of Good beach, Redmond, Napier and Denmark in your prayers.'
Night club identity John Ibrahim's model girlfriend Sarah Budge wants to face trial for allegedly possessing a loaded handgun as soon as possible.

The 28-year-old appeared in the New South Wales District Court for the first time on Friday when her lawyer sought a trial date.

The court heard Budge, who was accompanied by her brother Jack, wanted to avoid further costs and delays.

She was wearing a $600 purple-coloured Scanlan Theodore dress and a long black overcoat.

Night club identity John Ibrahim's model girlfriend Sarah Budge (pictured outside court on Friday) wants to face trial for allegedly possessing a loaded handgun as soon as possible

The 28-year-old (pictured with John Ibrahim in 2015) appeared in the New South Wales District Court for the first time on Friday

The court heard Budge wanted a trial as soon as possible to avoid further costs and delays

Budge faces a hearing on firearm possession charges which carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Last week the 28-year-old waived her right to a committal hearing in the local court, instead electing to go straight to trial in the District Court.

Budge is facing three charges: possessing an unauthorised pistol, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing a defaced firearm.

The last charge refers to an allegation the pistol's serial number had been removed.

Police allegedly found a loaded Glock 26 handgun in Budge's Double Bay apartment in August

Budge, pictured right and left with John Ibrahim, was first linked to the Kings Cross identity about three years ago

Budge is pictured with Kings Cross Identity John Ibrahim on a boat in Ibiza in 2015

Budge faces a hearing on firearm possession charges which carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison

Police allegedly found a loaded Glock 26 handgun in Budge's Double Bay apartment in Sydney's eastern suburbs in August last year.

Her home was raided at the same time as search warrants were executed on a number of Sydney addresses as part of a major investigation into drug supply. It is not suggested the Budges gun possession charges are in any way related to that.

Mr Ibrahim's brothers Fadi and Michael were arrested in Dubai as part of that investigation.

Michael is charged with masterminding a drug and tobacco trafficking operation while Fadi is charged with financing a tobacco importation.

The 28-year-old was wearing a $600 purple-coloured Scanlan Theodore dress and a long black overcoat during her court appearance on Friday

Sarah Budge is seen getting into a taxi following an appearance in the NSW District Court

Budge (pictured) is facing three charges: possessing an unauthorised pistol, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing a defaced firearm

Budge is not charged with anything related to the alleged smuggling syndicate and John Ibrahim has not been charged with any offence.

The semi-automatic handgun allegedly found in Budge's bedroom is a 9mm weapon with a 10-round magazine.

It is known as a 'baby Glock' and is described by its manufacturer as 'the most sought-after concealed carry option since its release in 1994.'

'The highly accurate firing characteristics explain why the G26 is the mainstay backup option among security personnel and agencies worldwide,' Glock states.

Fadi Ibrahim pictured) was arrested in Dubai last year. He is charged with financing a tobacco importation

John Ibrahim is pictured left with his brother Michael (right), who is charged with masterminding a drug and tobacco trafficking operation. John Ibrahim has not been charged with any offence

Budge (pictured) is not charged with anything related to the alleged smuggling syndicate

Budge was first linked to Mr Ibrahim about three years ago.

At the time of her arrest she was the managing director of the inner-city restaurant and music venue Crane Bar on Bayswater Road at Kings Cross.

Three other charges Budge had been facing have been withdrawn.

Budge, who is on bail, is due back in court on June 8.

The semi-automatic handgun allegedly found in Budge's bedroom is a 9mm weapon with a 10-round magazine

Budge is pictured leaving the Downing Centre court in Sydney, Tuesday, February 20, 2018

When Budge (left and right) was arrested, she was the managing director of the inner-city restaurant and music venue Crane Bar on Bayswater Road at Kings Cross
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his aides were pictured on Friday wearing facial expressions that show their disappointment over President Donald Trumps decision to cancel a summit meeting with Kim Jong-un.

The picture was taken by an official press photographer at Blue House in the capital Seoul.

Blue House is the South Korean equivalent to the White House.

It shows a somber-looking Moon holding a piece of paper while his aides, who also appear glum, sit near him at a table.

The picture coincides with reports from Seoul that indicate Moon and his government were blindsided by Trumps abrupt decision to cancel the planned meeting with Kim.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (center) and his aides were pictured on Friday wearing facial expressions that show their disappointment over President Donald Trumps decision to cancel a summit meeting with Kim Jong-un

Moon and Trump (right) met at the White House this past Tuesday. The South Korean leader was back in his home country for less than 24 hours before learning of the president's decision

Moon and Trump met at the White House this past Tuesday.

The South Korean leader was back in his home country for less than 24 hours before learning of the president's decision.

Trump and Kim were set to meet June 12 in Singapore to discuss denuclearization and reducing tensions on the peninsula.

Moon has invested a great deal of political capital in reaching out to the North, so presumably Trumps decision came as a shock.

Trump and Kim were set to meet June 12 in Singapore to discuss denuclearization and reducing tensions on the peninsula

The White House says the North Korean government violated several promises to the U.S. and South Korea related to the summit

On April 26, Moon met Kim for ceremonial talks at the peace village of Panmunjon in the demilitarized zone.

It was the first time since the Korean War ended in an armistice that a leader from the North set foot on South Korean soil.

The village is one of the few places where there are no barbed wire fences or minefields between the two countries, separated by a conflict that ended with a truce, not a treaty, in 1953, meaning they are still technically at war.

I was excited to meet at this historic place and it is really moving that you came all the way to the demarcation line to greet me in person, Kim said as he grasped Moons hand across the border.

It was your big decision to make it here, said Moon, dressed in a dark suit and light blue tie, who invited Kim to step over the line in the pavement, which he did.

There was hope that the historic border meeting would set the stage for a deal between Trump and Kim.

Moon said on Friday that he was very perplexed that the U.S.-North Korea summit wont go ahead as planned.

Yonhap news agency cited Moon as urging direct talks between Trump and Kim.

Moon was speaking at an emergency meeting of his top security officials in Seoul after Trump announced he was canceling the summit because of North Korean hostility.

Moon was quoted as saying: I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-U.S. summit will not be held on June 12.

On April 26, Moon met Kim for ceremonial talks at the peace village of Panmunjon in the demilitarized zone. It was the first time since the Korean War ended in an armistice that a leader from the North set foot on South Korean soil

He said, Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed.

Moon met Trump in Washington on Tuesday, but appeared caught unawares by the presidents decision Thursday.

The White House says the North Korean government violated several promises to the U.S. and South Korea related to the summit.

A senior U.S. official says the North Koreans stood up an American delegation last week seeking to make arrangements for the summit and did not return messages from the U.S. seeking to discuss the meeting.

The official says the North also reneged on a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday.

International journalists were present, but the U.S. government cant verify the sites destruction.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid overshadowing Trumps comments Thursday.

North Korea says it is still willing to sit down for talks with the United States 'at any time, at any format.'

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan issued a statement Friday saying North Korea is 'willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities' to reconsider talks.

Kim says North Koreas 'objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged.'

Kim is calling Trumps decision 'unexpected' and 'very regrettable,' and says the cancellation of the talks shows 'how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties.'
A man who killed his heavily pregnant partner by stabbing her 49 times at their western Sydney home will spend at least 22-and-a-half years behind bars.

Joshua Homann, 40, was found guilty in March of murdering 37-year-old Kirralee Paepaerei in September 2015, with the attack also resulting in the death of their unborn baby.

Sentencing Homann in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday to a maximum of 30 years in prison, Justice Lucy McCallum said his case had involved an 'extreme frenzy of violence'.

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Joshua Homann spend at least 22-and-a-half-years in jail murdering his pregnant partner Kirralee Paepaerei at their Mount Druitt home in 2015

Ms Paepaerei's family and friends, including stepfather Godwin D'Ugo (pictured middle) packed the NSW Supreme Court for the verdict

Wearing purple shirts and white ribbons as a symbol against domestic violence, dozens of Ms Paepaerei's family and friends packed the court and wept as the verdict was read out, 9 News reported.

'Kirralee Paepaerei was killed within a short space of time without warning by a man who her family was entitled to expect would keep her safe' Justice McCallum told the court.

There were shouts of 'rot' and 'evil' as Homann was led away.

Kirralee Paepaerei (pictured) was killed by her partner, along with her unborn daughter, who she was going to name Mia

Kirralee Paepaerei's mother Joyce D'Ugo couldn't hold back tears outside the NSW Supreme Court on Friday

Justice McCallum acknowledged that Homann had been experiencing some psychosis at the time, contributed to by his use of the drug ice, but that it didn't reduce his culpability for the crime.

'Ice is a scourge it is freely accessible and highly addictive it should be denounced in the strongest terms,' she told the court.

Homann had accepted responsibility for Ms Paepaerei's death but he denied murdering her.

Joshua Homann (pictured) could spend up to 30 years behind bars

His lawyer had told jurors during his trial that the case was about mental illness, rather than domestic violence or drug use.

The court also heard that prior to her death, Ms Paepaerei knew the gender of her unborn baby and had chosen a name.

'She knew she was going to have a daughter and had chosen a name, Mia,' Justice McCallum said.

'Family should be the people who make you feel safe Responsibility for her death is borne by Josh Homann and him alone.'

Kirralee Paepaerei's supporters wore purple shirts and white ribbons at the sentencing

Outside court, Ms Paepaerei's stepfather Godwin D'ugo told reporters that a 'devil would have more compassion.

'It's not going to change things, it's not going to bring her back.

'It's going to be a long hard road, but we'll get there.'

Homann will be eligible for parole in 2038.
Greens MP Lee Rhiannon will quit federal parliament and make way for Australia's first Muslim senator.

The 66-year-old left-wing firebrand will finish up her seven-year career as a New South Wales senator in mid-August and make way for Pakistan-born state upper house member Mehreen Faruqi.

Senator Rhiannon, whose parents were Communist Party of Australia members, released a statement on Friday morning.

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Greens MP Lee Rhiannon will quit federal parliament and make way for Australia's first Muslim senator

'I remain passionate and as committed as ever to our collective struggle for a fair, just, ecologically-sustainable and peaceful world,' she said.

Her replacement, who last year beat her in a Greens preselection battle for the top spot on the party's NSW Senate ticket, renounced her dual Pakistani citizenship in August.

'In case any one is wondering, I have applied to the Pakistan government to renounce my dual citizenship and I am assured the process will be completed well before the federal election,' Ms Faruqi told her Facebook followers last year.

The 66-year-old left-wing firebrand will finish up her seven-year career as a NSWsenator in mid-August and make way for Pakistan-born state upper house member Mehreen Faruqi

Until August 2017, Ms Faruqi had not renounced her dual citizenship despite moving to Australia from Pakistan in 1992 and becoming a member of the NSW Legislative Council in June 2013.

She is also the mother of new ABC website journalist Osman Faruqi, who is suing former Labor leader Mark Latham for his commentary about his alleged 'anti-white' tweets to controversial Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied.

A year ago Ms Faruqi, a former civil engineer, told a NSW parliamentary inquiry she was proud to be in an arranged marriage.

Until August 2017, Ms Faruqi had not renounced her dual citizenship despite moving to Australia in 1992 and becoming a member of the NSW Legislative Council in June 2013

'Mine was an arranged marriage, it wasn't a forced marriage at all. I just want to clarify that,' she said.

Senator Rhiannon, who clashed openly with Greens leaders, including Richard Di Natale and Bob Brown, described herself as an 'accidental politician'.

'When I was young, parliament was where we went to protest not to get a job,' she said.

'My years as an MP have strengthened my belief that it is community action that drives progressive social change.'

She described her passions as 're-nationalising public services, Palestinian self-determination, union rights, climate action, free public education and animal rights'.
An Illinois mother called the police and had her son arrested because she was afraid he was about to commit a school shooting.

Marshanice Mackey said she called authorities in Belleville after she learned her 18-year-old son, Derek Burton, was upset about his girlfriend.

Investigators discovered that Burton allegedly made threats against students at a local high school late Tuesday, KMOV reported.

Belleville is a suburb of St. Louis.

The girlfriend told Mackey that Burton made comments indicating he was suicidal. When Mackey noticed that her handgun was missing, she called the police.

Marshanice Mackey said she called authorities in Belleville after she learned her 18-year-old son, Derek Burton, was upset about his girlfriend

According to police, Burton (center) confronted several students from Belleville East High School in the parking lot of a Circle K in Shiloh. During the confrontation, Burton is alleged to have pointed his gun and made threats

According to police, Burton confronted several students from Belleville East High School in the parking lot of a Circle K in Shiloh.

During the confrontation, Burton is alleged to have pointed his gun and made threats.

Classes at two local high schools were canceled as a precaution, KSDK-TV reported.

When police were unable to locate Burton, they grew alarmed and recommended that classes be canceled.

School officials shut down classes at Belleville East and West High Schools when they were told about the danger by police.

I just want everybody to know that this is totally out of my son's character, Mackey said.

This is nothing he'd do, and I need to get his name cleared.

'And that's me as a parent,' she said, 'because I know what kind of son that I've raised, and I raised a really wonderful son, and that was something that as a mother I felt needed to be done.'

According to police, Burton confronted several students from Belleville East High School (seen in the above stock image) in the parking lot of a Circle K in Shiloh

School officials shut down classes at Belleville East and West High Schools when they were told about the danger by police. Belleville West is seen in the above stock image

Burton was arrested early Wednesday morning.

He has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of unlawful use of a weapon and one count of threat and one count of a threat against a school or a person.

Mackey says other parents in her situation may not have done what she did in turning their own children into authorities.

Still, it's important to know that it could happen to any parent, she says.

'Pay more close attention to your children, be aware of their surroundings,' she said when asked what advice she would give to other parents.

'Reach out to your kids, you just have to know your children if you don't know anything else.'

She said: 'You know, that's why we have a lot of school shootings. Because a lot of parents don't agree that we need to set certain structures for their children, or, "That's my son so I'm not going to call the police on them because I don't want them to get caught up in the system," let that happen.

'That's not going to be the case with me.'
An upstate New York man who has to be out of his parents' home in a week has a new excuse for why he should be given more time - he can't afford moving boxes.

Michael Rotondo, the 30-year-old man ordered by a judge to vacate his parent's Camillus home, learned on Thursday that he must be completely moved out by noon on June 1.

Rotondo, who is jobless, told Syracuse.com that the deadline may be an issue because he doesn't have money to pay for moving boxes.

'I need to start packing my boxes so I can move,' he told the outlet. 'But I have to pay for the boxes, which might be a problem.'

Michael Rotondo, 30, has until June 1 to move out of his parents' home. He said that's not enough time because he can't afford moving boxes

Rotondo spoke with DailyMail.com after he was ordered out of his parents' home by a judge in Onondaga County, New York court on Tuesday

Villa Italian Kitchen has offered Rotondo a job to help the 30-year-old man, who says part of the reason he can't move out of his parents' home is because he is jobless

Rotondo said he knows if he disobeys the court order he could be forcibly put out the home by sheriff deputies, but said June 1 is not enough time for him to get his stuff together and find another place to live.

'I really don't understand how that's necessary,' he said. 'I'm aware that that's how the ax falls. I'm going to try to resolve this as civilly as possible.'

To help with some of Rotondo's troubles a pizzeria chain offered the man a job. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Andrew Steinberg, chief operating officer of Villa Italian Kitchen, said he was offering Rotondo a job because he knows it's 'tough out there'.

'At Villa, we feel for millennials, across the board,' Steinberg wrote. 'With that saidMichael, hey dude. We are offering you a store-level gig, complete with extensive training to get you up to speed, at any one of our 250 locations worldwide.'

Steinberg said he was willing to give Rotondo a 'signing bonus' of $1,101, a dollar more than what the man's parents offered to give him if he moved out.

His parents, Christina and Mark Rotondo, are pictured on the right. They say they have been trying to kick him out of their house for months

The Rotondos say their son has been living with them for the past eight years, without paying rent or contributing in any way

The couple have written five letters to their son over the past three months, informing him that he must leave the home

The couple are now trying to get their son kicked out of their home through an ejectment proceeding

In his letter, written on February 18, the couple offered some advice to their son to help him find a new place to live

'We heard your parents offered you $1,100 to get out. We'll do you one better. Literally, one. Offer from us is on the table for $1,101 to come join our team. Consider it a signing bonus. We gotchu, bud,' the Facebook post read.

Rotondo has not said if he plans to take Villa Italian Kitchen up on their offer.

In an interview with DailyMail.com earlier this week, Rotondo said his issues with his parents are tied to his custody battle over his son.

Rotondo said he lost custody of his son, whose age he wouldn't disclose, back in September. The boy now lives with his mother full time, who Rotondo said he was never married to, or in a relationship with.

He said he immediately filed an appeal as a 'poor person' so that his court fees could be waived going forward. But he said his parents complicated matters when they said he needed a job and health insurance if he was to continue living with them.

Rotondo refused, saying that his job at the moment was getting his son back.

Rotondo's son is pictured left and right. He lost custody last year and said he is fighting to regain custody

Michael says his troubles with his parents are connected to the custody battle over his son

When they offered to pay for his health insurance, Rotondo explained that he couldn't take that money because it would compromise getting the 'poor person' status.

Shortly after, he said his parents stopped providing food for him, and cut off his cellphone. They also said he couldn't use the laundry machines in the house anymore.

His parents also went to court to try to get visitation of their grandchild. Rotondo said it was two days after that hearing that he got his first letter, in which his parents said they had 'decided that you must leave this house immediately'.

They went on to send him four more letters, but Rotondo refused to budge.
Inaugural Australian Masterchef champion Julie Goodwin has pleaded guilty to drink driving after trying to do a runner from a roadside breath test earlier this year.

Goodwin, 47, recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.107 - more than double the legal limit - when she was pulled over and subsequently arrested at North Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast in April.

Her solicitor Ken Stewart entered a guilty plea to one count of mid-range drink-driving when he appeared alongside his client in Gosford County Court on Friday, The Daily Telegraph reports.

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Julie Goodwin has pleaded guilty to mid-range drink driving after trying and failing to run away from a roadside breath test earlier this year

Mr Stewart told the court that he would 'unashamedly ask for no conviction'.

Goodwin, who faced a maximum sentence of nine months jail, a $2200 fine and a 12-month suspension on her licence, appeared stoic as her husband Mick accompanied her to court.

She was ultimately handed a $600 fine and a six-month suspension by Magistrate Ron Maiden.

Her solicitor Ken Stewart (pictured: right) entered a guilty plea to one count of mid-range drink-driving when he appeared alongside his client in Gosford County Court on Friday

Goodwin was arrested on April 12 as part of a crackdown on drink driving by Brisbane Water police.

Officers noticed Goodwin's distinctive Mini Cooper approaching the roadside breath test on the Pacific Highway at North Gosford before the vehicle pulled a last minute U-turn and drove off in the opposite direction.

Goodwin was pursued and located in a nearby side street, where she failed a breath test before being taken to Gosford Police Station.

Goodwin faced a maximum sentence of nine months jail, a $2200 fine and a 12-month suspension from driving, but was ultimately handed a $600 fine and a six-month suspension

In a since deleted social media post, the celebrity chef claimed she had been driving home from a 'celebratory function' that she had catered for when she was pulled over.

'Needless to say I accept full responsibility for this error in judgment, which I believe is completely out of character for me,' she said.

'Many lessons will flow from this, and I will learn from each of them.'
The Northern Territory's new barramundi emblem has been slammed by the fishing industry as looking nothing like the fish.

The emblem, officially gazetted last week, has sparked anger from the fishing community in Darwin.

Darwin Fishing and Outdoor World manager Ronald Voukolos told the ABC 'you can't get a barramundi that wrong'.

The Northern Territory's new barramundi emblem (pictured) has been slammed by the fishing industry as looking nothing like the fish

'It's basically too round and the head is too small,' he told the network.

'(It) didn't look normal. You can't get a barramundi that wrong, it's impossible'.

Barramundi live in both freshwater and saltwater and are common in tropical rivers.

He suggested the NT Government should have gone to the pub and talked to the public about the design.

'They should have gone down to the local pub and had a chat to someone and said, 'Mate, what do you reckon, what's a good picture of a barra?' he told the ABC.

The emblem, officially gazetted last week, has sparked anger from the fishing community in Darwin

Kris Noble, coordinator of the SWB Barra Challenge - a woman's only fishing tournament - told the Northern Territory News the emblem 'didnt really look like a barra' and 'wasnt identifiable'.

Attorney-General Natasha Fyles told the publication saltwater barra was chosen for the design because the colours are 'brighter and stronger' than fresh barramundi.

'Barramundi are found all across North Australia, including Queensland and WA but we've got the biggest and best barra here in the Territory and we've even got a million dollar barra,' she told the publication.

The Northern Territory has more barramundi than anywhere else in Australia.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the NSW Government for comment.
A grandmother caught supplying heroin inside water balloons from her public housing flat has escaped jail.

Barbara Blewden breathed a deep sigh of relief when it was explained to her a suspended six-month prison sentence meant she would not be locked up.

The 78-year-old was also put on a six month good behaviour bond in the New South Wales District Court on Friday.

Barbara Blewden, 78, pleaded guilty to the deemed supply of amphetamine and knowingly taking part in the supply of a small quantity of heroin between February and March 2017

The amphetamine charge related to drugs Blewden told police were for her own use

Her barrister Douglas Marr said of the heroin charges: 'Its seems that the supplies were very small amounts when one looks at the facts' Blewden is pictured with solicitor Laith Hijazin

Judge Kate Traill said Blewden had been 'substantially involved in the trafficking of drugs' from her flat at Surry Hills in Sydney's inner city.

However the amounts of heroin she had supplied were 'extremely small' and her offending was at the lower end of the scale.

Due to her age, the unlikelihood of her reoffending and her cognitive state it would inappropriate to jail her, Judge Traill found.

Blewden pleaded guilty to the deemed supply of amphetamine and knowingly taking part in the supply of a small quantity of heroin between February and March 2017.

The amphetamine charge related to drugs Blewden told police were for her own use.

Blewden had begun taking amphetamines on weekends when she was about 60.

Mr Marr said Blewden had received a bond in 2007 for a drug matter but had no criminal convictions

She was well-known for helping other elderly citizens and disadvantaged community members in the Northcott housing commission flats in Surry Hills, where she lived

Her barrister Douglas Marr said of the heroin charges: 'Its seems that the supplies were very small amounts when one looks at the facts.'

Mr Marr said Blewden had received a bond in 2007 for drug possession but had no criminal convictions.

She was well-known for helping other elderly citizens and disadvantaged community members in the Northcott housing commission flats in Surry Hills, where she lived.

'There is a lot of crime and violence associated with that place,' Mr Marr told the court.

The pensioner had made very limited profit from her minor role in the heroin ring and was in poor health. She was suffering early onset dementia and had heart disease.

Mr Marr said while Blewden pleaded guilty to the offences she had denied supplying drugs; she had a poor memory and 'it may be there is some confusion.'

Blewden sits on her couch and explains how she felt when police raided her home

Mr Marr said while Blewden pleaded guilty to the offences she had denied supplying drugs; she had a poor memory and 'it may be there is some confusion.'

In November 2016 Kings Cross detectives began an investigation into the distribution of heroin in Sydney's inner-city and identified Joanna Weber as a regular supplier of small quantities of that drug.

Weber, who lived in Albury on the New South Wales-Victoria border, was in a de facto relationship with Rodney Minogue, who also lived in Albury.

The grandmother is pictured here with some of the teddies in her bedroom

Minogue had been a suspect in the 1986 bombing of the Russell Street police headquarters in Melbourne that killed police constable Angela Taylor and injured 21 others.

He was acquitted on appeal of being an accessory to that crime, while his older brother Craig Minogue was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the explosion.

Weber flew to Sydney each week to supply members of her syndicate with heroin and when in Albury arranged for several underlings including Blewden to provide small quantities of the drug to customers on her behalf.

Blewden was given water balloons containing 0.125 grams and 0.0625 grams of heroin which were collected by Weber's customers. The larger quantity was sold for $100 and the smaller for $50.

Blewden was given water balloons containing 0.125 grams and 0.0625 grams of heroin which were collected by Weber's customers

he larger quantity was sold for $100 and the smaller for $50

Weber sometimes referred to Blewden as 'the old manageress' of her operation

Weber sometimes referred to Blewden as 'the old manageress' of her operation.

Police searched Blewden's home on March 29 last year and found 10.84 grams of amphetamine in small resealable plastic bags inside cigarette packets.

They also found 21.56 grams of glucose powder and 3.26 grams of an unidentified white powder, as well as two packets of water ballooons which Blewden said she kept for her grandchildren.

Blewden told detectives Weber and Minogue, both of whom she had known for years, had been staying with her in Sydney on occasion when they came up from Albury.

Police searched Blewden's home on March 29 last year and found 10.84 grams of amphetamine in small resealable plastic bags inside cigarette packets

Blewden told detectives Weber and Minogue, both of whom she had known for years, had been staying with her in Sydney on occasion when they came up from Albury

She said the 10.84 grams of white powder they had located was 'goey, speed' which she had bought for her own consumption from a man at the Botany Hotel for $80 some months earlier then forgotten about.

Minogue was previously sentenced to a minimum five months' jail for his part in the syndicate and other members received bonds.

Weber, 52, was sentenced to two years and one month in jail for her role as mastermind of the syndicate, with a non-parole period of one year and two months.

She will be released on Monday.

Blewden told Daily Mail Australia shortly after her arrest last year she had been terrified when police arrived at her door on the morning they raided her home.

'It was just before nine o'clock when I decided to go down to the shops but when I opened the door police in big jackets and helmets started yelling at me,' she said.

'It was very frightening, I just opened the door then six of them dressed like Ninja Turtles and with guns came in the door shouting at me to sit down and stay still.

Blewden told Daily Mail Australia shortly after her arrest last year she had been terrified when police arrived at her door on the morning they raided her home

'I didn't know what was going on they were all just shouting.

'They made a mess and went through everything and took me to the police station where I had to sit in a cell for five hours. It was so cold.'

Blewden denied any wrongdoing and said: 'I'm not a criminal.'

The New-Zealand woman was petrified of going to jail and leaving the flat she shared with her son and cat Meg.

'I'm so scared of jail and scared they might make me go back to New Zealand I haven't been there in over 50 years, I don't know anyone,' she said.

Her daughter Lisa said: 'People are always taking advantage of mum's kindness, she would do anything for anyone.'
Rick Thorburn avoided arrest for nearly a year after murdering his foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer (pictured)

Cold-blooded killer Rick Thorburn avoided arrest for nearly a year after murdering his foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer, before four words he uttered to his family helped police lock him up for life.

Thorburn, who wiped away tears on Friday as he pleaded guilty to killing the 12-year-old schoolgirl in 2015, told his wife and sons to 'stick to the story' after police bugged their Gold Coast home.

The 57-year-old murdered Tiahleigh after his son Trent, then 18, confessed to having sex with her and feared she was pregnant.

'We need to think this through, deal with this properly,' Thorburn said, fearing that the incestuous relationship would see Trent sent to jail.

Between about 8pm and 10pm on October 29, Thorburn killed the girl before hiding her body in a shed, giving him time to devise a plan to dispose of her remains.

Tiahleigh's cold-blooded killer (circled) acted as grieving pallbearer when she was laid to rest

The 57-year-old killed Tiahleigh after his son Trent (pictured), then 18, confessed to having sex with her and became concerned she was pregnant

Thorburn (pictured) pleaded guilty to the schoolgirl's murder in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday

The family then had a meeting at which Rick said 'it's all taken care of'. He told his wife Julene they must 'do things like we normally do' to avoid police suspicion.

As detectives searched for the missing child, Julene said her husband told her there 'is something I need to do'.

She said Rick backed his car up into the shed, before driving off after about half an hour later. Police suspect he then travelled to Pimpama River to dump the body.

Detectives immediately suspected the Thorburns were involved in Tiahleigh's murder, but with the family sticking to a lie, the investigation moved slowly.

Trent Thorburn (pictured), Rick's 20-year-old son, was released in January after serving 16 months in jail for incest, perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice

Tiahleigh's (pictured) body was dumped in the Pimpama River

Tiahleigh's killer acted as a grieving pallbearer when she was laid to rest. As he carried her coffin, police were installing listening devices in the Thorburn home.

Days later, Rick was overheard telling his family to 'stick to the plan' before his wife told her son the murder was something they all 'have to live with'.

'Dad made the decision to go down that path and unfortunately we are going to have to live with it,' Julene Thorburn was heard telling her Joshua.

'No, but don't you tell anyone ever, no matter what - that's when things will f*** up,' Rick Thorburn replied.

The discussions heard by police, combined with the motive of keeping Tiahleigh quiet about Trent having sex with her - led to the family's arrest.

Thorburn, 58, admitted to murdering the 12-year-old (pictured) on the Gold Coast in October 2015 and was sentenced to life in jail

Cindy Palmer, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, is seen leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane

Almost 11 months to the day after Tiahleigh was murdered police swooped - arresting and charging the four Thorburns for their various roles in the crime.

Trent was jailed in September 2017 for a maximum of four years after he pleaded guilty to four charges including incest.

He was released on parole in January after serving 16 months. Joshua and Julene spent three and six months behind bars for their parts in the subsequent cover-up.

Rick was on Friday sentenced to life behind bars, with a minimum of 20 years in jail.

It brings some closure to the case but Tiahleigh's death will have ramifications outside the courtroom.

TIAHLEIGH PALMER'S MURDER CASE: A SNAPSHOT WHO Rick Thorburn, 57-year-old foster carer CHARGES Murder, interfering with a corpse, attempting to pervert justice, two counts of perjury Thorburn murdered his 12-year-old foster daughter, Tiahleigh Palmer, on October 29, 2015 after his son, Trent, confessed to having sex with her and was concerned she was pregnant. Thorburn was worried it could cause Trent to go to jail. Her body was found on the banks of the Pimpama River a week later. ARREST Thorburn wasn't arrested until September 2016 after police bugged his family home and listened to their conversations. Thorburn told his family they had to protect Trent and keep to the story that Tiahleigh had disappeared after leaving their home to go to school. PROPOSED TRIAL In February, Thorburn sought a judge-only trial but a month later the court was told he would plead guilty to all charges. Sentenced on May 25 at Brisbane Supreme Court on all charges JUDGEMENT Justice David Boddice told Thorburn 'your offending involves a truly appalling conduct'. 'The reasons for that murder and your conduct subsequently can only be described as cold, calculating and callous. 'You murdered this defenceless child who relied on you for her protection ... and you did so to save one of your own children from the consequences of his actions.' SENTENCE Life in jail, with a non-parole period of 20 years. First eligible for release in September 2036. Advertisement

Part of Thorborn's plan, which was told to the family, was to dispose of Tiahleigh's body, which was found unclothed but for her underpants (pictured are police divers searching the Pimpama River for evidence)

An autopsy was conducted but due to the state of her body a cause of death was never determined (pictured are police divers searching the Pimpama River for evidence)

Cindy Palmer (pictured, centre), the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, speaks to the media outside the Supreme Court

With the last of the family that was supposed to care for her daughter punished, the attention can now focus on how they were given that responsibility.

Since Tiahleigh's murder Queensland's Child Safety Department has come under scrutiny for not doing more to ensure children in care are safe.

In September last year, three reports from reviews of Queensland's protection system, foster care system and blue card scheme were tabled in state parliament.

The Palaszczuk government says it will use the reports to make broader reforms to the system.

It may be too late for Tiahleigh, but it is hopefully one good that can come from her murder.

THE TIAHLEIGH PALMER MURDER: A TIMELINE Tiahleigh's death led to reviews of protocols on cases of children who go missing while in out-of-home care 2015 Oct 30: Tiahleigh's foster father Rick Thorburn says he dropped the 12-year-old at Marsden State High School. It was the last time she was seen alive. Nov 5: Three fishermen find a girl's body on the banks of the Pimpama River on the Gold Coast. It's later confirmed to be Tiahleigh. Nov 14: Tiahleigh is remembered as a 'beautifully imperfect' girl at her Gold Coast funeral, where Thorburn was a pall-bearer. 2016 Feb 15: Police offer a $250,000 reward for information to solve the schoolgirl's murder. March 14: Biological mother Cindy Palmer makes a public appeal to help find her daughter's killer. Sept 20: Rick Thorburn is charged with Tiahleigh's murder. Foster mother Julene and their sons Trent and Joshua are also arrested. Trent is charged with incest, perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Julene and Joshua are charged with perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Sept 21: Rick Thorburn fails to face court after a reported overdose. Sept 23: Detectives say the foster family's home is a primary crime scene. 2017 June 28: Rick Thorburn is committed to stand trial for murder. July 27: Josh Thorburn is sentenced to 15 months' jail after admitting to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Sept 14: Trent Thorburn is sentenced to four years' jail after admitting he had sex with Tiahleigh. Nov 3: Julene Thorburn is sentenced to 18 months' jail for perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice, with the sentence suspended after six months. 2018 Jan 19: Trent Thorburn is released on parole after 16 months behind bars. Feb 16: Rick Thorburn seeks a judge-only trial due to publicity surrounding the case. May 25: Rick Thorburn pleads guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to murder, interfering with a corpse, perjury and perverting the course of justice. Source: AAP Advertisement

Cindy Palmer (pictured, centre), the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, and her supporters are seen leaving court on Friday

Cindy Palmer (pictured, centre), the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, is seen with supporters at the Supreme Court in Brisbane
Roger Stone, the self-described Republican 'political dirty trickster' and longtime Trump adviser, allegedly inquired about damaging information on Hillary Clinton from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before the 2016 election.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Stone asked New York radio host Randy Credico in a September 18, 2016, email if he could reach out to Assange.

'Please ask Assange for any State or HRC e-mail from August 10 to August 30  particularly on August 20, 2011,' Stone wrote in the email.

Stone reportedly wanted information that dated back to 2011 when Clinton was blamed for a failed Libyan peace deal while she was serving as secretary of state.

Roger Stone (pictured), a longtime Trump adviser, allegedly inquired about damaging information on Hillary Clinton from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before the 2016 election

According to The Wall Street Journal, Stone asked New York radio host Randy Credico in a September 18, 2016, email if he could reach out to Assange (left) about Clinton (right)

Credico wrote back to Stone that whatever emails the WikiLeaks founder had obtained were on the anti-secrecy organization's website.

'Why do we assume WikiLeaks has released everything they have???' Stone wrote back.

Credico replied that he can't ask Assange for 'favors every other day'.

Stone said Thursday that he never received any emails from Credico or WikiLeaks.

This revelation raises questions about Stone's congressional testimony last year, in which he said he had 'merely wanted confirmation' from Credico that Assange had information on Clinton.

On Monday, Stone said he was 'prepared' in case he is indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

'I am prepared should that be the case,' Stone told NBC's Meet The Press.

'But I think it just demonstrates, again, this was supposed to be about Russian collusion, and it appears to be an effort to silence or punish the president's supporters and his advocates.'

Stone said that since Mueller has found 'no evidence whatsoever of Russian collusion,' he may try to pin him on other unrelated crimes.

'It is not inconceivable now that Mr. Mueller and his team may seek to conjure up some extraneous crime pertaining to my business, or maybe not even pertaining to the 2016 election,' Stone said.

Stone said on Monday that he's 'prepared' in case he is indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller

'I would chalk this up to an effort to silence me.'

Stone said that neither he nor his lawyer have been contacted by Mueller.

He said he doesn't know if the special counsel considers him 'an interesting person or a person of interest.'

While Stone has yet to be called for an interview, he said that eight of his current and former associates have been 'terrorized' by the investigation.

Stone has denied any role in colluding with Russia or WikiLeaks, which published a trove of emails from Democratic Party officials that were hacked during the 2016 campaign.

He said he 'had no advance notice of the content, source, or the exact disclosure time of the Wikileaks disclosures.'

Rep Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, says Stone is a liar.

'Roger Stone is known for a lot of things, candor isn't really one of them,' Schiff told Meet the Press.

'Either his testimony before our committee was untrue, our his public statements are untrue.

Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump (left), said that since Mueller (right) has found 'no evidence whatsoever of Russian collusion,' he may try to pin him on other unrelated crimes

'Both cannot be fact because they're inconsistent with each other. We were never allowed to find out which was the case in our committee.'

The House Intelligence Committee, which is led by the Republicans, closed its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Last week, Mueller issued two subpoenas to a social media expert who worked for Stone during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

The subpoenas were delivered to lawyers representing Jason Sullivan, a social media and Twitter specialist Stone hired to work for an independent political action committee he set up to support Trump, Knut Johnson, a lawyer for Sullivan, told Reuters.

The subpoenas suggest that Mueller, who is probing Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, is focusing in part on Stone and whether he might have had advance knowledge of material allegedly hacked by Russian intelligence and sent to Assange, who published it.

Stone appeared before the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee last September and denied allegations of collusion between the president's associates and Russia during the election.

'I am aware of no evidence whatsoever of collusion by the Russian state or anyone in the Trump campaign,' Stone told reporters at the time.

According to sources familiar with the ongoing investigation, Mueller also has been probing whether anyone associated with the Trump campaign may have helped Assange or the Russians time or target the release of hacked emails and other social media promoting Trump or critical of Clinton.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment. Russia has denied interfering in the election.

President Trump has repeatedly denied his campaign colluded with Russia.

Sullivan told Reuters that he heads Cyphoon.com, a social media firm, and 'worked on the Trump campaign serving as Chief Strategist directly to Roger J. Stone Jr.'

'Welcome To The Age of Weaponized Social Media,' said a strategy document Sullivan prepared for Stone and seen by Reuters. He described a 'system' he devised for creating Twitter 'swarms' as 'an army of sophisticated, hyper-targeted direct tweet automation systems driven by outcomes-based strategies derived from REAL-TIME actionable insights.'

For example, at 6.43am local time on Election Day in 2016, Trump tweeted: 'TODAY WE MAKE AMERICAN GREAT AGAIN.'

Trump's message soon was retweeted more than 343,000 times, and in an interview last year, Sullivan told Reuters that the swarm helped overcome a surge in pro-Clinton social media postings and boost voter turnout for Trump.

Stone repeated his public denials that he had an inside track to WikiLeaks or others who hacked or published Democratic Party and Clinton-related emails and said no one from Mueller's team has tried to contact him.
Queenslanders want to can tinnies made in New South Wales from being sold in sunshine state stores (stock image)

Queensland beer fans and brewers are calling for a boycott of XXXX Gold cans made in opposing states in an attempt to support locals.

They want tinnies made in New South Wales factories not to be sold in sunshine state stores.

United Voice spokesman Damien Davie claimed 10-packs of XXXX cans were stamped with different coding numbers to signify where they were produced, Courier Mail reported.

'Make sure you check your cans and bottles for the '11' code to know you're drinking the real deal from Queensland,' he said.

Mr Davie claimed the number 14 represented the can was produced in NSW and 11 meant Queensland.

United Voice spokesman Damien Davie claimed 10-packs of XXXX cans (Milton brewery) were stamped with different coding numbers to signify where they were produced

XXXX Gold Brewery Director Irene Bell told Daily Mail Australia cans were coded with numbers depending on what state they were made.

'As we have always said, the bulk of XXXX is still brewed at Milton, for Queenslanders. That equates to millions and millions of litres each year,' she said.

'The union continues to ignore the fact that we brew lots of other beers in Queensland too and if we followed their logic and moved Tooheys and Hahn production back down south we'd actually brew less beer at Milton.

'We are not moving any production away from the XXXX Brewery in Milton.'

Selling NSW made cans in Queensland has added to the bitter industry dispute which has seen hundreds of XXXX Gold staff walk off the job.

The brewery workers, who are based west of Brisbane in Milton, are planning to strike for the eighth time in two months over a job security.

The disgruntled workers have failed to come to an agreement with XXXX's parent company Lion over pay and contract labour hire.

Mr Davie claimed the number 14 represented the can was produced in NSW and 11 meant Queensland

The United Voice union released an email in April which was sent by Lion to its staff calling on them to be more flexible in their working arrangements.

'The long term viability of our brewery at XXXX is dependent on our ability to be flexible and responsive to changes at a level that we have not seen in the past,' the email reads.

'Staying the way we are is not an option for the long term.'

XXXX Gold previously rejected claims the brewery will close and move to NSW.
An Egyptian tourist has shown no remorse for raping three women he met online as he is jailed for 12 years.

Adel Nafady raped his first victim a couple of months after arriving in Australia to study in February 2015.

The 31-year-old met all three women through dating sites such as OkCupid and Plenty of Fish and later raped them in his Windsor flat.

An Egyptian tourist has shown no remorse for raping three women he met online as he is jailed for 12 years

He has been sentenced to 12 years' and four months' jail, with a non-parole period of seven-and-a-half years.

'A signal has to be sent to those who use such sites to meet females ... that mere participation on such sites does not mean they have consented to any or all sexual activity,' Victorian County Court Judge Damian Murphy said, while sentencing Nafady on Friday.

Nafady's three victims, foreign women aged in their 20s and 30s, were vulnerable and had trusted him, the judge said.

One woman from Colombia, who spoke limited English, went to his home after he promised to review her CV so she could get a job.

The 31-year-old met all three women through dating sites such as OkCupid and Plenty of Fish and later raped them in his Windsor flat

Nafady repeatedly asked her to be his girlfriend and tried to hug and kiss her.

The woman tried to run out the front door, but Nafady blocked her and eventually pinned her down, grabbing her throat before raping her.

'She felt like she was going to die that night,' Judge Murphy said.

Nafady's third victim, a woman from Hong Kong, had been in Australia for two days when she was raped

Another victim was raped after the pair connected on Plenty of Fish and had drinks together in a bar.

He told her she was 'overreacting' after the attack.

Nafady's third victim, a woman from Hong Kong, had been in Australia for two days when she was raped.

He connected with her on OkCupid before she arrived and asked her to stay at his unit, assuring her he would protect her, the court heard.

They had consensual sex on the first afternoon, but the woman later said she needed space and refused his advances.

Nafady forcibly undressed her and pinned her down.

The court heard Nafady had spent time in immigration detention since his arrest, including six months on Christmas Island while riots occurred.

He has spent 317 days in pre-sentence custody.
An 18-year-old man has been charged with 10 terror offences after he was arrested on a north London street.

Sudesh Mamoor Faraz Amman, from Harrow, was arrested by officers, who were assisted by armed police, in the early hours of this morning.

The teenager was detained under the Terrorism Act and taken into custody at a south London police station.

Sudesh Mamoor Faraz Amman, from Harrow, was arrested by officers today, who were assisted by armed police

Officers also searched an address in north London as part of the investigation.

Amman has been charged with seven offences of making a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

He was also charged with three offences of dissemination of terrorist publications.

Amman will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' Court later today.

As part of the same investigation, a 19-year-old woman was arrested in south London on Wednesday.

Another 18-year-old man was arrested in Bishop's Stortford (file photo) on Wednesday

She has been bailed to return to a south London police station on a date in late June.

Another 18-year-old man was arrested in Bishop's Stortford on Wednesday.

He has been bailed to return to a south London police station on a date in mid June.
A man who followed a Dutch backpacker down a dark alleyway while high on ice before raping her has been sentenced to at least four years in prison.

The 19-year-old woman had only been in Australia for a short time on a working holiday visa when she was grabbed by Jerome Mundine, 23, while in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Surry Hills in March 2017.

The court heard that Mundine threatened to rape and kill her after grabbing her neck, the Daily Telegraph reported.

A man who followed a Dutch backpacker down a dark alleyway while high on ice before raping her has been sentenced to at least four years in prison

The 19-year-old woman had only been in Australia for a short time on a working holiday visa when she was grabbed by Jerome Mundine, 23

The court heard Mundine forced her to kiss him and then forced her to perform oral sex.

Mundine pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse without consent, and as he was being sentenced Judge David Frearson said Mundine's behaviour was 'disgraceful', 'degrading' and 'humiliating'.

'He was deliberately following her for some distance, she was isolated and vulnerable,' Judge Frearson said.

Mundine was sentenced to a non-parole period of four years. He was high on ice, cannabis and had been drinking alcohol before the rape.

Mundine was sentenced to a non-parole period of four years. He was high on ice, cannabis and had been drinking alcohol before the rape

'(She was) a very young woman in the prime of her life out here on a working holiday... she had only arrived in February,' the judge said.

'He has to spend time in jail and get off the drugs... then he might have a chance on the outside.'

Mundine will be eligible for parole on March 29, 2021.
The body of Lucas Hernandez, who was reported missing in February in Wichita, Kansas, has been found

The hunt for a missing five-year-old boy has finally ended as investigators said they found his remains Thursday in Kansas.

Lucas Hernandez was reported missing from his home in Wichita on February 17 by his 26-year-old stepmother, Emily Glass.

Authorities found his body underneath a bridge around a quarter of a mile away from the nearest house. Cops said his remains were not visible from the street.

Harvey County Sheriff Chad Gay said in a press conference the body appeared as though it had been there for 'awhile'.

His stepmother was booked to the Sedgwick County Jail late Thursday night for interference with law enforcement officer and obstruction.

A court document filed last month revealed the boy was often seen with 'bruises and cuts' on his body, according to Fox 4 Kansas City.

The details emerged as part of another juvenile case involving Glass' infant daughter, who is now under Child Protective Services.

The boy was often under care of his stepmother when his father, who has not been named, traveled for work.

Lucas lived at the Wichita home with his father and was enrolled at Beech Elementary School at the time.

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The five year-old-boy was reported missing from his home in Wichita on February 17 by his 26-year-old stepmother, Emily Glass (pictured left and right with him)

Glass (pictured) was booked to the Sedgwick County Jail late Thursday night

Hernandez was last seen by his stepmother around 3pm, in his bedroom at their home on South Edgemoor Street

When the stepmom woke up from a nap three hours later, she told police that the boy was gone and the back door open

Glass told cops at the time that she last saw the boy around 3pm that day, when she went to take a shower and then fell asleep.

When she woke up three hours later, Lucas was gone and the back door was open, she said.

Police quickly jumped into action, using K9 units to search the home, surrounding neighborhood and a nearby park for clues. But they turned up empty handed.

Locals questioned why an Amber Alert wasn't issued for the boy, but police said that's because there's no evidence he was kidnapped.

The FBI worked with local police to locate the boy.

Kristin Edson, a cousin of the stepmom, told KWCH that Lucas' dad and stepmom were both distraught at the time.

No Amber Alert was issued for Lucas because police have found no evidence he was kidnapped

Police searched the home, surrounding neighborhood and a nearby park for Lucas - to no avail

Relatives told a local newspaper that they knew the family had been investigated by child protective services

'Very distraught. Very upset. Devastated. I mean, can you imagine?' Edson said. 'They're just very distraught and worried about his safety. It's cold out. We don't know where he's at.'

But other relatives said they knew the family had issues.

Sally Rasmussen, Lucas' great aunt, and Jeannie Houchin, Lucas' great grandmother, told The Eagle that they had concerns about the boy's welfare in the past.

Rasmussen said she contacted the Kansas Department for Children and Families last spring about the boy.

Houchin said the agency confirmed it was investigating. They did not go into detail about their concerns.
The hunt is on to find the gutless thugs who injured a kangaroo in a shocking case of animal cruelty.

Police were called to Bradleys Lane in North Warrandyte in Melbourne's northeast on Friday after a young kangaroo was spotted among a mob with what appeared to be an arrow through its back.

Local resident Nancy O'Brien was going through photos she took of the kangaroos on her camera when she spotted the shocking discovery.

Wildlife Victoria is on a desperate hunt for the injured kangaroo (pictured), who was spotted with what appeared to be an arrow through its back on Friday morning

'I couldn't believe what I saw, it was incredibly distressing and heartbreaking,' she told the Herald Sun.

'These kangaroos in my backyard and we have gotten to know them over the years. I can't understand why anyone would want to harm them.'

Warrandyte Police is investigating the arrow as an act of animal cruelty.

'It's not only a cowardly and cruel act but it's also illegal,' Victoria Police sergeant Stewart Henderson told the publication.

The Manningham Police Service Area took to its Facebook page on Friday to express its dismay regarding 'another report of cruelty towards harmless wildlife.'

Warrandyte Police (pictured) is investigating the shocking case of animal cruelty

'Wildlife Victoria Volunteers are looking to find the kangaroo to give it veterinary treatment,' they said.

Describing the actions as despicable, Ms O'Brien also shared her photo on the Warrandyte Business & Community Network Facebook page, where people flocked to the post to express their disgust.

'I'd like to put an arrow through whoever did this- scum of the earth who treat animals badly,' one woman said.

Anyone who sees the injured kangaroo has been urged to call Wildlife Victoria on (03) 8400 7300.

Anyone with information should call Warrandyte Police on (03) 9844 3231 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Sweden has passed a new law stipulating that sex without consent is rape, even when there are no threats or force involved.

The new law means people must consent to sex with clear verbal or physical language - and silence will no longer be interpreted as 'yes'.

It'll come into effect on July 1 after Swedish lawmakers approved the change by 257 votes to 38.

Sweden's new law means people must consent to sex with clear verbal or physical language (file photo)

It means prosecutors will no longer need to prove that the victim was in a vulnerable situation, or that violence was used, in order to establish rape.

Under the previous legislation, prosecutors had to prove the victim had been exploited, such as under the influence of alcohol, or that the perpetrator had used force.

The law introduces two new offences, negligent rape and negligent sexual abuse, and they'll be punishable by up top four years in prison.

According to the new law, individuals won't have to make an expressed consent but they'll have to make it physically clear.

It states: 'If a person wants to engage in sexual activities with someone who remains inactive or gives ambiguous signals, he or she will therefore have to find out if the other person is willing.'

In December, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said when presenting proposals to change the law in line with other countries in Europe that if sex is not voluntary 'it's illegal.'

Sweden becomes the seventh country in Europe where sex without consent is considered rape

His deputy Minister Isabella Lovin said the recent #metoo anti-harassment campaign has shown the 'need' for new legislation.

Critics say the changes won't lead to more convictions.

Activists have welcomed the changes but critics say the law will not increase the number of rape convictions.

Sweden becomes the seventh country in Europe where sex without consent is considered rape.

The UK, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Cyprus have all passed the law already.
Kim Jong-un has said he is willing to sit down with Donald Trump 'at any time' after the US president cancelled the proposed summit between North Korea and America.

Trump pulled the US out of the summit after 'tremendous anger and open hostility' from Pyongyang in their recent comments about Mike Pence, where they labelled him a 'political dummy' and 'stupid'.

The US president spoke from the White House yesterday and said the military were 'ready if necessary' should North Korea overstep the mark. He added his administration would keep 'maximum pressure' on Pyongyang with their sanctions.

China urged Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un to meet halfway and find a compromise after the proposed summit collapsed.

MailOnline brings you the latest updates below.

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Sandra Holmes, of Llanrwst, North Wales, took her father to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to end his life

When Sandra Holmes took her World War II veteran dad out of a residential home to board a plane to Switzerland, she knew she wouldn't be bringing him back.

With her son, Scott, they hired a car so they weren't followed to the airport or stopped from letting 93-year-old John Lenton end his life at the euthanasia clinic, Dignitas.

Today, the 66-year-old former nursery nurse from Llanrwst broke her silence about her family's emotional ordeal and their strong belief in the right to die.

Speaking to the Daily Post, the family said they wanted to open up debate in the hope that the law will change to allow people to die with dignity in the UK.

'This is my dad's story, not mine,' Sandra explained.

'And I am telling it now as we strongly believe in everyone's individual choice to make their own decisions at the end of their life.'

John Lenton was a proud and private man who had lived a full and active life.

He was was born and brought up in Newport, South Wales and from there, he joined the Army.

John's life in the armed forces started off as a soldier in the South Wales Borderers before he volunteered to join the Parachute Regiment, rising to Colour Sergeant.

He fought in Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, France, Greece, Palestine and Egypt.

He was also part of the forerunner to the SAS.

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Sanda pictured with her son Scott said they wanted to open up debate in the hope that the law will change to allow people to die with dignity in the UK

John Lenton was a proud and private man who had lived a full and active life. He is pictured in both photos during his days in the army

As an outdoorsy person, Mr Lenton enjoyed climbing and walked up hills and mountains throughout his life

Married to Jeanne, they lived in London after John left the Army and their only child Sandra was born in 1952.

An active person all his life, he climbed and walked the hills and mountains.

John was head hunted by Quinton Hazel where he worked as a production control manager and moved to Nebo with his wife 39 years ago.

Sandra described him as a 'massively intelligent man.'

'Mathematics, quantum physics, the historic movement of peoples and languages - these were not only his life but what he read to relax,' she said.

'He was independent in the extreme, renovating their old cottage in the hills himself - from the roof to the smallest screw was done entirely by Dad.

'He was very physical, clever but also a very private man - his family was his life, we were very close.'

Once the couple retired, they bought a touring caravan and would spend three months of the year in Scotland.

They were married for 64 years until Jeanne died in 2011.

As John aged, his physical health started to deteriorate and following a hernia operation in 2011, he required a permanent catheter which at that stage he dealt with himself.

He was extremely deaf and wore two hearing aids.

In early 2017, he became bowel incontinent and his hearing worsened.

He battled on, but Parkinson's disease also had him in its grip and he fell several times, often ending up in hospital, and couldn't move from his chair without help.

The final straw came last year when he was diagnosed with eye disorder dry macular degeneration, which was causing him to go blind, taking away his only remaining pleasure - watching his beloved news, nature programmes and sport on television.

Semi-retired herself, Sandra became a carer for her father, visiting him countless times throughout the day and night after he moved from Nebo to a flat in Llanrwst to be close to her.

She said: 'The total indignity of having his daughter care for him, changing and cleaning him was, for him, so humiliating.

'Followed by young people (carers) - excellent though they were - cleaning and changing him was just so awful for a man that held privacy and independence so dear.'

She added: 'All of my adult life I have known that my mum and dad believed strongly in the right to die when you had reached a stage where you had no quality of life left.

'We all believe the same.

'So in the spring of 2017, Dad asked me if we would be willing to accompany him to Switzerland to Dignitas, I was not surprised at all.

'We talked about it many times and I spoke to Scott and my partner Ted as well.

'We all agreed that if that was his wish then we would do this for him.

'At no time did he have any doubts.'

The process was a long and arduous one taking seven months to plan.

John needed a passport for a start, but in the meantime, his health continued to decline and then Scott suffered a stroke at the age of 40.

Looking after them both left Sandra exhausted.

The family decided that the best thing to do was to move John into a home and he was offered an emergency place at Cartref Bryn yr Eglwys in Pentrefoelas.

'We all knew that was the best thing to do because Dad would be cared for while I was helping Scott. I've nothing but praise for the staff there,' Sandra said.

'But we also knew it would only be a short term measure.

Mr Lenton died at the controversial Dignitas facility (above) in Switzerland

The care home contacted the local safeguarding adults team, who advised it to contact police

'Dad never said a word about our plans the whole time he was there, he was mentally ahead of us all.

'But for me, the emotional stress of carrying on a normal daily life and not being able to confide in anyone about what we were going to do was sometimes overwhelming.'

The pensioner would go on to spend a month-and-a-half being cared for at the Pentrefoelas home before his daughter and grandson were ready to put their plan into action.

Scott said: 'We told the home we were taking Grandad on holiday in the UK for five days, we needed to find a reason to take him out of there without arising suspicion.

'The care home called a doctor to assess whether he was well enough, and after a long talk with him, the GP decided that not only was he fit to travel, but he was more than capable of making his own decisions.'

But that was just the start of the obstacles they would face.

Sandra said: 'It's all very nerve wracking, it isn't the easy process that some people think.

'You are on pins and even getting to the airport was a nightmare because the law here can stop you leaving the country and you can be arrested.

'Because of this, we hired a car so that our car couldn't be followed or tracked to the airport, this is the lengths that the law drives you to.

'Even though everything was in place, you are living in fear that you will be stopped and that the person you love so much will be left stuck in a half life they don't want.

'There is no feeling of safety until that plane takes off.'

As John's needs were complex, travel wasn't easy, he was in a wheelchair and the family booked assisted travel to ease the time spent in the airport.

The whole process was increasingly stressful with the family worried someone somewhere had alerted the police and they could get a tap on the shoulder at any moment.

Sandra added: 'In your heart you know that no one could possibly know and stop us but you don't relax until the aeroplane doors are closed and it starts taxiing down the runway.

'And not because of the consequences for Scott and I, if they arrested us, we'd cope with it, but because it would scupper the plan and Dad would go on suffering.

'From an emotional point of view, however difficult it was, we knew we were doing it because it was what Dad wanted.'

Keeping conversation to a minimum due to John's poor hearing, it wasn't until the trio got to their hotel in Switzerland before they could finally speak openly about Dignitas.

But even then, doctors had to assess whether they believed John was in the right mind to go through with it.

Sandra explained: 'You have to be in Switzerland for two consecutive days before you can go to the clinic, and an independent doctor has to come out both days and make sure it's what the patient wants, and that they know why they are there, and that they are happy to continue with the course of action.

'If the doctor has any doubts or feels they are under any pressure, then they will call the whole thing off.'

But those two days gave the family time to relax and chat, and Sandra and Scott were able to find out where John wanted his ashes scattered.

Sandra recalled: 'Dad was able to have perfectly intelligent conversations and the thing that I found strange was that I thought two days in a hotel room would be a long haul with Dad not being able to do much, when actually, it was quite nice because the pressure was off.

'You're in a country where you can say why you're there and what you're doing, so there was a feeling of complete relief and we had time to sit and chat.

'We talked about Dad's wishes for his funeral and what he wanted to happen afterwards.

'We discussed a place where he and my mum loved and he asked that their ashes be scattered together.

'If we hadn't had those two days, we never would have pinned down all the details.

'It sounds weird but it was actually quite a pleasant time, Dad looked 10 years younger and you could see the weight had gone from his shoulders because we'd made it there and it was going to be ok.'

Scott added: 'You could see a dramatic change in his whole demeanour, he was very relaxed and happy to be there.

'His main and major concern was what would happen to us when we came back but that was something we were prepared to deal with later.'

Now that they'd made the journey to Switzerland, another set of emotions emerged when mother and son took John on his final journey to the clinic on October 25.

'The day is very practical to start with because you have to arrange taxis and transport to get there,' explained Scott.

Family man: John was very physical, clever but also a very private man - his family was his life, and they were very close. Here he is pictured with his grandson Scott

Sandra holds a family photo of her father John with her mother Jeanne and Sandra's son Scott

John Lenton was living at the Cartref Bryn yr Eglwys home (above) in Pentrefoelas, Conwy

'They're lovely people there, very understanding, it's quiet and secluded and they sit you around a table to talk you through everything that's going to happen, all the while they are reassuring, making sure the person understands and that there are no surprises.

'You still have to fill out lots of paperwork and grandad had to sign so many forms when we got there, it's a misconception that you just take people there and they pop off.

'Grandad was just so glad it was happening, he just wanted it to be over.'

Sandra and Scott described the apartment room as homely with a couch, coffee table, bed and a couple of chairs.

Relatives are able to sit and talk for as long as they like, but John was keen to press on.

'He was the most relaxed I'd seen him in years because it was finally happening and his suffering was coming to an end,' said Sandra.

'He didn't have to put up with carers young enough to be his granddaughter changing his nappy, as he called it.

'You could see it was all just stopping.'

The family recalled how they 'waited quietly' as the pensioner was given an anti-sickness drink, followed by a lethal powdered drug dissolved in a glass of water.

Within 15 minutes, John had drifted out of consciousness and into a coma before peacefully passing away.

'It was just like watching him fall asleep,' remembered Sandra.

'The staff leave the room and come back into the background when it's over,

it's all handled very sensitively.

'It's peaceful, there's no pain or agony and no dying frightened like some people do in hospital.

'It's just calm and dignified and so much what Dad wanted and what he had planned.'

Semi-retired herself, Sandra (pictured with her son Scott) became a carer for her father after he moved from Nebo to a flat in Llanrwst

Sandra and Scott admitted it was strange dealing with the range of emotions afterwards.

'It's the strangest combination of feelings, you're upset because your loved one's just died, but there's a relief for him that he is set free from what he was suffering from,' said Scott.

'There's a gladness that it's over - all overridden by the fact that he's gone.

'You feel guilty because you feel glad, it's very strange, you just feel resolute.'

They didn't shy away from telling close friends and family when they got home to North Wales.

'For the first time, we could be honest and tell people what had happened and actually talk about what we all believed in.

'It didn't matter what happened to us because of it, because we're tough enough to cope, the main thing was, Dad couldn't be affected anymore and that was my overriding feeling, along with exhaustion.'

But Sandra and Scott had to prepare themselves to face any consequences and after informing the care home of John's death in Switzerland, North Wales

Police were duly notified.

Under UK law, it is a crime to encourage or assist a suicide, and the offence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

With end of life choice limited under current UK law, it is believed up to 10 British citizens a month choose to die at the Swiss clinic, which was set up in 1998.

According to the charity Dignity In Dying, prosecution is less likely when the person had reached a voluntary, clear, settled and informed decision to end their life and the person suspected of assisting them was wholly motivated by compassion.

Scott said: 'Although we'd done so much research around Dignitas, you can't find out what's going to happen to you afterwards, you can't ask anyone or pop into a police station.

'But no one has ever been prosecuted on their return to the UK before.

'If Grandad hadn't have been in a care home, and we'd have taken him there from his flat, no one would have been any the wiser, all you have to do is register the death certificate.'

Sandra added: 'The law here is so antiquated. I think Dad's concern was that we'd step onto British soil and be arrested immediately, it was never going to happen, lots of people go to Dignitas.

'It's a very caring organisation and offers tremendous support, indeed it was the only support.'

Assisted suicide, in which the dying person takes an active role in ending their own life, is legal in Switzerland but is a crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland under the 1961 Suicide Act.

It carries a penalty of up to 14 years in jail.

John Lenton's death was reported to North Wales Police who were duty bound to investigate Sandra and Scott's role.

She is currently awaiting a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service on whether it is in the public interest to prosecute them.

Sandra said: 'The police have been wonderful. They didn't have an option but to investigate it but they've been very understanding and handled it with great care.

'The law should protect people who want to help loved ones die peacefully.

'From a financial point of view, the only reason we could do this was because my dad had worked all his life. His savings paid for everything from air fare, taxis, hire cars to fees to Dignitas and his own cremation.

'The whole cost is astronomical. It was around 15,000 in total for everything and, if it was down to us funding it, we couldn't have afforded it.

'Dad kept saying he felt guilty about not leaving his money to Scott and I but we just said 'forget it,' and told him it was his own well-earned money he'd worked for. He should do with it, whatever he wanted.

'If not for his savings, he'd have had to go on suffering as so many people are.'

'The main aim of us speaking out about our experience with Dad is in order to bring it out into the open, discuss it and to fight for the right to die in this country and to make it clear that the right to die is an individual's choice.

'Throughout it all, Dad was determined that this was right for him.

'It has to be an individual choice, right for the person making that decision and no-one else.'

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local Samaritans branch or see www.samaritans.org for details
A police manhunt is underway after 15 people were injured when two suspects detonated a bomb inside a restaurant near Toronto, Canada.

The explosion happened inside an Indian restaurant in Mississauga, 20 miles away from Toronto, at 10.32pm local time (2.32am GMT).

Authorities have released CCTV footage of 'two hooded suspects' walking into the Bombay Bhel restaurant with the improvised explosive before fleeing the scene.

Dozens of emergency crews were outside the restaurant in Mississauga, Canada's sixth largest city located is in Lake Ontario, about 20 miles west of Toronto.

MailOnline brings you the latest updates below.

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Schools are being told to keep more than one contact number for children's parents and family following the tragic death of a four-year-old autistic boy.

Chadrack Mbala Mulo was too disabled to call for help when his mother Esther died following an epileptic fit at their home in Hackney, east London in October 2016.

The youngster lived on in the flat for two weeks before he died from malnutrition and dehydration after no one came to free him.

Chadrack's school repeatedly phoned his mother on the day he did not come into school, and even visited his flat block to look for him, but could not gain entry.

Schools around Britain are now being told to get more than one phone number for each of their pupils in a bid to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

Chadrack Mbala Mulo died after becoming trapped in his flat when his mother. Esther passed away following an epileptic fit. His school was unable to contact anyone as they only had his mother's details. His case has led to new guidance to schools

Guidance reported in the Times Educational Supplement states: 'Where reasonably possible, schools and colleges should hold more than one emergency contact number for each pupil or student.

'This goes beyond the legal minimum and is good practice to give the school or college additional options to make contact with a responsible adult when a child missing education is also identified as a welfare and/or safeguarding concern.'

Children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi said schools need to 'take the necessary steps to ensure staff have the guidance and support they need to deal with concerns about a child'.

Describing Chadrack's case at an inquest last year, coroner Mary Hassel said: 'Chadrack had learning difficulties and, when his mother died unexpectedly at home on 1 or 2 October 2016, he did not know how to call for help or feed himself properly.'

Staff from Chadrack's school even went to his housing block but were unable to gain entry

She said staff at his Morningside Primary had tried to call his mother and visited the family home twice but could not make contact.

The coroner added: 'They could not gain access to the block of flats where Chadrack and his mother lived.'

Chadrack's school, Morningside Primary, changed their own policy after the tragedy and now has three contact numbers for each child.

Headteacher Janet Taylor said at the time: 'Chadrack's tragic death has devastated all those who knew him at our school. We will remember him as a happy little boy and the circumstances of his death are heartbreaking.'
Vigilantes have killed at least five people and beaten 20 others after believing 'fake news' spread by social media warning that gangs of child kidnappers were searching for youngsters.

Police in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, India, are on high alert after mobs of terrified villagers mercilessly assaulted people they suspected of being child traffickers, including one man who was visiting a relative.

Calling for calm, officers said there was no indication that such gangs actually exist.

Indian police have called for calm, saying there is no indication that any such child kidnapping gangs exist. They want people to contact them first before taking matters into their own hands

Police officer E. Ramchandra Reddy said six villagers were arrested for allegedly killing a 33-year-old motorised rickshaw driver in Jiyapalli, a village in Telangana state, on Wednesday night.

The villagers suspected the driver was a child abductor, but the victim was leaving for his nearby hometown after visiting his brother in the village, he added.

Two deaths were reported in similar attacks earlier this week in other villages in the state.

On Tuesday night, Nimmala Balakrishna was allegedly lynched in Ziapalli, within the Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, after going to the village to visit one of his relatives.

At about 8pm, several vigilante youths accosted him and beat him badly after he failed to give proper answers, said the Hindustan Times.

And in Chengal village, two young men were tied with ropes and beaten mercilessly with iron rods and sticks by locals, who suspected that they were involved in child trafficking  yet they had apparently gone to the forest area to pluck mangoes.

Reddy urged people against believing such fake news and warned against taking the law into their own hands: if you find someone suspicious please inform the police.

A woman from eastern Bihar state was thrashed by a mob at a railroad station in Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh state and was hospitalised in a critical condition after she was suspected of seeking to abduct children, lead state police officer M. Malakondaiah said.

Police said six villagers were arrested for allegedly killing a 33-year-old motorised rickshaw driver in a village in Telangana state (stock image)

As she did not know the local Telugu language, this created a misunderstanding with local villagers, he explained.

In Bangalore, the capital of neighbouring Karnataka state, police detained nine people for tying a person to a tree and beating him on Tuesday, senior police officer T. Suneel Kumar said.

This was despite there being no incidents of gangs abducting children  contrary to video messages circulating on social media.

Kumar said today that the postings on social media were stoking fear, and villagers had formed vigilante groups to look for suspected abductors.
A Catholic priest has been quarantined after being infected with the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

World Health Organization has warned that the fight to stop the country's ninth confirmed outbreak of the deadly fever has now reached a critical point.

Congo's health ministry reported 31 confirmed Ebola cases, 13 probable cases and eight suspected cases.

A Medecins Sans Frontieres team dons protective clothing as they prepare to treat Ebola patients in an isolation ward of Mbandaka hospital

A World Health Organization worker prepares to administer a vaccination for Ebola

'We have quarantined a priest from the diocese of Mbandaka-Bikoro who tested positive' for the Ebola virus, a medical official said.

It emerged yesterday that three Ebola patients escaped from a hospital in the Congo and were taken by their familes to pray in a church with 50 people.

The patients left the hospital holding them in quarantine in Congo city of Mbandaka, a World Health Organisation spokesperson said.

Two of the patients were found dead on Tuesday, while a third was taken back to the hospital and is now under observation.

An International Red Cross Committee worker walks in front of a quarantine zone at the hospital of Wangata in Mbandaka on Tuesday

UNICEF are providing clean water for schoolchildren to wash their hands to help contain the Ebola outbreak before entering a classroom in the north-western city of Mbandaka

Katherine Overcamp of Catholic Relief Services said the priest contracted Ebola while 'taking care of someone who passed away' though it is unclear if was one of the patients who left the hospital.

She added the priest 'responding well to treatment', the Catholic News Service reported.

The first case in the latest outbreak was reported in Mbandaka, a provincial capital of 1.2 million and a transport hub located on the Congo River, last Thursday.

Meanwhile, UNICEF said Thursday it was committed to helping schools and children in the fight against the spread of the virus.

The charity's DRC representative Gianfranco Rotigliano told AFP if a student becomes infected, he or she would be promptly taken care of.

A man walks past the Church of Christ during Pentecost in Mbandaka. It has emerged a priest tending to a patient who died from Ebola has himself now become infected

Following a visit to schools in Bikoro, Rotigliano said: 'I spoke with the schoolchildren, and they know the basic rules including washing their hands regularly, and not shaking hands.'

Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and is both highly infectious and extremely lethal.

In Mbandaka, several families have installed buckets of water and soap at the entrance of the house for hand-washing,.

'I asked my children to be careful not to shake hands with people and stop playing with their friends in games that would cause contact between them,' Claude, a father of several children
A P-plater filmed laughing after she was caught on camera using her phone while driving has lost her license.

Police issued an infringement notice to the woman driver after officers were handed video showing her laughing as she brazenly broke the law.

The 20-year-old driver was issued an infringement notice for $330 and four demerit points, which will result in her losing her licence.

Scroll down for video

Police are investigating mobile phone footage posted online showing a women brazenly using her mobile phone while behind the wheel

The witness, who filmed the footage, attended Waratah Police Station and reported the incident.

Police also asked anyone with information to come forward.

The video shows the young woman driving a red Holden Commodore with a red P-plate attached to the front of the vehicle, near Newcastle, north of Sydney.

She is chatting away on a mobile phone, before another driver alerts her to the fact there is a police car trailing behind her.

The other driver toots their horn at the woman, who then looks up before holding her phone up and then continuing with her call, laughing with her passenger.

She then drops the phone onto her lap and keeps driving.

The other driver then toots their horn two more times.

'There's a cop there,' the driver says. 'Does she not see the cop behind her?' the passenger then replies.

Video shows the woman driving a red Holden Commodore with a red P-plate attached to the front of the vehicle, reportedly near Newcastle, north of Sydney

The passenger of the other car winds down her window and leans out to speak to the P-plate driver.

'See the cop? There's a cop behind you, they're going to get you,' she said, before winding her window back up.

The footage was uploaded to the 'Bad drivers caught on dashcam' Facebook group.

The footage was uploaded to the 'Bad drivers caught on dashcam' Facebook group

The person who posted the video claimed the woman was driving dangerously.

'The thing that drew my attention... was her erratic driving before I even knew she was on her phone, and before I knew she was a red P-plater,' they said.

'Wasn't until we pulled up next to her I saw both she and her front seat passenger on their phones. Who was watching the road?'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted New South Wales Police for comment.
Unbelievable footage shows a prisoner with a machete lodged in his skull walking and talking as if nothing is wrong.

Convicted armed robber Pedro Ferreira, 34, can be seen sitting on a hospital bed in Brazil and calmly explaining how he was attacked with the weapon.

Ferreira survived his gruesome ordeal and suffered no long-term complications after surgeons at Restoration Hospital in Recife removed the knife during a delicate five-hour operation.

What's the matter? Convicted armed robber Pedro Ferreira, 34, can be seen with a machete lodged in his skull walking and talking as if nothing is wrong

Nothing to see here: The blade sliced through the criminal's black trilby and into his skull but he nonchalantly climbed in the back of the police van as if nothing had happened

He was transferred from the city hospital to a prison ward where his health remained stable. He has since been discharged and returned to his cell.

The criminal, who was jailed in 2004, was involved in a fight last month with another inmate at the Professor Barreto Campelo high security prison on Itamaraca Island.

He identified his attacker as 27-year-old Antonio da Silva.

He said to police: 'I was told to go to Antonio's cell by another inmate. When I got there, I was stabbed in the head with the knife.'

No drama! The chilled out prisoner appeared calm despite the trickle of blood running down his face and the huge knife stuck in his head

He'll be alright! After he was bandaged up, surgeons at Restoration Hospital in Recife removed the knife during a delicate five-hour operation

Maximum security? Ferreira was involved in a fight last month with another inmate at the Professor Barreto Campelo high security prison on Itamaraca Island (pictured)

In the video he can be seen with the weapon plunged into the right side of his skull, inches away from his temple and eye socket.

The blade sliced through a black trilby which has been pulled further up the knife to reveal the sickening injury.

In the footage he's seen being escorted by police to hospital. The officers try to stuff him in the back of their van but the protruding blade won't fit.

Doctors were amazed that Ferreira was conscious, lucid and mobile. They expect him to make a full recovery and there are no concerns about his health.

An investigation launched to discover the motive behind the attack also scrutinised shortfalls in security which allowed the knife to slip through into the prison.
A hungry shopper has criticised a supermarket cafe for serving up an avocado on sourdough bread which others said looked like it had been 'smashed with a tank'.

Senior fire worker Jennie Griffiths was left underwhelmed by the snack at a Sainsbury's in Thornhill, Cardiff, and took to Twitter on Wednesday to complain.

A picture, used to advertise the 2 meal, shows two slices of golden Taste the Difference sourdough toast, heaped appetizingly with smashed avocado.

Senior firefighter Jennie Griffiths was left underwhelmed by the snack at a Sainsbury's

But Ms Griffiths, head of joint fire control for South, Mid and West Wales, was actually served two slices of toasted bread with a thin smattering of avocado.

She told her 7,800 followers on Twitter: 'So, being a busy person I thought I'd have my breakfast in Sainsbury's before doing my shopping.

'They advertised the first photo... OK, that looks good... but I received the second photo.'

Sainsbury's quickly got in touch with Ms Griffiths, who is based in Bridgend, and promised to investigate after describing the difference as 'night and day'.

Ms Griffiths was served these two slices of toasted bread with a thin smattering of avocado

But the picture left social media users bemused, with one saying 'It definitely looks smashed'  and another adding: 'Smashed with what? A tank?'

Ms Griffiths said the supermarket later offered her a total of 400 Nectar points - or the equivalent of 2 - and an apology for the 'rather disappointing' meal.

A message to her read: 'I've raised the issue of this rather disappointing toast with our buyers and the store and they will be reviewing it internally.'

A spokesman for Sainsbury's said: 'We've apologised to Jennie for her disappointing breakfast and arranged a gesture of goodwill.'
Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street this week) is struggling to put together a Brexit deal with Brussels

Downing Street hit back today after Brussels accused Theresa May of wanting a 'fantasy Brexit'.

In a remarkable escalation of tensions, a senior EU official warned that Britain must accept the 'consequences of its own decisions'.

The Eurocrat flatly dismissed UK proposals for a 'backstop' to avoid a hard Irish border, insisting Northern Ireland had to be treated separately from the rest of the UK.

The outburst was dismissed by UK sources as a 'negotiating position'. Mrs May's Brexit envoy Oliver Robbins delivered a thinly-veiled rebuke today by praising the 'calm and professional' way his own team had gone about the discussions.

The barbs came after a fraught week of talks behind closed doors in the Belgian capital failed to deliver any progress.

The standoff will raise the pressure on Mrs May to secure a breakthrough before a crucial EU summit next month.

Brussels has opened a new front in the ongoing battle by trying to restrict British participation in the 9billion Galileo satellite navigation system.

The UK formally hit back yesterday by saying it would demand 1.2billion back if Brussels goes through with the threats.

It also warned that the bloc's hard-line approach to future co-operation on crime and security issues risked creating 'unnecessary risks to public safety'.

Arriving for a meeting of EU finance ministers today, Chancellor Philip Hammond branded the 'fantasy' comment was not 'particularly helpful'.

Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, he said: 'We are having very constructive discussions, I don't think that is a particularly helpful comment.

'There are obviously a wide range of views on both sides but everybody that I have engaged with has been very constructive, very keen, to find a way to move forward.

'We are very conscious of the ticking clock and the need to make significant progress for the June European Council and that is what we are here to do.'

He also made clear the UK would build its own GPS network if the EU shuts it out of Galileo.

At a briefing for journalists last night, a senior EU figure struck back by threatening to halt Brexit talks, insisting that Brussels 'would not negotiate under threat'.

The official claimed that British negotiators were 'chasing a fantasy' and ignoring the 'consequences of Brexit'.

'I have the impression that the UK thinks everything has to change on the EU side so everything can stay the same for the UK,' the official said.

'The pre-condition for fruitful discussions is that the UK accepts the consequences of its own decision rather than chasing the fantasy of denying the consequences of Brexit.

'The sooner we get away from this fantasy, the sooner we can talk about the future relationship.'

EU officials also took aim at Theresa May's new solution for a customs agreement involving the whole of the UK, claiming it would not be accepted and needed to must specifically address Northern Ireland.

The EU's approach to Galileo has particularly enraged ministers, as Britain has already invested hundreds of millions in the programme.

Jean-Claude Juncker's close ally Martin Selmayr is thought to be behind the tough approach, which has caused a split with other EU states that do want security co-operation with the UK.

Mrs May's Brexit envoy Oliver Robbins delivered a thinly-veiled rebuke to Eurocrats today by praising the 'calm' way his own team had gone about the discussions

A German-backed clique of Brussels officials in the European Commission is fighting to exclude Britain from the Galileo satellite project

David Davis (left) and Michel Barnier have been locked in battle over the terms of the post-Brexit relationship. They are pictured together in March

Britain wants access to high-security elements of the Galileo programme, started in 2003 to rival America's dominant GPS system, that have been factored into British military planning.

But Brussels claims that as a non-EU country, the UK should be treated similarly to partners such as America, who are not allowed full access and to work on sensitive aspects of the programme.

Brexit negotiators said the EU would face an additional 880million bill if the UK continues to be frozen out of the programme - as well as a three-year delay after its expected completion in 2020.

In a position paper, the UK also said it would seek to claim back its 1.2billion taxpayer investment if Brussels refused to offer immediate unrestricted access. And the Government reiterated that it would push ahead with the development of its own British alternative.

The document also complained that Brussels was deliberately overlooking the UK's 'considerable contribution' to European security.

'The Commission suggestion that UK involvement in such exchanges and discussions 'could irretrievably compromise the integrity' of the system risks being interpreted as a lack of trust in the UK,' it said.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said last night: 'A relationship based solely on existing third country precedents, as some seem to be suggesting, would lead to a substantial and avoidable reduction in our shared security capability.'
Julian Assange could leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has lived for six years 'any day now' after the US and Spain increased pressure on the country to stop shielding him.

The Wikileaks founder's situation at the embassy is 'unusually bad', and Mr Assange may be forced out or choose to leave on his own because of extra restrictions.

Mr Assange's position is 'in jeopardy', a source told CNN.

Last week the President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, ordered the removal of extra security at the embassy which has cost the country at least 3.7 million.

The operation - initially called 'Operation Guest' and later 'Operation Hotel' - ran up an average cost of at least $66,000 (48,885) a month.

Julian Assange, pictured in May 2017, could leave the Ecuadorian embassy where he has lived for the past six years 'any day now'

The Wikileaks founder may be forced out or choose to leave after being placed under extra restrictions. His internet access was restricted in March after he tweeted his support of separatist movements in Catalonia, Spain

Mr Assange's activities, moods, interactions with embassy staff, his legal team and other visitors were monitored by security personnel and recorded in minute detail.

The operation to protect Mr Assange had the approval of the then Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa and the then foreign minister Ricardo Patino.

But the Ecuadorian government have now said that the London site 'will maintain normal security similar to that of other Ecuadorian embassies' going forwards.

In January Mr Moreno described Mr Assange as an 'inherited problem' and 'more than a nuisance'.

Mr Assange's internet access was then cut off in March and restrictions were placed on who can visit him after he tweeted his support for separatist movements in Catalonia in Spain.

As part of an agreement between Mr Assange and the Ecuadorean government, he is not permitted to send any messages that could interfere with the South American nation's relations with other countries.

If Mr Assange leaves the embassy he could be arrested by British police and extradited to the US and imprisoned over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.

Last week the President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, ordered the removal of extra security at the embassy which has cost the country at least 3.7 million

The 46-year-old Australian took refuge in the small diplomatic headquarters in 2012 to avoid sexual abuse charges in Sweden, which he has always denied.

Prosecutors have since abandoned their investigation, but British authorities are still seeking his arrest for breaching bail conditions.

Mr Assange's lawyer, Melinda Taylor, told CNN: 'For the last eight years, the UK has refused to either confirm or deny that they have received an extradition request from the US.

RT's London bureau chief Nikolay Bogachikhin also visited Assange during this time

'At the same time, they have refused to provide assurances that Julian will not be extradited to the US if such a request were to be received, and maintained an ever-present vigil of the Embassy, notwithstanding a UN directive to take steps to ensure Julian's immediate liberty.

'Their silence speaks volumes, particularly in light of recent statements from US officials that Julian's arrest and extradition are a priority.'

Last week Mr Assange's guest list in the seven weeks leading up to the release of Democratic party emails was revealed to include RT reporters, German hacker Andy Muller-Maguhn and documentary maker Michael Moore.

In total 80 people visited Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in the summer of 2016, which was around the time when Assange announced he was going to release emails from Hilary Clinton's US presidential campaign.

Others included Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek and prominent WikiLeaks supporters like British designer Vivienne Westwood and left-wing journalist John Pilger, according to visitor logs obtained by the Guardian and Focus Ecuador.

Journalists from RT, which US intelligence officials have described as Vladimir Putin's 'principal international propaganda outlet', were particularly prominent on the guest list.

Pamela Anderson, pictured here visiting Mr Assange in February last year, has been a regular visitor and has called on Kanye West to help 'set free' the 46 year old

They included the network's London bureau chief, Nikolay Bogachikhin, who visited twice, and Afshin Rattansi, a British citizen who presents a news segment called Going Underground, and saw Assange four times.

Pamela Anderson has also been a regular visitor of Mr Assange, and she called on Kanye West to help 'set him free' earlier this month.

I support him and I know you value Free Speech  Visibility is good for him especially in America. Where they are trying to put him away for life or worse for exposing corruption in governments, Anderson wrote.

Hes been locked in a small room for almost 6 years in London at the Ecuadorian Embassy. And now he can have no visitors. No phone calls or internet. They are squeezing him.

In her letter, Anderson explained that she wanted more people to discuss Assanges situation: So I want to seek more voices and share more about his fight. Public support could set him free. Media is monopolized So some brave voices are the only Hope to break through.

Anderson went on to say that she always supported Kanyes no filter, adding that you make an impact.

The former Baywatch star, pictured here on Good Morning Britain last month, said in a letter: Hes been locked in a small room for almost 6 years in London at the Ecuadorian Embassy. And now he can have no visitors. No phone calls or internet. They are squeezing him

Michael Moore (pictured in New York on October 23, 2017) was one of Assange's visitors during the summer of 2016
In between trying to set the victim on fire, Khaled Hassan was seen to beat the victim with a crutch, prosecutors said

A rough sleeper was subjected to four hours of 'torture' when he was repeatedly set on fire, beat with a crutch and spat on as he lay in a churchyard.

The vulnerable victim, who is blind in one eye and suffers from a mental health disorder and alcohol problem, was left burned and permanently scarred when he was set upon while he slept on a bench by drunk thug, Khaled Hassan.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 59-year-old was found by a vicar 'bloodied and burned' in the grounds of St Hilda's Church in South Shields soon after the horrific attack, which happened early in the morning on July 9 last year.

He was taken to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary suffering from full-thickness burns to parts of his body and will be left with permanent scars to his chest and upper back.

Prosecutors said Hassan and Mark Liddle first came upon the sleeping victim at around 6.30am and proceeded to riffle through his pockets looking for something to steal.

But while Liddle then walked away from the scene, Hassan began his brutal attack, during which he held a lighter to the man's sleeping bag, clothes, hair, eyebrows and body on at least 25 separate occasions.

The vulnerable victim was left burned and permanently scarred when he was set upon while he slept on a bench by drunk thug, Khaled Hassan

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 59-year-old was found by a vicar 'bloodied and burned' in the grounds of St Hilda's Church in South Shields soon after the horrific attack (pictured)

In between trying to set the victim on fire, Hassan was seen to beat him with a crutch, spit on him, throw a glass bottle towards him and use a pen to draw on his face, prosecutors said.

The harrowing ordeal was captured on CCTV, the court was told, and Hassan can clearly be seen to be laughing throughout.

Hassan, of Beach Road, South Shields, was identified from the footage and pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and attempted theft.

Jailing him for nine-and-a-half years, Judge Tim Gittins said: 'You proceeded, over three-and-a-half hours or so, from 6.30am to just before 10am, to degrade and humiliate him, to assault him repeatedly and, effectively, to torture him, principally with fire, for no other purpose it would seem than his incapability to respond and defend himself and for apparent laughs, as you are seen thinking that this behaviour towards him was humorous from start to finish.

'You were laughing towards others who were slow or incapable to intervene in your cruelty.'

The court was told Hassan tried to set fire to the victim or his bedding at least 25 times and smoke could be seen coming from his clothes.

He also blocked other people from attempting to help the man and 'laughed throughout' the attack, Judge Gittins said.

The judge added: 'It could so easily have been fatal if his clothing has not been so fire resistent or his shock being lessened by the intoxicants he had taken.'

The court was told that the victim slept through the early part of the attack and remembers very little about it.

Mark Liddle, 51, from South Shields, received a suspended custodial sentence at Newcastle Crown Court

Emma Atkinson, prosecuting, said: 'At 6.47am, [the victim] can be seen raising his hands and he rubs his head as if to extinguish something and Hassan continues to hold the lighter hear his head, trying to set fire to it.'

The victim was found shortly before 10am by the vicar of St Hilda's and the emergency services were called.

Hassan was arrested but claimed he had been drinking and taking drugs and had no recollection of the attack.

In a letter to the court, he said he was 'truly sorry' for what he had done and still 'couldn't understand' his 'shocking' behaviour.

Hassan wrote: 'The guilt and sadness I feel keeps me awake at night.

'In my dreams, I'm apologising over and over to the man who suffered at my hands. I want everyone involved to know how deeply sorry I am.'

Glen Gatland, mitigating, said Hassan also suffered from drug, alcohol and mental health problems and continued to have no memory of the attack.

Liddle, 51, of Beach Road, South Shields, admitted attempted theft from the victim and two, separate malicious communications charges in relation to abusive text messages, unrelated to this case.

He was sentenced to seven months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 100 hours of unpaid work and a six-month, nighttime curfew.

Peter Shofield, mitigating, said Liddle has sought help with his problems and has taken steps to improve his future and stay away from trouble.

Hassan was also made subject of a ten-year restraining order banning him from contacting the victim.
Britain must build up its military to counter Russian aggression, Gavin Williamson warned today.

The Defence Secretary said Vladimir Putin was 'challenging us in every domain' and the threat was the highest since the Cold War.

He highlighted dozens of incursions by Russian fighter jets and ships that the RAF and Navy have needed to respond to.

The chilling warning comes as Mr Williamson wrestles with the Treasury to secure more funding for the armed forces.

In a dramatic intervention yesterday, he raised the spectre of nuclear war - saying the UK could have to deploy Trident if its conventional forces were not strong enough.

In an article for the Express today, Mr Williamson spelled out his fears that 'old threats are returning to haunt us'.

Gavin Williamson (pictured at a Red Arrows even in Downing Street this week) insisted Britain must bolster the armed forces to counter Russian aggression

The Defence Secretary said Vladimir Putin (pictured) was 'challenging us in every domain' and the threat was the highest since the Cold War

'Resurgent states such as Putin's Russia are increasingly assertive. The Kremlin continues to challenge us in every domain,' he said.

'In less than a decade the RAF has been scrambled 58 times to respond to Russian military aircraft.

'In 2010 the Royal Navy was called on just once to respond to Russian navy ships approaching UK territorial waters. Last year, that number had rocketed to 33.'

Mr Williamson said Russian activity had increased ten-fold in the North Atlantic to 'a level not seen since the end of the Cold War'.

'Along the way, Russia has turned a blind eye to chemical carnage in Syria while using cyber attacks to disrupt governments and undermine democracy,' he said.

'We have to adapt to meet the intensifying threat. So we're making sure our Armed Forces have all the equipment and support they need to keep our nation safe whether in cyberspace, on land, in the air or at sea.'

In comments aimed at Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday, Mr Williamson said funding for defence was about 'making sure things do not happen'.

He said if the UK did not have an effective army, air force and navy the country might have to 'turn to the greatest deterrence of them all'.

The Royal United Services Institute Sea Power Conference in London, Mr Williamson said: 'You do not want to be in a position where your only deterrence against threat and against aggressors is a nuclear deterrence.

'We have got to talk about deterrence being full-spectrum, right across the board.

'It is sometimes difficult to explain to people that actually investing in our armed forces is all about making sure that things do not happen.

'It is about aircraft carriers, it is about a presence in the Pacific, it is a presence in the North Atlantic, it is a presence in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf with conventional frigates and destroyers that are able to say that Britain is interested, Britain cares, Britain will protect our interests and our values.

'If we do not have that conventional deterrence and the ability to deter through conventional forces, then what we will find ourselves in is a place that none of us wish to be in and having to turn to the greatest deterrence of them all.'
A remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory has been rocked by the death of a petrol sniffing 12-year-old-boy.

The boy was reportedly found by family members unresponsive in the back of a car in the East Arnhem Land community of Gapuwiyak on Monday.

Family members conducted CPR in a desperate effort to revive the boy but he was deceased by the time emergency services arrived.

The East Arnhem Land community of Gapuwiyak (pictured) in the Northern Territory is struggling to come to terms with the petrol sniffing death of a 12-year-old boy

An report will be submitted for the Coroner.

'What we're seeing is that this is reverberating through a number of nearby communities where extended families are obviously devastated by the death of this young man,' Senior Sergeant Dan Whitfield-Jones told community radio station Gove FM.

Police are also investigating a spate of recent unlawful break and enters in East Arnhem Land, where jerry cans and other petrol canisters have been stolen, the NT News reported.

Northern Territory Police have joined forces with health and education services to ramp up an awareness campaign about the dangers of sniffing substances such as petrol (stock image) following the death of a boy this week

This week's tragic death has prompted police to join forces with health and education services and ramp up an awareness campaign about the dangers of sniffing substances, which is a growing problem statewide.

'The issue is here. There are a number of communities that are affected by it,' Senior Sergeant Whitfield-Jones said.

Communities will be urged to limit public access by locking up jerry cans, petrol, paints and glue and keeping them out of sight in stores.

There has also been an 'unprecedented' surge in petrol sniffing in communities west of Alice Springs in the last six weeks, involving around 20 people, the ABC reports.

A 12-year-old boy died in in Alice Springs in 2015 after he inhaled two cans of deodorant.

Northern Territory Police and health services saying petrol sniffing (stock) is a problem in a number of communities statewide

Blair McFarland from the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service called on the Northern Territory Government to allocate more funding to youth programs.

'Until you can put a fence at the top of the cliff, it doesn't matter how many ambulances you have at the bottom, you're just going to have more and more kids falling down that cliff,' Mr McFarlane told the ABC.

'Those [preventative] activities are like youth programs, where there's a safe and accessible place where kids want to be and they feel safe and honoured and loved by the community. Places like that are really valuable in preventing the alienation and preventing the anger that can lead to criminal activity.'
KFC has been embroiled in a racism row after police were called to eject a group of black British tourists from one of its German stores following an argument with staff over noise.

The aggrieved customers say they were told to leave for laughing and talking too loudly during a meal but claim they did nothing wrong and were targeted because of their skin colour.

Staff said the tourists had been throwing food and insulting employees, leaving the manager no choice but to call the police to 'protect staff and guests'.

Berlin Police strenuously denied the accusation of racism and said it planned to press charges against the person who uploaded the video for violating the officers' privacy.

One of the police officers who went to the KFC restaurant after the manager asked them to eject the customers

One of those asked to leave (left) asks the police why they are being asked to leave and abandon their meals (right)

A total of five police vehicles were sent to the branch in the Mitte district of Berlin on Monday afternoon as officers surrounded the group's table and ordered them to get out while they were in the middle of eating.

A row ensued as the customers vehemently protested their innocence and they branded the officers 'racist' as they were escorted outside and forced to produce their passports.

A video of the confrontation - filmed by a female member of the group who asked to remain anonymous - shows several police officers telling them to 'go out right now'.

They ask what they have done wrong and insist they were just 'laughing and chatting' but are told the restaurant has the right to remove them.

A male member of the group says: 'I'm eating my food at KFC and someone says to me I have to leave. Basically, they're tryna tell me that I have to take it outside.'

Two officers were initially sent to the KFC branch in the Mitte district of Berlin

The people involved continue to argue with the police but the officers are adamant they have to leave the restaurant

An officer responds: 'Yes.'

The woman filming asks: 'Even though we paid to eat inside?'

The officer then points to the camera and says: 'Stop filming.' She refuses, saying she has a right to film for her own safety.

Reluctantly, the group get up and head towards the exit - leaving behind their uneaten food at the table.

Outside, the woman tells shocked diners they are being kicked out 'because we're black' - but nobody says anything.

An officer tells the group: 'You wait here. Nobody goes home. I want a passport off everybody.'

When one man claims his passport is in his hotel room, the officer replies: 'I don't believe you. You will get searched.'

Those asked to leave continue to make their case outside the restaurant as officers check their passports

Tempers begin to flare, with one of the men telling officers: 'You've been one-sided and it's called racism.'

The group are eventually released after handing over their passports for inspection and are told: 'Don't go back.'

Berlin Police said restaurant staff reported that the group had been throwing food.

Kellon Pierre, 38, who was with the party of eight, said that allegation was 'a huge lie' and accused the police of 'gross overreaction'.

He told Die Welt: 'We ordered food for 118 euros. Other guests around us also chatted and laughed. That's why I asked: "Why are you only speaking to us?"

'We were the only black people in the restaurant and we were the only ones asked to be quieter, even though other people laughed too.'

KFC Germany stood by the manager's decision to call the police, saying the group had behaved 'inappropriately'.

The customers outside the restaurant after being asked to leave by the police

One of officers tries to stop the filming as reinforcements arrive at the scene of the incident. Berlin police have strongly denied accusations of racism

In a statement, the company said: 'After failed attempts at conciliation, he was forced to inform the police to protect his staff and guests.

'The wellbeing of our guests is our highest priority. We sharply reject any allegations of discrimination and distance ourselves from any form of racism.'

The controversial footage divided opinion on social media.

Rainer Woltmann wrote: 'I am German and I am pretty shocked about my fellow countrymen. I'm sure there were lots of people watching. Why is there nobody standing up to help?'

Eleanya Philip said: 'This is racism of the highest level. Makes me sick to my stomach.'

But Johannes Baranski argued: 'If KFC asked them to leave because they were too loud, they have every right to enforce their privileges as owners of the establishment. Works just like asking someone to leave your house.'

Filip Vavra added: 'You don't behave, you go. Simple.'

The incident comes just one month after two black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia and charged with trespassing for sitting in the store without ordering anything.

Charges were dropped after a video of the arrest went viral. Starbucks later apologised and announced it was closing 8,000 of its stores for one afternoon to carry out racial bias training.
A toddler has died after being breastfed with poisoned milk, after her mother was bitten by a snake in her sleep.

The venomous Indian Cobra. It is not known what type of snake bit the mother

Police said that the Indian mother, 35, who also died, did not realise she had been attacked while sleeping, and had unknowingly breasted the three-year-old girl upon waking.

The toddler and her mother both fell ill in the Uttar Pradesh state on Thursday, but died before they could reach hospital, police inspector Vijay Singh said.

The family spotted the snake in another room but the creature escaped.

A post-mortem is to be carried out, but police have registered a case of accidental death, the officer added.

India is home to some 300 snake species, 60 of which are highly venomous, including the Indian cobra, krait, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper.

India accounts for 46,000 of the 100,000 snakebite deaths around the world each year, according to a 2011 study by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov has been identified by researchers as the Russian commander in charge of forces in Ukraine at the time MH17 was shot down in July 2014

Russian president Vladimir Putin dismissed claims his country were responsible for shooting down Malaysian Airlines MH17 in Ukraine in 2014.

Dutch investigators claimed a Russian missile system was responsible for shooting down the jet.

A cabinet spokesman said it was 'possible' the next step would be presenting the case to an international court.

Putin, when asked at an economic forum in St Petersburg whether a Russian army missile was involved, said: 'Of course not.'

Putin said that Moscow could not fully trust Dutch findings about the incident because Moscow had not been involved in the investigation.

The probe has identified the high- ranking Russian military officer who was commanding the Kremlin's forces in Ukraine when MH17 was shot down.

Oleg Vladimirovich Ivannikov, who went under the alias Andrey Ivanovich and used the radio call-sign Orion, was in charge when a missile was fired at the passenger jet, researchers at open-source intelligence organisation Bellingcat have revealed.

It comes a day after investigators definitively linked the missile fired at the jet to a Russian military unit which was operating in Ukraine at the time.

Russia warned that the investigation could not be trusted as it had not been involved in the research.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Putin, said Russia 'absolutely' denies all allegations of involvement.

Meanwhile British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said it was time for Russia to 'answer for its actions' over the downing of the passenger jet.

All 298 passengers and crew aboard the flight from Amsterdam Schipol airport to Kuala Lumpur were killed when it was hit by the missile in July 2014.

Bellingcat, which worked alongside The Insider and McClatchy DC Bureau, said Ivannikov was born in April 1967 in Eastern Germany to a decorated Russian major general.

He was educated in Ukraine, studying at the Military Aviation Engineering Academy in Kiev before going to Moscow for postgraduate studies at the 'rocket department' of the Moscow Aviation Institute.

Researchers say Ivannikov coordinated and supervised the military activities of Russian militants, pro-Russian separatists and 'private army' contingents from some time in the first half of 2014 until at least early 2015

Ivannikov was identified the day after a separate research team proved for the first time that the missile which destroyed the passenger plane was fired by Kremlin troops

Investigators used a serial number found on the side of the BUK missile fired at the plane and linked that to a Russian military unit that was serving in Ukraine at the time

Investigators had previously shown that the missile came from Russia, but until yesterday had not been able to prove that it was actually fired by the Kremlin's troops

In 2004 he moved to Ossetia, a region of Georgia that Russia contests, where he served as the chairman of the Security Council and Minister of Defense and Emergencies.

Ivannikov left Georgia in 2008 and returned to Russia where he studied for a PhD and began publishing articles as a military expert, mainly about Syria and the conflict in Ossetia.

He came back to Ukraine some time in first half of 2014 where he coordinated and supervised the activities of Russian militants, pro-Russian separatists and 'private army' contingents.

Ivannikov stayed in the country until at least early 2015.

Researchers are now working to determine who gave the order to fire at the Malaysia Airlines jet, and how far up the chain of command knowledge of the operation went.

Elsewhere on Friday, Dutch and Australian lawmakers said they planned to hold the Russian state legally responsible for downing MH17.

More than two thirds of those killed in the blast were Dutch, while 43 Malaysians and 27 Australians also died.

'Holding a country responsible is a complex legal process,' the Dutch cabinet said.

Boris Johnson also spoke out, saying: 'The Kremlin believes it can act with impunity.

'The Russian government must now answer for its actions in relation to the downing of MH17. This is an egregious example of the Kremlin's disregard for innocent life.'

Ten of the blast victims were British.

American also threw its backing behind the legal action against Russia.

'We strongly support the decisions by the Netherlands and Australia to call Russia to account,' State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

'It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign.'

Investigators used a serial number written on part of the missile which was recovered from the crash site and studied photos of a military convoy to make the link to Moscow.

While investigators had known that the missile was Russian made, they had previously not been able to determine if it had been fired by Moscow's forces.

'The downing of flight MH17 caused unimaginable suffering,' said Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok a day after the latest findings from the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the disaster.

'On the basis of the JIT's conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the BUK installation that was used to down MH17,' he added.

'The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable.'

He said the Netherlands and Australia would seek financial damages 'but also compensation in form of cooperation.'

The government said state liability was invoked in cases where nations violate international law, but warned it was a 'complex legal process and there are several ways to do this.'

'This is the legal avenue that the Netherlands and Australia have now chosen to pursue,' the statement added.

All 298 people on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed, with Dutch and Australians making up two of the largest groups

Hit: This graphic shows how the BUK missile hit the passenger jet over Ukraine

Parts of the missile had been seen before, but on Thursday investigators displayed parts of the engine casing and exhaust system, including the unique serial number and Russian writing.

The missile's serial number and Cyrillic writing - 'Opera Izdelia' and 'Data Sborki 15:13:86' which means 'Device support, Assembly date 15:13:86' - had given the team a 'fingerprint' identifying it and where it was made.

Prosecutors showed photos and videos of a truck convoy carrying the system as it crossed the border from Russia to Ukraine. It crossed back several days later with one missile missing.

The vehicles had serial numbers and other markings that were unique to the 53rd brigade, an anti-aircraft unit based in the western Russian city of Kursk, they said.

Investigators were able to link the missile found in the wreckage with the missile launch system.

'The Buk that was used came from the Russian army, the 53rd brigade,' Chief Dutch Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said. 'We know that was used, but the people in charge of this Buk, we don't know.'

Investigators appealed to the public to come forward and help identify members of the crew who operated the missile and determine how high up the chain of command the order originated.

Investigators used footage of a Russia military convoy crossing the border into Ukraine in their evidence, and in particular these markings on the side of a BUK launcher

The launcher was seen going into Ukraine before returning several days later with one missile gone. Investigators are now trying to find out who gave the order to fire it

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected the accusations.

He said on Friday that Russia has been barred from the investigation and thus can't trust its results.

He also charged that Ukraine contributed to the tragedy by failing to ban civilian air traffic over the war zone.

Moscow rejected Thursday's accusations as well, saying no such weapon had ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The Russian foreign ministry denounced what it called an attempt to 'discredit Russia in the eyes of the international community'.

But investigators, who painstaking recreated the BUK missile system's route from Kursk across the border into rebel-held eastern Ukraine, said they stood by their findings.

The Joint Investigation Team 'has come to the conclusion that the BUK-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia,' top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen said.

'The 53rd Brigade forms part of the Russian armed forces,' he told reporters Thursday.

Investigation officials have not yet said who actually fired the missile after it arrived in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, stressing that the investigation continues.
Two boys have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 14-year-old girl found dead in an abandoned farmhouse.

Anastasia Kriegel's body was discovered in the building in Lucan, Dublin, after she had been being missing for three days.

A post mortem revealed she was viciously assaulted and died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Anastasia Kriegel, 14, was found dead in a farmhouse in Dublin three days after disappearing

A post mortem revealed she was viciously assaulted and died from blunt force trauma to the head

Police confirmed this morning the youths had been arrested, the Irish Mirror reports.

In an official statement, a Garda spokesman said: 'Gardai can confirm that two juvenile males arrested yesterday 23 May as part of the investigation into the murder of Anastasia Kriegel remain in custody.

Kriegel was a first year student in Confey secondary school, a co-ed Community College in Leixlip, County Kildare.

Her body was found in the derelict building in Lucan (pictured) last Thursday
Kids as young as five are being taught how to start their own businesses in a boot camp aimed at creating the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Taj Pabari, 18, started his career by creating a technology website when he was 11-years-old, now he runs boot camps for young kids on how to create their own businesses.

'We started the program a year ago and it's designed to equip them with the skills and the resources to change the world,' Taj told Daily Mail Australia.

Taj Pabari, 18, started a company to get young kids thinking about business

In 2014 Pabari founded Fiftysix, a company that started out manufacturing and selling build-your-own electronic tablets which taught kids about the building blocks of computers that make up our digital world.

Since then the company has morphed into an independent educational provider running workshops across the country focusing on entrepreneurship and creativity.

'So it's a business camp, essentially over three days they will start a business or social change movement,'Taj said.

The business camps are held across the country, in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide and the company is about to launch them in Singapore.

Fiftysix has worked with 40,000 kids across the nation, but Taj wants to double that number by 2020.

And while the camps centre around teaching kids finical literacy and getting them ready for the workforce, Taj says it isn't all about making money.

He says the three day 'businesses camps' aren't just about making money

'The kids aren't just taught how to prepare for the business world, they're encouraged to start their own social enterprise.'

'They can come in wanting to start a business and make lots of money but are leaving with a social conscious.'

He says the focus is often on helping others: 'One kid in the camp, he was nine years old, he came up with the idea for a disability smart watch. His brother had a disability and he wanted to do something that could help.'

There's a focus on developing skills and changing the world with business ideas

'Over the course of three days he presented the idea, conducted market research, created a prototype, and presented it to a panel of judges.'

The business camps cost parents $350 for the three day program. For every full fee place that is purchased Fiftysix offers a scholarship position to an underprivileged student.

For Taj, the camps aren't about giving them the tech resources but teaching them more 'human skills.'

'I just graduated and am looking at the workforce and the skills that they really need to know are communication and collaboration.'

'Soft skills, human skills are the most important thing.'
A member of the brutal MS-13 gang, accused of killing a man and putting his corpse in the trunk of a car before setting it alight, has been arrested after two months on the run.

Fugitive Franklin Platero-Rodriguez was apprehended outside a Subway restaurant in Berkeley County during a joint operation by US marshals and local police officers.

The 21-year-old, who, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, is a documented and confirmed MS-13 gang member, is accused of intentionally and knowingly causing the Houston death of a man by shooting him.

Franklin Platero-Rodriguez was apprehended outside a Subway restaurant in Berkeley County during a joint operation by US marshals and local police officers

After the man was killed, Platero-Rodriguez allegedly 'poured gasoline on a vehicle and burned it while the deceased was inside the trunk,' the office said.

He was arrested in Ladson, South Carolina, after marshals in Texas tipped off sheriffs.

'We work closely with our federal partners and arrests like this are a result of it. Platero-Rodriguez is a dangerous MS-13 gang member and I am glad that we were able to locate and arrest him without him being able to cause further harm,' Sheriff Duane Lewis said.

Platero-Rodriguez was being sought by the Walker County Texas Sheriffs Office and by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a 2014 federal charge of failure to appear in connection with the March 31, 2018, murder.

Platero-Rodriguez is accused of intentionally and knowingly causing the death of a man by shooting him

While he was under surveillance in Berkeley, law enforcement officers saw Platero-Rodriguez exit a Subway Restaurant in Ladson.

After he was seen getting into the drivers seat of a white Ford F-150 extended cab truck, members of the U.S. Marshals Task Force and Berkeley County Sheriffs Office K9 Unit 'conducted a felony take-down', the sheriff's office said.

He was found carrying a loaded 9mm pistol in his front pocket that was 'determined to have been stolen from Texas', it added.

The Ford F-150, which allegedly, 'matched the description of the vehicle used at the Texas murder scene, was seized as evidence and held for Walker County, Texas'.

After being captured in the joint operation, Platero-Rodriguez was taken to the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office, where he 'was booked and charged with the charges of unlawful carrying of a firearm; possession of a stolen firearm; fugitive in possession of a firearm,' the office said.

Following his capture, Sheriff Duane Lewis told reporters at a press conference: 'He is wanted out of Texas for murder; we assisted the marshals in apprehending him. There was a good bit of surveillance that was going on. The detectives tracked him there, to the sandwich shop where you all know he was taken into custody, without incident.

'Rodriguez is wanted out of Walker county, Texas, for murder. The authorities there tell me he is a MS-13 gang member, and that he [allegedly] shot and killed an individual, put them in a trunk of a vehicle, and then set it on fire. Hes accused of a very serious, heinous crime.'

Sheriff Duane Lewis told reporters at a press conference that Platero-Rodriguez was originally from El Salvador, and had been 'deported at least once'

Mr Lewis said that the arrested man was originally from El Salvador, adding: 'He has been deported at least once, and then entered the country illegally again.'

Immigration and customs enforcement officials told Fox News that he was able to enter the country through a loophole, as an unaccompanied alien child  an illegal immigrant under the age of 18 who has entered the country.

Walker County detectives were expected to interview the arrested man 'and to look at some of the evidence weve recovered. He was in possession of a pistol, a 9mm pistol, that we believe, based on information weve received, may be the murder weapon.'

The sheriff said that Platero-Rodriguez was also a 'suspect in a home invasion on the street he was actually staying, several doors down', where an armed, masked man entered a family's home.

Quizzed about the possible presence of MS-13 gang members in the area, he said that officials are looking for known associates.

He described MS-13 as a 'very dangerous gang, its a gang that goes back to the '80s and '90s, originating out of Los Angeles. Mr Rodriguez is from El Salvador. [The gang is] known for its violence, its deadly retributions against honest citizens and government officials they are involved in the child porn trade, narcotics... all of those things are very concerning to us.'

The 'MS' stands for Mara Salvatrucha, and the gang was started by immigrants who had fled El Salvador's civil war, with other members came from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.
Grant West has been jailed for a 10-year hacking campaign in which he stole the details of hundreds of thousands of people

A computer hacker, who stole the details of up to 78 million people to sell on the dark web, has been jailed for more than ten years today.

Grant West, 25, amassed a fortune through hacking attacks on as many as 500 firms - including Apple, Uber, Sainsbury's, Nectar, Zoopla, Asda and Argos - to get personal data of hundreds of thousands of customers.

He used his victims' air miles, fuel points and credit card details to fund gambling sprees in Las Vegas, run his 40,000 black Audi A5 coupe, and splurge on luxury household goods.

Jailing him for ten years and eight months today, Judge Michael Gledhill QC told him: 'A message has to go out from this court.

'Those who have your abilities in computers and electronic communications, if you abuse them and commit criminal offences by using your skills and if you are caught these courts will impose very heavy sentences in order to deter other like minded, such as yourself.

'You enjoyed the money that you made and I have no doubt at all that at least some of it has been secreted away, hoping that it will be there when you are released.

'When members of the public decide to become customers of companies such as Just Eat they rightly expect that their sensitive details will remain private.'

CCTV showed the moment police grabbed his laptop on a train before he could lock its details

West's girlfriend Rachael Brookes, 26, was spared jail after letting her boyfriend use her laptop to launch one of his hacking attacks and using victims' details to buy herself a 40 bikini.

In comments made to warn businesses, the judge said: 'Regrettably, security of information held is at best poor, whenever such internet security is confronted by a criminal of your skills and ambitions it is totally unfit for purpose.

'This case should be a wake up call to the very real threat of what is now known as cyber crime.'

He said to West: 'You considered yourself as untouchable, you thought you were covered in teflon - nothing would stick to you - and so I look with some cynicism in what you now from a prison cell say you wish you had done throughout those years.'

The cyber-criminal, who called himself 'Courvoisier', left school without a single GCSE before spending 10 years honing his hacking techniques.

His girlfriend, Rachael Brookes, was handed a two-year community order after she pleaded guilty to unauthorised computer use

He learned from web tutorials teaching how to mine personal data, passwords and bank card details to sell on the dark web, where West openly boasted that he was 'at the forefront of the fraud'.

In the first case of its kind, Scotland Yard managed to seize 500,000 in the crypto-currency Bitcoin from West, who also ran a cannabis farm in rented storage containers near his static caravan in the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

To catch the hacker, who used unbreakable encryption on his computer, undercover detectives had to follow him onto a train from North Wales to London in September last year.

One covert officer sat in a first class carriage next to West, watching him log into his laptop and get onto the dark web to access his passwords and account.

Meanwhile, a second team of police sat in a carriage behind waiting to arrest him.

The moment of his capture was caught on camera as a suited officers swooped on West, who had been returning from a trip to visit his girlfriend.

The hacker sat stunned as police snatched his computer while he was still logged on before he could encrypt his scams.

Officers were staggered to discover that the fraudster, who operated online under the name 'Courvoisier', after the upmarket cognac brand, had amassed details from an extraordinary range of companies worldwide.

Screen grabs taken during the investigation show West selling people's details - known among fraudsters as 'fullz' - on the dark web

They also included electrical good retailer AO.com, insurance firm Vitality, online clothing retailer Mr Porter, the British Cardiovascular Society, and even the Finnish Bitcoin exchange.

He stole 78 million individual usernames and passwords and 63,000 credit and debit card details from victims in the UK, America and Australia by sending out mass phishing emails apparently from legitimate companies to clients saying they had won a 10 draw and they should enter bank details for the money to be transferred.

West spent 18 hours a day selling individuals' data for as little as 20 from his own eBay-like store on the dark web, which boasted of 47,000 sales.

He also used his victims' air miles, fuel points and credit card details to fund gambling sprees in Las Vegas, run his 40,000 black Audi A5 coupe, and splurge on luxury household goods.

Police found 25,000 stashed in his modest caravan, but believe he could have made millions over the last decade.

West used the name of brandy maker Courvoisier to sell his stolen date over the dark web

West first came to police attention in 2015 after customers at Just Eat complained about phishing emails being sent to them offering customers a 10 reward for completing a survey with details of their names, addresses, email addresses, passwords and credit card CVV numbers.

Scotland Yard's Cyber Crime Unit launched a two-year investigation, but the encryption West used proved so difficult to crack that officers had to take the unprecedented step of arresting him mid-hack on a train to unlock his computer.

It was the first time in the UK a cybercriminal has been arrested with his fingers on the keyboard.

West admitted 10 offences including computer hacking, conspiracy to defraud, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, possession of criminal property and money laundering Bitcoins.

His girlfriend was handed a two-year community order after she pleaded guilty mid-way through her trial to unauthorised use of computer material.
This is the adorable moment a baby elephant won't let go of a tourist after she became acquainted with him before taking an elephant ride with his mother.

The cute footage was taken in the northern jungle of Thailand in early March and shows American tourist Jane Hight McMurry cuddling a baby elephant as they both lie together on the ground.

McMurry, a professional speaker and author, traveled to Phetchabun in the northern province for a day long adventure and to ride bareback on an elephant.

The footage begins as the baby elephant is resting his head in McMurry's lap as she pets him. She then tries to move away but the elephant, seemingly not finished with the attention, wraps his trunk around her leg.

He then playfully bites her foot and holds it in his mouth as she tumbles backwards trying to get away. The playful calf then climbs on top of her and wraps his tusk around her neck as she asks her group, who struggle to contain their giggles, 'what do I do?'

Getting acquainted: The cute baby elephant wraps it's tusk around McMurry's neck as she tries to get up and get away from him

McMurry, who presents keynotes and seminars on leadership skills that maximize sales and workplace productivity, said: 'The elephant chosen for me was a new mother. It was important for me to get to know her calf before we began.

'As you can see, we got to know each other.'

Too close for comfort: The adorable elephant can be seen wrapping itself around the woman in the footage before mounting her

The northern jungle in Thailand is one of the most popular tourist destinations for those who want to spot wild elephants roaming in their natural habitat.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has demanded Moscow compensate the relatives of victims murdered when Russian military shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia when it was shot down by a BUK missile over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

In a statement released on Friday, Ms Bishop and Attorney General Christian Porter notified the Russian Federation that Australia holds them responsible for the shooting of the plane and they should be held to account.

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Emma Bell (left), originally of Lithgow in NSW, was a passionate teacher who was returning from a trip to Europe to start the new school term in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. Jack O'Brien (right) of Sydney, was 25. His family said he was 'loved so much'

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has demanded Moscow compensate the relatives of victims murdered when Russian military shot down Malaysia Airline MH17

'The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) yesterday (Thursday) released significant findings that the BUK missile system used to down MH17 belonged to the 53rd Brigade of the Russian army,' they said in a statement.

'These findings are built on earlier findings that the BUK missile system was taken from Russia to eastern Ukraine and back, immediately after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on 17 July 2014.

'Based on these findings, the only conclusion we can reasonably now draw is that Russia was directly involved in the downing of MH17.

'This evening Australia and the Netherlands notified the Russian Federation that we hold it responsible for its role in the downing. We have requested negotiations to open dialogue around the circumstances leading to the tragic loss of innocent lives.

Downed: The reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 which was shot down by a Russian missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014 is seen in The Netherlands

Horror: Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shown smouldering in a field on July 17, 2014 in Grabovo, Ukraine near the Russian border

'The Russian Federation must be held to account for its conduct in the downing of MH17 over eastern Ukraine, which resulted in the tragic deaths of 298 passengers and crew, including 38 people who called Australia home.

'Holding the Russian Federation responsible under international law is separate, but complementary to, the prosecution of the individual suspects, which is taking place under the Dutch national system.'

Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen said on Thursday the missile was fired by a Russian anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the city of Kursk, near the Ukrainian border.

However, in March, the Russian Ambassador in Australia, Grigory Logvinov, said there was no evidence connecting Russia with the deadly attack, Daily Telegraph reported.

Last shot: This photo shows Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 leaving Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on July 17, 2014

Russian Ambassador in Australia, Grigory Logvinov (pictured) said in March there was no evidence connecting Russia with the deadly attack

Wilbert Paulissen said in the press conference on Thursday: 'The Joint Investigation Team has come to the conclusion that the BUK-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia.

'All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces.'

The investigators had previously concluded that the plane was brought down by a BUK missile fired from territory in Ukraine held by Moscow-backed rebels, but had stopped short of directly saying who pulled the trigger.

Now the team has painstaking recreated the route taken by the missile convoy from Kursk across the border into Ukraine using videos and photos.

Paulissen added the team had 'ascertained that the BUK-TELAR has a number of unique characteristics. These characteristics as such served as a type of fingerprint for the missile.'

The probe being led by The Netherlands is focusing on some 100 people suspected of having played an 'active role' in the incident, but investigators have not yet publicly named any suspects.

Evidence: Russian writing can be seen on the side of the damaged missile put on display

Russian projectile: The damaged Russian missile that shot down flight MH17, killing all 298 people on board, is put on display in Bunnik, Netherlands, today

Chief investigator Fred Westerbeke said Thursday the probe was now in its 'last phase' but added there was 'still work to be done'.

Over the past years 'we've gained a lot of proof and evidence but we are not ready yet' to move towards bringing charges, he told the press conference.

Dutch officials have announced that the trial of any suspects arrested in the shooting down of flight MH17 will be held in the Netherlands under an agreement reached with the countries leading the joint probe.

BUK are a series of surface-to-air missile systems developed by Soviet and subsequently Russia, who has always denied involvement in the downing of the jet.

MH17 crashed in Grabovo, Ukraine an area near the Russian border which at the time was under the control of pro-Russian militias.

The plane was shot down in the early stages of the Ukraine War, which began with the Russian annexation of Crimea - a military muscle-flexing exercise by President Vladimir Putin attempting to show off his strength to the West.

This and the anti-government 'revolution' that had shaken the capital Kiev for months, sparked protests by pro-Russian groups in the Donbass region in the east.

This escalated into a full-blown armed conflict between pro-Russian separatists, backed by Moscow, and the Ukrainian government which is still ongoing.

All 298 passengers and crew, which included mainly Dutch citizens but also Brits, Malysians and Australians, were killed in the disaster.

Here Daily Mail Australia pictures the Australian citizens and residents who never made it home.

Dutch language teacher Dafne Nieveen (left) was killed while flying home to Perth. Melbourne-based IT security consultant Marco Grippeling (right) is one of 10 Victorian residents killed in the MH17 flight disaster

Dutchman Itamar Avnon (left) was on a trip to Israel for a wedding and stopped over in Amsterdam to visit friends before boarding MH17 Flight. He was studying Australia. Emiel Mahler and girlfriend Elaine Teoh (right), both 27, were on their way to a wedding in Malaysia but lived in Melbourne

Liliane Derden (left) was a public servant from Canberra whose two daughters changed their Facebook profile pictures to photos of their mother in a touching tribute. Gary Lee, a retiree, ran a Chinese restaurant while his wife Mona (right) was a schoolteacher

Retired Wollongong couple Michael and Carol Clancy (left), in their 60s, were on a three-week European holiday. Gerry Menke and his wife Mary (right) owned an abalone pearl company in Mallacoota. Their business recently won a prize at the East Gippsland Business Awards

Shaliza Dewal (left), 45, and her Dutch husband Hans Van Den Hende (centre) were travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with their three children, Piers, 15, (top right) and Marnix, 12, (top back) and daughter Margaux, 8, (top centre)

Left: Edel Mahady was returning to Perth for the start of the school term at Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School, Kelmscott. Right: Helena Sidelik was travelling home from a friend's wedding in Europe, back to the Gold Coast where she lived

Recently retired couple Wayne and Theresa Baker had two sons, aged in their 20s. The Bakers were based in Buddina on the Sunshine Coast but also lived in Darwin

Left: Nick Norris was travelling with his three grandchildren. Centre: Victorian real estate agent, Albert Rizk. Right: Marie Rizk was travelling with her husband on board MH17

Children Mo, Otis and Evie Maslin from Perth, who perished in the terrorist attack on MH17, were travelling home with their grandfather, Nick Norris, after a family holiday

Arjen Ryder and wife Yvonne from Albany, Queensland, were travelling together. Right: Victor Oreshkin was a religious man who was involved in church ministry

NSW resident Sister Philomene Tiernan (left), and Frankie Davison and her husband, Liam (right), were on the plane

Recently retired pathologist Roger Guard (left) and his wife Jill (right) from Toowoomba in Queensland, have also been identified from the MH17 flight

Mr Horder and his wife Susan, both 63, of Albany Creek, were among the Queenslanders aboard flight MH17 when it was shot down
Jeremy Corbyn has admitted he would not campaign to save the Union if a referendum was called on uniting Ireland.

The Labour leader said he would be neutral in any referendum called while he was Prime Minister.

Mr Corbyn has been branded a 'destabilising' influence for holding Republican sympathies during his first visit to Northern Ireland as Leader of the Opposition.

He is facing new calls to meet victims of IRA terrorism today as he holds meetings about Brexit and devolution on the border.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured today at the Peace Bridge in Londonderry) has admitted he would not campaign to save the Union if a referendum was called on uniting Ireland

Mr Corbyn posed for a selfie with Professor Deirdre Heenan (pictured) at Lifford on the Irish border during his visit today

Mr Corbyn, together with Professor Deirdre Heenan and his shadow Northern Ireland secretary Tony Lloyd (pictured right) saw one of the major border crossings in the province

Thousands of lorries move back and forth across the border in Northern Ireland every day. Mr Corbyn watched as one truck made the crossing (pictured)

Mr Corbyn met business leaders in Londonderry this morning on the second day of his visit.

Asked by the BBC what he would do in a referendum on the border, Mr Corbyn said: 'It's within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement that such a poll could be held if there was a willingness to do so.

'At that point you don't stand in its way, but it is within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and I think the UK government should be neutral in that respect.'

Last night DUP MP Ian Paisley Jnr branded him a 'destabilising' influence.

He said: 'He clearly doesn't care about the United Kingdom. If he did he would fight to keep it together'.

As his visit continued today, Mr Corbyn met with members of the SDLP - Labour's sister party in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland Assembly member Colum Eastwood said: 'The SDLP had a very productive meeting with Jeremy Corbyn and members of the Labour front bench today.

'Im very pleased that Mr Corbyn has backed the SDLP call for the revival of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference in order to get us back to devolved Government here.

After a detailed discussion with the Labour Party on the challenges of not being in the Customs Union and the Single Market post Brexit, I was reassured by the Labour Leader that he will act to ensure there will be no hard border in Ireland or in the Irish Sea.'

Ann Travers, whose sister was killed by the IRA, renewed calls for Mr Corbyn to meet families

Ann Travers, whose sister was killed by the IRA, last night renewed calls for Mr Corbyn to meet families.

Labour has insisted an invite to do so on this trip came too late to be added to his schedule.

But Ms Travers tweeted: 'So Corbyn stated that he couldnt meet IRA victims because request came ''too late''.

'I, along with others, will travel to meet with you Mr Corbyn. Just give us a date that suits.'

On his visit this morning, Mr Corbyn has said it is 'unconscionable' for elected politicians to have no say in major decisions in Northern Ireland as he called on the Stormont parties to come together to resurrect devolution.

In a later part of his visit, Mr Corbyn met MPs from the SDLP - Labour's sister party in Northern Ireland. He is pictured with MP Mark Durkan

The Labour leader (pictured speaking at the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce this morning) said he would be neutral in any referendum called while he was Prime Minister

Mr Corbyn said: 'It is unconscionable that you have civil servants making major decisions, then challenged by the courts, with elected politicians having no say whatsoever.'

Stormont has not sat for months following a dispute over a botched green energy scheme.

Last night DUP MP Ian Paisley Jnr branded Jeremy Corbyn a 'destabilising' influence

The Labour leader attended a business breakfast in Londonderry on Friday.

He said he was seeking a customs partnership with the EU to ensure there were no regulatory barriers after Brexit.

'Any kind of border, physical border, virtual reality border, technological border, whatever, would be very damaging to the economy,' Mr Corbyn said.

Mr Corbyn also faced criticism yesterday from Democratic Unionist Party politician Gregory Campbell for refusing to meet IRA victims during his two-day visit. Mr Campbell, asked for the meeting almost two weeks ago but the Labour Party said the request came too late.

Kenny Donaldson of the campaign group Innocent Victims United said that Mr Corbyns refusal showed someone who does not possess true leadership qualities nor an ability to front up on difficult issues.

In his lecture, Mr Corbyn urged Ulster politicians and the UK and Irish governments to renew efforts to restore power-sharing.

We need all sides to come together and make devolution work again, he said.

He also called for the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference  which offers the Irish Republic a role in Ulster issues  to be reconvened.

He restated his commitment to having no hard border with the Republic after Brexit, and a continuing customs union with the EU.

Mr Corbyn, who won a standing ovation from many present, said he was not advocating a referendum on Irish unity. An IPSOS-Mori poll for Queens University published on Monday found only 21 per cent of people in the province wanted a united Ireland.
Passengers on a plane involved in a collision with another jet at London Stansted Airport today faced an 18-hour delay to get to Malaga.

The wing of Primera Air flight PF2871 to Malaga clipped the tail of Dublin-bound Ryanair aircraft FR205 as they were both on the taxiway this morning.

The passengers on the Ryanair Boeing 737-800 were transferred to an alternative aircraft for free and have already landed in Dublin, according to the airline.

But those travelling with Primera Air, which has only been flying from Britain since April 9, face an astonishing 18-hour wait for their trip to Malaga.

The wing of Primera flight PF2871 to Malaga clipped the tail of Dublin-bound Ryanair FR205

The airport said both planes were required to return to the stand after the 'airfield incident'

The wing of Primera flight PF2871 to Malaga is inspected by investigators at Stansted today

One passenger tweeted this picture of Primera Air passengers queuing amid the delays today

The flight, which was due to leave at 7.15am, will now take off at 1.40am tomorrow morning. Meanwhile a Primera Air flight from Stansted to Alicante due to take off at 3.15pm has been delayed by eight hours to 11.20pm tonight.

Primer Air passengers were left furious by the delays, with Alex Jerram tweeting: 'This was not a minor accident - our plane collided with another plane.

'We were originally delayed by almost two hours and we are now being told that we cannot travel until 18 hours after our original departure time. The way it is being handled is an absolute disgrace.'

Another said: 'The pilot struck another taxing plane with our wing! Ruined my whole trip for my bday with my Mrs waiting for me in Malaga. Had to cancel my whole trip.'

Earlier, Ryanair passengers were told by cabin crew that the aircraft had been hit by another plane, with three fire engines racing to the scene at about 9.15am.

Staff from The Independent who were on board the Ryanair flight said that the mood among passengers 'remained calm, even jovial'.

Primer Air passengers were left furious by the delays and took to Twitter to complain

One passenger, Malena McQuarrie, 23, from Dublin, told the Independent: 'I'm extremely annoyed, but I hope we're going to get home in time to vote.

The wrong Michael O'Leary takes the flak for Ryanair boss You might expect Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary to attract the ire of passengers following the delays this morning. But another Michael O'Leary ended up taking the flak for the Irishman today, after people got them confused online. Mr O'Leary, 34, of Portsmouth, was tagged in Twitter posts by people talking about the disruption today. But he said: 'Think you'll find Im not the right Michael OLeary if you actually check my profile!' Further tweets then led him to reply 'AGAIN WRONG MICHAEL O'LEARY' - then 'AND AGAIN!!!' Advertisement

'Luckily I live by the airport so it's not so bad for me but some people have to go far into the country. A girl in front of me was saying she has to fly back tonight.'

Genevieve Hulme Beaman, 29, of Dublin, added: 'My whole reason to get home is to vote, so as long as I get home to vote it's fine. You can vote until 10pm.

'I wanted to be there to support the women there, I have a lot of friends who are very emotional today and they could do with the support.'

The airport said both planes were required to return to the stand after the 'minor airfield incident', but no injuries were reported and no evacuation was required.

A spokesman for Stansted added: 'As a precaution, airfield operations were briefly suspended, but all flights have now resumed.'

A Ryanair spokesman said: 'One of our aircraft was stationary at the designated holding point on the taxiway at London Stansted Airport this morning when the winglet of a Primera Air aircraft taxiing behind scraped its tail stabiliser.

'Both aircraft were under the instruction of London Stansted Air Traffic Control at the time. The Ryanair aircraft returned to stand to be inspected by Ryanair engineers. To minimise delay, customers will transfer to a replacement aircraft later this morning.'

Investigators take a look at the wingtip of the plan following the collision at Stansted today

Ryanair said the aircraft returned to the stand to be inspected by engineers this morning

Passengers were told by cabin crew that the aircraft had been hit by another plane

An employee stands next to the Primera Air plane after the incident at Stansted this morning

A passenger watches a fire truck arrive at the airport from his window on the plane

The spokesman later added: 'All passengers affected were transferred to an alternative aircraft, free of charge, and have already landed in Dublin.'

A Primera Air spokesman said: 'Primera Air scheduled flight PF2871 to Malaga with Boeing 737-800 experienced a minor airfield incident at approximately 09.15 with a Ryanair aircraft Boeing 737-800 with scheduled flight FR205 to Dublin.

'Both aircraft were due to depart were required to return to stand. Incident didn't involve any injuries and no evacuation was required for either of the aircraft. Currently, technical teams are working on assessment of the damage.

'A substitute aircraft will be sent to Stansted airport to perform the affected flights and carry passengers to their destinations. Meanwhile, all passengers will be offered assistance by a handling agent.

Three fire engines raced to the scene at the airport in Essex at about 9.15am this morning

Some of the passengers were trying to get to Ireland to vote in the historic referendum today

The wing of Primera flight PF2871 to Malaga clipped the tail of the Ryanair plane

Ryanair passengers are being transfer to a replacement aircraft later today, the airline said

'At the moment the expected delay for the flight to Malaga is about eighteen hours and delay for flight to Alicante eight. Further information will be provided as soon as possible.'

In Ireland today, voting is under way in a historic referendum as citizens decide whether to liberalise one of Europe's strictest abortion regimes.

Voters are opting to either retain or repeal the Eighth Amendment of the state's constitution, which prohibits terminations unless a mother's life is in danger.

Counting will begin tomorrow morning, with a total of 3.3million citizens registered to vote and 6,500 polling stations open across the country.
A bogus handyman who battered a 96-year-old D-Day veteran with a hammer and left him for dead has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Joseph Isaacs, 40, knocked on Jim Booth's door and offered him a good rate on roof repairs on November 22 last year.

When Mr Booth refused, Isaacs launched his attack, hitting the veteran with a claw hammer on his head and arms while shouting 'money, money, money'.

He suffered life-threatening injuries including 'five deep lacerations' to his skull, with a 'number of underlying skull fractures'.

Brave and stoic Mr Booth, who joined the Royal Navy aged 18 and served throughout the Second World War, said of the attack: 'Yes well, worse things happen at sea as they say, in war.'

Isaacs stole his bank card and went on a shopping spree the following day, spending 6.48 in McDonald's, 13 in Asda and 7.75 on cigarettes.

D-Day veteran Jim Booth, pictured dancing with the Duchess of Cornwall in August 2015 at a veterans' day celebration, was attacked by Joseph Isaacs

Mr Booth was 'left for dead' after being hit with a claw hammer by a robber who stole his bank card. Speaking out after the experience he said 'worse things happen at sea'

He said he had not been left terribly 'het up' by the brutal attack at his Taunton home on November 22 last year

Sentencing, Judge David Ticehurst said Mr Booth was an 'extraordinarily remarkable gentleman' who Isaacs 'savagely attacked with a claw hammer which you took with you for that purpose'.

He said: 'It was a brutal and utterly senseless attack on him. Jim Booth was 96 years old, living on his own but with remarkable independence and vigour.

'The affect upon him and his family has been devastating as is clear from Mr Booths victim impact statement.

Victim statement from Mr Booth's daughter Vicky Pugh Mr Booth's daughter, Vicky Pugh, read a family victim impact statement to the court, at times becoming so emotional that she struggled to continue. She said: 'Our father is an honourable, gentle, compassionate and generous person. 'He is the head of the family, a dearly loved father to his four children, and adored by his grandchildren and great grandchildren, to whom he's known simply as "The Legend". She went on: 'Miraculously, though left for dead, and against all odds, he survived. 'In the very difficult six months since, our father has shown extraordinary courage and determination as he's battled with the pain and long-term effects of the injuries. 'He is truly inspirational. Characteristically, he worries about the impact of his attack on us, his family. We are all devastated and deeply shaken. 'Our father is, and always will be, our own family hero, our 'Captain of the Gate' and we are immensely proud of him every day. 'His faithful heart continues to beat at the core of our family. 'Soon to celebrate his 97th birthday, he remains unbowed, an unconquerable soul, and we look forward to many more happy and memorable times spent together.' Ms Pugh said her father was a 'wonderful person' who had dedicated himself to caring for his wife Berry, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, for 10 years prior to her death in 2009. She said: 'She couldn't have had a a more loving and devoted husband. In the years since we lost our mother, our father has immersed himself in taking an active part in the community, leading an extremely busy and independent life.' Ms Pugh said since the attack he had been forced to miss family events and could no longer use his bicycle while there seemed to be no treatment for his debilitating head pain. Advertisement

'His daughter Victoria Pugh also spoke of the affects of your crimes on them.

'That your crimes have had such a devastating and damaging impact on them is something you should reflect upon in the years before you.'

Judge Ticehurst said he considered Isaacs, who had committed the crime for a 'paltry' amount of money and then showed an 'apparent lack of remorse or concern', to be dangerous and therefore meet the criteria for an extended sentence.

Mr Booth was later told that one of the injuries on his arm showed that he had hit back.

Playing down his resistance, he said: 'I think I probably just defended myself.

'But I'm very much saying, I blame myself because I was special services you know, I think I should really have known how to deal with this but I didn't, I was too old obviously.'

During the war Mr Booth joined the Combined Operations Pilotage and Reconnaissance Parties (COPP) and trained for covert beach explorations at a wartime military base set up on Hayling Island in Hampshire in 1943 under the instruction of Lord Mountbatten.

Mr Booth became a submarine pilot for the X-craft, tiny submarines that waited on the seabed for days at a time, at the age of 23.

His team sailed from Portsmouth to Normandy to scout out where the British could safely land and on D-Day, Mr Booth climbed into a fold-up canoe and shone a beacon out to sea to guide Allied craft safely to shore.

Mr Booth was later awarded a Croix de Guerre military medal by the French for his gallantry.

Describing the attack, Mr Booth said the doorbell had rung - something which he was used to because 'in those days I never bothered about security'.

He said: 'There was this guy outside and in his hand was this obviously brand new, very shiny, claw hammer. He said "oh I'm a builder".

'I said "what's the problem". He said "well I see that slates up there just by the roof look at bit loose and we could give you a very good deal".'

He added: 'And then he started shouting "money, money, money". He started lifting the thing and advanced on me, pushed me backwards, right up the passage coming into this room, from the front.

'I now know that he, well I didn't really remember it, but he hit me six times on the head as well as more on the arms with the claw hammer and the claw side of it too.'

Mr Booth, a keen cyclist, runner and gym-goer prior to the attack, said there were certain things he was no longer able to do because he was suffering from loss of balance but that he would go back to the gym as soon as he could.

Mr Booth, a keen cyclist, runner and gym-goer prior to the attack, said there were certain things he was no longer able to do because he was suffering from loss of balance but that he would go back to the gym as soon as he could

Isaacs, pictured, hit the veteran with a claw hammer on his head and arms while shouting 'money, money, money'

He was arrested after police were able to trace the bank transactions and link them to a vehicle which was found to be registered in the name of Isaacs's father (pictured: Isaacs during the arrest)

Speaking of Isaacs, Mr Booth said: 'Presumably something terrible happened in his life and who knows what it was and turned him into a near monster.

'So to that extent I understand but obviously I can't understand what he did frankly and why, there seems be no reason why. That's how I am at the moment.'

Joseph Isaacs, pictured in a court sketch as he appeared via videolink, denied attempted murder

Rachel Drake, prosecuting, told the jury Mr Booth tried to evade his attacker by retreating into his home but collapsed in his living room.

She said: 'Mr Booth fell to the floor near a coffee table and he remembers thinking, "Oh God, I am dead"... Once Mr Booth was incapacitated the defendant took his wallet and, the Crown say, left him for dead on his living room floor.'

Isaacs, who appeared at the trial via video link from HMP Long Lartin, denied the charge of attempted murder.

Jurors were told they would hear Mr Booth tell them that he was 'surprised' that the hammer in Isaacs's hands was shiny and new, rather than worn as he would expect from a workman and also that he thought it bigger than a standard hammer.

Ms Drake said Mr Booth initially did not believe he had lost consciousness during the attack but concluded that he may have done after realising he had no recollection of Isaacs searching his things.

The court heard once he regained consciousness Mr Booth tried to find his mobile phone but could not and his landline phone appeared to be out of battery.

Mr Booth, a keen cyclist, runner and gym-goer prior to the attack, said there were certain things he was no longer able to do because he was suffering from loss of balance but that he would go back to the gym as soon as he could

Police at Mr Booth's home following the attack last November after he was rushed to hospital

Isaacs used the stolen bank card and went on a shopping spree the following day, spending 6.48 in McDonald's, 13 in Asda and 7.75 on cigarettes (pictured: Isaacs using the card in McDonald's)

Eventually he managed to raise the alarm with neighbours after making his way out into the street.

The court heard one neighbour spotted Mr Booth and saw that his head and hands were covered in blood.

Mr Booth was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton where Ms Drake said he was found to be suffering from 'life-threatening injuries'.

She said medics noted 'five deep lacerations' to Mr Booth's skull, with a 'number of underlying skull fractures'.

He also had lacerations on both hands and a fracture to his right hand.

Ms Drake said pathologist Dr Russell Delaney had examined Mr Booth and found the injuries to be consistent with 'multiple blunt force impacts'.

'The force required to cause the depressed skull fractures would have been severe,' she said, adding that the injuries to Mr Booth's arms were consistent with him having moved them in front of his face and head to protect himself.

Mr Booth joined the Royal Navy as a seaman at the age of 18, serving throughout the war

The jury heard that shortly after the attack Isaacs used Mr Booth's NatWest bank card, which had been in his wallet, in Burger King at the Bridgwater Services on the M5.

He also bought a drink in a pub but when he attempted to use the card at 12.30pm in Burnham-on-Sea it was declined, the jury was told.

Ms Drake said officers were able to trace the transactions and link them to a vehicle which was found to be registered in the name of Isaacs's father.

They spoke to his mother Cathleen Isaacs who told them she had reported her son missing on November 14. Isaacs was arrested on November 24.

On Friday, following a five-day trial at Taunton Crown Court, a jury found Isaacs, of no fixed abode, guilty of attempted murder after deliberating for less than two hours.

The jury had heard how Isaacs, who previously lived at home with his parents, had been sleeping in his car in the days and weeks leading up to his attack on Mr Booth.

He claimed that he was in the middle of a 'nervous breakdown' having broken up with his girlfriend and had not eaten for four days when he decided to approach Mr Booth's home.

The court heard no evidence that Isaacs was suffering from mental health difficulties and Rachel Drake, for the prosecution, labelled his defence 'a desperate attempt to minimise what he had done'.

After hearing the verdicts Rachel Drake, for the prosecution, told the court Mr Booth would like to be present for the sentencing.

Judge David Ticehurst agreed and said he would sentence Isaacs, who is appearing in court via video link from HMP Long Lartin, at 2pm on Friday.

Isaacs will also be sentenced for causing GBH with intent, aggravated burglary and six counts of fraud, which he earlier admitted in relation to the incident.

As the jury was leaving the court, one of Mr Booth's family members, who have been present throughout the trial, said of Isaacs: 'He is out of our lives, thank you.'

DCI James Riccio, who led the investigation, said: 'Joseph Isaacs called at Jim Booth's home posing as a workman.

'When Mr Booth declined the work being offered, Isaacs forced his way in, demanded money and subjected Mr Booth to a prolonged and barbaric ordeal.

'He used a claw hammer to strike Mr Booth repeatedly to the head and body - even hitting him multiple times while he lay on the floor.

'It was a cowardly act and it's a miracle Mr Booth survived these horrific injuries.'

Mark Major, from the CPS, said Isaacs had 'attacked a vulnerable elderly man in his home, leaving him for dead on his living room floor so that he could search his home for money and valuables'.

He added: 'Isaacs admitted he attacked Mr Booth and used his bank cards following the burglary but denied attempted murder.

'The CPS showed in court that Isaacs had intended to kill Mr Booth, producing evidence from doctors that showed the force and severity of the attack and his injuries.'
Police in Hong Kong have launched a manhunt after two suspects snatched more than 470,000 worth of jewellery from a shopping mall.

CCTV footage shows one masked man breaking open a glass cabinet while the other, also masked, threatened screaming shoppers and staff with a knife.

The pair raided the store in 30 seconds at around 7:15pm on Wednesday.

The two men approach a display cabinet as they walk into a jewellery shop in Hong Kong

Some customers notice their action when the pair try to break into the glass cabinet

The incident occurred at the Prince Jewellery shop in the Harbour City shopping mall in Kowloon, according to police.

Two men, both wearing caps, were seen walking towards a glass display cabinet near the entrance of the shop while other staff were serving customers at the counter, CCTV the footage shows.

One of the robbers can be seen flashing a sharp object at the staff and customers while the other grabbed the expensive accessories into a bag.

The items included two diamond rings, two diamond necklaces, one diamond bracelet and one loose diamond, according to senior inspector Chan Ka-ying from the crime squad of the Yau Tsim district.

During a press conference, inspector Chan said the estimated worth of the jewellery was HKD$5 million (478,000).

The man in red cap takes out a sharp object and threatens the staff and customers not to move

As he shouts in the shop, his accomplice quickly snaps six diamond accessories into a bag

The stolen items, which included one loose diamond, are estimated to be worth more than 477,000. The pair walk out the shop after a 30-second heist and are still on the run

A shopper who was in the mall told Apple Daily that she heard people screaming in the jewellery shop on the third floor.

The pair fled the scene and left the mall via an escalator outside the shop.

No customers or staff is reported to be injured as a result of the heist.

The suspects' nationalities remain unknown, but one of them shouted 'do not move' in Cantonese, said inspector Chan.

Police are looking for eyewitnesses who have seen any suspicious persons passing through the area.

The Prince Jewellery shop is continuing its business as usual. Staff returned to the store on Thursday morning to clean up the space.

The affected display cabinet remained empty after the incident.
Bishop Michael Curry regaled an audience in Washington with a speech steeped in messages on love almost a week on from his animated sermon at the Royal Wedding.

The break-out star from Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle delivered another rousing sermon to a reported 2,000 people at National City Christian Church before leading a march to Lafayette Square which faces the White House.

The march, organized by the group Reclaiming Jesus that is made up of senior Christian leaders, was in protest to the 'America First' policies spearheaded by President Donald Trump.

Scroll down for video

Bishop Michael Curry (left) sings with worshipers and clergymen near the White House in a vigil titled 'Reclaiming the Integrity of Faith During Political and Moral Crisis'

The presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church stole the show once again on a night that called on Christians think about Donald Trump's 'America First' policies

The reverend delivered another rousing speech filled with messages about love before leading the march from National City Christian Church

Bishop Clarke spoke again at Lafayette Square that sits facing the White House

Bishop Curry, who is presiding reverend of the progressive American Episcopal church, preached with emotional conviction last night:

'Love your neighbor. Love the neighbor you like and the neighbor you don't like. Love the neighbor you agree with and the neighbor you don't agree with.

'Love your Democrat neighbor and your Republican neighbor, your black neighbor and your white neighbor, your Latino neighbor and your LGBT neighbor.

'Love your neighbor! That's why we're here!'

CNN reported Bishop Curry received a standing ovation before he'd even uttered a word.

Bishop Curry at the service ahead of the match Sojourners founding reverend Jim Wallis (right)

The service was followed by a demonstration outside the White House where leaders of the Reclaiming Jesus contingent read out a declaration denouncing Trump's 'America First' agenda.

'We reject 'America First' as a theological heresy for followers of Christ. While we share a patriotic love for our country, we reject xenophobic or ethnic nationalism that places one nation over others as a political goal.

'It is time to be followers of Jesus before anything else  nationality, political party, race, ethnicity, gender, geography  our identity in Christ precedes every other identity.'

The religious leaders also condemn 'the growing attacks on immigrants and refugees, who are being made into cultural and political targets' and 'the practice and pattern of lying that is invading our political and civil life.'

'The normalization of lying presents a profound moral danger to the fabric of society.'

Bishop Curry's appearance comes almost a week after he lit up St George's Chapel in Windsor with an equally impassioned at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

His lengthy preach drew smirks from sections of the Royal family and smiles from the happy couple as Curry delved into the meaning of the power of love.

He now-famously remarked: 'Two young people fell in love, and we showed up.'

The sermon was one of Bishop Curry's more entertaining speeches

Harry and Meghan were visibly delighted with the service
The NHS breast cancer screening scandal that cost up to 270 lives may actually go back to 2005 - four years earlier than first thought, it was revealed today.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt revealed earlier this month that 450,000 women aged 68 to 71 had not been invited to their final routine screening due to a computer error dating back to 2009.

But Professor Peter Sasieni, a cancer screening and prevention researcher at King's College London, believes the problems could have started as early as 2005.

Some 450,000 women have not been invited to crucial mammograms as a result of the IT glitches - and as many as 270 women are feared to have died.

If the scandal actually dates back 13 years instead of nine then 500,000 people may have missed scans and some may have died as a result.

The NHS breast cancer screening scandal that cost up to 270 lives may actually go back to 2005 - four years earlier than first thought, it was revealed today

Patricia Minchin, 75, said she was not offered a screening in 2013 when she turned 70, and is battling breast cancer - one of 450,000 women Jeremy Hunt admitted the NHS forgot because of an IT glitch

In a letter published in medical journal The Lancet, Prof Sasieni said that between 2004 and 2005 - when the programme was extended to the age of 70 - the number of invitations sent to women aged 65 to 70 was 'very low'.

A third of eligible women should have been invited every year - but Prof Sasieni claimed the figures showed it was 31% in 2005-06, rising to almost 35% in 2016-17.

By comparison, between 34 per cent and 38 per cent of people aged 50 to 64 were invited each year.

The difference meant more than 500,000 could have missed out on invitations since 2005, he concluded.

The letter states: 'Data that might have alerted people to the lower-than-expected number of invitations being sent to women aged 70 were publicly available, but no-one looked at them carefully enough.

'Some of the fault lies in the way the data was presented, but it is also unclear whose responsibility it is to monitor such outcomes.'

Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE, told the BBC: 'This is a flawed analysis which fails to take into account some important facts, such as when the breast screening programme was rolled out to all 70-year-olds in England or when a clinical trial was started called Age X.'

He said PHE was focused on supporting those not invited to their final screening.

An independent review has been launched into the computer error, which Mr Hunt said was discovered in January and may have led to up to 270 women having their lives cut short.

Health officials were first warned of errors in the breast cancer screening programme more than a year ago - and failed to act.

In a damning admission, Public Health England, (PHE) conceded that it had been made aware of problems with the screening scheme as far back as March 2017.

Brian Gough's wife Trixie, from Norfolk, pictured together before she fell ill, says he only found out about the scandal today while watching TV

Trixie Gough, pictured in the days before her death in 2015, is among 450,00 women who never got a final cancer scan that may have saved her life after a 'colossal' NHS IT failure

The body was alerted by two health trusts - in London and the Midlands - who reported that letters were not going out to some women aged between 68 and 71.

PHE instructed the private firm running the programme's IT system to look into the matter but they said it was only a 'local issue'. As a result, they decided not to pursue it.

The admission is remarkable because PHE insisted on Wednesday that it only became aware of problems in January. Ministers were not told until March - and the public was only informed in early May.

The fact that PHE were first warned of problems 14 months ago will raise further questions over the competency of body and its chief executive Duncan Selbie.

Grieving relatives asked whether their loved ones would still be here had they been invited to checks.

Lee Towsey, who believes his mother - who died from breast cancer at the age of 70 - is a victim of the scandal, said: 'It's outrageous and it's disgusting.

'Someone has to be held responsible for this error.'

The NHS's breast cancer screening is meant to be offered to all women aged 50 to 70, every three years.

Bereaved relatives as well as women who have undergone life-changing mastectomies are calling for the officials responsible for the error to be held to account.

Widower George Baczkowski, whose wife Ann died from breast cancer after not being invited to checks, said: 'I don't blame anyone for her death but I do want answers and accountability...it was at a time of austerity when cuts were being made to things like the health service.'

The 73-year-old, who lives in Swordeston, near Norwich said he was asking himself: 'Could she still be with us? Could she have had a few years longer?'

Helen Jarvis, 72, who had a mastectomy after missed scans meant her cancer was picked up late said: 'I feel so angry on behalf of so many women.

'In particular those women who went on to have aggressive breast cancer and died. That is appalling.'

'It is down to humans. Somebody needs to fall on their sword.'

The IT supplier embroiled in a row over breast cancer screening row has denied that its software was to blame for failures which may have seen 270 people die early

Brian Gough, whose wife Trixie died in 2015 after not receiving a screening invitation said: 'There has always got to be some blame, these things don't just happen... it is never the computer that goes wrong, it is the person that put the information in or took it out.

'Somebody somewhere along the line has made a massive error - we are talking 450,000 letters that should have gone out.

Charities are now demanding to know why officials did not take action when the alarm was sounded last year.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive Breast Cancer Now said: 'If there were cases coming to light much earlier than January this year, we have to ask the question why wasn't there action taken sooner, so of course the inquiry will have to look at all that and learn the lessons so we can be confident that this kind of thing isn't going to happen again.'

Jeremy Hunt has now launched an inquiry to establish what went wrong and who is accountable, which will report back in six months.

The Health and Social Care Secretary met with PHE's chief executive Duncan Selbie two weeks ago where he expressed his anger over what had happened.

A spokesman from PHE yesterday confirmed that they were first warned of issues with the screening programme by 14 months.

Two health trusts in London and the Midlands expressed concerns that women aged 68 to 71 were not receiving letters.

PHE instructed the private firm responsible for the computer system - Hitachi Consulting - to investigate.

But the firm reported back that it was only a 'local issue' and PHE did not look into the error further.

Concerns were raised again in December 2017 by academics carrying out research into extending the screening programme.

Public Health England realised this was a national problem in January and by March became aware that it had affected hundreds of thousands of women.

They informed ministers in March - when the scale of the situation was apparent - who then waited two more months to tell the public.

Up to 307,000 women who missed screenings in the last nine years are now being offered 'catch up' mammograms to check if they have breast cancer.
Brexiteers voiced anger today after the Commons authorities ruled that Big Ben will not ring out to mark Britain's departure from the EU.

The House commission, chaired by Speaker John Bercow, has made clear the famous bongs will not sound to mark the historic event on March 29 next year.

The decision comes despite a plea from Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom, who had argued that parliament's bell should 'absolutely' peal as a 'celebration' of the historic moment.

Tory MPs told MailOnline it showed the 'Remain element' at parliament were 'in denial' about leaving the EU.

The Great Clock at Westminster has been undergoing a major 60million restoration project

The Great Clock at Westminster has been undergoing a major 60million restoration project.

The familiar bongs are due to be silent on a day-to-day basis for years because of fears they could damage workers' hearing.

However, there have been a wave of protests from MPs who want Big Ben to sound as a symbol of Britain's independence from the EU.

The government has previously stressed that it is for the parliamentary authorities to say whether the bell is sounded.

WHEN WILL BRITAIN BE OUT OF THE EU? Britain triggered Article 50 on March 29, 2017, starting a two year process for leaving the EU: March 2018: Outline transition deal agreed, running for about two years June 2018: EU summit that Brussels says should consider broad principles of a future trade deal. October 2018: Political agreement on the future partnership due to be reached Early 2019: Major votes in Westminster and Brussels to ratify the deal March 29, 2019: Article 50 expires, Britain leaves the EU. Transition is expected to keep everything the same for about two years December 31, 2020: Transition expected to come to an end and the new relationship - if it has been agreed - should kick in Advertisement

But minutes from a Commons commission meeting last week make clear there will be no bongs on March 29. The committee agreed that 'during the Elizabeth Tower refurbishment project, Big Ben should sound for Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day and over the New Year'.

Mrs Leadsom, who is a member of the committee, is understood to have been disappointed at the decision - which came after the Administration Committee considered the issue.

However, she was unable to sway the rest of the committee. It is chaired by Mr Bercow, with whom she has clashed repeatedly over the handling of government business. Other members include Labour's Valerie Vaz and Rosie Winterton, and the SNP's Stuart Hosie.

Senior Tory MP Nigel Evans told MailOnline: 'It is the Remain element within Parliament which has now decided that the UK cannot mark this significant milestone in our history by sounding Big Ben.

'It is hugely disappointing. We know that for a number of them they would prefer to stay in the EU.

'There were commemorations for joining. There should be commemorations for leaving.

'This is people pretending we are not leaving. Well we are.'

Fellow Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said the decision showed the processes at Westminster were flawed.

'It just shows the Commons authorities have no imagination,' he said.

'We will still leave the EU whether Big Ben bongs or not.'

But Eloise Todd, chief executive of anti-Brexit campaign Best for Britain, said: 'First it was stamps, then a bank holiday, then a new Brexit Britainnia, then a plane and now Big Ben's bongs.

'If these MPs actually concentrated on Brexit rather than rubbish like this then maybe we wouldn't be in this car-crash situation.

'For whom the bell tolls might be joyful for a couple of a Brexiteers, the political version of the flat earth society but Brexit, for others, means economic uncertainty and being poorer. That is not something I want to herald with bells.'

A House of Commons spokesman said: 'As previously announced, during refurbishment works Parliament's specialist clock makers will ensure that Big Ben will still strike for important national events such as Remembrance Sunday and New Year's Eve.'

Andrea Leadsom (pictured in the Commons this week) is understood to have been disappointed at the decision

Speaker John Bercow chairs the Commons commission, which signed off the decision on when the bell should sound

During the restoration project the familiar Big Ben bongs are due to be silent on a day-to-day basis for years because of fears they could damage workers' hearing

In March Mrs Leadsom told the Telegraph that the bell should 'absolutely be sounded.

'The actual Brexit day will be a huge celebration as far as I am concerned. If you are going to ask me whether Big Ben's bongs are going to chime, I say 'absolutely in my view'.

'I think it is a cause for celebration.'
A priest has fearlessly fought back against a gang of thieves who slashed his hands when they were attempting to rob his family's fortune-telling store.

The man, 55, and his son suffered stab wounds in the attack when a group of four thieves tried to rob his shop in Bankstown on Thursday shortly before 6.30pm.

The family were shutting up their families palm reading shop when they were confronted by the men, 9News reported.

Police are investigating after a man, 55, (pictured) was stabbed by a gang of four thieves

The thieves approached his son as he was shutting up their fortune telling store

As his son, 17, was closing the shutter door one of the men produced a knife, holding it to his throat and threatened the teenager, demanding cash.

His parents jumped in to protect him from the man and his father was slashed in his hand.

Both of them are being treated in Bankstown hospital and the farther will undergo surgery tomorrow.

His son suffered only minor cuts.

When approached by 9News the owners of the shops surrounding the palm reading store refused to comment on camera for fear of retaliation from the group.

However, they said the group frequently targeted the family because of their faith and their business sin fortune telling.

Both of the men are now being treated at the Bankstown hospital for injuries

'Yes it's scary, especially at night time,' one local said.

The four men, described as being of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance fled, last seen running towards Stewart Lane, Bankstown.

Police are urging anyone with information in relation to this incident to phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A farmer accused of shooting a man in the head after tripping on an eggplant has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Shepparton farmer Angelo Russo, 55, was accused of murdering David Calandro who ran over his dog, but he said the gun accidentally went off after he tripped on an eggplant.

Patrick Tehan QC, for Russo told the court the plea of manslaughter would be based upon 'criminal negligence'.

'It's truly and completely non-intentional manslaughter,' he said.

Victorian farmer Angelo Russo, 55, (pictured) is accused of fatally shooting David Calandro at his property in February 2017

Russo claims the gun accidentally went off after he tripped on an eggplant (pictured)

Justice Michael Croucher accepted the manslaughter plea.

Russo was holding a shotgun and walking towards Mr Calandro's ute when he allegedly tripped on an eggplant and the gun went off, defence barrister Patrick Tehan QC told a Victorian Supreme Court jury on Wednesday.

'The shooting was an accident,' he said.

'As he approached the driver's side, he tripped and fell forward.

'It (the gun) then went off without the trigger having been pressed.'

'There was an eggplant on the ground there and my foot must have rolled on it,' Russo told investigators.

David Calandro (pictured) was allegedly shot dead at a Goulburn Valley farm in 2017. He had his two sons in the car with him at the time

But the prosecution alleged Russo walked up to Mr Calandro on February 18, 2017 and deliberately shot him in the head because Russo was angry about his dog Harry being run over.

Mr Calandro had his two sons in the car at the time.

Russo's defence lawyer said he had the shotgun in hand because he had just put his dog down after it was run over.

Prosecutors allege Russo deliberately Mr Calandro in the head with a gun (pictured) after his dog Harry was run over

The eldest boy, 13, was seated next to Mr Calandro when he was fatally shot.

'It looked like he had splattered blood on his face,' Vince Vigliaturo told the court.

Mr Vigliaturo said he was friends with both Russo and Mr Calandro at the time of the shooting.

He and Mr Calandro had arranged to go to Russo's farm in Tatura to pick up chillies.

As Mr Calandro was driving out of Russo's property, he swerved towards Russo's dog Harry, which was barking and running alongside his ute, to 'spook him'.

'David sort of swerved, and swerved away from the dog quickly,' Mr Vigliaturo said.

'And that's when it was accidentally run over.'

The court heard that David Calandro had arranged to go to Angelo Russo's farm (pictured) to pick up chillies, where he was allegedly shot dead

Mr Vigilaturo said Mr Calandro turned to him and said 'oops'.

'He looked in the mirror and sort of shrugged it off,' Mr Vigliaturo said.

But Mr Vigliaturo could see the dog was injured after looking in the rearview mirror.

About 10 minutes later Russo rang Mr Vigliaturo, who was back at his farm.

'He was very upset. He said 'you f***ing c***, you rang over my dog and you didn't even f***ng stop'.'

Mr Vigliaturo said Russo wanted to know where Mr Calandro was.

'Tell him to come back and look at what he's done to my f***ing dog.'

Prosecutor Nick Papas QC said Russo would plead guilty to manslaughter The Australian reported.

'We can't say that he deliberately discharged the weapon,' the prosecutor said.
Australia Post has opened a new concept store stocking only beauty and baby formula products in a bid to cash in on the growing market of daigou-shoppers who on-sell the products at inflated prices in Asia.

The small shopfront is tucked away in Chatswood, on Sydney's Lower North Shore, with a sign above the door reading: 'Direct mail to China' in Chinese text.

The shop, in a suburb where more than a third of residents are of Chinese descent, said it will not be offering standard post office services or products such as stamps, postcards or stationery.

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Australia Post has opened a new concept store (left) stocking baby formula products in a bid to cash in on daigous-shoppers who on-sell the products at inflated prices in Asia

The shop won't sell standard Australia Post items such as stamps, postcards or stationery, but instead focuses on selling infant formula and vitamins (pictured) of high demand in Asia

'Consumers can come to the shop, buy the products they want to send back to China and send them back using the trusted Australia Post network,' Australia Post's Andrew Parker told 7 News.

The products, made specifically for export, were said to lessen the pressure on retailers as customers 'don't have to go to the local Woolworths or Coles,' Mr Parker said.

Products including sippy cups, pregnancy vitamins, feminine wipes, dish washing liquid and skin care brands stocked the shelves.

A table with flat packed cardboard boxes were in store ready for the 'Daigou' process.

The decision has created controversy after daigou shoppers were filmed storming supermarkets and chemists (pictured) to bulk buy baby formula to resell for profit, leaving mothers in Australia struggling

Australia Post said several shops already offered products and services geared at the growing exports market (Pictured: shoppers preparing to send products in bulk to China)

The products, made specifically for export, were said to lessen the pressure on retailers as customers 'don't have to go to the local Woolworths or Coles,' Mr Parker said (Pictured: customers left one supermarket shelf empty)

Australia Post said several shops already offered products and services geared at the exports market.

The demand for the products forced many supermarkets to set a limit (Pictured: one shopper buying in bulk from a supermarket)

But the decision has created controversy after daigou shoppers were filmed storming supermarkets and chemists to bulk buy baby formula to resell for profit, leaving mothers in Australia struggling.

The demand for baby formula products from China has been so enormous that Aptamil was forced to increase the production of its formula by 50 per cent in just three months.

The demand for the products also forced many major supermarkets to set a limit per customer.

The Chatswood store appears to be capitalising on the trend, giving Chinese consumers in a suburb with a significant Chinese population another avenue with easier access to send it internationally.

The Chatswood store appears to be capitalising on the trend, giving Chinese consumers in a suburb with a significant Chinese population easier access to send it internationally

There are 80,000 daigou - or 'personal shoppers' - in Australia, many making upwards of $100,000 a year. Shoppers can be seen (pictured) outside Chemist Warehouse to buy products to send back to China

There are 80,000 daigou - or 'personal shoppers' - in Australia, many making upwards of $100,000 a year.

'Consumers can come to the shop, buy the products they want to send back to China and send them back using the trusted Australia Post network,' Australia Post's Andrew Parker (pictured) told 7 News

The industry is served by 1,600 gift shops and is worth about $1 billion.

Daigou shoppers resell the products through social media sites such as WeChat and Weibo and through online shopping sites.

Last year the postal service shipped a million packages to China, with an annual growth of about 20 per cent.

Australia Post's 'Small Business Exporting' insights paper spoke of the 'enormous opportunities to be found in traditional and emerging international markets.'

'Australian small businesses should pay particular attention to Asian nations, where a growing middle class is embracing online shopping,' Australia Post's General Manager Segment Development & Marketing for Business and Government, Rebecca Burrows said in a statement last month.

Daigou shoppers (pictured) resell the products through social media sites such as WeChat and Weibo and through online shopping sites
A Jetstar pilot has saved the life of a passenger who suffered a major stroke during a flight from Honolulu to Melbourne.

Maree was travelling home with two friends after the trio had celebrated her 77th birthday abroad.

After ten hours in the air, Maree's friends noticed something strange was happening.

Maree, 77, (right) was travelling on a Jetstar flight when she had a stroke. Captain Peter Clements (right) decided to land the plane at the nearest airport

Her face was droopy and she had become disoriented. The cabin crew came to her aid and quickly realised that she was in serious danger.

After alerting Captain Peter Clements to the serious situation in the cabin, he made the snap decision to land in Sydney, which was nearest airport.

After the emergency landing paramedics rushed Maree to Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Within 90 minutes she had gone from suffering a stroke, 43,000 feet above any hospital, to lying on an operating table where surgeons were removing a life threatening clot.

Diverting a flight is a serious decision but Captain Clements said at that moment there was no question about what he needed to do.

'I knew just from my own experience that time is critical with a stroke victim,' he told 7 News.

Maree's friends (centre) noticed she was in danger when she became disoriented ten hours into the flight

'There's no question it's a big decision to divert a plane because when you've got 330-odd people down the back, and you've just flown 10 and a half hours, it's a big monetary cost to the company  but that's not a consideration.'

Maree has since made a full recovery and this week met with the crew, including Captain Clements and cabin crew member Ann Tamee.

Jetstar's Chief Pilot, Jeremy Schmidt, praised Captain Clements quick thinking.

'Our pilots are highly trained to deal with a range of unplanned scenarios on board, and the safety of our passengers and crew are always the top priority,' he said in a statement to Daily Mail Australia.

The four of them had an emotional reunion this week where Captain Clements was thanked for his quick thinking

'Within minutes of this medical emergency, Captain Clements had made the decision to divert to the closest airport to get immediate medical assistance for Maree.'

'The RPA medical team has praised the quick actions of Captain Clements and the crew on board, saying they were critical in Maree's chances of recovery.'

'Our pilots showed a high level of skill and the ability to adapt quickly under pressure, which is a key part of our training.'

Diverting flights can cost anywhere between $64,000 to $780,000 each time it happens, depending on the situation.

Diverting flights can cost anywhere between $64,000 to $780,000

But a Captains reluctance to land a flight can be fatal.

Last month, a woman died after suffering a massive pulmonary embolism on a American Airlines flight.

Her family are now suing for damages, claiming that the flight crew repeatedly refused to make an emergency landing.

Their law suit claims that a doctor who happened to be on board urged flight crew three times to land the plane.
Four women's rights activists were released yesterday as Saudi Arabia continued to detain a campaigner who once posed with Meghan Markle for a Vanity Fair photoshoot.

Walaa al-Shubbar, said to be in her 20s, is the latest activist to be freed after at least 11 were arrested last week.

Rights groups, including Amnesty International, earlier confirmed the release of Aisha al-Mana, Hessa al-Sheikh and Madeha al-Ajroush - elderly activists who've been campaigning for women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia since 1990.

Activist Loujain Al-Hathloul (far right) is still being detained in Saudi Arabia while four others were released. Pictured: The 28-year-old poses with Meghan Markle for a Vanity Fair shoot

She's among the most outspoken women's rights activists in the kingdom. She was previously detained for more than 70 days after she attempted to live-stream herself driving in 2014

There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials and the terms of their release have not been made public.

Samah Hadid, Amnesty International's Middle East director of campaigns, said: 'We call on Saudi authorities to release all other human rights defenders unconditionally and immediately.

'This wave of repression in Saudi Arabia must end. These arrests are completely unjustified'.

Activist Loujain Al-Hathloul was arrested just weeks before the desert kingdom is due to lift a ban on women driving.

Walaa al-Shubbar, said to be in her 20s, is the latest activist to be freed after at least 11 were arrested last week

The 28-year-old, who posed with Meghan Markle and is also a friend of Amal Clooney, was held last week accused of crimes including 'suspicious contact with foreign parties' and undermining the 'security and stability' of Saudi Arabia.

At 2.30pm on May 15, Hathhoul's house was raided and she was arrested in her bedroom, according to Alqst, a Saudi human rights group based in London.

She was taken to al-Hair prison near the capital, Riyadh, and later transferred for detention in Jeddah.

Aisha al-Mana is one of the latest four activists to be released. She previously took part in the kingdom's first driving protest in 1990, in which 47 women were arrested

Hessah Al-Sheikh has also been freed. She's a professor at King Saud University and volunteers with Saudi-based charities focusing on women and children

In 2016 Al-Hathloul attended a humanitarian summit together with the now Duchess of Sussex, Emma Watson, Cher as well as the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

In one picture Meghan was in a group of four posing by the water's edge alongside al-Hathloul, poet Fatima Bhutto and former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson.

The 'global leaders' all spoke at the One Young World Summit taking place in Ottawa at the time.

Campaigner Madeha al-Ajroush is the fourth woman to be released. She helped initiate a nationwide program in Saudi Arabia to provide support for domestic abuse victims and train police and courts on how to receive and treat such victims

Writing about it at the time, Meghan said: 'One Young World invites young adults from all over the world who are actively working to transform the socio-political landscape by being the greater good.

'They are delegates who are speaking out against human rights violations, environmental crises, gender equality issues, discrimination and injustice. They are the change'.

When Saudi Arabia announced last September that it would be lifting the ban on women driving in June 2018, those who had campaigned for the change were ordered not to make any public comment, even positively.

In March, Al-Hathloul  who has 316,000 Twitter followers  was stopped by police as she drove near her university in Abu Dhabi.

She was ordered from her car and put on a plane back to Saudi Arabia where she spent several days in jail, before being released under orders not to use social media.

Four years earlier she had been jailed for 70 days after she tried to livestream herself driving from neighbouring United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia.

In this photo from 2014, activist Aziza al-Yousef drives a car on a highway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving

Aziza, a retired professor at King Saud University and mother-of-five is still thought to be locked up

She was held as she crossed the border and referred to an anti-terrorism court on charges of criticising the government online.

Hathhoul's campaigns have concentrated on women being allowed to drive and ending Saudi Arabia's restrictive male guardianship system.

Ella Robertson, Managing Director, One Young World, told MailOnline: 'Loujain al-Hathloul is a passionate and tireless campaigner  a young woman who has never been afraid to stand up for what is right.

'We're immensely disappointed that, despite promises of vital reforms in the country, Saudi Arabian authorities appear to have targeted Loujain for her peaceful work and have arrested her alongside numerous others.

'We unequivocally condemn this brutal clampdown on free speech and call for the immediate release of Loujain  who we are proud to call a One Young World Ambassador  along with all of the other women's rights campaigners in custody.'

Meanwhile, authorities late on Thursday arrested Mohammed al-Bajadi, co-founder of the Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), one of the few independent human rights groups in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty said.

'The arrest of Mohammad al-Bajadi means that the Saudi Arabian authorities have continued their crackdown on the human rights community,' Samah Hadid, Amnesty International's Middle East director of campaigns, told AFP.

'This is a worrying development and we call on the government to release all human rights defenders immediately.'

Bajadi was sentenced to 10 year in prison in 2015 by what campaigners called a court focused on terrorism cases, but was subsequently released.

Previously jailed in 2011, he went on a hunger strike for weeks after he was held for attending a protest in Riyadh, according to campaigners.
Tiahleigh Palmer was repeatedly failed by the authorities before she was raped by her foster brother and killed by her foster father, a senior politician has said.

Queensland Opposition Leader Ros Bates, slammed the foster care system on Friday, saying Tiahleigh, who was killed by her foster Rick Thorburn, should never have been placed with two teenage boys.

'It was an inappropriate placement. Why on Earth would you put a prepubescent girl with two teenage boys?' Ms Bates asked on A Current Affair.

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Thorburn, 58, admitted to murdering the 12-year-old (pictured) on the Gold Coast in October 2015 and was sentenced to life in jail

Tiahleigh Palmer's foster father Rick Thorburn (pictured) pleaded guilty to the schoolgirl's murder in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday

Queensland Opposition Leader Ros Bates, slammed the foster care system saying Tiahleigh shouldn't have been placed with two teenage boys

Ms Bates said Tiahleigh running away from home ten times was a 'cry for help' and something should have been done long before her murder.

'Had someone been out there and seen her, that would've given her the opportunity to say she was frightened.'

Tiahleigh foster father Thorburn was on Friday sentenced to life in jail after pleading guilty to the schoolgirl's murder.

He will be eligible for parole in 2036.

Thorburn killed his foster daughter between 8pm and 10pm on October 29, just hours after his son Trent, who was 18 at the time, confessed to having sex with her, telling his parents he feared she was pregnant.

Tiahleigh's badly decomposed body was found by fishermen on the banks of the Pimpama River six days after she went missing while in the Thorburn family's care.

Trent Thorburn (pictured), Rick's 20-year-old son, was released in January after serving 16 months in jail for incest, perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice

Tiahleigh's (pictured) body was dumped in the Pimpama River, and found six days after she went missing while in the care of Thorburn and his family

Trent (pictured), who admitted to having sex with his foster sister, was jailed in September 2017 for a maximum four years after pleading guilty at the Beenleigh District Court to four charges, including incest

THE TIAHLEIGH PALMER MURDER: A TIMELINE 2015 Oct 30: Tiahleigh's foster father Rick Thorburn says he dropped the 12-year-old at Marsden State High School. It was the last time she was seen alive. Nov 5: Three fishermen find a girl's body on the banks of the Pimpama River on the Gold Coast. It's later confirmed to be Tiahleigh. Nov 14: Tiahleigh is remembered as a 'beautifully imperfect' girl at her Gold Coast funeral, where Thorburn was a pall-bearer. 2016 Feb 15: Police offer a $250,000 reward for information to solve the schoolgirl's murder. March 14: Biological mother Cindy Palmer makes a public appeal to help find her daughter's killer. Sept 20: Rick Thorburn is charged with Tiahleigh's murder. Foster mother Julene and their sons Trent and Joshua are also arrested. Trent is charged with incest, perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Julene and Joshua are charged with perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Sept 21: Rick Thorburn fails to face court after a reported overdose. Sept 23: Detectives say the foster family's home is a primary crime scene. 2017 June 28: Rick Thorburn is committed to stand trial for murder. July 27: Josh Thorburn is sentenced to 15 months' jail after admitting to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Sept 14: Trent Thorburn is sentenced to four years' jail after admitting he had sex with Tiahleigh. Nov 3: Julene Thorburn is sentenced to 18 months' jail for perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice, with the sentence suspended after six months. 2018 Jan 19: Trent Thorburn is released on parole after 16 months behind bars. Feb 16: Rick Thorburn seeks a judge-only trial due to publicity surrounding the case. May 25: Rick Thorburn pleads guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to murder, interfering with a corpse, perjury and perverting the course of justice. Source: AAP Advertisement

Her foster father had claimed he dropped her off at Marsden State High School, and he and his family told police everything was normal on the morning she vanished.

Thorburn also pleaded guilty to interfering with Tiahleigh's corpse, attempting to pervert the course of justice and two counts of perjury.

Justice David Boddice called Thorburn's conduct 'appalling' and described the murder and cover-up as 'cold, calculating and callous', ABC News reported.

'You showed no respect for her, even in death - you murdered this defenceless child who relied on you for protection,' he said.

The court heard Tiahleigh was first placed into care in 2010, aged seven, and in January 2015, the Thorburn family became her full-time carers.

Nine months later, Trent told his cousin he had had sex with Tiahleigh and was concerned she was pregnant.

While she was showering, he also told his mother Julene Thorburn about having sex with his foster sister.

She assured Trent it would be sorted out and told Rick Thorburn, who was concerned about the revelation and that it could cause Trent to go to jail.

'We need to think this through, deal with this properly,' he said.

Tiahleigh's death led to reviews of protocols on cases of children who go missing while in out-of-home care

Cindy Palmer, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, is seen leaving the Supreme Court in Brisbane

Between about 8pm and 10 pm on October 29, Rick Thorburn murdered her, the court heard.

The Thorburn family then had a meeting at which Rick said 'it's all taken care of.

He later told the family they had to take care of Trent and crafted a lie for them to try and cover up the murder.

Part of his plan, which was told to the family, was to dispose of Tiahleigh's body, which was found unclothed but for her underpants.

An autopsy was conducted but due to the state of her body a cause of death was never determined, the court heard.

The only noticeable injury was a bruise on her skull.

Part of his plan, which was told to the family, was to dispose of Tiahleigh's body, which was found unclothed but for her underpants (pictured are police divers searching the Pimpama River for evidence)

An autopsy was conducted but due to the state of her body a cause of death was never determined (pictured are police divers searching the Pimpama River for evidence)

During the police investigation, all family members gave the same false version of events, and the detectives were unable to make a breakthrough for seven months.

An anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers triggered the involvement of the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) who held a hearing with the Thorburns.

Listening devices were then installed in the Thorburn home, and Rick was overheard telling the other family members to 'stick to the story'.

'Dad made the decision to go down that path and unfortunately we are going to have to live with it,' Julene Thorburn was heard telling her son Joshua.

'No, but don't you tell anyone ever, no matter what  that's when things will f*** up,' Rick Thorburn replied.

'No I'm not, this cannot go on like this, it's not fair to everyone,' Julene said in response.

The discussions, combined with the motive of keeping Tiahleigh quiet about Trent having sex with her - led to the family's arrest.

The foster father is the last member of his family to be sentenced over the crime.

Thorburn's two sons and wife have also been jailed.

Trent, who admitted to having sex with his foster sister, was jailed in September 2017 for a maximum four years after pleading guilty at the Beenleigh District Court to four charges, including incest.

Cindy Palmer (pictured, centre), the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, speaks to the media outside the Supreme Court

Cindy Palmer (pictured, centre), the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, and her supporters are seen leaving court on Friday

His mother Julene spent six months behind bars after pleading guilty in November 2017 to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The Thorburns' eldest son, Joshua, was sentenced to three months in jail in July 2017 after pleading guilty to same charges as his mother.

Tiahleigh's death led to reviews of protocols on cases of children who go missing while in out-of-home care.

Outside the court, police said the Logan schoolgirl had suffered the ultimate act of betrayal.

'She was put into a foster care situation, with people who were supposed to provide and care for her, and those people have allowed this to happen and been part of it. It is an absolute tragedy and inexcusable,' Regional Crime Coordinator Kerry Johnson told reporters.

'The courts have seen fit to sentence him to life imprisonment. I hope that in his cell he thinks about - everyday - what he has done, the life he cut short.'
He may have turned himself in on serious charges of sexual misconduct, but Harvey Weinstein appeared to be planning to do a spot of reading while in the police station.

The disgraced producer was spotted walking into the Manhattan police station with two books under his arm; Elia Kazan: A Biography, about the influential film and theater director from the late forties through the sixties, and Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution.

He held a third book under his arm, in black leather binding, which could be a journal.

Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at a New York City police department precinct with a pile of books under his arm

One of the books is Elia Kazan: A Biography, about the influential film and theater director from the late forties through the sixties

The other was Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution

The 66-year-old disgraced movie mogul seemed carefree as he was arrested, processed and booked for the alleged sexual assault of two women shortly after 7:30am

Kazan, who was once one of the most celebrated directors in Hollywood, but also had an epic fall from grace during the witch hunt by Sen. Jospeh McCarthys in the 1950s.

The director exposed communists in Hollywood during his 1952 testimony in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

He named eight members of the American Communist Party, but never recovered his reputation.

Kazan was also accused of sexual misconduct by actor turned novelist Carol Drinkwater.

He directed Hollywood classics such as Gentleman's Agreement, Brando's Streetcar, and Splendor in the Grass.

Weinstein has a habit of carrying whatever he happens to be reading under his arm, whether it be a newspaper, book or file so it's not unusual for him to show off his reading list.

The 66-year-old disgraced movie mogul seemed carefree as he was arrested, processed and booked for the alleged sexual assault of two women shortly after 7:30am.

An hour later, he emerged, sans books, handcuffed and flanked by police officers.

Weinstein was still smiling and laughing as he put into a black SUV before being led into criminal court in New York on Friday, where he will be formally charged on multiple counts.

An hour later, he emerged, sans books, handcuffed and flanked by police officers

Weinstein was still smiling and laughing as he put into a black SUV before being led into criminal court

The two books were Elia Kazan: A Biography, about the influential film and theater director from the late forties through the sixties, and Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution

Authorities have not officially released details of the charges, but three sources told NBC News that they stem from allegations made by two women. Weinstein has apologized for his behavior but denied accusations of 'non-consensual sex.'

Other accusers took to social media to celebrate the development.

'Today, Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell,' actress Asia Argento said. 'We, the women, finally have real hope for justice.'
Italian actress Asia Argento says Harvey Weinstein was taking his first steps into his 'inevitable descent to hell' as the disgraced film producer turned himself into police to face multiple rape charges.

Weinstein surrendered to authorities in New York on Friday on multiple rape charges - months after he was toppled from Hollywood's most powerful ranks by scores of women accusing him of sexual assault.

Argento was one of the first women to come forward last year and publicly accuse Weinstein of raping her at the Cannes film festival in 1997 when she was 21 while working on the film B. Monkey.

'Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice,' Argento tweeted as Weinstein turned himself in.

Italian actress Asia Argento, above in April with her boyfriend Anthony Bourdain, said on Friday that Harvey Weinstein was taking his first steps into hell as the disgraced film producer turned himself into police

Argento's chef boyfriend, Anthony Bourdain, was full of praise for the actress for initially going on record about her Weinstein rape allegations.

'When you went on record, @AsiaArgento you were sure this day would never come, that you would be crushed, that you were alone. And yet you did it anyway. #perpwalk,' he tweeted.

Bourdain also tweeted an image of a prison food diary, saying: 'Whats on the menu for #Weinstein'.

Argento repeated her accusations in an emotional speech at the Cannes festival on Saturday in which she condemned Weinstein.

She also took aim at the film industry as she labelled Cannes Weinstein's 'hunting ground'.

'Even tonight, sitting among you, there are those who have still to be held accountable for their conduct against women,' she said.

'You know who you are. But most importantly we know who you are. And we're not going allow you to get away with it any longer.

Weinstein surrendered to authorities in New York on Friday on multiple rape charges

The 66-year-old disgraced movie mogul was arrested Friday for the alleged sexual assault of two women who previously shared their stories with the New Yorker back in October

'I want to make a prediction. Harvey Weinstein will never be welcomed here ever again. He will live in disgrace, shunned by a film community that once embraced him and covered up for his crimes.'

Weinstein has 'unequivocally denied' all allegations of non-consensual sex.

The 66-year-old disgraced movie mogul was arrested, processed and booked for the alleged sexual assault of two women who previously shared their stories with the New Yorker back in October.

One of those women, Lucia Evans, claimed that she was forced to perform oral sex on Weinstein at the then-Miramax offices in Tribeca.

The second woman worked with Weinstein when she claims he forced himself on her in a hotel, and in that story described the 'horror, disbelief, and shame' she felt after the alleged assault.

Evans confirmed the fact that she was one of the woman who helped bring charged against Weinstein in an interview with The New Yorker on Thursday, saying: 'At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind.'
Donald Trump resumed his drum-beat attack Friday on what he has called 'deep state spies' in his administration, claiming that Democrats are splitting hairs in the semantics of determining whether the FBI used a 'spy' or an 'informant' to keep tabs on his presidential campaign.

'The Democrats are now alluding to the the concept that having an Informant placed in an opposing partys campaign is different than having a Spy, as illegal as that may be,' he tweeted.

'But what about an Informant who is paid a fortune and who sets up way earlier than the Russian Hoax?'

The jab is a reference to Stefan Halper, a former Cambridge University professor who made contact with at least three Trump campaign advisors in 2016, seeking to learn how much they knew about Russia's attempts to hack Hillary Clinton's emails and turn the election to Trump's advantage.

President Donald Trump is back to arguing that the Obama administration sent a 'spy' to keep tabs on his campaign advisors

Trump tweeted Friday the suggestion that whether Democrats call Stefan Halper a 'spy' or an 'informant,' he has the right to be angry

Halper, a Cambridge University academic, approached at least three Trump advisers in 2016, probing them to learn what they knew about Russian hacking and election interference

Halper began his outreach to Carter Page, George Papadopoulos and Sam Clovis before the public first became aware of the Obama administration's concern that the Kremlin might be trying to interfere in the election.

That, Trump first suggested a week ago, indicates that federal law enforcement agents sent him purposely to ferret out intelligence  not that his curiosity was a natural outgrowth of news reports.

The president also vented Friday, as he has done since mid-May, that the Obama administration put the Halper plan in motion out of a partisan desire to help Clinton beat him.

And in typically Trumpian style, he plunged a knife into the Democratic Party  and twisted it.

'Can anyone even imagine having Spies placed in a competing campaign, by the people and party in absolute power, for the sole purpose of political advantage and gain?' he asked. 'And to think that the party in question, even with the expenditure of far more money, LOST!'

Trump twisted the knife Friday, seeming to enjoy reminding Hillary Clinton partisans that he beat her despite the Obama Justice Department interfering with his campaign

Trump also quoted author and pundit Mollie Hemingway, who appeared Thursday night on the Fox News Channel's 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' program.

'Everyone knows there was a Spy, and in fact the people who were involved in the Spying are admitting that there was a Spy...Widespread Spying involving multiple people,' the president quoted Hemingway saying.

'But the corrupt Mainstream Media hates this monster story!'

Hemingway fed Trump's narrative about semantics, scoffing at the Justice Department's claim 'that because the government term is "human intelligence informant" or something like that, that therefore it's not a spy.'

She said it's 'a stunning revelation, that this was happening under the previous administration.'

Carlson, though, fired back a jab that Trump didn't repeat on his social media feeds.

Trump quoted author and pundit Mollie Hemingway on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' not mentioning that the host faulted him for allowing his intelligence agencies to keep the 'spygate' story alive

Hemingway said the spying is a 'a stunning revelation, that this was happening under the previous administration'

'These are agencies controlled by the Trump White House,' he said. 'So it's not clear to me at all why we don't know this, and why the committees in the Congress who have oversight over all of this don't know.'

The president has branded the entire episode 'Spygate,' but has been more critical of the Obama administration than his own executive branch agencies that are now in control of it.

Representatives of the FBI and Justice Department and the director of national intelligence briefed members of Congress Thursday in a pair of classified sessions arranged by the White House, but Democrats emerged claiming they had seen nothing that would support Trump's allegations.

Trump's opponents have complained that he is attempting to undermine the year-old investigation into the Russian election meddling that benefited him.

'Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a 'spy' in the Trump campaign, or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols,' the Democrats said in a joint statement.
Russian Instagram star Kira Mayer was detained for five days after exploding with rage when traffic police stopped her in Moscow, according to reports.

Police halted the model's Mercedes on Wednesday which triggered the 24-year-old to 'scratch and kick' officers after being told to stop driving.

Kira is meant to be serving a 15-month driving ban issued last November when she left the scene of an accident.

Kira created a fuss that landed her behind bars when she was told to stop driving her Mercedes in Moscow earlier this week

The model who boasts 143,000 Instagram followers is a frequent visitor to cities like Paris and Dubai

The 24-year-old is facing criminal charges for allegedly 'kicking and scratching' policemen in Russia

News portal Mash said: 'The traffic policemen informed her that she could not drive her car any longer and this was a trigger for Kira.

'She began to shout and tried to grab her documents from road policemen.

'She scratched them, kicked them, swore at them even tried to drive away.'

Kira was banned from driving for 15 months for fleeing the scene of an accident last November

She is being held for fiery behaviour behind the wheel

When she was pulled over by police, she attempted to get away by driving off

Of course, she failed to do so.

Policemen detained Kira, who is now facing criminal charges for lashing out at law enforcement.

The model has 143,000 followers for her often provocative pictures on Instagram and is a frequent visitor to Dubai and Paris.

She stated on her account: 'When I get bored with my happy life, I will marry and suffer like all normal people.'

As well as lashing out at officers, she reportedly tried to steal documents
Mildred Newsome, 47, has been charged with sexual battery and sexual offense after police say she performed sexual acts on a cable repairman

A woman from North Carolina has been charged with sexual battery and sexual offense after police say she forced oral sex on a cable repairman.

Mildred Newsome, 47, from Fayetteville, was taken into custody on May 19 following a month-long investigation into the alleged incident.

The victim, a Spectrum employee in his 30s, told police that he arrived at Newsomes apartment in the 1100 block of Marlborough Road on April 20 to fix her cable service.

According to the cable company employee, as he was sitting on the couch waiting for the customers cable box to reset, Newsome approached him, grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast 'by force for the purpose of 'sexual arousal and sexual gratification,' according to an arrest warrant.

A Spectrum employee in his 30s says Newsome forcibly performed oral sex on him during a service call in late April (stock image)

The victim said 'no' and tried to resist the womans unwanted sexual advances, but Newsome proceeded to perform oral sex on him, Fayetteville police Sgt Shawn Strepay told New York Post.

Before the man gathered his tools and left, Newsome allegedly warned him that if he reported what happened to the police, she would 'turn the story on him and accuse him of being the aggressor.

The man, however, did not heed her warning and went to the police immediately after the encounter.

Newsome, who works at a nursing and rehabilitation center, was released from jail after posting $10,000 bond, reported the Charlotte Observer.

A lot [of people] are under the mindset that a man cannot be sexually assaulted, or he could have done something to stop it. That's not true, Strepay said.
An Amber Alert was issued for 14-month-old Owen Hidalgo-Calderon (pictured) Friday morning, a week after he and his mother were reported missing

Police in western New York are searching for a 14-month-old boy following the discovery of his mother's remains.

On Friday, an Amber Alert was issued for toddler Owen Hidalgo-Calderon, two days after his 18-year-old mother Selena Hidalgo-Calderon's body was found buried in a plastic bag in the woods behind the Sodus apple orchard where she worked and lived.

Her body was badly decomposed and hidden between logs in the earth. The medical examiner is still trying to determine the cause of death.

The Guatemalan mother and her son were last seen at the farm on May 16. Owen was absent at day care the following two days. Hidalgo-Calderon was eventually reported missing on Sunday, May 20, by her mother who hadn't heard from her in three days.

The boy's mother, Guatemalan migrant worker Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, 18 (left), was found dead on Wednesday. Her boyfriend, 25-year-old Ederado Reyes (right), was arrested on Wednesday

Hidalgo-Calderon was buried near the apple orchard where she lived and worked in Sodus, New York. She's pictured above with her baby

Hidalgo-Calderon's live-in boyfriend Everardo Reyes, 25, was taken into custody after a hunter neighbor's trail cameras caught him walking with a shovel into the woods where his girlfriend's body was eventually found.

Sheriff Virts says the victim 'did seek shelter earlier this year for domestic violence issues' but nothing was officially reported to the police.

While he lived with his girlfriend at the farm in Sodus, he was taken into custody at a farm an hour away in York Wednesday night.

Hidalgo-Calderon's body was found buried in the woods behind the apple orchard where she lived and worked Wednesday morning

Investigators are seen at the scene where the teen mom's body was found on Wednesday

Crews continue to search the orchard, now looking for one-year-old Owen's body

He has since admitted to burying his girlfriend's body, but says he didn't kill her. He refused to speak about baby Owen's whereabouts. He is not the child's father.

Reyes, a Mexican immigrant, is being held on charges of tampering with physical evidence, but cops say they could add charges.

Police say they didn't issue an Amber Alert when the mother and son first went missing because the suspect didn't have their own car.

Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts say they don't have high hopes of finding Owen alive. Dozens of people came to the farm Friday morning to look for the baby's body.

'You have a young, 18-year-old mother with a 14-month infant, and it is beyond my realm of reasoning why someone would be killed and a small infant is still missing. I cant explain it. I dont know how rational people can explain it,' Virts said.

Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers' Center of Central New York told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Hidalgo-Calderon was from Guatemala and in the process of being deported. She and the rest of her family were applying for asylum. Her next court date was scheduled for June 5.

Hidalgo-Calderon's mom Estela issued a statement after her daughter's body was found.

'I dont know how rational people can explain it,' Sheriff Barry Virts said at a press conference

'My daughter and my grandson were my life, she was my first born and I feel like a piece of my heart is gone. What has happened to my family is unfair. I want the perpetrator to go to jail forever. I do not want another family to be hurt in this way,' she said.

Calderon said her daughter came to the U.S. in November 2016, and started living with Reyes a year later.

Anyone with information should contact the Wayne County Sheriffs Office at tip@co.wayne.ny.us or call (315) 946-9711.

A GoFundMe has been started to help Hidalgo-Calderon's family pay for her funeral expenses.
A 65-year-old man is facing up to a year in prison after he slapped a waitress on the bottom in a Denny's restaurant in Rome, New York.

Clarence H. Locke Jr. and his wife had just arrived at a booth in the restaurant, when his wife got up to use the restroom.

Waitress Jayme Adair, 23, has described how she had taken a drinks order from Locke, 65, when he leaned out of the booth and smacked her backside.

Victim: Jayme Adair, 23, was harassed by Clarence H. Locke Jr., 65, while working in a Denny's restaurant in Rome, New York

Ms Adair, who has worked at the restaurant for five years, reported it to her manager, who told Locke and his wife to leave.

The shocking incident, which took place around noon on Monday, was caught on CCTV, and police were able to identify and arrest Locke an hour later.

He was charged the same day with forcible touching, a Class A misdemeanor, punishable with up to a year in jail or three years' probation.

Clarence H. Locke's appalling behaviour saw him arrested and charged

Ms Adair, of Rome, New York, said: 'I was in shock. I have never had anything like that happen to me before.

'The customer and his wife came in together. I didn't recognize him by his face but when he walked in he said, "Hello Jayme."

'His wife went to the restroom and I went over and got the couple's drinks.

'As I went over to take his order he reached as far as he could just to reach me and smack my butt pretty hard.

'I froze up. It was degrading and embarrassing, and completely out of the blue.

'I got super upset about it. I just told my manager to get him out and get him away from me, then the cops came and got him arrested.

'So many women go through this and it is not fair. I did nothing wrong and I did not deserve that.'

Attack: CCTV shows Locke, 65, leaning out of the booth and smacking Adair, 23, on the bottom

Arrested: As the incident was caught on tape, it took police less than two hours to track down and arrest Locke, who was charge on the same day

Ms Adair, who is dating 25-year-old artist Joseph Wright added: 'It bothered me because I have been in a relationship since I was in high school and I have never had a guy do something like that to me.

'One of my co-workers said, I'm so happy you are sticking up for yourself because the same thing has happened to me a few times.

#MeToo: Ms Adair, pictured with her partner, has been praised for reporting Locke

'I have had comments before but they were not vulgar like that.

'I want to make sure he is actually punished because it is not something minor to me - it bothers me.'

Detective Jeffrey Lanigan of Rome Police Department said: 'The subject was at the Denny's restaurant - he is a regular there.

'The waitress went over to take his drinks order and she turned around to walk away and he reached out and slapped her on the butt.

'We identified the subject using video surveillance and took him to custody..'

Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara told local channel WKTV: 'Working women are sick and tired of being subjected to this kind of abuse.

'Why someone would think that the could touch these people like that defies logic.'

Denny's has been approached for a comment.
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Seventh grade science teacher Jason Seaman, 30, (pictured) tackled the gunman and was shot. He is in hospital

New details have emerged about how a heroic science teacher wrestled a student gunman to the ground and was shot three times after the youngster returned to his classroom from a bathroom break wielding two handguns.

Jason Seaman, 30, was shot three times as he brought the gunman to the ground in his classroom at Noblesville West Middle School on Friday shortly after 9am.

A 13-year-old girl was also shot and was taken to hospital in a critical condition afterwards.

The shooter was arrested shortly afterward Seaman tackled him and he remains in police custody.

The teacher's family have since revealed that he has undergone surgery and is doing 'well'.

The teenage girl's condition is not known and she has not been identified.

As shots rang out in the school, terrified students hid in closets and sent petrified emails to their parents telling them that they loved them.

Once the suspect was brought into custody, the children were evacuated onto school buses to be taken to the Noblesville West High School where they will be reunited with parents.

There are 1300 students in the school, according to local media, and around 70 teachers. A school resource officer was there but it is not clear where he or she was stationed.

Police will not reveal the shooter's identity nor will they say how they think the gunman got the guns into the school.

It remains unclear who the weapons belonged to and how the student got his hands on him. If he is a seventh grader, he is between 12 or 13.

No charges have yet been filed and police say it could be as late as Tuesday that he may appear in a juvenile court because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.

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Children are pictured being evacuated from Noblesville West Middle School on Friday after a shooter opened fire, critically injuring a teenage girl and a teacher who tackled the student to the ground

Teaching assistant Paige Rose is pictured crying outside the middle school as she talks on the phone

Substitute teacher Joanie Lynne consoles Rose as they stand outside the middle school on Friday

Parents comfort one another as they wait outside Noblesville West Middle School after a shooting on Friday morning

One student told The Indy Star that she watched the teacher intervene to save the children's lives after the student pulled out his gun and started firing.

This science teacher bravely swatted the gun away from the gunman's hands, saving everyone else in that room 7th grader who witnessed the shooting

'She kept saying, "I saw my teacher get shot," Jeremy Lovall, the girl's father said.

Kristi Seaman, the wounded teacher's mother, took to Facebook on Friday afternoon to update concerned family members and friends.

'Jason is out of surgery and is doing well. 3 shots - 1 through the abdomen, 1 in the hip & 1 in the forearm.

'PLEASE pray for the student that was also shot,' she said.

His brother Jeremy said he was not surprised to learn that it was him who was involved.

Seaman, 30, is also the high school's football coach. He was the defensive end for Southern Illinois between 2007 and 2010 (pictured with his parents)

A guardian hugs a student after collecting them from Noblesville West Middle School on Friday afternoon

Parents picked up their children as soon as they could after the news emerged. Others, from different schools, also went to collect theirs

'Its not surprising, to be honest. Hes not really ever been the person to run away. When the safety of the kids is at hand, its not surprising to me that he was going to do what he had to do,' he told The Indy Star.

He said that his brother was 'talking' when he was en route to the hospital and that he had spoken to his wife. Seaman is a father-of-two who has been at the school for four years.

He was previously the defensive end for Southern Illinois.

Parents flocked first to the middle school and then to the high school after being told either by their kids or through local media about the shooting.

One student told Fox59's Dan Spehler that they were in the room when the shooter burst in.

'She confirmed what I heard from another person who lives nearby that this was in a science classroom and that a science teacher may have been the one to literally tackle this kid and swat the gun away from him.

'That is a firsthand account She described him as a student, and that he shot at someone in the room, and one student was injured.

'And that this science teacher bravely swatted that gun away from the gunmans hands, saving everyone else in that room,' he said.

There were emotional scenes later in the afternoon as the surviving students were reunited with parents at the local high school

A child reacts after the middle school on Friday as armed police officers descended on the school

A man carries an injured student on his back while a friend brings her crutches along as students are evacuated from the middle school. The girl is not thought to have been injured in the shooting

Children are pictured being bussed away from Noblesville West Middle School after the shooting on Friday morning

A student watches from the bus window on his way to the high school where middle schoolers were reunited with their parents

A student gives a statement to a Noblesville Police officer with a guardian standing by him protectively

Parents and relatives wait outside the school after the shooting on Friday to be reunited with their children

There was an enormous, multi-agency response to the shooting which comes just a week after 10 were killed in a massacre at a Texas high school

Armed police from the sheriff's office work at the scene of Noblesville West Middle School on Friday after a gunman opened fire

Noblesville West Middle School was evacuated after the shooter was brought down. The school takes in 1300 students and there are 70 staff members

Armed police are seen patrolling the school on Friday afternoon after the suspect was taken into custody

An Indiana State Police helicopter leaves the school with the superintendent on board

In other classrooms, students hid in closets after hearing the gunman's shots ringing out in the hallways.

The school is in Noblesville, around 27 miles northeast of Indianapolis

One sent an email to their parents which read: 'There was a shooter in the building, luckily we were in one of the safest closets in the school, I hope that everyone is alright, Im still shaking, girls are crying, the officers are here and holding the shooter in custody, this has to be a dream, I dont have my phone, but pick me up in the high school.

'I love you guys.'

Another student told local network RTV6 that they armed themselves with 'rakes' and were prepared to fight the shooter if they came into the classroom.

'We all had weapons like rake tools and shovels, because we were in the science room.

'We were ready to defend ourselves,' he said.

Other kids ran out of the building and into a nearby field where they called their parents and asked them to collect them.

Heartbreakingly, one student who survived said afterwards that she had a 'gut feeling' a shooter would open fire at their school 'eventually'.

'I was really nervous for my best friend and my family. I wasn't really surprised because after everything that had gone down I had a feeling it would happen eventually.

'It was a gut feeling and as soon as we got the code yellow, I knew that that was what's going on,' the student, who was not named, told The Indy Star.

Empty school buses are pictured driving away from the middle school after the shooting once all the kids had been evacuated

video courtesy of WPCE

There was a large police presence at the middle school after the shooting

Vice President Mike Pence tweeted about the shooting to say his thoughts and prayers were with those injured

One woman who has a business nearby and whose nieces and nephews attend the school told WTHR-TV: 'They called and said,"We're running away from the school, we're hiding in a field, we're so scared, can you come get us?"

'They're sixth graders. I don't know how they'll go back to school.'

Traumatized parents rushed to the high school to wait for their children to be released to them.

One said she used an app to track her son there and that was the way she knew he was safe.

In an afternoon press conference, an Indiana State Police Lieutenant said: 'Here we go again. It's just really, really unfortunate. It is another sad day. Another cotton pickin sad day and it just now happens to be in Indiana.'

Bruce Barnes of the Noblesville Police Department added: 'It's difficult to find the right words to talk about these sorts of incidents when they occur.

'You never think they're going to happen in your hometown, to your own families.'

Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt said at an 11am press conference that the shooter was in custody

The school underwent training for an active shooter scenario at the end of March.

It comes exactly a week after 10 people were killed and another 10 were injured in a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas by remorseless teenage gunman Dimitrios Pagourtzis

Governor Eric Holcomb said in a statement: 'Speaker Bosma, Pro Tem Long and I are monitoring the situation at Noblesville West Middle School from the air on our return trip to Indianapolis from Europe.

'Approximately 100 state police officers have been made available to work with local responders and will offer all assistance needed.

'Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation.'

Vice President Mike Pence tweeted about the incident to say his thoughts and prayers remained with the injured parties.

'Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana.

'To everyone in the Noblesville community  you are on our hearts and in our prayers.

'Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.'
Kenya's film commission is up in arms over a Kenya-made film about lesbian love that has been slapped with a domestic ban.

The commission's head Chris Foot labelled the decision to prevent 'Rafiki' being screened in the east African country, where homosexuality is illegal, as 'ridiculous'.

Just weeks ago the movie received a standing ovation at the prestigious Cannes film festival.

Kenyan actresses Sheila Munyiva (left) and Samantha Mugatsia (right) who star in film 'Rafiki'

'This is about freedom of expression,' said Foot, who is tasked with tasked with promoting films made in Kenya.

'The constitution is very clear about freedom of expression.'

He pointed out that films depicting murder, theft and other crimes have not been banned in Kenya and that the film's cast are acting.

Kenya's film promotions commission said the decision to ban 'Rafiki' was 'ridiculous'

Director Wanuri Kahiu received praise when the film premiered at Cannes film festival

Homosexuality is punishable by up to 14 years jail time in Kenya

He said it was therefore 'ridiculous' to ban the film on the basis that it shows 'illegal or immoral' things.

'This is a film that we will continue to support,' Foot added.

Foot is at loggerheads with his counterpart, head of the classification board Ezekiel Mutua, who initially offered support of the film:

'It is a story about the realities of our time and the challenges that our kids are facing especially with their sexuality.'

The board's decision to ban the film represents a reversal in feeling toward 'Rafiki' which has divided both Kenyans and their government.

The film is based on an award-winning short story and tells the tale of two young women who fall in love.

Homosexuality is considered immoral by many in Kenya where it is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

When 'Rafiki'  meaning 'friend' in Swahili  premiered at Cannes, it became the first Kenyan film to be shown at the festival and drew widespread praise for its director Wanuri Kahiu.
Melania Trump is 'doing great' after her kidney surgery, President Donald Trump said Friday, as the first lady still has not been seen in public since her procedure.

'She's doing great. Right there. She's doing great,' he said on the White House lawn Friday morning before he left to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

'She's looking at us, right there,' he added and pointed to a window in the White House residence above him.

Melania Trump has not been seen in public since her kidney surgery last week. Here she is pictured at her Be Best program announcement the week before her procedure.

The first lady's last public appearance was on May 10 when she accompanied the president to Joint Base Andrews to greet three North Korean detainees on the tarmac after they were released the evening before.

She also appeared with President Trump at an event honoring military spouses ahead of Mother's Day weekend the week before her surgery.

The first lady was not visible to reporters on the ground.

She underwent an embolization procedure last Monday, likely to remove a cyst from her kidney. Her office said it was benign, or non-cancerous.

Melania Trump spent a week in the hospital recovering, returning to the White House on Saturday.

After she got home, her office said she was in 'high spirits.'

The president visited her three times at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where she had the surgery.

Her last public appearance was on May 10 when she accompanied the president to Joint Base Andrews to greet three North Korean detainees on the tarmac after they were released the evening before.

The day before she and the president celebrated military mothers at the White House ahead of Mother's Day weekend.

And she had announced her Be Best campaign against social media bullying two days before that.

While she hasn't been visible in public, she has been a presence on social media.

Her twitter account had a post two days after her surgery thanking her doctors and her Instagram account paid tribute to Medal of Honor winner Britt Slabinski on Thursday.

She also tweeted about the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, last Friday, writing: 'My heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.'

It's unknown if the first lady, who is an active presence on social media, wrote those posts or if they were written by staff.

Under a kidney procedure such as the first lady's, doctors block a flood vessel in order to stop blood flow to a specific area and stop a patient from bleeding.

After she returned to the White House, she thanked people for their good wishes.

'Our office has received thousands of calls and emails wishing Mrs. Trump well, and we thank everyone who has taken the time to reach out,' the White House said in a statement on Saturday.

Melania Trump is not the first first lady to undergo surgery while living in the White House. Laura Bush, Nancy Reagan and Rosalyn Carter all underwent procedures during their tenure.

While Melania Trump hasn't been visible in public, she has been active on social media.

Melania Trump is not the first first lady to undergo surgery while living in the White House.

Laura Bush underwent neck surgery in 2007. She also had skin cancer removed from her shin in 2006.

Nancy Reagan had breast cancer surgery in 1987 and Rosalyn Carter had a procedure to remove a nonmalignant lump from her breast in 1977.

The president was subject to some social media rubbing after her return to the White House when he misspelled her name as 'Melanie' in a tweet welcoming her home.

'Great to have our incredible First Lady back home in the White House. Melanie is feeling and doing really well. Thank you all for your prayers and best wishes!' Trump wrote, before the tweet was swiftly deleted and replaced with a correct version.
A pair of crafty garbage collectors were arrested Friday morning in central Paris after stealing a garbage truck with plans to empty the load at the headquarters of President Emmanuel Macron's party.

Officers intercepted the truck, which was fitted with GPS tracking, that had been taken from a depot in the northern 18th Arrondissement.

At least a dozen officers with guns drawn surrounded the truck and warned bystanders to stand back as they secured the area.

Police in bulletproof vests arrived to prevent the garbage men's planned protest

The area was secured and the men, both union workers, both arrested

A bomb disposal unit cleared the stolen vehicle of explosives

The situation was diffused after the men were held and an explosives-removal team were called in.

Security forces have been on high alert following a string of jihadist attacks since 2015, most recently a knife rampage in the same area of Paris on May 12.

At the same time on Friday, more than 100 union activists occupied Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) premises near the main Paris opera house.

The protest took place in response to the government's plans to overhaul French public services.

Baptiste Talbot, a union rep, told AFP they had cut off water and electricity to the building before leaving.

Public-sector workers have staged a series of strikes and demonstrations against the reform plan, which plans to cut of 120,000 state jobs out of 5.6 million in total by the end of Macron's term in 2022.

Today's protests come as workers at the national rail operator SNCF are also contesting reforms which would deny job-for-life and early retirement guarantees to new hires.
Two British holidaymakers have been arrested over the suspected rape of a woman at their Costa del Sol hotel.

The pair have been taken to a police station in Marbella to be questioned and the woman, who is also British, has gone to hospital in Malaga for a medical examination.

Police were alerted early this morning after the woman, an expat who works in the upmarket resort of Puerto Banus, said she had been raped at a four-star hotel in the holiday resort by two men.

The alleged rape took place in the upmarket resort of Puerto Banus, on the Costa Del Sol (file picture)

Police were alerted after the woman said she was raped in her hotel

She is thought to have agreed to go back to the unnamed hotel with the two Brits after partying with them during a night out with a larger group of holidaymakers.

Sources said it appeared the rape suspects may have been high on laughing gas.

The woman will be checked in hospital for any signs of internal and external injuries and undergo standard tests to see if any date-rape-type drugs are in her system.

A spokesman for Spain's National Police in Malaga confirmed: 'We received a call about an alleged sexual assault this morning.

'Two men have been arrested. They are both from the UK. A woman is receiving medical attention.

'I cannot say anymore at this stage because the investigation remains open.'
On the day her ex-husband Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to the police in New York and charged with rape, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapmans driver was arrested for a paparazzi scuffle after picking her up.

Chapman recently broke her silence about the Weinstein allegations in a Vogue interview, saying she was terribly naive about the disgraced Hollywood producer.

The designer revealed she lost 10lbs in five days when the The New York Times and New Yorker exposes were published in October.

'I lost ten pounds in five days. I couldn't keep food down,' she said.

Georgina Chapman was married to disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein for nearly ten years

After the stories broke, which featured accusations from actresses including Ashley Judd and Asia Argento, Chapman announced that she was leaving Weinstein.

In January 2018, it was reported that she and the producer have reached a divorce settlement that would see her get up to $20 million as well keep custody of their children.

Here is all you need to know about Harvey Weinsteins ex-wife Georgina Chapman including her fashion label Marchesa and relationship with the disgraced movie mogul.

Who is Georgina Chapman?

Georgina Rose Chapman was born on April 14, 1976 in Richmond, London. Her father founded Percol and her mother worked for Readers Digest. Her younger brother Edward is currently the CEO of Marchesa.

Chapman was born with a hip-defect and had dyslexia that was undiagnosed until the age of eight.

I remember going to the library and everyone else could read and I couldnt. I had terrible anxiety. In class when they would go around and everyone had to read . . . it was just torture, Chapman said in her Vogue interview.

In her teens, Chapman modelled to pay the bills and harboured ambitions of becoming an actress.

When she was 18, she took a train to Hull to visit a drama-studies college department.

The train broke down but led to Chapman meeting a life-long friend in the then unknown young actor, David Oyelewo. Chapman stayed with Oyelewo and his family after the scandal broke.

Chapman met Keren Craig when they were both 17, at the Chelsea College of Art and Design and in 2004 started their own label called Marchesa.

Around the same time Chapman started dating Harvey Weinstein. For the 2004 premiere of the Miramax [Harvey Weinsteins old company] film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Renee Zellweger wore a Marchesa outfit.

Sandra Bullock wore a Marchesa dress when when she accepted the Oscar for Best Actress at the 2010 Academy Awards. Chapman also serves as one of the judges on Project Runway: All Stars.

Chapman and Weinstein were married in December, 2007 and had the likes of Jennifer Lopez in attendance.

Georgina Chapmans children with Harvey Weinstein

Georgina Chapman has two children with Harvey Weinstein, a daughter India, and son Dashiell, respectively.

What has Georgina Chapman said about Harvey Weinstein scandal?

At the beginning of May 2018, Chapman did an interview with Vogue in which she denied ever suspecting her husband. 'Absolutely not. Never, she said.

'There was a part of me that was terribly naive - clearly, so naive,' Chapman said. 'I have moments of rage, I have moments of confusion, I have moments of disbelief!'

Chapman revealed that she would cry when thinking about her childrens future.

'I have moments when I just cry for my children. What are their lives going to be? What are people going to say to them?' she said, tearing up.

'It's like, they love their dad. They love him. I just can't bear it for them!'

Chapman also explained her state of being at the time the stories came out.

'My head was spinning. And it was difficult because the first article was about a time long before I'd ever met him, so there was a minute where I couldn't make an informed decision.

And then the stories expanded and I realized that this wasn't an isolated incident. And I knew that I needed to step away and take the kids out of here.'
The mother of failure-to-launch millennial Michael Rotondo's 8-year-old son fears the decision to kick his father out of his parents' home will send him off the rails, she told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

Rotondo's mental condition could deteriorate when he has to fend for himself, she predicted.

'He was kind of safe with his parents but a lot has changed for him and this will be another big change. I don't think he will be able to cope with it,' the 33-year-old mom said.

The woman, who works in the beauty business, agreed to speak exclusively to DailyMail.com on condition we did not reveal her name or show any pictures of her.

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The mother of failure-to-launch millennial Michael Rotondo's eight-year-old son fears that the 30-year-old's mental health will deteriorate if he's kicked out of his parents' home in Camillus, New York. Pictured above, Rotondo outside his parents' home

Rotondo's case has gained worldwide attention since his parents Mark and Christina Rotondo took him to court this week to have him evicted from their four-bedroom house

'I am scared,' she said during the late-night interview.

'He's not going to be able to live by himself,' the mother of his son said. 'His parents are throwing him out there basically saying they don't care if he is a danger to himself.'

'Nobody here knows that Michael is the father of my son,' she added.

Rotondo's case has gained worldwide attention since his parents Mark and Christina Rotondo took him to court this week to have him evicted from their four-bedroom house in Camillus, New York, a quiet commuter town just west of Syracuse.

Both the woman and her lawyer said that despite Rotondo's claim that he is barred from seeing his son, he has the right to supervised visits with a medical professional.

The mugshot from Rotondos 2009 arrest, when he was charged with stalking a woman in New Hartford, New York

'But he has chosen not to exercise that right,' claims the attorney, Dana Grillo. 'Despite what he says, he has not attempted to see his son for eight months.'

Both the attorney and the mom said details of Rotondo's mental health were revealed during protracted court battles over their son.

'I only found out then; it was always kept from me,' the mother said.

Rotondo, 30, admitted to DaiyMail.com that he has had mental health problems in the past.

He claimed that those problems have been dragged up now as a way to prevent him from seeing his son, claiming that he is being victimized for his habits of running his hands through his hair and pacing up and down.

'Anyone with long hair would tell you that is the way to get the knots out,' he said of the first point. 'And I pace - yes, I pace.'

The court papers are confidential, as are all issues before New York State's Family Court system.

The mother said she is even more worried now because Rotondo has weapons.

He admitted to Syracuse.com that he owns both a compound bow for hunting and a lever action 30.30 rifle which he keeps for protection.

Rotondo lost custody of his son, pictured above, last year and said he is fighting to regain custody

But Rotondo said that he cannot get a job because he needs to focus his entire energy on getting his son (pictured) back

'Any responsible American should own a firearm,' he said.

DailyMail.com has learned that Rotondo was arrested in 2009 for stalking and menacing a woman in New Hartford, New York. He ended up pleading guilty to lesser charges of trespass and harassment and was fined a total of $1,375. At the time he gave an address in Syracuse.

The mother of his son said she had pleaded with police to take the rifle from him, but they have told her there is no cause.

'How do people know someone is mentally ill until they do something?' she asked. 'By then it will be too late.

'Of course I want them to take his rifle from him, but why can they? How do people know he has a mental health issue if it is kept confidential?'

Both Rotondo and the child's mother say they never had a relationship.

'It would be wrong to call me an ex-girlfriend,' she said. She refused to give any details of the events leading up to the boy's conception.

In an interview with DailyMail.com on the driveway of the family home, Rotondo said his problems with his parents really began when he lost contact with his son. The last time he saw him was September 26 last year, both sides agree.

'It's very hard to describe what that's like. I saw him three days a week and in the summer time it would be all day, 11-8.30,' he said. 'He was my whole world. My life was characterized by the days I saw him.'

He said he cannot get a job because he needs to focus his entire energy on getting his son back.

Michael says his troubles with his parents are connected to the custody battle over his son

The Rotondos say their son has been living with them for the past eight years, without paying rent or contributing in any way

He represented himself in the eviction case as he has done in child custody matters and in a federal 2015 suit against his former employer, Best Buy, who he sued for $330,000.

He claimed the electronics retailer discriminated against him because of his sex.

The company had wanted him to work on Saturdays but he refused, saying he needed to see his son on that day.

He said a woman with similar childcare issues was allowed to take off her day of choice. He lost the case.

The mother of Rotondo's son said she believes the decision to oust him from the family home was taken by his father, Mark, 60.

'The mother would never have done this to her child,' she said

But she said Christina Rotondo, 61, was also frustrated with her son.

'She once said to me: "How do you think I feel that we are going to have him live with us for the rest of our lives?"' she said.

The woman said she no longer has a relationship with either parent.

She said the past two years of her life have been a nightmare as Rotondo has constantly dragged her into court over matters concerning their son.

'Every little parenting decision I make that he disagrees with, he just goes to the court,' said the mother. 'He has tormented me - absolutely tormented me - with the number of filings and court appearances and his insistence on representing himself.'

The couple have written five letters to their son over the past three months, informing him that he must leave the home

The couple are now trying to get their son kicked out of their home through an ejectment proceeding

In his letter, written on February 18, the couple offered some advice to their son to help him find a new place to live

But both she and attorney Grillo said the judges in the case have made matters worse.

'They have enabled his behavior by allowing him to come back time after time after time,' said the mom.

'When he doesn't show they just give him another court date. I think the child support judge thinks it's fun, the custody judge isn't quite so bad.'

She said the court cases have cost her thousands of dollars in lost earnings and attorney's fees.

'He has a free lawyer, I don't,' she said.

Grillo said that Rotondo was originally ordered to pay just $25-a-month in child support, but that was increased to $56-a-week last year.

'He has paid some little amounts here and there, but nothing like $56 a week,' claims the mother.

Rotondo's parents took him to Supreme Court in Syracuse this week, and succeeded in getting Judge Donald Greenwood to allow them to evict him, saying he needed to get out and find work.

The couple want him to get a job and health insurance. They even offered to pay for the insurance, but he said he had to refuse because it would deny him the ability to file court motions as a poor person without paying court fees.

Michael Rotondo believes his mother and father are being unreasonable.

'I would say it is not a significant burden on my parents because they never really gave me money,' he told DailyMail.com. 'It was just food and housing.

'But they weren't paying for anything else - except for electricity and hot water and things like that.

'I wouldn't describe it as burdensome that they have to provide hot water and electricity and food because their son is trying to be the father to his child.

'My mother even wanted me to pay her for my cellular service. I refused to do that.'

The senior Rotondos have resisted all attempts to be interviewed by the media.

When DailyMail.com called their home the person that answered put the phone down.

Their attorney, Anthony Adorante, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Rotondo's parents took him to Supreme Court in Syracuse this week, and succeeded in getting Judge Donald Greenwood to allow them to evict him, saying he needed to get out and find work. The couple want him to get a job and health insurance

Their only other child, Michael's younger sister Maria Britton, 27, also declined to comment.

'This is something that should be a private family matter,' she told DailyMail.com at the single-story home she shares with her husband in Syracuse.

The parents wrote five typed notes to their son, starting on February 2, telling him he had to leave.

In the first they told him: 'You have 14 days to vacate. You will not be allowed to return. We will take whatever actions are necessary to enforce this decision.'

Eleven days later they sent him a second saying: 'You are hereby evicted You have heretofore been out guest and there is no lease or agreement that gives you any right to stay here without our consent.'

This time they gave him 30 days to get out.

Five days later they send a third note along with $1,100 'so you can find a place to stay', and gave him advice on how he should make money by selling off his possessions - including 'any weapons you may have' - and getting a job.

On March 5, they said they would have to throw out his property if he did not remove it within 11 days.

Rotondo believes his mother and father are being unreasonable, saying he hasn't been a 'significant burden' on his parents while living at home

The final note, dated March 30, ordered him to get his Volkswagen Passat out of their driveway.

But now, nearly two months later he and his car are still there.

Michael told DailyMail.com he and his parents are like people who don't speak the same language.

'We just kind of stand in places. But I have got to do what I've got to do,' he said.

He said they are on different schedules so they rarely bump into each other inside the house.

'I get up later, my mother gets up earlier, my father gets up much earlier. The only real conflict is that dinner time for them is like 4-6 so I go down before and eat something and afterwards I will prepare my dinner,' he said.

He said he is not trying to sway public opinion by his constant media interviews.

'People will think what they will think,' Michael said. 'I am not going to try to convince them or plead my case to them as if that matters. I am just trying to explain to people what is going on.

'If people think I am an entitled millennial then that's fine. Or they may think I have some significant merits to what I am trying to get - and that is just reasonable treatment.'
A new work space option has debuted in New York's LaGuardia airport, offering a different kind of privacy than traditional business lounges.

The company behind the design is called Jabbrrboxes, and has created a pod-like structure that can be reserved in 15-minute increments for whatever discreet purpose one might need.

'The idea [is] an on-demand, reservable eco-system of private spaces,' co-founder Jeremy Jennings told CNN Travel.

The booths include WiFi, USB charging, adjustable lighting, flight trackers and audio speakers.

New company Jabbrrboxes has brought booths with WiFi, USB charging, adjustable lighting, flight trackers and audio speakers to LaGuardia airport in New York; Co-founders Brian Hackathorn (center), Jeremy Jennings (right) and CTO Andrew Southern (left) are seen here

The concept was born when co-founder Brian Hackathorn found himself in the middle of Manhattan and in need of making a confidential business call, with no quiet place to conduct it.

'Technology is related to mobility and there's really no great place to find privacy in technology,' Jennings said.

Hackathorn felt like the usual option of a coffee shop wouldn't work because it was too loud, and he couldn't speak freely about sensitive issues, and wished he had a better option.

The concept was born when co-founder Brian Hackathorn found himself in the middle of Manhattan and in need of making a confidential business call, with no quiet place to conduct it

For anyone thinking they might feel too confined the amount of space provided, the founders specifically said they incorporate extra space so users would be comfortable

The idea for a space where you could access technology in a more isolated environment naturally seemed to lend itself to air travel.

'We started looking at the airport demographic, as one of the largest places of our captured audience, a mobile worker, a professional traveler that's always on the go,' Hackathorn said.

The booths have been touted as 'a great enhancement to the travel experience' by Mitch Nadler, the director of commercial development and operations for LaGuardia Gateway Partners.

'They're very popular, we see it as we walk through the terminal, we see the usage, we see people stopping in their tracks in amazement that there's this opportunity and option for them out by the gates,' Nadler said.

One might think lounges already had the issue of the need for privacy during air travel covered, but apparently not, since the highest use of Jabbrrboxes at LaGuardia has been just outside the terminal's business lounges.

A traveler is shown here walking past a Jabbrrbox in New York's LaGuardia airport

'[Lounges are] a great place for certain amenities, but you still can't find true privacy, a place to do focused work. So I think we're a great extension,' Hackathorn added.

'[Users] can go out of the lounge, use a Jabbrrbox, and then go back into the lounge for their free cocktail and a place to sit. So I think it's truly an adjacency.'

At the moment, Jabbrrboxes can be accessed for $10 for 15 minutes, $15 for 30 minutes and $30 for an hour.

For anyone thinking they might feel too confined the amount of space provided, the founders specifically said they incorporate extra space so users would be comfortable.

The window design may help with that feeling, too, although it does decrease the level of privacy. To work around that, the entrepreneurs are developing screens to shield users from other passing by.

At LaGuardia, the work spaces are only available in Terminal B for now, which serves Air Canada, Southwest, United and American Airlines.

Jabbrrboxes are also being tested outside of airports, in cities around the world.

According to the company's website, the self-contained workplaces are being piloted in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and Washington, DC.

International test sites include London, Seoul, Hong Kong and Sydney.
Prince Andrew's legal team are 'not surprised' that Scotland Yard has abandoned its review of sex abuse allegations surrounding him and Jeffrey Epstein, a source close to him told MailOnline today. The 61-year-old Duke of York, who lives at Royal Lodge in Windsor, was photographed behind the wheel of his Range Rover this morning as he broke cover following the latest dramatic development in the case last night. The force has decided to take no further action over accuser Virginia Roberts's allegation that she was trafficked to London as a 17-year-old and forced to have sex with Andrew, after its officers reportedly spoke with her. It will also take no further action over claims that financier Epstein groomed and abused other young women in Britain. And a source close to the Duke told MailOnline today: 'It comes as no surprise that the Met Police have confirmed that, having reviewed the sex assault claims against The Duke for a third time, they are taking no further action. Despite pressure from the media and claims of new evidence, the Met have concluded that the claims are not sufficient to warrant any further investigation. The Duke has always vigorously maintained his innocence and continues to do so.'
Hundreds of foreign-born ISIS jihadis being held in Syria remain a threat to the West, a British military commander warned today.

Major General Felix Gedney, deputy commander of the coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq, warned the group is still capable of launching terror attacks in Europe despite being on the retreat.

He urged the development of a strategy to deal with the captured jihadis as they are 'very bad people' who will 'come back to attack us' if let loose.

Speaking at a briefing for journalists, Gen Gedney said: 'In the short term, they're relatively secure.

Major General Felix Gedney is deputy commander of the coalition fighting ISIS in Syria

'In the medium to long term, we have to find a pathway to make sure they can be dealt with. And that's a question for national governments.

'If we don't they will continue to be a threat to us, and, potentially, to our nations.

'As the deputy commander on the ground I can tell you that we have to find a way of doing this because the alternative is really bad. These are very bad people.

'They continue to be a threat. If we let them come loose they will come back and attack us.

'We have to find a way, a pathway, to make sure that these threats are not a threat in the future.

'A lot of effort has gone into taking these people off the battlefield. And now nations are going to have to find a way of dealing with those individuals that are being held in detention.'

Gen Gedney said he was not aware of any Nato country that had taken back their citizens captured as IS fighters in Syria.

The general said he did not have a precise number for the foreign fighters captured in Syria, but said it stood at more than 400 a month ago and had increased 'by hundreds' since then.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has ruled out UK-born IS fighters returning to Britain, stating: 'I do not believe that any terrorist, whether they come from this country or any other, should ever be allowed back into this country.'

The general said he did not have a precise number for the foreign fighters captured in Syria (pictured), but said it stood at more than 400 a month ago and had increased 'by hundreds' since then

Despite success against IS, which the Government refers to as Daesh, Gen Gedney said the organisation was still a worldwide danger.

He said: 'While the Syrian democratic forces have liberated more than 98% of the Daesh-held territory they remain a global threat.

'The terrorist organisation retains senior leadership, media capabilities, financial resources, and technical expertise to conduct attacks and will attempt to re-emerge in the liberated areas.'

Asked if the group was capable of striking Europe again, Gen Gedney said: 'I think the risk remains. I think we have significantly diminished their capability.'

Gen Gedney said UK and allied forces tried to avoid civilian casualties in the battle against IS.

'The global coalition goes to huge lengths to ensure that our operations minimise the risk of civilian casualties. This war has been the most precise war in history.'
A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a teenager was knifed to death on a housing estate.

The unnamed teenager, also aged 15, was found with stab wounds on Lowedges Road on the outskirts of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, at 7.50pm on Thursday.

He died in hospital an hour later despite the efforts of paramedics to save him.

A large area surrounding the scene of the stabbing remained cordoned off as police searched for evidence.

The scene in Lowedges Road in Sheffield, South Yorkshire where a murder investigation has been launched after a 15-year-old boy died on Thursday

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a teenager was knifed to death on a housing estate

A large area surrounding the scene of the stabbing remained cordoned off as police searched for evidence

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said: 'A teenage boy is currently in police custody in connection to the death of a 15-year-old boy in the Lowedges area of Sheffield.

'At around 7.50pm last night, reports were received that a 15-year-old boy had been stabbed on Lowedges Road.

'He was taken to hospital but sadly died just after 8.50pm. While formal identification has not yet taken place, his family have been informed and continue to be supported by officers.

'A 15-year-old boy, from Sheffield, is now in police custody where he will be questioned by officers, on suspicion of murder.'

Chief Superintendent Stuart Barton added that police do not believe it was a random attack and that 'there may be a bit of targeting with it'.

The youngster's murder comes amid mounting concerns of a growing knife crime epidemic in the city.

Earlier this week a 19-year-old died when he was knifed at a block of flats in the Woodhouse area, six miles away from the latest incident.

Ryan Jowle was attacked on Tuesday and died in hospital the next morning.

A post-mortem examination found he suffered a stab wound to his chest.

A 17-year-old girl and a 22-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murder and are being questioned about the death by officers.

Following the latest stabbing at around 8pm on Thursday, South Yorkshire Police say knife crime was a 'huge' concern.

Chief Superintendent Stuart Barton said: 'I fully understand the concern, alarm and fear that our local communities will have on hearing of this crime.

'I want to offer my utmost reassurance that we are treating this incident as an immediate priority, with a vast number of officers and resources already deployed into the investigation and an absolute determination to apprehend those responsible.

'My thoughts are with the young man's family at this devastating time, and while the investigation is in the early stages, I would ask anyone who may able to assist with any information to please make contact with us.

A large area surrounding the scene of the stabbing remained cordoned off as police searched for evidence

Chief Superintendent Stuart Barton added that police do not believe it was a random attack and that 'there may be a bit of targeting with it'

'There will be a visible police presence in the area throughout the night and over the coming days and I would encourage anyone with any worries to please make contact with us.'

The two stabbing incidents this week are just the latest to grip the city over recent months.

As of April this year, detectives investigating a knife attack in a Sheffield nightclub in which one man was stabbed in his head and another in his lung had not yet made any arrests.

The men were knifed when violence flared in Area nightclub in Burgess Street, off Barker's Pool, in the early hours of Sunday, October 1.

The stabbings came less than 24 hours after six other men were knifed in separate incidents in Sheffield city centre.

On September 30, three men, aged 19, 20 and 25, were stabbed in Carver Street.

One hour after the incident, violence flared again on neighbouring Division Street where three other men were stabbed by Lamar Waite.

Waite, 18, was jailed for 16 years over the 'explosion of violence' in which he slashed the Polish men after becoming involved in a brawl.

One of the men stabbed by Waite received such serious injuries that when ambulance staff arrived on the scene they could see parts of his intestine protruding from his stomach.

The sentencing led Judge Peter Kelson QC to issue a warning that 'we live in a society that lives in constant fear of people who are carrying knives'.

An 18-year-old was also taken to hospital on March 21 this year after he was seriously injured in a stabbing in Lowfield.

A 30-year-old man was left fighting for his life after being stabbed in the Batemoor area of Sheffield on April 17 this year.

South Yorkshire Police led a week-long operation to tackle knife crime in February which saw more officers out on patrol and the placement of knife arches outside public venues.

Officers remain keen to hear from witnesses and anyone who has information about what happened. If you can help, please call 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 quoting incident number 829 of 24 May 2018. You can also call the incident room number to speak to officers directly on 01709 443507.
Meet the tallest and smallest horses in the world.

Big Jake towers at 6ft 9in and was crowned the tallest horse in the world by the Guinness World Records in 2012.

While Big Jake is the biggest, Thumbelina is the tiniest measuring just 1ft 5in.

Big Jake, a Belgian horse, now 17, was purchased when he was just a foal by a Wisconsin farm.

Big Jake, a 17-year-old Belgian horse from Wisconsin is the world's tallest horse, towering at 6.89ft (82.75inches)

Big friendly giant: The Belgian horse weighed about 240lbs at birth and now weighs about 2,600lbs

World record: When they stand side by side there's nearly a five foot difference between them

Big and little! Thumbelina pictured above with Radar, the former tallest horse in the world

'He was purchased as a foal - he was probably three - from a relative of mine and he just grew too big for them,' Jerry Gilbert said to CNN.

The family says they knew from the first time they laid eyes on the giant animal that he was one of the biggest horses they had ever seen.

'He was a large foal when he was born, he weighed around 240 pounds but he had good genetics - that's what we look for in breeding draft horses - we're looking for good conformation and weight,' he said.

The giant horse now weighs 2,600lbs.

The family contacted Guinness World Records in 2010 when Jake was around nine, as they retired the horse from competitions.

When Guinness arrived to measure the horse they were stunned to learn Jake measured 20 hands, 2.75 inches (82.75inches).

Jake is a Belgian horse which usually measure 16 to 17 hands tall.

He was officially named the tallest living horse.

'I've always been interested in the Guinness book of records ever since I was a kid. I just never dreamed I'd actually own a horse that would be in there,' Gilbert said.

'He's just like a family member - he's not just an animal, he's part of our family,' he said.

'He's got a lot of strength, but he's very docile and he just loves the attention all day long. He wants you to rub him, bathe him, spend a lot of time with him,' he added.

Big Jake pictured above with owner Jerry Gilbert on their Wisconsin farm in April 2010

The giant horse pictured above on his farm in Madison, Wisconsin, weighs about 2,600lbs

Jake is even a celebrity in his home state.

'He's really taken the state of Wisconsin, people know Jake and they really like him a lot. He's got a great disposition and he's really friendly with the crowds that come through here,' Gilbert said about his prize horse.

Given his size, the horse eats double the amount of food a normal sized horse would.

'We try to ration everything so we'll give him three grain buckets a day - morning, noon and night. Well give him 24 quarts of oats, vitamins, minerals, different things like that and then he'll eat about approximately a bail a day,' he said.

While Jake wins the title for the world's tallest horse, tiny Thumbelina holds the record for being the world's smallest, measuring just 17.5inches.

The miniature sorrel brown mare made the record in 2002.

The tiny horse was born with dwarfism at Goose Creek Farm in St Louis, Missouri and weighs just 58lbs.

'When she was born she literally was 6 inches tall,' her handler Michael Goessling said to CNN.

The world's smallest horse is Thumbelina who measures 1.46ft (17.5inches), pictured in 2006

Thumbelina, also 17, is a miniature sorrel brown born with dwarfism, pictured above in 2006

The tiny horse formerly worked as a therapy animal and now resides on her St. Louis farm

'I thought there was a possum in the stall - it was just so tiny and then all of a sudden she stood up and I couldn't believe what I was seeing,' he added.

Most miniature foals average 19 to 20 inches in height, but Thumbelina never reached that height.

At first the tiny horse caused concern for her owners Kay and Paul Goessling as she was born with dwarfism.

However she hasn't had any health complications.

Michael Goessling adds that Thumbelina seems blissfully unaware of how tiny she is.

'From day one she never really came to have the full appreciation of how tiny she actually is. She's been absolutely fearless,' he said.

Even during a photo shoot with the tallest horse in the world at the time, named Radar, Thumbelina challenged him.

'We brought Thumbelina out on a lead and they had Radar - the tallest horse - there and Thumbelina all of a sudden reared up, bit him right on the nose and Radar started running away!' her handler said.

The tiny horse weighs just 58lbs, pictured above with handler Michael Goessling in 2006

Thumbelina used to work as a hospital therapy animal where she comforted cancer and burn patients

'She stands her ground and she doesn't take anything from other horses but at the same time she's always been so sweet and calm and tender with kids,' he added.

Thumbelina, now 17, formerly worked as a therapy animal, visiting sick patients in hospitals.

'She visited cancer patients, burn patients, they were kids that were really struggling - sometimes emotionally - and they'd have that moment with Thumbelina. I had more parents come up to me with tears in their eyes saying it was literally the happiest moment of their child's life,' Goessling said.

'(Thumbelina) seems to have this ability to know the situation because these kids they'll hug her and pull on her and rub her ears and she just sits there and takes it and she'll nuzzle them,' he added.

Now she spends her days on her quiet farm, sleeping in the dog house.

'She comes and goes as she likes and she just lives in her own little Thumbelina world that has been created for her over the years,' he said.
Bobby Hughes, five, suffered severe brain injuries after being mowed down by Ellie Cass who was out on a driving lesson

A mother has blasted a learner driver who left her little boy needing round-the-clock care after she mistook the accelerator for the brake and ran him over.

Bobby Hughes, five, suffered severe brain injuries after being mowed down by Ellie Cass who was out on a driving lesson.

The youngster was flown to hospital in a critical condition and despite undergoing emergency surgery, he still cannot move and talk as he did before.

Cass, 26, was jailed earlier this week at Chelmsford Crown Court after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

She'd had only nine and a half hours tuition before the crash on March 15, 2017.

Speaking for the first time since, Bobby's mother Carly Easter hit out at the learner driver, who she used to be friends with.

Easter, a mother-of-three, said: 'Why would you practice on a cul-de-sac where you know kids are going to be?

'She knows the area. She knows her nephew plays out there. I wouldn't in a million years think after nine hours' practice to drive around where you know kids are.

'We're paying the price for the rest of our lives. It's broken us; it's destroyed us. It breaks my heart.'

Mother-of-three Carly Easter has blasted Cass after she mistook the accelerator for the brake and ran over her little boy. Pictured is the crashed car in Saffron Walden, Essex

Reading her victim impact statement in court, Bobby's mother Ms Easter expressed her anger at the defendant and her family for 'caring more about the damage done to her car'

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how Ellie Cass, 26, (pictured outside court) had 'attempted suicide' following the incident which left Bobby needing multiple brain surgeries

Easter said she had been good friends with Eleanor Cass' sister, who lived on the same cul-de-sac in Safrron Walden, Essex.

She said: 'Bobby and her nephew used to play outside the house. It was a beautiful little cul-de-sac; the kids could play and be free. Eleanor knew that but she took it upon herself to drive.

'She dragged him along. He was wedged under the car.

'He was lying there lifeless in a puddle of blood dying.'

One of Bobby's sisters, now 11, was with him when it happened and started screaming.

Bobby was rushed to hospital in Saffron Walden, and was then taken by air ambulance - piloted by Prince William - to Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge.

He spent four months at the hospital and then a further four months at the Children's Trust, a specialist rehabilitation centre for brain injuries.

'My poor son has been to hell and back,' said Easter. 'He's got to have three more surgeries.'

Speaking of Bobby's prospects of recovery, she revealed he cannot move or talk as he did before and said: 'With a brain injury you just don't know.

'We've got a long and hard road ahead of us but we just don't know.'

Cass was jailed for 16 months and banned from driving for two years during the hearing on Wednesday.

Sentencing, Judge Patricia Lynch said: 'The likes of you and I should never present to understand the pain that Bobby's family have gone through.'

She added: 'You, yourself, might understand if it was your child and that's why I suspect they are so angry and so hurt because it is their child.

'The fact of the matter is that due to your dangerous driving five-year-old Bobby suffered life-changing injuries and his pain and suffering has really only just started.'

Turning to the family, Judge Lynch said: 'No one can begin to understand but I hope given time your anger can be quelled.

'I hope today brings you some relief and I wish you well.

'I hope the wonderful progress Bobby has made continues and, I hope you don't think this crass, you really are one of the luckiest families in the world because of the love you have for each other.'

Bobby's aunt Georgia Say (left) with dad Jeff Hughes and mum with Bobby, now six, in Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge after he was knocked down

Bobby with his dad Jeff Hughes and mum in happier times before he was knocked down by Cass

Speaking of Bobby's prospects of recovery, Easter revealed he cannot move or talk as he did before and said: 'With a brain injury you just don't know'

But Easter said she wanted to see a change in the law, so that learners could only practice on a public highway with a qualified instructor.

At the hearing, Bobby's mum Esater Easter branded Cass 'heartless' and said she did not deserve forgiveness.

Reading her victim impact statement in court, she expressed her anger at the defendant and her family for 'caring more about the damage done to her car'.

She said: 'These are people who we were friends with for three years by the way.

'I would like to know how you could all be so heartless.

'Shame on you and you can hold your head in shame.

'You don't deserve my forgiveness and I hope your conscious catches up with you.'

Talking of the day of the crash, she said that 'my life turned into my worst nightmare and my world turned upside down'.

At the hearing, Bobby's mum branded Cass 'heartless' and said she did not deserve forgiveness

She said: 'I heard a massive screech, ran to my window and my own daughter screamed, 'It's Bobby!'

'I was in complete shock, screaming 'not my Bobby' and I went straight outside where my son was lying lifeless.'

She added: 'Bobby is the only boy in our family - the funniest, most beautiful and caring boy on this earth.

'I was so happy to have a boy and he was perfect. He succeeded in everything he chose to do.

'I have always loved him and I will always love him and if I could I would give my life for his.

'I can't love him more and I feel like my heart can't explode for the love I feel for him.'

Asked about Cass' sentence outside court, she said: 'Nothing's ever going to be enough but I'm glad we've got some sort of of justice.

'I'm hoping that she's got time now to think about what she's done, that her dangerous driving has caused this injury.

Easter told how she heard in court that the Cass was having suicidal thoughts due to the crash.

She said: 'Well, so have I.'

She added: 'I think it's a cop-out, I don't believe it. When she was told she was going to prison she let out a big cry; it was all self-pity.'

A police statement confirmed that Cass, who lives in Hertford, was being supervised in her Renault Megane when she struck Bobby, now aged six.

Cass had two passengers in the car at the time, who were interviewed voluntarily.

Investigating officer Inspector Chris Higgins, from the Stanway Roads Policing Team, said: 'This is a tragic case involving a learner driver who made a mistake that ended in catastrophe.

'However the law is clear. All drivers, regardless of skill and experience have the same level of responsibility to control their vehicles to a required standard to keep other road users and people within our communities safe.

'The actions of Eleanor Cass resulted in a young life being dramatically changed forever and the sentence issued today reflects that fact.'
Donald Trump said Friday that America will not apologize for its military might or allow its national pride to be weakened as he hit out at his predecessor in office during a commencement address.





'America is the greatest fighting force for peace, justice and freedom in the history of the world, and in case you haven't noticed, we have become a lot stronger lately. A lot,' he told Naval Academy graduates. 'We are not going to apologize for America, we are going to stand up for America. No more apologies.'

Trump said that America has 'regained the respect that we used to have long ago abroad' under his leadership in remarks that were targeted at former President Barack Obama.

Donald Trump said Friday that America will not apologize for its military might or allow its national pride to be weakened as he hit out at his predecessor in office during a commencement address

President Donald Trump looks on as the Blue Angels fly over the graduation ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy

A graduate celebrates after being congratulated by President Donald Trump at the commissioning and graduation ceremony for U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2018 at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland

They came at a time, however, when the respect that North Korea has for the United States was being called into question after Kim Jong-un's regime insulted the vice president and threatened to back out of a nuclear disarmament summit.

Before Pyongyang could make a decision Trump said that the United States would The no longer attend the June 12 talks in Singapore.

At the graduation ceremony in Annapolis, Maryland on Friday Trump did not mention the dispute as he talked about America's reputation yet suggested that Kim should beware.

The president said that enemies of the U.S. that try to 'tear down America' have found that's 'not working too well lately.'

Every generation a foe tries to denigrate America's incredible heritage, challenge its sovereignty and weaken its pride, he said.

Trump said that America has 'regained the respect that we used to have long ago abroad' under his leadership in remarks that were targeted at former President Barack Obama. Pictured: Midshipmen embrace

Graduates celebrate upon the conclusion of the commissioning and graduation ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy

Graduates toss their caps during the graduation ceremony. Trump told them: 'America is the greatest fighting force for peace, justice and freedom in the history of the world, and in case you haven't noticed, we have become a lot stronger lately'

President Donald Trump shakes hands during the graduation and commissioning ceremony=

'But we know the truth. We will speak the truth and we will defend that truth,' Trump stated.

'We are going to stand up for our citizens. We are going to stand up for our values. And we are going to stand up for our men and women in uniform,' he said. 'Because we know that a nation must have pride in its history to have confidence in its future.'

Trump told the graduates of the Naval Academy that they were beginning their service at a 'truly exciting time' in American history, when there's a 'great reawakening of America spirit and of American might.'

'We have rediscovered our identity, regained our stride and we're proud again,' he said.

'Prosperity is booming at home, our economy is the strongest it's ever been and our country has regained the respect that we used to have long ago abroad.

Trump told the audience of soldiers, 'Yes, they're respecting us again. Yes America is back.'

Exhausted midshipmen fall asleep as they wait for the start of the graduation and commissioning ceremony

Trump told the graduates of the Naval Academy that they were beginning their service at a 'truly exciting time' in American history

'We have rediscovered our identity, regained our stride and we're proud again,' Trump said

Blue Angels fly over the the Class of 2018 midshipmen during the ceremony

The president meant the remarks as an affront to Obama, who was routinely accused by his ideological opponents of being an apologist for America.

In 2016, Trump, on the other hand, ran on a promise that he would 'Make America Great Again' starting with the U.S. military, which he has more aggressively funded.

'No money for the military, those days are over,' Trump told cheering grads.

Next year military spending will rise to $716 billion he informed them.

'We are going to be stronger than ever before. We will have the strongest military that we've ever had. It will not even be close,' he said. 'And when did we need it more than we do now.'

Trump told them in closing: 'We are all-in for America, as never before. We are all-in for our great country.'
Former political adviser Richard Holden leaves court with his girlfriend Charlotte Ivers after a jury took just half an hour to clear him of sexual assault

A former aide to ex Tory minister Sir Michael Fallon has slammed police after a jury took just half an hour to clear him of groping a Westminster colleague.

Richard Holden, 33, was accused of putting his hands up the woman's skirt at a Christmas party at his 1m home in December 2016.

But a jury cleared him of sexual assault following just half an hour of deliberations after he insisted the incident never happened.

He lashed out the investigation into him this afternoon, tweeting: 'Police investigation appalling. They consistently failed to pursue ANY reasonable line of inquiry that wasn't in line with the initial allegation.

'Disclosure was delayed & incomplete throughout, inc denying evidence the police had collected & knew existed.'

In a longer statement released this evening he said it was a 'travesty' that the case had been pursued at all.

He said: 'It has been a cruel public shaming and an utter waste of time and resources.

'The police and CPS have created a victim of me, and victims of my close friends and family  who have suffered this ordeal at my side for a year and a half.

'And, most importantly, it has let down the real victims of awful crimes, as the state spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds in pursuing a case so readily dismissed by a jury.'

He slammed the police, insisting they failed to investigate evidence which supported him

Following a slew of similar cases, he insisted disclosure was delayed and incomplete

Holden let out a huge sigh of relief and walked out of the dock to kiss his girlfriend as smiling jurors looked on.

As they shuffled out of the court, several nodded towards him and one lady winked at Holden, as he said: 'Thank you.'

Judge Deborah Taylor said: 'The defendant leaves the court without a stain on his character and I hope he can have some semblance of a career.'

During a trial this week, Holden had insisted the incident never took place.

He told the court: 'This is just not true. It did not happen. As I have said, it did not occur - it did not happen, it did not happen at all.

'Nor was I pulled or pushed off her, no one shouted 'Get off,' or 'F*** off' - it was quite a tame party.'

Holden said he had no idea why the allegations had been made against him.

'As far as I am aware there is absolutely no reason why she would have said this at all,' he said.

'I have no idea why she has made up any of this, I just don't - I just do not understand.'

Holden said he 'had no recollection of physical contact' with the alleged victim.

'If I had hugged her at any point it would have been so mundane for me to have remembered,' he said.

'I didn't go up to her consistently and hug her as she suggested in her testimony.'

Holden was previously a media advisor for former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon

Holden was asked to take special paid leave when the incident was reported.

'It was made very clear in the run up to the general election that it would be helpful if I resigned,' he said.

'I have managed to get some temporary work in a different sphere.'

The court had heard how the alleged victim sent a WhatsApp message that night saying: 'I've just been groped.'

Her friend asked who by and she replied, 'F**ing Richard,' and then, 'I'm OK he's just such a creep.'

Giving evidence, the woman broke down and said: 'It's really daunting to tell people what happened, somewhere really private on your body.'

Holden, of Lambeth, south London, joined Conservative Campaign Headquarters in 2007 and later became deputy head of the party's press office and a special advisor to former leader of the House of Lords Baroness Tina Stowell.

She described him in court as 'a good bloke' who hated sexist behaviour.

Holden was promoted to serve as a media advisor for Sir Michael last year before the former defence secretary resigned amid a series of allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour back in November.

Richard Holden's full statement after he was cleared of assault 'When anyone walks into a police station to make an allegation they have the right to be treated with sympathy and respect. But the police also have a greater duty to pursue the evidence wherever it leads. 'This case was not about consent. What was alleged did not happen. This allegation was supposed to have taken place in a room of fifteen to twenty people, none of whom corroborated the claim. 'Todays unanimous verdict, delivered by the jury in such as short space of time, attests to my innocence, which I have maintained throughout, as do the Judges closing remarks in this case that: Mr Holden leaves this court without a stain on his character and I hope that he is able to pick up his career where it left off. 'That this case has been pursued at all is a travesty. It has been a cruel public shaming and an utter waste of time and resources. 'The police and CPS have created a victim of me, and victims of my close friends and family  who have suffered this ordeal at my side for a year and a half. And, most importantly, it has let down the real victims of awful crimes, as the state spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds in pursuing a case so readily dismissed by a jury. 'Those of us who work in politics and public life, and who see it as our vocation, do it out of a deeply ingrained sense of duty. A duty to our communities, and to our country, to help others and help square some of the injustices we see. 'I also hope that the serious issues raised concerning disclosure and police investigations into alleged sexual crimes by this and many other recent cases will ensure that the police and CPS reflect and instead use the significant resources at their disposal to get justice rather than pursuing spurious allegations. 'I desperately hope that the assurances I received that following the outcome of this case, that I would again be able to serve the country I love, and the party of which I have been a member for almost twenty years, will be made good on. 'I would like to thank both Eleanor Laws QC, my barrister, and Mark Troman, my solicitor, who are both true credits to their professions. 'As to my friends and family, their love and support, through the darkest of days, often at significant personal sacrifice, has not only maintained my faith in humanity, but has kept me going through the toughest ordeal of my life. 'I hope that the police, CPS and others in authority listen to what I have said, and change their policies accordingly, to ensure that in future, in the pursuit of justice, they dont create more victims but instead get real victims of terrible crimes the justice they deserve.' Advertisement
Cadah Draper-James, pictured here outside court, was let off for 'double-shuffling' through a Tube ticket barrier

A business executive who dated TOWIE star Arg has been given a fine for double-shuffling through a Tube ticket barrier in a rush to get to work.

Cadah Draper-James, met James Arg Argent on the hit Channel 4 reality series Celebs Go Dating last year and was later pictured with the 30-year-old Essex star at Capital FMs Summertime Ball before leaving Wembley Arena together.

The 20-year-old was caught on CCTV following another commuter through the barriers after her ticket was rejected at London Bridge Station.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard the brunette was approached by a nearby member of London Underground staff on 15 August and pulled out her work identification.

Rather than going with the member of staff, the CCTV then shows her going through the ticket barrier on to a train, said Edmund Blackman prosecuting.

It is what is known as a double-shuffle - going behind someone else with a ticket.

Draper-James admitted fraud by making a false representation on what was supposed to be the first day of trial on the basis she did not deliberately use an invalid ticket.

The court heard Draper-James had not long started her new job which meant a lot to her and allowed her to travel to Vietnam to further develop her career.

She had been late for work the previous day and was still on probation.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard that the brunette, who dated James Arg Argent after meeting him on Celebs Go Dating, was running late for work for a second day in a row

Draper-James was later pictured with the 30-year-old Essex star (pictured) at Capital FMs Summertime Ball before leaving Wembley Arena together

On the day of the incident Draper-James was running again with a ticket that turned out to be out of date, said her barrister Simon Gruchy.

She panicked and was concerned about the fact that she was going to be late for work again if she went through the process of dealing with it there and then, he explained.

That is why she went through the barrier.

Judge Alistair McCreath accepted the fact Draper-James had not dishonestly jumped the gate having no intention to pay at all, adding that those offences were more serious than this.

I am sure that you have learned a big lesson out of this, he said as he handed her a 12-month conditional discharge.

Put it behind you and get on with your life.

Draper-James, from Bromley, was also ordered to pay 105 costs and a 20 surcharge.

Draper-James admitted fraud by making a false representation on what was supposed to be the first day of trial on the basis she did not deliberately use an invalid ticket
Norway wants to open trade talks about fish and gas with Britain before the end of the Brexit transition, it emerged today.

Britain is Norway's biggest trading partner and is the nearest significant economy not in the European Union.

Brussels has signalled it will accept Britain negotiating trade deals during the Brexit transition - but it will only be confirmed when the exit deal is finalised.

Norway is a member of the union's common market for goods, services, capital and labour via the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement, but Prime Minister Theresa May has rejected this option for Britain after Brexit.

Norway's Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide (file image) said: 'My impression is that the EU side will try to take a flexible approach to this.

Following visit to Brussels this week, Norway's Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said: 'My impression is that the EU side will try to take a flexible approach to this.

'On the one hand, you can say that the formal demand is that they (the British) cannot start negotiations before ... the transition period is over.

'But I'm not entirely sure if that will be enforced to the same extent as you could think.

'So my impression as of Wednesday ... is that (there) is the potential for some added flexibility,' she said, adding: 'But we will have to wait and see.

Fishing trawlers in the North Sea (file image) fuel trade between Britain and Norway

'At least we have talks on both sides and will continue to do that with full force.'

Soereide also said Norway had good cooperation on many issues with President Donald Trump, despite sharp disagreements such as about the U.S. withdrawals from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement.

And she said her biggest foreign policy concern was to preserve broad international cooperation.

'The fabric is starting to become weaker,' she said, saying that the lessons of two world wars in the 20th century were 'we are better off with a cooperation between countries and states instead of the strongest state always winning the race.'

A collapse of international cooperation would be 'dangerous not only for small and medium-sized states, but it would also come back and bite the stronger states ... at some point,' she said.
The Ireland abortion referendum exit poll results will be announced on the Irish talk show The Late Late Show and RTEs David McCullagh will reveal what the people interviewed after they voted for or against repealing the Eighth Amendment.

With #Repealthe8th trending on Twitter, cases like Savita Halappanavar still fresh in peoples minds and thousands of ex-pats returning to Ireland to cast their ballot in the landmark decision, many are anticipating victory for the Yes campaign, but others are also wary of the silent No vote.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, among other Irish politicians, are in support of ending the countrys strict abortion ban, but it has started many debates among those in the conservative Roman Catholic nation that has experienced a wave of liberalisation in recent years.

Leo Varadkar pictured casting his vote on the Repeal the 8th Amendment Referendum

What is the Eighth Amendment?

Ireland held a referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the countrys constitution on May 25, 2018 that bans abortion and if this is repealed, the Irish government could legislate terminations.

Despite abortion already being illegal in Ireland under the Offences against the Person Act of 1861, pro-life activists wanted to ensure that the unborn were protected and lobbied the government for a referendum.

On September 7, 1983, a vote was held and the Eighth Amendment was subsequently added to Irelands constitution. With a turnout of 53 per cent which amounted to 1.2 million people, nearly 67 per cent voted Yes and over 33 per cent voted No.

Ireland held a referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the countrys constitution on May 25

It read: The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right. This gave equal rights to the mother and the unborn, but did not ban abortion.

However, in 1992 in what is referred to as Case X, a 14-year-old girl who fell pregnant after being raped claimed to be suicidal and therefore, a risk to her life and the unborn. She was stopped from travelling to Britain for an abortion and the case sparked debate across Ireland.

Three separate referendums were held in November of the same year: the 12th Amendment attempted to remove suicide as grounds for abortion, but this was defeated.

However, the 13th and 14th Amendments, which meant that women could travel abroad to have terminations and be given information about this, were both passed and added to the constitution.

Another referendum was held in 2002, which tried to remove suicide as grounds for abortion, but it was ultimately rejected with over 50 per cent voting No.

However, in 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland was violating the European Convention of Human Rights because the rules surrounding what is and isnt a legal abortion were blurred.

A woman lays flowers next to a mural of Savita Halappanavar in Dublin, as Ireland votes

In addition to this, the case of Savita Halappanavar also sparked debate around Ireland and the world watched as the Galway dentist died following complications from a septic miscarriage, after she was denied an abortion.

In 2013, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was passed which clearly defined what a legal abortion meant. These three scenarios were; risk of loss of life from physical illness, risk of loss of life from physical illness in emergency and risk of loss of life from suicide.

What is Repeal the 8th?

On May 25 2018, Ireland has the opportunity to repeal the countrys abortion law and the Eighth Amendment, to allow the government to legislate terminations.

A Yes vote would mean that the text added to the constitution back in 1983 and 1992 would be changed to: Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Sinn Fein and the Labour Party all support #Repealthe8th. If Ireland votes No, the Eight Amendment will remain.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Sinn Fein and the Labour Party all support #Repealthe8th and Yes vote

When is The Late Late Show on?

RTE will announce the results on an Ireland abortion referendum exit poll on The Late Late Show on Friday, May 25, 2018 at 11:30pm.

Hosted by David McCullagh, he will reveal what the the Behaviour & Attitudes exit poll found after interviewing 3,000 people across the country, immediately after they voted.
A music teacher who allegedly assaulted a young student during multiple private violin lesson has been charged.

Detectives from the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad investigated reports a six-year-old girl was indecently assaulted by her violin teacher in Sydney's north.

Police arrested a 21-year-old man at Redfern Police Station about 1pm on Friday.

Police arrested a 21-year-old man at Redfern Police Station (pictured) about 1pm on Friday

It will be alleged the man indecently assaulted the girl on numerous occasions during private violin lessons at an after-school facility (stock image)

He was charged with 20 counts of indecent assault of person under 16 years and was refused bail.

It will be alleged the man indecently assaulted the girl on numerous occasions during private violin lessons at an after-school facility at Denistone East.

The man's employment has since been suspended and he will appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.

Police investigations are continuing and anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
More than 100 NHS mental health staff in England have been disciplined for inappropriate sexual behaviour towards patients in the last four years, it has emerged.

Some 446 cases of alleged misconduct were reported and investigated between 2013 and 2017, with some ending in dismissal and reports to the police.

Freedom of information requests collected by Channel 5 News revealed that one staff member was sacked for having an inappropriate relationship with a patient and bringing them drugs.

An admin worker was also removed from their job after sending nude pictures to a patient, the investigation found.

There were 113 cases where an investigation led to disciplinary action against a staff member including their dismissal or resignation. Some cases were reported to the police

The freedom of information requests asked 57 NHS mental health trusts in England how many incidents of a breach of sexual boundaries by a staff member towards a patient had been recorded.

The claims ranged from inappropriate comments or contact to sexual relationships, child abuse, sexual assault and rape.

In 113 cases, 32 per of the total, the investigation led to disciplinary action against the staff member, their dismissal, or their resignation.

In some cases, the case was also referred to the police for investigation.

In another case a Senior Nurse Practitioner was dismissed after a sexual relationship with a patient, while a school nurse was sacked and investigated by police over an inappropriate relationship with a child.

A bank nurse was also accused of accessing pornographic content while helping a patient.

In a further case a therapist was given a written warning following inappropriate sexual comments.

The broadcaster spoke to one patient, whose name has been changed to 'Jess', who says she was sexually abused by a mental health worker.

Jess, whose real identity cannot be made public, said a male staff member had groomed her into a sexual relationship by bringing her alcohol and other banned items

Jess said she was groomed during the five months she spent as a hospital patient

When she was admitted to a mental health unit a male member of staff developed a bond with her and brought her alcohol and other banned items.

She said: 'It made me feel good about myself, I felt like someone actually cared for me. I thought I was in a relationship with him. I was just lost, and he gave me a bit of light.'

According to Jess, during the 5 months she spent at the hospital, the staff member groomed her into a sexual relationship.

She said: 'He'd push himself on to me and push me up against walls. Put his hands down my trousers and things like that. I felt dirty, cheap, I was ashamed at myself.

'On one hand I had very strong feelings for him - I'd go as far as saying I loved him at one point. And on the other hand, I knew what he was doing was wrong.'

It was only after Jess was discharged that she and her mother told the mental health trust what had happened. After an investigation the man was dismissed.

Labour MP Luciana Berger (left) said she was shocked by the claims of sexual misconduct and said vulnerable people in mental health units were less likely to come forward and report them

Jess's mother told the broadcaster: 'I made the very hard decision to get my daughter sectioned. To be kept in a place of safety. And then you hear these things are going on and you just feel helpless as a Mum. How could this happen?'

Labour MP Luciana Berger, head of the Labour Campaign for Mental Health, said she was shocked by the findings.

She said: 'I think one case of sexual abuse in our mental health units is one case too many and I have been shocked to see what 5 News has uncovered.

'Over 100 cases where there has been definite sexual abuse and others that have been investigated and that's just the ones that have been reported.

'We know that people in a mental health unit are less likely to come forward and are extremely vulnerable.

'I have previously called on ministers to do an urgent safety report to check and see whether all of our inpatient units are places of safety and all staff are aware of their responsibilities.

Sophie Corlett said it was 'utterly appalling' that sexual misconduct was taking place in mental health hospitals where patients were at their most vulnerable

'Any instances of sexual abuse in that type of setting will have a very severe and negative impact on someone's recovery. It's absolutely critical the government takes note of this research and actively looks at what more it can urgently do to address this terrible state of affairs.'

In response to the research, Sophie Corlett, Director of External Relations at mental health charity Mind, said: 'It is utterly appalling that sexual misconduct is happening in mental health hospitals.

'You are at your most vulnerable when you go into a mental health hospital and the very least you and your family should expect while you are there is that you are kept safe and can trust in those providing care.

'Sexual harassment is something no one should experience, but it is particularly traumatic for anyone who is already vulnerable, and those who may have experienced abuse in the past  which, very sadly, is the experience of many people in hospital because of their mental health.'

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'Sexual abuse of any kind is completely unacceptable anywhere in the NHS and we expect hospitals to take allegations extremely seriously - informing the police as necessary.

'The safety of patients is our number one priority and the CQC is currently reviewing how mental health trusts report sexual incidents on wards in order to improve patient safety.'
A family who sold unsafe teeth whitener with more than a hundred times the legal limit for bleach has been ordered to pay back 1.6million.

Matthew Hargreaves, 46, and his parents John, 71, and Jean 72, made a fortune selling the dangerous product at shows and online.

The family was alleged to have made some 2.5million from the White Again product, Caernarfon Crown Court in Wales was told.

At least one customer needed hospital treatment for burns after using the teeth whitening strips which contained shocking quantities of hydrogen peroxide.

John Hargreaves (right) and his wife Jean (right) sold teeth whitener which contained shockingly unsafe levels of hydrogen peroxide

Matthew Hargreaves, 46, was jailed for 18 months for participating in a fraudulent business

Matthew and John Hargreaves were both jailed for 18 months in 2016 after admitting participating in a fraudulent business.

They were caught when Powys Council raided their stand at the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells in 2013.

A proceeds of crime hearing was told a trading standards investigation called 'Operation Gleam' took three years and cost 400,000.

It discovered the family, from Knutsford, Cheshire, had sold the whitener at 150 venues across Britain and from their website.

Unsafe teeth whitening products (pictured) were sold at the Royal Welsh Show in mid Wales

Free samples of the teeth whitening product were being handed out at the show in Builth Wells

Literature relating to the teeth whitening products being sold at the Royal Welsh Show

Free samples were offered at the Royal Welsh Show where Powys Council raided their stand

Jean Hargreaves admitted engaging in an unfair commercial practice and was given six months in jail, suspended for two years.

Caernarfon Crown Court ordered the family to sell six of their seven properties to pay the 1.6million.

They could face longer jail terms if they do not return the money within three months.

Powys Council chief trading standards officer Clive Jones said: 'This Proceeds of Crime Act action has identified the individuals behind this fraud gained 2.5million and will have to pay back 1.6million from their available assets.

Trading Standards searching the Hargreaves household for evidence of the unsafe product

Matthew Hargreaves in his house while Trading Standards investigated the teeth whitener

Trading Standards searched the Hargreaves household for evidence of the whitening scam

Jean Hargreaves in a purple dressing gown while Trading Standards examined her home

Matthew Hargreaves in the house during an investigation which led to him being jailed

'This is a clear deterrent to any criminal that Trading Standards will not tolerate unfair practices which affect consumers and legitimate traders.'

Hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent and can be used to brighten teeth in small amounts, but too much can lead to enamel and nerve damage.

It is legal for people to treat themselves with an over-the-counter kit, provided it contains less than 0.1% hydrogen peroxide.
A 95-year-old man believed to be battling dementia has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his carer.

Two ambulance crews were scrambled to his first-floor flat in Holloway, north London at around 4am on Thursday after neighbours heard a scream.

The 61-year-old female careworker was rushed to hospital with head injuries but died today at 10.57am.

The arrest makes the suspect one of the oldest people ever arrested for murder in the UK.

Detectives believe she was injured in the flat, where she was working as a carer. She is understood to have been an employee of a care agency commissioned by Islington Council.

A 95-year-old man has been arrested after the death of a female careworker in north London today. Police officers were seen scouring a flat on the Ringcross estate in Holloway (pictured) yesterday

The man, who neighbours say is frail and uses a walking stick, was taken to hospital as a precaution after being arrested on suspicion of murder.

The Metropolitan Police said he was granted bail but will remain in hospital until he is moved to somewhere 'his complex health and care needs can be managed'.

A neighbour who has been living in the 95-year-old's block of flats in Holloway for 10 years said he was rarely seen outside his home since he and his wife fell ill.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said another neighbour told her of hearing a scream in the early hours of Thursday morning.

She said the elderly man would normally have a carer looking after him and he was occasionally visited by family members.

'It's a surprise. They are a very good family,' she said.

'I don't know what's happened. I was coming home from work and saw police upstairs.

'Another neighbour heard a scream at about 4am, but I didn't.'

Police officers are pictured entering the flat where the woman is believed to have been injured

Councillor Richard Watts, leader of Islington Council, said: 'We are devastated to hear of the death of a carer in Islington.

'Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this desperately sad time.'

The woman worked for London Care's Holloway branch in Seven Sisters Road, Islington.

The firm has confirmed it has launched its own investigation but would not comment further.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'A murder investigation has been launched after a woman died from head injuries following an incident in Islington.

'Police were called at approximately 7.10am on Thursday, May 24 to a north London hospital where a 61-year-old woman was admitted suffering from head injuries.

'She died in hospital at 10.57am on Friday, May 25. Her next of kin have been informed. A post-mortem examination will take place in due course.

'At this early stage it is believed that her injuries were sustained at a residential address in Islington where she was working as a carer.

The woman, 61, worked at London Care's Holloway branch in Seven Sisters Road, north London

'A 95-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

'He has been taken to hospital as a precaution due to a pre-existing condition where he will remain pending transfer to a location where his complex health and care needs can be managed. Police have bailed him while inquiries continue.'

Detectives from the CID based at the Central North Command Unit investigate.

Officers are not seeking any other persons in connection with this investigation.

Anyone with information relating to this incident is requested to call police on 101. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Danny Pearce, 31, was repeatedly stabbed by a moped-riding thug in Greenwich last year. They took his 5,000 Rolex watch (circled above)

A woman who watched helplessly as her boyfriend was stabbed to death for his Rolex said she pleaded with his killers to take the watch and let him go.

Danny Pearce, 31, was repeatedly knifed after he left Oliver's Jazz Bar in Greenwich shortly after midnight on July 15 last year.

His girlfriend Stephanie Holland said she ripped off Mr Pearce's 5,000 watch and threw it to two moped-riding assailants wearing balaclavas and motorcycle helmets, begging them to take it and go.

But he was led away by one of the attackers and repeatedly stabbed in the neck and chest before they sped off into the night. Ms Holland said the knife was about a foot long.

Giving evidence at Woolwich Crown Court, Ms Holland said the men had brandished a gun and a knife before the vicious attack.

She told the court she had ran for her life down a dark street but realised her lover was not behind her when she turned around.

Ms Holland then saw him stagger out from between two parked cars with blood streaming down his face, the court heard.

Mr Pearce was dragged up some steps and backed into a corner before he was fatally stabbed, she told jurors.

Prosecutors claim the knifeman was 25-year-old Jordan Bailey-Mascoll, who was joined by a second unknown attacker.

Mr Pearce's girlfriend Stephanie Holland. She said she ripped off his 5,000 Rolex watch and threw it to the two assailants wearing balaclavas and motorcycle helmets, begging them to take it and go

Ms Holland wept as she told the court: I was in front of Danny. We were walking down the street and then two men both wearing balaclavas and motorcycle helmets come in front of us.

The person on the right had a firearm and the one on the left had a knife. They were of average height but larger than me.

They were asking to hand over the watch. I thought they were joking.

I thought it was a joke at first but then when the gun was shot I just ran. The gun was shot several times.

I went half way down the street and then I turned back and saw that Danny was not there, so I ran back to where we were.

Mr Pearce's two attackers riding off into the night on a moped after the attack on July 15 last year

He was in-between two cars. He was bleeding from his forehead. One of the guys followed him up the steps. I did not see the other guy.

I went away a little bit. I was scared. I saw the guy repeatedly stabbing Danny a lot of times. He just would not stop.

I just shouted at him Ill give you the watch.

Danny was on the floor and I took the watch off and just threw it at them. They left on their mopeds. I cannot remember if they said anything to me, it was all very fast.

Bailey-Mascoll, of no fixed address, admits manslaughter but denies murder, possession of a firearm, possession of an imitation firearm and robbery.

The trial continues.
A Canadian woman has written a touching letter to her missing little sister who disappeared from Grundy Lake Provincial Park at the age of two and would be about 53 years old today.

The emotional note, written by Lise Nastuk to her sister Diane Prevost, is part of a campaign called 'Letters From Home' that was implemented by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection on May 1.

'It's been so long since we last saw each other,' Lise wrote, in the letter dated April 16. 'I know you probably don't remember me but I want you to know that there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of you.'

Lise Nastuk has written a touching letter to her missing little sister, Diane Prevost, who disappeared at the age of two in 1966, as part of a campaign called 'Letters From Home' that was implemented by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection; A photo of Diane from when she disappeared is shown here (right) along with a drawing of what she may look like toda (left)

Lise went on: 'Fifty-one years ago, someone took you away from us and our lives have never been the same.'

The extended Prevost family, including the girls' parents, grand-parents, sister and brother, were camping in Ontario on September 17, 1966, when tragedy struck.

'You wanted to go back to the camper to see our grand-parents, pepere et memere Prevost. You were afraid of the water and didn't want to play in the sand anymore. Mom asked Dad to bring you back and he said he would untangle the fishing line first,' Lise wrote, recounting her last memories of her sister.

The campsite was just 152 meters (about 500 feet) away from the shore where the family was gathered.

'You were so headstrong Diane, you didn't wait,' Lise wrote. 'Why didn't you wait? Someone was waiting to steal you away from us.'

Diane Prevost was just two years old when she went missing from a campsite in 1966

The extended Prevost family, including the girls' parents, grand-parents, sister and brother, were camping in Ontario on September 17, 1966, when Diane went missing

The campsite was just 152 meters (500 feet) away from the shore where the family gathered

Lise described how their father never rested in his search for his little girl, from that moment and for the rest of his life.

'Dad never stopped looking for you. For many years, on the anniversary of your disappearance he would go back to Grundy Provincial Park to look for you,' Lise wrote. 'He never gave up, even on his dying bed he wasn't ready to go, he had unfinished business, you weren't found. His only wish was to have you back in our family.'

Police reportedly searched extensively for one month for the little girl, who was never found.

The Prevost children are pictured here some time before Diane went missing in 1966

Police searched the park area (shown here) for one month for Diane, who was never found

Diane is shown here (center) with her family members around Christmas time, prior to 1966

Even after over half a century Diane's disappearance, Lise hasn't given up hope that her message may find its way to her sister.

'Diane, if you read this letter, please know that your real family is still looking for you,' she wrote.

'You were not given-up for adoption, you were taken from us. We want you to come back home, Diane. We haven't lost hope that you're still waiting for us to find you.'

Lise signed the letter at the end with the hopeful salutation, 'Till we meet again, little sister.'

Lise's letter was shared on Thursday, which has been recognized as International Missing Children's Day.

Even after over half a century Diane's disappearance, Lise hasn't given up hope that her message may find its way to her sister.

Grundy Lake Provincial Park is part of the Parks Ontario system in Canada

The 'Letters From Home' campaign was inspired by a letter by Diana Saunders, written to her three sons, Adam, Trevor and Mitchell, who were abducted by their father in 1996.

The Canadian Centre posted the letter to Facebook, and it has since been shared more than 10,000 times. That fact that has brought hope to their mom that her boys might see it, some day.

'My sons can be anywhere in this big world. I was totally overwhelmed with joy by the number of shares and views my letter received,' Saunders said. It traveled the globe and that gives me hope that perhaps either my sons will see it, or someone that knows them will and show them.'

Additional letters from families seeking to be reunited with their missing relatives will be posted through the month of May. which has been designated as Missing Children's Month in Canada.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection will be sharing the messages through its Facebook page, over Twitter, and on the campaign website.
A jury was left shocked this week when a man being tried for sexual assault suddenly dropped his trousers to try and prove his penis did not match his accusers account.

Desmond James, 26, was picked out of a photo line-up as the man who allegedly attacked a woman six years ago.

The Connecticut mans accuser described how she was raped in 2012 by a stranger whose penis was lighter than the rest of his skin, reports New York Post.

Desmond James, above, dropped his pants in court to show jurors his penis. His accuser had described how she was raped by a stranger whose penis was lighter than the rest of his skin

When the jury was told by his attorney on Wednesday that Jamess penis was actually darker than the rest of his body, Judge Elpedio Vitale agreed it was within his Sixth Amendment rights to defend himself by exposing his private parts in court.

Unfortunately, Vitale failed to warn the two women and six men who made up the New Haven jury of what they were about to see.

He did, however, allude to the accused offering non-testimonial evidence that would be sensitive in nature and highly personal.

They were completely unprepared, then, when James walked to the middle of the courtroom, dropped his trousers, lifted up his shirt and exposed his manhood, as he stood without saying a word for 10 seconds, according to witnesses in the room.

Apparently one shocked juror looked away, while others tried to suppress smiles and laughter. James then pulled up his pants, as defense attorney Todd Bussert said, while closing on Thursday: You saw a penis that is darker than the rest of his skin. For that reason alone, you must acquit.

However, prosecutor Stacey Miranda argued that he might have done something with his pubic hair since the assault, adding: It is six years later. Do we have any idea of what she may have been seeing that night? What his manscaping was like at the time? What light was shining on it?

Miranda also argued that the case rested on more than what was hanging between Jamess legs  claiming that DNA evidence in the victims rape kit was also consistent with his genetic profile.
Vladimir Putin has said it is 'impossible' Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent - because they would have died straight away.

Asked who was responsible for their poisoning in Salisbury on March 4, the Russian leader said he wanted an 'objective' investigation.

The UK Government has consistently blamed the Russian state for the Novichok attack on the former spy, 66, and his daughter, 33.

But Putin insisted: 'I'm not an expert on those military grade toxic agents, but if such substance is used, then the victims die immediately right on the spot.

Vladimir Putin has said it is 'impossible' Yulia and Sergei Skripal were posioned with a military-grade nerve agent as they both would have died 'immediately

'But this was not the case likely, and Sergei Skripal and his daughter are alive.

'They are out of hospital now and as we've seen recently on TV, his daughter looks fine, so thank god everyone is alive, everyone is well.

'So to say that a military grade agent was used is not possible and if it is the case then it casts doubt on everything that has been said by the UK from the outset.'

Mr Putin was speaking to the heads of international news agencies, including the Press Association, on the margins of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

This week Yulia Skripal broke her silence over the poisoning, branding it an 'assassination attempt', but falling short of blaming Putin directly.

Putin said he was 'not an expert' in nerve agents, but if Yulia (pictured) and Sergei Skripal were poisoned with it they would have died 'right on the spot'

After making an apparent full recovery, she said: 'The fact that a nerve agent was used to do this is shocking. My life has been turned upside down.'

A two inch scar was visible across her windpipe as she spoke - thought to be from an emergency tracheotomy performed by paramedics battling to save her life.

She was in a coma for 33 days following the near-fatal attack in Salisbury city centre.

At a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week, Putin made a similar statement about Mr Skripal.

He wished him good health but said

The President said: 'God grant him good health... If a military-grade poison had been used, the man would have died on the spot. Thank God he recovered and that he left (hospital).'
Lyle Burgess, 79, of Stockton, California, will face no jail and does not even have to register as a sex offender, after he pleaded no contest to statutory rape

A wealthy business owner has been sentenced to just 90 days on house arrest for raping a five-year-old girl.

Lyle Burgess, 79, of Stockton, California, will face no jail and does not even have to register as a sex offender, after he pleaded no contest to statutory rape.

Burgess raped the little girl, the daughter of a family friend, after inviting the family to stay with him at his Calaveras County cabin back in 2016, Fox 40 reports.

'They trusted this man, he was a family friend, and he took advantage of them,' family attorney Ken Meleyco said.

The lawyer said that the young victim, now 7, is struggling to recover from the assault.

'The girl is not doing good,' Meleyco said. 'She's showing all the symptoms of somebody who's been molested. She's in counseling, and she's gonna be in counseling all her life.'

California law states that sex with a child aged ten or younger is a felony which can be punishable with imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years to life.

However, and it is unclear why, Burgess was only charged with statutory rape. Penalties can still include up to four years in state prison and Burgess' crime would fall under the most severe category for punishment under statutory rape - where the defendant is 21 or older and the minor is under the age of 16.

Family attorney Ken Meleyco said that the young victim, now 7 is struggling to recover from the assault

'Normally the sentence is state prison and then when you're released, you have to register as a sex offender,' Meleyco said.

The family attorney believes that Burgess, the founder of an automotive parts specialist for classic cars, Rare Parts Inc, used his wealth and influence as a businessman to influence his lenient sentence.

'He's obviously very wealthy and it's just an example of how the wealthy people, time and time again, escape the penalty for what they did,' the attorney said.

Deputy District Attorney Kathy Murray has not responded to KTXL's requests for comment on the unusually lenient sentence.

Burgess's family declined to give any comment when approached at home in an upscale gated community in Stockton.

The victim and her family have filed a civil suit against Burgess.
The head of a union that represents U.S. Border Patrol agents criticized the Trump administration on Friday for deploying National Guard troops to regions of the border where they do little of consequence.

National Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd is frustrated by the lack of relief his members have seen despite 1,600 guardsmen and women working alongside them.

'We have seen no benefit,' Judd told the Los Angeles Times, calling the effort a 'colossal waste of resources.'

'We generally support the administration, but we're not going to be cheerleading when things are not going well,' he added.

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd says Donald Trump's National Guard deployment isn't helping his members much with their work on the U.S.-Mexico border

Trump won the union's endorsement in 2016 and says the Guard troops are a critical part of his border strategy  but a union spokesman says they're now doing 'busy work'

Guardsmen are armed fighters, but they have been relegated to background tasks like fixing roads and welding gates

Aaron Hull, chief patrol agent of the U. S. Customs and Border Protection's El Paso Sector, will soon have a new wall but Guard troops won't be allowed to patrol it

His union endorsed Trump in 2016, and the president touted that atta-boy as proof that his plan to strengthen America's southern border was in line with the priorities of front-line agents who see drug- and human-smuggling firsthand.

Previous presidents have requested Guard troops from border-state governors who command them, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush, and border agents expected to be freed to do more interdiction.

'When I found out the National Guard was going to be on the border I was extremely excited,' Judd said, but their efforts haven't taken the pressure off officers doing the work the president frequently says is a critical part of his national security strategy.

'That has not happened at all,' he said.

Border Patrol Acting Chief Carla Provost said Guard troops have technically been deployed to the border.

Guardsmen are forbidden to watch the Mexico side of the border because they're part of the military and that might be considered 'spying'

Border Patrol agents man the front lines of America's border-security strategy, intercepting drug shipments and stopping illegal border-crossers; National Guard troops are only playing a support role

But she acknowledged that they're required to partner with a federal agents whose authority includes domestic law enforcement any time they are on a patrol where they might encounter illegal immigrants or take part in drug interdiction.

With that hurdle in place, Pentagon and Border Patrol officials have mostly chosen to use the Guard in support roles like remote surveillance and airborne support.

Agent Chris Cabrera, a union spokesman, said Guard troops are being stationed far from the border  sometimes doing redundant or needless tasks.

Many are fixing roads and welding gates. 'Busy work,' he said, describing their contributions many miles from the Rio Grande.

'It's a far cry from the last deployment when they were on the levies.'

A Defense Department spokesman told the Times that the Pentagon wants 'to match the right number of troops to do the jobs that are needed, not just provide a certain number of troops.'

California Gov. Jerry Brown has set rules of engagement for the National Guard detachment that he commands: They aren't permitted to do anything that contributes to the enforcement of federal immigration law

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey spoke to Arizona National Guard soldiers prior to deployment to the Mexico border at the Papago Park Military Reservation in April

U.S. Border Patrol hasn't said how many of the National Guard troops have been permitted to patrol the border. In California, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has forbidden them from participating in activities that could be seen as federal immigration enforcement.

Even in Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott calls the shots, troops from his Guard units aren't allowed to train their eyes on Mexican territory  not even with remote cameras  because, as the Times reports, 'that's considered spying.'

A Pentagon official tossed the hot potato back to the governors, saying that they, not the federal government, set the rules of engagement.

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Katie Waldman told the Times that the Guard deployment 'clearly and unquestionably been a success with thousands of additional apprehensions and millions of dollars of drugs kept out of our country.'

According to Border Patrol, Guard troops have 'assisted' with deporting 3,924 illegal immigrants, stopping another 1,116 and sending them back to Mexico, and seizing 3,486 pounds of marijuana.

But their role has been entirely behind the scenes, operating equipment and technological outposts.

Judd said previous Guard deployments in 2010 and 2014 were different.

'They were allowed to do a lot more than they are under the Trump administration,' he said. 'They were allowed to be in lookout and observation posts. They were allowed to be out grading the roads and mending fences. They were allowed to be our eyes and ears, freeing us up.'
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The King and Queen of Belgium have joined European nobility at the funeral of a German duke who died in his vintage Porsche.

Duke Friedrich of Wurttemberg, 56, was killed in a crash earlier this month as he tried to overtake a tractor on a rural road in south-western Germany.

The duke, who was distantly related to the British royal family through a fourth great-grandfather of the Queen, was the heir to the House of Wurttemberg, one of Germany's many defunct monarchies.

The two families were also related through the Queen's grandmother, Mary of Teck, who was born into a branch of the Wurttemberg dynasty.

Some 2,000 people went to his Catholic funeral today in Altshausen, in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, including current head of state King Philippe of Belgium and his wife Queen Mathilde.

King Philippe of Belgium and his wife, Queen Mathilde, attend the funeral of the German duke Friedrich of Wurttemberg

The King and Queen of Belgium, both dressed in black, hold hands at the funeral of the German Duke of Wurttemberg

Duke Friedrich of Wurttemberg's widow, Duchess Marie (left) and his heir Duke Wilhelm (centre) at the funeral today

The Duke's widow Duchess Marie and his eldest son Duke Wilhelm at the funeral service in Germany today

Duchess Elizabeth of Bavaria, who belongs to a royal house linked to the Jacobites, and her husband Daniel Terberger

Who was Friedrich, Duke of Wurttemberg? Friedrich was born in 1961 at Friedrichshafen castle in south Germany, one of the properties belonging to the former royal house. He served in the German Army after leaving school and reached the rank of colonel in the reserves. In 1993 he married now-Duchess Marie, who was born in Munich and descended from a different former royal family. His father Carl, 81, remains head of the house of Wurttemberg. Friedrich was the eldest of six siblings. His sisters Mathilde and Fleur and brothers Eberhard, Phillipp and Michael are all still living. Advertisement

Also present were the descendants of other former German royal families, including a Duchess of Bavaria. The Bavarian royal family are regarded as the heirs to the Jacobite pretenders in Britain.

Other representatives of defunct royal families included an Archduke and Archduchess of Austria, descended from the Habsburg family, as well as a Prince of Baden who is related to Britain's Prince Philip.

There was room for 420 mourners in the church, while spectators watched a broadcast of the service in a tent or from a gallery in the castle where the family lives, the German newspaper Bild reported.

The church then opened to locals, who had been watching the service on a big screen, to pay their respects.

Friedrich leaves his wife, Marie, Duchess of Wurttemberg, and three grown children, Duke Wilhelm, 23, Duchess Marie-Amelie, 22, and Duchess Sophie-Dorothee, 20.

The last King of Wurttemberg, Wilhelm II - not the former German emperor - was removed from office in 1918 when all the German monarchies were abolished at the end of World War I.

Police said Friedrich died in a head-on collision while overtaking a tractor in his Porsche, having failed to notice the oncoming driver.

At the time of the crash the Duke's family said they were 'deeply shaken'.

Bernhard, Prince of Baden, who is related to Britain's Prince Philip, at the funeral with his wife Princess Stephanie

King Philippe of Belgium and his wife Queen Mathilde of Belgium attended the ceremony for the German duke

Archduke Michael and Archduchess Christiana of Austria, descendants of a branch of the Habsburg family, at today's funeral

Prince Alois of Liechtenstein and his wife, Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, pictured at the German duke's funeral

Andreas, Prince of Leiningen, and his wife Princess Alexandra, the heir to a line created by the Holy Roman Emperor in 1779

Albrecht, the Prince of Oettingen-Spielberg, a noble family in the same state of Baden-Wurttemberg in south-west Germany

King Philippe of Belgium and Queen Mathilde of Belgium were among the European nobility to attend the German funeral

Prince Albert of Thurn und Taxis, the billionaire heir to a dynasty dating back to the Holy Roman Empire

The Duke, pictured, was killed in a car crash earlier this month when trying to overtake a tractor in his vintage Porsche

The scene after the crash in Ebenweiler, Baden-Wurttemberg, where the Duke was killed while overtaking a tractor

They said: 'Friedrich Duke of Wurttemberg headed the Hofkammer of the House of Wurttemberg, the private administration of the house.

'Through his extensive commitment, he has been very involved in many social and cultural institutions in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg.

'The ducal family and the entire House of Wurttemberg are deeply shaken.'

The other driver and his two passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Duke Friedrich's son, Wilhelm, will succeed him as heir to the house.

The House of Wurttemberg also retains its castles at Monrepos, Altshausen and Friedrichshafen.
A Republican lawmaker and his wife turned his government staff into their personal servants, using them and the office interns to perform menial tasks such as grocery shopping, playing chauffeur, and even cleaning up after the couple's dog Sophie.

Virginia Representative Tom Garrett and his wife, Flanna, were like characters out of a Shakespearean play, according to descriptions of their actions outlined in a report in Politico.

The duo used staff to make their personal lives easier, asking them to run errands that were not a part of their official duties, multiple ex-aides told the news site.

Virginia Representative Tom Garrett and his wife, Flanna, used staff to make their personal lives easier, asking them to run errands that were not a part of their official duties.

Rep. Tom Garrett and his wife Flanna, pictured here at his swearing-in ceremony with Speaker Paul Ryan (right), demanded staff pick up groceries, chauffeur Garrett's daughters, fetch clothes, and clean up after their Jack Russell-Pomeranian mix Sophie.

The degrading demands including asking their staff, who are paid with taxpayer money, to pick up groceries, chauffeur Garrett's daughters to and from his Virginia district, fetch clothes that the congressman forgot at his Washington apartment, and clean up after their Jack Russell-Pomeranian mix Sophie.

'I didn't know who I was working for: Was I working for him? Was I working for her?' one staffer said. 'We became their gofers.'

House rules forbid members of Congress from employing their spouses in their office.

The staffers said they feared that if they refused either of the couple's orders they would be punished professionally since both Garretts were known for explosive tempers. They asked Politico to reveal their names out of fear of retribution.

And many of the allegedly inappropriate requests were made of interns, they said.

The former staffers blamed Flanna Garrett, the congressman's second wife, for the requests, describing how she reigned over the office.

Flanna Garrett came to the office nearly every day, the former staffers said, and told aides her husband was unavailable to help her with the menial chores she assigned them.

She also reached out to them at all hours of the night, aides claimed.

One staffer said he'd been asked to pick her up from the grocery store, drive her to the couple's apartment and help her unload the groceries.

Another aide recalled being berated by Flanna for not picking up the congressman from their apartment after he overslept.

Garrett also asked staff to run errands, such as going to his apartment to get him fresh clothes if he spilled something or if he forgot his belt.

And Sophie was a constant presence in the office, with staff expected to watch her and clean up after her when she defecated on the floor. But the aides noted the couple often forgot the dog at the end of the day, requiring a staffer to bring Sophie to the Garrett's apartment.

Sophie was a flower girl in their wedding, according to the IJR, which named her Number 21 on a list of The 25 Cutest Dogs on Capitol Hill.

Several members of Congress bring their pets to the office. Some bring their young children to Capitol Hill for a week in the summer when schools are on recess.

But it's unheard of for a lawmaker to allow his spouse access to the office on a daily basis and to issue orders to his staff.

The House Ethics manual explicitly bars lawmakers from using staff to perform personal errands.

Sophie was a flower girl in the Garretts wedding and staff were required to clean up after her.

The House Ethics manual explicitly bars lawmakers like Rep. Tom Garrett from using staff to perform personal errands.

Garrett's spokesman declined to address the complaints.

'We see no reason to respond to anonymous, unfounded allegations primarily targeting Congressman Garrett's wife, made by POLITICO's "unnamed" sources,' Matt Missen told Politico. 'It is easy to spread untruths and even easier to exaggerate and imply wrongdoing when none exists.'

Missen said there is 'no ethics investigation' into the office and that 'to ensure that all staff follow the rules, Congressman Garrett has had lawyers from the House Ethics Committee to meet with him and his staff (to include district staff via telephone) to brief everyone on the ethics rules pertaining to congressmen and staff, and to answer any questions.'

Since taking office in January 2017, Garrett has had among the highest levels of turnover in the House, according to Legistorm.

More than 60 percent of his staff left last year. The average turnover rate is 25 percent.

Garrett hinted at a temper in a profile in Roll Call last week when he talked about throwing a 'mini fit' after his vote on a piece of legislation didn't register because he was wearing the wrong reading glasses when he cast it.

'We had a vote that didn't register. There's film of me on the floor putting my card in, pressing the button. It didn't register. I called the leadership team and kind of threw a mini-fit.  They reviewed it and said, 'Well, you were in there and put the card in but it didn't register.' I didn't have my distance reading glasses with me at the time so I couldn't look up at the board,' he said.

Hints of the behind-the-scene turmoil in the dysfunctional office were exposed Tuesday when Garrett's chief of staff, Jimmy Keady, abruptly parted ways with the congressman.

He left because of a dispute with Garrett over the couple's alleged misuse of official resources, sources told Politico.

On Wednesday Garrett was said to telling friends and colleagues he would not be seeking re-election in November.

But on Thursday, during a rambling 30-minute news conference, he said he would be on the ballot again.

'There is no way in heck that I'm not going to be back here in 2019 as a member of the Congress representing the 5th District of Virginia. Too darn much is at stake,' he said.
A new book claims to have fresh evidence that proves the theory a Jewish woman executed for collaborating with the Nazis betrayed Anne Frank and her family.

The world-famous diarist was arrested by the Gestapo in Amsterdam in August 1944 where her and her mother, father and sister had been hiding.

They stormed the canalside warehouse on the city's Prisengracht and were eventually taken to concentration camps to die.

Theories that a Jewish woman called Ans van Dijk informed on the Frank family have never been proven - but a new book is determined to do just that.

It has been written by a man called Gerard Kremer, 70, who is the son of a member of the Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and has the same name.

A new book has been published that claims to have fresh evidence which proves the theory a Jewish woman executed for collaborating with the Nazis betrayed Anne Frank (pictured)

Kremer claims his father, who died in 1978, knew Van Dijk because he worked as a caretaker in the same building as the Dutch Nazi organisation the NSB.

Pictured: Ans Van Djik was executed after admitting to being involved in the capture of 145 people

He claims that after the Jewish woman was arrested by Nazi intelligence on Easter Sunday 1943, she regularly turned up at the Nazi offices in disguise.

Kremer also writes that in August 1944 his father heard Van Dijk talking to people in the offices about Prinsengracht - where the Franks were hiding in a canalside warehouse.

Anne, her father Otto, mother Edith and sister Margot were arrested on August 4 while Van Dijk was away in The Hague.

Ans van Dijk was executed after Hitler fell for her involvement in the capture of 145 people - including her brother and his family.

Anne Frank House told The Guardian the museum has contacted Kremer, who wrote The Backyard of the Secret Annex, but they see no proof of Van Dijk's guilt.

A spokesman told the newspaper: 'We consider Gerard Kremer's book as a tribute to his parents, based on what he remembers and has heard.

It's been written by a man called Gerard Kremer, 70, whose father claims to have been an acquaitance of Ans van Dijk in Amsterdam near where the Franks were hiding (Anne Frank's House pictured today left and during the war right)

'In 2016, the Anne Frank House carried out research into the arrest of the Frank family and the other four people in hiding in the secret annex.

'Ans van Dijk was included as a potential traitor in this study. We have not been able to find evidence for this theory, nor for other betrayal theories.'

Simone van Hoof, a spokesman for the book's publishing house, Lantaarn, said: 'We can't claim that this is 100% the answer but we really do think it is a part of the puzzle that may be able to complete the story.'
Mario Batali's three Las Vegas Strip restaurants will shut down July 27, officials said Friday, as the celebrity chef faces sexual misconduct allegations from multiple women.

Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group partner Joe Bastianich sent a letter to nearly 300 workers about the closures of Carnevino Italian Steakhouse, B&B Ristorante and Otto Enoteca e Pizzeria at The Venetian and Palazzo resorts. He promised to visit the restaurants to speak to employees.

The letter said Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns both properties, was ending the business relationship. Sands Corp. issued a statement confirming the closure.

'These restaurants have continued to succeed, and they are a tribute to every one of you who works in them and brings great dining experiences to our guests,' Bastianich's letter reads. 'Unfortunately, our partner in these restaurants, Las Vegas Sands Corp., has decided to end our relationship.'

Three of celebrity chef Mario Batali's Las Vegas restaurants are closing just days after it was announced the NYPD are investigating allegations of sexual misconduct

Employees of Carnevino Italian Steakhouse, B&B Ristorante and Otto Enoteca e Pizzeria, pictuted, all located in The Venetian and Palazzo resorts, were informed of the decision Friday

300 employees which include those working at Carnevino Italian Steakhouse, pictured, were told Friday morning morning in a letter from B&B Hospitality Group partner Joe Bastianich

It goes on to promise: 'I am committed to continuing our presence in Las Vegas. I am beginning to explore options, but it will take some time to execute them.'

'We would like to thank the team members of B&B Restaurant Group for their dedication and many contributions to The Venetian and The Palazzo. We appreciate the hard work and energy of director of operations Zach Allen, Chef/Culinary Director Nicole Brisson and the rest of this team. At this time, there are no other plans for the space,' the statement continued.

Bastianich is scheduled to visit the restaurants Friday to speak to employees about the next two months of operation as well as how the company plans to help them transition to new positions.

The move came days after police in New York confirmed an investigation into a woman's claim on 60 Minutes that Batali drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2005.

In the piece, a woman recounted waking up in The Spotted Pig restaurant in New York, in which Batali was invested, remembering having sat on Batali's lap the previous evening, kissing him and vomiting in a toilet.

She said that she believed she had been drugged and that Batali had done something 'very wrong.'

On Sunday night, a former employee of Batali (above) said on 60 Minutes that she believes the chef may have drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2005

The NYPD has opened an investigation into Batali, but a spokesperson would not confirm if it was in response to the 2004 rape allegation (Batali above at The Spotted Pig in 2009)

The employees were told of their pending unemployment in a letter on Friday morning

Wife: Batali and his wife Susan (above) appear to still be together in spit of the allegations being made by these women, and the couple have two teenage sons

The segment also featured a former manager at the Spotted Pig who said she intervened after seeing Batali assaulting a woman she believed to be unconscious or semi-conscious.

The New York Police Department is now investigating allegations raised in the '60 Minutes' report.

Batali denies assaulting the woman.

A Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group representative said the company decided to close the Las Vegas restaurants before the 60 Minutes report aired

Batali stepped down in December from daily operations at his restaurant empire and cooking show The Chew after four women accused him of inappropriate touching over a period of 20 years.

Batali has apologized for those encounters.

Batali had amassed a vast culinary empire  his brand spanned dozens of restaurants in six U.S. states and Singapore, and his name was attached to several culinary products. He also authored more than a dozen cookbooks.

Batali has had a strong presence in Southern California, including his Mozza restaurants in Los Angeles and Newport Beach and the Eataly marketplaces that opened in New York City and LA.
The president's daughter Ivanka is taking her star power to the fundraising circuit.

Trump will be the guest of honor at events benefiting endangered House Republicans on June 18, Politico reports. She's making appearances in Los Angeles and Fresno at the invitation of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

'Ivanka developed a strong relationship with Leader McCarthy during their efforts to Pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and its Child Tax Credit provisions,' a White House official said. 'They also worked closely on Seta/Fosta legislation to combat online sex trafficking.'

The fundraisers feed into the a joint committee that McCarthy operates with Vice President Mike Pence called Protect the House.

The president's daughter Ivanka is taking her star power to the fundraising circuit.

Ivanka Trump is seen departing from her house on Friday morning. She's making appearances in Los Angeles and Fresno at the invitation of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in June for House Republicans

Luggage is loaded into a minivan at the home of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Washington, D.C. on Friday

McCarthy is likely to become speaker of the legislative body if Republicans hold onto Congress in the midterm elections this fall. The House's current speaker, Paul Ryan, is retiring from politics at the end of his current term.

A senior adviser at the White House to her father, Ivanka, who finally received top-level security clearance this week after waiting 16 months for it, has traveled the country promoting the GOP's tax cut plan, but the fundraisers with McCarthy are her first 2018 campaign events.

Her travel schedule is part of a broader shift in focus within the Trump administration to the upcoming elections. President Trump has also ramped up his activity, holding rallies this month in Indiana and Tennessee.

As McCarthy prepares to ascend to the House's top leadership position, the California congressman has cozied up to the president, dining with him at his private property in Florida and regularly attending White House events.

Trump thanked the lawmaker profusely at a May 16 event on sanctuary cities for sticking by him on the issue of illegal immigration, even though his position is in opposition to many liberal Californians'.

The president called McCarthy a 'special friend of mine' and said 'he is very, very popular.

'And I just recently saw a poll of Kevin. I think the opposition might as well just go home, because Kevin, they love him out there and hes done an incredible job. Hes brought it home,' Trump said. 'And we appreciate it, Kevin, the great job youve done for the country. Thank you very much.'

The fundraisers feed into the a joint committee that McCarthy, pictured, operates with Vice President Mike Pence called Protect the House

A senior adviser at the White House to her father, Ivanka, who finally received top-level security clearance this week after waiting 16 months for it, has traveled the country promoting the GOP's tax cut plan

At the long White House event on curbing illegal immigration Trump also told him, 'We want to thank you, Kevin. You have done an incredible job. Youre sort of going against the tide, but now the tide is sort of with us because you see it in the room.'

'And, Kevin, thank you very much. Youre doing really great.'

The president said he believes McCarthy is the one to finally shepherd immigration reform through the House of Representatives during the event where he made his controversial comments about MS-13 gang members as 'animals.'

'You wouldnt believe how bad these people are. These arent people. These are animals. And were taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate thats never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. Its crazy,' Trump stated.

'The dumbest laws  as I said before, the dumbest laws on immigration in the world. So were going to take care of it ... Were going to ask that man right there, because that man can do it. Right now hes the most important man in the room. Kevin can do it.'
Western air superiority is under threat from new fighter jets, missiles, and stealth tech developed by Russia and China, the RAF chief warns.

Air Chief Marshall Stephen Hillier said Britain's rivals were more competitive in the skies than any time since the Cold War, and catching up.

'The global situation has changed, and fast,' he said at a ceremony in Paris on Friday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force, of which his is the head.

Western air superiority is under threat from new fighter jets, missiles, and stealth tech developed by Russia and China, RAF chief Air Chief Marshall Stephen Hillier warns

'The global situation has changed, and fast,' he said at a ceremony in Paris on Friday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force (pictured)

'We need to wake up to the fact that the control of air space too is being contested to a degree we have not witnessed in the post Cold War years.'

Marshall Hillier said Russia's sophisticated surface-to-air missiles and fifth-generation fighter jets would challenge Western technological superiority.

China was also investing heavily in new stealth fighter jet technology as part of a vast overhaul of its armed forces.

He said Russia was 'the most telling and pressing example' of the increasing threat to Western nations in a changing world.

'It is now clear that the threat posed to our societies and their national interests by state actors and their proxies has grown to proportions we have not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union,' he said.

French air force chief Andre Lanata pointed to the loss of an Israeli F16 fighter jet over Syria in February, which was hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire, as an illustration of the dangers.

French air force chief Andre Lanata (pictured) pointed to the loss of an Israeli F16 fighter jet over Syria in February as an illustration of the dangers

The two air force top brass attended the ceremony at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris to mark 100 years after the RAF was officially formed at the end of World War I

'Our adversaries, our rivals have understood the advantage we have from our aerial power... today they are developing increasingly robust strategies to keep us out of the air,' he said.

He urged policymakers to 'really understand that control of air space in the future will be contested to an unprecedented degree.

'It's a major issue for our defence,' he added.

The two air force top brass attended the ceremony at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris to mark 100 years after the RAF was officially formed at the end of World War I.

A French Rafale fighter jets (top right) performs a fly during a ceremony to celebrate the centenary of the RAF at the Hotel des Invalides

Gavin Williamson (pictured at a Red Arrows even in Downing Street this week) insisted Britain must bolster the armed forces to counter Russian aggression

The air chiefs' warning came a day after UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said Vladimir Putin was 'challenging us in every domain' and the threat was the highest since the Cold War.

He highlighted dozens of incursions by Russian fighter jets and ships that the RAF and Navy have needed to respond to.

The chilling warning came as Mr Williamson wrestled with the Treasury to secure more funding for the armed forces.

In a dramatic intervention on Thursday he raised the spectre of nuclear war - saying the UK could have to deploy Trident if its conventional forces were not strong enough.
Court sketches of Harvey Weinstein have flooded the internet as social media users express their confusion, amusement and shock at the artist's rendering of the disgraced Hollywood producer.

The artist Jane Rosenberg, who made headlines for her Tom Brady court sketch back in 2015, found herself the talk of the town again on Friday for her rendering of Weinstein.

A handcuffed Weinstein appeared in a Manhattan court to face charges of rape and other sex crimes against two of the scores of women who have accused him of misconduct, ending his reign as a Hollywood kingpin.

Court sketches of Harvey Weinstein have flooded the internet as social media users express their confusion, amusement and shock at the artist's rendering of the disgraced Hollywood producer

The court sketches emphasized the size of Weinstein's stomach, prompting some to suggest to showed the artist didn't care too much for the alleged rapist

Many social media users were quick to point out that the former Hollywood producer was unrecognizable in the court sketches.

Others took great delight in mocking her representation of Weinstein's rotund stomach and pointed out that it appeared Rosenberg didn't care too much for the alleged rapist.

'The sketch artist in court with Harvey Weinstein has really captured his essence,' one Twitter user wrote.

'V happy Weinstein wore that periwinkle blue sweather. Made for some excellently grotesque court room sketches,' another said.

Another tweet praised the artist, saying: 'The Harvey Weinstein courtroom sketch artist is my new favorite artist.'

The artist, who made headlines for her Tom Brady court sketch back in 2015, found herself the talk of the town again on Friday for her rendering of Weinstein

Many were quick to point out that the former Hollywood producer was unrecognizable in the court sketches

Others took great delight in mocking her representation of Weinstein's rotund stomach

Some pointed out that it appeared Rosenberg didn't care too much for the alleged rapist given her rendering of him

This Twitter user offered up some advice for the artist: 'If I were the courtroom sketch artist working as they brought in Harvey Weinstein, I would have drawn the most detailed, veiny, hairy-balled, appalling d**k - added legs and called it a f**king day.'

The sketches emerged in the hours after the once-powerful Hollywood figure faced court after being charged with rape and criminal sex acts involving two women.

It was a searing reckoning for the man who has become a symbol of a worldwide outcry over sexual misconduct.

This sketch was done by a different courtroom sketch artist with social media users saying it looked more like stand-up comedian Bob Newhart

This sketch showed a handcuffed Weinstein standing next to his attorney before the judge

'This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually,' Manhattan Assistant Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said later, in words that brought raised eyebrows from the otherwise stony-faced Weinstein.

The charges stem from encounters with two of the dozens of women - some famous, some not - who have accused him of sexual misdeeds.

The sketches emerged in the hours after the once-powerful Hollywood figure faced court after being charged with rape and criminal sex acts involving two women

The rape charge involves a woman who has not come forward publicly; the other is a onetime aspiring actress who was among his first accusers.

Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex.

His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said on Friday that he would fight to get the charges dismissed.

Jane Rosenberg was previously poked fun of for her sketch of Tom Brady in court - seen back far right

He began to take aim at the accusations and accusers, noting that the alleged attacks weren't reported to police when they happened and suggesting potential jurors wouldn't believe the women.

'Assuming we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case,' he said.

Weinstein was released on $1 million bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on traveling beyond New York and Connecticut.
Former President Barack Obama took a swipe at his successor, telling an audience at a technology conference in Las Vegas this week that his eight years in office were largely free of scandals.

'I didnt have scandals, which seems like it shouldnt be something to brag about,' Obama jokingly remarked on Wednesday at the Oktane18, a three-day event hosted by the security software company Okta.

Upon further reflection, Obama concluded that emerging from the White House with ones reputation largely intact is no small feat.

Speaker-in-chief: Former President Barack Obama delivered the keynote address at the Oktane18 tech conference in Las Vegas Wednesday

Obama took a swipe at Donald Trump, telling the audience: 'I didnt have scandals, which seems like it shouldnt be something to brag about'

If you look at the history of the modern presidency, coming out of the modern presidency without anybody going to jail is really good. It's a big deal, he said, according to Newsweek.

Obama noted that no one in his administration got in trouble for making a mistake, as long as there was no malicious intent behind the slip-up.

Obama's critics on the right and the left would most certainly disagree with his assessment of his presidency, pointing to the 2012 attack on US diplomats in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans; his failure to close the prison at Gauntanamo Bay; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' disastrous gun-tracking operation Fast and Furious, and the bungled rollout of the Affordable Care Act website, to name a few.

Embattled: President Donald Trump has been plagued by a long string of scandals nearly from day one

President Donald Trump has been plagued by a long string of scandals nearly from day one, including allegations of collusion with Russia during the election and subsequent obstruction of justice; paying $130,000 in hush money to cover up an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels; institution of a ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries, and his handling of the violent clashes between white supremacists and anti-fascist activists in Charlottesville, where Trump said there were very fine people on both sides.

The long list of controversial decisions the Trump administration has made in the past year and a half also includes withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which led to deadly protests.

This week, Trump added to that list the abrupt cancellation of what would have been a historic summit with Kim Jong Un after officials in North Korea called Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy.

In his keynote address in Las Vegas, Obama shed some light on his decision-making process as president, explaining that he would often have to work with probabilities of success versus failure in any given situation, from the government bailout of American automakers during the financial crisis to the Osama bin Laden raid, reported the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Stormy Daniels told how she had an affair with Trump and was then paid $130,000 to keep quiet about it

Rob Porter, pictured right, is the former White House staff secretary who stepped down after allegations that he had abused his two former wives. Pictured left, Special Counsel Robert Mueller who has been carrying out a probe into collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia

Myeshia Johnson, widow of U.S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson, who was among four special forces soldiers killed in Niger, is escorted into his graveside service in Hollywood, Florida, October 21, 2017

I used to describe the nature of the presidency as having to make decisions about issues that nobody else could solve or are basically insolvable or at least not perfectly solvable, Obama said. By definition, if a problem had an obvious solution to it, somebody else would have solved it before it got to me.

On a lighter note, Obama, who moved with his family into a sprawling mansion in Washington DC after leaving office, joked about having to make his own coffee and fighting for closet space with wife Michelle and daughter Sasha.
A Connecticut woman who was just launching her career as a pediatric surgeon saved and adopted a infant girl who suffered a rare birth defect in 2006.

Dr. Christine Finck - now the surgeon-in-chief at Connecticut Children's Medical Center - received the call of her life, one February night around 11pm, while she was an attending physician at a children's hospital in Philadelphia.

'I wiped the sleep from my eyes and listened to the neonatal intensivist tell me about a premature baby being born at another hospital with gastroschisis,' she said in a blog post.

Dr. Christine Finck received the call, one February night around 11pm, while she was an attending physician at a children's hospital in Philadelphia and was told that a premature baby needed her help

Gastroschisis is a condition that causes a baby's intestine to be outside of their body and is extremely rare. It effects 1,800 people each year in the country, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

She added: 'I was struck by the small peanut that greeted me. Despite having all her intestines not where they were supposed to be, she was feisty! Her bright blue eyes seemed to be smiling at me.'

Speaking with the infant's young mother, Dr. Finck shared her plans with the mom and learned that the girl's name was Isabelle.

She was told that a premature baby was born with gastroschisis, a rare birth defect that effects 1,800 people in the U.S. annually. It is a condition that causes a baby's intestine to be outside of their body and is extremely rare

When Isabelle's mother struggled to adequately take care of the infant, she visited Dr. Finck who offered to adopt the girl

'The first year of Isabelle's life was extremely tough. She required many operations to help fix her intestines,' said Dr. Finck.

'She was on intravenous nutrition and fought many infections. I was her primary surgeon and I would take care of her every day. I would always end my visit by holding her tiny hand.'

And when one of the nurses shared that 'I think you are going to take this one home,' the doctor was stunned by such a statement but would soon learn that that would be the case.

Dr Finck said: 'Right then and there I blurted out- "I can take her". I remember thinking, "Wow, who said that?!" And then her mom stated, "Oh that would be great. You know her the best"'

Things quickly took a turn when Isabelle was slated to go home just before her first birthday.

Still on IV nutrition and with a feeding tube in her stomach, Isabelle also had a huge IV line under her collar bone.

But her young mother struggled to adequately make ends meet for Isabella, as she didn't have consistent support at home.

Isabelle is now in the seventh grade and shared with the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center Foundation that she is 'glad [her] mom was [her] surgeon because she could take the best care of me'

'She loved Isabelle and made an effort to take care of her. However, after 2 nights, she brought her to my office. I remember vividly how her face turned red, and she shyly stated that she just could not keep her. There was no family that could help,' the mother-of-three said.

'Right then and there I blurted out- "I can take her". I remember thinking, "Wow, who said that?!" And then her mom stated, "Oh that would be great. You know her the best."'

But soon after, the doctor called her husband and he was quick to be in agreement.

Isabelle is now in the seventh grade and shared with the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center Foundation that she is 'glad [her] mom was [her] surgeon because she could take the best care of me.'

Isabelle loves music, swimming and her friends and finds that science is one of her favorite subject.

'Shes kind and sweet, she helps me with my homework and always looks forward to playing with me,' Madeline (in passenger seat), Isabelle's nine-year-old sister, added.

Hallmark stores in Meriden, Shelton, Trumbull and West Farms will make it so that people can donate to the center in honor of the doctor

'Shes kind and sweet, she helps me with my homework and always looks forward to playing with me,' Madeline, Isabelle's nine-year-old sister, added.

For her mother, the trials of motherhood have helped mold her into a better doctor to help other youth.

'It absolutely makes me more empathetic to what other parents are facing. Its funny, going through surgical training and then pediatric surgery, I always said I didnt have children before, mainly because it just wasnt the right time or whatever, but Im happy I waited because I think that some of the emotional connections that you have, could really have derailed me a bit,' Dr. Finck said to Fox 61.

'You realize that youre taking care of not only the kids, but their parents, and theres a lot that goes into it. And once youre a mom, you see the whole thing'

Hallmark stores in Meriden, Shelton, Trumbull and West Farms will make it so that people can donate to the center in honor of the doctor.
Ireland is set to vote in favour of looser abortion laws with exit polls predicting landslide victory for the Yes vote in Friday's referendum.

An Ipsos/MRBI poll conducted for the Irish Times expects 68 per cent for the Yes camp after weeks of campaigning led by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Seventy per cent of women voted yes along with 65 per cent of men, and all aged groups under 65 were in favour of the ballot.

An exit poll by Irish broadcaster RTE predicted a Yes vote of 69.4 per cent in Ireland's abortion referendum, while nn Ipsos/MRBI poll expected a similar 68 per cent result

Yes vote supporters celebrate the exit polls meaning their side will likely prevail in the ballot

Two Yes voters wearing 'repeal' shirts toast their likely victory following the exit polls

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a former doctor who led the Yes campaign, welcomed the exit poll with the expectation it would be confirmed when ballots were counted.

'Thank you to everyone who voted today. Democracy in action. It's looking like we will make history tomorrow...' he wrote on Twitter.

A massive 87 per cent of voters aged 18 to 24 said they voted Yes, with changing demographics expected to have a significant pull on the result.

Yes heartland Dublin was predicted to vote 77 per cent in favour and rural Ireland, where the most resistance was expected, had a 60 per cent prediction.

Even Connacht-Ulster on Ireland's west coast, which was expected to have the most No votes, has 59 per cent say they cast their ballots to repeal.

Father Ted creator Graham Linehan likened the likely election result to a famous scene on his beloved TV show in a tweet following the poll

Ireland is set to vote in favour of looser abortion laws with exit polls predicting a 68 per cent Yes vote in Friday's referendum

An Ipsos/MRBI conducted for the Irish Times expects a stunning landslide for the Yes camp after weeks of campaigning

The exit poll asked 4,000 people at 160 of the about 6,500 polling places how they voted and has a margin of error of about 1.5 per cent.

Another poll by Ireland's national broadcaster RTE made a similar prediction of 69.4 per cent Yes, with 65.9 per cent of men said they were in favour along with 72.1 per cent of women.

The poll conducted by Behaviour & Attitudes asked 3,800 voters at 175 polling stations and had a 1.6 per cent margin of error.

Polls closed at 10pm and ballot counting will begin at 9am on Saturday with an official result expected later that day.

Yes voters took to the streets and pubs of Ireland after the exit polls were announced, elated that their side seemed assured of victory.

Celebrations will likely be far bigger on Saturday when the results are officially announced after counting finishes.

Jubilant Yes supporters celebrate likely victory after a long day of campaigning at polling booths

Thumbs up for victory from these three Yes supporters who hit the pubs to celebrate

Turnout could be more than 70 per cent as more than 100,000 new voters registered ahead of the poll and thousands of expats bordered planes from around the world.

It was tracking higher than both the 2015 same sex marriage referendum, which got 60.5 per cent, and the 65 per cent who voted in the 2016 general election.

If the Yes camp win the government intends to overhaul Ireland's abortion laws by the end of the year, bringing them in line with the rest of Europe.

Access to abortions would be unrestricted until 12 weeks of pregnancy, and from 12 to 24 weeks if there was a risk to the mother's life or a serious risk to her health.

None would be allowed after 24 weeks, regardless of the circumstances, which is not the case in many other countries with relaxed abortion laws.

Pro-choice campaigners now turn their attention to Northern Ireland which, despite being part of Britain, still considers abortion a crime.

Some said women north of the border would soon be able to board trains to Dublin or Dundalk to get the procedure, once the government changed the laws.

The highly contentious campaign has divided the nation, pitting young against old, town against country and church against state

Irish cast their votes to decide whether to repeal the constitution's Eighth Amendment that outlaws almost all abortions

Former shadow Northern Ireland secretary Labour's Owen Smith said the Irish exit polls showed change was also needed in his country.

'Wonderful news, if true. And a powerful message to Northern Ireland. We need change across the whole island of Ireland,' he tweeted.

Leader of Northern Ireland's Alliance Party Naomi Long said: 'Eyes will now turn to us: yet again a place apart. Behind GB. Behind Ireland.'

Abortions are only legal in Northern Ireland if the life or mental health of the mother is at risk.

Political leaders south of the border were at the forefront of efforts to liberalise the law during the referendum campaign.

However, a majority of politicians in Northern Ireland do not favour the radical law changes now proposed in their neighbouring jurisdiction.

Though there has been intense debate over whether terminations should be allowed in the cases of fatal foetal abnormalities and rape, there remains significant opposition at Stormont to unrestricted abortion access.

But campaigners for the extension of Great Britain's 1967 Abortion Act insist those politicians are out tune with wider public opinion in Northern Ireland.

Part of the high turnout is due to scores of largely young, largely Yes voters returning to Ireland from as far afield as South America, Bangkok and Australia to vote

In airport departure lounges and the arrivals hall in Dublin, ex-pats wearing Repeal jumpers and t-shirts and with 'yes' buttons affixed to their chests, hugged, celebrated, took stock of the moment, then headed to the polls

The issue is also not one easily divided along traditional orange and green lines, as there are socially conservative unionists and nationalists who are equally committed to preserving the lives of the unborn.

Irish cast their votes to decide whether to repeal the constitution's Eighth Amendment that outlaws almost all abortions.

The amendment, written after a previous referendum on the issue in 1983, considers the life of the mother and unborn child to be equal.

As the law stands, Ireland has one of the most restrictive abortion systems in Europe with women barred from the procedure even in cases of rape.

Abortions are only allowed if the mother's life is in danger. Women and doctors found breaking the law face up to 14 years in jail.

Irish cast their votes to decide whether to repeal the constitution's Eighth Amendment that outlaws almost all abortions.

The amendment, written after a previous referendum on the issue in 1983, considers the life of the mother and unborn child to be equal.

As the law stands, Ireland has one of the most restrictive abortion systems in Europe with women barred from the procedure even in cases of rape.

Abortions are only allowed if the mother's life is in danger. Women and doctors found breaking the law face up to 14 years in jail.

A mother arrives early to vote at a polling station in Dublin

Flowers are left at the foot of a new mural of Savita Halappanava put up on the day of the Abortion Referendum on liberalising abortion laws in Dublin

'Thank you to everybody who voted today - democracy can be so powerful on days like today,' Ireland's deputy premier Simon Coveney tweeted.

'Looks like a stunning result that will bring about a fundamental change for the better. Proud to be Irish tonight.'

Senator Catherine Noone, chairwoman of an Oireachtas committee which recommended the abortion law changes, tweeted: 'I'm feeling very emotional tonight - we are a great, compassionate people. So proud of us!'

UK Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt said it was a 'historic & great day for Ireland, & a hopeful one for Northern Ireland'.

'That hope must be met. #HomeToVote stories are a powerful and moving testimony as to why this had to happen and that understanding & empathy exists between generations,' she tweeted.

The leader of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland, Naomi Long, said it appeared to be an 'incredible result for #together4yes #repealthe8th'.

'Eyes will now turn to us: yet again a place apart. Behind GB. Behind Ireland,' she tweeted.

The highly contentious campaign has divided the nation, pitting young against old, town against country and church against state.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar smiled broadly as he voted in St Thomas' school in Laurel Lodge, Castleknock, confident of victory in the abortion referendum

Speaking to reporters afterward, he said he was 'quietly confident' of a victory, adding that high turnouts being reported across the country would help the Yes camp

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina were among those casting their vote in Dublin on Friday morning

Ireland's two biggest political parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, have allowed their MPs a free vote on the issue, opening up rifts between members.

Part of the high turnout is due to scores of largely young, largely Yes voters returning to Ireland from as far afield as South America, Bangkok and Australia to vote.

In airport departure lounges and the arrivals hall in Dublin, ex-pats wearing Repeal jumpers and t-shirts and with 'yes' buttons affixed to their chests, hugged, celebrated, took stock of the moment, then headed to the polls.

Mr Varadkar smiled broadly as he voted in St Thomas' school in Laurel Lodge, Castleknock, confident of victory in the abortion referendum.

Mr Varadkar wore a jacket and open neck shirt as he cast his ballot in the heart of his Dublin West constituency at around 11.15am.

'I always get a little buzz from voting, it just feels like it is democracy in action,' he said after emerging from the polling station at where morning polling was described as steady.

Ireland referendum Q&A - What is the Eighth Amendment? It is a clause in the constitution which was written after a previous referendum on the issue in 1983 recognised the right to life of the unborn child. It protects the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn and effectively prohibits abortion in most cases. Among its supporters are the Catholic church, which remains a strong presence in Ireland, though diminished from its heyday. Young people are among the most enthusiastic proponents of repeal. - What effect has it had? In 1992, women were officially given the right to travel abroad, mostly to the UK, to obtain terminations. Pro-repeal campaigners said almost 170,000 have done so. The Irish Government's deputy premier, Tanaiste Simon Coveney, has argued that effectively left Britain deciding the law for Irish women around the procedure and it was time to take back control in Ireland. - What about the women who stay in Ireland? The campaign to liberalise abortion gathered momentum after an Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar, died in hospital in Galway aged 31 when she was refused an abortion during a miscarriage. Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, said she repeatedly asked for a termination but was refused because there was a foetal heartbeat. Health service reviewers later identified failings in her care. - Did anything change? In 2013, legislation was amended to allow terminations under certain tightly restricted circumstances - the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. When doctors felt a woman's life was at risk due to complications from the pregnancy, or from suicide, they were permitted to carry out an abortion. It followed a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that terminations were permitted where the mother's life was at risk. That regime has prompted uncertainty, proponents of repeal said, with the medical profession facing possible prosecution and up to 14 years' imprisonment if they wrongfully carry out an abortion. - Was that concession enough for those seeking liberalisation? Not according to the women who were still travelling to the UK in their droves for procedures. Among them were Amanda Mellet and her husband James, who took their case to the UN's Human Rights Committee. The Committee called for reform to give women greater rights and said the ban on abortion caused cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In 2016, for the first time in its history, the Irish State compensated a woman, Mrs Mellet, for the trauma caused by forcing her to travel to Britain for an abortion. - What approach did the Government adopt? It established a public advisory body, a Citizen's Assembly, which recommended introduction of unrestricted access to abortion. Because of the Eighth Amendment, a public poll was needed before new laws could be passed, and earlier this year the country's Housing Minister, Eoghan Murphy, set the date for the abortion referendum as Friday May 25. The Government has published draft legislation to be introduced if the amendment is repealed which would allow relatively free abortions, subject to consultation with a medical professional and after a short waiting period, up to 12 weeks after gestation and up to 24 weeks with restrictions. If, after 12 weeks, a woman's life is threatened or there could be serious harm to her health two doctors will consider whether to allow the procedure. Terminations will not be carried out after the foetus becomes viable, following 24 weeks of pregnancy Advertisement

Despite the enthusiasm Mr Varadkar, said he was 'quietly confident' but warned supporters on Thursday night not to take anything for granted.

'There's been good turnout across the country so far and I'm hoping for a yes vote,' Mr Varadkar said. A high turnout would be to the advantage of the Yes campaign, he predicted.

The Yes camp is concerned that a 'silent No vote' could swing the result, as happened with Brexit and Trump.

Leader of the main opposition party, Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin, voted to repeal in his constituency in Cork while Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald also cast a Yes vote in Dublin.

However, her Sinn Fein party colleague and vocal anti-abortion campaigner Peadar Toibin called on Irish people to vote No to 'abortion on demand'.

'The irony that the referendum on abortion is being held on International Missing Children's Day will not be lost on many Irish people,' he tweeted.

Yes voters argue that Ireland's system has not stopped abortion happening, with an estimated 3,000 women going to the UK for a procedure each year

A Yes vote would mark another historic milestone for deeply Catholic Ireland which legalised contraception in 1979, divorce in 1995 and same-sex marriage in 2015

Ireland held a referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the country's constitution on May 25

A pair of nuns prepare to cast their votes in the referendum. The Catholic Church has thrown its weight behind the No campaign

'Those on the margins of society suffer most from abortion. Vote No to Abortion on Demand.'

Catherine Murphy, leader of the minority left wing party Social Democrats who eagerly supported the Yes campaign, praised the exit poll results.

'The exit poll results are strongly indicating that voters have taken on board the clear message that the Eighth Amendment harms women and must be removed from our Constitution, she said.

'While we await the counting of votes tomorrow, we are very encouraged by these early signals showing that Irish people have understood the need to vote Yes so that we can provide women with the healthcare they need in a compassionate, caring and medically safe system.'

Garda Alan Gallagher carries a polling box to a waiting helicopter on the island of Inishbofin, where just a few dozen people voted on Thursday

While those in mainland Ireland will vote on Friday, around 2,000 people on the Donegal, Galway West and Mayo islands voted on Thursday (pictured, Gola Island)

A Yes vote would mark another historic milestone for deeply Catholic Ireland which legalised contraception in 1979, divorce in 1995 and same-sex marriage in 2015.

Yes campaigners say the current system fails mothers whose children develop fatal foetal abnormalities in the womb, meaning there is no chance they will survive birth.

At the moment, such women are legally obligated to carry the baby to term and have a still birth.

They also argue that Ireland's system has not stopped abortion happening, with an estimated 3,000 women going to the UK for a procedure each year.

An unknown number also rely upon abortion drugs purchased illegally over the internet to carry out the procedure at home, risking their health and jail time.
A two-month-old who suffered a serious brain injury when she was hit by a softball, is awake and breathing on her own for the first time.

McKenna Hovenga was in her mother Kassy's arms when she struck by an overthrown softball at her father's game in Shell Rock, about 95 miles northeast of Des Moines, on May 2.

The infant was airlifted to St Mary's Hospital at Mayo Clinic where doctors found the ball had fractured the tiny baby's skull, causing two serious brain bleeds and frequent seizures.

McKenna Hovenga, who suffered a serious brain injury when she was hit by a softball, is breathing on her own for the first time

McKenna was in her mother Kassy's arms when she struck by an overthrown softball at her father's game

It's been a tense couple of weeks for her parents Kassy and Lee who have been desperately waiting for their daughter's condition to take a turn for the better. On Thursday, the family faced a rollercoaster of emotions after doctors removed McKenna's breathing tube.

The little girl's oxygen levels dropped, pushing doctors to administer steroids and a scope was performed to ensure she was breathing properly and there were no blockages.

And today, McKenna's great aunt Laura Heise, who has been running the Healing for McKenna Facebook page, confirmed that the baby girl was finally breathing on her own.

It's been a tense couple of weeks for her parents Kassy (pictured with her daughter in hospital) and Lee who have been desperately waiting for their daughter's condition to take a turn for the better

A post on the Healing for McKenna Facebook page said doctors have pinpointed her seizures to two areas of the brain that appear to have been damaged (left, before the accident, and right in hospital after)

'McKenna is off EVERYTHING breathing related!' she wrote. 'McKenna is off nasal cannula!!! She's off the Heliox!!! She's off the CPAP!!! She's off it ALL and breathing and resting comfortable for the first time since they took her off the vent!!!!'

She added that the family were extremely relieved to learn that McKenna's breathing issues had not been related to the accident.

'We were very worried that her troubles were related to her brain injury and we are so very thankful that this is not the case!' Heise added.

Heise said that the family shed 'many tears' yesterday, 'watching what she was enduring and now knowing more about what's ahead.'

'Today we're crying tears of relief, joy and thankfulness! We know that this roller coaster ride of emotions is how it's going to be for quite some time, but it sure is better to cry happy tears than it is to cry the sad ones. We feel like we're breathing easier too! Way to go, Kenna-baby!!!!'

The ball appears to have hit the front part of McKenna's skull resulting in a serious brain trauma

Eight-week-old McKenna (pictured) may have suffered brain damage after she was struck by a softball on May 2

A YouCaring page has already raised more than $70,000 to help pay for McKenna's medical bills.

The youngster has been at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, ever since the freak accident on May 2, where physicians have been balancing various medications to treat McKenna, whose skull was fractured.

A post on the Healing for McKenna Facebook page said doctors have pinpointed her seizures to two areas of the brain that appear to have been damaged. Those areas are ones that are related to motor skills and development.

The doctors are currently working to stabilize her seizures. The extent of any damage remains unclear.

But her mother Kassy got an unexpected Mother's Day gift when she was allowed to hold her daughter for the first time since her accident on May 13.

The young parents say they view McKenna as their miracle child because they had struggled to conceive for three years before the baby girl came along.

A post on the Healing for McKenna Facebook page said doctors have pinpointed her seizures to two areas of the brain that appear to have been damaged (pictured before the accident)




Like many passengers about to depart for an eagerly anticipated holiday, Antonia Collins had gone shopping in preparation.

Her purchases included costly Chanel make-up, a new perfume and designer sun cream and shampoo  luxuries she wouldn't normally splurge on but, hey, she was on holiday!

After checking in at Gatwick airport, she arrived at security for the all-too-familiar screening process.

With her new cosmetics in a clear plastic bag, she placed them in a tray on a conveyor belt next to her jacket and the rest of her luggage.

Among the hordes of holidaymakers at the packed airport, she waited in line for the metal detector. And waited.

By the time she had walked through  and, having set off the metal detector, been searched  her tray had been stacked at the end of the conveyor belt and, to her horror, the bag containing her brand-new cosmetics was nowhere to be seen.

Reports suggest people's valuables are being stolen as they go through airport security in the UK every day, with thieves managing to pocket hundreds in goods

'I was devastated,' says Antonia, 37, the director of an advertising company. 'Around 300 worth of stuff was stolen.

'The airport staff were unsympathetic and it was horrible feeling that someone close by had taken them.'

As the summer season gets under way, fuelled by the start of half-term and the Bank Holiday weekend, passengers will be heading for Britain's airports in their droves.

So how safe are our belongings as they pass through security areas stretched to capacity?

Certainly, Antonia's experience prompts alarm. Then there is the recently reported ordeal of Fernanda Ardiles.

The economics student was returning to university in the Netherlands via London City airport last month, when long delays meant her belongings travelled through security quicker than she did and her 1,000 laptop was taken.

Fernanda complained to airport staff, who said she couldn't watch CCTV footage because of data protection rules, and that she would have to make a complaint via the police.

Insiders believe the pressure on security guards to get people through checks quickly is exacerbating the problem

'After three days of emails I finally got hold of the terminal manager, who said there was nothing he could do, but that he would pass it on for investigation,' Fernanda says, adding that the airport behaved as if her loss was a 'minor irritation'.

Both women have every right to be furious. Passengers faithfully follow airport rules, yet are offered no help when the system breaks down.

A recent survey found that more than a third of British passengers considered being at airports more stressful than their working week, with security the worst aspect of the experience.

Airports are under increasing pressure to check passengers rigorously in response to the threat of terrorism, meaning it takes longer to process people.

Before 9/11, the average security checkpoint processed 350 passengers per hour  it's now believed to be less than 150.

Airlines, meanwhile, are trying to recoup cash lost on low-cost flights by charging passengers to check-in suitcases, causing more and more people to take all their belongings on to the plane themselves.

According to a security guard who has worked at one of London's major airports for more than a decade, items are being stolen from security trays every day

One survey found that more than one in five travellers now takes only hand luggage for a fortnight's holiday, so more bags have to go through the laborious security process.

And in this digital age, they are likely to contain more electronic devices than ever before (1,496 worth per traveller, according to one study).

From iPhones to Kindles, all need to be removed to be screened individually, as they could constitute an improvised explosive device.

The upshot? Chaotic scenes with piles of expensive items separated from their owners, providing a potential haven for thieves  as Antonia discovered last July, when she prepared to take her mid-morning flight to Nice, France.

Department for Transport rules introduced in 2006 class make-up products as liquids. These are not allowed on planes in quantities over 100ml.

'I'd kitted myself out with foundation, perfume and miniature shampoos small enough to take on to the plane, as well as buying lip glosses as gifts for the friend I was flying to meet,' says Antonia.

Antonia Collins had 300 of her new holiday purchases stolen at Gatwick Airport security recently (pictured)

'As I walked through the scanner, I set off the beeper and had to wait to be searched. By the time I reached my stuff, trays were piling up.'

She continues: 'When I realised my make-up was missing, I alerted airport staff, but they were obviously busy and handed me a flyer with an email address.

'I said it had been stolen in the last few minutes  could they not sort it promptly? But they wouldn't. They were really unhelpful.

'It dampened my enjoyment of my holiday. As I waited to take off, I felt suspicious of everyone around me.

'I realised staff were busy, but I felt they didn't take me seriously because it was 'only' cosmetics. But I'd paid a lot of money for them.'

She received no response to the email she sent to the address supplied and 'didn't think it worth' going to the police.

'But now when I'm going through airport security, I don't take my eyes off the conveyor belt,' she adds.

Staff at Heathrow airport (pictured) say they refer security thefts to the police on-site

So what should airports do if a passenger complains that their belongings have been stolen?

According to aviation security consultant Professor Norman Shanks, there is no set protocol. 'Some airports call the police  others don't,' he says.

'At larger airports, the police will be close by and can access the CCTV footage. They would have to take the passenger with them to identify their items.'

Part of the problem is lack of time. The passenger has a flight to catch and the thief could take off at any moment.

And, adds Professor Shanks: 'In some airports, CCTV monitors are kept remotely, or footage is stored on tapes and not looked at except for evidential purposes.'

According to a security guard who has worked at one of London's major airports for more than a decade, and who spoke to the Mail on condition of anonymity, items are stolen from security trays every day.

He likens the chaotic conditions to a 'cattle market', and says the situation is exacerbated by the pressure on security staff to meet targets.

They must get each passenger through security in less than six minutes  partly to appease the airlines on whose business airports rely, and partly to ensure passengers have more time to browse in the duty-free shops.

'Until around eight years ago, passengers would be dealt with by one officer  now officers have to deal with four passengers at a time,' he says.

In 2015 yoga teacher Viera Labathova has a silver necklace stolen from her tray at London Stansted airport (pictured)

'The trays often emerge quicker than the person going through the body scanner. Passengers get caught in a backlog and there's nobody to watch for thieves.'

Stolen items range from laptops to wallets, and once he was on duty when thieves took a widow's holdall that contained her husband's ashes.

'Police found her bag an hour later in the men's toilets. Her cash had been taken but the ashes were still there. She missed her flight as she was so distraught. The airport paid for a new one.'

He says the majority of thieves are career criminals who buy a seat on a cheap flight with the sole intention of getting access to security areas.

'They tend to be middle-aged men who work in groups. They prey on passengers in the early morning, when people are half-asleep, or at peak times when they're stressed, and target families who are likely to be distracted by children.'

And while he insists staff at his airport watch CCTV footage immediately after a complaint and contact the police, he says passengers are often unable to help any investigation because 'once they have their belongings back, most are more interested in catching their flight than pressing charges'.

Viera Labathova, a yoga teacher from London, knows this story only too well.

At Hong Kong airport (pictured) each tray has an identification number to make sure no one makes off with the wrong one

In 2015, her silver necklace was stolen from the security area at London Stansted airport, which, even in off-peak times, scans around 350,000 passenger trays a week.

Viera, 36, had arrived at the airport at dawn for her flight to visit relatives in Bratislava, Slovakia, and says it was so overrun with holidaymakers she had to queue for more than half an hour to reach security.

She put her necklace, replete with a moldavite crystal  a cherished gift from her father  into a tray after it set off the beeper, and walked through the metal detector a second time.

'I noticed straight away the necklace was missing from my tray, and when I told a lady on security she said I'd need to 'stand aside and wait'. She didn't say who for.

'I told her I didn't have time. I couldn't afford to miss my 200 flight and ran to catch my plane. The stress of having to rush, and having an irreplaceable necklace stolen, was incredibly upsetting.'

When electrical devices are stolen from security, there is the additional worry that the data they contain  from personal contacts to passwords  can be exploited by criminals well-versed in digital manipulation.

After Fernanda Ardiles had her Apple laptop stolen last month, she locked it remotely and sent a message to its screen for whoever found it  only to receive a request for a reward from her thief, under an assumed name.

And, of course, without our electronic appliances many of us feel lost, as Ellie Grace realised this March when she had a 'power pack' containing her phone chargers, memory cards, headphones and battery pack stolen from the security area at Manchester airport.

Ellie, 23, a beauty writer, was flying to Thailand on holiday and had arrived at 6pm for her 9pm flight.

'The airport was so busy I queued for at least 45 minutes at security,' she recalls.

'After I put my two trays through, the two people in front of me both set off the beeper, meaning my belongings were left unattended for around three minutes.'

She describes scenes at the other end of the conveyor belt as 'chaotic' with people milling around waiting for their belongings.

'There were unattended bags that it would have been easy to pick up,' says Ellie, who didn't realise her 70 power pack was missing until she had boarded her plane to Bangkok.

'It was an inconvenience  I had to buy expensive new chargers at my stopover in Dubai,' she says.

'Even if I had noticed before I left the airport, I think it would have been impossible for staff to catch the thief. They were so busy and my power pack wasn't valuable enough for it to be top of their agenda.'

According to Professor Shanks, the success of airport security screenings 'all comes down to the number of staff on duty'.

He adds: 'I think most airports have cut their numbers on screening to the bare minimum.

'There is nobody to check the bag as it comes out to make sure it goes to the right person. Sadly, the responsibility has to rest with the passenger.'

He says he is aware of only one attempt to remedy the situation, at a newly opened Hong Kong airport in the Eighties.

'The airport used to have a number printed at the bottom of each tray and a laminated piece of paper with the same number on it that the passenger handed back to retrieve their tray,' he explains.

'That was the only way you could guarantee the right person was picking up the right tray.

But the methodology was labour-intensive and stopped after a couple of years. It is a measure that goes by the wayside in terms of cutting costs.'

A spokesman for trade organisation the Airport Operators Association says incidents at UK airports are 'extremely rare', adding:

'Airports work closely with their security staff and local police forces to ensure that the nearly 300 million passengers that travel through UK airports every year do so in a safe and secure environment.'

A spokesman for London City airport says theft is 'very rare'.

After Fernanda reported her experience to a national newspaper, the airport agreed to refund the portion of the cost of her computer not covered by insurance, and announced it was reviewing its security procedures and would in future call in police immediately.

Manchester airport says that in the event of a reported theft, 'CCTV would be checked immediately and the police would be notified.

'If the passenger reports the incident after the event, our customer contact centre would investigate.'

It added that 'incidents of theft are incredibly rare'.

Heathrow airport has said it would refer a theft to the police on-site.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Gatwick says the airport doesn't comment on specific crimes, but that only a 'small number of this type of incident are reported each year'.

The spokesman says it 'regularly has uniformed police officers present in security areas to deter potential thieves' and adds:

'In the event of a reported theft at security, we would work as quickly as possible to view CCTV footage before using other available means to determine the identity of anyone of concern.'

A spokesman for London Stansted airport says it is impossible to comment on or substantiate Viera's case without more specific information.

It adds that reported theft in security is 'extremely rare' and that if items are reported missing, a security manager will review CCTV footage immediately before reporting to police if theft is suspected.

It goes on: 'In most cases, with police intervention, we can reunite passengers with their items,' but advises that valuable items 'should be placed in bags or in pockets of clothing already in the tray.'

Which, of course, isn't an option when airports insist on scanning electronic devices outside bags and pockets so they can see inside  meaning the onus is on the passenger to pay scrupulous attention to their belongings.

Ellie vows: 'I won't carry as much hand luggage in future, and I'll definitely think more carefully about how I pack.'
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal attorney and fixer, met with a billionaire Russian oligarch at Trump Tower in New York just days before the president took the oath of office.

The meeting was reported to be about ways to to improve relations between Washington DC and Moscow.

But the meeting has drawn the eye of special counsel Robert Mueller, who's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election has increasingly turned to Cohen.

Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, pictured here at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, met with Trump attorney Michael Cohen in Trump Tower shortly before the January 2017 inauguration of President Trump.

Columbus Nova Andrew Intrater arranged the meeting between Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg and Trump attorney Michael Cohen. He's pictured here (on the far right) withUSC Shoah Foundation board member Mickey Shapiro, USC Shoah Foundation founder Steven Spielberg, and honoree William Clay Ford, Jr. at a gala dinner at the Henry Ford Museum in September of 2015 in Dearborn, Michigan.

Businessman Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of Russian asset manager Renova Group, discussed a mutual desire to strengthen Russia's relations with the United States according to Andrew Intrater, an American businessman who attended the meeting and invests money for Vekselberg, The New York Times reported.

Both men have been questioned by Mueller's team.

In addition to being interviewed, Vekselberg was recently sanctioned by the U.S., had assets in American frozen and is not allowed in the country, CNN reported.

Mueller's investigators stopped Vekselberg at a New York airport in early May after he arrived on a private plane, the Times reported, and the special counsel's team have interviewed Intrater twice.

Vekselberg is estimated to be worth $13.6 billion, according to Forbes, and he made his fortune in gas and aluminium. He is said to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian-born businessman is the largest single owner of Faberge Imperial Easter eggs in the world with 15 in his collection.

During their conversation at Trump Tower in January 2017, Cohen and Vekselberg arranged to see one another during the inauguration festivities, which was the second of their three meetings.

Days after the January inauguration, Intrater's private equity firm, Columbus Nova, awarded Cohen a one-year $1 million consulting contract.

That deal is what got the attention of the federal authorities investigating Cohen.

Cohen and Intrater reportedly met when both happened to be dining at the Polo Bar on October 20, 2016, when a mutual friend introduced them. Intrater called Cohen after the election to congratulate him.

They sat together at one of the dinners on Inauguration Day and Intraters $250,000 donation to the inaugural committee got him two tickets to the swearing-in ceremony, which he and Vekselberg attended..

Intrater, who is Vekselberg's his cousin, denied there was any pay-to-play at work and said the Russian businessman, who is also his biggest client, had no role in the decision to hire Cohen as a consultant.

Cohen was reportedly hired to bring in investors - in other words use his rolodex to bring in cash from wealthy clients to the investment firm.

Intrater said the Trump Tower meeting was brief and impromptu and that Vekselberg had not originally planned to attend. He noted they did not see Trump, who was in the building that day, and it's unknown of the then-president-elect was aware it was happening.

'Obviously, if I'd known in January 2017 that I was about to hire this high-profile guy who'd wind up in this big mess, I wouldn't have introduced him to my biggest client, and wouldn't have hired him at all,' Intrater told the Times.

Video footage from C-SPAN, which kept a camera feed in the lobby during the transition process, showed Vekselberg and Intrater arriving at Trump Tower on Jan. 9, 2017.

Michael Cohen's business practices are under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

After President Donald Trump's inauguration, Michael Cohen received a one-year $1 million consulting contract with Columbus Nova, the firm Andrew Intrater runs.

At the time of the meeting, Cohen worked for the Trump Organization and his future was uncertain. He did not get an administration job, which he was reportedly expecting, and instead set up his own consulting firm for clients who wanted advice on working with the new administration.

Cohen's deal with Columbus Nova did not work out well for him. The two parted ways after six months with after no new deals materialized and Cohen was only paid $580,000 of the $1 million contract.

Cohen's private office was raided in April by federal agents and several of his business records were seized.
With its pale wood-faced pillars and walls, leather chairs and canvas sun canopies, the Living bar restaurant would not look out of place in central London, or one of the more expensive Italian resorts.

But this is not Soho. We are looking out onto Qemal Stafa Boulevard in Elbasan, Albania, one of the most depressed and polluted towns in Europe.

It is utterly grim.

Albanian drug lord Klodjan Copja, described as a fat Leonardo DiCaprio. Nine months ago, he was jailed for 17 years at Kingston Crown Court in Surrey for serious drugs offences

A vast metal works lies derelict on the outskirts, a relic from the era of isolationist Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who ruled here from the end of the war until his death in 1985.

You can still taste the rust and waste oil in the air.

Who would have the resources, let alone the inclination, to build a place like Living in somewhere like Elbasan?

A sign on the wall next to the bathrooms displays The Beatles song title All You Need Is Love.

But on this particular street, it should really read All You Need is UK Drug Money. For this restaurant is the legitimate business flagship of a local tycoon named Klodjan Copja.

For better or worse, everyone in Elbasan knows Mr Copja.

He looks like a fat Leonardo DiCaprio, and when home from London drives a red Ferrari along the pothole-pitted side streets. Or rather he did until recently.

Nine months ago, he was jailed for 17 years at Kingston Crown Court in Surrey for serious drugs offences.

It is estimated that he and his ultra-violent gang of fellow Albanians from Elbasan had imported as much as 150million of cocaine into the UK.

He turned 31 in jail this week.

Tristen Asllani, 29, a leading figure in another London-based Albanian drugs gang, poses in prison

During the court case, it emerged that one of his couriers was watched by police as he made weekly trips to a lay-by in Maidstone, Kent, where he would meet a lorry carrying imported cocaine from the continent.

The courier would then supply the drug to organised crime groups in London, Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham.

Until he was caught using a fake passport on the Greek-Albanian border and extradited to Britain, Copja was a master of evasion.

A police raid on a gang safe house in Earls Court, West London, only just missed him. Officers saw Copja being driven away. He fled Britain that day.

He was equally adept at hiding his wares. Police stopped a Citroen driven by a member of Copjas gang in Oxford and spent hours examining it.

A detective said: We had seen the stuff going in [to the car] but we just couldnt find it.

Eventually officers located the mechanism which opened the dashboard to reveal several kilos of cocaine.

Gangs like those run by Copja employ low-level operatives who have been using knives to maim and murder on our streets and housing estates.

Indeed, this week Britains security minister Ben Wallace said the UK is fast becoming the biggest consumer of cocaine in Europe.

This has contributed to an upsurge in violence which has seen 67 people, most of them youngsters, killed in the capital alone in 2018.

The problem has also spread from urban areas to the suburbs and even rural districts.

Mr Wallace added: Young people have the ability to order drugs, and gangs have the ability to have delivered to their door large packets of drugs from Albanian or Serbian drug gangs.

Last month, David Lammy MP also cited the Albanian connection

Last month, David Lammy MP also cited the Albanian connection. His intervention followed the drugs-related drive-by gun murder of 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne.

Buying drugs is now as easy as ordering pizza, the MP said.

I think the police and our country have lost control of that drugs market, Mr Lammy claimed.

You have children  as young as 12, 13  being recruited into gangs to run drugs across county lines.

Its like [the food delivery service] Deliveroo. You can get them on Snapchat, Whats App. That, in the end, is driving the turf war and its driving the culture of violence.

If the deaths in Britain are appalling, the manner in which the drug kingpins have settled business rivalries back in Albania is even more savage.

A few hundred yards from the Living restaurant, gangsters dressed as policemen sprayed a rivals bar with gunfire, killing three and wounding seven.

Meanwhile, Klodjan Copjas brother was arrested for blowing up an opponent in another city. That would attract too much police attention along the Old Kent Road.

Undoubtedly, Copjas incarceration is a success for British law enforcement.

But he and his cohorts are just one of many groups involved in a serious organised crime wave of Albanian-dominated Class A drug smuggling, the consequences of which has seen the dramatic spike in murders on the streets of Britain, 1,200 miles away.

Often, the gangsters get into Britain using fake documents or hidden in lorries.

A National Crime Agency league table of more than 4,000 UK criminal gangs also showed that Albanians had overtaken Romanians

The Albanian gangs have worked hand-in-hand with drug cartels in Colombia, where the coca leaf is grown.

The consignments arrive in south-eastern Europe and are then moved on to the UK or elsewhere (Antwerp is the Albanian mafia-controlled port in the north, I was told).

Much of the cocaine is turned into crack cocaine, which is even more potent.

The profit margins are far bigger, which is why Copjas is not the only UK-linked drugs gang from his home town of 140,000 people.

Official statistics support the contention that Albanian nationals have achieved a significant position in the UKs underworld.

They are now the third largest foreign national group in our jails, after the Irish and Poles, both of whom have freedom of access to Britain thanks to historic ties or EU membership.

The judiciary and legislature are, we are told, being vetted for criminal contacts by the administration of Edi Rama, the Socialist Party prime minister, who just happens to have employed former British prime minister Tony Blair (left) and his spin doctor Alastair Campbell (right)

A National Crime Agency league table of more than 4,000 UK criminal gangs also showed that Albanians had overtaken Romanians to rise to third place in the league, behind only Britons and Pakistanis.

Perhaps we should not be surprised when so many truly evil men from the Balkan state have chosen to make Britain their home.

Take Tristen Asllani, 29, who was a leading figure in another London-based Albanian drugs gang, who style themselves the Hellbanianz.

He was caught after a police chase ended when he crashed his car into a shop front in leafy Crouch End.

Officers found 21kg of cocaine in the vehicle, and another 6kg of the drug and a Skorpion sub-machine gun fitted with a silencer at a nearby house linked to the gangster.

The house was being used as a drop-off point for suitcases of cocaine arriving from the continent. Asllani was jailed for 25 years at Kingston crown court.

But prison doesnt seem such a hardship.

Recently, the gangster posted a topless selfie from inside Wandsworth prison. He looked happy, musclebound and, above all, defiant.

Phones are not allowed inside jail, but Asllani had not only acquired one, but had uploaded his photos onto an Instagram account called My Albanian in Jail.

It was captioned: Even inside the prison we have [everything we need], whats missing are only whores.

The picture was remarked upon by a customs official in the Albanian port of Durres this week. He shrugged as if to say: What can you do against such people?

It is a country I know of old, and for which I have great affection because of its rugged beauty and the peoples inherent hospitality in the face of poverty.

But something is very sick at the heart of this nation, which one jaded local described to me this week as Colombia of the Balkans.

Viewed through rose-tinted spectacles, Albania is doing well as a 21st-century state.

It is a member of NATO, and next month the European Council will begin to decide whether negotiations over EU accession should be opened with Albania. It could be a member as early as 2025.

The police here are doing their best to fight organised crime.

In February, law enforcement agencies seized the biggest drugs haul in Albanian history when a container holding bananas from Colombia unloaded in the main port of Durres was found to contain cocaine worth 160 million.

The judiciary and legislature are, we are told, being vetted for criminal contacts by the administration of Edi Rama, the Socialist Party prime minister, who just happens to have employed former British prime minister Tony Blair and his spin doctor Alastair Campbell.

Between 2013 and 2016, the lobbying and consultancy firm Tony Blair Associates advised Rama on how to deliver greater prosperity.

In 2015, Mr Blairs wife Cheries law firm Omnia Strategy was reportedly appointed to act on behalf of Albania in a 250 million legal dispute.

Indeed, Edi Ramas campaigning adviser Campbell still goes out to bat when international criticism of him becomes too warm for comfort.

For the fact is that Rama is in deep trouble as the extent of the narcotics trade in Albania becomes ever more apparent. Even his partys links with it are coming under scrutiny.

His Interior Minister  responsible for issues such as border control and security  is under pressure to resign because his brother was convicted in Italy in 2002 of drug smuggling and sentenced to seven years.

But he never served jail time and has allegedly continued with his narcotics trade.

Meanwhile, the previous Interior Minister is also under investigation. His cousins are part of a drug syndicate in the port city of Vlore.

Many people here are afraid to talk openly about drugs because, they say, the authorities  and that is the police, judiciary and politicians  are part of the narcotics infrastructure.

But in a bar in Tirana, I meet a senior law enforcement official. He wants to leave the country. He has had enough, he told me.

No one talks openly about drugs here, he says. As a problem, it doesnt officially exist.

So why is that? Go ask the Prime Minister, he says. The fact is too many powerful people are involved. Anyone in Albania who believes in law and order and democracy is feeling very depressed now.

Uneducated criminals are running towns. Convicted thieves are in parliament. I have been working for justice for 20 years and now I am leaving.

I can do no good here any more. I love my country but I do not want my children to grow up here.

He points outside at yet another building site. One apartment of 120 square metres costs 300,000 euros, when the average salary in Albania is 200 euros a month.

Where does the money come from? Drugs.

Europe, he says, is not putting enough pressure on the local elite. Are they ignoring it in order not to derail further EU expansion?

Back in Elbasan, few wanted to talk about drugs either, though one law-abiding local figure did give me his views.

I would estimate one in three in this city have some kind of financial connection with the gangs. That is why people are afraid to talk. If you talk, someone will say and your car might explode. There is terror in the city.

Klodjan Copja was said to have driven a red ferrari (stock image) before he was jailed

There are three criminal groups in Elbasan with drug links to the UK, of whom Klodjan Copjas is still the most powerful. They are all untouched because they have bought off the state, he told me.

He [Copja, he wont say the name lest he is overheard] left with his friends when he was young. They had caused so much trouble here that everyone said Thank God!

But now they have returned and reinvested. People want to be in their good books. But if they tell a businessman, I like your business or home, you have to sell it to me. Here are the papers, sign them, you just cant say no.

The mayor is part of this. His home is like a castle, he has nine bodyguards, says the source.

The mayor and his wife are both under investigation over the source of their conspicuous wealth.

Talking of which, one wonders what has become of that Ferrari Klodjan Copja liked to drive before he was jailed in London.

Albanian company records show his bar restaurant, Living, is held in the name of his 62-year-old mother.

Perhaps she also owns the Ferrari now.

It is blood-red; the colour of too many inner city pavements in Britain as the cocaine wars rage on.
Money may not be able to buy one class, but it can certainly help them mount a sold legal defense to felony charges.

Luann de Lesseps proved that on Friday, when it was revealed she would not be attending a scheduled court hearing because she had agreed to a plea deal after being charged for her antics in a Palm Beach hotel just two days before Christmas.

The Real Housewives of New York star was initially charged with four felonies and one misdemeanor, but will now have the most serious charges dropped, which include: resisting an officer with violence, disorderly intoxication and battery on a law enforcement officer.

She is due back in court for a plea conference in late July, where the charges will be reduced to misdemeanor counts of disorderly intoxication and trespassing as well as the felony count of resisting which will be dropped once she enter her guilty plea.

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Elegance is learned: Luann de Lesseps (above on Monday in NYC) has agreed to a plea deal after being charged with four felonies and one misdemeanor following an incident in Palm Beach last year

De Lesseps has turned things around in the months since her arrest, beginning with her decision to seek treatment in the weeks after she was charged.

In an recent interview with Dr. Oz she also said that she believes she was drugged on the night in question.

'I almost think that somebody slipped me something, because I dont remember a thing,' stated de Lesseps.

'I had a rose at lunch with my girlfriend, we split a bottle of Whispering Angel, which is normal.'

She did add however that there were fans around so she had a dew extra glasses of Rose.

Twelve hours later, she was in a holding cell.

Officer Robert Mastrangelo wrote in his report that he arrived to room 407 at The Colony Hotel when security guard Carlos Lopez called to report that de Lessesps and an unidentified male had broken into another guest's room and were refusing to leave after he discovered them in bed together.

That mystery man had fled the scene by the time Officer Mastrangelo showed up at the scene, but de Lesseps was with another woman, her friend Julie Marie Olson.

'It should be noted that both smelled of an unknown alcoholic beverage, had slurred speech and appeared to be highly intoxicated,' stated the affidavit.

'I asked both females to exit the room, Olson left however de Lesseps refused to leave and locked herself in the bathroom.'

De Lesseps and Olson had been seen earlier in the evening while getting ready to go out in video posted to the reality star's Instagram account.

The Real Housewives of New York star, 53, can also be seen smiling alongside Olson in a photo posted back on March.

Girl code: She will have her felony charges including resisting an officer with violence, disorderly intoxication and battery on a law enforcement officer dropped (mugshot above)

'Last weekend with Tom and Luann D'Agostino on their boat! Fabulous time with the best couple ever!!! BFF's! Luann and I go back to the 90's when we were modeling and doing television shows together in Milan, Italy! Amazing memories ... Thank you, Lu!' wrote Olson.

That photo, which shows the two woman out on the water in their bathing suits, appears to dispute de Lesseps' claim that she had not returned to Palm Beach since her wedding to D'Agostino last New Year's Eve.

The couple celebrated their nuptials with a bridal brunch the next day, which was held at the same hotel where Luann was arrested on Sunday.

De Lesseps' charges stem entirely from her treatment of the police officers who arrived on the scene and tried to get her out of the room over the weekend and into her own, which was one floor below in 327.

Officer O'Leary eventually opened the bathroom door to try and detain de Lesseps according to the affidavit, at which point she 'shoved Officer O'Leary with an open palm to the chest, then slammed the door on Officer O'Leary's face, striking him in the forehead.'

She resisted again as Officer O'Leary placed her in handcuffs, and managed to get out of the shackles once she was in the patrol car.

De Lesseps 'attempted to exit the vehicle' at thsat point, and as she was pout back in and cuffed once more she told Officer Mastrangelo: '"i'm going to f***ing kill you.'

At the same time she 'tried kicking the door to keep it from closing.'

She was taken to the station at that point, telling both officers along the way that she was 'going to f***ing kill you all.'

De Lesseps was seen for the first time since her court appearance while enjoying a beachside barbecue on Christmas day at her brother's home in Jupiter.

It is unclear if she was drinking but she was sitting in front of an open bottle of wine.

The reality star, 52, arrived at the Palm Beach Courthouse just after 9am on Sunday, almost eight hours after she was taken into custody and booked by police.

The Real Housewives of New York star got no sleep it seemed as she stood in front of the judge with her limp and greasy hair covering her face, make-up smeared and wearing the same soiled dress she had on Saturday night when she first hit the town.

At one point during the proceedings de Lesseps attempted to respond when Judge Ted Booras mentioned she might have a drinking problem, but was quickly told to remain silent.

'Dont say anything,' ordered Judge Booras, who seemed concerned that de Lesseps might incriminate herself with her response.

Judge Booras informed de Lesseps that she needed to hire a lawyer for the 'serious charges' she is facing, just before releasing her from custody.

De Lesseps was told she could return to her home in New York because this was her first offense according to the judge, who also allowed her to forego posting any bail and instead released her on her own recognizance.

'I dont think it would be that hard to find you,' said Judge Booras of the Housewives star, who had been filming the upcoming season of her show just days before in New York City.

Money can't buy you class: Luann (above at her arraignment the morning after her arrest) will enter a plea of guilty to a lesser misdemeanor

Battery on a law enforcement officer is considered a third-degree felony which is punishable by a maximum of 5 years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The disorderly intoxication charge is a second-degree misdemeanor which is punishable up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Resisting an officer with violence is a third-degree felony which could land de Lesseps behind bars for 5 years and forced to pay a $5,000 fine.

A few hours after her initial court appearance, de Lesseps addressed her arrest on Twitter.

'I want to offer my most sincere apologies to anyone that I might have offended with my behavior,' wrote de Lesseps.

'This was my first time in Palm Beach since my wedding and being here brought up buried emotions. I am committed to a transformative and hopeful 2018.'

One source claimed earlier this year that de Lesseps' New Year's Eve nuptials were less about true love and more about an aging divorcee desperate to secure her ever-loosening grip on reality stardom.

A close friend of D'Agostino told DailyMail.com that it was Tom who filed for divorce after growing tired of being cuckolded by his new wife during their brief marriage.

'It has been really difficult for Tom because he did love her,' said his friend.

'But she only married him because she was becoming irrelevant on the show and needed a new story line.'

And as D'Agostino's friend explained, that was still just one of the couple's many problems.

'She cheated, she was unfaithful, she was prone to violent outbursts,' revealed the friend, making their way through a laundry list of accusations.

Those violent outbursts allegedly included de Lesseps biting D'Agostino days before their wedding and leaving him covered in blood when she scratched his cheek at a posh Upper East Side eatery in July.

It doesnt take much for her to punch, bite, slap or scratch him,' noted the friend, who described de Lesseps' behavior as 'bats*** crazy' at times.

Another friend who knows both members of the couple tells DailyMail.com that it was clear from the beginning this romance was made for television.

'Stevie Wonder can see what Luann did here,' jokes the friend of the estranged pair.

'She knew shed had a very boring season, except for drunkenly falling into the bushes in Mexico, so she needed something to ensure Bravo cast her for another year.'

The friend then added that de Lesseps has been holding on to her position as one of the show's leading ladies with an iron grip ever since she was demoted back in season six.

'She was downgraded a few years back and it nearly killed her being a friend of the Housewives rather than a fully-fledged cast member,' revealed the friend of the couple.

'If shes filed for divorce before the reunion was filmed in mid-July, she wouldve had to discuss it. So shes filed now after the reunion, so shell have a full season to discuss it next year.'

And while some may find the entire scenario to be a bit uncouth, the friend applauded Luann for her tenacity.

'Its a very smart move by the nurse from Connecticut. No one hustles better or is more cunning than Luann,' said the friend.

It worked out too, as she is a featured cast member in the current season.
Widow Olivia Boland's 16-acre smallholding is a little slice of animal lovers' heaven.

Buttercups glow in the sun-dappled meadows and, apart from the squawking of peahens and the occasional hum from llamas, it is hard to imagine a more peaceful setting.

This mini animal kingdom, not far from the busy A14 in the Suffolk countryside, is home to 12 llamas, 11 alpacas, seven donkeys, four horses, two Shetland ponies, six pygmy goats, seven mini pigs, four emus, peacocks, chickens, geese and one swan.

Every summer, proud Olivia opens the gates of Tostock Animal Park to the public where, for a small fee, families can pet ducklings and rabbits and enjoy free children's donkey rides.

Suffolk petting farm owner Olivia Boland, 63 (pictured far right) was defending herself against Emma Foster, 38 (left and centre right) when tensions over travellers on her land reached breaking point. The fracas was caught on camera and shown to police

'I love animals,' says mother-of-three Olivia, 63, who gently talks to them as if they were her own children.

'You look into their eyes and there is an unspoken connection.' If only the same were true of humans.

When Olivia bought this rural haven in 2016, she never dreamed it would become the backdrop to a two-year battle with residents on a neighbouring travellers' site, which last year descended into an ugly brawl.

Nor that she would end up being charged by police with a public order offence after defending herself when fraught relations reached boiling point  resulting in a fracas which saw Olivia dragged to the ground and, she claims, hit on the head with a pink sandal.

She thought that video evidence  partly captured on phone camera by Olivia's son Peter, 37, and showing her grappling with Emma Foster, 38, over a traveller's horse which had strayed onto her land  would result in decisive police action following her desperate 999 call for help.

It certainly did. But not in the way she expected.

Olivia Boland (pictured on her Suffolk farm) did not expect police to charge her after she repeatedly complained about Foster's traveller gang being anti-social over a two-year period

On viewing the footage, which shows Foster  face contorted with rage as she lunges towards 5ft tall Olivia  officers reportedly accused the shocked farm owner of fighting back, when she should have 'walked away'.

This, despite Olivia having lodged more than 30 complaints with police over a two-year period against her neighbours, including allegations of trespass, criminal damage, racial abuse, fly-tipping, threats and harassment.

Earlier this month, both women ended up side by side in Norwich magistrates' court charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause a person to believe that unlawful violence would be used against them. Both denied the charges.

Magistrates dismissed the case against Olivia, but Emma Foster was convicted.

She was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay 100 compensation to Mrs Boland, a 20 victim surcharge and 200 prosecution costs.

Vindicated Olivia is still smarting over the humiliating episode.

'The video recording showed I didn't do anything except calmly stand up for myself and refuse to be bullied,' says the mother-of-three.

Emma Foster (pictured during the altercation left) was convicted of a public order offence, while Mrs Boland (right) was cleared

'They could hear me being attacked during my 999 call, with the travellers shouting in the background. I asked them, how can calling 999 be deemed as threatening or abusive behaviour?

'I told the police, 'I'm only 5ft tall. I'm not scared of them, so why are you scared?' I was the victim in this. I was attacked on my own land, but it felt as if I was the one being punished.'

Her son Peter, who also works on the farm, adds: 'I was absolutely disgusted when my mum was charged.

She is a diminutive, elderly lady. She is not a big, strong person and it was sickening seeing her being attacked.

'It was a tremendous relief when the case was dismissed, but she should never have been charged in the first place.

'This has been hanging over us for eight months, which has been stressful and traumatic.'

On the day I visit, all is now thankfully calm at Tostock Animal Parks.

There is no sight of the travellers who Olivia claims have made her life a misery with what she calls a campaign to force her out after she refused their request to buy some of her land and then denied them the access they'd previously enjoyed under the former owners.

Before Olivia bought the land from a family who'd moved away from the area, it had been used for weekend car part sales, but otherwise the travellers kept their horses there.

Mrs Boland (pictured) was left stunned by the police charges and blames the authorities for being too 'scared' of the traveller group

A makeshift plank bridge crossed the wide, water-filled ditch which separates the travellers' site from her land and provided them with access, until Olivia removed it  triggering further bad feeling.

Olivia feared the bridge was also being used by persons unknown from outside the vicinity  to fly tip trade waste on their land causing a health hazard and rat infestations.

Last week, no one at the Broadgrass Green permanent travellers' site near Bury St Edmunds  where a handful of families live in brick-built bungalows  wanted to talk about the Bolands.

But Olivia  a vivid character in bright red lipstick, floral trousers and gold top  has plenty to say about what she sees as the almost protected status of traveller communities, when conflict arises between them and other sections of society.

'When we first met, the travellers were very nice to me until they couldn't get what they wanted,' she says.

'But the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them. If only the police had been standing behind me.'

Born in Taiwan, Olivia  who moved to Britain in 1979 with her late husband Tony Boland, a British civil engineer 29 years her senior  says she's the kind of woman who sticks up for what she believes is right.

She says she expected more from Suffolk Police. Indeed, she's now launching a crowd-funding website to fund private prosecutions  for others as well as herself  for situations such as this.

As chairman of the Chinese Association in Suffolk, she describes herself as a champion of minority groups.

In 2011, she even visited the Dale Farm travellers' site in Essex to write an article on their forced eviction for a racial equality campaign group, Operation Black Vote, staying for several days.

'When I went round to introduce myself to my new neighbours, they invited me in for a tea or coffee and a chinwag,' says Olivia, whose husband died from pancreatic cancer aged 69, leaving her a single mother to three children then aged nine, 16 and 17.

'They were very welcoming and I always had a big wave and smile for them, when they drove past in their pony traps. I wasn't expecting any trouble at all.'

Within a couple of months, however, the mood changed after  she claims  a man from the site expressed an interest in her land, allegedly telling her, 'If you don't sell me a piece of your land, I will just call in the caravans. You will never get rid of us, it will cost you a fortune to get rid of us.' '

A different man, she claims, then told her: 'I am asking you nicely to sell me some land. Everybody knows in England that you don't cross Gypsies. We are Gypsies.'

After the Bolands hired a contractor to remove the plank bridge over the waterway, she would later complain to police that a woman traveller had threatened her son with the words: 'We have told other travellers to leave you alone, but now, everything is off.'

Olivia says: 'Women were coming on to our land with four or five dogs and I kept asking, 'Please, don't come in, we have livestock now, pregnant animals' and they just kept ignoring me.

'I tried to reason with them, in a pleasant way, but they'd say, 'Trespass isn't a criminal offence, there's nothing you can do.'

'Then they started saying things like, 'You're not supposed to be here. This is our land. Go back to where you came from.' Sometimes we'd be called 'Chinese pigs' or other obscenities.

'I'm old enough to brush it off. You just don't engage or respond. I decided to treat them like silly children, but it was harder on my son Peter. He was really upset.'

For six months in 2016, Olivia says, everything quietened when a man  whom she believes was responsible for stirring up ill-feeling  moved off site with his wife.

There was no trouble with the other families but on the return of the 'main agitators' the conflict again escalated.

'Something was said about killing our animals and eating them,' says Olivia.

'That was the first time they really got to me because animals are innocent. I could not protect them. I felt emotionally distraught.

'I was so upset, I contacted the police.' Olivia says she fired off emails to the local council and spoke to their travellers' liaison officer for advice, hoping to find some resolution to their issues.

All the while, she insists, she remained polite and cheery towards the travellers, returning their dogs which strayed on to her land.

But hostility flared again last August when, Olivia claims, she was verbally abused by a woman from the site as she arranged flower pots by her gate. After Olivia made a 999 call to police, she claims she was attacked.

As there were no independent witnesses or video evidence, Olivia agreed to Suffolk Police's suggestion of community resolution  a process of restorative justice avoiding criminal proceedings for minor altercations between two parties.

One month later trouble flared a second time when one of the travellers' horses strayed onto Olivia's land and became trapped on a fence.

Olivia says: 'My son Peter went to save the horse and I jumped into the car, drove to the site and said, 'Somebody come, your horse is in trouble, please come.'

I was trying to be a good neighbour. Even after all the trouble, I went to tell them their horse is in danger.

'Emma Foster came out screaming, 'It's my horse!' She was with another woman and teenager and they were all shouting and swearing at Peter, who was only trying to help their horse, trying to control it and walk it to a gate so they could take it.'

Fearing another situation, Peter decided to film events to provide police with video evidence if necessary, which seemed to inflame an already heated situation.

On the video, he can be heard swearing at the travellers to get off his land. He claims he too was hit in the fracas.

'Peter was getting angry and I said, 'Stop it Peter, don't engage.' It was all so unpredictable.

'I couldn't manage the situation so I dialled 999 which is when I was attacked,' says Olivia. 'They tried to get my phone, they weren't happy about me calling the police.

'I defended myself because if I didn't have my phone, how could we call for help?

'The next thing I noticed Emma Foster was bending down, because her shoe had come off. The next thing I know it's connecting with the side of my face.'

Peter adds: 'When my mum ended up on the ground that was the last straw for me.

'Up until that point I was focused on the safety of the animal, but when she cried out in pain I just wanted them off our land immediately.'

Following the 999 call two police officers arrived, joined by four more when travellers gathered at the Bolands' gate.

'One of the men told the police, 'We've had nothing but trouble since that woman arrived.' I couldn't believe they were trying to make out they were the victims,' says Olivia.

'When I asked Emma Foster to please take her horse from Peter at the gate and go, I was tearing my hair out when she then said, 'I don't want the horse, you keep it.'

'I said, 'All this fighting and swearing and you don't want the horse?' '

This time Olivia rejected community resolution. After statements were taken from both sides, and video examined, Olivia says she was stunned to be charged with the same offence as Emma Foster.

A Suffolk Police spokesman said: 'All allegations of this nature reported to police are proportionately investigated and charging decisions are made based on the evidence gathered.

'Individuals are then put before the courts for due legal process to take place.'

He said police recorded two racially aggravated crimes in respect of allegations of verbal abuse against the Bolands adding: 'These offences were investigated by officers and the suspect was dealt with by way of a referral to a diversionary programme.

This course of action was taken following agreement with all parties involved, including the victim.'

Today, Peter says: 'My mother is a very resilient person. If we just run away, let this chase us off our land, then this is going to happen to many other people.'

Olivia believes the 'main agitators' have left the travellers' site and moved on to new homes.

She is hoping for a new era of peace with those still living there.

'I'm not selling,' she says. 'I feel we have a civic duty to stand our ground and stick up for what's right.'
The Nebraska State Patrol says the 118lbs of suspected cocaine and fentanyl that troopers seized last month turned out to be all fentanyl, which would have been enough to kill more than 26million people.

The patrol says the stash was the largest fentanyl seizure in the history of Nebraska to date, and one of the largest ever in the US.

The drugs may have been worth up to $20million on the street, according to the agency's estimates. The Drug Enforcement Administration says just 2 milligrams of fentanyl, which is 30-50 times more potent than heroin, can be lethal.

One for the books: The Nebraska State Patrol seized a record-breaking cache of fentanyl weighing 118lbs that was found inside this secret compartment in a tractor-trailer

If the fentanyl were to hit the streets, it would have been enough to kill 26 million people

The foil-wrapped packages were found at around 10.20am on April 26 after a trooper pulled over an eastbound 2013 Freightliner truck-tractor driving on the shoulder near mile marker 280 on Interstate 80 near Kearney, 170 miles southwest of Omaha.

Troopers searched the vehicle and discovered a false compartment in the empty trailer. The compartment contained 42 foil-wrapped packages containing 118lbs of powdery substance that turned out to be fentanyl.

Troopers did not test the suspected fentanyl on the spot due to the 'dangerous nature of the substance,' and instead sent it to the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab.

The driver of the truck, Felipe Genao-Minaya, 46, and passenger, Nelson Nunez, 52, both of New Jersey, were arrested for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and no Drug Tax stamp. Both men were taken to Buffalo County Jail.

The driver of the truck, Felipe Genao-Minaya, 46, and passenger, Nelson Nunez, 52 (pictured above), were arrested for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver

The Nebraska State Patrol was honored by the governor for the recent fentanyl and marijuana busts

The patrol says such drug seizures save lives. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says fentanyl and its variants killed more than 20,000 Americans last year, and the number is increasing.

A week earlier, Nebraska troopers seized 1,853lbs of marijuana in Fillmore County.

Gov. Pete Ricketts honored the agency and specific troopers who took part in the drug busts during a ceremony that was held at the State Capitol on Thursday.
President Donald Trump says his wife Melania is 'doing great' nearly two weeks after her kidney treatment.

Trump answered a reporter's question about the first lady as he departed the White House on Friday for a trip to the U.S. Naval Academy graduation in Annapolis, Maryland.

Asked about her health, Trump said 'she's doing great.' He then pointed to the second floor of the White House and said she was watching.

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First lady Melania Trump is allegedly 'doing great' nearly two weeks after a medical procedure to treat a kidney condition

The White House announced May 14 that Melania underwent a procedure that morning to treat an unspecified kidney condition.

She spent five nights at a nearby military hospital before returning to the White House. A spokeswoman says the first lady met with staff several times this week.

The public last saw Melania Trump on May 10, standing with her husband at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as they greeted three Americans who had been released from prison in North Korea.

She underwent an embolization procedure last Monday, likely to remove a cyst from her kidney. Her office said it was benign, or non-cancerous.

Melania Trump spent a week in the hospital recovering, returning to the White House on Saturday.

After she got home, her office said she was in 'high spirits.'

The president visited her three times at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where she had the surgery.

Trump answered a reporter's question about the first lady as he departed the White House on Friday for a trip to the U.S. Naval Academy graduation in Annapolis, Maryland

Her last public appearance was on May 10 when she accompanied the president to Joint Base Andrews to greet three North Korean detainees on the tarmac after they were released the evening before.

The day before she and the president celebrated military mothers at the White House ahead of Mother's Day weekend.

And she had announced her Be Best campaign against social media bullying two days before that.

While she hasn't been visible in public, she has been a presence on social media.

On Thursday she tweeted: 'Thank you Master Chief Slabinski for your heroic actions. @POTUS & I are proud to have you @WhiteHouse today to award the #MedalOfHonor. Thank you & thank you to all our military who risk & sacrifice your lives for our freedom.'

She also sent a tweet last Friday following the massacre in Texas. She wrote: 'My heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.'
The local government for a town in New York is warning residents not to indulge in a potentially dangerous new food trend.

The Livingston County Department of Health said on Friday that the dessert fad known as 'Dragon's Breath' could cause frostbite and tissue damage if consumed.

Dragon's Breath is a food novelty made by freezing cereal puffs in liquid nitrogen, according to local NBC affiliate WHEC 10.

Dragon's Breath is a food novelty made by freezing cereal puffs in liquid nitrogen

When an individual places the puff in their mouth and exhales, it appears as though the person is breathing smoke.

The Livingston County Health Department said it has received numerous reports of people injuring themselves after consuming excess liquid nitrogen left in serving receptacles.

When an individual places the puff their mouth and exhales, it appears as though the person is breathing smoke. Pictured above a fan of the dessert demonstrates how she makes smoke come out of her nose

Liquid nitrogen can reach temperatures as cold as -320F.

Last year, a 14-year-old girl was rushed to a Florida hospital with burns to her hands after her grandmother purchased the 'Dragon's Breath' desert at the Pensacola Interstate Fair.

'The ER doctor had to cut it open, cut away the dead skin and get the infection out,' Tina McArthur told the Today Show.

'They [the doctors] said had we not come in and got her finger treated she could have possibly lost her thumb.'

Liquid nitrogen has been integrated as an ingredient into many kitchens over the past few years, with restaurants looking to add an extra flare to dishes and cocktails.

But medical professionals warn that if an item infused with liquid nitrogen is consumed incorrectly, it could have devastating consequences.

Liquid nitrogen can can reach temperatures as cold as negative 320 degrees

'First is rapid significant damage to the skin and body if swallowed,' Dr. Reed Caldwell, assistant professor at Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine at NYU Langone Health, told TODAY.

'Liquid nitrogen is what's used by dermatologists to burn things off skin so we know it can be destructive to tissue.'

Caldwell also noted that liquid nitrogen could cause asphyxiation if inhaled since the substance displaces oxygen.

'I would urge caution for anybody around liquid nitrogen, particularly children,' Caldwell added.
They are global figures with more than a billion views of their online antics between them.

No, not the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, but super vloggers Joe Thatcher Sugg  younger brother of internet star Zoella  and Sprinkle of Glitter, also known as Louise Pentland, who posts about motherhood and beauty.

Now they have teamed up with Charles and Camilla to shoot two new clips, which will be posted on the video-sharing platform YouTube in the hope of winning a younger generation of royal fans.

Two well known YouTube vloggers have teamed up with Charles and Camilla to shoot two new clips, which in the hope of winning a younger generation of royal fans

The couple secretly filmed their separate vlogs  or video blogs  on a visit to the YouTube Space studios in London last week, with the result expected to be released any day now. While they already have a social media presence  Charles joined Twitter in 2010, and the official @ClarenceHouse Twitter account has more than 757,000 followers as well as 300,000 fans on Instagram  the accounts are run by staff, and their followers pale into insignificance compared to Suggs and Pentlands. Sugg, 26, created his ThatcherJoe channel in 2011 and has more than eight million subscribers, with his videos having been watched around a billion times.

His videos consist of pranks, challenges and impressions  but his moniker comes from the fact he is also a trained thatcher.

A Clarence House aide said the prince, who trod the boards in his youth, was keen to use his vlog to explore ways of working with young influencers  or social media stars  to put out positive messages. He and Sugg are both filmed thatching on a studio set as the royal promotes his Princes Foundation, which aims to protect and spread the popularity of traditional arts.

Sugg said: I believe its so important to keep rural trades alive and keep it as an interest and an option to the younger generation.

Camilla also recorded a vlog with YouTube star Pentland, 33, best known as Sprinkle of Glitter. More than 2.5million subscribe to her posts about motherhood and beauty, and she boasts more than 150million video views. She said it had been a great honour, adding: If you know me well, youll know how much I love the royals.

We made a video about literacy in children  itll be up in a few days.
A nursery school teacher has been sentenced to one year in jail for physically abusing children placed in her care.

The teacher, identified by her surname Lai, pleaded guilty to abuse charges in Hezhou Babu People's Court last Friday in Guangxi, southern China.

She was convicted of physically abusing three students by restraining them under duvets to force them to sleep during last September to December, when she was managing the school's nap period, according to People's Daily.

The teacher can be seen forcing the blanket over the boy's face because he refused to have a nap at the nursery in Hongying Kindergarten in Hezhou City, Guangxi

The teacher reportedly showed remorse in court during sentencing. The incident has received extensive media attention after her abusive treatment towards one of the students was filmed

The teacher reportedly showed remorse in court during sentencing.

The incident has received extensive media attention after her abusive treatment towards one of the students was recorded on video last December.

In the video, Lai was seen trapping a struggling pupil under a blanket because the boy refused to nap.

She can be seen forcibly restraining the five-year-old in the CCTV footage of the incident at Hongying Kindergarten in Hezhou City, China.

The entire punishment reportedly lasted for about two minutes as the teacher enveloped the child's face in in the blanket.

She can be seen forcibly restraining the five-year-old in the CCTV footage

The entire punishment reportedly lasted for about two minutes as the teacher enveloped the child's face in in the blanket. The school offered the child's parent's 50,000 RMB (5,863)

The school offered the child's parent's 50,000 yuan (5,863) after the boy told his parents about the trauma, which left him with recurring nightmares.

Lai was arrested on abuse charges when the furious parents brought police officers to the nursery.

His parents have said that they would use the money to pay for therapy.

Another parent claimed that 'many' of the pupils were suffering from nightmares and fears this was not an isolated incident.

As a result of these incidents, a total of 33 students have stopped attending the school, according to the report.

The nursery school's principal said in a previous statement: 'We will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation and will not hide from our responsibilities if found guilty.'
A family in central China has been accused of misusing funds intended for their cancer-stricken daughter to treat their son with a cleft lip instead.

The girl, who suffered from eye cancer, died on May 4 and her family has been criticised for not providing her with prompt treatment despite having received large donations.

The alleged incident has caused outrage among net users, who accused the family of favouring their son over their daughter, who had a life-threatening condition.

Ms Yang posing with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Yaya in an undated photo. A Wechat article published on Friday titled 'The death of little Yaya' provided the details related to the death of a girl suffering from retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer

A family in Henan, central China has been suspected of misappropriating funds raised for their cancer-stricken daughter by using the money on their son's cleft lip repair surgery instead

The news surfaced when a Wechat article titled 'The death of little Yaya' was published on Friday.

The article apparently provided details related to the death of a girl suffering from retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer.

According to iFeng that carried the original article, a desperate mother in Henan province appealed for help to save her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, nicknamed Yaya, after the family found out the girl had cancer last September.

Ms Yang, 31, is said to have raised a total of 150,000 yuan (17,612) by setting up personal fundraising accounts on several social media platforms on behalf of her daughter, according to the article.

However, the mother is suspected of using the donations on her son's cleft lip repair surgery instead for Yaya's cancer treatment.

The original article has also gone viral and has been widely reported by Chinese media. However, the account that published the original article has since been deleted.

Screengrabs of Ms Yang's fundraising accounts posted by charitable organisation Tree of Hope on Weibo show Yaya with her right eye protruding from its socket due to the tumor.

In one of the pictures, the sick girl was pictured with visible white spot in the pupil called 'cats eye reflex', often one of the first signs of retinoblastoma.

This picture, dated March 21, shows Yaya with her right eye protruding from its socket due to the tumor. The cancer-stricken girl died on May 4, reportedly due to lack of treatment

Ms Yang, 31, is said to have raised a total of 150,000 yuan (17,612) by setting up personal fundraising accounts on several social media platforms on behalf of her daughter

The mother has also set up an account on Beijing-based Droplet Funds, a free social fundraising platform used for medical expenses, raising 35,689 yuan (4,187)

WHAT IS RETINOBLASTOMA? Retinoblastoma is a rare type of eye cancer that usually affects children under the age of five. As it is usually caught early in the UK, 98 per cent of children with the disease are successfully treated. About 50 children develop the condition every year in Britain. It affects up to 300 youngsters annually in the US. Retinoblastoma is specifically a cancer of the retina, which is the light-sensitive lining at the back of the eye. It can affect one or both eyes. A fault gene is responsible in about 40 per cent of cases. This can be inherited from the sufferers parents or may occur spontaneously. The most common symptoms are the pupil looking like a cats eye and the child developing a squint. The cat eye look is most commonly seen in photos. Small tumours can usually be treated with laser or freezing treatment. Larger tumours may require chemotherapy or surgery. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

Retinoblastoma most commonly affects children under the age of 5. However, 95 per cent of the children affected are cured, according to the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.

The mother has also set up an account on Beijing-based Droplet Funds, a free social fundraising platform used for medical expenses.

'We can confirm that the Wang family has set up a fundraising page on Droplet,' the organisation said in a news release on Friday.

The family raised funds between November 3 to 29 last year, then again on March 15 to 27 this year.

A total of 2,249 people contributed and the account raised 35,689 yuan (4,187), according to the statement.

In an updated WeChat post on December 2, the mother took pictures of a hospital, praising its comfortable and hygienic environment.

'This is in Beijing, where my son is being treated for his illness,' she commented below the post.

'Where did the money intended for Yaya's treatment go?' the article stated, citing confused net users as well as the non-profit organisations involved.

The article added that several charities have reportedly tried to reach the mother in the past and urged the family to take their sick daughter to the city for treatment, but they refused to listen to them.

The mother has since deleted all her social media accounts.

Net users have demanded an explanation from Ms Yang, asking the family to repay the funds.

The incident has also been reported to the police. However, they concluded that the incident is not a federal crime, according to according to Beijing Youth News citing a spokesperson from Taikang County Police Department.

The police have also liaised with the related organisation to encourage the family to pay back the remaining funds.

The family has refused to disclose the amount of donations received, according to the report.

Experts commenting on the matter said the case is a tricky one.

In normal fundraising operations, a registered non-profit organisation should be involved in overseeing the donations, according to Wang Zhenyao, director of the Beijing Normal University China philanthropy research institute, in an interview with China National Radio.

However, since these funds were privately raised, and there is no clear law in China that demands the funds be repaid if unused, he added.

At the same time, he said it is perhaps unrealistic to expect a rural family to strictly adhere to the related charity laws.
There may only be two northern white rhinos left alive, but scientists say there is hope yet to bring the 'doomed' beasts back from the brink of extinction.

Experts had worried that resurrecting the subspecies using frozen cells could create a heavily inbred population.

New research shows the species has enough diversity in its DNA to survive this 'genetic bottleneck'.

During such a bottleneck only a small number of animals contribute to the gene pool leading to a weaker species that struggles against disease outbreaks and environmental changes.

The closely-related southern white rhino recovered from a similar position following a sharp drop in numbers driven by poaching and habitat destruction.

In the early 20th century the subspecies was world's most endangered rhino with just 20 left alive, but there are now more than 20,000 in the wild.

Scientists said the northern white could make a similar recovery through conservation efforts that make use of frozen cell lines.

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There may only be two northern white rhinos (pictured) left alive, but scientists say there is hope yet to bring the 'doomed' mammals back from the brink of extinction

Lead author of the study Tate Tunstall, of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, said: 'The southern white rhino went through a severe genetic bottleneck, but is now the most populous of all forms of rhino at ~20,000 individuals, suggesting that a genetic rescue utilizing these cell lines could be the foundation for a similar recovery in the northern white rhino.'

The world's last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in Kenya at the age of 45 in March, survived by just two females - his daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu.

Without a male to breed with, scientists had hoped to use a small stock of frozen sperm to perform rhino IVF on Sudan's surviving kin and save the species.

In vitro fertilization is used in the cattle industry to breed more robust herds, and a Cape buffalo was conceived through IVF for the first time in 2016.

Because Najin and Fatu are two weak to carry a pregnancy to term meaning scientists would implant the resulting embryo in a southern white.

Because the females are related scientists had worried the resulting population could end up heavily inbred.

The world's last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in Kenya at the age of 45 in March. Scientists had worried that resurrecting the subspecies using frozen cells could create a genetic bottleneck that would lead to a heavily inbred population

SCIENTISTS PIN HOPES ON IVF TO SAVE THE NORTHERN WHITE RHINO FROM EXTINCTION While the death of Sudan marks a symbolic turning point in the fight to save the northern white rhino, in fact the survival of the species has been entirely reliant on untested IVF techniques for years. It was hoped that Sudan, his daughter Najin and granddaughter Patu might be able to produce offspring when they were moved to Kenya in 2009, but their close genetic relationship rendered them infertile. Since at least 2015 scientists have been working with IVF and stem cell techniques in the hopes of being able to create a viable northern white rhino embryo, according to a GoFundMe page for the project. Researchers in Berlin and San Diego are using DNA samples collected from a dozen northern whites, including Sudan, and trying to apply techniques developed for humans to the animal. If a viable embryo can be created, it would then have to be implanted into the womb of a southern white rhino, since Majin and Patu will likely be dead before the technique is perfected. While the southern white rhino would be responsible for giving birth to the baby, because the infant's genetic material came solely from northern whites, it would be a member of that species. However, as Save The Rhino points out, the process is fraught with difficulty and has a low chance of success. In the last 15 years just 10 rhino births have resulted from artificial insemination and only two embryos have ever been created - one of which divided into two cells before perishing, and the other one into three. For the northern white rhino to be genetically viable a minimum of 20 healthy individuals must be born - meaning the whole process must be successfully completed 20 times - to avoid inbreeding. Then, it would be necessary to find a suitable habitat for them, since their old habitat has largely been destroyed and led the species to the brink of extinction in the first place. Advertisement

Scientists could coax nine frozen cell lines, saved from dead rhinos, to become egg and sperm cells for IVF treatments but even this would leave little genetic diversity.

In the new study, researchers investigated whether the northern white could recover using frozen cells stored at San Diego Zoo.

Scientists sequenced the full genome of these cell lines, which represent eight unrelated northern whites, and compared them to the genomes of southern whites.

They confirmed the long-standing theory that the two rhinos are subspecies rather than distinct species.

Sudan was survived by just two females - his daughter Najin (left) and granddaughter Fatu (right). Without a male to breed with, scientists had hoped to use a small stock of frozen sperm to perform rhino IVF on Sudan's surviving kin and save the species

This is good news if researchers are to use a southern white to carry an IVF implanted northern white to term in future, as doing so through a separate rhino species would be less likely to succeed.

The scientists also found healthy genetic diversity in their northern white samples when compared with the southern white rhinos.

This means the Sandiego Zoo samples may serve valuable pools of genetic material for a future rescue of the species - either by coaxing them into sex cells for use in IVF or other methods, such as cloning.

'If it came down to the materials in the Frozen Zoo, we could turn those cells into animals,' study coauthor Dr Oliver Ryder told the New York Times.

The study also showed that the southern white rhino now has a healthy genetic diversity despite once finding itself close to extinction.

New research shows the closely-related southern white rhino (file photo) recovered from a severe genetic bottleneck following a sharp drop in numbers driven by poaching and habitat destruction

Semen from dead northern white rhinos is stored in various locations around the world, and the result provides hope for those looking to resurrect the northern white.

Supporters think the work could be used to help other endangered species, while some conservationists believe the focus should be on other critically endangered species, including the Javan and Sumatran rhinos, that have suffered because of poaching and human encroachment on habitats.

Northern white rhinos were particularly vulnerable because of conflicts that swept their central African range.

The last ones in the wild were observed more than a decade ago in Congo's Garamba National Park, a frequent target of well-armed poachers.

In the new study, researchers investigated whether the northern white could recover using frozen cells stored at San Diego Zoo. Pictured is Sudan, the world's last male northern white, shortly before he died in March

The 'much-hyped' plan for rhino in vitro fertilization is probably too late to save the northern white subspecies, according to Save the Rhino, a London-based group.

'With small chance of healthy new calves, and limited place in their historic range to go, Save the Rhino believes that the best outcome will be to put our efforts and funding - including research into IVF - into saving the species which do still have a chance,' it said on its website.

'The real fight for the survival of northern white rhinos in their natural habitat was lost over a decade ago,' Jo Shaw, African rhino expert with the WWF conservation group, told the Associated Press in March.

'Large mammals, like rhinos, should be seen as symbols of large functioning ecosystems and we must focus our efforts and energy on their protection and ongoing survival within these vital landscapes around the globe.'
Vast canyons and mountain ranges twice the size of Ben Nevis have been discovered hidden beneath the South Pole.

Ice penetrating radar was used to uncover the canyons, which cut through three expansive subterranean mountain ranges under the Antarctic ice shelf.

As global warming continues to heat up the poles of our planet, these valleys could play a crucial role in controlling the flow of ice, scientists claim

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Three vast canyons have been discovered hidden underneath the thick ice shelf at the South Pole. The longest is called Foundation trough and runs for more than 200 miles . The others have been dubbed Patuxent Trough and the Offset Rift Basin

Researchers from Northumbria University were part of an international team that studied the canyons as part of the European Space Agency PolarGAP project.

Radar images revealed the deep troughs, which run for hundreds of miles under the ice and cut through subterranean mountains.

Dr Kate Winter, lead author of the study, said: 'As there were gaps in satellite data around the South Pole, no one knew exactly what was there.

'We now understand that the mountainous region is preventing ice from East Antarctica flowing through West Antarctica to the coast.

'In addition we have also discovered three sub-glacial valleys in West Antarctica which could be important in the future.'

The largest of the canyons is more than 215 miles (350 km) long and nearly 22 miles (35 km) wide.

Called Foundation Trough, this frozen highway is longer than the distance between London and Manchester.

Its peers, Patuxent Trough and Offset Rift basin, are both slightly smaller in size.

The Patuxent Trough measures over nine miles (15 km) wide and runs for some 185 miles (300 km), while the Offset Rift basin is 18 miles (30 km) wide and runs 93 miles (150 km) beneath the ice shelf.

The three gorges lie between mountain ranges known as the Whitmore Mountains and the Transantarctic Mountains.

The mountains reach a maximum elevation of 8.000ft (2500m) above sea level, which is almost twice the height of Ben Nevis.

It is believed these mountain ranges will help slow the melting of the Antarctic should global temperatures continue to rise, with the ridges acting as a plug and forming a bottleneck of ice.

All of this is invisible to the naked eye and is happening below the surface of the continent.

Compacted ice covers the canyons, which has prevented them from being discovered until now.

To reach the bottom of the largest trench, the Foundation Trough, you would need to drill through 1.2 miles (two kilometres) of solid ice.

The three different canyons lie between mountain ranges, known as the Whitmore Mountains and the Transantarctic Mountains. It is believed these ridges will help slow the melting of the Antarctic should global temperature continues to rise

The newly-discovered canyons bridge the so-called 'ice divide'  a high ice ridge that runs from the South Pole towards the coast of West Antarctica. Ice flows from the ridge either east or west, where it ends up in either the Weddell Sea or the Ross Sea

The three enormous canyons also bridge the so-called 'ice divide'  the high ice ridge that runs from the South Pole towards the coast of West Antarctica.

Ice flows away from this ridge either out towards to the Weddell Sea in the east or the Ross Sea in the west.

According to the researchers' observations, the newly-discovered troughs control the speed of ice flow between the East and West Antarctic ice sheets.

'If the ice sheet thins or retreats, these topographically-controlled corridors could facilitate enhanced flow of ice further inland, and could lead to the West Antarctic ice divide moving,' Dr Winter said.

'This would, in turn, increase the speed and rate at which ice flows out from the centre of Antarctica to its edges, leading to an increase in global sea levels.'

'The data we have gathered will enable ice sheet modellers to predict what will happen if the ice sheet thins, which will mean we can start to answer the questions we couldn't answer before.'

The canons are invisible to the naked eye and were discovered using radar. To reach the bottom of the largest trench, the Foundation Trough, you would need to drill through 1.2 miles (two kilometres) of solid ice

The PolarGAP had to obtain special permission to fly over the South Pole in order to obtain the radar images, which could be achieved from satellite

A field camp near the Thiel Mountains in Antarctica. This was used as one of the bases for the airborne missions as the researchers mapped out the canyons and mountains underneath the ice at the South Pole

The research was part funded by the European Space Agency (ESA).

The space agency is unable to gather the data itself, since most satellites are unable to observe the South Pole as spacecrafts can typically only fly up to about 83 degrees in latitude.

According to Dr Fausto Ferraccioli, this has resulted in the South Pole region remaining 'one of the least understood frontiers in the whole of Antarctica'.

The only way to gather data on the canyons hidden beneath the ice was to use aircrafts fitted with sensors.

Dr Ferraccioli, Head of Airborne Geophysics at British Antarctic Survey and the Principal Investigator of the European Space Agency PolarGAP project, said: 'Our new aerogeophysical data will also enable new research into the geological processes that created the mountains and basins before the Antarctic ice sheet itself was born.'

The research was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
A mysterious wolf-like creature killed on a ranch in Montana has baffled local wildlife officials.

The animal, which was shot within several hundred metres of the rancher's livestock, has long greyish fur, an extended snout and a large head like a wolf.

It also has long, large ears and a short body and legs - features that are uncharacteristic for a North American wolf.

The creature is now with officials at the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks for a DNA analysis, with one official saying he had 'no idea' what it is.

UK experts said the animal was most likely a cross between a wolf and a coyote or dog, and may even be part of an elaborate prank.

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A large wolf-like creature shot and killed on a ranch in Montana has baffled local wildlife officials. The animal (pictured), which was shot within several hundred metres of the rancher's livestock, has long grayish fur, an extended snout and a large head like a wolf

Richard Morley, director of the Exeter-based charity the Wolves and Humans Foundation, told MailOnline: 'This is almost certainly a wolf or a wolf/dog or wolf/coyote hybrid.

'It will be interesting to see if the DNA results ever surface. It could even be a badly stuffed taxidermy specimen set up as a joke.'

Mike Collins, site manager and wolf keeper at the UK Wolf Conservation Trust in Berkshire, said the specimen could simply be a wolf with unusual features.

He told MailOnline: 'I would hazard a guess at either a wolfdog hybrid or just a regular wolf.

'Wolves can be as individual as we are, in fact every animal is an individual as a result of our genetic material.'

The lone-predator was shot and killed on a ranch outside Denton, Montana on May 16 and quickly turned over to State officials.

The strange creature also features long, large ears and a short body and legs that are uncharacteristic for a North American wolf. Pictured is the animal's head next to a pen for scale

Bruce Auchly, information manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said: 'We have no idea what this was until we get a DNA report back.'

Montana government officials say they have 'no idea' what the creature is. Pictured is its paw next to a human hand

'It was near a rancher's place, it was shot, and our game wardens went to investigate. The whole animal was sent to our lab in Bozeman. That's the last I ever heard of it.'

Ty Smucker, wolf management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the animal is most likely a wolfdog hybrid.

He said: 'Several things grabbed my attention when I saw the pictures.

'The ears are too big. The legs look a little short. The feet look a little small, and the coat looks weird. There's just something off about it.

'We've had a few instances of wolf/dog hybrids out there. One was out somewhere in eastern central Montana killing sheep like crazy. Finally, we caught it and it turned out to be a hybrid.'

Hybrid wolfdogs are common in North America, where they are highly regulated and often bred in captivity.

Breeders are supposed to tattoo the animal's lip and register it with the state to keep numbers down, though locals often ignore these regulations, Smucker said.

UK experts said the animal was most likely a cross between a wolf and a coyote or dog, and may even be part of an elaborate prank. Pictured is a North American gray wolf

Thousands are released into the wild each year as the pets become too big and dangerous for owners to keep.

After photos of the creature shot in Montana surfaced online a number of people took to Twitter to weigh in on what they thought the animal was.

@GFTrib_SDettmer wrote: 'Adolescent werewolf, for sure.'

User @Rambobiggs said: 'Sooo basically what you're saying is that a wolf and bear made love in the woods'.

WHAT IS THE MYSTERIOUS WOLF CREATURE SHOT IN MONTANA? A mysterious wolf-like creature shot and killed on a ranch in Montana has baffled local wildlife officials. The animal shares many of the characteristics of a wolf but also features long ears and a short body and legs like a dog. Researchers suggest the creature is a hybrid between a wolf and a dog. Richard Morley, director of the Exeter-based charity the Wolves and Humans Foundation, told MailOnline: 'This is almost certainly a wolf or a wolf/dog or wolf/coyote hybrid. 'It will be interesting to see if the DNA results ever surface. It could even be a badly stuffed taxidermy specimen set up as a joke.' Ty Smucker, wolf management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, agreed. He said: 'Several things grabbed my attention when I saw the pictures. 'The ears are too big. The legs look a little short. The feet look a little small, and the coat looks weird. There's just something off about it.' 'We've had a few instances of wolf/dog hybrids out there. One was out somewhere in eastern central Montana killing sheep like crazy. Finally, we caught it and it turned out to be a hybrid.' Advertisement

Some social media users suggested the creature was a Dogman - a mythical wolf-like predator said to roam the forests of North America.

'That could very well be what's being called Dogman,' one user suggested, as reported by Montana's Great Falls Tribune.

'They're spotted each day and the government quells any and all reports. Several people report being strong armed into keeping quiet about their reports by men wearing black suits. These are just facts. Look into if you don't believe it.'

The theory is unlikely to be true as there has never been a confirmed sighting of the hybrid beasts.

Some speculated the animal was a malnourished bear cub or a dire wolf (artist's impression) - a mythical dog-like creature made famous after it featured on TV drama Game of Thrones

Some speculated the animal was a malnourished bear cub or a dire wolf - a mythical dog-like creature made famous after it featured on TV drama Game of Thrones.

This theory was rejected by Auchly.

'First off (dire wolf) was a song by the Grateful Dead from 1971,' he said of the mythical creature.

'I know; I listened to it many times. Number two, it's a prehistoric animal, like mastodons and saber toothed tigers; so it doesn't exist.'

Mr Morley told MailOnline: 'What it definitely isn't is a grizzly bear cub, dire wolf or dog man! It must have been a slow news day in Montana.'
BlackBerry is gearing up to launch a new smartphone.

The company has started to tease its next handset, dubbed KEY2, which will sport a dual-camera system, LED flash and physical keyboard.

The smartphone is a follow-up to the KEYone, which launched at the Mobile World Congress consumer technology tradeshow back in February 2017.

Like the KEYone, the new phone will be powered by Googles Android operating system.

BlackBerry typically adds its own software improvements to Android to improve security on the device  a key selling point for the privacy-focused company.

BlackBerry has shared a short teaser trailer for the new smartphone, which offers a brief glimpse at some of the new features.

BlackBerry has included a mysterious new button on the KEY2's physical keyboard.

The new key, which is labelled with a three-by-three grid of dots, did not featue on the BlackBerry KEYone.

Unfortunately, BlackBerry is staying tight-lipped about the purpose of this mysterious new button for now.

A spokesperson for the company told Cnet that the function of the new key would be revealed during the launch event next month.

The teaser trailer also showcases a brand-new button (pictured, glowing above) on the physical keyboard. BlackBerry is staying tight-lipped about exactly what this new key does

BlackBerry has offered a brief glimpse at its new smartphone, which looks set to be the first from the company to offer a dual-camera system like the Apple iPhone X

Its unclear whether the dual-cameras on the BlackBerry KEY2 will be used to take portrait-style photographs, like the iPhone X.

The iPhone uses information from both lens to separate the subject of the photo from the background, allowing it to artificially blur the latter.

The BlackBerry KEY2 will be unveiled in New York City on June 7 2018.

BlackBerry KEYone sported a single rear-facing camera, physical keyboard and was powered by Google's Android operating system. It cost 499 when it went on-sale in April 2017

BlackBerry revealed plans to launch at least two new smartphones before the end of the year during a press conference back in January.

The KEY2 looks set to be the first of these new devices.

TCL, the multinational manufacturer which owns the right to sell smartphones under the BlackBerry brand name, shipped a mere 850,000 KEYone handsets in 2017.

But despite the poor sales numbers, company executives told The Verge they considered the KEYone an 'unqualified success'.

The BlackBerry KEYone cost 499 ($549) SIM-free when it launched two years ago.
The Google Doodle for Friday, May 25 celebrates the Oscar-winning Chinese-American cinematographer James Wong Howe on the anniversary of his 1934 film, The Thin Man.

Google explained that it actually intended to run the James Wong Howe Google Doodle last year on his birthday on August 28, but pulled it out of respect of Hurricane Harvey event and subsequent relief efforts.

Though we dont usually run Doodles more than once, Howe left such a unique and indelible mark on American cinema that we decided to run the Doodle this year, the Google Doodle reads.

Here is all you need to know about who was James Wong Howe and what the Google Doodles are.

The May 25 Google Doodle celebrates Chinese-American cinematographer James Wong Howe

Who was James Wong Howe?

James Wong Howe was born on August 28, 1899 in Guangzhou, China, and immigrated to the U.S. when he was five years old and grew up in Washington state.

His father worked on the Northern Pacific Railway, but after he died, Howe moved to Oregon and contemplated becoming a boxer as a teenager.

In 1970, Howe told the great film critic Roger Ebert that his prolific career in film started with a job pedaling a bicycle around and delivering films. Stag films.

After some time, Howe ended up holding the slate in front of the camera and caught the eye of Cecile B. DeMille, who decided to promote him.

One day Cecil B. DeMille was looking at some rushes and he asked who that fellow with the funny face was. I guess he liked my looks, and he made me his third or fourth assistant cameraman. That was in 1918, Howe told Ebert.

The cinematographers big break, one which could well serve as a crystallised example of his innovative approach to lighting techniques, came about completely by accident.

Howe recalls how one of his side gigs involved taking publicity photos of actors and actresses and selling them them the prints. One actress who called upon Howe was the silent star Mary Miles Minter.

After he took her photographs, she got back to him, saying she wanted him to be her cinematographer because of the way he managed to make her blue eyes look darksomething that was never done before on black-and-white film, which couldnt convey the difference between blue and white.

That was why you couldn't shoot clouds in the sky. Mary Miles Minter had blue eyes, and they always came out pale on film. But in my pictures, they were dark and beautiful, Howe said, adding that after news of his achievement spread he was never out work.

At first, Howe didnt know how he achieved the dark effect, but ultimately concluded it was because he was standing in front of a dark backdrop, which in turn was reflected by Minters eyes. He began draping a dark velvet curtain over his camera to recreate the effect.

Once his career as a cinematographer began to take off, Howe became a pioneer of technological innovation, using wide-angle lenses, and low key lightingwhich earned him the nickname Low Key Howe.

He also pioneered the use of the crab dolly, which was a camera dolly resting on four wheels with a moveable arm to support the camera.

Howe died in 1976 having left a profound impact on the film industry. He worked on 130 films, earning ten Academy Award nominations and winning twofor the 1955 picture The Rose Tattoo and 1963s Hud.

In paying tribute to Howe, the Google Doodle also notes the shocking contrast between the success of Howes professional life and the racial discrimination he faced in his private life.

Howe only became a citizen of the US after the repealing of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943. Due to the anti-miscegenation laws, Howes marriage to the poet Sanora Babb was not legally recognised in 1948.

Extremely happy to see James Wong Howe, ASC honored in today's Google Doodle! @AmericanCine @AFIConservatory  Tim Kang (@timkang1980) May 25, 2018

A 2001 LA Times article mentions Babbs recollections of the time: We couldn't get married for a long time. There was a miscegenation law. We would live in separate apartments. It was before the war.

'After the war, they repealed the law, and he said now we can get married. I said, we have waited this long, we'll wait until it's convenient!

The poet went on to say how the couple was not allowed to go to restaurants together.

What is a Google Doodle?

A Google Doodle is the tech giants way of celebrating cultural events and influential people throughout history.

The very first Google Doodle was that of a stick man to commemorate the Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, trip to the 1998 Burning Man.

The stick man appeared behind the second O of the Google logo on the homepage of the search engine.

The doodles became popular, with users responding positively to the frequent changes to the Google logo and subsequently a team of Doodlers was introduced to make them a frequent feature of the homepage.

Recent Google Doodles include Sam Selvon, Alfonso Reyes and Tamara Lempicka.
Tesla on Thursday reached an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit with buyers of its Model S and Model X cars who alleged that the company's assisted-driving Autopilot system was 'essentially unusable and demonstrably dangerous.'

The agreement, announced in a filing in San Jose federal court late Thursday, still has to be approved by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.

Tesla said in a statement it wanted to do right by its customers and, as part of the proposed deal, agreed to compensate car owners who purchased the 2.0 version of Autopilot and had to wait longer than expected for the driving features to become active.

Tesla-CEO Elon Musk speaks during the delivery of the first more reasonable Tesla vehicle Model 3 in Fremont. Two U.S. consumer advocacy groups urged the FTC to investigate what they called Tesla's 'deceptive and misleading' use of the name Autopilot for its assisted-driving technology.

SHOULD TESLA'S SYSTEM BE CALLED AUTOPILOT? Two U.S. consumer advocacy groups urged the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday to investigate what they called Tesla Inc's 'deceptive and misleading' use of the name Autopilot for its assisted-driving technology. The Center for Auto Safety and Consumer Watchdog, both non-profit groups, sent a letter to the FTC saying that consumers could be misled into thinking, based on Tesla's marketing and advertising, that Autopilot makes a Tesla vehicle self-driving. Autopilot, released in 2015, is an enhanced cruise-control system that partially automates steering and braking. Advertisement

'Since rolling out our second generation of Autopilot hardware in October 2016, we have continued to provide software updates that have led to a major improvement in Autopilot functionality,' the company said, adding that the settlement would be offered to customers worldwide.

Class members, who paid an extra $5,000 to get the Autopilot upgrade between 2016 and 2017, will receive between $20 and $280 in compensation. Tesla has agreed to place more than $5 million into a settlement fund, which will also cover attorney costs and other fees.

Steve Berman, a lawyer for the car owners, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case was closely watched in the automotive and legal communities, as it was the only known court challenge Tesla faced with regard to its assisted-driving technology.

The company has come under increased scrutiny over its Autopilot system in recent months after two Tesla drivers died in crashes in which Autopilot was engaged.

The most recent crash, in March, is being investigated by safety regulators.

Autopilot, released in 2015, is an enhanced cruise-control system that partially automates steering and braking. Tesla has said the use of Autopilot results in 40 percent fewer crashes, a claim the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration repeated in a 2017 report on the first fatality, which occurred in May 2016. Earlier this month, however, the agency said regulators had not assessed the effectiveness of the technology.

The 2017 lawsuit in San Jose federal court named six Tesla Model S and Model X owners from Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and California who alleged the company had engaged in fraud by concealment, and had violated various state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.

They sought to represent a nationwide class of consumers.

The Tesla owners said they had paid an extra $5,000 to have their cars equipped with the Autopilot software, which promised to provide additional safety features, but in fact was 'completely inoperable,' according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs alleged that features such as automated emergency braking, side collision warnings and auto high beams did not work or were unreliable.

They said the system was unsafe to use as it brakes unexpectedly for no reason and fails to brake when approaching large vehicles, such as trucks and buses.

On Wednesday, two U.S. consumer advocacy groups also urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate what they called Tesla's 'deceptive and misleading' use of the name Autopilot for its assisted-driving technology.
Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient Ychsma funeral bundle containing the mummified remains of a person buried in Peru roughly 1,000 years ago.

During a major excavation in Pachacamac, Peru  a Pre-Colombian pilgrimage site under the Inca Empire  researchers discovered a sanctuary filled with funerary chambers and mummies.

Inside, they found the wrapped, coffin-like structure and the incredibly well preserved individual.

The team also discovered offerings left at the monuments by worshipers, including seashells, vases, dogs, and other precious objects, along with a chapel thought to be for foreign pilgrims.

Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient Ychsma funeral bundle containing the mummified remains of a person buried in Peru roughly 1,000 years ago. The team plans to study the contents of the coffin using X-ray scans, axial tomography, 3D reconstruction

Researchers from the Universite libre de Bruxelles's centre for archaeological research (CReA-Patrimoine) explored the site for nine weeks, revealing three monumental structures and whats thought to be a sanctuary dedicated to the local ancestors.

The effort was part of the Ychsma project, named after the region's native people.

According to the team, the space was likely transformed into a water and healing temple in the late 15th century under Inca rule.

Before the Inca arrived, however, the sanctuary housed funerary chambers and numerous mummies.

While most were looted during the Spanish conquest, the chamber containing the bundled mummy remained intact.

The team plans to study the contents of the coffin using X-ray scans, axial tomography, 3D reconstruction, and other imaging methods, to look inside without actually disturbing the material.

The deceased is still wrapped in the enormous funeral bundle that served as a coffin, says professor Peter Eeckhout, who led the expedition.

During a major excavation in Pachacamac, Peru  a Pre-Colombian pilgrimage site under the Inca Empire  researchers discovered a sanctuary filled with funerary chambers and mummies.

WHAT IS A FUNERARY BUNDLE? In many pre-Colombian civilizations, ancient people would bury their dead in distinctive structures known as funerary bundles. The Paracas of the Peruvian Andes and the Ychsma were both known to engage in the practice. These burials involved wrapping the individual in layers cotton cloth, often alongside gifts and other offerings. The body was typically placed in the fetal position, though they have sometimes been found flexed. Advertisement

Discoveries like this one are exceptionally scarce, and this mummy is incredibly well preserved.

Samples were collected for carbon-14 dating, but the area in which it was discovered and the type of tomb suggest this individual was buried between 1000 and 1200 AD.

The offerings found at the monuments include Spondylus shells imported from Ecuador, which symbolize fertility and abundance.

At the supposed chapel, they found 'foundation' offerings, including vases, dogs, and other animals, along with a platform with a hole in the center, thought to be the site where an idol once stood.

Researchers from the Universite libre de Bruxelles explored the site for nine weeks, revealing three monumental structures and whats thought to be a sanctuary dedicated to the local ancestors. The effort was part of the Ychsma project, named after the region's native people

The entire complex was likely designed around this figure.

Deities and their worship played a major part in the life of Pre-Colombian societies, Eeckhout said.

The Inca understood this very well, and integrated it into how they wielded their power. By promoting empire-wide worship, they contributed to creating a common sense of identity among the many different peoples that made up the empire.

Pachacamac is one of the most striking examples of this.
Fear of the dentist is a real thing - but it may cause your doctor to make mistakes.

A study of dental students has found that dentists may be able to smell when a patient is anxious or afraid, and it increases the chances of them performing poorly.

Previous studies have found that people experiencing high emotions, particularly negative ones, do emit body odors that can influence the perception of people around them.

A study of dental students has found that dentists may be able to smell when a patient is anxious or afraid, and it increases the chances of them performing badly

'The finding is the first real-world evidence that chemical signals hidden in our body odor can betray our emotions and influence the behaviors of those around us', said Valentina Parma at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, to New Scientist.

To determine if body odor can trigger anxiety, Parma's team recruited 24 dental student volunteers to donate two shirts each.

One was worn during a stressful exam, and the other during a calm lecture.

The shirts were treated with a chemical that hides body odor, and a separate team of 24 students performed dental procedures on mannequins wearing the clothing.

Examiners graded students on their performances.

Previous studies have found that people experiencing high emotions, particularly negative ones, do emit body odors that can influence the perception of people around them

HOW CAN YOU CALM YOUR NERVES? Whether it's the thought of giving a presentation at an important office meeting or getting frustrated sat in a queue of traffic, stress has become an unwelcome part of every day life. A simple breathing technique could help calm the nerves in seconds - by 'fooling' the body into thinking it is relaxed. A YouTube video called 'Mind Hack: Combat Anxiety with This Breathing Technique,' explains how people can calm themselves down simply with a few inhales and exhales. In it, Jane McGonigal, best-selling author of SuperBetter and video game designer, describes how the 'power breath' can help people to achieve a relaxed state similar to sleep. While the benefits of deep breaths in have been widely reported, she argues the ultimate trick is not so much how you breathe in but also how you breathe out that counts. The method has one simple rule - exhale for double the amount of time you inhale. Put simply, if you breathe in and count to four seconds, you should then slowly exhale and count to eight seconds as you do it. This triggers a change in the nervous system from 'sympathetic' mode - which is what we associate with fight or flight - to 'parasympathetic' - or 'rest and digest' mode. If someone is particularly stressed or anxious worked up, she suggests they inhale for two and out for four. Then gradually increase this to inhaling for eight seconds and exhale for 16 seconds after a bit of practice. Advertisement

Students who were treating mannequins wearing the 'stressed' T-shirts performed significantly worse, and made mistakes that were more likely to damage patient's teeth.

Parma believes the findings show the scent of anxiety could subconsciously trigger the emotion in those smelling it.

She does not yet know if fully-trained dentists are as affected by patient anxiety as students are, but hopes training medical professionals to be aware of potential biases might improve patient care.

'I don't think we'll be able to develop an anti-anxiety deodorant, unless we find the molecule responsible,' Parma said.
TV presenter Anneka Rice, who took her family on a sailing holiday around Croatia

It was exhausting planning our holiday, coordinating sons and options. A boat? Croatia? I hadnt been back there since a TV challenge in the 1990s, after the civil war. We had rebuilt a school in Pakrac. Serb fighters trained guns on us while we worked under UN protection.

We all wrote letters home in case we were shot. Yes, time to move on. I booked flights quickly, accidentally pressing the wrong button so we are flying back to Luton.

We arrived in Dubrovnik to be met by a boat the size of a hamlet. No wonder the price had made me faint. This was 85ft of gleaming mahogany, five double en suite bedrooms. We all blushed slightly as we met the four crew members, lined up on the gang plank.

Dubrovnik looked stunning, yellow light sloping on to the limestone streets buffed like shiny marble. We found a tiny slit in the thick ramparts to climb through to the Buza Bar, clinging dramatically to the cliff. Music, cold beer, sunset.

On our return to our boat in the harbour, chef Dejan had produced a feast from his tiny galley, which was practically in my bedroom. He was the first person I saw through the beaded curtain first thing and last thing every day, slicing, frying. All quite bonding.

After setting sail from Dubrovnik, our first stop was Mljet National Park. We moored off an exquisite bay and swam before lunch. We were still in the early stages of our relationship with the crew, who spoke little English, so our snack for lunch was a three-course feast.

It had been impossible filling out the online meal preference form before the trip. How to accommodate all our fads with a cross in a box, including Girlfriend 1s definitely vegetarian but wouldnt say no to meat juices.

The National Park was written about by Homer in The Odyssey. Apostle Paul visited the island on his way to Rome. Their directions were better than ours. We set off along a pine-fringed pathway hugging a lake. We could see the Benedictine monastery on an island but how to get to it?

Coasting along: Anneka's luxury yacht, which was 85ft of gleaming mahogany with five double en suite bedrooms

We came to a tiny pontoon with a red flag on a short pole. Girlfriend 1 started waving the flag hypnotically. We watched, waiting for a steam train and at least a Daddy, my Daddy. Then a tiny boat chugged towards us. It picked us up, no questions asked and dropped us on the island.

A boating family holiday is brilliant. Theres no escape, you do everything together. Wink murder was good. At one point Son 1, fully clothed, staggered to the rail and tipped dramatically into the inky black water. The crew were confused but got the hang of it.

A pattern emerged. We crept up to the deck each morning to enjoy the silence. Strong coffee was waiting as we emerged from a swim. Breakfast means Breakfast said Son 2 on Day 1 and no one ever missed it for a lie-in.

Next stop was Korcula, Marco Polos native town, and then, on Day 4, after tackling pork cheeks for lunch, we set off to Hvar. We arrived in the Venetian town square and climbed up to the fort high above the harbour, just in time for a sunset over the battlements and Adriatic Sea. Honestly, each island is a medieval gem. Never a day went by without a rampart, a spattering of the Greeks, Romans and Venetians, a crusade, a poem and often a scene from Game Of Thrones.

Day 5 there was enough wind to fill the 30ft sails. Our skipper told us we were heading to Vis, and there was a chance to visit military sights with a guide for 180. Was something lost in translation here? This seemed steep and a tad dull. Over lunch we decided wed hire mopeds instead.

Stylish stop: Vis island, which is a popular resort in Croatia and the highlight of Anneka's holiday

The guide book told us Vis was where Tito hid submarines hidden in rock faces. I channelled my inner Bond Girl. But doubts were forming. Everyone had a friend whod had a motorbike accident. So in the end it was just me and Sons 2 and 3, off on our rugged adventure. We twisted up mountain roads, we searched for Titos grave in a cave, we meandered through vineyards. We laughed at the others caution.

Yes, you know what happened next. I wish I did. When I came round I was lying on the ground, boys on either side of me: stay with us Mum. I sat hunched on the dirt road, sons kissing each side of my face telling me how much they loved me. Honestly, Vis was the highlight of my holiday.

We stopped in Milna for medical supplies. This was almost a throwaway island but it was as stunning as the others, a faded Cuba, stone facades and peeling shutters.

We just had time to explore Split before our fight home. The port was heaving. We fought our way through the walls of Diocletians Palace and clocked a man in a trilby with a sign saying graduate tour.

He drew maps of the Roman Empire and four hours later, after nearly 3,000 years, we knew everything about Croatia, as well as the perfect Venetian four-point symmetry and David Bowies favourite sculptor, Ivan Mestrovic. Over lunch our guide randomly gave me a bullet as a souvenir of the civil war.

And I had the perfect journalistic gift at the airport, when security found the live bullet at the bottom of my handbag and arrested me. I suddenly longed for Luton.
A holiday may well be just the ticket if you have or recently had a health problem. But if were talking about something serious, such as cancer or a heart complication, then the cost of travel insurance can be astronomical, and some insurers will refuse to provide cover.

The big issue is pre-existing medical conditions. Insurers define these as pretty much any illness or disease you currently have, or have had in the past, requiring medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

While that may seem very wide ranging, and more minor conditions  perhaps mild and well-controlled asthma  may not result in being quoted higher premiums, you should still declare them. Insurers can, and do, use undeclared conditions as reasons to turn down medical claims. For anyone with a pre-existing medical condition, to get the right cover at the best price, here are the key pointers.

Move quickly: Taking out cover long after you've booked your trip can be an expensive mistake

Choose your destination

If you have a significant medical condition, before you book your trip find out how much the travel insurance will set you back. Even for a short visit, the cost of getting covered can run to hundreds of pounds in countries where the medical care is private and expensive, notably the USA, and where there are potentially hefty emergency travel and repatriation costs, such as the Caribbean.

Generally, cover is much cheaper in Europe. However, premiums can be dearer for trips to Spain, Malta and Cyprus, which have higher levels of privatised health care than some other European countries.

Use the EHIC

One advantage of holidaying in Europe is the European Health Insurance Card (ehic.org.uk). Though not a substitute for travel insurance, it entitles UK residents to free or reduced-cost state healthcare when in another EU country  and Iceland, Norway and Switzerland  including pre-existing medical conditions, as long as youre not travelling intending to obtain treatment. Lets hope EHIC arrangements will continue after Brexit.

Consider a single-trip policy

If you go abroad several times a year, normally annual, multi-trip policies are the best value. However, for those with serious pre-existing medical conditions, annual cover can be prohibitively expensive, and single-trip policies may cost less. Insurers can quantify the risk more easily with a single-trip policy covering a specific destination for a set duration.

If you go abroad several times a year, normally annual, multi-trip policies are the best value

Get joint cover

Its best to have all the people travelling together  family, partner, friends  on the same policy. This means everyone should be covered if, for example, one person became ill and you all need to cancel or cut short the trip.

Dont go overboard

Some insurers offer policies with enticing-looking, sky-high levels of medical cover  as much as 15million. You really dont need that amount: 2million is more than adequate for Europe, and 5million worldwide.

Shop around

Take a look at medicaltravelcompared.co.uk and allcleartravel.co.uk  price-comparison websites that focus on travel insurance for those with pre-existing medical conditions. Doing so has two advantages. Firstly, you need to fill out the medical screening questionnaire only once on each website. Secondly, youll be provided with a big range of quotes from mainstream travel insurance providers and those specialising in cover for people with medical conditions. If youre looking at a cruise, go to allclearcruise.co.uk.

Go direct for specialist care

Some well-regarded specialist insurers for those with pre-existing medical conditions, such as Staysure (staysure.co.uk) and Insurewith (insurewith.com), dont appear on price-comparison websites. Its also worth getting quotes from Avanti (avantitravelinsurance.co.uk).

Bought By Many (boughtbymany.com) recently brought out a radically different European policy, aimed at people with severe medical conditions struggling to get insurance with other providers. Any condition (other than a terminal prognosis of under six months) is covered and, unusually, the policy requires no medical screening  though your doctor needs to be happy for you to travel. However, this is not a full travel insurance policy: it provides up to 500,000 for emergency medical treatment and repatriation, but doesnt cover cancellation costs or baggage.

For those with a medical condition, sorting out insurance straight after the trip is set up is a no-brainer

Book then take out cover

Cancellation cover is a key element of most travel insurance policies  it accounts for about a third of claims. So if you dont buy your insurance as soon as youve fixed your holiday, youre not getting the full benefit.

For those with a medical condition, sorting out insurance straight after the trip is set up is a no-brainer.

Keep your insurer informed

If your condition worsens or you develop a new condition after you take out a policy  whether single trip or annual  you need to update your insurer. It may decide to charge you extra, or even withdraw cover.
Roam the cobbled streets of Romes Centro Storico  historic centre  and discover a district of stately renaissance palaces, baroque churches and elegant squares filled with cafe terraces. Its an area made for rambling  taking you past the Pantheon, one of finest ancient buildings not just in Rome but of all Europe.

Your wanderings will also lead you to Piazza Navona, with fountains and cafes that make it one of the most attractive squares in the city. And right on the edge of the Centro Storico is the superb morning market at Campo de Fiori  a sight not to miss.

The iconic Piazza Navona is a must-visit when in the Italian capital

How to get there and around

If youre flying into Leonardo da Vinci airport at Fiumicino, youll be arriving in the larger of Romes two international airports. From here, you can take the Leonardo Express train or Terravision bus to Termini, Romes main railway station. From Romes smaller international airport, Ciampino, you can also take the Terravision bus to Termini. While there is a metro service in Rome, it bypasses Centro Storico, so youre better off taking a bus from Termini into Centro Storico.

Once youre in compact Centro Storico, the best way to explore is by foot, but there are buses if you need a break.

Where to stay

If five-star luxury isnt enough, then Hotel Raphael goes a step further by including in its grounds a museum and art gallery filled with exquisite paintings and artefacts. The designer rooms are just as impressive, with antique furnishings in some and a more modern vibe in others. Dont miss the excellent rooftop restaurant with its fabulous views and mouth-watering dishes.

Hotel Raphael is the epitome of la dolce vita

In a renaissance townhouse, the sleek four-star Martis Palace Hotel has an avant-garde edge with full-length padded headboards and four-poster beds in high-ceilinged rooms with accents from earlier times. Dine in its splendid vaulted restaurant, or order a bottle of wine to enjoy in the rooftop bar and look out over the city.

Soak up the aristocratic atmosphere at Eitch Borromini, a 17th-century palace a stones throw from Piazza Navona. Theres a regal air to the high-ceilinged suites  especially those with frescoes. Head up to its fourth-floor restaurant for views of Piazza Navona from the terrace.

Enjoy the wonderful views from Eitch Borromini

Book well ahead to get one of the three charming rooms at the La Maison dellOrologio. Its rooms have pleasingly traditional decor, with everything from wrought-iron beds to lovely beamed ceilings and antique furnishings that transport you to the 17th century (but with modern comforts).

Overlooking Piazza della Chiesa Nuova is Navona Luxury Guest House, where all six rooms have names of illustrious renaissance artists. Exposed brick rooms blend traditional with modern styling, and one of the rooms has a balcony with views of the piazza. After a day exploring, relax by the lounge fireplace in winter or find a table on the terrace when the weather is fine.

Navona Luxury Guest House will cater to your every need

What to see and do

Plunge straight in with a visit to the Pantheon. Built by Hadrian in the second century to celebrate the Roman gods, it became a Christian church in the seventh century and Raphaels resting place in 1520.

Its one of the best-preserved sights of ancient Rome and an astonishing feat of engineering. No one quite knows how its managed to stay up all these centuries, especially as theres an oculus at the top of the dome and no visible means of support. Light pours in illuminating the sunken panels in the ceiling and walls.

Once youve left the Pantheon and its elephant statue out front, stroll for a couple minutes to Piazza Navona, one of Romes most alluring squares. The oval piazza has a wealth of baroque architecture crowned by Berninis magnificent 17th-century fountain, the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, topped with an Egyptian obelisk. Look out for the other two fountains at each end of the square. Lined with cafe terraces, Piazza Navona is like an outdoor theatre, with a constantly changing cast of street performers and tourists enjoying the spectacle.

At the southern end of the piazza is the 18th-century Palazzo Braschi, home to the Museo di Roma. Learn more about Romes long history inside the palace, which also hosts excellent temporary exhibitions.

Walk north of Piazza Navona for more artistic treasures. Inside the 15th-century Palazzo Altemps is a branch of the Museo Nazionale Romano. Think loggias with graceful vaulted ceilings covered in frescoes framing a large collection of ancient statues from Rome and further afield.

While youre exploring Centro Storico, dont miss the chance to walk to Campo de Fiori. This square is home to one of Romes liveliest food markets, which runs Monday to Saturday until lunchtime. Its a cheerful scene, with cafes lining the square, creating a carnival vibe. To get a feel for real Roman life, head to the market early in the morning when residents and local chefs do their food shopping. The produce on display will definitely get your mouth watering. Once the market packs up, the cafes keep things humming until late in the evening.

Experience the traditional outdoor food market of Campo de' Fiori

Where to eat and drink

Start the morning with a pastry and strong coffee at SantEstachio Il Caffe, something of a Roman institution between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Theres also La Casa del Caffe Tazza dOro, which specialises in granita di caffe  iced coffee  with an added dollop of cream.

For lunch, you might have to queue for a bit, but Enoteca Corsis pasta dishes are well worth it. Make the most of your waiting time looking through its wine-shop shelves to decide what youll have with lunch.

You might prefer the relaxed vibe at Bar del Fico, with rustic-chic interior that spill outside into its own little square. Youll find a huge range of food here, from pizzas and seafood to meat dishes and burgers. Theres a similarly chilled-out feel at Etabli, which has welcoming big leather sofas in which to relax over wine and a full menu.

As evening swings around and youre on the hunt for an aperitivo and the free nibbles that come with it, try local favourite, Salotto 42. In the bustling Piazza di Pietra, the bar serves excellent cocktails to go with its early-evening tapas. Also in the square is Gran Caffe La Caffetteria, a slice of Naples in the middle of Rome. It has a bit of everything, starting with breakfast and carrying on into the evening with cocktails and a full dinner menu. Piazza di Pietra is also home to Osteria dellIngegno, which serves up dishes from across the country as well as classic Roman cuisine. Trattoria Lilli, near the River Tiber is also good for local favourites, tempting you with a choice of traditional Roman pasta dishes. Finish your evening with a generous slice of tiramisu on the terrace as the sun sets.
From the snowy slopes of Svalbard in Norway to the Matterhorn in the Alps, a stunning new photography book takes readers on a mesmerising journey around the peaks of Europe.

Renowned Belgian-born photojournalist Johan Lolos travelled through more than 17 countries and covered over 25,000 miles over a five-month period to get the shots. Overall, he took 27,000 images which he then had to whittle down to 200 for his upcoming tome titled Peaks of Europe.

One of the photos to make the cut shows the top of the Matterhorn cast in a golden light, with the jagged 14,691ft summit reflected in a still pool of water.

Lolos, who boasts more than 466,000 followers on Instagram, says Norway was one of his favourite photography spots and he loved capturing the country's undulating landscapes bathed in 'glorious midnight sun'.

He added: 'From day one, the goal was to try and stay awake as long as possible, to get used to shooting at night and sleeping during the day.'

Lolos' book, from Lannoo Publishers, will hit the shelves on July 18 but in the meantime, scroll down for a selection of his breathtaking work...
The FBI has issued advice to air passengers to help prevent sexual assault on planes.

FBI special agent David Gates, who is based at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), said in an official release that the agency is seeing more reports of in-flight sexual assault than ever before with victims being as young as eight.

The agency's tips include keeping the arm rest down at all times and never mixing alcohol with sleeping tablets.

The FBI has issued advice to air passengers to help prevent sexual assault on planes (file image)

It also recommends sticking to aisle seats where there is greater visibility. Agents say that parents arranging flights for unaccompanied minors should especially take note of this tip.

Sexual assault aboard aircraft - which usually takes the form of unwanted touching - is a felony that can land offenders in prison.

The FBI says that typically men are the perpetrators, and women and unaccompanied minors are the victims.

In fiscal year 2014, 38 cases of in-flight sexual assault were reported to the FBI.

In the last fiscal year, that number increased to 63 reported cases.

'Its safe to say that many incidents occur that are not reported,' said Gates, one of the FBIs many airport liaison agents assigned to the nearly 450 U.S. aviation facilities.

THE FBI'S TIPS TO AVOIDING SEXUAL ASSAULT ON FLIGHTS Trust your gut: Offenders will often test their victims, sometimes pretending to brush against them to see how they react or if they wake up. 'Dont give them the benefit of the doubt,' special agent David Gates says. If such behavior occurs, reprimand the person immediately, and consider asking to be moved to another seat. Don't knock yourself out: Recognize that mixing alcohol with sleeping pills or other medication on an overnight flight increases your risk. 'Dont knock yourself out with alcohol or drugs,' Gates warns. Create a barrier: If your seatmate is a stranger, no matter how polite he or she may seem, keep the armrest between you down. Choose an aisle seat: If you are arranging for a child to fly unaccompanied, try to reserve an aisle seat so flight attendants can keep a closer watch on them. The FBI has seen victims as young as eight years old. Report it: If an incident happens, report it immediately to the flight crew and ask that they record the attackers identity and report the incident. 'Flight attendants and captains represent authority on the plane,' Gates said. 'We dont want them to be police officers, but they can alert law enforcement, and they can sometimes deal with the problem in the air.' The flight crew can also put the offender on notice, which might prevent further problems. Advertisement

Crimes aboard aircraft fall within the FBIs jurisdiction, and in the case of in-flight sexual assaults, agents describe elements of these crimes as being strikingly similar.

The attacks generally occur on long-haul flights when the cabin is dark. The victims are usually in middle or window seats, sleeping, and covered with a blanket or jacket.

They report waking up to their seatmates hands inside their clothing or underwear.

One victim, a mother of two who was attacked in 2016 on a flight from the West Coast to Africa via Europe, recounted her ordeal.

'I fly overseas often,' she said. 'The flights usually leave around 6pm I have dinner, watch a movie, and go to sleep. I was dozing off toward the end of the movie, and all of a sudden I felt a hand in my crotch.'

The FBI has launched a poster as part of its campaign to fight in-flight sexual assault

The woman instinctively said, 'No!' and pushed the mans hand away, but he came at her two more times before she was able to remove her seatbelt and get away, even as her attacker used the full weight of his body trying to detain her.

As the assault was happening, she recalled, 'it didnt make sense to me. It was all so disorienting and confusing'.

She ran toward the bathroom. Seeing her condition, passengers thought she was experiencing a medical emergency. Barely able to breathe, the woman explained what had happened and that she needed a flight attendant.

After the crew responded, while she was waiting to be reseated away from her attacker, she was told by members of the crew that sexual assaults in the air were fairly common. One sympathetic flight attendant said that she, too, had been groped in the past.

'I was horrified,' the veteran flyer remembered thinking. 'How can this be and I have never heard about it?'

'Unfortunately, people dont think things like this happen on airplanes,' said Caryn Highley, a special agent in the FBIs Seattle Division who investigates crimes aboard aircraft.

'There is a perception on an airplane that youre in a bubble of safety,' Highley concluded.

The FBI has launched a poster as part of its campaign to fight in-flight sexual assault, urging passengers to report any incidents by visiting tips.fbi.gov, calling 1-800-CALL-FBI, or visiting a local FBI office.
Why does everyone celebrating occasions in soapland do so only in their shabby local? In Corrie last week, Robert celebrated with his stags and the hens joined him (top prize to Steve dressed as Boy George, by the way  sublime in every respect).

Do these people have no imagination? They certainly dont know how much alcohol constitutes a wild night out.

A single round of tequilas in Weatherfield was celebrated like a Friday night in the City following a multi-billion-dollar shares windfall.

In EastEnders the previous week, Mick and his mate Stuart were also downing tequila and managed to get as drunk on one as they could have if they had been partying in Mexico for weeks.

Carmel (pictured) attempts to take her own life before immediately regretting it and trying to reverse the situation in EastEnders

Of course, the pub is the focal point of the soap genre, but its hard to believe that young people at least would not venture out occasionally to explore the big wide world.

The message is that anything beyond soaplands boundaries is dangerous and to be avoided. Why dont they all just build moats and have done with the terror alert? Heaven forbid somebody might down that second tequila.

EASTENDERS: GRIM REAPER (AGAIN)

Theres been a bit of an onslaught of young soap people dying of late. Aidan in Corrie, Gerry in Emmerdale and now Shakil in EastEnders.

Carmel is, of course, devastated, and attempts to take her own life before immediately regretting it and trying to reverse the situation (OK, soap guys! Enough suicide storylines for the moment, eh?!).

Luckily, Kush arrives in the nick of time and calls an ambulance.

Linda, who is turning into an event planner par excellence, arranges a memorial for Shakil in the Square, but can anyone persuade the inconsolable Carmel to attend?

Linda even manages to arrange a minutes silence for the lad, which must be the longest amount of time anyone in Walford has ever kept their gob shut.

Hayley is the latest oddity in the Square and tries to blackmail Kat because she knows The Troof about what happened in Spain.

Threatening to reveal Kats big secret, she tries to scupper a forthcoming Spanish trip: either Kat comes clean, or pays her to keep quiet.

Fat chance. This is a woman for whom even a minutes silence would need someone to resort to chloroform.

CORONATION STREET: PUTTING ON THE LIPPY

You can only wish that Michelle would take a break from blokes and enjoy being by herself for a while.

With Ali having poisoned Steves ear about Robert in an extraordinary breach of confidentiality (he really needs to join Angie in Unprofessional Gossips Anonymous), its only a matter of time before Steve moves in on his ex.

Steve lunges for a kiss with Michelle (pictured), after Ali poisons his ear about Robert in Coronation Street

But when he lunges for a kiss, will Michelle succumb? Lets hope hes managed to remove all that lipstick he donned for his Boy George for One Night Only at Roberts stag event, otherwise Michelle could find herself looking as if shes been for a long dip in the Red Sea.

Will the big wedding go ahead, or will circumstances conspire against the not-so-happy couple? With Michelle waiting for the ceremony to begin, where is Robert? Please, not in the gym. So boring now.

David finally resolves to report Josh to the police after listening to Johnny pouring his heart out over Aidan internalising his demons.

Agreeing to testify against Josh, who is arrested, David prepares to tell the family. There are emotional scenes as Gail emerges from under her fringe (topiarist assistance might be required) to support her son.

Meanwhile, Phelan is having a bad time in North Wales, following a fight in the caravan.

Why does nobody else appear to be staying on the campsite? Has Bryn really not been reading the papers, so totally missing the fact that a serial killer is living on his doorstep?

Charity recalls the traumas she experienced at an impressionable age in Emmerdale

EMMERDALE: HOPE (LESS) AND CHARITY

The flashback is a dramatic device designed to fill viewers in on aspects of a characters past with which theyre not familiar (i.e. its used by scriptwriters when they run out of things to say about the present).

This week, Charity is transported back to her 14-year-old self to give us an insight into the traumas she endured at an impressionable age.

It would be nice to say life got better for her, but it didnt. Dabbling in a life of crime and sexual swapshop didnt help, but I suspect her real problems began when she gained access to the Home Farm wine cellar. Wouldnt anyones?
He's the Married At First Sight groom who isn't afraid to speak his mind - even if that means upsetting his former co-stars.

And Nasser Sultan took a not-so-subtle-dig at Sarah Roza and her psychic medium friend Harry T on Thursday over the price of their 'meet and greet' event.

Nasser took to his Instagram Story to publicly criticise Sarah, 39, and Harry T for offering a premium $125 package for their upcoming national tour.

'Why would anybody want to meet us?' Married At First Sight's Nasser Sultan has taken a swipe at co-star Sarah Roza and psychic medium Harry T for charging $125 for a meet-and-greet

Harry T, who has been described as 'Australia's leading psychic medium to the stars', is embarking on his Messages From Beyond tour later this year.

Sarah is hosting the two-hour show and fans have the opportunity to meet her and Harry after the show for the price of $125. (General admission is $75).

Nasser, 51, shared a promotional photo for the event and told his followers: 'Swipe next to see how much these two are charging for a VIP meet and greet.'

'Ha ha ha': Nasser took to his Instagram Story to publicly criticise Sarah, 39, and her best friend Harry T for offering a premium $125 package for their upcoming national tour

'The only thing we have to offer is advice on how to end a marriage within eight weeks: Nasser wrote, 'We are from Married At First Sight why would anybody pay to meet us?'

Then he posted a screenshot of the Ticketek booking website, which showed the 'VIP Meet & Greet' was priced at $125, and wrote: 'Ha ha ha'.

'We are from Married At First Sight, why would anybody pay to meet us?' Nasser wrote in his third and final post.

'The only thing we have to offer is advice on how to end a marriage within eight weeks and end up alone.'

Close: Harry T, who has been described as 'Australia's leading psychic medium to the stars', was part of the bridal party at Sarah's TV wedding to Telv Williams on Married At First Sight

Harry T was part of the bridal party at Sarah's televised wedding to Telv Williams on Married At First Sight, which was filmed last year.

In 2016, he made history as one half of the first same-sex couple to take part on Channel Seven's First Dates.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Harry T said that he and Sarah 'couldn't care less about Nasser' and told him to mind his own business.

'Sarah has always hosted my shows, before she was on MAFS,' he added. 'Our prices are extremely reasonable compared to every other international psychic medium.'

Tickets for Harry T: Messages From Beyond are available on Ticketek
She married Kanye West four years ago today in a fairy tale wedding in Paris, France and Florence, Italy.

And in honor of their four year anniversary, Kim Kardashian went back to blonde hair, as seen on her Instagram stories on Thursday.

The 37-year-old entrepreneur showed off her newly lightened tresses, adding: 'I am back blonde. Kanye's favorite is blonde, so I did it for our anniversary.'

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So beautiful: Kim Kardashian went back to blonde hair, as seen on her Instagram stories on Thursday

Kim showed off the platinum blonde sleek hair while using a Snapchat fire filter.

The beauty, who was sitting in a car, painted her pout a pale pink hue with smokey black and gold eye makeup.

Kim donned a low-cut gray top for the series of Instagram stories while showing off her new hair color.

The KKW Beauty founder was previously blonde from September 2017 until March, when she went back to her natural dark brunette roots.

Before and after: Kim was previously blonde from September 2017 until March 2018; (L) pictured on May 7 at the Met Gala in NYC (R) on Thursday with her newly lightened hair

Gorgeous: The 37-year-old entrepreneur showed off her newly lightened tresses, adding: 'I am back blonde. Kanye's favorite is blonde, so I did it for our anniversary'

Flawless: Kim showed off the platinum blonde look while sporting sleek hair while using a Snapchat fire filter

She had originally debuted the platinum look during New York Fashion Week in September at Tom Ford's spring/summer show.

Kim sported the blonde locks until February - which is when she went pink; the mother of three rocked pastel hair for her trip to Japan with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian.

She returned to brown hair in March, just before Khloe's baby shower.

Wow: She had originally debuted the platinum white blonde hair during New York Fashion Week while at Tom Ford's show; pictured on September 6, 2017 at his spring/summer 2018 show in the Big Apple

Edgy: Kim pictured in September at Alexander Wang's NYFW fashion show

Perfection: Kim sported the blonde locks until February - which is when she went for pink hair; the mother of three kept the pastel locks for her trip to Japan with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian

The beauty had brown hair just two days while at Disneyland in Anaheim with her kids North, four, and Saint, two; daughter Chicago, born January 15, was not present.

Kim tied the knot with Kanye, 40, on May 24, 2014 in a lavish destination wedding.

The stunner had pre-wedding celebrations in Paris before tying the knot in Florence, Italy.

While in Paris, the wedding party had brunch at Valentino Garavani's chateau and then a rehearsal dinner at Versailles Palace, where Lana del Rey performed for them.

Kim stunned at her wedding in a custom Givenchy gown that featured intricate lace detailing.

On Thursday, the mother of three shared a sweet image of her and Kanye from their wedding day, writing: '4 years down and forever to go... Thank you babe for giving me our family and caring so much about us. Thank you for inspiring me on a daily. I'm so lucky. I can't wait for forever... Happy Anniversary.'

Strike a pose: Kim had brown hair just two days while at Disneyland in Anaheim with her kids North, four, and Saint, two (pictured)

Happily ever after: On Thursday, the mother of three shared a sweet image of her and Kanye from their wedding day

True love: Kim tied the knot with Kanye, 40, on May 24, 2014 in a lavish destination wedding
Ben Affleck is ready to start a new chapter in his life.

The 45-year-old was spotted cosying up with girlfriend Lindsay Shookus as they surveyed the $19million home he just bought in Los Angeles.

Ben bought the house last month near his ex-wife Jennifer Garner, so he can be close to their three children.

Congratulations: Ben Affleck was spotted cosying up with girlfriend Lindsay Shookus on Thursday as they surveyed the $19million home he just bought in Los Angeles

The actor looked delighted as he surveyed his purchase on Thursday, dressed in dark jeans and a grey T-shirt.

Although his SNL producer squeeze is reportedly not immediately moving in with him, she seemed just as chuffed with the buy.

The 37-year-old, dressed in tight jeans and a bright yellow and white striped tee, hugged her beau as they stood in the driveway.

She certainly looked comfortable on the property, opting against wearing shoes.

Chuffed: The actor looked delighted as he surveyed his purchase on Thursday, dressed in dark jeans and a grey T-shirt

Take that: Although his SNL producer squeeze is reportedly not immediately moving in with him, she seemed just as chuffed with the buy

Happy couple: The 37-year-old was dressed in tight jeans and a bright yellow and white striped tee

Make myself at home: She certainly looked comfortable on the property, opting against wearing shoes

The couple were closely followed by a moving truck carrying Ben's things, signalling he was ready to start officially moving into his new pad.

The Batman star once again opted to hire Wetzel and Sons  the infamous harbinger of doom for celebrity couples  who's presence outside a Hollywood home often signals irreparable marital trouble... as was indeed the case for Affleck and Garner back in 2015.

On April 11 it was reported the Oscar-winner had snapped up the stunning $19.2million LA mansion, complete with seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a gym, screening room and spa.

Co parenting: Ben bought the house last month near his ex-wife Jennifer Garner, so he can be close to their three children

Cosy: She hugged her beau as they stood in the driveway

In October last year and later in February, Ben was spotted house-hunting with girlfriend Lindsay, with sources telling People he was on the hunt for a 'a family friendly house'.

Realtor.com described the house as 'an entertainer's dream', with the full listing for the home stating: 'Brand New East Coast Traditional on Napoli Drive in Prime Riviera Palisades. Spacious living room with fireplace, formal dining room with butler's pantry, study with bar...

'Gourmet chef's kitchen with breakfast area opening to a large family room with fireplace and oversized sliding doors leading to the outdoor entertaining area with fireplace. Upstairs master suite with separate sitting area, dual bathrooms and two large walk-in closets along with three spacious additional bedrooms and family room.

'Downstairs features a screening room, gym, family room with full bar, temperature controlled walk-in wine cellar and maid's room. Expansive beautifully landscaped backyard with pool, spa, outdoor bbq and guest house. Entertainer's dream house.'

Stunning: Ben snapped up the stunning $19.2million (13.5million) LA mansion, complete with seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a gym, screening room and spa

Sprawling: Stunning images show the sprawling mansion in its entirety, complete with all the touches of a superstar worthy property

Wow! Realtor.com described the house as 'an entertainer's dream', with the full listing for the home stating: 'Brand New East Coast Traditional on Napoli Drive in Prime Riviera Palisades'

Tumbling: The home boasts a spacious living room with fireplace, formal dining room with butler's pantry, study with bar

On his house hunt with Lindsay, who he went public with in July last year, the onlooker said: 'Ben is looking to buy a family friendly house. Lindsay shared her opinions, but it was clear that they are not buying a house together.'

Ben was previously residing in a rental property since he departed his home with Jennifer when their divorce was filed in April last year - prior to which he was living in the guesthouse of their shared home.

Speaking to E! News, a source confirmed the news was a bid to maintain their strong family bond in the home, which he is said to have shown the tots already. The insider told the site: ': 'Everyone has a good relationship. They are adults who are co-parenting.'

Wow! 'Downstairs features a screening room, gym, family room with full bar, temperature controlled walk-in wine cellar and maid's room'

A vision: 'Expansive beautifully landscaped backyard with pool, spa, outdoor bbq and guest house. Entertainer's dream house'

Stunning: Every element of the house was fit for a star, with the stunning views fabulous for unwinding after a hard day on set

Drink up! The bar area featured Twenties-inspired chairs with soft cushioning and copper details on the legs

Work it out! Unusually, the gym seemed to be adjacent to the bar area - making for two contrasting touches

Hashtag! A social media nod came in the vast picture above the fire place and laid before the sofa

After their devastating split, which was plagued with rumours of infidelity with their nanny, Christine Ouzounian, Jennifer told Vanity Fair: 'Let me just tell you something.

'We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny. She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce. She was not a part of the equation. Bad judgment? Yes. Its not great for your kids for [a nanny] to disappear from their lives. Hes the most brilliant person in any room, the most charismatic, the most generous.

'Hes just a complicated guy. I always say: "When his sun shines on you, you feel it." But when the sun is shining elsewhere, its cold. He can cast quite a shadow.'

tasteful: The walls come ready lined with huge artworks

Swimming away: The pool was undoubtedly perfect for summer days with the kids, with the clear blue waters contrasting against the bright green lawn

Working hard! The office area seemed to be a haven for thinking and meeting - with light falling perfectly through the greenery
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Ellen DeGeneres has made a whopping $3.8 million profit by flipping an estate in exclusive Montecito, California, that she purchased just eight months ago.

According to Variety, the comedienne and chat show host has agreed an off-listing sale of the property, which abuts Oprah Winfrey's massive estate, for $11 million.

She paid $7.2 million for the Spanish-style home on six acres last September.

Flipping houses: Ellen DeGeneres has sold a Montecito estate she purchased for $7.2 million last September for $11 million in an off-listing sale, according to a report in Variety Thursday

Invests in real estate: The 59-year-old comedienne and chat show host is believed to have sold the stunning six-acre property to Tinder founder and chairman Sean Rad

The estate boasts two separate residences - one is a hacienda built in 1845 and the other is a 3,600-square-foot home built in 2006.

The compound is surrounded by oak and eucalyptus trees trees and includes private courtyards and equestrian facilities.

The main residence features four bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths and has stunning ocean and mountain views.

Local realtor Yolanda Yakketeyyak told Variety she believes the buyer of the property is Tinder founder and chairman Sean Rad.

It's not known what upgrades or changes, if any, Ellen has made to the compound between purchasing it and selling it.

Picturesque: The estate boasts two separate residences - one is a hacienda built in 1845 and the other is a 3,600-square-foot home built in 2006. The compound includes private courtyards and equestrian facilities

Cozy and traditional: There are four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms in the 'incredibly private' home situated among olive groves and rose gardens

Luxury living: There are stunning ocean and mountain views from the property that abuts Oprah Winfrey's stunning 40-acre estate in the exclusive enclave

Ellen and wife Portia de Rossi still own two other multi-million dollar luxury abodes in the Santa Barbara area that was ravaged by the Thomas wildfire last December.

The couple had to evacuate their homes along with thousands of their neighbors as the out-of-control blaze charred 440 square miles and destroyed more than 1,000 structures.

A devastating mudslide following storms in January also destroyed more homes in Montecito and killed 21 people.

The celebrity couple own a palatial Tuscan-themed 17-acre estate in Montecito, known as The Villa, which they put on the market for $45 million last fall. They reduced the price to $39.5 million before taking it off the market altogether in January.

They also have a beachfront mansion in Carpinteria, just south of Montecito, that they bought in October for $18.6 million.

Not homeless: Ellen still owns two other multi-million dollar properties in the Santa Barbara area - a palatial Tuscan-themed 17-acre estate in Montecito, known as The Villa, left, and a beachfront mansion in Carpinteria, just south of Montecito, right
She is gearing up to tie the knot with the love of her life this summer after meeting on the 2016 version of Love Island.

And chatting exclusively to MailOnline, Olivia Buckland opened up about online trolling and how it makes her fiance Alex Bowen 'angry' as part of the SlimLine Wine's new Zero Sugar, Zero Carbs, Zero F*cks campaign, which encourages women to abandon pointless everyday guilt and embrace lifes pleasures without compromising.

The reality star, 24, insisted that everyone should do 'what the hell they want' and 'stop worrying about anyone else's opinion' as she joined Ashley James and Leanne Brown as part of the Zero Squad.

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Zero Squad: Olivia Buckland opened up about online trolling and how it makes her fiance Alex Bowen 'angry' as part of the SlimLine Wine's new Zero Sugar, Zero Carbs, Zero F*cks campaign

Olivia said: 'You know what, it's not really Instagram. My Instagram followers are so sweet, I have so many lovely people on there that are probably a lot of the reason to do with why I'm so confident now.

'But obviously, on different pages or there's pictures of me on holiday, I have been [trolled online] millions of times that have been absolutely horrendous. But I've just got to learn to brush them off and ignore them.

'I'm happy as a person, I love what I do, I'm happy with my career and I'm happy with my partner. I think when you get all your eggs into a row and sort of learn that you have a good life and you're doing what you want, that's when the confidence comes.

Protective: Olivia went on to reveal that despite being able to brush off most of her online trolling, her fiance Alex [pictured] gets 'angry' and has even hit back at some of her cruel trolls

Girl power: The reality star, 24, insisted that everyone should do 'what the hell they want' and 'stop worrying about anyone else's opinion' as she joined Ashley James and Leanne Brown [pictured]

'You need to be happy with what you're doing and it goes hand-in-hand with mental health and how much I've been talking about that recently. It goes hand-in-hand with that, being confident and happy leaves you to run a better life because you make decisions based on how you feel, if you're happy, you make good decisions.'

She continued: 'Obviously, I'm like anyone, if someone says something nasty to me, you know, I'm not made of stone. You sort of read it, and now when I read comments like that, I think: "God, I feel sorry for the person who wrote that, they must be really unhappy or must be really bored or you know must be insecure themselves. Because why do they need to pick at me?"'

'I think I'm so for women empowerment, so being here with Leanne and Ashley, it's just been so nice and fun to see each other and talk about times we've had people say bad things - learning to sort of ignore it and reflect back.

'Anything you say negatively is only going to inflict negativity towards you. So it's all about positivity.'

Candid: Olivia revealed: 'Obviously, I'm like anyone, if someone says something nasty to me, you know, I'm not made of stone'

Pals: She added: 'I think I'm so for women empowerment, so being here with Leanne and Ashley [pictured], it's just been so nice and fun!'

Olivia went on to reveal that despite being able to brush off most of her online trolling, her protective fiance Alex gets very 'angry' and has even hit back at some of her cruel trolls.

She said: 'Oh God yeah, he gets very angry, he's sort of hit back a few times and I've had to say: "Look, you know, don't hit back."

'But he gets annoyed when people write something bad about me. It's like someone saying something bad about your relative or someone who is close to you.'

Olivia and Alex met on Love Island in June 2016, and became engaged just six months later during a festive trip to New York City.

Exciting times: Talking about their upcoming nuptials, Olivia revealed: 'I've got the wedding coming up so I've been doing so much wedding prep'

They are now preparing to tie the knot this summer, with former co-star Tina Stinnes acting as bridesmaid and the likes of Nathan Massey and Cara De La Hoyde attending.

Talking about their upcoming nuptials, Olivia revealed: 'I've got the wedding coming up so I've been doing so much wedding prep. I haven't actually sent the invites out yet though, which is not a good start, but we're going to be doing that soon.'

She added: 'I think the invites are sort of the last bit I have got to do, I sent out save the dates so like all my close friends and family have been invited, but I've got so many to send out. So yeah, that's my main concern at the moment. But everything else seems to be going quite smoothly.

Wedding prep: 'I think the invites are sort of the last bit I have got to do, I sent out save the dates so like all my close friends and family have been invited,' she revealed

'I've got my hen do in a matter of weeks, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm excited to let my hair down and chill with the girls. We're going on a nice boat trip, we've rented out a boat, we're going out for dinner, we're doing really fun things...but I'm sure they've got something up their sleeve.'

Olivia also revealed that she was inspired by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Royal Wedding at Windsor Castle last Saturday and even wants to incorporate some ideas into her own big day.

She said: 'You know what, I saw that they gave them all after party favours and slippers, for people who get sore feet, and I was like: "That's the best idea in the world!". It's so sweet and such a cool idea.

'Also, just watching their wedding, it was so amazing, so romantic. I just cant wait to sprint it up the aisle. Get me under that altar, get me married!'

Olivia is part of the Zero Squad, Slim Wines new Zero Sugar, Zero Carbs, Zero F*cks campaign, encouraging women to abandon pointless everyday guilt and embrace lifes pleasures without compromising.
She would have attended the Royal Wedding last weekend had she not split with Duchess Catherine's brother James Middleton.

But Donna Air appeared unperturbed when she stepped out in London on Thursday night, donning a pretty floral frock to enjoy a night out at the Cartier dinner in celebration of the start of British Polo season.

The 38-year-old presenter looked incredible in a purple floral frock as she partied the night away in style, joined by a host of exclusive guests.

Glamorous: Donna Air looked lovely in a pretty floral frock to enjoy a night out at the Cartier dinner in celebration of the start of British Polo season

Missing out: The star would no doubt have attended Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding last weekend had she not split with Duchess Catherine's brother James Middleton

Donna exuded elegance in the vibrant dress, which featured one-shoulder detailing and an asymmetric hemline.

The blonde beauty pulled her look together with a pair of beige heels, adding some extra height to her frame.

The star wore her blonde locks down loose and highlighted her cheekbones with bronzer.

Elegant: Donna exuded elegance in the vibrant dress, which featured one-shoulder detailing and an asymmetric hemline

Wow: Model Neelam Gill showed off her long legs in a gold dress with a thigh-high split

Quirky display: Lady Mary Charteris posed up a storm at the high fashion bash

Donna was recently seen cosying up to her new beau Ben Carrington as they put on a glam display at the Chelsea Flower Show.

She first stepped out with the property developer two months ago, just a few weeks after confirming the end of her five-year romance with James.

The blonde told The Mail on Sunday: 'James and I are no longer an item. We parted ways in December but remain the very best of friends and always will be.

Hats off! Lady Mary donned a Cartier emblazoned hat, enjoying a chat with Laurent Feniou, the Managing Director of Cartier

Brunette beauties: Neelam posed up a storm with Bollywood actress Amy Jackson

Dapper dudes: Male models David Gandy and Jack Guinness joined forces at the event

Donna shares daughter Freya with Damian Aspinall - the heir of a casino and wildlife park who she dated for six years.

On January 14, James was seen in the audience of ITV reality show Dancing On Ice, cheering Donna on as she made her debut with partner Mark Hanretty.

Speaking of the relationship, a source told the MailOnline: Donnas down-to-earth nature helped to ease any concerns Jamess mother Carole might have had about them being together.

'Donna has also been a rock to James as he has worked on his start-up business over the years and has taken him back each time he has had a wobble about their future. Now she is ready to move on.

Handsome as ever: David looked every inch the English gentleman in tweed

Handsome: The M&S model swept back his brunette locks into a stylish hairdo

Stylish: Donna styled her blonde locks into a sleek blow-dried hairdo for the event

Stunning: Neelam and Amy knew how to work their best angles as they posed up a storm at the event

The pair met in London private members club 5 Hertford Street in February 2013, and burst on to the social scene as a couple at the Serpentine Summer Party later that year.

Speculation grew that the blonde beauty had been pushing for an engagement with James. But the businessman said last year: I love Donna very much.

'Marriage is absolutely not something Im scared of, but it isnt necessarily the be-all and end-all.

Pretty in pink: Lady Mary Charteris styled her pink locks into a tousled wavy hairdo

Chic: Amy wore a stunning pink sheer dress with flower detailing and embroidery on the front

Gold: Neelam looked stunning in an amazing gold dress, which had a daring slit at the front

Donna found herself booted off Dancing On Ice on Sunday night in a shock double elimination.

Speaking to hosts Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby after her elimination, Donna said: 'I really miss this, everyone is brilliant, but we are very excited for the tour!

'I've just fallen in love with skating and I never ever expected to get this far.'

Way back when: She no doubt would have attended the Royal Wedding last weekend had she not split with James Middleton
Bethenny Frankel and Carole Radziwill's feud finally came to a head on Wednesday night's episode of The Real Housewives Of New York City.

Bethenny, 47, and Carole, 54, were both in 1920s outfits for a murder mystery party hosted by Dorinda Medley at her sprawling home in the Berkshires.

But on Thursday, Carole was the first to address the blowup on her Bravo blog.

Roaring dinner: Bethenny Frankel and Carole Radziwill's feud finally came to a head on Wednesday night's episode of The Real Housewives Of New York City

Roaring row: Bethenny, 47, and Carole, 54, were both in 1920s outfits for a murder mystery party hosted by Dorinda Medley at her sprawling home in the Berkshires

Dear diary: But on Thursday, Carole was the first to address the blowup on her Bravo blog

'Many of you think RHONY is scripted.' Radziwill said. 'Its not. I sit on my sofa and watch the events unfold at the same time as all of you.'

She went on to talk about her rocky friendship with Frankel.

'When I hear a bunch of snide comments being hurled, part of me reacts with, I dont really care what Bethenny thinks of me, she seems so angry and unhappy.

'Relationships change. They ebb and flow over time, and friends ultimately show you who they are. Im a grown-up, yet I cant help but feel sad that I let into my life a person who I thought supported me, respected me, and enjoyed me.'

'Relationships change. They ebb and flow over time, and friends ultimately show you who they are,' Carole said about her friendship with Bethenny. 'Im a grown-up, yet I cant help but feel sad that I let into my life a person who I thought supported me, respected me, and enjoyed me'

During Wednesday's episode, the two tried to dissolve their apparent tension.

'I don't have a problem with you,' Bethenny told Carole.

'I heard that you were either upset with me about something to do with Adam not going and working for your charity for free,' Carole responded. 'Or you are upset with me and my level of financial support for your charity.'

During Wednesday's episode, the two tried to dissolve their apparent tension. 'I don't have a problem with you,' Bethenny told Carole

Bethenny was initially taken aback but quickly went on the defensive.

'I didn't ask for more financial support. You didn't ask me about it once. Never. This summer, you didn't ask me about it all,' Bethenny complained.

Bethenny in a confessional further tried to explain herself.

'Truthfully all I said is that I didn't really hear from Carole really ever about Puerto Rico and she didn't seem really interested in it. It's the honest truth,' Bethenny said.

Carole vehemently denied Bethenny's allegation.

'That's not true, Bethenny. Don't lie, don't lie,' Carole said.

'I heard that you were either upset with me about something to do with Adam not going and working for your charity for free,' Carole responded. 'Or you are upset with me and my level of financial support for your charity'

Hold up: Frankel openly denied those allegations and said that she didn't ask for any kind of 'financial support' from her

In her blog post, Carol explained why she was so adamant about setting the record straight.

'I was taught to stand up for myself,' she wrote. 'To be heard. To defend my family and people I love. And to never let anyone question my character, intelligence, or integrity.

'And that is exactly what Bethenny has been slowly, insidiously trying to do all season with her hidden agenda. Its pathetic, and Im not about to take it.'

In her blog post, Carol explained why she was so adamant about setting the record straight. 'I was taught to stand up for myself,' she wrote. 'To be heard. To defend my family and people I love. And to never let anyone question my character, intelligence, or integrity'

Radziwill went on to call Frankel 'narcissistic.'

'In Bethennys myopic world, shes the judge, jury, and executioner,' Carole said. 'Its astounding to watch.

'Then again, in the post-truth age of consuming fake news, Bethennys world of magical thinking will probably be rewarded with its own spin-off.'

Frankel has yet to respond to Carole's very blunt and accusatory blog.
He recently returned from a trip to London to attend the Royal Wedding.

And George Clooney indulged in one of his greatest passions as he took his motorcycle for a spin in Sardinia, Italy on Thursday.

The Oscar winner, 57, who is in Italy to film his new historical drama Catch-22, looked cool as a cucumber as he donned a leather jacket for the high-octane ride along country roads.

Hell for leather: George Clooney indulged in one of his greatest passions as he took his motorcycle for a spin in Sardinia, Italy on Thursday

The Ocean's Eleven star paired his jacket with jeans and for the effortlessly cool biker look, slipped on some dark shades along with a shiny black helmet.

The star was seen handling the motorcycle like a pro as he drove along, accompanied by a pal.

George is back in Italy to recommence production on Catch-22, after a whistlestop stay in London with wife Amal to watch Prince Harry wed Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor on Saturday.

Adapted from the 1961 Joseph Heller novel, the six-episode Catch-22 series tells the tale of U.S. Air Force bombardier Captain John Yossarian (Christopher Abbott).

Power: The Oscar winner, 57, who is in Italy to film his new historical drama Catch-22, looked cool as a cucumber as he donned a leather jacket for the high-octane ride along country roads

Stylish: The Ocean's Eleven star paired his jacket with jeans and for the effortlessly cool biker look, slipped on some dark shades along with a shiny black helmet

He is angry because of the bureaucratic Catch-22 rule, which states that concern for one's safety in the face of real and immediate danger danger is the process of a rational mind.

However a man is considered insane if he continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but requesting to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes the man ineligible to be removed from duty.

The Hulu series will see George in the role of Scheisskopf, the training commander at Yossarians cadet school, with British actor Hugh Laurie as Major de Coverley.

The Ocean's Eleven star's producing partner Grant Heslov will also direct part of the series while Ellen Kuras will also direct.

The episodes were co-written by Luke Davies and David Michod, who will also executive produce the series.

Clooney and Heslov will be joined by Richard Brown and Steve Golin as executive producers.

It is expected to air on Channel 4 in 2019.

The acting talent and wife Amal welcomed daughter Ella and son Alexander at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in June 2017.

The couple met at a charity fundraiser in 2013 and married in September 2014 in Venice.

Handsome: The star was seen handling the motorcycle like a pro as he drove along, accompanied by a pal
Sophie Monk has claimed she'd never been tested for sexually transmitted diseases until Love Island producers made her get checked before filming.

The 38-year-old told The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday she always presumed she would be able to tell if she had an infection by the 'symptoms', adding that she was 's**ting herself' while waiting for the results.

The former Bachelorette joked that she was dreading the moment she'd have to tell the dating show contestants, 'Guys, I've got herpes!' but was fortunately given the all-clear.

She said what? Sophie Monk has claimed she'd never been tested for sexually transmitted diseases until Love Island producers made her get checked before filming

Sophie discussed her STI check during a booze-fuelled, X-rated interview with KIIS FM radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson.

After Jackie said there would have to be a doctor on set of Love Island to 'check for hepatitis', Sophie confirmed that all the contestants had tests done beforehand.

'They've all got to be clear,' she replied, before admitting that she even underwent a test herself, despite being the presenter.

'I was s**tting myself. I was like "What if I don't pass?!"' Sophie added, laughing.

Oh dear! Sophie told KIIS FM that she'd always presumed she would be able to tell if she had an infection by the 'symptoms', adding that she was 's**ting herself' while waiting for the results

Jackie asked, 'Have you done an STI test before?' to which Sophie replied: 'No! I always think the symptoms...'

She added: 'Imagine if I had to take them [the Love Island contestants] to one side and say "Guys, I've got herpes". When it came out clear I was like, "Oh, thank God!"'

An incredulous Jackie then asked if Sophie believed she would have been fired from her presenting role if the tests had detected an STI.

'Oh absolutely,' Sophie replied confidently. 'Yeah, because you could sue! Imagine if I then gave it to someone else!'

Paranoid: The former Bachelorette joked that she was dreading the moment she'd have to tell the dating show contestants, 'Guys, I've got herpes!' but was fortunately given the all-clear

Despite her claims that she'd never taken an STI test, Sophie said last year that she was required to have a sexual health check before filming The Bachelorette.

Speaking to comedian Tom Gleeson on Hard Chat, she revealed: 'They all get tested. I got tested [too].'

'I was sitting there going, "Oh holy c**p". Imagine if I had to get out of it because I had herpes or something!'

In a similar refrain, she added: 'Luckily, we're all clear.'

Hmm! Despite her claims that she'd never taken an STI test, Sophie said last year that she was required to have a sexual health check before The Bachelorette. Pictured with Stu Laundy

In 2015, Daily Mail Australia revealed that all Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants had to undergo tests for sexually transmitted infections before appearing on the show.

'It is true we had to have them,' an anonymous contestant said at the time. 'It's like a background check.'

Love Island Australia premieres on Sunday, May 27 at 8:30pm on 9Go! And 9Now
Investigators with the New York Police Department have opened a probe into 50 Cent in connection with a social media post after a Brooklyn lawman said he felt threatened by the wording the rapper used.

The rapper, 42, on Wednesday wrote on Instagram, 'Get the strap' - which some feel is a reference to a firearm - in a post focused on Deputy Inspector Emmanuel Gonzalez, who is accused of shaking down Imran Jairam, the owner of a local club called Love & Lust.

In the now-deleted post in question, the musical artist, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, also wrote, 'They trying to shut him down,' adding, 'Oh no not LUST.'

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Courting controversy: 50 Cent, 42, is being investigated by the NYPD over an Instagram post that read 'Get the strap' in reference to a Brooklyn police official

The In da Club rapper, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, could be charged in connection with misdemeanor aggravated harassment, a spokesman for the department told Page Six.

A spokesperson for 50 Cent denied in a statement that there was any malicious intent with the phrase, noting that he sought a patent on it last month.

Said Amanda K. Ruisi: 'Months ago, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson filed to trademark the phrase "Get The Strap," a slogan he has been posting across all of his social media platforms. It is posted in connection with photographs and videos, including many featuring just him or things he is promoting.

'Taken in its proper context, the specific post in question was neither intended as, nor could reasonably be interpreted as a threat or call to violence against anyone. So the record is clear, Mr. Jackson does not condone or promote the use of violence against anyone.

Surprised: The rapper took to Instagram on Thursday to show himself watching the news about the controversy

Shocked: The rapper made it seem like his farcical phrase was being taken out of context

'"Get The Strap" is a playful phrase used by Mr. Jackson to punctuate absurd and outrageous situations.'

According to the outlet, many of the Candy Shop rapper's 18.2 million followers made threats directed at Gonzalez, who subsequently filed a criminal complaint to authorities over the incident, saying he was 'annoyed, alarmed, and is in fear of his safety' amid the fallout of 50 Cent's attention.

Police sources told the paper that officials were 'taking this seriously' - but it didn't seem that 50 Cent was, as he lampooned the controversy in a series of Instagram posts on Thursday after the story broke.

Counter: 50 Cent showed off a screenshot of his effort to trademark the phrase

Outspoken: The veteran rapper was snapped at the Cannes Festival earlier this month

The P.I.M.P. performer posted a screengrab of the story, writing, 'What the f*** is going on? get the strap. LOL ... they investigating my drip, l got too much sauce.'

He also posted a screengrab of his attempt to patent the phrase, writing, 'so heres the trademark, investigation over ... back to fight crime alright guys. '

50 Cent has past taken flak for using the expression, as he was threatened with a lawsuit by reality star Teairra Mari after he posted a shot from her sex tape with ex-boyfriend Akbar Abdul-Ahad.

Mari's lawyer, Lisa Bloom, told the paper, 'We consider "Get the strap" to be either a threat of violence or encouraging violence against this revenge porn victim.

'It either means get a belt to assault someone with, or its slang for a gun. Either way, its a very scary phrase, especially considering he has 18 million Instagram followers.'
Both Mat Horne and Ed Speleers were in agreement about the cultural and social importance of the Oscar-winning film Rain Man, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise as estranged brothers who reunite after their father dies.

Speleers mother is a big Cruise fan, and he remembers watching the movie on TV with her. Horne, meanwhile, knows it frame by frame, having studied it for a degree.

Theyre both about to become even better acquainted with Rain Man, because theyre starring in a stage version produced by Bill Kenwright that will embark on a 13-date UK tour, beginning at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, on August 21 and winding up at the Royal & Derngate in Northampton in November.

Horne will play Raymond Babbitt, the institutionalised sibling played by Hoffman in the 1988 picture.

Mat Horne (left) and Ed Speleers are starring in a stage version of Rain Man produced by Bill Kenwright that will embark on a 13-date UK tour

Speleers will play younger brother Charlie (Cruises role).

Horne acknowledged that Charlie, the narcissistic brother, is the very heart of the story. He explained that while Raymond doesnt change, Charlie is on a journey.

He stressed, however, that its not just a straight transfer of the film onto the stage.

Im excited to tackle it live, without the luxury of editing, he told me, adding that he and director Jonathan OBoyle will be discussing how much we want to remove my performance from Hoffmans.

When the film came out 30 years ago, autism was relatively underground, we might say. Not any more. Horne cited the success of Marianne Elliotts National Theatre production of Mark Haddons novel The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time as just one example of how things have changed.

His older brother has also struggled with the challenges of autism. This is a role I simply couldnt turn down, said the actor, who starred in Gavin & Stacey and Bad Education on television, and The Pride and Entertaining Mr Sloane on stage.

Speleers, meanwhile  who has been filming the new series of Outlander, in which he plays an Irish pirate  said hed been waiting years to tread the boards, even though the prospect also filled him with dread.

The 1988 film Rain Man starred Tom Cruise (left) and Dustin Hoffman as estranged brothers

He said hed been thrown by the flop of his first film Eragon, which he made when he was just 17.

At one point I wasnt sure if Id still be working. It wasnt the film it could have been, and that was a bitter pill to swallow when youre a young lad.

But he was soon on his feet again and hasnt stopped working since, having found success with Downton Abbey, the BBCs Wolf Hall and Beowulf.

Hes also a daddy, with a second child due to arrive before rehearsals begin for Rain Man.

Speleers has certainly shaken up his career. He has one of the best scenes in Lars Von Triers divisive film The House That Jack Built, which I sat through at the Cannes Film Festival.

He plays a police officer who confronts Matt Dillons serial killer.
She is known for her edgy style statements.

And Paris Jackson continued the trendy streak as she joined Billie Lourd at the welcome dinner of the Christian Dior Couture S/S 2019 Cruise Collection in Paris on Thursday.

The rising model and actress, 20, showed off slender legs in a chic shirt inspired ensemble while the daughter of the late Carrie Fisher, 25, opted for a flirty semi-sheer lace dress.

Style star: Paris Jackson continued the trendy streak as she joined Billie Lourd at the welcome dinner of the Christian Dior Couture S/S 2019 Cruise Collection in Paris on Thursday

Paris turned heads in her unique one-piece which fell ever so slightly off her shoulders and boasted an elongated hem.

The thigh-skimming number showed off her toned legs which were boosted in a pair of printed, multi-coloured knee-high boots.

The daughter of the late Michael Jackson draped some beaded, tasselled necklaces down her front and rolled up her sleeves to show off her inkings.

Striking: The model and actress turned heads in her unique one-piece which fell ever so slightly off her shoulders and boasted an elongated hem

Sensational: The thigh-skimming number showed off her toned legs which were boosted in a pair of printed, multi-coloured knee-high boots

Stylish: The daughter of the late Michael Jackson draped some beaded, tasselled necklaces down her front

Paris pulled her locks back into a chic chignon with a few loose tendrils framing her undeniably striking features.

The Gringo actress sported a bronzed make-up look and opted for a heavy dose of black liner, bringing out her piercing green eyes.

Billie rivalled her on the style front with a sensational semi-sheer lace dress which flashed snippets of her enviable frame.

Tatt's cool! Paris ensured to roll up her sleeves to show off her inkings

Mane attraction: Paris pulled her locks back into a chic chignon with a few loose trendrils framing her undeniably striking features

Beauty: The Gringo actress sported a bronzed make-up look and opted for a heavy dose of black liner, bringing out her piercing green eyes

Chic: Her stunning dress was also printed with hearts down the back, in her usual playful style

Casual: Paris exuded natural glamour as she made her way to the star-studded dinner

Catching up: The young model caught up with a friend as she made her way inside

Meanwhile Stranger Things couple Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer looked closer than ever as they attended the welcome dinner.

The couple, who met on the set of the hit show in 2016, looked super stylish as they attended the glittering fashion bash, posing arm-in-arm for photographers.

Charlie, who plays Jonathan Byers in the smash-hit sci-fi show, looked dapper in a gold, red and green brocade polo shirt, paired with black trousers and matching shoes.

Cute couple: Meanwhile Stranger Things couple Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer looked closer than ever as they attended the welcome dinner

Smitten: The couple, who met on the set of the hit show in 2016, looked super stylish as they attended the glittering fashion bash, posing arm-in-arm for photographers

Looking good: Natalia, 21, who plays Nancy Wheeler, flashed her toned legs in a black shift dress emblazoned with a colourful mural scene

Fashionista: Split star Anya Taylor Joy looked super cool in a trendy white top and skinny metallic trousers

He layered a dark jacket over his shoulders to complete his look and wore his chocolate locks in a casual bowl-cut style.

Natalia, 21, who plays Nancy Wheeler, flashed her toned legs in a black shift dress emblazoned with a colourful mural scene.

She completed her outfit with black brogues and a vibrant yellow clutch.

Split star Anya Taylor Joy looked super cool in a trendy white top and skinny metallic trousers.

Wow: Alexandra Shipp showed off her frame in a red thigh-skimming dress

Fab: Tereza Hodanova and Jakub Strach looked every inch the stylish twosome

Classic: Caroline Daur (L) and Daria Strokous (R) went for chic all-black looks

Statement: Hanna Chan went for a bardot style trench coat and black turtleneck




They were rumoured to have gone their separate ways after becoming embroiled in a spat outside a restaurant last month.

But Stranger Things couple Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer looked closer than ever as they attended the welcome dinner of the Christian Dior Couture S/S 2019 Cruise Collection in Paris in Thursday.

The couple, who met on the set of the hit show in 2016, looked super stylish as they attended the glittering fashion bash, posing arm-in-arm for photographers.

Smitten: Stranger Things couple Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer looked closer than ever as they attended the welcome dinner of the Christian Dior Couture S/S 2019 Cruise Collection in Paris in Thursday

Charlie, who plays Jonathan Byers in the smash-hit sci-fi show, looked dapper in a gold, red and green brocade polo shirt, paired with black trousers and matching shoes.

He layered a dark jacket over his shoulders to complete his look and wore his chocolate locks in a casual bowl-cut style.

Natalia, 21, who plays Nancy Wheeler, flashed her toned legs in a black shift dress emblazoned with a colourful mural scene.

She completed her outfit with black brogues and a vibrant yellow clutch.

Close: The couple, who met on the set of the hit show in 2016, looked super stylish as they attended the glittering fashion bash, posing arm-in-arm for photographers

Her chestnut tresses were styled in a sleek chignon while her pretty features were enhanced with a rich palette of make-up.

The outing came after a source told Life & Style last month: 'Charlie broke it off with Natalia. Shes heartbroken. She doesnt know what went wrong.'

But confusing matters even more the duo were spotted looking pretty happy and posing together at a Dior event on March 15 shortly after split reports emerged.

Dyer recently revealed that she and her beau keep things light on the set of the show, as do most of her co-stars.

'Hes great. Its a lot of fun, we goof off a lot,' she told US. 'The whole cast does. Were all very close so we always have a great time on and off [set] ... sometimes its even hard to stop laughing, stop goofing off. Its been really lovely!'

Co-stars: The couple play Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler in the show

She said that the chemistry between her character and Heaton's is of the 'push-pull' variety, and that 'theres some tension there,' as she thinks 'they probably fight a lot.'

She continued, 'Theyve both had this shared trauma. Theyve both gone through this experience together and I think that brings people closer.'

She said that the characters have had a complementary effect on each other since the show's inception.

'I think also what was kind of cool about Jonathan and Nancy, especially in season one, was that they brought out qualities in each other that maybe werent there without the other,' she said.

Drama fuelled: Series three of the hit show is expected in the coming months




Daniel Craig and wife Rachel Weisz announced that they're expecting their first child together just last month.

On Thursday, the lovebirds were spotted strolling the streets of New York City.

Weisz, 48, covered up her baby belly with a denim jacket while rocking a purple shirt and black leggings.

Baby on board: Daniel Craig and wife Rachel Weisz announced that they're expecting their first child together just last month. On Thursday, the couple were spotted in NYC

The Mummy actress married Craig, 50, back in June 2011.

Daniel has a 25-year-old daughter Ella from his first marriage to actress Fiona London.

And Rachel has an 11-year-old son Henry with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.

Going strong: The Mummy actress married Craig back in June 2011

Weisz first revealed her pregnancy in an interview with The New York Times.

'I'll be showing soon. Daniel and I are so happy. We're going to have a little human. We can't wait to meet him or her. It's all such a mystery.'

She later talked raising her newborn UK style with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show.

'Is the child going to be raised American or English,' Colbert asked the NYC resident.

'I suppose it will have to be bilingual,' she said with a laugh.

Weisz first revealed her pregnancy in an interview with The New York Times . 'I'll be showing soon. Daniel and I are so happy. We're going to have a little human. We can't wait to meet him or her. It's all such a mystery'

Weisz's new film Disobedience recently hit theaters on April 27.

The romantic drama follows Ronit Krushka, played by Rachel, as she returns to the Jewish community that once shunned her.

When Ronit reunites with her childhood love Esti Kuperman, played by Rachel McAdams, she pursues the attraction once again.

'The whole film is about repression, love, and desire,' she told Colbert. 'In this instance the love scene is the heart and soul of the movie.'

Meanwhile, Craig's upcoming film James Bond 25, will be released on November 8, 2019 in the US and on October 25, 2019 in the UK.

The film's distribution plans were announced on Deadline, with Eon Productions and MGM.

Craig reprises his role as James Bond in the film for the fifth time, with Danny Boyle named as the director and John Hodge writing the script.
Jarrod Woodgate was left crestfallen after Sophie Monk dumped him for Stu Laundy on last year's Bachelorette.

But things remained amicable between the two, and Jarrod previously revealed that he was still in touch with the 38-year-old blonde bombshell.

He even told TV Week that he 'briefly' spoke to Sophie following her eventual split from millionaire pub baron Stu, 45, six months after filming wrapped.

'I never thought that would happen!' Sophie Monk reveals Jarrod Woodgate 'ghosted her' after he met Keira Maguire on Bachelor In Paradise

But now Sophie has revealed that Jarrod ghosted her after he met his new girlfriend Keira Maguire, 31, while starring on Bachelor In Paradise.

Speaking on Friday's The Kyle and Jackie O Show, Sophie reflected on her reality TV dating past, admitting that it was 'emotional' being the Bachelorette because she doesn't like breaking hearts.

'What about Jarrod?' Radio co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson asked. 'Do you ever speak to Jarrod?'

Choked up: Jarrod, 32, was left crestfallen after he was unceremoniously dumped by Sophie during last year's Bachelorette - but now she's revealed that he ghosted her

Runner-up: Sophie dumped Jarrod for Stu Laundy, but then ended up splitting from the millionaire after a six-month romance back in January

'I did for a bit until he was with Keira. It's so ironic, he didn't text me back!

'I was like, I never thought that would happen! But that's fair enough. I don't believe in talking to exes after, or whatever.'

Sophie's admission comes after an insider told NW magazine that Keira was worried that Jarrod would go running back to Sophie following her split from Stu back in January.

Loved up! Sophie revealed that Jarrod stopped texting her after he found love with Keira on Bachelor In Paradise

The source said: 'They've barely spent a minute apart since flying home from filming BIP and even talked about getting married one day.

'But Keira's scared it's all going to come crashing down now.

'Jarrod thought he'd never get over Sophie until he met Keira, but deep down he still has a soft spot for Soph - he loved her so much, which Keira has always known.'
He's the first husband of KIIS FM radio star Jackie 'O' Henderson, who married the blonde bombshell in 1994 when she was just 19.

But whatever happened to 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil?

The British DJ briefly returned to the spotlight on Friday when Jackie made a rare public comment about their divorce, admitting how 'anxious' she had felt being single again.

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Whatever happened to Jackie O's first husband? The DJ career of 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil revealed... after she gave a rare insight into their divorce in the '90s. Pictured in the 1990s

Jackie made reference to their marriage during a booze-filled interview with Love Island host Sophie Monk on Friday's The Kyle and Jackie O Show.

'I remember when I split up from my first husband and I had a period of being single. I just had that anxiousness of constantly wanting to find someone,' said Jackie, who is now happily married to Lee Henderson. 'I've never been happy on my own.'

While Jackie has gone on to achieve huge success in Australian FM radio since their split, Ugly Phil, now 55, has kept a comparatively lower profile.

Throwback: The British DJ briefly returned to the spotlight on Friday when Jackie made a rare public comment about their divorce, admitting how 'anxious' she had felt being single again

Jackie, then aged 18, reportedly first met Phil in 1993 when she called into his Gold Coast radio show to try to win tickets.

A year later, the pair were married and, by 1996, she was his co-host on the Hot30 Countdown.

But three years later, Phil abruptly quit his job, their marriage ended and he moved to London for another radio job.

Phil was replaced by Kyle Sandilands, forming the 'Kyle and Jackie O' partnership - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Early relationship: Jackie, then aged 18, reportedly first met Ugly Phil in 1993 when she called into his Gold Coast radio show to try to win tickets

Speaking on the You've Gotta Start Somewhere podcast last year, Phil revealed he left the country and his marriage due to the stress of work.

'It became all-consuming. I was tired of doing the Hot30,' he said.

'I was like, ''Hey, I'm 37 years old and I'm mates with the guys from Hanson who are 15. I'm too old for this''.

'I got offered a job in London to go and work there and I just needed to get away.'

Splitsville! Jackie and Phil ended up getting married and presenting the Hot30 Countdown together. However, in the late '90s he abruptly ended his marriage and relocated to London

Departure: Phil was replaced on the Hot30 Countdown by Kyle Sandilands, forming the 'Kyle and Jackie O' partnership - and the rest, as they say, is history

Phil explained that his Australian role involved working 'non-stop' for 'six to seven days a week' for half a decade.

By 2017, however, he was able to look back on that period of his life with fondness and wondered why he didn't enjoy it more.

After leaving Jackie, he worked in radio in London and Birmingham, before returning to Australia permanently in 2008.

He currently hosts a Triple M daytime show in Sydney and Melbourne from 1pm to 4pm on weekdays.

It is unclear if the DJ has since re-married, with the publicity-shy presenter making no reference to any significant other on social media.

Long career: After hosting radio programs in London and Birmingham, Phil left his native UK and returned to Australia permanently in 2008. He currently hosts a Triple M daytime program

He does, however, keenly promote his celebrity interviews - and has recently chatted to bands like The Killers, Muse and Guns N' Roses, as well as actress Drew Barrymore.

Meanwhile, Jackie married former English backpacker and photojournalist Lee Henderson in 2003.

They met on March 18th 2000, when Jackie was 25 years old and spotted Lee at a bar in Sydney.

'We were about to leave, and it's like everything around me went quiet and the whole room came to a standstill. I saw gorgeous Lee across the room,' Jackie later recalled.

Happily ever after! Jackie O married former British backpacker and photographer Lee Henderson in 2003. Pictured in 2012

'He reminds me of a hot Hugh Grant': They met on March 18th 2000, when Jackie was 25 years old and spotted Lee at a bar in Sydney

Lee, then 24, apparently took his time pursuing Jackie, who described him in her diary afterwards as a 'hot Hugh Grant'.

'I was surprised to hear from him actually. I really didn't think he'd call at all,' Jackie recently said on-air, reflecting on their early relationship.

Today, they have been happily married for more than a decade and share a daughter, Catalina 'Kitty' Henderson, who was born in 2010.
She has been sharing her experiences of motherhood on social media since 2013.

And Rachael Finch revealed to her Instagram followers on Friday that she was going through one of her most 'challenging days as a parent'.

The 30-year-old model announced that her daughter Violet, four, requires surgery to remove a hernia.

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'It's one of those challenging days as a parent': Rachael Finch has shared her anxiety as she takes her daughter Violet, four, to the hospital for surgery

Rachael posted a photo of her husband Michael Miziner cradling Violet as they both posed in white hospital gowns and caps.

She captioned the snap: 'One of those challenging days as a parent. The love we have for our children is beyond words.

'This morning before Violet went into surgery. I noticed a small bubble pop up on her groin area which turned out to be a hernia. Lots of cuddles and snuggles for us this weekend.'

'The love we have for our children is beyond words': Rachael posted a photo of her husband Michael Miziner cradling Violet as they both posed in white hospital gowns and caps

A hernia is the bulging of an organ or tissue through the skin that can cause pain and swelling, and is usually the result of a breakdown in the abdominal wall.

Rachael, who is also a mother to one-year-old son Dominic, later took to her Instagram Story to share updates on the hospital visit.

In one snap, she planted a kiss on her daughter's cheek before she went into surgery

Brave little girl: Rachael, who is also a mother to one-year-old son Dominic, took to her Instagram Story to share updates on Violet's hospital visit

Rachael met her husband Michael on while filming Dancing With The Stars in 2010.

Michael, who is a professional dancer, was her partner on the show and they struck up a romance during rehearsals.

The couple married in 2013, welcoming their first child, Violet, in September 2013 and Dominic in March last year.
Kyle Sandilands has been dating 27-year-old model Imogen Anthony for more than six years.

And on Friday, he hinted that his girlfriend keeps him on a tight leash while speaking on his radio show.

The 46-year-old confessed: 'The only boys' trip I'm allowed is going for a latte with the boys! It's not right.'

'The only boys' trip I'm allowed is going for a latte!' Kyle Sandilands hints that his girlfriend Imogen Anthony is controlling... after she declared he needs a 'pass' to discuss intimate details about their relationship

'So it's a minimal 30-minute boys' trip?' quizzed his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson.

'Oh, God. Do you miss them?' she added.

'Yeah,' he said sheepishly.

Not allowed: Kyle, 46, hinted that he asked Imogen about going abroad on a lads' trip and her response was "pig's a*se"

'Oh, babe. What is she worried about, though?' Jackie wondered.

'It's not a worry thing,' Kyle backtracked. 'It's just... we don't get to spend a lot of time with each other now.

'So, what, I'm going to go disappear for a month with me boys throughout Europe? "Pig's a*se" that was the quote that she said. "Pig's a*se" what does that even mean?'

A little light grooming! The couple have been dating for six years but Kyle admitted he and Imogen barely spend any time together... which is why he can't on a lads' trip

'It means fat chance,' Jackie offered.

'I knew it meant no, but I don't know what it really means,' Kyle said.

Meanwhile, Imogen previously hinted that Kyle has to run things by her before speaking out about their relationship on-air - despite making some very candid omissions about their sex life.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia about her partner's inability to censor himself, Imogen said: 'He blurts out everything, but it's fine.'

'It's not right!' Kyle says the only male bonding he can enjoy is a 'latte' with friends

The Instagram model confirmed that her beau has to speak to her in advance if he plans to divulge intimate details to fans on the show.

'He has kind of spoken to me beforehand,' she confessed.

'Anything vulgar like that, he needs a pass. There has been a few things where he has said: "Can I do this?" And I was like: "You cannot."'
She recently took to social media to hit back at critics for body-shaming, after they had accused her of being 'too skinny'.

But Megan McKenna appeared to be far removed from the drama on Thursday, as she enjoyed a night out at London hotspot Reign.

However, as she emerged from the nightclub in the early hours of Friday morning, the 25-year-old former TOWIE star looked decidedly worse for wear, flashing her bra as she sat in the back of a taxi after strolling out bleary-eyed.

Worse for wear: Megan McKenna was spotted looking worse for wear as she made her exit from London's Reign nightclub in the early hours of Friday morning

Wearing an all-white ensemble, the TV personality partied alongside the likes of Michelle Heaton and Made In Chelsea's Sam Prince, who both seemed to fare better than Megan as they exited the nightclub looking a tad more composed.

Megan's night out started on a notably more demure note, when she and a female friend stepped out in style to dine at the 108 Brasserie in Marylebone before making her way to the exclusive Soho House.

The Essex girl put on a glamorous display in a white suit, looking chic and sophisticated in the menswear inspired look.

Spirited: Megan looked appeared to be her usual spirited self as she sat in the back of a taxi

Helping hand: The former TOWIE star was guided by a pal as she was led out of the nightclub

Oversharing: As TV personality, 25, sat in the back of the taxi, she flashed a hint of her bra

Sorts: The brunette beauty looked out of sorts as she waited for her taxi to whisk her home

Megan showed off just a hint of cleavage in the low-cut jacket, which she accessorised with a vibrant red handbag.

The striking star set off her sophisticated look with a simple pair of strappy stilettos, while she wore her long brunette locks down in curls and opted for a heavily bronzed make-up style.

Also hitting the town was Michelle Heaton, who showed off her legs in a pair of leather look trousers.

The former Liberty X star opted for a vibrant, colour clashing shirt to complete her ensemble.

Follow the leader: TV star Megan's friend guided her through the streets with a steady hand

Eyes wide shut: The TV personality struggled to keep her eyes open as she made her way home

Disagreement: Megan appeared to be having a small disagreement as she boarded her taxi

Dirty: Her pristine white trouser suit was seen looking wet and dirty after her raucous night

Meanwhile, Megan defiantly flaunted her slim physique on Instagram after calling out online trolls who criticised her for being too skinny.

Megan - who spoke to Heat Magazine and pledged her support for Wheres Your Head At? mental health campaign - lashed out at the commentators who called her 'anorexic' and admitted her food allergies have created her 'issues with weight'.

Posing on a sun-drenched beach during her Cyprus getaway, Megan bared all of her sensational physique in a skimpy stripped bikini.

The reality star's leggy frame and ample cleavage caught the most of the sunshine as she shielded her face with a chic trilby.

Stepping out: Earlier in the evening, Megan looked more composed, stepping out in style to dine at 108 Brasserie in Marylebone with a female friend

Bit of all-white: The former TOWIE star put on a glamorous display in a white suit, looking chic and sophisticated in the menswear inspired look

Putting her best foot forward: The striking star set off her look with a simple pair of strappy stilettos

Beauty: She wore her long brunette locks down in curls and opted for a bronzed beauty look

Megan took a dip the crystal blue waters for the tantalising snap, and tied up her golden blonde locks with tendrils framing her features.

Despite her confident demeanor, the former Ex On The Beach beauty revealed she often receives abuse online for her figure, with accused her of looking 'anorexic'.

Talking about the campaign, Megan lashed out at 'skinny shamers', reasoning: 'It's not ok to call someone fat so why is it OK to call me anorexic? Apparently, I starve myself.'

Megan got very candid about her 'weight issues', relating her drop in size to a wheat allergy and coeliac disease.

Glamorous: Megan showed off just a hint of cleavage in the low-cut jacket, which she accessorised with a vibrant red handbag

Hitting the town: Megan and her gal pal looked ready to party the night away

Having a blast: She was spotted heading to Soho House later, looking like she'd had a blast

While often an open book to her loyal fans online, Megan kept a recent trip to the hospital for food poisoning under wraps as she feared the reaction from internet trolls.

The TV personality added: 'A couple of months back I had so much abuse saying my legs were so bony.

'But I had food poisoning and I came out of hospital and just because I dealt with it in private and no one knew about it, I was getting so much abuse'.

Giddy: Megan couldn't keep the smile off her face as she headed off in a taxi

Tanned: The star's all-white ensemble perfectly set off her deep bronzed glow

Overjoyed: She was seen laughing as she boarded a taxi to head from Soho House to Reign

Despite the consistent negative comments, Megan admitted she wants to stop caring about the hateful messages, adding: 'The pressure of trolls on social media can be very stressful. I need to stop caring about what other people say.

'I'm a strong person but I am only human and sometimes things can get to me. Some (comments) can be really nasty.'

Meanwhile, Megan has recently rekindled her romance with Love Island hunk Mike Thalassitis after their turbulent two-month relationship came to an end.

Turning heads: Michelle Heaton was also spotted partying with Megan

Looking good: The former Liberty X star showed off her legs in a pair of leather look trousers

Vibrant: She ensured she stood out from the crowd in a pink and purple shirt

Party time: The two left Soho House together, before ending their night at the Reign nightclub

A source told The Sun: 'They're talking again and they're back together. They wanted to make it work - after the split, they knew the relationship wasn't over, and started talking again.

'They really like each other and want to make things work. They're so on and off though - things are so volatile - that their mates are trying to stay out of it.'

The pair confirmed they were dating in March, and went on to enjoy an idyllic holiday together in Barbados.

However, they soon confirmed they had parted ways on social media earlier this month, and proceeded to remove all photos of each other on their respective pages.

Not OK: Talking to the campaign, Megan lashed out at 'skinny shamers', reasoning: 'It's not ok to call someone fat so why is it OK to call me anorexic? Apparently, I starve myself'
She welcomed her first child - daughter Stormi - back in February.

But Kylie Jenner enjoyed some time off mommy duty as she was spotted with having dinner with a friend in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The 20-year old reality star kept things casual in a black top, layered beneath a floral jacket, as they dined at Matsuhisa - before she was spotted checking her phone as they left in a black Rolls Royce.

Here she is: Kylie Jenner enjoyed some time off mommy duty as she was spotted with having dinner with a friend in Los Angeles on Thursday

Casual: The 20-year old reality star dined with her pal at Matsuhisa - before she was spotted checking her phone as they left in a black Rolls Royce

Kylie kept her trademark brunette tresses long and loose and sported minimal make-up as she caught up with her friend over dinner.

The pair proved to be in good spirits as they arrived at the eatery from a studio, with Kylie glued to her phone en route - before she was spotted taking the wheel on the way home.

Not seen with Kylie was her infant daughter, Stormi. After welcoming her first child three months ago, the new mother got straight back to work.

Fancy fleet: Kylie kept her trademark brunette tresses long and loose and sported minimal make-up as she arrived at the dinner in the swanky vehicle

Back to her tot: She was later sotted taking the wheel on the way home as she returned to daughter Stormi

Kylie gave birth on February 1 and had already thrown herself back into her Kylie Cosmetics business two weeks after the delivery.

She stepped out in a striking figure-flaunting nude dress to unveil her make-up pop-up shop in San Francisco on Wednesday.

The reality star was on hand to greet her dedicated fans, who swarmed the streets outside the pop-up shop.

Promoting her wildly popular make-up range - which has made her into a millionaire many times over - the new mother headed to San Francisco to support the launch.

Hair story: Kylie kept her trademark brunette tresses long and loose and sported minimal make-up for the dinner

'I can't wait San Fran!' she posted on her Instagram stories.

Earlier this month, she made her red carpet return at the Met Gala in a striking Alexander Wang ensemble alongside her beau Travis Scott.

Speaking to People.com, Kylie's mother Kris Jenner - who also attended the event - said: 'That child never stops. She got right back in the saddle.

'And I love that about her. She's really so impressive. And she's such a good mom. She's so dedicated to her baby. We were at the Met Ball and all she could focus on when we were done was getting home.

Adding: 'She's like, "Come on we've got to go see Stormi!" It was really sweet to see her anxious to get home to Stormi.'
He's the American rapper who has been married for 25 years to Kimberly Woodruff.

And Ice Cube recalled proposing for a second time, at the 20-year mark, during a chat with Nova's Fitzy & Wippa on Friday.

'I got some love in me,' the 48-year-old told Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald and Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli.

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'I got some love in me': Ice Cube recalled proposing to his wife of 25 years Kimberly Woodruff for the second time on Friday's Nova Fitzy & Wippa radio show

'The second time I basically said, "If I propose again, would you say yes?",' Ice Cube, real name O'Shea Jackson, said.

'She said, "Yeah I would", so I didn't really have a lot of pressure. I had built up 20 years of good faith,' he added, laughing.

Ice Cube, who famously starred in 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, went on to describe how he proposed to his wife for the first time.

'I don't know if it was considered romantic. I had bought her a new car [a BMW 5-series] and when she went to sit in the car, there was a ring sitting on the seat.'

Family: Ice Cube married Kimberly Woodruff in 1992, and the couple share five children

Ice Cube married Kimberly Woodruff in 1992, and the couple share five children.

The Ghetto Bird hitmaker previously told comedian Rickey Smiley on his morning talk show: 'It's a true partnership. I respect my wife and she respects me. I still get the butterflies when I see her.'

Ice Cube went on to say that his secret to a happy marriage was good communication.

Respect: The Ghetto Bird hitmaker previously told comedian Rickey Smiley on his morning talk show, 'It's a true partnership. I respect my wife and she respects me'

He said: 'I like to hang out with my wife, talk about things, get some coffee, you know? Sometimes just understanding where the other person is coming from is helpful to getting along and being happy.'

Ice Cube is currently in Sydney ahead of a performance and talk for the annual Vivid Festival.

He will appear at the Sydney Opera House on Monday, May 28th.
Earlier this month she deleted her Instagram account after Azealia Banks called her an 'illiterate, untalented rat' and a 'caricature of a black woman,' in an interview.

But on Sunday, Cardi B returned to the social media platform to promote her new video Be Careful.

And then on Thursday, the 25-year-old rapper clapped back at the Anna Wintour rapper's criticism of her literacy by posting a series of her own high school yearbook photos, before quickly deleting them again.

It's on! Cardi B clapped back at Azealia Banks' criticism of her literacy by posting a series of her high school yearbook photos on Thursday, before quickly deleting them again

The Bodak Yellow hitmaker captioned several of the photos 'Let a b***h tell it I only made it to the 8th grade.'

Another photo showed the pregnant rapper's old Borough of Manhattan Community College ID card, with the sarcastic caption 'but I have no education'.

And another Thursday post - which was not deleted - read: 'No one ever notices when you're being provoked, just when you retaliate.'

Bad blood: The Bodak Yellow hitmaker captioned several of the photos 'Let a b***h tell it I only made it to the 8th grade'

Shade thrown: And another Thursday post - which was not deleted - read: 'No one ever notices when you're being provoked, just when you retaliate'

The rapper - whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar - hit back at Azealia Banks before deleting her Instagram account earlier this month, after the rapper insulted her during an interview.

Banks called the MotorSport star an 'illiterate, untalented rat' and a 'caricature of a black woman,' during an interview with The Breakfast Club.

'Two years ago, the conversation surrounding black womens culture was really reaching an all-time high,' Banks told the radio show's hosts, referencing Beyonce's 2016 album, Lemonade.

No love lost: The rapper - whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar [L] - hit back at Azealia Banks [R] before deleting her Instagram account earlier this month, after the rapper insulted her during an interview

The spark: 'Two years ago, the conversation surrounding black womens culture was really reaching an all-time high,' Banks told the radio show

She continued: 'There was just this really, really, really intelligent conversation going on nationally and then everything just kind of changed and then it was like Cardi B.

'Im just talking about this caricature of a black woman that black women themselves would never be able to get away with. Like, if my spelling and grammar was that bad, Id be canceled. If Nicki Minaj spelled like that, we would be ragging on her all day.'

Cardi B responded to Banks' offensive comments on Instagram, writing: 'I'm from the hood. I speak how I speak I am how I am. I did not choose to be famous people choose me! People followed me on Instagram and the people gave me a platform to introduce my talent.

Shots fired: Banks continued: 'There was just this really, really, really intelligent conversation going on nationally and then everything just kind of changed and then it was like Cardi B'

TBT: Another photo showed the pregnant rapper's old Borough of Manhattan Community College ID card, with the sarcastic caption 'but I have no education'

'I never asked to be a example or a role model I don't want to change my ways because I'm famous that's why I just mind my business. This is coming from a woman that bleached her skin but want to advocate. GOODBYE. Im not apologizing or kill myself because of who I am.'

'You busy trying to be a voice of reason and a representative for women of colour when you cant even reason with yourself, she wrote.

Later, she added: 'Just because I mix a few words up, forget to use commas or misspell a few words doesnt make me illiterate and doesnt make me stupid. And because I laugh a little harder or talk a little louder doesnt make me a caricature!

'You think your advocating for women and your doing the opposite! I pray you find peace in your own heart and reason in your mind! Pray for your own success before you pray for the downfall of others!'
Cate Blanchett channelled David Bowie as she strode through New York's JFK airport on Friday.

Wearing a simple black T-shirt featuring a lightning bolt, the two-time Oscar winner embraced her inner rock chick.

After promoting her latest blockbuster Ocean's Eight in the Big Apple, the 49 year-old was classic and understated in a simple black blazer and charcoal skinny jeans with frayed ends.

Rock chic! Cate Blanchett gives a nod to David Bowie in stylish printed T-shirt while striding through JFK airport after promoting Ocean's Eight in New York

Shielding her gaze with dark wide-rimmed shades, Cate sported minimal make-up and a nude lip.

Her choppy blonde locks hung loose and disheveled over her shoulders while the A-lister wore a trio of gold jewelry around her neck.

Fidgeting with the embellishments, the eye-catching collection included bejeweled chains, a pendant and a flashy-looking dog tag

Classic! The 49 year-old was understated in a simple black blazer and charcoal skinny jeans with frayed ends

While her luggage was wheeled through departures by a helpful assistant, Cate's hands were free to carry a stylish navy leather tote bag.

Starstruck fans gawped at the Thor: Ragnarok legend as she stepped it out in sky-high back pumps with monochrome check detail.

Priorities! While her luggage was wheeled through departures by a helpful assistant, Cate's hands were free to carry a stylish navy leather tote bag.

Married to playwright and screenwriter Andrew Upton whom she shares three sons - Dashiell, 16, Roman, 14, Ignatius, 10 - and a daughter Edith, 4, Cate enjoyed a busy stint in New York promote the female heist saga.

The respected thespian participated in a series of publicising events for the movie including a junket, press conference and glamorous screening at the Met.

Starstruck! Cate also stepped it out in sky-high back pumps with monochrome check detail

A spin-off from the Ocean's 11 franchise starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, Cate shares the screen with a heavyweight cast including Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna.

Cate plays Lou, a career criminal and accomplice of Debbie Ocean [Sandra Bullock] - the sister of George Clooney's alter ego Danny Ocean from the previous movies - who assembles a team of jewel thieves to pull off a daring heist at the annual star-studded Met Gala in New York.

Ocean's 8 opens nationwide June 7.
Jennifer Garner was beaming as she was snapped Thursday in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles walking with her oldest child Violet, as her ex Ben Affleck was settling into the $19 million home he recently moved into to be closer to their three kids.

The 46-year-old Alias star, who's also mother to daughter Seraphina, nine, and son Sam, six, kept warm in a dark grey zip-up sweater, grey sweatpants and grey trainers.

Jennifer had her lustrous brown locks down and parted, and wore black sunglasses, carrying a dark green tote bag and a cell phone.

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Happy day: Jennifer Garner, 46, beamed as she was snapped Thursday in the Brentwood neighborhood of LA walking with her oldest daughter Violet, 12

Violet wore a a white collared polo shirt with a navy blue and green plaid skirt with blue sneakers.

The mother-of-three was out as Ben, 45, and his girlfriend Lindsay Shookus, 37, were seen at his new seven-bedroom, nine bathroom estate, which includes a gym, screening room and spa.

The Dallas Buyers Club actress, who has always shown her passion for charity, took to Instagram Thursday to promote Red Nose Day, an annual fundraiser aimed at eradicating child poverty, which includes an NBC special and the clown-style red noses on sale at Walgreens.

'Dont live today like its just any other,' the Houston native wrote, encouraging her 1.8 million followers to wear the red noses, watch the special and donate to the cause.

Psst! Jen leaned in to hear a tidbit from the oldest of her three children

Sporty: The fitness-minded actress had a dark ensemble on as she walked with Violet

Fun: The mom-of-three was out as her ex Ben Affleck was seen at his new LA mansion

Chatting: Jen and her daughter were deep in conversation on the trek

Charity-minded: Jen spread the word about Red Nose Day, to end child poverty, on her Instagram account Thursday

The Golden Globe-winning performer added the hashtags, #RedNoseDay #giving=happy #noseson and #savethechildren.

In a clip of scored to the tune of Good Day by The Happy Bullets, Garner went through her daily routine, including brushing her teeth, working out, and in the makeup chair, supporting the cause by wearing a red nose.

LOLs: Garner went through the routine of her day with a red nose on to commemorate the annual fundraiser
Tracey Jewel sparked rumours this week that she's reunited with ex-boyfriend Patrick Kedemos, after they were spotted out and about in Cairns together.

And now Woman's Day claim that the former couple are even thinking about moving back in together.

The news comes after Tracey recently dumped her former Married At First Sight co-star Sean Thomsen.

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That was fast! It's been reported that Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel (L) and ex-boyfriend Patrick Kedemos (R) 'are moving back in together' after 'reuniting' (Pictured in Perth on November 4th 2016)

A source told the publication: 'There's already talk of them moving back in together.'

According to the insider, Tracey wanted to keep her rekindled romance under wraps for the time being.

'Tracey was hoping to keep it under wraps until after her book tour,' the source added.

Sean who? It comes after Tracey dumped former Married At First Sight co-star, Sean Thomsen

The publication claims Tracey got back together with Perth-based businessman Patrick in the same week she broke up with Sean.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Tracey for comment in relation to this story.

Tracey and Patrick sparked rumours of a possible reunion after they were both spotted in Cairns this week.

Just days after announcing her split from Sean, the single mother enjoyed a relaxing getaway in Queensland, where Patrick is also spending time.

Same place? Tracey shared this photo to Instagram on Wednesday, which appeared to show her in the same location as her ex Patrick

Looks familiar! Perth businessman Patrick, 45, shared a similar picturesque snap from Cairns, which included the same palm trees and grey sky visible in Tracey's photo

The former lovers both attended Tony Robbins' Date With Destiny seminar at Cairns Convention Centre on Wednesday, and shared various glimpses of the event on Instagram.

One photo showed a beaming Tracey posing outdoors and she accompanied the photo with a sentimental quote about love.

'I've learnt not to be afraid to keep opening my heart and putting myself out there even though it hurts like f*#* sometimes... life is love!' she wrote in the caption.

She added the hashtags: 'Life is love', 'Gratitude', 'Cairns', 'Date with destiny,' and 'Tony Robbins'.

Accomplished: Patrick is a successful businessman and a former diplomat

Did they attend together? Tracey (left) and Patrick both shared photos from Tony Robbins' Date With Destiny seminar at Cairns Convention Centre on Wednesday

Patrick, 45, shared a similar picturesque snap, which included the same palm trees and grey sky visible in Tracey's photo.

The exes began dating in 2016, but reportedly split in late June 2017 before Tracey's appearance on Married At First Sight.

Patrick, a former honorary consul for France in WA, previously told News Corp that he met with Tracey on several occasions after their split.

He claimed they saw each other between October and December 2017, while she was filming Married At First Sight with her TV 'husband' Dean Wells, 40.

The self-proclaimed 'relationship expert' has previously denied Patrick's claims.

She told PerthNow in March that her split with Patrick took an emotional toll.

'Breakups never end well, and in breakups you've always got my version of a breakup, their version of a breakup and the truth is somewhere in the middle,' she said.

'I have had some public relationships that haven't gone to plan and the reasons why those breakups have happened, I've chosen not to print those stories or comment on that, because that's private.'

She added: 'I'd hoped that they'd have the same respect for me.'

Awkward! Following her split with Sean, leaked text messages revealed Tracey had begged to get back together with Dean Wells (right) while she was still with the FIFO worker

Last week Tracey announced her split from FIFO (fly-in-fly-out) miner Sean after just five months of dating.

She told New Idea that Sean's work schedule meant she had 'no stability', adding that she was relieved they never went ahead with their plans to move in together.

Following their split, leaked text messages revealed that Tracey had begged to get back together with Dean while she was still dating Sean.
He's the self-confessed 'international male model' who is gearing up to try his luck at love on reality TV.

But Justin Lacko had time to squeeze in one last semi-naked shoot before jetting off to Majorca, Spain to film the hotly-anticipated inaugural season of Love Island Australia.

The 27-year-old smouldered in a series of topless snaps that left little to the imagination.

He's got pecs appeal! Love Island Australia hopeful Justin Lacko flaunts his chiselled six-pack while going commando in jeans in sizzling topless photo shoot

In one picture, Justin donned a blue and white striped pair of shorts and put his chiselled six-pack on full display.

Pouting for the camera, the Melbourne-born poser showed off his bronzed glow while his brunette locks were perfectly coiffed to one side of his head.

Enjoying a quick outfit change, Justin then went commando in nothing but a pair of tight white jeans, which he wore slung dangerously low to reveal a hint of his toned behind.

That's cheeky! Justin went commando in nothing but a pair of tight white jeans, which he wore slung dangerously low to reveal a hint of his toned behind

Then the New York-based star ditched the trousers all together and simply posed in a pair of navy pair of underpants.

Clinging onto a wooden bookcase, Justin let his bulging biceps do the talking while he stared wistfully towards the camera lens.

Meanwhile, Justin recently admitted that he would 'vomit' if former Married At First Sight villain Davina Rankin ended up inside the Spanish villa with him.

Smouldering: The 27-year-old clung onto a wooden bookcase while wearing nothing but a tight pair of navy underpants

Speaking to NW magazine, he said: 'If she's there I'm going to throw up and throw a chair in the pool.'

Davina became embroiled in a partner-swapping scandal, by 'cheating' on her 'husband' Ryan Gallagher with co-star Dean Wells.

But Justin made it clear that he wouldn't 'tolerate' Davina's antics.

He said: 'I'd be like: "You need to get the f**k out of my face." I'm not going to hit [girls], but I'm not going to stand for bulls**t talk and drama.'

Love Island is set to hit screens on 9Now and 9Go this Sunday.
Amber Heard has pleaded with her large social media following to help her to save a life.

The 32-year-old actress took to Instagram on Thursday to ask her nearly one million followers to contribute to the life-saving care of 12-year-old Syrian girl Weam.

'She's currently suffering from a deadly disease and desperately needs our help,' said the Justice League star of the refugee.

Touching cause: Amber Heard has pleaded with her large social media following to help her to save a life. She's seen here with Weam [Center] and her father

The All The Boys Love Mandy Lane star said the girl 'needs a blood transfusion' and that her medical care would cost 'a thousand dollars a month'.

The star of the forthcoming Aquaman said she was inspired by Weam's 'beautiful, bright, optimistic soul.'

Heard has partnered with Crowdrise to help foot the little girl's bills.

Help wanted: The 32-year-old actress took to Instagram to ask her nearly one million followers to contribute to the life-saving care of 12-year-old Syrian girl Weam

Tragic: 'She's currently suffering from a deadly disease and desperately needs our help,' said the Justice League star of the refugee

The actress recently showed her caring side as she visited some Syrian refugees.

The Drive Angry starlet took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a few snaps from the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan.

She was at the camp located 10 kilometers east of Mafrawq to support the humanitarian organization Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS).

Proud: Amber Heard showed her caring side as she visited some Syrian refugees and shared images of her at the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan on Instagram on Monday

In one of the snaps she posed with several girls as they all flexed their biceps for the camera.

It is there at the SAMS multi-specialty medical center where she met Syrian refugees who are receiving free medical care from the organization.

In the accompanying caption she wrote: 'I feel so humbled and honored to have spent the day learning from such amazing souls... among them, the Tigers of Zaatari...

Aww: In one of the snaps she posed with several girls as they flexed their biceps for the camera as she wrote 'These beautiful warriors have reminded me of what real strength looks like'

Cute: In one of the other snaps Amber posed with one of the young ladies while proudly holding an illustration she did

'These beautiful warriors have reminded me of what real strength looks like. Thank you.'

In one of the other snaps Amber posed with one of the young ladies while proudly holding an illustration she did.

The Justice League star wrote: 'Meet the Tigers of Zaatari. Youve never seen anything like them. Thank you, to these beautiful warriors for showing me what a real roar is.....'

She was joined by her close Syrian-American friend named Rami Sarabi on the trip.

Amber also visited UNHCR's IRD community center where she met with a group of young women and girls along with a school that is operated by UNICEF.

No doubt it is a busy time in her career as last week Amber was spotted on the Los Angeles set of her latest project titled Gully.

This year, Amber will appear in four films. She's set to star in Aquaman as Mera, and Nicola Six in London Fields.

She is currently the lead in the romance thriller, Run Away With Me, which begins filming later this year.

The story follows an American and Parisian couple who fall in love and get involved in criminal activity.
They've been married for a blissful 22 years and share two children together.

And Hugh Jackman, 49, and his beloved partner Deborra-Lee Furness, 62, looked as smitten as ever, as they stepped out in Soho, New York, on Thursday.

The Greatest Showman actor cut a dapper figure in a crisp white shirt as he lovingly held hands with Deborra-Lee on their way to a screening of the drama Breath.

Movie date! Hugh Jackman, 49, and his beloved partner Deborra-Lee Furness, 62, looked as smitten as ever, as they stepped out in Soho, New York, on their way to a screening of the drama Breath. Hugh cut a dapper figure in a crisp white shirt, jeans and boots

He paired the look with denim jeans, black boots and a pair of aviator sunglasses.

Deborra-Lee was all smiles as she walked behind her handsome husband.

She kept her look simple in an all-black ensemble comprised of a flowly black top and shorts.

The adoption advocate also teamed her outfit with matching accessories, including a Hermes Birkin bag, designer sunglasses, and a long necklace.

Black to basics: Deborra-Lee kept her look simple in an all black ensemble comprised of a flowly black top and shorts. The adoption advocate also matched her outfit with matching accessories including a Hermes Birkin bag, designer sunglasses, and a long necklace

All good here! Deborra-Lee was all smiles as she walked behind her handsome husband who held up a thumbs up to photographers

The loved-up pair also posed for a photo with their friend and Breath's director Simon Baker, who is best known for his work on the Mentalist.

Hugh and Deborra-Lee are regularly seen being affectionate in public, and have enjoyed a long-lasting marriage.

Hugh recently took to social media to share a heartfelt tribute to Deborra-Lee in celebration of their 22nd wedding anniversary.

Affectionate: The smitten couple are regularly seen being affectionate in public, and have enjoyed a long-lasting marriage

Support: They also posed for a photo with their friend and Breath's director Simon Baker, who is best known for his work on the Mentalist

'I believe in life we need to see and truly be seen by the most important people in our lives. Deb, from day one, we had that. 22 years later ... it only gets deeper,' the actor gushed in the post.

'You and the kids are the greatest gift I will ever receive. I love you a gazillion times around the world,' he added.

He recently revealed the couple's simple secret to marital bliss.

'You've got to find the right person. It's powerful, but simple,' he told Closer Weekly.

Film industry friends: Hugh and Deborra attended the special screening of Breath, which is Simon's directorial debut

'When you're dating, you put on the best version of yourself. On the dance floor, you're like, I'm pulling out my best moves, I've got my best clothes on,' he told the publication.

The famous Australian couple met on the set of ABC drama Correlli in 1995 when Hugh was fresh out of acting school.

Although the series only lasted for one season, the superstar says meeting his wife was the 'greatest thing to come out of it'.

The pair were married in 1996 and after struggling with infertility, adopted their children Oscar and Ava in the early 2000s.
Daniel Craig and Danny Boyle have been confirmed for the next James Bond film, which will be released in October 2019.

Universal Pictures have won the international distribution rights to the 25th movie about the spy - who will be played by Craig for a fifth time - with Boyle set to direct the hotly-anticipated movie, which will drop in the UK first on October 25, 2019.

The 50-year-old actor's return will undoubtedly stun fans as he stated three years ago that he would 'rather slit his wrists' than take on the role once more.

He's back! Danny Boyle and Daniel Craig have been confirmed for the next James Bond film, which will be released in October 2019

EON Productions' Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli told Deadline: 'We are delighted to announce that the exceptionally talented Danny Boyle will be directing Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as James Bond in the 25th instalment of the franchise.

'We will begin shooting Bond 25 at Pinewood Studios in December with our partners at MGM and thrilled that Universal will be our international distributor.' Production on the movie, which will land in the US on November 8, 2019.

Speaking in 2015, when asked about returning to the role, Craig told the Guardian: 'Now? Id rather  slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. Thats fine. Im over it at the moment. Were done. All I want to do is move on.

'I dont know what the next step is. Ive no idea. Not because Im trying to be cagey. Who the f**k knows? At the moment, weve done it. Im not in discussion with anybody about anything. If I did another Bond, it would only be for the money.'

Having a giggle: Universal Pictures have won the international distribution rights to the 25th movie about the suave spy - who will be played by Craig for a fifth time - with Boyle set to direct the hotly-anticipated motion picture, which will drop in the UK first on October 25, 2019

Despite this he is making his comeback in the role, ahead of its return.

Kevin Ulrich, chairman of the board of directors at MGM - who will handle domestic distribution with Annapurna - said: 'Under the leadership of Michael and Barbara, we couldn't be more thrilled than to bring the next 007 adventure to the big screen uniting the incomparable Daniel Craig with the extraordinary vision of Danny Boyle.'

Jon Glickman, group president at MGM, who will also handle the digital and worldwide television distribution rights, added: 'It has been 16 years since 'Die Another Day' was distributed by MGM and it's incredibly gratifying to be releasing this film alongside the powerhouse team at Universal.'

Back again: Ben Whishaw - who plays Q in the franchise - recently admitted he was delighted to hear Boyle had signed up to helm the next movie

In March, Boyle teased he was working on the Bond 25 script. He said: 'We are working on a script right now. And it all depends on that really.

'I am working on a Richard Curtis script at the moment. We hope to start shooting that in six or seven weeks. Then Bond would be right at the end of the year. But we are working on them both right now.'

Ben Whishaw - who plays Q in the franchise - recently admitted he was delighted to hear Boyle had signed up to helm the next movie.

He's back: Speaking in 2015, when asked about returning to the role, Craig told the Guardian: 'Now? Id rather  slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. Thats fine. Im over it at the moment. Were done. All I want to do is move on'

Starring alongside: Ben Whishaw (left) - who plays Q in the franchise - recently admitted he was delighted to hear Boyle had signed up to helm the next movie

Speaking to BANG Showbiz, Ben explained: 'I just think it's really exciting to have Danny Boyle on board for Bond.

'I was thrilled when I read that he was going to be doing it, I can't think of a better or more exciting fit for Daniel [Craig] and the direction he's taken the character of Bond.

'I'm just really excited to work with him, I've been such a big fan. It seems weird to talk about it because I've not had a conversation with him but it's exciting.'

Bond 25 is set to be Craig's final outing as secret agent 007.
She's one of Victoria's Angel's elite brand ambassadors known as Angels.

And Martha Hunt was on hand on Thursday to help launch the lingerie brand's T-shirt bra summer collection.

The 29-year-old rocked a kimono jacket and matching pants for the Santa Monica event.

Secret angel: She's one of Victoria's Angel's elite brand ambassadors known as Angels

The 5ft10in stunner's bra was exposed under the loosely tied garment, showing off Martha's exceptional assets.

Her wavy blond tresses were untied and cascaded over the supermodel's shoulders.

Hunt completed the look with a pair of low-heeled tan pumps.

Helping hand: Martha Hunt was on hand on Thursday to help launch the lingerie brand's T-shirt bra summer collection

Wink wink: The 29-year-old rocked a kimono jacket and matching pants for the Santa Monica event

Taking the plunge! The 5ft10in stunner's bra was exposed under the loosely tied garment, showing off Martha's exceptional assets

Good hair day: Her wavy blond tresses were untied and cascaded over the supermodel's shoulders

Well-heeled: Hunt completed the look with a pair of low-heeled tan pumps

Check you out! Ever stylish, entrepreneur, TV personality, talk show host and fashion blogger Diana Madison wowed in a leggy ensemble which made the most of her stunning figure

Stunner: Diana was clad in British brand Self Portrait and Burberry

Later in the day, the close friend of Taylor Swift changed her look for another Victoria's Secret event.

The Victoria's Secret Hosts A Summer Soiree, also held at Santa Monica, also featured Hunt's fellow models Rocky Barne and Caroline Vreeland.

North Carolina native Hunt went a little more casual this time, in ripped jeans and a white blouse.

Genetically blessed: The Victoria's Secret Hosts A Summer Soiree, also held at Santa Monica, also featured Hunt's fellow models Rocky Barnes [center] and Caroline Vreeland [R]

Swing away: Later in the day, the close friend of Taylor Swift changed her look for another Victoria's Secret event
Sophie Monk has spoken about a very awkward run-in with one of her famous exes.

The Love Island presenter revealed she crossed paths with her former fiance, Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, in 2016.

'Running into any ex is bloody awkward! There was the time that we went to watch Jessie J do something on an aeroplane and Benji was there, that was pretty awkward,' she told Hit105s Stav, Abby and Matt radio show.

A very turbulent meeting! Sophie Monk reveals her 'awkward' run-in with ex-fiance Benji Madden on a plane

The former Bachelorette was hosting the gig on a British Airways 777-300 jet, alongside Matty Acton.

The pair used to co-host KIIS FM's The Fling breakfast show.

Sophie said she had no idea Benji would be at the unusual concert and it was the first time the two had seen each other since they broke off their engagement in 2008.

'We were right next to each other,' she recalled. ''My heart dropped. I did chat to him for a little bit. It was awkward in the end.'

'What do you say? "How are you going?"' she joked.

Awkward! Paris (left) started dating Benji soon after he broke up with Sophie (right)

The exes started dating in 2002, but broke things off in 2006.

Reminiscing on their romance to Stellar magazine, Sophie said, 'It lasted nearly two years. Hes an amazing person. I just didnt feel ready to get married at that point. I wanted to achieve a bit more.'

The breakup put Sophie at the centre of a media frenzy, because Benji started dating socialite and hotel heiress Paris Hilton immediately after.

'She [Hilton] started saying that she stole him off me, which is bullshit,' Sophie said. 'I was all over E! News. Front cover of every magazine. She [Hilton] was like the Kardashians then. I couldnt go anywhere and ignore it.'

Married: Benji went on to fall for Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz. The pair got engaged before Christmas day in 2014 and spontaneously wed in January 2015

Benji went on to fall for Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz. The pair got engaged before Christmas day in 2014 and spontaneously wed in January 2015.

Earlier this year, New Idea reported that the Good Charlotte rocker refused to talk about Sophie in an interview.

An onlooker claimed he looked 'uncomfortable' when her name came up and quickly responded, 'Next question.'




He doesn't mince his words when it comes to talking about his co-stars.

And Scotty T has reignited his feud with Chloe Ferry, claiming the Geordie Shore star faked explosive scenes in a bid to make the show 'all about her'.

The reality star, 30, blasted the 22-year-old for throwing herself at him and picking fights for camera time.

Attention-seeker? Scotty T has reignited his feud with Chloe Ferry, claiming the Geordie Shore star faked explosive scenes in a bid to make the show 'all about her'

He told The Sun: 'Chloe for me can be really annoying, just because of the way she would go on with the lads.

'It was just for attention.

'When she was drunk she would do things on purpose like get in fights just to think it's all about her.'

Hitting out: The reality star, 30, blasted the 22-year-old for throwing herself at him and picking fights for camera time

Scott, who has replaced Charlotte Crosby's ex-boyfriend Stephen Bear as a presenter on Just Tattoo of Us, teased the blonde beauty had 'true feelings for Scott' during their on-screen dalliance, to which he hit back 'did she s***e man'.

Chloe and Scott's friendship has been fractured for years, with the Geordie television personality branding her 'sheer evil'.

He previously told The Mirror: 'The girl is an absolute terror-dactyl. The best thing about living with Chloe is absolutely nothing.'

Fake? 'Chloe for me can be really annoying, just because of the way she would go on with the lads'

Scott joined Geordie Shore back in 2012 but is said to been told he can't take part in the new season by MTV bosses after four years on the show, who are said to have called his behaviour 'unacceptable'.

The television personality's comments about Chloe come after Scotty was praised as Charlotte Crosby's new co-presenter on Just Tattoo Of Us on Monday night.

After the show's first episode of series three, fans admitted he was a 'much better' host than her ex-beau Stephen Bear, who appeared for two seasons.

Fans flocked to Twitter to express their delight over Scotty's presenting skills in comparison to Bear:

'Scotty T is so much better than Bear man! #JustTattooOfUs #MTV.'

'Well done and shows so much better .. more natural and Northern x.'
She has been blazing the promo trail for the all-female reboot of the original Ocean's trilogy.

Yet Anne Hathaway was taking a brief break as she hit the park in NYC with her two-year-old son Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman, during which she went for a super kooky ensemble - compising of a red dress with dazzling pockets.

The 35-year-old stunner proved herself to be a superstylish mum as she hit the park for some time with her beloved boy, who she shares with husband Adam Shulman.

Strutting her stuff: Anne Hathaway was taking a brief break as she hit the park in NYC with her two-year-old son Jonathan Rosebanks Shulman, during which she went for a super kooky ensemble - compising of a red dress with dazzling pockets

Anne looked stunning in her red shirt dress which was given a kooky touch with the help of the disc sequins sitting at her hips on the pockets.

Keeping her hair in straight loose lengths, she appeared to go make-up free beneath her oversized sunglasses - which added a superstar feel.

The Oscar winner is part of an all-star ensemble that includes the likes of Sandra Bullock, Mindy Kaling, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson and Rihanna in the upcoming heist movie, which is a spin-off from the original 'Ocean's' trilogy.

And Anne spoke about the special opportunity to work with an all-female cast during a press conference for the film in New York on Tuesday.

Her boy: The 35-year-old stunner proved herself to be a superstylish mum as she hit the park for some time with her beloved boy, who she shares with husband Adam Shulman

'Ive been really lucky, Ive been able to work with a lot of great women but theres usually just one or two of us,' she said.

'The idea that we could all bring all of the experiences weve ever had and bring it into this shared pool  and all then collectively become better because were all just together.

'One of the first things I remember was feeling safe and feeling like I was with people that I was so proud to be amongst  while having the best time of my life, just learning, and enjoying the view. It was incredible,' she added.

Over the moon! Anne spoke about the special opportunity to work with an all-female cast during a press conference for the film in New York on Tuesday

Bullock added: 'Also just women taking care of each other. Women being good to each other.

'Women stepping back and letting the more gifted step forward in the heist and recognizing talent and saying go out and shine, I got your back.'

The movie centers on Bullock as Debbie Ocean - the sister of George Clooney's alter ego Danny Ocean from the previous movies in the franchise - who assembles a team of jewel thieves to pull off a daring heist at the annual star-studded Met Gala in New York. Ocean's 8 opens nationwide June 8.
It was recently reported that he left ITV's Emmerdale after 'growing tired of his dark storylines'.

But Michael Parr took to Twitter to break his silence on his much-talked-about departure on Thursday evening, revealing that he has had the 'best few years' on the soap, but insisted 'it's time to explore other avenues'.

The 31-year-old actor - who plays the character of Ross Barton - also denied 'growing tired of long hours in the makeup chair', as part of his recent acid attack storyline.

New ventures: Michael Parr took to Twitter to break his silence on his much-talked-about departure on Thursday evening, revealing that he has had the 'best few years' on the soap'

In the first tweet posted to his account, the Good Cop star revealed that he's leaving the soap in hopes to expand his career: 'Yes Ill be leaving the soap soon. Have had the best few years at Emmerdale but its time to move on and explore other avenues.'

Michael - who has been nominated for Best Actor for this year's British Soap Awards - also injected a hint of humour to his tweet as he joked that he 'might stay' if he wins the prestigious award.

In another post, the Queensbury Rules actor also addressed the rumours over his intentions to leave the ITV favourite: 'Would just like to state the Im not leaving Emmerdale because of the make up or because Im going to become a professional MMA fighter.'

Dismiss: The 31-year-old actor - who plays the character of Ross Barton - also denied 'growing tired of long hours in the makeup chair', as part of his recent acid attack storyline

Making a move: In the first tweet posted to his account, the Good Cop star revealed that he's leaving the soap in hopes to expand his career

He added: 'Its just time for a change....although we all know I could be heavy weight champ if I wanted to be. X'

The mechanic - who Michael has portrayed for over five years - has been at the centre of plenty of storylines including Robert Sugden's shooting, almost being killed by his brother Pete, and most recently the horrific acid attack.

The actor's tweet comes after a source told The Sun that Michael chose to leave the show due to being unhappy with his choice of story lines, as well as the hours he would spend having the makeup applied to recreate the scarring caused by an acid attack.

The insider said: 'Mike has told anyone who will listen how much he hated his storylines and what bosses had done with his character.'

Funny: In another post, the Queensbury Rules actor also addressed the rumours over his intentions to leave the ITV favourite

'He particularly hated the make-up he had to wear for the acid attack storyline. He's been fed up for ages and has finally told bosses he's off.'

Emmerdale's acting producer Kate Brooks told the publication that Ross will depart later this year when his contract comes to an end, but remained tight-lipped on whether he will be killed off.

She said: 'His decision to pursue other acting opportunities has given the writing team the opportunity to create an intriguing storyline for his exit.'

Undoubtedly Ross' biggest storyline has been his horrific acid attack earlier this year, leaving the character scarred after being wrongfully targeted by Simon thinking that he was the villainous Joe Tate (Ned Porteous).

Troubled character: The mechanic - who Michael has portrayed for over five years - has been at the centre of plenty of storylines including Robert Sugden's shooting and the acid attack

Michael recently admitted he had doubts about taking on the controversial storyline, as he felt it would be 'too graphic' for pre-watershed viewing.

The Merseyside native told Lorraine Kelly he became on board with the dark plot after hearing how it was based on a real-life story.

Speaking about the story, Michael told Lorraine: 'It's very graphic isnt it. It only takes about an hour in the make-up chair, the girls are phenomenal.'

'But it is so realistic, weve always got pictures close by of real victims to make it as accurate as possible, and theyre doing an amazing job.

'We have to tell as realistic a story as possible, and I think we are doing it.'

Despite originally causing controversy with the dark scenes - receiving 200 complaints to media watchdog OfCom - the response to the storyline has been positive, with its honest portrayal of an increasingly common attack.

'At first people thought it was graphic and a bit too much for 7pm, but in the second episode people saw we were showing how to deal with this and the steps you need to take to help someone whos gone through it...were telling the much more psychological aspect of it.'

Touched: The Merseyside native told Lorraine Kelly he became on board with the dark plot after hearing how it was based on a real-life story

He added: 'I asked for a story that had never been done before in soap  thats the hardest job for anyone in a soap is to think of someone thats never been done.

'It was pitched to me and when they told me how emotional and tasteful it was going to be, I was in.'

Emmerdale continues on Friday 25th May at 7pm on ITV.
While she is famed for her moody pout, Victoria Beckham's trademark scowl led to outrage on Saturday as she attended The Royal Wedding.

After coming under fire for her straight face, the pop star turned fashion designer has now addressed the issue when she took to Instagram on Friday morning to claim she was 'smiling on the inside' when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot.

The 44-year-old Spice Girls star posed in a 175 sweatshirt from her own range, with a slogan adorned across the front reading: 'It's a dark but happy place', before insisting she was 'smiling on the inside' - seemingly hinting at the wedding.

Cheeky! Victoria addressed her 'Royal Wedding Sourpuss' when she took to Instagram on Friday morning to claim she was 'smiling on the inside' when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot

Victoria and her husband David, were dressed to impress as they attended Prince Harry's wedding to former actress Meghan, now named the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, held at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Having clearly loved the wedding, she took to Twitter to write: 'Congratulations, an amazing day. So proud to be British! Thank you so much for including @davidbeckham and I. We are so honoured and so happy for you both. x vb.'

Despite enjoying the big day, as she was headed into the church in her deep navy ensemble - which had also come under fire as it was claimed she looked as though she was attending a funeral - she failed to crack a smile.

It took until Friday for the star to address her straight-faced appearance as she took to Instagram with the tongue-in-cheek post, which not only used her trademark hilarious wit but also promoted her eponymous fashion line.

Straight faced: The 44-year-old Spice Girls star posed in a 175 sweatshirt from her own range, with a slogan adorned across the front reading: 'It's a dark but happy place', before insisting she was 'smiling on the inside' at the wedding

A vision: Victoria and her husband David, were dressed to impress as they attended Prince Harry's wedding to former actress Meghan, now named the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, held at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle

Her caption on the image, read: 'When youre smiling on the inside As the sweatshirt says!! Let your sweatshirt do the talking - get yours now exclusively at my website and #VBDoverSt x VB #DarkButHappyPlace'.

Fans soon praised the star as they penned in the comments: 'Well done Posh!! Unfortunately Im like you - put a camera near me & the smile definitely hides inside me ... is it what it is!!... Why dark cant be a happy place ? I love her message !!!

'Well done ... great comeback from all the smile comments since TRW love this look... Oh a deadly little dig at all the wedding vibes... Love it! Forget the smile police theyre only jealous You rock! If ur smiling on the inside, why not smile on the outside. It makes u come across as fake, that ur putting a show on' (sic).

No smile here! Despite enjoying the big day, as she was headed into the church in her deep navy ensemble - which had also come under fire as it was claimed she looked as though she was attending a funeral - she failed to crack a smile

Victoria insisted it was an 'honour' to attend the Royal Wedding this weekend, despite being accused of pouting throughout.

She discussed Meghan's dress choice and Prince Harry's 'genuinely lovely' new wife as she shared her thoughts on an 'incredible wedding' at length for the first time since the Windsor Castle ceremony.

Dismissing her own nerves on the day, Victoria insisted that it was 'such a relief' not to be a pregnant guest, seven years after attending the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's nuptials with a big bump.

Blooming lovely: Victoria was heavily pregnant with Harper Seven when she attended the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011

Victoria told The Evening Standard: 'It was such a beautiful, incredible wedding. It was just the best day. They looked so happy, and everybody was just so happy for them. Meghan seems like a genuinely lovely woman, who really loves him.'

Asked if she felt nervous, Victoria added: 'I wasn't nervous, no. I was just really honoured to have been invited. I would have been nervous if it had been my day.'

Victoria was heavily pregnant with Harper Seven when she attended the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011.

Beautiful: Victoria told The Evening Standard: 'It was such a beautiful, incredible wedding. It was just the best day. They looked so happy, and everybody was just so happy for them. Meghan seems like a genuinely lovely woman, who really loves him'

At the time, she wore a very similar navy blue dress and pillar box hat therefore disappointing fashion critics when she wore the same shade this weekend.

Nevertheless, Victoria simply said it was 'such a relief' to choose whatever she wanted to wear without a baby bump to cover.

'I love a bit of navy,' she explained. 'The dress is one of my favourites: it isn't in store until November, but we've had so many inquiries about it that I'm seeing whether I can bring it forward.'
She's often mistaken for fellow Hollywood redhead Jessica Chastain.

And Bryce Dallas Howard admitted she finds the comparison 'flattering' as she discussed the many similarities between herself and the Molly's Game star during her appearance on Friday's The Graham Norton Show.

The Jurassic World star, 37, detailed how she had been confused for Jessica, 41, long before their acting careers even took off and conceded that the pair 'could be sisters'.

'Unnerving': Bryce Dallas Howard, 37, (left) said she is 'flattered' that she's often mistaken for Jessica Chastain, 41, (right) and admitted they could be 'sisters' on Graham Norton Show

Of their striking similarities, Bryce - wearing a glamorous black bardot gown and colorful earrings - told host Graham: 'It's very flattering for me! It's odd because it all started long before we were famous.

'I went to NYU and she was at Julliard and there were many times  in the likes of Starbucks and other places  that people were certain we were one and the same person.'

Despite the long-running joke, the Black Mirror actress said their first run-ins with confused fans was a 'little unnerving' but did admit that she can see where people are coming from, adding 'we could be sisters'.

It's not the first time either A-List actress has discussed their uncanny resemblance, with Jessica taking to her Instagram account in May 2015 to set the record straight in a hilarious snap.

Uncanny: The Black Mirror actress said their first run-ins with confused fans was a 'little unnerving' but did admit that she can see where people are coming from

'The same person': After being mistaken for Bryce during the promotional tour for Jurassic World, Jessica shared a photo of the actresses chatting, with the caption: 'True story'

After being mistaken for Bryce during her promotional tour for Jurassic World, Jessica shared a photo of the actresses chatting, with the caption: 'True story. #BryceDallasHoward is in #JurassicWorld'

While hoping to straighten out any confusion, Jessica did confess to using Bryce's name when first being recognised for her earlier work.

Speaking to Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon at the time, the Zero Dark Thirty star explained: 'Right out of college, I was doing an off-Broadway play and I was like 'I'm a working actress' and then The Village had just come out - that was [Bryce's] big break.

'I was on the subway and these kids come over and said 'I'm sorry but are you an actress?' and I was 'yes, I'm being recognised!', and then they said 'yes The Village was such a great movie'.

Hilarious: Of their striking similarities, Bryce - in a glamorous black bardot gown and colorful earrings - told host Graham: 'It's very flattering for me! It all started before we were famous'

So chic: Bryce and hunky co-star Chris Pratt continued their promo tour on Friday of the latest film in the dinosaur franchise with a stop to BBC Radio 1 studios in London

'Swamp Crotch': Elsewhere on the show, Bryce also revealed that doing stunts in the jungle led to an embarrassing situation involving her trousers and a hairdryer

Deciding to take advantage of the awkward situation, Jessica added: 'I had this moment of 'do I tell them, or do I pretend to be Bryce' and, like a normal person, I pretended I was Bryce.'

Elsewhere on the show, Bryce - flanked by her Jurassic World co-stars Chris Pratt and Jeff Goldblum - also revealed that doing stunts in the jungle led to an embarrassing situation involving her trousers and a hairdryer - which she referred to as a 'swamp crotch'.

With much of the movie set in the humid climes of Hawaii, the mother-of-two confessed: 'It was so hot that my trousers showed all the sweat so I used a hair dryer to get rid of the stain  it became so normal I would do it all the time and in front of anyone.'

Girl about town: The actress has been on the European promotional trail for the new Jurassic Park movie for the past few days

Jeff, asked what it is like coming back and being part of the new Jurassic film, said: 'It is entirely delicious.

'Its great. I was involved a while ago but not with superstars like these guys. I had a great time coming back.'

Following their star-studded turn on the famous red sofa, Bryce and hunky co-star Chris Pratt continued their promo tour of the latest film in the dinosaur franchise with a stop to the BBC Radio 1 studios in London.

Awkward: The mother-of-two confessed: 'It was so hot that my trousers showed all the sweat so I used a hair dryer to get rid of the stain  it became so normal I would do it all the time'
She cemented her place in the Hollywood industry at the tender age of seven.

So it's no surprise Dakota Fanning opted for comfort as she arrived back on home turf at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday afternoon.

The screen star, 24, went casual as she slipped her slender frame into a pale blue tracksuit, which featured trendy white panels throughout.

Low-key: Dakota Fanning opted for comfort as she arrived back on home turf at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday afternoon

The Yellowbird actress continued her low-key display as she strolled through the terminal in a pair of box-fresh trainers.

Injecting a hint of glamour into her look, the former child star accessorised with a feline print circle frames, and toted a chic suede handbag.

The American Pastoral actress showcased her naturally radiant complexion as she went make-up free, and wore her blonde tresses in effortlessly loose waves.

Jet-setter: The screen star, 24, went casual as she slipped her slender frame into a pale blue tracksuit, which featured trendy white panels throughout

Off she goes: The Yellowbird actress continued her low-key display as she strolled through the terminal in a pair of box-fresh trainers

Dakota recently discussed her mother's role in her career while doing publicity for her 2013 film The Last Of Robin Hood, a biopic of Old Hollywood star Errol Flynn.

In that movie, Dakota played real-life little-known actress Beverly Aadland - whom the then middle-aged Errol was depicted having an affair with when she was a teenager - opposite Susan Sarandon as Beverly's relentlessly pushy mother Florence.

According to UPI, while promoting the movie, Dakota drew a distinction between Florence and Heather, saying: 'I don't have any experience with stage mothers.'

Sophisticated: Injecting a hint of glamour into her look, the former child star accessorised with a feline print circle frames, and toted a chic suede handbag

Fresh-faced: The American Pastoral actress showcased her naturally radiant complexion as she went make-up free, and wore her blonde tresses in effortlessly loose waves

Said she: 'My mom was not....The main difference was Susan's character is totally forcing Beverly to be an actress and Beverly just doesn't really have any desire and she doesn't care one way or another and, with me, it was just the opposite.'

Dakota explained: 'My mom was like: "I'm ready to go home. If you don't want to do this anymore, you don't have to. We can go home to Georgia." When we were in LA, and I was like: "No, I want to stay. I like it!"'

The 2001 film I Am Sam was Dakota's ticket to fame, and she has sustained a career in the movies ever since, including in the forthcoming Oceans 8.
Meshel Laurie isn't shy of expressing her opinions.

And It was no different for the mother-of-two when she spoke about the divisive referendum occurring in Ireland on abortion rights.

Speaking on The Project on Friday, the outspoken 41-year-old comic offered a surprisingly unique take on the polarising procedure.

'I wish there was never another abortion in the entire world!': The Project's Meshel Laurie has revealed her true feelings on abortion following a discussion on Ireland's referendum

Meshel's comment came after co-host Lisa Wilkinson's piece-to-camera about 'repealing the eighth', as the vote is known.

The comic, appearing emotional, started: 'You know what I think gets lost in the abortion debate every time, is that nobody wants there to be abortion.'

Then starting to become passionate, she continued: 'I wish there was never another abortion ever in the entire world...I hate the fact there is abortion.'

'I hate the fact there is abortion': The Melbourne-based comic appeared to be against the procedure, but supported a woman's right to choose

The Melbourne-based comic appeared to be touting the line from Bill and Hillary Clinton - that abortions should be 'safe, legal and rare.'

Not being against a woman's choice to get a abortion, the panellist then tried to clarify her position to her co-hosts and viewers.

'It breaks my heart but that's not reality,' she started.

'That's not what the debate is about, right?': During the emotional segment, The Project host Waleed Aly (pictured) appeared to pull Meshel back to the topic

She then spoke of her concern for the women of Ireland, and how not having access to the procedure effects their every day life.

A number of women saying they are forced to fly to another European capital in order to undergo the procedure.

'There are crisis pregnancies as they're calling them in Ireland and I can't help every woman, I can't prevent them. If I could, I would.'

For a brief moment, host of The Project Waleed Aly interrupted the TV and radio personality, who is a self-professed Buddhist.

'That's not what the debate is about, right?' he said.

Which prompted Meshel to reply: 'No, it's not. I mean, sometimes it has to happen. I wish it didn't. Sometimes it has to.'
The wife of NRL star George Burgess is set to welcome a baby girl into the world in only a few months time.

And Joanna Burgess already appeared to have her hands full with one-year-old son Boston, who took it upon himself to decorate some kitchen cabinets in a hilarious Instagram video shared on Friday.

The former model, 28, chased around the toddler at her sister Tess' house, only to find the cherubic child illustrating the pristine white kitchen with a black pen.

'You think that's funny?!' Joanna Burgess, 28, told off one-year-old son Boston for scribbling on kitchen cabinets in black marker pen and shared the clip on Instagram on Friday

Joanna filmed the youngster - still pen in hand - giggling away, clearly happy with his latest art work.

But the blonde beauty was less impressed with the crazy black squiggles, asking the tot, 'yeah, you think that's funny?' before panning over to the mess on the cabinets.

Not taking any notice of his mum, Boston continued to poke and prod at the kitchen appliances, and pressed a number of shiny buttons on the oven.

Joanna captioned the amusing video: 'Just adding some his very own artwork to Aunty [Tess'] house'.

Bumping along nicely! Joanna and rugby player husband George are expanding their brood, with their daughter expected to arrive in August

Amused: The former model chased around the toddler at her sister Tess' house, only to find the cherubic child illustrating the pristine white kitchen with a black pen

'Some artwork': But the blonde beauty was less impressed with the crazy black squiggles, asking the tot: 'yeah, you think that's funny?' before panning over to the mess on the cabinets

Meanwhile, Joanna and rugby player husband George are expanding their brood, with their daughter expected to arrive in August, after the pair tied the knot back in December 2016.

The WAG previously revealed to The Daily Telegraph that motherhood strengthened her relationship with her husband.

'It's brought George and I even closer,' she gushed.

'It's been a challenge but the best challenge - words can't even describe it,' Joanna told the publication of first-time motherhood.

'There is just so much love in our life. And it's brought George and I even closer,' she continued.

Little artist: Joanna filmed the youngster - still pen in hand - giggling away, clearly happy with his latest art work

Messing around: Not taking any notice of his mum, Boston continued to poke and prod at the kitchen appliances, and pressed a number of shiny buttons on the oven

The interior design student also added that little Boston 'definitely looks like his dad'.

Shortly after announcing their exciting news, the South Sydney Rabbitohs star posted an adorable video clip while the two stood excitedly ahead of cutting their reveal cake to discover the gender of their expecting child.

Each cutting half of the slice, the young love birds unveiled the pink-hued sponge cake, jumping up for joy in celebration of their soon-to-be baby girl news.

Joanna also marked the occasion on Instagram, posting a picture of her soon-to-be four member family, writing: 'Baby gender reveal cake was such a fun and exciting way to find out and share our special news with family and friends we are so excited to welcome a sweet little G I R L into our family.'
Her family was expanded by one earlier this month, as she and her husband Evan Spiegel welcomed the birth of their first child together, son Hart.

And Miranda Kerr, 35, broke her silence on Thursday, when she took to Instagram to share a shot of Hart's name spelled out in wooden letters as she reveal that she's revelling in 'baby bliss', thanks to her newest bundle of joy.

Model Miranda, who celebrates a year of marriage to Evan, 27, on Sunday, wrote: 'Thank you so much for all of your warm wishes. Evan, Flynn and I have been in baby bliss for the last 17 days with our new arrival, baby boy Hart. We feel so very blessed.'

Bliss: Miranda Kerr has broken her silence to reveal that she's revelling in 'baby bliss' following the birth of her son Hart earlier this month. Pictured with husband Evan Spiegel in 2016

The Australian beauty and Snapchat co-founder and CEO Evan welcomed their first child together at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre on May 7.

According to TMZ, the new arrival was named after Evan's grandfather and entered the world at 11:53 p.m.

Miranda is already mother to seven-year-old son Flynn, whom she shares with her ex-husband, 41-year-old actor Orlando Bloom. The pair divorced in 2013 after three years of marriage.

Name: The model shared a shot of the baby's name in wooden letters alongside a stuffed toy

Evan and the former Victoria's Secret star publicly confirmed their romance in June 2015 and married in a small but lavish ceremony at Evan's home in Brentwood, California, in May last year.

Miranda wore a stunning Dior Haute Couture wedding dress and also personally cooked Evan's favorite dish - slow-roasted chicken scented with turmeric and lemon - for their wedding breakfast.

The caterer replicated the dish for the approximately 40 guests, Vogue reported.

Evan wore a Dior morning suit and Miranda's son Flynn, who served as ring bearer, wore a three-piece navy suit by Dior. The youngster also joined his mom and step-dad for the first dance, according to Vogue.

New parents: The couple welcomed Hart into the world on May 7. Pictured in February 2018

The couple announced in November that they were expecting their first child together.

Miranda had previously spoken about how she waited six months before she introduced Evan to her son Flynn, something she and ex Orlando had agreed together as they embarked on new romances.

'Evan met Flynn, so yeah, things are going well. Orlando thinks he's great. We're just a modern family now!' she said.
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She's heavily pregnant with her first child with the 'Hot Felon' Jeremy Meeks and Chloe Green displayed her bump while on her father Sir Philip Green's 100m superyacht in Monaco with her family and a host of famous faces.

No doubt the trip was ahead of the Grand Prix this Sunday and Chloe, 27, looked as though pregnancy suited her down to the ground as she wore a black form-fitting black top over grey bottoms on Thursday.

She stayed close to her 34-year-old boyfriend, at one point they say by one another with their arms placed lovingly around one another's shoulders.

All-stars: Heavily pregnant Chloe Green (second from right) displayed her bump on her father's superyacht with 'Hot Felon' beau Jeremy Meeks and a host of stars including Kris Jenner and Lewis Hamilton (second from left) in Monaco on Thursday

Friends in high places: Chloe seemed very relaxed in the company of (L-R) Kris Jenner, Lewis Hamilton and of course, Jeremy

And it seems as though Chloe's relationship has the full blessing of her parents, Sir Philip, 66, and Lady Tina as they were also present on the boat, which is named Lionheart. Chloe and Jeremy have been dating since July 2017.

A superyacht by definition has to be 24m in length, but according to The Guardian, Sir Philip's vessel is 90m. It has a swimming pool, a helipad, three lifts, six luxury cabins and a crew of 40. He has a net worth of 3.6bn.

There was an interesting mix of characters with the likes of Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton, 33, momager Kris Jenner, 62, and her boyfriend Corey Gamble, 34, and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, 67, present, as well a cute pooch.

In love: Chloe stayed close to her 34-year-old boyfriend, at one point they say by one another with their arms placed lovingly around one another's shoulders

Getting on: As Chloe and Jeremy cuddled, her mother, Lady Tina sat close by - the trio are very close and Tina has accompanied the coule to lots of things in the past, including meals out and fashion shows

Fancy seeing you here: Chloe was seem embracing Formula 1's Lewis Hamilton on the boat ahead of the Grand Prix this Sunday

Bond: Chloe could be seen gazing into her boyfriend's eyes amid rumours they are now engaged

Lewis is the new menswear ambassador for Hilfiger and is set to be unveiling his first collaborative collection with the brand and Hilfiger has said: 'Lewis is bold in everything he does, from racing and extreme sports, to fashion.'

Jeremy and Lewis also appeared to be getting along swimmingly which comes as little surprise given that Jeremy is a fashion model and Lewis is obsessed with fashion.

The group could be seen enjoying some aperitifs in a communal seated area which had brown comfortable looking chairs and red cushions and lantern lights.

The windows had panels with a leaf design and plants and flowers added a natural touch to the area.

Earlier this year it was claimed that Chloe is not only expecting her first child with Jeremy but is engaged to the former convict as well.

Mixing it up: Kris Jenner was looking uncharacteristically casual in her red Adidas zip-up top as she hung out with the group

Low-key: Kris and Lewis mirrored one another's styles in their casual clothing as they caught up with one another

Famous faces: Chloe's parents, Sir Philip Green and Lady Tina soon joined the group for a chat, showing they have given their blessing to their daughter's relationship

She gets on with everyone: Kris seemed really pally with Lewis Hamilton (left) before walking along with her man Corey, (right)

A little space: While they no doubt get on, Sir Philip and Jeremy were not pictured talking at any point

Living for the weekend: Lewis appeared deep in thought ahead of his big race on Sunday

The family are fully on board planning a wedding, and Tina [Chloe's mother] is looking forward to being a grandmother, a source told The Daily Mail. Chloe has been telling everyone that she is having a little boy.

Ahead of the impending arrival of their little one, the couple have been spending time in Monaco, relaxing at their own apartment in the same block where her parents own a 7 million penthouse.

Meanwhile jailbird Jeremy, married 34-year-old father-of-two, had earned the dubious accolade of the worlds hottest felon, when his mugshot went viral in 2014.

Happy: Chloe and her man could barely keep their hands off one another as they put on a tactile display

In the driving seat: Lewis appeared to be holding centre court as he talked to the group

Pals: Lewis and shirtless Jeremy really seemed to be hittin it off as they larked around together

Changing his ways: Once a member of the North Side Crips street gang in California, Meeks was described as one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area before he was jailed for possessing a firearm

Once a member of the North Side Crips street gang in California, Meeks was described as one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area before he was jailed for possessing a firearm.

He was released from prison in 2016 saying that he had found God, before quickly securing a six-figure modelling job  and ditching his wife and family when he met Chloe.

Earlier this month, the former gang member said he 'couldn't be happier' as he prepares to welcome a child with his heiress girlfriend.

All in the details: Kris matched her nails to her outfit, with a white manicure which matched her stripes

Who knew they were friends? Kris and Lewis no doubt go way back and he was once linked to her daughter Kendall

Her man: Also present was Corey, Kris' boyfriend, who wore his blue shirt open while chatting to the lads on top deck

Double trouble: Corey and Jeremy appear to have bonded on the trip as they stood gazing out at sea

Host with the most: Sir Philip could be seen packing up an umbrella (left) while Jeremy (right) appeared in high spirits

Speaking to FV Magazine, he said: 'Ive never been in this place mentally, emotionally, physically, that Im in right now. Ive never been in such an amazing place.'

When asked how he felt about his overnight success in the fashion industry, Meeks replied: 'I heard it a couple of times growing up that I should be a model, but it went in one ear and out the other. I never thought it was possible.'

The father-of-two was also asked what he thought could be done to prevent children getting into gang violence.

Nice decor: The group could be seen enjoying some aperitifs in a communal seated area which had brown comfortable looking chairs and red cushions and lantern lights

His biggest fan? Sir Philip appeared to hang on Lewis' every word as the day wore on

Going for it: The fashion mogul put on a passionate display as he pointed throughout the conversation

New role: Lewis, along with Gigi Hadid is the new menswear ambassador for Hilfiger and is set to be unveiling his first collaborative collection with the brand

News: Earlier this year it was claimed that Chloe is not only expecting her first child with Jeremy but is engaged to the former convict as well

He told FV's editor-in-chief Sandra Benbaruk: 'I mean they definitely need education and proper father figures, and people to look up to.

'Its a serious issue, especially in my neighborhood with gun violence at a young age, and so thats the situation. Someone I know has been killed and shot... its really rapid.'

The model revealed he has been getting involved in youth work and working alongside a charity called WOSMOH (Women of Substance Men of Honor).

Keeping a little distance: Kris and Corey say fairly far apart as they headed to another level of the boat

Giving him a look: She pouted at her man as he picked food out of his teeth against a shell-themed backdrop

Taking it easy: Chloe could be sipping on a cup of tea as she enjoyed some time in the sunshine

And speaking about what he has learned from 'life on the street', he added: 'Your word is your bond... to always stay loyal, solid and grounded, and you know, you do good, you get good back, and you do dirty, you get mud back... Its just very simple.'

Adding his final thoughts on what love means to him, Meeks added: 'Love means everything, everything to me. Its what keeps people alive, its what keeps people going, to love and to be loved.'

Chloe and Jeremy are said to have first set their eyes on each other at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2017, where the Hot Felon was modelling for Phillip Plein.

Moving on up: Jeremy was released from prison in 2016 saying that he had found God, before quickly securing a six-figure modelling job  and ditching his wife and family when he met Chloe

Lovely time: Earlier this month, the former gang member said he 'couldn't be happier' as he prepares to welcome a child with his heiress girlfriend

Speaking to FV Magazine, he said: 'Ive never been in this place mentally, emotionally, physically, that Im in right now. Ive never been in such an amazing place'

Question time: The father-of-two was also asked what he thought could be done to prevent children getting into gang violence and he said: 'I mean they definitely need education and proper father figures, and people to look up to'
Season three Bachelor star Lana Jeavons-Fellows has been happily in love with boyfriend Jake Meah for the past two years.

And it seems the lovebirds have put on a smitten display attending their friend's wedding on Friday.

The 29-year-old former reality TV star looked radiant in white as a bridesmaid for the very special day.

'Here we go!' The Bachelor's Lana Jeavons-Fellows looks a vision in white for wedding with boyfriend Jake Meah on Friday

She took to her Instagram Story to share a series of snaps from the occasion, showing off her enviable figure in a strapless, floor-length, ivory dress that hugged her statuesque physique.

Lana also posted selfies alongside her fellow bridesmaid and the blushing bride.

For makeup, the social media influencer opted for a simple look that enhanced her features with lashings of mascara and a pink lipstick.

Bridesmaid beauties: The 29-year-old former reality TV star looked radiant in white as a bridesmaid for the very special day. She flaunted her enviable figure strapless, floor-length, ivory dress that hugged her statuesque physique

Stunning! Lana also posted selfies alongside her fellow bridesmaid and the blushing bride. For makeup the social media influencer opted for a simple look that enhanced her features with lashings of mascara, defined brows and pink lips

While she looked elegant for the nuptials, her beau cut a dapper and handsome figure in a black tailored suit.

She also shared a snippet from their cute photo booth session, which was awkwardly photo bombed by their male friend.

Back in 2016, the pair spoke about their relationship to NW magazine and revealed that they had already had dated a few times.

She also shared a snippet from their cute photo booth session, which was awkwardly photo bombed by their male friend

Genetically blessed couple: Back in 2016, the pair spoke about their relationship to NW magazine and revealed that they had already had dated a few times

'We met before she went on The Bachelor, at Mrs Sippy bar in Sydney,' Jake told the publication adding that he had to return to London during her stint on The Bachelor.

Lana said that she thought it was funny when she heard back from him after her time on The Bachelor considering other men she had dated in the past were coming forward.

She said: 'I was a little unsure at first, but now I know that he wouldnt be attracted to me for that reason. That would probably deter him more than anything!'
Ali Oetjen has been keeping herself occupied with work ahead of her highly anticipated debut on The Bachelorette.

And the 32-year-old, who is a high-powered advertising executive for radio station Mix 102.3 in Adelaide, seemed to be happy her work week was done.

The stunner was nothing but smiles as she walked out of work looking happy and confident on Friday.

Last day of work? Ali Oetjen is all smiles as she leaves office job on Friday in form-fitting top and tight jeans ahead of her debut as The Bachelorette

Ali showcased her curvy physique in a saucy yet casual ensemble.

Her form-fitting, burgundy turtle neck top accentuated her ample assets and hourglass figure.

The reality TV star kept her look casual with a pair of blue ripped jeans, which she teamed with a belt and black ankle boots.

Her whole look was tied together with a cosy black coat to keep her warm from the autumn chill, which she held in her hand as she made her way to her car.

Ready for the weekend: The 32-year-old, who is a high-powered advertising executive for radio station Mix 102.3 in Adelaide, seemed to be happy her work week was done

Friendly: Ali gave her colleague a hug and kiss on her cheek before making her way to her car

Cosy: Her whole look was tied together with a cosy black coat to keep her warm from the autumn chill, which she held in her hand as she made her way to her car

She accessorised with a trendy, white neoprene bag and a delicate, heart-shaped necklace and big hoop earrings.

Ali styled her luscious blonde locks in large, loose waves that cascaded down her shoulders.

As the beauty made her way to her car, she appeared to be in high-spirits as she hugged and laughed with her colleagues.

Blonde beauty: Ali styled her luscious blonde locks in large, loose waves that cascaded down her shoulders

All smiles: As the beauty made her way to her car, she appeared to share a laugh with a colleague

Her cheerful demeanor comes after she was spotted looking downcast while taking a lonely stroll through a park in her hometown of Adelaide.

She is set to make her reality TV comeback for the third time on a Bachelor franchise, including her most recent stint on Bachelor In Paradise.

This comes after she and ex Grant Kemp, who she briefly found love with in Fiji, broke up.
Orpheus Pledger is known for his role as Mason Morgan on Home and Away.

And the actor cut a casual figure on Thursday, as he arrived at Nova Red Room's 5 Seconds of Summer concert in Sydney.

Spotted at The Metro on Thursday, the hunky 25-year-old wasn't short of a smoldering look when he hit the red carpet.

Fresh out of Summer Bay! Orpheus Pledger cut a cool street style while attending the Nova Red Room Five Seconds Of Summer Concert at Sydney's Metro Theatre on Thursday

The good-looking soap star looked cool, clam and collected as he posed for the cameras, showing off his muscular chest.

A male pal was seen trying to steal the limelight as he brought a little bit of the small screen to the concert.

Orpheus was one of a number of TV stars who enjoyed the limelight on Thursday, including busty Geordie Shore newbie Chrysten Zenoni.

Looking fresh! the soap star happily posed for the camera while a male pal hammed it up

MTV star Chrysten was joined by busty Instagram model, Stephanie Farag.

For the concert, Orpheus opted for a cool street style, wearing a black singlet and black stovepipe ripped jeans.

The actor, who was also a one time star on Neighbours, appeared to be relaxed and enjoying himself at the concert.

Red hot! Geordie Shore's Chrysten Zenoni (top) wasn't shy at the concert, flashing her athletic frame and trim pins in a red playsuit

Geordie Shore's busty newcomer Chrysten looked eye-catching in a deep red jumpsuit, which featured cut outs on her abs.

For the invite-only Nova Red Room event, Chrysten flashed her trim pins in the playful red jumpsuit, which featured unique cold shoulder detailing on one sleeve.

The raven haired beauty, who is making quite the splash on the long-running reality show, paired her ravishing red look with a pair of clear heels that tied at the ankle.

Black to basics! It was a figure hugging black dress for Instagram model Stephanie Farag (top) at the concert, who paired her skimpy dress with an elegant pair of heels

The Gold Coast beauty finishing her look with ruby red lipstick and a heavy dew foundation, which complemented her golden glow.

Meanwhile, Instagram model Stephanie Farag opted for a modern twist on the tight black dress for the concert.

The raven-haired beauty showing off her endless legs and toned arms while posing for the cameras at the event.

Completing her look, the beauty opted for a pair of elegant pointy black heels and heavy eye make-up.
He's well acquainted with playing criminals as the star of Sons Of Anarchy.

So Charlie Hunnam, 38, took perfectly to the role of Parisian safe-cracker in the thriller Papillon, which dropped its first theatrical trailer earlier this week.

In a new trailer, the star's physique can be seen covered in the famous tattoos of his character, Henri Charriere, as he does pull ups in the French Guiana prison.

Remake: Charlie Hunnam, 38, showed off his impressive muscles in the based-on-true-story thriller Papillon, which dropped its first theatrical trailer Tuesday

Tattooed: Steve McQueen sported similar tattoos when he played Papillon in the 1973 original of the film

In the film set in the 1930s, Henri forms a bond with counterfeiter Louis Dega, played by Rami Malek, when he's sent to the notorious prison colony after being framed for murder.

Steve McQueen played Henri Charriere in the 1973 original film, while Dustin Hoffman took the role of Dega.

The clip begins in chaos when Charlie's character, nicknamed Papillon, is pulled from his partner to be arrested and thrown into jail.

There he meets Rami's character Louis Dega, who he is told is a 'millionaire' by other prisoners, making him an easy target to the criminals.

A change is gonna come: 'If I ever get out, I'm gonna live a different kind of life,' Hunnam's character says as the clip comes to a close

Taken away: The clip begins in chaos when Charlie's character, nicknamed Papillon, is pulled from his partner to be arrested and thrown into jail

Muscled: The trailer also shows a ripped Charlie doing pull ups with his character's famous tattoos on show

Now that's rich: Bespectacled millionaire Louis Dega (right) is played by Rami Malek in the remake

Locked up: In the 1930s set film, Henri Charriere is sent to prison and later the notorious Devil's Island after being framed for murder

Seeing an opportunity, entrepreneurial Papillon offers to protect the bespectacled counterfeiter.

They strike a deal, where wealthy Dega agrees to give his new bodyguard money to escape.

'Keep me alive. I'll underwrite any escape you can arrange,' he tells Charlie's character.

Same role: Louis Dega is played by Rami Malek in the remake, but was previously played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1973 original

Trust: 'Keep me alive. I'll underwrite any escape you can arrange,' Dega tells Charlie's character

C'est la vie: Papillon's decadent life as a safe-cracker in the underbelly of Paris comes to a screaming halt after he's framed for murder

He proves his word is good, as the next scene shows the British actor pummeling into someone who threatened the millionaire, as Dega ominously adds: 'Something tells me you can be quite savage.'

After arriving to a remote prison camp, an entire ocean away from their native France, the safe-cracker discovers escaping will be much harder that he thought.

But Papillon is not deterred, gazing across the ocean and telling a fellow prisoner: 'There's always a way.'

Bloodshed: Dega cowers behind a pipe in the brutal French prison during a fight scene

Friends: Dega knows that Papillon would protect him after the safe cracker puts his life on the line for Louis

Harsh tactics: Solitary confinement is just one of the ways they try to break Papillon in the film

The conditions of the camp are brutal, filled with scenes of violence and danger, and Papillon continues to search for a way out.

He tries to make it through the thick of the jungle and across the desolate ocean, to no avail, receiving harsh punishment for the failed bids for freedom.

After exhausting all of his options, Papillon finds himself exiled to Devil's Island.

'Strange things happen there,' he's told as a swirl of hallucinations take the screen.

Figuring out a plan: The conditions of the camp are brutal, filled with scenes of violence and danger, and Papillon continues to search for a way out

Panic: Life in shackles leaves a traumatised Louis Dega with mental health issues

Land or sea: Papillon tries to make it through the thick of the jungle and across the desolate ocean, to no avail, receiving harsh punishment for the failed bids for freedom

Try, try again: It seems that Papillon will stop at nothing to reclaim his freedom, even if it means dying in the process

'If I ever get out, I'm gonna live a different kind of life,' Hunnam's character says as the clip comes to a close.

The 1973 version, based on Charriere's autobiographies Papillon and Banco, was written by Dalton Trumbo and Lorenzo Semple Jr.

In addition to Charlie and Rami, the film also stars Yorick Van Wageningen, Roland Moller, Tommy Flanagan, and Eve Hewson.

Papillon first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017.

The film, which is being distributed by Bleecker Street productions, is planned for wide-release August 24.

Frightening: 'Strange things happen there,' Papillon is told as a swirl of lurid hallucinations take the screen

Here we go again: The based-on-a-true-story tale has been adapted for Hollywood before with a script written by Dalton Trumbo
Spencer Matthews and his pregnant fiancee Vogue Williams plan to honour his late brother and her late father in their baby's name.

The MIC star appeared on Loose Women on Friday, where he discussed their baby news and how they will pay tribute to his brother Michael, who went missing while climbing Everest in 1999 and her dad Freddie who died in 2010.

When grilled by Nadia Sawalha about names, Spencer said: 'Weve known it was a boy and we have a few favourites. I dont think it would be a secret that my brother passed away and her father and we want to incorporate their names in some way.'

Candid: Spencer Matthews and his pregnant fiancee Vogue Williams plan to honour his late brother and her late father in their baby's name

Vogue and Spencer announced their pregnancy last month, one month after announcing their engagement. They have been together since January 2017 after meeting on reality show, The Jump.

As they delightedly document the pregnancy on both their respective social media accounts, Spencer happily discussed the news on the show - with talk turning to his beloved brother, whose heartbreaking death was shrouded in mystery.

Michael Matthews was an accomplished climber who had scaled the Pyrenees, the Swiss Alps and Kilimanjaro before he went on to attempt his fateful Everest trek, which cost around 22,000, using a climbing company.

After leading the group, the rest of the climbing pack claimed he began to struggle near the end and on their descent, a storm with 100mph winds hit leading to Michael's separation from the group.

Sad times: The MIC star (bottom) appeared on Loose Women on Friday, where he discussed their baby news and how they will pay tribute to his brother Michael (top left), who went missing while climbing Everest in 1999 and her dad Freddie who died in 2010

Tough times: Vogue meanwhile lost her father Freddie to a stroke in 2010 and previously discussed how she 'blames herself' for what happened

David Matthews, the millionaire patriarch of the family, has always vowed the negligence of the mountain guides was to blame for his death.

He brought a private case against three men working for the firm amid claims the safety briefings were inadequate, his oxygen supply was faulty and the guides failed to keep Michael in their sights during the climb.

The case was dismissed as the judge insisted there was no evidence of negligence.

In Spencer's 2013 book Confessions of a Chelsea Boy: The Autobiography, he discussed the devastating loss of his sibling.

Tough times: Vogue and Spencer announced their pregnancy last month, one month after announcing their engagement. They have been together since January 2017 after meeting on reality show, The Jump

Grilling: When grilled by Nadia Sawalha about names, Spencer said: 'Weve known it was a boy and we have a few favourites. I dont think it would be a secret that my brother passed away and her father and we want to incorporate their names in some way'

Speaking about the family, including his other brother James, he said: 'His loss was devastating for the family and over time this became worse because the circumstances surrounding Michaels death have never been fully explained.

'James took the news badly. With just a year and a half between them, he and Mike were the closest of friends. The loss was heartbreaking for James.'

Of the unanswered questions surrounding the death, Spencer went on: 'We have not been able to say goodbye in person. We have nowhere to go to sit with him.

Tough: Speaking about the family, including his other brother James, he said: 'His loss was devastating for the family and over time this became worse because the circumstances surrounding Michaels death have never been fully explained

Heartbreaking: He said: 'He lives on with us in our minds only. On Mikes birthday James and I send mum and dad red roses for the age he would have been. I guess our familys way of dealing with losing Mike is to believe that he goes on with us'

'He lives on with us in our minds only. On Mikes birthday James and I send mum and dad red roses for the age he would have been. I guess our familys way of dealing with losing Mike is to believe that he goes on with us.'

Vogue meanwhile lost her father to a stroke in 2010 and previously discussed how she 'blames herself' for what happened.

She said: 'In a weird way, I blame myself a little for him dying. I pushed him to get the operation out of the way, when maybe he should have waited a little longer and had more of a life.

Devastating: Speaking about the family Spencer said: 'His loss was devastating for the family and over time this became worse because the circumstances surrounding Michaels death have never been fully explained (pictured with pal Jamie Everet in the foothills of Everest)

'I also feel I should have been more vocal when he didnt seem right after the operation because they might have caught that last stroke earlier, but such is life.'

She spoke of the night he passed away: 'Myself, my sister and my aunt had to meet with the surgeon to decide what to do next, and whether or not we should turn off Dads life support machine.

'I didnt want to  I wanted to give him more time to fight  but in hindsight that was selfish.'
Her eponymous magazine is about to release its 100th issue.

And Donny Hay celebrated her huge publishing success by revealing exactly what she gets asked most about - as well as a sweet treat for her loyal fans.

The celebrity chef, 47, dished the details on her most-requested dessert, and why her office has turned into Willy Wonka's factory in the lead up to the publication's release.

'People go nuts for it!' Celeb chef Donna Hay, 47, revealed her most requested recipe and why her office is 'like Willy Wonka's factory'

When asked exactly what people still ask her about when it comes to sweet things, Donna replied: 'People go nuts for pavlova. I would have thought it would be chocolate or caramel, but it's the meringue.'

To celebrate the impending 100th issue, Donna - alongside Aussie chocolate brand Haigh's - is running a Willy Wonka-style golden ticket in each bar, paying homage to the original Roald Dahl children's novel.

The winner of the famous golden ticket will win a lunch created by Donna herself and her publishing HQ.

In keeping with the chocolate factory inspiration, Donna likened the hectic planning and office craziness to 'the Willy Wonka vibe'.

Calorific delights: Donna is running her own Willy Wonka-style golden ticket in each bar (Pictured - Gene Wilder in 1971's Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory)

'Sometimes things do explode like the chocolate factory,' added Donna, who revealed her own fair share of kitchen mishaps.

When she's not cooking up delicious culinary delights in the kitchen, she's cooking up romance with a new younger beau, with the pair being spotted getting very cosy on several beach walks in Sydney at the tail end of last year.

Donna's new relationship comes after a 'tough' and 'horrible' divorce from her husband and farmer Bill Wilson, who is father to their two children Angus, 14, and Tommy, 11.

New start: Donna's been cooking up romance with a new younger beau, with the pair being spotted getting very cosy on several beach walks in Sydney at the tail end of last year

'It's not what defines me,' Donna told news.com.au of her split back in 2015.

'I have no idea when it happened. There's no affair, it just happened.'

Post divorce, Donna lost three dress sizes by eating healthily and embracing exercise, mainly running and stand-up paddle boarding.

Despite her new-found fitness regime and subsequent weight loss Donna admitted that until recently she still felt 'nervous'.

The cause of her angst was the previous negative press, with Donna's recipes labelled too simple and her personality one of a 'steely perfectionist'.

With the support of her team behind her Donna has accepted not everybody will like her, and she's okay with that.

'Because I've got all these things with my name on them, people think I'm a hard-a*** businesswoman who's ferocious and aggressive,' she said.

'Yes, I'm ferociously protective of my brand, but I'm the biggest joker in the office.'
He is best known for playing hapless Barry Evans in EastEnders.

Yet Shaun Williamson was clearly keen to banish the image of the foolish soap character when he appeared on Loose Women on Friday, during which he met with the cast of Netflix makeover show Queer Eye.

The 52-year-old Extras star appeared on the show where he started off the scenes in an ill-fitting shirt before he was transformed into a slick bomber jacket.

Who's that guy? Shaun Williamson was clearly keen to banish the image of the foolish soap character when he appeared on Loose Women on Friday, during which he met with the cast of Netflix makeover show Queer Eye

Appearing on the show as a project for the Fab Five - of which four were present - he was transformed to shed his old look.

He spoke to the audience about how hard it is to shed the association with Barry due to the fact he was so well-known on the show.

He said: 'It's literally not gone away. We were lucky to get the end of the big audiences because there were less leisure opportunities in those days. We got 20 million an episode on a bog standard Monday night so it hasn't gone anywhere'.

Tan France, the show's fashion expert, revealed they had pushed his hair away from his face and given it more volume to add to his look.

Way back when: The 52-year-old Extras star appeared on the show where he started off the scenes in an ill-fitting shirt before he was transformed into a slick bomber jacket (pictured as Barry)

Changing faces: Talking through the look, he said: 'The most dramatic change is his outfit. I don't think Barry would ever have worn this. You look 20 pounds lighter and younger'

Here come the boys! Tan France, Antoni Porowski, Karamo Brown and Bobby Berk were working their magic on the show

He said: 'We made sure his hair didn't look like Barry's. He looked much older than he was and I don't think Barry would ever have worn this. You look 20lbs lighter, you look younger."

Talking through the look, he said: 'The most dramatic change is his outfit. I don't think Barry would ever have worn this. You look 20 pounds lighter and younger.'

Culture expert Karamo Brown spoke about how hard it can be to shed an image: 'We all get into that rut where people call you a title.

Wow! Appearing on the show as a project for the Fab Five - of which four were present - he was transformed to shed his old look

Dramatic: Talking through the look, he said: 'The most dramatic change is his outfit. I don't think Barry would ever have worn this. You look 20 pounds lighter and younger'

Who's that! Last year when he headed into the CBB house, Shaun cheekily joked he would have 'Barry from EastEnders' written on his gravestone

'I want him to separate work and personal life. You are not Barry - you are Shaun and you are excellent.'

Last year when he headed into the CBB house, Shaun cheekily joked he would have 'Barry from EastEnders' written on his gravestone.

He said: 'Hello I'm Barry from Eastenders. No I'm not that was 13 years ago - let it go Shaun. Hello. I still get what I called Barried in the street.'
She has been busy promoting her numerous new films at the glamorous Cannes Film Festival in recent weeks.

But Penelope Cruz turned her attention to her philanthropic work on Friday, as she awarded the Fundacion Unoentrecienmil research scholarship in Madrid.

The actress, 44, was the picture of sophistication in a white blazer and spotted blouse, as she presented the prize at La Paz Hospitalon, in the Spanish capital.

Doing her bit: Penelope Cruz turned her attention to her philanthropic work on Friday, as she awarded the Fundacion Unoentrecienmil research scholarship in Madrid

Say cheese! The actress, 44, was the picture of sophistication in a white blazer and spotted blouse, as she presented the prize at La Paz Hospitalon, in the Spanish capital

Penelope was effortlessly elegant in her tailored white blazer, layered atop a semi sheer polka dot shirt.

Keeping her look casual and cool with high-rise denim flares, the Oscar winner tied her look together with heeled suede boots, in a more glamorous finishing touch.

Sweeping her hair into a loose side braid, and sporting a subtle, bronzed make-up look, the Spanish actress drew attention to her striking natural beauty and radiant complexion as she greeted guests at the presentation.

Chic: Penelope was effortlessly elegant in her tailored white blazer, teamed with a semi sheer polka dot shirt and high-rise flares

Stunning: Sweeping her hair into a loose side braid, and sporting a subtle, bronzed make-up look, the Spanish actress drew attention to her striking natural beauty as she arrived

Say cheese! She later posed with the young students and patients present

Sweet: She also hugged many of the children present at the event

First handing out the prize, she later chatted and snapped photos with the young pupils, before exploring the research being done in the lab.

The Fundacion Unoentrecienmil grant, worth 100,000, was awarded to pediatric oncohematologist Antonio Perez Martinez, to help him investigate the use of immunotherapy in the relapse of child leukemia.

Cruz raised even more than this amount for the research of child leukemia back in 2016, after directing documentary 'I am One Out of 100,000' about the cause.

Doing her bit: Penelope was there to present the fifth Fundacion Unoentrecienmil grant, worth 100,000

Well deserved: This year it was awarded to pediatric oncohematologist Antonio Perez Martinez, to help investigate the use of immunotherapy in the relapse of child leukemia

Advocate: Penelope (centre) raised even more than this amount for the research of child leukemia back in 2016, after directing documentary 'I am One Out of 100,000' about the cause

Grateful: Speaking at the event, she said: 'It is an honour that the Foundation count on me and let me help the lives of these children'

Strike a pose: The actress happily posed for a number of photos with the researchers in the lab

Speaking at the event, she said: 'It is an honour that the Foundation count on me and let me help the lives of these children, thanks to the work of Unoentrecienmil and the research that goes ahead.'

Penelope has returned to her home country of Spain from Cannes, where she promoted her next two films at the the famous Film Festival.

The brunette is first anticipating the release of new psychological thriller Everybody Knows, which co-stars her husband Javier Bardem.

Congratulations: She was quick to congratulate the winning doctor on his efforts, and wish him luck with his next stint of research

Fascinating: She also explored the research being done in the lab

Speaking out: Penelope turned her attention to her charity work at the event - after a busy few weeks promoting her next two film releases at the Cannes Film Festival

The flick follows Penelope as Laura - a woman living in Buenos Aires, who returns to her hometown outside Madrid with her Argentinian husband, played by Ricardo Darin, and their children.

However, an unexpected turn of events sees the trip turn on its side an unleash a host of secrets.

Not stopping there, Penelope is also preparing to start shooting 355, alongsideFan Bingbing, Marion Cotillard, Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong'o.

The film will see all five actresses play spies - making it a female version of the likes of The Bourne Identity and James Bond - and is rumoured to become a franchise in the future.
She rose to fame as loveable sidekick Amy Pond on Doctor Who before landing roles in some of America's biggest blockbusters.

And Karen Gillan has talked about her move from acting to behind the camera, revealing she 'didn't think of directing as a female job' in an interview with PorterEdit.

The 30-year-old Scottish beauty, whose directorial debut The Party's Just Beginning premiered last month at the Tribeca Film Festival, said her switch to producer was 'one of the best ones she's ever made'.

Behind-the-scenes: Karen Gillan has talked about her move from acting, revealing she 'didn't think of directing as a female job' (pictured with Kathryn Newton (L) and Lilly Singh (R)

She said: 'I didn't think of directing as a female job, which is ridiculous, but I hadn't seen any examples. Then I started working in the industry and thought "I should just do this.''

Gillan added the decision to shoot the film in Inverness was a bit of a reality check, as there was no special treatment at home compared to her luxurious lifestyle in America.

'I would be directing during the day, in an authoritative position, then coming home and being moaned at by my mother for not bringing my laundry down,' she joked.

Breaking the mold: The Scottish beauty, whose directorial debut The Party's Just Beginning premiered earlier this year, said her switch to producer was 'the best one she's ever made'

The red-haired actress also discussed the possibility of directing an all-female Avengers.

Karen, who stars in Marvel Comic's latest film Avengers: Infinity War as Nebula - a bald blue-skinned assassin, said: 'Whether I directed it or not, it would be amazing for Marvel to make a movie like that.'

The actress looked stunning for the shoot, posing alongside Kathryn Newton and Lilly Singh in a semi-sheer pink silk gown before slipping into a hot pink ruched dress.

The Party's Just Beginning is a British comedy which is written and directed Karen.

As well as her work off camera for the feature film, the Jumanji star will play Liusaidh, a young woman from Inverness who is dealing with the suicide of her best friend.

As the character struggles to cope with her life, she turns to sex and alcohol. The film centres around loss, grief, and survivor's guilt.

Also appearing in the Women In Hollywood feature was actress Kathryn.

On the cards? The red-haired actress, who rose to fame in Doctor Who, also discussed the possibility of directing an all-female Avengers after starring in Marvel Comic's latest film

With a hat-trick of impressive roles in Big Little Lies, Lady Bird and Three Billboards last year, the 21-year-old has worked with some of Hollywood's most celebrated women, from Reese Witherspoon to Frances McDormand but says she still has 'pinch me' moments.

She said: 'Frances McDormand had a dinner for us all the night before the [Three Billboards] premiere.

I thought: "This is the coolest thing ever  no one knows where we are, these are some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, and we're having pizza".

The actress also has nothing but praise for Reese (her on-screen mother in Big Little Lies), whom she credits with making her 'a better actress', and for actress Julia Roberts, who plays her mother in upcoming film Ben is Back.

But the young star wouldn't reveal who her favorite onscreen mum is, simply saying: 'They're both amazing. Before we started filming Ben is Back, Julia [Roberts] had us all come to her house to do rehearsals  yes, so we could rehearse, but also to see her [as a mother].

'I saw her with her kids, and we just sat around and went surfing. By doing that, we got comfortable with each other. Both Reese and Julia in that way brought me up and made me able to do my work.'
Can you believe? Queer Eye's Fab Five is returning to Netflix for yet another season.

The reboot will return in June and they're going right for your heartstrings again. The Queer Eye Season two description reads:

'This season, The Queer Eye Fab Five return to the Georgia heartland, forging connections with communities from a wide array of backgrounds and beliefs often contrary to their own, touching on everything from self-love, to immigration and how to make the perfect homemade poke bowls and more.'

The Fab Five will be returning to Netflix for season two of Queer Eye on Friday, June 15, 2018

What do you need to know about season two of Queer Eye? Here's the scoop.

Queer Eye Season 2 premiere date

Queer Eye Season two will premiere on Netflix on Friday, June 15, 2018. Netflix generally adds new shows to their library at about 3am ET to avoid spoilers from one coat to another.

Help! Suddenly, everything is on fire  pic.twitter.com/Hyc7cgesmT  Queer Eye (@QueerEye) April 29, 2018

Queer Eye Season 2 trailer

Netflix hasn't yet released a full-length trailer for season two of Queer Eye. They have, however, released this short teaser.

It's been viewed more than 500,000 times.

Things keep getting better  pic.twitter.com/pKBMk0BjkK  Queer Eye (@QueerEye) March 26, 2018

Queer Eye Season 2 poster

The Queer Eye Season two poster taps into just how emotional the show makes its viewers. It's a photo of a tissue box that reads: 'I'm not crying, you're crying.'

The Queer Eye Season two poster plays on just how much the show tugs at the heartstrings of viewers

Queer Eye cast

The Queer Eye cast consists of food and wine expert Antoni Porowski, fashion guru Tan France, culture expert Karamo Brown, designer Bobby Berk and personal grooming whiz Jonathan Van Ness.

Just a few more hours till Ill be running around London with my boys! Cant wait to meet all of our UK fans!  #queereye #fab5 #london https://t.co/MhiIQ0FmiH pic.twitter.com/ZxPFfN6cI6  Bobby Berk (@bobbyberk) May 21, 2018

Antoni Porowski

Antoni Porowski was born on March 14, 1984 in Quebec, Canada. When he was young he and his parents moved to West Virginia, though he returned to Canada for university.

While he's the food and wine expert on Queer Eye, Antoni has a degree in psychology from Concordia University.

He's a chef, actor and model, though he's best known for appearing on Queer Eye at this point.

Antoni recently signed a deal to create his own cookbook.

The Queer Eye cook currently lives in New York City with his partner Joey Krietemeyer.

Karamo Brown

Karamo Brown is a TV host, reality TV star and activist.

The 37-year-old was born in Texas in 1980, but grew up in Florida.

He recently revealed that he attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, graduating in 1999. After the 2018 shooting there, Karamo returned to address the students and advocate for gun reform.

Karamo appeared on The Real World: Philadelphia in 2004. Three years later, he learned that he was the father of a 10-year-old boy called Jason.

Karamo recieved custody of the child that year. He also adopted Jason's half-brother Chris.

They currently live in Los Angeles, California. Karamo is engaged to Ian Jordan.

Tan France

Tan France, real name Tanweer Wasim France, is the fashion expert on Queer Eye. He's from Doncaster, England and was born on April 20, 1983.

Tan studied fashion at Doncaster College and then moved to Manchester, England before ultimately settling in London.

In 2008 he began working in the United States and he moved there in 2015.

He now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah and his married to a man called Rob.

Bobby Berk

Bobby James Berk, born on August 25, 1981, is the interior designer on Queer Eye. He was born in Texas and grew up in Missouri.

When he was 15 years old, Bobby left home. He eventually wound up in Denver, Colorado and then New York City.

He and husband Dewey currently live in Los Angeles, California.

Bobby's design career began with a job at Bombay Company in Colorado. From there he worked at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Restoration Hardware before launching his online store, Bobby Berk Home, in 2008.

Bobby has appeared on various television networks including HGTV and Bravo.

Jonathan Van Ness

Jonathan Van Ness is the personal grooming expert on the Netflix Queer Eye reboot. He was born on March 28, 1987 in Quincy, Illinois.

He has been open about the fact that he was openly gay from a young age, which opened him up to criticism from his peers.

After finishing High School, Jonathan attended college for three years before quitting to pursue hairstyling. He attended the Aveda Institute.

He graduated from the program and moved to Arizona where he worked for five years. Jonathan then moved to Los Angeles, California and currently bounces between there and New York.

Jonathan co-founded MoJoHair and Stile Salon with a woman called Monique Northrop. He also works at Arte Salon in New York.

Before he was on Queer Eye, Jonathan appeared in a Funny or Die series called Gay of Thrones, on which he would hilariously recap Game of Thrones. The series was nominated for an Emmy in 2016.

Jonathan now hosts a podcast called Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness.

Watch Queer Eye online free

Unfortunately, you can't watch Queer Eye online for free. You can, however, check it out on Netflix. So sign up and catch up on all things Fab Five now!

Who gave us permission?  New episodes June 15  pic.twitter.com/6yp3r2HnpW  Queer Eye (@QueerEye) May 24, 2018

Tom and Abby Queer Eye update

The first season of Queer Eye was full of tear jerking moments, but none captured audiences attention quite like the story of Tom and his ex-wife Abby.

Tom's daughter signed him up for the show, but her dad wanted to look and feel better in the hopes of getting the love of his life, Abby, back.

The Fab Five helped to build Tom back up and get his girl.

Tom and Abby revealed several months after the show that they eloped in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
She recently sparked concern as she admitted to her cocaine relapse on social media.

But Rebekah Shelton appeared to be in a better place as she revealed 'she's in her own body now' on her highly-followed Twitter account on Thursday afternoon.

The transgender TV personality, 32, put on a bold display as she attached an explicit snap to the tweet, which saw the Big Brother star bare her figure as she posed nude.

Open: Rebekah Shelton appeared to be in a better place as she revealed 'she's in her own body now' on her highly-followed Twitter account on Thursday afternoon

In the revealing image, the Brazilian-born star slightly covered her private parts and nipples with a lip-shaped symbol as she reclined on a bed.

Rebekah has endured a troubling couple of months, following a death hoax which saw hackers falsely claim the star was dead in January.

MailOnline has contacted Rebekah's representatives for comment.

Candid: The transgender TV personality, 32, put on a bold display as she attached an explicit snap to the tweet, which saw the Big Brother star bare her figure as she posed nude

She sparked concern after revealing her cocaine relapse on Twitter earlier this week.

Taking to the site on Monday night, Rebekah shared a shocking photograph of herself lying on a surgery bed - with her breast fully exposed - captioned: 'I'm on the end of the road.'

The Brazilian looks dazed in the photo, as she lay on what appears to be a hospital bed in just her tracksuit bottoms and bra.

'I'm on the end of the road': The Brazilian-born star sparked concern as she admitted to her cocaine relapse on social media earlier this week

With her hair unkempt and her hands held limply at her side, the star did not seem to notice her bra has slipped down to reveal her chest in the snap, which she shared with her followers.

The post was captioned: 'I'm on the end of the road', before it was swiftly deleted the following day.

However, a second worrying message still remains on her page, which perhaps explains the confusing snap by reading: 'Im a very weak person. I had a relapse on cocaine. Im disappointed with myself, lonely and lost.'

'I'm a very weak person': While she has deleted the photo, a post detailing her relapse still remains (above)

Cruel: Her social media posts come four months after she was declared dead, as part of a cruel hoax by online hackers

Her social media posts come four months after she was declared dead, as part of a cruel hoax by online hackers.

A statement posted from her verified account read: 'We're sorry to inform everyone of the sad news that our wonderful and lovely Rebekah died unexpectedly on Wednesday night. We ask that you respect the family's privacy at this time.'

She later posted a video to tell her fans she had been 'hacked', and claimed her billionaire lover's wife wrote it after discovering their affair.

Not true: She later confirmed she had been hacked with a furious post, and claimed her billionaire lover's wife wrote it after discovering their affair

A source close to the star's family told MailOnline her relatives thought she had actually died and were 'grieving', but that some suspected it was a publicity stunt.

Rebekah then wrote furiously: 'I'm not dead!!!!!! Please stop spreading this news!!!!! My lawyer is already working on this and this person who wants to spoil my happiness is going to pay for it!!!!!'

She discussed the traumatic incident on The Jeremy Kyle Show in March, and revealed the hack 'damaged' her mental state.

Horrendous: She discussed the traumatic incident on The Jeremy Kyle Show in March, and revealed the hack was 'damaging emotionally'

She explained: 'I woke up to many messages on my phone from people saying I was an angel.

'They said, "Rest in peace and now you problems are finished, and I thought am I dead?" It was very damaging emotionally.'

She also denied that the whole thing had been a PR stunt, adding: 'I dont want to be arrogant but who are the people saying I was faking this news? I dont know.'

Rebekah was born Rodrigo Lopes, but began living as a woman in 2012 and underwent a sex change two years later.
She's had a rough couple of days after being attacked by trolls online.

But Paris Jackson, 20, looked in high spirits as she strolled through France's capital arm-in-arm with her cousin TJ, 39.

The model looked ready for summer in cropped khaki green jeans and a relaxed off-the-shoulder t shirt, topping off the look with a Wren + Glory denim jacket adorned with colourful stripes.

Happy: Paris Jackson, 20, looked in high spirits as she strolled through France's capital arm-in-arm with her cousin TJ, 39

Stylish Paris wore her blonde hair in loose relaxed waves to her shoulders, and emphasised her eyes with lashings of liquid eyeliner.

The Gringo actress had Jemma Sands Cabo tassel necklaces around her neck, plus a silver nose ring to make her look that bit more edgy.

She was joined by TJ, who cut a relaxed figure in a grey hoodie and olive green trousers, adding a pair of aviator sunglasses to shield his eyes from the sun.

Cool: The Gringo actress had Jemma Sands Cabo tassel necklaces around her neck, plus a silver nose ring to make her look that bit more edgy

Fashionista: Stylish Paris wore her blonde hair in loose relaxed waves to her shoulders, and emphasised her eyes with lashings of liquid eyeliner

Relaxed: TJ cut a relaxed figure in a grey hoodie and olive green trousers, adding a pair of aviator sunglasses to shield his eyes from the sun

All smiles: The pair appeared in high spirits as they chatted and laughed in France's capital

Her appearance comes after she took to social media to defend her famous family in a series of Instagram stories shared after Janet Jackson's performance at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday night.

The model urged fans to refrain from commenting on how she should 'handle my relationship with the people in my life,' after receiving backlash for missing her aunt's return to the stage after a nine-year break from performing on live TV

'Dear social media followers, friends, stalkers, lovers and haters, and fellow moonwalkers: Please do not tell me/demands/try to control how I handle my relationship with the people in my life, specifically my family,' she started.

Defence: Paris's appearance comes after she took to social media to defend her famous family in a series of Instagram stories shared after Janet Jackson's performance at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas

Close: Paris and her cousin looked like they were having a lovely bit of family time in the snaps

'As amazing and as s***ty as things can be, it is no one's business but ours.

'I understand that some of you feel some sort of connection or need to be a part of our lives considering you watched us grow up. However, I am handling my situation exactly how my father did.

'I will always have love and respect for my family. ALWAYS. There is nothing more or less than that, that you need to know,' she wrote. 'Every family has their moments of trauma, heartbreak, separation, love, oneness, tribe, pain, everything. EVERY FAMILY.'

What's that? The Gringo actress pointed to something in the distance in Paris

Stylish: Paris looked very chic as she showed off her statement denim jacket in france

Small details: Paris's khaki coloured jeans had lattice detailing at the back of the calves

Janet was also at the awards show to receive the Billboard Icon Award for her stellar career which spans across decades.

Paris continued: 'My family, specifically, and a good number of others... well, our drama is broadcasted worldwide through media,' she reminded her followers. 'But that doesn't mean our family issues are any different from yours. Ours are just made public.

'Every level has another devil. Every life has their own s**t to deal with. We ain't inferior or superior to y'all. We're all f****ng human. So let's act like it.

Chatting: The pair were deep in conversation and seemed to be having a great day out

Accessories: Paris also toted a statement black bag covered in badges as she strolled along

'I appreciate any and every person reading this and I'm grateful for everything in my life, positive and negative.'

Hours after the lengthy message posted to support her family, Paris chimed back in with more insight to her absence at the show.

'Also not to mention, no one from my mgmt [management] reached out to me about attending billboards or about the award, and no one from my family did either,' she confirmed. 'I had absolutely no idea until y'all spammed me with hatred.'

Cousins: Paris and TJ were having an animated conversation at one point in their stroll

Playful: The star playfully poked her tongue out at the camera

Playful: The star showcased her beaming smile as she hopped onto a motorbike
Roxy Jacenko Velani gown has been the subject of some controversy in the blonde entrepreneur's life.

The Sydney PR maven first came under fire when journalist Andrew Hornery made a dig about the dress being returned to it's Five Dock shop after Roxy wore it out.

Now Andrew has had a second dig, pointing out that the businesswoman described the dress as a 'one off' but the journalist spotted a similar gown being worn by Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni.

Same same? Andrew Hornery has pointed out that Roxy Jacenko (R) described the dress as a 'one off' but the journalist spotted a similar gown being worn by Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni (L)

In an image posted to her Instagram this week, influencer Chiara posed in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in a similar dress in baby pink, designed by Italian fashion designer Giambattista Valli.

Roxy's dress is baby blue and by a creation by Aussie designer Nicky Velani.

The Sydney Morning Herald journalist wrote: 'One-off? This week Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni, who has more than 12 million Instagram followers, (about 60 times more than Roxy), posted shots of herself posing in her own mullet dress, a near identical pink ball gown by Valli in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

He added: 'It was a far cry from Jacenkos Instagram props at the Gold Dinner: a couple of wheelie bins on the wharf at Walsh Bay.'

The dress saga has carried on from last week, when Andrew took a dig at Roxy's pale blue frock.

In the pink: In an image posted to her Instagram this week, influencer Chiara posed in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in a similar dress in baby pink, designed by talian fashion designer Giambattista Valli

Blue mood; Roxy's dress is baby blue and by a creation by Aussie designer Nicky Velani

Last Friday, under the heading, 'Mullet Dress Swims Upstream', the Sydney Morning Herald's Hornery wrote: 'Barely 48 hours after it had hung from the fake-tanned frame of one Roxy Jacenko, the over-the-top Italian tulle "mullet" dress was back in the window of Five Dock "couturier" Velani.'

Roxy, who recently wore the outfit to the Gold Dinner fundraiser - regarded as the most exclusive charity gala in Australia - told Daily Mail Australia: 'Heavens, he really is a bitter old man.

'Nicky Velani is a very dear friend of mine, she often makes me garments to wear for special occasions and Ill always return them as they are one-offs that we have worked on together.'

Location, location: Nicky's boutique, Velani, is located at Five Dock in Sydney's inner west

Roxy, 37, continued: 'Isnt it nice to support other local designers instead of ridiculing them based on their location?

'I find the mentality of making a joke of someones work room and boutique so out of order. Who cares where someone with such talent is located?!'

It is unknown whether Hornery's inclusion of Velani's location was a criticism or whether Roxy had simply interpreted the comments in that manner.
Earlier this week, he was spotted sharing a kiss with his girlfriend Imogen Poots at London's Heathrow Airport during a busy day of travel.

And on Friday, James Norton was seen getting into work mode, as he shot scenes in Scotland for his upcoming biopic Gareth Jones, in which he takes on the titular role of the 1930s British investigative journalist.

The 32-year-old actor cut a dapper figure on the set in Pittenweem, Fife, stepping before cameras in a retro woollen grey suit, which he teamed with a pair of wire-framed glasses.

Just another day at the office: James Norton was spotted shooting scenes for his upcoming biopic Gareth Jones in Scotland's Pittenweem, Fife, on Friday afternoon

In between takes, the Grantchester star appeared keen on taking in some of the scenery, as he was spotted taking snapshots on his smartphone.

He also enjoyed a warm beverage and a foil-wrapped snack as he sat outside on the set and chatted with crew members and co-stars.

The London-born actor looked in high spirits as he laughed with a colleague, while holding a large black bag.

Snap decision: In between takes, the Grantchester star appeared keen on taking in some of the scenery, as he was spotted taking snapshots on his smartphone

Dapper gent: The 32-year-old actor cut a dapper figure on the set, stepping before cameras in a retro woollen grey suit, which he teamed with a pair of glasses

Scrolling: The star was seen scrolling through the results of his handiwork with crew members

His movie will look at the true story of the Welsh journalist who travels to Moscow in a bid to interview Joseph Stalin.

Along his travels, he meets several other reporters who clue him in about the Russian government as he decides to take a clandestine trip into the Soviet Union to uncover an international conspiracy.

Gareth, who served as a personal aide to former Prime Minister David Lloyd George and once flew with Adolf Hitler, helped expose Joseph Stalin's 'holodomor' policy of deliberate starvation of millions of peasant farmers in the Ukraine.

His high-flying career came to a sudden end in 1935, when he was murdered in mysterious circumstances while reporting from Mongolia during the Japanese occupation.

Break: He relaxed on an outdoor bench as he soaked up the Scottish sunshine during his break

New role: James was in character as the British investigative journalist Gareth Jones, matching his grey woollen suit with a striped tie and black shoes

His time on set comes three days after he was seen sharing a kiss with his 28-year-old actress girlfriend Imogen as they strolled through Heathrow Airport together.

It is not known where the pair were travelling to or from, but James shared a snap of a beach in Bormes-les-Mimosas, southeastern France, on May 16, with the caption: 'One last dip. A bientot.'

Soon after breaking up with his ex of two years Jessie Buckley, James was seen kissing Imogen as they did some Christmas shopping back in December.

Wandering round Spitalfields market, they regularly paused to lock lips while exploring the array shops.

Fly: Days earlier, he was spotted at London's Heathrow Airport with his girlfriend Imogen Poots

Lunch break: The actor was then snapped on Friday back at work on set in Fife, Scotland, clutching his lunch and a cup of coffee

An onlooker said at the time: They appeared to be very much in love. They are clearly very close and seemed relaxed in each others company.

The couple made their red carpet debut as a couple at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month when they attended the Wildlife party presented by Grey Goose and DIRECTV at Nikki Beach.

James is also currently filming for BBC series McMafia - a new real-life thriller about the Mafia, set all over the world.

Friendly: He chatted with crew members and castmates as he enjoyed his downtime on the set
It was one of Hugh Jackman's biggest films of last year.

And while the film about showman P.T. Barnum was a runaway hit, it appears the soundtrack is topping charts as well.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, the film's star Hugh Jackman thanked fans for making the album platinum.

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'Ok so, never in a million years or a million dreams': The Hollywood A-lister Hugh Jackman was has thanked fans after The Greatest Showman soundtrack went platinum

Holding up a framed poster of The Greatest Showman, showing the record is platinum, the Hollywood A-lister was humble and gracious.

'Ok so, never in a million years or a million dreams did I ever think I would be holding something I was a part of that said platinum album,' he started.

'And I just wanted to take this opportunity on behalf of Justin, Benj. Michael, the entire team... I just wanted to say thanks.'

A number of the 49-year-old fans gushing over the superstar, congratulating him on the success of the album.

On the UK charts, the album tied with Adele with 11 weeks uninterrupted at the number one spot.

The record  which features songs from Jackman and co-stars Michelle Williams, Zac Efron and Zendaya  has been the runaway success of 2018 across all physical, digital formats and streaming platforms.

The Greatest Success! Hollywood A-lister Hugh Jackman has taken to social media to thank fans after the soundtrack to the 2017 film went platinum

As of March, its combined sales of 465,000 is made up of 42 per cent physical purchases, 23 per cent digital downloads and 35% streaming, according to data from Official Charts.

The film itself, which co-stars Zendaya and Zac Efron, was somewhat of a sleeper hit last year.

After a relatively disappointing opening weekend in US theatres, it went on to become a so-called word of mouth hit.

In The Atlantic, the film was praised for its word-of-mouth success, making $8.8 million in its opening weekend, only to make $15 million the following.
She recently hit back at trolls who slammed her for posting snaps on Instagram during Ramadan.

Not one to bow to pressure, Faryal Makhdoom has defiantly posted another envy-inducing picture on social media, flaunting her incredibly post-baby figure.

The wife of Amir Khan, 26, gave birth to a baby girl just one month ago and it appears she has already snapped back into shape.

Wow: Faryal Makhdoom has defiantly posted another envy-inducing picture on social media, flaunting her incredibly post-baby figure

The model looked sensational in a form-fitting bright red Adidas vest top and a pair of matching sweatpants, which she wore while posing for the mirror selfie.

Despite her sport-inspired look, Faryal managed to keep her typical glamorous vibe by wearing her raven tresses in voluminous curls.

She also sported a full face of make up, which included lashings of dark eyeliner and shadow.

Birth: Faryal and Amir welcomed their new bundle of joy Alayna on April 24, a sister for their firstborn Lamaisah, now three

Dapper: Faryal's husband Amir was seen stepping out at the .One Family Global: Iftar event at The Savoy, London on Friday

Stylish: Amir joined actress Laila Rouass and inspirational Bana Alabed at the event

Happy: Amir looked delighted to be meeting the inspirational little girl

Family: The wife of Amir Khan, 26, gave birth to a baby girl just one month ago and it appears she has already snapped back into shape

Faryal has a difficult to please social media fan base, regularly coming under scrutiny for her array of snaps.

She found herself in the firing line yet again as she shared a stylish mirror selfie on Tuesday which she longingly captioned: 'Take me to Spain.'

The USA born, Pakistani model's image was swarmed with displeased comments from her Muslim followers who urged her to focus on Ramadan - leaving her to break her silence.

Under scrutiny: Faryal found herself in the firing line yet again as she shared a stylish mirror selfie on Instagram which she longingly captioned: 'Take me to Spain'

Taking the stunning image from a bathroom, Faryal can be seen in a stylish multi-coloured wrap top, complemented by gold jewellery.

With her locks tumbling down her side and sporting her signature coat of make-up, Faryal offered insight into her thoughts as she revealed in her caption she wanted to be in Spain.

Faryal, who is a Muslim, then appeared to be blasted for the snap by a slew of her followers who informed her to concentrate on Ramadan - a holy month of intense prayer, fasting during daylight hours and nightly feasts.

One comment in particular caught her eye, where an individual stated: 'Its Ramadan! Never mind Spain, you should be praying and repenting your sins!'

Faryal quipped back in defence: '@neiliyah and you should be worrying about your own sins :)'

'Worry about your own sins': She was swarmed with displeased comments from her Muslim followers who urged her to focus on Ramadan - leaving her to defiantly break her silence with one comment

Slammed: Faryal was blasted by a slew of her followers who informed her to concentrate on Ramadan - a holy month of intense prayer, fasting during daylight hours and nightly feasts

Other comments of negativity were left under her picture such as 'Sister first you wear hijab then I will take you Spain promise' and 'wear decent cloths you can see your chest disgusting muslim.'

The unimpressed comments didn't sit well with the rest of her loyal fanbase who quickly leapt to Faryal's defence:

'People should me more concerned about their own sins and their own repentance. These Asians think you need to sit at home all day cause its Ramadan. Life still goes on. You can repent while your wherever! Jeez.'

'Cant ppl just be nice.. especially in ramzan.. don't be haterz .. leave her alone!'

'Wear decent clothes': Other comments of negativity were left under her picture

'Why do Muslim guys tell her to wear hijab when they follow her lol how hypocritical you look beautiful.'

'Rahhhhh why is everyone hating for??? Faryal just ignore them theyre just jealous of how much or succeeding and youve still got your real ones I love youuuuuu and keep winning.'

'Regards to Faryal going holiday to spain or any random places its perfectly fine. Ramadan doesn't have holiday barriers. I travel the world too. She has been blessed to have severe cash flow so let her enjoy. Thank You.'

Sticking up for her: The unimpressed comments didn't sit well with the rest of her loyal fanbase who were quickly leapt to Faryal defence

'It's Ramadan, be nice!' Her followers left lengthy messages of support for Faryal after she was criticised for the snap

Opinions: Last month, Faryal divided her fans after she shared a post-baby body photo on her Instagram - seven days after giving birth to her second child Alayna with husband Amir Khan

Last month, Faryal divided her fans after she shared a post-baby body photo on her Instagram - seven days after giving birth to her second child Alayna with husband Amir Khan.

Some fans heaped compliments on the model, while others complained that it was 'bragging' and 'pressurising' new mums to lose their 'baby weight'.

Faryal and Amir welcomed their new bundle of joy Alayna on April 24, a sister for their firstborn Lamaisah, now three.

The pair have been together for six years and they tied the knot in a romantic ceremony in 2013 but their relationship has been marred by rumours of infidelity and they split last year, while Faryal was pregnant.

They have since reconciled and now appear to be stronger than ever.
Kim Kardashian seems to favor her eldest child North, aged four.

And though she has said in the past she loves all her children equally - the reality TV star also has son Saint, aged two, and newborn Chicago with husband Kanye West - on Friday the 37-year-old siren hinted again that her first born in number one.

In an Instagram post the KKW Beauty model posed next to North and captioned the image ''My bestie' with two hearts.

So close: Kim Kardashian shared a darling photo with her daughter North, aged four, on Instagram on Friday, calling her a 'bestie'

Kim wore a white tank top with several gold necklaces falling down her chest. North had on denim overalls over a white tank top.

This comes after Kim shared several cute snaps of North when they were visiting Kanye in Wyoming.

The New York native was in the state to record two new albums.

Kim did not caption that startlingly beautiful image but added a sunflower emoji. The Selfish author had added yellow flowers into the child's braids.

All about North: This comes after Kim shared several cute snaps of North when they were visiting Kanye in Wyoming

More on her: There was also this Snapchat clip if the back of North's head

The daughter of Kris Jenner, 62, has often shared photos with little North.

But she also takes time to take photos with Chicago and Saint, like she did on Easter Sunday.

Kim noted it was very challenging getting all three kids to pose together.

Not easy: The daughter of Kris Jenner, 62, has often shared photos with little North. But she also takes time to take photos with Chicago and Saint, like she did on Easter Sunday. Kim noted it was very challenging getting all three kids to pose together

Her pride and joy: There was another memorable photo taken aboard their private jet

On Thursday it was all about Kim and Kanye as they celebrated their four-year wedding anniversary.

She shared a never-seen-before photo from their wedding in Italy in 2014.

The siren wrote, '4 years down and forever to go....Thank you babe for giving me our family and caring so much about us. Thank you for inspiring me on a daily, I'm so lucky. I can't wait for forever... Happy Anniversary.'

Happy lady: Kardashian shared a lot of praise for West on their fourth wedding anniversary on Thursday

The KKW Beauty mogul had her eyes closed as she put a hand on Kanye's chest, showing off her new wedding band.

The Paranoid rapper, dressed in a tuxedo, had his hand on her back as he looked at the camera with the sun behind him.

The wedding was one for the history books.

The power couple had their ceremony at 16th-century-era fortress in Florence, Italy, because it's the city where they conceived their daughter, North.

The big day: The power couple had their ceremony at 16th-century-era fortress in Florence, Italy, because it's the city where they conceived their daughter, North

They exchanged vows with a beautiful flower wall serving as a dramatic backdrop, and had their close friend Rich Wilkerson Jr. serve as pastor.

The planner was planner Sharon Sacks. A wedding guest told People that 'it went off without a hitch,' and the pastor 'acted like he does celebrity weddings every day.'

The bride walked down the aisle on the arm of Bruce Jenner before he became Caitlyn Jenner. Andrea Bocelli serenaded the crowd with several beautiful songs, including Con te Partire.

Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Jaden Smith, Joe Francis, 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen, David Blaine, Serena Williams, LaLa and Carmelo Anthony, Andre Leon Talley and Rachel Roy were guests.

Their wedding cake was seven-foot-tall made up of seven tiers of white cake with white icing and fruit layers created by Galateo Ricevimenti, who also catered the reception.

They originally wanted their wedding to be held in the Palace of Versailles, but their permission was denied.

While on The View in 2017, Kim said they have a great foundation and that is why their marriage thrives.

Sweet gesture: Khloe Kardashian sent Kim and Kanye a bouquet of flowers. On the card it was signed Khloe and True only as she left Tristan's name off

'Were best friends, and I think thats just whats so important for us in our marriage,' said the perfume entrepreneur.

'I think we started off as friends for so many years and we were friends when we were in other relationships and were such a good support system for each other for so long. I think that really helped to be the basis of our relationship.'

The couple has three children: North, four, Saint, two, and Chicago, four months. And recently Kim said she would like to have a fourth.

The beauty was last seen at Disneyland on Tuesday with her family, including sister Kourtney Kardashian. Khloe continues to stay in Cleveland with new baby True as she tries to work out her relationship with Tristan Thompson, who is accused of cheating on her with five women.

Over the weekend the Selfish author was in Wyoming with Kanye.

Earlier in the month they faced a difficult time when West went on TMZ and said he believed slavery was a choice. He also admitted he suffered an opioid addiction after getting liposuction for their wedding.
Brody Jenner and fiancee Kaitlynn Carter have arrived in Bali where they will be getting married any day now.

The loved-up couple documented their first days settling into their resort on Thursday, including a saucy clip of Kaitlynn, 29, sunbathing topless posted by her husband-to-be.

The Hills alum protected her modesty with a devilish emoji as she reclined on a sunbed wearing just white bikini briefs.

Cheeky: Brody Jenner, 34, shared a saucy snap of fiancee Kaitlynn Carter as the couple settled into their luxury resort in Bali ahead of their wedding

Date night: Kaitlynn posted this shot of the couple on Thursday with the caption 'that's amore!'

The couple arrived in Indonesia along with family and shared a glimpse of their luxurious accommodations, with Brody seemingly pleased with the choice and writing 'Well played @Kaitlynn' on one clip.

Enjoying a night out at an Italian restaurant, Kaitlynn looked stunning in a white gown and bejeweled sandals.

Posting a photo from the date Kaitlynn wrote 'that's amore!'.

Later in the evening the couple were entertained by some Balinese dancers who put on a spectacular display in the dark.

Sunbathing beauty: The Hills alum protected her modesty with a devilish emoji as she reclined on a sunbed wearing just white bikini briefs

Morning, sunshine! Sharing snaps from bed Kaitlynn, 29, looked flawless

Lazy day: The pretty blogger panned over to her husband-to-be in their plush white bed

While none of the Kardashian clan have been invited, Brody's father Caitlyn Jenner will no doubt be on the guest list.

Caitlyn, 68, formerly known as Bruce, was married to Brody's mother Linda Thompson from 1981 to 1986.

Linda, 68, also shared snippets of the family's journey to the Indonesian island on Instagram, showing her other son Brandon, 36, walking alongside her at the airport.

Angelic: Brody, 34, admired his beautiful fiancee as she checked out the pool area

Bride-to-be: Kaitlynn looked stunning in a white dress and bejeweled sandals

'Well played': Brody seemed happy with Kaitlynn's choice of accommodations

In April Kaitlynn celebrated her bridal shower with pals, as well as her mother, on an islet near the Colombian coastline called Isla Rosa.

The petite blonde shared snaps of the stunning resort which reportedly cost $1,000 a night.

Blogger Kaitlynn also had a private chef and a butler to cater to her group.

The English-born Jenner-to-be captioned a snap of her with her mother looking summery in floral dresses: 'yes, it's my bachelorette party and I brought my mom!!! cause there's no one cooler!!!'

Morning! The Hills alum shared a glimpse of the couple's breakfast with Kaitlynn sitting in a white robe looking fresh-faced

Treated like royalty: The couple were entertained by Balinese dancers on Thursday night

Spectacle: Some locals put on quite a show with dancing and torches lighting up the area

Brody and Kaitlynn got engaged in May 2016 after the reality star ppopped the question on the Indonesian island of Sumba.

He wrote on Instagram at the time: 'On May 4th 2016 I got engaged to my lover and my best friend @kaitlynn_carter. I couldn't be more in love with this woman and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her.'

Kaitlynn shared the news with her own message: 'This trip has been memorable for many reasons... happiest girl in the world!!'

On their way: Brody's mom Linda Thompson documented the family's journey to Bali showing son Brandon making his way through the airport

'Right at home': In April Kaitlynn went all-out for her bachelorette party, pitching up with gal pals and her mother at a house on an islet called Isla Rosa near the Colombian coastline
Blac Chyna didn't visit her longtime assistant as she lay in a coma in hospital, family sources claim.

Lorena 'Patty' Hernandez died earlier this month after she was rushed to hospital in January following a brain hemorrhage at a salon owned by Chyna in Encino, California.

The 34-year-old mother-of-three's family now plan to sue Chyna for failing to provide any worker's compensation, and have reacted angrily to claims that Chyna was 'there' for Patty.

Not so supportive? Blac Chyna, seen here in a file picture, didn't visit her longtime assistant as she lay in a coma in hospital, family sources claim

Stroke: The family of Patty, who was only 34, is reportedly preparing to sue the ex of Rob Kardashian, alleging Chyna of 'not providing her with worker's compensation'

According to a new report by Page 6, in the four months Patty lay in her hospital bed, she 'never received a visit or flowers' from her reality star employer.

This comes despite a Thursday claim by People magazine that Chyna had been 'a constant source of support'.

'Chyna's been constantly and steadily involved and supportive financially, from the very beginning,' a source told People.

'She's had [Hernandezs] kids at the house. She's just been an amazing person all the way through this, theres no doubt about that.'

Family: The mother of three had no worker's compensation, something her family intends to sue her former employer over

Hernandez suffered a stroke in 2017 but was still able to work, helping Chyna with her clothing line and day to day responsibilities.

But in January the mother-of-three fell into a coma after enduring a seizure at the celeb's LA Lashed salon and suffering significant bleeding on the brain.

Family made the decision to take Patty off of life support, after she was pronounced 'brain dead' following her third brain bleed.

Updating people on their GoFundMe page, earlier in the week the family wrote: 'Hello Everyone it is with a heavy heart that I would like to share that this morning May 14 Patty was pronounced Brain Dead after a 3rd bleed and will have to be disconnected. We ask you keep our family in prayer during this difficult time.'
She has been incredibly vocal about her fight to normalise breastfeeding.

And Tamara Ecclestone has continued to champion motherhood, as she took to Instagram with a snap of herself mid-flight - where she revealed a man was immediately annoyed when he saw her daughter Sophia, 4, board the flight.

The Formula One heiress, 33, revealed that she heard a 'miserable human being' saying 'oh, come on' when he saw Fifi - leaving her fans to assure her that the 'horrible' passenger was in the wrong.

Not happy: Tamara Ecclestone took to Instagram with a snap of herself mid-flight - where she revealed a man was annoyed when he saw her daughter Sophia, 4, board the flight

Sharing a striking selfie where she sported next to no make-up, Tamara - who is known to regularly travel via private jet - appeared to have chosen a commercial flight as she made herself comfortable in business class VIP seat.

While she looked happy, Tamara revealed that it was a completely different story when she boarded the flight with her adorable daughter, Sophia.

'When your sitting on the plane and a miserable human being says oh come on when he sees my Fifi. Living such a bitter existence cant be good for the soul. Love and light,' she furiously captioned the image.

Immediately, Tamara was swarmed with comments of support with people expressing their irritation at the situation - with many detailing similar incidents which had happened to themselves.

Up in the air! Tamara - who is known to regularly travel via private jet, appeared to have chosen a commercial flight - much to the dismay of the random passenger

Tamara was swarmed with comments of support with people expressing their irritation at the situation - with many detailing similar incidents which had happened to themselves

'Ugh. Same for us last time baby flew Biz. Lots of raised eyebrows. At the end of his perfect 8 hours of silence I wanted them all to apologise!'

'What a horrible person. Best ignored xx p.s. just a little note, its youre when youre saying you are xx.'

'Aw Id happily sit by Fifi on a flight! What a miserable person!! Xx'

'Silly little man, just ignore him, you and Jay are doing a wonderful job in how you are raising Fifi, and she is adorable, it would make my flight if I were to share it with her '

'His probably thinking why didnt I fly like this when I was little. Green eyed monster.'

'I think people sometimes forget they were once a child themselves' and 'Scream Fifi scream xx.'

Tamara shares precious Sofia (lovingly known as Fifi) with husband Jay Rutland

'If I paid I'd be gutted': Meanwhile, some of Tamara's follower tried to see things from the passengers point of view

'Imagine sitting next to a kid in business class!' Some of the billionaire's followers appeared to side with the man

'Shes paid for her ticket to fly, its a rude comment to make about a child he has never met but dont worry just think you could could buy that whole plane twice over.'

However, some of Tamara's follower tried to see things from the passengers point of view:

'You don't need to take fifi everywhere you are. If you want anyhow; use a private plane. You are wealth enough and then no one will feel disturbed. If I spend a year income for a flight first class I also don't want to have fifi beside me.'

'Im not arguing with anyone Im just saying that you had been mistaken. The man had paid for first class and then he saw fifi and said oh, come on as he thought a child on his flight would scream or have a tantrum etc.'

'But just imagine if you had gone business class and were next to a kid!! If Id paid I would be gutted. I even have 2 young kids myself but definitely would be gutted!'

Her only child: Tamara's post comes after the doting mum admitted that she is so attached to her daughter that she didn't spent a night away from the tot for the first three years of her life

Tamara's post comes after the doting mum admitted that she is so attached to her daughter that she didn't spent a night away from the tot for the first three years of her life.

Speaking on This Morning last month, she said: 'No one can care for your child as well as you can, if I was to leave Fifi I would leave her with my sister, I do have a trust issue, but I like to be there.

'I still breastfeed her in the night, I've talked openly about that, it's a personal decision.

She continued: 'I really don't have a desire to [go away], I go out for dinner with my husband, but I come back to her and I like to make sure she's ready in the morning.'

Meanwhile, Tamara jetted to Dubai with Sophia and husband Jay Rutland earlier this month on their eighth holiday this year.

They enjoyed a magical trip to Disneyland Paris in March, which followed up their envy-inducing getaways to Mexico and the Bahamas. Tamara started the year right by heading to sunny Los Angeles with her daughter Fifi and sister Petra.
He was recently slammed by The Only Way Is Essex viewers - with some fans even demanding for him to be 'sacked', after calling his ex-girlfriend, Courtney Green, a 'f**king s**g' during a foul-mouthed bust up.

And now Myles Barnett has admitted to The Sun that he's seeking therapy after his outburst and that he was 'disgusted' with himself.

The TOWIE star, 24, revealed to the publication: 'I honestly was disgusted and for me, when I've done stuff like that, I've literally been like after I barely even remember what's going on.

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Candid: Myles Barnett has admitted to The Sun that he's seeking therapy after his outburst at ex-girlfriend Courtney Green (pictured) and that he was 'disgusted' with himself

'When I actually watched it back I thought: "Jesus you need to go and get yourself sorted out". And I do. I go to therapy now.

'And that's not because of the show or anything it's just because I wasn't proud of the way I was acting.'

MailOnline has contacted Myles' representative for comment.

Outraged: The revelation comes after show watchers were left shocked in April when he called his then girlfriend Courtney 'a f**king s**g' for speaking to Jordan Wright

Furious: The argument led to Myles throwing his drink at Jordan and then turning on Courtney by branding her a 'dirty dog'

The revelation comes after show watchers were left shocked in April when he called his then girlfriend Courtney 'a f**king s**g' and 'dirty dog' for speaking to Jordan Wright.

Myles came face-to-face with the new boy, who made no secret of his desire to pursue his partner.

As the argument gained momentum, Jordan revealed that Courtney had showed him one of Myles' messages while they were away together.

The revelation led to Myles throwing his drink at Jordan and then turning on Courtney by branding her 'a s**g' and a 'dirty dog'.

Split: After the scenes aired, the couple decided to call time on their two-year relationship, with Courtney tearfully revealing the reason for their split on TOWIE

After the scenes aired, the couple decided to call time on their two-year relationship.

While later on in the series, Courtney gathered her girl gang and tearfully explained the reason for her split with her pals Amber Turner, Chloe Lewis and Yazmin Oukhellou.

Courtney shared: 'I was just so unhappy. In the whole relationship I was so worried the whole time about making him happy that I forgot about myself.

'And Ive realised that I wasnt happy, cos I was so much concentrating on him.'
She has been busy carving out an enviable career for herself in Los Angeles.

And Suki Waterhouse was back on home turf, as she stepped out in style for the All Points East Music Festival in London on Friday.

Looking in high spirits, the 26-year-old British model showed off her envy-inducing abs in a white bandeau top.

Looking good: Suki Waterhouse, 26, showed off her envy-inducing abs in a white bandeau top for the All Points East Music Festival in London on Friday

Known for her statement looks, Suki didn't disappoint as she stepped out in the skimpy number which put focus on her sensational figure.

She teamed the top with a pair of slim-leg black jeans which fell at an ankle-grazing, frayed length.

A pair of comfortable Hunter Original hi canvas trainers added to the look and she added a chic navy Hunter Original trench around her.

The ex of Bradley Cooper relied on her naturally striking features with a simple coat of make-up.

Style queen: Known for her statement looks, Suki didn't disappoint as she stepped out in the skimpy number which put focus on her sensational figure

Fashionista: She teamed the number with a pair of slim-leg black jeans which fell at an ankle-grazing, frayed length

Her shoulder-length fringed mane boasted a tinge of rose gold and she added a vintage flair with a pair of circular, tinted Ray-Ban shades.

Suki is set to star in the biographical crime-drama film Billionaire Boys Club alongside Emma Roberts, 27.

The actress, who plays Quintana, played a major role in the film's teaser trailer where she switched things up from her usual blonde hairdo and donned a bright pink wig to lure the affections her boyfriend Dean Karny.

Stripping off her plush fluffy jacket, the star flaunted her toned physique and black lingerie as she seductively gazed into the crook's eyes.

In another scene, the leggy model performed in a sultry Santa Claus costume at a Christmas bash.

Babe: Her shoulder-length fringed mane boasted a tinge of rose gold and she added a vintage flair with a pair of circular, tinted Ray-Ban shades

Festival fashion: Douglas Booth, who donned a Hunter Original shell jacket with removable lining in green, also attended the event

Party people: Jamie Winstone (L) and All Saints' Melanie Platt (R) stopped by the Hunter Original canal barge by the festival

The film, which will be released later this year, is based on the real-life Billionaire Boys Club from the 1980's, where Joe Hunt (played by Ansel Elgort) led a group of wealthy boys in Angeles come up with a plan to get-rich-quick with a Ponzi scheme.

However, the plan ends badly for all involved when Hunt and Pittman end up murdering investor and con-man, Ron Levin- who had allegedly swindled the group out of $4 million.

When authorities began to investigate the murders, Dean Karny, (Taron Egerton) the club's second-in-command and Hunt's best friend, turned state's evidence in return for immunity from prosecution.

Hunt and club-security director Jim Pittman are later charged with the murder of Ron Levin, with the gangster leader being the only person in California's legal history to represent himself in a capital case and not receive the death penalty.
His death had been previously confirmed as part of the hard-hitting storyline on knife crime.

But EastEnders fans still struggled to hold back the tears on Friday as they finally said goodbye to Shakil Nazir, after he passed away in hospital from a shock stabbing.

Viewers of the BBC soap rushed to Twitter to express their grief at the heart-wrenching scenes, with others also praising actress Bonnie Langford for her performance as Shakil's devastated mum Carmel.

Emotional: EastEnders fans were left heartbroken on Friday after Shakil Nazir finally passed away from his stabbing, with others praising Bonnie Langford's performance as mum Carmel

After finally being discovered in the Albert Square bushes hours after being stabbed by a rival gang, Shakil (played by Shaheen Jafargholi was frantically rushed to hospital but doctors were unable to save him.

Carmel and Shakil's brother Kush (played by Davood Ghadami) were then delivered the news that the teen had passed away, leaving the family completely heartbroken.

At first Carmel refused to believe that her son had died, and it wasn't until she was allowed to see the body that the brutal reality began to sink in, breaking down in tears as she stood by his bed.

He's gone: Shakil finally passed away on Friday after the horrific stabbing earlier this week

Heartbreaking: At first Carmel remained in denial about her son's death, but finally broke down in tears after being allowed to see his body

In the episode's closing scenes Carmel blew a kiss to Shakil before saying: 'My baby. Night night.'

Inevitably the hard-hitting scenes sparked much reaction from fans, with many tweeting through their tears that they couldn't cope with saying goodbye to fan favourite Shakil.

One viewer wrote: 'HOW THEY GONNA KILL OFF SHAKIL LIKE THAT HE WAS SO UNDESERVING. HE WAS SO SWEET AND PURE NOOO.'

Another wrote: 'OMG Shakil my heart is broken' while a third added: 'Nooo! They killed Shakil!'

In tears: Viewers of the BBC soap struggled to say goodbye to Shakil following his stabbing by a rival gang earlier in the week

Other viewers rushed to praise Bonnie Langford's performance as Carmel, portraying the heartbreaking reality of a mother losing a child.

One viewer tweeted: 'EastEnders back to its best... has me crying with Carmel tonight...' while a second viewer wrote: 'Carmel absolutely broke my heart tonight! Makes me think about these poor families that get news like this in real life, so many what ifs and why's - this needs to change!!'

Another viewer tweeted: 'I can't imagine how Carmel would be feeling, as a mum it's just your worst nightmare.'

RIP: Shakil finally passed away from his stabbing on Friday, leaving his family devastated at the hard-hitting storyline on knife crime

Important: Fans rushed to praise Bonnie's performance as the devastated mum Carmel

Shakil's death had been announced beforehand as part of the hard-hitting storyline on knife crime, and the aftermath next week will see Carmel struggling to cope.

Spoilers released ahead of next week have revealed that Carmel will attempt suicide following Shakil's death, as Albert Square comes together in the teen's memory.

Meanwhile Keegan Baker, who survived the stabbing, revealed in Friday's episode that he wants to speak out on what happened in his memory, particularly as he felt responsible after clashing with the gang by stealing their bike.

EastEnders continues on Monday 28th May at 8pm on ITV.
They have ridden the journey to stardom together, following their breakout roles on Netflix's Stranger Things.

And couple Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer looked very much in love as they attended a photocall for the Christian Dior Couture S/S19 Cruise Collection in Chantilly, France on Friday.

Natalia, 21, showed off her emerging flair for fashion in a chic monochrome ensemble as she cosied up to her other half, 24.

Smitten: Stranger Things couple Charlie Heaton and Natalia Dyer looked in love as they attended a photocall for the Christian Dior Couture S/S19 Cruise Collection in France on Friday

The beauty's short locks were tamed in place with a quirky baker boy hat, which boasted lace detailing.

Charlie, who plays Jonathan Byers in the smash-hit sci-fi show, opted for an all-black ensemble, which he jazzed up with a coloured brick red coat.

The outing came after a source told Life & Style last month: 'Charlie broke it off with Natalia. Shes heartbroken. She doesnt know what went wrong.'

Chic: Natalia, 21, who plays Nancy Wheeler, stunned in a semi-sheer white lace dress, which she teamed with a fitted black elongated blazer-inspired dress

Mane attraction: The beauty's short locks were tamed in place with a quirky baker boy hat, which boasted lace detailing

Smitten: The loved-up couple posed up a storm for the camera as they showed off their stylish ensembles

But confusing matters even more the duo were spotted looking pretty happy and posing together at a Dior event on March 15 shortly after split reports emerged.

The pair were spotted in what appeared to be a lover's quarrel last month, where Natalia was seen with her arms folded, pulling her hands away from Heaton when he tried to hold them.

At one point in the strained chat, Natalia directed a profanity at Heaton and backed away from him, clearly showing she was upset.

The couple have been plagued by breakup rumors after Natalia was spotted out with a mystery man on a casual outing in Beverly Hills.

Pop of colour: Charlie, who plays Jonathan Byers in the smash-hit sci-fi show, opted for an all-black ensemble, which he jazzed up with a coloured brick red coat

Trend-setter: Natalia finished off the look with a quirky patterned bag and chunky black military boots

And even though they put on a loved up display at the music festival, both stars will soon be headed back to work as the much anticipated third season of Stranger Things is set to begin filming this month.

Dyer recently revealed that she and her beau keep things light on the set of the show, as do most of her co-stars.

'Hes great. Its a lot of fun, we goof off a lot,' she told US. 'The whole cast does. Were all very close so we always have a great time on and off [set] ... sometimes its even hard to stop laughing, stop goofing off. Its been really lovely!'

Back on track: Their outing came after a source said last month: 'Charlie broke it off with Natalia. Shes heartbroken. She doesnt know what went wrong'

Front row: The pair had the best seats in the house for the fashion show

She said that the chemistry between her character and Heaton's is of the 'push-pull' variety, and that 'theres some tension there,' as she thinks 'they probably fight a lot.'

Natalia continued, 'Theyve both had this shared trauma. Theyve both gone through this experience together and I think that brings people closer.'

She said that the characters have had a complementary effect on each other since the show's inception.

'I think also what was kind of cool about Jonathan and Nancy, especially in season one, was that they brought out qualities in each other that maybe werent there without the other,' she said.

Following months of rumors they were dating, Natalia and Charlie killed the speculation when they stepped out on December 4, 2017 at the London Fashion Awards.
Even a contentious custody battle can't wipe the smile off Brad Pitt's face.

The 54-year-old actor looked to be in good spirits on Wednesday as he was snapped departing a Los Angeles office building after seven hours inside, amid the latest rift with Jolie, 42, over her plans to take their six kids overseas to work on the Maleficent sequel.

The Fight Club star was looking dapper in a grey suit with a collared white shirt, black Newsboy cap and black shoes as he made his way out of the structure with a knitted brown shoulder bag.

Going strong: Brad Pitt, 54, looked to be in good spirits on Wednesday as he was snapped departing a Los Angeles office building after seven hours inside

Brad, who has a small cameo in Deadpool 2, had shaggy brown locks, thick sideburns and a graying goatee, looking handsome while out in the City of Angels.

Jolie is upset that she hasn't received a go-ahead to bring their six kids - Maddox, 16, Pax, 14, Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 11, and twins Vivienne and Knox, nine - to England amid her ongoing divorce discussions with the Oklahoma-born actor.

'Brad is opposed to that and is blocking it from happening,' a source told E! News. 'Brad will be filming in LA for the summer and wants to see the kids on his regular custody schedule.

'He's not OK with his kids being away for months. He feels that Los Angeles is their home base and this is where it is best for them to be.'

Rift: The A-list actor has been in a dispute with ex Angelina Jolie over her plans to take their six kids overseas to work on the Maleficent sequel

Stylish: Pitt looked dapper in a grey suit with a collared white shirt, black Newsboy cap and black shoes

Tension: Pitt does not want to give his OK on an agreement that would part him with his children for months, sources told E!

The source told the outlet that 'Angelina has been in London and is free to travel for shorter periods of time,' as 'Brad isn't opposed to that ... but she can't leave with the kids for several months.'

The Moneyball actor and Jolie, sources told Page Six, 'are figuring out how it would work, but she is not happy' amid the negotiations.

'She wants to take the kids to London with her while shes shooting - and shes frustrated with the process,' the source said. 'Theyre talking about how it would work. Even the people around her are getting tired of it.'

Sources told E! News that the rift has 'dragged on for months,' is at the heart of 'why the divorce is not final' yet nearly two years after Jolie filed.

Long day: The veteran entertainer spent more than seven hours inside the office building

Got the time? The War Machine actor wore a luxe silver watch on the outing
Six people, including four children, have been injured when a BMW involved in a police pursuit in Sydney's southwest hit two cars.

Police tried to stop the BMW on the M5 near Belmore Road about 8.30pm on Thursday, before a pursuit began.

Shortly afterwards, the vehicle crashed into a car carrying a man and a woman and four children, who were assessed at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries, as well as a Honda Civic whose two occupants were uninjured.

The driver of the BMW fled on foot. His male passenger was arrested at the scene, but later released pending further inquiries.
Daria Gavrilova has found a silver lining to her premature exit from the Strasbourg International: it's giving her extra time to settle in Paris for the French Open.

Last year, Gavrilova made a hasty Saturday night train trip from Strasbourg to the French capital after falling to fellow Australian Samantha Stosur in a thrilling three-set final.

The world No.24 was back on court less than 48 hours later - and quickly off it after a deflating straight-sets first-round defeat at Roland Garros to Elise Mertens.

"Dasha" hopes not having to dash to Paris this year following a second-round loss to Stosur on Wednesday will boost her chances of progressing beyond round of the clay-court grand slam for only the second time.

"Last year it was a bit rushed coming and playing on Monday after I played the finals," Gavrilova said.

"I had really long matches last year here (in Strasbourg) and I was pretty tired."

Make no mistake, Gavrilova would have preferred not to have lost for the second time in a month to Stosur, having retired with an ankle injury in the deciding set of their recent showdown in Prague.

"Every tournament I play, every tournament I enter, my goal is to win," she said.

"So it was unfortunate I lost. I was focused to go deep in the tournament.

"I'm definitely not satisfied with losing. I don't think anyone is.

"But I'm looking forward to Roland Garros and now I will have a few days to prepare."

The 24th seed plays Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the first round.
An Australian man whose parents were killed in the Malaysia Airlines disaster in 2014 says the international community must pressure Russia to take responsibility after investigators found its missile brought down flight MH17.

Australia and other countries are considering the next steps towards prosecution after the finding from the tragedy four years ago was handed down by Dutch National Police on Thursday.

"It's good to see some strong evidence that Russia was involved. Clearly, Russia has a lot of questions to answer," Paul Guard, who lost his parents Jill and Roger in the disaster, told the ABC on Friday.
Adam Blair hopes a painful lesson has sunk in as another Sydney NRL club arrives in Auckland seeking vengeance against the Warriors.

Veteran forward Blair reckons fourth-placed South Sydney won't have forgotten their ugly 32-20 loss to the third-ranked Warriors when the teams met in Perth in round one.

He says Saturday's fixture carries the same danger signals as two weeks ago.

The Warriors didn't cope when a Roosters team still smarting from a round four Warriors blitzing in Sydney responded by trampling the hosts up front in a 32-0 rout at Mt Smart Stadium.

Now on a three-match winning streak, the Rabbitohs are sure to have noted how Roosters hard men Dylan Napa and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves targeted the Warriors.

The three Burgess brothers could wreak similar havoc if the hosts aren't switched on.

"I think they're (Souths) a completely different team from the first time we played them," Blair said.

"It's similar to when we first played the Roosters ... we expect them to come over here all fired up and ready to take it to us."

The Warriors bounced back last week to beat Parramatta 24-14, and Blair can understand critics suggesting the inconsistency of recent seasons is creeping back into their game.

However, he believes the Warriors' eight wins - more than they achieved in all of 2017 - is raw evidence they are a superior outfit.

"Nobody would have put us where we are at the moment," Blair told AAP.

"We've got some young boys here who just have to learn that every game's a tough game."

Improving their discipline has been identified as critical by Blair.

The Warriors have conceded more red zone penalties than any other team in a season where referees are leaning heavily on the sin bin.

Isaiah Papali'i became their latest player to be sin-binned, letting the Eels back into last week's contest.

"It's quite hard when you're a man short and teams are recognising those things now," Blair said.

"They're trying to work your middles over really hard and hopefully getting space out wide.

"Obviously against this team, it's a big pack and discipline's the key for us."

STATS THAT MATTER:

* The Warriors and Rabbitohs are in the top four together for the first time in nine years.

* Souths are chasing a fourth-straight away win for the first time since their 2014 premiership-winning season.

* The Warriors have scored an NRL-leading 20 tries down their right edge. It's trumped by Souths' 25 down their left.

*Stats: Fox Sports Stats
NSW Labor Leader Luke Foley has been accused of "disgusting racist dog whistling" by a senior Victorian Labor colleague.

Mr Foley was forced to apologise over comments he made about "white flight" occurring in Sydney's western suburbs on Thursday, which prompted widespread condemnation from both sides of politics.

Victorian Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said Labor deserved far better.

"I never thought I'd see the day that the leader of the NSW Labor Party would resort to disgusting racist dog whistling," Ms D'Ambrosio posted to Facebook.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described a disability services funding agreement struck with the NSW government as an expression of love and respect.

The state is the first to officially sign up to the full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Mr Turnbull says the guarantee of long-term funding shows love for NDIS participants who deserve and rely on essential services.

"The love that people with disabilities, people with most vulnerable people in our community, the love that they deserve from all of us in this great national enterprise," he told reporters on the NSW Central Coast.

The NSW government has agreed its annual funding contribution to the NDIS, which exceeds $3 billion in 2018-19, will be escalated by four per cent a year to keep pace with population and price increases.

The commonwealth will pay the balance of NDIS costs in NSW, under an agreement to take effect from July 1.

More than 84,000 people in NSW are already tapping into the NDIS, which is expected to eventually support about 140,000 people with disability in the state.
Greens senator Lee Rhiannon will retire from parliament, paving the way for colleague Mehreen Faruqi to take her seat in the upper house.

Senator Rhiannon will quit in mid-August, creating a casual vacancy to allow Ms Faruqui, who won a pre-selection battle to top the party's Senate ticket last year, to enter federal politics early.

"I remain passionate and as committed as ever to our collective struggle for a fair, just, ecologically-sustainable and peaceful world," Senator Rhiannon said in a statement on Friday.
A tax on sugary drinks to reduce obesity is "inevitable", the outgoing Australian Medical Association president says.

In his final speech before leaving the top job, Dr Michael Gannon said he expects to see an Australian tax similar to those recently introduced in Britain and Ireland.

"In fact it is so simple, and so obvious, I worry that it will be seen by a future government as a 'silver bullet' to what is a much more complex health and social policy issue," Dr Gannon told the AMA's national conference in Canberra on Friday.
Highlanders winger Tevita Nabura has been suspended for six weeks by Super Rugby bosses for his spectacular boot to the face of Waratahs opposite Cam Clark.

Nabura was sent off for the offence early in his team's 41-12 loss in Sydney last week and a SANZAAR foul play review committee followed up on Friday with a suspension from all rugby until July 6.

Committee chairman Nigel Hampton accepted Nabura's guilty plea for the incident in which the player kicked out karate-style at Clark while fielding a high ball.

However, Hampton said despite a lack of force in the kick, the action was blatantly dangerous enough to warrant a 12-week ban, but the suspension length was halved when mitigating factors were considered.

That included the 25-year-old rookie's blemish-free record, his remorse and his inexperience.

"The player's action was seen by the committee as a misguided effort by an inexperienced player to both try and regain balance whilst in the air and ward off the approaching opposing player," Hampton said.
Key dates in the Tiahleigh Palmer case:

2015

Oct 30: Tiahleigh's foster father Rick Thorburn says he dropped the 12-year-old at Marsden State High School. It was the last time she was seen alive.

Nov 5: Three fishermen find a girl's body on the banks of the Pimpama River on the Gold Coast. It's later confirmed to be Tiahleigh.

Nov 14: Tiahleigh is remembered as a "beautifully imperfect" girl at her Gold Coast funeral, where Thorburn was a pall-bearer.

2016

Feb 15: Police offer a $250,000 reward for information to solve the schoolgirl's murder.

March 14: Biological mother Cindy Palmer makes a public appeal to help find her daughter's killer.

Sept 20: Rick Thorburn is charged with Tiahleigh's murder. Foster mother Julene and their sons Trent and Joshua are also arrested.

Trent is charged with incest, perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Julene and Joshua are charged with perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Sept 21: Rick Thorburn fails to face court after a reported overdose.

Sept 23: Detectives say the foster family's home is a primary crime scene.

2017

June 28: Rick Thorburn is committed to stand trial for murder.

July 27: Josh Thorburn is sentenced to 15 months' jail after admitting to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Sept 14: Trent Thorburn is sentenced to four years' jail after admitting he had sex with Tiahleigh.

Nov 3: Julene Thorburn is sentenced to 18 months' jail for perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice, with the sentence suspended after six months.

2018

Jan 19: Trent Thorburn is released on parole after 16 months behind bars.

Feb 16: Rick Thorburn seeks a judge-only trial due to publicity surrounding the case.

May 25: Rick Thorburn pleads guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to murder, interfering with a corpse, perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Police have raided a waste management company after a sleeping homeless man was fatally crushed by a Sydney garbage truck which allegedly mounted the footpath.

A 35-year-old council driver was making his way along Bourke Lane in Redfern on Monday about 8am when his truck left the road and mounted the kerb, NSW Police previously said.

The truck ran over a man who was sleeping on a mattress outside the front of a home.

The truck stopped and the driver called for help but the 31-year-old victim died at the scene.

The driver, from Rockdale, was taken for medical tests before being charged with dangerous driving and negligent driving occasioning death.

Police raided the depot in Alexandria on Thursday to conduct inspections on 23 vehicles.

A dozen minor defects were issued along with two major defects for tyre failure and broken brake lights.

City of Sydney Mayor Clover Moore, who was at the scene shortly after, described it as a sad and tragic situation.

She said the man was a "rough sleeper" and the truck driver was "shattered" by the death.

The driver had his licence suspended and was granted bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on June 18.
Queensland workers have the longest commute of all the states and territories, new figures show.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics crunched the 2016 Census numbers to calculate commuting distances.

It found the average travel distance from home to work across the country was 16km, with almost three-quarters of all Australians having to commute a distance of less than 20km.

Queenslanders had the longest average commuting distance (16.6 km), followed by NSW (16.3 km).

Those in the Australian Capital Territory had the shortest average commute (11.7 km), which is likely due to its small land area compared with the other states and territories.

In terms of capital cities, people in Brisbane (16.7 km) and Melbourne (16.2 km) had the longest average distances to their place of work, while those in Darwin and Adelaide had the shortest (12.8 km and 13.1 km respectively).

People working outside of Perth in WA had the longest average commuting distance across the whole of Australia (20.4 km).
Sweeping changes to national medical guidelines for diagnosing and treating melanoma are set to prevent many lives being lost to the deadly skin cancer.

A key component of the updated clinical guidelines, developed by Cancer Council Australia and Melanoma Institute Australia, is the recommended use of a highly effective disease staging procedure to better predict recurrence.

Professor John Thompson at Melanoma Institute Australia said it was essential for patients that their treating doctors are guided by the latest evidence on best practice.

"The melanoma treatment landscape has changed dramatically in recent years due to extensive and ongoing research and clinical trials, and it is vital that frontline healthcare professionals across Australia are aware of new diagnostic techniques and treatments that are saving lives,' Prof Thompson said.

Recommended is the use of sentinel lymph node biopsy - a minimally invasive procedure that enables clinicians to determine a patient's risk of melanoma recurrence.

"Discussing this procedure with patients is important because if the sentinel node has melanoma in it, drug treatment can reduce the chance of the melanoma returning," Prof Thompson said.

Clinicians are also advised against unnecessarily performing major lymph node surgery.

"Recent clinical trial results have shown that complete removal of all remaining lymph nodes, previously the standard treatment recommendation, usually provides no additional patient benefit, and it is no longer standard management,' he said.

Other key recommendations included how to identify individuals at very high risk of melanoma, and the need for doctors to investigate any lesions that grow or change in size, shape, colour or elevation.

Professor Georgina Long, an oncologist with the Conjoint Medical Director of Melanoma Institute Australia, said patients can be assured that the updated guidelines cover every stage of melanoma.

"These sweeping changes to the melanoma clinical care guidelines are all evidence based and have a huge potential to save lives and benefit patients across the country," she said.
Labor's candidate for the West Australian state seat of Darling Range has provided documentation proving she was enrolled at a US college after having her credibility questioned all week.

Colleen Yates listed three US tertiary institutions and a University of WA Masters of Business Administration in her LinkedIn education claims, but it emerged the only qualification she completed was the prerequisite course, a Graduate Certificate in Business.

State Secretary Matt Dixon concedes Ms Yates made some errors on the social networking page but insists she provided accurate information to the party.

On Friday, he distributed an enrolment record from Fort Lewis College, which she could not prove she attended earlier this week.
A light is being shone on questionable NSW prison guard culture by a corruption inquiry that's exposed details of cell shakedowns and alleged inmate abuse.

So-called "cell therapy" is used to punish belligerent inmates, according to former guards who've admitted superiors direct them to trash cells merely to "show a presence".

At the heart of a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption hearing, which began in Sydney this week, lies a February 2014 incident at the Lithgow Correctional Centre.

Officers allegedly bashed an inmate before lying about the incident in reports, deleting CCTV footage and planting drugs.

The probe offers a rare glimpse into the inner-workings of prisons, those who keep NSW criminals locked up and their workplaces' problems.

Counsel assisting the inquiry Sam Duggan says systemic corruption is a consideration.

"Importantly, it should not be assumed that the events which unfolded at Lithgow are necessarily isolated," he told Monday's hearing.

"They are not."

Questions were raised about why specially-trained guards were ordered into the inmate's cell in the first place, with suggestions either he or his cellmate were abusive on an intercom when complaining of having no television.

Former officer Terrence Walker was the first ICAC witness asked about "cell therapy".

"It can (range from) yelling abuse to completely trashing the cell and sometimes further," he explained.

By "further", that could mean physical force, before revealing potential targets.

"Belligerent inmates, known troublemakers, ones that abuse staff ... it's purely to teach them a lesson."

His colleague Elliot Duncan admitted it wasn't uncommon to be directed by superiors to dish out "cell therapy".

"My understanding of that is to show a presence more than anything," Mr Duncan testified.

"(To) put them in their place."

Regarding the February 2014 visit to the cell, he conceded, "I don't think we should have gone in there at all, really."

The inquiry has also raised questions about trust issues between guards, with officers suspected of having reported inappropriate conduct being labelled as "dogs".

Officer Wesley Duffy claims he was excluded from the reporting process following the alleged bashing because his "heavy-handed" colleagues knew he would want to be honest.

Perhaps tellingly, Mr Duffy had never heard of cell therapy and says he wasn't the only one in Lithgow who considered the tactics of colleagues inappropriate.

In response to the Lithgow jail inquiry, Corrective Services NSW Commissioner Peter Severin said the allegations, if proven, "represent completely unacceptable behaviour".

Already two of the implicated officers have been "relieved from duty", including one who went on to become one of the most senior departmental officials.

Few would argue with Mr Duggan's suggestion correctional staff have a "difficult and probably thankless task" that involves power over inmates.

With that power comes responsibility, he added.

That "also requires the eradication of any culture which covers up situations where Corrective staff have overstepped the mark".

But he said the "vast number" of staff perform their functions honestly.
Inaugural MasterChef winner Julie Goodwin has been fined $600 and has lost her licence for six months after admitting to drink-driving.

Goodwin, 47, pleaded guilty in Gosford Local Court on Friday to driving with a mid-range prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA) in April.

Magistrate Ron Maiden fined her $600 and disqualified her from holding a driver's licence for six months.

In a post on Goodwin's Facebook page in April, which is no longer available, the cook said she had been driving home from a "celebratory function" she had catered for when she was subjected to, and failed, a random breath test.

"Needless to say I accept full responsibility for this error in judgment, which I believe is completely out of character for me," she said in the post.

Goodwin said in the post she wanted to offer a "heartfelt and unreserved apology" to her family, colleagues and the broader community.

"I am devastated that I have acted in a way so contrary to what I believe, to how I usually conduct myself, and to what I have taught my children," she said.

"Many lessons will flow from this, and I will learn from each of them."

Goodwin has written several cookbooks since winning the first season of MasterChef in 2009.

She starred in another reality program, I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, in 2015 and became a breakfast radio co-host on the Central Coast's Star 104.5 that same year.
From the discovery of a schoolgirl's body on a riverbank to revelations of incest, murder and family cover-up, Tiahleigh Palmer's death has stunned Queensland.

Nearly three years later and just over a month after Tialeigh should have been celebrating her 15th birthday, her killer has faced justice.

It's the one thing Tiahleigh's mother Cindy has sought ever since her daughter's 12-year-old body was discovered on the banks of a northern Gold Coast river in November 2015 by three fisherman.

The shocking discovery came hours after police had appealed for help to discover the Marsden State High School student.

That was despite the fact she'd not been seen for a week.

Initial concerns about a random abduction or a mystery Facebook hook-up were dead ends.

But the reality of what had happened to Tiahleigh was even more gruesome.

On or about September 26, 2015, Tiahleigh's foster brother Trent - then 18 - had sex with the girl.

A short time later the teenager confessed to a cousin online about the relationship and revealed his concern she might be pregnant.

The revelation of the relationship sparked Tiahleigh's foster father Rick to a horrifying end.

He killed Tiahleigh at the family's Chambers Flats home, south of Brisbane.

When elder brother Joshua arrived home on October 29 he was called into a family meeting where Rick ominously said he had "taken care of it" and warned his wife Julene not to go into Tiahleigh's bedroom.

Police immediately suspected the Thorburns but with the family sticking to a lie, in apparent fear of Rick, the investigation moved slowly.

When Tiahleigh was laid to rest, her killer acted as grieving pallbearer.

Aspiring dancer Trent also performed at the funeral.

Police, however, had bugged the Thorburns' home and were collecting damning evidence against the family.

Almost 11 months to the day after Tiahleigh was killed they swooped - arresting and charging the four Thorburns for their various roles in the crime.

Trent was jailed in September 2017 for a maximum of four years after he pleaded guilty to four charges including incest.

He was released on parole in January after serving 16 months.

Joshua and Julene spent three and six months behind bars for their parts in the subsequent cover-up.

Rick was on Friday sentenced to life behind bars, with a minimum of 20 years in jail.

It brings some closure to the case but Tiahleigh's death will have ramifications outside the courtroom.

With the last of the family that was supposed to care for her daughter punished, the attention can now focus on how they were given that responsibility.

Since Tiahleigh's murder Queensland's Child Safety Department has come under scrutiny for not doing more to ensure children in care are safe.

In September last year, three reports from reviews of Queensland's protection system, foster care system and blue card scheme were tabled in state parliament.

The Palaszczuk government says it will use the reports to make broader reforms to the system.

It may be too late for Tiahleigh, but it is hopefully one good that can come from her murder.
WHO

Rick Thorburn, 57-year-old foster carer

CHARGES

Murder, interfering with a corpse, attempting to pervert justice, two counts of perjury

Thorburn murdered his 12-year-old foster daughter, Tiahleigh Palmer, on October 29, 2015 after his son, Trent, confessed to having sex with her and was concerned she was pregnant. Thorburn was worried it could cause Trent to go to jail. Her body was found on the banks of the Pimpama River a week later.

ARREST

Thorburn wasn't arrested until September 2016 after police bugged his family home and listened to their conversations. Thorburn told his family they had to protect Trent and keep to the story that Tiahleigh had disappeared after leaving their home to go to school.

PROPOSED TRIAL

In February, Thorburn sought a judge-only trial but a month later the court was told he would plead guilty to all charges.

Sentenced on May 25 at Brisbane Supreme Court on all charges

JUDGMENT

Justice David Boddice told Thorburn "your offending involves a truly appalling conduct".

"The reasons for that murder and your conduct subsequently can only be described as cold, calculating and callous.

"You murdered this defenceless child who relied on you for her protection ... and you did so to save one of your own children from the consequences of his actions."

SENTENCE

Life in jail, with a non-parole period of 20 years. First eligible for release in September 2036.
The prospect of Rick Thorburn ever leaving jail after he murdered his foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer is incomprehensible, prominent Queensland child safety advocate Hetty Johntson says.

Thorburn was sentenced to life in prison in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday but Ms Johnston has criticised the mandatory non-parole period of 20 years for murder as too lenient when it comes to child victims.

"There is no way a man who could knowingly, cold-blooded, calculatingly kill a little girl and leave a body to rot on the river bank should ever, ever be able to re-enter society," the Bravehearts founder told the ABC.
Papua New Guinea's trade minister is hopeful a major tourism boost will stem from hosting the APEC leaders summit this year.

The Asia Pacific Economic Corporation leaders meeting will be held in Port Moresby in November, but trade ministers are getting together this weekend to lay some groundwork.

PNG's Rimbink Pato said he hopes the summit will have an ongoing legacy and boost tourist numbers in the country.

"The benefit of APEC is that people will at least know where Papua New Guinea is," Mr Pato said in a social media video.

Australian Assistant Trade Minister Mark Coulton is in Port Moresby for the talks, as is New Zealand parliamentary under-secretary Fletcher Tabuteau.

Australia has chipped in close to $120 million towards PNG hosting APEC, with assistance covering cybersecurity, policing and firefighting.

There's been some criticism that PNG won't be ready to host the summit.

PNG government coffers are struggling following a downturn in global commodity prices and the failure of an LNG project to deliver a promised economic boom.

Some remote villages are still in recovery mode after a deadly earthquake hit the PNG highlands in February.

Alongside Australia and New Zealand, APEC also covers the likes of Canada, China, Japan, Mexico, Russia and the United States.
In a bid to stem the national tide of runaway teenagers, Australian Federal Police have run an education program for primary school students in the ACT.

Out of 38,000 missing persons reports made to police every year, three in five relate to people aged under 18 years with 86 per cent of youth located within a week.

Abduction, by strangers or parents, remains very rare in Australia, leaving police with the question of how to stop struggling teenagers running away from home.

In an AFP-led event, titled Missing Youth Forum, 30 students from 15 Canberra primary schools have been put through a series of talks and workshops on Friday, International Missing Children's Day.

AFP's Jayne Crossling, National Co-ordinator of Missing Persons and Exploited Children, says the "first of its kind" event has been designed to prevent further missing persons cases and arm children with information they can share with their peers.

"Young people may not consider the impact on family and friends when they do go missing," the acting superintendent told AAP on Friday.

"It does become a drain on police. But police want these reports (as soon as possible). They can most definitely intervene far sooner if they know about it.

"Ideally we would like to see the reports of all people go down."

While there are different reasons youth go missing, including family violence, bullying and relationship breakdowns, they should reach out to support services before leaving home, Ms Crossling said.

To reinforce that message, Sasoon Simonian spoke to the children about his personal experience dealing with the disappearance of his then 21-year-old brother Sevak in 2014.

"It's very difficult, it's something that's always on your mind. There's no real escape from having a family member who is missing," Mr Simonian, 26, told AAP.

"There's no closure. You can't really consider them deceased. You don't know if they're going to come back into your life."

Sevak, an avid bushwlker, was last seen at his home in Belrose NSW on October 20, 2014, and his car was located at a car park at Kanangra Boyd National Park.
A 29-year-old man has been extradited from interstate to face a NSW court over alleged sex offences.

Police say the Saudi Arabian national was arrested by police in Melbourne on Tuesday after an investigation into the alleged sexual assault of a 24-year-old woman in 2016.

The man was extradited and taken to Newcastle, where he was charged with multiple counts of sexual intercourse without consent and attempting sexual intercourse without consent.

He was refused bail ahead of a scheduled appearance at Newcastle Local Court on Friday.
A man may lose his foot after he was struck by a ute in western Sydney.

Police allege the driver of the Mitsubishi ute stopped to assist the injured man from the road before getting back into his vehicle and leaving the scene on Thursday afternoon.

The 54-year-old pedestrian was taken to Westmead Hospital where he may have to have his foot amputated.

The 34-year-old ute driver returned to the scene a few hours later, according to police.

He was charged with failing to stop and assist after impact causing grievous bodily harm, not giving particulars to an injured person and not giving particulars to police.

He's been granted conditional bail ahead of a scheduled appearance at Penrith Local Court on June 12.
It was under the iron fist of a religious dictatorship the defiance of Mehreen Faruqi, the "proud unionist and feminist" poised to replace Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, first took root.

Dr Faruqi was raised in Lahore, Pakistan, as the daughter of an engineer.

At 15 years old, she recounts in her inaugural speech to NSW Parliament, her country slipped into dictatorship and she could only watch as rights were stripped from women and minority groups.

She became a civil engineer in an act of defiance against a male-dominated society.

"I had grand ambitions of breaking down the barriers which oppressed the women in my community," she said - conceding she was only able to cause "one mere dent".

"But what are social movements if not thousands of individual dents, collectively bringing down old structures?"

She left for Australia in 1992 with her young family in tow.

She enrolled at the University of NSW, attaining a masters and doctorate in environmental engineering in 2000.

From there Dr Faruqi headed up environmental projects for companies and councils in Sydney and the NSW mid-north coast while working as an academic.

She joined the Greens in 2004 because the party "closely aligned" with her views on the environment and social issues, she says in an online biography.

She became the first Muslim woman elected to any Australian parliament when she entered the NSW Legislative Council in 2013.

As a foreign-born Australian, she said at the time, her story "belongs to many".

"My inclusion in this Parliament reflects the promise that brought my family and millions of families like ours to this country," she said.

Senator Rhiannon on Friday announced Dr Faruqi would take her place in Canberra's upper house when she retires 10 months early, in mid-August.

Dr Faruqi, speaking to AAP on Friday, thanked Senator Rhiannon "for her long and passionate service to the Greens, the people of Australia and her extraordinary work for social and environmental justice".

She said she would continue to push the party's vision on climate change, workers rights and multiculturalism.

"We Greens are a thorn in the side of the establishment," she said.

"And I will focus on breaking the cycle of vested interests that undermine our democracy, destroy our environment, and foster inequality that only benefits the big end of town."

"Now is the time to step up the fight and be fearless."
A person has gone to police with a complaint of being indecently assaulted by Craig McLachlan, the actor's civil defamation lawsuit has been told.

The 52-year-old Gold Logie winner is suing Fairfax Media, the ABC and actress Christie Whelan Browne over articles and reports alleging he bullied and indecently assaulted her and two other female cast members during a 2014 production of the Rocky Horror Show.

Since the publications, McLachlan has become reclusive and his acting career has been effectively destroyed, according to his legal team.

The media companies and Ms Browne, represented by lawyer Lyndelle Barnett, were required to file their defence with the NSW Supreme Court by Thursday.

But on Friday, Ms Barnett applied for suppression orders in relation to three people, who were not referred to in the publications, and who all claim they were indecently assaulted by McLachlan.

Acknowledging the three were being "dragged" into the case, Ms Barnett said if Justice Lucy McCallum refused the applications, parts of the defence would be withdrawn.

One of the people would only give evidence in the defamation case if their name and evidence was kept confidential.

That person had lodged a complaint with police about being indecently assaulted by the actor, she said.

If police chose to proceed with that, the person would have the benefit of legally not being able to be identified in the criminal matter.

The person should not lose that protection now in a civil case, Ms Browne submitted.

The second person was not prepared to be a witness, but if the name was suppressed, other witnesses could potentially be able to testify about that alleged indecent assault.

Person three preferred not to be named, but would still give evidence either way.

McLachlan's barrister, Stuart Littlemore QC, argued against the orders, saying they were premature and did not relate to "a party" in the proceedings.

"We have no interest in naming any person or even knowing the name except we must be able to conduct the ordinary investigative process," he said.

Referring to person one, Mr Littlemore said there was no information when and in what jurisdiction the complaint to police was made.

He also noted that making a complaint does not mean a person will be charged with anything.

Justice McCallum will hand down her decision on Monday.
Victoria's police association has slammed the judiciary for being "out of touch" after failing to impose a mandatory jail sentence to a woman who bit a police officer.

Police Association of Victoria assistant secretary Bruce McKenzie told reporters on Friday he was "outraged, disgusted" that a woman had been "able to walk away" with a two-year community corrections order for biting the officer rather than serve a mandatory sentence.

"Police officers, paramedics, the Victorian community, we have had enough of this and we certainly hope that this is the last so-called penalty in the form of a Community Corrections Order ... which is no penalty at all," he said.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines has expressed hope that authorities won't arrest Australian nun Sister Patricia Fox who is defying an order to leave the country over her alleged involvement in anti-government political activities.

A Church spokeswoman told AAP that if an appeal to the Department of Justice lodged on Friday was accepted for consideration, any attempt to force the 71-year-old to leave should be delayed.

"People are still worried that she could be arrested," the spokeswoman said.

"It remains a possibility."

A 30-day period stipulated in an official notification expired on or before May 25, depending on how the wording of the order is construed.

When the appeal over refusal to re-examine the Immigration Bureau deportation order was filed today, a group of supporters waved placards such as 'Hands off Sister Pat'.

The Church said they were representatives of small scale farmers, workers and the urban poor, the groups Sister Fox has been working with.

Immigration officials confirmed that Sister Fox who has been in the Philippines since 1990, was required to leave the Philippines by Friday.

Authorities earlier confiscated her Australian passport.

However, the Church spokeswoman told AAP that the passport was returned to Sister Fox on Friday morning.
Victoria's trade and workers unions want Labor to introduce industrial manslaughter laws within the first year of government if it is re-elected at the November election.

The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union and the Australian Workers Union will call on a Victorian Labor Government to enshrine the charge within law as part of its election platform.

CFMEU state secretary John Setka will move the proposed platform amendment, to be seconded by Australian Workers Union state secretary Ben Davis at the ALP State Conference on Saturday.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari said in a statement on Friday: "As long as big companies only pay small fines for killing people, nothing will change".

"We need strong laws to hold dodgy operators to account for unsafe practices, and we want the Andrews government to deliver this life-saving reform for Victorian workers," he said.

Twenty-seven Victorians were killed at work in 2017, the CFMEU says.

It comes after two men died when a trench collapsed near Ballarat earlier this year.
There are hopes a new bridge over a river in the Mekong Delta will help lift Vietnamese people out of poverty.

Australia contributed $160 million in aid money towards the project, which then prime minister Julia Gillard announced in 2010.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will travel to Vietnam this weekend to open the Cao Lanh Bridge, in Dong Thap Province alongside Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

"The Cao Lanh Bridge is a visible symbol of the depth of the Australia-Vietnam relationship," she said.

The bridge is the largest single Australian aid effort in mainland Southeast Asia.

An estimated 170,000 people are expected to use the bridge daily.

She said project will help connect 18 million people with regional markets and drive economic growth.

The Asian Development Bank and Korean government also contributed to the project.

Ms Bishop is also expected to have bilateral meetings with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh.
Two Iranian asylum seekers have reportedly staged a protest on the roof of a building at the Christmas Island detention centre.

The two asylum seekers are said to have climbed on to the roof on Friday afternoon and have so far defied attempts to talk them down, according to Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.

Mr Rintoul says tensions have been rising inside the detention centre as all compounds were locked down after the protest began.

"Christmas Island is the Guantanamo of Australia's onshore detention regime," Mr Rintoul said.

"For years the government has said Christmas Island was going to close; they have said it again this year. Now would be a good time to make good on the promise."

The Department of Home Affairs has been contacted for comment.
The Liberal and Labor parties say they will comply with new rules asking federal election candidates to declare they are eligible to sit in parliament.

The regulations are due to be put to parliament next week, but filling out the new form won't be compulsory for candidates.

However, senior spokesmen for the Liberal and Labor parties told AAP the candidates for the five by-elections due to be held on July 28 would fill out the forms and publicly release them.

The commitment comes as Malcolm Turnbull rejected suggestions the date chosen for the by-elections was a political ploy aimed at clashing with Labor's national conference, which was scheduled for that weekend.

The prime minister said it was outrageous for Labor to infer the Australian Electoral Commission's advice to Speaker Tony Smith was designed to advantage the coalition.

He said the AEC was impartial and non-partisan.

Electoral commissioner Tom Rogers said the "optimal" July 28 date was chosen to avoid school holidays and allow candidates to comply with new regulations to declare they are not dual citizens.

But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the "sneaky" delay will leave about 500,000 people without representation in the federal parliament for three months.

He insisted the date was selected by the government, which he said had no problem ensuring by-elections happened quickly last year when coalition MPs were forced to resign.

Senior Labor leaders met on Friday afternoon and decided to move the national conference to another date.

"The decision to schedule them on the same date as Labor's Conference is blatantly partisan," Labor frontbencher Mark Butler said in a statement.

"The national executive will meet next Wednesday to determine the earliest practicable date for a rescheduled conference."

The polls in Longman, Braddon, Fremantle and Mayo were triggered by resignations of three Labor MPs and an independent due to their dual citizenship, while Perth Labor MP Tim Hammond resigned for family reasons.
The Australian music industry is in mourning after the death of renowned guitarist Phil Emmanuel.

The 65-year-old reportedly died on Thursday evening in the NSW town of Parkes after a sudden asthma attack.

"On behalf of the family, it is with great sadness that I announce the passing of our much loved brother, Philip Ernest Emmanuel," his brother Darcy told Fairfax Media.

"We are all devastated."

Emmanuel was widely regarded for his technical skills and versatility, and toured Australia extensively with his guitarist brother Tommy as "The Emmanuel Brothers".

He performed with Australian and international music superstars, including Slim Dusty, Dolly Parton, Lee Kernaghan, Willie Nelson, John Farnham, Ian Moss and Jimmy Barnes.

"One of the great guitar players," Barnes tweeted on Friday.

"You will be sadly missed."
A motion to change the date of Australia Day is set to be debated at Victorian Labor's state conference.

But Premier Daniel Andrews remains opposed, telling journalists: "I think you know and understand my view on this ... I don't support changing the date.

"But, look, if people want to have a debate about those things. I think there's one ... going on now," he added earlier in the week.

Indeed, the ALP's state conference over Saturday and Sunday will debate moving Australia Day from January 26 to May 9, which marks the date federal parliament first met, the Herald Sun and The Guardian Australia report.

It comes after three Melbourne councils - Moreland, Yarra and Darebin - stopped referring to January 26 as Australia Day. The federal government stripped the latter two of their ability to host citizenship ceremonies.

Like Mr Andrews, federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten remains opposed to changing the date.

Victoria's unions will also use the conference to call on Mr Andrews to introduce industrial manslaughter laws within the first year of government if it is re-elected at the November election.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari said in a statement on Friday: "As long as big companies only pay small fines for killing people, nothing will change".

"We need strong laws to hold dodgy operators to account for unsafe practices, and we want the Andrews government to deliver this life-saving reform for Victorian workers," he said.
Miss Fisher's gold and pearl-handled pistol will have its moment on the silver screen as the popular murder mystery series about the glamorous private detective readies for its feature film debut.

Actor Essie Davis returns as lead Phryne Fisher in Miss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears, traversing the streets of Melbourne and the world in the 1920s alongside fellow Australian Nathan Page, in the role of Detective Inspector Jack Robinson.

Miriam Margolyes and Ashleigh Cummings will also reprise their roles from the three-season television series, first broadcast on the ABC in 2012.

The Every Cloud Production, from a screenplay by Deb Cox, will be directed by television series set-up director Tony Tilse and produced by Fiona Eagger.

"Both new fans and old are in for a ride full of twists and turns as Phryne's Middle Eastern adventures find her hunting for missing treasure, racing the clock on an apocalyptic ancient curse - and still finding time for romantic dalliance," Ms Cox said.

Ms Eagger added: "Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears will have the witty intrigue of Indiana Jones, the opulent style of a Merchant Ivory Production, and the feminist fun of Thelma and Louise."

Filming will begin in Morocco and Melbourne in October this year. Principal production investment has come from Screen Australia, in association with Film Victoria.
Most of the benefits of the $143 billion in income tax cuts proposed by the Turnbull government will overwhelmingly go to middle income earners, according to new figures.

The breakdown of the Treasury figures published in The Weekend Australia and Fairfax Media shows that after 2024, when the last stage of the plan kicks in and the 37 per cent tax bracket is done away with, relief will almost entirely go to those earning between $120,000 and $200,000.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the figures put a hole in Labor claims that the cuts will favour the rich.

"Labor have no excuse - they know what the cost is for their plan and our plan," Mr Morrison told Fairfax Media on Saturday.

"They need to make a decision about whether they're going to commit to middle income tax relief in this country."
A view of the Israeli West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit on February 14, 2018

Israel said Thursday it will give final approval to the construction of 2,500 new homes in the occupied West Bank, the first tranche of settlements since the controversial US embassy move to Jerusalem.

The announcement was slammed by the Palestinians, as prospects of a peace accord between the sides appeared as distant as ever.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced his intention to request final approval from a planning committee for the building of 2,500 new homes in 30 West Bank settlements.

"The 2,500 new units we'll approve in the planning committee next week are for immediate construction in 2018," Lieberman said in a statement, adding he would also seek the committee's approval for a further 1,400 settlement units for later construction.

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said Washington was complicit in the latest move.

"The continuation of the settlement policy, statements by American officials supporting settlements and incitement by Israeli ministers have ended the two-state solution and ended the American role in the region," he said in a statement published by official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The 2,500 units include 400 homes in Ariel, 460 in Maale Adumim, 330 in the Etzion bloc, and a retirement home in Elkana, according to Lieberman.

Israel's West Bank planning committee was set to convene on Wednesday next week to discuss the request, though this was not officially confirmed.

"We're continuing the development momentum of the Judaea and Samaria settlements and are approving thousands of new units," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on his Twitter account, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

"We will soon approve more units."

- 'Torpedoing peace prospects' -

Israel's West Bank settlements are considered illegal under international law and are bitterly opposed by Palestinians.

Neighbouring Jordan, along with Egypt one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, slammed the latest move.

"Unilateral Israeli measures, in particular settlement plans, are systematically aimed at torpedoing any prospect of peace," Information Minister Mohamed Momani wrote in an Arabic-language statement.

In a recent appeal to the International Criminal Court, the Palestinian foreign ministry called Israeli settlements "the single most dangerous threat to Palestinian lives and livelihoods".

Thursday was the first major settlement announcement since the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, a move that infuriated Palestinians and intensified protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day.

Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

The Palestinians have said that in light of US President Donald Trump's decision to move the embassy, they could no longer trust Washington in its traditional role of brokering a peace deal with Israel.

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said that data, including Thursday's announcement, showed a leap in settlement-building during Trump's term so far.

"In the year and a half since President Trump took office some 14,454 units in the West Bank have been approved," the NGO said in a statement.

That, it added, "is more than three times the amount that was approved in the year and half before his inauguration (4,476 units)."

- US ambassador blasted -

US ambassador to Israel David Friedman maintains, however, that Trump "hasn't failed on the ultimate deal," the term the US president has used to describe peace with the Palestinians.

In a Wednesday interview with Israeli Channel 10, Friedman said Trump was working on a deal, which was expected to be presented "within months".

While Israel would expect to retain certain settlements in any two-state peace deal, longstanding international consensus has been that their status must be negotiated.

Friedman, who is Jewish and a longstanding supporter of Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is deeply unpopular among Palestinians.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in March labelled him a "son of a dog".

And on Wednesday Abbas's adviser for religious affairs, Mahmud Habbash, called Friedman a "terrorist settler", in comments published by WAFA.

That came after a picture was published in Israeli and Palestinian media of the ambassador being presented with a provocative photo of annexed east Jerusalem with the revered Al-Aqsa mosque erased and replaced by a simulation of a Jewish temple.

A US embassy statement said the doctored image was pushed in front of Friedman without his consent during a visit to a charitable institution in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.
Martinelli's lawyers filed a motion in a Miami federal court that indicated he would not move forward with an appeal of an August 2017 ruling that he could be extradited

Panama's former president Ricardo Martinelli, currently in a US prison and wanted in his own country on corruption and espionage charges, announced Thursday he would end his fight against extradition.

Martinelli, 66, is accused of embezzling public funds to create a network to spy on his political opponents while he was president from 2009 to 2014.

Martinelli's lawyers filed a motion in federal court in Miami indicating he would not move forward with an appeal of an August 2017 ruling that he could be extradited, court documents showed.

The former president, who had gone into exile in Miami in 2015, was arrested on June 12, 2017, and has been in federal prison ever since.

Now, his case will pass to the State Department, which will decide whether to go ahead with the extradition and under what conditions.

Lawyer Sidney Sitton told AFP Martinelli's goal was to "remain in the hands of the State Department to be sent to Panama," but under a clause that guarantees he will be prosecuted for only the crimes on which he will be extradited, and no others.

"I am accepting what the extradition treaty of 1905 says with its specialty clause. It is up to the State Department to make the final decision," Martinelli wrote in a letter dated Thursday.
An environment services vehichle enters the main gate of the Arkema plant that received major damage from flooding caused by Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey

A US oversight agency said Thursday that a flooded Arkema chemical plant in Texas, where organic compounds ignited during last year's Hurricane Harvey, was inadequately prepared for a catastrophic flood.

An investigation by the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) found that the French multinational company's plant outside of Houston relied on the judgment of its employees rather than official flood insurance maps to determine the amount of flood risk it faced.

But the agency added that chemical plants around the country have not received adequate guidance for dealing with major floods.

"The regulations do not specifically identify flood insurance maps and related studies as required process safety information," the CSB said.

Consequently, while Arkema had safety procedures in place for extreme weather, they proved no match for the historic floods that inundated parts of Texas as Hurricane Harvey deluged the region in late August 2017.

"Considering that extreme weather events are likely to increase in number and severity, the chemical industry must be prepared for worst case scenarios at their facilities," CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Sutherland said in a statement.

Arkema's facility in Crosby, Texas had a written hurricane preparedness plan. But the company based that plan "on the collective experience" of the facility's employees, instead of flood zone information compiled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the CSB found.

"Employees with decades of plant experience expected light flooding at the facility, but not enough to impair any safety systems," the report said.

As the Houston area flooded, workers at the plant moved volatile organic peroxides to cold storage trailers. The facility was inundated by six feet (1.8 meters) of water and some of the trailers failed, causing chemicals inside to overheat and ignite.

Hundreds of residents in a 1.5-mile radius around the plant were evacuated for a week, and nearly two dozen received medical treatment for exposure to fumes and smoke.

In a statement, Arkema said it was pleased with the report, because it "accurately depicts the unforeseeable nature" of Hurricane Harvey's flooding.

"If the floodwaters had only reached a 500-year flood level, the incident likely would have been prevented based on Arkema's existing policies and procedures," the company said.

Hurricane Harvey killed at least 68 people and flooded 300,000 structures in the Houston area, forcing some 40,000 people to flee their homes.
"We are delighted with this new (fact-checking) contract (with Facebook), which is testament to AFP's expertise and credibility in the verification of information", said AFP Global News Director Michele Leridon

Agence France-Presse (AFP) will launch fact-checking sites in English, Spanish and Portuguese with financial support from Facebook, the international news agency announced on Thursday.

The new websites, based on AFP's current Factuel site, will be dedicated to verifying and debunking fake news and disinformation spread online.

They will initially be dedicated to news from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, with three more countries to be added soon, and AFP journalists on the ground will contribute to the service.

The expanded collaboration between AFP and Facebook and is a continuation of a 2017 contract between the social media giant and five French news organisations, including AFP, the agency said in a statement.

"We're taking action to reduce the spread of misinformation on our platform, but we know we can't do it alone," said Facebook Product Manager Tessa Lyons.

"AFP is a well-respected news organisation with a deep understanding of local contexts in many countries around the world," she added.

"We are delighted with this new contract, which is testament to AFP's expertise and credibility in the verification of information", said AFP Global News Director Michele Leridon.

AFP will have full independence to choose what content is checked under the agreement, the agency said. Some of the fact-checks will be posted on Facebook and flagged to users.
Weinstein, whose career went down in flames over an avalanche of sexual abuse accusations, is expected to surrender to New York authorities on Friday morning

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to turn himself in to New York police on Friday to face sex crime charges, nearly eight months after his career collapsed in a blaze of assault accusations.

US media reported that the former movie powerbroker -- once the toast of Hollywood, with his films winning scores of Oscars -- had been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.

The New York Post said he would surrender to police, where he would likely have his mugshot and fingerprints taken, before being taken to a Manhattan court, where experts predicted he would plead not guilty.

The Manhattan district attorney's office and New York police have investigated Weinstein for months, coming under growing pressure from the Time's Up movement to bring the fallen producer to justice.

Any court appearance on Friday would mark the first criminal charges filed against the twice-married, disgraced former studio boss.

CNN, citing an unnamed source, reported Thursday evening that Weinstein would be charged with raping a woman and forcing another to perform oral sex on him.

The New York Times and New York Daily News had earlier reported the charges against Weinstein would relate to at least one accuser, Lucia Evans, who said he forced her into oral sex in 2004.

Ben Brafman, Weinstein's high-powered defense attorney, declined to comment Thursday. Neither the district attorney's office nor the police department immediately responded to requests to comment.

Police have, however, previously confirmed an active Weinstein investigation regarding Evans, who was an aspiring actress at the time.

New York police have also confirmed a credible rape allegation against Weinstein after "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta accused him of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010.

- 'Tried to get away' -

The mogul's career went down in flames last October over sexual assault allegations following bombshell articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment watershed across the United States and won both outlets a Pulitzer.

More than 100 women have since accused the 66-year-old of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back 40 years.

More than two dozen actresses including Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.

"We are one step closer to justice," McGowan was quoted as saying by Variety. "May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere."

Evans, now a marketing consultant, told The New Yorker that Weinstein approached her in a club in 2004 and that an assistant subsequently set up a daytime meeting at the Miramax office in Tribeca.

"He forced me to perform oral sex on him," she said. "I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,'" she added.

Eventually, she said, the burly executive "overpowered" her. "I just sort of gave up. That's the most horrible part of it, and that's why he's been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like it's their fault."

Weinstein denies any non-consensual sex and has reportedly been in treatment for sex addiction.

He is also reportedly under federal investigation by the US attorney's office in Manhattan.

Otherwise, he has been hit by a litany of civil lawsuits and The Weinstein Company -- which sacked him -- has filed for bankruptcy.

- 'Media circus' -

His wife, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, is now divorcing him with police investigations also ongoing in London and Los Angeles.

Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez (L) -- shown here with journalist Ronan Farrow in April in New York -- accused Weinstein of groping her in 2015, but prosecutors did not pursue the case, citing insufficient evidence

"It's going to be a media circus," Julie Rendelman, a criminal lawyer and former prosecutor, told AFP, warning that any trial -- let alone a criminal conviction -- would still be a long way off.

Sexual assault cases, particularly those that allegedly happened years ago, are notoriously hard to prosecute particularly as there is often little to no forensic evidence.

Weinstein hired Brafman, one of America's most celebrated criminal defense lawyers, last November, just days after New York police announced they were gathering evidence for a possible arrest warrant.

"You can expect him to fight very hard," said Rendelman of Brafman.

His past clients include former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who ultimately escaped criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, whose case against Strauss-Kahn fell apart, has been criticized for failing to bring a criminal case against Weinstein three years ago.

Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accused Weinstein of groping and harassing her in 2015, but the district attorney ultimately decided that evidence was insufficient to prosecute.

Acting on demand from the Time's Up movement led by top Hollywood actresses, authorities in March vowed to "review" that decision.
Recent events point to growing stresses between Washington and Beijing

President Donald Trump has often bragged of his friendship with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, but recent events point to growing stresses between Washington and Beijing.

This week, the Pentagon pulled its invitation for China to participate in maritime exercises in the Pacific, then Trump on Thursday scrapped a summit with North Korea after suggesting Xi may have exacerbated a breakdown in communications.

And all this against a backdrop of simmering trade tensions -- and a bizarre case involving a US official and a possible "sonic attack."

- Summit sunk -

Trump on Thursday scrapped the historic summit with Kim Jong Un -- set to take place June 12 in Singapore -- to discuss the "denuclearization" of North Korea.

Before he pulled the plug, Trump had suggested Xi might have played a role in a recent toughening of North Korean rhetoric.

"There was a difference when Kim Jong Un left China the second time," Trump said.

"There was a different attitude after that meeting and I was a little surprised. ... And I think things changed after that meeting so I can't say that I am happy about it."

On Monday, Trump suggested China might have prematurely eased up on enforcing economic sanctions against Pyongyang, a move that runs counter to the US leader's "maximum pressure" campaign.

China insists it is strictly enforcing sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council.

- Pacific exercise -

The Pentagon on Wednesday withdrew its invitation for China to join maritime exercises in the Pacific because of Beijing's "continued militarization" of the South China Sea.

China hit back at the decision to disinvite it from the Rim of the Pacific exercises, calling it "very non-constructive" and saying it was taken without due reflection.

"It's also a decision taken lightly and is unhelpful to mutual understanding between China and the US," China's Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi said.

- Trade war -

China and the US have stepped back from a potential trade war after Beijing officials were reported to have offered to slash the country's huge surplus by $200 billion.

But no formal deals have been struck, and China has denied that any figure was set during negotiations in Washington.

Trump -- who once accused China of "raping" the US -- said he was "not satisfied" with the agreement and the issue is sure to keep grating on relations with Beijing.

- Sonic strains -

On Wednesday, the US embassy in Beijing issued a warning after reporting that an employee in the southern city of Guangzhou was diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) apparently linked to "abnormal sounds."

"The medical indications are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

In Cuba last year, 24 diplomats and their family members were left with mysterious injuries resembling brain trauma, which were suspected of being caused by a "sonic attack."

China said it had investigated the issue but hadn't found that any organization or individual had "carried out such a sonic influence."
Otago Highlanders' wing Tevita Nabura (R) is suspended from Super Rugby until July 6 following his mid-air

Otago Highlanders' wing Tevita Nabura received a six-week suspension Friday for his mid-air karate kick to the face of NSW Waratahs' Cam Clark.

The kick, which came in the 18th minute of last Saturday's game earned Nabura a red card, with his departure proving pivotal as the Waratahs went on to end Australian teams' 40-match losing streak against New Zealand opposition.

The South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby (SANZAAR) judiciary committee said Nabura pleaded guilty to physically abusing a player by kicking.

"The player's action was seen by the committee as a misguided effort by an inexperienced player to both try and regain balance whilst in the air and ward off the approaching opposing player," it said.

The committee said it initially considered a 12-week ban but halved it due to "the player's excellent record, his remorse, his inexperience and his guilty plea".

The ban means Nabura is out until Friday, July 6, although he will only miss four Super Rugby matches, against the Queensland Reds, Wellington Hurricanes, Waikato Chiefs and Canterbury Crusaders.

He will be eligible to play for the Highlanders in the finals if they make the top eight.
Meteorite hunters roam Morocco's southern desert, braving the heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky

They roam Morocco's southern desert, braving the searing heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky.

These celestial treasure hunters are searching for meteorites to sell on a burgeoning international market.

Equipped with a "very strong" magnet and magnifying glass, retired physical education teacher Mohamed Bouzgarine says that discoveries "can be more valuable than gold".

The price "depends on the rock's rarity, its shape and its condition", the 59-year old adds, sporting a dark blue tracksuit, lighter blue scarf and sunglasses.

"Rocks coming from Mars are very expensive, sometimes as much as 10,000 dirhams (around $1,000, 900 euros) per gram," he says.

Bouzgarine stops in front of a hollow, hoping it could be a crater formed "very long ago" by extraterrestrial matter.

"It's a first sign," he says, ready to get down to work, in the township of M'Hamid el Ghizlane.

For four years now, he's been sifting rocks in the sand, inspecting them for telltale signs of burn incurred during fiery journeys through the atmosphere.

And while he is yet to strike it lucky, the success of some of his hundreds of peers provides the stamina to plod on.

- Rich hunting grounds -

Likewise Abderrahmane, a 48-year-old paramedic who is spending his vacation searching for meteorites.

Others "have made a lot of money... one meteorite hunter found and sold 600 grams for 7,500 dirhams (660 euros, $780) per gram," Abderrahmane says, dressed in a blue safari suit.

"From the 2000s, all the nomads started to look for rocks," he says.

The desert landscapes of Erfoud, Tata and Zagora in southern Morocco are rich hunting grounds for meteorites, as the wind uncovers them and their black hue is easy to spot against the pale sand

A few foreign specialists are also drawn to the quest for extraterrestrial fragments in the desert landscapes of Erfoud, Tata and Zagora.

These parts of southern Morocco are rich hunting grounds, as the wind uncovers meteorites and their black hue is easy to spot against the near-white sand.

"At least half the scientific publications on the subject are made on the basis of meteorites collected in Morocco," geochemist Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane tells AFP.

Desert zones are "favourable to the accumulation of meteorites, there is no vegetation... (and) ... the risk of alteration is low," adds Aoudjehane, who teaches at Casablanca's Hassan II university.

For scientists, these rocks harbour valuable information about the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, as well as the planets and their internal composition. One in every five meteorites is valuable.

Demand from scientists and specialist brokers has raised prices and inspired meteorite hunters.

Unlike other countries, where the state stakes a claim, there is no legal framework governing discoveries in Morocco, so it's a case of "finders keepers".

While several meteor showers have occurred in Morocco in recent years, a bonanza known as the "black beauty" was the most lucrative.

- 'Like playing the lottery' -

In 2011, fragments of this Martian landing fell in southern Morocco's Tata region, setting in motion a scramble that saw seven kilograms of fragments recovered.

The haul fetched prices of between $500 and $1,000 per gram.

A meteorite hunter searches for rocks near the town of M'hamid el-Ghizlane, in southern Morocco. Unlike other countries, where the state stakes a claim, there is no legal framework governing discoveries in Morocco, so it's a case of 'finders keepers'.

Back on the desert plains, it can be frustrating work, requiring a lot of patience.

Twenty days into his "holiday", paramedic Abderrahmane has been "searching for fragments" without finding anything of note, he says.

But he remains undeterred.

"It is a question of luck -- it's like playing the lottery," he smiles.

And he knows how he will handle a major find.

"The sale is made discreetly -- it is necessary to get the vendor's confidence," he says.

Transactions are also made online, in specialist forums and even on classified advertising sites.

The most valuable finds are sold at auction in Paris or New York.

"What one finds in the (local) souks are just odds and ends," says Abderrahmane.

And there's not much money to be made at the bottom end of the meteorite sales chain.

Slimane, an old man with a white beard and blue turban, sits under a tent in a souk in M'hamid, surrounded by coloured fabrics, outdated jewels and old coins.

He dips into a leather satchel, retrieving some rocks accumulated over the years.

But they're "not worth much", he confesses.

"I have not risen above penury through rocks," he laments, arms raised to the sky.
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit Beijing next week to resume talks with Chinese officials, state media says, as the two sides seek to avoid a trade war

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit Beijing next week to resume talks with Chinese officials, state media said Friday, as the two sides seek to avoid a trade war.

Ross's June 2-4 visit was confirmed in a phone call with China's pointman on economic matters, Vice Premier Liu He, on Friday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Liu visited Washington last week for high-level talks that ended with the world's two biggest economies agreeing to back off slapping tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods.

Both sides have extended olive branches since the weekend, with China announcing on Tuesday that it will cut auto import tariffs from July 1.

For his part, President Donald Trump said his administration could impose a new fine of as much as $1.3 billion on embattled Chinese telecom company ZTE to replace crippling sanctions imposed last month that threatened to put the firm out of business.

At the same time, Trump said he was "not satisfied" with the recent talks.

The Chinese commerce ministry denied on Thursday that it had set a target to cut its trade surplus with the United States, though it said Beijing would seek to increase US imports.

Chinese officials were reported to have offered to slash the country's huge surplus by $200 billion -- meeting a key Washington demand -- by ramping up imports from the United States.

That was followed on Monday by President Donald Trump tweeting that China will buy "massive amounts" of additional American agriculture products.
Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, who worked for the newspaper El Financiero, was found dead in a pool of blood at her home in Monterrey, Mexico

A female journalist was found dead Thursday at her home in Mexico with stab wounds to the back of the neck, the state attorney general's office said.

Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, 52, was found by her children, who were upstairs at the time and did not hear anything awry, the office said.

The woman "was on the floor, face down, in a pool of blood having suffered blows," a source from the Nuevo Leon state prosecutor's office told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The death was confirmed by El Financiero newspaper, where she had worked since January. Editor Mauricio Mejia called for an "urgent... official response" to the death on social media.

Authorities have not established a motive for the crime.

Diaz's colleagues told AFP she reported on local business activity and financial issues, not "sensitive" information such as drug trafficking.

Still, the National Human Rights Commission urged authorities to focus their investigation on Diaz's line of work.

Last week, journalist Juan Carlos Huerta was shot dead as he left his home in a suburb of Villahermosa in southeast Mexico.

His murder took place one year after Javier Valdez, who received international recognition for his coverage of drug trafficking, was gunned down in broad daylight in his native Culiacan, Sinaloa, where powerful cartels operate.

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist, with more than 100 reporters killed since 2000. Most of those crimes remain unpunished.
Iranian Leila Daneshvar (centre left), Managing Director at KTMA, works with engineers at the company's factory in Tehran's Shahriar neighbourhood, on May 17, 2018.

She fought through a male-dominated world to become perhaps Iran's first female manufacturing boss, and was on the cusp of major success with the help of a European investor.

Until Donald Trump brought her crashing back to earth.

When Leila Daneshvar was a little girl, she used to sit on the floor of her father's workshop, asking for small jobs.

"He was a mechanic, and I always had the most fun when I was in the garage with him," she told AFP.

"But in those days, there were no mechanical careers in Iran, so I went to college in India. Even there, I was the only girl in my year of 139 students. I had a hard time."

But she persevered. Now 37, she runs her own company in Iran, making mobility equipment for hospitals and the elderly.

"I went to Europe and saw how disabled people live happy, independent lives. I wished my own people had this equipment, and I thought: 'This doesn't look complicated. I'm a mechanical engineer -- I can do it.'"

The breakthrough for the company, called KTMA and selling under the brand "Lord", came in early 2016, just after Iran's nuclear deal with world powers came into force, lifting international sanctions.

Within a couple of months, a Swedish investor, Anna Russberg, had agreed to buy 25 percent of the company, bringing much-needed business acumen and capital.

Iranian Leila Daneshvar, whose company manufactures mobility equipment for hospitals and the elderly, is pictured at her factory in Tehran's Shahriar neighbourhood, on May 17, 2018.

"Leila had a reputation for quality production, which was practically unknown here. But I needed to turn the business upside-down," said Anna.

"It worked. People could tell we were a good mix. We respect each other's knowledge. She's the engineer, I'm the businesswoman."

Being women in Iran's patriarchal business world could be tricky, but also an advantage.

"Hijab is difficult when you're a manufacturer. You have to climb things, go below things," said Leila, laughing.

"But being a woman has its advantages. Everyone remembers you."

Anna added: "People don't know how to treat us exactly, which is useful in negotiations."

- 'Breaks my heart' -

Things were looking up: low production costs meant they could charge five times less than foreign firms and they were doubling sales each year, finally landing a major contract with Qatari hospitals.

But then Trump happened.

Even before he pulled the US out of the nuclear deal, the American president's constant threats to reimpose sanctions had a chilling effect on trade.

It soon became hard to import crucial raw materials, particularly stainless steel.

"We already had problems in getting raw materials... and now it's impossible. Either I have to close the factory, or have to continue with much higher prices," said Leila.

"We had to let four or five workers go last month because we couldn't pay their salaries, and it breaks my heart."

She watched Trump deliver his speech on May 8, reimposing sanctions on Iran, with a mix of horror and fury, particularly when he claimed to be on the side of the Iranian people against their government.

"That made me so angry. These sanctions are not on the government, it's on the people. I can give less to disabled people, to the elderly. Our saying was that we are providing European quality with affordable prices. Can I do that anymore? I don't know."

Anna remains defiantly positive.

"Iran has 10 million older or injured people who can use our product. With or without Trump, we still have a business," she said.

But whether or not the business can survive the Trump administration's vow to "crush" the Iranian economy with sanctions, it is already clear that investors like Anna are no longer coming to Iran.

The dream of the nuclear deal -- that hundreds of small businesses would blossom with European support, creating an important constituency supporting good relations with the West -- was dead long before Trump finally yanked the US out of the agreement.

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"It's a real pity. Being an investor in Iran is a rollercoaster -- you take one step forward, three steps back. But it's an amazing country with great opportunities," Anna said.

Leila stays positive by remembering her father, who passed away last month.

"When I become weak and tired... I remember his strength," she said.

"There is no going back. Iran faces so many problems, but I learned from him that the strength is inside me, and my partner. When we believe we can do it, we will do it."
Taiwan scrambled fighter jets to shadow Chinese bombers conducting drills to the north and south of the island, as Beijing steps up military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei

Taiwan on Friday scrambled fighter jets to shadow Chinese bombers conducting a drill around the island, just hours after Beijing welcomed Burkina Faso's move to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it had dispatched fighter jets to monitor two Chinese H-6 bombers that were flying over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and the Miyako Strait, near Japan's Okinawa Island.

"We are fully monitoring the situation and taking efficient responsive measures to ensure defence security," it said in a statement.

The scrambling comes a day after Burkina Faso became the second of Taiwan's dwindling number of formal allies to jump ship to Beijing in a month.

China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on the self-ruled island, which it views as a wayward province to be reunified by force if necessary.

Relations have deteriorated between Beijing and Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power two years ago as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China".

Tsai's tenure has already seen the loss of three allies to China, with the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Sao Tome and Principe all switching allegiance since 2016.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang praised Burkina Faso on Friday for making the "correct decision" and that it would not be "unexpected" if the west African state were to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing in the future.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which is in charge of China ties, announced late Thursday that Chinese officials applying to visit the island would be subject to tighter screening, without elaborating.

The move aims to "prevent the Chinese communists from dividing and disturbing social order in Taiwan with their unification propaganda measures", it said in a statement.

Taiwan now has just 18 formal allies who recognise its government instead of Beijing.

For its part, Beijing has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains the island's most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties.

President Tsai warned China Thursday that Taiwan would not tolerate what she called its "crude behaviour to undermine our sovereignty".

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tendered his resignation after Burkina Faso's announcement, but said Friday that he would stay on in the position at the president's request.
Indonesian police will now be allowed to detain terror suspects for as long as 21 days, up from the current one week

Indonesia passed a new law Friday that will give police more power to take pre-emptive action against terror suspects following the country's deadliest Islamist attacks in years.

The bill had been stalled for almost two years as parliament wrangled over key details, including how to define terrorism.

But a wave of deadly suicide bombings on churches and a police station this month -- claimed by the Islamic State group -- heaped pressure on lawmakers to pass the legislation.

President Joko Widodo threatened to issue an emergency regulation if parliament failed to pass the beefed-up law.

Police will now be allowed to detain terror suspects for as long as 21 days, up from the current one week, and they will also be able to charge people for joining or recruiting for a "terrorist" organisation, at home or abroad.

Hundreds of Indonesians flocked to Syria and Iraq in recent years to fight alongside IS and many have since returned, but police had previously been powerless to arrest them.

The revamped law also carries tougher jail terms and opens the door to the military playing a bigger role in Indonesia's counter-terrorism efforts.

But the military's patchy rights record has raised concerns among activists who said the bill's vague wording could lead to a crackdown on any group seen as a threat.

Jakarta should instead focus on improving programmes to deradicalise militants, said Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

"I don't see this new law as the ultimate cure to eradicate terrorism," he said.

"It's time for a sober assessment of why most deradicalisation programmes have not worked."

Open discrimination against minorities -- including Christians, the ethnic Chinese population and LGBT community -- were emboldening Islamist radicals in the world's biggest Muslim majority country, Harsono added.

The suicide attacks in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya, which killed 13, were committed by two families, including a nine and 12-year-old girl.

The families were part of the same religious study group and had ties to an extremist network allied to Islamic State.

Indonesia -- which is set to host the Asian Games in three months and an IMF-World Bank meeting in Bali in October -- has long struggled with Islamist militancy.

Security forces arrested hundreds of militants during a sustained crackdown since the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Most attacks in recent years have been limited to low-level operations against security forces, but police said they needed beefed-up terror laws to crack down on homegrown militancy.
At least 11 activists were arrested last week in Saudi Arabia, mostly identified by rights groups as veteran women campaigners for the right to drive

Saudi authorities have released four detained activists but arrested another one, pressing ahead with a sweeping crackdown just a month before the kingdom lifts its ban on women drivers, campaigners said Friday.

Walaa al-Shubbar, said to be in her 20s, is the latest activist to be freed after at least 11 were arrested last week, mostly identified by rights groups as veteran women campaigners for the right to drive and to end the conservative Islamic country's male guardianship system.

Campaigners including Amnesty International earlier confirmed the release of Aisha al-Mana, Hessa al-Sheikh and Madeha al-Ajroush, elderly activists well-known for being part of a group that launched the first Saudi protest movement in 1990 for the right to drive.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials and the terms of their release have not been made public.

Meanwhile, authorities late Thursday arrested Mohammed al-Bajadi, co-founder of the Association for Civil and Political Rights (ACPRA), one of the few independent human rights groups in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty said.

"The arrest of Mohammad al-Bajadi means that the Saudi Arabian authorities have continued their crackdown on the human rights community," Samah Hadid, Amnesty International's Middle East director of campaigns, told AFP.

"This is a worrying development and we call on the government to release all human rights defenders immediately."

Bajadi was sentenced to 10 year in prison in 2015 by what campaigners called a court focused on terrorism cases, but was subsequently released.

Previously jailed in 2011, he went on a hunger strike for weeks after he was held for attending a protest in Riyadh, according to campaigners.

Saudi officials have so far not commented on his latest arrest.

- 'Smear campaign' -

Authorities last week accused the detained women's rights activists of "suspicious contact with foreign parties", providing financial support to hostile nations and attempting to undermine the kingdom's "security and stability".

The names of the four released activists did not appear in reports of state-backed media that branded the detainees traitors and "agents of embassies".

Amnesty denounced the reports as a "chilling smear campaign".

The detainees include three generations of activists, among them 28-year-old Loujain al-Hathloul, also held in 2014 for more than 70 days for attempting to drive from neighbouring United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia, and Aziza al-Yousef, a retired professor at Riyadh's King Saud University.

Their fate remains unclear. Pro-government Okaz newspaper has suggested that some of the detained could face up to 20 years in prison.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights voiced concern that Hathloul, one of the most outspoken activists, was being held incommunicado, while other campaigners said the detainees had no access to lawyers and their whereabouts were unknown.

The crackdown has sparked a torrent of global criticism, casting a shadow on the kingdom's much-publicised liberalisation push launched by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who recently undertook a world tour aimed at reshaping his kingdom's austere image.

The self-styled reformer has sought to break with long-held restrictions on women and the mixing of the genders, with the decades-old driving ban on women slated to end June 24.

"The crown prince, who has styled himself as a reformer with Western allies and investors, should be thanking the activists for their contributions to the Saudi women's rights movement," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"Instead, the Saudi authorities appear to be punishing these women's rights champions for promoting a goal bin Salman alleges to support -- ending discrimination against women."

In September last year, Saudi authorities arrested dozens of people, including prominent clerics and intellectuals, in what activists called a coordinated crackdown on dissent as the crown prince consolidates his grip on power.
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry was in New Delhi recently to promote LNG exports

The United States produces natural gas in abundance and is poised to become the world's third-largest exporter by 2020, a production ramp-up supported by President Donald Trump.

Thanks to advances in shale gas production, notably in the northeast, America has been the world's largest natural gas producer since 2009 and extracted two billion cubic meters per day in 2017.

The United States is now seeking fresh international export markets for the product.

"This 2018-2019 time period was always flagged as being a crossroads in the global natural gas conversation," said Breanne Dougherty, head of natural gas research at Societe Generale.

The United States already exports some of this bounty through pipelines to Canada and Mexico.

But to reach more distant markets, US industry is betting on liquefied natural gas, which can be exported by ship.

LNG exports began to grow in 2016 when for the first time Cheniere Energy chartered a tanker from its gas terminal at Sabine Pass in Louisiana. Prior to that, US exports had come solely from an Alaskan terminal that closed in 2015.

LNG exports quadrupled in a year and the United States became a net exporter in 2017 for the first time in 60 years.

More than half of this went three countries: Mexico, South Korea and China. About a third was bound for Europe.

Shipments are due to soar even higher since Dominion Energy brought a new terminal online in Cove Point, Maryland in March, with four other projects due to be completed by the end of next year.

- Trump and US 'energy dominance' -

This should bring US exports to 272 million cubic meters a day.

As a result, according to the US Energy Information Agency, the United States should become the world's third-largest LNG exporter by 2020, behind Australia and Qatar.

American exporters can expect to find eager buyers. The International Energy Agency estimates demand should grow by 1.6 percent a year through 2040, compared to growth of 0.5 percent for oil and 0.2 percent for coal.

Trump is encouraging this effort.

After calling US "energy dominance" last year, Trump has several times hailed the virtues of American natural gas, saying for example during a visit to Poland last summer that European countries had an interest in diversifying their sources of supply.

Asia is also a particular target. The IEA said 80 percent of the growth in demand expected between now and 2040 should come from emerging markets, China and India chief among them.

European officials say they suspect Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which could hold down Iranian gas production, and his recent critical remarks about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline intended to link Russia and Germany, could also serve as a means of expanding US export markets.

Dougherty said it would be an exaggeration to assume such considerations were Trump's main motive, but she noted that "There is no doubt that there are energy implications associated with these geopolitical decisions."
Harvey Weinstein, center, was led out of the New York City Police Department's First Precinct in handcuffs

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape and a sex crime in New York on Friday, in what was hailed a landmark for the #MeToo movement, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of accusations of misconduct.

The former mogul -- once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars -- smirked as he was escorted into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs to face the first criminal charges lodged against him.

Weinstein, a 66-year-old twice-married father of five, was charged with rape in the first and third degrees, stemming from an attack on a woman in 2013, and a criminal sex act against another woman in 2004. Neither victim was named.

"Today's charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, thanking "brave survivors" for coming forward and urging others to call a sex crimes hotline.

Standing alongside his defense attorney, the former Tinseltown powerbroker looked glum during the brief arraignment, agreeing to post bail at $1 million cash, surrender his passport and be fitted with a GPS monitoring device.

Weinstein's career went down in flames in October over sexual assault allegations following explosive articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment reckoning across the United States, in multiple industries.

Nearly 100 women have now accused Weinstein of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back decades.

New York authorities have been investigating the disgraced producer for months, under growing pressure from Hollywood actresses to bring him to justice, and their probes are ongoing.

Weinstein already faces a slew of civil lawsuits, is reportedly under federal investigation, and his former studio has filed for bankruptcy.

But these were the first criminal charges against Weinstein.

Defense attorney Ben Brafman told reporters that his client would plead not guilty and still denied any non-consensual sexual activity.

"We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges," Brafman said.

"Bad behavior is not on trial," he added. "Mr Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood."

His case was adjourned until July 30.

- Handcuffs -

Harvey Weinstein (C) signs documents at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court

The former studio boss surrendered to police shortly before 7:30 am (1130 GMT) wearing a white shirt, pale blue sweater and dark blazer, as dozens of television cameras and photographers mobbed the street outside.

He walked into the station clutching several books, apparently including the Rodgers and Hammerstein biography "Something Wonderful" and a volume on late director Elia Kazan.

He left handcuffed, without the books, after his mugshots and fingerprints were taken.

Police said he was "arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct."

Out on bail, Weinstein's travel will be restricted to New York and the neighboring state of Connecticut.

- 'Inevitable descent to hell' -

The Harvey Weinstein scandal chronology and some of his accusers

Former actress Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004, is thought to be one of the women whose cases triggered the New York charges.

New York police previously confirmed another credible rape allegation after "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta accused the former producer of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010.

Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are among more than two dozen actresses who say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.

"I have to admit I didn't think I would see the day that he would have handcuffs on him," McGowan told ABC television.

"Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice," tweeted Argento.

The Time's Up anti-harassment movement -- launched on January 1 -- said the producer "shattered the lives of an untold number of women," adding that it looked "forward to seeing justice prevail."

The #MeToo movement has seen people around the world come forward with cases of sexual mistreatment, leading to the downfall of powerful men across industries, including Oscar winner Kevin Spacey.

Weinstein has reportedly spent months in treatment for sex addiction. His fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, has left him.

But for all the media circus, experts warn that any trial -- let alone a criminal conviction -- would still be a long way off.

Sexual assault cases, particularly those that allegedly happened years ago, are notoriously difficult to prosecute and often lack substantive forensic evidence.

Weinstein's lawyer is one of America's most celebrated criminal defense attorneys. His past clients include former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who escaped criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011.
The arrrest of Luang Pu Buddha Issara, who ran a key Bangkok protest camp in the months before the coup, has surprised a public used to the monk's pro-junta diatribes

A firebrand Buddhist monk has been disrobed after being charged over the sale of amulets with fake royal seals, Thai police said Friday, a dramatic fall from grace for a cleric who helped lead protests that toppled the former government.

The junta that seized power in 2014 after those protests has in recent months taken a strong line with Thailand's powerful Buddhist clergy after several major financial scandals.

But the arrest of Luang Pu Buddha Issara, who ran a key Bangkok protest camp in the months before the coup, has surprised a public used to the monk's pro-junta diatribes.

He was charged with faking endorsements by revered late King Bhumibol of sacred amulets he was selling online, according to Major General Maitri Chimcherd, the commander of the Crime Suppression Division.

"The court denied his bail request," Maitri said, adding that he was defrocked.

The complaint emerged after a collector of amulets, highly prized as lucky charms in Thailand, found the monk's website was selling items purporting to have palace support.

"When I checked on the website there was no evidence of official permission to use royal initials," Vichai Prasertsudsiri told AFP.

Misappropriating the palace name is a dangerous game in Thailand, where the monarchy is shielded by one of the world's strictest lese majeste laws.

Issara avoided the royal defamation charge, but still could face a maximum 20 years in jail under the forgery allegation.

Monks are formally outlawed from political roles but for several years Issara straddled the religious and the secular sphere as a hardline critic of the former government of Yingluck Shinawatra.

He played a key galvanising role in the raucous and deadly street protests four years ago that the military used to justify taking power.

He was also charged over the alleged torture of two undercover police officers who had infiltrated his protest site.

His arrest came amid a sweep of several other senior monks in a multi-million-dollar embezzlement probe.
Oleg Deripaska has close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian aluminium giant Rusal said Friday that Oleg Deripaska has resigned his seat on the board, a key step in the company's efforts to escape US sanctions targeting its founder and key shareholder.

"Mr Oleg Deripaska, non-executive director of the company, has tendered his resignation as a director of the company with effect from 25 May 2018," Rusal said.

In a statement it said the resignation was in line with "the efforts that have been made by the management of the group to protect the interests of the company and its shareholders since the OFAC sanctions were imposed."

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced fresh sanctions against Russia last month following the diplomatic crisis sparked by the poisoning on Britain of former double agent Sergei Skripal.

The sanctions hit oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, including Deripaska.

The announcement prompted the shares of the firm responsible for seven percent of the world's aluminium production to tumble while the price of the metal soared.

Manufacturers feared they would no longer be able to purchase supplies from the firm, potentially snarling production in many sectors of the US economy and elsewhere.

Faced with the market turmoil, the US government then indicated Rusal could avoid being caught up in the sanctions by cutting ties with Deripaska, one of the so-called Specially Designated Nationals targeted by the sanctions.

On Thursday, Rusal announced that its chief executive and half of its board of directors had resigned.

Deripaska, who is the major shareholder in Rusal via a holding company, had already indicated he would not seek reappointment to the board and would reduce his stake.
An image grab taken from an AFPTV video shows people walking through flood water as they evacuate a flooded area during a cyclone in the Yemeni island of Socotra

Cyclone Mekunu on Friday lashed southern Oman with high winds and rain, killing at least one person and wounding three a day after wreaking havoc on the Yemeni island of Socotra.

Oman's directorate general of meteorology said the centre of the cyclone struck west of Salalah, the second largest city in the Gulf state, late Friday accompanied with strong winds, torrential rains and high tides.

"Latest observations show that the centre of the cyclone hit the coast of Dhofar province," west of Salalah, the main city in the province, the directorate said in its latest warning.

State-run Oman Television showed footage of large areas covered with floods in Dhofar and the nearby Al-Wusta provinces.

Dozens of vehicles were seen submerged in several areas.

Head of the directorate Abdullah al-Khoduri told Oman TV that the cyclone, which intensified to category 2 early Friday, was downgraded to category 1 after losing some of its strength.

He said it would weaken further Saturday morning into a tropical storm and gradually diminish into a tropical depression before hitting the southern parts of Saudi Arabia.

The cyclone also hit areas in southeast Yemen neighbouring Oman.

Thousands of residents near the coastal areas in the two provinces have been evacuated to safer shelters as winds up to of 170 kilometres (105 miles) per hour and torrential rainfall lashed the coastal areas, officials said.

Civil defence authorities said they had set up 65 shelter centres in the two affected provinces.

Police said a 12-year old girl died when a gust of wind sent her smashing into a wall. Three Asians who were wounded by the cyclone were rescued.

Police also said that civil defence teams had rescued dozens of people who were trapped because of floods.

Civil defence said it had evacuated 10,000 people from schools and government buildings, mainly in the city of Salalah which has a population of 200,000.

Authorities have urged other residents to stay indoors.

Strong winds had already generated 12-metre-high (40-foot-high) waves offshore of the sultanate.

The civil aviation authority closed Salalah airport until midnight on Saturday.

On Thursday, the storm pummelled the island of Socotra in war-torn Yemen, leaving at least 19 people missing, causing severe flooding and material damage.

Yemen's fisheries minister Fahad Kafin said that of those missing, 14 were Indian sailors who were at the island's port when the cyclone struck.

He told AFP that authorities have recovered the bodies of the five Yemeni nationals and two Indians and were still searching for the remaining 12.

Later, Socotro governor Ramzy Mahrous told Saba news agency that four sailors who were missing were found alive on Friday.

Kafin said that 1,000 families were evacuated to safety after there homes were affected by flooding.

Saudi teams on the island managed to open the main road between the island's capital and its airport, he said.

The government declared the island in the northwest Indian Ocean, part of a UNESCO-protected archipelago for its rich biodiversity, a "disaster" zone.

Saudi troops were deployed to Socotra earlier this month following tensions over an Emirati military presence on the island.

The Yemeni high relief agency met with international humanitarian organisations in Aden late Thursday to discuss the situation, the country's Saba news agency reported.

They decided to set up 11 relief centres in Socotra to provide shelter for evacuees.

In 2007, Cyclone Gonu tore through Oman, killing at least 49 people and causing damage estimated at $3.9 billion (3.3 billion euros).
Iraqi election registrars help a woman to place her ballot through an electronic counting machine at a a polling station in the Wadi Hajar district of Mosul on May 12, 2018

Iraqi authorities have launched an inquiry into this month's parliamentary elections after intelligence services found that the voting machines used were vulnerable to hacking.

The May 12 poll delivered a shock win for populist cleric Moqtada Sadr, who faces a huge task to form a governing coalition despite winning the most seats in parliament.

But with the results yet to be ratified by Iraq's Supreme Court, a government official told parliament on Thursday that intelligence services had conducted tests which showed it was possible to hack voting machines and manipulate the results.

The cabinet decided to form a commission "to study reports and information on the electoral process" and make recommendations, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised address.

Experts said the probe could lead to anything from local recounts to the entire vote being annulled.

Multiple candidates and parties are expected to appeal the results of Iraq's first poll since the defeat of the Islamic State group.

Limited recounts have already been ordered in the flashpoint multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk, where clashes between communities prompted authorities to impose an overnight curfew.

The International Crisis Group said Thursday it was "deeply concerned" about the possibility of further inter-ethnic violence there and called for a recount "to restore confidence in the institutions vital to manage deeper divisions over the contested, oil-rich area".
Part of the BUK-TELAR rocket which brought down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 displayed by investigation officials who say it came from a Russian military unit based in Kursk into rebel controlled territory in eastern Ukraine

The Netherlands and Australia are holding Russia "accountable" for the 2014 downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, Dutch officials said Friday, in a move likely to lead to legal action.

The two countries "hold Russia responsible for its part in the downing" of the Malaysia Airlines flight, the Dutch government said in a statement.

The two countries may now move towards submitting the complex dossier to an international judge or organisation, it added.

The move came a day after investigators concluded that the Russian-made BUK missile which smashed into the plane in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a Russian military brigade in Kursk.

All 298 people on board the flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed. Most were Dutch, but there were 17 nationalities including Australian on board.

"The downing of flight MH17 caused unimaginable suffering," said Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok a day after the latest findings from the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the disaster.

"On the basis of the JIT's conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the BUK installation that was used to down MH17," he added.

"The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable."

The government said state liability was invoked in cases where nations violate international law, but warned it was a "complex legal process and there are several ways to do this."

"This is the legal avenue that the Netherlands and Australia have now chosen to pursue," the statement added.

Moscow has rejected Thursday's accusations, saying no such weapon had ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The Russian foreign ministry denounced what it called an attempt to "discredit Russia in the eyes of the international community".

But investigators, who painstaking recreated the BUK missile system's route from Kursk across the border into rebel-held eastern Ukraine, said they stood by their findings.

The Joint Investigation Team "has come to the conclusion that the BUK-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia," top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen said.

"The 53rd Brigade forms part of the Russian armed forces," he told reporters Thursday.

Investigation officials have not yet said who actually fired the missile after it arrived in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, stressing that the investigation continues.
Oleg Deripaska has close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian aluminium giant Rusal said Friday that Oleg Deripaska has resigned his seat on the board, a key step in the company's efforts to escape US sanctions targeting its founder and key shareholder.

The firm, a major supplier for industrial companies around the world, has been intensifying its efforts to show Washington its determination to become independent from Deripaska, who is on a US blacklist.

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced fresh sanctions against Russia last month following a major diplomatic crisis sparked by the poisoning in Britain of former double agent Sergei Skripal.

The sanctions hit oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, including Deripaska.

That announcement prompted the shares of the firm responsible for seven percent of the world's aluminium production to tumble while the price of the metal soared.

Manufacturers feared they would no longer be able to purchase supplies from the firm, potentially snarling production in many sectors of the US economy and elsewhere.

Faced with the market turmoil, the US government then indicated Rusal could avoid being caught up in the sanctions by cutting ties with Deripaska, one of the so-called Specially Designated Nationals targeted by the sanctions.

Deripaska's resignation was his most concrete step so far to comply with Washington's conditions. He had only previously indicated he wouldn't seek reappointment next month to Rusal's board, and pledged to reduce his stake in the firm.

- Is it enough? -

Rusal said in a statement on Friday that Deripaska has tendered his resignation from the board, effective immediately, and that the move was part of "the efforts that have been made ... to protect the interests of the company and its shareholders since the OFAC sanctions were imposed."

Even as the 50-year-old billionaire distanced himself from the company, Rusal on Thursday purged itself of the directors Deripaska had appointed, with half of the board as well as the chief executive officer submitting their resignations.

Russian government officials also confirmed Rusal has approached the government for assistance as the prospect of the US sanctions has scared away clients.

"Aluminium has so far done very little despite the news of Deripaska resigning as a director of Rusal in an attempt to ease sanctions against the company," said Matt France, an analyst at the Marex Spectron commodities brokerage.

"It remains to be seen if this is enough to change the US view on a potential divestment or not," he added.

Analysts at Commerzbank noted that one condition for the United States lifting the sanctions is that Deripaska relinquishes control of Rusal.

"This has not happened yet," they wrote in a note to clients.

"All the same, we see Deripaska's resignation as another step towards an easing of the situation on the aluminium market," adding that it is "probable" that the sanctions against the firm would be lifted in the coming months.

Shares in Rusal closed 1.5 percent lower in Hong Kong.

- Fear of sanctions -

Meanwhile, shares in EN+, the holding company through which Deripaska holds the stake in Rusal, rose 2 percent in morning trading in Moscow, but are still trading at less than half the price they did in early April.

A Putin aide confirmed on Friday a proposal to support Rusal, a day after a government source told journalists Deripaska had sought to have the state buy some of its aluminium.

Putin advisor Andrei Belousov told RIA Novosti state news agency such a proposal does exist but declined to comment on the state's position about intervening to help the firm.

Rusal employs tens of thousands of people, and some of its facilities are the only employer in their localities.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Thursday the Russian state would provide the firm with loans at market rates if banks refuse to lend to Rusal for fear of falling foul of US sanctions.
Sister Patricia Fox, 71, has been accused of illegally engaging in political activism

An elderly Australian nun facing deportation after angering Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched a last-minute appeal against the order on Friday, the deadline for her to leave the country.

Sister Patricia Fox, 71, has been accused of illegally engaging in political activism as the government cracks down on foreign critics on its soil.

Duterte, who accuses the Melbourne native of "disorderly conduct", had the immigration service detain her briefly last month, after which her missionary visa was cancelled.

"Of course my wish is to continue my missionary work here and be with the poor," Fox told reporters after filing her appeal with the justice ministry, which oversees immigration.

Fox had earlier filed an appeal with the immigration service, which this week upheld the deportation order asking the nun, who has been in the Philippines for nearly three decades, to leave by Friday.

However, on Thursday the immigration service's spokesman Dana Sandoval told AFP her office "will submit to any directive that may come from" the justice ministry. Sandoval did not return calls for comment Friday.

Lawyer Katherine Panguban said Fox's legal team was studying other options in case the justice ministry rejects her appeal.

"We will exhaust all administrative and judicial remedies available," she said.

Authorities have previously said she would be allowed to remain while her appeals are pending.

Fox told AFP earlier this month she apparently angered the president by joining a fact-finding mission in April to investigate alleged abuses against farmers, including killings and evictions by soldiers fighting guerrillas in the southern Philippines.

"You insult me under the cloak of being a Catholic priest, and you are a foreigner! Who are you? It is a violation of sovereignty," Duterte said in a speech last month, apparently referring to Fox.

Duterte has also launched verbal attacks against critics of his government's narcotics crackdown, which has killed thousands of alleged dealers and users.

Last month Manila also deported Italian Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had previously condemned "extra-judicial killings" in Duterte's anti-drug war.
Several international airlines still listed Taiwan as a separate country on their websites on Friday despite a deadline set by Beijing for carriers to refer to the self-governed island as a Chinese territory.

The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration sent a notice to 36 foreign airlines last month, asking them to comply with Beijing's standards of referring to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as Chinese territories, in a move described by the White House as 'Orwellian nonsense.'

According to a copy of the letter circulating on Chinese social media, it was dated April 25 and gave carriers 30 days to comply, indicating a deadline of May 25. AFP could not verify the authenticity of the document.

AFP found at least eight foreign airlines were still listing Taiwan as a country on their websites as of Friday

But AFP found at least eight foreign airlines were still listing Taiwan as a country on their websites as of Friday, including United, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, All Nippon Airways and Qantas.

A spokesperson for Qantas told AFP that Chinese authorities have given the Australian carrier 'additional time to further clarify how we refer to Chinese territories'.

Around a dozen other airlines including Air Canada, Air France, British Airways and Germany's Lufthansa list Taiwan as a Chinese territory, though it is unclear when they started referring to the island that way.

The Taiwanese foreign ministry last week requested Air Canada for a 'speedy correction' after the carrier made the changes.

China sees democratic Taiwan (pictured) - which has never formally declared independence from the mainland - as a renegade part of its territory to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary

China's Civil Aviation administration declined to comment on when the deadline was or how many airlines have complied with their request.

The letter did not clarify the punishment for non-compliance, only saying it would be deemed as 'serious discreditable conduct'.

China sees democratic Taiwan - which has never formally declared independence from the mainland - as a renegade part of its territory to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, a British colony until 1997, and Macau, a Portuguese colony until 1999, are now 'special administrative regions' of China.

Beijing has become increasingly sensitive to how foreign firms describe them, pressuring numerous international brands in recent months to amend language perceived as slights to its national sovereignty.

US retailer Gap Inc. apologised last week for selling a T-shirt which it said had an 'incomplete map' of China.

Japanese retailer Muji was fined 200,000 yuan ($31,000) for packaging that identified Taiwan as a separate country, Shanghai's administration for industry and commerce said last month.

Washington has maintained a delicate diplomatic balance since 1979, recognising Beijing's sovereignty as part of its 'One China' policy, while remaining Taiwan's most powerful unofficial ally and main weapons supplier.
World number two Akane Yamaguchi got Japan off to a flying start

Thailand's women made their first ever Uber Cup final on Friday after a stunning 3-2 upset of defending champions China.

In the men's Thomas Cup semis held the same day, powerhouses Japan and China advanced to the finals.

But the women's win captured the attention of the crowd and sets up an unlikely showdown between underdog Thailand and Japan on Saturday after the top seed defeated Korea 3-1 earlier in the day.

Thai player Busanan Ongbamrungphan was once again the star, as she confidently dispatched Olympic champion Li Xuerui -- who was returning from injury -- 21-11, 21-9 in the last game.

"Finally we did it, I never expected that today would really come," Busanan told reporters afterwards.

"It's lucky that the event was held in our country. I'm proud that once in my lifetime I played at home and have made people in my country happy," she added.

Thailand's victory also meant that China's women would not be going to the finals of the cup for the first time since the team started playing in 1984, according to the Badminton World Federation.

In the Uber Cup, Japan is the favourite going into the final, but the Thai win sparked jubilant on-court celebrations, hugs and ended a see-sawing matchup with tournament leader China.

World number four Ratchanok Intanon won the first singles game, grinding out a 15-21, 21-9, 21-14 win over China's Chen Yufei, who is ranked one place behind her.

With crowds shouting "Thailand! Thailand!" Ratchanok hit smash after smash to come back after losing the first game to win two in a row.

Thailand lost the first doubles, but singles shuttler Nitchaon Jindapol clawed her way back from a set down to beat Gao Fangjie in another thriller that had the crowd on their feet.

The second doubles went to China levelling up at 2-2, leaving Thai hopes pinned on Busanan, just as on Thursday when she performed under pressure to clinch a victory against Indonesia.

- 'Tough battle' -

Japan had an easier time against South Korea in their Uber Cup semi, with doubles pair Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi securing their spot in the final.

World number two Akane Yamaguchi got the team off to a flying start, easing to a 21-10, 21-13 win against South Korea's Sung Ji-hyun, while Nozomi Okuhara dispatched Lee Jang-mi 21-9, 21-15 after South Korea had levelled at 1-1 with the first doubles.

Japanese world number nine Nozomi Okuhara has yet to lose in this year's tournament

Japanese world number nine Okuhara has yet to lose in this year's biennial Uber Cup.

"I think it will be a tough battle whoever I face tomorrow," she told reporters afterwards as Thailand and China were still doing battle on court.

The tournament is played alongside the men's Thomas Cup, whose semis were held later Friday, with China, Japan, Indonesia and Denmark all hoping to move forward.

Returning champions Denmark were back to attempt a repeat with world number one Viktor Axelsen leading the team. But Axelsen got the team off to a slow start against Japanese star Momota Kento, losing 21-17, 21-9.

The two national squads were tied at two wins apiece until Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama secured the final victory 21-18, 21-11 against Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen.

China has fielded an all-star cast of players as they seek to regain a title lost on home soil two years ago, going one step further by handily beating Indonesia 3-1 to advance.

China's Olympic champion Chen Long is joined by this year's All England champion Shi Yuqi -- and the player he conquered in the final, Lin Dan.
Smoke rises from buildings in a rebel-held neighbourhood of Daraa in southern Syria following reported shelling by the regime on May 22, 2018

Syrian aircraft on Friday dropped leaflets on the southern province of Daraa, urging the rebels who control most of it to lay down their weapons or face an offensive.

Residents told AFP that several different leaflets were scattered across the province, which has borders with Israel and Jordan and is expected to be among the next targets in the resurgent regime's reconquest.

One of them, seen by a journalist contributing to AFP in the city of Daraa, includes a picture showing lined up bodies, presumably of anti-government fighters.

"This is the inevitable fate of anyone who insists on carrying arms," reads the leaflet.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another leaflet announces "the arrival of the Syrian Arab army's soldiers".

The Britain-based war monitor also said that the government had sent reinforcements towards the southern province following the completion earlier this week of operations to secure Damascus.

Syrian regime and allied forces on Monday retook the Yarmuk area in southern Damascus, giving President Bashar al-Assad full control of the capital and its surroundings for the first time since 2012.

"These forces are now stationed on the edges of Daraa province," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

"The goal is a broad offensive, should the rebels reject a negotiated pullout as was the case in Eastern Ghouta," he said.

Russian-backed Syrian forces launched a major operation in February against Eastern Ghouta, a sprawling semi-rural rebel pocket east of the capital.

A daily deluge of air strikes and shelling left at least 1,700 people dead, according to the Observatory, and eventually forced the rebels into accepting a transfer to the northern province of Idlib.

Daraa's location makes any broad operation there very sensitive, with Israel suspecting Damascus' Iranian allies of seeking to establish a military footprint closer to its borders.

Abdel Raman said the planned Syria offensive so far only included regular Syrian forces, supported by the Russian military but not by Iranian forces nor the Tehran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militia.

Government and allied forces control about 30 percent of Daraa, the rest of which is held by various factions, including a small contingent of fighters from the Islamic State jihadist group.
The mother of Leila al-Ghandour (C) weeps as she holds the body of her eight-month-old baby who according to Gaza's health ministry died of inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli army during protests on the Gaza-Israel border

A baby who died near the Gaza border was not included in a Gaza health ministry list of Palestinians killed by the Israel army, after a dispute over how she died.

The ministry and family members originally said 8-month-old Leila al-Ghandour had died after inhaling tear gas along the border during a day of clashes in which at least 61 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

The Israeli army disputed the claim, calling it "fake news" by Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the coastal enclave.

The army claimed she had a pre-existing medical condition, citing an unnamed doctor with access to her file.

A full list of those the ministry called "martyrs," published this week for the first time, did not include Ghandour.

The health ministry has said a full review of her death was underway.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the ministry, said her name would not be included until the review was completed, without giving a time frame.

"Her name was not included in earlier lists either," Qudra told AFP, though no exhaustive list had previously been made public.

"The investigation will determine (whether she had a pre-existing condition) and if the inhaled gas contributed to her death."

At least 61 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on May 14th when thousands of Palestinians protested as the US officially moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to the ministry's figures.

At least 114 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip since mass demonstrations broke out on March 30th, it said.

This was several lower than previous tolls compiled by AFP on the basis of the ministry's reports.

The ministry's list does not include those whose bodies were not recovered by Palestinian medics.

The Israeli army is believed to have kept the bodies of several people shot near or along the border.

The army did not immediately respond to questions about the number of bodies it may be holding.
The EU's so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on Friday

The EU's flagship new data protection laws came into effect on Friday but hit an early hitch as several major US news websites were blocked to European users.

The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers were among those inaccessible on the other side of the Atlantic following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Separately Facebook and Google already face their first official complaints under the new law after an Austrian privacy campaigner accused them of effectively forcing users to give their consent to the use of their personal information.

The EU has billed the GDPR as the biggest shake-up of data privacy regulations since the birth of the web, saying it sets new standards in the wake of the recent Facebook data harvesting scandal.

But it has also been blamed for a flood of emails and messages in recent weeks as worried firms rush to request the explicit consent of users.

It led to the hashtag #HappyGDPRDay taking off on social media as people sarcastically celebrated the end of the deluge of spam.

Even though the rules were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to them, companies have been slow to act, resulting in a last-minute scramble this week.

Companies can be fined up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for breaching the strict new data rules for the EU, a market of 500 million people.

- 'Currently unavailable' -

Several firms experienced real-world problems over complying with the EU laws, with US newspapers owned by the Tronc group, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, saying that they were blocked to Europeans for now.

"Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries," said the message carried by the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel.

Austrian campaigner Max Schrems is launching new cases against Google, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook

"We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism."

Local US newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Arizona Daily Sun, were also out of reach, explicitly blaming the GDPR.

The European Commission insisted that it was not responsible for the blackout of some US sites, saying it was "proud to set high data protection standards" for the bloc's 500 million citizens.

"We have seen the press reports, but it is not for the commission to comment on individual companies' policies in terms of offering services in the EU," a spokesman said in an emailed comment to AFP.

"We expect all companies to fully comply with the General Data Protection Regulation as of today. With the new rules in place, EU data protection authorities will watch over their correct application across the EU and ensure full compliance."

- 'Forced consent' -

Meanwhile campaigner Max Schrems said he had launched four official complaints with national regulatory authorities on Friday under the new law.

They target Google in France, picture-sharing site Instagram in Belgium, WhatsApp in Germany and Facebook in his native Austria.

He said the problem with all these sites was pop ups that have appeared in recent weeks, asking users to agree to new terms of use, adding that this amounted to a system of "forced consent" from users.

A previous case brought by Schrems against Facebook triggered the collapse of a previous EU-US data sharing agreement.

Brussels says the new laws put Europeans "back in control" of their data.

"When it comes to personal data today, people are naked in an aquarium," said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter that "with the GDPR we are building a European sovereignty on data".

The law says individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used. It also establishes their "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for; and gives them the "right to be forgotten".

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

Facebook data scandal

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said as he apologised to the European Parliament on Tuesday over the scandal that his firm would be "fully compliant" with the EU law.
The Sunwolves rested 14 players from the team that beat the Stormers in Hong Kong last week

The Melbourne Rebels thrashed the Sunwolves 40-13 to move to within one point of the Waratahs in the Australian conference as the Crusaders out outmuscled the Hurricanes in Super Rugby action Friday.

Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete grabbed a hat-trick and fellow winger Jack Maddocks scored twice as the Rebels ran in six tries to one against a depleted Japanese outfit.

The Sunwolves rested 14 players from the team that beat the Stormers in Hong Kong last week and their lack of cohesion showed as the Rebels ran away with the match in the second half.

The Sunwolves had started the better of the two and opened the scoring after just three minutes through a try to winger Lomano Lemeki.

But the Rebels were on level terms two minutes later as Koroibete capitalised on a break from centre Bill Meakes to score under the posts.

Two more tries, to Maddocks and number eight Amanaki Mafi, put the home side in command at 21-7.

Two Hayden Parker penalties saw the Sunwolves close to 21-13 at the break but that was as close as they were to get.

Maddocks crossed for his second eight minutes after the restart before two Koroibete tries in three minutes in the closing stages completed the rout.

Rebels captain Adam Coleman said the plan to get the ball to the wingers had worked perfectly.

"They're outstanding players and I think the key for us is to get them more ball and let them do their thing," he said.

The Rebels have now won two matches in a row to put pressure on the Waratahs, who play the Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday.

- Driving rain -

Earlier, the Crusaders won their top-of-the-table clash against the Hurricanes 24-13, a win that puts them in pole position to qualify in top spot for the finals.

The Crusaders scored three tries to one in driving rain, with the conditions forcing two of the competition's most potent attacking sides into an arm-wrestle.

"We knew what the conditions would be and we had a plan for it, credit to the boys they stuck to it and were disciplined," Crusaders captain Matt Todd said.

The Hurricanes and Crusaders have traded the New Zealand conference lead all season but the reigning champions' victory in Christchurch could prove decisive.

It snaps a 10-match winning streak for the Hurricanes and extends the Crusaders' run to nine consecutive victories.

Hurricanes skipper Brad Shields said the Wellington team's season was far from over after only two losses in 12 matches this season.

"This could be a turning point for us, maybe it's something that we needed," he said.

There was no score in the first 20 minutes as both sides committed handling errors in the wet.

The Hurricanes penalty count mounted as they dominated possession but were continually frustrated by resolute Crusaders defence and their own poor discipline.

Scott Barrett made the breakthrough for the Crusaders in the 23rd minute, forcing his way over from a lineout drive, with Richie Mo'unga adding the conversion.

Jordie Barrett hit back for the Hurricanes with a long-range penalty from the half-way line, then Beauden Barrett kicked another just before half-time to make it 7-6 to the home side at the break.

David Havili crossed the line shortly after the restart but was held up by Julian Savea, with the hosts settling for a Mo'unga penalty.

Michael Alaalatoa extended the Crusaders' lead with a converted try from a lineout and Heiden Bedwell-Curtis added another off the back off a dominant scrum as the hosts took control at 24-6.

A darting run from Reed Princep gave the Hurricanes a converted try to narrow the gap but it proved too late to trigger a comeback.
Congolese soldiers regularly fight the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia in North Kivu province

Five Congolese soldiers have been killed and thirteen wounded during an army offensive on a Ugandan militia base in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, military sources said Friday.

The operation in the Beni region of North Kivu province targeted the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia created by Muslim rebels to oppose Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni which also operates in the DRC.

"Unfortunately we recorded five dead and thirteen wounded" on Thursday, Captain Mak Hazukay and spokesman for the army in the region told AFP.

The DRC military had previously given a "provisional estimate" that 10 ADF members were killed in the offensive.

Witnesses on Friday said the bodies of 14 suspected rebels were displayed on the ground next to a town hall in Beni by military and civilian authorities.

"The clashes continue... the troops are doing well on the ground," General Marcel Mbangu, operations commander against Ugandan rebels in North Kivu, told AFP.

The military operation follows another flareup of violence in eastern DRC where a number of armed groups fight over the region's rich mineral resources.

On Monday, officials said 10 civilians were shot dead in the regional town of Mbau by ADF militia, some 500 metres (550 yards) from army position.

The group stands accused of killing hundreds of civilians over the years and of carrying out a deadly attack on UN troops in Beni last December that left 15 peacekeepers dead.
People in Niger have been protesting against a new finance law

Ten international NGOs including Amnesty International and Oxfam called Friday for the release of 26 civil society activists detained since March after a banned demonstration in Niamey.

A joint statement published on Oxfam's website called on "the authorities in Niger to ease the situation by releasing the detainees and bring an end to the prosecutions".

Adama Coulibaly, Oxfam's regional director for West Africa, said in the statement: "This situation is of deep concern for international human rights and development organisations who believe that widening the civic space does not impinge on the government, but instead allow citizens to engage in a constructive dialogue with the authorities."

The majority of the 26 detainees, including three leaders of civil society organisations, were arrested on 25 March after banned clashes in Niamey between police and protesters, who say new taxes are "antisocial".

The 26 were prosecuted for "organisation and participation in a forbidden march" and "complicity in degrading public and private property," according to their lawyers.

On May 11, their lawyers denounced the slowness in the judicial process and said that they had filed with the prosecutor a complaint over the "arbitrary detention" of their clients.

All the defendants were eventually heard between 14 and 17 May by an investigating judge in the presence of lawyers.

Since October 2017 and the preparation of the 2018 budget, elements of civil society, the political opposition and some unions have regularly organised demonstrations to demand "the abrogation" of the finance law.

The economy of the largely desert country has been hit by falling prices for oil, which it officially began exporting in 2011, and uranium, of which it is a major exporter.

The government says it is cash-strapped as it has to spend resources to combat attacks by Boko Haram, whose Islamist insurgency has spilled over from Nigeria, as well as from jihadists, including the Islamic State group, near the border with Mali.

Finance Minister Hassoumi Massadou said in February that the 2018 budget would "barely affect" people in the countryside, where more than 80 percent of Niger's 20 million people live.

The 10 NGOs are: Oxfam, Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, Publiez Ce Que Vous Payez (Publish What You Pay), Tournons La Page (Let's Turn the Page), FIDH/OMCT, West Africa civil society Institute, Centre for civil and Political rights, CIVICUS, and West Africa Human Rights Defenders Network.
Accidents are a frequent hazard on the DRC's rivers and lakes, due to decrepit boats, overloading, lack of safety equipment and the fact that few Congolese know how to swim

Fifty people died in a boat accident on a river in remote northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), officials said on Friday.

The accident happened on the Momboyo river Wednesday night, Richard Mboyo Iluka, vice governor of Tshuapa province, told AFP, saying: "We found 49 bodies on Thursday and another one this morning."

The boat had been transporting passengers and a large amount of goods from the town of Monkoto to the city of Mbandaka in Equateur province, local residents said.

"The causes of the sinking and the number of people missing are not yet known. The provincial government has already sent a team there to find out more," Mboyo said.

He added, however, that the boat had been travelling by night -- something that is illegal under government safety measures -- and did not have lights.

Accidents are a frequent hazard on the DRC's rivers and lakes, due to decrepit boats, overloading, lack of safety equipment and the fact that few Congolese know how to swim.

In February, at least 14 people were reported missing when two boats sank on the Congo River.

- Reliant on river boats -

Most of the region's population rely on boats that criss-cross along the many rivers and lakes as a low-cost form of transport

In Mbandaka, a city of 1.2 million people, families on Friday mourned those who died in the accident.

"My brother, his wife and their son were on the boat. I have not found their bodies, but there is no sign that they are alive," said Bienvenu, a mechanic.

The Equateur province has separately been affected by an outbreak of Ebola that began in Bikoro, 600km north of Kinshasa, and has spread to Mbandaka.

The outbreak, officially declared on May 8, has so far killed 22 people, with 52 cases reported as of May 23, according to the latest figures from Congolese health ministry.

"Why are all these misfortunes happening at the same time here in Equateur? We have not yet finished with Ebola, and then many people die like this," said another resident, who identified himself as Gilbert. "It's mysterious."

Most of the region's population rely on boats that criss-cross the many rivers and lakes as a low-cost form of transport.

But in the absence of an organised public transport system, private businesses have invested in the sector.

Activists often accuse these operators of failing to follow safety regulations.

At least 14 people were missing after two boats sank on the Congo River in February.
Police just outside Toronto released a surveillance camera image of two hooded men carrying a device and entering an Indian restaurant where a blast occurred, wounding 15 people

Canadian police on Friday hunted two men after a blast at an Indian restaurant near Toronto injured 15 people, including three dual Indian-Canadian nationals, but police said there were no initial signs of terrorism.

Neither were there indications of a "hate crime" in the attack which initially left three of the injured in critical condition.

An improvised device detonated Thursday night at the eatery in Mississauga, a major suburb west of Toronto, while two parties celebrated birthdays, Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans told a news conference at the scene.

"Two men wearing hoodies were seen entering the restaurant with an IED," or improvised device, she said. "The men were seen fleeing the scene immediately following the explosion."

The pair, who were also wearing jeans and face coverings, did not say anything, just dropped off the device and left, authorities said earlier.

"Every police resource is being used right now to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act," Evans added.

Three of the wounded -- a 35-year-old man and two women, aged 48 and 62 -- were taken by ambulance to hospital in critical condition, but were listed as stable on Friday morning.

Children under 10 years old were inside the restaurant at the time of the explosion but were not harmed.

Other victims were treated for minor injuries after the blast at the popular Bombay Bhel restaurant in a strip mall that is surrounded by houses, grassy fields, and condo towers under construction.

India's High Commissioner to Canada Vikas Swarup said in a social media post that consular officials stood ready to help, after going to the hospital to confirm that the three dual nationals reported to be critically injured "are stable now."

The Toronto metropolitan area has a sizeable population with Indian origins, almost 600,000, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited India in February.

"We stand in solidarity with the victims of this violence and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded," Trudeau said on Twitter.

"We are working closely with the police and the Mississauga authorities."

- Flying glass -

Video footage and images of the aftermath showed victims being escorted in wheelchairs and stretchers to waiting ambulances, or limping out of the restaurant, bleeding from wounds caused by flying glass, as red and blue emergency lights lit up the night.

According to reports, the blast was felt more than four kilometers away (2.5 miles), and destroyed the inside of the restaurant, its front doors shattered but still clinging to their hinges.

"This is a heinous crime," Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said. "This is not the Mississauga that I know."

So far there is "no indication this is a terrorist act, no indication this is a hate crime," said police chief Evans, who added: "We haven't ruled anything out as we start our investigation."

That position was echoed by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, who said there was "no connection to national security at this point," calling it an "awful, violent incident."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, however, are assisting Peel Regional Police in their investigation, he said.

Evans said investigators were reviewing surveillance camera footage, and asked for the public's help in identifying and locating the suspects, whom she said are believed to have fled in a vehicle.

Canada has been hit periodically throughout the decades by criminal and political bombings, including those linked to Quebec nationalists in the 1960s, attacks on abortion clinics in the 1990s, a war between biker gangs from 1994 to 2002, and bombings of natural gas pipelines by environmentalists in 2008.

Last year, Inderjit Singh Reyat, a Sikh militant and the only man convicted in the 1985 bombings of two Air India flights which had left Vancouver, was paroled after two decades in a Canadian prison.

The bombings killed more than 300 people.
The design, released by Kensington Palace, includes golden rays symbolic of Californian sunshine in the Duchess's home state while three quills "represent communication and the power of words"

Prince Harry's wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, received a new tailor-made official coat of arms on Friday that pays homage to her Californian roots.

The crest has a blue background that "represents the Pacific Ocean off the California coast," Kensington Palace, the couple's residence, said in a statement.

Two golden rays on the shield "are symbolic of the sunshine of The Duchess's home state" and three quills "represent communication and the power of words".

"Beneath the shield on the grass sits a collection of golden poppies, California's state flower, and wintersweet, which grows at Kensington Palace," it said.

The coat of arms includes a songbird "with sings elevated as if flying and an open beak" -- also a symbolic representation of the power of communication.

"The Duchess of Sussex took a great interest in the design," Thomas Woodcock, whose official title of "Garter King of Arms" represents the most senior role in British heraldry, said in the statement.

Meghan's tradition-defying wedding to Harry last Saturday included elements of her African-American heritage and she walked part of the way up the aisle on her own in what was seen as a feminist statement.

In her biography on the royal family's website, Meghan emphasised her commitment to women's empowerment and stated: "I am proud to be a woman and a feminist".

Meghan Markle was born in Los Angeles on August 4, 1981 and attended Hollywood's Immaculate Heart High School before studying at Northwestern University and launching her film career.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made sure to finally meet Kim Jong Un this year -- for the first time ever -- before the North Korean leader held talks with either US Presidnet Donald Trump or South Korean President Moon Jae-in

Dubbed a "world-class poker player" in diplomacy by Donald Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping may hold the best cards after the US leader scrapped his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

While China had publicly backed the June 12 meeting, analysts say Beijing was worried that a deal between its traditional ally and the United States could harm its strategic interests.

With both Trump and North Korea leaving the door open for the summit to take place at a later date, Beijing has won more time to ensure that its interests are protected, and possibly gain leverage in separate US trade talks, according to analysts.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Friday denied that China had "any ulterior motives", adding it remains committed to the denuclearisation of the peninsula, peace and dialogue to resolve the issue.

Lu urged the US and North Korea to be "patient" and "show goodwill".

Beijing's relations with Pyongyang had been strained and distant in recent years, with China backing a slew of United Nations sanctions following the North's nuclear and missile tests.

But Xi made sure to finally meet Kim this year -- for the first time ever -- before the North Korean leader held talks with either Trump or South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Trump suggested earlier this week that the veteran Chinese president may have influenced the younger North Korean autocrat, whose position apparently hardened after meeting Xi twice within two months.

Analysts agree.

"Everything changed because the Chinese told (Kim) not too give up too much too quickly," Jean-Pierre Cabestan, China specialist at Hong Kong Baptist University, told AFP.

- 'Turning point' -

Cabestan said the second Kim-Xi summit, in the Chinese port city of Dalian, was a "turning point" in the North Korean leader's position, with Xi probably reminding Kim that he was better off dealing with his country's chief benefactor than the United States.

Xi may have asked Kim to put demands for the suspension of US-South Korean military exercises back on the table, after announcing a unilateral halt to nuclear and missile tests on April 21, said Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"After all, the 'freeze for freeze' was China's proposal, and it was a slap in Xi's face that Kim proposed to halt nuclear and missile tests while maintaining that continuation of US-ROK military drills," Glaser said.

Following the May 8 summit in Dalian, China's official Xinhua news agency said Kim had called for "phased and synchronous measures" to achieve denuclearisation -- an apparent return to its demand for a quid pro quo from the US.

Earlier this week, Trump noted Kim's about-face as he called Xi a great poker player. He also said the China-North Korea border had become "more porous" -- suggesting that Beijing had eased up on enforcing sanctions.

"There was a different attitude after that meeting and I was a little surprised," Trump said. "And I think things changed after that meeting so I can't say that I am happy about it."

But Xi never intended to sabotage the summit, analysts said.

"Undoubtedly, Xi Jinping hoped to steer the Trump-Xi meeting in a direction that was advantageous to Chinese interests - or at least did no harm," Glaser said.

"But China would not have benefited from a cancellation that carries the risk of a return to active US consideration of military options against North Korea."

- 'Subterfuge' -

Chinese analysts blame White House hardliners.

Pence and Trump's hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton had angered Pyongyang by raising the spectre of Libyan leader Moamer Khadafi, who gave up atomic weapons only to die years later at the hands of US-backed rebels.

Fingering China for the summit's cancellation "is just a subterfuge," said Hua Po, an independent Chinese political commentator. "I think that the cancellation was caused by the lack of agreement within the US on North Korea policy."

Wang Dong, professor at the School of International Relations, Peking University, said US hardliners "want North Korea to surrender completely."

China could try to revive the summit and use North Korea as a bargaining chip in separate US trade talks, according to analysts.

"If Xi turns out to be a successful mediator between Kim and Trump, it could buy China a better US-China trade deal," Glaser said. "Definitely a win-win for Beijing."
The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nurhan Menugian lays a wreath during a ceremony at the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City, to commemorate the anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915

Turkey on Friday said Israel would only harm itself if it recognised the Armenian genocide because to do so would undermine the special status of the Holocaust.

"We think that Israel putting the events of 1915 on the same level as the Holocaust is harming itself first and foremost," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy told reporters in Ankara.

He was reacting after Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday approved plans to hold a plenary debate on "recognising the Armenian genocide".

No date has been fixed for the debate.

Armenians have long sought international recognition for the 1915-1917 killings in the Ottoman era as genocide, which they say left some 1.5 million of their people dead.

Turkey -- the Ottoman Empire's successor state -- strongly rejects that the massacres, imprisonment and forced deportation of Armenians from 1915 amounted to a genocide.

"The events of 1915 are not a political issue but historical and legal," Aksoy said, without commenting further.

Some six million Jews were killed in the Nazi death camps during World War II.

Relations between Turkey and Israel have been tense in recent years and got worse after Israeli troops shot dead scores of Palestinians on the Gaza border and Washington moved its embassy to Jerusalem despite international criticism.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week compared Israel's actions against the Palestinians in Gaza to the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
Mehmet Hakan Atilla, deputy director general of Turkish lender Halkbank, was convicted by a US federal jury in January 2018 on five counts of bank fraud and conspiracy following a five-week trial

A Turkish banker sentenced to 32 months in prison for plotting to help Iran evade US sanctions on billions of dollars of oil proceeds took steps Friday to appeal his conviction in New York.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, 47, deputy director general of Turkish lender Halkbank, was convicted by a US federal jury in January on five counts of bank fraud and conspiracy following a five-week trial.

US District Judge Richard Berman handed down the unusually light sentence of 32 months in a Manhattan court on May 16. US prosecutors had wanted him put away for 20 years. Atilla will be free to return to Turkey after serving his sentence.

On Friday, a one-page notice appealing his conviction, not the sentence, was filed in US federal court in Manhattan, the first step in an appeals process.

Turkey has insisted that Atilla is innocent. US prosecutors say the scheme to violate US economic sanctions involved billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil proceeds held at Atilla's employer.

The explosive case strained ties between Ankara and Washington, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling the trial a plot against Turkey.

The conviction hinged on the testimony of Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab, who was arrested by US authorities in 2016 after jetting to Florida with his pop-star wife and child on a family holiday to Disney World.

Zarrab, 34, initially pleaded not guilty then flipped, becoming a US government witness after admitting being involved in the multibillion-dollar gold-for-oil scheme to subvert US economic sanctions against Iran.

His testimony identified Atilla as a key organizer in the scheme, but also implicated former Turkish ministers and even Erdogan.
Chris Brann (L), whose son was allegedly taken to Brazil without his permission, listens as his lawyer Jared Genser (R), addresses reporters in February 2018

A Texas jury convicted a Brazilian couple on Friday of aiding the kidnapping of their grandson and relocating him to the South American country, the latest US-Brazil child custody dispute.

Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes were acquitted of other conspiracy charges in a Houston courtroom.

They were arrested last February while arriving in Miami for vacation and charged with aiding in the kidnapping of their eight-year-old grandson Nico Brann five years ago.

The couple's daughter Marcelle Guimaraes, Nico's mother, allegedly relocated the child to Brazil under false pretenses and without the permission of his American father Chris Brann, a Houston physician.

If the verdict is upheld, the grandparents in their 60s could face up to three years in prison.

But that verdict was thrown into uncertainty after the presiding judge said he would consider the defense's request to override the jury's findings and acquit on all charges, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Such overrides are rarely granted.

The couple presented evidence during trial that the child's mother was fleeing domestic violence, according to local media.

"I and our side are crushed," the couple's lawyer Rusty Hardin said outside the courthouse, according to KHOU-TV.

He testified before the US Congress in 2016 to ask Washington to impose sanctions on Brazil for violating an international standard requiring the return of children to their home country, if they were taken in violation of custody agreements.

A similar dispute led to the Sean Goldman Act in 2014, authorizing Washington to take action in international child custody disputes, ranging from public condemnation of other governments to the suspension of US aid.

Brann claims his ex-wife Marcelle Guimaraes took their son to Brazil in 2013 intending to stay permanently, while telling him the trip would only last a few weeks.

Marcelle Guimaraes's parents allegedly helped her hide her motives, and enrolled the child in a Brazilian school they operated, before the South American country's legal system granted the mother full custody.

In 2016, the parents of seven children illegally taken from the US to Brazil asked then-Secretary of State John Kerry to sanction Brazil under the 2014 law.

They argued Brazil had seen no evidence the US takes such abductions seriously.
According to Menka residents, the Cameroonian army fended off an attack in the area in mid-May but soldiers returned overnight between Sunday and Monday; many young people have been missing since

The bodies of eight young men were discovered in Cameroon's restive Northwest anglophone region, an opposition MP and eyewitnesses told AFP on Friday.

Local residents found the bodies in the bush in the town of Menka. Photos of a dozen dead bodies circulated on social media but could not be independently verified.

Violence between armed anglophone separatists and government forces occurs almost daily in the Northwest Region and the Southwest Region, following an escalation of the crisis in late 2016.

According to Menka residents, the Cameroonian army fended off an attack in the area in mid-May but soldiers returned overnight between Sunday and Monday. Many young people have been missing since.

"There have been some killings in Menka by the army," Nji Tumasang, deputy of the first anglophone opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, told AFP.

"We think that at first glance they are civilians because no weapon was found on them. The husband of an activist from our party is among the victims."

The Cameroonian government did not comment when approached by AFP.

Since anglophone separatists declared independence last October, dozens of officials and foreigners have been targeted for abduction.

Abductions are also used as a tool to enforce allegiance among locals who have not taken up the separatist cause.

Earlier this month, the US ambassador to Cameroon accused government forces of carrying out "targeted killings" and other abuses in the fight against independence-seeking militants.

The foreign ministry later expressed its "deep disapproval" of the comments made by US ambassador in Yaounde, Peter Barlerin.

The presence of a large English-speaking minority -- about a fifth of Cameroon's population of 22 million -- dates back to the colonial period.

It was once a German colony that after World War I was divided between Britain and France.

In 1960, the French colony gained independence, becoming Cameroon, and the following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, becoming the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

For years, resentment built among anglophones, fostered by perceived marginalisation in education, the judiciary and the economy at the hands of the French majority.

Demands for greater autonomy were rejected by 85-year-old President Paul Biya, in power for more than 35 years, leading to an escalation that saw the declaration of the self-described "Republic of Ambazonia" in October last year.
Police just outside Toronto released a surveillance camera image of two hooded men carrying a device and entering an Indian restaurant where a blast occurred, wounding 15 people

Police in Canada on Friday hunted for two men believed to have detonated explosives at an Indian restaurant near Toronto, wounding 15 people, but police said there was no indication the blast was an act of terror.

The explosion late Thursday at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Missasauga in Toronto's western suburbs, which was reportedly felt more than four kilometers (2.5 miles) away, also did not appear to be a hate crime, authorities said.

"Two men wearing hoodies were seen entering the restaurant with an IED," or improvised explosive device, Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans told a news conference.

"The men were seen fleeing the scene immediately following the explosion," Evans added. "Every police resource is being used right now to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act."

Evans added: "We haven't ruled anything out as we start our investigation."

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said there was "no connection to national security at this point."

The pair, who were also wearing jeans and face coverings, did not say anything in the restaurant, where two birthdays were being celebrated. They just dropped off the device and left, authorities said.

The incident is nevertheless likely to provoke jitters in the nation's biggest metropolitan area -- it comes just one month after a man in a rented van plowed into pedestrians on a crowded sidewalk in Toronto, killing 10 people.

- Bloodied and limping victims -

Pictures and video footage showed victims being escorted in wheelchairs and stretchers to waiting ambulances, or limping out of the restaurant, bleeding from wounds caused by flying glass and shrapnel.

The blast reportedly destroyed the inside of the restaurant. Its front doors were shattered but still clinging to their hinges.

Witnesses said the bomb looked like a paint can or a bucket and, according to police, was filled with projectile objects.

Three of the wounded -- a 35-year-old man and two women aged 48 and 62 -- were taken to hospital in critical condition, but later improved to stable condition. India's High Commissioner to Canada, Vikas Swarup, said all three were dual nationals.

Other victims were treated for minor injuries after the blast at the eatery in a strip mall that is surrounded by houses, grassy fields, and condo towers under construction.

"This was a family restaurant and a place where celebrations take place," Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said, calling the event "shocking."

On its website, the restaurant posted a message that said: "It was an extremely horrific and sad incident."

"This is a heinous crime," echoed Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie.

- Nothing ruled out -

The Toronto area has a sizeable population of Indian descent at almost 600,000, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited India in February.

"We stand in solidarity with the victims of this violence and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded," Trudeau said on Twitter.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are assisting Peel Regional Police in their investigation, Goodale said, despite the fact that terror is thus far not suspected.

Evans said investigators were reviewing surveillance camera footage, and asked for the public's help in identifying and locating the suspects, whom she said are believed to have fled eastbound in a vehicle.

A canine unit and an elite police team were deployed immediately, but were unable to track the suspects, whose footprints in nearby mud were identified with yellow evidence markers.

Police were also canvassing area residents for eyewitness accounts and any video footage from home security cameras.

Canada has been hit periodically throughout the decades by criminal and political bombings, including those linked to Quebec nationalists in the 1960s, attacks on abortion clinics in the 1990s, a war between biker gangs from 1994 to 2002, and bombings of natural gas pipelines by environmentalists in 2008.

Last year, Inderjit Singh Reyat, a Sikh militant and the only man convicted in the 1985 bombings of two Air India flights which had left Vancouver, was paroled after two decades in a Canadian prison. Those bombings killed more than 300 people.
The US has a military presence in Manbij and has provided military support to the YPG in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, causing anger among Turkish officials

Turkish and US officials on Friday agreed on a "roadmap" for further cooperation to ensure the security of a Kurdish-held city which became a major headache between the NATO allies, according to a joint statement.

The northern city of Manbij is held by the People's Protection Units (YPG) Kurdish militia, a group which Ankara says is the "terrorist" offshoot of Kurdish hardliners in Turkey.

The US has a military presence in Manbij and has provided military support to the YPG in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, causing anger among Turkish officials.

After Turkey launched a cross-border operation against the YPG in the western enclave of Afrin in January, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to take the offensive to Manbij. The prospect raised fears of a confrontation between Turkish and American troops.

The offensive also caused tension between the allies because Washington urged Turkey to show "restraint" and said it could harm the fight against IS extremists.

US officials were in Ankara on Friday as part of a working group on Syria. After talks with Turkish counterparts, the statement was issued by the Turkish foreign ministry and the US embassy in Ankara.

"The two sides outlined the main contours of a roadmap for their further cooperation in ensuring security and stability in Manbij," the statement said, giving no further detail.

The working group was established to try to resolve the Manbij issue and coordinate US-Turkey efforts in Syria after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and then US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met in February.

Turkish officials were in Washington in March as part of the working group, set up after the threats by Ankara and repeated calls for the YPG to leave the city.

Cavusoglu is due to meet the new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on June 4.

According to the joint statement, the two men will "consider the recommendations" of the working group during their meeting.

Ankara says the YPG is linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the US and the European Union.

The PKK has waged an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984.

Erdogan has repeatedly urged the US to halt support for the YPG.

His ruling Justice and Development Party published a manifesto on Thursday calling for "concrete steps" by the US to end its backing of the YPG and provide "concrete support" to Turkey in its fight against the PKK.

Erdogan vowed Turkey would "continue its operations in Syria until the last terrorist is cleared".
Some 10,800 migrants have been registered in Italy since January, in a major drop compared to last year

Around 1,500 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean on Thursday and Friday in operations involving the Italian navy and ships chartered by NGOs and the EU border agency Frontex, the Italian coastguard said.

On Friday alone, seven separate operations picked up 1,050 people as they tried to make the crossing to Europe. The operations were coordinated by the Italian coastguard.

The German NGOs Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye said they had rescued nearly half the total picked up -- 450 -- from three overcrowded vessels.

As the occupants of the third boat were being picked up, a Libyan patrol boat came on the scene prompting some of the migrants to jump into the water to avoid being taken back to Libya. The Libyan vessel, however, maintained its distance and all the migrants were rescued by the two NGOs.

In recent months the Libyan coastguard has taken responsibility for a growing number of rescue operations, subsequently returning those rescued to Libya.

On Thursday, an Italian navy ship rescued 69 migrants, while a Portuguese navy boat taking part in Frontex's anti-trafficking Triton Operation rescued 296 more.

The new arrivals are in addition to 10,800 migrants already registered in Italy since the start of the year, according to International Organisation for Migration (IOM) figures.

The figure is around 80 percent lower than in the same period last year, largely attributed to agreements reached between Italy and Libyan authorities and militias.

The Libyan coastguard intercepted more than 6,500 migrants in the same period, IOM figures showed, while 383 people were reported dead or missing off Libya.
People visit a cross for Christopher Stone at a memorial for the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting in May

Survivors of a recent gun rampage at a Texas school intensified their calls for reforms including tougher gun restrictions Friday, as several of their classmates were laid to rest.

Eight children and two adults were killed one week ago when Santa Fe High School student Dimitrios Pagourtzis fired multiple shots with a shotgun and handgun inside his school in rural southeast Texas, also injuring 13.

Pakistani exchange student Sabikah Sheikh, 17, was buried Wednesday in Karachi. In Texas, the first three funerals were held Friday for substitute teacher Cynthia Tisdale, 64, and students Christian Riley Garcia, 15, and Christopher Stone, 17.

As Santa Fe worked to heal in the wake of the May 18 tragedy, a group of students there publicly called for gun restrictions, among other reforms, to combat the mass shootings that plague life in the United States.

"The simple reality is that if we do not do something, another town will be ripped apart, like mine," said Santa Fe High School student Megan McGuire.

She spoke at a news conference organized by the Houston contingent of "March for Our Lives" -- the grassroots gun control movement started by teenagers after another school shooting in February in Parkland, Florida.

The Texas students said they want mental health and school safety reforms, as well as "common sense" gun restrictions, such as legal mandates for secure gun storage inside homes and tougher background checks for gun purchases.

Their push contrasted much of the public reaction to the shooting in the conservative state, where gun ownership rights are fiercely protected and Governor Greg Abbott's reelection campaign organized the raffling off of a shotgun before changing course after the tragedy.

Abbott held three days of discussions this week over how to better prevent school shootings. Among those invited were students and educators, and advocates on both sides of the fraught gun control debate.

"We are not backing down... This is not a one-week thing. We are not going to let anybody move on from this," said Bree Butler, a Santa Fe High School senior.

The students promised an unspecified series of public actions over the summer.

Meanwhile, memorials were planned in Santa Fe and surrounding communities through next Tuesday as the dead are buried.

At the funeral of Christian Riley Garcia, the teenager was hailed as a hero for holding a door shut to keep the gunman out.

"He showed bravery far beyond his years. He took it upon himself to get everyone out first, making himself last," said his obituary, read aloud during the service.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's supreme court has cleared the way for the granting of asylum to eight Turkish servicemen who fled their country hours after an abortive military coup two years ago in a case that has heightened tensions between the two regional rivals.

Omiros Zelios, a lawyer representing the eight, said Thursday that judges rejected a challenge by the Greek government against an earlier decision granting asylum to the first of the eight.

His asylum had been suspended pending hearing of the government appeal, and will be reactivated once Wednesday's ruling is formally published.

The supreme court ruling is expected to apply to the other seven, too. "This is obligatory by law," Zelios said.

All eight deny Turkish claims that they participated in the coup plot. Greek courts have refused to extradite them, saying they would not get a fair trial in Turkey and that their lives would be in danger there. That drew an angry response from Turkey.

The man whose case the supreme court ruled on has been released from police custody but is living in a secret location under heavy police guard.

Zelios, the lawyer, said that while his clients have not yet decided what to do once they get their asylum status and travel documents, they would consider leaving Greece for another country in order to defuse tension with Turkey.

"They believe that their presence (in Greece) creates tension with Turkey, and as they do not want to be involved in political and diplomatic games, for them to go to another neutral country to rebuild their lives seems a reasonable and prudent option," he told The Associated Press.

Lawyer Nikos Alivizatos, who represents one of the eight, told the AP that Greek authorities are expected to rule on the other Turks' asylum applications by the autumn.

But he expressed fears as to their potential status after gaining asylum, as Turkey would probably seek their extradition from whatever country they end up in.

"Wherever they go, I'm afraid that they will have problems, based on the warrants Turkey has issued" for their arrest, he said.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Wisconsin officials were testing for environmental and health hazards Thursday after an accident at a frack sand mine sent millions of gallons of sludge into waterways, tinting them orange as the thick plume traveled downstream into the Mississippi River.

A contractor's bulldozer slid into a pond earlier this week at the Hi-Crush mine in the western Wisconsin town of Whitehall, leading to an hours-long effort to rescue the man from a 15-foot-deep (5-meter-deep) pond. Rescuers freed the driver after emptying an estimated 10 million gallons (37.8 million liters) of water from the pond into a Trempealeau River tributary.

It's left questions for residents and county officials as they await the results of tests to determine what's in the water and if it's dangerous to human health and the environment.

In this Tuesday, May 22, 2018 photo, sludge from the Hi-Crush mine in Whitehall, Wis. is seen in the Trempealeau River near Dodge, Wis. A contractor's bulldozer slid into a pond earlier this week, leading to an hours-long rescue at the Hi-Crush mine. Rescuers emptied the pond to free the man, requiring them to release 10 million gallons (37.8 million liters) of water and mud into the Trempealeau River tributary. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is studying the sludge. (Peter Thomson/La Crosse Tribune via AP)

"We're worried about the possibility of this happening again," said Tim Zeglin, chairman of the Trempealeau County Board. He added that no homes were in the path of the spill.

The pond spillage near the border of the 1,447-acre (586-hectare) mine was mostly water, sand, clay and silt, according to company officials who've maintained the spill has no health or environmental impacts.

Hi-Crush, which operates three other mines in Wisconsin, said the spill might have also released trace elements of polyacrylamide, a chemical used to remove silt from the water. It's considered nontoxic but contains small amounts of a neurotoxin known as acrylamide, which is left over from the manufacturing process.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is testing the water for metals and other chemicals used in sand mining. Department spokesman Jim Dick said in an email those samples could take up to a week to get back from a state water lab.

Several state and federal agencies, including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are monitoring the spill after the sludge reached the Mississippi River Wednesday, as well as a national wildlife refuge earlier in the week.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife supervisor Sabrina Chandler said her agency is keeping an eye on potential environmental impacts. So far, she said she hasn't noticed any fish or plants deaths in the refuge.

"We do have concerns for the environment every time foreign chemicals get in the water that shouldn't be there," Chandler said.

Zeglin said the orange stain left by the spill had cleared up Thursday, leaving crusty orange residue near the river's shorelines.
LONDON (AP) - Kensington Palace says Prince William will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories at the end of June - the first British royal to make an official visit there.

The prince will begin his June 24-28 trip in Amman, Jordan, then travel to Jerash in Jordan; Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel; and Ramallah in the West Bank.

No British royal has ever made an official visit to Israel, whose occupation of the Palestinian territories is considered illegal by the U.K. William's father, Prince Charles, attended the 2016 funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in a private capacity.

FILE - In this Thursday Jan. 18, 2018 file photo, Britain's Prince William joins military veterans now working for the National Health Service, as he visits Evelina London Children's Hospital in London. Kensington Palace says Prince William will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories at the end of June 2018, the first British royal to make an official visit there. (Daniel Leal Olivas/Pool via AP)

This is also the first official royal visit to the Palestinian territories. It comes at the British government's request.

The trip was announced earlier this year, but the dates and destinations were disclosed Friday.
OLATHE, Kan. (AP) - A second man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and raping a suburban Kansas City sheriff's deputy.

Twenty-three-year-old Brady Allen Newman-Caddell entered the plea Thursday to aggravated kidnapping, two rape counts and aggravated criminal sodomy.

Another man, William Luth, was sentenced previously to more than 41 years in prison for abducting the deputy in October 2016 from the parking lot of a detention center in Olathe, Kansas, as she arrived at work. She wasn't in her uniform. She was released in the Missouri suburb of Lee's Summit two hours later.

Newman-Caddell and Luth are both from suburbs on the Missouri side.
GLENELG, Md. (AP) - Four 18-year-olds face hate-crime charges over spray-painted slurs at their high school, some of it aimed at their African-American principal.

Howard County police tell news outlets that school officials found racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ slurs spray-painted at Glenelg High School on Thursday morning. A school official says much of the graffiti targeted principal David Burton.

Police used surveillance cameras to help identify Seth Taylor, Tyler Curtiss, Joshua Shaffer and Matthew Lipp. They were charged with multiple counts of destruction of property based on race, color, religious belief, sexual orientation, or national origin. Convictions carry a penalty of up to three years in prison.

Superintendent Michael J. Martirano said his review could lead to their expulsion from school.

It's unclear if the accused have lawyers.
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) - Kyle Busch is hoping his third career pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway will help end a dubious drought at a track that has frustrated him for years.

Kevin Harvick is probably just anxious to get back on the track.

Busch took the pole Thursday night for the Coca-Cola-Cola 600 on Sunday, while NASCAR Cup Series points leader Harvick will begin in the rear. Busch has never won a Cup points race in his previous 28 starts at Charlotte, although he did win an All-Star race here.

Kyle Busch (18) drives his car during practice for the NASCAR Cup series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

"We have had some really good runs here in the past, but we just haven't been able to close the deal," Busch said, referring to his 11 top-five finishes.

Busch won his 30th career pole for NASCAR's longest race by turning a lap of 191.836 mph at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Joey Logano will start alongside Busch on the front row.

But the big surprise was Harvick, who never got on the track after failing pre-race inspection three times. Car chief Robert Smith was ejected, and Harvick will have to sit out the first 30 minutes of practice Saturday.

Harvick has been dominant this season, winning five Cup races - including the last two - and the $1 million exhibition All-Star race Saturday.

Logano joked that with everyone chasing Harvick "it sure don't hurt" that he has to start at the back of the field.

But he doesn't expect that to last for long.

"Are we taking bets on how long it will take him to get up there," Logano said. "Where is the new betting thing? Is that what we're doing now."

GIBBS CARS DOMINATE: Busch won't have to look too far back in his rear view mirror to find his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. All four of Gibbs' Toyotas finished in the top 10 with Denny Hamlin qualifying third, Erik Jones fourth and Daniel Suarez 10th.

Suarez looked strong again after finishing second in the All-Star race here Saturday night.

"That was a tough one," Suarez said. "When you finish fourth, fifth, third, you know you get it. You go to the next one excited, but when you finish second, that close, it hurts a little bit. But that's part of racing. You have to learn from that and move to the next one."

TRUEX STRUGGLES: Martin Truex Jr. failed to make the final round of qualifying and will start 15th, which is a bit of a surprise.

Truex has two wins in the last four races at the track, including one of the most dominant performances in NASCAR history in leading 392 of the 400 laps to win the 2016 Coca-Cola 600. Truex has five top-five finishes in the last six races at Charlotte.

Truex led a race best 233 laps in last year's 600 only to finish third in a fuel mileage race won the Austin Dillon.

"No front tire grip," Truex said of his night.

BUMPY ROAD: Logano called Charlotte Motor Speedway the bumpiest course that drivers face all year, saying it is "brutal" in the driver's seat.

"It's like driving down a cobblestone road," Logano said. "It bounces your head around a lot."

DILLON'S DAY: Austin Dillon won the last year's race on fuel mileage. He only led two laps all night.

Dillon, who won the Daytona 500 earlier this year, will start 12th. Dillon said he thinks he has a top-5 car and can repeat.

"Yeah, really pumped about the effort that we put in to these Coke 600 cars," Dillon said. "It paid off, obviously. ... At least we've got a direction and we will keep working hard to get there."

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More AP auto racing: https://racing.ap.org

Kyle Busch poses for a photo on Victory Lane after winning the pole position for the NASCAR Cup series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Kyle Busch climbs into his car before practice for the NASCAR Cup series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Kevin Harvick waits for his car to go through inspection before qualifying for the NASCAR Cup series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Kevin Harvick (4) drives his car during practice for the NASCAR Cup series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The city council in tourist-friendly New Orleans voted Thursday to halt the proliferation of one type of tourist housing: short-term rentals such as those facilitated by Airbnb and Homeaway.

Council member Kristin Palmer's measure affects those who rent out entire homes for short-term visitors for as much as 90 days a year. It imposes a nine-month moratorium on licenses for such rentals - including renewals of existing annual licenses- while a study is made of the effects of short-term rentals.

Backers of the measure, which passed unanimously, said large investors have bought up properties to turn them into vacation spots - driving up New Orleans housing costs, driving out residents and threatening the historic character that draws tourists in the first place.

"We were sold a bill of goods when this thing first passed - that it was going to be mom and pop," Palmer said, referring to the council's earlier attempt to regulate short-term rentals in 2016. Her measure does not apply to commercially zoned areas and is aimed at the city's numerous historic neighborhoods.

Supporting the measure, Samuel Taggart said that of 18 buildings on his block in the Treme neighborhood of the city, 12 are short-term rentals with a total of 28 units. He said two of the units are "nothing but fraternity parties on the weekend. They bring in kegs of beer and crawfish. If they do go out to the French Quarter, they come in at 2:30 in the morning and party to 4 or 5 in the morning."

Opponents said Palmer's measure will hurt small investors, too, particularly those whose licenses will lapse during the nine months.

"It will punish the people who are playing by the rules," said Eric Bay, president of a group of short-term rental supporters.

Some warned of a ripple effect in the city's economy, also hurting people who renovate and clean rental properties.

The measure does not affect permits for people who turn over part of their existing residences to short-term renters - those who rent out bedrooms or half of their duplexes.

HomeAway issued a statement Thursday disputing some of the claims by backers of Palmer's measure, including the contention that short-term rentals have driven up prices and rents. It said it would work with short-term rental opponents to address their concerns.

"Average home values in New Orleans have been rising steadily post-Katrina, and the rate of growth has not accelerated since the legalization of STRs," the company said in reference to short-term rentals.

Laura Spanjian, Airbnb Public Policy Director, said the vote was disappointing.

"We have worked closely with the City for more than two years to develop and implement fair rules, which provide the City data and tools to enforce the law and millions in tax revenue, and today's vote flies in the face of the collaborative spirit with which we've approached our work with the City," she said in an emailed statement.

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Associated Press reporter Janet McConnaughey contributed to this story.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A former NAACP leader in Washington state whose life unraveled after she was outed as a white woman pretending to be black has been charged with welfare fraud.

Rachel Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, was charged this week with theft by welfare fraud, perjury and false verification for public assistance, Spokane news station KHQ-TV reported Thursday.

She illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017, court documents said.

FILE - In this March 20, 2017, file photo, Rachel Dolezal poses for a photo with her son, Langston, at the bureau of The Associated Press in Spokane, Wash. Dolezal, a former NAACP leader in Washington state whose life unraveled after she was outed as a white woman pretending to be black, has been charged with welfare fraud, news station KHQ-TV reports Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Nicholas K. Geranios, File)

An investigation started in March 2017 when a Washington state investigator received information that Diallo had written a book. The investigator reviewed Diallo's records and found that she had been reporting her income as usually less than $500 per month, court documents said.

A subpoena for her self-employment records, which included copies of her bank statements, showed Diallo had deposited nearly $84,000 into her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017, without reporting it to the Department of Social and Health Services.

The money came from authoring her memoir, "In Full Color," speaking engagements, soap making, doll making, and the sale of her art, according to the case file.

Diallo did report a "change of circumstance" to the state agency, saying she did a one-time job in October 2017 worth $20,000, court documents said.

The former civil rights activist told investigators she "fully disclosed her information" and declined to answer further questions, the documents said.

She has said previously that she grew up near Troy, Montana, with religious parents and that she began to change her perspective as a teenager, after her parents adopted four black children. She decided to become publicly black years later, after a divorce.

The ruse worked for years until 2015, when her parents, with whom she has long feuded, told reporters that their daughter was born white but was presenting herself as a black activist in the Spokane region.

The story became an international sensation, and she was fired as head of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP and kicked off a police ombudsman commission. She also lost her job teaching African studies at Eastern Washington University.

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Information from: KHQ-TV, http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3082888/
WASHINGTON (AP) - A fundraiser for President Donald Trump who launched a lawsuit against Qatar accusing the Gulf country of hacking his emails updated the filing Thursday to target a cybersecurity firm and two of its executives.

Elliott Broidy alleges that the firm, Global Risk Advisors, introduced Qatar to "cyber mercenaries" to help with the hacking. Broidy filed the lawsuit in March alleging that hackers from Qatar broke into his email account at the start of this year and that Qatar's lobbying team in Washington then pushed the emails to journalists around the city in an effort to discredit Broidy.

Global Risk Advisors did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The suit names founder Kevin Chalker and Managing Director David Powell.

The lawsuit is part of an ongoing battle involving the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and a host of Washington power players.

In January, investigators working with special counsel Robert Mueller detained Broidy's business associate, George Nader, at Dulles International Airport in January. Nader, a Lebanese-American who has worked as an adviser to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Broidy and Nader were the subjects of an investigation by The Associated Press this week that detailed how they orchestrated a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign against Qatar while they sought contracts from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The story was based on interviews and leaked emails. As part of the lawsuit, Broidy has subpoenaed the AP for information about the source of the documents.

Broidy said in a statement Thursday that Qatar targeted him to keep him from speaking out.

"We believe it is also clear that I have been targeted because of my strong political views against Qatar's state sponsored terrorism and double dealing, and the fact that I was not shy about expressing my views," Broidy said.

In a statement, the embassy of Qatar in Washington called the claims in the lawsuit "fabricated and without merit."

"The facts show it was Mr. Broidy who conspired in the shadows against Qatar - not the other way around," the embassy said.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said Friday that it's still willing to sit for talks with the United States "at any time, (in) any format," a remarkably restrained and diplomatic response, from a nation noted for its proud belligerence, to U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of a summit with the North's autocratic leader, Kim Jong Un.

The statement by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, a longtime nuclear negotiator and senior diplomat, which said the North is "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks that had been set for June 12 in Singapore, could be driven by a need to use the summit to ease crushing international sanctions, or by a determination that a summit with the mercurial Trump is the best opportunity the North will ever have to elevate itself, and its nuclear program, to equality with its archrival. One analyst marveled that the North Korean response was "close to an apology letter."

Regardless of the motivation, Kim Kye Gwan's statement is the latest whiplash development in efforts to diplomatically address what might be the world's most dangerous standoff. Focus will now swing back to how Trump will respond to the North's seemingly conciliatory gesture.

A guard stands at the entrance of the north tunnel at North Korea's nuclear test site shortly before it was to be blown up in a media tour of dismantling the test site, at Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Rafael Wober)

The stakes are high. A scrapping of diplomacy could see a return to the torrent of weapons tests - and the fears of war they created - that North Korea unleashed last year as it sought to put the finishing touches on a nuclear-armed missile program meant to target the entire U.S. mainland. Since January, Kim has taken a radically softer approach to foreign affairs, sending his sister to the Olympics in South Korea, meeting with his South Korean counterpart on their shared border and exploding parts of his nuclear testing site Thursday in an apparent sign of good faith. The Singapore summit would have been the culmination of this outreach.

Earlier comments by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, seen as a driving force behind the summit and just returned to Seoul from a meeting with Trump in Washington, suggested that the South, a top U.S. ally and host to 28,500 U.S. troops, was blindsided by Trump's statement. Moon said he was "perplexed" at Trump's announcement that he was canceling the summit because of what the U.S. president said was North Korea's "tremendous anger and open hostility." Moon urged direct talks between Trump and Kim to get things back on track.

Many observers had expected a belligerent North Korean response to Trump's cancellation, but the comments by Kim, the North's vice foreign minister, seemed, at times, almost meek, and in stark contrast to the bellicose declarations last year of the North's willingness to pursue nuclear war.

Kim said Pyongyang's "objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged." Kim said the cancellation of the talks shows "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties."

"As far as the historic (North Korea)-U.S. summit is concerned, we have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other U.S. presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit," Kim said. "His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it."

Kim speculated that Trump may have "lacked the will for the summit or he might not have felt confident," but that the North has "exerted sincere efforts" for talks that "would mark a meaningful starting point for peace and security in the region and the world."

Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said the North Korean response was notably "courteous, reserved and diplomatically refined," which he said shows that Pyongyang is eager to talk with Washington and believes that the United States needs more time to prepare for the summit.

Trump's cancellation of the summit came amid mounting skepticism about the North's sincerity after the country's earlier threats to scrap the Kim-Trump summit. That may have been aimed at bolstering its negotiating position, rather than killing the meeting.

"They wanted to face the United States in a more confident position. Obama or (Bill) Clinton could have accepted (these kinds of North Korean statements). But it's Trump. He's decided not to enter talks while being pushed (by North Korea) like this," said Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said Kim's statement was "close to an apology letter."

The North might have also sensed an opening in Trump's seemingly mixed messages.

"I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do what's right," the U.S. president said at one point. Trump also said from the White House that a "maximum pressure campaign" of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea - with which the U.S. is technically still at war - but he added that it was possible the summit could still take place at some point.

In his statement to the North, Trump said: "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

It was unclear whether Trump was engaged in what he saw as a negotiating ploy or if his moves were a manifestation of mounting internal concerns over ensuring a successful outcome for the summit.

While the statement may keep the possibility of a summit alive, there were also hints in North Korea's response to Trump that Pyongyang was willing to walk away.

Kim said the United States is at fault for what Trump described as North Korea's "hostility," saying that Pyongyang was responding to "excessive" U.S. comments pressuring the country to "unilaterally discard" its nuclear weapons ahead of the summit. Trump's move to cancel the summit has forced the North to "rethink whether the efforts we have so far put in and the new path we have taken is the right choice."

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AP writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for the "Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act," in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, May 24, 2018, in Washington. In a dramatic diplomatic turn, Trump on Thursday canceled next month's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement by the North. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In this Thursday, May 24, 2018 photo, facilities of North Korea's nuclear test site are blown up in Punggye-ri, North Korea. (Korea Pool/Yonhap via AP)

In this undated photo provided on Friday, May 25, 2018, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the completed Koam-Tapchon Railways in Gangwon-do, North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

President Donald Trump speaks on North Korea before signing the "Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act," in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, May 24, 2018, in Washington (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Foreign media crowd the entrance of north tunnel at North Korea's nuclear test site during a visit to see a demonstration of its dismantling at Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Rafael Wober)

The Deputy Director of North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Institute, who would not give his name, briefs reporters about the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear test site, in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Rafael Wober)

In this undated photo provided on Friday, May 25, 2018, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the completed Koam-Tapchon Railways in Gangwon-do, North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

In this Thursday, May 24, 2018 photo provided by the North Korean government, foreign media on a viewing platform watch and record as North Korea's nuclear test site is blown up at Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
NATICK, Mass. (AP) - The terrors of World War II impacted most of the world's women, both on the home and battlefronts.

A new exhibition opening Friday at the International Museum of World War II in Natick, Massachusetts, highlights just that - the important and sometimes unconventional roles women took on during the war.

"It's about the human story," founder Kenneth Rendell explains. "We're thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase and honor women's service to the war effort."

In this Monday, May 21, 2018, photo, Sue Wilkins, director of education at The International Museum of World War II, in Natick, Mass., stands near a 1933 propaganda poster, right, that praised the Nazi organization German Labor Front, which was created after the Nazis eliminated trade unions. A mannequin, center, displays a uniform of the Nazi Lebensborn program, designed to be worn by women bearing children considered by the state as racially valuable. They are part of a new exhibition called "Women in WWII: On the Home Fronts and the Battlefronts" at the museum explores the important and unconventional roles women played in every large nation that fought in World War II. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

"Women in WWII: On the Home Fronts and the Battlefronts" is composed of more than 100 artifacts from the U.S., Soviet Union, Germany, Japan, France and Great Britain.

For many women, wartime was about more than rationing food for their families.

In the Soviet Union, 400,000 women drafted as "Red Army girls" filled roles as doctors and even snipers. One photograph shows paranurses jumping out of a plane into a war zone, strapped with medical supplies to save wounded soldiers.

Kathryn Bernheim became one of 27 American women chosen by the Army Air Force in 1942 to ferry planes in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Service program. As a civilian with more than 1,000 hours of flight experience, Bernheim flew aircraft like the P-47 Thunderbolt, relieving men for combat flying until politics ended the program in 1944. The exhibit showcases her flight jacket, dress uniform and a photo of a smiling Bernheim looking at a map.

Not all women had such dramatic roles, but millions across the U.S. served as postal workers, trash collectors and manufacturers, roles previously held by men.

A 1945 photograph shows 24-year-old Fern Corbett "pinch-hitting as a window washer" 10 floors above a Minneapolis street - a far cry from her original job as the company's stenographer.

Some women could not risk being as visible in their daring new roles. Female members of the French resistance would load forbidden radios and weapons into the secret compartment of a baby carriage, like one showcased in the collection, risking their lives walking past Nazi occupiers.

Also included in the exhibit is a light green uniform labelled "Lebensborn." The frock was worn by women associated with the Nazi group tasked with raising the birth rate of Aryan children. The women worked at centers that provided free health care to unmarried mothers often impregnated by SS officers. Many children were adopted by other SS members and their families.

The philosophy of women dedicating their bodies and minds to the Third Reich is even more apparent in three swastika-emblazoned crosses. Women who bore four to five children received a bronze cross; six to seven a silver. Those who birthed eight or more children received a golden cross from Adolf Hitler.

"The Nazis wanted women to be wives and mothers. You see photos of women doing outdoor tasks in great physical shape - this was not so they could fight, but so they could bear children," says Sue Wilkins, the museum's education director.

Across the English Channel, more than 640,000 British women served in auxiliary services, performing noncombat work such as handling massive searchlights to spot enemy aircraft intent on bombing British cities. Photos of everyday women working in the Royal Naval Service are starkly contrasted with a photo of then-Princess Elizabeth wearing the uniform of the Auxiliary Territorial Service and working under the hood of a car.

The exhibition is on display through Oct. 7.

In this Monday, May 21, 2018, photo, a British World War II recruitment poster, left, created by graphic designer Abram Games, to encourage women to join the Auxiliary Territorial Service, forms part of a new exhibit called "Women in WWII: On the Home Fronts and the Battlefronts" at The International Museum of World War II, in Natick, Mass. The exhibit explores the important and unconventional roles women played in every large nation that fought in World War II. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018, photo, a World War II British ration card, right, rests on a flyer, center, that shows a woman operating machinery juxtaposed with a depiction of a family doing yard work, in a display at The International World War II Museum, in Natick, Mass. A new exhibit called "Women in WWII: On the Home Fronts and the Battlefronts" at the museum explores the important and unconventional roles women played in every large nation that fought in World War II. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018, photo, a World War II Soviet women's camouflaged sniper uniform is displayed with a sniper rifle in an exhibit called "Women in WWII: On the Home Fronts and the Battlefronts" at The International Museum of World War II, in Natick, Mass. The new exhibit explores the important and unconventional roles women played in every large nation that fought in World War II. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018, photo, a World War II-era, black-and-white photograph of French student Simone Billard is attached to a fake identity card created by the French Resistance in an exhibit called "Women in WWII: On the Home Fronts and the Battlefronts" at The International Museum of World War II, in Natick, Mass. Billard used a homemade radio to listen to the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, during the war, which was an offense in Nazi-occupied France that could incur severe punishment. The new exhibit explores the important and unconventional roles women played in every large nation that fought in World War II. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Military veterans who were discharged for relatively minor offenses say they often can't get jobs, and they hope a recent warning to employers by the state of Connecticut will change that.

The state's human rights commission told employers last month they could be breaking the law if they discriminate against veterans with some types of less-than-honorable discharges. Blanket policies against hiring such veterans could be discriminatory, the commission said, because the military has issued them disproportionately to black, Latino, gay and disabled veterans.

At least one other state, Illinois, already prohibits hiring discrimination based on a veteran's discharge status, advocates say, but Connecticut appears to be the first to base its decision on what it deems discrimination by the military. Regardless of the state's reasons, veterans say, the attention there could at least educate employers.

In this May 9, 2018 photo, Iraq War veteran Kristofer Goldsmith poses for a photo at a campus park after his last final exam of the semester at Columbia University in New York. Military veterans with less-than-honorable discharges from the military say they often can't get jobs, and they hope a recent warning to employers by the state of Connecticut will change that. Goldsmith says that for veterans with bad paper, their service record looks more like a criminal record to potential employers. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

"You may as well be a felon when you're looking for a job," said Iraq War veteran Kristofer Goldsmith, who said the Army gave him a general discharge in 2007 because he attempted suicide.

An honorable discharge is the only type that entails full benefits. A dishonorable discharge is given after a court-martial for serious offenses, which can include felonies. Other types of discharges in between - known by veterans as "bad paper" - are issued administratively, with no court case, and can stem from behavior including talking back, tardiness, drug use or fighting.

The commission says its guidance focused on that middle class of discharges.

Sometimes such discharges are given to veterans whose violations stemmed from post-traumatic stress disorder, like Goldsmith's, or brain injuries. Many private employers may not be aware of those extenuating circumstances or understand the differences between discharges, critics say.

And they either won't hire bad-paper veterans or won't give them preferences an honorably discharged veteran would get, the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School told the Connecticut commission.

The clinic, acting on behalf of the Connecticut chapter of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, showed the commission job postings that require applicants who have served in the military to have been honorably discharged.

It also cited a 2017 report by the advocacy organization Protect Our Defenders that found black service members were more likely to be disciplined than white members. And the commission's guidance to employers notes thousands of service members have been discharged for their sexual orientation.

Employers might require an honorable discharge as an easy way to narrow the pool and get strong applicants, said Amanda Ljubicic, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.

"At face value it seems like a simple, logical cutoff to make as an employer," she said. "Certainly this new policy forces employers to think about it differently and to think about the complexities."

The Vietnam Veterans of America asked for a presidential pardon for bad-paper veterans. President Barack Obama didn't respond as he was leaving office, nor did President Donald Trump as he was entering, said John Rowan, the organization's president. He was unsure whether activists would ask Trump again.

More than 13,000 service members received a type of discharge for misconduct, known as other than honorable, between 2011 and 2015, despite being diagnosed with PTSD, a traumatic brain injury or another condition associated with misconduct, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, under an order from Congress, expanded emergency mental health coverage to those veterans for the first time last year.

Passing new laws to address the effects of bad paper is probably not the best solution, said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who pushed for the changes; rather, he said, the military should stop issuing bad-paper discharges to injured veterans.

Goldsmith, 32, said he developed PTSD after his first deployment to Iraq. He was set to leave the military and go to college when the Army extended his active-duty service and ordered him back in 2007. Goldsmith said he attempted suicide shortly before he was due to deploy.

Because of his general discharge, Goldsmith lost his GI Bill benefits. He didn't know how he'd find a job. If he didn't mention his military service, he would have a four-year gap on his resume. But if he did, he would have to disclose medical information to explain why he left.

A friend eventually hired him to work at a photo-booth company, and Goldsmith began contacting members of Congress to press for health care for veterans with bad paper.

"Things like addressing employment discrimination on the national level are so far from possible," he said, "I don't think any of us in the advocacy community has put enough pressure on Congress to handle it."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump canceling his planned summit with North Korea (all times local):

12:10 a.m.

Japan says it understands President Donald Trump's cancellation of the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Top officials there say talks should be held when progress on the North's denuclearization is achieved.

President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for the "Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act," in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Thursday, May 24, 2018, in Washington. In a dramatic diplomatic turn, Trump on Thursday canceled next month's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement by the North. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday the summit is useful only when it makes progress on the North's nuclear and missile abandonment and on the issue of the North's abductions of Japanese citizens.

Trump cited hostility in recent remarks from North Korea when he canceled the summit on Thursday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, in Mexico for talks with officials, said Japan expects a summit where North Korea can commit to denuclearize itself. He said Japan will keep cooperating with Washington to achieve it.

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9:50 p.m.

Singapore says it regrets the cancellation of the summit that was to be held there next month between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump on Thursday abruptly canceled the meeting because he found earlier comments by a North Korean official to be angry and hostile. North Korea responded Friday that it was willing to give the U.S. time to reconsider and was ready to meet anytime.

Singapore had been selected recently from among several locations that were considered, including the Demilitarized Zone between the Koreas where Kim meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in last month.

The statement from Singapore's foreign affairs ministry says it "hopes that the dialogue and efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue."

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7:05 p.m.

North Korea says it is still willing to sit down for talks with the United States "at any time, at any format" after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan issued a statement Friday saying North Korea is "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks.

Kim says North Korea's "objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged."

Kim is calling Trump's decision "unexpected" and "very regrettable," and says the cancellation of the talks shows "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties."

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5 p.m.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he's "very perplexed" that the U.S.-North Korea summit won't go ahead as planned.

Yonhap news agency cited Moon as urging direct talks between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

Moon was speaking at an emergency meeting of his top security officials in Seoul after Trump announced he was canceling the summit because of North Korean "hostility."

Moon was quoted as saying: "I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-U.S. summit will not be held on June 12."

He said, "Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed."

Moon met Trump in Washington on Tuesday, but appeared caught unawares by the president's decision Thursday.

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4 p.m.

The White House says the North Korean government violated several promises to the U.S. and South Korea related to the now-cancelled June summit in Singapore between the U.S. and North Korea. A senior U.S. official says the North Koreans stood up an American delegation last week seeking to make arrangements for the summit and did not return messages from the U.S. seeking to discuss the meeting.

The official says the North also reneged on a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday. International journalists were present, but the U.S. government can't verify the site's destruction.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid overshadowing Trump's comments Thursday.

- By Catherine Lucey

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3:45 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says North Korea had fulfilled its promises ahead of the planned summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Trump canceled the summit on Thursday, citing "hostility" from North Korea.

But Putin said the North Korean leader "did everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts" of the country's nuclear testing site. "After which, we heard about cancellation of the summit by the United States."

Putin said: "In Russia, we took this news with regret, because we had very much counted on it being a significant step in sorting out the situation on the Korean peninsula and that it would be the beginning of the process of denuclearizing the whole Korean Peninsula."

He spoke at a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.

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2:10 p.m.

Donald Trump's letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was dictated by the president to his national security adviser, John Bolton.

That's according to Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, who met with Bolton at the White House on Thursday, hours after Trump announced he was withdrawing from a planned summit with Kim next month.

Gardner told The Associated press that Bolton described the letter as a "wake-up" to Kim, who had shown a change in attitude after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The senator cited the North Koreans' refusal to return phone calls to the administration and turning down high-level talks with South Korea.

He said North Korea had shown a "lack of seriousness" in negotiating on denuclearization.

In the letter, Trump cited "hostility" from North Korea, but kept open the possibility for dialogue.

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1:25 p.m.

Pentagon officials say American forces on the Korean peninsula remain on a normal state of alert in the aftermath of President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his planned summit with North Korea's leader.

Trump said he had spoken to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis about the cancellation and that the U.S. military is prepared for what he called a "foolish or reckless" act by the North.

A spokesman for the Pentagon's Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, told reporters the U.S. military will be ready for any North Korean provocation such as a missile launch. But he said the state of vigilance by the U.S. military in South Korea has not changed, with no new preparations or actions since Trump's announcement. He said U.S. forces are in a "boxer's stance," prepared to defend themselves and South Korea.

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1:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he thinks Kim Jong Un wants to do "what's right" but says it's up to the North Korean leader to seize the opportunity.

Trump says the dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea was good until the North shifted back to its usual belligerent tone. The president says he understands why that happened, but declined to elaborate.

Trump has canceled a summit with Kim planned for June 12 in Singapore, but has left the door open to meeting on that or another date.

The president adds: "We'll see whether or not that opportunity is seized by North Korea."

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12:10 p.m.

President Donald Trump declares he is "waiting" to see if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will again "engage in constructive dialogue."

Trump opened the door for diplomacy Thursday just hours after he canceled a summit with Kim scheduled for next month in Singapore.

But he insisted that Kim reach out, placing the blame on the North Korean leader for the collapse of negotiations.

He also said that until that happened, tough sanctions on Pyongyang would continue and the U.S.-led "maximum pressure campaign is continuing."

Trump and Kim had been slated to meet June 12 for what White House officials had hoped would be a historic diplomatic breakthrough for the president.

They advised that the summit could be rescheduled.

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12:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the U.S. military is "ready if necessary" to respond to "foolish or reckless acts" by North Korea.

Trump also says he's been in touch with South Korea and Japan and that both allies are willing to bear much of the financial burden "if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us."

Trump on Thursday announced he has called off a planned June 12 summit with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, citing recent hostile statements by Kim's government.

North Korea overnight threatened nuclear confrontation with the U.S. and called Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy."

Trump says hopefully "positive things" will take place with respect to North Korea's future. But he adds "If they don't we are more ready than we have ever been before."

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11:30 a.m.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he was involved in discussions late Wednesday and early Thursday that led to President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But, he would not say exactly which, if any, other countries were given a head's up on the decision, including South Korea.

"I don't want to get into who all we notified," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, adding: "The White House will speak to that at the appropriate time."

However, Pompeo, who met at the State Department on Wednesday with China's foreign minister, did say that he had not spoken to Chinese officials since the decision was made.

Asked about a report that South Korea had not been informed before the president's letter to Kim canceling the summit was made public, Pompeo maintained that Washington and Seoul were "in lockstep."

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11:20 a.m.

A prominent Russian lawmaker says the cancellation of the planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un is a serious setback.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, is quoted by the news agency Interfax as saying: "The rejection by Trump of conducting the American-North Korean summit undoubtedly is a serious blow to peaceful settlement in the region."

He adds that "it's already the second blow, after the exit from the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, to global stability in general."

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11:05 a.m.

A Republican senator often critical of Donald Trump says the president "made the right call" in canceling a summit with North Korea's leader.

Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska says Kim Jong Un is a "murderous despot and habitual liar." Sasse is often critical of Trump but is siding with the president on his decision Thursday to pull out of the summit that had been planned for June 12 in Singapore.

Trump cited recent aggressive statements from Kim's government for his decision to cancel the meeting.

Sasse adds in a statement that if North Korea wants diplomacy, "it should know that half-measures and spin about its nuclear program won't cut it."

Sasse is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee,

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10:55 a.m.

The U.N. chief says he is "deeply concerned" by the cancellation of the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.

Antonio Guterres told an audience at the University of Geneva on Thursday that he was urging the parties to keep working "to find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Guterres' comments came as he laid out his disarmament agenda, warning that nuclear agreements between states have been threatened like never before.

Trump announced Thursday that he was canceling the June 12 summit in Singapore with Kim following hostile comments. Overnight, Kim's government threatened nuclear confrontation and called Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy."

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10:45 a.m.

House Speaker Paul Ryan says achieving a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula will require "a much greater degree of seriousness" from Kim Jong Un.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has canceled a June 12 summit in Singapore with the North Korean leader, citing hostile comments from Kim. Overnight, Kim's government threatened nuclear confrontation and called Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy."

Ryan says in a statement Thursday that Kim's government has long given ample reason to question its commitment to stability.

The Republican says that, until a peaceful resolution is achieved, Congress has provided "significant tools" to hold North Korea accountable.

Ryan says the U.S. must continue the "maximum pressure" campaign that Trump and others say brought North Korea to the table in the first place.

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10:35 a.m.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says North Korea did not respond to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the now-canceled summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that the lack of response was an additional reason for Trump's decision to call off the meeting. Trump cited recent bellicose comments from the North in a letter to Kim released by the White House.

Pompeo says: "We had received no response to our inquiries from them."

Pompeo says the North's attitude changed markedly since he returned from a trip to Pyongyang earlier this month, when he met with Kim and secured the release of three American prisoners being held there.

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10:30 a.m.

A senior Democratic senator says President Donald Trump's withdrawal from a planned summit with North Korea shows the consequence of his failure to prepare properly.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey said Thursday that the withdrawal shows "the art of diplomacy is a lot harder than the art of the deal."

The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says it's "pretty amazing" that Trump's Republican administration would be shocked that North Korea "is acting as North Korea might very well normally act."

He adds: "I'm not sure that constantly quoting the Libya model is the diplomatic way to try to get to the results that we seek in North Korea because that didn't work out too well for Gadhafi."

Menendez was speaking Thursday at a committee hearing attended by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

A copy of the letter sent to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from President Donald Trump canceling their planned summit in Singapore is photographed in Washington, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/J. David Ake

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo answers questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee just after President Donald Trump canceled the June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement from North Korea, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

People watch a TV screen showing file footage of U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 24, 2018. North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists.The signs read: " North Korea demolishes nuclear test site ." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's parliament unanimously approved a tougher anti-terrorism law on Friday, lengthening detention periods and involving the military in counter-terrorism operations, spurred into action by recent bombings that involved children as perpetrators.

Rights groups had criticized some revisions as overly broad or vague and warned against rushing them into law. The scope for the military to become involved in counter-terrorism operations is contentious because it backtracks on two decades of keeping soldiers out of areas under civilian authority.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had threatened to impose the changes by special decree if parliament didn't rapidly approve them. Changes were first proposed after a January 2016 suicide bombing and gun attack in Jakarta but languished in the legislature.

Members of Indonesian police counter terrorism unit Special Detachment 88 escort radical cleric Aman Abdurrahman upon arrival for his trial at a district court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, May 25, 2018. Indonesia's parliament unanimously approved a stronger anti-terrorism law on Friday, lengthening detention periods and involving the military in counter-terrorism policing, spurred into action by recent bombings that involved children as perpetrators. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

Police have killed 14 suspected Islamic militants and arrested 60 since the suicide bombings May 13-14 in Indonesia's second-largest city, Surabaya, that were carried out by radicalized families, who involved their children, as young as 7, in the attacks.

The suicide bombings, which horrified Muslim-majority Indonesia, killed 26 people, including 13 members of the families that carried them out. The key perpetrator was leader of the Surabaya cell of an Indonesian militant network that professes loyalty to the Islamic State group.

The new law triples the maximum detention period without charge for suspected militants to 21 days and roughly doubles the entire permissible detention period from arrest to trial to more than two years.

Several articles address gaps in the original law from 2003, giving greater legal basis to prosecute individuals such as radical clerics who inspire attacks or Indonesians who traveled abroad to join IS.

The definition of terrorist acts and threats was expanded to include motives of ideology, politics and security disruption. Some lawmakers said that would prevent the law from being abused.

Military involvement in counter-terrorism operations will be defined later by presidential regulation.

Muhammad Syafi'i, chairman of the parliamentary committee that reviewed the new law, said inclusion of the military aims to beef up police capabilities in cracking down on extremism and radical networks in Indonesia.

Indonesia became a democracy after the ouster of dictator Suharto in 1998 and the role of the military, which had enjoyed sweeping powers, was reduced to national defense.

Indonesia's counterterrorism operations are currently led by an elite police squad, Densus 88, set up following the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people mostly foreigners. In the past two years, it says it has thwarted as many as 23 terror plots and arrested more than 360 suspected militants.

FILE - In this Sunday, May 13, 2018, file photo, members of police bomb squad inspect wreckage of motorcycles at the site where an explosion went off outside a church in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. Indonesia's parliament unanimously approved a strengthened anti-terrorism law, expanding the definition of terror and lengthening detention periods, spurred into action by bombings less than two weeks ago that involved children as perpetrators. (AP Photo/Trisnadi, File)

Indonesian Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly delivers his speech during the parliament's plenary meeting on the revision of the country's anti terrorism law in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, May 25, 2018. Indonesia's parliament unanimously approved a stronger anti-terrorism law on Friday, lengthening detention periods and involving the military in counter-terrorism policing, spurred into action by recent bombings that involved children as perpetrators. (AP Photo/Fadlan Syam)
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) - A western New York native who became a fighter plane ace during World War II is being awarded a posthumous honor from Cornell University.

John O'Neill grew up in Niagara County and enrolled in Cornell's College of Agriculture in 1939. Two years later he enlisted in the U.S. Army and became a fighter pilot.

Sent to the Southwest Pacific, he downed eight Japanese planes to become an ace. O'Neill returned home after the war and resettled in Florida, where he died from leukemia in 1966.

Earlier this spring his son, Jon O'Neill of DeLand, Florida, traveled to Papua New Guinea to retrace his father's wartime steps.

On Saturday, the son will receive a Certificate of Acknowledgement from Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in his father's honor, making the elder O'Neill a non-degreed alumnus.
WASHINGTON (AP) - After inflating a bubble of expectation for a historic summit with North Korea, President Donald Trump popped it.

His withdrawal from a hastily arranged summit with Kim Jong Un drew strong criticism and some praise in Washington.

Trump opponents said he botched a delicate, diplomatic dance with North Korea, at the risk of fueling tensions, cold-shouldering allies like South Korea and making China less willing to put economic pressure on Pyongyang.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo answers questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee just after President Donald Trump canceled the June 12 summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement from North Korea, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 24, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

But some North Korea watchers said it was the right thing to do. Trump wasn't convinced that Pyongyang was serious about giving up its nuclear weapons capabilities, they said, so the president was right to scrap the summit for now and keep testing Kim's interest in substantive negotiations.

"I don't think that this closes the door," said Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director-general at the U.N. nuclear agency. "He is testing how willing Kim is. We have to remember why Kim comes to the meeting. The sanctions are biting. They have economic trouble there. I don't think this is the end of the road."

The big question now is how Kim reacts.

He was spurned on the very day North Korea demolished its nuclear test site in front of international journalists granted unprecedented access to the remote site, a concrete if not irreversible gesture toward denuclearization.

"They will feel betrayed," said Mark Fitzpatrick at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank. "There is a good chance North Korea will resume the missile testing that they have paused for six months," starting with short-range systems.

But the North's initial reaction was mild.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea was still willing to sit down for talks with the U.S. "at any time, at any format." In a statement carried by state media, he said Trump's decision was "very regrettable" and showed how deep-rooted the hostility is between the U.S. and North Korea, and showed "how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties."

Trump's letter to Kim, almost plaintive in tone, kept the door open to dialogue, but it also carried a threat evocative of last year when North Korea was honing its ability to target the continental U.S. with a nuclear-tipped missile. During those tense months, the president, annoyed by bellicose language from Pyongyang, was goading Kim about the size of his nuclear button.

On this occasion Trump wrote that he was praying to God the U.S. won't need to use its "massive and powerful" nukes.

"I think, by and large, the president's message was polite, although his reference to the U.S. nuclear arsenal looked a little threatening to me," said Christopher Hill, the lead U.S. negotiator with North Korea under the George W. Bush administration.

A flurry of characteristically combative statements from North Korea - branding Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" and threatening nuclear confrontation with the U.S. - made plain that the North was not willing to relinquish its nukes in short order as key Trump advisers like national security adviser John Bolton were demanding.

Hill said Trump probably needed to nix the summit because "it suddenly dawned on him that North Korea was not ready to give up its nuclear weapons for nothing."

That's not really a surprise. Back in March, Trump shocked the world by suddenly agreeing to an unprecedented meeting with the North Korean leader, which was due to be held in Singapore on June 12. Although the chances of success were uncertain, the White House had even unveiled a commemorative coin with the profiles of Trump and Kim to herald the "peace talks."

The president clearly relished the prospect of exercising his purported prowess as a negotiator to bring home the daddy of all deals that would alleviate the North Korea nuclear threat and formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.

That was always going to be a long shot.

He can point to some progress made, including the release this month of three American detainees by North Korea as a goodwill gesture. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has had rare and direct contact with Kim, opening the door to top-level engagement.

But Trump is now open to criticism his administration had failed to lay the groundwork for such a high-stakes meeting with a bitter American adversary.

"In hastily agreeing to a summit and then being the one to walk away, President Trump must understand he has now weakened and further isolated the United States," said Sen. Robert Menendez, top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Trump is now left with a difficult diplomatic path forward in sustaining the U.S.-led "maximum pressure" campaign to get North Korea to give up its nukes.

China, North Korea's main trading partner, is going to laud the nuclear test site demolition and could be inclined to ease enforcement of economic sanctions, Acton said, noting reports that North Korean trade with China had restarted already.

"North Korea has done enough for now to placate China and China is going to throw it an economic lifeline," he said.

It could also hurt U.S. relations with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who was in the Oval Office just this week. Moon has invested a lot of political capital in improving relations with North Korea, although Pyongyang just broke off a high-level meeting with Seoul over U.S.-South Korean military drills.

Moon was instrumental in the genesis of the U.S.-North Korea summit, yet his government appeared to be caught unawares by Trump's sudden decision to cancel - a worrying sign of diplomatic disconnect between close allies.

"We are trying to figure out what President Trump's intention is," presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said, according to Yonhap news agency.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - When North Korea slammed U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser John Bolton, its language was very blunt and impolite. But it was milder than its typical crude and inflammatory insults unleashed on other top U.S. and South Korean officials.

The North likely had just tried to strengthen its position in negotiations on the amount of concessions it could wrest from the United States in return for giving up its nuclear program.

But its calling Pence a "political dummy" was still strong enough for President Donald Trump to cite North Korea's hostility in scrapping his planned June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a time when the president faced mounting pessimism at home about Kim's commitment to disarming.

In this May 22, 2018, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-In in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, as national security adviser John Bolton, right, watches. When North Korea slammed U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser John Bolton, its language was very blunt and impolite. But it was milder than its typical crude and inflammatory insults unleased on other top U.S. and South Korean officials. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Apparently startled at Trump's abrupt move, a senior North Korean official who touched off his country's recent rhetorical attacks on Washington issued an unusually conciliatory statement Friday saying the North still wants to engage with the United States.

A look at how North Korea's statements have evolved over the past nine days, from harsh criticism of U.S. officials and threats to cancel the summit to a near apology:

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BOLTON CRITICISM

After canceling a high-level dialogue with South Korea, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan on May 16 issued a statement threatening to do the same with the Kim-Trump talks if the United States continues to "drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment."

Kim Kye Gwan categorically took issue with the remarks by Bolton that North Korea should follow the "Libyan model," which many experts say meant the North must take complete nuclear disarmament steps before getting major sanctions relief or other outside benefits.

"We shed light on the quality of Bolton already in the past, and we do not hide our feeling of repugnance toward him," Kim Kye Gwan was quoted as saying in the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim Kye Gwan's wording was weaker than a previous salvo North Korea fired off about the hawkish U.S. official.

In 2003, North Korea's state media called Bolton "human scum" after he described then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the late father of Kim Jong Un, as a "tyrannical dictator." In 2007, when Bolton raised strong skepticism about North Korea's previous disarmament pledges, state media said he "talked trash" and that he is "ill-famed for speaking ill of the countries standing for progress and peace."

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PENCE CRITICISM

This directly prompted Trump to say that it is "inappropriate" to go ahead with the summit because of the "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed in the North's "most recent statement."

In remarks carried by state media on Thursday, Choe Son Hui, another North Korean vice foreign minister, called Pence a "political dummy" over his comments during a Fox News interview that again compared North Korea with Libya.

"As a person involved in the U.S. affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president," Choe said. "In case the U.S. offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the (North)-U.S. summit."

Choe's "political dummy" comment was certain to anger the United States. But again, in the past, North Korea attacked others including Trump using worse language.

At the height of nuclear tensions between the countries last year, Kim Jong Un personally called Trump "the mentally deranged U.S. dotard" after Trump portrayed him as "the Rocket Man" on a "suicide mission." His propaganda machine called Trump a "war maniac" and "mad man."

North Korea's state media called former President Barack Obama a "monkey," and his secretary of state, John Kerry, a wolf with a "hideous lantern jaw." They called South Korea's former conservative presidents Park Geun-hye a "prostitute" and Lee Myung-bak a "rat."

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LETTER OF APOLOGY

About eight hours after Trump publicly called off the summit, Kim Kye Gwan issued a lengthy statement saying North Korea is still willing to sit down with the United States "at any time, in any format."

"The first meeting would not solve all, but solving even one at a time in a phased way would make the relations get better rather than making them get worse. The U.S. should ponder over it," Kim Kye Gwan said.

Kim Kye Gwan called Trump's decision "very regrettable" but his statement still apparently focused on stressing that Trump misunderstood the North's true intensions. Experts say it was obvious the North had no plans to walk away from the U.S. summit from the beginning.

It was also highly unusual for the North to make such a quick response to any major policy announcements by Washington and Seoul, and especially one that is so conciliatory in tone.

"What appears to be close to an apology letter was contained in Kim Kye Gwan's statement," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University.

Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies. said he believes Trump used the Pence criticism as a way to pull out of the summit because his government wasn't sure if North Korea would disarm in a manner that he wants.

People watch a TV screen showing a satellite image of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Korea during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 24, 2018. North Korea carried out what it said is the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The signs read: " North Korea demolishes nuclear test site at 11 AM." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Protesters with a portrait of U.S. President Donald Trump stage a rally against the United States' policies near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 25, 2018. North Korea said Friday that it's still willing to sit down for talks with the United States "at any time, at any format" just hours after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned summit with the North's leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

In this undated photo provided on Friday, May 25, 2018, by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the completed Koam-Tapchon Railways in Gangwon-do, North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

A protester wearing a mask of U.S. President Donald Trump, center, performs with cut-out photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, during a rally against the United States' policies against North Korea near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Friday May, 25, 2018. North Korea said Friday that it's still willing to sit down for talks with the United States "at any time, at any format" just hours after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned summit with the North's leader Kim Jong Un. The signs read " Apology." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A protester wearing a mask of U.S. President Donald Trump, center, performs with cut-out photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, during a rally against the United States' policies against North Korea near the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 25, 2018. North Korea said Friday that it's still willing to sit down for talks with the United States "at any time, at any format" just hours after President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his planned summit with the North's leader Kim Jong Un. The signs read " Apology." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
TORONTO (AP) - Police hunted for two people Friday after an explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding 15 people.

Authorities said two people with their faces covered to conceal their identities entered the Bombay Bhel restaurant late Thursday, dropped the bomb and fled. Two birthday parties were taking place at the restaurant and about 40 people were inside, including children, though none of the youngsters were injured.

"There is no indication that this is a terrorism act. There is no indication that this is a hate crime at this time," Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans said. "Every police resource is being used right now to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act."

A police forensic identification unit work around the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday, May 25, 2018. An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant where children were present for family parties at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding over a dozen people, Canadian police said. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Police said Friday that all the injured had been released from the hospital. Officials initially said three Indian-Canadians suffered critical injuries and were being treated, while the remaining 12 victims suffered what Evans described as superficial injuries. The ages of the injured range from 23 to 69.

The explosion happened just after 10:30 p.m. and the plaza where the restaurant is located was still sealed off Friday. Television footage showed an injured women limping away from the restaurant.

Peel Regional Police Sgt. Matt Bertram said an object resembling a pail or paint can was carried into the restaurant by one of the bombers.

"Nothing was said by these individuals," he said. "It appears they just went in, dropped off this device and took off right away."

Bertram said authorities couldn't say what the motive was or what explosives were used.

Police asked for the public's help and released a photo of the two people, who wore dark hoodies pulled over their heads and had their faces covered.

One suspect was described as someone in his mid-20s with a stocky build, wearing dark blue jeans and a baseball cap with a light gray bill. The second was described as a little shorter with a thin build, wearing faded blue jeans, a gray T-shirt and dark-colored skate shoes.

Rafael Conceicao, a student from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was near the restaurant when the explosion occurred.

"Glass was broken in the street ... Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood in the floor. Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant," he said.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said she was thankful there were no fatalities.

"I would call it a very heinous, reprehensible act committed by cowards who came into a restaurant where people are vulnerable, celebrating with their families and where children are present," she said. "This is certainly not anything you would expect to happen in Mississauga."

The explosion came a month after the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians on a Toronto sidewalk, killing 10 people and injuring 14. Authorities have not disclosed a motive. But they have said the arrested driver, Alek Minassian, posted a message on social media referencing a misogynistic online community before the attack.

"To have two of these things happen in a short period of time is worrisome," said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, adding that such events are shocking because they are rare in Canada.

Bertram said police sealed off a couple of areas east of the restaurant where footprints, a glove and other evidence were located. Police believe the suspects fled in a car.

Sanjiv Jagota, who owns a nearby store, was driving by Thursday night when he saw emergency vehicles and stopped. Standing outside the police tape, Jagota waited with the son of the Bombay Bhel's owner to see how everyone was.

He said he is good friends with the family, who started the restaurant in the 1990s. "This place is like their baby."

Police search around a wooded section near the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday, May 25, 2018. An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant where children were present for family parties at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding over a dozen people, Canadian police said. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

A police officer stands watch at the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday, May 25, 2018. An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant where children were present for family parties at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding over a dozen people, Canadian police said. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

Police forensic officers work around the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, on Friday, May 25, 2018. An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant where children were present for family parties at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding over a dozen people, Canadian police said. (Cole Burston/The Canadian Press via AP)

In this image made from CCTV footage released by Peel Regional Police, two suspects enter a glass doorway of the Bombay Bhel Indian restaurant, late Thursday, May 24, 2018, in Mississauga, suburb of Toronto, Canada. Police are searching for the two suspects in connection with the explosion caused by "improvised explosive device" ripped through the restaurant, wounding 15 people, Canadian police said. (Peel Regional Police via AP)
PARIS (AP) - Two retired members of the French secret services suspected of being double agents for an unnamed foreign power have been handed preliminary charges along with a suspected accomplice, French authorities said Friday.

President Emmanuel Macron said that France's foreign intelligence agency DGSE detected "actions of extreme gravity" by the former DGSE agents.

Macron, speaking during a visit to Russia, said Paris prosecutors are investigating. He would not comment on a report that the agents had been working for China.

The investigation was opened last year but the Defense Ministry only confirmed it Thursday after details of the probe were reported Thursday on TMC television.

The two men were given preliminary charges in December including compromising defense secrets and "delivering information to a foreign power that threatens fundamental interests of the nation," according to a judicial official. The official said one of the men was also given preliminary treason charges.

The two are being held in custody pending further investigation and a decision on whether to send them to trial.

A third person was given a preliminary charge related to treason, but released under judicial supervision, the official said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named.

The official didn't identify the third person, but the Defense Ministry said the wife of one of the men was also suspected to be involved.

Defense Minister Florence Parly, speaking on CNews television, said their actions could "potentially compromise state security."

The ministry did not specify for which country the agents are suspected to have worked.

News and entertainment show Quotidien, which first reported the news on TMC television Thursday night, reported without citing sources that the agents were working for China and that one of them was based in Beijing.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - An Australian nun who irked the Philippine president by joining political rallies defied an Immigration Bureau order to leave the country and appealed to justice officials Friday to allow her to continue her missionary work for the poor and victims of injustice.

Accompanied by fellow Catholic nuns and priests, Sister Patricia Fox and her lawyers filed the petition before the Department of Justice. Dozens of supporters held placards that read "Hands off Sister Pat" and yelled "No to deportation."

"My wish is to continue the missionary work with the poor and I hope that will be the result ... and for me to continue working as a missionary, as a human rights defender," Fox, 71, told journalists and supporters.

Australian Roman Catholic nun Sr. Patricia Fox, center, is greeted by fellow nuns as she arrives to file her at the Justice Department shortly after filing a petition seeking to review a Bureau of Immigration order revoking her missionary visa, Friday, May 25, 2018, in Manila, Philippines. Sr. Pat, who irked the Philippine president for joining political rallies, has defied an Immigration Bureau order for her to leave the Philippines and appealed to justice officials to allow her to continue her missionary work for the poor and victims of injustice. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Her lawyer, Katherine Panguban, said the appeal should stop the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation from enforcing a decision to revoke Fox's missionary visa and force her to leave the country after nearly three decades of missionary work for the poor, workers and tribal communities.

Justice Secretary Menardo Gueverra ordered the Immigration Bureau to comment on Fox's petition and provide details of her case within 10 days.

President Rodrigo Duterte has been hypersensitive to criticism, especially about his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs and expressions of alarm by foreign governments and human rights watchdogs. His administration barred a critical Italian politician, Giacomo Filibeck, from entering the country last month.

Last month, Duterte also threatened foreigners with arrest if they insult his government in rallies. "You come here and insult us, you trample on our sovereignty. That will never happen," said the former city mayor, known for his extra-tough approach to law and order.

"I assure you, if you begin to malign, defame government in any of those rallies there, I will order your arrest," Duterte said.

Lawyer Edre Olalia, president of a legal group backing Fox, said her case is both a litmus test and emblematic of how the present government treats sincere advocates of basic reforms for the poor and oppressed.

"It is also a barometer of how the law serves as a tool of or excuse for repression to silence well-meaning critics and dissenters," Olalia said.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque has said there was no crackdown against dissent and immigration authorities found out Fox violated the terms of her visa after an investigation.

Panguban said Fox's missionary visa remains valid and that she will carry out her religious mission as usual for now.

Immigration Bureau chief Jaime Morente, however, said Wednesday his agency turned down Fox's appeal for the reversal of an order revoking her visa and ordered her to leave the country in 30 days, adding that no other appeals would be considered.

Immigration spokeswoman Dana Sandoval said Fox has to leave the country on Friday. The Justice Department, however, said Fox can stay up to June 18 because her earlier appeal extended the 30-day period for her to leave.

Fox's lawyers argue that she has not engaged in political activities as the government claims. She said Wednesday her religious mission brought her to poor communities of people fighting for land, justice and survival, destitute Filipinos who are supporting her now.

"I've always been quiet about it, but faithful to it because I believe that's where church people should be, with the people, who are struggling for their rights," Fox said, fighting back tears. "At this stage I'm sort of a little emotional in part because of the decision and also because it's been really special to have people say that they don't want me to go."

Australian Roman Catholic nun Sr. Patricia Fox, center, holds documents after filing her petition at the Justice Department shortly after filing a petition seeking to review a Bureau of Immigration order revoking her missionary visa, Friday, May 25, 2018, in Manila, Philippines. Sr. Pat, who irked the Philippine president for joining political rallies, has defied an Immigration Bureau order for her to leave the Philippines and appealed to justice officials to allow her to continue her missionary work for the poor and victims of injustice. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Australian Roman Catholic nun Sr. Patricia Fox, center, holds documents after filing her petition at Justice Department shortly after filing a petition seeking to review a Bureau of Immigration order revoking her missionary visa, Friday, May 25, 2018, in Manila, Philippines. Sr. Pat, who irked the Philippine president for joining political rallies, has defied an Immigration Bureau order for her to leave the Philippines and appealed to justice officials to allow her to continue her missionary work for the poor and victims of injustice. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Australian Roman Catholic nun Sr. Patricia Fox, bids goodbye to well-wishers after filing her petition at the Justice Department shortly after filing a petition seeking to review a Bureau of Immigration order revoking her missionary visa, Friday, May 25, 2018, in Manila, Philippines. Sr. Pat, who irked the Philippine president for joining political rallies, has defied an Immigration Bureau order for her to leave the Philippines and appealed to justice officials to allow her to continue her missionary work for the poor and victims of injustice. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Just a month ago, South Korean President Moon Jae-in was smiling with pride as he grasped the hands of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, a young and brash leader with a nuclear arsenal, as they announced aspirations for a nuclear-free peninsula and permanent peace.

South Koreans pinned their hopes on a summit to come between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. Their euphoria shifted to unease before sinking into a funk upon learning as they awoke Friday that Trump had canceled the summit, citing hostility in recent North Korean comments.

Trump's decision underscores the delicacy of Seoul's intermediary status but also the credibility problems Moon faces over his claim that Kim is genuinely interested in negotiating away his nuclear weapons.

FILE - In this April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP. Pool, File)

Moon had meticulously brokered the summit between Trump and Kim and claimed the "driver's seat" in trying to resolve the nuclear standoff, but said Trump's cancellation left him "very perplexed."

Critics, though, say Moon has been an overeager matchmaker rather than an honest broker, driving up unrealistic expectations in both Washington and Pyongyang for a quick breakthrough when they remain far apart on the future of Kim's nuclear program.

Trump's decision to pull out also undercuts claims by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who after meeting Kim twice in recent weeks said there was a "shared understanding" between Washington and Pyongyang about what they hope to achieve in the summit.

Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said Trump's move has put Moon in a quandary. It will be hard for Moon to continue engagement with Pyongyang at the cost of widening a rift with Washington. Moon will also have to deal with a public that is deeply split along ideological lines, with progressives expressing anger over Trump and conservatives criticizing Moon for being too soft on Pyongyang.

"It's a big dilemma and I can't think of any clear way out of it," Choi said. "Inter-Korean relations have become a substructure of U.S.-North Korea relations."

South Korea was clearly blindsided by Trump's decision to back away from the summit, which was announced in a letter to Kim. It came just hours after the South Korean government issued a statement welcoming the North's dismantling of its nuclear test site, calling it a "meaningful first step" toward denuclearization. It also came just days after Trump hosted a White House meeting with Moon at which they expressed optimism for successful talks in Singapore.

In his letter, Trump objected specifically to a statement from senior North Korean diplomat Choe Son Hui, who referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" for his earlier comments on North Korea and said it was up to the Americans whether they would "meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown."

Trump didn't entirely kill the summit, writing to Kim "please do not hesitate to call me or write."

But Trump also threw Moon under the metaphorical bus. In an apparent response to Choe's claim that Washington had asked for dialogue first, Trump wrote, "We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant."

South Korea maintained an optimistic tone on Friday, referring to the North's conciliatory reaction to Trump's announcement and its hope the summit could take place later.

"There have been no changes in the stance of related parties in that the problem should be solved through dialogue," said Baek Tae-hyun, the spokesman of Seoul's Unification Ministry.

But clearly Moon faces the greatest test of his diplomatic skills since he used his hosting role for the Winter Olympics in February to renew the push to resolve the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.

North Korea sent hundreds of athletes, performers and dignitaries to the Pyeongchang Games, including Kim's sister, who conveyed her brother's desire for a summit with Moon. Moon later brokered the canceled summit between Kim and Trump.

The chill in the inter-Korean warmth set in when North Korea canceled a high-level meeting with the South over U.S.-South Korean military drills. The North also lashed out at Trump's hard-line national security adviser, John Bolton, before it criticized Pence and said it has no interest in talks that amount to a unilateral surrender of its nuclear weapons.

The North's statements raised further doubts about Moon's claim that Kim can be persuaded to abandon his nuclear facilities, materials and weapons in a verifiable and irreversible way in return for credible security and economic guarantees.

Comments in North Korea's state media indicate Kim saw any meeting with Trump as an arms control negotiation between legitimate nuclear states, rather than a process to surrender his nukes.

For decades, North Korea has been pushing a concept of "denuclearization" that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its troops from South Korea and the American "nuclear umbrella" defending South Korea and Japan.

Moon and Kim's vague pledge for the "complete denuclearization" of their peninsula after last month's inter-Korean summit has done little to quiet questions over Kim's true intent.

South Korea may lose much of its voice if Trump chooses to deal more directly with Kim or seeks a broader resolution including China, North Korea's only major ally. Moon may lose the driver's seat for good if Pyongyang reverts to provocative weapons tests, which would bring back U.S. talk of using military force against the North.

"It's an awkward and tough situation but the talks haven't been broken yet," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University and an policy adviser to Moon. "South Korea has to be more active as a mediator to reduce the distrust between both sides."

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Associated Press reporter Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report.
LONDON (AP) - A day after the Bank of England's governor warned about the damaging consequences of a "disorderly" Brexit, official figures Friday confirmed that the British economy barely grew in the first three months of the year.

The Office for National Statistics said the economy expanded by a quarterly rate of just 0.1 percent amid weak household spending and business investment. Both have been held by factors directly related to the country's vote to leave the European Union.

Household spending, which rose just 0.2 percent in the first quarter, has been held back by the inflation stoked by the pound's sharp fall in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, which led to a rise in the cost of imports.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney delivers a speech, during the Bank of England Markets Forum 2018, at Bloomberg, in central London, Thursday May 24, 2018. (Victoria Jones/Pool Photo via AP)

Meanwhile, business investment fell by 0.2 percent, with executives seemingly cautious amid uncertainty over Britain's future relationship with the EU, its biggest trading partner. With firms' balance sheets healthier than they have been for years and with the global economy - in particular Europe - doing better than expected, business investment should be rising.

For those wishing to blame the low growth on late winter weather, the statistics agency noted that the impact was fairly minimal. It said bad weather had some impact on the economy, particularly in construction and retail, but that its overall effect was limited.

The low growth was one of two main reasons why the Bank of England did not raise its main interest rate by a quarter-point this month to 0.75 percent, as it had earlier signaled it would. The other was that inflation had come down more sharply than anticipated.

The latest growth figures come a day after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned that a "disorderly" Brexit could push the bank into the same sort of exceptional stimulus it unleashed after the country voted to leave the EU two years ago. Then, the bank's Monetary Policy Committee cut its main rate to a record low of 0.25 percent and enacted some further stimulus measures to shore up confidence.

Amid signs that the British government's Brexit negotiations with the EU are making little headway and could in fact be deteriorating, Carney told an audience of economists late Thursday that a "sharper" Brexit may lead policymakers to pursue a similar response.

"For example, if the transition were disorderly, or the end state agreement materially worse than the average potential outcome, then the MPC could once again be confronted by a trade-off between the speed with which it returns inflation to target and the support policy provides to jobs and activity," he said.

"On this path, the MPC can be expected to set policy to manage any trade-off using the framework it applied following the referendum."

Though acknowledging that the Brexit vote has already hurt the economy by raising inflation and hindering investment, the bank has operated on the assumption that the transition to a new trading relationship with the EU would be smooth.

That gave it room to raise its main rate in November to 0.5 percent, its first hike in a decade, even though economic growth has slowed noticeably.

With the British government split over several issues related to Brexit and Prime Minister Theresa May losing a series of votes in Parliament, there's growing concern that there won't be a deal by the fall. That means the country could end up crashing out of the EU next year without a deal that would, among other things, see tariffs slapped on British exports.

The aim of the Brexit discussions was to get a political deal by about October to give individual EU parliaments' the time to approve the agreement before the official Brexit date of March 29, 2019. After that, Britain would remain in the tariff-free and frictionless European single market and customs union until the end of 2020 to smooth the process - but that transition period depends on a broad agreement being reached.

On Thursday, the cross-party Commons Exiting the European Union Committee said it was "highly unsatisfactory" the government had yet to agree on the post-Brexit trading and customs arrangements and that the country may have to stay in the customs union for years after Brexit.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, centre, arrives for the Bank of England Markets Forum 2018 at Bloomberg, in central London, Thursday May 24, 2018. (Victoria Jones/Pool Photo via AP)
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - Those who witnessed it said a sobbing Fetine Menish had to be physically dragged by each arm to meet her fate; the 14-year-old was being married off to a Palestinian merchant searching Cyprus for a suitable Muslim wife to take back home.

After all, Turkish Cypriot brides in the time between the two World Wars were prized for their beauty and work ethic.

Fetine's pleas fell on deaf ears, for the deal was done in 1936. Grinding poverty on the eastern Mediterranean island was compounded by years of drought through the 1930s, and her indebted Turkish Cypriot father had already accepted a dowry of a pocketful of British pounds sterling.

Fetine Mentesh holds a photograph of great-aunt Fetine Menish in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 18, 2018. Those who witnessed it said a sobbing Fetine Menish had to be physically dragged by each arm to meet her fate; the 14-year-old was being married off to a Palestinian merchant searching Cyprus for a suitable Muslim wife to take back home. After all, Turkish Cypriot brides in the time between the two World Wars were prized for their beauty and work ethic. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

"If you send me away you will never see me again," Fetine warned. Her older brother Huseyin ran away and spent 40 days in the mountains, never really able to forgive his father.

Seven decades later, Fetine's grandniece Pembe Mentesh mounted a search for a "lost" relative that other family members never really talked about. In doing so, Mentesh uncovered hundreds of similar cases, revealing the suppressed guilt of families who felt they had sold their young daughters to foreign men.

Mentesh and colleague Yeliz Shukri say it's the word "sold" that's at the root of the shame felt by some Turkish Cypriot families for "giving away" their daughters for money, even though dowries for brides had long been an established custom.

But they say in these instances there was a key difference. The dowry didn't go to the bride as a financial safety net. Instead, it went to the families, giving the impression that a child was "sold."

Turkish Cypriot author Cemay Onalt Muezzin suggested in his own research that the social stigma was reinforced by a Turkish Cypriot soldier's 1943 pamphlet bemoaning the "sale" of Cypriot women to Arab men.

Mentesh and Shukri say no one knows exactly how many Turkish Cypriot brides were married off to foreign merchants between the 1920s and the late 1940s because records were destroyed. But their research leads them to believe that approximately 1,500 brides left the island - a significant number given the 70,000-strong Turkish Cypriot population at the time.

They say the number of people speaking openly about their relatives leaving is small given the actual number of brides. Most went to Palestine but a few ended up in Egypt and Lebanon.

Mentesh's search has spawned the documentary "Missing Fetine," which was directed by Shukri. Its revelations helped Mentesh and her relatives come to terms with their family secret and laid the groundwork to help other families reconnect with lost loved ones or their descendants.

"We believe this is a painful topic for all involved. For some, it may just be easier to leave it in the past," Shukri told The Associated Press.

Mentesh's travels took her to the West Bank and Jordan where Fetine's 13 children from two marriages live with their own families. It's not clear if Fetine ever attempted to contact her family back in Cyprus over the decades.

But Mentesh and Shukri are careful to stress that not all Turkish Cypriot brides went against their will or were unhappy - some may have sought a better life elsewhere. Some of Fetine's own children bristle at suggestions that Turkish Cypriot brides were mere commodities.

"We feel like we did the right thing," Mentesh told an audience at a recent screening of the documentary, which has entered a local film festival taking place in August. Mentesh and Shukri, who were born and raised in Australia and now live in Cyprus, say they're looking to screen the documentary at other international film festivals.

A glimpse into Fetine's frame of mind can be seen in the only surviving photograph of her that Mentesh came across during her research.

Taken just before her departure, Fetine, with strikingly long braids, dons a dress and inexpensive jewelry customarily provided by a photo studio to less well-heeled clients.

She appears to have little interest in the flower bouquet she was given to hold - it hangs by her side pointing downward. Fetine looks into the camera, unsmiling, with a gaze betraying some resentment about the choice made for her.

Pembe Mentesh, right, and her mother Fetine Mentesh hold the photographs of great-aunt Fetine Menish in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 18, 2018. Those who witnessed it said a sobbing Fetine Menish had to be physically dragged by each arm to meet her fate; the 14-year-old was being married off to a Palestinian merchant searching Cyprus for a suitable Muslim wife to take back home. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Pembe Mentesh, left, and her mother Fetine Mentesh hold the photographs of great-aunt Fetine Menish in divided capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, May 18, 2018. Those who witnessed it said a sobbing Fetine Menish had to be physically dragged by each arm to meet her fate; the 14-year-old was being married off to a Palestinian merchant searching Cyprus for a suitable Muslim wife to take back home. After all, Turkish Cypriot brides in the time between the two World Wars were prized for their beauty and work ethic. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
BEIRUT (AP) - A Syrian war-monitoring group said Friday that suspected Israeli strikes hit a military base overnight in central Syria housing fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah and others from factions allied with the Damascus government.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties at the Dabaa air base and surrounding areas in central Homs province, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The base, north of al-Qusair near the border with Lebanon, captured by Hezbollah in 2013 from rebels, marking a turning point in the group's role in the Syrian war.

Syria's state media reported late Thursday that a military base in central Syria came under attack from "enemy fire," and that Syrian air defenses responded. State news agency SANA reported loud explosions at the Dabaa air base.

The Israeli military is believed to be behind dozens of airstrikes in recent years against Hezbollah, Iran, and Syrian military positions. The U.S. and Israeli governments have viewed Iran's role in Syria as a threat to Israel and have threatened action.

Syria's government forces have relied on support from the Iranian-backed militant Hezbollah group and other regional militias to fight Syrian rebels and Islamic State fighters. The conflict is now in its eighth year.

The Observatory also raised the death toll from Wednesday night's airstrikes in eastern Syria to 14 pro-government fighters, all but two foreign nationals. Syrian-run media blamed the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS for the strikes on military positions between the towns of Boukamal and Hmeimeh in the eastern Deir el-Zour province.

The Observatory said it also suspects coalition aircraft were behind the attack but the Pentagon said it had "no information" to substantiate such reports.

The U.S.-led coalition and the Syrian opposition it backs, as well as Syrian government troops and allied militias, are separately fighting IS remnants still holed up in the country's east. Iraqi forces have also collaborated with both the Syrian government and the U.S.-led coalition against IS. On Friday, Iraq said its warplanes struck two sites belonging to IS in eastern Syria.

The U.S.-backed forces are operating east of the Euphrates River, with government and allied troops to the west of it. But they have come to blows at times.

In February, the U.S. military launched rare airstrikes and artillery rounds against Syrian government-backed troops after as many as 500 of them staged what appeared to be a coordinated attack on U.S.-backed Syrian forces and U.S. advisers in Deir el-Zour. U.S. officials said the strikes were in self-defense and in response to pro-government forces firing artillery and tank rounds at the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. About 100 troops were killed, including a number of Russian contractors.

The Observatory had reported a series of explosions late Tuesday in government-held neighborhoods in the city of Deir el-Zour, which the regime captured late last year from IS. The Observatory said it believed they were U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. There was no immediate comment from the coalition.

The U.S.-led coalition and the SDF had resumed operations against IS in eastern Deir el-Zour earlier this month after a brief hiatus, as the Kurdish-led SDF diverted some of its fighters to western Syria where Turkey backed a military offensive against a Kurdish enclave there. SDF officials had said the hiatus had allowed IS militants to regroup, and Syrian government forces to advance.

On Friday, the U.S.-led coalition said its airstrikes against IS remnants in Syria and Iraq have increased by 147 percent this month, compared to March. The coalition also said it has carried 42 airstrikes in the past week against IS militants near Boukamal, a border town with Iraq currently controlled by the government.

The coalition said in a statement Friday that its operations to round up IS militants in Syria's eastern province in the coming weeks will "build momentum." In recent weeks, five senior IS militants were captured in collaboration between the coalition, SDF, Iraq and Turkey.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - A day after international prosecutors said they had unequivocal evidence of Russian involvement in the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine nearly four years ago, the Netherlands and Australia on Friday announced they were holding Moscow legally responsible for its role in the missile attack.

The move puts further strain on already tense relations between Russia and the West and opens a new legal front in the long-running process of apportioning blame for the July 17, 2014, missile strike that blew Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 out of the sky and killed all 298 people on board.

"State responsibility comes into play when states fail to uphold provisions of international law and that's clearly the case," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague.

Australian Federal Police Commander Jennifer Hurst speaks as she stands near to part of a Buk missile recovered from the site of the MH17 crash, during a press conference regarding the downing of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, in Bunnik, Central Netherlands, Thursday, May 24, 2018. Investigators also displayed parts of the engine casing and exhaust system of a Buk 9M38 series missile recovered from eastern Ukraine and showed photos of a unique serial number on the missile. Team members said that careful analysis of video and photos from social media traced the journey of the Russian missile convoy into Ukraine and identified the launcher system. (AP Photo/Michael Corder)

On Thursday, a Dutch-led international team of investigators said they had strong evidence that the Buk missile system that brought down the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight came from a Russia-based military unit, the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk. It was the most explicit link yet published by the investigators between Moscow and the downing of the flight known as MH17.

Rutte demanded that Moscow fully cooperate with the criminal probe.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop called for international support for the Dutch-Australian legal initiative.

"If military weapons can be deployed and then used to bring down civilian aircraft in what was essentially a war zone, then international security is at risk and we call on all countries to inform the Russian Federation that its conduct is unacceptable," she said.

The two nations quickly got support from allies including the United States, Britain and the European Union.

"It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Russia's involvement "an egregious example of the Kremlin's disregard for innocent life" and called on Moscow to cooperate fully with the investigation.

Russia denies involvement in the downing of the Malaysian Boeing 777 that was flying 33,000 feet (about 10,000 meters) over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine when it was torn apart by a Buk missile fired from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

Bodies, debris and burning wreckage rained out of the sky and into a field of sunflowers near the rebel-held village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border, where fighting had been raging for months.

Speaking at a business forum in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Russia was responsible for downing MH17. He said the Ukrainian military could have been responsible, noting a 2001 incident in which the Ukrainian army accidentally downed a Russian airliner over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people on board.

Putin said Russia would not trust the investigation's final findings because Russia is excluded from the investigative team.

"We aren't taking part in it, and our arguments haven't been accepted by the investigative commission," he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Moscow has cooperated with the criminal probe and sent data including radar images from the day the plane was shot down.

Goran Sluiter, a professor of international criminal law at the University of Amsterdam, said the legal move appears aimed at least in part at pressing Russia to cooperate with the investigation, but was not without risks.

"It's getting a bit blurred because there's a state responsibility claim now interfering with a criminal investigation," Sluiter said.

He said it would be tough to pursue Moscow in court. The most likely legal venue would be the Hague-based International Court of Justice, which settles disputes between nations. The United Nations' top judicial body can only rule, however, if both sides accept its jurisdiction, or if it can be established that Russia breached a treaty to which it is a party and that includes a clause sending disputes to the ICJ.

Ukraine already has gone to the ICJ in a case that, among other demands, seeks compensation for the downing of MH17 from Russia. Moscow argued that the court does not have jurisdiction. Judges have not yet issued a definitive ruling but said in a preliminary decision in April 2017 that they appear to have jurisdiction based on a treaty cited by Kiev.

Relatives of those killed welcomed the legal developments over the last two days as the fourth anniversary of losing their loved ones approaches.

"This is great news," said Hans de Borst, who lost his daughter, Elsemiek. "I understand why the government waited, but now the evidence is clear."

Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce and his girlfriend were on board the flight, called the investigation's findings an important step forward and the decision to hold Russia responsible "two steps forward."

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Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed.

FILE - In this Sunday, July 20, 2014 file photo, a photo of Steven Noreilde from Brasschaat, Belgium, a victim of flight MH17, lays next to a soccer shirt surrounded by flowers, at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. An international team of investigators says that detailed analysis of video images has established that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 nearly four years ago came from a Russia-based military unit. Wilbert Paulissen of the Dutch National Police said Thursday, May 24, 2018 that the missile was from the Russian military's 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk. (AP Photo/Patrick Post, File)

FILE - In this July 17, 2014. file photo, people walk amongst the debris at the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine. An international team of investigators says that detailed analysis of video images has established that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 nearly four years ago came from a Russia-based military unit. Wilbert Paulissen of the Dutch National Police said Thursday, May 24, 2018 that the missile was from the Russian military's 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, File)

Silene Fredriks-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce and girlfriend were on board the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 which was downed by a missile nearly four years ago over eastern Ukraine, speaks to a reporter in Amsterdam, Friday, May 25, 2018. The Netherlands and Australia said Friday that they are holding Russia legally responsible for the downing of MH17, which was shot down over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago, killing all 298 people on board. (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, May 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on the situation in Syria (all times local):

6 p.m.

Syria state-run media says Syrian aircraft have dropped leaflets on rebel-held areas in the country's south warning of an imminent government offensive, and urging fighters to disarm.

The leaflets were dropped on the northern part of Daraa province, which is still divided between rebel and government controlled areas. "The men of the Syrian army are coming. Take your decision before it is too late," read the leaflets published on the Central Military Media's website.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the warnings come as government and allied troops sent reinforcements to the province, near the border with Israel.

The Syrian government has recently captured an enclave in southern Damascus from Islamic State militants, freeing its troops to move on rebel-held Daraa.

The Syrian uprising began in Daraa in 2011. A cease-fire in place there since last summer has slowly disintegrated as government warplanes carried out airstrikes against rebel-held areas.

Southern Syria has been a focal point of tension between Iran and Israel, which accuses Tehran of deploying it allies to the border area threatening a cease-fire in place for four decades.

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12:55 p.m.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman says Turkish and American officials are meeting in the Turkish capital of Ankara for talks on the strategic northern Syrian town of Manbij that has driven a wedge between NATO allies Turkey and the United States.

Turkey is pushing for the withdrawal of U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces from Manbij and has vowed to retake the town and other Kurdish-held territory along the Syrian-Turkish border by force.

Hami Aksoy, the spokesman, said ministry officials were discussing Manbij's status with U.S. State Department officials on Friday.

He says Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo would meet in Washington on June 4 to discuss the issue and other topics.

Ankara views the Kurdish militia in Syria as an extension of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey.

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12:45 p.m.

Iraq says its warplanes have struck two sites belonging to the extremist Islamic State group in eastern Syria.

A military statement said the airstrikes, carried out early Friday morning by Iraqi air force F-16s, targeted the militants' rocket depot and another site used by senior IS leaders.

The statement says both sites were completely destroyed, but gave no other details. This is not the first time that Iraqi warplanes have hit IS positions inside Syria.

The Iraqi airstrikes are believed to be coordinated with Syrian authorities, Russia's military, which has troops and warplanes deployed in Syria, as well as the U.S.-led coalition that has waged an air campaign against IS since 2014.

Last December, Iraq declared victory over IS after it drove its militants out of territories north and west of the country.

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11:55 a.m.

A Syrian war-monitoring group says suspected Israeli strikes hit a military base overnight in central Syria that houses Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group alongside other factions allied with the government in Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that it's not clear if there are any casualties in the strikes on the Dabaa air base in central Homs province. The base is north of the town of al-Qusair that Hezbollah captured in 2013 from rebels, a turning point in the group's role in the Syrian war.

Syria's state media reported late Thursday that a military base in central Syria came under attack from "enemy" fire. It said Syrian air defenses responded.

Hezbollah and Iran's role in Syria has alarmed Israel and the United States, which have threatened action.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A grocery store clerk has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of a teenager who allegedly stole a beer.

The district attorney's office in Shelby County, Tennessee, says Anwar Ghazali is being held on a $1 million bond in the death of 17-year-old Dorian Harris.

Investigators said Harris walked into Ghazali's store in Memphis and left with a beer without paying on March 29. Police say Ghazali ran after him with a handgun and fired several shots, then returned to the store and told a witness, "I think I shot him." Ghazali didn't call police.

Ghazali's attorney Blake Ballin told The Commercial Appeal that the charge is unwarranted because the act was reckless, not premeditated.

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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com
PARIS (AP) - Two garbage collectors were arrested Friday after they stole a waste truck in order to discharge it in front of French President Emmanuel Macron's party headquarters, Paris police said.

A police operation in Paris city center Friday morning stopped the pair before they could dump the garbage, a police official said. He was speaking anonymously in accordance with police practice.

Videos on social media show police officers wearing bulletproof vests pointing their guns at the men in the Opera avenue.

Police officers stand next to a waste truck in Paris, France, Friday, May 25, 2018. Paris police said two garbage collectors have been arrested after they stole a waste truck in order to discharge it in front of French President Emmanuel Macron's party headquarters. (AP Photo)

French media reported the two men are union activists and stole the truck in a northern district of Paris from colleagues who were at work.

Paris waste trucks are equipped with geo-tracking.

A few dozen people held a protest Friday at Macron's LREM party headquarters located near the site of the police operation.

Macron didn't respond directly to the incident but said Friday that protesters who burned his effigy recently or held other violent demonstrations "lack dignity."

Speaking on BFM television, he said: "They don't propose anything for our country. They want big violence. That is not my project for the country."

A new protest is planned Saturday by unions and left-wing activists angry at what they see as his pro-business reforms and threats to French worker protections.

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Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) - A mine in West Virginia has been issued three violation notices over the death of a man in a bulldozer that plunged 100 feet (30 meters) when the ground underneath gave way.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the state's Board of Coal Mine Health and Safety reviewed the death of 34-year-old Thurman Watts at a meeting Wednesday in Beckley. The state said Watts drove the bulldozer too close to a precipice on Dec. 29.

The state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training issued the violation notices to Revelation Energy LLC, the company that owns S7 Surface Mine. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration said safe work practices weren't followed, that ground conditions were irregular and that operators must have control of mobile equipment.

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Information from: The Charleston Gazette-Mail, http://wvgazettemail.com.
DUBLIN (AP) - The Latest on the abortion referendum in Ireland (all times local):

11:25 p.m.

Two major exit polls have projected that Irish voters have repealed a constitutional ban on abortions.

A woman places flowers by a mural showing Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian dentist who had sought and been denied an abortion before she died after a miscarriage in a Galway hospital, with the word YES over it, in Dublin, Ireland, on the day of a referendum on the 8th amendment of the constitution. The referendum on whether to repeal the country's strict anti-abortion law is being seen by anti-abortion activists as a last-ditch stand against what they view as a European norm of abortion-on-demand, while for pro-abortion rights advocates, it is a fundamental moment for declaring an Irish woman's right to choose. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

The exit polls by RTE television and the Irish Times both project a landslide victory for the "yes" forces seeking to liberalize the strict abortion ban.

The RTE poll projects support will reach nearly 70 percent. The exit polls are only projections and official vote counts are expected Saturday afternoon.

Catherine Murphy, co-leader of the small Social Democrats party, said the exit polls "are strongly indicating that voters have taken on board the clear message that the constitutional ban harms women" and must be removed from the constitution.

The exit polls suggest strong support in virtually all parts of the country for repealing the ban.

If the "yes" vote is confirmed, Ireland's parliament will be tasked with writing new regulations on abortion.

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10:30 p.m.

An Irish Times exit poll suggests Ireland has voted overwhelmingly to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion.

The survey by pollster Ipsos-MRBI says 68 percent of voters backed repeal of the ban and 32 percent opposed it in Friday's referendum.

The pollster says it interviewed some 4,000 people about how they had voted and the survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Polls closed at 10 p.m. Friday and counting will take place Saturday. The exit poll is only a prediction and the official count will be announced Saturday in the afternoon or evening.

A second exit poll by a major television network is expected later Friday night.

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2 p.m.

Supporters of liberalizing Ireland's strict abortion ban have given an ecstatic welcome to the Irish people abroad who have travelled home to vote in the country's historic referendum on abortion.

Several activists gathered at Dublin Airport's arrivals hall, holding a large "Welcome Home" banner. Others held a placard reading "Thank you for making the journey so other women don't have to."

One female traveller was seen dancing in joy as she arrived, as the activists whooped and cheered.

Thousands of Irish people have been returning home to take part in Friday's referendum on whether to repeal the country's constitutional ban on almost all abortions. Voters have used the hashtag #Hometovote on social media.

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12:40 p.m.

A plane carrying Irish voters trying to return home to vote in the abortion referendum has collided with another plane on a taxiway at a London-area airport, delaying passengers but causing no injuries.

Ryanair says the winglet of a Primera plane traveling flight to Malaga clipped the tail of a stationary Dublin-bound Ryanair passenger plane at Stansted Airport, northeast of London.

The airport described the 9.15 a.m. incident on Friday as being "minor."

Thousands of Irish citizens have been returning home to vote in a referendum on whether to liberalize abortion laws. Voters, who have come from as far away as Australia, have been chronicling their journeys under the hashtag #Hometovote on social media.

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7:30 a.m.

Voters throughout Ireland have begun casting votes in a referendum that may lead to a loosening of the country's strict ban on most abortions.

The referendum Friday will decide whether the eighth amendment of the constitution is repealed, which would open the way for more liberal legislation.

The amendment, in place since 1983, requires authorities to equally protect the right to life of a mother and that of a fetus, from the moment of conception.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar tweeted his support for the bill before a moratorium on campaigning took effect Thursday. He urged people to vote "yes" in favor of repeal.

Results are not expected until Saturday afternoon or evening.

Voting has already taken place on Ireland's offshore islands.

A woman carries a baby in a cot as goes to cast her vote at a polling station in the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, in Dublin, Friday, May 25, 2018. Voters throughout Ireland have begun casting votes in a referendum that may lead to a loosening of the country's strict ban on most abortions. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

A woman holding a baby casts her vote at a polling station as the country goes to the polls to vote in the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, in Dublin, Friday, May 25, 2018. Voters throughout Ireland have begun casting votes in a referendum that may lead to a loosening of the country's strict ban on most abortions. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Presiding officer Carmel McBride looks on as a woman casts her vote in the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, on Thursday May 24, 2018, a day early for the people that live off the coast of Donegal on the island of Inishbofin, Ireland. The referendum on whether to repeal the country's strict anti-abortion law is being seen by anti-abortion activists as a last-ditch stand against what they view as a European norm of abortion-on-demand, while for pro-abortion rights advocates, it is a fundamental moment for declaring an Irish woman's right to choose. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA via AP)

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, center, is joined by Fine Gael party colleagues at Merrion Square ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, in Dublin, Ireland, Thursday, May 24, 2018. The referendum on whether to repeal the country's strict anti-abortion law is being seen by anti-abortion activists as a last-ditch stand against what they view as a European norm of abortion-on-demand, while for pro-abortion rights advocates, it is a fundamental moment for declaring an Irish woman's right to choose. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

Election warehouse manager Michael Leonard checks the seals on the ballot boxes in Dublin, Thursday May 24, 2018, ready to be delivered to polling stations for Friday's referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

In this May 17, 2018 photo, pro and against posters are displayed on a lamppost in Dublin, Ireland ahead of the abortion referendum on Friday, May 25.. An abortion debate that has inflamed passions in Ireland for decades will come down to a single question on Friday: yes or no? The referendum on whether to repeal the country's strict anti-abortion law is being seen by anti-abortion activists as a last-ditch stand against what they view as a European norm of abortion-on-demand, while for pro-abortion rights advocates, it is a fundamental moment for declaring an Irish woman's right to choose. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - President Donald Trump stressed the United States' military might as he addressed graduates at the United States Naval Academy Friday, saying the "best way to prevent war is to be fully prepared for war."

Trump spoke to the 2018 graduating class in Annapolis, stressing American military preparedness a day after he canceled a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Our country has regained the respect that we used to have long ago," said Trump, who did not mention North Korea in his remarks. "Yes, they are respecting us again. America is back."

President Donald Trump speaks during a graduation ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy, Friday, May 25, 2018, in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump drew a mixed response as he spoke to 1,042 newly commissioned ensigns and second lieutenants, drawing applause and silence at times as he emphasized his efforts to boost federal defense spending. Said Trump, "We have begun the great rebuilding of the U.S. military."

"We know that the best way to prevent war is to be fully prepared for war and hopefully we never have to use all of this beautiful new powerful new equipment," Trump said.

At the conclusion of his remarks, Trump said he planned to remain at the graduation to shake each graduate's hand.

Before leaving for the address, Trump said on Twitter he looked "forward to being with some of the greatest people on earth!"

This marked Trump's first time speaking to the academy's graduating class. Last year, Trump addressed the Coast Guard Academy.
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's prime minister has ordered the creation of a high-powered commission to look into alleged irregularities in the parliamentary elections held May 12, the first sign that authorities are taking seriously complaints about the vote.

An official statement said an emergency Cabinet meeting held late on Thursday and chaired by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi named the country's anti-graft chief as the commission's leader. Assisting him will be the heads of five, top level security and oversight agencies.

There have been complaints of irregularities in the balloting earlier this month in which an electronic voting system was used for the first time.

A manual recount of votes in some areas has been called for, a request that has been rejected by the election commission as illegal.

The Cabinet statement suggested that hackers may have manipulated the results. It said the government agency tasked with fighting cybercrime believes the electronic voting system was not impregnable.

Al-Abadi, according to the statement, ordered the elections commission to fully cooperate with the probe, making available all relevant documents. The probe's findings will be presented to the prime minister as well as the Supreme Judicial Council and the Federal Supreme Court, it added.

The elections earlier this month saw the lowest turnout in the 15 years since the late ruler Saddam Hussein was toppled by the 2003 U.S. invasion. Surprisingly, supporters of a populist Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, whose fighters attacked American troops in the years that followed the invasion, emerged with the largest number of seats won by a single bloc, 54. A coalition of paramilitary forces came in second with 47 of the chamber's 329 seats. Al-Abadi's "Victory" bloc took 42 seats.

Negotiations to piece together a coalition with a majority in the house that can form the next government began last week. The process in the has past lasted weeks or months. The probe on alleged voting irregularities, for which no deadline was announced, could cause further delays.
BERLIN (AP) - German prosecutors say they are formally charging a 24-year-old Syrian man suspected of fighting for the Islamic State and other extremist groups in his home country.

Federal prosecutors say Majed A., whose surname wasn't provided in line with privacy rules, is accused of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and of weapons violations.

The suspect was arrested in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein last September.

Prosecutors say A. joined the Owais al-Qorani brigade in the Syrian city of Tabqa in 2013 to fight against the government of Bashar Assad. He then allegedly moved to other groups before joining IS in late 2014 or early 2015 and taking part in fighting against Kurdish militias.

The suspect is alleged to have entered Germany during the summer of 2015.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump on Friday accused Democrats of "rooting against" upcoming nuclear talks with North Korea, and said his political opponents were trying to coddle gang members.

With the 2018 midterm elections on the horizon, Trump has gone out of his way to poke Democrats. On Friday, he lumped his grievances against them into a tweet:

"Democrats are so obviously rooting against us in our negotiations with North Korea. Just like they are coming to the defense of MS 13 thugs, saying that they are individuals & must be nurtured, or asking to end your big Tax Cuts & raise your taxes instead. Dems have lost touch!"

President Donald Trump walks out of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 25, 2018, as he heads to Marine One for a short trip to Annapolis, Md., to speak at the United States Naval Academy graduation. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

A look at Trump's complaints against Democrats:

NORTH KOREA

For decades, the U.S. has tried to deter North Korea from building a nuclear weapon and struggled with how to engage the reclusive dictatorship. Eager for a bold accomplishment, Trump jumped quickly on Kim Jong Un's March overture for a summit, announcing that Singapore would host the June meeting. The White House even unveiled a commemorative coin with the profiles of Trump and Kim to herald the "peace talks."

But after a top North Korean foreign ministry official called Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy," Trump announced the meeting was off, possibly out of concern that Kim would back out first and ultimately embarrass the U.S. president.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she imagine Kim "having a giggle fit" after Trump rescinded the offer of a summit. "It's clear he didn't know what he was getting into," she said of Trump.

Other Democrats said they wanted North Korea to disarm, but knew it wouldn't happen quickly without intense preparations that they said Trump wasn't willing to do.

Trump's fortunes seemed to shift Friday, as the North Korean government said it is still "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks "at any time, at any format." Trump later told reporters the summit could still happen on June 12 as planned.

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TAX CUTS

Not a single Democrat in the House and Senate voted for the $1.5 trillion tax cut package Republicans muscled through Congress. It provides significant tax cuts for corporations and the most prosperous Americans, and Democrats depicted it as a payout to the GOP's largest donors.

Seeking to convince voters otherwise, Republicans have trumpeted announcements from companies that credit the tax overhaul as the reason their workers are getting bonuses and wage increases. Trump invited workers and company owners to praise the tax breaks, and took credit for the effort.

"For years they haven't been able to do it, they were unable to do it," he said, drawing a contrast with Democrats.

"They want to increase your taxes and spend money on things that you don't even want to know about," he said.

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GANGS:

Trump attacked House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi over her criticism of his decision to publicly brand MS-13 gang members "animals" during a White House meeting on immigration last week.

Trump says: "Just the other day, Nancy Pelosi came out in favor of MS-13. ... She wants them to be treated with respect."

Pelosi did not endorse the gang, but took aim at Trump's rhetoric, saying, "Calling people animals is not a good thing." She added that "we all have to recognize that as we respect the dignity and worth of every person."

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This story corrects Nancy Pelosi's title to House Minority Leader, rather than House Speaker.
LONDON (AP) - Pakistan strengthened its grip on the first test against England on Friday by reaching 350-8 to take a 166-run lead after the second day at Lord's.

Babar Azam was the top scorer with 68 before retiring hurt after being struck on the arm by a rising delivery by Ben Stokes, while Azhar Ali (50), Asad Shafiq (59) and Shadab Khan (52) also made half-centuries on a day when England dropped five catches.

Mohammad Amir (19) and Mohammad Abbas (0) were there at the close, and it wasn't clear if Babar would be returning to bat on Saturday for the final wicket.

Pakistan's Babar Azam, right, walks off after an injury during day two of the First NatWest Test Series match at Lord's, London, Friday May 25, 2018. (John Walton/PA via AP)

James Anderson (3-82) and Stokes (3-73) were the pick of the bowlers as England toiled for a second straight day at the home of cricket.

"Good two days, we will enjoy them," Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur said, "but the reality is we've got plenty to do."

After England collapsed to 184 all out soon after tea on Thursday, Pakistan resumed on 50-1 and resisted for an hour before losing two wickets - Haris Sohail (39) and Azhar - in the morning session to reach 136-3 at lunch.

Pakistan was limited to 91 in the afternoon session with Stokes removing Sarfraz Ahmed (9), who top-edged a hook to Mark Wood on the deep square leg boundary, and Shafiq, who edged to slip.

Babar struck 10 fours before going off injured after tea, leaving England to attack Pakistan's tail. Still, Faheem Ashraf (37) and Amir have managed to add crucial runs to allow the tourists to take charge.

England's Ben Stokes, right, celebrates the wicket of Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed during day two of the First NatWest Test Series match at Lord's, London, Friday May 25, 2018. (John Walton/PA via AP)

England's England's Ben Stokes, second right, celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed during the second day of play of the first test cricket match between England and Pakistan at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, May 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

England's England's Ben Stokes, left celebrates with England's Stuart Broad after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed during the second day of play of the first test cricket match between England and Pakistan at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, May 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

England's Ben Stokes, left celebrates taking the wicket of Pakistan's Asad Shafiq caught by England's David Malan during the second day of play of the first test cricket match between England and Pakistan at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, May 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Pakistan's Asad Shafiq plays a shot off the bowling of England's Don Bess during the second day of play of the first test cricket match between England and Pakistan at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, May 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Pakistan's Sarfraz Ahmed plays the ball as he gets himself out for 9 during day two of the First NatWest Test Series match at Lord's, London, Friday May 25, 2018. (John Walton/PA via AP)
CHESTERFIELD, Va. (AP) - A man who was set on fire by an officer's stun gun after a police chase has settled his excessive-force lawsuit against police in Virginia for $6.5 million.

Chesterfield County police officers had pulled the man from his wrecked car in November 2015 when the sound of sirens startled him. Officers said Miles Zachery-Cole November was resisting arrest when one shot him with a Taser, igniting his gasoline-soaked clothes.

According to the complaint, Officer Ryan Swope rushed in and yelled "Taser, Taser, Taser!" to warn other officers to move away before he fired.

November suffered severe burns on most of his body and had 34 surgeries, racking up more than $6.5 million in medical bills.

November's lawyers sued the county and police seeking $95 million. They accused the department of unconstitutionally misusing stun guns for years, citing a review of 135 police Taser shooting reports from 2012 to 2015. The county denied the allegations and any wrongdoing during November's arrest. A police review concluded Swope and other officers complied with the department's use-of-force policy.

A month after his lawsuit was filed in February 2017, November was convicted of felony assault for striking one officer in the face at the crash scene. The judge expressed sympathy for his injuries, but said he couldn't ignore his "unbelievable" criminal record, which included three prior assaults on police officers, two DUIs, grand theft, brandishing a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, trespassing and numerous traffic violations.

November's lawsuit contended that the Taser-wielding officer, Swope, had a record of his own. It said the military veteran acknowledged in workers' compensation claims that he had post-traumatic stress disorder, which could produce "defiant, impulsive, rash and hair-triggered behavior." The complaint said Swope was on disciplinary probation for misconduct and had returned to active duty just five weeks before the Taser shooting. The complaint also said Swope killed a suspect in 2013, a shooting ruled justifiable.

Swope was fired about seven months after November was shocked. According to his chief, Swope was dismissed for being associated with an "outlaw motorcycle gang."

Chesterfield County authorities confirmed the settlement on Thursday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported . All parties agreed to end the federal case in March.

The county paid the settlement from its risk management fund reserves and commercial insurance. November's lead attorney couldn't be reached for comment.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Croatia's lawmakers have elected a new economy minister after the previous one resigned over allegations of conflict of interest during the restructuring of the country's largest private company.

Lawmakers approved Darko Horvat to the post Friday with 77 votes in favor. Most opposition members of the 151-seat parliament boycotted the vote.

Horvat's predecessor, Martina Dalic, resigned earlier this month after an online news portal published her private email exchanges with legal and financial experts she consulted while drafting an emergency law to save Agrokor from bankruptcy.

Some of the experts were later hired for huge fees when the government took over the company, prompting the conflict-of-interest claims by the opposition.

Dalic also had served as the deputy prime minister. Lawmakers approved Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolusic for that post.
MIAMI (AP) - Former Panama president Ricardo Martinelli has dropped his legal battle against extradition from the U.S. to his home country to face political espionage and embezzlement charges.

Martinelli had been appealing a Miami judge's order requiring that he be sent back to Panama. Court documents filed Thursday show that Martinelli's lawyers want that appeal dismissed at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The State Department makes the ultimate decision on extradition.

The 66-year-old Martinelli, Panama's president from 2009 to 2014, is accused of embezzlement and illegally monitoring phone calls and other communications using an extensive surveillance system. Martinelli claims the charges are false and are retribution by political enemies.

Martinelli has been jailed in Miami since his June 2017 arrest at his waterfront home.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A high-ranking Minnesota lawmaker thrust into the lieutenant governor's office by U.S. Sen. Al Franken's resignation abruptly took the oath of office and resigned her state Senate seat on Friday, a swift reversal for the longtime Republican senator who had resisted the job and its duties.

Senate President Michelle Fischbach's ascent was automatic after Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton appointed then-Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to the U.S. Senate following Franken's resignation amid a sexual misconduct scandal. Guarding a one-seat majority in the state Senate, Fischbach and fellow Republicans insisted for months she could remain in the Senate even after being elevated to lieutenant governor.

Her decision to resign from the chamber curtails a second lawsuit from a constituent challenging Fischbach's dual roles. But it also triggers the sole state Senate election of the fall, a contest that will determine control of Senate. The rest of the state's 66 Senate districts aren't on the ballot until 2020.

State Sen. Michelle Fischbach is sworn in as Minnesota lieutenant governor Friday, May 25, 2018, in St. Paul, Minn. The high-ranking Minnesota state lawmaker thrust into the lieutenant governor's office by U.S. Sen. Al Franken's resignation abruptly took the oath of office and resigned her state Senate seat on Friday, a swift reversal for the longtime Republican senator who had resisted the job and its duties. (Glen Stubbe /Star Tribune via AP)

Fischbach's departure leaves the Senate deadlocked until January, but unless Dayton calls them back into special session - and he has said he won't - they are done for the year. And while some state lieutenant governors cast tie-breaking votes, Minnesota's does not.

After being sworn in Friday on a family Bible, Fischbach said the recent end of the legislative session changed her calculus and freed her to leave the legislative body she had served in since 1996. Dayton plans to call a special election for the Senate seat coinciding with the Nov. 6 general election.

The move creates a rare mixed-party administration: Dayton is a proud liberal Democrat, while Fischbach is a staunch conservative.

"When we disagree, we'll disagree. I'm used to that," he quipped, a reference to the acrimonious end of the legislative session this week.

Fischbach had avoided taking the oath for nearly five months and fought a pair of legal challenges since she ascended to become Dayton's lieutenant governor on Jan. 3, as she clung to her Senate seat.

While she and fellow Senate Republicans argued there was plenty of historical precedent for a presiding officer of the Senate also serving as lieutenant governor, Democrats called it a blatant constitutional violation of the ban on holding two elected offices.

An initial lawsuit filed by Democratic constituent Destiny Dusosky was dismissed earlier this year, in large part because it was filed before the Legislature resumed its session - and thus before Fischbach had carried out both roles. Dusosky followed up with a second challenge in April. That case was awaiting a hearing scheduled for June 5.

The legal challenge had heavy implications, as Fischbach gave Republicans a one-seat edge in the Senate. Whether forced by the courts or voluntary, her exit triggers a high-stakes election that will determine control of the Senate. Her central Minnesota district is heavily Republican, and GOP leaders scoffed at the notion that Democrats could win it.

Minnesota Public Radio News reports Fischbach told colleagues in an email she would not run for the seat she has held since 1996. She had previously indicated she would run in a special election if she were forced from her seat.

State Sen. Michelle Fischbach is sworn in as Minnesota lieutenant governor Friday, May 25, 2018, in St. Paul, Minn. The high-ranking Minnesota state lawmaker thrust into the lieutenant governor's office by U.S. Sen. Al Franken's resignation abruptly took the oath of office and resigned her state Senate seat on Friday, a swift reversal for the longtime Republican senator who had resisted the job and its duties. (Glen Stubbe /Star Tribune via AP)
John Jay Smith, 60, has been charged with four felonies for threatening a group of Egyptian exchange students

A father unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade on five Egyptian exchange students outside of a Florida McDonald's, threatening them with a knife and stun gun.

John Jay Smith, 60, was arrested in St Augustine on Wednesday and charged with aggravated assault after he allegedly threatened the group of men he believed to be of Muslim or Middle Eastern descent with a switchblade and a stun gun.

He also reportedly yelled: 'Get the f**k out of here, you don't deserve American food.'

A police report indicates that the 60-year-old may have been intoxicated during the incident, and that his comments were religiously motivated.

Smith is facing two third-degree felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one first-degree felony charge of burglary with assault or battery and a third-degree felony charge of trespassing, according to the police report.

A spokesperson for the St John's County Sheriff's office said Smith may be also slapped with hate crime charges.

The incident occurred Wednesday in a McDonald's parking lot in St Augustine, Florida, above

Smith reportedly yelled: ''Get the f**k out of here, you don't deserve American food' at the men

The five Egyptian exchange students between the ages of 19 and 23 told authorities that Smith confronted around 1.30am, asking: 'Are you American boys?'

'The truth is, we didn't even look at him,' victim Omar Abdelmoaty told the Washington Post.

'We didn't respond. We didn't say anything.'

Smith then allegedly pulled out a pocket knife and began shouting at them to leave.

'At this point we thought we were going to die,' said Abdelmoaty, 23.

The men told Smith that they were leaving and headed over to their cars, at which point the 60-year-old allegedly grabbed a stun gun out of his truck to 'make this quicker', according to a sworn affidavit from 20-year-old Mohamed Galal.

Smith charged toward the men while pulling the stun gun's trigger to 'show us that his electric shocker is working,' Abdelmoaty told police.

As one of the victims, Gasser Elkady, opened the back door to Galal's sedan, Smith shoved the 'zapper' into the 19-year-old's back.

Police say Smith then stuck his hand through the car window and attempted to use the stun gun on Elkady before reaching through the driver's-side window and thrusting it in Galal's face.

As he frantically tried to escape the situation Galal put the car in reverse and slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, accidentally hitting a pole before peeling out of the parking lot.

The men called 911 and deputies soon arrived on the scene to interview Smith, the victims and a restaurant employee.

In her official report deputy Kristin Pamies wrote: 'John had the smell of an alcoholic beverage emitting from his person and he was slurring his words.

'John made spontaneous statements advising: 'I am an American and the guys by the vehicles were making ruckus so I told them to get out of here and one of them pulled a gun and they left in a red vehicle.''

As Smith was placed in a squad car he reportedly kept muttering: 'They killed my son,' claiming that his son was a Marine killed in Afghanistan.

Smith is currently facing aggravated assault charges and could be charged with a hate crime

When Abdelmoaty spoke to the Post the morning after the incident he said that he and his friends are 'in a state of fear' that's made it difficult just to go out in public.

He said the men had never experienced anything like Wednesday's attack in the seven to 10 months that they've been living in the US.

'This is the land of the free, so we didn't think one day that we would encounter something like this,' he said.

'We didn't do anything to anybody. We're just students. The basic idea that he charged us and attacked us for this, for our religion, for our home country and background, it's kind of scary. In the first place, we're just human beings  names and descriptions came afterward.'

'We don't hate him for what he did,' he said. 'We're just sad.'
BOSTON (AP) - Tourism businesses on Cape Cod are looking to Puerto Rico to fill summer jobs.

The Boston Globe reports that employers are turning to Puerto Rico because of a shortage of workers locally and a cap on foreign-worker visas.

As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans don't need visas to work on the mainland, and the island has seen widespread unemployment since Hurricane Maria struck.

Josh Gamsey, general manager at the Pleasant Bay Village Resort in Chatham, says he spent $2,000 to recruit housekeepers from Puerto Rico because "there's nobody here that will do those jobs."

Peter Hall, owner of two Wellfleet restaurants, says he used to see a stack of applications for work by June. He went to a job fair in Puerto Rico in search of workers.

He says he'll hire anyone with a pulse.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com
Female CEOs remain scarce at the biggest publicly traded companies but those who hold the top job receive pay competitive with male peers.

Women make up only 5 percent of the CEO ranks at S&P 500 companies. Yet median compensation for a female CEO was valued at $13.5 million for the 2017 fiscal year, versus $11.5 million for their male counterparts, according to an analysis by executive data firm Equilar done for The Associated Press.

Topping the list of highest-paid female CEOs is Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, whose compensation was $25.9 million. Debra Cafaro, CEO of real estate investment trust Ventas came in second at $25.3 million. And Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, wrapped up the top three at $21.9 million.

FILE- In this Feb. 3, 2017, file photo, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi listens during a meeting between President Donald Trump and business leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. Topping the list of highest-paid female CEOs on the list is Nooyi, whose compensation was valued at $25.9 million. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Median pay for female CEOs rose 15.4 percent from the prior year, while for men it increased 8.2 percent. But Nooyi, the top paid female CEO, didn't even crack the top 10 list overall. She's number 18.

The analysis by Equilar looked at pay trends for 339 CEOs who have been in their position for at least two full years at S&P 500 companies that filed proxy statements between January 1 and April 30. Some companies with highly paid CEOs do not fit these criteria, such as Oracle.

Of the companies in the analysis, only 17 were women. Looking at the full S&P 500, there were 27 female CEOs as of the end of 2017, up from 24 at the end of 2016.

"The inability to push seasoned females up the ranks is tragic in my mind," said Josh Crist, managing director at executive search firm Crist Kolder Associates.

The situation could get even more attention after the recent departures of female CEOs from Campbell Soup and Mattel. Both were replaced by men.

A Pew Research Center study found that women held only about 10 percent of top executive positions at publicly traded companies in the much larger Standard & Poor's Composite 1500. Of that group, the women tended to be in finance or legal positions that research shows are less likely to lead to the CEO office.

There is a bright spot, though: female representation on boards is improving, according to Catalyst, a nonprofit that works with companies to build a diverse workforce. And that, over time, leads to more women in executive leadership positions.

Companies are seeking diversity, both in gender and ethnicity, for their leadership, Crist said. But getting diverse talent at the top takes time because of the change needed throughout the organization.

Part of the problem is that big companies can be slow-moving, said Drew Silver, a researcher at Pew. The female CEOs in charge now have been in their careers for 20 or 30 years, so their rise reflects the corporate culture of the 1980s. He worries real change will take years.

Brande Stellings, senior vice president of advisory services at Catalyst disagrees. She said companies that make the decision to change have been able to do so quickly.

"The differentiator is not generation or time, but it's how much does it matter to the leader or organization," she said. "When someone asks to make the business case for diversity, that case is out of the gate. They are more into the how."

This undated photo provided by Ventas shows company CEO Debra Cafaro. At $25.3 million, Cafaro was the second highest-paid female CEO for 2017, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. (Charlie Westerman/Ventas via AP)

FILE- In this Dec. 11, 2017, file photo, General Motors Chairman and CEO, Mary Barra, is interviewed by Cox Automotive's Michelle Krebs during an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit. At $21.9 million, Barra was third highest-paid female CEO for 2017, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE- In this Feb. 23, 2017, file photo, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with manufacturing executives at the White House in Washington. At $21.2 million, Novakovic was the fourth highest-paid female CEO for 2017, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - In this March 6, 2014, file photo, Duke Energy President and CEO Lynn Good discusses the stability of the power grid with environmental regulations during a media availability at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. At $21.1 million, Good was the fifth highest-paid female CEO for 2017, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - United States casino magnate Sheldon Adelson provided Guatemala's official delegation a Boeing 767 to travel to Israel for the relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a Guatemalan government official said Friday.

Guatemalan foreign minister Sandra Jovel said Adelson provided the plane last week to carry government officials and guests, including religious leaders.

Jovel made the comments on radio show ConCriterio, ending days of speculation in Guatemala about who paid for the trip.

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2017 file photo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Sheldon Adelson, attends the Republican Jewish Coalition annual leadership meeting, in Las Vegas. Guatemalan foreign minister said during a radio Friday, May 25, 2018 radio show, that the United States casino magnate provided its official delegation a Boeing 767 to travel to Israel for the relocation of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Manfredo Marroquin, director of civil society organization Citizen Action, said President Jimmy Morales' administration violated Guatemalan law, which forbids accepting such gifts.

Guatemala's human rights prosecutor, Jordan Rodas, also said the arrangement with Adelson was concerning.

"You don't know if what he's doing is laying the groundwork for personal interests," Rodas said.

Jovel emphasized that Adelson did not have business interests in Guatemala.

Morales' decision to move Guatemala's embassy just two days after the U.S. did the same was seen by many as an attempt to curry favor with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Morales has been battling aggressive prosecutors looking to investigate corruption allegations swirling around him. Local prosecutors are supported by a United Nations anti-corruption commission that is funded in part by the U.S.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction of former state attorney general Kathleen Kane for leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it, saying among other things she wasn't entitled to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal in her defense.

A three-judge Superior Court panel rejected arguments made by Kane, who has remained out on $75,000 bail since her October 2016 sentencing to 10 to 23 months in jail.

The court turned down claims that all Montgomery County judges should have been prevented from handing her case, evidence against her was illegally obtained, she was the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution and jurors should have been given certain information about grand jury secrecy rules.

FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2015 file photo, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane leaves after her preliminary hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. On Friday, May 25, 2018, an appeals court upheld the conviction of the former state attorney general for leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it, saying among other things she wasn't entitled to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal in her defense. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

The judges also denied her argument she should have been able to use evidence about a pornographic email scandal that involved the office she ran, or the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case that her former office prosecuted.

The Montgomery County district attorney's office said it was pleased with the ruling and has not decided whether to seek the revocation or increase in her bail.

Kane may still appeal the conviction to the state Supreme Court.

Her lawyer, Joshua Lock, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Kane, 51, who had been the first woman and first Democrat elected attorney general in Pennsylvania, resigned in 2016 after being convicted of two counts of felony perjury and seven misdemeanor counts, including obstruction and conspiracy.

Her criticism of how the office had handled the Sandusky investigation at Penn State before she took office created resentment among some of the lawyers who had worked on it. After secret grand jury information about another case was leaked to The Philadelphia Inquirer, two former attorney general's office prosecutors contacted a Montgomery County judge, leading him to appoint a special prosecutor.

The appeals court said Kane did not meet the legal standard required to have every judge in the county prevented from presiding in her case.

"The mere fact that some judges of a particular court may have some familiarity with a particular case has not been held to be a basis for recusal of an entire bench of judges," wrote Superior Court Judge Anne Lazarus.

Kane's challenge of the special prosecutor's appointment was previously denied by the Supreme Court, Lazarus noted.

"This is the law of the case, and as such, our Supreme Court's finding ... is final and binding on this court," Lazarus wrote.

The appeals court decision concluded Kane cited "a plethora of specious reasons" in arguing she should have been able to evidence of the pornographic emails, a scandal that rocked the state's judicial community and the state prosecutor's office in particular and led to the resignation of two Supreme Court justices, or the investigation and prosecution of Sandusky, who is appealing a 45-count conviction for child sexual abuse.

The two lawyers who contacted the judge about grand jury leaks, former state prosecutors Frank Fina and Marc Costanzo, were also implicated in the pornographic email scandal and played key roles in Sandusky's prosecution.

"The trial court properly concluded that ... the probative value of evidence of pornographic materials discovered in Attorney Fina's and Attorney Costanzo's OAG email accounts was speculative and inadmissible, and thus, the trial court properly barred Kane from discussing it during her opening argument," Lazarus wrote, adding that "evidence of the Sandusky investigation was irrelevant."

The judges said the facts don't support Kane's assertion of vindictive prosecution, and didn't show that others in a similar situation were not prosecuted for similar conduct.

Kane asked that jurors be told that "not all information relating to grand jury proceedings is secret," but the judges ruled that would have implied she could have legally disclosed information the law prevented her from making public.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Reclusive pop artist Robert Indiana didn't open his island home to many strangers. That's going to change with his death.

Indiana's will calls for his Main Street home and studio, which he dubbed the "Star of Hope," to be transformed into a museum and for his entire art collection to be preserved and open to the public.

Indiana, whose "LOVE" series is instantly recognizable around the world, died on May 19 at his Vinalhaven Island home 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the mainland.

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2014, file photo, fans gather outside "Star of Hope" the residence of artist Robert Indiana on Vinalhaven Island, Maine. Indiana died on May 19, 2018. His will calls for his home and studio to be transformed into a museum and for his collection to be preserved and open to the public. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

His attorney, James Brannan, filed the will in probate court on Friday in Rockland. The will, dated in 2016, stipulates the creation of a nonprofit organization that will receive royalties from his artwork.

Brannan declined to place a figure on the artist's estate but acknowledged most of the value is in the artist's collection. Based on the court filing fee, the value of the estate is estimated to be upward of $28 million.

The attorney said it will take time and money to accomplish the late artist's goal because the Victorian-style building has fallen into disrepair. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Also complicating the late artist's plans is a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York City. The lawsuit accuses two men of insinuating themselves into Indiana's life and taking advantage of him in the final years of his life.

One of those men, Jamie Thomas, has served as Indiana's power of attorney for two years, and was tapped to be director of the museum, Brannan said.

The Morgan Art Foundation, which filed the lawsuit on May 18, plans to contest the will and Thomas' appointment to direct the museum. The foundation holds a copyright for the LOVE series and accuses Thomas in the lawsuit of mistreating Indiana.

"We will fight to protect Indiana's legacy and will be vigorously challenging this appointment with the Maine attorney general and in court," Luke Nikas, the foundation's attorney.

Thomas couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Kathleen Rogers, a friend and former publicist, said she agrees that Thomas, a former studio assistant, isn't qualified to be in charge of Indiana's legacy. But she said she loves the idea of a museum.

"That's what we've been hoping for - that the studio would be preserved and turned into a museum," she said.

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This story has been corrected to show that Indiana died on May 19, not May 29.
BEIRUT (AP) - The leader of Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah group called on the Lebanese state Friday to stand up for citizens being slapped with sanctions by the United States, saying they are harming people.

Speaking in a televised address Friday, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said the new government, which prime minister Saad Hariri was appointed to form a day earlier, cannot "turn its back" on those individuals.

The U.S., which considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, has been imposing sanctions on the group for decades. The U.S. and its Gulf Arab allies however issued a new wave of sanctions this month that targeted the group's top leadership, including Nasrallah, as well as businessmen and companies that Washington says are funding the group.

Nasrallah scoffed at the sanctions targeting Hezbollah's leadership, saying "we have no money to put in banks, nor do we have any bank accounts or transactions." But he added that the sanctions were harmful to individuals the state should defend, rather than "act more American than the Americans."

Nasrallah also slammed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who on Thursday said the results of the Lebanese parliament election were not what the U.S. would have hoped for, or what "most of the Lebanese people would have hoped either."

"What the Lebanese people want is none of your business," Nasrallah said. The group, along with its political allies, scored significant gains in the May 6 elections.

Nasrallah spoke Friday marking the anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon 18 years ago, following a war of attrition waged by the group that eventually led to an Israeli pullout. The day is marked as "Liberation Day" in Lebanon, a national holiday.

The Hezbollah leader said the U.S. sanctions on Hezbollah members would not affect the formation of a new government. Hariri, a western-backed politician, is hoping for a quick formation of a new cabinet, likely to be a re-creation of the outgoing national unity government that incorporates members of the group.

Nasrallah also denied supporting the Polisario Front in the disputed Western Sahara region and said there is no communication between them and his group.

Morocco severed ties with Tehran in protest over the alleged ties; its foreign minister has said his government had proof that Hezbollah has been providing training and financial support to the Polisario Front's fighters since 2016. Nasrallah said no such proof has been presented.
MONACO (AP) - When Charles Leclerc races for the first time at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday, he will carry with him the memories of his father and his close friend Jules Bianchi.

The 20-year-old Leclerc will become the first driver from Monaco to race on the famed track since Olivier Beretta in 1994.

"I have been waiting for this moment since I was a child," Leclerc said.

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco answers to reporters during a news conference, at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Wednesday, May 23, 2018. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

He knows the track's sinewy streets off by heart, walking along them countless times growing up in the tiny Principality. As a small boy, he watched his first Monaco GP in an apartment overlooking the famed first turn at Sainte-Devote.

"I was four years old," he said. "I was dreaming one day of being part of it and this day has finally happened."

It's hard to be more Monegasque than Leclerc.

His apartment is near the race start-finish line. As a youth, he swam in the swimming pool next to the glittering harbor, the focal point of the track. The harbor showcases the most spectacular yachts on the French Riviera - and therefore in the world. When he was 12, Leclerc met Prince Albert in the imposing royal palace, perched on a hill and towering over the harbor's inviting waters.

Leclerc is tipped to go far, held in the highest regard by four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel.

After joining the prestigious Ferrari academy in 2016, Leclerc won the GP3 title at the first attempt. Ditto last year, when he clinched the F2 title. It fast-tracked him into F1 with Sauber, which uses Ferrari engines. Leclerc finished an impressive sixth at the Azerbaijan GP last month.

"I think the hype is absolutely justified. If there's no hype around him, then I don't understand who should be hyped," Vettel said of Leclerc. "Because (if) you walk through all the categories like that, then you belong here."

There is speculation Leclerc could even replace veteran Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari next year, and race alongside Vettel.

"I don't see why not," Vettel said. "He scored points with a car that doesn't belong in the points, so he's doing everything he can."

Although a move to Ferrari seems somewhat premature, Leclerc has eye-catching quality.

"What he's done in the last couple of years has been great to see," defending F1 champion Lewis Hamilton said. "The most important thing is to try to keep your feet on the ground."

Leclerc does not seem likely to get carried away, given how his life has been tinged with sadness.

Although they were several years apart in terms of age, he was childhood friends with Bianchi - an aspiring young driver growing up in nearby Nice. Bianchi was like a mentor to Leclerc. When Leclerc started go-karting at the age of four, it was on the track owned by Bianchi's father. He was a close friend of Leclerc's father, Herve, who raced Monaco in the F3 category 30 years ago.

Bianchi died in July, 2015 after a long battle to recover from head injuries sustained in a head-on collision at the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2014. He was 25. It was a crushing loss and hit Leclerc very hard.

Bianchi secured a ninth-place finish at the 2014 Monaco GP for the unheralded Manor Racing team. Considering he had arguably the weakest car, on the most difficult track for overtaking it was a phenomenal drive.

He was touted as a future driver for Ferrari.

That mantle now rests with Leclerc, whose talent is matched by his courage.

Leclerc's father died in June last year, a few days before the F2 Azerbaijan GP. Leclerc raced, despite his grief, took pole position and won.

At this weekend's Monaco GP, he is carrying tributes to his father and to Bianchi on his race helmet.

"It was our dream to be one day racing in Monaco and I'm pretty sure Jules and him are watching from above," Leclerc wrote on Twitter.

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More AP auto racing: https://racing.ap.org

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Jerome Pugmire on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeromepugmire

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco seats news to his new helmet at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 25, 2018. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco holds a new helmet at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Friday, May 25, 2018. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco wears a special helmet as tribute to Jules Bianchi during the second free practice at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Thursday, May 24, 2018. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco steers his car during the first practice session for the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix at the Monaco racetrack, in Monaco, Thursday, May 24, 2018. The Monaco Grand Prix will be held on Sunday, May 27. (AP Photo/Claude Paris)

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco steering his car is seen reflected in a security officer's helmet during a practice session in Monaco, Thursday, May 24, 2018. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco steers his car during a practice session in Monaco, Thursday, May 24, 2018. The Formula one race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with a Russian oligarch and discussed U.S.-Russia relations just 11 days before Trump was inaugurated as president, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

A firm connected to the oligarch, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, later paid Cohen $500,000 for consulting work.

Vekselberg met with Cohen for about 20 minutes in Cohen's 26th-floor office in Trump Tower in New York , said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the meeting publicly. The two men were joined by Andrew Intrater, Vekselberg's American cousin, who heads a New York private equity firm that manages financial assets for the Russian.

Renova CEO businessman Viktor Vekselberg attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, May 25, 2018. in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, May 25, 2018. (Alexander Ryumin/TASS News Agency Pool Photo via AP)

The person who confirmed the January 2017 meeting said the discussions dealt with business and cultural relations between the two nations, but he would not characterize Vekselberg's point of view. Vekselberg has worked in recent years to improve U.S. tech and trade relations with Moscow.

Intrater's firm, Columbus Nova, later paid Cohen $500,000 for consulting work. A lawyer for adult-film star Stormy Daniels has claimed that the money was routed by Vekselberg and Intrater to a Cohen shell company. That company, Essential Consultants LLC, was used by Cohen to pay off Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, for her silence about an affair she claims she had with Trump, according to the lawyer, Michael Avenatti. Trump denies the affair.

Cohen's finances are now under investigation by federal investigators in New York, following a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating contacts between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian intermediaries.

Columbus Nova has said Vekselberg was not involved in the money transfer.

Vekselberg was targeted in April with U.S. Treasury Department sanctions, which cited his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Trump Tower meeting between the three men was first reported by The New York Times, citing video footage and an interview with Intrater.
VENICE, Italy (AP) - Real-world debates permeate this year's Venice Biennale on architecture, from commemorating spaces once part of the U.S. slave trade to maintaining the delicate status quo at religious sites in the Holy Land.

The sprawling exhibition, which opens Saturday for a six-month run, reflects not only on the political implications of what gets built but also on the empty spaces in between.

"We have to be aware of the political issues in order to make buildings which protect, in so far as we can, the status of the human being in the world,'" said Shelley McNamara, co-curator with Yvonne Farrell of the main exhibition, "Free Space." "'We are acutely aware of the things that are threatening the quality of life of human beings.'"

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the installation "Spazio Publico" by architects Joao Nunes and Joao Gomes da Silva, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The 16th edition of the Biennale International Architecture exhibition will open to the public from Saturday May 26 to Sunday Nov. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

The Israeli Pavilion, subtitled "structures of negotiation," outlines the consequences of multiple claims on revered religious places and how daily use defines monuments.

It doesn't comment on how the Trump administration's recent decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv might impact the Middle East conflict. But the curators agreed it is easy to draw inferences.

"What we know is that sometimes political events have a very heavy impact on the status quo of the holy places and vice versa, and even if the equilibrium of the status quo in the holy places is for some reason violated it has an influence on the political situation," said the pavilion's co-curator Tania Coen Uzzielli.

Take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, revered as the place of Jesus' crucifixion and burial and one of the pavilion's five case studies. The exhibit features a color-coded, three-dimensional model of the church made for an Ottoman-era pasha to make clear which denomination controlled which area.

In the early part of the last century, a conflict over who had the right to clean a raised stone in the church courtyard led to violence, said pavilion co-curator Deborah Pinto Fdeda.

"Tens of people died," she said. "It is through the usage of places over time that these communities gain or lose power." Yet even there the status quo evolved: "Today the Latins and Orthodox agree to clean it as if the other doesn't exist."

The U.S. pavilion comments on the meaning of citizenship as governments dictate who belongs and who doesn't.

Amanda Williams and Andres Hernandez created, in collaboration with Shani Crowe, "a pocket of retreat" in the courtyard behind a protective veil of black braids. The refuge is built on a rail, symbolizing the underground railroad that helped bring slaves to freedom. It projects upward, toward a better future.

"The piece tries to embody that trajectory from fighting and surviving for your citizenship to thriving," Williams said.

Inside, a group called Studio Gang brought 800 stones from a 19th century landing in Memphis linked to the slave trade. Co-curator Ann Lui said the project was about "taking a moment to think about these fraught sites" without proposing, yet, how to remember them.

Saudi Arabia is one of six countries participating for the first time in the architectural Biennale, with a project that focuses on urban sprawl in the kingdom's four major centers: political capital Riyadh, religious capital Mecca, the oil city of Dammam and the port city of Jeddah.

"The sprawl is the result of the oil boom but the result of the sprawl is actually social isolation," said curator Sumayah Al-Solaiman.

Participation in the Biennale is yet another sign of recent opening in Saudi Arabia, giving Saudis an important chance to communicate their experiences directly to the world.

"I think it is becoming more and more relevant to be involved in things that relate in art and culture," said architect Abdulrahman Gazzaz. "I think it is truly fascinating to us to be present at such a wonderful shift in the dynamic of the country."

The Vatican also is participating for the first time in the Biennale of architecture after joining the contemporary art fair in 2013 and 2015. The Holy See entrusted world-renowned architects including Norman Foster to create chapels in a wooded area on an island in the Venetian lagoon.

Curator Francesco Dal Co said the woods provided a metaphor "of where you get lost in life" and the chapels "are always a place of encounter, meeting experience and orientation."

The chapels may stay on as a permanent presence on San Giorgio island after the Biennale closes on Nov. 25

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, a view of the Israel pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The 16th edition of the Biennale International Architecture exhibition will open to the public from Saturday May 26 to Sunday Nov. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, architect Deborah Pinto Fdeda looks part of the installation at the Israeli pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The 16th edition of the Biennale International Architecture exhibition will open to the public from Saturday May 26 to Sunday Nov. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018,artist Amanda Williams poses inside her installation at the United States pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The 16th edition of the Biennale International Architecture exhibition will open to the public from Saturday May 26 to Sunday Nov. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, artist Amanda Williams talks with journalists next to of the United States pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The 16th edition of the Biennale International Architecture exhibition will open to the public from Saturday May 26 to Sunday Nov. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, a view of the United States pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The 16th edition of the Biennale International Architecture exhibition will open to the public from Saturday May 26 to Sunday Nov. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, a man visits the installation by architect Francesco Cellini at the Vatican pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The Vatican participated for the first time the Biennale of architecture, having already successfully tested the waters at the contemporary art fair in 2013 and 2015. This time, the Holy See entrusted world-renown architects to create chapels in a wooded area on an island in the Venetian lagoon. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, the installation by architects Ricardo Flores and Eva Prats at the Vatican pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The Vatican participated for the first time the Biennale of architecture, having already successfully tested the waters at the contemporary art fair in 2013 and 2015. This time, the Holy See entrusted world-renown architects to create chapels in a wooded area on an island in the Venetian lagoon. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, a man visits the installation by architect Javier Corvalan at the Vatican pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The Vatican participated for the first time the Biennale of architecture, having already successfully tested the waters at the contemporary art fair in 2013 and 2015. This time, the Holy See entrusted world-renown architects to create chapels in a wooded area on an island in the Venetian lagoon. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, Vatican pavilion curator Francesco dal Co stands, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The Vatican participated for the first time the Biennale of architecture, having already successfully tested the waters at the contemporary art fair in 2013 and 2015. This time, the Holy See entrusted world-renown architects to create chapels in a wooded area on an island in the Venetian lagoon. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, a woman visits the installation by architect Norman Foster at the Vatican pavilion, at the Biennale International Architecture exhibition, in Venice, Italy. The 16th edition of the Biennale International Architecture exhibition will open to the public from Saturday May 26 to Sunday Nov. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. (AP) - Roger Clark, a drummer who contributed to the legendary Muscle Shoals sound, has died.

The Times Daily reports that guitarist Travis Wammack says Clark died of a heart attack Thursday at home, at the age of 67.

Clark worked at FAME Recording Studios and Wishbone Recording Studio in the 1970s and '80s, playing on albums by Lou Rawls, Paul Anka, Tom Jones and others. He played drums on "Family Tradition," the breakthrough 1979 album of Hank Williams Jr.

Clark played his first paying gig at 14, going on to work in studios in Muscle Shoals and Nashville.

The Alabama Music Hall of Fame says he drummed on more than 30 gold and platinum albums touring with the Steve Miller Band, Journey and Pointer Sisters, among others.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombian police have re-arrested a former hit man for the late drug lord Pablo Escobar as part of an investigation into extortion.

The chief prosecutor's office said Friday that Jhon Jairo Velasquez was arrested in Medellin. It has yet to provide details about the investigation.

Velasquez, known by his nickname Popeye, was paroled in 2014 after confessing to hundreds of murders and spending 22 years in jail for plotting the assassination of a former Colombian presidential candidate.

Jhon Jairo Velazquez, a former hitman of the late drug lord Pablo Escobar, arrives escorted by police, for a hearing at a court in Medellin, Colombia, Friday, May 25, 2018. Velasquez, who was paroled in 2014 after confessing to hundreds of murders and spending 22 years in jail for plotting the murder of a former Colombian presidential candidate, was re-arrested as part of an investigation into extortion. (AP Photo/Luis Benavides)

He has since gained notoriety as a YouTube star who espouses conservative political views and hate-filled diatribes against leftist rebels and Venezuela's socialist government. Last week he took aim at Colombia's leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, warning that his "rifle will speak for me."
SODUS, N.Y. (AP) - Police in western New York issued an Amber Alert on Friday for a missing 14-month-old boy whose mother's body was found in a plastic bag hidden in the woods two days earlier.

According to the alert, the child, Owen Hidalgo-Calderon, was last seen May 16, the same day his mother, Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, was last seen before her body was found Wednesday morning.

"The child was taken under circumstances that lead the police to believe that he is in imminent danger of serious harm and/or death," the alert said.

The body of 18-year-old Selena Hidalgo-Calderon was found at a farm in the Wayne County town of Sodus where she and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Edward Reyes, worked. The body was between two logs and covered with soil and branches.

Reyes, caught on a hunter's trail camera going in and out of the woods with a shovel, was arrested Wednesday night on charges of tampering with physical evidence. He has admitted to burying the woman but not killing her, Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts said.

Reyes was being held on $25,000 bail in the Wayne County Jail pending a court appearance May 29. Virts said he is working with authorities in Mexico, where Reyes is from, to learn more about him and if he has a criminal record. He is not the missing child's father.

At one point while the mother and child were missing, relatives indicated that Hidalgo-Calderon and Reyes, who lived together, may have run off because of their immigration status, the sheriff's office said, but checks of surrounding train and bus stations had turned up nothing.

Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers' Center of Central New York told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Hidalgo-Calderon was from Guatemala and was seeking asylum.

"I don't care about your race, creed, color, national origin or religion," Virts said at a news conference. "If you are a victim, we will fight for you, we will triumph for you. If you are a perpetrator and you have abused somebody, we are going to hunt you down."

Hidalgo-Calderon had been in the U.S. since November 2016, according to the Workers' Center.

"My daughter and my grandson were my life," her mother, Estela Calderon, said in a statement issued by the center. "She was my first born and I feel like a piece of my heart is gone."
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump misrepresented what he's doing for members of the armed forces when he spoke Friday to graduates of the United States Naval Academy.

TRUMP: "Going to have new equipment and well-deserved pay raises. We just got you a big pay raise. First time in 10 years. We got you a big pay increase. First time in over 10 years. I fought for you. That was the hardest one to get, but you never had a chance of losing."

THE FACTS: That's not right. U.S. military members have gotten a pay raise every year for the past 10 years and several have been larger than this year's 2.6 percent increase. Pay increases in 2008, 2009 and 2010, for example, were all 3.4 percent or more.

President Donald Trump embraces the last graduate in line during a graduation and commissioning ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy, Friday, May 25, 2018, in Annapolis, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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TRUMP: "We have now the lowest number of ships that we've had since World War I, and very soon you're going to get to 355 beautiful ships. 355. That's almost a couple of hundred more ships."

THE FACTS: No it isn't. The Navy now has 283 ships.

And a 355-vessel battle fleet is not going to be achieved "very soon." The Navy plans to reach 355 in the 2050s while saying that could happen in the 2030s if it gets more money and extends the normal life of ships in the fleet.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - The officer in command of the USS John S. McCain when it collided with an oil tanker near Singapore in August 2017, killing 10 sailors, has pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty, the Navy said Friday.

Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez entered his plea during court-martial proceedings at Washington's Navy Yard.

The Navy said the formal charge to which Sanchez pleaded guilty was "negligent dereliction of duty resulting in death."

Sanchez was sentenced to a punitive letter of reprimand and forfeiture of $2,000 a month in pay for three months. As part of a plea agreement, he will submit a request to retire, the Navy said.

At a separate court-martial Thursday, boatswain's mate Chief Petty Officer Jeffery D. Butler pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty. He was sentenced to a reduction in rank. Butler's role aboard the McCain was certifying sailors on the destroyer's navigation system.

The McCain accident happened two months after another destroyer in the Pacific, the USS Fitzgerald, collided with a commercial ship in waters off Japan, killing seven sailors. The officer in command of the Fitzgerald at the time, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, faces homicide charges. His court-martial has not yet been scheduled. Attorneys for Benson assert that public statements by the Navy about Benson's actions have jeopardized his chances for a fair trail.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday, less than a week after the embattled socialist leader was re-elected in a vote the U.S. condemned and he kicked out the top American diplomat in the country.

The visit appeared to be an attempt by Sen. Bob Corker to push for the release of Joshua Holt, a U.S. citizen who has been held two years in a Caracas jail without a trial on what he has called trumped-up weapons charges.

Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, was seen live on state TV shaking hands with Maduro and being greeted by first lady Cilia Flores as he entered the presidential palace. He left an hour later, and neither the senator nor the president made any statements.

In this photo released by the Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, left, shakes hands with Republican Senator Bob Corker during a meeting at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday May 25, 2018. The Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro two days after the embattled socialist leader kicked out the top U.S. diplomat in the country. There was no immediate comment from Republican Senator Bob Corker's office about the nature of the surprise visit. (Miraflores Presidential Press Office via AP)

Maduro easily won a second, six-year term in Sunday's election, which was criticized by the U.S. and other nations as a "sham" after several of his key rivals were barred from running. After his victory, Maduro expelled U.S. charge d'affaires Todd Robinson and his deputy for allegedly conspiring to sabotage the vote by pressuring opposition parties to boycott the election, which had the lowest voter turnout in decades.

Corker was accompanied by an aide, Caleb McCarry, who led backchannel talks earlier this year with a close associate of Maduro aimed at securing the release of Holt.

Holt, a 26-year-old from Utah, traveled to Venezuela in June 2016 to marry a woman he had met online while looking for Spanish-speaking Mormons to help him improve his Spanish. He was arrested after police said they found an assault rifle and grenades during a raid on the public housing complex where the couple lived. He has denied the charge.

Shortly after Corker's meeting with Maduro, social media in Venezuela lit up with speculation that Holt and his wife, Thamara Caleno, would be released as a good will gesture to improve relations, much as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did by freeing three American detainees.

In a previous visit to Caracas in 2015, Corker was shunned by Maduro after having been promised a meeting with the president. Upon his return to Washington, Corker blasted Maduro's government, saying its "flawed economic policies and political system" had put Venezuela on a "destructive path."

There was no immediate comment from Corker's office about the nature of his latest visit.

Last month, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, also met with Maduro to press for Holt's release.

The Maduro government has been seeking contacts in the U.S. to stave off the threat of crippling oil sanctions that could further damage an economy already staggering from hyperinflation and widespread shortages.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, an outspoken critic of Maduro who has President Donald Trump's ear on Venezuela, played down Corker's visit.

"Any U.S. Senator can meet with whoever they want," Rubio tweeted. "But no matter how many senators dictator @NicolasMaduro gets to meet with him, U.S. sanctions will go away when Maduro leaves & democracy returns."

Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez described Maduro's conversation with Corker as "very good meeting, good news for the Venezuelan people" but gave no details of what the two discussed.

A close Maduro ally, socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello, accused Holt of being the CIA's spy chief in Latin America after the prisoner appeared in a video last week pleading for help, saying his life had been threatened during a riot by inmates in the Caracas jail where he and dozens of Maduro's opponents are being held.

Before he left Venezuela on Thursday on Maduro's orders, Robinson had been pushing unsuccessfully to see Holt.

However, on Friday, U.S. officials were allowed entry to the prison, according to a message posted by Holt's mother, Laurie Holt, on her Facebook page. She said her son "was in good spirits," except for discomfort from dozens of mosquito bites on his body and face. She said his visitors gave him bug repellant.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi city has agreed to pay attorneys' fees and proclaim support for LGBT rights to settle a lawsuit over its denial of permission for a gay pride parade.

Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill tells the Commercial Dispatch that aldermen approved the agreement 4-1 Friday.

She says the city will pay $12,750, which includes fees for attorneys representing Starkville Pride, the group that sued. The city reversed course and issued the permit after the lawsuit.

About 2,500 people took part March 24 in Starkville's first-ever LGBT pride parade.

Spruill says the agreement requires her to issue proclamations supporting LGBT History Month in October and supporting equal citizenship under the law. She says she will also meet regularly with a liaison from the city's LGBT community, which she's "certainly happy" to do.

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Information from: The Commercial Dispatch, http://www.cdispatch.com
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - The family of a Guatemalan immigrant fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas this week is demanding justice for the 19-year-old woman.

Dominga Vicente, an aunt of Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez, says her niece migrated to escape poverty.

She said Friday that after graduating as a forensic accountant Gomez was unable to attend college or find a job so she left Guatemala.

Guatemala's foreign ministry condemned the shooting and confirmed her identity.

The Border Patrol said Wednesday that an agent was trying to detain people he suspected of entering the country illegally in Rio Bravo, south of Laredo. The agency says the agent was attacked by some in the group "using blunt objects" and fired at least once.

The FBI and Texas Rangers were investigating the shooting.
Harvey Weinstein is reportedly facing arrest on Friday following an investigation into allegations he sexually assaulted numerous women.

According to the New York Times, investigators in Manhattan are preparing to arrest the disgraced movie mogul and he is expected to surrender to authorities.

Scores of women have come forward to allege sexual misconduct from Mr Weinstein, ranging from inappropriate comments to rape.

Harvey Weinstein is reportedly set to be arrested in New York on Friday (David Mirzoeff/PA)

It was reported earlier this week that federal prosecutors in New York had launched a probe into the allegations, which is separate to the investigation currently under way by the Manhattan District Attorney, the film producers lawyer said in a court filing.

In a declaration filed on May 3 in the Weinstein Cos bankruptcy proceedings, lawyer Benjamin Brafman said Mr Weinstein was a principal target of an investigation being carried out by the US attorneys office in Manhattan.

He added: I am trying my very best to persuade both the federal and state prosecutors that he should not be arrested and or indicted, because he did not knowingly violate the law.

Mr Braffman added that the allegations facing Mr Weinstein are entirely without merit.

Weinstein is under criminal investigation in New York, Los Angeles and London.

He has not been charged with any crimes, though police in New York have said publicly that they believe there is enough evidence to make an arrest.
A remote Highlands community is giving its young people a cask of whisky for their 18th birthday to help drive the economy and encourage families to remain in the area.

The Ardnamurchan Trust charity will buy a cask of maturing spirit from the Ardnamurchan distillery for every resident aged between 10 and 17.

On their 18th birthday, they will have the option of selling the cask back to the distillery with the profits being used to finance their tertiary education, future training and careers.

Alex Bruce, managing director of Adelphi, which owns the distillery, said: It will benefit young people in the Ardnamurchan area, who will directly profit from the sale of their local whisky.

Well also be offering additional support by forging further links with the community and local businesses, as well as offering work experience and training throughout all aspects of the business.

In addition to supporting the next generation from an early age, it also gives us security of an established long-term employment pool in the area.

Ardnmurchan distillery employees (l to r) Valentina Donsi, Scott Stewart, Ali Fisher, Alistair MacKay and Sophie Yorke filling the first cask (Ardnamurchan Trust/PA)

The trust hopes the move will encourage diversification, promote collaboration between businesses and address the issue of rural depopulation.

A spokesman for the Ardnamurchan Trust said: The trustees are immensely grateful to Adelphi for making it possible for the young people of the area to be given the opportunity to learn about all the different aspects of one of Scotlands most important manufacturing and exporting businesses, as well as the hope of realising a financial gain when the casks are sold to help in reducing the financial burden faced by young people entering further education.

With the ongoing support of the Scottish Government and Scotland Food & Drink, we hope the scheme can be replicated through other community initiatives across the industry.

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: Scotlands whisky distilleries do much to support their local communities and economies, but equally those distilleries could not exist without the skills and expertise provided by people living in those communities.

With this unique scheme, the Ardnamurchan Trust are not only giving something back to young people and their families in the local area, but also creating a potential long-term benefit for everyone.

James Withers, chief executive officer at Scotland Food & Drink, said: We have a great diversity of world-class products but we also want to be champions of responsible and sustainable practices.

Investment in the next generation is key to achieving that vision. We are excited to see the launch of this initiative by the Ardnamurchan Trust. It is creative, forward-thinking planning for the future.
North Korea has said it is still willing to sit down for talks with the United States at any time, at any format after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un.

Mr Trump blamed tremendous anger and open hostility by Pyongyang and abandoned for now a meeting that held the promise of a historic peace deal but also the risk of diplomatic meltdown.

North Korea issued a statement on Friday saying it is still willing to give the US time and opportunities to reconsider talks at any time, at any format.

Vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan called Mr Trumps decision unexpected and very regrettable, and said the cancellation of the talks shows how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-US relations is and how urgently a summit should be realised to improve ties.

In a letter to Mr Kim announcing his decision to back away from the June 12 summit, Mr Trump pointed to Americas vast military might and warned the rising nuclear power against any foolish or reckless acts.

Protesters stage a rally against the USs policies on North Korea near the US embassy in Seoul, South Korea (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

The letter kicked off a day of mixed messages by the president, who declared hours later that I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do whats right.

Then, after that, a senior White House official said the North lacked judgment and had reneged on its promises ahead of the summit.

Mr Trump said from the White House that a maximum pressure campaign of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea, with which the US is technically still at war, but he added that it was possible the summit could still take place at some point.

The presidents surprise exit capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down.

Th US announcement came not long after Mr Kim appeared to make good on his promise to demolish his countrys nuclear test site.

A protester wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump, centre, performs with cut-out photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, during a rally in Seoul against the USs policies against North Korea (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

But it also followed escalating frustration  and newly antagonistic rhetoric  from North Korea over comments from Trump aides about US expectations for the Norths denuclearisation.

The senior US official said the North violated a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed implosion of the site on Thursday.

International journalists were present, but the US government cannot verify the sites destruction.

Foreign media watch as North Koreas nuclear test site is blown up at Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service/AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a staunch Kim ally, said the North Korean leader had in fact done everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts of his countrys nuclear testing site.

Mr Putin said of Mr Trumps announcement, In Russia we took this news with regret.

A copy of the letter sent to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from Donald Trump (J David Ake/AP)

Mr Trump, in his letter to Mr Kim, objected specifically to a statement from a top North Korean Foreign Ministry official.

That statement referred to US vice president Mike Pence as a political dummy for his comments on the North and said it was up to the Americans whether they would meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

Underscoring the high stakes, Mr Trump said he had spoken with military leaders, as well as Japan and South Korea, and stressed that the United States was prepared for any threat.

Still, Mr Trumps announcement appeared to surprise South Korea, which had pushed to keep the summit on track as recently as Tuesday, when President Moon Jae-in met with Mr Trump in the Oval Office and said the fate and the future of the Korean Peninsula hinged on the talks.

The Blue House said on Thursday that it was trying to figure out Mr Trumps intentions in cancelling the summit.

(PA Graphics)

Mr Trump, who considers himself a master dealmaker, has confounded aides and allies at every turn of the fateful flirtation with the North.

He looked past the warnings of senior aides when he accepted Mr Kims invitation to meet back in March. He unveiled the date and the time with characteristic showmanship.

After initially projecting calm in the face of North Koreas escalating rhetoric, he made a sudden about face, though his letter also waxed poetic about the wonderful dialogue emerging between the two leaders.

Mr Trump wrote: If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

It was unclear whether Mr Trumps move marked a negotiating ploy or a manifestation of mounting internal concerns over ensuring a successful outcome for the summit.

US President Donald Trump speaks on North Korea before signing the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act at the White House (Evan Vucci/AP)

Mr Trump was briefed on Wednesday night and made the decision to exit on Thursday morning after consulting with top advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, to whom he dictated the letter, said the senior official.

The question now is how Mr Trumps manoeuvring will be received.

His letter could make the situation worse in a society where saving face can be pivotal. Mr Kim might well take offence at the hard-nosed US approach after he released American detainees and destroyed a nuclear site.

Protesters in Seoul hold a portrait of President Donald Trump during a rally against US policy towards North Korea Ahn Young-joon/AP)

Singapore said it regrets the cancellation of the summit that was to be held there next month.

A statement from Singapores foreign affairs ministry said it hopes that the dialogue and efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue.

Japan said it understands Mr Trumps cancellation.

Command post facilities at North Koreas nuclear test site are blown up in Punggye-ri (Yonhap/AP)

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the summit is useful only when it makes progress on the Norths nuclear and missile abandonment and on the issue of the Norths abductions of Japanese citizens.

Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono, in Mexico for talks with officials, said Japan expects a summit where North Korea can commit to denuclearise itself and said Japan will keep cooperating with Washington to achieve it.
Homebase has been sold by its Australian owner Wesfarmers to retail restructuring firm Hilco, closing the chapter on a disastrous foray into British retail.

The deal, for a nominal sum thought to be 1, will see Wesfarmers book a loss of up to 230 million and see the firm exit the UK after picking up the DIY chain for 340 million in 2016.

It is unclear at this stage if Hilco, which bills itself as a retail restructuring specialist and also owns HMV, will embark on a store closure programme.

Hilco will try to turn Homebase around (PA)

Homebase has 250 UK stores and employs around 12,000 people.

Under the terms of the deal, Hilco will acquire all Homebase assets including the brand, its store network, freehold property, property leases and stock.

A total of 24 stores that were trading as Bunnings, Wesfarmers brand, will convert back to the Homebase fascia.

Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott said: A divestment under the agreed terms is in the best interests of Wesfarmers shareholders and will support the ongoing reset and repositioning of the Homebase business.

While the review confirmed the business is capable of returning to profitability over time, further capital investment is necessary to support the turnaround.

The investment has been disappointing, with the problems arising from poor execution post-acquisition being compounded by a deterioration in the macro environment and retail sector in the UK.

Wesfarmers will also participate in a value share mechanism whereby it is entitled to 20% of any future sale of the business.

Retail experts have criticised Wesfarmers for failing to judge the UK market correctly after buying Homebase from Home Retail Group two years ago.

Richard Lim, of Retail Economics, said: The acquisition of Homebase has been an unbelievable disaster for Wesfarmers.

Their attempts to disrupt the UK DIY market have failed after a series of woeful management decisions, clumsy execution and a misguided perception of the UK market.

Theres no doubt that the timing has been ill-fated as the sector faces incredibly tough headwinds.

Against this backdrop, the business is bleeding cash and the owners have decided enough is enough. Unfortunately, the restructuring will almost inevitably lead to store closures and more job losses on the high street.

Homebase boss Damian McGloughlin said the agreement with Hilco marks an exciting new chapter for the retailer.
Liverpool supporters were caught up in trouble ahead of the Champions League final in Kiev after being apparently attacked in a restaurant.

Ukrainian police announced two foreigners had been injured in a fight at the city centre establishment, and that two arrests had been made.

Reports said the incident occurred at the Rooster Grill. The Mirror published a video of violent scenes, with police attending.

Liverpool fans experienced unsavoury scenes in Kiev (David Davies/PA)

A statement from Ukraines National Police said: In the course of the conflict, two foreigners suffered injuries.

It said officers from the Holosiivskyi police department were sent to the scene, close to the Olympic Stadium which will stage Saturdays match against Real Madrid, and that the victims of the attack and the alleged perpetrators refused to give statements.

Merseyside Police said they were aware of the incident and have officers in Kiev.

A further statement from Ukrainian police said the incident was being treated as group hooliganism.

It said the fight occurred at around 11pm local time on Thursday.

The local police said their law enforcers were looking for other participants in the fight to give their actions a legal assessment.

Separately, police said Thursdays Womens Champions League final between Lyon and Wolfsburg at the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Stadium in Kiev had passed off without any trouble.
An independent Scotland should keep the pound during a transition period after any future vote to leave the Union, a new report commissioned by the SNP will say.

The Sustainable Growth Commission was set up to look at the future economic prospects of Scotland and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said it will restart the debate about independence.

The 354-page report, to be published in full on Friday, will outline that the pound should remain as Scotlands currency for a period of time after any break from the Union.

There has been speculation the country would then move to a new Scottish version of Sterling.

Ahead of the 2014 independence referendum the SNP proposed a formal currency union with the rest of the UK.

Mark Carney told the Treasury Select Committee a currency union was possible (Victoria Jones/PA)

On Tuesday, Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney told the Treasury Select Committee a currency union was possible, but it would be for politicians to decide whether they want one.

The report will also set out proposals for a Come to Scotland package as part of efforts to boost the countrys population.

The document by former SNP MSP Andrew Wilson sets out how the country can use the 3 Ps  population, participation and productivity  in a bid to grow the economy.

The long-awaited report will argue an independent Scotland could be among the most successful small economies in the world, providing an economic boost that is the equivalent of 4,100 per person.

There are currently about 429,000 people living in Scotland who were born outside of the UK  with this group contributing 1.3 billion to the public purse.

The report includes 30 recommendations on how to grow the economy, including introducing a new visa system for Scotland which would be in contrast to the UK Tory Governments hostile approach to migration.

Demographic trends mean Scotland needs to attract people to boost its working-age population, with the report setting the goal of the country retaining an additional 5,000 overseas graduates each year  which could be worth 1.5 billion a year to the economy within a decade.

Speaking ahead of the publication of Scotland: A New Case For Optimism, Mr Wilson said: We have a great opportunity for Scotland to strike a completely different tone on a vitally important area of economic policy  how we attract talent to our country.

Growing our working population and, through it, our economy is perhaps the greatest national challenge we have  and is made even more urgent by Brexit and the threat it poses to our working-age population.

Thanks to @AndrewWilson and Sustainable Growth Commission for their hard work. The 300+ page report - Scotland: The New Case for Optimism - will be published on Friday and will inform a debate about the opportunities of independence. pic.twitter.com/HcA6mDVO2F  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) May 23, 2018

Mr Wilson continued: It is a fact that those born outside the UK who have made Scotland home for their businesses, their research or their families are significant net contributors to our economy and public finances  we need more of this.

We also need more people from across the UK to consider the benefits of living and working here.

Our package is designed to attract people to Scotland to study and to stay here, to build a career and a fulfilling future for themselves. We need investors, entrepreneurs and a skilled workforce to achieve our potential.

The report is split into three sections, looking at Scotlands opportunities for economic growth, public finances and the key issue of what currency an independent Scotland could use.

Nicola Sturgeon has said the report will "restart the debate" on Scottish independence (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: Of course we want to attract the best and brightest to come and live and work in Scotland. But you dont do that with high taxes and you dont do it by trying to tear up the UK.

You do it by growing Scotlands economy  something the SNP government is failing to do, largely because it is spending so much of its time obsessing about independence.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard also hit out at the nationalists, saying: The SNP government can attempt to reboot the case for independence as much as it likes. The people of Scotland do not trust it and want a government focused on jobs, schools and hospitals instead.

 The people of Scotland who want real and radical economic change won't find it in the SNP's Growth Commission - they'll find it with Labour governments that put power, wealth and opportunity into the hands of the many, not the few. @LabourRichard outlines more here  pic.twitter.com/iYjTRp7nHu  Scottish Labour (@ScottishLabour) May 24, 2018

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie called on the Scottish Government to focus on driving positive change and improvement in public services and the economy instead of pursuing yet another divisive push for independence.

But a Scottish Green spokesman said: Many No voters in 2014 will no doubt be open to the case for independence, especially when this report is compared to the bleak, post-Brexit economic analysis papers, which we have seen, from the UK Government.

He added: While independence would give us a better chance of running a fairer economy, that shouldnt stop us taking action right now.
A 96-year-old D-Day veteran who suffered multiple skull fractures after a barbaric attack by a hammer-wielding cold caller has stoically played down his ordeal, saying: Worse things happen at sea.

Jim Booth was left for dead in a pool of his own blood on the living room floor of his Taunton home after answering the door to a bogus builder.

The Royal Navy veteran Lieutenant Commander, who after the attack was forced to half crawl, half stumble out into the street to raise the alarm with neighbours as blood poured from his wounds, said he had not been left terribly het up by the experience.

He said: Yes, well, worse things happen at sea as they say, in war.

LT Cdr Booth was left with was left with multiple depressed skull fractures and lacerations to his head, hands and arms after answering the door to illiterate Joseph Isaacs, 40, on November 22.

Joseph Isaacs, 40, has been found guilty at Taunton Crown Court of attempted murder (Avon and Somerset Police/PA)

Isaacs claimed he wanted money for food but when his offer of cheap building work was turned down, he angrily pursued Lt Cdr Booth through his Gipsy Lane home, hitting him again and again with a shiny, new claw hammer. He continued to strike the great-grandfather after he had collapsed to the floor under the force of the blows.

On Friday, following a five-day trial at Taunton Crown Court, a jury found Isaacs, of no fixed abode, guilty of attempted murder after deliberating for less than two hours.

He was given a 20-year extended sentence made up of a 16-year custodial term of which he will have to serve two thirds, plus a four-year extension.

Sentencing, Judge David Ticehurst said Mr Booth was an extraordinarily remarkable gentleman whom Isaacs savagely attacked with a claw hammer which you took with you for that purpose.

He said: It was a brutal and utterly senseless attack on him.

The jury had heard how Isaacs, who previously lived at home with his parents, had been sleeping in his car in the days and weeks leading up to his attack on Lt Cdr Booth.

Following this morning's verdict, Joseph Isaacs will be sentenced at #Taunton Crown Court this afternoon for the attemped murder of 96-yr-old Jim Booth - as well as aggravated burglary & fraud offences. pic.twitter.com/1pZHUb5LFP  Avon and Somerset Police (@ASPolice) May 25, 2018

He claimed that he was in the middle of a nervous breakdown having broken up with his girlfriend and had not eaten for four days when he decided to approach Lt Cdr Booths home.

The court heard no evidence that Isaacs was suffering from mental health difficulties and Rachel Drake, for the prosecution, labelled his defence a desperate attempt to minimise what he had done.

Isaacs, who appeared at court via video link from HMP Long Lartin, was arrested on November 24 after using the bank card he had stolen from Lt Cdr Booths home at a number of shops and food outlets.

Speaking about the moment he was attacked, Lt Cdr Booth, who joined the Navy aged 18 and served throughout the Second World War, said: He started shouting money, money, money.

He started lifting the thing and advanced on me, pushed me backwards, right up the passage coming into this room, from the front.

Police said it was a `miracle Mr Booth survived the attack (Family handout/PA)

I now know that he, well I didnt really remember it, but he hit me six times on the head as well as more on the arms with the claw hammer and the claw side of it, too.

Lt Cdr Booth, a keen cyclist, runner and gym-goer prior to the attack, said he thought he was dead when he fell to the floor.

Injuries to Lt Cdr Booths arms and hands suggested he tried to ward off the blows.

Playing down his resistance, he said: I think I probably just defended myself.

But Im very much saying, I blame myself, because I was special services, you know, I think I should really have known how to deal with this, but I didnt  I was too old, obviously.

During the war, Lt Cdr Booth joined the Combined Operations Pilotage and Reconnaissance Parties (COPP) and trained for covert beach explorations at a wartime military base set up on Hayling Island in Hampshire in 1943 under the instruction of Lord Mountbatten.

At the age of 23, Lt Cdr Booth became a pilot for the X-craft, tiny submarines that waited on the seabed for days at a time, and sailed from Portsmouth to Normandy to scout out where British forces could safely land. On D-Day, Lt Cdr Booth climbed into a fold-up canoe and shone a beacon out to sea to guide Allied craft safely to shore.

Mr Booth carried out vital reconnaissance work ahead of D-Day and has been awarded the Croix de Guerre (Family handout/PA)

Lt Cdr Booth, who was later awarded the Croix de Guerre military medal by France for his gallantry, has four children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, and was described as their hero after the attack.

He is expected to be present in court when Isaacs is sentenced on Friday at 2pm.

Isaacs will also be sentenced for causing GBH with intent, aggravated burglary and six counts of fraud, which he earlier admitted in relation to the incident.

Speaking after the verdict, DCI James Riccio, who led the investigation, described Isaacs attack on Lt Cdr Booth as a prolonged and barbaric ordeal.

He used a claw hammer to strike Mr Booth repeatedly to the head and body  even hitting him multiple times while he lay on the floor, he said.

It was a cowardly act and its a miracle Mr Booth survived these horrific injuries.
Living standards for Scots could equal the best small countries in the world within a generation of leaving the UK, a major new report has insisted.

The SNP set up the Sustainable Growth Commission in 2016, with party leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying its report showed how the country could replace the despair of Brexit with optimism about Scotlands future.

The long-awaited 354-page document sets out plans to grow Scotlands economy, with the commission insisting: We can lift the growth performance of the country to take living standards to equal the best small countries in the world over a generation.

To achieve that, it set out an approach of growing GDP in Scotland by focusing on the the three Ps of economic performance  productivity, population and participation.

The Scotland: A New Case for Optimism report said: Our central argument is that Scotland should be seeking to emulate the performance of the best small countries in the world, rather than sticking to its current position as the best of the rest of the UK regions and nations outside of the south east of England.

Todays excellent #growthcommission report will spark lots of debate, within and beyond @theSNP - and thats great. So much better to be debating how we maximise our potential as a country than just focussing on how we limit the damage of Brexit.  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) May 25, 2018

The commission looked at the economies of 12 small independent states  Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland  as part of its work.

Ms Sturgeon said: The task ahead is to match those other nations, creating more jobs and raising living standards, providing a better future for everyone who lives here.

On the key issue of what currency an independent Scotland would use, the report recommended the country keep the pound during a transition period  with a separate Scottish currency a possibility after six economic tests are met.

(PA Graphics)

In addition, a new Scottish Central Bank would be established, with part of its remit being to act as a lender of last resort.

To attract people to live and work in Scotland and grow the population, it suggested a package of financial incentives.

The Come to Scotland deal could see highly-skilled workers offered transitional relief on their income tax to help offset the costs of relocating.

The report said staying within the UK which concentrates too much economic activity in London and the South-East region is holding Scotland and the other regions and nations of the UK below their potential.

It suggested reducing the gender pay gap in Scotland to the level of New Zealand could increase GDP by 6.1 billion, raising up to 2.5 billion a year more for the public purse.

 The Sustainable Growth Commission website is now live. You can read our report here: https://t.co/AF3ElMBSoM pic.twitter.com/YqQTuotqTv  Sustainable Growth Commission (@sgcommission) May 25, 2018

Doubling overseas exports  something the report said was a reasonable target to set to bring Scotland in line with other nations  could increase GDP by 8% and generate 5 billion more in taxes each year.

There would also be a comprehensive review of UK spending programmes, with the commission setting the target for Scotland to save 1 billion compared to current levels.

The commission was chaired by former SNP MSP Andrew Wilson, who said: It is important that independence must never be seen as a magic wand or quick and easy step to success.

Indeed, there is no pot of gold, black or otherwise, at the foot of the independence rainbow.

But there is a toolbox and using it will mean taking responsibility for choices that seek to create a stronger economy, sustainable public finances and a fairer society.

Ms Sturgeon stated: What this report shows is that Scotland is a wealthy nation with huge resources, encompassing our traditional strengths in innovation, our hi-tech sectors, our energy reserves, our food, drink and tourism strengths  and perhaps above all our strength in human capital, with a highly-educated population.

Despite those enormous strengths, similar-sized nations have performed better over decades  all of them independent but most of them with fewer resources than us.

This report rightly doesnt shy away from the challenges we face but presents ways in which those challenges can be addressed  and sets out recommendations on currency  which as a country we should all debate and discuss.

Commenting on the publication of Scotland: the new case for

optimism @DavidMundellDCT said: pic.twitter.com/QBdEYECUGY  Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (@ScotSecofState) May 25, 2018

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: Scotland voted decisively in 2014 to remain part of the UK. That decision should be respected. The public do not want another divisive independence referendum.

We want to work with the Scottish Government to maximise the opportunities our exit from the European Union will bring.

We should all put our energies into making sure we get the right deal for Scotland and the rest of the UK as we leave the EU.
Harvey Weinstein has been charged with rape following an investigation by police in New York.

The film producer was arrested on Friday morning in his first public appearance since October before being charged with rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women.

Weinstein emerged from the NYPDs 1st Precinct in handcuffs with a smile on his face. He was escorted by officers to a waiting black car before being driven away.

Statement Regarding Arrest of Harvey Weinstein pic.twitter.com/WKO4rX9eaH  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 25, 2018

He has been the subject of an investigation in the US into allegations.

A statement from the New York Police Department confirmed the charges and thanked these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice.

The arrest and charges follow the joint investigation between the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorneys office.

In his first public appearance since October, Weinstein arrived at the New York Police Departments 1st Precinct wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue jumper.

Harvey Weinstein arrives at the 1st Precinct while turning himself in to authorities after allegations of sexual misconduct, Friday May 25 2018, in New York (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

A police official previously said Weinstein will be charged with committing a criminal sex act after an aspiring actress alleged he forced her to perform oral sex in 2004.

It relates to a woman who has not been identified or spoken publicly, the official said.

Weinstein  whose lawyers have denied allegations he forced himself on women  said nothing as he entered the police precinct.

He was clutching two books, Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammersteins Broadway Revolution, by Todd S Purdum, and Richard Schickels biography of producer, director and writer Elia Kazan.

He is expected to be taken to Manhattan Criminal Court later on Friday to be arraigned on the charges, US media reports.

Harvey Weinstein (Anthony Devlin/PA)

The New York Times reported on Thursday that investigators in Manhattan were preparing to arrest the disgraced movie mogul and he was expected to surrender to authorities.
The father of a 12-year-old killed in the Grenfell Tower fire has said there are no words to describe the familys feelings of emptiness after losing his daddys girl.

Jessica Urbano Ramirez was two weeks away from her 13th birthday, which she had planned to celebrate with a slumber party, when she died in the June 14 blaze.

Her father Ramiro Urbano, mother Adriana Ramirez and sister Melanie Urbano Ramirez paid tribute in a video to the bubbly girl on the fifth day of commemoration hearings at the public inquiry.

Mr Urbano said: There are no words to describe the feelings of emptiness inside us all.

Its only the people in the same circumstances as us that can understand this pain.

We will have to live with not having her around for the rest of our lives.

Every day, every hour, and every minute we will lose concentration on whatever we are doing, whether it is a family gathering, or at work, or even alone at home, because she will be in our thoughts forever.

Her sister added: Not a day goes by where she doesnt cross my mind.

And the thought of not being able to watch her grow up into a beautiful girl, and watch her go to university, have her first job and just be there as an older sister at the time she would need me breaks my heart.

Earlier on Friday at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in south Kensington, a nine-year-old girl and her young relatives led tributes to the El-Wahabi family, who lived on the 21st floor.

Five members of the El-Wahabi family, father Abdulaziz, 52, mother Faouzia, 41, and children Yasin, 20, Nur Huda, 16, and Mehdi, eight (Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA)

Father Abdulaziz, 52, mother Faouzia, 42, and children Yasin, 20, Nur Huda, 16, and Mehdi, eight, were all killed.

Sara Chebiouni, nine, said she had enjoyed playing Lego and Minecraft with her cousin, Mehdi, the baby of the family.

It is difficult knowing that Mehdi will never be able to play with us ever again, she said, touchingly.

Had he lived until adulthood I think he would have liked to have been a comedian, although I do think he had some work to do on his jokes, she said with faultless delivery.

At the end of Saras presentation, counsel to the inquiry Bernard Richmond QC told her she had done a beautiful, beautiful job.

Saras older cousin, Mariam El-Wahabi, bravely commemorated teenager Nur Huda, who had been doing her GCSEs.

Nur Huda El-Wahabi (Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA)

We all wanted to be like her. We soon came to the realisation it was impossible to be like her  she was too unique, Mariam told the hearing.

Yasin, meanwhile, was described as a selfless and considerate young man, who was studying accountancy at the University of Greenwich but kept close ties to the community.

Faouzia was said to be the anchor of the family who was loved by many.

Her mother, Menana Jabari, spoke of the terrible pain she felt, knowing her family would never again visit her in Morocco.

I will be forever waiting for my daughter and beautiful grandchildren to walk through the door, she said.

The brother of Abdulaziz, Hamed El-Wahabi, said through tears: He was kind, a loyal family member, he had an infectious and caring personality, he left a mark on many peoples hearts and its evident by the endless love and support given to us by his friends and colleagues.

We, his family, intend to continue by his example.

During a busy morning, tributes were paid to Vincent Chiejina, 60, who was hailed for his support of the vulnerable.

His younger sister Obi said in a video tribute: He guided and gave directions to others. Lets celebrate and remember those who help others.

The inquiry also heard of the close bond between victim Ligaya Moore, 78, and her friend Nenita Bunggay, during a heart-rending personal portrait.

Ligaya Moore, who died in the Grenfell Tower fire (Grenfell Tower Inquiry/PA)

The Filipino pensioner had loved dancing, socialising and her flat in Grenfell Tower, a tearful Ms Bunggay recalled.

Khadija Khaloufi was remembered by her husband of 27 years, Sabah Abdullah, as a unique person who was always thinking of and helping her friends and neighbours.

I lost part of me, he said.

Commemorations are expected to continue until next Wednesday.
Donald Trump has warmly welcomed North Koreas promising response to his abrupt withdrawal from a potentially historic summit and said were talking to them now about putting it back on track.

Everybody plays games, said the US president, who often boasts about his own negotiating tactics and skill.

Mr Trump said it was even possible the summit could take place on the originally planned date, June 12.

They very much want to do it, wed like to do it, he said.

Earlier he had called the Norths reaction to his letter cancelling the summit warm and productive.

That was different to his letter on Thursday to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, blaming tremendous anger and open hostility from Pyongyang for the US withdrawal.

The tone from both sides was warmer on Friday. First, North Korea issued a statement saying it was still willing to give the US time and opportunities to reconsider talks at any time, at any format.

Mr Trump wrote to Kim Jong Un blaming `tremendous anger and open hostility from Pyongyang (KRT/AP)

Vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan called Mr Trumps withdrawal unexpected and very regrettable, and said the cancellation of the talks showed how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-US relations is and how urgently a summit should be realised to improve ties.

Then Mr Trump replied in turn, saying it was very good news, and we will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!

The presidents surprise exit from the planned talks had capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down.

The US announcement came not long after Mr Kim appeared to make good on his promise to demolish his countrys nuclear test site, but it also followed escalating frustration  and newly antagonistic rhetoric  from North Korea over comments from Trump aides about US expectations for the Norths denuclearisation.

The White House has repeatedly offered mixed messages. Hours after releasing his cancellation letter on Thursday, the president declared: I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do whats right.

After that, however, a senior White House official said the North had reneged on its promises ahead of the summit. Mr Trump said a maximum pressure campaign of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea  with which the US is technically still at war  though he added that it was possible the summit could still take place at some point.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a staunch ally of Mr Kim, said the North Korean leader had done everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts of the site.

Mr Putin said of Mr Trumps cancellation announcement: In Russia we took this news with regret.

Vladimir Putin said he regretted the move by Mr Trump (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

On Friday, North Koreas vice foreign minister said his countrys objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged.

Mr Trump, in his letter to Mr Kim, objected specifically to a statement from a top North Korean Foreign Ministry official, which referred to vice president Mike Pence as a political dummy for his comments on the North, and said it was up to the Americans whether they would meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

Underscoring the high stakes, Mr Trump said he had spoken with military leaders, as well as Japan and South Korea, and stressed that the US was prepared for any threat.

Mr Trumps cancellation announcement appeared to surprise South Korea, which had pushed to keep the summit on track as recently as Tuesday, when President Moon Jae-in met Mr Trump in the Oval Office and said the fate and the future of the Korean peninsula hinged on the talks.
Harvey Weinstein has appeared in court in New York charged with rape.

The disgraced film producer, in his first public appearance since October, spoke only to confirm he understood as he was charged with two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sexual act for alleged incidents involving two separate women.

Weinstein  who has faced an avalanche of accusations including from some of Hollywoods biggest stars  has repeatedly denied any allegations of non-consensual sex.

He posted a one million dollar (751,060) cash bail and agreed to wear an electronic monitor which tracks his movements 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Weinstein also surrendered his passport and agreed to stay within the states of New York and Connecticut.

He intends to plead not guilty to the charges, his lawyer Benjamin Brafman said outside court.

It is the first time he has faced criminal charges since the allegations first emerged and sparked the MeToo and Times Up movements.

In the eight months since, scores of women have made sexual harassment and assault allegations against the movie mogul.

Harvey Weinstein arrives at the 1st Precinct while turning himself in to authorities after allegations of sexual misconduct in New York (Julio Cortez/AP)

Weinstein had arrived at New York Police Departments 1st Precinct on Friday morning wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue jumper before being charged.

He was clutching two books, Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammersteins Broadway Revolution, by Todd S Purdum, and Richard Schickels biography of producer, director and writer Elia Kazan.

Less than 90 minutes later, the 66-year-old left in handcuffs and smiling before being taken to a Manhattan court where he was arraigned on the charges.

Statement Regarding Arrest of Harvey Weinstein pic.twitter.com/WKO4rX9eaH  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 25, 2018

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R Vance Jr praised the brave survivors who have come forward as he urged people with relevant information to come forward.

A statement from the NYPD  which has worked with the DA office on the case  also thanked these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice.
Harvey Weinstein will face trial after being charged with rape.

The disgraced film producer, making his first public appearance since October, spoke only to confirm he understood the charges which involve two separate women.

It is the first time Weinstein has faced criminal charges since an avalanche of accusations  including from some of Hollywoods biggest stars  first emerged last year, sparking the international MeToo and Times Up movements.

Earlier on Friday morning Weinstein had turned himself over to police in New York to face the charges.

Wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue jumper and appearing to stumble slightly, he clutched two books, Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammersteins Broadway Revolution, by Todd S Purdum, and Richard Schickels biography of producer, director and writer Elia Kazan.

90 minutes later he left the NYPDs 1st Precinct handcuffed and smiling as he was escorted to court.

He was charged with two counts of rape  one in the first degree and another in the third degree  and one count of a criminal sexual act for alleged incidents involving two separate women.

Harvey Weinstein arrives at the 1st Precinct while turning himself in to authorities after allegations of sexual misconduct in New York (Julio Cortez/AP)

Weinstein has repeatedly denied any allegations of non-consensual sex and intends to plead not guilty, his lawyer Benjamin Brafman said outside court.

Inside, the former Hollywood mogul raised his eyebrows as Manhattan Assistant Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said: This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually.

He posted a one million dollar (751,060) cash bail and will wear an electronic monitor which tracks his movements 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The 66-year-old also surrendered his passport and agreed to stay within the states of New York and Connecticut.

Benjamin Brafman, attorney for Harvey Weinstein (Julio Cortez/AP)

Speaking after the hearing, Brafman took a swipe at the MeToo and Times Up movements as he pledged to move very quickly to dismiss these charges.

We believe that they are constitutionally flawed, we believe that they are not factually supported by the evidence and we believe that by the end of the process, Mr Weinstein will be exonerated.

He said that Weinstein is doing as well as can be expected when you are accused of a crime that you vehemently deny having committed.

Many of these allegations are long overdue, quite frankly, having been made about events that are alleged to have occurred many years ago.

Statement Regarding Arrest of Harvey Weinstein pic.twitter.com/WKO4rX9eaH  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 25, 2018

They were not reported to the police at the time these events occurred and I anticipate that the women who have made these allegations, when subjected to cross examination  in the event we even get that far  that the charges will not be believed by 12 people, assuming we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R Vance Jr praised the brave survivors who have come forward as he urged people with relevant information to come forward.

Weinstein is also facing criminal investigations in Los Angeles and London.

An Oscar-winning producer, he and his brother Bob Weinstein founded production company Miramax in 1979, building it into a major Hollywood player before selling it to Disney in 1993.

They continued to work for the firm until 2005 when they quit to set up the Weinstein Company, which spawned hits including The Kings Speech, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook.

Since last years scandal broke his wife, British designer Georgina Chapman, has left him and numerous bodies, including the Oscars Academy, have moved to distance themselves.
Darren Till is confident of inflicting a first stoppage defeat of Stephen Thompsons professional career this weekend on what is set to be a very emotional occasion for the Liverpudlian.

Tills clash against American Thompson headlines on Sunday as Liverpools Echo Arena hosts the first UFC event ever to be held in the city.

The 25-year-old Merseysider, unbeaten in 17 MMA contests including five in the UFC, is facing an opponent whose own 17-fight record, featuring 12 UFC bouts, shows two losses, both on points, and who is the number one-ranked welterweight contender.

Darren Till, right, fights on home soil for the first time this weekend (PA)

Till, eighth in the rankings, said at Fridays media day: Everyone can get stopped. I believe Im that guy to stop Stephen. I really just believe it. Im going to stop him  for me, theres no other outcome.

I feel like within the first two rounds I am going to stop him. And if it doesnt go like that, well go into deep water and Ill win on five rounds, I know that.

As well as being a first for his home city, Sundays event will be the first in the UK Till has fought at in his pro career, and comes the day after Liverpool, the club he supports, play in the Champions League final against Real Madrid in Kiev.

He added: The best thing about this is that it has never been here before. Its going to be very emotional for me and for the whole of Liverpool.

Two

Days

Until#UFCLiverpool



Here's the tale of the tape for Wonderboy vs. Till  pic.twitter.com/cfRiffOONs  UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) May 25, 2018

I have something special for my walk-out, a nice tune to get the crowd absolutely chanting, and its going to be good to come out and know that everyone in that arena is there for me.

I dont think it gives me any advantage, but it is definitely going to be good to hear all the fans singing. Im a Liverpool fan and I really want them to win, and I know Im going to win.

Its just going to be one of those weekends people will talk about for years to come  and obviously it will go down in the history books.

South Carolina native Thompson, whose two fights before his most recent saw him twice last five rounds against UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in a draw and then a defeat, said on Friday regarding Tills talk of stopping him: I think everybody for some reason underestimates me.

Let him think that. It tells me he is going to come out aggressive. Most of the guys Ive faced in the division have been aggressive fighters and they tend to end up running into things. But wherever the fight goes, Im prepared.

He added: I think its cool, to be the bad guy, coming into Liverpool. And its pretty cool to be on the card at the very first Liverpool UFC in history.

Thompson got a tour of Goodison Park on Thursday, being shown around by another Liverpool fighter, Everton supporter Molly McCann, who will make her UFC debut at Sundays event when she faces Gillian Robertson.

Thompson, who donned a Toffees shirt bearing his nickname Wonderboy during the tour, stressed on Friday that the whole football scene is very new to him, and said that while it was cool to go and see Everton he is definitely rooting for Liverpool this Saturday.
Vladimir Putin has questioned the UKs explanation around the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, saying the use of a military grade agent is not possible as its victims would have died immediately.

Asked by Press Association chief executive Clive Marshall to explain who is responsible for the Skripals poisoning, the Russian president instead cast doubt over Britains own claims and called for an objective investigation.

He said: Im not an expert on those military grade toxic agents, but if such substance is used, then the victims die immediately right on the spot.

Vladimir Putin said Yulia Skripal `looks fine, so thank god everyone is alive, everyone is well (Dylan Martinez/PA)

But this was not the case likely, and Sergei Skripal and his daughter are alive.

They are out of hospital now and as weve seen recently on TV, his daughter looks fine, so thank god everyone is alive, everyone is well.

So to say that a military grade agent was used is not possible and if it is the case then it casts doubt on everything that has been said by the UK from the outset.

Mr Putin was speaking to the heads of international news agencies  including Mr Marshall  on the margins of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The Skripals were admitted to hospital in March after being exposed to the novichok nerve agent in Salisbury.

The British Government has said it is highly likely the Kremlin was behind the attack, an allegation which the Russian government has repeatedly denied.

Soldiers wearing protective clothing following the attack in Salisbury (Andrew Matthews/PA)

It sparked the expulsion of approximately 150 Russian diplomats from nearly 30 countries, with Russia making tit-for-tat moves with expulsions of its own.

Mr Putin said that the most plausible explanation could only be reached as a result of a thorough investigation and a joint investigation.

From the very outset we have suggested that we should work on this investigation together but as youre well aware Britain said no and the UK undertook its own investigation.

The Russian president said the issue should be put to rest unless London was willing to involve Moscow in a fresh probe.

Either we can have a thorough and objective investigation or we should just stop talking about that because they dont add to anything other than an exacerbation of our relationships.
A 13-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with the murder of a schoolgirl in Ireland.

The teenager, who can not be identified, appeared at a special sitting of Dublin District Childrens Court on Friday evening charged over the death of Anastasia Kriegel, 14.

She was found dead in a derelict farmhouse outside the village of Lucan, Co Dublin, last week.

The boy was remanded in custody at Oberstown Childrens Detention Campus after a short court hearing, lasting less than 10 minutes, held shortly before 6.30pm.

His mother, father and grandfather were in the small courtroom for the hearing.

Anastasia Kriegel went missing from her home before being found dead (Garda/PA)

The boy, wearing a black jumper, blue jeans and black shoes, was charged with murdering Anastasia at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, on May 14.

Judge John OConnor said he had no jurisdiction to grant bail.

He reminded the three media representatives in court of reporting restrictions and issued a wider warning to the general public about identifying the defendant on social media.

He said anything identifying the boys name, school, home address or publishing his picture could lead to a prosecution.

The boy will next appear at the same court at 10.30am on June 1.

Anastasia was last seen alive in St Catherines Park on Monday May 14, about one kilometre away from where her body was discovered three days later.

The boy was one of two young people arrested on Thursday.

The other juvenile has been released without charge.
By Taenaz Shakir and Rama Venkat Raman

May 24 (Reuters) - Canada has blocked a Chinese state firm's proposed C$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion) takeover of construction company Aecon Group on national security grounds, underscoring rising wariness of Chinese firms buying up assets in Western countries.

Shares in Aecon, the builder of landmarks including Toronto's CN Tower, slid as much as 18 percent on Thursday.

Ottawa's move comes as Canada is in exploratory trade talks with China as it seeks to diversify its export markets. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended the decision in an interview with Reuters on Thursday, saying: "We don't want trade with China any which way at any cost."

Aecon's takeover by the overseas investment and financing arm of China Communications Construction Co Ltd was scheduled to close in February but was delayed after Canada extended a national security review.

Canada has now ordered the Chinese firm not to implement the proposed investment to protect national security, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said in a statement on Wednesday.

Bains said the government is open to international investment that creates jobs and increases prosperity, but not at the expense of national security.

China's acquisition of Canadian targets have attracted greater scrutiny since China's state-owned oil firm CNOOC bought Nexen Energy for $17.9 billion in 2012. While approving the deal, the then-governing Conservative Party said the CNOOC-Nexen was the last deal of its kind that it would approve, drawing a line in the sand against state-controlled companies taking any further majority stakes in the oil sands.

Last year, Trudeau's Liberals allowed Hong Kong-based O-Net Technologies Group Ltd to buy a Canadian technology company, reversing a 2015 decision by the former Conservative government to block the deal on national security grounds.

China's Foreign Ministry, in response to a question about the Aecon deal, said it hoped Canada could "abandon its prejudices" and provide a level playing field for Chinese enterprises.

"In principle, China always opposes the politicization of this kind of trade and investment activity and we oppose the mistaken method of carrying out political interference on the basis of so-called national security reasons," ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday.

Aecon said it was disappointed with the government's decision and was no longer pursuing a sale process.

"We believe ... uncertainty around the company's future strategic direction, particularly with a CEO search underway, is likely to weigh on share prices substantially," AltaCorp Capital analyst Chris Murray said.

An executive from CCCC's investor relations team in Beijing told Reuters the company had yet to receive relevant documents from the Canadian government.

Chinese interest in overseas assets has worried governments elsewhere such as in Denmark, whose officials have expressed concern over Greenland courting Chinese firms, including CCCC, to expand three airports.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which scrutinizes foreign purchases of U.S. assets to protect national security interests, has also been tightening scrutiny of Chinese companies' acquisitions of American firms.

That has resulted in several deal collapses, included Chinese conglomerate HNA Group's bid for SkyBridge Capital and Ant Financial's plan to buy U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram International.

(Reporting by Taenaz Shakir and Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru, Leah Schnurr in Ottawa and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing, David Ljunggren and Andrea Hopkins in Ottawa; editing by Himani Sarkar and Tom Brown)
WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies and a number of aircraft in a move targeting four Iranian airlines.

The companies targeted were linked to Mahan Air and Meraj Air, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. It also said it was targeting a number of their aircraft, as well as aircraft from Caspian Airlines and Pouya Air.

The United States said the airlines had ferried weapons, fighters and money to proxies in Syria and Lebanon. Washington also threatened sanctions against those granting landing rights and providing services to the aircraft.

"The deceptive practices these airlines employ to illegally obtain services and U.S. goods is yet another example of the duplicitous ways in which the Iranian regime has operated," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The airlines were not immediately available for comment.

Washington also targeted three individuals, one from Turkey and two from Iran, who it said were linked to the airlines and aviation firms.

The sanctions were the latest in the United States' efforts to economically strangle Iran with the hopes of blocking the country's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Earlier this month, the United States withdrew from a 2015 nuclear accord that had lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program, dismaying U.S. allies who want to preserve it.

The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency has said that Iran is compliant with the deal, but U.S. President Donald Trump said the entire accord is flawed because restrictions lapse over time and it does not address Iran's ballistic missile program or Tehran's role in regional conflicts.

On Tuesday, the United States imposed sanctions on five Iranians it said had provided Yemen's Houthi movement with weaponry and expertise to launch missiles at cities and oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Iran's supreme leader has laid out a number of conditions for Tehran to stay in the deal, and senior officials from the countries still in it -- China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia and the United Kingdom -- are meeting in Vienna on Friday to discuss the next steps. (Reporting by Tim Ahmann and Makini Brice; Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)
BEIRUT, May 24 (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Thursday they had arrested a French citizen who headed an Islamic State group in Syria and had been involved in the Paris and Nice attacks in 2015 and 2016.

An SDF statement said the man arrested was Adrien Lionel Kayali and that he was born in 1983 and converted to Islam in 2003. It said Kayali, who also goes by the name of Abu Osama, had been arrested and then released in France in 2010 on suspicion of belonging to terrorist organisations.

French media have reported the captured man's name as French citizen Adrien Guihal, wanted in connection with terrorist activities in France.

SDF media spokesman Mustafa Bali told Reuters Adrien Lionel Kayali and Adrien Guihal were two names for the same man.

French judicial sources told Reuters on Thursday there is an arrest warrant for an Adrien Guihal from 2015, and that he is suspected of having claimed responsibility for attacks in Nice and Magnanville, near Paris, in France in 2016.

The SDF, a alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters led by the Kurdish YPG militia, said it believed Kayali had entered Syria in March 2015 into Islamic State-held territory. The SDF said it captured him in the Raqqa region of northern Syria.

The U.S.-backed SDF control much of the territory east of the Euphrates in Syria's Deir al-Zor province and drove Islamic State militants from their former de facto capital Raqqa in late 2017. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut, Simon Carraud and Sophie Louet in Paris Editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Raya Jalabi

BAGHDAD, May 24 (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that allegations of fraud in national elections held last week will be investigated, according to a statement from his office.

The electoral list of Moqtada al-Sadr, a populist Shi'ite cleric, unexpectedly won the biggest number of seats in the May 12 ballot.

The fraud claims have centred on the city of Kirkuk - although there have been reports of irregularities in multiple provinces - and focused on the tabulation system in electronic voting machines that were used for the first time during the election.

A special committee appointed by the cabinet will investigate the allegations, Abadi's office said.

Some candidates have also expressed concerns about voter intimidation and reports of chaotic distribution of ID cards, which they claim disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of people.

Following several days of complaints - including a call for an investigation by the UN's senior envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis - the country's electoral commission said on Monday it had invalidated ballots from 103 polling stations in five provinces.

The investigatory committee, which will include advisers from the security and intelligence sectors, will have access to all documents pertaining to the electoral process, including from the electoral commission.

The commission could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting by Raya Jalabi; editing by John Stonestreet)
By Julien Pretot

PARIS, May 24 (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal, who is gunning for a record-extending 11th French Open title, has been handed a relatively easy path to the final at Roland Garros when the draw was made on Friday.

The 31-year-old Spaniard, who is the top seed in Paris, will start his campaign against Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov before a possible quarter-final against South African sixth seed Kevin Anderson and a last-four meeting against Marin Cilic or Juan Martin Del Potro.

"The last couple of weeks have been good. Of course having the success gives me more confidence and I'm always motivated here to play as well as possible," said Nadal, who won claycourt titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome this season.

Novak Djokovic, the 2016 champion, will start his tournament against a qualifier but he has been drawn in the same half as in-form youngsters Dominic Thiem of Austria and Alexander Zverev of Germany.

Second seed Zverev and Thiem could face each other in the quarter-finals.

In the women's draw, third-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who lifted the Suzanne Lenglen Cup in 2016, faces another former champion in Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in a mouthwatering first round clash.

Defending champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia takes on Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova before a likely second-round meeting with Victoria Azarenka.

"I arrived yesterday and went training and I thought oh, it's good to be back," said the fifth-seeded Ostapenko.

Serena Williams, who dropped down the rankings after her pregnancy and is therefore unseeded, could face another former world number one, Maria Sharapova, in the fourth round.

Russian Sharapova missed last year's tournament after being denied an invitation from organisers having returned from a doping ban. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 24 (Reuters) - The chief executive of French oil and gas major Total on Thursday said he held little hope of receiving a waiver from the United States to keep investing in a huge Iranian gas project.

"In Iran we need a waiver from the United States. You heard Mr Pompeo just as I did. Do you really think he's going to hand out waivers," Patrick Pouyanne told reporters in the Russian city of St Petersburg, referring to the threat by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to impose the "the strongest sanctions in history" against Iran.

Total said on May 16 that it would pull out of the multi-billion dollar South Pars project if it did not receive a waiver.. Total said any waiver would need to include protection from secondary sanctions that Washington might impose on companies that continue to do business with Iran. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Writing by Richard Lough Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
By Ayai Tomisawa

TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks were slightly higher on Friday, supported by defence-related companies after U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a summit with North Korea, although the return of geopolitical tensions kept wider investor sentiment subdued.

The Nikkei share average gained 0.2 percent to 22,482.31 in light midmorning trade after dipping into negative territory earlier. For the week, the index has fallen 2.2 percent so far and is poised to post the first weekly decline in nine weeks.

The broader Topix dropped 0.1 percent.

Defence equipment maker Ishikawa Seisakusho surged 6.3 percent, Howa Machinery jumped 6.4 percent, while health protection device maker Shigematsu Works soared 2.8 percent.

"Investors see exporter shares are difficult to invest in now due to a strong yen, so they are shifting their money to defence-related stocks for now," said Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.

"Investors' risk stance came back earlier this week as trade war worries seemed to ease, but the relief was short-lived and investors seem risk averse again."

Trump, in a letter to North Korea released by the White House, called off the June 12 summit, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement by Pyongyang. The cancellation came even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site.

Automakers continued to slide on worries about new U.S. tariffs.

Toyota Motor Corp dropped 1.0 percent and Subaru Corp declined 0.7 percent.

Defensive shares such as railway and food stocks, which are less affected to global risks, found support. East Japan Railway rose 1.0 percent, while Ajinomoto Co advanced 0.7 percent. (Editing by Sam Holmes)
SOFIA, May 25 (Reuters) - The se are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev honoured the legacy of St. Cyril, one of the authors of Cyrillic script, at his tomb at Basilica di San Clemente in Rome. (Standart, Monitor, 24 Chasa, Trud)

SEGA - Bulgarian defence ministry will seek offers for new and second-hand jet fighters from the United States, Portugal, Israel, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden.
BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the United States and North Korea should show patience and meet each other halfway, after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for next month.

Ministry spokesman Lu Kang made the comment at a daily news briefing, while noting that Trump had said he remained willing to meet with Kim in future. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Chinese Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan said the allegations about Chinese militarization in Sri Lanka were made by some people with ulterior motives, and otherwise, there was no element of truth in them.

During an interactive session after a symposium at the embassy, he said the Hambantota Port would be developed through a joint venture between the Chinese and Sri Lankan sides, and therefore it was not an exclusive Chinese affair.

The Ambassador said all the matters related to the sovereignty and national security would be solely handled by Sri Lanka.

Referring to the Hambantota International Port Group, he said it was a joint venture in which the Chinese side had 70 per cent of equity and Sri Lanka the remaining percentage.

For the development of the Hambantota Industrial Park integrated with the port, he said it would have high end industries.

It would be the power of economic engine of Sri Lanka, he said.

He said, Though the two countries are far apart geographically, the history of friendly exchanges between the two states last for more than a thousand years. About 1600 years ago, Master Fa Xian studied Buddhism in Sri Lanka and returned to China via the maritime Silk Road, to proclaim Dharma, peace and friendship. About 600 years ago, the Zheng He Fleet visited Sri Lanka five times and brought the bilateral economic and cultural exchanges to a new height, he said.

He said as of the end of 2017, Chinese companies had completed more than US$15 billion infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka such as transportation, water, electricity, ports and other fields, and made great contributions to the economic and social development of this country. (Kelum Bandara)
A grateful gathering paid their last respects to Mrs Evelyn Abeywickrama Udawatte at Kanatte on 16th April 2018. She was a vibrantly pretty elegant lady and an outstanding personality resident in Bullers Lane for very many decades.



She was the second daughter of the legendary late Hon Simon Abeywickrama who was a Member of the Legislative Council, State Council and the first Parliament as Parliamentary Secretary of colonial Ceylon and the Chairman of the Dehiwela - Mt Lavinia Urban Development Council in the 1940s simultaneously, having won the Council election admirably in the constituency as well . His record majority victories in the Baddegama electorate was also outstanding in the 1930s and40s. Evelyn portrayed her legendary fathers leadership command and qualities.



She lost her illustrious father when he was just 49 years of age and she was in her late teens. She married genial Don Robert Udawatte a well endowed proprietory planter and a very hospitable gentleman, who died when he was quite young. Evelyn managed the estates, domestic and family matters with distinction. Her son Hiranya in USA and family, daughter Gayani who were very near and dear to her could be justifiably proud of their ancestry, their father and their mother who lived to be 91 years. Her sister was late Mrs Manel Hettiarachchi and her brothers were late Hamilton, Felix, Rajah and SD. Her younger sister Astrid is now their only surviving family member.

She lost her illustrious father when he was just 49 years of age and she was in her late teens.

She married genial Don Robert Udawatte a well endowed proprietory planter and a very hospitable gentleman, who died when he was quite young.

Evelyn managed the estates, domestic and family matters with distinction. ...



Evelyn was very helpful and generous to the poor, her fathers constituents, friends and relatives especially in need, With her late fathers respect and acceptability enshrined, she held the great political divide of Sri Lanka with equal ease and distinction, strengthening her family friendships with them built solidly from her childhood. She was a social elite, outspoken and quite at home for many decades on equal par with the political leaders of the country, as most of them were her fathers parliamentary contemporaries or dear family friends thereafter. Though she did not need their patronage personally, I am well aware that she was able to help many in need, who could otherwise never have come close to the powers that be, for justified priority assistance.



It is futile to elaborate on quality vintage Champagne as their bouquets are self-explanatory. Evelyn lived a life generously helping all those who came to her for assistance and need. She will be long remembered with undying love, thanks, affection and heartfelt gratitude, in prayers and beyond, by so many who benefited immensely from her unfailing assistance. She touched hearts genuinely.



Many will miss her benevolence, presence in the hour of need and generosity without any prejudice to all walks of life - May she attain Nibbana.

Priyadarshi
Hilton Colombo has taken part in Careers@Hilton Week, Hiltons annual global career event showcasing the many opportunities available in the hospitality industry for young job seekers. During the week of May 14, Hilton hotels and corporate offices around the globe hosted hundreds of events to inform young people about the exciting and diverse career opportunities in the hospitality industry.

This initiative is a part of Hiltons Open Doors commitment, which aims to positively impact at least one million young people by 2019 by connecting them to opportunities in the hospitality industry, preparing them to reach their full potential or directly employing them. Hilton is on track to reach this target, with nearly 800,000 young people impacted through global partnerships, talent pipeline and local activations to date.

During the week of May 14, the Hilton Colombo visited 15 Schools, reaching out to 3700 youth in the districts of Colombo and Gampaha, connecting and creating awareness about the hospitality industry.

Manesh Fernando, General Manager said Our aim is to create awareness about the hospitality industry amongst the youth of our country and encourage them to pursue a career in this field once they leave school. I am extremely happy that we were able to meet and interact with 3700 plus students during the past week and we will continue with this program in the weeks ahead.



Achala Soyza, Director Human Resources added, After successfully conducting the Youth Forum for four consecutive years in the past, bringing in approx. 350 youth each year to the hotel, Reaching out was our approach for Careers@hilton 2018. In commemoration of 30 years of excellence in hospitality in Sri Lanka, Hilton Colombo is committed to reach out to a minimum of 3000 youth during this program, contributing towards the Hilton's Open Doors Commitment to impact 1 million youth by 2019. Youth is the future of our industry and therefore we are committed and passionate to reach out, connect and prepare the next generation to follow this exciting industry.

Careers@Hilton Week events are a unique opportunity for Hilton to inspire job seekers about careers in the hospitality industry, and to support them by providing guidance on the skills that are vital to succeed in the workplace and beyond. Participants join Hilton for events ranging from resume clinics to networking, as well as presentations from current employees about their career paths in hospitality.

For more information about Hiltons Youth commitments, please visit http://newsroom.hilton.com/index.cfm/misc/youth For information on job opportunities with Hilton, visit http://jobs.hiltonworldwide.com/.
Anger has become a very common problem in the modern world giving rise to various undesirable consequences. Anger is an emotion. The Oxford Dictionary defines anger as a strong feeling of annoyance. Anger gives rise to psychological and biochemical changes within you. This weeks edition of Health Capsule got Dr. Kosala Amaranayake, MBBS, MD (Psych), who is a Lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the Teaching Hospital, Peradeniya to speak about anger.



Anger can be present without a detectable psychiatric illness. However it can be a symptom of a psychiatric illness as well. Anger gives rise to many complications. These complications are physical as well as psychological. Scientists have found that when you are angry there is a set of chemicals produced within the body system that can affect your health badly. Cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin are among them. These chemicals give rise to changes in the biochemical functions of the body, eventually giving rise to changes in your body and mind. Hypertension is common among people who get angry easily, which is one of the physical complications of this condition.



The ability to think ahead plus attention and concentration are lost when you are angry. You tend to have tunnel thinking, meaning that you are unable to consider various aspects of a problem when you take a particular decision. As a result you tend to take very poor decisions.



Domestic violence is one of the main problems of poor anger control. Misunderstandings and mistakes are common in married life. However a person who is having poor anger control does not handle his or her problems well. This gives rise to psychological problems in the person who is being abused. Depression is common among them. There are instances when domestic violence gives rise to death of the partner. Other problems related to poor anger control are road rage and road accidents. Many lives could be saved if anger is controlled.



Psychiatric illnesses

Depression is among the commonest that give rise to poor anger control. Irritability is considered as one of the commonest symptoms of depression. Particularly in children irritability and poor anger control are common symptoms. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an unrecognized cause of poor anger control. Patients with OCD are obsessed with symmetry and orderliness and whenever things are not in order they become irritable and angry. Other psychiatric illnesses like anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders and even sexual disorders can give rise to poor anger control. In the latest classifications of psychiatric diseases there is a separate entity called impulse control disorders where poor anger control is a predominant symptom without symptoms of other psychiatric illnesses. Substance use disorders are also common among psychiatric illnesses giving rise to poor anger control. Some drugs in their intoxication (when you consume the drug) gives rise to poor anger control. In some when they are withdrawing (not taking the drug) from the drugs, they experience poor anger control. People who have particular personalities are more vulnerable to poor anger control. They are anti-social personality, borderline personality and anankastic personality(obsessional personality). The personality disorder is also an unrecognized cause of poor anger control. A patient with a borderline personality disorder is impulsive and wants to release his or her emotions in a low level of threshold. Further they release their emotions without the concern of the future consequences. Borderline personality disorders are commoner among females compared to males.



What you should do

As discussed early, poor anger control can give rise to various undesirable consequences, if unaddressed. It is important to detect and address it early. Hence it is always better to obtain the opinion of a psychiatrist if you have poor anger control. First it is important to exclude any treatable psychiatric illnesses, which gives rise to poor anger control. If any psychiatric illness is identified it should be treated accordingly. Commencement of antidepressants for a depressive disorder, anti psychotic for a psychotic disorder and treating substance dependence are examples of treating a psychiatric illness. Psychotherapies (commonly known as talking therapy) are also being used in treating these psychiatric illnesses. If there is no treatable psychiatric illness identified, anger management strategies will be applicable.



Vital tips

It is important first to acknowledge that you have a problem with anger control and recognise your anger signs. When you identify that you have a problem with managing anger, maintain a log of situations of poor anger control, which gives an insight into situations, precipitating factors and consequences of your anger. When you are about to show anger you will feel the physical symptoms. When anger is present the heart beats faster and you breathe quickly. You might also notice other signs, such as tension in your shoulders or the clenching of your fists. These are signs of loosing control. If you notice these signs get out of the situation so that you can prevent disastrous consequences. If you take time and calm yourself down it will take away the complications of anger. Counting to 10 gives you time to cool down. This helps you think clearly and overcome the impulse to lash out. Breathing exercises have proved helpful in controlling anger. However it is important that you practice beforehand what you would apply when you are angry. Breath in the maximum you can and breathe out one third of it and keep the rest until you find you are uneasy. Exhale the rest on two occasions. This practice also gives rise to a physical reaction around your lungs as well as giving a psychological rest to your mind. Bringing down your general stress also helps anger control. Looking after yourself, having a timetable for your life and planning ahead will reduce your general stress level. Create time to relax regularly and ensure that you get enough sleep. There is a misconception among the general public that drugs and alcohol can reduce your stress levels. However drugs and alcohol can worsen anger problems. Therefore it is important to refrain from drugs and alcohol especially when you have anger control issues. Also bring down your general stress levels with exercise and relaxation with activities like running, walking, swimming, yoga and meditation. At the same time creative activities like writing, making music, dancing or painting can release tension and reduce feelings of anger. Moreover it is important to have a supporting network, thus discussing your feelings with a friend can be useful and can help you get a different perspective of the situation. Miscommunication contributes to frustrating situations. The better your listening skills, the easier it is to find a resolution that does not involve an angry response. Assertiveness is also important during anger control. When you are assertive you focus on balance and you are honest about what you want and respect the needs of others.



Anger is common. There are many reasons behind anger and it can give rise to disastrous consequences. It is important to identify your anger, control it and seek help of an expert.
Pyongyang on Friday said it was still willing to speak with the United States at any time, after President Donald Trumps sudden decision to cancel a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.



Trumps decision does not meet the worlds desire, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.



He said that the talks, which Trump said he had cancelled Thursday due to North Koreas hostility, were urgently needed to resolve grave hostile relations.



We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the US and resolve issues anytime and in any format, he said in the statement.



Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the US.

Following Pyongyangs statement, South Koreas Unification Minister Cho Myoung Gyon said Seoul was still ready to implement the agreement on denuclearization reached between the leaders of the two Koreas last month.



Our government will do its part in carrying out the Panmunjom Declaration, Cho told reporters, according to the news agency Yonhap.



He was referring to the declaration issued by Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae In following their April 27 meeting at the border between the two countries.



It appears that [the North] remains sincere in implementing the agreement and making efforts on denuclearization and peace building, he continued.



In Japan meanwhile, Foreign Minister Taro Kono said he understood Trumps decision, saying it was meaningless to hold a summit without achievement.



We will continue to cooperate with the United States to hold fruitful talks in order to resolve the denuclearization of North Korea and the issues of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang, the minister said.

DPA, 25th MAY, 2018
Ending wild speculation, Finance and Mass Media Ministry yesterday announced the appointment of senior professional Ranel T. Wijesinha as the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulator of the Colombo Stock Exchange.



Along with Wijesinha, Finance and Mass Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera has appointed five other Commissioners to the SEC board. They are: Chandrakumar Ramachandra, Jayantha Fernando, Arjuna Herath, Rajeev Amarasuriya and Manjula de Silva.



There will also be three ex-officio members representing the Finance Ministry, the Central Bank and the Sri Lanka Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The appointments were made with effect from yesterday.



The SEC functioned without a chairman and a commission since January 25 with the ending of the term of the Commission led by Thilak Karunaratne.



Both Wijesinha and Amarasuriya served as Commissioners in the previous SEC Commission headed by Thilak Karunaratne.
Minister Gamage with officers of the Ministry of Primary Industries of Sri Lanka and New Zealand

The Primary Industries Ministry has already started numerous projects under the agriculture sector, specially value-added and export-oriented programmes, to achieve the countrys national objectives.

Workshops are being currently conducted by experts from New Zealand to enhance the dairy and horticulture sectors.



The country is to benefit by various programmes that will be implemented in the next couple of months that include the new technological approaches to improve the postharvest practices, data technology, monitoring and evaluation system for the dairy sector, setting up PPPs, investment preparation training etc. The New Zealand government will facilitate the above programmes which will be implemented by the Ministry of Welfare and Primary Industries.



Social Welfare and Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage pointed out that low productivity and less quality of feeding materials are the key areas that need to be improved to enhance the dairy sector in Sri Lanka. Moreover, upgrading the sector with high-tech information management systems also needs to be done in a systematic manner.

He further said that New Zealand currently has 1.64 million hectares under the dairy sector and 4.5 million dairy cows are available for milking. The annual production volume exceeds 17 billion liters and New Zealand exports 96 percent of milk to 140 countries in the world.



Since New Zealand possesses more than 100 years of experience, it is an excellent opportunity for the country to work with the New Zealand government, and there is a high potential for Sri Lanka to become self-sufficient in the near future.



The Ministry of Welfare & Primary Industries has initiated a few projects for the development of dairy sector in the country, introducing the high-nutrition feeding programmes to enhance the productivity of the dairy industry, setting up new tissue culture laboratories to increase the upstream production of the horticulture sector, value-addition for the fruits, vegetable and herbs sectors. These projects are being implemented through the Project Management Unit of the Agriculture Sector Modernization Project of the Primary Industries Ministry, Minister Gamage added.



Further, the spice sector will be the first export crop that targets to earn export revenue of US$ 1.5 billion by 2025.
There has been no title deed for the land where the Sri Lankan Parliament is located since its construction in 1982, it was revealed yesterday.

This was revealed when government MP Buddhika Pathirana questioned about it showing an invitation the members of Parliament had received to a ceremony where a title deed would be handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya by Minister of Lands and Chief Government Whip Gayantha Karunatilleke. This ceremony is to be held on June 5.

This parliamentary complex was constructed in 1982 and we would like to know whether there was no deed for it for the last 36 years, Mr. Pathirana said.

Speaker Jayasuriya who responded said he would explain about it to the members later.

According to Secretary General Dhammika Dassanayake who responded to the journalists who inquired from him on the situation, the ownership of the land had been given to Parliament of Sri Lanka by a Thamba Sannaspathra (credential) engraved on copper plates by late President J. R. Jayewardene to then Speaker M Bakeer Markar on April 1982.

The extent of the land has been 12 acres, one rood and 32 perches at that time. However according to the new title deed the extent of the land will be increased as the ownership of a few other lands and buildings adjoining the premises will be given to Parliament. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)
UK, (Daily Mail), 24 May 2018 - Parliament is to debate sweeping reforms of the House of Lords next month amid rising concern that peers have overstepped the mark in their opposition to Brexit. MPs will hold the debate after a petition calling for the abolition of the Upper Chamber attracted more than 166,000 signatures.



Calls for reform intensified yesterday after the Daily Mail published polling showing 76 percent of voters believed peers were out of tune with the will of the British people. Five in six voters said they wanted to see the Lords reformed. In response, Downing Street last night warned the Lords it would not accept attempts by peers to thwart Brexit. The Prime Ministers spokesman said that some of the 15 Lords amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill had been unacceptable. He added: The Government is delivering on the decision made by the country in the referendum to leave the EU and will not accept attempts to stop this.



Labour leader Corbyn went further, pledging to replace the Lords with an elected second chamber.
Journalists who are bent on bringing the Rajapaksa regime back to power do not realize that they are willingly putting a noose around their own necks, said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday at UNP Headquarters in Sirikotha.

Speaking further he said that a number of journalists who are propagating the Rajapaksa mantra would go missing if and when that regime is brought to power.

He made these remarks at a function to greet Minister Navin Dissanayake as the new National Organizer of the UNP.

Mr. Wickremesinghe elaborated further saying One thing is certain that those journalists who appear on behalf of the regime would disappear in the event they come to power. That is the system they employ to control the media.

Therefore, I need not remind you once again that you are only putting a noose around your own necks by supporting them, he said.

He also ventured to speculate that what he said would not be reported in any of the local dailies while the electronic media would also not give it prominence. "It is not an issue. Our members should keep what I said in mind," the PM said.

They are bent on establishing a regime once again. Let's call it Rajapaksa Regime 2. Do you want democracy to prevail or do you wish to welcome "Rajapaksa Regime 2"?. You have to decide which you prefer. (Anjula Mahika Weerarathne)
The ones that love us never really leave us. They can always be found in our hearts



A fact of life we often tend to forget when growing up, is that people we love are also growing older.



The sad reality of this dawned on me on the 2nd of May 2018, when at the age of 79, my grandmother - Professor Chandra Jayasuriya, passed away.

My grandmother was a constant presence in my life from my formative years, and try as I may, this is but a vain attempt to do justice in a few words for what she meant to me.



A product of Southlands College, Galle and Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, Aachchi was both hardworking and smart, an ideal recipe for success.



She obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Peradeniya and went on to do her Post Graduate Studies in Statistics at the University of South Carolina, USA. After returning to the island, she initially lectured at the University of Peradeniya, before moving to the Faculty of Education, University of Colombo.

She lectured there for over 30 years, rising to the level of a Professor and later being appointed the Dean of the Faculty. She was a knowledgeable teacher and an inspiration to her students. Aachchi had a keenness for acquiring knowledge, a quality she inculcated in her two daughters whom she brought up to be educated women. Apart from her career, Aachchis interests were varied. She was a voracious reader, even going on to pen a few books of her own.



She also loved to sew, and I have many fond memories of her painstakingly adjusting my clothes so they would fit the way I wanted. Being the versatile person she was, she also prepared delicious meals for us on a regular basis.

Her immense love for me was evident, in what she did for me. Be it buying me gifts for no apparent reason, never forgetting to send me a birthday card or once keeping vigil by my hospital bed when I was sick.



Aachchi, as the eldest in a large family was the respected matriarch, a role she thrived in, offering words of advice or support in any way she could, when needed. She was a compassionate person, and her magnanimity often extended to the less-fortunate. The door of Aachchis home was literally open to her many friends and relations to walk in and have a quiet chat whilst enjoying her hospitality. She was forthright in what she said and did, yet never caused offense. She was a doting grandmother to both me and my cousin brother, forever looking out for us, understanding, supportive of our dreams and encouraging us to work hard. She would not only celebrate our achievements but also spur us on when we fell short.



Her immense love for me was evident, in what she did for me. Be it buying me gifts for no apparent reason, never forgetting to send me a birthday card or once keeping vigil by my hospital bed when I was sick.



She was in many ways, the heart and soul of our family, and were all a great deal poorer without her. I feel blessed to have had so many opportunities to talk to Aachchi in the last few months, but there are still things I wish Id had the chance to say. She was one of my biggest role models and I hope that I grow up to be a woman half as successful and kind as she was.



We love you Aachchi. You will forever be missed.



Marlene de Silva
The issue of former Defence Attache Brigadier Priyankara Fernando was raised by MP Hywel Williams in the British Parliament on Wednesday.

The MP asked Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field what discussions he has had with Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister since the return of the Defence Attache of Sri Lankan High Commission in London.

State Minister Field said he met Minister Tilak Marapana on April 18 on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Summit and raised the Defence Attache incident with him.

The former Defence Attache's posting to London was formally ended by the Government of Sri Lanka on April 15. No successor has yet been appointed, he said.

Brigadier Fernando was the Defence Attache of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. He was summoned to Sri Lanka over the incident where he showed a throat-cut gesture towards a group of protesting LTTE supporters in London.
REUTERS: Sri Lankas tea output fell 15.3 percent in April from a year earlier, the state-run Tea Board said yesterday, with industry officials attributing the decline to a high base effect and more public holidays this year.



Production in the first four months of the year, however, rose 2.4 percent from the same period last year.



Production was sharply lower than last years exceptional figure and also the unusual occurrence of holidays in the same month which limited output of smallholders and the working days of tea factories, Anil Cooke, head of Asia Siyaka Commodities, said.



Cooke also said that heavy rains have affected production this month, whereas in April last year output was boosted by rains following a drought.



Localized flooding has limited the movement of leaf collecting trucks. Poor worker turnout has also restricted productivity in factories that have been already hindered by continual power outages.



The harvesting of green leaf by smallholders has also declined, he said.



Heavy monsoon rains have killed 12 people, prompting authorities to warn against landslides and floods in low-lying areas after spill gates had to be opened across the Indian Ocean island. Sri Lanka exported 20.8 million kilos of tea in April, up 4 percent from a year earlier. January-April exports rose 1.4 percent from a year ago to 89.7 million kilos, Asia Siyaka commodities said in its weekly tea update.



Tea is Sri Lankas top agricultural export and one of the main foreign currency earners for the US$87 billion economy.

Earnings from tea for the first four months totalled US$ 478 million, up from US$ 458.2 million dollars last year.



Sri Lankas tea output rose 5 percent to 307.1 million kg last year, recovering from a seven-year low of 292.6 million kg hit in 2016.



Industry officials expect production to reach 320 million kg in 2018 if the weather holds, but a ban on cost-effective weedkillers, disruption to regular agricultural practices and the high cost of fertilisers could affect the outlook for production.



Tea production in 2017 was affected by severe drought followed by flooding, the poor application of fertilisers, a government ban on pesticides and restricted labour.
Seismic surveys to be conducted off East coast, Mannar Basin

Agreement to be entered into on May 30

Schlumberger subsidiary to bear full cost

By Nishel Fernando

Sri Lanka will sign an agreement with the Eastern Echo Holdings Plc, a fully-owned subsidiary of the worlds largest US-based oilfield services company, Schlumberger, on May 30, to conduct seismic surveys off the countrys East coast and Mannar Basin to evaluate hydrocarbon prospects.



We will provide them (Eastern Echo Holdings Plc) with access to conduct seismic surveys on multi-client basis in the Lanka Basin (JS-5 and JS-6 blocks) as well as Mannar Basin, Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) Director General Vajira Dassanayake told Mirror Business.



The Eastern Echo Holdings Plc is expected to finance the cost of the seismic surveys through pre-funding agreements and selling the findings to operators such as Shell or Total as the Sri Lankan government will not bear the cost.



The agreement will allow the Eastern Echo Holdings Plc to market and sell data within a particular period.



According to PRDS, the French multinational integrated oil and gas company, Total has already given their pre-commitment to acquire data in JS5 and JS6 blocks.

The Eastern Echo Holdings has to provide a copy of data to us also, so that our database will be enhanced and we will gain more knowledge on our offshore petroleum potential, Dassanayake said. He noted that the cost of seismic surveys to encrypt seismic data in unexplored areas of Sri Lanka is estimated above US$50 million.



After completing the seismic survey in the east, they have the option of conducting seismic surveys in the Mannar Basin (M1 to M8 blocks).They will commence the survey by this July and its expected to conclude at the end of the year, if they are going to include the West coast as well, he said.

PRDS stressed that the agreement will also benefit the local scientific community and universities as they will get an opportunity to get involved in moderating data and acquisition of data as the local technical evaluation is expected to be carried out in collaboration with local universities.



Meanwhile, Dassanayake also revealed that the government will sign a tripartite agreement with Total and with another operator renewing the existing agreement with Total, which was signed in 2016.



We are planning to enhance the agreement with Total next month with an additional operator, so there will be more resources for the exploration he said.

Noting that the new agreement is likely to be signed next month, he said PRDS is currently waiting for the confirmation of the new operator to sign the enhanced agreement.



Total had signed a two-year agreement with PRDS to survey around 50,000 sq km off the East coast from air with an estimated cost of US$25 million to acquire data on unexplored areas.



Dassanayake stated that the interested operators will have to conduct more sophisticated seismic surveys such as 3D seismic and drilling programmes based on acquired data from Schlumbergers seismic survey prior to extracting any hydrocarbons.

Calling of tenders for M2 block in Mannar Basin next month



Sri Lanka is to call international tenders next month for a 2,924 square kilometre offshore M2 block in the Mannar Basin to develop the two gas discoveries and for further explorations, Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS), Director General (DG), Vajira Dassanayake told Mirror Business.

Following the approval of the Cabinet-appointed Procurement Committee, PRDS is set to call for tenders.

Dassanayake noted that the investment required for natural gas extraction will be between US$ 700 million to US$ 1.5 billion.



According to available data, there are about 850 billion cubic feet of gas reserves in the M2 block.



The exploration programme led by Indias Cairn in 2011 made two natural gas discoveries named Dorado and Barracuda in the M2 block.



Dassanaake also acknowledged that PRDS has received several unsolicited proposals from potential operators. However, he said the government wants the operators to come through the bidding process.



He, however, noted that finding credible investors remains a challenge.



Its very challenging to find investors as the discoveries are in deep water, which drives up the cost of extraction. Moreover, we are also competing with the Middle East that has on-shore reserves, and the current market conditions also have made investors hesitant.



Dassanayake estimated that if the bidding process is successful, the first natural gas extraction could be witnessed between the 2020-2023 periods. PRDS also expects to power proposed LNG plants with locally-produced natural gas by 2023.



Meanwhile, Dassanayake revealed that the government is also currently evaluating the proposals received by a new operator on two blocks in the Mannar Basin and Cauvery Basin.



However, he noted that new seismic studies and a drilling programme have to be carried out as the available data is outdated to determine the hydrocarbon prospects in these blocks.



In addition, Singapore-based Bona Vista Energy, that won the bid for two blocks in the Cauvery Basin, which is in offshore shallow water, is currently looking for a new financial partner after the existing financial partner in the consortium had pulled out.



Dassanayake said that once the Bona Vista Energy finds a new partner, they will put forward a new proposal which will be evaluated by the government.
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Aviagen: Ross 400 clubs see growth, success in Balkan region



Aviagen Kft has expressed satisfaction with its customers in Serbia and Slovenia, the company stated in its press release.



"Due to their expert and diligent flock management, they are maximising the genetic potential of Ross broilers, and as a result, membership in the Ross 400 club is rising," Aviagen said.



Since the beginning of the Kft Ross 400 Club in the region in 2013, the number of new members has more than quadrupled, with 2017 seeing 22 club inductees and one more added in 2018.



Complementing the upswing in membership are "outstanding" European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF) scores, a standard measure of efficiency and performance.



As a case in point, customers Agromerkur (Slovenia) and HranaProdukt (Serbia) have reached EPEF levels of 450 and beyond, setting a record for broiler production in the region.



Part of EPEF scoring considers feed conversion, or the rate at which feed is converted to live weight. The winning customers achieved average rates of 1.5 to 1.6 of feed per kilogramme of broiler weight.



Accomplishing these results requires hard work, skillful management and close attention to detail in areas such as biosecurity, nutrition and environmental management, which contribute greatly to bird health and welfare, according to Aviagen.



"In the past years, we have realised noticeable improvement in the genetic potential of our Ross broilers, which subsequently shows up in field performance," said Dejan Bosanac, Aviagen Kft's technical service manager.



"This year-by-year improvement is especially visible in our recurring Ross 400 Club members such as Agromerkur and HranaProdukt. Some of the results are truly amazing, ranking with the high levels we are seeing worldwide."

"With Aviagen's continuous focus on improving the genetic potential of Ross birds, as well as our company's focus on improving efficiency and productivity on broiler farms, we were able to achieve these excellent results on our broiler farm in the village of Kovacevac, Serbia," said Milan Mitric, poultry specialist from HranaProdukt.

"Good production results are the basis of good financial results," Jurij Bertalanic, primary production manager of Agromerkur, said.

"We have achieved excellent results in broiler production during the past few years. In 2013, for the first time ever, we reached an EPEF score of over 400, and from then on, have added new members to the Ross 400 Club year on year. We're seeing equally strong success on the breeder side, with a 10% improvement over the past three years, thanks to careful flock management and expert advice from Dejan and the Aviagen team. We look forward to continued improvement and success with our Ross birds."


By News 9 , May 24 , 2018





OKLAHOMA CITY - A mother and daughter were shot Thursday night at a popular restaurant on Lake Hefner in northwest Oklahoma City, police said.

The shooting occurred at Louies Grill & Bar at 9401 Lake Hefner Parkway around 6:30 p.m.





According to Captain Bo Mathews with the Oklahoma City Police Department, the suspect described as an 18 to 20-year-old white male entered the restaurant and opened fire.

Read More:



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Dear @IlhanMN,



I hear you plan to go on a fact-finding tour of Israel. In fact, Israel is doing pretty well. Its, Somalia, your native country, that could truly use your formidable skills. Maybe you could use your frequent flyer miles and swing by.
Terror-supporter OSCE comes to Turkey for observing elections

Democratic Institutions and Human Rights observers from OSCE are coming Turkey to follow the electoral process for the upcoming elections on June 24.

Known with its pro-terror statements, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has send longterm observers to Turkey. Along with 12 experts based in Ankara, 22 long-term observers will be deployed throughout the country, OSCE Ambassador Audrey Glover told reporters in Ankara on Thursday.

She said that some 350 short-term observers and members from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the OSCE will also join the team.

"WE WILL NOT INTERFERE"

Our role is to observe the election process and report, not to interfere. We are absolutely neutral in our approach. Our role is to provide technical assessment of the process. Then it is the role of the society, political parties and the government to decide how to use these recommendations. We are totally impartial and we will let the facts speak for themselves Glover stated.

The ambassador also said they are not interested in the outcome of the elections, but rather in ensuring that the process is transparent and conducted in line with OSCE commitments such as equality, fairness, impartially and secrecy.

350 OBSERVERS WILL JOIN THE TEAM

350 short-term observers and members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will also join the team immediately before election day. On the day after the elections, the mission will issue a statement on preliminary findings and conclusions at a press conference.

OSCE, for the constitution referendum held in last year, had claimed that the referendum was made in unequal circumstances. The institution is also known with is PKK-supported expressions.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are celebrating four years of marriage the KKW Beauty founder marks their special day.

Waiting On Forever

In honor of four years of their wedded bliss, the mother of three shared a never-before-seen photo from their awe-inspiring wedding, which took place back in 2014 in Florence, Italy. Kardashian West walked down the aisle in a stunning gown by Givenchy, the same famous designer who created Meghan Markle's royal wedding dress.

She took to Instagram to gush over her hubby and their wonderful life together and shared that she can't wait to spend forever with her man. The reality star also posted a tribute on her app to mark the occasion.

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on May 24, 2018 at 6:11am PDT

West, meanwhile, tweeted about how happy and grateful he is to have Kardashian West as his wife and partner.

A Difficult Time

The happy moment comes in the middle of some ongoing drama for the famous couple who has three children together, namely daughters North, 4, and Chicago, born in January, and son Saint, 2.

Just a couple months back, rapper and fashion designer West was dominating headlines thanks to his ill-advised Twitter rants about his love for U.S. President Trump.

A number of explosive interviews seemed to suggest West was suffering from some kind of mental health issue, particularly when he revealed an opioid addiction following a secret liposuction surgery back in 2016.

Standing By Her Man

According to PEOPLE, sources close to the couple have claimed that 37-year-old Kardashian West is doing her best to be supportive of her husband, even when he acts erratically.

Another source claimed the reason the KKW Beauty founder finds it easier to stand by her man in his more difficult moments and that's because they have a family together.

"She's very forgiving towards him, especially since he is the father of her children," the source revealed.

In a recent TV appearance, the Keeping up with the Kardashians star joked that her hubby's outbursts have aged her a few years, leading her to get her very first grey hair.

For the meantime, though, the self-confessed genius is focusing on his music, which should keep him out of trouble. He escaped Hollywood to hole himself up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming to work on finishing his upcoming records.

Kardashian West has been traveling back and forth to spend some time with him. However, he was expected to come back into town for their anniversary.
Boba Fett is the next Star Wars character to get a spinoff movie. Lucasfilm is bringing the fan favorite's story to the big screen.

Stepping Into The Spotlight

The company is currently working on producing several movies within the expanded universe, including one focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi. That film is rumored to be directed by Stephen Daldry, but no confirmation on same is forthcoming as of yet.

Bounty hunter Fett is the first in what's expected to be a whole slew of spinoff stories. Logan director James Mangold is on board to write and direct the standalone movie.

The announcement comes as Disney and the now-Disney-owned Lucasfilm prepare for the hugely-anticipated release of Solo: A Star Wars Story this weekend. The movie, directed by Ron Howard, focuses on another fan favorite character, Han Solo.

It's the second spin-off movie, following Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which focused on stealing the plans for the Death Star, but the first to center on a particular character.

Assembling The Right Team

Previously, there were rumors that X-Men and The Martian writer-producer Simon Kinberg was working on a Boba Fett movie.

It now seems as though he and Mangold will be co-writing the script together, with Kinberg also producing.

The two are close, having worked on Logan together, itself an X-Men spinoff that was hugely popular upon its release last year. It even earned Mangold an Oscar nod for his screenplay.

An Esteemed Legacy

Fan favorite Boba Fett first appeared in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, which fans consider as one of the best Star Wars movies. Jeremy Bulloch originally portrayed the character.

He also appeared in hit sequel Return of the Jedi, as the mercenary who brings Solo to Jabba the Hutt. Although a helmet covers his face and he spends very little time onscreen, as well as dying pretty quickly, Fett soon gained cult status with fans.

George Lucas's much-maligned prequels showcased Fett's origin story as a subplot of sorts, but his various escapades throughout the galaxy have featured heavily in comics, animated series, and video-games over the years.

The premise for the upcoming spinoff film is being kept under wraps. It's unclear whether it will focuson Fett's life pre- or post-Sarlacc days, but it's widely hoped the movie will undo some of the bad work done by Lucas's prequels.
Indias National Urban Sanitation Policy and its flagship programme, the Swachh Bharat Mission, strongly recommend mechanical technologies for safe faecal sludge management. But, how do septic tank cleaners live and work, and why are their practices not safe? An evening spent in observation of their work and in conversation with cleaners and truck drivers in Bengaluru is recounted.

Indias National Urban Sanitation Policy (MoUD 2008) and its flagship programme, the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) (MoHUA 2017a), highlight the importance of latrine use and of safe and proper disposal of sewage for a sanitary city. They report that over a third of Indias urban households rely on on-site (not sewer-borne) sanitation;1 this is probably an underestimation. They recommend that cities should work towards technological, financing and governance initiatives that would ensure safe faecal sludge and septage management, while recognising that Indian cities are currently far from reaching this goal. These and other documents put out by the Government of India (see, for example, MoHUA [2017b]) give little indication of what mechanical (that is, truck-and-hose) sludge removal looks like, how cleaners live and work, and what therefore has to be modified or reformed as new policies are introduced. In other words, what is taking place now, in the name of faecal sludge management? This article describes an evening spent by one of the authors with septic tank cleaners and truck drivers in Bengaluru, Indias famed Silicon Valley. We present the rest of the article in C S Sharada Prasads voice, as he recalls the evening.

It is 10:30 pm on a chilly night in September 2014 in Bengaluru. It has to be done only at night. The hotel does not want the neighbours or the guests to see this, Santosh2 says in a soft voice. It is a large, posh hotel. We service it once every two months. Santosh owns a truck in which faecal sludge is removed from septic tanks and transported away to a sewage treatment plant (ideally, if the owner has a permit) or to open drains and waterbodies (commonly, as most owners do not have permits). He is not the driver. This evening the driver is Deepak; I am riding with him.
Written by ACM





*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- On the Occasion of a well attended, 2 Days-Long, International Conference on Stock-Taking of 10 Years in Fighting versus Human Trafficking and Abuse, the Leaders of PanEuropean CoE's (47 States, incl. Russia+)) and Euro-Atlantic OSCE (57 States, incl. USA+) Organisations' activities in that area of Growing Importance during Recent Conflicts and other Crisis around Europe, stressed to "Eurofora" what they Believe to be the Main Challenges and Priorities Nowadays and in the foreseeable Future :



- The New President of CoE's Watchdog, composed by Independent Experts checking the Implementation of the relevant PanEuropean Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings ("GRETA"), Irish Jurist Mrs Siobhan Mullally, speaking to "Eurofora", stressed, in Substance, that, among the 3 main Practical Objectives : Prevention, Protection of Victims, and Punishment of Traffickers and/or those who Exploit such Crimes, what has Become more Urgent, Nowadays, is, in Fact, "Prevention".



- Particularly, since the Recent Socio-Economic Crisis and Waves of various Displaced People towards Europe include also Many Children, as she noted, pointing at an Issue that GRETA has Just Examined also in a Special Research on "Trafficking in Children", which was Published this May 2018.



Significantly, 4 out of 5 Categories of Child Trafficking Risks, affect mostly European Children, such as, f.ex., "Not Registration at Birth", Children "in Street", "Placed in Institutions", and/or "from Disadvantaged Communities". Recently emerged also the Issue of "Unaccompanied or Separated" and "Irregular Migrant" Children. Between 2012-2015, Most of them, in Absolute terms, were Found in the UK (almost 2.500) and Romania (about 1.300). But in Percentage among All Various Victims of Human Trafficking, Children representred the Biggest Proportion of around the Half in Montenegro, Croatia and Albania, (53%, 51% and 43%), while they were, on the Contrary, Only a Small Minority in Cyprua and Austria, Denmark and Georgia, as well as in Slovakia, (3%, 4%, 5%, 5%, and 8%, respectively).



--------------------



- However, for the even Wider view of Euro-Atlantic OSCE's Special Representative and Coordinator against Human Trafficking, Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova from Kazakstan, Speaking to "Eurofora", stressed, in Substance, that, considering "Both Pan'European and UNO's" recent Data, what is currently Lacking most of all in the International Fight against Traffickingt of Human Beings was Efficient Persecution of those Responsible for such Crimes, in order to Bring them to Justice, to Fight Impunity.



+ In order to Strengthen the Efficiency of that Fight, CoE, OSCE and the UN need to Work Together, inter alia, also, particularly in order to Target, around the World, those "Chains of Supplies", which Exploit Forced Labour resulting from Human Trafficking, the OSCE's competent Senior Official also pointed out earlier, (See Infra).



- She had just, actively Participated in a Special Panel Discussion, explicitly Focused on current efforts for "Building Strategic Partnerships", together with a Representative of the "Organisation of American States" (OAS), and Other Key Experts, (See Infra).



- Significantly, that Panel, obviously Important for the foreseeable Future, had been attended also by CoE's Director on Anti-Trafficking, Perya Nestorova, who Spoke to "Eurofora" both Before and After that Meeting :



- Experienced Anti-Trafficking CEO Nestorova, who was the main Organiser, in practice, of this exceptional International Conference attended by about 150 Experts for the 10th Anniversary of CoE's relevant Convention (2008-2018), while speaking to "Eurofora", spontaneously Chose to Focus, indeed, on the Need for International Cooperation in the Fight against Trafficking of Human Beings : In this regard, she Regretted the Absence of an EU Representative, who had been Invited, and the Obstacles (by Lack of due Visa on Time) for a Representative of African Countries to arrive Timely in Strasbourg, as well that of an ASEAN's Expert (despite a New CoE-ASEAN "Comparison" Study, just Published on this May 2018), that she found certainly Useful to Associate in the foreseable Future. But she Hailed the Active Presence of Both the OSCE's and OAS' Senior Officials.

=> Nestorova revealed to "Eurofora", in this regard, that Tomorrow, on Wednesday, 23 of May, CoE organizes, indeed, an Exceptionaly Important Meeting with "National Coordinators" from Member States' Governments, as well as the OSCE's competent Representative, Kazak Ambassador Jarbussynova, (Comp. Supra), which will work behind closed doors because of the Sensitive character of those Issues, in order to Discuss and Decide on a Series of Practical Measures that they all intend to take, in closer Cooperation, in order to Better Face the Challenges already witnessed in the Past 10 Years, until Now, as well as to Forge a common Strategy Facilitating to Advance Forward Together in the Foreseeable Future, taking into account also the Latest relevant Developments, (especially in and/or around Europe).

+ Meanwhile, OAS' Representative, Anna Ochoa, had reminded (during the above-mentioned Special "Panel" on "Partnerships" : Comp. Supra + Infra), that the American States have explicitly Decided to Launch a systematic Anti-Trafficking Policy Later than Europe : mainly Since 2014. But, despite the participation, in principle, of more than 20 States, (including also the Caraibes), nevertheless, a Problem still was, f.ex., that Judicial Cooperation on that matter had Not yet been Established, except from 4 ou 5 interLinked Countries, including the USA, etc. However, Better Perspectives were Expected for the Recent Launch of a "Knowledge" Network in that area of activities, Starting from March 2018, (etc).

--------------------



>>> On the Contrary, for the European States, there are Clear Rules at CoE's Anti-Trafficking Convention, about what they should do, But, it seems that there is, until now, a real "Problem of Implementation", particularly as far as it concerns the necessary "Investigations" about Traffickers, observed British Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the CoE, Christoper Yvon, who is President of the "Committee of the (State) Parties", Monitoring how those Rules are Applied in real Practice.

--------------------------

- However, according to ECHR's Case-Law, there is even a Legal Responsibility for COE's Member States to Take at least certain elementary Measures of Anti-Trafficking, because, Otherwise, they Risk to be Found "Accountable" for Human Rights' Violations, Warned CoE's Director-General on Democracy, Snezana Samardzic - Markovic, right from the Beginning of this Conference.



-She pointed at ECHR's vice-President, Linos-Alexander Sicilianos, who Explained that, according to the Case-Law developed by Euro-Judges, States have a "Positive Obligation" to Take Certain relevant Measures, (as, f.ex., to "Criminalize" the Trafficking of Human Beings, etc), flowing from the PanEuropean Convention of Human Rights' Article 4, on "Prohibition of Slavery, and Forced Labour", which include Prevention, Help^to Victims, and Judicial Enquiries in order to find and punish those responsible for such Crimes, (as it results, f.ex., by the Famous case of "Rantseva v. Cyprus and Russia" : the Death of a Russian Girl in Cyprus, after she Tried to Escape from Pressure to become a Prostitute, but also from 2 Other Cases concerning Greece, etc, as he noted). Moreover, "from 2017", the ECHR started to make even Explicit and Direct References to "GRETA"s Findings and/or Recommendations, thereby creating "Synergy".



But the Most Moving Event was, unquestionably, that of a Session dedicated to the original Testimonies of Victims who "Survived" Human Trafficking, and Described their traumatic Personal Experience :



- According to Spanish Social Worker Branna Noelle-Hodge, Many Victims "look like Machines", who don't Turst Nobody, and/or "they Lie", staying "under Constant Fear", in a "UnStable Situation", "Threatened to be Send to anOther Country", etc. Often we give them Phones and Numbers to call 7/7 and 24/24, she said.

----------------------------



- But things appeared quite Different, with Young Yazidi Woman Farida Abbas Khalaf, a Survivor and Rescapee from 4 Months of Captivity by ISIS' Deadly Islamist Terrorists, cowardly Targetting defenseless, innocent Civilian People, at Iraq : - "Don't let our Abusers get Away with their Crimes !", she urged from the outset.



- Most ISIS' Attacks started from 2014 to Spread at Iraq their Atrocities, which intended to commit a Genocide, by Destroying us, as Yazidi Minority : They Targetted Women and Girls with Rape, Torture, Humiliations, using Sexual Slavery as a Weapon to Destroy our Community, she Denounced. I still live that Tragedy, and I Fell this Scar will Never Disappear. ISIS Killed by Father and Brother, Captured my Mother, and held me in Captivity for 4 Months, submitted to Physical and Mental ill-treatments. Still more than 3.200 Women are in Captivity or Missing nowadays, and many Christians, etc. have been Taken Away from Syria to Iraq", she Denounced.

- "But Nobody has been yet Prosecuted for all those Crimes ! Not Any of those ISIS' Criminals Arrested, Investigated and Punished. If they Return to Europe, they should Face Justice : Jihadis Returning to Europe should Face Real Justice !", she urged.



=> CoE should call for Support to People victims of Genocide attempts, for ReConstruction of Homes and Infrastructures Destroyed, and to practice Open Doors for Real Refugees who Face Genocide, she added.

+ In Addition, "People of AFRIN (Syria's Kurdish Canton recently Invaded and Occupied by Turkey's Military Troops and various Jihadist Armed Gangs) all lie in Constant Fear : CoE should adopt a Resolution to Help them against Pressure from Radical Groups", the fragile Yazidi Woman urged Today.



(See also Statements of Award-Winning and Book Writer Yazidi Woman Survivor of ISIS, Farida Abbas-Khalaf to "Eurofora", later-on, at: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/yazidiwomanisissurvivoraskstohelpafrin.html).

------------------



- Speaking Afterwards, on the sidelines of one among the 4 Different "Panels" of Experts set up by this CoE's International Conference, Greece's National Rapporteur on Trafficking of Human Beings, Dr. Heracles Moskoff, stressed to "Eurofora" that, in order to Succeed in the necessary Fight against Impunity, "Victims must be Protected" : Because it's Only Then that they Can bring Testimonies, and bear Witness against Criminals, as he observed.

He couldn't explain, however, how is it possible for more than 1,5 Millions of Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants to suddenly enter Europe via Greece through Turkey, already on 2015-2016, without practically anyone to have been arrested for Human Trafficking : - "Even if Smuggling is not the same thing as Trafficking, nevertheless, that Question remains open, since it seems that the Gravity of that Danger had not yet been fully perceived by Law Enforcement Authorities in Europe", Dr. Moskoff agreed with "Eurofora".

But the above-mentioned Role of Victims became Key in the Panel Focused on "Criminal Justice Efficiency", whose Conclusions were presented by Rapporteur Rita Theodorou, GRETA Member from Cyprus:

- Indeed, Human Trafficking's Victims, abused as "Slaves" and "Disposable Commodities", are Nowadays often lurred and traped by "Softer Methods", including, f.ex., "Promises for a Better Life", she pointed out.

=> Thus, sometimes, they "Suddenly Refuse to Cooperate" with Law Enforcement Authorities, "or Lie", etc., may be Because "they are Afraid" and/or "Tired and Lost", etc., she regretted.

- In such cases, recalcitrant Victims should Not be Prosecuted, because, then, they won't cooperate at all, GRETA Expert Theodossiou advised. On the Contrary, Victims should be provided Support, (f.ex. by Legal Aid, Social Measures, Financial incitations, etc).

- Even if the Investigations would Not have to Wait for Victims to come out, before doing anything, but, on the contrary, try to Advance also by any other possible means, including, f.ex., International Cooperation, which has Not yet been Used enough, she suggested.

--------------------------------

+ But, in Other Cases, the Experienced Dutch National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, former Long-Time Attorney General of the Netherlands, Herman Bolhaar, (who participated at a Panel on "Strategic Partnerships"), revealed a Troubling Reality :



- During Many Years, Police had been Arresting several "Minors" mainly for Stealing, etc, but was routinely led to Let them Free to Go, afterwards, particularly because of their Age, etc. However, most of them used to Commit again and again such Offences, so that they were Coming and Going through Police and Courts for Endless Years, without any clear Horizon in view, he described.



- Suddenly, However, anOther Police Specialist, with Wider Experience, Suspected that "a Criminal Organisation was Behind" those "Children", "Minor Offenders, which were also Victims of Trafficking", the Dutch Expert pointed out. And, Indeed, an Efficient Investigation in that Direction, led the Police to Discover a Wide Organized Plot by Criminals, who had been Exploiting those Minors in order to systematically Commit a Great Number of Offences, without being ever exposed or cought themselves, since they were always Hidding Behind the scene ...



------------------------





+ Meanwhile, anOther, quite UnExpected Stimulus for a Better Implementation of CoE's Anti-Trafficking Convention, appeared to be the "Name and Shame" Policy against "Clients" Expoiting Human Trafficking's Victims, which Resulted into inciting Many Big Businesses to Seek some kind of "Ethical Certificates" for their Products and/or Services, showing that they Respect Basic Human Rights of their Workers throughout all the Supply Chains, (See relevant "Eurofora"s NewsReport, at : http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/bigbusinessandcoevhumantraffiking.html).









(../..)





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(NDLR : "DraftNews", as already send, Earlier, to "Eurofora" Subscribers/Donors. A more accurate, full Final Version, might be published asap)
Written by ACM

*Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- Speaking to "Eurofora" just after participating in a CoE's Debate against Human Trafficking nowadays, Yazidi Minority Young Woman former ISIS' Prisoner, Farida Abbas Khalaf from Iraq, who has nowadays become a Famous Award Winner and co-Writer (See Infra), when asked to Choose the Number 1 Priority that she feels Most Important, after what she had Suffered, following her Father and Brothers' Killings, her Abduction, Slavery and Abuse by those Deadly Islamist Terrorists cowardly Targetting defenseless and innocent Civilian People, she did Not Hesitate, not even a Second :



- "It's my Dream, to See, right in Front of my Eyes, those ISIS' brutes, at last, to be brought to Justice for their Crimes !", the fragile woman clearly and firmly Replied to "Eurofora"s above-mentioned Question.



--------------------------------



Farida has stared in the Documentary Film "with Words Against the ISIS, a Yazidi raises her voice" (2016), wrote the Book "the Girl who Beat ISIS - My Story" (2016 : reed.: "The Girl who Escaped ISIS", 2017), and Won the "Pro Dignitate Humana Prize 2017" (Poland), the "LiberPress" Award at Catalonia 2017 (Spain), and the Marsh Award for "PeaceMaking and PeaceKeeping 2017 (UK).



The most Emotional Event during a fully packed CoE's International Conference for the completion of 10 Years of Fighting against Trafficking in Human Beings (2008-2018) and the Way Forward in the foreseeable Future, Today in Strasbourg, (See: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coe10yearsagainsthumantrafficking.html), unquestionably was her Personal Testimony in a Special Session on Victims who "Survived" Human Trafficking, and Described their traumatic Personal Experience :





-----------------------------



- Astonishingly, Farida, who had already been Invited by CoE's Parliamentary Assembly to Speak at a Committee during Last Year's April 2017 Session, Today Surprized by Launching an unexpected Call for "the People of AFRIN (Syria's Kurdish Canton recently Invaded and Occupied by Turkey's Military Troops and various Jihadist Armed Gangs) :



- They (Afrin People) now "All lie in Constant Fear", the fragile Yazidi Woman Denounced, Earlier this Morning in Strasbourg, before Launching a Call for the "CoE" to "adopt a Resolution to Help them against Pressure from Radical Groups", (who Invaded that Region following the Turkish Tanks).



- The Yazidi Minority reportedly lived in "21 Villages" at Afrin Canton, "Together with Muslims and Other Communities", a.o.. But, "Now (after the Turkish Military Invasion/Occupation) they are all Displaced". Many of them have fled to adjacent Syrian Kurdish areas, (such as Kobane, Al-Jazeera, etc), or Iraq.



- Herself a Survivor and Rescapee from 4 Months of Captivity by ISIS' Deadly Islamist Terrorists, cowardly Targetting defenseless, innocent Civilian People, at Iraq : - "Don't let our Abusers get Away with their Crimes !", she urged from the outset.



- Most ISIS' Attacks started from 2014 to Spread at Iraq their Atrocities, which intended to commit a Genocide, by Destroying us, as Yazidi Minority : They Targetted Women and Girls with Rape, Torture, Humiliations, using Sexual Slavery as a Weapon to Destroy our Community, she Denounced. I still live that Tragedy, and I Fell this Scar will Never Disappear. ISIS Killed by Father and Brother, Captured my Mother, and held me in Captivity for 4 Months, submitted to Physical and Mental ill-treatments".



+ "Still more than 3.200 Women are in Captivity or Missing nowadays, and many Christians, etc. have been Taken Away from Syria to Iraq", Farida Abbas Khalaff added.



- "But Nobody has been yet Prosecuted for all those Crimes ! Not Any of those ISIS' Criminals Arrested, Investigated and Punished. If they Return to Europe, they should Face Justice : Jihadis Returning to Europe should Face Real Justice !", she urged.



=> CoE should call for Support to People Victims of Genocide attempts, for ReConstruction of Homes and Infrastructures Destroyed, and to practice Open Doors for Real Refugees who Face Genocide, she said.

- The Fight of Victims for Justice is a Right, and this Fight is Important Farida concluded, inter alia, largely applauded.



When she was asked Where Persecuted Yazidi and other such People used to seek Refuge, she did Not even Mention Turkey at all : "Towards Iraq", she simply replied, (her own Village being located at the North, near to the Kurdish Region).



Farida Abbas - Khalaf is a key Member of the "Global Yazidi (Minority's) Organisation" called "Yazda", a Representative of which told "Eurofora" at the CoE that they had Found some "66 Mass Graves", and an estimated number of 6.736 Victims, as well as More than 3.400 Women "Survivors" of ISIS' attacks. Among those Yazidi Women who are still "Missing", many are in Iraq, apparently held in "Captivity"by Other Islamist Extremist Gangs.



- "In Fact, we are a Minority and Many, there, Consider us as outcasts, while the Iraqi Government had Failed to Protect us in the Past. So, we do No Trust them. In Fact, we'd Need some Kind of International Protection", it was Highlighted in Conclusion...









(../..)







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(NDLR : "DraftNews", as already send, Earlier, to "Eurofora" Subscribers/Donors. A more accurate, full Final Version, might be published asap)







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ezhejiang.gov.cn

The leaders of the global geographic information industry will descend on Deqing county, East China's Zhejiang province with the arrival of the United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC), which is to be held from November 19 to 21, 2018.

The UNWGIC, hailed as the highest-level international surveying and mapping event to have been held in China, is set to bring many new opportunities for Deqing county to develop its geographic information innovation and digital economy.

As yet another significant international event in Zhejiang in recent years, after the G20 Hangzhou Summit and the World Internet Conference, the congress will take place at a newly built convention center in Zhejiang Geospatial Information Industrial Park.

A group of geospatial professionals from governments, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions and the private sector will be invited to advance cross party communication, mutual understanding, and the knowledge and application of geospatial information management to address global challenges.

Zhejiang Geospatial Information Industrial Park in Deqing, with an area of 3.68 square kilometers, is the first national-level industrial park concentrating on the innovation of geographic information.

Serving to propel the development of high-tech industries, it is committed to building itself into a demonstration base of the geographic information industry in China.

A total of 150 companies related to geographic information have been stationed in the park since its establishment.

An aerial view of the convention center of the Zhejiang Geospatial Information Industrial Park in Deqing county, Zhejiang province [Photo/unwgic2018.org]

An aerial view of the Zhejiang Geospatial Information Industrial Park in Deqing county, Zhejiang province [Photo/unwgic2018.org]
Azerbaijan Grand Prix promoter Arif Rahimov insists his race is secure on the F1 calendar following rumors the event could be replaced in the future by a probable race in Miami.

Formula 1 is working diligently to put the Magic City on the docket as soon as 2019, potentially increasing in the process the number of races to 22, leading to the sport's biggest calendar ever.

Miami's bid to become an F1 venue has led to speculation that it could lead to the demise of Baku which is currently in the third year of a 10-year agreement with FOM, with the first five years binding.

Rahimov denied Azerbaijan would fall to the side, but admitted he would seek a better deal going forward.

"I didn't even discuss it with FOM because it just makes no sense," said the promoter.

"We have a contract that is a binding contract for five years, five races, starting in 2016.

"Neither of us can break it unless we both agree to break it. On the other side, if Miami comes in, it can just come in and all the other races can stay there," he added.

"It's up to 22 races anyway. I think it was just a rumour. I don't know how this rumour got spread, because it made no sense from the beginning.

"I guess they're going to release the draft calendar this month or next month. We're going to be in this calendar and it's going to sort out most of the questions.''

Theoretically however, Baku has until May 31 to trigger a break clause on its end. Rahimov insists he has no intention of activating the clause but a negotiation for better terms is in order.

"We haven't triggered the break clause. We're negotiating on the second part of the contract," he said.

We do definitely want to be there in the average [franchise fee] of the flyaway races. Thats not the only thing were discussing with FOM. It's most of the other commercial terms in the contract too.

They (Liberty) want to try the new approach too so it's a bilateral effort to make this viable for all of us.

"We're trying to get it sorted before the end of June. I think we'll come to some agreement.''

Rahimov also wants FOM to investigate the possibility of pushing back the date of its event by a few months in order to help its preparation efforts.

"If we are in April, then really we have to start in the winter and you have adverse weather, all the rains and winds that stops you from working effectively," he said.

"Ideally we would like to hold the race in June."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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OTTAWA  Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) was pleased to join Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Lawrence MacAulay in Winnipeg today as he formally announced that Bill C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act had received Royal Assent. This landmark Bill paves the way for a balanced transportation system that will carry Canadian shippers far into the future.

The Bill is already demonstrating its value for the grain industry as Canadian National Railway (CN) announced today that it would be purchasing 1000 new generation hopper cars to significantly bolster shipping capacity. This investment is a clear indication of the importance of Minister Garneaus Bill and a commitment by CN towards a strong infrastructure that will prevent future grain rail backlogs.

We knew that Bill C-49 was a strong piece of legislation and now we have the proof that it truly will help modernize the shipping industry, said Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) Vice President Art Enns from Winnipeg. Grain farmers can take comfort today in knowing that our hard work in pressing for the Bill will pay off through a balanced and robust rail system.

This announcement was made possible by new provisions in the Act that ensures investments made by one railway are of direct benefit to that railway, rather than being shared across railways out as they were under previous legislation. Grain farmers have been concerned about Canadas ageing hopper car fleet for some time and the purchase of new, higher capacity cars is good news.

I would like to thank CN for acting so quickly on their commitment to purchasing new rail cars, added GGC President, Jeff Nielsen. Making this announcement the day after Royal Assent shows that they are serious about harnessing the benefits of C-49 and meeting the needs of their customers.

Todays announcement will have a positive benefit for the Canadian economy as a whole as the cars will be manufactured by National Steel Car Ltd. at their Hamilton, ON plant, creating jobs and spurring the local economy, just as grain agriculture does for rural communities across the country.

An investment in agriculture is an investment in Canada, concluded Mr. Nielsen. Ministers Garneau and MacAulay knew this when they ensured that C-49 would strengthen grain transportation and I am joined by my grain farmer members in thanking them for their hard work.

Grain Growers of Canada provides a strong national voice for over 50,000 active and successful grain, oilseed and pulse producers through its 13 provincial, regional and national grower groups. Our mission and mandate are to pursue a policy environment that maximizes global competitiveness and to influence federal policy on behalf of independent Canadian grain farmers and their associations.

Source : Grain Growers of Canada
By Jonathan Kleinjan

There have been reports in recent years that agronomists in states such as Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin have observed success when reducing soybean planting populations. In some cases, seeding rates have been reduced from the normal recommended rate of 140,000 seeds/acre down to rates as low as 105,000. Reducing plant population can have benefits such as reducing the incidence of white mold (which has been an increasing concern in eastern South Dakota) and lowering seed cost. If a unit of soybean seed is $60, every 1,000 seeds/acre reduction in seeding rate will save about $.43. For example, if seeding rates are reduced by 20,000 seeds/acre, the savings would be 20,000 seeds/acre x $.43/1000 seeds = $8.60 per acre.

In 2016 and 2017, SDSU researchers examined seven planting populations ranging from 60,000 to 180,000 seeds/acre on two planting dates (early May and early June) at four locations in eastern South Dakota. All plots were planted using conventional tillage in 30-inch rows. Yield levels tended to be higher for the early May planting versus the early June planting, although this relationship depended on the timing of precipitation events. Many university researchers recommend to increase planting rates at later seeding dates to compensate for less vegetative growth and a reduced grain fill period. However, in this study, the most economically viable planting population for soybeans was found to be 140,000 seeds/acre for both the early and late planting dates. Yield results for each of the seven planting populations averaged over two planting dates are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Yield levels for seven soybean planting populations in eastern South Dakota.

It is important to note that yield levels are fairly flat across seeding rates. In the 2016 early May planted trial, the 60,000 seeds/acre planting population was actually the highest yielding when averaged across locations. How is this possible? Soybeans have a remarkable ability to compensate for low planting populations by increasing branches, nodes, and ultimately, pods. The difference in plant structure across four seeding rates is shown in Figure 2. Purdue research suggests that a final stand of 80,000 plants per acre (in 30 inch rows) is adequate for achieving 100% of yield potential.
ANOTHER breakthrough for breeding drought-tolerant wheat by researchers from The University of Western Australia (UWA) will improve yield in dryland agriculture.

For the first time genome regions controlling grain number per spike under water stress have been identified and suitable molecular markers for breeding programs have been developed.

Drought frequently reduces grain yield in Mediterranean-type climates in southern Australia.

In drought years, water stress can cause up to 50 per cent yield reduction compared to favourable seasons.

UWA School of Agriculture and Environment and Institute of Agriculture lead researcher Guijun Yan said the most intense effects on yield were recorded when water stress coincided with the period between the onset of meiosis and early grain development.

In the WA grainbelt, water stress occurs often during meiotic stage, resulting in fewer grains per spike, professor Yan said.

In a companion study, the researchers revealed that both the male and female reproductive parts of the wheat plant are sensitive to water stress during meiosis, not just the male part as was previously thought.

Professor Yan said the yield reduction caused by water stress during meiosis resulted in fewer grains per spike, but had no significant reduction in mean grain weight.

Building on from the previous research, we have now identified the chromosome regions and genes associated with grain number under water stress, he said.

This research has an immediate application for commercial wheat breeding programs as the favourable genes identified can be crossed to make more drought-tolerant germplasm and increase grain yield.

The paper, Identification and validation of a major chromosome region for high grain number per spike under meiotic stage water stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was published in the journal PLoS ONE.

The publication formed part of the PhD research of Dr Ifeyinwa Onyemaobi, who was supervised by UWA professors Guijun Yan, Kadambot Siddique and Dr Helen Liu.
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On May 23rd, the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations held a high-level debate in the General Assembly to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the Assemblys adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

I had the honor to be invited as representative of the private sector to speak during the second Panel on Achieving peaceful and inclusive societies through preventing and combating corruption.

In my speech I stressed the importance of the United Nations and the Convention as an ideal platform and framework for the dialogue between governments, international institutions, civil society and private sector. It is noteworthy that the Convention, although 15 years old, is a most remarkable and innovative global instrument. Already by 2003, the Convention had a strong focus on international collaboration, transparency in public procurement  and in Art. 12 explicitly addresses the importance of alignment with the private sector.

These are relevant topics that we are still discussing today, for example also during the G20 and B20 process where I had the honor to chair the private sector anti-corruption efforts under the German Presidency last year and where I am serving this year as a Vice Chair for Integrity and Compliance under the presidency of Argentina.

I do strongly believe that we as business can and must make a difference in the fight against corruption: A clear tone from the top, effective compliance systems, and collaboration with public sector and civil society. But to be effective, we need ongoing dialogue and acknowledgement for our efforts.

Voluntary self disclosure by companies of internally detected misconduct and compliance efforts must be rewarded. Because it would be a severe mistake to punish companies who effectively detect corruption in to be transparent and honest  and to protect by this behavior the ones who are silent about their problems.

Another aspect which was raised by several state representatives in the general debate was the role of social media in the fight against corruption. I gave my view that today, there is much more transparency as the world has become connected through the internet and the rise of social media. We have to keep in mind that 15 years ago there was no iPhone and no Twitter. And even Facebook was founded after the Convention against Corruption was adopted.

Today more than 2.5 billion people are connected worldwide through social media networks, exchanging messages, pictures and news. If you search for #corruption you will get hundreds of tweets every day. A Google search on corruption results in more than 55 million search hits.

Why did I mention this in my speech? The digitally connected world and the social media reach could lead to the impression that there is even more corruption. I dont know if thats true, but I do know it is more difficult for bad actors to hide. And this is positive. But there is a flip side of this coin. There is a risk that fake news and the misuse of social media lead to premature decisions and judgments. We need to be aware of this risk and remind ourselves that the rule of law is of paramount importance in fighting corruption. A topic, I urged the UN to keep on its agenda.

Please see also the official UN Report about the debate in the UN General Assembly.

____

Dr. Klaus Moosmayer, pictured above, is the Chief Compliance Officer of Siemens and currently Vice-Chair of the B20 Group on Compliance and Integrity. He also chairs the Anti-Corruption Taskforce of Business at the OECD (BIAC).
The DOJ Thursday charged a former Armenian ambassador and a Russian national with being part of a bribery scheme to help an Ohio-based unit of Rolls Royce win an overseas pipeline contract.

Azat Martirossian, 62, a citizen of Armenia who formerly served as that countrys ambassador to China, and Vitaly Leshkov, 50, a Russian citizen, were charged in a superseding indictment filed Thursday in federal court in Ohio.

Both face one count of conspiracy to launder money and 10 counts of money laundering.

The two are believed to be living outside the United States, the DOJ said.

Thursdays superseding indictment included FCPA charges against Petros Contoguris, 70, a Greek citizen living in Turkey.

Hes the founder and chief executive officer of Gravitas & CIE. International Ltd.

Contoguris was first indicted in late 2017 and is still at large. He faces one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, one count of conspiracy to launder money, seven counts of violating the FCPA, and 10 counts of money laundering.

In January 2017, Rolls Royce paid a U.S. criminal penalty of $170 million as part of an $800 million global settlement that also involved investigations by the UK and Brazil.

The DOJ charged Rolls Royce plc with conspiracy to violate the FCPA. The company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement that required it to cooperate in related investigations.

Rolls Royce admitted widespread bribery in at least a dozen countries including Kazakhstan.

Thursdays charges against Martirossian, Leshkov, and Contoguris involve bribes to a Kazakh official to win a $145 million contract to supply equipment and services for a gas pipeline from Kazakhstan to China.

The contract was won by Rolls-Royce Energy Systems Inc.  a Columbus, Ohio-based subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc.

Four others have pleaded guilty in the case.

James Finley, 67, a UK citizen living in Taiwan, was a former senior executive of Rolls-Royce. He pleaded guilty in July 2017 in federal court in Ohio to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of violating the FCPA.

Keith Barnett, 49, of Houston, Texas, a former regional director in energy at Rolls-Royce, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in December 2016.

Aloysius Johannes Jozef Zuurhout, 54, of the Netherlands pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in June 2017. He was a former energy sales employee at Rolls-Royce.

Andreas Kohler, 54, of Austria pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA in June 2017. The DOJ said he was a managing director at an international engineering and consulting firm.

As the DOJ said Thursday, an indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

___

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
The Loch Ness monster has enchanted people for decades, and now scientists could be close to confirming whether or not it exists.

Loch Ness

The legend has it that a huge creature lives in the Scottish body of water, and while the idea has captured the imagination there has been no proof that it's a reality.

However, scientists are looking to take DNA samples from the lake at more than 300 spots to see what really lurks beneath.

Amongst those researching the loch is Professor Neil Gemmell from the University of Otago in New Zealand.

As reported by Sky News, he said: ''I'm going into this thinking it's unlikely there is a monster, but I want to test that hypothesis.

''What we'll get is a really nice survey of the biodiversity of the Loch Ness.''

The samples will come from tiny fragments of DNA left behind by skin, feathers, scales and urine - and it will then be compared with that of known species.
I am a single parent (widowed) with an adult daughter Natasha, in her mid-20s. My daughter is mixed-race and together we share a cross-generational and multicultural mix of Irish, English and African tastes in fashion, food & music. I know my way about the kitchen quite well and I love that my daughter loves my cooking especially my very English Sunday roast, multi-cultural breakfast spreads, and palatable Ghanaian dishes. She was in Bucharest last week and sent me a WhatsApp message saying "Dad I just miss your cooking" and it made me very happy. Saga, the chief protagonist in my book - 'The Day Of The Orphan'  also loves his food. Maybe this is where he gets it from? Indeed, I have always held the theory that those who love food, love life.

Dr Nat Tanoh

My Ghana family background boasts of notable womens rights promoters. After working for BBC Africa in London my Mum went to work for Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) where she founded GBC Ladies Association in the 1970s to promote the welfare and well-being of women in the workplace. My late Auntie was also a notable playwright of international repute and was the first female director of the National Theatre in Ghana at a time when there were no female directors of anything at all in Ghana. Zara, a leading protagonist in my novel, is very calm but very strong. Saga's Mum is also strong albeit less calm. Did I develop these strong female characters subconsciously as a reflection of my environment in my formative years? Well, that could very well be the case. What do you think?

I am an avid supporter of the #Me Too movement. I believe it represents the height of bravery and public-spiritedness. Can anyone imagine the courage it takes for someone to mount a platform to reveal to all and sundry, the abjectly humiliating, unspeakable treatment and acts they have been subjected to? It takes inordinate amounts of courage in any given circumstance let alone in public. And I say public-spiritedness because it gives strength to the countless, faceless, voiceless victims out there to come forth and help put a stop to such terrifyingly unkind acts that many are forced to endure. We cannot say we are lovers of freedom and then turn around and deny people one of their most fundamental rights which is the freedom of choice; the freedom to say no; the freedom not to be coerced in any possible way that prevents you from having that crucial choice to say yes or no. To honour these brave souls, my next novel, which will be finished soon, features a predominantly female leadership ruling what's left of the world and calling the shots in an effort to establish a blissful, egalitarian, happy world in which there will be no need for #MeToo.

Maya Angelou was a close friend of my family members as she lived and worked in Ghana in 1960s. I actually met her a few times at family gatherings much later in the 1980s when she came to visit. She was simply brilliant. Did listening to her awaken something latent in me to write one day?

And guess what! I just found out last week that I was probably in the same school at the same time as Hugh Grant. Wow. I was watching a movie of his last week when something said to look him up on Wikipedia. It was then that I found out that he went to Hogarth Primary in Chiswick, London about the same time that I was there. Imagine that! I can't say I remember him, though. But I do remember a few of my classmates from that time. I was then in exile as a child with my family running away from political backlash. My parent's opposition to a dictatorial one-party state meant we literally had to flee for our dear lives. The baddies in my novel 'The Day Of The Orphan' are supporters of a one-party state dictator. Little wonder that I don't have too much love for them.

I wrote my book on an old BlackBerry Classic Mobile Phone. I am writing my new novel on it as well. Apart from my imagination and research it is the most important tool in my writing arsenal. And my BlackBerry is now on the blink which is causing tremendous grief! The t, i, d, and y buttons just won't work. But thank heavens for Amazon. Though that particular phone is no longer in production - our Amazon friends have a few on offer. Hmm, relief! Better snap one up ASAP before they vanish. When my talented and renowned Publicist Helen Lewis suggested I take a picture of myself sitting behind a desk in my writing pose - how could I tell her it would be a 'fake' representation as I hardly ever sit behind a desk to write? To keep it 'unfake' would suggest I take a picture brandishing a BlackBerrybut that posed its own difficulties as some might think I was on a one-man crusade to advertise for BlackBerry instead of trying to publicise my novel!

The best writing position for me is when I am lying down. For some weird reason my imagination is most active then and the story flows better. Sometimes sitting on the sofa does the trick too. But hardly ever behind a desk. I wonder why. So again that's another reason why I couldn't give the wonderful Ms. Helen Lewis the 'fake' pictorial representation of me cozily sitting behind a desk. And yet again I could not exactly give her a wholly unfake picture of me in bed for the publicity. Many might have thought my genre is not quite literary fiction. Can't have that.

I think Brexit is an uncool move. It's a move which is fundamentally based on fear. It was the result of fear mongering by a section of the leadership that were quite disingenuous by not giving the British public all of the facts. What's the point of isolation in an increasingly inter-dependent world? Like it or not Britain is a part of Europe and a very important part at that. Strength lies in unity, politically and economically. It's always the case. Look at Germany. Their unity started with a Customs Union. Apart from Prussia, what is now Germany was an ineffectual collection of petty principalities and minor kingdoms. That's how they were so easily overrun and gobbled up by Napoleon of France. But ever since they came together in unity they became considerably stronger and have since prospered greatly. Look at the United States. Starting out with 13 independent colonies they became united and have since grown to become the most powerful and richest country in the world. Some may say this is a simplistic view but maybe it's not. The chaos and uncertainty and even more fear involved in governmental attempts to extricate from Europe tells a story.

I am of the profound belief that happiness ought to be the most important purpose of our lives. I believe that happiness is our Heritage. It is an inalienable (undeniable) right that each of us has or ought to have. Its absence in a persons life is an intolerable, menacing contradiction that must be corrected. Millions of people the world over recognise this and spend entire lifetimes trying to correct this supremely unhealthy absence of happiness in their lives but sadly enough, not always with great success. But why must it be so? Why must we so unnecessarily endure lives of uncertainty, unhappiness and unworthiness? WHY? A Heritage is a legacy. It is an inheritance. It is thus rightful ownership. So, when I say that happiness is our Heritage - I mean it is an entitlement of all human beings. Unfortunately, there is not enough of it going around. It is as though most of us have been disinherited; as though we are being denied or are denying ourselves a critical component of the things that we need to live full and purposeful lives. One of the greatest Philosophers that ever lived stated categorically without hesitation that: "HAPPINESS IS THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF LIFE, THE WHOLE AIM AND END OF HUMAN EXISTENCE". This quote is from Aristotle himself. Now are any of us unwise enough to dispute this timeless and most truthful assertion of his? I don't think so! Lets then always bear in mind that probably the most influential Philosopher in history - to whom the world owes so much - advocates completely that the ultimate in life, what we must strive for, is HAPPINESS! I wish all readers happiness always. Zara in my novel strives for happiness. She is propelled by the pursuit of happiness to take huge risks for a noble cause. Let us salute her. Maybe I should start a blog on happiness being our heritage?

I believe that Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle is a significant occurrence in British history. I believe it's a good thing. For probably the most enduring monarchy on earth comprising the bluest of royal blue Caucasian bloods to embrace a woman of black descent into their midst as family, is profound. For the Queen of England to have a black mixed-race person as a granddaughter-in-law suggests that people should probably not be in too much of a hurry to confine the famous British Monarchy into the dustbin of history. By this gesture alone the Monarchy is proving itself to be modern, relevant and all-embracing in a way that will positively reverberate over time. Prince Harry himself has proved to be a brilliant, likeable chap who could be said to be spearheading, in his own way, this positive monarchical drive into modernity. I wish them happiness forever.
Hilaria Baldwin is battling pneumonia - and two of her kids have the flu.

Hilaria Baldwin's Instagram (c) post

The 34-year-old fitness and wellness expert welcomed her fourth child, a son named Romeo, into the world last week, but has admitted that her first week as a mother of four has been "adventurous", after most of her family - including her other children Carmen, four, Rafael, two, and Leonardo, 20-months, all of whom she has with her husband Alec Baldwin - have fallen ill.

Alongside a picture of Romeo, Hilaria wrote in a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday (24.05.18): "It's been quite an adventurous week with highs and lows...Romeo was born last Thursday and is a complete joy...however, I was also diagnosed with pneumonia, Rafa and Leo with the flu, Carmen came home from school with pink eye. Tumultuous to say the least, and, for a family that rarely gets sick, definitely a foreign experience. (sic)"

Hilaria added that luckily, little Romeo is "super healthy", but she has still been left "stressed out" as she and her 60-year-old spouse Alec have been attempting to "quarantine" their growing family.

She continued: "We are all on the mend, and fortunately, so far, Romeo is super healthy. It's been tough getting our new family of 6 oriented with all of the necessary quarantining. The recovery from birth, the beginnings of breastfeeding again, the sleepless nights, taking care of sick toddlers, dr visits, my own health...I just keep on saying "we got this".... I have definitely had my stressed out moments and have had to practice lots of breathing and perspective, trying to stay as calm and positive as possible. I'm looking forward to renewed health for my family, and one day, to look back and have a little laugh. #WeGotThis2018 (sic)"

Hilaria and the 'Boss Baby' actor - who also has 22-year-old daughter Ireland from a previous relationship - welcomed Romeo into the world last Thursday (17.05.18), and revealed his adorable moniker earlier this week.

In a separate Instagram post, Hilaria wrote: "We are happy to introduce you to Romeo Alejandro David Baldwin."
Kim Kardashian West has "gone blonde" again to mark her fourth wedding anniversary.

Kim Kardashian West (c) Twitter

The 'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' star shared a video of her sporting blonde locks as she knows it is her husband Kanye West's "favourite".

She captioned the short video: "Went blonde again for my anniversary it's @kanyewest's favorite (sic)"

Kim and Kanye celebrated their fourth anniversary on social media earlier on Thursday (24.05.18), where Kim praised Kanye and dubbed him an "inspiration".

Posting a picture of them from their wedding day, Kim wrote: "4 years down and forever to go ... Thank you babe for giving me our family and caring so much about us. Thank you for inspiring me on a daily, I'm so lucky. I can't wait for forever ... Happy Anniversary (sic)"

Kim - who has North, four, Saint, two, and Chicago, four months, together - previously revealed her husband prefers her with blonde hair.

Asked if Kanye prefers her with dark or blonde hair, she replied: "Both but maybe a little more blonde."

And continuing on Twitter, she added: "Wait I miss my short hair! Time to take extensions out! I'm so indecisive ... Oh no no no. Never this again ... Not [going back to dark hair] right now. Since it's newly bleached i have to wait a few weeks to change colours. Maybe when the roots grow out too much. It will be years before I go blonde again so have to enjoy it."

Kim previously admitted she found going blonde "very high maintenance", but she is grateful for her hairdresser Chris Appleton for persevering to get her hair done.

She added: "This blonde is very high maintenance. Love you @ChrisAppleton1 but getting over this. (sic)."
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BRD, a Zurich (Switzerland)-based secure bitcoin and cryptocurrency mobile wallet, raised $32m in funding.

The round included a combination of venture capital funding, with existing investor East Ventures involved the round, and a crowdsale.

The company intends to use the funds The new funds will enable BRD to scale its technology platform, expand its engineering and business development team at its new offices in Chicago, Bend, and Tokyo and bring a broad ecosystem of bitcoin and cryptocurrency services to more global consumers.

Led by Adam Traidmen, CEO and Co-founder, Adam Voisine, President and Co-founder, and Aaron Lasher, Co-founder, BRD is a global company bringing blockchain-enabled financial services to the mobile generation. It provides consumers with a secure way to buy and protect bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The company also announced the availability of its Augustus release, which enables receiving, sending, and buying of ERC20 tokens through a partnership with Changelly, a cryptocurrency exchange.

The new services provide a secure and private way for everyday consumers to send, receive, and purchase bitcoin and popular cryptocurrencies.

The BRD app is available for download from the App Store or Google Play. For more information, please visit BRD at http://www.BRD.com

FinSMEs

25/05/2018
Iceye, a Helsinki, Finland-based earth observation company providing synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data, raised $34M in Series B funding.

The round was led by return investor True Ventures with participation from OTB, Tesi, Draper Esprit, Promus Ventures, True Ventures, Draper Nexus, Draper Associates, Seraphim Capital and Space Angels.

The company, which has raised a total of $53M, will use the new capital to expand its custom analytics services for its customer base, further develop its SAR satellite technology, as well as fund additional launches of ICEYE SAR satellites.

Led by Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and Co-founder, Iceye provides a radar satellite imaging service, with coverage of selected areas every few hours, both day and night, to allow clients to resolve challenges in sectors such as maritime, disaster management, insurance, finance, security and intelligence.

Following the January 2018 launch of ICEYE-X1, the company is launching two additional satellites this year. It is aiming for a total of 9 upcoming satellite launches by the end of 2019.

FinSMEs

24/05/2018
Mesh Ventures, an Oakland, California-based investment fund focused on the legal cannabis industry, is opening a second round of funding.

The round will allow the firm to pursue new acquisitions and accelerate commercialization of brands in its portfolio.

Mesh has already made investments in several high-profile companies, including:

 PureCon  Providing white-label C02 extraction services for brands in the industry

 Backbone  Software developer for manufacturing and supply chain management

 Mesh Brands  Marketing company providing brand development

 Gesundheit  a cannabis co-packer in America, with locations nationwide

 MFN Oil  a proprietary refinery for large scale cannabinoid and terpene extraction

 Grasshopper Kiosks  Automated sales technology specializing in self-service express lanes

 Guild Extracts  which crafts cannabis products using patent-pending techniques

 Lemonnade  a cannabis genetic portfolio and high margin brand founded by celebrity artist/entrepreneur

Led by Parker Berling, partner, Mesh is also curating a large dynamic cannabis complexes in the nation. Located in the Port of Oakland in California, the complex spans over 200,000 sq ft on 11 acres across from the Oracle Arena. The campus will become home to some of the leading and most promising companies in the cannabis industry.

The second round of funding closes July 15, 2018 or when investment goals have been reached.

FinSMEs

25/05/2018
Pivotal bioVenture Partners China, a member of Nan Fung Life Sciences (NLFS), has closed its inaugural fund at $150m.

Pivotal bioVenture Partners China USD Fund I will focus on incubating and building life sciences companies in China.

Founded by Mr. Vincent Cheung, who is the Chairman of NFLS and Managing Director and COO of Nan Fung Group, and led by Dr. Jimmy Wei, Mr. Meng Gao and Mr. Shannon Cheung, Pivotal China will focus on incubating new life sciences companies in China by in-licensing innovative products and technologies that could serve unmet medical needs of the China market.

Pivotal China will invest broadly in pharmaceuticals, devices and service sectors.

Dr. Jimmy Wei was the Managing Partner at iBridge Capital and the Partner at the KPCB China fund, where he was involved with the formation of companies such as Zai Lab, JHL Biotech, XW Lab and iMab.

Mr. Meng Gao was a Managing Director at Blackstones Private Equity Group.

Mr. Shannon Cheung was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Averest Capital, an investment company focusing on healthcare, TMT and environmental technology sectors and Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of Likang Life Sciences.

FinSMEs

25/05/2018
Sensulin, an Oklahoma City, Ok-based biotechnology company, raised an undisclosed Series B funding round.

A group of physician and investor members of AngelMD participated in the round.

The company intends to use the funds to conduct first-in-human studies.

Led by Mike Moradi, CEO, Sensulin develops a glucose-responsive insulin to treat both Type 1 and 2 diabetes. The companys Agglomerated Vesicle Technology (AVT) makes the insulin stimulus-responsive, meaning that the amount of insulin released is proportional to a patients blood sugar.

Though Sensulin is focused on developing its insulin product, AVT is first and foremost a drug delivery system, and is not specific to insulin. The tech uses a series of liposomes which are glued together by a molecule that responds to a specific stimulus. This can be used to encapsulate various drugs triggered by various stimuli (inflammation, low blood oxygen, etc.), providing the opportunity for future innovative treatments.

The technology has been proven to work as an injectable or inhalable formulation.

FinSMEs

25/05/2018
Used Equipment Guide, a Chattanooga, Tenn.-based used heavy equipment and truck search engine, raised a multi-million dollar seed round at a valuation exceeding $10m.

The round was led by Holt Ventures, with strategic participation from a consortium of heavy equipment and truck dealers including Rush Enterprises, Doggett Equipment Services Group, NC Machinery, Tractor & Equipment Company, Carter Machinery, Empire Southwest, Warren Equipment Company, Fabick CAT, and Yancey Bros.

Founded in Asheville, North Carolina in 2015 and relocated its main office to Chattanooga, Tennessee in early 2018 and led by Jeremy Balog (Founder & CEO) and David Lilly (COO), Used Equipment Guide is a vertical search engine that allows buyers and sellers to search millions of used equipment and truck listings from over 3,000 industry websites valued at over $50 billion.

The Used Equipment Guide website provides search tools that enable buyers to locate low volume, highly specialized items, research market prices, and leave seller reviews. The website features free buyer tools including email alerts, seller reviews, a market price calculator, and heatmaps.

Sellers can claim their profile to manage their reviews and promote their brand with highly targeted advertising.

FinSMEs

25/05/2018
.            ,  ,        .       ...
In what can be seen as a surprising move, Android Creator Andy Rubin who floated Essential smartphone brand last year with the launch of Essential PH-1 is putting the company up for auction and has cancelled the next phone.

Bloomberg report said that it has hired Credit Suisse Group AG to advise on a potential sale and has received interest from at least one suitor. Essential had raised about $300 million from several investors, including Amazon.com Inc., Tencent Holdings Ltd., and Redpoint Ventures and has been valued at $1 billion back in June 2017.

Essential has spent over $100 million on developing its first products which is about a third of the money it raised to build the company. The current discussions are focused on selling the entire company including the patent portfolio, hardware products like the original smartphone, an upcoming smart home device and a camera attachment for the phone. Essential who hired engineers from Google and Apple would also be a part of the deal.

Essential has cancelled the Essential Phone has moved the resources to the smart home device which is scheduled to release next year. However, the company could still go back to phone business and has explored to hire multiple device manufacturers that would take Essential out of the difficult development process.

We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products.  Andy Rubin (@Arubin) May 24, 2018

In a statement, Andy said: We are not shutting down the company. We are putting all of our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products. In an email to Essential employees, he said that the company is working with bankers to raise money. He also suggested an acquisition might be part of such discussions to get the needed funds.

While the Essential PH-1 was a decent phone, the camera and high price was a let down back when it was launched, but the company worked and pushed updates that to some extent, has fixed the camera issues and it has also cut down the pricing to $499 which is a fair bargain.

Source 1, 2
Facebook has faced a lot of criticism over the Russian-backed ads on its platform before, during and after the 2016 US presidential election. This made the company look back at some changes it needs to make to offer better transparency, especially with political ads.

In a detailed blog post, the company has explained that it is creating a new standard of transparency for online political ads. While there are arguments that say why dont the company rid of these ads from Facebook since is the only sure way of guarding against foreign interference. On the flip side, the arguments were not only about revenue as verifying the advertisers who run them, is going to be costly.

Starting today, all election-related and issue ads on Facebook and Instagram in the US, users will be able to see whos running the political ad, how much money was spent on it, how widely it was seen, and who the ad reached. This is part of the broader authorization process that lets the company verify that the people running these ads are who they claim to be. Helping people to understand whos trying to influence their vote will help us better defend against foreign interference and other abuse.

Furthermore, anyone who wants to run a political ad will have to verify their identity and location. Since the company is still testing this feature, it wont be perfect right away, but you can support it by reporting the ads you see without labels. Mark Zuckerberg says that the top priority remains to make sure that the company helps to prevent any interference and misinformation in elections.

While these changes wont fix everything, but they will make it a lot harder for anyone to repeat what happened during 2016 elections by using fake accounts and pages to run ads.

Source
17:28 | Ubinas (Moquegua region), May. 25.





"We are working intensively throughout Peru to set up measures that improve citizens' life quality ()," the statesman pointed out.





"Some solutions can cost a lot of money, like a highway; but others do not, such as warm houses that protect families from low temperatures," he added.

In this sense, President Vizcarra affirmed Mi Abrigo (My Warm Shelter) project has so far climatized a total of 140 houses across his hometown region



"We need many more (homes). I would like to come back next year and say we have built 1,000 homes. We will work on that," the Peruvian leader said.

It must be noted the Peruvian Government handed over 70 warm houses in Moquegua's Mariscal Nieto province last March.

This regional initiative entails an investment worth S/1.387 million (about US$424,000).

On the other hand, the Head of State announced the Government will implement a project aimed at optimizing the use of water in Andean regions.

(END) NDP/MVF/JAA/MVB



President Martin Vizcarra on Friday visited Ubinas district in southern Moquegua region to deliver 70 warm houses that will protect families from cold temperatures.Published: 5/25/2018
Hours after it was announced that now-disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein would be turning himself in to police in New York City, one of his most outspoken accusers, Rose McGowan, is sharing her thoughts on behalf of all his alleged victims.

Although Weinstein, through his representatives, has denied any and all accusations of non-consensual sex, he is expected to face charges connected to an investigation opened by the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorneys office into claims of alleged sexual misconduct, The New York Daily News reported.

McGowan was among the first to accuse Weinstein of raping her and has been outspoken on social media and a champion of the #MeToo movement since the former head of the Weinstein Co. was outed as an alleged predator in October. Upon hearing the news of his impending arrest, she took to Instagram to express her emotions about the sudden news.

I, and so many of Harvey Weinsteins survivors, had given up hope that our rapist would be held accountable by law. Twenty years ago, I swore that I would right this wrong. Today we are one step closer to justice, The Citizen Rose star wrote in a caption. We were young women who were assaulted by Weinstein and later terrorized by his vast network of complicity. I stand with my fellow survivors. May his arrest give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere that are telling their truths.

In addition to McGowan, Weinstein has been accused by close to 80 women of sexual misconduct. He remained untouched by the law, despite police in Los Angeles, New York and London launching investigations into him, until now.
Its been 36 years since Henry Thomas starred in a film about a boy who befriended an alien in 1982s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and life today couldnt be more different for the former child star.

Thomas, now 46, resides in an Oregon farm with his wife and three children. Still, that hasnt stopped him from being on camera.

DREW BARRYMORE TALKS POSSIBILITY OF 'E.T.' SEQUEL

The actor is set to star in a new Lifetime movie, titled Girl in the Bunker, premiering Memorial Day. He'll also appear in the upcoming Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House debuting in October.

Still, Thomas recently told Closer Weekly he still has fond memories of his time creating E.T.

Im pretty good friends with Robert McNaughton, who played my older brother, said Thomas. He lives in Manhattan and I see him at least once a year. He was a mentor because I dont have any siblings and he had done Shakespeare, so I would always ask him advice.

While Thomas enjoyed helping to bring E.T. to life, fans shouldnt expect him, or anyone else for that matter, to reboot it anytime soon.

I dont think Steven Spielberg wants to touch it, and I know he wont let anyone else, he said. You dont want to cheapen the original. As soon as were all dead, Im sure theyll revamp it.

Thomas was only 11 years old when he took on the leading role of Elliot. Since then, the actor has kept himself busy over the years pursuing television and films. He insisted there was no need to relive the past.

I didnt know how to deal with the attention or fame, he admitted. You kind of become a social outcast because suddenly youre in some other category, but dont feel any different. I spent a lot of time worrying about how I was being accepted by other kids, so I reacted by keeping to myself, and I was already sort of an introvert. As I got older, I didnt let it affect me like that at all.

I thought, if I dont associate with film people and stay in my little town in Texas, Ill be perceived as normal. Eventually, you realize no ones ever going to perceive you as the guy down the street, so you just have to be yourself.

Thomas went on to describe Halloween as his favorite memory from his time making the iconic Steven Spielberg-directed classic.

A lot of the crew dressed up, and it felt like a family day, he recalled. When youre a kid in an adult environment, it can be pretty serious. Its nice to have [a] lightness.

Thomas added that contributing to moviemaking history isnt always easy as an actor.

Its hard when youre remembered for an iconic role, he said. But Im in an industry where in order to get a job, you have to go to into a room and get either rejected or accepted. If you have a thin skin, you just wont last very long.

Still, Thomas was perfectly content leaving behind Hollywood for greener pastures.

I said, Im going to buy a house there and sell it in five years, he recalled about life in Los Angeles. I was getting my career on track, and 20 years later I said, Why am I still here? If I get a job, Im always leaving town, so its like paying to live somewhere that I dont ever want to be.

And the star, who grew up on a farm in South Texas, considers Oregon home.

We have horses and apples and horse apples, he chuckled.

Despite life outside of Hollywood, Thomas isnt slowing down anytime soon. Aside from his steady acting career, hes also pursuing the writing world. Thomas told the magazine he wrote a fantasy novel and is currently working on the second installment, which may make its debut sometime next year.

As for regrets? There are some, but Thomas is more interested in exploring what the future holds for him.

I have tons, but I dont put much currency in wondering where you went wrong, he explained. I think thats essentially a waste of time. Im more interested in making today count as much as I can.

Thomas wasnt the only one reminiscing about E.T.

His co-star Erika Eleniak, who played the pretty girl at age 12, recently took a look back at the movie with Fox News for its 36th anniversary.

Eleniak revealed that while the film was her first big break in Hollywood, making it wasnt always a magical experience.

One thing that really stands out to me was that there was a little trauma because of that kiss, said the 48-year-old. It was super frightening. I cried in my little trailer. Steven [Spielberg] came in and talked to me and my mom for 10 minutes.

He explained what a closed set was and how no one who didnt have to be there wouldnt, to make me feel better. And I believe Henry Thomas was in a girl haters club at the time. He was only 10, so he was unhappy about the kiss too.
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women after turning himself in to the New York City Police Department on Friday.

A frail-looking Weinstein appeared before Judge Kevin McGrath with his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, at his side when the terms of his bail were discussed. Weinstein is facing more than 37 years behind bars. His lawyer told reporters outside the courthouse Weinstein "intends to enter a plea of not guilty."

"Mr. Weinstein has always maintained that any sexual activity he engaged in was consensual," his lawyer said adding that bad behavior is not on trial. "Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood."

Prosecutors asked for Weinstein to surrender his passport and agree to a GPS monitoring device. He posted $1 million bail in cash, his lawyer said.

Weinstein is not allowed to travel outside of New York and Connecticut. He will have to decide by May 30 if he will testify or not.

Weinstein smiled as he walked out of the NYPDs 1st Precinct in handcuffs early Friday and was escorted by two officials to the courthouse.

His lawyer said the 66-year-old is doing "as well as can be expected when you are accused of a crime that you have vehemently denied having committed."

The former Hollywood powerhouse is facing more than three decades in jail. The criminal sex act in the first degree charge carries up to 25 years in jail; the first degree sexual abuse charge carries up to seven years in jail; the third degree criminal sexual act charge carries up to four years in jail and the sexual misconduct and third degree sexual abuse charges carry up to one year and three months respectively.

Weinstein will be required to undergo HIV testing, by law, should his victims request it.

The NYPD detailed Weinstein's pending charges in a statement released to Fox News.

"The NYPD thanks these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice. The arrest and ensuing charges are the result of a joint investigation between the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorneys Office," the statement said. "Additional information will be provided as it becomes available."

A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the criminal sex act charges stem from a 2004 encounter between Weinstein and an aspiring actress. She has said he forced her to perform oral sex.

The official says the rape charge relates to a woman who has not spoken publicly. Prosecutors in court on Friday said both parties agreed to keep the anonymous victim's name sealed under an order of protection.

When Weinstein arrived at the precinct on Friday, he didnt reply as news crews that were staked out in the area called out his name. He wore a blue V-neck sweater with a blazer and dress pants as he walked inside. Weinstein carried several books with him, one of which was "Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution" by Todd S. Purdum.

On Thursday, news broke that the star was going to face the music. Since his downfall in late 2017, hes been spending time in a treatment facility in Arizona.

Allegations against Weinstein first came out in two bombshell reports in October, in which multiple women accused him of sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape. More than 80 women have accused him of misconduct.

Fox News' Elizabeth Zwirz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial began in New York on Jan. 6, 2020.

The disgraced movie mogul turned himself in to the New York City Police Department in May 2018 -- nearly eight months after an explosive expose sparked a cataclysm of women who have publicly accused the disgraced movie mogul of sexual assault, harassment and rape.

He was charged with rape, criminal sex acts, sex abuse and sexual misconduct on two women by the NYPD on May 25, 2018. However, hes been accused by dozens of women since late 2017 of harassment, sexual assault and rape.

Weinstein, 66, has repeatedly denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Heres a look back at when Weinstein was first accused and whats happened to his life since.

The allegations start

On Oct. 5, 2017, The New York Times reported that Weinstein had reached at least eight settlements with women -- including actresses, assistants and models -- who accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct.

According to The New York Times, Weinstein was supposed to have a business meeting with Ashley Judd, but when she showed up, he was in a bathrobe and asked her to give him a massage, she said. On another occasion, a female assistant was pressured into giving Weinstein a massage which left her crying and very distraught, colleague Lauren OConnor said in a memo obtained by The Times.

After that initial report, the list of women who accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct and rape grew; it included actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Rosanna Arquette, to name a few.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN SEX SCANDALS: DETAILING THE ALLEGATIONS

Lucia Evans, an aspiring actress when she met Weinstein, told The New Yorkers Ronan Farrow when she first met the famed movie mogul, he belittled her and commented on her weight. Eventually, though, he assaulted me, she claimed, alleging that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him.

I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont, she told The New Yorker. I tried to get away, but maybe I didnt try hard enough. I didnt want to kick him or fight him.

I just sort of gave up, she continued. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault.

Italian actress Asia Argento also accused Weinstein of assault, saying he forcibly performed oral sex on her when she was 21 years old. She described the encounter as a nightmare and said she was afraid he would crush her if she had reported him.

The fallout begins

A month after the accusations began, The New Yorker reported that Weinstein hired private security in an attempt to silence the women coming forward. But even still, the fallout from the allegations was swift.

Shortly after the stories came to light, Weinsteins wife, Georgina Chapman, announced she was leaving him. The couple had been married for 10 years.

Less than 10 days after The New York Times report, Weinstein was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The board of the Academy said well in excess of the required two-thirds majority of the 54 member organization voted to remove Weinstein. He was also kicked out of the Producers Guild of America.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN ASKS JUDGE TO TOSS ASHLEY JUDD'S SEXUAL HARASSMENT, DEFAMATION LAWSUIT

Harvard University rescinded the W.E.B. Du Bois medal it awarded to Weinstein in 2014. The medal, according to the Harvard Crimson is the highest honor one could receive from the university for contributions to African and African-American culture.

He was also sacked from The Weinstein Company film studio, which he founded in 2005. The company would file for bankruptcy.

In February, the British Academy Film Awards permanently banned Weinstein.

Weinstein allegedly spent some time at a rehab facility in Arizona that deals with sex addiction issues.

Criminal investigations

By November 2018, the New York Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department and the Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom had opened investigations into Weinstein.

Weinstein turned himself over to police on May 25, 2018 and was charged with rape, criminal sex acts, sex abuse and sexual misconduct on two women.

The NYPD thanks these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice, the police department said in a statement to Fox News.

On June 5, 2018, Weinstein entered a not guilty plea.

Eric Schneiderman, who was New Yorks attorney general before he resigned facing his own physical and sexual assault allegations, sued The Weinstein Company in February 2018, accusing officials of being complicit in his alleged abuse and harassment.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN'S CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER, BENJAMIN BRAFMAN, WITHDRAWS FROM CASE

Positive signs for Weinstein?

Amidst mounting accusations, Weinstein did exhibit small signs of good luck when several claims against him were dismissed.

In January 2019, part of actress Ashley Judd's claim were dismissed by a California judge.

Judge Philip S. Gutierrez of United States District Court in Los Angeles ruled that the actress' sexual harassment claim did not fall within the scope of a California statute, but he noted that Judd may proceed to trial with separate allegations against Weinstein of defamation and economic interference.

Judd alleged that Weinstein defamed her to "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson after she rejected his sexual advances two decades ago.

Furthermore, actress Lucia Evans had her claims dismissed after she reportedly offered differing accounts of her sexual assault story to a witness and prosecutors, according to BBC.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN ACCUSERS COULD GET LESS THAN $60G EACH IN SETTLEMENT

Weinstein pleads not guilty

In an August 2019 court appearance, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to an indictment that added two new charges of predatory sexual assault to his New York trial.

Prosecutors had said the new indictment was needed to lay the legal foundation for "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra to testify against Weinstein. She claims he raped her in 1993.

The disgraced movie mogul was also admonished by the judge for taking his cell phone out during the proceedings.

After being warned not to do that again, Weinstein said, "Your honor..." before he was cut off by the judge who said, "It's a court order. Don't talk to me. Talk with your lawyers."

HARVEY WEINSTEIN'S LAWYERS AFTER HIM FOR NEARLY $500G

Rose McGowan files lawsuit against Weinstein

Actress Rose McGowan filed a lawsuit against Weinstein and his ex-attorneys, Lisa Bloom and David Boies, as well as the spy and intelligence firm Black Cube Strategies in October 2019.

The actress alleges that Weinstein and his attorneys conspired to suppress her claims that Weinstein raped her in 1997 while the two were at the Sundance Festival. She contends the former executive did everything in his power to discredit her allegations.

This case is about a diabolical and illegal effort by one of Americas most powerful men and his representatives to silence sexual assault victims, the complaint, obtained by Fox News, states. And it is about the courageous women and journalists who persisted to reveal the truth.

Back then  as Weinstein had done with other women he assaulted or otherwise abused  Weinstein paid McGowan money as a settlement and expected her to go away and keep her mouth shut, the 72-page complaint reads.

ROSE McGOWAN WANTS HARVEY WEINSTEIN'S FORMER ADVISOR LISA BLOOM DISBARRED

Former assistants speak out

In a November 2019 interview with BBC, Weinstein's former assistants Rowena Chiu and Zelda Perkins spoke out about the former movie executive's alleged misconduct. Chiu revealed that Weinstein attempted to rape her and, in turn, wore two pairs of tights for protection.

"It at times appeared to be a sort of game where I bought time, and my two pairs of tights bought time," she said in the interview. "There was a sense that I was a slow boiling frog."

Furthermore, Perkins added that she felt guilty for putting Chiu in that position.

"I knew, you know, how Harvey was coercive, because I'd spent three, four years working for him. When Rowena told me the following morning, I mean, I was completely shattered because I never believed that he had it in him to use any form of physical force," she said. "... as far as I was concerned, Rowena was my responsibility because she was working directly for me and I had put her in that room."

HARVEY WEINSTEIN DOCUMENTARY 'UNTOUCHABLE' COMING TO HULU

Massive settlement emerges as bail increases

By December 2019, Weinstein reached a tentative $25 million settlement with a number of his alleged sexual misconduct victims, according to The New York Times.

As a part of his big money settlement, Weinstein would not be required to admit any wrongdoing on his part or make any out-of-pocket payments to any of the alleged accusers. The settlement has already gotten proper approval from all major parties involved, lawyers familiar with the case told the Times.

Weinsteins total payout is said to be $47 million, with a large amount covering legal fees.

Around the same time, Weinstein's bail was upped from $1 million to $5 million over allegations that he violated bail conditions through mishandling his electronic ankle monitor. Judge James Burke, however, rejected prosecution calls to put the disgraced movie mogul in jail over the alleged violation.

Weinstein retaliates, blames charges for ruining legacy

In a December 2019 interview with the New York Post, Weinstein blasted the sexual assault charges brought against him and claimed that he was the first to create female-led films.

"I feel like the forgotten man," the disgraced film producer told the outlet. "I made more movies directed by women and about women than any filmmaker, and I'm talking about 30 years ago. I'm not talking about now when it's vogue. I did it first! I pioneered it."

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But in the same breath, Weinstein blamed the dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against him as the reason his career has fallen off.

"It all got eviscerated because of what happened," Weinstein lamented. "My work has been forgotten."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
NBC News famously passed on Ronan Farrows reporting that helped expose disgraced Hollywood heavy hitter Harvey Weinstein. But on Friday the network was all-in when Weinstein was charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct.

NBCs Today show reporter Craig Melvin was live from the scene when Weinstein surrendered to the New York City Police Department on Friday, and MSNBCs Morning Joe spent several segments on the story and aired the perp walk live.

NBC even interrupted regular programming with a breaking news alert at 10 a.m. ET as Weinstein was arraigned. MSNBC also aired Weinsteins arraignment live, complete with several legal experts to break down the details and spent much of the morning on the story.

NBC News official Twitter account sent numerous Weinstein-related messages on Friday, as did the account of its cable news sister. MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle took to Twitter to mock Hollywood insiders who told reporters that the Weinstein allegations were a non-story.

It turns out, there is A LOT to see, she wrote.

It wasnt only Hollywood insiders who downplayed the story, it was also Ruhles bosses at NBC News.

The Peacock Network claimed that Farrows story, as theyd seen it, did not meet their editorial standards. Farrow took his reporting to the New Yorker, where it won a Pulitzer Prize and helped spark the #MeToo movement. Farrow has said he will explain his side of the story regarding why NBC wouldnt publish his reporting in an upcoming book.

In various media appearances to promote his Weinstein reporting, Farrow took a series of jabs at NBC News for refusing to air his Weinstein reporting, implying that NBC News leadership had maintained a veil of silence. Last year, HuffPost reported that NBC tried to put a stop to an interview with a woman accusing Weinstein of rape so Farrow wound up paying out of his own pocket for a camera crew to film an interview.

One of the Weinstein accusers who spoke with Farrow  actress Rose McGowan  appeared on NBCs Megyn Kelly Today.

We got you, McGowan said of Weinstein to Kelly before discussing people who enabled Weinstein.

Another Weinstein accuser, actress Asia Argento, recently condemned NBC News for shutting down Farrows reporting.

Note to @NBCNews: perhaps you should be investigating why NBC news shut down @RonanFarrows story, in spite of overwhelming evidence, Argento tweeted Monday.

Observers have pondered whether NBC executives reluctance to expose Weinstein was linked to what Vanity Fair once called a glass houses problem. The network fired its biggest star, Matt Lauer, for sexual misconduct shortly after Weinstein was exposed. NBC has since come under fire for refusing to hire an independent, white-shoe law firm to investigate who knew about Lauers behavior.

Instead, the Lauer review was headed by NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris who eventually declared network executives were completely oblivious to Lauers pervy past. The results of the NBC review were mocked by media watchdogs and NBC employees alike, while former NBC News star Ann Curry declared she did not participate despite expressing publicly to the Washington Post that she had complained to senior NBC News executives about Lauers behavior.

Farrows upcoming book, called, Catch and Kill, is expected to create a whole new batch of negative headlines for NBC News.

Doubting my ability is not what happened at NBC, Farrow recently tweeted.
War is kill or be killed. And war is politics and politics is war. And, in both, the rules are the same. And the objective is to win at all costs, by hook ...
Its universally known that many Americans love a good hot dog in the summertime.

Thats why George Shay, the Chairman of Major League Eating, tells Fox News that in 2001, when Takeru Kobayashi took the Famous Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest Mustard Belt back to Japan, it was in many ways a black eye on our nation and I feel that it affected the national mood.

5 SECRETS ALL COSTCO SHOPPERS SHOULD KNOW

On top of that, its also universally known that Americans love a good underdog story.

No one thought Kobayashi would ever be beaten, Shay explains. The Nathans hot dog record was 24/25 before that. Kobayashi ate 50. No one thought he could ever be beaten, but then Joey Chestnut  nothing more than a boy really  stood in California, and said, 'I will come to the aid of my nation,' and he did.

The Famous Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest at New Yorks Coney Island has become not only a Fourth of July staple, but also an American staple. Shay, who is the announcer during the competition, gave Fox News a history lesson on the iconic contest.

It all began in 1916, when Nathans hot dog stand opened for the first time at the corner of Surf and Stilwell in Coney Island.

James Mullen and two other immigrants came together and decided that the person who could eat the most hot dogs and buns would be the most American, explains Shay. So, they did that, Mullen won, and he goes down in history as the first winner of the contest.

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The real turning-point of the contest, however, came when Kobayashi demolished 50 hot dogs. He brought a new style of eating known as Tokyo style to the competition too, which means he separates the dog from the bun.

Kobayashi put two hot dogs in his bun, two hot dogs in his mouth,  and while he was eating those, he put more in. It was almost a conveyer belt. It was like a Henry Ford moment in competitive eating. And obviously that revolutionized the sport, Shay said.

To learn more about Joey Chestnuts style of eating, and to find out more about the history of the Famous Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest, check out Fox News' exclusive interview with Shay above.
Starbucks already announced in April that it would be closing over 8,000 of its locations in order to conduct racial bias training, but now the company is following up with specific details  and a five-minute video  as a preview of the curriculum its workers can expect.

According to Starbucks, the training session, which was scheduled following the highly publicized arrest of two black men who were waiting to meet a friend inside a Philadelphia Starbucks on April 12, will last for four-hours and include group discussions, a refresher in the Civil Rights movement, and even an appearance by rapper and activist Common, who is introduced as one of the training sessions guides.

STARBUCKS EMPLOYEES, CUSTOMERS EXPRESS CONCERN OVER NEW POLICY: 'I CAN'T SEE HOW THIS WILL WORK'

Our hope is that these learning sessions and discussions will make a difference within and beyond our stores, said Rossann Williams, the executive vice president of U.S. retail at Starbucks, in a news release.

When training starts on May 29, employees, or partners as Starbucks refers to them, will be welcomed to the session with a video message from Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, before Common is introduced to help folks start exploring their own identities.

Starbucks founder Howard Schultz will also share a message via video, before partners break into groups to engage in guided discussions on bias (preceded by another video of a Starbucks board member discussing bias with representatives from the Perception Institute) and employees own experiences in their stores.

As an example of the latter discussion, one woman in the preview is heard saying she froze after finding a person shooting up in the bathroom; another man says he dealt with homeless customers all the time.

Partners will futher be instructed to view a video examining the realities and impact of racial discrimination in public accommodations all the way back to the Civil Rights movement, as well as a documentary exploring current experiences with racial bias, to be followed by another video of Starbucks executives reacting to that film.

PHILLY POLICE COMMISSIONER APOLOGIZES TO MEN ARRESTED AT STARBUCKS

Each store will also be sent tool kits to aid in any group discussions and exercises. The company did not go into detail about the content of each kit, though the preview shows employees using large guidebooks and smaller workbooks in which to take notes.

In conducting the training, Starbucks says its hoping to make Starbucks even more safe and welcoming for all, though Starbucks employees themselves have already expressed concern over the chains Third Place Policy," which echoed these intentions upon its announcement earlier this week.

In a Starbucks subreddit, partners were already voicing concerns that the new policy will lead to stores being filled with homeless people and drug users. One user who claimed to work at a Chicago Starbucks wrote that a homeless person using the bathroom got into a fight with a customer and police requested to see the store policy before taking action.

Others said Starbucks Third Place policies were actually nothing new; the only difference now is that Starbucks is publicizing it.

This is only a formal announcement of what is already unofficial policy, at least in most stores, wrote one user.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Starbucks had originally announced its intentions to conduct racial bias training on April 17, less than a week after two black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were filmed being arrested at a Philadelphia location.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has since apologized to Nelson and Robinson personally. The men have also settled with the city of Philadelphia for the sum of $1, in addition to the promise of a $200,000 grant to fund a pilot program aimed at helping Philadelphia high-schoolers achieve their aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs.

Fox News' Michelle Gant contributed to this article.
Now the surgeon-in-chief at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center, Dr. Christine Finck has performed countless operations. But it was one procedure she performed nearly 13 years ago that changed her life forever.

In 2006, Finck, an attending physician at a childrens hospital in Philadelphia at the time, received a call late one snowy, February night.

I wiped the sleep from my eyes and listened to the neonatal intensivist tell me about a premature baby being born at another hospital with gastroschisis, she recalled in a blog post.

Gastroschisis is a rare condition where a baby is born with its intestines outside of its body. Just over 1,800 cases occur each year in the U.S., according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

I was struck by the small peanut that greeted me, she wrote, adding that she learned the babys name was Isabelle.

From there, Isabelle remained in Fincks care as the young girl underwent many surgeries. Finck described the first year of Isabelles life as extremely rough.

She was on intravenous nutrition and fought many infections. I was her primary surgeon and I would take care of her every day. I would always end my visit by holding her tiny hand, she recalled.

Finally, a few months later, Isabelle was ready to be discharged from the hospital, though she still had a feeding tube in her stomach and a big IV line under her collar bone."

It was around that same time Isabelles biological mom informed Finck she would not be able to adequately care for her.

She shyly stated that she just could not keep her. There was no family that could help, Finck continued, describing the night the babys mother approached her.

I can take her, Finck recalled blurting out in response.

Surprising herself by her quick reaction, she immediately called her husband, John. He didnt hesitate to yes" either, she recalled.

I think watching her frail but tough spirit made me just feel a special connection with her, Finck told Fox 61, describing her decision to take Isabelle home.

All these years later, Isabelle, now in seventh grade, told the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center Foundation she is glad [her] mom was [her] surgeon because she could take the best care of me.

"Shes kind and sweet, she helps me with my homework and always looks forward to playing with me, Madeline, Isabelle's 9-year-old sister, told the foundation.

Hallmark chose to feature Fincks story in its campaign this month. Finck, who also has a son named John Michael, told the news station she hopes the campaign raises awareness of adoption and how positive that can be, not only for a family, but for kids."

Its not uncommon that on a daily basis that I see children that my heart goes out to," she added. "I wish I could help everybody."
A Kansas woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer just days after she found out she was pregnant with her second child will celebrate her sons first birthday next week.

After getting the news, Stacey Johnson, of Leawood, Kan., was told she should consider abortion.

But she refused.

Understanding that my case was unique, but not fully understanding all the options, this was a scary first opinion, Johnson, a neonatal nurse, told the University of Kansas Cancer Center.

Johnson, 31, then got a second opinion from Dr. Lauren Nye, an oncologist with the cancer center, who discussed options that did not include abortion.

According to the American Cancer Society, pregnant women can safely get treatment for breast cancer, though the society notes that the types of treatment used and the timing of treatment might be affected by the pregnancy.

Pregnant women with breast cancer can undergo chemotherapy treatment, according to the society, as long as treatment is given during the womens second or third trimester. Surgery is typically a safe option as well.

I had ultrasounds every 10 days during chemotherapy to monitor the babys growth and blood flow. They tailored my treatment plan with two patients in mind: me and my baby, Johnson told the cancer center.

While Johnson said shes been through the ringer -- she underwent a single mastectomy and chemotherapy while pregnant -- she doesnt regret her decision.

I had someone elses life to care about, Johnson told KCTV-5, referring to her nearly 1-year-old son, William.

After giving birth to William on May 30 of last year, Johnson continued chemotherapy and began radiation treatment, which she recently finished. Once she completes her targeted therapy treatment this summer, Johnson hopes to have breast reconstruction surgery.

My family needs me, Johnson said, who is married and also has a 3-year-old daughter named Reese.

Your perspective changes when you are faced with mortality, she added. I have such strong support from my family and friends.
Its a virus that few people have heard of, but doctors around the world are urging the World Health Organization (WHO) to take action against it.

The virus in question is called HTLV-1, and in some cases, it can cause leukemia.

The pathogen has also been dubbed a cousin of HIV because of the similarities in the way its spread.

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) was first discovered in 1980, but it is believed the ancient virus was first present in nonhuman primates 40,000 to 60,000 years ago.

The virus does not negatively impact all carriers of the disease, but in some patients, it can cause spinal cord injury, inflammatory conditions, problems with mobility, and an aggressive form of leukemia.

Ninety percent of the time, this will not trouble you, you will not be aware of it But theres another side of the coin, which is: Then why do we bother with it? Well it does cause serious disease in the remaining ten percent, and it causes a very aggressive white blood cell cancer. Its called adult T-cell leukemia, Dr. Graham Taylor, professor of human retrovirology at Imperial College London, told Healthline.

This is probably one of the most aggressive blood cancers, very difficult to treat, and with the best efforts people still die. Fifty percent are dead within eight months. So thats why we cant ignore it, he explained.

Taylor, along with 60 other co-signatories around the world, have written an open letter to WHO officials, urging them to support the promotion of proven effective transmission prevention strategies against one of the most potent human carcinogens.

HTLV-1 is spread in the same way as HIV.

Its transmitted through bodily fluids from unprotected sexual intercourse, sharing of needles, breastfeeding, and through transfusions or transplants of infected blood or organs.

There is no cure and no vaccine against the virus.

HTLV-1 is a virus that only obeys the laws of evolution and survival of the fittest. It will transmit efficiently where community practices provide an opportunity, and the virus over centuries will evolve to maximize its transmission efficiency during these opportunities, Damian Purcell, PhD, the head of the molecular virology laboratory at The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at The University of Melbourne, told Healthline.

The spread in Australia

In Australia, where Purcell is based, HTLV-1 has reached what has been described as hyperendemic numbers among Australias indigenous population in the central part of the country.

In some aboriginal communities, 45 percent of adults live with HTLV-1. Thats an estimated 5,000 infected people in some of Australias most remote communities.

The virus is also prevalent in Brazil, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Iran, Jamaica, Nigeria, Romania, and Japan.

In Australia, a large number of indigenous communities have never been tested. The situation is complicated by healthcare access as well as cultural practices.

The story of HTLV-1 in Australia has been complicated by the extreme remoteness of many of the newly identified high-prevalence communities, and in the early investigations, the lack of ethical consent given in primary language to test samples for HTLV-1, Purcell said.

The Australian experience tells us that HTLV-1 infections can become highly entrenched in communities that have preserved practices that allow an opportunity for HTLV-1 transmission, he added. It can be difficult to identify and modify these practices, especially when they occur in communities where they contribute to cultural identity.

The global effects

But its not just Australias indigenous populations who are affected by HTLV-1.

The effects and social consequences of the virus are being felt all over the world.

As a stigmatizing sexually transmitted disease, it divides communities just like HIV. It is heart breaking really, Dr. Fabiola Aghakhani Zandjani-Martin, a sexual health, HIV, and HTLV-1 physician and scientist at The University of Queensland, told Healthline.

Worldwide, it is mostly middle-aged women who are diagnosed with HTLV-1 diseases, and when they find out, their world falls apart. They have to ask themselves: How did I catch it? From my husband through sex, from my mother through breast milk? And then they need to consider having their children and grandchildren tested and examined.

It is really difficult, she added. That is why healthcare providers need to learn how to provide a sensitive and nonjudgmental care while being informed about the latest advances in HTLV-1 medicine. It is a tough job for the clinician and an even tougher situation for the patient.

Taylor says 90 percent of patients dont even know they have the virus, so they unknowingly pass it on to others.

In many countries, there are no programs available to test for HTLV-1, meaning there is likely a higher number of infected patients around the world than is currently known.

Youve kind of got a vicious circle; if nobody has heard about HTLV-1, then theyre not going to make a diagnosis of HTLV-1, Taylor said. So you then dont see that there are people in your hospital, in your city, in your country who are HTLV-1-infected and developing disease.

But Taylor is hopeful steps will be taken to prevent the transmission of HTLV-1, starting with WHO officials recognizing it as a rare or neglected disease.

The huge strides weve made with HIV show just how much can be done with a problem that was appalling. Sitting there right beside it, discovered three years earlier, is HTLV-1, where you almost feel were no further on than back in the years immediately following its discovery, he said.

This article first appeared on HealthLine.com.
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This weekend, our nation will observe Memorial Day, honoring men and women who have served our country. The occasion is a solemn reminder of the sacrifices that heroic men and women have made for our nation and for freedom.

My late husband and I both had the privilege of serving in the United States Navy. We met at Portsmouth Naval Hospital Officers club and married soon after at the U.S. Naval Academy. We had 35 wonderful years together, as well as four children and two grandchildren before Owen passed away last year after a battle with a rare and aggressive cancer.

Owen adored our family. He loved to fish on the ocean surf, play his saxophone in various bands, and teach and mentor Midshipman at the Naval Academy where he worked for twenty years. He also loved sharing his Catholic faith with others serving on various boards at St. Mary Church, in Annapolis Maryland, and at the Knights of Columbus, including the Naval Academy. Thats why we had planned to go on the annual Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage together.

Lourdes, where Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette, is a place of healing  both physical and spiritual. The annual pilgrimage brings both active and retired U.S. military personnel, to the sacred site, in order that they might find healing in this holy place, and to pray for peace with military service members representing 50 other nations.

This year marked the 5th annual Warriors to Lourdes Pilgrimage, sponsored by the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and the Knights of Columbus. This month, more than 200 active and retired U.S. military personnel wounded, ill and injured participated in a journey dedicated to individual healing and a more peaceful world.

When Owen and I first received his cancer diagnosis, we knew that God put us on a mission to say "yes" to the challenges, joys, ups and downs, that came with this task, and to demonstrate our faith to others in the midst of this challenge.

Owen and I decided to take this pilgrimage together last year, but unfortunately, he was unable to travel as he was undergoing cancer treatments. We had felt that the pilgrimage would be an occasion to find healing and strength through our Blessed Mary, and to grow closer to our Heavenly Father, knowing what the future held for us with his diagnosis. It too would provide an opportunity to share our suffering and give hope to others, as they too carried heavy crosses, of seen and unseen injuries from the war. So, I decided to take this pilgrimage in my late husband's honor, to help my own faith journey, and to show gratitude for the outpouring of love which the Lord continues to show me.

I recently retired as a Navy nurse in the Navy Reserve after 37 years, so I offered to serve on the medical team for our service members, as its a great way for me to give back. It was an honor and a privilege to assist these pilgrims as they prayed for spiritual healing for themselves and peace in our world.

This Memorial Day, remember our troops, living and deceased, and in your prayers. Consider ways you can serve veterans in your community such as greeting the troops at BWI airport.

I started this effort back in 2007, to give our troops a Heroes welcome Home. Operation Welcome Home Maryland has greeted over 600,000 servicemen back from their deployments thus far. The gift of your time to volunteer, to say Thank you for your service, will be forever etched on your heart, especially seeing our Servicemens smile.

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have attended the Warriors to Lourdes pilgrimage, to continue my work with the troops, and to pray for peace
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The Palestinian Authority, which calls itself the State of Palestine, has taken new steps in its drive to join as many United Nations organizations as possible. Even as it does so, its time for U.N. member states to recognize that this ploy does little or nothing to improve the lives of Palestinians or the prospects for peace, and will hurt organizations where the Palestinians have been accepted.

As of this week, the Palestinians have become official members of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, both relatively obscure U.N. bodies. This follows on its successful bid in 2011 to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and subsequent accession to a number of international agreements.

The Palestinians have pursued this strategy to bolster their claims of statehood without going through the process of negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. While intended to harm the U.S. and Israel, the real impact is felt by the U.N. organizations that grant membership to the Palestinians.

How will it hurt the organizations? Two U.S. laws passed in the 1990s prohibit providing federal funds to: (1) the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states or (2) the U.N. or to any U.N. affiliated organization that grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.

The impact of the law can be devastating for U.N. organizations because Washington is generally the largest source of their financial support.

Consider UNESCO. The Palestinians gained UNESCO membership in 2011. In response, the U.S., which paid 22 percent of UNESCOs budget, suspended all funding and UNESCO had to cut its budget and programs severely.

This has been an inconvenience to the U.S., which generally supports the mission of UNESCO, but the suspension didnt harm important American interests. We can support our education and scientific interests bilaterally or multilaterally through other organizations.

Certainly, supporting Israel and pressing the Palestinians to engage in peace negotiations is more important than UNESCO membership, and so it is likely to be with almost every U.N. organization.

To end mounting arrears, the U.S. announced last year that it would withdraw from UNESCO altogether at the end of 2018. Thus, in the end, Palestinian membership only damaged UNESCO.

So what does Palestinian membership portend for UNIDO and UNCTAD? Each case is a different.

For UNIDO, not much. The U.S. left the organization in 1996 under President Clinton and provides no direct funding.

Applying U.S. law to UNCTAD will be somewhat challenging because, in addition to U.S. voluntary contributions, it receives funds indirectly through the U.N. regular budget and other organizations.

This means that the U.S. will terminate all voluntary funding for UNCTAD and likely withhold its proportional share of U.N. regular budget going to the organization, which would be roughly $15 million (22 percent of $68 million).

The Palestinians also acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, which is supported by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW. This is not specifically a U.N. organization and ties to the U.N. are even more tenuous than those of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change that the Palestinians joined in 2016.

In that case, the Obama administration argued that the laws prohibiting U.S. funding did not apply. While the OPCW has a working relationship with the U.N., the situation is less clear-cut than with UNESCO, UNIDO or UNCTAD.

What does withholding mean for U.S. interests? In the case of UNIDO and UNCTAD, nothing significant. UNIDO in particular is of questionable utility and a number of European countries have left in recent years. As with UNESCO, Washington is capable of advancing its interests as related to these organizations through alternative channels.

The U.S. does have an interest in supporting the OPCW and ending the use of chemical weapons. If it can no longer provide direct funding, it will need to be creative in its financial support for inspections, non-proliferation, and destruction of chemical weapons outside of the OPCW.

The Palestinian campaign thus far has been mostly nuisance. But other member states should consider carefully the potential impact of allowing membership in more important organizations.

While the U.S. has the resources and ability to protect its interests independent of most U.N. organizations, other member states depend on them. Even those countries that do not think kindly of the Trump Administration need to recognize that the Palestinian strategy does more damage to their own interests than it will ever do to Israel or the U.S.

The same goes for the Palestinians themselves. Their rulers efforts to evade serious bilateral negotiations and seek recognition by back-door means does nothing to bring peace, development, or real prosperity for a long-suffering people.

Indeed, it does real harm. Joining these organizations triggered provisions enacted in the FY 2018 consolidated appropriations act that, unless waived, will suspend U.S. assistance to the Palestinians under the Economic Support Fund.

Its time for a moment of lucidity, and a step back toward true peace in the Middle East. U.N. officials, as well as the U.S., should be trying hard to make Palestinians understand their ploy is another dead end.
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Following President Trumps surprise cancelation Thursday of his planned June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the future of U.S. efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons remains very much in doubt. But the effort is not dead.

There are still a number of actions President Trump can take, which I describe below, that can lower the chances for a U.S.-North Korea military conflict and make North Korea less dangerous to its neighbors.

Realistically, the chances of President Trump getting everything he wants  the complete and verifiable destruction of all the Norths nuclear weapons and monitoring to ensure it permanently halts all nuclear development  are very slim. But that doesnt mean he cant work out a deal that will greatly benefit the U.S. and our allies.

North Korea, known for its fiery anti-American rhetoric  including threats of war and personal insults to U.S. leaders  was remarkably conciliatory following President Trumps cancelation of the summit with Kim that was scheduled to be held in Singapore.

President Trump said in a letter to Kim on Thursday that he was forced to cancel the summit based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement regarding the United States.

But rather than respond in anger, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said in a statement Friday (Korean time): We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format. He added: Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the U.S.

That prompted a conciliatory tweet from President Trump, in which he said: Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell! In addition, President Trump told reporters the U.S. and North Korea continue talking.

So what happens next?

President Trumps original instinct that the United States and North Korea should talk instead of fight was exactly right. But this was always going to be hard. It would be a mistake for the president to give up because the road is getting bumpy. There are no good options with North Korea, but diplomacy is better than war.

A Trump-Kim summit is just one step in the process, and we shouldnt give it outsized importance. One meeting  no matter how high profile  was never going to be sufficient to resolve an issue as complex as North Koreas nuclear program.

A delay in a summit may actually prove to be a blessing in disguise. Now President Trump has an opportunity to reset his approach. He could put future talks on a firmer footing by claiming less credit, demonstrating more patience, establishing a long-term process that can weather the ups and downs of a complicated negotiation, and identifying what would constitute a minimally acceptable deal.

To date, President Trump has treated the summit as an easy win. He oversold what hes achieved so far, set outsized expectations and ignored the hard choices ahead. His posturing, along with cheerleading from the media, may have temporarily boosted his poll numbers at home, as Americans take comfort in positive developments after last years terrifying fire and fury war of words. But now reality is intervening.

History teaches us there are no quick wins in this kind of diplomacy. It took President Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev three years and as many high-level summits  along with countless lower level meetings  to reach an initial arms control agreement. The first two high-level summits produced good will, but no actual agreements.

The Obama administration negotiations with Iran that led to the nuclear agreement that was recently scrapped by President Trump also took years.

Even President Nixons meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong took almost a year to prepare. U.S.-China relations werent normalized until more than six years later.

If President Trump wants to get a meaningful deal with North Korea, he needs to stop looking for a fast victory and begin preparing for a long slog ahead.

As someone who was involved with the U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran, heres my advice for President Trump:

First, President Trump will need to share more of the credit for a summit and reduction of tensions with Kim Jong Un.

President Trumps claimed that maximum pressure scared Kim into coming to the negotiating table ready to give away his nuclear program. That prompted an angry response from the North Koreans and kicked off a war of words that led to the collapse of the summit.

To succeed with Kim, President Trump cant depict the North Korean leader as surrendering to U.S. demands. Thats going to be a hard pill for President Trump to swallow, but its the smart move.

Look at how South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed that President Trump get the Nobel Peace Prize, playing to his vanity and getting him invested in diplomacy. It was a clever ploy, and President Trump would do well to follow a similar playbook with Kim.

Reaching an agreement with North Korea also will take patience. Thats the opposite of how President Trump approached negotiations with our European partners over fixing the Iran nuclear deal. The Europeans were preparing a proposal that addressed President Trumps stated concerns, but he wouldnt wait and rushed to pull the U.S. out of the deal.

Second, President Trump needs to establish a long-term process that can weather the ups and downs of a complicated negotiation.

Talking about the summit as if it were the ultimate event made it hard for President Trump to stomach setbacks. Instead, the summit should be viewed as one of several steps in a lengthy diplomatic process.

One of the strange things about the planned Trump-Kim summit was the lack of preparatory work. Usually such high-level events are meticulously planned for months, with lots of lower-level meetings to work out key points of agreement. Many times theres even a pre-negotiated text prepared for the leaders to sign at the summit.

President Trump should use this pause on the summit to kick off a robust round of negotiations led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that can achieve a degree of consensus.

Third, President Trump needs to grapple with the hard question of what is a minimally acceptable deal.

While President Trump wants complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of North Koreas entire nuclear program, achieving this goal may be impossible, no matter how much he threatens and cajoles the North Koreans.

What would President Trump accept short of total victory? He rejected the Iran deal because it wasnt sufficiently sweeping  for instance, failing to cover Irans ballistic missile program and Iranian military interventions in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Unfortunately, while every president seeks to achieve all his goals, they often must make compromises. President Trump needs to consider that a less for less deal  for example an agreement that freezes North Koreas nuclear program but doesnt irreversibly dismantle it  is more realistically achievable and better than nothing.

Even if its rescheduled, a high-level Trump-Kim summit will almost certainly not lead to a dramatic breakthrough that turns North Korea into a nonnuclear state in the near future. Successes take time and patience.

President Trump needs to be prepared for the highs and lows along the long, bumpy road ahead if he wants to secure a win. And he needs to accept that achieving some of his goals is better than achieving none of them.
A popular Democrats exit from the Iowa governors race Thursday amid sexual misconduct allegations could impact the partys efforts to coalesce behind the eventual nominee and regain power in a state that has moved sharply to the right in recent years.

Nate Boulton, a Des Moines attorney and state senator, suspended his campaign less than 24 hours after The Des Moines Register reported three women alleged he touched them inappropriately several years ago.

Boultons departure comes less than two weeks before the Democratic primary for governor. More than 13,000 Democrats already had cast their ballots through early voting as of Wednesday, when the newspapers report was published.

The winner will aim to unseat Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November. She has been serving the remaining term of former Gov. Terry Branstad, who stepped down last year to become U.S. ambassador to China.

Iowa Democrats have been sidelined by several election cycles that gave Republicans nearly complete control of the states congressional seats and a majority in the Legislature. Democrats insist the race shake-up and the circumstances surrounding it would not hurt their chances of winning in the midterm election.

People are engaged no matter which candidate its for, said Megan Card, a 25-year-old state government employee who has been supporting one of the five remaining Democratic candidates. That just doesnt disappear when that candidate drops out. People realize its bigger than ourselves right now.

Boultons exit is expected to have a tangible impact on the June 5 primary. Iowa law requires a primary candidate to secure at least 35 percent of the vote to win an election. Anything less and a party convention of activists will pick the winner.

Its unclear for now how many people voted for Boulton during the early voting period, but the figure could affect the required voting threshold for the remaining candidates. Boulton was polling second among the contenders in the race, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released earlier this month.

Businessman Fred Hubbell, the apparent front-runner who has spent millions of his own money ahead of the primary, could pick up enough of Boultons supporters for a flat-out win. A party convention might lead Democrats to ultimately back a different candidate who may have been behind the pack for months. The remaining other candidates are union leader Cathy Glasson, physician Andy McGuire, longtime party organizer John Norris and former city mayor Ross Wilburn.

Sexual misconduct has become a top issue in politics around the country, as a cultural reckoning over inappropriate behavior and abuse continues to take down powerful men in various industries.

Democrats in Iowa and elsewhere have sought to draw a distinctive line in their response on the subject.

In Iowa, Sen. Minority Leader Janet Petersen called out Senate Republicans earlier this year for how they handled the firing of a former caucus staffer who said in a lawsuit she was let go after reporting verbal harassment. The state settled her case last year for $1.75 million.

Petersen, who had endorsed Boultons candidacy, released a statement Thursday calling on Boulton to resign from the chamber and said she would support a full, independent investigation if he doesnt.

The state Democratic Party said in a statement that it also supports such an investigation.

Boulton told KCCI-TV on Thursday he is discussing with his wife whether to resign.

Cody Woodruff is a 20-year-old student at Iowa State University who was an early backer of Boulton and had already cast a vote for him. Woodruff said he does not expect the scandal will tarnish Democrats in the general election because of their swift response.

Everyone, for the most part, has a pretty unified message that it was right for him to step aside from the governors race, Woodruff said.

Glasson, who had been trailing Boulton in the Iowa Poll, has called for progressive policies that include a $15 hourly minimum wage and a single-payer health care system. Hubbell, who hasnt called for such polices, has branded himself as the best positioned to take on Reynolds in a general election.

Holly Brown, a 37-year-old Democratic activist from Cedar Rapids who backs Glasson, said the last-minute change in the race could help Reynolds if she ends up running against a man. Glasson and McGuire are the only other two women in the race.

There will inevitably be some people who will feel more comfortable voting for her because they will feel that she is less likely to have incidents like this in her past come up, Brown said.

Reynolds has been scrutinized for how she handled the March firing of a longtime political ally, Dave Jamison, who was accused of harassing female subordinates as the head of a state housing agency. Reynolds says she fired Jamison immediately after learning about the allegations, but she was criticized for keeping general details of the allegations secret for more than a month.

In the Register report, one woman said Boulton repeatedly grabbed her buttocks at a bar in 2015. Two other women said he rubbed his clothed crotch against them in separate incidents more than a decade ago.

Boulton, who had been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, declined to address the specific accusations but did not deny them. He apologized to the women.
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan introduced new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan to the senior officer staff at the defense ministry, the PMs Office said.

May 25, 2018, 14:36 PM Pashinyan introduces new Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces to senior officer staff

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS:PM Pashinyan thanked former Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General, Artsakh hero Movses Hakobyan for the dedicated service to the Fatherland and congratulated the new chief, Mayor-General Artak Davtyan on his appointment. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that Movses Hakobyan will fully invest his experience in the position of the Chief Military Inspector to consistently reach the increase of the combat readiness of the Armed Forces.

The PM stated that the Armed Forces enjoy the Armenian peoples complete trust, adding that there are issues in this trust which should be solved urgently, but with no hurry. Starting from the prime minister up to the lowest official at the public administration system, we should put a task to replace the feeling of work into a feeling of mission, since this is the moral-psychological base that will force us to resist the seemingly insurmountable issues. As a result of this the key task is to make the combat readiness of the Armed Forces in accordance with the estimated and predictable military threats and nature of war in order to guarantee the resistance to possible aggression. I attach importance to the fact that the Armenian government, the defense ministry, we all must completely and fully fulfill all duties we have before the serviceman. Finally, we must provide soldiers will all necessary items, the Prime Minister said, adding that he expects from the new chief of the General Staff that soldiers will no longer ask their parents to provide all necessary items.

In terms of the management of the Armed Forces, the PM attached importance to ensuring one-person leadership, increase of education process level in the Armenian Forces.

Of course, the increase of the social protection level of our officer staff and the officer in general is very important. A concrete task is put to significantly increase the level of state revenues, which, of course, should be followed by the increase of the funding of the Armed Forces, Nikol Pashinyan said, highlighting the necessity to take consistent steps to provide the officers with apartments and solve their social issues. This is an important factor, and our government must make serious efforts to solve these issues of the executive. I am convinced that there is a necessary intellectual potential, a necessary atmosphere in the Armed Forces, the Security Council in order to make reforms at these directions, he added.

As for the 2018-2024 Armed Forced Development Program, PM Pashinyan said it should be implemented consistently, meet the requirements of the time, react to the change of the military-political situation and be in line with the real needs of the Armed Forces. Summing up his remarks, the PM stated: I hope we have permanently closed the page of direct or indirect interventions by the Army to the politics. The Army defends the borders and security of our country, PM Pashinyan said, adding that the Armys careful eye should be directed to the adversary, and this principle must be maintained and preserved at all levels.

In his turn Movses Hakobyan thanked his all colleagues for the joint service. He wished the new Chief of the General Staff success, expressing hope that the traditions in the Armed Forces will be maintained and develop.

New Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan thanked the PM for the trust and stated that he will try to compensate that trust.
Democrats trying to wrestle control of Congress away from Republicans are deploying an anti-Trump strategy called, A Better Deal, which is essentially an anti-Trump, anti-tax reform agenda.

Instead of delivering on its promise to drain the swamp, President Trump has become the swamp, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday.

Rising gas prices will, as one economist put it, roughly cancel out the 2018 consumption boost from tax cuts, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-Calif., said Wednesday.

The best thing we can do to stop the worst part about the Trump agenda is to win the 2018 elections, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Thursday.

But there are Democrats running for re-election in states President Trump won easily, so talk like that isnt tenable for everyone in the party.

In West Virginia, people like Donald Trump, and they like Joe Manchin, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told Fox News. And you know what, we can work very well together.

Manchins campaign has internal polling showing he has an early lead over Republican challenger, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who recently emerged from a bruising primary plagued by personal attacks.

So dont expect to see Manchin, who is seeking a second full term, adopting the midterm strategy touted by Pelosi or Schumer.

Its not me, Manchin said. If theyre going to adopt a policy up here they think is their winning ticket, I dont think its a winning ticket for me at all.

Republicans candidates hoping to help the party retain or expand its congressional majorities are field-testing messages focused on the benefits of tax reform, a reduction in regulations, and the appointments of conservatives to courtrooms across the country.

If you look at the Supreme Court nominations, our judges right now are filling the federal courts, making good decisions based on the Constitution, not trying to be activist judges, Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., told Fox News.

Senate hopefuls are also offering themselves as helpful to a president who has struggled at times to convince lawmakers in his own party to align with his policy proposals.

The president's agenda is to save the middle class and that's what were working toward, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley told Fox News, about his campaign to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Hawley, considered a top GOP recruit this cycle, is also borrowing anti-establishment rhetoric reminiscent of President Trumps, calling McCaskill a member of the D.C. Cartel, which has feathered its own nest.

Borrowing from President Trumps 2016 phrase-book has already proven successful for Senate primary winners in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

The wall is being built, Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., said to cheers at his primary night victory speech. What the hell is there to be upset about?
Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday seemingly joked to an audience at a Las Vegas tech conference that his eight-year presidency was scandal-free.

"I didn't have scandals, which seems like it shouldn't be something you brag about," Obama said, according to Newsweek.

OBAMA CENTER FOES DESCRY 'RUBBER-STAMPING' AS CHICAGO COUNCIL OKS PROJECT

The 44th president was reportedly referencing the scandal-plagued Trump administration, saying that "if you look at the history of the modern presidency, coming out of the modern presidency without anybody going to jail is really good. It's a big deal."

"No one in my White House ever got in trouble for screwing up as long there wasn't malicious intent behind it," Obama reportedly told the crowd.

The former president, who, along with his wife Michelle, just signed a multiyear producing deal with Netflix, echoed similar sentiments in February when he reportedly said in a closed-door speech at MIT that his administration "didn't have a scandal that embarrassed us ... Generally speaking, you didn't hear about a lot of drama inside our White House."

FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS: A LIST OF NOTABLE DEPARTURES

Many Republicans would likely dispute Obama's scandal-free claim.

From the response to the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi, Libya to the "Fast and Furious" gun-tracking operation in Mexico to the IRS scrutinizing conservative groups applications for tax-exempt status, the Obama administration often had its own controversies to cope with.
Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan and other companies have pledged a total of more than $350,000 toward an effort to repeal Seattle's newly passed tax on large employers intended to combat homelessness.

Just days after the Seattle City Council approved the levy, the No Tax On Jobs campaign, a coalition of businesses, announced it would gather signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot to repeal it.

Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan, Kroger and Albertsons each promised $25,000 to the effort last week, according to a report filed by the campaign. The Washington Food Industry Association pledged $30,000.

Referendum backers will have to gather 17,632 signatures of registered Seattle voters by June 14 to get the measure on the ballot.

The so-called head tax will charge businesses making at least $20 million in gross revenues about $275 per full-time worker each year. The tax would begin in 2019 and raise about $48 million a year to build affordable housing and provide emergency homeless services.

Opponents say the Seattle measure is a tax on jobs and questioned whether city officials are spending current resources effectively.

Worker and church groups and others praised the tax as a step toward building badly needed affordable housing in an affluent city where the income gap continues to widen and lower-income workers are being priced out.

The clash over who should pay to solve the city housing crisis that's exacerbated by Seattle's rapid economic growth featured weeks of tense exchanges, raucous meetings and a threat by Amazon, the city's largest employer, to stop construction planning on a 17-story building near its hometown headquarters.

Amazon has resumed planning the downtown building, but the company remains "apprehensive about the future created by the council's hostile approach and rhetoric toward larger businesses, which forces us to question our growth here," said Drew Herdener, Amazon's vice president for global corporate and operations communications.

Four councilmembers initially pitched an annual tax of $500 per full-time employee before a compromise proposal lowered the tax rate after they could not muster six votes needed to override a potential veto by Mayor Jenny Durkan.

The mayor signed the head tax on May 16, saying "we must make urgent progress on our affordability and homelessness crisis."

Seattle's action came as cities around San Francisco consider business taxes to help offset issues created by the growth of tech companies.
A second founding board member of a progressive group inspired by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders failed 2016 presidential run resigned Wednesday, raising concerns of a racial strain within the organization, a report said.

Our Revolution former co-vice chair Catalina Velasquez, an undocumented immigrant and transgender activist, said she left the group because it was insensitive to Latino and immigrant issues. The departure fueled worries of tension between Latinos and African-Americans within the group, Politico reported.

For the past month, we have been fighting divisive narratives targeting immigrants and pinning us against other oppressed peoples, Velasquez wrote in a letter she posted on Twitter. I have faced this with little to no support from the organizational leadership.

Activists within the group had reportedly complained that issues important to one group, such as immigration reform or Black Lives Matter, have failed to become a focus for the other.

Additional complaints reportedly lodged against the organization included its transparency concerns in making endorsements, a drop-off in fundraising and a failure to influence major elections.

Velasquezs resignation came a month after the departure of Lucy Flores, the groups former political director, who left after claiming the group ignored Latino issues, the outlet reported. Insiders have labeled these issues as growing pains in the transition from presidential campaign to grass-roots organization.

Our Revolution was formed by Sanders top campaign workers after his 2016 presidential primary loss, in a bid to keep his grass-roots army ready for a potential 2020 presidential bid, according to Politico.

Sanders, who was criticized in 2016 for failing to connect with black voters and earn their votes in Southern states, announced Monday that he will seek re-election to the U.S. Senate. The move has been largely viewed as preparation for the 2020 campaign.

While Sanders has attempted to energize support across diverse groups, skeptical parties say he struggled then and clearly now reaching black voters.

The guys from Vermont, its not like he has a massive [black] constituency, Ray McKinnon, a black pastor from Charlotte, N.C., told Vox about Sanders, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. He failed to connect on a visceral sense.

Sanders will travel to California in June to meet with trade unionists and rally with Black Lives Matter activists.

Fox News Lukas Mikelionis contributed to this report.
The president of a union that represents U.S. Border Patrol personnel now says that President Donald Trump's decision last month to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border has been "a colossal waste of resources."

"We have seen no benefit," said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The comments were a marked departure for the union, which represents approximately 15,000 agents. The group endorsed Trump during his run for the presidency and previously voiced support for his border policies.

Earlier this week, for example, Judd defended Trump's decision to call MS-13 gang members "animals," telling Fox News that "they're worse than animals, in my opinion."

"We generally support the administration, but we're not going to be cheerleading when things are not going well."  Brandon Judd, president of National Border Patrol Council

And in January, Judd appeared in a White House video praising Trump, saying "thank you, Mr. President" and declaring that "the Trump administration has accomplished more in one year to secure our border than any other president."

Nearly 1,600 National Guard troops have been sent to the border, and Trump has said last month he wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard troops in total to crack down on the lawlessness that continues there.

Trump vowed in April that the National Guard's mission would continue until a border wall could be established.

WATCH: NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS SUPPORT BORDER PATROL AGENTS

Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, Trump said. That's a big step, we really havent done that before, or certainly not very much before.

Initially, Judd said, the president's plans led to a sense of optimism.

"When I found out the National Guard was going to be on the border I was extremely excited," Judd told the Los Angeles Times.

Judd said the positive result from previous National Guard deployments to the border, such as those ordered by former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, "has not happened at all" this time around.

During deployments in 2014 and 2010, Judd said, National Guard troops "were allowed to do a lot more than they are under the Trump administration. They were allowed to be in lookout and observation posts. They were allowed to be out grading the roads and mending fences. They were allowed to be our eyes and ears, freeing us up."

But this time, according to Judd: "They're not allowed to be in the public eye. They're not allowed to be in our lookout and observation posts, even in Texas.

BORDER PATROL AGENT REPORTEDLY SHOOTS, KILLS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN TEXAS

"We generally support the administration, but we're not going to be cheerleading when things are not going well," he added.

In Washington, Trump administration officials say the deployment is still in its initial stages -- and has been far more effective than Judd claims.

"While the National Guard deployment has not yet reached full capacity, it has clearly and unquestionably been a success with thousands of additional apprehensions and millions of dollars of drugs kept out of our country," Katie Waldman, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, told the Los Angeles Times. "The third request for assistance to deploy additional Guardsmen in support of the mission to secure the southern border was recently authorized and is being implemented. More help is on the way."

Federal law restricts National Guard troops in federal service from performing law enforcement activities, but they can when operating under state authority and are permitted to assist Border Patrol officers with certain law enforcement functions.
A Los Angeles firefighter received $300,000 in overtime pay in one year by working more hours than actually exist in a single year.

Donn Thompson augmented his $92,000 salary by more than a quarter of a million dollars in 2017, Reason magazine reported, citing data from Transparent California, a project of the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

It wasnt a one-off payout, as Thompson earned over $1 million in overtime pay over the last four years.

But the math behind the pay doesnt add up. It would have required the firefighter to work 9,280 hours in a year, despite there being 8,760 hours in a single year.

The magazine crunched the numbers and claimed that the firefighter earned his base salary of $92,000 by working 2,912 hours at an hourly rate of $31.60. For overtime hourly rate, Thompson would earn $47.40, meaning that in order to receive $300,000 in overtime pay for the whole year, he would have had to work 6,370 hours  bringing the total hours worked to 9,280.

Robert Fellner, director of the institute, said the firefighters ability to work that many hours boggles the mind and said that Thompson was likely taking advantage of generous contract provisions that boost overtime pay above the typical rate.

Thompson is reportedly known for mastering the way to max out overtime pay. Between 1993 and 1995 he earned nearly $220,000 in overtime, a 1996 Los Angeles Times article reported. Thompson said at the time that most overtime hours are linked to covering for other workers at the stations and not to fires or other emergencies.

In 2008, Thompson earned nearly $180,000 in overtime pay, the Los Angeles Daily News reported, noting that the L.A. fire department's overtime budget skyrocketed by over 60 percent in a decade.

Thompson justified his pay a few years ago, saying he "basically lived at the station and worked hard to earn it.

"The first thing [people] think of is firefighters sitting around at the station, but they're not just handing out free money over here," Thompson told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "I'm working hard."
A congressman from Southern California is facing backlash over recent remarks that, in his view, homeowners have a right to refuse to sell their property to gays and lesbians, reports said.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., a 15-term member of Congress, reportedly made the comments May 16 at a meeting in Washington, D.C., of a delegation from the Orange County Association of Realtors.

Every homeowner should be able to make a decision not to sell their home to someone [if] they dont agree with their lifestyle, Rohrabacher told the gathering, according to Wayne Woodyard, a former president of the Realtor organization, the Orange County Register reported.

Rohrabacher, who represents Californias 48th Congressional District in coastal Orange County, confirmed the accuracy of the sentiment Thursday, the Register reported.

He said homeowners should have the right to choose who they do business with. He distinguished race-based discrimination from refusing to do business with a person for their lifestyle or political beliefs.

Weve drawn a line on racism, but I dont think we should extend that line, Rohrabacher said.

A Realtor gay-rights group reportedly protested Rohrabachers statement, prompting the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to withdraw its support for Rohrabacher, the newspaper reported.

We certainly hope that Congress will  support the elimination of housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, NAR, a trade group of 1.3 million members. said.

Rohrabacher faces 15 challengers in his toughest re-election campaign, including eight Democrats and former Orange County GOP chairman Scott Baugh, the report said.

One of the Democrats running against Rohrabacher is Harley Rouda, son of a former Realtor association president, the Register reported.

Click here for more from the Orange County Register.
Many pundits are predicting a blue wave will bring Democrats to power in this years congressional elections. But an even bluer wave is surging into the party's primaries this year, lifting far-left candidates over moderates  and potentially causing problems for the party's midterm hopes.

Primary after Democratic primary has featured a progressive candidate versus a moderate, with the liberal alternative often winning.

A case study in the ascendant progressive wing was Pennsylvanias 1st Congressional District primary race earlier this month, featuring Scott Wallace versus Rachel Reddick.

Reddick seemed the perfect candidate  a mother, a veteran and only 33.

'Democrats will be united as never before.'  Democratic congressional candidate Scott Wallace

Politically, however, she was seen as fairly moderate  a Republican until recently, in fact. And Wallace, a multimillionaire who had long supported liberal causes, had the backing of many local Democrats and the wherewithal to outspend his opponent.

The primary wasnt close. He won by more than 20 percentage points.

In an interview with Fox News, Wallace proudly claimed the progressive mantle: To me, it means values weighted toward the people, rather than corporations and the wealthy.

CLICK FOR SENATE RACE RATINGS AND FULL MIDTERM COVERAGE

Wallace, 66, has never run for office before, but, as he explains, hes got a long political history. His grandfather, Henry Wallace, served as FDRs vice president. And, Wallace notes, he himself has worked as staff counsel on two U.S. Senate committees and heads a foundation that attempts to bring citizens' voices into the political debate.

He moved back to his home state to run because, he says, he couldnt sit on the sidelines this time around. Wallace said the most fundamental values of our American democracy are under assault as never before  a free press, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, and basic respect for truth, facts and science.

The central message of his campaign is to serve everyday people, he said.

His platform, though, is squarely aligned with the party's left flank: Medicare for All, transitioning to renewable energy and safeguarding Social Security from Republican assault.

That worked in the primary. Whether it will work in a general election is far from certain.

Polls show a close race in the general election battle against against incumbent Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick won in 2016 by 9 percentage points, but since then his district has been redrawn by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and no one is sure if it trends blue or red.

Wallace believes the previous map was gerrymandered just enough to guarantee a Republican win ... the effect of the new map is modest  but perhaps just enough to make a huge difference.

Wallace thinks Fitzpatricks record of voting with President Trump and the Republican agenda wont play well with the electorate. He adds his opponent has cast votes that serve his corporate donors rather than the people.

But Wallace himself has been accused of being a rich man whos out of touch with regular folks.

Said Team Fitzpatrick spokesperson Haley Bova: The Lugar Center at Georgetown University ranked Brian Fitzpatrick as the No. 1 most bipartisan freshman congressman in the nation, and Scott Wallace is the most far-left extremist candidate to ever run for Congress in the history of this district. This district has zero appetite for the ultra-left extremist views of Scott Wallace and the hate groups that he has showered his millions of dollars upon."

The Republican National Committee cited the Pennsylvania primary among several earlier this month producing candidates who "will be unappealing to general election voters."

Wallace responds that his money allows him to decline all corporate PAC money. Further, he said, I grew up here, waiting tables, pumping gas, working as a carpenters assistant, night manager at the Doylestown Burger Chef, and reporter for the local Bucks Country magazine.

For his part, Fitzpatrick has also played up his roots in the community, as well as his service as an FBI agent.

"His whole life has been about protecting our nation and serving our communities," a recent ad declares.

All eyes are on his district as a bellwether for whether liberal nominees help or hurt the Democratic Party in November. But Wallace doesnt accept theres a civil war going on within his party, as some claim.

Democrats will be united as never before, he said, noting the opponents he defeated are behind him.

I dont think voters care much about political labels. What they want are policies that are pro-people, he said.

Fox News' Kristine Kotta contributed to this report.
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, was branded emotionally abusive and angry and vindictive by his wife in court documents after he allegedly verbally ambushed and threatened her in the wake of their messy divorce.

The hotshot attorney has attracted near-universal admiration from CNN and MSNBC for his representation of Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, in her legal battle against a non-disclosure agreement involving an alleged 2006 fling with President Trump.

But while the lawyer is being celebrated as a hero for standing up to the president, his wifes sworn testimony from his divorce alleged a darker side.

[Avenatti] is hot tempered and used to having his way  when he doesnt he gets extremely loud and verbally aggressive, Lisa Storie-Avenatti said in court records obtained by Fox News.

While she has since walked back the allegations, at the time she called him emotionally abusive and harmful to both her and their 3-year-old son  and requested the court to issue an exclusion order against him, barring him from entering their Newport Beach, Calif., residence, fearing his presence could cause harm.

The purpose of these exclusion / exclusive use orders is intended to prevent acts of domestic violence and to provide for a separation of the persons involved for a period sufficient to enable them to seek a resolution of the cause of the violence, court records noted.

Avenatti denied the abuse allegations Thursday, saying there was never any abuse, alleged or otherwise, noting that the court never gave credence to the allegations and pointing to the signed stipulation filed in court.

Following the email exchange with Avenatti, Storie-Avenatti also issued a statement backtracking on the allegations she made in court under oath, saying there was never any abuse, alleged or otherwise, in our relationship.

The alleged behavior may be another setback for the ubiquitous attorney who suggested his fight against Trump is a victory for women who were silenced by powerful people like the president.

Avenatti has been on a media crusade for months now, pursuing Trump and, more recently, the president's personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Avenatti has appeared on broadcast and cable news nearly 150 times over the past 10 weeks, with 74 of the appearances on CNN, according a Media Research Center report last week.

But amid controversy over his tax issues and a ruling on Tuesday ordering a law firm managed by Avenatti to pay up $10 million to an attorney for failing to honor a settlement deal, he has found himself on defense lately.

ANTI-TRUMP PORN STAR LAWYER MICHAEL AVENATTI SUDDENLY VANISHES FROM CNN STUDIOS AFTER DOZENS OF INTERVIEWS

Storie-Avenatti, who has been married to the lawyer since 2011, reportedly kicked him out of the house and changed the locks. In court records, she provided examples of Avenattis alleged troubling behavior.

In one instance, on Dec. 17, 2017, court records claim, Avenatti appeared outside their former marital residence and angrily demanded entry. He allegedly began shouting at his wife and threatened to stay at the house every night of the coming week against her consent.

Then, he allegedly started filming Storie-Avenatti with his cell phone and said that he brought his 15-year-old daughter from his previous marriage to act as a witness. The wife tried to escape Avenattis incessant tirade and verbal outbursts, asserting that he was frightening both of the children, according to court records.

Avenatti then allegedly called the police, asking for help to enter the property. Upon arrival, police officers refused his request. They later told Storie-Avenatti to expect a nasty divorce.

Avenatti had a different recollection of the incident. He denied to Fox News that there was verbal abuse and said he never threatened to stay in the house against his wife's wishes, though he added that, if I did, that was my right under California law.

He said the police were actually supportive of him, but stated they could not grant me access, but if I wanted to force access I could because I had every right to the home.

The statements you are relying on were made in connection with Lisa's failed attempt to get a spousal and child support order of $215,000 a month ordered by the court. That never happened and the Court never gave any credence to her allegations, Avenatti said.

In another incident, on Dec. 19, Storie-Avenatti detailed a meeting with her husband regarding a Christmas visitation schedule for their child, in which he allegedly threatened her again, saying he would burn all their fortune in the divorce. He also allegedly said he would ensure both of them get arrested to ensure their child gets placed in protective custody.

Avenatti said the incident never happened.

[Avenattis] appalling lack of judgment in bringing his teenage daughter to act as a witness and frightening her in the process, demonstrated that he is a selfish and not child-centered, not to mention the emotional upheaval that he [caused] to Lisa, an attorney for Storie-Avenatti wrote.

His follow-up with threats on December 19 that he would intentionally deprive the parties son of his mother and primary care giver and cause [their son] to be placed into protective custody further illustrate that [Avenatti] is angry and vindictive, and has no regard for any emotional harm caused to his son, his daughter, or to Lisa, it added.

Yet, despite the alleged conduct, Storie-Avenatti claims to be having problems legally separating from him.

I need to be divorced and if [Avenatti] continues to paint the narrative, he can ignore our case! she told Fox News last week.

According to court records, Avenattis persistent refusal to cooperate and respond to his wifes discovery requests -- asking information about his income, assets and liabilities -- is causing a delay in the proceedings.

This matter can neither settle nor proceed to hearing or trial without accurate and complete assessment of assets and obligations of the parties. Therefore, [Avenatti], by his willful refusal to provide sufficient and compliant responses  is causing needless delay in resolution of this matter, Storie-Avenattis legal team said.

Avenatti declined most requests for information about his finances, claiming the requests were vague, ambiguous, overbroad, and unduly burdensome and oppressive. He also claimed some requests were protected by the attorney-client privilege. He denied stalling the divorce proceedings.

In an email to Fox News, Avenatti also addressed a number of other allegations laid out by Storie-Avenatti in court documents, despite not being asked about them.

You are publishing this story as part of your attempt to discredit me and distract away from the serious legal issues surrounding Mr. Trump. You see me and my client as a serious threat to his presidency so you have decided to resort to personal attacks designed to malign us. It will not work, he wrote in an email.

Avenatti recently publicized information about large corporate payments Cohen received in exchange for "insights" into the young Trump administration, as well as payments from a Russia-linked firm. The details have led to widespread scrutiny of those deals, and brought the lawyer into the national public spotlight.

Storie-Avenatti, meanwhile, was adamant in her email to Fox News that abuse did not take place: To be clear, there was never any abuse, alleged or otherwise, in our relationship. I never feared for my safety or that of my son. Period. Michael has in the past been a loving and caring husband and is a loving and caring father. I never called the police because I was never threatened with harm. I never sought to have him excluded from our home because I felt threatened or feared for my safety or that of my son.

Further, he has paid all child support and spousal support. He is a good man. It appears you are trying to harm him and our family by publishing a defamatory story that has no basis in reality.
A cop killer recently released from prison will get another added benefit of freedom: the right to vote.

Herman Bell, 70, who served 44 years in prison for the murder of two New York police officers in the 1970s, was granted parole last month by the state parole board. But a fresh decision by New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to issue conditional pardons to more than 24,000 parolees means Bell can vote in the upcoming election.

How could he do something like that? This is a convicted felon. He killed police officers in New York, Dianne Piagentini, the widow of one of the murdered officers, said on Fox & Friends Friday, noting Bell was tried and convicted and given 25 years to life in prison.

Cuomos pardons, issued earlier this week, cover 24,086 ex-cons who are under parole supervision, including Bell. The move follows a related executive order signed by the governor last month.

In 1971, Bell, a convicted ex-gang member, murdered New York police officers Joseph Piagentini and his partner, Waverly Jones. The New York State Parole Board voted to give Bell parole in April.

Cuomo has criticized the parole boards decision, but said the panel is not subject to his control.

If I were on the parole board, I would not have made that decision, Cuomo told reporters last month. The parole board is an independent board but I would not have made that decision.

Despite Cuomos opposition to Bells release and parole, the governors new policy makes Bell eligible to participate at the polls during the 2018 New York primaries and general election.

The right to vote is fundamental and it is unconscionable to deny that basic right of citizenship to New Yorkers who have paid their debt to society, Cuomo said. Restoring a voice to men and women reentering their communities will strengthen our democracy, as well as the reentry process, which in turn will help reduce recidivism.

Dianne Piagentini, in the interview with Fox News, stressed that Bell was tried and convicted and given 25 years to life in prison.

Hes doing it for votes, Piagentini said. He did it right before the Democratic convention.

Cuomos announcement came in the run-up to the New York Democratic Convention. Cuomo is seeking a third term as governor of New York, campaigning against former Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon in the gubernatorial primary.

Cuomo has also faced criticism from the Republican candidate for governor, Marcus Molinaro.

While I unequivocally believe in second chances, I also believe in the rule of law, Molinaro said when Cuomo signed the executive order. Desperate to ward off a challenge from Cynthia Nixon, Andrew Cuomos unilateral action is an insult to the legislature, the courts, crime victims and the voters of the State of New York.

Molinaro added this week that Bell belongs in a maximum security prison cell for life, not in a voting booth.

A spokesperson for Cuomo's office and his campaign did not respond to Fox News' request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
At least 186 undocumented migrants were held in western Turkey, Hurriyet Daily News reports, citing security sources.

May 25, 2018, 16:35 Around 190 undocumented migrants captured in Turkeys west

STEPANAKERT, MAY 25, ARTSAKHPRESS:Provincial gendarmerie said that a total of 126 undocumented migrants were held in operations carried out in Mugla, a southwestern coastal province.

The Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants were trying to cross to Greece illegally by sea, the gendarmerie added.

They were later referred to provincial migration authorities.

Separately, in the northwestern Edirne province, Turkish border security forces held 60 undocumented migrants during surveillance in the Uzunkopru, Havsa and Meric districts.

The migrants were Moroccan, Syrian, Palestinian, Afghan, and Somali nationals.

Turkey has been a main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since 2011, the start of the Syrian civil war.
A combination of changing political views and Democratic turmoil has Republicans seeing red in the once-liberal stronghold of Minnesota, where a tossup governors race has given the party hope and could serve as a bellwether for future elections.

In 2018, we want to turn Minnesota red and in 2020 deliver Minnesotas 10 electoral votes for President Trump for the first time since the state voted for Nixon [in 1972], Minnesota Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan told Fox News. The election in November will be a tipping point for our state for possibly many decades.

Despite the states solid-blue record in past presidential elections, Hillary Clinton narrowly won Minnesota over President Trump by just 1.5 percentage points in 2016. Republicans now control both chambers of the state legislature. And the Democratic Farmer Labor Partyas its known in Minnesotasuffered a hit to the brand after Al Franken resigned from the Senate amid accusations of sexual harassment. The resignation also left voters to decide two U.S. Senate races this year, in additional to the likely competitive gubernatorial contest.

Two-term Democratic Gov. Mark Daytons decision not to seek re-election touched off this years battle for the state's highest office.

SENATE RACE RATINGS AND FULL MIDTERM COVERAGE

The marquee name on the Republican side of the race is former two-term Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is walloping his GOP primary rivals in fundraising, while U.S. Rep. Tim Walz is the leading Democratic candidate.

The Cook Political Report, Sabatos Crystal Ball and Fox News Power Rankings rank the governors race a tossup. Inside Elections still classifies it as leaning Democrat.

In the primaries, Pawlentys chief opponent is Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, the 2014 Republican candidate for governor. Meanwhile, progressive state Auditor Rebecca Otto and state Rep. Erin Murphy are challenging Walz for the Democratic nomination.

National campaign arms seem to anticipate the nominees. The Democratic Governors Association already is targeting Pawlenty for his past lobbying ties. The Republican Governors Association has focused on Walz for a recent comment he made on rural Minnesota being mostly rocks and cows that are in that red area.

The Democratic National Committee announced in May it would give a $100,000 grant to the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor party for outreach to rural voters. This came after a Buzzfeed report asserted Minnesota Democrats are becoming a party made up solely of the Twin Cities and upscale suburbs.

While the runaway winner in fundraising, Pawlenty opted to forgo seeking his partys endorsement at the June state Republican convention, heading straight into the Aug. 14 primary.

Skipping the convention is a sign Pawlenty has trouble with the modern GOP, said David Turner, spokesman for the Democratic Governors Association, who compared the Minnesota contest to the 2017 Virginia governors racewhich was expected to be close but turned into a big victory for centrist Democrat Ralph Northam over moderate Republican Ed Gillespie.

What weve seen in 2017 and 2018 is a high level of enthusiasm among Democratic voters, Turner told Fox News. Pawlenty is eerily similar to Ed Gillespie in Virginia. Both had harshly criticized President Trump in the past and lobbied for Wall Street. Now, Pawlenty is coming back to Minnesota andlike Gillespiedoesnt know how to deal with the current Trump Republican party.

Carnahan, though, said the Franken resignation represented chaos and discord for Democrats.

Still, the special election for Frankens former seat and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchars race are ranked solid Democrat.

After Franken resigned, Dayton named his Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to the seat. Former George W. Bush administration chief ethics counsel turned-Trump critic Richard Painter later jumped into the Democratic Senate primary against Smith. On the Republican side, state Sen. Karin Housley is running, as is real estate developer Jerry Trooien.

Meanwhile, Republican state Rep. Jim Newberger appears to be the leading opponent against Klobuchar.

But Republicans see evidence of a politically shifting demographic in both the gubernatorial and 2016 presidential races  a trend that could favor them in future elections.

Minnesota was the lone state that favorite son Walter Mondale narrowly won in President Ronald Reagans 49-state landslide in 1984. Presidential contests, though, can be won and lost in the Midwest battleground states. While Trump lost Minnesota, he flipped Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin -- four Midwestern states then-President Barack Obama twice carried.

Republican victories in Minnesota would drive a stake through the Democratic Party at all levels, Carnahan continued. They will have lost the entire upper Midwest.

The 2018 race in Minnesota also impacts who controls the state legislature for the next decade, and the congressional delegation. The House and Senate are responsible for drawing up redistricting maps after the 2020 Census, and the governor will sign or veto. Last time this happened, in 2011, partisan clashes led to a court battle over legislative maps. But, if the same party holds the governorship and the legislature, the process would be streamlined. Thats why the National Democratic Redistricting Commission is targeting the state.

Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal. Follow him on Twitter @FredLucasWH.
President Trumps legal team considered Camp David as a possible location for a meeting between the president and Special Counsel Robert Mueller as early as January, Fox News has learned.

A source with knowledge of the discussions told Fox News that during internal deliberations early this year, Trumps lawyers discussed Camp David  the Maryland retreat for presidents  as a possible interview location. They did not discuss that location with Mueller.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the details of the deal that came close, but was never made, amid an internal debate on the presidents legal team about the wisdom of Trump sitting for a Mueller interview.

According to a source, together with Mueller, Trumps attorneys penciled in Jan. 27 as a possible date for an interview. Mueller said he would likely need about a half a day, the person said.

The special counsels office declined to comment.

Trumps attorneys, at the time, wanted to know what topics Mueller was looking to cover in a meeting and why he thought it necessary to interview the president at all. At the time, then-Trump lawyer John Dowd was putting together a legal argument that Mueller had a high bar to clear if he wanted to talk to Trump face-to-face.

RUDY GIULIANI TAKES OVER TALKS WITH MUELLER ON POSSIBLE TRUMP INTERVIEW

Mueller told Trumps attorneys that he wanted the session on the record with a court reporter and under oath, the source said.

Trumps attorneys felt that Mueller hadnt made a strong enough case during the meeting to justify an interview with the president  so they sent him a lengthy letter listing arguments against doing an interview. The letter, about 20 pages long, was put together by Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and his assistants.

The intention was to push back against Mueller  make him work and prove that he needed to talk to the president, the source said.

The legal team also wanted to know what was on Muellers mind after all the material they and the White House provided to the special counsel. The source says Trump was very pleased with the letter.

The legal teams eventual advice to the president was that no interview was warranted or justified, but they didnt slam the door on the idea.

In their next meeting, Mueller told the presidents legal team that Trump was not a target of the investigation, the source said. Trumps attorneys kept pushing Mueller for more specifics on what he wanted to ask, and eventually said they would need the list of questions. Mueller provided those in early April.

Negotiations over a possible interview are ongoing to this day.

Fox News Alex Pappas contributed to this report.
President Trump told Fox News on Friday he has struck a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease U.S. sanctions imposed on Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE.

The Commerce Department last month blocked China's ZTE from importing American components for seven years, accusing it of misleading U.S. regulators after it last year settled charges of violating sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The ban was a virtual death sentence for ZTE, which relies on U.S. parts.

The Trump administration, though, caused controversy by putting ZTE in play amid trade negotiations.

According to Trump, Xi recently called him to ask if there was something he could do to put the company back in business. Trump asked Xi what he was prepared to do, the president said -- and Xi replied that he was willing to have ZTE pay a fine of $500 million dollars for the embargo violations, change the management and replace the board. Trump countered with a fine of $1.5 billion, the management and board swaps, security guarantees and a guarantee that ZTE would buy a large percentage of its parts from U.S. companies, he said.

After further negotiations, they settled at a $1.3 billion fine, according to the president.

Trump told Fox News his handling of ZTE shows that he is prepared to be tough on China and Chinese companies when they misbehave.

ZTE  I shut it down, Trump told Fox News. Obama didnt punish ZTE. I shut it down.

Trump said Xi told him tens of thousands of people would lose their jobs if the U.S. continued to refuse to sell parts to ZTE. Xi told Trump many of those jobs were in his hometown.

The Commerce Department also informed officials on Capitol Hill on Friday that a deal has been reached.

Democrats, meanwhile, blasted the potential deal on Friday.

If the administration goes through with this reported deal, President Trump would be helping make China great again, said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Simply a fine and changing board members would not protect Americas economic or national security, and would be a huge victory for President Xi, and a dramatic retreat by President Trump. Both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio also came out against it, calling it a "great deal... for #ZTE & China."

The ZTE talks occur after the U.S. and China last weekend suspended plans to impose tariffs on as much as $200 billion in each other's goods, pulling back from the brink of a trade war. China on Tuesday made a conciliatory gesture by cutting the tariff on imported vehicles to 15 percent from 25 percent, effective July 1.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin famously said last weekend that the trade war is on hold.

In the face of congressional criticism, Mnuchin on Tuesday denied that the U.S. is offering relief for ZTE in exchange for trade concessions.

"This is not a quid pro quo or anything else," Mnuchin told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.

Fox News Alex Pappas and Chad Pergram and Fox Business Blake Burman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump on Friday gave a triumphant, patriotic speech to 2018 graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy, promising to stand up for the U.S. without apology and hailing what he said was the re-emergence of American confidence since he took office.

Our economy is the strongest its ever been and our country has regained the respect that we used to have long ago abroad, he said in the commencement speech in Annapolis, Maryland. Yes they're respecting us again, yes America is back.

Trump spoke to 1,042 newly commissioned ensigns and second lieutenants. In his remarks, he highlighted his efforts to increase federal spending and took credit for securing pay increases for the military and more ships.

He told the graduates that a robust military made America safer as youre less likely to have to use it if you have it, but said that if the U.S. must fight, then it should fight to win.

If a fight must come, there is no other alternative, he said. Victory, winning, beautiful words but that's what it's all about.

His remarks come a day after he cancelled a planned summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un amid aggressive language from that country. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday, however, hinted that the summit may be back on if our diplomats can pull it off.

TRUMP WELCOMES 'PRODUCTIVE' STATEMENT FROM NORTH KOREA, SAYS DEMS 'ROOTING AGAINST' TALKS

Trump has heightened tensions with Iran after he pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal -- a deal he had repeatedly blasted as a bad deal put together in part by the Obama administration

In his speech Friday, Trump also targeted critics and cynics within America who he said have sought to downplay the U.S.

A growing number use their platform to denigrate America's incredible heritage, challenge Americas sovereignty and weaken Americas pride, he said.

That appeared to be a reference to some Democrats, who in a tweet earlier Friday Trump accused of rooting against the U.S. in its negotiations with North Korea, and siding with MS-13 gang members.

We are not going to apologize for America, we are going to stand up for America -- no more apologies, he said in his address to graduates. We are going to stand up for our citizens, stand up for our values and stand up for our men and women in uniform.

Trump ran his 2016 presidential campaign on the slogan Make America Great Again and in his remarks, suggested that he believed that his campaign slogan was being achieved, citing a great reawakening of American spirit and American might.

We have rediscovered our dignity, regained our stride and we are proud again, he said.

Fox News Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


President Trump kept the diplomacy door open with North Korea on Friday, welcoming the regime's latest productive statement and saying the two sides are still talking following the administrations decision to cancel a planned summit with Kim Jong Un.

In a tweet on Friday night, the president said talks about reinstating a June summit that was canceled earlier this week were progressing: "We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date."

Trump had nixed the summit following threats from North Korea. But hours after the U.S. pulled out of the meeting, North Korea issued a statement suggesting the regime was open to talks.

Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell! Trump tweeted on Friday morning.

He also told reporters that were talking to them now, adding, It could even be the 12th.

They very much want to do it, we want to do it, well see what happens, Trump said. Everybody plays games.

A top North Korean official had issued a statement Thursday evening expressing the regimes willingness to sit down for a summit with the U.S.

We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said, according to Yonhap News outlet, which cited the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA.)

The official also said that Trumps move to call off the summit highlighted the tensions between the two countries, further emphasizing the need for a meeting. The official added that Kim had been preparing for the summit.

Despite all of this, the U.S. unilateral decision to scrap the talks causes us to reconsider whether all of the efforts and the path we have taken is really the right one or not, the official said, according to Yonhap. Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the U.S.

But on Friday, with the door left open for potential U.S.-North Korea talks, Trump suggested it was the Democrats who were against negotiations with the rogue regime.

Democrats are so obviously rooting against us in our negotiations with North Korea. Just like they are coming to the defense of MS 13 thugs, saying that they are individuals & must be nurtured, or asking to end your big Tax Cuts & raise your taxes instead. Dems have lost touch! Trump tweeted Friday.

Following Trumps letter to Kim on Thursday suggesting to hold the meeting would have been inappropriate, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted the president, suggesting Kim had won.

Pelosi described the letter from Trump to Kim as a Valentine.

Hes the big winner and when he got this letter from the president saying okay nevermind, he must be having a giggle fit, right now, in North Korea, Pelosi said on Capitol Hill Thursday.

Also on Friday, the president tweeted about the reported FBI informant who had communicated with members of his campaign in 2016.

The Democrats are now alluding to the concept that having an informant placed in an opposing partys campaign is different than having a Spy, as illegal as that may be. But what about an informant who is paid a fortune and who sets up way earlier than the Russia Hoax? Trump tweeted.

Moments later he added: Can anyone even imagine having Spies placed in a competing campaign, by the people and party in absolute power, for the sole purpose of political advantage and gain? And to think that the party in question, even with the expenditure of far more money, LOST!

After a high-level Justice Department briefing held Thursday on the Russia case, Democratic lawmakers maintained there was no evidence to support claims of a spy in the Trump campaign.

Fox News' Liz Zwirz contributed to this report.
President Trump's announcement that he would sit down with Kim Jong Un came as a global shock. His cancellation of the meeting, not so much.

You didn't have to be a master diplomat to discern that things were rapidly going downhill between the two countries. North Korea may well have backed him into a corner. And a president who places a premium on projecting strength was not going to stand for that.

Amid indications that Kim might back out of the June 12 summit in Singapore, Trump decided to strike first.

While experts analyze the verbal sniping that led up to the cancellation, I think that misses the larger point. When two world leaders want to meet, they ignore divisive rhetoric and sit down together. That was certainly the case with all those Soviet summits from Nikita Khrushchev to Mikhail Gorbachev.

Still, the atmosphere turned chilly from the moment that Kim objected to the U.S.-South Korea military exercises, which he'd previously said were fine. Then came North Korean objections to televised comments by John Bolton when the national security adviser said the administration would follow the Libya model for denuclearizationnot exactly appealing words to the North Koreans, since Muammar Qaddafi wound up dead.

After Vice President Pence told Fox's Martha MacCallum that "this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn't make a deal," the Norths foreign vice minister called Pence a "political dummy" and said it was up to the White House "whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown."

That may have been the last straw for Trump, who said earlier this week there was a "substantial chance" that the summit would not come off. Yesterday he pulled the plug. No matter that North Korea had just destroyed its nuclear test site, though some experts believe it had been damaged beyond repair.

Donald Trump often walks away from the table, or threatens to, as he did as a New York businessman. He has spoken of pulling out of NAFTA several times. He vowed to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal before finally doing so.

This is, to him, a negotiating style, all part of what he once called the art of the deal. He is, after all, the man who repeatedly denounced Kim as Little Rocket Man and threatened to destroy his country if necessary before becoming his negotiating partner.

Indeed, Trumps letter to Kim contained some conciliatory notes: "Someday, I look very much forward to meeting you ... If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

That is called leaving the door open.

Some skeptics believed that Trump was giving Kim the world stature conferred by such a meeting without getting anything in return. Others said the U.S. wasn't ready for a nuclear summit, that enough groundwork hadn't been laid for successful talks. In this view, Trump was more interested in the optics of a splashy summit, and a potential Nobel Prize, than in doing the arduous work of negotiating a verifiable disarmament in exchange for the elimination of economic sanctions.

If that's true, the cancellation might buy more time for a successful summit down the roadif such a meeting ever materializes.
An Ohio man attempting to eradicate some pesky weeds nearly destroyed his home in the process when he accidentally set his garage ablaze.

On May 24, Springfield firefighters were called to a home on Scioto Street around 4 a.m. to battle a fire engulfing a detached garage, The Springfield News-Sun reports.

The unnamed homeowner was attempting to wipe out the weeds surrounding his garage with a torch, but the blaze soon grew out of hand, as evidenced in a photo shared by WHIO TV to Fox News.

PLANTING AROUND YOUR PROPERTY? AVOID THESE 5 COMMON MISTAKES MOST HOMEOWNERS MAKE

The Associated Press reports that the destroyed garage held tools and appliances, accounting for a loss of somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000.

Authorities are ruling the blaze as accidental.

CHIP & JOANNA GAINES OFFER FIRST POST-SHOW FLIP HOME FOR UNDER $400K

The accidental house fire in Ohio is in the second in recent weeks to make headlines. On May 6, officials announced that an exploding vape pen may have caused deadly fire at a Florida house.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Texas man who had just moved into a new home in Morgan's Point Resort was shaking in his boots after a surprise guest showed up at his front door Tuesday.

A nearly 7-foot reptile, later identified as a Texas rat snake, was coiled around the grille on the homeowner's door. As the man went to turn his key in the door, the snake moved.

"The serpent moved in for a closer look ... the guy was clearly a bit caught off guard," Taran Vaszocz-Williams, a training chief with Morgan's Point Resort Fire Department, told KTRK-TV.

Vaszocz-Williams, along with several coworkers, grabbed snake handling tongs to safely remove the reptile from the door. The officials then packed the serpent up in a cardboard box and relocated it.

"You just never know what you might encounter on an Engine Company..." Morgan's Point Resort Fire Department joked on Facebook Tuesday, posting several photos of the large brown and white-colored snake.

"The serpent moved in for a closer look ... the guy was clearly a bit caught off guard."  Taran Vaszocz-Williams

Fire officials said the new resident "wasnt too thrilled about the welcome wagon or, in this case, welcome snake," though the serpent seemed pretty pleased with his new "digs."

In Texas, you have to be prepared for anything, a Morgan's Point Resort Fire Department spokesman told Fox News. Morgan's Point firefighters are encouraged to shake out their fire gear and check their boots for critters.

"We definitely see a variety of things out there," the spokesman said, adding that they've found some tarantulas in their station. "They can be an unpleasant surprise, but both are an important part of our ecosystem and natural pest control."

The Texas rat snake is a non-venomous reptile that's commonly found in North Texas. The largest rat snake ever recorded in the area was 7.2 feet long, according to the Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center.

"Texas rat snakes are excellent climbers and there have been occasional reports of Texas rat snakes climbing the sides of brick walls on buildings," the center explains on its website. "This can be the result of the snake detecting the presence of rodents, which often seek shelter in attics."

Vaszocz-Williams assured residents that the reptile was taken to nearby woods, where it can find plenty of tasty treats.

"Officer Martinez provided a chauffeured ride to a wooded area where the snake could go about his business with rodents and such," Vaszocz-Williams told KTRK-TV.
Researchers at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have discovered trace amounts of opioids in mussels in several locations off the Seattle coast  a telling sign of the severity of the opioid problem that has plagued communities across the country.

Scientists took mussels from an aquaculture source that were drug free, and placed them in 18 residential areas around Puget Sound for several months, before teaming up with Puget Sound Institute to re-test the marine life to see if any had been contaminated with opioids, CBS News reported.

Small amounts of drugs are deposited in human waste after theyre ingested, which wastewater management systems struggle to completely remove, resulting in trace amounts of narcotics being dumped into oceans, according to the outlet.

The mussels, which are filter feeders, absorbed small amounts of oxycodone in three of the 18 locations, CBS reported.

"What we eat and what we excrete goes into the Puget Sound," Jennifer Lanksbury, a biologist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, told KIRO-TV. "It's telling me there's a lot of people taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound area."

"What we eat and what we excrete goes into the Puget Sound. It's telling me there's a lot of people taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound area."  Jennifer Lanksbury, biologist, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

The shellfish tested were not near any commercial fishing beds, and the amount of opioids discovered in the mussels were thousands of times smaller than a typical human dose, the Puget Sound Institute said, according to the outlet.

However, the results indicate the opioid crisis has now reached a point where enough Americans are taking the drug to impact marine life, the outlet reported.
A decades-long mystery about the fate of a ship that disappeared during a World War II rescue mission has finally been solved.

The wreck of the Empire Wold, a Royal Navy tug, has been discovered by coastguards off the coast of Iceland. The ship sank on Nov. 10, 1944 with the loss of her 16 crewmembers.

Part of a convoy that was making its way from Scotland to Iceland, the Empire Wold was heading towards the final position of the tanker Shirvan, which had been sunk by U-300, a German U-Boat. An Icelandic vessel, the Godafoss, picked up Shirvans survivors, but was then torpedoed and sank in just four minutes.

WRECKAGE OF WWII B-24 BOMBER DISCOVERED 74 YEARS AFTER IT WAS SHOT DOWN

The Empire Wold never reached Shirvans location, prompting speculation that it had also fallen victim to the U-boat. The tugs fate, however, has long been shrouded in mystery. U-300 was sunk off Gibraltar by British ships in February 1945  its surviving crewmembers were adamant that they did not sink the Empire Wold, according to the Royal Navy.

With the ships discovery on the seabed by Icelandic Coastguards, experts have been able to piece together the doomed ships final moments. Sonar was used to locate the Empire Wold some distance from its last reported position, and a submersible was sent down to the seabed to examine the wreck and confirm its identity.

The coastguard team found no signs of any explosion and, having consulted contemporary weather reports from 1944, determined that the tug probably foundered in heavy seas and 40-knot winds, explained the Royal Navy in a statement.

INCREDIBLE IMAGES REVEAL US NAVY SEAPLANE LOST IN PEARL HARBOR ATTACK

Seven Royal Navy personnel and nine Merchant Navy sailors, including Second Engineer Oswin Happy Harry Green, were lost on the Empire Wold.

As the last resting place of Royal Navy sailors, the wreck is now protected by law and its precise location is not being revealed by the Icelandic authorities, explained the Royal Navy, in its statement.

Researchers across the globe are working to locate sites of World War II wrecks. The wreckage of U.S. B-24 bomber, for example, has been discovered in Papua New Guinea, 74 years after it was shot down during a fierce battle with Japanese forces.

WWII WRECK USS HELENA DISCOVERED BY MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER PAUL ALLEN'S CREW

Earlier this year, a team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen found the wreck of the USS Helena in the Pacific, almost 75 years after it was sunk by Japanese torpedoes.

Expeditions led by Allen have discovered a host of historic military shipwrecks, such as the USS Lexington, which was located in March, 76 years after it was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Shortly after finding the Lexington, Allens team found the wreck of the USS Juneau, which was sunk by a Japanese torpedo with the loss of 687 sailors in 1942.

Last year, Allens crew found the long-lost wreck of the USS Indianapolis in the Philippine Sea.

HUGE WORLD WAR II SHIPWRECK RAISED FROM THE DEPTHS IN MASSIVE SALVAGE OPERATION

Also in 2017, engineers working on a sub-sea power link in the North Sea found what is believed to be the wreckage of a World War II Royal Air Force bomber off the coast of Norway.

In 2015, experts from NOAA and the University of Hawaii released remarkable images of a U.S. Navy seaplane sunk during the opening minutes of the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

A massive British World War II shipwreck was recently raised from the bottom of a harbor in Sri Lanka 75 years after the vessel was sunk following an attack by Japanese forces.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
Some members of the Sangha Supreme Council are led out in handcuffs. Police raid five major temples. Investigators note that large funds were illegally transferred to outsiders. The abbot of Wat Sa Ket had 10 bank accounts, through which he funnelled 130 million baht or US$ 4 million.

Bangkok (AsiaNews/Agencies)  About 200 police commandos carried out coordinated raids in various Buddhist temples, arresting senior monks for alleged embezzlement of state funds.

Those arrested include members of the Sangha Supreme Council, which governs Buddhist monks and plays a role similar to that of the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church.

Armed with arrest and search warrants, police at 6 this morning swept into five religious complexes: the temples of Wat Sam Phraya, Wat Sa Ket and Wat Samphanthawong in Bangkok; Wat Onoi in Nakhon Pathom, 55 km west of the city; and Wat Kudeethong in Sing Buri, 126 kilometres north of the capital.

In the temple of Wat Onoi, police arrested activist Abbot Phra Buddha Isara, known for his support for Bangkok Shutdown, a protest movement against the Yingluck Shinawatra government, in 2013-14.

He was held on a charge of supporting robbery during the demonstrations led by the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC).

At Wat Sam Phraya, the authorities ordered the arrest of the abbot, Phra Phrom Dilok, and his secretary, Phra Atthakit Sophon.

The two are accused of embezzling temple funds. Phra Phrom Dilok is also a member of the Sangha and ecclesiastical governor of Bangkok.

Two other members of the Council face the same accusation: Phra Phrom Sitthi, abbot at Wat Sa Ket and Phra Phrom Methee, assistant abbot at Wat Samphanthawong. Both remain at large.

Phra Sri Khunaporn and Phra Wichit Thammaporn, assistant abbots of Wat Sa Ket, have also ended in handcuffs. Together with Tawit Sangyu, a temple official, they are accused of embezzling funds from a Buddhist school and money laundering.

Investigators suspect that Wat Sa Ket stole money from two Buddhism-related projects worth 69 million baht (US$ 2.150,000), transferred to third parties.

Police report that the abbot had 10 bank accounts, through which he funnelled 130 million baht (US$ 4 million). All accounts are now frozen.

Police also issued arrest warrants for seven other monks at Wat Sam Phraya, Wat Sa Ket and Wat Samphanthawong, again on allegations of embezzlement and money laundering.

General Maitree Chimcherd, commander of the Crime Suppression Division, said that most of the funds allocated to Wat Sa Ket, Wat Sam Phraya and Wat Samphanthawong were illegally transferred to outsiders.

In Wat Kudeethong temple, police arrested deputy abbot Phra Khru Wilas Kijjanukul for allegedly stealing and selling three important ancient images of the Buddha, taken from two temples in Sing Buri.

All arrested senior monks were taken to the headquarters of the Crime Suppression Division in the Thai capital for questioning and legal procedures.

In recent years, the image of Thailands dominant religion (90 per cent of the population) has suffered from a string of sexual and financial scandals involving monks.

Under growing pressure from the military government and religious leaders, the country's Buddhist monks have begun a new cycle of reforms to clean up their temples and corrupt communities.

Since September of last year, senior monks have issued orders to impose harsher discipline on the countrys 300,000 monks in its 40,000 temples.
Even though the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy law has just gone into effect today, it's already causing problems for two of the tech giants it was designed to limit  Facebook and Google.

Privacy advocacy group noyb.eu, led by chair Max Schrems, has filed four complaints that Google, Facebook and its owned properties, Instagram and WhatsApp, are forcing users to consent to targeted advertising if they wish to remain using the services.

"Facebook has even blocked accounts of users who have not given consent," Schrems said In a statement outlining the complaints. "In the end users only had the choice to delete the account or hit the agree-button  thats not a free choice, it more reminds of a North Korean election process."

WARIOUS US NEWS WEBSITES BLOCKED AS EUROPE'S GDPR DATA PRIVACY LAWS GO INTO EFFECT

Additionally, noyb.eu noted that access to services no longer depends "on whether a user gives consent to the use of data," citing Article 7(4) of the GDPR. Schrems said "many users do not know yet that this annoying way of pushing people to consent is actually forbidden under GDPR in most cases."

Schrems also noted that if the tech giants are found guilty of violating the law, the initial fines would not be exceptionally large, given Google and Facebook's 2017 total revenues, but would definitely set a precedent.

"We probably will not immediately have billions of penalty payments, but the corporations have intentionally violated the GDPR, so we expect a corresponding penalty under GDPR," Schrems added.

If a company is found to be in violation of the law, it faces a fine of up to 20 million (approximately $23 million) or up to 4 percent of annual revenue, whichever is greater.

In 2017, Facebook generated $39.94 billion in revenue, while Alphabet, Google's parent company, generated $110.9 billion in revenue.

In April, Facebook outlined steps it would take to be compliant with GDPR.

FACEBOOK'S ZUCKERBERG DEVELOPED A FRAUDULENT SCHEME TO 'WEAPONIZE' DATA, LAWSUIT ALLEGES

In a statement to Fox News, a Google spokesperson said: We build privacy and security into our products from the very earliest stages and are committed to complying with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Over the last 18 months, we have taken steps to update our products, policies and processes to provide users with meaningful data transparency and control across all the services that we provide in the EU."

Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan said the company has worked for 18 months to make sure it meets the requirements of GDPR.

"We have made our policies clearer, our privacy settings easier to find and introduced better tools for people to access, download, and delete their information," Egan said in a comment obtained by Fox News.

She continued: "Our work to improve people's privacy doesn't stop on May 25th. For example, we're building Clear History: a way for everyone to see the websites and apps that send us information when you use them, clear this information from your account, and turn off our ability to store it associated with your account going forward.

GOOGLE SEARCH BUG IDENTIFIES RAPE VICTIMS IN PROMINENT CASES

Implementation woes

The EU calls GDPR the most sweeping change in data protection rules in a generation, but there are some tricky issues surrounding its rollout.

Companies are trying to understand what level of protection different data needs, whether this could force them to change the way they do business and innovate, and how to manage the EU's 28 national data regulators, who enforce the law.

"Once you try to codify the spirit (of the law)  then you get unintended consequences," said Lars Andersen, whose London-based My Nametags business handles names and phone numbers of children. Andersen said: "There's been a challenge for us: What actually do I have to do? There are a million sort of answers."

EU countries themselves aren't quite ready for the new rules. Less than half of the 28 member states have adopted national laws to implement GDPR, though the laggards are expected to do so in the next few weeks, according to WilmerHale, an international law firm.

A source familiar with Facebook's thinking noted that GDPR recognizes that not all data and data uses are the same, meaning they are required to get specific consent for how certain types of data will be used, if at all.

The source added Facebook seeks its' users consent for certain types of data processing, including ads. "Some of our other types of data processing are necessary for us to fulfil the contract we have with users to provide a personalized, free service to people around the world  contractual necessity under GDPR," the source said. "Other data processing is carried out in our legitimate interests, having balanced those against the impact on the individual. This approach is in line with many similar companies."

ZUCKERBERG DISMISSED FACEBOOK MONOPOLY CONCERNS

As with most EU-wide regulations, enforcement of the new data protection rules falls to national authorities. While the EU stresses that the law applies to everyone, one of the big outstanding questions is whether regulators will go after any entity that breaks the law or simply focus on data giants like Google and Facebook.

"As technology increasingly becomes the fabric of business and society, it's critical that it be trusted," David Kenny, SVP of IBM Watson and Cloud Platform, told Fox News. "IBM has been helping our customers to be ready for GDPR, and beyond that, we are calling on the entire tech industry to adhere to principles of ensuring all AI systems are secure, transparent and keep data private."

The new law comes at a time when advances in technology make data more valuable, and therefore raise the stakes in protecting it.

The ability to analyze everything from consumer purchases to medical records holds enormous potential, with suggestions that it will make us healthier, improve traffic flows and other good things for society. At the same time, it provides business with huge new opportunities for profit, with some experts putting the value of the global data economy at $3 trillion.

"Data is the new soil," said Adam Schlosser, the project lead for digital and trade flows at the World Economic Forum. "It serves as a foundational element for growth."

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia
It's anything but a happy General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) day for several major U.S. news organizations as their websites are temporarily blocked in Europe as a new data privacy law goes into effect today.

Websites such as the LA Times, NY Daily News and Chicago Tribune are all temporarily blocked this morning, saying their content is unavailable in most European countries.

Anyone trying to access the sites, which also include those owned by Tronc and Lee Enterprises (examples include Orlando Sentinel [Tronc], Arizona Daily Sun and the St. Louis Dispatch [Lee Entperises]) see a message explaining that the website is working with European authorities on trying to get access back as quickly as possible.

AMAZON ALEXA RECORDS AND SHARES WOMAN'S PRIVATE CONVERSATION

According to Gizmodo, the statement on the LA Times website reads: Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism."

The EU calls GDPR the most sweeping change in data protection rules in a generation, but there are some tricky issues surrounding its rollout.

Companies are trying to understand what level of protection different data needs, whether this could force them to change the way they do business and innovate, and how to manage the EU's 28 national data regulators, who enforce the law.

"Once you try to codify the spirit (of the law)  then you get unintended consequences," said Lars Andersen, whose London-based My Nametags business handles names and phone numbers of children. Andersen said. "There's been a challenge for us: What actually do I have to do? There are a million sort of answers."



"As technology increasingly becomes the fabric of business and society, its critical that it be trusted," David Kenny, SVP of IBM Watson and Cloud Platform, told Fox News. "IBM has been helping our customers to be ready for GDPR, and beyond that, we are calling on the entire tech industry to adhere to principles of ensuring all AI systems are secure, transparent and keep data private."

Lee Enterprises, the fourth largest newspaper group in the U.S., publishing 46 newspapers across 21 states, has a statement (by way of BBC) that reads:

"We're sorry. This site is temporarily unavailable. We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time."

Bookmarking app Instapaper, which is owned by Pinterest, has also temporarily shut off its access to European users.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia
This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," May 24, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have decided to terminate the planned summit in Singapore on June 12th. I believe that this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and indeed a setback for the world. Hopefully positive things will be taking place with respect to the future of North Korea. But if they don't, we are more ready then we have ever been before.

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ, D-N.J.: The art of diplomacy is a lot harder than the art of the deal.

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: I think it's good thing for Kim Jong-un. When he got this letter from this president saying, OK, never mind, he must be having a giggle fit. In this very chummy, palsy-walsy letter to Kim Jong-un, he, Kim Jong-un, is the big winner.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: Minority leader in the House Nancy Pelosi referencing this letter that actually was tweeted out by the president himself in which the first announcement is made that the Singapore summit is not going forward. Among the outreach, though, is a future line in here, "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world and North Korea in particular has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history."

With that, let's bring in our panel from Washington: Tom Rogan, commentary writer for the Washington Examiner; Amy Walter, national editor for the Cook Political Report, and Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist.

Tom, your thoughts on how it all came down today.

TOM ROGAN, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: I think the basic point here is that President Trump is leaving clearly an opening towards continuing this summit on June 12th as had previously been arranged. And I think actually in my impression that is what will happen. What I think you see coming behind the scenes here is a pressure calculation on the part of the Chinese to see how far they can push President Trump. I think the cancellation was directed at Beijing as much as it was at Pyongyang. But also on the secondary part, Kim Jong-un recognizes the symbolism of his attending of the summit is as complicated as some of the concessions that he might be expected to make. But I still think ultimately this summit will go ahead on June 12th.

BAIER: To that point a Fox News alert here: According to Reuters, just within the past few seconds North Korea says Trump's decision to scrap U.S.-North Korea summit is not in line with the world's wishes, and North Korea is saying it is willing to resolve issues with the U.S., according to state run media. This develops by the day, by the hour, Mollie.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: I think this is disappointing news but not completely surprising, particularly in the last couple of weeks, where you were seeing that North Korea and the U.S. were really pretty far apart. North Korea was proposing something more along the lines of what we have seen in past decades where they have an aspirational pledge that they will eventually denuclearize. And the U.S. is saying that's not going to work anymore. We want it up front, we want accountability, we want a clear timeline.

So they were far apart, and we'd heard that communications had really broken down. But I agree with Tom. This is not the end of the line. This is part of the negotiation process. And so what will be interesting and what is interesting about this Reuters report is I think people were careful whether North Korea would say we do want to make this happen and we're willing to work toward it or if they would respond with their old pattern of missile tests and other belligerent attitudes. But it's a long ballgame still.

BAIER: Amy, we're now getting officially from the South Koreans Yonhap that North Korea is willing to talk with the United States anytime in response to this decision to pull out of the planned summit, saying that they want to resolve the issues. So you heard Senator McConnell say the next step is North Korea's, and it seems like this is it.

AMY WALTER, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Taking that step. Yes, this is what I'm fascinated to watch is the way in which Americans are reacting to this. Take away the back and forth here in Washington, but in polling what we have seen the last couple of weeks is that across the board, this is Republicans, Democrats, and independents were given the idea of a sit down between the president and Kim Jong-un high marks. They liked this idea.

And in fact in the last CNN poll the president's handling of Korea was the thing that people saw as the most positive thing he was doing. He got his highest marks on this.

So I think overall what American public is saying is we kind of like this idea. We don't really know where its' going, we've never seen anything like this before, but let's try it. What happens though if this does go wildly off track or if the summit never happens or if there's more saber rattling from North Korea or South Korea does something and there is a continuing sort of chaos, does that then ultimately impact the way that voters not just see the president but ultimately the way that he is able to handle any other foreign policy or any other foreign policy crisis?

BAIER: Right. Tom, quickly wrap this up.

ROGAN: Yes. I think the North Korean's know they have an interest in at least sitting down at the summit. Beijing wants that. They want to see it Trump is malleable. The letter suggested he is not. I think it goes ahead. And I think ultimately that message that we've just seen, that is as nice as it gets from the North Koreans. So a course for optimism.

BAIER: That's a love letter. Panel, thank you.

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Better get to the airport early this summer.

About 9 million more passengers are expected to fly this summer than last, according to a report from Airlines for America, released Wednesday.

From June 1 to August 31, the airline advocacy group estimates that 246.1 million passengers will take flight, or 2.68 million per day. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) estimates a 4 percent increase in air travel this summer.

Despite all the added crowds, it may be possible to travel calmly  if you know which days to avoid.

Last year, 22 out of 25 of the busiest travel days in the U.S. fell between June and August. The hubbub starts this weekend. During Memorial Day weekend alone, an estimated 3.1 million Americans will flood airports around the country, according to a forecast from AAA.

Passengers traveling through New Yorks JFK and LaGuardia airports, Philadelphia airport, and Washington-Dulles airport can expect Memorial Day weekend delays of up to one hour.

Travelers who wish to avoid crowds should avoid booking flights on Thursdays and Fridays when airports are at their most crowded, John Heimlich, chief economist at Airlines for America, told Dallas News.

Historically, the three Thursdays following the Fourth of July (this year thats July 5, 12 and 19) are among the most crowded days at the airport all year.

There is a chance that the increased passenger traffic wont be as awful as it sounds. In response to increased numbers at the airport this summer, TSA has hired 1,000 more security agents and added about 50 more dog teams to speed up security.

This article originally appeared on Travel + Leisure.
Search and recovery teams with Phoenix Fire, along with construction crews working at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, have recovered the body of a construction worker who was lost when part of a drilling rig collapsed on Monday.

The identity of the man has not been released, Fox 10 Pheonix reports.

MAN DIES AFTER FALLING FROM MEZZANINE OF SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT

The drilling equipment was being utilized for construction on the PHX Sky Train, a spokesperson for the airport confirmed Monday.

Phoenix Fire Department Technical Rescue Teams responded to the scene at 9:30 a.m., and initially reported that a crane had toplled over in a statment to Fox News.

"Incident Commanders have worked closely with construction personnel to account for all workers in the area during the incident and at this time have one person who is unaccounted for. We do not have any information on the individual or his condition at this point," the said Monday.

The department added that it had taken "considerable time to determine if this will be a rescue or recovery."

Phoenix Crisis Response personnel were said to be assisting with the needs of construction workers who were on the scene at the time of the incident.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

The airport did not impact air traffic or site roadways at Sjy Harbor.
A Delta Air Lines aircraft flying into Detroit from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris requested an emergency landing on Friday due to an ill flight attendant, Delta has confirmed.

Delta Flight 97 from CDG to DTW declared a medical emergency about 45 minutes from arrival due to an ill flight attendant. The aircraft was met by airport paramedics and the crew member was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.

AER LINGUS PLANE, BEING TOWED BY AIRPORT WORKERS, SMASHES DIRECTLY INTO CONCRETE POLE

The flight landed at approximately 12:31 p.m. local time, according to a flight-tracking service cited in the Detroit Free Press. The aircraft was originally scheduled to arrive in Detroit at 12:51 p.m.

The plane was carrying 182 passengers and 12 crew members. There are no reports of any additional passengers or crew becoming sick.
A man opened fire Thursday in an Oklahoma restaurant, leaving at least four people injured, before he was fatally shot by a bystander, police said.

The gunfire unfolded at about 6:30 p.m. local time at Louie's on the Lake in Oklahoma City, Fox 25 News reported.

The unidentified shooter entered the restaurant and fired his gun, Oklahoma City Police tweeted, who later added that four people had been injured.

The man, police said, "was apparently shot-to-death by an armed citizen" outside the restaurant and there was "no indication of terrorism."

The incident followed a shooting last month in Tennessee, during which a suspect opened fire at a Waffle House, killing four people. Investigators said a man inside the Waffle House confronted the gunman, ultimately disarming him. Police arrested the suspect next day.

In Thursday's shooting, officials said two people were hospitalized after getting shot and were expected to survive.

The suspect is the only confirmed fatality and a motive was not immediately clear, police said. Authorities did not reveal whether or not the gunman knew his victims.

A mother and daughter, reportedly described by police as "innocent customers," were shot while they were at the restaurant for a birthday, according to a KOCO reporter.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt tweeted that he is "in touch with the City Manager & the Police Chief" and "as OCPD has reported, the suspect is dead."

He said police were asking people to avoid the area of East Wharf so authorities could continue their investigation.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.
An 18-year-old who put his suburban Kansas City high school for sale on Craigslist has been banned from graduation after the senior prank went awry.

The Kansas City Star reports Kylan Scheele listed Truman High School in Independence, Missouri, for the bargain price of $12,275 last week. Problems arose when someone reported the posting as a possible threat because of Scheele's choice of wording. He wrote that the reason for the sale was "the loss of students coming up."

Scheele says he was describing the loss of the graduates and has apologized. But he's been booted from Saturday's commencement.

District spokeswoman Jana Corrie says significant hours were spent tracking down the post's source. She says police even issued an emergency subpoena to Craigslist before determining there wasn't a credible threat.
Police in South Florida have released video of officers rescuing a mother and two young children from a ledge above a townhouse garage last weekend.

The Delray Beach Police Department released the video on Facebook Wednesday. They said officers responded to multiple calls reporting a woman and two children  a 1-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl  on a roof Saturday afternoon.

One of the first responding officers, identified as Rob Addea, positioned himself under the ledge ready to catch a child or the woman if necessary, the department said, adding that the ledge was about 15-20 feet off the ground.

Just get the kids back inside, Addea told the woman. Please! Please! Thats all we want you to do.

While Addea and another officer, Matt Warne, waited under the ledge  Sgt. Mike Debree and Sgt. Brian Griffith  went inside the house and made their way onto the ledge.

Debree took the arm of each child, while Griffith tried to reassure the woman that he was a police officer.

I want to see your badge, the woman said, according to WPLG. When Griffith displayed his badge, the woman said: Are you a sergeant? No, it doesnt say sergeant. ... Point blank, body avenger!

Authorities said the woman was acting erratically and refusing to listen to officers commands. They added that she was agitated and seemingly paranoid, but would not elaborate on her condition.

Debree managed to walk the kids along the ledge, and handed them to officers waiting inside the townhouse. Griffith led the woman off the ledge moments later.

The woman, who has not been identified, was committed to a mental health facility and could face criminal charges. The Florida Department of Children and Families has taken charge of the children and has opened an investigation.

Click for more from WPLG.
Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter leader who resigned after her parents revealed she's not African-American, is facing a felony theft charge in Washington state after she allegedly made false statements to secure nearly $9,000 in food and childcare assistance.

The charges against Dolezal, who changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in October 2016, were first reported by KHQ-TV.

According to court documents, investigators with Washington state's Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) started looking into Dolezal's finances in March 2017 after the publication of her autobiography, "In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World."

RACHEL DOLEZAL'S NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SPARKS MAJOR BACKLASH ON SOCIAL MEDIA

DSHS investigator Kyle Bunge said Dolezal had claimed that "her only source of income was $300.00 per month in gifts from friends." However, the department found that she had deposited nearly $84,000 in her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017 without reporting it.

According to the investigation, the money came from sales of Dolezal's autobiography as well as "the sale of her art, soaps, and handmade dolls."

Authorities say Dolezal illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017.

Dolezal did report a "change of circumstance" to the state agency, saying she did a one-time job in October 2017 worth $20,000, court documents said. The DSHS report says Dolezal told investigators in April that she had "fully disclosed her information" and declined to answer further questions.

Dolezal is also charged with perjury and making false verification for public assistance.

Dolezal resigned as head of the Spokane NAACP chapter in June 2015 after her parents told local media that she had been born white and was merely posing as a black activist. She also was fired from a police ombudsman commission and lost her job teaching African studies at Eastern Washington University.

RACHEL DOLEZAL BRAGS ABOUT SUCCESSFUL HAIR SALON ON INSTAGRAM

In 2017, Dolezal told The Associated Press that she still identifies as black, despite being "Caucasian biologically."

"People didn't seem able to consider that maybe both were true," she said at the time. "OK, I was born to white parents, but maybe I had an authentic black identity."

In addition to her autobiography, Dolezal was the subject of a Netflix documentary, "The Rachel Divide," that premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival last month. Fox News recently reported that Dolezal has taken to Instagram to show the apparent success of her in-house hair salon business.

Click for more from KHQ.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Bureau of Immigration reiterated forfeiture of her missionary visa. The nun will have to leave the country by tomorrow. Her lawyer filed an appeal with the Justice Department. The authorities accuse the nun of taking part in anti-government political rallies in the cities of Davao and Tagum.

Manila (AsiaNews/CBCPNews)  The Filipino government has rejected the appeal of Sister Patricia Fox (pictured), an elderly Australian missionary, against her deportation.

The 71-year-old superior of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion in the Philippines asked that the forfeiture of her missionary visa on 23 April be reversed.

The week before, the nun was arrested for participating in anti-government demonstrations and released after a day.

Following an investigation ordered by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, the Bureau of Immigration Office (BI) ordered the nun to leave the country within 30 days.

Sister Patricia has lived in the Philippines for 27 years, working among farmers and indigenous peoples.

Recently, she had taken part in an international investigation and solidarity mission among the peasants and Lumad people living in the southern island of Mindanao to look into alleged violations of their rights.

The authorities accuse the nun of participating in political gatherings in the cities of Davao and Tagum.

In a three-page document, the Bureau of Immigration reiterated its decision yesterday, noting that its order is final and executory. We will not entertain any further Motion for Reconsideration, said BI Commissioner Jaime Morente.

Sister Patricia will have to leave the Philippines by tomorrow. However, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval clarified that the complaint for deportation against Fox in engaging in political activities is still pending as it is separate from the agencys action forfeiting her visa.

She said that pending resolution of the deportation complaint, Fox could still return to the country as a tourist after she leaves as she is not yet in the bureaus blacklist.

The BI dismissed Foxs assertion that the Bureau forfeited her visa without due process and that allegations that she engaged in political activities were not backed with solid evidence.

It reiterated that Fox acted beyond allowed activities under her visa by working outside Quezon City, the place where she claimed she would render her missionary works when she applied for her visa.

Lawyer Jobert Pahilga, Foxs counsel, said they will appeal the BIs latest order before the Department of Justice (DOJ) this week.

He said that he had already expected the BI to deny the motion for reconsideration, which is why as early as last week, they already had prepared an appeal.
A World War II and Vietnam veteran who survived a harrowing 1969 Navy ship collision that killed his son, then spent decades fighting to memorialize him, has died at 93.

Retired Master Chief Lawrence Reilly Sr.s daughter said he died Wednesday at a hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., of complications from pneumonia.

Our Navy veterans are cherished members of our Navy family, and the sailors who served aboard USS Frank E. Evans are the embodiment of courage, service, and sacrifice, Navy spokesperson Lt. Marycate Walsh told Fox News.

Reilly and his son, Lawrence Reilly Jr., were aboard the USS Frank E. Evans when the destroyer was cut in half by HMAS Melbourne, an Australian aircraft carrier, during a training exercise in the South China Sea.

The elder Reilly survived when the ships rear half remained afloat. His son and 73 other sailors went down with the forward section.

He later fought unsuccessfully to have the victims names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The Evans supported ground operations in Vietnam just weeks before it was cut in two.

The Pentagon says the victims werent eligible for the Vietnam Memorial because they died outside the designated war zone.

Instead of granting an exemption to the war zone rule, the Pentagon offered to pay tribute to the fallen sailors by listing their names on a memorial plaque to be placed inside the education center to be built near the wall.

The decision not to memorialize the sailors angered Reilly Sr.

Im not happy with the whole thing, he said last year. Its a bad deal.

His daughter said a private funeral service will be held Sunday at a Syracuse funeral home.

Her fathers ashes will be placed next to a memorial marker for his son at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery overlooking the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, where both father and son served.

Im just very sad he didnt get see the day when they are on the wall, his daughter, Luanne Oda, said. But were going to keep fighting for it. They deserve it.

Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, mentioned Reillys death from the chambers floor Thursday, and praised the veterans efforts on behalf of his lost son and shipmates.

In his honor, we will continue to pressure the Pentagon to recognize the Frank E. Evans on the Vietnam Memorial, Schumer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
For 10 years Donna Pollard was silent. She didnt speak out about the physical and mental abuse she says she endured during her three-year marriage to a man 15 years her senior.

I didnt have an opportunity to be a child, he took that, said Pollard. He began grooming me when I was only 14 years old. A Kentucky native, Pollard, now 34, was wed at 16 to someone she now calls her predator.

To many, child marriage sounds like a very distant problem. But across the U.S., about 248,000 children as young as 12 were forced to marry between the years 2000 and 2010, according to marriage-license data compiled and analyzed by Unchained At Last, a nonprofit that helps girls escape child marriages.

But states are now toughening laws that would ban these type of marriages. This month, Delaware became the first state to impose a minimum marriage age of 18. Gov. John Carney, a Democrat, signed the bill into law May 9.

Those fighting to end child marriages say states are finally recognizing a problem that has long hurt mostly young girls. Forty nine states allow children 17 and under to marry under certain circumstances, many times if a parent or judge approves of it.

Advocates of child marriage bans claim it strips kids of their youth  and states should be doing more to fight against those types of nuptials.

If you're trying to end a human rights abuse why would you carve out an exception for the people most affected? said Fraidy Reiss, executive director of Unchained at Last.

As a survivor of what she calls a 12-year forced marriage, and the founder of Unchained At Last, Reiss said laws need to toughen up to protect the most vulnerable.

Kentucky recently passed a bill setting the marriage age limit at 17. The law requires that minors must have a GED or diploma in order to marry.

But Reiss said those types of laws are not tough enough.

Im going to say no thank you to those states, said Reiss, Go back and try again.

New Jersey was also trying to raise the marriage age limit to 18. But the measure stalled this week following a backlash by the orthodox Jewish community.

Those who criticize raising the age limit call the efforts draconian and a violation of some cultural and religious customs. They also say the government should not meddle with the sacrament of marriage.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who vetoed a measure last year to raise the age limit to 18, said the proposal is hypocritical.

It is disingenuous to hold that a 16-year-old may never consent to marriage, although New Jersey law permits the very same 16-year-old to consent to sex or obtain an abortion without so much as parental knowledge, let alone consent, Christie said last year. That inconsistency in logic undercuts the alleged logic of an outright ban.

State Assemblyman Gary Schaer, D-Passaic, told NJ Advance Media the current proposal is too rigid and would not withstand legal challenges.

"There are no special exceptions, no court involvement, no recognition of religious or ethnic tradition. It seems to me the bill could be made better and more representative of the communities throughout the state," Schaer told the website. "I think the bill will almost certainly face lawsuits, and the bill can easily be improved without losing the importance of its message."

At least 20 states have no minimum age set by statute. During the last two years, New York, Florida, Kentucky, Texas, Virginia, Connecticut and New Hampshire have raised their minimum marriage age to 16 or 17, with at least seven more states considering legislation to tighten their rules.

Those who favor raising the age argue that underage minors do not have the same legal rights as their older partner. Minors are unable to sign binding contracts such as housing agreements, secure schooling, file for divorce, and in some cases are not yet old enough to drive.

I was trapped, said Pollard, who said she was rejected from housing shelters because of her age.

Experts and advocates say those who marry young are less likely to finish school and are vulnerable to abuse. They also say early marriage imposes social, educational and financial burdens on teenage girls.

We have a situation wherein most U.S. states, a girl can marry but can't even file for divorce, said Reiss. What a way to put the lock in wedlock, this is a real problem.

But Delaware University Sociologist Chrysanthi Leon warns that long-standing conservative traditions may slow bills similar to the one his state recently passed. State legislators, Leon said, tend to protect family rights over government intervention.

The only thing I would caution is we do tend to see unintentional harm, especially with symbolic laws [like H.B. 337], said Leon, We often see the vulnerable made more vulnerable depending on how these laws are enforced.

According to Leon, efforts to protect young brides or grooms can have an adverse effect, placing additional blame on the victim or making them more vulnerable to prosecution.

But for people like Pollard, the passing of the Delaware law is just the beginning.

One down, she said, and 49 more to go.
An Alabama man has been jailed for allegedly running a child pornography production operation involving at least ten children from the area in which he lives, resulting in more than 6,500 charges, police say.

Jeffery Dale Hunt, 50, of Cherokee, was indicted Friday on 6,547 counts of child pornography involving multiple children and his bail has been set at $10 million cash.

"I don't know that he'll ever see the outside of a jail again unless it's from a recreational yard or going to court," Sgt. Greg Cobb, a spokesman for the Florence Police Department, told the Associated Press.

Hunt was arrested this week while free on bond from a previous arrest on child pornography charges, Cobb added.

"The detective handling the case is having to go through now and unfortunately view every one of these images on every device, he said.

An indictment returned this week included 4,378 counts of possession of child pornography and 2,169 counts of producing child porn, according to the Associated Press.

The number of children involved is at least in the double digits and all are from the area where Hunt lives, Cobb said.

Authorities are still investigating to determine how many total images are involved, since some could be duplicates. Under Alabama law, multiple felony charges can result from a single image if it's stored on more than one device.

An attorney representing Hunt didn't immediately return an email from the Associated Press seeking comment.

Hunt, whose jobs included working at a home improvement store, was charged with having more than 2,200 images of child pornography last year. He re-arrested following the indictment this week, Cobb said.

Hunt would have to put up cash or property worth $10 million to be released again while awaiting trial, Cobb said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Amber Alert was issued Friday morning for a toddler whose mother's dead body was found in the woods two days prior.

Authorities are now searching for 14-month-old Owen Hidalgo-Calderon, who was last seen on Joy Road in Sodus, N.Y., on May 16, according to the Wayne County Sheriffs Office.

The child was taken under circumstances that led police to believe that they are in imminent danger of serious physical harm and or death, the alert said.

The boys mother, Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, 18, had been missing for a week before her body was found in plastic bag near an apple orchard in Sodus where she worked, according to the Wayne County Sheriffs office.

Police arrested her boyfriend, Everardo Reyes, on charges of tampering with physical evidence.

"Reyes stated he removed the deceased body of Selena from the home and buried her in the woods behind the home," Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts said. "We have not received any information on the cause of death thats why we have issued the tampering charge."

Hidalgo-Calderon was reportedly from Guatemala  with the risk of being deported  and was in the process of applying for asylum, according to what Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers Center of Central New York told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A 5-year-old Kansas boy missing for months has been found dead and his stepmother-- who reported him missing-- has been charged with impeding investigators, according to reports.

Wichita police had been looking for Lucas Hernandez since Feb. 17. They reported finding a boys body in Harvey County under a bridge Thursday afternoon. Lucas' grandmother said she was told the body was her grandson, the Wichita Eagle reported.

About five hours after the discovery, Lucas' stepmother, Emily Glass, 27, was booked into a local jail on charges of interfering with a law enforcement officer and obstruction, KWCH-TV reported.

The body looks like it has been here for awhile, Harvey County Sheriff Chad Gay said, according to the station.

STEPMOM FOUND NOT GUILTY IN KANSAS CHILD ENDANGERMENT CASE

Sedgwick County District Attorney Mark Bennett said that Glass had been in the area where the body was found hours earlier, the Associated Press reported.

Glass told police she could not find Lucas after she woke up from a nap.

Four days aftre the disappearance, she was charged with endangering Lucas and her 1-year-old daughter, but prosecutors only charged her with endangering the girl, according to the Eagle newspaper.

A jury found her not guilty last week.

WICHITA POLICE ARREST STEPMOTHER OF MISSING 5-YEAR-OLD

Police and volunteer search teams conducted extensive searches for the missing boy.

Johnathan Hernandez, the boy's father, was not home when Lucas disappeared.

Police records show he and Glass had a volatile relationship, the AP reported in February.
A federal jury in Houston has found a Brazilian couple guilty of kidnapping for helping their daughter flee Texas for Brazil with her young son.

But the jury acquitted Carlos and Jemima Guimaraes on Friday of related conspiracy charges.

Authorities say the couple helped their daughter, Marcelle Guimaraes, kidnap their grandson from Texas and keep him in Brazil for five years, in violation of a custody order.

The two were arrested in February after they flew to Miami.

Attorney Rusty Hardin says the couple believes their daughter is a victim of domestic violence.

The daughter, Marcelle Guimaraes, has also been indicted and remains in Brazil with her 8-year-old son, Nico.

The boy's American father lives in Houston. He has appeared at congressional hearings lobbying for the boy's return.
The revelation this week that a Texas woman had falsely accused a state trooper of sexually assaulting her during a traffic stop is the latest of several in the last two years in which video footage was critical to clearing a police officer of alleged wrongdoing.

In this latest case, the woman, Sherita Dixon-Cole, had alleged that Officer Daniel Hubbard made sexual advances after she failed a field sobriety test. She went on to accuse Hubbard of assaulting her in his police car, and continuing to make advances, promising he'd release her from custody, on the drive to the police station.

But two hours of bodycam footage discredited the allegations, prompting Dixon-Coles attorney to call his clients fabrication appalling.

Officer Daniel Hubbard seems to comport himself professionally during the duration of the traffic stop and arrest and  without more -- should be cleared of any wrongdoing, he said in a statement.

It is deeply troubling when innocent parties are falsely accused, and I am truly sorry for any trouble these claims may have caused Officer Hubbard and his family. I take full responsibility for amplifying these claims to the point of national concern.

Here are some other instances in which video footage contradicted accusations against officers:

-- The president of a South Carolina chapter of the NAACP accused an officer several weeks ago of profiling him during a stop. The chapter president, a pastor, alleged that the officer accused him of having drugs, asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood and threatened to put him in jail, according to The News & Observer in Raleigh.

The accuser, the Rev. Jerrod Moultrie, took to Facebook to say, "Tonight, I was racially profiled by Timmonsville Officer CAUSE I WAS DRIVING A MERCEDES BENZ AND GOING HOME IN A NICE NEIGHBORHOOD.

But body camera footage showed no such comments were made, infuriating Timmonsville Police Chief Billy Brown, who told a local ABC station, "When I saw the video, I was shocked that someone who is supposed to be a community leader, a pastor and head of the NAACP would just come out and tell a blatant lie.

It bothered me, Brown said. It really bothered me, thinking about the racial unrest it could've cost in the community and it's just troubling to me that someone who held a position like that would come out and just tell a lie.

--A Harker Heights, Texas, woman accused police of brutality and wrongful arrest after a New Years Eve party. But video and audio evidence indicated that the woman, Leah Dure, was injured before encountering Officer Joshua Wood through an altercation with her boyfriend, her boyfriends wife and others, reported KCENTV.com

Her attorney, Lee Merritt, then announced that he was no longer representing Dure.

"There is no factual basis to believe that Officer Joshua Wood committed an assault against Leah Dure," Merritt said in an updated statement.

Attorney Robert McCabe, who represents Officer Wood, denounced the false accusation, saying it inflamed racial tensions and hurt the cause of people with legitimate grievances against law enforcement.

--Last year, a Facebook post out of Alabama claimed that a police officer had beaten a man half to death and pushed him off a bridge after a traffic stop, AL.com reported.

But a video released by police contradicted the allegations. The video, which was tracked down by the Rainbow City Police Department after the chief learned of the Facebook accusation, showed that officers were checking the name given by the man -- a passenger in the car -- and found it to be fraudulent. The police checked his real name, provided by the driver, and learned that his probation had been revoked over two felony warrants.

As they approached the man to question him about their findings, he took off, crossing two lanes of traffic and jumping off a bridge. The police used a stun gun when the man would not comply with their orders. The video, according to published reports, disproved the allegations against the police, showing that the use of the stun gun was the only contact authorities used throughout the episode.

--In 2016, a Georgia fire captain and fire department employee accused a police officer of being hostile and threatening during a traffic stop over an expired license tag. But a dashboard and body camera showed otherwise.

During the stop, DeKalb County Fire and Rescue Captain Terrell Davis threatened to call the countys public safety director, Cedric Alexander. As the officer, Sgt. Stephen Floyd, wrote the ticket, another fire employee said the matter would be reported to Alexander. The employee, Krystal Cathcart, filed a complaint alleging that Floyd told her to keep quiet, using vulgarities and threatening to throw her in the back of my squad car. Davis supported her version of events, according to the local Fox affiliate.

Video footage showed no such exchange.

Davis was fired, but then was reinstated, according to the local Fox affiliate station. Last year, Cathcart pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false statement. She received a two-year probated sentence, and was ordered to complete 40 hours' community service, write two letters of apology and pay a $500 fine.

Video footage has also corroborated accusations of excessive force and other controversial actions.

Body camera video showed Milwaukee police earlier this year being confrontational toward Milwaukee Bucks rookie Sterling Brown, who was thrown to the ground and exposed to a stun gun over a parking violation, according to USA Today.

Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said at a news conference Wednesday that police officers "acted inappropriately and were disciplined.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

"I am sorry this incident escalated to this level," he said.

MILWAUKEE POLICE APOLOGIZE FOR BUCKS GUARD STERLING BROWN'S ARREST AS VIDEO RELEASED

Brown is planning to file a civil rights lawsuit against the police.

"This experience with the Milwaukee Police Department has forced me to stand up and tell my story so that I can help prevent these injustices from happening in the future," he said.

"Black men shouldn't have to have their guard up and instantly be on the defensive when seeing a police officer, but it's our reality and a real problem," he continued. "There must be mutual respect, and both sides have to figure out how to accomplish this."
A Pennsylvania appeals court is upholding the conviction of former attorney general Kathleen Kane for leaking secret grand jury information and lying about it.

Superior Court, on Friday, rejected arguments made by Kane, a Democrat sentenced in 2016 to 10 to 23 months but out on bail.

The court is turning down claims that all Montgomery County judges should have been prevented from handing her case, evidence against her was illegally obtained, she was the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution and jurors should have been given certain information about grand jury secrecy rules.

The judges are denying her argument she should have been able to use evidence concerning a pornographic email scandal or the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case.

Kane's lawyer didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
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Developing now, Friday, May 25, 2018

North Korea reportedly says it remains open to talks with the U.S., despite President Trump's decision to cancel his scheduled summit with Kim Jong Un

D.C. lawmakers trade barbs over 'Spygate' after the FBI and Justice Department hold a pair of briefings on the Russia investigation with top members of Congress

Former President Barack Obama raises eyebrows at a conference by seemingly joking that his administration was scandal-free

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is reportedly expected to surrender to New York authorities Friday over sexual misconduct charges

THE LEAD STORY - NORTH KOREA ATTEMPTS TO SAVE FACE: Following President Trumps decision to cancel a highly anticipated summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, an official from the rogue nation said it remained open to talks with the U.S., South Koreas Yonhap News Agency reported ... "We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said Friday, according to the outlet, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Trumps move to call off talks in Singapore scheduled for June 12 highlights the tension between the two countries and further emphasizes the need for a meeting, the official reportedly explained. Word from the Hermit Kingdom came hours after Trump penned a letter to the dictator saying that talks right now would be inappropriate considering the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in recent comments from Pyongyang.

SEETHING OVER 'SPYGATE': The FBI and Justice Department on Thursday held a pair of high-level briefings for lawmakers in an effort to ease Republican pressure over the Russia investigation, amid President Trumps outcry over revelations that a confidential informant made contact with several of his advisers during the 2016 presidential campaign ... The White House-brokered briefings were expanded at the 11th hour to include an afternoon session for bipartisan members of Congress, but that gesture did little to muffle criticism from Democrats who said the sessions played into the hands of those trying to undermine Special Counsel Robert Muellers probe. By the time both sessions were concluded Thursday afternoon, each side appeared to be digging in.

Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said after the meeting. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., defended the House panels requests for records from the DOJ about the Russia investigation, following several weeks of a contentious back-and-forth between House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and DOJ officials.

'SCANDAL-FREE' OBAMA? - Former President Barack Obama seemingly joked to an audience at a Las Vegas tech conference Wednesday that his eight-year presidency was scandal-free ... "I didn't have scandals, which seems like it shouldn't be something you brag about," Obama said, according to Newsweek. The 44th president was reportedly referencing the scandal-plagued Trump administration, saying that "if you look at the history of the modern presidency, coming out of the modern presidency without anybody going to jail is really good. It's a big deal." The former president echoed similar sentiments in February in a closed-door speech at MIT.

HANDCUFFS FOR HARVEY: Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is planning to turn himself in to the Manhattan District Attorney's office on Friday, an NYPD source confirmed to Fox News ... Weinstein is expected to face charges connected to an investigation opened by the NYPD and the Manhattan DA into claims of alleged sexual misconduct, the New York Daily News reported. He is anticipated to surrender to authorities prior to being brought to the Manhattan Supreme Court, law enforcement sources told the New York Post. Allegations against Weinstein first came out in a bombshell report in October and now he reportedly is looking at charges over claims from former actress Lucia Evans, the Daily News added.

AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS

MEDIA GLOATS OVER CANCELED SUMMIT: "A loss for the president is more important than a success for America, or even world peace. The sudden prospect of peace was frankly more than they could stand."  Laura Ingraham, in her monologue on "The Ingraham Angle," arguing that the real embarrassment over the cancellation of the US.-North Korea summit did not rest with President Trump, but with the American mainstream media. WATCH

SPY GAMES: "[Former Director of National Intelligence James] Clapper's aversion to 'spying' is like the director of Food and Drug Administration having an aversion to broccoli."  David Avella, the chairman of conservative organization GOPAC, on "Hannity," sounding off on James Clapper's dislike of the term "spying." WATCH

#PROUDAMERICAN

Trump awards Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL for controversial mission in Afghanistan.

231 years ago this week, work began on the most important document in American history.

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens offer veterans free admission until July 4.

TRENDING

George Soros spends big in California's DA races in bid to reshape criminal justice system.

Wall Street Journal: How a weakened ESPN became consumed by politics.

Trooper with same name as officer falsely accused of sexual assault fights Shaun King's posts.

Terrifying new nuclear threat is here.

THE SWAMP

Bernie Sanders political group sees second departure, sparking concerns about racial tensions.

Pompeo angrily blasts Democratic Sen. Udall during hearing.

What is 'Right to Try'? A look at the drug law Trump supports.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Iowa accused of sexual misconduct drops out.

ACROSS THE NATION

Newest Hawaii volcanic ash plume rises to about 10,000 feet.

Man opens fire inside Oklahoma restaurant before 'armed citizen' shoots, kills him, police say.

Rachel Dolezal hit with felony theft charge in welfare fraud case.

MS-13 suspect who allegedly killed man, burned body entered US as 'unaccompanied alien child.

MINDING YOUR BUSINESS

Dodd-Frank rollback will save bank 'tens of millions.'

Samsung ordered to pay Apple $539M for patent infringement.

General Data Protection Regulation takes effect: What you need to know.

Google, Apple could also face 'Amazon taxes.'

Here's how much ObamaCare premiums will rise in 2019.

FOX NEWS OPINION

Newt Gingrich: Midterm elections provide a surprising Republican opportunity.

Daryl Austin: Chip and Joanna Gaines, I'm sorry I slammed your family values.

Brad Todd: Kneeling NFL players should choose a different form of protest.

HOLLYWOOD SQUARED

Morgan Freeman apologizes after multiple women accuse actor of sexual harassment.

'Star Wars' spinoff movie to tackle Boba Fett character.

Kevin Federline's child support request sparks look back at other payment cases.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?

Mysterious medium-size black holes may lurk at the centers of small galaxies.

North Dakota man's monster 15-pound walleye catch breaks state's decades-old record.

Feds order California brewery to stop making cannabis beer.

STAY TUNED

On Fox News:

Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Sen. Lindsey Graham weighs in on the DOJ briefing on Russia and Trump's withdrawal from the North Korea summit. Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was killed in the Parkland, Fla., massacre, announces his 8-point plan to make schools safer. Diamond & Silk and Anthony Scaramucci weigh in the top headlines of the day. And Lee Greenwood kicks off the All-American Summer concert series as he performs live from the Intrepid for New York City's 30th annual Fleet Week!

On Fox Business:

Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Guests include: Richard Cea, head of UBS Insightshares ETF; Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, head of marketing solutions for the Weather Company; Ed Rollins, chairman of the Great America PAC.

Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Gen. Jack Keane; Adm. Robert Natter, Bob Massi, host of "The Property Man"; Peggy Grande, former executive assistant to Ronald Reagan and author of "The President Will See You Now."

Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Noon ET: Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary under President Trump; Ken Starr, former independent counsel; John Bozella, Global Automakers CEO.

On Fox News Radio:

The Fox News Rundown podcast: Memorial Day weekend is here, and as millions of Americans celebrate the unofficial start of summer, it is also a time to pause and reflect. Actor Joe Mantegna joins the podcast to discuss the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, D.C., and remembering the fallen. We will also hear from various members of the Fox News family, who will share how they will be spending the holiday weekend. Plus, commentary by Van Hipp, former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Army.

Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.

On Fox News Weekend:

Saturday:

Cavuto Live, 10 a.m. ET: Former Independent Counsel Ken Starr on the latest developments in "Spygate." Rep. Ron DeSantis on why President Trump's decision to pull out of the North Korea summit could make the world safer. Evelyn Rodriguez, whose daughter was killed by MS-13, looks back on President Trump's meeting with her and others this week as he reiterates his plan to wide out the notorious gang.

America's News Headquarters, Noon ET: Leland Vittert will co-host a special Memorial Day weekend show at the Marine Corps Museum near? Quantico, Va. Leland will talk with Marines who are using virtual reality to simulate and train for combat zones in real time, face off against a military-trained dog, and talk with officers training at the Marines premiere military base.

Sunday:

America's News Headquarters, Noon ET: Elizabeth Prann will co-host a special Memorial Day weekend show from the Poppy Memorial on the National Mall. Viewers will get a tour of famous military gravesites at Arlington National Cemetery and more.

Legends & Lies: The Civil War, 8 p.m. ET: "William Tecumseh Sherman: Total War"  The famed Union Army general of the Civil War burns Atlanta and marches to the sea, leading to President Lincolns reelection and Robert E. Lees surrender at Appomattox.

The Next Revolution, 9 p.m. ET: A culture shift in America? Steve Hilton examines whether the Left is losing its firm grip on Hollywood and the pop culture scene.

Life, Liberty & Levin, Sunday, 10 p.m. ET: This week, host Mark Levin interviews Dr. Peter Pry, executive director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum. They will discuss our countrys nuclear weapons capability, U.S. enemies around the world, protecting the future of America and how the Trump administration is handling these threats.

Memorial Day:

Your World, 4 p.m. ET: Trish Regan hosts a Memorial Day special focusing on the impact of D.C. on your money and the economy and what it all means for the 2018 midterm elections.

The Five, 5 p.m. ET: The Five will answer your fan mail questions this Memorial Day. What are The Fives favorite barbecue foods and summer traditions? Tune into The Five: Memorial Day Fan Mail Special for the answers!

Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8 p.m. ET: A supersized edition of Tucker's "Final Exam" segments features some of the fiercest face-offs in the history of the greatest news quiz of the century.

Hannity, 9 p.m. ET: Sean Hannitys opening monologue is the signature piece of the nightly broadcast. This one-hour special will feature some of the most informative and interesting Hannity monologues from the past few weeks. The special will include Hannitys take on the Mueller investigation, James Comeys book tour, Trumps accomplishments that the mainstream media ignores, Louis Farrakhans background and his connection to Democrats, why the Roseanne reboot is resonating so well with viewers and Kanye West standing up for Candace Owens.

The Ingraham Angle, 10 p.m. ET: Six weeks after launching its Defending the First series, The Ingraham Angle looks back at some of these interviews with thought leaders, commentators and everyday Americans coming under increasing attack for their conservative beliefs.

#OnThisDay

1992: Jay Leno makes his debut as host of NBC's "Tonight Show," succeeding Johnny Carson.

1986: An estimated 7 million Americans participate in "Hands Across America" to raise money for the nation's hungry and homeless.

1961: President John F. Kennedy tells Congress: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your Friday and Memorial Day weekend! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Tuesday morning.
One of the lead investigators into the Golden State Killer case revealed on a crime podcast Thursday that a towel draped over the suspects monitor left the biggest impression on him.

Paul Holes, an investigator with the Contra Costa County, Calif., district attorneys office, was one of the few officials who gained access into accused serial killer Joseph DeAngelos home, according to SF Gate.

The Golden State Killer separated husbands and wives during his attacks and would force the woman from her bedroom to the living room, according to SF Gate. The serial killer then would turn the TV on and keep the sound off, and drape a towel over the screen to give himself a glow to see his victim.

Holes told the My Favorite Murder podcast that a towel he found in DeAngelos home April 24 left the biggest impression on him.

He has a computer there, and he's got a towel over the monitor, Holes said. And I'm looking at that going, Is that just a dust cover, or is he reminiscing? He wants a glow. Is he pulling out any of those souvenirs and replicating the glowing environment from back in the 1970s?

DeAngelo, 72, was arrested last month and was charged with eight counts of murder in Sacramento, Orange and Ventura Counties. Officials said prosecutors will seek the death penalty against him. Police believe DeAngelo is the notorious Golden State Killer, who is wanted in a dozen murders and nearly 50 rapes over a period from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
by Melani Manel Perera

About 50 families have been camping in the ruined church since 23 April. Their land was occupied by the military during the civil war. The displaced people are asking for help to build 200 temporary homes and transport to get drinking water from three kilometres away. They need eight tanks, 50 toilets, street lamps to light the road, and 15 solar panels and systems to keep the water sources clean.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - After being allowed to return to the island of Iranaitheevu, Tamil Catholics must now also have the right to rebuild their homes, this according to NGOs that met at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) on Tuesday in Colombo with Tamil representatives who came especially for the occasion.

For the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) and the Praja Abhilasha Joining Hands Network (PAJHN), the government must meet their basic needs and allow people to resettle on their land. This is an unescapable necessity that the government must satisfy.

The goal of the meeting was to focus attention on the sad fate of Tamil Catholics, who have been waiting since 23 April to take possession of their land, which the Navy and the Army seized during the civil war.

A month ago, 50 families landed on the twin islands of Iranaitheevu, on the northwest coast of Sri Lanka (Kilinochchi district), from where they were forcibly displaced in 1992.

They were authorised to return after a year of street protests. Since April, women, children and elderly have camped out in the old broken-down church waiting for the authorities to accept their demand.

Two of the islands leaders, A. Anthony and Mudiyappu Emmiliampillai, spoke about the immediate needs of their community. They said the community needs immediate help to build 200 temporary homes and transport to get drinking water from three kilometres away. They need eight tanks, 50 toilets, street lamps to light the road, and 15 solar panels and systems to keep the water sources clean.

"For these people it is a great and courageous victory, but at the same time tiring, said Francis Raajan, local PAJHN coordinator and secretary, speaking to AsiaNews. After so many failed efforts since the end of the conflict, we really appreciate the struggle that has been going on since May 2017 and then since 23 April."

For Anthony Jesudasan, coordinator of NAFSOs North-South Peace Dialogue, "the most critical aspect is that the government has not yet established any plan for the resettlement process. There should be a mandatory mechanism."

According to those present at the meeting, the government should take responsibility for relocating these people. It is not enough to give them the right to rebuild; the authorities should provide at least some basic items like temporary tents, drinking water, toilets and food. These must be granted in any case to give the Tamils the possibility of resettling wherever they want.

Raajan and Jesudasan note that evacuation did not take place because the displaced wanted it or needed to. Thus, the government should assume responsibility for properly relocating them.

Finally, participants said they would organise similar meetings to ensure that public attention does not turn away from the suffering of the Tamil.
A pilot and a mechanic were slightly injured when a helicopter used to fight fires crashed in Washington state Friday, according to reports.

Local officials said the chopper crash-landed at Olympia Regional Airport after experiencing a mechanical issue shortly after taking off on a test flight just before 10 a.m., the Seattle Times reported.

The Bell Huey chopper owned by Northwest Helicopters was in the air for less than ten seconds, according to the reports.

Northwest Helicopters owner Brian Reynolds told KING-TV he was standing nearby and saw what happened.

He said the helicopter took off and only got a couple hundred feet of altitude before it went down.

"I saw the tail rotor wasnt moving, and I knew they were in serious trouble at this point," Reynolds told the station.

Reynolds said he saw the helicopter slowly start to move and spin before the pilot realized what was going on, according to KING. The pilot then turned the power off and maneuvered the helicopter to the ground.

"He did all the proper procedures to get it down," Reynolds told the station.

The station reported that the chopper was on a routine maintenance flight for the main rotor.

The helicopter crashed intact, but crookedly in grass south of the runway, NW News Network reported.

The injuries to the pilot and the mechanic were described as minor.
A male student was taken into custody after a shooting at an Indiana middle school that left a student and a teacher critically injured on Friday, authorities said.

Noblesville Police Department Chief Kevin Jowitt told reporters Friday that a male student was detained following the call of an active shooter at Noblesville West Middle School at 9:06 a.m. ET.

There were two people injured - a teacher and a student - Jowitt said. The victims were transported to the hospital and their families have been notified.

The suspect nor the victims have been identified. Authorities declined to name the suspect and victims in two press conferences Friday.

Jowitt said he did not believe there was any further threat to the school but added there was a threat directed to Noblesville High School, where many middle school students were bused to following the incident. He said police were at the school's campus monitoring the scene but have not found anything. A number of agencies, including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene investigating the incident. Jowitt said an investigation has been opened into the shooting.

Authorities said the suspect excused himself from the classroom Friday and when he returned he had two handguns. The situation was said to have resolved extremely quickly. The school does not have metal detectors but there was a resource officer, who works full-time at the school, who was present at the time of the incident.

Ethan Stonebraker, a student, told the Associated Press a science teacher was able to tackle the student who fired shots inside the classroom.

He said the teacher "immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground."

Stonebraker adds, "If it weren't for him, more of us would have been injured for sure."

Authorities did not say whether the teacher who reportedly tackled the student was one of the victims. However, the teacher, identified by the Indy Star as Jason Seaman, was shot multiple times and went into surgery, his brother Jeremy told the outlet.

Students and parents informed the outlet that it was Seaman who jumped in to stop the suspect.

Following reports of the shooting, a number of politicians tweeted their thoughts, including Vice President Mike Pence.

"Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana. To everyone in the Noblesville community - you are on our hearts and in our prayers. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders," Pence tweeted. He was formerly the governor of Indiana.

Closely monitoring the situation at Noblesville West Middle School. Praying for Noblesville and our whole community, Rep. Andre Carson said.

Sen. Todd Young said he was in touch with Gov. Eric Holcomb in regards to the incident.

As details continue to develop, please pray for everyone involved," he tweeted.

The Indianapolis Colts released a statement regarding the shooting.

"On behalf of the entire Colts organization, we extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims of the Noblesville West Middle School shooting and the Noblesville community. We'd also like to thank the first responders, law enforcement officials and medical personnel for their efforts and bravery during today's tragedy. We will continue to pray for the safety of our community during this difficult time," the statement read.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was returning from a trip to Europe on Friday, issued a statement saying he and other state leaders were getting updates about the situation and that 100 state police officers had been made available to work with local law enforcement.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation," Holcomb said.

Erica Higgins, who was among the worried parents who rushed to get their kids, told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home. "I just want to get my arms around my boy," she said.

Higgins said her son was shaken up but knew little about what happened. "I got a 'Mom, I'm scared' text message and other than that, it was 'come get me at the high school,"' Higgins said.

Chris Navarro, 13, an eighth-grader at the middle school, told the Associated Press he counted 16 gunshots during the shooting. He said he was in the schools auditorium when he heard the shots.

Public Information Officer Bruce Barnes told reporters that investigators were "doing the best that we can so these situations don't come up again."

The Indiana State Teachers Association released a statement regarding the incident and asked: When is enough, enough?

This national crisis has landed in our backyard. We all have a responsibility to keep our kids safe from violence, and its unconscionable that they live in fear that one day their school may be next. When is enough, enough?"

Noblesville, which is about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people. The middle school has about 1,300 students from grades 6-8.

The incident comes a week after an attack at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers.

Fox News' Elizabeth Zwirz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Tennessee man was being investigated after leaving his adopted 1-year-old daughter in his pickup truck at his home while he left for a business trip, police said Thursday.

Matt Barker took his two children -- his 1-year-old identified as Katera Barker and his 5-year-old -- to a Nashville daycare Wednesday and returned home to leave his truck while he took a ride-sharing service to the airport, the Tennessean reported.

Jenny Barker, the mans wife, went to the daycare later that evening to pick up the children only to be told that Katera was never dropped off, the newspaper reported. Barker called her husband and came to realize that the toddler was still in the pickup truck. She immediately called 911 as she returned home.

Jenny Barker pulled Katera out of the truck and started to perform CPR on her until emergency personnel arrived at the home, the Tennessean reported. The child was taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center where she was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.

Matt Barker flew back to Nashville late Wednesday. Police said the couple have been cooperative in the investigation.

No charges have been filed in the childs death.

Fox News Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
An eruption at Hawaiis Kilauea summit Thursday sent a plume of ash skyward, about 10,000 feet above sea level, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The small but fairly ash-rich explosion happened from Overlook Crater at the summit, the agency reported.

The resulting ash cloud reached its peak before being carried to the southwest by trade winds, the USGS said.

There were also three lava flows entering the Pacific Ocean between Pohoiki Bay and MacKenzie State Park, on the easternmost side of the Big Island, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported.

A ground opening designated as Fissure 7 reactivated Thursday morning and was actively fountaining lava, the volcano observatory said. The lava flow was moving eastbound into the island's Leilani Estates subdivision.

"A perched lava pond at Fissure Seven glows brightly," the USGS said.

Hawaii Civil Defense officials warned residents in the path of the lava flows to be prepared to evacuate at a moments notice, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

HAWAII'S KILAUEA VOLCANO CONTINUES SPOUTING LAVA, ASH

Its scary because I have friends and family that have houses right here, and I mean, next would be my house, Leilani Estates resident Ken Szymanski told the Star-Advertiser.

Beautiful, but devastating, he said of the lava lake in front of his home.

Eruptions have been occurring at Kilauea for decades, but the most recent series of events began May 3. Since then, more than 20 vents have opened in the ground that have released lava, sulfur dioxide and steam.

The lava has been pouring down from the volcano and into the ocean, and has destroyed 50 buildings, including about two-dozen homes on the Big Island.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
The National Rifle Association is hailing the two armed citizens who took out a shooter at a restaurant in Oklahoma City as another example of how the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, as police continued Friday to search for a motive in the random attack.

Oklahoma City Police on Friday identified the attacker as 28-year-old Alexander Tilghman, who fired a handgun into Louie's On The Lake Thursday. He struck a 39-year-old woman and two young girls before being shot dead by two bystanders outside who were able to make it to their vehicles amid the chaos to retrieve their guns.

An #ArmedCitizen saved multiple lives last night in #OKC, the NRA posted Friday on Twitter. We hope this serves as a wake-up call for @GovMaryFallin, who just two weeks ago vetoed a constitutional carry bill. Just another example of how the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. #2A

Police Capt. Bo Matthews told reporters that we are very blessed that only three people were shot and didnt lose their lives.

In addition to the woman and girls who were hit, police said a man also broke his arm while trying to flee the scene, but all four are in good condition as of Friday afternoon.

Matthews said police previously arrested Tilghman as a juvenile in 2003 in a domestic assault and battery case, but since then, they have had no interactions with him.

At this point, it doesnt look like he knew anybody at the restaurant, he didnt work at the restaurant, and he actually was shooting from outside of the door into the restaurant so it looks like to me it would be a random event, Matthews said.

He added that Tilghman was wearing ear muffs, like ones at shooting ranges, when he showed up at the restaurant late Thursday.

It looks like his mind was made up that he was going to discharge his firearm once he got there, Matthews said.

Police on Friday were searching Tilghmans home for any clues to the motive behind the attack.

The two men who shot Tilghman were identified by police as Juan Carlos Nazario, 35, and Bryan Wittle, 39.

Matthews said both of the men were very cooperative with police during interviews after the shooting Thursday.

It doesnt matter who you are when you take the life of somebody else, even when you are protecting somebody elses life  this can be a very traumatic event, he said.

Matthews said he believes charges will not be filed against the armed citizens.
During the last year, multiple schools across the U.S. have been impacted by shootings, which have resulted in the deaths of both students and faculty members.

Read on for a look at school shootings that have taken place within the last year.

Noblesville West Middle School, Indiana

A male student fired shots at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana on May 25, critically injuring another student and a teacher at the school.

The alleged shooter, who has not yet been identified, was taken into custody shortly after the incident occurred at roughly 9 a.m.

Sources told FOX 59 the suspect walked into a science classroom with a gun and opened fire, hitting a female. A science teacher was able to tackle the student who fired shots inside the classroom, student Ethan Stonebraker told The Associated Press.

The victims were taken to a local hospital. The extent of their injuries is unclear.

Santa Fe High School, Texas

At least eight people were killed and several others were injured following reports of an active shooter at a Texas high school on May 18, local affiliate KTRK reported. The suspected shooter was taken into custody.

"Personnel treating the injured. Info is still preliminary, but there are multiple casualties," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez confirmed.

Police officers responded to Santa Fe High School around 8 a.m. CDT after reports that a shooter opened fire inside a first-period art class. Details of the incident were not immediately available.

"Details will be released as we receive updated information. Law enforcement will continue to secure the building and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location," the school district said in a statement.

Highland High School, California

A 14-year-old student was taken into custody after allegedly shooting a classmate at Highland High School in Palmdale, California on May 11.

The suspected gunman shot a fellow student in the arm, police said. The shooting stemmed from a dispute between the shooter and the victim, according to authorities.

The injured student is expected to make a full recovery.



Forest High School, Florida

A suspected gunman, later identified as 19-year-old Sky Bouche, allegedly opened fire at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, on April 20. The shooting occured on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting.

At least one student was injured after the gunman shot through a classroom door, hitting a 17-year-old student in the ankle, authorities said. The student was later taken to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening injury.

A school resource officer, James Long, was hailed a hero after arresting Bouche just three minutes after he opened fire.

Bouche, a former student at the school, allegedly carried the weapon in a guitar case inside the school, authorities said.

Great Mills High School, Maryland

On March 20, a gunman, identified as 17-year-old Austin Rollins, shot 16-year-old sophomore Jaelynn Willey at Great Mills High School in Lexington Park, Maryland, authorities said. Willey died days later from her injuries.

Investigators believe the shooting was not random as the gunman and Willey had recently ended their relationship.

Rollins was fatally wounded during a confrontation with Deputy Blaine Gaskill, an armed school resource officer who doubles as a SWAT team member.

"Our school resource officer...pursued the shooter, engaged the shooter, fired a round at the shooter," St. Mary's County Sheriff Tim Cameron said. "The shooter fired a round as well. In the hours and days to come, we'll be able to determine if our school resource officer's round struck the shooter."

Gaskill was praised because he reportedly contained the situation in under a minute, Cameron said.

Willey's parents announced on March 22 that their daughter was brain dead and that they would be taking her off of life support. She died later that night.

Jaelynn's mother, Melissa, told reporters her daughter had "no life left in her."

"On Tuesday ... our lives changed completely and totally forever. My daughter was hurt by a boy who shot her in the head and took everything from our lives," she said.

A 14-year-old boy, later identified as Desmond Barnes, was also injured in the shooting. Authorities said he was shot in the thigh but was later released from a local hospital.

Police are still investigating if the boy was shot by Rollins or Gaskill while the two exchanged gunfire.

Huffman High School, Alabama

A 17-year old girl is dead and one other person was left injured from a March 7 shooting at Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama.

Courtlin Arrington, 17, was killed when shots were fired in a classroom, Birmingham Police Chief Orlando Wilson told WBRC. A 17-year-old male student was wounded. He was taken to the hospital and released.

Birmingham Police Department announced March 8 that a student was taken into custody in the investigation into the deadly shooting. Police said evidence, surveillance video and statements were reviewed throughout the night.

Police initially called the shooting accidental, but later reviewed a video that captured the deadly incident.

"We're not saying he shot her, we're not saying he didn't shoot her," the chief said. "We're asking those questions ourselves so we can determine exactly what happened."

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida

Police responded to reports of shots fired at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., around 3 p.m. on Feb. 14. Seventeen people lost their lives and 17 others were injured.

The day after the shooting, the suspected gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, told authorities he arrived at the school with an AR-15 rifle, adding that he shot "students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds," according to an arrest affidavit.

Cruz may plead guilty to avoid the death penalty, his lawyer reportedly said Feb. 16.

Cruz was formally charged March 7 with 17 counts each of premeditated murder and attempted murder.

A 12-year-old girl was taken into custody after police said the loaded gun she brought to Salvador B. Castro Middle School in Los Angeles accidentally discharged on Feb. 1, shooting a 15-year-old boy in the head and a 15-year-old girl in the wrist.

Police interviewed the 12-year-old student and agreed the shooting was accidental. She was booked in a juvenile detention center on suspicion of negligently discharging a firearm on school grounds.

It is unclear where the girl got the gun or why she decided to bring it to her school.

Doctors said both students who were shot are expected to recover.

Additionally, an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were treated at the hospital and released while a 30-year-old woman, who is a school staff member, had only minor injuries, Los Angeles city police said in a statement.

Marshall County High School, Kentucky

A shooter opened fire at Marshall County High School in Benton, Ky., on Jan. 23, killing two people.

Students Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope, both 15 years old, died.

Suspected shooter Gabriel Ross Parker, 15, was arraigned on Feb. 16, according to Kentucky State Police.

"A Marshall County Grand Jury returned an indictment on Tuesday, charging Parker with two counts of Murder and fourteen counts of First Degree Assault," KSP said.

Marshall County Circuit Clerk Tiffany Griffith told Reuters a judge entered a not guilty plea on the teen's behalf.

Italy High School, Texas

A 15-year-old girl was hurt in a Jan. 22 shooting at Italy High School in Italy, Texas. A 16-year-old male student was taken into custody, Ellis County police told Fox News.

In the school's cafeteria, the suspect "engaged the victim" and fired several shots with a semi-automatic handgun, Ellis County Sheriff Chuck Edge said during a press briefing.

The suspect was confronted by an Italy Independent School District staffer in the school cafeteria and took off, Edge said. Law enforcement later apprehended the suspect on school grounds.

The suspect was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the Ellis County district attorney's office announced.

Aztec High School, New Mexico

Gunman William Atchison, 21, disguised himself as a student to get inside Aztec High School in Aztec, N.M., on Dec. 7, 2017, according to authorities. Atchison was also a former student.

State police said that Atchison killed students Francisco I. Fernandez and Casey J. Marquez.

Officials said Atchison eventually shot himself, adding that the students killed were not targeted, but were at the "wrong place at the wrong time."

Rancho Tehama Elementary School, California

A man in Northern California went on a random shooting rampage on Nov. 14, 2017, killing five people and wounding at least a dozen adults and children before authorities shot and killed him.

The gunman, who was later identified as Kevin Neal, 44, rammed a car into the gates of Rancho Tehama Elementary School and shot at its portable classrooms. He repeatedly tried to get into a kindergarten classroom but quick-thinking staff locked the school down, and he eventually stormed off.

Neal reportedly targeted the elementary school as part of a long-running feud with neighbors.

Mattoon High School, Illinois

A male student shot and injured a fellow student at a central Illinois high school on Sept. 20, 2017. The shooting unfolded in Mattoon High Schools cafeteria around 11:30 a.m., officials said at the time.

One female teacher intervened and successfully subdued and disarmed the gunman -- a move Mattoon Police Chief Jeff Branson said at the time was pivotal.

The gunman was taken into custody shortly after the incident.

Freeman High School, Washington

A 15-year-old student opened fire on fellow classmates at a Washington state high school on Sept. 13, 2017, killing one, investigators said. Caleb Sharpe, the suspected gunman, said the student who died had bullied him.

The slain student tried to stop the teen's rampage when the gun jammed, according to The Associated Press. A school janitor was hailed a hero after he was able to subdue the alleged shooter.

Three other students were wounded in the attack. According to court documents, Sharpe told officials that he brought the two guns to school to teach everyone a lesson about what happens when you bully others.

North Park Elementary School, California

A special needs teacher and a child, 8, were killed in what police said was a murder-suicide at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, California.

Police said Cedric Anderson walked into the school on April 10, 2017, and shot his estranged wife, Karen Elaine Smith. Two other students were also struck before Anderson killed himself, although law enforcement officials said they do not believe they were intended targets.

Jonathan Martinez was identified as the 8-year-old killed at the elementary school. A 9-year-old was injured.

Liberty-Salem High School, Ohio

Two high school students were injured after a fellow student allegedly fired a shotgun inside Liberty-Salem High School in Ohio on Jan. 20, 2017.

Logan Cole, who was 16 at the time, was shot twice but survived. Another student was grazed by a bullet. Champaign County Sheriff Matthew Melvin said the gunman intended to harm more students than he did.

Ely Serna, the accused gunman, was 17 at the time of the shooting but is being tried as an adult in Champaign County court. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Elizabeth Zwirz, Katherine Lam, Lucia I. Suarez Sang, Samuel Chamberlain, Kathleen Joyce, Shira Bush and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Police in western New York issued an Amber Alert on Friday for a missing 14-month-old boy whose mother's body was found in a plastic bag hidden in the woods two days earlier.

According to the alert, the child, Owen Hidalgo-Calderon, was last seen May 16, the same day his mother, Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, was last seen before her body was found Wednesday morning.

"The child was taken under circumstances that lead the police to believe that he is in imminent danger of serious harm and/or death," the alert said.

The body of 18-year-old Selena Hidalgo-Calderon was found at a farm in the Wayne County town of Sodus where she and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Edward Reyes, worked. The body was between two logs and covered with soil and branches.

Reyes, caught on a hunter's trail camera going in and out of the woods with a shovel, was arrested Wednesday night on charges of tampering with physical evidence. He has admitted to burying the woman but not killing her, Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts said.

Reyes was being held on $25,000 bail in the Wayne County Jail pending a court appearance May 29. Virts said he is working with authorities in Mexico, where Reyes is from, to learn more about him and if he has a criminal record. He is not the missing child's father.

At one point while the mother and child were missing, relatives indicated that Hidalgo-Calderon and Reyes, who lived together, may have run off because of their immigration status, the sheriff's office said, but checks of surrounding train and bus stations had turned up nothing.

Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers' Center of Central New York told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Hidalgo-Calderon was from Guatemala and was seeking asylum.

"I don't care about your race, creed, color, national origin or religion," Virts said at a news conference. "If you are a victim, we will fight for you, we will triumph for you. If you are a perpetrator and you have abused somebody, we are going to hunt you down."

Hidalgo-Calderon had been in the U.S. since November 2016, according to the Workers' Center.

"My daughter and my grandson were my life," her mother, Estela Calderon, said in a statement issued by the center. "She was my first born and I feel like a piece of my heart is gone."
Low over the Rio Grande Valley, calls come into the cockpit.

We have a group of 16, can you assist? says a border patrol agent below in his SUV. We got runners.

Ill come down low and spread them open, replied Customs and Border Protection pilot JP Pridgen.

He maneuvers the big Blackhawk in front of the group of immigrants scattering below, forcing some to take cover in the bushes from the fierce downwash.

Theres nothing out in that area, says Pridgen. Theres no water, no food, and with the heat coming on this weekend, no shelter.

As the debate plays out over whether National Guard troops are needed at the border, some border agents say they are grateful for any help they could get  particularly the air support.

Over the last few years, our attrition has been outpacing our hiring, said Acting U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost, so this is a good stop-gap measure, having the guard here.

But that move has not come without controversy.

The union boss of the Border Patrol on Thursday said President Trumps decision to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border was "a colossal waste of resources."

"We have seen no benefit," said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the Los Angeles Times reported.

But some agents at the border say they do need the help.

After tracking four groups of illegal immigrants some 60 miles north of the border, the helicopter carrying border agents is out of gas and headed back to McAllen, Texas.

BORDER PATROL UNION BOSS CALLS TRUMP'S NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT A 'COLOSSAL WASTE'

You see how they run, that puts them at great risk if they get lost or stranded out here by themselves, said Provost, the first woman to head the border patrol.

So far this fiscal year, the border claimed 133 fatalities and forced 2,116 rescues. Frequently, smugglers will bolt as soon as the border patrol shows up, leaving lost and bewildered immigrants and families without working cell phones days away from water or the nearest road. Dehydrated and disoriented, some die without anyone knowing.

The Rio Grande Valley is once again the busiest sector along the border. Their 15,000 arrests account for 38 percent of all apprehensions nationwide. Thats a level last seen in 2016.

We are averaging 500 arrests a day, it really takes a lot of manpower, said patrol agent Jose Garza.

Garza spoke to a group of 40 Central Americans, mostly women and children, who turned themselves over to border agents soon after crossing the Rio Grande. More than 80 percent of those crossing in South Texas are not Mexican. Most are from the so called Northern Triangle of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Most will file for asylum.

The population of OTMs (Other Than Mexicans) is higher here than anywhere else in the country and higher in unaccompanied minors and family units, Provost said. From a [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] perspective, we were doing everything we control. It is these loopholes in the system that need to be fixed. So long as you have those pull factors, like catch and release, youll have people coming back if they think they can get released into the country.

Going back to January 2017, President Trump promised to end catch and release, saying asylum seekers and refugees would be detained until they were deported. He has yet to fulfill that promise.

There are three huge loopholes, admitted CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. First, the double standard on children. If you come from a contagious country like Canada or Mexico, we can immediately repatriate you. The further away, it is very unlikely that will happen. Two, with families, you have to be released in 20 days for a court hearing that could be years away. The third is the asylum gap. People are claiming asylum at the border. About 80 percent meet that initial credible fear bar but only about 20 percent of claims are ultimately upheld by a judge. That is a huge gap.

Border officials said the asylum seekers are overwhelming the Rio Grande Valley.

Agents say theyre so focused on catching and processing unaccompanied minors and families that vast areas of South Texas are left unprotected. That was illustrated Tuesday night when state police and border agents stopped an 18-wheeler crammed with immigrants who poked a hole in the roof to escape.

The 86 individuals were illegal immigrants, four were unaccompanied children, the youngest of which was 3 years old, said Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Jose Rodriguez.

The Rio Grande Valley is unique in that immigrants can reach a safe house in the U.S. minutes after crossing the river. They will wait there for a few days until a van will take them to a larger stash house, where dozens of immigrants will be consolidated into trucks, where they will be concealed while smugglers try to get them through a checkpoint.

As long as they can make money off human and drug smuggling, Provost said, they will keep doing it.


A group of U.S. service members entrusted with guarding nuclear missiles at a highly secure military base in Wyoming allegedly bought, distributed and used LSD and other mind-altering illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months.

"Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn't," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles Grimsley, lead prosecutor of one of several courts martial.

A slip-up on social media by one airman enabled investigators to crack the drug ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in March 2016, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

In all, 14 airmen were disciplined, with six convicted in courts martial of LSD use or distribution or both. Yet none of the airmen was accused of using drugs on duty.

Two accused airmen were acquitted at courts martial, and three other suspects were not charged.

The service members accused of involvement in the LSD ring were from the 90th Missile Wing, which operates one-third of the 400 Minuteman 3 missiles that stand "on alert" 24/7 in underground silos scattered across the northern Great Plains.

Airman 1st Class Tommy N. Ashworth was among those who used LSD supplied by colleagues with connections to civilian drug dealers.

"I felt paranoia, panic" for hours after taking a hit of acid, Ashworth said under oath at his court martial. He confessed to using LSD three times while off duty. The first time, in the summer of 2015, shook him up. "I didn't know if I was going to die that night or not," he said as a witness at another airman's drug trial.

Airman 1st Class Nickolos A. Harris, said to be the leader of the drug ring, testified that he obtained LSD and other drugs from civilian sources. He pleaded guilty to using and distributing LSD and using ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana.

"I absolutely just loved altering my mind," he told the military judge, blaming his decisions to use hallucinogens and other drugs on his addictive personality.

"I absolutely just loved altering my mind."  Airman 1st Class Nickolos A. Harris, who pleaded guilty to using LSD, other drugs

Harris was sentenced to 12 months in jail and other penalties. The lead prosecutor in that case, Air Force Capt. C. Rhodes Berry, had argued Harris should be locked up for 42 months, including nine months for the "aggravating circumstance" of undercutting public trust by using hallucinogens and other drugs on a nuclear weapons base.

As the alleged ringleader, Harris laid out several "rules" for LSD use at a gathering of several airmen in a Cheyenne apartment in late 2015 that was recorded on video. Rule No. 1: "No social media at all." He added: "No bad trips. Everybody's happy right now. Let's keep it that way."

But social media proved their undoing. In March 2016, one member posted a Snapchat video of himself smoking marijuana, setting Air Force investigators on their trail.

As the investigators closed in, one of the accused, Airman 1st Class Devin R. Hagarty, grabbed a backpack and cash, text-messaged his mother that he loved her, turned off his cellphone and fled to Mexico.

"I started panicking," he told a military judge after giving himself up and being charged with desertion.

The Air Force said Hagarty was the first convicted deserter from an ICBM base since January 2013. In court, he admitted using LSD four times in 2015-16 and distributing it once, and he said he had deserted with the intention of never returning. He also admitted to using cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana multiple times. He was sentenced to 13 months in a military jail.

In a similar case, three midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., late last year were accused of selling cocaine, ketamine, and LSD to their classmates. No formal charges were brought against them, however.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Fluffy, Cottonball and Marshmallow or Bruce, Clark and Diana?

University of California, Berkeley officials are asking for help naming three fluffy peregrine falcon chicks that hatched last month in the iconic Campanile bell tower on campus.

The adult birds return each year to nest at the same place, and this is the second year for the grown Campanile peregrines, said Glenn Stewart, a researcher with the UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group.

"They eat their food where they catch it. But when they have babies, they bring the food into the nest area. So when the food started coming into the balcony on April 23, we knew the eggs had hatched," he said .

Last year, the community cheered when two chicks took their initial flights and mourned when one died after flying into a window.

Peregrines are the fastest animals in the world with a diving speed that can top 200 mph (322 kilometers per hour).

So far, suggestions for the two males and one female have honored literary, scientific, and superhero figures.

One person suggested "Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent and Diana Powers," although Wonder Woman's last name is Prince. A Shakespeare fan thinks "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Ophelia" would make swell names for the birds.

And a woman named Bunny suggested by Twitter that the birds be named Fluffy, Cottonball and Marshmallow, the San Francisco Chronicle reports , but those names might be too cuddly given that grown peregrines are sharp and deadly.

The new chicks will be tracked for the next couple of decades.

The public can participate by Twitter or Facebook. The deadline is Monday.

___

Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com
In the first official speech, the new US Secretary of State fixed draconian conditions for a new nuclear agreement with Iran. Teheran responds: working with other partners to find a solution. Israel welcomes the words of the head of US diplomacy. But the European Union wants to preserve trade agreements with the Islamic Republic.

Tehran (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A new chapter has opened in the (new) war between the United States and Iran, following the decision by President Donald Trump to cancel the nuclear agreement (JCPOA) and introduce new sanctions. In his first official speech since his nomination to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the reintroduction of all punitive measures of the past and "the hardest sanctions in history". At the same time he set a number of conditions [which analysts and experts call draconian] for a new nuclear pact with Tehran, including the withdrawal of Iranian forces from Syria and the end of support for the Houthi Shiite rebels in Yemen.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani replied to Pompey's vitriolic words, saying that the United States has no title to decide on the future of Iran. "Who are you to decide on Iran and the world?" said the leader of the Islamic Republic, adding that "today" the states are independent and the era of US hegemony "is over. We will follow our path - he concluded - with the support of the whole country ".

A harsh condemnation of Pompey's speech also comes from Tehran's head of diplomacy, Javad Zarif, who rejects the threat of the worst sanctions in history. According to the Foreign Minister, the United States "are regressing into the old habits" of past hegemony; however, the Islamic Republic "is working with other partners" in the nuclear agreement in search of a solution. This is why Zarif went to Brussels in the last few days, the last stop on a journey that touched Russia and China, to save the JCPOA and preserve the beneficial effects of the agreement. This is also explains European Union (EU) decision to revisit a pro-Cuba norm to protect its companies from the "extraterritorial application" of the new sanctions imposed by the White House is to be framed.

Among those who applaud the Trump administration's iron-fisted strategy against Teheran, aimed at some sources of "regime change" in Iran, is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Commenting on Pompey's speech, the premier points out that "US policy is correct" to counter "the aggressive expansion" of Iran throughout the Middle East. The Israeli leader, the only nation in the region to possess an atomic arsenal, concludes that Iran "aspires to nuclear weapons" and for this "the entire international community must align" with American positions.

Iran is one of the world's leading oil producers, with an annual turnover of billions of dollars. The ayatollah crude oil is one of the sensitive targets of US sanctions. However, it seems at least improbable that nations like Russia, China, India, Turkey are willing to follow the dictates of the White House.

And the European Union itself continues to move its pawns to safeguard what remains of the treaty and, as a primary objective, keep strategically important economic and commercial agreements alive for their companies. In this sense we read the words of the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy Federica Mogherini, who yesterday confirmed that "there are no alternative solutions" to the current agreement. Pompey's speech, he added, has not shown "how leaving the agreement has made or will make the region safer".
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In the corner of a special room inside the USS Arlington  docked today not far from where Al Qaeda brought down the World Trade Center on 9/11  hangs a plaque containing an American flag that was flown at Usama bin Ladens compound the day he was killed in Pakistan.

It is a powerful symbol of the sacrifices the U.S. Armed Forces have made in the War on Terror, and an everlasting reminder onboard the ship  currently in New York City for Fleet Week  of Americas strength and determination.

Its a good thing to experience and be a part of, coming from the attack to today, where we are still standing tall, standing strong and we are going to keep going, no matter what, Nikita Antoine, a Navy electricians mate, told Fox News on the deck of the USS Arlington, docked in Manhattans Pier 90.

Nearly seventeen years ago, Antoine saw the attacks first hand as an elementary school student in Brooklyn. Now she works onboard one of the Navys newer ships, the USS Arlington, a massive amphibious transport dock that is one of three in its class to be built honoring the 2,977 victims of the September 11 attacks.

The ship arrived in New York City for the first time Wednesday, majestically sailing past the new World Trade Center just days ahead of Memorial Day, joining many other Navy and Coast Guard ships in the area for its annual Fleet Week.

Its a very somber and powerful reminder of our mission and purpose as members of the U.S. Navy, Capt. Todd Marzano told Fox News about the ship, named as a tribute and remembrance to the 184 innocent victims that lost their lives on that day when the aircraft hit the southwest corner of the Pentagon.

The Arlington, like several of the other ships participating in Fleet Week, is open daily for tours through Memorial Day weekend. Military band performances, flyovers, search and rescue demonstrations and a Navy dive tank in Times Square are amongst the dozens of free events scheduled for the public.

From the moment one steps onboard the Arlington, it is made clear what the ship is set out to accomplish  to take our Marines to the shore, wherever our Navy needs them or our Marine Corps need them, says its command master chief, Charles Eakley.

On display in the lower level of the 684-foot long ship are an array of amphibious and landing vehicles that can whisk themselves in and out of the vessel, including a Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), a hovercraft that can race through the water at speeds of more than 50 knots.

Looking out from inside the cramped cockpit of the LCAC reveals something much larger -- a two-level parking garage of sorts that can house more than a dozen vehicles inside the USS Arlington, capable of carrying a landing force of up to 800 Marines.

Some of the latest Navy rifles, drones and weaponry is featured on the Arlingtons flight deck, which can launch or land up to four helicopters. The ship, which weighs nearly 25,000 tons, is outfitted with a pair of 30mm guns, missile launchers and ten .50 caliber machine guns for defense.

And high up in the ships interior is one of its most hallowed spaces, the 9/11 tribute room.

Marked by the words We Will Not Forget, a corridor leading to the room lists the names of each of the victims that died at the Pentagon on 9/11, and 184 stars painted on the floor also pay tribute.

Inside the room is the flag flown at bin Ladens Abbottabad compound, metal, bolts and limestone salvaged from the Pentagon crash site, and a large quilt made by eighth grade students from Arlington schools, comprised of hero squares  each with the name of a victim.

Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a timeGoodness, remembrance, and love has no end reads a quote written on the bottom of the quilt, taken from former President George W. Bushs speech three days after the deadliest terror attack in history.

The tribute room  it took me a year before I actually stepped inside the tribute room, just because I didnt think I was ready yet, being from New York, Lt. Carley Tadlock told Fox News. It was definitely [somber] for myself and to be able to carry on its legacy is a big deal

Elsewhere along the ships passageways are 184 gold stars paying homage to the victims.

Our crew on board does not forget. Everywhere you walk, you will see pentagons throughout the ship, Tadlock said, adding that to her, Memorial Day is about remembering everyone who came before me and trying to make them proud in everything I do every day.

The ships seal also has numerous nods to the Pentagon crash site and its victims. A gold rope around its exterior is twisted 184 times and a bald eagle flies over two 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Benches, placed above a pentagon-shaped shield.

The red section symbolizes the area of the Pentagon where American Airlines Flight 77, commandeered by terrorists, was targeted and crashed into the building on September 11, 2001, the Navy says. The laurel wreath is symbolic of honor and high achievement, and commemorates the heroism of the first responders at the Pentagon.

Since its commissioning in April 2013, the USS Arlington has participated in military drills and exercises in the Arabian Gulf and the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas, and is gearing up for another deployment later this year.

Prior to its launch, the Navy has had two ships named after Arlington, Va.  the first, a transport ship, serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II, and the second being a light aircraft carrier and communications relay ship, operating in the Vietnam War and later assisting in recovering the space crews from the Apollo 8 and Apollo 10 NASA missions.
Good morning! Happy Friday everyone. We have a few things happening on the weather maps this long weekend.

First up: A tropical disturbance over the eastern Yucatan Peninsula continues showing signs of organization.

The NHC places the odds of it developing into a subtropical or tropical system at 90% as the disturbance moves from the Western Caribbean into the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Regardless of tropical or subtropical classification, the biggest threat from this system will be heavy rainfall and flooding across Florida and the Southeast through Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center has come out with their 2018 storm predictions and it looks as if we could be a little greater than average this year in terms of named systems, but remember it only takes one hurricane to make it an active year.

Meanwhile, heat will build across the entire Midwest and Plains through Memorial Day, including temperatures reaching the 90s across portions of South Dakota and Minnesota over the weekend. Relief from the heat will arrive by the middle of next week.

Here's a look at your National Weather forecast:

Have a wonderful weekend.

JD
A large wolf-like animal shot and killed in Montana has wildlife officials and social media wondering what it was.

A rancher shot the gray-haired beast on May 16 when it ventured too close to his livestock in Denton. The rancher reported that he killed a wolf but wolf specialists looked at photos of the animal and doubted it was a purebred wolf, ABCFoxMontana reported.

The canine teeth were too shot, the front paws too small and claws on the front paw were too long, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Bruce Auchly said in a news release Thursday.

Nevertheless, social media was quick to pronounce the animal as everything from a wolf to a wolf hybrid to something mythical," he said.

The Great Falls Tribune also reported that the animal shared many characteristics of a wolf but that its large ears, short legs and body and its fur stood it apart.

We have no idea what this was until we get a DNA report back, Auchly told the paper. It was near a rancher's place, it was shot, and our game wardens went to investigate. The whole animal was sent to our lab in Bozeman. That's the last I ever heard of it.
Following President Trumps decision to cancel a highly anticipated summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, an official from the rogue nation said they remain open to talks with the U.S., Yonhap News reported.

"We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said on Friday, according to the outlet, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Trumps move to call off the June 12 talks in Singapore highlights the tension between the two countries and further emphasizes the need of a meeting, the official reportedly explained. He added that Kim has been prepping for the summit.

WHITE HOUSE PULLS OUT OF SUMMIT WITH NORTH KOREAS KIM JONG UN

"Despite all of this, the U.S.' unilateral decision to scrap the talks causes us to reconsider whether all of the efforts and the path we have taken is really the right one or not," the official said, according to Yonhap. "Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the U.S.," he said.

Word from the hermit kingdom came hours after Trump penned a letter to the dictator saying that talks right now would be inappropriate considering the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in recent comments from North Korea.

NORTH KOREA THREATENS TO BACK AWAY FROM SUMMIT WITH US, REPORTEDLY CALLS PENCE POLITICAL DUMMY

Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place, Trump wrote.

North Korea on Thursday threatened to back away from the meeting.

Vice Minister of the North Korean Foreign Ministry, Choe Son Hui, said in a statement that whether the U.S. will meet with us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States, according to Yonhap News.

The official also reportedly insulted Vice President Pence after he said North Korea had initially asked for the meeting.

NORTH KOREA WAS NO-SHOW FOR SUMMIT PLANNING MEETING IN SINGAPORE LAST WEEK, WHITE HOUSE REVEALS

"The tremendous anger and open hostility that President Trump mentioned is just a backlash in response to a unilateral denuclearization being pushed ahead of the planned North-U.S summit," the official said Friday, according to Yonhap.

Trump closed out his letter to Kim saying that if you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth, Trump wrote. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

Fox News Brooke Singman and Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.
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The U.N. special envoy for Burundi urged the African nation's government Thursday to quickly restart dialogue with the opposition following a referendum that will allow the president to stay in power until 2034.

Michel Kafando told the Security Council that Burundi can only solve the current political crisis through "an inclusive dialogue." If this doesn't happen, he warned, the opposition's challenge to the referendum's results "will further polarize an already tense political situation characterized by human rights violations and other abuses as well as the deterioration of its socio-economic and humanitarian situation."

Burundi's main opposition coalition asked the country's constitutional court earlier Thursday to invalidate the results of last week's referendum. The election commission on Monday said over 73 percent of the 4.7 million votes cast supported constitutional amendments, including one allowing President Pierre Nkurunziza to remain in power for 14 years after his current term ends in 2020.

The opposition coalition said the referendum was marred by intimidation and abuses. Before the vote, observers expressed alarm at reported violence and intimidation of the government's perceived opponents, including threats of drowning and castration. A presidential decree criminalized calls to abstain from voting, with a penalty of up to three years in jail.

Kafando drew the Security Council's attention to Burundi's expulsion of experts from the U.N. Human Rights Council on April 26. Their visas were canceled while in Burundi and the U.N. envoy called on the government to facilitate their return. The government also suspended BBC and Voice of America broadcasts.

The constitutional court validated Nkurunziza's third term in 2015, which the opposition and many international observers saw as unconstitutional. Months of deadly political turmoil followed, with more than 1,200 people killed and hundreds of thousands fleeing the country.

Kafando said the security situation is now "generally calm" though there are isolated grenade attacks and reports of bodies being discovered, some in military uniforms. He said the killing of 26 people, including women and children, on May 11 by unidentified armed men in Buganda showed that "the environment continues to be volatile."

The council meeting demonstrated a sharp divide among its five veto-wielding permanent members over the referendum. France, Britain and the United States protested human rights violations and the government's crackdown on the opposition and strongly backed Kafando's call for an inclusive dialogue. Russia and China supported Burundi's government.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the constitution's revision goes against the Arusha accords adopted in 2000 to end a 13-year civil war in Burundi that killed about 300,000 people. He warned that mechanisms to protect the Tutsi minority in the Hutu-majority country "are weakened and will even disappear."

Delattre said there has been no success in efforts to start a dialogue between the government and opposition, a push being made by the East African Community, which comprises six countries in the Great Lakes region  Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

"Nonetheless, the priority should remain a genuine, inclusive national dialogue without any conditions," the ambassador said.

U.S. deputy political coordinator Elaine French echoed the call for talks with the opposition, saying the referendum further aggravates "acute political tensions." Its results "leave us concerned that Burundi is moving closer to one-party rule," she said.

Britain's political coordinator, Stephen Hickey, also urged Burundi's government to pursue an inclusive dialogue and preserve the Arusha accords. "The risks in Burundi are huge and the case for preventive diplomacy is overwhelming," he said.

On the other side, Deputy Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky called the referendum "strictly a domestic affair for Burundi." He said the situation in the country doesn't threaten regional or international peace and security and should therefore be taken off the council's agenda.

Chinese Counselor Zhang Dianbin stressed Burundi's sovereignty and said the referendum "fully proves the Burundi government and peoples' ability to properly address relevant issues" and handle its own affairs.

Burundi's U.N. ambassador, Albert Shingiro, called the referendum "a victim of its success" and sharply criticized unnamed countries that he said "propagated alarmist scenarios" before the vote.

He insisted the new constitution fully respects the Arusha agreement, "to which the government attaches great importance," and guarantees democratic principles, national unity, protection of minorities, ethnic and gender quotas in institutions, and protection of human rights.
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Truckers angry over fuel price hikes are striking for a fifth straight day in Brazil despite a deal reached with unions to suspend the stoppage.

The strike caused hundreds of public schools in several states on Friday to cancel classes, while roads in many cities were blocked and the Brasilia international airport said planes would only be allowed to land if they had enough fuel to depart on subsequent flights. The airport also said American Airlines canceled a flight scheduled from Miami and others would be canceled if the situation didn't improve.

The government and several unions that represent truckers said late Thursday they had reached a deal for a suspension of the strike for 15 days.

It wasn't immediately clear if truckers would comply as word got out Friday.
A powerful cyclone is raising fears of flash flooding and mudslides in the Arabian Peninsula after it lashed an island off the coast of Yemen, washing away thousands of animals and leaving at least 40 people missing.

Cyclone Mekunus outer bands were already dumping heavy rain and bending palm trees in Oman Friday after wreaking havoc on Socotra. It is expected to make landfall early Saturday near Salalah, Oman's third-largest city and home to some 200,000 people close to the country's border with war-ravaged Yemen, according to the Associated Press.

Omani forecasters warned Salalah and the surrounding area would get at least 7.87 inches of rain, over twice the amount of rain this city typically gets in a year.

India's Meteorological Department said the storm packed maximum sustained winds of 99-106 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 118 mph.

"Salalah is expected to experience maximum wind and maximum rainfall and also the maximum storm surge," said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra of the department.

Already at least 40 people, including Yemenis, Indians and Sudanese, were reported missing on Socotra, where flash floods washed away animals and cut power lines on the isle in the Arabian Sea. Officials feared some may be dead.

Conditions quickly deteriorated in Salalah after sunrise Friday, with winds and rain beginning to pick up. Strong waves smashed into empty tourist beaches. Many holidaymakers fled the storm Thursday night before Salalah International Airport closed. The Port of Salalah  a key gateway for the country  also closed, its cranes secured against the pounding rain.

Streets quickly emptied across the city. Standing water covered roads and caused at least one car to hydroplane and flip over.

Later, a municipal worker on a massive loader used its bucket to tear into a road median to drain a flooded street, showing how desperate the situation could become.

Authorities remained worried about flash flooding in the area's valleys and potential mudslides down its nearby cloud-shrouded mountains.

A sizable police presence has already fanned out across Salalah, the hometown of Oman's longtime ruler Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

"Of course, for the citizen there is going to be a sense of fear of the consequences that can happen," said Brig. Gen. Mohsin bin Ahmed al-Abri, the commander of Dhofar governorate's police. "We have been through a few similar cases and there were losses in properties and also in human life as well. But one has to take precautions and work on that basis."

As torrential rains poured down, local authorities opened schools to shelter those whose homes are at risk. About 600 people, mostly laborers, huddled at the West Salalah School, some sleeping on mattresses on the floors of classrooms, where math and English lesson posters hung on the walls.

Shahid Kazmi, a worker from Pakistan's Kashmir region, told The Associated Press that police moved him and others to the school. He acknowledged being a bit scared of the storm but said: "Inshallah, we are safe here."

On Socotra, authorities relocated over 230 families to sturdier buildings and other areas, including those more inland and in the island's mountains, Yemeni security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Flash floods engulfed Socotra streets, cutting electricity and communication lines, they said. At least 40 people were missing, they added. Some humanitarian aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates arrived on the island just hours after the cyclone receded.

The officials said heavy rains pummeled Yemen's easternmost province of al-Mahra, along the nation's border with Oman.

Socotra Gov. Ramzy Mahrous said one ship sank and two others ran aground in the storm, initially saying authorities believed 17 people were missing.

"We consider them dead," the governor said.

Yemen's self-exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi issued a statement ordering troops under his command on the island to help citizens, deliver supplies and reopen roads.

The island, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, has been the focus of a dispute between the UAE and Yemen's internationally recognized government amid that country's war after Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

Socotra has a unique ecosystem and is home to rare plants, snails and reptiles that can be found nowhere else on the planet. It is known for its flower-and-fruit bearing dragon blood tree, which resembles an umbrella and gets its name from the dark red sap it secretes.

A cyclone is the same as a hurricane or a typhoon; their names only change because of their location. Hurricanes are spawned east of the international date line. Typhoons develop west of the line and are known as cyclones in the Indian Ocean and Australia.

Mekunu, which means "mullet" in Dhivehi, the language spoken in the Maldives, is on track to potentially be the same strength as a Category 2 hurricane at landfall. It also comes just days after Cyclone Sagar struck Somalia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
The Latest on the situation in Syria (all times local):

12:55 p.m.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman says Turkish and American officials are meeting in the Turkish capital of Ankara for talks on the strategic northern Syrian town of Manbij that has driven a wedge between NATO allies Turkey and the United States.

Turkey is pushing for the withdrawal of U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces from Manbij and has vowed to retake the town and other Kurdish-held territory along the Syrian-Turkish border by force.

Hami Aksoy, the spokesman, said ministry officials were discussing Manbij's status with U.S. State Department officials on Friday.

He says Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo would meet in Washington on June 4 to discuss the issue and other topics.

Ankara views the Kurdish militia in Syria as an extension of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey.

___

12:45 p.m.

Iraq says its warplanes have struck two sites belonging to the extremist Islamic State group in eastern Syria.

A military statement said the airstrikes, carried out early Friday morning by Iraqi air force F-16s, targeted the militants' rocket depot and another site used by senior IS leaders.

The statement says both sites were completely destroyed, but gave no other details. This is not the first time that Iraqi warplanes have hit IS positions inside Syria.

The Iraqi airstrikes are believed to be coordinated with Syrian authorities, Russia's military, which has troops and warplanes deployed in Syria, as well as the U.S.-led coalition that has waged an air campaign against IS since 2014.

Last December, Iraq declared victory over IS after it drove its militants out of territories north and west of the country.

___

11:55 a.m.

A Syrian war-monitoring group says suspected Israeli strikes hit a military base overnight in central Syria that houses Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group alongside other factions allied with the government in Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that it's not clear if there are any casualties in the strikes on the Dabaa air base in central Homs province. The base is north of the town of al-Qusair that Hezbollah captured in 2013 from rebels, a turning point in the group's role in the Syrian war.

Syria's state media reported late Thursday that a military base in central Syria came under attack from "enemy" fire. It said Syrian air defenses responded.

Hezbollah and Iran's role in Syria has alarmed Israel and the United States, which have threatened action.
A jilted womans decision to destroy her ex-boyfriend by pouring acid over him  leaving him in such pain and disfigurement that he chose to die through euthanasia -- has been handed a life sentence in jail.

A judge in England sentenced Berlinah Wallace to life in prison with eligibility for parole after a minimum of 12 years, according to published reports.

She was found guilty by a Bristol court of throwing a corrosive substance with intent to harm her ex-boyfriend, Mark van Dongen, in 2015. She was cleared of murder charges.

Van Dongen had gone to Wallaces apartment, at her insistence, to put an end to their on-again-off-again relationship of five years, and to tell her that he was moving in with a new girlfriend.

But Wallace was bent on revenge, deciding that if she couldnt be with him, no one would, according to Sky News.

She threw 98 percent sulfuric acid on van Dongen, laughing as she did it, reports say. Prior to the attack, police said, Wallace had conducted a Google search on acid attacks.

He looked like he was covered in a clay sort of mud, which I later realized was his skin melting.  Nic White, neighbor of attacker, testifying in court

Neighbors of Wallace said that van Dongen ran out of the apartment screaming for help.

I looked out of the window and there was a guy standing there in his boxer shorts and he looked a really odd color from his head down to his shoulders, Nic White testified, according to Sky News. He looked like he was covered in a clay sort of mud, which I later realized was his skin melting.

Judge Nicola Davies called the attack an act of pure evil and described Wallace as a danger to others.

Your intention was to burn, disfigure and disable Mark van Dongen so that he would not be attractive to any other woman, the judge said.

A worker who decontaminated van Dongen when he arrived at a hospital after the attack said the victim unleashed a bloodcurdling scream when he saw his reflection.

He said: Kill me now, the healthcare worker told The Sun. If my face is going to be left looking like this I dont want to live.

The attack left van Dongen partially blind and paralyzed from the neck down. He also lost a leg to amputation, suffered several septic chest infections, became unable to move his arms and suffered chronic pain and itching.

He was transferred to a hospital in Belgium, where his father lived, and which allows assisted suicide.

He knew he'd lose his voice. So what would he have left? Just pain and itching and another ceiling to stare at all day long.  Kees van Dongen, father of the victim

Van Dongen was found eligible for euthanasia by a panel of three doctors who concluded that he lived with unbearable physical and psychological suffering. He ended his life in January 2017, more than a year after the attack.

He knew hed lose his voice, his father told Sky News. So what would he have left? Just pain and itching and another ceiling to stare at all day long.

The life sentence for Wallace left the elder van Dongen ambivalent.

I am very pleased she is going to be locked up for 12 years, but really this is too little, as we as a family have been sentenced for life. I hope she messes up and doesnt ever come out of prison again, Kees van Dongen said, according to the Guardian.

There are only losers in this case. This has completely ruined our lives  financially and as a family. Our home has fallen apart. I hope we can start to pick up the pieces and rebuild.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On May 23, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed a cooperation agreement with Chengdu municipal government, marking that Chengdu Economic and Technology Development Zone has officially become the site for Geely alternative fuel vehicle and pan-Eurasian parts base. Sichuan Provincial Secretary Peng Qinghua and Geely president Li Shufu made their presence at the signing ceremony.

According to the agreement, Geely Holding Group will invest and deploy in R&D of alternative fuel vehicles, parts manufacturing and mobility services. The conclusion of the agreement will help Geely to build a manufacturing platform with capacity of one million vehicles and set up an industry park of pan-Eurasian parts base. Moreover, it will also help the group to gain a total value of more than RMB 100 billion in auto industrial chain in Chengdu.

Sichuan warmly welcomed Geely to set up new projects in the province, and hoped Geely to increase investment in Sichuan, accelerate the construction of big projects, based on its close cooperation with Sichuan. By virtue of cooperating with Geely, the province also expected Geely to help transform and upgrade Sichuan's auto industry.

At the same time, Geely's subsidiary, Mitime Group, also started the construction of a project, which includes education for auto specialists, important international automotive races. The construction will further enhance Geely's deployment in Chengdu. As Geely Auto, Volvo and Polestar have built factories in Chengdu in succession, Chengdu is playing an increasingly important role in Geely's development.
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Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low near 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low near 80F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Montreal (25 May 2018)  Square Enix Montreal, the award-winning and critically acclaimed mobile games studio, has announced that it is attending Casual Connect in London on May 29-31, 2018, and will be located at booth #206. The studio will be a Gold Sponsor of the conference and has recently made the move to the freemium mobile game development model. As a result, Square Enix is actively looking to fill new positions within the Montreal and London mobile studios. Key members of the Square Enix Montreal and London mobile teams will be available at the booth to discuss any of the available positions, spanning Creative, Analytics, Product Management, and beyond. As well as sponsoring this years Best Kids and Family Game Indie Prize Award, Square Enix Montreals Head of Studio, Patrick Naud will join fellow industry experts to discuss Live Operations on the Live Game Ops Power Panel at 4pm on May 30, 2018 in the St. Jamess suite. Senior Producer Dominic Allaire and Lead Game Designer Jean-Francois Dugas will deliver their Live and Kickin presentation covering the evolution of Hitman Sniper at 11am on May 30, 2018 in the St. Jamess suite. Weve always strived to provide the highest quality experience for mobile players and premium was the most appropriate format for us to do so initially in order to prove our know-how, said Patrick Naud, Head of Studio at Square Enix Montreal. While we remain absolutely committed to delivering innovative experiences to our existing IPs, we also want to make original games that are accessible to all players, hence we are now fully embracing the freemium format, while being mindful that we continue to provide the mobile gaming community with unforgettable experiences; a value central to every Square Enix Montreal title. For more information regarding the Live Game Ops Power Panel and Live and Kickin presentation: http://europe.casualconnect.org/schedule.html Casual Connect will be held at The Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London, SW1P 3EE. Square Enix Montreal will be located at booth #206. For more information and interview enquiries, please contact: Carly Moxey (Dead Good PR on behalf of Square Enix Montreal) [email protected] HITMAN: SNIPER  2014-2018 Io-Interactive A/S. All rights reserved. Published by Square Enix Ltd. HITMAN, HITMAN: SNIPER, SQUARE ENIX, and the SQUARE ENIX logo are trademarks of the Square Enix group of companies. IO-INTERACTIVE and the IO logo are trademarks of Io-Interactive A/S. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
NEW BATTLEGROUND, DUNGEON AND MORE IN LATEST CONTENT UPDATE FOR MAPLESTORY BLITZ





[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

Seoul  May 25, 2018  The battle-card universe of MapleStory Blitz expands today with the all-new Temple of Time update, including a unique battleground, new abilities, cards and more for players to learn and master. MapleStory Blitz is a competitive trading card game (TCG) set within the beloved world of MapleStory from NEXON Korea Corporation, subsidiary of NEXON Co., Ltd. (Nexon) (3659.TO), a worldwide leader in free-to-play online and mobile games. The Temple of Time update goes live today and is available for download on iPhone and Android. MapleStory Blitz combines tactical challenges and strategic gameplay that pits players against each other in real-time battle sequences with cardified Maple World monsters and skills. The Temple of Time content update further intensifies the thrilling PvP combat by providing novice and veteran players alike with more in-depth features to master, including: Fierce Temple of Time Battleground  The all-new Temple of Time battleground features a randomly-appearing Rock of Time that can be damaged to fill its lanes gauge in the enemys direction;

 The all-new Temple of Time battleground features a randomly-appearing Rock of Time that can be damaged to fill its lanes gauge in the enemys direction; Powerful Temple Guardians  The player who controls the Rock of Time may summon one of three exclusive guardians to fight by the summoners side, including Lyka, who stuns enemies, Dodo, who eliminates one enemy monster, and Lilynouch, whose individual power is unrivaled;

 The player who controls the Rock of Time may summon one of three exclusive guardians to fight by the summoners side, including Lyka, who stuns enemies, Dodo, who eliminates one enemy monster, and Lilynouch, whose individual power is unrivaled; Challenging Dungeon  Dungeon Mode allows players to enter the new Temple of Time dungeon with Mesos or NCoins to battle the perilous Pink Bean;

 Dungeon Mode allows players to enter the new Temple of Time dungeon with Mesos or NCoins to battle the perilous Pink Bean; Exclusive Cards  44 brand-new monster cards are available for players to use, including the legendary Pink Bean card, which turns all ally monsters into Pink Beans;

 44 brand-new monster cards are available for players to use, including the legendary Pink Bean card, which turns all ally monsters into Pink Beans; Other Updates  The new Copy Deck function allows players to copy and replay previously-used decks, and some existing cards have had their stats adjusted for balance. Players also are invited to participate in the MapleStory Blitz Temple of Time Celebration Event from todays launch through Thursday, June 7. Prizes include Dodo and Lilynouch portraits and NCoins for completing quests. MapleStory Blitz is free-to-play and rated E for Everyone (ESRB). Additional information for members of the press: Download assets for MapleStory Blitz here

MapleStory Blitz Official PLUG: https://www.plug.game/maplestoryblitz

MapleStory Blitz Official Forum: http://m.nexon.com/

MapleStory Blitz Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maplestoryblitz About NEXON Co. Ltd. NEXON Co., Ltd. (Nexon) (3659.TO) is a worldwide leader in free-to-play online and mobile games. Founded in Korea in 1994, Nexon developed one of the world's first graphics-based massively multiplayer online games. Nexon also pioneered the concept of microtransactions and the free-to-play business model, setting a new standard in which play is free, and users have the option to purchase in-game items to enhance their experience. Nexon currently services nearly 100 titles in more than 190 countries. The Company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and its shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. # # # Press Contacts for Nexon Co. Ltd.: Javi Carlos/Gerard Bahri Wonacott Communications, LLC (310) 477-2871 [email protected]
Hey Long Beach, join us as we soar through the skies of Long Beach, California for a unique look at our great city! (Click below to watch video).
Last chance to attend Teddy Clinic : Medical students heal kids cuddly toys

Bonn About 1,300 patients came to the Teddy Hospital at the Childrens University Hospital on the Adenauer-Allee over the past two days. Today, Friday, its the last chance to get the kids and their cuddly toys seen to.

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Teddy Nelly has a hole under its arm, unicorn Lyria broke three legs and elephant Belli suffers from an awful throat ache - even blind cuddly toys get fixed here.

The children from various kindergartens in Bonn wait around patiently with their patients, big and small, to get an appointment. Lisa Gilles fills out every medical history sheet with plenty of patience, asks for name, age and symptoms of the patients. The children are taking this very seriously, of course - as their favourite toys are in pain.

For three days, the inner yard of the hospital was turned into the teddy clinic - with an ambulance, an operating theatre, and different treatment rooms.

Eric is talking calmly to relax his unicorn - it is not supposed to be afraid. Lila and Belli are already being treated. Dr Ted Andi, wears a white coat today. His stethoscope is dangling off his neck. The future doctor talks to Lila and her elephant and walks them into a treatment room. Lila says, Belli had an awful throat ache during the night. He wont eat or walk and he even fell out of bed the night before. Andi Bild listens to the animals heart, and Lila is allowed to do the same. Belli is x-rayed afterwards - the diagnosis: a broken trunk. After the surgery, he gets a bandage and a prescription for pain bears. After that he needs a few days rest.

Erics Einhorn will also be operated on, and gets a bandage and pain bears in the pharmacy. He says he has no idea how it could happen that Lydia broke three legs. (Unicorns only have four in total.)

17,000 toys and dolls made their way to the Teddy Clinic so far. The event is(gets) supported by the AOK Rheinland/Hamburg and the promotion circle for children suffering from cancer.

The Teddy clinic is open from 1pm until 4pm today: Last chance!

Original text: Susanne Wachter
Burning benches in the park : Vandalism in Bonns tree nursery

Bonn Unknown culprits set fire to one of the newly installed park benches in Bonns tree nursery last weekend. Residents also report they heard right-wing extremists shouting during the night.

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The police were called out twice to the tree nursery park last weekend, the General-Anzeiger has now been informed by a reader. Shortly before midnight, residents reported people shouting Sieg heil. When the officers arrived they did not meet anybody. Four hours later, at around 4.30am, residents called the fire brigade and the police: One of the newly installed park benches was on fire. The police are investigating.

42 new trees, new paths, a wild flower meadow and a playground are all part of the re-design of the area, which will be finished at the start of June.

Because the works are not finished, the liability still lies with the company who re-designs the park, explained a spokesperson of the press office. The landscaping firm has already lodged a complaint against X. Other incidents of a similar kind are not known, according to the police, but residents complain about garbage and broken bottles being left behind.

Any information on both incidents? Please contact the police at 02 28/1 50.

Original text: Sabrina Bauer
felicilin at 25-05-2018 10:12 AM (3 years ago) (f)

The Federal High Court in Benin has ordered that the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo, Chief Dan Orbih, be remanded in prison custody if he failed to perfect his bail.

The Federal High Court in Benin has ordered that the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo, Chief Dan Orbih, be remanded in prison custody if he failed to perfect his bail.

The court had on Thursday granted the Orbih and Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the 2016 governorship candidate, bail in the sum of N10 million for alleged N700 million fraud.



Also granted bail in the same condition, were the former deputy governor, Mr Lucky Imasuen, a former member of the House of Representatives, Tony Azegnemi and Efe Anthony.



Justice P. Adjokwu ordered the defendants to produce a surety each in like sum.



The judge ordered that the sureties, who must not be below salary grade level 16, must also be house owners, with Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) that should be deposited with the courts deputy registrar.



Adjokwu, who rejected the plea by defendants counsel, Mr Charles Edosomwan, ordered them to be remanded in prison until they met the bail conditions.



The Judge adjourned the case till July 4.



EFCC had arraigned the defendants on an eight-count charge of laundering the sum of N700 million.



The EFCC alleged that the defendants were arraigned for receiving N700 million prior to the 2015 general elections, from former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.



The money was part of the $115 million that Diezani pilfered from the treasury.



He said the offence contravened Section 15(2)(d)of the Money Laundering (Prohibited) Act 2011(as amended by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) punishable under section 15(3) of same Act. The court had on Thursday granted the Orbih and Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the 2016 governorship candidate, bail in the sum of N10 million for alleged N700 million fraud.Also granted bail in the same condition, were the former deputy governor, Mr Lucky Imasuen, a former member of the House of Representatives, Tony Azegnemi and Efe Anthony.Justice P. Adjokwu ordered the defendants to produce a surety each in like sum.The judge ordered that the sureties, who must not be below salary grade level 16, must also be house owners, with Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) that should be deposited with the courts deputy registrar.Adjokwu, who rejected the plea by defendants counsel, Mr Charles Edosomwan, ordered them to be remanded in prison until they met the bail conditions.The Judge adjourned the case till July 4.EFCC had arraigned the defendants on an eight-count charge of laundering the sum of N700 million.The EFCC alleged that the defendants were arraigned for receiving N700 million prior to the 2015 general elections, from former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke.The money was part of the $115 million that Diezani pilfered from the treasury.He said the offence contravened Section 15(2)(d)of the Money Laundering (Prohibited) Act 2011(as amended by the Money Laundering (Prohibition) punishable under section 15(3) of same Act.

Post Reply Posted: at 25-05-2018 10:12 AM (3 years ago) | Hero
Waukesha, WI (53187)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 58F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low 58F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
12 Hiking Destinations You'll Want to Add to Your Bucket List

Trails worth wandering off the beaten path fo

The best travel advice always comes from people with firsthand experienceand that's especially true when it comes to hiking trips. When you're going to be deep in the woods or summiting a mountaintop, most likely without cell service, you want to make sure you have tips from people who've walked the walk and can tell you exactly what to expect when you're out there.

With summer rolling around, we've got active, nature-filled vacations on the brain. Now's the perfect time to go do some outdoor exploring, after all. So we decided to go straight to the source and asked 12 expert hikers, adventurers, and explorers to tell us about their favorite awesome, potentially underrated hiking destinations that are worth checking outand how to make the most of your visit.

From waterfalls in South Carolina to international trails in Myanmar and Nepal, here are some of the picturesque hiking destinations seasoned trailblazers swear by. Add these trips to your travel bucket list and prepare for some Instagram-worthy adventures.

1. Summit Lake Trail, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

"Summit Lake is relatively close to Seattle and makes for a great half-day or overnight backpacking trip. From the top of the ridge above the lake, there are stunning views of Mount Rainier and the Carbon River Valley 3,000 feet below. Because [it's] located outside the national park, it's a great place to enjoy Mount Rainier without having to deal with fees, reservations, or permits required for many of the hiking and camping facilities at the park. I always recommend checking the Washington Trails Association website for trail reports before heading out on any trail in Washington State. The trail reports often include recent photos and current trail and road conditions."

Jess Dales, explorer, @jesswandering; photo by Christian Schaffer, @christianschaffer

"I love hiking all over Arizona and the Southwest, but one of my favorite hikes has been at Devil's Bridge. The scenery in Sedona is unrivaled, and the red rocks and good energy sets this hike apart from the rest.

"For an adaptive hiker like me, it isn't heavily trafficked by other wheelchair users, and that might be because, frankly, it's not wheelchair accessible at all. [It's] an amazing adventure because I'm willing to get a bit creative. I rely on a friend to piggyback me up the tough parts and strangers on the trail to carry my wheelchair and gear. I hiked Devil's Bridge on the weekend, because I knew there would be more traffic and I anticipated that I'd need more help on this trail. It's all about anticipating your needs and planning for them."

Brenna Bean, certified therapeutic recreation specialist and adaptive hiker, @brennambean

3. Turner Falls, Davis, Oklahoma

"There's so much to love about Turner Falls, but the beautiful turquoise water, the stunning waterfalls, the natural pools, and hiking areas are my personal favorites. The difficulty varies based on the trail you decide to take, but you don't need any hiking experience to enjoy them. Many visitors also rock-climb and kayak in the area, and the park also offers ziplining for those who don't want to hike.

"My biggest tip to anyone interested in visiting Turner Falls is to avoid holiday weekendsthe crowds can take away from the experience."

Farran Manuel, photographer and adventurer, @farranweezy

"In my opinion, this trail has some of the best views of YosemiteI absolutely prefer them to the ones from Yosemite Valley. Unlike other destinations, it has solitude, which in Yosemite is extremely difficult to come by. The trail is very (very) easy, which makes it hard for me to understand why it's so quietnot that I'm complaining. It's about a half mile long and completely flat. Anyone can do it.

"If you are looking to venture here, there are two trails to Parson's Lodge. Most people take the trail from Lambert Dome parking area, but this one begins at the visitor center area. It's unmarked, so keep your eyes out for it or you very well may miss it."

Christina Adele, photographer and park ranger, @christinaadelephoto

5. Harper's Corner Trail, National Dinosaur Monument, Colorado

"Here you'll find stunning views of rivers, canyons, green plateaus, snow-capped mountains, and many of the intricate rocks that make Dinosaur National Monument so unique. You'll also be able to find dinosaur bonesgreat for kids. And it's highly unknownit has none of the crowds of Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.

"The trail is very easy and accessible. It's a two- to three-hour drive from the nearest interstate, so it's not a roadside attraction you might stumble upon, but that's what makes it so special."

Mikah Meyer, road trip and national parks expert, @mikahmey

6. Sherpa Village, Kathmandu, Nepal

"I recently trekked to the very remote Sherpa Village in Eastern Nepal, where few tourists have been. There were spectacular views of Mount Everest from a remote hilltop, without any crowds! The trail is very hilly and at times on loose rocky terrain so you do need to have a reasonable level of fitness. You don't need lots of trekking experience but you do need to have the right equipment as it is very remote. At minimum, I would recommend a good sturdy pair of boots, a lightweight tent, and good thermals and waterproofs as the weather can change quickly. For anyone looking to explore here, fly to Phaplu, trek to Biteahkarka and Jambre and beyond. I'm also running a trekking expedition this November with more details here."

Holly Budge, Everest summiteer and hiking expert, @hollybudge

7. Timberline Trail, Government Camp, Oregon

"I love this trail because it offers something for everyone. If you want to do a long backpacking trip or an ultra-run, you can do the entire trail within one to three days. If you want to hike a piece of it for a day trip, you can do that too. It circumnavigates Mount Hood, an active volcano in Oregon, and I guarantee that the views of the mountain will be some of the most beautiful you've ever witnessed.

"When I plan my trip, I make sure to bring enough food, hiking poles, a headlamp, a paper map, and a light jacket because the weather on this mountain can change in a heartbeat. If you're planning to check this trail out, I would recommend chatting with the Mount Hood Ranger Stationthey can give you updates on the trail and let you know about any river crossings that might pose a problem."

Alex Borsuk, M.S., R.D., mountain athlete, @alexborsuk

8. Kalaw to Inle Lake Trek, Myanmar

"This trail was once prohibited, so not many tourists had been there for a very long time. When I was there, it felt so different from anything I've ever wandered through. It's full of golden dry fields, desert landscapes, large Bnyan trees, red earththe experience was a rare one.

"It's not a strenuous, high-altitude trekin fact, it's a walk in the park compared to other treks. Though I wouldn't recommend doing this, I didn't have proper walking shoes so I just used my flip-flops. You'll be wandering only several hours each day for three to four days. I booked my trek with a friend at a tour agency in Kalaw."

Stephanie Dandan Sartori, writer and photographer, @stephanie.dandan

9. Long Creek Falls, Oconee County, South Carolina

"Not only does the hike bring you to an amazing waterfall, but it also leads you to the wild and scenic Chattooga River. You really lose yourself in the wild back there. Other people aren't usually around, and if they are, they're probably boating. It's moderate to strenuous at time, and I think most people should have some hiking experience under their belt before trying to take on this trail. To someone wanting to hike it, I'd suggest planning to spend a full day hanging around Chattoogamaybe even book a yurt and a rafting trip to see it from both angles."

Ashley Manning, outdoor guide and hiker, @ashleysadventures

10. Coyote Gulch, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah

"[This destination] has hidden lagoons you can swim in, waterfalls, and a bunch of arches that are just as big as the famous ones, but with way fewer people. The trail is pretty flat and sandy, except for the parts along the river. The hardest part is getting to the gulch itself. You can either tie a rope at the top and rappel down (which you can find out how to do here) or walk in a sandy wash to get to the start, which usually requires at least two days of hiking and an overnight in the canyon. A beginner to hiking, camping, or even rappelling could certainly do this [if they were properly prepared]. I did it by myself!"

Kristin Addis, CEO of Be My Travel Muse, @bemytravelmuse

11. The Bowl Trail, Acadia National Park, Maine

"[This trail] is peaceful, not too long, and the autumn view is breathtaking. And it's not crowded. It's easy to access and not many people are on it because they are hiking the popular destinations in the park. You will pass hikers coming off of the Beehive trail but little do they know, there is beauty at the Bowl! I recommend going toward the end of summer and beginning of fall (the earlier the better). Keep a look out for current photos and foliage reports to make sure you're getting the best views."

Gina Danza, photographer, @wildginaa

12. Bear Creek Overlook, Bitterroot Mountains, Montana

"This hike is relatively unknown except to people in the area. It has fantastic sheer drop-offs overlooking the valley and some of the brightest stars I've ever seen. The trail is fairly easy to moderate with switchbacks gaining about 1,200 feet of elevation. It's mostly shaded by large pine forests and the trail is well worn so anyone with a basic level of fitness can enjoy it. The trailhead starts after a long 9-mile dirt road. Also, expect some snow even in the summer months."

Chelsea Yamase, explorer, @chelseakauai

Three weeks in endless light made me realize how much I adore the night sky. How much it makes me dream and wonder.. what if? That in darkness we have the opportunity to look outside our little Earth and see the artistry of the universe on full display. So wild. Taken on a particularly glorious hike in @visitmontana by @travisburkephotography. #montanamoment #sponsored #milkyway
Human Rights Campaign wanted U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to pay close attention to the results of a survey it conducted that showed lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender students often feel unsafe in school.

How much did the group want her to pay attention? So much that it projected the results of the survey onto the U.S. Department of Educations headquarters at 400 Maryland Ave, at night-time, the organization announced Wednesday.

One message read: Betsy DeVos, how do you sleep at night when only 26 percent of LGBTQ youth always feel safe in class?

Betsy DeVos has spent the last year and half relentlessly attacking the rights of transgender students, youth of color, survivors of sexual assault, and students with disabilities, said Ellen Kahn, HRCs Director of Children, Youth and Families Programs in a statement. Given the disastrous and dangerous actions of [President] Donald Trump and [Vice President] Mike Pence, the question must be asked of everyone in this administration, How do you sleep at night?

A U.S. Department spokeswoman did not immediately return an email asking for comment, and confirmation.

Early on, the Trump administration scrapped Obama-era guidance that made it clear schools should allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matched their gender identity, not necessarily the gender of their birth. The Trump administration has also angered civil rights advocates, including LGBT advocates, by narrowing the scope of civil rights investigations to stop looking automatically for evidence of systemic discrimination.

The Human Rights Campaign survey , which was conducted with the University of Connecticut, also found that:



Seventy-seven percent of LGBTQ teenagers surveyed report feeling depressed or down over the past week;

Ninety-five percent of LGBTQ youth report trouble sleeping at night;

Only 26 percent say they always feel safe in their school classrooms. Just 5 percent say all of their teachers and school staff are supportive of LGBTQ people.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the organization that conducted the survey. It is the Human Rights Campaign.

Human Rights Campaign projects a message to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on the U.S. Department of Education building on May 23, 2018 in Washington.

--Kevin Wolf/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 .
The Holy Grail for government transparency is making it easy and simple for citizens to know what their government is doing and how it arrives at its decisions. Weve always believed this can be achieved, in part, by providing access to public records.Of course, transparency isnt open-ended. Every state has statutes clarifying what information must be made public and what information should be kept sealed. However, in recent years theres been a steady chipping away at the publics right to know. This is a trend, says Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, a Florida nonprofit that advocates for the publics right to oversee its government. Its not just coming through legislation, but also through the agencies.In Kentucky, for instance, the attorney generals office decided two years ago that government information transmitted through personally owned devices is immune from public scrutiny. In other words, if two council members sent emails back and forth using their own cellphones, the public would have no right to see those emails, no matter how much impact the conversation in them might have on a council decision. If discussion about a dispute was conducted on these private devices, says Amye Bensenhaver, director of the Bluegrass Institutes Center for Open Government, then when it came to the public meeting, everything could have already been worked out.Even Florida, long known for its open public records law, has begun pulling back. The last time a systematic count was taken, the state had allowed for over 1,100 exemptions in which information could be concealed from the press and public.Whats more, although the states law is expansive, there is no straightforward way to make sure it is implemented. Were really stuck, says Petersen. Weve got this great law, but no means to enforce it other than through the courts.Another burgeoning threat to the utility of public records laws is the exemption of legislative documents, a step such states as Iowa, Massachusetts and Oklahoma have taken. The state of Washington came close to enacting just such a bill, but the governor vetoed it and no attempt was made to override the veto thanks to a loud and effective outcry from the press.Theres another hitch to openness. Many records that would ordinarily be made public escape examination when the organization that maintains them is not a direct part of government. That is, the records have been transferred to a nonprofit or for-profit organization, both of which may not have to comply with freedom of information laws. This is an issue that every city and state should be aware of in their procurement, says Alex Howard, deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for transparency. They should make sure the publics right to know isnt being lost.These disclosure issues can wind up in the courts, where opinions have varied across the states, according to Adam Marshall, an attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Some of the factors the courts might take into account include how much funding the entity receives from the city or state, the functions it performs and the degree to which the government controls what the private entity does.Another barrier to access exists when a state or locality charges high fees for providing information. For example, in Florida, Charlotte County approved one-sixth the number of requests for information that Polk County did, yet it collected three times the amount of money, according to the University of Florida and the First Amendment Foundation. The reason: Charlotte charged $50 for every request, no matter how small; Polk, $10 per request.Clearly, in the best of all worlds, when a citizen is turned down on a request for public information, she should be able to seek out people who can help. But states and localities dont always publish their public record stewards names. According to a Florida audit, theres a substantial absence of so-called public report custodians in the state. The audit found that 10 percent of the agencies it surveyed did not have a designated public records custodian; 10 percent didnt have the custodian contact information on their website; and 1 in 5 said the information was online, but independent auditors could not find it.Technology is becoming a means to effective gathering and analysis of data that can be used to guide management efforts. So, its ironic and counterproductive that its increasingly difficult for the public to get to the actual data. This is becoming a bigger problem, says Daniel Bevarly, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. The public sector is lagging behind the preferences of the people they represent.
, nothing epitomizes his states housing failures more than the seemingly endless fight over a five-story condo building at the corner of Valencia and Hill streets in San Franciscos Mission District. The area is in the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan, which rezoned a third of San Francisco in 2008 to increase density near transit and to make housing more affordable. The lot was formerly home to a fast-food restaurant whose neighbors included several three-story apartment buildings and the historic Marsh theater.Shortly after the Neighborhoods Plan took effect, a developer proposed a 16-unit building with two affordable housing units on the site of the restaurant. Although it adhered to the new zoning plan, the 1050 Valencia project was to be the tallest building for many blocks, and Mission District residents moved to stop it. In addition to complaining about the projects height, they insisted the modern building would damage the historic character of the neighborhood. This was despite the fact that the stucco and wood-shingled restaurant there at the time was neither historic nor aesthetically appealing. In addition, the Marsh theater owner was concerned that construction noise and a proposed first-floor bar would disrupt theater business. It took years for the condos to be approved. The developer agreed to mitigate the noise impact and reduce the number of units from 16 to 12.Not satisfied, the opponents turned to the Board of Permit Appeals, which sympathized with them and lopped off the top story of the building. That reduced the number of units from 12 to nineand eliminated the two affordable units. Welcome to housing policy in San Francisco, wrote Wiener, who was then a member of the citys board of supervisors. A policy based not so much on our citys dire housing needs but on who can turn out the most people at a public hearing.After an outcry from Wiener and affordable housing advocates, the board reversed its decision a few months later, in 2014. But that still wasnt the end of it. In mid-2015, the project was halted when a judge suspended construction following a petition from Neighbors for Preservation and Progress. It finally opened to residents the following year. By then it had been nearly a decade since the projects initial proposal.Wiener left local government for the California Senate in late 2016. But he continued to push on the housing issue, as well as many others. This year, he became something of a national celebrity among urbanists by introducing S.B. 827, a bill that would override local zoning laws and allow more height and density in the areas around transit stations. The bill died in a legislative committee in April, but the issue isnt going away. And neither is Wiener.Actually, what happened to the Mission District condo project and to Wieners crusade reveals quite a bit about the problem of building in California. The same power struggles have repeated themselves many times and in many places. Mountain View, a wealthy South Bay suburb, is another textbook case. Housing activists who say Google worsens congestion by running buses for its employees between San Francisco and its headquarters in Mountain View have called on the company to build affordable places for its employees to live. But in 2012, the Mountain View City Councilciting a need to protect the citys burrowing owl populationexplicitly forbade Google from doing just that. In 2016, Los Angeles voters overwhelmingly approved a tax increase to provide $1.2 billion for 10,000 units of new housing for the homeless. Nearly two years later, developments have stalled because of a requirement that they receive a letter of support from the local city council member.Similar scenarios are playing out in dozens of cities around the country. For decades, Bostons triple-decker units housed the citys young families. Now, those families are being pushed out by prices that have nearly doubled over the last 10 years. Renting is less and less an option for them as the larger units are scooped up by college students and unmarried millennials living in groups. Local officials are trying to come up with some sort of remedy. The Seattle City Council is in the midst of a heated debate over sweeping changes to the zoning code that would allow apartments and condos in single-family zones with increased heights and decreased setbacks. In Colorado, a group called Better Boulder has successfully pushed that citys council to pass a home co-op ordinance to allow up to 15 people to share homes so that they are more affordable.California is simply a lot further along in its housing debate. It has been many years in the making: Housing unit construction, especially in coastal areas, has lagged behind since the 1980s when compared with metro areas across the country. Over the past eight years, the states population has grown by 3 million. Economists say that, to keep up, builders would need to add about one unit for every three new residents. The state has generally fallen far short of that goal, although it has done a little better in the past couple of years. Housing prices, meanwhile, keep going up. A burnt-out home in San Francisco can sell for $700,000; teardowns in the Silicon Valley town of Cupertino can go for $2 million after one day on the market. When housing costs are factored in, about 1 in 5 residents in the state lives in poverty. Its no surprise, then, that local governments in suburbs and cities are grappling with large numbers of people sleeping in cars and others living out of motorhomes, transforming entire city blocks into makeshiftillegalRV parks.Californias lack of high-density building may be having an effect beyond the states borders and even on the environment that most local building ordinances seek to protect. If you say no to housing near transit, youre still building housing somewhere else, says Harvard economist Edward Glaeser. But instead of in California, that new project gets built in Houston or Las Vegas, where carbon emissions are higher.California is awash in single-family homes. Seventy percent of San Francisco is zoned single family. Build more condos and apartments, even luxury units, most economists say, and prices will ease up. But local governments stand in the way. S.B. 827 would have overridden most local zoning limits. It would have allowed for much higher building heights and a higher density of new projects within a half-mile radius of any transit stop. It was radical. Even its supporters believed Wieners effort was destined to fail. And it did, falling short on a 6-4 vote in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. But a simple solution to a complicated problem is always a hard sellat least the first time., who is 47 years old, is an unusual character for a politician, especially for a seasoned one who hason more than one occasionthrust himself into the public spotlight. To begin with, attention doesnt seem to be something he craves. Hes 67 but is more comfortable folding himself into a chair and talking policy to a roundtable of college students than he is standing behind a podium and making speeches.He doesnt have much patience for the small talk that is an unavoidable part of political life. If he thinks he has a solution to a problem, he pushes it, appearances be damned. I think Im drawn to things that matter, he says. And sometimes those things are controversial.The last time Wiener sparked this much controversy was in 2012, when he was a San Francisco board supervisor and proposed a restriction on public nudity. In most cities this would have been a pretty easy pitch. But San Francisco is different. A significant constituency there sees nudity as a form of self-expression, and the proposal actually spurred more nakedness in the form of protests. But Wieners bill, which limited nudity to authorized events such as parades and festivals, was a sign of how much San Francisco, and the Castro district in particular, had changed since the free-wheeling 1970s. Wiener, who represented the district, introduced the proposal after hearing complaints for a year about increasing displays of public nudity on the part of neighborhood residents. As much as he insists he didnt want to be the guy banning nudity in San Francisco, it was an obvious solution to a problem. It passed.Six years later, on the housing issue, Wiener was once again at the center of a battle to change an established practice. But there was very little coalition-building. Wieners approach seemed to be to throw his idea out there and see what stuck. The initial proposal included no affordable housing requirements, which made most housing advocates come out in reluctant opposition. The definition of transit was also ambiguous, leading cities and towns that provide only bus service to wonder if theyd be subject to the bill. Wiener eventually amended S.B. 827 to bring more groups on boardthe automatic height allowance was toned down to four- and five-story buildings, rather than permitting eight stories, and Wiener clarified that just the area around rail, subway and ferry stops would be subject to the full height allowances. (The bill still permitted somewhat higher densitythat is, multifamily housingaround bus stops.) Those changes helped bring around groups such as the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California and the Natural Resources Defense Council. But by then, a lot of damage had already been done.The proposal also stirred up bad blood about Californias long historyparticularly in San Franciscoof pushing out minority groups for the sake of progress. It happened during the Gold Rush in the mid-19th century and has happened in every boom time since. The advocacy group Causa Justa has documented recent tech-boom displacement, noting that the Mission District lost 1,400 Latino households between 1990 and 2011, while adding 2,900 white households. Causa Justa, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and other activist groups lined up in opposition to the bill, saying they didnt want to leave the crisis in the hands of a real estate market designed to put profits ahead of shelter. These groups are pushing a ballot measure that would repeal a 1995 state law limiting the type of housing covered under local rent control laws.Others agree that Californias housing crisis is too complicated to be left entirely up to the market. If homes and apartments are too expensive now, building more wont suddenly make them affordable so that teachers, firefighters and sanitation workers can live near their jobs. A solution might require new buildings to be made almost entirely into modest-price housing. Developers cant make money doing those projects unsubsidized, and they wont produce them. California cant build its way out of an affordable housing crisis, says George Mac McCarthy, president and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. We spend a lot of time whining about affordable housing challenges, but we never really marshal the political will to do something about them.To McCarthy, the key to solving the problem lies in more control over whos investing in the real estate market to begin with. He points to Toronto, which has discouraged outside capital by implementing a 25 percent surcharge on any real estate purchases made by foreign companies. Its a public policy question people fail to ask, McCarthy says. Do we want to supply shelter or do we want to open it up to global capital?Cities and towns, dozens of which opposed S.B. 827, say localities are being made into villains for no reason. A joint letter, submitted by the California State Association of Counties, Urban Counties of California and the Rural County Representatives of California, pointed out that many localities had already come up with their own prescription for increased density via their master plan process. Case in point: Mountain View may not have allowed Google to build housing for workers, but it did increase height limits and density elsewhere along major roads in its 2030 development plan. All told, the localities said, S.B. 827 undermines the intent of state policies requiring community engagement in land use planning, especially in disadvantaged communities.In the end, Wieners legislation died because too many groups felt as if theyd been left out of the process. There were so many different factions with so many concerns and everyone had their own pet issue, says San Francisco-based transit consultant Jeff Wood. The bill got killed by a thousand different cuts.national coverage, Wieners bill exposed not just California but the whole country to the divisions that exist on housing. That attention has opened up or expanded a conversation in many cities about their own approach to meeting housing demands. The failure of S.B. 827 is a reminder that fear, vulnerability and history often render one-stroke solutions dead on arrival. Wiener knows this.In 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed legislation to streamline and speed approval for local housing projects. It was ultimately deemed too aggressive. So Wiener, as a new legislator in 2017, introduced a similar bill but gave it a local twist: Only cities that werent meeting their state-mandated housing goals would have to fast-track approval for certain multiunit housing developments. It was only after the bill was passed that a state housing department analysis revealed that some provisions of the bill would apply to nearly every city in California.Still, that legislation may be having an effect. In March of this year, the promoter of a mall redevelopment in Cupertino used the new law to amend the project and quintuple the number of housing units to 2,402. Half of the units would be reserved for qualifying residents making $84,900 or less for a family of four. The size and the affordable housing component changed the development enough to make it eligible to be fast tracked. Long delayed by local residents worried about traffic, it will likely be approved under the new rules.Wiener plans to take the conversation started by S.B. 827 and have another go at it next year while incorporating what we have learned since we introduced it. Undoubtedly, that will include far more coalition-building. Just bringing around his former colleagues on the board of supervisors and activist politicians in Los Angeles would go a long way. But Wiener is not expected to alter his bill dramatically, and does not accept the criticism that his market-based approach only lines the pockets of developers. To him, thats an ignorant, short-sighted and cynical argument. If someone comes up with a viable way to do this without developers, Im all ears, Wiener says. But until then, Im going to call B.S. because I dont think anyone can come up with that.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton will step down as the leader of the nation's fifth largest city at noon on May 29 to run for Congress.Stanton announced his bid for Congressional District 9 in October to run for the seat Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema will vacate to run for U.S. Senate, but he's stayed quiet about his resignation plans until now.State law requires elected officials to step down from their positions before turning in election petitions for a different office. Stanton's petitions are due May 30.Stanton, a Democrat, served two terms as a councilman in Phoenix District 6 before he was elected mayor for the first time in 2011.
On the same day Democrat Nate Boulton suspended his bid for governor, pressure was building Thursday inside and outside of his party for him to resign the Iowa Senate seat he has held since January 2017 in light of sexual misconduct allegations against him.In a television interview, Boulton said it was important to make a quick but difficult decision about his campaign, given the short time until the June 5 primary. But he said he believes he and his wife have more time to assess his political and Senate future going forward."We have some time now and we're going to use that time," Boulton told KCCI-TV. "We don't have a timeline. We're going to make the right decision for us and for my constituents."Shortly after Boulton suspended his gubernatorial campaign with less than two weeks until the June 5 primary election, Senate Democratic Leader Janet Petersen of Des Moines issued a call for him to step down as a state senator, representing District 16 around Des Moines, as well."Sexual harassment is unacceptable whether it occurs in a social or professional setting," Petersen said in a strongly worded statement. "What we have learned in the last 24 hours makes it clear to me that Sen. Boulton should also resign his position in the Iowa Senate," she added. "If he chooses not to do so, I will support a full, independent investigation into allegations against him."Boulton, 38, a first-term senator, was forced to halt his gubernatorial bid less than 24 hours after he became embroiled in scandal. The Des Moines Register reported Wednesday that three women -- all lawyers and two of them law school classmates of his -- said he had inappropriately accosted them.According to the Register, one woman said Boulton repeatedly grabbed her buttocks in a bar in 2015 while his wife was nearby. The other women said that at social gatherings while they were in law school about a decade and a half ago, Boulton, while clothed, repeatedly pressed his erect penis into their thighs."I'm not going to dispute anything that they feel," Boulton said in the TV interview.He and his wife, Andrea, said they had different recollections, but he insisted he was not going to deny anything, validate anything or make excuses."It is devastating to me that anything that I said or did crossed that line because I know me, and I didn't do that in any sort of intentional way and if I misread a situation, I apologize for it. But it doesn't matter. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm not trying to change anyone's account. All I'm here to say is I'm sorry, I apologize and I understand," he said.Boulton said the past 48 hours had been trying for him and his wife, and suspending his run for governor "was a difficult decision to make, but I believe it's the right decision. I do."Andrea Boulton said she backed her husband "100 percent without a doubt," called him a "solid senator" and believed he was the best choice to be Iowa's next governor.According to polls, Boulton had been running second to Fred Hubbell in a six-person race for the nomination to face GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds in November.Boulton said he was proud of the campaign he ran in seeking his party's nomination for governor and thanked his staff and supporters for their help in the months put in to raise money and backing for his ill-fated bid. "Democrats must win in November so we can begin to turn our state around," he said. "We join together to support the nominee and elect Democrats up and down the ticket. I will do all I can to support that mission and will never stop fighting for progressive causes."Boulton's colleagues in the Senate said his first order of business after suspending his campaign should be to vacate his Senate seat.Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Hiawatha, tweeted her agreement with Petersen's position that Boulton should resign, saying "these are serious allegations of sexual misconduct. There is NO time when behavior as described is acceptable -- either in the workplace or social setting."Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City, echoed that sentiment at a Thursday morning GOP meet-and-greet event in Sioux City, calling on Boulton to "do the right thing" and resign from the Senate."There is no place for sexual harassment in the Iowa Senate. Those aren't my words, those are the words of Nate Boulton from the Iowa Senate floor." said Bertrand, who noted that Boulton criticized former Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix and Senate Republicans for sexual misconduct on multiple occasions during floor speeches in the past legislative session."If you grandstand and preach a no-tolerance policy for political points, then I ask how Sen. Boulton can now continue in the Iowa Senate," Bertrand said in a statement. "Nate's inability to deny or refute these allegations is not only disturbing, but hypocritical."The women who made allegations against Boulton apparently did not file complaints with law enforcement authorities or professional licensure boards against the Des Moines lawyer."We've received no complaints," said Polk County Attorney John Sarcone. "We would need a victim to come forward and make a complaint," he added, noting the statutes of limitations of the misdemeanors likely involved would range from one to three years.Iowa court rules established by the Judicial Branch say a complaint of unethical conduct by an attorney would have to be filed with the Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board, which keeps its investigative steps confidential, said court system spokesman Steve Davis.But no orders for disciplinary action against Boulton have been made public.
'Everybody has been dealing with the same issue'

'Why can't I be part of your family anymore?'

More calls for action

'Somebody actually gave us a fair trial'

Lisa Mothee came to Philadelphia Family Court last September confident she'd get the chance to tell her story, and hopeful that the Department of Human Services' case on the youngest of her five kids would be closed.Yet, in the courtroom of Judge Lyris Younge, that's not what happened. After she answered questions about the birth of her daughter, the topic of her four older kids was raised -- and Mothee wasn't permitted to speak. When she tried, according to a transcript, the judge cut her off: "Do not blurt out in court."Then, Younge ordered Mothee, 31, and her fiance, Brian Colon, 30, of Olney, to be handcuffed and held until the kids could be claimed from school and from the babysitter, to be taken into protective custody."I didn't understand how something like this could happen," Mothee said. "I had all my documents ready, thinking I was going to get a fair hearing. And they tore us apart."On Monday, another judge, Joseph Fernandes, who this week and last has been assigned to Younge's courtroom, took a total of 15 minutes to reverse the removal, allowing Mothee to reunite with her five children. By the afternoon, they were back home.It's just the latest overturning of a ruling by Younge, who has faced blistering criticism and reversals from state appellate judges for violating due process and who, the Legal Intelligencer reported last week, is the subject of a probe by the state Judicial Conduct Board.A spokesman for the courts would not comment on her status or whether she would return. The general counsel for the conduct board did not return messages."She took over a very difficult caseload," said Samuel Stretton, speaking as Younge's attorney. "The judge always looks out for the children. That's her priority."He said that she is not suspended but rather took two weeks in chambers to catch up on an administrative backlog. Next week, she'll be on vacation. The week after that, she might return to the courtroom -- or she might be reassigned, he said.Lawyers and clients described a culture of fear and intimidation in her courtroom, where in January she held a lawyer, Brian McLaughlin, in contempt for being late to represent a mother in a contested hearing. Karen Deanna Williams, McLaughlin's lawyer, said he wasn't late: He'd waited in Younge's courtroom for an hour and a half before being called to another courtroom on a separate matter. She called Younge's court order in the case fraudulent and possibly criminal. And, she alleged, Younge held the contempt hearing without any notice to McLaughlin. A Superior Court judge removed Younge from the case."She's done any number of things in specific cases, all of which go to denial of litigants' due process," she said. "That's the overarching theme. Each case has a denial of due process or several denials, in separating families or not allowing children to go with their grandparents."Mothee said she has connected with 25 families who shared similar claims -- that Younge would not allow them to present evidence or testimony before she moved quickly to remove their children, in some cases going even further than the city Department of Human Services' recommendation.Mothee had feared retaliation, but hoped that if all the families spoke up together they could prevail. They've been holding protests outside TV stations and the courthouse."Everyone has been dealing with the same issue," she said.In interviews, the families all said the same thing: "She wouldn't let me speak." "My lawyer wasn't allowed to talk." "I never got to testify."For instance, one issue in Mothee's case was her son's truancy the previous school year. According to Mothee, Younge wouldn't allow her son's teacher to testify about bullying that led to the absences, or about the provisions the school and parents had made for the boy, who finished the year with A's and B's. Nor was Mothee allowed to present a letter from the principal describing her as an "involved" and "valued" parent.Family Court hearings and filings are not public, but the records in appellate cases describe similar concerns.One Superior Court judge excoriated Younge in an opinion vacating her termination of a couple's parental rights. The case began when the parents took their 2-month-old to the doctor and learned she had two broken ribs. Abuse allegations were lodged.According to the opinion, Younge said in court that she would place the child in foster care until a cause of the injury was determined -- but refused to allow the couple's medical experts to testify as to the likely cause."The elephant in the room," Judge Anne Lazarus wrote, "is that the trial judge was and remains the cause of the deteriorated bond between the parents and [child]."In another reversed case, the Superior Court found that Younge refused to let a mother testify or even reenter the courtroom after she ran out, apparently sick to her stomach."The trial court violated mother's constitutional guarantee to due process when it precluded her from the opportunity to be heard," Judge Jacqueline Shogan wrote.Stretton said Younge had not violated due process in any cases, and any of her missteps were early in her time on the bench and could be blamed on inexperience. For instance, she didn't properly document that the woman who'd been sick in her courtroom had been disruptive, and had refused offers to return.The Superior Court opinion in that case "was written in a very mean-spirited way," he said.But, one attorney, who didn't want to be named because of ongoing cases, said there are many more examples."The cases you're seeing are just the tip of the iceberg," the lawyer said, "because many attorneys don't have the time and resources to write appeals."Younge, 52, was elected in 2015 despite a "not recommended" rating by the Philadelphia Bar Association. She worked for a decade in the city Law Department, according to her since-removed campaign website. There, she worked on child-welfare cases and collaborated with DHS to reduce placements in group homes, according to the site.The Bar Association doesn't publish the rationale for its recommendations, though lawyers said "not recommended" ratings may reflect a judicial candidate's knowledge of the law or temperament for the bench.Richard Bost, a lawyer who practices in Family Court, said the situation is a reflection of Pennsylvania's system of electing judges, given that most voters don't know much about the candidates they're selecting."All the recent data suggests that judges' position on the primary ballot in Philadelphia is a better indicator than anything else of whether they'll be elected," he noted.Mothee said her case started with a single Percocet. She was in excruciating pain in the last days of her pregnancy and took a pill from a family member's prescription, she said.After she gave birth a couple days later, she and the baby tested positive for opiates. The hospital wanted to hold her daughter five days to monitor for withdrawal. Mothee refused. "I took one Percocet," she said she told them. "That's not going to happen."The hospital discharged her daughter, but also called DHS.DHS petitioned for dependency for Mothee's infant daughter -- that is, for court supervision over her. Although DHS said there was no present danger -- and had not petitioned for the four older children's removal -- Younge ordered them all removed on the spot, allowing only supervised visits.DHS spokeswoman Heather Keafer said that the agency cannot comment on individual cases, but that the agency seeks to keep as many children in their homes as possible.Mothee said that, since her son was removed, his grades have worsened to C's and D's."He's acting out," she said. "I can understand. He's grieving."Recently, she got her 3-year-old daughter a Peppa Pig house as a present. "And I said, you have to keep them together. They're a family. She said, 'But why can't I be part of your family anymore?'"The other parents and grandparents who joined Mothee at protests described similar frustrations.Lawyer Jimmy Binns said he's been trying to adopt his three grandkids for more than a year and a half. They were removed from his ex-wife's home for reasons he said he doesn't fully understand because he's not permitted in court."You can't get in -- they won't let anybody in," he said. "That's how she gets away with what she does. There's no oversight."Andrew Walsh said he and his wife were in town from California with their five kids when they brought their son to the hospital for issues related to his epilepsy. The hospital called DHS. Their kids were removed for medical negligence. But Walsh said the full picture of their medical records from back home was never introduced in court: "The judge didn't allow us to present evidence."Lawyer William Calandra, who regularly appears in Family Court, said everyone's wondering what's next for those on Younge's docket.Some lawyers have been in limbo, unable to file appeals: They first need Younge to write her opinion, and they're not sure whether she'll return to do so.Calandra said the situation is chilling -- particularly McLaughlin's contempt case, since dashing between courtrooms is a daily necessity."Scheduling a hearing without notice and making a finding of contempt, which is terribly damaging, it affects your malpractice, it affects your public perception. To do that when they're in front of another judge in a room one floor up, it's unheard of," he said.Last week, Miltreda Kress -- yet another mother whose three youngest daughters had been removed on Younge's order -- got some unexpected news: A different judge was handling her last Tuesday court date. It felt like a miracle.Kress' case started with an allegation of abuse by her partner that was later deemed unfounded by DHS itself. Yet Kress was still prohibited unsupervised visits, she said, and her partner was allowed no visits at all. Instead, a stay-away order was lodged against him. Kress claims Younge told her, "As long as I stayed with him, my kids would never be able to come home."Like others, Kress said she was never heard: "We never got to talk in her courtroom. Once, I got the word I out of my mouth. She cut me off there."Last Tuesday, though, Fernandes allowed her to submit the evidence she'd never been permitted to bring forward in court. Her lawyer was at last able to call her as a witness. The judge also met with her daughters privately in a back room.That day, he lifted the stay-away order, Kress said, and restored her partner's visitation. "Now I get unsupervised visits with my kids, something I was told I could never get," she said. "He told my girls in the back they're halfway home. 'All your mom has to do is finish a few objectives, and when you come back in August I don't see a problem with you going home.'"Kress was shocked and jubilant."Somebody actually gave us a fair trial," she said, "and I didn't think I was ever going to get that."
The decision to take no action against the police officers involved in the deadly shootings of Mario Woods and Luis Gongora Pat underscores what legal experts said is the inherently high bar prosecutors face in weighing criminal charges in fatal use-of-force episodes.Following separate investigations, District Attorney George Gascon announced Thursday that his office wouldn't file criminal charges against the officers involved in the shooting deaths of Woods in 2015 and Gongora Pat in 2016. In both cases, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the officers had violated the law.The families of the two men and many community members had called for charges to be filed against the officers, whom some accused of executing the two men.Some people are sharply critical of what they see as a failure of police and political accountability. Others say officers are responding to harrowing and potentially deadly situations -- not instigating them -- and that it's untenable to prosecute them for doing the toughest parts of their jobs.There were 80 police officers arrested for murder or manslaughter between 2005 and mid-April of 2017 nationwide, according to research from Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson. There were 28 convictions stemming from those arrests, only five of which were for murder charges."We have a serious problem with police excessive force, especially against men of color," said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley School of Law, who has advocated for more restrictive use-of-force standards. "The question is, how do we hold the police accountable and prevent excessive use of force, while respecting the fact that police have an incredibly difficult job?"Woods was African American and Gongora Pat was Latino. Their deaths, along with a series of police shootings across the country in recent years, have shaken the confidence of minority communities in public-safety officials.Both Chemerinsky and Gascon support a bill currently before the state Senate Public Safety Committee that would toughen the standards for when police officers may shoot at a suspect.The bill, AB931, was introduced by Assembly members Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, and Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, following the death of Stephon Clark, who was killed by Sacramento police in March. Clark was unarmed, and his death sparked widespread protests and renewed calls for changes to police procedure. Separately, an Assembly budget subcommittee on Thursday authorized spending $9.7 million to create a new unit in the state's Department of Justice to investigate police shootings."Police officers shouldn't be charged with a crime unless there's sufficient evidence," said Alan Schlosser, senior counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. "But the system doesn't seem like it works fairly, and people are going to be upset about that."Criminal justice experts and legal scholars say Gascon's decision not to bring charges in the two San Francisco shooting deaths is emblematic of the wide latitude reserved for police officers in determining whether deadly use of force is justified. When officers are faced with split seconds to make life-or-death decisions, the law is highly deferential to an officer's judgment in the moment, said Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor and co-director of the school's Criminal Justice Center."It's always about the reasonable perception of a threat of deadly force. That's 99 percent of the action in these cases," Weisberg said. Prosecutors and the public, Weisberg said, "simply have a lot of faith in the reasonableness of officers," who are trained in when and how to use deadly force."So you're going to get a fair amount of the benefit of the doubt given to the police when it comes to reasonableness," Weisberg said. "It obviously looks especially awful when the victim of a (police) shooting did not have a weapon. But the fact is -- in some ways, it's harsh to say, but that almost doesn't matter," he said. "What matters is if (the suspect) reasonably appeared to have a weapon."Both Woods and Gongora Pat allegedly refused police demands to drop the knives they were carrying.District attorneys can also be reluctant to bring criminal charges against police departments, Chemerinsky said, because of the "close relationship" that often exists between prosecutors and police leadership. "Prosecutors depend on the police for evidence in all their cases," he said.Apart from criminal charges brought by prosecutors, the U.S. Supreme Court has made it challenging for individuals to bring civil suits against police departments and individual officers. Generally, a lawsuit would have to demonstrate that a city's police policies are unconstitutional -- written in a way that invites the use of excessive force, rather than permitting it in situations where an officer perceives a reasonable threat of harm.Anthony Ribera, director of the International Institute of Criminal Justice Leadership and a former chief of the San Francisco Police Department, said officers make the decision to use deadly force "primarily based on self-defense and the defense of the community."But "by no means am I saying that in all use-of-force incidents are the officers correct," Ribera added. "The situation dictates that they make a split-second decision, and they don't always make the correct decision. But they're not making that decision based on animosity for the subject or some sort of criminal intent."Weber and McCarty's bill seeks to curb the unnecessary use of deadly force by implementing stricter rules for when officers are permitted to shoot suspects. Instead of assessing whether an officer acted "reasonably" in a deadly use-of-force incident, the bill would permit officers to shoot a suspect only when "necessary."The bill, experts said, would be likely to result in greater scrutiny of police shootings, particularly of whether deadly force was truly used as a last resort. Under current law, whether an officer had an alternative is irrelevant, and it's not part of the legal standard. AB931, proponents say, would put an emphasis on training for alternatives to deadly force, like de-escalation, for police departments.Gascon is believed to be the only district attorney in the state to support the bill."That would be a shift from the current law that talks about police being able to use force under a 'reasonable officer' and a 'reasonable person' standard, which basically puts deadly force in a toolbox with other alternatives, and even if deadly force is not a last resort, if it is reasonable under the circumstances, they get to use it, and that's taken us to where we are today," Gascon said."If AB931 was law, it would give us the opportunity to do a different legal analysis of these cases," he said. "It's not the law today, so it plays no role in hypothetical cases of what we would have done or not done."
Description

GIS  25 May 2018: Mauritius firmly believes that a strong, secure, united and economically independent and prosperous Africa is central to the countrys own economic progress and social development, says the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo on 25 May 2018 in his message to mark Africa Day.

Our expanded Africa strategy punctuated by our contribution to the debate on Africas development during meetings at the highest level is a key indicator of our resolve to work with the African Union for a better Africa for future generations, states the Minister.

According to the Minister, 2018 is an important year for Mauritius. As the country celebrates its 50th Independence anniversary, we are also reminded that the decolonisation of Mauritius is still not complete and we thank our African sisters and brothers for their unflinching support as they strongly rally around Mauritius in our quest for the sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago in all relevant fora, he emphasises.

The year 2018, recalls Mr Lutchmeenaraidoo, is also an important year in the calendar of the African Union as it marks the halfway of the first Ten Year Implementation Plan of Agenda 2063, which is the shared vision for a better Africa. Despite inherent difficulties, the achievements are manifold, he observes. The African Continental Free Trade Area constitutes the crystallisation of years of concerted efforts at regional level through the regional economic blocs coupled with the staunch determination of our leaders to put Africa first in trade and business matters, he further indicates.

Indeed, Africa has transformed and is still transforming. With the gradual but steady implementation of the Constitutive Act, we have turned into a people centric organisation with immediate focus on those who need our support, particularly the vulnerable groups, the youth and the women - largely affected by poverty, insecurity, wars, atrocities and calamities - who have for long been left behind, adds Minister Lutchmeenaraidoo.

About Africa Day and OAU

The Anniversary of the Founding of the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union (AU) is celebrated on every 25 May all over Africa. It is a time not only to reflect on achievements but also on challenges ahead and how to further build partnerships and collaborate for the transformation of Africa into a better, safer and more prosperous continent for the African Union family.

It is recalled that the OAU was founded in 1963. The OAUs initiatives paved the way for the birth of AU. In July 1999, the OAUs Assembly decided to convene an extraordinary session to expedite the process of economic and political integration in the continent. Since then, four Summits have been held leading to the official launching of the African Union. The African continent witnessed the transformation of the OAU to the African Union in 2002.

Mauritius joined the OAU immediately after Independence.
School districts that administer the SAT or ACT to all students are getting a bracing warning from the U.S. Department of Education: They must take steps to protect students personal information, or risk running afoul of federal privacy laws.

The warning came in the form of guidance issued Wednesday by the departments Privacy Technical Assistance Center . The 11-page document takes on two practices: how districts sign students up for the college-admissions exams, and how they handle the pre-test surveys that accompany the ACT and SAT.

The pre-test surveys explore a wide range of topics, including students academic interests, extracurricular activities, and religious affiliations. Those surveys are entirely voluntary, but thats often not clear to students and their families, the new guidance says. (You can see the SATs survey here , and the ACTs survey here .)

We have heard from teachers and students ... that the voluntary nature of these pre-test surveys is not well understood, the document says. Additionally, many students think they must answer every question, and opting out isnt that easy: It requires the student to affirmatively indicate in response to multiple questions that the student does not wish to provide the information, the guidance says.

Transparency and Permission on ACT, SAT Surveys

The Education Departments Privacy Technical Assistance Center , or PTAC, recommends that districts make it abundantly clear to parents and students that participating in those pre-test surveys is optional.

The practice of signing students up for college-admissions exams needs re-examination, too, the PTAC says. The spotlight has focused on this practice as states steadily shift the way they use the SAT and ACT. Years ago, students signed up for the tests themselves.

But as states and districts change strategygiving the tests for free to all students to build college awareness and readiness, or using them as high school achievement tests for accountability under federal lawmany districts take on the registration process.

That puts them at risk of violating federal and state privacy laws, since theyre providing students information to the College Board and ACT Inc. There are two layers of transaction that raise potential problems, because the students data doesnt stop traveling at the College Boards or the ACTs doors; the testing companies share it with colleges and scholarship organizations.

David Hawkins, who oversees policy at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said the concerns reflect the unintended consequences of the big shift in the way the SAT and ACT are being used: as required tests by many states and districts.

Officials from ACT and the College Board deferred any detailed comment, saying they were still reviewing the new guidance. ACT issued a statement saying that it appreciates the guidance, recognizes the importance of protecting students private information, and will continue to work closely with states and districts on the issue.

The survey materials ask students whether they will consent to receive information from colleges, scholarship organizations and other groups. They then sell that information to those organizations, the guidance says.

Students can benefit from the process, connecting with colleges or scholarships they might not otherwise know about, the document says, but the practice also raises privacy concerns that schools must address.

The guidance is focused on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the confidentiality provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. It seeks to remind [states and districts] of their responsibilities under those laws, and suggest ways they avoid running afoul of them.

When is Parental Permission Needed?

There are a few exceptions to the privacy protections in FERPA and IDEA that could allow districts to provide students information to the testing companies, the guidance says. But they might well need parental permission to address the part of the process in which the testing companies sell students information to other organizations.

The PPRA, passed in 1978, requires districts to protect students privacy when they administer surveys that ask them to reveal information that falls into eight protected categories under that law, the guidance says. Districts have to notify parents at least annually that they are asking students for this kind of information, and give them a chance to opt out, the document says.

The pre-test surveys included with the SAT and ACT include questions that fall into one or more of those eight PPRA-protected areas, the guidance says, including students religious practices, affiliations, and beliefs, and student and parent income. Such questions would trigger PPRA protection and require districts to provide appropriate notifications and options for parents, it said.

(The other six PPRA-protected categories are students or parents political affiliations or beliefs; mental or psychological problems; sexual behavior or attitudes; illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, or demeaning behavior; critical appraisals of people with whom students have close family relationships; and information about their relationships with lawyers, physicians, and ministers.)

The Future of Privacy Forum said the new guidance suggested that the PPRA could be a bigger issue for school districts in the future than it has been in the past. In a blog post, Amelia Vance, the organizations policy counsel and the director of its education privacy project , called the guidance document the most extensive technical assistance released on PPRA in almost 40 years.

Hawkins, of the college-advising group, said that the concerns outlined in the new guidance are significant, but addressing them is probably a relatively easy fix for states and districts if they go the extra mile to make sure students and parents understand their options in the registration and information-sharing process, and get parents permission at the beginning of the year.

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Description

GIS 25 May, 2018: Eight eligible families under the Full Concrete Housing (FCH) Unit Scheme, seven from the region of Flacq and one from the region of Riviere du Rempart, respectively, received yesterday, keys of their housing unit, during a ceremony at the Pont Lardier Community Centre in Bel Air Riviere Seche. Both the Minister of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment, Mr Alain Wong and the Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr. Dharmendar Sesungkur, as well as other eminent personalities were present on the occasion.

The FCH project is a joint collaboration of the National Empowerment Foundation (NEF) and the Ministry of Social Integration and Economic Empowerment. The Housing units range from 40 m to 50m, with the possibility of extension.

In his address, Minister Wong reiterated Governments determination to usher the country in a new social paradigm, wherein the poor and vulnerable people are provided with the necessary assistance to uplift their living conditions and empower them. He underlined that the FCH is one of the various measures to attain Governments objectives of eradicating poverty and improving the quality of life of the vulnerable, which are in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He emphasised that owning a house represents a new start in life of the families who will now live in decent conditions and in dignity. On that note, he pointed out that the housing units are equipped with all the necessary facilities, amenities, safety, security and a harmonious environment where beneficiaries can live an active and healthy life in better conditions. He also announced that the NEF is coming up with the project of Prefab housing units that cost relatively less than concrete ones.

Minister Wong further urged parents to ensure a proper upbringing of their children in a healthy environment and to inculcate to them the values of discipline, hard work and sacrifice. This, will ensure that the future generation grow up as responsible adults and are equipped with the necessary life skills to improve their social status and break free from the shackles of poverty, he said.

As for the Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr. Dharmendar Sesungkur, he highlighted that the FCH reflects the deep resolve of Government to uplift the quality of life of people at the lower rung of the social ladder. As a responsible and compassionate Government, he said, other endeavours such as the free provision of education, free transport for students and the elderly, free medical care, and subsidies on staple food, have been implemented.

According to the Minister, the FCH will certainly help the beneficiaries break the cycle of poverty and acquire better life chances that will enhance the quality of their life, in particular that of their children.

On the occasion, plants were distributed to the beneficiaries and a tree planting ceremony was held to symbolically represent the need of self-sufficiency, respect for the environment and sustainable living.
Description

GIS  25 May, 2018:  The Civil service in Mauritius has a gender sensitive institutional culture in general and there appears to be a deep personal, institutional and political commitment to achieve gender equality at all levels in the Civil service, from the administrative to the technical cadres, of the national gender machinery.

This is one of the main findings of a study entitled The Gender Audit in the Civil Service in Mauritius. The key findings and recommendations of the study were presented this morning during a half-day workshop for Gender Focal Points (GIFs) of Ministries, which was held at Le Sirius, Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel in Port Louis.

The key findings and recommendations of a second study entitled The Sociological Profiling of Perpetrators of Domestic Violence in Mauritius were also discussed. Both studies were commissioned by the Parliamentary Gender Caucus.

Addressing participants at the event, the Speaker of the Mauritius National Assembly and Chairperson of the Parliamentary Gender Caucus, Mrs Santi Bai Hanoomanjee, rejoiced that the Parliamentary Gender Caucus has, since its launch in March 2017, gathered momentum adding that the specificity of the caucus is that it demarcates itself from the Executive through its legislature role.

According to the Speaker, the caucus, in line with its critical role, has deemed it critical to invite members who are at the higher level of decision making to be nominated as GFPs so that they are able to influence the whole policy and budgetary processes with a gender lens and better guide the actions of the gender cells in their respective Ministries.

For Mrs Hanoomanjee, GFPs role will be predominant in executing the recommendations of the caucus and similarly the GFPs will be called upon to give an account of initiatives implemented at the level of their Ministries to address any sectoral gender gaps. First and foremost these gaps need to be identified and it is in this context that the caucus has aligned its priorities at this stage in terms of establishing the baseline data and identifying pertinent gender gaps that impede on the achievements of equality and equity at the national level, she pointed out.

In addition, the Speaker indicated that in the light of the disaggregated data on the status of gender equality in the private sector, the caucus has solicited the collaboration of the private sector through Business Mauritius to undertake a participatory gender audit exercise amongst registered enterprises under its banner. The outcome of the said exercise will shed more light on the positioning of women and men at board levels as well as focus on any pertinent gender gap in that sector. The results will further inform future policy-making relating to the private sector, she said.

Workshop and findings

The UNDP National Gender Expert, Ms Anjalee Dabee, made a presentation on the theme Contextualising Gender Equality in Mauritius.

The study on The Gender Audit in the Civil Service in Mauritius, conducted by the UNDP National Gender Expert attached to the Mauritius National Assembly, aimed at examining the status of gender mainstreaming in the Civil service of Mauritius. The study Sociological Profiling of Perpetrators of Domestic Violence in Mauritius was carried out by the University of Mauritius with the support of the UNDP to analyse the risk factors and triggers of domestic violence.

The gender audit exercise has revealed that, while the Civil service can celebrate a number of successes, there are also a number of challenges that have been identified to further gender mainstreaming into the policies, programmes and budgets of Ministries. They include technical capacity on sectoral gender mainstreaming and implementing gender responsive budgeting as well as the formulation of gender sensitive indicators.

The gender auditing exercise was carried out using the overarching concept of the Gender Integration Framework (GIF). According to the GIF, there is strong political will, that is, high level institutional will to do gender mainstreaming, the figure stands at 66%. In terms of technical capacity to ensure gender mainstreaming, the figure is 47%, while for accountability, that is, the mechanism through which Ministries determine the extent they walk the talk the figure stands at 36%. As regards the element of culture, the number is 61% because there is a feminisation of the Civil service and in terms of the budgetary measures it is 45%.

Sociological Profiling of Perpetrators of Domestic Violence in Mauritius the study reveals that there are different dynamics at play that result in the perpetration of violence, namely unemployment, long hours of work, heavy alcohol consumption, mental illnesses, and unequal gendered power dynamics in the household. With reference to thethe study reveals that there are different dynamics at play that result in the perpetration of violence, namely unemployment, long hours of work, heavy alcohol consumption, mental illnesses, and unequal gendered power dynamics in the household.

As reported in the study there is not one single profile of a perpetrator of domestic violence, rather there are numerous risk factors and situational triggers to domestic violence.
The technology leader of Cook County, Ill., who has spearheaded a multi-million-dollar transformation of several key agency systems and an update to its organizational culture, will return to the private sector.Cook County CIO Simona Rollinson said via email she will be leaving the agency and her last day will be June 15. Rollinson will head to Chicago-based Clayco, a full-service design-build company with more than $2 billion in revenue last year. The county has not yet announced its plans and timeline for hiring a new CIO or potentially appointing an interim CIO from within.This was Rollinsons first public-sector role. She joined the county as CIO in April 2014 after a 14-year career at Illinois-based Follett Software, where she rose from senior software developer to president. She told, [I have] always looked for sectors that I believed were approaching a time of disruption.At Follett, I saw the world of education moving from paper to digital. The county was in a similar position when county [Board of Commissioners] President Toni Preckwinkle asked me to come on board. I believe that a similar readiness for disruption exists where I'm headed, as well, Rollinson said.I'm leaving behind one of the best teams I've ever worked with, and I'm confident that great progress will continue, she added.Founded in 1984, Clayco has taken on more than 350 major projects and employs more than 2,000 people nationwide. Among its tech-facing subsidiaries are Uplift Data Partners, an intelligent data collection company that utilizes drones; and Drawn, its digital solution technology provider, which according to the companys website offers digital and experiential design.Cook County, the largest county in Illinois, leans into technology, partnering last year with the state of Illinois on a property title transfer using blockchain. But its pace of change accelerated in 2015 with Rollinson at the helm, as the county awarded IT contracts totaling $154 million on major modernization projects in integrated justice, property and revenue, and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.Rollinson said she is proudest of Cooks Integrated Justice System Enterprise Service Bus, which she described as a monumental effort to get data from one system to another. The system shares data automatically among three related but distinct levels of government, and it helped move Cook County from 10th place in 2016 to 5th place in 2017 in the Digital Counties Survey, conducted by the Center for Digital Government.*Elsewhere across the enterprise, the countys integrated justice and revenue systems are live, and the last wave of its ERP is expected to go live in June. Cooks integrated property tax system is on track to go live in the county assessors office in December and with the treasurer and county clerk in 2019, Rollinson said, describing the systems as being on a trajectory that will yield constant improvement.Technology is an ever-changing field, but I believe that we are now much better prepared to take advantage of what the future has to offer us, she said. The county has also stood up a new case management system for its public defender, as well as a broadband backbone.Simultaneously, Rollinson has reconfigured outdated job descriptions, writing or revising around one-third by the end of 2016  a number that now stands at 60 percent, she said on May 9 at the Chicago Digital Government Summit.*Youre changing the DNA of the organization  so now there needs to be calibration. We have to evolve. We constantly have to calibrate, Rollinson said at the event during a panel discussion on how to work collaboratively on innovation.Cook County isnt just in the technology business  its ultimately in the people business, where million-dollar relationships are based on listening and negotiation as well as problem-solving and critical thinking, the CIO said then, emphasizing the importance of soft skills.Rollinson said via email that she believes the agencys culture change began when Preckwinkle became president in 2010, and Cook County leapfrogged from paper to cloud and from mainframe to best-of-breed digital solutions.We are now in a mode of continuous improvement and we are ready to adapt to an ever-changing environment with innovative approaches and an eye for efficiency, she said, noting that Cook County has adopted what it terms a cloud-smart posture, utilizing a total cost of ownership model to assess whether systems belong in public or private cloud.Government Technology's
(TNS)  COLUMBUS, OHIO  Smart wheelchairs, speakers that can turn on lights and other technology will be considered as part of care plans for Ohioans with developmental disabilities under an executive order signed Thursday by Gov. John Kasich.Kasich signed the executive order  his sixth this year  alongside a small robot named Milo. The robot can be used to help children with autism learn how to read social cues and better communicate with people.Kasich said the state plans to buy 10 Milo units at $5,000 apiece, and he hopes more units and similar technology can be available to a wider audience."Government is so stuck on itself and stuck in the past that to introduce new technologies that can really bring an exciting life to people is just about as cool as it can get," Kasich said at a statehouse news conference announcing the order.Under the order, supportive technology should be prioritized when evaluating a person's needs Kasich coined the phrase "technology first." The order creates a 10-member Ohio Technology First Council that will make recommendations for better incorporating technology to assist individuals with disabilities.Patty Ruble of Columbus said technological features on her new wheelchair have allowed her to go out in public, alone, with confidence. The chair has sensors that monitor her location and sends alerts to a phone if something goes wrong."This has given me freedom and independence. I can keep on doing my thing with my life," Ruble said. "Thousands and thousands of people are going to feel the same way."
18F Details Efforts to Improve the State Government RFP Process

Code for Tampa Bay Launches a Second Monthly Meetup in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Syracuse, N.Y., Chief Data Officer Shares the Benefits of Hosting Civic Hackathons

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced an additional $42 million investment in Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities program, a comprehensive nationwide initiative aimed at enhancing the use of data and evidence by municipal governments.Established roughly three years ago, to date What Works Cities has helped 100 cities of varying sizes use data and facts to better define the problems their localities face, as well as to make progress in areas that include health and safety, homelessness and blight. As of this month, the initiative has provided direct support for city governments spread throughout 39 states. The announcement of the increased investment was made to coincide with Bloombergs annual report In a letter within the report, the former mayor of the nations most populous city stressed the importance of facts and data in these times, criticizing President Trumps administration and saying that Washingtons direct assault on facts and data is making it harder for America to address major challenges here and around the world.Bloomberg also noted that a counter-assault is underway, writing, As Washington has grown more dysfunctional, American cities have grown more dynamic. Mayors in both parties are leading where Washington won't."As part of this leadership, Bloomberg emphasized that these leaders are enthusiastically using data while at times working across party lines to improve government performance for citizens. Providing leadership and support for cities has long been a part of Bloomberg Philanthropies work. In fact, last year the organization launched a $200 million Bloomberg American Cities Initiative aimed at giving mayors and municipal leaders tools to use data more effectively. 18F , a federal digital consultancy that helps other governmental agencies improve their efficiency via tech, has detailed its ongoing efforts to help state governments improve their RFP processes.18F did so with a piece on its website titledwhich shared information about the organization's work with Alaska. In the blog post, 18F describes what it did to help with Alaskas RFP process and why, before offering ideas that other similar agencies could glean from the work to improve the way that they operate.Those ideas included asking vendors for their feedback, holding a retrospective to reflect on the lessons of the previous work that has been completed and conducting an internal post-mortem after initial procurement has concluded.Each of these exercises provides valuable information that can be used to improve how vendors are engaged on public-sector technology procurements, 18F wrote. Each new procurement in a modular contracting strategy becomes an opportunity to improve on the one that came before  helping identify vendors that will enable governments to deliver high-quality digital services to the public.Since its formation in March 2014, 18F has done much work toward improving governmental procurement processes , and not just in Alaska. In fact the work that 18F has done has been influential across the country, including within Ohio , among other jurisdictions. Even municipal governments such as New York City have built initiatives based on the work done by 18F.Tampa Bay is a singular metro area made up of two cities Tampa, Fla., and St. Petersburg, Fla. and as such its local Code for America brigade has now launched a second monthly meetup.The group, Code for Tampa, previously only had a meetup in Tampa, but it has now expanded to include a second event across the causeway in St. Petersburg. The new event is a Pinellas County Meetup held on the third Monday of each month at St. Petersburgs TEC Garage, and its first iteration was held Monday. This second meeting seeks to continue the ongoing expansion of the Code for America brigade program.In fact, earlier this month the program added an entirely new brigade, Code for PDX, located in Portland, Ore. This brings the total number of Code for America brigades up to 65 participating groups across the country. Code for America is a nonprofit and nonpolitical organization with a mission of using technology to make government function more efficiently for constituents, and its brigades seek to convene technologists and others interested in assisting with its mission at the local level.Code for America itself is currently preparing for its annual summit event , which will be held at the end of the month in Oakland, Calif.Syracuse, N.Y., Chief Data Officer Sam Edelstein recently weighed in online on the value of civic hackathons, noting that two that had taken place in his city as of late had netted a good deal of positive results.The first of the two hackathons Edelstein describes was the Syracuse Roads Challenge, which aimed to find better ways to handle the citys deteriorating infrastructure. The city coordinated with Syracuse Universitys School of Information Studies, AT&T and a civic tech group called Hack Upstate. The event included 13 teams, the majority of which were composed of Syracuse students or members of Hack Upstate, and the winning project created a pothole chatbot that people could use to report problems via Facebook Messenger.Partnering with the university and Hack Upstate, we were able to show people in the community that we wanted to be open about the challenges we face on a day-to-day basis and that we are interested in what they think, Edelstein wrote of the benefits.The other civic hackathon was called Plowing Through Data, and it sought to address the regions always-difficult snow removal challenges. This hackathon, which was upon for three weeks, was another collaboration between the city, Syracuse University and AT&T, and it drew 20 participating teams. The winning projects helped to visualize the best paths for snowplows to quickly and efficiently clear the streets.
(TNS) - Officials at Crosby's Arkema chemical plant were warned that the facility was at risk for flooding a year before Hurricane Harvey's deluge resulted in a chemical fire at the plant.But facility employees, with the exception of a manager who left in early 2017, "appeared to be unaware of this information," an inquiry by the U.S. Chemical Safety And Hazard Investigation Board found.The board concluded that Arkema, a French multinational company that manufactures chemicals used to create plastic products, was not prepared for flooding of this magnitude. During Harvey, 6 feet of water wiped out the facility's power and backup generators. With the power out and cooling systems failing, volatile organic peroxides exploded multiple times over the course of a week, producing towering pillars of fire and thick plumes of black smoke.The board -- an independent federal agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents -- released a 154-page report Thursday morning detailing their findings.Janet Smith, Arkema spokeswoman, said in a statement that the company was pleased with the board's investigation, largely because it "accurately depicts the unforeseeable nature of the situation Arkema faced during Hurricane Harvey.""The CSB report shows that Arkema had multiple policies and safeguards in place to address the risks associated with hurricanes, that Arkema followed those policies, and that our employees went to extraordinary lengths, under difficult conditions, to maintain safety at our site," Smith said.But board members determined that the company's emergency response plan was not enough, confirming a Houston Chronicle report in November."Arkema wasn't prepared, but they were not alone," said Vanessa Allen Sutherland, board chairwoman, at a Thursday news conference. "The most valuable lesson here is that facilities should plan and plan again. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security by thinking it can't happen here."As part of the report, board members issued a number of recommendations to the company, Harris County and industry leaders that include developing better policies for determining flood risks and protecting first responders. The board can offer recommendations and guidance, but it can not fine or punish a company based on its findings.Their recommendations are particularly pertinent given the timing: the 2018 hurricane season begins June 1."We know that in the last several years, severe rainfall has caused increased flooding around the country and government experts believe this trend is likely continue," said board member Kristen Kulinowski, at a Thursday news conference. "Our investigation found a lack of guidance that can help the industry understand and plan for catastrophic flooding."The Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also are investigating the incident, though their results have not yet been released.As Harvey bore down on Southeast Texas and the National Hurricane Center warned of potentially "catastrophic" or "life-threatening" flooding, the company's plans for protecting its product were simple: keep the chemicals cold on-site.The company had multiple freezer buildings, six backup generators, and, as a last resort, refrigerated trucks. But Arkema didn't consider flooding a "credible risk," the report states, confirming previous reporting by the Chronicle.Officials thought this despite a 2016 warning from its insurer, Factory Mutual Insurance Co. (FM Global), that the facility was at risk for flooding and parts of its facility sit in the 100-year flood plain and the 500-year flood plain, the report states.The board found that this thinking was a result of Arkema relying on long-time employee memory of flooding levels. Arkema's Crosby facility has a 40-year history of flooding, but employees could not remember a time when the facility received more than two-feet of water before Harvey.That method is insufficient, the board reported."Companies should develop systems to retain key incident summary information that better document facility risks based on historical external events," the report states.Along with an inadequate emergency response plan, the board's report confirms other aspects of the facility's failures written by the Chronicle in November: The company's power transformers and backup generators were not high enough off the ground, and it had a tank of an extremely dangerous chemical, isobutylene, located about 40 yards from six refrigerated trailers loaded with organic peroxides that had been relocated during the storm.Smith pointed out in her statement that the board noted Arkema had "multiple safety systems in place to ensure that organic peroxide products were kept cold."But in its report, the board said those safety systems were not enough.Because of this, board members recommended that Arkema develop a policy requiring any facility that manufactures organic peroxides or processes large quantities of highly hazardous chemicals to periodically determine if they're at risk for extreme weather events like hurricanes or floods.It also recommended that the Crosby facility, specifically, decrease its flood risk to "as low as reasonably practical."Three days after Harvey made landfall Aug. 25, a ride out crew at Arkema's Crosby facility were transporting organic peroxides to nine refrigerated trailers on site in an effort to keep them cool.In all they transported 350,000 pounds of organic peroxides to those trailers, 2,000 pounds of which had to be transported by hand in the dark, according to a simulation created by the board.But when those trailers began to fail, the ride out crew evacuated. Officials soon set up a 1.5-mile evacuation zone in anticipation of trailer explosions.Parts of Highway 90, which runs along the southern end of the plant and bissected the evacuation zone, was kept open to traffic. But the highway remained open to traffic for too long, the report stated, exposing at least 21 people to "decomposition products and smoke from the burning refrigerated trailer and organic peroxides."Because of this, the board recommended that Harris County make sure emergency personnel are not exposed to hazardous chemical releases."Update existing protocols and revise training curricula to include the use of analytical tools, air monitoring, and personal protective equipment, to provide appropriate protection when emergency equipment or personnel need to be moved through an evacuation zone during a hazardous materials release," the report stated.Several first responders are suing Arkema after they say they were sickened while responding to the fires and chemical releases at the scene. In separate lawsuits, Harris County and hundreds of local residents are trying to hold the company responsible.Local residents previously told the Chronicle they have been kept in the dark about what they were exposed to because of the explosions on site.And the board in its report said members aren't aware of whether any long-term health effects would arise from the release of these chemicals.The board does not conduct these types of tests, they said during the Thursday news conference, and therefore had to rely on EPA data which detected no evidence of organic peroxides.Alex Stuckey covers science and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.2018 the Houston ChronicleVisit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency,
(TNS) - Get ready.Thats the message, as it is every year. Forecasters predict a near- or above-normal Atlantic hurricane season this year with a 70-percent likelihood of 10 to 16 named storms with winds of 39 mph or higher.They predict there could be up to four major hurricanes this season with winds of 111 mph or higher.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations outlook was announced Thursday at a Florida conference. There is a 35 percent chance of an above-normal season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.Gerry Bell, lead hurricane season forecaster with NOAAs Climate Prediction Center, said they certainly expect storms to strike this year, but its too early to predict exactly when and where.Its time to start getting ready again, he said. In some of these areas, I know they might not be fully recovered, but they need to work with local emergency management and do what they can to get prepared.A weak El Nino developing, along with near-average sea-surface temperatures across the tropical Atlantic ocean and Caribbean Sea, are two of the factors driving this outlook. These factors are set upon a backdrop of atmospheric and oceanic conditions that are conducive to hurricane development and have been producing stronger hurricane seasons in the Atlantic since 1995.NOAA has upgraded its technology to predict storms with greater accuracy knowing that 80 million people live in areas that could potentially be affected by a hurricane.As Victoria residents experienced last summer, they dont have to live directly on the coast to find themselves in harms way.Dan Kaniewski, acting deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, urges residents to download the FEMA app, create a communications and evacuation plan for the family and be financially prepared to cover out-of-pocket expenses during an emergency.And check on your insurance coverage, he added.Crossroads officials agree that it only takes one hurricane.Mother Nature has a way of sending us these reminders, said Stan Upton, who has served as the emergency management coordinator for the past 11 years in Refugio County.Upton said while its still fresh in our minds, residents should do their best to learn from last summers Hurricane Harvey.We were very fortunate we didnt have any deaths directly related to the storm, he said.Being prepared for a disaster is something the county officials practice every year, he said, but residents must also focus on doing what they can to help themselves such as having a plan for an evacuation.Have a plan, period, he said.Victorias top emergency official, Rick McBrayer, said knowing theres a possibility of having a more active season means hell be diligently watching for storm formations and leaning on the professionals at the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi for guidance.McBrayer said this is a good time for residents to make sure they keep a supply of basic essentials because a disaster inevitably means the loss of utilities for several hours to potentially several days and weeks.He advises stocking seven days worth of supplies, such as nonperishable foods, water, a battery-operated radio, a manual can opener and prescription medications.Some Victoria residents were without power and drinking water for more than a week after the Category 4 storm in August.McBrayer said people should also make sure children, the elderly and pets have what they need.We just need to make sure we have our plan, and we practice it and that we are prepared, he said.Laura Garcia reports on health and nonprofits for the Victoria Advocate. She may be reached at lgarcia@vicad.com or 361-580-6585.2018 Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas)Visit Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) at www.victoriaadvocate.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Spokane Public Schools in Washington state has engineered a school safety program that combines important physical safeguards and the crucial human elements to deter the kind of violence seen and feared recently.The district, which includes seven high schools, six middle schools and 34 elementary schools, has instituted a single-point-of-entry policy at each school, meaning every door is locked once school begins and visitors must check in at the only entry point.Visitors enter only after having been cleared, via video camera and intercom, by office staff or a resource officer. They are given a badge and (at the middle and high school levels) visitors drivers licenses are scanned and checked against a registered sex offender data base and for anyone with trespass or domestic violence issues.Thats for stranger intrusion, said Mark Sterk, director of safety, risk management and transportation for the district. Its really not designed to stop the school shootings, where its a student doing the shooting. We rely on the resource officers in the schools making relationships with the kids.And theres much more to it than that. Theres a See Something, Say Something initiative where students are encouraged to report anything that may indicate a student is struggling and may need some help  or if the student may pose a danger to themselves or others. Students are encouraged to talk to an adult or report their concerns via text, email or voicemail if they like.Theres a threat assessment system in place where a team evaluates the reported information. The team includes Sterk, a school psychologist, special education personnel, teachers, principals, vice principals and resource officers.We go through and talk about every piece of the investigation, Sterk said. We do home visits, so that if we have a kid whos making threats we go out with the Spokane Police Departments, meet with the students parents. We ask permission to take a look at the students bedroom so that we can look for drawings, writings, some of those things that we know came out of studies by the Secret Service and FB I.Most of the threat assessments end with the findings that the student was just blowing off steam and was incapable of violence. Sterk said the district has done about 70 assessments over the past year and threats spiked after a shooting at Freeman High School in Spokane and after the Parkland, Fla., shooting.So many of them are just frustrated and they do make those threats but dont have the capacity or the weapons arent available to them, but you have to take them all seriously and check them all out, he said.Although most of the threats arent serious, Sterk said administrators are finding, an extreme amount of mental illness and getting them treatment is paramount to changing those patterns and to keep them from taking that next step and acting out in a violent way.For that the district employs around 50 mental health professionals to work with students and faculty.The district has spent about $5 million on school safety over the last four years and continues to upgrade its safety program. It is beginning a program to further educate students and faculty on what to look for in a student who needs help and to share that information. Were going to train the teachers to talk about those things in their classrooms, Sterk said.
(TNS)  Big data has taken over the world, though a huge new data law will stretch across borders.The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, is set to take force on Friday, and will have impacts far beyond the continent where it was crafted.A sprawling law passed by the bloc's parliament in Brussels that will be enforced by "data protection authorities" in the capitals of member states such as Berlin and Paris.Though the longer-term effects of countries' implementation of GDPR remain a question, though the law does inject a little order into an Internet world that has been lacking in a bill of rights and includes provisions allowing people to ask to have their data deleted, "purpose limitation" saying that data can only be used for what it was collected for, and strict rules on getting consent to use data.It has received attention in the run up to the day when it jumps from paper to the law of cyber-land because of the Facebook data scandal, which highlighted how the U.S. has neither a major data law or a specific data protection authority.The Silicon Valley company has also moved users outside of Europe under the control of its American office in a change that limits the exact legal consequences of GDPR, though Facebook has said it will apply the "spirit" of the law worldwide.Founder Mark Zuckerberg repeated that he would be compliant during a session with EU parliamentarians on Tuesday where the format allowed him to glide past many questions about its business model of advertising targeted with users' data.But companies that are not busy trying to pirouette their way through public scrutiny and regain their stock prices are also affected by the law, which affects all companies that have data for those in Europe.Businesses and publications in both Europe and the U.S. about listservs that users have signed up about whether they still want to get messages that would come under the purview of GDPR."These companies find it often difficult to follow different privacy standards in different markets and therefore tend to apply the strictest international standards across the board. At times, it is technologically difficult to separate data involving European and non-European citizens," said Columbia Law School professor Anu Bradford in a Q&A."It can also be hard to justify offering better privacy protections for some users than others, further pushing companies towards a single global standard."Bradford coined the term "Brussels effect" to describe the larger phenomenon of companies in industries outside data sticking to EU regulations in order to have access to the giant market, an extension off a similar idea that U.S. companies follow a "California effect" to do business in the Golden State.Beyond businesses looking at customers who live in Europe, some suggest that the regulation can also apply to Americans who are spending even a short time in the EU and demand information of U.S. companies.Though it undoubtedly will affect many businesses in the U.S. uncertainty over the law was rampant as recently as one month ago, according to a survey from technology association CompTIA The survey found more than half of American companies were unsure if they were GDPR-compliant, thought that the law didn't apply to them or were still exploring the possibilities, with only 13 percent asserting that they were fully compliant.It said that nearly two-thirds of businesses were not very familiar with the hefty fine structure for breaches of the law.Whether European data regulators will go after U.S. businesses is an open question, though penalties under the law can run as high as 20 million euros ($24 million) or 4 percent of global turnover.
(TNS)  Despite what television leads us to believe, every local police department is not staffed with a computer expert who can follow leads through digital evidence.In fact, no law-enforcement agency in Anderson County, Texas, was equipped with such a skilled professional.Until now.Palestine Police Detective Corporal James Heavner recently returned from a five-week course at the U.S. Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute in Hoover, Alabama.A detective for four of his more than six years on the force, Heavner told the Herald-Press he applied for the exclusive training for more than three years, before getting in.There are very limited spots in the class, Heavner, 31, said. They selected only 24 students from the entire country.Computer forensics is the science of extracting and analyzing data evidence from computers and other storage media, such as flash drives, or even cellular phones.The data must extract in such a way that none of it is changed or corrupted by the removal or copying process. If any corruption occurs, the court can deem the evidence inadmissible.The data changes on a flash drive, simply by plugging it in to another device, Heavner said. What we have to do is make an exact image of the drive, so we can analyze it without changing or damaging the original.Last year, Texas was second only to California in the number of reported victims of Internet and cyber-crimes. With more than 21,000 reported cases, Texans lost nearly $80 million to Internet crime alone.In Palestine, detectives face hundreds of computer and Internet-based crimes, such as scams attempting to acquire personal information, and money, every year.We were already investigating Internet scams in-house, Heavner said. Now we have more tools and capabilities for tracking suspects.Heavner said he expects most cyber-cases to relate to child-victim crimes and fraud.Child pornography, identity theft, forgery and counterfeiting are some of the more common crimes that use computer forensics. Heavner's newly acquired skills, however, can help solve crimes beyond the usual computer-based variety.Nowadays, there's some sort of technology at every crime scene, Heavner said. Depending upon the nature of the crime, data from these devices can be used as evidence, or even help solve a case.In the past, this evidence was typically sent to the Department of Public Safety crime lab for analysis. Due to protocol, as well as a backlog of cases, departments such as the PPD could wait for up to two years for results.This is definitely going to speed up our process, Heavner said. Plus, we'll be able to help other nearby agencies with their forensic computing evidence, as well.In addition to graduating the class with a certificate in basic computer evidence recovery, the Secret Service also provided Heavner with thousands of dollars in computing equipment, specifically designed for forensic computing.The training also provided partnerships and connections.I have a network of professionals I am in contact with now, Heavner said. We can contact each other for help, questions, and advice. That's invaluable.Detective Heavner is the only computer evidence recovery technician in Anderson County, and one of the few in in East Texas.This is part of the Palestine Police Department becoming more of a modern department, Chief Andy Harvey told the Herald-Press. This is great, not only for Palestine, but for East Texas.To have someone like Detective Heavner, with his capabilities, is simply extraordinary.Said Capt. Mark Harcrow, commander of the criminal investigations division: Detective Heavner's skill set and training bring tremendous value to our community. This is a game-changer for crime fighting and investigations in our city.
By Guest Blogger Sasha Jones

In the hopes of consolidating resources, urban school districts nationwide have chosen to close the doors of their under-enrolled schools, displacing large numbers of low-income students and students of color. Facing a $1 billion deficit in May 2013, Chicago Public Schools did the same.

In the largest mass school closure to date, the Chicago Board of Education voted that year to close 49 elementary schools and one high school program located in an elementary schoola vote that displaced nearly 12,000 students in all.

Although funding was the primary reason for school closures, city and district officials hoped that students would be placed into higher-performing schools with better academic opportunities. Critics, including the Chicago Teachers Union, argued that the school closures would disenfranchise black neighborhoods and overwhelm welcoming schools with large enrollment increases.

Now, in a report by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research , researchers suss out what really happened. In a nutshell, they say the closings sowed uncertainty among school officials, while students affected by closures experienced negative learning effects.

Teachers, Staff Feel Unprepared and Disorganized

Focusing on the short-term and multi-year impacts of school closures on students academic, behavioral, and other outcomes, the research shows that school leaders had just a few months to balance their financial budgets with the ambiguity of how students would enroll in new schools.

With the 2013-2014 school year starting at the end of August, school staff in an estimated 95 schools were given two months to prepare to move. This included packing up supplies and furniture, hiring new staff, and preparing school buildings for an increase in students.

Many teachers reported that they felt unprepared at the start of the school year, having lost school supplies and materials in the move. Some said that unpacking, cleaning, and preparing the space physically took time away from instructional planning and relationship-building in their new communities.

To reconcile, the district provided extra funds and technology during the first year of the merger. Although some of these resources were lost due to budget cuts in following years, some schools were able to sustain new STEM, International Baccalaureate and Safe Passage programs. Started in 2009, the Safe Passage program recruits school staff and community volunteers to patrol Chicagos streets to ensure student safety during school commutes. In 2012, 37 schools participated, a number that more than doubled when 51 new schools were added to that mix in the wake of the closures.

Transfer Rates Increase, Test Scores Slip Among Students

The research found that students also faced newfound challenges following school closures. In fall 2013, 21 percent of students in the welcoming schools did not return to their schools. Much of this exodus came among students attending the 14 welcoming schools that were forced to relocate themselves as student populations bulged and shifted. The families in those schools were more likely to consider transferring to different districts as a result.

The largest impact was on students from closed schools, who experienced lower test scores than what was expected based on their previous achievement and research. Reading test scores declined initially, but returned to expected levels the second year following the closures. However, math scores failed to rebound. Students from closed schools were two months behind in math, a trend that continued four years after the school closures.

School absences, suspensions, and core GPA did not see significant changes. One exception was among students who were in grades 3-5 the year of the announcement. They saw more of a negative decrease in their core GPA than any other group.

University of Chicago researchers hypothesize that these negative effects were a result of students and staff coming into welcoming schools grieving and, in some cases, resentful that their schools closed while other schools stayed open. On the other hand, the staff members who were already in welcoming schools felt unsupported to serve the new population and address the divisions that formed.

Previous research shows that most students displaced by closures do not end up in better schools than those left behind, but, for those who do manage to land in better schools, their academic progress outpaces that of students left in the low-performing schools that remain open.
(TNS)  FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.  The people who run Florida's elections used to fret about having enough poll workers and voting machines.Now they talk about incident response teams and threat detectors.They buy expensive sensors that can detect malicious intruders bent on creating havoc. They field sales pitches from election vendors selling cyberinsurance. It may be a matter of time before elections workers have to pass a Level 2 criminal background check  just to be on the safe side.Absentee ballots are important, but so are "hacktivists," computer hackers on a social or political mission."A cyberattack is like a hurricane," said Klint Walker, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security cyber expert. "It's always brewing out there."Florida faces another busy election season. If it's like the last few, it will be close, as the nation's biggest swing state elects a governor, U.S. senator and scores of federal, state and local officials and decides 13 changes to the state constitution.Memories are still fresh of the Russian phishing expedition that used email attachments to try to penetrate at least five county election systems before the 2016 election. U.S. senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio both say Florida remains vulnerable to election disruption.This is the first election in which America's voting systems are considered part of the nation's critical infrastructure, similar to airports, water, and the energy grid."We are under a microscope more than ever in this election cycle," said Secretary of State Ken Detzner, the state's top elections officer, at a packed conference of Florida election supervisors this week in Fort Lauderdale.Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was before Congress, citing a need for "effective deterrence" to prevent more Russian meddling in the next election."Everybody's scared," said Mike Hogan, the Duval County supervisor of elections in Jacksonville. "There's so much pressure on all sides."Florida is used to being under intense scrutiny in election years.There was the 2000 recount with its manual recounts, dimpled chads and butterfly ballots, and seven-hour waits in 2012 that shamed a Republican legislature into expanding early voting days and locations.At this week's elections conference, the talk was about network protocols, firewalls and RVAs  shorthand for risk and vulnerability assessments.Passwords are like underwear, elections workers were told: Change them frequently and don't share them with anybody.When a speaker asked for a show of hands for hurricane response plans, every hand went up. When the question was about election cyberattack plans? Not so much.The main conference attraction was a team of specialists from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who praised Florida as a state on the leading edge of election security but an obvious target of cyberattacks."Sophisticated, persistent actors are targeting our systems. That's part of our reality now that we need to accept," said Matt Masterson, a Homeland Security cybersecurity expert.Six DHS representatives attended the four-day conference that ended Thursday, and no subject dominated the agenda as much as security.DHS offered complimentary security evaluations. Tech experts discussed the fine points of ALBERT, the sensor that can monitor and detect  but not prevent  electronic intruders.The state will use $1.9 million in federal Help America Vote Act money to reimburse counties for the costs of buying and installing the ALBERT sensors.Not all counties are convinced it's a wise investment against bad actors, Russians or otherwise."It won't block them. It just monitors them," said Polk County supervisor of elections Lori Edwards. "I don't know who the hell it benefits, but it won't benefit me."The level of anxiety was evident in tense exchanges in which county voting officials complained that the state doesn't notify them when the statewide voter database malfunctions and is briefly accessible.Gov. Rick Scott personally overruled Detzner and pushed for the state to seek $19 million more in federal money to help counties harden election systems against future risks.Florida's 67 election supervisors, all but one of them elected, have to face voters too. They are in the business of registering voters and counting votes, and they are data geeks learning to be technology geeks.Alan Hays, a former state senator who was elected supervisor of elections in Lake County in 2016, had the county's IT experts explain the security of the county's voting system. He said it took 20 minutes."They drew it out on a white board for me," Hays said. "I want to be able to confidently convey to people that we have several layers of protection."All elections experts agree on the need to prepare, but not all are worried about an imminent attack.They note that the Florida voter database and vote tabulation systems are separate and distinct, and that they are not accessible to the public on the Internet.They note that Florida voters, except for those with disabilities, vote with paper ballots that leave a permanent trail and can't be changed."Your vote is safe and secure. We've got redundancies in place," said Hillsborough's supervisor of elections, Craig Latimer. "You can't hack paper."At a cyber resiliency workshop, all counties were told to join EI-ISAC, a national information sharing and analysis center about election security (most have)."Florida will be watched closely," said Jamie Ward, an Internet security expert. "The right to vote and making it go 100 percent flawlessly, that's precision work."
Nico Rosberg says even driving a formula one car on the streets of Monaco didn't whet his appetite for a comeback.

Ahead of the Monaco GP, the 2016 world champion joined his father Keke for a F1 demonstration run.

Asked if it made him consider racing again, the German told Corriere della Sera: "For five seconds, yes.

"When I got into the cockpit it was like coming home. But it went right away. I'm so happy," Rosberg insisted.

Indeed, he said he is also happy to be a mere spectator of the 2018 season.

"It's a spectacular fight between three teams," said Rosberg. "No one has any idea who will win on Sunday, which is the perfect scenario."

And although Mercedes was dominant in Spain and Red Bull looks quickest in Monaco, he tipped Ferrari to win in the end.

"I did not expect them to be so good this season. At the moment it's the best car," he said.

(GMM)
Two teachers and eight students were killed in the fatal school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, last week. It was the 13th school shooting since the beginning of the year, according to Education Weeks ongoing tracking .

In each of those school shootingsand the ones that happened in previous yearsthe students and teachers who survive are left reeling . Four teachers who have experienced gun violence at school share their stories:

Holly Van Tassel-Schuster, an English teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., survived the February 14 shooting that claimed the lives of 17 people. During the massacre, she wheeled a 36-inch television in front of the classroom door , planning to push it onto the gunman in case he tried to enter. She told Education Week in an email:



After the shooting at Santa Fe High school, my heart broke thinking of the teachers and students affected. It truly took me back to the day, and it triggered the memories of alarms, helicopters, tears, and terror. Personally, I have reached out to the English department [at Santa Fe High] to let them know I am here and more than willing to listen. Sadly after the event at Stoneman Douglas, I truly did not feel prepared to speak to outsiders, who would not be able to relate to my experiences. In the days following the incident at Stoneman Douglas, I spent them with my colleagues driving to memorials, therapy, and funerals. Many days I just wanted to hide away and avoid the world around me. As much as my family and friends reached out, they were not the people I was able to communicate with. The thoughts of having to repeat the events of February 14th were too difficult. Once we returned to school, we had the pleasure of meeting a teacher from Sandy Hook, and she was the first outsider that could understand and relate to our experiences. For me this was one of the most important people I needed to speak with. Those of us that had the chance to speak with her bombarded her with questions as to how Newtown navigated the days and years ahead of them. After Santa Fe, this is why I reached out. I know they are going to be faced with painful weeks right now, but when they are ready, I am here for them."

In Los Angeles, teacher Sherry Zelsdorf experienced a classroom shooting earlier this year . Nobody died, and the incident received little national attention. But the experience was traumatizing, Zelsforf said. After the Santa Fe shooting, she wrote in an email:

I know what it feels like, what it sounds like, and what it looks like when your students are shot at school. On February 1, 2018, a 12-year-old student brought a semi-automatic handgun to school and shot two students inside of my classroom. Shrapnel from the bullet hit me on the forehead. My classroom went from silent to screaming in an instant. After I was discharged from the emergency room, I returned to school. I put on a mask and walked through my classroom with the forensic police. Blood covered the floor, the wall. A dark pool of blood was left where the student shot in the wrist waited for the paramedics. The word search I handed the student moments before he was shot in the head was covered in blood. A Los Angeles school police officer responded to my classroom within minutes after the shooting and recovered a loaded semi-automatic handgun. The police deemed the shooting [at] Salvador Castro Middle School in Los Angeles to be accidental. Regardless of intent, a gun was brought to school and fired inside a classroom. I returned to work on February 14. On the same day, 17 [people] were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. ... The schools in this country are not safe. Do something."

In an Education Week essay published before the Santa Fe shooting, a teacher who survived the 1999 Columbine school shooting shared her journey to activism , which started in part because of the horrific event.

The battlefield was not just in politics, but also, horrifically, now in the classroom, teacher Paula Reed wrote of the shooting. The stress and the trauma we faced then sounds much too similar to the stress and trauma educators face now.

Now, Reed has spoken at several rallies for stricter gun laws. She wrote that she has been inspired by the students from Parkland who have taken the lead on pushing for change .

Many of the reasons educators have tended to avoid activism, including busy lives, fear of retribution, and an aversion to political discord, remain, she wrote. But there seems to be an increasing awareness that, fair or not, weve all been drafted. If our students can speak out, we can, too.

In a recent essay for Education Week Teacher, high school English teacher Ashley Lauren Samsa shared her experience of being on lockdown when a student brought a gun on campus . Nobody was hurtthe only physical scar from the traumatic event was a bullet hole in the middle of a glass pane.

Still, Samsa wrote that she cant say that she and her students were lucky. It was decidedly unlucky that a student decided to bring a gun to a fight in the first place, she said. It seems like thats the kind of bad luck that we should change.

Months later, Samsa wrote, the trauma of the incident still lingers:

'Every time the PA system sounds, I get worried,' [a student] says. There's nothing I can say, because it happens to me, too. The emotional scars run deep, and our situation does not even come close to the trauma and anguish in Santa Fe and Parkland and Sandy Hook and Columbine and so many other places. I cannot imagine how those students, teachers, and parents feel. I want to live to see a time when there is no need for lockdowns, no senseless and violent deaths, and no student who is afraid to attend school. It may seem like a lofty dream, but I believe it can happen."

Staff Writer Evie Blad contributed to this post.

Image via Getty
A new study by a team from Aarhus University in Denmark has found that car dealerships pose a significant barrier to electric vehicle adoption at the point of sale due to a perceived lack of business case viability in relation to gasoline and diesel vehicles. Their study is published in the journal Nature.

In 126 mystery shopper experiences at 82 car dealerships across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the team found that that dealers were dismissive of EVs; misinformed shoppers on vehicle specifications; omitted EVs from the sales conversation; and strongly oriented customers towards gasoline and diesel vehicle options.

The researchers also found that dealers technological orientation, willingness to sell and displayed knowledge of EVs were main contributors to likely purchase intentions. The team concluded that policy and business strategies that address barriers at the point of sale are needed to accelerate EV adoption.

Dealers represent an important yet understudied intermediary between new innovations such as EV technology and consumers. Only three North America-focused studies exist as of 2017. For instance, a California-specific (United States) study suggests that EVs require new business and promotion strategies during sales processes, while a study across four US states and an investigation in Ontario (Canada) find that the (lack of) salespersons EV knowledge and positive attitude can influence customers purchasing decisions. However, these studies feature small sample sizes, lack cross-country comparisons or focus on early EV adopters. Despite this dearth of research coverage, the role of industry actors is important because research suggests that current EV buyers can be categorized as early adopters with a higher technological acumen and knowledge of EVs, implying that they may aggressively and actively pursue EVs at the selling point. Early adopters, however, are a minority of the total market. Therefore, car dealerships and EV purchasing experiences at the point of sale may be where a majority of consumers first encounter the technology and also consider purchasing it. For this reason, we investigate the prospect of purchasing an EV from the perspective of an average or mass market customer in 126 dealership shopping visits at 82 car dealerships across 15 cities in the 5 Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) triangulated with industry stakeholder interviews across these countries. We also analyse the effect of location-specific factors on EV purchases, such as the comparison between urban and rural settings, and the different tax, regulatory, commercial and social conditions of each country. This includes comparisons between the EV global leader Norway, an intermediate adopter (Sweden), and the less developed EV markets of Finland, Iceland and Denmark. de Rubens et al.

The researchers posed as mystery shoppers to visit the dealerships, and showed no initial inclination to any particular type of vehicle. To ensure validity, the shopping encounters were triangulated with 30 expert interviews with major automobile manufacturers, importers and associations, and other related organizations such as EV charging station providers across the Nordic region.

Among their findings:

Out of the total 126 dealership visits conducted, only 8.8% of the mystery shopping encounters resulted in the shoppers having preferred an EV option for their next car purchase over an ICEV; this drops to just 2.9% outside of Norway.

In the 77% of the car dealerships visits that had EV brands and EV models available, the salesperson did not discuss the existence of the brands EV.

In two-thirds of all shopping experiences, sales personnel strongly or solely oriented the customer to select a gasoline or diesel vehicle, and actively dismissed EVs, even when dealerships had EV options for sale.

In 71% of the visits, dealers demonstrated either low displayed knowledge of EVs or no knowledge at all.

More than half of the expert interviews noted that both the car dealership and sales personnel lack a willingness to sell EVs because of anticipated low profitability, lack of knowledge and competence to sell, and extended sales time per EV purchase, in comparison with internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs).

Ultimately, the implication seems to be that EVs are at a severe disadvantage at the point of sale when competing with petrol and diesel options. Without more progressive action on behalf of industry and government, dealers have little to no incentive to properly sell EVs, even in a Nordic region so steadfastly committed to decarbonizing transport. de Rubens et al.

Resources
Foton Motor and Piaggio Group signed the agreement for a joint development project for new light-duty commercial vehicle products in Italy.

Since 2016, Foton Motor and Piaggio Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding and a Framework Agreement in succession. The final signing of this agreement symbolizes that the two parties have sufficiently completed the project feasibility analysis and officially entered the implementation stage of new product development.

The new four-wheel light-duty commercial vehicle products for the European market are based on the present mini-truck product platform of Foton Motor, inherit the advantages of Foton Motors mini-trucks in terms of product quality, driving/riding comfort, and fuel-economy.





Foton Gratour-T mini truck.

In the future, the two parties will, at an appropriate time, develop new electric vehicles with intelligent interconnectivity system and, as appropriate, enter the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and Africa markets.





Piaggio Porter.

The European market is an important sector for the global development of Foton Motor. The new product development project with Piaggio Group this time is not only a strategic solution of Fotons global diversification but also demonstrates Fotons resolution for the expansion of European market.

Piaggio Group is the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Europe, with the production and sales volume of two-wheel motorcycles ranking first in the European market, and it is expanding rapidly in the field of three and four-wheel light-duty commercial vehicles. In 2017, its global sales volume of commercial vehicles hit 176,800 units.

As Chinas first commercial vehicle manufacturer, Foton Motor is engaged in the operations of whole-series commercial vehicles, including medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks, light-duty trucks, VANs, pickups, and buses. Foton Motor has established joint ventures with world-leading manufacturers, including Daimler, Cummins, and ZF, and has more than 1,000 sales and service networks for coverage of 110 countries and regions worldwide.

Foton Motor presently is integrating information technology and manufacturing technology and aiming to realize intelligent products, intelligent plants, and intelligent management.

The cooperation between Foton and Piaggio Group this time is an important milestone for the joint expansion of the European auto market for the two parties. By taking this opportunity, Piaggio Group will realize the upgrade of commercial vehicle products in the European market and at the same time play an active role in its expansion of market business and consolidation of market position.
Stuttgarter Straenbahnen AG (SSB), the principal public transport operating company in Stuttgart, will launch the SSB Flex mobility service on 1 June 2018. (Earlier post.) SSB Flex will pool similar journey requests in three areas to provide additional, more flexible journey options in certain high-traffic areas or at specific times in order to supplement the existing transportation services offered.

SSB will be deploying a fleet of 10 vehicles: Mercedes-Benz V-Class sedans with five seats in the rear and 2 Mercedes-Benz B-Class vehicles with electric drive and three seats in the rear. All of the vehicles are clearly labeled with the yellow and white SSB Flex logo. SSB vehicle drivers are either specially trained Flex drivers or SSB bus drivers who have received additional training.





The SSB Flex mobility service gives customers a flexible, on-demand and tailored way to book journeys using the SSB Flex app. SSB Flex is the first on-demand service in Germany approved by the Stuttgart Regional Council as a regular passenger service under the German Passenger Transportation Act (Personenbeforderungsgesetz  PBefG).

SSB Flex will be offered from Monday to Saturday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and also from Thursday to Saturday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. the following day in large sections of Bad Cannstatt and Degerloch. Both service areas are currently underserved in parts by the local public transportation network. SSB Flex will also be available in the Stuttgart city center every Thursday to Saturday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. the following day.

These are times when trains, buses, and trams run less frequently in the city center. For this reason, SSB will offer SSB Flex as a supplemental mode of public transportation in what are known as transportation blank spots and during off-peak times.

We want to complement our existing bus and train service with flexible, customer-oriented solutions. We can then fill the gaps, both in time and location. The goal is to have ever more citizens choosing public transportation. Wolfgang Arnold, Chief Technical Officer and spokesperson for Stuttgarter Straenbahnen

Anyone can use SSB Flex: they simply need to download the SSB Flex app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store onto their smartphone. Customers can save their personal information and payment details in the app. Flex trips can be paid via the app with a credit card or PayPal. When a customer uses the SSB Flex app, the app locates the passenger and shows them possible connections to their destination. Alongside SSB Flex, the app also includes possible connections with the other means of public transportation in the VVS area, which allows it to show the user all possible combinations together with the cost of each and the estimated timing. The passenger has a minute to choose their preferred option (the app displays the elapsing time) and purchase their ticket for the journey with SSB using the SSB Flex app.

After booking, the app shows the passengers where the Flex vehicle will pick them up and how they can get there quickly on foot. After the booking procedure, the app shows the license plate number of the vehicle booked. The driver of the Flex vehicle also receives the information of how to reach the pickup point, the customer name, and how many passengers will be waiting there. The Flex vehicle arrives, the passengers board, then disembark at the predetermined drop-off point close to their destination. If passengers are already sharing the trip or more passengers register while under way, further stops will be added or the route adjusted. The fare is paid via the SSB Flex app.

SSB Flex thus offers additional intermodal trips in Stuttgart on the basis of the multimodal app. Passengers can use SSB Flex to reach the nearest public transportation stop easily, to avoid an interchange, or to take a more direct or earlier journey.

Holders of VVS day or season tickets can enter the public transportation zones for which their tickets are valid into the SSB Flex app. If the ticket is valid for the time and area where they want to use SSB Flex, the fare will be lowered by around 1. The ticket is valid for the part of the trip traveled using VVS public transportation. SSB Flex users can book trips not just for themselves, but for up to four other passengers. If several passengers use SSB Flex for one booking, the fare is reduced for each passenger. The fare is dependent on the route, the number of passengers in a group, and the VVS ticket entered. An adult can book short trips with SSB Flex from 2.20. Children travel from 1.80.

The SSB Flex app is based on the moovel on-demand platforms algorithm, which intelligently pools journey requests to enable ridesharing. To ensure that users can get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, the travel routes are continually calculated and updated taking into account the latest real-time traffic data and information from the public transportation network. Furthermore, the anticipated demand is estimated so that the fleet can be managed proactively.

If other people want to take a similar route, the system pools the requests so that multiple passengers can share a single vehicle despite having different pickup and drop-off points. If a passenger decides to use SSB Flex for a portion of their journey, they are picked up within walking distance of their current location. The algorithm lets Flex drivers see where they need to pick up or drop off passengers, how many passengers they need to pick up or drop off, and the route they need to take to the next stop.

The locations where the vehicles pick up passengers are controlled by the algorithm, which uses virtual routes and stops to determine the route the vehicle will take. This means that passengers cannot spontaneously board a passing Flex vehicle or request to be dropped off at a different location. They also cannot be picked up from their location on request or driven directly to their destination, but rather are guided by the app to a pickup location that is a short walk away and brought to a drop-off point close to their destination.

As is the case with a bus or train, the SSB Flex vehicle cannot wait for passengers at the pickup point. The point of contact for SSB Flex passengers and drivers is the Stuttgarter Straenbahnen AG control center.

We want to offer customer- and needs-oriented, modern public transportation. For this, we use digital innovations for economical mobility solutions. Stefanie Haaks, Commercial Director at Stuttgarter Straenbahnen

SSB has received a permit from the Stuttgart Regional Council (Regierungsprasidium Stuttgart) that allows and enables them to operate SSB Flex under passenger transport regulations, which also apply to regular bus services. This permit is the first of its kind for this type of transport. The Stuttgart Regional Council is thus demonstrating its openness to innovative transport models. This makes SSB the first provider of on-demand, ridesharing, and pooling services in Germany with a permit for passenger transportation in accordance with the German Passenger Transportation Act.

The service is made possible by SSBs close partnership with moovel. moovels contribution to the partnership is its moovel on-demand platform, which has been successfully tested as Flex Pilot in Stuttgart since December 2017. SSB Flex will also initially be piloted until end of 2019.

Results of pilot operation. The moovel Groups Flex Pilot has served as the preparation for the launch of the on-demand service offered by Stuttgarter Straenbahnen AG. moovel has been testing the service on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays since 14 December 2017. The pilot phase ends on 26 May 2018. More than 20,000 passengers have used the mobility service for free during the test phase. Flex Pilot proved to be a particularly attractive transportation option late at night when the buses, trains, and trams run less frequently. In April, the pilot phase expanded to parts of Bad Cannstatt and Degerloch in addition to the city center business area. This allowed SSB and moovel to continually develop the system and add intermodal routing.

The positive customer feedback regarding Flex Pilot and the number of passengers who used the service exceeded our expectations. Now we are handing the reins over to SSB. We are pleased to continue working together with SSB to develop SSB Flex in the future so that we can offer customers the best possible service. We feel confident that multimodal platforms and flexible, on-demand mobility solutions will help to encourage the switch to public transport. Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, CEO of moovel Group GmbH

moovel on-demand is comprised of a variety of components: Theres the app for the driver, which optimally guides them through the business area by taking the latest traffic information into account. The customers have access to the passenger app, which makes it easy for them to find the right route and book their tickets. The underlying system uses intelligent algorithms to efficiently pool journey requests and also incorporate and combine different mobility options. This makes intermodal routing easy. The operator dashboard can be seamlessly integrated into the transit authoritys existing control center and was developed by moovel in close collaboration with Stuttgarter Straenbahnen AG. This allows the moovel Group to offer a comprehensive system that can quickly and efficiently supplement existing public transportation networks.

moovel Group GmbH develops solutions that make it easier for passengers to access and use urban mobility services and that encourage people to switch to public transportation. Over time, multimodal platforms that make it possible to integrate a variety of mobility services will become increasingly important. The moovel Group, with locations in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin, and Portland, USA, serves over 4.5 million customers. In the first quarter of 2018, more than 6 million transactions were completed using moovel apps.
The German Federal Ministry for the Environment gave the green light for a subsidized pilot project to conduct research and development on the electrification of long-haul trucks. The electricity supply for the heavy goods vehicles is provided by means of a pantograph from an overhead power linethe eHighway concept (earlier post).





The two project partners involvedSiemens and Volkswagen Group Researchare sharing the tasks: Siemens is responsible for developing the pantograph while Volkswagen is providing the required hybrid trucks via the Groups Swedish subsidiary Scania and is carrying out the accompanying research. Trial operations will be conducted jointly as from early 2019.

During the course of this research project, one objective will be to determine how goods traffic can be organized in a more climate-friendly manner, particularly over long distances. In Germany alone, heavy goods traffic results in CO 2 emissions of 56 million tonnes per year. The extent to which electrification of routes for HGVs can bring about a reduction is to be determined within the scope of this project.

Both Siemens and Scania are already conducting trials on the supply of electrical energy for goods traffic. Now this technology will be gradually coming onto German public roads as part of a research project scheduled to run for three years.

It will involve two Scania trucks with varying degrees of electrification in the hybrid drivetrain taking part in test drives on three different trial routes in Germany. From the beginning of 2019, the first vehicle will be travelling periodically in traffic on public roads on sections of the A5 motorway to the south of Frankfurt, then later also on sections of the A1 motorway near Lubeck and on the B442 federal highway near Gaggenau, as soon as the overhead power line infrastructure there is complete. This research project represents the preliminary stage for a real field trial planned on a larger scale.

We are expecting the project to produce some useful findings on the potential for saving CO 2 emissions through electrification and on the required energy demand of the trucks. These findings will then form input for the development of future generations of electric drives and the associated energy management. Dr. Axel Heinrich, Head of Group Research at Volkswagen AG

The eHighway system is an economical and sustainable option for decarbonizing road transport. The field trials in Germany are an important step on the way toward realizing these systems. Along with the electrical drive components, the smart pantograph is the key part of the system: It connects the truck to the infrastructure along the highway. An efficiency of more than 80 percent is made possible by the efficient conductive energy transmission to the truck. Roland Edel, Chief Technology Officer of the Mobility Division at Siemens

Separately, E.ON, H&M group, Scania and Siemens have formed a coalition to accelerate the decarbonization of heavy transport. The industry players are joining together to impact public opinion and policy with the aim to establish an optimal environment for mutually beneficial change in the transport sector.

The partners said that a systems approach will be required, and the coalition of companies forms a strong foundation with representatives from infrastructure provision, energy solutions and supply, vehicle manufacturing as well as retail with the transport buyer perspective.

The coalition of companies will continue to build knowledge, and identify high impact innovation and partnerships within their operations and respective ecosystems.
Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 10:00 am

Memorial Day is Monday, and area churches and cemeteries have set dates for decoration services and business meetings.

Dunnegan Cemetery

The Dunnegan Cemetery Board will hold its annual meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 26, at the Dunnegan Cemetery shelter.

Brighton Cemetery

The Old Brighton Methodist Church Preservation Association will host decoration day and Memorial services at Brighton United Methodist Church and Cemetery. A picnic potluck on the grounds will begin at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 27. Bring a side dish or dessert to share, and fried chicken, drinks and dinner ware will be provided.

The Rev. Rex Warren of Fairview United Methodist Church will lead a community worship service in the historic sanctuary after the meal. A short business meeting will begin at 2.

All donations will be used for the restoration of the Brighton Church, which is on Mo. 215, 3/10-of a mile from old Mo. 13.

Barren Creek

The annual meeting for Barren Creek Cemetery is set for 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 27.

Goff Cemetery

The annual meeting for Goff Cemetery in Polk County will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 27, at the cemetery gazebo.

Anyone interested is encouraged to attend or make a contribution.

For more information, call Kevin Holt at 777-1870 or Giana Andrews at 327-2777.

Mitchell

The Mitchell Cemetery and Campground will hold its annual business meeting at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 27. All are welcome to attend.

Mt. Gilead Cemetery

The Mt. Gilead Memorial Day service is at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 27. Darin Chappell will be preaching, and Alan Hines will perform special music. Hines will also moderate.

Mt. Olive

Decoration day at Mt. Olive Cemetery is Sunday, May 27, with a business meeting starting at 1 p.m. at the cemetery.

Reed Cemetery

A business meeting regarding Reed Cemetery will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 27, at the cemetery in conjunction with decoration day.

Schofield Cemetery

Decoration day service for Schofield Cemetery Association, Halfway, will be at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, May 27. Bro. Eric Ingram will bring the memorial message.

A cemetery association meeting will be followed by a basket lunch on the grounds.

Antioch Cemetery

Antioch Cemetery of Pittsburg is seeking donations to help with the maintenance and upkeep of cemetery grounds.

The cemetery relies on community support, and all donations are greatly appreciated.

Donations may be sent to Antioch Cemetery Association, 27749 State Hwy. 64, Polk MO 65727.

Brush Grove

To maintain its upkeep, LuAnn Redburn is asking for donations for Brush Grove Cemetery be mailed to 201 N. Hill St., Fair Play MO 65649. The church is on South 33rd Road. Take Mo. 123 north from Fair Play then turn right onto East 412th Road and a left onto South 33rd Road.

Donations are greatly appreciated.

Reynolds Cemetery

The annual work and cleanup day for Reynolds Cemetery was Saturday, May 5.

Donations to help with the maintenance and mowing expenses of the cemetery are greatly appreciated. Donations can be made out to Reynolds Cemetery Fund and mailed to Kristy Sharp, secretary and treasurer, at 1828 U.S. Hwy. 65, Buffalo MO 65622. Donations also may be taken to or mailed to OBannon Bank, PO Box 890, Buffalo MO 65622.

The cemetery relies on donations to maintain its upkeep.

For more information, contact a board member  Kelly Brazil at (660) 525-9225, Jeff Ortner at 733-1033 or Bill Sharp at 399-3350  or K. Sharp at 328-9403.

Mt. View Missionary

Memorial services will be Sunday, June 3. Morning services will begin at 11 a.m., and lunch will be at noon.

A cemetery board meeting will follow.

Bro. Gary Fulbright will preach the afternoon services. Sunday night services will be dismissed.

All are welcome.

Oak Grove Missionary Baptist

Decoration day services will be at 11 a.m. with Bro. Ben Hodges bringing the message. A basket lunch will be served around noon.

A short business meeting will follow in the afternoon.

All are welcome to attend.

Donations may be sent to Bonnie Carter, 27429 Hwy. NN, Urbana MO 64767.

New Bethel

New Bethel Cemetery in Halfway will observe Memorial Day on Sunday, June 3. A potluck lunch will be at noon, and a business meeting will follow.
Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 9:00 am

JEFFERSON CITY  Cuts to Missouris top income tax rate passed in 2014 are still being phased in, and lawmakers moved to bring rates down even further in the last days of their legislative session.

Republican lawmakers didn't meet all of their ambitious goals for tax reform but managed to pass cuts to individual and corporate income taxes and change deductions.

Tax reform was a high priority for Republican lawmakers, who hoped to follow up major federal tax changes with an overhaul of their own. A 400-page reform bill proposed by Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield would have touched on a range of revenue-generators, including: individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, withholdings and fees.

Haahrs bill was slimmed down significantly before passing the Senate, then finally passing the House Thursday night. Revenue estimates project the bill will result in a $5.8 million hit to the state's general revenue when it is fully implemented but will bring in more revenue over the first two years.

The final product that came out of Haahrs proposal cuts the rate of Missourians earning more than $9,000 of taxable income from 5.9 percent down to 5.5 percent next year. By 2022, when the 2014 tax cut is fully phased in, that top tax rate will be 5.1 percent.

The bill reduces the amount of federal income tax that Missourians can deduct from their state taxes. Under the new plan, it establishes a progressive scale:

A bill to award tax deductions to winners of Olympic, Paralympic or Special Olympic medals was amended to include a ballot measure to gradually raise the state's fuel taxes to 27 cents per gallon, 10 cents above the current tax, to fund the Missouri Highway Patrol. That bill was passed on Friday, and the hike will come before residents would be asked to vote on it in November.

Voters previously rejected a gas tax hike in 2014, and legislators have tried and failed to get it back on the ballot several times since then. Missouri currently has the fourth-lowest gas tax in the nation. The 10-cent hike would bring Missouri above the national average of 24 cents per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Another bill passed Friday will cut the corporate income tax rate from 6.25 percent to 4 percent if it is signed into law by the governor.

To make up for the loss in revenue from the cut, the bill will also change how some corporations that operate in more than one state can calculate their taxable income.

Supervising editor is Mark Horvit, horvitm@missouri.edu.
Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 3:45 am

Polk Countys commissioners celebrated the completion of a million dollar bridge replacement project Monday, May 21, with a ribbon cutting at Flat Bridge. The former low-water crossing southeast of Bolivar on East 470th Road was replaced with a new 200-foot-long bridge placed at a new angle.

As previously reported by the BH-FP, the $1 million project is possible thanks to a grant through the Off-Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program through the Missouri Department of Transportation. The bridge had been under construction since November.
Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 3:00 am

Historic Bolivar Speedway will have something for all the kids on Saturday, May 26, both in age and young at heart. In addition to the four feature classes of the big cars, a Kids Power Wheel Race will be held in the center of the asphalt track.

The Kids Power Wheel races will be remote-controlled cars, likely with some help from the big kids in racing suits. Featured racing classes this weekend include Big 10 Late Models, Modifieds, Street Stock and Chargers.

Gates open at 1 p.m., followed by hot laps at 2, heat laps at 3 and feature races at 5 at Bolivar Speedway.

Lucas Show-Me 100 this weekend

One of dirt-track racing's biggest weekends of the year is almost here with Lucas Oil Speedway to become the center of the short-track universe.

The 26th annual Show-Me 100 Presented by ProtecttheHarvest.com started Thursday, May 24, and wraps up Saturday, May 26, with full programs each night, culminated by the 100-lap, $30,000-to-win feature on Saturday. The event is co-sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series and Lucas Oil MLRA.

"Dirt-racing fans circle the Show-Me 100 on their calendars months in advance. There's nothing quite like Show-Me 100 week and we're fired up and ready," Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager Dan Robinson said in a news release, noting that campers began to take up residence on the grounds last week.

Spectator gates will open at 4 p.m. each day with hot laps at 6:30 and opening ceremonies at 7. The Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds will join the Late Models each night.

The Show-Me 100, which began at West Plains Motor Speedway in 1993 and moved to Lucas Oil Speedway in 2010, attracts the best of the Late Model world along with home-state drivers looking for a crown-jewel breakthrough win. Terry Phillips of Springfield won the race in 1999 and remains the only Missouri driver to win the Show-Me 100.

This is the third year the Show-Me will have three full programs with features on consecutive nights.

Night one will be highlighted by the "Cowboy Classic" for the Late Models, a $6,000-to-win feature honoring the late Allen "Cowboy" Chancellor who was former owner of the MLRA. Night two action will find the Late Model drivers chasing another $6,000-to-win feature, the "Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson" in honor of the former owners of West Plains Motor Speedway who founded the Show-Me 100 in 1993.

Drivers will earn points in each of the two preliminary nights to help determine the lineup for Saturday night's 100-lap feature.

The Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds will utilize the same points program with full events on Thursday and Friday to help set the field for Saturday's feature, which will pay $1,200 to win and $160 to start.

For the first time, the entire final night of Show-Me 100 weekend - which will include B-Mains and the Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge plus the USRA Modified program's B-Mains and A-Main - will air live on MAVTV Motorsports Network.

All three nights will be live on LucasOilRacing.TV.




Haiti - Economy : Mission of entrepreneurs from the Bahamas to the country





Following the meeting between President Jovenel Moise and Hubert Minnis, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, on the sidelines of the 29th Conference of Heads of State of CARICOM https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23661-haiti-politic-fruitful-conversation-between-president-moise-and-the-prime-minister-of-the-bahamas.html the Head of State welcomed on Wednesday at the National Palace, a large delegation of Bahamian entrepreneurs, as part of strengthening cooperation between the Bahamas and Haiti.



At this meeting, in the presence of Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant and Ministers Antonio Rodrigue (Foreign Affairs) and Guyler C. Delva (Culture and Communication), Moise welcomed the initiative of these entrepreneurs to explore business opportunities in Haiti and expressed his ambition to make Haiti an investment destination. He also reiterated the commitment of the Government of Haiti to work to strengthen relations between the two countries, to intensify trade and to bring together the private sector players of the two nations.



The President Moise explained to his interlocutors that the Haitian State had already put in place a number of incentives to attract investors in different sectors of the economy, such as tourism, construction, housing, housing handicrafts, agriculture, electronics, agribusiness, infrastructure, electricity and textiles for which Haiti enjoys privileged access to the US market free of taxes thanks to the provisions of the HOPE II law / HELP.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-23661-haiti-politic-fruitful-conversation-between-president-moise-and-the-prime-minister-of-the-bahamas.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Multi-GRAMMY Award winning artist Steven Curtis Chapman has announced that this fall he will continue his successful tour, SCC SOLO: Hits, History, and Influences. Back by popular demand, the solo tour is now in its third season.

Chapman will visit a total of 21 markets on the SCC SOLO tour, going from coast to coast. Kicking off on August 11 in Old Orchard Beach,Maine, the show will wrap November 18 in Tulsa, OK.

Achieving several sold-out shows at historic theaters during the spring leg, such as Atlanta's Buckhead Theatre and The Walker Theatre in Chattanooga, the upcoming fall run will offer more stops at historic and iconic theaters across the U.S., such as San Francisco's Marines' Memorial Theatre, The Lyric Theatre in Birmingham, AL, and The Folly Theater in Kansas City, MO.

"I had such a great time on the past two legs of the SCC Solo Tour, sharing stories and taking my friends on a musical journey in cities across the country," Chapman recently shared. "Since I couldn't squeeze all the places I wanted to visit during the spring run, I'm excited to be coming back with more dates for SCC SOLO this fall. I hope you'll come join me for what is proving to be one of the most special tours I've ever experienced."



The SCC SOLO Tour celebrates three decades of music from Chapman, who is the most-awarded Christian artist and a best-selling author. This memorable tour event is catered for the entire family, so you won't want to miss Chapman in an intimate setting like you've never seen before.

Tour dates are listed below, and tickets will be available on June 1 by visiting StevenCurtisChapman.com.

Chapman is also excited to announce he is releasing a new single tomorrow titled "Remember to Remember." The song, which he was inspired to write after his 2017 best-selling memoir, Between Heaven & The Real World, will be available on all digital formats. "Remember to Remember" is Chapman's first single in almost two years. Be sure to visit his website for direct links.

Tags : Steven Curtis Chapman steven curtis chapman remember to remember steven curtis chapman scc solo 2018 tour
Gospel group the Jordan Family Band is returning this summer with stories to tell and a hope of spreading God's word far and wide. The family's latest album, "Reach," available July 13 from Skyland Records, tells of the power of God even in the darkest of times. With reminders to always live as an example of Christ, the Jordan Family Band sends a powerful message of what can be accomplished with a little faith.



"When we began the groundwork for this new record, we carefully chose songs we felt were divinely given to us, whether it by our pen or through friends of our ministry. We had no selfish endeavors! We wanted to not only 'Reach' the world and those who feel like their situation is helpless, but also the tired and discouraged Christian who is on the brink of giving up!" says Josh Jordan. "It's not just an album title, 'Reach' is our new vision - He reached for us in our most desperate state and delivered us, and He will do the same for you. "



The group's first single, "You Better Get Right (Or Ya Gonna Get Left)," features Alex Jordan and Randa Jordan on vocals and has the country gospel feel the family is known for. The upbeat song cautions against thinking we've got plenty of time left on Earth and stresses "getting right" with God so you don't get left behind when Christ returns.



"Shouting In The Middle of My Storm" is another track that highlights the group's vocal versatility with Josh and Randa Jordan on lead. "I've got peace in the middle of my sorrow / There is joy, coming tomorrow" is a reminder that faith can let you rejoice no matter where you are or what's going on because God has your back.



"Reach" closes with "Old Glory Waves," a patriotic tune featuring the Voices of Lee, a 15-member a cappella ensemble from Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.



With energetic vocals and vivid, narrative lyrics, the Jordan Family Band hopes to "Reach" listeners from all walks of life and spread the gospel.



Pre-order "Reach" HERE before its release July 13 from Skyland Records.



About the Jordan Family Band

The Jordan Family Band is a family group from Georgia with a country gospel feel, that seeks to encourage, uplift, praise and ultimately to see souls saved. The group consists of Josh and Randa Jordan and their sons, Hutch, Alex Grant and a family friend who is like an adopted son to them, Keenan Atkinson. In 2017, the family released their first recording, "Joshua 24:15" on the Skyland Records and watched it propel quickly into iTunes Christian genre's Top 10 album chart. It debuted on the Billboard Christian chart at #12, then their first single climbed to #28 on the Singing News Gospel chart.

The second release from the album, "My God Is Faithful" peaked at #34 on the Singing News Top 40 and also become the only Southern/Country Gospel song of 2017 to enter into iTunes Single Top 10 in the Christian genre as it peaked at #8. The family garnered more than 18 million social media views through Facebook, YouTube and Instagram throughout the year, with an acoustic video of "My God Is Faithful" gaining more than 1.5 million views in just a few days. The JFB was nominated in the first round of the 2017 Dove Awards for New Artist Of The Year and was recently awarded AGM's, Breakthrough Artist Of The Year Award in 2018.

Tags : the jordan family jordan family reach jordan family new album Southern Gospel
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NBC's The Voice's Kaleb Lee makes his debut on the Billboard charts with his rendition of the traditional Christian hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul." Lee performed the hymn for his top-8 performance on May 14

Lee's rendition sold 7,000 downloads and arrives at No. 2 on Christian Digital Song Sales. On Hot Christian Songs, which blends sales, streaming and airplay data, it opens at No. 15. It marks the first Billboard chart appearances for the 32-year-old Lee, based in Ormond Beach, Florida.

Lee has always turned to music as a hobby and an emotional outlet as his biological father left before he could remember. His mom and dad got him a guitar when he was eight, and throughout high school and college, he sang for local shows and events. After graduating, Kaleb and wife, Meagan, moved to Owensboro, Kentucky, where he led worship for a church and began traveling to Nashville where he connected with a music producer and began pursuing a career as a songwriter and recording artist.

When his record deal opportunity went south, Kaleb moved to Florida to focus on his family. He now shares his love for music with his wife, two daughters and adopted son from Nicaragua.

Tags : The Voice nbc the voice kaleb lee kaleb lee it is well with my soul
The week that was

By Jo Gilbert

In case you missed some of the headlines this week on harpers.co.uk, we have put together a review of the top online news, Q&As, and opinion stories.



Top Stories: Harpers upped sticks and relocated to the Kensington Olympia this week, bringing you stories directly from the UKs biggest wine fair.

The change of scenery yielded some fascinating insights from a cross-section of the trade, including the new innovation zone, where Wine-Searcher talked through its mobile first strategy and also the briefing room, where WSTA chief executive Miles Beale brought the trade up to speed on the prioritises leading up to Brexit D-Day in March next year.

There was also plenty of NPD across the fairs myriad stalls and exhibitors, with Copestick Murrays new superhero range and also a Pinot Noir alternative from Burgundy negociant Louis Latour rousing interest and debate.



Analysis and Insights: For our Rioja focusedfeature, Spain expert Sarah Jane Evans MW met the newcomers offering a different take on this historic region, which, she argues, has always focused more on what happens in wineries rather than vineyards.

Until recently a visit to Rioja rarely included a lengthy walk in the vineyards. That has all changed. Rioja is finally looking beyond the simplicity of Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Baja (soon to become Rioja Oriental) labels to something more complex, Evans said.

Read more on Evans recent trip to Spain and the evolution on Rioja on the link below.



People and Opinion: In this months column, Jerry Lockspeiser charts the rise of the empowered consumer, unpacking research which says that todays customers no longer purchase products, they buy experiences  and what opportunities that opens up for wine.

And our meet the buyers series continued with head of wine Neil Bruce, who oversees the evolving and quality wine portfolio at regional brewer, Fullers.








NEW 2018 LEGISLATION AND QUICK REVIEW

From Hawaii State Office of Information Practices, May 8, 2018

The Hawaii State Legislature adjourned its 2018 session on May 3, 2018. As previously reported, the state Office of Information Practices (OIP) is thankful for having received supplemental funding of $100,000 for FY 19 to help provide salary parity for OIPs employees.

Other than measures relating to specific agencies, only one Sunshine Law bill was passed that affects all agencies. S.B. 2691, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, C.D. 1 , Relating to Board Meetings, allows boards to use electronic mail to provide a copy of a notice of public meeting to the email address that may be specified by the Lt. Governors Office or the appropriate county clerks office. The bill is expected to be approved by Governor David Ige and will take effect on July 1, 2018.

Also taking effect on July 1, 2018 will be the Sunshine Law changes signed into law last year, which will require board packets to be available for public inspection, and meeting notices and minutes to be electronically posted. Boards will also be allowed to record their meetings and provide a written summary, in lieu of written minutes. More details regarding these changes to the Sunshine Law are provided in a  Quick Review: Sunshine Law Revisions Effective July 1, 2018 , which is attached and also posted on OIPs training page at oip.hawaii.gov.
The much-criticised agreement has effectively allowed Finnish pensioners to cash out their private-sector pensions tax free in Portugal, making the country a popular retirement destination for well-off pensioners.

The Finnish Parliament on Wednesday approved the termination of the tax agreement between Finland and Portugal.

Finland has had it up to here with this issue, Olavi Ala-Nissila (Centre) stated in the Session Hall on Wednesday. The main objective of both the government and the legislative proposal is that Finland will terminate the tax agreement, putting an end to the tax exemptions of certain well-off pensioners [living in Portugal].

The Parliaments Finance Committee has previously expressed its unanimous support for the proposal in spite of the fact that terminating such an agreement unilaterally would be somewhat exceptional.

Related posts: Finland to terminate its tax treaty with Portugal in 2019 (16 April, 2018)

Esko Kiviranta (Centre), the chairperson of the Parliaments Tax Sub-committee, voiced his hope that the two countries will be able to ratify a new tax agreement by 1 January 2019.

That way we at least wouldnt end up in a situation where there's no tax agreement between Finland and Portugal. This is still possible, if Portugal completes the approval process and notifies Finland of it no later than on 1 December 2018, he said.

Finland and Portugal signed a new tax agreement in 2016, but the agreement has yet to even be submitted to the Portuguese Parliament.

Kiviranta also pointed out that the question is one of principle rather than money.

The terminations impact on pension revenues, which is where the impact would be the most notable, is estimated to be three to six million euros annually based on data from 2016. So its not that its a question of huge sums of money but rather of principles, he explained.

The governments legislative proposal has also been welcomed by opposition parties.

We must put an end to this grotesqueness, unless of course we reach a solution through negotiations. I think that the memo that has been drafted based on the governments proposal has been drafted outright excellently, lauded Jari Myllykoski (Left Alliance).

Also the Finns Party supports this proposal and is delighted that the government has for a change shown a little backbone when it comes to tax questions, added Ville Taivio (PS).

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Roni Rekomaa  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Posted 5/24/18

A California State University professor didnt get fired after tweeting the night former First Lady Barbara Bush died that Bush was an amazing racist, and Fresno State President Joseph Castro 
- T. S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."
ABC/Eddy Chen

Iconic R&B group En Vogue joined forces with the legendary Salt-N-Pepa for a show-closing performance during Sunday's Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. The two groups previously collaborated together to record their hit track "Whatta Man," released in 1993.

Now with Salt-N-Pepa gearing up to embark on their first-ever residency in the city, ABC Radio asked En Vogue if they'd like to do the same. "We would love to do something like that," says group member Rhona Bennett.

With dreams of a Las Vegas residency aside, En Vogue's first album in 14 years, Electric Cafe, is out now. According to Cindy Herron, the response to the disc from fans has gone "amazingly well. We wanted them to love it, but... the reception has really been amazing."

"Like, 'Oh my gosh they actually love this album!'," Cindy adds.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
I am a veterinarian in Hixson. We need national standards that allow for safety and freedom casting our ballots. I seek an impartial system where every vote counts. We must call for fair elections so that our elected constituents can deliver for us. Please fix the Jim Crow filibuster. Jessica Claudio * * * Jessica Claudio makes some interesting points in her tirade ... (click for more)

For 35 years during the first half of my life I had an official vote every Sunday morning on the Top Ten, then the Top 20, then the Top 25 college football team in the country. So with a bit of past experience, I can tell you the No. 1 team in the nation this morning is still Alabama. Yes, the Crimson Tide got nipped 41-38 by Texas A&M in a thriller late Saturday night but dont ... (click for more)
Local residents and businesses are coming together for the Southside Funeral Session. The event will be on June 2 from 4-6 p.m. at the Bethlehem Center, 200 West 38th St. Funeral homes, cemeteries, crematoriums, monument companies, life insurance companies and more will be available to talk about the process of planning a funeral, answer any questions and help attendees make arrangements.

"According to the National Funeral Directors Association, 62.5 percent of consumers believed it was important to communicate their funeral arrangements and wishes to family before their death, but only 21.4 percent did," officials said.



Life and death are two things that we all experience but are somehow never quite prepared for, said Terry McCullough, president of the Oak Hills Neighborhood Association.





Because the success of residents is our greatest priority, were bringing businesses together to help residents make end-of-life plans.The NFDA says that funeral homes have different prices and services. They recommend calling and visiting several to find licensed directors who are emotionally sensitive and budget friendly.The June 2 event will feature several businesses to help attendees make the best selection for themselves and their loved ones. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, call 423-227-6972 or 423-362-7245.
Voice of the People Audio Article Native son Tom Smiths history of East Chesterton (Chesterton Tribune 9-30-21 Commentary) was interesting and a poignant tribute to his five-generations back ancestors, the Morgans, who traveled from West Virginia and Ohio to settle here in 1833  to raise a family, to farm and...

Voice of the People Audio Article This summer the Times of NW Indiana again suggested in an editorial that Dunes Action had been in opposition to the renovation of the State Park Pavilion. We never did. In fact, most of us had been waiting for it for decades. They did not...

Guest Commentary Audio Article This is a short history of the Morgan family farm before the possible development of the remaining 49 acres east of Chesterton. Jesse and Jane Morgan arrived in Northwest Indiana in 1833 after traveling through Ohio, northern Indiana, stopping off in LaPorte County for a...

Echoes of the Past Audio Article 10 Years Ago Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011  Bethlehem Lutheran Church will host a wellness screening event. . . CHS girls soccer team beats LaPorte 5-0 and clinches a share of the DAC title. Scoring goals are Rosie Biehl (2), Hannah Kollar (2), and Sam...
(JTA)-"Star Wars" fans are eagerly awaiting the franchise's latest film, "Solo: A Star Wars Story." As its title suggests, the flick focuses on Han Solo, the legendary character made famous by Harrison Ford in the series' first films from the late '70s.

The "Solo" movie, which hits theaters on today, is the second of what are being called the "Star Wars" anthology films-or offshoots of the main series (which, for now, is made up of three trilogies: the original films, the early 2000s prequels and the more recent sequels-got that?). The first anthology film was "Rogue One," released in 2016.

"Solo" follows a young version of the intergalactic smuggler on the planet Corellia, and his furry sidekick Chewbacca. The "space western," as it's being called, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last week and has been described as "crackingly enjoyable" and a "winning chapter" in the "Star Wars" canon.

Here are some Jewish facts about the film (and its titular character) you might not have known.

The new Han Solo is a nice Jewish boy from LA

His name is Alden Ehrenreich, and he attended a Reconstructionist synagogue in Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Ehrenreich, 28, is not yet a recognizable star, but he has appeared in films such as Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" and the Coen brothers' "Hail, Caesar!" According to at least one interview, he seems to enjoy the famous Canter's Jewish deli.

The old Han Solo is also (partly) Jewish

Harrison Ford once delivered one of the strangest lines ever said about Jewish identity: "As a man I've always felt Irish, as an actor I've always felt Jewish," he said on "Inside the Actors Studio" in 2000 Ford's father was Irish, and his maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Belarus. (Ehrenreich referenced Ford's Jewishness in a recent interview.) We'll leave it to the reader to interpret the quote.

Steven Spielberg discovered Ehrenreich at a bat mitzvah

Fourteen years ago, Ehrenreich made a home movie to show at his friend's bat mitzvah. Steven Spielberg's daughter happened to be friends with the bat mitzvah girl, and the director attended the ceremony. Ehrenreich described the movie as a "piece of sh--," but Spielberg clearly saw something in Ehrenreich's performance. He invited Ehrenreich to his Dreamworks studio and introduced him to fellow legend Francis Ford Coppola, who would later cast him in multiple films. Ehrenreich's well-reviewed performance in Coppola's "Tetro" in 2009 put him on the map.

Four other Jewish actors were considered for the role

After thousands auditioned for the coveted Han Solo role, a final list of around a dozen actors was announced in early 2016. Among the finalists were four different Jewish actors: Logan Lerman (known for roles in "Fury," alongside Brad Pitt, and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"), Dave Franco (James Franco's brother, who's now a marquee star), Ansel Elgort (star of the action film "Baby Driver," whose non-Jewish grandmother helped Norwegian Jews escape Nazis) and Emory Cohen (best known for co-starring in "Brooklyn" with Saoirse Ronan).

The script was written by a Jewish father-and-son duo

"Solo" was penned by Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan. Lawrence co-wrote two of the original "Star Wars" films, "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," and has said this will be the last "Star Wars" movie he works on. He received an award from the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival in 2016. Jonathan, 38, has acted in small roles and doesn't have a long list of writing credits to his name yet. (Meanwhile, Jonathan's brother Jake -- not involved in "Solo" -- has worked on shows such as "New Girl" and "Fresh Off the Boat" and films such as "Sex Tape" and the recent "Jumanji" remake.)
How does one keep the memory alive of the 800,000 Belarusian Jews killed during the Holocaust? For two Jewish families with links to Florida, along with a couple from England, the answer was simple: One monument at a time.

In the first half of the twentieth century, the Jews in Belarus were its third largest ethnic group in this Eastern European country. The population of cities such as Minsk, Pinsk, Mahiliou, Babrujsk, Vitsyebsk, and Gomel was more than 50 percent Jewish. Tragically, some 800,000 Jews-80 percent of the Jewish population-together with transports of Jews brought for extermination from the remaining communities in Western Europe, were killed in Belarus during the Holocaust. Many were killed by mass shootings, or "Holocaust By Bullets," in which executioners massacred the victims in their own villages before the eyes of the neighbors.

In 2006 Dr. Michael Lozman, a Capital District orthodontist, introduced Dr. Warren Geisler, a Capital Region dentist, to the Holocaust By Bullets in Belarus. As a one-time partnership they, together with personal donations with the help of community donations as well, built a memorial to the 433 victims of the Holocaust in Grozovo, Republic of Belarus. The late Dr. Miles Kletter, a Capital District dentist and philanthropist as well as a dear friend of Geisler, generously donated the site.

"Miles and Warren felt strongly about the injustice of the Holocaust and the tragedy of the Shoah," said Marilyn Kletter. "They knew more needed to be done to remember the victims and serve as a warning to the future generations of what hate and bigotry can create when the people fall silent."

Kletter researched and located Michael and Diana Lazarus in London, England, who had been building these memorials since 2003 through their Simon Mark Lazarus Foundation. After multiple discussions, Miles and Marilyn Kletter and Warren and Beverly Geisler and their respective families each formed foundations in 2008. Their donations, together with the Lazarus family, would be placed into what was called the Belarus Holocaust Memorials Project through the American Jewish Committee in New York City.

These three foundations, together with Jewish communities and organizations across Belarus, established the Committee for the Preservation of Holocaust Victims' Memory in the Republic of Belarus. The Committee, comprising dedicated and steadfast members of the community's representative bodies, provides crucial support in identifying the locations and coordinating the construction of Holocaust memorials.

In 2012, Cary and Joni Kletter, the son and daughter of Marilyn and Miles Kletter, took over their father's work when Miles died of cancer. They are involved with BHMP on many levels: facilitating the foundation's financial involvement, designing and managing the BHMP website; traveling to Belarus for ceremonies; coordinating with officials in Belarus; and working on the content and layout of the website.

Beverly and Warren Geisler and Marilyn Kletter now split their time between homes in Upstate New York and Florida, in West Palm and in Boyton Beach respectively.

Through research and the help of those individuals who lived in the area during the war, over 500 mass killing sites have been identified. The number of Jews that died at each site ranges from two to thousands. Each year, the Belarus Holocaust Memorial Foundation selects up to six sites to place a memorial. As of May 2018, 110 Holocaust memorials designed by Belarussian architect Leonid Levin have been erected at Holocaust massacre sites in cities, towns and villages throughout the country. The goal of the BHMP: To have memorials at every site.

At each killing site there is a black granite tombstone, set on a flagstone platform mounted on a pedestal. Each contains inscriptions in three languages-Belarusian, English and Hebrew-stating that this monument was erected in memory of the victims of Nazism. Where known, names of the victims are noted.

On July 26, 2009, a plaque was placed on a bridge abutment by a river where 3,400 Jews from the Baranovichy Ghetto were pulled off the cattle cars, shot, and dropped in the river in the Zeliony Most region. Another memorial has been placed in a rolling field near the Bagerovo village where approximately 4,670 Jews were forced to strip to their underwear, lined up, shot and buried in an anti-tank trench.

Dedication ceremonies drawing hundred of people are held at each killing site upon completion of the memorials. Many are from Belarus: representatives of the local authorities, members of the Jewish community, and representatives of Jewish organizations functioning in the region. The Israeli ambassador to Belarus as well as ambassadorial staff members from Germany, United States, Great Britain, Israel, and the United States have also attended. Kletter said that at a dedication in 2017, the ambassador from Germany to Belarus publicly apologized to him and all the attendees for the atrocities that were committed.

Representatives of the Geisler, Kletter and Lazarus families have attended every ceremony, "Families suffered unspeakably tragic losses in Belarus during the Nazi occupation," said Cary Kletter. "It is our earnest hope that knowledge of these memorials, in the cities, towns, villages, farmer's fields, and forest clearings, the very sites where the massacres took place, will afford some small comfort."

Geisler said one his most unforgettable moments was when the last living survivor of the Minsk ghetto came to a dedication. After introducing himself, he thanked Geisler and BHMP for what they are doing to make sure that the Holocaust would not be forgotten.

Those who lost relatives or witnessed the atrocities also attend. A member of one of the grieving families said, "Now we have somewhere where we can stand to remember and mourn."

Participants in the ceremony light candles in memory of the victims, say prayers, including Kaddish and El Malei Rachamim, and place flowers and stones on the monument. "It is a Jewish value to honor the dead," Kletter said. "I feel like I am fulfilling a mitzvah."

Dr. Geisler stated that there is urgency to build more of these sites as survivors and witnesses to these crimes of humanity pass on. Along with the 500 recognized sites in Belarus, more than 1,200 exist in the Ukraine alone. "There should be a memorial for the people, a memorial for where it happened," said Kletter. "If nothing is done, these locations are lost to history."

More than 500 mass killing sites in Belarus have memorials like this one in the Ghetto of Orsha.

The rise of anti-Semitism in Europe has been disconcerting, noted Dr. Geisler. In 2014, the Belarus Government requested that a memorial be placed at a site where 2,500 children from the Orsha Ghetto were killed in November 1941 soon after their brutal separation from their parents. The dedication was attended by numerous Belarus government officials and was broadcast on national television. Within a short time, the site was burnt and vandalized. Although it was rebuilt, the specter of hatred remains.

"Let the world know this insanity must never be tolerated again," said Dr. Geisler at one of the many dedications he has attended. "Hundreds of years from now, visitors of future generations coming to these killing sites will bear witness to what happened."

Further information regarding the Belarus Holocaust Memorials Project can be found at its website http://www.belarusmemorials.com.

Marilyn Shapiro lives in Kissimmee. She writes regularly for the Jewish World in Schenectady, and published her book "There Goes My Heart," which is available on Amazon. You may also follow her on her blog, theregoesmyheart.me.
AMSTERDAM (JTA)Each spring, the televised Eurovision song contest captivates the continent in ways that outsiders can never hope to understand.

A sort of Olympics for patriotic power pop, Eurovision might attract the interest of, say, Jews outside of Europe only when the Israeli entry is a strong contender, like this years unorthodox number Toy by Netta Barzilai.

But while Jewish pride is a sidebar at the $180 million Eurovision contest, it is front and center at Jewrovisiona Jewish version of the Eurovision song contest which took place on Sunday in Milan for the 19th consecutive year.

Approximately 200 youths from 10 countries participated in the event, organized for Jewish European youth by the World Bnei Akiva movement.

The winning song for the 2018 Jewrovision was Am Echad, Hebrew for one people, sung by the German group Krefeld.

The winning song was a mashup of two others numbers: Rise by Katy Perry and Were All in this Together from High School Musical. Mascha Brosius, the Bnei Akiva leader in Krefeld, co-wrote the lyrics.

But the song had stiff competition in 13-year-old Emma Schipper from Amsterdam, who came in second with a Hebrew-language song titled Halom (dream). It speaks about Gods interventions to save the Jewish people. She selected the slow R&B-like ballad to show off the versatility of her metallic, full-bodied voice.

Schipper attends Amsterdams only Jewish high school and studies music with two Israeli teachers. She reached the auditions last year of the kids version of her countrys The Voice talent show, performing with her sister as the Emma & Laila duo. They didnt make the cut, partly because judge Marco Borsato thought that one of them, he didnt say who, was underperforming.

While showmanship is important to the organizers and judges of the contest, it takes a back seat to the real goal of the Bnei Akiva Jewrovision song contest: Providing a meeting point for young Jewish teens from small and often isolated Jewish communities with an assimilation problem.

It is exciting each time anew to see contestants from so many countries in Europe go on one stage and sing about their connection with the State of Israel, said Roi Abecassis, director of the World Bnei Akiva movement. This competition is a priceless opportunity to receive a perspective about youths in Europe who are connected to Jewish tradition and Israel.

Bnei Akiva is not the only Jewish organization that decided to harness the power of song to connect communities. In February, the Central Council of Jews in Germany held its 17th consecutive Jewrovision song contest in Dresden, though that competition is mainly for contestants in Germany.

A favorite in the Milan competition came from one of Europes smallest Jewish communities. Eden Avidan, 13, has competed in various national contests in Finland, including one last year in which she won second place.

The song I sang in the [Jewrovision] competition was about Jerusalem, a city I very much like, she said. The lyrics described the Israeli capital as a quiet place packed with history.

Faced with such seasoned competition, it is easy to understand why 16-year-old Micha Guskin of Zurich, Switzerland, was a bit apprehensive about performing in Milan. Unlike Avidan and the Schippers, it was his first real performancenot counting his singing in his synagogue back home, where he began leading prayers a few years ago in recognition of his cantorial skills.
This year, Israel marks 70 years of statehoodseven decades of intensive growth and remarkable achievement. Jewish National Fund-USA is proud of the formative role it has played in the countrys development, since before the founding of the Modern State of Israel, and continuing as a key player in the strategic development of Israels natural resources and infrastructure. Over the years, Jewish National Fund-USA has worked hand in hand with the State of Israel in areas such as forest management, water conservation, infrastructure support, environmental education, economic growth, sustainable tourism, and community building.

But if JNFs recent massive Israel@70 tour was any indication, this important work is by no means complete.

In celebration of 70 years of Israels independence, over 220 JNF-USA representativesprofessionals, lay-leaders, and first-time supporters aliketraveled to Israel for an unforgettable celebration of the countrys 70th birthday. For the tour participants, this was no ordinary leisure trip. Of course, there were fascinating sights and high-standard wining and dining. Yes, there were plenty of opportunities to mingle with the locals. Yet on this trip, nobody was treated as a guest or a tourist; rather, they came as honorary Israelis, home for a brief visit to help in the ongoing work of shaping Israeli society.

The whirlwind tour, took participants from one end of the country to the other on five different tracks: Young Professionals, Spirit of Israel, the Presidents Society, San Diego Community, and Interfaith. Each track explored Israel through the unique Jewish National Fund-USA lens, learning about innovative agricultural projects, touring iconic urban neighborhoods, encountering cutting-edge technology, meeting with community and business leaders, and enjoying off-the-beaten path restaurants and cultural sites. During the days leading up to Independence Day, the five groups came together for several commemorative events and as Bruce K. Gould, Jewish National Fund-USA president-elect and vice-president, Campaign, shared: This is my 55th time here, and every time is special. While I have never lived here, I feel like it is home,

Gould, an Orlando, Fla. resident, chose to join the Spirit of Israel track, which included many new faces to Jewish National Fund-USA and first time visitors to Israel.

Matt Setton chose the Interfaith Track as the lens through which he wished to travel to Israel, saying Zionism runs thick and deep through Druze, Muslims, Christians, and everybody who looks around and says look at this place! Thats not just because of who they believe in, its because of the land and because of the place were all in. That difference is the most special part of the trip for me.

The trip was timed to coincide with Israels most significant national commemorative days: Holocaust Remembrance Day, Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, and Independence Day. The continuum of these days was especially powerful for those visiting Israel for the first time. Jason Zenner co-chair of the Young Professionals track, reflected on how special it was to re-experience Zionist history through the eyes of the newcomers in his group: When we were at the Atlit Detention Campwhere so many Jews came immediately after the Holocaust and were considered illegals by the Britishso many on our tour had that aha moment where they finally understood the importance of the State of Israel in the Jewish peoples rebirth after the nightmare of the Shoah.

Rick Krosnick, Jewish National Fund-USAs chief development officer, spoke about the impact of standing side by side with Israeli soldiers on Israeli Memorial Day. Having served in the U.S. Navy, I can say that military commemoration is very, very different here. When we all stood together for the memorial siren that lasted two minutes, we remember and honor those who have given so much so that we could have a Jewish state.

With Jewish National Fund-USA, this experience of remembrance carries forward into hands-on action, showcasing the many practical ways JNF-USA is still building the nation, including large-scale regional development in the Negev and Galilee, environmental education for Jewish and Druze youth, outfitting local firefighters with new trucks and gear, IDF programs for people with special needs, and so many more.

Personal encounters with Israelis, standing in the places that form the Jewish narrative, and putting their hands in the soil are all critical elements of the JNF-USA Israel experience, serving to remind Americans that Israel is their homeland too. You dont need to explain yourself on a Jewish National Fund-USA tour, said Gene Goldstein, traveling on the Presidents Society Tour. You dont need to pretend to be somebody youre not or assimilate. You can just be you.

With this feeling of personal connection, it is only natural to want to stay invested. Civia Caroline, the co-chair of the Young Professionals trip, literally put her hands in the soil to help solidify this connection with farmers through HaShomer HaChadash, a partner of Jewish National Fund-USA helping farmers throughout the country. For Caroline, this experience was an opportunity to see firsthand the challenging work that remains to be done here. Its a unique connection to the land that turns into a long-term relationship, and people bring that home with them.

It is this uniqueness of a Jewish National Fund-USA mission that empowers people to take what they have learned back home. Alyse Golden Berkley remembers the impact of her first JNF-USA mission: It literally changed my life. For the first time I saw the opportunity to make a difference as part of the Jewish worlds most productive, positive nation-builder. This trip has inspired many tears among the participants, along with a big commitment to do more.

After a deeply meaningful trip, each participant returned to his or her home community as a dedicated stakeholder in Israels past, present, and future. Through Jewish National Fund-USA, they will have a range of opportunities to work toward a flourishing, peaceful, and equitable society in the Jewish homeland. May there be many more milestones to celebrate together.
Ruth Salzman (seated far right) celebrated her 100th birthday with many friends at Kinneret.

The Kinneret Council on Aging, a nonprofit agency that provides ongoing programs and services to residents of Kinneret Apartments, recently celebrated the 100th birthday of resident Ruth Salzman.

Born Ruth Bornstein in Paterson, New Jersey, on April 11, 1918, Ruth reached the 100 years old milestone, and she celebrated with family and friends at Kinneret. She has been a resident of Kinneret since 2001, which was founded by cousins Jerry Bornstein and Flossie Gluckman.

Ruth along with her husband, Sol Salzman, and daughters, Carol and Maxine, moved to Clermont, Florida, in 1949 and Orlando in 1951. The family moved to be near her father who was in the Citrus business where she helped with the bookkeeping. Salzman was a member of the Temple Israel choir, Hadassah and Sisterhood in addition to serving as temple president from 1985-1987.

Salzman, talented and smart, was a devoted volunteer as a Pink Lady at Orlando Regional Hospital, We Care Crisis Center and CITE, which provides services to children and adults with blindness and other disabilities and where daughter Carol was CEO.

Her first paying job was at SunTrust bank from the mid 1980s through 1993. Hobbies included designing and sewing. She often sewed matching outfits for her daughters and their dolls. When one of her daughters could not find a dress for her sweet-16 party, Salzman sewed exactly what her daughter described, a beautiful yellow, dotted-Swiss dress.

Kinneret Apartments, located in downtown Orlando, provides subsidized housing to 280 independent seniors. For information on the facility or to find out how you can donate to KCOA, please go to http://www.kinneretapartments.com or contact Sharon Weil.
On March 28, 1956, nine-year-old Steven Mattis sat mesmerized in his living room in Philadelphia as Kraft Theater's adaptation of "A Night to Remember" unfolded. Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Walter Lord, the one-hour television production told the story of the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic. At first enthralled by the beautiful ship, the glamour of the first-class passengers, and the contrast to the third-class passengers' circumstances, Mattis' fascination turned to horror as he viewed the shocking climax: Three hours after hitting an iceberg, the British ocean liner sank into the North Atlantic Ocean. Over 1500 men, women, and children perished.

It was a life-changing event. That night, Mattis cried himself to sleep. "I realized that my parents could not save me from all of life's dangers," he remembered.

In the years that followed, Mattis spent much of his spare time reading and researching everything he could learn about the doomed voyage. His interest in the supposedly "unsinkable ship" has expanded over six decades. More recently, Mattis has thrilled innumerable people who have listened to his lectures on the subject.

The Titanic did not play into his professional career. For 37 years, Mattis taught Spanish, first in Philadelphia and then for seven years in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 2005, Mattis moved to Solivita, an active 55+ community in Kissimmee. A seasoned traveler-he has been on 117 cruises so far-he joined Solivita travel club and spent the next 12 years organizing and leading trips for its members. His travels have taken him and the travel club groups to China, Tahiti, Antarctica, Alaska, Hawaii, the Mediterranian, and safaris in Africa.

In April 2012, Mattis participated in the 100th Anniversary Titanic Memorial Cruise. The MS Balmoral, which sailed out of Southhampton, England, retraced the doomed liner's fateful journey. For Mattis and many of its 1308 other passengers-70 relatives of people who had died onboard or who had survived-the highlight was the moving memorial service. The ship sailed to the site of the sinking to be there exactly 100 years to the hour. The commemorative ceremonies began at 11:40 p.m. on April 14 when Titanic struck the iceberg and ended at 2:20 a.m., April 15, when she sank under the sea.

The following fall, Mattis presented a talk with accompanying slides on his "trip of a lifetime" to Solivita's Travel Club. Before embarking on a cruise on the Amazon the following year, Mattis posted a question to fellow cruisers: "Would any of you be interested in hearing my Titanic lecture?" The response was overwhelmingly favorable. Over 40 people showed up at that first lecture. The cruise director, impressed with the depth of knowledge and passion Mattis conveyed, encouraged the "Titanic fanatic" to add additional lectures to his repertoire and offer the package on future cruises. Mattis and his best friend, Andy Miller, complied, adding three more lectures. The rest, as Mattis says, was history.

Starting with groups in Solivita and local libraries, Mattis expanded his audience to multiple cruise lines, including Azamara, Royal Caribbean, Silversea, Princess and Celebrity. His audiences have been as large as 600 people, often growing over the length of the cruise as favorite word of mouth reviews spread throughout the ship.

Mattis' lectures are (no pun intended) a tip of the iceberg regarding people's interest in the ill-fated voyage. Traveling expeditions, numerous museums, special events, television shows, and eight movies still draws crowds. (Mattis himself has seen "A Night to Remember" 15 times and James Camerons' "Titanic" close to 50.)

What brings people to Mattis' lectures on a cruise ship when they could be sunning by the pool or learning how to fold napkins? Mattis believes that this is a story into which people can put themselves. Mattis said that the fact that the Titanic took close to three hours to go down puts people into the story. "'Who would I have been in the Titanic?' people ask," Mattis said. "Would I have been a hero? A villain? A first-class passenger steeped in elegance? A third class immigrant in steerage?"

The irony-the pure tragedy-also sparks peoples interest. "There was great hubris by both the designers and the captain in thinking that a ship-with a shortage of lifeboats for partly esthetic reasons-could be unsinkable and could run at full speed at night through ice fields after warning after warning of the danger."

Mattis often tailors his lectures to his audiences, as he did in 2015 when he gave a lecture on Jews on the Titanic for Solivita's Shalom Club. Mattis, whose family belonged to Brith Israel, a conservative synagogue in Philadelphia, takes pride in the way prominent Jews handled their fate on the ship.

As did many passengers, Benjamin Guggenheim, the fifth of seven sons of the wealthy mining magnate Meyer Guggenheim, initially did not realize the fatal consequences that would result from the ship's collision with the iceberg. "We will soon see each other again! It's just a repair," he said to the women and children he and his valet were helping into lifeboats. Once he realized that he and many others would not survive, he returned to his cabin and donned his evening wear. "We've dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen," said Guggenheim. Mattis said later accounts described the billionaire and his valet as last seen seated in chairs in the foyer of the Grand Staircase sipping brandy and smoking cigars, ready to accept their fate without fear or hesitation. Their bodies were never recovered.

Two other Jews who lost their lives on April 15, 1912, were German-born Isador Strauss, politician and the owner of Macy's Department Store, and his wife Ida Strauss. The couple was on the Titanic traveling back from a winter in Europe. Once it was clear the Titanic was sinking, Isador refused to get into a lifeboat, stating firmly, "I will not go before the other men." Ida handed her fur coat to her maid, Ellen Bird, as she left the lifeboat, said, "As we have lived, so will we die, together." In what eyewitnesses later described as a "most remarkable exhibition of love and devotion," Isidor and Ida were last seen on deck arm in arm.

Broadway producer Henry Birkhardt Harris was more successful in convincing his wife, actress Renee Harris to board a lifeboat without him. Earlier that day, Renee had broken her arm in a fall on the Grand Staircase. Convincing her that he could not save himself as well as his disabled wife, Henry refused a seat and also perished. His widow, who became New York City's first woman theatrical producer, remarried three times and lived until 93.

Not all Jews were first-class passengers. Leah Rosen Aks, emigrating to America from London, was on the Titanic with her infant son Phillip. Leah and her son were separated in the confusion when they were being loaded on the lifeboats. "Filly" was thrown into a lifeboat; the inconsolable Leah was soon placed on Lifeboat 13. Soon after Carpathia rescued the survivors, Leah was walking on the deck when she recognized her son's cry. However, the woman who had caught Phillip, regarding the baby as a "gift from God," claimed it to be her own. In a scenario rivaling King Solomon, Leah pleaded her case to the Carpathia's captain. Only when Leah was able to identify a distinguishable birthmark on his breastbone was Phillip returned to his birth mother. Leah and Phillip were reunited with her husband Sam in New York. They later had a second son, Harry, and a daughter, Sarah Carpathia-named after the rescue ship.

Mattis also related another note of Jewish interest: The Titanic had a kosher kitchen. On board was a "Hebrew" chef, a non-Jew from South Africa, who had trained with a rabbi in Southhampton on previous White Line cruises. A kosher option was available to all passengers, including those in third class.

Over 100 years later, all the passengers are gone, not only those that died but those who survived. Millvina Dean, who was two months old when the vessel hit the iceberg, died in 2009 at the age of 97.

Mattis regards the time he spends sharing the Titanic's stories as his contribution to the legacy of the ship. "The fact that this story stays alive and is of interest to so many brings me joy," says Solivita's own Titanic Fanatic.

Marilyn Shapiro lives in Kissimmee. She writes regularly for the Jewish World in Schenectady, and published her book "There Goes My Heart," which is available on Amazon. You may also follow her on her blog, theregoesmyheart.me.
By World Israel News

Guatemala made history on Wednesday when it moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, two days after the US made the same move.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and several heads of state from both countries were present at the momentous ceremony.

"It is not a coincidence that Guatemala is opening its embassy in Jerusalem two days after the US. You are always among the first," Netanyahu said. Guatemala supported the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and was the second country to recognize it, after the US. "We remember our friends and Guatemala is our friend, then and now."

"We share so many goals and values even though were are so far away," Netanyahu stated, saying he would advance the bilateral relationship in "practical ways."

In his address, Morales described the relationship between the two countries as the "love between brothers."

The embassy is located in Jerusalem's Malha Technological Park.

Guatemalan Embassy, welcome home!

Guatemala was the first country in the world to open an embassy in Jerusalem in 1956, but moved it to Tel Aviv in 1980, so in essence, it is returning to the capital.

"Guatemalan Embassy, welcome home! Ahead of the inauguration of the embassy, we have illuminated the walls of the Old City with the flags of Guatemala and Israel," Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat stated on Tuesday.

Barkat thanked Morales for his "courageous decision" and called upon other countries to join the US and Guatemala in doing the "right thing."

Shortly after taking office in 2015, Morales, a devout evangelical Christian, visited a synagogue in Guatemala City, where he announced his intention to visit Israel. He made the historic trip in November 2016.

Guatemala was one of the nine nations to vote against a United Nations resolution that condemned the US for Trump's historic recognition of Jerusalem.

Guatemala will be joined by Paraguay and Honduras in committing to the move.

The Czech Republic has also expressed interest; however, its government has not issued a unified statement.

Liviu Dragnea of the Social Democratic Party, which effectively runs Romania's government, said Bucharest was ready to move the embassy.

In April 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry made a similar move to recognize "west Jerusalem" as the Israeli capital.
The fate of Israel and, specifically, the reunification of Jerusalem were decided 50 years ago at Ammunition Hill. As Israel mourns the fallen on Remembrance Day, Jewish National Fund-USA ensures that the legacy of every name on its Wall of Honor won't be forgotten

"In that warm and beautiful land, does evil reign and do calamities happen, too?" So wrote Israel's national poet, Chaim Nachman Bialik in his poem El Hatzipor (To the Bird) in 1892. It was these words that stuck in the mind both at the unveiling of new names added to Jewish National Fund-USA's Wall of Honor at Jerusalem's Ammunition Hill and the Remembrance Day Ceremony to honor and remember over 23,500 Israeli soldiers and civilians who have died in wars and terrorist attacks.

Originally an ammunition store for British police during the Mandate period in the 1930s, Ammunition Hill was captured by the Jordanians in 1948 during Israel's War for Independence. The site became one of the key, and most heavily defended, points in keeping Jerusalem divided in the years that followed. Later, in the 1967 Six-Day War, Ammunition Hill became the tipping point during a pivotal battle. Believing they outnumbered the Jordanians by three to one based on erroneous intelligence, about 150 Israeli paratroopers attacked the hill. In fact, the Jordanians numbered 150. Of the Israeli paratroopers who attacked on that morning, 36 were killed and 90 were wounded-a nearly 100 percent casualty rate. JNF-USA President-Elect Bruce K. Gould, who is also a major donor to Ammunition Hills's Commemoration Hall and Amphitheater, described the site as "a special place that united Jerusalem after 2,000 years for Jewish people everywhere."

Commemoration at the site is somewhat unusual as it recalls, through a living testimony of photos and explanations, those who gave their lives on its soil. It does not memorialize those who fell, but rather it deliberately shows how these men lived. This highlights that they are not simply names etched into a memorial wall, but individuals who were in the prime of their lives. In addition, Jewish National Fund-USA's Wall of Honor pays tribute to Jewish men and women who served in various armies around the world. What is unique is that the dates of service are highlighted rather than the person's lifespan, making it a tribute to their service and not a solemn memorial of their death.

Several Jewish National Fund-USA donors unveiled new additions to the Wall including Michael Blank (Boston, MA), Avram Cooperman (Boca Raton, FL), Marni Kriss (Palmetto Bay, FL), Rosabelle Leifer (North Palm Beach, FL), and Addison Schuster (Boynton Beach, FL). The names on the plaques that they unveiled joined those of hundreds of other Jewish soldiers, their brothers and sisters. These plaques will continue to be a reminder, for years to come, of the strength and heroism of Jewish people around the world.

Jim Riola (Orlando, FL), co-chair of the JNF-USA Arad Task Force, gave a particularly emotional dedication speech. The plaque he and his wife, Jill, unveiled was in memory of Sgt. Ron Yitzhak Kukia, a 19-year-old soldier in the Nahal Brigade who was murdered by a terrorist while waiting for a bus in Arad. "I received a news alert from the Jerusalem Post about an incident in Arad and I was so worried," said Riola. "I didn't know Ron or his family, but I wanted to honor him and I felt that Ammunition Hill was the perfect place for him to be memorialized." Riola emphasized that the experience showed him that incidents such as this highlight how quickly the Jewish National Fund-USA family comes together in times of need.

Jewish National Fund-USA Initiatives Coordinator Yoel Rosby, who previously served as the JNF-Ammunition Hill Liaison, put the ceremony into some context. "We are about to enter one of the saddest days in our calendar," he said as the time for the opening of the Memorial Day Ceremony approached. "It shows what the Land of Israel has cost and this is the right time for Jews from across the globe to honor and remember Israeli and Jewish heroism-for standing up for what they believe in."

As the crowd began to gather for the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center Memorial Ceremony, named in honor of an American-born lone soldier who fell fighting during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, dissonant echoes of the past resonated. Mentioning Bialik, one thinks of his poem The City of Slaughter, written accusatorily about the Jews' timid response to the Kishinev Pogrom, one of the events that convinced him that a new country was needed to fashion a new Jew, one that could proudly recreate the example of the Maccabees of old. One was also reminded of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a time when Jews, faced with insurmountable odds, tried to choose the manner of both their life and death.

It was this kind of heroism that was reflected in the story told of Eitan Naveh-a new father when he went to fight at Ammunition Hill in 1967-who laid down machine gun fire to cover those in his unit from attacks. He lost his life during the battle to give his fellow soldiers the opportunity to live and fight another day for the land of Israel. It was for this bravery that Naveh was awarded Israel's highest military award, the Medal of Honor.

This heroism is also seen in the story of Yigal Arad, a medic who time and again evacuated wounded comrades in arms from the fray, refusing to take rest and let another take up his post. He would win Israel's second highest military honor, the Medal of Courage, for his actions in the Six-Day War. He later lost his life on a battlefield in the Sinai during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

"We are, all of us, one nation, and the best reason that those who came before us gave their all, so that we could continue to carry on the work that must be done," said Jewish National Fund-USA President Dr. Sol Lizerbram. "Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) are two days which can never be separated, for without those who made the ultimate sacrifice, there would not today be the State of Israel."

A group of U.S. veterans were present for the ceremony. At the end they remarked it was moving that an entire country comes together to remember their fallen, a sharp contrast to the "barbecues and sales" that they said too often constituted Memorial Day in the U.S.

"In the U.S., people are so far removed from where battles physically took place," said Glenn Zemanek (New York, NY), who served as a Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CW4), U.S. Army Special Forces, and saw action in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. "At Ammunition Hill we are standing on the soil where Israeli soldiers fell."

"Everyone seems to have a connection," said Ken Knox (New York, NY), who served as a Sgt. First Class with the U.S. Army Special Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It is touching that everyone, from children to adults, knows a lot about their history."

Israel fell silent at 11 a.m. for two minutes, as it does every single year on Yom HaZikaron, to remember it's fallen and ensure that they shall not be forgotten.
As about 40 Jewish residents of Oakmonte Village's independent living building sat expectantly on a recent Friday evening, Jewish Pavilion volunteer Susan Bernstein strapped a thin, boxy "travel guitar" around her neck. Since she was filling in for their regular twice-monthly Shabbat service leader, Cathy Swerdlow, Bernstein first introduced herself to her "congregation," mentioning her Long Island, NY, origins and bantering easily with the residents as some called out where they're from.

She began the service with an upbeat rendition of the song "Shabbat Shalom," singing and playing the guitar as the residents sang and clapped along. Before beginning the formal prayers, she reminded everyone that Jews have various levels of knowledge of Jewish prayers and practice, and that just saying "Amen" at the close of a prayer has the same effect as saying the prayer itself. Then she lit the Shabbat candles.

After more than three years of leading services and offering Jewish holiday programming at various senior living facilities around town, Bernstein knows how to engage her audiences and quickly win them over. The services she leads incorporate musical instruments and include insights into the prayers and traditions, delivered with warmth and humor. At the end of the service at Oakmonte, residents lingered, crowding around her to offer their thanks.

Bernstein brings wide experience as a music and Jewish educator to her volunteer work with the Jewish Pavilion. With a degree in music education from University of Bridgeport and postgraduate studies in ethnomusicology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Bernstein has taught music in American public schools, programmed classical radio programs for Israel national radio, worked as an announcer for a classical music station in Dallas, Tex., and taught in the Ashkelon music conservatory.

She has also led teen tours to Israel, has taught at and directed Hebrew schools, and was a Judaic studies teacher in day schools, living in several states. She came to Orlando in 2014 as the congregational life coordinator for Temple Israel and continued there for two years until the staff was restructured and the position phased out. She remains part of the congregation's spiritual life, on occasion leading services and reading Torah and Haftarah.

Bernstein began her affiliation with the Jewish Pavilion when she came to work at Temple Israel, taking students to Brookdale Island Lake's assisted living wing to lead monthly Saturday Shabbat services. Bringing challah and wine, the students would sing, tell stories, and sit and talk with the residents. When her mother, Pearl Bernstein, moved to Island Lake's independent living in 2015, Bernstein was pleased to find the Jewish Pavilion offers weekly Shabbat programs there and volunteered to lead one per month. That grew into volunteering to lead the twice-monthly services at Oakmonte Village's assisted living building and doing holiday programs at a number of facilities around town.

At each location, she incorporates musical instruments into the programs. "Especially in memory care, it's a very important element," Bernstein said. The music is a "strong tie to the past" and a tool to reach people, especially those who may be nonverbal or remote, she added. She often passes out a variety of rhythm instruments to help engage the residents and promote motor skills. When she plays a song they remember from their youth, "many of them could sing every word to the song, and they come alive, and they're happy," Bernstein said. "It's a very potent medicine."

She remembers a man, Al, who attended one of the programs with the Temple Israel youth. He had seemed hard to reach. But when they sang "Adon Olam" at the end of the service, "he was so involved in it and he was able to sing all the words," said Bernstein. "You could really see that he was enjoying and getting a lot of benefit out of being able to demonstrate something that he once knew. He was using the ability of his memory."

Such experiences bring Bernstein much pleasure. "I really appreciate the work that the Pavilion does," she said. She also appreciates the efforts of the facilities' management teams to collaborate with the Jewish Pavilion to keep their Jewish residents connected to their heritage. "I know firsthand, at Brookdale, that they do everything they can to make the Jewish residents feel at home," she said. "They try to understand and offer as much assistance to us volunteers." The Oakmonte staff has also been responsive.

Jewish Pavilion volunteers bring so many different skills and talents to their volunteering, but most of all they bring their caring hearts. They provide a valuable service to seniors and to Orlando's Jewish community, and they are so appreciated! If you have some time to spare, please consider becoming a Jewish Pavilion volunteer. Call 407-678-9363 for more information.
Group donations, like this one from a local Mahjong group who donated their team's winnings, really made an impact on this year's JFS Orlando Pantry Restock Challenge. Shown here (l-r): JFS Executive Director Eric Geboff, Es Cohen, Delores Indek, Linda Wallerstein, Debbie Bellinkoff, Judy Kahan-Davis and Lila Tinkoff.

Thanks to many generous monetary and food donations, as well as a $10,000 match from The Weiner Family and The Winter Park Wealth Group, JFS Orlando raised over $22,000 and nearly 11,000 lbs. of food for this year's Pantry Restock Challenge. The Pearlman Emergency Food Pantry is now restocked and ready to continue providing food for more than 67,000 meals to our hungry neighbors in Central Florida.
It is that time of year once again when Heritage Florida Jewish News is putting out feelers for one outstanding person in the Jewish community who has given his or her time or talent or monetary gifts to better the Orlando Jewish community. Nominations for the 2018 Heritage Human Service Award are now being accepted and the award will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando on Aug. 7.

For more than 28 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award, said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last years recipient was Sara Stern. Former recipients have included Bernie Raff (2015), Loren London (2014), and Nina Oppenheim (2013).

According to Gaeser, Each recipient chose their own path, but made considerable and long-lasting contributions to the Jewish community. Nominees for the 2018 award are individuals who do not look for recognition, but perform tikun olanrepairing the worldout of internal motivation.

Nominations should be emailed to news@orlandoheritage.com with the subject Human Service Award, or typed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and sent by mail to Heritage Florida Jewish News, Human Service Award, 207 OBrien Road, Suite 101, Fern Park, FL 32730. Included should be the name and phone number of the nominee, a documented list of his or her accomplishments, and the name and phone number of the nominator(s).

The Heritage is accepting nominations until Friday, June 8.
Local Orlando scholars will share their knowledge in a three-part lecture series, titled Hot Talks, at The Roth Family JCC this summer.

Hot Talks Lecture Series dates are June 6, June 20, and July 11 and commence at 6:30 p.m.

"These three lectures by members of our local Orlando community will broadly encompass the idea of being a 'hero,' from exploring the history of Jewish identity in superhero comics, to understanding the physics behind superpowers, and implementing strategies to make our own community better in real life, just like a superhero would," said Leah Sandler, Cultural Arts coordinator at The Roth Family JCC.

How do Jewish identities and histories intersect and intermingle with other identities in the Diaspora? How do seemingly disparate contemporary ideas and events connect and affect our daily lives? This summer lecture series will touch on these important topics through the paradigms of three distinguished guest lecturers from different fields of study and walks of life, with the goal of stimulating dialogue and investment in broader contemporary issues from within the Jewish community.

The Hot Talks Lecture series includes:

June 6-Christopher Cuevas representing QLatinX will speak on "LGBTQ+ 101: Understanding Gender and Sexual Diversity."

As the executive director of QLatinx, Cuevas provides vision, energy, and leadership in the fulfillment of the mission and vision of the organization, working to advance the visibility of and empower the local LGBTQ+ Latinx community and create spaces that foster growth and healing.

June 20-Julian Chambliss will discuss "The Jewish Narrative in Superhero Comics"

Chambliss explores the real and imagined city. From planning and community development to comic books and popular culture, his research, teaching, and writing explore how perceptions shape policy and action creating our collective urban experience.

July 11-Gal Sarid will share about "The Physics of Superheroes"

Sarid is a faculty member at UCF's Florida Space Institute, working as a research scientist on topics involving planet formation, asteroid and comet characterization and space exploration.

This event is open to the public and cost $10 ($5 JCC members).

For more information, contact Leah Sandler at leahs@orlandojcc.org or call 407-645-5933 x 282. The Roth Family JCC of Greater Orlando is located at 851 N Maitland Ave., Orlando, FL 32751.
Its an old expression: A definition of insanity is doing the same thing in the same way time after time and expecting different results. Its been said many times about the Arabs in Israel time after time. And of course, not much ever changes.

I realize by writing for a Jewish audience, I am preaching to the choir. But all of us are out in a general society where we hear a lot about Israeland a lot of it is not particularly flatteringor true. So lets arm ourselves with a little fact checking, and the next time you hear or read something outrageousrespond!

A little history (again if this is already part of your lexicon I apologize). The sovereign state of Israel was formed thousands of years ago. King David moved the capital to some strategic hills and called the city Jerusalem. A Temple was built to honor God. Legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant, including the Ten Commandments was in the Holy of Holies.

Understand this was a real country. It had a government, an army, national holidays (scheduled around harvest timesto create a little commerce). Then Israel lost a war to the Babylonians who burned down the Temple. The King of Babylon took most of our elites and some others back to Babylon.

Some of it turned out okayit was in Babylon that our Torah was written. But then along came the Persian army and they won the war with Babylon. Their philosophy was you go home and live your livesjust pay us the exorbitant taxes we will levy upon you. Somehow, Israel managed to reconstruct its government, build a new Temple and the Second Jewish Commonwealth came into being.

That lasted until the Romans decided to rule the known world. You know how that came out: The end of the Second Jewish Commonwealth and the invention of a uniquely Jewish Construct: The Portable Community. We scattered to over 70 countriessome in Europe, some in Africa.

We had no Temple, so we built synagogues - LOTS of synagogues. We had no social structure so we founded Jewish Family Services, JCCs and other organizations to keep us together as a Community while our own land was under occupation.

There was talk of a Jewish Homeland to be placed (artificially) in many unwelcoming places. The world did not want to recognize that there already was a Jewish Homeland. Since the Second Jewish Commonwealth, the land had been governed by Romans, Turks and finally the British. As the saying goes: The Turks got rid of the Romans, The British got rid of the Turks and the Jews got rid of the British.

For a few years after the Holocaust the British fought what Churchill called That dirty little war against the Jews. So with the Nescient United Nations as the arbiter, it was decided to divide what was known as Palestine into two States: One Jewish, one Arab. Seemed like a good idea at the time. The key factor here is that the land had NOT been governed by an indigenous people since the Second Jewish Commonwealth.

The Jews at the time accepted thiseven though they would be giving away almost half their ancient and Holy Land. The Arabs refused and decided to wipe out any idea of a Jewish Nation with one massive attack. Didnt work for them. The Israelis agreed to a Truce. The Arabs tried again in 1956. The Arabs lost. As they did in 1967. After each of these clashes, the Arabs, as of 1964 calling themselves for the first time, Palestinians, refused to accept a peace agreement that would have given them more of the land than the U.N. had given them in 1948.

For those who were given over half the ancient and Holy land of Israel and the other Arab nations that supported them, no agreement was satisfactory. Frankly? They did not want one.

To put it simply: There is no possible peace accord. The Arabs do not want peace. Hezbollah has taken over Lebanon. Hezbollah is dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish State. Israel gave Gaza away. The Arabs immediately destroyed a number of profitable enterprises and trusted their government to protect them. Instead they got Hamas, which is as corrupt as Arafatbut more deadly.

Sothere is no peace process because there is no one who wants to negotiate with Israel. Both the ruling factions, Hezbollah and Hamas, are dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish State and beyond that the destruction of the Jews as a people.

That is the simple truth no matter how the U.N. or England or France want to shape it. Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way time after time and expecting a different outcome. Its time to put it to rest.
(JNS)When confronted with absolute evil or the depths of human depravity, some of us experience a very particular kind of depression. Its as if we just cant cope with such a repudiation of humanity.

Some experience it when exposed to the details of child sexual abuse. And some feel it over the libelous falsehoods hurled at Israel whenever its forced to defend itself against genocidal fanatics, as happened this week in the Hamas onslaught on the Gaza border fence.

There is actually a strong thematic connection between these twin evils.

Two awful features are associated with child sexual abuse over and above the assaults themselves.

The first is the way the perpetrator projects all blame onto his victim. She led him on, he tells himself, she dressed like a tart, she was asking for it and so on. In his mind, he must rob his victim of her innocence in order to deny that she is a victim and thus justify himself.

Theres something very similar about the Wests systematic abuse of Israel. Theres a refusal to acknowledge that Israel is the victim of Arab and Muslim exterminatory violence.

Instead, Israel-abusers project that violence onto Israel. It is Israels oppression of the Palestinian Arabs that is said to have driven them in despair to act as they do. So Israel deserves its punishment.

Weve been watching this sickening spectacle again this week from the usual suspects: the United Nations and European Union, NGOs, politicians, and above all, the media.

With the riots in Gaza, they fell over themselves to mouth the murderous script Hamas had given themthat these were spontaneous, peaceful protests against the hellish conditions imposed upon Gaza by Israel, whose soldiers proceeded to kill around 60 unarmed Arabs out of sheer trigger-happy brutality.

These were all incendiary lies. The riots that reached a crescendo this week werent a protest but, in the words of Hamas itself, an attempted invasion intended to slaughter Jews and destroy Israel.

A report published this week by the High Level Military Group of distinguished military figures around the world describes these onslaughts over the past six weeks as carefully planned and orchestrated military operations intended to break through the border of a sovereign state and commit mass murder in the communities beyond, using their own civilians as cover. The purpose: to criminalize and isolate the State of Israel.

The BBC and other journalists in the United States, Canada and elsewhere howled down those who said this was organized by Hamas and accused Israel instead of using live fire against unarmed demonstrators.

Israel said it had so far identified 24 of the dead as Hamas terrorists. On Wednesday, however, a senior Hamas official declared that no fewer than 50 of the 62 said to have been killed were its own operatives.

In other words, the Israel Defense Forces had been remarkably careful not to kill the civilians whom Hamas had pushed to the front as cannon fodder. No other army in the world would have been so scrupulous in the face of a murderous mob 40,000-strong trying to storm its border. Yet the media has vilified the IDF instead.

The rioters were armed with IEDs, petrol bombs and guns. They dispatched burning kites to set fire to Israeli farmland. On Facebook they were urged to bring a knife, dagger or handgun in order to kidnap Israeli civilians and murder Israeli soldiers. The Western media ignored all this.

The IDF leafletted Gazans, warning them not to assemble at the fence; then they used tear gas and foul-smelling Skunk sprays; then they fired warning shots; then they shot at legs. They only used lethal force when facing a direct threat posed through weapons or explosives. The Western media ignored all this.

Hamas blew up its own fuel terminals three times; it wrecked conveyor belts used to bring in construction materials and animal feed; when Israel opened the border crossing for humanitarian relief, Hamas sent back trucks of medical aid, food and other supplies.

The Western media ignored all this, blaming Israel for Gazas hellish conditions. Britains Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned Israels slaughter of dozens of unarmed protesters. British Prime Minister Theresa May called for an inquiry into the deeply troubling loss of life and Israels use of live fire.

Grotesquely singling out Israel as an endemic abuser of human rights is now the default position in the West. Israel is therefore in effect the abused child of the world.

Its abusers arent just the Arabs and Muslims who continuously try to murder Jews and steal their country; they are also the BBC, Britains Channel Four News, Americas NBC, Canadas CBC and numerous newspapers throughout the West.

But theres a second awful feature that these two forms of abuse share. Tragically, the sexually abused child believes the reason she was abused must be something really bad she herself has done. Otherwise, why else would she have been attacked?

In exactly the same way, Jews over the centuries have asked why the world hates them with such unique ferocityand the answer reached by a distressing number is that it must be because of something uniquely hateful in them.

Today, such Jews turn against Israel, swallowing and regurgitating the disgusting falsehoods and distortions perpetrated by the enemies of the Jewish people. And some of those Jews, in both the Diaspora and Israel, shamefully took part in this weeks anti-Israel verbal auto-da-fe.

The unanswerable question, though, is why Israel is abused like this. Plausible factors such as anti-colonialist ideology or plain ignorance dont begin to explain the unique virulence of this hatred, and its obsessional and paranoid nature.

The essence of it is the refusal to view Israel as victimized. And the essence of that is the unhinged belief that the Jews are all-powerful. So if Israel exercises its undoubted military powereven though it only ever does so to defend its citizens livesthis gives traction to the ancient anti-Semitic trope.

Hence the obscene outrage voiced by some that no Israelis were killed at the Gaza borderimbecilically offered as proof of Israeli aggression. The fact that the Jews can now defend themselves is considered unacceptable.

So these Israel-abusers champion instead those who send flaming kites decorated with swastikas to incinerate Israel and its people, while describing the Jews defending their country as latter-day Nazis.

It isnt just the Hamas who are evil. Theres a profound moral and spiritual sickness in the West, too.

Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, writes a column for JNS every two weeks. Currently a columnist for The Times of London, her personal and political memoir, Guardian Angel, has been published by Bombardier, which has also published her first novel, The Legacy, released in April. Her work can be found at her website, http://www.melaniephillips.com.
May 8, 2018, the day that Donald Trump announced that hes pulling America out of the nuclear deal with Iran, will mark the inauguration of a new American-Israeli-Arab alliance in the Middle East and a major realignment of US strategic interests.

The administration had extended waivers on Irans nuclear sanctions on multiple occasions to allow for the UStogether with our partnersto fix the fatal flaws of the JCPOA. Unfortunately, European leaders failed to commit to sufficiently meaningful amendments, especially on the most important element: the sunset clauses of the accord; as well as verification mechanisms, ballistic missiles, and the development of advanced centrifuges, leaving the current JCPOA fatally flawed.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano, charged with implementing and monitoring the agreement, has acknowledged that the accord is unverifiable, and that the IAEA is unable to assure the world that Iran is not continuing to lie and work on nuclear weapons or warheads in secret, beyond the reach of inspectors.

The JCPOA was built on false premises and riddled with flaws. It enabled Irans bad behavior across the region, enriched and empowered the Islamic Republics military and terrorist operations, and put them on a path to a massive, modern nuclear program with a breakout time of just weeks in less than eight years.

Yet today, the daunting security challenges that we face remain the same. The White House announcement changed the tactics, but it didnt change the fact that all of us must work together to prevent Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons. We must confront the threat the Iranian regime poses to the region it seeks to dominate, as well as to the world through its sophisticated state-sponsored army of terror embedded on every continent.

We need a strategy that both isolates Iran and closes off Tehrans nuclear pathway by giving the United States and our allies access to the tools of financial and diplomatic pressure needed to confront the totality of the threat posed by the Islamic Republics revolutionary military dictatorship. For too long, those options were constrained by concerns that the pressure to confront Iranto stop its support of Assads slaughter of millions, of the Houthis in Yemen, of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollahs terrorwould undermine the nuclear accord.

A strong American-Israeli-Saudi-led Arab alliance working with our European allies, India, and Japan will be pivotal for creating the pressure needed to arrive at a more prosperous, stable Middle East free of the threat of Iranian terror and aggression; as well as one in which Iran has made the moves to become a member of the international community in good standing once again.

Thanks to the Israeli intelligence coup revealed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US now has access to undeniable evidence of Irans clear effort and intent to build nuclear weapons and the means to deliver themand their record of deceit to cover it all up.

The Islamic Republic remains the foremost sponsor of state terrorism. It threatens the existence of our closest ally, Israel. Tehran engages in cyber warfare, drug smuggling, and money laundering. The despotic regime holds American citizens hostage. And it sponsors murderous regimes and brutal terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza.

By re-imposing sanctions, America and our allies will regain the leverage needed to push Iran to make the choices it needs to make: Relinquish its military nuclear capabilities, end its effort to export its revolutionary ideals though terrorism and support for proxy wars, and allow the people of Iran to live free from the yoke of the regimes violent ideological repression.

Any agreed-upon solution to the threat from Iran must include the following: Snap inspections of all Iranian suspected nuclear facilities, including military ones, no more taking them at their word; a verifiable end to Irans missile programs, whether long- or short-range; no sunset clause; a permanent and verifiable end to Irans nuclear ambitions; verifiable limitations on Irans research and development on advanced centrifuges; reinstatement of the UN arms and missile embargo on Iran; reinstatement of sanctions on IRGC officials that were removed under the deal; and the withdrawal of all Iranian military personnel, militias, and equipment from regional states, starting with Syria.

Amidst all the noise, we must keep our eyes on whats important and focus on a broader strategy that addresses Irans illicit nuclear and non-nuclear activities hand-in-hand with our European, Israeli, and Arab allies. Its the best way forward to guarantee what the JCPOA has failed to do: stop Iran from ever acquiring nuclear weapons, and protect the American people and our allies from the worlds leading state sponsor of terror.

Joshua S. Block is president and CEO of The Israel Project.
Jewish tradition teaches that when our ancestors left Egypt 3,500+ years ago they were pursued by the Egyptian military still bent on their destruction. As they stood at the waters edge faced with two very bad choices, the hand of God split the Reed Sea so our ancestors could cross on dry land and evade their pursuers. And when salvation came and everyone had safely crossed to the other side, the waters returned to their normal state and drowned the Egyptian enemy that had enslaved them for over 400 years.

The angels, as the story relates, then broke out in song, grateful as they were for the salvation that came to the Israelites. But God stopped their celebration and told them that it was not permissible for them to celebrate while some of Gods children were drowning, as the angels themselves did not suffer at the hands of the Egyptians. Rather only those who suffered had earned the right to celebrate their deliverance.

The story and its message could have ended there, but it did not. The rabbis later decreed that Hallel, the psalms of praise that are recited on every one of the three Jewish pilgrimage festivals as well as on Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh (when the new moon is seen each month), should be truncated on Passover as our joy is dampened a bit even today, given the knowledge that so many of Gods children had died during our deliverance from slavery.

What an amazing lesson that tradition teaches. Even when it would be natural to celebrate Gods miracles, we are enjoined by tradition to dampen our joy somewhat in recognition of the casualties suffered by our enemies.

But have we internalized that message?

Earlier this week those of us living here were, once again, given the honor of living through yet another miraculous day in Jerusalem. After multiple U.S. administrations committed in their electioneering to recognize the obvious and locate Israels U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, where the sovereign State of Israel established its capitol, it finally happened. Many of us thought it would never happen, but happen it did. And while one can argue pro and con whether this was the right time to make the move, whether there ever was, is or will be a right time, whether it advances or sets back the potential for peace in the region, none of that is part of this discussion. The fact is that it was a decision that made pretty much every Israeli proud and most certainly corroborated what every Israeli knows in his or her heart to be true.

To be sure no one here knows what the ultimate political cost of that move will be to those of us who live here and whose future is bound up so intricately with this country and for whose future so many have given their lives. But pride in this new fact on the ground is nearly universal here.

Nevertheless, with all of the pomp and circumstance of Mondays events in Jerusalem, less than 50 miles away 57 people died (some say a few more, others a few less) and hundreds more were injured in an ongoing Hamas controlled protest at Israels border with Gaza. So yes, it definitely was Hamas that sent its citizens to face down our troops who were, rightfully, protecting our border. And most probably the leadership in Gaza wanted to be able to broadcast pictures of the rioters being shot by Israeli troops in order to build their case for world sympathy. One could even make a case for questioning whether our sharpshooters really had to shoot to kill or could just as easily have stopped the assailants by shooting them in their legs (after all we are talking about skilled sharpshooters).

But all of that begs the core moral question that we learned at the Red Sea as we left Egypt and that the rabbis later formalized in our truncated recitation of the psalms of praise that we sing during the intermediate days of Passover. As happy as we were to see a historical wrong being righted with the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, were we not obligated as well to temper our joy just a bit when so many were dying just 50 miles away? Does that not at least present some moral challenge to our religious leadership so conspicuous by their presence at the embassy dedication? Is it possible to act as if this is not our problem?

And if it is important to address these issues, what should we be doing? As regards the action on the border, I would hope that deep in the bowels of the Israeli defense establishment there is heavy dialogue going on about how best to defend our border with Gaza. No doubt an order to shoot and kill is delivered after a full examination of the pros and cons associated with that decision. Wouldnt this be a truly amazing country if then a spokesperson from the Israel Defense Forces or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would go public with the logic being used so that we would all know how such decisions came about? My guess is that if they were to do this everyone here would be fully supportive and the world press would have less ammunition to use against us in their already biased reporting.

As for the moral issue relating to our celebrating in the face of the death of our enemies, I would likewise hope that the religious leaders who are supposed to act as the moral conscience of society are also debating how best to react to the situation that has developed. And here too, we would be truly an amazing country if those leaders would share their logic with the people, just as their rabbinic predecessors have done through the centuries.

Utopian you say? Perhaps so. But our purpose in reclaiming this land after 2,000 years of exile was, in fact, not only to create a permanent and secure home for our people but all to fulfill the command to be a light unto the nations. That light has burned with different intensity over the ages but today it is within our power in the full flush of our economic and military strength, to accept the challenge of achieving that high level of moral strength as well. I have no doubt we are up to the task and know that we deserve no less.

Sherwin Pomerantz is a 34-year resident of Jerusalem, president of Atid EDI Ltd., a Jerusalem-based business development consultancy and former national president of the Association of Americans & Canadians in Israel.
Most people are familiar with the biblical story of David and Goliath, which occurred during the reign of King Saul.

The ancient Philistines, who did endless battle with the Israelites in a futile attempt to conquer the land of Israel and to bring the Jews to their knees in servitude, had gathered a massive army on a mountainside near a place called Socoh.

The Israelites were camped and arrayed for battle on an opposite mountainside overlooking the valley of Elah, in what was then Judah. Apparently, they were locked into a battle in which neither side could prevail.

To break the stalemate, the Philistines, according to the biblical account, offered to decide the fate of the two armies by reducing the battle to a fight between a giant named Goliath and a soldier from King Sauls battalions. They taunted the Israelites to goad them into what clearly would be an unfair fight between this Philistine giant and a much smaller Jewish adversary.

Although three of Davids older brothers were among the Jewish fighters no one came forward to accept the challenge. David, who at the time was a teenage shepherd at home tending to his fathers flock, would from time to time be sent to the battlefield by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in King Sauls army.

It just so happened that David was on one of his visits to his brothers at the time this event was unfolding on the battlefield. Now young David, although not a soldier, had some experience with physical battle since it is reported in the biblical story that he had saved a lamb that was in the clutches of a lion and had killed the lion with his bare hands.

Since no one would come forward to confront Goliath, David volunteered to meet the giant in hand-to-hand combat. Rejecting the armor and sword of a warrior, David chose to confront Goliath with nothing more than his sling shot, a few shiny stones, his cunning and his faith in the G-d of Israel.

As David approached the heavily armored giant who was menacingly waving his great sword and shouting taunts to the diminutive shepherd, David methodically placed the stone into the sling shot, took aim, and launched the stone toward Goliaths forehead killing him instantly.

Once again a young David, the State of Israel, a peaceful nation who would prefer to continue shepherding its flock and making fantastic scientific and technical progress, has stepped forward to slay a modern-day Goliath in the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran. This Islamic government, which holds the great Persian people in religious dictatorship, threatens not only Israel but all the nations in the region. This Goliath, like the biblical one, is strong on threatening rhetoric, displays its armor and aggressive muscles in the form of ballistic missiles, arming terrorist groups, and conducting proxy wars; and who, like the Philistines of old, seeks the destruction of the Jewish state.

While both Davids put their faith in the G-d of Israel, and their cunning, the modern David has the benefit of modern weapons and the support of a great friend and ally in the United States, who has finally served notice on the world that neither they nor Israel will be diplomatically or militarily bullied or intimidated; and that the two objectives of this modern-day Goliath to destroy Israel and obtain nuclear weapons will never be achieved.

If you wish to comment or respond to any of the contents herein you can reach me at melpearlman322@gmail.com. Please do so in a rational, thoughtful, respectful and civil manner. If you wish to respond by ranting and raving, please go into your bathroom, lock the door and shout your brains out.

Mel Pearlman has been practicing law in Central Florida for the past 45 years. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando; on the District VII Mental Health Board, as Special Prosecutor for the City of Winter Park, Florida; and on the Board of Directors of the Central Florida Research and Development Authority. He was a charter member of the Board of Directors and served as the first Vice President of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida, as well as its first pro-bono legal counsel.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet with journalists at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, May 24, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

The 16+1 cooperation carried out within the framework of China-Europe relationship and under European Union (EU) laws and regulations is open and transparent, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Thursday.

Li made the remarks when meeting with journalists together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after they held talks in Beijing.

Li said the 16+1 cooperation, a cooperation mechanism between China and 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, is an important part and beneficial supplement of China-Europe relations.

It is conducive to the common development of China and the CEE countries, a more balanced development of Europe, and the European integration process, he said.

China has always firmly supported the European integration and believes that a united, stable, prosperous EU and a strong euro are in China's fundamental interests, Li said.

"The 16+1 cooperation has always been carried out within the framework of China-Europe ties and under relevant EU laws and regulations. It is open and transparent," Li said, adding that China and Germany should combine their complementary advantages with the development needs of the CEE countries in order to explore third-party market cooperation.

Merkel said the 16+1 cooperation is a beneficial platform that enhances the infrastructure construction in the CEE countries.

She also said the advantages of the CEE countries and China complement each other and the 16+1 cooperation can benefit the EU, rather than split it.
Since the Pleistocene epoch, when steppe lions, long-legged hyenas, dire wolves and various long-toothed cats preyed on such megafauna as giant sloths, mammoths and a massive species of buffalo known as Bison antiquus, the Great Plains have nurtured a plethora of wildlife. Those animals in turn drew human hunters, who followed and harvested the herds for their own sustenance. Author Dan Flores has also tracked the animals across the region, studying and sharing their stories in articles, lectures and books. His passion for the natural history of the Plains has informed us about the region and made clear that both environmental factors and human interactions have shaped the region. His 2016 book American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains earned Flores many honors, including a Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Flores received the 2017 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award for his book Coyote America. Hes also won Wranglers for three nonfiction articlesWhen the Buffalo Roamed and Coyote: An American Original (published in Wild West) and Bringing Home All the Pretty Horses (Montana, The Magazine of Western History). Flores recently spoke with Wild West from his home in Santa Fe.

So many of the big, historic animals of the Great Plains do have clear analogues on the African grasslandsbison and wildebeests, wild horses and zebras, pronghorns and gazelles, elk and kudu, coyotes and jackals, wolves and wild dogs. Africa retained its lions, while we lost ours in the Pleistocene extinctions, but the grizzly functioned on the Plains as a lionlike king of beasts

Why relate the Great Plains to the African Serengeti?

The analogy between the natural Great Plains and the African Serengeti was long in my mind, but it became a conscious comparison when I began reading about a class of elite European hunters in the 19th century who clearly saw the similarities and launched safaris into both regions. There are ecological differences, of course, but so many of the big, historic animals of the Great Plains do have clear analogues on the African grasslandsbison and wildebeests, wild horses and zebras, pronghorns and gazelles, elk and kudu, coyotes and jackals, wolves and wild dogs. Africa retained its lions, while we lost ours in the Pleistocene extinctions, but the grizzly functioned on the Plains as a lionlike king of beasts. North America of course also lost its elephants, cheetahlike cats, hyenas and camels during the extinctions of 10,000 years ago, while Africa didnt. Which is why, when he took a train out of Nairobi and onto the African grasslands in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt referred to it as a train ride through the Pleistocene.

The other similarity that struck those 19th-century hunter-tourists: Both the Great Plains and Serengeti are wide-open grasslands, where all those herd animals and their predators were in plain sight, easily seen across great distances. That was very exciting for people used to being in forested landscapes, where animals are difficult to see.

Which historical accounts of Great Plains fauna do you find most intriguing?

I enjoy reading firsthand historical accounts of American nature. Good ones can function like time machines, enabling you to imagine places and things youve never seen, and quotes from many of them appear in my books.

For a sense of the wildlife spectacle Americans got to witness when they journeyed onto the Plains, its always hard to beat Lewis and Clark. For all the grammatical adventures in their journals (not so different from reading things on the internet these days), their accounts can produce great images in the mind.

Other scientific explorers are rarely as fun to read, although Ive always loved the 181920 [James] Long Expeditions descriptions of moving through herds of bison and wild horses, and packs of wolves so innocent of humans that their masses parted to allow the explorers to pass. But for the emotional content of seeing so many animals of so many different kinds, wildlife painter John James Audubons 1843 Missouri River journal is spellbinding. Audubon was gobsmacked by the spectacle of so much dramatic animal life. His fellow artist, George Catlin, also wrote some nicely poetic descriptions of the beauty of wild horse bands and the raw physics of wolf/bison encounters.

Some of the accounts of the destruction that ended it all are very moving. In American Serengeti I quote from the memoir of a cowboy who rode up onto a Plains tableland in 1884 to find no grizzlies, no wolves, no bison leftonly wild horses, pronghorns and coyotes, the last survivors. The scene struck him as miragelike, as well it would have.

What are the earliest accounts of such animals?

Spanish authors Francisco Hernandez and Francisco Javier Clavijeroin 1651 and 1780, respectivelywrote the first descriptions of coyotes available to Europeans, and Spanish explorers and military men often penned notices of grizzlies, horses gone wild and other animals in the West. But for reading Americans it was Lewis and Clark who first gave the country a sense of the very different animals found in the West, most of which they encountered within about a four-week period on entering the Great Plains for the first time in 1804. Americans knew wolves from Europe and had encountered wolves on the Atlantic shore. But the coyotewhich Lewis and Clark gave the name prairie wolfwas an indigenous American animal unfamiliar to them. The accounts of their grizzly encounters, which I quote at length in American Serengeti, are some of the earliest and probably the most detailed (and fascinating and harrowing) descriptions we have of the big bears.

As for horses, their return to the Great Plains started on the southern Plains, from Spanish colonies in New Mexico and Texas, so the early accounts of how they reverted to their wild statea subject that absolutely fascinated Thomas Jeffersoncome from travelers in that part of the world. My favorite early wild horse descriptions are from an early French scientist, Jean-Louis Berlandier, in Texas, and those of George Catlin and a Boston poet/mountain man named Albert Pike, who crossed the Plains several times in the 1820s and 30s.

How did such accounts shape public perception?

The early accounts of coyotes mostly confused peoplewas it a fox, a jackal, a wolf? Coyotes ended up killed by the hundreds of thousands in the fur trade, but not until Mark Twain wrote Roughing It, in 1873, was there a nationally read, strongly opinionated account of them for Americans to digest. Still, I would argue the coyote example is typical of how we Americans tended to approach wildlife. We decided on policyin the case of coyotes their outright eradicationbefore we bothered to do any science to understand them.

Lewis and Clarks confrontations with grizzly bears essentially convinced readers the bears were fearsome beasts to be avoided or, if you had any advantage, killed on sight. Hence the scientific name we gave them: Ursus horribilis. We killed them on sight and drove them off the Plains and into the Rockies by the 1880s.

Americans were pretty sure they knew wolves well from prior experiences with them in Europe. But a new, and common, theme in many early western accounts of wolves was a certain incredulity at how tame they could beWilliam Clark killed one with a bayonet thrustand their cowardice in the presence of humans. Wolves were growling, snapping fighters when confronted with other predators over a carcass, but their meekness around humans is a standard trope in early Western writing.

As for wild horses, the initial writings about themCatlins, for example, which were widely readhad the same effect accounts of immense bison herds did: They gave 19th-century readers a sense of a potential economy built around the capture of Western wild horses. Mustanging and the wild horse trade were the result.

Why have coyotes proven so resilient?

As I detail in my biography of the coyote, Coyote America, in 1900 nature writer Ernest Thompson-Seton wrote, as the lead piece for Scribners Magazine, a nature story titled Tito: The Story of the Coyote That Learned How. By then Americans had watched an entire bestiarybison, pronghorns, wolves, wild horses, many othersdisappear from the Plains and much of the West. Yet, somehow, coyote numbers seemed as high as ever. In Tito a captive female coyote chained in a ranchers yard observes all the human stratagems for killing coyotes, then escapes and raises up pups she teaches how to avoid human wilesand her pups teach the next generation and so on. Tito was a sort of Moses and the Egyptians story, an allegorical attempt to explain how coyotes could escape the slaughterhouse at the end of the 19th century.

It took biologists another half-century to discover the real explanation. As smaller canids that evolved alongside wolves, coyotes had been persecuted enough by gray wolves that they evolved a series of adaptations that make them remarkable survivors, especially when harassed. When ranchers and bounty hunters, and then a federal bureau dedicated to exterminating them, took a war of attrition to coyotes, all these evolutionary adaptations kicked in. Perceiving a drop in local coyote populations when their howls produce fewer answers, coyotes respond by having larger litters and are able to get more pups to adulthood if theres less competition for resources. Then there is their evolved trait called fission-fusion. As a social species they can cooperate (fusion) in hunts and defense. But when persecuted, they also have the ability to live as singles or pairs (fission) and will often colonize widely when they are in fission mode. Ironically, then, the war to exterminate coyotes in the West has produced the unintended effect of spreading them across the continent.

Ironically, the war to exterminate coyotes in the West has produced the unintended effect of spreading them across the continent

How did Twains writing color your impression of coyotes?

In 1873 Mark Twain wrote a three-page, darkly comic passage about coyotes in his best seller Roughing It, giving Americans a description of the coyote that finally allowed us to form an opinion. With Twains encouragement, that opinion was, basically, that coyotes were breathing up good air and ought to become a national sacrifice animal as fast as possible. As much a fan of Twains writing as I am, I have to admit the historical trajectory from Roughing It to the Animal Damage Control Act of 1931, which appropriated 10 million dollars to exterminate coyotes, is a pretty direct line, even if Twain largely intended his passage to be funny.

Canadian biologist Valerius Geist suggests the fierce short-faced bear kept humans from crossing the Bering Land Bridge. What do you say?

Ever since I read Geists speculation, it has intrigued me. While there is coincidental evidence that dates for the extinction of the short-faced bear and the arrival of humans in the Americas coincideat least with our present knowledge of human arrivalsits difficult to find any corroborating evidence. Its dangerous to leverage a claim like that without corroboration. But Ive seen reconstructed short-faced bear skeletons at natural history museums in Paris and on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, and as a human who might have been potential prey for such an active and gracile predator, they spook me a little.

How did pronghorns survive the Pleistocene?

I think pronghorns were so perfectly adapted to life on the American Serengeti that they became capable of surviving their predators and did. Being able to run 65 mph makes no sense when your fastest historical-era predator, the gray wolf, can only run 43 mph. What pronghorns allow us to imagine 10,000 years latersomewhat astonishingly, it seems to meis how fast a Pleistocene cheetah or hunting hyena could run. In their minds female pronghorns still seem to live among these ghosts of the Pleistocene, since to this day they demand their male suitor be the fastest runner on the prairie. Yet as adults they no longer have predators at all.

How did Indian warfare aid wildlife expansion?

Lewis and Clark were among the first in the West to notice a phenomenon we now refer to as wildlife buffer zones. They wrote that across their 8,000-mile journey they had noticed a pattern: Wildlife was most common in the zones that lay between tribes at war with one another. They found Indian hunting parties scarce in such zones, along with a corresponding buildup of wildlife.

Is there any truth to the old trope white hunters killed off bison to deny American Indians a vital food source?

The answer weve long acceptedthat it was a government/military conspiracy to kill off bison so Indians would accept reservationsitself has a history that dates back to a couple of 19th-century quotes by government bureaucrats and to a 20th-century memoir by a former buffalo hunter, the first to make this argument. But no, my own research finds this answer suspect. Im afraid it was the marketa tragedy of the commons thats a part of unregulated capitalismthat wiped out the buffalo, both in the U.S. and in Canada. Somewhat like arguing it was actually states rights that caused the Civil War, the government conspiracy charge has long made us all feel better about the bison story. Read my chapter A Dream of Bison in American Serengeti for a full understanding of what actually happened to the buffalo. Along the way youll also see how I rescue the reputation of General Philip Sheridan.

How have environmental factors impacted Great Plains species?

All the species we found there were supremely adapted by evolution and natural selection to life on the American grasslands. Bison and pronghorns, gray wolves and coyotesthey had all been shaped by the possibilities and limits of the American Serengeti. Once Europeans restored them to America, horses went wild there so quickly and easily, because horses had spent 56 million years evolving to Great Plains conditions. Through photosynthesis, grasses converted sunlight into energy that grazing animals could take up, and their flesh became the source of energy for their predators, including humans. Bison, for example, probably increased to the numbers they did because they were more perfectly adapted to the grasslands than their early human hunters were.

Were those factors more or less instrumental in the decimation of herds?

What Great Plains animals were not adapted to, and could scarcely do so because of the speed of the changes, were the new conditions Old World humans brought to the region in the 1800s. Until the very end bison seemed unable to cope with human weapons that could kill them from great distances. That had never been a condition that called for an evolutionary response before. Pronghorns migrated in front of winter storms but had no reason to evolve an ability to leap over obstacles on the open grasslands. So when barbed-wire fences came to the Plains, migrating pronghorns stacked up against them and died by the thousands in snowdrifts. Gray wolves evolved as pack hunters to bring down large prey. That left them susceptible to human killing strategies that used the scent of downed pack mates to lure and kill remaining members of a pack.

Unfortunately, though, we cant exonerate the market hunters just because Plains animals werent adapted to modern conditions. Between 1820 and 1920 hunters on the Great Plains engaged in the largest slaughter of wildlife discoverable in modern world history. Its a pathetic chapter in our history.

Why was there no corporate involvement in the horse trade as in the buffalo trade?

The wild horse trade became a significant economy on the Great Plains beginning about 1780, when Americans like Philip Nolan began journeying west, catching horses and selling them on the advancing frontier as riding and work stock. The trade continued even into the 20th century, as wild horses got rounded up, green-broken and sold to agents of the Allies in World War I. But the trade never produced the kind of corporate investment the fur/hide trade did. Up until the success of the Mexican Revolution in 1821 thats because the horse trade was primarily illegal, a contraband endeavor that took place on lands possessed by Spain.

When Mexico opened up the Southwest to U.S. trade, though, corporations could have gotten involved. I suspect they didnt because, unlike the fur trade, the horse trade didnt require trading posts or wagon brigades or steamship travel to transport the resource to market. Horses were wealth that could move under their own power; itinerant mustangers simply drove them to market. In this respect the horse trade bore a closer relationship to the cattle trail drives after the Civil War than to the corporate fur trade, which required such an outlay of capital to make it work. WW
What was it about the war that prompted a horrific rise in fraggingsthe murders of officers and NCOs by their own men?

Capt. Scott Edward Schneider, the 25-year-old commander of a U.S. Army artillery battery in Vietnams Quang Ngai province in 1970, was described by subordinates as a good guycompetent in his leadership and fair in his discipline. But at 1:40 in the morning on Aug. 17, 1970, while he was sleeping, a fellow American threw a fragmentation grenade into his quarters. The explosion killed Schneider instantly. The Army charged one of the captains own men, Pvt. David K. Locklin, with his murder.

Enlisted men who had worked alongside Locklin described him as a druggie. The 19-year-old private had been a heavy user of hashish, LSD and methamphetamines before arriving Vietnam. His drug use had since expanded to include the daily consumption of an entire 6-ounce bottle of the liquid amphetamine Obesitol.

Locklin was often absent from duty, preferring to spend his days in a nearby village under the protection of Marines, where he would smoke opium with the old men, recalled one of his platoon mates. Due to his drug use and chronic absences, hed been assigned menial chores and prohibited from operating complex artillery. His absences ultimately prompted Schneider to demote him three grades from Specialist (E-4) to Private (E-1). The few times Locklin showed up to work, he complained about the captain hassling him, said another platoon mate, who believes Locklins motive for killing Schneider was nonsensical drug-addled grudges. At his court-martial Locklin pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder. Sentenced to 25 years at hard labor, he was released in 1979, having served just eight years and seven months.

Locklin was the perpetrator of a crime that was all too common during Americas long war in Vietnam. Fragging, as it became widely known, was the murder or attempted murder of officers or NCOs by their own troops. The term derived from the frequent use of a fragmentation grenade, which the assailant would roll or throw into the area where his superior was sleeping. Although the M26 and M67 were often the weapons of choicethey left no fingerprintsfraggers also resorted to other devices, including Claymore mines, booby traps, dynamite, rifles and pistols. Fraggings occurred in two localesin camps (where explosives were preferred) and in jungles or rice paddies (where bullets were preferred). Attacks were most common in Army and Marine Corps units and rare in the Air Force and Navy. In addition to actual attacks, wartime records allude to thousands of threats never carried out.

During the Vietnam War assailants carried out nearly 800 confirmed fraggings or attempted fraggings, killing 86 men and wounding an estimated 700. But this was probably only the tip of a deadly iceberg, says historian James Westheider. Thousands of additional attacks may never have come to light. Some may have been falsely reported as accidents, to spare family members the pain of knowing a fellow soldier had slain their loved one. Still other fraggings may have been known only to the killer, as when a soldier covertly shot a superior on the battlefield. Vietnam veteran Micheal Clodfelter, a researcher for the Dupuy Institute, estimates that about 5,000 such fraggings went unrecorded, though there is no way to quantify that number.

Given the lack of definitive forensic evidence, most fraggers escaped arrest or conviction, says Army veteran George Lepre, author of Fragging: Why U.S. Soldiers Assaulted Their Officers in Vietnam. Although Lepre was obviously unable to study those who got away with murder, he did research the cases of 71 men convicted of assaults with explosives in Vietnam. He found that 56 percent were white, 36 percent black, and 8 percent Hispanic. The typical fragger was 19 or 20 years old, a high-school dropout and a frequent consumer of excessive amounts of drugs and alcohol. He often came from a dysfunctional family and had been in legal trouble before entering the service (often for such offenses as burglary and drug trafficking). Lepre concluded the convicted fraggers were troubled men before they arrived in Vietnam and became further troubled by Vietnam.

Drugs and alcoholwith their tendency to reduce inhibitions and cloud ones thinkingplayed a major role in most known cases of fragging in Vietnam. In the early years of the war GIs in-country could buy marijuana, amphetamines, barbiturates, opium and hallucinogens at low cost. In 1969 heroin made the scene. Extremely pure, highly addictive and cheaper than marijuana, it soon became the most destructive of all substances. In 1971 the military reported an estimated 60,000 U.S. servicemen in Vietnam were addicted to heroin. Each year dozens of them died from overdoses. In 1971 fewer than 5,000 GIs were hospitalized for battle injuries, while 20,529 were hospitalized for serious drug abuse.

Some fraggers were so drug-impaired they gave themselves away. In the early hours of April 21, 1969, Marine Pvt. Reginald F. Smith killed his company commander, 1st Lt. Robert T. Rohweller, by throwing a grenade beneath the cot on which the officer was sleeping. When a sergeant subsequently ordered a company formation, Smith was caught literally red-handedthe grenade pin still dangling from an index finger. He was probably higher than a kite, his defense attorney stated. Smith was convicted and sentenced to 40 years behind bars. He also did not serve out his timea dozen years into his sentence a fellow inmate murdered him.

Although drugs were a major factor in most fraggings, racial tensions played a part in some cases. In the early morning hours of March 15, 1971, someone threw a grenade into a sleeping area at the Army base in Bien Hoa, killing Lts. Thomas A. Dellwo and Richard E. Harlan, both of whom were white. Soon thereafter a black private, Billy Dean Smith, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. The prosecution contended Dellwo and Harlan were not the killers intended victims; the actual targets, they said, were company commander Capt. Randall L. Rigby and 1st Sgt. Billie Willis, with whom Smith had repeatedly clashed, allegedly over their racist treatment of Smith.

Due to the racial overtones, the case received international attention, and the trial was moved from Vietnam to Fort Ord, Calif. The prosecution produced a grenade pin it said was found in Smiths pocket shortly after the attack, though the defense argued the pin had been planted on Smith by investigators. The only reason Smith had been fingered, the defense argued, was that he had made antiwar statements before the murders. Black Scholar magazine suggested hed been deemed the logical guilty party because he was a black GI with a bad attitude. In the end a court-martial panel of seven officers found him not guilty.

Perpetrators [of fraggings] often neglected to isolate their intended targets, author Lepre notes, and, as a result, innocent bystanders were killed or injured. In 1969 Battery D of the 11th Marines at Phu Lac received a new commander, a first lieutenant who immediately cracked down on discipline. That made him unpopular with certain Marines, and there was talk of fragging him. On the night of February 27 someone threw a grenade into the quarters where the lieutenant usually slept. As fate would have it, the officer was sleeping elsewhere that night, and the explosion instead killed 1st Sgt. Warren R. Furse, a beloved, fatherly NCO scheduled to return home to his wife and children a few days later. No one was ever convicted of the killing.

Motives for fragging generally fell into two broad categories. The first was anger and resentment over real or perceived harsh discipline. One notable strict disciplinarian was Roy Moore (the 2017 candidate for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama), who in 1971 was an Army captain and incoming commander of the 188th Military Police Company near Da Nang. Moore soon discovered some of his MPs had serious drug and alcohol problems, and he freely filed disciplinary charges against substance abusers and insubordinate soldiers alike. As a result, Captain America was threatened with fragging. I became a marked man, he recalled in his autobiography, So Help Me God. Moore refused to soften discipline. He did, however, take precautionary measures: I placed sandbags under the bed and in the walls of my quarters.

Moore learned a known drug user by the name of Kidwell was planning to kill him. Several weeks passed before I was called one evening and informed that Kidwell had shot 1st Sgt. Howard and was coming for me. Armed with an automatic rifle and my .45-caliber pistol, I proceeded to company headquarters, only to find that Kidwell had been taken into custody and was sitting in my office. I made arrangements for a prompt court-martial and was relieved that 1st Sgt. Howard had survived.

The second category of motives for fragging was self-protectionthe near-universal desire to survive the war. Especially hated was the glory hound, an overly aggressive superior who put the lives of his men at unnecessary risk in order to gain praise, win medals and advance his own career. The new lieutenant comes in, all gung-ho for body count, reflected former Army Lt. Vincent Okamoto in an interview for the Ken Burns documentary The Vietnam War. He wants contact. He goes crazy and says, I want a volunteer for thisIll commit you to this. That new gung-ho officer is a clear and present danger to the life and limb of the grunts. The men would give subtle hints, like a little note saying, Were going to kill your ass if you keep this up. Or instead of a fragmentation grenade, they might throw a smoke grenade in an officers hooch or bunker. And if he didnt correct his behavior and outlook, yeah, they would frag them.

Author Eugene Linden, who wrote a 1971 Saturday Review article about the demoralization of U.S. troops in Vietnam, told of one company commander, a hard-charging captain in the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal), who was injured when he fell on a sharpened bamboo booby trap known as a punji stick. The accident removed him from combat and may also have saved him from being murdered. I dont think there was a single man in this unit who wasnt thrilled when he fell on that stick, a medic confided to Linden. He was constantly putting his men in danger, and he just lacked common sense. That punji stick just cut short the talk of fragging him.

As it was often difficult to discern who fired at whom during combat, rifles were the most common weapon used by infantrymen seeking to frag bad officers in the course of field operations. Sometimes, an errant bullet struck an incompetent fool amid a firefight, notes author and former infantry officer Robert Nylen. Problem solved. Next?

Among those Linden interviewed was a disabled man in a stateside Veterans Administration hospital. The veteran confided that when he was in Vietnam, he had killed a sergeant without getting caught. Hed shot the NCO during a firefight, as he felt the mans inability to read a map was getting good men in the unit killed. Linden noted the veteran expressed zero shame or remorse.

The very threat of fragging was enough to undermine discipline. In his 1971 article Linden wrote that in parts of Vietnam the threat stirs more fear among officers and NCOs than does the war with Charlie. As an Army judge in Vietnam, former Capt. Barry Steinberg presided over several fragging trials. Death threats, he explained to Linden, were the troops way of controlling officers. Many cowed superiors subsequently declined to give orders that might incite subordinates to frag them. Discipline went to hell.

Most military historians agree that while the murder of officers and NCOs has occurred in all wars, it was far more frequent during the last years of the Vietnam War. What was different about Vietnam? The availability of hard drugs was clearly a contributing cause. Another factor was a noticeable decline in the quality of recruits inducted from 1966 to 1973.

President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara initially sought to wage the war without upsetting the powerful middle-class voting block, so they allowed college students to use educational deferments to avoid the draft and shielded most of the 1 million men in the National Guard and Reserves from being called to active duty. That left the bulk of the fighting to volunteers and draftees from working-class and poor families.

But as the war dragged on, manpower pools diminished, and in 1966 Johnson and McNamara had to find a way to get more troops into combat. McNamaras solution was to lower mental standards for entrance into the armed forces. Under his controversial Project 100,000billed as a social betterment programthe defense secretary brought in a total of 354,000 low-IQ men over a five-year period. Some fared well in the service, but a significant number had difficulties handling stress and controlling impulses. They were more likely than other soldiers to commit such infractions as insubordination, desertion and assault.

While McNamaras Morons did bolster the number of troops in Vietnam, there were not enough of them to offset an unexpected manpower shortage in 196869, when 28,679 men died in combat and tens of thousands more were wounded. In desperation the Pentagon again lowered the bar to cull another group of dubious draftees: criminals, drug addicts and psychologically disturbed misfits. Derided after the war by Marine Corps Commandant General Louis H. Wilson Jr. as the dregs of society, these men would never have been inducted under normal circumstances. Some historians blame the reprobates for a precipitous decline in military discipline over the closing years of the war.

Though felons were supposed to have been disqualified from service, recruiters and induction centers were given the authority to grant moral waivers to enlist them. In a common scenario a judge would work with a recruiter and give a young offender a choicego to jail or join the Army or Marine Corps. Dr. Douglas Bey Jr., a former captain and combat psychiatrist for the 1st Infantry Division, tells of one unpopular soldier, a troublemaker who had entered the Army after being told by a judge he could choose jail or military service. While still in training, he attacked a sergeant, and the Army gave him the choice between a court-martial or Vietnam. His infantry unit in Vietnam made him a point man, Bey notes, hoping to get rid of him. The troublemaker survived leading his unit into combat and was even decorated. Unable to rise above his rough nature, however, he later murdered an NCO and was imprisoned.

Other men were inducted despite having civilian records of mental illness. Army veteran and retired physicist Fred Gray recalled one such man: As a brand-new company commander of an engineer unit in Vietnam in 1968, I was getting a tour of our rock quarry unit. The first sergeant, platoon sergeant and I had taken coffee in the mess tent and were exiting when one of the soldiers opened fire on us with his carbine. He was about 10 feet away, got off three shots before he was tackled, missed everyone. He never did explain his actions other than repeatedly saying, I hate this fing war.

General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, was appalled by the presence of weak-minded, criminal, untrained men in the ranks in the latter years of the war. When those people came to Vietnam, he recalled, thats when disciplinary problems began on the battlefield.

Sharing Westmorelands outrage were many other Vietnam-era military leaders, who campaigned to change manpower policies after the war. Efforts were made to raise standards and exclude problematic individuals like those who had caused trouble in Vietnam. The draft had already ended in 1973, giving rise to the all-volunteer armed forces. As a result, contend some historians, incidences of fragging have been rare since Vietnam.

What happened to the Vietnam fraggers? Of the 71 convicted men Lepre studied, all had left prison by 1982. A number of the men, he notes, wound up either homeless, dead or, most commonly, back behind bars. Four are known to have committed homicides after leaving military confinement. One atypical inmate was a model prisoner who expressed deep remorse for the horrible, inexcusable crime he had committed and, to all appearances, became a dedicated family man and law-abiding citizen.

As for the victims of fraggers, they have not been forgotten. Joseph Romatowski, a veteran who served under and admired the slain Capt. Schneider, wrote of seeking out the murdered officers name during visits to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.: When I find it, I touch the letters chiseled into the cool dark granite and tell Scott how sorry I am that life was taken from him prematurelyand so stupidly. I ask that God grant peace and understanding to his parents. MH

Hamilton Gregory, a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, is author of McNamaras Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War, Plus the Induction of Unfit Men, Criminals and Misfits. For further reading he recommends Fragging: Why U.S. Soldiers Assaulted Their Officers in Vietnam, by George Lepre, and Not a Gentlemans War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War, by Ron Milam.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday met with Winston Peters, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of New Zealand.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) shakes hands with New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters (L) during their meeting in Beijing, China, May 25, 2018. [Photo: IC]

Wang said that bilateral relations have maintained a good momentum of development since the two sides established diplomatic relations 46 years ago. The two sides should continue to uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, maintain closer contacts on all levels, deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and promote the China-New Zealand comprehensive strategic partnership.

He said the two sides should work together to push forward the process of multilateralism and safeguard the international free trade and investment system.

Peters said New Zealand's new government attaches great importance to developing ties with China. New Zealand is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road cooperation, and will attend the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) for more cooperation with China.
Multiple women have accused actor Morgan Freeman of harassment and inappropriate behavior, according to a CNN report.

CNN spoke with eight people who say they were harassed on film sets or on promotional tours, and eight others who say they witnessed Freeman's alleged inappropriate behavior.

CNN revealed that Freeman - whose distinguished acting career spans five decades - rubbed one source's lower back and tried lifting up her skirt while she was working set of Going In Style. He is also accused of making inappropriate comments to numerous others, including CNN reporter, Chloe Melas.

Melas, who helped write the expose, said Freeman told her, "You are ripe, during a press junket. Melas was pregnant at the time.

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Other sources described instances where Freeman made inappropriate comments about women's appearances and stared at their bodies. These sources told the American news channel that they did not file formal complaints out of fear of retaliation.

A spokesperson for Freeman did not respond to a request for comment from CNN after the network provided a list of the accusations.
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[File photo: CCTV]

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Friday voiced surprise and regret over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his meeting with top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, which was scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

DPRK First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said the DPRK is ready to sit down with the United States any time in any manner for talks to solve the problems existing between them.

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Kye Gwan also said Trump's decision disappoints the international community that is happy to see peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

He noted that the DPRK's initiatives made to end decades-long hostility and distrust with the United States are supported by the international community.

The DPRK's preparations for the planned leaders' meeting were also entering the final phase when Trump announced his decision to cancel it, to the surprise and regret of Pyongyang, he said.

The first vice foreign minister also denied Trump's accusation that Pyongyang "displayed tremendous anger and hostility" towards Washington recently, which Trump said was the reason for canceling the Singapore meeting.

Those were only a natural response to the excessive rhetoric made by U.S. officials to mount pressure on the DPRK on denuclearization before the scheduled meeting was even held, said the official.

He said the DPRK still appreciates the decision and efforts made by Trump towards a meeting with DPRK, making him the first sitting U.S. president to have ever done so.

Pyongyang is still willing to push for such a meeting with Washington and would like the two sides to solve their existing problems step by step through dialogue, he said.

The "DPRK's resolve to safeguard peace and stability at the Korean Peninsula and the world will not be compromised," he added.




GUAPILES, Costa RicaHumane Society International/Latin America, the National Coordination of Animal Welfare of the Ministry of the Presidency and the National Police Academy of the Ministry of Public Security conducted a course on animal welfare for Costa Rican police students. It covered the basic aspects that every police officer should consider as part of a first response institution, for animals in cases of cruelty, in emergencies and for the correct handling of these in their daily work.

The objective is for students to gain the necessary knowledge in the Costa Rican legal framework regarding animal welfare. They learned to identify abuse and cruelty as well as to recognize the connection between social violence and violence towards animals. It also covered topics such as the identification of evidence for the recognition of animal fights and the proper handling of cases involving wildlife.

Give now to support our lifesaving work.

The 16-hour modules were taught by experts from SENASA, SINAC, HSI LA and ASCR in a pilot project on May 21st, 22nd, 23rd at the facilities of the National Police Academy located in Guapiles, Limon.

Amanda Chaves, manager of the Companion Animal program for HSI Latin America, said: Through this course we intend to generate sensitivity and raise awareness of the basic needs of animals in all Costa Rican police students, who must take this course obligatorily to be able to graduate. In addition, as always we reiterate our commitment to continue fighting and working for animals together with the government of the Republic of Costa Rica and all institutions involved in the animal welfare of the country.

Additionally, for the fulfillment of these objectives, HSI Latin America donated to the National Police School a basic animal welfare kit with instruments and tools to make a correct handling of the animals  kennels, gloves, belts, and cages, among others.

Media Contact: In Costa Rica: Amanda Chaves Alvarado, achaves@hsi.org, 506 2233 0303 / 506 7018 4621 .
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) today announced it has made further progress in its animal welfare sourcing program. The global cruise company is adopting a series of requirements for its poultry providers to meet when it comes to how they breed, raise and process poultry.

Royal Caribbean takes seriously our responsibility to ensure improved animal welfare in our supply chain, said Mike Jones, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain, Travel, Port Services and Workplace Solutions, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. This is why we were working to transition to products like cage-free eggs and gestation stall-free pork. We are proud to now also move the needle when it comes to the poultry we purchase for our business.

The company is extending these commitments to include comprehensive broiler chicken welfare policies. By 2024, in the United States, Royal Caribbean will responsibly purchase 100 percent of chickens from Global Animal Partnership (GAP) certified sources. RCL will require these chickens to be processed in a manner that avoids live-dumping and live-shackling, instead utilizing a pre-shackle, multi-step controlled atmosphere processing system that is widely known as more humane.

Royal Caribbean shows yet again that doing good is part of doing well, said Matthew Prescott, Senior Director of Food and Agriculture for the Humane Society of the United States. Our partnership with the company dates back almost a decade, and we welcome this latest move to improve animal welfare.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) is a global cruise vacation company that owns and operates three global brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises. We are a 50 percent joint venture owner of the German brand TUI Cruises, a 49 percent shareholder in the Spanish brand Pullmantur and a 36 percent shareholder in the Chinese brand SkySea Cruises. Together, these brands operate a combined total of 50 ships with an additional twelve on order as of March 31, 2018. They operate diverse itineraries around the world that call on approximately 540 destinations on all seven continents. Additional information can be found on www.rclcorporate.com.
Why Music Data Shouldnt Drive 100% Of Decisions

In this interview, James Martin of Midem speaks with Sam Hill, Director of Digital Marketing at BMG UK, about his job, advice he'd give to those starting in the music industry, where he thinks the music industry is headed, and why he doesn't think data should drive 100% of decisions.

_________________________

Guest post by James Martin from Midem's Music Industry Insights

Sam Hill is Director of Digital Marketing at BMG UK, and is as such responsible for artist online campaigns, advertising, content, branding and more. Were honoured to welcome him as a midemblog ambassador. Now, get to know him before meeting him in Cannes next month!

midemblog: What are the best things about your job, and what have been your career highlights to date?

Sam Hill: I think the best thing about my job is sometimes just taking a minute to take stock of exactly what youre doing. It kind of hits you and you think I work at a record company where I get to do fun stuff on the internet. Its one of those things that never gets old. Its been over 10 years since I got my braces off and sometimes Im eating a sandwich thinking its so great that I dont have braces anymore. Working in music is the same kind of feeling. Being at BMG has been great too  so much has changed and developed in the last few years so its always exciting.

I always try to be proud of what me and the team here are doing, but my highlights are still working with amazing artists that take pride and pleasure in what they do. At BMG its an incredibly diverse roster but seeing the similarities in the most dissimilar artists brings me joy. Working with alt-J was the first big project I did, my first platinum record and my first number one album, so Ive a special place in my heart for them, nestled alongside getting Rick Astley a number one album a couple of years back. Ive just worked on a Kylie Minogue record, so thats pretty special too.

> What advice would you give to people looking to start working in the music industry today?

Do as much stuff as you possibly can! If youve got any skills, try and apply them in any way you can and for as many people as possible. I made some social and digital assets for people, did some copywriting, wrote about music video, helped produce local radio, did a events about music videos, did a couple of internships and worked in a Mexican restaurant. I cannot believe I used to be so proactive.

Doing a range of things at once starts to give you a rounded experience of how things work and where youre best placed to make a difference. Dont be snobby about whether you think jobs are beneath you and always be nice to everyone.

> What do you predict will be the key trends for music consumption and marketing in 2018?

Its too dull to say streaming, isnt it? But seeing the continued shift to streaming is always interesting, especially now its getting so adaptable to context  smart speakers and Amazonbeing a great example of that  but also YouTube rolling out a music focused subscription model will make people rethink how theyre consuming. Im all for a broader market!

Now that we depend so much on social advertising to market music, I wonder what the long term impact of recent data scandals will have on advertising. Im hoping that companies like Facebookwill actually remove the flak of nefarious and problematic advertising and leave us with a more trusted space to share content, but that seems overly optimistic. Well see!

> What is the one innovation that we should be the most excited about?

Probably smart speakers but I also want to say people in music marketing actually working out how to do influencer marketing in a cost effective way that isnt super cringy. Lets just go with smart speakers as the other one is quite convoluted.

> And what do you think are the biggest challenges facing the music industry this year?

I think the trick will be staying true to releasing interesting and innovative music, without falling into cynical loops based on statistics. I dont like it when people talk about this idea of a magic formula thats best for streaming or suchlike. I love data, but I dont think it should drive decisions 100% of the time.

This is the latest in a series of posts from key industry influencers from the world over, whom youll be able to meet at Midem 2018. More soon

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There's a new online resource for gaining a basic understanding of AI. It comes from Helsinki University and tech strategy firm Reaktor, who say they want to make Finland the world's most educated country in the field of artificial intelligence.

Elements of AI is based on a course that the University of Helsinki has offered for the past few years. Due to increased interest in the subject, the institution collaborated with Reaktor to create an online course. The course is a part of the AI Education programme of the Finnish Center for AI, and offered in cooperation with Finland's Open University, and Mooc.fi. While it has academic origins it is suitable for anyone with an interest in the topic and is presented entirely in English. Students in Finland can earn two ECTS academic credits through the Open University. Those outside Finland who've successfully completed the course are able to receive a certificate to post on their LinkedIn page.

Helsinki University had hoped that one percent of the Finnish population (54,000 people) would take the online course. Within a few days there were almost 27,000 enrollees, i.e. half way to the target number, but, as the tweet from lead instructor of the course, Associate Professor Teemu Roos indicates. they had signed up from all around the world - apart from near neighbour Greenland.

According to Reaktor's Janina Fagerlund who designed the user interface for Elements of AI:

when we looked at who was signing up, we saw that they're from every age group, from people below the age of 20 up to 75 year-olds. They are professors, the unemployed, day care workers and dentists - people with very different backgrounds,"

She goes on to explain that the participants share common motives:

"Everyone wants to learn what AI is because they think it will be a big deal in the future. They want to know how AI will affect their lives and how they can make use of it."

While this course is made for non-technical people with says the aims of dispelling the mystery surrounding the technology and raising discussion about it, the Elements of AI team say it is planning to do a followup course later on with programming skills required.

This course has six chapters each with three sections and there are exercises to complete to check your comprehension of each section. When you embark on the course the choices are to complete it within 6 weeks or self paced.

There's about 30 hours of effort required to complete the course, much of it needed for the exercises. The first module sets the scene by discussing what AI is, how it can be defined, and what other fields or technologies are closely related. Three applications of AI that illustrate different aspects of AI are used as examples - Self-driving cars; Content recommendation; Image and video processing - and these are re-visited throughout the course.

The course is supported by a community discussion forum, hosted on Spectrum.chat, where you can get feedback and help from fellow students and even join a virtual study group. Issues raised here are quickly responded to by the course team. Some concern was raised about ambiguity of questions in early exercises which led to modifications and queries about definitions and misspellings were quickly corrected.

Feedback from participants, including those who have already successfully completed the course - which requires completion of at least 90% of the exercises and gaining a score of at least 50% has on the whole been very positive.

While the course won't equip you to embark on an AI related career it will give you an understanding of its jargon and lay the foundations for moving on from its introductory level to more advanced treatments of the topics it covers. For a free course it is a very attractive one.
Superior Court Briefs: May 11 - May 24

Cases heard before Judge Maureen Hogan on Friday, May 11.

Akeem Anderson, 22, of Springfield had a not guilty plea entered on his behalf on a single count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

He was released on $500 bail. The charge stems from a motor vehicle stop in Pittsfield on January 31, 2018.

Cases heard before Judge Maureen Hogan on Monday, May 14.

Stephen Hyland, 34, of Otis was found guilty by a jury on single counts of rape of a child, intimidation of a witness, and open and gross lewdness.

He was ordered to be held without bail until sentencing. The incidents occurred in 2011.

On May 24, Hyland was sentenced to seven to nine years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction on the rape of a child charge. He was given five year's probation on the other charges.

Joshua Honiker, 30, of Lee pleaded guilty to single counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, armed career felon, illegal ownership of a firearm, and possession of cocaine - his second offense.

He was ordered to serve concurrent three to four years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction on the heroin and armed career felon charges. He was given a one-year sentence at the Berkshire County House of Correction on the cocaine charge. He was placed on one-year probation on the firearm charge.

The charges stem from a disturbance in Lee on September 5, 2017. A single count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony was dismissed by the state.

Cases heard before Judge Maureen Hogan on Thursday, May 14.

Trisha Levesque, 39, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on her behalf on single counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute and conspiracy to violate drug laws. She was released on personal recognizance.

The charges stem from a motor vehicle stop in North Adams on April 2, 2018.

David Mackie, 38, of Pittsfield had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on single counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute, possession of clonazepam with intent to distribute, and possession of lorazepam with intent to distribute.

He was released on $1,000 bail. The charges stem from the execution of a search warrant at his home on January 8, 2018.

Robert Wayne Moore, 27, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on three counts of reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of conspiracy to violate drug laws, and single counts of trafficking in heroin, trafficking in cocaine, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, illegal ownership of a firearm, improper storage of a firearm, and possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card.

The charges stem from an investigation into illegal drug activity in Berkshire County and the execution of a search warrant at his home on March 6, 2018.

Cases heard before Judge Maureen Hogan on Monday, May 21.

Michael Boulais, 32, of Hinsdale entered not guilty pleas on single counts of murder, reckless endangerment of a child, and improper storage of a firearm.

He was ordered to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction without bail. Boulais is accused of killing 24-year-old Kassedi Clark on April 13, 2018.

Jason Batchelor, 18, of Springfield had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on single counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, conspiracy to violate drug laws to wit: possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of a loaded firearm, and improper storage of a firearm.

He was released on $500 bail. The charges stem from a motor vehicle stop, in Pittsfield, on January 31, 2018.

Eric Daigle, 39, of Pittsfield was found not guilty of 10 counts of rape of a child and three counts of assault and battery on a child under the age of 14.

Daigle was accused of sexually assaulting a man, who is now 21 years old, in Pittsfield and Adams between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008.

Ryain Gregory, 24, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on single counts of trafficking in firearms, breaking and entering a motor vehicle in the nighttime, and larceny of a firearm.

He was ordered to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $700 bail. The incident is alleged to have occurred in North Adams on March 11, 2018.

Erik Torres, 19, of Springfield had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on single counts of trafficking in cocaine, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to violate drug laws.

He was ordered to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $5,000 bail. The charges stem from the execution of a search warrant in Williamstown on March 14, 2018.

Angel Vasquez, 34, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on single counts of manufacturing cocaine, conspiracy to violate drug laws, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, illegal ownership of a firearm, and possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card.

He was ordered to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $5,000 bail. The charges stem from the execution of a search warrant at his home on March 2, 2018.

Whitney Page Barber-English, 27, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on her behalf on three counts of reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of conspiracy to violate drug laws, and single counts of trafficking in heroin, trafficking in cocaine, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, illegal ownership of a firearm, improper storage of a firearm, and possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card.

The charges stem from an investigation into illegal drug activity in Berkshire County and the execution of a search warrant at her home on March 6, 2018.

Cases heard before Judge Maureen Hogan on Tuesday, May 22.

Shawn Parsons, 46, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on single counts of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute - his second offense - and possession of heroin - his second offense.

He was ordered to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $5,000 bail. The charges stem from the execution of a search warrant at his home on March 2, 2018.

Jonathan Sprowson, 22, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on two counts of conspiracy to violate drug laws, possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

He was ordered to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $1,000 bail. The charges stem from the execution of a search warrant at his home on March 13, 2018.

Tariq Westbrook, 21, of North Adams had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on two counts of conspiracy to violate drug laws, and single counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, illegal ownership of a firearm, improper storage of a firearm, and possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card.

He was ordered that he be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $20,000 bail. The charges stem from the execution of a search warrant at his home on March 13, 2018.

Cases heard before Judge Maureen Hogan on Wednesday, May 23.

Troy Fernandez, 28, of Pittsfield had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf on single counts of possession of heroin with intent to distribute, and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

He was ordered to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $10,000 bail. The charges stem from an incident in Pittsfield on April 5, 2018.

Cases heard before Judge Maureen Hogan on Thursday, May 24.

Selvin Gonzalez-Castillo, 24, of Pittsfield pleaded guilty to single counts of armed assault with intent to murder and aggravated assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon.

He was ordered to serve two years and 27 days of a two year and 28-day sentence at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction.

Gonzalez-Castillo stabbed a 31-year-old man in Pittsfield on April 23, 2016.
Dana St. Pierre and Amy Huebner started the company in 2010.

Shire City Herbals Completes $1.4 Million Expansion Project



Mayor Linda Tyer and Business Development Manager Michael Coakley were just a few of those who toured the building on Thursday. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Shire City Herbals has completed a $1.4 million project to build its own commercial kitchen and warehouse space.

In two weeks, the makers of Fire Cider will start operating out of 15 Commercial St., where the company purchased the former Protech building and embarked on a massive renovation of the interior.

Co-owner Dana St. Pierre said the company will be able to produce significantly more of the vinegar tonic and it has recently signed a contract exporting the product to Canada.

"The fact that we will have it exclusively for our use and we can tailor the layout and there isn't a three-hour round trip, conservatively using the existing equipment we are going to be able to go about 10 times our production," St. Pierre said.

St. Pierre and his wife, Amy Huebner, led a tour of the facility on Thursday. There is space for warehousing -- which Shire City Herbals is renting portions to other small local businesses -- office space, and a commercial kitchen. The company only needs the final approval from the Food and Drug Administration before the kitchen is active.

"We're now exporting to Canada on a large scale," St. Pierre said.





St. Pierre, Amy Huebner, and Brian Huebner formed the company and it grew from there. Amy Huebner said their first production space was the kitchen at the Unitarian Church also on Wendell Avenue. The company began out of the couple's home on Wendell Avenue. St. Pierre had been making the old-fashioned New England cure-all concoction for himself. In late 2010, he made a batch to sell at the Handmade Holiday Festival. And it was popular.St. Pierre, Amy Huebner, and Brian Huebner formed the company and it grew from there. Amy Huebner said their first production space was the kitchen at the Unitarian Church also on Wendell Avenue.

"They were very nice. They let us use their kitchen for $25 a day. And, very quickly, were like 'you guys smell, and things are stained with turmeric,' so we were eventually to move into the [Franklin County] CDC kitchen," she said.

They've been operating there ever since. Eventually, they opened warehouse and office space on West Housatonic Street, in the same building as Blue Q and Lymphdivas. But the company continued to grow and was quickly running out of capacity to make enough to keep up with the demand.

By 2016, the company saw very clearly that the growth it was seeing -- then around 45 percent -- was unsustainable with the current set up.

They started touring properties throughout the county, with an eye to stay in Pittsfield. And then they found the Commercial Street location.

"As soon as it came on the market, a day later we saw it and went after it," Amy Huebner said.

They met with the mayor's office and banks to piece together the finance package they needed. The City Council approved a tax incentive agreement about this time last year to help the numbers match -- with an expectation that Shire City Herbals expands by 10 new jobs by 2021 and invest at least a half million into the property.

Mayor Linda Tyer, who joined the tour with a number of city officials and representatives from local banking institutions, said the project is a perfect example of how different entities can come together to help a locally-grown business. She remembered the early conversations she had with Shire City Herbals about the investment.

"I'm so thrilled you chose our city to expand your business. This is your home. You are raising your son here. It means a lot to us," Tyer told the couple. "This is an example of what can happen with a lot of help from the economic development team that makes up the city and the region, our banks who help our companies when they need funding to expand and grow. This is a perfect of what is possible when they all join together."

Shire City Herbals closed on the property in early 2017 and began renovations. Eventually, more than $1 million was invested into the building. The $1.2 million project, including the purchase of the property, grew to become a $1.4 million project. At the same time, the company saw some 30 percent growth, St. Pierre said.

Now, "we can let the hounds loose and see what this company is capable of," St. Pierre said.

The company is now employing 19 people full time, up from 14 a year ago. They're exporting to all 50 states and have plans to expand their international trade. They have new products they've been waiting to develop and have space set aside to build their own bottling operations -- currently, they export the product in bulk to Connecticut for that -- to further increase efficiency.

"We have a lot of ideas for other products, some in the same vein some not in the same vein, and we haven't been able to pursue them because we didn't have the space," St. Pierre said.

When St. Pierre first started making the drink in the 1990s, he wasn't even thinking about selling it. But, now he's worked through the pains of adapting his recipe made for the size of a Mason jar into a larger-scale, exportable product.

"We didn't have this kind of aspiration when we started but we immediately saw the demand. We got an incredibly positive response everywhere we went and so the business has grown to where it is now. We see more growth in the future," St. Pierre said.

And Tyer said the growth of Fire Cider is an example of a key part of the city's economic strategy moving forward.

"Our best days are ahead and we have to support our small, mid-sized business, the ones that are here now that are successful and growing. While we hope to recruit new businesses from outside of our city and outside of our region, our greatest strength is in the companies that are here now," Tyer said.
The Housing Authority board voted to table a community center project after failing to obtain funding for it.

North Adams Housing Authority Receiving Capital Fund Increase

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The North Adams Housing Authority will receive $686,580 in federal Public Housing Capital Funds to make improvements to its properties.

Executive Director Jennifer Hohn announced in a press release Thursday that the award will increase $236,679 from last year and will allow the expediting of some needed improvements.

"North Adams Housing Authority is extremely excited and grateful in this economic climate to be receiving such a substantial increase in our capital funding," Hohn said. "This which will enable us to get ahead of capital improvement goals and needs of our developments, in addition, to improve on the quality of life of our residents."

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released $2.6 billion throughout the country that will provide funding to approximately 3,100 public housing authorities to build, repair and modernize public housing in their communities.

Hohn noted that $32,694.49 of this increase was given to the Housing Authority as a bonus because it is such a high performer.

Although the Housing Authority may be receiving this increase, Hohn announced at Monday's meeting that she cannot find a funding source for the proposed Greylock Community Center Project at the Greylock Valley Apartments.

"I can't seem to find any funding source for this at all. I know HUD doesn't have any right now," she said. "The banks that I have spoken to, they aren't willing to go into a situation like this."

Hohn said the project was estimated to cost nearly $1 million and the Housing Authority is unable to borrow this amount of money. She added she cannot find a grant source and HUD does not see the project as a priority

"There is not a priority to build a community center with everything going on with HUD," she said. "There is $7 million in cuts."

The Housing Authority board officially voted to suspend the project but Hohn noted that they still have the plans if an opportunity were to arise.

"Maybe in the future, we have the drawings and we have the plans," she said. "We can put it on the back burner and get it off the agenda."

In other business, Hohn said the city needs to continue testing the former Sun Cleaners property at 111 River St.

"They are still doing more testing and they have to dig deeper wells so they can see and make the case to [the state Department of Environmental Protection] that there is no groundwater contamination or that it is minimal," Hohn said. "Then they will go from there."

The Housing Authority board has been trying to dissolve Housing Opportunities Inc. for the past six years and 111 River St. is the last property it must transfer to the city before it can officially disband the program created to help first-time homeowners.

The city i s hesitant to accept the former dry cleaners because of possible contamination. It accepted several other properties and the HOI account, which would be used to fund the remediation 111 River if necessary.

The testing procedure needs to take place over three months.

"It is taking a long time. Much longer than I anticipated but there is nothing I can do about it," Hohn said.

The Housing Authority also voted to elect Colin Todd as the new vice chairman. Former vice chairwoman and tenant member of the Housing Authority Michelle Martinez has left the commission.
Williamstown Rotary Club Awards Paul Harris Fellowship

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Chuck Sweeney of North Adams was presented with a Paul Harris Fellowship by the Williamstown Rotary Club in recognition of his years of service to the community.



His wife, Rotarian Linda Sweeney, presented him with the Fellowship at the club's May 8 meeting, and their children Michelle Masse and Anthony Sweeney both attended the ceremony.



For many years, Sweeney has supported the Williamstown Rotary Club with his skills as a craftsman building items needed for club meetings and fundraisers. A dedicated parishioner of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church, he is a eucharistic minister, acts as an altar server for funerals, assists in the preparation of food for the church fundraising dinners, and has led a bible study group. He was president of the St Vincent de Paul Society for three years and took over the presidency for another term this year. In addition, The Louison House relies heavily on Sweeney and his truck to help move needy families to new apartments.



Valerie Hall, acting president of the club, said, "Chuck is always ready to lend a hand to those in need. So today, it is our honor to make Chuck a Paul Harris Fellow in recognition for all the good he does for others."
There is an excellent chance that western Washington is going to be hit by a major lowland snow event. And yes, the mountains will be b...
Williams Appoints Directors of Financial Aid, Admission

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Williams College has appointed Ashley Bianchi as the director of financial aid and Sulgi Lim as the director of admission.



Bianchi is currently the director of financial aid at Lafayette College and previously worked at Rhodes College and the College of Charleston. Lim currently serves as the deputy director of admission at Williams College, where she has been a member of the college's admission team since 2007.



"I am thrilled about Ashley and Sulgi's appointments," said Elizabeth Creighton, dean of admission and financial aid. "They are tremendously talented, collaborative leaders who care deeply about supporting students and their families. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to partner with them to continue to attract and support the most intellectually engaged, creative, community-minded students from across the nation and around the world. I know the next generation of admission and financial aid at Williams will flourish under their leadership."



Bianchi, who will begin her appointment on July 30, comes to Williams with extensive leadership experience in fostering socioeconomic diversity among student populations, increasing the number of Pell Grant recipients, reducing loan indebtedness, and assisting undocumented students' transitions to college. At Lafayette, she has also played key roles on two Presidential Working Groups, the Student Support Task Force, selecting Posse and Marquis scholars, and serving as a Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment (SASH) advocate.






iciHaiti - DR : The truck loaded with plastic waste has been returned to Haiti





The truck platform, loaded with waste plastic bottles from Haiti who tried to enter last Saturday by Jimani on the Dominican territory without having the necessary authorizations and documents https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24465-haiti-dr-a-truck-of-plastic-waste-from-haiti-blocked-at-the-border.html was forced to return to Haiti by order of the Dominican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.



The Ministry affirms in its decision, to have complied with the law 64-00 which prohibits the importation of waste on the national territory to avoid that toxic substances affect the health of the people or the ecosystems.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24465-haiti-dr-a-truck-of-plastic-waste-from-haiti-blocked-at-the-border.html



IH/ iciHaiti


















Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) submitted to Malacanang on Friday the initial list of private sector employers engaged in illegal contracting practices, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III confirmed to CNN Philippines.

Bello said there are 3,337 companies that have been found to be engaged or suspected to be engaged in labor-only contracting or other illegal contracting or sub-contracting schemes that violate an employee's right to security of tenure.

READ: Duterte orders clampdown on illegal contracting and subcontracting of workers

Bello specifically mentioned telecommunications giant PLDT, fast food company Jollibee, hotels Dusit Thani and Sofitel, retailer The Generics Pharmacy, coconut products exporter Franklin Baker Company of the Philippines, pineapple goods manufacturer Dole Philippines, and media networks he declined to name as of posting.

He said the list is based on reports submitted the department's regional offices.

READ: Jollibee set to appeal DOLE order regularizing workers

PLDT said in a statement it received the decision of the Labor Secretary on April 3 and filed a petition for review before the Court of Appeals on May 2. "Certain aspects of the decision were inconsistent with applicable law, jurisprudence, and the documentary and testimonial evidence presented to the DOLE Secretary," the telco company said.

CNN Philippines is still trying to get the side of the other companies in the list.

Meanwhile, Bello said that they did not include SM Malls in the list because "they submitted voluntarily a program of regularization."

The Labor Secretary said violators will be punished, although he did not specify the penalty. He said they will compel the violating companies to regularize its employees.

"Mayroon ng notices pero basically itong (initial) report namin [We have sent notices to some of the companies but basically our report] is a result of inspection conducted on about 24,000 (out of 900,000) business establishments," he said.

Bello said DOLE only has 570 labor-compliant officers to inspect the companies and was not able to finish inspecting all of the 900,000 companies and business establishments in the country.

The initial list comes in the wake of President Rodrigo Duterte's issuance of an executive order a month ago clamping down on illegal contracting and subcontracting of workers.

READ: Duterte wants list of 'labor-only contracting' firms, cases

Labor-only contracting or contractualization is already prohibited in the Labor Code and DOLE order 174, or the implementing rules on three articles of the Code.

Contractualization refers to the outsourcing of work that is essential or a key role in a business operation.

It also refers to the hiring of employees from a contracting agency - for example, a manpower agency that supplies security guards to companies - that does not have substantial capital or investments in tools and supervision.

Bello also previously said the common practice of "endo" or "555 hiring" scheme must stop. This is where companies release workers on their fifth month of service so they will not be entitled to regular benefits.

"Endo" has been banned in Labor Department Order 174 issued in 2017. Under the section on "other illicit forms of employment arrangements," one of the prohibited acts is "repeated hiring by the contractor/subcontractor of employees under an employment contract of short duration."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  Nineties boy band enthusiasts are in for a treat.

Hit pop group "A1" reunites for its 20th Anniversary "Reunion" Tour, Manila leg.

Ben Adams, Mark Read, Christian Ingebrigsten, and this time with Paul Marazzi will take on the concert stage on October 21 at the Kia Theater in Cubao, Quezon City.

Ticket prices range from P2,250 to P4,500 for the one-night event. They will go on sale beginning June 1 at all TicketNet outlets.

The British-Norwegian group is famous for pop songs "Like a Rose", "Everytime", and "Heaven by your side," among a long list of crowd favorites.

A1 began in 1998 and dominated music charts until early 2000. Marazzi left the group in 2002 for personal reasons.

It won a Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 2001, with over 10 million records sold worldwide.

The band last visited the country in 2016 with only three members  Adams, Read, and Ingebrigsten.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 24)  The election of former Majority Floor Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III as the new Senate President was met by criticism.

Sotto  the most senior of the incumbent lawmakers who elected him  wore many hats while serving at the Senate for two decades.

He was a comedian, a noontime show host for "Eat Bulaga," and a musician. He was also called out for what his critics call misogynistic comments against women and single mothers. He was also in hot water in 2012 when he allegedly copied quotes from the late U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy for his speech.

But the new Senate President, who was elected on May 20 to replace Koko Pimentel, says he'd rather look on the bright side than be brought down by criticisms.

"I would like to remain positive. Now that I am Senate President, I no longer want to pay attention to distractions. I'd rather call them distractions. I'd like to focus on my job," he said in a media briefing.

Sotto brushed off the criticisms as "silly accusations or fake news."

During the briefing, Sotto was asked if he believes his work as a comedian and TV host is affecting his credibility as the third top leader of the country, after the president and vice president.

Sotto said his portrayal of reckless Tito Escalera in sitcom "Iskul Bukol" in the '80s was so effective that it stuck for over three decades. He said the public chooses to look at that instead of his achievements in the Senate.

"Kahit 160+ ang batas na nagawa mo, at ang karaniwang nangyayari sa pamumuhay mo eh dahil sa taong 'yun, ang naaalala mo pa rin yung dati, ibig sabihin ganun sila kagaling it's a compliment, I should treat it as a compliment" he said.

He said he will take a break from hosting the longest-running noontime show "Eat Bulaga" because he'd like to be known more for his role as Senate President.

"I told Vic (Sotto) and Joey (de Leon), in case matuloy ang pinaplano ng majority that I will be elected Senate President, I might not be able to  not only because of the work  I would like for some people to not associate us with the television show muna," he said.

He said his achievements vouch for his illustrious career in the Senate.

"As far as public service is concerned, my records will speak for itself," he said.

Some of the laws authored and sponsored by Sotto are Republic Act (RA) 8369 or the Family Courts Act of 1997, RA 8750 or the Seat Belts Use Act of 1999, RA 7925 or the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, and the RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Drug Act of 2002.

Sotto was Majority Floor Leader from July 2010 to June 2016. He was reelected to the post in July 2016. Sotto also served as senator from 1992 to 1998, ending that term in 2004.
Indian American Jaspreet Singh of Hamilton, Ohio, was shot late night May 12 while sitting in his car. He was removed from a ventilator May 22 and proclaimed dead. Singh is pictured here with his wife (left), his four children, and his mother. Suspect Broderick Malik Jones Roberts was initially indicted on aggravated robbery, felonious assault and unlawful possession of weapons. But a grand jury May 25 indicted Roberts on two counts of felony murder. (United Sikhs photo)
Dr. Ravi Thyagarajan (center) was among four individuals recently honored by the Society of Automotive Engineers during the SAE World Congress. Also seen here (from left) are Dr. Corina Sandu, SAE president Dr. Mircea Gradu, Dr. Anna Stefanopoulou and Dr. John Wagner. (umich.edu photo)
The remotely-piloted aircraft system Reaper, designed by General Atomics, is set to be one of the highlights at the upcoming European RPAS summit UNVEX Security & Defense 2018, which will take place between May 29-31 in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon.

Specifically, a French Air Force Reaper will fly over the fair on the second day and transmit live footage that will be shown to attendees on screens located at the Spanish Air Forces Virgen del Camino base.

The flight represents a significant milestone, as it will be the first time an RPAS with these features takes part in a joint exercise between two European countries.

The operations details were broken down during Unvex S&Ds press presentation in Madrid.

Participants at the preview included UNVEX Director Angel Macho and Col. Carlos Calvo of Spains Ministry of Defense, as well as the Spanish Air Forces Lt. Col. Fernando Gomez Porrua and Cdr. Jaime Leon.

Lt. Col. Gomez explained the Reapers planned itinerary: the system will take off from its base in France, cross the border and take part in a joint field exercise at the Bardenas Reales badlands alongside Spanish Air Force units.

Thereupon it is set to fly to the province of Leon, where it will be taking footage that will be shown in real time at the Virgen de Camino airbase on screens installed by a French communications team.

Cdr. Leon, who was last year trained in operating the Reaper in the United States, said that the impending arrival of this MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) system during the first trimester of 2019 represented a qualitative leap for the Air Forces ISR operations.

The aircraft possesses more than 24 hours of autonomy and will also be available for tasks involving border security or natural catastrophe response, apart from military missions.

For example, the system  dubbed NR.05 in Spain  will be able to provide footage to Spanish vessels engaged in Operation Sophia, which fights against human trafficking in the central Mediterranean. The images currently used are provided by similar RPAS belonging to the Italian Air Force.

An Emerging Market

Macho underscored that this years edition of UNVEX will put the spotlight on RPAS with defense and security applications, a strategic sector that will see considerable growth in the coming years and is viewed by the European Union as a boon for new technologies within its new common security and defense policy.

Meanwhile, Col. Calvo gave an overview of the past 15 years in which the Spanish armed forces have been using remotely-piloted systems, with a special emphasis on the Rapaz (Predator) program that has allowed to test new developments in the Spanish industry on operational units.

UNVEX S&D

Throughout the three days, the fair will feature a wide-ranging program full of roundtables and conferences with first-rate participants from organizations such as the EU, NATO or OCCAR, as well as experts in RPAS use from the Spanish armed forces.

At the same time, the sectors national and international industries will showcase their systems at the exhibition area in Leons congress hall, which will also host the conferences.

The talks will be followed by flight demonstrations displaying different RPAS such as Flir UAS microdrone Black Hornet, tactical fixed-wing systems such as the Thales Groups Fulmar UAVs, SCRs Atlantic or Aertecs Tarsis, as well as multirotors and small platforms such as SCRs Tucan, Indras Mantis or Expals Shepherd.

Two nearby military bases will host the exhibitions: the Virgen del Camino airbase and the army base Conde de Gazola.

The fair, however, will not only focus on aircraft: it is also set to unveil the latest cutting-edge advances in unmanned ground vehicles and naval vessels.
The Euromale project is set to be one of the protagonists at the first European summit on security and defense drones, UNVEX S&D, which will be held in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon between May 29-31.

The conference cycle will include within its international cooperation projects segment a presentation by the projects director, in which he will tackle the current state of affairs and the future stages of the European MALE RPAS (Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely-Piloted Aircraft System).

The Euromale represents a blueprint in cooperation for the new Defense-oriented Europe, with the participation of four countries  Spain, France, Germany and Italy  and the involvement of some of the continents biggest companies, such as Airbus, Dassault or Leonardo.

Along with the Euromale program, the same panel will analyze other international projects such as the European Unions Ocean 2020 initiative, which is researching the integration of autonomous systems into a naval setting in order to improve maritime safety.

In addition, NATO will present its procurement agencys (NSPA) guidelines on unmanned systems, as well as other programs such as Watchkeeper.

These conferences will allow attendees to witness how European countries and the security and defense industry work together hand-in-hand on the design of RPAS solutions within the framework of the new European defense industry policy.

OCCAR, the organization that manages the Euromale program, will also be present during the first plenary session.

Its director, Maj. Gen. Arturo Alfonso Meirino, will lay out his vision for the projects future and talk about other programs spearheaded by the intergovernmental organization.

Integration into airspace

The challenge of integrating RPAS and UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) into airspace will be the focus of another plenary session within the conference cycle. The panel will be moderated by Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Juanas Garcia, the Chief of the Spanish Air Forces Operations Division.

The panel will include as speaker the head of the European Defense Agencys Single European Sky initiative, Christophe Vivier; the deputy director of the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technologys (INTA) Aeronautic Systems department, Bartolome Marques, Col. Jose Vicente Nieto of the Spanish Air Forces Airspace Section (Sespa); as well as a representative of the company Isdefe, one of the summits partners, who will speak about U-Space integration into Air Traffic Management.

This last topic represents a crucial issue for the future development of the RPAS sector. In this regard, the European Commission has placed its bets on boosting the progressive integration of unmanned systems into airspace, guaranteeing the sectors expansion, at the same time that this new technology is made available on the mass market.

Naval and terrestrial systems

Apart from the aerial systems demonstrations at the Conde de Gazola and Virgen del Camino military bases, UNVEX will also host the presentation of remotely-piloted and autonomous naval and ground vehicles.

INTAs Maranosa Technological Institute will exhibit its Remote Drive initiative, while the Israeli company IAI will showcase an unmanned ground vehicle possessing a high degree of autonomy and maneuverability.

On the other hand, GMV and Indra will unveil their advances in the naval field, including an unmanned surface vessel designed for surveillance tasks and the protection of fishing areas.

The enrollment process for UNVEX S&D is currently open. Those who wish to attend the conferences, exhibitions and demonstrations will need to register previously at http://unvex-sd.com/es/inscription/

 Information & Design Solutions, S.L. All rights reserved. This article cannot be copied or duplicated without a license granted by the publisher. The total or partial public reproduction on any media platform of this article is forbidden and requires the publishers express written consent.
The 5th Intervention Battalion (BIEM V) of Spains Military Emergencies Unit (UME) will perform an exhibition of drone use in emergencies on Thursday, May 30, at the Spanish Armys Conde de Gazola military base.

The exercise is part of the broad program set up for the upcoming European summit on Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in Security and Defense, Unvex S&D, which will be held in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon on May 29, 30 and 31.

The Unit will show the different missions that RPAS can perform in an urban rescue scenario. The drill will take place at the military base that is home to the BIEM V, which has been designed for training exercises in search-and-rescue scenarios.

The emergency professionals will put into practice the coordinated application of drones with the other means generally used in these operations. They will also display how the UMEs specialized RPAS operators obtain and process the in-flight data collected by the aircraft systems.

Last summer, the BIEM V took part in wildfire extinction efforts in the province of Leon, with the UME acting in coordination with the Spanish Army. As reported by this outlet, the Searcher MK III J used by the Obtainment through Aerial Systems Group (Grosa) took part for the first time in the regional government of Castile and Leons firefighting campaign. The Searcher patrolled the El Bierzo area, where statistics show that intentional fires represent 70 percent of the total. At the campaigns close, it had detected 17 of the 31 focused fires that had erupted in the area.

Flight exhibitions

The Unvex S&D program includes the largest RPAS flight exhibition held in Europe to date.

Apart from rotary-wing drones  two of them of the Class I micro type  eight fixed-wing systems  most of them tactical  a tethered drone and three anti-drone systems, attendees will be able to see a MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) Reaper drone in flight.

This constitutes the first time that people will be able to enjoy three consecutive days of high-caliber RPAS exhibitions.

The flights will take place at the Conde de Gazola military base and the Virgen del Camino airbase.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  President Rodrigo Duterte said Jose Maria "Joma" Sison has agreed to return to the country, even as the communist party founder has set conditions for this to happen.

On self-exile in the Netherlands, Sison on Friday said he will only come home if there will be a major breakthrough in peace negotiations.

"Hindi basta-basta ako umuwi at ilagay ko ang sarili ko at entire peace nego sa bulsa at awa (mercy) ni Duterte at mga reaksyonaryo at militar na pumapalibot sa kanya. Dapat substantial progress muna sa peace nego bago mapag-iwanan ang foreign neutral venue na safe and convenient for the negotiators and consultants of both sides," he told CNN Philippines.

Among Sison's conditions  a signed ceasefire deal, amnesty for political prisoners, and a signed Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms. He also wanted an assurance on his safety.

Duterte on Thursday said Sison has agreed to come home, and he is even willing to personally escort the communist leader.

"I have invited Sison to come home. He has agreed. I gave him a window of two months, very small. Make or break tayo dito. I will see to it and will personally maybe escort him to the airport 'pag walang nangyari sa two months. I will allow him to go out. I will not arrest him because word of honor 'yan eh," he said in a speech in Davao City.

Duterte also issued a warning to Sison.

"But sabihin ko talaga sa kanya, "P***** i** mo 'wag ka nang bumalik dito. Papatayin talaga kita." 'Pag walang mangyari, sabihin ko talaga sa kanya, "do not ever, ever return again to this country. I will kill you. You've killed so much of my soldiers and policemen. Dapat lang," he said.

Government and communist negotiators are holding backchannel talks for the possible resumption of negotiations, six months after Duterte called them off. Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza on May 8 said "informal backchannel talks" are now taking place in Europe, but did not specify the place.

Talks stalled in November 2017 after Duterte signed Proclamation 360 that terminated negotiations with the National Democratic Front, which represents communist rebels in peace talks.
The initial sessions of the conference program for the upcoming UNVEX Security & Defense congress, Europes largest summit on military and security drones, will bring together representatives of all institutions, organizations and agencies linked to everything related to Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) at Leons congress hall.

One of the main topics that will be discussed at UNVEX S&D is the development of an RPAS usage in the armed forces doctrine. In addition, other issues up for debate will include innovation and cutting-edge technology, the industrys achievements and challenges, as well as RPAS integration into airspace and its management (UTM; Unmanned Traffic Management).

During a plenary session titled Doctrine and use of Remotely-Piloted Systems, which will be moderated by Spains Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. Fernando Jose Lopez del Pozo, high-level representatives of the armed forces will debate how to achieve an adequate usage doctrine. The starting point will be the fact that the increasing use of these systems in the fields of Security and Defense has created new prospects that call for the creation of a new doctrine and determining how they fit into current military equipment models.

The panel will be composed by renowned speakers such as the Chief of Staff of NATOs Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), Vice Adm. Eugenio Diaz del Rio; the head of EMACONs planning division, Rear Adm. Benigno Gonzalez-Aller Gross; the chief of EMAs planning division, Brig. Gen. Juan Pablo Sanchez de Lara; the head of the EMEs planning division, Maj. Gen. Luis Manuel Martinez Meijide; and the deputy director of the Spanish Military Intelligence Centers (CIFAS) intelligence support, Brig. Gen. Antonio Martinez Manzanares.

Spanish representative at NATO

Spains military representative before the European Union and NATO, Adm. Jose Luis Urcelay, will moderate UNVEX S&Ds first plenary session. The admiral will preside over the roundtable titled European Cooperation Programs, which will see  right after the summits inauguration  the participation of high-level representatives of organizations such as the European Defense Agency (EDA), the Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and the European Commission.

The panel will delve into the importance of industrial cooperation being promoted by the EU as a formula to develop its own technology that will allow for more strategic autonomy, as well optimizing the European armed forces equipment. Within this framework, projects such as Euromale and EDA programs within its Preparatory Action for Defense Research (PADR) initiative are of great importance for the European defense industry.

The roundtables have been designed as open debates that will serve to expose contrasting opinions and experiences related to a future usage doctrine for military RPAS.

Support by the regional government of Castile and Leon

The government of Spains Castile and Leon region has expressed its interest in the project from the start, while the mayor of Leon, Antonio Silvan, has made the city and its infrastructure available for the summit.

At UNVEX S&Ds presentation in January, Silvan thanked IDS, the company organizing the event, for placing its trust in Leon to host this fifth RPAS summit. The congress will become the inaugural event at Leons new Congress Hall, a 9,000 m2 (97,000 ft2) space whose inauguration coincides with the year that Leon has been named Spanish gastronomical capital.

With this summit, whose honor committee will be presided by the Spanish defense minister, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, Spain is set to take the initiative in Europes unmanned systems technology sector.
The European summit on remotely-piloted systems, Unvex Security & Defense, which will take place in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon on May 29, 30 and 31, will tackle the development of RPAS detection and neutralization systems. The so-called anti-drone systems will be analyzed by industry experts and specialists from Europes main defense institutions.

Along with the protection against threats derived from the ill-intentioned use of drones, the development of this type of technology has sparked the need for designing systems that avoid the signal interception of RPAS. That is, protection against anti-drone systems, which is especially required in the field of Defense due to the danger represented by the interception of systems used by the armed forces in conflict zones.

This issue, in particular, will be addressed by a representative of Aeronautics. This Israeli company has developed technology capable of protecting RPAS signal and guaranteeing their routes. On the roundtable dedicated to this matter, which will be held on May 30, will also feature members of the Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Center of Excellence (C-IED COE), who will explain how they act in scenarios in which drones are used as IEDs, its consequences and the lessons learned through the security forces and armies protection and prevention procedures.

Condor Program

In this debate, attendees will be able to become acquainted with the features of several systems developed by Spanish companies, as well as the plans by the Spanish Ministry of Defenses Armament and Material Office (DGAM) to promote research based on the Condor program.

As part of this project, the DGAM will start this summer with anti-drone system trials, with support from Spains National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA). In this projects first stage, portable anti-drone systems have are already being tested. Lt. Col. Jose Manuel Mateo Alonso from the Spanish Armys Artillery branch said during a talk at the Security Technology Center (Cetse) in March that the DGAM was making a great effort in national technology analysis to know how we can protect our territory.

Reaper flight

Within the summits exhibitions program, the RPAS Reaper from General Atomics will be one of the big protagonists. The MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) system will fly over the fair on the second day and transmit live footage that will be shown to attendees on screens located at the Spanish Air Forces Virgen del Camino base.

The flight represents a significant milestone, as it will be the first time an RPAS with these features takes part in a joint exercise between two European countries, as explained during the press preview for UNVEX S&D a few days ago. The MALE will take off from its base in France, cross the border and take part in a joint field exercise at the Bardenas Reales badlands alongside Spanish Air Force units. Thereupon it is set to fly to the province of Leon, where it will show off its capabilities.

New technology

The second thematic hall on Tuesday, May 29, will be dedicated to the latest tech in unmanned aircraft, ground and naval systems, as well as their integration. Thales Alenia Space will show its newest advances on its Stratobus, an airship model that functions as a drone-and-satellite hybrid.

The company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will present its robotized Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) for defense and security, while the Spanish companies Indra and GMV will display the results of its latest Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) trials, designed for maritime protection and surveillance.

The project Nertra by the Spanish company Drotium will also be unveiled at Unvex S&D. It is an ambitious projected geared towards the transport of the future based on the integration of a transport system using autonomous electric vehicles.

European cooperation programs

The European industry has placed its bets on cooperation programs as the backbone of its new Defense policy. During the first day of UNVEX S&D, analysts will go over the state of projects such as Ocean 2020, Euromale or Watchkeeper.

NATOs Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) will present its ongoing projects and vision for the future. The same panel will analyze the European Unions Ocean 2020 initiative, which studies the integration of autonomous naval vessels to improve maritime security. Euromale is the other big European project that is in its full-blown development stage. The programs coordinator will explain its current state and key aspects at Unvex S&D. In addition, speakers will dissect the current situation and forecast for the future of the Watchkeeper project, a pioneer in the design and development of a tactical RPAS. The United Kingdoms Armed Forces already operate this system in conflict zones since it was launched in 2005.
12 de octubre de 2021 - Actualizado: 05:10
A Division of the Lagos State High Court has fixed June 26 to rule on an application brought by alleged billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, to quash the criminal charges brought against him.

A. Akintoye, the judge, fixed the date after overruling an earlier application by Evans that the charges constituted an abuse of court processes.

Evans, on Friday asked a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere to quash all the charges filed against him by the Lagos State Government.

According to Olukoya Ogungbeje, counsel to Evans, similar charges had been instituted against his client in other courts by the Lagos State Government. He said the charges were grossly defective, repetitive and an abuse of court processes.

Relying on Section 153 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law ( ACJL ) of Lagos State, Mr Ogungbeje added that nothing stopped the prosecution from bringing the charges under one judge pointing out that counts three, four and five of the charges were repetitions of same offence.

Apart from the counts being of same offence, same section of the law is being provided in these counts, he said.

I submit that the prosecution misfired by bringing different charges and instituting the same case in different courts.

I urge your lordship to quash the charge because it is defective and an abuse of court process,

In response, the prosecuting counsel, Titilayo Shitta-Bey, said the general rule is that every offence must be in a separate count.

It will be against the provisions of the law to lump the two offences in one count, she added.

She said the first defendant, Evans, was charged with attempt to murder one James Uduji in count three, while in count four, he was charged with attempt to murder Donald Nwoye.

She also said that other charges filed against the first defendant in other courts involved other defendants and different charges. She, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the application. She also said that other charges filed against the first defendant in other courts involved other defendants and different charges. She, therefore, urged the court to dismiss the application.

Counsel to the second defendant urged the court to dismiss the charges against Linus Okpara, his client, stating that no prima facie had been established against him.

Jude Igbanoi, counsel to the third defendant, said, I will align myself with the arguments made by the first defendant.

I urge this honourable court to quash the charge, there is nothing in the proof of evidence linking the third defendant to the charge

In response however, Ms Shitta-Bey said the proof of evidence disclosed a prima facie case against Mr Okpara.

She said the proof of evidence disclosed where the third defendant admitted collecting N2 million for the first defendant in relation to one of the victims, Uche Okoroafor. She, therefore, urging the court to dismiss the argument of the third defendant.

The case was adjourned to June 26 for ruling by the judge.

Evans is charged alongside Joseph Emeka, Ugochukwu Nwachukwu and Victor Aduba in a fresh two count charge bordering on conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and attempted murder

In the second charge, Evans is being tried alongside Joseph Emeka, Linus Okpara and Victor Aduba in a three count charge before the same judge

Evans is also facing trial before Hakeem Oshodi and Oluwatoyin Taiwo, judges at the Ikeja Division of the Lagos State High Court.

Tribune
Daddy Freeze has advised a young girl to go ahead and have an abortion after she was raped by robbers who invaded her home.

He gave this advise while commenting on a post which had the story of a 17 year old who was raped by some robbers that had broken into their home to steal.

Few weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant for one of them.

The report had it that the family was left in a state of dilemma as they did not know which action to take towards an unfortunate happening, the news also had it that their members advised them to keep the baby.

Freeze was quick to pen down his comment, giving the 17 year old girl a go ahead he wrote saying;

Listen Guys, you own your body, not the church and not your parents, you own it!

This woman and any woman in a similar situation has the right to an abortion! ~FRZ

See post below:

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Former Aviation Minister Femi Fani-Kayode and his wife Precious Chikwendu have welcomed three boys.

The couple welcomed the triplets this morning. It also happens to be Precious birthday so its double celebration for the family.

The boys have been named Ragnar, Aiden, and Liam. The couple already have one son named Arargorn.

Announcing the good news, FFK wrote:

I give thanks to God for the birth of my three beautiful sons Ragnar, Aiden and Liam this morning.

They are so beautiful. Precious and the three boys are doing very well.

Today is her birthday: what a wonderful birthday gift that the Lord has given to us. To God be the glory!

Few hours ago, the Proud Father celebrated his wife on her birthday.

Posting a lovely picture of Precious, he wrote:

Happy birthday to my darling wife @Snowhitey1. May the Lord continue to bless you and be with you, may His Holy Spirit guide and lead you and may He cause you to excel, flourish and prosper. Thanks for your love and kindness and for being such a wonderful wife to me.1/2.

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Some Nigerian under the auspices of the Nigerian Female Parliamentarians visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, on Friday. Elizabeth Ativie, chairperson of organisation, who spoke on behalf the delegation, decried the marginalisation of women in politics.

Ativie, who is a member of the Edo state house of assembly noted that many African countries have imbibed that culture making a man man is a president, then a woman his vice. See what she said;

Since 1999, we only have one principal officer each in the senate and the house of representatives.

And in the state houses of assembly, we have only just five per cent. Women are five percent of the total population of elected members of the state houses of assembly and we feel that this is not good enough for all the efforts we women had put in the development of this country particularly in politics. We feel the trend now needs to be reversed and we feel you are the only one who can do it now.

The implementation strategy is simple. Any statement you make today is a policy statement and is a law. Many African countries have imbibed that culture of twinning and is working  in Rwanda, in South Africa is working and we believe it will work in Nigeria. Where a man is a president we expect that the vice president should be a woman; where a man is speaker, we expect that the deputy speaker should be a woman and vice versa.

Responding, Buhari noted the efforts of women in ensuring political stability in the country and for the support given to him during the 2015 presidential election.

President Buhari jokingly told the visiting female parliamentarians,Its a pity the vice-president is not here. But I believe the secretary to the government of the federation will tell him that his position is threatened
Reno Omokri, former aide of ex president Goodluck Jonathan in a recent social media post asked where Rev Mbaka is, now that President Muhammadu Buhari is hero worshipping late former head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha.

It will be recalled that Father Mbaka, a Catholic Priest of Adoration Ministry, Enugu had prophesied Buharis victory in the 2015 presidential election. However, in January 2018, Mbaka in his new year message said Buhari would be totally disgraced if he takes a shot at the presidency after his current tenure.

According to Mr Omokri, Mbaka remained silent when news broke that two Catholic Priests and 17 parishioners were killed by herdsmen, who are Buharis kinsmen.

See his tweet here

Where is Rev Mbaka now that Buhari is hero worshipping Abacha. Mbaka, a Catholic Priest, remained silent as Benue buried 2 Catholic Priests and 17 parishioners killed by Buharis herdsmen kinsmen. This same Mbaka lied that Jonathan wanted to kill him! Is Mbaka proud of himself?  Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) May 24, 2018

Well, some Twitter users in their reactions noted that Father Mbaka has done nothing wrong, all he did was to prophesy that Buhari will win. Some even noted that Mbaka has since distanced himself from Buhari. See some reactions below;

I am no fan of PMB or Mbaka, but shit is the man predicted that PMB would win the election. He did not prophesy that he was gonna be a good leader, and he came back to say pmb aint gonna win 2019, like how the heck do u have a problem with the man.  Asipita Afolabi (@itzafoshat) May 24, 2018

Calm down Sir.. If you have failed to listen to his recent criticisms of buharis administration, dont come here saying things to actually pull people down just for political justification  Doozie (@EdoxieU1) May 24, 2018
Zainab Balogun who just got married recently has shared photos from her honeymoon in Thailand and it appears she is having the time of her life.

Sharing the photos, she wrote:

I made it to Coral Island 



1: We drove for over an hour from Bangkok to Pattaya City.This beachside destination is very popular among party tourists. Theres a strip of clubs along the main street for mostly house music.



2:There are boats leaving Pattaya for other islands that you can visit such as Coral Island. Here you can enjoy snorkelling , Scuba diving, deep sea fishing and more.



3: Guess who got a taste of Thai beer today . Not bad  

Day 2: I started my day visiting the giant Buddha at the Gold Buddha Temple. Heres today #ThaiThrees



1: Historically the Thai people were very rich in Gold. During the BurmeseSiamese war they would often hide their riches in plain sight. This Buddha was originally covered in stucco until one day it was being moved and a crack was discovered revealing the 24k Gold underneath.



2: The Buddha temple is very sacred to the people. No shoes, hats or excess display of skin allowed in the temple. You will be sent home with any short sleeves or lace accents. 

3: My pants were a winner today. Everybody wanted a picture with the brown Afro girl with the red pants.

Day 3: I had my first Thai dessert today!  Fresh coconut ice cream with sticky rice and peanuts from the Damnoen Saduak floating market. Peep my #ThaiThrees today.



1: My @abaytour guide said she wanted me to experience real Thai life and see how some locals make a living. We went to the floating market which is literally a market on water . Everything is as fresh as it can get because it comes in straight from the sea. As you can see Im in a boat down the canal where other boats display their goods and pull you aside with a stick if youre interested in making a purchase. It was such a unique experience.



2: I had the best noodle soup Ive ever tasted at the market where once agin youre watching your meal being made from a boat. 

3: I found out today that Kun Joys older brother is champion boxer; Sagat Petchyindee who Sagat from the Street Fighter game series was created after. I get to meet him on Saturday! How cool is that?

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles is no longer covered by the government's witness protection program (WPP).

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday terminated Napoles' provisional coverage under its WPP.

The DOJ said its move is in line with the decision of the first, third, and fifth divisions of anti-graft court Sandiganbayan to deny Napoles' motion to be transferred from Camp Bagong Diwa to the custody of DOJ. This makes Napoles' admission to the WPP "moot and academic," the DOJ said.

In a bid to justify her need for government protection, Napoles' camp in March claimed that her jail cell was ransacked in October last year.

But the DOJ on Friday said, "there has been no further claim of threats to her personal security inside Camp Bagong Diwa, the (Secretary of Justice) has found no reason to extend further Ms. Napoles' provisional coverage under the Witness Protection Program."

Napoles' provisional coverage to the WPP was granted by resigned Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on February 27 "for witness duty only" and for only up to 90 days, the DOJ said.

Napoles is accused of funneling P10 billion in lawmakers' funds to bogus non-government organizations. Her lawyer Stephen David, earlier told CNN Philippines Napoles filed new affidavits on what she knows about the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 2013. He denied she was the mastermind.

David on Friday said stripping Napoles of state protection will prevent her from revealing the big names who are really involved in the scam. "Sayang kasi mahirap naman magsalita siya na may threat sa buhay niya dun sa loob (Alas, because it is hard for he to speak knowing that there are threats in her life in jail)."

Malacanang, meanwhile, stood by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra's decision.

"We support DOJ (Secretary) decision and agree that (Napoles) is not the least guilty whose testimony is not indispensible and can be testified upon by other witnesses," Presidential Spokesperon Harry Roque said in a statement.

Guevarra earlier hurled strong words against Napoles, saying she has no right to demand to be transferred to DOJ custody because her provisional coverage "merely signifies that she has yet to complete all the requirements and/or that her application is still under evaluation."
javier de la vega

De la Vega joins the firms Lima office, one of five cities in Latin America the firm has offices in. There are seven partners and more than 40 employees in the Latin America division.

De la Vega joins from PwC, where he gained most of his 20 years of professional experience, and has previously held positions such as corporate tax manager for mining group Anglo American in Peru. He graduated in law from Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and LLM in banking and finance law from London School of Economics.

He is also an approved member of organisations such as: The Peruvian Institute of Tax Law (IPDT), the tax committee of the Peruvian National Mining, Oil and Energy Association, the Association for the Promotion of Infrastructure Development and the Peruvian group of the International Fiscal Association (IFA).

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Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin has defended its use of a Mauritian company, telling International Tax Review that it structures its business in a tax-efficient manner thats compliant with the law.
May 25, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) A Canadian precious metals mining company recently announced its newest acquisition, as well as 2018 drilling plans for its other major projects.

Golden Ridge Resources Ltd. (GLDN:TSX.V), a precious metals explorer located in Canada,has announced its newest acquisition of a gold project in British Columbia.

Before diving into that, let's take a quick recap of its current developing projects.

Hank Property

One of Golden Ridge Resources' biggest projects is located right in the Golden Triangle in British Columbia. This area includes some of the highest-grade metals in the world. Golden Ridge's Chair Larry Nagy was part of the discovery team at both the Eskay Creek, Canada's highest-grade gold mine, and Snip, another high-grade mine in the Golden Triangle.

In October 2017, a Streetwise Reports article noted, "the company has an option to earn 100% interest in the Hank gold-silver-copper property in the Golden Triangle in northern British Columbia. This area is home to large deposits, such as Pretium's Brucejack and Seabridge Gold's KSM project."

Recently, the company has shared more details on its progress with the Hank property. According to its initial contract in 2013 with Barrick, Golden Ridge has over four years to conduct $2 million in exploration (subject to a 2% NSR). With the first three years of the terms fulfilled, Golden Ridge is approaching its final year in 2018. (See the table below.)

Hank Property Agreement Option Schedule

The company shared its 2017 drilling highlights for the project, which included one section that "intersected a buried intrusion with a mineralized contact zone grading 7.04g/t AuEq over 21.62m. The intrusion likely represents one of several causative mineralizing intrusions at depth."

Golden Ridge also came across an anomaly in the Williams Zone section of the Hank property. The company stated, "hand trenching and stripping of a copper-in-soil anomaly in 2017 resulted in a significant new alkalic porphyry Cu-Au."

Management believes it has found the center (400-meter-diameter bullseye) of a porphyry copper system right in the Williams Zone.

In late 2017, the company did construct a drilling pad on the Williams Zone. Due to low seasonal stream flow, however, Golden Ridge postponed drilling until the summer of this year.

Depending on the initial results, "up to 15 additional drill pads may be utilized to delineate the entire magnetic anomaly."

For 2018, Golden Ridge plans to drill over 8,000 meters on five highly prospective targets on the Hank project.

Newest Acquisitions and Options: Royalle Property and North Canol Property

On April 25, Golden Ridge announced that it signed an option agreement whereby it can acquire 100% of the Royalle property located in Bralorne, "British Columbia's most prolific gold mining camp."

The complete acquisition is contingent upon Golden Ridge "issuing 480,000 common shares and $160,000 in cash to the property vendors and by incurring exploration work on the property of $580,000 over the term of the agreement [four years]."

"It's a project that we can work all year around," said Mike Blady, president, CEO and director of Golden Ridge.

For fall 2018, the company plans to test targets hidden beneath alluvial valley cover, giving the company year-round drilling-related news flow.

Mike Blady also added, "Recent geophysical surveys have confirmed that the regional structures responsible for gold mineralization at the Bralorne mine (produced >4.15M ounces of Au) continue onto the property."

Not only is Golden Ridge acquiring deals, but it's also optioning them out.

Golden Ridge recently optioned out its 13,200 Ha. North Canol Ag-Pb-Zn property to Fireweed Zinc Ltd. for an aggregate of $500,000 cash and 450,000 common shares. Golden Ridge initially acquired this silver, lead, and zinc project in 2011.

The project was re-evaluated again in 2017, finding highly anomalous cobalt values (up to 960 pmm), according to Golden Ridge's April 2017 corporate presentation.

Long-Term Stock Performance

Clive Maund rated Golden Ridge stock as a "sleeper" in March. Looking at the stock's performance over an 8-year period, he argued that the stock traded at much higher prices in the past.

"Golden Ridge is an attractive goldsilver speculative play here, that has the potential to take off higher suddenly on positive drill results. . .it is very difficult to predict exactly when it will take off higher, although January's drilling results do suggest that it could be sooner rather than later"

The company says it's extremely undervalued relative to peers, trading at a current market cap of only $10.27 million (May 15, 2018 closing price), with approximately $4 million in cash in the treasury.

Disclosure:

1) Nikia Wade compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Pretium Resources and Seabridge Gold. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with Golden Ridge. Please click here for more information.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Golden Ridge, a company mentioned in this article.

CliveMaund.com Disclosure:

The above represents the opinion and analysis of Mr Maund, based on data available to him, at the time of writing. Mr. Maund's opinions are his own, and are not a recommendation or an offer to buy or sell securities. Mr. Maund is an independent analyst who receives no compensation of any kind from any groups, individuals or corporations mentioned in his reports. As trading and investing in any financial markets may involve serious risk of loss, Mr. Maund recommends that you consult with a qualified investment advisor, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction and do your own due diligence and research when making any kind of a transaction with financial ramifications. Although a qualified and experienced stock market analyst, Clive Maund is not a Registered Securities Advisor. Therefore Mr. Maund's opinions on the market and stocks can only be construed as a solicitation to buy and sell securities when they are subject to the prior approval and endorsement of a Registered Securities Advisor operating in accordance with the appropriate regulations in your area of jurisdiction.

Clive Maund: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

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Smart speakers are a pretty common element in a lot of homes now, with a lot of trust being put into these connected devices.

Update: Amazon has provided a reason as to why Alexa recorded a conversation and sent it to a stored contact without the explicit consent of the device owner. According to the company, Alexa was trigged because the smart speaker thought it heard a word that sounded like Alexa, and then determined the command as send message. As a result, the conversation was recorded and it was sent off.

Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like Alexa. Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a send message request. At which point, Alexa said out loud To whom? At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, [contact name], right? Alexa then interpreted background conversation as right. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.

So, there we go. What do you think of the reasoning? Good enough?

The original article continues below.

But sometimes technology can do strange things, and oftentimes without the owners direct consent. Which appears to be the case with a family that owns a variety of different Amazon Echo smart speakers, with Amazons digital personal assistant, Alexa, on board. As was first reported on Thursday by KIRO 7, a family based out of Portland, Oregon, was having a conversation and it was recorded by one of their Alexa-enabled products.

Thats not all. The conversation was recorded, but then it was sent to a stored contact after the recording finished. According to the family, they have Alexa devices in every room of their house, which they use to control other smart products in their home.

The family spoke with an Alexa engineer, who said that its an issue that needs to be addressed and fixed. However, the engineer didnt provide any additional details on the subject. Amazon, for its part, did provide a statement to the news agency:

Amazon takes privacy very seriously. We investigated what happened and determined this was an extremely rare occurrence. We are taking steps to avoid this from happening in the future.

Unfortunately, there is no word on when Amazon might get this fixed, or if theyd even say anything more about it once they do fix it. Or why it happened in the first place.

Our Take

Having devices that are always listening to us is going to come with an element of trust, but its always worth being aware that these types of breaches in our trust are possible. It would be nice to get some transparency on Amazons part, though, to see why this happened and how theyre going to fix it. That might be too much to ask, though.

[via KIRO 7
Earlier this month, Valve officially announced a brand new Steam Link app for iOS which would allow users to play games from their Steam library on their PC directly on their iOS device, thanks to Wi-Fi streaming.

But it looks like that dream has fallen short, as MacRumors reports on Thursday that Apple has actually denied the Steam Link app for iOS (and Apple TV) based on a determination of business conflicts. Apples app reviewers actually approved the app for release on May 7, but, according to Apple, those reviewers missed conflicts in their initial review process.

On Monday, May 7th, Apple approved the Steam Link app for release. On Weds, May 9th, Valve released news of the app. The following morning, Apple revoked its approval citing business conflicts with app guidelines that had allegedly not been realized by the original review team. Valve appealed, explaining the Steam Link app simply functions as a LAN-based remote desktop similar to numerous remote desktop applications already available on the App Store. Ultimately, that appeal was denied leaving the Steam Link app for iOS blocked from release. The team here spent many hours on this project and the approval process, so were clearly disappointed. But we hope Apple will reconsider in the future.

Valve, for its part, has tried to appeal Apples decision, but that has not worked out in the companys favor just yet. Valve is trying to get as much attention on the situation as possible, all in an effort to get Apple to change its decision based on public outcry.

The app was initially intended to launch this week in the iOS App Store, but it doesnt look like it will be arriving any time soon.

Our Take

Valve sums it up pretty well in their statement, stating that the Steam Link app is just a LAN-based Remote Desktop, allowing for Steam Library owners to play their games on their mobile devices and not on their PCs. That shouldnt get them banned. But it absolutely does lead to some very interesting questions, considering that business conflicts as a reason to ban the app seems to suggest Apple is working on something similar. With WWDC right around the corner, it seems like interesting timing.

[via MacRumors
Apple and Samsung have been going to court for years now, especially in regards to a long-standing battle over patents and the iPhone design.

Upate: Apple has a comment on the decision, saying that it is a fact Samsung copied its product, and that the company is grateful for the jurys decision.

Heres the statement, as initially shared by Mark Gurman on Twitter:

It is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design  Were grateful to the jury for their service and pleased they agree that Samsung should pay for copying our products.

The original article continues below.

The trial was renewed recently, with Samsung aiming to get damages owed to Apple reduced quite a bit. But, as reported today by CNET, Samsung will have to fork over a lot of money. After four days of jury deliberation, the group of people have determined that Samsung must pay almost $539 million to Apple as a result of its infringing on design and utility patents.

Specifically, the jurors determined that Samsung must pay $533,316,606 for infringing upon a trio of Apples design patents. And an additional $5,325,050 for infringing upon a pair of utility patents. This is a case that has been kicking around since 2011, with multiple decisions along the way. This latest decision, though, was a unanimous one made by the jurors.

There has been a lot of back-and-forth up to this point. As mentioned above, Samsung was found guilty of patent infringement back in 2012. At the time, Samsung was ordered to pay $1 billion to Apple, but that was later reduced to $584 million. It wouldnt be until 2015 that Samsung actually agreed to pay that much, even as it worked to get the number reduced even further. Which is why the two companies are in a retrial right now, as it has been left up to Apple with the burden of proof to retain any amount of damages paid by Samsung.

Our Take

Well, its not the $1 billion that Apple was seeking. It made a passionate argument just last week that the company was risking everything when it launched the original iPhone, but it looks like jurors didnt think a billion dollars was the right amount for Samsung to fork over.

[via CNET
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  The remains of a Filipino worker found in a purifying tank in South Korea will be flown to the Philippines Saturday evening, Philippine authorities say.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Deputy Administrator Arnell Ignacio shared a copy of the consular mortuary certificate of suspected murder victim Angelo Claveria.

The remains of the 34-year old Iloilo native will arrive on May 26 in Manila and will then be sent to his hometown Cabatuan the next day.

Special Assistant to the President Christopher "Bong" Go will visit the wake to personally hand over to the family of the deceased assistance for the burial provided by the OWWA and financial aid from the Office of the President.

Mayette Claveria, sister of Angelo, requested the help of SAP Go in bringing the body of Angelo home to the Philippines.

Earlier this month, Department of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Elmer Cato said South Korean authorities suspect this is a case of murder committed by another Filipino.

READ: DFA: South Korea authorities hunting Filipino suspect in murder case

Cato said the country's authorities asked help from the Philippine Embassy in Seoul in identifying the skeletal remains found in the tank early April.

Its DNA matched samples submitted by the 34-year old victim's family in the Philippines, he said.

Cato added that there were four Filipinos suspected to be involved in the killing, but evidence lead to one Filipino as the main suspect.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto, who took over the leadership of the upper chamber just days ago, has given his nod to the restoration of the death penalty for high-level drug trafficking cases.

"Kung ang pag uusapan natin ay ibalik ang death penalty for high-level drug trafficking payag ako," Sotto said in a Kapihan session, Thursday.

[Translation: If we are talking about returning death penalty for high-level drug trafficking cases, I approve]

Sotto warned pro-death penalty groups however, to exercise caution in choosing crimes subject to the penalty.

"Pag aralan natin ng mabuti at tingin ko rin dun sa mga nagtutulak niyan pag aralan nilang mabuti kase yung mga krimen na binabanggit nila ay may remedyo as a prosecution or maayos ang prosecution is concerned," he said.

[Translation: Let's study this thoroughly, and I think those who are pushing for the measure should study it well because the crimes they mentioned can be remedied through prosecution]

Capital punishment was abolished in the Philippines in 2006 and its restoration would be inhumane, unlawful and an ineffective response to the drug problem, human rights watchdog Amnesty International has said.

The Philippines has earlier ratified an international treaty  the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its protocol  that categorically prohibits executions.

This is not the first time the Senate President expressed his approval of the punishment's reimposition. Sotto initially proposed a Senate bill reinstating death penalty for "heinous crimes" back in 2014 but did not specify what these crimes were.

The bill was pending approval at the committee level since 2016.

Sotto also voiced his agreement with President Duterte when he first shared his desire to restore death penalty in the country, although Sotto was not sure if hanging was the way to go.

READ: Sotto supports death penalty, doubts Supreme Court, Congress will approve hanging

A moot point

The House of Representatives approved their own death penalty bill related to manufacturing and trading illegal drugs by a 217-54 vote in March last year, but its passage in the Senate remains moot.

Former Senate President Senator Koko Pimentel previously said the bill "has a chance" with the Senate should they restrict the punishable crime to high-level drug trafficking cases, echoing the sentiments of his successor.

READ: Pimentel: Death penalty not a Senate priority

On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon marked the bill as "dead" in January this year, convinced that the measure will not pass the Senate.

READ: Drilon: Death penalty 'dead' in Senate

Other Senators who have expressed support for capital punishment include Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto, JV Ejercito, Manny Pacquiao, Ping Lacson, Win Gatchalian, and Cynthia Villar.

Meanwhile, eleven senators have been vocal against it: the four Liberal party senators, their allies Risa Hontiveros and Sonny Trillanes, Chiz Escudero and Ralph Recto  who were formerly with the minority  Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, and Senator Dick Gordon.
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  Ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has asked the Supreme Court to extend the 10-day period for her to explain why she should not be sanctioned, or even disbarred for violating a court rule.

Sereno requested for 15 more days, or until June 9, to do so, her spokesperson, Josa Deinla told CNN Philippines in a text message. The deadline was set to lapse Friday.

In a three-page motion for extension, Sereno's camp said their response is already being drafted, but "additional time is needed to verify each of the statements which served as the basis for the show cause order."

In its historic May 11 ruling unseating the chief justice, the Supreme Court said Sereno may be disbarred for violating the sub judice rule when she discussed her pending ouster case in public.

"She may be held liable for disbarment for violating the Canons of Professional Responsibility for violating the sub judice rule by repeatedly discussing the merits of the quo warranto petition in different fora and for casting aspersions and ill motives to the Members of the Court even before a decision is made, designed to affect the results of the Court's collegial vote," the Supreme Court decision read.

The High Court pointed out that Sereno publicly discussed the quo warranto petition filed against her and accused six associate justices of being "biased" against her. All the justices refused to inhibit from the case and voted against her.

The quo warranto petition, a legal proceeding where an individual's right to hold office is challenged, was filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida. He asked the High Court to invalidate Sereno's 2012 appointment as top magistrate over alleged non-filing of her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs). The petition was granted by the Supreme Court, making Sereno the first impeachable official to be ousted without a Senate trial.

She was given 10 days to respond to the show cause order and explain why she should not be sanctioned. She also has 15 days, or until June 1, to appeal the ouster ruling.

The Code of Professional Responsibility states, "A lawyer shall not make public statements in the media regarding a pending case tending to arouse public opinion for or against a party."

According to the Code of Judicial Conduct, "Judges shall not knowingly, while a proceeding is before or could come before them, make any comment that might reasonably be expected to affect the outcome of such proceeding or impair the manifest fairness of the process. Nor shall judges make any comment in public or otherwise that might affect the fair trial of any person or issue."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 25)  The camp of Australian nun Patricia Fox on Friday petitioned the Justice Department to reinstate her missionary visa and let her stay in the country.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI), which is under the Justice Department, forfeited Fox's visa on April 23 and ordered her to leave by the end of May. The bureau on Wednesday denied Fox's appeal.

"With all due respect, the Board of Commissioners of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation decided a question of substance and procedure which is not in accord with the constitution, the law and jurisprudence, and gravely abused its discretion when it cancelled the Missionary Visa of the Petitioner and downgraded it to a Temporary Visitor's Visa," Fox's legal counsel, the National Union of People's Lawyers (NUPL) said in a 24-page petition for review.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra gave the BI 10 days to comment on Fox's petition, and submit all records related to the case. Fox, meanwhile, has five days to respond once she receives the BI's comment.

Guevarra also clarified Fox has until June 18 to stay in the country, stressing that the 30-day period given by the BI for her to leave stopped when she filed a motion for reconsideration.

"Upon denial of said motion for reconsideration, petitioner had a remaining period of 25 days from May 24, 2018, the date when she was served a copy of the order denying her motion for reconsideration," Guevarra said in his order on Friday.

But lawyer Katherine Panguban said the petition should put the BI's order on hold, asking both BI and DOJ to follow the rules.

"Nakaapela po tayo so... hindi po maaraing paalisin pa ng BI si Sister Patricia Fox (we have filed an appeal so the BI cannot ask Sister Patricia Fox to leave)," she told reporters after the filing of the petition.

The 71-year-old nun said she wants to continue her mission in the country.

"Syempre ang wish ko ay ituloy ang mission work dito kasama ng mga mahihirap at sana yan ang resulta ng (petition) ko (my wish is to be able to continue my mission work together with the poor and I hope this will be the result of my petition)," Fox said.

NULP President Edre Olalia said Fox's case "is both a litmus test and emblematic of how the present government treats sincere advocates of basic reforms for the poor and oppressed," and is also "a barometer of how the law serves as a tool of or excuse for repression to silence well-meaning critics and dissenters."

Fox's defense

Fox's camp on Friday maintained that her alleged participation in political activities is not a ground for cancellation of visa under the law.

"Even assuming, without necessarily admitting, that the Petitioner participated in rallies and fact finding missions, such participation did not violate the terms for the issuance of her Missionary Visa," her camp stressed.

Ordering her to leave the country based on her alleged participation in rallies also violates her right to freedom of speech and assembly, "a right universally recognized and accorded to all, regardless of citizenship," her camp added.

They added Fox was just exercising her freedom of expression and promoting the protection of the rights of the poor and needy, consistent with her tasks as a religious missionary.

Fox was therefore denied due process, her lawyers said, arguing that the BI did not give her the chance to defend herself prior to the forfeiture of her visa.

BI stands by leave order

Fox was accused of engaging in partisan political activities, which the government deemed as a violation of the terms of her stay in the country.

In junking her motion for reconsideration on Wednesday the BI dismissed Fox's claim of lack of due process and that there was no evidence to allegations she engaged in political activities.

Authorities said she was seen in a rally organized by Kilusang Mayo Uno and Gabriela at the Coca-Cola distribution center in Davao City on April 9.

President Rodrigo Duterte admitted on April 18 that he ordered the probe on Fox, which led to her one-day detention for questioning.
By J. Keeler Johnson ("Keelerman") Twitter: @J_Keelerman

With a couple of weeks remaining before Justify bids for history in the Belmont Stakes, we have some time this week to turn our attention away from the three-year-oldswhich have dominated the racing action over the last six months or soand focus on the older horses set to compete in Saturday's $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita (gr. I).

Seven horses have been entered in the ten-furlong event, though three of themAccelerate, City of Light, and Dr. Dorrstand far above the others in terms of accomplishments and speed figures. It would come as no surprise to see them sweep the trifecta, but which one is the most likely winner?

Certainly utmost respect must be given to Accelerate, who cruised to a 5 -length win in the Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I) over this track and distance in March. The well-bred son of Lookin at Lucky has been viewed as more of a miler throughout his career, but he's shaken off that image this season. In addition to his Santa Anita Handicap victory, he overcame a troubled trip to win the nine-furlong San Pasqual Stakes (gr. II) and was beaten just a neck going the same distance in the Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II) last time out.

But waitthe winner of the Oaklawn Handicap was City of Light, who turned in a gutsy performance to upset Accelerate in his first start around two turns. City of Light had previously established himself as a top-notch sprinter, winning the Malibu Stakes (gr. I) at Triple Bend Stakes (gr. I) going seven furlongs, but he elevated his game to a new level in the Oaklawn Handicap, overcoming a very wide trip to rally past Accelerate and defeat his more heralded rival in a prolonged homestretch battle.

City of Light and Accelerate have earned triple-digit Beyer speed figures in all of their races this year, with City of Light climbing to a 107 in the Oaklawn Handicap and Accelerate peaking at 110 in the Santa Anita Handicap, so we know they're fast. But could they be overshadowed on Saturday by the up-and-coming Dr. Dorr?

Trained by Bob Baffert, Dr. Dorr is a five-year-old gelding by Lookin at Lucky, but despite his age he's relatively lightly raced. He ran just three times apiece in 2016 and 2017, with his lone win coming in an allowance race, but whatever issues kept him from racing more frequently in the past seem to be behind him now and he's turned into a different horse in 2018. After scoring a sharp allowance win sprinting 6 -furlongs against a quality field at Santa Anita on March 2nd, Dr. Dorr stretched out in distance for the Santana Mile and delivered another big run, securing an easy lead before powering home to win by four lengths with a 99 Beyer.

Dr. Dorr stretched out in distance again for the nine-furlong Californian Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita last month, and the result was by far his best effort to date. With jockey Joseph Talamo in the saddle, Dr. Dorr pressed the pace through fractions of :23.28, :47.81, and 1:12.29 before blowing the field away in the homestretch, drawing off to win by 7  lengths while seemingly having something left in the tank.

The fractional splits and the final time of 1:49.84 weren't particularly fast at first glance, but it's important to note that Santa Anita was playing quite slow on the day of the Californianso slow that Dr. Dorr received a 108 Beyer for his victory, putting him right in the mix against Accelerate and City of Light.

Dr. Dorr will be stretching out another furlong in distance for the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, and while that is a bit of a question mark, my gut feeling is that Dr. Dorr is simply getting good at the right time and won't have an issue with the extra distance. Baffert has won this race six times in the past, including last year with Cupid, and Dr. Dorr appears poised to work out a perfect trip setting or stalking the pace. Since Accelerate and City of Light figure to attract plenty of wagering support based on the overall accomplishments, there could be an opportunity to get a decent price on the less-heralded Dr. Dorr.

Here's one other fact that's worth mentioningaccording to the DRF Formulator, Baffert has compiled a simply remarkable record with horses going ten furlongs in main-track graded stakes races. Over the last five years, Baffert has had runners in 27 such races and has won 13 of them, a staggering 48% success rate. I have to think that Baffert will have Dr. Dorr ready to roll on Saturday.

Now it's your turn! Who do you like in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita?

*****

Want to test your handicapping skills against fellow Unlocking Winners readers? Check out the Unlocking Winners contests pagethere's a new challenge every week!

*****

J. Keeler Johnson (also known as "Keelerman") is a writer, blogger, videographer, handicapper, and all-around horse racing enthusiast. A great fan of racing history, he considers Dr. Fager to be the greatest racehorse ever produced in America, but counts Zenyatta as his all-time favorite. He is the founder of the horse racing website www.theturfboard.com.


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Californias 4th District Court of Appeal [official website] on Wednesday denied a request to stay [opinion, PDF] a lower court ruling that threatens to invalidate the states End of Life Option Act [text] which allows physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to the terminally ill.

California Attorney General Xavier Beccera [official profile] sought to block last weeks ruling [JURIST report] from Judge Daniel Ottolia of Riverside County Superior Court, which said that the End of Life Option Act was procedurally unconstitutional because the act was passed during a special legislative session meant to address health care. Additionally, Ottolia said that assisted suicide is not considered health care. Beccera rejected that argument and contended [NPR report] that the healthcare funding session was broadly germane to the assisted suicide bill.

According to John Kappos, a partner with the law firm representing the advocacy group Compassion and Choices [advocacy website], the law is not invalidated and physicians who write prescriptions for terminally ill patients who seek the end-of-life care option will still be legally protected.

Compassion and Choices, which filed an amicus brief in the case two years ago, led the campaign to pass the law before it was signed by Governor Jerry Brown [official website] in 2015. In the first year after the law went into effect, more than 500 California residents received the end-of-life drugs.

Seven states, including California, as well as the District of Columbia, have laws protecting physicians who provide medical aid in dying.
Four former high-ranking Guatemalan military officers were found guilty [IJM report] Wednesday of crimes against humanity by the Guatemalan High-Risk Court C.

The officers were found guilty of sexually abusing an activist and the disappearance of her 14-year-old brother. They were sentenced to 58 years in jail. The family of the activist has been searching [Guardian report] for their son since October 6, 1981, when he was abducted by military officers and driven away.

The Guatemalan government acknowledged responsibility for grave crimes in 2000. This guilty verdict is seen as a potential end to anti-impunity because it was the first time senior military officers have been charged for serious human rights violations.

There were fears that the guilty verdict may not have arrived as the decision was delayed from its expected release on Tuesday. The verdict was released at 4:30 AM without a reason provided for the delay.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) [official websites] reintroduced a bill [text, PDF] on Wednesday that would strengthen privacy protections for minors online.

The bill, known as the Do Not Track Kids Act of 2018, would amend the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by allowing internet companies to collect personal data from children under 13 only with a parents consent, and to collect data from children 13-15 only with the childs consent. The act would also prohibit advertising targeted to minors. Internet companies would also be required to explain how they would use the personal information to parents and minors.

COPPA is the communications constitution for protecting kids online, but we need to update it to reflect the explosive growth and innovation in the online ecosystem. The Do Not Track Kids Act puts parents in control of their childrens information and contains commonsense protections for teenagers, said [press release] Markey.

Online data collection has made headlines within the last year. Earlier this month Android users filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against Facebook for invasion of privacy. In February a German court ruled [JURIST report] Facebooks use of personal data was illegal. That same month a Belgian court ruled [JURIST report] that Facebooks collection of personal data was illegal. In October the US Senate introduced legislation [JURIST report] to substantially reform warrantless internet surveillance.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  Oregon's attorney general has released a certified ballot title for an initiative that would restrict the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in the state.

The title released Wednesday revises the draft caption following comments from the public and the chief petitioners, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported .

It reads: "Prohibits 'Assault Weapons' (Defined), 'Large Capacity Magazines' (Defined), Unless Registered With State Police. Criminal Penalties."

The draft version stated the possession or transfer of the weapons or the magazines would be criminalized with exceptions under the initiative.

A ballot title for a measure is restricted to 15 words and must give the subject matter, according to the state Department of Justice.

The initiative that petitioners are working to get on the November ballot would define assault weapons as certain semi-automatic rifles and pistols that use detachable magazines and have other military-style features.

In addition to restricting assault weapons, the initiative would ban the manufacture and sale of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Law enforcement and military personnel would be exempt.

Existing gun owners would be required to register with the state and pass criminal background checks. Failure to do so would result in criminal prosecution.

The office of state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum reworked the caption and the explanation of the initiative's effects following the release of the draft title in April.

The state Department of Justice reviewed the more than 1,000 comments, department lawyer Denise G. Fjordbeck said in a letter to the Secretary of State's office Wednesday.

"While many of the comments simply stated support or opposition to the proposed measure, many hundreds suggested specific language for use in the ballot title," Fjordbeck said.

Petitioners must submit 88,184 signatures by early July for the initiative to move to the ballot.

___

Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com





CLICK HERE for more information on the initiative and what kind of firearms would be affected.
By GENE JOHNSON , Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP)  An "unlikely" string of events prompted Amazon's Echo personal assistant device to record a Portland, Oregon, family's private conversation and then send the recording to an acquaintance in Seattle, the company said Thursday.

The woman told KIRO-TV that two weeks ago an employee of her husband contacted them to say he thought their device had been hacked. He told them he had received an audio file of them discussing hardwood floors, she said.

In a statement Thursday, Amazon confirmed the woman's private conversation had been inadvertently recorded and sent. The company said the device interpreted a word in the background conversation as "Alexa"  a command that makes it wake up  and then it interpreted the conversation as a "send message" request.

"At which point, Alexa said out loud 'To whom?'" the statement said. "At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list.

"Alexa then asked out loud, '(contact name), right?' Alexa then interpreted background conversation as 'right.'"

The statement continued: "As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely."

The woman, who was identified only by her first name in the news report, said every room in her family's home was wired with the Amazon devices to control her home's heat, lights and security system.

She said the family unplugged the devices and contacted Amazon after they learned the recording had been sent.

Ryan Calo, a law professor who co-directs the University of Washington's tech policy lab, agreed that the sort of glitch Amazon described is unlikely. But it may trouble customers nevertheless, he said

"What makes it particularly unfortunate is the sense that Amazon Echo users will have that there's any prospect that what they say in their private home might end up outside the home," Calo said. "We feel less reassured about the control we assert over it than we once did. It's the feeling you have to watch what you say in front of a device that's supposed to make your life better."

___

Follow Gene Johnson at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP)  A male student opened fire at a suburban Indianapolis middle school Friday morning, wounding another student and a teacher before being taken into custody, authorities said.

Seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker said the science teacher likely prevented even more injuries by confronting the shooter, who he said pulled out a gun and opened fire after walking in late while the class was taking a test.

"Our science teacher immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground," Stonebraker said. "If it weren't for him, more of us would have been injured for sure."

The attack at Noblesville West Middle School happened around 9 a.m., police Chief Kevin Jowitt said at a news conference. He said investigators believe the suspect acted alone, but didn't detail what happened or the severity of the injuries to the victims, who were taken to hospitals in Indianapolis. The identities of those involved weren't immediately released.

Indiana University Health spokeswoman Danielle Sirilla said the teacher was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital and the wounded student was taken to Riley Hospital for Children. She didn't know the seriousness of their injuries.

The attack comes a week after an attack at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers, and months after the school attack that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida. The Florida attack inspired students from that school and others throughout the country to call for more restrictions on access to guns.

After the Indiana attack, students were bused to the Noblesville High School gym, where hundreds of parents and other family members arrived to retrieve them.

Eighth-grader Chris Navarro said he was inside an auditorium when he heard several gunshots about a minute before the bell rang for the change in classes.

"The speaker came on and said we were on lockdown and people rushed in and we went to the back of the room. I went into this little room in the back with three other people," he said calmly standing between his parents as they picked him up.

Erica Higgins, who was among the worried parents who rushed to get their kids, told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home.

"I just want to get my arms around my boy," she said.

Higgins said her son was shaken up but knew little about what happened.

"I got a 'Mom, I'm scared' text message and other than that, it was 'come get me at the high school,'" Higgins said.

Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was returning from a trip to Europe on Friday, issued a statement saying he and other state leaders were getting updates about the situation and that 100 state police officers had been made available to work with local law enforcement.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation," Holcomb said.

Noblesville, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people. The middle school has about 1,300 students from grades 6-8. The school's academic year was scheduled to end next Friday.

Indiana's Senate Democrats issued a statement in response to Friday's school shooting expressing their condolences to the victims and calling for steps to prevent such shootings, including restrictions on guns.

___

Follow Rick Callahan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Callahanwrick

This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
Everyone eligible should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel or employment.

Vaccination should be voluntary but those who don't get vaccinated should be frequently tested for COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel and employment.

Both vaccination and testing should be voluntary and not required as a condition of long-distance travel or employment.

I defer to the judgment of lawmakers as long as they base their decisions on a consensus of medical professionals.

Vote

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Harvey Weinstein arrives at the first precinct while turning himself to authorities following allegations of sexual misconduct, Friday, May 25, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2017, file photo, Harvey Weinstein arrives at The Weinstein Company and Netflix Golden Globes afterparty in Beverly Hills, Calif. Law enforcement officials say Weinstein is expected to surrender to authorities Friday morning to face criminal charges in a months-long investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted women. The officials say the charges relate to related to a former actress, Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein assaulted her in his New York offices in 2004. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this June 20, 2013 file photo, a journalist makes a video of the Instagram logo using the new video feature at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. The California Supreme Court will decide whether Facebook and other social media companies must turn over user content to criminal defendants. The justices are expected to rule Thursday, May 24, 2018, in a case that has pitted some of Silicon Valley's biggest companies against public defenders. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
In a candid sit-down with the New York Times this week, several cast members from the Netflix series addressed the allegations of inappropriate behaviour against actor Jeffrey Tambor, including an outburst directed at his co-star, Jessica Walter. Walter attends the LA Premiere of "Arrested Development" Season Five at Raleigh Studios Hollywood, in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 17, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Invision, Richard Shotwell
One mosquito, bah. One-and-a-half billion mosquitoes? Aaaah! That's how many of the pesky insects breed in West Kelowna, bug experts say, as they prepare to make another pitch for the city to finally join a region-wide mosquito control program.
Former B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt poses for a photo at the Fairmont Empress on Friday, May 25, 2018. Harcourt forecasts a gold rush, boom and bust period, over next year or two in the medicinal marijuana industry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Dirk Meissner
A female resident orca whale breaches while swimming in Puget Sound near Bainbridge Island as seen from a federally permitted research vessel Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014. The federal government is closing some recreational and commercial chinook fisheries on the West Coast in an effort to help save endangered southern resident killer whales. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Elaine Thompson
A sign warning of an underground petroleum pipeline is seen on a fence at Kinder Morgan's facility where work is being conducted in preparation for the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday April 9, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence joins Rear-Admiral Scott Bishop, Commander of Canadian Forces Intelligence Command and Chair of the NATO Military Intelligence Committee, and speak to media regarding their participation in the NATO Military Intelligence Committee Conference in Ottawa on Thursday, May 24, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
A Saskatchewan court has ordered the province to allow gender markers to be removed from birth certificates. The government is also to allow people under the age of 18 to apply for gender changes on the documents. Jordyn Dyck, 17, of Regina, is one of two youth who filed complaints with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission about the gender designations on their birth certificates. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-*MANDATORY CREDIT*
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks to reporters on NetherlandsAo decision along with Australia to hold Russia responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine, in The Hague, Friday, May 25, 2018. A day after international prosecutors said they had unequivocal evidence of Russian involvement in the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine nearly four years ago, the Netherlands and Australia on Friday announced they were holding Moscow legally responsible for its role in the missile attack. (AP Photo/Mike Corder)
Police and emergency personnel surround the scene of a shooting at Lake Hefner in Oklahoma City, Thursday, May 24, 2018. A man armed with a pistol walked into LouieAos On The Lake restaurant at the dinner hour and opened fire, wounding two customers, before being shot dead by a handgun-carrying civilian in the parking lot, police said. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)
In this Thursday, May 24, 2018 photo, North Korean officials and members of foreign media stand near rubble after explosion at North Korea's nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made good on his promise to demolish his country's nuclear test site, which was formally closed in a series of huge explosions Thursday as a group of foreign journalists looked on. (Korea Pool/Yonhap via AP)
In this Tuesday, May 22, 2018 photo, Hamed al-Shaer, 34, says goodbye to his mother as he leaves to cross the border to Egypt in Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip. Egypt has opened Rafah for the duration of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, temporarily easing a border blockade of Gaza it has enforced, along with Israel, for the past 11 years. But thousands of people hoping to travel are on a waiting list, a backlog accumulated over long periods of Rafah closures, and Egyptian border officials are processing them at an excruciatingly slow pace. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
A a geothermal plant is seen from the Leilani Estates subdivision near Pahoa, Hawaii, Tuesday, May 22, 2018. Authorities were racing Tuesday to close off production wells at the plant threatened by a lava flow from Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Harvey Weinstein, center, leaves with his lawyer Benjamin Brafman, right, after posting bail at Manhattan's Criminal Court, Friday, May 25, 2018, in New York. Weinstein was arraigned Friday on rape and other charges in the first criminal prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him that sparked a national reckoning over sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Tyler Morrison, student at Santa Fe High School, Texas, standing center, speaks during a roundtable discussion in Austin, Texas, Thursday, May 24, 2018, hosted by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott to address safety and security at Texas schools in the wake of the shooting at Santa Fe. Thursday's roundtable included victims, students, families and educators from the Santa Fe, Alpine and Sutherland Springs communities. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Fires burn in Little Grand Rapids, Man., as shown in a Government of Manitoba handout photo.The weather is cooperating with attempts to evacuate people from two First nation communities in Manitoba that are threatened by forest fires. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Government of Manitoba MANDATORY CREDIT
leachugo said:







Mr. Kosnett reports ruptures in the coordinating center located outside Turkey, namely, Hizmet movement's units located in the USA and founded by Gulen. Judging from the fact that their funding has been suspended, supporters of Gulen have already spent significant resources for preparation and the start of a major multi-grade project which is scheduled for 3 November 2019.



In addition to such surprise strategy Turkish authorities extended the emergency rule in the country until the completion of the elections. The emergency rule had been imposed ever since the 2016 attempted coup. As a result, they messed up all plans of opposition and caused panic among potential coupists by isolating the already divided groups, thus virtually paralyzing their activities. According to the Anadolu news agency , Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said that much talked-of decision to hold early elections in Turkey 'has become a step which helped foil the plans of anti-Turkish forces'. Judging from the latest reports, speeding-up of the election campaign really confused the Turkish opposition, driving followers of Fethullah Gulen into total disarray. Their large-scale protest rallies planned for November 2019, were thwarted. This is the subject of the letter which the U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Turkey Philip Kosnett addressed to the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.Mr. Kosnett reports ruptures in the coordinating center located outside Turkey, namely, Hizmet movement's units located in the USA and founded by Gulen. Judging from the fact that their funding has been suspended, supporters of Gulen have already spent significant resources for preparation and the start of a major multi-grade project which is scheduled for 3 November 2019.In addition to such surprise strategy Turkish authorities extended the emergency rule in the country until the completion of the elections. The emergency rule had been imposed ever since the 2016 attempted coup. As a result, they messed up all plans of opposition and caused panic among potential coupists by isolating the already divided groups, thus virtually paralyzing their activities. Click to expand...

I see The Great Seal of the United States on the letter but it is not embossed on White House stationary. I hope Turkey gets their ducks in a row to make Turkey, right again.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The wife of a man fatally shot by police inside a Portland homeless shelter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the officers who opened fire.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday night in federal court seeks damages, but the suit does not specify an amount.

John Elifritz died April 7 from multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities said he had prompted 911 calls with menacing behavior earlier that day and carjacked a vehicle that he crashed outside the shelter.

After he entered the shelter, officers ordered him to drop a knife and then fired their guns from across the room.

A grand jury declined to indict the officers.

The lawsuit says Elifritz was experiencing a mental health crisis. It highlights a 2012 government investigation which found that Portland police engaged in a pattern of excessive force against the mentally ill.

City attorney Tracy Reeve declined comment on the lawsuit.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has declared a drought emergency in Harney County.

The Capital Press reports it's the third drought declaration the governor has made so far this year, following ones for Klamath and Grant counties.

The U.S. Drought Monitor indicates nearly all of southeast Oregon has moderate to severe drought. Winter snowpack has completely vanished in the Harney Basin, and is rapidly diminishing across the rest of the state.

The drought declarations allow increased flexibility in how water is managed to ensure that limited supplies are used as efficiently as possible. They also position farmers and ranchers in the county for federal help.
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- Crews are predicting an above-average fire season this year, saying the potential for fire danger will increase mid-summer.

Edward Hiatt, an Interagency Fire Staff Officer, said the fire potential is about average in May and June, but said that will change. For Oregon, he said July has an above-average significant fire potential.

He said the snow pack is below normal for the cascades and the weather is drier and warmer than average, so they've already started preparing.

"Our start for wildfire season in this area is about July 1st. Our folks are being hired now, starting critical training, getting prepared, they're practicing, getting their gear ready, so over the next few weeks, they will be ready when the fires start," Hiatt said.

He also said right now, crews are working to prevent wildfires by clearing areas that have a lot of quick-burning vegetation.

Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, he's asking campers to help prevent wildfires by making sure their campfires are extinguished.
HARRISBURG, Ore. -- A semi-truck headed east on Diamond Hill Drive crashed Friday morning as it turned northbound onto I-5, closing the on-ramp at milepost 209.

The driver, who suffered no serious injuries, said he was going 15 to 20 mph making the turn when the truck tipped over, according to Oregon State Police.

The trailer was carrying crushed up cars.

Before the semi-truck could be set upright, officials had to pump out 250 gallons of fuel from the gas tank, causing delays in reopening the on-ramp.

There was also a small oil leak from the truck, which has been cleared.
EUGENE, Ore. -- Twenty-three trees near Hayward field have been marked with flyers. The flyers say each tree has been proposed for demolition in relation to the Hayward Field remodel.

The nearly two dozen trees, mostly elm trees, line the block of Agate Street to the east of Hayward Field. University staff said the biggest goal of the demolition is to allow access for construction purposes, but they also said the trees that are there now are not well.

"They're actually having some issues because of the way their roots are impacted by being so close to asphalt and to buildings and things like that, said Tobin Klinger, a University of Oregon spokesperson. So this will actually be for the ultimate health of the area in terms of the trees that are there being replaced."

Staff with Friends of Trees said its true that trees can struggle in urban areas. But they also said there are so many benefits to the trees that are there now. Not just the obvious benefits, like providing shade and cleaning air, but they actually provide benefits that can affect your mood.

"They provide a lot of community, economic, public health benefits that we often don't talk about, such as making us feel better, making us more relaxed, lowering blood pressure, said Erik Burke, the director of the Eugene chapter of Friends of Trees.

University staff said they plan to plant 33 trees in the area after the renovation is complete, but Burke said those trees wont display the benefits that the current ones do for nearly two decades.

Until May 30, the city is taking public comments on the proposed tree removal. Eugene forestry and Public Works will make a decision on the proposal by June 9.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  Regina Mustafa filed for mayor at the Rochester City Hall today.

Mustafa is a Muslim woman. She says that Rochester is a diverse community, but that minority groups need to be able to see themselves represented in their local governments.

The mayoral candidate tells KIMT that Muslim women are often the subjects of negativity because of the way they dress. "Filing today really sends a message to young Muslim women and women of minority groupsany marginalized community that you know, despite the uphill battles that we constantly face, despite the negativity, that we can make it happen."

Mustafa is also legally blind and used an electronic magnifier to assist her in signing her filing papers. She notes diversity and inclusivity as two things very important to her.

She was one of at least 8 candidates to file for the four city seats up for election. Candidate filing for Rochester municipal elections opened Tuesday.
MASON CITY, Iowa  A man who allegedly broke the orbital bone of a woman during a fight Thursday night is facing a felony assault charge.

Scott North, 49, is being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail after authorities said he struck the victim in the face with the back of his hand without justification during the course of an argument.

Aside from the broken orbital bone, authorities say the victim also had a laceration above her right eye that required eight stitches. She also had visible swelling around her right eye.

It happened in the 2400 block of S. Jefferson Ave. at 11:12 p.m.
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa- The Cerro Gordo County Relay for Life group is getting excited for their big event and leaving their mark.

Mary Lou Fitch is one of those volunteers who spent several hours Thursday tying ribbons, chalking sidewalks and painting windows to get the community excited for the June 1st Relay for Life Event.

Fitch has beat cancer twice herself and says it is a life-changing experience, but so is hearing the word that you are cancer-free.

I had it first in 1998 and it came back in bone in October 2014, said Fitch. I was just at the cancer center Tuesday and I am still in remission so thats awesome.

This is the first time the group has ever painted a town. They say this isnt to raise money for the event, just get people in the community excited.
CHARLES CITY, Iowa - As the Canadian Pacific railroad considers demolishing a more than 100 year old train depot in Mason City, another North Iowa city is getting ready to tear down a historic train depot of their own.

The old Milwaukee Road depot in Charles City will be demolished in the near future, with some work already being taken as crews were at the site last week disconnecting service lines to the building.

Pete Fullard of Charles City is a train enthusiast, and got hooked on trains when he was a kid.

"When I was 6 years old, I got an electric train for christmas. Kinda liked them ever since."

He's taken many train trips and also worked for various railroad companies over the years.

"Originally the Iowa Terminal, which is the old Charles City Western, then I worked for Cedar Valley for the contractor they had, then the Chicago Central, and then the CN."

Passenger trains first came through the Charles City station on September 1, 1869, and ended on January 5, 1960.

The news of the impending demolition hit Fullard hard.

"I hate to see it go. Over the years there's been numerous people talking about maybe restaurants or something. Now I think the railroads are...I think they kinda want them outta there...and want the buildings away from their tracks."

Charles City city administrator Steve Diers is also saddened by the news, but explains it's because of safety issues.

"There's three active tracks of rail lines that are right there, the building sits so close to them that they feel it's a hazard, so they're gonna be taking the building down unfortunately."

As for if any similar structures could meet a similar fate, Fullard expects to see some added to that list.

"I think more of them will end up getting torn down. The CN that I worked for, we tore down quite a few of them. And especially when you make a brick building like that, it's a whole lot easier to tear it down than move it."

However, Fullard has noticed that some depots have been repurposed for other uses.

"Down in Cedar Falls-Waterloo, the Rock Island depot...that's a law firm down there now. Right on Main Street in Cedar Falls, it's been there for years. They redid it. It was a restaurant for awhile, now it's a law firm. Law firm or architect, one of the two."
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - Paige Grabe remembers being in the organization Future Farmers of America like it was yesterday.

When people hear FFA it's just pure farming but it was so much more they offered career development, personal growth, and premier leadership opportunities, Grabe said.

A mom of two, she's donating $8,000 to bring back FFA to Cerro Gordo County in particular, Clear Lake Schools on behalf of her workplace, Nutriquest.

My career now is in agriculture but as Doug said one in five jobs is in agriculture so I think the exposure to that and not only the personal growth and leadership is just great things they can take with them in the future, Grabe said.

Superintendent of Clear Lake Schools, Doug Gee, brought FFA to his last school district and now wants it here. Hes currently raising money in order to fund the classes for the next three years and hoping to get enough money to pay for a teacher and have that teacher focus on teaching not funding to keep their job.

The misconception now is why we need Ag there's not that many kids that live on the farm but Ag is so much more than farming I mean people need to eat right? That is Ag and we need to teach and educate our kids about all of the other aspects of agriculture, Gee said.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - On Wednesday, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton vetoed the Republican Omnibus Spending Bill, an almost one thousand paged bill that covered funding for a mix of topics including school safety and addressing the state's opioid crisis.

The veto is having an immediate impact on Project Legacy, the non-profit organization that helps Rochester's youth in need. If the bill was passed, the organization would've recieved $200,00. This money would have paid for a number of expenses, including the space the organization rents in the Empowerment Center to hold its programs.

"Right now we are scrambling to find funding to pay for our space here," Karen Edmonds, the co-founder of Project Legacy, said.

The money would've also helped pay for needs such as a member's college tuition, rent, and possibly transportation to a treatment center.

Edmonds said the lack of funding also leaves a hole in the organization's staff. The group was hoping to use the funding to hire a social worker as a permanent member of Project Legacy's staff.

"If we have a volunteer for a short period of time and they decided they're too busy, this affects our kids in a very negative way...It reinforces feelings of abandonment," she said. "Social workers are going to bring a skill set that we need to work with our kids."

Edmonds said the organization is handling the financial stress by asking donors to increase donations and applying to different grants.
The Dovish Fed minutes on Wednesday, coupled with President Donald Trump cancelling his much-anticipated historic meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un yesterday, has sent gold back above the $1300 level. However, with gold becoming over-sold when hitting support near $1280 earlier this week, the inevitable bounce has yet to inspire very much enthusiasm into gold stock investors. This does not bode well in the short-term for the safe-haven metal while traders begin to focus on the upcoming Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on June 12-13.

Gold has also found some relief with the surging U.S. dollar backing off a bit on Thursday and the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note yield back down below 3%. Nevertheless, the technical targets of 95 on the greenback and 3.20% yield on the Treasury Note have yet to be hit as we head into the FOMC meeting speech on June 13th. The market has priced in an expected rate hike during the next meeting and there was nothing else in the minutes to suggest any acceleration in the pace of tightening, so this may offer some support in the gold space for the time being.

Many analysts in the gold space have been focusing on a continued bullish ascending triangle pattern in bullion which has been forming since December of 2015. The low made this week near $1280 needs to hold for this pattern to continue into the final stages of its completion and indicate a conceivable break above the major resistance in gold at $1,375. However, the action so far in gold stocks has not agreed with this possibility as the GDX continues to wallow in a tight range between $22-$23 the past few months. Gold stocks have historically led the gold price, yet the major miner ETF is well below the technical breakout level at $25 while continuing to meander sideways with record low trade-weighted volume.

Although it would be unwise to dismiss this possibility entirely, I learned long ago not to rely solely on trendline support being held in the gold space to influence my trading decisions. The sector has historically whipsawed many out of position who have based trades on trendlines, so it would be wise to continue exercising caution until the GDX has broken above the $25 level. The major miner ETF has been showing relative strength since early February but has failed to gain much traction with gold stocks continue to lethargically trade without any sense of direction.

I still feel the February 9th low in the GDX will hold just below critical support at $21, but it may be tested if the gold price fails to hold $1280 and this bounce becomes just a back-test of the breakdown in bullion at $1300. If trendline support fails at $1280, we should not rule out a conceivable trip down to the $1250 region on the back of the U.S. dollar and the yield in the 10-year Treasury hitting their respective, aforementioned targets.

This possibility could be the proverbial final washout the gold complex so often presents us with before it can move back into position for the long-awaited breakout above $1375. I have witnessed past trendline breakdowns in this complex, shaking out many long-term gold stock investors just before it reverses strongly in the opposite direction. Mr. Market has habitually faked out participants before the gold train leaves the station and desires the fewest riders on board as possible when it does.

In last weeks column, I mentioned an over-sold bounce possibly happening in the $1280 gold region, but even though it is now taking place, caution is still advised until the market has digested what the Fed has to say next month. This presents an opportunity to research your favorite gold stocks for desired entry points and if you require assistance in choosing the best quality juniors to invest, please stop by my website and check out the subscription service at http://juniorminerjunky.com/
BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trumps cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatens further strain on U.S.-China ties amid a trade dispute that had been intertwined with Beijings pressure on isolated Pyongyang.

The United States and China are also increasingly at odds in the disputed South China Sea. The Pentagon this week withdrew an invitation for China to take part in a major naval exercise in Hawaii, and Beijing has ramped up pressure on self-ruled Taiwan, armed by Washington but claimed by Beijing.

Trump on Thursday released a letter to Kim announcing his withdrawal from the planned June 12 meeting in Singapore, which would have been the first between leaders of the two countries.

Although Chinese state media called for continued engagement between Washington and Pyongyang, Trumps move could mark a split between China and the United States over how to deal with North Korea and its nuclear weapons, experts said.

It also risks adding fuel to simmering trade tensions, just days after China and the United States pulled back from the brink of a full-blown trade war.

Definitely there are people in the U.S. who want to use this as an excuse for their efforts to push the relationship in the direction of confrontation, said Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at Chinas Peking University, referring to the collapse of the Trump-Kim summit.

This is one of the lowest points in the relationship since the normalization of relations between the two countries, he added.

Chinas foreign ministry on Friday said the government would keep encouraging the United States and North Korea to have direct talks, describing such communication as having a pivotal role in denuclearisation.

Rest assured, China will continue, in our own way, to carry out U.S.-North Korea work, so as to promote the resumption of the dialogue process on the peninsula, ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters.

CHINA ALIGNED WITH KIM

China has long viewed North Korea as a useful buffer between it and U.S. forces in South Korea. The two also have deep emotional ties; Chinese troops fought side-by-side with North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.

But in recent years, relations between China and North Korea had nosedived to the point of a near diplomatic freeze, as Beijing signed on to ever-stricter United Nations sanctions over Pyongyangs nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Chinas willingness to keep up pressure on its neighbor may now wane.

Even with the summits collapse, China must continue to improve ties with North Korea given Kims pledge not to carry out nuclear and missile tests, Chinas widely read state-run Global Times tabloid said in an editorial on Friday.

A military conflict on the peninsula might see refugees flood over Chinas long border with North Korea, or even drag it into confrontation with the United States - both scenarios Beijing would like to avoid.

China actually has played the role of hidden guarantor for the North Korea-United States summit, so China will continue to promote this meeting, Sun Xingjie, an expert on North Korea at the Jilin University, said in comments to the Peoples Daily Overseas Edition, an official Communist Party paper.

If they cannot come to the negotiating table, then they will enter the battlefield, Sun said.

Trump last week hinted that he partly blames China for how summit preparations went awry, saying President Xi Jinping might be influencing Kim after the North Korean leader made two visits to China in quick succession.

But Chinese experts said Xi would not have sabotaged the meeting, given Chinas deep interest in reducing tensions on the peninsula.

If the summit is canceled, China is the one that faces great increase of uncertainty, said Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at Renmin University in Beijing who has advised the government on diplomatic issues.

Renewed friendly ties between China and North Korea would make Beijing more closely aligned with Pyongyang and nervous about Washington, Shi said.

A return by Trump to maximum pressure and military and economic threat brings a significant problem for China.

TRADE DEAL UNCERTAINTY

Meanwhile, Trump also cast uncertainty over progress in trade talks, saying Wednesday that Washington would seek a new structure for the deal and a new direction for talks with Beijing, days after the two had taken conciliatory stances.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit China from June 2 to 4.

China does not link trade and North Korea because that will make things more complicated, said Ruan Zongze, a former diplomat now with the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank linked to Chinas foreign ministry.

Some analysts had suggested, however, that China was using its leverage on North Korea, and Trumps perceived desire for a successful summit with Kim, to blunt the sharpest edges of U.S. trade threats.

Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the summits collapse added to uncertainty in U.S.-China trade relations.

Even before this announcement, Trumps attitude on trade with China had changed a bit, he said. I am a little pessimistic about this trade deal.

A souring of relations could see a tougher line from Washington on other issues deemed sensitive in Beijing, analysts say.

This week, the United States uninvited China from a major U.S. naval drill in response to what it sees as Beijings militarization of the disputed South China Sea, drawing a sharp response from China.

Disagreements have also flared over what China calls its most sensitive political issue, its claim on Taiwan, after Trump in March signed legislation encouraging U.S. officials to visit Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts.

Taiwans diplomatic isolation has grown, however, as Burkina Faso on Thursday cut official ties with Taipei. It was the second nation to do so in a month, dropping the number of Taiwans formal allies to 18.

On Friday, a pair of Chinese bombers flew around the island. Taiwans air force scrambled aircraft, which accompanied and monitored the Chinese bombers, the islands defense ministry said.
FRANKFURT/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc has flown six planes full of robots and equipment from Europe to California in an unusual, high-stakes effort to speed up battery production for its Model 3 electric sedan, people familiar with the matter told Reuters this week.

Transporting equipment for a production line by air is costly and hardly ever done in the automotive industry, and the move underscores Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musks urgency to get a grip on manufacturing problems that have hobbled the launch of the high-volume Model 3 and pushed Teslas finances deep into the red.

As usual with Tesla, everything is being done in a massive hurry and money seems to be no obstacle, said one of the two sources.

Tesla on Friday declined to comment on whether it has shipped in any new production equipment from Europe.

Investors are closely watching Tesla and its high-profile, often brash CEO to see if the upstart electric vehicle maker can pull off high-volume production of the Model 3, a car with the potential to catapult the niche automaker to a mass producer and assure its financial stability.

But manufacturing missteps have led Tesla to repeatedly miss production targets for the sedan, and raised doubts about Musks promises that the company will stop burning cash by the third quarter of this year. Tesla had free cash flow of negative $1 billion in the first quarter, and earlier this month disclosed that it could offer its Fremont, California, vehicle assembly plant as collateral for debt.

Engineers from Teslas German engineering arm, Grohmann, are now reworking the battery production line at the Gigafactory near Reno, Nevada, in a bid to free up bottlenecks, the person said. The line will become more automated gradually over time, added the source, who was not authorized to speak for attribution.

Musk first disclosed plans for this line on a conference call with analysts in November, after complaining of problems with an original line built by a subcontractor.

Musk has told investors the new battery production line will help the carmaker achieve a quantum leap in productivity. The company has noted, however, that it will still be able to reach its target of building 5,000 Model 3s per week by June without the addition of the new line.

But Teslas lack of consistency in its factories has undercut Musks production promises in the past.

Under time pressure to fix problems, Musk has now insisted the new production line should be a no-expenses-spared effort, the source said. That led to the decision to airlift the new production equipment to the United States from Europe, a step carmakers usually avoid by planning production equipment installations months or years ahead of a production launch.

The shipments of new equipment began arriving in Reno this week, the two sources told Reuters.

It is not clear when the new production system will be ready to start running. Robots frequently need to be recalibrated to adjust for minimal differences in the quality of raw materials they are working with or temperature and humidity differences. Steps to test the quality of materials and recalibrate robots have proven to be a bottleneck that Tesla managers had underestimated, the first source said.

Musk has repeatedly complained of manufacturing hell trying to ramp up the Model 3, which began production, albeit slowly, last July.

In February, Musk said the main bottleneck was still its battery module production, saying Tesla had become a little overconfident, a little complacent in its ability to execute.

The Gigafactorys battery production is divided into four zones, two of which have experienced problems. Responsibility for two of these zones was originally delegated to subcontractors specialized in integrating complex systems, Musk said.

We were promised they would work, and it just didnt work, Musk said during a February conference call. A new design for an automated system for those zones was nearing completion, Musk said in November, adding that Grohmann was working on the issue and making very rapid progress.

One of the problems, both at the Gigafactory and at Teslas Fremont vehicle manufacturing factory, has been the interface between Tesla and the subcontractors it hires. Sources have told Reuters of communication problems and high managerial turnover, which complicate the execution of big projects.

Musk said in early May he planned to rid the company of barnacles  contractors and subcontractors  saying Teslas reliance on them had become out of control.
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are trading near steady in early U.S. trading Friday, as some chart consolidation is featured after the bulls have had a good week. Dont be surprised to see some upside price action by the end of the day, heading into a three-day U.S. holiday weekendand with geopolitics back on the front burner. June Comex gold futures were last down $0.50 an ounce at $1,303.90. July Comex silver was last down $0.027 at $16.66 an ounce.

World stock markets were mixed overnight, with Asian shares weaker and European stock indexes firmer. U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward modestly higher openings when the New York day session begins.

Geopolitical risk is back on the front burner of the marketplace late this week. Italian government bond yields are rising and hit a four-year high this week amid an anti-establishment government that is forming in Italy, and which could destabilize the European Union. The U.S.-North Korea nuclear summit has been called off, and the U.S. is threatening to slap more trade tariffs on its trading partners.

The key outside markets today find Nymex crude oil prices lower on more profit taking after hitting a 3.5-year high on Tuesday. A bearish weekly low close today would be a technical clue the market has put in a near-term top.

Meantime, the U.S. dollar index is higher and near this weeks six-month high.

U.S. economic data due for release Friday includes durable goods orders and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey.

Technically, June gold bears still have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are still in a six-week-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Gold bulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above the May high of $1,326.30. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solid technical support at this weeks low of $1,281.20. First resistance is seen at todays high of $1,306.60 and then at $1,309.00. First support is seen at $1,300.00 and then at Thursdays low of $1,292.20. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.5

July silver futures bulls and bears are back on a level overall near-term technical playing field. Silver bulls' next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $17.00 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the May low of $16.07. First resistance is seen at todays high of $16.735 and then at the May high of $16.865. Next support is seen at $16.50 and then at this weeks low of $16.28. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
GOMA, Congo, May 24 (Reuters) - Mai Mai militia attacked Banro Corps east Congo Namoya gold mine for the second time in less than a year on Thursday, a Banro geologist at the mine said, adding that four were wounded in the ensuing fire fight.

Geologist Bienfait Mukelo said the militia tried to enter the compound and seize some expatriate staff as hostages, but they were repelled in a fire fight with the guards. He did not immediately have further details.

Fighting between the Congolese army and a local militia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo forced Banro to suspend operations at the Namoya gold mine for a month and temporarily evacuate its staff mid-last year. (Reporting by Fiston Mahamba Writing by Tim Cocks Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about $3 per barrel on Friday as Saudi Arabia and Russia discussed easing supply curbs that have helped push crude prices to their highest since 2014.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell $2.69, or 3.4 percent, to $76.10 a barrel by 1:07 p.m. EDT (1707 GMT). The contract hit its highest since late 2014 at $80.50 last week. Brent was on track to fall about 3.1 percent this week, which would be its largest weekly percentage loss since early April.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 fell $3.04 to $67.67 a barrel, a 4.3 percent loss. Following six weeks of gains, WTI was set to lose about 5.1 percent for the week, which would be its biggest loss since early February.

The discount of WTI to Brent WTCLc1-LCOc1 hit $8.53 per barrel, its widest since May 17, and not far off levels last seen three years ago.

The energy ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia met in St. Petersburg to review the terms of a global oil supply pact that has been in place for 17 months, ahead of a key OPEC meeting in Vienna next month.

The ministers, along with their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, discussed an output increase of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), sources told Reuters.

Russias energy minister said oil ministers from OPEC states and non-OPEC countries participating in a deal to cut output would likely decide to gradually ease curbs at their meeting in Vienna next month.

Different options will be put forward. But, it is likely that this will be a gradual easing, Alexander Novak said in comments published on the Russian energy ministry website on Friday.

Global crude inventories have fallen over the past year because of the OPEC-led cuts, which were boosted by a dramatic drop in Venezuelan production.

This comes even as U.S. crude production has risen. The United States in February produced 10.3 million bpd, a record.

The U.S. oil rig count rose by 15 to 859 in the week to May 25, the highest level since March 2015, General Electric Cos (GE.N) Baker Hughes energy services firm said. [RIG-OL-USA-BHI]

Speaking in St. Petersburg, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said any easing of restrictions on pumping levels would be gradual to avoid a shock to the market.

The prospect of renewed sanctions on Iran after Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Tehran has further boosted prices in recent weeks.

However, market participants should not read too much into Fridays sell-off due to thin volume ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, said Derek Rollingson, portfolio manager of the ICON Energy Fund.

Its the last Friday before a long weekend and the volume has a tendency to go down and with lower volume theres always a chance of higher volatility, Rollingson said.

To view a graphic on Russia vs Saudi vs U.S. oil production, click: reut.rs/2J1fC51
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has reached a deal to put Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp back in business, the Trump administration told lawmakers, according to a report Friday in the New York Times. The deal, brokered by the Commerce Department, requires ZTE would pay a substantial fine, place American compliance officers at the firm and change its management team, the Times reported, citing a person familiar with the agreement. Commerce would then lift an order preventing the company from buying U.S. products. Reporting by Tim Ahmann and Doina Chiacu

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
By Jhoo Dong-chan



Stocks closed lower Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump canceled the U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled for June 12. Shares in firms related to inter-Korean economic cooperation plunged the most, dragging down construction stocks.



"Uncertainty is inevitable over the relationship with North Korea in the short term," said analyst Kim Young-hwan



"Panic selling isn't recommended _ taking a wait-and-see approach is more appropriate."



Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyoung-min agreed.



"U.S. President Trump's announcement will deal a blow to stocks for sure in the short term," he said.



"There is also the possibility of foreign investors' exit if the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Korean won fluctuates further."



Shinhan Investment Corp. analyst Kim Yoon-suh said there should be confidence in "inter-Korean shares" over the long term.



"The June 12 summit between the two leaders has been canceled, but I believe it's a part of a process to narrow their differences," Kim said.



"It is inevitable for inter-Korean shares to plummet to the bottom in the short term, but talks between the two countries will resume at some point. Shares related to inter-Korean economic cooperation will pick up again."



The benchmark Kospi fell 14.15 points, or 0.57 percent, to 2,451.86 within 15 minutes of the market opening. The index closed at 2,460.80, down 5.21 percent from the previous session.



The tech-heavy Kosdaq also opened lower at 866.2, down 7.12 points, or 0.82 percent, from its previous day opening. It recovered somewhat to close at 868.35.



Inter-Korean shares led the fall.



Shares in Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C), which pioneered major projects in North Korea, fell to 61,500 won at 10 a.m., down 8.89 percent. They closed at 60,900 won, down 9.78 percent.



Namkwang Engineering & Construction, which has ties with the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC), also suffered a 15.54 percent plunge to 20,650 won at the opening. They closed at 19,950 won.



Firms which had operated in the GIC also suffered big falls.



Shares in underwear maker Good People closed at 4,630, down 22.05 percent; while fashion brand In The F plunged 17.81 percent to 2,100 won.



Railways and train makers Hyundai Rotem and Busan Industry also suffered a 19.19 percent and 22.73 percent plunge to 28,000 won and 119,000 won, respectively.



On Thursday, U.S. President Trump canceled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying the decision was made because of a threatening statement from Pyongyang.



Trump's decision came after North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid."




By Jin Yu Young



In a society that so highly correlates happiness with financial security, many job seekers feel the pressure to find work at a large corporation. Big companies are portrayed by many young adults as the icon of job security.



In the book "Why I Work at a Small Company" translated by Kwon Hye-mi, Japanese author Ganki Naoto tackles this popular belief.



"In terms of the bankruptcy ratio, it's true that smaller companies are more vulnerable to bankruptcy than big companies. This is because the former have relatively weaker business infrastructures than the latter," Ganki, a professor at Otemon Gakuin University in Osaka, Japan, observes. "However, it should be noted that every company undergoes the highs and lows and this is the case for large corporations, too. We are all too familiar with death by overwork that occurred in some large corporations, albeit the rate is negligible. The popular belief that big companies are more stable than smaller ones is not based on fact."





According to him, after graduation many of his students are employed at small- and medium-sized companies. At the university, he said he had many opportunities to talk with job seekers. "Some of my students would ask my opinion about working at a small company and some are worried about job security," he said. "I always tell them small companies have much strength, compared to large corporations. Then my students wonder why I'm saying that."



"Why I Work at a Small Company" is the result of the author's years of research on small companies through case studies and counseling of his students and other acquaintances.



According to the author, about 70 percent of companies based in Japan are small- and medium-sized ones. In the manufacturing sector, companies having 300 employees or less are considered small- and medium-sized. In retail, the number of employees is 100 or less.



The book describes the insights that the protagonist receives from working at a smaller, more intimate company.



The author writes in a way that is instructional but not so far as to be didactic. One of the book's major strengths is that it openly acknowledges human error without judgment or condescension. In Chapter two titled, "The Basics," the narrator mentions that as we are only human, mistakes are inevitable and should be anticipated. They urge readers not to be disheartened, however, as people of all skill levels make mistakes and it is through these errors that we can learn, grow, and move forward.



Another of the book's assets is that it so well predicts the anxiety that people may carry as they transition into work life. Chapter five addresses the fear that new recruits may have when asking others for help. As they may feel hesitant out of fear of being a burden, the author thoroughly explains the importance of requesting help when needed: for smooth and effective company functioning, communication with other colleagues and seniors is not only encouraged, but also necessary.



The story concludes with the protagonist, now having adapted to their work life in this small company, training new staff members. It mentions how even as leaders and experienced workers of a company, there is always room for growth and that new challenges arise constantly. For example, assigning work to new and inexperienced workers is a skill that requires patience and trust, which does not come easily. By ending the book in the narrator's matured and experienced state, the book comes full circle and gives the readers closure and satisfaction.



In "Why I Work at a Small," the narrator effectively guides readers in how to overcome the obstacles that come with the different stages of work life. While doing this, it provides ample leeway for improvement in both themself and the reader. This attitude is what creates a humble leader, which in effect, is the final message with which the author departs.



Jin Yu-young is an intern at The Korea Times.


North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan / Reuters



A top North Korean official said Friday his country is still willing to talk with the U.S., responding to President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to pull out of his planned summit with the North's leader.

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan issued a statement carried by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It came hours after Trump announced the surprise decision to withdraw from his summit with Kim Jong-un set for June 12.

"We express our willingness to sit down face-to-face with the U.S. and resolve issues anytime and in any format," he said in the statement.

Kim said the U.S.' decision to cancel the upcoming talks demonstrates how serious the animosity between the North and the U.S. remains, which he said underlines the urgent need of a summit between the leaders of the two countries.

He said that the North Korean leader has made all-out efforts to prepare for the summit with the U.S., saying his meeting with Trump will serve as a good start.












President Moon Jae-in / Yonhap



South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged the leaders of the United States and North Korea to directly talk to each other Friday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump called off his scheduled meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed," the president said in an emergency meeting with his top security officials at his office, Cheong Wa Dae.

The remarks came shortly after Trump called off the North Korea summit, citing what he called the North's "tremendous anger and open hostility" toward his country.

"I am very perplexed and it is very regrettable that the North Korea-U.S. summit will not be held on June 12 when it was scheduled to be held," Moon was quoted as saying at the meeting.

The late night meeting, held at Moon's presidential residence, involved the foreign, unification and defense ministers, along with Moon's top security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, and Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok.

Moon's top press secretary, Yoon Young-chan, noted the gathering constituted a de facto National Security Council meeting.

While the South Korean leader was still in the meeting, Trump again blamed the communist North for the latest standoff in a White House press conference, also saying his country's military, "which is by far the most powerful in the world, is ready, if necessary."

He said he was still willing to meet Kim should the latter wish to engage in constructive dialogue, but said "in the meantime, our strong sanctions ... maximum pressure campaign will continue as it has been continuing."

Moon noted the problem may lie in the way the countries communicated.

"It may be difficult to resolve the sensitive and difficult diplomatic issues through such methods of communication currently being employed," Yoon quoted Moon as saying.

"I hope (the countries) will resolve such issues through more direct and close dialogue between leaders," he added.

A presidential official did not specify when asked whether Moon meant direct communication between Trump and Kim.

Experts raised the need for Moon to use a recently installed hotline to talk to the North's leader.

South and North Korea set up the telephone hotline between their leaders last month ahead of their summit on April 27, but President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un have yet to use it.

"There is no scheduled plan for communication via the hotline," an official at Cheong Wa Dae said.

Trump's abrupt announcement came hours after North Korea demolished its Punggye-ri nuclear test site in a northeastern mountainous area in front of international journalists.

In response, North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said Friday that his country is still willing to talk with the U.S. to resolve pending issues "anytime and in any format." (Yonhap)
South Korea's Hyundai Group on Friday expressed disappointment over U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, but it vowed not to give up hope for the resumption of inter-Korean economic projects.

"It's a shame that the summit was called off, but we will make preparations in a cool and consistent manner," said the conglomerate, which has operated inter-Korean economic projects before.

On Thursday, Trump canceled next month's summit with Kim in Singapore, citing Pyongyang's "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed in its most recent statement.

The planned summit had fueled guarded optimism among South Korean firms that improved ties between the United States and North Korea could eventually lead to the lifting of international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang, which in turn could jump-start their businesses in North Korea.

Hyundai Group has recently created a task force to prepare for the possible resumption of a joint factory park in North Korea's border city of Kaesong and a joint tour program at Mount Kumgang, a scenic mountain resort on the North's east coast.












A mural depicting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un looms over a passerby near the Koreatown neighborhood in Los Angeles, Thursday. Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a planned summit with Kim Jong-un. / EPA



By Oh Young-jin



Just hours before U.S. President Donald Trump canceled the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, I was thinking of writing a column about that very possibility.



A colleague told me that only a writer with the "bold mind of yours" would try to write as such. Of course, it did not sound complimentary.



I am not trying to boast of my prescience, because much more often than not I have been proven to lack the ability to look ahead and make the right forecast.



But I have found a couple of interesting things in the behavior of Trump and Kim Jong-un's North Korea that tell us that we do not need to lose sleep over a recent chain of events and things will work out soon.



First and foremost is Trump's letter in which he told the world that the Singapore meeting was off.



Trump did not tweet this time, departing from his usual way of letting the world know what he is up to.



This means he took extra care to treat the North Korean leader with respect.



He also wrote a letter that bears his signature, a gesture of formality.



It was dated May 24, which could mean the letter was revealed to the public even before Kim himself read it. The report of the cancelation letter started just before 11 p.m. Seoul time, the same time as the North. That would be early morning in Washington.





Trump says summit with Kim Jong-un 'could still take place on June 12' Trump-Kim summit 'not lost, but delayed': USFK commander Moon's broker role faces setback At least it is safe to say that Kim did not have the original hard copy of the letter in his hand when he heard of the news.



The letter addressed Kim as His Excellency, quite a promotion from the little rocket man label Trump used to describe the North Korean leader in an earlier tweet.



What do these things tell us? It is about Trump theatrics  making his cancelation letter look like a very polite rain check on their June 12 meeting, instead asking Kim to pick a couple of dates he would be available for their summit.



As a matter of fact, in the letter, Trump said "call or write."



The North also responded in a controlled but conciliatory manner.



Hours later, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said the North was willing to have dialogue with the U.S. anytime and in any format.



Kim had previously threatened to cancel the summit after U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton talked about applying the unconditional surrender a la Libya's Gaddafi in dismantling the North's nuclear program and taking the North's nuclear hardware to the U.S. mainland as if it were war trophy.



New Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sounded disparaging when offering to enable North Koreans to eat meat if Pyongyang opted to denuclearize. Then vice foreign minister Choe Sun-hui, called U.S. Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy" for his hard-line approach.



Trump chose to lump the two together and cited their "tremendous anger and open hostility" as the reason to can the summit.



Kim agreed with Trump and said there was animosity between the two, so dialogue was necessary to resolve it, but he said the North would not be on its hands and knees to beg for a meeting with Trump. Oddly, if we put Trump in the North's position, he might sound just like Kim.



Taking all in all of this, the latest round of tit for tat between Washington and Pyongyang falls short of a battle cry but is more likely part of an extended effort to jockey for a better position in what proves to be a long, twisted road toward a lasting peace.



As we sit and watch the match from ringside, the U.S. under Trump and the North under the young Kim fight as if they were experienced professional wrestlers who create sound and fury without hurting each other.



We hope the players will end their match without hurting each other. But there is always a risk, as is in the ongoing nuclear confrontation.




President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump talk in their bilateral talks at the White House in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. Although they agreed on joint effort to make Trump's upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump cancelled it Thursday night. / Yonhap



By Kim Rahn



The sudden decision by the U.S. to cancel a planned June 12 summit with North Korea has caught President Moon Jae-in, who had been working as a broker between the adversaries for their talks over the North's denuclearization, off guard.



It may have been more heartbreaking for Moon considering that the decision came less than 24 hours since he came back from bilateral talks with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., over his then upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.



He now needs a new strategy to mediate between Washington and Pyongyang to help the two countries build up trust again. It is expected he may soon talk with Kim via a hotline established between the leaders of the two Koreas.



The cancellation was apparently unexpected by Cheong Wa Dae, as Moon's security chief Chung Eui-yong said on the President's flight to Washington, D.C., that he saw a "99.9 percent of chance" of the Trump-Kim summit taking place as planned.






U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday said it was possible a planned summit with

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un could still take place on June 12 as originally planned, just a day after he cancelled the meeting citing Pyongyang's "tremendous anger and open hostility."

Trump welcomed the conciliatory statement from North Korea, saying it remained open to talks after on Thursday he called off a summit with North Korea's autocratic leader, Kim Jong Un.

"It was a very nice statement they put out," Trump said as he left the White House to deliver a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy. "We'll see what happens - it could even be the 12th. "We're talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it."



Earlier on Twitter, Trump had noted "very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea." (REUTERS)
Protesters stage a rally in front of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Friday, to criticize U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the planned U.S.-North Korea summit. Trump was scheduled to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore, but he abruptly scrapped what would have been a historic meeting, Thursday, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility" toward Washington. / Yonhap
South Korea's drug safety agency said Friday it will provide consulting to pharmaceutical firms over their development of seven vaccine products.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it will provide consulting to pharmaceutical firms over their laboratory tests, clinical trials, manufacturing and quality control of vaccines.

The seven products include vaccines for tuberculosis for adults and teenagers and for herpes zoster.

The move has raised the number of vaccine products that receive government support to 38, according to the drug safety agency.

The support is part of South Korea's efforts to increase the sufficient rate of vaccines from 50 percent in 2018 to 80 percent by 2022.

Vaccine development is expected to prevent between 2 and 3 million deaths globally every year, the ministry said. (Yonhap)
In many cases, foreign housemaids in Korea are missing out on workers' insurances, whether their status is legal or not. / Korea Times file



By Ko Dong-hwan



Most foreign housemaids in Korea haven't been able to benefit from the legal net of workers' insurances as they often don't satisfy the conditions required to apply for coverage.



According to forums on migrant workers' human rights in Korea and surveys over the past few years, many cases haven't benefited from the four basic workers' insurances provided by the government because their working hours at each household often didn't meet the legally stated minimum required. What adds to the difficulty of national authorities improving their working environment is that immigration offices have been neglecting to keeping records of how many of foreign housemaids have an expired visa.



Oh Eun-jin, from the Korean Women's Development Institute, said at a 2017 Seoul forum about protecting migrants' human rights and local governments' responsibilities that most of the housemaids from overseas landed their jobs through employment agencies. Some of the agencies received from their recruits part of their income for tax reporting, while other agencies didn't. If the workers didn't pay taxes, they weren't entitled to workers' insurances coverage.



Even if the housemaids paid tax to their employment agencies, many were exempted from receiving the four basic insurance covers because they didn't satisfy conditions. According to Oh, many of the foreign housemaids worked for several households and received hourly wages. For each household, they mostly worked fewer than 15 hours a week, which made them a "short-term employee." Under current laws, short-term employees and daily workers do not qualify for the insurance cover.



"For illegal aliens working as housemaids, they often cannot leave the houses and suffer from extreme human rights violations," Oh said.



The four basic workers' insurances refer to the national pension, health insurance, employment insurance and severance insurance. Those working fewer than 60 hours a month at the same workplace are not covered.



The National Human Rights Commission of Korea's 2015 survey of housemaids' human rights said housekeepers from overseas numbered at least 30,000 to 80,000 nationwide. The survey said it was difficult to determine those who were illegal.



The 2017 Seoul forum said 70 percent of foreign housemaids in Korea were from the Korean-Chinese ethnic group and the rest included Chinese and those from Southeast Asian countries.



With over 2 million migrant workers nationwide, Korea has been developing a tax system to serve workers better. For example, the National Tax Service obliges foreign workers to submit their year-end tax reports so they can benefit an annual tax return. The authority provides them with guidebooks and automated tax calculation programs in English and call booths dedicated to foreigners. Migrants benefiting from tax returns jumped from 480,000 in 2013 to 544,000 in 2015.


Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte / Reuters



Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will visit South Korea next month to promote bilateral ties and cooperation, Seoul officials said Friday.

He will make an official visit from June 3-5 and hold a summit with President Moon Jae-in on June 4 focusing on trade, infrastructure and the defense industry, according to the presidential office.

Duterte will be the first head of state from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to visit South Korea since Moon took office in May last year.

The two leaders last met in the Philippines in November on the sidelines of the ASEAN+3 Summit and East Asian Summit (EAS).

Seoul hopes his visit will boost momentum for Moon's New South Policy aimed at strengthening ties with fast-growing Southeast Asian countries.

"The government is seeking to expand cooperation with ASEAN," presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said. "The New South Policy is expected to gain traction on the back of Duterte's trip to Seoul and President Moon's March visit to Vietnam," he added. (Yonhap)
Incheon Airport Immigration Office / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Ko Dong-hwan



Complaints are growing that service at online immigration booking offices is taking too long, leaving foreigners unable to revalidate their visas before the permits expire.



People wishing to extend stay in Korea can visit Hi Korea online site where they can book an appointment at an immigration office where they can apply for a visa extension. There are about 50 immigration offices nationwide.



The problem is that the earliest dates are usually at least one month away. Many people have complained that their visas are due to expire before an appointment is available. They then have to pay a penalty for not extending their visas before the expiration date, leaving a legal infringement record.



A Syrian man, whose visa expired on May 10, visited Hi Korea on April 17 to extend his stay. But the earliest available date at the Incheon immigration office was May 11. He booked the date anyway.



When he arrived, he was fined 80,000 won ($74) because he was a day late in extending his visa. But he was most worried that the legal infringement record might cause problems in extending his visa, according to Kyeongin Ilbo.



"In general, foreigners don't know it takes about a month to book the earliest date at Hi Korea," the report said. "And they complained about having to pay a fine when they had already tried to extend their visas weeks ahead."



A spokesman for a human rights group said, "A lot of foreigners are concerned about leaving the bad record at Korean immigration offices, which is why the booking system must be improved."



An Incheon immigration office official said that rather than trying to book online, people whose visas were due to expire shortly should visit the office in person and request a pre-visa extension booking, which allows them to revisit later to extend the visa even past the expiration date.



Hi Korea, co-developed in 2007 by Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, describes itself as "e-Government for Foreigner." The online booking system for each office was introduced at different times.



Incheon, where the number of foreigners applying for refugee status has risen since 2016 to more than 2,200 in 2017, introduced the system in March this year. Seoul launched the service in April 2016, and Cheongju in April 2017.




By Kang Aa-young





A Chinese man who allegedly stabbed another Chinese man to death in Daerim-dong turned himself in to police on Thursday.





Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said the man, 35, was booked and arrested.





He surrendered to police in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, after fleeing from the crime scene.





According to the police, the victim, 27, was the suspect's supervisor. The suspect told police he committed the crime in a fit of anger in an argument over late pay.





The suspect said he was owed 300,000 won ($28) and payment two days overdue.






By Kang Seung-woo



Lawmakers have agreed to include regular bonuses and various welfare benefits as part of the minimum wage.



According to the agreement reached by the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, Friday, regular bonuses exceeding 25 percent of the minimum wage and benefits such as lodging and transportation surpassing 7 percent of it will be included in the calculation of basic wages



In response, an umbrella union said it will hold a strike next week.



The committee plans to submit the revision bill to a parliamentary plenary session, scheduled for Monday, and it will take effect next year if passed.



Starting this year, the basic wage earners receive 1.57 million won ($1,460) per month when working 40 hours a week after the Moon Jae-in administration raised the minimum wage by 16.4 percent to 7,530 won -- the biggest increase in two decades -- to boost private consumption and narrow the income gap.



It took almost a year for the talks to reach a conclusion as management wanted regular bonuses and other welfare benefits to be included in the revision, labor unions strongly opposed the move, claiming it would reduce the effects of the latest wage hike.



At the National Assembly, ruling and opposition parties had reached consensus on including regular bonuses as part of the minimum wage, but they were at odds over the benefits issue.



Amid the deadlock, Rep. Seo Hyung-soo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea came up with a compromise and most lawmakers except for a few assemblymen from the minor opposition Justice Party agreed to expand the scope of the basic wage. The Justice Party's key support base is low-wage earners.



"We made efforts to have those who earn 24 million won per year unaffected by the expanded scope of the minimum wage," said Rep. Lim Lee-ja of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party who heads the parliamentary committee.



Frustrated by the agreement to revise the law governing the minimum wage for next year, an umbrella labor union later in the day decided to stage a strike Monday, claiming the Moon government was going back on its promise.



"We will go on strike May 28 to block the revision," said the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) after holding an emergency meeting.



"The ruling party floor leader led the worst-ever revision of the minimum wage and the labor ministry ignored it. We believe Cheong Wa Dae is pulling strings."



The union also slammed the government for "paying lip service" to low-income earners and irregular workers as well as young people and women who are struggling to find jobs.



"The agreement has dashed the hopes of those people, only making conglomerates happy," the KCTU said.


North Korea has completely dismantled its Punggye-ri nuclear test ground "to ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear test," state news agency KCNA said on Thursday (May 24).

The dismantling of the nuclear test ground "completely closed the tunnel entrances," it said, adding that two tunnels there had been ready for use in "powerful underground nuclear tests".

In video provided by South Korean media on Friday (May 25), the nuclear testing facilities were seen being demolished and North Korean staff told reporters that there was no leakage of radioactive material or adverse impact on the surrounding environment.

The discontinuing of nuclear tests is an important process in moving towards global nuclear disarmament, the state news agency added. (Reuters)
By Kim Ae-ran





When I go to the supermarket or convenience store, I often find some products labeled "Three in one," which means I can have three items or benefits if I buy one. What a treat! Nobody would feel bad when something more is given for free.



One day, I had a chance to listen to an interesting lecture on pseudo-religions. By the end of that lecture, a sharing was given by a religious person who had changed religions. She left Catholicism to join another similar religion and then returned to Catholicism after some time. She confessed she could have remained a Catholic only if she had better understood the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.



We Catholics believe in the Trinity, which comes from Latin, "Trinitas." Trinitas is a combination of "tri" (triad, meaning three each, triple or threefold) and "unitas" (meaning unity or oneness). Three in unity in the doctrine of the Trinity literally means the presence of three consubstantial persons. God is three divine persons in one substance, essence or nature  in other words, one God in three divine persons called the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.



By reason, it is not easy to understand this interdependent and interrelated relationship. The traditional doctrine of the Trinity says: there is one God; God is three co-existing eternal persons; each person is fully God, co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial.



Deuteronomy 6:4 clearly says there is only one God: "The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!" Then, how can one God become multi-personal? There is no such term as the Trinity in the Old Testament, but some phrases imply the existence of the Trinity as in Genesis 1:26 when God says "Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness" and Genesis 18:2 mentions three visitors standing near Abraham. Various phrases in the New Testament directly talk about the existence of the Trinity as in Matthew 28:19. ("Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.")



C.S. Lewis explains the Trinity in "Mere Christianity" as having three dimensions with many figures. With one or two dimensions, we can't make various figures. There is only a vertical line with one dimension, and there is only a square with an angle with two dimensions. But many dimensions can create a hypercube.



The Trinity shows the triune nature of God, the complexity of three entities, the endless possibility, capacity and diversity of unity. The best way to figure out the Trinity would be by pondering on what roles the Trinity has for us. In sum, the Trinity loves and saves us, and is present in us. Love is the fundamental basis or ground for the Trinity, and this love is revealed through our relationship, fellowship, communication and communion.



God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son to redeem the world, and through the Son, the Holy Spirit is always with us, guiding, inspiring and protecting us. When we truly love one another, this relationship of three in one is renewed, multiplied, strengthened and reproduced among us.



Whenever I reflect and ponder on the Words of God, the only ultimate answer that comes to my mind is always love. The relationship of the Trinity witnesses love, and this love shows us the essential reality of the Trinity.



The Daughters of St. Paul are now preparing for the 11th General Chapter which will be held September 2019 in Italy with the theme of "Arise and go on your journey"(Dt. 10:11) trusting in the Promise. In preparation of that historic gathering and consulting like a synod, the General Government invites each of us to reflect on the abundant riches, merits, dreams and positives we have already experienced throughout the past six years as well as appeals or calling from God and the methods to correspond to that appeals.



My personal appeal coming from my heart is that I myself should live and witness the Words of God first of all. When my heart is burned with the inner fire of the Words of God, I believe many doors will be opened.



The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul (Figlie di San Paolo) living and giving the Good News to the world by means of social communication. Learn more about the congregation at fsp.pauline.or.kr.


By Arthur I. Cyr





The royal wedding in Britain of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of the United States, now the Duchess of Sussex, is news that has been seen and heard around the world. The focus of the domestic and international media on this particular family event has been pervasive, pressing and  for some involved  prying.



For many, this is all so, so unnecessary. After all Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, the head of state of the United Kingdom  which includes Northern Ireland as well as Britain  has little direct governing power.



Nevertheless, all those posh personalities, eye-catching costumes, and courtly ceremonies generate intensely interested international audiences. The storybook dimension draws both political and apolitical people, and at least positive news is featured for once  which is not fake.



This has been a busy spring for the British royal family. Last month, the big international news flash was that Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth. The youngest, if now not newest, member of the Royal Family of  careful here  the United Kingdom arrived April 23 in good form, and soon afterward was named Louis Arthur Charles. The baby boy weighed eight pounds, seven ounces.



The British government, following the June 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union, has since been involved in a lengthy, complicated effort to do just that. Difficult negotiations have been internal as well as external, with the governing Conservative Party bitterly divided on the matter. With respect to Eurocrats in Brussels, please note the weight of the new prince is 3.8 kilograms.



Earlier, shortly before the general election in May 2015, Britain's Royal Family announced the birth of another new baby. The arrival of Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, also the child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, went smoothly and also was big news. As is customary, editors separated this development from any political news.



Over four centuries ago, namesake Queen Elizabeth I was forcefully in charge of the British Isles. Those were brutal times, and losing a power struggle could cost your life, sometimes quickly. Yet Elizabeth rightly receives credit for respecting established law, the prerogatives of Parliament and the advantages of prudent government. She stabilized politics and government following the tumultuous reign of her father Henry VIII.



Today, royalty and representative government have important complementary functions. As Walter Bagehot described in his 1867 book "The English Constitution," Parliament handles the practical "efficient functions" of governing while the monarchy handles the largely ceremonial "dignified functions."



The important ceremonial functions address the collective emotions of the people at large about government. In the 1930s, King Edward VIII generated great controversy when he wanted to marry Wallis Simpson, who was an American. In that different earlier time, the fact that she was not British did cause concern and debate. She also had been divorced twice. In general, notoriety followed her.



The vital concern, not publicly discussed by the ruling Conservative government, was that Edward was sympathetic with the rulers of Nazi Germany, as well as being personally highly erratic. German officials considered him a promising strategic asset, in both generating domestic support and eventually helping control Britain in a conquered Europe.



Monarchist Winston Churchill supported Edward with sympathy. At the time, this reinforced the controversial Churchill's isolation in his Conservative Party.



Finally, Edward did abdicate the throne and marry his American. After war began, successor King George VI proved an effective, valuable wartime partner of Prime Minister Churchill.



Arthur I. Cyr (acyr@carthage.edu) is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of "After the Cold War."


By John J. Metzler





UNITED NATIONS  Amid continuing destruction of villages, attacks on children and a widening displacement of refugees, members of the U.N. Security Council visited Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and neighboring Bangladesh to assess the widening humanitarian carnage.



The officially dubbed Mission to Myanmar offered diplomats a "vivid and stark revelation" of an unfolding tragedy both in the Southeast Asian country and in Bangladesh, where more than a million people have been forced from their homes.



Myanmar's victims are the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in an overwhelmingly Buddhist state.



Living in the Rakhine state, the downtrodden people flee into bordering Bangladesh, itself a poor country, which now hosts the world's largest refugee camp. According to UNICEF at least 60 Rohingya babies are born in Bangladesh refugee camps every day.



It didn't have to be this way. After a grim half century of military rule, Myanmar slowly nudged towards a more open society in 2011 when the ruling junta allowed "controlled openness." Longtime opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was freed in 2010 after 15 years of house arrest.



During a political victory lap tour in 2012, Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, visited the U.N. and the U.S. and was feted as the Angel of Democracy, savior to her once ostracized nation of 53 million people.



Sadly Suu Kyi's name was soon sullied when in August 2017, the Myanmar military commenced security operations against the Rohingya minority. Given the political outcry and her own embarrassment, she skipped a planned address to the U.N. General Assembly last year.



State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, whose power rests on a delicate balance between her party's genuine political popularity and the military's nervous openness, is not directing the carnage by Myanmar's military; yet she has politically and politely chosen to look the other way.



So what did the U.N.'s mission uncover? The town of Cox's Bazaar hosts 670,000 Rohingya who joined 300,000 already in Bangladesh. Over a million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have placed a massive strain on resources.



France's representative Anne Gueguen put the matter into perspective, "The Rohingya are victims of ethnic cleansing, there is no other way to describe it." She added that the Myanmar government must "tackle the root causes of the crisis," namely granting citizenship to the Rohingya.



Though Myanmar's government recognizes over 100 ethnic groups inside its vast territory such as the Shan and Karen peoples, the Rohingya are denied citizenship and are thus stateless people.



According to Human Rights Watch, Myanmar's 1982 Constitution "effectively deny to the Rohingya the possibility of acquiring a nationality." Moreover Myanmar law does not recognize this ethnic minority as one of the so-called eight "national indigenous races."



The Muslim minority has suffered systematic discrimination for decades but by August 2017, the military campaign began. The French humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stated that within the first month of attacks at least 6,700 Rohingya men, women and children were killed. There was widespread burning of villages by the Myanmar military.



Though U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has spoken out forcefully about the atrocities from their start, there has been no formal action by the 15-member Security Council to stem the crisis. One reason rests with China's close political support for the Myanmar regime. Beijing would likely block a formal resolution.



Why is Myanmar so important? The resource-rich former British colony stands astride China's southern doorstep in Yunnan Province, has access to the Bay of Bengal, and holds vast mineral and energy resources. It's clearly part of Beijing's sphere of influence.



American U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley stressed, "The active involvement of the Security Council is essential to bring an end to the Rohingya crisis." She added, "That, too, will be a challenge, as some members of the council have kept us from taking action for cynical and self-interested reasons."



While the U.S. envoy stated that the ultimate solution was for the refugees to return to their own homes on their own land, this seems easier said than done. Surprisingly the Myanmar regime has invited refugees back, but to a very murky future.



Bangladesh delegate Masud Bin Momen warned, "The Rohingya community needed answers to pressing questions of citizenship, freedom of movement, and human rights. The vista of more than 400 burned villages hardly evoked confidence about the prospect of return to Rakhine."



Ambassador Haley stated poignantly, "We have all heard horrifying accounts of what the Rohingya people have suffered, what 'ethnic cleansing' means  that leaves us with no choice but to act now."



John J. Metzler (jjmcolumn@earthlink.net) is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamism: the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China."


If Pope Francis ever visits Chicago  it's been nearly 40 years since Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in Grant Park  his presence would be a major event that illuminates a small contradiction: Chicago, in one specific way, isn't the reigning pontiff's kind of town.



Chicago is a business center and global hub of the futures markets, but Pope Francis is intensely skeptical of markets, money and capitalism. This pope, who expresses deep concern for the poor and is known for his modest ways, is a fierce critic of free market economics, whose theories were nurtured and promoted by the University of Chicago.



Pope Francis' attacks on capitalism can be fiery. He has railed against "compulsive consumerism" and called the unfettered pursuit of money "the dung of the devil." We've heard his oratory previously, and we respectfully disagreed with the sweeping nature of the criticism. Why? Because the pope brushes aside how capitalism lifts so many of the world's people out of poverty. Now add to the litany a harsh new Vatican appraisal of western economics personally approved by Pope Francis.



A lengthy document released Thursday by the Roman Catholic Church goes into surprising detail in its takedown of business, competition, deregulation and the shareholder system. Concepts named and vilified in the paper include derivatives (a class of financial instrument that includes futures), credit default swaps and offshore banking. Debt securitization, a complex pool of assets that can be risky for investors, is a "ticking time bomb ready sooner or later to explode," the paper says.



This Vatican treatise, which can be seen as the church's critique of the Great Recession, amounts to a papal warning that business, banking and trading are "profoundly amoral" or, worse, "of proximate immorality." The document suggests that, from the trading floor to the boardroom, greed rules while ethical behavior is devalued: "The objective of mere profit easily creates a perverse and selective logic that often favors the advancement of business leaders who are capable, but greedy and unscrupulous, and whose relationship with others is prevalently driven by a selfish and personal gain."



The Vatican's remedy is heightened morality and more government regulation. At stake, the document says, is the well-being of the majority of the world's population, which is "excluded and marginalized" while "a minority, indifferent to the condition of the majority, exploits and reserves for itself substantial resources and wealth."



Our reaction is not to repudiate the pope but to offer a balancing assessment. The nature of capitalism, based on risk and reward, makes it imperfect: Opportunity doesn't guarantee success. Competition creates winners and losers. Also true: While many business leaders are ethical, some are not.



What's also certain is that capitalism incentivizes people to work, creates wealth and improves lives. The United Nations found in 2015 that the number of people living in extreme poverty had plunged by more than half, from 1.9 billion to 836 million, since 1990  the era in which the Iron Curtain fell, capitalism invaded Eastern Europe, and China embraced free market principles.



As the fabled U. of C. economist Milton Friedman noted: "The only cases in which the masses have escaped (grinding poverty), the only cases in recorded history, are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade. If you want to know where the masses are worse off, worst off, it's exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that."



Pope Francis' concerns are legitimate. We'd just like to see his teachings focus more attention on the benefits of capitalism, not just the excesses. And of course, we'd like to see him tour LaSalle Street.



The above editorial appeared in the Chicago Tribune. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


Government should reconsider 'income-led' policy



The income disparity between the rich and the poor has widened, despite efforts by the liberal Moon Jae-in administration to narrow it.



According to Statistics Korea, the gap between the disposable income of the top 20 percent and that of the bottom 20 percent of households widened to 5.95 times in the first quarter. The difference compares with the 5.35 times a year ago and 5.02 times in the same period of 2016, and is the widest since the government began compiling relevant statistics in 2003.



The discrepancy is even more severe in nominal income. The nominal income of the poorest 20 percent families fell 8 percent to 1.28 million won ($1,185) a month, while that of the wealthiest 20 percent rose 9 percent to 10.15 million won year-on-year in the first three months.



These numbers should be more than just embarrassing for President Moon, whose "income-led" growth policy has put a priority on narrowing the gap between the high- and low-income brackets.



Economic officials ascribed the worsening income distribution to the sharp increase in the number of households led by people aged 70 or older.



Population aging and other demographic changes could be part of the reasons. However, policymakers need to check the possibility the income-led policy has worked to aggravate fair redistribution. Private experts have pointed out the policy reduced jobs in the services sector, such as restaurants, lodgings, and retail and wholesale businesses. Hit hardest by the job losses in these industries are the bottom 20 percent of households.



It would be hasty, of course, to conclude the government's policy resulted in exacerbating income distribution with just the three-month figures. However, one thing seems inevitable _ fair redistribution is not going as the government wants it to be. Policymakers should revisit their policy and make a correct diagnosis to find the right remedy. Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon recently hinted at slowing down the hikes in the minimum wage, which is a move in the right direction.



The stark contrast between booming exports and slumping domestic demand is making things worse. Bold deregulation will help struggling services businesses targeting local consumers.



The government ought not to waste any more time in seeking the advice of private economists to find a quick solution.




US, North Korea should build mutual trust



U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the planned June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has dealt a setback to the pursuit of the North's denuclearization and the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. It has also frustrated President Moon Jae-in who was playing an active role as a mediator to help make the summit a success.



The cancellation came as a surprise not only to Seoul and Pyongyang, but also the world. It did also the more because President Trump announced his decision right after Kim delivered on his promise to demolish the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, a first -- though symbolic -- move to show his genuine intention of denuclearization.



What prompted Trump to call off the summit Thursday seems to be the North's abrupt change of tone to hostility toward Seoul and Washington. Trump made the decision especially after North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui lashed out at U.S. Vice President Mike Pence for stating that the North could end up with the Libyan model for denuclearization. Her harsh rhetoric followed a threat by the North's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan to cancel the Kim-Trump summit after criticizing National Security Adviser John Bolton for calling on the North to follow the Libya model.



In this context, Trump's action against the summit appears to be the direct result of the tit for tat with Pyongyang. In his letter to Kim Jong-un, Trump cited the North's "tremendous anger" and "open hostility" toward the U.S. as the reason for the cancellation. But he did not forget to tell Kim, "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."



Therefore it can be inferred that Trump has not slammed the door shut in the face of Kim. Actually Trump called on Kim to change his mind so that they can probably have talks later. This brings a ray of hope for the revival of talks between the two leaders. And the North also expressed its hope for the summit to take place. In this regard, Trump's decision could be seen as a diplomatic gambit to warn the North that its outdated brinksmanship tactics will not work anymore.



For now, it is important for Washington and Pyongyang to keep the momentum for detente. Both sides should refrain from any act that might exacerbate the current situation. To keep the summit alive, the U.S. and North Korea must narrow the gap over the terms of denuclearization.



Most of all, the North should accept the U.S. demand for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. Likewise, Washington needs to accommodate Pyongyang's calls for security guarantees and economic assistance in return for abandoning its nuclear program. Most important is to build mutual trust between the two. President Moon is also required to help Trump and Kim come to terms with each other to settle peace on the Korean Peninsula.






This is a screen capture of Naver's layout after the summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump.



By Oh Young-jin



Is portal king Naver a news outlet?



The portal where readers get more news than from any other single news organization doesn't want to be classified as such because it would be subject to the stringent rules applied to newspapers and broadcasters.



But a look at its display of news about Wednesday's summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump makes one wonder whether Naver can avoid the media label any longer.



Under the "Korea-U.S. Summit" heading on its website comes the top article by Yonhap News Agency, whose headline reads "Leaders of Korea, U.S. (agree) to work for the success of North Korea-U.S. summit, to resolve the North's anxiety about its regime survival."



The second is another Yonhap article, whose headline says, "Moon on thin ice  can he bring a big deal on the U.S.-North Korea summit?"



The third item is the conservative Chosun Ilbo article whose headline says, "Two leaders apart about the North's behavior regarding its summit with the U.S."



These headlines indicated the outcome of the Moon-Trump summit ended business as usual, all but ignoring Trump's bombshell statement that there was substantial chance the Singapore summit with the North may not take place unless his conditions are met.



That is the first remark by Trump about the possibility of no summit with the North.



Although anti-North Korean Chosun's headline on Naver looked vague, that article moved from one containing Trump's comment about no summit without the North meeting his conditions. Naver didn't pick that.



At the time of this layout on Naver, two other widely read vernacular newspapers  Joongang and Donga  had the Trump ultimatum as their main website articles.



Most foreign media outlets chose the same angle as the two conservative newspapers, which, with Chosun, do not back the progressive Moon government. .



Kyunghyang, a progressive paper, highlighted in its paper edition Trump's intention to conduct the summit with Kim without a hitch, while another progressive, Hankyoreh, focused on Trump's conciliatory stance on the North's staged denuclearization.



Going back to the original question about Naver's identity, there can be a couple of arguments reflecting its treatment of the summit news.



First, there is no doubt that it did choose the articles and decided where they were placed  that is layout, part of the editorial decision, a key function for a news organization.



By the tenor of the articles' headlines, Naver can be seen as trying to place its ideological tilt toward neutral or progressive. That is part of the news outlet's editorial policy.



The result of its coverage can be seen as an effort not to rub the government up the wrong way, considering the Moon administration's efforts to make the Trump-Kim summit a success.



Finally, it failed to get the news to readers by picking articles with obfuscating headlines or ignoring ones with "call a spade a spade" headlines. It means Naver is not a good news manager.



Naver claims it produces little original reporting and its job is to display articles from affiliated news organizations.



But when it decides which articles to display and where they will be, it is already playing the role of a news organization. Throw in its enormous power as a trader of news, and it is time to apply to Naver the same rules and scrutiny that cover other media organizations.



Naver is facing calls for change in the way it deals with news as an aggregator and distributor after it was revealed that it manipulated the layout and its news service was used to support a certain political party.



It came up with measures to make its news service less conspicuous and allow member news entities to lay out its news page. It also expressed a willingness to give up the current "instant article" system of enabling readers to see articles on Naver without "out-linking" or going back to the website of a news outlet where the articles originate.



Naver's offer is looked on with suspicion, with critics saying it is nothing but a trick to allow the portal to survive the latest scandal while keeping its current system intact.



What I am suggesting is to make Naver a news organization and have it compete with other outlets rather than allowing it to maintain a dominant status over them. That will help take excessive power from the portal and provide a level playing field for all news organizations, Naver included, to compete.


/ Korea Times file



Samsung Electronics Co. on Friday expressed discontent against the decision made by the U.S. court, which ordered the company to pay its archrival Apple Inc. $539 million for design infringement.

"Today's decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages," Samsung Electronics said in a statement.

"We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers," it added.

The conflict between the two companies surrounding the alleged design infringement started in 2011. The first ruling that Samsung's smartphones and tablet PCs have violated designs of Apple came in 2012.

Sources said Apple demanded $1 billion as compensation, claiming Samsung raised the amount of profits by selling its controversial smartphones.

The U.S. company claimed Samsung violated its designs, such as a "black rectangular front face with rounded corners," a "rectangular front face with rounded corners and a raised rim," and a "grid of 16 colorful icons on a black screen." (Yonhap)
E-mart CEO Lee Gap-su, second from left, practices CPR at the company's conference room in Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of E-mart



By Park Jae-hyuk



E-mart's 51 executives, including CEO Lee Gap-su, practiced CPR at the company headquarters on Friday.



The practice was a follow-up measure to death of a female cashier, 48, who suffered a heart attack at the discount chain's Guro branch in Seoul on March 31.



At first, the retailer denied it had failed to give proper education.



However, it finally came up with plans last month to prevent a similar tragedy.



Since the cashier's death, the E-mart union has demanded that management provide a safer workplace.



Also since last week, the union has also urged the Ministry of Employment and Labor to investigate the company's working conditions.



According to E-mart, all employees have practiced various types of first aid and its stores are now equipped with automated external defibrillators (AED).



However, a union survey this month showed that 73.1 percent of E-mart workers who had not been provided with health and safety education from the company were forced to answer they had.



Only 32.9 percent of the workers had been provided with the education every month, the survey showed.



Amid the ongoing controversy, E-mart cited as "fruit of the company's efforts'' the recent survival of a worker, who lost consciousness at the discount chain's Namyangju store in Gyeonggi Province and being taken by a rescue team to hospital.



"The worker could get well again because a manager safely handed over the worker to a 119 rescue team, after giving quick first aid," an E-mart official said. "Our employees' efforts to make a safer E-mart finally paid off."



However, given that the Namyangju worker's accident happened on a weekend and the Guro cashier was on night duty, the retailer faces criticism for heavy workloads.



The union has criticized Shinsegae Group, which owns the discount chain, of demanding that staff work harder since the conglomerate began implementing a 35-hour work week earlier this year.



The workers have urged management to hire additional employees so people can finish on time now that the discount stores have begun closing at 11 p.m., an hour earlier.



The union has also blamed E-mart for the death in March death of a moving walkway repairman at E-mart's Donong branch in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.



While inspecting a moving walkway after closing time, the man, 21, who worked for an E-mart subcontractor, fell into a gap underneath the machine which suddenly began operating.



Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin has yet to apologize for the deaths, although the union has continued to ask him to do so.


Kendallville, IN (46755)

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 59F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Angola, IN (46703)

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Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low near 60F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

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Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Thunder possible. Low near 60F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Auburn, IN (46706)

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Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 61F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 61F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Rome, May 25 - Premier-designate, Giuseppe Conte, continued to hold talks on Friday as he prepares a list of ministers for the 5-Star Movement (M5S), League coalition government he has been given a mandate to try to form. Conte, a 54-year-old law professor from Puglia with no political experience, had a round of meetings with the parties in parliament on Thursday and he also talked to representatives of investors who lost money in a series of recent bank crises. He met Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco on Friday before talks with M5S leader Luigi Di Maio and League leader Matteo Salvini. There appears to be tension between President Sergio Mattarella and the League-M5S over the cabinet, in particular the possibility that 82-year-old Euroskeptic economist Paolo Savona could become economy minister. Di Maio and Salvini seem intent on sticking by the choice of Savona despite reported misgivings on the part of Mattarella. It is a prerogative of the head of State to approve ministers, after discussions with the premier-designate. Sources at Mattarella's office said Thursday that the big issue on the formation of a new government was not supposed vetoes against some ministers but, on the contrary, possible diktats to the premier and the head of State on the exercise of the functions given to them by the Constitution. Conte said that he talked "about the state of the Italian economy" during a meeting with Visco. He responded "we'll see" when reporters asked whether he would meet President Sergio Mattarella later on Friday.
Vietnam trade deficit with China hits USD150bn after five years

Import turnover from China reached USD250bn while the export turnover was only USD100bn from 2013 to the first quarter of 2018, according to the Ministry of Finance.







Vietnam has 24 international border gates




A Tesla car that crashed while in Autopilot mode in Utah this month accelerated in the seconds before it smashed into a stopped firetruck, according to a police report. Two people were injured.

Data from the Model S electric sedan show the car picked up speed for 3.5 seconds before crashing into the firetruck in suburban Salt Lake City, the report said. The driver manually hit the brakes a fraction of a second before impact.

Police suggested that the car was following another vehicle and dropped its speed to 55 mph to match the leading vehicle. They say the leading vehicle then probably changed lanes and the Tesla automatically sped up to its preset speed of 60 mph without noticing the stopped cars ahead.

The police report, which the Associated Press obtained Thursday through an open records request, provides details about the vehicles actions immediately before the May 11 crash and the drivers familiarity with its system.

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The driver of the vehicle, Heather Lommatzsch, 29, told police she thought the vehicles automatic emergency braking system would detect traffic and stop before the car hit another vehicle.

She said she had owned the car for two years and used the semiautonomous Autopilot feature on all kinds of roadways, including the Utah highway where she crashed, according to the report.

Lommatzsch said the car did not provide any audio or visual warnings before the crash. A witness told police she did not see signs that the car illuminated its brake lights or swerved to avoid the truck ahead of it.

Lommatzsch did not return a voicemail message Thursday. A Tesla spokeswoman, Keely Sulprizio, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The Palo Alto-based automaker, led by Elon Musk, has said it repeatedly warns drivers to stay alert, keep their hands on the wheel and maintain control of their vehicle at all times while using the Autopilot system.

Police say car data show Lommatzsch did not touch the steering wheel for 80 seconds before the crash. She told police she was looking at her phone and comparing different routes to her destination.

She broke her foot in the crash and this week was charged with a misdemeanor traffic citation. Online court records do not show an attorney listed for her.

The driver of the firetruck told police he suffered injuries consistent with whiplash but did not go to a hospital.

Teslas Autopilot system uses cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar to sense the vehicles surrounding environment and perform basic functions automatically.

Among those functions is automatic emergency braking, which the company says on its website is designed to detect objects that the car may impact and applies the brakes accordingly. Tesla says the system is not designed to avoid a collision and warns drivers not to rely on it entirely.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said it is investigating the May 11 crash.

Meanwhile, Tesla reached a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit alleging that it sold Autopilot features that werent available and made its vehicles dangerous, according to court records released Thursday by the U.S. District Court in San Jose. Neither Tesla nor Seattle attorney Steve Berman, who represented the plaintiffs, would comment Friday.

But Tesla said previously that since rolling out its second generation of Autopilot, it has continued to update software leading to major improvements. The company has said that it agreed to compensate customers who purchased Autopilot and had to wait longer than expected to get all of its features.

Teslas Autopilot has been the subject of previous scrutiny after other crashes involving the vehicles.

In March, a driver was killed when a Tesla Model X SUV, with Autopilot engaged, hit a barrier while traveling at freeway speed in Northern California. NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating that case.

This week, Tesla said Autopilot was not engaged when a Model S sedan veered off a road and plunged into a pond outside San Francisco, killing the driver.

Earlier in May, the NTSB opened an investigation into a crash in which a Model S caught fire after crashing into a wall at a high speed in Florida. Two 18-year-olds were trapped and died in the blaze. The agency has said it does not expect Autopilot to be a focus in that investigation.

UPDATES:

1:45 p.m.: This article was updated with news of Teslas settlement with some Autopilot customers.

This article was originally published at 7:30 a.m.
Mario Batalis three restaurants in Las Vegas will close July 27, a decision that comes as the New York Police Department conducts an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct levied against the celebrity chef.

The news was announced to employees Friday morning by B&B Hospitality Group, which provides back-office and operational services for 24 restaurants owned at least in part by Batali. The closures of B&B Ristorante, Otto and CarneVino will affect about 298 employees, most of whom will be laid off, according to a B&B representative.

These restaurants have continued to succeed, restaurateur Joe Bastianich said in a letter to employees. Unfortunately our partner in these restaurants, Las Vegas Sands Corp., has decided to end our relationship.

B&B Ristorante and Otto are both located in the Venetian, while CarneVino is in the Palazzo. The two hotels are owned by Las Vegas Sands.

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Las Vegas Sands confirmed the closing date for the three restaurants and said in a statement that there are no other plans for the space at this time.

A B&B representative said Las Vegas Sands decision to close the restaurants has been in the works since December, when Eater published an investigative report in which four women accused Batali of inappropriate touching over a period of two decades. Batali did not deny those allegations, saying at the time that the behavior described in the article does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted.

Las Vegas Sands is not the only company to cut ties with Batali.

Earlier this week, B&B Hospitality Group said its partnership with Batali was ending and that it was actively negotiating with Batali to buy his interests in the restaurants, after news of the NYPD investigation broke and 60 Minutes aired a report in which an unnamed woman accused Batali of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2005.

In a statement to CBS, Batali denied that he assaulted the woman.

Eataly said Monday that it had begun a process to compel the divestiture of Batalis small, minority interest in Eataly USA, which has Italian-style marketplaces in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Boston.

ABC has terminated its relationship with Batali and said the chef would no longer appear on its daytime network show The Chew. This week, ABC said The Chew would be replaced by a third hour of Good Morning America.

Batali had amassed a vast culinary empire  his brand spanned dozens of restaurants in six U.S. states and Singapore, and his name was attached to several culinary products. He also authored more than a dozen cookbooks.

Batali has had a strong presence in Southern California, including his Mozza restaurants in Los Angeles and Newport Beach and the Eataly marketplace that opened in November at the Westfield Century City mall.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga
Only a week ago, the drums of a trade war seemed to be quieting as the Trump administration put a hold on plans to tax Chinese imports and there was talk of a so-called skinny deal emerging from renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

But just like that, things could be simmering again after two abrupt moves by President Trump this week raised fresh questions about the direction of the administrations herky-jerky trade policy.

One is the dramatic decision by Trump to cancel the much-ballyhooed summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month to discuss denuclearization. The president called off the June 12 meeting in Singapore, citing harsh statements coming out of Pyongyang lately  a change in tone that Trump has attributed to influence from China, North Koreas erstwhile patron.

Trump has often suggested he would cut China slack on trade if Beijing helped pressure North Korea on the nuclear issue. And the presidents willingness over the last week to forestall tariffs on China, and to go easier on the U.S.-sanctioned Chinese telecom giant ZTE, were seen in part as a tradeoff for Chinas cooperation on North Korea. A deal on granting leniency to ZTE still appeared close to being reached on Friday.

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But now that the summit is off, is the trade war with China back on?

If I were Chinese officials dealing with the economy, Id be a little bit worried [that] this is going to usher in a harsher attitude from the U.S. on China trade, said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former U.S. Treasury economic emissary to China.

The other, less-publicized but potentially explosive trade action by Trump was to instruct Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to consider whether imported cars and car parts are harming U.S. national security and as such should be subject to new tariffs.

That investigation could take many months to complete, but the move drew immediate criticism from industry and governments across the globe, especially on the heels of Trumps imposition of steep duties on imported steel and aluminum, also citing national security.

Officials from Japan, China and Europe all spoke out against the new probe, some calling it a threat to the international trade order and others warning that it could throw the globally integrated industry into turmoil. Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) said it was simply a bad idea to raise taxes on American buyers of foreign-made cars and trucks. And few people could see how tariffs on imported autos and auto parts could reasonably be justified on the grounds of national security.

The administration has yet to explain how this latest action fits into a coherent strategy to increase American auto jobs and wages for American workers, or whether it is just designed to create more chaos and confusion, said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The Commerce Department initiated the investigation by tapping a rarely invoked provision of U.S. trade law, called Section 232. In the case of imported steel and aluminum, the agency took a broad reading of national security as encompassing economic security, concluding that the rise of foreign metal production over the years had hurt domestic producers and presented a security risk to the country because it would mean fewer American sources for military armor and infrastructure such as the electric power grid.

Trump has used the metal tariffs, or the threat of them, as leverage to try to extract concessions from trading partners  allies and adversaries alike. But it has strained U.S. relations, particularly with Europe, which has vowed to retaliate. The president has responded by twice pushing out the tariff deadline for the European Union, Canada and Mexico, among a few others.

Those temporary tariff exemptions, however, expire at the end of this month, and the administration has not yet said whether they would be extended again, made permanent or allowed to lapse.

Theres little doubt that the auto tariffs will arouse even more resentment, and be challenged by U.S. trading partners, said Alan Wolff, the American trade lawyer who is deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization. Sales and employment in the car industry are far greater than steel and aluminum production, and autos account for the bulk of the trade surplus that Japan, Mexico, Germany and South Korea have with the United States.

Wolff wouldnt predict whether the WTO would rule against a U.S. move to defend tariffs on national security grounds  such a case has never been adjudicated, he said  but other trade experts suggested that it could undermine the world trading order.

If this is an act taken for national security reasons, then what economic act is not? said James Bacchus, a former U.S. congressman and one-time chairman of the WTOs appellate body. If the United States can do this, then who cannot?

For Canada and Mexico, the specter of new auto tariffs carries particular resonance. The two countries have been struggling over the last year to meet Trumps demands for a revamped NAFTA, and the single toughest issue has been over rules on domestic-content requirements in cars that are traded tariff-free across borders in North America. The Trump administration has pressed for concessions so more vehicles and parts are produced in the United States, and the risk of steel and aluminum tariffs was aimed at pressuring Mexico and Canada to settle.

Earlier this month, talks were progressing and analysts were hopeful that a less comprehensive, scaled-down NAFTA deal containing mostly an agreement on auto rules could be concluded, opening the path to a new pact that could be approved by the current Congress. But only days are left before theres any chance of a ratification vote this year.

The administrations Wednesday night announcement of possible new tariffs on cars was no accident. It coincided with an impasse between the U.S. and Mexico on the NAFTA automotive rules of origin, said international trade lawyer Daniel Ujczo of the firm Dickinson Wright, noting that it was clearly meant to provide a second pressure point for Mexico and Canada.

The announcement also has political objectives that serve as a response to criticisms this week that the president has gone soft on China, he said.

Indeed, Trump has come under considerable heat from supporters who have questioned the presidents commitment to his America first agenda, especially after he tweeted recently his intent to help rescue ZTE. The Chinese telecom equipment maker is partly state-owned and has been reeling from U.S. penalties imposed a month ago by Trumps Commerce Department for violating sanctions on selling goods to Iran and North Korea. Trump, however, said too many Chinese jobs were being lost and suggested that he was doing Chinas President Xi Jinping a favor, although he later added that ZTEs demise would hurt American suppliers.

Trumps move to roll back the penalties  which included a ban on U.S. companies from selling components to ZTE  drew a sharp bipartisan backlash in Congress.

On Friday, the administration informed lawmakers of a deal that would allow ZTE to restart doing business with San Diego-based chipmaker Qualcomm and other U.S. suppliers critical for its production, according to a person familiar with the communications. Trump said earlier in the week that ZTE could be expected to pay a fine of around $1.3 billion and overhaul its management as part of the deal.

The White House denied that the about-face on ZTE involved a quid pro quo, but last weekend, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said the administration was suspending plans to slap punitive tariffs on numerous Chinese imports for stealing U.S. intellectual property and forced technology transfer. That fueled further speculation that the president was backing down from his get-tough approach on China in exchange for Beijings support on his bid to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea. Administration officials said Beijing had agreed to buy large amounts of more American products to cut the trade deficit, among other concessions, but there were few specifics.

China experts differ on whether Xi had a hand in Pyongyangs more defensive and antagonistic tone in recent days, but Trump said Tuesday that there was a different attitude by the North Korean folks after the May 8 meeting between Xi and Kim, the second in two months.

Nobody knew about the meeting and all of a sudden it was reported that he was in China a second time, Trump told reporters. And I think things changed after that meeting. So I cant say that Im happy about it, OK?

With the summit off, at least for now, analysts wonder about recriminations and whether Trump will revert to a more aggressive tack on China. Many U.S. officials, and possibly Trump himself, will blame Beijing for interfering and possibly pushing Kim to keep [his] distance from the U.S., said Isaac Stone Fish, senior fellow at the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, an educational center in New York.

Ross is scheduled to travel to Beijing next week to continue talks on trade and ZTE, and what he comes away with from that meeting may be a bellwether of where bilateral relations are headed.

Dollar, the Brookings scholar, doubts that Beijing tried to foil the summit, even if some Chinese officials may harbor concerns about a unified Korea down the road that might ally itself with the United States. Nor does Dollar think Trumps deal-making for a summit with Kim is over, with both sides having left the door open.

So if this is kind of more slow-moving negotiations, then Chinas influence remains important, Dollar said. I think [North Korea] is still a factor in U.S.-China trade negotiations and pushes the U.S. to be less hawkish.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from Don Lee 

don.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @dleelatimes

UPDATES:

1:05 p.m.: This story was updated with more details about ZTE.

This story was originally published at 6:40 a.m.
The Trump administration has informed members of Congress that it has reached an agreement that will allow Chinese telecommunications-equipment maker ZTE Corp. to remain in business, according to two people familiar with the matter.

U.S. Commerce Department officials informed lawmakers that ZTE will pay a bigger fine, hire American compliance officers and shake up its management team, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Once ZTE complies, Commerce will lift an order under which the company had been cut off from U.S. suppliers and in effect was unable to stay in business.

The company is the fourth-largest smartphone maker, behind Apple, Samsung and LG. ZTEs inexpensive Android smartphones have quickly grown in popularity. The company, which also makes telecommunications networking equipment, uses microchips and other parts from U.S. firms such as San Diego-based Qualcomm, Intel and Corning.

A deal on ZTE, which is facing bipartisan objections in Congress, has broad implications beyond the woes of the company. The United States and China are engaged in high-stakes talks on steel, trade and intellectual property rights under the looming threat of punitive tariffs.

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U.S. shares of NXP Semiconductors NV closed up 4.7% after the announcement, as signs of better U.S.-China relations bode well for Chinese approval of Qualcomms purchase of the Dutch chipmaker. Qualcomm shares closed up 1.5%.

President Trump said he was ordering a reconsideration of penalties against ZTE as a favor to the countrys president, Xi Jinping, after the company estimated losses of at least $3.1 billion from the U.S. technology ban. Trump has said he would envision a fine of $1.3 billion.

The plan is already drawing fire from ZTE critics in Congress. Yes, they have a deal in mind. It is a great deal ... for #ZTE & China, Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, tweeted on Friday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks.

The Senate on Thursday released a defense policy bill containing a provision requiring Trump to certify that any ZTE deal with Congress is in the national security interest of the United States.

ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States  and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact, said Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen. If President Trump wont put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him.

Its unclear if Congress will be able to muster veto-proof majorities needed to block the president on ZTE, however.

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross held a meeting with GOP senators on Wednesday laying out the ZTE proposal. Sources briefed on the meeting said lawmakers were told to give the administration room to negotiate the matter and were asked to tone down the public criticism of the deal.

After the briefing, John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, expressed support for placing compliance officers at ZTE. That would be pretty remarkable. Having somebody inside the company to observe whats going on would be very valuable, he told reporters.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) declined to comment on the idea.

On Thursday, the House passed its own defense policy bill with language banning the Pentagon from purchasing ZTE technology.

ZTE ran into trouble in 2016 for violating U.S. laws restricting the sale of American technology to Iran. An agreement in 2017 called for the company to pay as much as $1.2 billion and penalize the workers involved, in what was the largest criminal fine for the Justice Department in an export control or sanctions case.

In April, the Commerce Department said ZTE instead paid full bonuses to employees who engaged in the illegal conduct, failed to issue letters of reprimand and lied about the practices to U.S. authorities. That led to the seven-year ban.

Ross plans to visit Beijing on June 2-4, and China has made saving ZTE one of its priorities. The Trump administration has pushed China to help cut the $376-billion trade surplus with the United States, with Beijing so far making only vague commitments to buy more U.S. goods, including farm products and energy.

But a hasty compromise on ZTE may expose the administration to further criticism in Congress.

The ZTE move was very surprising, said Nathan Sheets, chief economist at PGIM Fixed Income and former undersecretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department. Thats a pretty big concession to the Chinese. If we move down that road, it means we should be getting something back.

UPDATES:

1:50 p.m.: This article was updated with more background, a comment from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and closing stock prices.

This article was originally published at 11:50 a.m.
At 8:49 p.m. on May 10, a Thursday, I was at home in Los Angeles, reading on the couch, as is typically the case around that time on weeknights, the dishes done, the dog walked.

I was also at that very moment maliciously committing an act of toll evasion nearly 400 miles away in Lane 4 of the Carquinez Bridge linking the Northern California cities of Vallejo and Crockett.

And theres proof. I received a Notice of Toll Evasion this week from Bay Area FasTrak. It includes a dark photo of what looks an awful lot like my car and my license plate number.

Adding to the mystery, I have a pretty decent alibi. I was on TV that day at 3:30 in the afternoon, which places me at the Los Angeles Times downtown building at a very specific time.

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According to Google Maps, it would take a minimum of six hours to get from my office to the Carquinez Bridge, which means I couldnt have gotten there until 9:30 p.m. at the earliest  or about 45 minutes after my car was photographed shamelessly breaking the law.

Nevertheless, FasTrak wants $30 for my flagrant abuse of the space-time continuum.

Spoiler alert: It wasnt my car.

But the eerily close match speaks to the ease with which mistakes can happen anywhere FasTrak is in use, which covers much of the Southland and the Bay Area.

The vast majority of toll violations we issue are accurate, said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which oversees FasTrak in the Bay Area. Maybe about 33 a day are not.

That means almost three dozen people are receiving bogus notices every day saying they have to pay a fine.

Metro ExpressLanes, which operates FasTrak in Los Angeles County, says it figures only about two erroneous notices go out daily, which might speak to the agencys more efficient operation or, more likely, the possibility that L.A. drivers are so accustomed to traffic violations theyll pay any citation that comes their way.

Nine times out of 10 its a misreading of the license plate, said Rick Jager, a Metro spokesman.

If you look online, you can see that fighting FasTrak is no easy task. There are complaints from people who say their appeals were rejected or they had to jump through bureaucratic hoops to have their citations dismissed.

A few years ago, I wrote about a La Verne man who received a notice that hed failed to pay a toll for using the 91 Express Lanes at 10:16 one night. The fact that he was home watching TV at the time, and his car was in the garage, probably had something to do with his failure to pay.

This fellow wondered, reasonably, how many other people might receive such notices and simply pony up some cash to avoid the hassle of disputing a citation.

What is to prevent [FasTrak] from sending a demand to anyone whose information is available to see how many fools just pay the money to avoid the hassle? he asked.

Considering the photo attached to my notice seemed unmistakably to be of my own car, I probably wouldnt have hesitated to shell out the demanded $30 if the violation had been believable  my mistakenly using a local carpool lane, for example.

But this was just weird. How could FasTrak have snapped a photo of my car hundreds of miles from where it was parked?

The answer didnt become clear until I was able to access the citation online and get a better look at the picture. Thats when I saw the license plate was an exact match except for one character.

Where mine has a T, this was an I. Otherwise, every letter and number were the same.

And it wasnt the Toyota sport utility vehicle I drive. It was a similar-looking Honda SUV.

What are the odds, right? Two Japanese vehicles of near-identical appearance, with California license plates only one character different. This is some Mulder-and-Scully stuff.

But that just makes this case of mistaken identity even more troubling.

Manuel Espiritu, who oversees disputed notices for Bay Area FasTrak, told me no human beings were involved in issuing my citation. He said the photo of the offending vehicle was scanned by FasTraks computer, which is programmed to handle things automatically if its 98% confident it can read the license plate.

In this case, the computer was fully satisfied it was on top of things, so it passed along the license number  the wrong one, mine  to a computer at the Department of Motor Vehicles, which responded with my name, address and registration data.

Yes, this is how the robot takeover begins.

There is something wrong with the software, Espiritu acknowledged. It probably needs some fine-tuning.

He and I looked at the online FasTrak photo together, and he had no difficulty spotting the I rather than T on the license plate.

Oh, Espiritu added, this is a Honda.

He said if a human had seen the photo theres no way Id have received a notice. This violation would have been immediately transferred to the correct vehicle, Espiritu said.

But humans arent usually involved. Usually its the computer and its smug 98% insistence on being right even when its not.

Bay Area FasTrak says 368,600 toll-evasion notices were issued last month throughout the nine-county region. Of those 368,600 notices, about 1,000 were erroneous, FasTrak admits.

That means a thousand people like me were wondering what the heck was going on.

Metro ExpressLanes says it sends out about 139,000 notices monthly to L.A. County denizens, and says an average of 54 a month are in error.

You can dispute a citation in writing if you choose. The notice tells you how. Its much easier to do it online.

Be prepared to explain in detail why FasTrak has its facts wrong. Since youre probably challenging photographic evidence, youll need to make a convincing case  its not good enough to just say, Nope, thats not me.

Your best chance of getting off the hook is to show that the vehicle or license plate in the photo doesnt match whats registered in your name.

Thats what I stressed in my online appeal, along with the bit about my being able to prove I was in L.A. at a certain place at a certain time, so good luck sticking me with this rap.

By the time we spoke, Espiritu said a human worker had already reviewed my file and had let me off the hook. He said a toll-evasion notice was instead being generated for the Honda owner.

On top of that, Espiritu said, because the two vehicles and license plates are so bizarrely similar, any time one of them comes up in the FasTrak system, it will be flagged for human intervention.

Thats fine by me. But heads up, Honda dude: Youll want to play it safer on the Carquinez Bridge from now on.

David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
The European Unions new data privacy regimen, the blocs first major overhaul of rules governing peoples data since 2005, took effect Friday after months of sometimes frantic preparations by virtually any company that operates a website accessible there.

While some European users complained about being blocked from accessing their social media accounts or certain U.S. sites Friday, others heralded the changes as a milestone for Internet privacy in Europe and around the world.

What has changed for users?

Individuals in the European Union have a right to know what data are collected about them and why, how long it will be stored and how it will be processed. Users also have a right to have their personal data deleted in certain circumstances. They also need to have the option to be able to appeal to the human decision-makers behind algorithms.

Organizations need to obtain active consent from individuals before collecting data in many circumstances and are obligated to report data security breaches to authorities within 72 hours.

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Why do U.S. companies have to comply with those rules?

Governments can fine organizations up to 4% of their global revenue for noncompliance, including for failure to process data lawfully, for not having a data protection officer and for security breaches.

Is anyone already risking legal consequences?

Yes. Vienna-based privacy watchdog None of Your Business filed complaints Friday against Google, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The group believes that those four social networks or messaging services essentially force their users to agree to their privacy standards or not use the services at all, rather than modifying their standards to ensure more online privacy and data protection.

What are the downsides for consumers?

Some companies have chosen to go blank in Europe instead of having to comply with the expansive privacy regulations, including websites such as Unroll.me and Klout. More widely accessed U.S. media outlets  including news outlets belonging to Tronc Inc., such as the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune  similarly blocked some of their European users starting Friday. It is uncertain when or if those websites will become accessible again.

Before the law took effect Friday, consumers also complained about a number of bureaucratic challenges, such as an influx of consent-seeking emails from companies trying to distribute their newsletters, or doctors making their patients sign pages-long forms about how to store their data.

If its all so complicated, why did Europe bother to introduce the rules?

European Union regulators have always been much tougher on the tech companies than their U.S. counterparts have; for instance, the EU forced the companies to give users more control, imposing fines for noncompliance and requiring platforms to spot and delete illegal content.

Depending on the EU country, there is generally also more public backing there than in the United States for the sort of expansive regulations that took effect Friday.

Noack writes for the Washington Post.
This week's picks from L.A.'s small-theater scene: After Hours Theatre Company's One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Skylight Theatre's Iran-set Hostage, IAMA's Cult of Love and Theatre 40's Mr. Pym Passes By.

An immersive Cuckoos Nest

The essentials: Dale Wassermans theatrical adaptation of Ken Keseys classic novel pits rebellious psychiatric hospital patient Randle Patrick McMurphy, symbolizing joyful individualism, against authoritarian head nurse Nurse Ratched, who epitomizes the powers of soulless bureaucracy. Guess who wins?

Why this? Director Jonathan Munoz-Proulx and producer Graham Wetterhahns hybrid immersive production has a pre-show in which the audience mingles with the inmates. For a premium ticket price, acute patients sit onstage and interact with the characters during the performance, while chronic patients occupy more traditional theatrical seating. Wetterhahn hopes that the production will appeal to new audiences that might not typically choose to go see a play.

Details: After Hours Theatre Company production at Six01 Studio, 630 S. Flower St., Burbank. 8 p.m. Thurdays, 9 p.m. Fridays, 8 p.m. Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays, through July 1. No performances May 17 or June 23. $55-$75. www.CuckoosNestLA.com

The company of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." KJ Knies

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Hostage at the Skylight

The essentials: Set in 1979 at the height of the Iran hostage crisis, Michelle Kholos Brooks new play centers on a Midwestern mother who travels to Iran to lobby for her Marine sons release and returns home to be perceived as a traitor and suspected foreign spy.

Why this? Based on real-life characters, Brooks well-balanced, politically fraught work gauges Middle Eastern extremism at a historic juncture. Veteran director Elina de Santos was drawn to the ferocity of the mother, whose courage forms the plays thematic thrust.

Details: Skylight Theatre, 1816 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles. 8:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, 8 p.m. Mondays; ends June 24. $15-$39.99. (213) 761-7061 or (866) 811-4111, SkylightTix.com

Satiar Pourvasei, Jack Clinton, Tracie Lockwood, Zachary Grant, Christopher Hoffman and Vaneh Assadourian in "Hostage." Ed Krieger

Cult of Love in Atwater Village

The essentials: Cult of Love is the final installment in Leslye Headlands Seven Deadly Plays cycle. It treats the deadly sin of pride as it pertains to the overachieving, staunchly religious Dahl family, whose members gather for a Christmas celebration that segues from the merry to the merciless.

Why this? Written over about 10 years, Headlands series helped to launch the prestigious IAMA company, now in its 10th anniversary season. Her previous plays such as Bachelorette (gluttony) and Assistance (greed) featured richly flawed characters distinguished by their common lack of empathy. If anything like her past efforts, Cult should be strike a chord between the appalling and the hilarious.

Details: Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays; ends June 24. $35. (323) 380-8843, www.iamatheatre.com

The company of IAMA's "Cult of Love" Dean Cechvala

Mr. Pym Passes By at Theatre 40

The essentials: First produced nearly 100 years ago, this play by A.A. Milne (of Winne-the-Pooh fame) concerns a free-spirited woman whose stuffy second husband is floored to learn that his wifes neer-do-well first spouse may still be alive. What may have seemed scandalous at the time is unlikely to rankle contemporary sensibilities, but Milnes drawing room comedy is a sweet window into a gentler era, complete with a sturdy subplot about young lovers separated by the conventions of the day.

Why this? Director Jules Aaron is an award-winning veteran who said he that hopes Milnes charming bon bon of a play, relocated for this production from Buckinghamshire to Connecticut, will shed a wistful shaft of light in dark times.

Details: Theatre 40, Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends June 17. $30. (310) 364-0535, www.theatre40.org

Roslyn Cohn and Jeffrey Winner in "Mr. Pim Passes By" at Theatre 40. Ed Krieger

The 99-Seat Beat appears every Friday. Our reviewers shortlist offerings with an emphasis on smaller venues. Some (but not all) recommendations are shows we've seen; other picks are based on the track record of the company, playwright, director or cast. Comprehensive theater listings are posted every Sunday at latimes.com/arts.

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.

MORE THEATER:

Wearing a 'Red Speedo,' Lucas Hnath goes swimming with sharks

'Native Son': Antaeus gives new voice to Richard Wright's questions

Last week on the 99-Seat Beat




Rakuichi Soba in Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan Rating: 90. Rating index:

Extraordinary (96-100)

Outstanding (93-95)

Very good to Excellent (89-92)

Above average to Good (86-88)

Below Average to Average (80-85)

Avoid (below 80)

More info > Extraordinary (96-100)Outstanding (93-95)Very good to Excellent (89-92)Above average to Good (86-88)Below Average to Average (80-85)Avoid (below 80)



From the outside Rakuichi Soba is an unassuming restaurant. It doesn't have a large sign, it's housed in a traditional Japanese wooden house/chalet, which you can reach by a narrow wooden bridge. As an unsuspecting foreigner you'd probably walk past without even knowing it's there. But today, everybody knows it's there. The restaurant became famous after it appeared in the Hokkaido episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations", and diners have been flocking to this soba restaurant ever since the series aired in 2011. I'm not a bucket list gal, but when I watched the episode, the thought "if I'm ever in the area" did cross my mind. In the end, when I was my planning my recent trip to Japan, Rakuichi Soba was one of the main reasons that Hokkaido made it on the itinerary.





Rakuichi Soba is located in Annupuri, part of Hokkaido's famous ski resort Niseko. Hokkaido/Niseko is relatively easy to travel to these days. Of course you can fly to Sapporo Airport and then drive to Niseko (like Bourdain did) or take the train. In autumn there is even a special Steam Locomotive service between Sapporo and Niseko, as described by Matt Goulding in his book



Rakuichi Soba is a 20-seat (with just 12 seats at the bar) soba restaurant run by Tatsuru Rai and his charming wife Midori, who takes excellent care of the sometimes challenging guests (more on that later). The highlight of a visit to the restaurant is watching soba master Tatsuru Rai quietly transforming local buckwheat flour and water into dough, which is then rolled meticulously into a thin rectangle shape, and finally masterfully cut into the perfect soba by hand. A serene and mesmerising performance that most people watch in silence. When Tatsuru Rai worked his soba magic on stage during the 4th MAD symposium in Copenhagen, the audience (around 300 of them) watched in awe and silence (see



Unfortunately on the night I was there the restaurant had an especially obnoxious group of "diners" in; seven of them were seated at the 12-seat bar, the rest (probably 4 or 5) were seated at a table in a separate room. This group's sole purpose that night seemed to be to be as loud as possible and they were clearly desperate to "share" as much as possible of their experience on social media, preferably instantly. Basically they took over the entire restaurant, walking around with their cameras and iPhones, totally oblivious and indifferent to the other guests. Let's be clear (I am not a hypocrite), I too take photographs in restaurants with my iPhone, but I always try to be discrete and respectful to other guests. And most importantly the food has to, and always will, take first place. I always shoot from the hip (so to speak). If I get a nice shot, fine, if not, also fine.





Sure enough they went crazy when Tatsuru Rai started making his soba noodles, turning something that was supposed to be calm and peaceful, into a vulgar circus. I mentioned this to one of them. He shrugged. I guess this shows that Bourdain fame combined with social media peer pressure is a potentially toxic combination. Anything for that perfect Instagram Moment, right?



But now for the food. Rakuichi Soba is open for lunch and dinner Thursday through Tuesday. At lunchtime it's walk-ins only and there's a small menu with a choice of hot or cold soba noodles priced between 1,000 (7) and 1,600 (11). In the evening they serve a multi-course Kaiseki menu reasonably priced at 10,000 (68). Booking is essential (my Niseko hotel had made the reservation for me) and the restaurant doesn't accept credit cards. I had dinner with my husband at Rakuichi Soba in March 2018 and we had a 10-course Kaiseki menu.



Tonight's menu started with a slice of perfectly cut cured mackerel, beautifully presented on a thin sheet of radish, and topped with some cress, yuzu zest and a mild vinegar and yuzu dressing seasoned with a drop of soy sauce. An excellent start of the meal, the mackerel being pure and slightly creamy.





Supremely tender toro tuna sashimi followed, which melted into fatty goodness once in the mouth. Third course was a glorious, gently smoked scallop, simply served with some wasabi and soy sauce. Apart from firming up the flesh, the added caramelly smokiness contrasted splendidly with the cool creaminess and sweetness of the scallop.













Fourth course was a wonderful piece of red snapper (skin on) served in a delicate red snapper broth seasoned with some yuzu zest. An elegant and pleasing dish, the yuzu giving it a nice zingy finish.





On the fifth course, called "Bonitos on Bonito". A slice of blow-torched bonito was topped with quite thick shavings of katsuobushi (dried bonito) and garnished with thinly sliced spring onions, a combination that lacked smoothness and in the end delivered a very dry mouthfeel. More convincing was the next dish, a smooth mixture of toro and onions called Negitoro. A wonderful flavour marriage, the onion lifting the toro flavours nicely but also providing a nice long aftertaste.









Seventh course was shabu shabu of Iberico pork loin with each guest having his/her own little hotpot with a kelp and bonito stock. A lovely and tasty experience.









Almost time for the "piece de resistance", but first we were served some seasonal vegetable tempura. Meanwhile Tatsuru-san (I believe I'm supposed use this "I'm in the know" term here) started prepping his dough for the soba noodles. As soon as the group got wind of this, most of them jumped from their seats and circled his working station with their cameras and iPhones, capturing their Facebook and Instagram moments, literally putting every "Kodak Moment" in history to shame. A plate of tempura was left untouched in the process.



Luckily Tatsuru-san seemed to be unimpressed and undisturbed by finding himself in this 21st century, tenth circle of Dante's Inferno (called: "Social Media"), and produced the most immaculately pure soba with the perfect bite and unadulterated buckwheat flavours - clean tasting but hearty at the same time. At Rakuichi Soba you can have you soba hot or cold. I opted for cold, which means they were accompanied by a Mentsuyu (soy, mirin, sake, katsuobushi) dipping sauce, together with the soba offering the ultimate in simplicity.















A simple and elegant dessert of strawberries and condensed milk concluded the meal. A simple and elegant dessert of strawberries and condensed milk concluded the meal.

The Japanese are very punctual and of course my husband and I made sure to arrive on time for dinner at Rakuichi Soba - in fact we arrived some 10 to 15 minutes early. After a warm and inviting welcome by Midori Rai we were guided to our seats and for the next 10 minutes or so we just sat there quietly watching Tatsuru Rai doing the final preparations for that night's meal, whilst enjoying a glass of Kamotsuru Junmai Dajginjo Tokusei Gold sake. Luckily this way we got to enjoy the warmth and intimacy of the restaurant before the "apres ski" group arrived. The night was saved by the warmth and brilliant service of Midoro, wo handled the group as best she could and made sure the other guests still had a good experience. The annoying group aside, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Rakuichi Soba, which was very much an experience of time and place. I did feel sorry for Tatsuru-san for having to perform for this raucous audience. At Rakuichi Soba ingredients and guests are treated with the utmost respect. You'd hope the guests would return the favour to the restaurant.





From the outside Rakuichi Soba is an unassuming restaurant. It doesn't have a large sign, it's housed in a traditional Japanese wooden house/chalet, which you can reach by a narrow wooden bridge. As an unsuspecting foreigner you'd probably walk past without even knowing it's there. But today, everybody knows it's there. The restaurant became famous after it appeared in the Hokkaido episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations", and diners have been flocking to this soba restaurant ever since the series aired in 2011. I'm not a bucket list gal, but when I watched the episode, the thought "if I'm ever in the area" did cross my mind. In the end, when I was my planning my recent trip to Japan, Rakuichi Soba was one of the main reasons that Hokkaido made it on the itinerary.Rakuichi Soba is located in Annupuri, part of Hokkaido's famous ski resort Niseko. Hokkaido/Niseko is relatively easy to travel to these days. Of course you can fly to Sapporo Airport and then drive to Niseko (like Bourdain did) or take the train. In autumn there is even a special Steam Locomotive service between Sapporo and Niseko, as described by Matt Goulding in his book Rice, Noodle, Fish (weekend service only). Another way to get to Hokkaido is taking the Shinkansen Hayabusa (bullet train) from Tokyo to Hakodate, which takes around 4 hours, and then rent a car and drive up to Niseko, which takes a little less than 3 hours (yep, I really wanted to go to this restaurant).Rakuichi Soba is a 20-seat (with just 12 seats at the bar) soba restaurant run by Tatsuru Rai and his charming wife Midori, who takes excellent care of the sometimes challenging guests (more on that later). The highlight of a visit to the restaurant is watching soba master Tatsuru Rai quietly transforming local buckwheat flour and water into dough, which is then rolled meticulously into a thin rectangle shape, and finally masterfully cut into the perfect soba by hand. A serene and mesmerising performance that most people watch in silence. When Tatsuru Rai worked his soba magic on stage during the 4th MAD symposium in Copenhagen, the audience (around 300 of them) watched in awe and silence (see video ). But as I said, most people.Unfortunately on the night I was there the restaurant had an especially obnoxious group of "diners" in; seven of them were seated at the 12-seat bar, the rest (probably 4 or 5) were seated at a table in a separate room. This group's sole purpose that night seemed to be to be as loud as possible and they were clearly desperate to "share" as much as possible of their experience on social media, preferably instantly. Basically they took over the entire restaurant, walking around with their cameras and iPhones, totally oblivious and indifferent to the other guests. Let's be clear (I am not a hypocrite), I too take photographs in restaurants with my iPhone, but I always try to be discrete and respectful to other guests. And most importantly the food has to, and always will, take first place. I always shoot from the hip (so to speak). If I get a nice shot, fine, if not, also fine.Sure enough they went crazy when Tatsuru Rai started making his soba noodles, turning something that was supposed to be calm and peaceful, into a vulgar circus. I mentioned this to one of them. He shrugged. I guess this shows that Bourdain fame combined with social media peer pressure is a potentially toxic combination. Anything for that perfect Instagram Moment, right?But now for the food. Rakuichi Soba is open for lunch and dinner Thursday through Tuesday. At lunchtime it's walk-ins only and there's a small menu with a choice of hot or cold soba noodles priced between 1,000 (7) and 1,600 (11). In the evening they serve a multi-course Kaiseki menu reasonably priced at 10,000 (68). Booking is essential (my Niseko hotel had made the reservation for me) and the restaurant doesn't accept credit cards. I had dinner with my husband at Rakuichi Soba in March 2018 and we had a 10-course Kaiseki menu.Tonight's menu started with a slice of perfectly cut cured mackerel, beautifully presented on a thin sheet of radish, and topped with some cress, yuzu zest and a mild vinegar and yuzu dressing seasoned with a drop of soy sauce. An excellent start of the meal, the mackerel being pure and slightly creamy.Supremely tender toro tuna sashimi followed, which melted into fatty goodness once in the mouth. Third course was a glorious, gently smoked scallop, simply served with some wasabi and soy sauce. Apart from firming up the flesh, the added caramelly smokiness contrasted splendidly with the cool creaminess and sweetness of the scallop.Fourth course was a wonderful piece of red snapper (skin on) served in a delicate red snapper broth seasoned with some yuzu zest. An elegant and pleasing dish, the yuzu giving it a nice zingy finish.On the fifth course, called "Bonitos on Bonito". A slice of blow-torched bonito was topped with quite thick shavings of katsuobushi (dried bonito) and garnished with thinly sliced spring onions, a combination that lacked smoothness and in the end delivered a very dry mouthfeel. More convincing was the next dish, a smooth mixture of toro and onions called Negitoro. A wonderful flavour marriage, the onion lifting the toro flavours nicely but also providing a nice long aftertaste.Seventh course was shabu shabu of Iberico pork loin with each guest having his/her own little hotpot with a kelp and bonito stock. A lovely and tasty experience.Almost time for the "piece de resistance", but first we were served some seasonal vegetable tempura. Meanwhile Tatsuru-san (I believe I'm supposed use this "I'm in the know" term here) started prepping his dough for the soba noodles. As soon as the group got wind of this, most of them jumped from their seats and circled his working station with their cameras and iPhones, capturing their Facebook and Instagram moments, literally putting every "Kodak Moment" in history to shame. A plate of tempura was left untouched in the process.Luckily Tatsuru-san seemed to be unimpressed and undisturbed by finding himself in this 21st century, tenth circle of Dante's Inferno (called: "Social Media"), and produced the most immaculately pure soba with the perfect bite and unadulterated buckwheat flavours - clean tasting but hearty at the same time. At Rakuichi Soba you can have you soba hot or cold. I opted for cold, which means they were accompanied by a Mentsuyu (soy, mirin, sake, katsuobushi) dipping sauce, together with the soba offering the ultimate in simplicity.The Japanese are very punctual and of course my husband and I made sure to arrive on time for dinner at Rakuichi Soba - in fact we arrived some 10 to 15 minutes early. After a warm and inviting welcome by Midori Rai we were guided to our seats and for the next 10 minutes or so we just sat there quietly watching Tatsuru Rai doing the final preparations for that night's meal, whilst enjoying a glass of Kamotsuru Junmai Dajginjo Tokusei Gold sake. Luckily this way we got to enjoy the warmth and intimacy of the restaurant before the "apres ski" group arrived. The night was saved by the warmth and brilliant service of Midoro, wo handled the group as best she could and made sure the other guests still had a good experience. The annoying group aside, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Rakuichi Soba, which was very much an experience of time and place. I did feel sorry for Tatsuru-san for having to perform for this raucous audience. At Rakuichi Soba ingredients and guests are treated with the utmost respect. You'd hope the guests would return the favour to the restaurant.

Posted 25-05-2018







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Suspending disbelief for Steve Apostolinas play Forever Bound premiering at the Atwater Village Theatre proves a tall order.

Not that the production doesnt feature many obvious virtues, including Ann Hearn Tobolowskys crackerjack direction and an able cast, including Apostolina himself, along with French Stewart, Rob Nagle and Emily Goss, all excellent. And theres no denying that Apostolina has a real flair for naturalistic dialogue and darkly trenchant humor.

However, this is one of those frustrating Why dont they just pick up a phone and call the cops? plays that sacrifices sense for coloration. Of course, once the cops are summoned, the play would end. Still, the question remains: Why are the characters ignoring the most obvious solution to their dilemma? Despite Apostolinas most valiant efforts to shore up his shaky central premise, that question is never sufficiently addressed.

To sum things up without any spoilers (though the big reveal comes not long into the play, so the term spoiler is relative), impecunious book scout Edmund (Stewart) is facing eviction. His pal Shep (Apostolina) persuades him to sneak into the home of a wealthy academic (Nagle) and steal a copy of Leaves of Grass worth thousands. Once inside, lets just say that Edmund gets a shock that will change him from a mild-mannered loser to an agent of vengeance.

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Goss shines as a sheltered naif who must overcome a lifetime of indoctrination to experience the wider world. Apostolina is dryly amusing as a strangely noble huckster who plays fast and loose with the law, while Nagle chills as a pedophilic pedant skilled in the art of self-justification. In his authentic, in-the-moment turn, Stewart transitions from gentlemanly reserve to protective rage  a subtly harrowing transformation.

Despite its crucial lapse into illogic, Bound is elevated by the technical proficiency of the performers and a dynamic staging. If, like Alice, you can practice believing impossible things and suspend your disbelief, it may be worth a try.

         

Forever Bound

Where: Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Los Angeles

When: 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and Mondays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends June 16

Tickets: $25-$35

Information: (323) 960-4429. www.plays411.com/foreverbound

Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Rob Nagle and Emily Goss in Forever Bound at Atwater Village Theatre. (Kathy Flynn )

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.

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When Solo blasts into theaters Friday, audiences will hear Chewbaccas trademark growl, the not-always-reliable engine of the Millennium Falcon and even the music of John Williams, who composed new themes for the latest episode in the expanding Star Wars universe.

What they wont hear is a piece of music that heralded all the early Star Wars movies: the 20th Century Fox Fanfare.

Written by Alfred Newman, a founding father of film music, the Fanfare may be the only studio logo music that most moviegoers know by heart.

Under the image of the Fox monolith, illuminated by roving searchlights, a martial battery of snares and bass drum percussion introduces Newmans brassy, regal fanfare.

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It sounds like a medieval castle, trumpets on the rampart, said David Newman, the composers son and an Oscar-nominated composer himself. You know, Come to the movies! 

Alfred Newman conducts musicians for a CinemaScope short in 1954. (USC Cinema-Television Library )

Alfred Newman wrote the fanfare in 1933. He was still under contract at United Artists when he got the commission from Darryl F. Zanuck, who needed a logo for his newly formed 20th Century Pictures.

Zanucks studio bought Fox Film Corp. in 1935 and became 20th Century Fox, and he hired Newman as head of the music department in 1940  a post Newman held for 20 years. In 1954, Newman extended the fanfare with warm, soaring strings for the studios new CinemaScope presentation, and that version remained through every visual iteration of the logo up to its modern-day computer animation.

Newmans trumpet call preceded nearly every Fox feature over the decades, from How Green Was My Valley in 1941 to MASH in 1970, becoming an earworm symbol of both the studio and the composers integral connection to it.

The fanfare gradually began to fade, but it came roaring back to life in 1977. George Lucas insisted on using the throwback logo at the top of his throwback space serial, and Williams  who started out playing piano on several of Newmans scores at Fox and who counted the composer as a mentor and friend  wrote his famous Star Wars fanfare in the same key of B-flat major to emerge seamlessly out of the Newman piece. In every subsequent Star Wars film, Williams treated the Fox logo as the opening of his score.

The logo became inseparable from Star Wars, and its catchy call-to-arms triggered a Pavlovian drool in filmgoers waiting in the pregnant pause before the giant golden title slammed onto the screen.

David Newman, who has become the premier conductor of live-to-picture concerts and led the New York Philharmonic through the scores of Star Wars during screenings last year, noticed that as soon as that logo started, people started screaming. I mean, how many years later is that? Its getting close to a hundred years later.

To offset debt in the 1980s, Fox sold much of its publishing catalogue to Warner/Chappell Music  something Robert Kraft, who became head of music in 1994, could not believe.

The polite version of this is: You must be kidding, said Kraft, who held the job until 2012. I mean, somebody said, Ill take your house, and by the way, the kid comes with it. 

Kraft negotiated a deal to get the rights back, and the logo became one of the studios most precious assets. He turned down dozens of requests from directors and composers to monkey with the music in any way, making a rare few exceptions  like The Simpsons Movie, in which Ralph Wiggum steps out of the monolith and sings along off-key.

The Walt Disney Co. bought Lucasfilm  and, thus, Star Wars  from George Lucas in 2012, and when the first new entry in the Skywalker saga debuted under Disney proprietorship in 2015 (The Force Awakens), the Fox logo was notably absent. Since then, each new film has gone without the logo. Disney even scrubbed it from new digital releases of all of the older films except for the 1977 original (the only one Fox ever owned).

In December, when Disney announced it was acquiring the parent company, 21st Century Fox, it gave many Star Wars fans a new hope: Could this mean the Return of the Logo?

The studio declined to comment at the time (and did not respond to requests for comment for this article), but there had been precedent. When Disney acquired Pixar, the computer animation companys logo (with its bouncing lamp) stayed on as a kind of sub-brand. Likewise with Marvel Studios when it too was swallowed by Disney. (That logo has its own fanfare, composed by Michael Giacchino.)

Of course, the studio could flush all nods to its former competitor  the most dire scenario being a revisionist history where the logo is ripped from every Fox film past.

Alden Ehrenreich is Han Solo and Joonas Suotamo is Chewbacca in Solo: A Star Wars Story. (Lucasfilm )

I guess like anything, all good things must pass, said Alfred Newmans other famous composer son, Thomas Newman. Things have their time and place. I dont know that I would be sad about it, so much as I would remark that time is passing, and that with it, this music.

When pressed further, particularly about his familys history with Fox  including the legendary recording stage that was renamed the Newman Scoring Stage in 1998  the American Beauty composer grew more wistful.

The logo represents a golden age of what it was to write music for movies, he said. And when I go down to the Fox stage and record now, theres a real sense of history I get there  mostly when no ones in the room. You just kind of feel the ghosts, and so much happened in that space. I think, on that level, that association might go away, sadly, for me.

David Newman is blunter still: Its a shame that Disneys so small-minded to not honor that, he said, speculating that the logo might fade out forever. I just dont understand the thinking.

See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts.

ALSO

The review: Justin Chang on Solo

Solo Must Die, and so must this Star Wars musical spoof

While youre Singin in the Rain at the Hollywood Bowl, hes keeping the musicians in sync
The Museum of Contemporary Art, ensconced in uncertainty and internal strife for months, announced Friday that director Philippe Vergne is leaving.

The board of trustees will not renew Vergnes five-year contract, which expires in March. The museum said the decision was mutual.

MOCA announced the news to staffers in a morning meeting Friday.

It has been a privilege and my great pleasure to serve the museum and to work alongside the board and with artists throughout the community, read a statement from Vergne, who did not respond to The Times request for an interview. I am proud of what MOCAs dedicated board, talented staff and I have accomplished.

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Artist Ed Ruscha was quick to offer praise for Vergne after his departure was announced.

How is MOCA ever going to find anyone as suave, friendly, urbane and genuine as Philippe Vergne? he said.

Artist Lari Pittman, who resigned from the MOCA board this spring, had a different take: Sadly inevitable news but a more hopeful prognosis for MOCA. Time to hire a woman as director!

Rumors that Vergne would be leaving MOCA grew after The Times reported that the museum director had put his $4 million Hollywood Hills home on the market this spring.

That report followed Vergnes firing of MOCAs highly respected chief curator, Helen Molesworth, a move that surprised those in the art world who praised her as a champion of diversity in programming. The firing came shortly after MOCA suddenly canceled its annual gala fundraiser in February after its honoree, Mark Grotjahn, dropped out over growing concern that past honorees have all been straight white men.

MOCAs board is united in our effort to make sure the museum continues to prosper MOCA board President Maria Seferian

Neither Vergne nor MOCA would say where Vergne might be heading. A spokesperson for the museum did confirm that while the search for his replacement is underway, Vergne has no immediate plans to leave his position and that he intends to help with the transition process.

A search committee of about half a dozen board members is in place, led by board President Maria Seferian. She served as the museums interim director after former director Jeffrey Deitch resigned in 2013. Artists are well represented on the current search committee, MOCA said, without offering details.

As a group, MOCAs board is united in our effort to make sure the museum continues to prosper, be engaged with the most pressing issues of our time and innovate, Seferian said via email. We have formed a search committee, including artists from the board, who are actively working on a wide-ranging, international search.

MOCA wouldnt comment on specific candidates. At least one name that has been swirling: Christopher Bedford, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Some artists stressed their desire for more diversity and relevant, exciting programming.

Ive been looking at art most of my life and you just wanna get exicted, said Henry Taylor. I get bored with my own stuff; I just wanna see stimulating exhibitions, a good show. Whoever can bring it, bring it. Sometimes that means a male [artist], sometimes a female, just mix it up. Bring something that means something.

The museum said it would leave the search for Molesworths replacement to the new director.

Vergne took his post at MOCA in March 2014, coming from New Yorks Dia Art Foundation. He entered the museum at a time of optimism. MOCAs endowment had plummeted to $5 million in 2008, but Vergne arrived shortly after the museum hit a fundraising goal of $100 million. As he departs, the museums endowment is more than $125 million.

Vergne, formerly chief curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, green-lighted popular and critically acclaimed exhibitions that Molesworth organized, such as Kerry James Marshall: Mastry and a retrospective of Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino. He also served as lead curator for a survey of multimedia artist Doug Aitken and a retrospective of sculptor Carl Andre. The museum has forthcoming surveys of Zoe Leonard and Haegue Yang planned, as well as a multi-year partnership with the Underground Museum in Arlington Heights.

I know I speak for the entire board when I express my deepest gratitude to Philippe for his commitment, leadership and vision for our beloved institution, board co-chair Maurice Marciano said.

Vergne added: As I look back over the last four years, I am proud that we achieved the range of artistic and education programs that were central to the mission I set in motion when I first became director thus contributing to the museums financial stability and its expanded audience.

MORE ON MOCA

TIMELINE: MOCA in flux

With rumors swirling, the future of MOCA director Philippe Vergne remains a big question mark

MOCA still mum about curators firing, despite crucial questions and too few answers

MOCA fires chief curator Helen Molesworth

deborah.vankin@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @debvankin

UPDATES:

3:10 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments of the arts community. This article originally published at 11:30 a.m.
Like its title character, the small-scale musical Violet wishes merely to be seen, whole and true.

Set in September 1964, the story follows Violet  in her late 20s, her face disfigured by a childhood accident  as she travels across the South looking for a miracle.

Introduced off-Broadway in 1997 and presented in revised form on Broadway in 2014, the show remains little-known yet tends to make fans of those who encounter it. An invigorating production at Actors Co-op in Hollywood is bound to add to those numbers.

Jeanine Tesoris music is particularly hard to resist. This was her first score, since followed by the transcendent Caroline, or Change and Fun Home, among others.

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She can write in most any genre, as is evident in the compendium of musical-theater styles she devised for Soft Power, playwright David Henry Hwangs fever dream now at the Ahmanson Theatre. In Violet she uses mountain roots music, blues, gospel, country and radio pop to convey hope, faith and a sense of adventure.

Violets disfigurement is not indicated with makeup, but merely through description, as well as peoples reactions to her. Propelled by deep, Christian belief and a fierce desire to be whole, she travels by bus from North Carolinas mountains to Tulsa, Okla., in search of a faith-healing evangelist shes seen on TV. The script and lyrics by Brian Crawley  based on The Ugliest Pilgrim, a 1973 short story by North Carolina author Doris Betts  keep a folk-tale-like story grounded in reality.

The audience travels along as if tucked inside Violets brain, where the present mingles with memories and dreams. She is shadowed by her younger self, unblemished in spirit. Her late father, good-humored and nurturing, is never far away, either. Richard Israels crisp, fluid staging never leaves us in doubt about where we are in the timeline.

Bus-shaped windows are mounted on two of the theaters walls, enhancing the feeling that the audience is along for the ride. The vehicles interior is assembled from vinyl-covered bench seats that are rolled into rows. (Nicholas Acciani designed the set, Martha Carter the evocative lighting.)

Claire Adams Violet is gloomy in the small town where people have always turned their heads and managed to say the wrong things. But as she travels farther from home and meets new people, her spirit lightens and her inquisitiveness broadens. After a poker game acquaints her with a pair of soldiers, a teasing playfulness also emerges.

Monty, portrayed by Morgan West, is white, rambunctious and a bit of a Lothario. Flick, played by Jahmaul Bakare, is black, observant and intuitive. The world doesnt see beyond their appearances, either, which bonds them with Violet.

Adams dusky soprano fills with emotion as the journey progresses, her voice beautifully paired with that of Lily Zager as Violets chipper younger self. Bakares high baritone, infused with gospel power, raises the roof.

Other standouts in the terrifically talented cast of 12 include John Allsopp as Violets father, Lori Berg as a chatty passenger and Kevin Shewey as the grandstanding preacher.

Music director Taylor Stephenson conducts a sharp ensemble of five other musicians from the keyboard.

Delicate as a prayer, Violet reveals a place where miracles occur  the world as wed like to see it, where we all are seen for who we are.

Claire Adams as Violet. (Matthew Gilmore )

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Violet

Where: Actors Co-op at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1760 N. Gower St.

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays and May 26; ends June 17

Tickets: $25-$34

Info: (323) 462-8460, www.ActorsCo-op.org

Running time: 2 hours

daryl.miller@latimes.com

Twitter: @darylhmiller
Waves of joy  and some derision  over the royal wedding

Regarding More Like a Royal Escape Hatch [May 17]: At last, an item about the wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that I didnt skip over after reading a few sentences. My thanks to Times TV critic Lorraine Ali for her percipient take. She nicely summed up the inane obsession: The renewed interest in British monarchy has as much to do with peering behind the brocade curtains at royal dysfunction and the erosion of power than with the majesty of the crown.

Roberta Helms

Santa Barbara

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I found Alis column on the royal wedding to be offensive and downright snide. Why make people who are interested in the couple and the elaborate preparations sound like nostalgic airheads? I am not only old enough to remember that fairy tale wedding of Harrys parents that Ali mentioned but also old enough to remember newscasts of the bombs dropping on London during World War II. People may not be seeking the old simpler times  maybe they would just like to enjoy some good news along with entertaining British pageantry.

Doris W. Hood

West Hills

::

Your update on the Barbie franchise .. .er, the royal nuptials, was clever and hilarious. Thanks for all the great imagery (unicorns) and details (elderflower) that made the whole thing come so alive that we didnt need to get up at 2 a.m. or even record it.

Walter Desmond

San Diego

::

I doubt that men are consuming much of this wedding claptrap. However, doting fathers may take some of the blame for calling their daughters princess starting at an early age. Then, the fairy tales and Disney go to work, and, well, here we are.

Bob Carlson

Garden Grove

::

We are not batty. We need relief from all the bad news, including your silly article. Weddings are happy times. Royal weddings even happier and rarer. We do not need your hot air about nothing.

Michele Segina

Los Angeles

::

Alis article on royal romances was an enjoyable read. However, I implore her to get her facts straight when it comes to her representation of the protests on the Gaza border. She states, Israeli Defense Forces were shooting scores of unarmed protesters on the Gaza Border. The protesters used grenades, Molotov cocktails, slingshots, incendiary kites and burning tires.

Linda Goldfinger

Los Angeles

::

In an article about the upcoming royal wedding, the description of the tragedy in Gaza as the death of 60 Palestinians as a massacre was as inaccurate as it was offensive. If Ali has a political opinion, it should be in the Opinion section.

Michael P. King

Los Angeles

An accurate temperature

In Ideas Burn Quickly at 451 [May 19], Ali writes: Democracy has been replaced by authoritarian rule. All books, music and art deemed inappropriate are controlled by computers and/or robots. Free will is a thing of the past ... In Fahrenheit 451, the government ministry justifies why its plied citizens with alternative versions of American history, Its full of truths people cant handle, so best to rewrite it. What a chillingly accurate description of political correctness, although the operative word is deplorable rather than inappropriate.

Craig Lesly

Irvine

This Family in on the joke

Regarding Calendar Feedback [May 20]: Letter writer Oscar Rosales comparison of the Roseanne reboot to the 1970s series All in the Family was missing a major difference. Norman Lear and the All in the Family cast were satirizing conservative bigots, while Roseanne Barr, with her current political stance, embraces such views.

Carol Spector

Ventura

Quick convert to Prine fandom

Regarding Prine Is Back [May 17]: My wife is a big John Prine fan, while I had never gone to any of his shows. We went last night and I thoroughly enjoyed his concert. The rendition of Sam Stone and accompanying commentary brought tears to the eyes of this old Vietnam vet who fortunately made it through just fine and went on to have a successful professional career and hold elective office.

Former Mayor Bob Holmes

Manhattan Beach

19th century photo method

Regarding Snapshots of American History [May 20]: What is a carte-de-visite from the caption of the Harriet Tubman photo

Tom Meites

Chicago

Editors note: Carte-de-visite refers to a form of photographs printed on cards that were popular from the late 1850s through the 1870s.

Heck of a time with Middle

I agree with everything in Times television critic Robert Lloyds column on the series The Middle [Saying Bye to a Reliable Friend, May 22]. I will miss the Heck family, particularly Charlie McDermott (Axl), who Ive always thought is one of the funniest characters and underappreciated young actors on TV. I consider them dear and will continue to welcome them through reruns, the way Ive taken out old videos of my own familys shenanigans over the years.

Dede Brink

Newport Coast

Reprehensible joke on rhinos

Regarding Scott Hilburns comic The Argyle Sweater [May 21]: The line from the doctor in the lower panel talking to the rhino  You dont need glasses, but I am prescribing a hacksaw  is disgustingly reprehensible. Rhinos are endangered. I hope Hilburn and the editors at The Times have the common sense and courage to apologize.

Mark Shapiro

Los Angeles

The conversation continues online with comments and letters from readers at

latimes.com/calendarfeedback

calendar.letters@latimes.com
1968: May Days (Grand soirs et petits matins) William Kleins documentary, shot entirely in Paris in May 1968 with a hand-held camera, captures students organizing at the Sorbonne, the protests and blockades in Paris Latin Quarter, and the throngs of union organizers and activists, Alain Resnais, Jacques Rivette and Marguerite Duras among them. A true time capsule of a turbulent time. Los Angeles Filmforum, Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 377-7238. May 27, 7:30 p.m. $10; $6 for students and senior citizens.

Shadow of a Doubt 35 mm screening of Alfred Hitchcocks 1943 crime thriller about a lovely teen (Teresa Wright) who idolizes her urbane uncle (Joseph Cotten) until she begins to suspect him of being the notorious Merry Widow murderer. Set and filmed in Santa Rosa, the film was a midcareer turning point for Hitchcock and was reportedly his favorite of his own films. 35 mm Movie Club, Vista Theatre, 4473 Sunset Drive, Los Feliz, (323) 660-6639. May 28, 10:30 a.m. $12.75-$20.

Dust in the Wind: 8 Films by Michael Robinson The Los Angeles-based short-film and video artist will be on hand for eight of his shorts from the last decade, including the local premiere of his 17-minute Onward Lossless Follows (2017). Robinson is noted for his use of repurposed footage from old television shows, music videos, public service announcements and industrial videos. Acropolis Cinema, Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main St., Los Angeles, (213) 617-1033. May 29, 8 p.m. $12.

Anniversary Classics 40th-anniversary screening of The Deer Hunter, director Michael Ciminos multi-Oscar winning drama about three steelworker buddies (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage) who struggle to survive and escape from a Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. One of the first films to address the war-time traumas that continued to haunt Vietnam veterans upon their return. Savage will attend the screening. Laemmle Ahrya Fine Arts Theater, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 478-3836. May 29, 7:15 p.m. $15; $12 for Anniversary Classics Premiere Card holders.

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Set It Off Director F. Gary Grays 1996 Los Angeles-set crime thriller stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise as friends with limited job opportunities who decide to decide to pull a bank heist. Latifah gives a powerhouse performance. Written by Kate Lanier and Takashi Bufford. A discussion will follow the film. Part of The Black Book series. Hammer Museum, Billy Wilder Theatre, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 443-7000. May 31, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Last Remaining Seats Long before video of Rep. Maxine Waters Reclaiming my time! went viral in 2017, Jimmy Stewarts fictional freshman Sen. Jefferson Smiths filibuster and No, sir, I will not yield! speech from the 1939 Frank Capra film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was the cultural touchstone for Capitol Hill retorts. An earnest classic of American politics. The first in the Los Angeles Conservancys annual program of classic films screened in historic theaters. Los Angeles Conservancy, State Theatre, 703 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, (213) 629-2939. June 2, 8 p.m. $22; $18 for Conservancy members; $16, ages 17 and under. Series continues through June 23, (213) 623-2489

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Early the morning Edward Enninful was announced as the new editor in chief of British Vogue last April, he received an email applauding his historic appointment as the first black man to lead such a prestigious fashion imprint.

Congratulations! You deserve it, it read, written by industry icon Andre Leon Talley.

Enninful replied: You paved the way.

Those four words are what Talley calls his proudest moment in a career spanning nearly 45 years of reporting, editorializing and otherwise influencing the sartorial zeitgeist of generations past, present and still to come. After all, for so long hes been one of the only black voices in fashion with the kind of pull and sway that demands front row seats at the hottest fashion shows worldwide.

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It took all these years to get here, for a black man, not a black woman, [to achieve this], he said about Enninfuls appointment. This is a breakthrough. This is seismic. This is defining fashion. He will go down in history. A legacy.

I will be 70 in October and I am proud to say I have lived to see the first black man named an editor in chief of Vogue.

 Quoting Truman Capote, Style helps you get upstairs and down, fashion icon and former Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley discusses his documentary The Gospel According to Andre. Joined by director Kate Novack and producer Andrew Rossi, the trio di

Its a similar role, he admits, he once thought might have come his way, the job of an editorship somewhere in Conde Nast. That glass ceiling however, was not his to break. Though he surely put some cracks in it.

Perhaps this is the greatest takeaway from Kate Novacks documentary on Talley, titled The Gospel According to Andre, in theaters Friday  for all of fashions newly found interest in black and brown bodies and aesthetics on runways and in campaigns, Andre Leon Talley was fighting the good fight long before.

I have fought quietly, not with placards, he said. I fight quietly to influence the culture. This [film] is a blessing that [Novack] had the vision to create this which is, for me, a summation of who I am after all these decades out there fighting.

A long overdue meditation on the man behind the custom caftans and capes, the film charts his rise from modest beginnings in Durham, N.C., where he first discovered fashion through the pages of Vogue to being a receptionist-turned-writer for Andy Warhols recently shuttered Interview Magazine to, now, a former editor at large of Vogue who sits atop the steps at the Met Gala commenting on its attendees garb.

Featuring interviews from the likes of Vogue head honcho Anna Wintour, fashion designers Tom Ford, Diane von Furstenberg and Norma Kamali and celebs Whoopi Goldberg and will.i.am, The Gospel According to Andre pulls back the curtain on a cultural icon who often doesnt get his due.

How did I overcome that kind of racism? I internalized and struggled with it... Andre Leon Talley

Such was Novacks intention, she said, highlighting that Talley has been in countless fashion documentaries about other people, brands and industry ongoings.

He always steals the show, but always talking about everyone else as the supporting character, she said. And we know the fashion part of him, but I wanted to tell the story that we havent seen a million times  [about the] other part of him that is an enigma.

Going into her first meeting with Talley, Novack, who has also produced documentaries including Page One: Inside the New York Times, said she was nervous because hes this big character and because hes this big persona. But after reading his autobiography, A.L.T.: A Memoir, she discovered his favorite church hymn was Precious Memories. That prompted her to think of memory as a sustaining force that she wished to bring to the picture. Talley was very interested from the beginning, she said.

He wanted to go behind his childhood church and show me where he was baptized and he talked about how his life was very much like Truman Capotes A Christmas Memory, she said. It wasnt about Let me show you my closet of 350 Hermes boxes  which he does also have and is totally fabulous.

The result, of following Talley for over a year as the 2016 election was taking place, is a picture that earnestly portrays a man  billowing with justified aplomb  who succeeded in spite of the odds against him as someone black and from the American South whose size is deemed alarming, and gesticulations and mannerisms effeminate.

Andre Leon Talley, former Vogue Magazine editor at large, from the film The Gospel According to Andre. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times )

I never thought I would have the career and life that I had; I never had that kind of ambition or drive, said Talley during an interview at the Chateau Marmont on the Los Angeles stop of his press tour. My life has been because people saw something in me. I didnt lobby or stand in line or scheme to get to these places. They all came to me because of my talent and aura and persona and knowledge.

Everything has come to me, somehow or another, because of who I am. And hopefully I am someone people respond to for a sense of knowledge and knowing the history of fashion, style and culture.

But that road hasnt been a crystal stair. Its had tacks and splinters and torn-up boards of racism that have tried to strip him bare.

Like when a woman who worked at Yves Saint Laurent  not named in the film but revealed in the recently released book Loulou & Yves: The Untold Story of Loulou de La Falaise and the House of Saint Laurent  once referred to him as bitchy, calling me Queen Kong, he said.

Or when a former editor who remains unnamed accused Talley of being in every designers bed in Paris, insinuating that the only way a black man could be so successful was by performing sexual favors.

I have never slept with any designer, living, dead, straight, gay or otherwise, he said. I got here because I had knowledge. As Judge Judy always says, They dont keep me here for my looks. They keep me here for my power. Because knowledge is power.

Its been through pluck, luck and survival skills. Andre Leon Talley

How did I overcome that kind of racism? I internalized and struggled with it... I ignored it at the time... I had family and faith and [the late former Vogue editor] Mrs. [Diana] Vreeland and [the late former Womens Wear Daily editor in chief] Mr. [John] Fairchild.

Its been through pluck, luck and survival skills.

These days, long after climbing, reaching landings and turning corners in the industry, Talley is inspired by the likes of Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand, Beyonce, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian West. He adds Jaden and Willow Smith to that list and then pauses when mentioning perhaps the biggest breakout star of the last year, actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish.

Shes going to have an extraordinary career, he said, revealing later that she was his second best dressed at the Met Gala  after Kate Moss, ahead of Rihanna. She slept in a car but shes going way up high. She has such a great sense of humor and great style and a great personality. Things will come to her.

When asked what he wants his legacy, of which this film is now part, to be when its all said and done, Talley says simply:

He helped others to see. He helped others to live.

Get your life! Follow me on Twitter (@TrevellAnderson) or email me: trevell.anderson@latimes.com.
After Morgan Freeman was accused of inappropriate behavior by eight women, SAG-AFTRA said Thursday that it is reviewing corrective actions relating to a lifetime achievement award the union gave the 80-year-old actor in January.

These are compelling and devastating allegations which are absolutely contrary to all the steps that we are taking to [ensure] a safe work environment for the professionals in this industry, read a SAG-AFTRA statement. Any accused person has the right to due process, but it is our starting point to believe the courageous voices who come forward to report incidents of harassment.

The response came just hours after CNN broke a story in which numerous women described how Freeman subjected them to unwanted touching and lewd, sexual comments.

Freeman released the following statement after the story was published: Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected  that was never my intent.

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Freeman received the SAG-AFTRA prize at the 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards in January, where for the first time the show had all-female presenters and a host, actress Kristen Bell.

After Rita Moreno bestowed the award on Freeman, the actor appeared genuinely moved: This is beyond honor. This is a place in history, he said.

At the end of his speech, he made a comment about the gender of the actual SAG trophy, telling the crowd whats wrong with this statue is that it works from the back; from the front its gender specific.

Four months later, SAG-AFTRA said in its statement that because the prize was one of our unions most prestigious honors recognizing his body of work, we are therefore reviewing what corrective actions may be warranted at this time.

In February, the union adopted a new sexual harassment code of conduct to prohibit unwelcome verbal, visual or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and which creates a hostile, offensive or intimidating work environment. SAG-AFTRA has also created guidelines on where industry meetings should take place, rules meant to avoid high-risk locations like hotel rooms where some of the behavior alleged by the #MeToo movement occurred.

amy.kaufman@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @AmyKinLA
A young doe-eyed brunet sits expectantly at the table of an upscale restaurant, enthralled by its pink hues, pristine condition and white orchids. She is being interviewed by the eaterys owner for a server position, but the talk is filled with awkward silences.

Youve got really nice nails, she tells the owner at one point. Trying to connect with her, he asks what she wants to be. A writer? An actress? The young woman shakes her head and replies: I dont know.

Newly arrived from Dayton, Ohio, with no professional job experience, the MapQuest-equipped Tess has spent the day submitting resumes and interviewing at several restaurants. Although Tess is competing against several more experienced hopefuls at her final stop, she gets the job, charming the owner with a smile and a compliment.

The first episode of Starzs Sweetbitter, which premiered May 6, is the prelude to a familiar story  small town girl moves to the Big Apple in search of something greater than herself.

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But Stephanie Danler, 34, author of the same-named novel that inspired the series, said its rare to see a coming-of-age story about a young female character who is so inexperienced and her past so uneventful that she has no concrete idea of she wants out of life.

That is a very real experience for young women that rarely shows up on-screen, said Danler, who has run restaurants in the past and is now executive producer of Sweetbitter.

Managing restaurants for so long, I hired many women who came to New York without a specific goal, but full of ambition, which I feel like is the most common state, she said. We just want to be something and you think that the city will turn you into it.

The series stars Ella Purnell (Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children) as Tess, who dips her toes into a world of hedonism for the first time and immediately becomes entangled in complicated relationships with Will (Evan Jonigkeit), a kind and experienced back-waiter; Jake (Tom Sturridge), her brooding love interest; and Simone (Caitlin FitzGerald), a slightly condescending mentor figure.

The series takes place in 2006, a year before the smartphone came out, to capture a world of desperate loneliness, Danler said.

Danlers novel is based on her experience moving to New York at age 22 and working at Union Square Cafe while she waited for her big break as a novelist. The book was a bestseller in 2016, catching the attention of her now co-executive producer and showrunner, Stuart Zicherman (The Americans), and director Richard Shepard (Girls).

And though the series focuses on young women starting their adult lives, Danler and her team saw potential in exploring the lives of the band of misfits that work at the restaurant, as well as the complicated dynamics of that industry.

I love the whole notion of a restaurant where, in the back of house, youve got immigrants and people making $4 an hour washing dishes, and you go through those double doors, and all of a sudden theres people buying a $1,200 bottle of wine, Shepard said at a recent event promoting the show. I thought its such a great platform for telling any kind of story.

The racial divide between those serving customers and employees in more menial jobs such as cleaning and washing dishes is very distinct, reflecting the dynamics of New York restaurants in 2006. As a server, Tess maneuvers between the more relaxed dining area and the chaos of the kitchen.

During work hours, the staff teaches Tess how to hold three plates in one arm and charm guests. But after hours, they seduce her into a lifestyle flavored by sex, drugs and manipulation.

Historically, restaurants have been like the Wild West a little bit, Danler said. They dont really have human resources departments, you dont have health benefits, people are paid under the table and there was really no health inspector, or he was a guy you paid in the back alley.

Reviews of Sweetbitter have been mixed. Some critics have praised the series concept and performances by Purnell and Daniyar, who play Sasha, a gay Russian immigrant struggling to get his green card.

The series does well with scenes full of noise and people, in the restaurant and the places the workers frequent otherwise, writes Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd. Overlapping dialogue, as in a Robert Altman film, translates a textual quirk of Danlers novel  little poems composed of overheard conversation  suitably to the screen.

Others say Sweetbitter lacks boldness and meaningful insight into the lack of diversity and the presence of sexual harassment.

Theres a lot of missed opportunity here, like how the diversity of restaurants is only slightly touched upon even though it provides a perfect setting to dig into undocumented workers and their hardships, Variety critic Pilot Viruet writes. And in this era where television is clamoring to bend itself to fit in with the Me Too movement, it feels odd that Sweetbitter, which certainly features its share of sex between employees, ignores it completely.

Zicherman said the first season does plant seeds that will allow them to further explore the upstairs, downstairs nature of the restaurant world.

We didnt have much space to do it, but we accurately reflected the way a restaurant like this existed in 2006, he said. Were just touching on them [these issues] now.

Danler contends that if the show is renewed, she hopes to move beyond Tess and explore the other characters more fully, such as Sasha and his struggle to get a green card. She would also like to showcase Santos, the dishwasher, in an all-Spanish episode.

The cast and extras went to restaurant boot camp for two weeks. There, they learned about proper culinary techniques and bartending, and the set featured a working kitchen, with real flames. Danler was adamant about inserting small mementos that would thrill her novels fans and culinary connoisseurs, like the color of the chairs that perfectly match her books hardcover and one rare bottle of wine in each episode.

The prop guys wanted to kill me, Danler joked. Theyd be like, Theres three of them in New York, and Id be like Yep, I need it! One wine geek is going to notice it and theyre going to be like Whoa, this is the real deal.

There are scenes in each episode that will resonate with fans of the novel. The family meal scene, for instance, in which restaurant staffers gather around a large table for a meal and we see their personalities working together for the first time, and a scene in which Jake introduces Tess to oysters in a dark pantry, to which she responds, Can I have another?

Tess has consistently been described as naive, but Purnell sees her a little differently  a young woman who can stand up for herself but remains observant as she fills in her blank canvas.

Yes shes new to the world, but shes not innocent, the British actress said. She has a backbone.

Danler said that because Sweetbitter is based on her experience, many have tried to equate her with Tess. In reality, she doesnt have much in common with her heroine. At age 22, she was dedicated to becoming a novelist.

Like Tess, Purnell, 21, is entering adulthood and experiencing New York for the first time.

She was me and I am her, Purnell said. For the first time in her life, shes actually becoming a person. She wants to be someone and make something.

Danler, who said she relates more to Simone, does  however  know a thing or two about the sense of recklessness that comes with being 22.

When you are beginning to develop a palate, you want to experience the broadest array of flavors, and that flavor translates to experiences, she said. You want the highs and the lows, the dirty and the ugly. And I think that the refinement of a palate is learning what you like and dont like, and being able to select the things you like.

When she began her journey, touring the country for her book, Danler said she didnt know what to tell the young women who asked for advice. After working with a 21-year-old so closely on the set of Sweetbitter, she thinks she has a better answer: Be gentle with yourself.

After all, life brings heartbreak. Talking about the origin of sweet bitter, Danler noted how the Greek word is different.

The order in Greek is actually sweet bitter, which is also the order that we experience love, she said. First the sweet and then the bitter.

########

Sweetbitter

Where: Starz

When: 8 p.m. Sundays

Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17)

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra
His partner in crime Virgil Abloh may have been busy in Paris, but Byredo founder Ben Gorham capped off a week of U.S. appearances in Los Angeles, where he continued to celebrate Elevator Music, the capsule collection designed in collaboration with Off-White, at Barneys New York Beverly Hills. Commissioned by Abloh and Gorham, the multipronged project premiered in Paris in March with an immersive art piece by Carsten Holler, the artist responsible for the 2004 installation The Elevator that is a favorite of Gorhams. It has since been to Selfridges in London, Barneys in New York and will next travel to South Korea.

The product produced in tandem with the art is available exclusively at Barneys and Byredo stores, and includes an eau de parfum, hair perfume and hand cream, as well as several styles of canvas and leather bags, and unisex ready-to-wear pieces.

The West Coast public appearance and private Freds dinner was attended by Barneys creative director Matthew Mazzucca, Tomm Miller, Shay Mitchell, Jen Atkin, Greg Chait, Paige Elkington, Maye Musk, Myles ONeal, Stephanie Shepherd, Brandon Thomas Lee, Nolan Funk, Chase McQueen, Juliette Labelle, Mirtha Michelle, Jamie Sanchez, Snoh Aalegra, Matt George, Tavia Bonetti, Laura Polko, Joanie Del Santo, Moise Emquies, Ali Pew and Rachel Marlowe.

For Byredo, which is coming up on its 12th anniversary, Gorham said, Weve been pretty active in Asia lately. Weve grown a lot, quickly, in the last five to six years. Building teams with the right people has been a big priority.

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Yet his approach is still deliberate, not rushed. Our business, even though I say fast, is slow in relation to what people are doing today. Its about being meticulous focusing on quality, he said.

Leather goods, which launched three years ago, have been a big project and a work in progress that involve many trips from his native Sweden to Italy, to work with craftsman getting product to a certain level.

Of his nine-year friendship with Abloh, which began before the launch of Off-White, Gorham said, I think the maturity of both businesses and the fact that we have logistics and teams that can handle these ideas, made the timing pretty good, then it turned out with Virgils new gig, the timing was perfect. This basically came out two weeks before he went to LV. Despite Ablohs new role heading mens wear at Louis Vuitton, Gorham said, Hes still with it, on the text messages he sees what we do. His success is very much about his humility and his connection to people, so Im glad to see him maintain that.

As Abloh previously explained in WWD of their project, What we tried to do is capture a scent that was sort of elevator music for your life, for you. Elevator music is, in my mind, a metaphor for the space for Ben and I to describe our freedom. Both of our projects, by the nature of how we started them, give us freedom to do and define a space.
After meeting with Deputy PM citizens decide to stop protest actions (video)

RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan informed that he had met with citizens protesting against the work of Sotq and Amulsar mines and informed that they had come to mutual understanding on 2 issues. "Today I have had meetings with citizens protesting against Sotq and Amulsar mines. "It can be stated that there is mutual understanding in two issues: unlawful and irrelevant damage to nature should not be caused, and the economy should not appear in an artificially created crisis situation. "As a result of the Prime Minister's instruction to carry out transparent and complex expertise, works are already underway. We also discussed this with the citizens. "After our meeting, the citizens decided to stop the protest action. Thank you for this trust that gives us strength."
Is there a more Venice restaurant than MTN, the throbbing izakaya on Abbot Kinney? Well yes, theres Travis Letts other restaurant Gjelina, a few steps south, but MTN  pronounced Mountain  is pretty close, a welter of man buns and chunky jewelry, a soundtrack (turntable, DJ) that is apt to dip from Joni Mitchell into Sonny Rollins, an open kitchen and a retractable roof, and bowls of Big Sur sea vegetables, harvested by a surfer and served straight up in all their slippery glory.

Oysters, shochu and bottles of kombucha? You dont even have to ask.

I occasionally grumble about Gjelina, which is the one restaurant that New York food people insist on dropping into when theyre in town, probably because it does such a good job of exemplifying what certain visitors expect from Los Angeles: fire pits, Bloomsdale spinach, and television actors picking at wild nettle pizza. MTN is a little like that too  the grilled chicken wings, the precisely poured glasses of craft beer and the snap peas with shiso remind everyone of their first trip to Tokyo, maybe that one quick supper grabbed late in the Golden Gai. Its not a fusion restaurant.

But in this historical moment, it is hard to look at a place like MTN and not think at least a little about cultural appropriation, of a non-Japanese chef taking on the tropes of Japanese drinking food as casually as he might slip on an A Bathing Ape hoodie.

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He stuffs some temaki, Japanese hand rolls, with uni or smooth, cool hamachi, but others with charred pork and a slosh of fermented chile sauce. He serves slips of Wagyu beef from Lone Mountain in New Mexico tataki-style, blackened on the outside and raw in the middle, but also wrapped like dumpling skins around a clump of enoki mushrooms. His pork belly chahan, a fried rice dish at the heart of the Chinese-Japanese kitchen, is dyed black with squid ink and tossed with aromatics including fish sauce, lemon basil and a squirt of pungent sudachi lime.

Natto and kanpachi temaki, house pickled ginger from MTN restaurant. (Ashley Randall )

Japanese cookbook writer Nancy Singleton Hachisu, who knows more about these things than practically anybody, recently told a friend that she thought MTN was the most Japanese restaurant in the United States. Lett is fond of curing fish and fermenting vegetables; yuzu kosho and toasted seaweed; miso, shiso and cod. Still, I think if MTN were mysteriously transported to Harajuku, it would be the most Californian restaurant in Japan.

So what is an izakaya? There are a lot of different kinds, but generally they tend to be informal restaurants based around alcohol and shared small plates that taste good with alcohol, places designed for talking, drinking and improvisatory meals that might include grilled meats, noodle dishes and vegetables. The draft beers at MTN come in small 10-ounce glasses and the sake in short 3-ounce pours  you will be ordering a lot of them. You can get one plate of food or a dozen, all at once or ordered one at a time. Your vegan friend is going to do just fine.

There is an airy puff of housemade tofu with grated daikon and chrysanthemum leaf, tiny roasted beets with shiso and a dab of wasabi, kombu ramen with shiitake, and that Big Sur seaweed salad, drizzled with tart ponzu, that you will find amusing for two or three bites and then forget about for the rest of the meal.

As you might expect from a Lett restaurant, the vegetables tend to be lovely. I liked the sauteed first-of-season sweet corn with scallions, tiny cherry tomatoes and a dab of soy-infused butter, as well as the spinach with sesame and dried skipjack shavings; the grilled cabbage with sweet potato vinegar; and the Japanese sweet potato itself, blackened over the coals and served whole and split, with a smear of miso butter.

And finally, there is ramen  soft, buckwheat-enhanced housemade ramen, which is kind of rare in Los Angeles  perhaps served in a light chicken broth with sliced thigh meat, shimeji mushrooms, and a subtle but piercing fragrance of yuzu zest, or tossed dry with ground pork and black sesame. The pork ramen  not tonkotsu-style, insist the servers  is made by boiling Peads & Barnetts pork bones for a day and a half, and includes a slab of what is probably the best, soft-crispy roast pork belly (chashu) youll find at any local ramen restaurant. I especially like the crab ramen, vibrant and spicy, thick with chunks of fresh Dungeness crab.

I have visited MTN on nights when I could have sworn I was the only person in the restaurant not on a Bumble date. I have also been there on evenings when everybody else seemed to be winding up some kind of business meeting. The maze of counters  everybody seems to be sitting on a stool of some sort  seems at first to be a little too communal, but the din and the alcohol set up what are in effect invisible curtains of privacy, and when the room is humming late on a Thursday, the coziness can be almost magical.

::

MTN

Chef Travis Letts Venice izakaya

LOCATION

1305 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (424) 465-3313, mtnvenice.com.

PRICES

Vegetables $10-$18, rice and dumplings $13-$22, grilled dishes $12-$24, ramen $20-$24.

DETAILS

Dinner 5:30-11 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, 5:30-midnight Fridays and Saturdays. Credit cards accepted. Beer, wine and sake. Street and nearby city lot parking.

RECOMMENDED DISHES

Homemade tofu; charred sweet potato; kasu black cod; beef-wrapped enoki mushrooms; crab ramen.

jonathan.gold@latimes.com

@thejgold
Nearly two years after it was enacted, Californias physician-assisted suicide law is, at least for the moment, no longer in effect.

A Riverside County judge who ruled against the law last week issued a formal judgment Friday deeming it unconstitutional. Legal experts said that meant the law had been overturned.

The law allowed patients who are terminally ill to request life-ending medications from their doctors. In the first six months it was in effect, more than 100 Californians, most of them suffering from cancer, used it to take their lives.

Supporters of the law say they hope theyll be able to keep the law in place by appealing Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ottolias decision, but it is unclear if or when that might happen.

It is a bit of a mess, said Kathryn Tucker, an attorney who heads the End of Life Liberty Project at UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy.

Whats happened so far?

Opponents of the End of Life Option Act filed a lawsuit hoping to overturn the law on the day it took effect in 2016.

On May 15 this year, Ottolia ruled that the law was unconstitutional because the California Legislature had passed the bill during a special session dedicated to healthcare issues. He ordered the law voided, but the decision did not immediately take effect.

The aid-in-dying legislation was approved in 2015 and made the state the fifth in the nation to legalize the practice. When Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law, he said he imagined that if he were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain, "it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill.

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra appealed Ottolias decision Monday, arguing that the ruling was erroneous because aid-in-dying is indeed a healthcare issue and thus appropriate for the special legislative session.

Becerra also asked that the 4th District Court of Appeal order that the law be kept in place during the appeals process, but a three-judge panel denied Becerras request.

So is the law currently in effect?

As of Friday evening, it is not. Ottolias formal judgment invalidated it.

Until and unless the law is reinstated by action of the court of appeal or California Supreme Court, it has been ruled unconstitutional and is therefore void, Stephen Larson, an attorney for the group suing to invalidate the law, said Friday in an email to The Times.

But whats going to happen next is unclear.

Becerra is expected to file an appeal against Ottolias judgment, but had not as of Friday evening. His office could not be immediately reached for comment.

Jonathan Patterson, a staff attorney for Compassion and Choices, a national advocacy group that supports the law, said he believes that filing the appeal would automatically suspend Ottolias judgment and reinstate the law. Larson, however, disagreed, setting up a dispute that will likely be settled in court.

With all things in the law, theres room for interpretation, Patterson said.

Opponents cheered Ottolias judgment and said the law had created the dangerous possibility that people who feel as though theyre a burden on their families could be coerced or pressured into taking their own lives.

We hope that this effort to appeal the ruling of Judge Ottolia fails so that people with terminal illness, disabilities, advanced age, and economic challenges will be liberated from this dangerous public policy, Matt Valliere, executive director of the New York-based Patients Rights Action Fund, said in a statement.

What does this all mean?

That things are up in the air.

Once Becerra files his appeal, opponents and supporters of the law will likely disagree as to whether the law is in effect, creating uncertainty among patients who are seeking life-ending medicines as well as doctors who write prescriptions for them, experts say.

Tucker said she hoped the appeals court would rule to preserve the law while the case, which she did not think would ultimately succeed, is sorted out.

I dont think they have a leg to stand on, and yet the wheels of justice turn slowly, and thats why its important to have clarity until that process can conclude, she said.

Harry Nelson, a healthcare attorney in Los Angeles, said that even with an overturned law, the medical board probably wont go after doctors for writing such prescriptions because the panel is represented by the state attorney generals office  the very people defending the law.

He said local district attorneys could try to prosecute doctors, but most physicians who write prescriptions under the law dont typically advertise that they do so. California's data from the law's first six months show that 173 physicians wrote the 191 prescriptions statewide.

Doctors who do this are extremely private about it, said Nelson, who represents several doctors who have written prescriptions under the law. If youre a doctor involved in this, all the more reason why it was a better decision to remain cloistered.

Nelson, however, said he didnt expect that law would be permanently overturned in California.

Even if the appeals court upholds Ottolias decision, the state Legislature could pass a similar law, perhaps with additional safeguards, Nelson said, adding that it has strong support in the Legislature and among the public.

A 2015 survey conducted by UC Berkeley found that 76% of Californians supported allowing terminally ill patients to take their own lives.

Id be surprised if the law doesnt stand in the long term, he said.

Support our journalism Please consider subscribing today to support stories like this one. Get full access to our signature journalism for just 99 cents for the first four weeks. Already a subscriber? Your support makes our work possible. Thank you.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla

UPDATES:

5:20 p.m.: This article was updated with additional reaction.

This article was originally published at 2:15 p.m.
The website promises that audio recordings can cure dozens of ailments  among them diarrhea, anxiety, labor pains, malaria, even a pets infection.

Dr. William Edwin Gray III, a homeopathic doctor who practices in the Bay Area, sells these so-called eRemedies for $5 on his website. Each recording is 13 seconds long and consists of what Gray described as a hissing sound.

Thirty-six out of 37 people were cured of their malaria symptoms within three to four hours with just a few doses, Gray, 75, said in an interview. It works really well in practice, and Im still trying to develop investors and so on to promote it so it can be marketed and more widely used.

Not if the California medical board has its way. Earlier this month, the board filed a five-page accusation against Gray alleging gross negligence, and threatened to take away his medical license for selling the recordings.

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There is no well-documented evidence in the peer reviewed scientific literature that homeopathic remedies can be transmitted electronically via sound waves, the accusation says.

Other homeopathic practitioners put it more bluntly.

It is clear to me that what he is doing has nothing to do with homeopathy, Robert Stewart, who founded the New York School of Homeopathy in 1990, said in an email. Hes on his own in this.

The medical board also found fault with Gray for not performing an exam or taking down patients medical history before offering these products, and for not registering them with the Food and Drug Administration.

Gray said he became interested in homeopathy when he concluded, soon after graduating from Stanford medical school, that modern medicine mostly treated the side effects of medications instead of diseases themselves.

Homeopathy is an alternative medicine system based on the idea that like cures like. To treat allergies, practitioners might give a patient a pill with remnants of an onion, since onions also make peoples eyes water. The practice has been around for 200 years, but most experts say it has little benefit.

To the extent that it works, its probably mostly placebo effect, said Dr. David Spiegel, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Grays website, mdinyourhand.com, allows visitors to choose the medical problem they want resolved. They answer several questions about their ailments and the websites algorithm tells them which recording would best treat their symptoms, he said.

Gray said he created the recordings by placing vials of homeopathic liquids in an electrified wire coil and recording the noise that was emitted. The healing power of the liquid, he said, was transmitted into the sound waves he captured.

Although 263 different recordings are available, the human ear cannot distingush one from another, he said, but the different frequencies of vibration can be picked up by the body as a whole.

His eRemedies cured a deaf dog of its bladder infection because the dog responded to the energy emitted, though he couldnt hear, Gray said.

It calmed him down right away, he said.

Gray said he has sold his treatments online to roughly 500 people in four years.

Dr. David Gorski, a professor of surgery and oncology at Wayne State University who blogs about pseudoscience, said Grays approach made no sense.

Theres so much wrong there I dont know where to start, Gorski said. Ive been paying attention to this stuff for 15 years, and I always find something new and bizarre.

The medical boards accusation said Gray could be diverting patients from standard medical care, which is particularly dangerous for those with serious conditions that, without proper treatment, could prove fatal.

Gray implies on his website that the eRemedies can be used to treat Ebola, swine flu and SARS, the accusation says. ERemedy sound files have not been scientifically proven to be safe and effective for the uses for which [Gray] offers them.

Gray said he sees the medical boards move to take away his license as part of an ongoing struggle between homeopathy and standard medicine. The FDA has traditionally not regulated homeopathic products as strictly as medical products, but it recently announced it would tighten those standards.

Grays website lists the various conditions his recordings can treat. (mdinyourhand.com )

Medical board officials would not say who filed the original complaint against Gray that led to their investigation.

Each year the board accuses roughly 300 doctors of violations that imperil their medical license. Those accused of gross negligence most commonly receive probation, which allows physicians to continue practicing, but with certain restrictions. In the last fiscal year, 85 doctors accused of gross negligence were put on probation, while 10 permanently lost their license.

Gray said he barely uses his medical license as it is, since he doesnt prescribe conventional medicines or order medical tests. He works full-time as a homeopathic practitioner in Los Gatos and would still be able to do that without his license, he said.

So he has decided not to contest the allegations, leaving his punishment up to the medical board to decide in the coming weeks. Fighting the board would cost too much money, he said.

Frankly, I think wed lose anyway, he said.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla
USC names retired aerospace executive Wanda Austin as acting president, announces Nikias departure By Harriet Ryan USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administrations handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USCs board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. The trustees also approved the formation of a search committee and the hiring of firm Isaacson, Miller to coordinate the selection of a successor. A second search company, Heidrick & Struggles, will also advise trustees. Read More Facebook

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Ex-student sues elite Brentwood School after teacher is charged with sexually abusing him By Richard Winton A former student sued the elite Brentwood School on Monday in the wake of a female teacher being charged with repeatedly having sex with the minor, alleging that other faculty members encouraged the unlawful behavior and failed to report it to authorities. The lawsuit accuses the private school, whose students include the children of many of Hollywoods elite and L.A.s powerful, of acting negligently and allowing Aimee Palmitessa to abuse and batter the teenager sexually. The suit alleges that the student was abused in summer 2017 after one of the schools counselors offered words of encouragement to the then-17-year-old, identified in the suit as only John Doe, to engage in an illegal relationship with the teacher. Read More Facebook

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L.A. schools fall short on safety measures, new report warns By Howard Blume After the mass shooting at Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, Los Angeles school officials reassured parents that much had been done to keep local schools safe. California had tougher gun laws, after all, and the school district paid close attention to students mental health. But a new report issued Monday by a panel convened to take a close look offers some cause for concern, flagging inconsistent campus safety measures, thinly spread mental health staff and inadequate coordination between the school district and other public agencies. With the stakes this high, we must strive to do better, said L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer, who assembled the panel. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school district says more are graduating, but rate may not show it By Howard Blume The L.A. Unified School District has hopes of continuing its winning streak this year with another record graduation rate, but the official numbers may not show it. A senior district administrator warned the board Tuesday that graduation rates were likely to decline 2% to 3% across the state, even though L.A. Unified is likely doing better than ever in producing graduates, he said. The issue is that the state will now count high school students who transfer to adult school as dropouts, said Oscar Lafarga, who heads the districts office of data and accountability. Previously, schools treated these students as though they had simply enrolled in another high school, he said. Read More Facebook

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Betsy DeVos to California: Not so fast on that federal education plan By Joy Resmovits Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (Erik Lesser / European Pressphoto Agency) In April, Californias top education officials breathed a sigh of relief. After months of debate and back-and-forth with Betsy DeVos staff, they had finalized a plan to satisfy a major education law that aims to make sure all students get a decent education. The state focused on aligning its plan to fulfill the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act with Californias Local Control Funding Formula, which gives extra money to districts to help students who come from low-income families, are in the foster system or are English learners. But this week, DeVos team said not so fast. Jason Botel, the U.S. Department of Educations principal deputy assistant secretary, sent California education officials a letter asking for more information in such areas as measuring student progress, graduation rates and English learners. In an unsigned statement, the California Department of Education declared itself surprised and disappointed because officials thought  after a meeting with federal officials in Washington  that they were on the right track to get approval. Now the Every Student Succeeds Act plan will be up for discussion once again at the July meeting of the State Board of Education. The U.S. Department of Education has already approved most state plans. Every Student Succeeds is the Obama administrations 2015 replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act. Facebook

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L.A. school board sets a new goal: prepare every grad to be eligible to apply for Cal State or UC By Sonali Kohli Last month, Los Angeles school board president proposed a spate of highly ambitious mandates aimed at ensuring that every district graduate be eligible to apply to one of the states public four-year universities by 2023. By the time the L.A. Unified school board unanimously approved the resolution Tuesday, the original language had been watered down. The goal is no longer that in five years 100% of students meet the long list of benchmarks, which include not just college eligibility for graduates but first-grade reading proficiency and English fluency by sixth grade for all students who enter the district in kindergarten or first grade speaking another language. The original college-readiness goal, for example, called for 100% of all high school students to be eligible to apply to one of the states four-year universities. Now the goal seems to offer more wiggle room: Prepare all high school graduates to be eligible to apply to a California four-year university. Read More Facebook

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We have been hurt. More women say they were mistreated by USC gynecologist By Richard Winton USC student Anika Narayanan says she vividly recalls her first appointment with Dr. George Tyndall at the campus health center, alleging that he made several explicit comments during an examination she felt was inappropriate and invasive. When she came back for a second visit in 2016 after a nonconsensual sexual encounter, he allegedly chastised her, she said in a civil lawsuit and at a press conference Tuesday. He asked me if I had forgotten to use a condom again,  said Narayanan, 21. At one point, she said, Tyndall asked if I did a lot of doggy style,  she said. Read More Facebook

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L.A. Unified gives inspector general brief contract extension By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday extended the contract of Ken Bramlett, its inspector general, by three months, though his job is far from secure and questions remain about the future direction of his watchdog office. Board members also unanimously promoted Vivian Ekchian, who had been the runner-up for the superintendents job, to deputy superintendent  the districts No. 2 position. Both moves had elements of peacemaking between different factions on the board. Read More Facebook

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USCs handling of complaints about campus gynecologist is being investigated by federal government By Harriet Ryan The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into how the University of Southern California handled misconduct complaints against a campus gynecologist, the latest fallout in a scandal that has prompted the resignation of USCs president, two law enforcement investigations and dozens of lawsuits. In revealing the inquiry by the departments Office of Civil Rights, officials rebuked USC for what they alleged was improper withholding of information about Dr. George Tyndall during a previous federal investigation. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has been criticized for taking a less vigorous approach to examining sexual misconduct than predecessors, called for a systemic examination of USC and urged administrators to fully cooperate. Read More Facebook

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Judge to sentence woman and her boyfriend for the murder of an 8-year-old that led to L.A. child welfare reforms By Marisa Gerber A woman and her boyfriend are expected to be sentenced Thursday for the torture and murder of an 8-year-old boy whose killing in 2013 provoked public outrage, prompted sweeping reform of Los Angeles Countys child welfare system, and led to unprecedented criminal charges against social workers who handled the childs case. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the death of her son, Gabriel. A jury decided last year that her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 37, should be executed. When paramedics arrived at the boys Palmdale home in May 2013, Gabriel had slipped out of consciousness. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burned skin, missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his groin. A paramedic would later testify that every inch of the boys small body had been abused. Read More Facebook

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L.A. Unifieds spending out of step with similar school systems, task force says By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school district is out of step with similar school systems, spending more on teachers pay and health benefits and less on activities that could enhance student learning, according to a new report by an outside task force. The L.A. Unified School District Advisory Task Force did not make specific recommendations, but instead posed a series of questions it said the district needs to answer to make sure its funding is aimed at providing a full opportunity for all students to succeed. What were trying to say is: Lets put the data on the table. Lets look at the truth. Lets be transparent and here are the numbers, said task force member Renata Simril. This is not to say that  we should cut teachers salaries. Read More Facebook

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Top USC medical school official feared dean was doing drugs and alerted administration, he testifies By Paul Pringle A former vice dean of USCs Keck School of Medicine testified Tuesday that he feared the schools then-dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, could be doing drugs and expressed concerns about his general well-being to the universitys No. 2 administrator before Puliafito abruptly left his job in 2016. Dr. Henri Fords testimony at a hearing of the state Medical Board marks the first suggestion that any USC administrator had suspicions about Puliafitos possible drug use before he stepped down. A Times investigation in 2017 found Puliafito led a secret second life of using illegal drugs with a circle of young criminals and addicts. Puliafito testified about his behavior at the hearing Tuesday, saying he took drugs with one young woman on a weekly basis. Ford said that he decided to alert USC Provost Michael Quick after receiving reports in early 2016 that Puliafito was partying in hotels with people of questionable reputation, and that he came to worry about his mental stability. Read More Facebook

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Why L.A. Unified may face financial crisis even with a giant surplus this year By Jessica Calefati With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. Its a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if youre a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes. But budget documents show that todays $548-million surplus cannot be sustained  and that even basic services face steep, seemingly unavoidable cuts because of massive problems barreling the districts way. Theres a disconnect between the rosy short-term picture and what we know is coming, said board member Kelly Gonez. Read More Facebook

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We have failed: Top USC officials try to reassure students amid gynecologist scandal By Joy Resmovits Top administrators at USC are reaching out to students in the wake of misconduct allegations against the universitys longtime gynecologist, acknowledging failings and vowing reforms as they try to address growing outrage over the revelations. Several USC deans have sent out messages trying to reassure students and faculty that the university is committed to changing. We have failed, wrote Jack H. Knott, dean of USCs Sol Price School of Public Policy, in a May 24 letter. What happened is antithetical to everything we know is right. Read More Facebook

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Rick Caruso is named chair of USCs trustees, vows swift investigation of gynecologist scandal By Thomas Curwen The University of Southern Californias board of trustees has elected mall magnate Rick Caruso to be the new chair of the board, giving fresh leadership as the university navigates a widening scandal involving a longtime campus gynecologist. The move marks the latest effort by USC to address the case, which has sparked a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and dozens of civil lawsuits. More than 400 people have contacted a hotline that the university established for patients to make reports about their experience with Dr. George Tyndall. In his first act as chairman, Caruso announced that the white-shoe L.A. law firm OMelveny & Myers would conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the gynecologists conduct and reporting failures at the clinic. He set an ambitious timeline for the review, pledging it would conclude before students return for the fall semester. Read More Facebook

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UC Berkeley students persistence helps win more liberal rules for in-state tuition By Teresa Watanabe Ifechukwu Okeke thought shed be a shoo-in for in-state tuition when she was admitted to UC Berkeley for fall 2016. She had moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2012 to go to Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. By the time she got her acceptance to transfer to UC to study molecular and cell biology, she had lived in California four years. She had a California drivers license, bank account and rental records as proof. UC Berkeley, however, ruled she was a nonresident  which meant she would have to pay nearly $27,000 more. Read More Facebook

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State medical board calls former County-USC doctor a sexual predator, suspends his license By Matt Hamilton A UCLA cardiologist has been temporarily stripped of his medical license after state regulators described him as a sexual predator who assaulted three female colleagues when he was working and training at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. Read More Facebook

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Global California 2030' aims to get more students learning more languages By Joy Resmovits Tom Torlakson (Andrew Seng / Associated Press) Outgoing state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Wednesday announced a new statewide effort to encourage students to learn more languages. Called Global California 2030, its goal is to help more students become fluent in multiple tongues. Torlakson said that by 2030, he wants half of the states 6.2 million K-12 students to participate in classes or programs that lead to proficiency in two or more languages. By 2040, he wants three out of four students to be proficient enough to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy. Torlakson announced the initiative at Cahuenga Elementary School, which offers a dual-language immersion program in English and Korean. Californias public school students speak more than 60 languages at home, and 40% come to school with knowledge of a language other than English. Torlakson called his plan a call to action that invites parents, legislators, educators and community members to pool resources to expand language offerings in schools and get more bilingual teachers trained. He said the state already is working with Mexico and Spain to expand a teacher-exchange program. Fluency, the plan argues, can help students succeed economically  and language acquisition can help their overall critical thinking. The initiative builds on Proposition 58, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 that undid an earlier requirement that English learners be taught in English-immersion classes unless their parents signed waivers. Torlakson recently visited Mexico and met with that countrys education secretary. They later signed a pact to increase collaboration, particularly in language education. This [Global California 2030] is great follow-through on Toms part and very important, Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor who hosted the Mexico meeting, said in an email. It hands over a plan to move forward in an area in which California has a unique advantage, but must seize the opportunity. Facebook

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Jury convicts man of murder in 2015 slaying of UCLA student found inside her burning apartment By Marisa Gerber A jury on Tuesday convicted a man in the 2015 slaying of a UCLA student found dead inside her burning apartment  a gruesome stabbing case that led to a fierce rebuke of the police response amid concerns that the killing could have been prevented. The panel deliberated for about six hours before finding Alberto Medina, 24, guilty of murder, arson, burglary and animal cruelty. On Sept. 21, 2015, firefighters found the charred body of Andrea DelVesco inside her apartment after responding to the complex a block from campus. The 21-year-old student  an Austin, Texas, native known to her sorority sisters as a fearless giver who befriended others with ease  was stabbed at least 19 times, authorities said. Read More Facebook

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LAPD begins sweeping criminal probe of former USC gynecologist while urging patients to come forward By Adam Elmahrek The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday it is investigating 52 complaints of misconduct filed by former patients of USCs longtime campus gynecologist as detectives launch a sweeping criminal probe into the scandal that has rocked the university. LAPD detectives also made an appeal for other patients who feel mistreated to come forward, noting that thousands of students were examined by Dr. George Tyndall during his nearly 30-year career at USC. More than 410 people have contacted a university hotline about the physician since The Times revealed the allegations this month. Tyndalls behavior and practices appear to go beyond the norms of the medical profession and gynecological examinations, said Asst. Chief Beatrice Girmala. We sincerely realize that victims may have difficulty recounting such details to investigators. We are empathetic and ready to listen. Read More Facebook

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At L.A.'s only school for the deaf, parents want leaders who speak the same language By Anna M. Phillips Ever since her son was 6 months old, Juliet Hidalgo has been bringing him to the Marlton School, a low-slung building in Baldwin Hills that for generations has been a second home for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Los Angeles. Marlton staff taught Hidalgos brother and sister, both of whom are deaf. The school was where her deaf son learned to make the signs for milk and food. Hidalgo had planned to enroll her daughter, taking advantage of a popular program that allows hearing children to learn American Sign Language alongside their deaf siblings. But after more than a decade of involvement, she and other family members are considering withdrawing their children. They are not alone. Read More Facebook

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Fueled by unlimited donations, independent groups play their biggest role yet in a California primary for governor By Ryan Menezes An unprecedented amount of money from wealthy donors, unions and corporations is flowing into the California governors race, giving independent groups  unrestricted by contribution limits  a greater say in picking the states chief executive than ever before. The groups have already spent more than $26 million through Thursday, the most ever spent by noncandidate committees in a gubernatorial primary, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance reports. California elections have always been expensive, and the future is even more expensive, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former state Republican leader. The stakes are very real. Read More Facebook

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2 hurt in Indiana middle school shooting; suspect in custody, authorities say By Associated Press Authorities say two victims in a shooting at a suburban Indianapolis school are being taken to a hospital and the lone suspect is in custody. Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, said in a news release that the victims in Friday mornings attack at Noblesville West Middle School are being taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and their families have been notified. He says no other information is available about the victims. Orem said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and was taken into custody. No additional information about the suspect was made public. Read More Facebook

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For new L.A. schools chief Austin Beutner, some key unions are giving no honeymoon period By Howard Blume In the less than two weeks since Austin Beutner took charge of Los Angeles schools, unions representing teachers and administrators have staged a job action and a protest. Theyve made it clear that they will not give the new superintendent the traditional honeymoon period, and they are bashing him for his wealth and lack of experience running either a school or a school district. Beutner is a billionaire investment banker with zero qualifications, local teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told members in a phone alert urging them to participate in a Thursday afternoon rally in Grand Park. The board is saying that billionaires who made their money blowing institutions up and making money off it know best  not the education professionals who have dedicated our careers to working with students. Read More Facebook

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Pressure grows on Board of Trustees amid USC gynecologist scandal By Paul Pringle USCs large and powerful Board of Trustees is coming under growing pressure to provide a stronger hand as the university faces a crisis over misconduct allegations against the campus longtime gynecologist that has prompted calls for President C.L. Max Nikias to step down. Allegations that Dr. George Tyndall mistreated students during his nearly 30 years at USC have roiled the campus, with about 300 people coming forward to make reports to the university and the Los Angeles Police Department launching a criminal investigation. USC is already beginning to face what is expected to be costly litigation by women who say they were victimized by the physician. So far, the trustees to whom Nikias reports have expressed sympathy for the women who have come forward and launched an independent investigation while also publicly backing the president. Read More Facebook

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UC regents approve leaner budget for Janet Napolitano By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents on Thursday unanimously approved a leaner, more transparent budget for President Janet Napolitano, moving to address political criticism over the systems central office operations. The $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 reflects spending cuts of 2%, including reductions in staffing, travel and such systemwide programs as public service law fellowships, carbon neutrality and food security. Napolitano shifted $30 million to campuses for housing needs and $10 million to UC Riverside to support its five-year-old medical school. She also permanently redirected $8.5 million annually to help enroll more California students, as required by the state. Read More Facebook

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USCs Academic Senate calls on university president to resign after a series of scandals By Matt Hamilton The body that represents USCs faculty called on President C.L. Max Nikias to resign Wednesday in the wake of relevations that the universitys longtime gynecologist faced years of accusations of misconduct by students and colleagues at the campus health clinic. The Academic Senate took the vote late Wednesday afternoon after a fiery town hall meeting attended by more than 100 faculty members, many of whom voiced outrage over Nikias and the Board of Trustees leadership. The vote came a day after the trustees executive committee stood firmly behind Nikias, saying it has full confidence in his leadership, ethics and values. At the town hall meeting, Senate President Paul Rosenbloom said he did not think Nikias or Provost Michael Quick committed wrongdoing but that the university president deserved criticism for a lack of transparency. Read More Facebook

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Californias public universities on the way to getting a big longed-for boost in funding By Teresa Watanabe The University of California and California State University systems are poised to get major funding boosts that will help them enroll thousands of additional state students and eliminate the need for tuition increases in the coming school year. A key Assembly budget panel on Wednesday approved $117.5 million in new funds for the UC. A Senate panel approved a similar sum last week. The same committees recently approved even more funding for the Cal State system. Read More Facebook

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UC regents to scrutinize Janet Napolitanos office budget in a step toward stronger oversight By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents this week plan to scrutinize the budget of President Janet Napolitano, whose office came under political fire last year for questionable spending and murky accounting. Regents will vote on the proposed $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 during their two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, at UC San Francisco. They also will discuss state funding, financial aid, online education and transfer student policies. Board Chairman George Kieffer said regents are stepping up to exert stronger oversight of the presidents office after a blistering state audit last year found financial problems including an unreported $175 million budget reserve. Read More Facebook

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State legislative panels approve major funding boost for Cal State By Teresa Watanabe Cal State students protest against a tuition increase outside the chancellors office (Irfan Khan) After months of intensive lobbying, Cal State University has convinced two key legislative panels to approve funding to enroll nearly 11,000 more students, hire more faculty and expand housing aid to those without shelter this fall. An Assembly budget panel on Tuesday approved $215.7 million more for Cal State, adding to Gov. Jerry Browns proposed $92.1 million general fund increase. A Senate budget panel approved a similar increase last week. The extra funding  which went beyond Cal States own request to the Legislature of $171 million  is still subject to final budget negotiations with Brown. But the actions by the Senate and Assembly panels amount to a demand from Democrats that the governor hike higher education spending. Cal State University is the workhorse undergraduate university serving hundreds of thousands of Californians, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who heads the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. We need more graduates for the California workforce and higher education is the ticket to the middle class. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White hailed the actions, but said it was too soon to celebrate. The CSU has a singular focus on helping students earn high-quality degrees sooner, and the entire university community has rallied to reinforce that message to our states lawmakers, he said in a statement. The actions taken thus far by the Assembly and Senate are promising and show that our message is being received, but there is still work to be done. Funding for the University of California was not taken up Tuesday as originally scheduled. McCarty would not comment on sticking points but said he was confident that a resolution would be reached this week. Were looking to provide resources above whats in the governors budget, but negotiations are ongoing, he said in an interview. State per-student funding is not what it once was, leaving both Cal State and the UC in a tough financial squeeze. Both systems raised tuition last year after a six-year freeze on higher costs. For this year, Cal State had asked for funding to enroll an additional 3,621 students, but both the Senate and Assembly panels approved three times that amount. Cal State, the largest public university system in the nation, turned away 32,000 eligible students last year because its campuses werent able to accommodate them. The panels asked that at least $50 million of the extra funding be used to hire more tenure-track faculty to help boost graduation rates. The Assembly panel also approved one-time funding of $5 million to ease hunger on campuses and $14 million for rapid rehousing pilot projects at three campuses, offering needy students rental support and short-term case management. Other items approved include $5 million to support the CSU Long Beach Shark Labs research on sharks and beach safety and $2 million for equal employment opportunity practices. This post has been updated to include comments from Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White. Facebook

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Faculty members call for USC president to step down: He has lost the moral authority to lead By Matt Hamilton Two hundred USC professors on Tuesday demanded the resignation of university President C. L. Max Nikias, saying he had lost the moral authority to lead in the wake of revelations that a campus gynecologist was kept on staff for decades despite repeated complaints of misconduct. Read More Facebook

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Gun battle, negotiations lasted 15 minutes before Texas school shooter was apprehended, sheriff says By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Minutes after a school shooter opened fire in an art class last week, killing 10 people and wounding 13, including a local police officer, fellow officers returned fire in a protracted gun battle before isolating the suspect, the local sheriff said Monday. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset praised first responders as well as Santa Fe Police Officer John Barnes, who was working as a resource officer at the school the day of the shooting. Their actions, he said, prevented the attack from spreading to other classrooms and potentially claiming additional victims. As officials continue to probe last Fridays shooting at Santa Fe High School, students are worried about returning to the scene of the attack when classes resume next week. Read More Facebook

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6 women sue USC, alleging they were victimized by campus gynecologist By Richard Winton Six women filed civil lawsuits Monday alleging that a longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California sexually victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staff about the doctors behavior. One woman alleged Dr. George Tyndall forced his entire ungloved hand into her vagina during an appointment in 2003 while making vulgar remarks about her genitalia, according to one of the lawsuits. Another woman alleged that Tyndall groped her breasts in a 2008 visit and that later he falsely told her she likely had AIDS. A third woman accused the doctor of grazing his ungloved fingers over her nude body and leering at her during a purported skin exam, the lawsuit states. The wave of litigation comes as USC continues to grapple with the scandal, which legal experts said could prove costly to the university as scores of former patients come forward about their experiences with the gynecologist. Read More Facebook

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Fatalities reported in Texas high school shooting; suspect arrested, officials say By Associated Press Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a local high school Friday morning. Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 a.m. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports. The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but said it wouldnt immediately release further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson said a suspect has been arrested and secured. Read More Facebook

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This student followed the new L.A. schools chief on his first-day tour L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner is greeted by Van Nuys High School principal Yolanda Gardea. (Melissa Barales-Lopez) Melissa Barales-Lopez, a senior at Garfield High School followed Supt. Austin Beutner on his first day on the job, as he toured a variety of programs around the Los Angeles Unified School District. Heres what she took from the experience. LAUSD students and staff alike are looking for a personal champion, someone who will address and improve the difficulties afflicting their education.  What LAUSD students need is someone whos willing to listen and learn, someone who can understand the current issues affecting their schools and act to efficiently amend them, someone who can unlock the full potential of LAUSD students and enable them to reach their goals. During the entirety of his first day, superintendent Austin Beutner did indeed demonstrate a willingness to learn. Posing questions to teachers and students, Beutner engaged with the student communities he encountered to gain a better comprehension of the minutiae and nuances that distinguish each school inside an overwhelmingly large district. From inquiries about Grand View Boulevard Elementary Schools dual language program to questions regarding the services of LAUSDs after-school program, Beyond the Bell, Beutner revealed he has a lot to learn about the system. But, Beutner also showcased a willingness to tackle challenges head-on on his first day. Read More Facebook

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USC let a gynecologist continue treating students despite years of misconduct allegations By Matt Hamilton For nearly 30 years, the University of Southern Californias student health clinic had one full-time gynecologist: Dr. George Tyndall. Tall and garrulous with distinctive jet black hair, he treated tens of thousands of female students, many of them teenagers seeing a gynecologist for the first time. Few who lay down on Tyndalls exam table at the Engemann Student Health Center knew that he had been accused repeatedly of misconduct toward young patients. The complaints began in the 1990s, when co-workers alleged he was improperly photographing students genitals. In the years that followed, patients and nursing staff accused him again and again of creepy behavior, including touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams and making sexually suggestive remarks about their bodies. Read More Facebook

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Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

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On his first day as L.A. schools chief, Beutner plans a day of visits across the district By Howard Blume L.A. Unifieds new superintendent, Austin Beutner, will kick off his first day of work on Tuesday with a choreographed tour of the nations second-largest school district, from the San Fernando Valley to Carson. His day is scheduled to begin at 5:15 a.m. at a school bus depot and end more than 12 hours later at a parent meeting at Garfield High School. Along the way, Beutner is expected to be joined by school district administrators, L.A. Unified board members and the vice president of the union that represents school bus drivers. Though he will be covering a lot of ground, Beutners tour has him skipping Tuesdays school board meeting, when board members are expected to discuss labor negotiations in closed session. Read More Facebook

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Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook

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Why a handful of rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as governor By Ryan Menezes California voters have seen a barrage of sunny television ads in recent weeks touting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas record on finances, crime and education, aired by Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018. But the group is, in fact, largely funded by a handful of wealthy charter-school supporters. Together they have spent more than $13 million in less than a month to boost Villaraigosas chances in the June 5 primary  at a time when his fundraising and poll numbers are lagging. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, jump-started the group with a $7-million check, by far the largest donation to support any candidate in the election. Their efforts are part of a broader proxy war among Democrats between teachers unions  longtime stalwarts of the party  and those who argue that the groups have failed low-income and minority schoolchildren. Read More Facebook

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Talking schools with L.A. Unifieds new superintendent By Anna M. Phillips Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ( Incoming L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner talks to students at Belmont High School.) Austin Beutner, who officially starts Tuesday as the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is taking on a famously difficult job at a particularly difficult time. The school board is divided and did not back him unanimously. The nations second-largest school district has deep-seated problems, including declining enrollment, lagging academic achievement and rising pension and healthcare costs that eat away at its budget. The 58-year-old former investment banker and former L.A. Times publisher has years of experience in the financial world but none as an educator. Earlier this week, he sat down with the Times education team to discuss the challenges facing the district, which has about 60,000 employees and 500,000 students in traditional public schools. He did not talk about his plans  saying repeatedly, stay tuned  but he spoke in broad terms about his mindset in approaching the tough decisions ahead. Read More Facebook

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Suspect detained, authorities search campus after reports of armed man at Palmdale high school By James Queally One person has been detained after a report of an armed man at a Palmdale high school sparked a massive law enforcement response Friday morning. The suspect was spotted at 7:05 a.m. on the campus of Highland High School in Palmdale, according to Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. The person was detained in a nearby parking lot, according to Nishida, who did not know whether that person was an adult or juvenile. Deputies at the scene are clearing the school methodically, and students will be transported home via school buses once the campus is deemed safe, Nishida said. Read More Facebook

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The education of Bertha Perez: How a UC Merced custodians disenchantment led to a political awakening By Robin Abcarian Its the third day of a three-day strike, and UC Merced custodian Bertha Perez is taking a break from a picket line at the universitys unremarkable entrance, an intersection with stop lights. Photos from other UC campuses this week have shown big crowds of striking service workers  members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees  marching and chanting pro-labor slogans as they try to force the University of California back to the negotiating table. But here, at UC Merced, whose handful of big buildings rise from a flat expanse of farmland, the picket line is tiny, maybe two dozen workers and a few students. Its not a big-city-style show of force. Then again, a union sympathizer is banging relentlessly on a snare drum, so its noisier than youd expect. Read More Facebook

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Ref Rodriguez resigns from teacher credentialing commission By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez appears during a court appearance. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez has resigned from the states Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which oversees the integrity and quality of Californias teachers. Rodriguez faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. Separately, his former employer, a charter school organization, has accused him of improperly authorizing checks to a nonprofit under his control. Rodriguez has denied wrongdoing. Rodriguezs resignation from the state body was effective May 4, days after he cast a crucial vote as part of a narrow majority that voted to authorize contract negotiations with Austin Beutner to become superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District. Beutners first official day on the job is Tuesday. Rodriguez remains in his $125,000-a-year position on the Los Angeles Board of Education. The mission of the state body is to ensure integrity, relevance, and high quality in the preparation, certification, and discipline of Californias teachers. Critics had questioned Rodriguezs continued service on the commission, given that teachers can be suspended from work if they face criminal charges. They also can lose their jobs for lapses in personal behavior, such as excessive drinking, with the potential to affect their performance. Police in Pasadena arrested Rodriguez on a Friday afternoon in March for public drunkenness. He was not charged in the incident and has apologized. The state commission reviews teacher discipline cases and can take action to remove a teachers credential to work in a California classroom. The commission has 15 members. Rodriguezs departure was disclosed in a one-sentence announcement on the agencys website. Facebook

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School board members request for restraining order against blogger is rejected By Priscella Vega An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a school board members petition for a permanent restraining order against a Huntington Beach blogger. Attorney Jeffrey W. Shields filed the petition on behalf of Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, 46, who alleged in court documents that Charles Keeler Johnson, 56, has threatened her on social media and at school board meetings, causing her to fear for my own safety and for that of my immediate family members. Johnson, who goes by Chuck and publishes HBSledgehammer.com, said the trustee tried to stifle his freedom of speech. He also contended that Clayton-Tarvin took his blog posts and Facebook comments too seriously and out of context, saying anyone who is afraid of metaphors has serious issues. Read More Facebook

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Deal with workers averts one-day strike that could have shut down L.A. schools By Howard Blume Los Angeles school district and union officials announced a contract agreement Tuesday night that averted a one-day strike planned for next week. The pact, which runs through June 2020, removes one labor problem from the desk of incoming Supt. Austin Beutner  whose first day on the job would have coincided with the strike. Plenty of other challenges remain. Read More Facebook

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UC labor strike expands with show of support from more unions By Teresa Watanabe Fong Chuu is a registered nurse who has assisted with countless liver transplants, kidney surgeries and gastric bypasses during 34 years at UCLA. Working with her are scrub technicians who sterilize equipment, hand medical instruments to the surgeon and dress patient wounds. They are a team, Chuu says, which is why she walked off her job Tuesday in support of those technicians and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The 25,000 member AFSCME local, the University of Californias largest employee union, launched a three-day strike Monday. Read More Facebook

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We are humans too: Voices of UCLAs striking custodians, hospital aides and imaging technicians By Joy Resmovits Demonstrators parade in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) This week, thousands of UC employees are staging a three-day strike for better pay and working conditions. On Monday, more than 20,000 custodians, cooks, lab technicians, nurse aides and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off their jobs. By Tuesday, two more unions joined in sympathy strikes. The union and UC reached a bargaining impasse last year. The university has said it wont meet the workers demands. The strikers said they wanted better pay, more equity in the allocation of work, stable healthcare premiums and an end to the universitys use of contract workers. These are their stories. Read More Facebook

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Massive UC workers strike disrupts dining, classes and medical services By Joy Resmovits A massive labor strike across the University of California on Monday forced medical centers to reschedule more than 12,000 surgeries, cancer treatments and appointments, and campuses to cancel some classes and limit dining services. More than 20,000 members of UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, walked off their jobs on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Two altercations involving protesters and people driving near the rallies were reported at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. At UCLA, police took a man into custody Monday after he drove his vehicle into a crowd, hitting three staff members. They were treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, said Lt. Kevin Kilgore of the UCLA Police Department. Read More Facebook

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Sen. Kamala Harris to skip UC Berkeley commencement in support of striking workers By Teresa Watanabe Sen. Kamala Harris (Chris Dekmas) California Sen. Kamala Harris has canceled plans to deliver UC Berkeleys commencement address this weekend in support of UC workers who are on strike over wages and health benefits. Due to the ongoing labor dispute, Sen. Harris regretfully cannot attend and speak at this years commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley, said a statement from Harris office issued Monday. She wishes the graduates and their families a joyous commencement weekend and success for the future. They are bright young leaders and our country is counting on them. UCs largest employee union, the 25,000-member American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees Local 3299, launched a three-day strike Monday and had earlier called for a speakers boycott. The union and university reached a bargaining impasse last year and subsequent mediation efforts have failed to produce an agreement. The union is asking for a multiyear contract with a 6% annual pay increase while the university is offering 3% annual increases over four years. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ will deliver the keynote address instead, the university announced. About 5,800 students are expected to participate in the ceremony Saturday. Facebook

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School mural depicting Trumps bloody, severed head sparks controversy By Gary Warth A Chula Vista school mural that depicts the bloody, severed head of President Trump on a spear sparked a controversy that prompted officials to cover it and issue a response distancing themselves from the work. The statement also said the artist will alter the painting. We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our schools philosophy of non-violence, read the statement from MAAC Community Charter School director Tommy Ramirez. We have been in communication with the artist  who has agreed to modify the artwork  to better align with the schools philosophy. Read More Facebook

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New blackface incident at Cal Poly prompts calls for state investigation By Kim Christensen Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials have asked the state attorney generals office to investigate after a new photo of a white student in blackface surfaced on a fraternity groups private Snapchat. I am outraged, Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said in a video address Friday to the campus. These vile and absolutely unacceptable acts cannot continue. We must not allow these acts to define us as an institution. Armstrong said the latest photo was intended to imitate an incident last month in which a white member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity was photographed at a party wearing blackface. Read More Facebook

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More than 50,000 UC workers set to strike this week but campuses will remain open By Teresa Watanabe More than 50,000 workers across the University of California are set to strike this week, causing potential disruptions to surgery schedules, food preparation and campus maintenance. The systems 10 campuses and five medical centers are to remain open, with classes scheduled as planned. UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, plans to begin a three-day strike Monday involving 25,000 workers, including custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Read More Facebook

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New L.A. schools chief Beutner pledges to listen, learn and take action By Howard Blume New Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner proved Wednesday that hes a quick learner even without an education background. Like countless public officials before him, he appeared at an important event  his first speech and news conference  with a photogenic background of students. His message  that he would put those students first  seemed heartfelt if hardly original. Nor was it a huge surprise that he pledged to push cooperatively but unflinchingly to improve the districts academic performance and stabilize its finances. As an introduction, Beutner, a former investment banker who made a fortune on Wall Street, offered little flash, but that was partly the point. Read More Facebook

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In a school lockdown, one student takes stock of the stressful scene (Phalaen Chang) At the beginning of lunch one day late last month, Duarte High School, Northview Middle School, and California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley were advised by the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department to go into lockdown mode due to police activity in the immediate area. Phalaen Chang, a junior at the California School of the Arts, wrote a series of notes on her iPhone while she sat in a room with her classmates. By the time the lockdown ended an hour later, she wrote, she knew which of her friends would hold open the door for others, be the ones calming others down, be the ones barricading the doors. She knew that all of them have the potential to be such strong people. Read More Facebook

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Tale as old as time: L.A. Unified superintendent pick follows a historical pattern of outside-the-box choices By Joy Resmovits Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, superintendent from 2006-2008. (L.A. Times file photo) L.A. Unified has long gone back and forth between picking insiders and outsiders to run the nations second largest school district. The choice of Austin Beutner, announced Tuesday, places the district squarely back in the outsider camp  months after a consummate insider, Supt. Michelle King, announced that she had cancer and would not return to the job. Check out this timeline of former L.A. superintendents to see how the school board members have changed their minds, sometimes favoring leaders who come from the world of education and sometimes executives from elsewhere, recruited to shock the system into change. At one point, the district hired someone from the military  retired Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, who served as superintendent from 2006-2008. In hiring Brewer, board members had opted for a non-educator  largely because they sought a fresh thinker, unwedded to the bureaucracy, unafraid to make bold, even unorthodox moves, reads a 2008 Times story. Facebook

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Austin Beutner named superintendent of Los Angeles schools By Howard Blume Austin Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker, on Tuesday was named superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest school system. His selection was the biggest move yet by a Los Angeles school board majority elected with major support from charter school advocates. The decision came after lengthy public testimony, most of it in support of the other remaining finalist, interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian, who is well known within the school system. Beutner, 58, has no background leading a school or school district. Less than 2 years ago, a school board with a very different balance of power named Michelle King, a former teacher who rose through the district throughout her career, to L.A. Unifieds top job. Read More Facebook

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Hearing delay gives both sides more time in Ref Rodriguezs potential trial By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez and his attorneys will have more time to prepare their defense against charges of political money laundering, a judge ruled Monday. The preliminary hearing in the case had been scheduled to begin May 9, but that date will now be pushed back to July 23 per the ruling from L.A. Superior Court Judge Deborah S. Brazil. Rodriguez, 46, faces three felony charges of conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school board poised to name Beutner as superintendent By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is poised to select philanthropist and former investment banker Austin Beutner to be the next superintendent of the nations second-largest school system. Barring a last-minute development, the only mystery is whether Beutner emerges with four or five votes from the boards seven members. Terms of his contract already have been under discussion, according to sources close to the process who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak. The selection of Beutner, 58, who has no experience managing a school or a school district, would be a signal that the board majority that took control nearly a year ago wants to rely on business management skills instead of insider educational expertise. Read More Facebook

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Teacher walkouts in Arizona and Colorado continue national debate on money for schools By Michael Livingston Following the lead of teachers who walked off the job in other states in recent weeks, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets in Arizona and Colorado for the second day in a row to demand better pay and more funding for education. Read More Facebook

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Three decades before the #MeToo movement, UC San Diego led the way against sexual assault By Teresa Watanabe When Nancy Wahlig first started her fight against sexual assault, one company was marketing a capsule for women to stash in their bras and then smash to release a vile odor. Because of the very nature of society, the only person who can prevent rape is the woman herself, read a 1981 advertisement for the Repulse rape deterrent. Ideas about how to prevent sexual violence have come a long way since then, and Wahlig has helped lead that evolution on college campuses. In 1988, she started UC San Diegos Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC), the first stand-alone program at the University of California. Today, she remains the systems most senior specialist. Read More Facebook

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Andres Alonso withdraws from consideration for L.A. schools job By Howard Blume Andres Alonso, believed to be one of three remaining finalists to lead the Los Angeles school system, has withdrawn from consideration. The remaining known candidates in the confidential search are former investment banker Austin Beutner and interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian. Alonso, 60, announced his decision on Twitter on Thursday night, saying he had notified the L.A. Unified School District on Monday. The exit of Alonso, the former Baltimore schools chief, seems to solidify the front-runner status of Beutner, who also was a former L.A. Times publisher and a Los Angeles deputy mayor. He held each of those positions for about a year. Read More Facebook

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Heres why the apparent increase in autism spectrum disorders may be good for U.S. children By Karen Kaplan The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among American children continues to rise, new government data suggest. And that may be a good thing. Among 11 sites across the U.S. where records of 8-year-olds are scrutinized in detail, 1 in 59 kids was deemed to have ASD in 2014. Thats up from 1 in 68 in 2012. Normally, health officials would prefer to see less of a disease, not more of it. But in this case, the higher number is probably a sign that more children of color who are on the autism spectrum are being recognized as such and getting services to help them, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More Facebook

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UC shelves tuition increase for now, in hopes of getting more state funding By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents will not vote on a tuition increase next month, shelving the plan for now in hopes that state lawmakers will come through with more funding. Raising tuition is always a last resort and one we take very seriously, UC President Janet Napolitano said Thursday in a statement. We will continue to advocate with our students who are doing a tremendous job of educating legislators about the necessity of adequately funding the university to ensure UC remains a world-class institution and engine of economic growth for our state. Last week, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said the 23-campus system no longer would consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year. But unlike Cal State, UC officials have not taken a tuition increase off the table entirely. Read More Facebook

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A chemical spill, unchecked eyewash stations, poor training: Audit details Cal States lax lab safety By Joy Resmovits In May 2016, two bottles tumbled off a poorly supported shelf and broke, leading to a chemical spill in a Sacramento State University lab. The liquid got onto one students legs and soaked anothers feet. Five employees cleaned up the mess, even though no one knew for sure what it was and whether it was dangerous. They called fellow employee Kim Harrington, their union representative, to let her know what happened. Read More Facebook

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After blackface incident, minority students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo say they dont feel welcome By Hailey Branson-Potts Aaliyah Ramos was walking through the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus last year when a prospective student approached her. Ramos was the only black person, the young woman said, that she and her mother had seen that day. They asked about the quality of education and the diversity of the student body. Ramos, a mechanical engineering student, didnt want to sugarcoat the truth: Cal Poly long has been predominantly white. But she told the young woman  who also was black  that she didnt want to discourage her from applying, because that wouldnt help with diversity at a school where only 0.7% of students are African American  the lowest percentage of any university in the California State system. Read More Facebook

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El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills wins the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon By Carlos Lozano El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills has won the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon, officials said. The winner was announced early Saturday at a ceremony in Frisco, Texas. More than 600 students from the U.S., Canada, China and the United Kingdom gathered there over the last three days to compete in the 37th annual U.S. Academic Decathlon. Congratulations to El Camino Real Charter High School for another impressive victory, said Vivian Ekchian, interim superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Your academic stamina and competitive spirit to win is remarkable. The entire L.A. Unified family is so proud of you. Read More Facebook

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Anticipation mounts as L.A. school board meets over superintendent selection By Howard Blume L.A. schools superintendent candidate Andres Alonso got an endorsement Friday, but Austin Beutner and Vivian Ekchian also have supporters. (Elizabeth Malby) The Los Angeles Board of Education is reconvening in closed session Friday at noon as anticipation mounts about the choice of the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. The presumed front-runner is former investment banker and philanthropist Austin Beutner, but interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian and former Baltimore Supt. Andres Alonso also are in the running. Most district insiders appear to be rooting for Ekchian, who has spent her entire career in education within the school system. After her 10 years as a teacher, her roles have included head of human resources, chief labor negotiator and regional administrator for campuses in the west San Fernando Valley. Shes managed the district since September, when then-Supt. Michelle King went on medical leave and chose Ekchian to fill in for her. King, who is battling cancer, never returned and announced her retirement in January. Numerous influential civic leaders have urged  and pressured  the board to select Beutner. Also lending their weight have been advocates for charter schools, which are independently operated, growing in number and competing for students with district-operated campuses. Four of the seven board members  enough to control the outcome  were elected with major financial support from charter supporters. Beutner has two ongoing connections with the L.A. Unified School District. The first is his leadership of an outside task force that is making recommendations on how to improve the school system. The second is his charity, Vision to Learn, which supplies glasses to low-income students. The charity and the school system are in a dispute at the moment over who is responsible for delays in providing services to students as part of a $6 million contract, half of which is paid for by L.A. Unified. Unlike Ekchian and Buetner, Alonso, who currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has no deep-seated local constituency, but the prospect of his selection has generated some excitement. While in Baltimore, Alonso was recognized for pushing for progress at low-performing schools, and for being willing to take strong action. While in Baltimore, he also weathered a test-score cheating scandal and occasionally rocky relations with the teachers union. But by the time he resigned, after six years, he and union leaders seemed to be working together without rancor. Leaders of some community groups have split from the pro-Beutner camp. They worry that Beutners approach to confronting the districts financial problems could shut out their voices or involve severe economic cutbacks that would undermine programs that are helping students. Some prefer Ekchian; some Alonso. Theyve been reluctant to speak out publicly because theyll have to work with whoever is selected, but they have tried to get the ear of board members. On Friday morning, one leader of a community group decided to come out in favor of Alonso. L.A. Unified has the opportunity to bring in an instructional leader of color with a history of success, said Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, which works on behalf of low-income students and families in South Los Angeles. If we have a shot at that, we should go for it  because its in the best interests of our kids and of our community. Retana said his statement was not meant to criticize Beutner or Ekchian but to alert board members that there also is community support for Alonso. Facebook

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Cal State leader shelves proposed tuition hike: Its the right thing to do, but its not without risk By Joy Resmovits Cal State, the nations largest public university system, will no longer consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year, Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Friday. The decision is a bet that Sacramento will come through in the end. If Cal State loses that bet, it could mean cuts to campus programs. White said in an interview that Californias economy is strong enough that families should not be shouldering the burden of higher college costs. Read More Facebook

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L.A. students to participate in national walkout activities on Friday By Joy Resmovits (Los Angeles Times) Students are taking to the streets again Friday to protest gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. Starting at 10 a.m., students at many schools will spend 13 seconds honoring the 13 people  12 students and one teacher  killed on that day in Littleton, Colo. After that, theyll participate in a host of different activities. Within L.A. Unified, one school is having an open-mic event for students to talk about school violence, and lawmakers are visiting campuses to hear students thoughts. According to a central hub for organizing the protests  written by the students of Ridgefield High School in Connecticut  the walkouts are intended to drive the political change necessary to curb school violence. The day is also a time for students to interact on an elevated platform they have never had before, the site states. It is a day of discourse and thoughtful sharing. Bringing together communities and students to get a national discussion rolling. Organizers have suggested using the event to convey the importance of curbing gun violence to legislators. They are encouraging students to push legislation that would ban assault weapons and tighten up rules around who can buy guns and how. Over 2,500 schools nationwide are expected to participate. In L.A., some students  at campuses including Eagle Rock High School, the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and Bravo Medical Magnet  plan to walk out. Students from various schools expect to join area marches, including those in Santa Monica and Huntington Park. Other schools are hosting career days and voter registration drives. At 1 p.m., students plan to start a rally in front of L.A. Unified headquarters. For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that 12 teachers and one student were killed in the Columbine shooting. The opposite is true: twelve students and one teacher died. Facebook

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Stabbing of popular student devastates South El Monte High School; teen friend suspected in slaying By Sonali Kohli When administrators at South El Monte High School called Jeremy Sanchezs parents to say he never showed up for class Wednesday, his father began to worry. It was unusual for the 17-year-old junior to miss school, so his father filed a missing persons report and assembled two of Jeremys close friends to look for the popular student-athlete. Their search took them to a scenic stretch of the San Gabriel River Trail, where one of the friends  a 16-year-old boy  made a tragic discovery. Among the bushes in the riverbed near Thienes Avenue and Parkway Drive was Jeremys body, punctured with stab wounds, according to Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Read More Facebook

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Racist fliers spark outrage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo By Alene Tchekmedyian Soon after Neal MacDougall arrived on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus Tuesday, the professor noticed university police standing outside a restroom near his office. A racial slur against African Americans had been scrawled in red marker on a stall wall. Later, he discovered a series of racist fliers pinned up next to his door. Someone had also slashed posters hed hung outside his office supporting students in the country illegally. The discovery was the latest controversy on the prestigious campus  which the president said is less than 55% white  that MacDougall said demonstrates a culture of racism at the university. Last week, photographs emerged of white fraternity members, including one in blackface, flashing gang signs. Read More Facebook

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The superintendent waiting game, paying for L.A.'s College Promise, Princetons slave history: Whats new in education By Joy Resmovits Acting LAUSD superintendent Vivian Ekchian is a finalist for the permanent job. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) In and around Los Angeles: The L.A. Unified school board spent 10 hours interviewing and discussing candidates for superintendent. When they adjourned after 10 p.m., they said they would reconvene on Friday. Who is paying for Mayor Eric Garcettis much-touted College Promise, a program that promises two years of community college for LAUSD grads? In California: The Legislature is considering a proposal that would boost K-12 education funding for black students. When the cost of living is taken into account, California has the highest rate of child poverty. Nationwide: The families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are suing Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never occurred. Princeton will name two spaces  an arch and a garden  after slaves who lived or worked on the campus. Facebook

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L.A. school board meets privately with finalists and debates choice for school district leader By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education adjourned late Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours interviewing candidates and trying to reach a decision on who would be the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. When the meeting finally recessed at 10:11 p.m., a spokesman announced only that the school board would reconvene Friday at noon. Going into the days meetings, there were apparently four finalists, according to sources who could not be named because they were unauthorized to speak. Read More Facebook

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Two Sandy Hook families sue Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never happened By David Altimari Families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have filed lawsuits in Texas against controversial radio host Alex Jones for continually claiming the massacre never happened. Neil Heslin, the father of Jesse Lewis, and Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah Pozner died in the massacre, filed separate lawsuits late Monday in Travis County, Texas. The lawsuits allege that Jones defamed the parents by constantly calling them crisis actors and insisting the shooting was a false flag operation; they also claim Jones accusations have led to death threats against the Sandy Hook families by Jones followers. Read More Facebook

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Beutner emerges as a top pick for L.A. schools superintendent amid last-minute jockeying By Howard Blume Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles. Though he does not have a background in education, the former investment banker has in the last year examined some of the districts intractable problems, serving as co-chair of an outside task force with the support of then-Supt. Michelle King. Sources inside and outside the school district said Beutner appears to have more support on the seven-member board than other finalists, and his name could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Challenge at Chicago school construction site: Watch for 38,000 unmarked graves By Nereida Moreno A 15-year effort to build a school in Chicagos Dunning neighborhood is underway with an unusual complication: Construction workers are taking careful steps to avoid disturbing human remains that may lie beneath the soil. The $70-million school is to be built on the grounds of a former Cook County Poor House, where an estimated 38,000 people were buried in unmarked graves. Among the dead are residents who were too poor to afford funeral costs, unclaimed bodies and patients from the countys insane asylum. There can be and there have been bodies found all over the place, said Barry Fleig, a genealogist and cemetery researcher who began investigating the site in 1989. Its a spooky, scary place. Read More Facebook

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Oklahoma teacher walkout winds down despite lawmakers failure to meet demands By Washington Post Oklahomas largest teachers union has announced an end to a walkout that has drawn thousands of educators out of classrooms and to the state Capitol demanding greater investment in the states schools, which have endured the nations steepest funding cuts. The announcement Thursday from the Oklahoma Education Assn. does not necessarily end the protests at the Capitol, as teachers not affiliated with the union vowed to stay longer. Instead of a walkout, the union and school districts across the state have said they plan to send delegations of teachers to Oklahoma City to keep the pressure on lawmakers. Teachers and their supporters have also promised to push education issues to the forefront of November elections, when the state chooses a new governor. As school districts begin to reopen, the protests may lose steam. The Legislature is not in session Friday, and observers are waiting to see what happens Monday, when lawmakers return. Read More Facebook

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Most Californians are worried about school shooting threats and oppose arming teachers, survey finds By Joy Resmovits Hamilton High School student Aiyana Dabriel holds a sign during a March 14 walkout in support of the Parkland shooting victims. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Most Californians are worried that a school shooting like the one that occurred in Parkland, Fla., in February could shed blood closer to home, a new survey found. Some 73% percent of adults and 82% of public school parents said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about school shootings. The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed 1,704 adults in the state by phone just after the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence. Latino and black respondents were significantly more likely to be concerned about school violence than white or Asian respondents, the institute found. Two-thirds of adults and public school parents said they opposed letting more educators carry weapons in school. The response differed across party lines, with 86% of Democrats and 69% of independents voicing their opposition, while 60% percent of Republicans said they would support a measure to arm educators. The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.2% in either direction, also asked Californians about school funding, educational issues in the governors race and the impact of immigration enforcement on students. You can find the full results here. Facebook

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Californias largest virtual charter school network agrees to contract with its teachers By Anna M. Phillips Nearly four years after teachers at Californias largest online charter school voted to unionize, they have reached a deal to increase pay and create job protections, according to a spokesman for the California Teachers Assn. The contract, which is still tentative and subject to ratification, is a victory for the teachers union. Although charter schools are publicly funded, most are privately managed and their employees arent protected by labor contracts. Under the terms of the contract  the result of years of negotiation and legal wrangling  approximately 500 teachers working for California Virtual Academies will no longer be at-will employees who can be dismissed for almost any reason. Their average salary will rise to just over $45,000, according to union estimates, a figure that remains far below the norm for traditional public school teachers. Still, it is an improvement over the previous average of $38,000. The accord also places a limit on the number of students each teacher is responsible for monitoring in online homeroom classes. Were very satisfied with the gains we made, said teacher Brianna Carroll, president of California Virtual Educators United. I think were going to see some extraordinary changes in our schools. According to Carroll, teachers at California Virtual Academies  better known as CAVA  had grown frustrated with the organizations foot-dragging and were making preparations to go on strike when CAVAs leadership agreed to the deal. CAVA and K12, the Virginia-based for-profit company linked to its schools, did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday asking for comment. The network currently operates nine virtual charter schools across California. In 2016, the charter network agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims of false advertising, misleading parents and inadequate instruction. The state attorney generals office had also accused K12 of controlling the charters for its own financial benefit. Neither CAVA nor K12 admitted to wrongdoing in the settlement. A year later, the state imposed a $2-million fine on CAVA after an audit found that it had misspent public funds. The network disputed the findings. Facebook

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School board approves a new formula for funding high-need schools By Sonali Kohli L.A. schools will soon get more money if they are located in neighborhoods with such problems as high levels of gun violence and asthma. The Los Angeles Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a new formula to determine how to dole out some funding to schools, based not only on the characteristics of the student populations but on the traumas that affect the communities around campuses. The new formula will be applied to $25 million in funding next fiscal year and about $263 million annually in future years  a small part of the districts $7.5 billion annual budget. Read More Facebook

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Protesters demand Ref Rodriguez resignation outside school board meeting By Sonali Kohli Students, parents, teachers and UTLA marching outside the board meeting chanting "Ref resign" pic.twitter.com/W0LRWZSIXY  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 A few dozen parents, students and teachers marched outside the Los Angeles Unified School Board meeting Tuesday, some calling for board member Ref Rodriguez to resign the week after news broke that he was taken into custody on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena bar and restaurant. Rodriguez was not cited or charged in that incident, but was held for more than five and a half hours before being released. The school board member faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. He is accused of getting more than two dozen people people to donate to his campaign for his school board seat with the understanding that he would reimburse them. He stepped down from his post as school board president after he was charged last fall, but he did not give up his seat on the board. He has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May. He cant give his full focus to our students, said Rebecca LaFond, a Highland Park parent whose three children marched with her as she chanted, Ref resign. One daughter marched in front of her, using a drum stick to hit the bottom of a gallon-size empty water jug. Our kids deserve someone who has the utmost ethical standards representing them, LaFond said. The protests continued into the board meeting, where some addressed Rodriguez directly, calling on him to step down during public comment portions of the meeting. Rodriguez, through his chief of staff, declined to comment. Some parents outside the board meeting did not know about the charges against Rodriguez but came out to protest the possibility of sharing their school campuses with charter schools. Protesters also oppose colocation  not all of the parents are here to ask Ref Rodriguez to step down pic.twitter.com/1Co8zQ9zSi  Sonali Kohli  (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 Cynthia Martinez said her son, who goes to Christopher Dena Elementary School in Boyle Heights, has been bullied in the past by students from a charter school sharing the campus. She said she didnt know who Rodriguez was. Some parents and teachers are worried about losing computer labs, robotics rooms and fitness centers if they are required to share their campus with charter schools, said Ilse Escobar, a parent community organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles. The issues of Rodriguez and colocation are related, Escobar said. Rodriguez is part of a majority on the school board elected with financial backing from charter school supporters, and many parents, she said, feel that the school board is compromised if he is a part of it. Staff reporter Howard Blume contributed to this post. Facebook

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Delaine Eastin tries to gain momentum in the California governors race, one voter at a time By Seema Mehta Delaine Eastin was a sophomore in high school when a drama teacher urged her to try out for a part in The Man Who Came to Dinner. She hesitated until he told her: This is a metaphor for your whole life. If you never try out, you will never get the part. Eastin auditioned and won the role. Decades later, the advice sticks with the former state schools chief, this time in her unlikely run for governor. Despite calls for more women in leadership roles in state politics following sexual misconduct allegations in Sacramento, Eastin has been largely overlooked in the race, lagging far behind her Democratic rivals in fundraising and the polls. Read More Facebook

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Arizona high court rejects in-state tuition for DACA recipients By Associated Press Young immigrants granted deferred deportation status under a program started by President Obama are not eligible for lower in-state college tuition, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling will affect at least 2,000 students attending the states largest community college district and hundreds more at other colleges and the states three public universities. The Maricopa County Community Colleges District and state universities said they would begin raising tuition immediately for the coming school year. Read More Facebook

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New York high school students injured when bus strikes overpass By Associated Press A charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip Sunday night struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, according to New York State Police. One of the six injured passengers had very serious injuries, said State Police Maj. David Candelaria. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries. Read More Facebook

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Some good news for California in national student test scores By Joy Resmovits National test scores for fourth- and eighth-graders were generally flat from 2015, but eighth-grade reading scores showed some improvement. Every two years, the nations fourth- and eighth-graders are tested in math and reading  and newly released results from last years tests give California at least a little reason to be pleased. The 2017 results  out Monday night  were mostly flat nationwide compared with 2015, though the average score in eighth-grade reading went up. But while that improvement largely came from the increased scores of the highest-performing students, California eighth-graders showed some reading progress from the lowest levels to the highest. Read More Facebook

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Under state control, Inglewood school districts financial picture worsened By Anna M. Phillips When Eugenio Villa agreed to return to the Inglewood schools for a second tour last summer, he knew the district remained one of Californias most troubled. Inglewood Unified had been nearly insolvent when it was taken over by the state Department of Education in 2012. Six years later, its enrollment was still declining. Its school buildings were tired  some edging into decrepitude. Its test scores and graduation rates were still below the state average. And the public was out of patience. Still, Villa, who had signed back on as the districts chief business official, was shocked at what he found when he arrived in June 2017. Two years earlier, he had left the school system on what he thought was firm ground. Read More Facebook

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Charter school group drops two lawsuits against L.A. Unified By Howard Blume A charter schools advocacy group last week announced that it would end two long-running lawsuits in which it was seeking more classroom space and construction money from the Los Angeles school district. The decision, the California Charter Schools Assn. said, reflects better relations between charter schools and the L.A. Unified School District. But the move also suggests that the litigation, which already contributed to significant gains for area charters, was unlikely to produce much more. It takes time, money and effort to litigate, said Ricardo Soto, general counsel for the charter group. Maybe its better to see if we can find the time and opportunity for collaboration. Read More Facebook

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L.A. school board member Ref Rodriguez is arrested on suspicion of public intoxication By Richard Winton Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez was arrested recently on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena restaurant, the latest trouble for an elected official who faces political money-laundering charges. Pasadena police took Rodriguez into custody on March 16, according to city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. Officers arrested Rodriguez at about 4:30 p.m. at the Yard House restaurant and bar at the Paseo Mall and held him in jail for more than five-and-a-half hours. Rodriguez was ultimately released without being cited or charged, Derderian told The Times. Other details about the arrest were not available, she 
University of California regents on Thursday unanimously approved a leaner, more transparent budget for President Janet Napolitano, moving to address political criticism over the systems central office operations.

The $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 reflects spending cuts of 2%, including reductions in staffing, travel and such systemwide programs as public service law fellowships, carbon neutrality and food security.

Napolitano shifted $30 million to campuses for housing needs and $10 million to UC Riverside to support its five-year-old medical school. She also permanently redirected $8.5 million annually to help enroll more California students, as required by the state.

The spending plan incorporates changes recommended by a recent state audit, which found several financial problems in previous budgets, including a $175-million unreported reserve. UC officials said the money had been allocated to university programs but was not clearly reported. The new budget specifies all sources and uses of funds.

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Napolitano told regents at their San Francisco meeting that the UC budget was more complex than any she had ever seen, including those she handled as Arizona governor and U.S. Homeland Security secretary.

The budget has 466 different funds with varying restrictions on their use. Two-thirds of the total revenue is fees for assistance  such as investment and legal services  that the central office gives campuses, or money that passes through the presidents office en route to others, such as state dollars for tobacco disease research.

Our goal was to clarify and simplify the financial operations of the Office of the President, and to make them more transparent, Napolitano told regents. And I believe weve made great progress.

In a lively discussion, regents asked a range of questions about the budget reserve, the fees for services, the use of campus housing money and the rising costs for the new systemwide information technology system, UCPath, as it goes online at more campuses.

Board Chairman George Kieffer called the new budget presentation a remarkable turnaround as he and other regents praised the staff for their thousands of hours of work on it.

This is a breath of fresh air, said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, an ex-officio regent who is running for governor. This is exactly the kind of engagement and transparency we need.

Regent Eloy Ortiz Oakley said the more transparent document would put to rest ideas that the presidents office was hiding money.

This goes a long way in addressing the false notion that there was a slush fund, he said.

Regents also discussed UCs financial aid program, which, combined with state grants, amounts to one of the most generous in the nation. About 56% of undergraduates receive grants, and an additional 8% receive state middle-class scholarships.

Tuition and fees are waived for those whose families earn less than $80,000, though some regents noted that even those students struggle under Californias high cost of living.

We leave the impression that were covering the needs of all students who are low-income, and thats simply not true, Ortiz Oakley said.

In other matters, regents voted to make it slightly easier to qualify for in-state tuition by shortening the time, from two years to one, that students under age 24 are required to show they are financially independent from parents who live outside California. They are still required to live continuously in California for more than a year and prove their intent to make the state their permanent home.

Students who qualify as Californians will save nearly $120,000 in nonresident tuition over four years. UC staff could not say how many students might be affected by the change.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

Twitter: @teresawatanabe

UPDATES:

May 25, 8:25 a.m.: This article was updated to clarify the details of a new rule that allows students to qualify for in-state tuition more easily.

This article was originally published at 6 p.m. May 24.
In a milestone for the #MeToo movement, disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York authorities Friday morning, and prosecutors filed criminal charges against him, including rape.

Weinstein was charged with rape in the first degree, rape in the third degree and committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree for alleged forcible sexual acts against two women in 2013 and 2004, Manhattan Dist. Atty. Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement. Authorities have withheld the alleged victims names, although one is believed to be a woman who went public with allegations against Weinstein in a magazine article last year.



For the record: A previous version of this article quoted Jane Manning as referring to correlative witnesses. She said corroborative witnesses.

On Friday morning, Weinstein was led into a courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back. He did not speak during the brief appearance.

The judge set his bail at $10 million and restricted his movements to New York and Connecticut. Weinstein consented to 24-hour-a-day GPS monitoring and a temporary restraining order requested by one alleged victim.

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Manhattan Assistant Dist. Atty. Joan Illuzzi said in court that Weinstein used his position and power to sexually exploit his victims. She said he was being prosecuted for two separate forcible sexual assaults against two separate women.

Speaking to reporters after the court appearance, Weinsteins attorney, Benjamin Brafman, said the former producer continues to vehemently deny any criminal acts. Weinstein, he said, maintains that any sexual acts with the women were consensual and that the charges are constitutionally flawed.

1 / 11 Harvey Weinstein, center, appears with his attorney Benjamin Brafman before a judge Friday morning in Manhattan, where he was charged with rape and other sex crimes. (Steven Hirsch / Pool ) 2 / 11 Harvey Weinstein leaves court after being charged with multiple sex crimes in New York. (Justin Lane / EPA/Shutterstock) 3 / 11 Harvey Weinstein was released on bail after being charged with multiple sexual crimes in New York. (Kena Betancur / AFP/Getty Images) 4 / 11 Harvey Weinstein, center, heads for the exit with his lawyer Benjamin Brafman after posting bail at Manhattan Criminal Court. (Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press) 5 / 11 Harvey Weinsteins attorney Benjamin Brafman speaks to the press following Weinsteins appearance in criminal court. (Kevin Hagen / Getty Images) 6 / 11 Harvey Weinstein leaves the New York Police Departments 1st Precinct headquarters in handcuffs after his arrest on sex crime charges. (Bryan R. Smith / AFP/Getty Images) 7 / 11 Harvey Weinstein arrives at the NYPDs 1st Precinct headquarters to turn himself in to face multiple sex assault charges. (Justin Lane / EPA / Shutterstock) 8 / 11 Harvey Weinstein is escorted from police precinct headquarters in handcuffs after being charged with rape, committing a criminal sex act, sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. (Manny Carabel / Getty Images) 9 / 11 Harvey Weinstein leaves New York Police Department station after being charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. (Andres Kudacki / Associated Press) 10 / 11 Press and onlookers crowd around as Harvey Weinstein climbs into a waiting car after being charged with rape and other sex crimes in New York. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press) 11 / 11 Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at the New York Police Departments 1st Precinct station to turn himself in to face multiple sexual assault charges on Friday. (Justin Lane / EPA/REX-Shutterstock)

Brafman said that if the women are cross-examined before a jury, the charges will not be believed by 12 people, assuming we will get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.

Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood, Brafman said. And to the extent that there is bad behavior in that industry, that is not what this is about. Bad behavior is not on trial in this case. Its only if you intentionally committed a criminal act, and Mr. Weinstein vigorously denies that.

Brafman later said that Weinstein would enter a plea of not guilty and that he planned to file a motion to dismiss the case on behalf of his client.

We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges, he said. We believe they are constitutionally flawed. We believe they are not factually supported by the evidence, and we believe that in the end of the process, Mr. Weinstein will be exonerated.  We knew that Mr. Weinstein was under investigation for more than seven months. He voluntarily surrendered this morning, and we have met all the bail conditions by agreement so we would not have extended court proceedings.

The charges are the first to result from months of investigations in New York, California and London.

Before his arrival Friday morning, at least 100 reporters and photographers waited outside the New York Police Departments 1st Precinct station in downtown Manhattan. Police set up barricades along Varick and Beach streets, drawing bemused stares from passing motorists, who repeatedly rolled down their windows to ask what was happening.

Police blocked off traffic around 7:25 a.m., and Weinstein exited a truck that pulled up near the precinct headquarters entrance. He was sporting a light blue sweater under a dark blazer and carrying two books  Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammersteins Broadway Revolution by Todd S. Purdum and Elia Kazan by Richard Schickel, a biography of the legendary director and former member of the Communist Party who named names of other party members during a wave of U.S. anti-communist hysteria.

Weinstein ignored a din of shouted questions from reporters.

Sources with knowledge of the case who spoke on condition of anonymity said one of the women involved is a once-aspiring actress who has alleged that Weinstein assaulted her during a meeting at his Miramax office in 2004. Lucia Evans told New Yorker magazine last year that Weinstein said during a meeting that shed be great in Project Runway  before forcing her to perform oral sex.

The second alleged victims identity has not been reported.

RELATED: Full coverage of Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal 

According to the New Yorker story, Evans said she met with Weinstein in one of his offices when she was a student at Middlebury College.

He immediately was simultaneously flattering me and demeaning me and making me feel bad about myself, she told the magazine. Weinstein told her that shed be perfect for Project Runway  the show, which Weinstein helped produce, premiered later in 2004  but that she needed to lose weight. She also said he told her about two scripts, a horror movie and a teen love story.

At that point, after that, is when he assaulted me, Evans said.

She said that she objected but that Weinstein exposed his penis and pulled her head down toward it.

I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont,  Evans told the New Yorker. I tried to get away, but maybe I didnt try hard enough. I didnt want to kick him or fight him. In the end, she said, hes a big guy. He overpowered me. She added: I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: People give up, and then they feel like its their fault.

Weinstein has been accused by more than 80 women of misconduct that includes sexual harassment and rape. Police in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, New York and London have conducted investigations into more than 20 allegations.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Laceys team has been reviewing two investigations into Weinstein by Beverly Hills police, as well as three Los Angeles Police Department investigations  including an Italian actress allegation of rape in 2013.

According to law enforcement sources, detectives believe that case is promising for prosecution because the woman told her story to three people, including a priest, relatively soon after the alleged attack. LAPD detectives also have evidence the woman was a guest at the Beverly Hills hotel where she claims Weinstein attacked her, the sources said. The case does have flaws, they added. Detectives found little physical evidence of an attack and have been unable to secure proof that Weinstein was at the hotel when the woman says the rape occurred.

Meanwhile, the Manhattan district attorneys office has impaneled a grand jury to examine other potential charges against Weinstein, while federal prosecutors investigate allegations that the former producer may have lured women across state lines for the purpose of sex crimes.

Steve Cooley, former Los Angeles County district attorney, said it will be difficult for Weinsteins lawyers to win a change of venue for the trial, which has drawn international publicity.

If they want to bring a change of venue motion to have the trial outside New York, theyre going to have to go to Mars or the moon or maybe North Korea to find someone who has not heard about Weinsteins bad acts, he said.

Cooley said Braffmans bravado outside the court wont help with potential jurors. I thought that was pretty aggressive, he said, noting that the defense will do everything it can to discredit the alleged victims.

Jane Manning, the director of advocacy at the National Organization for Women of New York and a former sex crimes prosecutor, said: The case will rest on the credibility of the main witnesses, and in this case, you have at least two different women with no apparent motive to lie  nothing to gain by telling their stories  who are willing to come forward and subject themselves to sworn testimony.

Manning pointed out that Evans low profile underscores her believe-ability  she has nothing to gain here.

Manning said this case has a team of skilled experienced NYPD detectives who spent months interviewing witnesses and securing corroborative witnesses, and there was a veteran prosecutor who built a relationship with the victims. When those things happen, sexual assault cases can be very provable and winnable cases in court.

On Monday, actress Rose McGowan, who has accused Weinstein of rape and reportedly settled a lawsuit against him years ago, tweeted: We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you.

RELATED: Rose McGowan on Weinstein arrest: His face has terrorized me for so long 

I can say this: The man who pinned me down had handcuffs on today, McGowan said on NBC.

She said it was surreal to see him do the Bill Cosby old-man perp walk on the way in and that to see him in cuffs on the way out  thats a very good feeling.

Actress and director Asia Argento, who also has accused Weinstein of rape, tweeted that Weinstein on Friday will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell.

She continued: We, the women, finally have real hope for justice.

Queally reported from New York, and Winton and Branson-Potts reported from Los Angeles.

UPDATES:

1:20 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from Benjamin Braffman, Weinsteins attorney.

12:10 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from legal experts and a victims advocate.

9:35 a.m. This article was updated with comments from actresses who have accused Weinstein of abuse.

7:25 a.m. This article was updated with additional details of the charges against Weinstein and statements from his attorney.

6:50 a.m.: This article was updated with Weinsteins court appearance.

6:15 a.m. This article was updated with details of charges.

5:35 a.m. This article was updated with the books Weinstein was carrying.

This story was originally published at 4:25 a.m.
In the less than two weeks since Austin Beutner took charge of Los Angeles schools, unions representing teachers and administrators have staged a job action and a protest.

Theyve made it clear that they will not give the new superintendent the traditional honeymoon period, and they are bashing him for his wealth and lack of experience running either a school or a school district.

Beutner is a billionaire investment banker with zero qualifications, local teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told members in a phone alert urging them to participate in a Thursday afternoon rally in Grand Park. The board is saying that billionaires who made their money blowing institutions up and making money off it know best  not the education professionals who have dedicated our careers to working with students.

Caputo-Pearl and other union leaders hope to energize their members and apply pressure to long-stalled contract negotiations, but whats at stake goes far beyond the next contract.

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Union leaders  and many in the rank and file  believe Beutner and the school board majority that selected him represent an existential threat to their jobs and even their employer, the Los Angeles Unified School District. The board majority was elected with the financial support of charter school backers, and Beutners candidacy had behind-the-scenes backing from some of them.

Beutner arrives at a time when the number of charter schools  which mostly are nonunion  continues to grow and district enrollment continues to plummet, in part because of that competition. Teachers union membership in L.A. Unified has dropped from 42,000 to 31,000 since 2007, according to the school system. Many question whether the district, which is facing a potential financial crisis, can keep all its traditional public schools open. They insist that closing schools and cutting district programs will hurt students.

Charter school supporters, in contrast, believe that these privately operated, publicly funded schools  freed from bureaucratic interference and rules  can rescue district children who are slipping behind academically.

Beutners supporters insist he will work hard for traditional schools, and he has said nothing to suggest otherwise. His board supporters have made it clear that they chose a superintendent with business savvy with the expectation that he will rapidly make major changes.

We made the right decision, school board President Monica Garcia said of hiring Beutner. I know Austin is going to stay open in hearing people and working with people, and the job here is to help us serve more children than we do already. Things are moving forward with urgency and optimism.

New L.A. Unified Supt. Austin Beutner, center, walks the Belmont High School campus with school board members Monica Garcia, left, and Nick Melvoin, who is between them. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times )

Beutner has not responded to the barbs from unions and other critics. He has said that he hopes to win over those who think he cant do the job.

Change is never easy and rarely comfortable, he said in a statement to The Times this week. We all share the same goal  improving the education and lives of our students.

But this early resistance adds to the daunting challenges Beutner faces, including the districts lagging academic achievement and the fast-growing burden of pension and healthcare costs as declining enrollment limits the amount of state funding coming in.

Beutner, who was a deputy mayor of L.A. and publisher of the L.A. Times, spent the last year leading an outside task force that studies the district intensively, starting with the premise that the status quo is not good enough.

But the task force did not make recommendations about how to solve the districts biggest problems, and Beutner has yet to state specific plans  which has stoked the anxiety of those who distrust him.

Some also question the way the new superintendent was hired.

The initial board vote to negotiate exclusively with Beutner was not announced. It was 4 to 3  meaning that every pro-Beutner vote was crucial, including that of Ref Rodriguez, who is part of the four-member charter-backed board majority.

New LAUSD Supt. Austin Beutner, right, greets school board member Ref Rodriguez at Maywood Academy for Enriched Studies on his first official day on the job. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )

Rodriguez faces a criminal trial and felony charges for alleged campaign-finance violations, and some critics believe the board majority wanted to act quickly before circumstances might make him step down. He has denied wrongdoing and has resisted public pressure to resign.

More than a week after that first vote, the board voted 5 to 2 to approve Beutners contract. People who spoke before the board or wrote to board members expressed anger when they learned that the decision to go with Beutner had been made privately before their voices could be heard.

At Thursdays large rally, attacking Beutner was a theme.

Chants prepared for the day included Hey Beutner, you cant hide! We can see your greedy side, and Money for kids and education, not for billionaire profit-making.

Beutners selection also inspired a rare job action last week by administrators, who are known for fealty to the chain of command. Last Friday, many elementary principals wore white  with no ties or jackets.

White in Asia symbolizes mourning and death, Juan Flecha, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, said in an email urging members to join in. Hopefully, we will never have to mourn the death of public education.

1 / 7 L.A Unified teachers shout during a union rally Thursday outside Los Angeles City Hall. Contract negotiations have been long stalled. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 7 Teachers rally Thursday at City Hall. Teachers union membership in L.A. Unified has dropped from 42,000 to 31,000 since 2007, according to the school system.





(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 7 Thousands of teachers filled Grand Park to participate in the United Teachers Los Angeles rally on Thursday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles TImes) 4 / 7 Teachers from Baldwin Hills participate in the United Teachers Los Angeles rally at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. (GIna Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 7 Teachers from Eagle Rock participate in a union rally at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. (GIna Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 7 UTLA teachers rally in front of L.A. City Hall on Thursday. Chants prepared for the day included Hey Beutner, you cant hide! We can see your greedy side, and Money for kids and education, not for billionaire profit-making. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 7 Thousands of teachers filled Grand Park to participate in the United Teachers Los Angeles rally. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Beutner pledged his support to elementary principals on that day, when he briefly appeared at a training session and meeting. But after he had left, Flecha  whose comments were recorded  suggested that the new superintendent looked a little tired, maybe because of a long commute from his $14-million home. He went on to say that Beutner might be a Scientologist and might be using that affiliation to avoid paying property taxes.

Beutner is Jewish, and according to public records, has paid his taxes on two local residential properties he owns.

What really angers principals, Flecha said later, is untenable working conditions, including a district rule that only elementary schools with 1,100 or more students get assistant principals.

The simmering discontent about Beutner extends to the two board members who voted against approving his contract. One of them, Scott Schmerelson, vented last week to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council.

In comments recorded on tape, Schmerelson called Beutners conversations with the board the worst interview I have ever seen in my entire life Not one question was answered about education. Nothing. Schmerelson said the fix was in from the beginning for Beutner, but Im so stupid that I think that everybodys honest and fair.

Board member George McKenna, who also voted against Beutner, has spoken out without attacking Beutner so personally.

To intentionally seek non-educators to serve as superintendents reflects a lack of respect for the professional educators who have demonstrated effective service and leadership, McKenna said the day after Beutners selection.

LAUSD Supt. Austin Beutner gets a tour of Napa Street Elementary. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )

Beutner is hardly the first superintendent to encounter internal opposition. Teachers went on strike in 1989, but Leonard Britton, the superintendent at the time, had gotten the job in 1987 with a unanimous board vote as well as some labor support. More recently, union leaders used criticism of Supt. John Deasy to charge up teachers, but not from the start. Labor at first took a wait-and-see stance on Deasy, who served from 2011 to 2014.

Past superintendents also have overcome initial skepticism. Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who served as schools chief from 2000 to 2006, won grudging regard from some union leaders who had questioned his lack of a background in education. And just before Romer, Ramon C. Cortines won over some Latino activists upset over the removal of his predecessor Ruben Zacarias.

Successful labor negotiations would tone down the rhetoric, as they did recently for a union representing nonteaching employees. Beutner has met briefly with both Caputo-Pearl and Flecha and has pledged to do so regularly.

I dont think its unfair to be critical about the selection of a leader, said school board member Nick Melvoin. I think the pettiness of some of the critiques  is disappointing. After a decision doesnt go the way you want it to, I hope you pick your head up and go back to the hard work of improving the district for kids, and thats what most people are doing.

howard.blume@latimes.com

Twitter: @howardblume

Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.
Los Angeles County transportation officials on Thursday chose two possible routes through downtown for a light-rail line to Artesia that could attract tens of thousands of riders a day.

During more than two hours of public testimony, dozens of residents from Little Tokyo and cities along the route  including Bellflower, Cerritos and Paramount  urged the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to make it easy for working-class riders to reach downtowns transit hubs without changing trains.

Metros directors unanimously backed two routes that would run underground through downtown and terminate in the Civic Center, the Financial District or at Union Station. The high cost and high risk of digging in downtown will probably leave the project with a funding gap of about $1.8 billion.

South of downtown, the line would follow the path of the Blue Line to the Slauson station in Florence-Firestone, then branch off to the south and the east, with potential stops in Vernon, Huntington Park, Bell, Cudahy, South Gate, Downey, Paramount, Bellflower, Cerritos and Artesia.

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Theres incredible economic need for these cities to be connected to the rest of the system, said Metro director and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia. I want to make sure we are hearing their voices.

The 20-mile line has secured $4 billion in funding, including $1.4 billion from Measure M, the sales tax increase approved by county voters in 2016. The estimated completion date for the line is 2041, but Metro hopes a private-sector company could pay for a portion of the project to start service by the 2028 Olympics.

The new line is informally called the West Santa Ana Branch, after the Pacific Electric Railway right-of-way where Metro trains will someday run. Decades ago, streetcars carried riders to many of the same cities as the new proposed route, but service continued farther south, to Santa Ana.

The first alignment that will receive additional study would run along Alameda Street, adding a station at 7th Street in the Arts District and connecting to the Blue, Gold and Expo lines at 1st Street in Little Tokyo. The line would terminate at a plaza in front of Union Station.

The $5.8-billion alignment has the highest estimated ridership of the route options, with an estimated 81,500 daily trips. Of those trips, 27,000 would otherwise be made by car, Metro Deputy Executive Officer Laura Cornejo said. The route would also serve the burgeoning Arts District.

The other route would run north on Alameda and curve west beneath 7th Street, stopping twice in the South Park area before terminating at the Pershing Square or Metro Center stations. That alignment carries a similar $5.8-billion price tag and would attract up to 78,500 daily trips.

More rail options in the southern half of downtown will be beneficial for South Park, the fastest-growing portion of the neighborhood, said Ellen Riotto, the executive director of the South Park Business Improvement District.

The priority is connecting people to their final destinations, Riotto said. The challenge is predicting where those destinations will be by the time the line is up and running.

At the urging of dozens of speakers, Metros directors eliminated an option that would have elevated the rail line through the eastern half of Little Tokyo, bifurcating the neighborhood. The area has endured a decade of noise, dust, street closures and traffic during construction of the eastern extension of the Gold Line and now the Regional Connector subway project, residents said.

David Ikegami said his family has had ties to Little Tokyo since his grandfather immigrated to the United States in 1914 and worked to rebuild their fortunes after he was sent to an internment camp during World War II.

The familys business, a warehouse on Jackson Street that houses a wholesale toy and gift importer, could be devastated by years of construction and a rail line bifurcating the neighborhood, he said.

After much suffering, our community is now thriving, Ikegami said. Please do not destroy it.

Metros directors also eliminated an option that would have truncated the rail line in the Arts District, despite urging from residents, business owners and Metro director and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

The route would have brought a much-anticipated rail station to the Arts District but also would have forced many riders to transfer to reach Union Station or other downtown stops. The proposed route had a smaller price tag of $4.5 billion and would have carried 40% fewer daily trips than Metros chosen downtown alignments.

We talk a lot about getting people out of their cars and using Metro, said Metro director and county Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents Downey, Paramount, Bellflower, Cerritos and Artesia. If were serious about achieving that goal, we need to make sure we build projects that are actually convenient for our riders.

Were going to have a hard time convincing people to get out of their cars and use public transportation if they have to transfer multiple times and go out of their way to their final destination, she added.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the Arts District could also still see another train station, telling the public speakers that Metros board is very committed to making sure that we get Arts District stops, plural.

A host of upgrades to accompany the debut of the Wilshire Boulevard subway extension, including a new rail yard on Santa Fe Avenue, would make it possible for Metro to add a subway station along the Los Angeles River in the Arts District at a fraction of the typical cost of a new line.

That station could be finished within four to five years, a much shorter timeline than the Artesia line, Garcetti said.

laura.nelson@latimes.com

For more transportation news, follow @laura_nelson on Twitter.
Facebook and other social media companies should turn over users public communications to criminal defendants in response to subpoenas, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday.

The ruling, a victory for the criminal defense bar, overturned an appeals court decision that said the defense lawyers could not force media companies to comply with such subpoenas prior to trial.

Defense lawyers have been fighting since 2008 to be able to have access to social media accounts to defend their clients. The media companies have refused access, saying a federal privacy law barred cooperation except in limited circumstances.

Police and prosecutors, though, are able to obtain the communications through warrants and subpoenas.

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Thursdays decision, written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, said the companies would have to comply with subpoenas for users information that was public at the time of the request.

A provider must disclose any such communication pursuant to a subpoena that is authorized under state law, Cantil-Sakauye wrote.

Although defense lawyers, like anyone else, can obtain users information that is public, those communications are not admissible in court until the media company or the user confirm their authenticity.

It is so signficant, said Janelle Caywood, a criminal defense lawyer in the case who has tried to subpoena user information.

Whenever criminal defendants subpoena records that we think we need to prove our clients are innocent, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram ignore us completely, she said.

She said the California Supreme Court was the first state high court to take up the issue and the first to rule on it.

We have had public defenders calling us from throughout they country who have been waiting for this, she said. This is the first step in the right direction to full and fair access.

The decision stemmed from a gang-related prosecution of a killing and attempted killing in a drive-by shooting in San Francisco. One of the participants, a 14-year-old, told police the victim had tagged him on Instagram in a video featuring guns.

The boy admitted that he shot the victim six times  and said the victim would have done the same thing to us.

A grand jury indicted the boy and two others.

Defense lawyers for two of the defendants served subpoenas on Twitter for communications that had been posted by a witness. One also served subpoenas on Facebook and Instagram for the accounts of both the witness and the victim.

The media companies said the federal Stored Communications Act prevented them from disclosing stored electronic communications except in limited circumstances.

The court said the companies may still challenge a subpoena if the person requesting it can obtain the information by other means, or show that the burden on the company is not justified.

A lawyer for the media companies could not be reached for comment.

maura.dolan@latimes.com

Twitter: @mauradolan
Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryans congratulatory message on the last School Bell event

Dear school leavers, I cordially congratulate you on the most exciting moment of life- the Last School Bell. During your school years you gained knowledge about our culture,history, language and literature, the world around you and various phenomena which will certainly be necessary at all stages of your life. I am sure that you will always remember your teachers with love and respect being grateful for everything good they have done for you so that you can build your future, become good specialists, good citizens and simply good people. Dear teachers and parents, The role you have had in upbringing and education of the younger generation throughout these years both at home and at school is really invaluable. Now its your childrens and pupils turn to justify your confidence and I am sure they will do it with honour. Dear school-leavers, On this unforgettable day I wish you to be healthy, ambitious and to go on enrich your knowledge and experience after leaving school contribution to the development and strengthening of our country and our 2800-year-old capital city Yerevan.
A 39-year-old woman was arrested Thursday after authorities say she sent three threatening letters to a Glendora high school.

Magaly Esmeralda Alvarenga was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats toward St. Lucys Priory High School, said Glendora Police Sgt. Shawna Celello. The letters were sent between January and last week.

Police would not say what the woman wrote or how they identified her, but did say the threats were not directed at an individual. Its unclear whether Alvarenga has a connection to the school.

The arrest came as a result of an active and rigorous investigation by our departments detective bureau with the support and cooperation of St. Lucys Priory High School principal, faculty, staff and students, the Police Department said in a statement.

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Alvarenga, who lives in Rialto, is being held on $700,000 bail.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
Carson Mayor Albert Robles was honored this week for his work as director of a regional water board with the agencys announcement Thursday that a $110-million wastewater treatment facility in Pico Rivera was being named after him.

But one day later, the Los Angeles County district attorneys office announced that it had prevailed in its civil lawsuit against Robles and had successfully removed him from the board of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.

The lawsuit alleged that holding the job of mayor and being director of the water agency at the same time was a conflict of interest and violated state law.

The positions are incompatible under [the law] because the WRD and the City of Carson have overlapping territory, duties and responsibilities, and a clash of duties is likely to arise in the exercise of both offices simultaneously, according to the civil complaint.

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Robles, who was elected to the Carson City Council in 2013, has served on the water board since 1992. He has long maintained that there is no conflict in holding both offices.

About 150 elected officials, water agency representatives and well-wishers attended Thursdays ceremony honoring Robles, according to a statement from the water agency.

This is a great honor, he said at the event, according to the statement. I have been director for almost 26 years and for more than half that time Ive been working to make this facility a reality. The water recycling facility named after him is still under construction.

In January, Maywood City Councilman Sergio Calderon resigned his seat on the council to settle a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles County prosecutors also alleging that he violated state law by holding two public offices at the same time.

It was not the first time Calderon was sued for sitting on both panels at the same time. Prosecutors filed a similar lawsuit in 2008 to remove him from the Maywood council because he was already serving on the water board. Calderon resigned from his council post before the matter went to trial. He was elected again in November 2015.

carlos.lozano@latimes.com

UPDATES:

12:50 p.m.: This article was updated with more information from the water agency and its honoring of Robles.

This article was originally posted at 12:30 p.m.
A man barged onto a school bus full of children in a small community in San Diego County on Friday and pulled a knife on the driver before witnesses dragged him away, authorities said.

Some parents standing nearby and an older child on the bus in Campo helped the screaming children escape safely out the bus emergency door in the back, sheriffs Sgt. William Uelen said in a statement. Responding deputies took Matthew D. Barker, 37, into custody.

No children or any of the adults were injured, Uelen said.

They were shaken up, he told OnSceneTV, referring to the students. They were all brought to school and brought to a classroom where they could be talked to and calmed down.

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He said Barker may have been under the influence of drugs. It wasnt immediately clear whether he was to be taken to a hospital or be jailed immediately on suspicion of assault.

Students from Campo Elementary School had just gotten onto their bus as usual shortly before 8:30 a.m. in front of an apartment complex on Jeb Stuart Road, Uelen said.

A man ran toward the bus just as the driver started pulling away, he said. The driver stopped, thinking it was a father trying to hold the bus for a child running late.

The driver opened the bus door, but when the man began climbing up the bus steps, the driver told him he couldnt come on board, Uelen said.

The man kept boarding anyway and pushed past the driver, toward the children, he said.

One students grandmother saw what was happening and got onto the bus to help the driver.

The intruder pulled a knife and an older student ushered the children toward the back of the bus, Uelen said.

The kids started screaming, the sergeant said.

The student called for help, drawing other parents who got the bus back door open and helped the students escape.

The driver yelled that a knife was being held to his head, Uelen said. A parent flagged down a man who was driving by on his way to work. That driver stopped, jumped onto the bus and helped pry the knife out of the mans hand and pull him off the bus.

The suspect did not struggle with deputies as they handcuffed him, Uelen said.

Kathy Granger, superintendent of the Mountain Empire Unified School District, issued a statement to parents saying counselors would be on the elementary school campus Tuesday to assist any children who want to talk about the incident.

She said the bus driver responded immediately to keep the children and himself safe when the man got on the bus.

Students assisted each other in exiting the bus, Granger said. No students were harmed; the driver is uninjured. Students were transported to school on another bus.  We take safety very seriously and want to assure you our buses remain a safe form of transportation.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com
The provost of San Diego State University has resigned under mysterious circumstances, temporarily leaving the school without a chief academic officer.

The resignation was announced this week by interim San Diego State President Sally Roush, who would not discuss why Chukuka Enwemeka stepped down.

Enwemeka could not be reached for comment about why he is leaving a position that more than doubled his salary to $292,000 since he took the job four years ago.

In March, Enwemeka received mostly high praise in a performance review. But some faculty were concerned that Enwemeka wrote an email that seemed to wish harm on a professor who had called for an early review of his service as provost.

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All said, if in the course of our time and interactions, I willfully sought to harm or perpetrate evil against you, may my Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I have given my entire life, see your action as well deserved by me ... Enwemeka says in a Sept. 11, 2017, email to biology professor Douglas Deutschman.

On the other hand, if all I have ever done was to promote your well-being and progress as previously detailed, and in return you willfully sought to harm or hurt me, may my Lord Jesus Christ ensure that you reap what you sowed. So that instead of blessings, you are showered with unending curse and harmed, hurt and visited by evil a million fold in everything you do throughout the rest of your life.

Please note that in stating the foregoing, I am not necessarily cursing or wishing you evil. I am simply invoking the natural Law of Karma; the Law of Retributive Justice.

Deutschman declined to comment for this story. He left San Diego State to become a dean at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada.

Enwemeka, an expert in rehabilitative medicine, was recruited in 2014 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he had been serving as dean of the College of Health Sciences.

Enwemekas job performance review, which did not reference his email to Deutschman, said that he quickly made a positive impact in areas such as faculty recruitment and retention, boosting the graduation rate and fundraising. The review also said that he has done well with diversity initiatives, supporting the arts and helping with an honors college.

But the review said that Enwemeka needed to do a better job with such things as communicating with the campus community and responding more quickly to time-sensitive issues.

Roush made reference to his accomplishments in an email to San Diego State faculty and staff, saying, He has served with dedication, integrity, and commitment to support and enhance excellence, and SDSUs standing, in research, scholarly activities, and teaching. I am very grateful to him for his years of service.

Her statement indicated that Enwemeka will return to a faculty position at the university.

Roush said she will appoint an interim provost by June 8. She will step down in late June, making way for San Diego States new permanent president, Adela de la Torre.

Robbins writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com
When the 34-year-old woman saw the news Thursday morning, she couldnt help but smirk.

The world had been holding its breath for the unprecedented summit between a sitting U.S. president and North Koreas leader, but she knew better than to get her hopes up. Many were caught off guard when President Trump abruptly called off the meeting early Thursday, citing hostile comments from North Korea  but she knew from the start, she said, the North Korean regime wasnt to be trusted.

When youre a refugee who has twice escaped North Korea, now seeking asylum in the U.S., skepticism becomes second nature.

I knew this was going to happen, said the woman, Jo, who asked to be identified by her last name only because of family members still living in North Korea. The true intention of the North Korea I know is to get the eyes and ears of the world on them, and get out from under the sanctions.

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Jo joined two other North Korean refugees at a Koreatown hotel ballroom Thursday evening for what was supposed to be a discussion in advance of the historic U.S.-North Korea summit, organized by a group advocating for asylum for North Koreans. With the summit abruptly called off less than three weeks before it was set to take place, all three said they had put little stock in the meeting or any results that might have come out of it.

A wild dog cannot turn into a sheep ... The world is dancing to a show North Korea is putting on. Jo, North Korean escapee

The three are among an estimated 400 North Koreans currently in the U.S., many of them awaiting asylum under the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. Advocates say about 100 have settled in Southern California.

Here, they are a waitress, an industrial technician and a security guard. In North Korea they were a laborer, a civil servant, a truck driver  regular, everyday people far from the center of power and influence in Pyongyang. They sat with placards with their names facing away from the audience, out of concern for the safety of their families in North Korea if it becomes known they are seeking asylum in the nation they were taught to hate.

The negotiation points such as sanctions, nuclear tensions and human rights bandied about by diplomats and policy experts are real, practical matters that they have lived through and that will affect the lives of their loved ones.

Thawing of relations with the U.S. and easing of sanctions could have eventually meant a better economic future for their hometowns and potential reunification with family  but the refugees, who left North Korea between 1997 and 2008, said they had little expectation the summit would have yielded results.

The outside world has been fooled over and over again, said Jack Lee, the technician, who now lives in Orange County and asked to be identified by his adopted English nickname. What Trump did is correct.

A Koreatown audience, including some North Koreans, listens to a panel of three North Korean refugees discuss the canceled U.S.-North Korea summit. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times )

Jo said her hometown in North Hamgyong Province was near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where North Korea this week blew up tunnels with foreign journalists watching, and that her brother worked there. The destruction of the site, she said, was just theatrics, masking the fact that North Korea will not easily give up its nuclear ambitions.

She said even as North Korea was putting on a charm offensive toward the outside world, it remained brutal to its own people, cracking down on those who view South Korean content or communicate with people outside North Korea.

A wild dog cannot turn into a sheep, she said. The world is dancing to a show North Korea is putting on.

Jo first fled in 2004 but was caught by Chinese authorities and sent back to the North, before escaping once more in 2008.

Im someone who can never trust North Korea, she said.

Ho Lee, the truck driver-turned-security guard who asked to be identified by part of his name, left North Korea in 1997 amid a severe famine there, during which hundreds of thousands starved to death. A regime that would invest in developing nuclear weapons while its own people go hungry is not one that should be treated seriously, he said.

How is a nation that cant even supply soap making nukes? he said.

Roberto Hong, an immigration attorney and founder of the support group Assn. of North Koreans in America, urged the community to keep an open mind about the future of U.S.-North Korea relations.

Its what happens going forward thats important, he said. We have to get our expectations in check, get our hearts ready.

victoria.kim@latimes.com

For more California news, follow me on Twitter @vicjkim
USCs large and powerful Board of Trustees is coming under growing pressure to provide a stronger hand as the university faces a crisis over misconduct allegations against the campus longtime gynecologist that has prompted calls for President C.L. Max Nikias to step down.

Allegations that Dr. George Tyndall mistreated students during his nearly 30 years at USC have roiled the campus, with about 300 people coming forward to make reports to the university and the Los Angeles Police Department launching a criminal investigation. USC is already beginning to face what is expected to be costly litigation by women who say they were victimized by the physician.



For the record: A previous version of this article said the USC Board of Trustees has 58 voting members. There are 59. Also, Michael Poliakoff was quoted as saying Thats the only way that USC can deal. He said Thats the only way that USC can heal.

So far, the trustees to whom Nikias reports have expressed sympathy for the women who have come forward and launched an independent investigation while also publicly backing the president.

There are very serious issues that are now squarely in the lap of the board of trustees and will require their action, said Michael Poliakoff, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. It is incumbent on them to restore public trust in the institution. They will be held themselves accountable by the degree to which they hold leadership accountable.

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FULL COVERAGE: USC former gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall accused of inappropriate behavior 

The trustees came under criticism at a heated forum Wednesday that ended with the faculty senate voting to call on Nikias to resign. Some speakers said it seemed the Board of Trustees answered to Nikias instead of the other way around.

The main problem is this institution does not have a Board of Trustees. Max has a Board of Trustees, one faculty member said, to applause and cheers.

Composed of 59 voting members, the board includes noted philanthropists, accomplished alumni, Hollywood insiders and business moguls. Members include director Steven Spielberg, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and mall magnate Rick J. Caruso.

The Times reached out to numerous board members over the last week, but few offered comment.

Caruso said in a brief interview with Times columnist Steve Lopez that he was still trying collect all the facts regarding Tyndall.

I need to understand what happened, why it was never fully reported and why his conduct was able to continue for so many years, Caruso said. I know enough to know I dont have all that I need to know.

As for the future of the president, Caruso added: Trustees believe Max Nikias, given the right circumstances, is the right person to lead this institution.

But, he said, the investigation will go where it goes.

Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro, chair of gender studies at USC, said she supports calls for Nikias to step down but still hopes the Board of Trustees can successfully navigate the scandal. She said she believes there is a diversity of opinions on the board and that some members, whether theyve said it publicly or not, are more than outraged about whats going on.

There really is a sense that [this was] the straw that broke the camels back, she said.

One USC donor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he has talked to several trustees and that there are clear divisions on the board about how to address the scandal and the fate of Nikias.

Professor Gary Painter, who voted for Wednesdays resolution as a senator for the Sol Price School of Public Policy, said the board and Nikias have become increasingly remote from faculty, students, staff members and others at the university.

One of the issues the senate is grappling with is the fact that over the last decade or so there has been a greater and greater disconnect in governance between the president and the Board of Trustees and the rest of the university, Painter said.

There have been calls for Nikias ouster on campus and in social media, and in an online petition circulated by alumni since The Times last week detailed USCs handling of Tyndall, who is accused of making sexual comments and touching patients inappropriately during pelvic exams. Tyndall denied any wrongdoing in an earlier interview with The Times but could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Tyndall, 71, was the subject of complaints from students and staff beginning in the 1990s, according to former patients and clinic staffers interviewed by The Times. He was removed from the clinic only after a frustrated nurse reported him to the campus rape crisis center in 2016.

An internal university investigation last year concluded that Tyndalls pelvic exams were outside the scope of current medical practice and amounted to sexual harassment of students. Campus administrators told The Times that they believe the physicians inappropriate behavior persisted for years.

USC Provost Michael Quick said that the universitys senior leadership had not learned about the complaints against Tyndall until 2017. The university, in a secret deal last summer, allowed Tyndall to quietly resign with a financial payout.

At the time, USC did not report him to the Medical Board of California, the agency responsible for protecting the public from problem doctors. USC filed a belated report to the medical board in March. The university is also now sending cases to the LAPD for criminal review.

On Wednesday, the trustees said outside attorneys would conduct an independent investigation into the Tyndall matter. The inquiry is to examine not only the physicians behavior, but also what the trustees called reporting failures that allowed Tyndall to remain at the clinic for 27 years and treat tens of thousands of students.

Board Chairman John Mork issued a statement Tuesday saying that although trustees were troubled by the distressing reports about the campus doctor, he and others on its executive committee strongly support Nikias.

The executive committee of the board has full confidence in President Nikias leadership, ethics, and values and is certain that he will successfully guide our community forward, wrote Mork, a Colorado energy mogul who graduated from USC.

Nikias sent the campus community a 20-page action plan Tuesday that he said was prepared at the request of trustees. It called for a wide rethinking that will include a rewrite of USCs Code of Ethics and a new presidential commission on improving campus culture.

With Nikias facing such criticism, Poliakoff said the trustees are going to have to take on more of a leadership role.

At this point, the faculty  or at least some faculty  have weighed in, and its incumbent on the board to weigh in, he said. To listen to them judiciously, to weigh evidence and then to operate in a way that is transparent and restores the public trust. Thats the only way that USC can heal.

The board needs to ask the university leadership difficult questions  sometimes criticizing, reprimanding or sanctioning personal friends  however uncomfortable it may be, Poliakoff said.

Boards need to be independent actors, he added. It is really crucial for public trust.

sarah.parvini@latimes.com

adam.elmahrek@latimes.com

paul.pringle@latimes.com
A day after accusing North Korea of open hostility and calling off a June 12 summit with its leader, Kim Jong Un, President Trump said Friday that talks with Pyongyang had resumed and expressed cautious optimism that the meeting could be held after all.

Well see what happens. It could even be the 12th, Trump told reporters as he left the White House to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy. Were talking to them now. They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it.

The about-face was abrupt, even by Trumps standards, and followed a conciliatory statement by Kims government saying it regretted Trumps action and remained willing to talk. The president called it a very nice statement.

The exchange did little to clarify the highly charged situation, however, and instead underscored the mixed messages and unpredictability on both sides. They remain as far apart as ever on the central issue of North Koreas nuclear arsenal: Trump demands Kim completely and irreversibly give up his program, while North Korea considers its weaponry and ballistic missile capability essential for its survival.

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Officials cautioned that the latest burst of hopefulness does not ensure that the summit will happen.

Asked by reporters Friday whether he was optimistic, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said, I am optimistic that the diplomats are working, our diplomats are working very hard to make this happen.

The most important factor in salvaging the summit may be the stake that both Trump and Kim have in holding a face-to-face meeting, even if it falls short of achieving a breakthrough in long-hostile relations.

Kim wants to meet with Trump to give him status. Trump wants to meet with Kim so he will be the center of global attention, said Jon B. Wolfsthal, the director of the anti-proliferation Nuclear Crisis Group and a former Obama administration official.

The possibility that the summit will be saved likely reassured South Korea, whose president, Moon Jae-in, has worked fervently to coax Trump and Kim to the negotiating table. Moon, who had visited the White House only Tuesday to buttress the case for the Trump-Kim meeting, was taken by surprise by Trumps cancellation two days later.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday tried to mend fences. He phoned his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, to reaffirm the two governments shared commitment to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, the State Department said.

They committed to remaining closely coordinated in all of their efforts to create conditions for dialogue with North Korea and agreed that must continue until North Korea embraces denuclearization, the department said in a statement.

A White House advance team scheduled to go shortly to Singapore, the planned location for the summit, has not canceled its trip.

We have got some possibly good news on the Korea summit, Mattis told reporters, calling the confusion between Trump and North Korea the usual give-and-take.

That description is contrary to the reaction of many diplomacy and national security experts, who have expressed consternation at the administrations  in particular the presidents  erratic handling of the high-stakes dealings with North Korea. Analysts said that the back-and-forth over whether the meeting will occur should temper expectations about what the summit might achieve.

U.S. officials have called for North Korea to take unilateral steps to eliminate its nuclear arsenal and limit its ballistic missiles. But Pyongyang appears to favor gradual concessions by both sides, with its incremental steps matched by U.S. economic assistance and assurances that it will not seek to oust Kim.

Bridging this fundamental gap will be difficult if not impossible  unless one or both sides align their expectations and rhetoric with this reality, said Patricia M. Kim, an expert in Korean nuclear negotiations at the Council on Foreign Relations.

A senior administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity Thursday outlined what he called a trail of broken promises from North Korea. Among then, Pyongyangs team for negotiating summit details didnt show up for a planning meeting with U.S. officials in Singapore less than two weeks ago, the official said.

We werent getting the right signals previously, so hopefully we will in the future, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters at the Naval Academy graduation ceremony. But we didnt want to go to a meeting just for the sake of going to a meeting. There had to be something to come out of it.

Mattis said there had been no change in the U.S. militarys alert posture in response to the new uncertainty about the summit.

We are not changing anything right now. It is steady as she goes, Mattis said. The diplomats are in the lead and in charge, and we give them our best wishes to have a fruitful way forward.

Col. Chad Carroll, a spokesman for the U.S. military command in South Korea, said the next maneuvers involving U.S. and South Korean forces is scheduled for August. A major military exercise called Max Thunder finished Thursday.

Diplomatic developments may ebb and flow, but one consistency is the military readiness of the U.S. and South Korea forces, he said. Our posture has been  and remains  steady and ready.

Staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report.

david.cloud@latimes.com

Twitter: @davidcloudLAT

UPDATES:

1:35 p.m.: This article was updated with information about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

This article was originally published at 11:45 a.m.
A storm moving slowly through the Caribbean Sea is threatening to bring heavy rainfall, mudslides and flash floods to parts of Mexico, Cuba, Florida and the U.S. Gulf Coast this weekend.

Subtropical Storm Alberto  the first named storm of the 2018 hurricane season  was roiling parts of coastal Mexico and Cuba with rip currents and dangerous surf on Friday. Both countries issued tropical storm watches for portions of their coastlines, with rain totals in some isolated areas of up to 25 inches.

U.S. forecasters followed suit by issuing a tropical storm watch for parts of the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle southwest of Tallahassee to the New Orleans metropolitan area.

At 5 p.m. Eastern time, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Alberto was centered about 85 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico. Its top sustained winds were 40 mph. A gradual strengthening was expected through the weekend as it moves north.

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The U.S. was expected to start feeling Albertos effects Saturday. The hurricane center said up to 12 inches of rain was possible across the Florida Keys and southern and southwestern Florida. Residents in the storms expected path were advised to monitor the storms progress.

Flooding potential will increase across this region early next week as Alberto is forecast to slow down after it moves inland, the hurricane center said.

The National Weather Service said a flash-flood watch would be in effect from Saturday evening through Tuesday evening for southeastern Mississippi, southwestern Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle. A storm surge watch was also issued for parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

A subtropical storm has a less defined and cooler center than a tropical storm, and its strongest winds are found farther from its center. Subtropical storms can develop into tropical storms, which in turn can strengthen into hurricanes.

Alberto comes ahead of schedule: The six-month hurricane season doesnt begin until June 1.

Parts of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana have already seen heavy rain this week, and further deluges could leave those areas vulnerable to flash flooding and river flooding. Some beachfront and riverfront communities are already handing out sandbags.

The downpours could dampen Memorial Day, the unofficial start of the summer tourist season along Gulf Coast beaches. Along with heavy rains and high winds come rough seas and a threat of rip currents from Florida to Louisiana that can sweep swimmers out to sea.

Red flags warning of dangerous surf conditions were already flying along some beaches. Jordan Sawmiller of Ohio told WALA-TV that he was approaching the water with caution in Gulf Shores, Ala.

It will hit you pretty hard and it sucks you right back out. So I dont like getting in there very far, Sawmiller said.

A hotel owner in Panama City Beach, Fla., told the Panama City News Herald that her familys five hotels are normally full on Memorial Day weekend. But Julie Hilton said people are canceling because of the weather and room reservations are down about 20%.
A month after President Trump called for sending National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, the head of the national Border Patrol union called the deployment a colossal waste of resources.

We have seen no benefit, said Brandon Judd, president of the union that represents 15,000 agents, the National Border Patrol Council.

The criticism is a dramatic departure for the group, which endorsed Trumps candidacy for president and has praised his border security efforts, including National Guard deployments.

When I found out the National Guard was going to be on the border I was extremely excited, Judd said, because previous deployments on the border helped alleviate the Border Patrols workload.

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But this time, he said, that has not happened at all.

About 1,600 National Guard troops were deployed on the border. About 750 more troops may soon be added in support roles, and the total could reach 4,000 based on requests for assistance and what they need, said Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

We want to match the right number of troops to do the jobs that are needed, not just provide a certain number of troops, Davis said.

Davis declined to comment on the remarks by the Border Patrol union.

A Border Patrol spokeswoman said National Guard troops had assisted with 3,924 deportations, 1,116 turn backs of migrants into Mexico and the seizure of 3,486 pounds of marijuana  all by operating support technology and equipment. She said they had replaced some Border Patrol agents at observation posts. Instead of an agent watching a camera, they can, she said.

Border Patrol and National Guard officials from Arizona and Texas held a briefing several weeks into the deployment to praise it as a force multiplier, although they did not say how many agents the deployment had freed to patrol the border. They noted that troops stationed at observation posts on the border in Texas were part of a separate operation, that those sent by the National Guard were not allowed to observe anything inside Mexico, even remotely via surveilance equipment, because thats considered spying.

Border Patrol Acting Chief Carla Provost responded to the unions claims by acknowledging that the National Guards role has changed compared with past deployments. Although they have been deployed to the border, they have to be paired with an agent who has law enforcement powers, and Border Patrol and defense officials decided it was better to use them behind the scenes for surveillance and air support.

I want my agents out on the front line enforcing the laws, Provost said Thursday during a visit to the agencys Rio Grande Valley headquarters.

She said pairs of agents use aerostat blimps to monitor the border remotely, and when troops have replaced one agent, it frees another to patrol. As they learn and get certain experience down, more agents will be able to go to the line, Provost said.

Katie Waldman, a Homeland Security spokewoman based in Washington, added: While the National Guard deployment has not yet reached full capacity, it has clearly and unquestionably been a success with thousands of additional apprehensions and millions of dollars of drugs kept out of our country. The third request for assistance to deploy additional Guardsmen in support of the mission to secure the southern border was recently authorized and is being implemented. More help is on the way.

A Pentagon official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the topic, noted that governors in the four border states where National Guard troops were deployed  Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas  set the terms of engagement.

The overall support is to the mission, but theyre going to be parceled out differently by state, he said, but it hasnt been a significant change under George Bush, Obama and now Trump. Theyre different in how theyre perceived. Theyre no different in what theyre doing.

He added: The National Guard is always cost-effective.

Border Patrol union members disagreed.

The last time the National Guard was deployed to the border  in Texas in 2014 and borderwide in 2010  troops assumed Border Patrol posts on the front lines, easing the workload, Judd said. Although National Guard members were restricted to an observe and report role and couldnt detain migrants, they still aided patrols.

They were allowed to do a lot more than they are under the Trump administration. They were allowed to be in lookout and observation posts. They were allowed to be out grading the roads and mending fences. They were allowed to be our eyes and ears, freeing us up, Judd said.

This deployment, he said, has proved to be far more limited  despite the Trump administrations claims.

Theyre not allowed to be in the public eye. Theyre not allowed to be in our lookout and observation posts, even in Texas, he said, the busiest area of the border for migrants and drug smuggling.

Judd said agents had complained about the restrictions to National Guard commanders, but they just ignore the concerns.

We generally support the administration, but were not going to be cheerleading when things are not going well, Judd said.

Union officials said the National Guard deployment is the latest reminder that the agency  which employs about 19,000 agents nationwide  needs to add 7,000 more. Provost agreed with union officials that the agency needs to hire 7,000 agents, but said that took time  the academy alone takes 117 days.

At a time when we are asking for more agents, more technology, more wall, theyre filling a gap, she said of National Guard troops.

When Trump announced the deployment, he called it a big step.

Until we can have a wall and proper security, were going to be guarding our border with the military, Trump said, later tweeting: We are sealing up our Southern Border.

More than 760 National Guard troops have been deployed to Texas, officials have said, mainly in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, according to Maj. Gen. John Nichols, Texas Military Department adjutant general. Nichols, addressing state lawmakers last month, said the deployment could last through mid-September.

Texas was the first state to act on Trumps call to deploy troops, also sending aircraft, ground surveillance vehicles and other equipment, officials said. Officials plan to add 300 troops per week until they reach 1,400, Angela Isaack, manager of the Legislative Budget Board, told lawmakers last month.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott backed the deployment, calling it necessary in order to deal with an escalation in cross-border traffic. Abbott described the National Guards observe and report role during a briefing last month as similar to previous deployments.

But thats not whats happening, agents in south Texas said.

Agent Chris Cabrera, a spokesman for the union in the Rio Grande Valley, said troops are stationed far from the border, duplicating rather than lessening agents workload.

For instance, at observation stations for remote monitoring devices, like aerostat blimps, troops have to be stationed alongside agents, rather than replacing them, he said, because they dont know the landmarks.

Also, while remote, unfenced stretches of the Rio Grande west of McAllen, Texas, frequented by drug smugglers go unguarded, he said, troops weld gates and fix roads, jobs he described as busy work.

Its a far cry from the last deployment when they were on the levies by the Rio Grande, he said.

Cabrera shared text messages he received this week from three agents based in McAllen, including a supervisor, supporting the unions claims. While National Guard helicopter flights have helped, troops on the ground have been limited.

Its not saving any manpower yet, an agent wrote, and other than the air support, he said the deployment has been a waste.

You would think that they could put some of those guard members in some of the control points to allow the agents [to] actually go out and work the field but that has not been done, another agent wrote.

A third agent said: They arent out in the field like last time, doing the observation points. So if the goal was to get more agents out to the line, they have fallen short.

Some lawmakers have also criticized the deployment.

The National Guard deployment is a waste of finite resources, and is duplicative of existing border security efforts, said Texas Rep. Mary E. Gonzalez, who represents a district outside El Paso.

The borderwide National Guard deployment is expected to cost the federal government $220 million to $252 million through the end of the year, according to Christopher Sherwood, a Department of Defense spokesman. That includes $204 million to $221 million in pay and support costs for 3,143 troops and $16 million to $31 million for 12,000 flying hours by 26 UH-72 Lakota helicopters, Sherwood said.

That price tag will likely swell. When Presidents Obama and George W. Bush deployed the National Guard to the border, it ultimately cost an estimated $1.35 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office. In 2014, Texas paid $12 million a month to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops (that dropped to about $1 million a month earlier this year as illegal crossings decreased and troops were reduced).

Texas National Guard leaders have declined repeated requests by the Los Angeles Times to accompany troops stationed on the southern border and to speak with commanders, most recently on Thursday.

Some border officials defended the deployment.

Laredo, Texas, Mayor Pete Saenz said he checked the unions claims with the local Border Patrol commander Thursday, and was reassured.

From his standpoint, they have been a tremendous help  National Guard troops, primarily for situational awareness, behind the scenes, Saenz said.

While troops were not used for law enforcement, they have logged 2,000 hours of helicopter surveillance for detection and thats been extremely helpful for the chief and the Border Patrol people here.

Its not been a waste at all, Saenz said, adding the residents had not been disturbed by the presence of troops. Nothing has reached me or city management that its been disruptive. Its been somewhat quiet frankly. If the chief of Border Patrol says hes happy with it, who am I to second-guess him?

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

@mollyhf

UPDATES:

7:20 p.m.: The article was updated with comments from Katie Waldman and new figures on apprehensions and deportations.

The article was originally published at 4:55 p.m.
A popular Democrats exit from the Iowa governors race Thursday amid sexual misconduct allegations could impact the partys efforts to coalesce behind the eventual nominee and regain power in a state that has moved sharply to the right in recent years.

Nate Boulton, a Des Moines attorney and state senator, suspended his campaign less than 24 hours after The Des Moines Register reported three women alleged he touched them inappropriately several years ago.

Boultons departure comes less than two weeks before the Democratic primary for governor. More than 13,000 Democrats already had cast their ballots through early voting as of Wednesday, when the newspapers report was published.

The winner will aim to unseat Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in November. She has been serving the remaining term of former Gov. Terry Branstad, who stepped down last year to become U.S. ambassador to China.

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Iowa Democrats have been sidelined by several election cycles that gave Republicans nearly complete control of the states congressional seats and a majority in the Legislature. Democrats insist the race shake-up and the circumstances surrounding it would not hurt their chances of winning in the midterm election.

People are engaged no matter which candidate its for, said Megan Card, a 25-year-old state government employee who has been supporting one of the five remaining Democratic candidates. That just doesnt disappear when that candidate drops out. People realize its bigger than ourselves right now.

Boultons exit is expected to have a tangible impact on the June 5 primary. Iowa law requires a primary candidate to secure at least 35% of the vote to win an election. Anything less and a party convention of activists will pick the winner.

Its unclear for now how many people voted for Boulton during the early voting period, but the figure could affect the required voting threshold for the remaining candidates. Boulton was polling second among the contenders in the race, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released earlier this month.

Businessman Fred Hubbell, the apparent front-runner who has spent millions of his own money ahead of the primary, could pick up enough of Boultons supporters for a flat-out win. A party convention might lead Democrats to ultimately back a different candidate who may have been behind the pack for months. The remaining other candidates are union leader Cathy Glasson, physician Andy McGuire, longtime party organizer John Norris and former city mayor Ross Wilburn.

Sexual misconduct has become a top issue in politics around the country, as a cultural reckoning over inappropriate behavior and abuse continues to take down powerful men in various industries.

Democrats in Iowa and elsewhere have sought to draw a distinctive line in their response on the subject.

In Iowa, Sen. Minority Leader Janet Petersen called out Senate Republicans earlier this year for how they handled the firing of a former caucus staffer who said in a lawsuit she was let go after reporting verbal harassment. The state settled her case last year for $1.75 million.

Petersen, who had endorsed Boultons candidacy, released a statement Thursday calling on Boulton to resign from the chamber and said she would support a full, independent investigation if he doesnt.

The state Democratic Party said in a statement that it also supports such an investigation.

Boulton told KCCI-TV on Thursday he is discussing with his wife whether to resign.

Cody Woodruff is a 20-year-old student at Iowa State University who was an early backer of Boulton and had already cast a vote for him. Woodruff said he does not expect the scandal will tarnish Democrats in the general election because of their swift response.

Everyone, for the most part, has a pretty unified message that it was right for him to step aside from the governors race, Woodruff said.

Glasson, who had been trailing Boulton in the Iowa Poll, has called for progressive policies that include a $15 hourly minimum wage and a single-payer health care system. Hubbell, who hasnt called for such polices, has branded himself as the best positioned to take on Reynolds in a general election.

Holly Brown, a 37-year-old Democratic activist from Cedar Rapids who backs Glasson, said the last-minute change in the race could help Reynolds if she ends up running against a man. Glasson and McGuire are the only other two women in the race.

There will inevitably be some people who will feel more comfortable voting for her because they will feel that she is less likely to have incidents like this in her past come up, Brown said.

Reynolds has been scrutinized for how she handled the March firing of a longtime political ally, Dave Jamison, who was accused of harassing female subordinates as the head of a state housing agency. Reynolds says she fired Jamison immediately after learning about the allegations, but she was criticized for keeping general details of the allegations secret for more than a month.

In the Register report, one woman said Boulton repeatedly grabbed her buttocks at a bar in 2015. Two other women said he rubbed his clothed crotch against them in separate incidents more than a decade ago.

Boulton, who had been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, declined to address the specific accusations but did not deny them. He apologized to the women.
Alternative shipping routes through South Ossetia (video)

RA Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan wrote on his Facebook page the following: "Dear Compatriots, "We can record another positive shift for economy and transport. "Yesterday representatives of the Russian Federation and Georgia met in Prague and discussed the implementation of the agreement "On basic principles of customs administration and commodity trade monitoring mechanism" signed in 2011. The parties have agreed that a tripartite commission from Georgia, Russia and the Swiss company SGS should be formed for the customs control of cargo in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "In case of the implementation of the agreement, we will have alternative ways of transportation, in cases where the Upper Lars highway is closed. "We also talked about the implementation of the agreement with RF President Vladimir Putin during meeting in Sochi on May 14. We highly appreciate the readiness and efforts of the parties to implement this contract, which is extremely important for us."
As Mayor Bill De Blasio headed toward reelection in 2017, he announced an ambitious plan to address one of New York Citys most intractable problems.

Over the next five years, he said, the city would open 90 new homeless shelters. Gone would be the patchwork quilt of private apartments and commercial hotel rooms rented simply to put a roof over someones head. In their place would be a consolidated system of shelters designed not only to house the homeless but connect them to social services in neighborhoods where they already had roots.

Weve been moving in the wrong direction for 3 decades, De Blasio said.

The sweep of the proposal and the stakes riding on it speak to the vast scale of New York Citys homeless population, which, like Los Angeles, has ballooned as housing costs soared, wages lagged and government aid dwindled. As in Los Angeles, the political future of the citys leader may rest, at least in part, on his ability to do something about it.

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Unlike Los Angeles, where the plight of the homeless is visible in tent cities along skid row, at beaches and even in wealthy neighborhoods like Bel-Air, the vast majority of New York Citys homeless are not on the streets but in some form of shelter  the legacy of a decades-old lawsuit that resulted in an enforceable right to shelter citywide.

Since 1981, when Callahan v. Carey was settled with a consent decree, officials have met that obligation through an often haphazard, and expensive, approach. They opened shelters. They litigated. They rounded up the homeless and threatened to evict those who didnt work. When space ran out, they steered the homeless to seedy welfare hotels and run-down apartments.

The system was created in crisis in the 1980s and never got out of crisis, De Blasio said.

Now the mayor aims to do something different. As Los Angeles and Orange counties clear out encampments and struggle with where to move the homeless, New York is attempting to elevate how it meets what is broadly seen here as a legal and moral mandate to provide shelter.

The city has experienced homelessness in its modern form since the late 1970s, when the homeless population was just a few thousand. Over the decades, the numbers ebbed and flowed before shooting up to 51,000 in 2014.

The misery for the citys homeless and poor was compounded by a litany of factors: A rental subsidy program for the homeless was canceled, leaving thousands in the lurch. The city lost a significant chunk of its affordable housing. Rents shot up and federal funding for Section 8 housing vouchers tightened.

Lots of different factors push people into homelessness, but at this point in New York Citys history...its really the cost of housing that is the main driver, said Oksana Mironova, a housing policy analyst at the nonprofit Community Service Society.

In 2013, when De Blasio first ran for mayor, he campaigned on a platform of ending inequality and building more affordable housing. Since then he has had some notable successes: dramatically reducing evictions by increasing funds for tenant legal services, restoring rental assistance for the homeless, financing nearly 90,000 affordable housing units and stepping up outreach to the homeless who remain on the street.

But the homeless population still surged to record levels, with the nightly shelter census surpassing 60,000 for the first time in 2016 and the street population rising to almost 4,000 the following year. Seventy percent of shelter residents today are families, many with a working adult.

Laura Miller, age 36, is homeless and gets by panhandling in the financial district of Manhattan. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

This fiscal year the Department of Homeless Services will spend nearly $1.6 billion, its entire budget, on providing shelter. Last fiscal year about 115,000 different men, women and children resided at some point in a city shelter, where the average stay is longer than a year.

Nearly a third of those provided shelter are housed in hotel rooms rented by the city or cluster apartments, units in typically low-income, residential buildings. On average, the city pays anywhere from $85 to $222 a day to provide shelter and services for a household.

A 2015 investigation by the citys Department of Investigation found that the cluster apartments were the worst maintained, the most poorly monitored, and provide the least adequate social services of all shelters. The report described lax security, obstructed passageways, defective window guards and rooms crawling with vermin. In 2016, two napping sisters died when a radiator exploded in a cluster apartment.

The investigation also found deficiencies at hotel shelters, including rat and mouse infestations and broken fire and carbon monoxide alarms. Crime was also a problem.

Charmel Lucas, 50, and her husband have been staying at a Holiday Inn in Manhattans Chelsea neighborhood, at the governments expense, for about a year. The couple share a sixth-floor double room with a full-size bed, TV, desk and dresser. A nonprofit brings in three meals a day, usually cold sandwiches. The high-rise hotel also accommodates tourists and other visitors to New York.

Lucas, who works with the advocacy group Picture the Homeless, has no complaints about conditions but said services could be better given the cost to house and provide social services for her and her husband  $7,716.10 a month, according to Lucas public assistance budget letter.

You could at least house two households [with that money]. Its taxpayer dollars that are being wasted, Lucas said. And I cant even get a cup of hot tea.

Under De Blasios Turning the Tide plan, the city will eliminate cluster apartments by the end of 2021 and hotel rooms by 2023. In their place will be a network of traditional shelters. The move will save the city $100 million and cut the number of homeless facilities nearly in half.

The Landing Road residences include a newly opened shelter and long-term apartments in the Bronx. They are owned and operated by the Bowery Residents Committee. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

Designed specifically to house the homeless, the new shelters, accommodating anywhere from 80 to 400 people, may be located in converted hotels, armories or low-rise apartment buildings, or be built from the ground up.

As is currently the case, single adults will be typically housed in congregate settings, where cots line a room and cafeterias serve hot meals, while families will be placed in apartment-like units with kitchens and bathrooms. The plan also includes funding for maintenance and security overseen by the N.Y.P.D.

Additionally, the new shelters will offer space for social workers, who can help connect clients to social services, such as mental health care and employment training.

So far 11 new shelters have opened, with six more expected by June.

Jemal Johnson, 50, has been staying at a new 200-bed single mens shelter in the Bronx since January. He was initially hesitant after hearing rumors of people being robbed or beat up while in the system. And his experience at a shelter run out of the old Bellevue psychiatric hospital in midtown was less than stunning.

That place? Thats what makes some people scared, Johnson recalled.

He was quickly transferred, though, to the Landing Road residences, a mixed-use facility run by the Bowery Residents Committee that combines a downstairs shelter with permanent housing upstairs.

At the shelter, Johnson shares a well-lighted room with 21 other men, where he keeps the covers on his twin bed neatly folded and his belongings organized in a padlocked wardrobe.

Every other week, Johnson meets with an independent living specialist who helps him figure out ways to save 60% of the income he earns working nights in customer service at Kennedy International Airport. And he gets help looking for housing.

This place is...a lifeline, Johnson said. Without it, he said, I wouldve ended up on the street somewhere and I probably wouldnt have been able to sustain my employment.

A hallmark of Turning the Tide is to open shelters in the same boroughs where people first become homeless in order to give them the option of retaining ties to anchors of daily life  schools, jobs, churches, healthcare  that may make it easier to get back on their feet.

Kinya P. Harte, director of communications for the Bowery Residents Committee, left, speaks to Osama El-Borai, who has been homeless for some time and is well known by the outreach workers with BRC. Under the laws of New York, homeless people have a right to shelter. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

But already there has been an outcry. In Crown Heights, community groups last year protested the planned addition of new shelters in an area that is also home to a large assessment facility for single men. In Manhattan, residents are agitated over a planned shelter at the old Park Savoy Hotel, around the corner from a block known as Billionaires Row.

Steven Banks, the citys homelessness czar, said the administration notifies communities about new shelters at least 30 days in advance and has modified some plans as a result. But, he said, the city is not backing off simply because some shelters are unpopular.

Even with the new approach, the city predicts only a modest decrease in homelessness: a drop of 2,500 people in shelters over the next five years.

We think that plan is insufficiently ambitious, said Shelly Nortz, deputy executive director for policy at the Coalition for the Homeless, a leading advocacy group that is pushing the mayor to set aside more housing for the homeless.

The solution to homelessness for homeless households in New York City is to give them homes  the kind of homes [they can] live in in perpetuity, Nortz said. Until we do that, were not going to get a handle on the problem.

Jesus Melendez, 46, looks at the view out his new studio apartment at Landing Road, a newly opened shelter and long-term housing facility in the Bronx. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )

Jesus Melendez, 46, knows what thats like firsthand.

The park maintenance worker from Yonkers was evicted after he suffered a heart attack and could no longer pay rent. Unable to find a new place he could afford, Melendez bounced around relatives apartments in Harlem and then ended up in shelter about a year ago.

With the help of case workers, he applied for the citys rental subsidy and then for a low-income apartment at the Landing Road residences, just a few floors up from Johnson.

At the beginning of April, he moved in.

I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, Melendez said of the studio with views of the Harlem River and an ample kitchen where he was eager to get back to cooking.

Best of all? The rent is just $470 a month  a well-below-market rate the Bowery Residents Committee can offer because it owns the building.

There are only 135 apartments in the building, though. Advocates say far more affordable units are needed, not only for people who are already homeless but also for those on the edge.

It does make sense to have a shelter infrastructure  were going to need it, Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference advocacy group, said. But if you dont have enough affordable housing options for people to go into, they just stay in shelter and more people come in, and it just keeps swelling.

Still, Banks insists that De Blasios efforts are beginning to bear fruit. According to the city, its shelter census stayed flat between 2016 and 2017 rather than increased  a development the city considers a victory, however small.

We know we have much more work to do, Banks said, but we can see signs of progress.

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

Twitter: @AgrawalNina
Allies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt m
President Trump has signed executive orders restricting the unions that represent many of the governments 2.1 million employees, the White House said.

One of the three orders limits the amount of official time federal employees can spend on union duties to 25%. It also requires the federal government to start charging union members rent for using space in federal buildings, stop paying employees for the cost of lobbying the federal government, and more aggressively negotiate union contracts.

Trumps move to curtail the activities of federal unions follows a wave of laws signed by Republican governors over the last decade restricting public-sector collective bargaining and weakening government unions, moves that conservatives see as helpful in shrinking government and undermining political foes.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the nations largest federal employee union, endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president in December 2015.

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This is more than union-busting  its democracy-busting, the unions president, J. David Cox, said in a statement. These executive orders are a direct assault on the legal rights and protections that Congress has specifically guaranteed to the 2 million public-sector employees across the country who work for the federal government.

Since entering office, Trump has made high-profile overtures to private-sector union leaders and members, but has shown less interest in winning over their public-sector counterparts. One notable exception is the union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement staff members.

Among Trumps most consequential moves for the future of organized labor was his appointment of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who is expected to vote with the courts conservative majority to ban public-sector union fees, making the entire public sector right-to-work. That ruling will be announced next month.

Another of the executive orders Trump signed instructs the Office of Personnel Management to update regulations to shrink the length of performance improvement periods, during which a problem worker cannot be fired, to 30 days across all agencies. Such periods, which allow workers an opportunity to improve their performance and keep their jobs, currently last from 60 to 120 days, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters before Fridays announcement.

These executive orders will make it easier for agencies to remove poor-performing employees, and ensure that taxpayer dollars are more efficiently used, White House Domestic Policy Council Director Andrew Bremberg told reporters on a conference call.

During his State of the Union address in January, Trump called on Congress to pass legislation that would give the executive branch more authority to quickly remove workers. No such legislation has been passed, and a senior administration official said that the president signed the orders in part to achieve a similar aim.
This one should be a no-brainer: California lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban so-called junk health insurance policies  short-term plans that do not comply with the consumer protections set out in Obamacare. These cheap plans typically offer no protection against the risk of bankrupting medical bills; instead, they cover just a limited number of doctor visits and days in the hospital, with glaring gaps in coverage, huge out-of-pocket costs and comparatively low caps on total benefits.

Yet this is precisely the sort of policy that the Trump administration and some congressional Republicans have been promoting as a way to lower health insurance premiums. Thats all the more reason for the Legislature to approve the bill imposing a ban, SB 910 by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa).

The debate over junk insurance plans epitomizes the years-long fight between Republicans and Democrats over Obamacare.

The insurance reforms in that law  also known as the Affordable Care Act  were designed to help the roughly 20 million Americans who buy insurance independently, rather than getting coverage through a large employer or a government program such as Medicare. Among other things, these reforms ban insurers from discriminating against applicants with preexisting conditions, require policies to cover a comprehensive set of ailments and conditions, and provide subsidies to people with low to moderate incomes.

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Obamacare allowed insurers to continue to offer short-term health policies that did not comply with the reforms, but an Obama administration regulation limited those policies to three months or less. The idea was to make sure the policies were truly stopgap measures for people who failed to sign up for comprehensive coverage during the annual open enrollment periods, not alternatives to those more robust plans.

The debate over junk insurance plans epitomizes the years-long fight between Republicans and Democrats over Obamacare.

By requiring all adults to carry comprehensive policies and guaranteeing coverage at the same price for the sick and the well, however, the law drove up premiums  especially for younger, healthier Americans. Republicans have sought to lower premiums, not by attacking the rising cost of medical treatments and prescription drugs, but by giving consumers the option to buy less coverage for less money. Starting next year, the options will include buying no coverage at all.

What all of these steps would do, however, is separate healthier people who feel they dont need comprehensive-but-expensive coverage from those who are older, sicker or dont want to run the risk of huge medical bills they cant pay. That defeats one of the key goals of Obamacare, which is to extend coverage to more people while spreading costs and risks more broadly across the population.

The Trump administration makes no bones about this. In February, it unveiled a proposal to let Americans sign up for short-term plans that last as long as 364 days  in effect, an entire year. Insurers offering those plans would be free to gouge (or reject) applicants with preexisting conditions and then deny coverage for those ailments. Such plans also frequently include no coverage for maternity care, substance abuse treatment and name-brand drugs, among other costly therapies and procedures. In other words, companies can design their plans to appeal only to people who think they wont get sick or injured.

Analysts say that Trumps proposal, like other steps the administration has taken, would leave fewer healthy people buying policies through the state Obamacare exchanges. Combine that with the end of the mandate to buy insurance and the result would be an average premium increase of 18%, the Urban Institute estimated. In other words, opening the door wider to cheap junk plans would lead to sharp increases in the premiums paid by millions of Americans. And because the vast majority of the people buying insurance on the Obamacare exchanges are subsidized, much of the cost increase would be borne by federal taxpayers.

Thats a policy worth resisting. Cheap junk plans are often just that  cheap junk. To protect Californians from being lured away from costlier plans that provide real protection, lawmakers should pass SB 910.

In another blow to Obamacares efforts to expand insurance coverage, the Trump administration has also invited states to impose work requirements on low-income and disabled individuals receiving Medicaid. Its a solution in search of a problem  most Medicaid recipients who are capable of working already do, so the main effects of the change would be to raise costs and drive eligible people off the rolls. And the less access that people with health problems have to treatment, the more likely theyll be unable to work. Talk about self-defeating.

Thats why Hernandez has offered another bill, SB 1108, that would bar the state from going down that road. Itseems like a symbolic gesture  its hard to imagine this state adding work requirements to Medi-Cal. Nevertheless, lawmakers should pass it to show that they recognize a counterproductive federal initiative when they see one.

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Who overpacked Californias prisons? It was first-term Gov. Jerry Brown, when he signed into law the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Act in 1976. And it was the Legislatures Democratic majority, whod sent Brown the act in the first place and then tried to outflank tough-on-crime Republicans by adding one sentence-lengthening provision (or enhancement) after another.

In his second go-round, both Brown and the Legislature have been trying to make amends for the prison growth and over-incarceration that they helped to set in motion. Lawmakers are considering  and should send to Brown  two bills to undo some of the enhancement excesses.

One would give judges the discretion to ignore a particularly stiff enhancement now required for serious felons: an additional five years for each previous serious conviction, even if the defendant already served time for those crimes.

The other would eliminate a one-year enhancement thats currently tacked on to nonviolent felony convictions for every previous jail or prison term the defendant has served.

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If there was evidence that the extra prison or jail time deterred repeat offenders, the enhancements might make some sense. But years of experience show instead that many repeat offenders are driven by untreated mental illness or addiction. Treating those problems, rather than expanding prisons and jails to hold more offenders longer, should be the priority. Meanwhile, California has in place safeguards such as the three-strikes law to protect the public from repeat violent offenders.

If its difficult to understand how these two bills fit into the web of criminal laws or see how they could make much of a difference, dont feel bad. Californias criminal sentencing scheme is so hard to understand and the proposed fixes so easy to mischaracterize in large part because of that law that Brown signed more than four decades ago.

Treatment, rather than expanding prisons and jails to hold more offenders longer, should be the priority.

For most of its history, California had what was known as indeterminate sentencing, under which a judge would sentence a convicted criminal to an indefinite term rather than a set number of years. A burglar, for example, might get five years to life. Then the judges sentencing role was finished, and the actual term spent behind bars would be determined by a parole board.

That gave inmates an incentive to behave in prison and to participate in rehabilitation programs. After they had served the low end of the range, they could take their case to a board, whose members would measure the inmates progress and grant or deny parole accordingly.

The system generally worked. The return-to-prison rate for paroled inmates hovered near 15%.

But Brown and lawmakers moved to determinate sentencing, which  counterintuitively  became even more convoluted. Judges could choose a standard sentence, a stiffer one or a lighter one, depending on the defendants prior convictions or other extenuating circumstances. All decisions were made on the front end, in court.

So in prison, fewer inmates bothered with rehabilitation programs because they couldnt lead to earlier release. And, as a consequence, fewer were ready to responsibly go home to their neighborhoods after serving their time. The return-to-prison rate skyrocketed to 70%.

Brown completed his first tour of duty as governor in 1983, but lawmakers kept adding enhancements. For example, on top of the base term for committing the crime, new laws layered on additional time for being in a gang, for using a gun, for having been in jail or prison before, and on and on. The three-strikes penalties were also enacted. Other states followed Californias lead. And still recidivism rose.

When Brown returned from the political wilderness and was elected state attorney general in 2006, he faced an overflowing prison system he had helped to create: Instead of 10 prisons, California had 33, and its inmate population had grown by 900%.

In 2016, he presented and voters adopted Proposition 57, which brought back much of the former parole system and with it the incentive for inmates to participate in programs that will make them better bets to return safely to their neighborhoods. It also brought back some of the better aspects of indeterminate sentencing.

But all those enhancements remain in place, even in the absence of evidence that they protect the public from repeat offenders. Some make sense. But some dont, including the requirement that new felony convictions carry an additional year for each jail term already served for a previous felony. SB 1392 would properly eliminate it. And the extra five years for having previously committed a serious crime  thats something that judges should be able to keep or dismiss, in the interests of justice. SB 1393 would give them that authority.

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With one of the most corrupt, autocratic and cruel administrations in memory ensconced in Washington, and with the chances of dislodging it in 2020 hardly a sure thing, youd think Hollywood would be celebrating the virtues of defiance and rebellion. Solo: A Star Wars Story, released Friday for the Memorial Day weekend, seems particularly suited to championing a heroic resistance. Set early in the life of pilot Han Solo, at a time when the evil Empire ruled the galaxy, viewers could reasonably expect the film to depict a battle against authoritarianism and state violence.

But thats not what the movies about really. Instead, Solo, like most recent Hollywood tent-pole films, is nervous about revolution. Conservatives claim that Hollywood is hopelessly liberal, constantly pushing feminism and LGBTQ rights and other subversive agendas. But when it comes to portraying actual subversives, Hollywood isnt enthusiastic. On the contrary, big-budget action films often go out of their way to show that radicals are corrupt, misguided or ridiculous, and to insist that the status quo, whatever its faults, is the thing worth fighting for.

Part of Hollywoods current antipathy toward revolution is tied to the ascendance of the superhero genre. Superheroes are crime fighters, who use their amazing powers to preserve rather than upend social order. Sure enough, the last two major Marvel Cinematic Universe films are built around villainous revolutionaries.

Thanos, in Avengers: Infinity War is a radical, giant, grape-colored cosmic environmentalist. Hes worried that overpopulation will lead to resource depletion and catastrophe. Of course, Malthusian paranoia doesnt make a lot of sense on a galaxy-wide scale. There are admittedly a lot of characters in Infinity War, but even the crowded Marvel universe doesnt seem nearly crowded enough to pollute the vast spaces between the stars.

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Gigantic corporate fantasies can be entertaining and even on occasion thoughtful, but they rarely advocate for the overthrow of a system that benefits them.

Thanos environmental concerns are nonsense, and his solution  killing half the people in the universe  is simply genocide. The film has some sympathy for his trauma and his passion. But, ultimately, hes a caricature of an activist, propounding monstrous solutions for problems that dont exist. If climate-change deniers wanted to come up with the most unflattering possible portrait of environmentalists, they might draw something like Thanos (though possibly with less purple).

Black Panthers villainous radical makes a better case for himself. Killmonger, who tries to seize the Wakanda throne from TChalla, believes the resources of the hidden African nation should be used to overthrow white supremacy worldwide. The film agrees with Killmonger that racism and imperialism are a scourge, but it takes care to present him as ruthless and misguided, most egregiously when he coldly murders his girlfriend. Revolutionaries may identify real problems in comic book films, but they arent to be trusted to remedy them. Better to leave that to the forces of order, which in this case means the Black Panther, a hereditary monarch.

Solo isnt a superhero film and it takes a somewhat different approach. The villain isnt a revolutionary, but a crime boss. As that suggests, the movie isnt centered on fighting against the Empire. Its a heist film, and while it has sympathy for rebels, the plot is mostly focused on stealing and smuggling, not on revolution.

There is one major exception. The droid L3 is consciously trying to get her fellow robots to cast off their restraining bolts and make a bid for freedom. But L3 is treated as a joke; one scene mocks her for having romantic feelings for her captain, Lando Calrissian. Similarly, her robot rebellion isnt central to the plot, but a diversion distracting the authorities from the heist  much as a slave rebellion serves as a light-hearted diversion in last summers Thor: Ragnarok. L3 is eventually killed and turned into part of Hans ship, the Millenium Falcon. She is stripped of consciousness and her voice, but has to continue to work for her owners  a particularly grim fate for a character defined by her dreams of autonomy.

Hollywood sometimes cheers for rebels. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was about a suicide mission to bring down the quasi-fascist Empire. Captain America was pitted against the government in Captain America: Civil War. The protagonists in Rogue One, though, are fighting to restore an earlier order on behalf of a princess and a cabal of mystical warriors. Captain America is fighting to allow an American super team to operate outside the purview of global accountability. Neither is really making the kind of social critique that Killmonger, Thanos and L3 arguably are. Resisters can be protagonists as long as they arent radicals.

None of this is surprising. Big-budget tent-pole movies are multimillion-dollar undertakings, financed by wealthy, successful, comfortable people. Killmonger and L3 are seeking a sweeping redistribution of resources and power. Thats not a message big-time movie producers are likely to find appealing. Gigantic corporate fantasies can be entertaining and even on occasion thoughtful, but they rarely advocate for the overthrow of a system that benefits gigantic corporations. To paraphrase musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron, the revolution will not be Hollywoodized.

Noah Berlatsky is the author, most recently, of The Consequences of Feminism: Women Film Directors.

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Philip Roth taught me everything I know about men, or at least most of what Ive needed to know. I was probably 19 when I read Portnoys Complaint, the novel the New Yorker called the dirtiest book ever published and whose countless masturbation scenes including one in which the young narrator, Alexander Portnoy, achieves sexual fulfillment with a slab of liver that his mother later serves for dinner.

At that time in my life, I was trying to figure out how mens minds worked and, more urgently, how good writing worked. Roth, who died on Tuesday, was helpful on both fronts. He went on to become probably my favorite 20th century novelist; over the years I ripped off his style and attempted to copy his narrative moves more times than I can count.

Almost as significantly, Roth functioned as a portal into the adult male psyche in all its brutality and stupidity. I attended a historically all-female college where most men hid their more primal impulses behind a scrim of good manners and artsy, often androgynous urbanity. Roths men, on the other hand, were as animalistic as they were urbane. They contained news I could use, especially about the way they viewed women. It wasnt always happy news, but I appreciated the honesty.

This is to say that adjacent to Roths literary influence lay a blueprint for sexual dynamics between men and women that I employed in my own dating life. With it, I began to understand that any woman who sits across from a man in a bar is on some level sitting across from an ape. Temper your expectations and you might be amused and have a good time. Demand that your companion be your evolutionary equal and youre in for a world of pain  and not just from a concussion caused by the falling rocks of the surprisingly precarious patriarchy.

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Like a lot of male writers of his time, Roth tended to punt when it came to female characters, focusing more on their physical flesh than the fully fleshed-out personalities and psychological complexities he gave his male characters, particularly his protagonists. Even after his critics gave up on calling him a self-hating Jew, he was still being called a misogynist for writing women who seemed to lack souls, personal agency, a sense of humor and in some cases any narrative purpose other than exposing the helplessness and deep existential torment of the male protagonist.

I began to understand that any woman who sits across from a man in a bar is on some level sitting across from an ape. Temper your expectations.

Roth, according to the scholar Mary Allen, sustained an enormous rage and disappointment with womankind. In a 2008 Harpers article, the writer Vivian Gornick alleged that Roth belonged to a cohort of novelists who have an infantile preoccupation with themselves. In a Guardian review of Roths 2001 novel The Dying Animal, British novelist and journalist Linda Grant wrote, [T]here is in [Roth] dark distaste for women, a repugnance that can only be described by the word misogyny.

Notwithstanding that Grants observation is a lot like one you might see in Roths satirical depictions of postmodern academics, it also seems backward. Roth trafficked heavily in repugnance all right, but it was repugnance aimed inward. Even when I was 19 and wondering what to make of Portnoys shorthand names for his non-Jewish girlfriends  the Pilgrim, the Pumpkin, the Monkey  it was clear that what was in play wasnt so much hatred of women but rather a chronic and all-encompassing sense of inferiority to them. In Roths world, male entitlement was a broad scale disguise for male failure. Womankind was the source of enormous rage and disappointment, but mankind was the source of weakness and shame so unshakeable it took him 27 novels and at least one memoir to work through it.

Roth often responded to the misogyny charges by arguing that his real subject was masculine power impaired. Some feminists dismiss that as a rhetorical dodge, and one that cant possibly hold up in the era of Trump and #MeToo. But I would argue that impaired masculine power is in fact the real subject of this age.

Its easy to see the ways that the behavior of Harvey Weinstein and his ilk bear the imprimatur of classic male entitlement. But Portnoys Complaint reveals the way their behavior is simply pathetic, a testament to entitlement thats loud, nearly inescapable, but also fundamentally hollow. Weinstein, after all, is alleged to have masturbated into a potted plant. He doesnt earn as many originality points as Portnoy, but he certainly occupies that same brutal, stupid territory Roth conjured when creating his male characters.

I am grateful for the blueprint Roth drew all those years ago. In granting me access to the interior lives of men whose dominance was always on the verge of being annihilated by their vulnerabilities, he effectively handed their power to me. He taught me that as seriously as some men may take themselves, the best thing that women can do to combat patriarchal indignities is not take men very seriously at all. And lest we forget it, just think of raw liver.

Meghan Daum is a contributing writer to Opinion.

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In the allegory of the cave, Plato posits a dark cave where prisoners are chained facing a wall, neither able to move nor turn their heads. Behind them are puppeteers they cannot see, and behind those puppeteers is a great fire. The prisoners only reality is the puppet shadows on the wall in front of them.

Such is the state of California politics, where we are limited by the narrow constructs of our single-seat, winner-take-all electoral system, and cant see political possibilities beyond it.

For Plato, enlightenment came when prisoners left the cave and saw things in greater light. What could California see if we left our electoral cave?

Voters want more options

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In The major parties just arent cutting it for California voters, the Los Angeles Times reported on a recent Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) that showed majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents all want a third party. But Californias top-two, single-seat, winner-take-all electoral system mostly prevents the states already ballot-qualified third parties (Green, Libertarian, American Independent and Peace and Freedom) from even appearing on the general election ballot.

At the same time, according to the PPIC poll, top two remains popular among voters. Therefore, The Times concludes, Assuming that Californians dont want to revisit the [election] rules, theyll have to find a way to change the major political parties themselves  a tough task when confidence is already so low.

But this assumes voters can never be told what exists outside the cave: multi-party democracies elected from multi-seat districts by proportional representation.

Maybe the problem is how we ask the question

When the state Legislature placed top two on the June 2010 ballot, its official label, title and summary were highly contested. According to contemporaneous reporting in The Times, The legislative counsel wrote the Prop. 14 language with aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who strongly supports the ballot measure.

The official language promised greater voter participation, but omitted that political parties, independents and write-in candidates would lose their guaranteed rights to be on the general election ballot. Opponents challenged this exclusion in court. If they get their language, we lose the election, a Prop. 14 strategist was quoted as saying.

The courts determined they had authority only to change what was false and misleading, but not to ensure objectivity. Therefore language about greater voter participation was softened, but the omission of other key information was allowed to stand.

For Plato, enlightenment came when prisoners left the cave and saw things in greater light. What could California see if we left our electoral cave?

In Arizona and Oregon, voters rejected top two when the official ballot language mentioned the elimination of party primaries and the reduction in general election options. What kind of wording did the PPIC use to poll support for top two? Language mirroring Californias.

Asking the right question

What if voters were instead asked, How would you feel about a system where voters receive representation in proportion to their number, and are able to vote to elect someone who truly represents their views? That question would probably poll pretty well. It also describes legislative election by proportional representation.

What if voters were also asked, How about being able to rank candidates in single-seat races rather than be limited to voting for only one, so you can support candidates you like most without helping elect the ones you dislike? That question, which would probably poll well, describes ranked-choice voting for single-seat, executive office.

Leaving the cave

What really needed changing in California was our single-seat, winner-take-all system that limited our votes. Top two promised to fix that, but it really just kept a fundamentally undemocratic system in place  and in many ways it made things worse.

Abandoning top two and moving to legislative elections by proportional representation and choosing executives with ranked-choice voting could address multiple problems flowing from our current system: the lack of real choice in the general election, inadequate representation, gerrymandering, vote-splitting and voter turnout.

We are vexed by these issues today, because we arent thinking outside the cave. But no one shackles us inside the cave but ourselves.

Michael Feinstein is a former Santa Monica mayor and City Council member, a co-founder of the Green Party of California and a 2018 candidate for California secretary of state.

This piece is part of Blowback, our online forum for rebuttals to The Times. If you would like to write a full-length response to a recent Times article, editorial or Op-Ed and would like to participate in Blowback, here are our FAQs and submission policy.

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Just 15 months ago, President Trump memorably declared healthcare a knottier issue than he had realized, saying: Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.

Now, he can add nuclear diplomacy to that list.

In withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement and planning a summit with Kim Jong Un, Trump wanted to show that he could negotiate better deals than his predecessors. Friday, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said diplomats were still working to try to put the Singapore summit back on track. For now, however, Trump is left with two potential nuclear crises and a long list of wounded allies.

Well be tracking any developments on Essential Washington over the holiday weekend. Make sure you stay up to date by signing up for breaking news alerts, too.

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NO TO A SUMMIT

A couple of weeks ago Trump was musing publicly about whether he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize: Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it, he said. Even then, however, his aides worried the summit plans were falling apart.

As Eli Stokols and Matt Stiles reported, the doubts mounted quickly after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his second trip to Pyongyang to meet with Kim. He returned with three Americans who had been held in Korean prisons, but with no indication that Kim was serious about eliminating his nuclear stockpile  Trumps central demand.

In the two weeks since that meeting, North Koreas statements grew more bellicose, with venom directed especially at John Bolton, Trumps hawkish national security advisor.

A final blow came when the North Koreans refused to allow Americans to observe what Pyongyang said was the demolition of its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri.

All along, however, as Stokols and Noah Bierman reported, the summit plans were caught between Trumps eager ambitions for a diplomatic victory that he felt would secure his reelection and the skepticism of his advisors, who doubted that Kim would ever agree to give up a nuclear stockpile that he, his father and his grandfather spent more than half a century acquiring.

As Barbara Demick and Tracy Wilkinson wrote, most outside analysts saw the summit as a train wreck waiting to happen. Trump had little choice but to pull out of a meeting he had too hastily agreed to and for which he had little preparation, they said.

Yet, the sudden cancellation caught U.S. allies by surprise. The move particularly embarrassed South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had served as the matchmaker bringing the two sides together.

Early this week, Moon flew hurriedly to Washington to meet with Trump, trying to keep the summit on track. The meetings Tuesday ended equivocally, but the White House gave the South Koreans no advance word before Trump released his letter scrubbing the meeting. Moon had just returned to Seoul when the letter became public, and the South Koreans made little effort to hide their dismay.

With the summit off the calendar, Trump has surrendered the initiative to Kim, as Washington awaits North Koreas reaction.

In the past, Pyongyang has responded to the collapse of diplomatic efforts by trying to create a new crisis. This time, however, some analysts believe the North may have already achieved much of what it wants  international recognition, a weakening of U.S. alliances and an erosion of sanctions  and may be content to just wait Trump out.

THE OTHER NUCLEAR STANDOFF

Trumps enthusiasm for a deal with North Korea stood in sharp contrast to his denunciation of the deal President Obama struck with Iran to constrain that countrys nuclear program.

This week, Pompeo made Iran the topic of his first major speech, a toughly worded attack on Tehran in which he called for a global anti-Iran coalition. As Wilkinson reported, however, Pompeo offered few suggestions about how the U.S. would achieve its goals, beyond vowing an intense campaign of economic sanctions.

MEANTIME, THE TRADE WAR

As Stokols and Bierman reported, Trump and many of his advisors blame China for souring North Koreas attitude toward a summit meeting. In their eyes, the nuclear dispute is bound up with the fight between Washington and Beijing over trade.

On that front, too, Trump has sent mixed signals.

Late last week, as Don Lee reported, Chinese officials came to Washington and outlined a plan to increase Chinese imports of U.S. goods by some $200 billion a year.

Many economists reacted with deep skepticism, doubting that U.S. factories, already operating near capacity, could produce that much more for export.

Some of Trumps hard-line aides, like Peter Navarro, his trade advisor, felt the offer to increase imports was mostly an effort by China to divert attention from the more important issue of Beijings efforts to force American companies to turn over important technology.

Others, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, viewed the Chinese offer more favorably. On Sunday, as Lee and Chris Megerian reported, Mnuchin announced that the administration was putting the trade war on hold.

Now, however, with the summit off the agenda, the trade war may be back on, Lee reports.

CALIFORNIA HAS MOVED LEFT, SO HAS ITS SENIOR SENATOR

Dianne Feinstein made support of the death penalty a centerpiece of her political identity when she first moved into statewide politics more than a generation ago.

But California has grown far more liberal since then, and, as Sarah Wire reported, Feinstein has moved left on a variety of issues as she seeks reelection. The most notable is the death penalty. Running for a fifth term, she now says capital punishment is unfair and ineffective.

Perhaps the most instructive aspect of Wires story: Feinsteins aides say the senator changed her mind about the death penalty several years ago, but that until Wire asked, no reporter had inquired. Her last reelection campaign six years ago was such a once-sided affair that Feinstein barely had to campaign.

This time around, Feinstein remains a prohibitive favorite for reelection, the latest USC Dornsife/L.A. Times poll shows.

As John Myers reported, her main opponent, Kevin de Leon, just hopes to finish second in the June primary. That would put him into the November general election against the incumbent, allowing him a second chance in case lightning strikes in the ensuing months.

Meantime, the new USC/L.A. Times poll also has a message to California Democrats hoping to run for president, as Mark Barabak wrote: Dont quit that day job!

Sen. Kamala Harris got relatively good news from the survey: By 42%-20%, voters in the poll said they were fine with the idea of her seeking the Democratic nomination. But the poll also showed that a quarter of those surveyed said they had never heard of Harris, who has held statewide office since 2010.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti has even lower name recognition  about 30% hadnt heard of him, including nearly half of those in the Bay Area. The idea of his running for the Democatic nomination got less support in the poll  about one-third supported the idea, 21% disapproved and the rest had no opinion.

TRUMP ATTACKS MUELLER, STABILIZES HIS POLITICAL BASE

Since swapping out his legal team earlier this spring, Trump has been leading the attack against the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election thats being conducted by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

As Bierman and Chris Megerian wrote, those attacks have helped solidify Trumps support among his core voters. As a result, Trumps job approval, while still low by historical standards, has risen significantly since December.

This week, Trump amped up the attacks, saying he would demand that the Justice Department investigate the Russia probe. Hes focused on an early chapter in the investigation  long before Mueller arrived on the scene  in which FBI officials asked an American professor who had been an informant for the bureau to question a couple of Trump campaign aides about their possible Russia ties.

Trump has denounced that as spying on his campaign. Democrats say they have seen no sign of wrongdoing.

PROSPECTS FOR THE MIDTERMS

Trumps improved standing among Republican voters probably is good news for the party going into the midterm elections. Midterms tend to be a referendum on the party in the White House, and the better Trump does, the better his partys candidates likely will fare.

That being said, Democrats still have a decent chance of winning control of the House and an outside shot at the Senate.

Democrats have disagreed over what sort of candidates will do best in the current environment: Run left in the hope of motivating core Democratic voters or move to the center to attract independents and moderate Republicans alienated by Trump?

As Barabak wrote, that debate played out in a primary in a suburban district outside of Houston where Democrats hope to win a seat long held by Republicans. In the end, Lizzie Fletcher, a lawyer with a Houston firm, and the more moderate candidate, soundly beat her opponent, Laura Moser.

In Georgia, by contrast, Stacey Abrams, the candidate whose strategy depends on motivating core Democrats, easily won her primary. She will seek to become the first black woman ever elected a governor in the U.S.

As Jennie Jarvie wrote, that will be a tough challenge in Georgia. But Abrams and her strategists note that the state has hundreds of thousands of African American residents who have never been registered or organized to vote. They aim to change that.

REPUBLICANS SETTLE FOR HALF A LOAF ON BANK RULES

Congress gave final approval to a bill that would ease regulations on banks. But as Jim Puzzanghera reported, the measure fell short of the overhaul of the Dodd-Frank banking reform that the GOP wanted.

As with Obamacare, the GOP has had to settle for weakening a major Obama-era program, not repealing it.

Republicans remain even more divided on immigration. GOP infighting scuttled a major farm bill, and party moderates are close to having enough support to force a House debate on DACA legislation. The moderates have given House leaders until June 7 to come up with a compromise proposal.

Congress has made progress on another issue, however. Senate leaders reached a bipartisan deal to reform how Capitol Hill handles sexual harassment cases, Wire reported.

THE REST OF THE WEEKS NEWS

A federal judge in New York ruled that Trump blocking his critics on Twitter violates the 1st Amendment. As David Pierson wrote, the ruling, which the government likely will appeal, could apply broadly to social media accounts maintained by other public officials.

The administration moved to put new restrictions on abortion services, Noam Levey reported.

The IRS will try to block plans in California and other states that sought to get around new limits on the deductibility of state taxes, Puzzanghera reported.

And the Supreme Court handed corporations a major victory over their workers, ruling that companies can require workers to individually arbitrate disputes over wages. As David Savage wrote, the ruling was the latest example of the high court using a once-obscure 1925 law to restrict workers rights.

ANOTHER FIGHT AT THE EPA

The administration keeps trying to find someone to run the EPAs regional office that handles environmental matters in California and adjacent states. The latest candidate comes wth a twist  he wants approval not to work in the agencys main office in San Francisco, as Evan Halper and Tony Barboza reported. Its unclear if Mike Stokers desire to work from a small office in Los Angeles will scuttle his nomination.

LOGISTICS

That wraps up this week. My colleague Christina Bellantoni will be back Tuesday after the holiday with the weekday edition of Essential Politics. Until then, keep track of all the developments in national politics and the Trump administration with our Essential Washington blog, at our Politics page and on Twitter @latimespolitics.

Send your comments, suggestions and news tips to politics@latimes.com.

If you like this newsletter, tell your friends to sign up.

David.lauter@latimes.com

@davidlauter
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When it began, with a South Korean official standing outside the White House announcing that the leaders of the United States and North Korea would meet for an unprecedented summit, President Trump believed he had accomplished a historic breakthrough  an accomplishment, he told friends, that would secure his legacy and his reelection.

Eleven weeks later, that heady dream is over  or at least indefinitely deferred  done in by an intractable issue that proved more complex than Trump had understood and the conflicting agendas of other nations, whose leaders did not respond to the mix of threats and blandishments he deployed.

Even as administration officials on Friday held out the possibility of getting the summit back on track, Trump and those around him primarily blamed China, according to accounts by administration officials and others close to the White House, several of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.

Trump hinted at his view of Chinas role in his brief remarks Thursday explaining the decision to cancel the planned summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un.

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The dialogue was good until recently, and I  I think I understand why that happened, he told reporters, declining to be specific. I wont say that. Someday Ill give it to you, he added.

But while Trump privately blamed Chinese president Xi Jinping for souring North Korea on the meeting, U.S. observers, including some close to the White House, said that all along, the prospects for the summit had been caught between two competing currents: Trumps unbridled desire to make history and his advisors increasing skepticism that Kim was willing to come anywhere close to Trumps fundamental demand that he relinquish his nuclear arsenal.

Some of that tension played out in public as the North Koreans threatened to pull the plug within days of Trump musing publicly about winning a Nobel Peace Prize.

But the roots of the trouble took shape earlier, according to friends of Trump, national security veterans and Korea experts.

On one side was Trump, guided by the desire to captivate a world audience, prove the establishment wrong and win the type of legacy-building achievement that transcends scandals at home in the same way that President Nixons opening of China survived the tarnish of Watergate.

He knows he faces pressure on a lot of fronts, and he certainly is primarily focused on the national security imperatives of this, but he was also saying he thinks this could offset some of the negative stuff coming out of the Russia investigation, said a friend who has discussed North Korea with Trump in recent weeks. His thinking was basically: If I can save the world from a nuclear North Korea, whos going vote against me?

Another friend, conservative media executive Christopher Ruddy, said earlier this week that the subject had come up frequently, and that Trump sees the tipping point as pretty close.

He told me that other presidents have sort of passed the buck and left him this mess, Ruddy said. Hes not the type of guy to run away from a fire.

Follow the latest news on the Trump administration on Essential Washington 

On the other side were national security experts and Asia specialists, many on Trumps own staff, who worried that the presidents lack of preparation combined with his zeal for a deal would push him into giving up too much in exchange for symbolism.

Trump, who had taunted and threatened Kim throughout much of his first year in office, in recent weeks had praised the young autocrat numerous times, calling him honorable while promising to ensure his hold on power should he agree to relinquish his weapons.

The president also spoke in lofty terms about the rare opportunity to achieve something transformational for the world if he could broker peace with Kim.

Trump is hardly the first American president stirred by the prospect of a breakthrough with North Korea. Bill Clinton intended to go in the final days of his presidency, for example, but talks never progressed beyond Secretary of State Madeleine Albrights visit because of the protracted presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.

Yet from the beginning, Trumps approach to North Korea faced particular disadvantages, including a lack of experienced advisors, the presidents own impulsive nature and internal disagreements about how to approach the talks.

Roughly 100 Americans have been involved in direct negotiations with North Korea, but only a handful of them serve in the current administration. Many of those on the front lines of prior negotiations, who stared North Korean government officials in the eye, were excluded by Trump and his team from the administration, either because theyre Democrats or because theyre Republicans who signed letters during the 2016 campaign calling Trump unfit for the presidency.

As the summit date neared, those advising the president increasingly worried about his reluctance to learn the intricacies of diplomacy with North Korea, an isolated country that for decades has bedeviled American efforts to curb its nuclear program and chemical weapons stash  the largest in the world.

Theres a group around him trying to help him understand what its like  how its not a real estate deal, a longtime GOP lobbyist in Washington who is close to the Trump White House said in the days before the meeting was canceled.

Hes sincere about wanting to fix this, but he believes his personal charisma will take him further than it actually will.

Trump alarmed Japanese allies during an April meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Palm Beach, Fla., telling Abe he would rely on his instinct after he sized up Kim, said a former national security official who is in touch with current administration officials and Asian contacts.

The president will not be staffed on this, the former official said a few days before the cancellation. Hes going to go in and go with his gut, which is nuts.

The Japanese have worried that Trump will agree to withdraw American troops from the Korean peninsula, something he has advocated for decades.

South Korean allies, on the other hand, have been eager for Trump to engage with North Korea  even if Kim declines to give up his weapons  because they believe talks are essential to lowering tensions in the region and allowing the South to reach its own peace deal with Kim.

Trump went with his gut in canceling the summit, as well, deciding early Thursday morning and dictating the letter that was released shortly before 10 a.m. with no warning to South Korea or other U.S. allies.

Those familiar with the White House deliberations said that optimism about the possible summit meeting began to fade earlier this month after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang for a second meeting with Kim and found that the North Korean leader would not engage substantively with U.S. demands that he fully give up the nuclear arsenal that he, his father and his grandfather, who each preceded him as ruler, had spent more than half a century developing.

In the ensuing two weeks, the North Koreans failed to show up in Singapore for a planned meeting to discuss the ground rules for the summit. The final blow, said a national security ally in regular contact with the White House, came in recent days when the North Koreans refused to allow U.S. officials to monitor what Pyongyang billed as the destruction of its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri.

All the messaging from the North Koreans was one thing, but they did not allow anyone to witness the destruction of the nuclear test site, which they had promised, the ally said. That was sort of a red line because we really wanted to see what was there.

Pompeo and the rest were not willing to overlook these fairly material bad signs when theyre not showing up, and theyre changing the rules, the person added.

At the same time, North Korean officials began to issue public statements harshly attacking administration officials, notably Trumps national security advisor, John Bolton.

Bolton sat at the other end of the spectrum from Trump in terms of enthusiasm about the prospects of negotiating with Kim. He has spent much of his career warning against negotiations with what he considers rogue regimes, and while those close to the White House say that he hadnt tried to sabotage the talks, they agree that he had worked to temper Trumps high hopes.

In public remarks, Bolton compared U.S. strategy toward North Korea with the negotiations that led Libya to give up its far more modest nuclear program in 2003 in return for economic and diplomatic concessions. As the North Koreans well know, eight years after he ended his nuclear efforts, Libyas leader, Moammar Kadafi, was killed by Western-backed rebels.

But while Bolton was a convenient target for the North Koreans, the role his statements played has been exaggerated, said Michael Green, a former National Security Council official in the George W. Bush administration who was involved in past talks with North Korea.

I think thats ground noise, Green added. The reality was: North Korea came to the table because they wanted the president of the United States to give them de facto recognition as a nuclear weapons state, and by now, they feel they have accomplished much of what they sought.

Just talk of the summit got China to back off on their sanctions, which is 90% of their trade, Green said. So its pretty obvious this was their intention all along.

Trumps mistake was to take Kim literally when he expressed a willingness to denuclearize, even as his top national security officials were expressing skepticism, Green added.

The Libya noise certainly angered the North Koreans, but I dont think thats why this fell apart, Green said. It fell apart because when Pompeo went to North Korea to pin them down on some nuclear deal, they balked.

Some Trump allies, however, believe the president has been underestimated. They point out that he has been immersed in the Korea issue since he was elected. President Obama told Trump it would be his most daunting problem when the two met at the White House during the transition, a moment Trump likes to recall publicly as he relishes the prospect of succeeding in an area where Obama failed.

Hes been living and breathing this issue, said James Carafano, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation who advised Trump during the transition.

With that investment of time, and Trumps desire to build a legacy, the North Korea file seems unlikely to be closed, even if the summit does not quickly reappear on Trumps schedule.

I dont think that things are off the rails. I think he wants to keep them on their toes, said a former national security official.

He didnt want the decision to be in Kims hands. I dont think theyre going to give up on this long-term goal. Its year one.

Stokols is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Matt Stiles contributed from Seoul.

noah.bierman@latimes.com

Twitter: @noahbierman

UPDATES:

12:30 p.m.: This article was updated to add that Trump administration officials are holding out the possibility of getting the summit back on track.

This article was originally published at 3:35 a.m.
As he sometimes does before a life-changing decision, Travis Allen grabbed his surfboard and took to the breakers near his Huntington Beach home the day he decided to run for the state Assembly in 2012.

Now, the Republican backbencher hopes to ride a wave of taxpayer anger into the California governors office.

Allen has amassed a statewide following of conservatives by leading the charge to persuade voters to repeal increases in the states gas tax and vehicle fees approved last year by the Democratic majority. But along the way his brash actions have alienated some members of his own party.

After watching almost all of his bills die in the Democrat-controlled Legislature over the last six years, Allens frustration reached its peak in April 2017 when he and other Republicans were on the losing end of the gas tax vote. That defining moment set him on the path to run for governor.

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It directly influenced my decision, Allen said in an interview. The only way to truly stop the Democrats and take back California was to take that top spot and become the next governor of the state of California.

Allens vehicle to the highest state office was to be a ballot measure he proposed in May 2017 that would have repealed the gas tax and vehicle fees. But that effort foundered, and he has had to pivot to endorse a separate repeal initiative launched in September and backed by Republican businessman John Cox, a rival in the race.

Along the way, Allens actions have ignited a feud among California Republicans, with some charging that his primary motive has been to use the gas tax issue to boost his political fortune.

Repeal of the higher taxes and fees is supported by 51% of registered voters in the state, including 80% of Republicans, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times statewide public opinion poll released this week.

Allens initiative was bogged down in a court fight. Initially, a judge sided with his objection that Democratic state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerras language for the title and summary of the initiative was misleading because it did not make clear the measure would repeal taxes and fees. But an appeals court sided with the attorney general, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear Allens appeal.

Coverage of California politics 

With time running out, Allen did not file any signatures by the deadline to get the measure on the ballot and ended up pledging his support for the separate repeal initiative backed by Cox and Republican members of Congress.

Allen infuriated some fellow Republicans last month when he used $300,000 donated by a real estate firm to his pro-repeal committee to make radio and video ads touting his candidacy for governor while urging elimination of the new gas tax. Allen denied the ad promoted his campaign and said it wasnt improper.

It happened at a crucial time when the second initiative drive was short of cash needed to collect sufficient signatures, said Republican Carl DeMaio, a leader of that ballot measure campaign. He calls Allen a snake-oil salesman, alleging the assemblyman used the gas tax to rally voter support for his gubernatorial bid without doing what was needed to get the issue on the ballot.

He did everything he could to set up a side show to promote his name and not do anything to support the effort to repeal the gas tax, said DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member and conservative radio talk-show host who has endorsed Cox. It undermined the viability of our initiative.

Allen said the new initiative drive benefited from the momentum he created when he started rallying voters to repeal the gas tax months earlier, and he said he delivered tens of thousands of signatures for the second measure.

Last month, the second drive turned in more than 900,000 signatures, and backers are waiting to hear from elected officials to determine whether there are the 585,407 signatures of registered voters needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

Allen, who was a financial planner before he was elected, said he would be doing those who donated to his repeal campaign a huge disservice if I was to transfer any funds to a campaign committee involving John Cox, whom he called a failed politician.

Cox, in turn, filed a complaint with the state political watchdog agency alleging Allen misused the $300,000 contributed to the repeal campaign to improperly promote his candidacy for governor.

Allens role in the subsequent petition drive was downplayed by David Gilliard, a Republican political consultant behind the newer initiative.

He was the first, but his measure was flawed and never got off the ground. He was inconsequential in our campaign, Gilliard said.

Another leader of the latest initiative drive, Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., offered a polite assessment of Allens efforts.

I think his heart was in the right place, but that [initiative] did not really look to us to be really viable, Coupal said.

Allen was one of 10 California legislators to get perfect scores last year from Coupals group for votes against taxes, but the association has endorsed Cox as a conservative voice with better funding and campaign organization, and therefore a better chance to win.

Travis has unquestionably been a very solid vote for taxpayers, Coupal said. Hes very articulate, and I think he has a future.

Other conservative Republicans, including former Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, who ran unsuccessfully for governor four years ago, give Allen the benefit of the doubt on his initiative efforts.

Repealing the gas tax is smart politics, Donnelly said. It was very smart politics on the part of Travis Allen, and I believe he was very sincere about it.

Donnelly credits Allen for exciting conservative grass-roots activists in much the way that President Trump did, although Trump has endorsed Cox in the contest for governor. That endorsement was a setback for Allen, who had campaigned as the only top candidate to vote for Trump in 2016.

The California Republican Party did not endorse either candidate because neither won the 60% of the vote of delegates needed for state GOP backing.

Assemblyman Steven Choi (R-Irvine), who formerly sat next to Allen on the Assembly floor, admires Allen for leading on the issue. Choi said that it was too much for Allen to run an initiative drive while campaigning for governor and that the court ruling was a major setback.

Some people said that he was using that [ballot measure] for his own good, Choi said. In my judgment, he was not abusing that opportunity. He tried, but the reality did not allow him to pursue that.

Allens confrontational style and propensity to speak more than his share on the Assembly floor has divided fellow lawmakers. But Choi, a former Irvine mayor who has endorsed Allen, said the assemblymans passion is real.

He is one of the most conservative Republican Party members that I have seen, Choi said. He is not afraid of speaking up on the controversial, very ridiculous bills being introduced on the floor. A lot of people are afraid of speaking, but he was the one all the time standing up and speaking up.

Allen does not hold a leadership position in the Republican Caucus. His biggest role is as vice chairman of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy.

His success rate with bills has not been high, which is common among Republicans in a Legislature controlled by Democrats.

Of the 94 Allen bills that have been acted on, 87 failed to pass, two were vetoed by the governor and five were approved and signed into law.

Most of the bills signed into law were incremental changes to existing laws.

Asked about his legislative accomplishments, Allen cites a failed attempt to stop sanctuary laws protecting immigrants in the country illegally and his push for a law preventing California state government agencies from awarding contracts to companies that participate in a boycott of Israel.

As in the dispute over Allens handling of the gas tax fight, he has detractors for the way he handled the latter bill.

The contracts law was originally proposed in a bill introduced by Allen, but that legislation died, and Democrats led by Assemblyman Richard Bloom of Santa Monica introduced a similar measure that was approved by lawmakers and signed by the governor in 2016.

It was a long fight, and the Democrats eventually stole the bill, Allen said.

Bloom said the legislation was the top priority of the Legislative Jewish Caucus, with the understanding it would be carried by a member of that group.

Mr. Allen got off to a bad start when he attempted to go around the caucus with his own bill, Bloom said. Nevertheless, after trying to work with him but finding it impossible, his bill was sidelined.

Despite the strong bipartisan support for the Bloom bill, the Democratic lawmaker said it was a challenging piece of legislation that, I am convinced, would have failed had Mr. Allen been left to his own devices.

Nearly two years later, Allen still smarts from having his bill taken over by Democrats. That control by the Democratic majority motivates Allen as he runs for governor and continues urging voters to repeal the gas tax increase.

I realized I wasnt able to beat Jerry Brown and California Democrats as a legislator, he said. But I could beat them as a citizen through the ballot initiative process, which is exactly what were doing.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Twitter: @mcgreevy99

UPDATES:

12:25 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information on Allens work to repeal the gas tax.

This article was originally published at 12:05 a.m.
Californians still support the concept of a bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, but after months of troubling disclosures about the projects cost and schedule, just 31% of voters across the state want to keep building it, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll.

The survey confirmed what has been consistent in California public opinion for half a decade: The public has never abandoned its dream of a high-speed transportation system but rejects the rail authoritys performance in building it.

One of the projects challenges revealed by the poll is a deep geographic divide. Bay Area voters, who would get the biggest and earliest benefits of the project, are its strongest supporters. A smaller majority support it in Los Angeles, while most respondents in San Diego and Orange counties are opposed. The Central Valley, which is seeing a construction industry employment boost but also suffering through widespread disruption, has the largest pool of opposition.

About 48% of the polls 835 respondents said that in general they strongly or somewhat support the project, while 43% oppose it. USC poll director Jill Darling said those are not strong numbers of support or opposition, given the polls margin of error of 4 percentage points.

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But when asked in a second question whether they would stop the project, given that the cost has doubled to $77 billion and the schedule has stretched to 2033, just 31% said they would keep going and 49% said they would halt construction. A sizable 19% did not know what to do about the problems.

Whether the vagaries of public opinion could alter the course of the project is doubtful, given the strong support from Gov. Jerry Brown, big-city mayors, legislative leaders, transportation officials, organized labor, the construction industry and engineering consultants across the state.

A 2012 poll by The Times and USC just before a key vote in the Legislature showed 59% of voters would oppose the bond measure that was passed in 2008 to fund the project if it were put back on the ballot. Shortly after, the Legislature passed and Brown signed a multibillion-dollar appropriation out of the bond measure to start construction.

The rail authoritys new chief executive, Brian Kelly, said he sees some good news in the most recent polls.

This poll appears to show that even after the authority just laid out the key challenges for the project related to schedule and cost, more Californians continue to support the concept of high-speed rail than not, Kelly said in a statement. That finding is consistent with another recent poll in March from the Public Policy Institute of California. Our job is to deliver this project which will provide Californians with mobility, environmental and economic benefits. That is what we are focused on doing.

Kelly and other rail officials say the project is fully inclusive of all of the states major regions, but an increasing number of Southern Californians appears to question whether the balance is fair.

Under a draft 2018 business plan, the California High-Speed Rail Authority is committed to helping create a 70-mile electrically powered commuter train route from Gilroy to San Francisco, building a massive train station in downtown San Francisco and making other investments. The first partial operating segment would start in the Bay Area and run to the Central Valley.

By contrast, the project in Southern California is funding improvement for a freight railroad crossing south of downtown Los Angeles and redesigning tracks at Union Station. Though those are important, they dont have the scale or impact of the Bay Area projects. And there is no funding in sight for a bullet train connection to Southern California.

Such disparities could jeopardize public support for the project, said Martin Wachs, a member of a peer review panel that oversees the project and a UCLA transportation expert. This year, Anthony Rendon, speaker of the state Assembly, said he is concerned about the spending disparity given that the project does not have enough funding to complete its plan.

Coverage of California politics 



Darling, the USC survey director, said that the findings reflect already weak support in Southern California and that if voters become aware of the possibility that the rail may never reach their area, support could evaporate. Just 27% of poll respondents in the Bay Area said they would stop the project, compared with 41% in Los Angeles, 56% in San Diego and Orange counties and 64% in the Central Valley.

Is the higher support in the north the result of more spending there or a more liberal and environmentally minded electorate? Wachs said. It is likely both.

Richard Katz, former Democratic majority leader in the Assembly and a longtime Southern California transportation official, said the Bay Area popped ahead early in the program when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said she wanted to draw funding from the project for the Transbay Transit Center, the bullet trains future terminus in San Francisco. The concentration of power by Pelosi, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, former Sen. Barbara Boxer and Brown gave the Bay Area an advantage, Katz said.

Tom Umberg, who chaired the rail authoritys board of directors before current leader Dan Richard and is now a state Senate candidate in Orange County, said, One of my challenges is to make sure we get our fair share of the benefits.

A geographic disparity in rail spending is a new political problem for the state and contrasts sharply with highway spending, which is funded by mandated revenue sources, said Art Bauer, a former state Senate staffer who participated in the early formulation of the high-speed rail project.

The highway program is a like a river, and all the local governments have water rights along it, Bauer said. The program is designed to trend toward equity. This rail program has become I have mine and you cant have yours. 

Jill Darling, survey director, USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research, contributed to this report.

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @rvartabedian

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New poll finds a volatile race for second place in California governors contest
While the upcoming California primary isnt until June 5, a judgeship race has already affected Burbank.

The race for a seat on the Los Angeles County Superior Court took a turn in March after David Diamond, a criminal defense attorney and member of the Burbank Police Commission, was accused by his opponent of having a misleading ballot designation. Diamonds original designation listed him as a Police Commissioner/Attorney.

His opponent, L.A. County Deputy District Atty. Troy Davis, took issue with the inclusion of police commissioner as part of the ballot designation and filed a petition in court against County Registrar-Record Dean Logan and Diamond to have it changed.

For a criminal defense attorney to attempt to masquerade as a police official in a judicial election is as misleading as a designation can be, the petition states.

Brentford Ferreira, an attorney for Davis, said voters unaware of the commission who saw the ballot designation could have thought Diamond was in charge of the department. He said it was an attempt by Diamond to equate himself with former New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

Several attempts to reach Diamond for comment were unsuccessful. However, in an email he sent in response to a request, Diamond said there are many layers to the dispute but did not elaborate more.

The citys police commission is a voluntary body that meets once a month and acts as a liaison between the community and the Burbank Police Department. However, the commission lacks any oversight powers.

Although candidates are allowed to list a volunteer position as part of their designation, Californias election code states that it must constitute substantial involvement of the candidates time and effort such that the activity or service is the sole, primary, main or leading professional, vocational or occupational endeavor.

According to a court declaration from Burbank Police Department Chief Scott LaChasse, the commission meetings last for approximately an hour or two and commissioners occasionally get to review materials prior to their meetings.

I applaud the unpaid volunteers who serve on our police commission but cannot verify that service on the commission is a time-consuming activity, he said. It is not an occupation or job.

In his own declaration, Diamond said he does spend a significant portion of every week working as a police commissioner, including reviewing government documents such as the citys budget, preparing for meetings and attending city events.

However, according to court documents, a judge found that Diamonds duties as a commissioner were ancillary to his actual job as an attorney.

It appears from his website that [Diamond] maintains a busy criminal-defense practice, and that he also spends time teaching trial advocacy and as a media personality, according to the judges ruling in courtroom minutes.

The ruling went on to say that Diamond was unable to tell the judge how often he reviews the city budget in his role as a commissioner, how long that takes and what role, if any, the commission has in recommending changes to the budget.

Despites Diamonds declaration to the otherwise, his work as a commissioner is not a substantial part of his week or month, the judge ruled.

A judge eventually ruled the designation was misleading and ordered it changed to read only as Attorney. However, the judge disagreed with Daviss contention that police commissioner is an inherently misleading description.

The main issue, according to court records, was because of the lack of time commitment and the commissioner role not being Diamonds main occupation.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
As Johnny Ramos takes his first steps this week as a graduate of the renowned Oxford Academy and moves into the next chapter of his life, hell be sure to hold onto his roots.

The 18-year-old from Anaheim is the son of famed blues guitarist Kid Ramos, whos been entertaining audiences with his blistering guitar skills for decades in bands like the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Johnny Ramos inherited his fathers skills on the axe along with a singing voice. While music has come easy for him, getting through Oxford was a struggle.

Oxford Academy in Cypress is ranked the second best high school in California by U.S. News and World Report. Although its a public school, Oxford is defined by rigorous academia. But its a guaranteed highway to college as 100% of students move on.

As part of the Anaheim Union High School District, the school  which covers middle and high school  admits kids from elementary schools in Anaheim, Buena Park, La Palma, Cypress and Stanton.

Johnny Ramos said as he was growing up, kids would speak about the school as though it were mythological.

In Anaheim elementary schools, its kind of like a legend, Ramos said. When a kid would go to Oxford, we would say, Wow, they made it. When I got in I felt I really accomplished something.

It would be no easy feat.

The year he entered the school his father was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Ewings sarcoma.

It was a really difficult time because I was trying to figure out who I am and I was just thrown into this school, Johnny Ramos said. Only a few kids had been chosen from my elementary so I had to meet all new people. I had to figure all this out and worry about if my dad was going to be there the next year.

He also came to the conclusion that if his father were to pass away, he needed to make sure the Ramos musical tradition was preserved. He began to learn guitar.

I came to the realization that I needed to learn guitar from him because he is such a great guitarist, Johnny Ramos said. Its a tradition I was scared to lose.

Music became a respite from the grief. Kid Ramos announced he was cancer free in 2014 when he claimed the Orange County Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.

While Johnny Ramos developed his musical skills, Oxford didnt get any easier. He went on academic probation due to an inadequate GPA several times, with the most recent stint lasting his entire junior year. He was able to work his way through it by hours of tutoring and extra classes.

Johnny is a kid who stands out, said Fabiana Muench-Casanova, an Oxford teacher who helped him through school. Its been the best watching him progress. I love it when the kids who have the odds stacked against them persevere.

Johnny Ramos plans to go to Fullerton College and focus on advancing his music career. His band, Johnny and Jaalene, recently performed at Viva Las Vegas, a rockabilly festival. Kid Ramos played on stage along with them.

Johnny Ramos debut record will be on his fathers new album, Old School. The release party for the record will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at Gaslamp Restaurant and Bar at 6251 East Pacific Coast Hwy., Long Beach.

Although Oxford has many success stories with Latino students like Johnny Ramos, there is a sentiment on campus that the school needs to do more to support the Latino community, as evidenced in a recent article in the schools newspaper delineating the struggles of Latino students.

Muench-Casanova said the school should better reflect the demographics of the Anaheim Union High School District. According to the California Department of Education, 67.8% of the districts student body is Hispanic or Latino, yet 18.1% of Oxfords students fit that category.

Muench-Casanova said because the school can be such a positive gateway, it should seek to bring in students who arent coming from a place of affluence, thereby supporting the largest ethnic group in the district.

Oxford principal Alicia Baillie said one of the most prominent issues educators deal with is how to close the achievement gap, or the differences in performance of groups  usually defined by race, ethnicity or socioeconomics.

While Oxford seeks to combat this by drawing students from elementary schools throughout the district, it hasnt resulted in a student body that matches the demographics of the district. According to the California Department of Education, Asians make up the majority of Oxford students at 61.9%, despite 13.1% of students being Asian in the district.

District spokeswoman Patricia Karlak and Baillie said much is being done to rectify the situation.

For outreach purposes, Baillie and other school officials visit elementary schools to teach about Oxfords principles  trips organized by a family and community engagement specialist. Oxford also has a Hispanic parent group, Karlak said.

To help Latino students who may not have the same resources as others on campus, the Assn. of Latin American Students  which is advised by Muench-Casanova  has alumni mentors. The club has also completed several workshops with parents as part of outreach efforts.

Programs like Advancement Via Individual Determination and Link Crew help students be successful. AVID encourages students to develop skills to be college-ready and Link Crew has older students show younger ones the ropes on campus.

I think our measures are greater than many other schools and very fair; however, we can always grow and thats our goal, Baillie said.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter:@benbrazilpilot
Unifying Catalysts.

Thats the name of The Wooden Floors upcoming 35th annual concert from May 31 through June 2 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

For nearly four decades, the youth-serving nonprofit arts organization has helped thousands of Orange County kids benefit from The Wooden Floors dance programs, as well as its academic, college and career readiness tutoring.

Our approach to dance is about challenging children to think about the world around them in very complex ways, said Dawn Reese, chief executive officer of The Wooden Floor. They learn how to collaborate, how to critically think. They test themselves in the studio. They learn about themselves. They sometimes succeed, they sometimes fail. They seem like they take that courage into all parts of their life.

Founded by Beth Burns, then a sister with the order of St. Joseph of Orange, The Wooden Floor was originally known as Saint Joseph Ballet. It started as a summer pilot dance program for at-risk youth. The organization changed its name to The Wooden Floor in 2009.

Today, the Santa Ana-based organization helps nearly 500 children per year with its innovative, long-term dance, academic and social-emotional programs and strategies. Students typically enter when they are in third or fourth grades, and stay until they graduate from high school. Since 2005, 100% of Wooden Floor students have graduated from high school and enrolled in higher education, according to Reese.

Participants generally come from low-income families of $35,000 per year per household, Reese said. About 96% go through the program free of charge. Others pay a nominal tuition of $20 to $70 per month. The Wooden Floor is supported by individual, private and family foundations, including the Weingart Foundation and the Surdna Foundation.

Over the years, the nonprofit has won awards, including honors from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2015 Leadership Circle Award from the PIMCO Foundation and a 2012 Afterschool Innovator Award from the Afterschool Alliance and the MetLife Foundation.

The kids make a commitment, and theyre well-trained. Theyre quite good. Jerry Mandel, president of the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Its a remarkable organization, and were really proud to have them at the Barclay, said Jerry Mandel, president of the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The kids make a commitment, and theyre well-trained. Theyre quite good. The Wooden Floor touches our heart.

On May 12, The Wooden Floor opened a long-anticipated second location at Depot at Santiago, a mixed-use development in Santa Ana for working families with incomes that range from 30 to 60% of the areas median income.

The 4,000-square-foot facility, which includes a dance studio, an education and community center and a family resource center, allows The Wooden Floor to serve about 100 more students and their families. Previously, the nonprofit was only able to serve 375 children annually, and was forced to turn away about 80% of children who lined up to enroll each of the past five years, Reese said.

The Wooden Floor already is looking to expand to a third location over the next several years, Reese said. The organization is also licensing out its programming and curriculum to another nonprofit, City Dance Dream in Washington, D.C.

For Unifying Catalysts, The Wooden Floor is collaborating with three accomplished choreographers and professional dancers.

Sean Curran, chair of the dance department at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, has worked with the students to expand a performance called Reaction Yield.

Mark Haim, an NEA and New York Foundation for the Arts awardee, will work with 60 dancers, who will perform Cavalcade, set to orchestra and chamber music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Amy ONeal of the National Performance Network and the National Dance Project, has choreographed a piece set to rhythmic, futuristic soul music. Unafraid focuses on street dance and reflections of the community.

Our faculty are all professional dance educators and theyre also artists, Reese said. Every year, we bring the top choreographers together with our students to co-create a new work. The students are very involved in the artistic process.

Prior to the June 1 performance, a black-tie dinner is planned to help raise funds for The Wooden Floor. Tickets start at $350. A free, pre-performance chat with the cast and choreographers is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. June 2.

If You Go

What: Unifying Catalysts, 35th annual concert by The Wooden Floor

When: 8 p.m. May 31 through June 2, and 2:30 p.m. June 2

Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine

Cost: $20 general; $50 benefit seating, which includes a $30 tax-deductible contribution; $10 for children 13 and younger and students

Information: (949) 854-4646 or thewoodenfloor.org.

Richard Chang is a contributor to Times Community News.
Costa Mesa police arrested a Santa Ana man Thursday on suspicion of stabbing an acquaintance this week following an argument.

Police said two men quarreled Monday evening at a residence in the 2000 block of National Avenue in Costa Mesa and that one became upset when the other asked him to leave. The man attacked, leaving the other with a cut on the left side of his face and two stab wounds in the back, police said.

The stabbing victim, a 30-year-old Costa Mesa resident, was taken to a trauma center for treatment and was later released, police said.

On Thursday, Costa Mesa detectives, with assistance from the Santa Ana Police Department, arrested Jonathan Comfort Whitworth, 33, shorty after noon on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated mayhem.

Whitworth was booked into Orange County Jail with bail set at $1 million.

luke.money@latimes.com

Twitter @LukeMMoney
As a country we seem to stagger from one shooting to the next, from Sandy Hook, Conn., to Santa Fe, Texas, all the while roughly 96 Americans die every day from guns, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) has made it sickeningly clear that he is not willing to do anything. Like too many politicians in Washington, he prioritizes National Rifle Assn. donations over dead American children. Nothing will change until we elect politicians who are pledging to do something to turn the tide of gun violence.

Thats why Im voting for Harley Rouda in the 48th Congrssional District. He has made common-sense gun laws a cornerstone of his campaign. While respecting the 2nd Amendment, Rouda supports laws that will reduce the gun violence epidemic we face today.

Rouda supports banning military-style assault weapons and bump stocks, both of which were used to massacre dozens in recent months. He supports expanding background checks to encompass all gun sales, as well as closing loopholes that allow dangerous criminals, such as convicted domestic violence abusers, from purchasing guns. Rouda also wants to find a solution for this epidemic by funding the CDC to research gun violence.

All in all, these are common sense steps that many Americans support. We now need a representative who will actually vote as the American people demand. Rouda will support our call for common sense gun laws.

Erin Spivey

Huntington Beach

Rohrabacher fails the LGBTQ community

I read the op-ed piece by Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel endorsing Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) with a combination of alarm and disgust (Dana Rohrabachers conservative track record is as consistent as it is long).

Although I live in his district, Rohrabacher does not represent me, a gay man, in Congress. He admitted recently that he supports allowing housing discrimination against gay and lesbian people, referring to the beliefs of fundamentalist Christians and their view of lifestyles, with which he concurs.

Yes, what would Jesus do?

For the record, wearing Bermuda shorts is a lifestyle. Yachting is a lifestyle. Being on the government payroll for more than 30 years with nothing contributed to his district and no meaningful accomplishments is a lifestyle. A person who is LGBTQ is not living a lifestyle; we are living a life.

Thomas J. Peterson

Newport Beach

Keirstead is the best choice for Congress

Is it now politics as usual, that candidates and their proxies have to slime each other? As a District 48 voter and constituent, I am dismayed to watch as issues of real importance are thrown out the window in favor of emotional digressions.

It is on the basis of issues of real importance that I have chosen to support Dr. Hans Keirstead in his bid to represent Democratic values in the November election. I made this decision only after a long period of observation and consideration of all the Democratic candidates and a conviction that Keirstead is the best rival for the incumbent Republican in the fall.

Having met Keirstead, and having had the opportunity to ask him questions, I find him both personable and intellectually impressive. As a successful, respected and experienced scientist, he brings a mind trained in the empirical method of coming to conclusions only after careful accumulation of factual information and consideration of outcomes.

As a medical professional, he is dedicated to the improvement of our health care system and the affordable availability of medications for all Americans. This, as I understand it, is his first priority. He applies the same scientific logic to his thoughts on climate change, the protection of our planet and our food supply. On social issues, he expresses his belief in racial equality, justice and the welfare of the neediest among us. These positions reflect my own priorities.

Peter Clothier

Laguna Beach

Rouda is the better candidate in District 48

Wow, an entire page of Fridays paper devoted to opinion pieces about Scott Baugh and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. We do have a better choice  Harley Rouda. He supports responsible gun control measures, equal rights for women (including controlling their own body) and affordable health care for all.

He will fight for clean energy and against offshore oil drilling, support comprehensive immigration reform and the rights of the LGBTQ community and work to end Citizens United.

Please take a look at the issues page on his website and decide who youd rather have fighting for you. We already know its not Rohrabacher, who doesnt believe in climate change, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and has a 93% from the NRA.

Hes been in office for 30 years and hasnt accomplished much of anything. Time for a change.

Michele Burgess

Huntington Beach

How to get published: Email us at dailypilot@latimes.com. All correspondence must include full name, hometown and phone number (for verification purposes). The Pilot reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity and length.
An Irvine man was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of robbing a Bank of America in Newport Coast that morning, police said.

Newport Beach police responded to the branch at 21171 Newport Coast Drive at about 10:45 a.m. after receiving a report of the robbery, said Lt. Tom Fischbacher.

Fischbacher said a man entered the bank and used a note to demand cash from tellers. No weapon was seen.

It isnt clear how much money was taken, though police said it was a large sum.

Detectives obtained still photos of the man from bank surveillance cameras and the photos were disseminated to local law enforcement agencies, police said. Investigators conducted surveillance on a possible suspect in Irvine, Fischbacher said.

Barry Buydens, 55, was arrested at about 9:45 p.m. on suspicion of robbery. Police said they found stolen cash during the arrest.

It isnt clear how authorities connected Buydens to the robbery.

Buydens, who is listed in jail records as a day trader, was booked into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana without bail.

A Bank of America in Newport Coast was robbed Thursday morning, police said. A suspect was arrested that night. (Bing Maps / Daily Pilot )

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN

UPDATES:

11:35 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 10:10 a.m.
Tivoli Terrace, a popular wedding and event venue next to Laguna Beachs Festival of Arts grounds, has been sold to new owners who plan to renovate the business and repurpose it as a restaurant.

After nearly 50 years, Tivoli owner June Neptune sold her lease April 20 to Laguna businessman Mohammed Mo Honarkars Laguna Beach Co., according to a news release.

The space is being transformed into Terra Laguna Beach but will remain open for the summer and handle existing wedding bookings, the company said. A grand reopening is scheduled for May 2019.

Company officials said the Terra name refers to our collective home, Mother Earth, or terra firma, the natural and necessary nourishment we receive from our planet, and gives an identity relative to its cuisine  natural, fresh and native California cuisine.

As a restaurant, it will have the same footprint as Tivoli Terrace but with some renovations. Its top tier will be renamed the Neptune Lounge after Neptune, who founded Tivoli Terrace on April 20, 1971, and coincidentally ended her run there exactly 47 years later.

For the past 47 years it has been an honor and, most of all, my pleasure to serve the thousands of guests that visited Tivoli Terrace, Neptune said in a statement. I wish only the very best for the new life and business at the location that was known as Tivoli Terrace as they begin what I hope is another 47 years of success.

Company officials said Neptune also is closing Tivoli Too, an event venue down Laguna Canyon Road and within the Art-A-Fair property, which Honarkar acquired last fall. She is not closing the Hacienda, an event space on a historical ranch estate in Santa Ana.

Plans for Tivoli Toos replacement have not been announced.

Part of Terras transformation will be reintroducing Tivoli Terraces futuristic paraboloid rooftop designed by Don Williamson in 1957.

Williamson was an architect who designed many buildings around Laguna and directed the Pageant of the Masters from 1964 to 1978. The roof spans 70 feet and is supported at two points. It has always been on the building but was obscured.

We are so excited to be adding Terra to our vision for the arts district and are thrilled to have discovered this hidden historic structure that is an important part of the history of architecture in Laguna Beach and Orange County, Honarkar said in a statement. We are eager to reintroduce such a magnificent building to our community and look forward to providing the patrons of Festival of Arts/Pageant of the Masters and Laguna Playhouse with a dining destination that mirrors the level of excellence provided by those organizations.

BRADLEY ZINT is a contributor to Times Community News.
A 78-year-old Sunland man crashed his vehicle into a concrete sign engraved with Welcome to Glendale on Wednesday, becoming the second instance where the controversial marker has been damaged, according to authorities.

Glendale police said the mans vehicle struck the sign, located on Foothill Boulevard near Lowell Avenue, sometime around 3:10 p.m. after he made an unsafe lane change, according to Tahnee Lightfoot, a spokeswoman for the Glendale Police Department.

She said the man was traveling westbound on Foothill and was not impaired at the time of the crash.

While the sign was completely damaged, Lightfoot said the man was uninjured.

There was minor damage to the car, and it had to be towed, she said. No other vehicles were involved.

City officials said this weeks incident was the second time the sign has been damaged since its installation in November, according to Lightfoot.

She said there was also an earlier incident where only the median surrounding the sign was damaged.

The first time the marker was broken involved a hit-and-run driver who crashed their black Toyota Prius into it in December.

Tom Lorenz, a city spokesman, said, at the time, the driver of the Prius was going to be responsible for the costs of repairing the sign.

Its unknown how much it will cost to repair the sign from this latest crash. Information was also not available about how much the previous repair job cost.

Neither Lorenz nor other city officials could not be reached for comment.

A second sign was installed at the same time as the first on Foothill near Pennsylvania Avenue, but it has never been damaged, Lightfoot said.

Residents in the area have criticized the two signs since 2016 when their designs were first unveiled.

One concern has been that the signs pose a safety hazard to motorists.

Harry Leon, president of the Crescenta Valley Town Council, previously said their placement and muted visibility could lead drivers to hit the markers.

Another criticism has been the signs message of welcoming people to Glendale. An online petition called for the signs to welcome people to La Crescenta or Crescenta Highlands instead. While the areas where the signs are located have been officially in Glendale since 1951, the petition states residents still refer to them as La Crescenta.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
May 28 marks the centennial of Armenias independence.

The world may not know of the paradise that is Armenia, neither from the biblical nor ancient historical natural perspective. Armenia is ancient and traces its roots to biblical beginnings, beautiful cascading hills filled with apricot trees.

The apricot tree was first planted in Armenia and has been widespread around the world. The oldest apricot tree, 4,000 years old, was recently discovered in Armenia. Armenians trace their heritage to Noah. After the Great Flood waters receded, Noahs Ark landed on Mount Ararat in the Armenian Highland.

Eventually kingdoms of Armenia were formed and existed until 1392 AD, marked by the demise of the ruling king. The king had unsuccessfully petitioned the monarchs of both England and France to support his claim to his kingdom. Following the void left by his death, this beautiful land was decimated by invading forces.

While the last Armenian king, Levon VI, was buried in Paris among the French monarchy, the apricot tree was growing high in the sky in Armenia against the gravity of world politics.

Armenias first independence lasted between 1918 and 1920, before its absorption to the Soviet Union. Notwithstanding the pride and happiness that Armenians feel about their independence, they feel somehow incomplete. From anywhere in the capital city of Yerevan when you look eastward, you see Mt. Ararat, the symbol of Armenia, but sadly not with Mother Armenia.

The higher the apricot tree grows, the more the world sees Armenia. The apricot tree stood still  after the king died, while Armenians suffered genocide, through Armenian independence and the domination by the Soviet Union. This is why Armenias apricot tree is majestic!

Rachel Melikian

Glendale
My boyfriend proposed at San Diego Comic-Con with a ring that looks like R2-D2. Yes, R2-D2. And, yes, I mean the robot (droid, actually) from the Star Wars movies.

Even if you hate everything related to science fiction or fantasy, youre probably familiar with him. Hes the little white, blue and silver tin-canned character who beeps and boops and hangs out with an annoying gold-plated android named C-3PO. The sides of my white gold ring, like R2-D2, have etchings that mirror the droids mechanical legs, and the top of the ring has a halo of sapphires around a diamond and a small ruby in the front that echoes R2-D2s blinking lights.

Right now, you might be raising your eyebrows.

You might be wondering why I, a woman in my mid-thirties, would want to wear a ring on my finger (for the rest of my life, no less) that was inspired by a fake robot (droid, actually) from a 40-year-old science-fiction movie franchise. Youre not alone; not everyone in my life understands my love of R2-D2, either.

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I heard my sisters pause when I called to tell her I was engaged, and that my ring was inspired by an astromech droid. I saw the confusion behind the eyes of my business school friends when I showed them my hand and that, yes, I was marrying the professional magician I had been dating for a few years. I understand where theyre coming from  to them, my love of R2-D2 (also lovingly known as Artoo) came from nowhere.

For years I was silent about my love for the droid; I was silent because I was trying to be who I thought I was supposed to be  a Very Serious Business Person.

I cant remember the first time I saw Artoo; he was an integral part of my childhood growing up in suburban New Jersey. I loved Artoo because he was brave, persistent and loyal to his friends. He was everything I wished to be. Being a Very Serious Business Person wasnt something I ever really wished to be, and I wasnt very good at it. A string of high-workload positions with Very Serious titles like management consultant and business development director marked my 20s, and each one left me more miserable than the last. In my early 30s, I had had enough  I quit my latest job working with Very Serious tech start-ups and moved from New England to Los Angeles.

The move surprised everyone I knew. Why would you ever want to live in Los Angeles? some people said. How can you move across the country without a job? other people asked. Both reasonable questions, and to be honest I didnt have good answers to either of them. All I knew was that I needed a drastic change.

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My first weeks in Los Angeles were full of long walks around Silver Lake reservoir and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

Just a month after I moved, I was at L.A.s Original Farmers Market and bought a pack of Star Wars stickers, my first R2-D2-related purchase in over 20 years. A few months later, I met Jon. We met where many people meet: at a bar. This bar, however, was at the Magic Castle and Jon was a professional magician. I liked him: He was charming and smart, and his love of Batman superseded most things.

For a moment, my Very Serious Business side reared its ugly head, telling me that dating a magician was not a Very Serious thing to do. But my other side  the side that openly loved Artoo  told my Very Serious side to shut up.

Our first date at the Cat & Fiddle on Sunset was typically awkward, as most first dates are, but it was good enough to spark a second date at MOMA a couple days later. After that, we went on another, more informal date at Canters. Several other dates followed (most of them at Canters). We fell in love. One of the reasons I fell in love with Jon was that he loved exactly who I was, my quirks and all.

He loved that I was excessively excited about fall and  even though we lived in Los Angeles  I would decorate my apartment with pumpkins and fake foliage and cinnamon-scented candles the day after Labor Day. He loved that I called my dog a precious peach (even though she was neither precious nor a peach) and that my favorite way to unwind in the evenings was to eat Oreos and drink red wine. And he loved that I loved Artoo.

The previous men I dated tolerated these quirks but didnt love them. I dont blame them; at the time I didnt love who I was either.

As I was falling in love with Jon, I was also learning to love myself. I began challenging tenets that teachers had drilled into me since I was a teenager; that being creative was a frivolous pastime, that scoring in the 99th percentile on standardized tests was the only way the world would judge my worth. The fact I did well on those standardized tests made me even more ashamed of my Artoo side, more reluctant to admit that I cared more about fantasy worlds than drafting Excel spreadsheets.

Jon had never held a 9-to-5 job; he had been making a living performing and creating magic his entire life, ignoring the countless people who told him he should go get a real job. He helped me realize there were other paths I could follow besides being a Very Serious Business Person who held a Very Serious job.

But changing was hard. The Very Serious Business part of my brain rebelled at leaving my current career for writing, knowing Id be trading a steady salary for uncertainty. But a voice inside me told me to be brave, that if I stuck with it, I could build a life that reflected who I really was.

So I bought an R2-D2-themed dress and hoodie and quit the corporate job I unwisely took after my first few unemployed months in Los Angeles. Instead of working for another company with a business-formal dress code (Very Serious!), I became a freelance consultant and worked out of my apartment (still Very Serious but at least I could be Very Serious and work in my Artoo hoodie). Working freelance also gave me a more reasonable work schedule, so I started writing more.

Life moved on. My boyfriend and I moved in together and I got two R2-D2 necklaces.

I finished my first manuscript and dyed my hair blue, a huge nail in the coffin for my Very Serious Business career.

The outside changes were what people noticed, of course.

My biggest change, however, was accepting who I was  an adult woman who loved R2-D2.

Jon proposed to me on our third Comic-Con together.

The ring was inside a vintage R2-D2 toy, the perfect ring box for the perfect ring. Theres a picture of us hugging after he proposed, and Im staring at the ring with a big smile on my face.

I had found myself. And I had found my love, and my love had given me Artoo.

The author lives in Los Angeles, and is getting married May 27, 2018. You can find her on Twitter as @vfarmstrong.

L.A. Affairs chronicles the current dating scene in and around Los Angeles. If you have comments or a true story to tell, email us at LAAffairs@latimes.com.

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The battleship Missouri, commissioned in 1944, participated in the World War II battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The Japanese signed terms of surrender on the ships deck on Sept. 2, 1945, ending World War II.

During the Korean War, the Missouri shelled North Korean positions from 1950 to 1953.

In 1955, the Missouri was decommissioned, only to be retrofitted and recommissioned in 1986. After rejoining the fleet, the Missouri was based in Long Beach.

In January 1988, following a six-month deployment, the Missouri returned to Long Beach. Joe Kennedya aerial image above accompanied a short story that reported:

Hundreds of banner-carrying well-wishers greeted the battleship Missouri on Tuesday as it returned to its home port in Long Beach under blue skies after a six-month cruise in the northern Arabian Sea.

As the 887-foot, 58,000-ton ship steamed into the harbor, hundreds of family members gathered at Pier 6 broke out in cheers, waving signs with such salutations as "Welcome Home, Daddy."

In fact, 31 of the 66 officers and 1,538 enlisted men on board had become new fathers during the tour of duty. The men, whose wives and babies had been waiting at the pier for several hours, were scheduled to depart the ship first.

The Navy Band from San Diego and the Bellflower High School Band provided a musical homecoming for the "Mighty Mo." It was on the deck of the Missouri that the Japanese surrender was signed, bringing an official end to World War II.

The Missouri and six other ships forming a carrier battle group were sent to the Arabian Sea in July as part of a U.S. policy to bring stability to the Gulf of Oman, where a war between Iraq and Iran has affected Middle East oil shipping lanes. 

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Missouri launched 28 Tomahawk cruise missiles and fired 783 rounds of 16-inch shells.

In 1992, the Missouri was again decommissioned. In 1998, the ship was moved to Pearl Harbor and opened as a museum.

Below Ive added additional images of the Missouri from the Los Angeles Times archives.

1944: The battleship Missouri fires a salvo from the two forward turrets. The 16-inch projectiles can be seen at upper right. This photo appeared in the Nov. 14, 1944, Los Angeles Times. Associated Press

Sep. 2, 1945: Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs the Japanese surrender document aboard the Missouri in Tokyo Bay. This photo appeared in the Sep. 2, 1945, Los Angeles Times. Associated Press

April 12, 1951: Ceremony aboard the Missouri in Long Beach following the ship's return from deployment to Korea. Paul Calvert / Los Angeles Times

April 12, 1951: View from the Missouri as the battleship returns to Terminal Island after deployment in the Korean War. Paul Calvert / Los Angeles Times

April 12, 1951: Ceremonies on the Missouri in Long Beach following deployment to Korean War. Beneath the 16-inch guns of the battleship, Mayor Burton Chace of Long Beach welcomes Vice Adm. Arthur D. Struble, former commander of the 7th Fleet. Paul Calvert / Los Angeles Times

May 25, 1984: The battleship Missouri arrves in Long Beach from Bremerton, Wash., for a $425-million face-lift. This photo appeared in the May 26, 1984, Los Angeles Times. Rick Corrales / Los Angeles Times

July 2, 1987: Gunner's mate Bill Allen does maintenance on 16-inch shells, deep inside the Missouri. Many of the shells weigh over 2,000 pounds. This photo appeared in the July 6, 1987, Los Angeles Times. Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times

Nov. 15, 1989: The battleship Missouri docked at the Long Beach Naval Station. Rick Corrales / Los Angeles Times

Nov. 13, 1990: The crew of the Missouri lines the battleship railing as the ship leaves Long Beach Naval Station for deployment to the Persian Guil. This photo appeared in the Nov. 14, 1990, Los Angeles Times. Larry Davis / Los Angeles Times

June 22, 1998: The battleship Missouri, "Mighty Mo," ties up to its new pier at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After a journey across the Pacific Ocean, the Mighty Mo joins the Arizona Memorial as symbols of the beginning and the end of World War II. Kerry Baker / U.S. Navy

See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here
Nearly two centuries ago, Chinese workers stir-fried an amalgam of home and sold it in America. Last month that legacy returned to China in a steaming pile of fried honey chicken and scallion pancakes.

P.F. Changs, the Scottsdale, Ariz., chain that made its name off American-style Chinese food, just opened its first restaurant in Shanghai on the eighth floor of a high-end mall. It now offers the wonders of Mongolian beef and dynamite shrimp to the country that invented the wok.

The chain has nearly 300 restaurants around the world, but none like this. Executives are betting on the success of a concept wrapped in history, politics, identity and lettuce. They aim to sell a quintessentially American interpretation of Chinese food to a new generation of affluent Chinese.

Since the late 19th century, Chinese immigrants from San Francisco to New York have modified their gastronomy for Americans sweeter palates. (Think chop suey and orange chicken.) But traditional food is revered in China, where citizens take pride in their eight regional cuisines and Have you eaten? is a common greeting.

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P.F. Changs success hinges on perception. Is this creation an unrecognizable disgrace to its origins or a tasty testament to the crossflows of migration?

I thought the taste would be more suited to foreigners because they like sweet and sour, said Zhang Heng, a 27-year-old public relations worker, who recently chatted with a friend over chicken lettuce wraps. But it suits me too.

The story of P.F. Changs China Bistro begins in the very city where it just landed. And it starts with Cecilia Chiang, who once looked remarkably like the elegant woman smiling down at her customers from the mural on the restaurants back wall.

Chinese like to see their food options, so P.F. Changs menu is full of pictures. (Gaochao Zhang for the Times )

Born into a well-off family near Shanghai, Chiang fled the city with her children in 1949 when the communists took power. She eventually landed in San Francisco, where she introduced customers to the bold, vinegary complexities of northern Chinese cuisine. Fans nicknamed her the Julia Child of Chinese food in America and she expanded her upscale restaurant, the Mandarin, to Beverly Hills.

Her son, Philip Chiang, opened a more casual affair nearby. It was there that he met restaurateur Paul Fleming, and the two dreamed up P.F. Changs  an Americanized mash of their names. The first location opened in 1993 in an Arizona shopping mall. A private equity firm now owns the chain, which last year earned about $1.2 billion in revenue. Chiang still consults.

This trail back and forth, that is whats supposed to happen, said Rui Xi, who leads Lost Plate food tours that introduce foreigners to authentic cuisine in Shanghai and other Chinese cities. Its a cultural exchange.  Chinese American food is a foreign food for [Chinese], but not really.

But nostalgia and novelty only go so far. Many of the first customers said they tried the restaurant because they heard about it on The Big Bang Theory, an American sitcom that has reached a level of obsession here akin to Seinfeld in the U.S. Even the notion of farm to wok  a key marketing tool in the companys other restaurants  is taken for granted in China, where food already comes out fast and fresh.

Customers sample chicken lettuce wraps and crispy honey shrimp in P.F. Changs new Shanghai restaurant. (Jessica Meyers for the Times )

If Chinese want to have something Western they usually prefer traditional American food or other Western food, rather than something like Chinese American food, said Shirley Lu, a Shanghai-based analyst for Euromonitor International, a market research firm. This kind of food can attract the foreigners in China, maybe.

The restaurants opening also drew skepticism in the U.S., where the Trump administration is threatening China with billions of dollars in tariffs.

David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, had his own theory for the chains expansion to Shanghai.

Trump continues to explore new U.S. imposed punitive sanctions on China, he tweeted.

P.F. Changs isnt the first to wade into the perilous world of American Chinese food politics. A Shanghai restaurant called Fortune Cookie did a brisk business in moo shu pork and egg fried rice until its owners moved away in 2016. Seouls similar themed brand, Ho Lee Chow, has operated for two decades. (P.F. Changs other Asia-based restaurant is in South Korea.)

Despite trade wars and bickering, theres still a respect on Chinas side for American culture and its influence, said Jennifer 8. Lee, who produced The Search for General Tso, a documentary about Chinese food in America.

She pointed to the ubiquitous white takeout box found at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. In American eyes, looking at those takeout boxes you see a symbol of China, Lee said. And the rest see a symbol of America because the only place they see those boxes is American movies.

Executives learned that lesson when they ordered the foldable boxes for Shanghai, only to discover no one here used them, said Kristen Briede, P.F. Changs director of international operations.

The company also struggled to access many of the goods it ships from China to the U.S., such as water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. Their producers export the highest-quality items, Briede said, which meant grabbing them as they left the country.

Managers weigh the cultural challenges against one massive draw: a market of nearly 1.4 billion people.

A little bit of this is simply the law of large numbers, said Michael Osanloo, the companys chief executive. Upper-middle-class, even middle-class Chinese would prefer to eat protein-based meals and not just fill up on rice and noodles.

Chinese like to see their food options, so the menu looks like a picture book. Portions are smaller. New creations include a remake of chicken and waffles, crispy pieces of the bird atop a scallion-infused buttermilk pancake. Duck spring rolls contain mozzarella cheese.

The menu contains a remake of chicken and waffles, known as Dusk Til Dawn Honey Chicken and Scallion Pancake. Pieces of the crispy bird sit atop a scallion-infused pancake. (Jessica Meyers for the Times )

But it will take more than unusual food combinations to appease some discerning Shanghai residents. The dishware looks like something youd use in a street-side restaurant, said Zhang Jing, a 27-year-old accounting teacher, who shrugged at the meal she shared with a friend.

Executives had hoped to keep a piece of the restaurants original identity, the requisite terra cotta horse at P.F. Changs entrances. It didnt fit. That might not have been a bad thing; in China the horses are associated with a dead emperor.

The three men who gathered at the restaurant one evening werent looking for authenticity, but they were seeking familiarity.

Theyd recently spent a month in Miami learning how to fly Boeing 787 Dreamliners for Shanghai Airlines. The pilots discovered crispy honey shrimp at a P.F. Changs in Florida. They were hooked.

P.F. Changs is our representative for American Chinese food, said Yuwei Xiang, one of the new devotees. Like his own cultures food, it had become a point of pride.

He looked past the stack of plates, long since empty of evidence.

But wheres the horse?

Meyers is a special correspondent.

Twitter: @jessicameyers

Gaochao Zhang in The Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

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There has been no shortage of dramatic images from the Gaza Strip in recent weeks as Palestinian protesters have faced off against the Israeli military.

Crowds of demonstrators rushing the border fence. Israeli soldiers using tear gas and live fire to keep them back. Funeral processions for more than 100 Palestinians who were shot to death.

But one thing was in short supply: expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian cause from the Arab world.

Arab governments were measured in their condemnations of both Israel, which suffered no loss of life in the clashes, and its most important ally, the United States, which escalated tensions by moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed capital of Jerusalem.

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Nor were there many street protests around the Middle East, with most of the criticism from ordinary Arabs limited to angry posts on Facebook and Twitter.

We felt somehow abandoned by the world, said Nabil Shaath, a foreign affairs advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. You expect that people and their governments would act more sharply.

Palestinian calls for regional governments to sever diplomatic ties with Guatemala and Paraguay  both of which followed the U.S. lead and moved their embassies to Jerusalem  were met with silence.

Arab governments issued laconic statements but have stopped short of taking any action, said Khaled Abu Toameh, an analyst of Palestinian politics based in Jerusalem.

People in the Gaza Strip even feel abandoned by other Palestinians. Residents of the enclave have lived under a crushing economic blockade since 2007, when the Islamist militant group Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority, a secular government, and took control there.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered, few people had much to say about the deaths in the Gaza Strip.

The relationship between the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world has a complicated history.

For decades, the Palestinian cause was a rallying point for people throughout the Middle East. Past crises in the occupied territories routinely triggered massive street protests against Israel and the United States. Those demonstrations were often encouraged by Arab governments, which played up anti-Israel sentiment to promote regional cohesion and deflect attention from political repression and economic hardship in their own countries.

Still, support for the Palestinian people had its limits. Jordan is the only Arab country that has granted citizenship to Palestinian refugees.

So why is the regional response to the current situation in Gaza so muted?

For starters, Arab governments face more immediate problems  many of them unleashed by the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring movement that began in 2010.

The civil war raging in Syria since 2011 has claimed more than a half million lives, created the worst refugee crisis since World War II and divided longtime allies Turkey and Iran. Saudi Arabia, Irans chief rival for regional influence, is trying to modernize its deeply conservative society without alienating powerful religious forces there. It has also become deeply embroiled in the brutal civil war in neighboring Yemen.

Many Arab countries quietly cooperate with Israel on trade, security and other issues, and the once-common stance that Israel has no right to exist has lost some traction. In May, after Iran fired rockets from Syria into Israel and Israel retaliated with missile strikes, Khalid bin Ahmed al Khalifa, the foreign minister of the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, tweeted: As long as Iran violates the regional status and uses its forces and missiles to transform states into wastelands, every country in the area including Israel has the right to defend itself and destroy the sources of danger.

In addition, many Arab governments have lost patience with the Palestinian Authority and with Abbas, who at 82 has done little to advance the cause of peace and whose government is mired in mismanagement and corruption.

The problem first and foremost lies with the Ramallah Palestinian Authority, said Ghanem Nuseibeh, the Palestinian co-founder of the London-based risk consulting firm Cornerstone Global Associates. They have over the years abandoned any real appetite for peace and their relationship with moderate Arab states gradually worsened.

Finally, most Arab governments are no fans of Hamas. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned in Egypt, where it was founded, and is widely seen as a threat to regional stability. About half the people killed in Gaza in recent weeks were members of Hamas, according to the group.

That rejection of Hamas also helps explain why Palestinians in the West Bank didnt demonstrate in support of Gaza.

In an article titled Why the West Bank is so quiet when blood is flowing in Gaza, David Rosenberg, a columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, wrote last week that the lack of visible solidarity is shocking but that it boils down to economic disparities between the two areas.

In the Gaza Strip, unemployment is almost 50%, basic services such as water and electricity are in shambles and Hamas military sites there are frequent targets of Israeli attacks. The West Bank, for all its problems, is much more stable. Most people there have little desire to join a violent uprising and fear Hamas radical ideology as much as the West does.

The situation in the West Bank is relatively good, very good compared with Gaza, Abu Toameh said. People have a lot to lose.

To be sure, there was some expression of solidarity with the Gazans.

The government of Qatar decried the brutal massacre and systematic killing committed by the Israeli occupation forces against unarmed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including children and women, during their peaceful and legitimate protest.

On Sunday, more than 10,000 Moroccans marched in the city of Casablanca to protest the U.S. Embassy relocation, carrying signs declaring Jerusalem Palestines eternal capital and chanting Death to Israel.

And last Friday, thousands of people waving Palestinian flags gathered in Istanbul for a rally and regional summit organized by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to protest the embassy move and the deaths in Gaza.

The blood of innocent Palestinians is on the hands of the United States of America, whose Jerusalem decision laid the ground for Israels massacre, he told the crowd.

But those instances were the exceptions. Tellingly, Qatar, an ally of Hamas, avoided any mention of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

And for all of Erdogans criticism of Israel and the U.S., his most stinging rebuke was directed at the Arab governments that he said had abandoned the Palestinians.

The Islamic world failed Jerusalem, he told Arab leaders at the summit. Muslim leaders are very good at fighting one another but are shy when fighting enemies of Islam.

Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent.
Edmon Marukyan: If someone is pursued for his/her political views, I will be the first to defend

MP of the Yelk (Way Out) faction Edmon Marukyan, speaking at NA briefings, touched upon the mechanisms for holding snap elections and mentioned that they would try to reach the dispersed Parliament by means of wide political consolidation, after which there would be elections. "After that, we will have the opportunity to adopt amendments to the Electoral Code for which we need 63 votes. Members of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) say yes, they do not have the issue of holding extraordinary elections in the agenda because there have been no negotiations yet. When there are negotiations, I think we will come to an agreement. The situation in the country is extraordinary, so we can break certain rules." Regarding the statements of a number of HHK officials that they are being persecuted, vendetta takes place, Edmon Marukyan said. "If someone is pursued for his/her political views, I will be the first to defend. If Armen Ashotyan complains that he is subjected to political persecution, let him appeal to the Human Rights Defender, CC, personally to Artur Sakunts, to Avetik Ishkhanyan. There is no impunity and there is a principle, according to which everyone is equal before the law, which means there is no vendetta. " As to the faction leader's question, he said that the issue had not been discussed yet. "You know that Aram Sargsyan cannot take part in the faction sessions for some reason. Our faction decisions are always made by consensus. We have not had any problems yet. The position of the faction leader is not a status to be posted but a burden, a job, a job for the challenges ahead. My candidacy is also being discussed. The faction leader's question is a small issue in these political processes." He touched upon Nikol Pashinyan's government program, saying: "There is no program right now, the HHK could not be acquainted, they are just based on Pashinyan's speeches. The program will be a very good and different one. Of course, there will be provisions that will be included in the previous program. I understand that the HHK is stabilizing. If our proposal is not accepted, the National Assembly will not be dissolved, so it would be illogical for the HHK to vote against. I honestly appreciate their readiness to vote for Nikol Pashinyan's program, so that snap elections don't take place. "
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A popular Lehigh Valley bakery was shut down Wednesday because of health code violations, but plans to reopen Saturday morning.

Emmaus Bakery, at 415 Chestnut St. in Emmaus, was closed by order of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture on May 23 for "active insect infestation and gross, unsanitary conditions."

A health inspection by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture found 20 violations, five of them repeat offenses. The report listed some minor offenses like chipped table legs, but also noted an active ant infestation, evidence of rodent feces, bags of ingredients left open and plumbing issues.

However, the business was reinspected Friday morning and cleared to reopen. The bakery plans to open its doors Saturday morning.

"I would've opened right away, but we don't have any product," said Rob Erdossy, who has owned the bakery since 2010.

A Department of Agriculture spokeswoman confirmed that "the issues that posed an imminent health threat had been corrected."

Erdossy attributed the many of the violations, like cracked walls and broken fixtures, to the building's old age. He also said the ant infestation had been located and taken care of.

Erdossy said the fact that the bakery got the OK to reopen within 48 hours after the first inspection shows that the problems weren't as severe as people might think.

Erdossy asked his customers for forgiveness, and asked them to give the bakery another chance.

"I apologize that there was even a problem," he said. "We can only move forward."

First opened in 1934, Emmaus Bakery was run by the Zayaitz family from 1963 until Erdossy took over eight years ago. It is known for its massive donuts and specialty cakes.

Andrew Doerfler may be reached at adoerfler@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @adoerfler or on Facebook.
The Freddy Awards have a way of making strangers feel like old friends.

"It doesn't matter if you don't know someone - you're still shouting 'Oh my god, this is amazing' at them," said Claudia Coscia, a Parkland High School senior who accepted the award for Outstanding Performance by an Orchestra for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

The yearly award show, recognizing the best of the Lehigh Valley's high school musical theater, brings together students from nearly 30 schools across the region. While they're ostensibly competing against each other, a collective enthusiasm for the big night abounds at the State Theatre.

"We're all in the same boat," said Kristen Reid, a Bangor Area High School senior and costumer crew manager who accepted the Outstanding Use of Costumes award for "42nd Street."

With so much talent in one theater, the proceedings make for a good opportunity to meet potential future colleagues.

"It connects us - we're all going to be working in the field someday," said Gianna Tully, a Parkland sophomore and scenery manager for "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," which won Outstanding use of Scenery.

Having so many schools coming together for one ceremony also adds legitimacy to the contenders' work.

"When I go out at pursue this professionally, it's something I can put on my resume," said Andrew Ashmar, an Emmaus senior who accepted the award for Outstanding Use of Lighting for "West Side Story."

After accepting the Freddy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Ensemble Member for her performance in William Allen High School's "Aida (School Edition)," Lisandra Espiritusanto couldn't believe the sense of community in the room.

"I've never heard an audience cheer louder," she said.

Andrew Doerfler may be reached at adoerfler@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @adoerfler or on Facebook.
The 77-year-old school bus driver in last week's crash on Route 80 that killed a Paramus middle school teacher and a student made his first appearance in Superior Court on Friday.

Hudy Muldrow Sr., of Woodland Park, was charged Thursday with two counts of reckless vehicular homicide, also sometimes referred to as death by auto. The second-degree offense carries a potential prison sentence of five to 10 years.

Muldrow appeared before Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor in Morristown. The purpose of Friday's court appearance was for prosecutors to formally present Muldrow with his charges and to indicate if they want Muldrow jailed until and throughout the trial. Muldrow spent last night at the Morris County jail.

Muldrow's attorney, Matthew Reisig, declined to comment after the brief hearing.

Willie Clark, pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Jersey City, said he visited Muldrow on Monday and that Muldrow doesn't believe he did anything wrong.

"He was sad," Clark told reporters outside the courthouse. "He was under the impression that he didn't do anything wrong. He must have been shocked that he got (charged)."

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Troiano said Friday he would seek to detain Muldrow until trial. A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

New Jersey no longer sets a monetary bail. Instead, defendants have a detention hearing in which a judge decides whether the defendant is dangerous or a flight risk and must remain in custody to await trial.

Muldrow was driving a yellow Paramus School District bus that was carrying 38 students and six teachers or aides from East Brook Middle School to a field trip at Waterloo Village in Byram.

Muldrow's bus was one of three school buses making the roughly 50-mile late-year trip to the restored canal town on May 17. Shortly after 10 a.m., the three buses exited Interstate 80 westbound at exit 25 onto Route 206 northbound, according to an affidavit.

"It is believed that shortly thereafter, the three buses missed a turn that would have taken them to Waterloo Village," the affidavit states. "It is further believed that the three buses drove in an effort to correct their route."

Two of the three buses eventually made it to Waterloo Village.

Muldrow's bus did not.

He instead, authorities said, drove on Route 206 southbound towards the on-ramp to I-80 westbound. He apparently turned the bus left, to the point where it was "in an almost-perpendicular direction," in an attempt to cross three lanes of traffic to access an official-only cut through, the affidavit states.

A dump truck traveling in the center lane of I-80 barreled into the rear of the bus, causing it to redirect and come to a rest in the center median, according to the affidavit.

The pictures of the mangled yellow school bus, ripped from its chassis, was plastered on TV screens across the country.

The collision killed Miranda Vargas, 10, and teacher Jennifer Williamson, 51.

"The full extent of the non-fatal injuries has yet to be determined, but range from minor to multiple serious and potentially life-threatening injuries," the affidavit said.

Muldrow had eight speeding tickets and his license suspended 14 times over the last 43 years, though most of the suspensions were due to parking tickets and administrative problems, state officials said.

Muldrow's son said his father has always been a safe driver.

"That's the truth. He is a good driver," Hudy Muldrow Jr. said Tuesday outside his Paterson home.

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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UPDATE: 20-plus early morning explosions in 2 months investigated

Local, state and federal authorities are investigating what Pennsylvania State Police are calling unexplained noises in Bucks and Lehigh counties.

Trooper Marc Allen, spokesman for the state police Troop M based in Bethlehem, confirmed an ongoing investigation on Friday. He said he expects "more specific and accurate information" to follow in a news release next week.

The FBI is assisting state police, spokeswoman Carrie Adamowski said Friday from the agency's Philadelphia Division, as is the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Springfield Township, Bucks County, police on Tuesday reported "multiple reports of loud explosions" in Upper Bucks and Lehigh counties. A post on the department's Crime Watch page references another explosion reported shortly after 4 a.m. Tuesday.

The department advised anyone who sees anything unusual that may be linked to an explosive device to keep away and dial 911 to report it. Anyone who hears any loud explosions should note any vehicles or people in the area and call police, according to Springfield Township police.

"If anyone hears a loud explosion and can pinpoint its origin or at least the direction from which it sounds like it is coming from, please contact the police immediately," the Crime Watch post states."It is imperative that we get the information as soon as possible in order to track these events."

Bucks County residents told CBS3 in Philadelphia this week the noises they've been hearing were loud and sounded like anything from someone "making a tunnel or space junk" falling from the sky, to "poachers, gunfire to explosions to a sonic boom."

Authorities in Northampton and Warren counties investigated several explosions reported the night of March 18 that shook houses and rattled windows. Investigators said they may have come from exploding targets used by firearms enthusiasts. Upper Mount Bethel Township followed up on the reports by considering a partial ban on these types of targets.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A robbery of a vehicle Friday led to a roughly 20-mile pursuit on Interstate 78 East before the driver crashed and was taken into custody, Pennsylvania State Police said.

State police at Hamburg responded to the robbery shortly after 12:30 p.m. at Chrome Palace, 3695 Mountain Road in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, said Trooper David Beohm, a state police spokesman.

Police got a description of the pickup truck and encountered it around the Route 61 interchange in the Hamburg area.

Troopers pursued the pickup until the crash at mile-marker 43, near the Berks-Lehigh county line, Beohm said. That's between Exit 40 for Kutztown/Krumsville and Exit 45 for Lynnport/New Smithville.

This photo submitted by Frank Shoemaker to lehighvalleylive.com shows a white pickup truck that crashed May 25, 2018, on Interstate 78 East at the Berks-Lehigh county line after it was reported stolen about 12:30 p.m. in Berks County. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

The robbery suspect was injured and taken to an area hospital, Beohm said. A state police vehicle and citizen's vehicle were damaged in the crash, but no one in those vehicles was hurt, according to police. The suspect was alone in the pickup.

Police were continuing to investigate the crash and did not immediately release the suspect's name prior to charges being filed.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) reported on Thursday that Bahraini female political prisoners Hajer Mansoor Hassan and Medina Ali are still refused access to medical treatment.



(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) reported on Thursday that Bahraini female political prisoners Hajer Mansoor Hassan and Medina Ali are still refused access to medical treatment.



The rights group also accused the UK-funded Ombudsman of being ineffective in addressing their cases.



Both Hajer and Medina were jailed following trials marred by reports of torture and forced confessions.



They are currently serving thee-year prison terms in Bahrains Isa Town Detention Center where they observed a number of hunger strikes over their ill-treatment in detention.







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The failure of President Trump's summit with North Korea in Singapore was inevitable -- a joke and a day of reckoning for the White House, especially for Trump, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo.

Trump was duped by his ego and his impulsiveness to meet with dictator Kim Jong-un, thinking it would lead to Noble Peace Prize. He just cannot get over Barack Obama winning that award.

It was a fantasy that Kim was going to hand over his nukes, which are essential to his survival. North Korea will never trust the U.S. Its nuclear program was born out of fear of regime change. One only has to look at the fate of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi giving up his nuclear program.

So what has north Korea learned from this administration? To be cautious of signing any deals, or trust the U.S.

Trump has lost his credibility and will never be trusted by any foreign nation. The U.S. will be seen as completely untrustworthy after pulling out of the Paris climate accord and the Iranian nuclear deal, renegotiating NAFTA, trying to kill the Russia investigation and the failed summit with North Korea.

Mohammed Khaku

Upper Macungie Township
Stock Market News

Europe close: Spanish and Italian stocks take a beating 25-05-2018 19:25



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Stock Market News

Europe midday: Stocks headed for weekly loss, Spanish assets sold 25-05-2018 11:23



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk
Stock Market News

Nakama deputy chairman steps down as it keeps up with Aussie tax bill 25-05-2018 10:58



Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk
Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in a telephone conversation with Head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyeh underlined the need for forging unity among Muslim nations.



(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in a telephone conversation with Head of Hamas' political bureau Ismail Haniyeh underlined the need for forging unity among Muslim nations.



"Maintaining the solidarity and unity among the Islamic countries would establish permanent security and stability in the Islamic world," Larijani said.



The two sides also discussed bilateral ties and regional developments during their phone conversation.



In relevant remarks earlier in May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blasted the recent massacre of the Palestinians by Tel Aviv's regime, and called on Islamic countries to give a "firm response" to Israel's recent bloody military crackdown on mass protests in the Gaza Strip.



"At the Istanbul summit, the Islamic countries must give a firm response to the oppression and crimes against the Palestinian people," President Rouhani said in a phone conversation with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.



The Iranian president was referring to the upcoming meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul.



President Rouhani, meantime, slammed the recent relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds as a "provocative move".





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Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, little known to those who surf the net rather than scrutinize 
Motoring / Yachts

Instead of two competing yacht shows, it was announced that the two companies involved in Singapore Yacht Show and Singapore RendezVous respectively, have agreed to collaborate by jointly producing only one show in Thailand and one in Singapore

May 25, 2018 | By LUXUO

In a joint statement issued today by Andy Treadwell, CEO of Verventia Pte Ltd, owner of the Singapore and Thailand Yacht Shows, and Gael and Olivier Burlot, owners of Asia RendezVous Pte Ltd organisers of the Phuket, Penang and Singapore RendezVous events, it was announced that the two companies have agreed to collaborate by jointly producing only one show in Thailand and one in Singapore  the destination hub and the business hub respectively for the yachting industry in South East Asia.

The move was precipitated by a request earlier in the year from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to gather the industry together in one major event in Thailand so as to demonstrate united support for the governments yacht tourism initiative. In essence, after a three-year campaign spearheaded by the Thailand Yacht Show, the Thai government has agreed to change some of the prohibitive yachting regulations and allow foreign yachts to charter in Thai waters  effectively opening up the ASEAN cruising grounds to superyachts from overseas for the first time. This initiative is now in its final stages, with the Thai Marine Business Association (TMBA) working with the Ministries of Finance and Transport to work out a business model for collecting VAT on charter income, rather than on the value of the yacht itself.

Singapore and Thailand Yacht Shows join forces with Asia Rendezvous Events

In essence, after a three-year campaign spearheaded by the Thailand Yacht Show, the Thai government has agreed to change some of the prohibitive yachting regulations and allow foreign yachts to charter in Thai waters  effectively opening up the ASEAN cruising grounds to superyachts from overseas for the first time.

This initiative is now in its final stages, with the Thai Marine Business Association (TMBA) working with the Ministries of Finance and Transport to work out a business model for collecting VAT on charter income, rather than on the value of the yacht itself.

At the same time, the yachting industry has been vocal for years that there should only be one boat show in each strategic location and has requested just such a get together. The two show organisers acknowledge that they have different yet complementary strengths and skill sets that, combined, will create bigger and better single events in each country. Similarly, with their joined-up resources and budgets, they will be able to activate an aggressive and far-reaching promotional plan that should draw many more potential buyers and charterers into the market.

The new Phuket event will be a straight joint venture between the two existing businesses, called the Thailand Yacht Show & RendezVous, and there will be an additional jointly-owned event alongside the current Singapore Yacht Show which will be called the Singapore Yacht Show RendezVous.

Andy Treadwell explained: Its a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, from every point of view. The TAT, our partners and main sponsor of the Thailand Yacht show, asked us to try to get everyone working together instead of competing and dividing the industry. The major industry players asked us to do exactly the same thing. Gael and Olivier have a great work ethic, an excellent region-wide digital and print media platform, and a direct line to the luxury lifestyle industries  which is a good complement to any kind of yacht show.

Gael Burlot added: We feel its a good time and a good place to get everyone working together  the luxury industries are coming out of a challenging period, and things are looking better and better, while the yachting industry should now be in a position to dramatically expand in the Asia-Pacific region. All our efforts over the last 15 years to promote the industry and educate a growing audience of prospects in Asia are paying off; so is the hard work Andy and his team have been doing with the regional governments to open up Asia to yacht tourism  an initiative we want to support and fully be part of. Exciting times ahead!

Singapore Yacht Show Rendezvous: Key Dates

The Thailand Yacht Show & Rendezvous will take place from 4th-7th January 2019, with the venue to be confirmed shortly in conjunction with the consensus of industry opinion. The Singapore Yacht Show Rendezvous will replace the current Luxury Pavilion at SYS 2019, which will run from 11th-14th April.

For more detail, email info@asiarendezvous.com
The forces of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees, in a retaliatory attack against the Saudi-led coalition, fired a domestically made ballistic missile dubbed Badr-1 at Saudi Arabias border city of Najran, local media reports said on Friday.



(AhlulBayt News Agency) - The forces of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees, in a retaliatory attack against the Saudi-led coalition, fired a domestically made ballistic missile dubbed Badr-1 at Saudi Arabias border city of Najran, local media reports said on Friday.



The missile command of Yemens Houthi Ansarullah movement announced that its forces on Friday targeted a gathering of Saudi military forces in the southern city of Najran with a Badr-1 ballistic missile.



However, the Saudi-led military coalition claimed that its air defense forces have intercepted the ballistic missile.



Debris from the missile landed in residential areas of Najran without causing casualties, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition Turki al-Maliki claimed in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency.



The attacks against the Saudi forces came in retaliation for the continued massacre of civilians and destruction of Yemens infrastructure by the coalition led by the Riyadh regime.



Yemens defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the coalition for more than three years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far.



Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.



Over 14,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.





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Technical Analysis Confirms Stock Market SPX Support Level

This week presented some interesting price rotation after an early upside breakout Sunday night. The Asian markets opened up Sunday night with the ES, NQ and YM nearly 1% higher this week. This upside breakout resulted in a clear upside trend channel breakout that our researchers believe will continue to prompt higher price legs overall. Our researchers, at Technical Traders Ltd., have issued a number of research posts over the past few weeks showing our analysis and the upside potential in the markets that should take place over the next few weeks.

We expected a broad market rally this week, yet it has not materialized as we expected this week. We consider this a stalled upside base for a new price leg higher. Take a look at this Daily SPY chart to illustrate what we believe the markets are likely to do over the next few weeks. There are two downside price channels that have recently been broken by price (RED & YELLOW lines). Additionally, there is clear price support just below $272.00 that was recently breached. These upside price channel breakouts present a very clear picture that price is attempting to push higher and breakout from these price channels.

Current price rotation has tested and retested the price support level near $272.00 and we believe this recent stalled price base will launch a new upside price rally driving price well above the $280.00 level.

With the holiday weekend setting up in the US and the early Summer trading levels setting up, it is not uncommon for broader market moves to execute after basing/staging has executed. This current upside price action has clearly breached previous resistance channels, so we continue to believe our earlier research is correct and the US majors will mount a broad range price advance in the near future.

The VIX, on the other hand, appears poised to break lower  back to levels below $10 as the US major price advance executes. The VIX, as a measure of volatility that is quantified by historical price trend and volatility, should continue to fall if our price predictions are correct. If the US major markets continue to climb/rally, the VIX will likely fall to levels well below $10.00 and continue to establish a low volatility basing level  just as it did before the February 2018 price correction.

A holiday weekend, the start of lighter Summer trading and the recent upside breakout of these downward price channels leads us to believe the market will continue to push higher over time with the possibility of a massive upside melt-up playing out over the next 2~6+ weeks. We believe this move will drive prices to new all-time price highs for the US majors and will surprise many traders that believe the recent price rotation is a major market top formation.

Our exclusive Wealth Building Newsletter provides detailed market research, daily market video analysis, detailed trading signals and much more to assist you in developing better skills and greater success in your trading. One of our recent trade in natural gas (UGAZ) is already up over 26% and we believe it will run another 25-50% higher from here! We provide incredible opportunities for our members success. We urge you to visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn how we can assist you in finding new success.

Our 53 years experience in researching and trading makes analyzing the complex and ever-changing financial markets a natural process. We have a simple and highly effective way to provide our customers with the most convenient, accurate, and timely market forecasts available today. Our stock and ETF trading alerts are readily available through our exclusive membership service via email and SMS text. Our newsletter, Technical Trading Mastery book, and 3 Hour Trading Video Course are designed for both traders and investors. Also, some of our strategies have been fully automated for the ultimate trading experience.

Chris Vermeulen

www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

Chris Vermeulen Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Spanish Political Crisis - This is the End of the Euro

The Spanish government is about to fall after the Ciudadanos party decided to join PSOE (socialist) and Podemos in a non-confidence vote against PM Rajoy. Hmm, what would that mean for the Catalan politicians Rajoy is persecuting? The Spanish political crisis is inextricably linked to the Italian one, not even because they are so much alike, but because both combine to create huge financial uncertainty in the eurozone.

Sometimes it takes a little uproar to reveal the reality behind the curtain. Both countries, Italy perhaps some more than Spain, would long since have seen collapse if not for the ECB. In essence, Mario Draghi is buying up trillions in sovereign bonds to disguise the fact that the present construction of the euro makes it inevitable that the poorer south of Europe will lose against the north.

Club Med needs a mechanism to devalue their currencies from time to time to keep up. Signing up for the euro meant they lost that mechanism, and the currency itself doesnt provide an alternative. The euro has become a cage, a prison for the poorer brethren, but if you look a bit further, its also a prison for Germany, which will be forced to either bail out Italy or crush it the way Greece was crushed.

Italy and Spain are much larger economies than Greece is, and therefore much larger problems. Problems that are about to become infinitely more painful then they would have been had the countries been able to devalue their currencies. If you want to define the main fault of the euro, it is that: it creates problems that would not have existed if the common currency itself didnt. This was inevitable from the get-go. The fatal flaw was baked into the cake.

And if you think about it, today the need for a common currency has largely vanished anyway already. Anno 2018, people wouldnt have to go to banks to exchange their deutschmarks or guilders or francs, they would either pay in plastic or get some local currency out of an ATM. All this could be done at automatically adjusting exchange rates without the use of all sorts of middlemen that existed when the euro was introduced.

Americans and British visiting Europe already use this exact same system. Governments can make strong deals that make it impossible for banks and credit card companies to charge more than, say, 1% or 0.5%, on exchange rate transactions. This would be good for all cross-border trade as well, it could be seamless.

Technology has eradicated the reason why the euro was introduced in the first place, and made it completely unnecessary. But the euro is here, and it is going to cause a lot more pain and mayhem. Any country that even thinks about leaving the system will be punished hard, even if thats the by far more logical thing to do.

Europe is not ready to call for the end of the experiment. Because so much reputation and ego has been invested in it, and because the richer nations and their banks still benefit -hugely- from the problems the poorer face. The one country that got it right was Britain, when it decided to stay out of the eurozone.

But then they screwed up the next decision. And found themselves with the most incompetent ever group of chosen few to handle the outcome. Still, anyone want to take out a bet on whos going to be worse off when the euro whip comes down, Britain or for instance Italy or France? Not me. Close call is the best I can come up with.

The euro was devised and introduced, ostensibly, to solve problems. Problems with cross border trade between European nations, with exchange rates. But instead it has created a whole new set of problems that turn out to be much worse than the ones it was supposed to solve. Thats how and why M5S and the League got to form Italys government.

In Spain, if an election is called, and it looks that way, you will either get a left wing coalition or more of the Rajoy-style same. Left wing means problems with the EU, more of the same means domestic problems; the non-confidence vote comes on the heels of yet another corruption scandal for Rajoys party.

And lets not forget that all economic numbers are being greatly embellished all over the continent. If you can claim with a straight face that the Greek economy is growing, anything goes. Same with Italy. Its only been getting worse. And yeah, theres a lot of corruption left in these countries, and yeah, Europe could have helped them solve that. Only, it hasnt, that is not what Brussels focuses on.

Italy for now is the big Kahuna. The EU cant save it if the new coalition is serious about its government program. But it also cant NOT save it, because that would mean Italy leaving the euro. And perhaps the EU.

If Italian bonds are sufficiently downgraded by the markets, Mario Draghis ECB will no longer be permitted to purchase them. And access to other support programs would depend on doing the very opposite of what the M5S/League program spells out, which is to stimulate the domestic economy. Is that a bad idea? Hell no, its just that the eurozone rules forbid it.

The euro has entirely outlived its purpose, and then some. But it exists, and it will be incredibly painful to unravel. The new game for the north will be to unload as much of that pain as possible on the south.

Europe would have been much better off of it had never had the euro. But it does. The politicians and bankers will make sure theyre fine. But the people wont be.

The euro will disappear because the reasons for it not to exist are much more pressing than for it to do. At least that bit is simple. The unwind will not be.

By Raul Ilargi Meijer

Website: http://theautomaticearth.com (provides unique analysis of economics, finance, politics and social dynamics in the context of Complexity Theory)

 2018 Copyright Raul I Meijer - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Raul Ilargi Meijer Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Details Oke Ogunde in Lagos 14 April 2020

It would be hell if the Covid-19 breaks out in Nigeria on the scale presently being witnessed in Europe and the US. Apart from the dire state of the healthcare system, 69 million Nigerians have no access to clean water. This...
This article was sent in by one of our readers. We think it makes some interesting points regarding the upcoming Colombian elections, the candidature of Gustavo Petro and the vicious opposition he has faced from the ruling class.

On May 27, the Colombian people will face a historical presidential election. According to polls, and even Google trends, a triumph of the charismatic left-wing candidate, Gustavo Petro, is possible. In one of the most reactionary countries on the continent, where the last left-wing government ruled in 1854, this possibility of a political turnover has unleashed out the anger of the Colombian ruling class. A frightening campaign, full of fake news and lies, has been launched against Gustavo Petro and his followers. We will explain the importance of this election, discuss Gustavo Petros reforms programme and some of its limitations and deal with the violent opposition undertaken by the Colombian ruling class.

Colombia: a reactionary country

Colombia is one of the most unequal, conservative and violent countries in South America. In 2010, richest 1 percent of Colombians controlled 20.4 percent of national income. Big plantations (0.5 percent of the farms) constituted 68.2 percent of the land in 2014. In a country with a GDP per capita of only U$ 5,805 dollars in 2016, such patrimony and income concentration means poverty reigns alongside opulence. While 26.9 percent of the Colombian population lives in poverty, five Colombian capitalists appear in the Forbes rich list with a combined wealth of 27.2bn dollars.

Former President Alvaro Uribe and G. W. Bush / Image: White House

Despite its high inequality, Colombia is typically very conservative in political and cultural terms. Its last left-wing government was in 1854, under Jose Maria Melo, and it only lasted eight months before it was violently overthrown. Unlike almost all Latin American countries in recent years, there was no a progressive wave in Colombia. While in Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Argentina governments were elected that  in one degree or another  rejected neoliberalism and clashed with US foreign policy, Colombian governments backed the western imperialist agenda in Latin America and the rest of the world.

The Colombian ruling class supported the coup detat in Venezuela in 2002. During the presidency of Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian government supported US President Bushs invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Colombian Air Force even bombed Ecuadorian territory. Moreover, the Colombian oligarchy has been in a longstanding political-military alliance with Israel, and they have supported colonialism and genocide against Palestinian people.

In order to defend their class interests, the Colombian oligarchy has appealed, directly and indirectly, to violence and state terrorism. During 1980-90, an entire left political party (Union Patriotica  UP) was exterminated, including two popular presidential candidates and over 5,000 activists. Between 2002-2010, nearly 10,000 civilians were murdered by the Colombian army. Despite the peace agreement between 60-year-old guerrilla organization, FARC and the government in 2016, more than 200 social leaders, including peasants, unionists, journalists and environmentalist leaders have been murdered during the last two years.

Gustavo Petros alternative

In this challenging context, Gustavo Petros left-oriented programme has found wide support among millions of the Colombian working people and poor, and a fierce opposition from the ruling class. The reason underlying this is the progressive character of Gustavo Petros policy. In general terms, it he proposes a wide reform programme oriented towards improving conditions of working and poor people, reducing exploitation and inequality, supporting economic development and environmental conservation. His programme includes reforms to agriculture, taxation, labor rights, pensions, health, education and environmental issues.

The Gini coefficient, that quantifies the land-property concentration, stands at 89.7 in Colombia  the highest in the region. In order to reduce the high land concentration, and misery in rural areas, Gustavo Petro proposes a strong property tax on unproductive big plantations. The aim of this proposal is to force landowners to become productive with their land or sell it to the state. If they sell to the state, that land will be redistributed to poor peasants.

Poverty and inequality in Colombia are at extreme levels / Image: Luis Perez

Moreover, Gustavo Petro proposes a new fiscal policy. He plans to eliminate tax exemptions and subsidies to big capital and to increase taxes on dividends and foreign profits. This tax reform is necessary for a country where taxes on income, profits, and capital cover only 35.2 percent of total taxes (in the US is 92.2 percent). With the increase of the government income, Mr. Petro plans to increase social expenditure, especially in health and education. Public and free tertiary education is a central aim in his program.

In a country with a weekly legal workday of 48 hours, and a monthly minimum wage of just 272 USD, Gustavo Petro proposes a labor reform for reducing exploitation. Specifically, he plans to reduce precarity, and increase wages. This labor reform will be accompanied by a nationalization of pension funds, now in control of financial groups, with the purpose of expanding coverage.

Finally, Gustavo Petro's programme criticises fossil fuel extraction and metal mining as economically unsustainable because of their negative environmental impacts and rentier logic. They destroy ecosystems and generate income for few people, increasing inequality. Instead, he proposes industrialization based on renewable energies.

The hatred of the ruling class

While Gustavo Petros programme has been supported by the Colombian working class, it has also been rejected and attacked by the ruling class. The entire oligarchic intellectual bloc (journalists, political analysts, religious leaders and media) has attacked Gustavo Petros campaign on a daily basis. Slander and misinformation have also been spread by conservative and reactionary parties via social networks and media. They accuse Gustavo Petro of being communist and Castro-Chavist. They claim that a Petro government will expropriate small property (including houses and cars) and bring hunger and poverty to the nation. Likewise, they try to link Petro with the Venezuelan government and its current economic crisis. Additionally, they spread xenophobia and discrimination against Venezuelan immigrants. The Colombian military forces also seem to be hostile to Gustavo Petro  which is particularly dangerous.

The Colombian oligarchy and military both oppose Petro / Image: CWO Keith A. Stevenson

These media, political and ideological attacks express the frontal opposition of the economic ruling class to any alternative program. The class interests of bankers, industrials, traders, landowners and managers would be affected by rural, tax, labor and other proposed reforms. Their control over land, pension funds, ecosystems, government expenses and the labor force would be reduced. This lies at the roots of the ruling classs hatred of Gustavo Petros candidature. They fear that a victory for Petro would encourage the struggle and mobilization of workers, peasants and the youth. Furthermore, the Colombian oligarchy has its own candidates: Ivan Duque, German Vargas Lleras and Sergio Fajardo. All of them, with different marketing approaches, try to defend the current reactionary social order in Colombia and even deepen it.

Limits and challenges

Despite the progressive character of Petros reform programme, it has many limitations. These reformist attempt to politics to achieve important economic, social and political changes for working and poor people; but within the limits of a capitalist society. Namely, within a class society where the production and investment are private and oriented to extracting surplus value from working class; and where the state and the civil society are under the control of the capitalist class. In such a social order, reforms face important limits and obstacles  both political and economic.

Petros programme stresses the struggle against corruption and clientelism, as if a nicer, more democratic form of capitalism was possible in Colombia. In fact, corruption and clientelism are inherent in capitalism.

Petro's reformist programme does not go far enough / Image: Official Flickr account

If Gustavo Petro were to win, his programme will face the fierce political opposition of the ruling class. They control the congress, the judicial branch, the military forces and the media. Moreover, their conservatives and reactionary parties (like Centro Democratico) have important support among millions of workers, peasants and the petty-bourgeoisie. They will mobilise those forces against Petro. Likewise, since the Colombian oligarchy owns the financial system, the big industry, trade and transport, they could use an investment strike in order to affect the economy and generate popular discontent.

Perhaps to avoid criticism from the right, Petro has made a point of criticizing and distancing himself from the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, saying for instance that the recent elections were not legitimate. What he should have done is denounce the hypocrisy of the US, with its history of imperialist aggression and its support for the 2002 coup in Venezuela, talking about democracy. He should have denounced the hypocrisy of governments like Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, which fully supported the coup in 2009, and the electoral fraud in Honduras. As a matter of fact, however much he tries to distance himself from Venezuela, the oligarchy will continue to accuse Petro of Castro-Chavism. His statements should not be aimed at appeasing the ruling class, but rather at explaining matters to the workers and peasants.

For those reasons is necessary for the working class to strengthen its own independent organisations around and beyond Gustavo Petros programme. Even if Mr. Petro does not win the presidential election, Colombian working class needs an organization of its own based on a programme that links the struggle for immediate reforms to the socialist transformation of society. In a country like Colombia, any advances in democratic and workers rights and agrarian reform, will come into direct conflict with the reactionary and pro-imperialist ruling class, and they will only be secured as part of the struggle to expropriate the oligarchy and the multinationals to put the countrys economic resources in the hands of the working people. In turn, that struggle cannot be limited to the borders of Colombia but must link up with the struggle of workers and the oppressed across the continent and beyond.
Before resigning as CEO of Wynn Resorts this year, Steve Wynn served as the top executive for the company he founded in 2002.

In his final full year as CEO, Wynn was among the top 20 highest paid CEOs in the United States in 2017.

He received $34.5 million as compensation from Wynn Resorts last year - about 900 times more than the median worker at his casinos received, according to analysis by the New York Times.

Michael Weaver, a Wynn spokesman, defended his pay when asked for comment by the Times. "Steve Wynn's 2017 compensation should be considered in comparison to the 97 percent shareholder return that same year."

The casino magnate has an estimated net worth of $3 billion, according to Forbes.

Wynn resigned as CEO in February after he was accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women. He denies the allegations, alleging his ex-wife, Elaine Wynn, with whom he founded the company sought to smear his name.

Wynn Resorts is building a $2.5 billion casino project just outside Boston, Encore Boston Harbor, scheduled to open in June 2019.
The Boston Globe is seeking an injunction against former staffer Hilary Sargent, saying that she has "blocked" the newspaper's investigation into the allegation that top editor Brian McGrory sexually harassed her.

Sargent posted a series of Tweets on Monday, including one that contained a screenshot of a text message she says McGrory sent her.

In the text exchange, she appears to be asking for advice about a story she is writing. The person responded: "What do you generally wear when you write?"

The newspaper alleges that Sargent, the former editor of Boston.com, breached her separation agreement with the Boston Globe in tweeting the message and not immediately providing more context or cooperating with the Globe's attorneys.

When Sargent departed she signed a separation agreement saying she would cooperate with "any reasonable by the Company in connection with any matter with which you were involved or any existing or potential claim, investigation, administrative proceeding, lawsuit or other legal or business matters that arose during your employment by the Company," in exchange for 13 weeks pay, according to a copy of the agreement.

A Globe source said this language is standard in agreements with departing employees.

Until now the dispute had largely played out on social media and in the press. But with Friday's legal complaint, the Globe is asking a Suffolk Superior Court judge to enforce the separation agreement and order Sargent to cooperate with its investigation.

"Sargent through herself and her counsel, despite the Globe's reminders of her obligations under the Separation Agreement, has repeatedly refused to answer the Globe's reasonable inquiry regarding the date of the allegedly harassing text message she received from an employee at the Globe, preventing the Globe from being able to properly investigate and respond to Sargent's allegations," the newspaper's lawyers wrote in the court documents.

The Globe requested the date of the message so they could determine whether she was an employee at the time of the exchange, according to court documents. Sargent, who has been tweeting vaguely about a culture of harassment within the Globe for months, says she has offered to meet with the newspaper.

Sargent's tweet "unambiguously suggest that Sargent was an employee of the Globe at the time the text message exchange took place," lawyers for the newspaper alleged. They say the investigation conducted in-house suggests it was not when Sargent was a Globe employee.

Sargent was a senior writer and editor of Boston.com from January 2014 to February 12, 2016.
A nurse practitioner working at a Canton nursing home is facing charges after allegedly being caught on camera while sexually assaulting a patient.

Frank Palin, a 67-year-old resident of Coventry, R.I., worked at Cornerstone at Canton as a contract employee of another agency, Old Colony Hospice, WCVB reported.

On May 19, he allegedly showed up without an appointment to Cornerstone and gained access to the victim's room, Boston 25 News reported. There, he allegedly groped her and made lewd comments.

On Friday night, Senior Living Resources, the company that operates Cornerstone at Canton, released a statement disputing the claim that Palin entered the room without an appointment.

"He was in uniform and properly identified himself to the staff when he came into the building at the scheduled time, therefore he was let in to see the resident," Senior Living Center Director of Communications Pamela Maloney wrote. "All access procedures for visiting health care professionals were followed."

The victim's family had installed a hidden camera to check on her wellbeing, capturing footage of Palin's alleged assault.

Senior Living Resources described the alleged assault as "appalling," NECN reported. Palin's employer Old Colony Hospice told the station he had been suspended.

Palin appears to have been a frequent gadfly in Coventry's local politics, posting frequent screeds against the Town Council on his personal Facebook page. In 2015, he was blamed by a town councilor for leading the Coventry Fire District to financial ruin, the Providence Journal reported.

Palin pleaded not guilty to a count of indecent assault on a person over 65 years old at his arraignment Monday in Stoughton District Court. He was released on $5,000 bail, WCVB reported.
SPRINGFIELD -- Pfc. Francis E. Drake Jr. was laid to rest Friday afternoon, 75 long years after his heroic death on a faraway battlefield during World War ll.

The fallen Marine's interment at the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam fulfills a long-ago promise, made by his mother, that in the event of his death he would be buried on American soil.

Lillian Drake tried her best to honor her son's wish, but the location of his grave on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands remained a mystery for decades after her death.

Private Drake's surviving family members, all born after he died in 1942, were finally able to fulfill his wish thanks to painstaking forensic work by members of the U.S. military and others.

The 20-year-old was Springfield's first Marine to be killed in World War ll. According to military records, he was fatally struck by enemy fire while attempting to rescue a fellow Marine. He posthumously received a Silver Star for his actions that day.

"I think all of us are reminded today of the sacrifice that Marine Francis Drake has given for his country, even though his sacrifice happened 75 years ago," said Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield before the start of a memorial service at St. Michael's Cathedral. "We are here today to bury him properly in Springfield where he grew up and had his home."

Private Drake grew up at 255 Mill St. and enlisted in the Marines when he turned 18.

His remains were flown to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut Thursday afternoon and, with a police escort, brought back to the city where he grew up.

Rainey Drake, wife of Francis P. Drake, nephew to the fallen Marine, was among those who eulogized him. She noted the family does not have a lot of information about their "Uncle Franny," but said they know a bit from photographs and his military records.

"He had green-blue eyes, dark brown hair, a ruddy complexion and killer smile," she said.

Rainey Drake read from a letter, sent to Lillian Drake, from a fellow Marine who was with him when he died.

"I thought of your son as a brother. His death was a great shock to me. Knowing how I felt about him losing him I could easily see how greatly it had affected you. Fran died like a man. You must be very proud of him. I am because he gave his life helping a wounded man," the letter reads.

Monsignor Christopher Connelly, cathedral rector, extended his sympathies to family members, thanked the veterans and active members of the military who attented the service, including a contingent of Marines, and remembered Private Drake's late parents and his two younger brothers.

Connelly quoted President Ronald Reagan on the topic of Marines. "Some people wonder if their lives made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem," he said.
SPRINGFIELD -- For local residents suffering from chronic illnesses, the long wait is over for a medical marijuana dispensary in Hampden County intended to provide some relief.

INSA Inc., opened for business on Friday at its new location on Cottage Street in East Springfield, receiving well wishes and applause from the first gathered patients and local and state officials.

"We feel great about today, finally being open after all these years," said Mark Zatyrka, INSA's chief executive officer. "Springfield is my home city so it feels wonderful to be able to give back to the city. To finally be open feels wonderful that patients no longer have to travel long distances to get their medication."

INSA employs approximately 70 people at its dispensaries in Easthampton and Springfield, including about 20 employees at the Cottage Street site, Zatyrka said.

Christopher Higgins, a resident of Springfield, was among the first patients waiting for the dispensary to open.

"I'm actually really excited that they are opening up," Higgins said. "I've been to their Easthampton dispensary. It's a very good place, nice people. They're all about the patients. I think it's an excellent thing what we're doing here."

Those present for the grand opening included Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen R. Caulton Harris, and state Reps. Brian Ashe and Thomas M. Petrolati.

The Springfield dispensary officially opened at 11 a.m., and is open seven days a week.

In November of 2012, Massachusetts voters approved a law to allow medical marijuana facilities, permitting no more than five facilities in each county.

The review and approval of the Springfield dispensary began more than two years ago, with City Council approval in November of 2016 after a host community agreement was reached between the company, then known as Hampden Care Facility, and Sarno.

In Western Massachusetts, other dispensaries are open in Easthampton, Northampton, and Great Barrington.

Sarno, during the ribbon cutting ceremony, praised INSA for its efforts, and said he wishes the patients and their families well.

The dispensary offers a wide array of marijuana products and accessories, with members of the staff trained to discuss the options with patients, Zatyrka said.

Kathleen Brown, president of the East Springfield Neighborhood Council, said she is impressed with the newly renovated facility at 506 Cottage St., including its security system. There are an array of security cameras both inside and outside the facility including its parking lot area.

"The law permits it so we're pleased there is an opportunity for people in the area who need to take advantage of this to have a local location," Brown said.

The regular daily hours for INSA begin Saturday, open to patients from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

INSA's Easthampton dispensary opened in February.

Marijuana products are grown and packaged in Easthampton and transported to Springfield. There is double-door entry way for products, in which one door opens for the van, and closes behind it, before the other door opens.

Under its agreement in Springfield, INSA will pay the city 1.5 percent of its gross sales revenue in 2018, and 2 percent of its revenues in 2019, and 2.5 percent of its revenues in each successive year, according to provisions.
SPRINGFIELD -- Residents and local officials gathered Friday to rename a section of Main Street in honor of the decorated 65th Infantry Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers, and to honor some of its Springfield members.

A section of the street in the North End was renamed 65th Infantry Way. The renamed portion begins at the Spanish-American War Memorial, 2291 Main St., and continues to the Chicopee line.

The Borinqueneers were a segregated infantry consisting of Puerto Rican members established in 1899. The unit served in World War I, World War II and Korea. Former President Barack Obama signed legislation in 2014 granting the 65th Infantry the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Bilingual Veterans Outreach Centers of Massachusetts conducted Friday's street renaming ceremony, presenting a special honor to three Springfield members of the 65th Infantry: Victor Rosario, a veteran of the Korean War, Antonio Morales, a veteran of World War II, and the late Roberto Isaac, also a World War II veteran.

Gumersindo Gomez, executive director of the Bilingual Veterans Outreach Centers, presented Rosario and Morales, and the family of Isaac, with the Congressional Gold Medals.

"Today's ceremony was a fantastic way to show our history, specifically people that have lived in this community," Ward 1 City Councilor Adam Gomez said. "We honored them today by the commemoration of the 65th Infantry Way."

State Rep. Carlos Gonzalez said the ceremony and renaming is an "epic moment" for the community, honoring veterans "who fought for the freedom of every single person in the country."

Rosario said the ceremony, and comments by Gumersindo Gomez, brought back memories of his service.

"My heart is emotional, emotional," Rosario said.

Morales said he felt "wonderful," and that it was an honor to fight for his country.

Robert Isaac, son of Roberto Isaac, said he is "so proud of him and the service that he did for this country."

Roberto Isaac died May 3 in Springfield at the age of 93.
EAST LONGMEADOW -- Police arrested a 22-year-old Springfield man Thursday afternoon following a home invasion on Vadnais Street.

The armed home invasion was reported shortly after noon, Sgt. Steven Manning said. No injuries were reported.

Police arrested the suspect following a motor vehicle stop at State and Main streets in Springfield. Manning said he will release the suspect's name following his arraignment Friday morning in Palmer District Court.

Investigators, including detectives from East Longmeadow, Springfield and Massachusetts State Police, believe the home was deliberately targeted.

"We don't believe, through the investigation, that it was a random thing," Manning said.

A small amount of cash and some electronics were taken during the home invasion, he said.

This is a developing story. Additional information will be posted as soon as it is available.
Police arrested a person in what they described as an "active shooter" scene at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana.

The Noblesville Fire Department tweeted at 9:39 a.m. that firefighters and police were responding to a "scene of an active shooter" at the suburban middle school.

Two victims have been taken to the hospital, the Associated Press reports.

The fire department wrote that one person was arrested.
SPRINGFIELD -- The driver accused of striking two young pedestrians on Breckwood Boulevard in September -- killing one and injuring the other -- had cocaine, heroin and marijuana in his system at the time of his arrest, a prosecutor said at a bail hearing Friday.

Hampden Superior Court Judge Richard J. Carey set bail at $70,000 for Joshua Cutler, 36, of Springfield.

Assistant District Attorney Robert A. Schmidt asked Carey to set Cutler's bail at $300,000 cash. Defense lawyer Katherine Murdock asked Carey to set bail at $35,000, an amount she said Cutler could raise.

Cutler allegedly left the scene after striking two youths crossing Breckwood Boulevard around 7:20 p.m. on Sept. 24. Police arrested him about 30 minutes later at his Quentin Road home.

Nathaniel Acevedo, 13, suffered massive internal injuries and had no pulse when paramedics arrived. His blood and hair were found embedded in the windshield of Cutler's vehicle, Schmidt said.

His 12-year-old companion suffered a broken wrist.

Cutler is charged with motor vehicle homicide while under the influence of drugs, manslaughter, operating under the influence of drugs, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, driving to endanger and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident.

Schmidt said Cutler was driving 50 mph on a stretch of road with a speed limit of 35 mph. Surveillance video captured the crash, he said.

"This defendant poses an extraordinary risk to the community," Schmidt said.

The collision left parts of Cutler's car strewn across the road, including the emblem from the Infiniti, Schmidt said.

When police located Cutler at his parents' house, where he lives, he told them he was just heading back to the crash location.

Schmidt said Cutler told police he had to leave the crash site because a group of people surrounded him and he felt threatened. Surveillance video showed no such thing happened, the prosecutor said.

Cutler has a 2006 conviction for assault and battery, a 2010 conviction for negligent operation of a motor vehicle and operating under the influence, and a 2008 conviction for armed robbery. He was also charged in connection with a drag racing incident in 2006. That case was continued without a finding but Cutler eventually violated his probation, Schmidt said.

Cutler was released from custody after posting $35,000 cash bail at his February Hampden Superior Court arraignment. But Schmidt said it took Cutler only 11 days to violate the bail terms by testing positive for Suboxone.

The drug test triggered a bail revocation and Cutler was jailed again. The bail matter was back in court Friday because the state reached the time limit for holding Cutler without right to bail.

Members of the victim's family were in the courtroom Friday. Cutler's mother was also there.

Murdock's bail request included a condition that Cutler be admitted immediately to the Phoenix House drug treatment program. She said after the 30 days, during which Cutler could not leave Phoenix House, he could be fitted with a GPS and have other conditions of release.

She said Cutler had an older prescription of Suboxone and had some around the house. He was feeling an urge to use drugs so used the Suboxone, which is used in heroin addiction treatment, she said.

Murdock said Cutler's family took out mortgages to make the $35,000 bail and cannot raise any more than that.

"There's no doubt this was an incredibly tragic case," she said.

Breckwood Boulevard is a long, straight, flat road, she said. Among the issues at trial will be the speed of traffic on that road, Murdock said.
BOSTON -- The state Legislature has begun the process to expel Judge Thomas Estes from the judiciary, with a bill filed Thursday afternoon.

Should the House and Senate approve the bill, it then goes to the governor, who, "with consent" of the Governors Council, may remove Estes from the bench.

The legislative action came on the heels of the Supreme Judicial Court's decision to indefinitely suspend the judge without pay, effective June 15. In Massachusetts, judges serve continuously until the mandatory retirement age of 70. The SJC cannot remove a judge for bad behavior.

The SJC's suspension of Estes was the result of a misconduct hearing against him that was heard in April. Estes has admitted having sex with a drug court clinician in his office at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown.

The bill to remove Estes was filed by Rep. Kate D. Campanale, R-Leicister, who represents the 17th Worcester District and is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The two-page bill refers to the government's legal authority to remove Estes, enshrined in the state constitution.

"Clearly, this is an abuse of public trust that I'm deeply disturbed by," Campanale said in a statement. "This is a case that has been ongoing for months and months - far too long. Even after Judge Estes has admitted his guilt, he's still collecting a paycheck and eligible for a pension. It's not only a disgrace to his colleagues on the bench, but to Massachusetts taxpayers."

The Republican spoke with five of the eight members of the Governors Council on Thursday, and they said Estes should resign forthwith.

The Boston Globe, citing "people with knowledge of his plans," reported that Estes is expected to resign Friday.

HD_Estes by The Republican/MassLive.com on Scribd
Central Massachusetts patients will have a new option for receiving orthopedic and plastic surgeries, following the opening of the first new ambulatory surgery center in Massachusetts since the state ended a years-long moratorium in 2017.

The Surgery Center at Shrewsbury, a 35,000 square foot, $31 million partnership between UMass Memorial Health Care, Shields Healthcare Group, and Reliant Medical Group, held its grand opening Thursday, with its leadership promising affordable and quality care.

"At a surgery center you don't have the overhead a hospital has," said Tom Shields, CEO of Shields Healthcare. "You can do it in a more cost-effective setting and pass along those savings to patients and health insurers."

With the opening of the Shrewsbury facility, there are now 57 licensed ambulatory surgery centers in Massachusetts, which perform outpatient procedures that do not require overnight stays for patients.

Such facilities can limit costs because they do not have to provide overnight care or accept emergency trauma patients, as full-service hospitals are required to do.

"We don't have the same challenges the hospitals might have in terms of add-on trauma," said Prasanth Bala, Director of Ambulatory Surgery Centers and Shields Health Care Group.

But they have also been tightly regulated by the state, including a long-standing moratorium on new construction of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers. When the state Department of Health drafted updated regulations in 2016, local community hospitals voiced concerns, warning that they provide essential services that ambulatory surgery centers lack and that also put them at a cost disadvantage.

In the end, regulators lifted several restrictions on new and existing ASCs, while giving community hospitals veto power over such projects in their immediate areas.

The Shrewsbury project is the first to be built since the moratorium was lifted. The facility features nine operating rooms, 32 preoperative and recovery bays and will start with 12 musculoskeletal surgeons from UMass Memorial and five additional surgeons from Reliant Medical Group, Bala said.

The center will perform its first operations on June 4 and already has seven booked. And while it will launch with only orthopedic and plastic surgery procedures, there are ambitions to expand its range to urology, ear, nose and throat and general surgeries, Bala said.

"There's an opportunity for us to truly become a multi- specialty facility," he said.

Both the state and the town of Shrewsbury have been supportive of the project and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito toured the space the morning of the grand opening, Shields said.
WEST SPRINGFIELD -- Art Williamson, vice president of the 5th district of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, said he and other West Springfield firefighters learned about a proposal to end civil service protection for future town fire chiefs from the press.

"This announcement took the department by surprise," Williamson said in a letter to the West Springfield Town Council, which earlier this week was expected to vote on whether to remove the fire chief position from civil service.

The Town Council instead voted to revisit the matter at its July 16 meeting.

The Council's Ordinance & Policy Committee has recommended ending civil service protection for future town fire chiefs, who would be appointed by the mayor and serve at his pleasure. But Mayor Will Reichelt says he has no interest in appointing fire chiefs, who should remain under the civil service system.

"We wouldn't have the incredible fire chief currently serving if not for civil service, so I don't see the same perceived problems that may have given rise to the police chief being removed from civil service," Reichelt said.

The mayor was referring to the recent retirement of Ron Campurciani, the Police Department's last civil service chief. All future West Side police chiefs will be appointed by the mayor, based on earlier approval from the state to remove the position from civil service. An interim police chief is currently running the department.

The civil service system allows police and firefighters to compete by exam for positions and promotions in Massachusetts public safety departments.

West Springfield officials say the proposal to change the status of the fire chief position has nothing to do with the job performance of Chief Bill Flaherty, who became chief in 2011 after receiving the highest score on the civil service test.

Flaherty will likely hold onto the position for "another 20 years," Town Council President George Condon, a proponent of the status-change proposal, said at the council's May 7 meeting.

With the police chief job now officially out of civil service, Condon says it makes sense for the council to consider the same option for the fire chief job.

The problem is, members of the West Springfield Fire Department, from the chief on down, were unaware of any proposed changes to the department's top job, according to Williamson, a veteran West Side firefighter.

"Nobody from the department was approached for input," he said in an interview with The Republican on Friday, emphasizing that he was speaking in his role as a statewide union officer, not a town employee.

"To hear about removing the chief from civil service through the media was certainly not the way to go," Williamson said in his letter to the Town Council, which struck a chord with Councilor Brian Griffin.

Williamson's letter shows a lack of communication between the Ordinance & Policy Committee and the Fire Department, according to Griffin, who believes the committee made its recommendation without regard to the wishes of rank-and-file firefighters, some of whom may someday aspire to be chief.

"It appears as if the committee may have acted in haste, so as to move things forward quickly," Griffin said. "Having the input of the sitting chief, the men and women of the Fire Department, state Senator Welch and state Representative Finn, notwithstanding our constituents, is essential."

Griffin says Jim Welch and Mike Finn, who represent West Side on Beacon Hill, would need to bring an affirmative council vote to the state in order for the commonwealth to consider changing the job status for West Springfield's fire chief.

"I applaud my colleagues on the committee for taking a step back and requesting such input," said Griffin, referring to the Ordinance & Police Committee. "I also respect any vote my colleagues make based upon all feedback going forward."

The ability of fire chiefs to run their departments "without worrying about political retribution is critical," Williamson said in his letter to councilors.

"To have a chief who is looking over his shoulder, worrying if a decision will ultimately cost him his job, is not beneficial to the department," he said. "Having the chief serve a contract at the whim of a mayor will no doubt affect decision-making."

Rising through the ranks by taking a standardized civil service exam should remain an option for dedicated firefighters looking to advance themselves, according to Williamson, a former president of the local firefighters union.

"Taking that ability away with ... no discussion is wrong," he said.

Recent attempts to remove fire chief jobs from civil service in Hull and Plymouth were rejected by voters in those communities.

"I urge you to follow suit," Williamson told the Town Council.
Editor's note: A reporter and photographer from The Republican were invited recently to witness sessions of the 41st Western Massachusetts County Correctional Officer's Training Academy. This report concludes the series.

LUDLOW -- The latest graduates of the Western Massachusetts County Correctional Officer's Training Academy ended their time in training exactly as it began.

As their last official act at Friday's commencement ceremony, the recruits were called to attention by academy commandant Sgt. Joseph Celetti. When he barked the order to dismiss, the 20 class members, now newly minted correctional officers, shouted back as they had been taught nine weeks ago on the first day of training.

"Sir, yes sir!"

In an 90-minute ceremony in the gymnasium of the Hampden County House of Correction, the graduates were saluted for successfully completing their training, and welcomed into the fraternity of correctional officers.

Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi and Berkshire County Sheriff Thomas Bowler were present for the ceremony. Four of the 20 graduates will begin work as correctional officers in Berkshire County, and the remainder will work in Hampden County.

"This is a momentous day for you all," Cocchi addressed the class. "You worked hard."

"You now join a rare group of professionals, men and women of the greatest integrity, all possessing the integrity, ideals and desire to make a commitment to the community."

Cocchi, who began his career as a CO, going through the exact same training as the graduates, welcomed them all into a profession that he said is like no other.

"There is no other occupation that will affect such critical change in the lives of the people you serve," he said. "We take individuals at the lowest moment of their lives. We work with them, we mentor them. And we return them to society."

He also noted that as correctional officers they are now on the front lines of the opioid crisis. Jail estimates say nine of 10 inmates have a substance abuse problem, and commonly that problem is opioid addiction.

Bowler said correctional officers are an important but often forgotten part of public safety. Police arrest people, judges sentence them, but correctional officers are charged with both incarcerating and rehabilitating them.

"Always carry yourselves with pride," he said.

"Keep in mind that the people sentenced to our facilities will be let out," he said. "Be tough but fair, firm and consistent."

Graduating class 41, unlike the 40 other classes that have gone through the training academy, have had their struggles and accomplishment documented along the way. For the first time, the academy was opened up to the press, and a reporter and photographer from The Republican were on hand to document their training over nine weeks.

Articles showed the strict discipline recruits were met with on the first day, and later how recruits responded to a simulated attack after being exposed to pepper spray, also called OC.

Cocchi in his opening remarks credited The Republican for its realistic portrayal "of not only what we do, but why we do what we do." The articles did a great service to the staff of both the Berkshire and Hampden sheriff's departments, he said.

Cocchi said after the ceremony that the completion of the academy is not the end of their learning.

"Now they're going onto what we call on-the-job training," he said.

Corrections, he said, is a "forever-changing business, and we're so proud of these men and women because they have shown they can adjust to change and challenges."

Adam Dube was selected recipient of the academy's academic award for having the highest grades, and the men's physical fitness award. Latisa Hackett was selected for the women's physical fitness award.

Florissa Fuentes, who was also selected class president, was given the Sheriff's Award for being the most outstanding recruit.

Fuentes said the basic training forced her to confront her own fears every day, and that at the start she felt destined to fail.

"But I decided to use my fear to fuel my experience," she said.

She and others talked of the closeness that developed among the recruits as they came together in the training.

"It's been an honor to learn and train with each of you as fellow recruits," she said.

Recruits are recommended to be in shape prior to day one at the academy. They are supplied with information about how many push-ups and sit-ups they need to do per minute, and how fast they need to run a mile and half.

Dube, who will work at the Hampden Correctional Center, said going into the academy he thought he was ready for the physical part of training. He found out pretty quickly that he wasn't ready at all.

"I'm someone who likes to prepare very, very much in advance," he said. "A month in advance, I thought I had everything I need, but come Day One, I found out I had nothing I needed."

Bobbi Jo Briggs, who will work for the Berkshire Sheriff's Department, said the nine weeks of basic training was "an amazing, amazing experience."

"I would do it all over again -- except for the OC. We could just skip that part."
Was anyone truly surprised to learn on Thursday morning that President Donald Trump had pulled the plug on his scheduled summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un?

No one who's been paying attention to the workings -- or non-workings -- at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C.

Which doesn't mean that the abruptness of the president's move didn't catch some off guard.

This is the sort of thing that everyone has rightly come to expect from the fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants administration. This is the sort of thing that happens when you treat major foreign policy initiatives like they are a part of some cheesy TV game show.

When you race headlong into dangerous, uncharted territory without a road map, there's every likelihood that you'll make some wrong turns along the way. And some of them can turn out to be real doozies.

As such, canceling the meeting may well be good news disguised as bad news.

The Trump administration isn't exactly a paragon of coordination. But its stumble-bumble approach isn't always revealed to the world in the stark relief that came with the scheduling, and cancellation, of the North Korean summit.

Here were a couple of Thursday morning's developments: At 8:20, the State Department sent a note to reporters trumpeting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's successes in preparing for the June 12 meeting in Singapore. Just 83 minutes later, at 9:43, Trump's letter canceling the summit was sent to North Korea.

The three-paragraph letter was reported to have been dictated by Trump. It surely reads like it. It also reads like a note from a high-school sophomore who believes he was about to be dumped by his girlfriend -- and wanted to act before that could happen.

Here's the middle paragraph, rife with Trumpian rhetoric:

"I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated."

When Trump decided, out of the blue, to schedule a meeting with Kim, the news was at the same time both shocking and completely in character. Trump views himself as master tactician and negotiator nonpareil. To sit down with Kim and work toward ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons -- and perhaps succeeding -- would have cemented his place in history. Or so he believed.

What Trump seems not to have recognized, though, is that along the way to the summit, he'd been elevating Kim, a despotic and murderous ruler. But now, just as abruptly as the meeting was scheduled, Trump called it off. For the moment, at least.

His letter left the door open, telling Kim to call or write if he has a change of heart. On Friday morning the two sides were talking once again.

The ostensible reason for calling off the meeting? "[T]he tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement."

Though it's true that the North Korean statement calls Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy," that's the sort of language North Korea has long employed, and wouldn't alone have been sufficient reason to call off the meeting.

There are those who believe, without any evidence to support their theory, that Trump's frequent reversals and seemingly incoherent statements are part of some master plan that he alone can see. He's playing three-dimensional chess, they say, while others are playing checkers. His move on Thursday, they'll assert, is just another element of his brilliant strategy.

There's an obvious counterargument to such rantings:

Where's that wall that Mexico was going to pay for? Why wasn't Obamacare repealed and replaced? How come all those lousy trade deals our nation had made before Trump was elected, the ones that made us big losers at the expense of other nations, are still in place?

Because the onetime reality TV star who is now president of the United States of America has neither a plan, nor a clue. Because he's in over his head -- bigly.

Had Trump met with Kim as planned, there was the very real possibility that he'd have been taken to the cleaners at the negotiating table -- and not even have seen it coming.

Instead of seeing the canceled summit as a missed opportunity for peace in our time, it might more accurately be viewed as a slowly unspooling nightmare from which the nation has now happily awoken.
The resignation of Judge Thomas Estes was the best and quickest way to cleanse the judicial system of the damage done by his inexcusable behavior.

His decision to leave spares the Massachusetts Legislature of undertaking the rare process of impeachment, which would have been necessary had Estes attempted to fight his ouster.

Estes' problems are not over, and neither are those he created for the judicial system, whose level of public trust relies solely on the credibility of those who administer it. Estes' career was ruined by a sexual relationship with a woman he supervised, a tryst that that included encounters in his office at the Belchertown courthouse, according to the state Commission of Judicial Conduct.

The woman, Tammy Cagle, a drug court clinician, has accused Estes in a federal civil rights lawsuit of pressuring her into performing sex acts. No trial date has been set.

Cagle also filed a sexual harassment complaint against Estes with the state Commission Against Discrimination. There was no way Estes could have maintained a prominent, responsible place in the judicial system under these conditions.

It still took a decision by the Supreme Judicial Court to hasten the end of Estes' career. The SJC indefinitely decided to suspend Estes without pay, and he resigned the following day.

Before his decision, Legislators sounded nervous that Estes would try to save his career. Many said they were prepared to impeach the judge if necessary.



Representative Michael Finn of West Springfield was among those concerned that Estes did not resign immediately, although the SJC decision effectively removed him from the bench.

No Massachusetts judge has been impeached since 1973. The procedure is so rare that many citizens incorrectly think it can only be applied to presidents, and many legislators said they needed to study the rules of impeachment in case they had to act.

Whenever a public official leaves in disgrace, a sad day has been visited upon our system of checks and balances. Perhaps nowhere is that more true than when it involves members of the judiciary, who provide the final word of justice in so many instances, only to abuse the immense trust they were given when appointed to their jobs.

Judge Estes was guilty of abusing that trust. He had to go. All that is left to appreciate is that he didn't drag the Legislature through a humiliating process, one that no doubt would have wound up producing the same result.
By Sens. Anne Gobi, Adam Hinds, Don Humason, Eric Lesser and James Welch

State Houses across the country, and right here in Massachusetts, are facing a moment of generational change in leadership. Particularly in Western Mass., which is too often ignored by decision-makers on Beacon Hill, we will have to speak up -- and fight together -- for the funding, the projects and the policy priorities we need.

There are many issues where we are already leading the state. On the opioid epidemic, which has hit our region especially hard, we helped create the Narcan bulk purchase program that has saved thousands of lives. And our residents have banded together to form groups like Belchertown's Speaking Out About Addiction and Recovery, the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region, and the Berkshire Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative, to help people in recovery as well as their families and friends.

On transportation, we are leading the conversation about how best to connect our commonwealth: By investing in North-South Rail along the Knowledge Corridor, East-West Rail from Pittsfield to Springfield to Boston and the Berkshire FLYER, linking New York City to the Berkshires.

On job training, we are investing in retraining our workforce for the jobs of the future, creating models for the state. From Springfield's privately-led business venture Tech Foundry to the Berkshire Innovation Center to educational programs at Putnam Vocational-Technical High School and STCC, we are designing innovative solutions to fill our skills gap.

On healthcare, the Senate took bold action in the HEALTH Act to address the issue of price disparity that disproportionately affects our Western Mass hospitals. The legislation would also protect patients from the cost of surprise out-of-network bills, and promote critical improvements in the delivery of health care for Western Mass. including expansion of mobile integrated healthcare, telemedicine, and appropriate staffing levels for ambulances serving rural communities.

But there are other issues and priorities, unique to Western Mass., which we must stand up for as real and present needs in our communities.

Regional Transit Authority funding to support local transportation options offered by the Berkshire, Franklin and Pioneer Valley Transit Authorities is a vital Western Mass. need. Unlike the Greater Boston area, we don't have access to the MBTA. Our residents without cars have no other option beside RTA buses -- and they would be left stranded without them.

These bus rides make the difference between employees getting to work and elderly patients seeing their doctors.

This transportation is not a luxury, but a critical need that has ripple effects in our regional economy and even in our healthcare system.

Local transportation is also a unique challenge for Western Mass. schools. Because many of our school districts are regional, they require fleets of school buses that can be expensive to operate, some driving 20-mile routes daily to get students safely to and from school.

We have consistently asked the state to fully reimburse regional school districts for these costs, and we have been successful in getting more and more state support each year. But we must continue to press this issue affecting our schools, which have much different needs than those in more crowded urban and suburban neighborhoods.

And for the most rural of all school districts, we have identified a new and innovative way to support them by creating a new source of state funding called Rural School Aid, to ensure the commonwealth does not inadvertently create unequal education opportunities for children who live in rural areas.

We also must stand up for those institutions providing unique services to Western Mass., from our Holyoke Soldiers' Home to our Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Agawam to the only public health hospital in the Western Mass counties, Western Massachusetts Hospital.

While we have pledged to work together to represent the needs and protect the interests of former Sen. Stanley Rosenberg's district for the remainder of this legislative session, we cannot succeed in making the case for all of Western Mass. without your help.

We need everyone in Western Mass. to step up and champion the great work you are doing and the great progress our region is making.

In the midst of an historic loss of representation for our region, we need to hear from you.

Representing our region is not just a job for senators to do every week on Beacon Hill; being the face and the voice of Western Mass. is also a job for those without an official title but with the most important role: citizens.

The default is for Western Mass. to be forgotten, left behind and left out of the statewide conversation. We cannot let that happen now, when there are even fewer voices to speak up on our behalf.

Our choices are simple: Western Mass. either continues to lead, or loses out in the budget and policy battles ahead.

Our voices matter, our needs matter, and it's time for us to make clear that we are contributing more than our fair share to the commonwealth.
BOSTON -- Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, is being lauded for his leadership on clean energy and climate change.

A new digital advertising campaign calls Baker a "clean energy champion for Massachusetts" who is "leading the charge to reduce carbon emissions" to protect the environment and boost the economy.

The $185,000 campaign is funded by Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions. The national group was formed in 2013 "to engage Republican policymakers and the public about commonsense, conservative solutions to address our nation's need for abundant, reliable energy while preserving our environment."

Baker has led the charge "in advancing market-based, clean energy and conservation policies that grow the economy, strengthen America's national security and help to preserve the quality of our climate," said former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican and senior advisor to CRES.

Baker has expanded the state's solar industry, promoted offshore wind, renewed Massachusetts' commitment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and led a 17-state accord to modernize the nation's electrical grid, according to the group.

The praise stands in contrast to criticism lodged by anti-pipeline groups, who accuse Baker of promoting the natural gas industry. Baker is a "climate criminal," according to one man who helped staged a sit-in at Baker's State House office suite in 2017. Activists have pushed Baker to sign a pledge opposing any new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The role of natural gas in the region's energy future remains a matter of heated debate.

The new ad campaign asks people to email Baker and "tell him to keep fighting for clean energy."
"For small to medium to national organizations, for events and fundraisers of any size, in any format  live, virtual or hybrid  the platform is built for scale."
Companies looking to Missoula to base their growth or expansion are on the rise, and with new air service to Dallas set to launch next month, the flurry of activity has economic leaders feeling confident with the future.

By Martin Kidston
A finely crafted, tightly defined, highly detailed business plan seems like a perfectly rational tool for getting your entrepreneurial ideas off the ground. But Carl Schramm thinks you should burn it. Schramm, an economist, Syracuse University professor and former president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation  a non-profit that encourages entrepreneurship  says that crafting a business plan is one of the biggest misconceptions about how to start a company on the right footing. His new book, Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do, says the true blueprint for success requires innovative ideas, real-world experience and keen judgment. Schramm joined the [email protected] show, which airs on SiriusXM channel 111, to explain why inventors and entrepreneurs should light a few matches and get on with it. (Listen to the full podcast using the player at the top of this page.)

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/great-entrepreneurs-really/?utm_source=kw_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-05-24
The University of Montana announced Thursday that four candidates for vice president for enrollment and strategic communications will visit UM in the next two weeks.

Candidates will address the following question in public forums, according to UM: "Please give a 10-15 minute presentation on an enrollment and/or marketing strategy that would address one of UMs current (enrollment) challenges."

"I encourage all members of the university and Missoula communities to attend and provide feedback http://www.umt.edu/president/VPenrollmentsearch/Feedback.php to the committee," Riley said.

KEILA SZPALLER [email protected]

http://missoulian.com/news/local/university-of-montana-announces-finalists-for-enrollment-and-communications-vice/article_fb58cd68-a400-5e9b-92a8-d6ecb493b34d.html
For International Womens Day, 8 March 2021, ACCA is inviting audiences to hear from two successful female business leaders Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA and Ainslie Van Onselen, CEO of CA ANZ in a unique conversation as a celebration of the global event.

On Monday 8 March at 9am GMT, the webinar, titled Inclusion in action: a conversation with Helen Brand and Ainslie Van Onselen, will enable listeners to hear their personal career journeys and gain great insight and advice. Award-winning journalist, public speaker and author Poorna Bell will host the webinar, which will delve into several themes including:

 advice on getting to the top

 overcoming challenges

 Covid-19 and balancing home and work

 equality and the future.

Helen Brand says:

International Womens Day is where globally we celebrate womens achievements while highlighting inequality and the work that still needs to be done. Through the prisms of our first-hand experiences as women leaders, our conversation in this webinar will dig deeper into inclusion in action and explore experiences of overcoming inequality.

ACCA is inviting everyone to join the event as these leaders share fascinating insights. ACCA has a strategic alliance with CA ANZ since 2016 to shape and lead the future of our profession together.

Helen Brand concludes: Overcoming barriers to equality remains one of the worlds greatest

challenges. As we share our experiences, our event aims to strengthen the ways in which we

can work together to reimagine own careers and progression to promote diversity.

Register for the event here, on 8 March 2021 and on demand: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=&eventid=3014555&sessionid=1&key=38CA48EDEF94436058F6AF0D63D4D29FTag=&V2=false&sourcepage=register

ACCA Facts:

 Ethel Ayres Purdie became ACCAs first woman member in 1909  the first woman to be admitted to an accountancy body in the UK.

 ACCAs first woman president was Vera Di Palma in 1980.

 Alexandra Chin was ACCAs first woman president from ASEAN ANZ (Malaysia) in 2015 / 16.

 Jenny Gu was ACCAs first woman president from Greater China in 2019 / 2020.

 ACCA appointed its first woman chief executive, Anthea Rose in 1993.

 Helen Brand is ACCAs second woman chief executive, appointed in 2008.

ACCAs Council

 23/40 female = 57.5%

 17/40 male = 42.5%

ACCAs Council Board

 5/9 female = 56%

 4/9 male = 44%

ACCAs employee gender statistics globally

60% female

40% male

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We, the G7 Leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the European Union, are united in rejecting the electoral process leading to the May 20, 2018 Presidential election in Venezuela.

By failing to meet accepted international standards and not securing the basic guarantees for an inclusive, fair and democratic process, this election and its outcome lack legitimacy and credibility. We therefore denounce the Venezuelan Presidential election, and its result, as it is not representative of the democratic will of the citizens of Venezuela. The Venezuelan government has missed the opportunity for an urgently needed political rectification.

While the regime of Nicolas Maduro solidifies its authoritarian grip, the people of Venezuela continue to suffer human rights abuses and serious deprivation, causing increasing displacement which is affecting countries throughout the region.

We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela and call on the Maduro regime to restore constitutional democracy in Venezuela, schedule free and fair elections that can truly reflect the democratic will of the people, immediately release all political prisoners, restore the authority of the National Assembly and provide for full, safe and unhindered access by humanitarian actors.

We remain committed to supporting a peaceful, negotiated, democratic solution to the crisis in Venezuela and to support the Venezuelan population through humanitarian assistance.
Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
"We're planning on taking a lot more flow from Merck, and Merck has asked us to provide to them a proposal, if you will, for what that means from our side of things," said councilman BJ Breish.
By By:

Dr. Francis R. Souder, 85, formerly of Telford, died Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 in the skilled nursing unit of Peter Becker Community, Franconia Township. He and his wife Marion R. (Parker) Souder celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary in July.

Born in Souderton, he was a son of the late Elvin B. and Mary (Rittenhouse) Souder.

A 1938 graduate of Souderton High School, he received his undergraduate degree in 1941 from the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. Souder went on to receive his medical degree from Hahnemann Medical College in 1944 and completed his internship at Hahnemann Hospital from Oct. 1944  July, 1945.

He served with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps for 30 months in San Diego and Long Beach, Calif. during WW II and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant prior to his discharge. He entered his second tour of duty during the Korean War where he served in Panama City, Fla. as the medical officer for the Panama City Naval Air Station and the Tyndal Air Force Base.

Dr. Souder owned and operated his family practice on Main Street in Telford from 1947-1989. He served on the staff of Grand View Hospital, and as its president, and taught at the Grand View Hospital Nursing School. He was a member of the Pa. Medical Society, the Bucks County Medical Society, Diplomat American Academy of Family Practices, and served on the board of trustees at Grand View Hospital, Sellersville.

He was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Telford, where he sang in the church choir. He was also a member of the MacCalla Lodge #596 in Souderton, the Raja Shrine, and Lehigh Consistory.

In addition to his widow, he is survived by a son, Dr. Ronald L. Souder, and his wife Susan L. of Green Lane; a daughter, Susan J. Souder, and her husband Stephan Russo of New York, N.Y.; five grandchildren: Jennifer A. Souder of Philadelphia; Emily E. Souder of Philadelphia; Kathryn A. Souder of Washington, D.C.; Noah Russo of New York, N.Y., and Rebekah Russo of New York, N.Y., and two brothers: Attorney Elvin B. Souder of Souderton and Dr. Lawrence Souder of Souderton.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 12 p.m. in Trinity United Church of Christ, 101 S. Main St., Telford, with calling hours following the service.

Interment will be private in Trinity UCC Cemetery Telford.

Memorial contributions may be made to Grand View Hospital, 700 Lawn Ave., Sellersville, Pa. 18960.

Arrangements are by Sadler-Suess Funeral Home, Telford.
Building Homes for Heroes donates home to war veteran and her children
May 25, 2018 On Sources And Information - The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights (SOHR) claims to be a one person shop in Coventry, Britain. But that is only the front story. It is part of a larger organization and the intelligence infrastructure used to wage war on Syria. A few commentators have recently criticized that I used SOHR as a source in some of my pieces. Here is why. SOHR is not a pure propaganda operation like the White Helmets are. It is relatively truthful in its reporting of events and casualties in Syria. The total casualty count of the war SOHR gives is likely too high due to some estimates it uses in its bottom numbers. But an early check of its detailed accounts showed that its reports from incidents on the ground were mostly correct. SOHR's numbers have been quoted by about every news outlet in the world, usually in pro-rebel propaganda pieces. But it is not the observatory that turns the information it collects into propaganda. The media do that when they quote SOHR without the necessary caveats or when they disregard it where its information contradicts the official story. The examples below show that this is now often the case. One of the first descriptions of the one man who allegedly runs SOHR is in a Reuters portrait from late 2011: With only a few hours sleep, a phone glued to his ear and another two ringing, the fast-talking director of arguably Syrias most high-profile human rights group is a very busy man. Are there clashes? How did he die? Ah, he was shot, said Rami Abdulrahman into a phone, the talk of gunfire and death incongruous with his two bedroom terraced home in Coventry, from where he runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. When he isnt fielding calls from international media, Abdulrahman is a few minutes down the road at his clothes shop, which he runs with his wife. The idea that one man alone could keep track of all casualties in Syria, or stay in contact with so many local contacts on the ground, never made sense. It is simply too much work for one man who also runs a shop and cares for a family. It was obvious that there was more behind it. SOHR's main function was to keep a current casualty count of the war in Syria. The Reuters piece noted: According to the observatorys latest figures, 3,441 civilians and 1,280 security forces have been killed. The overall number in the casualty count SOHR gave did make sense. The categorization of the numbers did not. The numbers led casual readers assume that only one side of the war in Syria was armed. The numbers could not explained how the security forces were killed. It took a while before people woke up to that mismatch and asked SOHR. It willingly answered the question. But only few reports, like this one from June 2012, used the answer and explained the mismatch to their readers: Those killed since March last year comprised 9,862 civilians, 3,470 soldiers and 783 army deserters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based watchdog counts rebel fighters who are not deserters from the army as civilians. This was a technical correct but crude mislabeling of killed "civilians", most of which were in fact anti-government fighters. But SOHR did not hide its dubious categorization. Anyone who asked was provided with the caveat above. But only few journalist asked despite the obvious mismatch in the casualty numbers and even fewer put the caveat into print. You will hardly find it in any current news piece that uses SOHR numbers. Patrick Lang, a trained military spy and former Middle East chief of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, asserted several times that the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" is run by MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service. Peter Hitchens recently reported that SOHR is at least partially financed by the British Foreign Office: Talking of war, and Syria, many of you may have noticed frequent references in the media to a body called the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, often quoted as if it is an impartial source of information about that complicated conflict, in which the British government clearly takes sides. The Observatory says on its website that it is not associated or linked to any political body. To which I reply: Is Boris Johnsons Foreign Office not a political body? Because the FO just confirmed to me that the UK funded a project worth 194,769.60 to provide the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights with communications equipment and cameras. Thats quite a lot, isnt it? I love the precision of that 60p. Your taxes, impartially, at work. MI6 is subordinated to the British Foreign Office. The paltry sum of 195,000 pounds was surely not the only money Rami Abdulrahman received for more than seven years of daily work. There must be a rather large organization behind the dozens of news items and tweets the observatory puts out each and every day. The SOHR reports often contain valuable information. Over the last year, as the Syrian government side regained more and more ground, a new phenomenon arose. SOHR appeared less in western media reports on Syria. Its version of events was often missing in stories that involved U.S. operations. The reason was simple. SOHR continued to report somewhat truthful versions of events while the propaganda moved further away from reality. Here are several incidents of many more where SOHR contradicted the official western propaganda tale. In reports about these incidents in the New York Times and elsewhere the SOHR's version of the events was simply ignored.

On October 13 2017 the U.S. coalition made a deal with the Islamic State to give free passage for ISIS fighters from the besieged Raqqa to south-east Syria. The U.S. military, which leads the coalition, loudly denied that it was involved. SOHR disagreed: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights received information from Knowledgeable and independent sources confirming reaching a deal between the International Coalition and the Syria Democratic Forces in one hand; and the Islamic State organization in the other hand, and the deal stated the exit of the remaining members of the Islamic State organization out of Al-Raqqah city.

In January 10 2018 SOHR reported that the U.S. coalition released 400 ISIS fighters from prison and that at least 120 of them joined the Syrian Democratic Forces led by Kurdish fighters and U.S. special forces. It confirmed several U.S. attacks which had killed dozens of civilians in east Syria. The U.S. military denied that it let ISIS fighters go and it denied all civilian casualty claims.

On April 8 2018 the White Helmets propaganda organization claimed that a chlorine gas attack in East-Ghouta had killed dozens. SOHR disagreed. It reported of people suffocating after their shelter came down on them. It did not report of any gas incident or casualties: [A]mong the casualties there are 21 civilians including 9 children and 3 women were killed as a result of suffocation caused by the shelling which destroyed basements of houses as a result of the violence bombardment that stopped about an hour ago on Douma area. Witnesses on the ground and especially the doctors in the field hospital in east-Ghouta also spoke of suffocation and breathing problems caused by dust clouds after intense aerial bombing and artillery strikes.

On April 16 the U.S. launched a large cruise missile attack against Syria "in retaliation" for the fake gas attack in east-Ghouta. It claimed that all 105 cruise missiles hit the three intended targets. SOHR disagreed: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights managed to monitored interception by the regime forces to tens of missiles which targeted their positions and military bases in the Syrian territory, where several intersected sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory, that the number missiles that were downed, exceeded 65 missiles, of the total number of missiles fired by the Trio Coalition ... SOHR also said that eight targets were attacked but only three received hits. The SOHR report is consistent with witness reports, earlier published U.S. targeting plans and with statements by the Syrian and Russian military.

On May 24 2018 Syrian positions in east Syria near the T-2 pumping station were first attacked by ISIS and then by U.S. airplanes. The U.S. denied to have attacked there. SOHR disagreed: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned from several reliable sources that the airstrikes that were carried out on sites of the pro-regime gunmen in Desert Deir Ezzor; have caused human losses, where the Syrian Observatory documented the killing of at least 12 pro-regime gunmen of non-Syrian nationalities, as a result of the airstrikes that were carried out by warplanes believed to belong to the International Coalition, which targeted positions of the above-mentioned forces near the 2nd Station T2, which is more than 65 km away of al-Bokamal city in Deir Ezzor Desert, while others were injured with varying severity, and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation. The Russian, Syrian or Iraqi air force are generally not operating in the east, southwards of the Euphrates. Only U.S. coalition planes are flying there. It is thus very likely that the SOHR report is correct.

Patrick Lang, the former DIA Middle East chief and trained spy, always urges to distinguish between information and its source. A reputable source can give bad information. A source with a bad reputation may nonetheless make correct claims. There are a few simple rules I use to come nearer to the truth: Every source is biased.

One has to compare bits of information from different sources.

One must apply logic and reasonability checks to further weed the good from the bad.

If a report cites another source go to the original to check if the quote is correct, complete and not out of context.

If it does not sound or feel right the information is probably wrong.

If an alleged act of a rational entity is against the interest of that entity it probably did not happen.

If a claimed behavior of an entity is inconsistent with earlier observed behavior of that entity the claims are likely wrong. SOHR, despite being an intelligence outlet of a government hostile to Syria, can be regarded as a relatively reliable source. Some of its reports may well be wrong or slandered. It is on us to discriminate them. It should not prevent one from using it. [Moon of Alabama is currently asking for donations. Please support this site.] Posted by b on May 25, 2018 at 20:20 UTC | Permalink Comments
Ashton Kutcher left Ellen DeGeneres speechless when he surprised her with a US$4 Million donation to her wildlife fund live on TV.



DeGeneres' wife Portia De Rossi set up The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund as a present for the comedian's 60th birthday.

Kutcher, along with Hollywood manager Guy Oseary, made an unannounced appearance on the show this week, where they talked about why they wanted to get involved.

"You never ask anyone for help, ever," Kutcher said, referencing a time the talk show host had mentioned her new charity to him.

"You're always thinking about everyone else and we wanted to show you that people are thinking about you."

Oseary and Kutcher explained they were working with a money-transfer company called Ripple as part of their tech investment ventures - then they dropped the bombshell.

"So, on behalf of Ripple, we'd like to give you $4 million."

DeGeneres was astonished, fighting back tears and unable to speak.

Kutcher then brought up the Ripple app on his phone, asking the host if she'd like to push the button to instantly transfer the funds to her account.

"I'd like to push it real good," she answered.

Eventually, DeGeneres was able to recover enough to thank the pair.

"Oh my God, that was the most amazing thing," she said. "I love you both so much, you know that."



Still shocked, she stammered: "I don't know what day it is!" while signing-off at the end of the show.

Newshub.
Whittaker's has snatched first place in the Reader's Digest Most Trusted brand awards.

Voters picked the chocolate company in both confectionery and iconic brand categories. It's the seventh year in a row Whittaker's has snagged the top spot.

The runners-up, in order, were Air New Zealand, Canon, Toyota, Nikon, Resene, Tip Top, Sleepyhead and Dilmah.

Cadburys had won the top spot for six years running before Whittaker's. This year, it did not even make the finalists.

Reader's Digest says a trusted brand "enjoys international appeal, yet at the same time upholds a strong local connection".

"Trust is an emotion that fuels our decision whether we are conscious of it or not. It is that intangible quality that signals reliability and integrity. Whether it is a product or service, trust is what reassures us that we are making the right choice."

Whittaker's chocolate is made in Porirua, and is the only major chocolate manufacturer in the country that controls the whole manufacturing process from bean to bar, Reader's Digest says.

Newshub.
Transparency is how we protect the integrity of our work and keep empowering investors to achieve their goals and dreams. And we have unwavering standards for how we keep that integrity intact, from our research and data to our policies on content and your personal data.

Wed like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business.
The Trend Killer

We now know the length of the Twitter lifecycle: 13 days.

On May 12, MarketWatch retweeted an article that had been published four months earlier (as well as previously tweeted). For its part, that article cited a Fidelity chart that had been printed six months previously. Twitter thundered. Within a week, the tweet's recommendation that Americans hold twice their annual salaries in retirement savings by age 35 had become so popular as to be an Internet meme.
Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have died in service to our country. While its obviously very worthwhile to thank all who have served, this day is not the same as Veterans Day which is in November.

That being said, there are plenty of freebies and deals available to active duty military as well as veterans. Some are this weekend only, others are year-round.

Ace Hardware: On May 26, participating Ace Hardware stores will be giving away a free 8 x 12 American flag to each customer (while supplies last).

Blue Star Museums: 2000 museums across the country are offering free family admission for active duty military families from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Cabelas: Active military, retired military, active reserves and VA-recipient men and women receive a 5% discount every day.

Cincinnati Zoo: Free admission to all members of the military on Memorial Day, July 4th and Veterans Day. The offer also allows military personnel to purchase up to six (6) half-price admission tickets for members of their immediate family.

Firebirds Restaurant: Dine with a veteran or active duty service members on May 28 and receive their entree for FREE.

Foot Locker: If you are serving, or have served, in the US military, you may qualify for a 20% discount on your FootLocker.com purchase.

Golden Corral: Select locations are offering a FREE Memorial Day breakfast to veterans and active-duty military, please call your local restaurant for details.

Home Depot: A 10 percent discount is offered in-store to all military veterans on Memorial Day.

Hooters: On May 28, present a valid military ID at any Hooters location across the nation and score a FREE meal with the purchase of a drink

JCPenney: Receive a 5% discount during Memorial Day Weekend with a Military ID or proof of service required.

Kings Island: Free admission on military appreciation days during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Lowes: On May 28th, get a 10% military discount to all those serving in the military, their families, and all veterans. Valid military ID, Veteran ID card or other proof of service required.

Michaels: Present your military ID card at the register to save 15% off your entire purchase every day.

Nike: Active, retired and reservist US military personnel and their families are eligible to receive a 10% Nike military discount on Nike.com and at US Nike retail stores (excluding Nike Company/Employee Stores).

Outback Steakhouse: From May 24 to May 28 all veterans and active military receive 20% off their entire check.

Sams Club: Active military, veterans, military personnel and military spouses get a $10 gift card when joining or renewing their membership through January 2019.

Sherwin-Williams: During the month of May, military and veterans save an additional 10% on Paints & Stains. Please show valid military issued ID.

Walgreens: All veterans and active military with a Walgreens Balance Rewards card will receive 20% off regular priced items.

Yankee Candle: Active and retired military personnel receive a 10% discount every day on every purchase.
NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) and Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgrove (Source: VNA)



Ngan said following her Australia visit in 2017, she directed the NAs Committee of External Relations, ministries and agencies concerned to implement signed agreements between the two nations, especially in training, agriculture, transport, mining, and national defence-security.

She expressed her delight at the growing ties between the Vietnamese NA and Australian Parliament, bilaterally and multilaterally on the basis of signed agreements with the Australia House of Representatives in 2009 and the Australian Parliament in 2013.

Both sides have facilitated the exchange of all-level visits and overseen the implementation of signed agreements between the two governments.

In particular, the two legislatures established friendly parliamentarians groups which will build cooperation plans to foster bilateral ties, including that between the two law-making bodies.

According to her, the Governor will attend events in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Following the visit, the Australian Foreign Minister plans to arrive in Vietnam to attend a ceremony inaugurating Cao Lanh bridge which is funded by Australia.

These are meaningful activities to realize Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership and reinforce the friendship and mutual understanding between the two people, she said.

Cosgrove, for his part, wished to witness more trade activities between the two nations.

As two-way trade of nearly USD6.5 billion in 2017 was unmatched with the two nations existing potentials, he hoped that the figure would increase in the near future.

He said education is one of the closest bonds between the two countries with over 30,000 Vietnamese students pursuing studies in Australia, and wished that more Vietnamese students will come to the Pacific nation in the coming time.

Speaking highly of Vietnams initiative to assign personnel to the South Sudan for the United Nations peacekeeping mission, he said Australia will offer logistics support to Vietnam to fulfill assigned tasks.

On the occasion, the host conveyed her thanks to the Australian Parliament for assisting the Vietnamese legislature in successfully organising the 26th annual Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum in January 2018.

She also asked the Governor-General to convey her invitation to President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives of Australia to visit Vietnam./.
Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []
The brochure (Photo: sggp.org.vn)

To be designed in small dimension of 10.5x15cm, the 60 pages-brochure is hoped to access a large number of domestic and foreign tourists and overseas Vietnamese, especially from Laos, Cambodia and Australia to travel in combination with health examination and treatment.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, from the Ho Chi Minh city Health Department, said that the city has 114 public and private hospitals, 319 medical stations, 196 general consulting rooms and nearly 6,000 private specialty consulting rooms which can well meet the examination and treatment demand of people and offer health tourism services from now to 2020 and following years.

While Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh city Tourism Department, informed that 10,000 initial copies of the brochure will be available through hospitals, restaurants, hotels, airports and information stations supporting tourists.

Apart from the 14 best examination and treatment facilities with modern equipment in the first issue, more factors will be added.

She said that they would continue to exploit communications channels through the Internet, fanpage and youtube. Specialized brochures in five contents are projected to eye the public./.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping Thursday told visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel that China will work with Germany to push bilateral ties to a higher level.

Xi welcomed Merkel on her 11th visit to China, hailing the great importance she has attached to bilateral ties.

Since the two countries launched an all-dimensional strategic partnership in 2014, bilateral ties have improved significantly with the cooperation width and depth reaching an unprecedented level, said Xi.

He said China and Germany must set an example of win-win cooperation, take the lead in promoting China-Europe ties, advocate the new type of international relations and override the ideological differences for cooperation.

"This should be the direction that bilateral ties will move to in the next stage," said Xi.

He called on both sides to maintain high-level exchange, enhance top-down planning on bilateral ties, encourage bilateral cooperation in various areas and give full play to dialogue mechanisms.

"We welcome Germany to grasp opportunities arising from China's new round of reform and opening up," said Xi.

He said the two countries should expand industrial and market cooperation, driven by innovation, and jointly explore the third-party markets.

The two countries need to enhance cultural and people-to-people exchanges to consolidate the basis of friendship, and jointly deal with global challenges, said Xi.

"We would like to promote global governance and multilateralism together with Germany within the multilateral frameworks," said Xi.

China appreciates Germany's support for the Belt and Road Initiative, and welcomes German enterprises' active participation, he said.

For her part, Merkel said she was glad to visit China soon after her re-election as German Chancellor in March.

Echoing Xi's comments on Germany-China ties, Merkel said China is an important member of the international community and an important trade partner of Germany.

As Germany-China ties have entered into a new era, Germany is ready to take the new opportunities of China's reform and opening up to expand cooperation on trade and investment as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges, she said.

On European integration, Xi said China has always firmly supported Europe in choosing a path of integration. He added that China hopes the European Union will maintain unity, stability, openness and prosperity.

China is willing to work with the European side to advocate multilateralism and send more messages that are clear, predictable and confidence-boosting, for the development of international situation that is stable and conducive to all, Xi said.

Merkel said because the international situation has undergone great changes, Germany and China must enhance communication and coordination on international affairs, intensify cooperation within multilateral frameworks such as the G20.

Germany backs Europe-China cooperation, she said.

The two sides also exchanged views on international trade, the Iran nuclear issue and other issues of common concern.

Merkel is paying an official visit to China on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

Also on Thursday, Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, met with Merkel, calling for more cooperation between the two countries' legislatures.

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1

[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang holds talks with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, capital of China, May 24, 2018. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- China and Germany agreed in Beijing on Thursday to step up win-win cooperation and especially in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and new energy vehicles.

The agreement was made between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In their talks at the Great Hall of the People, Li proposed giving full play to the role of bilateral institutional dialogues in various areas, make good arrangement for the new round of China-Germany inter-governmental consultation, and enhance exchanges in such areas as finance, trade, investment and security.

Li welcomed German companies to invest in China, and expected Germany to offer fair and open environment as well as stable institution guarantee for Chinese investment in Germany and Europe.

Li called for stronger China-Germany cooperation in digitalization and innovation, proposing to cement cooperation in emerging industries such as artificial intelligence, new energy vehicle, vehicle networking and autopilot, in a bid to foster a new engine of bilateral cooperation.

He called on both countries to combine development strategies, facilitate people-to-people exchanges as well as cultural, educational and tourism cooperation.

Chinese government supports the two countries to exchange interns, to learn from each other's professional skills, Li said.

China hopes to step up negotiation of a bilateral investment treaty with Europe, he said, vowing to join with the European Union to advocate multilateralism and safeguard multilateral trade system, and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

As this year marks the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up, Li said China will open its door wider to the world.

China will further expand market access, ease restrictions on foreign ownership of joint ventures in automobile and finance industries, enhance protection of intellectual property rights, and accelerate the establishment of a market environment that is in compliance with regulations and fair competition, Li said.

Merkel, who is on her 11th China visit as German chancellor, said her government highly values relations with China.

Germany is ready to enhance cooperation with China in such areas as trade, technology and autopilot, she said, adding Germany hopes to contribute to stronger EU-China ties, and supports to speed up negotiation of EU-China investment treaty.

Before their talks, Li held a welcome ceremony for Merkel.

They also attended a meeting of China-German Economic Advisory Committee after their talks, and had exchanges with enterprises of both countries on investment environment, two-way openness, financial cooperation and protection of intellectual property rights.

Li called on Germany to treat Chinese companies as equal and trustworthy partners, and offer a more fair and easier environment for Chinese investment in Germany.

Merkel said she hopes the two countries would offer equal access for mutual investment of their enterprises.

Merkel is on an official visit to China on Thursday and Friday. Besides Beijing, she will also fly to Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province.

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
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The council, which was formed under the direction of President Tran Dai Quang and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in accordance with the Joint Statement during President Quangs visit in June 2017, aims to extend ties between Vietnamese and Belarusian businesses in the fields of trade, investment, science-technology, and tourism.

It will also offer a dialogue channel between businesses and the two governments.

VCCI Vice Chairman Hoang Quang Phong said VCCI commits to partnering with businesses to lift two-way trade to meet expectation of the State and government leaders.

A seminar on business with the Belarusian market was held following the ceremony, marking the first step of the council, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce Sergei Nabeshko said.

With a 182 million population and a gross domestic product of over US$2.2 trillion, Belarus is considered one of the bridges to connect Vietnam with the Eurasian Economic Union. The European country also chose Vietnam as the first country to negotiate a free trade agreement, proving that Vietnam is a trustworthy partner of Belarus and Eastern Europe countries.

Phong expressed his hope that many Vietnamese and Belarusian firms will seek suitable cooperation opportunities following the seminar, especially in new and renewable energy, support industry, hi-tech and green industry, mechanical engineering, petrochemicals, information technology, agro-forestry-fisheries, infrastructure, education, health care and tourism.
They say a picture's worth a thousand words. To Jerry Huffman of Fitchburg, one photo of his Dad always spoke volumes.

Huffman said, "We grew up with that picture. Every once in awhile, Dad (a WWII veteran) would take a couple of photos out of a box and show us a couple of medals he'd won, a couple of souvenirs he brought home, and there was always the picture of Dad with this woman and this kid. It meant so much to him because it was taken the day the war was over."

Huffman's father, Paul, was a tank driver in the U.S. Army who helped defeat the Nazis and liberate what was then Czechoslovakia. On the day the Nazis surrendered to the Allies in Europe, Paul Huffman celebrated with local citizens, and posed for a photograph with a young woman and a boy in the Czech town of Blatna.

Huffman said, "The emotion I take from him in that picture is that he looks really tired, but he looks really relieved too. He's 19 years old, he's survived a war, and he's gonna go home."

Jerry's Dad always appreciated the way the residents of Blatna treated the American soldiers and took care of them at the war's end. In 1985, he and Jerry tried to go see the town and say thanks, but they couldn't get past the Soviet Iron Curtain.

After Jerry's Dad was gone, a question lingered. "I wanted to find out who that woman was"--the woman in the picture.

Jerry spent years trying to track her down. He was just about to give up when he asked the Czech Ambassador to help. That led to a story in a Czech newspaper...and ultimately to relatives of the woman, whose name is Blazena. "They were having breakfast one morning, turned the page of the paper, and Mom was in the newspaper," Huffman said.

"I thought maybe we would get lucky and somebody would say, yeah, that's Blazena, she lived here but she died 30 years ago. They're like, no, she's 92, she lives on her own, and she's dying to meet you guys."

During a week when residents of Blatna celebrate Liberation Day--dressing like American soldiers, driving American jeeps--

Jerry was invited to see the small town his father helped liberate. He also was invited to meet Blazena, the woman in the picture taken 73 years ago.

Sitting around a table in Blazena's apartment, looking at the photo, Huffman said to Blazena, "What I see in his face is relief. He wasn't going to die, you weren't going to die, the boy wasn't going to die.."

Huffman described the meeting as, "one of the most emotional moments in my life. You could feel it, you could see it in her eyes. She . kept looking at the picture, she'd pat my hand." It was hard to believe the woman from that memorable day in his father's past, was there in his presence.

Becoming emotional while looking at the picture with her, Huffman told Blazena, "It doesn't matter if you were together 10 seconds or 10 days. In that moment, you were really kind, and that made him so happy. So for that moment....thank you. It was kindness. It was kindness what you did." Through a translator, while holding Huffman's hand, Blazena said, "They (the Americans) were kind as well."

Huffman said, "I don't think Dad was ever able to say goodbye or thank you...so when I was able to tell Blazena it was pretty emotional.

To be able to thank the town for what they did for Dad and all of those soldiers, that was overwhelming...it really was. For my Dad I got to change his story just a little bit, and he got to say, thank you. Even if I was the one delivering the message 73 years later. That's pretty cool. That's really pretty cool."

And the boy in the picture? Jerry says people in the Czech Republic believe he left with the American soldiers in 1945 and emigrated to the United States.
>>> Vietnam attends St Petersburg International Economic Forum

Binh said he was impressed with the hospitality and beauty of St. Petersburg and highly appreciated the Vietnam - Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

He moved on to talk about Vietnams economic potential, saying following growth in 2017, Vietnams economy expanded 7.38% in the first quarter of this year and the country has made efforts to improve trade balance with other countries and expand international trade and economic cooperation.

The global economy is facing a number of threats, including the rise of protectionism. In such context, Vietnam is committed to supporting free trade and global economic integration, the Vietnamese official said, adding that this forum is vital for Vietnam and other countries to step up international cooperation and sustainably develop the world economy.

On the first day of the forum, the Vietnamese delegation, led by Binh, had a meeting with leaders of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Gazprom, a large Russian producer of natural gas to review results of their cooperation and discuss the future of their partnership.

The second day of the event on May 25 is set to attract great attention as Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver a keynote address at the plenary session. The Vietnamese delegation will also be busy with meetings with many partners today.

The SPIEF-2018 takes place from May 24-26. The forum drew an estimated of nearly 10,000 participants from Russia and other countries, including heads of state and government, politicians and corporate leaders. It aims to promote a constructive dialogue for policymakers, corporations and experts.

In 2017, the SPIEF drew more than 14,000 participants from 143 countries and saw some 400 investment agreements worth about US$32.5 billion signed.
Plan failure

According to the International Air Transport Association, as the worlds seventh fastest-growing air travel market during the 2013-2017 period, Vietnam saw a remarkable growth rate of 17% in 2017, more than double Asias average growth rate of 6.7%.

It has been projected that Vietnam will soon be among the worlds top five markets with strongest passenger growth. Such huge potential is an opportunity for Vietnams aviation industry to continue taking off but is also a considerable challenge, said Deputy Transport Minister Le Dinh Tho on the dramatic growth of the domestic airline industry in recent years.

Dr Tran Du Lich, an economic advisor to the Prime Minister said the advent of budget carriers has made air travel in Vietnam more affordable and is also one of the reasons why the industrys growth has far exceeded all forecasts, noting that the growth of low-cost airlines seems to be tearing down the entire development plan for airports, especially Tan Son Nhat which serves Vietnams southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City.

He emphasised that budget carriers must be managed under a national policy and should not be allowed to grow out of control.

I support low-cost airlines but regulations, state management, and infrastructure investment concerning them must come under a consistent policy with a long-term vision in order to create an environment for fair competition. We cannot allow things to happen and then deal with them consequentially, Lich said.

According to Professor Tran Tho Dat, President of the National Economics University, the unchecked growth of budget airlines could lead to a market of intense competition where carriers race to lower their ticket fares and increase flight numbers to capture the market, which could end up causing losses or even mutual annihilation.

He cited an event that occurred a few years ago when three European airlines, Air Berlin, Alitalia, and Monarch, went bankrupt one after another in just 50 days, as a result of a fare war, as a prime example.

In India, its economy was also once hard hit by fierce competition in the aviation industry.

Professor Dat suggested that the government should set the requirements on capacity and operation for airlines and make accurate market forecasts in order to come up with reasonable plans.

Sustainable growth

General Director Duong Tri Thanh of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines warned that the new business model for low-cost airlines is booming around the world, especially since 2015 when oil prices bottomed out.

Since the aviation industry is very fragile and vulnerable to market volatilities, notably recovering oil prices, Vietnam Airlines has taken a cautious approach in its development plan so as to ensure it could meet its long-term goals.

Deputy Minister Tho said that the growth of budget airlines is first and foremost is to meet the peoples travel demands. Secondly, it makes long-distance travel more convenient, given Vietnams geographical conditions. But a legal framework is still needed to guarantee sustainable and long-term development, Tho said, adding that the aviation industry should have stringent requirements with safety and security being the primary concern.

For now the Law on Civil Aviation has been enacted to create the legal framework for the sectors development and in the time ahead, the Transport Ministry will continue to make revisions to make it more relevant.

Dr Tran Dinh Thien, Director of the Vietnam Economics Institute, said that the Ministry of Transport should learn from the lessons of Grab and Uber when managing the aviation industry.

In the competition between airlines, the ministry should attach importance to the health of the flag carrier because a small mistake in management that rewards one airline to the detriment of another could warp the market.

In addition, signs of unfair competition have emerged, although few companies have participated in Vietnams aviation market. Therefore, the airlines themselves should be mindful of their business model so as not to weaken themselves and cripple their international competitiveness.

Airlines should also work together for mutual growth, no matter whether they are privately or state-held because they are all Vietnamese carriers.
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The opening ceremony was attended by Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Uong Chu Luu, Azerbaijans Ambassador to Vietnam Anar Imanov, and President of the Vietnam-Azerbaijan Friendship Association Nghiem Vu Khai, as well as members of the Vietnam-Azerbaijan Friendship Association; individuals who have studied and worked in Azerbaijan; and employees of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Vietnam.

The exhibition is considered an important activity to deepen the friendship between Vietnam and Azerbaijan, while promoting people-to-people exchange.

The exhibition is considered an important activity to deepen the friendship between Vietnam and Azerbaijan

The event, running until May 27, features 60 photos by photographer Ta Ngoc Xuan and some photos of Azerbaijan 100 years ago, provided by the Azerbaijani Embassy in Vietnam.

Addressing the event, Ambassador Anar Imanov said the exhibition is an important activity to mark the 100th National Day of Azerbaijan. The photos displayed at the event, captured by photographer Ta Ngoc Xuan, show beautiful views of Baku, the capital city of the country, which has hosted many Vietnamese students.

He expressed his hopes that the exhibition will help strengthen ties between the two countries.
They reached the consensus at their talks in Hanoi on May 24, which was held immediately after the official welcome ceremony for the Australian guest, who is on a State visit to Vietnam from May 23 to 26.

President Quang highlighted the significance of the Governor-Generals visit, expressing his belief that it will contribute greatly to promoting the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership.

The Australian leader congratulated Vietnam on its important achievements in the national construction and development cause, as well as its increasing role and position in the region and the world.

He affirmed Australia always attaches importance to the friendship with Vietnam and wishes to further deepen the newly-established strategic partnership between the two countries.

The leaders expressed their joy at the strong and effective development of Vietnam-Australia relations in recent times, saying that the regular exchange of high-ranking delegations at all levels reflected the two sides respect for the reinforcement of their political trust and mutual understanding.

They assessed that the two countries have reaped encouraging outcomes in their economic ties. Two-way trade value hit nearly US$6.5 billion in 2017. Australia has poured US$1.8 billion in 400 projects in Vietnam, ranking 19th out of 129 countries and territories investing in the country.

They agreed to continue organising activities to celebrate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties, thus raising public awareness of the bilateral relations.

The leaders stressed the need to improve the efficiency of existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and promote the newly-formed cooperation mechanisms such as economic partnership, innovation partnership, agriculture partnership, and the foreign ministerial-level meeting.

The two sides should make more efforts to push pillar cooperation fields such as security-defence; economy-trade; science-technology; education-training; and development aid, towards expanding their collaboration in other potential domains, they said.

President Quang suggested the two sides seriously take into account trade barriers, which can affect their key exports; and devise policies encouraging Vietnamese and Australian enterprises to increase investment in the fields of Australias strength and Vietnams demand, including energy, infrastructure, telecommunication, finance-banking, mining, manufacturing, hi-tech agriculture, education and tourism.

During the talks between the two sides. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

The Governor-General affirmed Australia will continue to promote security-defence links with Vietnam, focusing on training, and joining the UN peacekeeping force, adding that his country will also actively support Vietnam in solving post-war UXO consequences.

The country will also provide Vietnam with information related to missing Vietnamese officers in the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two sides in 2015, he added.

President Quang thanked the Australian side for continuing to give Vietnam a priority in its official development assistance (ODA) provision, affirming that Australia-funded development projects have been implemented effectively in Vietnam.

After the construction of My Thuan bridge, Cao Lanh bridge built with Australian funding in the Mekong Delta region will be put into use on May 27, marking itself as a vivid symbol of Vietnam-Australia friendship, he stressed.

The leaders also highlighted the potential for the two countries to expand their collaboration in education-training, culture exchange, tourism, labour and sports, saying that these can directly help enhance the friendship between the two sides.

President Quang noted a sharp increase in the number of Vietnamese coming to study in Australia, which has reached nearly 30,000 presently.

He mentioned the fact that around 1,000 Australians visited Vietnam under exchange programmes and the New Colombo Plan.

Meanwhile, the Australian leader showed his impression at the number of 400,000 Australians visiting Vietnam in 2017.

They agreed to make it easy for the two countries airline firms to open more direct flights connecting their big cities, and encourage their citizens to join the Vietnam-Australia Work and Holiday programme.

During their talks, the leaders also compared notes on regional and international issues of common concern.

They also affirmed mutual support at regional and international forums, especially the UN, ASEAN, and cooperation mechanisms led by ASEAN; consistent stance in East Sea-related issues; and close cooperation in implementing the freshly-signed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The Australian leader invited President Quang to visit Australia in a convenient time.
The Masters of IPA Invitational, hosted by Ecliptic Brewing as part of Portland Beer Week, will return on Friday, June 15, from 4-9pm in Ecliptic Brewing's outdoor lot. This years event returns bigger, badder, danker and juicier than ever as the ultimate showdown of the best India Pale Ale. Tickets are available now; act fast, this event could sell out.Im excited to welcome back the fourth year of the Masters of IPA Invitational. This is a real showcase for some of the best IPA brewers in the country. said co-organizer of the event, Erin Grey Kemplin.22 breweries will be pouring over 40 beers outside of Ecliptic Brewing. Most breweries will have their brewmasters in attendance, so come hang out with your heroes! Event attendees will get a custom piece of glassware, a full guide to all beers being poured, and 5 tasting tickets with their $10 entry fee. Additional drink tickets can be purchased for $2 at the event.Participating breweries include Reubens Brews, Pizza Port Brewing Company, Cloudburst Brewing, Sunriver Brewing Company, Block 15 Brewing Company, Grains of Wrath Brewing, Georgetown Brewing, Fort George Brewery, Barley Browns Beer, Boneyard Beer, Great Notion Brewing, Cellarmaker Brewing Company, Three Magnets Brewing Company, Noble Ale Works, Matchless Brewing, Comrade Brewing Company, Bale Breaker Brewing Company, Breakside Brewery, Modern Times Beer, Ecliptic Brewing, Revision Brewing Company, and Beachwood Brewing.

Masters of IPA Invitational:

When: June 15th, 4-9pm
The President and visiting Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove met the press following their talks in Hanoi on May 24.

President Quang said the two sides consented to expand cooperation between localities, while stepping up people-to-people exchanges.

The leaders also agreed to deepen bilateral affiliation in national defence and security in the spirit of carrying forward their fruitful ties in current cooperative spheres like training and operations, while expanding cooperation to other potential sectors, he added.

Australia will help Vietnam in dealing with bomb and mine issues, and provide information about Vietnamese soldiers missing in action during the war in Vietnam.

President Quang stressed that both sides will seriously weigh up trade barriers that may affect each others exports. They will also devise policies encouraging and supporting businesses to invest in each others markets, thus creating breakthroughs in bilateral trade and investment ties in the time to come.

He went to say that Vietnam highly values Australias continued official development assistance (ODA) for the country, with a prominent example being the Cao Lanh Bridge in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap, funded by Australian ODA capital. The bridge is expected to be put into service on May 27, 2018.

Furthermore, the two sides will intensify partnerships in cooperative areas that have direct influence on the bilateral friendship and mutual understanding such as education-training, science-technology, culture, sports, tourism, and labour.

Currently, nearly 30,000 Vietnamese students are studying in Australia. Meanwhile, close to 1,000 Australian students have come to Vietnam under the New Colombo Plan.

In 2017, nearly 400,000 Australians visited Vietnam and more than 200 Vietnamese citizens registered to work in Australia under the Work and Holiday Programme.

These are important factors contributing to boosting the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, President Quang said.

He also stated that their talks dealt with regional and international issues of shared concern. The two sides agreed that there remain factors that may adversely impact peace, stability and cooperation in the region, including terrorism, cross-border crime, and cyber and maritime security.

The Vietnamese President said the two sides had pledged to continue their close coordination at regional and international forums, including the UN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and ASEAN-led institutions. They will also coordinate their positions on the East Sea issue and in implementing the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to which both countries are signatories.

Governor-General of Australia Cosgrove highlighted thriving economic ties between Vietnam and Australia, in terms of trade, investment and development cooperation.

Two-way trade has hit US$11.9 billion, he said, noting that Vietnam is Australias 15th largest trade partner.

The guest said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop are scheduled to inaugurate the Cao Lanh Bridge on May 27, which was built with US$160 million from the Australian Government.

He described the bridge as a symbol of the Australian Governments support for infrastructure development in Vietnam in order to improve the living standards of local residents and facilitate economic development in the Mekong Delta region.

The leader informed the press that at the end of the year, Australia will help Vietnam to send the first Vietnamese peacekeepers to South Sudan.

Host and guest shared the view that there are bright prospects for Vietnam and Australia to enhance bilateral cooperation in the time ahead, he said.
Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who arrived in the country yesterday, has pledged to continue working with the new administration led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and take existing bilateral ties to new heights.



President Mbasogo said this last night while addressing journalists at State House after holding a three-hour long closed door meeting with his counterpart, President Mnangagwa.



He was accompanied by a high-powered delegation comprising four Cabinet Ministers and several senior Government officials.





Speaking through an interpreter, President Mbasogo said they had come to reinforce already existing bilateral relations which blossomed during the Mr Robert Mugabe-led administration.





Indeed, it was a timely visit meant to establish our cooperation, bilateral relations with the Government of Zimbabwe as well as to ensure that we give our full support to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his policies to continue to help Zimbabwe for the overall development of this nation, said President Mbasogo.





Asked if there were any new areas of cooperation, President Mbasogo said their primary focus on the present visit was to deepen existing areas. We did not at this particular visit come to make new negotiations. We have some from the past. We came to reinforce what we have already established for the development of both nations, said President Mbasogo.





President Mnangagwa described President Mbasogos visit as natural and normal as he had been doing so in the past and would continue to visit Harare in the future.





This is natural. His Excellency (President Mbasogo) has been coming here in the past and he continues to come here and in future he is going to come. So there is nothing out of the way, this is natural and normal, said President Mnangagwa.

The Head of State said his administration would maintain already existing cooperation agreements and explore more areas.





We have several agreements between Zimbabwe and the Equatorial Guinea government, we will continue to implement them and embrace new ones as we go forward. We have always worked together. We have had cooperation with Equatorial Guinea; we shall cooperate today and tomorrow and forever, he said.





President Mbasogo arrived at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in the afternoon and was welcomed by Vice-President General Dr Constantino Chiwenga (Retired) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Lieutenant General (Retired) Dr Sibusiso Moyo, Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and senior Government officials.





Recently, Zimbabwe Defence Forces deployed military personnel to provide services at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.





The security personnel contingent, which composed of police, soldiers and intelligence, travelled to Equatorial Guinea at the invitation of President Mbasogo.





Bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea were bolstered in 2004 when Harare foiled an attempted coup by mercenaries to topple President Mbasogo and replace him with exiled Spanish-based opposition leader Mr Severe Moto.





Zimbabwean security forces arrested British mercenary Simon Mann and 69 others at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport when they landed to pick up weapons, while on their way to overthrow President Mbasogos government. Herald
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Guy Love His Wife?

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(Newser)  Elon Musk turned his attention from rockets, electric cars, and tunneling to lash out at the media this week, slamming the "holier-than-thou hypocrisy of big media companies" and vowing to launch his own website "where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist." The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he would name the new venture "Pravda" after the old Soviet newspaper. Some thought he was joking, though people also thought Musk was joking when he talked about starting a tunnel-boring firm called The Boring Company, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a series of tweets, Musk mocked the media and polled his followers to see what they thought of the Pravda idea. Some 88% voted in favor.

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Musk's idea was not a hit with the media, with some journalists comparing him to President Trump or warning that crowdsourcing credibility ratings online would never work, the Verge reports. Molly Roberts at the Washington Post says Musk's anti-media "meltdown" is unsurprising in light of recent reports on issues with the Tesla Model 3, unionization efforts at Tesla factories, and crashes of self-driving cars. She describes the Pravda plan as the height of Silicon Valley, a "single individuals belief that he or she is the right person to surmount seemingly intractable challenges." "Musk didn't seem to mind the media when it was churning out fawning profiles of him," she notes. (Read more Elon Musk stories.)
(Newser)  Things have gone from bad to worse for two Toronto police officers accused of eating up evidencemarijuana edibleswhile on duty in January. Officers Vittorio Dominelli, 36, and Jamie Young, 35, have been arrested for attempting to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice, by destroying or converting to their own use, evidence, the Toronto police say in a news release. The charges stem from the officers' participation in a raid on a local marijuana dispensary, a police spokesperson says. The day of the incident started routinely enough, with the officers conducting surveillance, per FOX News. But while on duty, they allegedly ate marijuana edibles believed to have come from a dispensary police had raided in the preceding days, per CBC, and began hallucinating.

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One reportedly exited the police vehicle and climbed a tree, CTV News reports. He was unable to extricate himself from the tree and called for assistance. (You can hear their call for help, reported by Global News in January, here.) Making matters worse, a police officer who responded to their call for help slipped on the ice and suffered a serious head injury. Dominelli, who has been on the force for 13 years, and Young, who has been on the force for more than two years, have also been charged with breach of trust. They have been suspended with pay since the incident. (Read about another case of edible marijuana gone wrong here.)
(Newser)  A school bus driver with a history of driver's license suspensions caused a fatal crash on a New Jersey highway last week by crossing three lanes of traffic in an apparent attempt to make an illegal U-turn, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday. Authorities charged Hudy Muldrow Sr., 77, with two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of 10-year-old student Miranda Vargas and 51-year-old teacher Jennifer Williamson. More than 40 others were injured, some seriously, in the May 17 crash between the bus and a dump truck, reports the AP. The bus was one of three carrying students and teachers from a middle school in Paramus on a field trip to a historic site in New Jersey, about 30 miles away. Muldrow missed a turn, then merged onto Interstate 80 in Mount Olive, according to an affidavit filed by New Jersey state police.

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He quickly crossed three lanes toward a break in the median reserved for emergency vehicles to attempt an illegal U-turn, the affidavit says. Muldrow "disregarded the marked No Turn sign" and turned his bus "to the left in an apparent attempt to gain access to an official-use only access point," according to the document. It adds that Muldrow turned his bus "so that it was positioned in an almost-perpendicular direction in relation to the lanes of travel" on westbound I-80. Muldrow had his license suspended 14 times between 1975 and 2017, mostly for administrative reasons, according to motor vehicle records. He had eight speeding violations between 1975 and 2001, and three moving violations, including one for careless driving and one for making an improper turn, in the last 10 years.

(Read more school bus stories.)
(Newser)  Despite President Trump canceling his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Thursday, North Korea says it is still willing to proceed with the sit-down. "We reiterate to the US that we are willing to sit face to face at any time and in any way," said a top official at North Korea's Foreign Ministry in comments that the country's state-run media published Friday, per CNN. Calling the state of the US-North Korea relationship "disgraceful," the official said Trump's cancellation "is a decision that is not in line with the wishes of [those] who hope for the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula as well as the world. ... Our goal and will to do everything for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and [for] mankind remains unchanged, and we are willing to give time and opportunity to the US, always with a big and open mind." (Read more North Korea stories.)
(Newser)  Rachel Dolezal has been misrepresenting her income, according to investigators in Washington state. The former NAACP chapter leaderwho was born a white woman but describes herself as "unapologetically black"has been charged with welfare fraud and could get up to 15 years in prison if convicted, the New York Daily News reports. Dolezal, who changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, is also accused of perjury and false verification for public assistance, reports the AP. Authorities say she illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance between 2015 and 2017.

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Dolezal came to the attention of investigators in 2017 when they learned that she had published a memoir but was still reporting income of only $500 a month, reports KHQ. According to court documents, investigators discovered that she had deposited $83,924 into her bank account between 2015 and 2017 without declaring it to state authorities. The documents state that the money came from memoir In Full Color, speaking engagements, soap and doll making, and the sale of art. Dolezalwho stepped down from the Spokane chapter of the NAACP and lost her job teaching African studies after her background was exposed in 2015is due in court next month, the Washington Post reports. (Read more Rachel Dolezal stories.)
The top legislator thanked the Australian Government for its continuous provision of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, stating that the Cao Lanh Bridge will be inaugurated on May 27 on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, becoming another symbol for the friendship between Vietnam and Australia, alongside the Australia-funded My Thuan Bridge that was completed in 2000.

She highly appreciated the fine relations between the Vietnamese NA and the Australian parliament over the past few years, with the Australian side having been actively engaged in and contributed significantly to the success of the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) hosted in Vietnam in January 2018.

NA Chairwoman Ngan called for the acceleration of cooperation between the two legislatures via the exchange of high-level and all-level delegations, and the facilitation of people-to-people exchange in order to boost mutual understanding.

NA Chairwoman Ngan calls for the acceleration of cooperation between the two legislatures via the exchange of high-level and all-level delegations, (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

For his part, Governor-General of Australia Peter Cosgrove expressed his delights to see Vietnams vigorous development across all spheres, while congratulating Vietnam on its recent foreign relations achievements, including the successful organization of the APEC Economic Leaders Week in November 2017.

Informing the host on the outcomes of his talks with President Tran Dai Quang, Cosgrove affirmed that the Australian Government would continue to create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country to lead a stable life, thus contributing to the development of Australia as well as the friendly relations between the two countries.

The guest spoke highly of the capabilities of Vietnams UN peacekeeping force to be fielded to South Sudan, affirming that Australia would actively support Vietnam in terms of logistics to help the country to fulfill the mission.

The two sides agreed that the elevation of bilateral ties to a strategic partnership in March 2018 would open up a new period for the deeper and more effective relations between the two countries.

On the occasion, the leaders discussed a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea issue. Accordingly, both sides supported the peaceful settlement of disputes in line with international law.
(Newser)  By the time police arrived early Wednesday morning, a Washington man had managed to dig a hole two feet wide, two feet deep, and eight feet long. It wasn't deep enough to reach Hector Apodaca's coffin, which is what Bremerton police say the man was trying to do. The unnamed 27-year-old is reportedly Apodaca's brother, and allegedly told police he was seeking a gold cross that had been buried with Apodaca following his February 2017 murder.

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In addition to the hole, police say the man had managed to remove the headstone marking Apodaca's grave at the Miller Woodlawn cemetery. The man reportedly confessed to using meth hours prior and was told to leave the cemetery; he subsequently returned and was arrested and charged with third-degree malicious mischief and second-degree criminal trespass, reports the Kitsap Sun. (Read more strange stuff stories.)
(Newser)  Police in a Toronto suburb are searching for two masked attackers who detonated an improvised bomb in a restaurant Thursday night. Police say 15 were injured, three of them with critical blast injuries, after the men detonated the explosive device in Mississauga's Bombay Bhel restaurant, the BBC reports. The motive is still unclear. "We have no indication to call it a hate crime or any kind of terrorism act," says a police spokesman. He notes the attackers aren't believed to have said anything. "It appears they just went in, dropped off this device, and took off right away," he says.

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A witness who was on the patio of a nearby restaurant tells the CBC that he rushed to help after hearing the blast. "Glass was broken in the street. There was a child's birthday party. Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood [on] the floor," he says. "Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant. There was a guy with glass inside his eyes. Many people were bleeding so much." Early Friday, police said that the three people rushed to the hospital with blast injuries were in stable condition. Another 12 people suffered less severe injuries. (Read more Canada stories.)
(Newser)  A big change could be in store for what's considered Europe's most restrictive nation on abortion. The Irish people are voting Friday in a referendum that could see the removal of a near-total constitutional ban on abortion, enacted by another referendum 35 years ago with support from the Roman Catholic church. The vote to repeal or keep the eighth amendmentwhich views "the right to life of the unborn" as equal to that of the mother and therefore prohibits abortion in cases of rape, incest, and fatal fetal abnormalitiesis expected to be close. Opinion polls showed "repeal" voters slightly ahead but up to 20% of voters undecided, reports the Guardian, noting the votes of thousands of Irish expatriates returning home for the referendum "could be significant."

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Prime Minister Leo Varadkar calls the vote a "once in a generation decision," noting it could be another 35 years before abortion is revisited. Should voters choose repeal, a move backed by UN Human Rights Committee, the government will introduce legislation allowing unrestricted abortion via pill during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with abortions also permitted until the 23rd week in cases of fatal fetal abnormality or when a woman's health is at risk. Any woman seeking an abortion would need to wait three days after meeting with a doctor, reports the Washington Post. Currently, some 3,500 Irish women travel abroad to get abortions each year, and though seeking or providing an abortion can carry a 14-year prison term, another 2,000 are believed to illegally procure abortion pills. The vote result is expected Saturday afternoon. (Read more Ireland stories.)
(Newser)  The summit between the US and North Korea is off, at least for nowand officials tell NBC News it's because President Trump wanted to nix things before Kim Jong Un had a chance to. "He doesn't want to be the bride left at the altar," a Pusan National University professor tells Time. NBC characterizes the decision as having been made "abruptly," with discussions starting late Wednesday and key calls taking place between 7am and 9am Thursday; the letter went out at 9:43am. Two higher-ups said to have butted heads: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who wanted to stay the course and build on progress made with North Korea, and National Security Adviser John Bolton, who's long pushed for toppling the Kim regime and wanted out of the summit. Bolton appears to have won the debate, and Trump is said to have dictated the letter to him. Pompeo, meanwhile, was reportedly blindsided, officials say.

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"This has been like herding cats," one senior administration official says of trying to get Pompeo and Bolton's goals aligned. One source disputes this showdown, however, telling NBC all players were a "pretty tight-knit group." At least one source says Trump was also irked by Vice President Mike Pence's inflammatory remarks about North KoreaPence had made reference to what happened to Gadhafi in Libya, angering Kim Jong Unbut a senior administration official downplayed any tension. South Korea's Foreign Ministry issued a statement indicating Pompeo is still working behind the scenes with South Korea's foreign minister, per the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, notes the US is back to using a "pressure campaign" against the North. (North Korea says it's still willing to have a sit-down.)
(Newser)  Just under two dozen American grizzlies could be killed this September in what the New York Times calls the "first large-scale hunt for grizzly bears in 43 years" outside of Alaska. A year after the grizzly population near Yellowstone National Park was removed from federal protectionwith numbers estimated at 700, up from 136 in 1975, per National Geographicthe Wyoming Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to allow hunters to shoot up to 22 grizzlies on public and private lands east of the park. Officials say the carefully planned trophy hunt won't hurt the species' recovery. But critics point out grizzlies are some of the slowest terrestrial mammals to reproduce, with females birthing offspring once every three years, and stress 56 bears died in 2017 as a result of poaching, vehicle collisions, and other issues.

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"You can't kill that many bears through hunting, on top of the number already dying through a variety of causes, and not have a negative impact on the bear population," one critic tells NatGeo. Others say climate change puts the grizzly food supply at risk. Critics also say the sale of bear licenses is unlikely to help Wyoming's budget crisis. An out-of-state hunter must pay $6,000, but Wyoming residents will pay $600. Several lawsuits, including some from tribal groups who view the grizzly as sacred, are seeking to restore federal protection of the animal, thus ending hunts. Should they fail, there's talk of mass protests. Idaho is only allowing one male grizzly to be killed this year, while Montana is skipping a hunt, "citing pending lawsuits and a wish to move cautiously as the species nears recovery," per the Missoulian. (Bear baiting may be allowed on federal land in Alaska.)
(Newser)  Suspicious of a semi-truck driving on the shoulder of I-80, Nebraska State Patrol troopers searched the vehicle and, in so doing, made the largest fentanyl bust in the state's history. In a secret compartment in the truck, stopped near Kearney on April 26, authorities say they found 118 pounds of the drug, or enough to kill 26 million people, per NPR.

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Troopers originally thought the haul was mostly cocaine, but lab tests confirmed it to be fentanyl, a drug up to 50 times more potent than heroin. Just two milligrams can kill, reports CNN. Two New Jersey men, aged 46 and 52, are charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The haul is worth an estimated $20 million. (Read more fentanyl stories.)
(Newser)  As NATO shifted into new headquarters in recent weeks, part of the move involved a tombstone-like chunk of polished granite, a memorial to those who paid the ultimate price in service of the military alliance. But ask NATO officials who is among those fallen and the answer usually refers back to member nations. It becomes a more poignant question as Monday's US Memorial Day draws closer. The world's biggest military alliance, now with 29 member states, has no list of those who lost their lives on its watch. Neither in its billion-plus-euro premises in Brussels, nor at NATO's military headquarters in southern Belgium, according to officials and officers asked by the AP. In 2009, when the memorial was unveiled, NATO was in charge of combat operations against Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistanby far the biggest and most challenging enterprise in its 69-year history.

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Then-NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was keenly aware of the risks. He said the monument "will be a permanent remindernot just that they gave their lives so that we could enjoy oursbut also of the consequences of the decisions that we take in this building." The numbers are hard to pin down, but according to the website icasualties, 521 foreign troops died in Afghanistan in 2009the start of a four-year peak in Afghan conflict deaths. Most of them were American but many were British and Canadians. Not all were on NATO duty. NATO now has some 15,600 personnel in Afghanistan to train and advise officers in the national security forces.

(Read more NATO stories.)
(Newser)  A 60-year-old Florida man has been arrested after cops say he verbally and physically attacked two Muslim men outside a St. Augustine McDonald's. First Coast News and CBS News report John Jay Smith is accused of approaching the pair, who were chowing down on hamburgers in the eatery's parking lot early Wednesday, and asking them if they were "American boys." He then allegedly told them to "get out of my country" and "you don't deserve American food." Mohamed Galal and Zeyad Said told St. Johns County Sheriff's deputies that Smith had a knife and that they retreated to their car as Smith headed back to his. But he was soon back, they said, this time with a stun gun, and they say he reached into their car to try to stun one of them. Reacting in alarm, the driver of the car accidentally backed up into a pole, causing slight damage to the vehicle.

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Galal and Said tell News4Jax they're Muslim exchange students from Egypt. Deputies say they took a knife and stun gun from Smith, and that once in custody he kept repeating, "They killed my son" (he told them his son had been a US Marine killed in Afghanistan); it hasn't yet been confirmed he had a son who was killed overseas. Smith also accused the students of "making a ruckus" and pulling a gun on him; deputies found no gun. A McDonald's manager on duty said she was a witness and backs up the men's story. The deputy who filled out the police report also noted Smith's breath smelled like alcohol. Smith faces charges of assault, trespassing, and burglary, and hate crime charges may also follow after the state attorney's office reviews the case. (A Florida man tried to burn down a store he thought was Muslim-owned; it wasn't.)
(Newser)  As Harvey Weinstein did his perp walk into the NYPD's 1st Precinct Friday to be booked on rape and sexual abuse charges, he was spotted carrying three booksand Time has the details. One was Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution. A second was a 2006 biography of controversial director Elia Kazan, who ratted out eight colleagues as members of the Communist Party like himself, back in the 1950s. This book (Elia Kazan: A biography) is getting the most attention because Kazan "was scorned by much of liberal Hollywood after his testimony," and Weinstein is likely to see a parallel with his own situation, notes the Guardian. The third book appeared to be a journal or other type of notebook. Related:



The sketches: The courtroom sketches of Weinstein are, um, "really something," notes BuzzFeed, which compares them here to photos of Weinstein. Among other things, he looks much heavier in the sketches. (They're by the same artist who got flak over her Tom Brady sketches.)

The courtroom sketches of Weinstein are, um, "really something," notes BuzzFeed, which compares them here to photos of Weinstein. Among other things, he looks much heavier in the sketches. (They're by the same artist who got flak over her Tom Brady sketches.) What's next? Now that Weinstein has surrendered, "what happens next?" That's the question posed by CBS This Morning, whose anchors chatted with the New York Times' Jodi Kantor (Kantor, along with colleague Megan Twohey, first broke the Weinstein story in the Times in early October). One possibility, per Kantor: Even more women may now come forward.

Now that Weinstein has surrendered, "what happens next?" That's the question posed by CBS This Morning, whose anchors chatted with the New York Times' Jodi Kantor (Kantor, along with colleague Megan Twohey, first broke the Weinstein story in the Times in early October). One possibility, per Kantor: Even more women may now come forward. Rose McGowan's plans: Accuser Rose McGowan put out a short message on Twitter Friday: "We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you." She talked at length with the AP, noting she intends to be at his trial if there is one and that she thinks sexual predators may finally be on notice: "This is the first time since written history that women are being believedbegrudgingly, but still."

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Actresses react: The New York Times has reactions from other accusers. "Anyone know where I can get front row seats?!" Annabella Sciorra tweeted Thursday upon hearing Weinstein would turn himself in. Mira Sorvino retweeted a story on Weinstein's then-upcoming arrest, adding the hashtag #Justice. Also reacting: Asia Argento, who recently made a passionate speech at Cannes about Weinstein. "Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell," she tweeted early Friday. "We, the women, finally have real hope for justice."

The New York Times has reactions from other accusers. "Anyone know where I can get front row seats?!" Annabella Sciorra tweeted Thursday upon hearing Weinstein would turn himself in. Mira Sorvino retweeted a story on Weinstein's then-upcoming arrest, adding the hashtag #Justice. Also reacting: Asia Argento, who recently made a passionate speech at Cannes about Weinstein. "Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell," she tweeted early Friday. "We, the women, finally have real hope for justice." One accuser: Ronan Farrow, who also contributed an explosive report that broke the scandal open, explains in the New Yorker what took place "behind the scenes" of Weinstein's arrest. He IDs one of the women on whose case the new charges against Weinstein are based, revealing that after the NYPD saw his October article, cops contacted Lucia Evans, one of the women Farrow interviewed, to encourage her to come forward. "We gave her time, a source involved in the probe says. "We worked with her gradually to make sure she was comfortable."

Ronan Farrow, who also contributed an explosive report that broke the scandal open, explains in the New Yorker what took place "behind the scenes" of Weinstein's arrest. He IDs one of the women on whose case the new charges against Weinstein are based, revealing that after the NYPD saw his October article, cops contacted Lucia Evans, one of the women Farrow interviewed, to encourage her to come forward. "We gave her time, a source involved in the probe says. "We worked with her gradually to make sure she was comfortable." Legal milestone: In an opinion piece for CNN, Caroline Polisi says Weinstein's arrest signifies a "legal inflection point" that's finally caught up with the cultural one represented by the Me Too movement. "His victims will be able to take some comfort in his finally being held liable for his alleged crimes," she writes.

In an opinion piece for CNN, Caroline Polisi says Weinstein's arrest signifies a "legal inflection point" that's finally caught up with the cultural one represented by the Me Too movement. "His victims will be able to take some comfort in his finally being held liable for his alleged crimes," she writes. The four acts: In true Hollywood (or perhaps Shakespearean tragedy) style, the Washington Post breaks "the rise and ignominious fall" of Weinstein into four "acts": the glory years, the painful years, the comeback, and the fall. ABC News offers a more detailed timeline on that final act.

In true Hollywood (or perhaps Shakespearean tragedy) style, the Washington Post breaks "the rise and ignominious fall" of Weinstein into four "acts": the glory years, the painful years, the comeback, and the fall. ABC News offers a more detailed timeline on that final act. Malkovich as Weinstein? Also in the works is a newly finished play about Weinstein by David Mamet. The New York Post reports producer Jeffrey Richards is trying to get Bitter Wheat, which Mamet first mentioned earlier this year, off the ground and that he's even approached a big name to play Weinstein: John Malkovich.

(Read more Harvey Weinstein stories.)
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The Party chief welcomed the Governor-General to visit Vietnam on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of Vietnam-Australia diplomatic ties, expressing his belief that Australia will continue to succeed in building a unified multicultural nation with an increasingly important role and voice in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.

He voiced his wish that the Vietnam-Australia relations would be facilitated in an effective and substantive fashion across spheres, especially economy-trade-investment, security-defence, education-training, and science-technology, thus meeting the aspirations and practical interests of the two countries people.

General Secretary Trong suggested that both sides actively implement the high-level agreements reached, promote the efficiency of the existing cooperation mechanisms, and facilitate the exchange of high-level delegations and meetings, including the Party channel, aiming to create a solid political connection, thereby accelerating the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The two sides pledge to continue their close coordination at multilateral, regional and international forums, including the United Nations. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

For his part, Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove applauded the elevation of Vietnam-Australia relations to a strategic partnership in March 2018, hailing this as an important milestone in the history of bilateral ties.

He emphasised that Australia always attaches importance to boosting its cooperation with Vietnam in all fields, including education-training, science-technology, and innovation-reform.

The two sides pledged to continue their close coordination at multilateral, regional and international forums, including the United Nations.

The guest affirmed that Australia would continue to actively coordinate with and support Vietnam as the country is elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the two leaders stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, and maritime and aviation freedom and safety, and peacefully resolving disputes in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
At a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem city on May 24, Nhan suggested the President continue supporting the promotion of collaboration between Israeli and Vietnamese partners, including those from Ho Chi Minh City, in fields of both sides strength and demand.

He also proposed Israel, via its Agency for International Development Cooperation and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, continue granting scholarships to and assisting the city in training high quality human resources in high technology.

He expressed his hope that the two counties will soon complete negotiations for the signing of a free trade agreement with a view to raising two-way trade to US$3 billion in the years to come.

For his part, President Reuven Rivlin congratulated Vietnam on the great achievements it has made over the past four decades, especially in agriculture, health and tourism.

He spoke highly of the Vietnamese authorities support for the private economic sector and the development of the Vietnamese army.

The same day, the Ho Chi Minh City delegation visited the Hebrew University, one of the oldest and most famous universities in Israel, with the largest number of scientists holding Nobel and Fields prizes. They also called at the Mobileye Company and the Israel Innovation Authority.

Later on May 24, the delegation left Tel Aviv, concluding their working visit to Israel.
The PM was speaking at the Meet Europe 2018 event in Hanoi on May 25, organised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hanoi authorities, the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Vietnam, and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham). The meeting aimed to promote and diversify forms of investment promotion and trade between both sides, and the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

Ambassador Bruno Angelet, Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, said that the Meet Europe 2018 event helps to bring about new business opportunities for European firms and Vietnamese localities as well as luring more investment.

Adding that the free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EU (EVFTA) will be signed later this year, the diplomat suggested that the two sides should make reforms and adjustments to seek proper measures to ensure the effective implementation of the deal.

Praising European partners contributions to Vietnams development, PM Phuc stressed that the European side have become close friends of Vietnam over the 30 years of Doi Moi (renovation), development and integration. In particular, FDI from Europe has reached nearly US$25 billion. Europe is the largest non-refundable aid provider to Vietnam. Bilateral trade turnover in the past decade increased five times to more than US$50 billion in 2017.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc witnesses the signing of a cooperative agreement between Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs and EuroCham. (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai)

It is important to note that the opportunities and potential for cooperation come not only from Vietnam, but also from the willingness and determination of European investors, and the PM stated that the Vietnamese Government always appreciates the European private business community with more than 2,000 businesses in the country.

Vietnam's development requirements cover many areas that are in line with the strengths of Europe in terms of capital, governance, advanced technology in infrastructure development, seaports, airports, electricity, petroleum, manufacturing, and supporting industries, food processing, agriculture, tourism, and healthcare.

"I am delighted by the results of the Eurochams survey on Vietnam's investment environment in March 2018, in which 90% of European businesses expressed their wish to maintain and increase their investment in Vietnam. I look forward to the next survey, in that this number must approach nearly 100%. Vietnam must become an attractive, stable, and long-term destination for all of you, all European businesses, PM Phuc affirmed.

The government leader also expressed his wish that with a range of important and practical topics related to prospects for Europe - Vietnam free trade cooperation; renewable energy and smart cities; agriculture and fisheries; infrastructure and logistics; Industry 4.0 and vocational training; delegates at the Meet Europe 2018 should focus discussions of all of the opportunities and challenges and how to ensure they are mutually beneficial.
New Delhi:

Hollywood filmmaker Harvey Weinstein on Friday surrendered to New York Police, months after the Pulp Fiction producer was accused by several women of sexual misconduct. The allegations trigger the famous #MeToo movement in the industry and brought into limelight the deep-rooted culture of sexual harassment in tinsel town.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, while giving an interview on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show, revealed that her former boyfriend Brad Pitt had threatened to kill the Flirting with Disaster producer after she narrated her ordeal to him.

The Iron Man actress said that Pitt had confronted Harvey Weinstein when he made inappropriate advancements to her. The Sliding Doors star opened up her harrowing experiences with the Hollywood movie mogul ahead of his surrender to New York Police.

Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow were seeing each other in the 1990s. The Proof actress revealed that Harvey Weinstein asked her for a massage when the two of them were alone in a hotel room.

Paltrow had immediately informed Pitt about the misconduct and the Fight Club actor confronted the producer when the three celebrities attended the opening of "Hamlet on Broadway.

Brad Pitt then allegedly warned Weinstein by saying, "If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I'll kill you."

Gwyneth Paltrow approved Pitt's actions and said "He leveraged his fame and power to protect me at a time when I didn't have fame and power yet.

(With agency inputs)

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Popular small screen actor Ssharad Malhotra, who is currently winning hearts as Ranbir in Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki has parted ways with his girlfriend Pooja Bisht. The actors were in a stable relationship for the past two years.

Grapevines were buzzing with the rumours of their marriage and their break up comes as a shock to their hardcore fans.

A report in a leading daily suggested that Ssharadas hectic working schedule drifted the two lovebirds apart. aTheir differences grew, as Ssharad wasnat able to devote enough time to the relationship because of his busy schedule. That often led to arguments between him and Pooja. Itas unfortunate that just when they were planning to take their relationship to the next level, things turned sour for them. Ssharad is heartbroken,a a source close to the estranged couple told Times Of India.A

Ssharad Malhotra, while talking to the daily said that he tried to make the relationship work from his end.

"There were personal issues from my end. I tried to make the relationship work, but our differences were irrevocable. Pooja is a nice girl and it was great till it lasted. I wish her all the bestaa, the From Sydney with Love actor told Times Of India.

Ssharad Malhotra was previously in a relationship with his Banoo Main Teri Dulhann co-star Divyanka Tripathi. The two actors went their different ways after dating for about nine years.

Divyanka, who is currently seen as Ishita Bhalla in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, is happily married to Vivek Dahiya.
New Delhi:

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Patna on Friday held all five accused guilty in 2013 Bodhgaya blast case. The next hearing in the case is on May 31.

All the five accused - Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi  were Indian Mujahideen terrorists.

Special NIA judge Manoj Kumar Sinha convicted them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence during the next hearing on May 31.

On July 7, 2013, a series of explosions rocked the pilgrim town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar. The bombs exploded near the Mahabodhi Temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, leaving five people injured.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Indias oldest political party the Congress, which governed the country for almost 50 years since independence, is facing a severe cash crunch. The party on Friday resorted to crowdfunding and asked peoples contribution to restore the democracy.

The Congress needs your support and help. Help us restore the democracy which India has proudly embraced since 70 years by making a small contribution, the grand old party tweeted with a link that takes one to its donation page.

The move to go for crowdfunding came a day after Congress leader Shashi Tharoors tweet that the party should not be embarrassed about acknowledging that it was facing a funding crunch.

When asked about the Congress cash crisis, Tharoor said that the ruling BJP was soaking up most of the political funding and most of the opposition parties were facing the heat of funding crisis.

No doubt that BJP is soaking up most of the political funding, partly because the money goes to those who are in power. As a result, most of the opposition parties are facing a bit of a crisis particularly the Congress which has a nationwide presence, ANI quoted Tharoor as saying.

The Congress leader said that while most of its candidates in Karnataka financed their own campaign, the party opted for crowdfunding for one candidate. He also said that the Congress can run similar fundraising campaign in the 2019 general elections.

In Karnataka, while most candidates financed their own campaign, in one case we did crowdfunding effort and it was successful. It can be repeated in general elections. In Kerala also we did yatras and were able to raise funds locally, this too can be repeated nationally, the Congress leader said.

In 2016-17, the Congress raised Rs 225.36 crore in contrast to the ruling BJPs Rs 1,034 crore in the similar time period, according to an Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report. The ADR report also suggested that the BJP was the richest party among the seven national political parties in India.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

To protest the TuticorinA police firing in which 13 people lost their lives, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and other opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have called for a dawn-to-dusk statewide bandh on Friday.

Over the last three days, at least 13 people were killed and 70 others injured after police opened fire at protesters demanding the closure of Vedantaas Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Naduas Tuticorin.

The locals were protesting for over 100 days demanding the closure of the Sterlite Copper unit. They alleged that the plant was polluting groundwater and causing serious health issues.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami had defended the police action, saying awhen someone hits you, you naturally tend to defend yourselves. so on such situations, no one acts in a pre-planned manner.aA

LIVE Updates:

# 02:50 PM: Why blocked internet in Tuticorin,A Madras HC asks TN Govt: Madras High Court has asked Tamil Nadu government 'why Internet has been blocked in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin)?' The HC also asked the state government to reply by 3 pm today.

# 02:40 PM: Delhi HC directs NHRC to represent petitioner seeking probe:A Delhi HC directed National Human Rights Commission to take the representation of petitioner who sought commission to directly probe 13 deaths in police firing during protests against Sterlite Industries in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi. NHRC had sought reports from TN DGP & Chief Secy

#11:05 AM: SC refuses to hear a plea seekingA CBI probeA today:A Supreme Court today asked the petitioner GS Mani to mention the matter again on Monday. The Court said it can't hear it today. Mani has sought a court-monitored CBI probe into the police firing matter

#10:50 AM:A Kanimozhi detained by police:A Opposition workers and leaders protest in Chennai's Egmore against Thoothukudi Police Firing. DMK's Kanimozhi and VCK's Thirumavalavan among those detained by Police.

#10:10 AM: Protests inA Chennai's Egmore:A DMK and Congress workers stage protest in Chennai's Egmore against Thoothukudi Police Firing Sterlite Protest

#10:00 AM: Buses halted at Tamil Nadu border:A The state government's buses coming from Kerala have been halted at the Tamil Nadu border in wake of the statewide bandh called by the Opposition parties.

#09:30 AM: Situation in Tuticorin better now:A There were 13 casualties but after the efforts of the government and district administration to restore normalcy, the situation in Tuticorin is better now. Govt has passed orders to cut off electricity supply to Sterlite industry, saysA GS Bedi, governmentA monitoring officer.

#09:15 AM: iVedanta chairman says want Tuticorin to prosper: We always make sure that community & people of Tuticorin prosper with us. I'm totally committed to people at large & community & with their wish & prosperity, we'd like to continue business. I assure you I'm fully committed to environment & people, says Agarwal, Chairman, Vedantai.

#09:00 AM: Hello and Welcome to the News Nation live updates. Opposition parties are observing a dawn-to-dusk Tamil Nadu bandh today over the violence in Tuticorin in which 13 people were killed after police opened fire at protesters. The locals of Tuticorin were protesting againstA Vedantaas Sterlite Copper unit over pollution concerns.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Many travellers and tourists have changed their traveling plans and cancelled their flight and train bookings to Kerala in fear of the shocking Nipah virus outbreak in the state, causing an adverse impact on the state tourism sector.



The state tourism sector was expecting a huge inflow of domestic and holidayers in the coming summer months. However, their hopes of good business have been hit hard as many cancelled their visits to Gods own country.



The deadly virus has claimed 11 lives so far and affected several people, according to reports.



Several Hotel bookings and tour packages to the southern state have been cancelled by many holidayers. They even demand safety assurance from tour operators to visit the state, industry sources said.



Many industry players blamed the media for blowing out of proportion the virus outbreak, which has affected only some districts.



Although May-June-July-August months are generally considered off-season, the state used to witness large number of domestic tourists as well as those from Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE during the period.



However, following the outbreak of the virus, some states and Gulf countries have cautioned against travelling to Kerala, they said.



Rajesh Pillai, a Kochi-based tour operator, said cancellations have been a daily affair since the rare virus claimed 11 lives in the two districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram.



Businesses worth Rs 30-40 lakh has been affected during May-June months, he said.



"The Nipah issue has affected the industry so badly. Even the bookings for the month of August and September have been cancelled," he told PTI.



The bookings of group and family packages have been the most affected, he said.



"Tourists are saying that they cannot take risk. They are also asking if any assurance can be given for their safety. They believe that the entire state is facing threat from the Nipah virus," Pillai, the Kerala head of a leading tour group, said.



"The visitors are not prepared to believe that the outbreak had happened in a tiny village in Kozhikode and only some districts have been affected due to it. Unfortunately our media reports gave them such an impression," he said.



Prasad Rao, a pilgrim-tourist from Hyderabad, said he and 14 others were about to reach Kerala but they cancelled the trip due to the warning from their tour operator.



"We were on our way to Kerala. We wanted to visit major temples of the state including some in Malappuram and Kozhikode, the epicentre of the Nipah virus," Rao said over phone from Chennai.



"Our tour operator said there is a health advisory against travelling to Kerala in the backdrop of Nipah. So we decided to skip the state and changed our schedule," he said.

E M Najeeb, senior vice president, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), said the industry has suffered a huge setback due to the outbreak of the virus, but expressed hope that things would be improved soon.

"Cancellation is a reality...the virus outbreak has hit the tourism sector. It has created some anxiety among tourists to visit the state. But, I hope that things will improve soon after the situation comes under control," he said.



Najeeb said the stakeholders have been conveying to the tourism industry within and outside the country that all the holiday destinations of the state are safe as usual.



Kerala State Tourism Advisory Council would meet on to discuss the steps to be taken for damage control and reassure the industry players, he said.



Najeeb also praised the state government for its effective intervention to tackle the sudden outbreak of Nipah.



Jose Dominic, a leading state-based hotelier, said though the industry setback was temporary, it would bounce

back soon.



"It is true that cancellations and postponements (of tour programmes) are happening. But it is such a critical situation...and so we should give more priority to the safety of the visitors," he said.



Following the outbreak of the virus, the Kerala government had issued an advisory asking travellers to avoid visiting four northern districts of the state -- Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur.



Issued by Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan, the advisorysaid travelling to any part of Kerala was safe, but if travellers wished to be extra cautious, they may avoid the four districts, it said.



Another section affected has been fruit merchants for whom the Ramzan season would have been a money spinner.



According to the Kerala Fruits and Merchants Association, there has been a 40 per cent dip in the sales in the state due to the outbreak of virus, while in Kozhikode district alone, where the virus first erupted, there has been a fall of 90 per cent in sales.



The Nipah virus is a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans.



The natural host of the virus is believed to be fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

The White House on Thursday tended to point the finger at China for the sudden change in attitude of the North Koreans for the proposed June 12 summit in Singapore.

"We can only speculate as to exactly what was discussed or why that might be, but the shift in attitude did not go unnoticed by the President, said a senior White House official, responding to questions on the sudden change in behaviour of the North Koreans.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had said that North Korea changed its approach towards the summit after Chairman Kim Jong-un had his second meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China.

"The President made some public comments about his sense that after the second meeting between the Chinese and North Korean leaders, there was a shift in attitude, the official said.

He, however, exuded confidence that China would play a constructive role in implementation of the international sanctions vis-a-vis North Korea.

"We do have assurances. China helped co-author and passed unanimously, with the other Security Council members at the UN, these UN Security Council resolutions that have all come into action over the course of 2017, he said.

"So, all countries, all UN members must abide by those resolutions, and we'll be watching closely to ensure that they do, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States, meanwhile, would continue with its maximum pressure campaign on North Korea, he said.

"The Treasury Department is constantly evaluating intelligence as it comes in to look for targets, that is people and companies and entities and ships that are violating the US law, as well as the UN Security Council resolutions. That is a constant process, the official said, adding that "the goal here is to achieve maximum pressure. We're still short of that".

He said Trump wants to see the issue resolved. "He has made a pledge to the American people to keep us safe from nuclear threat that has been growing and gathering for, now, three decades in the hands of rogue regime. So Trump is willing to pursue diplomacy as far as it can possibly be pursued," the White House official said.

Even as Trump in his letter mentioned that he is open to the meeting, the official said, the June 12 meeting was not possible in the present circumstances and the ball now was in the court of North Koreans.

"I suppose, the ball is in North Korea's court right now, and there's really not a lot of time. We've lost quite a bit of time that we would need in order to? There's been an enormous amount of preparation that's gone on over the past few months at the White House, at State and with other agencies and so forth, the official said.

"But there's a certain amount of actual dialogue that needs to take place at the working level with your counterparts to ensure that the agenda is clear in the minds of those two leaders when they sit down to actually talk and negotiate, and hopefully, make a deal. And June 12th is in 10 minutes, and it's going to be... But the president has said that someday he looks forward to meeting with Kim, he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi:

At least 15 people were injured after a bomb exploded at an Indian restaurant in Mississauga, Canada, local media reported. The police and paramedics rushed to the spot after the blast at the Bombay Bhel restaurant.

a2 suspects attended the scene, detonated an Improvised Explosive Device within the restaurant. Several injured were taken to local hospital and 3 in critical condition were taken to a Toronto Trauma Centre,a Peel Regional Police tweeted.

The suspects, with their face covered in black cloth, fled the scene immediately after the incident. The police, looking for publicas assistance in identifying the suspects that fled following the explosion, released their description.

2nd male described as 5a9a-5a10a, fair skin, thin build, faded blue jeans, dark zip-up hoodie hood pulled over head, grey t-shirt, dark coloured skate shoes, face covered. Looking for publicas assistance in identifying the parties that fled following the explosion. a Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) May 25, 2018

Of the 15 injured, at least three people were in critical condition, a Peel Paramedics spokesperson told Global News.A The blast took place at 10:30 pm (08:00 am IST).

It was not immediately known as how many people were inside the restaurant when the incident took place. The restaurant was evacuated by the police after the incident.

Meanwhile, Indian External Minister Sushma Swaraj said that she was in contact withA Indian High Commissioner in Canada and released anA Emergency helpline number.A

"There is a blast in Indian restaurant Bombay Bhel in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I am in constant touch with our Consul General in Toronto & Indian High Commissioner in Canada. Our missions will work round the clock. Emergency no is +1-647-668-4108," Swaraj said.

The blast came a month after a man driving a rented van barrelled down Yonge Street in Toronto, killing 10 pedestrians and injuring 16.

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Vietnam wants to learn the RoKs strategies and solutions to building e-government, Minister Dung said, noting that both sides need to set up a channel to exchange information and establish a joint working group for long-term and effective cooperation.

Kim Boo-kyum, for his part, expressed his belief that as Vietnam holds a significant part in the New Southern Policy of RoK President Moon Jae-in, the bilateral relations will be deepened in various fields, including diplomacy, economy and culture.

Regarding the building of e-government system, the RoK Government sees Vietnam as its important partner and a group of Korean experts was sent to Vietnam in December 2017 and March 2018 to discuss the e-government building cooperation project, he stressed.

The same day, Minister Dung had a working session with the RoK Minister of Science and ICT.
Sonia LopezAfter dedicating his Houston concert to the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting earlier this week, Justin Timberlake took time out of his schedule to visit one of the victims in the hospital Friday morning.

The students mother, Sonia Lopez, posted a photo from the visit on Facebook. Her daughter, Sarah Salazar, is seen smiling in her hospital bed as Justin kneels next to her.

Lopez captioned the photo, Justin Timberlake visited Sarah Salazar this morning and brought her a gift.

Further details of the visit have not yet been revealed.

On Wednesday night in Houston, Justin paid tribute to the victims and survivors of the tragedy, wearing a Santa Fe Strong t-shirt on stage as he sang his song Until the End of Time.

Ten people were killed and 10 were injured last Friday after a 17-year-old gunman opened fire at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, located between Galveston and Houston. The suspect, Dimitrios Pagourtzis [di-MI-tree-ohs pag-OR-cheez], has been charged with capital murder and is being held without bail.

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He told Chansy Phosikham, head of the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committees Organisation Commission, in Hanoi on May 25 that the Vietnamese Party and State always require all-level Party Committees, ministries, agencies and localities to assist Laos in national development, considering this as Vietnams responsibility.

The Vietnamese and Lao Prime Ministers have regularly met and discussed ways to enhance the bilateral ties, PM Phuc added, stressing that Vietnam is willing to provide the best possible support for its neighbouring country.

The Vietnamese government leader highly valued outcomes of the talks between the Lao Party Central Committees Organisation Commission and the Organisation Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, which was held during Chansy Phosikhams visit and focused on exchanging experience in Party building and personnel work.

He urged the two sides to tighten their coordination in implementing Vietnam-Laos joint statements, agreements reached by Party leaders of the two countries and Governments, the agreement signed at the 40th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee and other cooperation programmes.

For his part, Chansy Phosikham said his visit aims to learn from Vietnams experience in organisation and personnel work.

He highlighted the firm stance of the Lao Party, State and people on the fruitful cooperation and traditional friendship with Vietnam.

Laos is actively implementing infrastructure projects, especially those in the transport sector, to bring the two countries closer, he said.
Manama : In a historic and unprecedented development in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA), the Government of Bahrain has established the first assistance fund for victims of human trafficking.

Approved by the Executive Committee chaired by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and endorsed by Cabinet on April 30, 2018, the fund covers the costs of essential services for victims, such as temporary allowances that serve as financial protection schemes in-between court proceedings. It also provides a grant that victims of trafficking may use for reintegration in their country of origin or to support their re-employment in Bahrain. Two victims of trafficking have already been benefitted from the fund.
Manama : His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa yesterday stressed the importance of sustainable development in developing a framework to meet citizens aspirations and facilitating private sector-led growth.

This came as the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, and First Deputy Prime Minister visited the Majlises of Majlises of Al Musallam family, Al Mahmood family, and Ghanim bin Faisal Al-Buainai. Deputy Prime Minister, His Highness Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, accompanied HRH the Crown Prince during the visits.

HRH CP told the Majlis participants that Bahrain will continue to encourage private sector-led development and help kingdom face the challenges in the region.

The growth, HRH the CP said, including that in the oil and gas sector will assist long-term growth especially in light of the recent discovery.

On housing, the Crown Prince said that Bahrain will continue to fast-track projects that provide opportunities for citizens.

HRH CP affirmed that the Kingdoms sustainable development plans are centred on ensuring that it benefits future generations. Prince Salman also extended his Ramadan greetings to all.
Manama : Several citizens who have been waiting for housing units for decades now hope that the announcement made by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and First Deputy Prime Minister Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa will help realise their dream.

HRH Crown Prince has instructed to allocate 5000 housing units in line with HM King Hamads directive to deliver 40,000 housing units across Bahrain.

HRH Crown Princes latest instruction follows previous orders which led to the successful allocation of over 15,000 homes across different parts of Bahrain and comes after the recent inauguration of Salman Town, one of the Kingdoms largest housing projects comprising 15,000 housing units.

However, several citizens in the Kingdom have been waiting for their dream homes for decades. Adel, a resident of Bahrain, is one of the many people who has been waiting for his dream home, his rightful due assured in the Constitution, since 1993.

In October 1993, I submitted my housing application for my dream house. Fed up with waiting, I took a temporary apartment in 2002. I have been living in the temporary abode since then. The matter was followed up by the ministry. I even met the Undersecretary who told me that I will get my house in Tubli. My neighbour was on the waiting list too. He was given a house in Nabih Saleh. All the people around me got their houses but I didnt, said Adel.

Adel took the matter further to catch the attention of the authorities and called the radio to highlight his problem.

I called the radio four times, explaining my problem. Officials called me after that and assured me that I have a housing unit allocated in Tubli and that Ill be receiving it but that never happened. It was all false promises. In June 2016, they contacted me again and informed me that they will give me a house in Lozi and I wondered why I was promised in a different place. I received nothing after that, he said.

I wrote a complaint to the ministry and months later they contacted me and assured me once again that I have a house allocated for me in Lozi and Im still waiting for that house. It is strange how all those who were allocated houses in Lozi received the addresses and signed the contracts in 2016 while Im made to wait, he wondered.

Adel said he doesnt like to clash with anyone and all he wants is the right he is entitled to. I am a Bahraini citizen and all I ask for is for my right. I am a grandfather now and have two grandchildren. I always dreamt of a house in which I can embrace all my family members in but I unfortunately still live in an apartment, said Adel who is still felt hopeful od getting his unit.

Explaining the difficulties in obtaining a housing unit, Abdullah Issa, another applicant said: My housing requests go back to 2001, I am from Riffa and many peoples requests here go back to the 1990s and the beginning of the millennium. When I applied, I was alone with my wife. Today, 17 years later, I have a family of seven. We live in a small three-room apartment. It is not enough, and we still wait for our residential unit.

We know that laws in Bahrain are for the good of the citizens, but waiting for a long 17 years is absurd, he said.

My husband, who died years ago, had his housing request cancelled for being very old. After he died, my son applied for a housing unit, so that we could have a house to live in. My sons request goes back to 2007. Today, my sons family has five members. We are currently renting two apartments. I receive a total of BD350 as my husbands pension, and my sons salary is BD600 which is a total of BD950 from which we pay BD450 for the two apartments. It is hard and tough waiting for years and years, said Um Ayman, a widow from Qalali.

The delay in meeting the housing demands of low-income citizens causes great embarrassment. Many are forced to live in very small apartments that are not commensurate with the size of their families. The average rental price of an apartment in Bahrain is 240 dinars, and the rent varies from one area to another. In Muharraq, the average rent is BD220 for a two-room apartment. In Manama, the average rent for apartments is BD280. Citizens get only BD100 as compensation, said MP Adel bin Humaid.

I recently submitted an application for housing. For the past 3 years, I have been seeing the suffering of my fellow applicants, and I fear the same to happen to me. I think that the legislators should suggest increasing the compensation gradually because rental rates are rising, said Mohammed Anwar, another applicant.

Govt distributed 15000 housing units, says Minister

Manama : In line with the holy month of Ramadhan to meet the needs of citizens and follow-up the efforts of the government under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness, Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Minister of Housing, Bassem Al-Hamr, has announced the distribution of 5000 housing units.

The announcement follows the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander, First Deputy Prime Minister, to distribute 5000 housing units as per the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The Minister of Housing said that the ministry has succeeded in translating the orders of His Highness the Crown Prince to distribute more than 15000 housing units within a period of not more than two years to reality as per schedule, where the ministry was able to complete a number of housing projects in various governorates of the Kingdom, stressing that the ministry harnessed its capabilities to achieve this important housing programme and quickly meet the housing demands.

Al-Hamr added that the ministry is fully aware of the important role it plays in the speed of implementation of the projects listed in its plans and programmes, which is reflected in the frequency of distribution to citizens, stressing that the government is committed to distribute 25000 housing units as per the royal guidance to build 40,000 housing units, featured in the housing phase until 2018, in cooperation with the private sector.

Al-Hamr expressed his appreciation to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for the efforts and support for the Ministry of Housing, which will motivate all employees of the Ministry to provide housing services to implement the aspirations of the comprehensive development of His Majesty the King and the governments vision for accelerating the pace of projects to meet housing demands.




Manama : As Oman brace for impact of hurricane Mekunu, a group of Bahraini volunteer here has announced their intentions to join the middle eastern country in their effort to intensify rescue efforts.

Dubbed Be Ready Team, the Bahrain rescue team will be heading to Oman carrying the slogan Bahrain and Oman hand in hand.

As soon as we heard about the hurricane, I and my friend, who is a rescue specialist, agreed to go to Oman, Fahd Mohammed Yaqoot, Head of the Bahraini rescue team, told the Daily Tribune.

We are specialists and we are training people on aid, he said adding: We believe that our presence there will help the Omani brothers.

The people of Oman are our people, we never felt that they are far away from us. We are in the same boat.

Historically, the people of the Gulf have always been together and today, Oman needs our help.



Funds a concern



Yaqoot said they dont have any support and will have to fund the trip on their own.

Yes, we do not have money to donate. All we have is a ticket that takes us there to help our brothers, he said.

He, however, said that they are open to receive any donation. We will accept donations and will welcome any aid specialist who wants to join us.

It is our duty to support our brothers there he stressed.



Oman ready



According to reports, Cyclone Mekunu has pounded the Yemeni island of Socotra and is on a path to make its landfall in Oman late Friday or early Saturday, local time.

Omani authorities said they are prepared for the storm, warning it could cause floods and damages to houses. Oman has also evacuated the Islanders expected to hit by the hurricane.

Omans Public Authority of Civil Aviation, in a statement, said that its monitoring the storm and will issue updates as it progresses.

News portal UPI, in a statement carried, said that the defence ministry of Oman has evacuated residents in the Hallaniyat Island, which might come under the directed impact.

The Royal Air Force of Oman carried out a number of flights today in support of the efforts by all the government security agencies, the ministry said.



17 missing in Socotra



Arab news reported flooding and damages to houses on the island with at least 17 people reported missing. Reports also say that two ships reportedly capsized in the storm and three vehicles washed away. State of emergency has been declared in Socotra, Reuters reported.

The storm, described as very severe by Indian Authorities, according to latest reports, is now about 475 kilometres off the coast of Salalah and winds up to 180 kilometres per hour.

Reports say locations from Sayhut in eastern Yemen to Ash Shuwaymiyyah in western Oman are at risk for significant impacts from this cyclone.

Landfall is currently expected somewhere between Salalah and the border of Oman and Yemen.

Most recently, according to Hurricane News, Tropical Cyclone Keila made landfall in southwestern Oman as the equivalent of a tropical storm on Nov. 3, 2011.

Mekunucomes on the heels of Tropical Cyclone Sagar, which triggered flash flooding and widespread destruction and deaths in Somalia last week.

Wind strength of Tropical cyclones

Tropical cyclones are officially ranked on one of five tropical cyclone intensity scales, according to their maximum sustained winds and which tropical cyclone basin(s) they are located in.



CATEGORY 1 (tropical cyclone)

GALES with typical gusts over open flat land of 90 - 125 km/h.



CATEGORY 2 (tropical cyclone)

DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of 125 - 164 km/h.



CATEGORY 3 (severe tropical cyclone)

VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of 165 - 224 km/h.



CATEGORY 4 (severe tropical cyclone)

VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of 225 - 279 km/h.



CATEGORY 5 (severe tropical cyclone)

Extremely dangerous with widespread destruction.

VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with typical gusts over open flat land of more than 280 km/h.
Manama : The Lower Criminal Court has sentenced a British man and a Turkish woman to three years behind bars for Credit card fraud, while it cleared two others citing lack of evidence. One of the freed suspects where a Yemeni national and the other was a man holding a GCC passport.

The suspects landed in police net as they tried to buy luxury cars worth BD700,000 using fake credit cards from a car dealer here.

We accepted his offer and drafted a purchase contract, but informed the authorities, the dealer told investigators.

One of the suspects, a British national, according to court documents, told the car dealer that he would leave Bahrain and would complete the transaction when he arrives back.

When he came back, he insisted to complete the purchase offline, the dealer said adding: This triggered our suspicions. Thus we contacted the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security.

Investigators, who were aware of a counterfeiting gang operating in the kingdom, jumped into action and managed to arrest the suspects from the showroom. The arrest also led to trapping two others, who were released by the court.

The General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security said that they were investigating incidents involving embezzling money from ATMs via forging bank card authorisation numbers.
Manama : Doctors at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) has succeeded in conducting a difficult surgery to remove a rare tumour from the eye.

The Bahraini medical team from the Department of Ophthalmology at the Salmaniya Medical Complex said the surgery, to remove the tumour in the bottom of the right eye of a 60-year-old Bahraini citizen, was the first of its kind performed in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The medical team, headed by Dr. Mohamed Naim Nasser, Head of the Ophthalmology and Retinal Surgery Consultant at the medical complex performed the procedure in less than 48 hours after the patient arrived at the SMC from another hospital.

The team immediately took the necessary steps to carry out the surgery, to save the patients eye, and to remove the tumour before it spreads or increases in size that may cause permanent damage to the eye.

The surgery took about two and a half hours, during which the tumour was completely removed.

Necessary samples were also collected in order to determine the type of tumour more precisely and to draw the appropriate treatment plan.




Manama : Dr Ahmed Saeed, Consultant of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endoscopy and graduate of Arabian Gulf University (AGU) was appointed as Head of the Endoscopy Unit at the Veterans Hospital in Kansas City, USA.

He was also appointed Assistant Professor at the College of Medicine, Kansas University.

Dr Ahmed Saeed graduated from the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences at AGU in 2008 and began his career as a Resident at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. He then became a trainee doctor in Gastroenterology from 2013-2016. In 2016, Dr Ahmed Saeed moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he specialised in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endoscopy in Temple University Hospital.

In 2017 Dr Saeed became a Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endoscopy Consultant and Head of Endoscopy Unit at the Veterans Hospital in Kansas. Dr Saeed recently moved to work as a consultant physician at Kansas Gastroenterology and Hepatology Physicians Group.

Dr Abdulrahman Yousif, Dean of Student Affairs at AGU expressed his pride in the international scientific achievements of AGU alumni.
Manama : The ASEAN Bahrain Council organised a business visit headed by Sheikh Daij bin Isa bin Daij Al Khalifa and board members and a number of businessmen and women. The delegation made their second visit to East Asian countries as part of their efforts to strengthen Bahraini relations with ASEAN countries. Representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Economic Development Board and Industry and Thanis Na Songkhla the Thai Ambassador in Bahrain - visited the Bangkok, which included official programme with high-level meetings with a number of officials. Sheikh Daij bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chairman of the ASEAN Bahrain Council, said that the distinguished political relations between the two friendly countries and the leadership in Thailand are of great respect and appreciation for the wise leadership in Bahrain, especially His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister, had the greatest impact on the success of the visit. These close relations contributed to the opening of many doors and facilitated many things during the successful visit of the Bahraini delegation.

Sheikh Daij stressed that the importance of the visit stems from the Councils keenness to achieve the objectives of the Council to strengthen the relations of friendship and understanding between the Bahraini people and the ASEAN peoples and to develop trade, economic, trade, tourism and cultural relations, enhance mutual relations for the benefit of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the ASEAN countries and increase the volume of trade exchange. To encourage cooperation between the two friendly countries Bahrain and Thailand in the fields of economic and trade in particular and to identify the investment opportunities available in the Kingdom, and work to create fruitful economic partnerships between the two sides.

Noting that these countries collectively represent the sixth largest economy in the world, in addition to the combined population of more than 600 million people, one of the largest markets in the world, and need to pay more attention and focus on the promotion and development of trade relations with ASEAN Countries.

For her part, Businesswoman Feryal Abdullah Nass, vice Chairman of the ASEAN Bahrain Council, and the Head of the Thailand Committee, said that the visit was positive and very successful in the form of important meetings with officials in Thailand where the Bahraini delegation, which included about 20 people from Members of the Council and business people in the Kingdom with a number of senior officials in the Kingdom of Thailand, headed by the Chairman and members of the Board of Investment of Thailand, Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Thai Parliament, Chairman and members of the Board of the Bangkok Chamber of Commerce.

This relationship will benefit Bahrain and Thailand by investing in various sectors in both countries. There has always been a good relationship between Thailand and Bahrain, during our visit to Thailand we were given a warm welcome and we would like to extend the same welcome to Thailand, said founding member of ASEAN Bahrain Council Nabeel Abdul Rahman Ajoor, Director of Ajoor Co.

There are a number of sectors, such as health, industrial, tourism and so on, in the business community which will see investments due to this relationship. The government of Thailand has supported business opportunities between the two countries. They have expressed a lot of appreciation and admiration with regard to our relationship, said Talal Almannai, a founding member of ASEAN Bahrain Council and CEO of Almannai Projects.

Kingdom of Bahrain and Kingdom of Thailand maintain strong political, economic and business ties. This steadfast relationship is further strengthened by great visions of leaders of both countries. I was among the delegation of ASEAN Bahrain Council Trade Mission  headed by Sh. Daij Bin Isa Al Khalifa and Mrs Feryal Nass -Vice chairman, to Thailand in April 2018. We met with Committee for Economy of the National Legislative Assembly visited Parliament, Chamber of Commerce and Ministry of Commerce. I found Thailand as an investment-friendly country and it offers attractive opportunities for overseas investors. The Trade Mission was a great step in further enhancing the economic ties between two countries. People and officials of Thailand hold Bahrain and our leaders in high regards and are highly cordial, said Yousuf Salaheddin, a founding member of ASEAN Bahrain Council.

The delegation also visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and the Ministry of Commerce where they met with senior officials of the ministries.
Manama : On a global scale, nearly over 90 million Muslims suffer from a migraine.

Studies have shown a threefold increase in the frequency of migraine attacks during the entire month of Ramadan fasting with predominance among women.

A migraine is a primary headache disorder characterized by recurrent headaches that are moderate to severe. Typically, the headaches affect one half of the head, are pulsating in nature, and last from two to 72 hours.

Tribune spoke exclusively with Dr Piyush Ostwal, Specialist Neurologist at Neurocare Bahrain, to shed light on the dos and donts when experiencing a migraine during Ramadan.

Practising Neurology for over a decade, Dr Piyush Ostwal revealed there is a drastic increase in patients suffering from migraines during the month of Ramadan.

The triggers for a headache during Ramadan include dehydration due to reduced water intake and hot weather. People consuming coffee and tea are predisposed to caffeine withdrawal causing headache. The change in lifestyle, daily routine, sleeping hours and stress are other factors contributing to headaches during Ramadan, said Dr Ostwal.

The occurrence of a headache during fasting is well known in the public and medical literature.

The prevention strategies include consuming high quantities of water during the night to make up for the lack of consumption during the day. Further, they should avoid hot weather and bright sunlight. The consumption of caffeine should be minimized in the night to prevent withdrawal. In fact, the consumption of caffeine should be reduced systematically in the weeks preceding Ramadan, said Dr Ostwal.

Eating a meal with low sugar before fast also helps prevent a headache during the day. The changes to the sleeping schedule should be minimized and the daytime nap should make up for the lack of sleep during the night. Also, smoking should be avoided and adequate rest should be taken to prevent fatigue, he added.

Consultation with neurologist prior or during Ramadan is advisable to work out a strategy of minimizing chances of experiencing migraines.

Some people may require medications to help keep a headache in control. There are medications which can be taken once in a day for this purpose, said Dr Ostwal.

Distinguishing between a migraine and a common headache will benefit the patient by providing the relevant medical attention.

All headaches may not be a migraine and emergency assistance should be sought if a headache is more severe than usual, is associated with nausea and vomiting, blurring of vision, slurring of speech, weakness or numbness of one side of the body, deviation of mouth, drowsiness or unconsciousness, said Dr. Ostwal.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Information and Committee Hoang Vinh Bao highlighted that over past years, Vietnam and Japan have witnessed fine development, particularly in cultural links, which have laid a foundation for cooperation in the publishing sector.

He called on Vietnamese and Japanese publishers to strengthen cooperation and share their experiences in order to help people of the two countries to have a deeper understanding of each others land, people, and history.

The two-day event is held jointly by the Vietnamese Publishers Association and the Japan Book Publisher Association with the aim of strengthening cultural cooperation and exchanges between the two countries, while providing publishers with an opportunity to share their experiences in copyright trading.

It also helps to introduce Vietnamese publications to Japanese readers and vice versa.
Manama : United Stainless Steel Company, USCO, yesterday announced that it employees suffered no injuries or fatalities on site following the fire at its premises on Tuesday.

All employees were immediately evacuated from the premises when the fire broke out at 0515H with Bahrain Civil Defence firefighters arriving directly on the scene at 0530H, the company said in a statement. All relevant utilities were quickly shut down to avoid additional damage onsite or to surrounding areas, limiting the effects of the fire only to the plant and its machinery.

As a precaution, operations at neighbouring Bahrain Steel and SULB were also temporarily shut down and all employees evacuated but have since resumed.

Commenting, Chairman of USCO, Sheikh Khaled Salem Al Sabah, said, We are now working closely with authorities to further investigate the incident as well as taking all necessary steps to support the resumption of operations as soon as possible.

Francesco Ruffo di Calabria, CEO of CHROMIUMSTEEL, added, We are committed to doing all we can to ensure minimal disruption to our operations and to our customers around the world. USCO, the Middle Easts first and only stainless steel mill, is managed by CHROMIUMSTEEL, a global player in the steel industry.
Manama : LIC (International) announced generating a surplus of US$8 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2018, despite making heavy claim payments.

The company also said it has decided to develop new categories of business namely Unit Linked Products and Group Business. New products will be launched in these categories in various markets in due course.

This, LIC said, would help it build up other new business portfolios, apart from conventional business.

The decisions were revealed during its Board Meeting held at Movenpick Hotel, Bahrain. LIC International is a joint venture Company of Indias giant life Insurance Company LIC of India and Bahrains prestigious business house International Agencies Company Ltd. (Intercol). The company has been providing life insurance services to its customers since the year 1989.

V.K. Sharma, Chairman, LIC of India, Usha Sangwan, Managing Director, LIC of India, Abdulrahman Ali Alwazzan, Director, Intercol and Rajesh Kandwal, CEO & Managing Director were present for the meeting.

The investment income of the Company was $26.92 million showing a growth rate of 20.32 percent. $56.48m has been paid out as claims to customers during the year as compared to $14.04m paid during the same period of last year.




Tokyu Corp. announced Thursday that a new complex comprising a hotel, office and commercial space near Shibuya Station is scheduled to open in September, with the top half occupied by Google.

The new landmark, called Shibuya Stream, is set to open on Sept. 13 and is part of a massive redevelopment project in the bustling district being led mainly by the private railway.

As the name indicates, Shibuya Stream is right by the Shibuya River, a narrow stream running alongside Meiji-dori, one of the major thoroughfares in central Tokyo.

The redevelopment project includes a promenade beside the river to facilitate the movement of people to the greater Shibuya area, including Daikanyama, an upscale shopping district.

The 35-story Shibuya Stream building is being built on top of the former Tokyu Toyoko Line part of Shibuya Station and will house a hotel, event hall, 30 shops and office space.
Last week, Tokyo police announced the bust of a so-called adelivery healtha out-call business in the Uguisudani area of Taito Ward.

On April 16, Yumiko Ono, the 70-year-old manager of Teiai Tsukutsuku, allegedly dispatched a prostitute, 69, to a hotel in the ward to provide honban, or full sex, which is a violation of the Anti-Prostitution Law.

Not overlooked by evening tabloid Nikkan Gendai (May 22) is the fact that the prostitute in question is not the oldest on the roster of Teiai Tsukutsuku, whose 13 female staff members are aged between 37 and 72.

Such an upper limit is, according to the tabloid, an example for how demand for elderly prostitutes is on the rise. To support such conjecture, the paper says it is widely believed that a waiting list of three days exists for establishments that offer full sex with a senior.

aThey are what are called agranny hookers,'a says fuzoku scribe Takumi Higashide. aThey are favored by men in their 30s and 40s, whose motive is in deriving pleasure in sex with a well-worn body. The fact that she perceived as gentle is another plus.a

The formula has worked. Since May of 2006, Teiai Tsukutsuku has accumulated 210 million yen in sales, according to police.

Before it was taken down, the Teiai Tsukutsuku web site listed prices as beginning at 10,000 yen for the first 60 minutes. aHave an unforgettable encounter with a mature, attractive lady,a it suggests.

However, there are limits. According to Higashide, the bones of such a prostitute are very brittle, resulting in a limit on the number of possible sexual positions. aAnd they can only handle three customers a day,a claims the writer.

According to Gendai, the majority of the outlets in the capital offering elderly prostitutes feature women in their 60s. As if to satisfy a perceived fetish, they will arrive at the hotel in a kimono gown.

aAfterwards, she will dress herself and go home,a assures Higashide. aThe price can be as high as 50,000 yen per hour, but customers are rushing in due to the warm atmosphere of these women.a

Gendai remains skeptical but reminds its readership that a woman in her 70s who has sex everyday a gosh, up to three times a will look far more youthful than her actual age.
Corrosion and holes have been found in ventilation ducts at 12 reactors at seven nuclear plants across Japan, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said Wednesday, raising concerns that workers could be exposed to radiation in the event of an accident.

The governmental nuclear watchdog released the results of a nationwide survey it had ordered following a revelation in December 2016 that corrosion had left multiple holes in the air ducts of the No. 2 reactor at Chugoku Electric Power Co's Shimane plant in western Japan. The reactor was not included in the survey.

Serious corrosion was found at the No. 3 unit of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc and this may have abnormally affected ventilation of the central control room, the watchdog said.

Although the No. 7 unit at the same plant has passed a test to resume operation, the NRA said it will inspect any impact of corrosion found at the reactor. No abnormality associated with corrosion has been found at the remaining 10 units, it said.

Corrosion or holes were found in steel or galvanized steel ducts at Tohoku Electric Power Co's Onagawa nuclear plant, Japan Atomic Power Co's Tokai No. 2 nuclear plant, TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, Chubu Electric Power Co's Hamaoka plant, Hokuriku Electric Power Co's Shiga nuclear plant and Chugoku Electric's Shimane plant.

If an accident occurs, radioactive materials could flow into a plant's central control room through such holes, putting plant workers in danger of radiation exposure.

At the No. 3 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, a crack as large as 13 centimeters in length and 5 cm in width was found. A total of nine holes and cracks have been discovered at the Nos. 3 and 7 units at the plant.
The event is held annually by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, Suoi Tien Cultural Tourism Joint Stock Company, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade.

The festival aims to introduce visitors to the unique features, and wide variety of fresh fruit grown in the Southern region, and to honour the outstanding individuals and organisations in the field of agriculture.

At a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on May 24, Truong Minh Hau, Vice Director of Tourism Promotion Agency under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism, said that this years festival will feature many interesting programmes with activities such as a floating fruit market, 'Southern Delicious and Safe Fruit' competition, and a parade of giant fruit' for a fashion show with fruit patterns.

At what promises to be a highlight, the fruit at the floating market will be on sale for 20-30% less than market prices.

In addition, from June 1 to 7, visitors staying at 4 or 5 star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City will have a chance to enjoy the programme "Vietnamese Fruit Experience" and "Vietnam Fruit Week", and enjoy free a variety of fruit or juice free of charge.

On the occasion, children will receive free admission to the Suoi Tien Culture and Tourism site to participate in the Festival on International Children's Day (June 1), and excellent students with certificates of merit for the 2017-2018 school year will receive a discount of 50 percent on entrance tickets.
Baku race chief Arif Rahimov has denied rumours it might lose its spot on the 2019 calendar to make way for Miami.

There have also been rumours Azerbaijan might consider getting out of its current contract.

But Rahimov insists that Baku is firmly on the calendar.

"We have a contract until 2020," he said. "It can only be terminated by mutual agreement. And we do not intend to do this.

"And I see no sign from Liberty that they no longer want our grand prix."

Rahimov said the uncertainty should end next month, when the first draft of the 2019 calendar is released.

"Well be on it and then the rumours will stop," he insisted.
The guidebook in Vietnamese and English has the names, addresses and phone numbers of 14 health facilities in the city, including the HCM City Heart Institute, Dermato-Venereology Hospital, HCM City Paediatrics Hospital, Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Hospital, Otalaryngology Hospital, University Medical Centre, Traditional Medicine Institute, Tu Du Hospital, Hoan My Hospital, and HCM City International Hospital.

Ten thousand copies will be distributed to tourist information and support centres, travel agents, hotels, and hospitals in the city.

The health facilities registered to be listed in the guidebook and were chosen after meeting the 24 criteria stipulated by the Department of Health related to facilities, medical staff, check-up and treatment, and prices, Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai, chief of the Department of Health office, said.

With a number of quality public and private hospitals, capable doctors, and low cost of treatment, the citys hospitals have attracted a large number of international visitors coming for healthcare, she said.

Many hospitals offer advanced treatment in areas like organ transplant, robotic surgery, cardiovascular surgery, endoscopic surgery, obstetric and gynecological diseases, dentistry, and others.

Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, deputy director of the Department of Tourism, said the citys medical tourism potential remains untapped. To fulfill the potential, the two departments have cooperated to promote medical tourism and the guidebook is part of that cooperation, she said, adding that the city would focus on promoting medical tourism in neighbouring markets such as Cambodia and Laos and to overseas Vietnamese.

Last year, Vietnam attracted around 80,000 foreign tourists who came for health checks and treatment and spent US$2 billion. In HCM City almost 40,000 foreign tourists received medical services costing US$1 billion.
Africas richest woman and Founder of Rose of Sharon Foundation, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, yesterday, told a Lagos High Court, sitting in I...

Africas richest woman and Founder of Rose of Sharon Foundation, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, yesterday, told a Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja, how three siblings and four others defrauded the Foundation of N3 million.The suspects are Vincent Ayewah, Florence Ayewah and Emmanuel Ayewah. Alakija told the court, presided over by Justice Hakeem Oshodi, that on November 13, 2012, she received a call from the Treasurer of the Foundation informing her that a cheque presented at a bank for payment by Florence Ayewah, a sister to Vincent Ayewah, who works as a Clerk/Administrative Officer of the Foundation, had an irregular signature and was rejected.She said Florence Ayewah had about 12 identity cards bearing her picture with different names of the Foundations beneficiaries. At the time she was caught, she had collected money from three banks, using the forged documents, she said. Alakija said cheques of the Foundation were usually signed by three people; she, the Treasurer and one other.But that none of the signatures on the cheque was theirs. However, she told the court that Vincent Ayewah tore off about 10 leaflets of the cheque book and a copy of it was found in his new car, which he parked far away from the office on the day of the incident. She said immediately she received the call, she went to the office and met Vincent hurrying out. But she stopped him and collected his phone from him. According to her, they observed during interrogation that he had deleted some incriminating messages he had in his phone. But later admitted the fraud and apologised.Meanwhile, she said they went to EFCC office to lay complaints and also went back the next day to write complete statements. She told the court that Vincent had been involved in a criminal act, but was reprimanded and forgiven. Her words: We received complaints from beneficiaries, who said each time they received their cheques, he would run after them, saying there was error in the cheque. He would collect it and tell them that once the error was corrected, he would return it, but never did. During cross-exanimation, the lawyer to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and seventh defendants, Mr. Obiora Umeh, applauded her for having a philanthropic heart and urged her not to be discouraged by the alleged incident.While responding to one of the lawyers questions, Alakija said: Vincent was employed as a clerk. He was given the administrative responsibility of writing cheques. It was his responsibility and that of the Projects Manager, who he reports to, to keep cheque books. In whose custody it was kept at a particular point in time, I do not know.Also, Alakija told the counsel to the sixth defendant that the defendant was involved in the matter because he made the fake identity cards used in perpetrating the fraud. Other defendants in the matter are Onuwa David, Okoronkwo Chikadibia, Ehizibolo George and Chinyere Awanah. The case was adjourned till October 25 for continuation of trial.
Armed policemen raided the Ondo residence of Kingsley Kuku, former special adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta.

Armed policemen raided the Ondo residence of Kingsley Kuku, former special adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta.

A source who revealed this said the policemen arrived the residence at Arogbo, Ese-Odo local government area of Ondo state, around 3pm on Thursday.





He said the security operatives, numbering at least 30, opened fire, sparking tension in the community.





They were said to have forcefully broken into all the rooms in the house.





After combing all the rooms in the house in a commando style, they left without anything incriminating, the source said.





The operation lasted for an hour. Nobody was arrested. They left after destroying a lot of things.





Femi Joseph, spokesman of the state police command, could not be reached for comments as of the time this report was filed.





In 2015, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invited Kuku, who is currently in the US, for questioning on several occasions but he failed to honour the invitations.





The anti-graft agency has not taken any further action on the matter since then, citing a court order restraining it from doing so.





However, the DSS allegedly accused the EFCC of shielding the former presidential aide, whom the agency wanted for interrogation.





The secret police alleged that Kuku was behind some of the militant activities in the Niger Delta.




An executive bill sent to the Senate seeking to concentrate the control of water resources in the hands of the Federal Government has divided senators across regional lines.While northern senators support the bill and its objectives, their southern counterparts are opposed to it.Those opposed to it pointed out that the bill, if passed into law, would further centralise power and the nations resources. This, they pointed out, would counter the current move towards devolution of powers, which is currently skewed in favour of the Federal Government.President Muhammadu Buhari had sent the bill to the legislature in 2017, while the Majority Leader, Senator Ahmad Lawan, presented the bill as it is customary for executive bills.It is A Bill for An Act to Establish a Regulatory Framework for the Water Resources Sector in Nigeria, Provide for the Equitable and Sustainable Redevelopment, Management, Use and Conservation of Nigerias Surface Water and Groundwater Resources and for Related Matter.The summary of the bill reads, This Act repeals the Water Resources Act, Cap W2 LFN 2004; River Basin Development Act Cap R9 LFN 2004; Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (Establishment) Act, Cap N110A, LFN, 2004; NationaI Water Resources lnstitute Act Cap N83 LFN 2004; and establishes the National Council on Water Resources, Nigeria Water Resources Regulatory Commission, River Basin Development Authorities, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, and the National Water Resources Institute.READ ALSO: Our presidential candidate must be a nationalist, says PDPThe proposed bodies, if established, will provide for the regulation, equitable and sustainable development, management, use and conservation of Nigerias surface water and groundwater resources.The division occurred at the plenary on Thursday when the lawmakers considered the report on the bill by the Senate Committee on Water Resources.The southern senators particularly criticised the move to create new Federal Governments bodies to take over the responsibilities of the states over the water resources within their territories.The controversial parts of the bill are contained in Clauses 1 to 5.The clauses read, All surface water and groundwater wherever it occurs is a resource common to all people, the use of which is subject to statutory control.There shall be no private ownership of water but the right to use water in accordance with the provisions of this Act.The right to the use, management and control of all surface water and groundwater affecting more than one state pursuant to Item 64 of the Exclusive Legislative list in Part l of the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, and as set out in the First Schedule to this Act, together with the beds and banks, is vested in the Government of the Federation to be exercised in accordance with the provisions of this Act.As the public trustee of the nations water resources, the Federal Government, acting through the minister and the institutions created in this Act or pursuant to this Act, shall ensure that the water resources of the nation are protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled in a sustainable and equitable manner, for the benefit of all persons and in accordance with its constitutional mandate.States may make provisions for the management, use and control of water sources occurring solely within the boundaries of the state but shall be guided by the policy and principles of the Federal Government in relation to Integrated Water Resources Management, and this Act.The passage of the bill however suffered a setback when the Senate dissolved into the committee of the whole to consider the 152 clauses of the proposed law.In a veiled persuasion of the lawmakers, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki said, This bill has 152 clauses. This bill is the Leaders first bill. This bill is the Presidents bill, so we are going to have a very swift movement in passing this bill.Unlike the normal process of taking the clauses one after the other, the Senate President put Clauses 1 to 50 to a voice vote at once.Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi-North) however raised an issue with one of the clauses, asking the Senate to properly define bank especially where it starts from and the distance it should be from a water body to the shore.While he stated that he was not opposed to the bill, he noted that the clarification was needed for rivers that cross two or more states.He likened it to a federal road which makes the government to acquire 50 metres from the centre of the road to both sides.Otherwise, a lot of conflicts are going to arise. River banks are much more contentious than roads because of agricultural and other activities, Abdullahi stated.Senator Barnabas Gemade (APC, Benue North-West), however, dismissed Abdullahis fears, saying that while the nature of the road was fixed, a river could increase or decrease in size.
African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate Chief Ayodele David-Adesua has urged Governor Ayo Fayose to concentrate on solv...

African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate Chief Ayodele David-Adesua has urged Governor Ayo Fayose to concentrate on solving domestic problems rather than attacking prominent Nigerians who disagree with him.In a statement by his media aide, Gbenga Ogedengbe, Adesua advised Fayose to use his remaining days in office to pay workers salaries and stop chasing shadows.He said Ekiti people are not happy with their high rate of poverty, which has spiralled out of Fayoses control over alleged wastage on white elephant projects.The ADC flag bearer was reacting to Fayoses outburst against the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari over the $16 billion spent on power supply during the formers administration.Adesua described Fayoses comments on Obasanjo and Buharis public spat as senseless and unpatriotic.Adesua said: The maturity displayed by the Yoruba ethnic group when MKO Abiola died would not repeat itself if anything whatsoever happens to Chief Obasanjo this time around.We are worried about the growing desperation of Mr president.President Buhari should try and contain his growing desperation to stay beyond 2019 while he is also warned not to consider doing anything evil to Obasanjo as an option.Because the consequences, no Fulani herdsmen can withstand, even the United Nations Joint Military Task force may not.He said Fayose should try and pay a backlog of unpaid workers salary rather than prying into such matter which is not part of his duties as governor.Adesua said the people are not happy about the high degree of impoverishment which Fayose had plunged them into by his reckless and lavish spending of their Commonwealth on frivolities.Unlike Fayose, neither Obasanjo nor Buhari owed workers salary during their own administrations in Nigeria, Adesua affirmed.For Fayose not to have realised that the two conflicting leaders are even better than him is an evidence that he (Fayose) doesnt think., Adesua concluded with good breath of assurance.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked Christian leaders in West Africa to counsel their brothers in Christ over the threat issued ...

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked Christian leaders in West Africa to counsel their brothers in Christ over the threat issued on the continued detention of Leah Sharibu, the only Christian among the schoolgirls abducted in Dapchi, Yobe state.





Sharibu had refused to renounce her faith in exchange for her freedom.





Although the federal government has promised to secure her release, parents and the loved ones of the 15-year-old girl have been waiting in vain.





Last week, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said there might be a religious war if Sharibu dies in Boko Haram captivity.





Leah Sharibu must not die. Her death, God forbids, can spell doom for Nigeria. It can give an open invitation to religious war because Leah is being detained purely because of her religion, Adebayo Oladeji, spokesman of Samson Ayokunle, CAN president, had said.





But in a statement on Friday, MURIC expressed surprise over how CAN could be stoking the fire of war.





The statement signed by Ishaq Akintola, director of MURIC, said the Christian leaders should have declared war on the insurgents and not innocent Nigerians.





Akintola alleged that CAN leaders were not only giving cheap popularity to Boko Haram but also playing into the hands of the group.













This LEAH Sharibu incident is Boko Harams last card along the same mission and we expect CAN leaders to know better. But CAN cannot. CAN has its own political agaenda, MURIC said.





We strongly suspect that CAN is deliberately creating a conundrum. Leah Sharibu was abducted. Who abducted her? Boko Haram.





Muslim leadres have rejected Boko Haram. Muslims are also victims of Boko Haram. CAN now wants war. Against who? Against Muslims. Is it logical? Does it make sense at all?





CAN is playing into the hands of Boko Haram. It would have made sense if CAN had said, Boko Haram has refused to release Leah Sharibu. Therefore we are going after Boko Haram insurgents. Sambisa Forest here we come.





MURIC added that CAN should have followed the example of Muhammead Abubakar, the sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, who had called on all Nigerians to join hands with him in fighting the transparent evil.





Akintola also alleged that CAN was complacent with the way people were being killed when Christians leaders were in power.





So CAN can make noise now because a Muslim is in power? BUT CAN could look the other way when Christians were in power, particularly when the billions were flowing in the immediate past regime and Jerusalem trips were shorter than walks from home to church? MURIC asked.





We can undesrtand this particularly now that the pecuniary tap in Aso Rock is dry.




The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the stage is now set for the 61st edition of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Commission for Africa (CAF) Meeting, which Nigeria will host from 4-6 June 2018 in Abuja.The Minister gave the assurance in Benin, Edo State, on Friday when he paid a courtesy/promotional visit to the State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.Your Excellency, with the support of many stakeholders, I can boldly say that we are ready to host a very successful meeting. The various committees and sub-committees that we have put together to prepare for the summit are doing a great job. We will not disappoint, he said.Alhaji Mohammed said Benin City, being a repository of a rich culture, cannot be ignored in the preparation for the global tourism meeting, hence the decision to visit the city as part of the ongoing nationwide advocacy tour for the meeting.He said the meeting will afford Nigeria the unique opportunity to expose her rich culture to the rest of the world, in addition to exploring the theme, Tourism Statistics: A Catalyst for Development, to generate the much-needed statistics for the development of the tourism sector in Nigeria.For Nigeria, this is a great opportunity. In addition to the socio-economic gains, the event will put Nigeria, and the nations tourism industry in particular, on the world map, attract foreign research experts and promote the necessary network that will form the basis for future cooperation. Nigeria will also get a rare opportunity to showcase itself to the world: Its tourist attractions, its rich culture, as well as its music and films, which have become the toast of the world,  the Minister said.Alhaji Mohammed, who solicited for the support of the Edo State Government towards the successful hosting of the event, used the occasion to formally invite the Governor to the event.In his remarks, Governor Obaseki said the state government believes in the ability of tourism to significantly contribute to the economic development of the nation in general, and noted that Edo has so much to show the world.As it relates to the UNWTO CAF conference, as a state just like you explained, we believe that we have the greatest tourism potentials.We understand the benefits of tourism to any evolving and emerging economy. A country like Indonesia whose GDP was four times less than that of Nigeria in 1994 today has a GDP five times that of Nigeria. The economy of Indonesia is grown by two key contributors to their GDP: oil palm and tourism, he said.While pledging the support of Edo State towards the hosting of the event, Governor Obaseki commended the Minister for his untiring effort in educating Nigerians on the policies and programmes of the Federal Government.We appreciate the perspective and illumination you have continued to give federal government programmes and policies. Times are difficult especially with the difficult economic environment we find ourselves, and it takes a man of competence and knowledge like you to explain for the people to understand what this government is doing to alleviate the sufferings of the people, he said.
"In total, 20 political parties have been officially recognized by the NEC," said a NEC's statement.

Among the recognized parties are the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, the royalist Funcinpec Party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and the Grassroots Democracy Party.

The Southeast Asian nation is scheduled to hold a national election for the 125-seat parliament on July 29 and approximately 8.3 million Cambodians are eligible to cast their ballots.

Speaking during a get-together with thousands of garment factory workers in southwestern Kampong Speu province on May 23, Hun Sen renewed his call for the people to vote in the forthcoming election, saying it would be the only chance for them to elect their leaders once in every five years.

According to the NEC, the three-week electoral campaign will start from July 7 to 27.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr William Symington, has called on Nigerians to be proud of their values, heritage and culture to propel the country to a greater height.Symington made the call in Abuja on Friday during his courtesy visit to Alhaji Ibrahim Goni, the Conservator-General of the National Parks Service (PKS).He said Nigerians should love their country and everything it stood for, stressing that if they failed to preserve the nation, no one would call himself or herself a Nigerian.Although there is great trouble, and it has affected many, but if you like being a Nigerian, you must protect its symbols and resources.These symbols include your values, culture, water; trees, animals, natural heritage etc because in these symbols, you will find point of reference, point of pride as well as of common interest.As you think about the country it is nice not just to have an appreciation of the people of the country, it is also nice to have an appreciation of the country itself.He said that the idea of the National Parks was a very welcome development that would add to the economic development of the country.Think of ways people can make a living from things that are beautiful in your parks.There are people around the world who will pay thousands of dollars a day to go to places like your parks, stay overnight and be guided to look at the natures at the park.What I have seen here is extraordinary, it is like a stream that never runs out, it is like a farm you farm in a way that it can continue to regenerate forever.According to Symington,any Nigerianu can talk about what he has but, most importantly, must talk about what he must have as Nigerian.It is your job to protect the values and what you have as a nation. It is not about the past but the future and the preservation of both the present and its future.Give people reasons to be proud of their natural endowments by God at your parks without destroying them.Preservation of nature is like working in an incredible factory, producing extraordinary goods and saying I am not going to destroy the factory I am going to add value to it and leave it for generations to come.He advised the parks service to share its experience with the people of Nigeria to understand and appreciate what they have to offer.I think that the future of Nigeria depends not just on Nigerians being proud of being Nigerian, but of Nigerians being proud of where they are, what they have and what you preserve.They cannot be proud of what they do not know, so bringing them to the Parks is the key, he said.Responding, Goni thanked the Ambassador for the visit and for the approval granted to three officers of the service to attend an investigative wildlife trafficking course in Botswana.He also solicited for more patronage and partnership with the US to elevate the parks to international standard and improve revenue generation.Some of the highlights of the visit were the planting of a tree by the envoy to commemorate his visit, sightseeing of the mini-park and an inspection of guard of honour.
Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has lashed out at the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry in Enugu, Rev. f...

Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has lashed out at the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry in Enugu, Rev. fr. Ejike Mbaka over his silence in the face of herdsmen killing and President Muhammadu Buharis praises of late Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha.





Omokri wondered why Mbaka, a known supporter of Buhari, has gone silent despite the current negative happenings across the country.





He mockingly said Mbaka must be proud of negative things currently happening.





In a tweet, on Thursday, Omokri wrote: Where is Rev Mbaka now that Buhari is hero worshipping Abacha. Mbaka, a Catholic Priest, remained silent as Benue buried 2 Catholic Priests and 17 parishioners killed by Buharis herdsmen kinsmen.





This same Mbaka lied that Jonathan wanted to kill him! Is Mbaka proud of himself?





It is a good thing Rev Mbakas ministry is called Adoration Ministry.





He can join President Buhari in his adoration of Abacha. 2 days ago the entire Catholic Church collectively protested the killings of Christians nationwide. On that day, Rev Mbaka FORGOT that he was a Catholic!





In 2015, Mbaka endorsed Buhari as the man God revealed to him He had chosen. Buhari replied, and I quote Mbaka is a great priest who was not afraid to speak truth to power.





What happened to Mbaka since then? He keeps quiet as Christians and Muslims are slaughtered under Buhari.





Buhari had on Tuesday said Abacha constructed roads and built hospitals while he was alive.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the position of his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo was under threat.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the position of his Vice, Yemi Osinbajo was under threat.

Buhari said this at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, while hosting a delegation of the Conference of Nigerian Female Parliamentarians.





Reacting to the demand of the group for a female Vice President of the country, Buhari, on a lighter note said: It is a pity the VP is not here, but I believe the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will brief him that his position is threatened.





It is only the Vice President who is threatened. And if we win the next election, he may lose his election.

Speaking on behalf of the delegation, which comprises of elected lawmakers from the nations 36 states, Elizabeth Ativie said Nigerian Women are being marginalized by their male counterparts.

She said the country only had one principal officer in each of the two chambers of the National Assembly since the return to democracy in 1999.





She also said that as the President, anything he said at the gathering will become policy and subsequently law. She said Whenever the president is a man, the Vice President should be a woman.

Mrs. Ativie also said for every three senatorial seats in the states, one should be a woman.

She said Where there are nine House of Reps members, the men should take six and leave three for women.

Responding, President Buhari jokingly said it is a pity that the Vice President is not here, but I am sure the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will brief him that his position is threatened .

He however appreciated the support given to him by women generally in the four times he ran for president.

He recalled reports he received during elections in which women in labour queue to vote for him.

He asked the delegation to take a message to their colleagues to extend the same support since he has declared to seek for second term.

On their request, the president simply told the gathering that he is not as powerful as you think.



He said such requests could only be made by a military head of state, but, he has today dropped the uniform for agbada.


There are indications that the much anticipated fast pace of work on the $1.5bn Lagos-Ibadan rail project may not be achieved, at least f...

There are indications that the much anticipated fast pace of work on the $1.5bn Lagos-Ibadan rail project may not be achieved, at least for now, as the contractor handling the standard gauge line, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, has complained that the rains and other natural elements are slowing it down.The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking with journalists after his monthly meeting with representatives of the contractor and inspection tour of the project at Akere town, Ogun State.He, however, said an agreement was made with the CCECC team to complete two bridges and 11 kilometres of track laying by June 28.Amaechi stated, Concerning the rainfall that is here, the (CCECC) engineers are not quite comfortable with it. But they will do everything technically possible to meet up with the December deadline.When they were battling to explain to us about the 2018 December completion date, their worry is not the speed of work. Their worry is that natural elements will slow them down.The minister, however, said some progress was being made with the project, adding, The next meeting will take place in Ibadan so that we can also access what has been done from Abeokuta to Ibadan.Amaechi also spoke on what had been achieved with the hindrances being encountered at the Lagos end of the project, saying, We are almost nearly resolving the issue of oil and gas pipelines. For the water pipes, the Lagos State Government will come back to us in the next two weeks with a permanent solution.We have our own solutions, but the Lagos State Government thinks the solutions can be expanded further. So, they are coming forward with their own expanded solution in the next two weeks.
Alhaji Ali Saidu, a renowned All Progressives Congress chieftain in Bauchi State has urged the partys factional headquarters not to hesit...

Alhaji Ali Saidu, a renowned All Progressives Congress chieftain in Bauchi State has urged the partys factional headquarters not to hesitate to sack Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and nine others from the party.





The APC chieftain is accusing Dogaras faction of dragging the APC before the court of law in Abuja, where he is challenging the recent Congresses in the State.





Saidu in an interview with dailypost in Bauchi, that their action was in haste, therefore, contravene the APC constitution.





Its expected that all aggrieved members should exhaust all avenues of complains and wait to hear from the partys national headquarters aftermath of our Congresses, which is in line with APC constitution, but they drags the party before a competent court without waiting to hear from the part. Saidu laments.





It could be recalled that the Speaker-Dogara, former Police Affairs Minister, Dr Yakubu Ibrahim Lame, Barrister Zailani, former reps member from Toro, Hon. Aminu Tukur. Bauchi state Assembly member, among others had dragged the APC to the Federal High Court in Abuja, and demanded for the cancellation of the partys congresses in Bauchi over alleged irregularities by agents of the government.





The APC chieftain added that the action of Dogaras faction had already confirmed and proved to APC the rumours that they were leaving the ruling party to the opposition.





Already we have information that Dogaras APC faction are making contact to defect to the opposition ahead of 2019 elections and have allegedly invested in the opposition deliberately to scuttle Buharis second term ambition, added Saidu.





He said that Abubakar and Buharis choice as governor and president respectively was not negotiable come 2019 elections, attributing same to star performance of APC in fighting corruption in Nigeria.




The Peoples Democratic Party has said it does not have any preference for any of its presidential aspirants.

The Peoples Democratic Party has said it does not have any preference for any of its presidential aspirants.Notwithstanding, the party said it would present an acceptable candidate that would shock the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2019 presidential election.The National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, who spoke with newsmen on Thursday, said that the party was already working out modalities on how to get the best out of its array of aspirants jostling to fly the partys flag in 2019.Secondus said that the National Working Committee of the party had resolved not to back any of the aspirants, adding that all the aspirants had been given the mandate to market the party to Nigerians ahead of the general election.He said, We, the national leadership of the PDP, have no preferred presidential candidate for the 2019 election. We have eminently qualified members of the party and other Nigerians who are still aspiring to come to the PDP that can fly the flag of the party come 2019.While we continue to monitor the activities of these individuals, we want to assure Nigerians that we will present to them a nationally and even an internationally-acceptable candidate that will thrash whoever the disorganised APC presents as its candidate.The NWC met, and agreed not to either as an individual or as a body, back any of the aspirants because we are like fathers to them all.But I can assure you that, once the aspirant emerges, the party and majority of Nigerians will line up behind him and his running mate.We are working round the clock to ensure that our members are united and join us and others, to rescue this country from the hands of incompetent individuals and cabal.Asked what would be the criteria for the picking of the partys presidential candidate, Secondus said that the party would release the guidelines on that soon.However, he said that anyone aspiring to lead the country is expected to be a nationalist who is interested in the progress of the entire nation.He added, We will field someone who knows Nigeria and Nigerians. We wont field someone who sees himself and his household as the geographical entity of the country.We will give Nigerians a candidate that will travel round the entire country not to give promises he cannot fulfil, but someone they can trust. We will give them a candidate who will not upon assuming office; deny any of his campaign promises.Asked on the progress made concerning the ongoing alliance talks with other political parties, Secondus said the committee set up by the PDP and headed by a former governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, was making progress.We have a committee that is making steady progress on that. All the opposition parties are working together and as soon as the committee submits its reports, we will swing into action,  he added.Currently, presidential aspirants in the party include ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; a former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido; the Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankaambo; and an ex-Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau.But investigations by one of our correspondents indicated that the party was ready to accommodate other notable politicians from the APC to join the race for its presidential ticket.Impeccable sources within the party said that the likes of the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal and a former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, are among those in the partys radar.
Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State has said that those who have resigned from his cabinet were those who had refused to embrace change and drop their old ways of doing things that had destroyed the state.Governor Abubakar, who stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, stated that it was the people that could not cope with the pace of his administration that have tendered their resignation letters.Recall that the Deputy Governor of the State, Nuhu Gidado, who doubled as the Commissioner for Education, resigned this week from the government while the former Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Shehu Ningi had resigned on December last year over alleged high handedness by the governor.But the governor said he had a good working relationship with the resigned deputy governor and even allocated the highest money to the education ministry which he was supervising since the inception of the administration till the time he quitted the administration.On what transpired between two of them that made him to resign, he said, What transpired is in the letter of the deputy and I think people should read that letter. Read the entire letter and you will see that there was nothing bad that transpired between us.His final paragraph is that he remains loyal to his leader and his brother. In my response, I eulogized him and wished him the best in his future endeavour and assured him of the support of the good people of Bauchi State. There was no problem whatsoever.Also on why it was easy for him to accept the deputy governors resignation letter, he said the word resignation connotes a will on the part of the person who has offered, adding that the deputy decided to offer his letter willingly.Besides, he said there was no way he could force him to accept an employment when the time had come for him to look elsewhere.Explaining more on his working relationship with his resigned deputy governor, Abubakar said, We had the most fantastic working relationship. In his words and you can ask him, he has said several times that he is the most pampered deputy governor in Nigeria.On the allegation that apart from the former deputy governor, three other persons had left his government, the Bauchi State governor who has been having running battle with the members of the National Assembly from his state, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, said it was very difficult for people to embrace change.He said, Because I have come to Bauchi state to engender change and change is very difficult for people to accept. People are used to a certain way of doing business and I have come to change that way of doing business.Because, that way was destroying Bauchi State. So, we had to put a stop to it. We had to bring Bauchi state out of the dungeons. I give people a chance and if you think you can go at my pace, you stay and if you cant go at my pace, you resign.He, however, refused to comment whether his deputy resigned because he couldnt go at his pace and whether he was also expecting more resignation.When reminded that the spokesman to the deputy governor had said on television that the deputy governor resigned because he was not being treated as part of the government, Abubakar said the claim was not true.I think he is wrong. Go to the House of Assembly and check, I went on official leave twice since I took over and each time I transmitted a letter to the House of Assembly making him the acting governor of Bauchi.Moreover, I gave him the most important ministry, ministry of education where I have been allocating the largest share of the budget of Bauchi state inception till date. That should answer your question.
The Ugandan government is to introduce biometric gadgets for the implementation of daily salary payment for civil servants.

The Ugandan government is to introduce biometric gadgets for the implementation of daily salary payment for civil servants.The gadgets are to be introduced following the resolve of the government to start paying civil servants according to the number of days worked rather than a guaranteed monthly salary.Prof. Ezra Suruma, the head of the Delivery Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), said they are for a start installing the gadgets at public health and educational institutions to monitor clock-in, clock-out of health workers and teachers at their duty stations.Suruma said salaries of absentee civil servants will be deducted equivalent to work days missed, he said.Last week, we were in Jinja for a meeting with district local governments and we were told that some districts no longer pay civil servants who absent themselves from work.We want other districts to follow suit because this is kisanja hakuna mchezo (no playing games), he said.Kaliro, Kayunga, Buvuma, Bulambuli, Bugiri and Bududa districts all in eastern Uganda are already implementing the scheme.Prof Suruma, the former finance minister and current Makerere University chancellor, made the comments while receiving an assortment of biometric machines donated by the British government through its overseas development arm, the Department for International Development (DFID).The gadgets will be installed at public facilities in 22 districts in eastern Uganda piloting the scheme and the supervisors will be required to file daily reports of their supervisees attendance to OPM.Bureaucrats say the previous practice of registering staff presence at work manually was ineffective and susceptible to errors.Suruma said citizens dissatisfied with delivery of government services had started reporting absentee employees directly to authorities using social media platforms, particularly WhatsApp.This has increased the level of community engagement in ensuring service delivery, Suruma said.Mr Adrian Green, the head of Growth and Economic Management at DFID, said the equipment they donated also included laptops, printers, computers and their accessories.They will be deployed for gathering, processing and analysing biometric information on teachers and health workers to improve the quality of service delivery at schools and hospitals.This is a grant worth half a million British pounds for a partnership we have been implementing with government for essential service delivery since 2015 where we have registered tremendous results, Mr Green said.A biometric time and attendance system is a time clock that tracks some unique physical characteristic of each employee when they clock in or out.Biometric data comes in many forms, such as vascular patterns, fingerprints, iris patterns and voice recognition. Biometrics cannot be forged.
The United Nations, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has commended Nigerias leading role in the fight against corruption in Africa...

The United Nations, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has commended Nigerias leading role in the fight against corruption in Africa.

Guterres made the commendation in his remarks at high-level debate marking the 15th anniversary of adoption of UN Convention Against Corruption in New York.





The secretary-general pointed out that through Nigerias anti-money laundering efforts, stolen funds had been returned.





Guterres said, African countries have taken a leading role in moving this agenda forward in the last AU Summit.





And with measures as for example through anti-money laundering efforts in Nigeria and Tunisia, which have seen funds returned.





He said if governments were serious about doing the best for their citizens, then pledges to promote integrity and clamp down on corruption must be more than campaign promises and words on paper.





Millions will go to the polls this year with corruption high on their agenda. I make an urgent call to our global leadership to take a moral stand and install a culture of integrity from the top down.





It all begins with setting an example. By tackling corruption, governments can show they mean business. We must all do more.





According to him, those who can least afford corruption suffer the most adding, corruption cripples economic development, stifles entrepreneurship and deters investment.





Continuing, Guterres said, Society cannot function equitably and efficiently when public officials  from doctors to police, judges and politicians  enrich themselves rather than perform their duties with integrity. Corruption robs funds from schools, hospitals, infrastructure and other vital services.





Human trafficking and migrant smuggling, illicit financial flows and illegal trade in natural resources, weapons, drugs and cultural heritage are all made possible because of corruption.





It fuels conflict, and when a hard-won peace is achieved, corruption undermines recovery. Corruption and impunity are corrosive, breeding frustration and fostering further corruption when people see no other way of achieving their goals.





The UN chief added that the lack of opportunities for young women and men, often exacerbated in corrupt societies, could feed into the cynical narratives of terrorists and violent extremists.





The answer is to root out and eradicate corruption at all levels and restore trust where it has been lost, the secretary-general stressed.





He said UN would continue to support Member States every step of the way, from helping to engage and empower citizens in this fight, to helping build and enhance institutions that could deliver on their promise





The UN chief urged Member States to use the 15th anniversary Convention as a platform to mobilise political and popular support for the fight against corruption. He said the fight against corruption is the worlds most agile instrument in the hands of the international community to achieve our common goals of good governance, stability and prosperity.





Also speaking, the President of the UN General Assembly, Miroslav Lajcak, reiterated that corruption hurt all sections of the society adding, it destroys everything in its path.





Ultimately, corruption causes suffering to ordinary people going about their daily lives, he stressed, citing common examples: When they are stopped at checkpoints, for bribes.





When a bus does not come  or a clinic does not open  because budgets were mismanaged. Or when they lose all of their savings, from extortion, said Lajcak.





Yury Fedotov, the Executive-Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, also noted that while Sustainable Development Goal 16 explicitly urged action against corruption, tackling the problem was a prerequisite for overall economic growth.




About 350,000 small businesses have benefited from the Federal Governments interest-free loans, NigerianEye gathers.

About 350,000 small businesses have benefited from the Federal Governments interest-free loans,gathers.The beneficiaries of Federal Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) MarketMoni scheme are in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital territory (FCT)  at the Kano State edition of the Micro Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSME) Clinic.GEEP MarketMoni is a Federal Government Social Intervention Programme (SIP) that provides interest-free loans of between N10,000 and N100,000 to micro enterprises, the segments of society with the greatest difficulty accessing credit. The scheme, which is executed by BoI, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, directly impacts traders, market women, artisans, and farmers nationwide.To assess the impact of the scheme, the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo met with a section of about 12,000 beneficiaries from Kano State during the states edition of MSME Clinic yesterday.The Special Assistant to the Vice President on MSME, Tola Johnson, said The best thing that has happened to micro businesses in Nigeria is the GEEP MarketMoni programme. It dealt with their collateral challenge because all they need is their data, a bank account and Bank Verification Number (BVN).Johnson added that of the 37million small businesses in Nigeria, 36.9 million are microenterprises. This informed the Federal Governments attention to this space. Micro enterprises are responsible for almost 50 per cent of the countrys Gross Domestic Product and 80 per cent of the workforce, he added.According to Mrs Adeniji, under the GEEP MarketMoni scheme, BOI has given out more than 350, 000 microcredit loans across the country. GEEP MarketMoni has given people who otherwise have no access to finance, money to finance their businesses. These micro enterprises are expanding their businesses, making more profit and employing more people.Most of our beneficiaries are women, some of whom are widows and single mothers. We are improving the quality of their lives, their childrens lives, their health and even education. We are seeing very quantifiable impacts. No government has ever done this, she added.Speaking with journalists in Kano, the Head of Agent Networks, Sherifat Abdullahi, who interacts directly with agents, association heads and the beneficiaries, said, Apart from the 350,000 direct beneficiaries across the country, it has created employment opportunities for over 5,000 Nigerians who act as MarketMoni agents, some of whom are graduates, previously unemployed.Sherifat added: As someone who has direct contact with the beneficiaries, this has been a very emotional journey for me, watching how this interest-free loan scheme is changing the lives of people, especially women and the vulnerable. We truly appreciate the Federal Government for doing this.According to the National Bureau of Statistics, there are at least 37 million MSMEs in Nigeria, 85 per cent of which lack access to funding. It is in a bid to address this challenge head-on that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration established MarketMoni  the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), a social intervention programme aimed at reinvigorating the economy at the base of the pyramid, the hotbed of Nigerias financially vulnerable.To benefit from the scheme, applicants just need to apply through their registered Market Associations and Cooperatives, have a Bank Verification Number(BVN), and a mobile phone. The loans range from N10,000 to N100,000, and are expected to be repaid within six months without interest.Apart from GEEP MarketMoni, the three other Social Investment Programmes embarked on by the Federal Government include the School feeding programme, Conditional Cash Transfer to less privileged and N-Power.
* President Vladimir Putin said on May 24 that Russia appreciated efforts by Europe to save the Iran nuclear deal despite the withdrawal of the United States and warned of "lamentable consequences" if it was not preserved.

* Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in to a second term on May 24, proposed a pardon for political protesters serving jail sentences for violence. Maduro won reelection to a second term, which will conclude in 2025, by garnering over 6 million votes.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin met in St. Petersburg on May 24 with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, and they agreed to further boost bilateral cooperation for the benefit of both countries and the whole world.

* Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi stressed to US Vice President Mike Pence on May 24 Egypt's support to the Palestinian cause, Sisi's spokesman Bassam Rady said.

* The Iraqi government held a meeting on May 24 to discuss allegations of fraud and irregularities in the parliamentary election held on May 12, a government statement said.

* A missile strike targeted a Syrian airbase in central Syria on May 24, as air defenses foiled it, state news agency SANA reported.

* President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on auto imports drew strong criticism abroad and at home where US business groups and members of his own Republican Party warned of damage to the industry and raised the prospect of a global trade war that would harm American interests, Reuters reported.

* The Eurogroup discussion on Greece bailout program is positive, and an agreement should be reached on June 21 to ensure a successful conclusion to the program this August, an EU official said on May 24.

* Moldova's Prime Minister Pavel Filip told local business people on May 24 that his government wanted to change the country's current economic model to one based on import of investment and export of products.
The Presidency said yesterday that former President Olusegun Obasanjo is angry with President Muhammadu Buhari because Buhari is fixing...



He failed to answer a simple question posed by our President who inherited a nation in darkness

Buhari is fixing Nigeria with improved power supply and OBJ is angry It's now a clear choice between Pres. Buhari & a coalition of past corrupt leaders coordinated by ex-Pres ObasanjoHe failed to answer a simple question posed by our President who inherited a nation in darknessBuhari is fixing Nigeria with improved power supply and OBJ is angry pic.twitter.com/UmP6Mp0T6A May 24, 2018

In a tweet yesterday, Special Assistant to the President on social media Lauretta Onochie lashed Obasanjo for failing to answer a simple question posed by our President who inherited a nation in darkness.She added: Its now a clear choice between Pres. Buhari and a coalition of past corrupt leaders coordinated by ex-Pres Obasanjo.Presodent Buhari on Tuesday while receiving a delegation of the Buhari Support Organisation (BSO) led by Customs Comptroller General Hamed Ali, challenged Obasanjo (although he did not name him), over his claim of spending $16 billin on power asking: where is the power.But Obasanjo swiftly rejected the accusation saying he was ready for probe. A statement by his media adviser Kehinde Akinyemi added: The answer is smple: The power is in the seven National Integrated Power Projects and eighteen gs turbines that Chef Obasanjos successor, who originally made the allegation of $16billion did not clear from the ports for over a year.
A Third Republic Presidential Adviser, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai and former governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa have fire back at Nobel Lau...

A Third Republic Presidential Adviser, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai and former governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa have fire back at Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka for describing the killings in some parts of the country as ethnic cleansing.





The Nobel Laureate, who led a delegation of Association of Nigerian Authors to a meeting with Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Thursday at the Government House in Makurdi, called for a quick military response over the ongoing killings in the country.









We call for a quick military response, backed by the international community which can effectively end the herdsmen menace across the country, he had said.





Responding to Soyinkas claim yesterday, Yakassai said: People like Prof Wole Soyinka who is a Nobel Laureate manipulate the English language.





I can refer you to the encyclopaedia to find out the meaning of ethnic, and you can now decide whether what is happening in Benue is what Wole Soyinka called it.





Indeed, I sympathise with the situation in Benue, but Im worried by the way the governor is taking it. Ortom is not handling it well.





The problem of herdsmen and farmers is an age-long thing which started even before you were born. I can tell you that it didnt start from Benue. It started from Nasarawa before getting to Benue, and even before Nasarawa, it started from Zamfara where a whole community was set ablaze.





But the Benue governor is taking it personal as if the issue is between Fulani and Tiv which it is not. Its a pity that Ortom is taking it personal with Buhari as a Fulani man and not as farmers/herdsmen clash.





Also reacting, former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Musa, described Soyinkas remarks as apolitical.





Musa said: He (Soyinka) is wrong; two factors are responsible for the killings. It is a combination of conspiracy from internal and external forces. So, what Wole Soyinka is saying is apolitical.




It was a night to remember for Washington Township High School students as they celebrated their prom at Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel in Atlantic City on Thursday night.

Prom-goers arrived dressed to the nines as they socialized, posed for photos and danced the night away.

Check back at nj.com/south for other local high school prom coverage. And be sure to check out our complete prom coverage at nj.com/prom.

BUY THESE PHOTOS

Are you one of the people pictured at this prom? Want to buy the photo and keep it forever? Look for the blue link "buy photo" below the photographer's credit to purchase the picture. You'll have the ability to order prints in a variety of sizes, or products like magnets, keychains, coffee mugs and more.

Tim Hawk may be reached at thawk@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Instagram @photog_hawk and Twitter @photogthawk. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.
Has Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop unblocked you on Twitter? Can you suddenly share his Facebook posts once again?

Fulop, who has been criticized for blocking critics on his social media accounts, said Thursday he has unblocked everyone, following a recent federal judge's decision that President Trump's blocking of Twitter users is unconstitutional.

"I may not like u personally but the law is the law," Fulop wrote  where else?  on Twitter.

The Jersey Journal last year interviewed Jersey City residents Fulop blocked after they criticized his policies. He claimed he only blocked people who spammed his page or posted personal promotions.

The decision on Trump, filed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in New York City, says the president's Twitter account is a designated public forum and his blocking people based on their political speech violates the First Amendment. Seven Twitter users had filed a lawsuit against Trump and White House social media director Dan Scavino.

"While we must recognize, and are sensitive to, the president's personal First Amendment rights, he cannot exercise those rights in a way that infringes the corresponding First Amendment rights of those who have criticized him," Buchwald wrote in the decision, which spends six pages explaining how Twitter works.

Fulop tagged Trump in his Thursday Twitter post.

"Anti-Semites, racists, trolls, fake accounts, former family members, ppl that hate Jersey City - all are welcome now," he wrote.

Fulop said last year that he views his active social media accounts as personal pages, not government accounts. Buchwald's ruling discusses whether a politician can use an account primarily in his official capacity yet still claim its use is personal.

"The president presents the @realDonaldTrump account as being a presidential account as opposed to a personal account and, more importantly, uses the account to take actions that can be taken only by the president as president," she said. "Accordingly, we conclude that the control that the president and Scavino exercise over the account and certain of its features is governmental in nature."

Brigid D'Souza is one of the people who had been unable to share Fulop's Facebook posts until Thursday. D'Souza, who blogs as Civic Parent, said she was blocked in 2014 after disagreeing with him about a local issue involving the public schools.

"I care about local issues impacting my kids," she told The Jersey Journal. "I'm glad he's reversed course. That's a welcome and appreciated change.

Writer Michael Lindgren was blocked on Twitter about three years ago for "sarcastic criticism." Lindgren was less enthused than D'Souza about finally being able to see Fulop's tweets.

"I'm reading his timeline and he's just as dumb as I remembered," he said.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
A proposed rewrite of Jersey City's 40-year-old obscenity law won initial approval from the City Council on Wednesday, though it's not clear whether enough council members will support adopting it next month.

The measure is facing strong opposition from at least three men on the nine-member council who object to its lifting of the ban on women appearing topless in public. Three other council members told The Jersey Journal they aren't ready to commit to the measure, leaving just three likely yes votes.

Critics say allowing women to bare their breasts in public is a step too far, with one raising the specter of 1970s-era Times Square sleaze. Supporters see the move as an issue of gender equality.

"If you ask one person to define what a breast is or define how a female's breasts should be covered, then you have to have the equivalent for men. because from an anatomical perspective, they're the same parts," said Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey.

Ward E Councilman James Solomon led the push to rewrite the 1982 law after a local burlesque dancer who canceled a performance when the city said it might be considered obscene. The ordinance up for council approval would eliminate all references to sex toys (the old law capped possession of them at five per person), cites a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that is considered the authority on how to identify obscenity and would eliminate "female breasts" from the definition of naked.

That last item appears to be causing the most consternation among council members  four of them cited it to The Jersey Journal when they said they either oppose or remain undecided on the ordinance.

"They want topless women walking down the avenue, their breasts exposed," said Ward D Councilman Michael Yun.

Yun and Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano voted no when the council on Wednesday night introduced the ordinance 7-2 (it must win approval a second time to become law). Boggiano said before voting no on the measure that "part of it is a disgrace."

Mayor Steve Fulop supports the measure, calling the current law "antiquated."

Prinz-Arey hails from the San Francisco Bay Area, where it's not uncommon to see topless women in public. She disagrees with Yun that lifting Jersey City's ban will lead to a sudden rush of women walking around city sidewalks with their breasts exposed.

"What I found in California is that when it is no longer a radical statement to take your top off, people aren't interested in taking their tops off," she said.

Yun faced criticism after Monday's council caucus, when during a discussion of the measure he refused to use the word "breasts" and said "those things" instead. Asked about that on Friday, Yun laughed.

"It's like a culture shock," said Yun, a Korean native. "Even though I live here 40 years, sometimes I hesitate to use those kinds of words."

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
No serious injuries were reported after a dinner cruise yacht with dozens of promgoers aboard bumped a smaller unoccupied boat from behind Thursday night at a Hudson River pier in Hoboken, according to officials and witnesses at the scene.

Weehawken Superintendent of Schools Robert Zywicki posted on Twitter that the high school's senior prom was taking place on the Cornucopia Destiny, a 111-foot yacht, which he says was still docked before the crash into the smaller yacht, the Cornucopia Sundancer, a 95-foot yacht.

WHS Senior Prom is taking place on the yacht Cornucopia Destiny, out of Hoboken. While still docked, the Destiny collided with another boat. All students are safe and unharmed. Police and emergency management are on board and are supervising the situation.  Dr. Robert R. Zywicki (@ZywickiR) May 25, 2018

He said staff and administrators were on board with the students, and they were being bused to the Weehawken Elks Lodge following the crash. All were checked by EMS and there were no injuries, he said.

No word on if their prom will be rescheduled.

A video posted on Twitter shows the larger yacht slamming into the back of the other yacht docked at the 14th Street Pier. The smaller yacht then slams into the pier, knocking down a lamppost.

The Hoboken Fire Department said on Twitter that no injuries were reported, but Hoboken police, Hoboken EMS, and New Jersey State Police were on the scene.

HFD is on scene at the 14th Street Pier, where the Cornucopia Destiny (approx 95) crashed into the Cornucopia Sundancer (approx 111). No injuries have been reported. @HobokenVol_EMS @HobokenPD @NJSP are also on scene.  Hoboken Fire Dept (@HobokenFire) May 25, 2018
BAYONNE -- Local marine rescue units responded to the Newark Bay on Wednesday night after two kayakers were stranded on a barge near 16th Street Park, authorities said.

Just before 10 p.m., police received a call from a resident who said her son and his girlfriend had not returned home after going kayaking in the Newark Bay around 6:30 p.m.

The caller said she last spoke with her son just before 8 p.m. when she was told they were near the shoreline of 16th Street Park and were returning.

When the caller did not hear from them again, she called the police. The Bayonne Fire Department dispatched a rescue boat to the area to start the search, authorities said.

A number of agencies also responded, including the New Jersey State Police Marine Division, U.S. Coast Guard, New Jersey Regional Fire Boat Task Force and the Port Authority Police Department.

City police officers got in touch with the stranded kayakers through one of their cellphones, and were told they had become lodged on one of the barges west of the 16th Street park as they were making their way back to shore. The current had become too strong for them to make it back in, authorities said.

The two climbed onto a wooden platform next to the barge for safety and waited to be rescued. The Bayonne Fire Department Marine Unit located the stranded kayakers and safely brought them to shore, authorities said.

Neither of the two kayakers suffered any injuries during the ordeal.
A jury found Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion not guilty of witness tampering Thursday afternoon.

The marijuana activist raised his arms in victory after the jury read the verdict in Mercer County Superior Court in Trenton.

His supporters cheered, and with a smile on his face, he invited the prosecutor, John Boyle, to his victory party.

Before that, he asked the judge about the 400-plus days he's spent in jail awaiting, and during his two trials. The Weedman, though, had to go back to the Mercer County jail to be officially released.

"I guess it goes to show that you can be provocative or rub people the wrong way, but that's not a crime," his standby public defender Chris Campbell said after the verdict.

At his first trial in November, a jury acquitted him of one count of witness tampering, and was hung on a second, forcing this trial. He acted as his own attorney both times.

He said then, and repeated it at this trial, that he was just exercising his First Amendment rights when he sent packages containing letters and photos to the family of a confidential informant in the marijuana dealing case against him.

During his hour-long closing statements Tuesday, Forchion repeated to jurors sentiments of his opening statements. He claimed he always wanted the confidential informant to testify in his drug trial and that he didn't go against a protective order concealing the identity of the informant.

"At no time did I deliberately break this order, because there was no order," Forchion said.

He also said everything he posted on social media and mailed to the family of the informant was him "just exercising his right to free speech."

Forchion also asked the jury in closing statements that no matter what they decide, "please make it unanimous, so I'm not stuck in this place anymore."

Boyle, an assistant Mercer County prosecutor, told the jury in his closing statements that sending multiple packages to the family members of a confidential informant couldn't be construed as anything other than threatening.

The first package, addressed to the father of the confidential informant, contained a letter stating "You've been served," and, "Give him s---, then give him this [package]."

Other packages were sent to members of the confidential informant's family, stating Forchion knew what kind of car they drove, where children in the family lived and multiple handwritten notes calling the confidential informant a "rat-fink b---h."

"In its totality, mailing after mailing, after mailing," Boyle said to the jury, "After reaching out to his mother, father, his wife, his neighbors, his sister. Who would ever come in (to testify) after this?"

Forchion still awaits trial on marijuana dealing charges, the case from which the witness tampering accusations stemmed.

In that case, Mercer County authorities raided his restaurant in Trenton in the summer of 2016 and arrested him and others on accusations he was dealing marijuana from the business - NJ Weedman's Joint, and an adjacent cannabis church, both on East State Street across from Trenton City Hall.

He had posted bail on that case when he was arrested and jailed in this, tampering case.

Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
A former Perth Amboy city employee was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday for cashing nearly $200,000 in Social Security retirement checks issued to his great aunt over the course of 19 years, the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Lance D. Nelson, 56, admitted he "intentionally failed to notify the Social Security Administration of his great aunt's death" in February 1998 and continued using the money -- more than $800 a month -- for personal expenses.

The Social Security Administration continued issuing deposits to the account, totaling $184,936 over the 19 years since her death.

Nelson, who was an assistant zoning officer for the city of Perth Amboy until late 2017, was a joint account holder in which his aunt received the direct deposits.

According to payroll information obtained through a records request last year, Nelson was hired by the city in 1997 and made $84,728 per year.

U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson sentenced Nelson to one year and one day in prison for one count of theft of government funds, the state's U.S. Attorney's Office for New Jersey announced.

Nelson will also pay restitution of the entire amount stolen and serve three years of supervised release post-incarceration.

Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Jamie Manser had just emerged from her first dip in the ocean this year and, even with Thursday's bracing 60-degree water temperature, it was a pleasure.

"It just feels fantastic," said Manser, 28, of Scotch Plains, standing by the ocean floor at Asbury Park's 5th Avenue beach.

And as for the overall condition of the beach heading into Memorial Day Weekend, and the unofficial start of summer?

"Being that its the first time I'm here this year, it looks particularly nice," Manser said.

Joao Romualeos and Favioa Alvarado, both 19-year-old students at Mercer County Community College, frolick in the Asbury Park surf under Thursday's sunny skies.

Experts agree, adding that healthy beaches are good not only for the state's $44 billion tourism industry, but also for the safety of swimmers, who are endangered by rip currents.

A few minutes before Manser's lunchtime plunge, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's acting commissioner, Catherine R. McCabe, joined a Stevens Institute of Technology coastal engineering professor, Jon Miller, for a "State of the Shore" event at the Robinson Ale House on Asbury Park's famous boardwalk. The annual event is held in the run up to Memorial Day to kick off the summer water quality monitoring season and to provide an assessment of how Jersey shore beaches weathered the winter.

"We had a relatively mild winter in terms of storms, so mild beach erosion," Miller said. "Any beach erosion that occurred, the sand is real close by in a sandbar offshore, so it's going to come back. So, overall, the beaches are very healthy."

Miller is also a coastal processes specialist for the New Jersey Sea Grant Commission, whose mission includes raising awareness of dangerous rip currents, which occur when beach erosion results in channels that swiftly carry water from breaking waves back out to sea.

Last summer, rip tides contributed to a record eight drownings on the Jersey Shore, said Claire Antonucci, the grant commission's executive director. In response, the commission has launched a campaign titled, "Ocean Hazards: Sharks V. Rip Currents."

"Only six deaths occur worldwide due to shark attacks while more than 100 people per year die as a result of rip currents in the United States," the commission states on the campaign web page.

McCabe assured the public that the state would be ever-vigilant in monitoring water quality along the shore, and would close beaches on the rare occasions when the Enterococci bacteria level exceeded 104 colonies per 100 milliliters of sea water in sample testing on two consecutive days. Samples exceeded the bacteria standard in 3-percent of all cases in 2017, according to the DEP.

Funding for ocean monitoring comes from the federal Environmental Protection agency, as well as the sale of New Jersey's "Shore to Please" license plates with its red and white lighthouse. This year, Jersey beachgoers accustomed to banners towed just offshore by small planes will notice a new one: a custom Shore to Please plate reading PLZ BUY ME.

Jon Miller, a coastal processes specialist who teaches at Stevens Institute, said during a 'State of the Shore' event in Asbury Park that this winter's nor'easters were fairly gentle on Jersey beaches.

McCabe also said the administration of Gov. Phil Murphy would continue to fight the Trump Administration's plan to permit offshore drilling beyond the state's 3 mile jurisdiction.

Back on the beach, Mercer County Community College sweethearts Joao Romualeos and Faviola Alvarado, both 19, were frolicking in the surf, as the sound of Asbury Park's current building boom echoed from the city's waterfront boulevard, Ocean Avenue.

"I would say it looks good, it looks clean," said Romualeos, who is from Brazil. "The construction bothers me a little bit. But besides that, everything is great. (The beach) is very thick. There's plenty of space for people to lay on."

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook
Putin and Macron discussed the situation of Iran, Syria and Ukraine and agreed to further develop bilateral relations, according to the statement from Kremlin.

"Particularly, we have exchanged views on the situation following the US unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program," Putin said at a press conference after the meeting with Macron in St. Petersburg.

According to the Russian president, the Iran nuclear deal must be preserved as Tehran fulfills all commitments on the JCPOA.

"As for Iran, Russia's position is well known that we believe the JCPOA deal should be preserved," said Putin, stressing the consequences of terminating this deal can be very disastrous.

On the Ukraine issue, Putin said that Russia is ready to continue work on Ukraine conflict settlement in the "Normandy Four Format" and welcome dialogue at all levels.

Concerning the lately statement of the MH17 investigation team, Putin said that Russia will recognize the results only if it is allowed to join the probe.

The French president, for his part, said that France recognizes Russia's role in international relations, including in the Middle East.

"I also recognize the very role that Russia has now built for itself both in its immediate environment and in some other regions of the world, for example, in the Middle East", said Macron.

He said that France had already commenced talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the current situation and hoped that a broader framework agreement on Iran nuclear issue could be achieved in the future.

As for the US sanctions against Iran, Macron said Europe must develop more efficient mechanisms to protect its economic interests.

Meanwhile, the two presidents vowed to work together and consolidate their efforts to seek solutions in all international areas.

A series of cooperation agreement were signed aimed at promoting Russian-French relations following the meeting of the presidents, according to the Kremlin.

French president Macron and his wife are in Russia for an official visit. He also participated in the ongoing St Petersburg International Economic Forum which kicked off on May 24.
UPDATE: Driver in fatal N.J. school bus crash appears in court

The New Jersey school bus driver who authorities say caused a crash with dump truck on Route 80 that left a teacher and 10-year-old student dead is scheduled to make his first appearance in court Friday morning.

Hudy Muldrow, 77, of Woodland Park, was charged Thursday by the Morris County Prosecutor's Office with two counts of vehicular homicide. The charges carry a potential prison sentence of 5 to 10 years.

Muldrow allegedly attempted to make an illegal U-turn after he re-entered Route 80 west while carrying a group of 44 from East Brook Middle School in Paramus to Waterloo Village in Byram.

A dump truck traveling in the center lane through Mount Olive struck the rear left of the bus, according to a criminal affidavit released Thursday.

The collision killed Jennifer Williamson, 51, and Miranda Vargas, 10. It left dozens of others injured, including the dump truck driver. Funerals for both were held this week.

Muldrow's hearing Friday will be in Superior Court in Morristown.

Muldrow has eight speeding tickets and his license has been suspended multiple times.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to police Friday morning in New York to face the first criminal charges to be filed against him after months of sexual abuse allegations from scores of women that destroyed his career and set off a national reckoning known as the #MeToo movement.

He is charged with the rape and sex abuse of two women

Weinstein, 66, stepped from a black SUV wearing a blazer and carrying books under his arm, and lumbered into a Manhattan police station before a crowd of news cameras. He didn't respond to shouts of "Harvey!"

Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press the case will include allegations by Lucia Evans, an aspiring actress who has said the Hollywood mogul forced her to perform oral sex on him in his office. She was among the first women to speak out about the producer.

Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York police station where he's expected to surrender himself to officers to answer sexual misconduct charges https://t.co/3iu1bLmiU8 pic.twitter.com/IWXk0HjQ0m  BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 25, 2018

One official said it's likely the case also will include at least one other victim who has not come forward publicly.

The officials spoke Thursday to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the investigation.

Weinstein's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment when first contacted about the charges late Thursday, but previously said in court paperwork that the allegations that Weinstein forced himself on women were "entirely without merit" and that he never knowingly broke the law.

Evans confirmed to The New Yorker that she was pressing charges.

"At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind," she told the magazine.

Evans told The New Yorker in a story published in October that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex during a daytime meeting at his New York office in 2004, the summer before her senior year at Middlebury College.

"I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,'" she told the magazine. "I tried to get away, but maybe I didn't try hard enough. I didn't want to kick him or fight him."

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance had been under enormous public pressure to bring a criminal case against Weinstein. Some women's groups, including the Hollywood activist group Time's Up, accused the Democrat of being too deferential to Weinstein and too dismissive of his accusers.

A grand jury has been hearing evidence in the case for weeks.

In March, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took the extraordinary step of ordering the state's attorney general to investigate whether Vance acted properly in 2015 when he decided not to prosecute Weinstein over a previous allegation of unwanted groping, made by an Italian model. That investigation is in its preliminary stages.

More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing around the globe. Several actresses and models accused him of criminal sexual assaults, but many of the encounters happened too long ago for any prosecution. Film actress Rose McGowan said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah, "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992 and Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008.

McGowan told the AP on Thursday that she is gratified but "still in shock" that Weinstein was expected to surrender.

"The justice system has been something very elusive," McGowan said. "I hope in this case it works. Because it's all true. None of this was consensual."

The statute of limitations for rape and certain other sex crimes in New York was eliminated in 2006, but not for attacks that happened prior to 2001.

New York City police detectives said in early November that they were investigating allegations by another accuser, "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta, who told police in October that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010. She is not one of the victims in the case on Friday; hers was still pending, officials said.

Authorities in California and London also are investigating assault allegations. Britain has no statute of limits on rape cases; some of the allegations under investigation there date to the 1980s.

Harvey and his brother Bob Weinstein started his now-bankrupt company after leaving Miramax, the company they founded in 1979 and which became a powerhouse in '90s indie film with hits like "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love." The Weinstein Co. found success with Oscar winners "The Artist" and "The King's Speech."
During a working session with the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea, both sides agreed to complete bilateral health care cooperation documents scheduled for signing during the upcoming visit by the RoK Minister of Health and Welfare.

The RoK side also pledged to share experience in granting vocational licenses to Vietnamese medical officials.

In another working session, Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO)s Global Tuberculosis Programme Tereza Kasaeva lauded Vietnams achievements in tuberculosis prevention.

She wished Vietnam would share its experience with countries hit by the disease and attend the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending Tuberculosis between now and 2030, scheduled for this September in New York.

The Deputy Health Minister also attended a ministerial meeting on ending malaria in the Greater Mekong Sub-region initiated by China and Sri Lanka. Ministers adopted a statement calling for actions to eliminate malaria in the region between now and 2030.

Director of the Health Ministrys International Cooperation Department Tran Thi Giang Huong met with representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discussing the IAEAs support to Vietnam from 2020-2021, including in human resources training, early cancer diagnosis and radiotherapies.

The IAEA and WHO working delegations will arrive in Vietnam in the near future to build a cooperation programme on cancer prevention in the country.

Director of the USs Resolve to Save Lives Initiative Tom Frieden unveiled a plan to work with Vietnamese partners to build a project on fighting high blood pressure in several Vietnamese cities and provinces.

The initiatives delegation plans to arrive in Vietnam this July. The project has been successfully piloted in China, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

The Vietnamese Health Ministry delegation met their Thai counterparts to discuss Vietnams plan to host the 10th Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health Conference slated for this November.

On the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, Vietnam co-sponsored the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Swedens initiative to hold an event on antibiotic resistance, during which Huong shared Vietnams efforts in fighting antibiotic resistance.

Director of the National Lung Hospital Nguyen Viet Nhung joined an executive board of a sideline event on looking to end tuberculosis to achieve all-population health care coverage initiated by South Africa and Russia.

The Vietnamese delegation made active contributions to the World Health Assemblys agenda, proving the countrys responsibility and heightened role in the most important forum on global health care, raising developing countries voice in building and planning global health care policies.
Three men accused of running a narcotics trafficking operation out of a 7th Ward home were indicted Thursday (May 24) on several drugs, weapons and conspiracy charges, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office.

Philip Johnson, 38; his older brother Clyde Johnson, 43; and Corey Maurice, 41, were indicted one day after their arrest by Louisiana State Police. The arrests were the result of a two-month long investigation by the agency's HIDTA task force (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas).

State police said large amounts of drugs, money and guns were found inside a home in the 1800 block of North Prieur Street.

The men were indicted on the following charges:

Possession with intent to distribute heroin,

Additionally, Phillip Johnson is charged with illegal carrying of a weapon with a controlled dangerous substance.

The three men made initial appearances in magistrate court Wednesday.

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A public defender told Magistrate Commissioner Robert Blackburn Maurice lives in Atlanta and was visiting New Orleans for a few days when police searched the North Prieur Street home.

Another public defender said Clyde Johnson has a job offshore as a merchant mariner and works in two-week increments. The lawyer said Johnson has "no reason to sell drugs while he is off, when he has a job where he is making good money."

Private attorney John Fuller said Philip Johnson is not involved with the drug activity at the North Prieur Street house. Johnson was frequently at the house, he said, but noted that was not unusual or suspicious since his brother lives there.

After the indictment was read Thursday, Criminal District Judge Robin Pittman set Philip Johnson's bond amount at $600,000, according to Cannizzaro's office. She set Clyde Johnson and Maurice's bonds at $550,000 each.

Assistant District Attorney Andre Gaudin Jr., the HIDTA prosecutor from Cannizzaro's office, presented the case to the grand jury. Attorneys for the Johnsons and for Maurice could not immediately be reached.

Marie Simoneaux contributed to this report.
A Bogalusa woman admitted to setting her apartment ablaze Wednesday (May 23), causing smoke and flame damage to several units in the complex, after receiving an eviction notice the previous day, according to the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's office.

Sandra Luter, 48, was booked Thursday into the Washington Parish jail with one count of aggravated arson in connection with the fire.

The fire, at a complex in the 1000 block of Union Avenue in Bogalusa, took about an hour to extinguish, state fire officials said.

The state fire marshal's office responded to the blaze about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, to help determine the origin and cause of the fire. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the scene.

Investigators learned that Luter had been evicted Tuesday and given 24 hours to leave. According to the state fire marshal's office, Luter "immediately confessed" to investigators that she lit a shirt on fire in her utility room because she was angry.

In addition to the state arson charge, Luter could face federal charges because the fire occurred at government housing, officials said.
A state appeals court has upheld a conviction and life-without-parole sentence for a man found guilty in the 2009 murder of 15-year-old James McKenzie.

A New Orleans jury convicted Dajuan Alridge of second-degree murder in an 11-1 vote in October 2015. Criminal District Judge Byron C. Williams sentenced Aldridge to life without the possibility of parole in June 2016.

Alridge, now 25, and Dennis Lewis were 17 when New Orleans police said they lured McKenzie into an abandoned house under the pretense of smoking marijuana. Authorities said they intended to settle a dispute over a stolen gun.

Once inside, investigators said Alridge and Lewis stabbed McKenzie 49 times, wrapped his head in duct tape and left his body hidden underneath an opaque plastic mattress bag.

Six days later, relatives searching for the missing teen found McKenzie's body.

Lewis pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter in exchange for a 40-year sentence without the possibility of early release. He testified at Alridge's trial that he acted alone in killing McKenzie.

Williams sentenced Alridge to life without parole following a Miller hearing.

The hearing is required for defendants in Louisiana who were under 18 at the time a crime was committed in accordance with a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court Decision. The high court that year decided in Miller v. Alabama that a mandatory life sentence without parole is unconstitutional for offenders under age 18. At the hearing, prosecutors and defense attorneys can introduce evidence to help the judge make a decision on whether to impose a life sentence with or without parole eligibility.

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"It was a very heinous crime," Williams said at sentencing. "It does not represent the conduct of anyone with an impulsive behavior. The court finds this crime was horrific, callous, calculated and totally outweighs any testimony about a chaotic childhood."

Alridge's attorneys took the case to Louisiana's Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal, asking for a new trial and reconsideration of his sentence. They raised claims of several errors in Alridge's jury selection, trial and sentencing.

Judges Paula A. Brown, Terri F. Love and Dennis R. Bagneris unanimously rejected the appeal.

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said the sentence imposed by Williams was constitutional and "is entirely befitting the defendant in this case."

"The brutality of this murder shocks the senses and serves to remind us all that evil is not limited by age," Cannizzaro said.

Assistant District Attorneys Laura Rodrigue and Tiffany Tucker prosecuted Alridge's case.

Donna Orjuela and Russell Barksdale of the Orleans Public Defenders represented Alridge at trial. Christopher Murell and Erica Navalance of the Capital Appeals Project filed the appeal on behalf of Alridge.
A 37-year-old man was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail Thursday (May 24), more than two weeks after New Orleans police said they arrested him in Slidell in connection to the April murder of Kevin Dunkley.

David Collins was arrested on May 8 in the 100 block of Lighthouse Point in Slidell, according to NOPD, who said Collins would be booked in New Orleans on a second-degree murder charge as well as a simple battery charge on an active 2011 warrant.

Dunkley, 38, was found shot to death shortly after 9:15 p.m. on April 18 in the driveway of the CubeSmart self-storage center in the 3900 block of Behrman Highway.

According to Collins' warrant, a witness reported seeing a U-Haul truck fleeing the scene after the witness heard gunshots. Surveillance footage from the storage facility showed a pickup truck enter through the main gate, followed by a U-Haul truck. The footage shows Dunkley get out of the U-Haul and three other men get out of the pickup truck, before all four start unloading furniture from the U-Haul.

According to the warrant, the video shows Dunkley and one of the other men walk behind the U-Haul and out of the camera's view. Moments later, the man comes back into view and "tucking what appears to be an object into his waistband," the warrant states.

The video goes on to show the man get into the pickup truck and drive away, and the two remaining men flee in the U-Haul. After the U-Haul moved, Dunkley's body can be seen lying on the ground, according to the warrant.

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Investigators later released a photo of the suspect, asking for help identifying him. Collins called detectives and identified himself as the man in the photo. The warrant states Collins said he was in the area when Dunkley was killed but did not know anything else.

However, investigators said Collins matches the description of the man in the video and a warrant was signed for his arrest by Orleans Parish Magistrate Commissioner Jonathan Friedman on May 3.

Online court records show Collins appeared in court Thursday, where Orleans Parish Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell set his bond for $350,000. Collins was represented by private attorney Joseph Rome, who declined to comment on the case Friday afternoon.

However, Rome said Collins was held in St. Tammany Parish jail for 11 business days before he was transferred to Orleans Parish. Collins was not transferred until Rome filed a request and cited Louisiana Code of Criminal Proceedings article 207, which states a person cannot be held while awaiting transfer for more than 10 days.

According to NOPD spokeswoman Ambria Washington, Collins was held in St. Charles Parish from May 8 to May 23, when he was brought to Orleans Parish.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday blew up the tunnels of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site located in the northeast of the country, and officially announced its dismantlement.

The three tunnels of the test site were blown up by 16:00 local time (0700 GMT), according to Xinhua reporters on site.

Satellite photo shows Punggye-ri nuclear test site in August 2016. [File Photo: IC]

Pyongyang invited overseas journalists from China, Russia, the United States and Britain to witness the site's dismantlement.

Following the explosion, the DPRK will remove all observation facilities and research institutes, withdraw guards and completely close the surrounding testing area.

The DPRK conducted six nuclear tests at Punggye-ri between October 2006 and September 2017.

The Third Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea made the decision last month that the country will discontinue its nuclear tests and intercontinental ballistic rocket test-fire from April 21, according to an earlier report from the official Korean Central News Agency.
A Westwego police officer slain in a deadly domestic disturbance and a St. John the Baptist firefighter fatally injured while responding to a crash will be among the 11 fallen first responders honored during an eight-day bicycle ride that begins Sunday (May 27) near Westwego.

The participants in the 2018 Texas Brotherhood Ride will cover 600 miles to San Antonio, making stops along the way for presentations to the relatives and co-workers of the first responders being honored this year, according to Chief Dave Tibbetts of the East Bank Consolidated Fire Department. The non-profit has been organizing rides since 2008.

Locally, the participants will ride for Officer Michael Louviere, 26, of the Westwego Police Department who was shot and killed just after his shift while responding to what he thought was a woman hurt in a traffic crash on Jan. 20, 2017.

But pregnant Simone Veal, 31, had been shot by her estranged husband, Sylvester Holt, 32, who then opened fire on Louviere. Hold later fatally shot himself following a seven-hour standoff on the Crescent City Connection.

St. John the Baptist Parish District Fire chief Spencer Chauvin, 36, died of injuries he received when a bus hit him and two other firefighters as they were responding to a crash, throwing them over the side of the Bonnet Carre Spillway on Aug. 28, 2016.

The bus driver, Denis Amaya-Rodriguez, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty of negligent homicide.

There are more than 30 riders taking part in this year's ride, including first responders from Jefferson Parish, Baton Rouge, Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Alabama. The Jefferson Parish riders are retired East Bank Consolidated District Chief Bruce Saltalamachia and East Bank Consolidated Firefighter Neil Navarro, said Deputy Chief Chris Henderson.

They will spend Saturday night at Bayou Segnette State Park and leave Sunday at 8 a.m. for the first stop, the Westwego Police Department.

"They'll have breakfast there, and then there will be a presentation to Officer Louviere's family," Henderson said.

The group will then bicycle to the St. John's fire department headquarters where they'll make another presentation to Chauvin's family before heading to Baton Rouge.

In addition to Louviere and this year's ride will honor:

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-Deputy Shawn Anderson, of the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, who was fatally shot during a struggle with a suspect on March 18, 2017.

-Officer Shannon Brown, of the Fenton Police Department in Fenton, La., who died Aug. 13, 2016 following a car crash.

-Assistant Chief Deputy Clint Greenwood, of the Harris County Constable's Office, in Houston, Texas, was fatally shot outside of a courthouse on April 3, 2017.

-Officer Endy Nddiobong Ekpanya, of the Pearland Police Department in Pearland, Texas, died in a car crash on June 12, 2016.

-Firefighter Bill "Iron Bill" Dowling, of the Houston Fire Department in Houston, Texas, died March 7, 2017, from injuries he suffered in a 2013 fire.

- Cadet Steven Whitfield II, of the Houston Fire Department in Houston, Texas, died March 31, 2016 during a training accident.

-Officer Steve Perez, of the Houston Police Department in Houston, Texas, drowned Aug. 27, 2017, in Hurricane Harvey's floodwaters.

-Firefighter Scott Deem, of the San Antonio Fire Department in San Antonio, Texas, died May 18, 2017, while responding to a fire.

-Officer Miguel Moreno, of the San Antonio Police Department in San Antonio, Texas, died June 30, 2017, in a shootout with a suspect.

The riders expect to arrive in San Antonio on June 3.
New Orleans police arrested 24-year-old Lance Lewis after a friend accused him of third-degree rape.

On Tuesday (May 22), a woman got into an argument with her roommate, left her apartment and went to hang out with friends. She did not want to return home following the dispute, so she accepted an offer from Lewis, an old friend, to stay on the couch in his apartment, according to the warrant for Lewis' arrest.

The woman arranged a spot for herself on the couch and Lewis went to sleep inside his bedroom. She later woke up as Lewis was raping her, the warrant said. When she demanded he stop, he pulled her closer before running into the bathroom. She fled to her apartment, the warrant continued.

Officers arrested Lewis on an outstanding municipal attachment. He was booked into Orleans Justice Center on the attachment and charges of third-degree rape. His bond was set at $5,000 and he is being represented by a public defender.

In 2016, Lewis pleaded guilty to illegal carrying of a weapon charges.
A man charged in a fatal shooting inside a Gentilly townhome in 2016 was acquitted of manslaughter after a one-day judge trial last week.

Henry Wilson was charged with killing 26-year-old Billy Dukes on Jan 12. 2016, following what police said was "a verbal altercation that quickly turned violent."

Wilson, 31, maintained he shot Dukes in self-defense. He told police he arrived at the townhome he shared with relatives in the 4300 block of Sybil Street late after work. Once inside, he found a cousin had brought Dukes over. He said Dukes appeared high on pills.

The two began arguing, apparently over a year-old borrowed money dispute, Wilson told police. The argument subsided and then reignited several times until shortly after 3 a.m.

At a bond reduction hearing a month after the shooting, NOPD homicide detective Maggie McCourt testified that Wilson told police Dukes began waving a pistol around in the kitchen, threatening him. Wilson said he feared for his life, retrieved his own handgun from a sofa in the front room, and fired at Dukes in self-defense.

Wilson's attorney, Kevin Boshea, said Dukes waved a loaded pistol at Wilson for at least two hours before Wilson reacted. Boshea said six other people were inside the house at the time, adding Wilson feared for both his safety and the safety of everyone else inside.

McCourt said at the bond reduction hearing that Wilson never fled the crime scene, and immediately accepted responsibility for Dukes' death when he gave his statement to police.

She said at the hearing that Dukes was shot four times -- once in the arm and three times in the back. A trail of bullet casings led to the stairway upon which Dukes attempted to flee.

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"I'm not an expert," McCourt testified, "but I would say the evidence lines up with that (Wilson) was chasing the subject."

Court records show Wilson testified in his own defense at his trial before Criminal District Judge Ben Willard on May 17. Willard found him not guilty that same day, according to court records.

Boshea said Kirk Patterson, Wilson's cousin who invited Dukes over to the house, testified he tried to get Dukes to leave more than once before the shooting.

He said Wilson has expressed remorse from the beginning, and all he wanted to do that night was relax after a long night of work. The last thing he wanted to do was pull a gun on anyone, Boshea said.

Wilson, who worked at Brennan's restaurant and in the film industry before his arrest, had no criminal history.

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro called the judge's verdict "disappointing and disturbing."

"If the judge follows the explanation offered by the defense, then it's OK to kill someone just because they won't leave you alone? The victim in this case never fired his weapon and he was shot at least three times from behind, with the entry point of a fourth shot deemed inconclusive. I think it is very hard to justify this killing as self-defense, given the facts of the case."
A man accused of twice raping a girl over a three-year period was charged Thursday (May 24) in a three-count indictment, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office.

Juan Socabean, 27, who also goes by Andres Saijbin, was charged with two counts of first-degree rape and one count of sexual battery of a juvenile under 13 in the indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury.

The indictment alleges Socabean raped the girl twice between Aug. 14, 2015, and Jan. 26, 2018. The girl was between 9 and 11 at the time of the alleged assaults. Socabean also is charged with sexual battery against the same victim in that same date range.

He would face a mandatory life prison sentence if convicted on either count of first-degree rape. He would face between 25 and 99 years in prison if convicted of sexual battery.

Socabean has been in jail on a $250,000 bond since his arrest on Feb. 1, according to Cannizzaro's office. After the indictment was read, Criminal District Judge Robin Pittman increased his bond to $2.5 million, according to Cannizzaro's office.

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According to a warrant for his arrest, Socabean told the girl to get in his car when she was walking to school in Algiers in January. He parked behind a gas station near General De Gaulle and Sandra drives, where he "kissed her forcefully," and raped her, police wrote in the warrant.

After, he dropped the girl off at school, according to the warrant.

Assistant District Attorney Payal Patel presented the case to the grand jury. Socabean's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

Marie Simoneaux contributed to this report.
A man charged in a string of armed robberies across the city last year pleaded guilty Friday (May 24) in connection with the incidents.

Kentrell Harton, 35, pleaded guilty as charged to four counts of armed robbery with a firearm, four counts of illegal possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of domestic abuse battery and one count each of aggravated second-degree battery and illegal possession of a stolen automobile, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office.

Criminal District Judge Franz Zibilich sentenced Harton to 25 years in prison, Cannizzaro's office said. Harton faced 10 to 99 years on each armed robbery count.

Harton admitted to robbing a customer who was leaving a Family Dollar store on Aug. 20, 2017, on North Broad Street, according to Cannizzaro's office. He took the customer's cash, cellphone, keys and a 2003 Honda Civic.

The next day, Cannizzaro's office said Harton robbed a Shell gas station on General DeGaulle Drive in Algiers of more than $1,200. He was driving the stolen Civic at the time of the robbery.

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On Aug 23, Cannizzaro's office said Harton pointed a gun at a young employee at Subway on South Claiborne Avenue and stole money from the cash register. The stolen Honda Civic was seen on video surveillance as the getaway car.

Harton also admitted he and a woman stole laundry pods from a Dollar General store at 2841 S. Claiborne Ave. on Sept. 7, 2017, Cannizzaro's office said. Harton raised his shirt to show his gun when an employee tried to stop them from escaping in the same stolen Honda Civic.

The aggravated second-degree battery charge stems from an Orleans Justice Center jail incident on Sept. 13, 2017, in which a deputy saw Harton strike another inmate in the head with a belly chain, causing a large laceration, according to Cannizzaro's office.

Harton's prior convictions include felony possession of stolen things in 2010 and 2015, and a 2015 domestic abuse battery third offense. The state agreed not to sentence Harton as a habitual offender in exchange for pleading guilty as charged.

Assistant District Attorney Rachel Hurd prosecuted the case. Tanzanika Ruffin represented Harton.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office arrested a man accused of robbing three Metairie businesses in three days.

Miguel Nami, 22, was booked Friday (May 25) with three counts of armed robbery, according to Lt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for the department.

Authorities arrested Nami about 9:30 p.m. Thursday night -- about an hour after the most recent hold up -- in front of his home in the 4000 block of Alberta Street in Metairie.

Nami is accused of robbing the following Metairie businesses at gunpoint:

-Smoothie King, 2701 Airline Drive, at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday

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-HoneyBaked Ham, 3211 N. Causeway Blvd., at 4:36 p.m. Wednesday

-Subway, 3841 Veterans Memorial Blvd., 8:37 p.m., Thursday

No one was injured during any of the robberies. Detectives released a photo of the suspected robber on Thursday, taken from business surveillance video at HoneyBaked Ham.

Detectives initially suspected Nami of carrying out the HoneyBaked Ham and Subway robberies. But evidence found during the arrest also links him to the Smoothie King holdup, Rivarde said.

Nami was booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center. No bond information was available.
New Orleans investigators were taking statements Friday night (May 25) from the guardians of a toddler who was found without parental supervision in Algiers Thursday, according to the NOPD.

The girl was found by an NOPD officer shortly before 4:45 p.m. in the 3700 block of General De Gaulle Drive, according to a news alert from the NOPD. As of Friday afternoon, investigators were unable to locate the child's parents or guardians.

About 8 p.m. Friday, NOPD spokesman Juan Barnes said the child's guardians had been found and were at police headquarters giving statements to detectives with the Child Abuse Unit.

The child, who was with a caregiver, remained in good health, Barnes said.

No additional information, including whether any arrests or citations are anticipated, was available Friday night.

This post was updated Friday night with new information from police.
Chef Chris DeBarr is getting back to what he loves best: Scratching dishes he wants to create off his "bucket list." The creative chef is doing so at his new gig at Revel Cafe & Bar on North Carrollton Avenue.

DeBarr, who had most recently been doing pop-ups at spots such as Peaches Records and working in the kitchen at Chaya Conrad's Bywater Bakery on Dauphine Street, came on board at Revel on May 17.

Revel, which had a popular but rarely changing lineup of dishes since it was opened in 2016 by husband-and-wife team Chris and Laura McMillian, will now have a seasonal menu, with specials from the chef who thrives on having free rein.

"I love Chaya and they have a crazy talented staff," he said. "I was happy to help them get the thing off the ground, but we got to the point where they were good.

"They had their thing that they wanted to do and I needed to get back to my thing," he said. "They didn't really need my kind of weirdness.

"I've been cooking forever and I still have a bucket list of dishes I want to make," he said on Friday afternoon (May 25), noting that he had recently put the finishing touches on one: A dessert inspired by a banana caramel cake recipe in food journalist Freda DeKnight's "A Date with a Dish" (Hermitage Press, 1948).

And, he plans to do a South Louisiana take on the corn dog, perhaps with crawfish and chaurice sausage.

"Chris told me that he has always wanted someone to make him a corn dog," DeBarr said. "And, I always wanted to make something that should be called 'frim fram sauce.' " The two, he said, seem made for each other.

"Frim Fram Sauce" is the name of a jazz song most famously sung by Nat King Cole.

"There's nothing in the song that indicates what should be in it except that it seems like it should be a secret New Orleans-style sauce," DeBarr said, noting that he's experimenting with a "zippy" little smoky tomato Vidalia onion remoulade.

Inspiration for a dish might come from a song, from something he tasted long ago or something he read last week, so Revel's dishes will keep evolving, he said.

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"We'll put a little more local spin on the menu than it had and build up some of the crazy fun that I'm known for doing," DeBarr said, adding that some popular menu items will remain, including the chicken wings and peanut burger.

DeBarr cooked for years at New Orleans restaurants, such as Commander's Palace and Christian's, where he was sous chef. Christian's flooded in Hurricane Katrina and never reopened.

In the aftermath of the 2005 floods, DeBarr landed at The Delachaise on St. Charles Avenue where his inventive cooking caught the public's attention. Then, he moved on to open two places of his own: Green Goddess in 2009 in the French Quarter and the now-closed Serendipity in 2012 in the American Can Company.

He left the city for several years, returning in 2016 for a short-lived stint at Rebellion Bar & Urban Kitchen, which closed in 2017.

At Revel, he plans to serve dishes his fans remember from the various other kitchens, including his take on muhammara, a red pepper and walnut spread; and his Spanish roasted vegetables dish he used to make at The Delachaise and Green Goddess.

DeBarr, who has known the McMillians for years, said that working alongside a bartender of McMillian's talent, he imagines that they might develop a cocktail pairing menu, as the chef did at Green Goddess each July during the Tales of the Cocktail spirits convention.

Right now, he's experimenting with a summery dessert that he has not quite mastered yet: "I'm working on a chocolate mint dessert  a little ice cream sandwich -- but I don't know if I'll have it by this weekend or not."

He plans to call it Dat's Dat.

"I'm a fun-loving person," he said. "I like to cause a little mischief."

The hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 4 to 11 p.m.

Revel Cafe & Bar: 133 N. Carrollton Ave., New Orleans, 504.309.6122
In a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, the New Orleans East bakery Dong Phuong agreed to give 43 employees $127,128 in overtime backpay. The employees, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Labor, were not paid time and a half when they worked more than 40 hours a week.

The bakery was also cited for paying some employees in cash and not keeping records of those payments.

The investigation covered February 2016 through February 2018. No fines were imposed.

The Vietnamese-owned bakery in New Orleas East sells its small French loaves around the city. Its king cakes have also become popular in recent years.

This year, demand was so high for Dong Phuong king cakes that in late January the bakery stopped supplying wholesale accounts and only sold the cakes at its New Orleans East bakery.

Earlier this month, Dong Phuong received a James Beard Award as an America's Classic. The awards are given to long-running, family-owned restaurants.

***

Got a tip? Know some restaurant news? Email Todd A. Price at TPrice@NOLA.com or call 504.826.3445. Follow him on Twitter (@TPrice504) or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/groups/wherenolaeats.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in. [File photo: Chinanews.com]

South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed his deep regret over the cancelled summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States, Moon's office said early on Friday.

"It is embarrassing and very regrettable for the scheduled North Korea (DPRK)-U.S. summit not to be held on June 12," Moon said at the urgent meeting of the National Security Council (NSC).

Moon convened the meeting for an hour from midnight, right after U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled the first-ever summit between Pyongyang and Washington originally scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

Moon said the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization and building permanent peace are historic tasks that cannot be delayed nor be given up.

Moon's expression of deep regret came as Trump said in a letter to the DPRK that "it is inappropriate" to hold the planned DPRK-U.S. summit on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump's cancellation of the DPRK-U.S. summit came after Pyongyang blew up tunnels at its Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site, where all of its six nuclear tests were conducted, earlier in the day.

The DPRK invited journalists from China, Russia, the United States, Britain and South Korea to let them cover the dismantling of the nuclear test site.

Kim Eui-kyeom, spokesman for the South Korean president, told reporters that the Blue House was attempting to figure out the exact meaning of Trump's cancellation, according to local media reports.
The Orleans Parish School Board has chosen Laverne Fleming to helm Cypress Academy in August as the district moves to directly operate the school and keep it from closing at the end of this school year. Fleming is currently assistant director of OPSB's exceptional children's services.

Bob Berk, who founded Cypress Academy and serves as its head of school, told parents during a Thursday night (May 24) meeting that he thinks the district's plan is going to make the Mid-City charter "a better school next year than it was last year." He said it wasn't easy for him to step down, but he believes in Fleming and what she can do. Fleming has worked with Cypress Academy on education services since the school opened in 2015.

Fleming's selection is the latest development in a week of rapid change for Cypress Academy. Its board announced Sunday the school would merge with the Lafayette Academy Extension at the Paul Dunbar Building in Hollygrove in August. On Tuesday, Berk told parents Cypress needed to raise $600,000 to balance its budget.

That same day Orleans Schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. said OPSB would take over operation of the school. Some parents worry the move could lead to unwanted changes in Cypress Academy's staff and curriculum.

At the Thursday night presentation, Fleming, Lewis and Lewis' assistant superintendent of schools, Adam Hitt-Hawf, asked parents to give OPSB a chance to run the school before they consider transferring their students. They assured parents there are no plans to close the school.

Among controversial changes, Cypress Academy has said it cannot extend return offers to any of its existing teachers. Berk said the school is legally required to restart the hiring process after an OPSB takeover.

Fleming urged Cypress Academy parents to talk to their teachers and encourage them reapply for their jobs.

As for the school's curriculum, OPSB leaders said they aren't planning any changes. Hazel Parker, the school's current director of curriculum and instruction, is joining OPSB in June and will continue to work with Cypress Academy. Parker will work full time during the summer and part-time during the school year, they said.

Students will continue to get evaluations and support services as well as therapists to students for speech language, occupational and physical therapy, they said. The new leadership will also work to ensure a recently obtained math curriculum grant is kept in order to fund teacher training.

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Questions remain about the situation at Cypress, including why the charter fell into a financial deficit in the first place. Fleming told parents she hopes to know more by May 29, when officials will again meet with parents at Cypress Academy. The meeting starts at 6 p.m.

Parents wanted to know why OPSB is taking over Cypress Academy, rather than simply providing the funding it needs to get by.

Lewis and Hawf said OPSB's decision to assume oversight of Cypress was both financial and cultural. Charter schools receive public dollars through a mix of state funding and local revenue from taxes, but Hawf noted Louisiana's Constitution bars OPSB from giving out money to any single nonprofit.

They added the Lafayette Academy merger wasn't the right fit. Cypress Academy is not a school "that was not going to successfully transfer to a new community," Lewis said.

"It will absolutely cost us more to operate the school, but we don't look at that an an expense," Hawf said. "We look at that as an investment in building upon the success of this school community."

Hawf said Berk, the Cypress Academy board and OPSB staff all could have done a better job at keeping parents informed earlier in the school year.

"We're all complicit in the bad situation that we're in," Hawf said, promising future decisions about the school would be a more inclusive process.

. . . . . . .

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
When Ray Chen, the professional violinist, found himself stuck on an plane on the tarmac in Porto, Portugal, he offered his fellow stranded passengers something they don't ordinarily get from their airlines: A brief Bach concert, played on a 300-year-old Stradivarius.

Airline ground stops can be tedious. This one was different. Watch what happened:

A smiling Chen walked down the aisle serenading the passengers, many of them shooting video on their phones. Even one of the flight attendants appears to be recording the impromptu performance.

On Facebook, Chen wrote he was flying from Amsterdam to Lisbon when TAP Air Portugal Flight 663 inexplicably "had to make an emergency landing in Porto where we were told to wait indefinitely inside the plane on the tarmac.

"Now at the time I must confess that playing the violin was the last thing on my mind, but knowing personally how stressful delayed travel days are, I decided to whip out the Strad for a good old airplane performance. The flight eventually made it to Lisbon (3 hours after the scheduled time) and I'm just happy we were able to get there all safely in the end. Safe travels to you all!"

The 29-year-old Taiwan-born Australian is an accomplished professional musician with an international reputation and a deep profile on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. He plays the 1715 "Joachim" Stradivarius violin, loaned to him by the Nippon Music Foundation.

In January, he played two shows with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Those performance were in New Orleans and Covington.

. . . . . . .

Drew Broach covers Jefferson Parish politics and Louisiana interests in Congress, plus other odds and ends, for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach.
Two protesters were arrested at a Bayou Bridge Pipeline work site in St. James Parish on Thursday (May 24), according to the St. James Sheriff's Office.

About 20 protesters had participated in blocking construction Thursday morning in response to the state's decision to appeal a judge's ruling against the pipeline. Groups opposed to the pipeline had hoped the ruling would put a halt to the pipeline's construction.

"St. James residents haven't been listened to," Alicia Cooke, one of the two women arrested, said in a statement. "We've been fighting this pipeline on every level through every legal means for over a year. I'm not sure how many more ways Louisianans can say we don't want this or need this."

Cooke and another woman were arrested and charged with trespassing, a sheriff's office spokesman said. They were released late morning.

The state Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday appealed 23rd Judicial District Court Judge Alvin Turner Jr. ruling that the agency's permit allowing pipeline construction violated environmental and public safety laws. The late April ruling also required the pipeline company to develop emergency evacuation and response plans for areas near the pipeline.

DNR asserts that the permit was issued properly.

The proposed 162-mile pipeline pipeline would run from St. James to Lake Charles, with portions crossing the ecologically-sensitive Atchafalaya River Basin.

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Protesters from the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, 350 New Orleans and other groups have been monitoring construction and reporting suspected permit violations.

Blocking bulldozers and other heavy equipment on Thursday was an attempt to "enforce the law that (DNR) is failing to enforce," the Bucket Brigade said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the pipeline jointly with Phillips 66, said work is being done according to state- and federally-approved permits.

"Our construction activities have been and will continue to adhere to the stipulations of our permits," Energy Transfer's Alexis Daniel said in an email. "Our commitment to the safe construction and operation of this pipeline remains unchanged."

She disputed the allegation from protesters that work was happening late at night, disturbing residents. Construction had been taking place "between sun up to sun down" in accordance with the permit, she said.

Tristan Baurick covers Louisiana's coastal environment for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: tbaurick@nola.com * Twitter: @tristanbaurick * Facebook: Tristan Baurick and Louisiana Coastal Watch.
Doctors at University Medical Center and hospital officials gathered Thursday morning (May 24) to talk about the need to retain state funding to keep the hospital running past July 1.

"It's critically important that we understand UMC is not just a resource to New Orleans or Orleans Parish. It's a resource that spreads across the entire state into Mississippi out to Lake Charles," said Dr. Peter DeBlieux, the Chief Medical Officer at UMC, and one of several doctors present Thursday at the launch of a campaign called #UMCisVITAL, which aims to ramp up community involvement in helping stave off cuts to funding UMC.

Additionally, a group of more than 50 elected healthcare, business and elected officials, including Mayor LaToya Cantrell and all seven members of the New Orleans City Council, signed a letter urging legislators to fund UMC as the first week of the second special legislative session comes to a close. The letter's text is included at the the end of this article.

Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a budget proposal that the state legislature approved last week that included funding for UMC and a handful of other hospitals around the state that serve the uninsured and underinsured patient population. The vetoed budget plan would have taken away funding from other state services such as food stamps, higher education the TOPS college scholarship program and food safety inspection.

Now, lawmakers have less than two weeks to fix a budget deficit of $650 million. UMC has not sent out layoff notices to its employees, but hospital funding after June 30 is up in the air. UMC Chief Executive Officer Bill Masterton said on Thursday that the hospital has not laid out a timeline for when or if the layoff notices will be sent out.

If UMC does not receive state funding, its private operator LCMC Health, has threatened that it would have to pull out of the agreement to run the hospital, putting more than 2,000 jobs in jeopardy. The resulting closure would also have a devastating effect on the future of the medical education LSU and Tulane University provide in New Orleans, hospital officials say.

UMC serves as the largest primary academic training center for 3,400 aspiring medical professionals each year, including 1,000 medical residents annually from both LSU Health Sciences Center and Tulane University School of Medicine. The hospital is also host to 300 ongoing clinical trials, DeBlieux said.

Dr. Steve Nelson, the dean of LSU HSC School of Medicine, said on Thursday that the proposed cuts have created instability that affects the school's ability to build programs and recruit faculty.

The possibility that LCMC could pull out of the operating agreement at UMC would mean they would no longer have the funding to pay teaching doctors at UMC, the majority of whom are with LSU, Nelson explained.

The medical residents who placed with UMC in March and are set to start on July 1 have set contracts.

"We have a contractual obligation to support them whether in this facility or somewhere else," Nelson said. "Again, I am confident the governor and the legislature will work this out and that day won't come to pass."

Most recently, UMC opened a 27,000 square foot burn center, making it the only Level 1 Trauma and Burn Center between Galveston and Tampa, which DeBlieux said further shows how important the facility is for the region.

"The combination of a Level 1 trauma center and certified burn center means that we are disaster central. Any mass casualty incident that you see across the country whether you are talking about Las Vegas or Orlando, we are the center for this region," he said. "This is where those patients would come."

Maria Clark writes about health, doctors, patients and healthcare in Louisiana for NOLA.com | The Times Picayune and NOLA Mundo. Reach her at mclark@nola.com or 504.258.5306. Or follow her on Twitter at @MariaPClark1 .
Subtropical Storm Alberto formed overnight in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to bring heavy rain and rip currents to New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast over Memorial Day weekend. But even before Alberto hits the Gulf Coast, forecasters are predicting heavy rain at time through Saturday, when total rainfall could reach up to 6 inches.

The local National Weather Service said Friday (May 25) Alberto will likely make landfall to the east of New Orleans.

With rain on the way, here are a few steps you can take to secure your home and stay safe until the stormy weather heads out of the region:

Follow Streetwise

Secure your garbage cans and any other outdoor items you don't want to blown away or floating around. This is especially important in areas that have been susceptible to

Make sure to check your gutters are clear of any debris to help protect your home from water damage. Make sure storm drains outside your home are clear, this can go a long way to prevent additional street flooding.

Consider whether you need to move your car to higher ground, especially if you are in a low-lying area that is prone to flooding. The city likely will announce if parking is allowed on neutral grounds.

It's never too early to stock up on hurricane supplies.

Alberto is the first named Atlantic storm of 2018, coming a little ahead of the traditional June 1 start date for hurricane season.

Joshua Joachim, the chief executive officer of the Louisiana Red Cross, said that this is "a time of year that people of Louisiana should take very seriously, and with good reason. Following 2017's wide-spread impact, and with an above average season predicted again for 2018, now is the time to prepare."

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This weekend the state is providing a sales tax break on hurricane supplies. Shoppers will be exempted from paying 2 percent of the 5 percent state sales tax up to $1,500 for select supplies. To find out more click here.

The Red Cross recommends stocking an emergency kit with a gallon of water per person, per day, non-perishable food, a flashlight, battery-powered radio, first aid kit, medications, supplies for an infant (if applicable), a multi-purpose tool, personal hygiene items, copies of important papers, cell phone chargers, extra cash, blankets, maps of the area, and emergency contact information.

If you already have a disaster kit, now is the time to make sure the food and water in the kit is still OK to consume and that copies of important documents are up to date.

Stay informed and up to date

We've compiled an up to date list of social media accounts and websites where you can sign up for alert systems to make sure you are prepared as a storm approaches. The list includes links to community notification networks offered by different parishes across Louisiana.

Click here to see the full list.

Are you new to town and riding out your first tropical storm? Talk to your neighbors.

Some of the best advice comes from locals who have a lifetime of advice when it comes to preparing for a storm. Last year, food writer Ann Maloney reached out to Where NOLA Eats readers to ask them for tips on food safety and what should be in your hurricane pantry. So far, Alberto is on track to hit east of New Orleans but could still produce a lot of rain, and power outages aren't out of the question.

Do you have any suggestions for what people can do to protect their home and property before a big rain event? Share them in the comment section.
Forget the beach this Memorial Day weekend.

Heavy rains and the threat of rip currents are in store for the Gulf Coast as a potential tropical system continues to form, the National Hurricane Center reported Thursday evening (May 24).

For southeast Louisiana east of Interstate 55, 2 to 4 inches of rain is expected with double that amount possible in localized areas, according to the National Weather Service. Areas west of I-55 could get 1 to 3 inches, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast could get 4 to 8 inches. The amount of rain is likely to change depending on the speed and track of the system.

Heavy rain is expected late Saturday through Tuesday, the NWS said.

The chance of a tropical depression or storm to form over the next 48 hours is 70 percent, and the chance of development over the next five days is 90 percent.

A low pressure system was drifting slowly northward over the eastern Yucatan Peninsula Thursday and had become better defined since Wednesday, the Hurricane Center said in its 6:30 p.m. update.

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Conditions were expected to become better for tropical development as the weekend approaches, and a depression or tropical storm "is likely to form during the weekend over the eastern or central Gulf of Mexico," the Hurricane Center's update said.

An Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft was scheduled to investigate the disturbance Friday afternoon, if necessary.

Locally heavy rainfall is forecast across western Cuba and over much of Florida and the northern Gulf Coast into early next week. In addition, the threat of rip currents will steadily increase along the Gulf Coast from Florida westward to Louisiana over the Memorial Day weekend.

The National Weather Service office for New Orleans/Baton Rouge issued this warning Thursday afternoon:

"Regardless of eventual developments, an abundance of tropical moisture over the region will be capable of producing periods of torrential rainfall and possible flash flooding. There may be an increased risk of high wind gusts, a few tornadoes and higher than normal tides across the north-central Gulf."

If the system develops into a tropical storm, its name would be Alberto. The last time Alberto was on the hurricane-name list was 2012, and it also formed in May.
The Mandeville City Council has opted not to seek voter approval this fall for changes to the city governing document, including two proposals that would have tweaked term limit laws for municipal elected officials.

The council Thursday night (May 24) unanimously voted down four ordinances that if approved would have put before voters on Nov. 6 proposals to change the city charter. The ordinances called for public votes to address term limits for the City Council and mayor, the removal of the city's human resources director from the civil service system and whether the council should be able to hire its own attorney.

The ordinance relating to the civil service system generated significant discussion. Dan Sullivan, of the Louisiana Civil Service League, Jack McGuire of the local civil service board and members of the Mandeville Police Department appeared at the council meeting to urge members not to put the issue before voters.

In 2014, voters agreed to make the city's human resources director a civil service employee. But Mayor Donald Villere said Thursday while he supported that initiative at the time, the set up has not worked well for the city and he sought to once again make the director an appointee of the mayor, like other city directors.

After the council voted 5-0 against the ordinance to call a public vote on the civil service matter, members then conducted a hearing on whether to ask voters to change the city's charter to allow the mayor to run for three full four-year terms. If such a change is approved by voters, Villere would be eligible to seek another term in 2020.

The city charter currently limits mayors to three terms. It further defines a term as anything over two years. Villere's first term consisted of just over two years, making him ineligible to seek another term.

During a discussion on that ordinance, Councilman Mike Pulaski offered an amendment to seek voter approval to limit the mayor to two rather than three terms. While some members seemed to favor the amendment, it was decided that rushing to get the proposal on the fall ballot might not be feasible and the ordinance was ultimately voted down.

The council then decided that the approximately $30,000 cost of calling an election only for the two remaining issues - those dealing with council term limits and the council's authority to hire attorneys - would not be wise, leading to members to vote down the two remaining charter change ordinances.
China's Ministry of Transport announced on Thursday regulations to tighten supervision of ride-hailing drivers and platforms.

The app of China's car-hailing company Didi Chuxing [Photo: VCG]

Starting from June 1, ride-hailing platforms and drivers will be included in the quality assessment system for taxi drivers, said Wang Xiuchun, a senior official of the ministry.

The assessment evaluation indicators include business management, safety and social responsibility, according to the ministry.

Ride-hailing companies should conduct stricter driver reviews to ensure the safety of passengers.

DiDi, the dominant player, claims more than 25 million rides each day through more than 21 million registered drivers and car owners.

DiDi announced new measures to improve passenger safety after a woman was raped and killed on May 6 by a DiDi driver.
A south Mississippi man has been accused of operating a dog fighting ring after authorities found more than 20 dogs chained up behind a travel trailer in Lucedale, WLOX-TV reported. Kofe Bernard Riley, 38, was also booked with possession of narcotics and stolen property.

Several roosters, which authorities suspect were being used for fighting, and a stolen ATV and motorcycle were also discovered on the property, the station reported. The dogs included some as young as just a few months old, some who were pregnant, and two puppies that were chained up outside. Investigators said it was clear that the animals had been used for fighting, adding that some of the dogs' wounds were as recent as this week.

"They hadn't been taken care of," George County Sheriff Keith Havard told the station. "Some of the dogs were malnourished. They were out on the property on chains, they weren't in cages or anything like that."
Up to 150,000 households who otherwise wouldnt qualify  including some with six-figure salaries  are expected to apply for food stamps as qualifications are relaxed to help in the recovery from Hurricane Ida.
At least 49 people dead as ship sinks in northwest DRC

KINSHASA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 49 people died after a ship sank on Wednesday night in the Congo River in northwest part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Governor of Tshuapa province Mboyo Iluka said on Thursday.

Iluka said the boat that left the village of Monkoto for Mbandaka sank in province of Tshuapa. The cause of the accident remains unknown.

According to local sources, a team composed of the provincial minister of humanitarian affairs, division chiefs and provincial deputies was dispatched to the scene to investigate the situation.

Accidents in the Congo River are often caused by the bad conditions of boats and overload of passengers, according to the authorities.

Last April, at least 42 civilians fleeing the violence between attackers and soldiers in Dongo in South Ubangi province, drowned in the Ubangi River in the same part of the country.
Prior to the end of 2017, China had built 525 Confucius Institutes and 1113 Confucius Classrooms in 146 countries and regions, which have played an important role in strengthening cooperation in education and cultural communication between China and other countries, meanwhile improving mutual understanding and friendship.

In America

On March 28, 2018, several American government officials including Senator Benjamin Louis Cardin of Maryland sent certificates of special recognition to the Confucius Institute at the University of Maryland for its 13th anniversary. The institute's director Donna Wiseman (R) accepts the certificate from Ben Cardin. (People's Daily/Gao Shi)

Middle and primary school principals, parents and student representatives from all parts of Maryland, United States, recently gathered to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the Confucius Institute at the University of Maryland. At the gathering, it was often overheard that the lives of the children have been enriched due to Chinese learning. Barbara McElderry, coordinator of Garrison Forest School's Confucius Classroom, Maryland, said that the Confucius Classroom has become a favored point of her school during admission, and that many students have chosen Garrison Forest due to the program.

To date, America has already built 110 Confucius Institutes and 501 Confucius Classrooms. Besides language courses, they also opened courses on traditional Chinese culture such as tea ceremony, calligraphy, painting and so on.

In Thailand

Thailand's National Legislative Assembly members learn Chinese at the Chinese Training Course for Thailand NLA Members. (People's Daily/Sun Guangyong)

The Chinese Training Course for Thailand National Legislative Assembly Members was started in January 2018, with 20 members participating in it. At the opening ceremony, president of Thailands National Legislative Assembly, Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, said that the role of Chinese language is becoming increasingly important with the rising influence of China in the world, and that Chinese will become a world language in the future.

Currently in Thailand, over 3000 schools have opened Chinese courses and around 1 million people are learning Chinese. Chinese has fast become one of the most important foreign languages in Thailand.

In Belgium

Students of Confucius Institute in Brussels, Belgium present their calligraphy results. (People's Daily/Ren Yan)

There are now six Confucius Institutes in Belgium, five of which are co-established by famous Belgian and Chinese universities. The vice president of VUB said that setting up a Confucius Institute is a long-cherished wish of their university, and that they hope to own such a platform after seeing Confucius Institutes becoming an important platform for cultural communication between China and the west in other European well-known universities.
A visitor tries a bomb suit during a ship tour aboard USS Arlington, in New York, the United States, May 24, 2018. Starting from Thursday, general public in New York city will be able to take free tours to some of the U.S. Navy ships, as the city's annual Fleet Week takes place. (Xinhua/Zhang Mocheng)

NEW YORK, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Starting from Thursday, general public in New York city will be able to take free tours to some of the U.S. Navy ships and Coast Guard cutters, as the city's annual Fleet Week takes place.

The general public ship tours will be conducted daily in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island from Thursday to next Monday.

Participating ships include San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Mitscher and many more. Visitors will have a chance to take photos with helicopters and Marine Corps vehicles and watch equipment demonstrations.

Now in its 30th year, Fleet Week New York is the city's time-honored celebration of the sea service. It is an opportunity for residents of New York and the surrounding tri-state area to meet sailors, marines and coast guardsmen as well as witness firsthand the latest capabilities of U.S. maritime service.

Apart from the ship tours, the U.S. sea services will also host a variety of aviation static displays throughout the week, and Navy Band Northeast, U.S. Coast Guard Silent Drill Team and the Marine Corps Battle Color Detachment will stage performances at various locations.

This year's Fleet Week started on Wednesday, and will end next Tuesday. More than 2,000 sailors, marines and coast guardsmen are expected to participate in the events.
In the past we lived on boats floating on the sea; now we live on land, working in peace and contentment. The couplet hung above a square of Xipi village, Fuan City of southeast Chinas Fujian province is a showcase of the dramatic changes the locals have undergone over the past years.

Photo shows a shabby boat placed on the Xipi Village square. Photo by Liu Lingling

For a long time, the villagers had been living on boats throughout their life, which is why they were called the "Gypsies on sea".

Without fixed residence, it was common at that time for a family of three generations to live on a same shabby boat that frequently needed repairs.

For the village secretary Liu Mingfu who spent his entire childhood on the boat, the deck was both his home and workshop. It was a place where he did almost everything.

We had eight family members on the boat, and it was always rocking on the waves, so it was a dream of us to have a good sleep on land, Liu recalled. Having no fixed place to live, no insurance for the elderly, no school for the young and no easy access to medical care was what we had experienced.

It was not until the 1960s that Liu and his fellow villagers started to move onshore. Great efforts have been made by the provincial government to implement welfare projects and relocate the fishermen since late 1990s.

The government took strong measures in the process, including offering free land for relocation, opening roads, electricity, water, communication and radio and television signals, and providing subsidies for relocated villagers.

Photo shows Liu Derens three-storey house. Like Liu, most villagers have moved into such houses. Photo by Liu Lingling

In a few years, 1,425 people from 349 households had been relocated. At the end of 2013, the fishermen finally bid farewell to their floating life after the relocation of the rest 137 households.

What followed the relocation was the urgent need to improve livelihood. To achieve that, Xipi Village forged a unique path of sea economy featuring aquaculture, seafood business and maritime transportation. In 2017, villagers per capita income reached 18,756 yuan ($2,936) from 850 yuan in the 1990s.

Living in bigger houses with electronic appliances, we are contented with our life. The government organizes training on production techniques every year. We now live a totally different life, villager Liu Deren said while showing the reporter around his house.
Tremendous changes have happened in Chixi village, southeastern Chinas Fujian province after 30 years of poverty alleviation. Hailed as the best village of poverty relief, Chixi village has made an excellent path of gaining wealth while protecting ecology through tourism.

In 2017, the disposable income per capita of the village hit 16,641 yuan, 100 times of that in 1984; the per capita floor area rose to 38.5 square meters, nearly quintupling the 1984 figure. In addition, the number of impoverished households in the village has been reduced to 2 from 352 thirty four years ago.

More than 3 decades ago, Chixi was a remote and impoverished village of the She ethnic group with a large proportion of seniors and juveniles in its population structure, Du Jiazhu, the Party secretary of the village told Peoples Daily.

He said General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping has given important instructions on reducing poverty of the village through a recent online chatting with the villagers.

After that, the village took tourism as its dominant industry and successfully increased income for the villagers. We have achieved a giant leap from an impoverished village to a well-off one, Du said.

In 2016, the village saw an inflow of more than 200,000 tourists, with a single-day number reaching 10,000 at most.

Taking good use of local advantages, Chixi village has attracted capital to develop tourism centered with the southwest slope of Tailao Mountain, a major senic spot around the village. Many villagers have been lifted out of poverty because of this.

Chixi village has attracted a number of visitors by its beautiful sceneries and refreshing environment. Photo by Liu Lingling

According to Du, now 210 villagers are employed by tourism companies and cooperatives, with a monthly income of more than 3,000 yuan, and around 40 people have lifted their annual income to over 60,000 yuan by working for landscape rennovation and bed & breakfast (b & b) projects.

The development of tourism also brings business opportunities for local villagers. In order to transfer these opportunities into tangible profits, the Party branch of the village has conducted regular traning for the villagers under the assistance of local organizations and schools. The traning includes skill courses on special breeding, tour guide services, cooking and e-commerce, as well as guidances on running agritainment facilities, b & b programs, and covinient stores.

Now the village is home to 38 stores of local speciaties, 11 agritainment facilities, and 14 covenient stores. Some agritainment facilities can even make revenue of 50,000 yuan just during the first 15 days of the Lunar New Year, Du told Peoples Daily.

As a national-level pilot village for tourism-assisted poverty alleviation, Chixi is dubbed as a role model of agritourism and the most beautiful leisure village.

Du noted that the village will give full play to its ecological advantages, further develop the culture of She ethnic group, and keep promoting agritourism through exhibitions and the internet.
Consuming a fluid secreted by cockroaches may not be everyones idea of a balanced meal, but scientists believe that the cockroach milk produced by a certain species of cockroaches is one of the most nutritious substances on the planet, and could one day become the ultimate superfood.

Unlike most other insects, the Pacific beetle cockroach is viviparous, meaning the female give birth live babies that have developed within their body, instead of laying eggs. But a few years ago, while studying these fascinating insects, scientists discovered something even more remarkable  as the embryos grow inside the female cockroachs body, she feeds them a pale, yellow liquid milk from her brood sack. Research has shown that this cockroach milk has three times the energy content of buffalo milk, making it one of the most nutritious substances on Earth.

Photo: Scott Nelson/Flickr

After cutting open an embryonic beetle roach, researchers observed that the liquid from their mother concentrated in their guts in the form of milk-crystals that shimmered like glitter. They examined this crystals, performing various tests and genome sequencing, and concluded that it was a complete food.

It is what one would need: protein, essential amino acids, lipids and sugars, Leonard Chavas, one of the scientists involved in the research, told CNN. He added that the energy level of this superfood was so high that it helps infant Pacific beetle cockroach infants grow much faster and much bigger than those of other species.

The nutritious substance can be extracted in either liquid or crystal form through a process called cockroach milking, which basically requires the embryos in the brood sac with a filter paper and collecting it when its full of the stuff. However, milking cockroaches isnt the easiest thing in the world to do, not to mention that it reportedly takes 1,000 cockroaches to harvest 100 grams of milk. So for the time being, scientists are looking at ways of recreating this substance in the lab, or creating a cockroach milk pill.

For now, we are trying to understand how to control this phenomena in a much easier way, to bring it to mass production, Chavas said.

Theoretically, one could pour this rich liquid in coffee, over cereal or even use it to make ice-cream, but before health-food freaks are allowed to do just that, we need to answer two very important questions  is cockroach milk safe for human consumption, and how does it taste?

Well, Leonard Chavas apparently lost a drinking game with his research colleagues and took a sip of the nutritious liquid. Believe it or not, it wasnt disgusting, but it wasnt tasty either. The scientist says that it simply has no particular taste.



Regarding how safe it is for human consumption, thats a bit more complicated. Biochemist Subramanian Ramaswamy at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in Bangalore, India, told NPR that in principle, it should be fine, but added that there is yet no scientific evidence of that.

Cockroach milk first made news headlines two years ago, and we havent really heard any news about it since, so it might take a while for it to reach health-food store shelves. But if or when it does, will you try it?
Police in Turkmenistan have begun inspecting public and private toilets across the country for evidence of photos of president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov being used as toilet paper.

It sounds like news you would only expect to read on a satire news website like The Onion, but this is Turkmenistan president were talking about here, the same country that earlier this year banned black cars because its president loves white, so this is sadly painfully true. After news started going around that people were using bits of newspaper with the presidents face on them as toilet paper, police and landfill workers were ordered to look for evidence of this unusual offence and issue warnings that such behavior could have serious consequences.

Photo: Alternativnnyy Novosti Turkmenistana

According to a recent article in Fergana, a Moscow-based news site known for its credible coverage of Turkmen affairs, it all started at the end of last year, when several children in the northern city of Dashoguz were detained and tried for damaging portraits of president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. In one case, students at the citys school no. 45 trampled on a photo of the president, and in another, children at another school used a pen to draw a mustache and beard on a portrait of Berdymukhammedov.

Those incidents didnt involve butt wiping, but they did prompt an investigation which eventually revealed that the use of newspapers with the presidents face on them as toilet paper was quite common. While inspecting another Dashoguz school for similar defiling of the presidents photos, police found bits of newspaper  some of which had Berdymukhammedovs face on them  used as toilet paper in the school toilet. The director was fired, and an ample investigation into this practice began. It has reportedly led to the dismissal of several civil servants.

Apart from police officers inspecting both public and household toilets for incriminating evidence of defiling president Berdymukhammedovs portrait, staff at landfills all over western Turkmenistan were instructed to be on the lookout for soiled pictures of the countrys supreme leader.

Photo: Kremlin.ru Press Service

There is a special janitor at each landfill site whose job is to inspect garbage, to look for soiled newspaper photos, to establish the house or flat of the newspaper subscriber and to report it to the police, Fergana.ru reports.

Heres the interesting bit, though. Alternativnnyy Novosti Turkmenistana reports that due to an ongoing economic crisis currently plaguing Turkmenistan, many people tend to use newspapers to wipe themselves rather than spending money on toilet paper. And since pictures of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov dominate most of the pages of national newspapers, its actually difficult not to soil them.
Brunswick Group will handle the potential sale of the TGI Fridays restaurant chain, which owner Electra Private Equity investment firm put on the auction block today.

The potential divestment of the casual dining restaurant unit is part of London-based EPE's effort to maximize shareholder value, cash in on the strong equity market and simplify its corporate structure.

TGIF operates more than 900 restaurants in 60 countries. Its market valuation is in the $200M range.

EPE has retained Greenhill & Co. investment banker to shop TGIF and other investments including Hotter Shoes, Knight Square (property management) and Photobox (personalized products/gifts) operations.

The company stresses that it is not currently discussing the sale of any of its units, though it "has received expressions of interest from several parties."

Brunswick's Ammerance Ozioro represents EPE.


David Churbuck

Sitrick and Company has named David Churbuck head of the agencys newly opened Boston office. Churbuck will also be a member of the firm. He joins Sitrick from software-as-a-service company Acquia, where he was vice president, corporate marketing. His past experience also includes stints as vp of global digital marketing at Lenovo and as founder and editor-in-chief of Forbes.com. Michael Sitrick, the firms founder, chairman and CEO said that he has long wanted to expand into the Boston market, but had not found the right person to run an office there until Churbuck. His knowledge and expertise in the media, financial, and technology sectors, as well as in digital and social media will further enhance our ability to serve our clients, Sitrick said. The Los Angeles-based agencys Boston office joins its other outposts in New York, San Francisco, Denver and Washington, DC.



Marty Berman

Marino has brought on Marty Berman as a senior content strategist. Berman joins Marino from Discovery Communications, where he created social-first content for Animal Planet and helped grow the networks social media audiences. Previously, he was senior producer for SpaceX  the company founded by Elon Musk in 2002  which designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. Marinos client roster includes McDonalds, Walmart, The Home Depot, Derek Jeters Turn 2 Foundation, Crains New York Business and One World Trade Center.



Josslynne Welch

Litzky Public Relations has appointed Josslynne Welch, a 20-year veteran of the agency, to the role of president. Welch was previously executive VP and director of client services. Michele Litzky, who founded LPR in 1988 and has served as president for three decades, will now become CEO. During her tenure, Welch has led work for such clients as Hasbro, Inc.; The Toy Association; TTPM and Kamik. LPR has also brought on Marie Baker, formerly a senior manager at Bayer and a VP at Coyne PR as director of strategy, and added clients including American Mensa, National Geographic, and Pacific Cycle.



Gita Amar

PMKBNC senior director of public relations Gita Amar has been appointed to the California Complete Count Census Committee. Sworn in this week, this statewide panel includes community members that will guide Californias outreach for the 2020 federal census. Amar has been a senior director at PMK BNC since 2016. Before that, she was a self-employed senior media relations consultant as well as a senior consulting producer at Fleishman-Hillard Communications and a senior media relations consultant at Golin Harris. Amar has also been a producer at National Public Radio an executive producer at Fox News Channel and Fox News Online.


Robert Mueller

Donald Trump's relentless attacks launched against Robert Mueller (e.g., "phony collusion," "witch hunt") have apparently diverted the public's attention from the achievements of the Special Counsel.

Sad. They are missing a great performance.

Mueller's team has delivered 17 criminal indictments, which have resulted in guilty pleas from bigwigs such as national security advisor Michael Flynn and Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Yet a poll conducted by Global Strategy Group found that though 81 percent of Americans either "heard a lot" or "heard some" about Mueller's investigation, a whopping 59 percent don't know that he's uncovered any crimes.

GPG found that Americans want Mueller's investigation to continue by a 55 percent to 35 percent margin.

A sizable group, 37 percent, though says if Mueller doesn't wrap up the investigation soon then Congress or Trump should shut it down.

Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who must have Labor Day Weekend travel plans, gave Mueller Sept. 1 to complete the probe.

Rudy has a good point.

The longer Mueller's probe drags on, the more time Trump has to fire up tweets to discredit the investigation and erode public support for it.

It's time for Mueller to deliver the goods. Time is running out for the Special Counsel.


Dick Pirozzolo

Dick Pirozzolo, founder of Boston-based Pirozzolo Company Public Relations, was recently presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hamden Education Foundation, a community organization dedicated to enriching the tradition of excellence in the public schools of Hamden, CT. As part of the recognition a brick, with Pirozzolos name and the year of the award, will be laid at the Hamden High School courtyard. Pirozzolo served with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam before starting up PCPR, and he continues his involvement with Vietnam today as a member of the Editorial Board of Boston Global Forum, a think tank focused on reducing world tensions and fostering business and cultural ties with Vietnam. He has also become a vocal proponent of expanding benefits to Vietnam Veterans suffering from Agent Orange afflictions.

The LAGRANT Foundation is honoring 100 rising ethnic minority communications students at events in New York and San Francisco. As part of TLFs 20th anniversary celebration, it is awarding $250,000 in scholarships to students in the fields of advertising, graphic design, marketing and pubic relations. Sixty undergraduate students are each receiving a $2,000 scholarship and 40 graduate students are being given $3,250 scholarships. The New York events recognized students attending school east of Chicago. Omnicom Public Relations Group and Ketchum sponsored the New York events. In San Francisco, Bechtel Corporation and W2O Group will sponsor the events for students attending school west of Chicago. Those events will run from June 3-5.

French|West|Vaughan took home 19 awards at the annual InSpire Awards event, hosted by the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. The awards included five top category honors for campaign and program work in Events, Reputation/Brand Management, Public Affairs/Public Service, Consumer Products Marketing and Creative Tactics. The Silver InSpire Award for Best in Show went to FWVs consumer program on behalf of Pendleton Whisky. There is outstanding work being done by agencies across North Carolina, and it is getting better every year, said FWV Chairman & CEO Rick French.
CANBERRA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Australia should remove its "colored glasses" when looking at China's development, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said when meeting with his Australian counterpart Julie Bishop earlier this week.

Bishop admitted that negative reports on China by Australian media have affected bilateral relations. He stressed that those reports do not reflect the Australian government's stance.

When reporting on the Australian parliament's attempt to amend foreign influence laws, Australian media misidentified it as a cause for the anger of the Chinese government.

What they have either intentionally or unintentionally left out is the fact that China was infuriated by those remarks of Australian politicians who had singled out China as the reason for the amendment, without offering solid proof of any Chinese government interference in Australian politics.

By repeating such practices, some Australian media and some China commentators tried to sell allegations as facts.

Some Australian media are known for their "negative reports on China," as outlined by Bishop. The latest reports by major Australia newspapers on a speech on China by Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe offer a classic case study of how colored glasses have tinted a balanced speech, making it a criticism of China.

While Lowe dedicated most of his speech to the importance of the Chinese economy to Australia and expressed appreciation of what the Chinese government has done to address the risks of its financial system, Australian media have invariably reported the speech from a negative perspective, focusing mainly on China's financial system risks.

In his speech, Lowe said Australia's trade with China has expanded rapidly over the past decade, to the point where China is now Australia's largest trading partner.

China accounts for nearly one third of Australia's exports and one-fifth of Australia's imports. A new trend of bilateral trade relations is that Australia's service exports to China, particularly tourism and education, have grown at an average rate of 15 percent, greater than those to the United States and Britain combined.

Last year, 1.4 million Chinese visited Australia, up from 400,000 a decade ago. Currently, there are around 200,000 Chinese students studying in Australia.

Wearing colored glasses for too long, some Australians may find it uncomfortable when they look at China with their naked eyes. However, only by looking at China as it is can Australia bring its relations with China back to the right track and develop a healthy relationship with its largest trading partner.

Wang said China follows a development path that is completely different from that of traditional major countries. China never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries, let alone conducts so-called infiltration of other countries. China's idea is to carry out equal cooperation with all countries, including Australia, to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Wang also said that China attaches importance to China-Australia relations, and is willing to communicate with Australia on how to practically improve bilateral relations.

The Chinese side has a lot of goodwill, and it would benefit Australia to recognize and embrace it.
25/05/2018 - OECD countries agreed today to invite Colombia to become a member of the Organisation. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Secretary-General Gurria will sign an Accession Agreement on 30 May during the upcoming meeting of the OECD Council at ministerial level in Paris.

As part of its accession process, Colombia has been subject to in-depth reviews by 23 OECD Committees and has introduced major reforms to align its legislation, policies and practices to OECD standards, including on labour issues, the reform of its justice system, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, anti-bribery, trade as well as new national policies on industrial chemicals policy and waste management.

Colombias membership will take effect after it has taken the appropriate steps at the national level to accede to the OECD Convention and deposited its instrument of accession with the French government, the depository of the Convention. Colombias accession will extend OECDs membership to 37 countries.

OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurria said: We are very pleased to welcome Colombia as a member of the OECD. Accession to our Organisation was set as a priority by President Santos when he assumed office and we are glad that the process could be completed during his mandate. It has been a journey in which we have always appreciated the strong commitment and leadership of President Santos and his team. The accession of Colombia will contribute to our efforts to transform the OECD into a more diverse and inclusive institution, which will ensure our relevance in the years and decades ahead. The global challenges we are facing today can only be addressed if we have emerging, developing and advanced economies working together.

Colombia was invited to open accession talks in 2013. Membership talks with Costa Rica are currently ongoing.

For further information journalists are invited to contact the OECD's Media division (tel: + 33 1 4524 9700).

More information on OECD's work on Colombia is available at:

http://www.oecd.org/countries/colombia/

and

http://www.oecd.org/latin-america/countries/colombia/

More information on how accession to the OECD works: www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/enlargement.htm.

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

Related Documents
World-renowned investor Jim Rogers said in an interview that his daughter earns $25 an hour teaching Chinese.

I told them to work. I thought they would work for McDonalds, the businessman said, adding that his daughters barely speak English now.

Happy Rogers, the elder sister, currently teaches two little girls aged between 4 and 7 years old. The youngest, Bee Rogers, teaches two boys, which she said is a challenging job because boys can be troublesome.

Bee Rogers

Jim Rogers made the decision to have his two daughters immersed in Chinese language and culture because he has long believed China would be the most important country of the 21st century with Chinese language being the most important language.

He first visited China as a tourist in 1984 and made some local contacts. These experiences contributed to his growing vision of Chinas future.

Happy Rogers
Egypt's foreign ministry is set to celebrate on Friday Africa Day, which commemorates the 55th anniversary of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

The OAU was refounded as the African Union in 2002 with 55 member nations.

The OAU was established in 1963 with the primary aims of strengthening cooperation between African nations, defending the sovereignty and independence of African states, and eradicating the vestiges of colonialism from the continent.

The day "embodies the meaning of the fight and struggle of the people of the continent for freedom, independence, unity and development," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry's headquarters in central Cairo on Wednesday was lit with the letters of the word Africa to commemorate the day.

"The people of the continent have come a long way on the path of integration, unity and overall development, which is reflected in the high growth rates on the continent and many other positive economic and social indicators," ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in the statement.

Abu Zeid explained Egypt's celebrations of the day this year will include taking part in a gathering organised by a council of African ambassadors in Egypt, and the participation of Egyptian missions abroad in celebrations in their respective countries.

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Related Egypt commemorates 55th Africa Day on Friday

Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is set to travel late Friday to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to participate in African Union (AU) institutional reform meetings on Saturday, an official statement from the foreign ministry said.



Egypt is keen on the speedy implementation of institutional reform proposals for the AU, and to achieve consensus on the course of the reform process among member states, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in the statement issued friday.



Abu Zeid explained that the meetings come at a crucial time since Egypt will chair the AU next year.

In January 2018, Egypt was elected by African leaders in Addis Ababa to head the union's upcoming 31st session in 2019.



The AU agreed in January 2018 on the need for more consultations and discussions to deepen the consensus between its members by expanding the membership of the current Reform Troika and establishing a 15-member committee of foreign ministers to provide advice.

The meeting of the 15-member FMs committee will discuss implementing institutional and financial reform as well as the division of labor between the AU and regional economic blocs.



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Yemen declared a state of emergency on the island of Socotra on Thursday as a tropical storm intensified after flooding several villages and capsizing boats to leave at least 19 people missing, government officials said.

Socotra, which lies between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, has been largely untouched by Yemen's three-year-old war. It is under the control of the internationally-recognised government whose president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is in exile in Saudi Arabia.

The island "requires urgent aid to help people stranded in their villages or those who reside in the mountains," government spokesman Rajeh Badi told state news agency SABA.

Nineteen people were missing after seven boats capsized and three cars were washed away by floods, said one Yemeni government minister, adding that evacuations to shelters are still under way in the island's capital. Another official said more than 200 families had been evacuated from their villages.

The storm is worsening and most parts of the island have lost communications, said the governor of the nearby province of Hadhramaut.

The same weather system hit the Horn of Africa on Wednesday, killing more than 50 people in Somaliland.

Yemeni government spokesman Badi called on international humanitarian organisations and the Riyadh-led military coalition participating in the war to provide urgent aid to the island, where Saudi and UAE forces have a presence.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said late on Thursday that the coalition is coordinating with the Yemeni government and humanitarian assistance will reach the island on Friday morning, Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya reported.

The Saudi ambassador Mohammed al-Jaber said tens of thousands of tons of relief, shelter and medical items are being prepared to be transported to the island, provided by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.

The Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore Hadi's government, toppled by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

The storm is expected to hit southern Yemen and the coast of neighbouring Oman, Oman's state news agency reported.

It said Omani authorities evacuated hospitals in Dhofar province and other areas bordering Yemen, while the Public Authority for Civil Aviation said the country's second largest airport, in Salalah, would be shut for 24 hours from midnight (2000 GMT).

Yemen is already grappling with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The war has killed more than 10,000, displaced three million people, triggered a cholera outbreak and pushed the impoverished country to the verge of starvation, according to the United Nations.

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An Algerian blogger arrested last year over social media posts has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on espionage and other charges, a human rights activist said on Friday.

Charges against the blogger, Merzoug Touati, included "incitement for taking up arms against the state" and "encouraging crowd gathering", said Said Salhi, a member of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights.

They also included espionage "with foreign agents, in particular from Israel, with the goal of tarnishing Algeria's diplomatic position", Salhi said.

Touati was arrested in January 2017 after he published a Facebook message and a video on YouTube on accounts that were later deleted.

One post called for protests against a 2017 finance law, while the video included an interview with an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman who denied accusations by the Algerian authorities that Israel was behind anti-government protests in Algeria at the time.

Amnesty International said it had reviewed court documents that list the posts as evidence against Touati and that it had found "no incitement to violence or advocacy of hatred".

"Rather, his posts were covered by freedom of expression in relation to his work as a citizen-journalist," the rights group said in a statement.

Touati was sentenced on Thursday by a court in Bejaia, east of the capital Algiers.

He has 10 days to appeal the verdict, according to Algerian law.

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The German government regrets that a planned meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been cancelled, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

"From the German government's point of view, dialogue at the highest level is an important step towards de-escalation on the Korean peninsula," the spokeswoman said.

North Korea said on Friday it was still open to talks with the United States after Trump called off the summit, saying it hoped the "Trump formula" could resolve the standoff over its nuclear weapons programme.

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The House of Egyptian Architecture announced on its Facebook page it will host on Saturday evening an open forum with well-known journalist Hanan Hagag titled Dealing with Egyptian Heritage.

Hagag, who is a writer at Al-Ahram Daily newspaper and has led initiatives to preserve Egyptian heritage, will discuss the urgent need to exert more efforts to preserve the country's heritage, as well as the dangers that threaten its legacy.

According to the announcement, Hagag will also discuss a recent controversial decree to move 55 historical pulpits from Islamic mosques to museums.

Programme:

Saturday, 26 May at 9:00pm

House of Egyptian Architecture, 4 Darb El-Labbana, Qalaa Square near Sultan Hassan Mosque

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While in many ways similar, the Iranian and Korean crises are unlikely to be resolved by Trump deploying the same means and tactics on both

Iran might be geographically remote from North Korea, as well as strategically, historically, culturally and in terms of regional interplay. Yet, they are connected by a single individual: Donald Trump.

During the past year, his administration locked horns with Pyongyang in an intensive bout that ended in a manner radically different to the way it began.

The question now is whether the US experience with Tehran will follow a similar trajectory. Or do the differences in geography, regional theatre and patterns of regional interaction render any comparison unacceptable or even impossible?

Barely had Trump entered the White House than anxieties over the North Korean question soared.

Officials in Washington and elsewhere had long been acutely aware of the sensitivity of this crisis. In fact, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton described it as the most difficult challenge facing the US.

North Korea had resumed its nuclear programme with remarkable energy and resolve. It stepped up its missile development programme, enhancing the range and precision of its missiles, with the intent of possessing the power to strike, if not the western US mainland then at least some US islands in the Pacific.

From time to time, North Korean President Kim Jong-un would toy with Japan by dispatching a missile or two over a Japanese island. While persisting in such activities, North Korea reeled beneath one of the harshest economic sanctions regimes the world has ever seen.

Irans situation was better, especially after the nuclear agreement in accordance with which it, theoretically at least, ceased producing nuclear weapons. World markets were opened to it again and it recovered the Iranian assets that had been blocked in Western banks.

This released vast resources which Iran used, like North Korea, to enhance the range and precision of its missiles so that they could reach Israel or European shores, not to mention many Arab countries.

Iran also exploited the agreement in order to expand its regional influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, towards which end it used the Iranian Revolutionary Guard or proxy forces such as the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq, Hizbullah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and, most recently, the Polisario in North Africa.

In spite of the conclusions of major organisations monitoring Iranian nuclear arms activities, recently leaked information points to a secret Iranian programme to produce such weapons. In all events, the Iranian regime has become a major destabilising factor in the whole Middle East.

Both Pyongyang and Tehran have totalitarian regimes, the former based on communist ideology, the latter on a theocratic one.

Both have pathological relations with underground terrorist, arms smuggling and organised crime networks. Donald Trump, when running for office, made both North Korea and Iran important components of his campaign.

He insisted that there should be no appeasing these regimes as long as they continued to behave in ways that could threaten the US or its allies.

After becoming president, Trump decided to focus on the Korean crisis first. The scene opened with threats and vitriol. He said that the US was ready to go to war to force North Korea to cease the activities that diplomatic avenues had failed to stop before.

His behaviour precipitated a series of regional and international interplays driven by the fear of an impending war. South Korea made overtures to the North while Beijing proved instrumental in softening the stance of the intransigent North Korean president until eventually he agreed to halt his nuclear and missile development programmes.

In return, the North Korean regime survived and was spared the scenarios that befell the Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi regimes in the Middle East.

It is likely that the Korean regime will go the way of the Chinese and Vietnamese governments: politically communist and economically capitalist with the international market as the bridge for conducting relations with other countries in the region and with the West.

Trump did not let the Iranian issue drop after becoming president. He remained strongly opposed to the nuclear agreement with Iran and at the first sign of a solution to the Korean crisis he announced that his country would withdraw from the Iran agreement.

The world was suddenly thrown into confusion. Iran, which had previously said that it would not continue with the deal if the US withdrew, announced that it was ready to negotiate with the European, Chinese and Russian partners to the deal.

This could pave the way to the revision of some of the agreements terms and the Iranian regime would be able to ensure its survival, as was the case with the North Korean regime, in exchange for totally relinquishing both its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programmes.

Some cosignatories of the nuclear deal appear ready to open covert or overt channels in order to strike a new deal or to sign protocols that would be annexed to the old agreement, which would serve the same purpose.

These parties are aware that if the situation with Iran spirals out of control, it could wreak disastrous consequences for the Middle East as a whole.

Still, there is a vast difference between the Korean and Iranian crises. The internal dynamics in Iran are not the same as those in Korea. With respect to Tehran, the regimes domestic anxieties could propel towards a foreign imperialist adventure as a means to cover up failures at home.

Towards this end, it could draw on a number of assets that it has built up over the past few years. It has oil revenues which, thanks to rising prices, enhances its manoeuvrability abroad.

It also has the religious card which it uses to gain new political ground abroad, as occurred during the recent Lebanese and Tunisian elections.

In addition, the brinksmanship that worked for Trump in Korea may not work in the case of Iran in view of his stated intent to withdraw from the Middle East and his attitudes in connection to the Palestinian question which remains a main ingredient in the Middle Easts volatile amalgams.

Finally, Washington has to contend with an Iranian-Turkish-Russian bloc that has a complex range of interests in Syria and the Levant. All this demands a different approach than brinksmanship.

Where will this complicated Middle Eastern brew lead? Will it follow the Korean path and end in an Iranian back-down? Or will it move in another direction that opens a new chapter in the amazing history of this region?

The writer is chairman of the board, CEO and director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 17 May 2018 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Iran and Korea

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Crenshaw cruises to victory

Race to replace Poe

Dan Crenshaw easily beat Kevin Roberts in the Republican runoff May 22 for Congressional District 2. Roberts, a former state representative who gave up his Texas House seat to run, was the first-place candidate after the Republican primary in March but he lost 6,500 voters by the May election.

Crenshaw received a whopping 69.88 percent of the vote, while Roberts got 30.12 percent. The overall turnout was low, with only 29,164 voting of the 442,347 registered Republicans in the district.

The pair were the top two in a nine-candidate primary March 6. Roberts was the victor that time, earning a third of the total vote. But in the intervening months, Crenshaw, a retired Navy SEAL who lost the sight in one eye and nearly died while serving in Afghanistan, rose in prominence, buoyed by the support of veterans across the district.

We fought and we fought and we persevered, the 33-year old Crenshaw told supporters at his election celebration.

Roberts conceded less than two hours after polls closed when early results gave Crenshaw 68 percent of the votes in the battle to replace Rep. Ted Poe, who is retiring.

The pair, initially friendly competitors, grew hostile in the two months between the primary and the runoff. Dozens of mailers accusing Crenshaw of being anti-Trump, akin to socialist Bernie Sanders, and un-Christian flooded mailboxes for weeks.

Roberts declined to respond when asked if the negativity of his campaign had contributed to his defeat, but Crenshaw took a positive approach.

I think voters want to vote for something, not against something. Negative campaigning can turn voters off and thats why we didnt campaign that way, Crenshaw said.

Crenshaw will face attorney Todd Litton, who won the five-way Democratic primary in March, on Election Day, Nov. 6.
More than 200 wounded vets honored at Humble Civic Center

Area residents line streets to welcome vets

May 17 was a special day at the Humble Civic Center. More than 200 wounded veterans

of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were treated to a dinner before proceeding the next morning to a Warriors Weekend annual fishing event. The weekend at Port OConnor, Texas, honors veterans from across the country with a weekend of fishing and relaxation. This year more than 600 veterans from all 50 states participated. City of Humble volunteers and organizations hosted those who arrived at Houston Intercontinental Airport on Thursday evening.

A crowd of well-wishers greeted the Warriors as they arrived at the Humble Civic Center.

After a bus ride through local neighborhoods with streets lined with cheering supporters, the vets entered the Civic Center, where they were served a dinner of great Texas food  all they could eat. It was a casual atmosphere, long on friendship and short on formalities. Ron Kocian, president of the Warriors Weekend organization, opened the function with the posting of the colors by Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constables, followed by the national anthem. Jill Donahues beautiful rendition brought tears to the eyes of more than a few of the saluting vets.

The room was packed but the lines moved fast and the food was great. Photos by Bruce Olson

Kocian said, We have a lot of sponsors here tonight that helped put this event on, so lets give them a big HOO-AH, HOO-AH!

The veterans responded with an enthusiastic and deafeningly loud shout-out of the Army HOO-AHs and competing Marine OOO-AHs.

If the dinner was any indication, the rest of Warriors Weekend was one they will all warmly remember.

For an extended version of this story, visit ourtribune.com.
The vastness of rural Australia and its varied habitats  the desert outback, the lush grasslands, the dense forests and the northern rainforests  cant be known in just a few hours.

But youll get a taste of what its like at the San Diego Zoo Safari Parks new Walkabout Australia attraction, which opens Friday.

Inquisitive kangaroos and energetic wallabies; fearsome megabirds called cassowaries; laughing kookaburras and other native Australian wildlife now live in the habitat.

Encompassing 3.6 acres and costing $17.4 million, Walkabout Australia is located at the base of the trail to Condor Ridge, near Tull Family Tiger Trail. Its included with admission to the Safari Park, east of Escondido.

As visitors walk the paths to different habitats, the climate changes to match.

The shaded rainforest supports Matschies tree kangaroos. Beside living in trees, theyre notable for resembling a cross between a kangaroo and a bear.

The new Walk About Australia exhibit will include up to ten kangaroos and six wallabies that will freely roam the exhibit for the public. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

These endangered kangaroos are naturally found in a remote corner of Papua New Guinea, which used to be part of the Australian continent.

Theres only about 2,500 of them left in the world, and theres only 46 of them in North America as part of the species survival plan, said Steve Metzler, animal care manager for the Safari Park.

This habitat is to simulate where theyre from, the higher elevation rainforest of northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, Metzler said.

We wanted to make sure we are not only going to be taking great care of them here, but that its conducive for the breeding program, so were going to make little tree kangaroos for years to come.

The hot, humid air of the rainforest is replicated using misting devices, which supports the foliage.

Elsewhere in Walkabout Australia, the continents other main elements  namely sun, desert and heat  are naturally provided by San Diegos climate.

The new Walk About Australia exhibit will include up to ten kangaroos and six wallabies that will freely roam the exhibit for the public. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

These habitats simulate what would otherwise require extensive travel to experience, Metzler said.

Its the mixed grasslands and woodlands of Australia, the northern rain forest areas of Australia and then into the deserts of Australia, so you really get a sense of the totality of Australia, Metzler said.

Buildings and signs built out of weathered wood and corrugated metal mark the habitats, including a veranda and water tank.

Hungry or thirsty? Drop by the Zeust Family Station, a replica of a sheep-shearing shed.

While they enjoy Safari Park fare, visitors can take in the features of a sheep farmers life hanging from the walls and ceiling. Even the toilets, or dunnies, replicate old outhouses found in the Outback. (With the addition of modern plumbing).

Outside, replicas of old utility poles mark the paths, along with signs appropriate to the regions.

Many of the structures were inspired by the youth of Safari Park architect Robyn Badger, who grew up in the South Australian city of Adelaide.

(San Diego Zoo Safari Park )

I used to take drives with my family when I was younger out in the countryside, Badger said. Along the road wed find tumble-down houses that were from the 1930s or 1800s. The entrance to the kangaroo exhibit is a tumble-down house.

These features were largely manufactured for this purpose, Badger said. The cost of importing actual structures from Australia was prohibitive. The water tank came from a rural part of San Diego County. It was donated by one of the zoos trustees, Judith Wheatley.

In the grassland area, the barriers between people and animals come down. A pathway leads visitors through a lush, green landscape where Western gray kangaroos and red-necked wallabies graze.

Its the animals choice whether to interact. Visitors are asked to remain on the walkway and be quietly observant.

The kangaroos and wallabies are curious about the humans among their midst, Badger said. Keepers have been slowly acclimating the animals to the proximity of people.

If (visitors are) nice and quiet, the kangaroos may even come up to them, and then you could maybe extend a hand and let them sniff it, Badger said.

Even amid the din of final construction last week, the animals freely ventured outside, pausing to look at a Union-Tribune photographer and reporter before resuming their browsing.

Animal keepers for the new Walk About Australia exhibit look over the enclosure where up to ten kangaroos and six wallabies will freely roam the exhibit for the public. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune )

The cassowaries, giant prehistoric-looking territorial birds, arent so approachable. Theyre kept in their own enclosures, easily visible but not accessible to visitors.

Like the tree kangaroos, the cassowaries will be allowed to mate as part of a species survival plan.

Guests may also meet animal ambassadors taken around by keepers to educate people about the species. These include prickly primitive mammals called echidnas that hatch from eggs; and stubby-legged, muscular wombats. Like the kangaroos and wallabies, wombats are pouched marsupials.

Not only the animals, but the plants are also picked for education. The vegetation in Walkabout Australia includes drought-resistant plants, said John Horne, curator of horticulture at the Safari Park. Thats something Southern California residents might benefit from.

One huge part of what were doing here is trying to teach people about the efforts of water conservation, Horne said.

Australia is in a drought. Were in a drought. We have similar climates. The plants that weve selected for this exhibit will do well in homeowners yards.

For those who want to get an even more intimate look, Walkabout Australia offers Roos & Mates, a 90-minute safari-style tour led by a guide who will explain the new habitat.

Visitors will be able to explore behind the scenes with keepers, and meet the animal ambassadors, and learn how to help their wild counterparts.

For the price and dates of Roos & Mates, and other Behind the Scenes attractions, call reservations at 619-718-3000 or book online at sdzsafaripark.org.

Related reading

3 baby wallabies have arrived at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Baboons, geladas and a 500-year-old tree: San Diego Zoos Africa Rocks is complete

Permanent home found for smuggled tiger cub Moka

Rhino pregnancy stirs hope for a nearly extinct species

Chuck the rhino, longtime companion to Nola, passes away at Safari Park

Conservation hopes live at San Diegos Frozen Zoo
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Paolo Alli, the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, declared in Warsaw on Friday that NATO wants to improve and raise the level of stability, as global stability was the foundation of peace.

He stressed that the solidarity of NATO countries was not an empty word, but something practical and concrete.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly's Spring Session opened at the Polish parliament building on Friday. It is to be attended by parliamentarians from NATO member states and associated countries, as well as observers, and will conclude on Monday, May 28.

The session started with a press briefing attended by Paolo Alli; Marek Opioa, the head of the Polish Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; and David Hobbs, NATO Parliamentary Assembly Secretary General.

Alli underlined that this session was very important from the point of view of the Parliamentary Assembly, NATO and Poland. He also emphasised the importance of this meeting being held during the centenary of Poland's regaining independence and during the 550th anniversary of Polish parliamentarism. These circumstances add a special meaning to our meeting in Warsaw, he said.

According to Alli, security is a global subject while NATO is the largest, strongest and most important alliance in the world from a political and military point of view.

He declared that NATO wanted to improve and raise the level of stability (...). We believe that global stability is the foundation of peace, he added. (PAP)

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Poland supports Romania's ambitions to accede to the EU's Schengen Area border-control-free travel area; through the dimension of a strong Central and Eastern Europe, we want to build a strong European Union, Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.

The PM was speaking after Polish-Romanian consultations in Warsaw.

Before a press conference, the Polish and Romanian governments signed an agreement concerning the graves of soldiers and civilian war victims, as well as places of remembrance dedicated to them. On behalf of Poland, the agreement was signed by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Piotr Glinski, and on behalf of Romania, by Defence Minister Mihai-Viorel Fifor.

PM Morawiecki stressed that it was the first international Polish-Romanian consultation during which positions had been agreed upon on a number of issues. He also stated that Polish-Romanian cooperation has been exceptionally positive for years. Morawiecki announced that during the talks, the head of the Romanian government, Viorica Dancila, had raised the issue of historical relations between the two countries, as well as cooperation in the areas of culture, the economy and the military.

The Polish PM pointed out that the two countries will be connected by the Via Carpathia road which is to be constructed in the coming years. "Through the Central and Eastern European dimension we want to build a string European Union," the PM declared. He added that the Three Seas Initiative, grouping the countries between the Adriatic, Black and Baltic seas, is not "against anyone", but rather strengthens the EU and this part of Europe.

"Romania is one of our absolute key partners, both in the fields of economic and trade cooperation, as well as in the fields of defence policy, cultural policy and the broadly understood European policy," Morawiecki said. "Poland supports Romania's ambitions to accede to the Schengen Area." (PAP)

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Actor, filmmaker, musician, and photographer Adam Goldberg called me last month from Albuquerque, a city in a state perhaps best known for its proliferation of turquoise, a painterly desert landscape, Navajo and Pueblo culture, alien visitors, and a particularly heinous meth crisis. Goldberg didn't want to be the kind of coast-dwelling nightmare who blithely dismisses the vast expanse between New York and Los Angeles, the sort of Kombucha-swilling hellion who freely uses the term "flyover country." But he really, really hates Albuquerque.

"I'm very wary of disparaging towns, but even the people that live here call it the Land of Entrapment," he chattered at warp speed. "I mean, I literally tweeted at Postmates 'Are you in Albuquerque? Please don't make me go outside.' I'm sorry, it's one of my least favorite places on Earth and also it doesn't really agree with me. I get these Albuquerque allergies and headaches like the second I get here. The whole thing is just a fucking drag." Goldberg was in Albuquerque filming an upcoming movie; he'd previously gotten stuck there while shooting the Epix series Graves. He didn't see any aliens, although apparently "there's just a sense of impending doom." And a lack of vegetables. He had been forced to order chicken fingers at his hotel. They were not good.

But while Goldberg was in New Mexico to act, the craft for which he's best known (when approached by fans, it tends to be for parts like his indelible turn as Chandler's insane roommate Eddie on Friends, Hannukah-saving Jewish superhero The Hebrew Hammer, and Mike in Dazed and Confused  although apparently valet guys always recognize him from the time-travel extravaganza Deja Vu), right now he's focused on music, which he records under the moniker the Goldberg Sisters. The new Goldberg Sisters album, HOME: A Nice Place to Visit, was released earlier this month, and, as on previous records, Goldberg sang and played every single recorded instrument, save for the violin and trumpet. So why the Goldberg Sisters? "Strictly speaking, I do have two half-sisters," he explained. "But I had sort of forgotten that. I mean I didn't forget that I had sisters, but obviously it's not related to that. And so there's this sister I haveI mean, you could be talking to her I guess now, it's unclear. Her name is Celeste, and she's my alter ego, and she's the sort of master mistress mind behind the work, and I'm just the sort of like, the actor who drags her along to Albuquerque."

Goldberg, 47, apparently alongside Celeste, has steadily worked in Hollywood for more than two decades, and he's been making music for nearly as long. A Los Angeles native, he grew up obsessed with bands like Sonic Youth and Built to Spill, and started recording for fun while working at famed LA shop Book Soup. Although initially armed with just a Tascam four-track, an amp, and a wah peddle, he picked up more musical skills as time went on, playing with bands like The Black Pine. In 2003, he soundtracked his own film, I Love Your Work, recording many of the tracks with The Flaming Lips' Steven Drozd; two years later, he began recording at the Lips' fabled Oklahoma studio, Bell Labs. In 2009 he released an album, a mixture of the Bell Labs songs and tracks he crafted at home, under the moniker LANDy. But there were other things named "Landy"  namely a Taiwanese pop star called Landy Wen. And thus the Goldberg Sisters were (was? It's a plural, but applies to only one person, thus confusing copy editors everywhere) born. Goldberg, like loads of musicians, doesn't like to describe his own music, preferring to leave it to the listener, or, say, the reporter. "People say stuff like 'dream pop,'" he said. "I don't know, whatever that genre is. I get psych pop, people say. They're just very sort of textured, kind of moody songs I guess."

The prevailing aesthetic on Home seems to harken to a Manson-era Los Angeles; the music has a sort of sandy lightness undercut with gloom, a combination familiar to all of us who spent our childhoods as neurotics by the sea. Harry Nilsson is an obvious influence (there's a song titled "Dear Mr. Nilsson") though Goldberg also says he was inspired by some combination of Burt Bacharach and Sonic Youth. And an easy descriptor for much of the music, which seems to vibrate, would be "trippy." I tested this concept in real life, and the album proved a nice accompaniment to visions of the Cookie Monster in the clouds. It seems readymade for road trips to Joshua Tree where everyone wants to escape from Hollywood, as Turtle and co did on Entourage, a show on which Goldberg guest starred (though not on that particular episode, titled "Tree Trippers," which is lazy even by late-season Entourage standards). But Home is an unpretentious record  the best hook features Goldberg repeating "get off my dick" over and over again. Goldberg says that the album reflects on a strong sense of place: his actual home, where much of the album was recorded in a garage. He's also been working as a photographer ("I'm heavily into it") for years now, and many of his photos were shot in the house, which he and his wife recently sold. "[The work] is sort of about my ambivalence about home," he said. "I always think of home as this place which is both frightening and comforting at the same time." His family recently rented the house from the new buyers while they were moving, turning their home into, quite literally, a nice place to visit.

At the moment, Goldberg is most consumed by his music and photography; he shoots on film and then scans the negatives, posting often on his beloved Instagram account. But he's certainly best known as an actor (an accomplished one who appears in everything from prestige television like Fargo to prestige rom-coms like Julie Delpy's Two Days in Paris to prestige blockbusters like Saving Private Ryan), and is aware of the negative implications that come up when actors dip into the music industry. "Obviously, I would want [the music] to be judged on its own merit," he said. "I mean, it's sort of like having your cake and eating it too, I guess." An acting career can bring about the kind of recognition not usually given to emerging musicians; then again, as Goldberg himself points out, he's not the sort of celebrity who gets incessant star-making coverage. "My beef is that I'm not successful or famous," he said. "I'm not an A-list fucking movie star. I'm a character actor who's jumped all over the place and done everything from totally mainstream television to totally weird films to directing strange movies to whatever. When people think of me, they're not gonna look at some sort of all encompassing body of work. But the bottom line is I've spent more time playing music and taking pictures probably than acting."
Iconic LA-based, sweatshop free fashion brand American Apparel has returned from its hiatus and is now launching a new collection for Pride month. Called "They O.K.," the campaign and collection celebrates "all pronouns in the gender spectrum." The line includes two new unisex tees and a tote, each featuring one of two slogans, "Still here. Still queer." and "They O.K.: All Pronouns Welcome."

"They O.K." is a modern take on American Apparel's bestselling "Gay O.K." t-shirts that were popular long before same-sex marriage was legalized and Drag Race was on everyone's screens (alongside AA's "Legalize Gay" tees). In traditional American Apparel style, the campaign for the collection was shot with models found in an open casting held for all members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Photos Courtesy of American Apparel


Film mogul and alleged serial predator Harvey Weinstein has been arrested in New York  a monumental victory for his survivors, the press and gender equality. Images were released today of Weinstein handing himself into the NYPD on rape and sexual abuse charges, three years after they began investigating him. He emerged from the precinct two hours after entering, wearing ill-fitted jeans, handcuffs and a smile.

Weinstein has racked up accusations of sexual misconduct from more than 90 women, most of whom are actresses who have worked with him in Hollywood. Many A-List stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek, Lupita Nyong'o, have alleged Weinstein either assaulted or harassed them, and their stories served as the catalyst for global movements like #MeToo (the social media hashtag which allowed women to come forward with to reveal their own abuse). Weinstein's arrest is a credit to his accusers, those who listened to their accounts and women all over the world who have braved abuse.

Rose McGowan, one of Weinstein's first and most-vocal survivors, has released a statement via Instagram. "I, and so many of Harvey Weinstein's survivors, had given up hope that our rapist would be held accountable by law," she wrote. "Twenty years ago, I swore that I would right this wrong. Today we are one step closer to justice. We were young women who were assaulted by Weinstein and later terrorized by his vast network of complicity. I stand with my fellow survivors. May his arrest give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere that are telling their truths."



Photos via Getty


This week, New York's Whitney Museum of American Art commemorated its third anniversary of its downtown move to the Meatpacking District via its annual Gala and Studio Party, sponsored by Audi and Michael Kors, respectively. The Whitney raised $4.8 million and honored accomplished artist Lorna Simpson alongside longtime trustees Joanna Leonhardt Cassullo and Beth Rudin DeWoody.



Of course, the event was a star-studded affair with attendees ranging from the art, fashion, and music worlds: Cindy Sherman, model Paloma Elsesser, Nigel Barker, and Dev Hynes to name just a few notables present, with Saint Heron on the turntables.

Related | Dev Hynes On Pop, Politics and His Favorite Memes

But our take is that the night truly belonged to Lorna Simpson, a leading Black contemporary artist known for her innovations in conceptual photography, multimedia, and film, which closely look at the intersection of race and gender identity. The Whitney has previously honored Simpson with the Whitney Museum of American Art Award in 2001, and the award, consisting of a special commissioned original artwork by a fellow American artist, is given each year to "individuals and organizations that have made a sustained commitment to the artistic and cultural heritage of the arts in America." Additionally, Simpson had a twenty-year retrospective at The Whitney in 2007.

Accolades aside  there are many, all of which are richly deserved  the reason why Simpson still commands our attention after over 30 years in the spotlight is because she continues to defy what's possible as an artist with an inherently political and fearless point of view. The artist, born in 1960, is a native New Yorker who grew up attending theater and dance performances and museums with her immigrant father from Cuba and her working-class mother from New Orleans.

Simpson first came to prominence in the 1980s,after earning a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, then traveling through Europe and Africa and developing her skill in street-style documentary photography. Simpson completed her formal artistic education with an MFA from the University of California, San Diego, and while there, she began experimenting with text and striking photographic images.



In a recent Financial Times interview, Simpson said as a child she wrote poetry and short stories, but though she couldn't call herself a writer, she realized she could "combine language and photography in an unorthodox way and challenge the viewer's expectations of what photography is supposed to deliver." While she struggled to reach an audience in California, soon enough, Simpson was being booked left and right by curators in New York.

Pieces such as 1989's "Untitled (Two Necklines)" delivered on Simpson's penchant for blending the personal and the political: that work depicts circular, matching photos of a Black woman's mouth, chin, neck, and collarbone against text reading "ring, surround, lasso, noose, eye, areola, halo, cuffs, collar, loop," and "feel the ground sliding from under you" gained immediate traction for what appeared to be a striking commentary on Black female sexuality, lynching, and ideas of supremacist propriety.

Then there's the chillingly powerful 2003 video installation, "Corridor," which set two women from different times right next to each other: one, a house servant from 1860, and the other, a wealthy homeowner in 1960.

Simpson continues to reinvent herself: a recent Vogue profile about the artist and her illustrious career shows that she's now transitioning into painting, in the midst of creating a king-sized series on four canvases of surreal, turbulent Arctic wonderland Those paintings were just on view in Simpson's first solo show in London with mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth, which she joined last year.



But no matter what Simpson does, her impact remains a source of constant inspiration, if for no other reason (and a pretty good one, at that) than reminding us all that the nuance and depth of the Black experience matters. In the aforementioned Vogue profile, a close friend of hers, the artist (and fellow contemporary) Glenn Ligon says, "Lorna's work opened up a space to talk about black interiority at a moment when the culture was obsessed with black spectacle, not black introspection."

Photo via BFA
In 2014 Patently Apple posted a report titled "The BBC Report About Apple is Motivated by Politics and Unions." It was a hit job on Apple to be sure. Yet it was a powerful documentary that apparently overshadowed another documentary filmed in that same year titled "Complicit" that received little attention.

The first trailer presented below of "Complicit" was originally aired in 2014 while the second, shorter trailer presented below, was aired last February. Certain killer chemicals were banned from Apple's iDevice finishing plants in 2014 once it was understood that they were directly linked to Leukemia.







Last year Engadget blogged: "Even though Apple and Foxconn vowed to improve factory worker conditions back in 2012, life is still pretty rough for the people building the gadgets we use every day. Complicit, a new documentary from Heather White and Lynn Zhang, hopes to shine a light on what it's really like for Foxconn factory workers, who produce devices for Apple and other companies.

The film, which was mostly shot undercover, follows Yi Yeting, a former Foxconn employee who was diagnosed with leukemia at the young age of 24. The cause? Benzene poisoning from a cleaning agent that was used while making the iPhone and iPad. Apple banned the substance, along with n-hexane, from its assembly lines back in 2014, following reports that it was leading to leukemia among factory workers. But Yeting is still fighting for Foxconn and other."

Other 2017 reviews include those from left-leaning sites like the "Point of View Magazine" and "Alternet." Earlier this week the documentary got another round of play in Australia via ABC news running it over several evenings.

These kinds of industrial plant problems continue to this day. Patently Apple posted a report back on April 5th titled "Samsung sues Korea's Ministry of Labor to stop them from Disclosing Working Condition at their Semiconductor Complex." The report noted that "a former Samsung worker who was diagnosed with leukemia died in 2014. The victim's family claimed for access to the reports.

Samsung claimed that revealing the reports is an act of infringement of trade secrets, especially at a critical time when China is strategically promoting its semiconductor industry." So killing employees is now a trade secret? Really?

Patently Apple posted a report earlier today titled "Samsung's Offices were raided in Korea today with Prosecutors looking for Information on Sabotaging Union Activities." In light of our April report and the reminder of the Complicit documentary, we can understand why Samsung wants the unions to go away.

The Complicit documentary is slowly making the rounds around the globe. The last showing in the U.S. was at the San Diego University back in February. No near future dates have been announced on their screenings page.





It's difficult to understand that a 2014 documentary is taking so long to get mass attention. Why isn't Netflix scooping it up so that it could have a larger audience and harder impact?

Lastly, it should be noted that after the issue came to light due to documentaries such as Complicity in 2014, Apple banned benzene and n-hexane from iPhone and iPad final assembly production in that same year (2014).

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A year ago Patently Apple posted a report titled "VoIP-Pal Raises Damages Claim against Apple in Patent Lawsuit by almost Tenfold." The damages were related to VoIP-Pal's 2016 lawsuit against Apple over iMessage and Wi-Fi calling. VoIP-Pal's political wrangling in this case became apparent in early January of this year when the legal website "The Recorder" posted a report titled "Apple Says Secret Lobbying Campaign Swayed PTO Trial."

The report claimed that Apple was working to reverse a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling upholding the validity of certain patents owned by VoIP-Pal. Apple had claimed that its opponent contacted senior administration officials and the judges presiding over the case, swaying the outcome of an inter partes review proceeding." .

This comes two months after the PTAB upheld multiple claims in two VoIP-Pal patents being leveraged in a patent infringement suit against Apple's iMessage and certain Wi-Fi based voice-calling features. Apple's lawyers say VoIP-Pal conducted ex-parte discussions with the case's administrative judges, its chief judge and the cabinet secretary in charge of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office."

While that issue is still in the ether, VoIP-Pal has filed another patent infringement case against Apple as outlined below.

Nature of the Current Action

According to the filing, VoIP-Pal states that "This is a civil action for infringement of United States Patent No. 9,537,762 (the "'762 Patent"), United States Patent No. 9,813,330 (the "'330 Patent"), United States Patent No. 9,826,002 (the "'002 Patent"), and United States Patent No. 9,948,549 (the "'549 Patent," and together with the '762 Patent, the '330 Patent and the '002 Patent, the "Patents-in-Suit") under the Patent Laws of the United States, 35 U.S.C.  1 et seq."

Once again VoIP-Pal is targeting Apple's iMessage, FaceTime system and Wi-Fi calling using a new round of patents, many of which were filed after the beginning of their first patent infringement case with Apple knowing what they needed to have in place to win a case.

These patents were all granted in 2017 and 2018. Once granted they worked on their new patent infringement case filed with the court yesterday.

This professional patent troll is seeking a "reasonable royalty" or compulsory ongoing licensing fee, according to the filing.

For more of the details in this lawsuit, Patently Apple is providing you with a full Scribd document of the formal complaint as noted below.

Voip-Pal Sues Apple May 25, 2018 by Jack Purcher on Scribd

The patent infringement case presented in today's report was filed in the Nevada District Court, Las Vegas Office. The Judges listed on the docket are Richard F. Boulware and George Foley.

It's always difficult to understand how a feature like Apple's FaceTime, released to the public in 2010, can be considered infringing a patent that was only granted in 2017 or 7 years after it came to market. It boggles the mind.

One last point. You'll notice on granted patent 9,537,762 that VoIP-Pal acquired this patent from "Digifonica International Limited located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The other 3 patents listed in the formal complaint only show VoIP-Pal and yet the inventors on the patent are the same as those in the '762 patent, proving they too are acquired patents from Digifonica.

That's what makes VoIP-Pal a patent troll. They purposely seek out and acquire patents for the sole purpose of suing companies with deep pockets, not for bettering any technology or advancing any service.





Notice: Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of certain legal cases/ lawsuits which are part of the public record for journalistic news purposes. Readers are cautioned that Patently Apple does not offer an opinion on the merit of the case and strictly presents the allegations made in said legal cases / lawsuits. A lawyer should be consulted for any further details or analysis. About Making Comments on this Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
Some additional paragraphs:

Beiruts enduring lesson for me, writes Thomas Friedman, was how thin is the veneer of civilization, how easily the ties that bind can unravel, how quickly a society that was known for generations as the Switzerland of the Middle East can break apart into a world of strangers.[1] This too is a lesson taught by the Book of Mormon and one reason why it can be said that that volume is increasingly relevant to the situation in which mankind finds itself today. Fortunately, the Book of Mormon also teaches us the path we must take to avoid such situations as those of the Nephites, the Jaredites, and the unfortunate people of Beirut.

When the Israelis invaded Lebanon in 1982, they did so in order to put an end to Palestinian raids into the north of Israel. Yasir Arafat and his men had too many weapons there for them to feel entirely comfortable. But in the twelve months leading up to the invasion, there had only been one Israeli death inflicted by Palestinians operating out of Lebanon. The Israelis plainly had other things to think about, other concerns that moved them to launch the invasion when they did. It is not unreasonable to conclude that they were worried about the quasi-state that Yasir Arafat and his men had built up in Lebanon and about Arafats new role as a kind of statesman (based upon his new role as a Lebanese warlord), which was giving him too much international respectability for their liking.

Unfortunately, the Israelis did not understand Lebanon. Not at all. They invaded to come to the aid of the Maronite Christians of the country, who were locked in a war with the Sunni Muslims (among whom were the PLO) and with the Druze. The Israelis tended to see the Maronites as much like themselves, representatives of Western civilization getting no gratitude from backward Arab Muslims despite all the good they were trying to do. It seemed to the Israelis that Lebanon was, or was supposed to be, a Christian society, just as Israel was a Jewish society, and that each was afflicted with a troublesome bunch of Islamic primitives.

This view was simply not true. As Thomas Friedman puts it, the then Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, and other Israelis

did not notice that these Christians they were going to save in Lebanon were not a group of hooded monks living in a besieged monastery but, rather, a corrupt, wealthy, venal collection of mafia-like dons, who favored gold chains, strong cologne, and Mercedeses with armor plating. They were Christians like the Godfather was a Christian.[2]

It was, for a while, common to see television advertisements in which conservative Protestants appealed to their audience to donate money to help the suffering and persecuted Christians of Lebanon. There is absolutely no question that innocent Christians were suffering in Lebanon, but to portray the struggle there as one between virtuous followers of Jesus who wanted only to be left alone and evil anti-Christian Muslims was utterly misleading. The soulful eyes of the children shown on such advertisements were genuinely moving, but they could as easily have been the eyes of Muslim children, for there were innocent Muslims suffering there as well. The battle was not so much about faith as it was about control of insurance rackets and smuggling and, in the end, about vengeance for past wrongs. It was the ancient Arab principle of blood vengeance come back to life. But that principle is pagan Arab, not Christian.

[1] Friedman, From Beirut to Jerusalem, 47.

[2] Friedman, From Beirut to Jerusalem, 137.

Posted from Paris, France
This is one of four critiques of the book, The God Delusion (New York / Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006), by perhaps the worlds best-known (and most influential?) atheist, the biologist Richard Dawkins (born in 1941). His words will be in blue. Links to the four critiques follow:

Richard Dawkins The God Delusion: General Critique

Richard Dawkins Bible Whoppers Are the Delusion

Richard Dawkins: D- Grade for Science & Christianity

Richard Dawkins Outrageous Hypocrisy on Abortion

***

[all Bible passages cited by myself are RSV]

Dawkins describes God in a way remarkably similar to how Democrats describe Republicans:

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. (p. 31)

Other than those few trifles, Dawkins thinks Hes great! The theme of jealousy is one of Dawkins biggest beefs:

The tragi-farce of Gods maniacal jealousy against alternative gods recurs continually throughout the Old Testament. (p. 246)

And of course He completely misunderstands this because he doesnt have a clue on how to interpret the Bible. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Jealousy) explains it:

When jealousy is attributed to God, the word is used in a good sense. The language is, of course, anthropomorphic; and it is based upon the feeling in a husband of exclusive right in his wife. God is conceived as having wedded Israel to Himself, and as claiming, therefore, exclusive devotion. Disloyalty on the part of Israel is represented as adultery, and as provoking God to jealousy. See, e.g., Deuteronomy 32:16,21; 1 Kings 14:22; Psalms 78:58; Ezekiel 8:3; 16:38,42; 23:25; 36:5; 38:19.

See also my article on anthropopathism and anthropomorphism. I wrote there:

God condescends to the limited understanding of human beings, by expressing many truths about himself analogically (as compared to human actions and emotions) so that we can understand Him at all. Otherwise, we would not be able to comprehend a Being so startlingly different and distinct from us and greater than we are.

The article, Does God Change His Mind? by Wayne Jackson elaborates further:

The Scriptures frequently employ figures of speech that seem to suggest that God alters his actions in response to mans behavior. The passage in Exodus 32 is an excellent example of this sort of phraseology. While Moses was upon the heights of Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel in the region below made an idola molten calfand proclaimed it as their deliverer from Egypt. The corrupt act was wholly antagonistic to the will of God, and the Lord proclaimed his intention to consume them. Moses, as a mediator, interceded and pled with Jehovah to not destroy them. Accordingly, the biblical text represents Gods response in this fashion: Jehovah repented of the evil [destruction] which he said he would do unto his people (Ex. 32:14). The term repented reflects a figure of speech, common to many languages, known as anthropopathism (literally, man feelings). This is an idiom by which divine activity is described symbolically in terms of human emotion. It is rather similar to the kindred figure, anthropomorphism (man form) by which God is described as having physical parts (e.g., eyes, hands, etc.) even though he is not a physical being (Jn. 4:24; Lk. 24:39). Anthropopathism, therefore, is a figure of speech by which human feelings or emotions are ascribed to God, in order to accommodate mans ignorance of the unfathomable intentions and operations of deity (cf. Rom. 11:33-36). . . . It must be understood, therefore, that though certain biblical passages speak of the Lord being changeless, while others represent him as changing (in response to human conduct), that different senses are in view. In light of this fact, the discrepancy problem dissolves. But when one does not understand some of the common figures of speech utilized by the Bible writers, under the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit, he most certainly will draw many faulty conclusionssometimes very dangerous ones. Human languages are punctuated with dramatic figures of speech. This phenomenon is no less true in the case of the Scriptures than it is with other literary productions. A failure to recognize this principle leads to numerous flawed ideas.

Dawkins shows his rank ignorance of Christian theology, too, in how he describes what he erroneously thinks is the Trinity:

Do we have one God in three parts, or three Gods in one? (p. 33)

In C. S. Lewiss famous analogy of flatland, squares, and cubes in his Mere Christianity, he noted that the flatlanders couldnt imagine a two dimension plane, and that those in that world without a third dimension could not imagine the third. Yet all three exist, and a cube has a oneness just as a plane and a line do. In our world, one being is one person. But why should we think our experience is the whole of reality? What is intrinsically impossible about a Being Who Subsists in Three Persons (Being and Person being two distinct categories, so that this is not an automatic contradiction)? The Holy Trinity is not at all impossible a priori (philosophically speaking, and in terms of simple logic).

For us, one Being is one person, but how can it be ruled out logically (or axiomatically) that Being and person may not always be in a one-to-one relationship? I think, then, that the flatland analogy is quite relevant, precisely because it hits upon this difference of perception and defined realities which is the prior axiomatic consideration before we even get to logic. The flatlander says that there are only two dimensions, so that talk of a third dimension is meaningless and incomprehensible to him. So Lewis was maintaining that this is how we are with regard to the Holy Trinity.

I dont see how the Holy Trinity is a logical contradiction, once one grants the possibility of the trinitarian premise: God can subsist in three persons. Its very odd and almost incomprehensible to us but not not contradictory, for God to contain three persons (analogous to my three relational attributes) and remain one God, and also for the three persons to be distinct in relation to each other, yet each being God.

Dawkins himself expresses, I think, a key notion in understanding why he goes awry in his biblical interpretation. He applies it to Christian apologists, but it applies at least as much to folks like him and other atheists and biblical skeptics:

We pick and choose which bits of scripture to believe, which bits to write off as symbols or allegories. (p. 238)

Apologists . . . employ that favourite trick of interpreting selected scriptures as symbolic rather than literal. By what criterion do you decide which passages are symbolic, which literal? (p. 247)

Im glad that he asked that last question. Well, we decide in the same way that we make such determinations for any other literature. Thats why it requires a lot of study of biblical hermeneutics and exegesis. The Bible contains many genres or types of literature, and many different cultural contexts. Then there are all the factors that go into the questions of language, and how words meant different things in different cultural contexts.

For atheists, its simple: they arbitrarily interpret according to their particular hostile agenda, regardless of whether their method is consistent or not. They approach the Bible like a butcher approaches a hog. The only consistent theme in their views is that the Bile is always wrong, and objectionable. Bottom line: biblical interpretation is not nearly as simple as atheists make out, and the Bible is infinitely more sophisticated and complex and nuanced than they customarily assume is the case. The decree on Scripture, Dei Verbum, from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) makes a good summary of the task of proper hermeneutics:

To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to literary forms. For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and culture. (Saint Augustine) For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer, and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday dealings with one another. (III, l2)

[T]he four canonical gospels . . . have the status of legends, as factually dubious as the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. . . . Nobody knows who he four evangelists were, but they almost certainly never met Jesus personally.

(p. 96)

[R]eputable biblical scholars do not in general regard the New testament (and obviously not the Old Testament) as a reliable record of what actually happened in history . . . (p. 97)

[T]he gospels are ancient fiction . . . (p. 97)

. . . the cult of Jesus, the origins of which are not reliably attested, . . . (p. 202)

Statements like these are as outrageous as they are ridiculous, and couldnt be more opposite to the truth of the matter than they are. Theyre self-refuting, and I certainly will not spend any of my time or take the space in this already long paper to document the mountain of (secular / scholarly) archaeological and historical evidences in favor of biblical historical accuracy and reliability (especially of the New Testament). At least Dawkins has the wits to (halfheartedly) deny the intellectually suicidal mythicist position: Jesus probably existed (p. 97).

But all this shows very well where Dawkins is coming from, doesnt it? He cant even figure out that the Bible is historically trustworthy (remarkably so at that): even before we get to questions of whether the theology presented in it is true or not.

The historical evidence that Jesus claimed any sort of divine status is minimal . . . there is no good historical evidence that he ever thought he was divine. (p. 92)

This is hogwash. The New Testament is historically reliable, and it massively documents these claims, as I show in an exhaustive treatment of this topic. We also have the evidence of hostile witnesses in the Jewish Talmud, and some secular Roman attestation as well.

When the gospels were written, many years after Jesus death, nobody knew where he was born. (p. 93)

His mother certainly did. But I guess that possibility never occurred to Dawkins. He seems to think that 1) no Gospel writer could have possibly talked to her about that, and 2) Mary forgot where her own child was born. Such inanities are not rare in atheist polemics. I do appreciate their comedic value, in any event.

Speaking of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dawkins informs us that Christians believe she never died but ascended bodily into heaven (p. 179). Of course, Protestants deny that she didnt die and that she was assumed into heaven. The proper term for what Catholics and Orthodox believe is that Mary was assumed bodily into heaven. Thats different from ascension to heaven, which in Christian thought is applied solely to Jesus, and means that (unlike Mary) He did it by His own power. Almost all Catholics and all Orthodox hold that Mary died, though the contrary position is allowed in Catholicism.

The remainder of my reply will be devoted to chapter 7 (specifically, pages 237-257), in which Dawkins takes a sledgehammer to the Bible (mostly the Old Testament) and tries to demonstrate that no moral, sensible person could ever admire it or believe that it taught proper morality. He summarizes his contempt:

. . . a system of morals which any civilized person, whether religious or not, would find  I can put it no more gently  obnoxious. To be fair, much of the Bible is not systematically evil, but just plain weird . . . (p. 237)

His view of the Noah story is illustrative:

God took a dim view of humans, so he (with the exception of one family) drowned the lot of them including children . . . (p. 238)

I have written many times about divine judgment. It makes perfect sense (granting the existence of a Creator-God). If you give life, then it seems reasonable that you can also take it away. I dont accept the analogy I will now draw, myself, because human beings are not the ultimate creators and judges of other human beings, but the atheist pro-abortion mentality (i.e., those atheists who are pro-abortion; not all are) accepts something very like (in some specific respects) what Christians say about God as judge (taking away life, as He chooses).

The person who favors abortion thinks that the mother of a preborn child has total say over him or her, up to and including deciding to end his or her life. Why? Well, as they say, the child is mine; part of my body; I brought it into existence, and I can do with it as I wish. It has no rights on its own apart from what I decide. This is true to such an extent, that in the United States, the father of the child has absolutely no say in the matter.

Thus, a person with such views assumes that they completely own another human being (much as was thought in slavery). They brought the child into existence, and so (according to them, and the laws now in most western countries) they can also decide when to terminate his or her life.

Now, hold that thought and ponder the Creator of the universe, Who (Christians believe) grants us life and existence. He has communicated to us moral laws that we are supposed to live by. If we fail to keep those, He may judge us (indeed, at times, entire nations or the entire world). Unlike the aborting mother, He has the perfect prerogative to do so, as our Creator and Judge. And its perfectly moral and just for him to do so. If this is incomprehensible to an atheist mind, then I would suggest that they examine what they believe about the preborn children of mothers who want to abort.

If a mere human being has the right to decree the life or death of their own child, why would not God have the right (but in His case a justified one) over all of humanity? Thus, in their own views, they accept a scenario which has some similarities to God being Judge. The analogical similarity is that one being has the prerogative to decree the death of another being who originated from them. The dissimilarity is that abortion is an immoral murder, whereas Gods judgment is perfectly justified, because He applies judgment fairly, and He is the Creator and we are His creatures. I wrote in one of my papers on the topic:

Because God is Creator He also has the prerogative to judge. This is analogous to our experience. Society takes it upon itself to judge the criminal and punish him if he supersedes the just laws that govern the society, in order to prevent chaos and suffering. If that is true of human society (one man to another), it is all the more of God, because He is ontologically above us (Creator and created). So it is perfectly sensible and moral to posit (apart from the data of revelation) a notion of God judging both individuals and nations. Gods omniscience is such that He can determine if an entire nation has gone bad (beyond repair, so to speak) and should be punished. And He did so. Now, even in a wicked nation there may be individuals who are exceptions to the rule. So some innocent people will be killed. But this is like our human experience as well. In wartime, we go to war against an entire nation. In so doing, even if it is unintentional, some innocent non-combatants will be killed. But its also different in Gods case because He judged nations in part in order to prevent their idolatry and other sins to infiltrate Jewish (i.e., true) religion. He also judged Israel at various times (lest He be accused of being unfair). In any event, it is not true that nations or individuals were punished because of what their ancestors did. There is a sense of corporate punishment, just described, and it is also true that the entire human race is a fallen race. We all deserve punishment for that fact alone, and God would be perfectly just to wipe us all out the next second. No one could hold it against Him. He decides to be merciful and grant us grace to do better, but He is under no obligation to do so, anymore than the governor is obliged to pardon convicted criminals. Again, the societal analogy is perfectly apt. If someone rebels at every turn against every societal norm and law and appropriate behavior and so forth, is society to be blamed? Say someone grows up thinking that serial rape is fine and dandy and shouldnt be prevented at all. So he goes and does this. Eventually, the legal system catches up with him and he gets his punishment. He rebelled against what most people think is wrong, and more than deserved his punishment. We dont say that there should be no punishment. We dont blame society for his suffering in prison. We dont deny that society has a right to judge such persons. So if mere human beings can judge each other, why cannot God judge His creation, and (particularly) those of His creation that have rebelled against Him at every turn? What is so incomprehensible about that? One may not believe it, but there is no radical incoherence or inconsistency or monstrous injustice or immorality in this Christian (and Jewish) viewpoint (which is what is always claimed by the critics).

Dawkins brings up the story of Abrahams nephew Lot and his family, who lived in Sodom. He says that God regarded Lot as uniquely righteous (p. 239) and so spared him and his family from the destruction of the city, by warning. Two angels visited Lot (whom he may have thought were mere men), and the crowd outside his door wanted to rape them. Lot then offered his daughters to them instead (Gen 19:1-9). This is, admittedly, a difficult passage for anyone to read and interpret. The Cambridge Bible comments:

Lots proposal, so atrocious in our ears, may have been deemed meritorious in an Eastern country, where no sacrifice was considered too great to maintain inviolate the safety of a stranger who had been received in hospitality. That Lot should have thought of imperilling the honour of his family, and not have rather hazarded his own life, is due not so much to the weakness of the man as to the terribly low estimate of womanhood which prevailed at that time.

The New Testament refers to Lot as righteous (2 Pet 2:7-9), but that could still easily refer to a relative righteousness (i.e., compared to others in Sodom) and not a perfect righteousness (by Gods standards). The fact remains that he is not directly referred to as such in the original passage (though its arguably implied in Abrahams intercession in Genesis 18), which is in contrast to the similar scenario regarding Noah (Gen 6:9: a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God) or with, for example, the afflicted Job (Job 1:8: there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil).

This is not unusual in Scripture. Men can be referred to as righteous who are not at all sinless. Thus, Abraham was called righteous (Gen 15:6), yet he lied about his wife being his sister, as Dawkins alludes to on pages 241-242 (see Gen 12:11-13; 20:2). King David is called righteous (1 Kings 3:6), but of course, he had a man killed so he could have his wife, with whom he was committing adultery. Blameless Noah, famously, got drunk (Gen 9:21). As soon as a man sins at all, he is less than perfectly righteous, so it is a relative term, for all (Catholics believe) except Jesus and sinless Mary.

In any event, the Genesis text in no way implies that God favored his behavior as regards his daughters. After all, the angels prevented the gang rape from happening (Gen 19:10-11), and Dawkins notes this as well: the angels succeeded in repelling the marauders (p. 240)

The same non-sanction applies to the horrendous story (Dawkins brings it up on pp. 240-241) of the Levite offering his daughter and a concubine (who died as a result) for gang rape (Judges 19), Christian apologist Glenn Miller comments on it:

This is one of the most abnormal passages in scripture. It is so filled with aberrations of ethics and law, and is specifically INTENDED to show how EVIL Israel had become during the period of the Judges! But even in this weird story, one can still see glimmers of a better ethic from the Law. . . . Now, there are a few important points from this of relevance to my thesis here: The violation of the concubine was NOT approved by Israel, EVEN UNDER the assumption of the potential murder of the priest (20.4-11). Indeed, it was called vileness. [20:3: wickedness] The obvious linkage of this story to that of Sodom is to HIGHLIGHT the exceptional character of this incidentit is NOT NORMAL for Israel. This horrible event was remembered for centuries as being a low water mark for Israel. (cf. Hosea 9.9: They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah.) The questionable ethical character of the Old Man, and of the Levite, certainly doesnt suggest the thought that they are representative of all Israel in this matter. I have to conclude that the outrage of Israel actually supports a higher view of female value, than the lower view seemingly exemplified by the Old Man.

Judges 19:30 states: And all who saw it said, Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak. 

A third similar incident with a daughter was the notorious passage of Jephthah, who sacrificed his daughter by burning (Judges 11). Dawkins snarls after recounting it: God did not see fit to intervene on this occasion (p. 243). I wrote about the incident at length, and showed that there was no way that God approved of it in any way, shape, matter, or form. So why bring it up in an anti-God, anti-Christian (and anti-Jewish) book? If God cant be blamed for it, all it shows is that one man committed an abominable sin (which was clearly a sin under Mosaic Law). Like that should surprise anyone?

On page 245, Dawkins rails against the slaughter of the Midianites. Its another instance of Gods judgment. I have written about that, too. For much more about them, see Glenn Millers extensive article. Dawkins implies sexual slavery, because the virgin women were spared. Don Camp, in another excellent, in-depth article on the Midianites, addressed this:

As for taking sexual slaves, a charge that is a favorite among skeptics, everything in the law forbade mistreating captives of war and especially the women. Any captive woman, boy, or girl, would become servant/slaves (the word can mean either or both). But they had the same protections as an indentured servant who was a Jew  with the one exception, they would not be released from slavery after seven years. If the man of the house or his son married a slave girl, she had even greater protection under the law than a wife married from among his people. She could not be divorced or sold. If she was mistreated, the man was held in serious violation of the law. There was no condoning of sex slavery; slavery was a serious issue for the Jews. They had been slaves and had been mistreated in Egypt. The laws God gave them were designed to prevent them from treating anyone as they had been treated.

Dawkins waxes indignant at the conquest of Jericho:

[T]he Bible story of Joshuas destruction of Jericho, and the invasion of the Promised land in general, is morally indistinguishable from Hitlers invasion of Poland, . . . The Bible . . . is not the sort of book you should give your children to form their morals. (p. 247)

In fact, Jericho was not an innocent place and was ripe for divine judgment. There is reason to believe that ritual child sacrifice was practiced there (and in other places in ancient Canaan). See scholarly articles that deem it likely or at least one possible interpretation of the evidence of some of the childrens bones and nature of their burial. Dawkins shows a repeated concern for the well-being of children (save for those scheduled to be murdered by abortion). Perhaps he should consider that this abominable practice (that he abhors elsewhere in his book) was ended when cities that practiced it were destroyed. The Bible is clear that child sacrifice is forbidden. Jesus even compared its practice to hell itself.

Dawkins (p. 248) brings up the story in Numbers 15 of a man who was gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and was consequently stoned. At first glance, it sounds terrible, and terribly unjust and evil, doesnt it? Well, it does if it is given the cursory treatment that Dawkins gives it (only for the purpose of mocking the Bible and Christianity; ending up calling God an evil monster). It makes much more sense if it is studied in the depth that it deserves, as apologist Glenn Miller did. But that takes too much time and effort, and Dawkins would be threatening to actually be fair for a change. Dawkins has no time for any of that.

Jesus limited his in-group of the saved strictly to Jews, in which respect he was following the Old Testament tradition, . . . Thou shalt not kill . . . meant, very specifically, thou shalt not kill Jews. . . . Neighbour means fellow Jew. (p. 254)

I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony. Where to begin?! This is an absurd, asinine, ignorant, completely false claim. Lets see, for starters:

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you . . . (cf. Jn 17:18) Matthew 8:5-13 As he entered Caperna-um, a [pagan Roman] centurion came forward to him, beseeching him [6] and saying, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress. [7] And he said to him, I will come and heal him. [8] But the centurion answered him, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. [9] For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go, and he goes, and to another, `Come, and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this, and he does it. [10] When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. [11] I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, [12] while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. [13] And to the centurion Jesus said, Go; be it done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. John 3:17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (cf. 9:5; 12:46)

The Old Testament tradition was by no means Jewish-only, either:

Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant [the Messiah, or Jesus], whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. Isaiah 49:6 he says: It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (cf. 52:10) Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you [the prophet Jeremiah] in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Neighbor) explains:

Christ gives a wider interpretation of the commandment in Leviticus 19:18, so as to include in it those outside the tie of nation or kindred. This is definitely done in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), where, in answer to the question, Who is my neighbor? Jesus shows that the relationship is a moral, not a physical one, based not on kinship but on the opportunity and capacity for mutual help.

This flatly contradicts Dawkins claim (sadly a not uncommon occurrence); so does the related concept of stranger or sojourner (non-Jews who resided among the Jews). The following article on that topic in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia shows how very wrongheaded and out to sea Dawkins ignorant charges are:

The article on Gentiles in the same work further elaborates:

But Dawkins (having not troubled himself to learn facts like the above), digs in all the more:

Jesus was a devotee of the same in-group morality  coupled with out-group hostility  that was taken for granted in the Old Testament. . . . It was Paul who invented the idea of taking the Jewish God to the Gentiles. Hartung puts it more bluntly than I dare: Jesus would have turned over in his grave if he had known that Paul would be taking his plan to the pigs. (p. 257)

The above data along these lines puts the lie to this nonsense. Even in the immediate New Testament / new covenant / dawn of Christianity environment of starting to preach the gospel to all the nations outside Israel, it was St. Peter who first specialized in that, not St. Paul. This is shown in Acts 10 in the story of Cornelius the centurion who went to Peter. Peter is said to have had a vision about all foods being clean (the relaxing of the traditional Jewish kosher laws: see 10:9-16). St. Peter states that God shows no partiality, [35] but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him (10:34-35). He preached, and the Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles (10:44-45), even before they were baptized (10:47-48).

St. Paul had just converted to Christ, as described in Acts 9. He didnt go on missionary journeys till the period described in Acts 13, and specifically referred to evangelizing Gentiles in 13:46-48. But Peter had said all of this already, and so had Jesus, and so had many passages in the Old Testament. It was nothing new whatsoever; just a new emphasis or further development of what was already there (which is usually the case with the New Testament in relation to the Old).

Once again, Dawkins flails away at the straw men of his own making. He does that throughout his whole book, as I have repeatedly shown in these four critiques. In a word, he doesnt know what hes talking about (hardly even has a clue), and doesnt know that he doesnt know. Its sad and beyond pathetic that such an educated man (a scientist)  indeed, the most renowned atheist in the world  could exhibit so much disinformation and lack of comprehension of that which he professes to be intelligently critiquing.

***

Photo credit: photograph by George Redgrave (9-30-14) [Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0 license]

***
Forbid Them Not, pp. 14-16

We are in Geneva with Nora Stoddard and her colleague, the stunning Dr. Jody Easler. The pair are attending a meeting of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, led by chair Dr. Erzabet Kadar. Kadar has just opened the meeting with a rousing statement on the United States recent decision to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Kadar goes on:

As the newest member of our committee, we have requested Dr. Jody Easler, the director of the National Commission on Children in the United States, to prepare an analysis of the alternative scenarios for immediate implementation.

I flipped back a few pages to be sure, but no, I was not imagining thingson page 11, Jody introduced Nora to Erzabet Kadar as our director of the National Commission on Children. And now Kadar is introducing Jody as the director of the same agency.

Kadar goes on:

Nora Stoddard, who is seated next to Dr. Easler, personally led the field team for the investigation that led up to this report. Dr. Easler holds the title of deputy secretary of state as well as the rank of ambassador here in Geneva, a position of considerable prestige that demonstrates the commitment of the new administration to the Convention.

This is terrible writing. Even barring the confusion about who is actually the director of the National Commission on Children in the U.S., Kadar would not have to explain the ins and outs and implication of Jodys position.

Speaking of Jodys position, Deputy Secretary of State is not a throw-away title. According to what I dug up, there are only two deputy secretary of states (here and here). Both work very closely with the Secretary of State. There is no holds the title of deputy secretary of state (as Kadar states about Jody) without holding the role of deputy secretary of state, which would keep Jody pretty busy (and require her to do quite a bit of foreign policy) and definitely not allow her to focus only on children.

Regardless, Jody is now up.

Good morning. On behalf of the United States, let me say how satisfying it is to bring you this report today. We appreciate the long-sufferings spirit that has been shown to us by your respective nations as we have labored through this period of regressive thinking.

This is so overdone. So very overdone.

Easlers bright eyes and contagious smile warmed something deep inside of each of the hardened bureaucrats, but on the surface they were taken aback because her manner differed so radically from the norm.

What even is this??

Jody nods to Nora, who then presents four possible implementation plans. Heres where things get a bit oddeach country that signs onto the treaty implements the treaty themselves, internally. The committee makes recommendations, and non-governmental organizations can be involved in the implementation (particularly in areas like ensuring that children have access to medicine and healthcare and combatting the use of child soldiers), but the committee does not itself carry out the implementation of the treaty.

In Farris treatment, the committee does carry out the implementation of the treaty. In fact, Nora offers up four possible implementation plans, and (as we will see in a moment) the committee overrides Nora and Jodys preference of plan to choose one they recommend against. This is absolutely not how this works.

After Nora introduces the first possible implementation planbarring a 17-year-old California girl on trial for murder from being sentenced to deathFarris pauses to draw out a justification for his mangling of how all of this works:

A hand shot up from a man sitting at the far end of the table. He wore an identification tag that indicated he was from Belgium. Can you please tell us, he began in a pleasant French accent, what provision of American law allows this legal implication from the treaty? How does the treaty have the ability to override local law? I know there is something, but it would help me follow your report if I could be refreshed on this point. Certainly, Easler replied, smiling. Our Constitution has a provision in Article VII called the Supremacy Clause. It says that the Constitution, laws passed under the authority of the Constitution, and treaties which have been ratified are the highest law of the land. Treaties always override the laws of our fifty states.

If any of my readers have expertise in this area and can direct me to resources to read up on it a bit, I would appreciate that. As I understand it some of the issue is over whether or not such a treaty would be considered self-executing. Farris argument is that because the U.S. Constitution states that treaties that have been ratified are the highest law of the land, the U.S. Congress would not need to pass any law to implement anything in a treaty, even one relating to domestic policy such as this one.

Well likely get into this more later. For now, it is enough to know that Farriss argument hinges on three claims relating to the signing of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child:

That the treaty would be self-executing and have the force of law. That the treaty would be enforceable by the U.N. That the U.N. would seek to directly regulate what religions are and are not allowed to teach children.

I am skeptical of the second and third of Farris claims at the very least.

One reason for my skepticism is that in discussing the Convention, Farris quickly veers away from reality, which makes me question his claims about how any of this works. Take his discussion of abortion, for instance. Ensuring minors access to abortion is the second possible route for enforcement of the treaty presented, this time presented by Jody, who forgets to cede the floor back to Nora after responding to the question about enforcement from the gentlemen from Belgium:

Our second potential case would arise in Charlotte, North Carolina. Under state law, parents are required to consent to an abortion for their minor daughters. Now, of course, there is a provision that allows for the prospect of a judicial override. But under the treaty, even this possibility of an override is still an interference with the girls rights under the treaty. A minors right to reproductive freedom is absoluteas you know.

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child mentions neither abortion nor reproductive freedom. Even assuming that the treaty is self-executingassuming that Congress would not have to pass any laws to enact it, that its provisions (such as its bar on imposing the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for crimes committed by minors) would immediately have the force of lawhow the Convention would strike down parental consent laws when it does not mention abortion needs some explaining.

After Jody presents this second possible enforcement scenariousing Charlotte, North Carolina, as a test case to strike down limits on minors reproductive rightsthis happens:

A woman sitting behind a nameplate that read Hua Zhuang, Peoples Republic of China raised her hand. Easler smiled and nodded. Yes? Would not your Supreme Court reach the same conclusion under your law and under the treaty? It seems that they have been entirely on the right side of this issue, the Chinese woman asked.

What you see in the above exchange is Farris assumption that reproductive rights mean only the right to have an abortion, and not also the right not to have an abortion. After all, Chinas one-child policy, still in force at this time, would have been a major damper on young peoples reproductive freedom. China, after all, is not exactly known as a champion of reproductive rights. This assumption is actually a common one on the Rightmany conservatives think pro-choice means only pro-abortion, and that reproductive freedom means only access to abortion, and not also to services like prenatal care and affordable childcare.

Also! Many European countries (including Western European and Scandinavian countries) have similar laws regulating abortion access by minors (including laws requiring parental consent subject to judicial override), and these laws were in force when Farris wrote this book. Kadar is from Hungary. Hungary required parental consent for a minor under 18 to obtain an abortion.

While I was unable to find the law regarding minors access to abortions in China, I did find that hospitals in Hong Kong typically require parental consent before providing abortion services for a minor. Further, numerous countries that ban abortion completely (Ireland, Chile, Nigeria, the Philippines) have signed the Convention. Jody states that a minors right to reproductive freedom is absoluteas you know to an audience that likely includes some people from countries where abortion may still be banned.

Confused as to how Farris could think that the Convention would have any impact at all on our abortion law vis a vis minors, given that other signatory countries have similar policies to ours, I did some poking around and I think I know what is going on.

I found a Congressional Research Service policy brief on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, and it includes this brief section on abortion rights:

There is significant debate regarding what impact, if any, U.S. ratification of CRC might have on domestic abortion policy. The ambiguous nature of some CRC provisions relating to these issues has left the door open for broad interpretation by both opponents and supporters of the Convention. Critics of U.S. ratification have raised questions regarding the Conventions possible impact on state parental notification laws for children undergoing abortion. In particular, they are concerned about Article 16(1), which states, No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home, or correspondence.  Some fear that this right to privacy could ultimately allow children to choose to have abortions without notifying or receiving guidance from their parents. Opponents of the Convention express concern with CRC Committee decisions that appear to criticize countries that restrict abortion. Additionally, some have argued that Article (24)(2)(d) of CRC, which states that States Parties shall  take appropriate measures  to ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers, could be interpreted to mean that children may undergo abortions without parental notification. Supporters of the Convention contend that the treaty does not take a position on abortion or when a childs life begins. They maintain that the Convention text allows individual countries to interpret the treaty in a way that aligns with their national abortion policies. They note that countries with strict anti-abortion laws, such as the Holy See (Vatican), the Philippines, and Ireland, have ratified the Convention. Proponents counter claims that the Convention encourages abortion by citing CRC Committee statements that appear to criticize countries for their high rates of abortion and teen pregnancy. In its report on Russia in 1993, for instance, the Committee expressed concern with frequent recourse to abortion as what appears to be a method of family planning.

In other words, the concern vis a vis abortion is not that the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child would step in and dictate U.S. policy but rather that courts within the U.S. might interpret the Conventions endorsement of minors right to be free from arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy to strike down parental consent laws, given the strong connection between right to privacy and right to abortion in U.S. jurisprudence.

This concern actually has some amount of logical consistency. It explains how concern that the Convention could lead to striking down parental consent laws could exist in a world where numerous other treaty signers, including many of those in Europe, themselves have parental consent laws. But U.S. courts interpreting the treaty and its meaning in the context of U.S. law is not scary enough for Farris. He needs an international threatthe U.N. sticking its nose in Americans business and dictating our law from Geneva.

This entire scenewhere Jody proposes using the Convention to strike down U.S. parental consent laws, to a committee chaired by a woman from a country with similar parental consent lawsis a work of blatant fiction. If signing the Convention did lead to striking down these laws, it would do so internally, working its way through U.S. courts, and not through the efforts of any U.N. committee.

And yet, Jody responds to the Chinese representative by stating that even though we expect more pro-choice justices under the new administration, we cannot estimate how long it will be until the vacancies occur, and that this means that it is only the Childrens Treaty that will guarantee the result we would wanti.e. the striking down of parental consent laws.

Farris, in other words, contrasts two distinct and separate options: first, U.S. courts striking down parental consent laws, something he says would require more pro-choice justices; and second, using the Convention to strike down these laws directly.

This is strange, because the Convention, in book-world, has already been signed. Ostensibly, U.S. courts would now examine parental consent laws in light of the Convention, which is how critics of the Convention (according to the Congressional Research Service) suggest that it would would result in striking down these laws. Yet Farris does not even allude to this being a possibility.

Not only does Farris drag a manipulative international committee into his story, he also discounts the one way critics say the Convention could realistically lead to the striking down of parental consent laws. In fact, Farris doesnt even have Jody consider whether courts interpretations of parental consent laws may change now that the treaty has been ratified. Instead, she states that overturning such laws would require more pro-choice justices, without any recognition that the treaty could have changed things.

The Committee would not need to take any action at all for Planned Parenthood or some other entity to sue a states parental consent laws, using legal arguments augmented by clauses from the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. In fact, if and when the U.S. does ratify the Convention, this seems like the most likely outcomeentities within the U.S. suing to force the U.S. government to, say, put more money into schools, or into its child welfare system, or into alleviating child poverty.

I should mention that while I find the mechanism of U.S. courts striking down parental consent laws in light of the Conventions endorsement of minors right to privacy at least logically consistent, I still dont think it would happen. The fact that many other countries have ratified the treaty and yet have parental consent laws suggest that the outcome would be uncertain at best. I see no reason to think that the courts would find parental consent laws an arbitrary or unlawful interference in a childs privacy.

Well save the last two options Nora and Jody present the committee for next week. The only remaining thing I should note is that in Roper v. Simmons (2005), three years after this book was published, the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. The decision turned primarily on changing domestic opinions on what constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Farris was, to say the least, highly displeased.

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U.S. Plays Cat, And Iran The Mouse In 'Tom And Jerry' Comparison

05/25/18

By Freud Bezhan, RFE/RL

When it comes to U.S.-Iranian relations, it is as simple as a game of cat and mouse; specifically, the iconic American cartoon characters Tom and Jerry, according to Iran's highest authority. The message within the Hanna-Barbera classic is recurring: while the tomcat (Tom), with its superior strength and size, might toy with the mouse, it is the clever and plucky mouse (Jerry) that always comes out on top.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei invoked the two rivals while addressing a gathering on May 23 amid increased tensions after Washington pulled out of the nuclear deal agreed between Iran and world powers in 2015.



"The U.S. has committed all kinds of animosity to hit the Islamic Republic and has plotted various political, economic, military and propaganda schemes" since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Khamenei said. "All their plots have failed -- just like Tom from the well-known Tom and Jerry cartoon -- and they will fail again in the future."



Khamenei's comments, which were not included in state television coverage of the address but were posted in English on his official website, were his first since U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened Iran with "the strongest sanctions in history" if Tehran does not comply with 12 conditions for a new nuclear agreement.



Among the demands were full disclosure of alleged past military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program, the end to its proliferation of ballistic missiles, and the cessation of its support for armed groups in the region that the United States considers terrorist organizations.



Pompeo's remarks on May 21 came two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 deal under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program, which it claims is solely for peaceful purposes, in exchange for relief from international economic sanctions.



Trump's decision has angered Iranian leaders, with Khamenei directly challenging the American president by saying, "You can't do a damn thing!"



Despite his long-running mistrust of Washington, Khamenei supported the nuclear deal when it was signed with world powers in 2015, even suggesting it could be the basis for further negotiations.



But he soon turned against the accord when it became clear that many of its benefits were still being blocked by residual U.S. sanctions linked to Iran's human rights record and controversial ballistic-missile program.



Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters in the Islamic republic, said last year that the agreement should be torn up if Washington pulled out.



Khamenei's reference to Tom and Jerry is ironic given the supreme leader has often warned of the dangers of American influence on Iranian culture.



But there are obvious parallels to draw on: While the threat of ultimate destruction is always there, Tom seldom actually tries to eat Jerry; the two rarely, if ever, speak to each other; and both appear to take some pleasure from torturing each other.



But there are flaws in the comparison as well. Jerry, for example, has often been portrayed as a devoted American patriot, as evidenced by the award-winning 1943 episode The Yankee Doodle Mouse, in which Tom does his best to snuff out Jerry's ambitions to launch a rocket.

WATCH -- Tom And Jerry: The Yankee Doodle Mouse

It ends, as usual, with Jerry getting the upper hand -- and saluting the stars and stripes.



About the author:

Frud Bezhan (BezhanF@rferl.org) covers Afghanistan and the broader South Asia and Middle East region.

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Documents such as driving licences, National Health Insurance cards, baptismal certificates and voters identity cards are no longer tenable as sources of identification for the National Identification Card (Ghana Card).



Only birth certificates and passports will be used as identification for acquisition of the card, as provided for by the National Identification Amendment Law 2017 (Act 950).



Consequently, the National Identification Authority (NIA) has recruited and trained 2,700 commissioners of oath to operate alongside staff of the NIA during the registration for the Ghana Card.



The Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Ken Attafuah, told the Daily Graphic last Wednesday that the commissioners of oath would provide ready services for Ghanians who did not have the required documents, so that their registration would not delay.





He said the government had also decided to bear the charges of those using the services of the commissioners of oath.



Cost



Prof. Attafuah said the re-registration and instant issuance of the Ghana Card, which kicks off on Monday, May 28, 2018, would cost $1.2 billion over 15 years.



The government is contributing $531 million of the cost, while Identity Management System (IMS), which is partnering the NIA under a public/private partnership (PPP) agreement, will provide $678 million for the exercise.



The process begins at the Jubilee House, Parliament House and the Judicial Service on Monday, May 28, 2018.



Apart from that, the exercise will also cover the three former Presidents  Flt Lt J. J. Rawlings, Mr J. A. Kufuor and Mr John Dramani Mahama  the Chief Imam, the Ga Mantse, as well as former Chief Justices and Speakers of Parliament.



The security agencies, comprising the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), will also be served, as well as professional bodies such as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Ghana Bar Association (GBA).



Prof. Attafuah said the 15-year implementation period was for the realisation of the financing arrangements designed for the project.



He explained that under the arrangement, the government would have a 60 per cent share in the profit, with the private partner taking 40 per cent.



He said the government was bearing the cost of deployment, the allowances of personnel, generators and the creation and maintenance of regional and district NIA offices.



The private partner would bear the cost of technology and equipment, with the technology to be enhanced every five years, he added.



Mobilisation



During a visit to the offices of the NIA last Wednesday, the mobilisation of personnel and logistics was underway, with hundreds of youth going through orientation for the start of field operations.



Some of them were being trained on the use of the mobile registration workstations.





Prof. Attafuah said 150 workstations were to be deployed for a start and an equal number of people to man them.



Fifty card printers would be deployed to registration areas with Internet connectivity, where about five mobile registration workstations would be linked to one card printer, he explained.



He said there would also be 50 card verification officers who would ensure the validity of the information provided and also ensure that an applicant left with his or her card.

Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A week after some irate youth attacked the regional offices of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) in Tamale, the police are yet to make any arrest.



The offices also remain closed as staff of the GHA have refused to resume work for fear of their lives.



When the Daily Graphic visited the offices of the GHA on Tuesday, May 22, 2018, two armed policemen were stationed at the main entrance while the gates were closed.



The Northern Regional Police Command is yet to make any arrest a week after some irate youth purported to be aligned to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Tuesday, May 15 2018 attacked the regional office of the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) in Tamale and assaulted some workers at the office.



The irate youth, numbering about 30, were alleged to have assaulted some workers during the attack over the alleged award of road contracts to persons believed to be members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).



Closure/Security



When the Daily Graphic contacted the Northern Regional Director of the GHA, Mr Joseph Atsu, he confirmed the closure of the regional office of the GHA in a telephone interview.



He explained that the decision to close down the office was jointly taken by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Senior Staff Association (SSA) of the GHA and the Construction and Building Materials Workers Union (CBMWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC).



He said the decision was taken at a meeting held at the National office of the GHA in Accra and the executives of the two bodies communicated this to management and demanded that there should be a 24-hour police guard at the regional office to ensure the safety and security of the workers, adding that until that was done the office would not be opened to the public for business.



The Regional Director stated that although two armed policemen had been stationed at the main entrance to the offices, the workers were still waiting for the green light from the NEC of the senior staff association and the union before the office would be opened to the public for business.



Mr Atsu stated that an official complaint on the attack on the office had been lodged with the Regional Police Command and investigations were underway to bring the perpetrators to book.



Police/No Arrest



The Northern Regional Crime Officer, Superintendent Kusi Appiah told the Daily Graphic that no arrest had been made so far.

Source: Graphic.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
Chief Executive of the Bulk Oil Storage & Transportation Company (BOST), Alfred Boateng has sued NDC Communicator Sammy Gyamfi for defamation of character at a Kumasi High Court.



The BOST Chief Executive is seeking damages to a tune of GHC 5 million from Sammy Gyamfi who, according to the writ of summons, was on Adom TV making wild allegations against Mr. Alfred Boateng.



According to Mr. Boateng, Sammy Gyamfi addressing an issue on the topic "Double Salary Probe: MPs Must Face The Law If...." on Thursday April 19, 2018 called the BOST MD a "thief" stating that he has been "...stealing at or from BOST however, Martin Amidu had turned a blind eye to that but he is showing interest in the double salary matter..."



Mr. Boateng is praying the court to fine Sammy Gyamfi saying his utterances have seriously besmirched his reputation and he has "suffered considerable distress and embarrassment".



" Plaintiff (Mr. Boateng) faces the likelihood of being relieved of his position as MD of BOST. The corporate image of Approachers Group of Companies has suffered due to the Plaintiff's long association with it".







Also, Mr. Boateng says, by the conduct of Sammy Gyamfi; "BOST's corporate image is suffering and continues to suffer with the said utterances or broadcast of the defendant linking Plaintiff to BOST as the MD".



The High Court has given Sammy Gyamfi an ultimatum of eight (8) days to appear before the court and in default of doing so, "judgement may be given in your absence..."







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Dont turn yourselves into thieves, go and arrest the thieves for us; this was the advice of the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah to auditors.



Speaking at the opening ceremony of a training workshop organized for Ghana Health Service, Internal Audit Division, on Wednesday 21 May 2018, in Kumasi, the minister urged the auditors to eschew corruption.



He emphasized that it is their duty to correct the system and should therefore not allow themselves to be influenced.



While youre doing your work, its quite tempting because, we know people are afraid of auditors and because people are afraid of auditors, it gives the basis to be corrupt because you could easily be influenced, he said.



I will beg you to refrain from that [and] eschew corruption other than that it could be likesome police officers who were recently arrested for hiring or renting ammunition to thieves.



So, if youve to go and correct the system and you are taking bribe, youre worsening the whole thing. So, dont turn yourselves into thieves, rather go and arrest the thieves for us, he said.

Source: 3news.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Parliament has invited the Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, to apprise the House on the terms of the $89 million contract awarded to Kelni GVG to deal with revenue losses and simbox fraud in the telecommunications sector.



The First Deputy Speaker, Mr Alban Bagbin, ordered the Business Committee of Parliament to schedule an appropriate day next week for the Minister to brief the House following a request by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.



Mr Ablakwa said the $89 million contract awarded to Kelni GVG had gained currency with civil society organisations and wondered why Parliament was not exercising its oversight responsibility over the matter.



He said it was important for the Minister of Communications to brief the House on the matter.



The First Deputy Majority Whip, Mr Mathew Nyindam, said the Committee on Communications had scheduled to meet the Minister of Communications next week Tuesday.



The contract has gained currency in the media following the indication that the National Communications Authority (NCA) was against the contract.



The President of IMANI Africa, Mr Franklin Cudjoe, has in several media engagements stressed that the $89 million contract was a careless duplication of jobs and a needless drain on the countrys scarce resources.



He was of the view that Subah and Afriwave were awarded similar contracts under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to perform similar jobs, even though both contracts were needless.



Speaker's order



Giving the order, Mr Bagbin said the Committee of Communications should suspend its scheduled meeting with the Minister of Communications and rather allow the Minister to brief the whole House on the matter.



"It is important that this is brought to the knowledge of the people of this country through their representatives on the floor of the House.



"I don't think the committee should rather take it up because we have not developed the rules for committees to be open to the general public", he said.

Source: Graphic.com









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IOA: Guyana should take proactive approach to protecting environment - Head of Mexico's Regulatory Authority IOA



Institute of The Americas-IOA, XXVII La Jolla Energy Conference, San Diego, California. By Kiana Wilbur



SAN DIEGO, California

Petroleumworld 05 25 2018 Prudential regulations, particularly those concerning the safety of individuals and the integrity of the environment, should always be a priority for any emerging oil and gas nation.



Executive Director of Agency for Security, Energy and the Environment (ASEA) of Mexico, Carlos De Regules, expressed the view that Guyana would be wise to take a proactive approach in the regulation of oil operators and their effect on the environment. He said, This needs to start now.



The Mexican official said that Guyana and other emerging producers of petroleum must be aware of the fact that absence of regulation is the main entrance to the polluters' heaven. He noted that there are many examples of how lack of regulation has cost nations across the world.



The Executive Director of ASEA made these and other comments after his panel discussion on Wednesday. That discussion focused on the exercise of regulation and balancing oversight in the oil industry.



The panel discussion was part of a series of events organized by the Institute of Americas. The Geopolitics of Energy Conference, which took place in La Jolla, California, and was hosted by the institute, saw participation from some of the leading stakeholders in the global energy sector.



In an exclusive interview, the Executive Director said that as Guyana moves to establish as well as strengthen systems for monitoring oil companies and their effect on the environment, he would advise that a risk-based approach to regulation be taken.



He said that this is what is done by ASEA, a technical and administrative body in Mexico that is responsible for regulating and supervising industrial and operational safety, and environmental protection in the energy sector.

Regules explained that risk-based regulation focuses on the delivery of outcomes and public value, in which the regulator seeks to partner with the regulated in the proactive prevention of harms.



The Executive Director said, This is not a euphemism for careless deregulation. It is exactly the opposite. It represents the technical confidence that we can harness the different levels of negative externalities of a given activity and increase its benefits, as opposed to setting arbitrary one-size-fits-all limits to it, at the expense of its potential value.



This approach enhances the possibility of innovation and can concentrate the industry's capability to find new and effective solutions on safety and environmental protection.



The Executive Director further said that while this method provides for some degree of technical flexibility, those who implement it must understand that it provides for undiluted and unequivocal accountability from the regulated industry and for an optimized bureaucratic burden for the State.



He said that mechanisms such as self-declarations and the use of certified third parties must play an encompassing role for a successful approach to prudential regulation aimed to control risk.



Regules said, It is, no doubt, an optimistic approach to problems in the sector, nonetheless one that captures the very nature of our historical efforts as a region to cultivate innovation, efficiency, and accountability in the search for better living standards for our peoples.



Given the allegations as well as proven cases of environmental disasters by oil giant, ExxonMobil, locals have expressed grave concern about the nation's institutional and legal capacity to independently monitor compliance with environmental regulations.



The Coalition Administration has done little to quell the concerns of its people in this regard. Petroleumworld.com



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Guyana wants talks with CARICOM nations to coordinate oil spill response plans

By Demerarawaves



GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 05 25 2018

Guyana wants to meet with a number of sister Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states to discuss the impact and response to any oil spill here on those island nations, even as concerns have been raised about the legal liability of wide-scale pollution should such an incident occur, officials said Thursday.

Acting Director-General of Guyana's Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Col. Kester Craig told Demerara Waves Online News that Guyana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been already asked to open discussions with neighbouring countries. Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we need to meet with these countries and discuss the probability and what should happen so it's part of the whole planning and development process but we haven't reached to that stage as yet, said Craig who has already held talks with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A legal expert, who requested anonymity, told Demerara Waves Online News that Guyana, as a shareholder, and the partner companies under the umbrella of Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited would have to share responsibility if there such an incident. All parties would be responsible. The government of Guyana is a 50% shareholder and in international public and private law, the Guyana government, ExxonMobil, Hess and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOCC)- Nexen would be responsible jointly and severally, said the expert who is knowledgeable about the global hydrocarbon sector.

Attorney-at-Law, Melinda Janki, who has worked with British Petroleum, said Guyana's earnings from the ExxonMobil deal would be reduced if there is a well blow-out because of liabilities to several Caribbean islands. If ther is a well blow-out who do you think will get the bill? She referred to an Environmental Impact Assessment that states that the oil is unlikely to reach Guyana's shores. The wind will take it north and west. That means it will go to the Caribbean islands. That means Guyana will be liable under international law for trans-boundary pollution. International law states that States must ensure activities in their jurisdiction do not cause harm to the environments of other States so Guyana will have trans-boundary liability, she told a public forum Wednesday night at Moray House.

She said the company's oil spill scenario from a well blow-out or tanker spill caters for a spill of 20,000 barrels per day for 60 days- 25.2 billion gallons, but the environmental impact would not be long and it would be reversible.

Guyana is part of the southern cone of states, which includes Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, under the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) that collaborate to respond to hazards.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon told a post-cabinet news conference on Thursday that Guyana is a party to international agreements and the International Law of the Sea. Our oil-spill disaster preparedness plan also takes into consideration where the oil can actually flow if there is a spill, he said.

He added that Guyana's membership of CDEMA would allow the country to to tap into the best expertise and advice through that regional agency, in addition to local preparations. The preparations by our Civil Defence Commission and by the oil companies here in Guyana is basically putt us in a situation where, in the unlikely event of a spill, that we'll have proper procedures in place to deal with that, Harmon added.

United States oil giant, ExxonMobil, is expected to begin commercial oil production from the Liza well located about 123 miles off the coast of Mahaica, East Coast Demerara. Attorney-at-Law Janki said that from Liza One alone, the company would be dumping an estimated 4,000 barrels (1.4 billion gallons) of treated sewage into Guyana's ocean each day.

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Chinese to set up US$104 million high-tech industrial complex at Point Lisas

By Sean Douglas



PORT SPAIN

Petroleumworld 05 25 2018

THE Chinese will fund, construct and operate a US$104 million industrial complex at Point Lisas to house ten high-tech plants, acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert told yesterday's post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's.

The deal was struck by the Prime Minister with the Beijing Engineering Group on his current trip to China and Australia, from which he returns to TT on Monday.

Imbert said high-tech industries will be set up in the fields of ICT, biomedical engineering and new materials technology. Jobs will be provided for tens of thousands of people, and he expects the industries to increase TT's GDP by five per cent. The site will be 53,000 square metres, of which the plant area will be 25,000 square metres.

Imbert said construction will start this year, using Chinese labour and a two per cent concessional loan.

He said talks are under way with the Chinese for a dry dock at La Brea which he expected to generate hundreds or even thousands of jobs.

Chinese nationals will allowed into TT visa-free once they have a United States or Canada visa. Saying Caribbean Airlines is holding talks with two Chinese airlines, Imbert said there are flights from Beijing to Havana, Cuba, even as CAL flies from TT to Cuba, and he hoped TT could tap into the 100 million-strong Chinese who travel internationally every year.

He expected Trinidadian asphalt to be used on the new Beijing International Airport.

Imbert said Rowley has visited two vessel-makers in Australia, Austal and Incat, and had met the New South Wales Police Service and Department of Justice to talk about issues such as counter-terrorism.

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In full flow: pipeline additive called "Drag" on a sales boom amid oil bottlenecks

By Julie Gordon, Rod Nickel

HOUSTON/CALGARY, Alberta

Petroleumworld 05 25 2018

Pipeline bottlenecks have vexed North American oil producers this year, but for companies making a little-known additive called drag-reducing agent (DRA), they have provided a veritable windfall.

DRA is injected into pipelines to reduce the contact between the oil and the wall of the pipe, allowing more crude to flow through. It is a tiny but booming business, accounting for about $500 million in global sales - half of that in the United States - but is growing about 8 percent annually, said Brian Watt, senior vice president at specialty chemicals producer Innospec Inc, based in Englewood, Colorado.

Pipeline companies are increasing DRA usage because of bottlenecks in the key North American producing regions of Texas's Permian Basin and Western Canada. Those crude grades have traded at greater-than-usual discounts to benchmark U.S. futures this year because of inadequate pipeline space.

Planned pipelines in the Permian will not largely start coming online until late this year, while new Canadian pipeline capacity faces scrutiny by politicians, activists and regulators.

Anything that cost-effectively allows you to increase capacity or reduce the energy pumping those lines is going to look like a good investment, Watt said.

Adding DRA, which sells for $15 to $25 per U.S. gallon, allows pipeline operators to reduce pump pressure.

We're using a lot more DRA in the system, said Guy Jarvis, executive vice-president of liquids at Canada's biggest pipeline company Enbridge Inc, because it can provide a bit of a boost to flow, as well as reduce power bills.

TransCanada Corp used DRA to maintain flows on its Keystone pipeline despite pressure restrictions after a leak late in November in South Dakota, industry sources told Reuters.

One month after the leak, throughput on Keystone was at 583,000 barrels per day, just 2 percent below nameplate capacity despite the 20 percent pressure restriction, according to previously unreported data from the National Energy Board, Canada's energy regulator.

In the first quarter of 2018, average flow was above capacity even though restrictions were not lifted until May. TransCanada did not confirm the use of DRA in the Keystone line, citing commercial sensitivity.

INSANE DEMAND

DRA has been around since the 1970s, but pipeline operators kept its use quiet, believing it gave them a competitive advantage. Even now, few companies disclose how much DRA they produce.

Because the demand picture is shifting pretty rapidly, matching up supply and demand is critical to maintaining a profitable business, said Greg Jones, head of downstream products at General Electric unit Baker Hughes, which is expanding output in Oklahoma by an undisclosed amount.

Everybody's a bit cautious about not tipping their hand.

Innospec said on Monday that it is building a new DRA production plant in Texas, while LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc, a Berkshire Hathaway unit, doubled manufacturing capacity late last year.

Private equity has also noticed. Houston-based CSL Capital Management funded start-up Optum Energy Solutions' new 60-acre (24-hectare) DRA plant in Oklahoma.

We saw an opportunity for steady and growing demand for DRAs for the next several years, said CSL founding partner Charlie Leykum, noting it can help maintain volumes on aging pipelines where pressure has to be carefully managed. He declined to disclose the size of his firm's investment.

Recently, companies have started including DRA into pipeline designs to reduce capital costs by using smaller pipe, said Marina Kaplan, LiquidPower's director of strategy, marketing and business development.

Politically volatile regions also generate high demand as companies have to contend with damaged pipelines, Jones said. Older lines in Iran use DRA to increase or maintain output, said Patrick Bayat, chief executive of Tehran-based DRA producer Partow Ideh Pars Co, in an email.

NuGenTech Chief Executive Donato Polignone said the Emeryville, California-based company sells DRA to Kuwait Oil Company.

I've seen insane demand for this for the last three years. ($1 = 1.2862 Canadian dollars)

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The Liberties Walk retail-and-residential street at the development known as the Piazza in Northern Liberties. Read more

Philadelphia's Post Bros. property group has acquired a stake in the Northern Liberties apartment and retail complex known as the Piazza from Kushner Cos., the New York-based real estate firm formerly headed by presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Post Bros. paid $44.1 million for Kushner's interest in the property, which is centered on North Second and Wildey Streets, with plans to renovate units in three of the development's buildings with new kitchens and bathrooms, it said in a release Friday.

"We see a tremendous amount of potential in this property," Post Bros. chief executive Michael Pestronk said in the release. "There is an exciting energy in this neighborhood, and Piazza is the only rental property of this scale in the area."

The Piazza  also known as Schmidt's Commons  is a 500-apartment complex that includes 125,000 feet of commercial space across nine adjoining properties. Tenants include a WeWork coworking venue, which leases space in a former brewery building.

Kushner and partner Oaktree Capital Management acquired the property in 2013 for a reported $130 million from developer Bart Blatstein, who built the complex on part of a cluster of properties he began assembling in the early 2000s around the former Schmidt's brewery site.

Oaktree was previously said to have been seeking to sell its share of the property but will now apparently retain its stake in a deal that's characterized in the release as a recapitalization of the partnership.

In addition to the apartment renovations, Post Bros. plans to add a pool for residents in the property's courtyard as part of a "strategic effort to reposition the Piazza," the company said in the release.

The complex's two biggest apartment buildings, Erbe and Navona, are 77 percent and 85 percent filled, well below citywide averages that run between 90 and 95 percent depending on neighborhood, according to data earlier this year from the CoStar Group, a real estate market tracker.

Post Bros.'s acquisition comes amid moves by Blatstein to develop a new apartment and retail complex on another section of the land he acquired while planning the Piazza that has remained vacant.

The new development, which Blatstein is calling Piazza Terminal, will comprise nearly 1,200 rental apartments across six buildings with 45,000 square feet of retail space on 4.4 acres just west of the existing complex.

It is scheduled for consideration on June 5 by Philadelphia's Civic Design Review panel, which makes nonbinding suggestions on the city's biggest development proposals.
A group founded by former staffers of Bernie Sanders presidential bid said they have enough votes to win control of a South Philadelphia ward. Read more

Philadelphia has been a solidly Democratic city for decades, but it hasn't always been a very progressive one.

Most of Philly's top elected officials backed Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. There is no $15 minimum wage here. The School District is charter-friendly.

In the wake of the 2016 election, as the left flank of the Democratic Party has started to gain power across the country, that's changing. Philly progressives have notched victories in recent elections for state legislature and district attorney.

Now some political insiders think they may be on the verge of another win: Nikil Saval, a leading member of Reclaim Philadelphia, told Clout that he has enough votes to win election as leader of South Philly's Second Ward.

Saval said Reclaim, a group founded by former staffers of Sanders' presidential bid, recruited people to run for the ward committee posts on a program of "putting racial, economic and gender justice at the center of the Democratic Party."

It'd be a big freakin' deal if Reclaim and its allies took control of the Second Ward. The city's ward leaders elect the head honcho of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, and can play a major role in influencing local elections. If Team Reclaim is in power, an incumbent like, say, Councilman Mark Squilla might want to watch his back. Plus, crashing the club would be a symbolic win for progressives.

Another group rumored to be jockeying for control of the Second Ward is Philadelphia 3.0, an organization dreamt up by business leaders to create a "more competitive city and a local government." Kevin Price, who said he was tapped last year by incumbent ward leader Ed Nesmith to manage the ward, is also running.

Jon Geeting, of Philadelphia 3.0, said it "sounds like" Reclaim has enough votes to pick the ward leader. Nesmith said Reclaim has more votes than 3.0, and Price has the least of all. That made it sound to Clout like the race was sewn up.

But oh, dear reader, there is intrigue. Price said that "Reclaim doesn't have all the votes they're claiming to, and neither does 3.0."

That means that the committee people supporting Price, while relatively small in number, can swing the election, he said. "At this point in time, I have enough votes to pick the ward leader."

The Second Ward is far from the only place in the city where ward wars are being fought. They're also raging in Northwest Philly, the Far Northeast, other parts of South Philly and beyond.

Ward leader elections will be held throughout the city on June 4. Stay tuned to find who will win the fight for the soul of Philadelphia's Democratic Party.

Johnny Doc talks about his Election Day losses

Speaking of the ever-changing Democratic Party, Clout got labor leader John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty on the phone to talk about the May 15 primary.

It wasn't a great day for Doc, who has long been one of the city's top power brokers: He launched a super PAC that spent nearly $1 million on TV ads to help send his ally, former deputy mayor Rich Lazer, to Congress. But Lazer came in third in the Democratic primary.

State Senate aide Jonathan "J.R." Rowan, who was backed by Dougherty's electricians union, also got beat by former WHYY reporter Elizabeth Fiedler in a state House race  in Dougherty's backyard, no less. Another friend of the electricians' union, Sean Kilkenny, was unsuccessful in his bid for the General Assembly. (One Dougherty friend who won her primary was Madeleine Dean, a Montgomery County Democrat vying for Congress.)

So what does Dougherty make of it all?

For one thing, he said that Lazer would be foolish not to run for office again: "He has a grip on the issues  he's super experienced for being 33 years old."

Clout is hearing that Lazer may be a potential candidate for an at-large City Council seat in 2019.

Dougherty also had lots of nice things to say about Fiedler, who was supported by several labor groups as well as the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Dougherty said she ran "a great campaign," and her supporters "aren't enemies of the union movement  they're fans  so we have a lot in common."

Fiedler, for her part, said she looks forward "to working to protect, strengthen and expand unions."

Dougherty also said that "the Philadelphia building trades will be a place where Bernie [Sanders] can come in and put his hat down" in the wake of the 2018 primary. The Vermont senator endorsed Lazer in his bid for Congress, which Dougherty's spokesman said he had "made  happen."

Clout would be remiss if it didn't add that Dougherty has been known to put a finger to the wind, and occasionally shift alliances based on who is in power.

Overall, Dougherty said, "I've woken up after elections and been upset." But this primary wasn't like that, he said. "It was a great campaign cycle.  It was a great women movement. I love it."
The Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 was, according to historian Lew Bryson, an attempt to certify whiskeys of integrity in an era when "rectifiers" were blending additives from neutral grain spirit to creosote to wintergreen into booze. The act required such whiskeys to be at least four years old, bottled at 100 proof, have no additives other than water, and also be the product of one distillery.

These days, we're in a golden age of new craft whiskeys, though some might argue looks can be as deceiving as ever as young distilleries try to get their brown spirits to market as fast as their caramel-giving little oak barrels will give them color. A year of oak and an amber hue, though, doesn't necessarily make it good. That's why Dad's Hat rightfully takes special pride in its new Bottled in Bond Pennsylvania straight rye, because it's proof that this already celebrated Bristol distillery has matured with both power and finesse. This four-year-old straight rye, blended from whiskeys distilled in the same year, is a true Dad's Hat nuanced take on the "Pennsylvania Monongahela" school of distilling (all spicy rye, rye malt, and barley, with no sweet corn added). But it's deeper, more intense and layered than Dad's excellent 90-proof flagship. Aside from the usual mint and grainy spice, I get dark-chocolate notes and a citrusy tang of Valencia oranges and vanilla that comes forward on the back end once a splash of water mutes some of that 100-proof heat. Though not too much HO! This is whiskey of integrity that should be tasted in its full, bond-certified glory.

 Craig LaBan

Dad's Hat Pennsylvania Straight Rye Whiskey, Bottled in Bond 100 Proof, $69.99 (PLCB Item # 75324), available online at finewineandgoodspirits.com and in select Premium Collection stores in Pennsylvania.
Daniel Henderson, 29, inside the Chapel of the Four Chaplains at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia on Friday, May 25, 2018. Henderson is son of a Vietnam veteran and was aided in his recovery from opioid addiction by the team from the Chapel of the Four Chaplains. Read more

Wayne Henderson didn't know how to help his son anymore.

That's what the chief warrant officer 4 (U.S. Army, retired) told Christine Beady last year when he walked into the Chapel of the Four Chaplains, the graceful little shrine with the weathered steeple that sits in the quiet expanse of the Navy Yard.

Daniel Henderson's addiction to opioids, his imprisonment, his fledgling recovery, what had led him to the drug in the first place  his father didn't understand it.

Beady, the chapel's executive director, has seen her own loved ones suffer in addiction. And so she sat and listened to his story. Then she told Wayne to send Daniel to the chapel, so she could listen to his.

For a time, Beady had struggled to keep the chapel doors open to anyone. Built in 1943, it spent its first life as a multidenominational place of worship for the generations of soldiers and sailors and their families stationed at the booming Navy Yard. After the yard was decommissioned in 1995, it sat neglected until 1999. Then, the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation made the chapel its new home.

>>READ MORE: Honors, finally, for a Tuskegee Airman from Philly, lynched by the Nazis | Mike Newall

The foundation honors the memories of the 672 soldiers, seamen, airmen, and civilians who died  and the 230 who made it out of the water  when a German torpedo slammed into the starboard hull of the USS Dorchester, a troop ship headed for Greenland in 1943. Four chaplains on the ship  a rabbi, a Catholic priest, and two Protestant ministers  gave up their life jackets, comforted as many men as they could, and went down with the ship.

The group named for them was dedicated to creating a space for connection among the survivors and the surviving families. To get them any help they needed.

When they moved into the chapel, Beady and the chapel board chairman, Capt. Louis Cavaliere, a retired Navy veteran of the Gulf War, oversaw the resurrection. The Navy Yard was coming back to life around them, and the chapel was a blank canvas.

Beady hung the plaques with the names of the Dorchester dead. Administrative assistant Michelle Nolfi gave tours to anyone who walked in. The three of them went about reviving the foundation's veterans' memorial and outreach programs. And people started coming back to the chapel.

Some came just to see the plaques on the wall. Some for benefits or help burying a veteran. Over the last two years, as the opioid crisis grew into a citywide catastrophe and a national epidemic, the men and women who called or came into the pews spoke of depression or homelessness or joblessness and, more and more, the addiction at the heart of it all.

"Now," Cavaliere said, "it's taking over." Nationwide, veterans are twice as likely as the general population to die of an overdose. Beady, who lives in South Philadelphia and is the daughter of an Army veteran, knows her neighborhood has the second-highest overdose rate in the city. "I see it every day on the corners," she said.

And the little chapel in the Navy Yard that for so long worked to meet the needs of the families of those lost at sea has remade itself to help those drifting in addiction.

The chapel is still a connecting space. Though they're no longer worried about keeping the doors open, they still rely on donations, and they can't yet offer treatment services themselves. So they match families and people in addiction and with other needs with treatment and counseling and shelter.

"The more we are doing this," Cavaliere said, "the more people are showing up."

Cavaliere's uncle survived the Dorchester sinking and lived with the guilt of making it out without his best friend. But he doesn't do this work because of his family history, he says. He does it because sailors don't leave one another behind.

"This is the place to be when you feel you have nowhere else to go," said Beady.

True to his word, Wayne Henderson sent his son over to the chapel after he talked to Beady last year. And true to her word, Beady listened. The chapel helped Daniel Henderson land a factory job, where he's become a star employee. Now 29, he lives in Fishtown.

Beady asked Daniel to share his story at one of the opioid symposiums the chapel holds each year. His father was nervous about showing up. But Beady told him he could do it for his son. She told Wayne he needed to heal, too.

And so Wayne sat near the front, recording video. Crying. Listening. "It was the first time he heard the story from my side," Daniel said.

Beady put her hand on Wayne's shoulder. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I never heard this," he told her.

"This is what you need to hear," she said.
The headstone of Solomon Bernstein and Chester Bartoszewicz at Beverly National Cemetery in Beverly, N.J., on May 23, 2018. Read more

Mary Bernstein Stout is the keeper of the flame, the treasured memory of her brother who died in World War II. Because she is stalked by old age and poor health, the flame is flickering.

Memorial Day is a time of special meaning to her, as it is for all families with a member who has given, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, "the last full measure of devotion."

Mary was 14 when her brother Solomon Bernstein, 22, died on Aug. 6, 1944, after his U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 "Flying Fortress" was shot down after a raid on a German aircraft factory. Five crew members bailed out, four others died in the crash.

The remains of Staff Sgt. Bernstein, the tail gunner and crew chief, and those of Staff Sgt. Chester Bartoszewicz, the radio operator, were so entwined that each man's casket contained body parts of the other. The two first were buried in Belgium, then repatriated in 1950 to Beverly National Cemetery in Burlington County.

Although the Bernsteins had lived in the Philly area, the family moved to Florida by the time Sol entered high school, and Bartoszewicz was from Pittsburgh, so the choice of New Jersey for their last resting place is a mystery. Beverly Cemetery Administration Serviceman Greg Whitney tells me the records do not explain why that cemetery was selected.

That location is a hardship on Mary, who now lives in a suburb of Orlando. She is 88, has had two strokes, and is unable to travel to her brother's grave. "I don't even have money to pay for flowers," she tells me in a soft voice over the phone. Her sons Stephen and Richard know of the uncle they never met, but lacking a real connection, they cannot be the ones to keep the flame burning.

The two airmen were buried in separate caskets in Beverly, one atop the other, with a single headstone engraved with their names and a cross. Over the decades the marble decayed, and Mary requested that it be replaced with a new one to keep her brother's memory fresh, along with that of his comrade-in-arms.

She made one other request that proved momentous: In addition to the cross for the Catholic Bartoszewicz, she asked that a Star of David be added for the Jewish Bernstein. The cemetery created a tombstone that military authorities agree is unique, showing the names of the dead heroes, along with symbols of their faiths. The new marker was placed in 1994, 50 years after their plane crashed in Germany.



The Bernstein family lived for a few years in Upper Darby and in Atlantic City before settling in Miami Beach, where the father, Julius Bernstein, managed hotels. Mary says her older brother was blond and blue-eyed, popular at Miami Beach High School, where he played French horn in the marching band.

Her brother spent a few days with the family in May 1943, but on the day he left to return to the war, Mary was visiting a friend and never got to say goodbye, a lapse that haunts her.

She obtained Air Force records detailing her brother's last mission. She found and talked to two of the five survivors of that flight. Although she tried mightily, calling people in Pittsburgh named Bartoszewicz, she never found anyone who knew Chester. She says it makes her sad that no one is remembering him.

But that is not true: She is remembering Chester, along with Sol  a Catholic and a Jew who are in the embrace of eternity.

They also are remembered by David Lee Preston, who is now my boss, but who as an Inquirer columnist discovered the tombstone in 1994 and wrote about it.

>>READ MORE: From the archives: A Jew and a Catholic, together forever

Almost every year in the 24 years since, Preston has done what Mary cannot, and laid flowers at the tombstone. This year, on Saturday, I joined him.

From the sunshine-bathed silence of the cemetery, we called Mary on cellphone and showed her the tombstone and flowers via FaceTime. She was grateful, and I was choking up.

Mary's flame is flickering, but it still burns.
The School Reform Commission on Thursday night adopted a $3.2 billion budget that provides for some new teachers and building repairs  but comes with an asterisk appended.

>>READ MORE: Banking on city cash, Philly school district introduces $3.2B budget

To enact the spending plan, the Philadelphia School District is still banking on what Mayor Kenney proposed in March: $700 million in new money from the city funded in part through a property tax increase. City Council, however, has balked at that sum, saying that taxpayers are already overburdened.

>>READ MORE: Mayor Kenney's budget wish list: Higher property taxes, transfer fees to fund extra $1 billion for schools

Council has until June 30 to adopt its budget, so in a way, Thursday's action by a lame-duck SRC could be a placeholder. If all of the new city money does not come through, district officials said an accelerated plan to fix the district's aging, and in spots environmentally problematic, buildings would be jeopardized.

That $150 million plan, which includes an expanded lead paint abatement program, "is desperately needed," Uri Monson, the district's chief financial officer, said as he outlined the budget to the commission.

In addition to the accelerated spending on repairs, the district would have to reconsider other investments if Council does not approve the new revenue proposed by Kenney, Monson said.

>>READ MORE: Without $700M, Philly might not be able to fix crumbling schools, Hite and Kenney say

The prospect that Council would not deliver the money drew questions  and one dissenting vote  before the commission passed the budget.

"This budget is an illusion built on shifting sands," Commissioner Bill Green said before voting against the plan, which passed 3-1. He cast doubt on whether Council would pass a property-tax increase ahead of an election next year  predicting that Kenney would campaign on trying to raise money for schools and blaming Council for not doing it. Council members, meanwhile, could tout holding down property taxes, Green said.

Council took a step Wednesday toward approving Kenney's proposed tax changes, advancing increases in the real estate transfer tax and homestead exemption and also moving ahead with the mayor's proposal to slow down scheduled reductions in the city's wage tax.

>>READ MORE: City Council tweaks mayor's tax proposal, voices need for greater property-tax relief

In response to Green, Estelle Richman, the chair of the commission, said voters would hold Kenney and Council accountable for their actions toward the school district.

"Don't undersell the voters in Philadelphia," Richman said.

The budget covers the education of 130,000 students in traditional public schools and 70,000 in charters. Year over year, expenditures jumped 5.3 percent, to $3.1 billion. The budget does not anticipate any school closures for 2018-19.

Among the new investments the spending plan would pay for: an expansion of the district's early literacy effort, previously focused on kindergartners through third graders, to add fourth- and fifth-grade supports; classroom modernization work at 11 schools; new special education, music and English for Speakers of Other Languages teachers; more money for art and music supplies; and more financial support for struggling schools and students.

"The investments we have made in our schools are making a difference," including in graduation rates, attendance and school climates, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday. "While we are proud of these achievements, we know that this progress must reach more students and more schools."

The biggest increases in the budget come from increases in payments to charter schools  the district will be spending nearly $1 billion of its budget on charter costs next year  debt service, salaries, and pension costs.

Without the city money, the district would project a deficit in Year 3 of its five-year plan, an outcome the mayor has said is unacceptable. But Council members, including President Darrell L. Clarke, and others have said they are not on board with raising taxes now for a budget gap that hasn't opened up yet, and that the state needs to step in, too.

In addition to passing the budget, the SRC on Thursday took a number of actions related to charter schools, including approving a new school it had previously denied. Philadelphia Hebrew Public School was approved to open in East Falls for the 2019-2020 school year, serving up to 468 students in grades K-5 during its five-year term.

The school will be run by Hebrew Public, which operates three charter schools in New York. Proponents said the new school would be "diverse-by-design" and focus on global citizenship, with instruction in Modern Hebrew.

The SRC also renewed Laboratory Charter School of Communications and Languages, after previously voting there were grounds not to renew it. District officials said the school's financial health was improving, though not all problems were fixed. The commission also approved Ad Prima Charter School to move one of its campuses from Kensington to Cedarbrook.

But it denied a proposed charter school by Asociacion Puertorriquenos en Marcha, which drew a number of supporters Thursday, including former Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Nelson Diaz.
Stephen Pierce,leads January protest over La Salle Universitys plans to sell art from its museum. The sales commenced in April, anyway, with 22 works sold at a New York auction. Read more

The national Association of Art Museum Directors, unhappy with the sale of artworks from institutional collections, has imposed sanctions on the La Salle University Art Museum and the Berkshire Museum, the AAMD announced Friday.

The sanctions, approved by the association's board, mean that museums belonging to the AAMD, a professional organization with 243 members, have been asked to "refrain from lending [to] or borrowing works of art" from either La Salle or Berkshire "and to also refrain from collaborating with either institution on exhibitions."

Officials at La Salle, which roiled the university campus by announcing in early January that it would sell artworks held by its museum to fund capital improvements and a strategic plan, did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

>> READ MORE: La Salle plan to sell museum masterpieces stuns art community

AAMD policy states that "selling art to support any need other than to build a museum's collection fundamentally undermines the critically important relationships between museums, donors, and the public."

In other words, art may be sold to acquire other art, but selling art to fix the plumbing or renovate a library is considered unethical and worthy of sanctions.

Neither La Salle, which sold 22 works at a New York auction in April, nor the Pittsfield, Mass., Berkshire Museum, which sold 11 works Wednesday, also at a New York auction, is a member of the AAMD.

Berkshire Museum officials have said they will use the proceeds of art sales to build an endowment and fund capital improvements.

A spokesman for the AAMD said Friday that the sanctions will remain in place unless the institutions decide to use the proceeds to acquire art.

Both the La Salle and Berkshire auctions failed to meet low sales estimates.

>> READ MORE: How Philly's PAFA took advantage of a Berkshire auction fail

Indeed, the Berkshire Museum's failed effort to auction off a large 1875 oil painting by Frederic Church allowed the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to acquire the work for an undisclosed sum in a "private sale" after the auction, PAFA announced Thursday.
Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted the Philadelphia Orchestra's Thursday night performance in Brussels, urging the orchestra to cancel the upcoming Israel leg of its tour.

The protesters broke into a performance of the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor with chants of "free, free, Palestine," and after about 30 seconds, music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin stopped conducting and the music came to a halt, said cellist John Koen. Security removed the protesters, and the concert resumed about 25 minutes later, he said.

An orchestra spokeswoman said she was unsure of the number of protesters, but she believes two were removed from the hall.

>> READ MORE: Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nezet-Seguin resolute about visit to Israel

>> READ MORE: Yannick slams his baton after pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt 'Tosca' performance

The orchestra leadership said it would be assessing next steps. "We're in talks with the other presenters [in the other cities on the tour] to speak about security measures that might be taken," said orchestra spokeswoman Ashley Berke.
Food Network host Josh Denny is currently under fire online for comparing the phrase "straight white male" to the N-word, as well as using the racial slur itself in past tweets, but he's not backing down.

The Ginormous Food host appeared on TMZ reporter Van Lathan's The Red Pill podcast this week, where he discussed the controversy that erupted after his initial Tweet on Friday. As Denny, a Ridley Park native, told Lathan, he has received death threats as a result of the comparison, as well as plenty of criticism online. He did not issue an apology.

"I take responsibility for it," Denny said. "I said those things."

"'Straight White Male' has become this century's N-Word. It's used to offend and diminish the recipient based on assumption and bias," Denny Tweeted last week. "No difference in the usage."

Following his tweet, Twitter users dug into Denny's past tweets going back to 2012, and found several instances of the host using the N-word, as well as mocking Asian women. Denny explained those instances as "dark jokes" on The Red Pill, saying that enjoying dark humor is not "indicative of a deeper evil."

Denny also used the N-word in his appearance on the podcast this week, prompting Lathan to ask him to not use the word. In total, Denny used the word four times, even after Lathan asked him to stop.

"It's in the joke. I'm quoting the joke," Denny said. Lathan, meanwhile, called Denny's use of the N-word "unbelievably telling."

Prior to his appearance on The Red Pill, Denny tweeted the "healthy debate and dialogue" his statements prompted. He added that his action come "from a place of wanting us to be better to each other."

Comedy club promoters, however, don't seem to agree. As Denny posted over the weekend, Santa Monica's Westside Comedy Theatre recently canceled a monthly show as a result of the controversy. He had hosted the show there every month for four years.

"Not surprisingly today, the venue owners called me to say that the show is done, and I'm not welcome at the club  based on their desire to be 'inclusive,'" Denny wrote. "But as the internet is teaching us, with people like Owen Benjamin,Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, and Jordan Peterson  that doesn't include 'diversity' in ideas or thought."

Food Network has not yet commented on the incident. However, the most recent season of Ginormous Food aired last fall, and Denny indicated on Twitter that he hasn't worked for the network for "almost a year." He is still featured on the Food Network website, and includes Food Network references in his Twitter bio.

Ginormous Food brought Denny back to Philadelphia in 2016, when he and the show's crew came to town to film segments at Spread Bagelry, the Trolley Car Diner, and Jake's Sandwich board.
Chera Kowalski, who works at McPherson Square library, poses with naloxone inside the facility on a day last year when she had to use the reversal drug on a person who overdosed on heroin. Read more

Even in the digital era, libraries are high-traffic zones, hosting more than 1.5 billion visits annually. On any given day in Philadelphia, the Free Library welcomes a stream of visitors, who arrive early in the morning to use the computers, congregate after school for homework help, and join a rich range of programs, from story time, to job fairs, to classes for English language learners at the Culinary Literacy Center. Here and across the country, public libraries offer vitally important free and public spaces in our communitiesadvancing education, literacy, social connection, and wellbeing.

Libraries are also unlikely heroes in addressing the opioid epidemic, whether or not they intend to be. In Pennsylvania, 12 percent of the state's public libraries experienced a drug overdose on-site in the past year, according to a recent study from our team at the University of Pennsylvania. Those numbers may continue to rise. Philadelphia recorded 1,200 overdose deaths in 2017nearly twice the number from just three years prior. Across Pennsylvania, the drug overdose death rate more than doubled between 2010 and 2016, earning the state a hideous distinction as a leader in drug-related mortality.

For some libraries, responding to overdoses has become a routine occurrence. Our team interviewed dozens of library staff during the Public Library Association annual meeting, held in Philadelphia this past March, to hear their concerns regarding the opioid crisis. We encountered librarians who were at turns angered, perplexed, saddened, and overwhelmed by the challenges of widespread opioid use and overdose in their communities. A small-town librarian from New Hampshire told us, with a dispirited sigh, that she had called the fire department three times in just the past week to respond to suspected drug overdoses.

Some libraries have responded to the opioid crisis with remarkable ingenuity and resolve. This is true in Philadelphia's hard-hit neighborhoods, where branches of the Free Library have garnered praise for their efforts to recognize and reverse overdoses using the life-saving drug, naloxone (brand name Narcan). In a busy Colorado library, staff members encounter a person injecting drugs at least once a day. There, the team works to balance the health and social needs of people actively injecting drugs, while also aiming to keep the library as welcoming and safe as possible for patrons of all ages and life experiences. Similarly, a librarian from West Virginia described the thorny challenges that resulted from a recent overdose at her facility. She explained that it was both frightening and sad, and that "the children that were in the library. They came upstairs and they watched it. And so, the parents of those children are very active on social media. Well, now you get known as the drug house. And that doesn't benefit anybody."

Few librarians enter the profession with the expectation that they will be called to provide emergency medical aid to patrons. But in today's reality, library staff must be prepared. They need further training to understand and respond to the needs of patrons with substance use disorder, including those at risk of overdose. Library staff need naloxone close at hand, and, importantly, a willingness to intervene. With these assets, library staff can and will save lives while on the job. Still, this is an understandably daunting prospect for people who expected to provide health information rather than acute health interventions.

Inspired by organizations like Prevention Point, a national leader in opioid harm reduction efforts, our Healthy Library Initiative has partnered with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health on overdose awareness and reversal trainings at the Free Library of Philadelphia. We also trained staff from libraries across the country at the Public Library Association annual meeting. These efforts are small but important steps in confronting the opioid epidemic.

Clearly, we have to do more. Librarians are already challenged to provide the research services, computer and internet access, educational support, programming, and warm welcome that make libraries such attractive community hubs. People suffering from substance use disorder need all of those supports, and more, to guide them toward health and recovery. They need vastly improved resources, including increased access to evidence-based treatment. Comprehensive User Engagement Sites (CUES), which include health and social services for people using injection drugs, can reduce overdose deaths and decrease disease transmission rates, including from HIV and hepatitis C. Importantly, CUES can also serve as conduits to treatment.

By providing integrated care and safe places for people using injection drugs, CUES may alleviate some of the burden currently carried by public libraries. As one librarian from West Virginia shared with us: "We have kids that are strung out on heroin. It's concerning to me because I don't want to be the place that they think they can come and [use drugs], but I'm not going to put them out and tell them they can't come and use the internet." This is a tragic dilemma that public libraries face every day, as they have become de facto injection sites in many communities.

Libraries are not equipped to optimize the safety of people using opioids. They are not prepared to support the mental health of patrons who witness drug use or overdose. Nor are they trained to clean up potentially hazardous drugs and paraphernalia.

Librarians cannot tackle this problem alone. It is time for public health and health care institutions, as well as social service providers, to partner with public libraries, sharing our strengths in order to alleviate the human suffering faced by communities nationwide, including our own.

Carolyn C. Cannuscio, ScD, is Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, Perelman School of Medicine, and Director of Research, Center for Public Health Initiatives (CPHI), at the University of Pennsylvania. Roxanne Dupuis, MSPH is Research Program Manager at CPHI. Eliza D. Whiteman, PhD, is a researcher at Penn's Healthy Library Initiative.
During a recent hearing on the role of innovation in addressing climate change, several Republicans made faulty claims about the climate, past and present:

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks falsely claimed river sediment deposits and rocks falling from cliffs cause sea level rise, later writing that this was "the #1 cause." Melting ice at the poles and ocean thermal expansion are the dominant causes.

Brooks also said global warming leads to more ice on Antarctica. That's false. The continent has been losing ice since the beginning of the 21st century.

Texas Rep. Lamar Smith falsely said there's "no correlation" between sea level rise and carbon emissions. Sea level rise is strongly linked to global warming, which is primarily caused by increased carbon emissions from humans.

Florida Rep. Bill Posey falsely claimed it was "30 degrees warmer when the dinosaurs roamed." It was never that hot when dinosaurs lived. More importantly, it has never been close to that hot when humans lived.

Posey also claimed the last ice age "was caused by a cataclysmic collision of an asteroid." That's false. Ice ages are caused by changes in the Earth's orbit and related factors.

The congressmen  all members of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee  made their claims while questioning Philip Duffy, a physicist and the president of the Woods Hole Research Center, a climate change think tank. On a number of occasions, Duffy contested what the Republicans said, to no avail. We'll take their claims one by one.

An Alabaman in Antarctica

Brooks, the congressman from Alabama, made two false claims during the hearing  one about river sediments and cliff rocks and another about ice in Antarctica  both during a debate with Duffy about the causes of sea level rise.

Brooks asked why "sea levels have risen" since "human beings have been on the planet." Duffy then correctly explained that "sea levels over the last 3 million years have gone up and down in line with the cycles of ice ages."

During their exchange, Duffy also said that "ground subsidence" is "a factor in some regions." Ground subsidence, or the sinking of land, does contribute to land loss in some regions, such as in Louisiana, which we wrote about in March 2017.

But those answers didn't satisfy Brooks, so he pointed to factors he believed are causing sea level rise.

Brooks, May 16:  What about erosion? Every single year that were on Earth, you have huge tons of silt deposited by the Mississippi River, by the Amazon River, by the Nile, by every major river system and, for that matter, creek, all the way down to the smallest systems. And every time you have that soil or rock, or whatever is it, that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise because now youve got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up. What about the White Cliffs of Dover, California, where you have the waves crashing against the shoreline, and time and time again youre having the cliffs crash into the sea? All of that displaces water which forces it to rise. Does it not?

Duffy's response: "I'm pretty sure that on human time scales those are minuscule effects." Duffy is right again, as we'll explain.

Brooks doubled-down on these claims in a May 19 op-ed published on the news site AL.com. "Over the history of planet Earth, far and away the #1 cause of sea level rise has been erosion and its resulting deposits of sediment and rocks into the world's seas and oceans," he wrote, adding, "There is no close second cause of sea level rise."

This is false.

According to a 2017 report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, global sea level rise is "primarily driven by two factors," both directly related to global warming.

First, the oceans are expanding because water swells as it gets warmer. According the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the "oceans are absorbing more than 90 percent of the increased atmospheric heat associated with emissions from human activity."

Second, there's also more water in the oceans because mountain glaciers and the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting, explains the 2017 report.

We asked Steven Goodbred Jr., an environmental scientist at Vanderbilt University whom we interviewed for another piece on sea level rise, for his take on Brooks' claim. He did say that "sediment does displace water," but it has a minuscule effect "on shorter time scales (<100 years) due to the small volume of sediment relative to the immense volume of the oceans."

On time scales longer than 100 years, "it has no real effect" because of a process called isostasy, where "the added weight of sediment to the oceans causes the crust to sink and the reduced weight of the sediment eroded from the land causes it to rise," Goodbred added. In other words, there's "no net change in water level relative to land," he said.

Torbjorn E. Tornqvist, a geology professor at Tulane University in New Orleans whom we spoke with for the March 2017 piece on land loss in Louisiana, gave us the same explanation, adding that Brooks' comments "are utter nonsense."

This brings us to the second false claim Brooks made. As he continued his exchange with Duffy, Brooks asked "would it surprise you to know that as global temperatures rise  assuming for the moment that they do  that that actually increases the amount of ice that is collected on Antarctica?" Brooks repeated these claims in his May 19 op-ed.

Duffy's response: "That's not true, sir." Duffy is right  it's not.

We wrote about ice levels in Antarctica and Greenland in January, after President Trump falsely implied the globe's ice caps are at "record" high levels. According to NASA, both of these ice sheets have declined in mass since 2002. "Both ice sheets have seen an acceleration of ice mass loss since 2009," the agency adds.

During the hearing, Brooks supported his claim by saying that he "made a trip down to Antarctica and met with National Science Foundation scientists and they all agreed with global warming and they emphasized that you're going to have an increase in the amount of ice in Antarctica because of global warming."

His explanation?

"[P]rojected global warming will LOWER sea levels because warmer Antarctic air will carry more moisture above the Antarctic land mass, and deposit that moisture in the interior of Antarctica, where it will take hundreds of years to glacially make its way to the sea," wrote Brooks in his op-ed. NSF "scientists opined that the increase in Antarctic continental ice will more than offset the loss of ice elsewhere on planet Earth."

We reached out to Brooks' office to ask for the names of the NSF-funded scientists who gave him this information, but we received no response. We also contacted multiple researchers studying the topic, and they all agreed that Brooks' explanation was inaccurate.

Santiago de la Pena, a researcher at Ohio State University who studies glacier dynamics, told us that, while he was there when Brooks and other politicians visited Antarctica in 2014, he did "not recall having said conversation" with Brooks.

"Current climate models do contemplate an increase of snowfall over Antarctica in a warming scenario, which is logical given a potential increase of moisture in the atmosphere," he added, but "the increase would be of an order of magnitude smaller than total mass loss."

Erin Pettit, an associate professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, who studies glaciers, told us that she "did meet with the congressional visitors as a whole for about 10 minutes," but she didn't speak with Brooks specifically. "The vast majority of the peer reviewed papers in recent years would not agree with the congressman's statement," she added.

In short, while there might be some ice gained in the interior of Antarctica, there's a net loss because ice is retreating along the coasts at a faster rate. Other experts in this area  Eric Steig at the University of Washington, David Holland at New York University, and Richard Alley at Pennsylvania State University  also told us Brooks' claim was inaccurate for the same reasons.

Smith Strikes Again

We've written plenty of times about claims made by Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House science committee. But rarely, if ever, has a scientist corrected him on the spot, as Duffy did during the hearing.

While putting up a slide showing two graphs, Smith said, "You will see that for the last 100 years sea level rise has been basically constant," adding, "It's been going up at about 1.8 mm per year, and you'll see that there appears to be no correlation between the increase in the sea level and carbon emissions."

Duffy interjected, pointing out to Smith that he had "shown a sea level record from one location."

Duffy, May 16: Smith: Duffy: Smith: Duffy: Smith:  Youve shown a sea level record from one location.

Again, Duffy is right.

First, the rate of global sea level rise is around four times faster than what it was about 100 years ago. We reached out to Duffy for support for his claim, and he sent us a study led by James Hansen, a climate scientist at Columbia University. That paper summed up previous research on the topic, which showed the average rate of sea level rise was about 0.6 millimeters per year between 1900 and 1930. Between 1993 and 2015, the rate was about 2.6 mm per year, which is 4.3 times faster  and that's the conservative estimate.

However, we should mention that we've written previously that other climate scientists have said the Hansen paper's future projections for global sea level rise are exaggerated, one of those scientists being Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State. We reached out to Mann to ask him if the paper's summary of past observations is accurate, and he confirmed that it is.

Second, Duffy is right that sea level rise in San Francisco, or any other specific location, "doesn't represent what's happening globally." As we explained in March 2017, local sea level rise takes into consideration phenomena such as ground subsidence, not just melting ice and the thermal expansion of the oceans, which is what scientists consider when they look at the rise globally.

Plus, juxtaposing sea level rise in one location with global carbon emissions is an apples-to-oranges comparison. When you look at sea level rise globally and compare it with global temperature rise, there is a strong association, says the 2017 Global Change Research Program's report. And as we've written countless times, there's also a causal link between global temperature rise and carbon emissions from human activity.

When we reached out to Smith's office for comment, his spokesperson didn't provide us with any evidence to the contrary.

Poseys Scientific Faux Pas

Florida Rep. Bill Posey also questioned Duffy about the Earth's climate before the development of human civilization  and made several scientific misstatements along the way.

During their exchange, Posey asked Duffy what "the temperature on Earth [was] before the last ice age," to which Duffy responded, "Before the last ice age, the last interglacial, well, similar to what it was about 100 years ago."

Duffy is a little off here. According to NOAA, "global mean annual surface temperatures were warmer than preindustrial [times] by about 1 to 2C" during the last interglacial period, which started about 125,000 years ago.

Posey followed up by rhetorically asking, "You think? You don't think maybe it was 30 degrees warmer when dinosaurs roamed the Earth?" As we'll explain, he's much more than a little off.

Duffy then responded by correctly stating, "There certainly have been epochs in the past when global temperature was warmer than it is now."

There have been periods during which the Earth's mean temperature was warmer than it is today, but Posey is wrong to say that the mean global temperature was 30 degrees warmer at any point when dinosaurs roamed.

NOAA explains: "Our planet probably experienced its hottest temperatures in its earliest days" at more than 3000 degrees Fahrenheit about 4.54 billion years ago. Even after "those first scorching millennia," Earth "has sometimes been much warmer than it is now," the agency adds. NOAA points to two such periods  between 600 and 800 million years ago and about 55 to 56 million years ago.

NOAA points out that these record periods "occurred before humans existed." It added, "Those ancient climates would have been like nothing our species has ever seen." But did dinosaurs roam during either of these periods?

Dinosaurs are traditionally thought of as living between 247 and 66 million years ago, a time known as the Mesozoic Era. However, scientifically speaking, dinosaurs still exist today, as research has shown that modern-day birds are a group of dinosaurs that survived the mass extinction of dinosaurs occurring 66 million years ago.

So, a record warm period didn't occur when dinosaurs, as we typically think of them, roamed the Earth. Still, since modern-day birds are technically dinosaurs, one could say dinosaurs were still around about 55 to 56 million years ago. But how hot was it?

During this period  what scientists call the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum  evidence suggests that the planet's global mean temperature rose "by as much as 5-8C (9-14F) to an average temperature as high as 73F," NOAA explains. The global average temperature over the past few years has hovered between 58 and 59 F, or upwards of 1.5 F above the 20th century average of 57 F.

So that comes out to, at most, around 14.5 F warmer about 55 million years ago than now  not 30 F warmer, as Posey said. In degrees Celsius, the difference would be even smaller. And it's also worth reiterating that this warm period did not occur during the previous interglacial period  or the last ice age  about 125,000 years ago, which is what Posey first asked Duffy about.

In short, Posey's statement is wrong on multiple counts.

Posey made another false claim while questioning Duffy about the cause of the last ice age.

Posey, May 16: Duffy: Posey:  What caused the end of the last ice age?

Again, Duffy is right and Posey is wrong. There are additional factors, however.

NOAA explains, "Variations in Earth's orbit through time have changed the amount of solar radiation Earth receives in each season." And the warmer periods  the interglacials  "tend to occur during periods of peak solar radiation in the Northern Hemisphere summer." But there are likely other factors at play as well.

Pettit, at the University of Alaska, put it this way: "Ice ages in general are caused by subtle changes in the Earth's orbit and Earth's tilt, with complexities introduced by feedbacks within our climate system and the arrangement of the oceans and continents."

One example of a feedback in the climate system is the ice-albedo feedback, NOAA explains. As solar radiation increases with changes to the Earth's orbit, it melts ice covering the planet, which, in turn, leads to more solar radiation being absorbed by surface, leading to more warmth. Why? Because ice is more reflective, or has a higher albedo, than land or water.

So where did Posey get this idea that an asteroid caused the last ice age? We contacted his office to find out, but we never received a response.

Posey may be confusing the cause of ice ages with the theory that asteroid impacts caused the Younger Dryas. This is a period between 11,600 and 12,900 years ago when the planet's climate got drastically colder, explains Nature in a September 2013 article.

But as Pettit explained to us in an email, "That theory is definitely not the leading one, but more importantly it only applies to *one* particular cold period of a thousand years at the very end of the last ice age. It did *not* cause the last ice age."

Toward the end of their exchange, Posey asked Duffy: "What do you say to people who theorize that the Earth, as it continues to warm, is returning to its normal temperature?" Duffy responded: "If you want to characterize a temperature above today's temperature as normal, you're free to do that, but that doesn't mean that's a planet that we want to live on."

Posey then replied, "I don't want to get philosophical," adding, "I'm trying to stay on the science here." But the fact of the matter is  he didn't stick to the science, and neither did Brooks nor Smith.
From left: Mary Catherine Roper, deputy legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania; Jason Landau Goodman, executive director of the Pennsylvania Youth Congress; Ria Tabacco Mar, staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Rights Project; Aidan DeStefano, 2017 graduate of Boyertown Area Senior High. Read more

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia handed a victory to transgender students Thursday by recognizing that allowing them to use the same restrooms and locker rooms as everyone else harms no one, and is perfectly legal.

That might sound like common sense. But to a small group of anti-LGBT extremists in Pennsylvania, it's anything but. Emboldened by the Trump administration's attacks on the transgender community, they had asked the court to do what even Trump, so far, has not: order a school district to bar its transgender students from restrooms and locker rooms they currently use.

>> READ MORE: Federal court OKs Boyertown schools' policy letting transgender students use bathrooms of their choice

A case about transgender students and bathrooms may not sound new. But the plaintiffs here were not transgender students. No, the challengers were non-transgender, or cisgender, students and their parents. And they objected not to exclusion, but inclusion. They claimed that their school was violating their constitutional right to bodily privacy and subjecting them to sexual harassment simply by allowing transgender students to be in restrooms and locker rooms with everyone else. That's not only novel, it turns the law on its head.

To understand the lawsuit, some background is required. Under President Barack Obama, the federal Education Department said Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education, means that schools must allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

President Trump abandoned that position, but he didn't expressly tell educators to follow suit. Instead, his Education Department suggested that states and local school districts, not the federal government, should set education policy.

>> READ MORE: Mom of transgender Boyertown grad: My son deserves to use boys' restroom | Opinion

School districts around the country chose to stay the course. They had found that treating boys and girls who are transgender like other boys and girls was good not only for transgender students, but for schools as a whole.

One of those schools is Boyertown Area Senior High in Berks County. Recent graduate Aidan DeStefano, who is transgender, described how it felt to be allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms alongside the other boys after years of being relegated to separate facilities: "I am finally 'one of the guys,' something I have waited for my whole life."

But Aidan's relief was short lived. Just weeks later, a handful of families at the school sued to try to banish Aidan and other transgender students from spaces where everyone else is welcome.

The lawsuit doesn't claim misconduct by any student of any gender. The "incidents" at issue are almost painfully mundane; one student sued because she walked into the restroom and saw another girl, who is transgender, washing her hands at the sink.

>> READ MORE: Girls and boys shouldn't do everything together | Opinion

That's not to say her discomfort isn't real. Changing clothes in front of classmates of any gender can be uncomfortable. Modern educators understand this. That's why many high schools, including Boyertown's, have recently created spaces to change that truly are private, including individual stalls and curtained areas within common spaces as well as single-user restrooms. These spaces are available for any student who chooses to use them for any reason. But the students involved in the lawsuit say they do not want to change in these private areas. Instead, the lawsuit claims a constitutional right to undress in front of other students  just not students who are transgender.

That's a fundamental misinterpretation of what privacy means.

Thankfully for transgender students, the court agreed. But there's still reason to take heed: The lawsuit never uses the word "transgender." It refers to boys and girls who are transgender as members of "the opposite sex" as compared to other boys and girls. That isn't just a difference in terminology. It's an erasure of transgender people's lives.

The Boyertown case, one of half a dozen similar challenges, is the first of its kind to reach a federal court of appeals and set important precedent. But the heart of the case isn't the legal claims involved. It's the refusal to acknowledge that transgender people even exist.

Thanks to the bravery of young people, much of America now understands that they do. In a highly unusual move, the court announced its decision less than an hour after the case was argued, rejecting the challengers' claims out of hand. That sends a powerful message of recognition to transgender students in the courtroom and beyond. As former Attorney General Loretta Lynch once said to transgender people facing a similar attack: "We see you. We stand with you."

And that's something no one can erase.

Ria Tabacco Mar, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, argued the case, Doe v. Boyertown Area School District.
It's amazing to think that one quick trip to the bathroom can change your life.

I was a junior in high school when I ducked into the girls' room at school one day to find  a boy. I froze. Three years at this particular school, and that had never happened to me before. The girls' bathroom had always been the girls' getaway place  a place for privacy, mostly, but also a little refuge  a place to get away from boys, maybe talk about boys, but not meet boys.

My first thought was to get out. My second was to find my teacher and let her know what had happened. The teacher told me to tell the principal, so I did. And the principal did nothing.

I soon found out I wasn't the only one caught off guard by this new, "open door" policy. A boy at our school was in the middle of changing clothes in the boys' locker room when he looked up to see a girl changing her clothes nearby. Movies and TV try to make that sound funny or sexy, but that's not how it feels when it happens to you. It's just embarrassing, awkward, and uncomfortable.

>> READ MORE: Federal court OKs Boyertown schools' policy letting transgender students use bathrooms of their choice

The boy in the locker room did what I did  got out and found an adult to tell what happened. He soon learned what I had: that administrators at our school really didn't care about our concerns. The administrator he talked to just told him to "tolerate it"  to "make it as natural as possible." How do you make something as unnatural as that "natural?" How natural would you feel, having someone of the opposite sex standing next to you  or your child  while you change clothes or go to the bathroom?

If our administrators didn't have much to say after we told them, they had even less to say before. No one notified the students at our school  or our parents  of this sudden change of policy. No one prepared us, warned us, counseled us. Did they really think everyone would enjoy the surprise and just embrace this idea, right away?

Well, if that's what they were thinking, I guess they were surprised, too. The family of the boy who met the girl in the locker room decided to file a lawsuit for violation of his right to bodily privacy. When I learned about the lawsuit, I signed on as a co-plaintiff.

On Thursday, a federal appeals court refused to stop the school district from violating our privacy rights, so we're considering our next steps. As one of my attorneys said after that decision, "The Supreme Court has already spoken: The real differences between men and women mean that privacy must be protected where it really counts, and that certainly includes high school locker rooms and restrooms."

The pushback in the media has been what you might expect, if you've been following these kinds of cases around the country the last few years.

According to the people on the blogs and at the microphones, those of us who object to finding ourselves in private spaces with people of the opposite sex must be bigots, or religious extremists, to deny our peers who identify with the opposite sex their choice of restroom. I guess it's always easier to label people than to think about where they're coming from.

I come from a broken home. As a child, I struggled for a long time through a broken foster care system. Eventually, a good, loving family adopted me, but all those previous experiences made me a shy and quiet little girl who didn't have a voice of my own.

>> READ MORE: Boyertown case proves the lives of transgender people can't be erased by extremists | Opinion

My adoptive parents worked hard to help me find that voice. They taught me to think for myself, and speak for myself, and that what I thought mattered. That came in handy when we moved to Boyertown, where black children like me were pretty few and far between, but racial slurs were not.

So, it's not like I don't know what it's like to be different, or can't understand someone who has a hard time speaking up for their rights. But that doesn't make me any more comfortable having my privacy invaded or knowing the bathroom door is open to anyone who wants to come in.

I don't have a problem sharing a bathroom with someone who identifies as transgender  provided they are the same sex I am. I do have trouble with a policy that says anyone who's in an opposite-sex mood today can stroll in and observe me in my intimate moments  and with school officials who value the feelings of a few students more than the dignity and privacy of all those in their care.

It's my hope that the judges who may hear our case going forward will understand that better than our school administrators have  and take more seriously their responsibility to protect girls'privacy where it should be most protected: in the girls' room.

Alexis Lightcap is a student at Boyertown Area Senior High School and a plaintiff in the lawsuit Doe v. Boyertown Area School District.
Faculty protest lack of a contract last year at Community College of Philadelphias board of trustees meeting. Read more

After more than two years of ever-more-contentious negotiations, Community College of Philadelphia and its faculty have failed to reach agreement on a new contract  and that's long enough, says the school's president.

On Thursday, the college made what officials called its "final" and "best" offer to the union, which represents about 1,300 full- and part-time faculty and support staff, and released the terms publicly.

"We have to move the college forward," said Donald "Guy" Generals Jr., president.

The contract, Generals said, would cost the college more than $10 million over its five years. Retroactive to Sept. 1, 2016, and running through Aug. 31, 2021, it would give union members more than a 10 percent cumulative raise, but seek heavier workloads for newly hired faculty as well as health care contributions.

Union members would lose a 2 percent wage boost retroactive to September 2017 if they failed to accept the offer by Aug. 1, Generals said.

No deal, said union leaders Steve Jones and John Braxton.

"Nobody's going to force their way to a settlement here," Jones said. "We're going to continue to bargain."

What happens next is uncertain. The apparent stalemate comes with the spring semester over and summer session underway.

A main point of contention has been the college's attempt to increase the workload of full-time faculty members from four courses a semester to five. On Thursday, the college said only newly hired faculty would be required to teach five; current instructors would have a choice. Those who opt for it would get a $9,000 increase in their base pay. Nearly a third of faculty already teach five, Generals said.

"Putting more full-time faculty in the classroom is a priority," Generals said. "Full-time faculty have the greatest impact on student success."

But Jones said the union fears the the proposal would actually result in fewer full-time faculty being hired and lessen the ability of the college to diversify its teaching ranks. It also would limit the time that instructors have to interact with students, he said, and result in layoffs of part-time faculty.

The pact also would require employees earning more than $40,000 a year to pay toward their health insurance premiums for the first time. Contributions would range from $16 per month for a single employee earning $40,000 to $88 per month for family coverage for an employee earning more than $100,000, the college said.

Union members, he said, have not been paying anything toward their premiums.

"It's hurting our bottom line," Generals contended. "It's not sustainable."

Jones countered: "We feel that we've been paying for the cost of the benefits we have in the form of lower salaries."

The minimum starting salary for a full-time faculty member is $50,529 and the average below $70,000.

Braxton added that for many union members, the health insurance costs would eat up the raises the college has proposed.

Union members have been operating under the terms of the old contract, which expired in August 2016. Negotiations have been tense. In February, members crowded a professional development session with signs, protesting the lack of a contract, and Generals for 15 minutes refused to address the group, declaring: "I will not be bullied."

In February 2017, the sides sparred over faculty's role in assessing whether courses are meeting their objectives in helping students learn.
As longtime leaders in criminal justice, we have seen a deeply unsettling trend in the way probation and parole  sometimes called "community corrections"  have become overused and too often serve as a gateway to reincarceration based on the smallest of missteps. That's why we recently joined with 45 fellow prosecutors nationwide who believe that community corrections needs to be downsized and made rehabilitative, not only because that will make us safer, but because it will fortify trust in our justice system for millions of Americans.

When community corrections was founded in the 1800s, it was viewed as a highly individualized way to curb the purely punitive sentence of imprisonment with an alternative to incarceration (probation) or a release valve for those who did well during incarceration (parole).

But since 1980, it has grown far beyond what its founders ever could have imagined. The number of people on probation and parole has increased four-fold, peaking at 5 million individuals  or one out of every 53 adults  before declining slightly of late. That is twice as many people as are incarcerated in America, and more people than live in half of all U.S. states.

Often thought of as a grant of mercy or slap on the wrist, parole and probation are a deprivation of liberty and can serve as an unnecessary trip wire back into incarceration. Four out of 10 people entering our prisons and jails were on parole or probation at the time of their reincarceration. Often that stay behind bars is not for a new arrest, but simply for violating a technical condition of release like missing appointments or drug use.

A pair of studies by the Columbia University Justice Lab vividly lays out how this is contributing to incarceration, but not enhancing public safety, around the nation.

In New York, although both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo agree that the notorious Rikers Island jail should close, and the jail population has declined to lows not seen since the 1980s, the only population rising in Rikers is people accused of technical parole violations. New York's parole failure rate of 47% is substantially higher than the national average of 28%. Not surprisingly, 29.5% of those entering New York's prisons are incarcerated for technical violations.

Pennsylvania has the highest incarceration rate in the Northeast, and the third-highest community corrections rate in the country. The number and rate of people supervised by parole in Pennsylvania is the highest in the nation  three times the national average. An astonishing one out of 22 Philadelphians is being supervised by probation or parole.

This hefty contribution to the state's incarceration rate comes at a great cost and has no apparent public safety benefit. One-third of Pennsylvanians in prison are there for a parole or probation violation at an annual cost of $420 million. Half of those in Philadelphia's jails are in on parole or probation detainers. Yet research by the Council of State Governments shows that placing people on probation following release from prison or jail has no impact on their rearrest rates.

Several states have tried to reduce both the footprint and harmful outcomes of these practices. When Arizona gave people "earned discharge" time off their probation terms, the state not only reduced probation violations by 29 percent, but achieved a 21 percent decline in arrests of people on probation, realizing $392 million in averted costs. When Louisiana capped the amount of time someone could receive for technical violations at between 15 and 45 days, there was a 22 percent decline in returns to incarceration for new arrests, saving over 2,000 beds and $17 million.

Pennsylvania State Sen. Anthony Williams and New York Assembly Member Walter Mosely have filed legislation in their respective states to address this issue. These proposed reforms would shorten probation and parole terms, grant people 30 days of earned discharge time for every 30 days of success under supervision, and cap the amount of time someone could receive for a technical violation.

These are the kinds of sensible policy changes needed to restore faith in our justice system, reduce the overly expansive scope of community corrections, focus assistance on those people most in need, reward people for good performance, and overall, increase public safety and rehabilitation. We hope that prosecutors around the nation will rally around the need for reform and use their influence to help chart a more positive pathway for all members of our community.

Larry Krasner is the District Attorney of Philadelphia.

Miriam Krinsky is a former federal prosecutor and Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution, a national network of elected prosecutors working towards common-sense, compassionate criminal justice reforms.


Lehigh University engineering students Chris Szafranski (left), Lena McDonnell (center) and Brooke Glassman talk about the device they created to improve safety for women, Soterra, which McDonnell is holding. Read more

Their engineering professors said it couldn't be done, not in a year.

"We were like, cool, we're going to try anyway," said Lehigh University junior Brooke Glassman.

Now, Glassman and 15 classmates  most engineering majors  are in the running for a $1 million prize in an international contest that took them to India for two weeks and challenged them in a way classroom education couldn't.

The best part? They were asked to confront a problem they all really cared about: How to help women in danger of sexual assault  especially those without internet or cellphone access or in countries without a universal emergency access number like 911  signal for help.

They designed a battery-operated device that will help users discreetly alert emergency services through a "dynamic mesh network" with a GPS. It works by relaying signals among tens, hundreds, or even thousands of devices.

They'll find out June 6 at the U.N. building in New York if they beat out four other finalists for the Anu and Naveen Jain Women's Safety XPRIZE.

"We're building this technology because we think it can make a difference," said team leader Lena McDonnell, 22, of the San Francisco Bay Area.

For more than 20 years, XPRIZE has been challenging innovators across the globe to use technology to create products that make the world a better place.

It's one of the biggest competitions that Lehigh students have entered and have become finalists, in terms of prize size and international status, said Chris Kauzmann, innovator in residence at Lehigh's Baker Institute, which nurtures entrepreneurial projects.

Sexual assault was a problem on their minds, at a time when college campuses are trying harder to combat it and women are speaking up more.

"This device can help in a situation where there otherwise would be no help," said Chris Szafranski, 21, a senior computer engineering major from Maplewood, N.J.

XPRIZE set the parameters: The device could cost no more than $40 to manufacture, needed to be able to be used discreetly and without internet, and elicit a response that help is on the way within 90 seconds.

"Our device is made to look super boring," McDonnell said.

Like a garage door opener or bar of soap.

They call the device and their team Soterra  a combination of Soteria, the Greek goddess of safety, and terra, for land.

"Creating a safe land," McDonnell said.

Inside, the Bluetooth-connected GPS system will have 50 times more geographical accuracy than a U.S. mobile 911 phone call, McDonnell said. A barometer, which senses pressure, will pinpoint for emergency workers the floor of a building from which the signal is emanating.

The device could be particularly helpful to women in developing countries who don't have access to cellphones or the internet, students said. Users would press a button on the device to send a signal, which would then be continually relayed to other Soterra devices in the region until it reaches a gateway that sends it to emergency responders. The idea would be to equip a community with hundreds of Soterras.

Students said Soterra also could be useful in the United States in areas of no internet access or cellphones, or when the user needs to discreetly signal for help.

In addition, the team developed a second alert that could go to close contacts. For that option, the contacts would need a cellphone.

Before designing their device, students knocked on the door of Brooke DeSipio in the office of gender violence education and support and Rita Jones in the center for gender equity. They also got advice from marketing professor Steven Savino and some of his graduate students and entrepreneurship professor Dale Falcinelli.

"You would never know this group of students when I watched them present were undergraduate students," Savino said.

McDonnell, a computer science and engineering major, said that for the last year, she worked 40 hours a week on the project.

Things got intense just before they left for India.

"We had a deadline, and we did not sleep the night before we got on that plane," said Glassman, 21, a junior mechanical engineering major from Katonah, N.Y.

Eighty-five teams from 17 countries entered the contest. Twenty-one were invited to India. There, teams showed judges their prototype and demonstrated it.

Three of the five finalists, including Soterra, are from the United States, one from Switzerland and one from India. Soterra is the only group of all undergraduates. Others included graduate or doctoral students or professionals.

If they win, students still at Lehigh would use the prize money to further develop the product. McDonnell, who graduated this month, will start work as a software engineer at a Virginia-based defense contractor, but would plan to be involved.

"Hopefully Soterra will continue and eventually become my full-time gig," added Szafranski, who is headed to a software engineering job at Visa.

Win or lose, students got the learning experience of a lifetime, the Baker Institute's Kauzmann said.

"We say the answer is not on campus most of the time," he said. "It's out in the world, and they've done an incredibly good job of going out in the world and trying to find those answers."
Dr. Sue Sisley, an Arizona psychiatrist, is one of the lead researchers on a study on cannabis and chronic pain that has enlisted 25 Pennsylvania dispensaries to help collect patient data. Read more

A consortium of 25 Pennsylvania marijuana dispensaries announced it will collect patient research data for a national study on chronic pain already underway at the University of Michigan.

Sue Sisley is one of the lead researchers on the Michigan pain study. An Arizona physician who has conducted DEA-approved marijuana studies at the Scottsdale Research Institute to treat veterans suffering from PTSD, Sisley said the pain study already has enlisted about 600 patients in Nevada and Michigan.

Patients who use cannabis for chronic pain will be asked to complete a confidential online survey on an iPad at the participating dispensaries.

If the Michigan project signs up enough people  Sisley said 3,000 participants would yield publishable results  it could render the idea of Pennsylvania's state-sanctioned research program moot. It would show meaningful investigations into the drug could be conducted without granting special privileges to marijuana companies that enter into exclusive arrangements with Pennsylvania health-care systems.

"All medical cannabis license holders have a duty to participate in science right now and not wait for anyone else to fund that or get the Institutional Review Board approvals that they could be getting themselves," Sisley said.

The announcement of the Michigan pain project comes in the wake of a Commonwealth Court decision this week that, on its own, has the potential of derailing Pennsylvania's research program.

The state's current marijuana growers and dispensers  many of which are participating in the Michigan pain study  filed suit in March, claiming that the regulations governing the research program were unconstitutional and unlawful.

Judge Patricia A. McCullough found merit in the complaint and issued a temporary injunction on Tuesday. stopping the Department of Health from moving forward.

A spokeswoman said in a statement that the department "will continue to pursue our nation-leading research component and we are evaluating our legal options."

Pennsylvania statute allows eight of the state's health-care systems  called Academic Clinical Research Centers (ACRCs)  to pair with marijuana companies, which are referred to as Clinical Registrants (CRs).

Earlier this month, the health department approved five Philadelphia institutions to become ACRCs: Jefferson Health, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The ACRC health-systems already have chosen their CR marijuana company partners, despite the fact that the arrangements must be approved by the state. But the existing growers say that by giving the schools the power to choose their partners, without a rigorously scored application process, the state "unlawfully" delegated the Health Department's permitting duties to the schools. The complaint hinted at allegations of pay-to-play.

Andrew Sacks, a lawyer who cochaired the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Committee on Medical Marijuana, said he had warned the Health Department "it would get in trouble" because the law and regulations did not appear to be fair and competitive.

"There's no provision to eliminate a CR unless the Health Department finds proof it bribed a health system," Sacks said.

"Hopefully the DoH will sit down with petitioners and work out something that is fair and competitive," said Sacks. "And by 'competitive' I mean open bidding for health system contracts by the companies, complete disclosures for both company and the health systems, and that they go through an application process that allows for other bidders who can be scored just like anybody else."

In testimony given before McCullough rendered her opinion, the director of the state's marijuana program, John Collins, said an injunction would be "quite simply, horrific" because it would be "extremely disruptive to the patients that are suffering in Pennsylvania." McCullough wrote that Collins' testimony overlooked the fact that qualified patients are already receiving medical marijuana.

A representative for Collins did not return calls requesting comment.

Anthony Campisi, spokesman for a group of investors who have paired with Jefferson Health, called the suit "an attempt to delay the work of world-renown academic research centers to get a competitive advantage on the part of these plaintiffs."

Judith Cassell, the lawyer representing the current growers and dispensary owners, said she expected Judge McCullough to hold hearings before the end of the summer.

"We are not against research," Cassell said. "We already have people who are growing and processing medical marijuana. The Department of Health could give them CR status. Many of them would love that status. And that would expedite the research. They'd be ready to go tomorrow."
Seventeen months into the presidency of Donald Trump, television's still trying to find its footing in a story that seems to change hour to hour, tweet to tweet.

Roseanne Conner of ABC's rebooted Roseanne and the woman who plays her both support the president  and the character is addicted to pain pills. Virulently anti-Trump litigator Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), after moving from CBS's The Good Wife to CBS All Access' streaming series The Good Fight, responded to the ever-changing news from Washington by microdosing psilocybin to the point of hallucinations (though she moved to kick her mushrooms habit in time for Sunday's second-season finale).

Filmmaker Liz Garbus saw in the results of the 2016 election an opportunity to immerse herself in the institution the president likes to call the "failing" New York Times. Her four-episode documentary series, directed with Jenny Carchman, makes its television premiere at 7:30 p.m. Sunday on Showtime with an episode titled "The First 100 Days." The two episodes I've seen  the second's called "The Trump Bump"  show hardworking people trying to adapt to a changing media landscape while staying on top of a White House-driven news cycle that never lets up.

Yet the most meaningful reminder this Memorial Day weekend of how radically the nature of politics has changed in what seems like a short time comes in a documentary from which the current president is noticeably absent.

Premiering on Monday, the day on which we honor those who have died in the service of our country, HBO's John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, could be seen as a dying man's effort to have a last word, if not the last word, on his own legacy.

(I haven't read the U.S. senator from Arizona and former POW's new book with Mark Salter, The Restless Wave, but he reportedly pulls no punches in taking on Trump there.)

For the Republican McCain, who was diagnosed with brain cancer shortly before agreeing to participate in the film, For Whom the Bell Tolls might also feel a bit like attending his own funeral, as we hear from friends, admirers, and sometime opponents from both parties. (Among the interviewees are former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and former Vice President Joe Biden.)

McCain's long history of forming alliances, and friendships, with people  including the late Sen. Ted Kennedy  with whom he disagreed on many things seems remarkable now, but that's the way things used to work in the Senate, and not so long ago.

Produced and directed by Peter Kunhardt (King in the Wilderness) with sons George Kunhardt and Teddy Kunhardt, For Whom the Bell Tolls  named for the Ernest Hemingway novel that's McCain's favorite book  covers the things you'd expect, including his years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. But it acknowledges his flaws, including a powerful temper. And it doesn't skip past some painful bumps in his biography, including the affair that ended his first marriage and resulted in his second, and his part in the political scandal surrounding the 1989 collapse of Lincoln Savings & Loan (in which McCain was found to have displayed "poor judgment," an experience that motivated his push for campaign-finance reform).

Regrets, McCain has a few, including not resisting his advisers' opposition and naming his good friend Democrat Joe Lieberman to be his running mate in 2008. But it's left to New York Times columnist (and Radnor High School graduate) David Brooks to spell out how the choice of then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin helped lead to a hardening political divide.

"I don't think he could have known this at the time, but in picking Sarah Palin, he basically took a disease that was running through the Republican Party  not Palin herself, she's a normal human being  but a disease I'll call anti-intellectualism, disrespect for facts, and put it right in the center of the party. So she was a chapter in the rise of a cheap kind of populism," Brooks says.

That same presidential campaign, though, yielded the famous clip that can't help but feel like a rebuke to Trump, who for years promoted the theory that McCain's 2008 opponent had not been born in the United States (and who, according to the New York Times, continued to question Obama's citizenship in private long after a public acknowledgment of it in 2016).

In it, McCain politely but firmly corrects a woman who tells him, "I can't trust Obama.  He's an Arab," telling her, "No, ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues."

He goes on to tell a crowd that Obama "is a decent person and a person you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States."

Trump, who in 2015 had challenged the notion that McCain was a war hero, saying, "I like people who weren't captured," might see acknowledging an opponent's decency as weakness on McCain's part, but that's not what it looked like to me then, and it's not what it looks like now.

It would be a terrible thing, not just for the Republican Party, but for all of us, if the idea that reasonable people can disagree were to die with John McCain.

The Fourth Estate

Times executive editor Dean Baquet, appearing on CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Monday, was asked why he'd let filmmakers into his newsroom to make the documentary The Fourth Estate.

"I want people to know how hard we try," he told Colbert. "I want people to know, to be blunt, how much integrity I believe we have, and I want people to know our imperfections.  My belief was that if people got a look inside the New York Times, their reaction would be, 'Boy, they're better than I thought they were.' "

And I suppose that might happen, though it would help if the people Baquet hopes to convince don't already think of the Times, along with CNN, NBC News, ABC, and CBS, as the "enemy of the American people" that the president declared it to be in a February 2017 tweet.

As both a Times subscriber and a career journalist, I can't help but watch The Fourth Estate differently. (A mention of the construction that accompanied the consolidation of its Manhattan newsroom to free seven floors for leasing had me nodding, as we're going through a noisy newsroom reconstruction phase ourselves.) And the Times' successful push for digital-first publishing has become a model for my industry, in ways that have been both fascinating and far from easy.

But the thing about newsrooms is that they're full of characters, and always have been, even before Twitter made us count them. The Fourth Estate gets that and shows the people behind the bylines, the podcasts, and the tweets. Whether it's listening in as White House correspondent Maggie Haberman takes a call from Trump or watching the give-and-take between her and another reporter as they collaborate on deadline, you might see, yes, how hard they try, but also why  and even, amid their obvious exhaustion, how much fun they have doing it.

John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls. 8 p.m. Monday, HBO.

The Fourth Estate. 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Showtime.
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has acquired a major painting by Frederic Edwin Church, a defining figure of the Hudson River School, after the 1875 oil failed to sell at a public Sotheby's auction Wednesday in New York.

Valley of Santa Isabel, New Granada had been on display at the Berkshire Museum for over a century until officials there made the highly controversial decision to sell about 40 works from the museum collection to raise money for an endowment and capital repairs and improvements.

That plan was stalled by a challenge from Massachusetts' attorney general. But this past winter, the attorney general reached an accommodation with the museum and a judge allowed the planned sale to go forward.

Valley of Santa Isabel, however, did not sell at Wednesday's auction. Sotheby's placed a preauction sales estimate on the work of $5 million to $7 million.

PAFA said it acquired the work in "a private sale," and declined to say how much it paid for the painting, which is five feet wide and features a valley dissolving into distant mountains with three lilliputian figures in the foreground.

It is not uncommon for works that fail to sell at auction to be sold privately soon after the last gavel falls, or, more accurately, fails to fall.

Brooke Davis Anderson, director of the PAFA museum, called Valley of Santa Isabel "a great Church painting, one of his best paintings."

The academy has been seeking to build up its collection works by Hudson River painters for several years  using funds generated by sometimes highly controversial sales out of its own collection.

The most notable instance of this was PAFA's 2013 sale of one of its two paintings by Edward Hopper, sold at auction for about $40 million. The Hopper vanished into a private collection.

Other works sold recently to build up PAFA acquisition funds include paintings by William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, John H. Twachtman, Maurice Prendergast, and Frank Weston Benson.

Such sales are commonly  if sometimes painfully  used by museums to build their collections, and are deemed ethical by professional associations. Sales of works for other purposes  such as the Berkshire Museum's effort to raise capital and endowment funds via art sales  are not sanctioned professionally.

In recent years, PAFA has used acquisition funds bolstered by collection sales to acquire Hudson River School and related works by Albert Bierstadt, David Johnson, William Frederick de Haas, Thomas Moran, among others.

The acquisition of the Church painting now gives the academy a critical mass in Hudson River paintings.

In a statement, Anna Marley, PAFA's curator of historical American art, noted that the Church "will be the largest and most significant painting of the Hudson River School in the collection."

"It will join works in the collection by his contemporaries Thomas Cole, Asher Brown Durand, John F. Kensett, Edward Bannister and Jasper F. Cropsey," Marley continued. "It will also complement our recent purchase of Bierstadt's sublime painting of Niagara Falls."

"We're already planning an exhibition strategy for the painting," Anderson said, referring to the Church. "PAFA is committed to telling the sweeping story of America art, and Church is a key part of that story."

"We've made a commitment to the artwork," she continued. "The good news is it remains in the public domain."

PAFA has decided, in that regard, to extend an invitation to every member of the Berkshire Museum and every resident of Berkshire County, Mass., to visit the painting at any time for free "in perpetuity."

She said she was not certain when the painting would arrive and go on display.
Reginald Ross, director of Ecometrics at Jones Lang LaSalle, talks to reporters about his firms study on Philadelphias 10-year tax abatement program. Read more

Just as City Council looks for options to fund city schools, the Kenney administration has released a study stressing the economic benefits of the 10-year property-tax abatement, which some lawmakers have proposed eliminating or curtailing in order to generate new revenue.

Councilwoman Helen Gym has introduced bills to eliminate the school district portion of the abatement, and to examine whether it makes sense to prohibit its use in certain neighborhoods.

The city's report, released Thursday and conducted by Chicago-based real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle, found that the 1997 tax-abatement program is still spurring development and generating jobs in the city. The program allows owners of newly constructed or rehabilitated properties to pay no property tax on the improvements for 10 years (they do pay tax on land value).

The study looked at 10 scenarios that could alter or eliminate the abatement program on residential properties, which make up 98 percent of those with the tax breaks, and found that any change to the program comes at a cost.

The study comes as council enters the home stretch on Mayor Kenney's budget proposal, which calls for a 4.1 percent property-tax increase to fund the school district's looming deficit, and in a year in which property owners saw assessments soar and subsequent automatic property-tax jumps for many.

Authors of the study analyzed pros and cons of each scenario and estimated how much tax revenue could be generated but they didn't recommend what action to take.

"At the end of the day, I think the bigger conclusion is that doing something, eliminating it now or whatever has a cost, and it's up to the city to decide what level of risk they are willing to assume," said Reginald Ross, a director for JLL, which conducted the report.

City finance director Rob Dubow said the city doesn't have a position on the tax abatement.

A statement released Thursday by the mayor's office noted that changing the abatement would reduce development. "Over a 30-year period the current program is still projected to generate more development, jobs, and tax revenue than scenarios that modify or even eliminate the incentive," it said.

The study also comes on the heels of a similar report issued by the City Controller, which showed that most of the abated properties are concentrated in the greater Center City area and that as of 2017, there were 14,345 properties with active abatements that received a tax benefit of $93 million. The controller's report also studied various scenarios from eliminating or changing the abatement program.

The controller's conclusions were based on 2016 figures of 1,400 newly abated properties  both residential and commercial  and did not consider potential development loss. For example, it states that had the abatement not existed in 2016, the city would have received an additional $10.4 million in revenue, of which 55 percent would have gone to schools.

Yet, the administration-commissioned report predicted that if the abatement were eliminated, the city would see a 40-percent reduction in development over the next 10 years. With elimination of the break, it found, the city and schools would only see an additional $2.7 million in new revenue during the first year and $18.4 million in the first 10 years.

By contrast, the report shows that over a 30-year period, keeping the abatement program as is would generate $221 million in tax revenue, while eliminating it would bring in $115 million over that same time period.

Gym has proposed eliminating only the school-tax portion of the abatement (worth 55 percent of the total tax bill). The administration report predicted just $9.2 million in new revenue for the schools over the first five years and $96 million over 30 years.

"I think they have been conservative" with the numbers, Gym said. "They view the change to the [abatement] program as loss of development."

City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart agreed and said that the $9.2 million projection over five years "doesn't make sense. That seems extremely low."

"Our team couldn't even back into those numbers that low," she said.

Gym said that the city needs a new development-incentive program that fits the city's current status and not one from 20 years ago when the city was in desperate need of development.

"The tax abatement is from 20 years ago. It's a blunt instrument and it's used crudely," she said.

Two scenarios that the Jones Lang LaSalle analysis found to have potential benefits  capping the abatement at either $500,000 or at $150 per square foot, or having geographical limitations  were turned down by the administration as impractical.

"Capping the abatement, we think could have a lot of potential," Ross said in a briefing with reporters. "From what we understand from city officials, however, is that those cases, while mathematically superior, are probably impractical because of the cost of implementing them."

Marisa Waxman, deputy revenue commissioner, said that capping the abatement would require individual analysis of each property, plus additional paperwork for abatement applicants.

"That's just a very personally labor-intensive thing to do and more difficult to track as opposed to a standard thing," she said. Waxman said the administration didn't have a specific cost estimate.

With just a few weeks left until City Council is expected to decide on the mayor's proposed 4.1 percent property-tax rate increase, Gym said she wants to add tax abatement to those conversations. She said she would be open to a gradual phaseout.

"The mayor has come out with his proposal and we just need a wider array of what else could be offered," she said.
Rich Lazer, who ran for Congress in 2018, is returning to his former job in Mayor Kenneys administration. Read more

That was fast.

Rich Lazer, the Democrat who launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress this year, is returning to Mayor Kenney's administration.

The 33-year-old worked for Kenney almost his entire adult life, starting as an intern for the then-councilman and eventually becoming his deputy mayor of labor.

He resigned from that position in February to run for Congress. Lazer will go back to the post on May 29.

"Lazer has been a key adviser to the mayor on many issues, and he has certainly been missed during the past few months," said Mike Dunn, a spokesman for Kenney.

Dunn said Lazer had been "instrumental" in helping to reach agreement on a new labor contract with the city's blue-collar union as well as end the 2016 SEPTA strike.

Lazer is also an ally of John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, the leader of the city's building trades, who is under federal scrutiny. Dougherty has denied any wrongdoing.

Dougherty launched a super PAC backing Lazer, which spent nearly $1 million on TV ads. Kenney appeared in the spots.

Dunn said that Lazer will work on "a number of pressing labor-related matters," including contract negotiations with the city's municipal white-collar union as well as the mayor's public works project, known as "Rebuild."

Lazer did not respond Friday to a request for comment.

Lazer campaigned to represent Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District, which is largely based in Delaware County but also includes parts of South Philadelphia and Montgomery County. He ran on a platform of Medicare-for-All and a $15 minimum wage, and received the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders and several labor groups.

He came in third in the 10-person primary.
With chemotherapy keeping his incurable oral cancer in check, Michael Becker has become a vocal critic of right to try laws. Read more

As he holds his own against terminal neck cancer, Michael Becker can relate to those who want to make experimental drugs more available to people with fatal illnesses.

Even so, the former biotech executive is a vocal critic of "right to try" laws that aim to expand access by eliminating the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's oversight of the process.

Becker watched with sadness on Tuesday as the U.S. House passed a federal right-to-try bill that he believes could be a "disaster" for patients like him. The measure passed the Senate last August and is now headed for the signature of President Trump, who championed it.

"I took it very hard," Becker said from his Yardley home. "I watched C-Span. The Republicans were talking about this legislation like it's the best thing since sliced bread. They completely misrepresented it."

To be sure, Becker, 49, would love to have what right-to-try proponents imply the law will offer: access to a cure. He wants a full lifetime with his wife and two daughters, not to mention more time for his activism. He works to raise awareness of the HPV vaccine, an underused pediatric shot that could have prevented his cancer  if it had existed when he was a kid.

In hope of beating oropharyngeal cancer, Becker researched clinical trials after the disease recurred in December 2016, barely a year after initial treatment. He qualified for a clinical trial of an immune-boosting drug at the National Institutes of Health. Clinical trials  the human testing that the FDA requires to assess safety and effectiveness  are the primary route for patients to get access to experimental medicines.

"The immunotherapy didn't eradicate my disease, but my response to subsequent chemotherapy has been beyond expectations. Maybe the immunotherapy helped boost my response to chemo," said Becker, whose lung and spleen tumors shrank. "So I'm here longer than I expected."

Although he longs for a miracle, Becker is a realist who, thanks to a career in biotechnology, understands the drug development process.

As he has written, patients already have the right to ask companies for "compassionate access" to experimental therapies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves 99 percent of the compassionate access applications it receives  about 1,000 a year  after manufacturers say yes.

The problem is, manufacturers often say no  and could still do so under "right to try." The reasons are many. Companies may be struggling financially. Or not have enough of the drug. Or fear that if a patient is harmed, damaging publicity will follow.

Becker believes right-to-try advocates have downplayed the issue of potential harm. In addition to cutting the FDA out of the compassionate access process, the new federal law would absolve manufacturers, prescribers, dispensers, insurers, and any "other individual entity" from liability for problems, including deaths. The FDA would be restricted in how it could use information about harms in deciding whether to approve a drug.

"Do patients undergoing right-to-try therapies lose their coverage for hospice? " Becker wondered in a recent article for STAT. "What if the experimental drug causes hospitalization or leads to additional treatments  who would pay for that?"

Over the last five years, right-to-try laws have been passed in 40 states, including Pennsylvania but not New Jersey. Behind this juggernaut is the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based libertarian think tank. After the House vote, Goldwater president Victor Riches said, "Millions of Americans who have been told they are out of options  are closer to having the opportunity for one last treatment, without having to get permission from the federal government first."

Yet there is no evidence that existing state laws have expanded access.

The White House issued a statement on Tuesday saying Trump "is happy to deliver on that promise."

Becker, meanwhile, fears further erosion of drug safety regulation. The Goldwater Institute has a new campaign that would let manufacturers promote approved drugs to treat conditions for which they were not approved. While the FDA gives doctors discretion to prescribe in this "off-label" way, companies can be fined for marketing drugs for unapproved uses.

"You can see the next step," Becker said.
Question: My husband used Expedia to book us a trip to Greece this summer. Our flight is on Air Canada.

He called Air Canada to pick seats, since we will be traveling with a 9-month-old baby. Air Canada informed us that our child was booked under only a first initial and last name instead of the full name on her passport.

He asked Air Canada to change the name. An Air Canada representative said Expedia has to do it. Expedia refuses.

We did not enter any of the information incorrectly when we booked and have the confirmation emails to prove it. Expedia left a voicemail saying that the airline will not allow it to make a change until 72 hours before the flight. Expedia would need me to send it a copy of my daughter's passport this summer. The agency claims it can fix her name then.

We have no guarantee to sit together unless seats happen to be open together at the time Expedia fixes the name. We also are afraid to wait until 72 hours before the flight. We can't risk not being able to fly with our baby.

We just want to get to Greece without having to buy new tickets. We either need the name on the ticket corrected or another ticket issued without cost to us.

Answer: Expedia should have correctly spelled your child's full name on the ticket as you provided it, as is shown on the purchase confirmation emails you received. Your online travel agent should have worked this out with Air Canada.

Travel agencies, and particularly online agencies, like to pretend we're all victims of the airline industry's onerous ticket rules. Truth is, the large online agencies have entire departments dedicated to bending these airline rules. In at least one online agency's case, it's called the "waivers and favors" department.

It looks as though you emailed Expedia and it called you back, delivering the bad news about your ticket change. That's unfortunate because you have no written record of your conversation.

Executive contacts for Air Canada and Expedia are on my consumer-advocacy site: www.elliott.org/company-contacts/air-canada and www.elliott.org/company-contacts/expedia. An appeal to one of them might have helped, although I can't guarantee you wouldn't get a voicemail from the same person, again. Sometimes, that's just how it works.

Airlines love to make money from name changes. Their preferred solution is for you to buy another ticket. Too often, travel agencies are complicit in this moneymaking scheme. When it involves the ticket for a 9-month-old, it's especially troublesome.

I think Expedia should have fixed this for you quickly. No excuses.

I checked with Expedia. According to its records, the agency made a "truncation error" on your daughter's ticket (read: Expedia misspelled it).

"We contacted Air Canada and, per the airline's policy, they won't allow a name correction until 72 hours prior to departure  to make any changes earlier would require canceling and rebooking the mother's ticket, since the infant's ticket is associated with hers," a representative told me.

Expedia says you've decided to wait until the company can make the name correction 72 hours in advance of your trip.

"We understand the inconvenience and anxiety this has caused, and have applied a $100 travel voucher to the customer's account as compensation for the inconvenience," the representative added.

I'm not 100 percent happy with this resolution. I think Air Canada and Expedia can do better. If you experience even the slightest problem on your flight this summer, please let me know.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of "How to Be the World's Smartest Traveler." You can read more travel tips on his blog, www.elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.
Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane moved a big step closer to serving her jail term Friday with a ruling by the state Superior Court affirming her conviction for perjury and leaking grand jury information to hurt a rival.

Kane, 51, the first woman and first Democrat to be elected state attorney general, was convicted by a jury nearly two years ago, but the judge in the case said she did not have to serve her 10- to 23-month sentence in the Montgomery County prison until her state appeals were over.

Like all defendants in criminal cases in Pennsylvania, Kane, who lives in the Scranton area, had an automatic right to one appeal  to have her conviction reviewed by a three-judge panel of the state Superior Court. Her next option would be to ask for a group of nine Superior Court judges to reconsider the case.

If such a hearing is not granted, Kane then could ask the state Supreme Court to take up her case, although it is not legally required to. If it turns away her appeal, or hears it but rules against Kane, she then would be jailed.

>> READ MORE: Jury: A.G. Kane guilty of perjury, obstruction, all other charges

Former state Chief Justice Ronald Castille, in an interview Friday, said there was no guarantee that the high court would take up an appeal, although he said the current court seemed to enjoy considering high-profile cases.

Even if Kane is denied hearings by both the full Superior Court and the state high court, the process could take eight months or more to play out.

In its unanimous 23-page opinion, the three-judge Superior Court panel made quick work of one of Kane's arguments  that the special prosecutor who first built the case against her lacked legal legitimacy. The panel noted that the state Supreme Court had rebuffed Kane on that score even before her conviction.

The panel also rejected Kane's claim that she should have been permitted to bring up a pornography scandal in her office as part of her defense. The judges said that Montgomery County Court Judge Wendy Demchick, who presided over Kane's 2016 trial, was right to block that as irrelevant.

Kane was accused of leaking grand jury material in a vendetta against former prosecutors in her office. In a complex argument, she said she wanted to tell jurors that she was aware that those prosecutors had received pornographic emails on the job but that she had not used that knowledge against them. This restraint, she said, showed she had not been engaging in a vendetta. But Demchick said mentioning porn would have pointlessly and unfairly inflamed the jury.

The Superior Court panel consisted of a Democrat, Anne E. Lazarus, who wrote the opinion, and two Republicans, William Platt and Paula F. Ott.

The path to Kane's conviction was convoluted. It began when the Inquirer disclosed in 2014 that Kane had secretly ended a bribery investigation involving state legislators from Philadelphia.

>> READ MORE: Kane shut down sting that snared Phila. officials

To retaliate against a former state prosecutor whom she blamed for the story, Kane leaked secret grand jury information that she thought would embarrass the prosecutor.

The plot backfired. The judge who presided over the grand jury appointed a special prosecutor, Thomas Carluccio, to investigate the leak. He blamed it on Kane and accused her of lying about her actions. Building on the work of the special prosecutor, county prosecutors in Montgomery County  where the grand jury had been based  brought the criminal case against Kane.

If Kane should fail in all her appeals, she would join about 350 other female prisoners in the county prison in Eagleville.
Juan Carlos Cruz, of Center City, met with Pope Francis at Vatican to discuss Cruzs experience as a survivor of sexual abuse by the Rev. Fernando Karadima in Chile. Read more

Juan Carlos Cruz risked upending his life as a Philadelphia executive to speak out about the trauma he had spent decades trying to forget. He went so far as to write an eight-page letter to Pope Francis in 2015 recounting the alleged sexual crimes against him as a teenager and the cover-up that ensued  only to have the pontiff disbelieve him.

The abuse that he said he endured while growing up in Chile at the hands of a then-respected cleric, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, was dismissed as "slander" by the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. What hope was there for change in the church, a disheartened Cruz wondered, if the most powerful figure in Christendom refused to listen?

Earlier this year, however, the Vatican dispatched investigators to look into not only Cruz's accusations but other reports of sexual misconduct roiling the Chilean church. They found even the worst to be true.

So on April 29, in the private papal living room at Casa Santa Marta in Vatican City, Cruz sat face-to-face with Francis, as the pontiff pleaded for forgiveness.

"He said he had committed grave mistakes," said Cruz, a Center City resident who works as a communications and branding executive at DuPont in Wilmington. "Who am I not to give this man a second chance?"

The meeting also yielded an unexpected and groundbreaking statement from the pope, according to Cruz. In a discussion about one Chilean cardinal's accusation that Cruz might have enjoyed the abuse because he was gay, Francis offered acceptance of Cruz's homosexuality. Regardless of sexual orientation, Cruz recalled the pontiff saying, "God made you. God loves you. I love you. And you should love yourself."

Cruz did not interpret those words as a forthcoming change in church teaching. They were important only "to who I am," he said.

But Michael Rocks, president of Dignity/Philadelphia, an advocate for LGBT rights in the Catholic Church, asserted that the sentiment expressed by the pope does have larger significance.

"The whole notion that homosexuality is a disorder and morally wrong  I think the pope basically wiped that out," Rocks said. "By saying the pope loves you, you should love yourself, and God made you this way, that is the critical statement. God made you."

The Vatican has not commented on the pope's remarks as recounted by Cruz. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia declined to comment because local leaders were not involved in the meeting. But Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York has called the comments a reflection of traditional Catholic teaching.

"Jesus would have said that," Dolan said during his satellite radio show on the Catholic Channel. Even though "sexual expression outside of a man and woman in marriage is contrary to God's purpose," every person should be treated with dignity and respect.

At the Vatican, Cruz was joined by James Hamilton, a surgeon, and Jose Andres Murillo, a philosopher, both of whom live in Chile and also have been on a mission to share their experiences of abuse by Karadima and demand accountability from the Catholic hierarchy.

Cruz predicts seismic upheaval for the Chilean church. Its 31 active bishops have offered their resignations as the result of a scorching 2,300-page report written by Archbishop Charles Scicluna, a top Vatican investigator of sexual abuse. Although no official action has yet been taken, Cruz said he hopes that Francis "will start firing [them] soon. The pope listened to us. He held people accountable, and this brings hope to survivors around the world."

John Salveson, of Bryn Mawr, a survivor of priest molestation who runs the Foundation to Abolish Child Sex Abuse, described Cruz as "a brave person who has done an enormous service to a church that treated him so badly" and has repeatedly demonstrated its unwillingness and inability "to police itself."

Cruz has been on his crusade since 2009, when Hamilton told him that he knew what had happened to him. Both had been members of El Bosque, the parish of Karadima, a charismatic priest who helped train young people for the priesthood. Hamilton and Murillo had previously spoken out in Chile, but to no avail. They wanted Cruz to stand beside them in a joint effort to stop the monstrous cleric and end the cover-up.

Cruz grew up in Santiago, the oldest of three sons of a banker and a homemaker. When his father died suddenly at age 39, the family was devastated. Cruz, then 15, sought guidance from the church and, specifically, Karadima, whom many referred to as a saint.

It was during a confession that the abuse started, he said, calling it "paralyzing, horrifying." Another priest, the Rev. Juan Barros, had witnessed some of it, he added.

Cruz remained a part of the parish, and the object of molestation, for eight years. "It's hard for me to come to grips with this," he said. "I consider myself semi-intelligent. I've worked for national corporations, but at that age, I was broken, and that man took advantage of me."

He went on to study journalism and work at a Santiago TV station. Fifteen years ago, partly to escape the nightmarish memories, he emigrated to the United States.

When Cruz, Hamilton, and Murillo began speaking out in 2009, they were interviewed by journalists in Chile, met with church officials, and filed criminal and civil complaints against Karadima. In 2011, Karadima was found guilty by a church tribunal and sentenced to spend the remainder of his life in prayer and penitence. He currently lives in a nursing home in Chile. The allegations in the criminal complaint were found to be credible by a Chilean judge, but the statute of limitations had run out. The ruling is being appealed. The civil suit is pending.

In 2015, Francis appointed Barros as bishop of the town of Osorno, prompting an outcry from that region's Catholics. Barros had protected and covered up abuse, they charged. By then, Cruz had moved to Philadelphia and begun working at DuPont. He wrote a letter describing his experience with Karadima that was hand-delivered to Cardinal Sean O'Malley, a member of the Vatican's Commission for the Protection of Minors. O'Malley was to give the letter to the pope. Cruz heard about the delivery but nothing afterward.

In January, the pope visited Chile amid protests against Barros. The pontiff claimed he had never seen any evidence or complaints about his new bishop and branded the allegations from survivors as "calumny." But shortly after the trip, the Associated Press printed Cruz's 2015 letter with a picture of O'Malley receiving it. The pope sent Scicluna to investigate victims' claims.

Cruz was interviewed by the two bishops in February at the Church of the Holy Name Jesus in New York. From there, the investigators traveled to Chile, where they interviewed a total of 70 people, producing a report that laid blame at the feet of Chile's Catholic hierarchy. After reading it, the pope apologized publicly.

In early April, Cruz received a call from the Vatican. The pope wanted him, Hamilton, and Murillo to visit Rome. The pontiff wanted to apologize in person. The men stayed in the pope's private residence, meeting individually with him and also as a group.

When Cruz's turn came, he and the pontiff "talked for three hours. We laughed. I cried. He heard me," Cruz said.

He emerged confident that the pope would take action, and that the visit was not a public relations exercise.

"I feel like I was representing so many men and women of different ages, even some who have committed suicide, who are sick and tired of waiting, who walk around with this shame inside their bodies. We brought their pain with us," he said. "We want to make this the beginning of the end of this culture of abuse."
A group of women held at Angel Island, often called the Ellis Island of the west, where Chinese immigrants were often subject to detention and interrogation. Read more

From the working man in the street to the president in the White House, people wanted these foreigners to go, to stop coming to the United States.

They were taking American jobs. And undercutting wages. They couldn't even speak English.

One strategy: Make life hard on those already here, by forcing them to carry special identification papers, and questioning the right of their American-born children to hold American citizenship.

That was 130 years ago. But it might sound familiar today.

It does to Ric Burns, whose new film doesn't explore the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, but examines the racist government actions against Chinese newcomers at the turn of the last century.

The film, The Chinese Exclusion Act, is a portrait of a largely forgotten, uniquely hateful piece of legislation signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6th, 1882. The act singled out one race and nationality, making it illegal for Chinese laborers to enter the United States and banning them from ever becoming American citizens.

"Almost every element of the story reads like a Rorschach of what's going on today," Burns said in an interview. "The language, the posturing and political maneuvering that began in the 1850s, that political maneuvering has not changed in any way."

The documentary, which Burns codirected with filmmaker Li-Shin Yu, debuts nationally at 8 p.m. Tuesday on PBS stations.

The topic is not merely an American immigration story, Burns said. It's the American immigration story, encompassing civil rights and citizenship and what it means to be an American. It shows what can happen when a particular group of people is characterized as a threat.

The 1882 Exclusion Act marked a radical change for a nation that had generally welcomed foreigners. It sprang from a belief among whites, especially in the western United States, that the Chinese were racially substandard  and to blame for unemployment and declining wages.

"I'm the legacy of this system.  It's part of my life," said K. Scott Wong, the Charles R. Keller professor of history at Williams College, who appears in the film.

Wong grew up in Cinnaminson, and his Philadelphia Chinatown roots run deep.

One grandfather, Wong Wah Ding, was known as the "mayor of Chinatown" in the 1940s, quoted and photographed in the newspapers when the press sought an opinion from the Chinese community.

Professor Wong was grown before he learned that his other grandfather was a "paper son," one of scores of Chinese who entered the United States by falsely claiming to be the child of a Chinese-American.

"All those people, they didn't come, 'I want to break the law,'" Wong said. "They were, 'I want to make a living.'"

Chinese began arriving in the United States in greater numbers during the California Gold Rush, in 1849, many traveling from troubled Guangdong Province in the south. All hoped to escape poverty and civil war, and to find their fortune digging on Gam Saan, the Gold Mountain.

Some Chinese successfully dug gold from the earth  earning resentment from white miners. More worked in mining camps and towns, washing laundry and running restaurants, or swinging picks and shovels to build the transcontinental railroad.

Eventually the workforce of the Central Pacific Railroad was 90 percent Chinese.

"Here were cooks, laundrymen, and servants ready and willing," wrote American educator Henry Kittredge Norton. "Just what early California civilization most wanted, these men could and would supply."

The men supplied something else too  scapegoats.

The Chinese were seen as strange, dressed in unfamiliar clothes, their hair woven into a single long braid, known as a queue. When jobs became scarce during the depression of the 1870s, the Chinese became an easy target.

Newspapers took up the cry, with big, front-page headlines that declared, "The Chinese Must Go!"

Anti-Chinese violence swept through the West. Eighteen were killed by a white mob in Los Angeles in 1871, and Chinese homes and businesses were destroyed in Denver in 1880. Five years later the Rock Springs Massacre in Wyoming would leave 28 Chinese miners dead.

That hate was huge, the Chinese population minuscule.

In 1860, the United States had 34,933 Chinese  .001 percent of the population. By 1880, the number of Chinese had tripled to 105,465, but the surging U.S. population meant they still only accounted for .002 percent of the country.

The Exclusion Act had immediate consequences. Wives and children could not come to visit or live. And if Chinese workers traveled home to see their families, they would not be allowed back into the United States.

Ten years later, the Geary Act extended the exclusion law and added an onerous new provision: Every Chinese immigrant had to carry a legal document called a Certificate of Residence, and to present it to authorities when asked. Without that paper, Chinese could face deportation.

Yet more than 100,000 refused to register, demanding that America fulfill the civil-rights promises contained within its founding documents. It was an American-born Chinese, Wong Kim Ark, whose landmark 1898 Supreme Court case confirmed that he and others were U.S. citizens by virtue of their birth on American soil.

Burns has written, directed and produced documentaries since The Civil War, which he produced with his brother, Ken, and cowrote with Geoffrey C. Ward. Co-director Li-Shin Yu has collaborated with Burns for two decades, including the eight-part New York: A Documentary Film.

Burns began work on the new documentary about six years ago, and says the timing of its landing was a surprise, amid the rise of a Trump administration that encourages the view of immigrants as "the other."

"The Chinese were the meta 'other' of the 19th and early 20th century," Burns said, noting that the Exclusion Act and its accompanying bans weren't fully repealed until the 1960s. "They were the 'other' against which an increasingly complex American society could rally itself.  The idea that this couldn't happen, we don't have those kind of racist feelings anymore, I'm sorry, we do have those racist feelings."

TV

The Chinese Exclusion Act
A 23-year-old man has died after being shot in the head at a house party Thursday night in West Philadelphia, police said Friday.

Just before 8:45 p.m., a gunman fired at least six shots into a crowd attending a prom-night party at a house near 55th and Pemberton Streets, said Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives. Police took the victim, who lives on the block but whose name has not been released yet, to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died early Friday.

The party was for teen boy who lives at the house, but had left with his date about 8:15 p.m. to the prom at Boys' Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, Walker said. The party continued with family members and friends.

No target or motive was immediately known and the gunman remained at large. Walker said the gunfire appeared to be "indiscriminate."
Nadia Syblis (center), the mother of homicide victim Sandrea Williams, takes part in a prayer walk on Thursday in West Philadelphia. At right is Williams aunt Yasheca Rhoden. At left is Ronald Ryan of Town Watch Integrated Services. Behind them are Williams aunt Naisha Rhoden (left) and grandmother Hyacinth Douglas (right). Read more

It was a particularly meaningful Thursday evening for relatives of 17-year-old Sandrea Williams.

Singing and pleading to Jesus, accompanied by police and West Philadelphia residents, they walked in prayer in memory of the teen who was fatally shot two weeks ago.

Coincidentally, the walk took place on the evening when Williams' older sister, Dashana Harvey, 18, a senior at Overbrook High School and the Class of 2018's valedictorian, was getting ready for her prom Thursday night.

For the family, the day was a mixture of sweetness and sadness.

"Please, Lord, help us," Ronald Ryan, of Town Watch Integrated Services, said as he held hands with Williams' mother, Nadia Syblis, and with 19th Police District Capt. John Stanford. "We're tired of the guns in the neighborhood. We're tired of the drugs in the neighborhood."

The walk was organized by Town Watch and police to show support for Williams' family and to urge people to speak out about crimes, including the triple shooting at Carlton and Simpson Streets that killed Williams and wounded two teenage boys. Police are searching for two shooters.

About 75 people participated in the solemn walk that started about 6 p.m. at Vine and Daggett Streets and ended several blocks away in front of Syblis' Simpson Street home, near the shooting location.

"May God provide conscience to the person who did it to turn himself in," City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., a Democrat who represents parts of West Philadelphia, told the crowd during the walk.

"Make sure somebody speaks up about what happened," added State Rep. Morgan Cephas (D., Phila.).

"If anybody knows anything about the death of my niece [Sandrea], please come forward," urged an aunt, Yasheca Rhoden, 39, as she stood in front of Syblis' house. "It's kind of like bittersweet for us here. We are split between good and evil," she said, as yellow and black balloons tied to the railing of the home's front steps blew in celebration of Harvey's prom while on the opposite sidewalk red and black balloons fluttered from a vigil held the night after Williams' fatal shooting.

It was shortly before 10:30 p.m. May 11 when Williams, a 17-year-old male friend, and a 15-year-old boy were shot while hanging out with other teens on Carlton Street near Simpson.

Police Homicide Capt. John Ryan has said that two shooters  likely teenagers  crept up from a driveway on Simpson and "indiscriminately" opened fire on the group, firing 23 shots. Williams, described by police as an innocent bystander, was shot by a bullet that entered her back and exited her neck, her family said. She was pronounced dead that night at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

Ryan  who is not related to Ronald Ryan  has said that police believe the shooting was motivated by "some manner of petty neighborhood dispute," but declined to elaborate.

Williams was a junior at Camelot Academy in North Philadelphia, after spending her freshman and sophomore years at Overbrook High School. Earlier Thursday, Overbrook's principal, Yvette Jackson, recalled Williams as "a loving force."

"She was true to her friends, and when she became connected with various teachers, she built a bond," Jackson said.

"For the family,  despite dealing with a very difficult time in their lives, the family bond is strengthening them," said Jackson. "And they are celebrating the life of both of their children through this process."

Williams' wounded 17-year-old friend participated in Thursday evening's walk, but declined to comment. In an interview four days after the shooting, he said he didn't see the shooters or know why they fired their guns.

Sitting in a plastic chair on the front porch of his home that day with a bandage around his left calf, the teen  who did not want his name published  said he and Williams had been talking with about seven other teens when shots rang out, and they all ran down Carlton Street toward 64th.

Williams was like a sister to him, said the teen, who wore a silver chain with her photo and the words "P.I.P." for Peace in Paradise and Williams' nickname, "Bro-Bro." ("She wasn't girly," he explained.)

"She didn't want to do nothing but be successful in life," he said.

Darin Toliver, a community activist and vice president of the Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, said Thursday that he is organizing another rally for Williams at 7 p.m. May 31 at Carlton and Simpson Streets, which will serve as "a call-out to the community" to step up with information about the shooters.

Tipsters can call the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS or homicide detectives at 215-686-3334. A $20,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Sister Margaret McKenna rests next to her garden at the New Jerusalem Now food pantry in North Philadelphia. Read more

The hungry haunt Philadelphia.

Because it isn't written on the body, hunger is not readily recognized here, the poorest of the ten most-populous cities in America, with a poverty rate of 26 percent.

But the need is overwhelming, demonstrated by the lines of people who gather every week outside the region's approximately 900 food cupboards.

Nowhere is that demand greater than in the North Philadelphia area, one of the hungriest places in America. Childhood hunger there tripled in 10 years, and only nine other communities in the United States utilize more food stamps, now called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Throughout America, 12 percent are food insecure  lacking enough food in a year to live healthy. In Philadelphia, that number is 21 percent. In North Philadelphia, it can run as high as 30 percent

Suffering from a lack of high-wage jobs, Philadelphia was one of the cities worst-hit by de-industrialization because it was once so successfully industrial, said Judith Levine, sociologist and poverty expert at Temple University. The resultant poverty exacerbated hunger, and even helped create the rampant opioid crisis in Kensington, scholars say.

Hunger fighters try to beat back the scourge, which has gripped thousands. Hunger, they say, hurts:

"You would kill somebody to eat," said William Dillahunty, 65, who lives along with a leg disability in North Philadelphia. "I'll walk around supermarkets pretending to shop, opening food packages, then eating away from the cameras.

"I don't feel bad at all.  Do or die."

What is it like to be hungry?

>>READ MORE: Hunger in Philadelphia increases while declining nationwide

"Hunger feels like your stomach pushing into your back  a great pressure," said Tinze Jones, 40, a hospital housekeeper and single mother of three in North Philadelphia. "So I drink water. My kids don't get enough food, so I don't eat. One of the hardest things to do is prepare food you know you won't have."

"It's pain in my belly," said an 11-year-old boy who volunteers at a food cupboard run by Sister Margaret McKenna on W. Norris St. The boy's father was murdered and although his mother works full-time, food is still scarce for him, his grandmother, and his three brothers. "I love to eat," he said, "and sometimes I think I'll never eat again when it's gone. It makes me disappointed. And it's very unfair. I don't want my family starving."

"I feel empty and so embarrassed to not have food for me and my three kids," said Valerie Kelley, 51, a former security guard who lost her job due to extreme heart problems. "You feel like a complete failure."

As difficult as hunger is to bear, it gets worse toward the end of the month, when SNAP benefits run out, hunger fighters say. Mothers typically stop eating so their kids can.

"There's short patience by the 21st or so," said Thelma Kennerly, director of the food program at Devereux Methodist Church.

People who've worked all their lives but must go to cupboards for food feel demeaned. But, as one woman lining up for kale and corn said, "What choice do I have?"
A new lawsuit alleges a brother and sister with disabilities was the target of repeated bullying at the Thomas H. Dudley School in Camden and school officials failed to stop the behavior. Read more

A lawsuit filed this week alleges that a pair of children with disabilities were repeatedly attacked physically and verbally by a bully at a school in Camden and school officials took no action to halt the behavior.

The 41-page complaint, filed Tuesday in Superior Court of New Jersey in Camden, describes incidents that allegedly occurred while a brother and sister, who are twins and were born prematurely, were attending Thomas H. Dudley Family School from November 2016 through November 2017. The twins, who suffer from a variety of health issues, were in the same second-grade class for most of that time.

Ten specific alleged incidents are detailed wherein one or both siblings were physically attacked and verbally ridiculed by a particular student. In one case, the student pinned the twin sister on the ground, mocked her appearance, and then rubbed mulch into her eyes, according to the complaint. The girl later received treatment to her eyes in the emergency room at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, the complaint states.

Among a list of "additional bullying incidents," the complaint alleges that the student punched the twin brother in the stomach. The boy's mother called the Camden County Police Department, which responded to the call and took a report, the complaint says.

In every instance of an alleged physical and verbal attack, the defendants "did not institute any investigation," according to the complaint.

The mother is identified as D.D. in the complaint and the children are S.R. and A.R.

The named defendants are the Camden City Board of Education, Gloria Martinez-Vega, the school's principal, Debra Gaeta, the children's teacher, Minerva Castro, the school guidance counselor, and Denise Martinez, the school nurse.

Maita Soukup, spokeswoman for the Camden City School District, provided a statement on the district's behalf:

"While we cannot comment on specific legal matters, the Camden City School District takes all allegations of bullying and harassment extremely seriously. Each school has a staff member assigned to fully investigate these matters and our District staff works to support schools, students, and families in seeking swift resolution whenever these instances are brought to our attention."

Franklin J. Rooks Jr., the lawyer representing the children and their mother, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The complaint claims violations under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act as well as other wrongful acts.

"In this case, the school's administration completely abdicated their duties and responsibilities, and fostered an environment where one student was able to repeatedly physically assault and victimize two students with disabilities, resulting in physical and emotional damage," the complaint states.

New Jersey has had an anti-bullying law since 2002, and an expanded version took effect in 2011.
Motorists at a crawl on Rt. 42 northbound in Gloucester Twp. Emergency construction on Rt. 76 in Gloucester had traffic backed up on many highways including northbound Rt 42 and 55 and southbound 295. Read more

Heading to the Jersey Shore this summer? If you take Routes 42, I-295, and I-76  popular highways that merge and connect Philly with the southern beaches  brace for another season of delays and headaches.

A $900 million road-construction project that began five years ago on those highways may continue to wreak a bit of havoc and exacerbate the notorious congestion that has long plagued that area.

Originally slated for completion in 2021, the Direct Connection project is now expected to take three more years. It includes highway bridges, ramps, realignment, and road widening and is designed to reduce congestion and improve safety, especially on the hazardous swath where the three highways converge.

"Being a major artery for Philadelphia commuter traffic via the Walt Whitman Bridge, and a connection to the southern New Jersey shore, Route 42, and the Atlantic City Expressway, this interchange is the busiest in the region," the state Department of Transportation said on its website.

And good news, travelers, the DOT is doing its best to ease congestion, in part by banning lane closures this holiday weekend.

"NJDOT limits construction activity in the summer on Shore routes except for emergency work," DOT spokesman Matthew Saidel said in an email. "For Memorial Day Weekend no lane closures are permitted starting at 6 a.m. Friday, May 25, through noon Tuesday, May 29, unless there is emergency work that is necessary. Motorists are reminded to plan extra time and expect congestion on highways to popular vacation destinations."

And emergencies do arise. Last month, a sinkhole developed on the shoulder of Route 76 westbound, in the vicinity of the Direct Connection project, and construction crews had to stabilize the area, Saidel said. It took nearly three weeks, due to delays caused by all the recent rain.

Saidel also said there may be lane shifts on the three highways when construction is underway, and motorists must slow down in work zones. Crews will continue working on the project, but will be behind barrier curbs and off the roadway, he said.

Throughout the summer, there will be some single-lane closures at night, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., while double lane closures are only allowed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., Saidel said. Motorists should check NJDOT's website at www.511nj.org for real-time travel information, or follow NJDOT on Twitter @NJDOT_info or on the NJDOT Facebook page.

>>READ MORE: Memorial Day weekend guide: SEPTA, traffic, weather and what to do

Frank Filipek, mayor of Bellmawr, a borough divided by the sprawling, Shore-bound highways, says the traffic seems worse than before, although it has been a major problem throughout his 15 years as mayor. "I don't know if it's because of more cars or what, but they seem to back up because there are so many different roads being changed and a lot of detours," he said.

After 5 p.m., traffic sometimes backs up one to two hours, especially on Fridays and Saturdays when people head to the Shore, he said.

Michael Shute, who lives on Bellmawr's bustling Creek Road, said that he won't attempt to fight the traffic and go to the Jersey Shore this year. He is happy to stay home, which he said is peaceful now that the construction project is no longer affecting his neighborhood.

"When they were doing all the work on the new bridge, between 2014 and 2016, the house shook," he said. The Creek Road bridge, which was reconstructed, spans the interchange. Workers also demolished the house next to Shute's to create space next to the bridge.

Filipek welcomes the improvements, begrudgingly. "It's a mess, but they're working on widening the roads and changing the intersections. They're doing the best they can, but it's a big project. It will be great when it's finished," he said.

>> READ MORE: Your Ultimate Shore Guide 2018

The project has also forced the tiny borough to delay its ambitious plans to redevelop a huge landfill ,which was closed years ago and capped, he said. "We need to see their final plans before we can go ahead with ours," he said. Originally, the DOT had proposed building a road through the landfill, but after a redesign, it will now go around the site, he said. The borough wants to create a commercial center and a park at that location.

The DOT said its completion date had to be adjusted because it needs to acquire more properties for the project.

So far, several bridges have been reconstructed, new ramps have been installed, and parts of the highways have been realigned. Anti-noise walls were built in areas close to neighborhoods and storm water systems were upgraded.
This crater was left behind in Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County, after a mysterious, late-night explosion on May 13, according to nearby resident Nick Zagli. Federal and state authorities are probing a series of these explosions in rural Bucks County. Read more

Nick Zagli found himself awake at 4 a.m. on May 13, thrust into the middle of a mystery.

A loud, powerful explosion startled him as he sat inside his home in Upper Black Eddy, a rural community in Bucks County cut through by state game lands.

"Look, this is a rural area. We all shoot guns and set off fireworks," Zagli, 53, said Friday. "But this? This was different."

Zagli bore witness to one of a series of mysterious, late-night explosions in the northernmost part of the county, a full hour from Philadelphia. Reports from at least five adjacent townships have poured in for nearly a month, a volume that this month attracted the attention of federal investigators now lending a hand to the state police detectives assigned to the case.

The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have offered little insight into the probe, saying only that the blasts don't appear to be natural or the result of construction work.

Trooper Mark Allen, the public information officer assigned to the state police barracks in Bethlehem, said Friday that an update will be issued "no sooner than Tuesday with more specific and accurate information."

Meanwhile, theories from Zagli and his neighbors, incredulous that federal agents are exploring their communities, run the gamut. Everything from errant asteroids hitting the earth to conspiracies about clandestine miners digging underground tunnels.

Zagli's curiosity was piqued further the morning after the blast when, as he was out driving near his home, he found a hole in the earth near the shoulder of Lonely Cottage Road. Debris had been blown onto the road from the crater, about 4 feet wide and a foot deep. He watched that day as state police investigators examined the area, but they didn't offer him any information.

Nor did they comment on the issue Friday. Meanwhile, the hole is still there, filled to the brim with rainwater, surrounded by displaced soil.

Police in nearby Richland and Springfield Townships referred comment to state police Friday. Previously, Richland Township Police Chief Richard Ficco told reporters that two of his officers had heard the explosions while on patrol, with one witnessing a flash of light seconds before hearing the rumble of the blast.

Sue Crompton, a longtime resident of Haycock Township, doesn't know what to make of it all. The sound, she said Friday while taking a break from her midday shift at the Quakertown Family Restaurant, was unlike anything she had ever heard.

"It practically knocked me out of bed," Crompton, 52, said. "Your mind goes to meteorites or people making bombs. I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

Crompton said she felt an earth-shaking explosion April 30, waves of tremors that rattled the windows in the mobile home she shares with her elderly mother.

And she weathered a similar quake two weeks earlier, she said, when she heard two blasts go off about five minutes apart. At the time, she said, her neighbors chalked it up to a blaze at a nearby barn.

The more recent explosion changed their minds.

"With that rumble? No way," she said. Before her days waiting tables at the suburban diner, Crompton worked on a ski resort in Colorado. Sometimes, she'd hitch a ride up the mountain with the crews as they'd ignite controlled demolitions to stave off avalanches. Even that sound, she said, didn't match these mysterious overnight explosions.
The bill was hailed as "the salvation of Philadelphia" at a time when the city and rest of the nation were in the depths of the Great Depression, and revenue was as scarce as jobs.

Today, the state law enacted in 1932, known as the Sterling Act, is a linchpin of the city treasury, and has a lot to do with why Pennsylvania's local-taxation system is so different from New Jersey's.

Named for Rep. Philip Sterling, the Republican state representative from Philadelphia who sponsored the Depression-era bill, the Sterling Act allowed the city to earn revenue by passing special taxes  as long as it did not pass levies on anything the state already taxed.

The law took center stage before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently, as the justices heard oral arguments on the city's tax on soda and other sweetened beverages. Opponents of the tax argued that it violated the Sterling Act because ultimately the costs are borne by consumers, who already pay the state sales tax. The city argued that the tax is levied on beverage distribution, not sales.

But the controversial beverage tax is just the latest in a long list of Sterling-related levies. The law enabled a host of taxes, including those on wages, parking, valet parking, amusement, and use-and-occupancy. Before 1932, the city depended on real estate taxes. Today, the city has a Sterling dependency.

Residents cannot thank  or credit  the Sterling Act for every penny they pay the city. Because they duplicated state taxes, the city had to receive permission for lawmakers in Harrisburg to add its own 2 percent sales tax and to impose a $2-per-pack charge on cigarettes in 2014 to fund schools, for example. The city's liquor-by-the-drink tax was also authorized by state legislation.

However, the Sterling Act forever changed the local tax landscape. Fifteen years later, all Pennsylvania municipalities received similar taxing powers. The 1947 "Tax Anything Act" somewhat leveled the playing field by allowing other cities, boroughs, townships, and school districts the authority to pass levies beyond the property tax. By contrast, New Jersey pays a far larger share of its local bills with property taxes.

But the taxing benefits conferred to other Pennsylvania communities in 1947 have not had the same heft as those reaped by Philadelphia under the Sterling Act. It has become "one of the major blocks upon which the current tax structure rests," the Pennsylvania Economy League wrote in a 1999 report.

"It had been backed by councilmanic and Republican organization leaders in Philadelphia as one of the principal means of securing much-needed revenue for the municipality, without further burdening real estate," the Inquirer reported in a front-page article in the July 19, 1932, issue of the Inquirer. " Its passage by the House tonight, by vote of 195 to 0, was hailed by the Philadelphia political chieftains present here as one of the main accomplishments of this special session."

Within a few weeks, the Inquirer wrote, the City Council was considering several new taxes  from levies on amusement tickets to hot dog stands.

The amusement tax alone, was projected to bring in $7 million per year for the city  $17.5 million in 2018 dollars. Today, the amusement tax still accounts for 0.6 percent of revenue in the city's general fund and will raise an estimated $21.3 million this fiscal year, according to city budget documents.

So what stops Philadelphia from taxing everything, and where does it draw the line on raising money and adding new taxes?

"The line is going to be politics," Mark Aronchick, a lawyer representing the city in its defense of the beverage tax, told Supreme Court justices. "Politicians don't get up every morning saying, 'Hey, what can I tax?' "

But the Sterling Act should not be used to mask a double tax, argued attorney Marc Sonnenfeld on behalf the group of businesses, consumers, and trade associations. "The city has to ask the General Assembly to impose duplicative taxes like this," he said.

Of all taxes created under the Sterling Act, the wage tax is the most significant. It brings in nearly half the city's revenue, and city officials estimate that it will raise $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year. Without it, Philadelphia's property taxes would have to be significantly higher.

It also is a source of frustration for municipalities outside of Philadelphia. Their wage tax levies are capped at 1 percent in most towns, and they cannot levy wage taxes on nonresidents. If you live in Abington and work in Horsham, for example, Horsham sends your income tax back to Abington. But Philadelphia keeps all the 3.5 percent wage tax imposed on nonresidents.

Municipalities have fought back against that measure, and state lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow municipalities to recoup tax money paid by their residents who work in Philadelphia. The city has argued against such a change; in 2016 Mayor Kenney's office estimated that it would lose $179 million in wage-tax revenues.

Meanwhile, a different attack on the city's beverage tax is under consideration in Harrisburg. Taking aim at the tax on soda, lawmakers have proposed a law banning any municipality from taxing food and beverages. If passed, it would essentially repeal a chunk of the Sterling Act.

"While there is no question that the goals of funding pre-K and rebuilding city assets in Philadelphia are laudable and should be pursued, it is my belief that the beverage tax levy has proven to be an extreme burden on retailers, especially grocery and convenience stores in the city," Rep. Mark Mustio of Allegheny County, the bill's primary sponsor, wrote in a memo seeking cosponsors.

A House committee voted this month to send the bill to the House floor. Not surprisingly, Kenney's office opposes it.

Said city spokesman Mike Dunn: "We have grave concerns about this attempt to preempt local governments from taking actions they deem necessary to effectively respond to the needs of their constituents."

Evidently, the city is still bullish on the Sterling Act.
Philadelphias schoolchildren will suffer if the city doesnt do more to help the School District avoid a looming deficit. Read more

Philadelphia's parking ticket amnesty program was more about forgiveness than recovering $76.8 million in unpaid fines, but if city officials are in such a magnanimous mood why don't they dig deeper to help the cash poor School District?

The Philadelphia Parking Authority had long lines of people waiting for hours outside its offices last month to clear their records by paying a discounted fine. But the amnesty program brought in less than $3 million, while costing about $2.5 million to carry out.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who vigorously lobbied for the amnesty, said it meant more to her that 22,000 people no longer have to worry about unpaid fines that had lingered for years. "At least we are grateful that we were able to do something to try to help people," she said.

OK, but put that sentiment in context with how miserably the Parking Authority has failed to meet expectations of the revenue it would share with the School District.

Blame that on a 2004 change in the state law that created the Parking Authority, which voided a stipulation that $45 million of PPA revenue would go to city schools. That requirement was replaced with one that said PPA must give the city $25 million before giving the schools anything.

But that's not all. PPA executive director Scott Petri says the amended law also requires the city's percentage to increase every time PPA's on-street revenue goes up. So in the current fiscal year, PPA expects to send $40 million to the city but only $10 million to its schools.

One easy step Council could take to help the School District avoid an expected $700 million deficit in 2023 is to ask the state to change the PPA revenue-sharing formula.

The 4.1 percent property tax hike Mayor Kenney wants to increase school funding may be necessary too, but given Council's reluctance he shouldn't dismiss looking for money elsewhere in the city budget.

Kenney has been one of the schools' biggest cheerleaders, repeatedly saying the city can't wait for Harrisburg and Washington to live up to their obligations to adequately fund public education. He should know, as should any Council member, that investing in education pays off more in the long run than almost any other budget item. A well-educated city has less crime and more productivity.

Keep in mind also that it's not just the predicted deficit in the district's operating budget that must be addressed. As the recent "Toxic City: Sick Schools" series of articles showed, too many of Philadelphia's older schools are not only in disrepair, they contain lead and asbestos that pose a health risk to children.

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. says the district needs to spend $150 million on repairs to its 300 buildings. Those funds would be in addition to the district's $3.2 billion operational budget. The district recently borrowed $275 million to fund its five-year capital budget. Now, it needs more.

Council over the next four weeks or so will decide what will be in the next city budget and how to pay for it. Uppermost in its mind should be this city's children and how to make their schools safer and learning easier.
Edward M. Seaver, 92, of Wallingford, a retired mechanic for Philadelphia Gas Works and a World War II Army veteran, died Friday, May 18, of pneumonia at Riddle Memorial Hospital.

During his 38-year PGW career, starting in 1950, Mr. Seaver rose from service man to area supervisor, and finally to shop foreman, at the utility's 28th and Porter Street station.

He loved to tell stories about what happened at work. In one such account, he was called to investigate the smell of gas coming from a home on South Alder Street in South Philadelphia in January 1977. He knocked on the door of the man who lived next door, and warned him to leave the property.

Soon afterward, the buildings exploded, touching off a three-alarm fire that forced the evacuation of 125 nearby residents into 5-degree weather. The structures were destroyed, but no one was injured, the South Philadelphia Review reported.

Mr. Seaver was proud of having hooked up gas service in 1970 for the first Urban Outfitters retail store in West Philadelphia.

When Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in 1979, Mr. Seaver was on duty, in case gas lines had to be turned off, his family said. He also was present on the 6200 block of Osage Avenue during the armed confrontation between the City of Philadelphia and MOVE members on May 13, 1985.

"He was going into those homes turning off the gas to make sure those homes didn't explode," said his daughter, Kathleen Coyne. "He worked all night."

Mr. Seaver retired three years later.

Born in West Philadelphia to Frank Seaver and Mary McCormick, he won a partial scholarship to St. Joseph's Preparatory School and played clarinet in the school's inaugural marching band.

After graduating in 1944, he was drafted into the Army and deployed to the European theater. On March 13, 1945, while en route to England, he survived a mid-Atlantic collision between the French Aircraft Carrier Bearn and the USAT McAndrew carrying 1,974 U.S. troops.

The French ship lost its steering while underway as part of an Allied convoy. It veered into the McAndrew at 4 a.m., punching a hole in the hull and throwing 81 sleeping soldiers into heavy seas. Despite rescue efforts by two accompanying destroyers, 68 died.

"He was there, right next to where it was hit," said his wife, Kathryn McGinley Seaver. "He wasn't in that [sleeping] compartment, but the next one over." His daughter said the men were told to be ready to abandon ship, but didn't have to.

Later in 1945, when Mr. Seaver finally reached his destination in Nuremberg, Germany, he served as a mail clerk during the Nuremberg War Trials. He was honorably discharged with the rank of corporal in 1946.

"He got to witness a lot of the trial," his wife said.

After returning home, Mr. Seaver met Kathryn McGinley at Chez Vous dance hall and roller-skating rink in Upper Darby. They married in March 1951, and raised their daughter in Glenolden.

A longtime member of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Secane, Mr. Seaver could fix almost anything. He contributed his time and skills as a handyman to family, friends, neighbors, and the church.

Mr. Seaver enjoyed playing craps at the casinos in Atlantic City and fishing. He had fished on the banks of the Schuylkill in Fairmount Park as a boy and later graduated to the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. "I think he was happiest when he was fishing," his wife said.

In later years, Mr. Seaver battled dementia. In 2014, he and his wife moved in with his daughter in Wallingford.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Seaver is survived by two granddaughters; a great-granddaughter; and many nieces and nephews. Three brothers and two sisters died earlier.

A visitation starting at 9:30 a.m. Friday, May 25, will be followed by a 10:30 a.m. Funeral Mass at St. John Chrysostom Church, 617 S. Providence Rd., Wallingford. Burial is private.

Memorial contributions may be made to Mercy LIFE, One West Elm Street Conshohocken, Pa. 19428 or via https://giving.mercyhealth.org/mercy-life.
NAMUGONGO: More than 1400 pilgrims from different corners of the world have confirmed their participation in the Uganda martyrs celebrations.

The pilgrims will grace Uganda Martyrs Day celebrated every June 3 in memory of the lives of Christian converts killed by former Buganda King, Kabaka Mwanga in the late 1880s.

While addressing the media at Uganda Media Centre 25 May the Tororo Catholic diocese Archbishop Dr Emmanuel Obbo, a total of 1407 pilgrims from Africa and the world over have already confirmed their participation in the event.

Dr Obbo explained that 110 visitors are expected from Malawi, 330 from Tanzania, 300 from Kenya, 63 from South Africa, 40 from Nigeria and 21 from Zimbabwe.

And 524 are expected from Democratic Republic of Congo, 7 from Japan and 12 from USA but we believe the numbers will go up to 7000 including the foot pilgrims from neighboring countries by the beginning of June, said Dr Obbo.

Mr Godfrey Kiwanda, the State Minister for Tourism said government released Shs 30b for the renovations at Namugongo and that he is happy that the money has been put to good use by giving the places a face lift.

He urged Ugandans to create a friendly environment to make the pilgrims and other visitors at the shrines feel at home.

And as government, we have provided security to this place to ensure everyone is secure but we urge you to create a good environment for our visitors from the day they come until they leave the country,: said Mr Kiwanda.

Fr Vincent Lubega, the Namugongo Catholic Shrine rector said the Catholic shrine has already received the first pilgrims from Mbarara who arrived on 24 June and that they were expecting more foot pilgrims today [June 25].

He revealed that more than 2000 foot pilgrims from Tororo will arrive on Monday to begin preparations to lead the mass on 3 June.

We are on schedule in our preparations and ready to receive the pilgrims from all over the country but we are expecting more pilgrims this weekend, said Fr Lubega 21 May.

Every year, on June 3, Christians from different parts of the world make their way to two shrines in Namugongo, some 15 kilometres east of Kampala city.

Catholic Martyrs were beatified on 6th June, 1920, by Pope Benedict XV, and on 18th October, 1964, Pope Paul VI canonized them as Saints.

The celebration usually brings together millions of pilgrims from across the globe. Tororo last presided over the Martyrs Day celebrations in 1998.

The shrines are commemorative grounds for the Uganda Martyrs  Catholic and Anglican Christian converts who were killed at the orders of Kabaka Danieri Basammula-Ekkere Mwanga Mukasa II between November 1885 and January 1887

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Dawnta Harris, 16, is charged with murder in the killing of Baltimore County police officer Amy Caprio. (Photo: Baltimore County PD)

The 16-year-old suspect charged with running over and killing Baltimore County police officer Amy Caprio Monday was under house arrest for previous car theft offenses at the time of the attack.

Investigators said Harris, who is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, admitted that he stayed in an allegedly stolen Jeep while three associates -- 15, 16 and 17 years old -- burglarized a house in Perry Hall, MD. His associates could face felony murder charges in the case.

Investigators said Harris admitted that when Caprio arrived and demanded he exit the Jeep, he instead drove at her, WBAL TV reports.

Harris' record in the juvenile system shows repeated arrests. Between December and March, he was arrested four times for car theft, and he was bounced between programs in the community. One case involved the theft of a car while he was in a juvenile program in Montgomery County in March.

While under house arrest and wearing an ankle bracelet, police say Harris stole the black jeep used to kill Officer Caprio, WMAR TV reports. His mother had reported him as AWOL.

Maryland Secretary of Juvenile Services Sam Abed said the court acted with the Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby and the public defender to let him out on house arrest.

WMAR News reached out City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosbys office asking for comment on Abeds claim that his department wasn't privy to Harris being put back on house arrest, but we havent heard back at this time.
Baltimore County Police have charged three more teenage boys as adults in the death of police Officer Amy S. Caprio, who was killed Monday while responding to a call in Perry Hall, MD.

Darrell Jaymar Ward, 15, Derrick Eugene Matthews, 16, and Eugene Robert Genius IV, 17  all of East Baltimore  were each charged with first-degree murder and first-degree burglary. They were apprehended Tuesday morning, hours after police arrested 16-year-old Dawnta Harris and charged him with murder.

Harris, of West Baltimore, is accused of striking Caprio with a stolen Jeep while police say Ward, Matthews and Genius were robbing a nearby home, the Baltimore Sun reports.
A man walked into an Oklahoma City restaurant Thursday night and opened fire with a handgun wounding three people. He then left the restaurant and was shot and killed by two civilians.

Police say Alexander C. Tilghman, 28, of Oklahoma City, walked into Louie's Grill & Bar at Lake Hefner at about 6:30 p.m. Thursday and fired several rounds striking Natalie N. Giles, 39, and two unidentified girls.

Tilghman then walked outside the restaurant, where he was shot and killed by Juan Carlos Nazario, 35, and Bryan Wittle, 39, NewsOK reports.

Investigators say that prior to the shooting Tilghman posted videos on YouTube in which he said he was under demonic attack.

In a video dated April 27, Alexander Tilghman sits alone in a room and speaks directly to a camera, saying his life is in danger and he is under "hardcore demonic attack." Tilghman says he constantly hears cracks and booms throughout the house. He asks for "real people" to get in contact with him.

In a comment on the video, Tilghman pleads for help, NewsOK reports.
M y 47th birthday was May 22. My daughters wanted me to spend the day with all of them at daughter Elizabeths house. When I walked in the house it was decorated with balloons and Happy Birthday banners.

Soon after I was there all five of my sisters and some of my nieces drove in to spend the day with me. What a wonderful surprise! It is not often that all of us six sisters get to spend a day together. My daughters had invited them, and everyone brought food.

Daughters Elizabeth and Susan made the casseroles. Daughter Verena had taken the cake, ice cream, etc. to Elizabeths house the day before. Im not sure if I can remember all the food that was brought in but Ill try. There was salad, deviled eggs, cheese, veggies and dip, chips, cookies, cinn-a-pan rolls, rhubarb cake dessert, jello with fruit, chocolate cake, brownies, Rice Krispy treats, rhubarb juice and Pepsi. Then we also had a white birthday cake and ice cream. The cake had candles on it that spelled out "older" and "wiser." Not too sure if the wiser proves true but definitely the older does. It is probably the first birthday I had that even the plates and napkins said "Happy Birthday!" They all helped make a great memorable 47th birthday.

We visited and visited. Not so sure if anyone was listening but I do know more than one was talking at the same time. It was fun and we sang a few songs after lunch. Of course we yodeled. My daughters always like when my sisters and I are together and yodel. Was sorry that our two sisters-in-law couldnt make it for the day.

Sister Lizs granddaughter La Rose and Abigail played together for the first time. It was so cute to watch them play. Sister Lizs two grandsons were also there and daughter Susans baby, Jennifer.

The babies had more than enough attention. I appreciate that they all helped make my day specialsome traveling two hours to spend the day. I also appreciated all the flowers, cards, and gifts very much.

We were shocked to receive the sad news of the death of my husband Joes brother Clarence Jr. He was 47 at the time of his death but would be 48 now. We dont know the cause of death yet but are waiting on the autopsy results. Clarence was never married. He leaves to mourn three brothers, eight sisters, and many nieces and nephews. Once again we are reminded that we do not need to be old to die. In less than four months Joe and I both lost a brother. We question why but take comfort in knowing that God makes no mistakes.

Clarence Jr. will be buried in our local Amish community cemetery. Funeral services will be Friday. Son Benjamin will be one of the pallbearers along with eight other nephews. Nephew Henry will also be one of them. Its a new experience for both of them.

In the Amish community the pallbearers help dig the grave. Tomorrow night they will gather at the cemetery to dig the grave for their uncle. Life brings many changes. May we trust in our Heavenly Father for his guiding hand to watch over us as we travel into the unknown future.

I wish all of Gods blessings to each and every one of you! I appreciate all the birthday wishes and words of comfort. Take care!
In his new book, James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, says of course Russian activity swung the election to Donald Trump. The left is treating this speculation, almost certainly driven by animus towards President Trump, as immensely important. For example, Rachel Maddow said, ahead of her interview with Clapper: The immediate past director of national intelligence, who was director of national intelligence during the Russian attack on the election says he has no doubt the Russian attack swung the election to a Trump win. (Emphasis added)

But Clapper and Maddow are being disingenuous. How do I know? Because of this exchange between Clapper and Sen. Tom Cotton on January 6, 2017:

Sen. Cotton: Director Clapper, you said to Senator McCain earlier the intelligence community cannot gauge the impact on the election [of Russian activity]. Is that because that kind of electoral analysis is not a task thats within the traditional responsibility and skill sets of the intelligence services? Clapper: Thats correct. Sen. Cotton: Thats something thats more suited for someone like Sean Trende or Michael Barone or Nate Silver  election analysts that have written extensively on the election. Clapper: Well, it certainly isnt within the purview of the intelligence community.

Thus, Clapper admitted that the intelligence services he oversaw are in no position to assess the impact of Russian activity on the 2016 election. Its not something they do and its not something they have the skills required to do.

Yet now, Clapper does exactly what he says he lacks the training and skills to do  he asserts, with certainty, that Russian activity swung the election to Trump. And Rachel Maddow, doing exactly what Clapper wants, trumpets this assessment as coming from the director of national intelligence during the Russian attack on the election.

Clapper and Maddow want us to give special weight to Clappers assessment because of the position he once held. But Clapper once conceded that people in this position cannot gauge that which Clapper now purports to gauge.

In short, cracker barrel speculation entitled to no weight is masquerading as akin to intelligence. And for purely partisan purposes.

Clapper has developed a well-deserved reputation for dishonesty. Here is another example.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is new to the job, but he is off to a great start. Like his boss, he loves America. Like his boss, he has the fighting spirit. And as a former congressman, he has taken the size of his former colleagues on Capitol Hill perhaps even better than his boss.

Where does that leave Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico? Responding to a question Senator Tom Udall read to him at yesterdays Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Pompeo baited Udall into wrestling with the word scurrilous with hilarious results (at about 1:50 of the video clip below). Plot spoiler: Udall loses.

Quotable quote: Senator, I find that question bizarre.
The US Coast Guard Legend-class maritime security cutter USCGC Bertholf (WMSL 750) pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawii, US to support the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2012 exercise in June 29, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

China slammed the Pentagon on Thursday for canceling the Chinese military's invitation to the 2018 Rim of the Pacific Exercise, calling the move rash, unconstructive and futile in changing China's determination to protect sovereignty and maintain regional peace and stability.

The United States has disregarded facts and recently hyped China's so-called militarization of the South China Sea, and used it as an excuse to revoke China's invitation to the joint military exercise, Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said in an online statement on Thursday.

Slamming shut the door of interaction will not benefit mutual trust and cooperation in Sino-US military-to-military relations under any circumstances, he added.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon canceled China's invitation this year by claiming to have "strong evidence" that China has deployed military hardware, including missiles, electronic jammers and bombers, in the South China Sea.

Ren said China's deployment of necessary defense facilities on its own territory is a legitimate right of a sovereign nation, and the US has no right to make irresponsible remarks regarding these activities.

The Pentagon's move will not change China's will to play a positive role in maintaining Asia-Pacific regional peace and security, nor it will shake China's determination to protect its own sovereignty and security interests, he said.

Ren urged the US to abandon its zero-sum mentality, resolve differences in an appropriate manner and make the relations between the two militaries a stabilizing factor in Sino-US ties.

Lu Kang, Foreign Ministry spokesman, said on Thursday that it is futile and impractical for the US to use a single event to try to force China to relinquish its inherent rights.

The first RIMPAC was held in 1971 as a joint exercise between the US, Australia and Canada. China first participated in 2014, and received invitations from the US in 2016 and 2018.

In 2016, then US secretary of defense Ash Carter said the US would not revoke China's invitation despite the tension over the South China Sea.

Teng Jianqun, director of the Department for American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said behind the canceled invitation is the Trump administration's attempts to look tough on China before the upcoming midterm elections and US fears that China's growing military presence in the sea will undermine its influence in the region.
By Zhang Junshe

Washington hyped up the so-called South China Sea "militarization" regardless of the facts and used it as an excuse to disinvite China from the RIMPAC-2018 multilateral military exercise on May 23, local time. A spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) said the decision was not at all constructive. Closing the door to communication is never good for enhancing mutual trust and cooperation between the Chinese and American militaries.

Disinviting China from the RIMPAC-2018 joint military exercise shows Washington going back on its words and impairing its credit, and the reason it cites is groundless and ridiculous.

First of all, Chinas carrying out island and reef construction in the South China Sea is within its sovereign rights and the US is in no position to point fingers.

The South China Sea Islands are China's inherent territory. China's sovereignty and relevant assertions in the South China Sea, which are fully supported by historical and legal evidences, have been formed over a long history and have been upheld by all Chinese governments.

China's deploying necessary defense facilities and conducting normal military training on its own territory are an exercise of its right of self-defense and self-protection endowed by international law to all sovereign states.

It is necessary for safeguarding China's sovereign security and regional peace and stability and has nothing to do with "militarization". It is the same as the US' deploying military facilities in Guam and Hawaii. The American deployments are of a much larger scale than China's.

Second, China's island and reef construction in the South China Sea is mostly to serve civilian needs. It is necessary for performing China's international responsibilities and obligations.

In recent years, China has carried out necessary construction on the South China Sea islands and reefs in order to improve relevant functions, better the working and living conditions for the people stationed there, and better perform its international responsibilities and obligations in search and aid on the sea, disaster mitigation, meteorological observation, environmental protection, navigational safety, fishing production and oceanic research as a member of the International Maritime Organization and a sovereign state of islands and reefs in the South China Sea.

The five large multi-function lighthouses that the Chinese government has built since 2015 on some features of the Nansha Islands have been put into use successively and have significantly enhanced ships' safety. This is an illustration of China's performance of its international responsibilities and obligations.

Third, China's island and reef construction in the South China Sea doesn't target any other country and won't affect in any way the navigational and overflight freedom of other countries in the South China Sea according to international law.

As the largest trader in the world and the largest country by the South China Sea, China attaches more importance to navigational freedom than others, and it respects and supports the navigational and overflight freedom of other countries in the sea according to international law. Navigational freedom in the South China Sea is never an issue.

As a matter of fact, the US is the source of "militarization" in the South China Sea. For a long time the US has intensified military deployments in the region, blatantly flexed its muscles, and dispatched military aircraft to carry out so-called "operations of navigational freedom" in waters and air space off China's islands and reefs in the South China Sea. It has organized joint military exercises in the South China Sea with its allies and partner states. It is the biggest external factor that causes the turmoil in the South China Sea and the source of any "militarization".

The U.S. must realize that the mil-to-mil exchange between China and the US is mutually beneficial, not a gift bestowed by one party to another. Mil-to-mil exchange between the two sides, including joint exercise, can deepen mutual understanding and mutual trust, prevent misunderstanding and misjudgment, promote cooperation in dealing with common security issues, help maintain regional and world peace and stability, and meet the expectations of the international community. Therefore, the US disinviting China to the RIMPAC-2018 is not constructive in any way.

The U.S. should keep in mind the overall situation, give up the Cold War mindset, properly deal with divergences, and try to make mil-to-mil relations a stabilizer for China-US relations.

China firmly upholds the peaceful diplomatic policy of independence and a defensive national military policy. It will never develop at the expense of other countries' interests, but it won't give up its legal rights and interests either.

Invitation or disinvitation, it won't change China's resolve to play a role in safeguarding the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, much less shake its determination to resolutely defend its sovereignty and security interests.

The author is Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Naval Military Studies Research Institute. The article is published on the PLA Daily on May 25 and translated from Chinese into English by the China Military online.
NEW DELHI, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The partnership is a splendid combination of the brand's ideology with Jacqueline's fashion and fitness forward attitude

Renowned Japanese electronics company,Casio India , announced Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez as the Brand Ambassador for its women's range of wrist watches - Sheen, Baby-G and Enticer.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696845/Casio_Jacqueline_Fernandez.jpg )



Announcing the association, Kulbhushan Seth, Vice-President, Casio India said, "Jacqueline is a fashion maven recognised for her distinct and vibrant choices. Her natural inclination towards lifestyle and fitness works as a perfect alignment with our extensive selection of women's watches."

He further added, "We have multiple ladies brand in our portfolio like Sheen, Baby-G and Enticer. While we were looking at brand association, we realized that Jacqueline Fernandez fits pretty well to communicate the philosophy of all our brands. She has the cool and tough attitude for our Baby-G Watches, class and style to communicate Sheen's philosophy and the simplicity for Enticer. Hence, we view this collaboration as a crucial step in taking the women's range of Casio watches to the next level and further strengthening our portfolio in the Indian market. With Jacqueline on-board and a growing range of women's watches, we have an exciting line-up of activities and launches being planned."

Speaking on her new role and affinity for the brand, Jacqueline said, "I have always admired and connected with Casio's modern, efficient and extraordinary designs across its wide collection of women's watches. Completely in sync with the latest international trends, Casio has something for every occasion and style, we can go from sporty and fun casual with Baby-G to sophisticated and subtle with Sheen and everyday stylish with Enticer. I am thrilled to be a part of Casio's journey in India, a brand that has such a rich legacy of designing iconic timepieces."

Within the women's watch category, Casio has three distinct ranges - Baby-G, Sheen and Enticer. Baby-G watches have a tough yet cool style statement, a must have fashion accessory for a girl/woman head-to-heel into fashion. The currently trending Athleisure series under the Baby-G range of the watches are for the fitness lifestyle-oriented women of today who never compromise on their health and believe in a being fit in style. Sheen stands for the high quality elements packed into watches that are elegant, brilliant, and smart. They are designed for the ambitious, hard-working and independent women of today that are putting in their best efforts to create a name for themselves. The Enticer brand stands for its simplicity and attractiveness in the everyday fashion.

About Casio India

Casio India Co. Pvt. Ltd.(CIC) has been operating in India since 1996 and has established the distribution channel as well as the brand for most of its products. Casio Computer Co. Ltd, Japan, the parent company of CIC is engaged into manufacturing and marketing of various consumer products throughout the world.

Casio India's range of products include sales and marketing of Handheld Calculators, Desktop Calculators, Scientific Calculators, Printing Calculators, Label Printers, Laser-LED based green Projectors, Wrist Watches, Clocks and EMI (Electronic Musical Instruments). The company has also established service centres across the country to provide after-sales-services. Today, Casio is known for its reliable product quality and exemplary innovations and is one of the world's most recognized brands due to its vast product range.

Media Contact:

Surabhi Sharma

[email protected]

+91-9643667317

Casio India Company Pvt. Ltd.



SOURCE Casio India Co. Private Limited
NEW DELHI, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure organised Industry Interaction on "Protecting Data through Standards and Certification" on the eve of the implementation of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Mumbai

it-sa India organized by NurnbergMesse India

Recent data breaches have focused the attention of governments, citizens, and companies alike on the same question: How can data be effectively protected? On the eve of the implementation of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), around 30 German and Indian experts from industry and government met in Mumbai to discuss how standards and certification can enhance IT security and data protection.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/555443/it_sa_India_Logo.jpg )



(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696860/Industry_Interaction_GDPR.jpg )



Participants welcomed a closer cooperation between India and Germany, and emphasised the need for consistent data protection regulations across countries. The experts appreciated similarities of the Indian draft Data Protection Bill with the GDPR of the EU. They pointed out that laws and regulations alone will not lead to adequate protection of data. Standards would be needed to ensure their effective implementation. They also highlighted that awareness has to be raised on data protection and capacities strengthened in India.

IT security experts from Germany said that certification can create trust by assessing whether a company can secure its data. However, a multiplicity of different certificates could create confusion for consumers and may lead to market access barriers. In the GDPR, the requirement of mandatory accreditation of certificates is therefore seen as an important step to reduce fragmentation.

The industry interaction took place at the side-lines of it-sa India, India's IT security expo and conference, which opened its doors from 24 to 25 May 2018 in Mumbai. Representatives from the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate of the Ministry of Electronics and Information (MeitY), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Data Security Council of India (DSCI), Quality Council of India (QCI), DSCI - Promoting Data Protection, TeleTrust - IT Security Association Germany, German Engineering Federation (VDMA), the Association for Electrical, Electronic &Information Technologies (VDE), TUVs, NurnbergMesse, and several German companies as well as the German Consulate participated in the exchange. The event was organized on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, by GIZ - the German Agency for International Cooperation - in collaboration with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC).

India and Germany cooperate within the Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Indian Ministry for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. The Working Group has the goal to reduce technical barriers to trade and strengthen product safety through political and technical dialogue of relevant ministries and regulators. As part of the Global Project Quality Infrastructure (GPQI), GIZ has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to support the Working Group in India and ensure that concerns of the industry are taken up within the political dialogue.

About NurnbergMesse India

NurnbergMesse is one of the 15 largest exhibition companies in the world. The portfolio covers some 120 national and international exhibitions and congresses and approx. 40 sponsored pavilions at the Nuremberg location and worldwide. Every year, around 30,000 exhibitors (international share: 41%) and up to 1.4 million visitors (international share of trade visitors: 24%) participate in events owned by NurnbergMesse, partners of NM and guest events. NurnbergMesse Group is present with subsidiaries in China, North America, Brazil, Italy and India. The group also has a network of about 50 representatives operating in over 100 countries. For more information, visit www.nm-india.com (NurnbergMesse India)

Global Project Quality Infrastructure - India

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

http://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/32230.html

[email protected]

Media Contact :

Rucheeka Chhugani

[email protected]

+91-1147168828

NurnbergMesse India Pvt. Ltd.



SOURCE NurnbergMesse India
MUMBAI, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Every year millions of students aspire to study abroad but only a few hundred manage to reach top colleges. While many are strong candidates, lack of access to expert guidance forms a barrier between them and their dream college. The ReachIvy Scholarship from Reach Education Private Limited, is designed to help these students realize their dream.

This Scholarship provides free support to students looking to apply to top-ranked colleges anywhere in the world.

Up to 10 applicants can win either a Mentorship or Assistance for one Full Application Assistance (up to 1 lakh value).

Learn more about this prestigious scholarship here: https://www.reachivy.com/2018-reachivy-scholarship.html

Apply here

(https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOcczccwOPyhMWoaYS2o0ths6MGkxDMl6VcgAbO6iD8M3mwg/viewform)

Application Deadline: 30th June, 2018

About ReachIvy.com:

ReachIvy.com is a premium education and careers advisory. Our study abroad and career consultants help aspiring students get accepted into Ivy League and other top ranked colleges globally.

ReachIvy helps with High School, Undergraduate, Masters, MBA, PhD and Executive Education admissions abroad including USA, UK, Canada, Singapore and more.

We have successful admits at MIT, Columbia, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, London School of Economics, Oxford, University of Chicago, INSEAD, London Business School, NUS, Rotman, amongst others. Our global team of counsellors have also acquired their degrees from top colleges and are passionate about sharing their experiences with students worldwide.

Media Contact :

Suchitra Nair

[email protected]

+91-9819652468

Chief Systems Officer, ReachIvy



SOURCE Reach Education Private Limited
NEW DELHI, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The Rummy premier league was conceptualized by Junglee Games, one of India's foremost online gaming companies. The concept, which was influenced by the Indian Premier League was kick-started on the 2nd of April 2018 and concluded on 29th April, and went on to become India's most followed online rummy tournaments.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/663535/Junglee_Rummy_Logo.jpg )



The event saw thousands of rummy enthusiasts participating in the online contest where the winner Ms. Aditi from Bemetara, Chhattisgarh went on to win a Honda Amaze and the runner-ups Mr. Purusothaman from Mungulam, Madurai, TN and Mr. Ravi from Sirkali, TN both won a Royal Enfield and a trip to Thailand respectively.

The concept was the brainchild of Kapil Rathee, CPO, Junglee Games and Avijit Bajpai, Sr. Head Branding, Junglee Games, who aimed at consolidating the top Rummy Players under one umbrella during the blockbuster Indian Premier League season. Above all, the objective was to give Indian Online Rummy Players a first-of-its-kind tournament organized on a massive scale.

The tournament saw more than 168 satellite tournaments spanned over for about a month and the winner getting a brand new Honda Amaze.

"The idea was to sync Rummy with the IPL and giving rummy players the festive feel on all screens. We made our systems robust enough to handle 8 varied tournaments in a day, for a month. I am overwhelmed with the fact that the saga alone witnessed more than 50,000 players in addition to the players who play regularly on Junglee Rummy," said Kapil. "It was a small town girl from Chhattisgarh, who had never participated in online rummy tournaments before, who shocked the entire nation by winning the qualifiers to become India's topmost Rummy player," he continued.

"RPL-I was a success on many parameters, be it player participation, or seamless performances of both our mobile and web platforms for all the tournaments. With over 450 Hours+ of tournament gameplay and people from all across India joining, RPL-I is yet another feather in the cap for us," said Bharat, the Head of Product Marketing at Junglee Games.

Talking about the key takeaways, Avijit said, "I am so ecstatic to see that the players who'd joined us just a couple of months back win the Mega Prizes. Our top winner also broke the myth that Rummy is a man's game."

"It was one-of-a-kind tournament, and it's huge reception encouraged us to come up with the next season of RPL soon after the first version concluded. The next season is even more smooth with a higher Prize Pool to encourage more players," Avijit continued.

The next season of RPL, dubbed Rummy Premier League II, has already kicked off from 17th May and is seeing a significant traction. Learn more and book a seat in RPL here: http://jrum.my/b81b

About Junglee Rummy

JungleeRummy.com offers a world-class gaming experience to play online rummy games. We enable you to play rummy online with real players in the most enhanced multiplayer gaming environment. Built on a secured platform, we ensure that you enjoy a seamless 24x7 gaming experience replete with wonderful features in the comfort of your home.

Junglee Rummy has recently launched its Rummy App for Android Users to let users enjoy rummy anytime, anywhere. The fun of RPL would be doubled if played on the app.

Media Contact:

Avijit Bajpai

[email protected]

+91-8527288376

Sr. Head Brand Marketing

Junglee Games India Pvt Ltd



SOURCE Junglee Games India Pvt Ltd
MOSCOW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991, refuting the accusation that Russia was responsible for the crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in 2014, Russian media reported.

The Dutch-led five-nation joint investigation team announced on Thursday that the installation of the Buk missile that shot down the MH17 came from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian army in Kursk. It presented the remains of the missile at a press conference.

The Russian ministry said in a statement that its experts had analyzed video materials of the press conference and discovered that the serial number of the missile's engine clearly indicated that it was produced in 1986 in the former Soviet Union.

Russia has destroyed all its Buk missiles, the warranty period of which expired in 2011, the statement said.

On July 17, 2014, the MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- HemoSonics today announced it will be participating in the scientific proceedings as well as have a commercial presence at Euroanesthesia (ESA), to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 2-4th. HemoSonics will be participating in the ESA's pre-congress session on Point of Care Guided Haemostatic Management During Massive Bleeding held on June 1st where the Quantra System will be demonstrated. On June 2nd, as part of the congress, Chief Scientific Officer Francesco Viola will be co-chairing the poster session entitled "Laboratory Coagulation Measurements". He will also be presenting a poster regarding a new cartridge in development for the Quantra Hemostasis Analyzer, which measures fibrinolysis in addition to clot stiffness and clot time parameters. The Company welcomes congress attendees to the HemoSonics booth where the Quantra will be demonstrated and members of the team will be available to answer clinical and scientific questions.

ESA Exhibit Location: C2-040

ESA Poster Details: A Novel Differential Assay to Quantify Fibrinolytic Function in Whole Blood with the Quantra Hemostasis Analyzer, June 2, 14:00-15:30; Poster e-Board 5.

In addition, HemoSonics will be demonstrating the Quantra at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Scientific Subcommittee (ISTH SSC) meeting on July 18-21 in Dublin, Ireland. HemoSonics is partnering with Stago on the symposium "The Role of the Core Lab and Point-Of-Care Testing in Managing Bleeding Disorders Benefits and Challenges." The Company welcomes congress attendees to the Stago/HemoSonics booth where the Quantra will be demonstrated and members of the team will be available to answer clinical and scientific questions.

ISTH SSC Exhibit Location: H1 in the Forum, Ground Floor

ISTH Sponsored Symposium: Liffey Hall, July 18 13:15-14:30

About the Quantra System

The Quantra system is a rapid, easy-to-use diagnostic platform that utilizes consumable cartridges to run a panel of tests. The initial QPlus Cartridge measures the treatable aspects of coagulation in under 15 minutes. The Quantra Hemostasis Analyzer is designed for use in critical care settings which require that results be generated quickly from an instrument that is easy to operate at the point of care. The Quantra System is commercially available in Europe.

About HemoSonics

HemoSonics is a medical device company offering a novel point-of-care diagnostic platform to guide the management of critical bleeding to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by enabling more targeted transfusion of blood products. The Quantra System is designed to transform the way clinicians manage coagulation dysfunctions by providing comprehensive, timely information on coagulation status at the point of care. HemoSonics is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, with research, development and manufacturing facilities in Durham, NC. For more information, visit www.hemosonics.com.

Contact

Remi Corlin

HemoSonics

VP International Markets

contact@hemosonics.com

Related Links

http://hemosonics.com



SOURCE HemoSonics
"We are excited to have PlusCoin available for trading to QUOINE users. We plan to have a deeper strategic partnership with QUOINE going forward," said Metaps Plus CEO Seungyeon Kim.

"We welcome the listing of PlusCoin on QRYPTOS, which will help enable the vision for financial inclusion in the new crypto economy. We look forward to strengthening our cooperation with other fintech companies such as Metaps in Korea," said Mike Kayamori, CEO and Co-founder of QUOINE.

To distribute PLC tokens, Metaps Plus will focus on token stability and connecting the world economy to their cryptocurrency and plan to focus on improving accessibility to the cryptocurrencies. Metaps Plus will continue to expand its network with major overseas companies to make it easier to use blockchain technology in the real economy anywhere in the world.

About Plus Coin

Plus Coin is based on Ethereum Smart Contract technology, providing more stable service by applying rapidly changing virtual currency value and technology that can balance and connect the real economy in various angles. It is also expected to become a link between Bitcoin and Etherium, which are traded actively, and the real economy.

About QRYPTOS

QRYPTOS is QUOINE's fully digital cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform launched in June, 2017.

QUOINE is a leading global fintech company that provides trading, exchange, and next generation financial services powered by blockchain technology. With offices in Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, QUOINE combines a strong network of local partners with extensive team experience in banking and financial products to deliver best in class financial services for its customers. QUOINE is the first global cryptocurrency exchange to be officially licensed by the Japan Financial Services Agency. More information is available at www.quoine.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696849/20180523_pluscoin_1.jpg

Related Links

http://www.quoine.com



SOURCE QUOINE
Drive, see and experience: start of the second part of the "EU Road Trip Project". Portugal was where it began for two young Europeans in the T6 Multivan Highline. Objective: to get to know the people and countries of the EU. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is supporting the EU project.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696904/Volkswagen_Multivan.jpg )

Yldau de Boer, 24 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) is looking forward to the journey via Spain, France and Belgium all the way to her home country of Holland: "I can't wait to see new places and above all to meet interesting people. There will be lots of opportunities to do that during the stops in towns and small villages over the next four weeks. It's going to be awesome!"

Fabian Sanchez, 25 from Vilnius (Lithuania) will also be in the Multivan and adds: "Our journey takes us directly along the Atlantic coast. I'll certainly be going surfing with the locals and afterwards having a barbecue with them and hopefully some good conversations."

The two will be letting the world share in every experience via social networks (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube).

This is already the second stage that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has supported. The first trip took another team of two from Greece to France, a distance of over 4,000 kilometres. Coming up, from June to August, are another route along the Danube and a journey through the Baltic states - over 12,000 kilometres in all. Each of the four trips is being "experienced" in each instance by two young Europeans.

About the "Road Trip Project"

Using a casting process, eight Europeans aged between 19 and 26 were selected by the European Commission from a large field of over 2,000 applications. The travellers get on-site support from local celebrities and bloggers, who present their home region and part of Europe to them. From the experiences and the insider tips from the locals a unique online travel guide gets produced. The aim of the project is to create a platform of interaction between young people across Europe.





More about the project:

Website: http://www.roadtriproject.eu

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EUinmyregion

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/euinmyregion

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/RegioNetwork

Hashtag: #roadtripproject



Further pictures under http://www.vwn-presse.de



Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles

Sales & Marketing Communications

Lia Perenboom

Tel.:+49-(0)-511 / 7-98-9797

E-mail: lia.perenboom@volkswagen.de

http://www.vwn-presse.de

SOURCE Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese military official on Friday ordered the strengthening of disciplinary inspections in the armed forces.

Zhang Youxia, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the inspections would provide a strong political and disciplinary underpinning for building a strong military.

Zhang told representatives from the services and the armed police that the inspections should focus on "upholding absolute Party leadership over the military, obey the Party's command, strengthen Party building in all aspects in the military and exercise full and rigorous governance over the Party."

He said leading officials should oversee the work "to make inspections sharper and more powerful to serve as a constant deterrence."
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here
Vandalism is just one crime threat faced by businesses. The fact of the matter is that there is always at least the small possibility of a crime pretty much anywhere a property may be located.

A May 1 article at Westword provides detailed information on which parts of Denver suffered the most incidents of criminal activity during the first three weeks of April. The information comes in the wake of an overall increase in crime during the spring of 2017. Areas with the highest number of reported illegal acts, ranging from larceny and aggravated assault to public disorder and offenses related to drugs and alcohol, were led by Five Points and Civic Center. United Protective Services LLC, a security firm, says that owners and managers of properties located in higher crime areas may need to be particularly careful to employ every practical means to assure the safety of property and people. However, the firm adds that doesnt mean that businesses located in less crime prone areas are not vulnerable to all kinds of issues.

The fact of the matter is that there is always at least the small possibility of a crime pretty much anywhere a property may be located. Indeed, the vast majority of illegal acts are what most people would consider petty violations that can happen almost anywhere, but they can still pose a real threat, says United Protective Services. While none of us tremble at the thought of youngsters attempting a five finger discount to procure a candy bar or soda, minor losses can add up over time and present a major problem for owners of mom-and-pop shops and big box stores alike. The same applies to even relatively benign vandalism, says the security firm. After all, even if the perpetrator is not posting a gang tag but just Jason loves Jennifer, it still costs a business money and time to cover up the graffiti while potentially lowering the esteem visitors might have in a business. Over time, this sort of issue can definitely chip away at a businesss profit margin, says the firm.

Of course, there is a more serious type of danger associated with gang graffiti and the activity that can be related to this sort of quality of life violation. United Protective Services notes that, whether an owner or manager is concerned for the physical safety of employees and customers, or is merely worried that rampant shoplifting is harming the bottom line, employing well trained and experienced uniformed security guards is an outstanding preventative measure. The service notes that the mere presence of an imposing person in a uniform will tend to discourage even relatively hardened bad actors.

Interested readers may get in touch with United Protective Services LLC by calling 303-747-6434. The public can also visit the firms web site at https://www.unitedprotectiveservicesllc.com/.
Marching from Sacher Park to the Old City "I stand with Israel and the God of Israel and the Jewish people." -- Afshin Shamsianpur, Christian Iranian citizen

On Tuesday, May 15, 2018, the March of the Nations took place with 6000 participants from Israel and more than 50 other nations in honor of the 70th anniversary of the State of Israel. The March ended with a Festival of Life, where the nations proclaimed their solidarity with Israel and their determination to raise their voices against anti-Semitism in their respective countries.

The international March of Life movement initiated by Jobst and Charlotte Bittner in Germany had invited Christians from all over the world to Jerusalem on this special date. During the two days prior to the March, there was an international conference with 2000 participants, which provided the opportunity to personally confront the issues of the Holocaust and learn about the historic anti-Judaic stance of Christian churches over the past 2000 years.

At the kick-off event of the March in Sacher Park, Christians from different nations related the involvement of their countries and families in the Holocaust; they expressed their resolve to resist anti-Semitism and to stand with Israel. Among them was Barbel Pfeiffer, whose grandfather had helped build the Auschwitz extermination camp. Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, and Yehuda Glick, a renowned Knesset (Israeli Parliament) member, enthusiastically welcomed the March of the Nations.

The March set out with a display of international flags. Israeli passers-by were visibly moved by the wave of friendship and solidarity as the March made its way to Sultan's Pool for the closing ceremony. Fifteen hundred Holocaust survivors attended the closing event as guests of honor. The "Festival of Life" celebrated the 70 years of Israel with Israeli and international artists. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin thanked the participants via video for a "sign of true friendship." The Israeli Minister for Communication, Ayoob Kara and Josh Reinstein of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus both spoke about the significance of the March. As a symbol of the Israeli saying mi shoa le tkuma  from the Holocaust to new life, Holocaust survivor Yechiel Aleksander came to the stage with his entire family  children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

On April 22,1500 people marched in pouring rain in Bogota, Colombia, in the Marcha de la Vida (March of Life/March of Remembrance) to demonstrate their commitment never to remain silent in the face of persecution, prejudice, and indifference. In the Dominican Republic, 2000 people took part in that nation's first March of Remembrance to take a stand against signs of impending genocide.

On Sunday, April 15, Houstonians rallied for the seventh year in a row for the Holocaust March of Remembrance. Still suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey-related floods, hundreds gathered at Rice University to remember the Holocaust, honor survivors and their families, listen to personal testimonies of suffering and triumph, remember those who served as liberators, upstanders, and rescuers, and march as a sign of their commitment never to forget the price of remaining silent in the face of injustice. The March of Remembrance opening service welcomed pastors, rabbis, government officials, and community leaders, as well as professors from the Texas A&M System and Rice University. The Texas A&M Galveston Corps of Cadets contributed to the pageantry and solemnity of the memorial walk portion of the event.

Prior to the service, Ashley Stringer and Sheena Doorn provided worship music, and Dramatic Truth Ballet Dance Theater from Kansas City performed a Holocaust-themed ballet. Local Hillel students read names of Holocaust victims. Prior to the blowing of the shofars, a choir from The Church at Bethel's Family sang. Doug Stringer welcomed all the participants before Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commissioner, Rabbi Brian Strauss of Congregation Beth Yeshurun pronounced a rabbinic blessing over a stone ceremony with survivor Ruth Steinfeld and her daughter; the ceremony symbolized the passing of the torch of telling the lessons of the Holocaust to the younger generations. Rabbi Strauss also invited everyone in the audience to stand to demonstrate their commitment to be upstanders in confronting injustice. Paul Sarvadi, CEO of Insperity, and Dr. Victoria Sarvadi read poignant proclamations written by government leaders, and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo encouraged the crowd to respond to unrighteous behavior with integrity. Israeli Consul General Gilad Katz also addressed the assembly, followed by German Consul General Thomas Meister. Survivor and descendant testimonies followed, featuring Ruth Steinfeld, as well as Steve Finkelman, child of survivor Wolf Finkelman. Other speakers were Luisa Lupprich and Desiree Syring, both repentant Nazi descendants; they shared stories of their families history as perpetrators and expressed their remorse for their ancestors' role in the Holocaust. Many attendees streamed forward to embrace these courageous young women!

There have been marches in over 300 cities worldwide. This year in the USA, marches were held in Arkansas , Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington.

Visit our website for event videos and additional information: http://marchofremembrancehouston.org
Mountain lodges offer the most comfortable way to stay in the Andes. Many trips to Peru encompass the famed Inca Trail, but there are other routes to the fabled city of Machu Picchu.

Globetrotters who book their mountain lodge adventure to Machu Picchu with Goway Travel will receive two complimentary nights in Cusco when they book by June 22, 2018.

Peru continues to be a timeless destination, celebrating a colourful, forward-thinking present alongside a glorious past. Many trips to Peru encompass the famed Inca Trail, but there are other routes to the fabled city of Machu Picchu. These include a 6-day trek, stopping at some of the most comfortable and well-appointed mountain lodges in the Andes. That journey forms part of Goways Mountain Lodges to Machu Picchu: 7 Day round-trip from Cusco.

Included in the trip are 6 nights accommodation along the trail, meals, entrance and a guided tour in Machu Picchu, an English speaking train conductor and private local guides, all porters, and gratuities for lodge and service staff. Also included as part of this offer are two complimentary nights at 4-star accommodation in Cusco.

Globetrotters who book by June 22, 2018 will receive two complimentary nights in the ancient Inca capital, valued at US$720. Eligible departures are available on select dates in November 2018, and March 2019. Lodges are closed in January and February.

Since 1970, Goway has been providing unforgettable travel experiences to Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central & South America, Idyllic Island destinations and Europe. Today Goway is recognized as one of North America's leading travel companies for individuals, families and groups to select exotic destinations around the globe. Goway has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Manila, and Sydney, Australia.

For reservations and information, visit http://www.goway.com, or call 1-800-387-8850.
Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah appeared for a questioning at the Korea Immigration Service in Seoul at lunchtime Thursday, some three years after she made global headlines with the "nut rage" scandal.

This time, she is being questioned on charges of illegally hiring Filipino housemaids.

Cho and her mother Lee Myung-hee allegedly forged documents to disguise several Filipinos as vocational trainees for Korean Air but actually employed them as maids.

The Korea Immigration Service said it has testimony from Korean Air staffers who were questioned earlier in the snowballing scandal engulfing the family.

Cho and her mother apparently preferred foreign maids because they were concerned about their privacy if Koreans got too close a look at them.

The Korean Air owner family is under investigation over a series of allegations ranging from assault and abuse of staff to smuggling luxury goods.
Eternity "The author addresses the issue of Is there a God? better, and in more simple terms, than my decades of church-going provided  I recommend this book without hesitation or reservation. Its a classic. - Lloyd Costley, Amazon Reviewer

Lloyd Costley of Washington, D.C., wrote this 5-star review for Amazon: Of the million books out there on religion, this should be required reading. I took a course in college on the major religions to better my understanding. I wish this had been in the curriculum. For example, after 9/11, you cant pick up the paper without reading references to Islam  but very few Americans, including me  know very little about the religion. After reading the Muslim chapter, I now understand why, and how, Christ and St. Gabriel were included in Islam, the difference between the Koran (Quran) and Hadith, the origin of the Sunni-Shiite feud, what Ramadan is all about, and many other aspects of the religion. It is true the author includes humor about all the religions, and some may feel humor has no place in religion, but he does not play favorites  Finally, the author addresses the issue of Is there a God? better, and in more simple terms, than my decades of church-going provided  I recommend this book without hesitation or reservation. Its a classic.

The time has come for Tom to die. When he sees the light ahead, he wonders who will be waiting for him. Will it be Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Vishnu, Buddha, or another prophet?

Everyone wonders what happens after death. For Tom, dying takes him to a misty tunnel. In the distance, he suddenly sees St. Peter at the worlds largest computer, where they discuss Toms life. St. Peter decides Tom should visit all the different heavens to see exactly where he wishes to spend eternity. Tom goes to the Protestant, Catholic, Hebrew, Muslim, and other heavens. Then he makes his selection.

Where will Tom spend Eternity? This thought-provoking novel delves into what may be the most important question people ever face: Where to spend Eternity?

Watch the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBFCjgTck0A

About the Author: Dr. Thomas E. Berry is a retired professor of Russian language and literature. He lectures for John Hopkins University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Russian Cultural Center of the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and on international cruise lines. Dr. Berry received a Gramota from the Russian Government for service in fulfilling peaceful relations between Russia and the U.S., has published academic books and six novels listed on Amazon.com, and travels extensively.

This eye-opening book makes for a fascinating read, as it answers questions in easy terms about the worlds great religions. Where would you choose to spend Eternity? said Robert Fletcher, CEO of Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Agency.

ETERNITY (ISBN: 978-1-61897-433-4) is available for $12.50 and can be ordered through the publishers website: http://sbpra.com/DrThomasEBerry or at Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com.

WHOLESALERS: This book is distributed by Ingram Books and other wholesale distributors. Contact your representative with the ISBN for purchase. Wholesale purchase for retailers, universities, libraries, and other organizations is also available through the publisher; please email bookorder(at)sbpra.net.
Aerial firefighting industry executives are concerned that cutbacks in exclusive use contracts, and greater reliance on call when needed contracts by the US Forest Service (USFS) could severely compromise the availability of fixed wing tankers and helicopters at a time of longer, more destructive fire seasons.

Exclusive use contracts are essentially a retainer, normally paid over a period of 120-150 days from late spring to late fall, by the USFS on a per-aircraft basiswhether or not the aircraft are deployed on a fire. In return, the operator is obligated to have those aircraft immediately available for dispatch at the request of the Forest Service. In contrast is the call when needed contract, under which companies are paid only on a per-incident basis, and unlike the exclusive use agreement, can turn down a request.

Due to budget cuts, the Forest Service is opting for more call when needed contracts, said George Hill, Executive Director of the American Helicopter Services And Aerial Firefighting Association (AHSAFA) in Washington. Given the insecurity inherent in call when needed agreements, many operators will be forced to pursue other work, and unable to make their aircraft available to the Forest Service.

For 2018, the USFS has awarded exclusive use contracts covering 13 fixed wing tankersdown from 20 last year. Four of those tankers are owned and operated by Neptune Aviation Services. As Ron Hooper, the Missoula, Montana-based companys Chief Executive Officer explained, during 2017, the company had 11 tankers under USFS exclusive use contracts, including its last four operational P2V Neptune legacy aircraft--now retired.

While Hooper noted that the USFS has told operators that another 16 tankers could be called up for duty under call when needed, he pointed out that this creates a sense of uncertainty for the industry.

Starting in 2010, we began to acquire and modify a fleet of BAe 146 regional airliners, based on what we understood to be the Forest Services long term requirements, he said We made a huge capital investment from our own funds to do that, because it was our expectation that most of those tankers would be operated for years to come under exclusive use contracts. Our question now is, how can we recoup our investment in these aircraft without long term exclusive use commitments, which were the whole basis of our planning and investment?

Since an air tankers design is limited to fighting fires, Hooper predicted that as exclusive use contracts diminish, more operators will be forced to seek other revenue generating opportunities, such as with state fire protection agencies, or firefighting entities in international markets. At the same time, he cautioned, tanker operators may not be able to hire or retain the aircrew and maintenance staff they need, contingent on call when needed contracts. This will constrain aircraft availability that much more, he said.

Robin Rogers, Vice-President, of Rogers Helicopters in Fresno, California, echoed these concerns. He explained that an aerial firefighting business model, based on call when needed contracts, assumes a major risk. If you have to rely on call when needed contracts, you may do very well in a normal fire year, but you will struggle in years when there is not a lot of fire activity, he said.

But as Rogers pointed out, in a below-normal fire year, there may not be other available jobs, especially for operators of the so-called Type 2 helicoptersthe medium sized models such as the Bell 205 or Bell 212.

On average, the Forest Service has about 34 Type 2 helicopters under exclusive use contracts annually, he said. The problem is, there is really not enough workother than firefightingto support that many, nationally, if they were to be contracted call when needed.

At Helimax Aviation, two of the companys six CH-47D helicopters are currently under exclusive use contracts from the Forest Service, with another two under call when needed. "Helimax is constantly looking to maximize its usage of aircraft under exclusive use contracts throughout the year to minimize the risks associated with ad-hoc and call-when-needed contracts, said Josh Beckham, General Manager of the Sacramento-based company. If only call when needed contracts were available, operators would have to look for other revenue streams which would deny the Forest Service of very valuable assets such as the CH-47D.

Brian Jorgenson Vice-President of Sandpoint, Idaho-based Timberline Helicopters, also stated that his company, which currently has two Kaman K-MAX heavy lift helicopters on exclusive use contracts, would find it challenging to work on a call when needed basis.

I would not be able to go into the commercial market, and tell a customer that I could work for him for as long as the Forest Service doesnt call, he explained. The customer would want an uninterrupted commitment. Along with that I could not afford to employ people on the chance that the Forest Service might call. It definitely increases the unknowns, and for the USFS, it increases their costs, because call when needed contracts are more expensive.

Beckham noted that three years ago, the Forest Service contracted for 34 Type 1 helicopters, but by 2017, that was reduced to 28, an 18 percent reduction.

The Forest Service has no backup plan in place, especially given an increased trend with the number of fires and the destructive nature of those fires. Yet, the USFS is cutting back, he said.

Helimax Aviation, Neptune Aviation Services, Rogers Helicopters, and Timberline Helicopters are members of AHSAFA, the Washington, D.C. headquartered trade association which represents the privately operated aerial firefighting industry before the US Forest Service and other Federal agencies with responsibility for wildland management and fire protection.
Skyway Concession Company LLC (SCC), operators of the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge (Chicago Skyway), are mid-way through efforts to restore the Chicago Skyways toll plaza canopy to its iconic art-deco design, hailed as ultra-modern when the plaza originally opened in 1958. The $7 million dollar canopy restoration project is the work of Skidmore, Owings, Merrill, LLP, scheduled in phases around the summer peak travel months to minimize any disruption to motorists traveling the roadway.

The new Skyway toll plaza canopy will maintain its historical art-deco look and feel, while incorporating state-of-the-art signage and tolling equipment. The new larger toll lane signage, color coded by payment type (e.g., green for cash, purple for I-Pass/E-ZPass), was designed to help motorists see which lanes offer their preferred payment method from a much greater distance, allowing for safer transit to the correct payment lane and more efficient transit through the toll plaza.

About the Chicago Skyway: Built by the City of Chicago in 1958, the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge is a 7.8-mile-long toll road that connects the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago's South Side. The main feature of the Skyway is a 12-mile-long steel truss bridge, known as the "High Bridge." The bridge itself spans the Calumet River and Calumet Harbor, a major harbor for industrial ships  its main span extends 650 feet long and provides for 125 feet of vertical clearance.

The City of Chicago maintained and operated the Chicago Skyway until January 2005 when Skyway Concession Company assumed those responsibilities pursuant to a 99-year lease. The lease agreement between Skyway and the City of Chicago was the first privatization of an existing toll road in the United States.
In the current era of fake news, methods for determining the authenticity of information emerged as the #1 tech trend over the next few years  as established by Churchill Club, Silicon Valleys venerable thought leadership forum.

This was the 20th edition of Churchill Clubs annual Top 10 Tech Trends debate, which convenes notable venture capitalists to uncover non-obvious or underestimated trends for the next three-to-five years. This years event in Burlingame, CA, brought together partners from Bessemer, Greylock, Lightspeed, Redpoint and Sequoia to submit their best guesses. Forbes Medias CEO Mike Federle and Publisher Rich Karlgaard emceed and provided color commentary.

Guests were treated to a hilarious Bubbleproof parody video on counter intuition, starring guest VC Michael Fertik of Heroic Ventures and panelist David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners.

Betting well on the future takes vision, intuition, and tenacity, Churchill Club CEO Karen Tucker noted as she opened the event with a look back at hits and misses of the predictions made over the past two decades. While Tucker noted many of the trends made 20 years ago were remarkably prescient  such as Software-as-a-Service and the rise of mobile devices and apps  Whether or not our predictions come to pass, its important to continue imagining the future and exchanging thoughts and ideas, Tucker said.

While some of the evenings predictions might have been bolder and less obvious than others, the panel discussion was lively and sometimes pointed. Panelists first voted on each others predictions, displaying green or red paddles for a thumbs up or down. Then with the help of polling partner, Poll Everywhere, nearly 500 audience members used their mobile voting system to agree or disagree with the panels predictions.

This years trends, ranked by percentage of audience agreement (with panelist votes also noted), are:

1. The Hunt for Authenticity

Deep learning enables computers to synthesize voice indistinguishable from humans and generate photographs that look real. Plus, computers enable disinformation at greater scale than ever (election, net neutrality debate). Determining authenticity will be an important growth area.



Tomasz Tunguz, Redpoint Ventures (Panel: 1 agreed; 3 disagreed)

2. China Accelerates Past the U.S. in Key Technology Areas

If you want to have an MRI read today, you might want to fly to China. Deep learning can help radiologists better diagnose cancers, but it'll be years before that technology is widespread in the US. It's already deployed and scaling in China. The strong alignment between the Chinese government and technology ecosystem, combined with a national focus on key technologies such as AI and autonomous vehicles, means that China will become the global leader in these core technologies.



Mike Vernal, Sequoia Capital (Panel: 2 agreed; 2 disagreed)

3. Robotics Goes Mainstream Because of the AV Gold Rush

Thousands of engineers and billions of dollars are being poured into the race for an autonomous passenger vehicle. That investment will (a) massively drive down the price of key sensors and actuators, (b) 100x the pool of engineers trained in perception and planning, and (c) inspire tons of entrepreneurs in adjacent industries (trucking, construction, warehouse management, etc.). We will see a surge in autonomous robots replacing dangerous or laborious jobs across industries.



Mike Vernal, Sequoia Capital (Panel: 3 agreed; 1 disagreed)

4. The All-Seeing Eye

Cheap and smart cameras with computer vision algorithms are blanketing the world. New smart camera apps, from your face unlocking your phone to Amazon Go stores, will delight consumers. But this tracking of our every move will also remake expectations and regulation around surveillance.



Sarah Guo, Greylock Partners (Panel: 2 agreed; 2 disagreed)

5. Move Fast and Change Everything

From self-driving trucks to electric scooters, every segment of the multi trillion dollar transportation industry is being invented or reinvented, and the unexpected impact on our infrastructure and our lives will be massive.



Sarah Guo, Greylock Partners (Panel: 2 agreed; 2 disagreed)

6. Voice First Will Open Up Internet to the World

We are trying to bring the world online. However, 25% of the adult population are illiterate so the way to bring them online will be voice first.



Nicole Quinn, Lightspeed Venture Partners (Panel: 1 agreed; 3 disagreed)

7. Decentralization of Data

Today, all of our data is centralized in clouds controlled by a handful of data oligarchs. In the future, users will exert more control over their personal data and use a technology like the blockchain to do it. commerce



Tomasz Tunguz, Redpoint Ventures (Panel: 0 agreed; 4 disagreed)

8. The New Space Stack Will Enable Extraterrestrial Commerce

After holding back Moores Law for 50 years, the space industry is being turned upside down by a new ecosystem of startups developing microsat constellations that replace mainframe-like systems at 1% of the cost, with planetary coverage and higher resilience. Companies in tourism, mining, communications, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, defense, media and more will buy the tech and services they need off-the-shelf to operate extraterrestrial fleets.



David Cowan, Bessemer Venture Partners (Panel: 1 agreed; 3 disagreed)

9. High-Density AI Promises Conversational Bots Smart Enough to Disrupt Mobile Commerce

High-density AI will break up NLP into narrow domains that neural networks can master, enabling a generation of conversational bots that can reliably satisfy consumer needs without human intervention. With intuitiveness and immediacy, these bots will displace mobile apps as the dominant UI for computing, disrupting the entire consumer internet economy.



David Cowan, Bessemer Venture Partners (Panel: 0 agreed; 4 disagreed)

10. People Will No Longer Distinguish Between Online and Offline Worlds

Weve seen e-commerce and retail come together into omnichannel and experiential retail. Well see the same for social, dating, media, fitness and everything else.



Nicole Quinn, Lightspeed Venture Partners (Panel: 1 agreed; 3 disagreed)

A complete video recording of the event can be watched on the Churchill Clubs YouTube Channel.

Churchill Club is Silicon Valley's top independent thought leadership forum, with the mission to encourage innovation, economic growth, and societal benefit. The 7,500-member, 32-year-old, 501(c)(3) non-profit regularly convenes dynamic, future-focused events where global business and thought leaders meet to discuss and debate, inform and educate, forecast and evaluate the timeliest trends of the day.

Past speakers include executives and founders of major companies such as IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google Co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, former Microsoft CEOs Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates; Oracle Founder Larry Ellison, Golden State Warriors Owner & CEO Joe Lacob, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg; prominent investors such as John Doerr, Vinod Khosla, Marc Andreessen, and Ron Conway; and government and other leaders such as former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, filmmaker James Cameron, and Hollywood talent uber-agent Ari Emanuel.
Mi Rancho 100% Agave Tequila Mi Rancho Tequila is what made Comida 2018 a hit

The Comida 2018 Committee led by its Chairwomen Valerie Coyazo and Amarilis Valdez-Dempsey achieved new highs in attendance and the raising of funds on behalf of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Collaborative benefiting the Bizfest Entrepreneurial Workshop and Scholarship Competition, Latinos of Tomorrow, and Young Latino Professionals.

The event was held at the historic Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It included a wide selection of Latin beverages and cuisine which are available from various businesses and restaurants located in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area. The highlight of the event was MI RANCHO TEQUILAS signature cocktails paired with authentic Mexican cuisine prepared by CACAO Mexican Restaurant and Jarocho Authentic Mexican Seafood.

Mi Rancho Tequilas presentation was far more than we could have ever had imagined. said Michael Lopez, president of the Young Latin Professionals, a sister organization of the Hispanic Collaborative. Valdez-Dempsey said,  I now know why Mi Rancho Tequila has had so much early success under its founder Michael Dean, he takes it personal and makes it a point of delivering an unforgettable experience with the tequilas offered by Mi Rancho Tequila. I am personally grateful that Mi Rancho Tequila was the presenting sponsor at Comida 2018, stated Valdez-Dempsey.

Mi Rancho Tequilas second year of participation helped increase the overall event attendance by twenty-five percent year over year. The digital media audience provided by Mi Rancho Tequila's participation was over two hundred thousand individuals internationally. I think we have helped bring the COMIDA event to the forefront of what the Hispanic culinary community has to offer here in Kansas City. stated Dean. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas Citys President Carlos Gomez stated, Mi Rancho Tequila continues to prove that its the leading premium tequila in the industry, and that Mi Rancho Tequila is what made COMIDA 2018 a hit.

ABOUT MI RANCHO TEQUILA

The journey began in Jalisco in 2008, where the Dean-Lozoya family was determined to bridge the divide between premium taste and affordability. Premium tequila of course had to begin with 100% Blue Agave, planted in the ideally fertile soils of Jalisco, home of all highly-regarded tequilas. The harvested product is then cooked using the autoclave method, which allows optimum control of the temperatures for ideal cooking, reducing the cost of production. The result is a clean true agave taste when the juices are extracted. Unique to Mi Rancho Tequila is their proprietary yeast, which is made from the same Weber Blue Agave plant that is the basis of their tequilas. This hand-formulated yeast is organic in nature and gives the tequila a cleaner and crisper presentation. Rather than regular distillation, a slow distillation process is implemented, which burns off more impurities, as well as methanol concentrates. The result is captivatingly smooth and pure. The Maestro Tequilero, Sr. Hector Davalos Abad, is a highly respected and skilled expert with over 50 years in the business of tequila distillation, over the course of which he has been responsible for the development of the profiles of several highly esteemed brands.

http://www.miranchotequila.com

ABOUT COMIDA 2018

Comida is Kansas Citys first Culinary Arts event that showcases the cuisines of Latin America, Brazil, & Spain. The event includes visiting celebrity chefs, local chefs, restaurateurs, and cutting edge mixologists. Comida educates the community about the diversity and variety of Latin cultures through unique cuisines, specialty cocktails, visual and performing arts. Event proceeds benefit the educational programs of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Collaborative (GKCHC), the HCCGKCs 501c3 sister organization. Additional information can be found at comidakc.com.
AAAED Conference 2018 We are pleased to recognize all of these distinguished individuals and organizations for their contribution to the cause of access, equity and diversity, said Danielle Williams, Ed.D., Awards Committee Chair.

The American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity (AAAED), an organization of equal opportunity, diversity and affirmative action professionals, announced the recipients of its annual awards program. The awards will be conferred at the Associations 44th National Conference and Annual Meeting themed "Bridging Opportunities: Keeping the Dream Alive." The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, 165 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303. The awards will be presented on Thursday, June 7, 2018 from 12:15 pm to 2:15 pm.

AAAED will honor civil rights icon, the Rev. Dr. CT Vivian, with the Drum Major for Justice Award. Dr. Vivian, once known as a Christian journalist, is best known for his work with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As National Director of Affiliates and strategist for every Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.) organization, he truly helped change the nation. In November 2013, Dr. Vivian was honored for his vision and leadership in the fight for justice when he was awarded this Nations highest civilian honorThe Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Drum Major for Justice is the highest award the association confers. The award is a special acknowledgement of the extraordinary contributions that an organization or individual, including a public servant or one who has held an elective office or appointment to public service, has made to the cause of equity, access and diversity. Previous awardees include Representatives August F. Hawkins and Parren Mitchell (deceased), Dr. Shirley A Jackson, Rep. G. K. Butterfield, Dr. Norman C. Francis and Rev. James Morris Lawson.

The Southern Poverty Law Center will receive the Edward M. Kennedy Community Service Award. The Community Service Award is presented to an individual or organization demonstrating outstanding community service. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.

Beverly Guy-Sheftall will receive the Arthur A. Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award. The Arthur A. Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a lifetime of achievement promoting and advocating for affirmative action, EEO and diversity. Professor Guy-Sheftall is founding director of the Womens Research and Resource Center (since 1981) and an Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Womens Studies at Spelman College. She is also an adjunct professor at Emory Universitys Institute for Womens Studies where she teaches graduate courses in their doctoral program. She is currently President of the National Womens Studies Association (NWSA). Professor Guy-Sheftall has published a number of texts within African American and Womens Studies, which include the first anthology on Black womens literature, Sturdy Black Bridges: Visions of Black Women in Literature (Doubleday, 1979).

Rogsbert F. Phillips-Reed, MD will receive the Rosa Parks Award. The Rosa Parks Award recognizes an individual who serves as a role model and leader for others through their personal achievements, excellence in a chosen field, a commitment to human, civil rights and social issues and contributions to the betterment of society. A native Georgian, Dr. Phillips-Reed is a general surgeon and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons specializing in breast surgery. She graduated from Columbia University School of Physicians and Surgeons in 1977, and in 1982 became the second woman and first African American woman to successfully complete Emory Universitys Surgical Program.

Rogelio Saenz, PhD will be the recipient of the Cesar Estrada Chavez Award. The Cesar Estrada Chavez Award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated leadership in support of workers' rights and humanitarian issues. Rogelio Saenz is Dean of the College of Public Policy and holds the Mark G. Yudof Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Saenz has written extensively in the areas of demography, Latina/os, race and ethnic relations, inequality, immigration, public policy, social justice, and human rights.

The Coca-Cola Company will receive the Champion of Diversity Award. The Coca-Cola Company is the worlds largest total beverage company, offering over 500 brands to people in more than 200 countries. The companys vision is to be as inclusive and diverse as our brands, unleashing the power of perspectives within our associates to drive innovation and sustainable system growth. The Champion of Diversity Award is given to an organization or corporation for outstanding achievements in promoting diversity in the workforce.

Southern Company Gas will also receive the Champion of Diversity Award. Southern Company Gas provides for the energy needs of millions of U.S. households and businesses. As the largest natural gas-only distribution company in the United States, with more than 150 years of history behind them, they are working to ensure that Americans have access to an abundant, safely delivered supply of natural gas for decades to come. Supporting and enabling diversity and inclusion is a business priority at Southern Company Gas. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion partners with the organization to create a work environment where all employees can thrive and feel valued, respected and productive.

AAAED President Myron R. Anderson, PhD, will confer the Presidents Award on members of the Association who have made outstanding contributions to the Association.

We are pleased to recognize all of these distinguished individuals and organizations for their contribution to the cause of access, equity and diversity, said Danielle Williams, Ed.D., Awards Committee Chair. "Great honor is due to these trailblazers who have been outstanding in their fields, added President Anderson.

The AAAED 44th National Conference and Annual Meeting is open to the press. For more information or to register for the Conference, go to: https://www.aaaed.org/aaaed/Conference.asp.

Founded in 1974 as the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA), AAAED is a national not-for-profit association of professionals working in the areas of equal opportunity, compliance and diversity. AAAED has 40 years of leadership in providing professional training to members, enabling them to be more successful and productive in their careers. It also promotes understanding and advocacy of affirmative action and other equal opportunity laws to enhance the tenets of access, inclusion and equality in employment, economic and educational opportunities.

###

1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 200 * Washington, D.C. 20006 *202-349-9855 *

800-252-8952 * Fax: 202-355-1399 * http://www.aaaed.org
Cesar Evaristo, PhD Team Coordinator, Miltenyi Biotec

Recent advances in immuno-oncology research have demonstrated the critical role of immune cells in cancer therapy. A deep understanding of the interactions and phenotypes of immune and tumor cells within the tumor microenvironment is therefore key to developing future immune-based cancer therapy strategies.

However, the most significant challenge when working with solid tumors is the dissociation of samples prior to their use in downstream applications, such as immunomagnetic enrichment, flow cytometry, and single-cell sequencing. Furthermore, tumor cells can cause background signals and introduce bias to the analysis of immune cells.

This webinar is the second of a two-part series sponsored by Miltenyi Biotec; attendees will learn about innovative tools and solutions to increase quality of data, reduce experimental time, and ease scale-up during TIL analysis using flow cytometry. They will find out about optimized workflows for the isolation and flow cytometric phenotyping of mouse TILs, and methods to reduce biases during TIL analysis.

Dr. Cesar Evaristo, who received his doctorate from the University of Paris Descartes, Paris, will present the webinar. After seven years as a research scientist in the US and Germany, he joined Miltenyi Biotec in 2016 as R&D team coordinator of the Tumor Immunology Group. He focuses on immuno-oncology preclinical research, target discovery, as well as oncology-related product development.

LabRoots will host the webinar on May 29, 2018, starting at 9 a.m. PDT, 5 p.m. CET. To learn more about this event, the continuing education credits offer, or to register for free, click here.

ABOUT MILTENYI BIOTEC

Miltenyi Biotec is a global provider of products and services that advance biomedical research and cellular therapy. The companys innovative tools support research at every level, from basic research to translational research to clinical application. This integrated portfolio enables scientists and clinicians to obtain, analyze, and utilize the cell. Miltenyi Biotecs technologies cover techniques of sample preparation, cell isolation, cell sorting, flow cytometry, cell culture, molecular analysis, and preclinical imaging. Their more than 25 years of expertise spans research areas including immunology, stem cell biology, neuroscience, and cancer, and clinical research areas like hematology, graft engineering, and apheresis. In their commitment to the scientific community, Miltenyi Biotec also offers comprehensive scientific support, consultation, and expert training. Today, Miltenyi Biotec has more than 1,500 employees in 25 countries  all dedicated to helping researchers and clinicians around the world make a greater impact on science and health.

ABOUT LABROOTS

LabRoots is the leading scientific social networking website, which provides daily scientific trending news and science-themed apparel, as well as produces educational virtual events and webinars, on the latest discoveries and advancements in science. Contributing to the advancement of science through content sharing capabilities, LabRoots is a powerful advocate in amplifying global networks and communities. Founded in 2008, LabRoots emphasizes digital innovation in scientific collaboration and learning, and is a primary source for current scientific news, webinars, virtual conferences, and more. LabRoots has grown into the worlds largest series of virtual events within the Life Sciences and Clinical Diagnostics community.
ChefUniforms.com We will continue to evolve our site to be modern, innovative and easy to navigate

ChefUniforms.com, a leading manufacturer and distributer of high-quality chef and hospitality apparel worldwide launched a new responsive website to improve the shopping experience for all customers.

As mobile usage continues to increase steadily, ChefUniforms.com made the strategic decision to completely revamp their website. The new responsive site is more intuitive, simplified and will adjust to any screen including desktop, horizontal and vertical tablets, and mobile.

ChefUniforms.com rebuilt the website with the goal of improving the shopping experience with streamlined navigation, featuring new products more clearly and adapting to any screen resolution so content can be displayed without losing quality.

We understand that not everyone accesses websites using the same methods and most of our customers use mobile phones and tablets. We wanted to make sure we are giving them the best user experience across every device, said Tamara Taylor, Director of E-Commerce Operations. We will continue to evolve our site to be modern, innovative and easy to navigate.

To learn more about ChefUniforms.com, visit their website at http://www.chefuniforms.com.

About ChefUniforms.com

ChefUniforms.com is an apparel brand that manufactures and distributes high quality culinary and hospitality apparel worldwide. Chef Uniforms remains determined in their mission to provide a large selection of innovative high-quality chef apparel at the best prices. Chef Uniforms corporate office is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a distribution center near Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit http://www.chefuniforms.com.
CHROME Federal Credit Union Customer Engagement drives Financial Performance. This award is a result of CHROME Federal Credit Unions dedication to measuring and improving their Customer Engagement.

The National Business Research Institute (NBRI) is pleased to welcome CHROME Federal Credit Union to the NBRI Circle of Excellence. The NBRI Circle of Excellence Award recognizes organizations that place a high value on Employee and Customer engagement. These organizations demonstrate their dedication by conducting best in class survey research with NBRI and taking action based upon the results. NBRI commends the leadership of these organizations for their commitment to the Continuous Improvement Process and recognizes their achievements with the Circle of Excellence Award.

To qualify for this honor, the organization must score at or above Stretch Performance at the 75th benchmarking percentile when measured against their industry, or the organization must improve 5 or more benchmarking percentiles in total company score over the previous research study, a statistically significant amount. It is no small feat to move an entire companys score of customer loyalty or employee engagement 5 or more percentiles, or to reach Stretch or Best in Class Performance levels.

Customer Engagement drives Financial Performance, said Dr. Jan G. West, Ph.D., CEO & Organizational Psychologist at NBRI. This award is a result of CHROME Federal Credit Unions dedication to measuring and improving their Customer Engagement.

About CHROME Federal Credit Union

CHROME Federal Credit Union may appear to be a shiny new credit union, but our history in the Greater Pittsburgh area goes back decades.

So, heres our story.

The employees of Washington Steel Corporation founded a member-owned financial cooperative, Washington Steel Federal Credit Union in 1971, which later expanded to serve all individuals who live, work, worship, attend school or volunteer in the Southwestern Pennsylvania community - including Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Our people always cared about helping our neighbors and small businesses save, responsibly borrow, and live better. But we knew we could do more by modernizing our identity, simplifying our products, and letting our humanity shine.

Chrome is a metal that can be stretched and pounded, but will never break. Chromium is added to steel to make shiny, strong, stainless steel. Likewise, CHROME Federal Credit Union offers banking that shines in a strong, stainless, and simple way.

Our job does not get in the way of getting to know you or delivering more than a member expects. We look for ways to commit random acts of kindness. And if youre having one of those days, well work really hard to turn it around and make it excellent.

CHROME Federal Credit Union is more than just a bank. We invest in WOW moments.

About NBRI

NBRI conducts Employee, Customer, and Market Research for businesses, and uses this data to help organizations leverage these human factors to make improvements to operations and strategy. With its extensive experience across all industries, NBRIs research teams bring their clients a combination of deep industry knowledge and expert advice. NBRIs mission is to help their Clients set new standards of excellence in their industries. NBRI product offerings, such as the Root Cause Analysis, ensures their clients will focus on the most impactful issues.

National Business Research Institute, Inc.

2701 Dallas Parkway; Suite 650

Plano, TX, 75093

972-612-5070

800-756-6168

http://www.nbrii.com

CHROME Federal Credit Union

480 Johnson Road, Suite 120

Washington, PA 15301

724-228-2030

http://www.chromefcu.org
Tailoring the Playbook for health departments is an opportunity to take the best learnings about innovation in practice and apply them directly to public health. We encourage the field to use these and other resources as they work to improve the health and well-being of communities.

The Alliance for Innovation (AFI) and the Public Health National Center for Innovations (PHNCI), a division of the Public Health Accreditation Board, are excited to announce the launch of their new web-based Public Health Innovation Playbook. Customized for use by the public health industry, the Playbook contains tools and other resources that can be used by health departments to support innovation projects aimed at improving the health and well-being of their communities.

Developed collaboratively by AFI and PHNCI, with input from subject-matter expert Marena Works of Reno, Nevada, and graphic design support from Slate Communications in Fort Collins, Colorado, the Playbooks tools and trainings are customized to support the innovation projects of nine U.S. health departments that recently received innovation grants totaling $1.55 million from PHNCI. Although initially developed to support the grant projects, the Playbooks tools and trainings can be used to support the projects of any health department interested in transforming practice through innovation.

The Playbook, with its accompanying eight-hour training, is based on the Alliance for Innovations trademark Innovation Academy program. Developed in conjunction with Arizona State University, the program has traditionally been offered to local governments as an exclusive opportunity to learn and apply the innovation process and foster a culture where innovation can thrive to meet the current and future needs of their communities.

We are thrilled to be able to take the successful program and tools of the Innovation Academy and tailor them to meet the specific needs of public health professionals across the country, said Katy Simon Holland, interim president & CEO of the Alliance, and one of the programs original developers and founders. PHNCIs mission is in direct correlation to our mission to inspire innovation to advance communities, and we are excited to contribute to their work.

In joining to develop the "Public Health Innovation Playbook," AFI and PHNCI hope that this first-of-a-kind partnership will deepen the innovation ecosystem of public health and communities in new ways.

PHNCIs collaboration with the Alliance for Innovation has strengthened our ability to support health departments interested in implementing innovations to transform practice, said PHNCI Chief Innovations Officer Jessica Solomon Fisher. Tailoring the Playbook for health departments is an opportunity to take the best learnings about innovation in practice and apply them directly to public health. We encourage the field to use these and other resources as they work to improve the health and well-being of communities.

The "Public Health Innovation Playbook adaptation was developed in both electronic and web-based platforms to allow for collaboration across teams and outreach beyond grantees, as well as allow for flexibility and growth in the future. General access to the Playbook can be found at http://www.phnciplaybook.com/.

About the Alliance

The Alliance for Innovation is inspiring innovation to advance communities with the help of our strategic partner, Arizona State University (ASU). Guided by research and real-world experience, the Alliance impacts organizations and communities, changing the way local government performs. We are accessible and valuable to all levels of an organization. To learn more about the Alliance for Innovation and how to join, visit http://www.transformgov.org or contact the Alliance at info(at)transformgov.org or 888.496.0944.

About PHNCI

The Public Health National Center for Innovations (PHNCI), a division of the Public Health Accreditation Board with support and funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was established in 2015 to foster a multi-sector learning community that will help identify and test new and innovative practices to improve public health capacity. In this role, PHNCI serves as the hub for national public health innovations.
"I regret the statements that the North Koreans have made over the past few days," he said, "and the fact that we've not been able to conduct the preparation between our two teams that would be necessary to have a chance for a successful summit."

Pompeo provided additional insight into Trump's decision to cancel the historic encounter in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Moments after Presidents Trump's letter to Kim Jong-un was made public, he placed blame for scrapping the summit squarely on Pyongyang.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korea stopped taking part in bilateral consultations that would have been necessary for a productive summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez said the administration should not have been surprised that North Korea is acting as North Korea often does in international negotiations, and that stumbling blocks were foreseeable.

"Many of us were deeply concerned that the lack of deep preparation that is necessary before such a summit is even agreed to was not taking place," said Menendez. "And now we see the consequences of that. And I'm not sure that constantly quoting the Libya model is the diplomatic way to try to get to the results that we seek in North Korea, because that didn't work out too well for [former Libyan leader Moammar] Gaddafi."

By contrast, Republican Senator Cory Gardner spoke as though Kim, not Trump, had put the summit on hold.

"Kim Jong-un has walked away from a historic opportunity for peace and should be held accountable for his decision," he said. "In the internal debate that must be taking place within Kim Jong-un's mind -- between Kim the propagandist and Kim the peacemaker -- it's clear that Kim the propagandist prevailed internally, and that peace lost out to that propaganda."

Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen asked Pompeo what the administration will do next regarding North Korea. The secretary of state replied, "Situation normal," implying the status quo remains. He added that the American-led pressure campaign on Pyongyang will continue.
Representatives with Crescent Harbor Lighting, which is the online arm of The Lighthouse, announced today that The Lighthouse has completed eight years of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Business accreditation. According to the Better Business Bureau, there are more than 400,000 accredited BBB members in the America, a symbol or trust and reliability.

We consider it an honor to be recognized and to uphold the standards that consumers trust, said Tim Fossett, spokesman for The Lighthouse, a family-owned lighting company founded in 1972. Consumers trust is something we pride ourselves in, which is why we have the BBB to hold us accountable for every interaction we have, said Fossett. We invite everyone to review our track record as held by the BBB and were sure that our record and accreditation will speak for themselves.

The BBB Code of Business Practices represents sound advertising, selling and customer service practices that enhance customer trust and confidence in business. The code is built on the BBB Standards for Trust, eight principles that summarize important elements of creating and maintaining trust in business.

The BBB has determined that Lighthouse Distribution Corporation has an A+ rating and meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints. The BBB provides reviews on businesses that include background, licensing, consumer experience and other information such as governmental actions that is known to BBB.

The Lighthouse has been in business for 45 years and is in the second generation of ownership.

Fossett credited his companys high rating and seven years of BBB accreditation to its commitment to providing excellent customer service. Fossett explained that the company opened Crescent Harbor to share its unique Maine lighting tastes with the rest of the world.

We are a family owned business committed to providing our customers with quality lighting at a reasonable price. In addition, we are truly dedicated to growing our business in order to offer quality careers to the good people of Southern Maine, Fossett said. We look forward to helping you light your home. Whether you're looking for an accent light for your living room, lighting a new addition or an entire home we can offer you the fixtures you need. From affordable lighting solutions that look like theyre high-end to handmade lighting fixtures that look like works of art, Crescent Harbor has the product selection you need to decorate your home just the way you want.

For more information, please visit crescentharbor.com/about-us and blog.crescentharbor.com

About Crescent Harbor Lighting

Crescent Harbor Lighting is the online arm of The Lighthouse, a family-owned lighting company founded in 1972.

The company specializes in a high-touch customer service approach to retailing lighting fixtures, ceiling fans and other related items.

Contact Details:

Tim Fossett

President

88 York Street

US Route One

Kennebunk, Maine, 04043

Toll Free Phone: 1-888-355-9525

Local Phone: 1-207-985-3535

Fax: 1-207-985-4569

Source: Crescent Harbor Lighting
NATIC national sales manager receiving ALTA's TIPAC award We are proud to present these awards in honor of the title professionals who understand the commitment to making TIPAC stronger each and every year.

North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) was honored with the American Land Title Association (ALTA) Title Industry Political Action Committee (TIPAC) Top Mid-Cap Underwriter Award for helping to raise a record amount of donations in 2017.

TIPAC Chair David Townsend presented the award to NATIC this week during ALTAs 2018 Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C. Last year, NATIC raised $8,900 from 27 contributors. So far this year, the company has raised $7,550 from 13 contributors.

We are proud to present these awards in honor of the title professionals who understand the commitment to making TIPAC stronger each and every year, Townsend said. Its not just strength in our dollars, its strength in our numbers who believe in what TIPAC does.

Accepting the award on NATICs behalf was Rich Griffin, NATIC vice president and national sales manager, who attended the Advocacy Summit as part of the Illinois delegations effort to lobby Congressional representatives on Capitol Hill.

We are so proud of our NATIC associates and their commitment to our industry to ensure our collective voice is heard in Washington, D.C., said Griffin. Having just returned from the ALTA Advocacy Summit and sitting down with members of Congress, it was a great reminder that communication and education are our greatest tools.

While we live and breathe title issues every day, the number and wide array of issues that are discussed at the Capitol is staggering. We were proud to be part of the effort to make sure Congress understands how we protect property rights for everyone, added Griffin.

TIPAC is ALTAs voluntary, nonpartisan PAC and the only one that directly represents the interests of the title insurance industry in our nations political system. TIPAC raises money to help elect and reelect candidates to Congress who understand and support the issues affecting the title insurance industry.

About North American Title Insurance Co.

North American Title Insurance Co. (NATIC) is a seasoned title insurance underwriter, helping title agents achieve the goal of true business success for over 50 years. The company operates in 39 states and the District of Columbia. NATIC earned the reputation as the underwriter next door because its decision makers and associates are easy to reach and their processes are quick and straightforward, including a one-hour underwriting response guarantee that is unparalleled in the industry. The NATIC agency application process is fast and transparent for qualified agents.

NATIC is in Peer Group 1, which groups companies with total assets of greater than $100 million as determined by Kroll Bond Rating Agency Inc., and is ranked 6th by The Performance of the Title Insurance Underwriters in terms of cash or cash equivalents. NATIC generated more than $247 million in agency premiums in 2017 and maintains a policyholder surplus of more than $82 million as of Dec. 31, 2017.

NATIC earned a rating of: A' (A Prime) Unsurpassed from Demotech, Inc., A- from Kroll and B++ (Good) from A.M Best. NATIC is headquartered in Miami, Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.natic.com
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Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman apologized Thursday to anyone he may have offended after reports he sexually harassed women on movie sets.

"Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy," the 80-year-old actor said in a statement. "I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected. That was never my intent."

Eight women told CNN television Freeman had engaged in inappropriate behavior on the sets or promotional tours of various films.

A young woman who was a production assistant on 2015's Going in Style told CNN Freeman touched her, rubbed her lower back and asked if she was wearing underpants as he tried to lift up her dress.

Others accused Freeman of staring at their breasts and quizzing them about sexual harassment. One woman told CNN she and others on the set of another Freeman film knew "not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms," if Freeman was around.

Freeman has been nominated for five Oscars for acting, winning one for Million Dollar Baby in 2005.


The Trump administration has told Congress that the Commerce Department struck a deal with Chinese phone maker ZTE to ease sanctions against the tech giant in exchange for changes at the company.

According to a source familiar with the deal, the Commerce Department informed members of Congress that the current sanctions  a practice called a denial order which prevents ZTE from buying parts from US companies  will be lifted in exchange for changes at the company.

"

"I closed it down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine. Dems do nothing but complain and obstruct. They made only bad deals (Iran) and their so-called Trade Deals are the laughing stock of the world!"

ZTE was crippled following sanctions from the US. The company said in a statement on May 10 that due to the crackdown, "the major operating activities of the company have ceased."

The denial order was implemented after ZTE failed to respond to earlier sanctions that alleged the company sold goods containing US parts into Iran and North Korea, a violation of sanctions against those countries.

"If the administration goes through with this reported deal, President Trump would be helping make China great again," Schumer said. "Simply a fine and changing board members would not protect America's economic or national security, and would be a huge victory for President Xi, and a dramatic retreat by President Trump. Both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks."

A group of 27 senators from both parties signed on to a letter earlier in the week that, in part, warned the Trump administration against going easy on ZTE. The lawmakers pointed to national security officials' fear that ZTE could gain access to critical US technology and help bolster the Chinese government's efforts to modernize their defense capabilities.
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Teresiah Mumbi Maina is reported to have accused two police officers from Huruma Police station of subjecting her to all sorts of demeaning treatments on Thursday, May 24 under the guise of figuring out whether she was a male or female.

A report by Tuko.co.ke indicated that Teresiah who works as a tout along the route was arrested on the said day together with 15 other colleagues and were placed in police cells.

She claimed as soon as two police officers saw her beard they asked her to remove her clothes for examination, and all pleas to them to avoid humiliating her fell on death ears.

Narrating her ordeal in an interview, Teresiah said: Two officers came and told me to take off my clothes. They then examined me. Im not sure what they saw but they told me to return to my cell.

As if that was not embarrassing enough, the police officers equally forced the poor woman to shave her beard to make her resemble a female to them.
At a press conference organised by the workers, they gave the government a two-week ultimatum to relieve Mr Manu of his position.

The Chairman of the Workers Association, John Assib, accused Mr Manu of breaching the procurement laws by awarding contracts to his companies and his wife.

The board chairman, Mr Peter Mac Manu has involved himself in a conflict of interest matters so far as the administration of GPHA is concerned, Mr Assib said.

He added that Mr Manus wife was charging double and triple for outside travel tickets as compared to what competitors offer.

The workers also expressed worry about intimidation by Mr Manu and interference in the day-to-day running of the Authority.

How on earth will this man exhibit fairness over whatever will be on the table for discussion? Mr Assib questioned.

Mr Assib alleged that Mr Manu has also appointed three of his children, now, as the biggest suppliers to the Authority. He has obtained for himself, a contract of over GHS 4million for the wiring of our newly constructed electrical and material block.

They accused Mr Manu of seeking his own interest and that of his family instead of the interest of GHPA.
An abortion debate that has inflamed passions in Ireland for decades will come down to a single question on Friday: yes or no?

The referendum on whether to repeal the country's strict anti-abortion law is being seen by anti-abortion activists as a last-ditch stand against what they view as a European norm of abortion-on-demand, while for pro-abortion rights advocates, it is a fundamental moment for declaring an Irish woman's right to choose. couple

If the "yes" side prevails and the constitutional ban on abortions is repealed, the government plans to introduce legislation that would allow abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and later in specific cases when the woman is at grave risk or the fetus is likely to die in the womb or shortly after birth. Parliament would then debate this plan.

Opinion surveys suggest a continuing change of attitudes in Ireland, a traditionally Roman Catholic country that surprised many by voting in favor of same-sex marriage in 2015. Both sides generally agree that the frenzied campaign ahead of Friday's vote has not produced the dramatic shift in public opinion that anti-abortion campaigners were hoping for.

Still, David Quinn of the socially conservative Iona Institute says the "no" forces opposed to abortion rights still have "a fighting chance," and recalled other recent political upsets.

"Remember: Brexit wasn't supposed to pass, and Donald Trump wasn't supposed to get elected," he said.

Activists from both sides have put up thousands of emotional signs pleading their case and there were small demonstrations in Dublin on Wednesday as the vote neared.

Friday's poll will be the fourth time in as many decades that Irish voters have been asked to decide on the issue of abortion.

But this time the debate has been roiled by two factors that voters have not faced before: The extraordinary power of social media and the increased availability through telemedicine websites of new drugs that allow women to make profound decisions over whether to end a pregnancy in the privacy of their homes.

Facebook and Google have both taken steps to restrict or remove ads relating to the referendum in a move designed to address global concerns about social media's role in influencing political campaigns, from the U.S. presidential race to Brexit.
Accra-based Class FM reports that a 26-year-old man, identified as Alidu Lawal, was shot dead at Ohwim Amanfrom by police from the Suame Divisional Police Command during patrol on Wednesday, May 24 2018.

This led to protests from the family of the deceased who could not understand why their relative was shot, especially when he is not an armed robber.

The family was joined by some irate youth of Suame as they besieged the communitys Police station to demand answers.

It took the efforts of a joint Police and military team to be dispatched to the venue to help maintain order.

The angry youth were prevented from entering the premises of the police station to avoid vandalising or attack on any police officer.

A closed-door meeting between the family of the deceased and the Police also proved to be futile after the family refused to accept the body for burial unless tangible reasons were given.
The items were presented by the Prelate of the church, Most Rev. Samuel Uche to the state governor, Mr Samuel Ortom in Makurdi.

That is why we are moved to make this donation at this point in time, the prelate said.

The Methodist prelate condemned the spate of killings in Benue describing the recent killings of two Catholic priests and 17 other parishioners in the state as `barbaric and unacceptable.

Killing, especially in sacred places is a sacrilegious and intolerable nuisance which has to be stopped by the powers that be.

Government authorities should sit up and address the security challenge head on because any government that is not protecting its citizens is irrelevant, the prelate said.

He said that the Anti-Open Grazing Law 2017 was the only sure way to end the killings and that the church was in support of it.

According to him, the enactment of the law is a right step in the right direction because moving about with cattle is an obsolete way of animal husbandry.

Even in developed countries, herds of cattle are ranched and that is the best way of rearing animals, he said.

Responding, Gov. Ortom commended the church for the show of love and concern shown through provision of relief materials for the IDPs.

Represented by his deputy, Mr Benson Abounu, Ortom said that their coming would bring to an end the insecurity in the state because they had taken the situation to God.
One of the robbers was killed while another one was arrested by the police.

A statement from the police said: "On 24/5/18 at about 10am personnel from the Police Intelligence Directorate acting on information that some of the armed robbers who took part in the Bogosu robbery that led to the murder of police lance corporal Nicholas DOKU were planning to embark on another robbery at East Legon.

"Under cover personnel from the Directorate monitored and arrested suspect Amponsah Kojo age 46 years at Abelekuma Olebu. He immediately confessed to taking part in the Bogosu robbery and led the team to Achimota to apprehend his accomplice armed robbers. At Achimota bus terminal one of his accomplices on seeing the team sped off towards the motor way facing on coming vehicles whilst firing back at the police. Police pursued him and returned fired.
He described himself as a man of integrity even though his successor was a corrupt man.

He added that if he sees his successor John Kufuor and John Mahama in heaven he will seek permission to flog them or join Satan in hell.

I know with my integrity when I die, I will go to heaven but when I see these corrupt leaders, I will ask permission from God and flog them. If they dont leave heaven for me, I will go and leave the heavens and join Satan in hell because I cannot stay in the same place with them.

He described the 2 head of states who governed the country after him as evil and corrupt.

Ex-president Rawlings said John Kufuor is evil and John Mahama is a rogue who destroyed the country.
Ex-president Rawlings said John Kufuor is evil and John Mahama is a rogue who destroyed the country.

I know with my integrity when I die, I will go to heaven but when I see these corrupt leaders, I will ask permission from God and flog them. If they dont leave heaven for me, I will go and leave the heavens and join Satan in hell because I cannot stay in the same place with them, Mr Rawlings said.

READ ALSO: Mahama accused of inflating cost of terminal 3 project

Mr Rawlings said this when the chiefs and people of Mepe in the North Tongu Constituency in the Volta Region paid a courtesy call on him to officially invite him to the final funeral rites of Mamaga Awusi Sreku II, queen of the Mepe Traditional Area.

He accused ex-president Kufuor of selling some Ghanaian companies to foreigners and awarding himself with the Grand Order of The Star and Eagles of Ghana.

He further stated that Mr Kufuor tried to sideline Ewes in the military, adding that it came to a time when the service was looking for senior officers and was enlisting 40 in every region.

When it got to Volta Region they tried to substitute the well-known names with their own people, but when the list got to Burma Camp they did the right thing.

READ ALSO: NDC MP mounts pressure on Anthony Karbo to resign

He further stated that former President Mahama was a rogue who superintended over corruption.

Mr Rawlings revealed that he personally negotiated for a project to be established at Vorlor in the North Tongu area but before I realised, some party executives had shared the land among themselves.
He is quoted by online news portal mynewsgh as saying: There is no value for money for that project.

You cant tell me you spent 278 million dollars on one Terminal. How much did Heathrow cost, he asked.

One terminal for 278million dollars, he quizzed. I deliberately went to count the hangars, just seven. 278 million, the things it can do at the airport is not what they did.

Then president Mahama in 2016 cut sod for the construction of the project with Turkish president Recep Erdogan.

The project is now about 90 percent complete and will be due for commissioning soon.

The new terminal will accommodate 5million travellers a year, 1250 passengers an hour and six boarding air bridges.

The project is financed from credit raised by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority on its own balance sheet with no sovereign guarantee or public charge to its debt stock, the president said.
But according to lawyer Maurice Ampaw, persons backing the ex-presidents bid are doing so for their selfish interest.

He told Accra-based NEAT FM: What is he [John Mahama] coming to do again? He has done his part for the country so he should retire as a statesman than coming back. He will be subjected to general mockery or ridicule, the controversial lawyer said.
Opinion polls have suggested the result could be close, with large numbers of undecided voters hanging in the balance.

Ireland was traditionally one of the most religious countries in Europe. However, the Catholic Church's influence has waned in recent years following a series of child sex abuse scandals.

The referendum comes three years after Ireland voted to legalise same-sex marriage, in a seismic change for the EU nation.

Voters have until 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Friday to cast their ballots. The count will begin at 9:00 am on Saturday, with the result expected to be announced at Dublin Castle later in the day.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who backs the reform, was due to cast his ballot at 10:30 am in Dublin.

Early votes on remote isles

Voters on 12 remote islands in the Atlantic Ocean went to the polls a day early on Thursday to ensure the ballot boxes could be shipped or flown to count centres on the mainland in case of poor weather.

After voters on Gola -- total electorate 29 -- off the Donegal northwest coast cast their ballots, the sealed ballot box was taken back to the mainland on a 10-minute ferry ride by a policeman and an election official.

The eighth amendment to the Irish constitution was installed following a 1983 referendum which approved outlawing abortion.

Subsequent legislation ruled anyone having an abortion could face up to 14 years in jail.

The ban has led to thousands of women travelling each year to neighbouring Britain where terminations are legal, or increasingly turning to abortion pills sold online.

The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life is at risk, following the death of Savita Halappanavar, a pregnant woman originally from India who was refused an abortion.

The Irish government has proposed that if the eighth amendment is repealed, abortion will be allowed up to 12 weeks and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

Split views

The debate has split the country.

Gavin Boyne, 20, a philosophy student wearing a pink hoodie from the Love Both pro-life movement, said he owed his life to the eighth amendment.

His mother had accidentally got pregnant and had been sent to England by her parents for a termination, before they had a change of heart.

"My grandparents recognised that I was a unique human being with value and so they couldn't have had me killed. If the eighth amendment wasn't there in 1998, I wouldn't be here today," he said.

Meanwhile Ciara Grealy, 21, from Dublin, said: "I don't know why we should export women to another country to have something that should be done safely and legally here.

"One of my best friends had to do it. She found out she was pregnant; the doctors said 'our hands are tied'. She had to get a flight to Liverpool with her parents." She said her friend had found seeing the omnipresent referendum placards distressing.

Activists were out on a final push for votes on Thursday, attempting to convince wavering voters in what has been an emotionally-charged campaign.

jpegMpeg4-1280x720Meanwhile city streets are filled with people wearing campaign badges, stickers and tops.

Cian Flaherty, 22, a history student at Dublin's Trinity College, said it was a matter of human rights and "the unborn is a human being".

"Often times, the narrative of choice is a false narrative. A lot of the time, if you feel you've got no support and the only option you have is a termination, I don't think that's a genuine choice," he said.

Caoimhe Mulcahy, 27, an actor from County Clare in western Ireland, said it was a question of women's health and many had "really suffered" with unregulated, unsafe and illegal abortions.
They were arrested last February while arriving in Miami for vacation and charged with aiding in the kidnapping of their eight-year-old grandson Nico Brann five years ago.

The couple's daughter Marcelle Guimaraes, Nico's mother, allegedly relocated the child to Brazil under false pretenses and without the permission of his American father Chris Brann, a Houston physician.

If the verdict is upheld, the grandparents in their 60s could face up to three years in prison.

But that verdict was thrown into uncertainty after the presiding judge said he would consider the defense's request to override the jury's findings and acquit on all charges, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Such overrides are rarely granted.

The couple presented evidence during trial that the child's mother was fleeing domestic violence, according to local media.

"I and our side are crushed," the couple's lawyer Rusty Hardin said outside the courthouse, according to KHOU-TV.

He testified before the US Congress in 2016 to ask Washington to impose sanctions on Brazil for violating an international standard requiring the return of children to their home country, if they were taken in violation of custody agreements.

A similar dispute led to the Sean Goldman Act in 2014, authorizing Washington to take action in international child custody disputes, ranging from public condemnation of other governments to the suspension of US aid.

Brann claims his ex-wife Marcelle Guimaraes took their son to Brazil in 2013 intending to stay permanently, while telling him the trip would only last a few weeks.

Marcelle Guimaraes's parents allegedly helped her hide her motives, and enrolled the child in a Brazilian school they operated, before the South American country's legal system granted the mother full custody.

In 2016, the parents of seven children illegally taken from the US to Brazil asked then-Secretary of State John Kerry to sanction Brazil under the 2014 law.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

In a formal letter to Kim, Trump said the "tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement" makes it "inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting."

"I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you," he wrote.

The immediate trigger was a blustering statement from North Korean vice foreign minister Choe Son-hui, who threatened a "nuclear-to-nuclear" confrontation, but North Korea had also been standing up White House officials who were hoping to meet in Singapore to prepare the summit.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed "the fact that we've not been able to conduct the preparation between our two teams that would be necessary to have a chance for a successful summit."

By the time President Moon Jae-in flew to Washington for a summit with Trump on Tuesday, it was already clear that things were going downhill.

Moon proposed a trilateral summit with Trump and Kim in Singapore right after a Trump-Kim summit as well as an aid program for North Korea, but Trump seemed to feel Moon was jumping ahead.


For the celebration of African Day, Paul Kagame, the President of the Republic of Rwanda and Dr. Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia will be discussing the war against corruption in Africa.

A statement by the AU shows that Kagame and Abiy will join Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission at the Nelson Mandela Hall inside the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa for the ceremony on Friday, May 25, 2018.

The event, the statement said, will feature a high-level debate on this years celebration theme: Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africas Transformation.

The discourse will be followed by an African Bazaar with the aim of creating, maintaining and increasing awareness for the public at large on the theme of the year 2018.

ALSO READ: These Powerful countries in AU dont celebrate African Day

The participants at the African Bazaar will be working towards creating African Unity through activities such as bazaars to showcase African cultural diversity in various aspects.

The need for the African bazaar is because the Africa Day is intended to celebrate and acknowledge the successes of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU now the AU) from its creation on May 25, 1963 in the fight against colonialism and apartheid, as well as the progress that Africa has made, while reflecting upon the common challenges that the continent face in a global environment, the statement reads.
The role of celebrities created by the media plays an important role in influencing people and the society. From educating to connecting with the audiences emotions, these celebs also offer humour and cultural commentary through movies, music and more.

Importantly, music videos and movies play an important linguistic role as well -, especially on the upwardly mobile and youths.

Language experts believe that the media influence the way individuals talk while some of the most interesting linguistic developments are associated with the audiovisual media.

Take the word Gerrarahia for example. The word translates to the English meaning of get out of here but the local parlance went viral after it was used in a three-set Nollywood movie titled, Welcome to South, Back from South, and Agony of South respectively.

Here are 7 of the local parlance that got their continental prominence via music videos or movies.

Yahoo Yahoo

In the years before Olu Maintain released Yahooze in 2008, the word floated around on the streets of Lagos. Many people on the streets of Lagos referred to internet fraudsters as Yahoo Yahoo boys owing to the popularity of the American web services provider. It's hard to believe that the continental popularity the word got started after the release of Olu Maintains song, Yahooze, which sold several copies and was an instant hit.

Gerrarahia

Its interesting to find out that the joke that turned into one of the freely used phrases originated from Nollywood movie titled, Welcome to South, Back from South, and Agony of South respectively. Gerrarahia had such staying power that a South African musician had to do a song with the same title after the phrase became viral in Nigeria and most parts of Sub Saharan Africa. The phrase was constantly used in the movie by humorous actor, Francis Odega so much that it became many peoples best way of saying get out of here.

Wobe

The word Wobe was popularised with a dance step and a following of youths, who are into various vices ranging from drug to alcohol abuse. The word became a sound genre after Nigerian pop star, Olamide popularised the word after the release of his monster hit song, Wo in 2017.

Osha Pra pra

Towards the third quarter of 2017, two young Nigerian musicians, Tee Blaq and Yovi released different song emphasizing the word Osha Pra Pra. And since then, the local parlance has found it difficult to leave the space. Widely used by youths after it was popularised by the musician, the word Osha Pra Pra means fresh, new. The word is widely accepted by youths who use it to describe the acquisition of a brand new device, automobile or even crib.

Shaku Shaku

Just like Wobe, its sound, dance step and the movement, Shaku Shaku is another word that has gained so much popularity amongst the populace in less than 10 months. Olamide, Reminisce and budding artist, Slimcase have helped propagate the word. Shaku Shaku, which originates from Ashaku - Yoruba word for something that has been dumped - and has remained a recurring decimal in conversations and descriptions across length and breadth of Nigeria. Shaku Shaku, which has glaring similarities with the word, Wobe, also has a movement of youths, who are into various vices ranging from drug to alcohol abuse. In its case, Shaku Shaku has become more popular as a result of its unique dance steps. Shaku Shaku bore other parlances such as Shepeteri and Legbegbe but they are yet to get the acceptance Shaku Shaku has been able to garner.

Olosho/Runs Girl

The term Olosho had been largely used to describe ladies of easy virtues. The words Olosho or Runs Girl can be translated to the English word, escort. Musicians from late Dagrin to Olamide have consistently referred to ladies of easy virtue as Olosho or Runs Girl. The term has become popular with time so much that it has become one of the regular local parlances that have gone national.

Oshozondi
Nigeria has given approval to 22 companies to take over the distribution and installation of prepaid metres to close metering gap and encourages the development of independent and competitive meter services in the electricity industry.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission introduced Metre Asset Provider (MAP) on April 3, 2018, to investors on financing mass metering plan which is expected to ensure that electricity customers only pay for what they actually consume.

The MAP regulation mandates electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to engage meter assets providers who will fund the purchase, installation and replacement of meters to help meet DisCos metering obligations to their customers.

Usman Abba-Arabi, NERCs general manager, public affairs, in a statement issued on Thursday, May 24, 2018, said No Objection qualifies intending investors to participate in the meter procurement process in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

This is to ensure that all electricity customers are metered thereby reducing incidences of estimated electricity billing to the barest minimum, Abba-Arabi said.

How did the 22 companies emerge?

The commission said it conducted due diligence on the 22 companies documents before granting approval.

Here are the firms that got approval

1. Huawei Technology Company Nigeria Ltd

2. Bilview Energy Ltd

3. Chintech Electro Nigeria Ltd

4. Holley Metering Ltd

5. MEMCOL

6. Meron Nigeria Ltd

7. Integrated Power

8. MBH Power

9. Trimani Engineering

10. Sapropel Energy Resources

11. Megawatt Distribution International

12. Unistar Hi-Tech Systems

13. Imperial Infrastructure Development Company

14. Ratio Consulting

15. Protogy Global Services

16. Paktim Metering

17. Sabrud Consortium

18. Tinuten Nigeria Limited

19. BTS Power

20. Cresthill Energy

21. Kayz Consortium

22. CIG Metering Assets

In March 2018, the Nigeria lawmakers decried excessive electricity charges and planned to meet with Community Development Associations (CDAs) in different geopolitical zones in the course of its Ad Hoc Committee assignment, to discuss ways curb excessive electricity charges.

Hon. Ajibola Famurewa (Osun-APC) made the assertion at the inaugural meeting of the Ad-hoc committee on electricity, said excessive electricity charges were being levied on consumers by distribution companies (Discos).
According to him, This woman stood by me. She has never wavered in helping me achieve my dream, our dream our future! She had taught me what womanhood is.

Embarrassing moment

Hafizalso narrated how he was embarrassed by a lady he thought loved him, when he proposed to her.

I thought I had a pretty good idea of what a woman is. But when it was time for me to find my own woman, it dawned on me that a woman is not a man. In my search, I came across a lady who was edging me on, making me to belief she loved me.

Well, I decided to propose. She had listened quietly with encouraging countenance on her face. I went on to fantasy on how our coming together would be the best thing that could happen to us. Then... Are you sure you are ready? YES I answered. Where is your car? I will get one soon. If eventually you are able to get a car God knows when, wont you go to work with the car?

 I nodded proudly "So when I get married to YOU I Will be jumping on public buses" I read her lips. She had simply told me that I have to offer Me+ 2cars at least before she could say "yes" I needed no Imam to tell me she wasn't my wife. I decided to face my career and leave woman palava," he said.

Proposal

The actor also shared how he proposed to his wife.

He said One day a voice came Hafiz Mumu you no go propose abi na when Jesus come back you go do am So I proposed. She was silent for some minutes. I thought I saw her looking me over! Ye!

This one too was calculating my worth. My God! What will this one ask? Then... YES! I had thought it was a voice in me that spoke in such audible voice. But the assurance on her gentle beautiful face assured me I had heard her voice and I heard her right.

She never asked what I could offer before she could agree to be my wife. I remembered then I was living in a room and parlour portion in a civilian barrack where we used general toilet and kitchen. This woman stood by me.

Oyetoro Hafiz was born in Oyo state on August 20, 1963.
This is why of Christs Embassy continues to take the faithful there on a regular basis. He and his church have recently returned from their Holy Land 2018, and lives were changed forever as a result of the special memories that were made along the way.

This years Holy Tour saw hundreds of believers from around the world going with on a spiritual journey through Israel and Jordan.

The schedule each day was purposefully built around allowing people to see holy sites of extreme spiritual significance to individuals of both the Christian and Jewish faiths.

Each location had Pastor Christ teaching relevant scripture to those in attendance, and every participant was able to walk in the very steps that the faithful have for centuries. This allowed people to closely commune with God in a way that they never before imagined.

This particular Holy Land Tour in 2018 was special for two additional reasons. The state of Israel celebrated the 70th anniversary of its true independence as the Jewish homeland.

In addition, the American Embassy was finally moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem afters years of planning. With Jerusalem being the debated capital of Jerusalem, Americas move there signified their support of the state of Israel in a significant way.

In early 2018, President Trump officially announced his nations intention to move the Embassy to Jerusalem, even in the face of opposition from many around the world.

This signified once and for all that the United States was in support of officially recognizing Jerusalem as the true capital of the Jewish state. Pastor Chris was blessed to have been officially invited to a reception in honor of this move, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While he was there, a warm welcome was given to him and his guests.

There were a number of government officials and private citizens from the Jewish community there to greet him. He felt truly honored and blessed to have been a part of this special event.

This year, the tour of the Holy Land lasted for a memorable eight days. Participants were able to take in a number of special places during this time, including Caesarea, the Tomb of Lazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Abu Gosh, and Mount Hertzel.

These are places that until now many of the participants had only been able to envision in their dreams and through the pages of the Bible.

Being able to see each site up close and personal brought special and renewed religious significance to each person in an individual way.

A lot of time was taken for personal reflection, with many participants expressing that they have never felt as close to God as they have on this tour with Chris Oyakhilome.

Some of the members of the tour chose to take a side trip to visit some holy sites in the nation of Jordan, further adding to their repertoire of religious knowledge.

During the trip, Pastor Chris encountered numerous opportunities to minister to the local people, and this was a blessing to the participants of the tour as well.

Every individual attending the Holy Land Tour in 2018 expressed that they felt blessed to have spent a little over a week of their lives in the presence of Pastor Chris.
This happened in Somolu, Lagos, according to Punch News, which gathered that Badejo had sex with the victim on multiple occasions.

She was rescued by her brother who barged into the suspect's apartment after observing Lateefat's sandals by his doorstep.

Oluwaseun Badejo, who is also a screen printer has been handed over to the police.

She went to school on Monday and did not return home. On Tuesday, her mother became worried and called me to ask if I knew her whereabouts. That was because her school was near my house.

When I got to her school, I did not see her and I reported back to her mother that she was also not in school. The mother and I went to meet her teacher to ask for her whereabouts.

The teacher called some of her friends, who seemed to know her movements. They took us to the mans shop, but she was not there. They suggested we go to the mans house.

We hid somewhere, while her friends went to check. They reported back that they found her sandals at the mans apartment. I am a scout member. So, with my training, I barged in and got the man arrested.

We saw Lateefat on the bed; she could not stand. We took her to a hospital and handed the man over to the police," the victim's brother who was not identified told Punch News.

Problem started after brother got Lateefat a phone

The victim, Lateefat, became an easy prey for the alleged rapist after getting a new phone from brother.

This had given her an unhindered access to social media platform Facebook, where she began friendship with the suspect.

ALSO READ: Lady raped by uncle survives and gives hope to abused people like her

He reportedly succeeded in raping Lateefat having received help from a friend who is also in police custody.

Actually, the girls brother gave her a mobile phone sometime in January and she opened a Facebookaccount. That was how she accepted the friendship request of the suspect in February and they started chatting.

After her mother collected the phone from her, the man gave one of Lateefats friends his telephone number and succeeded in luring her and the friends to his shop. He bought drinks for them that day.

The girl in her statement said he later invited Lateefat to his house. The first time she went, he did not do anything to her. It was the second time that he abducted her; she was in her school uniform that day.

Despite the fact that the girl was menstruating, he forcefully made love to her after drugging her drink.

She woke up at 1:00 am after midnight. That morning again, he raped her. When the girl tried to shout, he covered her mouth. The girl said all her pleas fell on deaf ears," a police source told Punch.

The Lagos State Police have their sights set on identifying the substance added to a soft-drink which made the victim to lose consciousness for a long period.

Spokesperson for the command, SP Chike Oti, confirmed this in a report also published by Punch News.
The group was captured as it kept reasonable distance while the thief stayed covered in flames.

Many online sources confirmed a statement given by Felix Iheme on Facebook who wrote, "A thief man wey cum our area,, see am he don make am..robbery no good"

Viral online pictures showed the deceased shortly before he was killed.

Woman paraded naked in Benin for stealing 8 fowls

A woman who was accused of stealing 8 fowls in Benin, Edo State, has been paraded naked by a mob.

The unidentified woman was seen surrounded by a group of people who made her swallow bird feathers in Abiko Market where the incident occurred.

A grip from one of the street judges left her wrapper struggling to stay on her body.
North Korea on Thursday blew up its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri as reporters from five countries looked on. But the North did not allow experts to inspect the site.

North Korea blew up tunnels Nos. 2, 3 and 4 from 11 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. The No. 1 tunnel was already shut down after the North conducted its first nuclear test in October of 2006 due to radioactive contamination. The North also blew up two observation towers as well as five facilities and two military barracks.

North Korea in a statement said the event would "ensure transparency of discontinuance of the nuclear test.

But the statement failed to mollify U.S. President Donald Trump, who the same day canceled a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, partly because he was incensed by recent belligerent rhetoric from the North.

Earlier, North Korea reneged on a promise to allow nuclear experts to observe the shutdown.


Ask anybody who Cee-C is and they would be able to tell you. The angry young lady who entered the Big Brother house in February fast-became a household name with her outbursts and multiple bust-ups in the house.

However, Cee-C has blossomed into quite the beauty on her media tour post-BB Naija. Thanks to a group of stylist, MUA's and hairdressers, Cee-C has been transformed and the vocal TV star has matured almost immediately.

Having worked with some of the most talented make-up artists in Nigeria including undefined and Porzellan beauty, Cee-C's makeup has gone from brash to a subtle, illuminating glam which brings out her natural beauty. Her style has been described as classy and chic and she's gone from a troubled young girl to a more measured and young woman before our very eyes.

We sat down with Cee-C to discuss all things fashion and find out what really makes her tick.

Check it out below!

What inspires your style and how do you think it has changed since leaving the house?

Ive always been stylish, if you look at my pictures prior to Big Brother, Ive always been someone who likes to express herself through the way she dresses.

I like looking good and I like good things so for me, nothing has changed since the Big Brother house.

Yes of course, I now wear better stuff, more quality stuff because there wasnt money at that time, now theres money.

What are 3 items that you cannot live without?

A bodycon dress, my lashes and nice shoes.

Which Nigerian designers do you like?

I like Andria, she has been styling me ever since I came out of the house and I think shes a very good stylist.

For now, thats about it, all my clothes come from her.

How did you cope with the criticism of your appearance in the house and what advice would you give to young women facing the same thing?

I think its OK for people to criticise you because of they dont, how will you know what you are not doing right?

For me, I take it as a part of learning because theres a thing called growth and with growth you are supposed to move from one place to another and people should be able to help you with that.

To the young ones out there, do not get carried away with all of that, dont get sucked into the idea that people hate you. Everybody cannot like you, if everybody likes you that means youre doing something wrong.
Amarachi Nwosu is a Nigerian-American photographer, filmmaker, writer and producer currently living in Tokyo, Japan. She is the founder of Melanin Unscripted and under her platform she has produced and directed films like Black In Tokyo which explores the experiences of black people living in Japan's capital.

As a writer and visual artist, Amarachi is dedicated to telling unique stories and her work has been featured on platforms like Vogue magazine, Huffington Post and Highsnobiety.

Amarachi is currently working on some documentary projects and plans to curate exhibits and hold various workshops throughout the year.

Pulse sat down with her to discuss her recent trip to Lagos and share her thoughts on the city becoming the new cultural capital of the world.

Melanin Unscripted

Amarachi's platform, Melanin Unscripted, was initially created to 'uncover complex identities that are not generally projected in mainstream media'. She told us why she was moved to create the platform in the first place, "I started Melanin Unscripted mainly out of frustration because I didn't see enough representation of the content I felt that could push boundaries. When I would see content on platforms covering people of colour, they would rarely if ever be created by people of colour and that puzzled me. If you don't have a diverse team behind the scenes it's very difficult to create an authentic and conscious story in front because diverse perspectives create diverse narratives.

I wanted Melanin Unscripted to cover the unscripted and real life perspectives of people around the world and inspire them regardless of the Melanin they were born into. I wanted to show them that they did not have to accept the script they were given by mainstream media or society, but could instead be unscripted and shape their own reality."

In order to show the reality of black people living the world over, Amarachi had to take herself out of her comfort zone and go to the most unlikely of places so she could tell their story. I wondered what inspired her to do so and what she made of her experience so far, "Tokyo is one of the most innovative and influential cities in the world when it comes to fashion, technology and design yet a lot of people have little knowledge on the foreign experience there because of its homogeneous population and narrative.

I didnt see any unique and inspiring stories or films on black travellers in Asia when doing research, so I wanted to fill that gap and create something that could connect to people of all walks of life and show them the value of getting outside of their comfort zone.

The goal was to directly allow people to see that despite their race, religion or background that they too can travel to a foreign country and still embody the best version of themself. Every moment of filming was memorable because most of the people in the film were friends and it felt natural. I learnt so much from the interviews and the whole experience allowed me to grow as a individual and a filmmaker."

Being Black in Tokyo

We wondering how living in such a city had informed how she self-identified and what impact the environment had, had on her and how she viewed herself as a black women. She explained that, "There is no one definition or experience of being black. Black can mean African, Caribbean, Afro-latinx, African American and even Asian. Blackness is complex, but the media often makes it one-dimensional which can create prejudice and misunderstanding in foreign spaces where blackness isn't always understood. However, it takes black people who are willing to tell their own stories to truly uncover what it means to be black.

I can only speak from my own experience of being both West African and America, which was unique because when i was at home I was hyper aware of my Nigerian heritage but when i stepped out of my house I became only black which did not truly express the complexity of my identity and what blackness meant to me. So ultimately, everyone has their own definition and experience of what blackness means."

The Language of Fashion

Tokyo is one of the style capitals of the world. The fast-paced, highly innovative city has given way to a unique view of what fashion can be and is one of the most aesthetically eclectic places one can live. I began to wonder about Amarachi's approach to style and whether living in Tokyo had influenced it.

From her Instagram, Amarachi's effortless style is evident. A delicate mix of vintage finds, designer pieces and streetwear, I wanted to find out more about her approach to it all. ''Im a cosy girl all the way so I love wearing sneakers with outfits that can fit under feminine and masculine. I don't create borders for myself so I'm open to experimenting which is something that has evolved since living in Japan.

Here people take a lot more risks with fashion and comfort always comes first. Whereas in Lagos women are expected to embody the glam culture, here not so much. Living here has allowed me to be comfortable with my style and focus less on what everybody else is doing."

Speaking of Lagos, Amarachi recently covered Arise Fashion Week and Homecoming during one of the most exciting Easter breaks that the city has ever seen. From chronicling the backstage activities of the BBK crew and capturing the essence of the Lagos music scene to snapping international supermodel Imaan Hammam in-between shows in her hotel suite, Amarachi made it all happen.

Creative Pursuits

I wondered when her passion for photography first begun and how she fed it then and ever since., "My love for visual storytelling and production started with going on trips with my family and wanting to bring back memories to show my friends, because i recognised early that travelling was a privilege and i wanted to use my privilege to bring joy and perspective to people. Later this developed into film-making and photography as a career. It wasn't until I was 20 when i started to take things seriously. That is when I realised i could turn my passion into a career."

Amarachi's photos of Imaan recently landed in Vogue magazine It was yet another defining moment for the Lagos fashion scene which has grown exponentially over the last few years and is garnering a whole lot of well-deserved attention from the international industry. I wondered what Amarachi's thoughts were on the shift towards Nigeria's creative pursuits and how we could maximise on the exposure.

"I think the fashion industry in Nigeria has come a long way. Im in love with brands like Maki-oh and Orange Culture and even Nigerian designers of the Diaspora like Tinie Tempah and his brand What We Wear. I think that more visibility and community is coming within the industry, however I think there has to be more organisation and recognition of artist in Nigeria as a whole. Fashion is a billion dollar industry around the world, If we could hone our skills and learn to monetise our creativity to the world as a whole, I think that's when we will truly see a shift! Also, we need a Vogue Africa ASAP."

When asked to name some of her favourite designers, she said, "Maki Oh, Bayo of Orange Culture, Tinie Tempah of What We Wear, Jibril of Wekafore, Soulz of Places + Faces. Honestly there are so many talented designers, but these are off the top of my head."

Lagos: The New Frontier

Naomi Campbell's recent visit to take part in Arise Fashion Week was exemplary of how the world of fashion is turning its eyes towards the continent. Naomi spent a week in Lagos taking in all the sights and sounds and of course, continuing her philanthropic efforts. As Amarachi fondly reminisces on her trip to Lagos, she recounts her most memorable moment. "It would have to be for Vogue Arabia. Dream Catchers are a dance crew and orphanage in Lagos who are truly shaping the lives of talented young people and giving them a platform. We see Naomi as a supermodel all the time, but what I witnessed was Naomi the philanthropist who was not afraid to be vulnerable and show genuine love. It reminded me that we can all make an impact in our community once we recognise our power to spread love.

As a creative who has worked all over the world, I'm curious to know about Amarachi's thoughts on the burgeoning creative scene in Lagos and how she feels we can capitalise on it to become a leading force in the industry. She replied, "There is no doubt that Nigeria is in the midst of a creative renaissance. I love that we are starting to take our power back and shape the African narrative. For so long Western media got it wrong, but now with social media and access to information, we are recognising the importance of spreading our own messages and using our skills to push it further. I love what is happening and I cant wait to see it evolve.

I think Africa in general is the new frontier, but I believe Lagos is leading the way. From Musicians, Directors, Photographers to designers, most of the most creative kids I know are Nigerian.
The Governor made the appeal during the official commissioning of the ultra modern four storey complex of the state high Court In Ekiti on Thursday.

He said the ultra modern four storey edifice is named after the Oluyin of Iyin Ekiti Mr Ademola Ajakaiye being the pioneer Judge of the state high Court.

Fayose who said the Judiciary is the last hope of a common man, said he dedicated the complex to the people of Ekiti and that the edifice will stand a test of time.

I will ensure continuous maintainance of the complex the Governor said.

Earlier, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State Mr Emmanuel Udom said he salute Governor Ayodele Fayoses developmental efforts and achievements in the state.

He said a government that performs well, deserves continuity hence I enjoin Ekiti people to continue to support the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.

In his speech Aare Afe Babalola the founder of Afe Babalola University who applauded the state Governor for helping the state achieve the magnificent and befitting complex for the Judiciary of the state urged citizens of the state home and abroad to come and assist in the struggle for the development of the state.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Ado Ekiti Branch, Mr Gbemiga Adaramola in his speech thanked Governor Ayodele Fayose for fullfiling his promise of the complex to association.

The Oluyin of Iyin Ekiti Mr Ademola Ajakaiye thanked God and the governor of the state for the honour to still be alive to witness the day and not the other way round.

May God grant the governor of the state all his heart desires he said.

In his speech, the Chief Judge of Nigeria Mr Walter Onoge thanked the governor of the state for taking the welfare of the judiciary sector very seriously by providing such a befitting working environment for them.

He enjoined other state governors in Nigeria to emulate Governor Ayodele Fayose by improving the well being of the Judiciary sector of their states.

He urged judges all over Nigeria to be up and doing ensuring speedy and unbiased judgments.
Uguru Usani said this on Thursday during the inauguration of Nkwoagu-Isuochi Erosion Control project in Isuochi, Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia.

The goal of the Federal Government is to revisit abandoned projects.

We are up and doing because we want to ensure that all these lost projects are regained.

This is why we are giving every project our best attention, to ensure that no project is abandoned and deploying resources to reclaim the abandoned ones.

The Federal Government has initiated this policy to advance the nations socio-economic development and ensure that every Nigerian enjoys the dividends of democracy.

He said that the Nkwoagu-Isuochi Erosion Control Project was an intervention effort by the government to prevent further devastation of the community.

According to him, the project was designed as a remedial measure to reclaim the damaged area, especially on account of its threat to the existence of a secondary school around the erosion site.

He said that the ministry would not be able to cover the scope of the project but would invite other agencies to fast track the execution of the project.

The minister solicited the understanding of the community and promised that the project would be completed to meet the communitys expectations.

In a remark, a state lawmaker, Mr Ikedi Ezekwesiri, said that the commencement of remedial work at the erosion site was a huge relief.

Ezekwesiri urged the ministry to involve the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the funding of the project in order to facilitate its execution.

I appeal to you to review the design of the project to be executed in phases. This will go a long way in helping to complete the project in record time.

Also speaking, the traditional ruler of Amuda community, Eze Okechukwu Chukwuji, thanked the Federal Government for its intervention.
On Thursday, May 24, 2018, Justice Mojisola Dada of the special offences court sitting in Lagos declared Chukwuma wanted over his failure to make an appearance in court for his arraignment for the fifth time.

You will recall that Justice Dada issued a bench warrant for Chukwuma's arrest because he failed to appear in court twice for arraignment on criminal charges filed against him by the EFCC in February 2018.

Judges wants to embarrass me

Speaking in a statement issued by Innosons spokesman, Cornel Osigwe, Chukwuma said that the Judge acted in bad faith.

He also said that the declaration is aimed at embarrassing his personality, defaming him and maligning his character.

Declaring me wanted was done in bad faith and is simply to embarrass my personality, defame me and malign my character aimed to distract me from my daily activities in ensuring that Innoson Vehicles continues to produce durable made in Nigeria vehicles, Chukwuma added.

GTBank connection

According to the statement, Chukwuma alleged that the trumped up charges against him was instigated by Guaranty Trust Bank.

He said he is not afraid of arraignment, adding that it must be done following the due process of the law.

Finally I want to expressly state that I am not afraid of arraignment but must be arraigned through the due process of the law. This Trumped Up Charge against me is being instigated by Guaranty Trust Bank, who as at today is indebted to me above N22 Billion Naira, but I know Justice will prevail at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, I have also appealed against the order declaring me wanted and as well filed a motion for the stay of its execution, he added.

Part of the statement reads: I have been briefed by my lawyers that Justice Mojisola Dada of Lagos State High Court Ikeja granted the oral plea of counsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to declare me wanted because of my failure to appear before the court today. I have expressly stated before that I am not afraid of arraignment but must be arraigned through due process of the law.

It must be noted that I, through my legal counsel, challenged the jurisdiction of the Lagos State High Court to hear the forgery charge filed against me by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on ground of, inter alia, the charge being an abuse of process.

I filed an application before the court that this present charge is an abuse of process because a similar charge on the same subject matter, transactions and issues is ongoing at the Federal High Court Lagos Division between the same parties, in charge no FHC/l/565c/2015. The last hearing of the charge at the Federal High Court was this week, May 22nd 2018.

Furthermore, my legal counsel had at the last court hearing on April 25th 2018 notified the court that I had challenged the Jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit at the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division and that the prosecuting counsels which are the EFCC has equally filed their brief at the Appellate Court. The judge subsequently adjourned the hearing to today, May 24th 2018.

At the court hearing today, my defense team, also, notified the judge that both parties have filed and exchanged their briefs at the Court of Appeal and a date has been fixed for hearing of the substantive appeal and prayed the Honourable Judge to defer to the Court of Appeal to decide the appeal which is on the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit.

Again, my legal team notified the trial court that I had appealed against the order of bench warrant of 9th February 2018 to the Court of Appeal and as well filed a motion for stay of execution of the order of bench warrant.

However, the judge failed to grant the prayers of my legal counsel and quickly granted the plea of the prosecuting counsel to declare me wanted without recourse to due process of the law or listen to the submissions of my counsel on why an order declaring me wanted should not be made.
She added that the NYSC scheme had helped her to be a voice to those living with the sickle cell disease.

According to her, my deceased siblings became regular customers to the hospital and mostly end up not going to school regularly.

The corps member noted that the painful experience prompted her to champion a foundation called Alexander Sickle Cell Initiative (ASSI), aimed at saving lives and giving hope to sickle cell patients.

Alexander, who is a medical doctor by profession, defined sickle cell disease as a genetic disorder that is non-transmittable but got through couples, who are carriers of the cell.

She noted that over 150 million babies were born with sickle cell worldwide annually and that majority of the children eventually die.

She, however, stressed the need to create awareness for people to choose their partners right.

In her remarks, Kogi State NYSC Coordinator, Mrs Oludolapo Ahile, commended the corps member for the initiative and emphasised the need to create more awareness for people to choose their partners wisely.

The state coordinator represented by the Director of Community Development Service (CDS), Mrs Elizabeth Adigwe, encouraged corps members in the state to adopt the initiative by giving back to the society.

Earlier, Ifeoma Nweke, Director Hope Aglow For Life & Children Health Initiative (HALCHI), expressed concern at the increasing rate of patients with sickle cell disease across the country.

Nweke explained that HALCHI is a foundation that takes care of sickle cell patients.

She also reiterated the importance of showing love and care to people living with sickle cell.

It is not sickle cell that kills people living with it but lack of proper care for them.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the drugs donated were routine drugs, pain reliefs and other supplements.
Okonjo-Iweala revealed this in her new book titled: Fighting corruption is dangerous, the story behind the headlines.

Okonjo-Iweala was Jonathans finance minister from August 17, 2011 to May 29, 2015.

According to the former minister, federal lawmakers refused to make the necessary sacrifices at a time of dwindling oil prices.

Falling oil prices

By the time we presented the budget on December 16, 2014, oil prices had fallen further to $58 per barrel. We were prepared and we knew we had to trigger the additional expenditure and revenue measures in 2015 to make the budget work. This would be tough, given that we had entered an election year, Okonjo-Iweala wrote.

The National Assembly is due an annual N150billion from the nations budget as a single line item.

Okonjo-Iweala says when it was proposed that lawmakers give up some of their benefits, the legislators baulked because elections were fast approachingand money was needed for campaigns.

Indeed, legislators initially refused to accept any cuts to their regular N150billion budget, despite dwindling revenues. But eventually, they agreed to a 13 percent cut against a backdrop of ministers accepting a voluntary 50 percent cut to their basic salaries.

In a tough session with the National Assemblys adhoc committee on the budget (made up of chairs of the Finance Committee and Appropriation Committee of both chambers and other leaders of the National Assembly), an additional N20billion was re-introduced as election expenses for National Assembly members.

We insisted the amount be dropped because it nullified the 13 percent cut made to their statutory budget, but managed to reduce the N20billion figure by only N3billion to N17billion. This became the price to pay to have the 2015 budget passed, Okonjo-Iweala wrote.

About Okonjo-Iweala

Nigeria frittered its oil wealth in Okonjo-Iwealas second coming under Jonathan.

The former minister blames powerful State governors for her countrys inability to save; at a time when the price of oil in the global market hovered above the $100 mark.

Nigeria slipped into a recession a year after Okonjo-Iweala and Jonathan involuntarily left their jobs, thanks in large part to depleted reserves and plunging price of crude oil in the international market.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala first served as Minister of Finance under Obasanjo from July 15, 2003 to June 21, 2006.

She also had a brief spell as Foreign Affairs Minister under Obasanjo from June 21, 2006 to August 30, 2006.
The state's Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, disclosed that the officer, Jimoh Adesoye, a lance corporal, used his position to aid the criminal gang to transport stolen vehicles snatched from victims.

During a parade of the suspects to the media, Odude revealed that the gang is on the wanted list of SARS in Lagos and Kwara, but were arrested in various locations in Oyo state.

According to the Punch, Adesoye begged for mercy as he disclosed that he had bought more than two cars from the gang before realising that they were stolen.

He said, "I am a seaman in the Nigerian Navy. I told one of my friends that I needed a car and he introduced me to these people. Although I have my personal car that I use, I wanted to change it and my friend introduced me to them.

"I have bought more than two cars from the gang, but I later got to know that the cars were stolen. I know it is not right for me to buy such cars, I plead with the command to have mercy on me."

Other suspects alleged to belong to the gang include Lateef Isa, Taiwo Yekini, Kehinde Yekini, Tunji Ismail, Adeyemo Babajide, Saka Jamiu, Akin Akingbade, Mudashiru Abdullahi, Rasheed Adeniran, Lukman Jimoh, Dauda Lamidi, and Waheed Ganiyu.
NAN reports that authorities said since the beginning of the outbreak, which was officially declared in four local government areas on March 28 March, 404 cases and 15 deaths have been reported.

According to a statement by Samantha Newport, Head of Communications, OCHA Nigeria, the UN and its partners activated an immediate emergency response in the affected communities in support of the State Ministry of Health.

However, additional resources are needed to ensure that the outbreak is contained, especially ahead of the rainy season when the risk of outbreaks and spreading of water-borne diseases is higher.

The funds will enable humanitarian partners to provide safe water to over 1.6 million people, improve sanitation for thousands in the affected communities, and boost the technical and human resource capacity in hotspot areas so that cholera can be detected early and treated promptly.

Raising awareness of how to identify, prevent and treat cholera is also a key part of the response to the outbreak.

Cholera outbreaks can potentially impact and kill thousands of people, especially women, children and men who are living in overcrowded places such as camps for internally displaced persons, the UN said.

The UN said surveillance and early detection are key to limiting the number of fatalities and the spread of the outbreak,.

Also, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mr Edward Kallon, saidL acting swiftly is pivotal if we are to prevent high mortality rates.

These funds will help the UN and partners strengthen the capacity of community health personnel and equip local health facilities with diagnostic and treatment equipment as the rainy season gets underway and access to some of the affected localities might be impacted by flooding.

The humanitarian crisis in Nigerias north-east, that has spilled over into the Lake Chad region, is one of the most severe in the world today, with 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2018 in the worst-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, and 6.1 million targeted for humanitarian assistance.

The NHF, managed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs under the leadership of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, was created to provide funds in a prioritised, flexible and timely manner so those who are most in need of life-saving support.

The NHF is one of 18 country-based pooled funds and was launched during the Oslo Humanitarian Conference for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region in February 2017.

To date, the NHF has raised 49.4 million dollars in contributions and pledges, thanks to the generous support of Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Ireland, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Spain, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Arab Gulf Program for Development, Malta, Azerbaijan and Sri Lanka.
The Assistant Representative in charge of Operation of UNHCR, Boubacar Bamba made this known while briefing newsmen on Friday in Makurd.

Bamba said: we are moving them to a safer and permanent place for security reasons following clashes between the French and English speaking side of Cameroon over resource control.

NAN reports that the IDPs were formally camped at a temporary camp at Abande community in Kwande Local Government of Benue but were moved to a permanent site at Anyeke in same local government.

The IDPs have been in Benue as a result of internal conflict in their country.

Over 50 per cent of the populations are children while 30 per cent are women, Benue state which shares border with Cameroon had in 2017 witnessed over 10 thousand refugees camped in Kwande Local govt area of the state he said.

Also speaking, Mr Josiah Flomo, head of sub office Calabar, also explained the reasons for the relocation of the Cameroonian IDPs to their new camp.

We hope the crises will come to an end,but before then we have to see the IDPs camped in conducive environment.

We intend to move them to the permanent site so they can have basic social amenities and security, Flomo said..

Responding, the Executive Secretary of the Benue Emergency Management Agency, Emmanuel Shior, who represented the state governor at the occasion, thanked the UN for its response and building a better shelter for the Cameroonians IDPs.

Some of the refugees who expressed appreciation to UNCHR for relocating them to a safer place, appeal to Nigerian government to help wade into the crisis in Cameroon to enable them return home.
Seoul currently pays W3.4 trillion a year for the upkeep of the U.S. Forces Korea directly and indirectly (US$1=W1,079).

That is more than what Tokyo pays to support the U.S. Forces Japan, according to analysis by a state-run think tank.

Yu Jun-hyung at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses cited the figure at a forum hosted by Minjoo Party lawmaker Kim Kyung-hyup in the National Assembly on Thursday.

"The cost of supporting the USFK's upkeep has been estimated at W3.39 trillion per year as of 2015 -- W2.43 trillion in direct support including defense burden sharing, and W958.9 billion in indirect support like tax breaks and land."

"But the overall running cost is estimated at more than W5.4 trillion including support for the USFK's relocation to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province," he added.

It was the first time a state-run think tank has published relevant figures and has led to speculation that the Defense Ministry deliberately spilled the beans in an effort to counter the U.S., which claims that Korea is not pulling his weight.

"Tokyo paid the equivalent of W6.78 trillion in 2015 to support the upkeep of the USFJ, but there are 62,108 U.S. troops stationed in Japan, far more than the 28,034 in Korea," Yu added. "All things considered, Seoul is paying much more money than Tokyo."
The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) told Channels Television on Thursday, May 24, 2018, that Nigerians are not happy with the country's current realities and urged them to back him to achieve a political revolution.

He said, "Millions of Nigeria want something different, new and bold. The situation in which we as a country today is terrible. We have nine million people who have lost their jobs in the last three years. We have a society in which people are being killed in their homes and in their communities as if the state does not exist and our law enforcement just watches helplessly.

"Nigerians are not happy about these and they want a change and they're looking for people who will lead them into a very different future, and that's where I'm offering myself to do that job. A different reality is going to be constructed in this country. We're going to have a peaceful; political revolution at the ballot box. For that to happen, you must believe that it is possible.

"On May 29, 2019, I will be sworn in as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Go and write it down."

Moghalu joins YPP

Moghalu's appearance on Channels Television happened just hours after he disclosed that he will run on the platform of .

In his statement titled, "A bold dare, a bold response to Nigeria's call, and a bold invitation: Have the courage to join us", he disclosed that the urge to not become a part of the old order of failed and recycled politicians influenced his decision to join YPP, noting that he wanted to join a party that shared his vision of leadership as one of service and accountability.

He described YPP as a grassroots-oriented party with historic network and cell leaders in every one of the six geo-political zones of the country. He noted that the party has full and final structures that can finally put an end to the agitations of Nigerians for quality leadership.

He said, "So I am here today to announce that in response to the parties of the past, in response to umbrellas that block out the light of hope, and brooms that sweep away truth and replace them with lies, in response to the parties of tired old tricks and tired old systems and tired old men, I and millions across Nigeria will choose the Young Progressive Party - YPP - the party of today and tomorrow.

"This is, importantly, an organizational choice. The Young Progressive Party has over the past year set up full and final structures - extensive offices, with an extensive pool of party officials, operatives, volunteers across the country. This is a grassroots-oriented party. Matched with our historic network and cell leaders across Nigeria in every one of the 6 geo-political zones of the country, this is a union made in possibilities."
Oshiomhole said the money that PDP stole will be used to take proper care of over 180 million people.

He said this while speaking to APC leaders in Edo state.

Buhari will win

The former governor also said that President Buhari will win the 2019 elections.

Oshiomhole predicted that APC will win more governorship and national assembly elections in Nigeria.

He said It is our task as party activist to painstakingly explain to our people in the rural areas to understand who dug the hole that led to what we are experiencing today as a nation and the effort by President Muhammadu Buhari to gradually pull us out of that hole to the surface and begin to push and uplift us upward to that level in which every Nigerian will have to say I am a proud Nigerian.

Poverty is not an act of God. It is the result of our economic history. And when you look at the numbers of how much was stolen under the watch of Jonathan as President and the revelations the governor of Gombe state made, the kind of money that was diverted under the PDP regime under President Jonathan, those monies if distributed by 180 million Nigerians, each of us will have a swollen pocket.

And we must help our people to appreciate that the challenge of rebuilding a house that was rocked beyond foundation, to build complete new foundation cannot be an overnight work. What is important is that there is a commitment to refix and the President has broken new grounds which may not have been amplified to a level that the rural people can see them.

Once upon a time growing up, we were told that the Armys finances are beyond proud, that whatever a general has stolen, it was for good, you cannot question.

But this President has subjected the military to accountability. Some persons who were untouchable before are being touched. So, that fight against corruption, I am happy that even other African heads of states under the umbrella of the AU, have acknowledged President Buhari as one African President that has proved his sincerity to fight corruption. And i think even recently the Secretary General of the Commonwealth also had very kind word to say about the leadership of our President on the war against corruption.

Oshiomhole had earlier called on Nigerians to blame former President Goodluck Jonathan for the inability of some states to pay salaries.

The former governor recently announced that he will run for the APC chairmanship position.
A delegation of women lawmakers had paid a courtesy visit on President Buhari at the Villa on Friday, May 25, 2018, with a long list of demands.

Speaking on behalf of the delegation, which comprised elected lawmakers from the nations 36 states, the leader of the delegation, Hon. Elizabeth Ativie said Nigerian women were being marginalised by their male counterparts.

Female Vice President

Mrs. Ative headed straight for Osinbajos seat as she pleaded with President Buhari to concede the slot of the Vice President to them in subsequent elections in the country.

She said Nigeria only had one principal officer in each of the two chambers of the National Assembly since the return to democracy in 1999.

ALSO READ: The moment Osinbajo threatened to resign from his job

She also told Buhari that as the president, anything he said at the gathering will become policy and subsequently law adding that whenever the president is a man, the Vice President should be a woman.

Mrs. Ativie stated that for every three senatorial seats in the states, one should be a woman.

She noted that where there are nine House of Reps members, the men should take six and leave three for women.

Osinbajos seat under threat

It is a pity that the Vice President is not here, but I am sure the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will brief him that his position is threatened, President Buhari responded jokingly.

The President however appreciated the support given to him by women generally in the four times he ran for president.

He recalled reports he received during elections in which women in Labour queued to vote for him.

Cue reelection campaign

President Buhari also used the opportunity to seek for same level of support from Nigerian women for his reelection.

He asked the delegation to take a message to their colleagues to extend the same support since he has declared to seek for second term.

On their request, the president disclosed that he was not as powerful as perceived by most people given Nigerias democratic system of government.
While speaking during an appearance on Lagos-based Nigeria Info FM on Friday, May 18, 2018, Durotoye noted that he believes in empowering women as it is a great way to create a better society.

Durotoye, a management consultant and leadership expert, said his choice of running mate will be a woman who is quite capable to become president in the event something happens to the president.

He said, "I believe in women. I believe in not only giving women opportunities but support to women and I believe that when you support women, more than half of your society, you can only have a better society.

"So women are not less than men but equal partners to men and, more importantly, if you empower that group of people, you'll have an amazing society.

"The gender distribution and gender balance policy that we have is a 50-50 gender balance and there is a very strong chance that, if everything goes the way I would like it to go, my running mate will be a woman.

"I have been very clear and we're currently in the search for a female vice presidential candidate who will not be chosen just simply because she's female, but she'll be competent to be a president should anything happen to the president.

"That tells you the kind of way I feel about women; I think women should be given the greatest opportunities to do great things."

ALSO READ: Durotoye tells Nigerian wives to not have sex with husbands with no PVC

Durotoye to contest with ANN

Durotoye declared his intention to run for president on the platform of the Alliance for a New Nigeria (ANN) on February 22, 2018.

He believes Nigeria has all the resources it needs to be a desirable place for anyone to inhabit, provided it gets the right leadership.
"This isn't going to end well for you", I recall warning Moghalu, with the sun almost merging with the Lekki shore in the background.

Jude, I am the best presidential candidate right now, he told me as we walked to his car.

Oh well, but do you seriously think you stand a chance against the PDP and APC who have grassroot structures across the country, especially because you dont have a structure to win a nationwide election?, I wasnt about to let him get away with this one.

It is people who make up these structures you speak of and my campaign has started interacting with these people across Nigeria

We are talking 36 States here and you only have 8 monthshow do you.you dont even stand a chance

But Moghalu wasnt about to let me win. Several minutes after the interview, we leaned on his car in the parking lot and debated his presidential run and plans for the Nigeria of his dreams.

Its been over a month since that session with Moghalu and I have to admit hes surprised me with the way hes been going round the country to present his plans to the Nigerian people. He's not just campaigning from a luxury suite in Lagos,he's working the base in rural Nigeria.

He's never been short of ideas, but he's now added zest and energy to an ever cascading fountain of ideas. To put it succinctly, Moghalu is working his socks off out there every other day and hes beginning to warm his way into so many hearts.

He will be an underdog come February 2019, of course, alongside the likes of Fela Durotoye and Omoyele Sowore. But what Moghalu is doing differently from the rest is his boundless energy on the stomp, a well drilled campaign structure and team behind him, and a consistent message delivered eloquently to Nigerians from Lagos to Abuja. Moghalu has been putting the work in and you can't even knock his hustle right now.

Moghalu has been organizing town halls, hes been making television appearances; and his candour and faith in the Nigerian project is almost infectious. He's become part of the conversation. Where other fresh faces have been campaigning from the comfort of the tech savvy Lagos audience, Moghalu has travelled to villages in Benue and Niger, telling whoever cares to listen thatI am the next president of Nigeria.

Of course the establishment in APC and PDP are everyones favourites to produce the next president in 2019 and Im sure that isnt lost on Moghalu either. But what this political economist has done is put himself on the shop window and hand himself a fighting chance should the tables miraculously turn.
Police first reported one man had been killed but revised the toll after discovering in the rubble two more bodies, those of another man and a woman.

There were no workers in the building at the time and police believe the victims were all passers-by. Two other women were being treated for multiple injuries but were out of danger.

Investigators believe the collapse of the French-style Parravicini theater was due to a problem in the structure that dates from its construction.
"Two men wearing hoodies were seen entering the restaurant with an IED," or improvised explosive device, Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans told a news conference.

"The men were seen fleeing the scene immediately following the explosion," Evans added. "Every police resource is being used right now to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act."

Evans added: "We haven't ruled anything out as we start our investigation."

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said there was "no connection to national security at this point."

The pair, who were also wearing jeans and face coverings, did not say anything in the restaurant, where two birthdays were being celebrated. They just dropped off the device and left, authorities said.

The incident is nevertheless likely to provoke jitters in the nation's biggest metropolitan area -- it comes just one month after a man in a rented van plowed into pedestrians on a crowded sidewalk in Toronto, killing 10 people.

Bloodied and limping victims

Pictures and video footage showed victims being escorted in wheelchairs and stretchers to waiting ambulances, or limping out of the restaurant, bleeding from wounds caused by flying glass and shrapnel.

The blast reportedly destroyed the inside of the restaurant. Its front doors were shattered but still clinging to their hinges.

Witnesses said the bomb looked like a paint can or a bucket and, according to police, was filled with projectile objects.

Three of the wounded -- a 35-year-old man and two women aged 48 and 62 -- were taken to hospital in critical condition, but later improved to stable condition. India's High Commissioner to Canada, Vikas Swarup, said all three were dual nationals.

Other victims were treated for minor injuries after the blast at the eatery in a strip mall that is surrounded by houses, grassy fields, and condo towers under construction.

"This was a family restaurant and a place where celebrations take place," Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said, calling the event "shocking."

On its website, the restaurant posted a message that said: "It was an extremely horrific and sad incident."

"This is a heinous crime," echoed Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie.

Nothing ruled out

The Toronto area has a sizeable population of Indian descent at almost 600,000, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited India in February.

"We stand in solidarity with the victims of this violence and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded," Trudeau said on Twitter.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are assisting Peel Regional Police in their investigation, Goodale said, despite the fact that terror is thus far not suspected.

Evans said investigators were reviewing surveillance camera footage, and asked for the public's help in identifying and locating the suspects, whom she said are believed to have fled eastbound in a vehicle.

A canine unit and an elite police team were deployed immediately, but were unable to track the suspects, whose footprints in nearby mud were identified with yellow evidence markers.

Police were also canvassing area residents for eyewitness accounts and any video footage from home security cameras.

Canada has been hit periodically throughout the decades by criminal and political bombings, including those linked to Quebec nationalists in the 1960s, attacks on abortion clinics in the 1990s, a war between biker gangs from 1994 to 2002, and bombings of natural gas pipelines by environmentalists in 2008.
Manning said she is stunned now by the "dramatic change in policing style, and aggressive (government) surveillance."

It is "getting worse, especially in the United States," she added.

She urged programmers and computer scientists working on artificial intelligence and machine learning "to consider the ethical implications of the technology that they are building and developing."

Manning, now 30, was an army intelligence analyst sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for leaking more than 700,000 classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The revelations by Manning, who is transgender and was then known as Bradley Manning, exposed covered-up misdeeds and possible crimes by US troops and allies.

Her actions made Manning a hero to anti-war and anti-secrecy activists, but US establishment figures branded her a traitor.
"They have practically no doubt that the BUK missile came from Russia. I asked him about facts proving these claims. He did not give me any facts saying they want Russia to help establish them based on unfounded suspicions," said Lavrov.

He accused the Dutch of using the tragedy that claimed the lives of 298 people aboard the Malaysian plane to "achieve their own political goals".

On Thursday, international investigators said for the first time that the Russian-made BUK missile which smashed into the Boeing 777 in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a Russian military brigade in Kursk located more than 500 kilometres (300 miles) south of Moscow.

The Dutch government said Friday Russia was directly "responsible" for the downing of the plane, a move which may trigger legal action.

Lavrov compared the claim to the case of former double agent Sergei Skripal who was poisoned with a potent nerve agent along with his daughter Yulia in Britain in March.

London has determined it "highly likely" that Russia was responsible for the attack using a nerve agent developed in the USSR.

Moscow has furiously denied the charges, challenging Britain to provide evidence and mocking the phrase "highly likely".

"This resembles the so-called Skripal case when they said 'highly likely that's the Russians' but Scotland Yard immediately reported that the investigation is continuing. And it has not been completed yet," Lavrov said.

"There is a feeling of deja vu," he said.

"We are still ready to cooperate," he added, saying that information that Russia has supplied should not be ignored or used selectively.

Russian President Vladimir Putin late Thursday repeated calls that Moscow should be included in the investigation team.
Lewis, in remarks in parliament late Thursday, said the "current scale of foreign intelligence activity ... is unprecedented".

He said foreign actors were targeting privileged and classified information on Australia's alliances, partnerships and positions on diplomatic, economic and military issues.

Information on energy, mineral resources and science and technology innovations was also of interest, he added.

"Espionage, interference, sabotage and malicious insider activities can inflict catastrophic harm on our country's interests," Lewis told a parliamentary hearing in Canberra.

"It undermines potentially our sovereignty, our security and our prosperity... The grim reality is there are more foreign intelligence officers today than during the Cold War, and they have more ways of attacking us."

Lewis backed efforts by the government to pass wide-ranging reforms to strengthen and modernise laws when investigating and prosecuting alleged political meddling.

Under the proposed laws, a transparency scheme would also require people to declare which foreign actors they are working for.

Lewis' remarks follow allegations raised by senior politician Andrew Hastie on Tuesday that a billionaire Chinese-Australian businessman, a major political donor, had been identified by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation as a co-conspirator in a plot to bribe a top UN official.
One interesting aspect is North Korea's fractious relationship with religion. Among the tidbits is that North Korea built a fake church and cathedral in Pyongyang in the 1980s in an attempt to show the outside world that religious freedom exists in the North. The pews were filled with diehard communists, but as time progressed, some actually began to convert to Christianity.

The book spills the beans on such aspects of the reclusive regime as Thae was able to witness, richly peppered with anecdote, hearsay and speculation.

A memoir by Thae Yong-ho, the former No. 2 man in the North Korean Embassy in London and now a vocal critic of the regime, has sold 50,000 copies in just 10 days.

The book also touches on a bizarre episode in 1991 when North Korea tried to invite the pope in an attempt to escape international isolation. When the Vatican asked North Korea to show evidence of any actual Catholics, the regime searched high and low and finally found an old lady who had been a Catholic before the 1950-53 Korean War.

Terrified, the woman at first vehemently denied her faith, but later confessed that God has been with her and always would be and revealed a secret altar in her backyard. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il eventually dropped the idea.

The Chosun Ilbo asked Thae what lies at the bottom of North Korea's fear of religion.

"Unlike traditional communist countries, North Korea is unique," he said. "European countries clamped down on religion, but they did not destroy them. They even left places of worship unharmed. But North Korea destroyed all places of worship and blamed it on American bombers. Instead, it made people worship their leader. The constitution guarantees religious freedom, but the Workers Party's rules say the ideological teachings of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are the true guiding words."

Some defectors say North Koreans can be converted to Christianity simply by swapping their deity from the dear leader to God.

"Christian worship and North Korean political rallies are very similar. They start off by singing and listening to teachings. Worship involves sermons, and in the North people listen to the teachings of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. This is followed by a repentance session."

Which religion does North Korea fear the most? "Christianity. Kim Il-sung came from a Christian family, so they know how the religion works. They know that Christianity would hamper the Kim familys dynastic succession to power."

Thae also offered advice about what South Korean religious communities should do ahead of a rise in cross-border exchanges.

"Kim Jong-un will create economic stimulus zones that are isolated from the outside world. You must insist that North Korea builds churches for both South Koreans and foreigners. You must convince the North that allowing religious freedom will instill trust. Seeing churches with the crucifix will move North Koreans."

Thae has faith in the role of South Korean churches in helping and caring for North Koreans.

"I lectured in a church yesterday. South Korean Christians are very passionate about reunification, and Christian pastors are the ones who care for defectors."


Police reports from Mandera revealed that an unknown number of heavily armed militants arrived at Komor Haile mosque on Thursday at about 10pm and left at around 2am on Friday.

A local resident who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity said the militants went to the chiefs home but did not find him.

They arrived when a sheikh was delivering a sermon, snatched the microphone and ordered him to sit and listen. We were shocked, said the local.

ALSO READ: Full list of roads set for closure in CBD tomorrow

The report at the police station said militants forced worshippers to listen for hours to their tirade against the Kenya government, local civil servants and security officials.

It is Ramadhan and we go to the mosques at night for prayers and teachings, said the local.

It is not clear if the militants arrived on foot or used vehicles.

If they had vehicles then they were left far and used them to carry what they looted in local shops, said the local.

Komor Haile is located between Koromey and Arabia in Mandera East Sub County.
Itumbi took to his Facebook page where he gave his two cents, noting that those implicated in corruption should be "punished with the sharpest tools".

"Corruption where PROVEN, as per by law established, should be punished with the SHARPEST tools of justice available to a democracy, so as to send a clear message to those engaged in dipping hands in the public sufuria," the PSCU director stated.

The comments, however, did not go well with a majority of his followers on social media who accused of being all talk with no action.

"If we use the sharpest tools of justice to deal with corruption what becomes of the movement you glowingly talk about?" lawyer Soyinka Lempaa wondered in sarcasm.

"If you have Evidence, and billions are lost, then dont waste you time telling us about the big four....dont waste your time," Davis Njeru responded.

"My brother, that's why you should be silent on NYS scandal. We defended Waiguru then got egg on our faces later. This scandals might prove costly to Jubilee legacy. I hope Kenyatta is watching and planning action," Daniel Nyutu replied.

Another user, Bea Kilemi, offered advise, "If you read the comments carefully you will actually see that everyone is saying the same thing. We are terribly, miserably TIRED. Including Uhuruto die hard fans".
Joho stated that the meeting focused on areas of potential collaboration between the Mombasa County government and Shebesh's ministry, particularly on youth empowerment and ease of services.

"We covered a wide range of issues of mutual interest between the County and National Government. I am prepared to engage the Ministry on Huduma Mashinani and support to the youth and women at the grassroots level," Joho stated.

The post, which was accompanied by photos of the meeting, caused excitement with many social media users taking note of the rare meeting between the two leaders who have previously not seen eye-to eye on matters politics.

The meeting was also attended by Mombasa Senator Mohamed Faki.

Eve Opolo advised the governor "Don't fall in her trap we know them be very careful".

"Make a move and a smart one Sultan. With Shebesh around all can't be guaranteed well," Mwalimu Kimanthi stated.
A section of the public has expressed concerns over the deafening silence from Mr. Odinga and also his brigade in the Opposition.

However, it seems that this time around Kenyans could be on their own.

Unlike the 2015 NYS scandal, which the former Prime Minister took former Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Ann Waiguru head on and pushed for her resignation, Kenyans will now have to deal with their own problems.

A hashtag dubbed #is supporting the Opposition leader's silence.

Many who have joined the hashtag blame Kenyans for the countless corruption scam being witnessed in the country.

From the responses, they hold that Kenyans refused to back Odinga during the 2017 General Election but only call on him when things are thick.

NASA chief strategist David Ndii on Thursday told off tweeps asking him to organize demonstrations against the multi-billion heist at the Service.

"For five years we called out Uhuruto on corruption and economic blunders. They subverted elections to stay in power. You did not come out to support removing them.

"Now you turn around and ask why we are not shouting. Choices, consequences. You have the leaders you deserve," he said.

At the same time lawyer, Nelson Havi said: "Did it ever occur to you that one day HE Raila Odinga would stop fighting against corruption and impunity for you? It has happened. You have vilified him to stop. You must now speak and fight for yourself or perish. You are on your own."

Some political pundits speculated that the handshake between president Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr. Odinga could be contributing to the latters silence.

Meanwhile, popular social media group Buyer Beware on Thursday announced that there will be countrywide protests on May 31, 2018.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  A Purdue University child development expert can talk about what parents and caregivers should know when talking about the middle school shooting that is so close to home.

Parents and other adults should be ready to deal with a range of feelings from children and young people, says Judith Myers-Walls, professor emeritus of human development and family studies. One issue with middle-schoolers is that they want to look brave. They want to look grown up. They might give the impression they were not affected. But parents should note that that these young people probably did notice. And they probably will want to talk about it at some point.

Parents should let them know the door is open when they are ready.

Some will be afraid as it is becoming increasingly likely that this could happen to them. But othersand sometimes the same young peoplewill be sad and/or angry that this keeps happening. They will want to know what they can do to help the victims and what they can do to prevent it. Dont assume that reassuring their safety is all they want. And at this point, it is not easy or convincing for anyone to assure safety.

Myers-Walls says talking about a safety plan is good. An evacuation plan is good. But talking about preventing violence is even better. Teaching children nonviolent ways of dealing with conflict and dealing with bullying might be some of the most powerful ways of preventing these events in the long run.

We cant hide from these issues, Myers-Walls says. Parents, teachers and other adults need to talk with children and young people about these issues. And we need to teach them that reaching for a gun is not the way to solve their problems.

Here are some other specific guidelines for talking with children and young people:

* Dont assume they didnt notice. Young children will try to get back to normal right away. They want to reestablish their base. But then they will want to talk.

* Pre-teens and teens will want to look strong and unaffected in front of their friends, but then will need to talk about their fears and misgivings in private. Those who are from that school, however, are likely to want to express anger, surprise, and hurt about the people who were involved.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Judith Myers-Walls, jmyerswa@purdue.edu
Olympians Presented With Keys To Queens Two beloved daughters of Queens took their rightful place in the pantheon of iconic borough residents on October 1, as Queens Borough President Donovan Richards,...

Van Bramer Dedicates George S. Kaufman Way The man largely responsible for the resurrection of New York Citys motion picture production industry, and for the renaissance of a local neighborhood, was honored...

Dromm Co-Names Street In Elmhurst After Polish War Heroes On September 18th, New York City Council Member Daniel Dromm, in partnership with Elmhurst History & Cemeteries Preservation Society, celebrated the Street co-naming of 43rd...
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Ryan Bridge: When the polls say we're sick of it, lockdowns will end - and the Govt won't care if we're 5pct off some my
QUIZ: Guess the Road Songs

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Some 213,000 Japanese tourists visited Korea in April, up 29 percent from the same month last year, the Korea Tourism Organization said Thursday.

The increase heralds a return of Japanese visitors as a force to reckon with in the Korean tourism industry, which not long ago weaned itself of dependence on them to throw everything at the Chinese market.

About 167,000 Japanese tourists came in March, up eight percent on-year.

"The Japanese seem to feel less anxious amid a thaw in relations between the two Koreas, which apparently led to the rise," a KTO spokesman speculated.


UK: The sixth of the 52 four-car 750 V DC third rail electric multiple-units which Stadler is to supply for Merseyrail services around Liverpool is to be fitted with a 5 tonne battery to test the business case for energy storage. While all the EMUs will be equipped for regenerative ...
UK firms to enter Chinese dragons' den

From:ChinaDaily | 2018-05-25 00:30

British and European business owners will pitch their ideas to Chinese millionaires next month in a Dragons Den-style competition organized by the publisher of Asias rich list, the Hurun Report.

Eight heads of small and medium-sized enterprises from several industries will vie for the opportunity to take their products to China and secure investment from 30 high-net-worth Chinese executives in London on June 19.

The Asiability-Hurun New Era - New Opportunity Partnership Summit is being organized by Chinese money magazine the Hurun Report and London-based business network Asiability.

Ollie Shiell, founder of Asiability, equates the event to the popular reality television show Dragons Den, in which business owners compete for investment from a panel of wealthy venture capitalists.

The identities of the investors are being kept confidential, but Shiell said several Chinese billionaires will take part.

Organizers will select the eight finalists from a list of applicants  which totaled 70 at press time. The window for submissions closes on June 5.

So far, weve had applications from companies across all sectors  biotech, real estate, financial services, education, food and beverage  theres a lot of interest in China, said Shiell. Were mostly interested in medium-sized enterprises that can grow to scale by leveraging outbound Chinese capital, or by finding partners who can help access Chinese markets. Its more of a scale-up event rather than a start-up event.

At the summit last year, six businesses were invited to pitch their ideas to Chinese investors, and three companies went on to launch products and services in China for the first time.

Were giving businesses in the United Kingdom the skills and confidence to realize the China opportunity, Shiell said. Former prime minister David Cameron did a great job of raising the profile of the China opportunity in the UK. But the piece of the puzzle that we need to invest more into is making the UK China-ready.

Shiell said his organization aims to teach British executives about cultural and businesses differences that could otherwise hinder collaboration with Chinese partners.

Both sides have very different traditions in terms of negotiations, Shiell said. Sometimes, people believe there is an opportunity there when actually the Chinese counterparts are just being polite. Or they may, in fact, be interested in pursuing an opportunity but the nature of the negotiation is different, and the Western side loses confidence that the opportunity is real.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson said the summit offers businesses a valuable chance to connect with investors from beyond British borders.

The Asiability-Hurun platform presents a fantastic opportunity to bring together some of the worlds most influential and successful entrepreneurs, Branson said.
Moscow court to review Russian Credits claims against ex-banker Motylev

 RAPSI

10:59 25/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 25 (RAPSI)  The Moscow Commercial Court will review on June 27 a claim filed by the Russian Credit bank seeking to include nearly 33.3 billion rubles ($539.7 million) in the creditors demands list against former head of the banking group Anatoly Motylev, the court documents read.

In April, Motylev filed an appeal with the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals against the ruling that initiated a property sale procedure.

In February, the Moscow Commercial Court declared Motylev bankrupt.

In January, the court granted claims filed by two companies and a number of persons asking to include 15 billion rubles (about $266 million) in creditors demands list against Motylev.

On February 6, 2017, the court initiated debt restructuring process against Motylev on the request of Flowery Development Limited. The businessman owes the company 974 million rubles ($17.2 million).

On July 22, 2016, Flowery Development filed the bankruptcy claim against Motylev but it was not reviewed by the court because of lack of provided evidence. The court accepted the claim after all violations were lifted.

Motylev is the former owner of several Russian banks including Russian credit, M-Bank and Tulsky Industrialist. In the summer of 2015, the Central Bank of Russia withdrew the licenses of those banks. All four banks were declared bankrupt.

According to business media, Motylev is a defendant in a large-scale fraud case reportedly related to alleged embezzlement at M-Bank. In May 2016, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow seized Motylevs property including land plots and apartments in the Moscow Region.
Moscow City Court to review sentence of Culture Ministry ex-official on June 21

 RIA Novosti, Kirill Kallinikov

11:23 25/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 25 (RAPSI)  The Presidium of the Moscow City Court has postponed the review of a request filed by prosecutors seeking to toughen sentence of former deputy Minister of Culture Grigory Pirumov, who is to spend 1.5 years in prison over an embezzlement case, the press-service of the court has told RAPSI.

On May 18, Moscows Basmanny District Court ruled to put Pirumov, who had been earlier convicted of embezzling public funds allocated for restoration of cultural heritage objects, in detention until July 16 as part of a new embezzlement case opened against him.

Investigators asked the court to detain Pirumov charged with stealing 450 million rubles ($7.3 million) allocated for construction of the Hermitage Museums facilities as they alleged that he was going to flee to UK. Defense in turn sought to place the former deputy minister under house arrest.

Pirumov pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In October 2017, the Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow sentenced Pirumov to 1.5 years in a penal colony. The court took into consideration the time Pirumov spent in detention and freed him in the courtroom.

On December 19, the Moscow City Court toughened punishment for Pirumov. The court imposed a 1-million-ruble fine ($17,000) on ex-official and deprived him of the second-class medal of the Order of Merit for the Motherland.

However, prosecutors again filed an appeal against Pirumovs sentence demanding a 5-year prison term for him. The appeal has been set for May 25.

As part of the case for other defendants including Mazo, received prison sentence from 1 to 1.5 years and were released as Pirumov.

Three more defendants, BaltStroy manager Alexander Kochenov, businessman Andrey Kokushkin and ex-director of the State Center of Contemporary Art Mikhail Mindlin, received suspended sentence ranging from 1 year to 1 year and 5 months.

Investigators claimed that between 2012 and 2016 the defendants embezzled over 160 million rubles allocated on restoration of the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow and other objects across Russia.

In December 2016, Chairman of the Russian Government Dmitry Medvedev relieved Pirumov of his post.
Kemerovo Regions top official arrested as part of mall blaze case

 Imago/TASS

12:39 25/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 25 (RAPSI)  Head of the Ministry of Emergencies department for Kemerovo Region Alexander Mamontov has been arrested by law enforcement officers as part of the investigation into a criminal case over tragic fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) shopping mall that left 64 people dead, the press-service of the Investigative Committee has reported.

According to the Committee, head of the Ministrys directorate for city of Kemerovo Grigory Terentyev and other officials are also under investigation. Depending on their alleged actions, officials are suspected of criminal negligence and embezzlement.

Investigators allege that Mamontov and Terentyev have not organized the malls safety examination since 2017 despite knowing that one should have been completed before March 18.

In addition, Mamontov used his position to embezzle 1.8 million rubles ($29,200) from the Ministry and used it for benefit of other persons.

The blaze in the mall occurred on March 25. According to investigators, 60 people including dozens of children were killed by fire. Initially it was reported that 64 people died.

A criminal case has been launched over involuntary manslaughter, violation of fire safety regulations that left more than two persons dead and provisions of services that dont meet safety requirements.

Eight persons were charged and detained in the case. They are: Yulia Bogdanova, CEO of the Kemerovsky Confectionary Combine, a company owning the mall, Tanziliya Komkova, chief of the regions State Construction Inspection, a formal head of the malls owner company Georgy Sobolev; the malls manager Nadezhda Suddenok; CEO of the company System Integrator that developed the fire safety system Igor Polozinenko; an employee of the company, who personally installed the fire alarm Alexander Nikitin, a guard who allegedly turned off the emergency notification system when he received a fire signal Sergey Antyushin and fire team commander Sergey Genin, who was charged with negligence.

Moreover, on March 28, the court issued an arrest warrant for Ukrainian national Nikita Kuvikov known as pranker Yevgeny Volnov, who allegedly disinformed people of the death toll in the blaze, in absentia. He was charged with inciting hatred and enmity.

According to investigation, the pranker called medical settings and government agencies on the phone and distributed false information on the death toll in the accident in order to destabilize the situation. Reportedly, he said that about 300 people were killed by fire.
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Automakers, tech giants take to streets in race for driverless-car lead

From:ChinaDaily | 2018-05-25 01:56

The rush for pole position in the autonomous/driverless car market has resulted in a fascinating convergence of technology companies and automakers.

The giants of Silicon Valley usually duke it out over smartphones and operating systems. Now it appears the battlefield has shifted to AI-powered cars.

The competition is international, with Chinese companies firmly in the pack.

On May 10, Beijing-based Didi Chuxing, China's leading ride-sharing company, became one of 53 companies conducting road tests in California.

Chinese companies Baidu, Faraday Future and Changan Automobile also are in the mix.

Didi opened a research facility in Silicon Valley in March 2017, to develop autonomous vehicle technology. Didi's US peers Uber and Lyft, and tech giants Apple and Alphabet, also are developing self-driving auto technology.

Apple recently announced it will increase its test fleet of autonomous cars to 55 in California, a popular proving ground for the technology. Apple has been using Lexus RX450h SUVs to test its technology.

(Apple, coincidentally, has invested $1 billion in Didi, but that probably has more to do with the competition it faces from Chinese smartphone makers in China.)

Autonomous means that a car is self-powered but occupied by a driver, while driverless is exactly what it says.

General Motors' Cruise has 104 autonomous vehicles in California, while Waymo has 51. But Waymo is owned by Alphabet, famously known for being the parent of internet search giant Google, and has 600 autonomous minivans in Phoenix, Arizona, with thousands more on order for an eventual ride-sharing service.

Apple hasn't yet received permission to test driverless cars, though Waymo recently applied for such a permit.

Waymo has partnerships with traditional automakers, including Chrysler and Jaguar, to deploy their Pacifica Hybrid and all-electric I-Pace SUV, respectively.

GM plans to start a ride-hailing service with its Chevrolet Bolt, a version with no steering wheel or pedals, late next year.

GM will dedicate $1 billion of its $8 billion annual capital expenditure budget to self-driving cars and mobility services. The funds will give GM the option of developing its own ride-hailing business. (GM, by the way, has a stake in Lyft Inc.)

Ford Motor Co gets its technology from Argo AI, the artificial intelligence company in Pittsburgh in which Ford took a $1 billion stake last year.

Ford's plan is to have self-driving cars with Level 4 capability in 2021, said Sherif Markaby, vice-president of autonomous vehicles and electrification. Ford also will open a factory in Michigan to make autonomous vehicles.

Level 4 on the five-step scale of autonomous driving is when a car can drive on mapped-out routes and handle anything on the course without the assistance of a driver.

No one has tried Level 5, where the car doesn't have a steering wheel.

Baidu, China's largest search engine, has been developing self-driving software for five years. Its Apollo software system for autonomous vehicles is open-source. Baidu started testing the first version of the software in 2017 on public roads and displayed version 2.0 at CES in Las Vegas in January.

In March, the Chinese government gave Baidu permission to test cars on 33 public roads in the Beijing suburbs.

The company's goal is to get the system in buses made by Chinese manufacturer King Long later this year and, by 2020, to have Level 3-capable autonomous vehicles, meaning the car controls itself at highway speeds and alerts the driver to take over when necessary.

Baidu's first self-driving cars will be developed with Chery Automobile Co of China. The Beijing internet search engine also hopes to produce Level 4 autonomous cars in partnership with Chinese automaker BAIC Group by 2021.

Only Waymo has tested Level 4 vehicles.

The ultimate objective in the autonomous vehicle rodeo is to have driverless delivery and taxi services generating massive profits.

Goldman Sachs predicts that robo-taxis will boost the ride-hailing and sharing business from $5 billion in revenue now to $285 billion by 2030.

Bloomberg contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com.
Northern and western states had the highest power demand, with Uttar Pradesh sourcing 19,082 Mw, Delhi 6,029 Mw, Rajasthan 10,395 Mw, Gujarat 16,825 Mw, and Maharashtra 23,609 Mw.

With a heat wave gripping the country-- the northern states are reeling with temperatures of 44-46 degrees Celsius -- the demand for electricity has soared to a record high.

On Wednesday, India recorded a cumulative power demand of 170,121 Mw, which is around 8 per cent higher than the same month last year.

Northern and western states had the highest power demand, with Uttar Pradesh sourcing 19,082 Mw, Delhi 6,029 Mw, Rajasthan 10,395 Mw, Gujarat 16,825 Mw, and Maharashtra 23,609 Mw. Leaving Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and Uttrakhand, none of the states faced any shortage in required power supply.

For Delhi, 6,000 Mw is a record high. In order to meet the stipulated demand, power distribution companies (discoms) in Delhi have tied up with various states through power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Reliance Infras BSES, for instance, has signed long-term PPAs with Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and a hydro power banking arrangement with Bhutan.

The other discom, Tata Power-DDL, had exported power up to 300 Mw to the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh during the winter of 2017-18 under banking arrangements.

The same power shall now be returned by these states to Tata Power-DDL in the summer of 2018, said the company.

According to the latest Load Generation Balancing report of Central Electricity Authority (CEA), power supply during this financial year is expected to be surplus, by 8.8 per cent in energy terms and by 6.8 per cent in peak terms, with peak demand at around 169 Gw.

Now that power demand is increasing, the lack of long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) could be a problem.

Nevertheless, most states are meeting the peak demand (power demand over & above the nominal demand) through the short-term market.

As temperatures soared during the week, spot power prices increased to Rs 11 per unit, averaging at around Rs 5 per unit. Power trading platform India Energy Exchange (IEX) witnessed a record high short-term power trading of 190 million units on Tuesday.

The agency expects the demand to continue throughout the summers.

At the same time, coal stock position at power plants is at the low-level of 12 days' inventory. Hydro power share in the total energy mix has been coming down every year.

Hydro generation stands at 365 Mw currently, slightly higher than this month last year. In 2017, the highest hydro power generation was 550 Mw in July, which is expected to be lower during monsoon months.

Most of the states would take the short-term route to procure power, leading to a spike in prices, said a power market expert.

He added that states continue to be unwilling to sign long-term PPAs and the sick state of most thermal plants has added to their pain.

Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
Right now the challenge before the government is to double the speed of construction in order to complete the remaining 6.6 million houses before March 2019.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

On November 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) - Gramin with the aim to build 10.2 million houses in rural areas by March 2019.

The target was split equally between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

This was meant to be the crowning glory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments efforts to provide housing for Indias rural poor.

However, data from the Ministry of Rural Development suggest that the schemes performance has been less than stellar. In 2017-18 it had a success rate of 57.5 per cent.

As opposed to the target of 5.1 million houses, the government was able to complete 2.93 million houses under PMAY (G).

The same year it also completed another half a million houses which had been pending under the erstwhile Indira Aawas Yojana (IAY).

If both are clubbed together (3.4 million), then the governments success rate in rural housing schemes rises from 57.5 per cent to 68.6 per cent.

There is no doubt that the speed of construction of houses has picked up in rural areas: About 1.6 million houses were constructed in 2014-15, 1.8 million in 2015-16 and 3.2 million in 2016-17. A total of 3.4 million houses were completed in 2017-18.

Right now the challenge before the government is to double the speed of construction in order to complete the remaining 6.6 million houses before March 2019.

To achieve this target, the Centre has to nudge states such as Assam and Bihar, which have been lagging behind in implementing the scheme.

The government seems to be confident of achieving the target before the deadline.

"The target of completing one crore PMAY (G) houses by March, 2019, is easily achievable as it is expected that 60 lakh (six million) houses where the first instalment has already been released and work is in progress, will get completed by June 30, 2018.

"The effort of the department is to try and complete one crore houses by Dec 31, 2018, even though the target is March 3, 2019, the ministry of rural development said.

In 2015 the prime minister had also launched a scheme called Housing for All by 2022 for those living in urban areas.

Also known as the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana - Urban, this scheme is projected to build 12 million houses by 2022.

However, the progress of PMAY (U) has been slow. According to available data, only about 10 per cent of the projected number of houses have been completed. Of the 4.65 million houses which were to be built, 350,000 were completed till March 22, 2018.

The government claims that it has built an additional 170,000 houses that were pending under the erstwhile Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme.

Noting the PMAYs below par performance, a parliamentary oversight committee stated in a report: With regard to financial performance, it is observed that out of a total project cost of Rs 2.04 lakh crore (Rs 2.04 trillion) and total central share of Rs 57,699 crore (Rs 576.99 billion), as low as Rs 26,162 crore (Rs 261.2 billion) have been sanctioned for release.

"The Committee are, hence, constrained to note that all is not well with the implementation of the scheme and the progress of PMAY has been disappointing.

However, officials in the government said the committees conclusions are unfair as it takes around 18 to 24 months to complete a house.

The scheme picked up momentum post October 2016 following tendering activities, they pointed out, adding that the Centre has already set up a National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF) to raise Rs 600 billion over four years to finance the scheme.

The success of the housing schemes depends largely on how active the states and urban local bodies are.

"The Union government provides the funds and they are spent by the states and urban local bodies. Some states are active and some may not be very enthusiastic about it because of political reasons, said M Ramachandran, former urban development secretary.

The scheme was in preparatory stage in 2015-16 and the actual work started in 2017-18. Now that the states and cities are all geared up, implementation should gain momentum now, he added.

The parliamentary committee has also expressed its displeasure over two other urban schemes - Smart Cities Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

It said the government failed to spend and execute projects even though three years have passed since the schemes were launched on June 25, 2015.

The Smart City Mission has had a fund utilisation of less than two per cent. Of the Rs 9,943 crore sanctioned for this scheme, only Rs 182 crore has been spent so far.

Under this programme, the government aims to either redevelop at least 50 acres or retrofit 500 acres or build a new project over 250 acres in a city. Rs 48,000 crore has been committed for 100 smart cities over a period of five years.

Similarly, fund utilisation under AMRUT - through which the government aims to provide water, sewerage and drainage facilities to a select 500 cities - was 28.74 per cent.

Among the two schemes, AMRUT has been allocated Rs 12,447 crore out of which only Rs 2,480 crore has been spent so far.

However, the authorities feel that it is premature to say that these schemes have not made much headway.

Jagan Shah, director of National Institute of Urban Affairs, and one who has been closely associated with the Smart Cities Mission, said, A large number of projects are in the pipeline. The final judgment should be passed on the mission only when it completes five years.

No doubt, the final picture will only emerge later. For now, though, while the government has certainly made progress in rural and urban housing and development, in many cases execution has fallen short of the targets that were set.
The environment ministry till May 2014 (still under UPA) ordered that cases like Vedantas expansion plans need to consult people.

But in December 2014, the NDA government reversed this position and in March 2015 the environment ministry extended Vedantas environmental clearance till December 2018.

This it did even while the question of the need for public hearing by projects in different kinds of industrial parks was being contested in the courts. This allowed the company to carry out construction.

Nitin Sethi reports.

The controversial expansion of Vedanta's 1,200 tonnes per day copper smelter in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, has been stayed by the high court on May 23 after at least 11 people protesting against the plant were shot dead by state police. The court has ordered that the company consult people before building the plant -- something the company claimed it was legally not required to do.

Vedanta claims it had legally got an environmental clearance from the Union government to expand the smelter to double the capacity without consulting people.

A perusal of Union environment ministrys and several court records show the National Democratic Alliance government made an interpretation to green regulations in December 2014, which helped particularly plants such as that of Vedanta's at Thoothukudi to be built without consulting people of the project-affected area.

This exception in the environmental safety regulations was made on the request of various industries, show court and government documents reviewed by Business Standard.

The exception to the rules was carved out through orders of the then environment minister and called a clarification. This clarification would in months ahead allow Vedanta and several others to start constructing their plants, such as the one in Thoothukudi, without public consultations.

This interpretation by the NDA government was fortuitous for companies because the environment ministry under United Progressive Alliance government had insisted in May 2014 that projects such as Vedantas in Thoothukudi were required by law to first go through public consultations.

In 2016 the National Green Tribunal found the December orders of the NDA government, which favoured Vedanta, to be illegal. It had to go to the point of threatening bailable orders against the environment ministry officials in the case to divulge information on the matter. Ministry officials said rescinding the governments December 2014 orders would adversely impact many projects.

Eventually, the NGT quashed the December 2014 orders. On the NGTs instructions, the ministry had to pass fresh orders clearly stating that projects in industrial parks without environmental clearances needed to conduct public hearings.

But by then, Vedanta had secured an extension of the green clearance to its expansion project in Thoothukudi without the need for a public hearing.

It is citing this 2016 ruling of the National Green Tribunal and other facts that came to light during the case, that the high court on Wednesday has ordered Vedanta to stop its expansion plans in track and go back to first consult the people.

The usual green clearance regulations

Almost all large scale industrial projects require a mandatory environmental clearance from the Union environment ministry. The project developer first prepares a report laying out how the industry would impact the people and environment in the vicinity of the project site. It then presents this report to the public for consultations under the supervision of the state government.

Experts of the Union environment ministry study the results of these consultations and the environmental impact assessment to decide if the project should be given a nod or not. People cannot veto the project during consultations but their concerns have to be addressed by the company and the Union government before the project can take off.

The environment clearance regulations, dating back to 2006, make exceptions to the need for public hearing in select cases. If a small industry is set up inside a designated industrial park, which itself has an environmental clearance, then the specific industry is allowed to bypass public consultations.

During the United Progressive Alliance government's tenure in May 2014 questions were raised with the government about this exception. What if the industrial park is established so long ago that it came up before the environmental regulations of 2006 were in place and the industrial park itself has no environmental clearance? Would industries in such cases too not need to consult the project-affected people?

On May 16, 2014 the environment ministry under the UPA government clarified. It said industries could bypass public consultations only if the industrial parks they were to being built inside had an environmental clearance. If the industrial park had not been assessed for environmental safety and under the 2006 regulations, then the industries coming up inside it would necessarily have to consult the people.

The logic proffered was that if the overall industrial complex had been assessed for its impact on people and environment, then the individual units within the complex need not go through the entire elaborate clearance process which includes public consultations.

But, by May 26, the National Democratic Alliance government with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at helm had been sworn in promising Ease of Business as one of its mantra.

Documents show it received missives from several industries on the issue. On December 10, 2014, responding to the industries plea, the Union environment ministry put out a 'clarification' in the form of an office memorandum approved by the then environment minister. The clarification said factories inside the designated industrial zones would not need to consult people even if the zones had never got an environment clearance.

In effect, laid down notified regulations under the law were re-interpreted by a mere executive order in the name of providing a 'clarification' to the industry.

This came as a bonanza for several industries across the country, including Vedanta. Later, the Confederation of Indian Industries highlighted this changed policy as one of the key reforms the NDA government had done for ease of business within a year of coming to power.

How Vedanta gained

Vedanta's original copper smelter was built inside the Tuticorin Industrial Complex of SIPCOT (State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamilnadu Ltd). The complex came up before the environmental clearance regulations of 2006 were put in place.

Vedanta first sought an approval of the Union environment ministry for expanding its copper smelter in 2009. The environment ministry, then under UPA, gave a clearance, without requiring public hearings.

We will abide by the law of land, says Anil Agarwal Two days after violent protests against Sterlite copper smelter, in which 13 people have been killed and more than 70 injured, Vedanta Resources Executive Chairman Anil Agarwal on Thursday said that the company want to continue with the business, while they are committed for the community and people of Thoothukudi. Agarwal in his Twitter broadcast said that he was saddened by the unfortunate turn of events at Tuticorin, now renamed as Thoothukudi. "I am very sad to hear the incident what happened yesterday. This was absolutely unfortunate and my full sympathy with the family," he said. The plant is closed because of annual shut down and we are waiting for clearance from the Court and from the government to restart the plant, he added. We are strictly following the court and the government orders. We always make sure the community and Tuticorin people at large prosperous with us. I am total committed for the community, people at large and with their wish and prosperity and want to continue with this business. We will abide by the law of land, said Agarwal. -- T E Narasimhan in Chennai

The clearance was valid for five years. When it lapsed Vedanta, went back to the Union ministry in 2013 to get an extension. The environment ministry in May 2014 (still under UPA) ordered that cases like Vedantas expansion plans need to consult people.

But in December 2014, the NDA government reversed this position and in March 2015 the environment ministry extended Vedantas environmental clearance till December 2018. This it did even while the question of the need for public hearing by projects in different kinds of industrial parks was being contested in the courts. This allowed the company to carry out construction.

With the construction for expansion on the way, news reports say, hundreds of people in Thootukudi began protesting. The protests went on for 100 days. Then, on May 22, the administration imposed restrictions under Section 144 in the area. But protesters swelled into thousands, news reports mention, leading to violence and eventual killing of at least 11 people by the state police.

We're being victimised, says Sterlite Copper CEO

How do you react to the past 48 hours developments, including the court order to stop work on the phase-II expansion?

We appeal to the government to ensure the safety of our employees, facilities and the surrounding community. We received the court order just now and have not been given time to respond. We will go through it and decide on what next to do.

What is Sterlite doing to address the concerns?

We have been engaging with the local community. Around 70 per cent of the employees are from Tamil Nadu; of that, 70 per cent are locals. We have also done lots of CSR activities, especially related to water, which is a major problem here. We need to step up local connect activities.

People say the plant is hazardous and not following norms.

There are myths being propagated by various vested interests, such as cancer due to Sterlite. Fear psychosis is being instilled in the minds of people. We are living half a kilometre from the plant -- we are all living proofs. Several children have grown up there.

They are alleging effluent is taken out to the sea. Where do we have a pipeline? This plant is zero-liquid discharge. We have asked people, protestors, to visit our plant and said we will provide all the data, explain everything. They have not visited.

The state government and Pollution Control Board allege Sterlite has not followed the norms.

The consent to operate for the existing plant has been refused; five conditions were listed. One is that ground water sampling has not been provided. That is something the PCB themselves come and take and get it tested.

Then, there is some ambient air quality monitoring; the arsenic test has to be carried out through some NABL-accredited laboratory. They had not asked us for this till now. If they want it, we will be able to provide it.

Then there is hazardous waste authorisation not being submitted. It has been done for four or five years. We have been giving the application and the PCB has not given us any information on this. We expect that if there is a rejection, we should be told so and the reasons, so that we can take remedial action.

I dont see any issue at all in complying with all those conditions.

When the matter comes up before the Appellate Board on June 6, we are confident on getting a favourable order.

Are you saying you are completely environment-friendly?

So many committees visited Sterlite over the years and found things to be okay. This is a journey and there might not be things 100 per cent okay. They have given recommendations -- like NEERI suggested 30 recommendations, NGT suggested 15-20 recommendations. All these have been fulfilled.

We have ourselves established various monitorings, such as a fence-line monitoring system, where any emission which crosses these beams will be recorded. Several things are monitored by the PCB and everything is recorded. People should not get carried away by the canards being floated.

On the whole, for the environment alone, we have invested Rs 5 billion.

There are allegations that phase-II of your expansion lacks clearances.

We have taken the land from SIPCOT (the state investment promotion entity) and have environment clearances. We need to take up the matter in court.

You don't have the support of the ruling party, opposition party and of local people. Any plan to look at other states?

Going legally is the only solution. We don't have any plans to expand outside Tamil Nadu.

What loss have you incurred due to closure?

Every four years we will shut down for 45 days as part of maintenance. We see this as an extended shutdown.

-- T E Narasimhan and Gireesh Babu in Thoothukudi
'Trump forgets that Kim is not one who likes to be treated publicly as a pauper; he wants to come to the table as an equal, and from a position of perceived strength, not as a suppliant,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.

IMAGE: A man wearing a mask of US President Donald J Trump performs next to a cutout of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-Trump rally near the US embassy in Seoul, South Korea, May 25, 2018. Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

Five months into 2018, the much hyped dawn of peace in the Korean peninsula that started with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's expression of his desire for peace resulted in a summit meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on April 27 at the peace village in the demilitarised zone of Panmunjom.

This significant event was preceded by the participation of the North Korean delegates in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics hosted by South Korea in early February.

The bigger news that emerged because of sustained negotiation and the pursuance of Moon and Kim was the agreement for a summit meeting between US President Donald J Trump and Kim.

After several venues and dates speculated initially for the summit to take place in late May, it was finally announced that Singapore would host the first-ever summit between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader on June 12.

In the latest turn of events, Trump announced on Thursday, May 24, that he was cancelling the planned summit with Kim, citing the 'tremendous anger and open hostility' in a recent statement issued by North Korea.

Earlier, what transpired from all the flurry of diplomatic activity was that a way could possibly be found to resolve North Korea's nuclear problem.

This much hyped optimism soon came under threat with Kim crafting a careful message in which he said that North Korea would never use nuclear weapons or transfer nuclear weapons or nuclear technology 'unless there are nuclear threats and nuclear provocations' against it.

North Korea's nuclear weapons, Kim further said, are 'a powerful treasured sword for defending peace' that guarantee future generations 'can enjoy the most dignified and happiest life in the world'.

This statement sounded as against denuclearisation.

If in such a conditional situation, Kim travelled to Singapore for the summit with Trump, it would be open to interpretation as to who has the upper hand.

If Trump accepted such demands and conditions put forth by Kim, Kim's position only would have risen in the world.

This conditional demand by Pyongyang and Washington's stance to seek complete and irreversible denuclearisation could be the reason that derailed the peace process.

There remained several imponderables that remained dormant, but could not be kept under the carpet for long.

The first fissure was both Trump and Kim wanted to claim credit for agreeing to hold the summit.

Trump claimed Kim had succumbed to his sustained pressure. It was tough for Pyongyang to concede that he could force Kim to come to the negotiating table. It was difficult for the North Korean people to accept that their leader could be fallible.

Unlike the US media that went bombastic about the summit possibility, the North Korean media was circumspect, reluctant to divulge government positions.

The US and the world kept its hopes high after Pyongyang released three American prisoners following US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit, during which the summit date of June 12 was finalised.

The US seemed to spoil the atmosphere of detente when it erred with National Security Advisor John Bolton suggesting Pyongyang must unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons before easing of trade sanctions could begin.

Such a US stance was opposed to Pyongyang's often-stated policy that its precondition for denuclearisation is an end to Washington's 'hostile policy and nuclear threats'.

The other dimension of the North Korean imbroglio is Kim's recent cosiness with Chinese President Xi Jinping as demonstrated by his two visits to Beijing in quick succession for possible briefings before committing anything to either Moon or Trump.

What really transpired between Xi and Kim remains shrouded in mystery, but the world is aware that China is North Korea's strategic ally and that China has its own strategic consideration in devising its North Korean strategy.

Whatsoever Trump and other US allies think about North Korea, it is unlikely that Beijing's existing stance on North Korea will change.

Against this ground reality, Pyongyang's way of seeing Washington as the root of all its problems is unlikely to go away so soon.

The outside world has an erroneous understanding of North Korea.

When Kim announced his decision before the 100-plus members of his party's central committee to suspend nuclear tests and ICBM launches, Washington interpreted it as a major pre-summit concession.

What Kim meant was that since his country has become successful in developing nuclear weapons in just five years, there was no more need for testing and that now was the time to focus on economic growth.

It is possible Kim discussed this with Xi when he visited Beijing.

North Korea also declared that it would dismantle its nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri. Punggye-ri has been the site for its six nuclear tests.

Keeping to its word, North Korea carried out the demolition on May 24 in a public event attended by 30 international journalists.

North Korea first announced it would dismantle the site following a meeting of the country's ruling party in late April. The plan was later confirmed by Moon during his talks with Kim on April 27.

The annual military drills between the US and South Korea was another stumbling block in the peace process.

Pyongyang has always opposed the drills, which it sees as 'rehearsals for invasion'.

Therefore, when the US and South Korea announced it would go ahead with the exercises, Max Thunder and Foal Eagle, part of annual exercises that date back 40 years, Kim lost no time to renew threats to step away from denuclearisation.

The US and South Korea are consistent in their explanation that the annual exercises are strictly defensive and non-provocative.

Pyongyang did not buy this argument and rejected the Pentagon spokesperson's explanation that the defensive exercises are part of the alliance's 'routine, annual training to maintain a foundation of military readiness'.

Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's first vice minister of foreign affairs, threatened that the Trump-Kim summit could be cancelled 'if the US is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment'.

What provoked Kim the most was Bolton's comments that North Korea could face a similar fate as that of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi if no agreement was reached during the Trump-Kim summit.

Bolton has repeatedly suggested the Libya model of unilateral disarmament for North Korea.

North Korea angrily denounced his comments and threatened to scrap the summit.

As a damage-controlling measure, Trump quickly distanced himself from Bolton's comments and sought to placate Kim by saying his security would be guaranteed in any deal and his country would not suffer Gaddafi's fate.

Trump put the blame on Beijing, saying Kim was possibly influenced after his two visits to China. The US leader reassured Kim that he was not pursuing the 'Libya model' in getting North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.

Gaddafi, it may be recalled, was deposed and killed after Libyans joined the 2011 Arab Spring protests, aided by NATO allies who encouraged him to give up his banned weapons of mass destruction under a 2003 deal.

Pyongyang termed Bolton's suggestion of a deal similar to that under which components of Libya's nuclear programme were shipped to the US as 'absurd'.

The sticking point was how both sides interpret the term 'denuclearisation'.

While the US and Japan demands 'complete, verifiable, and irreversible' dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapon programme, for Kim it means the entire Korean peninsula, including South Korea.

This would mean the withdrawal of US forces from South Korea, implying abrogation of the security alliance between the US and South Korea. This would be difficult.

Pyongyang has rejected unilateral disarmament and gave no indication that it is willing to go beyond statements of broad support for the concept of universal denuclearisation.

Trump's offer of a carrot cannot buy Kim's compliance to his demand for complete denuclearisation.

Neither can Trump's assurance that China, South Korea and Japan would invest a lot of money in North Korea if the latter agreed to give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump forgets that Kim is not one who likes to be treated publicly as a pauper; he wants to come to the table as an equal, and from a position of perceived strength, not as a suppliant.

Kim's expression of willingness to pursue denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is a promise he made in the past which meant that Pyongyang would pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons just as the US did under Article VI of the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty.

This essentially means never denuclearising.

Though India was never involved directly in the inter-Korean nuclear talks, despite the fact that it maintains cordial relationships with both countries, India sent its second rank Minister of External Affairs General V K Singh (retd) to Pyongyang for discussion with senior government officials.

India is concerned about North Korea's past nuclear links with Pakistan and needed assurance that Pyongyang would keep India's concerns in mind while dealing with Pakistan.

South Korean President Moon is scheduled to visit India in July. This would be a good opportunity for him to discuss with his Indian counterparts inter-Korean issues besides bilateral matters.

Though India's role would remain limited in resolving the inter-Korean issues, India's involvement would be a welcome development.

It would be a good opportunity for India to showcase its persuasive diplomatic skill for the resolution of the Korean problem if it chooses to do so.

Dr Rajaram Panda, former Senior Fellow, IDSA, was until recently ICCR Chair Professor at Reitaku University, Japan.
'Today you have 30 to 40 per cent of bureaucrats who are not parrots of the government, but what happens if you change the system?'

'If implemented, this can disrupt the system, which will have more adverse consequences than demonetisation.'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi with bureaucrats at New Delhi's South Block soon after taking charge in May 2014. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

The Narendra D Modi government's proposal to change the rules for allocating services and state cadre to candidates who have cleared the civil services exams conducted by the Union Public Services Commission has kicked up a controversy.

According to the proposed changes, the cadre and service will be allocated after the new civil servants complete their three-month foundation course -- and not before, as is the current practice.

The system in vogue mandates that qualifying candidates are immediately allocated the service as well as the cadre based on the ranks they secure in the UPSC examination for 24 all-India services including the premier Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service, the Indian Foreign Service, the Indian Revenue Service, among others.

Critics believe the new proposal is ill-conceived. Dr Arvind Mayaram, the former finance secretary, who has been vocal in his criticism on social media, tells Rediff.com/Syed Firdaus Ashraf why the current system is well thought out and one which serves the nation well.

"If implemented, this can disrupt the system, which will have more adverse consequences than demonetisation," warns Dr Mayaram.

What exactly is the government intending to do with the UPSC examinations?

The framers of the Indian Constitution realised that in a country as diverse and disparate as India, where there is so much backwardness and asymmetry between states, there are pressures of linguistic politics, castes and religion.

There are regional identities too, and therefore, it was necessary to create a bureaucracy in a manner which would have a pan-India perspective and not a parochial perspective.

Also, the bureaucracy would have a fairly high degree of independence so that they could provide the right kind of advice without them being scared by their political masters into doing things which may not be in the public's interest or the national interest.

The Constitution also says that once they complete their tenure, they shall not be eligible for any public office.

It means they must be so independent that they must not have any post-retirement ambitions. They will be apolitical in nature.

But...

Let me finish. The Constitution says the mandate of the UPSC is to conduct examinations for selection of persons for public service, which means that it will conduct the exams from which people will enter different services.

Whether you opt for the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service or others, it will all be determined through an examination conducted by the UPSC, which is independent in existence. That is the scheme of things.

Today, the UPSC exams are conducted and then based on merit and also by choice different people are awarded different services -- IAS, IFS, customs, income tax etc; both merit and choice are taken into account.

It means if I have acquired the 10th position and I opt for income tax, my choice will be respected, because I scored high on merit.

Similarly, if my rank is 180 and my first choice is IAS, I may not get it because I don't have the merit and people above me who do have already entered.

So, then I will get my second or third choice or I will get through lottery in service.

This is how services are awarded on very transparent, very objective and an independent examination system in which the government has no say.

How are cadres allocated states then?

Every state is given a certain number of vacancies.

Rajasthan has four vacancies -- three from outside the state and one from within the state. That is the formula that is being followed.

This system has worked so well because the character of bureaucracy in any state is very cosmopolitan.

The bureaucracy is a very stabilising force in the country. There is diversity and it has been a great integrating factor for the country.

It is a very well thought out and time-tested system.

How is the government wanting to change this system?

The Government of India now wants to change this system. The UPSC will conduct the examinations and give us a combined list.

For instance, 2,000 people have joined the civil services, then they will go through a foundation course.

The foundation course is an in-service training programme.

When you are in the foundation course, you will be judged based on examination, performance and the marks given by your trainers. You will be awarded a certain number.

For example, I may have come tenth in the all-India exams, but if in the foundation course I get only 100 out of 300 marks, then despite my 10th position in the UPSC exams I will be given accounts, service or defence, ordinance, whereas the person who acquired the 300th rank in the UPSC but does well during the foundation course can get into the IAS.

In such a scenario, what happens?

Firstly, after getting into the service I would want to show my loyalty to the government and have a greater capacity to bend to the will of the government and do anything to get more marks in the foundation course.

The foundation course is not independent, but is run by government officers on deputation to the academy (the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, which conducts the foundation course) and these officers go back to the government.

They are creatures of the government. They will do whatever the government wants them to do.

So what will happen is the politicisation of the bureaucracy will be complete.

You will have people who are very pliant and do anything for their masters. This will become a complete mess.

But the foundation course is part of the present system too.

Yes, it is and certain marks are given in the foundation course. But those marks don't determine your service and which state you will go to.

They are basically qualifying marks and then after that, you go to the state and then take the examination.

And then you have to pass that exam to be confirmed in the service so that your probation is not extended.

But it does not determine which state you will be assigned to or which service you will be assigned to. That is the major difference.

Therefore, the people who go into service today, they can always say we are not servants of political masters, we are the servants of the people.

Today, the secretary to the Government of India never says he is secretary to the minister. He is independent to give his advice, and then the minister can overrule his advice.

Can you imagine a time when no bureaucrat will tell a minister this is illegal or legal?

In our country there's a common notion that bureaucrats are parrots of the government of the day.

Now you can imagine that if today you consider them in this manner, what would happen when they actually become that creature (parrot).

Today, you have 30 to 40 per cent of bureaucrats who are not parrots of the government, but what happens if you change the system?

100 per cent bureaucrats will become parrots.

Do you question the government's intent in changing the system?

One doesn't know what the intention is.

The letter issued by the prime minister's office simply says the prime minister wants this to be examined and implement it.

It does not say what is the thinking behind this move or what is wrong with the present system.

You have to remember India is a federal country and IAS officers are recruited by the central government and the President appoints them, but they are assigned to state governments.

Most of their lives, they work in states and they are under the control of the state government.

Today you have IAS and IPS officers in Jammu and Kashmir which are working with the state government, who are appointed by President of India.

Why have state governments accepted this system? Because the recruitment does not have any interference from the central government.

But the moment you change the system, the states may very well stand up and say we do not want these people (officers) as it is a federal system.

Say, if Rajasthan has a different government vis-a-vis the central government, then they will refuse to accept the newly recruited IAS and IPS officers stating we do not want these officers whose ideology is that of the central government.

If implemented, this can disrupt the system, which will have more adverse consequences than demonetisation.

Hasn't the bureaucracy failed the people of India?

This is the easiest thing to say, by blaming the bureaucracy.

Today, the fact is that politicians are crying hoarse against the bureaucracy because politicians find that the bureaucracy is the last barricade before they can have a free run of things.

It is easy for politicians to say that bureaucrats do not allow them to do things.

What have they stopped politicians from doing?

Even something like demonetisation -- which bureaucrat stopped it?

When the government wants to do something, they do it.

Not only the Modi government, but any government has complaints against the bureaucracy. But I must say it is not that the bureaucracy is in the best shape.

All I am saying is that the people complain about the judiciary, yet today we have a semblance of rule of law because the judiciary is functioning.

I am not saying the judiciary should not be reformed, but what happens if you disrupt the judiciary?

What kind of performance do you expect from bureaucrats when you transfer them every six months?

This used to happen in state governments, now it is happening at the central government.

Whenever Prime Minister Modi's performance in office comes up, it is pointed out that it is the bureaucracy, which he inherited from the previous government, that is tripping up his plans. What do you have to say about it?

Tell me, how many senior bureaucrats from the previous government are in the Modi government's administration?

Ninety per cent of them have been appointed by the present government.

A very large number of bureaucrats working right now have worked with the PM in Gujarat (when he was chief minister).

In the last four years, a large number of transfers of secretaries, joint secretaries and additional secretaries have taken place. I don't think that has happened in the last 30 years.

In my 37 years, I have not seen so many joint secretaries being transferred so many times.

Earlier on, joint secretaries and deputy secretaries used to have five years tenure in one department and then they used to develop certain kind of expertise.

Now in six months you see transfers of secretaries, and even within three months they get transferred!
Xuhui taking on global leaders to lure scientific services business

From:Shine | 2018-05-25 01:29

Xuhui District aims to develop its scientific services sector to match Boston and Silicon Valley, the district government said yesterday.

Xuhui plans to create a similar ecological environment to that of Boston, where high-tech enterprises and startups communicate and cooperate with each other helped by introductions by the government, said Zhang Lan, deputy director of the development and reform commission of Xuhui.

Scientific services include research, technological promotion, training, consultancies, intellectual property rights and scientific assessment.

The district aims to become a global center for technological transformation by 2020, gathering some of the worlds top high-tech and scientific services enterprises.

It is part of the district governments contribution to the city governments campaign to promote Shanghais four brands: manufacturing, services, shopping and culture.

We decides to base in Xuhui because of the education and medical services and other preferential policies offered by the government help to retain most of our key professionals, said Ding Gaoxiang, chief operations officer with Titan, a startup that has broken the monopoly of foreign manufacturers on laboratory equipment and reagents.

Titans sales revenue was 660 million yuan (US$103.4 million) in 2017 and is expected to reach 1 billion yuan this year.

Ding said most of the companys main customers are based in Xuhui, thanks to the districts scientific environment.

It is home to the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry and the Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences, both under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Open AI Lab, an artificial intelligence startup, said it was easier to recruit high-end professionals in Shanghai. The number of employees in its Xuhui-based office has increased fivefold since it was established in May last year.

About five industrial leagues, or company groupings, in areas such as robotics, AI, Big Data and chips have based in Xuhui.

Scientific service companies like Titan and Open AI Lab contributed 101 billion yuan in revenue in 2016, an 11 percent increase year on year, said Zhang.

By 2020, the district aims to attract 15 regional headquarters of multinational enterprises, six national technological centers and 50 research and development centers from around the world.

To achieve that goal, the government plans to turn its Caohejing high-tech park into a Silicon Valley-like base for scientific enterprises and startups, backed by the necessary support services.

These include a service for intellectual property rights protection. The Shanghai Patent and Trademark Law Office and other professional IPR organizations are also based in Xuhui.

The district will also work with LinkedIn and the CIIC human resources company to bring in more professionals to work in the district.
General Rawat said exemplary punishment would be given to Major Gogoi if he is found guilty.

The army on Friday ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi for alleged violation of rules and regulations after he was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir Police earlier this week following an altercation when he had attempted to enter a hotel with an 18-year-old woman.

The officer had stirred a controversy last year by using human shield to escape stone-pelting mobs during a Lok Sabha by-election.

According to army officials, a Court of Inquiry has been instituted against Major Gogoi.

He is likely to be tried for alleged violation of Section 63 of the Army Act which relates to violation of good order and discipline.

Any person subject to this Act who is guilty of any act or omission which, though not specified in this Act, is prejudicial to good order and military discipline shall, on conviction by court-martial, be liable to suffer imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years or such less punishment, the section reads.

The future course of action against the officer would be decided based on the findings of the probe, the officials said, adding the CoI would be held at the formation level which would be headed by a Colonel.

The order for CoI came shortly after Army chief General Bipin Rawat said in Pahalgam that exemplary punishment would be given to Gogoi if he was found guilty of any offence.

If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action, Rawat told reporters in Pahalgam, while on a visit to the army Goodwill School.

If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest... The punishment will set an example, the army chief said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police is already conducting an investigation into the May 23 incident when the major, along with his driver and a young woman from Budgam, were handed over to the police.

The hotel staff had denied Gogoi entry into a room with the woman, the officials said.

Gogois decision to tie a civilian to the bonnet of his vehicle in Kashmir last year had sparked a row.

In a related development, former chief minister Omar Abdullah sanctioned Rs 1.3 lakh to the family of the woman, who was detained by police along with the major, after reports suggested that the financial condition of the family was not good.

The money was being given to the family, living in extreme poverty in Budgam, to construct a house, Abdullahs political secretary Tanvir Sadiq said on Twitter.

Our local party office-bearers have visited Check Kawoosa area of Beerwah. After a first hand report and finding the family living in extreme poverty and living in a tin shed, Omar Abdullah has released an amount of 1.30 lakh, Sadiq tweeted.

In a letter to the District Development Commissioner, Sadiq said that the former chief minister, who represents the area in the state assembly, has directed him to release Rs 1.3 lakh in favour of Ghulam Mohammed Wani under the constituency development fund of Omar.
A special National Investigation Agency court in Patna on Friday convicted five Indian Mujahideen terrorists in the 2013 Bodh Gaya serial blasts case in which several persons including Buddhist monks were injured.

Special NIA judge Manoj Kumar Sinha held all the five accused -- Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi -- guilty in the case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act.

The court fixed May 31 as the date for pronouncement of the quantum of sentence.

The world-renowned Buddhist pilgrim town of Bodh Gaya was rocked by a series of explosions on the morning of July 7, 2013 which had left a number of people, including some Buddhist monks, injured.

A sixth accused in the case -- Taufiq Ahmed -- was less than 18 years of age and sentenced to three years in remand home by a juvenile court last year which found him guilty of involvement in the case.

All the six accused have also been associated with the banned organisation Students' Islamic Movement of India and are facing trial in the Patna blasts case of October, 2013 when the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna was rocked by explosions while an election rally of Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, was underway.

Hailing the court order, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, 'Those involved in terrorist activities have no religion or creed. They deserve stern punishment and we hope the court would do the same when it announces the quantum of sentence.'

'We are hopeful that the accused in the Patna blasts case would be similarly brought to justice,' he said.

Defence lawyer Surya Prakash Singh contended that the NIA had failed to produce CCTV footage and a security guard, who was present at one of the sites when the explosions took place had failed to recognise any of the accused.

However, the contention was repudiated by public prosecutor Lalan Prasad Sinha who pointed towards the association of all the accused in terrorist activities and statements recorded by as many as 90 witnesses during trial, wherein it was placed on record that the blasts had been carried out to avenge the alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by the Buddhist majority.

The NIA succeeded in convincing the court that the accused were guilty.

Lots of evidences, forensic and circumstantial, were placed before the court during trial and witnesses produced from various parts of the country and even abroad, Sinha told reporters.

Defence counsel Surya Prakash Singh said, "The court pronounced its judgement as per its wisdom though we had raised some important objections. We will appeal against the order before the Patna high court."
India and Bangladesh are two separate countries bonded by cooperation and understanding, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Santiniketan on Friday.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the annual convocation of Visva Bharati University in Birbhum, on Friday. Photographs: Ashok Bhaumik/PTI Photo

Modi, who was in Santiniketan to attend the 49th convocation ceremony of the Visva Bharati University, shared the dais with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and university Vice Chancellor Sabujkoli Sen.

"India and Bangladesh are separate countries bonded by cooperation and understanding. Be it culture or public policy, the people of the two countries get to learn a lot from each other," the prime minister said.

One such example is Bangladesh Bhavan, he asserted.

The PM, who is the 'acharya' or chancellor of the central university, inaugurated Bangladesh Bhavan with Hasina on this occasion.

The Bhavan, a 'symbol of cultural ties between India and Bangladesh' has been constructed by Bangladesh on the varsity campus.

Lauding the contributions of Visva Bharati in nurturing young minds, Modi said he was thrilled to set foot on the land of Tagore.

"When approaching the dais I was thinking that this is the land of Rabindranath Tagore. Here, somewhere, he had penned his words, composed tunes, held discourses with Mahatma Gandhi or mentored one of his students," he stated.

The PM also exhorted the university authorities to develop the rural areas in the state with help from the central government.

IMAGE: Modi waves as Hasina looks on after attending the convocation.

"I am told that you are developing 50 villages. You can take a pledge that by 2021, when Visva Bharati will complete 100 years, to develop 50 more villages with electricity supply, gas connection and online transaction facilities," he said.

On the occasion, the prime minister spoke about the bard and his elder brother Satyendranath Tagore's Gujarat connection.

"Satyendranath Tagore, the first Indian to join the civil service, was posted in Ahmedabad. For six months, Gurudev took tuition from his brother here before leaving for abroad at the age of 17. During his stay in Ahmedabad, he had written a novel and composed poems."

He urged the students to stay true to their roots while pursuing their dreams.

"125 crore people have resolved to create New India by 2022. This dream can be achieved through education and for that institutes such as Viswa Bharati have a vital role to play. The graduates from the university will contribute in India's development, give it a new direction," he said.

Referring to one of Tagore's songs, the PM said one should move ahead in life, no matter what the circumstances.

Education should not be just about textbooks, a student should be exposed to the myriad cultures of the world for his overall development, the PM said.

"If there is nobody to walk with you, walk towards your target alone. If you take one step towards development, the government will move four steps ahead," he told the students.
The suspension of combat operations in Jammu and Kashmir can be extended further if the atmosphere of peace continues in the state, but any action by terrorists would trigger a rethink immediately, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Friday.

Rawat also said Pakistan should stop sending terrorists into the state if it was interested in peace.

"If Pakistan really wants peace, then we will want them to take the first step by stopping infiltration of terrorists into our side. The ceasefire violation mostly takes place to aid infiltration," Gen Rawat told reporters at a function in Pahalgam, 95 km from Srinagar.

The army chief said India wants peace along the borders but Pakistan was continuously violating the ceasefire, which caused loss of life and property.

"When such an action takes place, we also have to respond. We cannot sit idle. If there is ceasefire violation, then there will be action from our side," he said.

Gen Rawat said for peace, it was imperative that cross-border terrorism comes to an end.

"It is imperative to stop terrorism from across (the LoC), the camps which are there where training is given to them, from where the ammunition is infiltrated into J-K and India, that should stop. If that happens, then I can assure you that peace will prevail on the borders," he added.

The Army chief said the suspension of anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir was an attempt to make people realise the benefits of peace.

"The suspension of operations or what we call NICO (Non initiation of combat operations) has been done to make the people believe and see how the atmosphere is when there is peace. The way an atmosphere of peace and calm is here right now, in my opinion, the people here are very happy with that," he said.

The Union home ministry had announced on May 16 that security forces would not launch any operations in J&K during the holy month of Ramzan.

However, the security forces reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people.

Gen Rawat said the Army will think about continuing the unilateral ceasefire if the peaceful situation continues in the valley.

"If this atmosphere of peace continues, then I assure you that we will think about continuing with NICO. But if there is some action by the terrorists, then we will have to rethink on this ceasefire or suspension of operations or NICO," he said.

Gen Rawat was here to launch Digital Education in five Army Goodwill Schools which has been established with the help of Power Grid Corporation and Extra Marks Foundation.

"Children in AGPS should get right kind of education. Their education standards should keep improving. Knowledge and education today needs infusion of technology. With this aim, we have taken help from PGC and Extra Marks foundation to start Digital education here," he said.

Gen Rawat said the Corporation has contributed nearly Rs 25 lakh and Extra Marks foundation is providing support.

"This will be started in five army good schools on pilot basis. We would like to extend this technology to other Army Goodwill Schools also. We want the children from here develop and progress in life," he added.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who underwent a successful kidney transplant at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on May 14, was shifted out of the intensive care unit and he was recovering.

His post-operative recovery was being closely monitored by a team of transplant surgeons, endocrinologist, nephrologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist and critical care experts among others.

"He was shifted out of the ICU to a private ward of the Cardio-Neuro Centre during the weekend. He is recovering well," a source at the hospital said.

According to AIIMS sources, the kidney was donated to the 65-year-old minister by a distant relative, a middle-aged woman. This fell under the category of 'live unrelated donation'.

"Living, unrelated donor could be anyone who is emotionally attached to the recipient, such as friend, a relative, a neighbour or an in-law. The authorisation committee had given its approval before the procedure," he had said.

During transplant surgeries, the recipient is put on immunosuppressants in order to lower the body's ability to reject a transplanted organ and thus is kept in isolation to avoid any infection.

The surgery was carried out at the cardio-thoracic centre by a team of 20 personnel, including transplant surgeons and transplant anesthesiologists.

The team included former chief of AIIMS renal transplant division Sandeep Guleria, currently working with Apollo Hospital, surgeon V K Bansal, nephrologist Sandeep Mahajan and AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.

Sandeep Guleria is the brother of Randeep Guleria and a family friend of the minister.

Jaitley had confirmed his illness in a tweet on April 6. 'I am being treated for kidney related problems and certain infections that I have contracted,' he had tweeted.

In September 2014, he underwent a bariatric surgery to treat a long-standing diabetic condition and weight gain. The surgery was first performed at Max Hospital, but he had to be later shifted to AIIMS because of complications.

Jaitley had a heart surgery several years ago.
Photograph: Reuters

North Korea on Friday said that its leader Kim Jong Un is still willing to meet United States President Donald Trump at any time and in any way, after the latter abruptly cancelled their summit scheduled for June 12.

Kim Kye Gwan, a top official at North Korea's foreign ministry, said in comments published on Friday by the country's state-run media KCNA that Trump's decision runs counter to the global community's wishes for peace on the Korean Peninsula, CNN reported.

We reiterate to the US that we are willing to sit face to face at any time and in any way, said Kim Kye Gwan.

Trump, who cancelled the upcoming summit with Kim on Thursday, said that calling it off is a lost opportunity for the latter and the world.

Trump described the cancellation of the summit as a tremendous setback for North Korea and warned that the US military is ready to act should Pyongyang take any foolish and reckless action.

The White House on Friday tended to point the finger at China for the 'sudden change in attitude of the North Koreans' for the proposed summit in Singapore.

"We can only speculate as to exactly what was discussed or why that might be, but the shift in attitude did not go unnoticed by the President," said a senior White House official, responding to questions on the sudden change in behaviour of the North Koreans.

Earlier, Trump had said that North Korea changed its approach towards the summit after Kim had his second meeting with President Xi Jinping in China.

"The President made some public comments about his sense that after the second meeting between the Chinese and North Korean leaders, there was a shift in attitude," the official said.

He, however, exuded confidence that China would play a constructive role in implementation of the international sanctions vis-a-vis North Korea.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that Kim is not a weak leader and he has shown tremendous capacity to lead North Korea. Pompeo is the only top US official to have met Kim twice in recent weeks.

Pompeo first travelled to North Korea in his capacity as the Central Intelligence Agency director last month and again this month as the Secretary of State.

Both the meetings, he said, laid the ground work for a meeting between Kim and Trump.

"I spoke in English. There was a translator. But our team confirmed that the translator said what I said. "I had two meetings, maybe three hours plus, total, enough that I understood him to have understood what I was saying," the top US diplomat told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.

"When I heard back from him (Kim), there was little doubt in my mind that he understood the scope of what we were asking for, the nature of what would have to take place, the verification that we would need to undertake in order to be comfortable that we could begin to deliver the assurances that he, in return, asked for," Pompeo said when Senators asked him if he was able to convey the message to Kim properly.

With PTI inputs
Recently, Hindu religious seers had threatened to boycott the ceremonial Kumbh snan if the Ganga was not clean. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.

IMAGE: A boy jumps over a drain flowing with waste water from the leather tanneries into the Ganga in Kanpur. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters



The Uttar Pradesh leather industry is facing a new stumbling block, one threatening to shake its foundation.

Last year, it had a severe shortage of raw hide, after closure of abattoirs declared illegal. It had since begun to step forward.

Now, however, the state government has ordered tanneries in Kanpur, a major leather processing hub and with a Rs 120-billion annual economy, to observe a shutdown between December 15 and March 15, 2019.

This is to arrest the flow of effluents into the Ganga during the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad. The closure also means leather exporters would be deprived of the advantage they have from a falling rupee.

Earlier, a good number of tanneries had been closed after a National Green Tribunal order, to check pollution. The remaining ones have been asked to shift from the leather belt of Jajmau, a Kanpur suburb, to Ramaipur in the district.

A treatment plant has been proposed at the latter site, at an investment of Rs 5.5 billion.

The closure order is a shock for the leather units in Kanpur. Export from here is about Rs 60 billion annually. Recently, Hindu religious seers had threatened to boycott the ceremonial Kumbh snan (bathing) if the Ganga was not clean.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed no effluent be discharged in the Ganga from Garhmukteshwar to Varanasi during the Kumbh, expected to see almost 150 million pilgrims next year.

At the Jajmau industrial belt, 264 tanneries are operational; 136 units have been shut or dismantled. The 264 tanneries discharge about 6.7 million litres a day of effluent, for which the government operates a 36 MLD chemically enhanced primary treatment plant, at an annual expenditure of Rs 170 million.

The chief minister has asked the leather industry to bear half the expense.

Council for Leather Exports regional chairman Javed Iqbal says the closure order would kill the local leather industry. And, the tanneries would lose their foreign customers, who have the ready option to source processed leather from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Vietnam.

Asking that the state review its decision, R K Jalan, former regional head of the CLE, said: "If this order is implemented, the tanneries would effectively remain closed for four straight months, since they would have to be shut 15 days in advance to ensure no unprocessed leather, while they would attain full operations only two weeks after they reopen."

If shut for such a long duration, he said, it would be difficult for most of the units to revive. The Kanpur leather industry (including adjoining Unnao district) employs over 1,00,000 people, while supporting the livelihood of almost a million, says the industry.

UP Leather Industries Association member Taj Alam said the decision would result in mass layoffs and disruption in economic activity of almost Rs 40 billion. And, impact the whole leather value chain -- including chemicals, transportation, etc.

"This would also dent our image as a dependable trading partner." He said the Kanpur industry already had invitations from other states, such as West Bengal, to set up units. At earlier Kumbhs, the tanneries were asked to suspend 'wet operations' four or five days prior to each 'shahi snan' (the big bathing days).

Last year, acting on the NGT directive to close illegal slaughterhouses in UP and regularise their functioning, thousands of unregulated and unregistered units in the state have closed.

Slaughterhouses in the organised sector are only about 45 and not in a position to cater to the humongous demand of raw hide to the state's leather units.

UP comprises three major leather industry hubs -- Kanpur/Unnao, Agra and Noida.
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'

Rediff.com/Savera R Someshwar's MUST READ report.

IMAGE: The Bharatiya Janata Party won 18 of the 21 assembly seats in coastal Karnataka. Photograph: Shailendra Bhojak/PTI Photo

The emerald coastline of Karnataka seems like it is snoozing under the blazing summer sun, listening to the laps of the vast Arabian Sea, which at times touches a shore gently; at others, it tears into the land, in a roaring, furious power tussle reminiscent the recent election that gave the state two chief ministers in one week.

H D Kumaraswamy, who has occupied the chief ministerial chair for the second time, belongs to the Janata Dal-Secular, a party that won 37 seats in an election that saw 222 seats in the fray.

The JD-S is being supported by the Indian National Congress, which won 78 seats, down 44 seats from the 2013 election.

The party with the most number of seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party with 104, is, after a ignominious grab for power, seemingly resigning itself to occupy the Opposition benches... for the present at least.

Though the BJP may mourn its short-lived government in the state -- 75-year-old Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa broke his own record as a seven-day chief minister (November 12-19, 2007) to become a two-day chief minister (May 17-19, 2018) -- its silver lining continues to be its impressive performance in coastal Karnataka.

The BJP has swept 18 of the 21 seats that went to the polls on May 12 and set a record for itself by scoring four more seats than it did in the 2013 assembly elections.

Of the eight seats in the Dakshina Kannada district, the BJP won seven.

Of the six seats in the Uttara Kannada disctrict, the BJP won four.

In the Udupi district, which Prime Minister Narendra D Modi visited on May 1, the day he kickstarted his campaign in Karnataka, the BJP made a clean sweep of all five seats.

In the coffee district Kodagu, earlier known as Coorg, both Madikeri and Virajpet went to the BJP.

The seats the BJP lost In the three seats that the BJP lost in coastal Karnataka, the result was as follows: In Mangalore, veteran Congress leader U T Abdul Khader won for the fourth time (80,814 votes), beating his closest opponent, Santosh Kumar Rai Boliyaru of the BJP (61,074 votes), by 19,739 votes in a constituency that has 190,372 voters. Khader, minister for food and public distribution in the Siddaramaiah government, first won this seat in 2007, in the by-election necessitated by the demise of his father, U T Fareed, who had represented the constituency, then known as Ullal, since 1999. A family bastion, it was a seat that was near-impossible for the BJP to win. Raghunath Vishvanath Deshpande of the Congress (61,577 votes) managed to beat Sunil Hegade of the BJP (56,437 votes) to retain Haliyal, a constituency that has 169,966 voters. Deshpande -- minister for medium and heavy industries in the Siddaramaiah government, representing Haliyal for the eighth time -- scraped to victory by 5,140 votes. In Yellapur, the BJP's Andalagi Veerbhadra Gouda Shivanagouda Patil (64,807 votes) lost to sitting MLA Arabail Hebbar Shivaram of the Congress (66,290) by a mere 1,483 votes in a constituency that has 168,193 voters.

Various phrases have been used to describe this magnificent coastal stretch of Karnataka that has received bountiful gifts from Nature.

Yet, under its beautiful natural facade, a communal cauldron seethes.

This beautiful, sea-kissing belt of the state has, particularly in the last decade, seen increasing displays of communal intolerance and belligerence, murders and disruptions of law and order.

Politically, it has been christened a communal laboratory for the BJP to push through its foray into the south of India, where the lotus has only managed to successfully bloom once, in one state, Karnataka (2008-2013).

When the BJP ruled Karnataka It is interesting to note that the first time the BJP got a foot-in at governance in Karnataka was though an alliance with the Janata Dal-Secular nearly two years after the 2004 election. That election saw the BJP emerge as the single largest party with 79 seats. However, in an eerie precursor the political scenario in Karnataka today, the Congress and the JD-S, with 65 and 58 seats each, came together in a post-poll alliance to form the government. Dharam Singh of the Congress became the chief minister and Siddaramaiah, who was then with the JD-S, became deputy chief minister. In 2006, H D Kumaraswamy -- with the support of 46 JD-S MLAs -- refused to support the Congress, leading to the collapse of the government. JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda's younger son, who used to have a successful career as a film-maker and distributor, entered into a power-sharing arrangement with the BJP whereby the JD-S would rule the state and for 20 months and then hand the chief ministerial chair to the BJP's Yeddyurappa for the next 20 months. Kumaraswamy became chief minister, with Yeddyurappa as his deputy. When the time came to hand over power, Kumaraswamy refused to do so and the BJP refused to continue supporting the government. Siddaramaiah, who had been increasingly sidelined in the JD-S, resigned from the party and joined the Congress. With the friends-turned-foes unable to reach a compromise, President's rule was enforced in Karnataka for 33 days which saw the foes turn friends again and Yeddyurappa sat in the CM's chair. However, the battles over the power-sharing arrangement continued and the Yeddyurappa government collapsed seven days later. Karnataka once again went under President's rule for 189 days. In the ensuing election, the BJP won 110 seats (an increase of 31 from the 2004 election), the Congress won 80 seats (it increased its tally by 12) while the JD-S fared poorly with just 28 seats (losing 30 seats from its 2004 tally).

"If the BJP did well in coastal Karnataka," says Sudipto Mondal who cut his journalistic teeth covering coastal Karnataka, "it was because they took the gloves off and went straight for the vote."

Professor Rajaram Tolpadi, professor, department of political science, Mangalore University, and an avid watcher of Karnataka politics, expected "a significant advantage for the BJP" in coastal Karnataka, but finds himself surprised by the kind of "complete sweep" in the party's favour.

The BJP MLAs, who won these legislative seats for their party, say Siddaramaiah's "anti-Hindu stance" worked in their favour.

K Raghupathi Bhat, the BJP MLA from Udupi who won 52.31 per cent of the vote to defeat his sitting Congress adversary Pramod Madhwaraj, says, "The people have come to us because they believe the Siddaramaiah government is anti-Hindu."

"They were fed up with the anti-Hindu Congress government," adds first-time MLA Dr Y Bharath Shetty.

Principal of the A J Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore, Dr Shetty won the Mangalore North seat, trouncing the Congress' sitting MLA B A Mohiuddin Bava by 26,648 votes.

"The result," says the BJP's Umanantha A Kotian, "clearly shows there is no support for the Siddaramaiah government in coastal Karnataka."

Kotian, who lost the last election to K Abhayachandra of the Congress by 4,550 votes, beat his Congress adversary 29,799 votes to win the Moodabidri seat for the BJP for the first time in its electoral history.

Abhayachandra had represented Moodabidri for the last four terms.

Mondal agrees. "The fact that the Hindus saw Siddaramaiah as anti-Hindu worked against the Congress in a big way not just in coastal Karnataka, but across the rest of the state as well. His ham-handed approach antagonised people."

'No government has insulted Hindus as much as this government,' V Sunil Kumar, who won the Karkala seat for the BJP, raged to The Hindu.

'They celebrate Tipu Jayanthi by imposing prohibition orders in large parts of the state, they give aid to private Urdu schools while cutting aid to Hindu schools (referring to the government decision to discontinue funds to RSS leader K Prabhakar Bhat's school at Kalladka near Mangaluru) ... Hindus are angry.'

There were rumours -- later denied by Siddaramaiah -- that the Congress had entered into a secret alliance with the controversial Social Democratic Party Of India, the political face of the pro-Muslim Popular Front Of India.

The PFI faces multiple accusations of creating communal unrest, love jihad and religious conversions in Karnataka (particularly in coastal Karnataka), Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

"The BJP also stirred the pot with the pitch that 23 of 'our people', -- Hindus -- had been murdered (by Muslims) and nothing had been done about it," says Mondal.

This controversy started gaining traction in July last year when BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje, who represents Udupi-Chikmagalur, launched an offensive against Siddaramaiah's government in the countdown to the Karnataka assembly election.

In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Karandlaje claimed that, since the year 2014, '23 BJP-RSS' activists were killed in Karnataka by 'jehadi elements'.

Most of these 'crimes' were supposed to have taken place in coastal Karnataka.

As the campaigning became more and more heated, this was one of the accusations was constantly, potently levelled at the state government.

U T Abdul Khader, minister for food and public distribution in the Siddaramaiah government, says he had to put in tremendous effort to ensure these rumours did not gain traction in his constituency.

"Our people worked very hard for four years and 11 months," he says. "All it took was one month of false allegations and rumours and false propaganda for them to get to the people and negate our hard work."

Karandlaje's list, says Mondal, "was fake".

One of those mentioned in Karandlaje's list was alive, 10 of the murders were caused by communal tensions and the local police, according to The Scroll, attributed the remaining deaths to personal and business rivalry.

'Later, when chief minister Siddaramaiah released data to show that adequate action has been taken in genuine cases and that a significant number of Muslims had been arrested in cases of political assaults,' The Scroll report adds, 'it became clear that the allegations of bias that the BJP made against the state government had little merit.'

"But the problem," says Mondal, "is that the prime minister came here and parroted the same number and endorsed that claim."

So did another key campaigner, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht.

IMAGE: Siddaramaiah's government was accused of being anti-Hindu. Photograph: Kind courtesy SiddaramaiahOfficial/Facebook

"There was an anti-Siddaramaiah -- not an anti-Congress -- wave in this election; people have shown a very personal kind of enmity against Siddaramaiah," points out Tolpadi.

"His own party worked against him," says Mondal of the first chief minister to complete a five year term in the state in 40 years.

"The Congress is essentially a Hindu party and Siddaramaiah is anti-Hindu in that he wants to break the hegemony of caste. He is not willing to bow to Udupi's powerful Sri Krishna Matha, with whom he has had an ongoing feud for over 12 years," adds Mondal.

When President Pranab Mukherjee visited the matha in 2017, Siddaramaiah did not accompany him.

Bhat, who won Udupi for the BJP, says, "Siddaramaiah came to Udupi six times, but purposely did not visit the Sri Krishna Matha. This hurt the Hindus."

Siddaramaiah also angered devotees of Dharmasthala, another powerful temple in Dakshina Kannada.

Media reports alleged the chief minister had visited the temple after eating fish.

"When he was asked, 'Did you go to the temple after eating fish?' he answered, 'I went after eating chicken also,' Bhat says.

"As chief minister, should he not respect everybody's sentiments? If media reports said he had eaten fish before going to Dharmasthala, he could have humbly apologised, said he made a mistake and would beg God's forgiveness," adds Bhat. "Then, it would have blown over instead of becoming such a big issue."

Tolpadi believes Siddaramaiah's arrogant stance led to his downfall.

"I am not ideologically against it (eating non-vegetarian food before going to a temple), but there are certain kinds of statements you don't expect from a chief minister," Tolpadi says.

"Many Hindus, irrespective of whether they were supporting the BJP or the Congress or any other party, would have been hurt by it. His body language too worked against him."

Bhat, who also refers to Siddaramaiah's hubristic body language, adds, "Nobody had to convince the people that Siddaramaiah's was an anti-Hindu government. They realised it themselves by following the news and hearing his statements."

IMAGE: A Theyyam performance. Photograph: Abhishek N Chinnappa/Reuters

Siddaramaiah's insistence at passing the anti-superstition bill too may have worked against him in coastal Karnataka.

The Karnataka Prevention And Eradication Of Inhuman Practices Black Magic Bill, was passed in 2017.

Though a watered down version of the original bill that was presented in 2016 -- the only cabinet member, other than Siddaramaiah, to support it was then law and parliamentary affairs minister T B Jayachandra -- it caused much consternation among the state's politicians, including those in the Congress.

Among other things, the revised bill bans 'madde snana' (a practice where people belonging to the lower castes rolled over the food that was left over after the Brahmins finished eating; this generally took place at a temple and the food was served to the Brahmins on plantain leaves. According to Wikipedia, the practice, which is said to be more than 500 years old, is believed to rid one of one's bad karma, skin ailments, etc).

Until its ban last year, this ritual was religiously practised at the influential Kukke Sri Subrahmanya Temple in Dakshina Kannada district.

The bill caused such misgivings among the state's politicians that Kumaraswamy's elder brother H D Revanna -- also a JD-S leader-- suggested the Congress consider postponing it until after the 2018 assembly election as it could harm the Congress' prospects at the polls.

The bill also targeted certain aspects of spirit worship, such as performances claiming possession of a higher power, gaavu (killing an animal by biting its neck) and animal sacrifice.

"Coastal Karnataka," explains Mondal, "is one of the cradles of the anti-Hindu tradition in India. Counter-Vedic culture has prevailed in the west coast of India, starting from the southern part of Goa all the way to Kerala since many, many centuries. Even today, you have the practice of spirit worship in the form of Theyyam and Bhuta Kolas and Nemas."

Bhuta Kola is not limited to Hindus, it is practised by some in the Muslim community as well.

Spirit worship, as practised here, has both secular and religious overtones.

Bhuta Kolas and Nemas simultaneously serve as courts of justices where real-life problems are presented and the solution given by the spirit accepted without argument.

The spirit, also called a Daieva, is thanked with presents/money for watching over the family, the land and/or the village.

"The bhuta worship has nothing to do with Hindu culture," says Mondal. It is animistic and "does not recognise any Hindu symbols. There is meat eating, there is drinking, there is animal sacrifice."

Post-Independence, he says, these communities were brought under the Hindu umbrella for administrative reasons but spirit worship continues to be a big part of the social fabric of coastal Karnataka, particularly in the rural areas.

At the same time, coastal Karnataka is a bastion of the Hindu faith, says Mondal. "It has the Ashtamathas of Udupi, the eight most important religious mathas in the country."

There is another reason, say Tolpadi, why coastal Karnataka walks to a different beat as compared to the rest of the state.

"Historically," explains Tolpadi, "coastal Karnataka is very different from the rest of the state in terms of social chemistry, class and caste composition and the historical foundation of the region; it is not actually part of Karnataka in the strict sense of the term. Administratively as well, for a long period, it was part of the Madras Presidency."

"The kind of modernisation, the trajectory of modernisation, industrialisation and urbanisation that has taken place in this region is very different from other parts of Karnataka. It is a very specific kind of capitalist development and this specific kind of capitalist development coexists with all kinds of communal ideologies, whether of the Hindu variety of the minority variety," Tolpadi adds.

Today, among others things, coastal Karnataka is known for its many educational institutions. In fact, the BJP MLA for Mangalore North, Dr Bharath Shetty, is the principal of the A J Institute of Dental Science in the city.

"The education here," says Tolpadi, "is professional and business-oriented. Courses like medicine, engineering, management and business are popular here. Coastal Karnataka does not have a tradition of very serious or critical humanistic education. Job-oriented, job-fetching education is popular here."

At the same time, he points out, "Education is mostly communally constituted here. Most dominant castes and religions have their own institutions and certain kinds of ideas are spread there. There are colleges for Billavas, for Bunts, for Christians, for Brahmins, for Muslims. Education too is being used to purvey communalism."

The kind of education, this kind of literacy, says Mondal, means that you have a voter who "wants to have a handle on power. They take strategic decisions. If you can't form the government in Bengaluru, they will not support you. This time, it looked like the BJP was in touching distance of power..."

Also, say both, Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.

IMAGE: Policemen walk past a burning vehicle in Mangalore after Hindus and Muslims clashed over the slaughter of cows; the clash resulted in two dead and dozens wounded. Photograph: Reuters

"Coastal Karnataka is very regressive," says Mondal. "Unlike north and south Karnataka, the people here are not recent converts to Hindutva; they are second or third generation Hindutva supporters. I would even go as far as to say, what Nagpur is to the Dalits, coastal Karnataka is to Hindutva supporters. At the same time, the people here -- across communities -- are business-minded and don't want their bottomline affected."

"Over the five decades," explains Tolpadi, who used to be part of the Sangh Parivar at one time, "there has been a systematic consolidation of communalism in this place. It began with the anti-Emergency movement led by the Sangh Parivar in the 1970s. It allowed them to get into communities, the student community in particular."

"As a result," he adds, "the AVBP became very strong in the 1980s and the 1990s. It also explains the tremendous expansion of Sangh shakhas during this period. Slowly, the communal perspective began to spread among the people."

Over time, the Sangh Parivar became part of people's lives though "civil society activities" like the "bhajana mandalas and youth clubs" and now is part of the social fabric of the area.

Mondal is more blunt in his view.

"In coastal Karnataka today, everybody has had to bow to the will of the RSS. Even the Congress," he says.

"When the Congress swept the state in the last election, it was the RSS way of teaching the BJP a lesson. The coastal Karnataka belt wanted hardcore Hindutva which Yeddyurappa could not provide," Mondal adds.

Siddaramaiah's AHINDA platform could have been a powerful counter to Hindutva, says Mondal. "The Congress did not support it and thus destroyed its potency."

AHINDA is Siddaramaiah's attempt to bring together the minorities (Alpasankhyataru), the backward castes (Hindulidavaru) and the Dalits (Dalitaru) as a powerful third alternative to the two castes that dominate Karnataka's political state today -- the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats.

He also granted the Lingayats' long-standing demand minority status, but the move backfired, with the Veerashaivas objecting to the government's decision to grant this status only to those who followed the teachings of the 12th century philosopher, Basavanna.

Though the Lingayat community does not dominate coastal Karnataka, this was seen as yet another anti-Hindu move by a government that was perceived as pro-Muslim.

Umanantha Kotian, who opened the BJP's account in Moodabidri, says, "The people of coastal Karnataka are not fools. They are fed up with the utter appeasement of the minorities by the Siddaramaiah government."

What also helped the BJP in coastal Karnataka is that there has a visible spurt in wealth among the three major communities in coastal Karnataka -- Hindus, Muslims and Catholics.

"The money started coming in," says Mondal, "because people went abroad to earn it. As a result, the prevention of economic growth of a people, which is one of the pillars of communalism, crumbled, especially as far as the Muslims are concerned.

"One thing I've noticed is among the Muslims here, much like the Africans, is that they use a lot of bling. And they use the money they have earned from the Gulf to build big, brightly coloured houses. That is a way of asserting that I may not be able to do business here -- for example, Muslims find it difficult to do business in Mangalore while Catholics do very well -- but I am still very much here," explains Mondal.

This visibility has been used fan communal insecurity.

"It was the Congress," says Mondal, "that created the ground that virulent Hindutva needed to flourish. For the longest time, it was enough for the Hindu voter here that the Congress was a Hindu party and supported Hindutva," Mondal says.

"Then the Congress started turning secular due to national pressures. It was the demolition of the Babri Masjid that forced the Congress to take a stand and state that they were not anti-Muslim."

"We support Hindus, there is no question about that," says BJP MLA Dr Shetty, "but that does not mean we are not anti-Muslim or anti-Christian. The real meaning of secularism is to be fair, isn't it?"

"But when you take one side and, most of the time, Hindus are at the receiving end, then obviously, we will have to come to their support," adds Dr Shetty. "It does not mean we are anti-Hindu or anti-Muslim or anti-Christian; that's a wrong perception that has been built up the Congress and its bandwagon."

The tinderbox that is coastal Karnataka is the result, says Tolpadi, "of greedy political parties, ideological interventions, historical development and the manner in which community and caste identities are constituted and constructed."

Communal cleavages, he adds, have always existed in coastal Karnataka.

"But they were not very acute. Coastal Karnataka has always been a deeply divided society," Tolpadi points out.

"Communal problems are going to continue, communal consolidation is going to take place, communal mobilisation will be continued as part of the political process unless some very serious ideological intervention takes place. But I don't see where it will come from because there are no symptoms of any kind of social movement emerging from this place."
New hope for cancer patients: nano surgery

From:Shine | 2018-05-25 01:29

The worlds first surgery using NanoGun technology  jointly developed by Chinese and French scientists  was performed on a lung cancer patient in Shanghai yesterday.

The new minimally invasive treatment, which can be used on patients deemed no longer healthy and strong enough for chemotherapy, injects the radioactive element rhenium-188 covered with nano-particles, including nitroimidazole  an organic matter.

While engulfing the nitroimidazole, the cancer cells also take in the rhenium, which eventually kills the tumor.

The patient, 71, was in the terminal stage of lung cancer and was too ill for further chemotherapy.

It usually takes three days for the rhenium to kill the cancer cells, said Gao Yong, the doctor in charge of the operation at Shanghai East Hospital. There wont be any side effects (from the rhenium) as the element will lose its radioactivity after three days.

NanoGun is a Shanghai-based technology developed from scratch. It won Chinas top innovation award in 2016.

Yang Guanghua, one of the scientists who helped develop the technology, said that although rhenium had long been ideal to treat cancer, there had been no ideal medium for delivery. It often diffused throughout the body and was hard to be absorbed by the irregular shaped cancer cells.

It took Yang and his colleges almost 10 years to find the right coating material, nitroimidazole, which matches perfectly with rhenium to make sure it directly reaches the nidus, or nest, of the cancer.

Diffusion of the element (rhenium) hindered the effectiveness of the treatment in the past, said Dr. Sadeg Nouredine, one of the French scientists working with Yang.

The surgery, approved by the hospitals ethics committee as part of the treatments clinical trial, was free.

We are working on the next stage of the technology in the lab, said Yang. So that it can hit multiple niduses simultaneously.

If the trial succeeds the treatment will be available by 2020, by which time Shanghai will have built a pharmaceutical factory and hospital in Songjiang District to provide rhenium.

Yuan Jing / Ti Gong

French scientists Hafid Belhadj-Tahar (left) and SadegNouredine preparing for surgery at the East Hospital in Pudong on Thursday.
The State Council recently released a circular on the fourth wave of promoting the experiences of 11 pilot Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in all regions, covering a wide range of sectors.

According to the circular, further opening-up will be in place in the services industry, highlighting the wider scale in establishing partnership-type law firms jointly owned by partners from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao, and more opening-up moves in international shipping services, management, and agencies, as well as international maritime cargo handling services, container yards, and storage yard businesses.

The investment management sector is also a field where the pilot FTZs have attained much success, such as the integrated approval and completion management of three shipping credentials, namely, the supervision, registration, and fishing licenses, the innovative international shipping registration system, and the combined filing management for foreign trade proprietors and enterprises established in the regions of origin.

The circular also referred to experience obtained in the sphere of trade facilitation, featuring the trans-departmental one-time joint inspection, an innovative mode of streamlining railway transportation manifests, and facilitation measures for inspection and quarantine investigation of empty inbound shipping containers.

Additionally, the 11 pilot FTZs set benchmarks for the rest of China in the field of regulatory measures taken during and after the process of conducting business, covering the collective sharing mechanism of information regarding enterprises delivery, mobile border control services, innovative management of inland-waterway ships arrivals and departures at ports, and the all-around paperless online customs registration for enterprises and access to electronic ports.

The circular tasked a slew of departments under the State Council, including the Supreme Peoples Court, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Transport, and the General Administration of Customs, with multifaceted assignments to promote the pilot FTZs experience.
Fort Lauderdale, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/25/2018 --Quality Air Conditioning is a prominent firm that offers services of air conditioning repair, replacement, and maintenance. This company was established in the year of 1971, and it majorly operates in the South Florida region, as well as in South Palm Beach County and Broward. By offering premium services of AC repair in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach Florida, Quality Air Conditioning aims at ensuring that their clients reside in a comfortable indoor environment. This company has nearly five decades of experience in providing unparalleled service to its clients; even now it continues to offer consistently high-quality products and service at reasonable prices.



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Major Nepali and English broadsheets published from Kathmandu on Friday published today have given priority to various political, economic and sociocultural issues on their front pages. Most newspapers have given priority to the absence of lawmakers during discussions on the governments annual policy and programme at both houses of the Federal Parliament.

Likewise, the scrapping of liaison offices of 11 universities has also grabbed significant attention of the editors and reporters in the newspapers today.

Important

Empty seats during annual policy and programme discussions

At the time when government is discussing the annual policy and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year in Parliament, most of the parliamentarians remain absent during the meetings.

The lead story of Naya Patrika reads as many as 222 lawmakers were present on Thursday as per the attendance sheet. However, only 55 lawmakers attend the annual policy and programme. Even the main opposition partys lawmakers register their name as attendees and leave the hall soon after the attendance.

The present lawmakers also leave the hall after their speech. On the other hand, the lawmakers have been receiving Rs 2,000 as allowance for attending the House session. They however, have been getting the amount without attending the parliament session, reports Nepal Samacharpatra.

Meanwhile, the ruling party and main opposition are debating the prepared annual policy and programme. The ruling party has been defending the prepared policies whereas the opposition party has said that the policy and programme looks like a five-year plan, according to Rajdhani.

11 liaison offices of Universities scrapped

The government has decided to shut the contact offices of eight universities in Kathmandu Valley by July 16. Of the 11 universities in the country, a Cabinet meeting held on Thursday decided to scrap the liaison offices of eight universities headquartered outside the valley, according to Republica.

Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel decided to scrap the offices as they were not operating effectively from the Kathmandu Valley. No act on this regard has been made. The offices were scrapped to make ease the work of the universities and make it cost-effective, according to Nagarik.

Ignored

NCP finalises responsibilities of officials

The newly unified Nepal Communist Party has finalised roles and responsibilities of two key officials of its nine-member SecretariatGeneral Secretary and Spokesperson, Naya Patrika reports, adding the General Secretary has five major rights and responsibilities whereas the Spokesperson has been given two tasks.

The party is preparing to finalise roles and responsibilities of its 441 central members from the next Central Committee meeting.

Petition seeks Dhungels release stayed

Nagarik and Republica report that the Supreme Court has received a writ against the government preparation to release murder convict Maoist leader Bal Krishna Dhungel through a presidential pardon on the occasion of Republic Day.

The writ filed by senior Dinesh Tripathi has named Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Department of Prison Management as defendants. Meanwhile, a preliminary heading on the writ has been scheduled for Friday, according to Nagarik.

19 climbers return from Everest after Oxygen betrayal

Annapurna Post anchor story for the day reports that as many as 19 climbers aspiring to reach the peak of the world have returned emptyhanded after the oxygen cylinders they were carrying did not work when they were approaching the Everest peak.

Total 10 American climbers and nine Sherpa guides were on the mission to conquer the highest mountain of the world on May 20, but were forced to return, giving up their dream, after owing to the risk, according to the report.

Traffic congestion within Singhadarbar

Nepal Police has decided to mobilise its personnel to manage traffic movement inside Singhadarbar, the countrys central administrative complex, after officials and visitors have complained of traffic congestion there too, according to Nepal Samacharpatra lead story.

The report informs that traffic police have been mobilised in two shifts: from 8 to 11 in the morning and from 11 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon.

Interesting

EIA report for Nijgadh airport approved

Gorkhapatra and The Kathmandu Post report that the government has approved the environmental impact analysis report prepared for the construction of an international airport in Nijgadh of Bara, clearing the deck for the long-awaited ambitious project.

The Ministry of Forest and Environment approved the report, and now preparations will be made to cut down trees and relocate affected settlements, according to Gorkhapatra report.
Home  Just In  Nepali chef convicted of murder in Australia

Sydney, May 25

A Nepali national has been convicted in a murder case in Australia.

Hari Prasad Dhakal (51), who has been working as a chef at Ballarat Curry Restaurant in Victoria, was accused of stabbing one Abdullah Siddiqui on October 25, 2016, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Dhakals lawyer, Thio Alexzander, told the paper that the incident was not pre-planned and happened for self-defence. On the incident night, Siddiqui had traied to attack Dhakal from behind and the incident happened when he used the weapon for self defence.

After the incident, Dhakal wrapped the knife with a cloth piece and reached a local police station to surrender.

Dhakal had been going through too many frustrating situations. His application for visa renewal was also rejected by the government, added Alexzander.

The prosecution, however, has accused Dhakal of killing Siddiqui after the latter had shouted at the chef using vulgar words in an intoxicate state.

Dhakal too has said that the whole incident was not his fault and he had no intension of killing Siddiqui.

He has been sentenced jail term from June 1 and will be sent to Nepal after completing the punishment.
Kathmandu, May 25

Nepals incumbent government led by Nepal Communist Party Chairman KP Sharma Oli has completed its first 100 days on Friday. Appointed the Prime Minister with the support of then CPN-Maoist Centre on February 15, the Cabinet later garnered support from Madhesh-centric political parties as well in the Federal Parliament.

The government now has the support of two-thirds majority for the first time since BP Koiralas government in late 1950s.

Despite the unprecedented command over majority, the governments performance is not extraordinary, even in its honeymoon period. Neither are they disappointing. The performance, in overall, is average.

Here are few things that can be counted as major achievements of the government:

1.

Relationship with neighbours

During his official visit to India, Oli strongly presented his points in front of his India counterpart about development projects for the welfare of Nepal. India has already considered removal of Indias field office in Biratnagar. Oli had clarified Modi that the countrys internal affairs would not the topic of discussion during bilateral meetings.

Meanwhile, Modi also paid a visit to Nepal.

2.

Crackdown on syndicates

The Oli-led government decided to end the monopoly of transport syndicates by promoting free competition in the sector. The government stopped the registration and renewal of the transport committees.

Meanwhile, crackdowns have begun against various groups collecting money from foreign employment aspirants under different headings.

3.

Action against non-performing contractors

The government decided to take strict action against the contractors who delay and fail to complete scheduled projects on the scheduled time. Various projects in Nepal have been in limbo as the contractors fail to work efficiently.

4.

Restriction on official junkets

The Oli-led government has prohibited unnecessary visits of government officials to foreign countries in the governments cost. The government has also cut off unnecessary allowances that was provided to government employees for attending meetings.

5.

Good governance

Prime Minister Oli has hinted at stopping irregularities and corruption at the policy-making level. Various development projects have been moving ahead in good speed, making the citizens hopeful about a prosperous Nepal

After the unification of two left parties into the Nepal Communist Party, the Oli government needs not get frightened with the oppositions attempt to topple the government. In his talks, the Prime Minister has already proved himself a dreamer. Now, he has got enough time to act. So, will he really walk the talk? Perhaps, till will tell you the answer.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Last week, the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) Annual General Meeting was held in Moscow with the conference organized within the framework of it on the issues related to the synthetic diamonds and the need to set distinction between the markets of mined rough diamonds and synthetic stones. The RJC comprises about 1,000 companies from various segments of the diamond market, including ALROSA, De Beers, Dominion Diamond Corp., Rio Tinto, and Lucara Diamond Corp.

The event was opened with the presentations made by Sergey Ivanov, CEO of ALROSA, Alexey Moiseyev, Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia who supervises the industry, and Hilde Hardeman, the Chair of the Kimberley Process (KP).

The CEO of ALROSA that joined the RJC two years ago emphasized the importance of the business responsibility and the social and ecological issues and once again stressed the ALROSAs commitment to promoting responsible business practices in the industry and its readiness to take the lead in resolving industry-wide problems.

We share the RJC values and are ready to help the organization in its further development, ALROSAs CEO said.

As was told earlier, ALROSA today is the only Russian companymember of the RJC. This year, Peter Karakchiev, Head of the International Cooperation Department of ALROSA and also a member of the Board of Directors of the World Diamond Council (WDC), was elected as Vice Chairman of RJC.

Alexey Moiseyev, Deputy Minister of Finance, noted in his presentation that holding the RJC meeting in Russia witnesses the important role of the country in the global diamond market and its wish that all the market players would do their business honestly, responsibly, observe the legislation, implement social programmes and provide decent working conditions, would be environment friendly and  which is most important  would ensure that all the products they sell have a guaranteed provenance.

Hilde Hardeman told that the process of restructuring and revising the KP procedures was still going on. She noted that the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme kept on working on weeding out the conflict diamonds from the global supply chain, that mining of precious stones and metals should bring benefits to the producers and not to the militant groups. She also stressed the importance of countering the illegal penetration of the synthetics into the market.

The topic of the conference were synthetic diamonds, the need to detect them, differentiation of the natural diamonds and synthetic markets. Andrew Bone of RJC was a moderator, and the main participants were the newly elected RJC vice-president Peter Karakchiev (ALROSA), Jean-Marc Lieberherr (DPA), Tom Moses (GIA), Didier Backaert (Bonas&Co., Ltd.), and Thierry Silber (Diamaz International and Madestones).

The common opinion was expressed that the natural and synthetic diamonds would exist on the market and both of them would have their niche and customers, but there should be a border between them, the tools should be used to clearly define and separate them. As Tom Moses of GIA has justly noted, some are afraid of the term synthetic itself, but there are also some other terms approved by the USA Federal Trade Commission, including simulants (lab-grown diamonds, fianites (cubic zirconia)), etc.

Asked by Andrew Bone about the volume of the synthetic diamonds produced, Didier Backaert of Bonas&Co., Ltd. answered that the volume was rather big: from 2 mn carats of good quality, flawless, to the total of 4.4 mn carats annually. These diamonds are made in China (using HPHT) and India (where several facilities are put into operation and the production grows rapidly), in Singapore, the USA (rather stable production), and also in Russia (rather good quality stones produced by HPHT).

Thierry Silber emphasized the advantages of the synthetic diamonds that are not a substitute for the natural diamonds but are produced for younger consumers, and the synthetic diamonds have vivid, intensive colors and are cheaper.

Jean-Marc Lieberherr stressed that a consumer should have a choice and he or she should know for sure what exactly he or she is buying. This is necessary so that to maintain the consumer trust  nobody is interested in losing it.

The participants in the conference agreed that it is necessary to indicate the polished diamonds origin  it is mandatory by the legislation in France only (and now in Russia, too), in other countries there is no such a requirement.

An important subject was touched upon: the testing equipment, how soon and how often will it be introduced in the industry; its accuracy and value (US$4,000  5,000 for a good quality device); training the personnel to operate the equipment and the cost of training; testing the samples  is a complicated project important for the industry, the results of which will be published in December this year.

According to Thierry Silber, there exist associations of the synthetic diamond producers and the cooperation with them  that is lacking due to no confidence in each other - is of importance. Other participants in the conference agreed with him: the synthetic diamonds are not competitors to the natural diamonds and the cooperation is required to make sure that we will not only maintain the market share but also increase it. Tom Moses is sure that antagonism will hurt everyone - that is why it is better to talk about the advantages both products have and explain the difference between them to the consumer. The synthetics also have their valuable features: they are a product of high technologies created by a man. According to Lieberherr, people look at the synthetic diamonds from the wrong angle, they are the product made by other industry, they are in different leagues and have a different consumer.

As for large producers of the synthetic diamonds, they use seven different terms to designate their types; each producer tries to confuse the consumer that is why it is necessary to meet and work out general definitions to clearly differentiate between the diamonds: lab-grown, synthetic, cultivated and so on.

Peter Karakchiev (ALROSA) informed about the work in the Kimberly process on the promotion of the initiative for creating the harmonized system for the description and coding of the synthetic and natural diamonds using a six-digit unified code at the level of the world customs organization instead of a seven-digit one. this is a very critical area of activity, but the problem is that the revision of the customs codes in all the customs organizations will be completed by 2022 only. At present, in all the EC countries, there exist their own statutory regulations in this respect. The introduction of two different customs codes would make the tasks significantly easier. On the US market, the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) has already started the work to promote the interests of the natural diamonds, revise the provisions for their compliance with the standards by the Federal Trade Commission. And within the framework of the interaction with the top diamond manufacturers and cutters in India and China, the work will be done on establishing the national legal regulations in the sense of regulatory requirements and standards.

Hilde Hardeman informed about the results of her recent visit to India and that the equipment for the detection of the stones could be installed in any trade location in Mumbai, and each customer for US$1.5 could check the authenticity of the stone being sold (up to 1.5 carat). In India, the nuclear physics specialists were involved for the creation of the powerful and inexpensive equipment designed for the detection of stones.

The issue was touched upon whether the synthetic diamond industry can organize itself and unite to form associations to ensure transparency of its products. A consumer should know what he or she gets - a new environment-friendly product less expensive and more affordable - and he or she can make a choice. There are many lower-quality natural diamonds on the market, so maybe, it is better for someone to buy a synthetic diamond that will look more beautiful.

Peter Karakchiev emphasized that there should be a level playing field. The only problem is the fraud facing every sphere of business. Both products can and will coexist peacefully, the synthetic diamonds will find their niche on the market. However, such a company like ALROSA, for example, should support the people in the area where the company is based, take care of the nature, and so on  it is important for the company not to lose its consumers.

Thierry Silber has made an accent again on the need to ensure the detection of synthetic diamonds and maximum transparency on the market and responsible business practices. He introduced his company, Diamaz Int.&Madestones, as an ideal example of coexistence of both products. It has been engaged in polished diamonds since 1997, and several years ago, it has made a special brand of synthetic diamonds. The consolidation of the ethical methods and principles of transparency is important. And it is the consumer who will have the final say.

After the conference, a promotional video about the new ALROSA Diamond Inspector device was presented to the participants in the conference. It is a small-size, portable and convenient piece of equipment to be used at small-scale enterprises as well. It was jointly developed by the ALROSAs and TISNUMs specialists to identify stones in large quantities. It can help a buyer to check the genuineness of the gem he or she is purchasing.

Galina Semyonova, Rough&Polished
Image credit: Mountain Province

Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. announced the results of its recently completed fourth diamond tender sale of 2018.Total proceeds from the sale were US$28.3 million, the highest total for any tender result to date. Customer participation was healthy with 191 companies attending the tender and an average of 12.4 bids received per lot.Said Reid Mackie, the Companys vice president diamond marketing, Our fourth sale results reflect the overall positive sentiment in the rough diamond market, driven by the strong fundamentals of stable rough supply and positive news from the major retail markets. Larger size gem categories again attracted high interest levels from customers, delivering record prices for some on a per carat basis. Prices for the remaining categories of goods generally remained stable, with a marginal market price increase for these goods over our third sale results.Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue JV, located in Canada's Northwest Territories.
Mugabe a no show at parly diamond probe

25 may 2018 News

Zimbabwe former president Robert Mugabe, who was expected to give oral evidence about Marange diamond revenue pillaged during his rule, was not present as the committee met to start the hearing on Wednesday morning.

The parliamentary committee on mines chairperson Temba Mliswa was quoted by New Zimbabwe.com as saying that summoning Mugabe to attend the hearing at 9am was a bit too early for a 94-year old.

We have resolved to write to former president Cde RG Mugabe to appear before us on Monday at 2pm, he said.

The committee is cognisant of the fact that 9am was a bit too early to ask the former president to be herewe dont expect not to get any cooperation from him. Parliament has the power to summon anyone and I dont think we would want to do that.

Mugabe claimed in 2016 that the country got only $2 billion from about $15 billion realised from the sale of diamonds since mining began in Marange in 2006.

Reuters cited an unnamed parliament official close to the issue as saying earlier this week that it was unlikely Mugabe would appear before the committee because this was opposed by some influential ruling ZANU-PF politicians.

They are saying they do not want their old man to be embarrassed especially by the opposition members of parliament. It will not happen, the official was quoted as saying.

The interviews of former ministers, police and intelligence chiefs by the same committee were open to the public.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




French stocks were modestly higher on Friday as investors took trade concerns and higher Italian bond yields in their stride.

North Korea said it is open to talks with the U.S. despite Trump's cancellation of the summit, helping support underlying sentiment.

The benchmark CAC 40 was up 30 points or 0.53 percent at 5,578 in opening deals after declining 0.3 percent on Thursday. The euro slipped and was on track for its sixth consecutive week of losses.

Wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard advanced 1.3 percent after it announced a deal to produce and distribute whisky in Myanmar.

Aeroports De Paris gained 1 percent on securing a contract for the planned expansion of Sharjah International Airport.

Cosmetics group L'Oreal rose 0.8 percent. The company said it has finalized the acquisition of Pulp Riot, a professional haircolor brand launched by David and Alexis Thurston in the United States in June, 2016.

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Market Analysis
The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into whether traders are manipulating the price of bitcoin and other digital currencies, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The agency is said to be working with Commodity Futures Trading Commission or CFTC, a financial regulator that oversees crypto futures.

The DoJ investigation checks on illegal practices that can influence prices, including spoofing, or flooding the market with fake orders to trick other traders into buying or selling.

Following the news, bitcoin extended its declines. According to coinmarketcap, bitcoin is valued at $7,433 on Friday, down 2.4 percent over a 24-hour period and down 8 percent over seven days, with a market cap of $126.76 billion. Bitcoin is down more than 20 percent since a peak on May 4.

Bitcoin had reached near $20,000 a coin last year after the trading in bitcoin futures started, and the price was above $13,000 in the beginning of this year. Despite the current weakness, the digital currency is still significantly higher than its value of 1,000 a coin early last year.

With the significant variation in price, regulators are concerned that people are buying cryptocurrencies without knowing the risks.

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a number of investigations into initial coin offerings for fear of many of them being scams.

Regulators around the world are taking strict stands against cryptocurrencies amid concerns over excessive speculation, money laundering and tax evasion, which led to increased volatility in global for bitcoin, and other digital tokens since November last year. China has banned cryptocurrency exchanges, while countries including Japan is taking steps to regulate them.

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Business News
Raytheon Co (RTN) announced Friday that the U.S. Army has awarded the company a $395.8 million contract for production of Romania's Patriot Air and Missile Defense System.

The contract calls for Raytheon to build Romania's first brand-new Patriot fire unit.

Raytheon has already ordered thousands of critical long-lead items from hundreds of suppliers, and begun production of Critical electronic components, Machined parts, and Circuit card assemblies and cables.

The company noted that Patriot is the backbone of NATO and Europe's defense against ballistic and cruise missiles, advanced aircraft and drones. The US, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and Spain currently have Patriot.

Tom Laliberty of Raytheon said, "We are using what we have learned in building 220 fire units and to meet Romania's Patriot fielding schedule."

In November, Romania signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for Patriot, making it the 6th NATO member state to procure Patriot. On March 28, Poland signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for Patriot.

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Business News
Gold futures were slightly lower Friday, trimming strong gains from earlier in the week.

Markets have been relatively calm despite the sabre-rattling by President Donald Trump toward North Korea.

Trump cancelled their highly-touted summit for June and warned that the U.S. has a massive nuclear arsenal. The response from Pyongyang had been somewhat subdued thus far, preventing gold from rallying into a third session.

June gold was down $2 at $1308 an ounce as traders weighed U.S. durable goods data.

The Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing a bigger than expected decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of April.

Durable goods orders slumped by 1.7 percent in April after spiking by an upwardly revised 2.7 percent in March.

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Market Analysis
The High Court of Zimbabwe has reversed and set aside the ban enforced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on all banks and financial institutions in the African nation from transacting in Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.

The ban, issued by RBZ through a circular dated May 15, was reportedly reversed after representatives from the RBZ failed to show up at the trial on a case filed by local digital asset exchange Golix in the High Court of Zimbabwe.

Golix filed an urgent chamber application in the High Court stating that only the country's parliament can issue such a financial ban, with the RBZ having no jurisdiction in enforcing such bans. Golix's legal team quoted Section 68 of the country's constitution to make their point.

According to reports by several local news outlets and social media, the provisional order by the High Court Judge stated, "The ban issued by the Respondents through letter dated 15 May 2018 against Applicant directing it to cease operations, shut down its virtual currency exchange and ordering the closure of its bank account with its bankers be and is hereby reversed and set aside."

The ban was already starting to affect the operations of major cryptocurrency exchanges facilitating the trade of virtual currencies in Zimbabwe such as Bitfinance (Pvt.) Ltd. (Golix) and Styx24.

Golix runs an online cryptocurrency exchange as a well as the country's first Bitcoin ATM dealing with bitcoin and the U.S. dollar in central Harare. Zimbabwe is a country that adopted the U.S. dollar as its official currency way back in 2009.

Even though the circular issued for the ban gave 60 days, the country's apex bank wrote to Golix last week, ordering it to cease all virtual currency exchange operations. The country's banks also have reportedly closed the accounts held by Golix.

It was also ordered to take all the necessary steps to close the cryptocurrency accounts or "wallets" of customers and to make good any funds currently held on behalf of customers.

Golix's customer support team then issued a statement saying, "Please note that we have temporarily taken down the exchange's Orderbook. Any developments related to this matter will be frequently updated. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused."

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Business News
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has warned eight cryptocurrency exchanges in Singapore to obtain it's authorization before allowing trading in digital tokens that are securities or futures.

The exchanges have been urged to immediately cease the trading of such digital tokens until they have been authorized as an approved exchange or recognized market operator by MAS.

Further, MAS has warned an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) issuer to stop offering its digital tokens to investors in Singapore as it broke rules governing securities and futures contracts. It has also seen to it that the issuer has returned all funds received from Singapore-based investors.

The eight digital token exchanges and the ICO issuer were not identified by the financial regulator.

MAS is Singapore's central bank and financial regulatory authority. It administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general, as well as currency issuance.

Lee Boon Ngiap, Assistant Managing Director (Capital Markets) of MAS, said, "We do not see a need to restrict them if they are bona fide businesses. But if any digital token exchange, issuer or intermediary breaches our securities laws, MAS will take firm action."

MAS said the ICO issuer has contravened the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) by issuing tokens that represented equity ownership in a company. These types of tokens are considered as securities under the SFA and are to be offered only with a MAS-registered prospectus.

ICO issuers generally raise funds by offering their digital tokens against payments in well-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether or even fiat currencies.

The MAS stated that the ICO issuer has ceased the offer and has taken remedial actions to comply with the regulations of MAS.

"The public should be aware that there is no regulatory safeguard if they choose to trade on unregulated digital token exchanges or invest in digital tokens that fall outside the remit of MAS' rules," Ngiap added.

MAS has thus far chosen not to regulate cryptocurrencies directly. The de-facto central bank is also considering the appropriate regulatory responses, while seeking to ensure that we do not stifle innovation.

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Business News
Oscar-winning producer Harvey Weinstein has been charged with rape and several other counts of sexual abuse involving two women after he surrendered to New York police Friday.

Weinstein, 66, "was arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women," the New York Police Department said in a statement. He was escorted out of the police station in lower Manhattan in handcuffs.

Some celebrities, who have accused Weinstein of sexually harassing them, have welcomed the charges.

"Twenty years ago, I swore that I would right this wrong. Today we are one step closer to justice," said actress Rose McGowan. Italian actress Asia Argento reacted to the news in a one-word tweet saying "Boom."

The biggest sex scandal that rocked Hollywood was exposed by New York Times in October 2017. It published a report citing allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein stretching over nearly three decades against women in the film industry, his female assistants and employees, resulting in at least eight private settlements.

Several women accused Weinstein of raping them, while sexual misconduct allegations emerged from Hollywood A-listers such as Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Uma Thurman, Rosanna Arquette, Cara Delevingne and Gwyneth Paltrow, all who have worked with him.

The married father-of-five acknowledged mistakes he has made, but claimed that some of the sexual encounters were consensual, and denied some of the accusations as "patently false."

The Weinstein Company (TWC) that Weinstein co-founded fired him as its chairman following the allegations.

Weinsten's wife Georgina Chapman left him as allegations popped up.

He was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and BAFTA, while Amazon cut ties with TWC over two projects.

NYPD and London Police have been investigating some of the claims against the movie mogul, who has been at a rehabilitation center in Arizona.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) will resume non-stop flights between the U.S. and India next year, almost a decade after it exited the Indian market.

The airline said Thursday that its decision to resume non-stop flights from the U.S. to Mumbai, India follows agreements between the U.S. and the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to address the issue of government subsidies provided to state-owned carriers in those nations.

Delta was forced to exit the Indian market in 2009 after three subsidized state-owned Middle Eastern carriers - Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline - made its service economically unviable.

"It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the U.S. as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally. We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible," Delta's CEO Ed Bastian said.

Delta will now become the second U.S.-based airline after United Airlines to fly non-stop to India from the U.S.

The service requires government approval and Delta will announce full schedule details later this year.

Delta also plans to expand its existing code-sharing relationship with Indian partner Jet Airways to carry passengers to other destinations within India, subject to government approvals.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
The U.S. military continues its "maximum pressure campaign" in regard to North Korea, and U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula are "ready to fight tonight," the Pentagon says.

Pentagon's chief spokesperson Dana W. White said Thursday that Defense Secretary James N. Mattis spoke with President Donald Trump ahead of

the cancellation of the planned June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

U.S. forces on the peninsula maintain their usual high state of vigilance, White and the director of the Joint Staff, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., told reporters in a news briefing.

"In terms of we are ready to fight tonight -- that's always been the case," White said. "Our position has always been to support our diplomatic-led effort."

North Korea has proven to be unpredictable in the past, McKenzie said. U.S. forces are ready to respond quickly to anything that could happen, he added. He described the stance as the "normal state of vigilance" of the United States.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Member of Congress have reportedly been told President Donald Trump's administration has reached an agreement to put Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. back in .

Reports from the New York Times and Reuters said the deal brokered by the Commerce Department would require ZTE to pay a substantial fine, place American compliance officers at the firm and change its current management team.

In return, the Commerce Department would lift the denial order banning ZTE from buying American products, which has crippled the company.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the denial order last month, claiming ZTE made false statements about employee disciplinary actions related to the illegal shipping of telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea.

In a post on Twitter, Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., indicated the administration has a "deal in mind" and called it a great deal for ZTE and China.

"China crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us," Rubio tweeted. "Many hoped this time would be different. Now congress will need to act."

Other lawmakers have also been critical of a potential agreement to save ZTE, noting intelligence agencies have warned the company's and phones pose a major cybersecurity threat.

The New York Times noted the potential agreement is seen as part of an effort to win trade concessions from China, including purchases of agriculture and energy products.

Trump has highlighted the fact that ZTE buys a tremendous amount of equipment from American companies and claimed an agreement to revive the company would be just a small component of an overall trade deal with China.

(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

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Political News
Canadian stocks edged lower for a fourth straight session Friday, although losses were again relatively small.

Despite a significant drop in the price of oil, the TSX Composite Index fell only 37 points to 16,075.

Stocks have fallen since an 11-day win streak was broken Tuesday.

Crude oil futures continued to tumble Friday amid widespread reports that OPEC will start pumping oil at a faster pace.



Meanwhile, the U.S. weekly active oil-rig count wasup 15 at 859, according to Baker Hughes.

With the spigots turning on everywhere, WTI light sweet oil was plunged $2.83, or 4%, to settle at $67.88/bbl. That's the lowest since May 1.

CP Rail (CP.TO) workers rejected an offer that might have averted a strike.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. plunged after a plan from First Quantum Minerals Ltd. to finance the its Pebble mining project in Alaska was scuttled.

Banks were steady after a trio of strong earnings reports from the banking sector, as TD Bank, RBC and CIBC all beat expectations.

Bell Media is cutting a number of jobs in Toronto after deciding not to renew Daily Planet and Innerspace.

Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline may proceed after a BC court dismisses environmental certificate challenges.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Well, we will only have to wait 24 hours to see how the meet pans out!

For Justin Lagat, the Pre Classic is one fantastic middle distance race after another. Viewing the meet from Kenya, Justin provides for RunBlogRun readers a view from Kenya of the Pre Classic.

The Nike Prefontaine Classic will be the focus of many track fans this weekend, along with state high school meets and the Regional NCAA meetings.

Amazing lineups in the Pre Classic diamond league distance events this weekend

Two days of exciting track and field actions begin tomorrow in Eugene, Oregon. Two events of greatest interest that will happen on Friday the 25th will be the men's 800m and the 2 mile races. On Saturday, the 26th, there will be the women's 800m, 1500m and 5,000m. There will also be the men's 3,000m steeplechase and the Bowerman mile.

Wycliffe Kinyamal will finally get to meet Emmanuel Korir. Both have each won a diamond league race this season and it should be interesting to see who between them will maintain the winning streak when they meet in the men's 800m. Korir won the Doha diamond league race while Kinyamal won the Shanghai race.

The men's 2 mile race brings together the world's top 5000m runners. With the absence of Joshua Cheptegei, who relegated Mohammed Ahmed to the silver medal position in both the men's 10,000m and 5,000m races at the Gold Coast Games, could this be Ahmed's chance to finally win a high profile race? However, it won't be an easy task for anyone here since the field is very loaded with the presence of Selemon Barega, Edward Cheserek, Muktar Edris, Paul Chelimo and Paul Tanui, among others.

Genzebe Dibaba, Hellen Obiri, Magaret Chelimo, Lilian Kasait and Alica Aprot are some of the women who will light up the 5000m race. Dibaba has an amazing personal best time of 14:15.41, but Obiri is the reigning world champion and a strong fighter. The two should make an interesting race to watch.

After winning the 3000m steeplechase race at the Shanghai diamond league, Beatrice Chepkoech will be back again in her new distance; the 1500m race at the Prefontaine Classic event. She will be facing three other women with personal best times under 4 minutes in the distance: Laura Muir with 3:55.22, Jenny Simpson with 3:57.22, Dawit Seyaum with 3:58.09, and Winny Chebet with 3:59.16.

The combination of Soufiane El Bakkali, Conseslus Kipruto and Evan Jager in the men's 3000m steeplechase race will make this arguably the most competitive event in the meeting. With the home ground support, will Jager manage to beat such a strong competition to win here? Will Kipruto let down the Kenyan fans by allowing another nationality to win the nation's special event?

The best is always saved for the last and the men's Bowerman mile will be the last event of the meeting. Elijah Manangoi is seen by many as the pre-race favorite. The home crowd will be rooting for Mathew Centrowitz and there will be other strong contenders here too that will include Timothy Cheruiyot and Tefera Samuel.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi Following unruly scenes over lack of drinking water here at the Visva Bharati premises here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sought apologies from its students during the 49th convocation which he attended as its Chancellor. "As the Chancellor of Visva Bharati University, I seek your apology. While I was coming here, some students through gestures told me about lack of arrangement for drinking water.



"I seek your apology for the all the inconvenience caused," said Modi amid loud cheers.



Earlier in the day, the university, built by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bolpur sub-division of West Bengal's Birbhum district, witnessed unruly scenes over lack of drinking water.



As per reports, a few of the students fell sick due to the inadequate supply.



Modi's Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were present on the occasion.




Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi is firm.

If Ministers of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.)  or any other Church Minister for that matter  continue to refuse to pay their taxes, they will face the full brunt of the law.

I will give you the same answer that I have said in the past, Tuilaepa said yesterday evening. The law has already been passed.

This law is the same as the law governing murder; once you violate that law, you alone will be criminally charged. And if you conspire with someone else to murder another, youll be charged as well.

Tuilaepa, who has just returned from Japan, issued the response to questions during his weekly media conference inside his office.

He was asked about reports that the biggest denomination in the country is continuing to oppose the Governments law to tax the Head of State and Church Ministers.

Attempts to get a comment from the Secretary General of the Church, Reverend Vavatau Taufao, were unsuccessful. He has been occupied with the Churchs annual conference, which ends today.

But Prime Minister Tuilaepa has warned that the enforcement of the law will not discriminate against anyone.

You will answer individually to the law, he said. The law does not target the Church, rather it targets the Church Ministers individually.

The Prime Minister referred to convicted Cabinet Ministers, Toi Aukuso and Leafa Vitale, during his response. The former Cabinet Ministers were jailed for conspiring to murder another H.R.P.P. Cabinet Minister, the late Luagalau Levaula Kamu.

Tuilaepa said everyone who conspires to reject the law would be dealt with.

They conspired (to murder) and then Toi refused to be a part of the plan but Leafa continued with the plan, Tuilaepa said.

That is the defense that Toi exploited to clear his name, but Toi should have reported this matter to the Police but he didnt and that was why he was charged. That is the same principal that is applied in this matter (of the taxes).

The culprit and the conspirator will face the same charges meaning if the Secretary of the Church is the one who is giving the wrong advice to the elders of the Church, it means the Secretarys actions are a factor.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa also had a go at the Secretary General.

This is sad coming from someone who is highly educated, a former Lecturer. He knows the law. He (Rev. Vavatau Taufao) wrote to me to postpone the implementation of the taxes for another six months. I wrote back informing him this had already been postponed for six months, that the law was passed in June and was implemented in January this year.

The six months was specifically for any issue pertaining to the taxes that needs clarification.

That time was long finished, Tuilaepa said.

He then turned his attention to the Churchs Elders Committee.

Keep in mind the Elders are well versed with the Bible. This issue shouldnt even be a subject up for discussion during their General Conference.

Have you ever heard of other churches elaborating about this issue in their conferences? All the other churches, aside from this denomination (C.C.C.S.), once they were informed, they agreed noting this is a must because even the Bible says to pay taxes.

The Prime Minister said it is the responsibility of the Secretary General to advice the Elders about the right thing to do.

There is nowhere in the world the government passes a law and then waits to see whether the Church agrees. The law pertaining to taxes is quite unique and with the authority that comes with it, it does not solicit rather it enforces.

Because this law is the only other form of revenue the government depends on for the development of a country that is Independent.

He dismissed claims that what the Government is doing goes against the will of Samoas forebears.

I believe our elders knew when they fought for us to be independent that we will have to provide for our sustainability economically though collecting revenue from taxes.

Taxes are sensitive issues and tax collectors are always snubbed. And that is why paying taxes is enforced by every government, it is not a choice it is your contribution to the development of your nation.

And one of the reasons, is for the rich to share with the less fortunate.

Under the law, he added that everyone is the same.

Taxes target millionaires and the business community and those in management level, as they make good money.

I pay more than $50,000 annually for my income tax. The taxes that are collected goes to huge projects such as schools and hospitals.

Overseas countries, schools and hospitals are run by business communities, what I mean is only those who can afford to pay tuition can take their children to school and only those how can afford to see a doctor can go to the hospital.

But not Samoa.

In our Country the government puts these children to school; the government is also responsible for the upkeep of the hospital.

Our national hospital is much cheaper than the seeing the private doctor and that is why taxes are put in place.

He made it clear that people who object to paying taxes are those who make a lot of money.

The truth is, the money we collect is never enough when considering the future plans the government has in place.

This is why we attend overseas meetings and ask for financial assistance and loans.

The Prime Minister said that taxes are one way that we as a country are helping out our own people.

In New Zealand and Australia, Samoan Church Ministers pay their taxes because they understand the law.

According to the Prime Minister, Church ministers who make $15,000 or less will not pay taxes.

Some of the Church Ministers make more than Cabinet Ministers and others make more money than the Head of State who is the highest paid Government employee there is.
More drugs have been found at Tafaigata Prison.

This was confirmed by Police Superintendent and Media Spokesperson, Auapaau Logoitino Filipo.

It happened last week when Police officers were at the prison compound investigating a separate case.

But they were alerted to the suspicious actions of an inmate.

When they searched him, Police uncovered eight marijuana joints stored inside a box of cigarette in his possession.

The inmate has been charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and is scheduled to appear for his criminal mention before the Supreme Court 18, June 2018, Auapaau said.

And because the investigation is continuing into this matter, I cannot further comment.

Auapaau also declined to comment on what investigation the Police were conducting at Tafaigata Prison.

That information is classified and unless someone is charged only then I can comment.

Four months ago, the Police launched an investigation over claims that drugs  mainly marijuana  are being sold inside the Tafaigata Prison.

The investigation follows a failed plot by prisoners to stage a mass prison break while the nation was preparing for Tropical Cyclone Gita.

The plan was apparently concocted by the senior hierarchy among the prisoner population, the Samoa Observer was told.

As reported earlier, the Police was given a tip off and 90 officers turned up at the prison.

During the raid, marijuana joints and a stash of cash were discovered, Auapaau told the Samoa Observer back in February.

The Samoa Observer understands this is not the first time that drugs have been found at the prison.
A 40-year-old father has admitted raping his 16-year-old biological daughter twice.

The matter was presented before Supreme Court Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala-Warren.

She issued a suppression order on the name of the defendant.

The father is charged with rape and incest.

The matter was initially scheduled for a trial, however defense Lawyer, Diana Roma, informed the Court the defendant wishes to enter a guilty plea.

Prosecuting was Assistant Attorney General, Rexona Titi. She did not object.

According to the Police summary of facts on this case, two sexual incidents occurred on January and September 2017.

The Police report notes that the first incident occurred when the victim was asleep when she suddenly felt someone removing her shorts.

The father then blocked her face with a pillow and raped her.

She told the Police her parents argued on the night in question.

The second incident occurred in September, 2017 where the victim was cooking. Her father took her into a bedroom and had sex with her.

The Police report further says the victim told her mother about what happened and when her mother confronted her father, he turned around and assaulted her.

The father entered a guilty plea through his lawyer to the two sex charges.

Justice Tafaoimalo has scheduled sentencing for the father on 13 June, 2018 at 12:30pm.
The Assemblies of God (A.O.G.) in Samoa is holding its 49th District Conference this week.

The conference, which started at the beginning of the week, highlighted the Feast of Restoration.

Seventy-eight Pentecostal fellowship churches are all under the umbrella of A.O.G. in Samoa alone, which is headed by Superintendent Pastor Joe Amosa.

Pastor Joe Amosa said part of the conference will be the General Election to decide the new council.

The positions up for grabs include Superintendent, Treasurer, Secretary, assistant and three Presbyters for A.O.G. in Samoa.

The appointments are for a two-year term.

I am satisfied with the work that I have achieved in the time of my reign, Pastor Amosa said.

My main objective was for the encouragement of everyone to work together in faith. In every leadership role, it comes with great responsibilities but along with it hardships.

But with anything in life, there are always challenges.

One difficulty I faced was that everyone had different opinions, views and perspectives, so some would not agree with decisions made, he said.

Another difficulty was time management where it required me to work not only in Samoa but also overseas.

But Pastor Amosa is grateful for Gods leading and the work of the Holy Spirit within the church. He is also optimistic that with God as the head of the church, it is in good hands.

As an international fellowship, the member denominations are entirely independent and autonomous.

However, they are united by shared beliefs and history.

The five-day conference closes today.
Samoas weather is why Paul and his wife, Jaisha Trebilcock, came to the islands.

For the couple, its a good relaxing getaway from their busy schedules back at their home in Christchurch, New Zealand. For one thing, it is a nice break from the freezing weather of New Zealand at the moment.

They have heard about Samoa through Samoan friends they have back at home, and their experience has been indescribable.

We have been fortunate of the offer because we would not have the opportunity to do a trip like this. We would have loved to come even without winning a free trip, Paul said.

This is their first time to Samoa and in the Pacific region.

First impression was that the variety of trees and palm trees is incredible, the blue sky and the beautiful water, Paul said.

It excites me the drive from the airport to the resort. Just the different colours, the different houses with no walls, the amazing scenery and everything are so unique. It is beautiful.

Renting a car has been a good choice for them because they got to visit some of the best attraction sites on Upolu.

I was pretty much just hanging around and reading books, just relaxing. It is an amazing place to relax. We had a look at the turtles as well. The highlight I would say are the swimming pools, especially to have a swim in the afternoon it is very nice, he explained.

Paul and his wife also commended the Samoan culture.

When we drove around in the rental car, every single person who passed us waved and the kids were running beside the car, Paul said.

I guess in New Zealand, community wise, it is quite self-contained, while here it is a real community feeling, really helpful and happy.

We walked through Apia speaking to a couple of random people. We just shared where we are from and how we are enjoying it and they asked us if there is anything that we needed. It has been very nice. We felt absolutely safe and I am happy we came on this trip.

On Samoas tourism sector, Paul explained: Maybe just more on advertising about Samoa as a tourist destination.

The fiafia night was really good. I was in Auckland with Samoans so it has not been completely new to me, but it is amazing to see it in Samoa. I would like to see more advertising on the relaxed culture here.

One thing that we missed a bit is the lack of publicity for mosquitos and diseases. We did not know what to expect.

I guess a bit more information on the zones that are prone to diseases would be helpful.

I loved it here. I think the resort here is set up really well, I cant compare to others, but locals are coming over as well. It does not make you feel disconnected to the island.

I totally recommend going out and having a drive around, Paul said.

After their experience in Samoa, Paul mentioned they are considering Vanuatu as their next stop.
Meet Tania and Steve Davies from Hamilton, New Zealand.

Since their arrival last week Saturday, they have been enjoying the local culture and the island vibes.

They are originally from Wales but moved to New Zealand 30 years ago.

Being married for 30 years allowed them the opportunity to travel to Fiji, Niue and New Caledonia, so for them visiting the Pacific region is nothing new.

We always wanted to come to Samoa to see how it is like. This was the destination we havent been to and we wanted to see it.

We got a free opportunity through Kiwi Bank. We knew our next holiday is going to be Samoa anyway, Tania explained.

Tania and Steve came with the intention of relaxing and mostly enjoying what the resort has to offer.

For them, this trip is a break from the busy life back home.

Dear Tourist met the couple in the lodge of the Taumeasina Island Resort.

We are not the kind of couple who want to do the touristy thing. We just want to relax and we like that, Tania said.

This place is absolutely perfect for that. Something is going on every night in the resort, which is really nice. Prices are affordable for drinks and the staff is fantastic.

In terms of the culture, Tania shared: There are totally lovely people here in Samoa. Everybody has been nice.

I feel the people appreciate tourists who come to Samoa. They opened the doors to their shops and waved at us, she said.

It was very hot to walk around. I was surprised in Apia to give the bags at the entry of the shop, I am not used to that.

I totally understand that on Sundays everything is closed because of the religion. It is part of the culture and I kind of like that.

They also gave some tips on improving the tourism industry.

Maybe they could have a bit more shops in the resort here because there is only one here.

There was a good bar nearby and it would be good to have more information on where it is good to go for food or drinks. Doing some more advertising in this area would be very helpful, Tania shared with the Dear Tourist team.

Someone on the streets of Apia approached us and wanted to be our tour guide, but we did not know if he is working for a company or not.

I guess to have some information of what we have to be aware of and what is safe or not would be important. What is safer taxi or buses? The taxi drivers we had have been lovely.

Only once a lady came and asked me for money, but this is not different from everywhere else. It happens all around the world.

Yesterday was their last day.

We are a bit sad that it is over. We will come back to Samoa. I really enjoyed it. Now we know how it is like and we like to go to the same places again to enjoy them more. We would come to the same resort.
Manameas art exhibition  The New Samoa: Samoa Fou officially opened yesterday evening to the public at their studio in Vaigaga.

A principal painting in the collection by artist Lalovai Peseta, features a portrait of Prime Minister Tuilaepa.

In a life imitating art moment, special guest Prime Minister Tuilaepa arrived to the surprise of guests at the Vaigaga gallery. The Prime minister walked around to view the exhibition and upon seeing his portrait for the first time broke into a wide smile.

It looks like me, he told the Samoa Observer. Its very nice and I like it.

The Prime Ministers image is depicted being challenged and obstructed by the arm of the controversial political blogger O le Palemia against a back drop of some of the major changes that Tuilaepa has implemented in Samoa during his tenure as Prime Minister.

Asked whether he was a lover of Art and what he thought of the strong imagery surrounding his likeness, the Prime Minister who has just recently arrived from his trip to Japan, said:  Yes, I do enjoy art.

He added: Its 6 oclock now and my mind is very tired to think beyond the image itself -but yes it is pleasing to the eye. I hope it looks like me - does it look like me?

When this reporter replied that yes it did look like him, the Prime minister jokingly said: But that doesnt look like the photo you normally put in the Observer.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer, artist Lalovai Peseta discussed what moved him to express his views on the combative nature in the relationship between the current government administration and the controversial blogger.

Its not just the P.M, its about how individuals are treated badly on social media. We all understand that all developments come with problems and the idea came to my mind when I saw that O.L.P. was harassing people online.

Not everybody is perfect but Tuilaepa has been developing Samoa in a good way from my perspective compared to when I was growing up  there wasnt much here but now we are more developed than ever.

The way people are disrespecting him.. but dont get me wrong, its good to be challenged because thats how ideas come out but the way that O.L.P. is doing it we dont know who they are..

I painted the O.L..P coming from the cracks of the land because thats one of the most talked about issue right now is land rights.

I used the image of a centipede under O.L.P. there because the nature of a centipede is to bite you then run and hide. Its also very painful when they bite and thats how I felt when I painted this. I used only red tones because it represents war and anger.

As you can see in the painting the page is flailed up because thats whats happening, some people want to turn the page. They want to see Samoas next page and right now its still the Prime Minister's page.

All paintings are for sale and the exhibition will be running for a week at the Manamea Art studio. All are welcome with free entry and there will be a chance to meet the artists at 5pm this Saturday.

Gallery Hours: Mon-Thurs 10am - 6pm

Friday 10am - 5pm

Saturday 11am-5pm
The biggest denomination in Samoa, the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S.) has reportedly rejected the Governments new law to tax the Head of State and Church Ministers. Although the church has yet to confirm its official position, reports from the Malua annual conference indicate that the church will continue to reject the law. Despite this, the Government has put out a notice that after 30 June 2018, they will start enforcing the law on people who continue to disobey. What do you think? Reporter, Adel Fruean asked members of the public today and this is what they said:

Niko Temo Saleufi

Yes, I agree with the decision made by the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa to go against the taxation of pastors. The political leaders should stay out of the work of God in Samoa. They should have never done this in the first place.

Atu Ioane Letogo

I support the churchs position on this matter. It has never been done before, why now? Also, pastors have an important role in the congregation. I am well aware that church ministers have their own plans for the use of these donations for church purposes so that is why I am strongly against this new tax law. I think the government should reconsider.

Alefosio Feagaiga Vailoa

Yes, I agree with the decision by the church Ministers to continue to ignore the government on this. I know the church would have given this a lot of thought. Also, if the church administration has decided on this judgement after a thorough analysis on this subject then I support it whole-heartedly. It is because I have full confidence in their capabilities and understanding in these matters. The church should not be taxed, especially when the money is given by people who have already been taxed. That is double taxing the people.

Seufale Filipo Tauialo Vaitele Fou

I support their decision on church tax. I am strongly against taxing pastors because the work they do is for God by spreading the Gospel at the same time so he heads it. The work that the Government does is for the development of our country but the work that pastors do is for saving souls. They shouldnt be taxed. Do we tax God? I dont think so.

Alo Maleko Vailoa

I accept the judgement made by the church. In my opinion it is not right for pastors to pay taxes, it should be enough for churchgoers to pay taxes on their behalf. I believe in that greatly. Also our forefathers would not have liked what is happening in Samoa. Its so so sad.




























If dream becomes reality, Vista resident Genesis Alcantars name will one day be as well known in streetwear fashion as those of his heroes: Off-Whites Virgil Abloh, Burberrys Riccardo Tisci and Guccis Alessandro Michele.

But first, graduation. Today, the 24-year-old first-generation college student will receive his certificate of achievement in fashion design from Palomar College.

Alcantar is among nearly 2,500 Palomar graduates scheduled to graduate this year with certificates or associate art degrees. About 500 will take part in this evenings commencement ceremonies.

Alcantar found his way into fashion five years ago when he realized it would be a lot cheaper to make his own clothes than to buy the high-end menswear he craved. Now, designing and sewing clothes has become such a passion for Alcantar, he and a friend plan to launch their own design firm this summer.

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I just want to roll the dice and go full steam ahead, he said.

Among those encouraging Alcantars dream is Rita Campo Griggs, who teaches fashion merchandising at Palomar.

I see him as the future, Griggs said. After all of these years in the industry, you can spot students who are going to succeed and he has a really bright future ahead of him.

Alcantar grew up in Vista, where he attended Guajome Park Academy, a charter school that encourages individualized learning. There, he said he was drawn to art classes, drawing, writing and storytelling.

When he was 19, Alcantar said he was scrolling through Instagram looking at fashion photos when he spotted an expensive silk bomber jacket by the Japanese design house Bape.

As soon as I saw the jacket, I was in love with it, but it was $400, he said. I thought if I spent $400 on a single jacket, my parents would kill me. Id kill myself. I figured there has to be a better way. This jacket had to be made by somebody, so maybe I could be that somebody.

Over the next four months he bought a used sewing machine from a thrift shop, scrounged around for missing parts and spent an entire day just trying to figure out how to thread its needle. With training from Youtube videos, material from thrift shops and endless trial and error, he created his own version of the jacket within the year.

Alcantar said he wanted to attend fashion school in New York, but he was worried about the cost of the program and he feared getting lost amid the vast number of aspiring design students there. When he found the Fashion Merchandising & Design program at Palomar, it seemed a better fit.

It was 10 minutes from my house, very inexpensive and it was really good, he said. The teachers were so nice and I found a small community there that I could be a part of.

When he started at Palomar in 2015, Alcantar was one of just two male students in his advanced sewing class. Now the gender ratio is closer to 50-50.

Alcantar said that over the past three years hes become much more adept at sewing, pattern-making and screen-printing his own textiles. His favorite material to work with is denim and he especially enjoys making jackets. His goal is to make streetwear and haute couture fashions for men, women and in unisex designs.

Now I see a shirt someones wearing and I think about how its stitched and put together, he said. Ill walk by somebody wearing something and I take an interest in that and use it as inspiration.

With his certificate now in hand, Alcantar said he is looking for an apprenticeship at a fashion house so he can learn the business side of the industry.

Hes also planning to launch his own fashion company this summer with his best friend and fellow fashion enthusiast, Nay Zavala. The company will be called House of Paix. Paix is the French word for peace. Alcantar said he would like a portion of all sales to go toward international peace programs.

The duo plans to hold its first fashion show in September at Midnight Jack Brewing in Oceanside. They will show a combined 16 pieces. Details will be announced soon on their just-launched Instagram page instagram.com/houseofpaix.

San Diego County fashion designers often end up moving to L.A. for jobs in that citys garment district, but Alcantar said he is hoping instead to stay within the local community.

L.A. is definitely where all the jobs are at, but my goal is to make San Diego a bigger place for fashion and to be a part of that, he said.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
After being sued earlier this week in Superior Court, the backers of an initiative that would require countywide voter approval for most large housing projects in the unincorporated areas have admitted they made a mistake when filing their campaign disclosure reports last month.

The nonprofit San Diegans for Managed Growth, which is behind the Safeguard our San Diego Countryside initiative, acknowledged in court this week that they should have been clearer about the source of nearly $100,000 in donations.

Officials with the group said it was a paperwork filing error, nothing more, and note that the donation came from just one source, the Endangered Habitats League (EHL), which reported the monetary gift in a seperate filing with the Register of Voters at the end of last year.

There was no hiding of money or anything like that, said San Diegans for Managed Growth Chief Financial Officer Mark Jackson. We will be fully compliant by Tuesday.

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In its most recent campaign disclosure filings, the group said only that a $98,500 donation to the Safeguard campaign came from San Diegans for Managed Growth. It should have instead indicated that the donation to the nonprofit came from the EHL.

On Monday, a lawsuit was filed by an opponent of the initiative against the group demanding the nonprofit comply with state campaign finance laws and reveal the hidden source of the money.

At a hearing on Wednesday, a lawyer for the group said they had made a paperwork filing mistake and that it would be taken care of soon.

The plaintiff in the case, Randy Lenac, a Campo rancher and Grossmont Healthcare District trustee who opposes the initiative, said in a news release that people asked to sign petitions to qualify the initiative for the ballot should be fully informed of where the money backing it is coming from.

Ballot initiatives have very real consequences, so people need to be able to make an informed decision, Lenac said.

Lenacs attorney, Nick Sanders, said until the proper paperwork has been put on file, questions remain.

San Diegans for Managed Growth is its own political committee at this point because they gave more than $50,000, he said. Maybe all the money came from one place. We have no idea. We dont know that just because the Endangered Habitats League filed a report saying they gave money, that that paints the entire picture.

Dan Silver, the executive director of the Endangered Habitats League who also is a board member of San Diegans for Managed Growth, said if Lenac had just called him he would have gladly said where the donation came from.

Its not a secret, Silver said. Its been reported. They just didnt know where to look. They think something nefarious is going on. There isnt. Its been a matter of public record since December.

Silver said EHL gave the donation to kickstart the initiative campaign. According to the most recent filings, roughly an additional $100,000 from various donors had also been received and officials said the next reporting period will show more donations.

Much of the money is being spent on paid signature gatherers.

Backers of the initiative say they realistically have only a couple more weeks to gather enough signatures to have a chance of qualifying the measure for the November ballot.

Their goal is to get 110,000 signatures and paid signatures gatherers, as well as volunteers, are manning stations all over the county asking people to sign.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
When Liliana Hernandez speaks at MiraCosta Colleges commencement ceremonies this evening, her words wont just be for her fellow graduates.

The 28-year-old Vista resident will also be speaking to her 6-year-old daughter, Darla Rojas, about how education and hard work have given her hope that she will overcome a lifetime of struggle.

When she was 6 years old, Hernandez was living in a car with her parents and three siblings. A bag of tortillas was all the family might eat in a week and the children were frequently exposed to drug abuse and domestic violence.

The trauma from her childhood experiences led Hernandez to attempt suicide at 13 and later drop out of high school. But since age 19, shes been on the slow, but steady educational path toward her lifelong goal of becoming an immigration attorney.

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Its been a rough road for us with lots of ups and downs, but I keep pushing myself, she said. I have a responsibility to show my daughter that as a Chicana I can be empowered and I can do it.

Hernandez is one of nearly 1,800 MiraCosta students graduating this year. The college selected her as this evenings featured speaker after reading an essay on her path to college.

Like her three siblings, Hernandez was born in Oceanside to parents from Mexico. Her father had legal status, her mother did not. She was 5 years old when the family ended up living in a car first in the San Diego area, then Nevada and eventually Mexico.

She remembers being hungry, not having water to drink, not going to school and watching her parents fight. When they drove to Tijuana out of desperation, Hernandez said her mothers long-in-the-works application for U.S. residency was voided.

Twenty years later, she still hasnt achieved legal status. Hernandez said her mothers situation was one of the reasons she decided to become an immigration attorney.

These people are here because they want a better future for themselves and their children and I feel like I could help people, she said.

Hernandezs older sister, Elizabeth, 29, said even in those early days when they were homeless, she remembers Liliana taking about being a lawyer.

She would put shoulder pads in her clothing like the suits lawyers wore and we would all just laugh, said Elizabeth Hernandez, a mother of two in Vista. She was so determined.

Eventually, their parents split up and the children and their mother ended up in a womens shelter in Oceanside, which Liliana said was the first stable environment that she could remember. She enrolled in school and did very well in gifted and honors programs, but things began to go downhill in middle school.

She struggled with depression and began fighting with her mom. I ended up taking 50 extra-strength Tylenol because I wanted to be done and not wake up anymore, she said.

She ended up at Rady Childrens Hospital with liver damage but recovered. A year later, she got kicked out of the house and moved in with an aunt. In high school, she began skipping classes, started drinking and hung out with a bad crowd. Eventually, she dropped out and wouldnt complete her diploma until she was 19.

Elizabeth said she understands why her sister struggled so much during her teen years. With what Liliana and I went through as kids, we shouldnt be here. To see her overcome everything  the depression, the teenage suicidal thoughts  is really amazing.

In her early 20s, Liliana gave up on attending college to work in the insurance industry to help support herself, her daughter and her husband, from whom she has recently separated.

One of the friends she met eight years ago in the insurance industry is Artemio Olivas, who said Hernandez had a lot on her plate but always showed up to work every day in good spirits.

If there is one thing about Lili that has really stood out to me over the years, it is her willingness and keen ability to be deeply self-reflexive about her own life, Olivas said.

When we spoke, I often noticed that Lili was both deeply emotionally present in her remembering of the past and yet objectively distant. This struck me as impressive and notably mature. In some ways, I feel that her ability to reflect on the hardships of her past in this way helped her to process the blame, resentment, and sorrow that experiences like hers so often produce, and instead allowed for those experiences to emanate from her person as humble office dreams that imagined something different, something more, and that today are materializing into the success she is now deservedly experiencing, Olivas said.

Hernandez said she was 24 when she decided to stop putting off her goals and enroll at MiraCosta College. Today, she will graduate with an associate arts degree in social and behavioral science.

Juggling school, a job and family took an irreversible toll on her marriage. Nonetheless, Hernandez said shes determined to stick with her plan to transfer in the fall to Cal State San Marcos, where she plans to earn a communications degree and then attend law school.

I can take my daughter to school with me when Im studying, she said. I want her to be inspired and see that even though we didnt grow up with money you can find strength in yourself to achieve what you want.

Elizabeth calls her younger sister a fearless warrior woman for doggedly pursuing her education despite all the obstacles in her path.

Shes my idol, shes the core of our family and she has more strength than anybody Ive ever known, Elizabeth said. I have no doubt she will accomplish everything shes dreamed of. No words can explain how proud I am of her.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com
In the summer of 1977, Ron Howard made his directorial debut with Grand Theft Auto, a merrily destructive low-budget fairy tale that found its way into a lot of newly twinned multiplexes that summer of 77.

Audiences liked Howard. An entire generation grew up with the guy, best known as Opie on The Andy Griffith Show, in the 1960s. By the early 70s Howard starred in Happy Days, which owed a huge debt to American Graffiti (1973), the smash co-starring Howard and directed by a relative newcomer named George Lucas.

That summer of 77 also gave the world Star Wars. Lucas couldnt get the rights for a Flash Gordon remake, so he cooked up a variation. Star Wars spawned sequel after sequel after sequel, and then started spinning off stand-alone pictures.

And now, Howard has entered the Star Wars universe with Solo: A Star Wars Story, opening May 24.

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Midshoot the Hollywood veteran, whose directorial career has proved hardy enough to handle a few flubs alongside a few hits, replaced directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, whose penchant for improvisation didnt go down well with the franchise overlords. The switch worked. Howards style has the virtue of being malleable, suiting the needs of the movie at hand. I liked this one. Its a solid, well-carpentered origin story. New, its not. The goal was same but different.

Son-father screenwriters Jonathan Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan answer a series of questions while poking around new corners of the Lucas universe. How did Han Solo meet Chewbacca? We find out in clever, exciting fashion. (Despite the airy brightness of the films poster, the film is most striking when cinematographer Bradford Young and production designer Neil Lamont venture into the smoky, hazy, grungy underbelly of the underworlds.)

What was Hans life before he became a rogue-for-hire at the helm of the freighter known as the Millennium Falcon? We spend some time in the prologue running with Han on the mean streets of Corellia, ruled by gangland factions in the time of the Galactic Civil War. How did Han and Lando Calrissian (a sprightly Donald Glover), gambler and scoundrel, come to know each other? We get that as well.

The Kasdans  Lawrence worked on three previous Star Wars scripts  wield those narrative questions like arrows declaring: THIS WAY TO THE NEXT CHASE SCENE. The best of the chases arrives fairly early, and involves a speeding train, a mountainous pass, various blasters and Thandie Newton (as freedom fighter Val), working with Woody Harrelson (as Beckett, Hans mentor, a practical man to the core). Theres a downside to any Star Wars movie so intent on not boring us that it risks numbing our senses with cliffhanger atop cliffhanger. But Howard gives this one enough breathing room to set us up for the next tentacled space beast, or the latest betrayal.

The previous stand-alone Star Wars movie, Rogue One (2016), used the tropes and tensions of the combat picture genre. Solo tries on a different genre  when its pausing between chases, its a full-on gangster movie (Paul Bettany makes for a shrewd, ruthless kingpin, whose eyes glow red when provoked).

Now: Hows Han? Alden Ehrenreich resembles a young, somewhat graver Robert Wagner, though hes a better actor than the young Robert Wagner was. Ehrenreichs contained, methodical brand of swagger matches up pretty well with the Han Solo we know from the 77-83 Harrison Ford edition. As Hans morally compromised love interest, Qira, Emilia Clarke earns her paycheck almost immediately when Han mentions a stolen spacecraft and, with a delighted purr, she asks: Why? Are we going somewhere? Howard seems particularly attuned to these humanizing details, even if he cant do anything about the general treatment of the movies female characters. (Ive said enough.)

Also theres a new droid, a winning know-it-all voiced brilliantly by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She/it is probably the best same but different flourish in all of Solo, reminiscent of droids past, inevitably, but very much welcome. Ehrenreichs signed up for two more Solo movies, should the grosses cooperate. Theyll probably cooperate. As sure as the taillights on one of the gliders in the first big chase resemble the Ford Galaxie 500 from the rear, Howards efficient, confident, slightly square direction does the job. Its his best film in a decade. At times, working with a small army of digital wizards, he seems to be channeling the spirit of the car-crash pileups of Grand Theft Auto. Only this time, the vehicles really move.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

Solo: A Star Wars Story -- 3 stars

Rating: PG-13

When: Now playing

Where: Wide release

Running time: 2 hours, 23 minutes

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The Last Jedi, from a critic who does not care about your dear allegiance to the traditional Star Wars mythology 

Rogue One and its place in the Star Wars galaxy 
Thoroughly inspired by nature, Oceanside artist Carrie Minikel has an instinct for transforming common objects into quizzical pieces of art that are at once representative and abstract, familiar yet wholly new.

While she holds a bachelor of science degree in fine art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a masters in fine art from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, it is the making  foraging, building, assembling, creating  that she finds fulfilling.

Minikels most recent work, Curious Objects, on display at Art Produce gallery from May 26 through July 14, is a curious collection of creations from the mind and hands of a collector of  curious objects.

Q: Can you describe what you do? And why?

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Carrie Minikels work, Curious Objects at Art Produce. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune )

A: Ive always made things with my hands  its calming and challenging at the same time. With this body of work, specifically, Im aiming to take people (myself included) into an atmosphere where they slow down and remember a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world. Perhaps similar to what they felt as a child. In the context of our culture, thats difficult and radical, but very important. Our need for connection to the natural world has been proven scientifically. For example, exposure to a view of natural landscape has been shown to shorten healing time for hospital patients. I think we all benefit from this exposure and connection.

Q: How do you work? And how has your practice changed over time?

A: I work by trying to pay attention to the natural world, objects and materials. These things then often become part of my work later. Ive been working with a combination of found objects and created elements for a long time. I enjoy the history and connotations that found objects bring. There is also a problem-solving element of always working with new and different materials that I enjoy. My practice has evolved as I have. When I was in my 20s, the work was largely emotionally driven, as was I. Now, I have the pleasure of being able to work with a topic of concern and understand my personal connection to it while using appropriate mediums and materials for the message.

Q: Can you describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

A: My connection to nature and the feeling of being absorbed in observing or making are experiences I was lucky to have in my childhood and stay with me as a root of calm and wonder that I am often trying to remind myself of and bring others into.

Carrie Minikels work, Curious Objects at Art Produce. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune )

Q: Whats integral to your work as an artist?

A: Having time to discover and play and recharge in natural settings is important for me as a person and an artist. Also thrift stores and hardware stores are important to my process. My support system of artist friends and my family are also very important to my work.

Q: What wouldnt you do without?

A: Being outside and having some contact with elements of the natural world, however small.

Q: What other jobs have you experienced?

A: Counselor at a shelter for survivors of domestic violence, studio jeweler/metalsmith, barista, tool demonstrator at Home Depot, substitute teacher and adjunct faculty at area colleges.

Q: Professionally, what is your goal? Whats your dream project?

A: I would love to engage in a long-term project that engages community in an authentic way, that meshes with my work and myself. Bringing together nature, art and education would be interesting. There are many elements of teaching that I miss, since I stopped teaching at colleges almost a year ago, and a project like that may fulfill my teaching cravings.

Q: What memorable responses have you had to your work?

A: Anytime someone has a question I get excited. I want people to feel like art and artists are approachable and there are no bad questions if they are curious.

Q: Whats the best piece of advice youve been given?

A: As far as art is concerned, to keep your hands moving. You can think and doubt and figure forever but when your hands move, ideas move and problems get solved. I guess thats good life advice, too.

Carrie Minikel (Howard Lipin / The San Diego-Union-Tribune )

Carrie Minikel

When: May 26-July 14. Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. A reception is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 2. Admission is free; no RSVP is required.

Where: Art Produce, 3139 University Ave., North Park (enter through the restaurant next door, Tostadas)

Phone: (619) 550-2777

Online: artproduce.org

cynthia.zanone@sduniontribune.com
President Michel Temer on Friday deployed federal forces to remove trucks blockading highways across the country after a five-day strike by truck drivers left supermarket shelves and gas stations empty, flights grounded and surgeries canceled.

Temer, who has asked state governors to follow his lead, held a security evaluation meeting with ministers Friday after what he called a radical minority of truckers continued to strike over diesel price hikes despite the government and several union leaders reaching a deal the night before that would suspend the strike for 15 days. The strike, which entered its fifth day Friday, has paralyzed much of the nation.

We are not going to allow the population to run out of basic necessities. We will not allow hospitals to be left without supplies to save lives. We will not allow children to be harmed by school closures. We will not allow [rural] producers to have their work affected even more, Temer said.

The truckers have parked their rigs, sometimes several deep, to completely or partially block hundreds of roads.

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Brazilians who managed to get in hours-long lines to fill up at gas stations have faced even more severe traffic than usual, while public transportation in several cities is operating at a fraction of its normal capacity, leaving many residents unable to get to work. Paramedics have said they are rationing gas for ambulances.

Public schools and universities in several cities also shut their doors Friday, and garbage collection has come to a halt. Many supermarkets have put per-item limits in place as panic has led people to stockpile necessities.

I know Temer said this will all end soon, but how can we be sure? said Jacqueline Navarro, a retired teacher from Sao Paulo filling up a cart with rice, beans and toilet paper at a local store. Hes never managed to do anything for us before. I doubt now will be any different.

Truckers say rising diesel prices, which are increasing because of growing world oil prices and Brazils falling currency, have led to severe cuts to their income, making it impossible for them to make a living.

As part of Thursdays accord, the government said it would fix diesel prices, which are usually adjusted daily, for 30 days. It also promised to lower several taxes, while state oil company Petrobras said Wednesday it would drop prices by 10% for the next two weeks.

But the Brazilian Truckers Assn., which represents some 700,000 of the countrys one million self-employed truck drivers, did not accept the governments deal, though other unions did.

The association, also known as Abcam, said the number of highway blockades reached 521 on Friday, up from 402 the day before. Abcam also noted that it did not agree to the deal, but said it would pass along information to the truck drivers themselves, who are mostly independent.

The countrys economy has taken a hit since the long-haul trucks were parked on Monday, with carmakers due to stop production lines, several meat processing plants shutting down indefinitely and American Airlines flights from Miami to Brasilia canceled. The nations centrally located capital of Brasilia has suffered from shortages more than other cities because its fuel comes from the coast. Sao Paulo has declared a state of emergency, saying shortages could cause public calamity.

Brazil relies heavily on trucks to transport cargo, with its small network of railways mostly used for shipping raw materials. The strike comes as the country struggles to recover from one of its worst recessions, with unemployment refusing to drop and its currency on a steep decline.

UPDATES:

2:50 p.m.: This article was updated throughout with staff reporting and remarks from Michel Temer.

This article was originally published at 9:55 a.m.
A sailor in the Miramar brig faked derangement twice to escape disciplinary charges, part of a pattern of misconduct that escalated to threats that he would unleash a killing spree at San Diegos Navy hospital, prosecutors claim.

Four pages of charges released to The San Diego Union-Tribune record nearly nine months of alleged misbehavior by Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 2nd Class Jamicah J. Woods, 27.

A court-martial hearing is slated Tuesday at Naval Base San Diego, where Woods stands accused of 16 violations of military law, including assault, malingering, resisting arrest, insubordinate conduct, provoking speeches or gestures and absence without leave.

The problems apparently began on July 15 last year, when the Chula Vista resident allegedly badgered a female non-commissioned officer close to her face as she walked from their unnamed workplace to a smoking area.

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Who are you? Youre not going to disrespect me like that (expletive), Woods allegedly yelled. Do you want to square up with me and fight?

Military records show that Woods was then under the command of North Island-based Fleet Readiness Center Southwest, having previously served with the Sun Kings of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 116 at Naval Base Ventura County and the Royal Maces of Strike Fighter Squadron 27 in Japan.

More than six months later, on Jan. 19, an unidentified mental health worker at Naval Medical Center San Diego embarrassed him, so he unlawfully communicated a means of harming the person, authorities say.

On Feb. 21, Woods also allegedly threatened to beat up a chief hospitalman, according to the criminal records.

Ordered to stand before a Navy disciplinary board on March 2, Woods allegedly tried to feign mental derangement to avoid it, authorities say.

Woods also told an unidentifed chief aviation boatswains mate then that his first inclination when people confronted or talked down to him was to kill and he could easily go home to a fully loaded .40 Glock and kill, according to the charge sheets.

Six days later, Woods repeated trying to play crazy at the disciplinary board and allegedly hinted to medical personnel that he would shoot a Navy master-at-arms petty officer sent to haul him to the proceedings, authorities claim.

Woods also allegedly told a Navy lieutenant that if he had a gun he would go on a killing spree and kill everyone in his command, unless they dropped the disciplinary board.

Mandated to attend the Navys morning Physical Fitness Enhancement Program at the hospitals softball field, he failed to show on March 7, 8 and 9, according to the charge sheets.

On March 9, the Navy sent Master-at-Arms Petty Officer Gary Dimarzio to arrest him but Woods allegedly pushed him to avoid apprehension and got out of his seat to threaten an unnamed person.

The confrontation allegedly ended with Woods shouting to everyone, Im going to kill you (expletives). You all are going to hell. This is why people go on killing sprees.

Commanders at Naval Region Southwest and his military attorney, Coast Guard Lt. Toni Goodin, declined comment about his case.

Woods was promoted to his non-commissioned officer rank in June of 2015, officials say.

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cprine@sduniontribune.com
May 25, 1969 The San Diego Union

The San Diego Union-Tribune will mark its 150th anniversary in 2018 by presenting a significant front page from the archives each day throughout the year.

Sunday, May 25, 1969

The combat stores ship San Diego was commissioned in 1969. Built by National Steel and Shipbuilding, it was the third Navy ship to be named for the city.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the story:

SHIP AHOY!

Thousands Hail New San Diego

By Kip Cooper, The San Diego Union Military Affairs Writer

San Diegans turned out by the thousands yesterday to participated in the commissioning of the third U.S. Navy ship to bear the citys name.

The ceremony placing the combat stores ship in active service with the U.S. Navy took place at the 32nd Street Naval Station with political, military, 200th anniversary and civic officials present  some in an official capacity and others who came to watch with pride.

SHARE PODIUM

Sharing the podium with the ships commanding officer, Capt. John W. Wells, were Mayor and Mrs. Curran; 11th Naval District chief of staff Capt. S.W. Vejtasa; Assistant City Mgr. Meno Wilhelms; John Banks, executive vice president of National Steel and Shipbulding Co.; Capt. H. A. Gerdes, supervisor of shipbuilding in San Diego; Rear Adm. Richard Pratt, commander of the Atlantic Fleet Service Force to which the San Diego will belong, and Richard G. Capen Jr., deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, who was the guest speaker.

Capen heralded the commissioning of the San Diego as an important part of the citys year-long commemoration.

SYMBOLIZES RESPECT

As the San Diego steams into ports around the world, her name will symbolize the citys respect for the past, her pride of the present and her hopes for the future, Capen said.

Before long, he said, the San Diego will arrive along the coast of Spain linking more than 400 years of rich heritage between Spain and the New World.

Capen said her cruise will recall such names as Cabrillo, Vizcaino, Portola and Father Serra. The ship will be the symbol of one of the finest natural harbors in the world, he said.

The defense official praised the San Diego as a unique combination of a refrigerated general stores and aviation supply ship which is a tribute to an oustanding team of ship designers and builders at National Steel and Shipbuilding.

View anniversary front pages online at sandiegouniontribune.com/150-years. For more from the Union-Tribune digital archives, go to newslibrary.com/sites/sdub. Searching is free, with registration. A fee is required to view full stories.
Kristin Gaspar is all in on President Donald Trumps battle against Californias sanctuary laws and other aspects of his agenda.

Still, the county supervisor tries to keep some distance in her association with the president, though not as much as she used to.

On policy, Gaspar said she also sides with Trump on the federal tax cuts, efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and border security. She disagrees with him on his push to expand offshore oil drilling. As for his tone, shes not wild about the way he uses Twitter and said he could be more respectful of people.

Her view of Trump, while nuanced, has shifted notably from nearly two years ago.

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Then a candidate for supervisor, Gaspar said after the 2016 June primary that she voted for Trump. As the campaign wore on, the Republican presidential nominee was increasingly accused of groping women, unwanted sexual advances and general boorish behavior. Gaspar said she had hoped he would be a candidate she could back.

Sadly, that hasnt happened, she said in late August of that year. He lost my vote.

Now running in a highly competitive race for Congress, Gaspar has a more charitable assessment of the president, based on job performance, a yardstick she said she uses for others.

I choose to evaluate elected officials based on their track record, she said this week, but declined to say how she voted in November 2016

Gaspar has become perhaps the highest-profile local advocate for Trumps lawsuit seeking to overturn Californias sanctuary laws aimed at providing greater protections for certain unauthorized immigrants. She and others say one of the laws has allowed unauthorized immigrant criminals to be released back into communities rather than deported.

Opposition to that law has become her signature issue in the campaign for the 49th Congressional District, which straddles San Diego and Orange counties. She spearheaded the push to get the county Board of Supervisors to endorse the Trump lawsuit and was one of several guests featured at a White House meeting last week to discuss the sanctuary laws with the president and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Gaspar has waded into a growing debate: Are we more or less safe because of the sanctuary laws? Some law enforcement leaders, while not supporting the laws, say guaranteeing their agencies are not enforcing immigration laws encourages unauthorized immigrants to come forward to report crimes.

The most disputed sanctuary law is known as the California Values Act, passed by the Legislature as SB 54. It prohibits state and local law enforcement from notifying federal immigration authorities when unauthorized immigrants who have committed lower-level crimes are released from jail. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is still notified if those being released have committed one of some 800 crimes.

There has been little data about the laws impact across the state. However, Maya Srikrishnan of the Voice of San Diego recently did an analysis on what has happened in San Diego County since the law took effect in January.

She reported that between Jan.1 and mid-May Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 605 notification requests for people held by the Sheriffs Department. Only 256 met the criteria for notification. The other 349 did not, so ICE wasnt notified, though the Sheriffs Department posts all release information online and said 172 individuals were picked up by ICE without notification.

The three most common charges among individuals who were released from sheriffs custody in 2018 without the department notifying ICE of their release date were DUI-related charges, disorderly conduct/public intoxication and domestic violence, all misdemeanors, Srikrishnan wrote.

Gaspar told the president about the case of Alexander Mazin, who was shot to death in San Diegos Midway District on Feb. 25. She said the suspect fled to Tijuana. San Diego police confirmed the suspect, Ernesto Castellanos Martinez, is believed to be in Mexico. Castellanos was an unauthorized immigrant who reportedly was arrested by the DEA in 2004 but not charged. He was given a voluntary departure directive by federal authorities, according to the report.

Mazins death is tragic, but it was unclear what that case had to do with the states sanctuary laws. Gaspar later explained, using a hypothetical to make the connection.

She noted Mazins parents said the suspect had a violent encounter with his ex-girlfriend, who had become involved with Mazin. That could have led to a domestic violence charge before the shooting, Gaspar said.

I felt like this was a good example to bring to the presidents attention, she said. Because of the lower-level crime (domestic violence), we would not be able to inform immigration officials of the release.

That Gaspar ended up sitting at a table with the president represents quite a political journey. In 2016, she didnt seem like the kind of politician who would be invited to a Trump White House.

Ive lost my support for Trump, she said then. Unfortunately, in the primary I was hopeful, like many other people, that he would bring people together and fulfill his promise to calm his rhetoric to be presidential, and I have no reason to believe that hell be presidential.

Gaspar has become increasingly identified with Trump on sanctuary laws and now gives him credit for his overall approach, up to a point.

When The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board asked 49th district candidates What do you like most and least about President Donald Trump?, heres how she responded:

Sometimes it is important to stand up for what you believe even if it is not the popular position to take and President Trump clearly doesnt respond to political pressures. His willingness to push through his agenda in spite of the naysayers has allowed him to get some things done that a conventional politician wouldnt.

However, I believe there is a more respectful way to deal with people, and while I certainly see how the president uses Twitter to his advantage, I think he also undermines his moral authority with some of the messages.

Her association with Trumps sanctuary law fight may distinguish her among Republican voters as she seeks one of the top-two primary spots. Whether she keeps emphasizing that to the broader electorate if she makes it to November  or in her 2020 re-election campaign if she doesnt  is an open question.
As the front door of a criminal courtroom opened to usher in Harvey Weinstein, the once-powerful movie mogul looked out at the large gathering of lawyers and reporters and, a dazed expression on his face, mouthed one word: Wow.

Weinstein  in court here Friday to face three felony charges, including first-degree rape  was confronting the public for the first time since dozens of women stepped forward last fall to accuse him of sexual misconduct, spurring the #MeToo movement.

But the moment also offered an opportunity for the public to confront Weinstein, a rare entertainment figure to face criminal charges for alleged sexual misconduct, and by extension to confront the culture of abuse and privilege he came to represent.

The charges against Weinstein, filed Friday morning by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, also included committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree. They come after a months-long investigation into incidents involving Weinstein and onetime aspiring actress Lucia Evans in 2004 and an unnamed accuser in 2013.

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This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi told the court.

But while the prosecutor was referring specifically to Weinstein, her remarks echoed wide-ranging experiences by women who say they have felt unable to ward off inappropriate conduct by powerful men or pursue recourse in a legal system that requires incontrovertible evidence.

Still, it was not a simple story. Even as #MeToo advocates saw progress in the fact that Weinstein was now facing criminal charges, they said they wondered what it would take to bring others to justice.

Weinstein, 66, who posted $1 million bail, has denied the charges. Mr. Weinstein maintains that he has never engaged in any nonconsensual sexual behavior with anyone, lawyer Benjamin Brafman said. Nothing about todays proceeding changes Mr. Weinsteins position.

Caroline Heldman, an advocate for sexual assault survivors who has worked with accusers of Weinstein and Bill Cosby, was one of many activists to react to the arraignment with mixed feelings, saying that it seems to require some of the worst offenses just to merit a chance at prosecution.

Im really happy to see (the Weinstein prosecution) happening, but I do think these cases are still the unicorns of the #MeToo movement and that our legal system is still outdated, said Heldman, an Occidental College professor.

Many of the other media and entertainment figures accused of harassment or sexual misdeeds have avoided prosecution.

Vance had decided not to prosecute Weinstein after Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accused the movie executive of groping her in 2015.

Convicting Weinstein this time may be a tall order.

Absent physical evidence, a case can also become a verbal battle between alleged victim and alleged perpetrator, something a defense attorney could use to sow reasonable doubt, experts said.

It always is a tough spot when its one witness against another, my word against your word, said Lynne Abraham, former district attorney of Philadelphia.

When accuser and accused already know each other, the defense can further exploit that relationship, she said.

Attorneys for Weinstein have already made that argument. Mr. Weinstein did not create the casting couch in Hollywood, Brafman told reporters. My job is not to defend behavior  my job is to defend criminal behavior.

(One issue Weinstein prosecutors are not facing is statute of limitations, which can often expire while victims, possibly traumatized, refrain for years from coming forward. New York did away with the statute of limitations for certain types of sexual assault crimes more than a decade ago.)

Experts also take note of the successful strategy used by prosecutors in the case of Cosby, who was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault last month in Pennsylvania. A jury could not reach a verdict last summer when only two accusers were allowed to testify. A new jury found him guilty after six accusers testified.

That may offer a template of sorts for Weinstein prosecutors, who could also seek to call witnesses from some of the dozens of other instances of alleged assault that came to light with investigations in the New York Times and the New Yorker last fall.

There is little question that the presence of multiple accusers in a case enhances the prosecutions chances of success in a sexual assault case, said Dennis McAndrews, a Philadelphia-area lawyer and former prosecutor. This is particularly important where a person of prominence is involved.

That was the case in the recent trial of disgraced U.S. gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted after more than 200 people stepped up to allege abuse.

While no major entertainment figure besides Cosby has been convicted by a court in recent years for sexual misconduct, the industry has imposed accountability far more swiftly, for transgressions ranging from inappropriate comments in the workplace to alleged sexual assault.

Many of the powerful entertainment men accused of misconduct have been disbarred of their power  stripped of their company in Weinsteins case or written out of reruns and future Hollywood deals, in actors cases.

Others who have faced allegations, such as actors James Franco and Jeffrey Tambor, remain in a kind of professional limbo, not blacklisted from the industry but not exactly welcome. In the absence of criminal charges, Hollywood has taken on a quasi-judicial role.

The executives who are firing these predators are stepping up to the plate where the justice system has failed, said the artist and actress Lili Bernard, an alleged Cosby victim who has been an outspoken #MeToo activist.

Particularly for a Hollywood community that is accustomed to Weinstein as a powerful figure, the sight of him being led by the arm around a state criminal courtroom was jarring.

The Queens native has produced and distributed some of the most well-known and acclaimed movies of the past 25 years, including The English Patient, The Kings Speech and Pulp Fiction, often employing a hard-charging style to win deals and awards. But wearing a dark jacket over a baby-blue sweater on Friday, he seemed unsure on his feet and gave a mile-long stare as he turned to face the gallery before the proceeding.

Weinstein turned himself in to police carrying several entertainment-related books, including a biography of Elia Kazan. Kazan, the director shunned by Hollywood after supplying names to the House Un-American Activities Committee, saw himself as an unfairly persecuted artist, and Weinsteins message in carrying a book about him was parsed by court observers.

Shortly after the surrender, Illuzzi, the prosecutor, told the court that Weinstein would be fitted for a monitor, paid for by him, which enables him to be tracked 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the court and (prosecution) are allowed to request his whereabouts at any moment.

Brafman was then instructed to turn over Weinsteins passport. The defense lawyer walked over to Illuzzi and handed it to her. His client, one of the countrys most famous globe-trotting men, watched as his world grew smaller.

Ohlheiser, Paquette and Zak reported from Washington.
The good news about a drop in homelessness this year could be short lived.

Homeless advocate Michael McConnell has asked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to not ratify this years count of San Diego Countys homeless because he said it may have left off almost 600 people, offsetting the reported decrease.

The Regional Task Force on the Homeless, which McConnell used to sit on as vice chairman, organized the January count and released a report last week that showed 540 fewer people living outdoors and in shelters throughout the county this year compared to 2017.

The data showed a 6 percent decrease in homelessness, with a drop from 9,116 to 8,576 in one year.

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McConnell noted that this years count did not include people living in recreational vehicles, which he suspects may have contributed to the decrease.

RVs were included in the count in past years, so this represents a significant change in methodology, he wrote in a May 23 letter to Norman Suchar, director of the office of Special Needs Assistance Programs at HUD, which requires the count for municipalities that receive federal funding for homeless programs. The change appears to have occurred without much thought or training.

Regional Task Force on the Homeless CEO Gordon Walker said Thursday that he had received the letter and planned to meet with McConnell to discuss it.

Ive told Michael were going to look into it, and thats exactly what were doing right now, he said. And when we have done that, then we will be releasing other information.

One thing McConnell said hed like to know is how many recreational vehicles were counted but not included in this years report.

Under a heading about changes in 2018, the task force report states that RVs were counted separately from cars, trucks and vans this year.

The reason behind this change was to get a better overall picture of homelessness in the county, the report read. It cannot be assumed that every individual in a RV would consider themselves homeless.

Last years report found 1,846 people living in vehicles, including cars, vans and RVs. This years count found 1,262 people, including only cars and vans, a difference of 584.

People doing the count didnt check inside each vehicle, but rather used a multiplier to estimate how many people each one held. In 2017, they counted 1.66 people per vehicle. This year, the multiplier increased to 2.03.

The report didnt say how many vehicles were counted, but that number can be calculated by dividing the total number of people in vehicles by the multiplier. Under that calculation, the number of vehicles was 1,112 in 2017 and 622 in 2018.

But were the 490 fewer vehicles counted, but it isnt clear whether all of those were RVs. McConnell acknowledges theres no way of knowing from the report, which he criticized for what he said was a lack of transparency.

The discussion also raises a question of how RVs should be handled in the annual count.

HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan said local agencies have flexibility in deciding whether to count RVs as homeless dwellings in their communities.

If people in those recreational vehicles are experiencing homeless, than they ought to be counted, he said. But you have to be able to use your eyes and apply your own standards.

Im not supporting any approach here, but just telling you our standards dont specifically address recreational vehicles, he added.

The task force will revisit the issue in next years count, known as WeAllCount.

To better understand if the occupants of RVs consider themselves housed or unstably housed, in the upcoming 2019 WeAllCount, the RTFH intends to do an in-depth outreach to those who live in RVs, the 2018 task force report read.

As to whether San Diegos final numbers of this years report should be revised, Sullivan said HUD officials are looking into it and will discuss the issue with task force officials.

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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

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The man suspected of shooting three people inside an Oklahoma City restaurant before being fatally shot by bystanders had no obvious connection to the victims or the restaurant, and was legally authorized to carry a firearm, authorities said.

Investigators are trying to determine a motive behind the Thursday night attack that wounded four people, according to Oklahoma City Police Capt. Bo Mathews. He said the only interaction police had with the suspected gunman, 28-year-old Alexander Tilghman, was during a domestic assault and battery call when Tilghman was 13.



For the record: This story has been corrected to show that one of the citizens who shot the suspected gunman is named Juan Carlos Nazario, not Carlos Nazario.

A police report from that 2003 incident indicates Tilghman was arrested after his mother told police he punched her several times during a dispute over a vacuum cleaner.

Mathews said Thursdays shooting appeared to be random but noted that Tilghman drove to the restaurant and wore protective gear for his ears and eyes.

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It looked like his mind was made up that he was going to discharge his firearm once he got there, Mathews said during a Friday news conference. Mathews stressed that the investigation was ongoing and confirmed that Tilghmans mental health was being looked into.

On a Facebook page that police said belonged to Tilghman, the man posts a video in which he claims his television is possessed by the devil. The page uses the same profile photo as a YouTube channel where a man that appears to be Tilghman also describes demons possessing his TV and being surrounded by computers.

He calmly begs for help from a real human, saying hes suicidal, lonely and really losing it.

The director of the LGBT rights group Freedom Oklahoma, Troy Stevenson, said Tilghman is the same man who distributed flyers across Oklahoma City earlier this year warning of demons taking over peoples bodies. And a reporter with the LGBT publication The Gayly conducted an interview in January with Tilghman, who warned of demons in cloned transexual (sic) bodies.

Flyers with similar messages were plastered all over a vehicle that Tilghman drove, said Ryan Beaulac, who said he frequently saw Tilghman at his apartment complex in northwest Oklahoma City.

Beaulac said he saw Tilghman acting strangely Wednesday night.

He was twitchy, grabbing his hair and acting weird, the 35-year-old Beaulac said. I was uncomfortable and definitely wanted to get away from him.

A man who identified himself as Tilghmans brother told television station KOCO that Tilghman needed mental health treatment, saying: Nobody reached out to him, you know. He was crying for help.

Tilghman was licensed as an armed security guard, which authorized him to carry a firearm, said Gerald Konkler, general counsel for the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. The council certifies law enforcement officers and other armed personnel across the state. Obtaining such a license requires a background check and at least 72 hours of training.

A woman who answered the phone at the home believed to belong to Tilghmans mother declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

Police said Tilghman was armed with a pistol when he opened fire inside Louies On The Lake around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. A 39-year-old woman and two girls were shot and wounded, while an unarmed man broke his arm while trying to flee.

All four victims were in good condition Friday, according to police.

Mathews, the police spokesman, praised the two citizens who retrieved firearms from their vehicles and shot Tilghman outside the restaurant.

They were able to shoot the suspect and put an end to a very dangerous situation, Mathews said.

Mathews said its unlikely either of the men, Juan Carlos Nazario and Bryan Whittle, will face criminal charges. Telephone and text messages left by The Associated Press seeking comment from the two men were not immediately returned Friday.

The Hal Smith Restaurant Group, which owns the restaurant, said the restaurant was closed Friday and counselors were available to employees and customers.

We are extremely thankful the situation didnt escalate further, and that injuries were not more widespread. However, our hearts are with the wounded during this incident, the statement read.

The National Rifle Association said in a tweet Friday that the shooting was an example of how the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

In April, a restaurant patron wrestled an assault-style rifle away from a gunman at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee. Four people were killed in that shooting. Police have said there would have been far more casualties if it werent for the patrons quick thinking.
Incumbent Democrat Myrtle Cole faces two challengers from her own party in her bid for re-election in San Diego City Council District 4, which includes many of the citys southeastern neighborhoods.

Cole says she should be re-elected so she can bring over the finish line several projects and initiatives shes been working on in the areas of economic development, housing and infrastructure.



For the record: This story has been amended from its original posting, which failed to mention Republican Tony Villafranca is running for the council seat.

Her main opponents, civil rights lawyer Monica Montgomery and former Housing Commission Chairman Neal Arthur, say voters should opt for a change because Cole hasnt accomplished much and doesnt connect well with the community.

The two candidates who get the most votes in the June 5 primary will face each other in a November runoff.

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Montgomery, 39, says she has superior experience to Cole despite the incumbent serving on the council since winning a special election in 2013.

She knows the inner workings of City Hall because she served on Coles staff and worked on the staffs of Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Councilman Todd Gloria before that.

And that experience goes well with her years as an attorney focused on civil rights and employment discrimination, said Montgomery, who lives in Skyline Hills.

But Montgomery said the main reason shes a better choice than Cole is her knowledge of whats going on at the grass roots level in District 4, where there is a dearth of high-paying jobs and many residents are low-income.

I have seen the ups and downs of District 4 and we are at a crossroads, Montgomery said by phone. Weve always had to fight for everything that weve gotten, which, to this point, is not very much.

Montgomery said evidence of Coles lack of connection with the community showed in comments she made last year condoning some forms of racial profiling because blacks frequently shoot blacks.

If she had a deep relationship with the community and really cared about their quality of life, then I dont think it would have had the sting that it had, Montgomery said. But it was on top of her lack of representation and her really showing she doesnt have a positive perspective on people that she represents.

Cole apologized for her comments and has since tried to make amends with minority leaders.

Arthur, 70, says his experience is also superior to Coles. He was chairman of the Housing Commission for many years and has also worked as a private developer.

Arthur, who lives in Paradise Hills, criticized Cole for taking credit for projects and accomplishments that began before she took office.

He also said Cole is too focused on issues outside the district and too influenced by special interests instead of her constituents.

There are too many outside people making decisions about the community, Arthur said by phone. We dont need a lot of people downtown telling us we need more studies and reports.

Cole, 68, says the criticism from her opponents is off base and unwarranted.

Since she took office, spending on infrastructure has sharply increased in the district. That includes streets getting paved, sidewalks getting built and the opening of the Skyline Hills library branch.

Cole, who lives in Redwood Village, said additional progress has included bringing the district its first large drug store, first full-service restaurant and multiple affordable housing projects.

We have things that weve never had before in the district, Cole said by phone. I have not just been sitting on my hands doing nothing. We are adding resources and services.

Cole conceded that she hasnt yet achieved some other goals, such as attracting more grocery stores and quality restaurants to the area. But she said the groundwork has been laid.

It takes more than just wanting, she said. We need to convince people that we spend money. Just like Walgreens took a chance, others will too.

A key factor could be the new affordable housing projects, she said.

They say they need more rooftops, so thats why Im so excited about the new housing, she said. It just takes time.

Cole, whose colleagues elevated her to Council President in late 2016 and re-elected her to that post in late 2017, has also convened forums on regional issues such as homelessness and the citys lack of affordable housing.

The council president, who sets the councils agenda and distributes committee assignments and chairmanships, is essentially the second most powerful politician in the city behind Mayor Faulconer.

Before joining the council in 2013, Cole spent several years working as a campaign strategist and policy consultant for other local politicians. She is the first black woman to serve on the council and the first to serve as council president.

Cole has raised significantly more money than Montgomery and Arthur. She had raised $123,000 through the latest disclosures in April, compared to $35,000 for Montgomery and $18,000 for Arthur.

A fourth candidate, Tony Villafranca, has qualified for the ballot, but has reported raising no money. He is a registered Republican, and Democrats have a signficant voter registration advantage in the district, with 35,000 voters compared to 11,000 for the GOP as of May 1.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
Cathy Clark, who spent 27 years as a local television news anchor and reporter in San Diego, died Thursday after a battle with cancer. She was 69.

She could cover any story with unbelieveable straight-shooting clarity and insight, said Laura Buxton, also a longtime local television anchor and reporter, who had known Clark for more than 40 years.

She was irreverent before it became kind of cool. She was brilliant, Buxton said of Clark, whom she referred to as her best friend. I was dazzled by her intelligence and insight.

Adrienne Alpert, also a familiar name to longtime San Diego news viewers, said Clark was unforgettable.

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Cathy is  was  twice the journalist and twice the writer I could ever hope to be, said Alpert, who is now  and has been for years  a reporter at the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles. She and Clark had also been friends for decades.

Her journalism was honest, Alpert said. She wrote honestly; it was clean and she didnt make mistakes. It was true to the facts.

Cathy Clark in 1999 (courtesy Adrienne Alpert )

Buxton said Clark moved to San Diego from Glendale, Calif., and never left. She was a journalism major at San Diego State University and was editor of The Daily Aztec, the school newspaper.

After college, Clark took a job at KFMB in 1972, working as a reporter and anchor for seven years, according to her LinkedIn page.

In 1979, Clark jumped to KNSD and spent 10 years as a reporter and anchor.

In 1990, she moved to KUSI, where she anchored the 10 p.m. newscast. She left in January 2000.

Clark also spent two years as a contributing writer and editor-at-large at San Diego Magazine, and worked briefly for the San Diego Tribune, a predecessor to the Union-Tribune.

More than two decades ago, she and husband Roel Robles formed Robles Productions, which provides video production services.

Clark approached her cancer battle with determination, not defeat, her friends said.

When she was diagnosed two years ago, she was so stalwart in approaching it, Buxton said.

Alpert said Clark treated the disease more like a chronic condition.

She was living with cancer, Alpert said. She wasnt dying with it.

Buxton had gone with Clark for a chemotherapy treatment earlier this week. But Clark suddenly fell ill before the treatment and died a little more than a day later.

She was the dearest friend in the world, Buxton said.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
A San Diego jail inmate died Friday from injuries he had suffered in a fight with his cellmate two weeks earlier, according to the San Diego Sheriffs Department.

Neither the deceased inmate nor the suspect were identified by officials.

According to a news release, on May 12 deputies in the downtown central jail responded to a fight between two cellmates at 2:35 p.m. They found one inmate lying on the bed with a severe head injury, and the cellmate standing just inside the cell door.

Because of the severity of the injuries the victim could not tell deputies what had happened, Lt. Michael Blevins said in the news release. The vicitm was taken to the hospital for treatment, but died from his injuries Friday morning at 4:45 a.m.

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The death is under investigation by sheriffs homicide detectives.

The victim was in custody on charges of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. The suspect was in jail on charges of battery on a police officer, vandalism, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Twitter: @gregmoran

greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
The Ash Street office tower that the city of San Diego acquired on a lease-to-own basis in January 2017 will remain vacant until December at least, meaning taxpayers will spend more than $12 million leasing the empty building before even one employee moves in.

The move could be pushed back until the fall of 2019 if city officials choose the last of four options presented to a council committee this week, a scenario that calls for finishing all the renovations needed to relocate as many workers as possible in the office tower.

That alternative would not only cost an estimated $27.6 million in tenant improvements, it would push the amount of rent paid for the vacant office space past $18 million.

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Im surprised you arent more outraged, Councilman David Alvarez told his colleagues at a committee meeting this week. We were told something totally different (in 2016) than what we were told today. We were told $5 million will get 1,150 people into this building.

By Thursday, Alvarez sent a 5-page memo to city officials, including City Attorney Mara Elliott, raising dozens of questions about the transaction.

It appears that the council was given inaccurate information when it approved the lease-to-own agreement in 2016, he wrote. Even more concerning is that the 101 Ash Street agreement is just one of several recent flawed real estate deals that are exacting a large financial toll on our citys budget.

Aides to Mayor Kevin Faulconer told the City Council two years ago that the 19-story building could house 1,100 workers by July 2017 with little more than a $10,000 power wash and some caulking.

Based on that representation, the council in October 2016 approved spending up to $202 million over 20 years to purchase and maintain the office tower, once the leased headquarters for Sempra Energy.

Even though the city is paying $535,000 a month on the lease, the property has been vacant since January 2017. Officials point out that at the end of the lease term, the city will own the building.

I think it is important for readers to understand that those payments are basically mortgage payments, spokesman Greg Block said.

In terms of delays moving in, they cite design and renovation challenges, including Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, heating and air-conditioning upgrades and other issues.

Faulconer aides acknowledged they did a poor job of alerting the council to changes in the original plan. They pledged to be more communicative after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported last month that the city was spending nearly $18,000 a day to rent the vacant building.

They presented the infrastructure committee four scenarios aimed at getting city employees into the Ash Street building effectively. The scenarios pit the costs and time it takes to renovate against the benefit of occupying the space as quickly as possible.

Option 1 would move about 800 workers into the property by December, which would cost $3.1 million initially but up to $125 million over 20 years. Option 2 would relocate 820 workers by next spring for about $7 million upfront and $92 million overall.

The third scenario would move 955 or so employees in by next spring at an initial cost of $15 million and $68 million over 20 years. The fourth option would spend $27 million upfront so the property could serve 1,157 by Fall 2019, with costs over 20 years estimated at $33 million.

Im frustrated by the path that led us here today, Councilman Mark Kersey said at the meeting. The lack of communication during that timeframe was, quite frankly, unacceptable. This council needs to be part of that process.

That said, we have made a decision to make a long-term investment in that property, Kersey said.

Assistant Chief Operating Officer Stacey LoMedico told the committee she expects to issue requests for proposals within two weeks, with bidders being asked to propose estimates for renovating the first two and top three floors as well as each additional floor.

Our plan is to move forward with a public bid of five floors, with an alternate to do all 19 floors, she said.

The bids could be opened in July, with an award made sometime in September, LoMedico said.

While the mayor has the authority to award the bid, we plan to come back to committee or full council via an action item, she told the committee.

The option selected by Faulconer or council members will determine when the building is eventually occupied.

Former Councilman Michael Zucchet, who now runs the Municipal Employees Association that represents the citys white-collar workers, urged the committee not to make the problem worse by moving employees in before all necessary renovations are completed.

We do this right, we do the construction and improvements upfront, he said. Even from a fiscal standpoint, that is the best path forward.

When the city proposed the lease-to-own agreement in 2016, officials said the deal would save taxpayers up to $45 million by reducing the citys reliance on rented office space elsewhere downtown. Those estimated savings subsequently were trimmed to about $35 million

Sempra, the global energy giant and parent company of San Diego Gas & Electric, vacated the mid-century high-rise one block north of city hall in 2015.

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
The 50th Congressional District encompasses much of East County as well as the North County communities of Fallbrook, San Marcos, Valley Center and Escondido.

Six candidates are challenging incumbent Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, who is facing an investigation into his campaign finances. The San Diego Union-Tribune asked six of the candidates to respond to several questions.

Here are their responses.

Why should voters choose you over your opponents in this election?

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Because we deserve better than Duncan Hunter.

I was born in East County, the son of a working-class mother who raised me with help from family and neighbors. From my first job as a janitor to serving in the White House, Ive devoted my life to service. Im running to give back to my mothers generation, and to all those seeking to live with dignity.

This is a where were you? moment in America. Ive spent the past 15 months campaigning, listening to voters about what keeps them up at night. And today, thanks to voters who have devoted their labor and love to this campaign, we stand the best chance at defeating Hunter.

After 40 years of the Hunter dynasty, we deserve new leadership. If given the opportunity to work on behalf of the working families of the 50th Congressional District, Ill take on the big challenges and never stop fighting for you.

Meet the other candidates:

Candidate questionnaires

50th Congressional District candidate Josh Butner on the issues

Rep. Duncan Hunter on the issues in the 50th Congressional District

50th Congressional District candidate Patrick Malloy on the issues

50th Congressional District candidate Shamus Sayed on the issues

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells on the issues in the 50th Congressional District

What will be your top domestic and international priority in Congress?

My top domestic priority would be to train American workers to fill the 6 million job vacancies in construction, manufacturing, health care, education, IT and cyber-security.

At the U.S. Department of Labor, I worked on a bipartisan jobs program called apprenticeship. The average apprentice makes $70,000 a year  double the average Americans income. Having an apprenticeship job would make health care, housing, and education more affordable. If elected, Ill demand billionaires pay their fair share so we can invest in trade schools, apprenticeship jobs, and debt-free college.

My top international priority would be to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has become the regions Achilles heel, serving as a proxy war between Iran and other regional powers and posing concerns for Americas national security. The United States has a role to play in renewing a meaningful dialogue between both sides that can end the 70-year conflict once and for all.

What California issue deserves more attention?

Other than the severe droughts and fires, Id say economic inequality. California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, and is simultaneously the richest and poorest state in the union. I believe theres a clear connection between the rise in income inequality in California and the fact that our state ranks 41st in funding student education. If California hopes to overcome the challenge of climate change and seize the job-creating potential of our innovation economy, then we must make sure the next generation can rise to the occasion with a world-class education within their reach.

How would you try to improve the economy and create more jobs?

The unemployment rate of Californias 50th Congressional District is double the rest of San Diegos. Residents commute for hours to get to work and are barely getting by.

Instead of excessive government spending on corporate subsidies ($4 billion a year on oil and gas), Id invest in booming industries like renewable energy to help 50th Congressional District residents punch their ticket to the middle class.

Our rural and suburban communities need a seat at the table when it comes to new workforce programs. As congressman, I will do everything I can to bring quality job opportunities home.

How do we pay for it? By building up working families instead of building another wall. Duncan Hunter Sr. helped build the wall we currently have with Mexico. Spending an additional $35 billion taxpayer dollars for something San Diego already has is fiscally irresponsible. Instead, Id invest $1 billion a year in apprenticeship jobs for all residents in my district.

What do you see as the No. 1 threat to America over the next couple years?

I believe the American nightmare is the bleak reality that my generation may be the first to be left worse off than our parents. The American Dream can skip a generation if we dont learn how to make America work together again.

Todays generation is going to inherit the worst calamities of climate change, soul-crushing debt and an education system that wont lead to a good-paying job  not because of immigration, but automation. We must prevent the worst and prepare for the inevitable.

The No. 1 threat to America and the world is climate change. Its not just an environmental issue, but a health-care issue with pollution, housing issue with fires, and the Pentagon rated it as the No. 1 national security threat. Its the source of all our problems, and can be the source of all our solutions if we invest in innovation to confront it.

What do you like most and least about President Donald Trump?

What do I like about Donald Trump? He speaks his mind. What I dont like about Donald Trump? He speaks his mind.
The 50th Congressional District encompasses much of East County as well as the North County communities of Fallbrook, San Marcos, Valley Center and Escondido.

Six candidates are challenging incumbent Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, who is facing an investigation into his campaign finances. The San Diego Union-Tribune asked six of the candidates to respond to several questions.

Here are their responses.

Why should voters choose you over your opponents in this election?

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Ill let the people of Californias 50th Congressional District decide who is best to represent us. But if you look at who we are and how weve lived our lives, it comes down to this  a career politician looking out for personal profit and special-interest politics vs. a citizen whos fed up and thinks we need someone in Congress who will stand up for people for a change. Heres the deal Washington is broken. Working families are struggling. Its got to change  now. Weve had enough of a congressman who puts personal gain and special-interest politics ahead of our needs. We need someone who will champion our countrys fundamental values  who will put people first.

Meet the other candidates:

50th Congressional District candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar on the issues

Rep. Duncan Hunter on the issues in the 50th Congressional District

50th Congressional District candidate Patrick Malloy on the issues

50th Congressional District candidate Shamus Sayed on the issues

El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells on the issues in the 50th Congressional District

What will be your top domestic and international priority in Congress?

Health care is a right, not a privilege. But all we see in Washington is a Congress that wants to eliminate health care for millions of Americans. We must strengthen the Affordable Care Act  by fixing it. Weve got to put American families first, not health care companies. Its time we allowed Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices, reducing the cost of health care, while making it more accessible and affordable.

The United States has the worlds most potent and capable military fighting force. However, two decades into two wars in the Middle East have ballooned the deficit and taken thousands of American lives and have no end in sight. We need to focus on fully funding the State Department and international development programs like USAID, while maintaining a robust intelligence agency to monitor and help thwart attacks on our nation.

What California issue deserves more attention?

If we want to build the economy of the future, we must invest in our childrens education. Serving on the Jamul-Dulzura Board of Trustees, Ive fought to ensure that every child, no matter their ZIP code or background, has access to a quality education that will prepare them to be productive members of our society. Despite California being the wealthiest state in our country, in 2016, we ranked 42nd in funding our public education system per student. In a fast-changing world where the ability to code, or discover next generation cures grows in importance with each passing day, it is simply unacceptable for us to leave our students behind in a competitive global economy and allow countries like China to take the lead. I will take the fight to Washington in order to be the fierce advocate our community needs for quality education for our children.

How specifically would you try to improve the economy and create more jobs?

As a 23-year veteran of the armed services, I fought every single day to protect the quality of life for all Americans. In Washington, Ill work to get something done  investing in small businesses and creating jobs. That means eliminating bureaucracy and red tape so our local businesses can grow and bring good-paying jobs to East and North San Diego County. We must invest in renewable energy and the creation of green economic zones right here in East and North San Diego County that can help wean us off the environmentally harmful use of fossil fuels for energy production.

What do you see as the No. 1 threat to America over the next couple years?

In addition to the outer visible threats to the U.S. posed by ISIS, the next version thereof, China, Russia, and North Korea, I feel there is an existential threat to our democracy and our way of life that is rising at an exponential rate. This threat is wealth inequality! In 2010, economists worried that 50 percent of the worlds wealth was concentrated in the top 1 percent of the worlds population. A short eight years later finds that the top 1 percent of the worlds population now holds 99 percent of the worlds wealth! In the United States, the ratio is less dramatic but we are following suit and as you can see the growth in income inequality is exponential. I believe, like Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, we can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.

What do you like most and least about President Donald Trump?

Donald Trump hasnt given us a lot to like, but he reminds us that every vote matters and that we are a nation of citizen-based government that should not be taken for granted. Im most disappointed in President Trumps polarizing rhetoric and divisiveness that has pushed Americans apart rather than bringing us together. Its my hope that we can all learn to actively reach out to one another and celebrate our differences by highlighting how diversity makes us stronger and can bring us together in ways we did not expect. This is what America is all about.
Two candidates for the San Diego County Board of Education District 5 seat answered five questions from The San Diego Union-Tribune on a wide variety of education issues, from performance standards to funding formulas. The district is made up of the countys northwestern coast and some inland areas, including the communities of Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Poway and Fallbrook. Cheryl James-Ward is challenging incumbent Rick Shea.

The San Diego County Office of Education went through an upheaval two years ago with the departure of Superintendent Randy Ward. Do you think the office is functioning well now? What can it do better? What does it do well?

I only served a relatively short time before Wards resignation, and there was some upheaval during that era. The office is now functioning very well. Dr. Gothold is a visionary educational leader and weve made great progress in innovation, equity and service to children. In addition to providing services to 500,00 children in the county, we have excelled at services to homeless, foster and adjudicated youth. Recently we partnered with the District Attorneys Office to provide a countywide school safety summit and offer districts proven student safety programs such as Sandy Hook Promise and Crime Stoppers.

Id like to see us do better promoting the innovative programs we have for vulnerable children, such as Monarch and San Pasqual Academy so others could duplicate our success. Overall, the County Office of Education is a local and state education leader because of the work of our teachers and staff.

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RELATED: San Diego County Board of Education candidate Cheryl James-Ward on the issues

The dashboard standards the State Board of Education have adopted to judge the performance of students, schools and districts have been criticized by some reformers as too vague and criticized by some opinion writers as intended to make it difficult to assess performance. What is your view?

The dashboard was created to give a better idea of what is happening in our schools and to identify schools that need extra help. It is a component of the Local Control Funding Formula law passed in 2013 that significantly changed how California provides funding to public schools and holds local educational agencies accountable for student performance. It takes into account current performance and growth over time. A plus of the dashboard is that it is more than a single number: The multiple measures of student success define a quality education more broadly than a single test score. Being a new program, I believe there is definitely more fine-tuning and modification needed, so parents and the community may more easily see and understand the academic performance of students. SDCOE provides a Dashboard Communication Toolkit that provides more information.

The Local Control Funding Formula, adopted by the state in 2013, was supposed to provide more funds to help English-language learners, students from poor families and foster children. But an investigation last year by the CAL matters journalism website found no evidence these groups of students were benefiting from the LCFF. The state has approved the use of LCFF dollars for teacher raises. Do you think the law has worked as intended? Should it be amended in any way?

The LCFF is a good first step in allowing local districts to provide additional resources to students in their communities who most need them. Local control is local control. Local boards and districts complete their LCAP based upon the needs of their students and communities We have a board adopted goal to focus our resources on those most needy, specifically English-language learners and foster children. Helping these children to achieve academic achievement comparable to other groups of children is still a challenge that we are aware of and working diligently towards. That is the premise behind LCFF and the backbone of local control. As a county office, we strongly support LCFF because it is grounded in equity. Legislation that increases accountability and transparency are beneficial. From a lobbying perspective, we are advocating for an increase to base funding as this benefits all 42 districts in the county.

The county Office of Education has been caught up in disputes over charter school authorizations, with some arguing that it has been hostile to applications at the behest of teachers unions which oppose charters. How do you think the county office has handled this issue?

Its a shame so much attention is being placed on the charter issue since it is just a small part of what we do for children. The county board is neither hostile nor friendly to charter schools. Rather we are advocates for children. Each case is decided on its own merits. I do site visits, observe children in classroom settings, and meet with charter staff and concerned parents. Then our county staff conduct a thorough investigation and make a recommendation to the board as to the merits or problems they discover. If a petition meets state law, is good for children and is not duplicative of the district program, I would approve it. If the academic program is subpar or if there are financial irregularities, I would not approve it. My advocacy is for children, parents and taxpayers. I approve the best, deny the rest  the children deserve no less.

The Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team warns that many school districts are in a perilous place with their finances because of soaring pension costs as the CalSTRS bailout is phased in through the 2020-21 school year. Do you think the county office in its watchdog role is doing enough to get districts to prepare for this fiscal stress?

We take our fiduciary responsibilities very seriously and intervene when a district proposes a budget that does not appear sustainable. CalSTRS cost increases have been enacted into law since 2014 which has allowed districts to prepare and make necessary adjustments so that they may prepare for these and other future liabilities. Because we look at budget projections three years out, we can and do assist districts early to address and prevent budget shortfalls before they become a problem. SDCOE works collaboratively with districts as part of our fiscal oversight role and we analyze budget assumptions and multiyear projections. We ensure that increased pension costs are being accurately projected and accounted for. On an ongoing basis, we offer professional development assistance to district superintendents and business staff on a monthly basis.
School board election reform is needed for the San Diego Unified School District because the current process has generated school boards of long-term incumbents who seem more focused on power, politics, and reelection rather than the students and schools they were elected to represent.

In the six years between 2010-11 and 2016-17  while the majority of current SDUSD board trustees were serving on the board  funding from the state increased by $170 million annually. And yet each year, the school board approved budgets that cut services to students, created chaos with constant reorganization, and provided fewer dollars for principals to operate school sites. Employee costs are currently 97 percent of the districts unrestricted budget leaving little funding for anything else. Classrooms and bathrooms arent cleaned regularly, many school libraries are open only once per week and the technology purchased with taxpayer bond funds sits inoperable for months, due to woefully inadequate IT support.

Parents want school district leadership that truly puts the education of our children at the forefront of all decisions. We want school board trustees who make responsible financial decisions that allow best practices and successful programs to be expanded rather than generate deeper and deeper cuts to school sites.

Some proposed changes to the SDUSD board election rules would help to refocus the district on the students.

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Allowing only the voters in a sub-district to elect their representative would give each community the opportunity to elect their own trustee, resulting in better representation of each communitys needs. Campaigning citywide is expensive, so running for SDUSD school board becomes a political game of special interest funding rather than a focus on students needs. By reducing the financial burden of campaigning, sub-district-only elections would also open the opportunity to a more diverse pool of candidates.

Increasing the number of school board trustees, and therefore the number of sub-districts, would further reduce the financial burden for campaigning and create even greater opportunities for stakeholder engagement. Under the current system of five trustees, each represents an average of 35 schools, making it exceedingly difficult for trustees to effectively understand the concerns of the communities that elect them. With fewer schools to represent, trustees could recognize the issues and concerns of their constituents and make better-informed decisions. A majority of the 10 largest districts in the state have seven trustees.

Instituting term limits would have multiple beneficial impacts. It would increase the number of community members who can engage in leadership at the district and thereby foster fresh ideas. It would also create a sense of urgency for action and progress, rather than view small, incremental improvements as sufficient. With 44 percent of the students in SDUSD not meeting the Common Core standards in English and 54 percent not meeting the Common Core standards in math, rapid progress is vital. Term limits would also bring the school board in line with other local elected positions, such as City Council members, county supervisors and state legislators, who all have term limits.

SDUSD board elections are held in the San Diego City Charter and are therefore under the City Councils jurisdiction. The City Council tasked the SDUSD board trustees with making recommendations for possible changes. They passed this task to an advisory committee, which conducted a districtwide survey. Sixty percent of respondents were in favor of sub-district-only elections, 51 percent wanted more than five sub-districts and a whopping 81 percent wanted term limits, with 77 percent wanting a maximum of two terms.

However, the SDUSD board trustees largely do not support changes to the elections process, and more than one have publicly stated they believe the proposed changes to the elections are a solution in search of a problem.

Believing that the status quo is acceptable demonstrates just how poorly the trustees understand and respect the needs of their communities and the students they represent. Yet the financial and physical burden of campaigning city-wide and the advantage held by incumbents with political connections and name recognition has discouraged others from running for San Diego Unified School Board, leaving voters with no choice but the status quo.

Given that the SDUSD school board routinely ignores stakeholder feedback and votes against its advisory committee recommendations, parents hope the City Council listens to the stakeholders and recognizes that the current school board elections process politicizes the school board positions and leaves students without meaningful representation. We hope that the City Council will agree with parents on the proposed changes and approve one or more ballot measures to give San Diego voters the opportunity to improve the school board elections process and make the job about the children, not politics.

Higman is chair, Mission Bay Cluster; past board member, Friends of Pacific Beach Secondary Schools; past District Advisory Council representative; past president, Barnard PTA.
Residents of eastern San Diego County have elected men named Duncan Hunter to Congress every two years since 1980. In 2008, the first Hunter retired and cleared the way for son Duncan D. Hunter to replace him. For years, the former artillery officer in Iran and Afghanistan  who shares his fathers military background and gung-ho political conservatism  seemed a good fit for his district. No more. His call in September 2017 for a unilateral nuclear strike on North Korea, which would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths in U.S. ally South Korea, was a moment of lunacy for a Marine veteran sitting on the House Armed Services Committee.

But the Alpine Republicans campaign finance scandal  the subject of an FBI criminal probe now in its second year  and his pathetic attempts to depict himself as a victim in the mess are even stronger reasons to conclude he is unfit for another term representing the 50th Congressional District.

The scandal, which The San Diego Union-Tribune first reported on in April 2016, centers on the repeated use of campaign donations to Hunter to pay for all manner of the Hunter familys bills, services and consumer goods  oral surgery, school tuition, vacations, video games, garage repairs and much more. From the start, Hunter has argued that these dozens of expenditures somehow amounted to an honest, inadvertent mistake. After he announced in November 2016 that he would repay his campaign, he seemed to think that everyone would move on. When that didnt happen, Hunter took to Facebook the next month to trash the Union-Tribunes allegedly dishonest reporting.

And when that didnt quell scandal coverage, Hunter gave an extraordinary interview to Politico in March 2017 and pointed the finger at someone else  his wife. Duncan and Margaret Hunter were the only ones with access to a campaign credit card that was repeatedly used for their family expenses, $60,000 of which the congressman has now reimbursed. I didnt make any of those charges, he told Politico. None. None of those expenditures. Who did? He wouldnt say. He didnt have to.

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This January, in an interview with KUSI, he found someone new to blame: somewhat biased U.S. Justice Department officials. Its not just his hometown newspaper that wants to hurt him, you see; its the Trump administration. Sheesh.

Given this history, The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board offers an unusual endorsement in the 50th district race. Because of his name recognition, Hunter is sure to be one of two candidates to advance from the June 5 primary to the November general election. In that race  barring some shocking revelations  we will support the other candidate. There are five running serious campaigns.

Democrat Josh Butner, a retired Navy SEAL and a Jamul-Dulzura Union School District board member, makes thoughtful observations about health care and the risks of U.S. militarism.

Another Democrat  Ammar Campa-Najjar, an Obama White House fellow  speaks smartly about preparing students for the modern economy.

A third Democrat  Realtor Patrick Malloy  notes the value of international trade in boosting productive U.S. relationships around the world.

Republican Shamus Sayed, an entrepreneur and former molecular biologist, offers an appealing pro-business economic growth agenda.

Republican Bill Wells, the mayor of El Cajon, is passionate about improving how our society responds to pervasive mental health issues.

Any of these candidates would be superior to the incumbent. And come this fall, well make a more comprehensive case for one of them. For now, heres the short version of our view: anyone but Hunter.

To read responses to several questions The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board asked the six leading candidates in the 50th district race, please visit sdut.us/50district.

Read and listen to all of our candidate interviews & questionnaires.

Related: How The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board will make its 2018 election endorsements

You will find all of our endorsements here.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
Four San Diego City Council seats are up for grabs on the June 5 ballot, but no race will decided until a November runoff election featuring the top two vote-getters, thanks to a new city law requiring anyone with more than half the vote to run against the second-place finisher in the fall. In 2016, candidates who secured that many votes won outright.

While the change makes a first-place finish far less important, the June vote could still signal strong community support for each winner, so why not back the right candidate now? With three incumbents deserving of a second term on the ballot, these are not particularly hard decisions to make.

In District 2, which covers the beach areas to Bay Park, Lorie Zapf has led on keeping the San Diego River clean despite more and more homeless residents camping along its shores  and in trying to move river dwellers to temporary housing. She also has pushed for more housing all around. And the moderate Republicans warning about a 5-4 City Council rejection of a $160 million religious-themed hotel and conference center helped lead to the councils reversal weeks later, saving the city the cost and embarrassment of a lawsuit it would have lost.

In District 4, which includes much of southeastern San Diego, Myrtle Cole has been elected City Council president two years running, a sign of the political skill and leadership she has shown since issuing a public apology after her controversial comments about black-on-black crime led to calls for her resignation in July 2016. Her selection as council president in December 2016 was welcome because she is a centrist who earned votes from the councils four Republicans and fellow Democrat Barbara Bry. A year later, her colleagues re-elected her council president 8-1 with Bry praising her integrity. A note on one of her opponents: Neal Arthur hasnt voted in 15 elections from 2006 to 2016, per KPBS, so he doesnt deserve to win an election of his own.

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In District 6, which runs from Clairemont to Rancho Penasquitos, Chris Cate also deserves a second term. His 2020 mayoral ambitions tanked with a flap over a confidential City Attorneys Office memo he leaked last year and his weak response. But the Republican has been a constant presence in his district and a leader on short-term vacation rental regulations; his proposal for permits, fees, taxes, fines and penalties still stands out for its sensibility.

In District 8, which stretches from Sherman Heights and Barrio Logan to the border, Vivian Moreno stands out. The University of California San Diego graduate has spent seven years in termed-out Councilman David Alvarezs office, working as a community representative for Otay Mesa East and overseeing binational affairs. The Democrat knows the district, and her answers to The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Boards questionnaire showed a deep understanding of the citys severe housing crisis, a thoughtful tough love approach to a persistent homelessness problem and a willingness to call it as she sees it. She called the citys station-based bike-sharing experiment with Decobike a failure while explaining that the city should better regulate the dockless bike-sharing companies that have exploded in popularity in recent months.

We dont agree with her that the citys contract with the Police Officers Association should be reopened so soon after the current one provided gigantic raises, but Moreno is right to worry about the exodus of officers to other departments. Shes the smart choice to step in for her boss.

Based on your address, The U-T Editorial Board suggests voting for Zapf, Cole, Cate or Moreno in June  and in November.

Related:

See where District 2 candidates stand on the issues.

See where District 4 candidates stand on the issues.

See where District 6 candidates stand on the issues.

See where District 8 candidates stand on the issues.

Read and listen to all of our candidate interviews & questionnaires.

See also: How The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board will make its 2018 election endorsements

You will find all of our endorsements here.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
GOP association with Trump will cost party

I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. In the past, I have voted both sides of the aisle. But this time is different. I have come to the conclusion that the Republican Party has truly lost its way.

The Republican Party has now become the Trump Party, lock, stock and barrel. Every day when I turn on the news I see a president who constantly lies to the American people. I cannot accept a habitual liar for a president, nor a party that condones and defends that type of behavior.

If Washington was a swamp before Trump took office, then today it is a cesspool. For the first time in my life I will vote a straight Democratic ticket and hope others will do the same.

Advertisement

Robert Hall

San Diego

-

Democrats just focus on obstructing Trump

Re GOP association with Trump will cost party: Im neither a Republican nor a Democrat. In the past, I have voted both sides of the aisle. But this time is different. I have come to the conclusion the Democratic Party has truly lost its way.

The Democratic Party has now become totally consumed with hatred of Donald Trump, lock, stock and barrel. Every day that is all the Democrats can think about is getting and hating Trump. They have no time to do anything for our country. They are running around like Chicken Little, The sky is falling.

Washington was a swamp before Trump and still is and the Democrats are not doing one thing to clean it up or anything else, for that matter. For the first time in my life, I will vote a straight Republican ticket.

Steven Quinn

North Park

-

Obstruction of party in office is nothing new

Re Democrats just focus on obstructing Trump: Steve Quinn wrote that he is neither a Democrat nor a Republican but insists that all the Democratic Party does is, getting and hating Trump. I too am neither a Democrat nor a Republican but I believe that Quinn has a very short memory.

It was not too long ago when all the Republicans did to President Obama was the same exact thing the Democrats are doing to Trump. The problem is not one party or the other, it is both parties. Until they can learn to play in the sandbox together and compromise there will never be an effective government in Washington.

Raymond M. Pitesky

Poway

-

Democrats made our state a laughingstock

Re GOP association with Trump will cost party: The way the letter writer describes the Republican Party as one that has lost its way is truly what has happened to the Democratic Party.

President Trump has done more good for this country in a short time than Barack Obama did in eight years. Living in California, letter writer Robert Hall should realize what the Democrats have done to our state. Anyone who would vote for the party that is working on making California the laughingstock for the rest of the country should wake up and get rid of the Democrats in office. We need politicians who will work for our citizens and not cater to illegals. We need our state back to the way it once was, a state we can be proud of.

Nancy Kenna

San Diego

-

Trump backers have a very short memory

Re Democrats just focus on obstructing Trump: Steve Quinn writes that he is tired of Democratic obstructionism but seems to forget that Mitch McConnell vowed that the GOP would not pass a single piece of legislation for the new president Obama and try to assure he would be a one-term president.

While that failed, McConnell was very successful in blocking large numbers of judicial nominations that the GOP is now hurrying to fill. And few of us can forget his blatant refusal to consider filling a Supreme Court vacancy for an entire year. Oh, and the Congress of 2015-16 was considered to be the least effective, passing the least legislation of any for over 70 years.

Which party is the obstructionist party? The GOP, and its offshoot, the tea party, were the creators of the spurious Birther movement, questioning Obamas birth place. Vitriol and hatred have been generated on both sides. We have all lost our way and it is time to stop looking at the opposition as evil.

Carol Gendel

San Marcos

-

Democrats are the real problem in Washington

I nearly burst out laughing at the new Democratic Party platform anti-corruption agenda called A Better Deal. Okay, Democrats want to attack corruption and drain the swamp? Get rid of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Steny Hoyer, Adam Schiff, Rod Rosenstein, Maxine Waters and Elijah Cummings, to name but a few.

While you are at it prosecute and send to jail James Comey, James Clapper, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton, and the list of possible jail candidates goes on. Trumps presidency is embroiled in controversy constantly, but where is the corruption?

Richard Schauer

Escondido

Letters and commentary policy

The U-T welcomes and encourages community dialogue on important public matters. Please visit this page for more details on our letters and commentaries policy. You can email letters@sduniontribune.com or leave a comment below.

Follow @UTLetters on Twitter and UTOpinion on Facebook.
Attention, California. The black bears are back.

Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is reminding residents of the state that black bears are on the move and hungry after hibernating for the winter. The department is also offering facts and tips about the animal to help people be bear aware.

Over the years, reported human-bear conflicts have increased significantly, said Vicky Monroe, CDFWs Wildlife Conflict Programs Coordinator. Each spring and summer we receive numerous calls from the public reporting anything from black bears eating food off campground picnic tables to bears taking dips in residential swimming pools.

Taking dips in residential swimming pools? Yikes.

Heres what you should know, California.

What are the characteristics of black bears?

These bears are the only bear found in California and are about three feet high at the shoulder and five to seven feet tall when standing upright. They can range from 100 to 600 pounds and are not actually all black.

They can be black, cinnamon, blonde, blue/gray or even white, according to the National Parks Service.

Theyre known to eat pretty much anything, including berries, insects, pet food, trash and roadkill.

How prevalent are they?

There are an estimated 35,000 bears in California, but they arent just found in California. They live all across North America.

Police shot and killed a black bear at 2 a.m. on Friday in Gresham, Oregon, after it was found roaming through an apartment complex. There have also been sightings reported in Minnesota and Ohio this week.

Here in California, a black bear was hit and killed by a motorist on Thursday in Lake County in Northern California, and its the second time that has happened there in less than two weeks, The Press Democrat reports.

Last year, a black bear turned up at a Metrolink stop in Los Angeles County. San Diego County black bear sightings are pretty rare, however.

Do they pose a risk to humans?

One of the main reasons the Department of Fish and Wildlife is calling attention to black bears this week is that their special sense of smell can lead them to enter homes, cabins and tents on the quest for something to eat. However, officials note that unwanted or destructive bear activity may be significantly reduced or even eliminated, when people are mindful and remember to remove attractants and access to food.

Tips for bear-proofing your surroundings include:

Wait to put trash out until the morning of collection day.

Keep barbecue grills clean and stored in a garage or shed when not in use.

Bring pets in at night.

When camping, store food (including pet food) and toiletries in bear-proof containers or in an airtight container in the trunk of your vehicle if bear lockers are not available.

What about hiking?

Here are a few tips to remember.

Bears may react defensively if your presence is not known  make noise while hiking. Talk loudly or whistle.

If possible, travel with a group of people.

Avoid thick brush and walk with the wind at your back so your scent is ahead of you.

What should you do if you encounter a bear?

Human-bear attacks are rare in California; however, they do occur. As an example of whats possible, a 5-year-old girl was attacked outside her home in Colorado earlier this month. The child was dragged by the bear until her mother yelled at it and scared it away.

While there is no single safety strategy applicable to every bear encounter, heres what you should do if you encounter a bear, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

If you see a bear, avoid it and give it the opportunity to avoid you.

Keep as much distance as possible between you and the bear.

If you encounter a bear while hiking and it does not see you, back away and increase your distance. Clap hands or make noise so the bear knows you are there and will move on.

If you encounter a bear on the trail and it sees you, do not make eye contact. Back away, do not run. Let the bear know you are not a threat. Give it a chance to leave.

If a bear approaches you, make yourself look bigger by lifting and waving arms. Use noisemakers, or yell at the bear. If small children are present, keep them close to you. Carry and know how to use bear spray as a deterrent. In the event of a black bear attack, it is usually recommended to fight back. However, each situation is different. Prevention is the key.

For more information about black bear biology, go here.

For more information about black bear safety, go here.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
Californians have long braced for the inevitable earthquake known as the big one. Now, Arizona is getting ready for one anticipated aftermath: 400,000 Californians taking refuge in Arizona.

Californians arent so sure the preparations are necessary  Id rather grow gills, one wrote  but many people are taking the situation very seriously.

As many as 75 state, local and federal agencies held a four-day drill this week on how to receive a massive number of evacuees from populated areas such as San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, which sit along the San Andreas fault.

The full-scale drill, which concluded Thursday, was the first of its kind in Arizona.

Whats it like to prepare for an event like this? And what are some of the possible scenarios they rehearsed? Heres a look at the Arizona 2018 National Mass Care Exercise.

Why a mass care exercise?

The drill is part of a nationwide series of drills performed for a wide variety of emergencies. A manual known as the National Mass Care Strategy offers a blueprint for states to handle mass evacuations.

Similar drills have been conducted in Florida, Texas and Utah.

What are these places preparing for?

Handling injuries: One of the main goals of the exercise was to learn how all the various agencies would accommodate patients or handle casualties stemming from earthquake damage in California, per the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. Responders will use military aircraft to transport patients to a central staging area and then moved to local hospitals in or near Phoenix.

One of the main goals of the exercise was to learn how all the various agencies would accommodate patients or handle casualties stemming from earthquake damage in California, per the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. Responders will use military aircraft to transport patients to a central staging area and then moved to local hospitals in or near Phoenix. Reuniting families: The agencies also focused on what to do when evacuees, including unaccompanied minors, are separated from their families. Judy Kioski, a spokesperson for DEMA, told the San Francisco Chronicle that family reunification was an important priority.

The agencies also focused on what to do when evacuees, including unaccompanied minors, are separated from their families. Judy Kioski, a spokesperson for DEMA, told the San Francisco Chronicle that family reunification was an important priority. Sheltering: Along with sheltering thousands of people, Kioski said these agencies also need to figure out how to feed everyone. The exercise even included a scenario for sheltering exotic animals and house pets.

Along with sheltering thousands of people, Kioski said these agencies also need to figure out how to feed everyone. The exercise even included a scenario for sheltering exotic animals and house pets. Fuel shortages: The exercises were meant to put a stress test on the agencies ability to deliver food, shelter and fuel, one Federal Emergency Management Agency official told a Los Angeles CBS station. Part of the scenario is the fuel line is compromised in Cailfornia, which directly effects Arizona, said FEMA Deputy Director Wendy Smith-Reeve.

What does a drill of this size look like?

If this was a full-scale emergency, the hotels would be full, areas would be saturated, the roads would of course be in a different condition, one Red Cross official told a Phoenix NBC News station. They would be gridlocked.

To get a real hands-on practice on a mass evacuation scenario, the agencies set up tents, staging areas and operation centers to practice routing patients to hospitals, feeding refugees, or helping families reunite.

Will Californians actually flee to Arizona when the big one hits?

Sure, the threat of the big one is scary; scientists figure it could feature an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 or greater, which would be much stronger that some of the strongest quakes in California history. But the possibility of a mass exodus from California to Arizona sparked some curious thoughts about this scenario.

Many Californians said no, they wont flee to Arizona. Others said yes.

One of the snarkier comments came from former Assemblyman Mike Gatto.

If you live in California and the big one hits, would you flee to Arizona? Do you have a plan for a major earthquake? What will you do?

Email: luis.gomez@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @RunGomez

Read The Conversation on Flipboard.
Seniors Helping Our Kids and OASIS tutors at Poway Unified schools were honored on May 10 for their years of volunteer efforts.

SHOK/OASIS Coordinator Jane Radatz said the program had 152 volunteers working at 22 campuses this academic year as reading tutors, classroom helpers and ballroom dance teachers. Of these, 13 were recognized for volunteering five, 10 or 15 years.

Among recipients of the 15-year award was Janice Furtak. (Courtesy photo )

According to Radatz, SHOK was founded more than a quarter-century ago by Elaine Usell and Phyllis Comer at the then-Rancho Bernardo Joslyn Center (now Ed Brown Center for Active Adults). Comer coordinated the program during its first dozen years. After she retired, Radatz succeeded her.

Those recognized for 15 years of service were Janice Furtak and Irma Latzusch.

The 10-year awards were presented to Lynn Beavers, Glenn Graves, Dorothy Newton and Lin Siepert.

Volunteers honored for their five years of service were Jo Ann Casperson, Jody Duffy, Betty Dunn, Dave Forsey, Rich Schenck, Howard Schuss and Ann Marie Terzi.

Glenn Graves and Dorothy Newton were among those to receive 10-year awards. (Courtesy photo )

Joining Radatz in the awards presentation at Westwood Elementary School in Rancho Bernardo was John Dunnicliff representing the OASIS Tutoring organization.

Anyone  especially retirees  interested in volunteering as a SHOK/OASIS tutor for the 2018-19 academic year can contact Radatz at jradatz@att.net or 858-485-5449. Tutors do not need to have any teaching experience, are trained for free and pick the campus, day and time convenient for them.

Email: rbnews@pomeradonews.com


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Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Industry Latest News:



January 2018 Arkema company achieved new advances in hydrophobic acrylic emulsion market. The research and development team of company focused on performance attributes of hydrophobic emulsions using new Arkema products for both interior and exterior formulation. The new development would help the product to be more resilient and better performance in paint formulation. These products perform wide range of improvements when compared to traditional resins such as water whitening resistance, alkali resistance and silica stability.



June 2017 Lubrizol Corporation announced partnership with distributors in Middle East market. The agreement was done with Al-Shihab Al Thahabi and Al Azzaz based in UAE and Saudi Arabia respectively. These companies would distribute Lubrizol Corporation solvent-based adhesives and elastomer application in countries such as UAE, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. This partnership would strengthen distribution of specialty chemicals in EMEA region along with cater the requirements of customer in specialized market.



November 2016  The Dow Chemical Company technologies has been recommended for use in projects which are leading blueprint 2025 sustainability goal. U.S.-China building efficiency and green development fund is public-private partnership which is convened by Paulson institute. This institute provides financing for innovative ideas in effort to reduce carbon emission. The collaborative idea to transform China as sustainability economy and use high performance building technology in subsequent projects. Dow Chemical efforts to build relation in construction sector especially in China market which accounts for approximately 50% of new construction in the world.



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Bio Emulsion Polymer Market  Market Overview



Bio Emulsion Polymer Market witnessed substantial growth due to increasing preference towards low VOC and environmental friendly emulsion polymer material. This material is manufactured from renewable source of raw material with two different method such as bio-based latex polymer or sugarcane macromer method. Superior performance, non-toxic, easy availability, enhance efficiency and reliable nature are some of the factors influencing the market growth. Due to aforementioned factors, Bio-Emulsion Polymers are used in various application such as textiles, paints & coating, adhesives and paper among others.



The Bio-Based Emulsion Polymer produced from latex polymer method is more stable and renewable thereby, gives better performance compared to synthetic emulsion polymer such as styrene acrylate and styrene-butadiene. The growing consumption of natural based emulsion polymers owing to ease of application, superior performance and excellent life & recyclability are anticipated to drive the market growth. Paints & coating industry is dominating application segment in Global Bio Emulsion Polymer Market. Bio Based Emulsion Polymer used in paints and coatings are not flammable which readily reduces storage, transportation and fire insurance cost. Thus, they consume less energy which releases low carbon footprint, thereby anticipated to fuel the demand for Bio Emulsion Polymer in paints and coatings industry. Bio emulsion polymer used in adhesives are stable and offer excellent weathering. However, rising demand of adhesive and sealants is projected to drive the product market growth during assessment period. This polymer emulsion is also used as binder in paper industry as they offer mechanical strength to final product. The growing awareness among consumer to reduce plastic and switch to Bio-Based Emulsion Polymer in paper is also likely to propel the market growth.



The Global Bio Emulsion Polymer Market is spanned across five regions such as Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa. Among regions, North America witnessed considerable growth during forecast period owing to stringent regulation regarding low VOC emission and rising number of investments for development of natural based emulsion polymer. Countries such as U.S and Canada are contributing to the growth of bio-based emulsion polymer. Moreover, increasing demand of adhesives and paints & coatings in construction, automotive and packaging sector is projected to drive the market growth. Asia Pacific market witnessed sluggish growth owing to growing strategic alliances among regional players and divergence of major players in emerging economies. Lenient government regulations are hampering the market growth in this region. Over the time period, with changing government bodies and high focus on high performance of products, are expected to propel the market growth. Europe region is projected to witnessed highest CAGR during review period. EPA and REACH regulatory bodies has set certain regulations which led to high product penetration in end use industries. The increasing demand of renewable or eco-friendly products in textile and paper industries is expected to witnessed substantial growth of bio emulsion polymer market in this region.



Bio Emulsion Polymer Market  Competitive Analysis



Bio Emulsion Polymer Market is fragmented with presence of tier 1 and tier 2 regional players. The various strategies followed by market players are product launch, expansion and agreement. The key players are developing new products in order to meet customer requirements. The companies are focusing on quality and high performance of products through adoption of high tech technologies. Rising investments in manufacturing emulsion polymer by natural processing method in order to reduce toxic emission has resulted in growth potential. Companies are shifting towards natural production technology to minimize emission and meet stringent regulations. Other strategies adopted by key players are partnership and agreements to acquire emerging markets which thereby, resulted in rise in number of expansion and acquisition. Key players are enhancing distribution channels and increasing contract distribution agreement to increase market share and profits across value chain.



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Deerfield Beach, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Civilcourtattorney.com, one of the largest Florida business attorney directories online, is adding to their selection of lawyers to include Florida criminal defense attorney options in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and surrounding areas as well as offering free consultations via phone. This year, the directory has already added several categories and will continue to do so as the demand increases for specific specialties. The selections, which are based on location, price, experience and additional options, are completely free to access for visitors to the site.



"You need a Florida civil litigation lawyer, so you go online and search for one. What happens? You see dozens of options that are far too expensive for you. The reason is because they are paying the most for that ad space, meaning they have to charge the most. So, you scroll down a couple of pages and now you are seeing lawyers who don't specialize in what you need assistance with, they are just putting ads everywhere trying to get as much business as possible. It's a frustrating experience and one we want to eliminate by making it easier for you to find the best person for you whether it's for a DUI, medical malpractice, real estate, divorce, cryptocurrency, Florida business attorney or something else." Civilcourtattorney.com Representative



In order to find a Florida criminal defense attorney or someone who specializes in another area, visitors can go to the site, select the category they want, choose a location and find the right options for them. The visitor will then be able to start narrowing down their selection based on experience, cost and other variables that will influence their decision. The company is also offering free consultations when guests call, in order to help them find the Florida civil litigation lawyer that's best for them.



"When you see your primary doctor, they send you to a specialist based on your needs. Unfortunately, that doesn't really exist in the legal field. People aren't sure what type of lawyer they need and where to find them. We encourage you to call us if you aren't sure what type of legal representation you need. These free consultations have helped hundreds of people to find the best option for them."



For more information please contact 954-773-4991 or info@civilcourtattorney.com



About Civil Court Attorney

Created in 2017, Civilcourtattorney.com is an online directory where visitors can find experienced and qualified legal counsel based on price, location and specific fields of practice. The company also provides detailed information about their members, giving visitors an opportunity to see which options are right for them. Attorneys may also sign up for membership by visiting the site today.



Related Links:

https://www.facebook.com/Civil-Court-Attorney-1436458333060757/
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- The demand for flat glass across multiple end-use industries is expected to surge in the coming years. This rise in demand will boost revenue growth of the global flat glass market, which is projected to reach a valuation of more than US$ 89 Bn by the end of the forecast period in 2025, up from an estimated US$ 58 Bn by 2017 end. This is reflective of a CAGR of 5.5% in terms of value during the eight year forecast period 2017  2025.



To study the performance of the global flat glass market over this eight year period, Persistence Market Research recently conducted an in-depth study of the global market and published the findings in a new report titled 'Flat Glass Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012-2016) & Forecast (20172025).' Besides the value and volume projections, the report highlights the factors expected to impact the growth of the global flat glass market during the period 2017 to 2025.



Request for Table of Contents @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/3361



Global Flat Glass Market: Forecast by Type



On the basis of Type, the global flat glass market is segmented into Annealed Glass, Toughened Glass, Laminated Glass, Coated Glass, Mirrored Glass, Patterned Glass, and Extra Clear Glass. The Toughened Glass segment is expected to hold the highest market share of about 27% by the end of 2025. Annealed Glass and Laminated Glass are expected to remain attractive segments and generate high revenue shares in the upcoming years.



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Global Flat Glass Market: Forecast by Manufacturing Process



The global flat glass market is segmented on the basis of Manufacturing Process into Float Glass, Sheet Glass, and Rolled Glass. The Float Glass segment is expected to hold the highest market share of more than 85% throughout the forecast period. This segment is anticipated to gain 140 BPS in market share in 2025 over 2017.



Global Flat Glass Market: Forecast by Application



On the basis of Application, the global flat glass market is segmented into Building & Construction, Automotive, Electronics, Furniture, Solar Applications, and Others. Building & Construction is expected to witness the highest growth in terms of revenue, with a projected market value of about US$ 63 Bn by the end of the forecast period in 2025.



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Global Flat Glass Market: Regional Forecast



Persistence Market Research has studied the performance of the global flat glass market across the key geographies of Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific is expected to observe relatively higher Y-o-Y growth in the coming years. This is also the largest regional market for flat glass, with a projected value share of more than 55% throughout the assessment period.



Asia Pacific is estimated to create a total incremental $ opportunity of about US$ 18 Bn between 2017 and 2025. North America and Europe are expected to witness moderate growth and medium market share in the coming years. The Europe flat glass market is anticipated to remain ahead of the regional markets in North America, Middle East & Africa and Latin America in the near future owing to the presence of a large number of automotive OEMs that demand huge quantities of flat glass for various applications.



Global Flat Glass Market: Vendor Ecosystem



Some of the top players operating in the global flat glass market are profiled in this report. Companies featured in the report include Asahi Glass Co. Ltd., Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A., Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Ltd., Guardian Industries Corp., Central Glass Co., Ltd., China Glass Holdings Limited, ?i?ecam Group, Xinyi Glass Holdings Ltd., Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V., Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., Ltd., CSG Holding Co., Ltd., Luoyang Glass Company Limited, Schott AG, Taiwan Glass Ind. Corp., Phoenicia Flat Glass Industries Ltd., Obeikan Glass Company, Emerge Glass India Pvt. Ltd., Cardinal Glass Industries, Inc., Euroglas GmbH, and Scheuten Glass Holding B.V.
Princeton, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/24/2018 -- The European Paints and Coatings Market has been estimated at USD 33,710 million in 2017. The market is expected to register a CAGR of 3.76% during the forecast period, 2018 to 2023. By volume, it has been estimated at 10,445.4 kilotons in 2017 and is expected to register a CAGR of 3.13% during the forecast period. The architectural segment dominated the Europe paints and coatings market with nearly 49% share globally, while packaging segment is estimated to register the fastest CAGR through the forecast period, 2018-2023.



Browse details of our latest research report developed on Europe Paints and Coatings Market @ https://www.researchcosmos.com/reports/europe-paints-and-coatings-market-segmented-by-resin-type-end-user-industry-technology-and-geog/5200503



High Demand from the Automotive Industry Drives the Europe Paints & Coatings Market



In the automotive sector, paints and coatings impart protection to both interior and exterior surfaces, against various aggressive environmental agents, such as sunlight, corrosive materials, and environmental effects. Additionally, these coatings are used by the automotive body shops and repair centers for vehicle refinishing. The European Automotive Commission has doubled the funds available for cooperative research and innovation in the automotive sector for the period 2014-2020 with the aim to preserve the technological leadership in the automotive sector. The funding focused on green vehicles, decarburization of conventional engines, safety, and information technology infrastructure.



The architectural segment is expected to dominate the market with the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Paints and coatings are used in the exterior and the interior of houses, offices and buildings to give them an aesthetic look, and also to protect the walls and the fundamental structures. They are applied to ceilings, cabinets, windows, and doors. Paints and coatings are applied on the exterior of the house not only to give them a new look but also to protect it from blistering summers, freezing winters, soaking rain, and the daily bombardment of UV radiation without fading, peeling away and cracking.



Germany Dominates the Europe Paints and Coatings Market



Germany has the highest share in the market, accounting for nearly 17.6% of the European market share in 2017. The increasing investments in growing automotive industry have highly driven the market for paints and coatings in Germany. Additionally, the German high-speed rail network line is likely to open many opportunities for implementing state-of-the-art transport concepts  the beginning of a new era of rail travel and increase in paints & coatings market.



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Key Developments in the Europe Paints and Coatings Market

April 2017: Teknos completed the acquisition of Feyco Treffert, a company specializing in wood coatings, and Schekolin AG. The acquisition will provide Teknos with access to new markets in Switzerland, Malaysia, and the United States, and strengthen its position in the global wood segment.



January 2017: Sika acquired Bitbau Dorr, a leading Austrian manufacturer of waterproofing systems



Some of the leading companies operating in the Europe Paints and Coatings Market:

PPG, AKZO NOBEL, CROMOLOGY, DAW, BRILLUX, AXALTA, and BASF, and Other Players Include BECKERS GROUP, BERGER PAINTS INDIA LTD, UJIKURA KASAI, HEMPEL, HENKEL AG & CO. KGAA, JOTUN, J.W.OSTENDORF, KANSAI PAINTS CO. LTD, MANKIEWICZ HAMBURG, NATIONAL PAINTS FACTORIES CO. LTD, RING INTERNATIONAL HOLDING AG, RPM INTERNATIONAL INC., ?NIE?KA SA, SHAWCOR LTD, SIKA AG, STO GROUP, TIKKURILA OYJ, TEKNOS GROUP, THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY, and TIGER COATINGS GMBH & CO. KG.



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Regions or countries that are expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period

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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Some of the prominent participants in the global hybrid operating room market are Trumpf Medical, Toshiba, IMRIS, Eschmann Equipment, Skytron, Stryker, MAQUET, Philips, GE Healthcare, and Siemens Healthineers. In order to steal a march over their competitors, such players are banking upon mergers and acquisitions and partnerships which will enable them to tap into larger resources, diversify products, and access markets in various corners of the world.



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A report by Transparency Market Research predicts the global market for hybrid operating room to witness intense competition in the years ahead with players trying to outgun one another on the basis of product differentiation and competitive prices.



As per the TMR report, the global market for hybrid operating room will likely rise at a steady CAGR of 4.60% from 2017 to 2022, to become worth US$828.1 bn by the end of 2022 from US$661.8 mn by 2017.



Component-wise, key segments of the global market for hybrid operating room are operating room fixtures, surgical instruments, intraoperative diagnostic imaging systems, and audiovisual display systems and tools. Among them, the segment of intraoperative diagnostic imaging systems are witnessing significant demand  a trend that is expected to continue in the near future.



Geographically, some of the key regions of the market for hybrid operating room studied in the report are North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, and the Middle East and Africa. North America, of them, is a key contributor to the market. The market in North America is powered by the U.S. and Canada. In the near future too, the market is predicted to hold on to its leading share on the back of growing initiatives by hospitals to upgrade their operating rooms, the increasing number of ambulatory surgery centers, and rising requirement for various surgical procedures.



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At the forefront of driving the global market for hybrid operating room is the continuous technological progress in the domain. Leading players are seen pouring money into creating more sophisticated equipment, which in turn is driving demand.



Besides, swift uptake of robotic surgeries in Asian nations of Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan are also catalyzing growth in the market, along with continued upgrading of operating rooms, particularly in developed regions.



Further serving to boost the market for hybrid operating room is the increasing allocations by the healthcare sector and government support towards research and development of novel equipment.



Dealing a blow to demand for hybrid operating rooms, on the other hand, is the high cost of installation of the equipment. Complexity of the installation process is also proving to be a restraint. However, helping to overcome the obstacle is the rising preference for minimally invasive surgeries among patients, supportive policies, and increasing investments for development of new technologies.



The most prominent trend in this market is the strategic alliances among multinational players and regional and small-scale OEMs.



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Hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) are key end use segments in market.



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Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Market Scenario:



According to Market Research Future, Machine Control System market is estimated to generate USD 8 billion market revenue by 2023 growing with 14% CAGR during forecast period 2017 to 2023. Considering the present global machine control systems market scenario, the target market is estimated to have a moderate threat of new entrants, owing to the higher capital-intensive nature of the industry. The demand for machine control systems is expected to increase in constructions, infrastructure planning, mining and marine. This is expected to lead to insufficiency in supply of components soon as the technology is constantly upgrading. It is expected that new players enter the machine control systems market owing to the growing demand from the end-users.



Some of the protuberant drivers supporting the growth of the global Machine Control System Market are identified as, replacement of traditional survey pegs with a positioning system for precise and efficient machine operation, increasing construction projects in commercial & non-commercial sectors in the developing countries, and increased human and machinery safety. However, largely limited to earthwork construction, lack of technical expertise and cost of training are some of the restraining factor for the machine control system market.



Major Key Players:

- ABB Group

- Leica Geosystems

- Topcon Corporation

- Trimble Inc.

- RIB Software AG

- Andritz, Belden Inc.

- Schneider Electric

- Mitsui Co



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Regional Analysis:

For this study, Market Research Future has segmented the global machine control system market in four different regions namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of the World. The North American market is further divided into the U.S., Canada, and Mexico while the European market is segmented into Germany, the U.K., France, Spain, Russia, and Rest of Europe.



The Asia Pacific market is sub-divided into China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and the Rest of Asia Pacific.



North America dominated the global Machine Control System market in 2017 by occupying highest market share owing to the high growth in construction sector and growing process instrumentation and automation market in the region. Advancement in agricultural processes and developed network infrastructure are some other factors contributing to increasing market value of machine control system in the region.



The U.S. is leading the economy in the market, closely followed by Canada in 2017. Mature construction industry and high economic growth in the agriculture sector are the major factors driving the market growth in the U.S. Though Canada is adopting machine control technology for highway construction projects and developing partnership of machine control system manufacturer and OEMs to provide earth moving equipment, It is projected to witness high growth rate during forecast period 2017-2023. Mexico has a high potential market for automotive, aerospace and food & beverage sector which is also expected to develop an opportunity for machine control market in the coming future.



Key Findings:

- Global Machine Control System market was valued at USD 4 Billion in 2017. The market is projected to reach USD 8 Billion by 2023, expanding at a CAGR of 14.12% over the forecast period.

- By type, total stations segment is leading the market in 2017 and is expected to grow with 14% CAGR. Whereas, GNSS is expected to be the fastest growing market mounting with the highest CAGR of 16.10%.

- By end-user, the construction industry is expecting high growth in the coming years due to investment by government authorities for the development of advanced infrastructure globally.

- Geographically, North America region has been projected to hold the largest market share in global machine control system market followed by Asia Pacific region, while Europe ranks third in the Machine Control System market.



Segmentation:

The machine control system market is segmented into type, equipment, and end user.

Based on the type, the machine control system market is sub-segmented into total stations, global navigation satellite system, laser scanners, and GIS controllers. The equipment segment is sub divided into excavators, dozers, loaders, scrapers, and graders. Moreover, by end-users the market is sub-categorized into construction, mining, agriculture, and marine.



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Intended Audience:

- Component manufacturers

- Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)

- Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs)

- Original design manufacturers (ODMs)

- Assembly, testing, and packaging vendors

- Suppliers and distributors

- Government

- Technology investors

- Research institutes



About Market Research Future

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.



MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Market Scenario:



Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) extend the shelf life of fresh food products. This technology replaces the atmospheric air inside a package with a protective gas mix. This gas helps to ensure that the product stay fresh as long as possible. The modified atmosphere allows fresh and minimally processed packed food products to maintain the visual, textural, and nutritional appeal. The modified atmospheric packaging market is growing at a rapid pace and is likely to continue growing at the same pace over the forecast period. According to the MRFR analysis, the global modified atmospheric packaging market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% during the estimated period (2017-2023).



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Regional Analysis : Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market



On the basis of the regions, the global modified atmospheric packaging market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). North America leads the global modified atmospheric packaging market. Increasing demand for wrapped food in this region is lashing the growth of the market. The U.S. holds the largest market share in the North American region. Increasing concern about the hygienic packaging also increases the demand for modified atmosphere packaging as it reduces contamination during handling. Additionally, implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act by the government also has a positive influence on the growth of the market.



Europe is accounted for the second largest share of the global modified atmospheric packaging market and is expected to contribute significantly to the market growth during the forecast period. Germany is one of the top meat producers in EU. It also leads the European market in the production and export of pork and taking the second place for beef with a production share of 15%. This has increased the need for proper packaging of meat, which drive the growth of the modified atmospheric packaging market.



Asia Pacific region is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to the rapid growth in the packaging business in Asia Pacific region. Growing urban population and high disposable income further increase the demand for packaged food and beverages. These are some of the factors pouring the demand of the market in the Asia Pacific region. China, Japan, India, Australia, and Indonesia are the major contributor to Asia Pacific market. China accounts for the largest share of the regional market due to rapid growth in the urbanization and industrial development.



Segmentation: Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market



Global modified atmospheric packaging market has been segmented based on material, gases, application, and region. On the basis of the material, the market has been segmented into the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol, Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP) and Polyethylene (PE). Ethylene Vinyl alcohol had accounted for the largest share in the material segment of the global modified atmospheric packaging market. Ethylene vinyl alcohol material offers excellent gas barrier properties while retaining good processability. EVOH keeps oxygen out and retains nitrogen and carbon dioxide used in the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). This material also has a very high resistance to oils and preserves taste and aroma. These are some of the factors that leads EVOH in the modified atmosphere packaging market. Polyethylene is also the most common plastic material used in day to day life. Polyethylene is accepted as safe for contact with foods by FDA and health safety agencies around the world. This material is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period.



On the basis of applications, the global modified atmospheric packaging market is segmented into dairy products, bakery & confectionery, convenience food, fruits & vegetables, and others. Bakery & confectionery accounts for the largest share of application segment in the global modified atmospheric packaging market. Bakery products contain a large number of bread-based products. To increase the shelf life, bread-based products required a high proportion of carbon dioxide in packaging solutions. Hence, this will increase the adoption of this technology during the estimated period.



On the basis of the gases, the market has been segmented into nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and others. CO2 is the most important gas in the food packaging under modified atmospheres. Higher the concentration of CO2 longer the durability of the perishable food. Hence, carbon dioxide is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period.



Global modified atmospheric packaging market is highly competitive due to the presence of numerous large and small players in the market. For instance, in May 2015, Johnson Matthey has announced that it acquired the StePac Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) business from DS Smith for around USD 25 million. (18 Million Pounds).



The global modified atmospheric packaging market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period.



Key Players : Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market



The prominent players in the Modified Atmospheric Packaging market include Linde AG (Germany), CVP Systems Inc. (U.S.), Total Packaging Solutions, LLC (U.S.), Berry Plastics Corporation (U.S.), Hayssen Flexible Systems (U.S.), Dansensor A/S (Demark), Praxair Inc. (U.S), Ilapak Packaging Machinery (Switzerland), Sealed Air Corporation (U.S.), Bemis Company Inc. (U.S), Coveris Holdings S.A. (Luxembourg), Linpac Packaging Limited (U.K.), Amcor Limited (Australia), Winpak Ltd. (Canada), and Robert Reiser & Co., Inc. (U.S).



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The report for Global Modified Atmospheric Packaging Market of Market Research Future comprises extensive primary research findings along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain deeper insight into the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of current market scenario, which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value, technological advancement, macro economic and governing factors in the market. The report provides detailed information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.



Brief TOC :



1. Executive Summary

2. Research Methodology

3. Market Dynamics

4. Global Market, By PackagingType

5. Global Market, By Technology

6. Global Market, By Application

7. Global Market, By End-user

8. Regional Market Analysis

9. Competitive Analysis

10. Conclusion

11. List Of Tables

12. List Of Figures



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About Market Research Future

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.



MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.



In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/24/2018 -- Market Introduction:



Native Organic Cane Sugar also called as evaporated sugar, which is the evaporated juice of the sugarcane in its whole, natural state. Only the water is removed, meaning it retains most of the Vitamins and Minerals found in raw sugarcane. It is a golden sugar that contains molasses and has a slight caramel flavor.



Sugar has been repeatedly demonized by some health experts, as it is the monolithic cause of insulin resistance and obesity. In terms of availability, versatility, convenience, texture, price, eco-friendliness and nutrition, the best substitute for the ubiquitous white crystal sugar is the Native Organic Cane Sugar. Native Organic Cane Sugar is sugar minus the cancer causing and environmentally damaging pesticides present in conventionally grown sugarcane. Hence, the global cane sugar market has proven to be truly sustainable and is liable to be given many accolades for having built a trust in midst of the potential consumers which contributes directly in strengthening of the global native cane sugar market.



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Market Segmentation:



Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented on the basis of form, distribution channel, end user, packaging and region.



On the basis of form, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into Confectioners Sugar and Liquid Sugar (Invert Syrup). Confectioners sugar which is made from very finely ground organic cane sugar, also known as powdered sugar or icing sugar whereas, the liquid sugar is the crystallized organic cane sugar dissolved in water.



On the basis of distribution channel, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into direct sales and indirect/retail sales. In direct sales, the native organic cane sugar can be delivered in large quantities for manufacturing of some other products like beverages, dairy products mainly yoghurt. In retail sales, it is found in the hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores for organic products and e-retailers.



On the basis of end user, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into industrial and household use.



On the basis of packaging, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into silos, standard pouches, and jars/bottles/jugs as well as in small pouches.



On the basis of region, Native Organic Cane Sugar market can be segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Middle East and Africa and Japan.



Drivers, Restraints, and Trends:



Demand for Native Organic Cane Sugar is increasing as the consumers are interested in healthy and natural products. This provides particularly interesting opportunities for the manufacturers of native, organic and ethically produced products. In comparison to overly process and highly Refined White Cane Sugar, Native Organic Cane Sugar contain some nutritional properties. When organically processed, it possess amino acids, minerals (such as Sodium, Magnesium, Calcium and Iron), and different vitamins. Also it is well known for its therapeutic properties and for this the organic cane sugar is the best to retain the nutrients and the therapeutic properties.



Organic market in Europe is becoming a mainstream business. Hence, the EU has been actively promoting organic production by developing a single harmonized standard and product logo for application in the entire EU.



The rising food innovation trends and healthy food alternatives among consumers is giving rise to organic cane sugar as a substitute to crystal refined sugar in beverages and dairy products.



Key Players:



Major players in the Native Organic Cane Sugar segment are Global organics, Florida Crystals, Specialty food association (Native Organics), Wholesome mindfully delicious, Anthony's Goods, Organic delight, BSYD Corp., Delphi Organic are amongst to name a few.



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Regional Outlook:



Depending on the country of origin, whole cane sugar goes by many different names including panela (Latin America), rapadura (Brazil), jaggery (India), kokuto (Japan) etc.



The Americas and Asia-Pacific are the largest producers of Native Organic Cane Sugar in the world. The Native Organic Cane Sugar Market is highly concentrated, with the top three manufactures accounting for 75% of the global native organic cane sugar trade. The largest global manufacturing countries of Native Organic Cane Sugar include Brazil, Thailand, Guatemala, Cuba and Mexico. Brazil is one the largest producer of Native Organic Cane Sugar in the followed by India, China, Thailand, and Pakistan.



Europe is the largest importer of the Native Organic Cane Sugar. European consumers are increasingly concerned with the impact of agricultural activities on the environment and looking for products with lesser environment impact. This trend has benefited the market for products with organic certification. Overall the outlook for global Native Organic Cane Sugar market is positive over the forecast period.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Organic berries are small pulpy edible fruits that are free from synthetic additives such as pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and dyes. These are not processed under industrial solvents, irradiation, or genetic engineering. Its content should is generally 95% or more certified organic. The remaining 5% can only be foods or processed with additives from an approved list.



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Organic land use in Europe has witnessed high growth in terms of percentage area/land in use for organic farming. Countries such as Austria, Estonia, Sweden, Italy, Latvia and Czech Republic have a large percentage of agricultural land for organic farming, the percentage of land in use in these countries are as high as 15-20% of total agricultural land. Fruit farming also occupies a large share of organic land in use, countries such as Spain, Russia, Poland, Germany, Italy and the U.K. having a large proportion dedicated to organic strawberry farming. The consumption organic strawberries in these countries also remains high. Poland, Germany, France and the Netherlands have a high volume share of organic blueberries production. Romania, Latvia and Ukraine have a high organic cranberry production and consumption. Germany, Russia and Poland for gooseberries whereas Russia, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine have a relatively higher demand for raspberries. The organic farming of these berries have witnessed a strong positive growth in terms of volume. The area under organic farming has grown throughout Europe including countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Italy showing higher growth rates. Globally, the North American region including Canada and the U.S are the largest producer and consumer of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and cranberries. The organic farming of these berries have seen a significant rise in production as the demand for these berries has grown for both fresh and processed consumption. Food processing companies including breakfast cereals manufactures have introduced separate segments of all organic ingredient cereals with added berries of organic nature. The consumers demand for such products have pushed the market growth and a better part of organic berries is being consumed in finished products such as Muesli, jams and essentially cereals. In terms of import of organic berries, countries such as the U.S., China, Japan, Canada, Belgium and some South Asian countries hold a major share of organic berries import. The trade flow for organic berries originate from countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Spain, Italy, and certain Oceania countries.



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In the current scenario, organic products have a relatively low share compared to its conventional counterparts, but the organic trends have widely picked up and has been on an exponential growth with consumers willing to pay high amounts for organic fruits and organic fruit in the processed products as well. Manufacturers of breakfast cereals and baby food have focused in particular to this organic demand. A positive market growth for organic berries is highly likely due to its large share of usage in these products. Europe and North America are projected to be rapid growing markets for organic berries in terms of both fresh and processed organic berries consumption. Another usage of organic berries in fruit smoothies has led to a boom in demand in the developed countries which has had a positive impact in the market for fruit products and the demand from fast food chains is estimate to be on a continuous growth.



A rise in demand for different flavors and healthy fruits in Europe has shown great potential for market growth and some of the major berries producers and suppliers in the European region have reported major increase in demand from local end-product manufacturers. Some of the key manufacturers of organic berries include; Royal Ridge Fruits, SunOpta, Inc., Rainier Fruit Co., Driscoll's, Inc., Wish Farms Inc., Small Planet Foods, Inc. (General Millls) among others.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Pitaya fruit also known as dragon fruit is native to Mexico and cultivating in countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and South American countries including Ecuador and Colombia. The verities of the fruit vary in color from yellow to pink, and the juice extracted from the fruit is popularly pink to purple colored. The juice of dragon fruit/ pitaya is also used with other fruit juices as well as alcoholic beverages. Various health benefits are associated with this fruit juice and is often marketed as a super fruit with rich antioxidant content, this has attracted consumers and led to a high value demand from health conscious consumers across the globe.



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Exotic fruits makes up for a relatively small share fruit production and exports, moreover a very less proportion of the same is goes for processing, but this has still created a high demand from major import markets in the European region where the consumption demand remains very high. Markets for the fruit as consumed fresh as well as processed is concentrated in the Asian region, countries such as Vietnam, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and Japan. China is the single largest importer the fruit and constitutes high consumption of pitaya juice in terms of volume consumed. However a high demand surge is derived from countries such as Germany, France, Italy, U.K. and the U.S., these countries constitute the biggest importers of this fruit outside Asia, in both fresh and processed forms. Vietnam has a high popularity of pitaya juice and is considered an important health fruit with high antioxidants, the rarity of the fruit makes it unique and exotic across the globe. Considering the global demand for pitaya on a rise, Vietnam which the major supplier of pitaya and pitaya juice has increased its production area and the total output drastically in the last five years. Nearly ten-fold increase has been registered in the total area under production for pitaya. The North American region has most of its suppliers of the fruit from the South American countries, Ecuadorian and Colombian pitaya are imported into the U.S. as juice concentrates and mostly fresh fruits. In the Middle East, Israel, is one of the important producer as well as consumer of pitaya juice and the organic variant of Israeli pitaya has gain popularity in the local as well as European market. The shelf life of pitaya is also relatively less and this creates a challenge in transporting the fruit globally, this is creating a hindrance achieving the efficient supply of the fruit. The juice format also struggles with same and the overall supply remains restricted.



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Most of the production of the processed fruit products is done locally, however overseeing the demand in the global market for these exotic fruits, some International players have also started a dedicated product for such fruits juices, powders and concentrates. New innovative companies throughout the globe have also emerged as powerful brands in the respective regions. Moreover growth in organic fruit consumption, has created a rise in demand for different processed products made from these fruits and vegetables. A great potential for market is observed as the major producers of finished goods demand for a large supply of organic fruits including organic pitaya. The market for pitaya juice is small but promising and thus manufacturers have to adapt a product development and diversification strategies. Some of the key players in the market for pitaya juice are: Great Sun Pitaya Farm Sdn. Bhd., Pitaya Plus, Bai Brands (Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.), Welch Foods Inc., Juicy Juice (Harvest Hill Beverage Company), Nam Viet Foods & Beverag Co., Ltd., Madam Sun Sdn.Bhd, Biourah Herbal (M) Sdn Bhd among others.
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Industry Latest News:



June 2016- BASF SE, a leading manufacturer of specialty chemicals announced to acquire Albemarle's Chemetall. The company close the deal with USD 3.2 billion and acquire leading global surface treatment business for aerospace and auto industries. This deal will help company to strengthen its position among the surface treatment chemical manufacturers.



December 2017- BASF SE announced that their coating division operate as Chemetall brand will expand their manufacturing site in Langelsheim, Germany. This production capacity expansion will offer Chemetall enhanced scope and manufacturing of their aircraft sealants. This capacity expansion will help company to meet the rising demand from aerospace industry.



Surface Treatment Chemicals Market  Overview



Surface Treatment Chemicals which are used to change surface properties and are mainly utilized in various end use application such as industrial machinery, automotive & transportation, construction and others. The market is projected to witness significant growth due to their utilization in various end use industries specifically in building & construction, industrial machinery, and automotive industry. On the basis of the end use application segment, automotive & transportation is anticipated to register strong growth followed by industrial machinery on account of rising consumer's disposable income coupled with expanding automotive industry in developing countries across the globe. Furthermore, growing automotive and other transportation manufacturing base in emerging economies coupled with burgeoning need for high quality Surface Treatment Chemicals is expected to fuel the growth of the market over the estimated period.



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Geographically, Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market share for Surface Treatment Chemicals in 2016, followed by Europe which is further trailed by North America. The North American Surface Treatment Chemicals Market is anticipated to witness above average growth over the forecast period owing to substantial growth of marine and construction industry in this region. In North America, the market is further classified into Canada and the U.S., among these the U.S. is projected to hold key regional market share of Surface Treatment Chemicals owing to strong presence of key manufacturers in this region. Asia Pacific is predicted to witness tremendous growth over the assessment period in Surface Treatment Chemicals Market during 2017 to 2023. The demand for Surface Treatment Chemicals is predicted to raise in several countries of Asia Pacific such as South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, India, and China on account of growing population coupled with shifting of manufacturing base for most of the matured market players in this region. In Europe, Surface Treatment Chemicals Market is anticipated to register above average growth on account of shifting consumer preference towards the Surface Treatment Chemicals based products along with high adoption rate in various end use industries specifically in Poland, Italy, UK, Germany, Spain, and Russia. Furthermore, numerous countries of the Middle East & Africa and Latin America are expected to witness steady growth in surface treatment chemicals owing to increasing per capita disposable income combined with sales of Surface Treatment Chemicals based product specifically in Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil along with growing institutional, commercial, and residential construction activities specifically in Turkey, Qatar, Oman, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE.



Competitive Landscape



The Surface Treatment Chemicals report has analysed the level of competition among the key operating players in surface treatment chemicals market as well as sector growth and market scenario. The Global Surface Treatment Chemicals Market composed of large number of suppliers operating in the market which includes large scale and medium scale manufacturers. The noticeable manufacturers of Surface Treatment Chemicals and medium level producers which has strong hold in the market have shifted their focus towards growth association specifically by Asia Pacific as small level and medium level suppliers belongs to this region specifically from South Korea, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and Japan. Furthermore, the major manufacturers of surface treatment chemicals are observed to follow various strategic plans to improve their product portfolio such as distribution agreements, joint ventures, product launches, strategic acquisition and mergers, and exclusive agreements. Various major operating players in this market are expected to expand their manufacturing capacity of Surface Treatment Chemicals to meet the rising demand for Surface Treatment Chemicals across the globe.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/25/2018 -- Thorium a lustrous radioactive element with the highest temperature of 3,000 degrees has been acknowledged as an interesting resource on the planet. The global thorium market was boosted with the rising applications in the production of nuclear fuel. Several demonstrations have been carried out to generate electricity in different type of reactors worldwide. Many countries that have abundant resource for thorium are expected to focus on the utilization of thorium on industrial scale. The thorium market is expected to hold potential opportunities for the application in Advanced Heavy Water Reactors (AHWR). Such applications are expected to remain a significant step towards the development of long-term ecological thorium-based systems. In India, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is working on third stage development of technologies to generate thorium fuel cycle.



Thorium is generally traded in granular or powdered form by suppliers and distributors. The thorium market offers its application in certain retail uses in composition with many other alloy elements. Thorium being the untapped energy available as a source of nuclear power is mainly found in the Earth's crust as compared to that of Uranium and other fossil fuel sources. The increasing demand for thorium over uranium coupled with the sufficient availability is expected to uplift the thorium market over the forecast period.



Thorium Market: Dynamics



Thorium is available as rich as lead and three folds more than Uranium. The production of thorium is observed to be more than 30,000 tons a year. Such abundant availability of thorium is expected to offer exciting possibilities in the near future to fuel nuclear reactors by thorium. Major focus has been given to research on thorium-based fuels for utilization in evolutionary generation III+ reactors in order to provide optimum choice to manage Uranium and Plutonium.



The growing aerospace industries are expected to hold potential opportunities for its use in the composition with magnesium for air craft engines. Moreover to this, the non-nuclear use of thorium is expected to hold moderate growth in the thorium market during the forecast period.



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However, health and environmental concerns due to radioactive nature of thorium is expected to hinder the growth of the thorium market. Release of thorium in large amount in the environment contaminates the flora and fauna of the ecosystem. Another factor to be considered is the waste disposal which is performed strictly under appropriate local, state and federal regulations.



Thorium Market: Segmentation



The thorium market can be segmented on the basis of form type:



Powder form

Granular form



The thorium market can be segmented on the basis of application:



Gas Mantles

Electronic Equipment Coating

Refractory Material Manufacturing

Camera lens/Scientific Instrument

Nuclear Reactor

Heat Resistant Ceramics



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Thorium Market: Region-wise Outlook



Based on the geography, the U.S. and the European countries are expected to be the promising markets of thorium in the forecast period. India followed by Brazil, Australia, the U.S., Egypt and others are showing a large reserves for thorium, which are extracted from the rare-earth metals thus, hold significant market volume share throughout the forecast period. Other industrialized economies, such as the U.K., Germany, Russia, Japan and the U.S. are expected to witness vital prospects for its on-going research on thorium-based fuel cycles.



In 2013, the development of thorium power projects for countries such as Indonesia and Chile were planned and proposed by the Thorium Power Canada. Other countries, such as Norway, are expected to foresee vital opportunities where development and testing of two thorium bearing fuel is to be used in the present nuclear power plants. Also, Europe and North America are in the process to initiate investigation in the use of Th-Add fuel for commercial reactors. India being the largest supplier of thorium is expected to account significant share over the forecast period.



Thorium Market: Key Players



Examples of some of the recognized key players in thorium market are:



ARAFURA Resources

Blackwood Corporation Limited

Crossland Uranium Mines Limited

Kimberley Rare Earths Metal Limited

Navigator Resources Limited

Western Desert Resources Limited

Steenkampskraal Thorium Limited (STL)Micron Platers

Namibia Rare Earth Inc.
Following an extensive refurbishment, the ship will be named AIDAmira, and be deployed on the 'AIDA Selection' of longer cruises to more unusual destinations with longer stays and overnights in port.

The maiden voyage is Dec. 4, 2019, from Palma.

Expands 'AIDA Selection' to southern Africa

AIDAmira will expand the 'AIDA Selection' program to southern Africa for the first time. In December next year, the ship will operate a 14-day round-trip from Cape Town to other ports in South Africa and Namibia.

The 'AIDA Selection' program is operated by the brand's smaller, older ships, AIDAaura, AIDAcara and AIDAvita.

Extensive refurbishment planned

Before emerging as AIDAmira, the ship will be extensively redesigned. Ninety-six of its 624 passenger cabins will be converted into suites, 80 of those with balconies. The sun deck will feature two pools and two whirlpools. There will be six bars and six restaurants.

The 1,196-passenger, 48,200gt Costa neoRiviera was built as Mistral for Festival Cruises. From 2003 to 2013, it sailed as Grand Mistral for Carnival Corp. & plc's Iberocruceros brand. Following a refurbishment, the ship emerged in late 2013 as Costa neoRiviera, initially operating longer, more unusual itineraries.

From next month, Costa neoRiviera is starting weeklong Greek Islands cruises from Bari in Italy, taking up the program that had been announced for Costa neoClassica, the ship that was sold last year to Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line.
The 8,560 teu ONE Committment is the first vessel to be painted in ONE's distinctive magenta branding and is deployed on THE Alliance's transpacific PN2 service.

The ONE Committment started her maiden voyage from Singapore 15 May calling Laem Chabang, Cai Mep and Kaohsiung before calling in Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT), China on 25 May (pictured).

ONE is excited to unveil our first magenta vessel and we would like to thank YICT on this monumental occasion. Her arrival is hailed as a significant milestone for ONE, said Shunichiro Mizukami, region head of East Asia, managing director, ONE (East Asia).

From Yantian the vessel will cross the Pacific to call Tacoma and Vancouver.

On the return voyage the ONE Commitment will call the ports of Tokyo, Kobe, Kaohsiung and Singapore.

ONE is a joint venture of the container line divisions of Japanese shipowners NYK, Mitsui OSK Lines, and K Line, which is headquartered in Singapore and started operations on 1 April.

Read More: ONE starts container line operations
The New Zealand dollar is headed for a 0.1 percent weekly gain against the greenback and is largely treading water as markets eye the political turbulence between the US and North Korea.

The kiwi dollar traded at 69.20 US cents as at 5pm in Wellington versus 69.29 US cents as at 8am and 69.25 cents late yesterday. It was at 69.10 last Friday in New York. The trade-weighted index was at 72.59 from 72.68.

The kiwi benefited when the US dollar came under pressure after US President Donald Trump called off a planned summit with North Korean. It held those gains in Asian trading after North Korea said it was still open to talks.

ANZ Bank senior macro-strategist Phil Borkin said he expects it to stick to a tight range, in particular given the holiday weekend in the US. He likened the New Zealand dollar to a "beach ball underwater" and said it continued to have firm support around the 69.00 US cent level. "It's hard for it to push lower, there's underlying demand," he said.

"We are treading water and I don't see that changing in the near term," he said.

Looking ahead, Borkin said investors will be watching for next week's financial stability report from the Reserve Bank, in particular as it is Adrian Orr's first as governor of the bank. The government's announcement on whether it will try to eradicate or manage the Mycoplasma bovis cow disease will also be watched. The government is expected to announce its decision on Monday.

The kiwi dollar traded at 51.77 British pence from 51.79 and 59.10 euro cents from 59.14 cents yesterday and was unchanged at 91.47 Australian cents. It fell to 4.4197 yuan from 4.4255 yuan and was unchanged at 75.81 yen.

New Zealand's two-year swap rate was unchanged at 2.18 percent while 10-year swaps were unchanged at 3.14 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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Shepherdstown Elementary Schools Relay for Life team hosted a craft and vendor sale at the school Saturday to raise money for Relay for Life programs and cancer research.

Fourteen craft exhibitors and vendors sold items in the school gym, while eight exhibitors sold yard sale items in other rooms and the hallway leading up to the gym. Donated items filled some tables, the entire proceeds of which went to Relay for Life.

We bought some good toys  building blocks and DVDs and CDs, said Jim Frost, of Idaho, who visited the event with a friend from Martinsburg. I have a whole room at home for the grandkids to play in.

Frosts friend ended up buying a winter coat and a robot for one of her grandchildren at the yard sale.

First-grade teacher Casey Frazier was selling items from the brand Thirty-One at the event.

Cancer does affect everyone sometime in their lives, said Frazier. Both of my grandfathers died of cancer, and that was originally why I became involved with Relay for Life.

Frazier was the schools Relay for Life team captain for about nine years, and helped at Saturdays event by organizing the exhibitors within the gym.

Jefferson High School outgoing freshman Savannah Jamison sold hot dogs at the event with a friend while her mom, Annette, manned a yard sale table in the next room.

I offered to help  I just like helping, said Savannah Jamison.

She goes to Relay for Life events with me and helps me set up, said Annette Jamison, who is the elementary schools office clerk and a Relay for Life team captain. She said this is the first year the team has included crafters and vendors in the sale.

Right now, were just trying to come up with new ideas of getting the community and our staff involved to raise money for our Relay for Life team, she said.

For Annette, the event is personal. Her mother and mother-in-law both died from cancer, which was the reason she joined the team.

I want to raise as much money as we can, because you dont know what your future will bring, she said. Id like to see one day where every cancer was cured.
Division of Rehabilitation Services Skills Trainer H. Curtis Jamison visited Shepherdstown Area Independent Living during its monthly Brown Bag Luncheon on Friday, to discuss simple, free tools that can help visually impaired seniors navigate through life.

Jamison, representing the West Virginia branch of Visually Impaired Seniors In-Home Outreach and Networking Services, said his eyes were opened when he started his job two years ago. He had already gone through WVDRS training in Nitro.

I was in my church in a setup just like this, and this precious lady I knew was ping-ponging around the room, running into things while she was trying to find the trash can, said Jamison. I realized then that she couldnt see.

Jamison helped her out, giving her a cane that would fit her petite height and was color-blocked in red, black and white for easier visibility.

Now, she holds her plate in one hand and the cane in the other hand, and she has no trouble moving around, Jamison said. He said he can do in-home consultations or meet people in neutral locations to give visually impaired seniors the tools they need to help them enjoy life.

VISIONS offers 20 to 30 MaxiAIDS items to help with everyday tasks, like cooking, applying makeup, reading, writing, dialing the phone, writing checks, keeping time and signing ones name.

This is a program that provides free visual, adaptive aids for the visually impaired, said Jamison. The biggest thing that bothers me about this job is when people dont know I exist  and this is free to any West Virginia resident 55 and older with a medically recognized eye condition.

Jamison said he has enjoyed speaking about the federal grant-funded program at churches, Lions Clubs and other community groups since he started his job.

I try to do as many presentations as I can, anywhere people 55 and over meet, he said. The biggest thing I hear people saying is, I didnt know this existed! So I want to help as many people know about VISIONS as I can.

One of four DRS Skills Trainers in West Virginia, Jamison said he covers 10 counties, from Jefferson all the way to Preston and Tucker.

My favorite part is, when Im actually giving people something, the gleeful exclamation that seniors give, Jamison said. It never gets old.

To learn more about this program, visit wvdrs.org, email Curtis.Jamison@wv.gov or call 304-267-0005, extension 51172.
Members of the Virginia Lodge No. 1 Independent Order of Odd Fellows celebrated their 185th anniversary on May 19 at their lodge building on Filmore Street in Harpers Ferry. Members held an open house throughout the day, along with a luncheon and recognition of several members of the Lodge for their service to the community.

Phil Folk, noble grand of the Lodge, presented a certificate of appreciation to member Kevin Plunkett for his efforts to assist the citizens of Puerto Rico during the floods there over the past year. Also recognized was longtime member Bob Spencer, as well as Mike Musick, Lynn Folk and Jetta Walls, for their many contributions to the Lodge.

Musick offered a brief history of Odd Fellows, specifically focusing on the Virginia Lodge No. 1.

The organization has its roots in 18th century England, Musick said. The Odd Fellows mission, then and now, is to visit the sick, educate the orphans, assist the widows and to bury the dead.

In 1819, Musick said, the Odd Fellows were most firmly planted in the United States, in Baltimore, Maryland, with the formation of Washington Lodge No. 1. New chapters then established lodges in other areas of the United States.

At that time, Musick said, Harpers Ferry was an industrial town in Virginia. Individuals in the town applied to the Baltimore national headquarters for a charter and the Virginia Lodge No. 1 opened on May 18, 1833. The Lodge building was then in Lower Town in the top of a church building until 1845. Members included armory workers and private citizens, who worked together to sustain an element of security in what was a rapidly changing local situation.

This was the first lodge in Virginia, Musick said. And when West Virginia became a state and Harpers Ferry became part of West Virginia, the Lodge was then the first in West Virginia.

The members at the time decided to keep the name Virginia Lodge No. 1.

The Lodge building on Filmore Street became the members home following the establishment of the Grand Lodge of West Virginia in 1865. The building was Armory Dwelling No. 23, which was sold to the Virginia Lodge No. 1 in 1870. There is a significant amount of graffiti on the walls of the building that dates back to the Civil War era.

Phil Folk said, while he wasnt sure that then-President Abraham Lincoln ever actually entered the building, he knew Lincoln was on the grounds.

Prominent members of the Odd Fellows organization included Wyatt Earp, Charles Lindbergh, William McKinley, Franklin Roosevelt and Robert C. Byrd.

The Lodge was very active until the start of World War I, when many members joined the military. After the war, fraternalism began to fall off, and it wasnt until the early 1990s that several men in town worked to revive the lodge. Among those men were Robert Spencer, who attended Saturdays celebration; former Harpers Ferry Mayor the late Walton Kip Stowell; and John Hughes. These men led the charge to restore the Lodge building and begin to seek additional members.

The current membership of the Lodge works to provide assistance to those in need, including local students.

Traveling to share in the celebration were three members of the Monongalia Lodge in Morgantown: Jason McCartney, Adam Kerns and Alan Kerns.

The Virginia Lodge No. 1 is currently accepting applications for membership Contact Noble Grand Phil Folk at 240-422-1052 or 304-725-8716.
Accompanied by the Chinar Corps Commander Lieutenant General AK Bhatt, General Rawat visited formation headquarters and units in Srinagar, where he was briefed by the commanders on ground regarding the operational preparedness.

: The Chief of the Indian Army General Bipin Rawat on Thursday visited the Kashmir Valley to review the prevailing security situation.

The army chief was appreciative of the measures and standard operating procedures instituted by the units and formations to meet the challenges posed by the inimical elements.

Commending the performance of the troops in the recent successful operations, General Rawat stressed the need to maintain the extra vigil to defeat the evil designs of hostile forces and assured his full support to further strengthen the security posture.

General Rawat also took stock of the security and administrative arrangements for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra which is scheduled to commence from June 27 and stressed on the need for close coordination with the civil administration to ensure a smooth and efficient conduct of the yatra.

It is to be noted that the Centre last week ordered to suspend the security operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir during the holy month of Ramzan.

However, the ministry of home affairs clarified that the security forces reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people.
The BJP withdrew the nomination of its candidate S Suresh Kumar giving Ramesh Kumar a walkover. CM Kumaraswamy congratulated Ramesh Kumar and hoped that the next five years pass on peacefully. "We are happy that you have been elected unanimously," he said.

: Before the much-awaited floor test in Karnataka, Congress MLA KR Ramesh Kumar was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the House. Karnataka Deputy CM G Parameshwara proposed KR Ramesh Kumar's name which was seconded by Congress leader Siddaramahaih.

Yeddyurappa congratulated Ramesh Kumar and said that while they had nominated a member from their party, they decided to withdraw the name and give honour to the chair of the Speaker. "You have an experience as a humble and fair person. The Opposition will cooperate with you in every possible way," Yeddyurappa said.

Ramesh Kumar is a six-time MLA and has been the Speaker of Karnataka Assembly twice during the HD Deve Gowda and JH Patel governments (1994-99). He was the Health and Family Welfare minister in the previous Congress government of Siddaramaiah. He won from Srinivasapur defeating JDS candidate GK Venkatashivareddy by over 10,500 votes in the recent Assembly elections.

The floor test, which will bring an end to the 10-day political uncertainty in the state that began after the state gave a fractured mandate in the assembly elections, is set to begin shortly. While the Congress has 78 MLAs, Kumaraswamy's JDS has 37 seats, along with two independent candidates. Kumaraswamy had won from two constituencies.
: A survey conducted byhas predicted losses for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, both of which are scheduled go for assembly elections later this year as well as a decrease in the much-touted general elections scheduled early next year.

According to the Mood of the Nation survey, almost 47% of the total 15,859 respondents are of the opinion that the Modi government does not deserve to be voted back to power in 2019. Less than two of every five or 39% thought it deserved a second chance, with the rest being non-committal.

According to the survey, the Congress would get 49 percent vote share in Madhya Pradesh if Assembly elections were held in the state today. The BJP would be a distant second in the state with 34 percent vote share.

In Rajasthan, the ABP-CSDS survey predicts that Congress is likely to make huge gains. According to the survey, if the state goes to polls today, the Congress could bag 44 percent votes as against the BJPs 39 percent.

Earlier this year, the Congress won four out of six assembly by-polls and two parliamentary by-polls in the state. The BJP has been without a state unit here for over a month now after Ashok Parnami, who was held responsible for the bypoll loss, resigned as the state party president on March 16.

According to the survey, the Hindu votes are nearly split down the middle on the question on whether the Modi regime should be given another chance with 44% exhibiting a pro-government stand and 42% taking an anti-government position.

Out of all Hindu communities, Dalits and Adivasis, who have also been victims of violence and atrocities, were found to be most vociferous in their opposition to the government at 55% and 43% respectively. Dominant OBC communities are also quite opposed (42%) to the present government, the survey found.

According to the survey, 32% of the voter have said they would vote for the BJP in the event of a snap Lok Sabha election. At the start of the year, the same survey had found out that 34% of the voters would do so. This two percent drop in a five-month period, is another indicator a declining trend that Modi government is becoming less and less popular among the voters.

Interestingly, a similar survey in 2013, nine months before the 2014 national elections, had predicted the same results for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Back then 39% had been against giving the UPA another chance, 31% had been in favor and 30% had been noncommittal. When the results were out, the UPA was routed as the alliance managed to win only 60 seats.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Anthony Morales is apparently having second thoughts about his double-murder plea.

The 51-year-old Mariners Harbor resident was scheduled to be sentenced Friday in state Supreme Court St. George, to 40 years to life in prison based on his plea two weeks ago to two counts of first-degree murder.

Morales admitted then he had gunned down Idelle Rivera, 47, and her son, Anthony Rivera, 21, on March 24, 2016. He also pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder for shooting Jose Ramirez, then 22, nine times about the body. Ramirez survived.

But defense lawyer Matthew Zuntag told the court Morales, in a pre-sentencing interview with the city Probation Department, said he's considering whether he has to legal right to take back his plea.

"He indicates a severe level of stress as to how he wants to handle this," Zuntag said, adding his client may still "want to go forward with the sentence."

Justice Mario F. Mattei adjourned the case to Wednesday to give the defendant time to further consult Zuntag and weigh his options.

The judge said he'll hear oral arguments that day if Morales wants to take back his plea, or he'll proceed with sentencing if the defendant decides not to rescind his plea.

Mattei said he would also sentence Morales on Wednesday if he rules against the defendant after hearing oral arguments.

Should he grant the request, the judge said the case would proceed to trial shortly thereafter.

Morales potentially faces up to life in prison without parole if convicted at trial of first-degree murder.

A low groan rose from the gallery, packed with about 20 of the victims' family members and friends, as court officers escorted the stocky defendant to a holding cell at the end of the proceeding. However, there were no outbursts.

Several people wore T-shirts which bore a photo of the victims and declared "Justice for the Rivera family."

Afterward, Mattei thanked the audience for their comportment.

Tony Pena, Idelle Rivera's husband and Anthony Rivera's father, declined comment outside court.

Morales had pleaded guilty on May 7 against Zuntag's advice.

There had been some tense moments during the plea hearing.

Morales initially said he wanted to plead guilty, but then said "No" when the three charges were read to him.

After some discussion, he reaffirmed he wanted to plead guilty, and the hearing proceeded.

In an insanity defense, a defendant must prove he lacked substantial capacity to know or appreciate either the nature and consequences of his conduct when he committed the crimes charged or that such conduct was wrong.

In June of last year, Mattei determined Morales was fit to stand trial, saying the defendant had been feigning or exaggerating psychological symptoms to try to get out of trouble.

Trial fitness means a defendant understands the charges against him and can aid in his defense.

A person can be deemed fit for trial, yet still contend he was mentally deficient when the alleged crime was committed.

In December 2016, court-ordered examinations by two psychiatrists found Morales mentally incapable of standing trial.

Prosecutors challenged the findings and had their own doctor examine the defendant.

Afterward, Mattei held a hearing and ruled against the defendant.

According to a criminal complaint, the slayings occurred between 6 and 6:12 p.m. outside 20 Roxbury St., only steps from the victims' apartment building.

Morales lived in a different apartment in the same building of the Mariners Harbor Houses complex as the mother and son did, according to police.

Idelle Rivera was shot once in the head, while her son was hit with three bullets in the head. Ramirez was shot nine times about the body.

Authorities said a dispute over an auto may have sparked the shooting.

Shortly before the slayings, Anthony Rivera had sold a car to the defendant, who was unhappy with it and wanted a refund, a source with knowledge of the police investigation told the Advance.

In an exclusive interview at his hospital bed after the shooting, Ramirez, a friend of Anthony Rivera, told the Advance the Rivera family had an ongoing feud with Morales regarding a stolen radio antenna from the defendant's vehicle.

Morales fled to Pennsylvania after the shootings, sparking a multi-state manhunt.

Investigators tracked him to West Brunswick Township in Schuylkill County, about 125 miles west of Staten Island.

Morales was shot 10 times on March 28, 2016, when he ignored repeated commands from authorities to put up his hands before he made a sign of the cross, reached toward his waist and brandished a gun, police told reporters.

Morales was rushed to Reading Hospital in critical, but stable, condition, police said.

He was later extradited to Staten Island.

Prosecutors have said the gun recovered in Pennsylvania was the same weapon with which the defendant had shot and killed the Riveras and shot and wounded Ramirez.

Assistant District Attorneys Lisa Davis and Antonia Assenso are prosecuting the case.
CITY HALL -- The borough with the sharpest rise in Lyme disease in New York City will soon become the testing ground for

designed to track where and how Staten Islanders are finding ticks so that researchers can use that data to better understand how to prevent the spread of the disease.

Researchers from Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin Madison and officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are leading the efforts of the app and the study -- which will launch on Staten Island over Memorial Day weekend.

Maria Diuk-Wasser, an associate professor at the university's Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology and lead researchers on the project, said they chose Staten Island as one of two sites to launch its new app after a tick sweep conducted last summer found all 13 of the borough's parks they collected the ticks from were infected with the Lyme disease bacteria.

Diuk-Wasser said researchers only tested the ticks for Lyme disease and that those ticks could still be infected with other diseases too.

"We picked Staten Island because there's a big spike in Lyme disease cases and relatively recently the deer have invaded, the ticks, and so we're conducting a whole study there and the app is part of that," Diuk-Wasser said.

Most tick-borne disease studies have been conducted in more rural areas, so going to Staten Island will give researchers a chance to understand how ticks and Lyme disease spread in urban areas.

Using the app's 15-day "Tick Diary," Islanders will be able to let researchers know whether they found a tick that day, where it was found, and what they were doing when they found it.

App users will also be able to take a picture of the tick and send it over to researchers who can identify what type of tick it is and give residents an idea of how long it has potentially been drawing blood from them.

DEER ARE THE LIKELY CULPRITS

From 2012 to 2016 Staten Island saw a 250 percent rise in cases of Lyme disease -- the sharpest jump in the disease of the five boroughs over the last five years, according to data the Advance compiled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A rise in the number of Island Lyme disease cases comes as the borough's white tail deer population has boomed, which many, including researchers from Columbia University believe is one of the biggest contributors to a rise in Lyme disease.

"We thought in an urban area maybe that would be different, that you would get some parks that are too far away, but I guess there's enough connection that the [deer] can still get there especially the deer can get to these places," Diuk-Wasser said.

Diuk-Wasser said the universities currently have funding to conduct its research from the app for two years.

In addition to the app, starting in early June Diuk-Wasser said her team is also planning to go door to door to talk to Island homeowners living near parks to get their permission to conduct tick sweeps in their yards and look for white footed mice which are known to carry the disease.

Additionally, Diuk-Wasser said her team is trying to collaborate with the city on getting data from the Island's vasectomy program to figure out the herd's movement around the Island to understand the probability of deer getting to certain areas.

At the moment, she and her team are putting together a report on their findings from the tick sweep they conducted last summer on Staten Island.

MAYOR, BP VOW ACTION

To curb Island's growing deer population, the city has undertaken a controversial three-year $3.3 million vasectomy program on the Island's bucks, which the city says is working, but many argue is not doing enough.

Following Borough President James Oddo expressing concern about the rise in the Island's deer population and Lyme disease at a press conference on Staten Island last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to speak to the Health Department and Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Herminia Palacio about the issue.

Oddo, who researchers from Columbia University shared preliminary information with, said the Blue Heron Park in Annandale had some of the highest concentration of Lyme infected ticks.

"On Staten Island we are seeing more and more people get the disease by being bitten [by ticks] locally," Oddo said. "So to me as we continue to debate deer and the timetable of the alleged effectiveness of the current [vasectomy] program, what we really need to do is focus some of our attention to tick suppression."

On Thursday, Oddo and his staff will head to the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Dutchess County to see how the area has implemented a successful tick suppression initiative -- something he hopes to eventually bring to Staten Island.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police are asking for the public's help identifying a man sought in connection to a knifepoint robbery that occurred at the Port Richmond TJ Maxx.

An unidentified individual tried to walk out of the Forest Avenue store around 10:58 a.m. on March 27th with a cart full of items he didn't pay for, according to a written statement from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

When a store employee tried to stop him, the individual brandished a knife, according to police. The employee got out of the way, but the individual fled the store empty handed.

No one was harmed in the incident.

Police describe the individual sought for questioning as a dark-skinned male between the ages of 35 and 45. He was seen wearing eyeglasses and a dark colored jacket.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
CITY HALL -- With or without the New York Wheel, Borough President James Oddo says he plans to find a way to bring a new private fast ferry route to St. George.

Next week, he, officials from Empire Outlets, the embattled New York Wheel, and the mayor's office will huddle at City Hall to figure out how to fund a pier for a St. George-to-Midtown route, Oddo told the Advance.

Plans to build a dock for the 25-minute private fast ferry route on the North Shore have been in the works for about a year now, under a deal brokered between NY Waterway and Oddo.

The NY Wheel and BFC Partners, the developer behind Empire Outlets, were responsible for building the new dock, which was supposed to have been built this spring.

But delays in getting the observation wheel off the ground has brought the North Shore fast ferry plan to a halt.

Earlier this month, an agreement between the New York Wheel and its former contractor was finalized in court, allowing the developer to hire a new company to finish the project.

Oddo says they will need to come up with $4 to 6 million dollars to build the dock.

FIND THE FUNDING OPTIONS

Next week, the borough president said he wants to figure out what the funding options are.

Can the city cough up the funds to pay for the dock alone? Can the city front the money for the pier and either the two companies, or just one, pay the city back later? Or can both of the companies, or just Empire Outlets, afford to pay for the pier without any financial help from the city?

"I've reached the point now where the pier's the only thing stopping me from providing the service," Oddo said. "So perhaps we can find an arrangement where the city constructs the pier and perhaps the city can figure out a way where it can be paid in time back from Empire Outlets. But just to get the uncertainty of the Wheel off the table and build the pier so that we can bring this service."

MOVING FORWARD WITH OR WITHOUT NY WHEEL

Even if things do not work out with the NY Wheel, Oddo thinks Empire Outlets will be able to attract enough people to make the route viable for both tourists and Island residents.

If the fast ferry plan moves forward, Oddo also hopes tourists who ride the private ferry can subsidize Island residents' ferry fares at a reduced rate so that the borough will not need to rely on the city to subsidize riders' fares.

Arthur Imperatore, the president and founder of NY Waterway -- the company that would operate the St. George route -- told the Advance his company has already designed and started construction on at least one of the Island's boats.

Imperatore says his company is still interested in the new fast ferry service and thinks that even without the wheel the route would "probably" be viable.

"We're interested but that's as far as I can go because nothing's in place," Imperatore said.

ADDITIONAL FERRY ROUTES STILL NEEDED

Whether or not Staten Island gets a new fast ferry, Oddo says it does not absolve the city from its responsibility to help all Island commuters, especially those on the South Shore, in getting additional fast ferry routes.

Oddo admits that the private North Shore fast ferry will not help all Staten Island commuters, but thinks that by establishing a successful route in at least one location, it will help the borough get fast ferries at additional locations.

"If [the city] is not going to give us a subsidized route at least for a year or two ... in my mind that doesn't negate the city's responsibility from helping us get a fast ferry service started in some way," Oddo said. "And the help I think they can get us immediately is figuring out a way to help us build this pier at Empire Outlets, let us at least get the private sector route going so that at least Staten Islanders have some additional option."

The mayor recently said that once the city's fast ferry program, which Staten Island is not a part of, opens lines in Soundview and the Lower East Side later this summer, he would look at where the city could expand ferry service next.

"There's a lot we have to work through but I'm sticking to a very simple timeline for Staten Island and for everywhere else. Later on this year is going to be the time of decision of where we go from here," Bill de Blasio recently said at a press conference on Staten Island.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- While Memorial Day Weekend is a time for remembrance, each year it brings traffic we'd all rather forget.

With one of the year's worst travel weekends upon us, Staten Islanders will get their first taste of what this year's summertime traffic to and from New Jersey has in store.

Year after year, as the weather warms and residents begin their annual summer trips, Staten Islanders are subject to excruciatingly long rides to and from their weekend destinations.

This year will likely be no different, with more than 41.5 million Americans expected to travel this upcoming weekend, one of the highest projected totals in recent history, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

I'm one of those 41.5 million travelers, meaning I'll likely find myself trapped among the mass exodus of vehicles leaving the borough on Friday.

Not to mention Sunday's return trip, where I've already braced myself for the hours-long wait to cross one of the Port Authority bridges on my way back to Staten Island.

These issues have been well-documented throughout the years, and it's not as though elected officials and transportation agencies have been actively neglecting them.

Recently, the Port Authority met with elected officials at an Outerbridge Crossing Traffic Summit, hosted by Assemblyman Ron Castorina (R-South Shore), to discuss what's being done to address the constantly congested crossings.

While no definitive, cure-all solutions were established, the meeting served as an important opportunity for Port Authority to outline the traffic-preventing measures that they're taking, while granting elected officials a chance to voice the concerns of their constituents directly to those in a position to resolve them.

So what exactly is the Port Authority doing to reduce Staten Island's summertime bridge traffic?

Well for starters, this upcoming holiday weekend, all construction on Port Authority bridges and tunnels, except for emergency work, will be suspended from Friday morning through Tuesday morning.

And throughout the summer, there will be additional police officers and maintenance personnel stationed at all Port Authority bridges on Sunday evenings to facilitate return traffic.

The additional personnel will allow them to respond quickly and efficiently to any major crashes which may be causing delays along the bridges.

We're all aware that crashes can cause delays not only in the lanes in which they occur, but can often bring entire roadways to a halt due to the rubbernecking of other curious travelers.

The agency will also be moving its travel time signage to earlier points in Staten Islanders' return trips, giving us some extra time to decide which bridge we think will offer a slightly less miserable ride home.

Perhaps the most significant, long-term, traffic-reducing measure taken by the Port Authority was the opening of the new Goethals Bridge.

Once the Goethals Bridge Replacement Project is officially complete, the crossing will offer three, 12-foot lanes in each direction, increasing the vehicle capacity of the bridge by 60 percent.

Port Authority expects the new bridge to reduce travel times during peak hours by at least 15 minutes in each direction.

Unfortunately, Staten Islanders will only see the benefits of the new bridge when leaving the borough early in the weekend.

While the New Jersey-bound span is open in its traffic-reducing, three-lane configuration, the Staten Island-bound span still only offers two lanes of more narrow traffic as Port Authority continues work on reconfiguring the span that had previously been servicing two way traffic.

Not to mention that nothing has been done to fix the hellish merge from over 10 lanes to only two when approaching the Goethals Bridge from the New Jersey Turnpike tollbooths.

Sometimes it feels like I spend more time merging that couple hundred feet than I do crossing the bridge itself.

So while the new bridge will eventually help alleviate some of the summer return traffic, it doesn't appear as though it will be doing us any favors during Memorial Day Weekend.

So what's a traveler to do?

The best thing may be to arm yourself with as much information as possible to decide when you should be traveling and what route you should be taking.

Some GPS apps, like Waze, offer trip-planning options that allow travelers to input different times to determine when they should leave in order to spend as little time as possible stuck in traffic.

You should also keep tabs on the alerts sent out by the Port Authority, in case an unexpected delay pops up, changing your most efficient route.

Registration for Port Authority mobile alerts can be found on the agency's website. Updates are also available via social media, by following the Outerbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge and Bayonne Bridge on Twitter.

By keeping yourself up-to-date with the latest advisories, travelers give themselves an opportunity to be proactive, potentially beating some of the standstill traffic that others will be sitting through.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

How was your Memorial Day travel experience? What can be done to reduce weekend travel traffic during the summer? Will the new Goethals Bridge eventually offer some relief? Will you be cutting your trip short to beat the return traffic?

We encourage our readers to reach out to us by posting their responses in the comment section and/or emailing them to tbascome@siadvance.com.

In addition, the SILive.com staff is looking to hear from those Memorial Day travelers who experience traffic this weekend -- please send your photos to tips@siadvance.com.

I'll be following up on our readers' submissions in future installments of On the Go? to find ways to improve the challenging commuting conditions on Staten Island.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y -- The story of the Sullivan brothers is cemented in military history.

All five were killed when the USS Juneau was sunk by a Japanese torpedo during the Battle of Guadalcanal on Nov. 13, 1942.

But their legacy did not die with them that day: Two Navy ships carried their names into battle, including one commissioned on the USS The Sullivans Pier in Stapleton in 1997.

However, the wreck of the Juneau - and the final resting place of her sailors -- remained lost at sea for 76 years.

That was until March 17 when a research crew funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen made a startling discovery: The Atlanta light cruiser was found resting 4,200-feet below the surface of the South Pacific, off the coast of the Solomon Islands.

"That's going to be the J, there's the U, N, E, here's the A, that's it. That's the Juneau," says Robert Kraft, the director of subsea operations for Allen, in a video taken from the research vessel Petrel that pans over the sunken ship's anchor, propeller, anti-aircraft guns and torpedo bays.

The Juneau was found deep enough that it was fairly-well preserved, though its pieces - heavily damaged by the torpedo strikes - were scattered on the ocean's floor.

"It's amazing that the stern is lying right next to the bow, and it's nearly a kilometer away from the midsection of the ship," Kraft says in the video. "Now, from what we've got, you've got over a mile of spread of debris. It's consistent with the report of the massive destruction."

In battle, the Juneau's service was valiant but brief: The torpedo hit came less than a year after she was commissioned with the motto "We stick together."

The Juneau withstood that first hit, but a second blow, only minutes later, to her port side cut the ship in half.

She sank in 30 seconds in place known as Iron Bottom Sound.

"We certainly didn't plan to find the Juneau on St. Patrick's Day," said Kraft in a statement. "The variables of these searches are just too great. But finding the USS Juneau on St. Patrick's Day is an unexpected coincidence to the Sullivan brothers and all the service members who were lost 76 years ago."

George, Madison, Albert, Francis and Joseph Sullivan enlisted in the Navy a day after learning a friend had died in the attack on Pearl Harbor on the sole condition they not be separated during their service.

That alone garnered worldwide media attention before they boarded the Juneau. Despite reports of survivors after the Juneau's sinking, the American task force did not stay because they feared more Japanese attacks.

Ten men were rescued eight days later.

In the years after the Juneau's sinking, the sacrifices of the Sullivan brothers were honored with two Naval ships - the one commissioned in Stapleton on April 19, 1997, is still in service today.

Decorated in red, white and blue bunting and painted with a shamrock on its hull, she was officially called into action when the grandchildren of Albert, the youngest Sullivan brother, gave the charge for the crew to man the rails.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, she participated in Operation Noble Eagle, providing air-space security to the mid-Atlantic seaboard. In 2002, she deployed to the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

And, the ship has not lost her connection to Staten Island: She returned during Fleet Week in 2007 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of her commissioning and again during the week of Veteran's Day last year in honor of the 20th anniversary.

"They were a special family because they especially loved their country," said Kelly Ann Sullivan Loughren, the granddaughter of Albert Sullivan and the ship's sponsor, during the 2007 visit.

As for the Juneau, there will be no further exploration by the research crew.

They will turn over the video footage to the Naval History and Heritage Command - another bit of peace for the fighting Sullivan brothers and the nearly 700 men who fell by their side.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The third floor of the 8 Navy Pier Court Urby apartment building was dim and quiet Thursday, as a police officer was posted outside a room at the end of a narrow corridor.

Crime scene investigators continued to assess the inside of an apartment, where a man was stabbed to death late Wednesday night.

Sources said 42-year-old Filroy Warner was stabbed about nine times in the torso during a party.

A piece of caution tape, surgical gloves and plastic coveralls littered the floor of the hallway.

A woman who identified herself as Warner's girlfriend showed up at the apartment complex Thursday morning searching for answers, incredulous as to who would want to hurt a man she described as a generous father, according to a Daily News report.

Police are searching for an unidentified black male in connection with the incident.

A dog-walker who has clients in the building said she was informed to enter the front entrance Thursday, as the rear of the building was cordoned off by police. Surveillance cameras and security guards are stationed 24 hours a day inside the building.

Public records show the apartment is rented under the name of a 57-year-old woman.

A woman who lives a few doors down from where the incident occurred declined to comment.

Some Urby residents said they were frustrated by the fact they hadn't received a notification from management about the incident, as of 12:30 p.m., Thursday.

"I don't expect any place in the world to be exempt from a stabbing, but it's the crisis control after that I'm concerned with," said Michael Esquenazi, 25, a resident in Building 7 who said he and a roommate pay $3,500 per month for a two-bedroom apartment.

"Apparently we live in these luxury apartments...they didn't mention this at all."

A spokeswoman for the management company said at 12:45 p.m. they were "in contact with the authorities and will be sending out a statement to residents shortly."

Outside, about a half-dozen police cars lined the curb of the high-end development, investigators intermingling with residents, dog walkers and on this weekend sailors in town for Fleet Week.
Taiwan scrambles fighter jets to track China bomber drill



Taipei, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Taiwan on Friday scrambled fighter jets to shadow Chinese bombers conducting a drill around the island, just hours after Beijing welcomed Burkina Faso's move to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it had dispatched fighter jets to monitor two Chinese H-6 bombers that were flying over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and the Miyako Strait, near Japan's Okinawa Island.

"We are fully monitoring the situation and taking efficient responsive measures to ensure defence security," it said in a statement.

The scrambling comes a day after Burkina Faso became the second of Taiwan's dwindling number of formal allies to jump ship to Beijing in a month.

China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on the self-ruled island, which it views as a wayward province to be reunified by force if necessary.

Relations have deteriorated between Beijing and Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power two years ago as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China".

Tsai's tenure has already seen the loss of three allies to China, with the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Sao Tome and Principe all switching allegiance since 2016.

Although it was not immediately clear if Burkina Faso and China would establish diplomatic relations, Beijing has welcomed the move by the west African state.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which is in charge of China ties, announced late Thursday that Chinese officials applying to visit the island would be subject to tighter screening, without elaborating.

The move aims to "prevent the Chinese communists from dividing and disturbing social order in Taiwan with their unification propaganda measures," it said in a statement.

Taiwan now has just 18 formal allies who recognise its government instead of Beijing.

For its part, Beijing has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains its most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties.

President Tsai warned China Thursday that Taiwan would not tolerate what she called its "crude behaviour to undermine our sovereignty".

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tendered his resignation after Burkina Faso's announcement, but said Friday that he would stay on in the position at the president's request.
China urges US, N. Korea to 'show goodwill' after summit scrapped



Beijing, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



China urged the United States and North Korea on Friday to be patient and "show goodwill" after President Donald Trump cancelled his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

China had backed the summit, though analysts suggested that Beijing was likely worried that Trump and Kim could end up striking a deal that would harm its strategic interests in the region.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang noted that both Trump and North Korea still left the door open to holding talks after the US leader scrapped his meeting with Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore.

"The recent easing situation on the peninsula is hard won, the political settlement process is faced with a rare historic opportunity," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular press conference.

"We believe as the parties directly engaged on the issue, the summit of the DPRK and US can play a crucial role for promoting the denuclearisation of the peninsula," Lu said, using North Korea's official initials

"Under the current circumstances we hope both the DPRK and the US can cherish the recent positive progress, stay patient, show goodwill, move in the same direction and continue to stay committed to promoting the denuclearisation of the peninsula."

Beijing's relations with Pyongyang, its traditional ally, had been strained by the nuclear crisis, with China backing a slew of United Nations sanctions following the North's atomic and missile tests.

But President Xi Jinping met twice with Kim within two months as they sought to repair ties. China remains Pyongyang's main major ally and economic partner.

Trump suggested earlier this week, before cancelling the summit, that the veteran Chinese president may have had an influence on the younger North Korean autocrat, whose position apparently hardened after meeting Xi twice within two months.
PHILIPSBURG:---Minister Emil Lee recently attended the Caribbean Hotel and Resorts Investment Summit (CHRIS) conference in Miami, representing Sint Maarten as deputy Prime Minister, accompanied by Secretary General of TEATT, Miguel de Weever. Minister Lee participated as a panel member in a discussion on the topic of Building a better tomorrow after a natural disaster - A Government's perspective, together with panel members from the US Virgin islands, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Anguilla and Haiti. CHRIS is the Caribbeans most noteworthy hotel investment conference, a prime networking opportunity for Sint Maarten. Lee commented that fruitful discussions were held on opportunities for destination Sint Maarten, discussions beneficial to the reconstruction economy of the country at present.

Apart from the vast networking opportunities and exchange of knowledge, interesting points from the conference include the recently enacted Tourism Incentive Act of Puerto Rico. Here you see how other countries in the Caribbean are looking to see what they can do to stimulate and incentivized the tourism industry. Everyone from private sector at the conference really emphasized that Governments participation, as a facilitator in the reconstruction process is critical. It was stressed that locations that have good airlift are of primary interest from an investment perspective. This is where it is sad to see that our current airport rebuilding process may be even more delayed based on the recent announcement of court proceedings between PJIA and NAGICO. Anguilla also stressed that they are very dependent on Sint Maarten for airlift. We have a responsibility to our neighbors and ourselves to make sure that the airport is fully operational as soon as possible. - Minister Emil Lee

Investors at the conference spoke of Maximum Risk Adjustment Returns, meaning that investors are no longer looking at simple business models. Business models and plans are adjusted based on the risk factors. The better the infrastructure, the more attractive the investment, these considerations influence the risk factor of an investment. These are important factors to be aware of from the investor perspective. That Sint Maarten is further improving its infrastructure and putting electricity and water lines underground creates less risk for investors and making the country more attractive for investors.

Over 300 conference delegates, representing 28 countries were in attendance. Lee met representatives of the Hilton hotel group, whom are currently flagging a property on Sint Maarten. Representatives of the Apple Leisure Group, an upcoming powerhouse in the tourism industry also expressed interest in a management contract on the island. The networking opportunities continued with several construction companies who are interested in bidding applications for current construction projects on the island. These companies and contractors expressed interest in the local labour market, work permit procedures and housing availability. Suppliers of building materials were also in attendance and networking, expressing interest in distribution and demonstration opportunities on Sint Maarten. Sunwing representatives, owners of the former Great Bay hotel, were also present at the conference as well as representatives of the World Bank.

Prime Minister Leona Marlin-Romeo was originally invited to attend and represent Sint Maarten at the CHRIS conference. The Prime Minister was unable to attend due to conflicting commitments. Minister Lee was asked to attend on her behalf as deputy Prime Minister.
#ruling party Ruling party chief rules out change of presidential nomination results The chief of the ruling Democratic Party said Tuesday there will be no change in the party's nomination of Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung as its presidential candidate, despite an app...
Jury tells Samsung to pay big for copying iPhone design



San Jose, United States, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



A federal court jury on Thursday ordered Samsung to pay Apple $533 million for copying iPhone design features in a patent case dating back seven years.

Jurors tacked on an additional $5 million in damages for a pair of patented functions. The award appeared to be a bit of a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone.

The case was keenly watched as a precedent for whether design is so important that it could actually be considered the "article of design" even in a product as complex as a smartphone.

"We don't think it is supported by the evidence," Samsung attorney John Quinn told US District Court Judge Lucy Koh after the verdict was read in her courtroom in Silicon Valley.

"We have every concern about the determinations about the article of manufacture."

Quinn declined an offer by the judge to send jurors back for further deliberation, saying Samsung would pursue post-trial motions to address its concerns about the verdict.

Juror Christine Calderon said the panel agreed that one of the design patents -- the grid of colored icons -- did represent the whole phone, while the other two at issue in the trial were seen as the display assembly that gave the iPhone its look.

She compared it to the Mona Lisa: "you use the paint, but it is not the article of manufacture."

"I had to really think about it," the 26-year-old Calderon, a technical writer, said after Koh dismissed the jury.

"We kind of felt like we ended up at a happy medium."



- Long legal road -



The case had been sent back to the district court following a Supreme Court decision to revisit an earlier $400 million damage award.

Apple reasoned in court that design was so integral to the iPhone that it was the "article of manufacture" and worth all the money Samsung made by copying the features.

The lower figure sought by the South Korean consumer electronics titan would have involved treating the design features as components.

The jury had been asked to determine whether design features at issue in the case are worth all profit made from Samsung smartphones that copied them -- or whether those features are worth just a fraction because they are components.

Apple argued in court that the iPhone was a "bet-the-company" project at Apple and that design is as much the "article of manufacture" as the device itself.

The three design patents in the case apply to the shape of the iPhone's black screen with rounded edges and a bezel, and the rows of colorful icons displayed.

Samsung no longer sells the smartphone models at issue in the case.

Two utility patents also involved apply to "bounce-back" and "tap-to-zoom" functions.

An original trial finding that Samsung violated Apple patents preceded a lengthy appellate dueling over whether design features such as rounded edges are worth all the money made from a phone.



- Technology vs Style -



Samsung challenged the legal precedent that requires the forfeiture of all profits from a product, even if only a single design patent has been infringed.

The US Supreme Court in 2016 overturned the penalty imposed on the South Korean consumer electronics giant.

Justices ruled that Samsung should not be required to forfeit the entire profits from its smartphones for infringement on design components, sending the case back to a lower court.

"Today's decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages," the South Korean company said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers."

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

The key question of the value of design patents rallied Samsung supporters in the tech sector, and Apple backers in the creative and design communities.

Samsung won the backing of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, claiming a strict ruling on design infringement could lead to a surge in litigation.

Apple was supported by big names in fashion and manufacturing. Design professionals, researchers and academics, citing precedents like Coca-Cola's iconic soda bottle.

The case is one element of a $548 million penalty -- knocked down from an original $1 billion jury award -- Samsung was ordered to pay for copying iPhone patents.
US websites blacked out in Europe on 'Happy GDPR Day'



Brussels, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



The EU's flagship new data protection laws came into effect on Friday but hit an early hitch as several major US news websites were blocked to European users.

The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers were among those inaccessible on the other side of the Atlantic following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Separately Facebook and Google already face their first official complaints under the new law after an Austrian privacy campaigner accused them of effectively forcing users to give their consent to the use of their personal information.

The EU has billed the GDPR as the biggest shake-up of data privacy regulations since the birth of the web, saying it sets new standards in the wake of the recent Facebook data harvesting scandal.

But it has also been blamed for a flood of emails and messages in recent weeks as worried firms rush to request the explicit consent of users.

It led to the hashtag #HappyGDPRDay taking off on social media as people sarcastically celebrated the end of the deluge of spam.

Even though the rules were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to them, companies have been slow to act, resulting in a last-minute scramble this week.

Companies can be fined up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for breaching the strict new data rules for the EU, a market of 500 million people.



- 'Currently unavailable' -



Several firms experienced real-world problems over complying with the EU laws, with US newspapers owned by the Tronc group, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, saying that they were blocked to Europeans for now.

"Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries," said the message carried by the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel.

"We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism."

Local US newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Arizona Daily Sun, were also out of reach, explicitly blaming the GDPR.

The European Commission insisted that it was not responsible for the blackout of some US sites, saying it was "proud to set high data protection standards" for the bloc's 500 million citizens.

"We have seen the press reports, but it is not for the commission to comment on individual companies' policies in terms of offering services in the EU," a spokesman said in an emailed comment to AFP.

"We expect all companies to fully comply with the General Data Protection Regulation as of today. With the new rules in place, EU data protection authorities will watch over their correct application across the EU and ensure full compliance."



- 'Forced consent' -



Meanwhile campaigner Max Schrems said he had launched four official complaints with national regulatory authorities on Friday under the new law.

They target Google in France, picture-sharing site Instagram in Belgium, WhatsApp in Germany and Facebook in his native Austria.

He said the problem with all these sites was pop ups that have appeared in recent weeks, asking users to agree to new terms of use, adding that this amounted to a system of "forced consent" from users.

A previous case brought by Schrems against Facebook triggered the collapse of a previous EU-US data sharing agreement.

Brussels says the new laws put Europeans "back in control" of their data.

"When it comes to personal data today, people are naked in an aquarium," said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter that "with the GDPR we are building a European sovereignty on data".

The law says individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used. It also establishes their "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for; and gives them the "right to be forgotten".

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said as he apologised to the European Parliament on Tuesday over the scandal that his firm would be "fully compliant" with the EU law.

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Trump's North Korea U-turn: Art of the deal or a boon for regime?



Seoul, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of his summit with Kim Jong Un will strengthen the hand of the reclusive state's leader, analysts say, re-invigorating Pyongyang's relationship with China and driving the two Koreas closer together.

Only a day before the sudden U-turn, Trump and US officials had been indicating there was every chance the historic pow-wow between a sitting American president and the third generation Kim would go ahead in Singapore.

The meeting, scheduled for June 12, was to be the consummation of a relationship that had raced from threatening each other with nuclear destruction to chummy bonhomie and talk of a peace treaty -- all in a few short months.

Decades of diplomatic stalemate had given way to what appeared to be genuine progress in one of geopolitics' stickiest issues, thanks, supporters said, to Trump's unorthodox approach and willingness to engage an international pariah.

Pyongyang had released three American prisoners, agreed to a moratorium on missile tests, quietly accepted a US-South Korean military exercise on its doorstep and even blown up its only atomic weapons testing site.

Then, barely hours after the dust had settled at the Punggye-ri nuclear facility, Trump announced the summit was dead in a personal letter to Kim.

"The timing of this letter is... highly questionable," said Abraham M Denmark, director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center.

"Coming just a few hours after NK demolished its nuclear test site, it guarantees that the US takes the blame for undermining diplomacy. NK comes out looking like the reasonable one."

Pyongyang furthered that impression in the hours after Trump's letter, defying expectations in some quarters that it might launch a missile, or at least a volley of abuse.

Instead, it described the decision as "regrettable" and calmly declared its officials were willing "to sit face-to-face at any time".



- 'Shaky alliance' -



Such an overt display of levelheadedness leaves US demands for continued pressure on North Korea looking hollow, said Denmark -- especially for one key regional player.

"China is likely to more openly back North Korea. Sanctions enforcement will soften, and I expect high-level contacts will continue," he said.

And where Beijing had, until a few months ago, appeared almost ready to cast its troublesome younger brother to the wind, that looks a lot less likely now.

"If US returns to talk of (attacking North Korea), expect Beijing to be more explicit in its willingness to intervene."

Pyongyang's new-found moderatism has also won plaudits -- and allies -- south of its highly-fortified border.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who leapt on the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics as an opportunity to broach a detente with his prickly neighbour, is unlikely to abandon the process now -- even at the cost of a deterioration of his country's US alliance.

North Korea's willingness to keep the door open for talks gives Seoul the cover it needs to press ahead with engagement, said Go Myong-hyun, an analyst at Asan Institute of Policy Studies.

"It won't be like last year when South Korea and the US stressed their firm alliance and pressured North Korea," he told AFP.

"Moon has to double down. In short, he will push ahead with the policy of engagement and focus on dialogue with the North. The South Korea-US alliance will be shaky."

But, Go added, it isn't all bad news for Trump.

Analysts have decried the pace of events over the last few months, pointing out that the diplomatically untested businessman-president appeared to have little understanding of the complexities of dealing with North Korea.

He and his hawkish administration talked of "denuclearisng the Korean peninsula" as a readily-navigated one-way street that simply involved North Korea mothballing its weapons.

Pyongyang's understanding of the term has always been more nuanced, and likely involves retaining some of its nuclear arsenal whilst pushing for a reduction of American troops in South Korea and weakening Washington's alliance with Seoul.

Granting Kim a one-on-one before any concrete moves to scrap his nuclear arsenal was always akin to rushing downhill without looking, observers said.

Yet Trump's equally sudden willingness to walk away from an agreement -- a strategy he advocated in his "Art Of The Deal" memoir -- might just help to level the playing field.

"North Korea will have to propose more detailed plans for denuclearisation if it wants to talk in the future," said Go.
'Poker player' Xi may hold North Korea trump card



Beijing, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Dubbed a "world-class poker player" in diplomacy by Donald Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping may hold the best cards after the US leader scrapped his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

While China had publicly backed the June 12 meeting, analysts say Beijing was worried that a deal between its traditional ally and the United States could harm its strategic interests.

With both Trump and North Korea leaving the door open for the summit to take place at a later date, Beijing has won more time to ensure that its interests are protected, and possibly gain leverage in separate US trade talks, according to analysts.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Friday denied that China had "any ulterior motives", adding it remains committed to the denuclearisation of the peninsula, peace and dialogue to resolve the issue.

Lu urged the US and North Korea to be "patient" and "show goodwill".

Beijing's relations with Pyongyang had been strained and distant in recent years, with China backing a slew of United Nations sanctions following the North's nuclear and missile tests.

But Xi made sure to finally meet Kim this year -- for the first time ever -- before the North Korean leader held talks with either Trump or South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Trump suggested earlier this week that the veteran Chinese president may have influenced the younger North Korean autocrat, whose position apparently hardened after meeting Xi twice within two months.

Analysts agree.

"Everything changed because the Chinese told (Kim) not too give up too much too quickly," Jean-Pierre Cabestan, China specialist at Hong Kong Baptist University, told AFP.



- 'Turning point' -



Cabestan said the second Kim-Xi summit, in the Chinese port city of Dalian, was a "turning point" in the North Korean leader's position, with Xi probably reminding Kim that he was better off dealing with his country's chief benefactor than the United States.

Xi may have asked Kim to put demands for the suspension of US-South Korean military exercises back on the table, after announcing a unilateral halt to nuclear and missile tests on April 21, said Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"After all, the 'freeze for freeze' was China's proposal, and it was a slap in Xi's face that Kim proposed to halt nuclear and missile tests while maintaining that continuation of US-ROK military drills," Glaser said.

Following the May 8 summit in Dalian, China's official Xinhua news agency said Kim had called for "phased and synchronous measures" to achieve denuclearisation -- an apparent return to its demand for a quid pro quo from the US.

Earlier this week, Trump noted Kim's about-face as he called Xi a great poker player. He also said the China-North Korea border had become "more porous" -- suggesting that Beijing had eased up on enforcing sanctions.

"There was a different attitude after that meeting and I was a little surprised," Trump said. "And I think things changed after that meeting so I can't say that I am happy about it."

But Xi never intended to sabotage the summit, analysts said.

"Undoubtedly, Xi Jinping hoped to steer the Trump-Xi meeting in a direction that was advantageous to Chinese interests - or at least did no harm," Glaser said.

"But China would not have benefited from a cancellation that carries the risk of a return to active US consideration of military options against North Korea."



- 'Subterfuge' -



Chinese analysts blame White House hardliners.

Pence and Trump's hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton had angered Pyongyang by raising the spectre of Libyan leader Moamer Khadafi, who gave up atomic weapons only to die years later at the hands of US-backed rebels.

Fingering China for the summit's cancellation "is just a subterfuge," said Hua Po, an independent Chinese political commentator. "I think that the cancellation was caused by the lack of agreement within the US on North Korea policy."

Wang Dong, professor at the School of International Relations, Peking University, said US hardliners "want North Korea to surrender completely."

China could try to revive the summit and use North Korea as a bargaining chip in separate US trade talks, according to analysts.

"If Xi turns out to be a successful mediator between Kim and Trump, it could buy China a better US-China trade deal," Glaser said. "Definitely a win-win for Beijing."
Taiwan scrambles fighter jets to track China bomber drill



Taipei, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Taiwan on Friday scrambled fighter jets to shadow Chinese bombers conducting a drill around the island, just hours after Beijing welcomed Burkina Faso's move to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei.

Taiwan's defence ministry said it had dispatched fighter jets to monitor two Chinese H-6 bombers that were flying over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and the Miyako Strait, near Japan's Okinawa Island.

"We are fully monitoring the situation and taking efficient responsive measures to ensure defence security," it said in a statement.

The scrambling comes a day after Burkina Faso became the second of Taiwan's dwindling number of formal allies to jump ship to Beijing in a month.

China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on the self-ruled island, which it views as a wayward province to be reunified by force if necessary.

Relations have deteriorated between Beijing and Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power two years ago as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China".

Tsai's tenure has already seen the loss of three allies to China, with the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Sao Tome and Principe all switching allegiance since 2016.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang praised Burkina Faso on Friday for making the "correct decision" and that it would not be "unexpected" if the west African state were to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing in the future.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which is in charge of China ties, announced late Thursday that Chinese officials applying to visit the island would be subject to tighter screening, without elaborating.

The move aims to "prevent the Chinese communists from dividing and disturbing social order in Taiwan with their unification propaganda measures", it said in a statement.

Taiwan now has just 18 formal allies who recognise its government instead of Beijing.

For its part, Beijing has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains the island's most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties.

President Tsai warned China Thursday that Taiwan would not tolerate what she called its "crude behaviour to undermine our sovereignty".

Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tendered his resignation after Burkina Faso's announcement, but said Friday that he would stay on in the position at the president's request.
Iraq carries out more air strikes against IS in Syria



Baghdad, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Iraq announced Friday it had carried out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, the third cross border aerial operation inside a month in its war-torn neighbour.

"Iraqi F-16 planes carried out (Thursday) morning raids against the headquarters of IS terrorist gang leaders and an explosives depot occupied by terrorists in Syria's Hajin region," a statement by Iraq's operations command said.

A video released with the text shows a strike on a huge building surrounded by palm trees and a wall.

The images show the wall and the building collapsing simultaneously.

Several strikes have been carried out by Iraq or the international coalition since Thursday against the centre of Hajin, the last major area held by IS in Syria, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

At least 65 senior IS leaders live in Hajin, the Observatory's director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Hajin is in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, about 50 kilometres (just over 30 miles) from Iraq's border.

It has been surrounded since the end of 2017 by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by the United States and France, Abdel Rahman said.

Several hundred prisoners are still held by the jihadists in Hajin, he added.

Since April, Iraq's air force has carried out several air strikes on IS-held Syrian territory close to the border between the two countries.

IS seized a third of Iraq in 2014, before the government declared victory in December, but the military has continued regular operations along the porous Syrian border.
Putin says 'all is not lost' to save Iran nuclear deal



Saint Petersburg, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said it was still possible to save the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015, despite US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the agreement.

"The US president is not closing the door on negotiations," Putin said at the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum. "I think that all is not yet lost," he added.

Earlier this month Trump controversially pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 pact with Iran that placed limits on its nuclear programme in return for easing economic sanctions.

Saving the deal provides a rare point of agreement between Moscow and European countries, which have seen relations tank in recent years over crises in Ukraine and Syria, as well as accusations of meddling in foreign elections and the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain.

Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron launched a joint defence of the Iranian nuclear deal on Monday but expressed differences on how to move forward as Trump weighs up whether to scrap it.

The Kremlin said Putin and Macron were both calling for "strict observance" of the hard-fought 2015 agreement after a phone call between the two leaders.

Macron's office however said that while the pair agreed on the need to "preserve the gains from the agreement", the French leader was also pushing for international talks on a potential wider deal.

Trump has derided the Iran deal as "insane" partly because its restrictions on Iran's nuclear activities begin expiring in 2025.
Trump-Kim summit 'indispensable' for resolving NKorea crisis: Abe



Saint Petersburg, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday Tokyo was disappointed by the cancellation of the summit between the US and North Korean leaders, saying it was necessary to make progress.

"In the future we need such a meeting -- it is indispensable to resolve the problems which have accumulated," he said at Russia's annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled the high-stakes summit with Kim Jong Un, following what the White House called a "trail of broken promises" by North Korea.

However on Friday Trump said it was possible the summit could still go ahead, perhaps even on June 12 as originally planned.

"Nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction, an effective means of destroying all these types of weapons is needed," said Abe, over whose country North Korea has fired missiles as it has tested its efforts to build rockets that can reach the United States.

"That is the main goal of negotiations between these countries (US and North Korea) and it is namely by holding such a summit that we need to move things forward," he added.

Abe said other countries should continue to put pressure on North Korea to respect UN resolutions concerning its nuclear and missle programmes.

"The most important (thing) is that we continue our efforts," said Abe.
French, British air chiefs say Western dominance slipping



Paris, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



The heads of the British and French air forces warned Friday that Western dominance in the skies is increasingly under threat as rival powers develop new defence capabilities.

Head of the Royal Air Force, Stephen Hillier, referred to the development of new sophisticated surface-to-air missiles and fifth-generation fighter jets by Russia that challenge Western technological superiority.

"The global situation has changed, and fast, and we need to wake up to the fact that the control of air space too is being contested to a degree we have not witnessed in the post Cold War years," he said in Paris.

As well as Russia, China is investing heavily in new stealth fighter jet technology as part of a vast overhaul of its armed forces.

French air force chief Andre Lanata pointed to the loss of an Israeli F16 fighter jet over Syria in February, which was hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire, as an illustration of the dangers.

"Our adversaries, our rivals have understood the advantage we have from our aerial power... today they are developing increasingly robust strategies to keep us out of the air," he said.

He urged policymakers to "really understand that control of air space in the future will be contested to an unprecedented degree.

"It's a major issue for our defence," he added.

Hillier was in Paris for a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the RAF which was officially formed at the end of the First World War.

He was also highly critical of Russia.

"It is now clear that the threat posed to our societies and their national interests by state actors and their proxies has grown to proportions we have not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union," he said.

"Russia provides the most telling and pressing example."
Trump says North Korea summit could still happen



Washington, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



One day after abruptly pulling the plug on a high-stakes summit with North Korea, US President Donald Trump said Friday the meeting with Kim Jong Un could go ahead after all -- possibly even on the originally scheduled date of June 12.

The summit would be an unprecedented meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, which Washington hopes will result in full denuclearization of the reclusive state.

"We're going to see what happens," Trump told reporters at the White House, after welcoming Pyongyang's latest statement on the talks as "very good news."

"It could even be the 12th," he added.

On Thursday, Trump cancelled the summit that was due to take place in Singapore, blaming "tremendous anger and open hostility" from Pyongyang in recent days.

But North Korea responded Friday by saying it was willing to talk to the United States "at any time" -- a reaction Trump welcomed as "warm and productive."

"We're talking to them now," Trump said of the North Koreans. "They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it."

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there was "possibly some good news" on the summit, while White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters: "If the meeting takes place on June 12, we will be ready."



- 'Twists and turns' -



State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert cast the fast-moving developments as simply "twists and turns" in the process.

"We never expected it to be easy," Nauert told reporters.

But the whiplash from the White House was unusual even for the chaos-loving president. In March, apparently acting on impulse, Trump agreed to the talks with Kim after only limited input from aides.

In a letter to Kim, Trump blamed Kim's regime for his decision to call off the summit, and warned North Korea against committing any "foolish or reckless acts" while also highlighting America's "massive and powerful" nuclear capabilities.

First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump's decision "unexpected" and "regrettable" but sounded a conciliatory tone, saying officials were willing "to sit face-to-face at any time."

Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the meeting, North Korea declared it had "completely" dismantled its nuclear test site in the country's far northeast, in a carefully choreographed goodwill gesture.



- 'Shocking' -



The US summit cancellation blindsided treaty ally South Korea, which until now had brokered a remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang, with President Moon Jae-in calling the move "shocking and very regrettable."

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said however he respected and supported the US president's move.

China, Pyongyang's sole major ally, urged the two foes to "show goodwill," while Russia's President Vladimir Putin held out hope the talks would eventually take place.

Politically, Trump had invested heavily in the success of the planned summit.

As the date drew nearer, however, a gulf in expectations between the two sides became apparent.

Before Trump's announcement, Pyongyang had hardened its rhetoric, calling comments by Vice President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid."

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" of the North.

Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrent until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.



- Libyan model -



The White House was unhappy about what it considered to be a "trail of broken promises" by North Korea -- including failure to show up for summit preparatory talks and complaints about the latest US-South Korean joint military exercise.

It also was unhappy about the North's failure to allow international observers to verify the dismantling of the Punggye-ri test site, the staging ground for all six of its nuclear tests.

But the North's Kim Kye Gwan countered that Pyongyang's angry statements were "just a backlash in response to harsh words from the US side that has been pushing for a unilateral denuclearization."

Both Pence and Trump's hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton had raised the specter of Libyan leader Moamer Khadafi, who gave up atomic weapons only to die years later at the hands of US-backed rebels.

Joel Wit, founder of the respected 38 North website which monitors North Korea, said Kim's hand has been strengthened regardless of whether the summit goes ahead because recent weeks have seen him forge connections with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as with Russia and South Korea.

"Kim has created sort of a cushion for failure that if the US backs away, the Chinese and Russians will be behind him," Wit said.

"If the United States tries to come back to the table, (Kim) may toughen up his negotiating position feeling that his political position has been strengthened."

But others said Trump's demonstrated willingness to walk away could yet extract further concessions from Pyongyang.

"North Korea will have to propose more detailed plans for denuclearization if it wants to talk in the future," said Go Myong-hyun, an analyst at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies.
Twin explosions target Iraq communist party HQ: spokesman



Baghdad, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2018



Two bombs exploded Friday close to the Baghdad headquarters of the Iraqi Communist Party, said a spokesman for the political alliance which alongside populist cleric Moqtada Sadr triumphed in elections earlier this month.

Three people were injured in the twin explosions, a police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The attack is the first time a political party has been targeted in the Iraqi capital since the electoral campaign started in mid-April.

"Two bombs were thrown at the ICP headquarters," in Al-Andalus Square, spokesman Jassem al-Hilfi told AFP.

He accused the "corrupt who cannot accept that they lost" the parliamentary elections of being behind the attack.

The bombings are "a threatening message aimed at frightening us to stop us from pursuing the path of reform and change," he added.

The Iraqi Communist Party receives threats "all the time", Hilfi said.

Sadr's Marching Towards Reform anti-corruption campaign saw the alliance win 54 seats in the May 12 vote, to become the biggest bloc in Iraq's 329-seat parliament.

The pro-Iranian Conquest Alliance, made up of ex-fighters from mainly Shiite paramilitary units that battled the Islamic State group, came second in the elections.

The Victory Alliance of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who declared victory over IS in December, performed worse than expected and came third.

Iraq's complex political landscape means weeks of horse-trading are likely before a new government takes shape.

The May 12 vote, the first since Iraq declared victory over the Islamic State group, was marked by record abstention levels as many voters stayed away in a rebuke to the perceived corruption of the ruling class.

IS, which seized swathes of Iraq during a lightning 2014 offensive, has lost nearly all the territory it once held but the group is still capable of carrying out sporadic attacks.

Five people were killed on Friday when an IS suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt in a park in northern Baghdad, where families had gathered for the suhur meal taken before daybreak during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
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Diplomatic Tensions Reception Grows Frosty for German Firms in Saudi Arabia

Following diplomatic discord between Berlin and Riyadh, contracts for German businesses in Saudi Arabia have been drying up. Is the crown prince punishing them?
Roman Reality Check Italian Trumpism Is No Less Dangerous than the Original

Members of the European Union need to send a clear message to the new Italian government: We will not allow you to destroy the eurozone.
English24/05/2018

SO-CALLED INTEREST CONSTITUTIONAL AND OTHER REFORMS MOST DANGEROUS

BANJALUKA, May 24 /SRNA/ - The so-called interest constitutional and other reforms which are still enforced are the most dangerous and there have been many in the scope of post-Dayton activities aiming to achieve the constitutional and legal model of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Professor of Constitutional Law Mile Dmicic told Srna.



The Dayton solutions were changed and are still changed in practice because reasons and conditions for it are constantly sought in the interest of primarily the Bosniak side, even though Croat representatives insist on changing the Bosniak solutions primarily because they oppose a two-entity structure claiming they are marginalised as a constituent people in the Federation of BiH, said Dmicic commenting on the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina has only three bodies which according to the State Constitution have the BiH designation in their name - the Presidency, the Constitutional Court, and the Central Bank, while the Parliamentary Assembly and Council of Ministers, as well as their two constitutional ministries - of foreign affairs and foreign trade do not have that designation.



He pointed out that there are also demands within reforms set as a requirement for joining the European Union and as he said, they usually mean a transfer of competences from the Entities to the joint State bodies and institutions.



That changes the Dayton Peace Agreement and the basic constitutional and legal model of BiH as a complex state in an unconstitutional manner, to the detriment of the Entities and the countrys constitutional structure. It would be good to bear in mind that the most dangerous are the so-called interest constitutional and other reforms and there have been many in the scope of post-Dayton activities aiming to achieve the constitutional and legal model of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Dmicic.



He added that all this was done in order to expand the competence of the BiH institutions, in terms of both quality and quantity. Everything was done, he said, to meet the FBiH standards of BiH as a complex state, and that numerous institutions, agencies, and commissions were created in a non-critical manner, often irrationally.



It has basically changed the constitutional and legal model of BiH with its reorganised institutional system which we can say is almost rounded up in accordance with a federal or confederal structure. All legal entities who want to use the BiH designation in their title can do so provided that they define it with their articles of incorporation, secure BiHs interests through their business activity and enter the BiH designation in the title of a legal entity in a way that is not contrary to the interests of the internal and international legal structure, explained Dmicic.



Lazar Prodanovic, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly Constitutional and Legal Committee, says that Bosnia and Herzegovina is comprised of two entities and that the BiH designation in the names of joint institutions is not defined by the Constitution by accident.



It is absolutely clear because those are joint institutions. But during the passing of the law, attempts were made to give the BiH designation to as many institutions as possible. I believe one should observe the Constitution and the BiH designation which those three institutions carry, which is not disputable. But everything else is disputable, i.e. unconstitutional, because a huge number of institutions have that designation in their name today, said Prodanovic.



He added that, after the law is adopted, it would be difficult to launch an initiative to remove unconstitutional designations from the names of a huge number of institutions.



Representatives of the Federation of BiH would have definitely not agreed with it, said Prodanovic.



Council of Ministers Chair Denis Zvizdic stated earlier with respect to the migrant crisis in BiH that it was necessary to halt the willful and ill-founded interpretation of the Constitution and laws, which has been going on in BiH for too long, he said. /end/ds
This was the message from Peter Phythian, chief executive of the British Charolais Society, speaking at this years National Beef Associations Beef Expo which was held on Friday May 25 at Halls Shrewsbury Livestock Auction Centre.

Its time to focus on what we know and can do constructively to ensure the beef industry remains viable and successful in the future, he said.

That requires a focus on efficiencies and choosing the right genetics that will maximise returns.

As an industry we need to embrace data collation, value the significant gains from using EBVs, Genomics and fully understand the impact of different breeds on business profitability.

We recognise this new approach to future beef production, and as a Society work with producers to develop new ways in which to improve their business. As an example, we recently announced a change in our DNA testing which we believe will lead to greater efficiencies and improved breeding.

We need to work smarter not harder. The Beef Expo attracts many national and international visitors  from every level within the industry and, as farmers, we need to instil confidence in, and promote, our ability to produce world class beef.

This will require farmers to illustrate their business knowledge and success  in turn requiring the use of recognised systems and information.
Google Maps(SYRACUSE, N.Y.) -- A 30-year-old man ordered by a judge to move out of his parents' home in upstate New York has been offered a job and a starting bonus by a restaurant chain.



Villa Italian Kitchen apparently thinks Michael Rotondo would fit its recipe for success. The chain wrote in a Facebook post that "it's tough out there," particularly for millennials, and offered the young man a store-level job and training at any of its 250 locations worldwide.



The company also decided to offer him a "signing bonus" of $1,101, saying it would beat an offer of $1,100 from his parents, an apparent reference to money Rotondo's parents, Mark and Christina Rotondo, gave their son earlier this year to help him move out.



Michael Rotondo told "Good Morning America" this week that he accepted the money but spent it on "other things."



The 30-year-old had been living rent-free at his parents' home in Camillus, New York, near Syracuse, when they asked a court to force him to leave. A State Supreme Court judge ruled in the parents' favor Tuesday, ordering him to move out.



Villa Italian Kitchen wrote in its post, "Offer from us is on the table for $1,101 to come join our team. Consider it a signing bonus. We gotchu, bud,"



(MORE: 30-year-old ordered to vacate parents' home claims they harassed him)



"We feel that millennials catch a lot flack for everything from being lazy to killing department stores, but in reality, it can be difficult to start a career so we decided to try to help Michael out," Villa Italian Kitchen COO Andrew Steinberg told ABC News. Steinberg, who has been with the restaurant for 21 years confirmed the chain has reached out to Rotondo, "but have not received a response yet."



"The offer is still on the table and we would be happy to discuss this opportunity with him if he is interested," he said.



The closest Villa Italian Kitchen location to Camillus, New York, is in Waterloo, according to Steinberg, which is about 30 miles away.



"We are always looking for people who want to make a difference and who are looking for their 'piece of the pie,' whether they live in a penthouse or their parents house," Steinberg said. "We believe that with the right training and a supportive atmosphere, Michael has the potential to be a successful employee."

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Published: 25 May 2018

Average number of unemployment days accumulated over a five-year period 801 for the unemployed at the end of 2017

According to Statistics Finlands employment statistics, there were 296,000 unemployed persons at the end of 2017. On average, unemployed persons had accumulated over two years worth of unemployment days over a five-year period. On average, older unemployed persons had accumulated more unemployment days than younger ones and men more than women. Roughly every third unemployed person had been continuously unemployed for at least a year. The data on unemployment in the employment statistics are based on the data of the Register of Job Seekers of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.

Average number of unemployment days of unemployed persons in a five-year period by age and sex

Persons that were unemployed at the end of 2017 had in the past five years (2013 to 2017) been unemployed for an average of 801 days. So over a five-year period, unemployed persons had accumulated, on average, over two years' worth of unemployment days. Unemployment days refer to days when a person has been an unemployed job seeker. Unemployment days could have accumulated during several different unemployment periods.

The average amount of unemployment days accumulated over a five-year period was higher the older the person in question was. Those belonging to the oldest age group had been unemployed for an average of 1,065 days or in other words, for nearly three years in the past five years.

Men who were unemployed at the end of 2017 had been unemployed in the past five years for an average of 843 days and women for 748 days. The difference between the sexes was smallest among the youngest (aged 15 to 19) and oldest (aged 60 to 64) age groups. The difference was biggest among those aged 30 to 34: for men 822 days and for women 617 days.

Almost the same number of unemployment days for completers of upper secondary and doctorate level education

Over the five year period, the fewest unemployment days, on average, had been accumulated for those with specialist vocational qualifications (653 days) and the second fewest for those with lower university level degrees (708 days), when examining the person's highest degree or qualification in 2016. Those with lowest level tertiary qualifications (893 days), doctorate level degrees (865 days) and upper secondary qualifications (829 days) had the most unemployment days. So according to this examination, higher education would not seem to affect the duration of unemployment.

43,000 persons unemployed for four years or more

Good one-quarter (81,000 persons) of those who had been unemployed at the end of 2017 had in the past five years been unemployed in total for one year or less. Nearly 43,000 persons or 14 per cent of those who were unemployed at the end of 2017 had been unemployed in total for four years or longer (1,461 to 1,826 days). In all, 7,305 persons had been unemployed for the entire reference period or 1,826 days. The vast majority of them (64 %) were men. Of those who had been unemployed for the entire five-year period, 61 per cent were aged 55 to 64.

Number of unemployed persons by unemployment day group

One-third of the unemployed were long-term unemployed

One-third (91,000) of those who were unemployed at the end of 2017 had been continuously unemployed for at least one year, i.e. they were long-term unemployed. One-half (46,800) of the long-term unemployed had been continuously unemployed for more than two years. A majority of the unemployed persons had, however, been unemployed for a shorter period: Forty per cent have been continuously unemployed for less than a hundred days.

In Mainland Finland, the share of long-term unemployed among all unemployed persons was lowest in South Ostrobothnia (18%) and in Kainuu (23%). The share was highest in Paijat-Hame (36%) and Uusimaa (34%).

Source: Employment Statistics, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Elina Pelkonen 029 551 3022, Netta Hiitola 029 551 3552, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma

Publication in pdf-format (228.2 kB)

Updated 25.5.2018

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Employment [e-publication].

ISSN=2323-6825. Main type of activity and status in occupation 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 12.10.2021].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/tyokay/2017/02/tyokay_2017_02_2018-05-25_tie_001_en.html
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L'OREAL: News Release: "L'Oreal acquires Pulp Riot, the new US based professional haircolor brand"

L'Oreal acquires Pulp Riot, the new US based professional haircolor brand

Clichy, 25 May 2018 - L'Oreal has finalized the acquisition of Pulp Riot, a professional haircolor brand launched by David and Alexis Thurston in the United States in June, 2016.

Since its launch, Pulp Riot has been transforming the professional haircolor market by creating industry leading content, and using social media to effectively inspire and educate stylists across the world. To date, Pulp Riot has amassed over 675,000 Instagram followers.

Pulp Riot had net sales of US $ 11 million in 2017. Its largest distributor in the US is SalonCentric. The brand also started its international expansion.

Nathalie Roos, President Professional Products Division of L'Oreal, said: "We are thrilled to welcome the Pulp Riot teams and to amplify the international development of this iconic brand. Its unique creative artistry and stylist powered education will inspire the entire division."

David Thurston, CEO and Founder of Pulp Riot, said "We're excited to join the L'Oreal family, the grandest beauty company in the world. We believe this move will give Pulp Riot the fire power to accomplish our most ambitious goal for the brand. We are especially happy that so many of the loyal stylists who contribute to the success of Pulp Riot will have even more opportunities moving forward."

David Thurston will continue to serve as CEO and lead Pulp Riot from the company's Los Angeles headquarters.

About L'Oreal

L'Oreal has devoted itself to beauty for over 100 years. With its unique international portfolio of 34 diverse and complementary brands, the Group generated sales amounting to 26.02 billion euros in 2017 and employs 82 600 people worldwide. As the world's leading beauty company, L'Oreal is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, pharmacies and drugstores, hair salons, travel retail, branded retail and e-commerce.

Research and innovation, and a dedicated research team of 3,885 people, are at the core of L'Oreal's strategy, working to meet beauty aspirations all over the world. L'Oreal's sustainability commitment for 2020 "Sharing Beauty With All" sets out ambitious sustainable development objectives across the Group's value chain.

For more information: http://mediaroom.loreal.com/en

"This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy L'Oreal shares. If you wish to obtain more comprehensive information about L'Oreal, please refer to the public documents registered in France with the Autorite des Marches Financiers, also available in English on our Internet site www.loreal-finance.com.

This news release may contain some forward-looking statements. Although the Company considers that these statements are based on reasonable hypotheses at the date of publication of this release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or projected in these statements."

Individual shareholders and market authorities

Mr Jean Regis CAROF

Tel: +33 1 47 56 83 02

jean-regis.carof@loreal.com

Financial Analysts and Institutional investors

Mrs Francoise LAUVIN

Tel: +33 1 47 56 86 82

francoise.lauvin@loreal.com

Journalists

Mrs Stephanie CARSON-PARKER

Tel: +33 1 47 56 76 71

stephanie.carsonparker@loreal.com

Mrs Anne-Laure RICHARD

Tel: +33 1 47 56 80 68

annelaure.richard@loreal.com

For further information, please contact your bank, stockbroker or financial institution (I.S.I.N. code: FR0000120321), and consult your usual newspapers or magazines or the Internet site for shareholders and investors, www.loreal-finance.com,the L'Oreal Finance app or call the toll-free number from France: 0 800 66 66 66.

www.loreal.com - Follow us on Twitter @loreal





This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: L'OREAL via Globenewswire


DGAP-News: Aroundtown SA / Key word(s): AGM/EGM/Real Estate

Aroundtown SA announces publication of convening notice for the 2018 Annual General Meeting



25.05.2018 / 08:32

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAWS OR REGULATIONS

AROUNDTOWN ANNOUNCES PUBLICATION OF CONVENING NOTICE FOR THE 2018 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

25 May 2018.

Aroundtown SA ("Aroundtown") announces today the publication of the convening notice and related materials for the annual general meeting of shareholders of Aroundtown ("AGM") to be held on 27 June 2018.

In connection with the AGM, the board of directors of Aroundtown has proposed the distribution of a dividend in the amount of EUR 0.234 (gross) per share, subject to the approval of the dividend by the AGM.

Further information regarding the AGM and the proposed dividend is available at http://www.aroundtown.de/investor-relations/general-meeting/agm-2018/.



About the Company



Aroundtown SA (symbol: AT1), trading on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, is the largest listed German commercial real estate company.

Aroundtown invests in income geneRating quality properties with value-add potential in central locations in top tier cities in Germany/NL.

Aroundtown SA (ISIN: LU1673108939) is a public limited liability company (societe anonyme) established under the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (Registre de Commerce et des Societes, Luxembourg) under number B217868, having its registered office at 1, Avenue du Bois, L-1251 Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Contact

Timothy Wright

T: +352 285 7741

E: info@aroundtown.de

www.aroundtown.de



DISCLAIMER

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY SECURITIES.

THE SECURITIES MENTIONED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAVE NOT BEEN, AND WILL NOT BE, REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE SECURITIES ACT), AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES ABSENT REGISTRATION OR AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT. THERE WILL BE NO PUBLIC OFFERING OF THE SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS DIRECTED AT AND IS ONLY BEING DISTRIBUTED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM TO (I) PERSONS WHO HAVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN MATTERS RELATING TO INVESTMENTS FALLING WITHIN ARTICLE 19(5) OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 (FINANCIAL PROMOTION) ORDER 2005 (THE ORDER), (II) HIGH NET WORTH ENTITIES, AND OTHER PERSONS TO WHOM IT MAY OTHERWISE LAWFULLY BE COMMUNICATED FALLING WITHIN ARTICLE 49 OF THE ORDER, AND (III) PERSONS TO WHOM IT MAY OTHERWISE LAWFULLY BE COMMUNICATED (ALL SUCH PERSONS TOGETHER BEING REFERRED TO AS RELEVANT PERSONS). THIS COMMUNICATION MUST NOT BE READ, ACTED ON OR RELIED ON BY PERSONS WHO ARE NOT RELEVANT PERSONS. ANY INVESTMENT OR INVESTMENT ACTIVITY TO WHICH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO RELEVANT PERSONS AND WILL BE ENGAGED IN ONLY WITH RELEVANT PERSONS.

IN MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA (EEA), THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND ANY OFFER IF MADE SUBSEQUENTLY IS DIRECTED ONLY AT PERSONS WHO ARE "QUALIFIED INVESTORS" WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 2(1)(E) OF DIRECTIVE 2003/71/EC, AS AMENDED (THE PROSPECTUS DIRECTIVE) (QUALIFIED INVESTORS). ANY PERSON IN THE EEA WHO ACQUIRES THE SECURITIES IN ANY OFFER (AN INVESTOR) OR TO WHOM ANY OFFER OF THE SECURITIES IS MADE WILL BE DEEMED TO HAVE REPRESENTED AND AGREED THAT IT IS A QUALIFIED INVESTOR. ANY INVESTOR WILL ALSO BE DEEMED TO HAVE REPRESENTED AND AGREED THAT ANY SECURITIES ACQUIRED BY IT IN THE OFFER HAVE NOT BEEN ACQUIRED ON BEHALF OF PERSONS IN THE EEA OTHER THAN QUALIFIED INVESTORS, NOR HAVE THE SECURITIES BEEN ACQUIRED WITH A VIEW TO THEIR OFFER OR RESALE IN THE EEA TO PERSONS WHERE THIS WOULD RESULT IN A REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLICATION BY THE COMPANY OR ANY OF THE MANAGERS OF A PROSPECTUS PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 3 OF THE PROSPECTUS DIRECTIVE.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MAY CONTAIN PROJECTIONS OR ESTIMATES RELATING TO PLANS AND OBJECTIVES RELATING TO OUR FUTURE OPERATIONS, PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES, FUTURE FINANCIAL RESULTS, OR ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING OR RELATING TO ANY SUCH STATEMENTS, EACH OF WHICH CONSTITUTES A FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT SUBJECT TO RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES, MANY OF WHICH ARE BEYOND THE CONTROL OF AROUNDTOWN SA. ACTUAL RESULTS COULD DIFFER MATERIALLY, DEPENDING ON A NUMBER OF FACTORS.
As we have since July 2006, each Friday well post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 580th in the series.

1) On Monday, General Cigar announced a partnership between A.J. Fernandez, the Diesel cigar brand, and Rabbit Hole Bourbon. Those entities have teamed up to create Whiskey Row, a new cigar line featuring bourbon barrel-aged binder leaves from a proprietary process developed by Fernandez. This concept was brought to life in 2016 when Rabbit Hole Bourbon barrels arrived at Tabalacera A.J. Fernandez in Esteli, Nicaragua, reads a press release. A.J. placed the Mexican San Andres binder in the bourbon barrels in a special configuration. The tobacco was left to rest inside the barrels, and the amount of air inside was controlled at regular intervals to ensure the bourbon flavors were imparted evenly. In addition to this binder, Diesel Whiskey Row includes an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper aged for five years and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos aged for five to eight years. The blend, scheduled to launch next month, will be offered in four sizes, each packaged in 25-count boxes: Robusto (5.5 x 52, $7.49), Toro (6 x 54, $7.99), Churchill (7 x 49, $8.49), and Gigante (6 x 60, $8.99).

2) A date has been set to hear oral arguments in the lawsuit that pits premium cigar industry groups in Texas against the FDA. Judge Kimberly C. Priest Johnson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas will preside over the case. She bumped up the proceedings to begin on June 26 in light of the August 10, 2018, effective date of the warning requirements. She also denied the FDAs request to move the case to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbiawhich is good news, since last week that court ruled against the cigar industry. This suit is brought by the Texas Cigar Merchants Association, El Cubano Cigars, and En Fuego Tobacco Shop and focuses entirely on premium cigars; the Washington suit was brought by the Cigar Association of America, International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, and Cigar Rights of America and, in addition to premium cigars, also included pipes and machine-made cigars.

3) Random Read: If Sports Gambling is Legal, Where Does the Money Go?

4) Inside the Industry: TAA (Tobacconists Association of America) is a small group retailers celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. One of the perks of being a member is access to exclusive TAA blends created by cigar makers only for member tobacconists. This week, Tatuaje announced they are shipping their TAA 50th Anniverasry blend. This years Tatuaje TAA cigar is a robusto (5 x 52) that features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler. Production is limited to 2,500 boxes of 20 cigars with each cigar selling for $11.95.

5) From the Archives: Back when we interviewed A.J. Fernandez in 2011, we started the interview by noting: A.J. Fernandez may be the best cigar maker you havent heard of. But not for long. Youve probably heard of him now.

6) Deal of the Week: StogieGuys.com recommends Bespoke Post, a monthly collection of awesome items (think fine bar accessories, shaving kits, workout gear, and more) delivered for just $45. Of note is the Churchill box, which features four exclusive cigars, an ashtray made of reclaimed wood, an odor-eating candle, cedar spills, and a cutter. Once you are signed up, there is no obligation; you can skip or purchase each month. Sign up now to be eligible for the June box.

The Stogie Guys

photo credit: General Cigar
It may be a while before Iraq has a new government, which is nothing new. The May 12th elections were controversial and more than half the members of the outgoing parliament want to annul the results. They have until June 30th (when their terms expire) to do so. There is some evidence that despite (or because of) the new electronic voting system there was some vote manipulation. The current parliament may also be upset over suspected Iranian efforts to increase control over Iraq.

The real reason for the unexpected elections results is popular anger at corruption. One thing that united all Iraqi voters was anger at the persistent and crippling corruption. Moqtada al Sadr, who was the unexpected winner, had been openly and actively anti-corruption for years and that was why his victorious coalition contained so many non-Shia groups (including communists, who are anathema to Iran). Despite that many Iraqis (and foreign allies) believe Sadr is secretly allied with Iran because the Sadr family has long had ties with Iran and members of the Sadr clan often took refuge in Iran. But that was because the Sadrs were respected Shia clerics and Iran was where the best schools and scholars were. Yet the Sadrs, like most Iraqi Shia Arabs, are Arabs and Iraqis first and that has been proven time and time again. Moqtada al Sadr has seen up close and frequently how a Shia clerical dictatorship works in Iran and was not impressed. He largely kept quiet about this but it was no secret that Sadr did not want a religious dictatorship in Iraq, mainly because it would make the country even more difficult to rule.

Sadr also noted that Iranian Arabs (and Arabs in general) are despised by most Iranians. Meanwhile, Iraq will demonstrate, over the next few months (or more) why it is considered the most dysfunctional country in the Middle East. Iraqi politicians will argue and negotiate in a lengthy effort to for a governing coalition and then for that coalition to select a prime minister and all the subordinate ministers.

Sadr is often described as anti-American but he is generally anti-foreigners in general but is willing to work with other nations if it helps Iraq. Thus there was a recent visit by Sadr to Saudi Arabia to meet with Saudi leaders. The Saudis had long supported the Sunni minority rule in Iraq because it worked and helped contain Iran. With that Sunni minority government gone and not likely to return anytime soon Sadr believes the Saudis still want an Arab government in Iraq that will help keep Iran out of Arabia. Sadr and the Saudis agree on that as do the majority of Iraqis (including most Kurds and Sunni Arabs).

Iran has not given up on Sadr and still refers to him as a friend and brother. Sadr says nice things back but it is what Sadr does that counts and that wont be clear until the new government is formed. This might not happen until the end of the year.

The Wars Continue

The war against ISIL continues but most of the fighting is now taking place near the Syrian border. This is mainly happening west of Mosul and further south in Anbar Province. A growing number of ISIL men are abandoning the Syrian base areas, in part because these are under heavy attack by Kurdish forces and American airpower. But the Iraq/Syria border is also increasingly difficult to get across and has become a kill zone where ISIL personnel are the main target. Meanwhile, ISIL has had some success in establishing themselves in Kirkuk province. This may well be temporary because if Iraq and the Kurdish government in the north settle more of their differences Kurdish security forces could return to Kirkuk province and restore order (eliminate ISIL and any other terror groups). That might not happen until the end of the year or sometime in 2019 so for the moment, ISIL is making the most of their opportunities in Kirkuk.

The American campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria continues, especially the intelligence collection and air strikes. American forces in Syria and Iraq work with their local counterparts to search for and attack remaining ISIL personnel and a lot of this action is taking place close to the Syrian border. The SDF (Kurdish led Syrian Defense Force rebels) are handling the ground operations against two known areas in eastern Syria (Deir Zor province) where ISIL is known to occupy two areas in the Jazeera desert. Much of eastern Syria is desert, interspersed by some river valleys and oases. The Jazeera desert, because of its proximity to the Iraqi border, has always been a favorite hideout for smugglers and, since 2003, for Islamic terrorists operating against targets in Iraq. Now that is reversed with American aircraft (and recon satellites) monitoring the area for targets. These are hit by American and Iraqi warplanes and the SDF coordinates its operations with the Iraqis to prevent any friendly fire. ISIL leader and founder Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is believed hiding in one of these Jazeera desert enclaves, apparently close enough (within 30 kilometers) of the Syrian border to quickly move (or try to) into Iraq is it appears his exact location becomes known to the SDF or the Assads.

The American anti-ISIL coalition still carries out several air strikes a day (in Iraq and Syria) and these are often against major targets. The Iraqi airstrikes are infrequent but since April they have been happening, in cooperation with the coalition aircraft that normally control airspace in that part of Syria. ISIL no longer controls any territory in Iraq but Syria is another matter with several remote areas in Syria known to be under ISIL control. The Americans work their own intelligence sources to find and attack targets. After that some data is shared with the Iraqi government (not too dependable), the SDF Kurds in Syria (more reliable) and some Western allies.

ISIL considers itself strongest in Iraq and Syria where there are still a lot of Sunni Arabs who feel oppressed by the local government (in both cases governments dominated by Shia Arabs). ISIL also declared victory over the Americans because the United States has announced (more than once) that it is leaving Iraq and Syria once ISIL is eliminated. ISIL interprets that to mean the Americans are declaring victory and running away no matter how many ISIL are still active in Iraq and Syria.

Turkey is still fighting in Syria and Iraq. Currently, Turkey asserts that it will pursue PKK and PYD Kurds into Syria or Iraq without asking permission from the governments of either country. This annoys the Iraqi government but at the moment it is considered preferable not to oppose the Turks. There is still no Assad government control on the Syrian side of the border. That degree of control is coming but currently, independent factions (SDF in northern Syria, Iranian mercenaries further south) more or less control the Syrian side. But the Assads can still grant permission to Iraqi forces to cross the border when it comes to dealing with mutual foes like ISIL.

In northern Iraq Turkish warplanes and artillery continue to hit PKK targets in the Kurdish north, killing over fifty PKK members a month. There are some Turkish ground troops in northern Iraq, but these are there mainly to collect intelligence. The Turkish operations against PKK in northern Iraq are still minor compared to their Turkish operations in northwest Syria.

May 23, 2018: In the northeast (Erbil province) Turkish artillery fired from inside Turkey at suspected PKK (Turkish Kurdish separatists) camps inside Iraq. There were no Iraqi casualties but villagers could hear some of the explosions. Erbil is part of the autonomous Kurdish north and this Turkish behavior has become normal since Turkey and PKK went back to war in mid-2015.

May 22, 2018: In the north (Kirkuk province) ISIL gunmen murdered another village leader. ISIL does this to intimidate rural Iraqis into tolerating the ISIL presence and not report ISIL activities to the security forces. ISIL does not control territory in Kirkuk but it apparently has a growing number of people in rural areas intimidated.

In the northwest (outside Mosul) American and Iraqi airstrikes destroyed a complex of ISIL bunkers and tunnels that had been secretly reoccupied by at least ten local ISIL members. American and Iraqi intelligence detected the presence of this sleeper cell and bombed its base. Ground forces followed up to collect intel and dispose of any unexploded ammo and terrorist bombs. Nineveh province, which contains Mosul is still suffering from ISIL terror because the Syrian border is nearby and large groups of ISIL gunmen try to sneak across the border (going either way) and are ready to fight their way through if necessary. This part of the Syrian border is most heavily used by remaining ISIL forces, some of them based in Syria, often less than ten kilometers from the border. Iraqi troops have orders to shoot anyone who tries to cross the border illegally at night. Despite the active defense of the border ISIL continues to cross the in both directions and, until recently, tolerated the losses. Apparently most of the crossings are not detected because ISIL personnel are arrested in Mosul who report they crossed the border several times recently. U.S. supported Kurdish forces in Syria are now seeking to destroy these ISIL base areas and the border security is becoming more formidable.

May 15, 2018: The Iraqi Central Bank is adhering to American sanctions on Iraq by imposing restrictions on Iraqi banks the Americans have shown to be handling cash transfers to Hezbollah and IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps). IRGC operates in Iraq and Syria while Hezbollah is just in Syria and Lebanon.

May 12, 2018: In a surprise (but not unexpected) upset the winner of the parliamentary elections was the Sadr coalition, which won control of 17 percent of the seats in parliament. Sadr is thus able to take the lead in trying to form a coalition government. His main opponents are pro-Iran politicians and the much larger group of corrupt politicians. Moqtada al Sadr has come a long way since 2011 when as a Shia leader and senior cleric Sadr was threatening violence against any American military and police trainers who remained in Iraq once U.S. combat troops withdrew by the end of the year. Sadrs Mahdi Army was defeated by Iraqi forces in 2008 and he was forced to flee to Iran. Sadr returned just before the U.S. troops pulled out and pro-Iranian terror groups become more active. Since then Sadr has been more bluff (and bluster) than real threat, especially to the Americans.

Iran is still controlling Iraqi Shia terrorist groups and Sadr has become more of an Iraqi nationalist than Iranian puppet. By August 2017 Sadr was calling on the Iraqi government to dismantle the Iran backed Shia militias and incorporate loyal (to Iraq) members into the armed forces. The Iraqi prime minister (a Shia), wanted to dismantle these Iran backed Shia Arab militias with more care and take more time doing it. This caution was the result of the (then) upcoming May 12th elections. That vote was expected to be a very concrete example of how much political clout Iran has gained in post-ISIL Iraq. Iran has worked hard to line up political support in Iraq. That Iranian effort failed because at this point Sadr was seen as an opponent of Iranian influence efforts in Iraq. Sadr is also opposed to the Iraqi Shia groups that remained loyal to Iran. One of the things that hurt support for pro-Iran candidates was video on the Internet that purports to show millions of dollars in cash seized at the Iranian border. The money was meant for pro-Iran Iraqis running in the parliamentary elections. Finally, Sadr himself did not run for office and instead served as the administrator, and chaplain, for his coalition.

May 11, 2018: Iraqi officials released details of the recent capture of five senior ISIL leaders (four of them Iraqis), including one who works directly with supreme leader Baghdadi. Also captured was data on ISIL bank accounts, including passwords. The capture was made possible by cooperation between Iraq and SDF (Kurdish led rebels in northeast Syria). Also involved was a sting operation using the favorite ISIL communications app; Telegram.

May 7, 2018: Jordan has agreed to continue the close cooperation with Iraq on border security and the war against ISIL. This cooperation has made Jordan off-limits (for the most part) to ISIL and forced ISIL to rely on Syria alone because the Saudi border was also well protected.

May 6, 2018: Iraqi warplanes carried out more airstrikes against ISIL targets on the Syrian side of the border.

May 4, 2018: One of the new members of parliament from the Kurdish north was a member of PKK. This was a first and will cause some diplomatic problems between Iraq and Turkey.

May 3, 2018: In April 68 civilians and policemen died due to Islamic terrorist violence. All but four of these were civilians. The deaths are down from March when 104 died. That was up a bit from the 91 killed during February and 19 percent of the dead were police. About a third of the deaths occurred in Baghdad. Terror related civilian deaths in Iraq were higher in January (115 dead). Most (78 percent) of the January deaths occurred in Baghdad. The increased casualties are disappointing because the deaths hit a new low (69) in December 2017. With 35 percent of the deaths in Baghdad an old pattern continued. In October when 114 civilians were killed. Most (63 percent) of this violence was equally split between Baghdad (long a Sunni Islamic terrorist target) and Anbar province.

The government has still not resumed reporting casualties among the security forces (military and militias). Civilian deaths were higher (at 196) in September and declined steadily for most of 2017. During the last four months most of the civilian deaths occurred because the victims were near an unexpected suicide bomber attack. Soldiers and police usually can spot and stop suicide bombers but this often means the suicide bomber will set off his explosives before he can he shot dead or captured alive. At that point the bomber is often near civilians who became the casualties instead of the security forces. The government says the January Anbar casualty data will be released once all the data can be collected. With the decline in Islamic terror related deaths other forms of violence are now getting more, long overdue, attention. At the top of the list is tribal feuds. Tribal politics has long been a major factor in Iraqi society, especially the largely Sunni tribes of Anbar and the six major Shia tribes of Basra (the southern province).

May 2, 2018: Representatives from Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian Kurdish groups met in Iran to hear Iranian proposals for how it would be more beneficial to accept Iranian support instead of the American backing Kurds have come to prefer. The Kurds cannot ignore the Iranians but apparently still prefer the Americans.
The government has made it clear that it sides with Israel when it comes to Syria and a long-term peace deal. Israel has not attacked any Russian targets with its growing air offensive against Iranian forces. During May the Russian president met separately with the Israeli and Syrian leaders and apparently worked out terms of a peace deal that Israel and the Assads can live with. Turkey is willing to follow as long as Turkish border security measures (a security zone on the Syrian side of the border patrolled by Turk supported Syrian militias) are left alone. In the northeast the Syrian Kurds could have their autonomy as long as they kept the peace. Basically the Russian proposal is that all foreign troops leave Syria. That will include the Americans but not those that now have treaty rights (Russia has an airbase and part of a port). Israel insists that Iran have no treaty rights and get out completely, along with their local affiliate Hezbollah. The Americans have no interest in a permanent presence they just want to deal with some Islamic terrorists and then leave.

To achieve such a deal the remaining rebel groups have to be destroyed. These holdouts are mainly Islamic terrorist groups aligned with al Qaeda or ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). The Kurds and Americans, with some help from Iraqi forces, are going after the remaining ISIL personnel in eastern and northeastern Syria. The Assads, with the help of Iranian mercenaries and Hezbollah, are clearing areas along the northern and southern borders of remaining rebels. The only problem with this plan is that Iran refuses to leave. The Russians have no certain fix for this although the Israelis are trying their best to destroy all Iranian bases in Syria. This approach, which not perfect, is having a noticeable impact on Iran.

Russia reported (thanks to their extensive air defense radar coverage of western Syria) that Israel appeared to have used 23 fighter-bombers to launch 60 air-to-ground missiles or smart bombs against Iranian targets after Iran launched an unsuccessful May 10 rocket attack on Israeli bases in the Golan Heights. Russia also reported that Israel appears to have used ten ground launched missiles (probably the Delilah missile, which is usually launched from aircraft). Delilah is one of several loitering missiles Israel has developed. Spike NLOS is one of those in wide use. These can search for a target, with a human controller approving a target via a datalink, which also provides video of hits on targets, which Israel sometimes releases to the media. This was the case with the latest airstrikes, which destroyed many Syrian air defense systems (S-200 and Pantsir). Russia explained away the Pantsir loss by asserting that the vehicle was resting.

Russia has other problems with the Assad government and Iranian mercenaries, especially when it comes to handling peace deals with rebels. Russia insists on honoring these deals while the Assads and Iranians prefer to modify these safe passage deals. These terms include civilians and disarmed fighters (from a surrendered rebel area, like the ones around Damascus moving to other rebel held territory in the north). Often Russian security forces are in charge of security for the assembly and movement of the surrendered rebels and the Russians see that job as including protecting the surrendered rebels (most of them civilians) until they reach their destination. The Assads and Iranians have a different approach which includes interrogating many of the surrendered rebels and seizing those who are thought to contain useful information or are believed to have been too successful at killing Assad and Iranian personnel. During these purges of the surrendered rebels there is also a lot of theft as those doing the purging steal portable valuables. The Assads and Iranians also believe that civilians who stay behind can be purged as well even though the peace agreements forbid that. Russia believes these practices are counterproductive as it makes rebels less willing to accept a surrender dead. The Assads and Iranians are not bothered much by that and are willing to slaughter pro-rebel civilians as well as the armed rebels when there is no willingness to surrender. There have been some armed confrontations between Assad or Iranian forces and Russians over this. The Russians tend to prevail. As a result a growing number of surrender negotiations include rebels insisting that Russian forces handle the evacuation, movement and protection of the civilians and disarmed rebels. This sort of thing is another reason why the Russians maintain good relations with the Israelis and are have a difficult time doing the same with Iran.

The Assads need the Russians and Iranians to defeat the remaining rebels. The Russians provide air support that Iran cannot. Since mid-2015 Russian warplanes have accounted for most of the airstrikes supporting the Assad forces. So far that comes to about 6,900 air strikes in total and only 14 percent (nearly all of them Russian) against ISIL targets. The air strikes by Assad aircraft were made possible by Russian logistical and technical support. Again, Iran could do little to help with this. The Assads wont say it, but they, and most Syrians (pro and anti-Assad) would like the Iranians gone. The Assads now control about half of Syria and the Kurds and Turks about a third. The 50,000 or so Iranian mercenaries are technically part of the Syrian armed forced but in fact report to Iranian officers. Iran could take control of territory but that would make it more of a target for Israeli airstrikes and less able to assert that it is only there to help the Assads put down the rebellion.

Other Problems In Syria

For a while (before making deals with Israel) Russia tried to dissuade Israel and its Western allies from attacking more Syrian targets, especially those that put its high tech weapons to the test because so far these electronic and anti-aircraft systems have proved ineffective against Israeli attacks and probably wont do much better against the Americans. This is bad for business, as Russia has been touting the combat experience in Syria to get more sales for their new stuff. It would also be disastrous for Russian diplomacy which has portrayed Russia as a powerful and technically advanced ally for Syria, Iran and Turkey. Although Russia talks tough against Israel and the Americans it does not want to take that any further, nor does it want to appear like Russia is backing off. Russia is in an embarrassing situation and not getting much sympathy from anyone, not even Russians back in Russia.

There have been some major embarrassments. The February incident where over 200 Russian military contractors died when they tried to seize a small base in eastern Syria containing American troops did not trigger calls for revenge among Russians. Instead the attitude was that these guys took a chance to make a lot of money and it didnt w0rk out. There are a lot of dangerous jobs in Russia that pay well to compensate for the risk. Those who do that work are opportunists, not patriots. So the government has to go easy in Ukraine and Syria. Israel seems more aware of this than most Middle Eastern powers. That is partly because Israel has a large Russian minority, courtesy of a lot of Russian Jews coming to Israel since the 1980s and keeping in touch with folks back home.

Another aftereffect of the 200 contractor deaths was Russia revealing how many Russian military personnel have served in Syria since mid-2015. It was 48,000, and that includes army, navy and air force. Not included are contractors, who are civilians, even if they took on some of the most dangerous jobs and suffered more casualties than the military personnel. Out of those 48,000 Russian military personnel who have been in Syria (some for less than a day, few for more than six months) only about 60 have died in combat so far. There have been half as many military contractors serving in Syria and they have suffered nearly 500 dead. No official numbers of military contractor fatalities have been released but Russian volunteer organizations have tried to keep track of the funerals or other indications of young men dying in Syria and it is clear that being a military contractor is a lot more dangerous. The point here is that there are still some Russians willing to take dangerous combat jobs but there are not enough them to maintain the million man military Russian leaders want.

Corruption Cures

The government may not have a lot of success reducing corruption but the extent of the corruption is documented. The government reported that in 2017 the number of corrupt incidents in the government reached 6,500 and involved $30 billion in spending. The figures for 2016 were 3,800 incidents and $15 billion. Most of the corruption was in the defense and space program budgets. This makes sense because these two areas, especially ship building and development and construction of satellite launcher rockets and ballistic missiles, have, since the 1990s, been noted for their corruption and competence problems.

The corruption angle was made clear when the government openly sought solutions to the seemingly intractable problems with building warships on time, on budget and without serious defects. While many other nations with large navies, like the United States, have similar (although less catastrophic) problems what is most embarrassing is how China is proving to be the most competent builder of warships. China can turn out carriers, large destroyers and submarines faster than anyone else and do so on time, on budget and apparently without a large number of defects. A Russian study of the problem concluded that the main differences between Russia and China was that corruption in warship construction was always more of a problem in Russia and it got worse after the Soviet Union collapsed and key managers and technical people were free to find better jobs elsewhere. That loss of talent left Russian shipyards with an older, less capable and more corrupt workforce and management. The other difference is that China, starting in the late 1970s, created a market economy while maintaining a communist police state government. This included creating from scratch a world class commercial ship building industry. The Russian communists were too late and too inept in trying to establish a market economy and that led to the collapse of the communist police state in Russia. All this is very embarrassing for most Russians, especially those running the country today.

Getting Competitive

Years of curbing oil production have finally worked and the world oil price is now headed for $80 a barrel. Unfortunately for the traditional major producers (who have cut production to get the price up) the rising oil price mainly benefits non-OPEC (oil cartel) nations like the United States and Canada that are doing a lot of fracking. Five years of low oil prices forced the frackers to become more efficient to remain profitable. Thus there is more profit, and incentive to increase production as the world oil price increases. Because of this traditional major producers, like Russia, are not seeing enough increased oil income to recover from the damage five years of lower oil prices have caused. Thus Russian estimates of GDP growth continue to be low (about two percent a year) and now the Americans are imposing more sanctions and these are expected to make economic growth in Russia even more difficult. Russia tried to adapt to the four years of sanctions but only had limited success because of the more fundamental problems with the Russian economy (corruption, shortages of skilled personnel and a persistent inability to compete with foreign nations (especially China and Europe).

May 23, 2018: There were more revelations from the official Dutch government investigation into the destruction of Malaysian B-777 airliner (flight MH17) over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The latest findings identify the Russian aid defense unit (53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade) the missile came from. As with previous Dutch investigative reports about the MH17 Russia denied any involvement. A late 2016 report concluded that the missile used was owned by Russia, not Ukraine. The UN has been unable, because of Russian opposition, to conduct such an inquiry but that has not stopped similar investigations by nations whose citizens were passengers on the aircraft. In July 2015 eleven of the fifteen members of the UN Security Council voted to establish a tribunal to investigate who was responsible for shooting down flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Russia used its veto to block the resolution. Russia and Russian backed Ukrainian rebels were always the main suspects in the destruction of MH17 and the deaths of all 298 aboard. Russia blames the loss of MH17 on the Ukrainians but offered no convincing proof. The Russian manufacturer of the missile believed responsible admitted that it was their missile. At a press conference a company rep showed how the pattern of fragments found in the aircraft hull could only have been made by one version (now out of production) of the missile used by their BUK M1 system. Less convincing was the company theory that the missile was not fired from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels. The aircraft was shot down as it passed over territory controlled by pro-Russian separatist rebels in Donbas. The airliner was at an altitude of 10,000 meters and the rebels were known to have some captured or Russian supplied systems BUK M1s systems that can hit targets as high as 14,000 meters. For three days the rebels allowed only limited access to the site for international airline accident investigators. Russia will never admit that the missile was fired with their assistance by rebels under their orders but thats that the evidence continues to show. .

May 22, 2018: Off the north coast one of the new Borei class SSBNs (ballistic missile nuclear subs, or "boomers") successfully fired four Bulava SLBMs (Sea Launched Ballistic Missile) at once as part of a continuing testing program. This was the first time a Borei had launched a salvo of SLBMs and all these were reported to have hit their targets 5,600 Japanese downrange (off the Pacific coast. A June 2017 test, launching a single Bulava, was also a success. The tests since 2017 were an improvement over the previous two test launches in late 2016. One of these two launches failed. The latest Russian SLBM design, the Bulava (also known as R-30 3M30 and SS-NX-30) had been an embarrassing disappointment with over a third of the test launches failing. Bulava was almost cancelled several time because of the test flight failures. But the government believed there is no better option than to keep trying to make Bulava work.

May 21, 2018: In northwest Syria the Russian Hmeimim (or Khmeimim) a irbase was again approached by at least one unidentified UAV. Russian forces shot it down and are trying to figure out who it belongs to. Islamic terror groups in the area are the main suspects.

May 20, 2018: Ukraine revealed that Russia was now sending ammunition to its forces in Donbas via the refurbished rail links between Russia and Donbas. The Ukrainians have discovered the destinations of these ammo trains and the warehouses where the rockets, shells and other ammo are stored before being distributed to Russian backed rebels. While there has been a ceasefire, and little movement of the front line, for years the Russian backed forces are constantly firing on the Ukrainian troops and civilians. These attacks have been particularly heavy in the last week, leaving at least twelve Ukrainian civilians and military personnel dead and many more wounded.

May 19, 2018: In the south (Chechnya) four Islamic terrorists attacked a church, leaving the four attackers dead as well as a civilian and two policemen. Four more police were wounded. Investigators later found that the four Islamic terrorists were seeking to take Christians hostage.

May 13, 2018: There was yet another demonstration in Moscow protesting the government censorship of the Internet and how the recent (April) government decision to block one application (Telegram) had some unpopular side effects. The initial April blocking effort caused massive and unexpected disruption of Google services in Russia. This was related to Russian attempts to shut down the encrypted messaging app Telegram in Russia. Maintaining the ban has led to disruption of other Internet services most Russians use. The company that runs Telegram refused to provide the Russian government with a way to read encrypted Telegram messages and the government responded with an effort to shut down Telegram use in Russia. The government ordered hundreds of IP addresses blocked, believing that would block Telegram. It did, but not for everyone. An unexpected side effect of this censorship campaign was to disrupt a lot of vital (for many Russian users) Google services. Telegram was founded by a Russian entrepreneur after he fled Russia in 2014 because of disagreements with the government over censorship and corruption. Before the ban users in Russia comprised some seven percent of Telegram users worldwide.

May 12, 2018: Algeria showed off another recently purchased Russian weapon system; the TOS-1A multiple rocket launcher. The rocket tubes are mounted on a T-72 tank chassis and uses 220mm rockets equipped with thermobaric warheads. These used a fuel-air explosive system that first disperses a combustible mist, which is then ignited, producing an enormous explosion. Russia classifies the TOS-1A as a flame thrower because the warhead creates a huge fireball. Some of the 54 Algerian TOS-1A vehicles have been seen stationed near the Libyan border. Algeria is the latest of many export customers for this system, which appeared at the end of Cold War (1980s) and the Russian military could not really afford it in the 1990s but export customers could.

May 11, 2018: A Russian official quietly let it be known that Russia was not going to deliver S-300 Air Defense systems to anyone in Syria. Israel has been publicly and privately urging Russia to institute such a ban and now the ban is official. Israel has apparently made it clear, during the recent exchange of fire with Iranian forces in Syria, that the Israelis have the upper hand in terms of tech and military capabilities. Russia needed that demonstration so they could maintain their good relationship with Iran while also refusing to deliver S-300 systems to the Assads. This was something the Iranians wanted and were willing to pay for. But the Russians were not willing to lose the good relationship they had long (actually since the beginning in 1948) had with Israel. Nor were the Russians willing to risk having the S-300 defeated by Israeli SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) tactics and equipment. The Iranians may be willing to underestimate the Israelis, but the Russians prefer to be more realistic.

May 1, 2018: Over the Baltic Sea a Russian Su-27 came within six meters (20 feet) of an American P-8 maritime patrol aircraft flying in international air space. This sort of thing has become common, especially over the Baltic and Black Seas. Since 2014 these incidents in the Baltic has been a growing problem. Its not just unsafe distances. NATO interceptors based in Poland and the Baltic States have been sent up more frequently because of Russian military aircraft making unsafe flights over the Baltic Sea. These Russian warplanes were detected by NATO military radar, but had their transponders turned off and had not filed a flight plan with the air controllers who regulate air traffic over the Baltic. With no flight plan and transponders turned off these warplanes were inviable to flight controllers. This sort of thing risks collision with commercial aircraft and Russia has ignored criticism of this dangerous practice. NATO has responded by sending up interceptors, which do have their transponders on, to escort the Russian aircraft and give air traffic control radars something to identify and track.

April 28, 2018: One of two Indian IL-38s maritime recon aircraft in Russia was grounded when its landing gear failed to operate properly and further damage was suffered as the Russian crew landed the aircraft. The IL-38 had undergone an upgrade and was being flown to where the Indian flight crew could fly it back to India. The Russian manufacturer promised to fix the damage within 30 days and then the Indian flight crew could return to Russia to pick up the aircraft. There is a second Indian IL-38 undergoing upgrades as well. India is not happy with the IL-38s and is in the process of replacing all them with American P-8s. Meanwhile the Russians still operate the IL-38, being unable to afford a new aircraft. In 2013 the Russia ordered more of its 18 elderly IL-38s to be upgraded to the IL-38N standard. The Russian Navy only has about 18 IL-38s operational, which are roughly equivalent to the American P-3s, but have not had their sensors and communications equipment updated since the Cold War. Only 59 were built between 1967 and 1972. This upgrade has already been installed on five Indian IL-38s a decade ago, and one Russian aircraft, to assist development. Getting the upgrade for more Russian aircraft was mainly a matter of getting the money.

April 26, 2018: The government finally signed the contract to carry out essential upgrades to Russias only aircraft carrier; Admiral Kuznetzov. The upgrade has been postponed several times but now the much-needed refurbishment is going forward. Kuznetzov is getting nearly $900 million in upgrades and repairs thatwill keep the carrier out of service from 2018 to 2021. Actually it might take longer because Russia has to use locally produced maritime engines rather than the ones it used to get from Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry insists that the Russian manufacturer has been able to produce the same type of engines Ukraine produced but that remains to be see. There is more bad news with plans to upgrade ship electronics because Russian officials admit that the sanctions have made it difficult to get key electronic components from Western firms. Without the upgrade the carrier will continue to be incapable to going far from port. In 2016 when Kuznetzov visited the Mediterranean foreign military pilots flying close by could not help but notice that there was a lot of rust on the deck of the carrier and the vessel looked unwell. This was not a good sign. The only other ship of the Kuznetzov class was purchased by the Chinese in 1998 and completely refurbished by 2012 to become the Chinese Liaoning. It is now in service and looks a lot better than the Kuznetzov, which has had some updates since the 1990s but a lot of this work is suspect.

Back in 2012 a military procurement official was prosecuted for substituting cheaper, substandard parts for new ones meant for the Kuznetzov. The corrupt official used forged documents to get away with this but members of the crew noticed the substandard parts and reported it. The Kuznetsov has been sent back to the shipyard several times since 2005 to fix problems and update equipment. Much was wrong with the ship, due to poor design, sloppy workmanship, or corruption. Its gotten so bad that lackadaisical sailors are threatened with being sent to serve on the Kuznetsov as a way of motivating them. These cruises south were mainly for publicity purposes and without an extensive refurbishment Kuznetsov cannot go to sea regularly. The current upgrades will concentrate on keeping the carrier operational but not much more. Currently the ship has serious problems with its engines and many other mechanical and electrical systems. These must be fixed for the ship to remain mobile and habitable. This is important not for military purposes but because Kuznetsov is the flagship of the fleet and a symbol of Russian naval power. So enough must be done to at least keep up appearances. The government made a point of how there would be much scrutiny of the upgrades to avoid any corrupt practices.

April 25, 2018: In mid-April Russia confirmed the obvious and admitted they had lost their huge market share of commercial satellite launches. As recently as 2013 Russia had half that market. Five years later their market share had fallen to about ten percent and Russian showed no signs of regaining their dominance and expected their share of the commercial market to sink to as low as four percent. After 2013 Russia faced growing competition from cheaper, more reliable Chinese satellite launch services. But what really accelerated the Russian decline was the surprising emergence of new American launch technology, mainly the SpaceX reusable launchers (that can regularly return and land intact). This is particularly annoying because it was another unexpected new American technology (fracking) that drove down and world price of Russias main export; oil and natural gas. Fracking also made the United States the major producer of oil and gas and a new competitor for Russia in export markets. Meanwhile Russian space industry officials said they would put more emphasis on satellite design and manufacturing, which is a much larger (by about three times) market than launch services. But even there Russia is having problems competing, mainly because of a shortage of skilled engineers and reliable manufacturing capabilities. So while Russia has lost about $2 billion a year in launch business they will probably lose ground on the satellite side of the business as well.
Chief minister Fabian Picardo paid his first official visit to La Linea on Thursday morning, for discussions with the mayor of the Spanish town, Juan Franco. Picardo, who was accompanied by Gibraltar's deputy chief minister Dr Joseph Garcia, also signed the town's 'Book of Honour' before joining the mayor and members of La Linea council for lunch.

During the visit Picardo called for a special fiscal regime for La Linea, above all to enable the town to host the online gaming firms that could abandon the Rock after Brexit.

This was not the first time the two men had met. Juan Franco has visited the chief minister in Gibraltar in the past and has spoken about the cordial relationship between them, but it was the first time Picardo had been invited to La Linea town hall.

At their meeting, they discussed the situation on both sides of the border regarding Britain's withdrawal from the EU, which is a matter of especial concern to the Campo de Gibraltar region, problems associated with fishing and collaboration between Gibraltar and La Linea in the fields of culture and sport.

Background

It is well-known that there are differences and sometimes tension between Spain and the UK over Gibraltar. Spain, which ceded Gibraltar to Britain in perpetuity in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht, has made no secret of its wish to regain the British Overseas Territory. The Gibraltarians, however, voted overwhelmingly to remain British in two referendums, and there is a double lock sovereignty commitment by the UK, under which it will not enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against their wishes, nor will Britain enter into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content. Some feel that Spain is using Brexit as a lever to further its claim over Gibraltar, with demands such as joint control of, and the presence of Spanish police at, the airport.

That tension, though, is rarely sensed on the ground in the Campo de Gibraltar, the region of Spain closest to the Rock. Gibraltar, as a whole, is the second largest employer for Andalucia, after the regional government, and thousands of Spanish from the area cross the border to work. Brexit therefore poses potential problems with regard to the border, which needs to be free-flowing, and it could also have a hugely negative impact for the local Spanish economy.
The circus is in town, as the old saying goes. The modern Cirque du Soleil has returned to Malaga with a new show, 'Totem'. The show has not visited the Costa del Sol in over a decade.

Totem VenueNear the Cortijo de Torres fairground Dates1 June until 1 July Ticketscirquedusoleil.com/totem

On Friday morning the assembly of the canvas was completed in the Cortijo de Torres fairground. This was a show in itself, but instead of artists, acrobats and tightrope walkers the event starred more than a hundred technicians and workers equipped with masts and ropes who have been working tirelessly to put up the enormous tarpaulin.

The show begins next Friday 1 June when more than 2,500 spectators will fill the giant tent.

"Building the tent is our way of showing Malaga that we are here," said Javier Perez Gonzalez, head of security for the European tour. Last Tuesday, 76 lorries transported 2,000 tonnes of staging from Barcelona to Malaga in preparation.
Councillors from Velez-Malaga town hall met with representatives from the regional government, the Junta de Andalucia, on Monday to discuss the demolition of the Casillas de la Via slum area to the west of Torre del Mar, where around 40 families live.

The main objective of the meeting was to work out where to rehouse those residents as well as people from other deprived neigbourhoods in Velez-Malaga.

The Junta de Andalucia has promised 1.5 million euros to the town hall, but clarified during the meeting that the money must not be used to demolish the slums, but to rehome residents and help with associated social problems, which include drug use and school attendance.

Councillor for Torre del Mar, Jesus Atencia, said, Delaying the demolition is a public health risk.
After a nail-biting finish to the debate, the national government's 2018 budget was approved by a majority of MPs on Wednesday. It had needed the support of other parties in order to get it passed and to keep public services running.

After finally presenting expenditure plans in April, ministers have been pushing the proposals through parliament ever since.

However it was unclear until the last moment if they would get the vital support of the PNV Basque Nationalist party that had said it would vote against if Madrid had not returned full devolved powers to Catalonia by now. In the end the PNV decided to back the budget, saying circumstances had changed.
MEXICO, N.Y. -- Oswego County deputies are searching for a missing teenager.

Alyson Noyes, 18, was last spotted Thursday evening at a home in the Town of Mexico, said the Oswego County Sheriff's Office. Deputies asked the public for help finding Noyes on Friday.

Noyes is about 5 foot 3 inches and weighs about 160 pounds, deputies said. She has short, brown hair and brown eyes.

When she was last seen, Noyes was wearing a black T-shirt and black sweatpants, deputies said. She also wears prescription glasses.

Deputies asked anyone with information about Noyes to call (315) 349-3411.
Lori Bresnahan was dying when Bill Cregg found her on the side of a Clay road.

Bresnahan and a 10-year-old girl were leaving a gymnastics class at Great Northern Mall on March 14, 2013, when they were abducted by David Renz.

Renz -- who ditched his electronic ankle monitor before the attack -- raped the girl. When the girl escaped, Renz repeatedly stabbed Bresnahan and fled.

Cregg was driving on on Verplank Road when the girl ran out of a patch of woods and into the cold night.

John Harke, another passerby, and Cregg helped the child. Then, Cregg went to comfort Bresnahan -- making the dying woman a promise: No one would hurt the 10-year-old girl again.

Cregg said he also made a vow to himself.

"I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't sit back and watch the TV and hear about something else happening like this," he said. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't try to do something."

The Cicero man is working to keep his promise.

Cregg wants the federal government to change how GPS ankle bracelets are used to monitor criminals. And he will tell his story tonight (Friday) on ABC's "20/20."

The show starts at 10 p.m.

There have been at least 50 murders committed across the nation since 2012 by suspects who were ordered to wear ankle monitors, according to ABC News. Tonight's episode of "20/20" will examine problems with the tracking devices.

Two cases will be featured on the show: Bresnahan's murder and the murder of a Florida teenager.

Alex Zaldivar, 19, was shot to death in 2012 by Bessman Okafor -- a man he was set to testify against for a home invasion. At the time of Zaldivar's murder, Okafor was wearing an ankle monitor.

Renz was also supposed to be wearing an ankle monitor at the time of Bresnahan's murder. He had been released from federal custody while he faced child pornography charges.

In the months after his release, Renz took apart and reassembled his ankle monitor about a dozen times -- generating 46 tamper alerts. He escaped the device for a final time the night of the murder and left the bracelet behind.

Ankle monitors have failed to protect many communities, Cregg said. So he went to Washington, D.C. last week with Rafael Zaldivar, Alex Zaldivar's father, to discuss his concerns with legislators.

Cregg said he met with Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus. He and Zaldivar also shared their stories with Rep. Eric Swalwell, of the House Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

To better protect the nation, Cregg said he wants the federal government to rethink what defendants are given ankle monitors and granted pretrial release. He also wants the government to create standard guidelines for how the monitors are used.

Cregg made a request to anyone who watches the "20/20" episode.

"If they're as appalled as I am about the whole system," he said, "then they need to reach out to their congressmen and senators and request change."
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Syracuse man was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for possessing a handgun and a small amount of cocaine.

Calvin Weaver

Calvin Weaver, 27, of Syracuse, admitted to three federal charges in January. He was convicted of illegally possessing a pistol with a defaced serial number. He was not allowed to possess a handgun due to a prior felon conviction.

Weaver pleaded guilty after U.S. District Court Chief Judge Glenn Suddaby ruled against his motion to suppress evidence gathered by the Syracuse Police Department.

Weaver admitted to possessing the weapon and a small amount of cocaine in February 2016. Syracuse Police's Gang Violence Task Force arrested Weaver after a traffic stop on the city's West Side. Police stopped the vehicle because the driver, another man, did not activate his turn signal at least 100 feet before turning. Officers searched Weaver after stopping the car.

State charges filed in Onondaga County Court, which originated from the same traffic stop, were dropped after a judge ruled there was not reasonable suspicion for conducting a search of Weaver, according court papers.

Suddaby ruled that a different standard applied in the federal case.

Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992
Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man accused of moving a murdered man's body repeatedly threatened the life of a witness, too, according to grand jury testimony revealed today.

Nicholas Costello, 21, had bail revoked Thursday after being indicted for moving the body of Charles Nichols after someone else shot him earlier this month on the city's North Side.

He was already on bail in an unrelated assault case at the time of the new arrest. So Thursday, Chief Assistant District Attorney Melinda McGunnigle asked a judge to hold Costello without bail.

Under law, Costello could be held with no bail if he was charged with committing one of several serious offenses, including intimidating a witness.

So today, McGunnigle came to share testimony from a witness in the corpse case that she says points to Costello's intimidation.

In the grand jury testimony, the witness said Costello made the following threats:

If the witness didn't stop crying, that person would end up like the victim.

Costello told the witness to chill out or "you're going to make me do something I don't want to do."

If the witness ever spoke to police, Costello was going to kill the witness.

County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller agreed that those statements supported the witness intimidation charge. He ordered Costello remain held with no bail.

Vladimir Brown, the 35-year-old man accused of shooting the Nichols to death, remains in jail, too, pending trial.

Brown faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.

Costello could also face a lengthy prison sentence if convicted of the old assault charge, as well as the new witness intimidation and corpse-moving charges.

The victim, Nichols, was found behind a vacant Oberst Street house two days after authorities say he was killed on Lawrence Street several blocks away.
Aframaxes - the worst performers

The worst crude oil tanker performers thus far this year were Aframaxes trading in the North Sea, Gibson Shipbrokers said in a report.

Crude tanker earnings across all size groups have been at very depressed levels in 2018. Despite traditional support offered to the market during the winter months, spot TCE earnings on the key route from Hound Point to Wilhelmshaven (TD7) have averaged disastrous levels. The running average for the year to date shows a negative return of minus $1,750 per day for Aframxes with standard consumption levels before waiting time is taken into account. In addition to weak fundamentals, there are also other factors behind this exceptional weakness that are unique to Aframaxes trading in Northwest Europe, Gibson said. Mild weather for most of the winter season reduced volatility in rates to a minimum. There has also been a notable decline in Russian crude exports from the Baltic. Crude exports from Primorsk and Ust-Luga averaged just under 1.3 mill barrels per day during the first quarter of this year, down by over 350,000 barrels per day, compared to the corresponding period in 2017. This followed the expansion of the ESPO pipeline spur into China mainland. North Sea crude production has also declined, although not so dramatically. Output fell by 130,000 barrels per day during the first three months of this year relative to 1Q17. While there is less demand, tonnage availability is greater, and the growing fleet is only one of the reasons. For example, since September, 2017, there has been a notable increase in volume of US crude being shipped to Europe, primarily on Aframaxes, boosting the number of tankers looking for employment in the region. According to AIS data, during the first four months of this year, 35 Aframaxes loaded in the US for discharge in Northwest Europe, to just 14 units over the corresponding period of 2017. Another 26 Aframaxes sailed from the US for the Mediterranean between January and April this year, versus 11 during the same period last year. The current trade dynamics in North West Europe are unlikely to change dramatically in the near future, Gibson said. Production cutbacks need to be lifted to see any meaningful and sustainable increases in Russian crude exports North Sea output is forecast to slip further this year and in 2019. Production is projected to bounce back in 2020, following the start-up of new projects in Norway. At the same time, crude supply in the US keeps rising at a relentless pace, suggesting that exports are also likely to carry on growing. Most of the US crude growth demand is coming from Asia. However, until VLCC loading infrastructure in the US is improved to eliminate the expensive practice of reverse lightening, US barrels could remain attractively priced for the European market. If this is the case, it will only keep Aframax availability off the UK/Continent and in the Mediterranean at elevated levels. Yet, as there is limited scope for growth in crude demand in Europe, growth is also likely to push more of the regional supply, be it West African, Mediterranean or North Sea barrels, to Asia on larger tonnage. As far as the Aframaxes trading in the North Sea are concerned, perhaps the most realistic prospect for improvement in the immediate future is on the supply side. As spot earnings are worse than in other key trades, owners may be prompted to reposition to a different trading area, if the opportunity arises. In addition, owners of coated tankers may take an even more radical approach and switch to the clean tanker market completely. However, longer term, the slowing pace of deliveries and prospects of higher demolition driven by new legislation offer hope for a more substantial recovery, Gibson concluded.




FSL negotiates loan - completes bond issue

FIRST Ship Lease Trust has confirmed it had received a loan offering to refinance its remaining two chemical tankers and has also completed a $7.25 mill bond issue.

In a statement to the Singapore Exchange, FSL Trust Management said that on 17th May, it had accepted a bank offer for a senior secured amortising term loan of up to $18 mill to refinance the FSL New York and FSL London. FSL also said that its issue of redeemable 7% convertible bonds to raise $7.25 mill was completed on 21st May. Also on 21st May, the board said that on the application of FSL Trust Management, the High Court granted an extension to 29th June, 2018 for the company to convene a meeting of lenders to consider and, if thought fit, approve with or without modification, a Scheme of Arrangement proposed to be made between the company and its lenders pursuant to Section 210 of the Companies Act. As previously announced, this scheme does not include the trade creditors of the Trust as the trade and other liabilities of the Trust apart from the syndicated loan facility are not part of the proposed scheme. The Trust remains in a substantial net equity position and the business and operations of the Trust will continue as normal, FSL stressed.




New studies presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity in Vienna showed that obese persons are better in surviving infections than their healthier counterparts.

Researchers investigated how survival rates for infectious diseases, pneumonia, and sepsis are different between obese people and those with healthy body mass index. This finding is tagged as an "obesity paradox" to illustrate contradictions to an overwhelming wealth of study citing increased mortality among obese patients.

The European Congress on Obesity is held on March 23 to 26 in Vienna, Austria.

Results Of The Studies

A Danish study investigated the death rates of patients admitted to hospitals between 2011 and 2015 due to infectious diseases. They assessed the mortality 90 days after the patients were discharged, while other factors such as smoking, cancer, and recent weight change were considered.

Lead author Sigrid Gribsholt from Aarhus University Hospital's department of clinical epidemiology in Denmark reported that overweight and obese patients had 40 percent and 50 percent less likelihood to die compared to those with normal weight.

Gribsholt explained the reason being could be that obesity caused inflammation, which sends a strong impulse to the immune system to fight infection. She added that obese people have more energy that they are less likely to feel wasted in effect of their disease.

"They have larger energy reserves, which may also be protective," Gribsholt said.

The second study looked at 1.7 million pneumonia-induced hospital admissions in the United States from 2013 to 2014 and found that overweight and obese patients had respective 23 percent and 29 percent survival rates.

Patients in the United States who were admitted to hospitals due to sepsis or blood poisoning, also showed similar survival rates. Overweight patients had 23 percent survival rate, and obese patients are 22 percent less likely to die.

"We found that increase in BMI was significantly associated with improved survival and lowered readmission among hospitalized patients with sepsis. Our results suggest that BMI may be used for risk stratification of patients with sepsis," the authors wrote.

Premature Death Caused By Obesity

Meanwhile, a study conducted by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of Cambridge in the UK contradicted the so-called obesity paradox and suggested that overweight or obesity is linked to higher risks of premature deaths.

The study, which was published in July 2016 in the journal Lancet, cited that the obesity paradox has caused confusion to the public on the role of weight associated with certain diseases.

Coauthor Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard Chan School, reported that prior studies have a methodological limitation. This research gap called reverse causation suggests that a low body weight is the cause of underlying or preclinical illnesses rather than the other way around.

"To obtain an unbiased relationship between BMI and mortality, it is essential to analyze individuals who never smoked and had no existing chronic diseases at the start of the study," Hu said.

The researchers emphasized the importance of physician counseling on the role of body weight in the risks of diabetes, cancer, and heart diseases.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Even though the Chicxulub asteroid is known for the impact that killed off the dinosaurs, it also caused a mass extinction event that changed the evolutionary course for many species. Another profound impact that it had on the planet was hundreds of thousands of years of global warming following the asteroid strike.

Temperatures rose at a higher rate than they are climbing today.

Global Warming After The Asteroid Impact

Scientists have debated on the consequences of the Chicxulub asteroid on the climate of Earth. There has been a debate on whether the impact caused global cooling because of the soot that it produced in the atmosphere that was able to block out the sun. Others have argued that carbon was released from the Earth's crust when the asteroid impact occurred. This, along with the carbon from wildfires, caused global warming during this time.

Scientists from a team of different universities determined that the asteroid impact increased global temperatures by 5 degrees Celsius during that time. The team's findings were published in the journal Science. This temperature increase lasted for 100,000 years after the Chicxulub impact.

Researchers estimate that 65 million years ago, an asteroid that was 6 to 9 miles in size crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. They estimate that temperatures rose exponentially for the first minutes or hours then decreased dramatically due to the amount of dust and soot that blocked out the sun after the impact. Carbon dioxide released during the impact caused global warming that occurred after.

This study is the first to show the impact of the greenhouse gases that were released in this period and to say how long the global warming lasted after the impact.

Analysis Of Fish Fossil In Tunisia

To determine the impact of the Chicxulub impact during that period of time, researchers analyzed sand-grain sized fish teeth, scales, and bones from the El Kef section of Tunisia. In the study, they say that these samples were able to retain oxygen isotopic signatures that show what the temperature of Earth was during the period of time when the animal was alive.

Researchers found that during this time the amount of oxygen isotope, oxygen 16, increased relatively. This would signal a temperature increase. Overall, they analyzed 40 different samples from Tunisia. The samples were: 10 from 50,000 years before the impact, 20 from the 100,000 years after the impact, and 10 more samples from 200,000 after the impact.

The oxygen isotopes found in the samples differed among all the groups of samples. Their research shows that temperatures were able to come back down 100,000 years after all of the carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere. This could shed light on how long it would take for Earth to recover from the current wave of greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
StumbleUpon, the social discovery platform that launched in November 2001, is shutting down after 16 and a half years, according to its cofounder Garrett Camp.

Say Goodbye To StumbleUpon

On Wednesday, May 23, Camp announced via a Medium post that StumbleUpon will cease to exist after June 30. The platform allowed people to discover new and interesting web pages, articles, photos, and videos across the internet with a single click.

The website discovery platform happened to arrive at a time when there was no social media, Twitter, or Facebook for people to kill time. Since its launch, StumbleUpon has delivered close to 60 billion "stumbles" to more than 40 million people around the world, according to Camp.

In 2011, StumbleUpon overtook Facebook as the number 1 source of social media traffic in the United States. The platform even gained enough popularity for eBay to come knocking on its doors for a $75 million acquisition in 2007 before being sold back to the founders. Although the social discovery service is shutting shop, there is still hope for the platform at one of Camp's other projects.

StumbleUpon To Merge With Mix

Camp revealed that StumbleUpon will become a part of Mix, another curation and discovery platform he started in 2015, with his new company, Expa.

"Mix.com combines social and semantic personalization into one streamlined experience," said Camp. "It also makes it easier for people to organize content into meaningful collections. This will help you find obscure but interesting content that has been recommended by people you know and trust."

How Can Users Shift Their Accounts To Mix?

Camp noted that Mix will be compatible with each and every browser and smartphone and recommended all StumbleUpon users to migrate their StumbleUpon accounts to the new discovery portal, which also recommends content personalized to users' tastes and interests.

It's quite simple. Users can log on to Mix.com and sign in with their StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, or Google account. Once they have signed in, they will have a series of topics or interests to choose from, like "Jetsetters," "Curious Critters," "Out of This World," and "Get In My Belly" to name a few.

After users select the categories, they will see articles, collections, and content related to their chosen topics, which they can scroll through and add things of interest to their profile along the way by clicking the big plus icon located at the bottom-right corner of each card.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Ads are probably the number one driver of Google's overall revenues, so it's no surprise that they're now appearing in Feed, the personalized stream of news on Android.

While unsurprising, it's still an odd change considering that Android has largely steered clear of ads. In fact, users only see ads when they browse the web or use ad-supported apps.

Android Police reports that various cases of users complaining about seeing ads in Feed, and some people have taken to Twitter to share screenshots about the ad placements.

Prepare To See Ads In Google Feed

Typically, Feed is located in the far left section of the home screen. On most phones, however, it's accessible via the Google app. Based on the user's browsing history and likes, it automatically curates a list of relevant news articles the user may find interesting. These come in the form of "Cards," which can be tapped to reveal more information. Until now, it's always been an ad-free section, but it's now clear Google aims to change that.

It's worth noting that the ads look exactly like regular cards, except they have a little green "Ad" badge on the bottom left corner. Google shows the URL in full instead of displaying just the website's logo and name.

Ensuring they look like normal cards as much as possible is presumably one way to streamline the design, offering a clean overall look  but not only that. It could also be a way for users to mistake ads as a regular article or Card. Either way, the ads don't look pesky and annoying.

As VentureBeat reports, a Google spokesperson has now confirmed that ads are part of a test Google is currently doing, and it also provided a generic response:

"We're always testing new ways to improve our experience for our advertisers and users, but don't have anything specific to announce right now."

Don't Be Surprised

Again, ads appearing in Feed shouldn't be all that surprising. Advertising is the primary lifeblood of Google's business, and it's a strategic move, too, as Google knows that users are increasingly shifting to mobile for their searches, particularly with Google Assistant or the Google app, which means it's only natural for the company to view these as ripe advertising avenues.

Are you seeing ads in your Feed? Would you prefer not to? As always, if you have anything to share, feel free to sound off in the comments section below!

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
As the obesity epidemic worsens around the world, new findings reveal that it will get worse in the future and more people will get diagnosed with diabetes.

Findings Of The Obesity Study

Researchers project that 22 percent of the world's population will be obese by 2045. The findings were presented at the 2018 European Congress on Obesity in Vienna. These numbers are up from 14 percent in 2017.

The obesity rate in the United States is also projected to increase from 39 percent in 2017 to 55 percent in 2045.

In addition to obesity, the researchers believe that diabetes will also sharply increase from 9.1 percent in 2017 to 11.7 percent by 2045. That means that one in eight people around the world will have diabetes. In the United States, diabetes is projected to jump from 14 percent to 18 percent.

The increase in diabetes is linked to the increase in obesity.

"These numbers underline the staggering challenge the world will face in the future in terms of numbers of people who are obese, or have Type-2 diabetes, or both," said Alan Moses, chief medical officer at Novo Nordisk, a Denmark healthcare company. "[In addition to] the medical challenges these people will face, the costs to countries' health systems will be enormous,"

How Did Researchers Discover These Obesity Statistics?

To conduct this study, the researchers analyzed global medical data from the World Health Organization. They examined populations between 2000-2014. The data was organized by country, age, and body mass index (BMI). The researchers examined the diabetes risk for each group and estimated potential growth.

BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. It is a common statistic in the medical community, but it has been scrutinized for not being a good indication of health.

Although the data was peer-reviewed for selection at the 2018 European Congress, it has not been published in a scientific journal yet.

Future Implications Of Obesity

On a positive note, the researchers believe that humanity can reverse the global obesity trends if there is an aggressive and coordinated effort to reduce the problem. Each government must take action to tackle the issue.

"Individual countries must work on the best strategy for them," said Moses. "Each country is different based on unique genetic, social and environmental conditions which is why there is no 'one size fits all' approach that will work."

The researchers said that the global obesity level must be reduced by 25 percent in order to keep diabetes under 10 percent. In the United States, the obesity level would have to drop to 28 percent in order to bring down diabetes rates.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The 25th Bond film will go into production on the 3 December at the UKs Pinewood Studios with Danny Boyle confirmed as the director.

Daniel Craig will once again star in the 25th Bond film, which is due to be released from 25 October 2019.

Boyle and Craig previously worked together on a short film made for the 2012 London Olympics.

Boyle will also reunite with Trainspotting writer John Hodge, who is creating an original Bond screenplay.

Boyle said earlier this year he was working on a Bond script with a view to shooting later in the year. Boyles current project is the Richard Curtis scripted All You Need is Love, a film that revolves around the music of The Beatles.

"We are delighted to announce that the exceptionally talented Danny Boyle will be directing Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as James Bond in the 25th installment of the franchise," said EON Productions Michael G Wilson and Barabara Broccoli in a statement. "We will begin shooting Bond 25 at Pinewood Studios in December with our partners at MGM and are thrilled that Universal will be our international distributor."

Daniel Craig was last seen as Bond in 2015s Spectre.

Donna Langley, chair of Universal, which is distributing the film in the UK and internationally, said: Universal is extremely proud to collaborate with Michael, Barbara and MGM on the international marketing and distribution of Bond 25. The unparalleled combination of Dannys innovative filmmaking and Daniels embodiment of 007 ensured we simply had to be partners in the next chapter of this iconic series.

Craig confirmed last August he would be returning to make his fifth Bond, having previously starred in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre.

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Top managers of a local nonprofit healthcare clinic that specializes in HIV/AIDS resigned en masse after voicing concerns to the agency's governing board Wednesday over their CEO's management practices and compensation package.

The organization has been thrown into turmoil since the No. 2 official there resigned last month and raised questions about CEO Timothy Young.

Former Chief Operations and Compliance Officer Kimberly Hood sent board members an email saying that Youngs compensation package could threaten the nonprofits tax-exempt status. The board has hired an attorney to perform a compliance investigation.

Questions raised about Baton Rouge HIV nonprofit leader requesting 'finder's fee' for donations The former second-in-command of a local nonprofit HIV group is raising questions about paying commissions to the agencys head for landing big

The organizations chief information officer, chief medical officer, chief financial officer and compliance officer have now also each announced their resignations amid the fallout related to Youngs leadership. The chief medical officer said he intends to continue work at the clinic as a physician but asked that the agency find someone else to serve as chief medical officer.

The HIV nonprofit, which receives more than $20 million annually in governmental grants according to recent audits, now has few executive employees remaining to help run an agency whose mission is to help address Baton Rouges consistently high rates of HIV and AIDS.

Youngs compensation package, which the board for the Open Health Care Clinic approved last year, said he would be eligible for a percentage of the amount of each major donation as made to the organization. An incentive scale included in his compensation package says Young would earn $2,500, for example, if someone donated $50,000 to $100,000. Young could earn $200,000 with a donation for $7 million to $10 million, according to the compensation change request from last year.

Hood called the practice both a finders fee and a kickback in her note to board members, and wrote that Young could not ethically or legally receive it. Experts in nonprofits and fundraising who The Advocate interviewed also described the practice as an ethical red flag.

Young said in an email to The Advocate on Thursday that the board for Open Health, which is also known as the HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region Two, Inc., had suspended the incentive portion of his compensation package pending further review.

No incentives were ever paid and the incentive portion was already under review by the board, which may have prompted the allegations, Young wrote.

Grant allows HAART to expand services to patients with health problems other than HIV/AIDS The HIV/AIDS Alliance for Region Two Inc. will branch out from its traditional focus and offer new services for uninsured and underinsured peo

Greg Frost, the attorney the board hired to perform the investigation, said the compliance issues are the focus of his probe.

What Im going to do first is Im going to try to answer the basic question about whether there is a compliance issue, he said. It seems to be that those questions can be answered from the documents. However, if I need additional information, I can go out and get it. And if I find issues that are not identified in my engagement, I will certainly tell them.

Some departing employees said, though, that they wanted Frosts review to go further.

Chief Information Officer Jared Giles, Chief Financial Officer Janet Deal, Chief Medical Officer Michael Hymbaugh and Compliance Officer Meghan Spell each told the board of directors Wednesday of their intent to resign amid the fallout from the accusations against Young.

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Giles said after he resigned that he loved the mission of Open Health and had always wanted to work for a federally qualified health center. But he said he did not feel confident Frost had the tools and scope to fully investigate the problems inside the nonprofit.

Giles said he hoped the board would prioritize the work that Open Health is meant to do over Youngs position.

+2 Despite innovations in treatment, HIV rates still high, including in Baton Rouge and New Orleans Scientific advances for HIV/AIDS have exploded in recent years, and doctors have new ways both to treat people who already have the disease an

Deal, who worked as the CFO for less than a year, said she had to protect her ethical responsibilities and license as a CPA. Deal said she asked the board for an update on their investigation and learned they had not, and were not planning to investigate all of the allegations made.

She said she had no choice but to disassociate herself from Open Health, she said.

Its my sincere hope that they will choose to adhere to their fiduciary obligations and investigate for the sake of the agency, its employees and most importantly, all the people who rely upon it, Deal wrote in a statement.

Hymbaugh said he will continue to work as a physician at the clinic that treats patients but told the board that he would step down as chief medical officer pending them finding a replacement. Reached Thursday, Hymbaugh declined to elaborate for the reasons why he asked to leave his management role.

Spell said that despite her resignation, she had continuing obligations to the board that prevent me from commenting on these matters.

Young said in an email to The Advocate that the employees made ultimatums and that the board had no tangible evidence to act on the allegations that employees made against him.

Asked whether he would interview people as part of his investigation, Frost said he would use documents before talking to people.

It seems to me that the answers in the contract, Frost said. Either that provision is or isnt problematic under the regulations. How it got there isnt relevant to what theyve asked me to do, which is to tell them whether its compliant or not. I dont know why I would spend their money talking to people about information that isnt relevant to the question Ive been hired to answer.

In addition to the resignations from Open Health employees, one of their board members also resigned this week.

Edward Doomes, a chemistry professor at Southern University, confirmed that he resigned from the board at Wednesdays meeting. He said he would reserve further comment for now.

No other Open Health board members responded to messages Wednesday.
The Louisiana House on Friday rejected a sales tax measure seen as key to the Legislature's plan for shoring up the state's finances ahead of the looming fiscal cliff  a potentially foreboding sign for the state's second special session of the year.

House GOP Caucus Chair Lance Harris' House Bill 27 was rejected in a 63-39 vote after lengthy debate on the proposal Friday afternoon. The tax measure needed support from at least two-thirds of the chamber's members, or 70 votes, to pass.

The bill is likely to be brought up again on Monday, but the window is narrowing on the special session, which must end by June 4. A special session earlier this year collapsed in the House after members rejected multiple attempts at passing similar sales tax legislation.

"There's a lot of hard work that went into this bill," said Harris, an Alexandria Republican who repeatedly described HB27 as "bipartisan" and "a compromise."

A majority of Democrats and a majority of Republicans voted in favor of the proposal.

But, ultimately, the bill fell short among some Democrats who said they worried that it wasn't enough to protect critical priorities in the coming year's budget and some Republicans who said they opposed any extension of the temporary sales tax hike passed in 2016.

Under Harris' proposal one-third of an expiring one percent sales tax hike would have been extended for five years. It also sought to eliminate some sales tax breaks, an effort known inside the Capitol as "cleaning pennies" that would allow sales taxes to be collected on items that have been exempt or partially exempt.

It would have generated about $370 million toward the nearly $650 million fiscal cliff the state faces when temporary tax measures expire June 30.

Harris said he hoped his bill could prevent deep cuts that threaten critical services but also help rein in government growth by requiring some cuts.

"We have critical needs we have to fill," he said. "We cannot just continue to raise taxes and raise taxes and face one fiscal cliff after another."

House panel advances special session's first tax measure; Temporary sales tax bill now heads to House floor A state House panel has advanced a temporary sales tax measure that would mean about $370 million toward the state's looming fiscal cliff  th

The sales tax extension in HB27 would expire in 2023, a statewide and legislative election year.

Harris said that the five-year term was the result of a compromise, rather than policy or politically driven.

"Many members said they were not in favor of a permanent tax," he said. "Many members said they were not in favor of a two-year or three-year tax."

Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said in a statement that he remains optimistic about the outlook of the special session as the June 4 deadline looms.

While Im disappointed that we havent made more progress to close the budget gap, the fact that a majority of both the Republican and Democratic caucus members supported renewing a portion of the expiring revenue gives me hope that we can come to an agreement very soon," he said. "We have to."

This is the Legislature's sixth special session since Edwards took office in January 2016  all addressing the state's bottom line.

House panel begins hearing details of tax proposals, but no votes taken as special session clock ticks State lawmakers have begun reviewing tax measures seen as crucial to addressing the looming fiscal cliff and could begin voting on bills Thursday.

"I'm sick and tired of hearing about the 'fiscal cliff,'" Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, said urging his colleagues to advance the bill to the Senate, which has been waiting on legislation from the House because tax measures must begin in the lower chamber.

If lawmakers don't approve a spending plan by the end of this special session, another will be held. The House has not yet begun work on House Bill 1, the instrument that traditionally carries the state's annual spending plan. Edwards vetoed a version passed in the regular session that funded the Department of Health but called for deep cuts to other state services.

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House Appropriations Chair Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said Friday that he is waiting to see the revenue outlook before beginning the budget process. Another legislator has filed a budget bill that could be advanced in HB1's place if it's needed.

House Speaker Taylor Barras, R-New Iberia, said he remains optimistic about the session and the ability to complete the Legislature's tasks by the June 4 deadline.

"I was actually encouraged by the progress we made," he said of Friday's vote.

He said he believes legislation needs to advance from the House to the Senate by Monday or Tuesday to stay on schedule.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Robert Johnson, D-Marksville, said he believes members will take the weekend to think about the proposals and come back with fresh perspective when the chamber returns on Monday.

"This was a tense week," he said.

Just before the House rejected Harris' proposal, the Ways & Means Committee agreed to advance three Democrat-backed bills that seek to delay the restart of some tax breaks that were suspended in 2015.

Together, House Bills 13, 18 and 19 would whittle about $42 million in the new budget year. They now head to the full House for consideration.

Voting for HB27

22 Democrats

38 Republicans

3 Independents

Against HB27

15 Democrats

24 Republicans

Bill failed 63-39. It needed 70 to pass.
YASSSS HENNY!!!

Netflix has announced that the second season of Netflix's Queer Eye will be here on Friday 15th June!!! It's only been about four months since the first set of episodes were released!

The news was announced on Netflixs official Twitter account, via a constructed conversation between the members of the fab five, who joke that they were going to give the people what they wanted in the new season  specifically more Antoni on avocado action, that is.


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Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 08:05 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e600a6a 4 Editorial #Editorial,Idul-Fitri-2018,#IdulFitriExodus,#Ramadhan2018,ramadhan,ramadhan-in-indonesia,idul-fitri-exodus,Transportation Free

The festivities will soon begin across the archipelago. Roads are undergoing renovations and new toll roads are being built to facilitate the movement of people leaving their cities of residence for their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri, the much-awaited holiday in the country with the largest Muslim population.

In a show of generosity the government has announced a 10-day holiday and unprecedentedly splashed out on Idul Fitri bonuses and extra salaries for millions of civil servants, police and military personnel and retirees that will allow them and their families to join in and enjoy the party. It has cost the government Rp 35.76 trillion (US$2.55 billion) to prove to the state apparatus that the Ramadhan blessing is real.

Whether the lavish spending will result in better management and an accident-free and orderly Idul Fitri exodus, however, remains to be seen.

Last year the government claimed success in managing one of the worlds largest exoduses, citing, among other indicators, a 41 percent decline in road accidents from the figure in the previous year and the punctuality of airplane operators, which reached 90 percent.

Better road infrastructure will certainly incentivize holiday revelers to use their cars, although state railway company PT KAI, flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and private-sector transportation operators have offered more seats. For the first time in the history of the Idul Fitri exodus, the ports of Merak in the western tip of Banten and of Surabaya, East Java, will be connected by toll roads.

The Transportation Ministry has forecast a 28 percent hike in the number of cars and 33 percent in motorcycles. Altogether 12.4 million cars and motorbikes will hit the roads during the upcoming exodus.

Despite the governments claim of better preparation, traffic congestion looks inevitable, particularly in Java, as a result of the yawning gap between the roads available and the soaring number of vehicles. To help ease traffic, the government will ban trucks from traveling on the peak days of the mass exodus, deploy more police to attend routes prone to gridlock and persuade motorists to use alternative roads.

The same hectic mass human movement will recur after the party is over. More money will be burned. And there is no guarantee the exhausted holiday makers will return to work on time.

So what does the government, today and in the past, actually gain from throwing huge sums of money to please millions of people every year?

Economists say the holiday revelers boost local economies, which in turn helps the national economy grow, thanks to increased consumer spending. But industry players and foreign investors expect production declines, particularly now that the government has extended the public holiday, which employers say is too long, at a time when Indonesian exports are not performing.

As a country infamous for its low productivity, the government needs to consider the costs and benefits next time it drafts policies related to the Idul Fitri holiday.
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Linkedin Wimar Witoelar (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 11:51 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e60b56c 3 Opinion Malaysia,Malaysia-election,Mahathir-Mohamad,Najib-Razak,Anwar-Ibrahim,democracy,tolerance Free

The erosion-public faith in then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak culminated in a dramatic electoral upset on May 8. Mahathir Mohamad returned to the prime ministership that he had left in 2003 after presiding over Malaysias development boom in the 80s and 90s.



The reversal was nothing short of miraculous, almost Shakespearean in its political turnaround. The villain becomes the hero. Anwar Ibrahim, who was persecuted and jailed in 1999, and then released, jailed again, and now released again.



Mahathir has publicly named Anwar as the next prime minister in two years time. This is a perfect scenario for an epic blockbuster, stretching the imagination like all noteworthy sagas.



Will expectations be met? When Mahathir first invited Anwar into his Cabinet in 1982 Anwar had risen to prominence as a charismatic student leader, taking the role as opposition to the establishment party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), in the 1970s.



Coming from the same generation as our 1966 student leaders, Anwar was from the beginning a firebrand. He rode the rising tide of political Islam, taking the opportunities available from religious sentiment and the growing international Muslim movement empowered by the 1979 Iranian Revolution.



The co-opting of Anwar into UMNO was the first of many political events in the relationship between Mahathir and Anwar, as Mahathir deputized the young man.



The 1980s and early 90s were peak years for Malaysia, with rapid economic growth and gains in development. It was quite similar to Soehartos success in Indonesia, without the outrageous degree of corruption. Mahathirs tough leadership had put the country in the ranks of Asias young tigers, while Anwars loyalty and role secured his place in Malaysias success.



The first signs of trouble came when Anwar began to openly call for political reform, highlighting the gap between the incumbent and the challenger. Mahathir stood firm in consolidating power while Anwar sought to win using a reform strategy. Mahathir was more adept at controlling power and won the struggle.

Mahathir won the 2018 elections by promising Anwars release, and now the two men are allies again.



They both publicly attest a commitment to political reform. The complicated past, however, is still there, and how this is put to rest by a shared goal is in question. The most important changes in the first few weeks will be in the domestic arena.



Although Mahathirs record has been against America, his suspicion is now directed against China, although he has pledged to stand by commitments made in Chinese investments and is content to let the Sino-Malaysian relationship run its course.



For now, Mahathir will let the legal mechanism work in bringing Najib to justice and make adjustments in the domestic balance of power.



The Mahathir-Anwar pact is stable following Anwars declaration that he will not interfere with government affairs for the time being. The power transition and progress of political reform will be next on the agenda. It will probably be difficult for Mahathir and Anwar, who are both driven by power.



But both are now more mature after years of tumult and now Malaysians hope these two men can put country first and work together as allies to strengthen the country.



Mahathir left power in 2003 after ruling for 22 years. And now he is back in the seat of power as prime minister at the age of 92. An impressive array of figures rivaled only by Anwars record of bouncing in and out of power and jail. He is the manifestation of the old adage that it doesnt matter how you fall as long as you know how to recover and what doesnt kill you will make you stronger.



Arguably we have a stronger Anwar now than we had in 1999. But we also have stronger Mahathir at 92 than when he was in his prime years so many years ago. In combination they might be stronger than any Malaysian leadership the country has ever had.



Mahathir and Anwar are both masters of recovery and the art of mending fences. And they publicly attribute this to commitment to political reform. The betrayals of the past, however, are still there, and we have yet to see how these will be dealt with.



For outside observers the Malaysian reversal is important because it has set aside racial prejudices of the past. They are leaving behind identity politics in a coalition that is truly pluralistic. Chinese, Malay, Muslims, non-Muslims and all the various colors of the rainbow are stakeholders now.



Mahathirs Cabinet is even gender neutral with Wan Azizah being the deputy prime minister. It is multiracial with several Chinese politicians serving in high positions. And it is as far as we know cross-sectoral and in fact a truly pluralistic Cabinet such as no Southeast Asian country has ever seen before, including

Indonesia.



As Indonesia slides from pluralism into intolerance and exclusivism, Malaysia which has often been branded as being intolerant, is now the hope of pluralist democracy. Indonesia can learn from Mahathir and Anwar, but most of all from the Malaysian voters.



It is voters who brought this coalition to power and it will be voters who can do away with racism and intolerance for a long time. As there is concern that Indonesia is going in the other direction in 2018 and 2019, we earnestly hope that Malaysia leads the region toward mature democracy.

***

The writer is the founder of InterMatrix Communications and was a spokesman for former president Abdurrahman Wahid (1999-2001).

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin - (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Fri, May 25, 2018

Informal

The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Discussions on how to set had al-kufiyah, or the measurement standards on which authorities distribute zakat (alms)  based the socio-economic levels of individual recipients  have long been held among Islamic finance experts globally, with few satisfactory results on how to set those standards.

The had al-kifayah regulates, among other things, whether an individual is entitled to receive zakat or not based on the number of family members and dependents as well as the socio-economic context.

In Indonesia, the National Alms Agency (BAZNAS) has just attempted to set those standards for Indonesian zakat payers and it informed the public of the considerations behind setting these standards during a public discussion conducted on May 23.

According to BAZNAS strategic studies center director Irfan Syauqi Beik, in setting the had al-kifayah in Indonesia, the agency adheres to a number of elements commonly applied: how the individual pays for his or her food, clothes, home, domestic facilities, religious rituals, education, health and transportation.

The seven elements are based on the decent living standards from the perspective of maqasid syariah [the intention and objective of Islamic sharia law application]. We determine the had al-kifayah value per family unit comprising one husband, one wife, one child attending elementary school as well as one child attending junior high school, he explained.

The agency came up with a measurement unit based on the Central Statistics Agencys (BPS) survey of average Indonesian family demographics, according to Irfan. He added that the agency had also complied with the governments minimum basic education requirements in setting these standards.

Irfan said the agency had modeled Malaysias Selangor Zakat Agency (LZS), which has long been applying these standards as a basis on which it distributes alms to its recipients. There are, however, certain differences on how both agencies calculate their zakat distribution.

The LZS calculates the had al-kifayah based on each familys monthly expenditure, while BAZNAS calculates the basic life allowances each family needs to have a decent living, he explained.

According to BAZNAS calculations, the average had al-kifayah in Indonesia amounts to Rp 3.01 million per family per month. On an individual level, the had al-kifayah amounts to Rp 772,088 per capita per month.

Furthermore, based on the agencys study, the Indonesian province with the lowest had al-kifayah is Central Sulawesi, with Rp 2.844 million per family per month, followed by Jambi with Rp 2.833 million per family per month and Central Java with Rp 2.791 million per family per month.

Three Indonesian provinces with the highest had al-kifayah, meanwhile, are: West Papua with Rp 3.317 million per family per month, Papua with Rp 3.340 million per family per month and East Nusa Tenggara with Rp 3.36 million per family per month.

These standards can be used for zakat distribution on a national level.

. (./.)

Based on these findings, BAZNAS came up with the following recommendations on zakat distribution: for recipients who are really poor, whose monthly income is lower than the national average had al-kifayah (Rp 3.01 million per family per month), alms distribution should orient more toward a charity and emergency approach.

Second, recipients whose monthly income is equal to, or higher than, that national average number (between Rp 3.01 million and Rp 4.16 million per family per month) should be involved in more empowerment activities, such as entrepreneurship programs, financed by the zakat money.

BAZNAS member Nana Mintarti, meanwhile, said that the agencys had al-kifayah standards were still flexible based on the socio-economic contexts of where each zakat recipient lived.

In applying these standards, one must also adhere closely to other instruments such as the national zakat index as well as the village zakat index, both of which have been set by BAZNAS, she said.

She also lauded the research as BAZNASs policy innovation breakthrough, demonstrating the importance of research-based policymaking to boost the quality of the national zakat management.

Spreading joy during Ramadhan

This month of Ramadhan, BAZNAS has also shared happiness with orphans and the poor who live in Jakarta.

On the sidelines of the public discussion, BAZNAS also launched a series of breaking-of-the-fast activities with children in need and orphans across Jakarta, in cooperation with private television station Metro TV.

The activities were conducted from May 23 to 25 in a mosque located in the Metro TV compound, involving a total of 1,800 of these children, according to BAZNAS leveraging division head Randi Swandaru.

The breaking-of-the-fast events also showcased three different speakers each day to give speeches to the children. These speakers include BAZNAS chairman Bambang Sudibyo and Metro TV director Suryopratomo.

BAZNAS also cooperates with Bank MNC to provide donations to the poor. These donations were also announced on May 23 in the MNC Financial Center building, Jakarta.

MNC Bank, through its MNC Peduli charity project, cooperates with BAZNAS to express our social solidarity during the month of Ramadhan, MNC Bank president director Benny Purnomo said.

The charity program was also attended by BAZNAS retail collection division head Fitriansyah Agus Setiawan, BAZNAS Ramadhan committee head Rulli Kurniawan, BAZNAS corporate social responsibility collection division head Iman Damara, along with MNC Banks board of directors and employees.

With the improved welfare of people who live in our banks operational sites, we benefit along the way by getting a larger business share from them. Besides being a corporate social responsibility activity, this activity is also an investment for the nations future generation and the future of our bank itself, Benny said on the sidelines of the event, which was enlivened by Quranic recitations and religious advice.

Benny said he hoped the annual activity could stimulate public awareness in donating materials to help ease the suffering of their fellow human beings, aside from doing so for formal purposes only.

We hope that the donations and religious advice can truly benefit the marginalized people instead of just helping us fill our annual CSR reports. This is why we have chosen to work with BAZNAS, which is experienced in moderating social inequality, Benny said.

Fitriansyah said that hopefully MNC Banks charity activities could boost zakat collection in Indonesia.

I hope this activity can be a model for other companies and banks, so they can donate money to BAZNAS to help mitigate poverty in Indonesia, he said.
In a mere eight days, we lost two titans of American letters: first, the dapper Tom Wolfe on May 14 and then the acerbic Philip Roth on May 22. As is customary with the passing of any great artist, within the void they leave behind is born a renewed interest in their workand an ever-decreasing supply of signed first editions.

For the next three days, highlights of the Western canon will be displayed, appraised, and haggled over at the Antiquarian Booksellers Association Rare Book Fair London. Held in the citys sparkling new Battersea Evolution, its one of the largest and most prestigious bibliophilic happenings in the world. The price is already set for J.R.R. Tolkien (a first edition of The Hobbit is expected to fetch over $13,000), but who can say how the market will respond to the recently departed Wolfe and Roth.

I saw dozens of signed Tom Wolfe books get purchased in the forty-eight hours after his death, says Richard Davies, public relations and publicity manager at AbeBooks, an online dealer in used, rare, and collectible books, and sponsor of Rare Book Fairs Vintage Corner. I expect a similar reaction to Philip Roth. Prices will rise; its simple economics. Both Roth and Wolfe were generous book signers, and copies are plentiful, he adds. But supply of signed copies just halted, and increased demand has only begun.

Bonfire of the Vanities may have been about junk bonds, though the book itself will probably never behave like one. Individual authors and genres trend up and down, yet, according to Rare Books Digest: We have no expectation of drastic shifts in the rare book market; a market characterized as being slow but steady.

Do you have a signed first edition of Goodbye, Columbus, Roths literary debut, which won the 1960 National Book Award? Good for you, because the rest of us will have to pony up $6,500 for a copy in good condition. On the bargain rack, a signed, leather-bound The Human Stain will set you back only $649.95.

But maybe youve still got a dusty, 1997 copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone on your now-grown daughters shelf in her neer used room at home. A lot of people dont know that theyre sitting on rare books, says Leigh Altshuler, communications director for Strand Book Store in New York. That Harry Potter may actually be a valuable first edition.

Read also: Weekly 5: Five second-hand book haunts

No one can predict which genres or authors will trend in the near future, but keep in mind that for a book to be collectible and or rare it does not necessarily have to be old. Lately, art books are gaining traction among collectors. We see less demands for simply old books, and more for visually captivating books, says Altshuler. Think Tender is the Night with a beautiful dust jacket, or neo-coloring books from graphic artists. Youre getting a twofer, she says. Its an author and the signature of an artist.

Still, first editions and signed copies are the two cornerstones of the rare book business. And as with wines or cars or watches, there are unicorns: A first edition of The Great Gatsby, says Davies, is a very rare book, and the presence of a jacket in fine condition would add about $100,000 to its value. Dont expect to find one on EBay. According to market analysis from Rare Books Digest: Scarce first editions; first issue of important, original, limited availability, collectible authors, one-of-a-kind treasures  this elite category of books is in-fact moving slowly towards extinction.

Condition is vital, but so is the inscription. Next time youre standing in line at a book signing, ask the author to draw a picture or inscribe something witty that stands out. It adds value. Jeff VanderMeer inscribed copies of Borne with illustrations, says Altshuler. Poet Patricia Lockwood drew characters from Priestdaddy. Again, added value. Last week, a signed first edition of The Right Stuff sold for $3,500, says Davies. It had been signed by Wolfe, Chuck Yeager, and John Glenn, skyrocketing its price past that of a generic signed copy with some hasty John Hancock from Wolfe.

The top of this signed book pyramid is called a dedication copy, meaning its signed on the dedication page and inscribed to the person for whom the author dedicated the book. There are, understandably, not many of these on the market. Want one? Winnie the Pooh fans can own A.A. Milnes wifes own copy of Birthday Party and Other Stories for $2,250. Or, for an easy $125, you can add to your nightstand Helen Reynoldss 1958 Music for Melanie, inscribed by the author to her sister-in-law, Jean.

Ultimately, sellers advise, buy what you love. Although investing in books can make you money, profits shouldnt be the motivation. Its like the stock market, says Davies. A book values can decrease as well as increase. As for how to get started, If you really want that particular book, you can get instant gratification via websites like ours, she says, but dont neglect the old fashioned shoe-leather search for treasures buried in thrift shops and yard sales. Who knows? Maybe youll find something worthy of the Strands third-floor Rare Book Room, where a signed copy of James Joyces Ulysses is also illustrated and signed by Henri Matisse. It can be yours for a mere $45,000.
Looking at the late Bagong Kussudiardjas sketch being exhibited at Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiarja (PSBK) in Bantul, Yogyakarta, a visitor spontaneously raises his two palms as high as his shoulders, then moves his head, creating a gesture of a Balinese performer dancing.

The sketch indeed easily leads spectators to imitate what is depicted in it, a Balinese dancers gesture.

This sketch is very imaginative, like telling us to imitate the attractive, dynamic dance movement, art lover Peter Wang who hails from Surabaya, East Java, said, adding that the sketch reminded him of martial arts stories in which the main characters learn martial arts from sketches on caves.

The sketch brings us back to the memory of the founder of PSBK, maestro dancer and choreographer Bagong Kussudiardja, who passed away in 2014. Bagong was also known as an artist of the first batch of students of the Indonesian Fine Art Academy, now the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) Yogyakarta.

Together with the sketch, a number of the maestros artworks including paintings and sculptures are on display as part of an exhibition that also features his three sons Otok Bima Sidarta, Butet Kertaredjasa and Djaduk Ferianto.

Puppet show: Otok Bima Sidarta poses next to his painting, titled Dibawah Kekuasaan Gareng (Under Garengs Rule). (JP/Tarko Sudiarno)

Held alongside the annual ARTJOG 2018, the exhibition that will last until June 30 is entitled Sirkuit: Ahli Waris Etape Satu (Circuit: First Lap of Heirs) with curator Suwarno Wisetrotomo. Other artworks on display include ceramics and photos.

Known for his breakthroughs on modern Indonesian dances, Bagong was indeed known for his imaginative dance paintings that could be easily understood by his pupils. Yet, his paintings on other objects are also attractive and have been exhibited abroad.

Pope Paul II once awarded him with a gold medal for his painting depicting Jesus in Indonesian taste. He also received a gold medal from the Bangladeshi government for his abstract painting exhibited in a joint exhibition with Asia-Pacific artists in Dhaka.

His talents have apparently been inherited by his children and grandchildren.

Otok Bima Sidarta, his first son who was born in 1960, inherits his talent as a gamelan musician as well as an artist who learned how to paint autodidact in 1975. Otoks artworks displayed in the exhibition were mostly on traditional art objects such as characters in the shadow puppet show stories, especially those of the four royal servants known as Punakawan comprising Semar, Gareng, Petruk and Bagong.

In his work entitled Dibawah Kekuasaan Gareng (Under Garengs Rule), Otok criticizes the use of the Yogyakarta special fund that is distributed to artists but creates no solutions for the problems in the arts. In the work, Gareng is described as playing with marionettes.

Daily activities: Sketches of Butet Kartaredjasa. (JP/Tarko Sudiarno)

Meanwhile, Butet, Bagongs second son who was born in 1961 and popularly known as a monolog artist, movie star and theater performer, dropped out from studying fine art at the ISI, but silently continued his passion in paintings.

In 2017, he featured in his first solo exhibition for his ceramic paintings entitled Goro Goro Bhinneka Keramik at the National Gallery in Central Jakarta. The exhibition was considered a success as most of his works were sold.

For this exhibition in Yogyakarta, Butet presented a few of his ceramic paintings, two ceramic sculptures depicting wild boars as well as some of his sketches and water color paintings. They mostly depict social criticisms and daily objects such as traditional markets.

Among his works on display include Mengencingi Jakarta (Peeing Jakarta), Nir Kutang (Without Bra) and Kegedean Cangkem (Too Much Talking).

Crucified: A photograph titled Palang (The Cross) by Djaduk Ferianto (JP/Tarko Sudiarno)

Meanwhile Djaduk Ferianto, Bagongs third son who was born in 1964, presents his photos for this exhibition. He applies Ngeng as the theme of his photos to describe a personal moment when he was inspired to create a particular composition for his music.

I feel a loss if I dont capture every moment passing by in front of me through my camera, said Djaduk, who always takes a camera with him wherever he goes, adding that the moments can not be repeated.

As such, he said, he treats photography as a stimulus to train or sharpen his sensitivity, or Ngeng as he called it. Among the photos he displayed for the exhibition include Palang (The Cross), Sunyi (Quiet), Rhythm Bende and Orkes Burung (Bird Orchestra).

Photos are also displayed by Bagongs first grandchild Doni Maulistya, who was born in 1987. His collage photos mostly document his family life as a background.

With his experience of participating in workshops on photography domestically and abroad, Doni created a story out of old and new photo collages. He took Mother on Mother as the theme for his exhibited photos.

The artworks of the grandfather, the sons and the grandson serve as a narration for the endless art legacy passed down from one generation to the next.
After pushing gun control and open borders, the Pope now goes all-in for LGBT will the Catholic Church endorse pedophilia next?

It was announced on May 21, 2018, that the current head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has officially given his blessing to the practice of homosexuality.

[Editors note: This website is not opposed to personal liberty when it comes to sexual orientation. However, the Pope is supposed to represent the Roman Catholic Church, which is, of course, openly opposed to homosexual lifestyles. We report on this from the point of view of questioning the veracity of this bizarre Pope, not condemning people for being gay. As far as we are concerned, what you do in your own private life is your own business.]

Claiming to speak on behalf of God here on earth, as all Popes are said to do, Pope Francis reportedly told a male victim of sexual abuse  and one who was abused at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church in Chile, no less  during a private conversation that homosexuality isnt a sin, contradicting centuries of church doctrine.

According to Juan Carlos Cruz, the male victim in question, Pope Francis told him reassuringly: God made you like this and loves you like this  in direct contradiction to the Holy Scriptures. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with you who are, Pope Francis added.

Cruz had apparently been discussing his perceived sexual orientation with Pope Francis in light of having been abused by notorious pedophile priest Fernando Karadima while still a child. And it was perhaps this very abuse that damaged Cruz and altered his sexual preferences as he grew into adulthood.

But rather than address any of this in that context, Pope Francis told Cruz that it doesnt really matter why hes gay because God doesnt really care. Just go with it, was essentially Pope Franciss advice to the man that has sent shockwaves throughout the Roman Catholic community.

After having already taken a left-wing stance on almost every major social issue, ranging from global warming to gun control to LGBT rights, Pope Franciss most recent endorsement of homosexuality isnt really all that surprising to anybody whos been paying attention. According to the Popes new logic, even pedophiles should be excused by the Church because they, too, could claim, God made me this way.

Roman Catholicism: Now the religion of the devil?

Truth be told, theres almost nothing that Pope Francis has said or done since acquiring his position that in any way aligns with the God he claims to represent. You might even say that this religious figure is certifiably antichrist, both in principle and practice.

Its not unlike the rest of the Roman Catholic Church, in fact, which has been covering up egregious sex crimes like pedophilia for many decades. This was the premise of Pope Franciss recent meeting with Cruz, after all, which was supposed to be an apology for the horrific abuse he endured at the hands of Chilean priests.

Some 34 of them have actually announced their resignation now that the cats out of the bag, which The Sun describes as an unprecedented move in the history of the Catholic Church. This all comes roughly seven years after Fernando Karadima, now 87 years old, was convicted by the Vatican of committing horrific sex crimes against innocent minors during his tenure as a Roman Catholic priest.

With every other unorthodox move thats been made by Pope Francis, its almost a bit shocking that he hasnt come out to endorse pedophilia as well. This would be a convenient reinterpretation for the Roman Catholic Church and its pope to take as cover for its filthy legacy of gross sexual abuse.

If the pope speaks for God, he can simply declare that God loves pedophiles and love is love. Its whats already being taught to schoolchildren at some schools where teachers are indoctrinating them to believe that love knows no age.

This would align perfectly with the current trajectory of the Roman Catholic Church, which for all intents and purposes has unveiled itself as the religion of satanism. What Pope Francis and his minions are teaching the world is that anything goes  which is the exact opposite of true Christianity.

For more news about the continued decay of modern civilization, check out Antichrist.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheSun.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics on Friday vowed to consider all options over a US verdict that ordered it to pay its rival Apple additional damages for design infringement, including seeking an appeal.

A jury of the US District Court in San Jose made a decision that Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for infringement of Apples design patents.

Todays decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages, Samsung said in a statement.

We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers, it added.

A market insider told The Korea Herald that it might consider additional legal action, as part of all options, suggesting that it would pursue another round of legal battles at the appeals court.

The legal battle between the Korean and US tech giants began over design infringement in 2011.

Read also: Jury tells Samsung to pay big for copying iPhone design

The first ruling was made in 2012, which judged Samsungs smartphones and tablet PCs had violated Apples designs.

Apple claimed Samsung violated its designs, such as a black rectangular front face with rounded corners, a rectangular front face with rounded corners and a raised rim, and a grid of 16 colorful icons on a black screen.

Samsung paid the US company $548 million in compensation in 2015. Of the total amount, $399 million was damages for design infringements.

If the latest verdict is officially confirmed, Samsung will have to pay an additional $140 million.

According to the industry, since the very beginning of the conflict, Apple had demanded $1 billion in total compensation from Samsung, claiming that the Korean company raised $2.3 billion in sales and $1 billion in profit by selling copycat products.
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Linkedin Fachrul Sidiq (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 06:28 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e5fdbdf 1 City transjakarta,free-bus-tickets,jakarta,Jakarta-administration,anies-baswedan,#2018AsianGames,2018-Asian-Games,public-transportation Free

The Jakarta administration has decided to make Transjakarta bus services free for volunteers and journalists covering the 2018 Asian Games, which will be held from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2.

"The city administration will not charge volunteers and journalists covering the Asian Games when traveling with Transjakarta," Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said after a coordination meeting with representatives from the Indonesian Asian Games Committee (INASGOC) on Thursday.

Journalists and volunteers will only be required to show their accreditations to Transjakarta attendants.

Read also: Jakarta 'bajaj' dress up for Asian Games

INASGOC chairman Erick Thohir said he appreciated the support from the administration.

Jakarta will co-host the quadrennial event along with Palembang, South Sumatra.
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Linkedin Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post) Pekanbaru, Riau  Fri, May 25, 2018 08:05 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e5ffbcc 1 National crystal-methamphetamine,CrystalMeth,CrystalMethamphetamine,drugs,drug-abuse,drug-dealer,drug-courier Free

The Riau Narcotics Agency (BNNP) has arrested an alleged drug dealer and confiscated 4.5 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine as well as 4,600 ecstasy pills worth more than Rp 9 billion (US$635,850) in total.

BNNP Riau head Brig. Gen. Wahyu Hidayat said Chandra alias Sican, who was nabbed in a raid on Tuesday, was a member of a drug network that had been smuggling the illegal substance into the country from Malaysia.

The network would usually transport the drugs via [unregistered] ports in coastal areas of Riau, especially Rupat Island. The drugs would then be distributed in the city of Pekanbaru, he said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Wahyu explained that Chandra had been apprehended at his house in the Labuh Baru Timur subdistrict of Payung Sekaki district, Pekanbaru, without attempting to resist the arrest. He said the BNNP Riau had made the arrest after a weeklong investigation.

During the raid at Chandras house, BNNP Riau personnel reportedly found two bags  one red and one blue one. The red bag, according to the BNNP, contained four large packages of crystal meth wrapped in used plastic bags of Chinese tea of the Guanyinmang brand. Two plastic pockets containing 10 packages of crystal meth weighing 50 grams each were found in the red bag.

Meanwhile, thousands of ecstasy pills had been found inside the blue bag, said Wahyu, adding that the suspect said he had been promised Rp 10 million for delivering the drugs.

BNNP Riau drug crime prevention and eradication head Adj. Sr. Comr. Haldun said Chandra was part of a drug network controlled by DD alias Kadok, a drug convict currently serving his sentence at the Pekanbaru Penitentiary. (ebf)
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Linkedin Mathew Carr, Abhay Singh and Anindya Upadhyay (Bloomberg) London/New Delhi  Fri, May 25, 2018 06:55 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e5fe7fb 2 World #India,#Climate,#ClimateChange,#ClimateChangeAgreement,#COP22 Free

As negotiators haggle the details of the Paris climate agreement that starts next decade, India is frustrated that rich nations still havent fulfilled pledges made in a previous treaty.

We are very disappointed, Ravi Prasad, head of the climate change division of Indias Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said in an interview. In the pre-2020 period, we have not seen the kind of ambition that was expected from developed countries, he said.

The United Nations-sponsored 2015 Paris accord to reduce global warming takes over from the Kyoto Protocol that ends in two years. Under Kyoto, some developed nations including the European Unions 28 member states agreed to cut emissions by certain levels, though a binding deal still hasnt been sealed. The US didnt join the Kyoto agreement and has vowed to leave the Paris deal.

Germany, which hosted climate talks earlier this month, will probably miss its 2020 emissions-reduction target. And while US fossil fuel-fired power generation dropped last year for the first time since 2008, President Donald Trump is rolling back domestic measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2009, the US pledged to cut emissions by 17 percent in the 2005-2020 period. As of 2016, its emissions had fallen 12 percent, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Critical Chorus

Other emerging nations have joined a chorus of criticism on rich countries lack of progress on emission cuts and funding to adapt to the increased frequency of storms, droughts and floods.

What weve found over the past three years, since Paris, is that pre-2020 commitments are not being met, in terms of emission reductions and financial contributions, Mandy Rambharos, a negotiator on carbon markets for South Africa, said in an interview.

Under an extension to Kyoto, known as the Doha amendment, 37 nations agreed to cut greenhouse gases by 5 to 40 percent by 2020 versus 1990 levels. Its ratified by 112 countries, short of the 144 required, according to the United Nations climate unit.

It doesnt bode well for a speedy agreement on the Paris accord. Climate negotiators achieved less than expected when they met in Bonn earlier this month to set the Paris deals rule book. Envoys are now gearing up for an extra set of negotiations in Bangkok before ministers and heads of state meet in Poland at the end of the year.

We dont see a lot of constructive involvement from the US in the negotiations, Prasad said. They have a responsibility and we are concerned about them not being part of the Paris agreement in the coming years.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 20:07 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e620b13 1 City cargo-aircraft,Airport,ground-handling-crew,soekarno-hatta-airport,police,cellphone Free

Soekarno Hatta Airport Police have arrested a ground crew member, identified only as RA, 32, in Palembang, South Sumatra, for alleged cargo theft.

Soekarno Hatta Airport Police chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Victor Togi Tambunan said the allegations came to light when an employee of J&T shipping company reported a theft from one of its shipments.

At the time, a package containing 150 cellphones was sent to Palembang. When the package reached Palembang, it was found that 30 cellphones were missing, Victor said on Friday, as reported by wartakota.tribunnews.com.

After the initial investigation, we found that one of the ground crew in Palembang allegedly stole the cellphones, he added.

Victor said after the police had gathered enough evidence, they immediately sent a team to arrest the suspect in Palembang.

We arrested the suspect at his house in Palembang on May 11 and immediately brought him to the Soekarno Hatta Airport Police for questioning.

Victor said RA allegedly confessed to the police that he took the cellphones soon after the package was unloaded from a planes cargo hold, adding that he had sold some of the cellphones.

The suspect is charged with Article 362 of the Criminal Code (KUHP), which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, he added. (ami)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 17:50 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e61ba1b 1 National Aman-Abdurrahman,terrorism,Islamic-State,militant,IPAC,Indonesia Free

Aman Abdurrahman, the pro-Islamic State (IS) cleric who is facing the death penalty for allegedly inspiring a string of terror attacks in the country, is reportedly losing his influence among local IS supporters after condemning the Surabaya bombings in East Java as un-Islamic.

Aman publicly denounced the suicide bombings in his defense plea at the South Jakarta District Court on Friday. But the cleric, widely seen as the most influential IS ideologue in Indonesia, had actually released an audio recording outlining his arguments against a terror attack on his website and Telegram channel, according to Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) director Sidney Jones.

The recording has reportedly angered IS supporters in Indonesia.

The storm of criticism from [IS] followers was immediate, to the point that the administrators of [the religious movement] Millah Ibrahim removed the posting, saying no one should further disseminate the recording until they have a chance to receive an explanation directly from Aman," she said.

She added that: Both the tape and the response suggest that Aman is losing or has lost much of his following in [IS] circles. In fact, his influence began declining as soon as he was put in an isolation cell after the January 2016 bombings, and his access to a cell phone was cut off.

Aman has long been known as a spiritual leader of the local IS movement, particularly Jamaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), which has been blamed for recent terrorist attacks in West Java, East Java and Riau that killed more than 20 people.

"His writings continued to be extremely influential but the interpretation of them by ISIS supporters sometimes went beyond what he himself believed," Sidney said.

During his trial on Friday, Aman said the suicide bombings targeting churches in Surabaya were "hideous" as the perpetrators had involved children.

"What happened in Surabaya, where a mother took her children to blow themselves up, could never be the action of a person who understands Islam and jihad."

The church bombings were carried out by a family that included four children.

Amans comments have sparked a response from an IS supporter called Abu al-Gharib, who slammed the cleric and sought to justify the church bombings. (ahw)
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Linkedin Fachrul Sidiq (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 14:05 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e60fb12 1 City Aman-Abdurrahman,terrorism,church-attack,Court,South-Jakarta,Islamic-State,SurabayaBombings Free

Pro-Islamic State (IS) cleric Aman Abdurrahman denounced in his defense plea on Friday the recent terror attacks in Indonesia, saying the perpetrators were ignorant and mentally ill.

Aman, who is facing the death penalty for allegedly inspiring others to commit at least five terror attacks in Indonesia, told the South Jakarta District Court that he was not involved in any of the attacks.

"The people who committed [terrorism], allowed it to happen or taught others to do it are mentally sick and frustrated with the world. Islam does not teach that," Aman read out his plea in the heavily guarded courtroom.

He said the suicide bombings targeting churches in Surabaya, East Java, were "hideous" as the perpetrators involved children in their actions.

"What happened in Surabaya, where a mother took her children to blow themselves up could never be the action of a person who understands Islam and jihad."

Aman, touted by analysts as the most influential pro-ISIS cleric, admitted he had encouraged more than 1,000 of his followers to go to Syria and become militants. However, he denied that he had instructed them to carry out attacks in Indonesia.

"Related to a bombing in Samarinda church in [East Kalimantan], Islam urges Muslims who live in a kafir [infidel] country, including Indonesia, to live side by side with followers of other religions as long as they don't disturb or fight Muslims. [...] And there was no report of any religion-based conflict in Samarinda triggered by non Muslims," he said.

The attack in Samarinda in 2016 killed a toddler, and Aman said that killing a child was unforgivable.

Aman asserted his conviction that the government and its apparatus were infidels, but claimed that he had yet to order his followers to attack security apparatuses due to some considerations. (ahw)
The bomb exploded close to the Tibesti hotel on a busy road where many people go to celebrate during the month of Ramadan, the official said, adding that the victims were civilians.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Libyan official blamed the assault on "terrorist sleeper cells who want to send a message that Benghazi is not safe".

Libya has been rocked by chaos since a 2011 uprising which toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with two rival authorities and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

Military strongman Khalifa Haftar in July announced the "total liberation" of Benghazi, three years after his forces launched a military operation to seize the city from jihadists who had made it a stronghold following the revolution.

But clashes and attacks in the city have continued, including against diplomatic facilities and security forces.

Almost 40 people were killed following a double car bomb attack in front of a mosque in January. In February, another attack left one person dead and nearly 150 wounded, also in front of a mosque.

Haftar supports a parliament based in the far east of Libya, while a rival United Nations-backed unity government in the western capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside the west of the country.

Earlier this month Haftar returned to Benghazi after a two-week stint in a Paris hospital to launch a new anti-jihadist offensive.

Presenting himself as the scourge of Islamist militancy, he announced the start of a military campaign to retake the eastern city of Derna from jihadists.

The city is the only part of eastern Libya to remain out of the control of Haftar's Libyan National Army, which has the backing of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

It is currently held by the Mujahideen Shura Council of Derna, a ragtag collection of Islamist and jihadist militias that includes Al-Qaeda and is hostile to both Haftar and the Islamic State group.

Haftar was also celebrating the fourth anniversary of his ongoing anti-jihadist "Dignity" operation, initially launched in 2014 to retake Benghazi after it fell to hardline militias.

Separately, a suicide attack in early May claimed by the Islamic State group against the headquarters of the electoral commission in Tripoli killed more than a dozen people.

The international community is pushing for elections in Libya that it hopes will help calm the turmoil that has plagued it since Kadhafi's fall.
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Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 17:37 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e61a786 1 Business bank-indonesia,growth-assumption,2018 Free

Bank Indonesia (BI) expects the Indonesian economy to expand by 5.2 percent this year on the back of strong commodity prices and fiscal stimulus policies aimed at attracting investors.

The projected gross domestic product (GDP) growth is higher than last years 5.07 percent and in line with the central banks earlier projection of GDP growth between 5.1 and 5.5 percent, but lower than the 5.4 percent growth projection stated in the 2018 state budget.

During the first quarter of the year, the GDP expanded by 5.06 percent year-on-year (yoy), boosted by investment, while household spending disappointed with an increase of less than 5 percent yoy.

Newly appointed BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said strong commodity prices would give an economic boost to regions outside of Java Islands, such as Sumatra and Kalimantan, which rely heavily on the export of commodities.

Good commodity prices will drive growth in areas outside of Java Island. Moreover, the exchange rate is favorable for exporters, so that is hoped to increase exports, he told reporters in a media briefing in Jakarta on Friday.

Another positive factor was the fiscal stimulus, particularly from the governments infrastructure spending, as well as positive trends seen in investments, Perry said.

However, he acknowledged that a growth rate beyond 5.3 percent would be hard to achieve, as imports exceeded exports, while household spending growth was still below 5 percent.

Exports were good, but imports were growing faster. We project the current account deficit to widen to 2.5 percent of the GDP this year, he said (bbn)
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 11:46 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e60b3a9 1 Politics terrorism,Indonesia,counterterrorism,house-of-representatives,legislation,law-enforcement Free

After years of protracted deliberations, the House of Representatives passed on Friday a revision to the 2003 Antiterrorism Law that will grant law enforcers and the military greater powers to combat terrorist groups.

The bill was passed during a plenary session led by House Deputy Speaker Agus Hermanto.

The new legislation includes numerous provisions on terrorism prevention measures, including a legal basis to charge Islamic State (IS) militants returning to Indonesia following their defeat in Iraq and Syria.

The country is facing a new threat from returning IS militants, one of whom is believed to have inspired three families in East Java to carry out terrorist attacks that killed more than a dozen people earlier this month.

The attacks forced the House and the government to speed up deliberations of the bill, which began in January 2016.

Under the new law, a person accused of terrorism can be held in custody for up to 14 days without charges. Law enforcers can also hold them for up to 200 days after officially charging them with terrorism.

Lawmakers and the government have also agreed to grant the Indonesian Military (TNI) a greater role in counterterrorism by legally defining terrorism as a security disruption to pave the way for the TNIs direct involvement.

The passing of the law coincides with the establishment of the TNIs Joint Special Operations Command

(Koopsusgab), which will take charge of the militarys involvement in the war on terror.

The government will issue a government regulation to serve as a legal basis for Koopsusgab, with the 2014 TNI Law used as a legal umbrella. The regulation classifies the war on terror as a military operation other than war.

Human rights groups have voiced their concerns over certain passages in the law that could be used to curtail civil liberties. (ahw)
ABSTRACT

A very crucial issue in special education, as well as in education in general, is the integration itself in the educational system. Although integration oriented schools offer a wide range of opportunities for social integration, incidents of social rejection cannot always be eradicated. Given that, the knowledge and understanding of disability creates a tendency for positive attitudes toward it, the evaluation and timely implementation of specially designed awareness interventions is mandatory and it should take place to help children with and without disabilities coexist harmonically in and out of school. This study aims at determining the effect of a 12 teaching hours intervention program on the potential change in attitudes toward disability of students in the first grade of primary school. The intervention program consisted of reading and theatrical play of a story tale referring to a small turtle born with Down syndrome. The results showed a significant positive effect on the understanding and the acceptance of intellectual disability.

Keywords:

Intervention, Inclusive Education, Theatrical Play, Physical Education, Dramatic Environment

1. Introduction

A very important issue that concerns special education as well as education in general is that of inclusive education. It is generally considered to be a multifaceted concept which includes acceptance and assessment of diversity and diversification, taking into account human rights, social justice, equality issues, as well as the social model of disability and the socio-political model of education. Also, the concept of inclusive education includes the process of school transformation and focuses on the right of children to access education (Lindsay, 2007) .

Although the inclusive education model is designed to support children with disabilities, there are also many benefits for children with typical development. It facilitates the coexistence with peers with disabilities, the development of empathy and the understanding of each others needs, the acceptance of diversity and the offer of assistance, the improvement of self-image and the reduction of behavioural problems as well as the development of friendly relations with children with disabilities (Turnbull, 1995) .

However, despite the fact that schools which are integration oriented offer significant opportunities for social inclusion, they are often likely to leave room for social rejection. The coexistence of children with and without special educational needs or disabilities cannot ensure a direct understanding and acceptance of disability. Therefore, it is imperative to understand disability and create a positive attitude so as to ensure their harmonious coexistence. Research shows that children with disabilities are not always accepted by children with a typical development and that their attitude is often negative (Siperstein, Parker, Bardon, & Widaman, 2007) . This may be due to many factors such as the lack of knowledge of children in relation to disability, the difficulty of teachers to facilitate coexistence between children with and without disabilities, negative attitudes that can be formed by parents or society as well as to the feeling discomfort towards diversity. Therefore, it is important to understand both the attitude of children towards disability as well as the way that this attitude can change (Tregaskis, 2000) . Since knowledge and understanding of disability is positively related to positive attitudes, the implementation and evaluation of appropriately designed awareness programs is imperative and should be done in a timely manner so as to promote the harmonious coexistence of children with and without disabilities. Thus, even if children do not have a positive attitude towards children with disabilities and feel uncomfortable, there is a belief that these behaviours can change at an early age through direct and structured contact with children with disabilities and through indirect experiences through books, videos, or discussions (Favazza & Odom, 1997) .

Studies indicate that the implementation of programs to raise awareness at school is necessary in setting positive attitudes (Morin, Rivard, Crocker, Boursier, & Caron, 2013) . Negative attitudes towards disabled students develop due to ignorance (Ison, McIntyre, Rothery et al., 2010) . However, when students are trained on the issue of diversity or disability, they are more likely to develop more positive attitudes in this direction. Given that negative attitudes towards people with disabilities are believed to be formed in the early stages of the development process (Krahe & Altwasser, 2006) , it is important that the education of students takes place during the first school years so as to transfer their positive attitude throughout their school life, but also outside the school.

It was found that interventions contained guided discussion and storytelling concerning disability and social behaviour issues, have had positive effects on attitudes (De Boer, Pijl, Minnaert, & Post, 2014) . Boutot (2007) claimed that guided discussions can begin with the use of books narrating stories with characters depicted as no typical. More specifically, the use of books is described as a means of solving social and/or emotional problems in the practice of bibliotherapy where issues of everyday life can be resolved through the indirect experiences of the characters of the book (Carlson, 2001) . Well written picture books can help younger children develop multiple perspectives and thus increase their understanding of others (Morgan, 2009) . Through picture books reading and discussions, teachers can promote disability awareness in their classrooms (Ostrosky, Mouzourou, Dorsey, Favazza, & Leboeuf, 2015) . Shuman (2006) suggested that storytelling opens up the possibility of empathy.

Similar to storytelling, drama is highly recommended as an intervention instrument because it can also stimulate students emotions and promote their empathy (Edmiston, 2000) . By participating in a drama activity, students are being occupied in the characters world. The use of drama techniques can change students views of others by role-playing and by accepting others perspectives. Read (2008) suggested that storytelling and drama share many common features. Both build on childrens capacity for play, deal with significant issues, involve multiple intelligences, appeal to different learning styles, suspend norms and identity temporarily but also set rules and directions for a particular context. If these two methods were used together, they would have full potential in interventions by appealing students interest, attention and imagination. To act upon the stories being told, children can be supported by being invited to engage actively and emotionally in the story world, not only with the characters but as the characters. Empathy and acceptance are cultivated when students try to understand themselves and others in role-playing.

Despite the potential of storytelling and drama in moral education, there are only a limited number of empirical studies that examined their effectiveness on peer acceptance of students with disabilities (Lindsay & Edwards, 2013; Law et al., 2017) . However, in order to be effective, the intervention should be be planned, intensive, purposeful, and sustained over a period of time, since the occasional reading of a book does not seem to be enough to modify attitudes and behaviours (Trepanier-Street & Romatowski, 1996) . Thus, it was suggested that interventions aimed at promoting attitudes towards peers with disability should include stories, class activities, practical exercises, and discussions, several sessions over a longer period of time rather than a brief one-off session, and an experimental design (Lindsay & Edwards, 2013) . For that reason, a detailed analysis of a fairytale where the central hero is a turtle with Down syndrome has been analysed in this study. Although there have been several studies of storytelling about various forms of disability, intellectual disability has not yet been studied through storytelling and theatrical play.

The purpose of the current study was to to evaluate the effectiveness of a storytelling program with drama techniques on first grade students awareness and acceptance of children with intellectual disabilities. It is expected that the intervention program will help students to understand and accept intellectual disability through storytelling and theatrical play activities based on the content of the book. The program was applied to a first grade class which included a girl with Down syndrome, in order to get the girls classmates involved in a dramatic environment in a storybook referring to a small turtle born with Down syndrome.

2. Methodology

2.1. Participants

The study involved 34 students (19 boys and 15 girls) aged 6 - 7 years (mean age 80.66  9.4). The students attended two different groups of the first grade in a primary school of a north town of Greece. The school was selected by convenience sampling, since there was an inclusive class in the first grade which was attended by a girl with Down syndrome. In addition, both the classroom teacher and the school principal were willing to participate in the research. The group which included the girl with intellectual disability was the intervention group, while the other was the control group. The intervention group consisted of 14 children (7 boys and 7 girls) of which 12 were of normal development, one with Downs syndrome and one with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), while the control group was composed of 20 children (12 boys and 8 girls) with typical development. All participants apart from the students with Down syndrome and ADHD participated in the questionnaire completion tests in the form of an interview for assessing perceptions (attitudes, behaviour) on disability one week before and after the intervention.

The intervention group attended a 12 hours storytelling program with drama techniques, while children of the control group followed the regular school schedule. All parents or legal guardians provided written informed consent prior participation, which was approved by an Institutional Review Board for use of Human subjects, allowing the childrens involvement in the program and access to relevant information. This study was approved by the ministry of education Athens, Greece and by the Research Ethics Board, Aristotle University of physical education, Serres, Greece.

2.2. Testing Procedures and Instrumentation

2.2.1. Measurement Process

The process of assessing the behaviour of children took place one week before the beginning and one week after the end of the intervention. The questionnaires were completed by two specially trained researchers with training in the application of psychometric tests. Each researcher undertook the assessment of a student who was interviewed individually in a quiet space of his/her own school, without distractions. The researcher, who made the assessment, read out the questions to each of the students separately and completed the answers given by them. The first item completed was from the Understanding Disability Scale where each child was asked to draw a person with a disability. If the child did not know what a disability was, the researcher did not give any clarification and encouraged him/her to try to guess and draw a person with a disability as he/she can imagine. When coding this item, the content of each drawing was recorded as irrelevant when the drawing did not represent a person with a disability. The responses to the open question What do you know about a disabled person? were filled in the same way.

The items of the two Scales were used, Acceptance Scale for Kindergartner-Revised and the Behavioral Intentions Scale, translated in Greek language. First, the two scales were translated from English to Greek by two expert researchers from our department. Then, back translations were also done in order to examine if the items of Greek forms is consisted with the original form, or not and final Greek forms of the two scales were composed. Before the data collection process, a pilot study was performed to 10 children in order to understand if the items are comprehensible for Greek language. The two scales have been previously validated and used in different countries (Boer et al., 2014; Ersan et al., 2017; Nikolaraizi et al., 2005) .

The application process lasted about 15 minutes for each child.

2.3. Understanding Disability Scale

The Understanding Disability Scale (UDS) was used to determine the impact of the intervention on information on disability. UDS is a quality tool, which consists of two parts and evaluates the understanding of disability. In the 1st part the student is asked to draw a person with disability or a person with special needs, while in part 2 he is asked to answer the open question What do you know about a person with a disability?. The Understanding Disability Scale is an adaptation of the Revised Version of the Primary Student Survey of Handicapped Persons (Esposito & Peach, 1983) . The adaptation included removing the scales that evaluate factors other than understanding disability (Van Hooser, 2009) . The scale has been weighted and has been rated as suitable for preschoolers up to 7 years of age (Esposito & Peach, 1983) .

2.4. Acceptance Scale for KindergartnersRevised (ASK-R)

The ASK-R questionnaire of Favazza & Odom (1999) was used to determine the impact of intervention on the levels of acceptance of children with typical development towards children with disabilities. This questionnaire was created using the Acceptance Scale tool (Voeltz, 1980) for assessing attitudes of first-grade school children towards disability, and it was later revised (ASK-R). The Acceptance Scale tool is a psychometrically valid tool with a split-half reliability factor (corrected according to Spearman Brown) equal to 0.82 and a Cronbach internal reliability factor of 0.77 used for older school children (Voeltz, 1980) . The ASK-R is a modified version of the Acceptance Scale tool designed for a wider age range and includes questions that can be understood by children at a lower development level. According to Favazza & Odom (1996) , these scales were selected because they are quite simple for a 4-year-old child and still refer to a 10-year-old.

The ASK-R (ASK-R; Favazza & Odom, 1999 ) is an 18-item tool designed to measure the emotional and behavioural factor of the attitudes of preschool children with typical development towards children with disabilities. It has three point scale (Yes = 2 point, Maybe = 1 point or no = 0 point). The score reflects the acceptance level of children with disabilities or children who are different. The score can get 0 - 36 points with the highest scores reflecting higher acceptance. Rates from 0 to 11 indicate low acceptance, from 12 to 24 moderate and from 25 to 36 high acceptance (Favazza & Odom, 1997; Favazza, Phillipsen, & Kumar, 2000; Nikolaraizi et al., 2005; Sulla, 2011) . The scale has a high reliability index (Cronbachs alpha = 0.87, Split Half = 0.91). Note that for the purposes of this study in order to assess the attitudes of children towards solely intellectual disability, the word disability was replaced with the word mental disability. For example the word disability in the item Would you play with a kid if he had a disability was replaced with intellectual disability.

2.5. Behavioral Intentions Scale (BIS)

The BIS is designed to determine willingness to interact with a child with a disability. This scale is based on the Behavioral Intentions Scale (Roberts & Lindsell, 1997) and the Friendship Activity Scale (Siperstein, 1980) . Developmentally inappropriate items were eliminated to create a list of 15 activities typical for young children. The participant was presented with a picture of a child with Down Syndrome and read a short description about it. The interviewer then asks, Would you do with this child? inserting an activity typical of young childs day. These activities fall into 5 categories: helping behaviors (e.g. Help him/her put on his/her winter coat for recess?), sharing behaviors (e.g. Lend him/her your crayons?), physical proximity (e.g. Stand next to him/her while waiting in line?), common activities (Play with him/her during recess?), and familiarity (e.g. Tell him/her about your family?). The child responds by saying yes, no, or maybe. This scale is scored by assigning point values of 0 (no), 1 (maybe), or 2 (yes). Higher scores indicate more positive behavioral intentions toward the target children.

2.6. Storytelling Program with Drama Techniques

A storytelling with drama techniques intervention program was applied in first grade inclusive class during physical education lessons. It was suggested that if these two tools were combined, they would have ample potential in interventions by engaging students interest, attention and imagination. The book was chosen called A star for Joy (Giagazoglou-Papouda, 2016) and aimed to get the girls classmates involved in a dramatic environment in a storybook referring to a little turtle born with Down syndrome. Firstly, at the beginning of each lesson hour, students were sat on a carpet in a semi-circle row. Then the researcher started to narrate the story. The narrator interrupted the story at some points where there was dramatic tension and intense emotional alternations. A discussion was made, beyond the theatrical role, about the different characters, the disability of little turtle and the consequences in her life. A critical point for a successful intervention is the all the participants to deeply comprehend all the basic characters of the story. It was given a full description about feelings and behaviors of all the protagonists. How the little turtle Joy and her family feel and how encounter their fears, rumors or rejection. Later on, the story gives emphasis to the fact that someone with Down syndrome, just like everyone, have certain strengths and weaknesses. However, this someone would also like to make friends and be loved. In general, during the intervention hours, the researcher taught a different part of the story according to a detailed lesson plan that employed many techniques in drama education. These techniques included theatrical play, teacher in role, hot-seating, frozen-image, thought-tracking, conscience alley and mantle of the expert (Neelands & Goode, 2000) . All those different drama techniques serve as narrative actions to motivate students to think and talk and promote their empathy (Edmiston, 2000) . By participating in a drama activity, students are being immersed in the characters world. The use of drama can change students views of others by role-playing and by adopting others perspectives.

3. Results

3.1. Understanding Disability Scale

The first research question, What do first grade children understand about the nature of intellectual disability? was explored using the UDS by evaluating the drawing and the question What do you know about intellectual disability? It was found from the results that none of the non-inclusive class and only 3 participants from the inclusive class gave a correct answer. The majority of children for both groups gave dont know responses when asked to define intellectual disability. Examples from their answers were a person with an intellectual disability is someone who: has nothing to eat and hungry, is homeless, has cough, is very sick. It was concluded, that regardless of direct classroom exposure to disability (a classmate with Down Syndrome in the intervention group), the majority of participants did not understand the term intellectual disability.

However, it seemed that there was a major improvement of awareness about intellectual disability for the intervention group, as assessed by the percentages of drawings but also by the question about disability. In contrast, in the control group there was no change in percentages for both factors (Table 1).

3.2. Acceptance Scale for KindergartnersRevised (ASK-R)

An analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) with repeated measures was used to examine the effects of Time (PRE-POST) and Group (EG-CG) for the variables of ASK-R. Table 2 shows the scores of acceptance scale between the two groups

Table 1. Percentage of disability understanding.

Table 2. Scores of ASK-R between the two groups, pre and post intervention.

pre and post intervention. It was found that the acceptance of children in relation to children with intellectual disabilities increased 34.05% in the intervention group, an increase found to be statistically significant (F = 4.77, p = 0.004,  p 2 = 0.18).

3.3. Behavioral Intentions Scale (BIS)

The BIS was used to investigate childrens reported interactions with children with a disability. An analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) with repeated measures was used to examine the effects of Time (PRE?POST) and Group (EG-CG) for the variables of Perceived Attributes Scale (PAS). The ANOVA tests revealed a significant Group  Time interaction on BIS scores (F = 7.22, p = 0.001,  p 2 = 0.243). The intervention group showed a significant increase in BIS scores (5.2  4.7 vs 9.7  7 in pre- vs. post-training, p < 0.05) following intervention. However, no differences were observed within the control group in BIS scores (4.6  3.7 vs 5.2  3.5 pre- vs. post-training, p > 0.05). Table 3 shows the scores of Behavioral Intentions Scale between the two groups pre and post intervention.

4. Discussion

In the current study, storytelling and drama techniques were combined to enhance students awareness and acceptance of children with ID. It was found

Table 3. Scores of BIS between the two groups, pre and post intervention.

from the present results that storybook intervention changed positively childrens acceptance and awareness of peers with disability. These findings support the view that books can be a powerful tool for increasing awareness, knowledge, understanding and acceptance of oneself and others, including those with differences and disabilities (Gilmore & Howard, 2016) . Moreover, recent studies suggested that while children are guided to engage in the story world, they may experience changes in attitudes (Adomat, 2012; Law et al., 2017; Wright, Diener, & Kemp, 2013) .

Following the suggestion of Boutot (2007) who claimed that guided discussions can begin with the use of books describing stories with characters depicted as non-typical, a book story with a turtle born with a Down syndrome was selected. This book sends the message to children that if someone born with Down, syndrome may take longer to learn but still like to participate in play activities, has the same feelings with others and delight in childhood experiences. Such educational practices can help the initiation of discussions about the characteristics of disabilities. Additionally, as it has been mentioned in the past, as the occasional reading of a book does not seem to be enough to form attitudes and behaviours (Trepanier-Street & Romatowski, 1996) , the program had a duration of 12 teaching hours and combined with drama techniques.

Using drama techniques simultaneously with reading, the researcher interacted with students by asking questions during the storytelling session. More specifically, students were invited to role-play the characters, to help them solve problems and to explore the characters feelings and motivations of certain behaviours. For example, when studying the part of the story when other little animals exclude the turtle from their play because she was slow and being an object of ridicule by others, students needed to think and talk in turtles role. By doing so, students would be able to understand more about little turtles feelings. The above drama techniques are useful teaching tools to promote proper education. Students are being encouraged to discuss and to express their opinions both in-role or being themselves in the drama context. Thus, during the drama activities, they feel more comfortable since there are no right or wrong answers.

As it concerns the results of students of the intervention group before the program, had low levels of knowledge on intellectual disability. This was reflected by the assessment through the Understanding Disability Scale. In particular, when students were asked to draw a child with an Intellectual Disability (ID), 9 children (75%) drew something unrelated (e.g. a child who has broken his leg or a child with a dog) while only 3 children (25%) drew a child with an ID. However, no one of the control group drew a child with an ID. Some children from both groups, when asked to draw a child with an ID, drew a child on a wheelchair. However, when it was clarified that they were asked to draw a child with ID rather than physical disability, they erased their drawing and designed something irrelevant.

This choice is probably due to the fact that in Greece, the concept of disability, for the majority of young children and adults, is identified with a person with apparent physical disability. Even in the case of the intervention team, where there was the girl with Downs syndrome who had obvious appearance characteristics due to her disability, was not understood that it was the case of a child with disability. This is consistent with a study by Hodkinson (2007) according to which, when primary school students were asked to draw a child with disability, the majority of the participants drew children in wheelchairs, suggesting that children view disability as a physical condition. Also, in a study by Hong et al. (2014) , preschool children seemed to understand that understanding disability is limited to features related to special equipment. The prevalence of motor disability over others is probably due to the fact that it is easier for children to understand the concept of disability when it is linked to an external feature such as a wheelchair. Therefore, the different characteristics in the appearance of a young child with Down syndrome are not enough for younger children in order to understand ID.

However, after the storytelling program, the awareness of disability increased significantly for the intervention group, while there was no change in the control group. Therefore, it appears that the intervention program has had a significant impact on the understanding of ID, as can be verified by the childrens drawings. In addition, previous research has shown that the implementation of different intervention programs has contributed significantly to the understanding of disability. For example, in a study, the presentation of an educational video with a view to improve the knowledge level of children aged 7 - 12 years old, in relation to a specific syndrome, had positive results (Holtz & Tessman, 2007) . Similarly, an intervention program that included activities in order to inform about various issues related to disabilities, the difficulties that a person with disabilities may be facing and the elimination of stereotypes in children aged 6 - 12 years, had positive results (Triliva, Anagnostopoulou, Hatzinikolaou, Chimienti, & Mastorakou, 2009) . Finally, an intervention program included information activities such as discussions with a disabled person, using sign language, Braille, information on the Paralympic Games, had a positive effect on the levels of understanding disability, on children aged 9 - 11 (Ison et al., 2010) .

Similar to the results obtained from the evaluation of the drawing, there were the results from the childrens answers to the question What do you know about disability?. Their responses reflected low levels of knowledge about ID for both groups. In fact, none of the control group and only 2 students from the intervention group, knew something about intellectual disability. However, after the implementation of the intervention, there was a statistically significant change in knowledge about ID for the experimental group. This is in line with Sullas (2011) study results where pre-school children after a whole year of integration could distinguish different types of disability and realised how a disability can affect a childs life.

Regarding the participants acceptance levels towards children with intellectual disabilities, the initial measurements showed moderate levels of acceptance for both groups. After the storybook program, there was a statistically significant improvement in the levels of disability acceptance for the intervention group, while there was no significant improvement for the control group. However, it was suggested that attitudes of children towards their classmates with disability are strongly influenced by the levels of knowledge about disability (Ison et al., 2010) . Unwanted behaviours and social exclusion are often the result of the lack of relevant knowledge of children. As disability perceptions often shape attitudes and behaviours (Nowicki, 2006; Hunt & Hunt, 2004) , it appears that after the intervention program of this study, both the level of knowledge of children and the acceptance of ID have improved. For that matter, it has been reported in the past that a key mechanism for improving attitude is sensitization interventions (Shannon et al., 2009) .

It appears from the results of this study, that the students of the intervention group received detailed and substantial information through storytelling and drama techniques. Through the detailed analysis of storytelling, they have gained substantial knowledge of the ID and the effects in the life of the person himself and those around him. The intervention program combined two key factors that influence childrens attitudes towards disability: the provision knowledge through storytelling and extensive discussions and the contact with disability in the framework of structured psychomotor activities using drama techniques. So far, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no study in which this type of intervention was applied to an intervention group of first grade children. Studies using either storytelling (Trepanier-Street & Romatowski, 1996; Cameron & Rutland, 2006) or coming in contact with people with disabilities (Sulla, 2011) with a view to influence the behaviour of pre-school and first grade students, mostly yielded positive results. It can be said that the variables that we focused on in the intervention are indeed sensitive to educational actions and can be increased in developmental age. However, it has been shown that interventions combining the two above-mentioned factors have better results than their individual application (Favazza & Odom, 2000; Law et al., 2017) . Finally, giving information about the difficulties of peers with ID and the ways in which the latter can participate in and contribute to school activities, can serve greater understanding of the conditions of these children.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, it appeared that the use of a selected childrens book on intellectual disability together with drama techniques, could be an effective strategy to promote positive attitudes towards disability. The form of the current intervention seems to help children to be able to see things through the perspective of their peers with intellectual disabilities. Knowing that childrens negative attitudes are formed early in the developmental process (Krahe & Altwasser, 2006) , and that the level of understanding of the nature of disability is positively correlated with positive attitudes (Hodkinson, 2007) , the implementation of properly designed program can provide a more supportive class environment. In this environment, students encourage one another in positive interactions and show greater tendency to positively interact with a classmate with ID (Ostrosky et al., 2015) . The findings of the present study reveal a promising first step. We encourage other researchers to join our effort to develop effective intervention programs for inclusive education.

Cite this paper

Giagazoglou, P., & Papadaniil, M. (2018). Effects of a Storytelling Program with Drama Techniques to Understand and Accept Intellectual Disability in Students 6 - 7 Years Old. A Pilot Study. Advances in Physical Education, 8, 224-237. https://doi.org/10.4236/ape.2018.82020

References
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Linkedin Jo Biddle (Agence France-Presse) The Hague  Sat, May 26, 2018 03:24 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e623874 2 World MH17,Moscow,Russia,Australia,The-Netherlands,Ukraine,Malaysia-Airlines Free

The Netherlands and Australia on Friday moved towards launching legal action against Russia, accusing Moscow of being behind the 2014 shooting down of flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine.

It came a day after international investigators concluded that the Russian-made BUK missile which tore apart the Boeing 777 in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a Russian military brigade in Kursk.

The two countries "hold Russia responsible for its part in the downing" of the Malaysia Airlines flight, the Dutch government said in a statement on Friday.

They may now move towards submitting the complex dossier to an international judge or organisation, it added.

Russia however swifty denied any responsibility, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying the Netherlands had provided "no facts" to support the findings and was merely speculating "to achieve their own political goals".

Lavrov said he had been informed by a Dutch minister that "they have practically no doubt that the BUK (missile) came from Russia. I asked him about facts proving these claims. He did not give me any facts."

All 298 people on board the flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when the missile slammed into the plane as it flew over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Russia 'accountable'

Most of the dead were Dutch, but there were 17 nationalities including Australians on board.

"The downing of flight MH17 caused unimaginable suffering," said Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok a day after the latest findings from the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

"On the basis of the JIT's conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the BUK installation that was used to down MH17," he added.

"The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable."

The EU and NATO both urged Moscow to accept responsibility for the disaster. Russia should "fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability," said the EU's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in a statement.

But the Russian defence ministry has also rejected the findings, saying that although the BUK missile, part of which was presented by the JIT at a Thursday press conference, had indeed been manufactured in the Soviet Union in 1986 "all the missiles made that year were withdrawn from service in 2011".

Those missiles made in 1986 "most likely belong to the Ukrainians," it added.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and "the division of military material," Ukraine which possessed some 20 BUK anti-aircraft systems has "not had one new missile delivered," the Russian defence ministry said.

State liability

The Dutch government said state liability was invoked in cases where nations violate international law, but warned it was a "complex legal process".

"This is the legal avenue that the Netherlands and Australia have now chosen to pursue," the statement added.

Investigators painstaking recreated the BUK missile system's route from Kursk across the border into rebel-held eastern Ukraine using videos and photos.

The team "has come to the conclusion that the BUK-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia," top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen said.

"The 53rd Brigade forms part of the Russian armed forces," he told reporters Thursday.

Investigation officials, seeking to bring criminal charges, have not said who actually fired the missile. But they are appealing for further information, especially about who was among the BUK's crew, and who ordered the plane to be shot down.

The Dutch government urged "Russia to enter into talks aimed at finding a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing of MH17."

Meanwhile, the investigative site Bellingcat claimed it had identified the second of two men whom the JIT has fingered as top suspects after obtaining their wire-tapped conversations before and after the plane was shot out of the sky.

Bellingcat has alleged that both men are top-ranking Russian military officials.

"All points lead to a centralised military operation," Bellingcat researcher Moritz Rakuszitzky told reporters.

"Transporting and using a sophisticated anti-aircraft device such as the BUK is not something that either separatists or non-military mercenaries could ever be trusted with."
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Linkedin Valerie Leroux and Mehdi Cherifia (Agence France-Presse) Paris  Fri, May 25, 2018 17:40 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e61a7c7 2 World France,China,spy,spy-agency,CIA,intelligence Free

Two former French spies have been arrested and face treason charges after being accused of passing sensitive information to China, France's defence minister and security sources said Friday.

The two suspected double-agents were charged last December, but the incident only came to light late on Thursday following French media reports and a statement from Defence Minister Florence Parly.

"Two French agents in our service and probably one of the spouses of these agents are accused of serious acts likely to be considered acts of treason, on suspicions of delivering information to a foreign power," Parly told CNews television.

"I can't say much else," she added. "France has partners but we live in a dangerous world, and unfortunately these types of things can happen."

A security source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that the men were suspected of working for China.

At least one of them had been posted in the country, French television show Quotidien on the TMC channel reported, adding that the conspiracy had been uncovered by French counter-intelligence.

The revelations came just a few weeks after US authorities said they had indicted a former CIA operative on charges of spying for China, following his arrest in January.

Concerns about Chinese spying in Australia led to reforms to espionage and foreign interference legislation last year which singled out Beijing as a focus of attention.

The country has long been accused of commercial spying to capture valuable intellectual property, but its national security operations are also thought to have grown in step with its expanding foreign activity.

Asked Friday about the arrests in France, China's foreign ministry said it was unaware of the situation.

'Extremely vigilant'

The arrested French agents are now retired but Parly said they were "quite likely" still in service at the time.

Investigators were still determining how long they had been passing along intelligence, she said.

She also declined to specify the nature of the compromised information, nor to reveal if the two agents were working together.

A judicial source told AFP late Thursday that two of the three suspects are being prosecuted for "delivering to a foreign power information that undermines the fundamental interests of the nation" and "compromising the secrecy of national defence".

"One of them has also been charged for direct incitement to the crime of treason," the source added.

The third person -- believed to be the wife -- has been indicted for "concealment of treasonable crimes" and placed under judicial control, meaning they are subject to constraints pending trial, according to the same source.

In a statement, the DGSE -- similar to Britain's MI6 or the United States's CIA -- said the revelations "are a major area of focus for the DGSE as well all French counter-intelligence services."

"We are being extremely vigilant in this matter," Parly told CNews.

The three people were charged on December 22, 2017, and two have been detained since then, the judicial source told AFP.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 10:52 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e607c02 4 Business samurai-bonds,government-debt-papers,finance-ministry Free

The Indonesian government on Thursday announced it would issue Japanese yen-denominated samurai bonds worth 100 billion yen (US$912.18 million).

The government debt papers consists of four series -- RlJPY0521, RlJPY0523, RlJPY0525, and RlJPY0528  which are worth 49 billion yen, 39 billion yen, 3,5 billion yen and 8,5 billion yen respectively.

The coupon rates of the series are of 0.67 percent, 0.92 percent, 1.07 percent and 1.27 percent, while the maturity dates are May 31, 2021, May 31, 2023, May 30, 2025, and May 31, 2028.

The Finance Ministry's government debt paper director Loto Srinaita Ginting said Indonesia's regular issuance of samurai bonds had received positive responses from Japanese investors.

This is indicated by the high demand for the instrument amid global market fluctuation, particularly for government debt papers from developing countries like Indonesia, he said in Jakarta on Thursday as quoted by kontan.co.id.

He said his team had informed potential investors of the plan to issue samurai bonds during a non-deal roadshow to explain the achievements of the Indonesian economy such as the credit rating upgrades granted by a number of institutions.

The roadshow had managed to maintain Japanese investors confidence in the Indonesian economy, he added.

The samurai bonds will be issued on May 31. The joint lead arrangers are Daiwa Securities Co. Ltd., Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd, Nomura Securities Co. Ltd and SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

The four series have obtained Baa2 from Moodys, BBB- from S&P, and BBB from Fitch. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 13:37 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e60e468 4 Business Rini-Soemarno,Rio-Tinto,negotiation,agreement,target,June-2018 Free

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno has said the government is aiming at concluding its negotiations with Rio Tinto on the purchase of the latters interests in Papuas Grasberg mine -- the worlds largest gold and second-largest copper mine.

She, however, was reluctant to talk about the negotiation involving state-owned mining company PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), as a representative of the government and Freeport McMoran, the parent company of PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), and Rio Tinto.

If we have signed the agreement, we will reveal it. God willing, the negotiation will be concluded in June, said Rini in Jakarta on Thursday as reported by tribunnews.com.

Previously, London-based Rio Tinto confirmed it was discussing the sale with Inalum and Freeport McMoran. Rio Tinto said it noted reports of the potential purchase by Inalum of Rio Tinto's entire interest in the Grasberg mine for US$3.5 billion.

Rini also declined to comment about the price of Rio Tintos participating interests in mining, saying that it was under negotiation.

No, we cannot reveal it. [] We are in the process of [document] finalization before we sign the agreement, she stressed.

The government has appointed Inalum to buy PTFIs shares, in line with a law that requires foreign mining companies to divest 51 percent of their shares to Indonesian entities.

Freeport McMoran and Rio Tinto established an unincorporated joint venture in 1995, which gave the latter control of 40 percent up to 2022 in certain assets and future production above specific levels in one of the blocks at Grasberg. (bbn)
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Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam, Riau Islands  Fri, May 25, 2018 09:27 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e603601 1 National John-Cullent,Australia,Australian-citizen,Australian,Sun-Princess Free

The National Search and Rescue Agency (BNPP) Class A Tanjung Pinang has asked local fishermen to help find John Cullen, 81, an Australian citizen who went missing after falling from a cruise he was travelling on from Fremantle, Australia, to Port Klang, Malaysia.

BNPP Tanjung Pinang head Budi Cahyadi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the Rescue Boat 209 belonging to the agency had carried out a search and rescue operation involving fishermen living around Numbing Island and other islands for six days.

There is still no result, however. We have not yet found any signs that may lead to his whereabouts, said Budi.

He added the BNPP would stop its search and rescue operation if it could not find Cullen by 6 p.m. local time on Friday. We can open our investigation again if we find anything related to his whereabouts, said Budi.

He further said no family members of the victim had contacted the BNPP to get an update on its search and rescue operation.

Cullen, a passenger of the Sun Princess cruise, slipped and fell into Bintan waters, Riau Islands, on Saturday afternoon when the cruise was traveling from Australia to Port Klang.

Budi said Sun Princess crew members had dispatched several lifeboats to search for the Australian. However, they could not find the victim. They later reported the incident to BNPP Tanjung Pinang.

The Sun Princess decided to continue its trip to Port Klang that day, said Budi. (ebf)
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Linkedin Kim So-hyun (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network) Seoul, South Korea  Fri, May 25, 2018 15:45 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e613887 2 World #USA,#NorthKorea,#singapore,#trump,#DonaldTrump,#KimJongUn,#summit Free

US President Donald Trumps cancellation of his June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore threw cold water on civil servants and people in the hotel industry here who had been preparing for the historic event.

Singapore had already begun press accreditation to register foreign journalists wishing to cover the summit.

Hotels which had blocked off or taken back rooms that were allocated to tour agencies in anticipation of a hike in visitors around the summit period returned the rooms to the agencies.

Police officers were told on Friday they are now free to apply for leave around June 12.

The Singaporean government expressed its regret.

Singapore regrets that the scheduled summit between President of the United States Donald J. Trump and Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un will no longer take place on 12 June, 2018, a spokesperson of the countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to media queries.

Singapore hopes that the dialogue and efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue.

In a letter addressed to Kim and posted on the White House website on Thursday, Trump said he was calling off the summit based on the Norths tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in its most recent statement.

I was shocked by Trumps letter especially since it was published on the same day as the dismantlement of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site and just two days after his summit with President Moon Jae-in, Shawn Ho, an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told The Korea Herald.

Trump said in his press briefing the summit could still happen. North Korea also said in its latest statement that it wants the summit to be held. I think we should wait for the next 24 hours to see the next reaction from Trump to get a clearer idea of whether the summit is really postponed or cancelled.

Some Singaporeans said they werent surprised.

Id actually expected it to happen because I felt the progress seemed too good to be true. I have no doubt that the inter-Korean meeting was held in good intentions, and perhaps Kim really liked Moon for the effort that he is putting in, but its too much of a great leap to meet with Trump, said private tutor Amanda Toh.

The way the media was portraying everything after the inter-Korean summit felt very premature. It is not hard to shake hands and cross the border, but to denuclearize is something else entirely. I think Trump was afraid the outcome of the summit wouldnt be what the public expected, so he cancelled it.

Elizabeth Tan wrote in a comment to a related news article: Im not surprised by the sudden decision from one of the worlds most unpredictable leaders who had cancelled, among others, the TPP deal and Paris climate agreement.

When Chien Cheng wrote: Better for US to pull the plug to see how sincere North Korea is. The North has a history of pulling out last minute. It is just a standard negotiation tactic from US to see how badly North Korea wants this.

Tania Lindsay-Jean, an American resident in Singapore, said: Im actually quite relieved its not going to happen. Not only was it going to be a nightmare in terms of traffic, but Trump would have gotten credit for the summit when it was just the result of being in the right place at the right time.

Topics :

This article appeared on The Korea Herald newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 15:01 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e6125c1 1 National antiterrorism-law,IS,HRW Free

The newly passed Terrorism Law will not immediately resolve core problems in the country's fight against terrorism, a human rights researcher said on Friday.



The House of Representatives passed on Friday the revision to the Terrorism Law, replacing the prevailing 2003 law following years of protracted deliberation.



Enny Nurbaningsih, head of the Jokowi administration's team charged with deliberating the terrorism bill, emphasized in a recent interview that the new legislation would ensure security against deadly terror attacks.



However, after a House plenary session agreed to pass the bill into law, Andreas Harsono, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) Indonesia researcher, said on Friday that the new law "isn't a silver bullet."



"It's time for a sober assessment of why most deradicalization programs have not worked. It's time to look at what can be done to strengthen Indonesia's ability to monitor members of ISIS sent back from Turkey, as well as convicted terrorists after their release from prison," Andreas told The Jakarta Post, referring to the Islamic State (IS) group by its alternate acronym.

Andreas comment came following a series of terror attacks initiated by pro-IS group militants, including the recent coordinated bombings in Surabaya, East Java. It is believed that the perpetrators were radicalized by militants who had returned from Syria.



The new legislation includes numerous provisions on terror prevention, including a legal basis to charge IS group militants returning from Iraq and Syria.



The House and the government have also agreed to grant the Indonesian Military (TNI) a greater role in counterterrorism by inserting the phrase "intention to disrupt security" as among the motives that constitute terrorism in Article 43J of the new law.



"We could interpret that [the article] will allow the military to be involved, albeit in a restricted role. The authority of the BNPT is central [in the new law], Andreas said, referring to the National Counterterrorism Agency. (swd)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya Jakarta  Fri, May 25, 2018 16:21 1235 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e6182b5 2 City BERiDE,Qlue,smart-city,Jakarta-administration,website Free

The Jakarta administration has engaged a startup company, PT Beride Karya Indonesia (BERiDE), to provide residents with a website that helps them convey their ideas regarding the city's development.



The website jakarta.beride.id is expected to complement Qlue, a complaint-handling app introduced by former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama.



Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said the website would be useful to make Jakarta a more livable and sustainable city.



Residents can either express their own ideas for improving city life or provide feedback on efforts made by the city administration.



There are also competitions on the website that invite university students to make suggestions about certain issues, such as the management of Asemka Market in West Jakarta or the revitalization of Bugis Park in Tanjung Priok.



Students are also challenged to share their ideas about the promotion of Sunda Kelapa as a tourist destination as well as the promotion of the Pecenongan area as a culinary spot in the capital.



The students that share the best ideas will get attractive gifts, the website promises.



"After the competition ends, we will follow up on the residents' ideas. Those ideas will also be selected," Sandiaga said.



He added that not all of the city's problems should be handed over to the administration.



Residents should participate in the city development as agents of change, Sandiaga said.



He added that the city administration was hoping for out-of-the-box ideas that would help the administration solve problems in the city.



Sandiaga added that he hoped that city-owned enterprises, such as MRT Jakarta and Jakpro, could give rewards to residents that shared their best ideas.



"The administration will also take part in BERiDE. So, the [planned] app is a collaborative and participatory platform," Sandiaga said.



Jakarta Smart City unit head Setiaji said the beride.id mobile application would be developed in the next three months.



"The city administration plans to hold events at universities in the capital to promote the application," Setiaji added.



Meanwhile, Setiaji said beride.id would not replace Qlue, because the nature of the two programs was different.



The city administration would keep developing Qlue to enable residents to report problems in their neighborhood, he said.



Currently, Qlue gathers about 500 public complaints per day. Most of the complaints are about trash and illegal parking.



The number of the reports has declined significantly since the end of Ahok's administration, when about 1,000 reports were submitted through the app each day.



Setiaji said the city administration's program to open complaint sections at district offices across the city every Saturday had contributed to the decrease of reports received via Qlue.
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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung, West Java  Fri, May 25, 2018 11:32 1236 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e60af01 1 Business Jokowi,Ahmad-Heryawan,Kertajati-Airport-Majalengka-WestJava,operation Free

Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka, West Java, will open its doors to the public in June in time for Muslims across Indonesia to travel to their hometowns for Idul Fitri, according to West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan.

The airport will be used for the Idul Fitri exodus; it can be used for any flights, said Ahmad, who was at the airport to welcome President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who landed in Kertajati with the presidential plane to mark the start of its operation.

Low-cost carrier Citilink, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, will offer commercial flights from Kertajati to Surabaya, East Java.

Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Lion Air and Wings Air had also expressed their readiness to fly from the airport.

Speaking after Kertajatis soft launch, Jokowi said the airport would help boost West Javas economy.

He added that an international seaport in Patimban, Subang, located 42 kilometers from the airport, would help support the airport.

The integration [between the airport and seaport] is expected to help West Javas economy grow faster, he said.

The president expressed his hopes that the 3,200-hectare airport would also attract investors to the province.

If we develop the facilities, investors will come, Jokowi said.

Kertajatis construction cost a total of Rp 1.3 trillion (US$91.52 million), of which Rp 900 billion was funded by West Java-owned PT Bandarudara International Java Barat.

The remaining funds came from the state budget. (bbn)
Staff members of a hotel arrange a penjor (decorated bamboo pole) during a penjor competition held at a shopping mall in Kuta, Bali, on Friday. The competition, which involved five contestants representing hotels and restaurants in Kuta, was aimed at boosting peoples creativity ahead of Hindus Galungan Day. (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)(decorated bamboo pole) during a penjor competition held at a shopping mall in Kuta, Bali, on Friday. The competition, which involved five contestants representing hotels and restaurants in Kuta, was aimed at boosting peoples creativity ahead of Hindus Galungan Day. (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)
Myeong-dong, a shopping district in central Seoul, is one of the most popular tourist spots in Korea. Just walking down the streets is enough to see that it is a foreigner-friendly zone, as you will be stopped by sales staff calling out in different languages.

The number of Chinese tourists had been falling due to icy relations between the two countries following the deployment of an anti-missile system in Korea. But figures from the Korea Tourism Organization showed that the number of Chinese tourists is trending upward, marking 403,000 in April, up 11.8 percent compared to the same period the year before.

Street vendors selling all kinds of food keep the streets lit up well into the night. One can enjoy Korean street snacks like tteokbokki or delicacies from other countries, sold by vendors of varying nationalities.

Read also: Is one day strolling in Seoul enough?



According to a survey by Nielsen Korea, 79 percent of tourists that visited Korea last year said shopping was what they enjoyed the most. Myeong-dong proved to be the most popular destination with 85.2 percent of respondents, followed by N Seoul Tower with 56.5 percent.

Local officials have increased the number of facilities to aid tourists in the area including opening a branch of Chinas online payment platform Alipay in Myeong-dong.
May 25 2018 3:21 pm

A bill that would outright ban marriages in New Jersey for boys and girls under 18 years old is now on hold, pending provision that would allow for some religious exceptions. Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin agreed to put the bill on hold, as a result of Assemblyman Gary Schaers insistence that religious accommodations be made.

Former Governor Chris Christie vetoed a similar bill last year due to its lack of religious accommodations. Assemblyman Schaer, whose district includes Passaic, is working with his fellow legislators to craft reasonable religious exceptions with proper safeguards  such as parental consent  to protect those under 18.

Rabbi Avi Schnall, Director of Agudath Israel of Americas New Jersey office, lauds Assemblyman Schaers work on this issue. Assemblyman Schaer, has once again demonstrated courage and leadership for the religious community, says Rabbi Schnall.  we do need to continue working together to simultaneously protect children in our state as well as the timeless religious liberties at the foundation of our country.
Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was a renowned poet, author and activist. She was Born in St. Louis, Missouri, as Marguerite Johnson in 1928. Angelou started her career singing, dancing and acting but is most well-known for her writing and poetry. She was also Hollywoods first female black director, and as well as her creative work was known for her activism. She worked with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X for black rights and also fought hard for womens rights. Another issue close to her hear was raising the moral standards of living in the United States. Angelou was given many awards over her lifetime. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and in 2010, she was awarded by Barack Obama the highest civilian honor in the US. Many of Angelous poems are autobiographical and are inspired by events that happened in her childhood and beyond. In her life, Angelou wrote a total of seven autobiographies. Her first titled I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings published in 1969, is her most well-known and was the most well-received, it was a benchmark for African American women, as she was one of the first to be able to discuss their personal lives publicly. A poem that encapsulates the messages that Angelou stood for and enforces feelings of hope and perseverance is the poem, Still I Rise. The poem shows that whatever life throws at us we will not be knocked down, it is a poem about self-respect and self-confidence. This poem speaks to me as a social comment on womens rights and the African American Civil Rights movement in the United States at the time that Angelou wrote this poem. Maya Angelou died on the 28th of May 2014, aged 86.You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, Ill rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of historys shame I rise Up from a past thats rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak thats wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.
Le cinema du look was a 1980s movement of French cinema, centring on the works of a trinity of directors: Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix, and Leos Carax. Films belonging to this genre emphasise visual style over substance or narrative, with slick and aesthetic cinematography.

The movement was initially scorned by French film critics for their alleged fetishism of the image and their apparent embracement of mass consumer culture, over intellectual and psychological substance. Similar criticisms were made of le look characters, often functioning as objects rather than complex individuals, graphic representations of the alienated youth of Francois Mitterrands France.

This felt marginalisation of the younger generation translated into cinematic themes that include the dominance of peer groups over biological families, a distrust of the police, the recurring use of Paris Metro scenes as a symbol of an alternative and underground community, and doomed romantic relationships.

Those who appreciated le look movement drew links between it and the postmodern. Its creation of a new cinematic language influenced by a mixture of popular culture and high art led one of the foremost postmodern theorists, Fredric Jameson in his 1982 essay, to assign Beineixs Diva as Frances first postmodern film.

Regardless of ones views of the cinema du look, its difficult to negate that Besson, Beineix and Caraxs works were culturally iconic. Therefore, included below is a roundup of five films to introduce you to the French cinema du look.

1. Diva (1981)

The atmospheric thriller film is directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix and features Jules, a mail delivery boy, who becomes spellbound by American opera diva Cynthia Hawkins voice. Jules recordings of her voice become mixed up with another tape, once which incriminates a corrupt police chief. Once the mix-up is discovered, Jules becomes a mob target intent on keeping him quiet.

2. Subway (1985)

Luc Bessons comedy drama sees a man who, after having stolen incriminating documents, finds refuge in the dynamic and strange world of the Parisian underground metro. A man hunt ensues below ground, during which an unexpected relationship between the thief and his victim becomes exposed.

3. Mauvais sang (1986)

Also known as The Night is Young, Leos Caraxs film is set in future Paris where a disease by the name of STBO is killing young people who have sex without emotional involvement. There is a cure, but it is locked away out of the sufferers reach; until a woman blackmails two criminals into stealing the STBO serum for her.

4. Au revoir les enfants (1987)

This autobiographical film was written, directed, and produced by Louis Malle. Set in 1944, the film follows Julien, a student at a boarding school in Nazi-occupied France. Three new students arrive during Juliens stay, including Jean Bonnett, with whom he will eventually form a close bond. What he does not know is that these boys are Jews evading Nazi capture.

5. La femme Nikita (1990)

Another of Luc Bessons creations, the is about Nikita, a teenager who is sentenced to life in prison after robbing a pharmacy and killing a police officer. Once in prison, her captors fake her death and offer her the choice either to be killed, or to become an assassin working for them.
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Its becoming more common for students to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. A YouGov study showed that 1 in 4 students in the UKsuffering from mental health issues, more frequently females. Over 74% of these students have anxiety issues, and over 70% experience both anxiety and depression related issues. The number of students seeking help at University is also on the rise  1 in 5 had utilised the mental health services, seeing a counsellor. So, how can you cope and what is it like to have anxiety at university  surrounded by a new place with academic pressure and completely new people? As a sufferer myself from age 15, its safe to say that Ive had my fair share of bad mental health days. When I was first diagnosed, I found it increasingly difficult to concentrate and go to school for fear of being judged by people who I thought didnt understand. Being athas certainly made me realise just how many people are affected by mental health; some of them being open about it, others suffering silently. From Year 10, I have made huge progress  from panic attacks every day to academic and social confidence, becoming the outgoing, life-loving extrovert that I really am. Friends and teachers couldnt believe how different I was. By the time Freshers came about, I hadnt had a panic attack for months and from the beginning, I was known as the social butterfly. However, this all changed when, after having 2 awful periods in 3 weeks, I was put onto a new pill, Cerelle. I became very depressed and anxious again, having panic attacks and being teary every day. I didn't have the energy to socialise or motivation to live life how I wanted. I questioned whether I was good enough for my university and my course. Now, on a different pill, I dont suffer anywhere near as much as I did in that difficult time period. I was so lucky that I had an amazing support network from my family, flatmates, boyfriend and friends, that made being away from home with anxiety less daunting."I go through phases. Sometimes, I feel so confident and Ill be the person that I know I can be  but then for no reason at all, I start to shut myself off. Its hard because it takes a lot for me to open up to people, which means most people here have no idea whats going on. They just think Im being antisocial or boring, but sometimes I simply dont want to leave my room. Even in the kitchen, the thought of bumping into someone in halls is just way too much.""After a traumatic event before university, I started having panic attacks and anxiety, triggered by certain things which made me hysterical and unable to go to lectures. It was terrifying because I had no control, and despite me wanting to take back control and go to lectures, it was physically impossible. Luckily, it has lessened as time has passed, and I dont get frequent anxiety. The worst part about the attacks was knowing that it wasnt normal for me.""My mental health issues athave been cyclical. A common thread of behaviour would be having anxiety attacks over a certain piece of work or general academic stress, but, due to other mental health issues such as depression, I have remained unmotivated despite panicking about an issue. This would, naturally, increase my feelings of anxiety due to procrastination, resulting in many pieces being completed the night before a deadline. Consequently, I feel that this has resulted in me not achieving the marks that I should be attaining.""My anxiety basically makes it really hard for me to be in a room full of people. I get hot flashes, feel sick and dizzy, and, in a worst-case scenario, pass out. Packed exam halls are a nightmare and sometimes even the thought of sitting in a crowded lecture theatre makes me throw up. Logically, I know that I should seek some sort of help, or at least disclose my anxiety to the University, but somehow that would make it too real. I wouldnt be able to ignore that I had a problem anymore.""My anxiety hit hugely during Freshers; I struggled to go out and talk to my flatmates and found myself staying in my room. Even now that Im closer to my flatmates, there are still times that I stay in my room because Im scared that they dont actually like me and that they wouldnt understand if I told them about my anxiety. Ive found that I cant go to my lecturers to ask for help with work because I struggle expressing how I feel. On days where Ive had to skip lectures, because I cant bring myself to go outside, Ive been unable to explain absences. Ive found my medication helps (propanolol) but sometimes I cant bring myself to take it because I feel like I shouldnt have to take tablets to not feel constantly nervous or judged.""For me, my anxiety hit in the first couple of assignments when I had a deep feeling that I was in way over my head. I felt that everyone around me was smarter and my anxiety manifested itself in a lot of self-doubts. I was very lucky that I had good friends on my course who were also struggling, so I was able to talk about it.""At the start of university, I mainly suffered from generalised anxiety, not only in the fear of failure but also concerns for the future whilst being in a new environment. Making friends, deciding who to liveyear, and the course all seemed utterly overwhelming as I knew they were important regarding the future. Particularly during the first few weeks, I struggled with constant worry over what other people thought of me and became less confident in myself. Even though my confidence has definitely grown, there will always be moments where I feel anxious and sometimes there isnt even a cause. Often, it stems from low self-esteem, over-thinking about others perceptions, and generally being a sensitive person. Surrounding myself with supportive people has definitely helped to prevent it.""I feel like my mental health definitely impacted my outlook during my first few months  it felt like my anxiety was in overdrive because of the change. Id find myself worrying about seemingly everything possible to worry about at university, like whether Id made the right choice and whether Id manage to keep up with the workload. It also made me feel pretty isolated because I obviously was apart from everyone whod provided a support network in the past. Luckily, things didnt stay that way and Im now adoring my time here." As shown by the students above, mental health affects different people in different aspects of university life; there are a huge variety of triggers. Freshers and first year generally is a period of emotional instability so its definitely normal to feel anxious or overwhelmed. Social anxiety tends to manifest itself in isolation, so, if youre someone who suffers or know someone who you think may be isolating themselves  it is SO important to reach out. From my experience, having friends who had anxiety themselves or at least tried to comprehend it made me feel like I was understood. Its hard for your friends to understand why you are isolating yourself if you dont tell them why. Furthermore, more and more students are acknowledging mental health issues - 52% of students know between 1 and 5 people that suffer. Encouragingly, 74% of a student sample have said theyd be mindful and show concern, and 19% said that it wouldnt affect how they saw a person. A lot of my friends, myself included, also suffered from course-related self-esteem issues  but, as I was told by my Tutor, you have been accepted to do the course and you wouldnt be at the university if you werent good enough. Universities also have services in place for mental health. These include group led sessions (sometimes but not always led by students) about various anxieties, such as presentation anxiety and 1 to 1 counselling sessions, including CBT. They can also refer you to NHS services, though there are usually waiting lists. There are also extenuating circumstances for deadline extensions and the option of circumstantial consideration in exams. These services are generally well received  30% said that they were very helpful and 45% said that they were somewhat helpful. From someone who absolutely hated the idea of needing help, there is nothing humiliating about asking for help when you need it. I only really needed one session, but I found that my university is individually tailored and Ive had a lot of pastoral care from my seminar leaders. Although it can seem all-consuming, anxiety shouldnt, and doesnt define you or stop you from enjoying University life.-Reach out to your university. Tell a professor or speak to the university's mental health advisor. - Go see your GP and discuss any issues you have had. - Call the Samaritans at. They are open 24/7, 365 days of the year. The number is free to call and you can phone them to talk about whatever you're struggling with.
As thousands of Irish citizens living across the world return home to vote in the abortion referendum, many recorded their journeys on social media.

Eoin OLoughlan arriving from London at Dublin airport to vote in the referendum (Niall Carson/PA)

Irish citizens will be voting on Friday on whether to repeal or keep the constitutions eighth amendment.

The amendment gives equal right to life for both the mother and unborn, effectively prohibiting abortion in most cases.

Irelands voting system only allows postal votes from abroad in certain circumstances, so almost all of those eligible must travel back if they wish the cast their ballot.

Ciara Byrne arrives in Dublin to vote (Niall Carson/PA)

People eager to have their say from both sides of the debate have posted photos and comments ahead of Fridays vote.

Some came from as far as Sydney or Costa Rica.

There are about 35 young gals, most of them on their own, waiting for bags from my flight to Dublin from Sydney #hometovote  becky ann leeman (@foreveralowen) May 18, 2018

So so sad to be leaving Costa Rica today for the long journey home. Its been an incredible 3 months. Im glad I planned it though so I could go #HomeToVote #Repeal pic.twitter.com/GDT6s8CwSU  Nicola O'Leary (@nicola_oleary) May 20, 2018

Still more are travelling from Europe.

Guess whos coming #hometovote #repealthe8th A post shared by Sarah GreeneByrne (@whymethemusical) on May 24, 2018 at 1:27am PDT

Many others hopped across the Irish Sea from the UK to make their voice heard.

Travelled home to Dublin today for #hometovote Spent 30 minutes on this lighting/colour study while I waited for my train in Manchester on my surface pro (no straight lines ) pic.twitter.com/7vgT0UofMU  Kirsten Shiel (@KirstenShielART) May 23, 2018

Others had assistance and support from their parents in their journey to vote Yes or No.

One of my besties is coming #hometovote on Friday. She is getting a bus, two trains and a ferry. Her Dad, who is in his late 70's, is driving through the night to collect her from Rosslare #Together4Yes #repealthe8th  Sarah (@SarahMc1986) May 23, 2018

I'm so delighted two of my kids have come home from college to vote NO and maintain Ireland as being the safest place on planet earth for expecting mothers & bright eyed children #hometovoteno #prolife #savethe8th #savethe8thvoteno #hometovote #dublin #cork #limerick #waterford  John Ruane (@johnruane_) May 24, 2018

Article 40.3.3, otherwise known as the Eighth Amendment, was voted into the constitution in 1983. Although abortion has always been illegal in the country, the 1983 referendum saw it enshrined in the constitution.

It currently says: The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.
Student unions are helping fund student travel back to Ireland to vote in the today's abortion referendum.

The Irish constitutions eighth amendment prohibits professionals from regulating abortion. It states that both the mother and fetus have equal rights to life.

Today, May 25th, Ireland is holding a referendum on whether or not to repeal the amendment. Ireland has some of the strictest abortion laws in the European Union.

If a majority vote to repeal the amendment, then professionals would have more power to perform abortions. A no vote would keep the countrys laws as they are.

Irish voters must return to the country in person to vote as absentee and proxy votes are not allowed.

Several student unions, including Cambridge, Oxford, Sussex, Goldsmiths and Nottingham SUs are offering to fund travel to Ireland. The National Union of Students is aiding students with financial support as part of the Home to Vote campaign.

Oxford Students Union votes unopposed to take part in @nusuk campaign to help Irish students travelling #HometoVote pic.twitter.com/wavo0nXWSF  Maurice Casey (@MauriceJCasey) May 9, 2018

The University of Nottingham is offering up to 110 of the travel bursary to return to Ireland and vote.

The University of Birminghams Guild of Students has also worked to ensure Irish students have the money to go home to vote.

We are very pleased to announce that the motion we put to the Guild to fund Irish students wanting to return to Ireland for the upcoming referendum was approved! There are more details on our Facebook! We are so pleased and proud #prochoice #repealthe8th #TogetherForYes #voteyes  Women & NB Students' Association (@WomensUoB) May 18, 2018

A statement from the Birmingham Guild confirmed the news:

Working with the University of Birminghams Womens Association, the Guild has established a bursary which will be supported by NUS to assist Irish students to participate in this Fridays abortion referendum. The bursary supports Irish students with travel costs with the aim of supporting students participation in democratic processes at a national level.

Wow my University guild of students paying towards Irish students travel costs to go home and vote to repeal the 8th! Shoutout Birmingham  ethan (@ethaanmills) May 19, 2018

students unions across the country are now offering bursaries including Oxford SU, CUSU, Central SU, Goldsmiths, Birmingham Guild etc. pls get in touch with them if you want to access the bursary! X  hareem (@hghani_) May 21, 2018

However, some of the funding efforts have come under criticism for limiting funding only to people who pledge to vote yes.

However, not all the institutions have earmarked the money in this way, and much of it is available to students regardless of which way the student intends to vote.
Under Ireland's current constitution, abortion is illegal under any circumstance.

In 1983, Ireland passed its Eighth Amendment which recognised the equal right to life of the mother and her unborn child. It was passed after a majority voted in favour of making abortion illegal.

Since 1992, Irish women have been allowed to travel abroad to perform abortions. However, abortion in Ireland is punishable by fourteen years imprisonment.

Today, May 25th, Ireland is holding its referendum on whether or not to repeal the amendment. If a majority vote in favour of repeal, then medical professionals with have the power to perform abortions legally.

Irish voters from all over the world have returned home to vote in person as postal and proxy votes are not allowed under the current system. The National Student spoke to some expats who travelled from Japan, Vietnam and Brussels to repeal the eighth.

Here are their stories:

Callan Coughlan

Callan, an Assistant Artist Manager at Askonas Holt, travelled 9 hours on train and boat from his London home to the polling station in Dublin.

"Abortion is very much the reality of Irish society today," he told us, "countless Irish women every year have to make the impossibly lonely journey to the UK to have it carried out. They're left in a foreign country with no after-care and are expected to return to Ireland without any support from their own health care system.

Callan told us that the most important impact of the repeal would be letting women know that they are trusted and cared for by their government.

When asked if there was anything he wanted people to know, he said it was important that they understood that voting to repeal does not mean voting in favour of abortion.

"Voting yes means getting rid of an extremely harmful part of Irish legislation that has resulted in the shaming of thousands of Irish women during a difficult crisis in their lives."

Emma Flynn

Freelance writer Emma Flynn left Ireland with her partner in January and now live in Bucharest, Romania. They booked their flights as soon as the referendum was confirmed.

"Not coming back to vote was never an option for us, we felt it was the least we could do. I left my apartment in Bucharest at 4 am on Friday 19th and arrived and my parents' house at 6 pm on Saturday."

Flynn explained that she was voting on behalf of Irish women who have died as a result of the Eighth Amendment and for the women who were forced to carry through pregnancies that were the result of rape.

"Going home means so much to me because Ireland is currently a country where a legacy of Catholic intervention in the state has informed our healthcare and I passionately believe that reform is essential.

"It's so important to realise that abortion is happening in Ireland now. Women are forced to order abortion pills over the internet and take them alone, afraid and in secret. They risk prison sentences of up to 14 years."

Matthew Corbally

Activist and literary enthusiast Matthew Corbally lives in Sakata, Japan. He travelled for nearly two days on an overnight bus and two flights to get back to Ireland in time to repeal the eighth.

He told us that it was important to get a popular movement going to ensure Ireland repeals the amendment.

"The proposed legalisation is 12 weeks for most cases, which is not as generous as other jurisdictions, but it is a start.

"So long as pregnant women have the freedom to travel, then restricting abortion in Ireland serves only to keep it from working-class women and to impose unnecessary hardships on women dealing with crisis pregnancies."

Niamh

Niamh travelled 20 hours from her home in Hanoi, Vietnam to Dublin to cast her vote in the "once in a generation opportunity to change Ireland for the better."

"The 8th amendment is not just about abortion. It impacts every pregnancy in Ireland whether the woman wants an abortion or not.

"We need better healthcare for women in this country, we need laws that don't put medical professionals in unethical situations and where women can feel safe here at home."

Sam Ryan

Brussels national Sam was making his way to Limerick when we last spoke to him. His journey from Brussels took half a day and he was amazed at the people coming from Australia, Canada and Japan.

"Two years ago, women came out in their droves to support the LGBT community as they asked for marriage equality. I am proud to be with them when they are fighting for their rights.

"Repeal will mean we can look after women in need in Ireland and not make them suffer the loneliness of having to self-administrate abortion tablets or the indignity of having to travel abroad to have access to healthcare, often in a time of crisis."

Aoife Doran

Third-year Politics student Aiofe, travelled from Amstelveen in Amsterdam where she is studying on an Erasmus programme. She returns to Amsterdam on Sunday in time for her Monday exams.

She told us that her vote was a duty to the Irish women.

"This referendum is about installing compassion in the Irish state. Something which the state has not had for women with the likes of laundries, mother and baby homes and the marriage bar. This is no longer a debate about morality... this is about compassion and acknowledging female agency when it comes to sexuality and performance of sexuality.

"Female sexuality is feared in Ireland and has created a sense of misogyny in the state which I can't stand for. This vote would counter that."

This article was co-written with Kara Williams.
This is a Student Travel Writer 2018 competition entry

At first glance, Havana appears to be a dystopian pastel city that evokes the nostalgia of the past with its eclectic fusion of colonial Spanish, American art deco and Soviet architecture. Yet, behind the crumbling facades of the Malecon, the strong mojitos, and 1950s cars that pulse through the cities, Cuba is waking up to the twenty-first century with great change expected following the election of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.



Source: Eve Willis

Cuba is a socialist state governed by the Communist Party of Cuba and has been ever since the revolution of 1959 which overthrew the dictatorship of Batista. On arriving in Cuba, it is clear that its not the same as its Caribbean neighbours; its historic retreat from the globalised world has resulted in a country that has an outdated infrastructure and a scarcity of consumer culture making it feel as if it is an island stuck in the past.

However, to many that visit Cuba the subtle undercurrent of change is already underway. If you take a walk in Vedado, a leafy residential district of Havana, Wi-Fi parks can be found in abundance  Cubans of all ages on video calls to relatives abroad, posting on Instagram, or checking global news sites. These Wi-Fi hotspots exist throughout the country and highlight how Cuba, a country that in many ways has been cut off from the outside world for decades, is starting to feel the magnetic pull of the 21st century.

What should you know before visiting Cuba?

Cuba may be only 90km from Miami but get ready to expect the unexpected as Cuba is still a developing country and does not have all the luxuries that neighbouring countries might  but what it lacks in comfort it compensates for in charm.



Source: Eve Willis

Dual Currency System

Cuba has a dual currency system. Upon arriving in Cuba, you will need to exchange currency as it cannot be purchased in advance in your country of origin. This currency can only be obtained from Cadecas which all have the same exchange rates within Cuba. Dont change money anywhere other than at Cadeca exchange houses, large hotels or banks, due to the prevalence of forged currency.

You will be given CUC Pesos Convertibles, which is the currency that you will use for most things in Cuba as it is used predominately in the tourist industry. The other currency is CUP Pesos Cubanos or Moneda Nacional  it is the currency that the state pays Cubans in and it is used for staple goods. The exchange rate differs greatly between these two currencies (1 CUC = 25 CUP) so it is important to check your change when paying for things.

Wi-Fi

Yes! Cuba does have Wi-Fi. However, it is not as readily accessible as most other countries with coverage at only 5% across the entire country. Only in hotels and Wi-Fi hotspots can it be accessed. Spot these Wi-Fi zones by clusters of people glued to smartphones. A card with an access code must be bought from an ETESCA shop, costing around 1 CUC for an hour, and you may need to take your passport as proof of ID.

It may be useful to bring a paper map and guidebook on the area that you are visiting. Without immediate or guaranteed access to the internet to download map guides or look up locations, a physical map will be essential.

However, if you are looking to escape the real world, Cuba is a great place to do this as a half an hour queue in the midday sun for Wi-Fi cards is much less appealing than people-watching and sipping Mojitos in a cool cafe.



Source: Eve Willis

Transport

In Havana there is a hop-on-hop-off tourist bus that has two routes: T1 which is a city tour, and T3 which goes to Las Playas del Este. For travel outside of Havana, the Viazul bus company is recommended for safe and comfortable tourist travel throughout Cuba. When taking short journeys there are plenty of taxis, the yellow ones being the official state-run metered taxis and the 1950s cars are privately owned taxis. The older cars are often not as safe or comfortable as the official taxis but if you want authentic Cuban charm this is the way to do it.

It is important to remember that things dont always go to plan! Whether its waiting for a bus or booking a domestic flight, schedules run on Cuba time so have some patience and make sure you have back up plans if you have an important journey to make.



Source: Eve Willis

Food

Cuban style can be very varied; in restaurants and cafes there is a range of cuisines to suit most tastes, even catering to vegetarian needs. Typical dishes like Ropa Vieja (shredded beef or chicken stew accompanied with vegetables and rice) can be found everywhere. Fresh produce  particularly fruit  is grown in Cuba and is completely organic, harvested without the use of pesticides or fertilisers so it is a real treat to enjoy the tropical local flavours.

However, you will notice if you go walking around the city there are very few obvious mini markets or supermarkets to grab essentials, and when you do see them there will often be queues of people. For example, it is very likely that you could walk into a supermarket selling only pineapple juice and ketchup! Therefore, make sure you have a few places or locations where you know you can buy food and water before you set off, especially if on a road trip.

Culture

Cuba in some ways seems like any other Caribbean island, but it is important to keep in mind that Cuba is a socialist state, governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. This means that some things are different to western countries and it is wise to avoid controversial political topics and respect the local laws and customs of Cuba.



Source: Eve Willis

If you are looking for a chilled break in the sun with a difference, in a country with a rich and complex history, Cuba could be for you. Pack an open mind, your sense of humour, check the FCO travel advice before you go, and Cuba will not disappoint!



Source: Eve Willis

In order to provide no entrant with an unfair advantage, Student Travel Writer 2018 competition entries are edited for grammar only - stylistic choices and headlines are solely the work of the writer in question and not of The National Student's editorial staff.
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The main change that the new legislation will impose is the ban on tourist accommodation above floor level. Only ground or first-floor flats will be accessible to tourists. This rules out any accommodation that offers sea views or vantage points over Valencian landmarks such as the Ciutat deArts ICiencies, the citys famous futuristic complex. Other measures include prohibiting any new tourist properties in Ciutat Vella, the historic centre, and increasing licence checks on landlords renting out to tourists. The council has declared that they will raise fines for any rental portal that advertises properties that are not officially registered from 30,000 to 600,000.While these new measures may seem dramatic, they represent a governmental response to the rising tension towards touristification in Spain. Protests were held across the country in 2017, most notably in Barcelona where locals marched through the city flaunting banners with slogans such as this isnt tourism, its an invasion. Valencia, Spains third largest city, also saw protests. Protestors occupied a rental apartment displaying a poster that criticised tourism-driven gentrification, demanding that housingused for locals. An estimated 100 locals dressed up as tourists and paraded through the streets satirising visitor behaviour.

Anti-Tourism Banners Across Spain. Image credit: Barcelona Metropolitan

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But does this attitude represent the wrong approach to tourism? With increased instability in other Mediterranean holiday hotspots such as Egypt and Tunisia, Spain has seen a higher influx of tourists in recent years than before. Valencia itself welcomed a record number of visitors in 2017, hosting around 340,000 visitors in rental properties. The demand for travel between the UK and Valencia clearly exists, with the launch of a new direct flight from Belfast International in June meaning that British travellers will be able to fly to Valencia from nine airports. This increase in tourism can be viewed as a positive process that can boost the local economy rather than threaten the local population. In an official statement, an Airbnb spokesperson claimed that Airbnb properties in Valencia are helping put tourism euros in the pockets of local families  not just wealthy hotel groups. Indeed, an often cited advantage of Airbn b is its capacity to allow locals to afford their own homes by renting out a room or the entire property when away. According to this view, the rise of theseto peer rental platforms represents a step forward in using tourism as a positive force for local communities. Nevertheless, Spain is clearly taking measures to minimise the impact of 'touristification' on its most popular cities. What is yet to be seen is whether these restrictions will ultimately deter tourists from travelling to the home of sea, sun and cheap
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Posted Friday, May 25, 2018 4:46 am

Evie Wheeler was born Frances Evelyn Wickert, Nov. 13, 1951, to John E. (Papa) and Frances Elizabeth (Sanny) Wickert in Chehalis, Wash. She was later joined by sister, Jan (Pat) Ambiel of Astoria, Ore., and brother, Charley (Susan) Wickert of Onalaska, Wash. Evie passed away peacefully in her family home March 19, 2018, with husband of 45 years, Jim at her side.

She attended Winlock schools from kindergarten through graduation in 1970. Evie had perfect attendance from the seventh grade through her senior year. High school sweethearts were reunited after Jim spent four years in the United States Navy and they were married Jan. 13, 1973, daughter, Heather A. Wheeler (Stephen Gallaher) of Shoreline, Wash., and son, Nick E. Wheeler of Castle Rock, Wash., joined in to make the family.

Evies love for kids prompted her to start her own in-home daycare, which she dubbed her zoo crew. She cared for almost 400 children for over a 20 year span. Many of her children are now married and have children of their own, her family and her kids were her whole life.

Evie is now at peace in heaven without pain. A celebration of life gathering will be held Saturday, June 2, 2018, at the Olequa Senior Center in Winlock.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, because cancer sucks or to the Wounded Warrior Project, because veterans need help. For my Evie, 143.
Over the last year, an impassioned 14-year-old Weezer fan named Mary has extensively campaigned for Weezer to cover Toto's 'Africa' - for the memes, man.

She's managed a well-documented Twitter account called @WeezerAfrica, thousands have supported her heroic effort.



Yesterday, Weezer finally reponded to the viral #WeezerCoverAfrica campaign, by covering Toto's less famous hit 'Rosanna'. Classic Rivers Cuomo move.



Listen to the musical troll of a cover above.

While some may be infuriated with Weezer, Mary seems somewhat stoked the boys responded #WeezerCoverAfrica turned into #WeezerCoveringRosanna ???




Both Israel Police and the IDF, and their various specialized units, will remain on high alert on Friday, 11 Sivan, the second Friday of the Muslim month of Ramadan. Restrictions are in place for praying on Har Habayis, which take effect Friday morning at 6:00PM.

Police, in uniform and plainclothes, will be out in large numbers in and around Har Habayis and Jerusalems Old City as well as in other sensitive areas. Traffic and other restrictions will be in place in effected areas in and around the Old City as well.

It appears the level of operational preparedness is higher as police report a significant increase in rock-throwing and other acts of terror since the beginning of the month of Ramadan.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
Israels Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a legal challenge to the militarys rules on when soldiers can fire their weapons amid weeks of violent protests that have killed dozens of Palestinians on the border with Gaza.

Six human rights groups had asked the court to declare as unlawful any regulations that allow soldiers to open fire at unarmed civilians.

But in its unanimous ruling, the court sided with the IDF, which argued that the protests were taking place in the context of terror activities against Israel by Islamic terrorist group Hamas which rules Gaza. The court agreed the protest necessitated a response of an armed conflict. Such rules provide greater leeway for the use of lethal force than those governing law enforcement practices.

Yesh Din, one of the left-wing rights groups that brought the challenge, slammed the courts decision.

The judges missed an opportunity to prevent the continuation of the killing and injuries, the group said on Twitter.

Israeli fire has killed more than 100 Palestinians in weeks of violent protests along Israels border with the Gaza Strip. Nearly 60 of those were killed May 14, the deadliest protest day that also saw hundreds of Palestinians wounded. Hamas has admitted that 50 of those killed were actually its members, and that many were paid terrorists.

Organizers said the protests were meant in part to break a decade-old Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the Gaza Strip. But Israel, which has faced blistering international criticism over its response, accuses Hamas of using the weekly border protests as cover to stage numerous terror attacks.

The Israeli army has defended its actions. It points to the violent history of Hamas, says there have been shootings and bombing attacks against its forces, and fears a mass border breach.

On Twitter, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman welcomed the ruling and criticized the rights groups for challenging the military.

(AP)
A Syrian war-monitoring group said Friday suspected Israeli strikes hit a military base overnight in central Syria housing Lebanons terrorist Hezbollah group alongside other factions allied with the Damascus government.

It was not clear if there were any casualties at the Dabaa air base and surrounding areas in central Homs province, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The base, north of the town of al-Qusair near the border with Lebanon, was captured by Hezbollah in 2013 from rebels, marking a turning point in the groups role in the Syrian war.

Syrias state media reported late Thursday that a military base in central Syria came under attack from enemy fire and that Syrian air defenses responded. State SANA news agency reported loud explosions at the Dabaa airbase.

The Israeli military is believed to be behind dozens of airstrikes in recent years against Hezbollah, Iran, and Syrian military positions. The U.S. and Israeli governments have viewed Irans role in Syria as a threat to Israel and have threatened action.

Syrias government forces have relied on support from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and other regional militias to fight Syrian rebels and Islamic State militants in the conflict, now in its eighth year.

The Observatory also raised the death toll from Wednesday night airstrikes in eastern Syria to 14 pro-government fighters, all but two foreign nationals. The Syrian-run media blamed the U.S-led coalition fighting IS for the strikes on military positions between the towns of Boukamal and Hmeimeh in the eastern Deir el-Zour province.

The Observatory said it also suspects coalition aircraft were behind the attack but the Pentagon said it had no information to substantiate such reports.

The U.S-led coalition and the Syrian opposition it backs, as well as Syrian government troops and allied militias are separately fighting IS remnants still holed up in countrys east. Iraqi forces have also collaborated with both the Syrian government and the U.S-led coalition against IS. On Friday, Iraq said its warplanes struck two sites belonging to IS in eastern Syria.

The U.S.-backed forces are operating east of the Euphrates River and the government and allied troops west of it. But they have come to blows at times.

In February, U.S. military launched rare airstrikes and artillery rounds against Syrian government-backed troops after as many as 500 attackers started what appeared to be a coordinated attack on U.S.-backed Syrian forces and U.S. advisers in Deir el-Zour. U.S. officials said the strikes were in self-defense after pro-government forces began firing artillery and tank rounds at the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. About 100 of the attackers were killed, including a number of Russian contractors.

The Observatory reported a series of explosions late Tuesday in government-held neighborhoods in the city of Deir el-Zour, which the regime captured late last year from IS. The Observatory said it believed they were U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. There was no immediate comment from the coalition.

(AP)
One in five cars on UK roads - accounting for more than eight million motors - have 'dangerous' tyres fitted to them, according to new research.

Comparison site Confused.com said it conducted 1,000 vehicle spot checks up and down the country and found that 21 per cent had at least one tyre that need to be replaced.

A further three per cent - representative of 1.4 million - were found to be running on illegal tyres that could land them with a fine in excess of 2,500 and three penalty points.

Tyre trouble: A spot-check of 1,000 UK cars found that one in five have tyres that need to be replaced and approximately 1.4 million vehicles are using illegal rubber that warrant a fine of 2,500 for each tyre

Confused.com said it traipsed around 10 major UK cities, scrutinising car tyres and measuring the tread depth remaining in the rubber.

The fifth it deemed as 'dangerous' were those with a tyre with tread below 3mm, which is the point at which major manufacturers recommend having it changed.

Those deemed illegal were found to have less tread depth than the legal limit of 1.6mm.

What's more concerning is that three in five claim not to know if their tyres are illegal or not.

When the comparison site surveyed 2,000 motorists, 61 per cent didn't know the minimum tread depth required by law.

Even if drivers do know that their tyres are deemed legally unfit for the road, 55 per cent said they didn't know how to check if they were roadworthy or not.

Not only is this lack of knowledge worrying on a safety level, it also means many drivers are risking fines in excess of 2,500 per tyre if they're caught by police using balding rubber.

They could also receive three penalty points per illegal corner, which would could lead to a loss of licence and almost certainly drive insurance premiums higher.

It's also little know that if you are involved in an accident and its later revealed that you had bald tyres, your insurer could void your claim and invalidate your policy, as your car would be deemed unroadworthy  the same would apply if your car failed its MOT.

Easy way to check tyre depth The RAC suggests car owners use a 20p coin to check the tread remaining on their tyres. The law states that tyres need 1.6mm of tread across the central three quarters. Insert a 20p coin  if you can see the outer band, the tread is too low and you could be fined up to 2,500 and hit with three penalty points per tyre. The motoring group also says you shouldn't just just rely on the tread you can see. It suggests feeling around the tyre as uneven wear could be indicative of issues with alignment or poor inflation. While youre checking the tyres, look out for any lumps or cuts  both of which could cause a dangerous blowout and should be fixed immediately. You should also check the correct tyres are fitted to your car. Are they matching sizes across each axle? And do they have a suitable speed rating as recommended in your owner's manual?

According to the latest data, tyre issues are the fourth most common reason for vehicles failing an MOT inspection, with 7.7 per cent of all vehicles last year failing for illegal tread depth or rubber that was deemed unfit for use.

The investigation also identified which cities it found the highest percentage of dangerous tyres.

Vehicles in Edinburgh had the highest number of cars fitted with tyres below the recommended tread of 3mm (27 per cent), while motorists in Newcastle and Ipswich had the highest rate of illegal tyres, both with an average of five per cent.

According to the research, London drivers are the most diligent with just 16 per cent of vehicles fitted with dangerous rubber, though motorists in Birmingham deserved a special mention after Confused.com found no cars in the midlands city with illegal tyres.

The cities with the most (and least) dangerous and illegal tyres City Number of vehicles with at least with at least one tyre with tread below 3mm Number of vehicles with at least with at least one tyre with tread below 1.6mm UK average 21% 3% Edinburgh 27% (highest) 4% Newcastle 21% 5% (joint highest) Leeds 17% 4% Manchester 26% 4% Ipswich 19% 5% (joint highest) Birmingham 23% 0% Cardiff 19% 2% Bristol 20% 3% London 16% 3% Brighton 21% 4% Source: Confused.com

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said it was 'worrying' to find so many vehicles fitted with potentially lethal tyres.

'Tyre tread ignorance could land offenders with fines of up to 2,500 per tyre, invalidate their insurance or lead to an accident,' she said.

'By conducting a few simple checks each month, such as the 20p test, drivers can keep themselves and other motorists safe.

'Driving has become expensive enough as it is, and avoiding unwanted fines should be incentive enough to comply with road safety regulations.'


SOUTH AFRICA  As disruptive technology looks set to shake-up the banking industry, Nedbank has created a venture capital fund within the bank to leverage off such technology and better serve clients.



The fund falls under the banking groups disruption channel, which sits alongside its managed evolution and channels.

Through the three channels, the bank aims to advance its tech ecosystem, implement experimentation and commercialisation capabilities and plug into global venture capital deal flow, explained Stuart van der Veen, the disruption lead at Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking.



Currently, the bank works to identify the top 100 disruptors globally  across tech hubs in San Francisco, London, Tel Aviv, Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town and Johannesburg  within a six-month period.



Collaborative



Its tech ecosystem forum  comprising representations from each of the banks units  then identify 12 collaborative opportunities, of which six are taken through to experimentation and one to commercialisation.



On the venture capital side, the bank sees equity opportunities in disruptive companies and has allocated E100 million on its balance sheet for partnerships with companies in which it sees significant opportunity, he said.



It tables 20 collaborative opportunities over a six-month period, of which six are presented to its pre-investment committee and three to its investment committee.



Speaking at Nedbanks Banking on Disruption breakfast with Moneyweb, Van der Veen said one such company which ticked all the banks boxes was Cape Town-based Airobotics, which specialises in data collection through automatic industrial drones.



The bank intends to have the drones fly around 100 metres above tree crops to gauge the health of individual trees through the use of water content and chlorophyll level indicators, among others. Such data forms part of the key precision tools for its farming clients.



Valuation



For us, tree height, canopy size and volume  another metric that they determine  gives us great yield estimates. Yield times (x) forward price gives us future cash flows and weve got an underlying biological asset valuation. Were staring down the barrel of automated agri-finance at an individual farmer level and as this progress at an aggregate level for corporates, which are large clients of the bank.



He added that the information is important for credit and risk modelling, which would improve the efficiency and operation of the bank.

Globally, several banks are in the process of overhauling legacy systems and adopting new technology so as to improve operational efficiency.



According to Van der Veen, banking is ripe for disruption as around US$17 billion was deployed across fintech in 2017, as regulators are opening up to and starting to embrace new technology and as younger generations are demanding more than just traditional banking.
MBABANE  No need to stress with the long queues as Ministry of Home Affairs is ready to speed things up at the various border posts.



Many have raised concerns about long queues at the border posts this coming weekend, since a high number of internationals will be coming into the country for the MTN BUSHFIRE Festival weekend. The Ministry of Home Affairs has said not to worry as they are ready to assist with the fast movement of queues.



While on the issue of queues at the border, House on Fires Communications Officer Noncedo Dlamini said that they were expecting over 25 000 fun lovers who had shown interest towards attending the weekend-long MTN BUSHFIRE Festival, however Dlamini also said that they were aware of some of the internationals who are already in the country that got in as early as last Monday.



Speaking to Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Anthony Masilela, he said they would be increasing staff at the various border posts so as to have fast service which will lead to the speeding up of lines when coming in and going out of the country.



We are aware that this is one of the most busiest weekends in the country, which is the reason why we will be a bit lenient when it comes to closing hours, however, we are not implying that hours have been extended we are simply saying that we may add an extension of an hour or two. On top of that we will add more staff , said Masilela.
ELECTION registration numbers so far suggest that there is an impressive turnout at the registration centres with potential voters eager to elect new Members of Parliament.

The numbers were sitting at around 100 000 early this week. Depending on which side of the political fence youre on, these numbers could mean several things. One is hoping that electing tired, backward thinking, overly conservative and recycled non-achiever candidates, is certainly not one of them.



Tired refers to the likes of legislators who do not see the need and could not be bothered to form a quorum to pass the much needed Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Bill, while violence against women and children escalates. It refers to those who forget that it could soon be their own daughters, wives or relatives on the receiving end. This is a Bill that has taken almost two decades to get through Parliament simply because senators refuse to allow common sense to prevail.



Some legislators are either too tired or too stuck in the past to appreciate the value and contribution of women in leadership that they would even suggest they need permission from their husbands to serve the country, just because they would have to spend nights in hotels. Others seem highly opposed to the vote for a woman campaign because their tired minds can only see a threat to their means of livelihood instead of appreciating possible contributors to the meaningful development of this country by a previously marginalised group in our patriarchal society.



These tired minds dominated Cabinet thinking resulting in, among other things, the short-sighted rejection of the obvious benefits of legalising our marijuana (dagga) for medicinal purposes. By the time we wake up from the slumber, our highly rated herb would be useless as countries like Zimbabwe and Zambia have jumped at the medicinal and economic benefits it provides.



Zimbabwe has also declared that it wants to regain its status as the bread basket of Southern Africa. What have we been doing all along? Nothing but slashing the Agriculture budget while almost 200 000 citizens remain in need of food aid. We have been busy with increasing expenditure for the security forces as a solution to poverty alleviation.



No wonder the current lot of politicians leave a nation up in arms over the high cost of living and litany of taxation being proposed through the Finance Bill, all because they were too tired to think of creative ways of diversifying the economy. Such taxes have been unanimously rejected by the citizens and deservedly so.



Our politicians have been too tired to read, heed, strategise and implement the numerous recommendations at their disposal on how best to improve our landlocked and sparsely populated economy. How does one explain failing to remove our dependency on the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) over four decades?



Put these together, it is obvious that the current level of thinking in government has passed its sell-by date. The results of this can only yield a collapse of businesses, cash-flow challenges, starving children in schools, high unemployment, drug shortages, lack of service delivery, etc. These failures will forever characterise the term of our Tenth Parliament which was too tired to provide the required oversight role.

The promising numbers turning up at registration centres should, therefore, count for something; and that should be for electing an enterprising group of citizens who will have the energy to keep up with the high pace of development that is now being driven by the ever innovating world of technology. We now have science, technology and biotechnology parks which are targeted at leveraging technology to boost economic growth.

These facilities require a new level of thinking. Young innovative and highly competitive minds are what we need to derive maximum benefits of this investment, unless we are keen to turn them into white elephants. A young video-graphic stuntman can best describe how backward the current thinking is. He posted a video of his work online but instead of receiving plaudits for his creativity, he was seen as a threat to society by law enforcement. The hypocrisy of it all is that the same cops allow their children to watch this stuff on TV every day! We laugh, but this is the extent at which we are lagging seriously behind in adapting new technologies to drive this economy.

The fourth industrial revolution is fast becoming the new world order. We are all well aware that industries were first driven by water and steam, then electric power, followed by electronics and ICT. Now the digital revolution is upon us. Simply put, cars are now self-driven. So where does that put us as a country in the next 20 years? Nowhere if we elect bomkhulu to Parliament who have no idea how a computer works, let alone what it looks like.

We have a young King who is highly exposed to the developed world and very forward thinking. His drive towards transforming this country is, unfortunately, not matched by the tired minds dominating the political landscape. The 100 000 registered voters and others to follow, should not - even for a second - allow their minds to be infected by the tired and lazy-to-think mentality at this point. All we need to think about is how best to inject a new lease of life into this country.
PIGGS PEAK  Nearly two weeks after her lifeless body was discovered, Nkhosinaye Dlamini has still not been buried.



This is unusual as families normally bury their deceased relatives after the post-mortem.

For Nkhosinaye, her body is still at the mortuary because the family does not have the means to bury her.



Nkhosinaye had been living with her grandfather, Mandla Tsabedze, at a place known as Mbasheni but when she was abducted, she had been visiting her mother at Msahweni.



Yesterday, Tsabedze said the family was still looking for means to bury her. Tsabedze, who is a retired police office, now works as a security guard at one of the local citrus farms.



Nkhosinaye was kidnapped on April 30, 2018 and her lifeless body was discovered 10 days later, floating in the Mlumati River.

She was abducted while playing with her friends near her mothers marital homestead around Msahweni near Matsamo.
MBABANE  The South African couple that was found in possession of gold worth E1.5 million and drugs has been admitted to E65 000 bail per person.



They were ordered to pay the aforementioned amount in cash, without providing any sureties. Julius Mostert (38) and Joani-Stasja Meiring (36), both from Pretoria, were also found in possession of 12 pieces of silver weighing 4.54 kilogrammes valued at E28 620. They were from Mozambique when the law enforcers pounced on them at Lomahasha Border Gate.



Their admission to bail yesterday came after Advocate Mduduzi Tsotsi Mabila energetically argued that the interest of justice favoured that they be released from custody. The couple was initially admitted to E705 000 bail by Magistrate Musa Nxumalo. The magistrate had ordered them to pay E5 000 cash and provide sureties for the value of E700 000.



Advocate Mabila yesterday argued that the accused persons had property held by the Crown in excess of E1.6 million, in the form of the minerals (pieces of gold and silver) and a motor vehicle. He averred that the property alone was sufficient sureties.



The advocate also submitted that the duo had made a further offer to pay E25 000 each in cash to gain their liberty. The accused persons have mentioned on affidavit that they will not attempt to evade trial as this would mean that they would lose their investment in the form of the minerals and the motor vehicle for an offence they believe they had reasonable prospects of success on, argued the advocate.
School district employees, parents, community leaders, and others were invited to weigh in on the Titusville Area School Districts goals in a community engagement meeting Thursday. Participants were divided into teams, and would share their ideas with others at the meeting. Pictured above, Superintendent Karen Jez writes down an idea within her team at the meeting. Seated at the table, from left to right, is school board member Carol Schaffer, Titusville Middle School student Kadan Loney, high school employee Kim Copley, Main Street Elementarys future principal Amy Sines, and YWCA representative Nancy Wright.
Kansas regulators threw the switch on a merger of Great Plains Energy Inc. and Westar Energy Inc. on Thursday. The Kansas Corporation Commission approved a combination of the utility companies Thursday afternoon. The Missouri Public Service Commission gave its approval earlier in the day.
"An Independence man pleaded guilty today in Johnson County District Court to raping a 22-year-old sheriff's deputy in Olathe, Kansas. Brady Newman-Caddell, 22, admitted to two counts of rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated criminal sodomy. In October 2016, Newman-Caddell and 25-year-old William Luth of Blue Springs, Missouri, forced the Johnson County deputy into a car, covered her face and drove off before taking turns sexually assaulting her. Luth pleaded guilty in December to the same charges and was sentenced in February to 41 years in prison. Newman-Caddell is set to be sentenced in October."
CHECK THE OUTRIGHT REJECTION OF THE NEW AIRPORT AND 63RD STREET FOR MLK TRIBUTE!!!

SCLC Undaunted in Effort to Change Paseo to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City has announced its continued efforts to change the name of Paseo to Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd here in Kansas City. A recent announcement by the mayor of Kansas City identifying a city sponsored recommendation to choose potential different locations such as a terminal in the KCI Airport are described by SCLC-GKC president Dr. Vernon Howard, Jr., "unfit and a dishonor to the legacy of Dr. King."





"We will continue to gather the necessary signatures in order to put this matter on the ballot," said Dr. Howard, "to be precluded only by our very own efforts to work with the city council to draft and present an ordinance that would authorize the name change of Paseo. Our coalition of over 50 organizations and the hundreds of partners who marched and rallied with us and who are gaining signatures deserve no less."





On April 13th, 2018, SCLC and the coalition led hundreds of Kansas Citians across the metro in a march and rally for peace initiating its petition drive to take the matter to the ballot, which included keynote address and support from U.S. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II and several religious, neighborhood, business, political, and Civil Rights leaders.





"The airport identification wholly rejects and disregards the inner city and urban core where most poor people and people of color live, said Dr. Howard. "These are the folks Dr. King fought for and with." He continued, "63rd St. does not offer the funding for beautification and maintenance necessary for honorable upkeep because it is not a Boulevard and is an affront to the hundreds of people, including grassroots and high profile leaders, who have worked so hard and brought this issue to the forefront."



Dr. Vernon Percy Howard, Jr.

Senior Pastor, St. Mark Union Church

President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference-GKC

Everyone knew that the debate over the proposed name change for The Paseo would continue.But now, in the words of the petitioners . . .Proximity to the African-American community & dedicated funds for beautification and maintenance seem to be the main talking points.Just published by Rev. Dr. Vernon P. Howard, Jr.Here's theof the response to KCMO MLK Advisory committee recommendations . . .#############You decide . . .
Vie 25 de mayo de 2018

The event gathers all the actors of the sector in a unique experience where the exchange of knowledge, prominent exhibitors, training sessions and workshops to further enhance innovation in the tourism sector.

CAF 2018, like every year, is a meeting that shows the latest in tourism, offering talks and workshops with the aim of empowering all the actors in the activity and promoting the strengthening of national tourism. The president of FAEVyT, Fabricio Di Giambattista, explained that "CAF renews its structure every year to share with the different members of the sector the most up-to-date knowledge regarding tourism, which is a key aspect to continue promoting the growth of tourism in the country and all the actors in the sector, from SMEs to large agencies, because they are the protagonists of the development of Argentine tourism.The FAEVyT Annual Congress is a specially organized event, with the best speakers and workshops, to achieve this goal ".

While waiting for a big call, we are already working on the last details so that the CAF 2018 experience is unique. Participants can enjoy the exhibitions of David Castejon, on emotional marketing; Sergio Berensztein, who will speak about the Argentine political puzzle and its influence in the political sphere, Fernando Zerboni, who will speak about the world of social networks, Juan Carlos De Pablo with a talk that will be the axis in the economic context and Miguel Cavatorta about innovation in tourist products. There will also be workshops with great potential such as financial assistance tools and public-private investment programs; National Plan of Internal Tourism and INCATUR. With a specially planned organizational chart, CAF 2018 is presented in Cordoba with two days of pure tourism.
La voz del trade en las Americas
CARIBBEAN HOTELIERS ADVISED TO BECOME GDPR COMPLIANT

MIAMI (May 25, 2018) - Caribbean hoteliers are being advised to ensure European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance.

During a recent webinar hosted by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Brian Kent, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Flip.to, explained that the GDPR imposes a strict set of requirements on how and why companies collect and use personal data. CHTA emphasizes that sound data privacy protection practices are essential for every business regardless of GDPR.

"Companies now have to provide the right to individuals to know what data a company has about you," he disclosed. "It also is requiring ... that a company that's handling your data is doing it in a really secure way as well as being really good stewards of it."

Kent said the regulation does not restrict companies from using data, but ensures that personal information is protected and that individuals have rights related to their personal information.

GDPR protects the privacy not only of EU citizens worldwide but also of anyone who is party to a transaction while in the EU. Failure to comply with the new regulation can result in financial penalties ranging from 10 million, or two percent of annual revenue, up to 20 million, or four percent of annual revenue.

Given the growing concerns about corporate security breaches and mishandling of personal information, many organizations are taking a new look at their existing policies for handling and protecting information in their client databases.

The hospitality industry is particularly vulnerable to data breaches, said Frank Comito, Director General and CEO of CHTA. From reservations and payment processing to rewards programs and guest services, hotels and other businesses have multiple touch points with customers during which customer data is exchanged, he explained.

"We are taking the education of our members seriously regarding the new regulations on protecting personal data," said Comito. "We are also actively encouraging them to become knowledgeable about the tools, systems and practices they can employ to protect data and be good stewards of personal information."

According to Kent, hoteliers may not be able to continue using their marketing databases if they are not GDPR compliant. He explained they must be able to deliver data to anyone who asks for his or her personal data. "If they ask to remove themselves from your databases and your partners' databases, you have to be able to go back to them and give them an answer saying 'yes, we're doing that' and a time frame of when that's going to happen."

In the long term, Kent said companies will need to shift their thinking and have more personal conversations that serve the needs of travelers. "That's also a really good thing because if you're doing that, it's not just about getting into compliance with GDPR, it's forcing you to become a better marketer. It also means you're building and nurturing relationships."

The new regulation, which comes into effect on May 25, 2018, will be a hot topic at the upcoming Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum (CHIEF), happening at the Hyatt Regency Miami from June 22 to 24, and will be tackled during one of the Professional Development Sessions at the conference.

CHTA believes that new practices offer an invaluable benefit to guests and the businesses themselves as it will allow them to continue to provide outstanding customer service, while also ensuring the security, privacy and safety of guests.

To view CHTA's recent webinar on GDPR compliance, visit http://www.caribbeanhotelandtourism.com/are-you-gdpr-ready
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editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 24

A private hospital organised an awareness programme on the occasion of World Schizophrenia Day, celebrated every year on May 24. The programme was meant to educate people regarding schizophrenia, its treatment and the role of families in relapse prevention.

Dr JPS Bhatia, a veteran psychiatrist, said, These days are very important for all mental health professionals. These especially earmark days provide us with an opportunity to come together and use the platform to help those in need. One of our important roles as mental health professionals is to work as agents of social change by reaching out to people, making mental health care accessible and removing the element of shame associated with mental disorders, he said while addressing the session.

Schizophrenia is one of the most commonly seen mental health problems but theres very little awareness in the general public about the disorder. People consider it to be a result of bad karmas or influence of evil spirits and try to seek treatment from faith healers, which actually leads to the worsening of symptoms and prognosis, he said.

Priyadarshini Pant, clinical psychologist, said the biggest problem lied with labeling of the patient. If a patient has schizophrenia, he is not schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is a disease, which can be treated and in most cases it can be efficiently managed.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, May 24

A meeting between officials of the district administration, Health Department and other department representatives, was conducted to discuss a plan of action to ensure maximum vaccination for measles-rubella (MR) in the ongoing campaign.

The meeting was headed by Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra who instructed officials of different departments to make the MR campaign a success by ensuring maximum vaccination.

A presentation was given during the meeting that highlighted how the MR campaign has fared till now.

The DC has also sought a report of total number of children being vaccinated/non-vaccinated for MR in the district.

According to sources while the vaccination campaign has improved in schools, the numbers of children getting vaccinated at aanganwadi centres remain negligible.

It was decided during the meeting that a list be collated of children who are not vaccinated. Parents of these children must be counselled and if they are not comfortable in getting their children vaccinated at schools, then they must be asked to visit government hospitals/centres in the district.

The Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, SMOs of different blocks, nodal officer of MR campaign and a representative from paediatrics unit of the Civil Hospital, CDPOs among others attended the meeting.

1.28 lakh children covered

Bathinda: The Health Department convened a meeting to take stock of the ongoing measles-rubella (MR) vaccination drive in the district. The meeting was convened by Civil Surgeon Dr Hari Narayan Singh and was presided over by Deputy Commissioner Diprava Lakra.

Addressing teams and staff of the Health Department, the DC said to make sure that all children were covered as part of the MR campaign, the teams must hold meeting with the parents of children at schools, anganwari centres and at village panchayats and common meeting places to make them aware of the importance of getting the children vaccinated.

He further said the vaccination drive was being undertaken with the aim of eradicating measles and rubella disease from India. He appreciated the increasing response that the drive had started getting from parents and school authorities. He expressed hope that the targets set for the campaign would be achieved soon.

Allaying the fears of public related to the children falling ill after being administered the vaccine, the DC called upon the parents to get their vaccinated at civil hospital and health centres where hospital-based immunisation was being carried out.

The Civil Surgeon said till May 22, as many as 1.28 lakh children of the district had been covered under the measles-rubella vaccination drive.

Also present during the meeting were Dr SS Romana, Dr Pamil Bansal, senior medical staff, staff of the Education Department, principals of the government, government-aided and private schools, cluster in-charges, district programme officers and others.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

The city police have arrested two Delhi residents claiming that they were agents of Bitcoin Ponzi king Amit Bhardwaj, who was recently arrested in Pune. Rajesh Jain and Sanchit were arrested on Thursday and were produced in a court on Friday, which sent the duo to three-day police remand. The police, however, had sought a 12-day remand.

The investigating officer (IO), Sub-Inspector Naveen, told the court that there were two transactions of the accused with Bhardwaj worth Rs 30 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. According to the police, the accused operated two Hong Kong-based companies wherein they asked people to invest in an 18-month scheme. They promised 10 per cent return each month, which they did for the initial two to three months. However, after that, the company disappeared and the people realised that they had been duped.

The IO told the court that they needed the remand to recover a laptop that could have important transaction details along with other items. The accused are to be taken to Hanumangarh and Haridwar for the purpose. The police are already scrutinising over 40 bank accounts and suspect that there might be many more complainants in the case. The police have also applied for production warrants of Bhardwaj.

Bhardwaj, a bitcoin entrepreneur, was recently arrested by the Pune police for duping a large number of people to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. Sources said three businessmen had approached the UT police alleging that they had invested 250 bitcoins on Bhardwajs advice, who had assured them of huge returns. However, they neither got the returns nor the bitcoins.

The victims had purchased bitcoins from some website. Later, someone introduced them to Bhardwaj, who lured them to invest their bitcoins further into mining and transferred their bitcoins to himself.

Get 3-day remand

Rajesh Jain and Sanchit were arrested on Thursday and were produced in a court on Friday, which sent the duo to three-day police remand. The police, however, had sought a 12-day remand.
editorial@tribune.com

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, May 25

Fascination for the Bollywood and the desire to become an actress made a 14-year-old girl leave for Mumbai.

As per information, Neha, a Class VIII student at Government High School, Ramgarh, and a resident of Daffarpur village near Dera Bassi, had gone missing on May 21. A report in this regard was lodged by her parents after they failed to trace her, suspecting that she might have been abducted by their neighbour Sanjay, a tailor, as he was a regular visitor to their house.

Mohinder Singh, SHO, Dera Bassi, said with a dream to make it big in the Bollywood, Neha left for Mumbai. She wanted to become a TV actress and participate in reality shows. Another reason that made her leave was that her parents kept nagging her for small things and were against her wish of becoming an actress, the SHO said.

The SHO said Neha left home for school on May 21 but instead went to the Chandigarh railway station and boarded a train to Mathura. From there, she went to Mumbai.

When she did not come back till late in the evening on May 21, her worried parents approached the Mubarikpur police and lodged a complaint.

The local police brought the matter to the knowledge of Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal, who alerted police stations across other states, along with her description.

On presuming that the victim would be contacting her relatives, the police placed their mobile phone under surveillance, said the SHO.

The police finally traced her last location to Baroda, when the girl called her aunt and enquired about her well-being. Talking over the phone, her aunt requested her to come back. The girl was then brought back to Dera Bassi from the Ambala railway station and joined with her parents here on Friday after proper counselling.

Boarded train from city railway station

Mohinder Singh, SHO, Dera Bassi, said with a dream to make it big in the Bollywood, Neha left for Mumbai on May 21. She went to the Chandigarh railway station and boarded a train to Mathura. From there, she went to Mumbai. She wanted to become a TV actress and participate in reality shows.

Refused to return home

Parents of 14-year-old Neha were in for a rude shock when they reached the Dera Bassi police station to bring the girl back. The minor refused to return home. A woman constable counselled her after which she agreed to go home. The girls father is a security guard and has three children.
editorial@tribune.com

Rajinder S Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 25

While the Panchkula Municipal Corporation was quick to lodge a case against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in March when they put up illegal hoardings and banners in Panchkula, but when it comes to take action against the ruling BJPs MLA and party leaders, the MC adopts double standards.

In a latest such incident, BJP leaders have put up illegal hoardings in the city wishing the Panchkula BJP MLA on his birthday on Friday. While the BJP leaders did not take any permission from the MC to install these huge illegal hoardings, MC officials did not muster courage to remove any of such illegal hoarding till evening.

When Chandigarh Tribune contacted MLA Gian Chand Gupta, he justified putting up of these hoardings. There was no need to take permission as these were put up only for today. Even the Congress had not taken permission in their programmes in Panchkula, Gupta said.

When asked about the case lodged against AAP leaders and not against BJP leaders, Gupta said AAP had defaced he city and the BJP did not deface the city.

Panchkula Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia said the MLA should not have encouraged installation of these illegal hoardings. MC officials should act against BJP leaders.

AAP Panchkula district in-charge Yogeshwar Sharma said the double standard of the MC was exposed on Friday. They would seek action against BJP leaders who put up these illegal hoardings.

Spokesperson for the Haryana Mahila Congress Ranjeeta Mehta demanded strict action against violators. She said todays act of installation of illegal hoardings proves double standard of the Khattar government.

Despite repeated attempts, MC Commissioner Rajesh Jogpal could not be contacted.

No permission sought

BJP leaders have put up illegal hoardings in the city wishing the Panchkula BJP MLA on his birthday on Friday. While the BJP leaders did not take any permission from the MC to install these huge illegal hoardings, MC officials did not muster courage to remove any of such illegal hoardings till evening.

Ex-Deputy CM for action against BJP leaders

Former Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan said as the civic body had suffered financial losses due to installation of illegal hoardings, MLA Gian Chand Gupta should pay for the losses from his own pocket or from the partys (BJP) fund. The MC should also take action against BJP leaders, he demanded.
PPS Gill

PPS Gill

Senior journalist and former Information Commissioner of Punjab

For quite some time, the role and function of Sikh institutions in articulating the Sikh aspirations, expectations and frustrations has raised fresh questions. Particularly, on the erosion in the autonomy, independence and sovereignty, or whatever remains, of the apex organs: SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) and Akal Takht.

Given the hire and fire policy in respect of the clergy, religiously followed by the 'politicised' SGPC at the bidding of its political bosses, a subservient attitude is discernible. Even the system of appointment or removal of the SGPC President is arbitrary and politically motivated. In the prevailing cloistered religio-political system, the incumbents are expected to show 'unalloyed loyalty' to their political masters.

The politicisation of the SGPC and Sikh clergy is a cause of concern, given the contradictions and opaqueness in decision-making. Why has there been a continuous erosion and denigration of these institutions? Even as the jury is out on the juxtaposition of religion and politics, the fact is that vested interests have politicised religion. Religion has not been evoked as a detergent to cleanse politics.

Then there is the growing cult of sants, mahants, babas and gurus; sects, cults and deras. Punjab provides a fertile ground for them to flourish, ostensibly under 'state' or 'political' patronage. The key Sikh institutions have failed to checkmate these.

Understandably, a majority of those who flock to the deras is from among the 'weaker sections', 'Scheduled Castes and other backward classes'. The deras are not just a vote-bank, but something more than that.

This vast section of society feels left out of the state's 'welfare schemes' denying them economic emancipation, social equality, income generation, employment opportunities and affordable, quality education and health delivery services. They have been ignored and marginalised by the Sikh religio-political leadership. This has alienated them, depriving them of societal recognition, respect, equality, and human dignity.

Thus, deras flourish as they provide their followers 'recognition', something neither the governments nor Sikh religio-political leadership gave them. While the governments ignored them, Sikh institutions never welcomed them into their fold. Resultantly, there are sharp divisions based on religion, caste, creed and class in villages, where segregation is widespread. Proof lies in the existence of separate cremation grounds, gurdwaras and dharmshalas for different communities.

Strangely, in the wake of the countrywide outcry against 'atrocities' on the minorities, cow vigilantism, saffornisation of institutions, the Akali leadership has maintained a silence for fear of annoying the BJP or losing a Cabinet berth. And, the religious wing never made any attempts to 'own' the estranged sections that opted for deras and invested their faith in 'gurus' and 'babas'.

To reverse this trend, it is time the government implemented its 'welfare schemes' and changed its approach towards dera followers. It is also time for radical reforms to restore dignity, independence, sovereignty and autonomy of the Sikh clergy and SGPC. It is equally important to restore 'inner democracy' in the SAD. Punjab must maintain communal harmony, peace and tranquility, which is ever so fragile.

Often, concerned scholars, not necessarily neutral, have suggested alternatives to ride out the crises. Since conflict, contradiction and confrontation dominate the Sikh institutions and Sikh psyche, scholars need to cooperate and coordinate in the larger interest of the state and the Sikhs.

Have there been attempts to reform or restore lost dignity of these institutions?

One attempt was initiated at the World Sikh Sammelan in Amritsar in September 1995, with Sikhs settled abroad demanding a broad-based SGPC with a representative character; widening its ambit, worldwide. Then (between 1994 and 1996) by a retired Army Colonel, the late Gurdip Singh Grewal, floated the idea of setting up of a Global Sikh Senate. But all such attempts were scuttled by those who hold sway over them, fearing the loss of hegemony and control, since they drew 'power' from these institutions.Numerous seminars have been held to 'forge' unity in Sikh religio-political folds. These attempts have remained stillborn.

Grewals idea was to enable the Sikh community at home and abroad to meet the challenges and adapt itself for optimum viable prosperity moving into the 21st century. He believed that such a senate was imperative for globally integrating secular Sikh social order: Sikhs, he believed, being a consensual society, the senate could create a virtuous circle of consensus for the prosperity of the entire community.

He was of the opinion that the existing imperfections were on account of two factors: one, the casting of Sikh politics into an archetypical mould of thoughtlessness and attitude of confrontation; two, the guardians of gurdwara-based politics, generally ultra-orthodox, maintained a stranglehold on the Sikh affairs, obstructing enlightened minds from participating.

At the 1995 World Sikh Sammelan, besides it was also resolved that a World Sikh Council and Zonal Sikh Councils be set up under the Jathedar of Akal Takht. The concept was aborted due to differences cropping up among the power-wielders. And, the then Jathedar, Giani Puran Singh, disbanded all units in March, 2000.

With the Akali leadership, having parceled various religio-political institutions between themselves for decades, showed little or no interest either in the World Sikh Council or in the concept of Global Sikh Senate.

Besides the key reforms needed for reinventing the SGPC, SAD and Akal Takht, other pending issues include: failure of the Sikh leadership to either get an All-India Gurdwara Act enacted, in the past six decades or to rein in the growing cult of sants, mahants, babas and gurus; sects, cults and deras; or on the voting rights of Sehjdhari Sikhs in SGPC elections. The matter is in the court.

It is time the government recalibrates its policies and approach towards nearly 50 per cent of the population that believes in deras and feels alienated, and the religio-political Sikh leadership comes out of its orthodoxy-shell and think of out-of-the-box reforms.
singhking99@yahoo.com

US President Donald Trump lived up to his billing for unpredictability by calling off talks next month with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But India that had rushed into the breach now needs to stay the course. In deference to UN and unilateral sanctions by the US against North Korea, India had kept Pyongyang on the diplomatic back burner by appointing relatively junior officials as its ambassadors. South Block reacted with lightning speed to the US easing of pressure on North Korea by naming a regular diplomat to man the embassy in Pyongyang and dispatching a minister the day after the ambassador had received its credentials.

Now, with the US planning to tighten the screws once again, India should strike an independent path by maintaining the tempo of contacts with North Korea. It will not be short of friends because Kim Jong-uns mothballing of nuclear testing facilities was seen as an expression of intent and purpose. On the other hand, Trumps binning of the talks was a continuation of his tempestuous and seriously destabilising policy moves akin to pulling the plug on the Iran deal, locating the US embassy in Jerusalem and exiting the climate change talks. India has anyway tested the global waters and PM Modis successive heart-to-heart talks with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin suggest there is weariness in South Block over the low returns from its proximity with the US.

Indias enhanced diplomatic engagement in North Korea after half a century will once again raise its geopolitical profile in East Asia  it already has close economic and political ties with Japan and South Korea. India need not fear US wrath for it will not be alone in defying the White House on Iran and North Korea. In fact, there might be an undercurrent of understanding in a section of the American political establishment. North Korea also needs close Indian attention to discourage it from the surreptitious transfer of military grade technology to Pakistan. Prospects of gaining more from legitimate trade with India should stay North Koreas hands from closer ties with Islamabad. After Iran, Indias national interests dictate a divergence from US policy on North Korea as well.
singhking99@yahoo.com

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

In a virtual indictment of an IPS officer, OP Narwal, a Special Enquiry Team (SET) constituted by the Haryana Director General of Police has said the officer, in connivance with certain other police officials and conduits, was extorting money from different persons under the threat of false implication in a two-year-old case.

The details surfaced before the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the hearing of a petition for anticipatory bail by one Kamal Kumar. He had moved court after an FIR was registered on September 26, 2017, at the City Police Station in Fatehabad under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and other offences.

Justice Surinder Guptas Bench was told that the team was constituted in May 2017 to look into a complaint by Bhupinder Singh and others regarding alleged extortion by police officials under the threat of false implication in an FIR registered on September 18, 2016, for offences punishable under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and Section 120-B of the IPC at Tohana City Police Station in Fatehabad district.

The Bench was told that the team  comprising IPS officers AS Dhillon and Partiksha Godara, along with HPS officer Jitender Singh  found that the investigation of the case registered in 2016 was transferred from Fatehabad to the Hisar ASP under the orders of the Hisar Range IG on September 20, 2016, on account of serious allegations of irregularities. The probe was, however, not transferred on instructions of OP Narwal, who was transferred from Fatehabad to the Vigilance Department in April 2017.

The Bench was told that the team, in its inquiry, found that Narwal and others were extorting money from different people by recording statements of the accused in the case. Narwal got their names cleared after taking hefty amount from them, it was alleged. Seeking bail, Kamal Kumars counsel argued that the petitioner was accused of being a conduit and paying Rs 4 lakh in bribe to Narwal. Another accused, Randhir Singh, allegedly paid Rs 15 lakh to Narwal through his son Harmandeep Singh.

Dismissing the plea, Justice Gupta asserted that the record showed that 19 accused were cleared from February 28, 2017, to April 16, 2017, on strength of an affidavit from Inspector Parveen Kumar by giving him threat of dismissal from service.

An attempt was also made to implicate the complainants in a false rape case. Justice Gupta added that his custodial interrogation would help police gather the required information on mode and manner of extracting money.
editorial@tribune.com

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

The Karnal airport project, recently announced under the regional connectivity scheme of the Central Government, may run into rough weather with farmers up in arms against the land acquisition for the project.

In the eye of the storm is the recent notification to acquire 280 acres of land in Karnal to extend the runway of the proposed airport under the new Direct Purchase Policy of the Haryana Government which the farmers alleged was discriminatory and illogical.

The state governments land acquisition policy is discriminatory and unfair to the farmers, especially from Kalvehedi and Neval villages, whose land the state government intended to acquire for the airport, alleged Inderpreet Singh, a farmer from Kalvehadi.

Farmers of Kalvehedi village are virtually being forced for part with their land through the government-appointed land aggregators under the new policy while Section 26 of the Land Acquisition Act made it mandatory for the state government to pay collector rates for the acquired land. The collector rates in neighbouring Budha Khera, Chapra Khera and Phusgarh villages is over Rs 1 crore per acre, said another farmer Bhavneet Singh Kalyan.

While the BJP-ruled states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa were paying the compensation four times the market rate to the farmers for the acquired land, the Haryana Government was giving a raw deal to the farmers as far as compensation for the acquired land was concerned, alleged Inderpreet Singh.

In fact, a veil of secretary is being maintained by the officials concerned on the amount of compensation to be paid to the farmers for their acquired land. While the officials are dilly-dallying on the payment of the compensation under the Land Acquisition Act, the farmers were being asked to quote the price of their land under the new policy whose certain provisions were clearly anti-farmer, said Inderpreet Singh.

Elaborating on loopholes in the new policy, he alleged that the farmers would have no right to challenge the compensation award. Besides, the acquired land would not vest with the farmers if the purpose for which the land was acquired was not fulfilled, he alleged.

The Karnal airport was first announced in 2008 during the previous Congress regime and about 18 acres of land was to be initially acquired for the project. The land requirement was pegged at 28 acres last. However, the land requirement notified for acquisition for the project shot up to 280 acres this year.

They regretted that though they had met the Chief Minister four times yet he had failed to give any satisfactory reply to them. Now, the farmers proposed to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

Viable or not, thats the question

Point

Karnal is a major industrial town having several major industries such agricultural implements, rice and leather industry. Besides, the handloom hub of Panipat is nearby which can give traffic for the Karnal airport. Karnal also boasts of several Central Government institutes, which regularly hold international conferences and symposiums.  Harish Kataria, Panipat businessman

Counter-point

Sustained operations from the hinterland are unviable in the foreseeable future in a country like India where the regional aviation commuter industry is yet to take off. With large airports such as New Delhi and Chandigarh, which are well-connected with other cities, it would not be commercially profitable to launch flights from a small regional airport.  SK Sharma, aviation expert
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 25

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday launched a toll-free water complaint helpline number 18001808009. He was presiding over a review meeting of the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department here. The CM also sought funds worth Rs 4751 crore for rainwater harvesting project from the Centre.

The Chief Minister said that rainwater harvesting structures would help prevent wastage of water. He said the department must ensure adequate water supply and take steps to check leakages from water pipelines. The CM said that tankers should be pressed into service for supply of water so that the tourists and locals were not inconvenienced. He said that a proposal worth Rs 798 crore for remodelling and augmentation of 1,421 water supply schemes in the state had been forwarded to the Centre.

IPH Minister Mahender Singh Thakur said a special campaign had been launched to clean the water tanks and an adequate sum had been provided for the replacement of old water pipelines.
editorial@tribune.com

Vijay Arora

Shimla, May 25

Expressing concern on the issue of water scarcity in the state, the HP High Court on Friday directed the Assistant Solicitor General of India to file an affidavit indicating the status of water augmentation schemes which are presently pending with the Union Government.

The court further directed him to apprise the court of the schemes which are presently pending with NABARD.

A Division Bench comprising the acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel further directed the Union Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation to take steps for providing funds required for the augmentation of the water schemes, proposals of which already stand sent by the state to the Union Ministry.

The court passed this order after perusing the affidavit filed by the Engineer-in-Chief, IPH, informing the court about the schemes and the proposals that had already been submitted with the Union Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation regarding Remodelling/Renovation of Old Rural Water Supply Schemes of Himachal Pradesh.

He further informed that the estimate of this proposal is approximately 798 crores and the state has sought financial assistance from the Central Water Ministry for implementing this project.

While perusing the affidavit filed by the Engineer-in-Chief the bench observed, It is evidently clear that at least with respect to three districts i.e., Hamirpur, Kangra and Mandi, the situation with regard to supply of potable drinking water to the habitations is highly inadequate. Not even 50 per cent of such habitations are fully covered as per the norms of the state. The position with regard to other districts is also not very happy and the position is best highlighted in the affidavit.

The court further observed, State is blessed with many perennial rivers like Satluj, Beas, Ravi, Chinav, Pabar, Chander and Bhaga etc. As much as 90 per cent of the state population lives in rural areas. Its population is approximately 70 lakhs. Even after more than 70 years of independence not even 50 per cent of 53,604 habitations so identified by the Irrigation and Public Health Department stand provided adequate potable water.

It further observed, It cannot be said that per se there is paucity of water in the state. However, perhaps, paucity of will to provide adequate potable water to the residents of the state is there as far as the administration is concerned. Otherwise, in our considered view, there can be no cogent justification as to why till date 50 per cent of the habitations in the state of Himachal Pradesh are not fully covered for the purposes of providing adequate potable water to the residents.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 25

Amid brewing anger against the Centre and the state government for indifference towards the plight of shelling-hit border residents, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday announced a slew of measures for welfare of the people living along the 198-km International Border in the Jammu region.

Mehbooba, who flew in from Srinagar on Friday morning, visited the people staying at various relief camps in Jammu and Samba districts, to assess the difficulties being faced by them.

In Jammu, Mehbooba visited the local ITI, Chakroi Farm and Satarian relief camps in the RS Pura area while she interacted with people at the Thandi Khui and Chichi Mata Mandir camps in Samba district.

In her first major announcement, the Chief Minister said the next of kin of each family, which has lost a family member in the shelling, would be given a government job. She said the government would also examine the demand of raising a battalion of the J&K Police comprising youth exclusively from the border areas.

She also assured that her government would look into the demand of bringing people living in areas along the International Border at par with those staying near Line of Control in terms of facilities or any incentives. Mehbooba said she would take up the matter with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Besides, the Chief Minister announced that steps would be taken to construct border bhawans in urban areas where people from border areas could stay during difficult times. We will also make efforts to ensure education facilities at these places, she said.

The Chief Minister also gave Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of those killed in the cross-border shelling. The amount was in addition to the ex gratia extended to them by the Jammu divisional administration already.

Pertinently, at least 11 persons, including two BSF personnel and nine civilians, were killed and 60 others injured during the nine-day Pakistani shelling that stopped on Wednesday night. Around 90,000 people have migrated to safer places.

Interacting with people, Mehbooba said she was deeply distressed and anguished due to the border flare-up and sought an immediate end to it to save more loss of life and property.

She appealed to the leadership of Pakistan to respect the sentiment of Ramzan and respond positively to the ceasefire announced by the Centre recently. Mehbooba said the Centres step had brought relief to people of the state and now the need was to extend this gesture to the border.

Earlier, border residents apprised her of their problems and sought suitable compensation for the losses suffered by them. Mehbooba was accompanied by her Cabinet colleagues Javed Mustafa Mir, Sham Choudhary and Devinder Manyal during her visit to the relief camps.

Bhawans, battalion, and more
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 25

Nearly two dozen people were injured on Friday as youth clashed with the police outside Jamia Masjid here.

Local residents and eyewitnesses said the police fired pellets resulting in injuries to men and women.

The eyewitnesses said nearly two dozen people were hit by pellets and blood stained the mosques floor as desperate announcements were made from the mosques public address system asking the police to stop the firing of pellets.

The police also fired tear smokes shells to disperse the youth who were attempting to hold a demonstration. The eyewitnesses said worshippers, local shopkeepers and youth were injured in the incident.

Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who delivers a weekly sermon at Jamia Masjid, blamed the heavy deployment of government forces around the mosque for tension and agitation.

He said dozens of civilians were injured after the police resorted to firing of pellets and teargas shelling. A large number of people were unable to come out of the mosque, Mirwaiz said.

Superintendent of Police, North City, Sajad Shah, said 600 to 700 protesters threw stones at the deployment of security forces in which more than a dozen personnel, including a local officer, were injured. The police chased them and they went inside the mosque, the police officer said.

He said a dozen civilian and protesters received minor injuries in the police action.
gspannu7@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Srinagar, May 25

The Indian Army ordered a court of enquiry on Friday into the conduct of Major Leetul Gogoi following the incident at a hotel in Dalgate Srinagar. The major had booked a room for himself in the hotel where a woman was scheduled to come and meet him.

The woman has recorded a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC saying she knew Major Gogoi.

Army Chief Bipin Rawat had earlier in the day said exemplary punishment would be given to Major Leetul Gogoi if he was found guilty of any offence.

(Read: Hotel fracas: Girl states she met Major of her own will)



If Major Gogoi has done something wrong then I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example, Gen Rawat told reporters in south Kashmirs Anantnag district. He arrived on a two-day visit to Kashmir on Thursday to review the security situation.

On May 23, Gogoi was briefly detained by police in Srinagar after an altercation when he was allegedly trying to enter a hotel with an 18-year-old woman, according to a police official.

If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action, Rawat told reporters at Pahalgham while on a visit to the Army Goodwill School.

If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest...the punishment will set an example, the Army chief said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has initiated an inquiry into the incident involving Gogoi, whose decision to tie a civilian to the bonnet of his vehicle in Kashmir last year sparked a row.  With PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Pahalgam, May 25

The suspension of combat operations in Jammu and Kashmir can be extended further if the atmosphere of peace continues in the state, but any action by terrorists would trigger a rethink immediately, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said on Friday.

Rawat also said Pakistan should stop sending militants into the state if it was interested in peace.

If Pakistan really wants peace, then we will want them to take the first step by stopping infiltration of terrorists into our side. The ceasefire violation mostly takes place to aid infiltration, Gen Rawat told reporters at a function here, 95 km from Srinagar.

The army chief said India wants peace along the borders but Pakistan was continuously violating the ceasefire, which caused loss of life and property.

When such an action takes place, we also have to respond. We cannot sit idle. If there is ceasefire violation, then there will be action from our side, he said.

Gen Rawat said for peace, it was imperative that cross-border terrorism comes to an end.

It is imperative to stop terrorism from across (the LoC), the camps which are there where training is given to them, from where the ammunition is infiltrated into J-K and India, that should stop. If that happens, then I can assure you that peace will prevail on the borders, he added.

The Army chief said the suspension of anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir was an attempt to make people realise the benefits of peace.

The suspension of operations or what we call NICO (Non initiation of combat operations) has been done to make the people believe and see how the atmosphere is when there is peace. The way an atmosphere of peace and calm is here right now, in my opinion, the people here are very happy with that, he said.

The Union home ministry had announced on May 16 that security forces would not launch any operations in J&K during the holy month of Ramzan. However, the security forces reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people.

Gen Rawat said the Army will think about continuing the unilateral ceasefire if the peaceful situation continues in the valley.

If this atmosphere of peace continues, then I assure you that we will think about continuing with NICO. But if there is some action by the terrorists, then we will have to rethink on this ceasefire or suspension of operations or NICO, he said.

Gen Rawat was here to launch Digital Education in five Army Goodwill Schools which has been established with the help of Power Grid Corporation and Extra Marks Foundation.

Children in AGPS should get right kind of education. Their education standards should keep improving. Knowledge and education today needs infusion of technology. With this aim, we have taken help from PGC and Extra Marks foundation to start Digital education here, he said.

Gen Rawat said the Corporation has contributed nearly Rs 25 lakh and Extra Marks foundation is providing support.

This will be started in five army good schools on pilot basis. We would like to extend this technology to other Army Goodwill Schools also. We want the children from here develop and progress in life, he added. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 25

The police have not yet achieved a breakthrough in the Jammu bus stand grenade blast in which three policemen, including a Station House Officer, were injured on Thursday night.

The attack on the bus stand took place after a gap of 12 years. The police seem to be groping in the dark even after 24 hours.

According to a preliminary inquiry, a grenade was hurled by some unknown persons from the flyover on the BC Road at a police vehicle outside the General Bus Stand in Jammu.

The Station House Officer of the Bus Stand police station, Rajesh Jasrotia, on whose vehicle the grenade was hurled, received minor injuries in the blast while two constables were seriously injured. The constables were shifted to Government Medical College and Hospital, Jammu.

There is no update on the attack yet. No suspect has been identified, said Vivek Gupta, Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu.

The grenade was hurled around 10.40 pm when the BC Road is overcrowded and interstate private buses for Chandigarh and Delhi are leaving for their destinations.

At the time of the attack, there was no power supply in the area and no policemen on the flyover from where the grenade was hurled.

On June 13, 2006, three grenade explosions had rocked the General Bus Stand in Jammu, killing one person and injuring 35 others.

Meanwhile, social and political organisations have condemned the attack.

The J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) has termed the attack an eye-opener for the security authorities. It said the grenade attack exposed the vulnerability of the system in the wake of the forthcoming Amarnath yatra.

Strongly condemning the incident, JKPCC chief GA Mir said it was a matter of serious concern that the terrorists could strike at will at the bus stand area which was frequented by Vaishno Devi pilgrims and tourists.

Mir said the incident had exposed the hollowness of the security apparatus and reflected the failure of the state government.

J&K High Court Bar Association president BS Slathia also condemned the attack on policemen in the heart of Jammu city. He said the attack was not possible without the support of some sleeper cells, besides Rohingya.

Slathia said: The government has facilitated such elements to establish their foothold in Jammu city and it is sure going to pose a serious threat to the security of people in the capital city in future.

Rakesh Gupta, president, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jammu, called the attack a cowardly act and said the design of the Pakistani establishment to disrupt communal harmony in the state shall never see the light of the day.

Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest against the bus stand attack and other militant attacks in the state after the unilateral Ramzan ceasefire. Activists of the ABVP gathered at Parade opposite Women College and raised slogans  Mehbooba Mufti haye haye, ceasefire wapis lo, masoomo ki hatyaeen bandh karo and state government down down.

The Shri Ram Sena said the blast was aimed at creating a fear psychosis and panic among the Amarnath and Vaishno Devi pilgrims.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Jammu, May 25

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday asked Pakistan to respect the sentiments associated with Ramzan and end ceasefire violations along the border, as she met the affected people in the frontier areas.

Twelve people, including two minors and two BSF jawans, were killed and over 60 people were injured due to shelling by Pakistan troops along the border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua in nine days, where over one lakh people have migrated from the IB. However, there has been a lull in the firing for two days.

The halt of security operations during Ramzan by the Centre has led the people of the state to heave a sigh of relief, the chief minister said, adding Pakistan should respond positively by bringing peace on the border.

She reminded the people that complete peace prevailed along the borders for more than a decade after the ceasefire in 2003 and appealed to the leadership of Pakistan to respect the sentiments associated with the holy month of Ramzan.

Mehbooba Mufti visited the border areas of R S Pura, Samba and other places of Jammu province which have been severely hit by the cross border shelling during the past few days.

She interacted with the affected people, who apprised her of their difficulties. The minister for Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction and Disaster Management, Javed Mustafa Mir, accompanied the chief minister during the visit.

In R S Pura, she met the affected people who have taken shelter at the local ITI, Chakroi Farm and Satarian.

Interacting with the people, the chief minister said she was deeply distressed and anguished due to the continued flare up on the borders and sought an immediate end to it to save the people of border areas from more losses of life, property and peace.

Responding to the demands of the locals, Mehbooba Mufti announced that her government would examine the issue of raising a battalion of J-K Police comprising of youths exclusively from border areas.

She also assured them that her government would look into their demand of bringing people living in areas along International Border (IB) on a par with those of LoC areas in terms of facilities and other incentives.

The chief minister also said that steps would be taken to construct Border Bhawans in urban areas where they can stay during the difficult times.

She said her government has already got the loss to livestock included in the compensation package by the Centre.

Responding to other demands, Mehbooba Mufti said the local hospital at R S Pura would have more facilities in terms of equipment and manpower and also the local veterinary unit would be upgraded.

The minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Choudhary, and MLA Gagan Bhagat were also present.

Later, the chief minister visited Samba and interacted with the people from border areas at Thandi Khui and Chichi Mata Mandir.

Here also, the people raised similar demands.

The chief minister said that she will look into the issue of late settlement of compensation cases and ensure early resolution.

The minister for Health & Medical Education, Devinder Manyal, was present.

The chief minister gave away Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of those killed in cross-border shelling in these areas. This is in addition to the ex-gratia extended to them by the Jammu Divisional administration. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, May 25

The J&K Police on Friday told the Supreme Court that a youth Congress leader, who has claimed that the security provided to him was withdrawn by the authorities without notice, was an X-2 category protectee and was being provided with security as per his entitlement.

Denying the claims of Abid Imitaz Bhat, national secretary of the Indian Youth Congress, the state police told a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra that his security was not withdrawn and the February 19 recommendation of the Security Review Coordination Committee (SRCC) was implemented in his case.

In an affidavit filed by Munir Ahmad Khan, Additional Director General of Police (security), Jammu and Kashmir, the police has said that Bhats case was placed before the SRCC and after assessment of threat, he was categorised as a X-2 protectee by the panel at its meeting on February 19 this year.

It is humbly submitted that the present petitioner has requisite security as per his entitlement on the date of filing of the contempt petition and even as on date. The security provided to the present petitioner has not been reduced below his entitlement as X-2 category protectee, said the affidavit, filed through advocate Shoeb Alam, who represents the J&K Government.

The entitlement of an X-2 protectee is that of 2 PSOs (personal security officers) in the Kashmir region or one PSO in the Jammu region, it said, adding that it is false and denied that after March 12, 2018, the security of the present petitioner was ever reduced below his due entitlement as X-2 category protectee. The X-2 level is one of the sub-categories of the X level security.

The affidavit said Bhat was stationed in Delhi and as per the procedure, he was provided with security as and when he visits Jammu and Kashmir pursuant to his intimation to the security control room.

The state is duty-bound to follow all directions passed by this court and it is most respectfully submitted that there is neither any violation of any undertaking nor wilful disobedience or otherwise of any orders or directions of this court, it said, adding that it has been decided that Bhat shall henceforth be provided with PSO, as per his entitlement, who can accompany him on his visits throughout the state of J&K.

During the brief hearing, Bhats counsel said they would file a rejoinder to the affidavit, after which the bench posted the matter for hearing after summer vacation. When Bhats counsel said the affidavit should have been filed by the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, advocate Shoeb Alam said, The Chief Secretary has nothing to do with it. The affidavit has been filed by the ADGP (security).

On May 22, the apex court had asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to file an affidavit on the plea by Bhat who has sought initiation of contempt proceedings against the authorities for withdrawing his security without giving him any notice.

In March, the state government had informed the top court that it had provided X-2 category security cover to Bhat, who has complained of threat to his life.

The apex court had then directed the state to continue to provide security cover to him unless there was a change in threat perception and said the state government should give due notice to Bhat before his security cover is withdrawn.

X-2 protectee category

In an affidavit filed by Munir Ahmad Khan, Additional Director General of Police (security), the police has said that Abid Imitaz Bhats case was placed before the Security Review Coordination Committee and after assessment of the threat, he was categorised as a X-2 protectee by the panel at its meeting on February 19 this year. It is humbly submitted that the present petitioner has requisite security as per his entitlement on the date of filing of the contempt petition and even as on date, said the affidavit.  PTI
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Liberal arts courses

Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies (MRIIS) is seeking applications for admission to its three-year full-time BA/BSC in Liberal Arts for the session 2018-22. BA/BSc Liberal Arts is a full-time undergraduate program designed to empower students for dealing with complexity and diversity in rapidly changing society. Liberal Arts program covers a range of subjects wherein students have to be opted papers from foundation course, minor course and major course. Students are required to take foundation papers covering both compulsory and optional categories. They would also pursue their diverse academic interest by opting different subjects as major and/or minor. A student cannot choose major and minor from the same subject pool.

Eligibility: Pass in Class XII/ equivalent examination with at least 50% marks in aggregate.

Criteria for Preparation of Merit list  Preference Wise:

I  Merit in Manav Rachna National Aptitude Test (MRNAT 2018)

II  Minimum 50% marks in Class 12

Seats: 30

Deadline: May 31, 2018.

Check out: http://manavrachna. edu.in/course/ba-bsc-in-liberal-arts-mriirs/

Health management

The International Institute of Health Management Research, New Delhi, invites applications for admission to Post Graduate Diploma in Health Management (PGDHM). This two-year full-time programme is equivalent to an MBA degree of Indian Universities by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

Eligibility: Bachelor's degree in any discipline with a minimum of 50 per cent marks (45 per cent in case of candidates belonging to reserved category) in the qualifying examination.

Should have taken any one of the management aptitude test like CAT/ MAT/ XAT/ ATMA/ GMAT/ CMAT. Candidates appearing at the final year examination of the bachelor's degree or waiting for the results of their final year degree examinations in 2018 may also apply. Selected candidates will be given provisional admission. They will be required to produce evidence of their graduation within two months of admission. The selection will be made strictly on merit basis.

How to apply: Online or download the application form

Deadline: June 30, 2018

Check out: http://delhi.iihmr. org/admissions/how-to-apply

MSc advanced mechanical engineering

The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow has recently launched the new Advanced Mechanical Engineering with Industrial Placement programme. Applicants are invited from International students for the September 2018 entry.

This 18-month MSc course has been developed to provide high-calibre mechanical engineering graduates with an in-depth technical understanding of advanced mechanical topics. Students will gain the specialist and generic skills necessary to contribute effectively in developing company capabilities, with practical experience provided by the industrial placement.

The MSc in Mechanical Engineering with Industrial Placement has four optional specialist streams: Aerospace, Energy Systems, Materials, Power Plant Engineering

Fee- 23,440? for international students for 2018/ 2019 entry.

Eligibility: Degree in engineering or physical sciences or equivalent professional qualification. Preferably a first or upper second-class honours degree, equivalent to a UK 2:1 degree.

IELTS - minimum overall band score of 6.5 (no individual test score below 5.5).
rajivbhatia82@gmail.com

Nuclear weapons and Star Wars...

Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran

Directed by Abhishek Sharma, film Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran is based on the nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by the Indian Army at Pokhran in 1998 under the leadership of India's future President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam during the time of PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure. John Abraham plays the lead member of the Pokhran Nuclear test team. The film tells the audience about the failures and the hidden facts that no one paid attention to and brings out the unsung heroes of the experiment that put India on the map as global nuclear superpower.

Inspiration galore

This is the first time we got to see what happened in 1998. Such movies inspire our minds. After watching such films one respects the Indian Armed Forces and recognizes its worth.

Bhagat Singh with his son, Siddharth

More the merrier

This is a brilliant movie. Mostly, John Abraham produces great films that relate with Indian masses and this films theme is good too. More of such films should be made. Ill give it four stars.

Askshdeep Sharma, businessperson, with his wife Sarah Sharma

Nationalist spirit

Such films make us feel proud to be Indians and John Abrahams acted really well.

Lavanya, student

Solo: A Star Wars Story

In the Star Wars Anthology Series Solo: A Star Wars Story young Han Solo finds adventure when he joins a gang of galactic smugglers, including a 196-year-old Wookie named Chewbacca. Indebted to the gangster Dryden Vos, the crew devises a daring plan to travel to the mining planet Kessel to steal a batch of valuable coaxium. In need of a fast ship, Solo meets Lando Calrissian, the suave owner of the perfect vessel for the dangerous mission -- the Millennium Falcon. The film has been directed by Ron Howard, with screenplay by Jonathan Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan.

Worth watching!

We love the movie, especially the climax when Han Solo gets the Millennium Falcon.

Barkat and Shri, Students

The good and bad

It was a good movie, but it could have been a little better. It was a little boring in parts.

Angad, student

(As told to Amarjot Kaur and Karanbir Singh)
editorial@tribune.com

Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Patna, May 25

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Patna on Friday held five Indian Mujahideen militants guilty in the 2013 serial blasts of Bodh Gaya, Bihar. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced later this month.

The special NIA court of Manoj Kumar Sinha found all five accused of the serial blast guilty under various sections of the IPC, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and Explosive Act based on the circumstantial and scientific evidences.

The five accused have been identified as Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi. The sixth accused, Taufiq Ahmed, who aged less than 18 years, had already been convicted with a sentence of three years by a juvenile court after it found concrete evidence against him.

The court would pronounce the quantum of sentence on May 31. The prosecution produced ample evidence based on scientific and circumstantial investigation and produced 90 witnesses during the trial. The court held all the five accused guilty of the serial blasts in Bodh Gaya in which several Buddhist pilgrims had been injured, said NIA counsel Lalan Prasad Sinha.

He said the statements were recorded during the trial in which the accused had conceded that they had planted nine bombs and exploded them to take revenge of alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by the Buddhists.

Against the NIA counsel plea, defending lawyer Surya Prakash Singh alleged that the NIA failed to produce CCTV footage before the court. We will think of further course of action once the sentence is pronounced, he said.

On July 7, 2013, nine bombs had exploded in a series within 30 minutes at Buddhist town of Bodh Gaya in Bihar. The first NIA court was set up in 2013 and it is the first case in which the court pronounced its verdict so far.

Sentencing on May 31
editorial@tribune.com

Tseram (Nepal), May 25

The thunder of helicopter breaks early morning silence as mountaineer Arjun Vajpai lands in this eastern Nepal village after scaling Kanchenjunga, the worlds third highest peak. Vajpai has become the youngest person in the world to have scaled six peaks above 8,000 metres.

The 24-year-old achieved the feat on May 20, after a gruelling climb that saw him battle the changing weather patterns and depletion of his oxygen supply near the summit.

He did not feel scared during the arduous journey that posed risks of avalanches, falling rocks and crevasses. The feat has special significance for Vajpai as he rates the climb to 8,586-metre Kanchenjunga as technically the toughest of his high mountain ascents so far, including the Mount Everest.

The young mountaineer has come back to Kanchenjunga base camp after scaling the peak and had been waiting for his father Colonel Sanjiv Vajpai (retired), who eventually could reach him and bring him down to Chairam in a challenging helicopter sortie on Thursday. Arjun Vajpai intends to become the youngest person in the world to scale all 14 above 8,000 metre-peaks. The next mountain on his list is Shishapangma (8,013 metres) in Nyalam County, Tibet.  IANS
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Kolkata, May 25

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged India on Friday to lean on Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees who are camped in her country in the tens of thousands.

Hasina met her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the start of her trip to the eastern city of Kolkata.

I seek your support to build pressure on Myanmar in taking back their citizens, Hasina said.

Nearly 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar since August to escape a military crackdown, launched in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks. Refugees have reported murder, rape and arson by Myanmar troops.

Washington has called the army response ethnic cleansing, which Myanmar has denied, saying its security forces were conducting a legitimate counter-insurgency operation against what it called Bengali terrorists.

We have given them (Rohingya) food and shelter as we could not drive them out on humanitarian ground, Hasina said.

About 40,000 Rohingya from Myanmar have settled in India in recent years.

The Modi government has taken a tough stance on them since coming to power in 2014, calling them a security threat and saying they should be deported. Reuters
uttara@tribuneindia.com

New Delhi, May 26

Girls outshone boys in the CBSE Class 12 result announced on Saturday with Meghna Srivastava, from a Noida school, topping the examination this year.

The overall pass percentage was 83.01 per cent as against last years 82.02 per cent.

Girls did better than the boys with a pass percentage of 88.31 per cent against boys 78.99 per cent, officials at the CBSE headquarters said here.

Meghna Srivastava topped the CBSE Class 12 examination getting 99.8%. She secured 499 marks out of 500. She is a student of Step By Step School, Noida, and is from the Humanities stream.

READ  Topperspeak: No secret formula, just hard work reason for success

The second position was bagged by another girl, Anoushka Chand, also a Humanities stream student from a school in Ghaziabad. She got 498 marks out of 500.

The third position was held by seven students who got 497 marks out of 500, the officials said.

The best performing region was Trivandrum in Kerala with a pass percentage of 97.32 per cent. Chennai regions pass percentage was second best at 93.87 per cent.

Delhi was at the third spot with 89 per cent pass percentage, the officials said.

Students can access their results at cbseresults.nic.in, cbse.nic.in and results.nic.in. Tech giant Google is hosting results of both Class 10 and Class 12 this year. Students can also use Microsofts SMS Organizer App to access app even without internet connection.

Some 11.86 lakh students appeared for Class 12 examinations this year.

CBSEs Class 10 and Class 12 examinations were marred by paper leaks this yeareconomics paper in case of Class 12, forcing the board to conduct the examination again.

The board, however, decided against holding Class 10 examinations after large scale protests by students and parents. Agencies




gspannu7@gmail.com

Shahjahanpur (UP), May 25

A local court issued a bailable warrant against former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand, rejecting the Uttar Pradesh Governments plea for withdrawing a rape case against him.

Hearing the application moved by the rape victim against the state governments plea for withdrawing the case, Chief Judicial Magistrate Shikha Pradhan yesterday rejected it and also issued a bailable warrant of Rs 5,000.

The court also directed the former minister to be present in the court on the next date of hearing on July 12.

The government had earlier sent a letter to the district magistrate for withdrawing the case against Chinmayanand, who was charged with raping his disciple and holding her hostage.

The district administration had sent the letter to the CJM court.

The victim, on the other hand, had sent letters to the court objecting the governments move, which the CJM rejected.

When contacted, the victim said the CJM court order proved that the government had made a mistake in making a recommendation in this regard.

Now the state government should help me in getting justice in this case, she said.

In 2011, the victim had alleged that she was kept at an ashram and raped by the former minister. When she got pregnant, Chinmayanand allegedly forced her to have an abortion.

She lodged an FIR at Kotwali police station here and a charge sheet was filed after police investigation, but the Allahabad High Court stayed Chinmayanands arrest.

The case had been pending in the high court since 2012.

Chinmayanand was a three-time BJP MP and minister of state for internal security in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1999.  PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

New Delhi, May 25

Retirement fund body has asked its field offices to credit 8.55 per cent rate of interest for 2017-18, the lowest rate since 2012-13 fiscal, into the PF accounts of around 5 crore subscribers.

The Labour Ministry has conveyed approval of the central government to credit 8.55 per cent rate of interest for 2017-18 into PF accounts of members, according to an order issued by the EPFO to its more than 120 field offices.

The finance ministry had ratified 8.55 per cent rate of interest on EPF for the last fiscal. But it could not be implemented because of model code of conduct for Karnataka elections.

The labour ministry had sought Election Commissions approval to notify rate of interest for crediting the same into members accounts by the EPFO in view of model code of conduct for Karnataka elections.

The EPFOs Central Board of Trustees, headed by the labour minister, had decided to fix rate of interest at 8.55 per cent for the last fiscal in its meeting held on February 21, 2018.

The labour ministry had sent the CBTs recommendation over the rate of interest to the finance ministry for its concurrence.

However, it could not be implemented for want of the finance ministrys concurrence and was further delayed due to model code of conduct for Karnataka polls on May 12.

The EPFO had provided 8.65 per cent interest for 2016-17. The members got 8.8 per cent in 2015-16 and 8.75 per cent each in 2014-15 and 2013-14.

In 2012-13, EPFO had provided 8.5 per cent rate of interest on EPF. Thus, at 8.55 per cent for 2017-18, it is a five-year low. PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, May 25

Mumbai Police arrested on Friday owners of two horses who let their animals participate in Congress partys protest against skyrocketing fuel prices.



According to the police, Gajraj Jaiswal, 49, and Natha Jaiswal, 45, were arrested under laws pertaining to cruelty to animals for letting their animals participate in the protest. The duty officer at the Kherwadi police station in suburban Mumbai said the police acted on the basis of photographs that were shared on social media.



"The horses were made to walk on the scorching sun on the Western Express Highway. Some people even kicked the horses and harassed them," the police official said.



First Information Reports were also filed against several Congress party workers who were featured online with the animals, police officials said, adding that the horses would be sent to an animal shelter.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Chennai, May 25

The bandh called by the DMK-led opposition parties to condemn the Tuticorin violence in which 13 people lost their lives and to demand the resignation of Chief Minister K Palaniswami began in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

Demonstrations were staged by the DMK, its allies Congress, IUML and friendly parties like MDMK, VCK, CPI, CPI(M) and MMK in several parts of the state and neighbouring Puducherry.

Raising slogans denouncing the government and asking Palaniswami to tender his resignation, demonstrations were held at locations, including Egmore and Saidapet here.

Former Chennai mayor and DMK leader M Subramanian, party Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, VCK chief Thirumavalavan, MMK leader MH Jawahirullah were among the leaders who participated in the demonstrations here.

In the wake of the protest, traffic was disrupted in several locations in the city and security was tightened in all the districts of the state.

Buses of the state-run transport corporations were being operated as usual and all steps were being taken to ensure that normalcy was not disrupted, according to government authorities.

No fresh violence was reported so far on Friday from Tuticorin, which witnessed large-scale violence on May 22 and 23.

Buses with police security were operated to a few locations from Tuticorin city.

Violent protests erupted in Tuticorin on Tuesday as locals took to the streets demanding closure of a copper factory of the Vedanta group over pollution concerns.

Meanwhile, in a BSE filing, Vedanta said its Tuticorin plant closure was ordered by the State pollution control board.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) vide its order dated May 23, 2018 ordered disconnection of electricity supply and closure of the companys Copper Smelter Plant 1 at Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu under provisions of Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and Section 31A of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1971, with immediate effect, it said.

We would also like to inform that the plant was not operating since March 27, 2018, it added. PTI
gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, May 25

The Supreme Court on Friday said students, who had appeared in the May 13 Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and complained about several glitches, could make their representation online to a two-member panel set up by the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) till 7 pm of May 27.

A Bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra was informed by the counsel appearing for the NUALS that they have constituted a two-member committee, to be headed by retired Kerala High Court judge Justice M R Hariharan Nair, which would look into complaints received by students who had appeared in the exam.

The apex court said students can make their representation online till 7 pm of May 27 to the panel which after due analysis of complaints would take appropriate decision on a case-to-case basis.

The Bench which was informed by the NUALS that results of the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) 2018 examination will be declared on May 31, directed that status report of the complaints and redressal be placed before it on May 30.

The Bench said the representation by students would be sent on a dedicated email id which would be set up by the NUALS within two hours today.

The court was hearing the pleas filed by six candidates who appeared for the CLAT, seeking a direction to quash the examination and hold it afresh.

The pleas alleged that the candidates faced several technical problems during on-line test, besides poor infrastructure at examination centres and lack of proper guidance from staffers. They have also sought an interim stay on the publication of final result till the decision on their plea.

The apex court had yesterday asked the NUALS to come up with a wholesome solution to the complaints of inconsistencies in the May 13 CLAT for admission in prestigious national law schools.

NUALS, with the aid of private firm M/s Sify Technologies Ltd, had conducted CLAT 2018 on May 13 for admissions in undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in law offered at premier law schools, the results of which are expected to be declared on May 31.

Several pleas have been filed in high courts and in the apex court seeking quashing of the CLAT and re-test alleging inconsistencies during the test.

A vacation Bench had yesterday restrained all the high courts from entertaining any fresh plea and hearing the pending ones on the issue.

The Bench had then asked NUALS to apprise it about a grievance redressal mechanism, if any, to deal with the 251 complaints by several candidates against the CLAT-2018 and said there has to be a system in place to look into them.

The pleas have also alleged problems during the test included power cuts, failure of log-in system, slow biometric verification, blank screens, substantial loss of time in system log-ins, frequent resetting of computer systems, hanging of computer systems, server shutdown and difficulties in moving from one question to another.

These technical issues had resulted in significant loss of crucial time as a candidate was expected to solve 200 questions in two hours, they said.

The ranking of a candidate can slip by 1,000 or more ranks by a simple difference of one or two incorrect answers or un-attempted questions and it was a gross violation of fundamental rights of equality and right to life under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, the candidates said in their petitions.  PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Tribune News Service

Sindri (Dhanbad), May 25

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a blistering attack on those accusing him of working for the rich, saying people "neck-deep in vote bank politics" should answer if moneyed people lived in the 18,000 villages where his government had provided power for the first time since Independence.

Repeating his 'naamdar (dynast)' barb at the Congress, he said they did not know the pain of 'kaamdars (ordinary workers)' and were accusing him of working for the wealthy.

Those guided by fashion of showing devotion towards the poor by bad-mouthing the rich should answer, are there any moneyed people living in the 18,000 villages kept in darkness since Independence before our government provided electricity to them," Modi said.

"I wish to question these 'naamdars' about this (why 18,000 villages lived in darkness), who does not know the pain of 'kaamdars'," he said.

Those "neck-deep in vote bank politics", who had no time to spare for these 18,000 villages living in darkness even after 60 years of Independence during their time, were accusing him of working for the wealthy, the prime minister said.

Modi had earlier used his "naamdar" barb apparently targeted at Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the campaign for the Karnataka assembly election.

The prime minister was addressing a function at Sindri, about 20 km from Dhanbad town, after inaugurating five projects worth Rs 27,000 crore for Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Governor Draupdi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Power Minister RK Singh, Minister of State for Health Ashwani Choubey and Dhanbad MP PN Singh were present at the event.

The Prime Minister said that besides electrification of these villages, the Union government has set a target to provide power connection to four crore families having no electricity through the "Saubhagya" scheme.

Out of the four crore families, 25 lakh hailed from Jharkhand, he said.

Modi said in addition to the Rs 27,000 crore worth of projects, works are underway in projects earmarked for the state at an estimated cost of Rs 80,000 crore. Fifty such works are in progress, he added.

The five projects that the Prime Minister inaugurated on Friday included revival of closed Sindri urea fertiliser unit, thermal power plant with a capacity of 2,400 MW at Patratu, AIIMS and an airport in Deogarh and taking gas pipeline to households in Ranchi.

The Prime Minister recalled that it was Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee who as minister at the Centre had started the Sindri urea unit.

Modi said that during campaign for the 2014 parliamentary election he had urged people that if they elected a BJP government at the Centre too along with Jharkhand, the "double engine" would propel development of the mineral-rich state.

"Today this double engine of Jharkhand government and one at Delhi working in the same direction is taking the state to greater heights of development," he said.

Saying that in democracy, election is the yardstick to gauge people's satisfaction over performance of governments, Modi cited the saffron party's victory in panchayat polls in Jharkhand to buttress the point.

Modi had flown straight to Sindri from Santiniketan in West Bengal where he addressed the university convocation and also inaugurated Bangladesh Bhawan with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

From Sindri, he flew to Ranchi to have a brief session with District Magistrates of 19 "Aspirational Jharkhand districts" and Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The Prime Minister recently launched the "aspirational district" programme to ensure all-round development of these areas. With PTI
singhking99@yahoo.com

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, May 25

A local court issued a bailable warrant against former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand, rejecting the Uttar Pradesh Governments plea for withdrawing a rape case against him.

Hearing the application moved by the rape victim against the state governments plea for withdrawing the case, Shahjahanpur Chief Judicial Magistrate Shikha Pradhan rejected it and also issued a bailable warrant of Rs 50,000 against the former Union Minister of State for Home charged of raping a disciple. The court asked him to appear before it in person on July 12.

The rape survivor is a former disciple of the Swami and also the manager of the Mumuksh ashram run by him. She had accused him of holding her hostage, repeatedly raping and assaulting her for years.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 25

A suspected Pakistan agent arrested in Uttarakhands Pitthoragarh is believed to have been working with the Indian Defence Attache at the Indian High Commission, The Tribune has learnt.

The suspected spy, Ramesh Singh Kanyal, landed the job through his brother, reportedly an Indian army jawan. A senior Indian official allegedly hired him to work as a domestic help in 2015, when he was posted to the defence attache in Islamabad.

Uttar Pradesh Assistant Director General (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said on Friday that J&K Military Intelligence Unit, Uttarakhand Police and Uttar Pradesh Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested Singh from his house in Pitthoragarh in a joint operation on Wednesday.

Ramesh is not very educated, but he used to go through the laptop, diaries and other files to pass on information to ISI agents. He had a debt of around Rs 9 lakh from banks and private people that he paid back after coming back to India in 2017, Kumar said.

Ramesh, who returned to Indian in 2017, runs a Public Distribution System shop in Didihat at Bilmara village near the Nepal border. He was allegedly paid $1,300 for spying for Inter-Services Intelligence.

He would also pass on confidential information about army installations in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to his Pakistani handlers.

We have brought him on a transit remand to Lucknow and are questioning him about how he paid his loans back, and whether the ISI paid him more money,  Kumar said.

Investigators are believed to have been keeping an eye on Singh after Aftab, another suspected spy arrested from Faizabad earlier this year, mentioned his name during questioning.

Investigators said they found a SIM card and a mobile phone of Pakistani make with Kanyal, and are now going through his call records.

The Pakistan High Commission in India has yet to respond to the developments.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Hyderabad, May 25

The Telangana government said on Friday that it had sent blood samples and throat swabs of two patients suffering from fever to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for test for the deadly Nipah virus infection.

Director of Medical Education Ramesh Reddy said one of the patients recently visited Kerala but not Kozhikode where the disease is prevalent.

The other patient never visited Kerala in recent times.

The patient, who reportedly visited Kerala, was first admitted to a private hospital with fever and later shifted to Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases, also known as Fever Hospital, while the other patient is undergoing treatment at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences.

We do not want to take any chances. Blood samples and throat swabs of both the patients have been sent to NIV-Pune for Nipah virus infection test. We also asked them to test for swine flu. We expect the result to come this evening or on Saturday, Reddy told PTI.

He said all important hospitals across the state had been asked to be on alert with regard to the virus.

In Kerala, the Nipah virus has so far claimed 11 lives and the state government has stepped up efforts to contain the outbreak.

According to a Union Health Ministry advisory, the Nipah virus, which commonly affects animals such as bats, pigs, dogs, and horses, can spread to humans and cause serious illness among humans.

Spread of the virus to humans may occur after close contact with other Nipah-infected people, infected bats, or infected pigs. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Shahkot (Jalandhar), May 25

While the Congress started its campaign on development promises and SAD on Panthic agenda, two weeks later caste politics has taken the centre stage in Shahkot.

The constituency has a sizable vote bank from the Kamboj and Valmiki communities, both comprising 40,000 of 1.8 lakh voters.

Leaders of the Kamboj community, which has maximum vote share, got prominence in all rallies of both parties. The Akali Dal tried to woo the community by roping in prominent Kamboj leaders from other parties, including AAPs Amarjit Thind and Col CD Kamboj (retd). On Friday, the Kamboj Maha Sabha, led by Prem Singh Swai Singh Wala, also offered support to the SAD.

While the Akali Dal deployed former minister Upinderjit Kaur in the constituency for campaign, the Congress used its former Kamboj minister Lal Singh for canvassing. Lal Singh went ahead to appease two dissenting community leaders Capt Harminder Singh and Puran Thind and got them along.

To woo high number of Valmiki voters, the SAD stooped low to rope in BJPs Hans Raj Hans, who had dumped the party in 2014. The Congress, too, smartly deputed MLA Raj Kumar Verka and former minister Joginder Mann, who are its most prominent Valmiki faces.

Both Valmiki and Kamboj leaders were made to work in specific pockets of the constituency where proper house marking was done. Door-to-door campaign was carried out there by party leaders.

Of the 17 ministers in the state government, four were specifically left out as they did not matter in terms of caste. Those who have not campaigned so far include Hindu face Brahm Mohindra, Razia Sultana (a Muslim minister) and Aruna Chaudhary (from Ravidassia, a community which does not have much representation here). Charanjit Channi, who is appearing in PhD exam, too did not join the campaign.

The third most prominent community in the segment is Jat Sikhs, from which both Congress candidate Hardev Singh Laddi and SAD candidate Naib Singh Kohar hail.
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 25

The first-ever IED blast in the peaceful Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has left the Punjab diaspora and others in a state of shock.

The GTA and its suburbs  Brampton, Etobiko and Mississauga  have thus far been considered peaceful. Mississauga has a large Muslim population with Indians, particularly Punjabis, co-existing with Canadians and Pakistanis for decades.

None of us had ever expected this kind of an incident at a place considered safe for all. We have never witnessed or heard of communal tension here, Manan Gupta, a Brampton-based community activist told The Tribune over the phone.

Ajmer Singh, a trader from Etobiko, said the incident had left him shattered. We have been sending our children to restaurants till late in the night without fear. Well have to be cautious now. I have never heard of a blast during my 25 years of stay here, said Ajmer Singh.

Sukhwant Thethi, a Brampton-based Liberal Party leader, said: I am most concerned for the patrons and staff of my friends at Bombay Bhel in Mississauga. I thank all first responders for their quick action.
editorial@tribune.com

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

As the Punjab Government drew flak from the Opposition for appointing Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhus son a law officer on Thursday, Congress SC leaders are up in arms over the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Backward Caste (BC) candidates not being given adequate representation in the appointment of law officers.

It has been pointed out that despite assurance by the Chief Minister to three ministers during one of the Cabinet meetings in June last year, the SC and BC candidates have been ignored in the appointments, whereas the relatives of politicians and judges have been selected.

Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said it was unfortunate that SC candidates were being ignored at every level in the government. He along with two other ministers Aruna Chaudhary and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot had raised the issue of at least 30 per cent reservation for the SC and BC candidates in the appointments with the Chief Minister during one of the Cabinet meetings.

I had taken up the matter with the Chief Minister. I was assured and even the Advocate General (AG) was told by the Chief Minister to do the needful. The matter relating to the SCs and BCs is not being taken up seriously, he said.

In the second list of 28 law officers announced on Thursday, there is only one SC candidate. The first list of 121 law officers appointed in July last year had five SC candidates, apart from kin of politicians, judges and former bureaucrats. The first list contained the name of a daughter of Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa, Qadian Congress MLA, and the wife of Chief Ministers OSD at Amritsar, Sandeep Sandhu.

Senior Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka, who was earlier Chairman of the Vidhan Sabha Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, said though he was not aware of the issue, he would certainly take up the matter with the Chief Minister in Shahkot on Saturday.
singhking99@yahoo.com

WE have so far dealt with that part of the Resolution which deals with the constitution and powers of municipalities and district and sub-district boards. The ultimate unit of the administration, however, is the village, and the Resolution would be incomplete if it did not lay down the lines of future village administration. "The points to which the Government of India attach most importance," says the Resolution, "are the association of principal village officers with the Panchayat and informal election of other members by the villagers themselves. They would, however, allow the panchayat to choose is own President and would not render it obligatory that the President should be the village headman as suggested by the Decentralisation Commission."
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Sandeep Dikshit

Meghna Gulzars spy thriller Raazi is turning in handsome returns at the boxoffice, and not just because of the directors deft touch. The business of spying is itself so fascinating  a profession where the calling comes to you, where admission is not by choice and where failure means being skinned alive in the most gruesome way imaginable with the added rub of the home side washing its hands off a burnt spy.

Spies come in various shapes and sizes; from sleeper agents who are inserted into the target country at a very young age; they then acquire a false identity, and even a family to go along with it as an Indian spy in Pakistan did. Men like him purloin closely guarded secrets such as weapon purchase plans, keeping an eye on sudden army movements or tracking dissension and difference of opinion in the government and the security agencies. This agents swan song was alerting India about the sudden Pakistani air attack on December 3, 1971.

Then there are the men of action. The boys and girls of Mossad (Israeli secret service) are the most celebrated. Look more closely, and the Mossad has several blowups to its name such as mistakenly killing the husband of a pregnant woman in Europe or the famous bust up in Dubai where the entire Mossad crew on a hot mission was exposed along with their false passports. And of course, the banning of Mossad from the UK after their zealousness encouraged them to cross one red line too many. Many other spy agencies, including the RAW, are more modest in advertising their successes.

Spying seems to be a dirty business. Calling a person a mukhbir is hardly an ode to a higher calling in life; it is instead considered a pejorative. A mukhbir is a necessity but has an attached odium, whether it is ratting on colleagues to the bosses or fingering a person in the neighbourhood for the cops to pick up. But it acquires a nobel hue when the task is being done for a greater cause, preferably in defence of the nation.

The promiscuous, flirtatious Mata Hari was the most infamous in the West but we in the subcontinent had one better: Codenamed Silver, and once handled by the James Bond creator Ian Flemings brother, Bhagat Ram Talwar is said to be the prince among spies. Operating primarily during the Second World War, Talwar played on both sides of the fence, and never got caught. Escorting Netaji through the badlands of Afghanistan-Pakistan, which even today the Pakistan army finds tough to penetrate, Talwar also spied for four countries  Germany, Italy, France and Britain. Retiring in 1945, nothing was heard of him for the next three decades till he was spotted spending his last years somewhere in western Uttar Pradesh. Talwar was believed to have died in 1983  unmourned and uncelebrated.

The rough-living Talwar was a complete antithesis to the Boxwallah spooks in Britain at that time. Dubbed the Cambridge Spies, the five were recruited by the Soviet Union and infiltrated the British foreign intelligence service. Kim Philby, Guy Brugess Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, and possibly John Cairncross leaked critical information on British and Allied military during and after the Second World War.

The most successful of them was Kim Philby, who was born in Ambala, then a centre for training and dispatching spies disguised as explorers, merchants and adventurers across the mysterious mountain ranges of the Hindukush, the Pamirs, Tien Shan and the Himalayas.

While Talwar peacefully retired into obscurity and Philby smoked his pipe through dotage in Moscow, Kulbhushan Jadhav remains in a Pakistani prison. When the saga of spies of India and Pakistan is opened, a running theme is the practice of disowning an exposed spy; generally abandoning him to his fate.

Both sides need to take a leaf out of the realism of the West. During the Cold War, arrested spies were exchanged on the desolate Glienicke Bridge dubbed the Bridge of Spies, which also became the title of a Steven Spielberg film. Marking the border of East and West Berlin, the bridge witnessed its first spy exchange in 1962 when Colonel Rudolf Abel, a KGB spy, was exchanged for US spy Francis Gary Powers (whose spy plane had taken off from Peshawar and downed in Soviet Union). In all, 40 spies were exchanged on the bridge, returning to their home country to be cared and looked after for their sacrifices.

As late as 2010, the US busted a spy ring of 10 Russians who had been provided with false identities years back. In due course, this lot was exchanged for US spies and agents held by Moscow of which Sergei Skripal, recently poisoned in a London park, along with his daughter, was one. Sadly no such awakening to acknowledge their exposed spies exists in New Delhi and Rawalpindi. This, when the other side is aware the exposed agent will not be able to withhold information from his interrogators and would have told them all.

Countries cannot do without human spies even though, as Edward Snowden has revealed, an enormous amount of technical gadgetry enables resourceful countries to spot a wrinkle in the shirt or pick up a whisper in a room. India is not too far behind. Almost 20 years back, India managed to intercept a call placed by Gen Pervez Musharraf from Beijing to his Chief of Staff in Rawalpindi that proved that the intruders in Kargil were regular Pakistani soldiers and not some motivated youngsters cut up over the Indian Armys presence in the Kashmir Valley. But dial back, and we find that the first information about the intruders was provided by wandering herdsmen whom the Army would keep in good humour. Had the information been a week late, perhaps the Kargil conflict would not have ended in the way it did.

The profession offers a wide palette for new inductees, from data crunching abilities to prowess in assessing satellite photos. But the bulwark to a countrys security is provided by human intelligence; the people who put their lives on the line. When they retire, their tales can never be told to their grandchildren. But when they die or are arrested, like Israel, Russia or the US, they must never be left out in the cold.

Divided by duties

In India, the Intelligence Bureau is the main handler of domestic intelligence much like the MI 5 of Britain, FSB of Russia or the American FBI. But in each country, an alphabet soup of supplementary agencies handle specialised tasks. The boilerplate name of Indias external intelligence gathering agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) gives no hint about its prowess. Over the years, RAW chiefs were influential enough to facilitate state-to-state contacts after diplomats have failed to make a breakthrough. The RAW has its counterparts in Mossad (Israel), CIA (US) and MI 6 (UK). In places where the going is tough, such as Afghanistan, Military Intelligence (MI) tends to step up to the plate.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Vaibhav Sharma

A few years ago, when voice commands were a novelty rather than the norm, we waited for the day when we could have a conversation with the machine, where it would understand context, and give intelligent replies to follow up questions. There was a time when the device would only respond if the question was asked in a specific manner, and where you spoke deliberately and slowly so the machine could keep up. That quickly changed when digital assistants like Siri came along, and the chat got more natural  but the machine would still sound artificial. This was because the vocabulary of the digital assistant was developed by having a human speak thousands of words and phrases, and it would rely on that word bank to speak to you.

The assistant

Modern assistants like Alexa debuted when machines had become smart enough to phonetically cobble together words and sounds from a much smaller set of words spoken by a human, and then go beyond the vocabulary so recorded. But at this years Google IO Conference, the company introduced the power of Google Duplex  a system so advanced that it can mimic a human while having a real-time telephone call with another human. Heres how it works. You simply tell Google Assistant to book a haircut appointment at the nearby salon for say Sunday, around noon. The Assistant then places an actual call to the salon, talks to the operator as if it were a real human, and books the appointment. Soon enough you get a popup on your screen confirming the appointment.

The fact that it can understand what you want and when you want it is understandable, but what is incredible is that it can actually hold a conversation with an unsuspecting human, negotiate the available time slot and end the call, all without the human realising that she was talking to a computer.

How it works

This astonishing feat is accomplished because of Googles efforts over the years in deep learning, natural language understanding, speech recognition, and text-to-speech. Basically, Google has long been able to transcribe text from your voice, thats how voice dictation works. Similarly, it also has been working on things like Google Translate, which converts text to audio should you choose. To a fair degree, it can also predict what youre going to say based on a phrase youve written  thats how predictive text works on smartphone keyboards and in Gmail. However, no company has so far been able to bring all of this together to work so seamlessly. But that isnt even the best part. While talking on the phone, the Assistant mimics human tendencies to say umm and aah while talking  not only does this make it sound infinitely more human, it also given the computer that extra second to process.

The challenges

For Google to be able to make such a complex system work, it needs to first concentrate on specific domains  like booking a table at a restaurant. The company states that the system isnt at a stage where it could have a conversation on any subject, and still pass as a human. So, they have concentrated on getting the basics right  does Were okay for 4 mean that the restaurant is happy to book a table for 4 people or at 4pm? Add to that a patchy cellular connection, background noise, different accents and a busy operator  the perfect recipe for disaster. But in the demos that were shown off, the calls went through flawlessly.

The system isnt perfect yet, and Google will only begin testing it in a few areas this summer, but it is a fascinating look at where technology has progressed.

Serious concerns
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Brussels, May 25

The EU on Friday removed the Caribbean nations of the Bahamas and Saint Kitts and Nevis from a blacklist of tax havens, bringing the number of jurisdictions to seven.

The nations, struck off from the list after providing good conduct commitments to the EU authorities, will now move to the so-called grey list  a list of countries that have promised to do better. The blacklist now covers seven jurisdictions: Guam, Namibia, Palau, Samoa, American Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago as well as the Virgin Islands in the US.

Having fewer and fewer jurisdictions on the (black) list shows the success of this procedure, said Bulgarian Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, whose country holds the EUs six-month rotating presidency, after his counterparts agreed to remove the two nations.

The EU blacklist, adopted in December 2017 was a first in EU history. It initially comprised 17 countries. But that was halved in January with eight countries, including Panama, having provided good conduct commitments and being moved to the grey list.This reduction, particularly Panamas withdrawal, had provoked outrage among activists.  AFP
rajivbhatia82@gmail.com

London, May 25

British police said on Friday they had charged an 18-year-old man with a string of offences under terrorism legislation after he was arrested with the assistance of armed officers last week.

Sudesh Mamoor Faraz Amman of Harrow, north London, was charged with seven offences of making a record of information that might be used by someone committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

He was also charged with three counts of dissemination of terrorist publications. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.  Reuters.
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Kuala Lumpur, May 25

Malaysian police on Friday said that they seized cash amounting to almost USD 30 million and over 400 handbags in raids on luxury apartments as they probed corruption allegations swirling around ousted leader Najib Razak.

The money and a vast trove of handbags, as well as watches and jewellery, were found in two condominiums in Kuala Lumpur.

A total of 12 locations, including the ex-leaders home, were searched by the police last week as a part of an investigation into the scandal surrounding a sovereign wealth fund.

Giving an update, the polices head of commercial crime Amar Singh said, From the money found, there were 26 currencies, the total amount as of Thursday was 114 million (ringgit) (USD 28.6 million). A total of 284 boxes containing designer handbags were found in that condominium. Police also seized about 150 handbags from another apartment in the same complex where Najibs daughter was staying.

Najibs defeated party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), insisted the seized cash was party funds, which the ousted leader had intended to return to the party. Political funding is allowed under our laws, said a party statement.  AFP
gspannu7@gmail.com

Dublin, May 25

Ireland began voting on Friday in an abortion referendum that could be a milestone on a path of change in a country that, only two decades ago, was one of Europes most socially conservative.

Polls suggest Irish voters are set to overturn one of the worlds strictest bans on terminations. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, in favour of change, has called the referendum a once-in-a-generation chance.

Voters in the once deeply Catholic nation will be asked if they wish to scrap a prohibition that was enshrined in the constitution by referendum 35 year ago, and partly lifted in 2013 only for cases where the mothers life is in danger.

Ireland has been changing fast. It legalised divorce by a razor-thin majority only in 1995, but three years ago became the first country in the world to adopt gay marriage by popular vote.

A decades-old battle over abortion has played out in a fiercely contested debate that divided political parties, saw the once mighty church take a back seat and became a test case for how global internet giants deal with social media advertising in political campaigns.

Unlike in 1983, when religion was front and centre and abortion was a taboo subject for most people, the campaign was instead defined by women on both sides publicly describing their personal experiences of terminations.

I think its the right thing for the women of Ireland  care, compassion, dignity and safety. Equal healthcare is why Im voting Yes, said Joanna Faughan, 33, voting in the north Dublin suburb of Castleknock where queues formed before polls opened at 0600 GMT.

Yes campaigners have argued that with over 3,000 women travelling to Britain each year for terminations  a right enshrined in a 1992 referendum  and others ordering pills illegally online, abortion is already a reality in Ireland.

Writing in the Times Ireland newspaper, Varadkar urged voters to put themselves in the shoes of an Irish woman dealing with a crisis pregnancy.

HOME TO VOTE

Although not on the ballot paper, the No camp has seized on government plans to allow terminations with no restriction up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy if the referendum is carried, calling it a step too far for most voters.

They argue that the right to life of the unborn child which the 1983 vote equated to that of the mother is a human rights issue.

I think its important that we protect the unborn babies, people dont care anymore about the dignity of human life. Ive a family myself and I think its really important, said John Devlin, a marketing worker in his early 50s voting No near Dublins city centre.

Opinion polls have put those who favour changing the law in a clear lead. The two most recent surveys showed the Yes side pulling further ahead.

Polling stations close at 2100 GMT and national broadcaster RTE plans to publish an exit poll at 2230 GMT. The first indications of the result are expected mid-morning on Saturday, after the count begins at 0800 GMT.

Analysts said a high turnout similar to the 62 percent who voted to adopt gay marriage, particularly in urban areas, would likely favour the Yes side.

Many expatriate Irish have travelled home to vote in one of the few European Union countries that does not allow those abroad to vote via post or in embassies.

The hashtag #hometovote was the top trending issues on Twitter, as it was for the gay marriage vote.

Those away for less than 18 months remain eligible to vote at their former local polling station, and an overwhelming majority appeared to back change.

Many posted photos of themselves wearing sweatshirts bearing the Yes sides Repeal slogan and friends shared videos of scores of voters being welcomed home at Irish airports.

It was just a quick hop across the pond, said Harry Brennan, a 22-year-old consultant who returned home to Sandymount in south Dublin from London to vote Yes alongside his 18-year-old brother, first-time voter Eoin.

I think the fact that were sending people on planes and boats to other countries to deal with problems that should be dealt with at home, its important to make that right, he said, referring to women who travel to Britain for abortions.  Reuters
gspannu7@gmail.com

Nujiang, (China), May 25

Cha Huilan, a mother of two living in a Chinese mountain village cut off by a raging river, dangles from a harness hooked to a zipline every time she crosses its violent rapids and jagged rocks on frequent trips to buy medicine for her mother.

Using a boat is out of the question for the villagers of Lazimi, which lacks proper roads and bridges because the rocks and foaming waters of the river Nu, whose name means angry in Chinese, make it just too dangerous to risk.

If they built a bridge, that would be nice, but for now we cant get over there, said Cha, who has come to see the zipline as just another inconvenience, even if her two-year-old has to cling to her for dear life on every visit to a Saturday market.

Most villagers, who are members of the Lisu ethnic group and are deeply religious, also zip across every Sunday for mass services at nearby churches. The nearest bridge over the river is 20 km (12 miles) away from the mountainside village.

The villagers have applied their own ingenuity in building the ziplines, inclined downhill and relying mostly on gravity, to cross the Nu, which snakes from Tibet along Chinas border with Myanmar through the southwestern province of Yunnan.

People estimate about 20 to 30 hamlets in the region still rely on the ziplines as their primary means across the river, although the lines are not always reliable, since they become slippery when it rains and too dangerous to use.

Several zipline villages remaining in Fugong county, an eight-hour drive from Lazimi, are swiftly being connected to the outside world with bridges built by road construction projects.

Right now, conditions are a bit better and theyre building bridges, so these ziplines are being torn down, said Yun Zeqing, an engineer who has maintained the zipline in one of the Fungong villages for decades.

Here we have no bridge, so we get across with the zipline.  Reuters
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Washington/Seoul, May 25

US President Donald Trump welcomed North Koreas statement on Friday that it was still open to talks with the United States after Trump called off a summit with leader Kim Jong Un, saying he still held out hopes for peace.

Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea, Trump wrote. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell! Trump said on Twitter.

Trump pulled out of what would have been the first meeting between a serving US President and a North Korean leader, citing North Koreas tremendous anger and open hostility in a letter to Kim on Thursday.

His decision came after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the June 12 summit in Singapore over what it saw as confrontational remarks by American officials.

North Korean vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said that North Koreas recent criticisms of certain US officials had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric and that the current antagonism showed the urgent necessity for the summit.

His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it, Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement on state media.

He added that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington regardless of ways, at any time. North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trumps national security adviser, John Bolton that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal.  Reuters

Trump formula gone haywire
rajivbhatia82@gmail.com

Seoul, May 25

Many South Koreans were fuming on Friday after US President Donald Trump cancelled a historic summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, feeling they had been cheated of a chance of a lifetime to live in peace.

Trump called off the unprecedented meeting, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, after months of diplomatic progress had silenced bellicose rhetoric from the two sides and eased fears of a return to war.

"North Korea was in the process of doing everything that had been demanded of it. They even detonated their nuclear test site," said Eugene Lim, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul.

"Trump has no interest in peace in our country. Why can't he just let us, the two Koreas, live in peace?" North Korea on Thursday "completely dismantled" its Punggye-ri nuclear test ground to "ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear tests", after blowing up tunnels at the site, it said.

The detonation, which took place in the presence of dozens of international journalists but no independent experts, came after Kim Jong Un pledged to cease all nuclear and long-range missile tests last month. Kim also released three American prisoners as a gesture of goodwill.

Dozens of university students and women's rights activists protested in different rallies in Seoul on Friday to denounce Trump, with some punching his face printed on a picket sign and tearing his photograph apart.

Kim Dong-ho, a 38-year-old employee at a blockchain company, said it wasn't right to isolate North Korea again when it was making efforts to join the international community.

"After all, those of us living on the Korean peninsula suffer the consequences of your action, you Yankee!," Kim said.

SOUTH KOREA'S MOON "PERPLEXED"

Trump also warned North Korea the US military was ready in the event of any reckless acts, and when asked if the summit cancellation increased the risk of war, he replied: "We'll see what happens."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who worked hard to help set up the summit and urged Trump at a White House meeting on Tuesday not to let a rare opportunity slip away, said he was "perplexed" by the cancellation.

North Korea said it remained open to resolving issues with the United States, "regardless of ways, at any time".

South Koreans' perception of North Korea, especially those in their 20s and 30s, has visibly softened after Kim Jong Un and Moon pledged no more war in their inter-Korean summit in April, according to several polls.

A Gallup Korea survey in early May suggested 88 percent of South Koreans thought that the inter-Korean summit held was a success, while only five percent said it was a failure. The remainder declined to comment.

A survey of 106 university students at Kookmin University in Seoul showed 57.3 percent had a positive image of Kim Jong Un after the summit, compared to 19.8 percent beforehand.

North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the war.

"It feels like Trump just knocked down all the efforts the two Koreas have put forward for the US-North Korea summit. For me, it feels like North Korea is more of a normal country, saying it would give the US time and wait," said Yun Hae-ri, a 25-year-old office worker.

"I don't think Trump is doing the right thing if he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize."

Other South Koreans had concerns closer to home.

"What I'm most worried about are my stock holdings," said Chon Jin-young, a 25-year-old Seoul office worker. "I hope they're not hammered too much."  Reuters.
uttara@tribuneindia.com

SEOUL, May 25

North Korea said on Friday it was still open to talks with the United States after President Donald Trump called off a summit with leader Kim Jong Un, saying it hoped the "Trump formula" could resolve the standoff over its nuclear weapons programme.

Trump on Thursday announced his withdrawal from what would have been the first-ever meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader, scheduled for Singapore on June 12, in a letter to Kim, citing North Korea's "tremendous anger and open hostility."

Trump's decision came after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the summit over what it saw as confrontational remarks by US officials.

"We have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other US presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit," North Korean Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement carried by state media.

"We even inwardly hoped that what is called 'Trump formula' would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue," he said, without elaborating.

Trump welcomed the North Korean response in a Twitter post on Friday.

"Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea," he wrote. "We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!"

Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea's recent criticisms of certain US officials had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric and that the current antagonism showed "the urgent necessity" for the summit.

"His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it," Kim Kye Gwan said, adding that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington "regardless of ways, at any time."

North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, and Vice-President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by NATO-backed militants after halting his nascent nuclear programme.

Trump had initially sought to placate North Korea, saying that he was not pursuing the "Libya model" in getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons programme. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said: "This is the President Trump model. He's going to run this the way he sees fit."

Nuclear site decommissioned

While the Trump administration had insisted on North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of its nuclear programme, Pyongyang had always couched its language in terms of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

It has said in previous, failed talks that it could consider giving up its arsenal if the United States provided security guarantees by removing its troops from South Korea and withdrawing its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.

North Korea on Thursday announced it had completely dismantled its Punggye-ri nuclear test facility "to ensure the transparency of discontinuance" of nuclear testing.

Footage of the event broadcast by South Korean media on Friday showed explosions throwing up huge clouds of dust and debris as they destroyed tunnel entrances and multiple wooden structures around the site.

Other images showed North Korean officials displaying a map of the site, including several major tunnel complexes they said were unused and completely operational prior to being destroyed.

Some analysts are worried the cancelling of the summit could prompt resumption in hostilities, including renewed shorter-range missile tests or stepped-up cyber attacks by Pyongyang and increased sanctions or deployment of new military assets by Washington.

Trump, in his letter, sounded a bellicose note, warning Kim of the United States' greater nuclear might, reminiscent of the president's tweet last year asserting that he had a much bigger nuclear button than Kim.

Speaking later, Trump said the US military stood ready if Kim were to take any "foolish" action and that the United States would continue its "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Many South Koreans reacted angrily to the announcement, feeling they had been cheated of a chance of a lifetime to live in peace.

North Korea's measured response provided some solace for nervous financial markets, with Asian shares almost flat.

"I suspect they couldn't agree on denuclearisation," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management. "But looking at comments from the both sides, none of them is ruling out holding a meeting in the future. So I do not expect to see an immediate escalation in military tension." South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who worked hard to help set up the summit and urged Trump at a White House meeting on Tuesday not to let a rare opportunity slip away, said he was "perplexed" by the cancellation. He urged Trump and Kim to talk directly.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, held a phone call and agreed to continue working toward creating the right conditions for the United States and North Korea to talk, the South's foreign ministry said in a statement.

South Korea also would continue efforts to improve ties with the North, the presidential office said after Moon's top security advisers met for the second time on Friday.

China, North Korea's lone major ally, said the United States and North Korea should show patience.

In the present situation, we really hope that the United States and North Korea can cherish the recent positive progress, exercise patience, show goodwill and meet each other halfway," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular news briefing.

China has publicly urged the United States and North Korea to keep up the dialogue. But Trump had suggested in recent days that Kim's more defiant tone followed a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The official China Daily newspaper said Trump's "cheeky invitation" in his letter for Kim to call or write to set up a meeting meant he was not "slamming the door shut on talks" in future. Reuters




pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, May 25

US President Donald Trump on Friday said his summit with North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un could still happen on June 12 after officials on both sides started talking, a day after he cancelled it, citing Pyongyangs open hostility.

Trump said the lines of communication had opened between the two countries after Trump administration officials yesterday said that the North Koreans had become unresponsive, leading to the planned summits cancellation.

Well see what happens. We are talking to them now, Trump said at the White House before boarding Marine One for a commencement address in Annapolis.

They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it. We will see what happens, he said.

Trump appeared to be optimistic even about the cancelled June 12 summit in Singapore. It could be even on 12th June, he said in response to a question. We will see what happens, said the US President.

The summit, the first time a sitting US president had met a North Korean leader, would have focused on ways of denuclearising the Korean peninsula and reducing tensions.

Asked whether the North Koreans were playing games, Trump acknowledged they wereand suggested he was too.

Everybody plays games. You know that, he told reporters when asked about the ongoing talks. You know that better than anybody. Washington has made it clear it wants to see the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea. But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

Yesterday, in a letter to Kim, Trump announced that he was cancelling their June 12 summit meeting in Singapore. He blamed Pyongyangs tremendous anger and open hostility for his decision.

Later the White House said a trail of broken promises by the North Koreans, including keeping a team of US officials waiting in Singapore for a preparatory meeting, left Trump with no choice but to cancel his proposed summit with Kim.

In a statement, North Korea regretted the cancellation of the summit and said that it was willing to meet anytime in any way. Trump described it as a very good news.

North Koreas Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said Trumps cancellation decision was extremely regrettable.

It was a very nice statement they put out. We will see what happens, Trump told reporters in response to another question. PTI
| By Laura Lee

On May 2, 2018, nine PhD students from area universities gathered at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) for the third annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

From left, Mustafa Al-Adhami (UMBC),Yuhan (Douglas) Rao (UMCP), Deborah Stiffler (USUHS), Caroline Vissers (JHU), Valerie Rennoll (JHU), Britney Hardy (USUHS), Omni Cassidy (USUHS), Caroline Vissers (JHU), and Alex M. Rittle (UMBC).

Each student had three minutes to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience, and they were allowed one slide to accompany their talk. (See video below.)

The 3MT competition was developed by The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia, in 2008, when the state of Queensland was suffering severe drought. To conserve water, residents were encouraged to time their showers, and many people had a three-minute egg timer fixed to the wall in their bathroom. The then-dean of the UQ Graduate School put 2 and 2 together, and the idea for the 3MT competition was born

The competition has since spread to more than 600 universities and institutions across 65 countries worldwide, including UMB. Senior associate dean Erin K. Golembewski, PhD, of the University of Maryland Graduate School attended regional semifinals in Ontario, Canada, in 2016 and brought the idea back to Maryland. Its the highlight of my spring semester, she said.

Competitors came from several Maryland universities, including Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS).

Their presentations were evaluated by a panel of three judges that included Golembewski, Peter Espenshade, PhD, associate dean for graduate biomedical education at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Julianna Pieknik, PhD, USUHS.

First place was awarded to Britney Hardy (USUHS) for her presentation Bacterial Bombs, which explored her interest in antibiotics and the microbiome. Second place was split between Omni Cassidy (USUHS) for Food Marketing and Obesity and Sarah Atreed (JHU) for Building a Better Vaccine. A Peoples Choice Award went to Valerie Rennoll (JHU) for Tunable Acoustic Transducers: Harnessing the Power of Sound. Each winner received a small monetary prize and the promise of fame and fortune, Golembewski joked.

Hardy said she was thrilled about her win and the opportunity to share her passion for learning. I love talking about science. Its my favorite thing to do, she said. She also acknowledged the high level of competition and congratulated the other participants. Doing this and hearing everyone elses presentations has been great. We all did a really great job.

Other presentations included:

Caroline Vissers (JHU), Notes on Brain Health

Yuhan (Douglas) Rao (UMCP), Earlier and Warmer Spring Could Plant a Drier Summer

Alex M. Rittle (UMBC), Mapping the River in Three Dimensions

Mustafa Al-Adhami (UMBC), Rapid Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing

Deborah Stiffler (USUHS), Understanding How Asymptomatic Malaria Contributes to Transmission
HIV/AIDS still impacting work and costing billions

United Nations, May 25 (UNI) Outlining the economic and social toll HIV and AIDS continues to take on workers around the world, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has called for an urgent effort to improve treatment, step up testing and ensure healthier and more productive workplaces.

Prepared in collaboration with the UN agency dedicated to tackling the virus, UNAIDS, The impact of HIV and AIDS on the world of work: Global estimate, examines the past and future effects of HIV epidemic, and development of antiretroviral therapy (ART), while assessing the economic and social impact on workers and their households.

The report shows that workers deaths attributed to HIV and AIDS are projected to fall to 425,000 worldwide in 2020, from 1.3 million in 2005; with people in their late-30s the most affected.
UN envoy urges inclusive talks to resolve crisis in Burundi

United Nations, May 25 (UNI) Inclusive talks remain the only way to find a lasting solution to the political, socio-economic and humanitarian crisis that has engulfed Burundi since 2015, the United Nations envoy for the African Great Lakes country has said.

Briefing the Security Council a week after the country voted in favour of a new constitution, Michel Kafando, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Burundi said on Thursday that voting has passed off with relative calm but that some irregularities had been reported by civil society groups and opposition.

Burundis election commission also reported some incidents at the polls but, in the commissions view, these were not likely to influence the final result, added Mr Kafando.
April 8 2016

Seymour Holdings, owner of Glasgows Savoy Centre, have drawn up plans to have the high-rise component of the sixties podium and tower stained black as part of efforts to attract tenants to the vacant office complex.This will include the installation of new windows and an external plant screen to obscure updated mechanical services with interior spaces refitted by C2 Concepts to offer a funky and modern environment for occupants.In their design statement CDA Architects said: There are a number of recent developments within Glasgow Citys skyline that have been clad in a dark material which also have a positive visual impact upon the city centre.The facade improvements to protect and stain the concrete of the Savoy Centres tower building will dramatically improve the overall appearance of this damp forgotten concrete building while sitting comfortably within the context of the city centre.A separate strategy is being devised for the podium element, currently used as a market hall, including facade treatments and internal configuration.In 2009 previous owners PBN Property applied to reclad the tower as part of an ambitious skyscraper-led redevelopment of the block.
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The rise in low-cost carriers, internet penetration, and smartphone adoption has led to a rapid growth in the online tourism industry, which is dominated by foreign online travel agencies (OTAs). When compared to foreign firms, domestic firms continue to face issues such as the lack of technology solutions, the scale of partnerships with hotels, and lack of funding, which allows foreign OTAs to offer higher discounts and bigger sales promotion schemes to attract tourists.

Tourism industry

Last year, the Vietnamese government passed the Tourism Law, focusing on the development of the industry. Tourism has been identified as a key industry for Vietnam, due to its rapid growth and growing contribution to the countrys GDP. According to a June 2017 United Nations World Tourism Organization report, Vietnams tourism growth was the seventh fastest globally and was the only country in Southeast Asia to feature in the top 10.

By 2020, the tourism industrys revenues in Vietnam are predicted to reach US$35 billion, while the number of foreign tourists will rise to 20 million. In addition, the industrys contribution to the GDP will grow from seven percent in 2017 to 10 percent in 2020.

2017

In 2017, Vietnams foreign tourist arrival grew by 29.1 percent to 12.9 million. This growth pushed the industrys turnover to US$23 billion (VND515 trillion), an increase of 25.1 percent. The industry accounted for seven percent of the national GDP.

Arrivals from Asia and Europe grew the highest at 34.4 percent and 16.6 percent respectively.

2018

In the first four months of 2018, there were 5.5 million foreign visitors, an increase of 29.5 percent compared to the same period last year. The government is targeting 15 to 17 million foreign visitors in 2018.

Visitors from China grew by 39.7 percent year-on-year, to 1.77 million, while arrivals from South Korea stood at 1.17 million, growing by a staggering 67 percent year-on-year. Outside of Asia, the major sources for tourists were US, Russia, and Australia with each growing between 10 and 15 percent.

Online tourism

According to the Vietnam E-commerce Associations (VECOM) Vietnam E-business Index 2018, the booking rate through OTAs increased by 30 percent in 2017, while the online travel revenue grew by 50 percent when compared to 2016.

Domestic firms account for only 20 percent of the market, while the rest is dominated by foreign agencies such as Trivago, Booking, and Agoda. The major growth drivers for foreign firms include access to capital, partnerships with hotels, and promotional programs such as discounts/offers.

With the rise in internet penetration and smartphone penetration, tourists will continue to prefer OTAs to traditional travel agencies due to convenience, the range of properties, promotional offers, and easier payment methods. In 2018, 71 percent of foreign tourists heading to Vietnam searched for information online, while 64 percent booked their Vietnam tours online.

The online tourism market is predicted to grow from US$2.2 billion in 2015 to around US$9 billion in 2025.

Competing with foreign OTAs in areas such as capital, promotional offers, and marketing will be tough for domestic firms. However, they can focus on issues such as improving customer service, optimizing technology, and diversification of services such as providing transportation and tour guides, to remain competitive.
The growth in foreign direct investment in Vietnam, driven by its strategic location, low wages, and improvement in the business environment, is the major factor that transformed Vietnam into a manufacturing hub in the region. In the long-term, this trend is expected to continue if Vietnam is able to maintain its competitive advantages. In addition, FTAs such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA) will diversify the export markets for Vietnam.

Near-term outlook

Industry, exports, and services growth

The growth in manufacturing in the second half of 2017, driven by a rise in exports, boosted Vietnams GDP growth to 6.8 percent. Goods exports in 2017 grew by 20 percent. However, according to HSBCs report Navigator: Now, next and how for business, services sector grew faster at 8 percent in 2017.

Services sector

In the services sector, tourism, which accounts for over 60 percent of total services exports, will continue to remain a major contributor to the GDP. The sectors contribution to GDP is predicted to rise from seven percent in 2017 to 10 percent in 2020.

Growth drivers

Vietnams growth drivers in the near-term will continue to be its low wages, extensive trade agreements, and investor-friendly business environment, which will drive FDI into the country.

Export markets

Demand in Vietnams export markets, especially China, Japan, and Korea which account for a third of Vietnams merchandise exports will continue to grow in the near-term, according to HSBC. Outside Asia, Vietnam will continue to benefit from growing demand in markets such as the US and EU.

Long-term outlook

Similar to its near-term outlook, Vietnams long-term outlook also looks positive, if it manages to remain competitive.

Exports

According to HSBC, Vietnams merchandise exports will grow at 10 percent from 2021 to 2030, while services exports will grow annually at seven percent by 2030. Total exports in 2030 are predicted to reach US$750 billion, four times higher than 2016.

ICT will dominate the goods exports, while tourism will lead in the services sector. Electronic goods, which currently account for 27 percent of goods exported, will continue its momentum and account for a third in the incremental growth in merchandise exports by 2030, followed closely by clothing and apparel at 20 percent. In the textiles and ICT segments, Vietnam can also move ahead of India and Bangladesh.

Industrial machinery and precisions instruments, which are high-tech goods, will grow but at a slower pace as the country moves higher in the value chain.

Export markets

According to the HSBC study, by 2030, US, China, Korea, Japan, and UAE will be the top export markets for Vietnam. China and the US will contribute around 35 percent to the increase in goods exports between 2017 and 2030 for Vietnam. However, exports to the US will be less diversified than the exports heading to the regional economies in Asia. US will import half of the total clothing exports of Vietnam, while Asia will import 30 percent of ICT goods, and 25 percent of clothing exports.

Asian markets such as China, Korea, and Japan will continue to be the growth markets for Vietnam, due to its proximity and strong regional supply-chain linkages.

Increase in imports

In 2016, 24 percent of the goods imported were industrial machinery, an increase of 18 percent from 2010. According to the study, industrial machinery imports will continue to grow and account for 25 percent of the increase in imports by 2030.

In addition, components for ICT equipment and wood & textile manufacturers will account for a fifth of the increase in imports by 2030, while over half of the imported goods will be manufactured goods.

Import markets

The top import markets for Vietnam in 2030 are predicted to be China, Korea, India, Singapore, and Japan. China and Korea, which currently account for 68 percent of all ICT imports and 90 percent of clothing industrys raw materials, will continue their dominance in the long-term. Japan will be a major source of parts and materials for assembly, while imports from India will grow the fastest by 2030.

Services sector

In services exports, tourism will continue its dominance, accounting for 66 percent of the exports by 2030. Transportation and distribution, driven by an increase in trade and tourism will account for 18 percent of the exports.

Services exports markets

China, US, Japan, Singapore, and Australia will be the top destinations for Vietnams services exports. Other regional economies will continue to grow and increase their share in the exports. India will be the fastest growing services exports market for Vietnam, growing annually 11 percent by 2030, followed closely by China at 10 percent.

Going forward

In the services sector, the government, as well as the domestic firms, need to take full advantage of the rapid growth in tourism. Tourism can create diversified opportunities in different sectors such as F&B, transportation, distribution, and hospitality.

As for the manufacturing industry, Vietnam needs to focus on moving higher up in the global value chains, and move away from labor-intensive to skill-intensive processes. This will allow them to remain competitive, diversify exports, and integrate further into the global economy.
By: Dezan Shira & Associates

Editor: Sophia Harris and Koushan Das

Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang will be joining the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN), which was proposed earlier in April by Singapore. The ASCN aims to facilitate cooperation in the region on smart cities for sustainable development. A total of 26 cities from member states will be joining the network.

RELATED: Business Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

ASEAN Smart Cities Network

The ASCN is a platform, which would include at least three cities including the capital, from each member state, that would be developed into smart cities. The network focuses on developing digital infrastructure and increasing connectivity in the region in areas such as electronic payments. Other areas of focus include city operations, energy and water conservation. The ASCN will be officially launched at the 33rd ASEAN Summit in November 2018.

Goals of the network

The smart city network aims to:

Increase cooperation in the development of smart cities, under which member states will share best practices and develop action plans for the next seven years, which can lead to a framework for development;

Work with the private sector on feasible and commercially viable projects;

Procure funding from external partners. Member states will be required to enter into partnerships with external partners including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and Global Infrastructure Hub.

RELATED: Growing Market Potential of Fintech in Vietnam

Major components of the plan

The ASCN plan includes four major components:

City-specific Action Plans for Smart City Development (2018-2025) which would include projects and action plans that ASEAN members will implement by 2025;

ASEAN Smart Cities Framework, which will guide the development, while taking local demands and cultures into consideration;

Annual Meeting of the member states will be a platform for sharing ideas and actions plans;

Twinning programs, which would assist in developing partnerships between member cities and external partners for implementation of projects.

Focus areas

The smart city development programs focus on issues such as transportation, improving water quality, meeting energy demands, healthcare, education, public services, data, and information and communications technology (ICT). As each member state will have different priorities depending on their existing infrastructure and economy, they will be allowed to focus on limited areas that best suits them.

RELATED: Market Entry Modes for Vietnam

Need for smart cities

As of now, 49 percent of ASEANs population resides in urban areas. Between 2015 and 2030, around 90 million people will move to the cities, while cities with a population between 200,000 and 2 million will be responsible for about 40 percent of the growth.

This increase in urbanization will strain major cities in terms of infrastructure, traffic, water/air quality, waste management, poverty, security, and safety. Technology will be instrumental in resolving the majority of these issues. It will also lead to an increase in the quality of life, urbanization, and help in creating new opportunities. However, the success of a smart city will not only depend on the government, but also regulators and companies that need to focus on new and efficient technologies for a sustainable development.

RELATED: Vietnam Increases Investors Equity Ratio for PPP Projects

Vietnamese cities

Hanoi

Hanoi aims to be a smart city by 2030 and to do so it has decided to focus on four major sectors, healthcare, education, transport, and tourism. Hanoi already has implemented parking systems that allow users to search for parking lots and pay through mobile devices and is planning to launch it in all the districts in 2018. It is also developing a digital traffic map to manage public transportation in the city.

In education, 2,700 schools and universities have introduced electronic school reports and family-to-school contacts as well as an online enrollment system. Regarding healthcare, the city was the first to introduce e-documents in its health management system, with 900,000 records so far.

By 2020, the focus will be on developing the core infrastructure and smart applications, while the second phase from 2020 to 2025 will focus on making the solutions operational.

Ho Chi Minh City

HCM City aims to be the first smart city in Vietnam. For the next two years, it is focusing on cloud computing infrastructure, big data, building data warehouses/data centers, security-monitoring centers, and open data ecosystem. In addition, the city is planning to introduce smart solutions in healthcare, food safety, education, traffic management, flood control, and law and order.

Da Nang

For the past nine years, Da Nang has consistently topped the Vietnam ICT Index rankings, which ranks cities on their readiness for information and communications technology development and application. The city plans on becoming a smart city by 2020 and a green city by 2025.

The city is working with FPT, the largest information technology service company in Vietnam on various smart city projects on traffic systems, hospital patient databases, and natural disaster management systems. In addition, the city has also developed solutions focusing on public transportation, water supervision, and residential management through their e-Government system.

RELATED: Impact of US  China Trade War on Vietnam

In addition to the current smart city projects, which focuses on ICT infrastructure, public transportation, healthcare, education, and government services, a greater focus will be needed on issues such as growing energy demand, water shortages, wastewater treatment, and environmental pollution, to achieve an inclusive and sustainable development model.

Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure

Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide.

An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017

An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017 will provide readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Vietnam. Compiled by Dezan Shira & Associates, a specialist foreign direct investment practice, this guide explains the basics of company establishment, annual compliance, taxation, human resources, payroll, and social insurance in this dynamic country.



Managing Contracts and Severance in Vietnam

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the prevailing state of labor pools in Vietnam and outline key considerations for those seeking to staff and retain workers in the country. We highlight the increasing demand for skilled labor, provide in depth coverage of existing contract options, and showcase severance liabilities that may arise if workers or employers choose to terminate their contracts.
Local media reported that a loud blast was heard and smoke could be seen rising above the former theater following its collapse. (Photo: AFP/Walter Monteros)

"We are in the middle of rescue work removing the rubble. We are working with firefighters the police and city officials. There is one man who has died, over 18, who has not yet been identified," a police officer in the northern Argentine city told local media.

The site of the incident, the exact cause of which remains unknown, was not far from the provincial legislature.

Local media reported that a loud blast was heard and smoke could be seen rising above the former theater.

It first opened in 1923 as a candy store, then became a theater and finally an adult cinema before it closed for good in 1995.
Children play in a village in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai. Several of the children in the province are out of school since their families moved back to their villages from a resettlement area following the construction of the Ayun Ha irrigation system. - VNA/VNS Photo Du Toan

But 18 years later, many of them have returned to live in their old villages, despite the poor living conditions there. They refer to the five Nos in their village: no electricity, no roads, no schools, no health stations, and no future.

The 70 residents of the Heg Village are among those who left the resettlement area to return to their hometown. According to village head Dinh Jai, after the completion of the irrigation system, some senior members of the village revisited the area where the village was once located, finding it remained intact, and decided to move back there.

Lying between the three mountains of Cheng Leng, Lo Pa and NNheng, the Heg Village is accessible either by a boat ride across the Ayun Ha Lake, or a 10km walk through a forest.

The distant, deserted village is not an ideal place for children to grow up. None of the local children  who are of the Banar ethnic minority  have been sent to school, taught the national language, or been vaccinated and provided with other social services.

Villagers have to go a long way to seek professional help when they get sick, because the village has no health station. They have three options: travelling 6km to neighbouring Chu Se District, 8km to the resettlement area, or 15km to the Mang Yang District to see the doctors there.

Such long journeys make it more difficult to save lives, said village head Dinh Jai. Some of our people died because they couldnt reach any health facilities in time.

But none of them have any intention of leaving the village.

This is our birthplace, said Dinh Jai. We will cling onto it as long as we can.

Located on top of the Cheng Leng Mountain is the Plei Cheng Leng Village of some 20 households; the oldest one has been there for over 20 years.

Similar to those in Heg Village, Plei Cheng Leng residents abandoned the resettlement area to return to their birthplace due to the lack of agricultural lands at the new place, said villager Rmah Trui.

But their dear village also lacks a resource essential for life: water.

Life is rough here without water, said Rmah Trui. We never have enough water for farming, drinking, even for taking care of our personal hygiene.

Living in isolation in the temporary, self-built houses between the Chu Se and Phu Thien districts, these villagers have no household registration or identity cards, and cant enjoy any social welfare policies.

There is neither any electricity nor schools in sight, which dulls the future of local children. Some of them have reached their teenage years but are not able to read and write.

The provincial authorities are trying to persuade these villagers to return to the resettlement area, said Phung Trung Toan, chairman of the Peoples Committee of Chu A Thai Commune.

We are reviewing the number of households in an attempt to provide them with better management, he said.

We have decided to give part of the communes lands to those in need of farming lands, he said, adding that they had done that once, before asking villagers to relocate to the resettlement area.

But it is such a difficult mission to ask these ethnic minority people to leave their hometowns again, Toan added.

Making a living farming on high mountains has been their custom for generations, he said.
The EU's so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on Friday (May 25). (Photo: AFP)

The EU's so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been blamed for a flood of spam emails and messages in recent weeks as firms rush to request the explicit consent of users to contact them.

Even though the rules were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to them, companies have been slow to act, resulting in a last-minute scramble this week.

Britain's data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), said that its site had experienced "a few interruptions" as the deadline loomed, but said that "everything is working now".

Brussels insists that the laws will become a global benchmark for the protection of people's online information, particularly in the wake of the Facebook data harvesting scandal.

"The new rules will put the Europeans back in control of their data," said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova.

"When it comes to personal data today, people are naked in an aquarium."

Companies can be fined up to 20 million (US$24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for breaching the strict new data rules for the EU, a market of 500 million people.

EXPLICIT CONSENT

The law establishes the key principle that individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used.

The new EU law also establishes consumers' "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for.

People will be able to block the processing of their data for commercial reasons and even have data deleted under the "right to be forgotten".

Top 10 countries and US states affected by Facebook data scandal. (Graphic: AFP)

Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old.

The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election.

The breach affected 87 million users, but Facebook said Wednesday it has found no evidence that any data from Europeans were sold to Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said in a hearing at the European Parliament on Tuesday that his firm will not only be "fully compliant" with the EU law, but will also make huge investments to protect users.

Zuckerberg said he was "sorry" for the Cambridge Analytica breaches, but also for its failure to crack down on election interference, "fake news" and other data misuses.

"GLOBAL STANDARD"

Big platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter seem well prepared for the new laws, while smaller businesses have voiced concern.

But EU officials say they are initially focusing on the big firms, whose business models use a goldmine of personal information for advertising, while offering smaller firms more time to adapt.

Meanwhile Brussels has expressed impatience with the eight countries - out of the EU's 28 - that say they will not have updated their laws by Friday.

EU Commissioner Jourova said the new rules are setting "a global standard of privacy".

Many Americans who once criticised Europe as too quick to regulate the new driver of the global economy now see the need for the GDPR, EU officials insist.

"I see some version of GDPR getting quickly adopted at least in the United States," Param Vir Singh, a business professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told AFP in an email.

Japan, South Korea, India and Thailand are also drawing "some inspiration" from Brussels as they debate or adopt similar laws, another EU official said.
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Foreign investors proposed a minimum of $43.9 million investment capital to establish a university in Vietnam

VND1 trillion ($43.9 million) to establish a university?

Differences between capital requirements from local and foreign investors when establishing universities may be abolished when the proposal to set a general minimum of VND1 trillion ($43.9 million) is approved.

According to article 87 in Decree No.46/2017/ND-CP, local investors will have to invest at least VND1 trillion ($43.9 million) to establish a university. Thus, the proposal will create a barrier for new investors, but will not guarantee quality. In order to create fairness for new players (including local and foreign investors), the institutions already in existence will also have to increase their investment capital with a specific schedule.

Specifically, according to the draft decree to replace Decree No.73/2012/ND-CP, any investment project to open a university must have a minimum of VND1 trillion ($43.9 million) in investment capital (not including the price of the land on which the institution will be constructed). The investment capital will be assessed in cash and property and approved in paper by authorities.

Compared to the current requirement of VND300 billion ($13.2 million), as stipulated in Decree 73, the total amount of investment capital that foreign investors are expected to have will increase significantly. According to the drafting committee of the replacement for Decree 73, the purpose of the increase is to guarantee the quality of the universities.

Le Truong Tung, chairman of FPT Universitys executive board, states that the new requirement is suitable since it is at least equal to the requirements for local investors. However, the change has not been able to reassure Tung about quality.

According to Article 87 in Decree No.46/2017/ND-CP, local investors will have to invest at least VND1 trillion ($43.9 million) to establish a university. Thus, the proposal will create a barrier for new investors, but will not guarantee quality. In order to create fairness for new players (including local and foreign investors), the institutions already in existence will also have to increase their investment capital with a specific schedule, said Tung.

Difficulties remain

Although the draft of the replacement decree has been submitted to the government by the Ministry of Education and Training on April 23, 2018, criticisms continue to arise.

Last week, at the conference on proposed business requirement cutbacks and simplifications in the educational sector, Tran Thi Phuong, an official of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), affirmed that the draft will continue to be improved.

Our motto is to learn from criticism and continue to search for new areas where we can make cutbacks, Phuong said.

Therefore, right before the proposal was presented, Nguyen Kim Dung, director of Legal Affairs for Apollo and British University Vietnam, continued to advocate for abolishing the requirement for teacher profiles upon requesting a licence.

When the investor is applying for a licence, the project is not in operation yet, thus not able to sign contracts with employees. Not to mention that it takes extremely long for the investor to get a licence, stated Dung.

This is not the first time this issue has been brought up. At Vietnam Business Forum 2017, the education and training group, which included Dung, also expressed their disagreement with this requirement.

What is more, Dung suggested eliminating the requirement that foreign language teachers must have five years of experience and reconsidering another requirement regarding the acceptance rate for Vietnamese students at foreign-funded high schools.

Dungs proposal goes beyond what MoET expected. At the moment, the requirement of five years of experience for foreign language teachers is on the list of the investment requirements suggested to be cut, but only at short-term education institutions, kindergartens, and high schools.

Phillip Dowler, head of RMIT Vietnams branch in Hanoi, thinks that this requirement is making it difficult for schools to hire teachers because some have experience but have not been teaching for five years, and vice versa.

Sharing this view, Dang Van Dinh, head of Policy Research and Development under the Association of Vietnam Universities and Colleges believed that schools should be given more autonomy.

Dung has also suggested the abolishment of the requirement that an investor must have a licence to establish a short-term education institution.

Short-term education institutions must abide by three regulations, including having an investment licence, a permit for establishment, and a licence for operationeach must be acquired within 30 working days, which is too much work. Perhaps after these institutions have acquired the investment licence and permit for establishment, the authorities should automatically provide them with a licence for operation, said Dung.
As many as 10 business conditions and 13 notification procedures have been removed from the list of requirements, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

This was announced during a conference on Tuesday in Hanoi on the promulgation of the Decree No 27/2018, which amends and supplements Decree 72/2013/ND-CP on the management, provision and use of Internet services and online information.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Hoang Vinh Bao said the amended Decree 27 removed unreasonable conditions to eliminate the difficulties faced by businesses.

Decree 27 abolished five conditions for the licensing of content of online video game scripts, three conditions for the operation of websites and social networking platforms, and two notification procedures for the amendment, supplementation, deadline extension and re-granting of licences for G1 video game services.

The decree also eliminated 11 types of documents required to register the provision of online video games, and two documents for the creation of websites and social networking platforms.

However, Decree 27 also added new regulations, such as the management of applications for the provision of integrated websites, social networking platforms, and online games in application stores. It also shortened the time required to grant licences for websites and social networking platforms from 15 to 10 working days.

The new decree also provides stipulations and details for the suspension and revocation of licences for the establishment of websites and social networking platforms.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visits HHTP in early 2018

A source from the HHTP Management Board told VIR that it is working with a number of domestic and foreign investors on the licensing of several projects. These include a Japanese-invested $300-million project, Mitsubishi Chemicals $92-million project, and the Nano technology paint production project of KOVA Co., Ltd. with the total investment capital of over VND1 trillion ($44.44 million).

In the first four months of 2018, HHTP licensed four projects totalling nearly VND11 trillion ($488.88 million), three of which were foreign-invested.

In 2017, HHTP granted investment certificates to three projects with the total investment capital of VND5.05 trillion ($224.44 million), covering a total area of 11.7 hectares.

The licensed projects are being developed smoothly. South Korea's Hanwha Techwin's Aero Engines project worth $200 million was kicked off in September 2017 and is currently installing machinery and equipment for the trial operation. The investor plans to expand investment in the project to $260 million in 2021.

With the investment capital of $200 million,in 2017 Hanwha Techwin became the first foreign investor to enjoy the corporate income tax (CIT) rate of 10 per cent for 30 years, securing the highest incentive available under the investment and tax laws.

Japans Nidec Corporation received the investment certificates for two projects worth a total of $400 million in April 2018. The company is completing the necessary procedures to begin construction and put the projects into operation in the first quarter of 2019, thus making Nidec the second foreign investor to enjoy the 10 per cent special CIT incentive.

As regulated by new regulations, new investment projects of at least VND4 trillion ($181.8 million) in HHTP shall be subject to the 10 per cent CIT for the next 30 years.

HHTP has so far revoked investment certificates from 19 long-delayed projects.

Following the issuance of a new decree governing special incentives for HHTP, the Ministry of Finance on March 30, 2018 enacted Circular 32/2018/TT-BTC guiding the implementation of the decree 74. This served as the foundation for Hoa Lac to increase its allure in the months to come.

New projects in pipeline for Hoa Lac High-Tech Park A number of new foreign-invested projects are expected to be licensed in Hoa Lac High-Tech Park (HHTP) in Hanoi.

Prime Minister visits Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park To facilitate efficient investment attraction, the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park Management Board will have to create more favourable conditions for investors so that the park ...
Accordingly, a new programme to help local Vietnamese companies become suppliers for multinational enterprises, while enabling existing suppliers to expand their business and share of added value has been launched by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, in partnership with the Vietnam Industry Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have invested heavily in Vietnam, and there is an opportunity to substantially increase local sourcing. Impediments have included the lack of local suppliers who meet the necessary global standards.

The two-year Vietnam Supplier Development Programme aims to help domestic suppliers throughout the value chain in targeted sectors to meet the requirements of MNEs, including quality, price, and delivery, among others. Subsequently, they can be linked to MNEs for future supply opportunities.

IFC will create new programmes in different business segments in case this one is successful

The ability to gain new business locally with MNEs is a first step to increasing the competitiveness of participating local companies, said Do Thang Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. The intention is to move companies up the value chain over time so that they can develop more sophisticated products and become globally competitive.

Over the next two years, the programme will work with eight leading MNEs in the automotive, electronics, energy, and household appliance sectors, namely Bosch, Canon, Datalogic, Denso, Ford, General Electric, Panasonic, and Toyota.

They have been identified based on their interest in sourcing locally and assisting local companies in finding business opportunities. 45 local companies, who are wholly or largely Vietnamese-owned, have been selected to join the programme based on recommendations by participating multinationals and various business organisations.

We are happy to work with local companies who could compete with suppliers from other countries, said Masahiro Yamamoto, director of Corporate Planning, Panasonic Vietnam. We expect this programme to help us get in business with some potentially long-term partners and promote our local sourcing.

Designed in close consultation with MNEs, the programme will provide free in-depth business reviews for suppliers. It will also look at the totality of a business to identify areas for improvement, and ascertain specific actions to build supply capabilities and improve long-term competitiveness. Further, efforts will be made to link companies more effectively with potential buyers.

Large foreign direct investments into Vietnam with the operations of global leading firms have brought opportunities to promote the Vietnamese supporting industry and facilitate local producers increased participation in the global value chain, said Kyle Kelhofer, IFC country manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao PDR. This programme aims to help participating Vietnamese companies to find new business opportunities from these MNEs and, subsequently, widen international markets, expand high-value production, and create more jobs.

Based on the success, subsequent programmes in the future will potentially cover other sectors and MNEs, giving more companies a chance to participate. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Vietnam Industry Agency, with support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
Meet Europe 2018 attracts over 200 companies from Europe and Vietnam

Besides, Meet Europe 2018 event saw the presence of more than 200 Vietnamese government officials, including over 30 provincial leaders.

At the event, Vietnamese businesses and EU partners discussed issues, created linkages, and widened economic, trade, and investment co-operation. This was a good chance for Hanoi and the surrounding provinces to seek co-operation opportunities with foreign partners and lure investment into sectors of their choosing.

In the framework of the conference, companies met one-on-one with the leaderships of more than 30 Vietnamese provinces. Accordingly, Vietnamese localities were updated on the situation, prospects, opportunities, and challenges of co-operation between Vietnam and the EU, especially in the context that the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is expected to be signed this year.

Besides, more than 70 B2G (business-to-government) meetings dedicated to potential business and investment opportunities were organised at Meet Europe 2018, a record number of encounters between the private sector and provincial leaders.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his pleasure with EuroChams survey results that 90 per cent of existing European firms intend to maintain and expand their operations in Vietnam. The PM expects the figure to increase to 100 per cent at the next survey.

Speaking at the conference, EuroCham co-chairman Nicolas Audier said that Meet Europe 2018 was a unique event, confirming that EuroChams tireless efforts at advocacy are taken on board by the Vietnamese government. "We believe that through the message Europe is reliable, innovation-driven and sustainable, European businesses can help Vietnam to develop in a smart and methodical way," he said.

Meet Europe 2018 was a unique event, confirming that EuroChams tireless efforts at advocacy are taken on board by the Vietnamese government.

The conferences Thematic Session handed the stage to European companies that have been successfully doing business in Vietnam. The case-studies presented covered several areas, such as automobile, wine and spirits, renewable energy, agriculture, infrastructure, and Industry 4.0.

Siemens Vietnams president and CEO Thai Lai Pham said, Meet Europe 2018 was an excellent event to show what Siemens as well as other European companies have been bringing to Vietnam in terms of next generation technology, operations, and training. Vietnam must reform its energy production and consumption and renewables, which are inevitable pieces of the puzzle. But the country cannot make such a shift alone, it needs partners. We are pleased to show what Siemens Vietnam has been producing in this fields and how it can keep contributing to this change moving forward.

Meanwhile, vice president and managing director of Bosch Vietnam Guru Mallikarjuna stated, As one of the leading global suppliers of technology and services in Vietnam, we appreciate the chance to discuss the changes which the industrial landscape must undergo to be prepared for the fourth industrial revolution. A key moving part of this process is vocational training, the on-going development and technological education of staff, and a correct and rewarding shift in the skills and qualifications available on the labour market. As a hi-tech company, Bosch has always taken a proactive approach to train skilled workforce and we leave this event more certain of the role we can play as partners for Vietnam.

The conference was organised by the Hanoi Peoples Committee in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the European Union Delegation, and the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) to promote investment and trade between Europe and Vietnam, including Hanoi.
With half the population in possession of a unit, the Vietnamese motorcycle market has reached a point of saturation, Photo: Le Toan

The total number of motorcycles sold in this years first quarter  from the likes of Honda Vietnam, Piaggio Vietnam, Suzuki Vietnam, SYM Vietnam, and Yamaha Motor Vietnam  is 803,204 units, a mere 1.9 per cent increase on-year according to the Vietnam Association of Motorcycle anufacturers (VAMM).

Each month the five firms sold nearly 270,000 motorbikes on average, which means that approximately 9,000 motorbikes were sold each day nationwide.

There are no details on the individual company sales, but in recent years, Honda Vietnam has been dominating the sector with a market share of about 69 per cent in 2017 according to Honda Vietnam, with Yamaha Vietnam following behind.

A fortnight ago, Yamaha Motor announced consolidated business results for the first quarter, saying that Unit sales in developed markets decreased due to factors such as a decline in total demand and irregular weather in Europe. Unit sales in emerging markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil increased, but decreased in the Vietnamese market.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), as more people in Vietnam tend to choose other travel methods than motorbikes, the market has suffered low growth in recent years.

Vietnam is the fourth-largest motorcycle market in the world, after China, India, and Indonesia. According to the MoITs latest data, the number of motorbikes in Vietnam has already surpassed 45 million, 25 per cent above the governments plan. It is an astounding figure that one in every two people owns a motorcycle.

VAMM has forecast that the market is entering a saturation period. Currently, automatic motorbikes account for 45 per cent of the market share.

Tuan Anh, a salesman at the Yamaha store on Kieu Mai street in Hanoi, said his store receives 40 per cent fewer customers than four years ago.

In the past we would earn several million dong in profit for each Yamaha we sold, but now we are only taking several hundred thousand dong. If we include the cost of rent and employee salaries, we are lost, said Anh, adding that some Yamaha stores had closed due to sustained losses.

Vietnams motorbike market is in trouble and will continue to slow down in the near future as the supply has already surpassed demand, a representative of Honda Vietnam told VIR.

The competition for a share in the saturated Vietnamese motorcycle market is going to heat up in the next few years, with companies targeting the few remaining niche markets and raising the quality of their after-sale services, according to VAMM.
Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang is the biggest island in Vietnam. In 2006, the Kien Giang Coastal and Ocean Biosphere Reserve was recognised as a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.-VNA/VNS Photo Ngoc Ha

Discussing the draft Law on Special Administrative and Economic Zones of Van Don, Bac Van Phong and Phu Quoc at the ongoing 14th National Assembly (NA)s fifth session, deputies said a flexible policy on local authorities would create favourable conditions for not only the three special zones but also the three respective localities (Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa and Kien Giang provinces) and the whole country.

The deputies pointed out a gap in regulations on the organisation and jurisdiction of Peoples Court and other judicial agencies at special administrative and economic zones (SAEZs) as the draft law retains the competence of courts at district levels.

Accordingly, all complaints of locals against the actions of Peoples Committee and chairmen of Peoples Committee would be handled by courts at provincial levels. The delegates said that this regulation should be considered in the context of SAEZs dynamic development, the potential increase of civil and administrative cases, especially cases related to land, site clearance and project compensation.

According to deputy Nguyen Thi Thuy from the northern province of Bac Kan, the number of complaints against administrative decisions of the local Peoples Committee to the court in the last three years significantly increased, notably in Phu Quoc District, where the figure doubled.

The draft law only increases the SAEZs courts role in civil cases, but not administrative cases, leading to the provision that the courts can handle civil cases, even very complicated ones but have no jurisdiction to solve complaints at the same level, Thuy said.

Thuy, also a member of the NA Judicial Committee, noted that in terms of geographical conditions, all three SAEZs are far from the centres of Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa and Kien Giang provinces.

For instance, to get to Kien Giang Peoples Court, residents and investors from Phu Quoc District have to cross 120 km of sea. If the first verdict of the provincial court is appealed or protested, the appellate trial shall be resolved by a higher court, which are only in Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM cities. Residents and investors will struggle to continue to defend their legal rights, Thuy said.

Deputies proposed that the justice organ of the special zones should be authorised to deal with administrative cases related to the SAEZs peoples committees and Peoples Committee chairmen. The model of administration for the special zones in the draft law won the approval of most deputies.

Specifically, the Peoples Council of a special zone will have no more than 15 deputies with a majority being full-time deputies and without any standing board or supporting units. The Peoples Committee will have only one Chairman and two Vice Chairmen. The Peoples Council and Peoples Committee of a special zone will share a supporting office and specialised units.

However, deputy Nguyen Ngoc Phuong from the central province of Quang Binh asked to reduce the number of papers the Chairman of the Peoples Committee are required to sign.

Deputy Vu Thi Luu Mai from Hanoi urged re-considering the stipulation that the Chairman of the Peoples Committee of a special zone is authorised to approve investment projects belonging to Category A. She said those projects at present must go through many layers of verification and assessment as they bear great significance to the national economy and security. Caution should be taken when giving such power to an individual, she said.

Meanwhile, deputy Truong Trong Nghia from HCM City urged eliminating the regulation of land allocation for 99 years, saying no investment project has such a lifespan.

This term is in fact an additional incentive for investors to transfer after completion of the project or to change the project midway without having to return the land, he said.

Emphasising the territoriality of the three special zones related to islands, Nghia said that investment in the exploitation of sea areas and water resources must comply with the Law on Borders, Law of the Sea and Law on Water Resources.

In response to NA deputies concerns, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung asked for careful consideration, however he emphassied the law needed to be promulgated soon and could be adjusted after taking effect.

Regarding the allocation of land for 99 years, Dung proposed keeping this in the draft because this is also the policy and practice many countries have implemented. Regulations on land acquisition will be clear and strict so that investors cannot take advantage of them, he said.

Planning- related laws discussed

National Assembly deputies on Wednesday afternoon discussed a draft law to amend 13 planning-related laws, insisting such changes were necessary.

The 13 laws include Law on Electricity, Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation, Law on Tobacco Control, Law on Food Safety, Law on Pharmacy, Law on Notarisation, Law on Investment, Law on Investment Public investment, the Law on Science and Technology, the Law on Construction, the Law on Urban Planning and the Law on Cultivation.

Stressing on the need for supervising the implementation of planned projects, deputy Pham Minh Chinh from HCM City suggested a regulation on compulsory displays of the planning. Accordingly, the display must show the planning orientation and peoples supervision of planning.

Chinh also urged for more decentralisation on the implementation of planning.

"By doing so, the central Government will just be responsible for issues within the scope of functions, tasks and powers while localities will take responsibilities for issues of their own," Chinh said.

Deputy Tran Anh Tuan from HCM City asked for quick review on planning to solve the problem of delayed projects which have seriously affected local peoples lives.

Deputy Tran Van Mao from Nghe An Province suggested the draft law should also study the assessment of the practical and uniformity between the Law on Construction and the Law on Urban Planning before adoption to ensure suitability, avoid duplication, overlapping, creating conditions for enterprises in licensing investment procedures, project planning.

Agreed with Mao, Le Quang Huy, deputy head of the National Assembly Committee of Science, Technology and Environment, said the amendments should match with urban development.
Left, right, left: The procession is popular among the cultural and spiritual activities at the Pho Hien folk cultural festival. - Photo hungyentourism.com.vn

In its tourism development plan, recently approved by the provincial authorities, the ancient Pho Hien (Hien Street) relic complex and the Hong (Red) River eco-travelling lodge have been listed as trade marks of Hung Yen tourism.

The province has set a goal to develop tourism industry as a key sector for economic development. The province seeks to exploit the abundance of local products, as well as improve facilities, and promote its cultural identity.

Vice Chairman of the Hung Yen Peoples Committee Nguyen Duy Hung said the province has set out a variety of basic targets for development, in which priority was given to the development of the tourism industry; facilities and products that appeal to tourists; and particularly the protection of natural resources and the environment.

The province also directed local tourism authorities to focus on improving transport infrastructure and urged the business sector to invest in this field, said Hung.

Variety: A quan ho (love-duet) singing performance at Pho Hien. - VNA/VNS Photo

He said, on the one hand, the province will focus on domestic markets, mainly attracting tourists from Hanoi and other provinces in the Red River Delta as well as other provinces in the country.

On the other hand, he added, it will expand into international markets including those in Europe, Australia, and North America.

Those in Northeast Asia and ASEAN member countries will also be considered, according to Hung.

Pho Hien preservation

Hung Yen has, for several years, undertaken measures to preserve the ancient Pho Hien relic complex, which is recognised as a special national heritage site.

Heritage: The Xich Dang Temple of Literature, built in the 17th century in Xich Dang Commune. The temple worships Chu Van An (1292-1370), a revered teacher in the Tran Dynasty. It is among the 16 historical relics in the Pho Hien complex recognised as special heritage sites. VNA/VNS Photo Pham Kien

Numerous projects have been implemented in the locality since 1997 to restore Pho Hien, in a bid to protect its cultural and historic value. Repairs have been made to the Xich Dang Temple of Literature, the Chuong Pagoda, the Mau (Goddess) Temple, and the Dong Do Quang Hoi and Hien pagodas, among others.

Now the province has cordoned off nearly 2,000 hectares of land to carry out a master plan to preserve ancient Pho Hien in line with local tourism development.

Furthermore, the province has paid consistent attention to restoring Pho Hien traditional cultural festivals in order to maximise the tourism potential of the locality. Worshipping places in the complex remain particularly popular among domestic tourists.

The Pho Hien relic complex contains countless pagodas and temples built in Vietnamese, Chinese and western architectural styles. A Catholic church boasting a gothic architectural style was built in Pho Hien during the 17th century.

The complex was also once a bustling commercial port on the Red River, reaching its heyday in the 17th and 18th centuries. Pho Hien was second only to the imperial capital city of Thang Long as a trading point. It was well-known among foreign traders, especially those from China, the Netherlands, Japan and France.
Even on the hot days industrial zone workers staying at Hau Duong Commune, Dong Anh District only use fans to save on their electric bills. - Photo laodong.vn

Do Thi Linh left her mountainous hometown of Tuyen Quang for Hanoi to work in the Bac Thang Long industrial zone. She rented a room adjacent to her company, and was irritated by the electricity price quoted by her landlord.

I have to pay VND3,500 (20 US cent) for a unit. Summer has come which means I will have to use more electricity, and that means more money will be spent for it while I still have so many other things to cover, Linh said.

It was quite expensive compared to the highest rate possible a household should be paying if they use more than 401kWh, at VND2,701 per unit.

Linh said that she questioned her landlord over such a costly rate, and the answer was not that pleasing to her ears.

He said that all landlords here charged that amount, and if I complained about it, why I did not just go buy my own house, she said.

Thats how it is. I have to accept it.

Pham Thi Diem and her family got an even worse rate when their landlord in HCM City announced that electricity this summer would cost VN4,000 a unit, a steeping increase from the previous price of VND2,500.

Diem and her husband were both workers at the Tan Binh industrial zone, with a combined monthly income totaling only VND8 million ($348).

We have a small child, so the demand for power usage is quite big. With the new price, it is so hard for us, she said.

Hard for landlords too

Many landlords leasing rooms specifically for the blue-collar workers admitted that the power price they quoted was beyond reasonable for the poor tenants, but they did not have much of a choice.

According to the Electricity of Vietnams regulations, any households leasing rooms will have their power usage charged at business rate, which could possibly be doubled what a normal household using electricity in an unconstrained manner might have to pay.

Le Van Tien in Ha Nam Province built 20 rooms to rent out for a total of 43 workers with their 16 children. He charged each room VND3,000 per power unit.

To ensure security in the area, my family had to install 15 high pressure sodium lamps and turn them on from 5pm to 7am the next day. We also give the workers a vacant land lot to grow vegetables, and run a pump to get the water to the land, Tien said.

He said with such regular power usage, there were several months where the average price for one unit already reached VND2,700 after he divided evenly the total bill for his family and 20 household renters.

Tien suggested that the Government should issue regulations supporting the landlords, for example allowing them to pay the bill at a normal household rate other than the business one, if it really wants to help the workers.

Another landlord named Tan in Hanois Dong Anh District said that he understood how hard it was for the workers with such high rate of power, but he must do it otherwise he would be at loss with all the initial investment for the rooms.

Companies should raise the workers salary to help them, and the Government should stop charging the landlords at business rates to make the power and water price for the workers cheaper, he said.
Malaysian Police's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Director, Amar Singh gestures while addressing media in Kuala Lumpur on May 25, 2018. (Photo: AFP/Manan VATSYAYANA)

Another 37 bags contained jewellery and watches, he said at a news conference. The value of these goods has not been calculated yet.

The cash was found in 26 currencies, said Singh, and was seized in raids on May 18 under anti-money laundering laws. The largest amounts were in ringgit and Singapore dollars.

Three apartments were raided in Pavilion Residences in Kuala Lumpur on May 18, when police seized 284 boxes containing jewellery, designer handbags, shoes, watches and cash.

"Najib's son and daughter were living in the apartments, while a third apartment was unoccupied," said Singh.

Singh said the empty apartment in Pavillion Residences, in the Bukit Bintang neighbourhood of Kuala Lumpur, did not belong to any of Najib's family members. He declined to name the owner.

A total of 22 bank officers counted the cash from May 21 to 23 with the help of 11 counting machines, Singh added. Twenty-one bank officers from Bank Negara Malaysia (the country's central bank) and another from Bank Islam Malaysia were involved in the counting.

After the money had been counted, it was sent to Bank Negara Malaysia, said Singh.

Singh said most of the bags appeared to be a Hermes brand.

"We have had discussions with Hermes, and we will take pictures and send them to Paris to verify their authenticity and their value," Singh said.

Police seized a further 150 handbags from the home of Najib's daughter, Nooryana Najwa, along with various shoes, including baby shoes.

Nooryana, better known as Gina, married a nephew of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev's three years ago.

Singh did not say what was found at the home of Najib's son Ashman.

Experts were being brought in to value the jewellery, watches and other luxury items seized during the raid.

Singh said half a million ringgit, excluding foreign currency, was found at Najib's home.

PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA ARE FAKE

Singh also said that pictures floating on social media purporting to show items seized in the May 18 raids were fake.

"The CCID officers were instructed not to carry mobile phones," said Singh. "Only the head and the deputy conducting the raids had phones, and those were for one purpose only: To call me."

He added: "No pictures were taken by officers during investigations; those that were taken were done by official photographers."

Singh also urged the public not to spread false information and fake, photos as they could "jeopardise investigations" or affect any potential prosecution hearing.

He also dismissed money found in walls and gold bars being uncovered as "fake news".

"With regards to the disappearing chocolates, I have requested for lawyers to come forward and lodge a report; they must report who took the chocolates, and I will investigate further," he said.

Since his defeat in May 9's general election, Najib has been barred from leaving the country by the new government, which has relaunched an investigation into billions of dollars missing from state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Phony negress is a welfare cheat-who knew?

Rachel Dolezal hit with felony theft charge in welfare fraud case

Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP chapter leader who resigned after her parents revealed she's not African-American, is facing a felony theft charge in Washington state after she allegedly made false statements to secure nearly $9,000 in food and childcare assistance.The charges against Dolezal, who changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in October 2016, were first reported by KHQ-TV.According to court documents, investigators with Washington state's Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) started looking into Dolezal's finances in March 2017 after the publication of her autobiography, "In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World."DSHS investigator Kyle Bunge said Dolezal had claimed that "her only source of income was $300.00 per month in gifts from friends." However, the department found that she had deposited nearly $84,000 in her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017 without reporting it.According to the investigation, the money came from sales of Dolezal's autobiography as well as "the sale of her art, soaps, and handmade dolls."Authorities say Dolezal illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017.Dolezal did report a "change of circumstance" to the state agency, saying she did a one-time job in October 2017 worth $20,000, court documents said. The DSHS report says Dolezal told investigators in April that she had "fully disclosed her information" and declined to answer further questions.Dolezal is also charged with perjury and making false verification for public assistance.Dolezal resigned as head of the Spokane NAACP chapter in June 2015 after her parents told local media that she had been born white and was merely posing as a black activist. She also was fired from a police ombudsman commission and lost her job teaching African studies at Eastern Washington University.
An investor watches market movements on the Military Bank Securities (MBS) trading floor. - VNS Photo Truong Vi

On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index slid 0.31 per cent of its value to close at 985.92, reversing from its gain of 0.31 per cent on Wednesday.

On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost by 0.88 per cent to end the session at 117.07 points. The index had risen by 1.19 per cent on Wednesday.

Both benchmark indices opened in negative territory as sell orders increased amid weak demand.

Market trading liquidity plunged, worsening investor confidence, with more than 155.7 million shares being traded on the two bourses, worth VND4.5 trillion (US$197 million).

Thursdays trading figures were down 38 per cent in volume and 27 per cent in value compared to Wednesday.

The market breadth was negative, with 257 declining stocks against 202 gaining stocks.

Large-cap stocks traded poorly as 24 of the 30 largest stocks, in terms of market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 Index, declined while only five of them ended higher.

The VN-Index dropped below 975 in continuous order matching before rising back to 985, supported by the recovery of a number of blue chips in the latter half of the session.

Those shares include Vincom Retail (VRE), dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) and steel maker Hoa Phat Group Joint Stock Company (HPG).

Notably, the two largest stocks by market capitalisation, Vingroup (VIC) and its real estate arm Vinhomes (VHM) were also two supporters of the index, rising 1.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively.

However, heavy selling pressure was seen across the board and increased in the last few minutes of the trading session, hitting many blue chips in the banking sector, including the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BID), Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and VPBank (VPB).

Some other blue-chips also suffered, including steel maker Hoa Sen Group (HSG) (3.7 per cent), confectionary maker Kido Group (KDC) (3.1 per cent) and FLC Faros Construction Joint Stock Company (ROS) hitting the daily limit decline of 7 per cent.

Foreign investors on Thursday net sold VND147 billion on the HOSE, focusing on Vinhomes (VHM) (VND154 billion), banker HDBank (HDB) (VND43 billion) and Vingroup (VIC) (VND40 billion). They also net sold VND4.7 billion on the HNX.

According to Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), low liquidity and continuous net selling value of foreign traders were bad news for the overall market.

Due to weak bottom-fishing cash flows amid heavy selling pressure on large-cap stocks, the market is likely to stay on a downtrend in the short term, BVSC said in its daily report.

The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) edged down 0.36 per cent to finish 53.88 points, reversing from its gain of 0.64 per cent in the previous session.
Quang Minh Corporation is not the only large debtor of Standard Chartered Vietnam that has defaulted on payments

In 2013 Standard Chartered Vietnam and Standard Chartered Mauritius granted letters of short-term credit for Quang Minh Corporation JSC (at No.1 Thanh Nien street, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi) limited at $20 million.

Then they signed contracts of mortgaging goods, receivables, insurance contracts, as well as all of QMCs accounts and deposits in banks to secure the loans. Standard Chartered Vietnam lent VND60.9 billion ($2.7 million) at the annual rate of 7.6 per cent first (later adjusted to 8.3 per cent), and an additional VND5.1 billion ($225,000). These debts expired in April 2015, but QMC has only paid VND290 million ($12,775) to date.

In 2015, Standard Chartered Mauritius also gave $5.1 million and $0.522 million to QMC. These two debts expired in early 2015 but QMC has only paid $4.2 million, while $1.3 million remains left to be paid.

At the first instance hearing, the representative of Standard Chartered Vietnam asked QMC to pay VND89.9 billion ($4 million) to offset its debt and interests. The bank did not wish to take collateral to recover the loans.

The representative of QMC acknowledged the loan Standard Chartered Vietnam claimed. However, the corporation has been facing many difficulties and is unable to pay the debts. QMC asked the bank for a grace period to collect the money, but could not give a timeline of payment, and affirmed that the companys situation is still very difficult.

The court identified that the letter of credit is in line with regulations, the agreements are voluntary and valid for all parties, thus accepted Standard Chartereds lawsuit.

QMC will have to return VND89.9 billion ($4 million) to repay the original debt and interest to Standard Chartered Vietnam and VND38.4 billion ($1.7 million) to Standard Chartered Mauritius. QMC has to pay over VND128 billion ($5.7 million) in total.

Quang Minh Corporation JSC produces agricultural products, feed for husbandry, as well as processes and trades in cooking oil with the brands Mr Bean, OilLa, and Soon Soon.

The corporation had the charter capital of VND989 billion ($43.6 million) in 2010 and produced several accomplishments as one of the 500 biggest businesses in Vietnam. Some banks used to grant letters of credit limited at trillions of dongs (around half a hundred million dollars) for QMCs large projects.

However, QMC ran on a rough patch in 2015 after being named on the list of tax debtors. The corporation closed its website and kept quiet on the market since then.

Related to the unrecovered outstanding loans of Standard Chartered Bank, Binh Dinh Sugar (Bisuco) may also not be able to meet its debt obligations. This company is carrying VND800 billion ($35.56 million) in unsettled accounts to creditors, local farmers, its employees, and local tax authorities.

A couple of years ago, Standard Chartered Bank was reported by local media to have foreclosed a factory mortgaged by Bisuco, following the companys failure to keep up with its loan payments.
Top revenues not easing JV port woes, photo source: thanhnien.vn

According to Vinalines, total container throughput shipped via the Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) reached 4.62 million tonnes during the first quarter, up more than 7.5 per cent on-year.

Located in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, the seaport  a joint venture between Vinalines and Denmarks APM Terminals  reached revenue of VND206.86 billion ($9.19 million), up 13.7 per cent on-year.

The rise was lower than expected. We witnessed growth of 15 per cent in the first two months, but lower growth in March, thus resulting in an overall rise of 7.5 per cent in the first quarter, Nguyen Xuan Ky, CMIT deputy director, told VIR.

The market is performing well, thanks to the rising volume of goods shipments to the EU and the US, and the trend of preferring to call at the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex among mainliners, signalling an upward trend, Ky added.

As the seaport reaches its designed capacity of 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), CMIT aims to achieve the same throughput as it did, last year when it handled 1.33 million TEUs.

Big improvements were also witnessed at the Cai Lan International Container Terminal (CICT) located in the northern province of Quang Ninh. This joint venture has US-based Carrix  the parent company of SSA Marine  as Vinalines partner.

Unlike in previous years, when CICT had to handle goods in bulk to survive, the port reported a throughput of over 1.55 million tonnes in this years first three months, an on-year rise of 29.4 per cent.

What is more, CICTs revenue ascended by 15.9 per cent on-year to reach VND69.61 billion ($3.09 million), equivalent to 25.45 per cent of 2017s full-year figure and 39.5 per cent of 2016s.

SP-PSA and SSIT, the other two seaports located in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex, also showed a good track record between January and March.

SP-PSA, a joint venture between Vinalines and Singapore-based PSA, reported an on-year increase of 18 per cent in the handled volume of goods to over 560,175 tonnes in the first quarter, while the figure was 1.54 million tonnes for the whole of 2016.

The seaport fetched revenue of VND27.12 billion ($1.2 million), up 16.3 per cent on-year, while the all-year total was $3.07 million in 2016, when revenues were already rising at 33.47 per cent on-year.

Always ranking lower than other jointly-invested seaports, SSIT  a joint venture between Vinalines and SSA Marine  witnessed strong growth in revenue in the first quarter.

SSIT reached revenue of VND38.85 billion ($1.73 million), jumping 40 per cent on-year, while total goods volume was 972,000 tonnes, up 5 per cent on-year.

In spite of the improved performance, the seaports in the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex are struggling with delays in channel dredging since mid-2017, as they still await approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for procedures related to mud fills.

The channel is filling up with sand rapidly, reaching up to -13.3 metres and, in some shallow places, even -12.6 metres, thus preventing mainliners from the EU from entering the area.

Several local seaports, namely CMIT, TCIT, SSIT, Baria Serece, SITV, and TCTT, as well as shipping lines like MOL and Maersk Lines, have lamented the delays in dredging as a major obstacle for their activities many times.

Many mainliners had to cut back their shipments of cargo as the channel at the seaports is not deep enough. If the situation remains unchanged, shipping lines may leave Cai Mep and move to other seaports in the region. Goods will then be transhipped to Singapore, Malaysia, and other countries instead, they said in a statement.
Police seek two men after 15 people injured in Mississauga restaurant explosionAn explosion police say was caused by an improvised explosive device injured 15 people inside a Mississauga restaurant Thursday night.Fire crews and paramedics arrived at Bombay Bhel, an Indian restaurant at 5035 Hurontario St. near Eglinton Ave., around 10:30 p.m.There were two individuals seen entering and detonating the device and two individuals that were seen fleeing the restaurant, Const. Iryna Yashnyk told reporters at the scene.Three people were taken to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto with critical injuries, Peel Region paramedic Joe Korstanje told the Star. Around 3 a.m., Peel police confirmed that all three were in stable condition.The other 12 people suffered what Korstanje described as minor or superficial wounds, although Const. Irina Yashnyk said police were still assessing the extent of injuries.
Steve Schlosser died on Monday, October 4, 2021 at his home in Brandon, at the age of 61 years. A visitation will be held on Friday, October 15, 2021 at the Roy-Hetland Funeral Home in Osakis, MN from 4:00-7:00 pm with a time of sharing at 6:30 pm. Arrangements are with the Roy-Hetland Funer
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Abortion civil war: GUY ADAMS asks if Ireland's referendum could be the next big defeat for liberals after Brexit and Trump

By Guy Adams for the Daily Mail25 May 2018For his sermon on Sunday, Father Martin McVeigh told parishioners in the scenic Irish fishing village of Clogherhead that he'd like to talk politics.Specifically, the elderly priest wanted to discuss a high-profile referendum battle that will culminate today when Ireland votes on the highly emotive subject of abortion.In our ever more secular age, the Republic of Ireland has remained a largely Catholic nation, with priests such as Father McVeigh still holding a grip on the hearts, minds and voting habits of their communities.But times are changing. Even before his sermon was properly under way, several women walked out of the church.Then, as Father McVeigh told congregants he expected them to vote against today's ballot proposal to end Ireland's longstanding ban on abortion, a local man called Keith Delaney leapt to his feet and declared: 'I'm not listening to this!'One church-goer described the scene: 'Keith left with his eight-year-old daughter. After that, the priest responded with graphic remarks about doctors killing babies with tiny hands and feet.'But that just encouraged more people to leave. It was a family service, and you don't want your kids to hear that sort of thing, do you?'Soon, the trickle leaving St Michael's Church had become a flood and Father McVeigh decided to declare defeat  'He stopped about two minutes later and said 'Mass is over, go in peace'  by which time only around one-third of his 120-strong congregation remained.The walkout made headlines in the Irish press this week, providing the latest vivid example of the highly emotive and deeply divisive political battle which has been played out in towns and villages across the land over recent months.Tour the Emerald Isle today and you'll struggle to find a single lamppost that isn't festooned by campaign posters.Some are covered with slogans about women's rights; others contain images of dead infants captioned 'Do not kill' and 'Stop the slaughter of babies for body parts'.In the countryside, where voters traditionally are more conservative, farmers have used ploughs to write huge anti-abortion messages into their fields.In metropolitan areas and on urban streets, where the electorate take a more liberal view on social issues, teams of pamphleteers from both sides sometimes outnumber shoppers. At times, hostility is spilling over.Outside the Dail, Ireland's Parliament in Dublin, evangelical Catholics fingering their rosary beads have been chanting 'Jesus, protect and save the unborn' while pro-choice opponents try to shout them down.Next to the iconic Georgian edifice that is Dublin's General Post Office  the birthplace of 1916's Easter Uprising against British rule, which led to Ireland's independence a few years later  eggs have been thrown and tables full of leaflets upended.Visiting this symbolic location yesterday, I witnessed a shouting match between two elderly women brandishing plastic models of human embryos in various stages of development and a younger woman carrying a gay rights flag.The pair were were watched by crowds of surprisingly young campaigners  both pro and anti-abortion.Behind such scenes lies a strange contradiction.On the one hand, Ireland has always been regarded as one of Europe's last bastions of social conservatism.Same-sex sexual activity was only decriminalised here in 1993, and divorce permitted in 1995.Each weekend, one in three citizens goes to Mass  a figure roughly ten times greater per capita of population than in the UK.Yet recent years have also seen this relatively young country embrace trendy progressive policies at a breakneck pace. In 2004, for example, Ireland became the first country in the world to enact a smoking ban.In 2015, against the Catholic Church's advice, voters agreed by a margin of two to one to introduce gay marriage.And last year, Ireland installed as Prime Minister one Leo Varadkar, a gay former GP whose father was an Indian immigrant.Against this shifting backdrop, today's referendum concerns a straightforward question: should Ireland scrap the eighth amendment to its constitution, which stipulates that an unborn child has the same right to life as its mother?This law, one of the most stringent in the western world, effectively outlaws all terminations, even in cases of rape and incest, and even where an embryo is diagnosed with a terminal illness that means it will be stillborn.Only where the mother's life is in 'real and substantial' danger as a result of the pregnancy can abortion be considered.Until 1992, Ireland even forbade Irish women from travelling overseas to undergo an abortion.Since that particular rule was lifted (courtesy of a different referendum), around 170,000 women have come to Britain for the procedure, where it was legalised in 1967.Roughly 3,000 Irish women are treated in UK hospitals and clinics each year, paying between 3,000 and 4,000 for their terminations.Voters today will vote 'Yes' or 'No' on a decision to replace the eighth amendment with a new article in Ireland's constitution allowing politicians to bring in 'the regulation of termination of pregnancy'.The government here says this will enable them to pass a law permitting abortions under any circumstance up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and for health reasons thereafter. (Britain, by contrast, allows abortion on any grounds until 24 weeks.)When this plan was first announced last year, it seemed likely to pass by a wide margin.A Yes vote, after all, was endorsed by the leaders of all three major parties: Mr Varadkar of centre-Right Fine Gael; Micheal Martin of the more Left-wing Fianna Fail; and Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald.The Establishment camp also has the backing of trade unions and most media outlets, along with a host of celebrities, from actors such as Peaky Blinders' Cillian Murphy and Saoirse Ronan, who stars in the film Chesil Beach, to author Marian Keyes, pop band U2 and several members of the Six Nations-winning rugby team.Well organised Yes canvassers have also persuaded around 125,000 people who have never voted before to register to vote.Many are 18-24 year olds, and polls show that 67 per cent of them support the repeal of the eighth amendment.While the No side boasts the support of the Church, its ability to dictate to the public on moral issues has been seriously eroded in recent years due to a number of high-profile scandals.Indeed, the aforementioned Father McVeigh was at the centre of one such incident in 2012, when gay pornography  seemingly from his laptop  appeared on a projector while he was lecturing children at a local school.'Every time I've heard a priest or bishop coming out with an opinion in public, I think it's been good news for our side,' Senator Catherine Noon, a leading figure in the Yes campaign told me this week. 'Things have changed. We are now a liberal progressive society.'At Christmas, the Yes side had a 34-point lead in opinion polls, and bookmakers put their chances of success at more than ten to one on, the equivalent of over 90 per cent. Yet in recent weeks, a series of combative TV debates has tipped the momentum back towards the No campaign.The most recent polls, published this week, have support for Yes at around 50 per cent, with No at between 25 and 30, and the rest 'undecided'.Bookmakers have duly trimmed the odds of a No victory to around one in six, while some commentators are talking up the chances of a Brexit-style populist surprise, in which a silent majority from rural areas ignore metropolitan convention to deliver a stunning rebuke to the political class.All of which perhaps explains the febrile mood I found among supporters of both sides.With polls narrowing, many Yes supporters who live overseas are travelling back to Ireland to vote, since they are not allowed postal ballots.While some are financing the trip themselves, others are having their travel costs paid by student unions firmly in the Yes camp.Siobhan Gilroy, 33, told me how she flew home from Brisbane, saying: 'It's mad, when you think of the expense  but when you look at what our laws make other women go through, it's nothing.'At a press conference for the Yes campaign, reporters heard from a Dublin woman called Elaine Bedford, whose 25-year-old daughter became pregnant unexpectedly last year and  like hundreds of other Irish women in recent years  bought abortion pills illegally via the internet.'It was terrifying,' she said. 'I put her to bed and was bringing in hot water bottles. My daughter was in agony and bleeding, and as she was losing consciousness, I could not even leave her to phone the doctors. The hell continued for three days.'In an effort to sway undecided voters (and avoid upsetting pro-life voters in their constituencies), many Yes-supporting politicians are citing such cases as evidence that, in the internet era, the current law is impractical.Somewhat cynically, they describe themselves as instinctively 'pro-life', but pragmatic.The Yes camp has also been making hay with a number of high-profile tragedies, most notably that of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who was admitted to hospital in Galway in 2012, when she was 17 weeks pregnant.Doctors told her she was miscarrying but, even though she was in severe pain, refused requests to help terminate the pregnancy because they could still detect a foetal heartbeat.At one point, her husband was told 'this is a Catholic country'. Eventually, Savita contracted septicaemia and died.Her father, Andanappa Yalagi, recently appeared in a Yes campaign video, saying: 'The younger daughters of Ireland should not have the same fate as Savita she had a very long life to lead, but it was cut down mercilessly, dead.'Savita, whose image adorns a number of campaign posters, is one of a number of women whose circumstances have sparked fierce controversy over the years.Others include a girl known only as 'X', a teenage rape victim barred from travelling to the UK for an abortion in the early Nineties; and 'P', a woman declared brain dead when 15 weeks pregnant but kept alive on life support against the wishes of her family because her foetus still had a heartbeat.The No side, meanwhile, argues that difficult cases such as these should not be used as a basis for legal change  saying bad cases will make bad law, and that introducing what it calls 'abortion on demand' will open proverbial floodgates.This message has reportedly found particular traction among working class voters, and some internal polls have suggested that the No side may even end up with a two per cent lead should turnout prove lower than expected.At a press event for the 'Save The 8th' campaign group, speakers repeatedly warned voters of turning Ireland into 'another United Kingdom' where there are around 190,000 terminations each year, meaning 'one in five pregnancies ends in abortion' and where '90 per cent of babies with Down Syndrome are aborted'.These are, indeed, eye-opening statistics. And whatever the outcome today, neither side is going to take things lying down.The No camp is already alleging widespread voter fraud, arguing that thousands of people have been illegally signed up to vote.The Yes side, meanwhile, is alleging illegal interference from wealthy U.S. evangelical Christians, who are suspected of using social media to advance their case (to which end both Facebook and Google recently banned campaign advertisements).Like many a contentious referendum, it now seems that today's vote may end up dividing a nation it was supposed to unite.Read more: GUY ADAMS: Could Ireland abortion vote be next defeat for liberals? | Daily Mail Online Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
A Swedish film crew visited the Runestone Museum Monday morning as part of a project researching the Kensington rune stone. Peter Stormare (fifth from the right, closest to Runestone) is forever locked in for movie-goers as the man who "filled" the woodchipper in the movie "Fargo." Elroy Balgaard is 3rd from the left.
Note: Larger version HERE.

This is a shot captured by the European Space Agency's Earth Observation satellite featuring the lava flows from Hawaii's continuously erupting Kilauea volcano. Crazy, right? If Hawaii wasn't so green I'd swear this was was a picture of Mordor from space. "It definitely would have been a lot cooler to go to Hawaii." Nobody asked you, Frodo.

Thanks to Danielle L, who agrees we need to start bottling that lava and selling it to rich people as a 3-day cleanse, pronto.
"We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East, and have already attacked twice on two different fronts". General Amikam Norkin, Commander of the Israeli Air Force, made this announcement on 22 May at the conference on aerial superiority at Herzliya (a suburb of Tel Aviv), with the participation of the Air Force chiefs of staff from 20 countries, including Italy.

The general did not specify where the F-35s had been used, but he hinted that one of the attacks was carried out in Syria. He also showed images of Israeli F-35s flying over Beirut and Lebanon, but they have almost certainly also been used for non-attack missions in Iran.

Israel, one of the 12 "global partners" of the F-35 program led by US Lockheed Martin, was the first to buy the new fifth-generation fighter, which it renamed "Adir" (Powerful). So far, Israel has received nine of the 50 F-35s ordered, all model A (conventional take-off and landing), and it is likely to purchase 75. This is a realistic goal, given that Israel receives about 4 billion dollars annually in military aid from the United States.

The training of the first Israeli F-35 pilots began in July 2016, at Luke air base in Arizona. After having attended a three-month course in the USA, in order to be certified as operational, they have to complete several months of training for "real flight" in Israel. Approximately 30 F-35 Israeli pilots have been trained so far. On December 6, 2017, the Israeli Air Force declared its first F-35 fleet fully operational.

Israels military industry also participates in the F-35 programme. Israel Aerospace Industries produces wings for the F-35A; Elbit Systems-Cyclone produces fuselage components for the F-35; and Elbit Systems Ltd. are developing the Generation III helmet-mounted display system, which all F-35 fleet pilots will wear.

General Norkins announcement that the F-35 is finally "combat proven" therefore has the primary practical effect of boosting the F-35 programme, which has already encountered numerous technical problems and needs continual costly upgrades which increase the already enormous cost of the programme. The fighters software has been modified over 30 times and requires further updates.

General Norkins announcement was therefore particularly appreciated by Lockheed Martins Chief Executive Officer, Marillyn Hewson, one of the speakers at the conference on "aerial superiority".

The announcement that Israel has already used the F-35s in "real war" operations serves at the same time as a warning to Iran. The F-35As supplied to Israel are designed primarily for the use of nuclear weapons, in particular the new B61-12 precision-guided bomb. The B61-12, now in its final stages of development, will be deployed by the United States in Italy and other European countries. It will almost certainly also be supplied to Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East, whose arsenal is estimated at 100-400 nuclear weapons.

Israeli nuclear forces are integrated into the NATO electronic system, as part of the "Individual Cooperation Program" with Israel, a country which has a permanent mission at NATO headquarters in Brussels, although it is not a member of the Alliance.

Italy, Germany, France, Greece and Poland participated with the USA in Blue Flag 2017, the largest international aerial warfare exercise in Israels history, in which nuclear attack tests were also carried out.
Im grateful to the French Chair of the Partnership for convening this important meeting.

We gather at a moment when the rules that guarantee the security of every country  including the global ban on chemical weapons  are gravely imperilled.

Almost a century ago, the world united to prohibit the use of chemical weapons with the Geneva Protocol of 1925.

More recently, 165 countries have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1997 and agreed never to develop, manufacture or stockpile these munitions.

Banning this terrible category of weapon must rank among the seminal diplomatic achievements of the last century.

And yet I have the unwanted distinction of representing a country which has experienced the use of chemical weapons on its soil, not in a 20th century conflict but on 4 March this year, when a nerve agent struck down a father and daughter in Salisbury. Sergei and Yulia Skripal were rushed to hospital after being found reeling and distressed on a park bench.

In the days that followed, our experts had to seal off 9 locations in Salisbury  including a restaurant and a cemetery  in order to screen them for possible contamination. A police officer, Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, was hospitalised after suffering the effects of exposure to the nerve agent.

Scores of unwitting bystanders had to be checked for symptoms. Their only involvement was that chance had placed them in certain areas of Salisbury on 4th March; they could have been from any country  including those represented here  for Salisbury ranks among the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

The fact that no bystander was seriously harmed owed everything to luck and nothing to the perpetrators, who clearly did not care how many innocent people they endangered.

I am glad to say that Mr Skripal was released from hospital earlier today  though he is still receiving treatment. His daughter and Detective Sergeant Bailey were discharged last month.

Our experts analysed samples taken from the scene and identified them as a fourth generation, military-grade Novichok nerve agent. The highest concentration was found on the handle of the front door of Mr Skripals home. We sent samples to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, whose experts independently confirmed this identification.

Novichok nerve agents were first developed in the Soviet Union in the 1980s. The British government has information that within the last decade, Russia has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichok under the same programme that also investigated how to deliver nerve agents, including by application to door handles.

The fact that such a pure nerve agent was used narrows down the list of culprits to a state actor. And there is only one state that combines possession of Novichoks with a record of conducting assassinations and an obvious  indeed publicly avowed  motive for targeting Sergei Skripal.

We are left with no alternative conclusion except that the Russian state was responsible for attempted murder in a British city, using a banned nerve agent in breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Our friends around the world shared our assessment and 28 countries and NATO acted in solidarity with Britain by expelling over 130 Russian diplomats  the biggest coordinated expulsion in history. Many of those countries are represented here today; once again, I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

This resolute action demonstrated our shared determination to ensure there can be no impunity for the use of chemical weapons, whether by a state or a terrorist group, whether in the UK or Syria or anywhere else.

On 7 April, barely a month after the Salisbury incident, the Asad regime used poison gas in the Syrian town of Douma, killing as many as 75 people, including children. Britain, France and the United States responded by launching targeted, precise and proportionate strikes against the chemical weapons infrastructure of the Syrian regime.

Even before the atrocity in Douma, a joint investigation by the UN and the OPCW had found the Asad regime guilty of using chemical weapons on 4 separate occasions between 2015 and 2017.

Russias response was not to enforce the ban on chemical weapons but to use its veto in the Security Council to protect Asad by shutting down the international investigation. That is all the more tragic when you consider that Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council with special responsibility for upholding peace and security, including the global ban on chemical weapons.

Given that the Kremlin seems determined to block any international investigation empowered to attribute responsibility for chemical attacks in Syria, then we must work together to develop another mechanism.

In the meantime, we have it within our power to impose sanctions on any individuals or entities involved in the use of chemical weapons:

 we can collect and preserve the evidence of these crimes

 we can call for a special session of the Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, in order to consider how best to support the Convention and its implementing body, the OPCW.

 and we can make clear our resolve that the global ban on chemical weapons shall not be allowed to fade into irrelevance

If that moral calamity were to happen, the security of every nation would be at risk.

My goal is to be the last foreign minister who attends a gathering like this as the representative of a country that has witnessed the use of chemical weapons. Thank you.
We took note of the meeting of the International Partnership Against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons held in Paris between May 17-18. Predictably, its final Declaration is imbued with the spirit of confrontation with Russia and blatant anti-Syrian rhetoric.

The co-authors of the document, among other things, call on other countries to create an attribution mechanism which , according to their plans, would merely reaffirm the parties responsible for chemical crimes already designated by the West and thus legalise the missile strike on Syria, a sovereign UN member state, delivered in April of this year by the troika of permanent UN Security Council members (the USA, Britain and France) in violation of the UN Charter and universally accepted norms of international law.

The troika who founded the partnership and the like-thinking others who have joined it hypocritically come out for accountability while continuing to block all the Russian initiatives on setting up under the UN SC a truly impartial as well as highly professional investigative body to replace the totally discredited former OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism for Syria (JIM) which until last November was fulfilling their political assignment to discredit the Assad government on the basis of absolutely unproven accusations of chemical provocations actually perpetrated by the Syrian militant opposition. They choose to simply accuse Russia of killing the JIM while keeping mum about the fact that it was they who killed the JIM in the autumn of last year by voting against our draft UN SC resolution on improving its work and harmonizing it with all the provisions of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (CPCW). Does it not indicate that they have no need for an investigation to identify the true perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Middle East? Their only goal is to remove from power the legitimate Syrian government by any methods, to further their geopolitical interests by devaluing the positive shifts towards national reconciliation and political settlement in Syria achieved in the framework of the Astana, Sochi and Geneva processes.

These are the underlying goals for the sake of which, in violation of the bedrock principles of the CPCW, this quasi-nonproliferation format in the shape of the partnership was set up. The main goal is to accumulate data on physical and legal persons, organisations and governments which, in the opinion of the partners, are guilty of using chemical weapons, with a view to imposing on them sanctions on the national and international level backed by corresponding court decisions.

Fitting into this context was the latest meeting of the partnership during the course of which the French initiators of the club announced sanctions at the national level against physical and legal persons allegedly linked with the activities of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (CERS) at Barzah and Jamraya. The supplement to the Paris-sponsored Declaration lists all the individuals allegedly involved in research or acquiring material contributing to the development of the Syrian military-chemical potential in the interests of the centre (which, incidentally, has already been destroyed as a result of the April missile strike by France and its allies). This despite the fact that the OPCW Technical Secretariat has since 2016 conducted repeated unrestricted inspections at CERS and has found no evidence of any activities banned under the CPCW. This is nothing if not sheer cynicism. Apparently this is how the French partners intend to set an example to motivate like-thinking countries to commit similar acts that do not only contravene international law but challenge simple common sense.

On the strength of the above it would not be irrelevant to ask whether the partnership intends to impose sanctions against the physical and legal persons in a number of Western countries who had been directly involved in building up the former Syrian military chemical programme. It would also be interesting to know the outlook for those who, by-passing the sanctions introduced by the West, including the European Union, until recently continued commercial supplies on Syrian territory not controlled by Damascus chemicals that can be used to produce improvised chemical weapons. The answer is obviously no, although the OPCW and the UN Security Council have received the relevant information from the Syrian authorities.

Now for the attacks directed at Russia over the Skripal case contained in the Partnerships latest ministerial statement that bristles with the same epithets with regard to our country and mentions the notorious Novichok.

Following NATO and the EU over used formulas the participating states share and agree with the United Kingdoms analysis that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the Salisbury attack and that there is no plausible alternative explanation. In other words, as a token of solidarity everyone subscribes to the British official version in the absence of any grounds or evidence. The picture is clear, but we would still like to know which partner countries were represented in Paris at the ministerial level and who personally signed the statement, something the document chooses to keep silent about. One would also like to ask the ministers about the continuing flow of reports to the effect that contrary to Londons hysterical denials, Novichok has been worked on since the 1990s inside Britain as well as in the USA, France, Germany, Sweden, the Czech Republic and probably other Western countries united by bloc solidarity and common geopolitical interests.

Sooner or later the truth will come out and the accusations leveled against Russia and Syria of the use of propaganda, false and fabricated news stories or other such tools and campaigns designed to deliberately create misinformation about chemical weapons attacks will turn against their authors. Their instigation of the Syrian militant opposition to commit such provocations may result in the phenomenon of chemical terrorism born in the Middle East with their connivance and spreading beyond the region with all the catastrophic consequences this entails.
We, the participating States to the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons, condemn in the strongest terms the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons, the reemergence of which we deplore.

We reaffirm our condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the use of chemical weapons by anyone, under any circumstance, emphasizing that all uses of chemical weapons anywhere, at any time, by anyone, under any circumstances are unacceptable, and contravene international standards and norms against such use.

We reiterate our strong support for the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, an essential pillar of the international counter proliferation architecture and the rules based international order on which we all rely. We call upon all States to ratify or accede to and fully implement the Convention without delay. We pledge our unequivocal support to the work of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). And we reaffirm the importance of full respect for the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare; with the Geneva Conventions ; with UN Security Resolutions (UNSCRs) 2314 (2016), 2235 and 2209 (2015), 2118 (2013), 1540 (2004), and 2325 (2016). We also recall UNGA resolution A/72/43 (2017), as well as Human Rights Council (HRC) Resolution S-17/1 (2011).

We condemn the repeated use of chemical weapons in Syria by the Syrian armed forces and by Daesh as confirmed by the OPCW-UN Joint Investigation Mechanism. Use of such weapons continues to kill and wound large numbers of men, women and children, including in the currently investigated attack on 7 April 2018 in Duma. Substantive information on the latter, from a number of sources, was presented on the highly likely responsibility of the Syrian armed forces and security forces.

We condemn the use of a nerve agent on 4 March 2018 in the city of Salisbury in the United Kingdom, against a British and a Russian citizen, which put in danger a British police officer and dozens of civilians. We share and agree with the United Kingdoms analysis that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.

We condemn the use of a chemical weapon - nerve agent VX - in a fatal incident on 13 February 2017 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

We condemn the use of propaganda, false and fabricated news stories or other such tools and campaigns designed to deliberately create misinformation about chemical weapons attacks and to avoid attribution and accountability.

We deeply regret the non-renewal of the mandate of the OPCW-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) last November. Russias opposition to the renewal of this mandate in the UN Security Council deprived the international community of an essential instrument of investigation, attribution and deterrence against those responsible for the chemical attacks in Syria. We call on Russia to reconsider its position so that new attribution mechanism may be established.

We regret that no measure has so far been adopted by key international bodies to hold to account the perpetrators involved in chemical attacks.

We believe that it is the responsibility of all States parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, to uphold it as a foundation of the international disarmament, non-proliferation and broader security architecture, and to do everything possible to stop and prevent such heinous attacks that undermine human dignity. We join in the fight against the impunity currently enjoyed by those who use and develop these inhumane weapons that the international community has been working to ban since early last century, a work solidified with the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997.

In response to the most recent use of chemical weapons, we have convened this urgent meeting of the participating States of the Partnership on 18 May 2018 following the recent cases of use of these weapons in Salisbury and Syria. We have exchanged our assessments of the situation and have worked to further strengthen our cooperation in order to support international organizations, in particular OPCW, and dedicated mechanisms in their activities to combat impunity for the use of chemical weapons.

We discussed ways to strengthen the longstanding international norm against the use of chemical weapons, in particular to make all necessary means available for the development of effective, impartial and independent attribution arrangements to identify those responsible for chemical attacks.

We have also explored possibilities of reinforcing the OPCWs capacity and tools to strengthen its verification regime, and call on States Parties to the Convention to work to that end at the fourth Review conference.

We believe that capacity building efforts are essential to assist States Parties in implementing their obligation under the Convention as mentioned in the Declaration of principles. To that end, we commit to engage and identify synergies with related initiatives, including the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.

National sanctions have been adopted by some participating States and additional sanctions were announced at the meeting for publication on the partnership website, as appropriate.

We commend the work of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, including its Declaration Assessment Team and Fact Finding Mission.

We also welcome the International Impartial and Independent mechanism (IIIM) to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, which continue to contribute substantively to work investigating the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Given the gravity of the situation, we support the call for a special session of the Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague next month to work on supporting the Convention and its implementing body, the OPCW. We call on all States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention to support the holding of this meeting and to work together to strengthen the ability of the OPCW to promote the implementation of the Convention, including exploring options for attributing responsibility for chemical weapons attacks.

We founded this Partnership on 23 January 2018 to strengthen our cooperation to protect the Chemical Weapons Convention, to help identify those responsible for chemical weapons use as a step towards bringing them to justice, and to support the work of dedicated OPCW and UN bodies working in this field.

More than thirty states drawn from all geographical regions have joined the partnership to date. We welcome the growing membership of the Partnership, and the many countries not yet members that share our concerns. We solemnly call upon those who have yet to do so to join our International Partnership against impunity for the use of chemical weapons to send a clear message that they join our common refusal to accept impunity for anyone, anywhere responsible for the use of chemical weapons and are committed to putting an end to their use.
The version of events presented by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during a press conference on May 24, according to which the Buk anti-aircraft missile system used to launch the missile at the airliner arrived in Ukraine from Russia and belonged to Air Defence Brigade 53 deployed in Kursk, is regrettable. This is a case of unfounded accusations aimed at discrediting our country in the eyes of the international community. No evidence, of course, was presented, except for a visually striking video based on data fabricated by Bellingcat bloggers, who were previously found to be distorting facts to support the hypothesis of Russias involvement in the crash of the airliner.

It is also puzzling that the JIT put forward this theory at a time when Russia has not yet finished examining the requests for legal assistance from the Dutch Prosecutors Office.

We note that the materials shown at the press conference ignore a significant amount of information provided by Russia to the JIT. Nothing was said about the assistance we provided during the investigation. The people behind the presentation forgot to mention that we hosted Dutch experts and investigators of the Dutch Prosecutors Office in Moscow, declassified and handed over technical and design data of the Buk missiles to the investigators, and provided the results of a full-scale experiment carried out by Almaz-Antey, the manufacturer of this type of anti-aircraft missile systems.

Russia also transferred to the Netherlands primary raw data from radar surveillance of the airspace at the time of the tragedy. This critical information is of an exhaustive and completely objective nature, as it cannot be tampered with or altered. However, this did nothing to affect the line of investigation. Based on the radar records, the findings of unknown experts hired by the JIT cannot be characterised otherwise than absolutely untenable.

In these circumstances, we have legitimate questions about the true underlying motives of the JIT decision to disclose the preliminary conclusion.

All this only confirms our earlier expressed concerns about the bias and one-sidedness of the ongoing investigation.

Nonetheless, we will continue to provide assistance so that the truth about the crash of flight MH17 is established, and the true perpetrators are brought to justice.
Environment Meeting at No 10

Dr Liesl Mesilio, CEO and Chief Scientist of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Climate Change attended a meeting held at No10 Downing Street for the Overseas Territories on the Environment.

The meeting was hosted by Sir John Randall, the Special Advisor on Environment to the Prime Minister. The issues discussed included Brexit, international platforms, renewable energy, climate change, HMGs Oceans and marine protected areas agenda. The meeting was very positive and illustrated a commitment on the part of HMG to have closer ties and working relationships with the Overseas Territories on the environment moving forward.

This was the first meeting with further meetings envisaged as we work together for greater and stronger collaboration between HMG and the OTs on environmental initiatives and campaigns at an International level.
Solo, Blockers, and Book Club. Photo: Lucasfilm/Universal Studios/Paramount Pictures

Memorial Day weekend is here, and if you plan to spend any of your God-given days off at the movies, there are plenty of films out in theaters right now to choose from  from action blockbusters, to rom-coms, to thoughtful indies. To make your decision a little easier, weve compiled a list of our critics top picks from the last few weeks.

Avengers: Infinity War

The third film in Marvels Avengers series, Infinity War is going to dazzle, stagger, and rile people up, says our critic David Edelstein. In this chapter, the plot revolves around a new villain, the strong-jawed Thanos, who has plans to kill of half the universe in order to combat overpopulation. It doesnt occur to him to make a large donation to Planned Parenthood, jokes Edelstein. Leaving carnage in his trail, Thanos spares no prisoners, and the film will surprise some Marvel fans, Edelstein suggests, with some of its violent plot points. Flagrantly, bombastically extravagant, it plays its audience like a hundred million fiddles, he writes.

Blockers

Blockers stars Leslie Mann, John Cena, and Ike Barinholtz as three parents, who, upon learning of their daughters prom night sex pact, attempt to prevent the fulfillment of said pact, and inevitably face a slew of obstacles on the way. Its a silly premise, but in this case, it works to hilarious effect. Beneath the whacking, smutty, in-your-face teen sex farce, Blockers is a mature, thoughtful exploration of parental responsibility and the capacity of burgeoning adults to navigate lifes difficult choices, says David Edelstein. Mann hasnt been this delightful since Knocked Up, while Barinholtz  of The Mindy Project  should be Blockers breakout star, Edelstein says. At any given moment his face is doing five different things, all of which are funny and some of which are downright alarming: He looks dissipated, haunted, like a human car wreck.

Book Club

Book Club is such a Nancy Meyers movie that you may be surprised to discover it wasnt actually made by Nancy Meyers. (It was directed by Bill Holderman and written by Holderman and Erin Simms), Provenance aside, its still an ensemble-cast rom-com with surprising depth. Though the premise of the film is based around a group of senior women reading Fifty Shades of Gray, Book Club is only tangentially about the Fifty Shades trilogy, and thats what makes it so smart, says our critic Emily Yoshida. It uses E.L. Jamess notoriously silly BDSM saga as shorthand for a kind of romantic adventurousness, but the four leads all quickly pick up the beat and explore that idea on their own, outside the limited realm of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. These four leads, it should be noted, are played by none other than Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and the irresistibly charming Mary Steenburgen. Theres a maturity and warmth to director Bill Holderman and Erin Simmss script, which respects these ladies and understands that theyve got a wealth of life experience that doesnt exactly fit into one rom-com, says Yoshida.

Chappaquiddick

A retelling of the eponymous incident that rocked, but notably failed to derail, the youngest Kennedy brothers political career, Chappaquiddick is somehow both cynical and deeply inquisitive about the morals of every character involved, says Emily Yoshida. Writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan are not merely satisfied to tell a WASP-porn, Vanity Fair-esque soap opera of regattas and manslaughter, nor is it merely a gimlet-eyed examination of the precedent-setting image-making and media-wrangling of the late 1960s, but the film is pretty skilled at being both, she says. Jason Clarkes performance as Ted Kennedy fits the storys perceptive, and unromantic view of history. Rather than simply point out that the famous man did a bad thing, Clarkes Kennedy is something more elemental, a snapshot of a failure of all the things masculinity was and to some degree is still billed as. He didnt save the girl, he couldnt win the race, and he let an old man boss him around.

First Reformed

The searching loss-of-faith drama First Reformed is the happy result of Paul Schraders entering the what-the-hell-lets-go-for-it stage of his long and bravely self-lacerating career, says David Edelstein. The film stars Ethan Hawke as a depressed and guilt-laden pastor of a small congregation in upstate New York. He is confronted with a spiritual dilemma when Mary (Amanda Seyfried), a young pregnant woman, asks him to counsel her environmental activist husband, whom she believes wants her to have an abortion. In this role, Hawke is as committed as Ive seen him, says Edelstein. He drives himself to a feverish pitch that makes you pray  whatever your degree of faith  for the characters continued existence.

Let the Sunshine In

Let the Sunshine In feels cream-puff light, but is deceptively rigorous, and about so much more than one womans quest to find the One, says Emily Yoshida of Claire Deniss latest film, a romantic comedy starring Juliette Binoche as the female lead, Isabelle. Binoche has never been more radiant, says Yoshida. Isabelle feels everything all the time, her eyes often sparkling with the beginning of tears at the slightest provocation. The film also features, what Yoshida calls one of the great end-credits-as-scene sequences of the last year.

RBG

Both the film and the notorious figure at its center are the best imaginable retaliation to mansplaining, says David Edelstein of RBG. The documentary, directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, explores the life and career of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Yes, RGB is a hagiography, but it has its cheeky aspect, says Edelstein. It begins with a montage of government landmarks, many in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Sometimes a Washington Monument is just a Washington Monument, but one could be forgiven for watching the film and thinking that our nations capital operated for 200 years under a sort of penile code.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

The Han Solo origin feature, Solo: A Star Wars Story, is smoothly directed by the reliable Hollywood hand Ron Howard and smoothly written by Lawrence Kasdan (who co-wrote, among many other things, the best of all the Star Wars movies, The Empire Strikes Back) and his son, Jonathan, writes David Edelstein. The performances, including those of Woody Harrelson and Thandie Newton, are largely excellent, he says. The films nonhuman characters, and production design are also impressive. The creature designs are wittier than anything since the first Star Wars films, says Edelstein, and The production design is just as striking, with extraordinary wintry vistas, especially when a train carrying some sort of MacGuffin (a powerful explosive) threads its way through the mountains as Han and Beckett attempt an aerial assault.

The Death of Stalin

The Death of Stalin, a dark, satirical comedy, which tracks the power struggles within the Soviet Union following Stalins death, transforms the trivial into the tragic, says David Edelstein. The film, directed by Armando Iannuci, stars Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev, and Simon Russell Beale as the Deputy Prime Minister Lavrentiy Beria (both of whom are vying for the position of party chairman), along with an impressive supporting cast which includes Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Palin, and Jason Isaacs. It takes some time to adjust to the mix of silly, peevish bureaucrats and the serious atrocities they inflict. But thats the beauty of the thing. Iannucci gets that grotesque horrors often emanate from egotists, clowns, and stumblebums, from small-minded people with vast and unchecked powers, says Edelstein. Iannuccis pacing  both deadpan and lickety-split  is like an exquisite straitjacket for farceurs, and its a pleasure to watch the Americans, Buscemi and Tambor, keep up with their seasoned British counterparts.

The Rider

In telling the story of a disappearing slice of America, Zhao has created a portrait of resilience, and the bonds that last even after the rodeos over, says Emily Yoshida of The Rider, Chloe Zhaos second full-length feature, based in the badlands of South Dakota. The docu-drama follows Brady Blackburn (played by real-life rodeo veteran Brady Jandreau) an injured former rodeo rider, as he attempts to navigate life and work outside the rodeo circuit. It is beautifully shot, and the story is told with a moving (but unsentimental) level of sensitivity. The connection between men and horses is one of the most enduring themes in cinema, if an increasingly abstract and nostalgic one, says Yoshida. But Zhaos framing of Bradys story is unmistakably contemporary; she gets so close up that the screen practically exudes the smell of hay and sweat.

Tully

Tully, screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitmans third film together, follows the story of Marlo (played by Charlize Theron), a mother who is struggling under the weight of child-rearing and postpartum depression. She is overworked, underslept, and desperate, until a night nurse named Tully (played by Mackenzie Davis ) enters the scene to share the load. At this moment, the movie enters uncharted territory and comes to life, says David Edelstein. It contracts in a good way, deepens, and becomes very impressive. Daviss performance as Tully helps too. Shes a vivid actress and fearless on camera, which doesnt mean that she overemotes, but that shes comfortable letting go, putting all her attention on the other actor; and Theron responds by loosening up and entering Daviss orbit. The script also benefits from this plot transition. The Tully-Marlo relationship is born of solipsism and inner drama, and Cody turns out to be amazingly gifted at it.
David Cross. Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM

In a new interview with Gothamist, David Cross addressed comments made in a piece published yesterday by the New York Times in which Jessica Walter was brought to tears while discussing an instance of her being berated on the set of Arrested Development by Jeffrey Tambor. Cross apparently logged off of Twitter shortly after the Times interview went live, and had not yet seen the apologies issued by his co-stars Jason Bateman and Tony Hale who, along with Will Arnett, essentially gaslighted Walter by minimizing the effect Tambors behavior had on her during the conflict, even as she emphasized that she had never been treated so poorly by someone in her 60-year career.

For coming to Tambors defense (he told the Times that the actor has learned from the experience and hes listening and learning and growing, adding Thats important to remember) instead of empathizing with the actively weeping Walter, Cross told Gothamist, I will unequivocally apologize to Jessica. Im sorry that we behaved the way we behaved. Whatever the criticisms are, I will own up. I dont even know what they are, as I said, I saw the initial thing but I jumped off [of Twitter] at the behest of various people. He also said that, I think we kind of got what we deserved, because they never addressed Tambors blow-up as a group prior to this press tour.

Cross said too that he has been having conversations about the backlash with his wife, Amber Tamblyn, as well as his co-star, Alia Shawkat, who was the only Arrested cast member to call Tambors behavior toward Walter unacceptable without qualification in the Times conversation. I agreed with Alia that there was no excuse. Theres never an excuse ever for yelling at somebody and humiliating them in front of other people, said Cross, who explained that he once saw Walter treat another performer on set poorly, but that her outburst did not approach the severity of Tambors. There was no excuse when Jessica did it. To Jessicas credit, she eventually apologized to the actress, and felt bad about it. Jeffrey did as well, but it was a bigger deal, there were more people in the room and it was an extremely uncomfortable moment.

In the Times conversation, Bateman pressed the point that the unique demands of acting can result in strange behavior when an actor is working through their process, but Cross stressed multiple times to Gothamist that Tambors treatment of Walter was egregious and there was a little bit of cruelty to it, which I have a real issue with, and added, Im not going to defend what Jeffrey did at all, because I would never do that. Ive never seen anybody do that to that level and thats just not right. Theres just no excuse for behaving like that.
Photo: Rick Kern/WireImage

Last November, a man named Scott R. Brunton accused George Takei of groping him without consent back in 1981. The men were friends at the time, and Brunton says after having a few drinks at Takeis home he passed out briefly and woke up to Takei undressing him. He had my pants down around my ankles and he was groping my crotch and trying to get my underwear off and feeling me up at the same time, trying to get his hands down my underwear, Brunton told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that he then told Takei to stop  which Takei did  put his pants back on, and drove home. In a subsequent interview with the Oregonian, Brunton also said, I know unequivocally he spiked my drink.

In a new article from The Observer, however, Takeis accuser is walking back parts of his story, which reporter Shane Snow points out has changed at various points since first Brunsons first accusations in THR. When asked directly by The Observer if Takei actually touched his genitals in 1981 without consent, Brunton responded could not actually confirm the groping took place.

I asked him to clarify the issue. Did he touch your genitals? You know  probably  Brunton replied after some hesitation. He was clearly on his way to  to  to going somewhere. We shared a pause. So  you dont remember him touching your genitals? Brunton confessed that he did not remember any touching.

In addition to cataloguing the various times Brunton has changed the details of his encounter with Takei, including what state of undress the actor was in when he was allegedly removing Bruntons pants, Snow consults various sources about the effects of date-rape drugs, and whether or not Brunton would have been capable of moving, operating a vehicle, and remembering the night had he been under the influence of substances like Rohypnol or quaaludes. The conclusion from various toxicologists was that it was highly unlikely Brunton was dosed with a date-rape drug and able to function as he described. When this information was brought to Brunton, Snow notes he seemed less than unequivocally convinced he had been drugged by Takei that night.

I shared the toxicologists observations with Brunton, who admitted that this made him feel better. He was probably right all those years when he thought he was just drunk. He would still never know for sure, but, Brunton said, referring to Takei, it makes him a little less sinister.

Burton still feels he was taken advantage of that night by someone he considered a friend. He does not think of Takei as a criminal or an abuser, and wants an apology from the actor for taking advantage of our friendship. Takei has maintained there was no wrongdoing, saying in his initial denial that, Those that know me understand that nonconsensual acts are so antithetical to my values and my practices, the very idea that someone would accuse me of this is quite personally painful.

Update, May 26: In a series of tweets, Takei expressed gratitude that Burton admitted to falsifying parts of his story. As many of you know, this has been a very difficult period for myself and my husband Brad as we have dealt with the impact of these accusations, but we are happy to see that this nightmare is finally drawing to a close, he wrote. As I stated before, I do not remember Mr. Brunton or any of the events he described from forty years ago, but I do understand that this was part of a very important national conversation that we as a society must have, painful as it might be. It is in that spirit that I want folks to know, despite what he has put us through, I do not bear Mr. Brunton any ill will, and I wish him peace. Brad and I are especially grateful for the many fans who stood by me throughout this ordeal. Your support kept us going, and we are so immensely thankful for you.
Weinstein carried biographies of Elia Kazan and Rodgers and Hammerstein when turning himself in. Photo: Gotham/GC Images

Months after the first allegations of sexual assault and abuse broke against him, disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself in at the First Police Precinct station, in Tribeca, on Friday morning. According to the New York Times, Weinstein was arrested on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him. Per The New Yorker, the criminal sex act charge stems from an account by Lucia Evans, who spoke to investigators from the Manhattan district attorneys office; the source of the rape charge has not been identified. Weinstein had also been the subject of numerous other state and federal investigations.

WATCH: @NBCNews Special Report: Harvey Weinstein turns himself into police. https://t.co/pEj5D9lLWM  NBC News (@NBCNews) May 25, 2018

Weinstein was then led out of the station house on his way to court, where he was arraigned on charges of first-degree rape and third-degree rape in one case, and first-degree criminal sex act in the other. For his bail package, Weinstein will post $1 million in cash, agree to wear a monitoring device, and surrender his passport.

"The defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them"



Prosecutor in Harvey Weinstein case tells judge investigation is ongoing, and they have encouraged other survivors to come forwardhttps://t.co/6KxwLgmEmK pic.twitter.com/WnsJDI1B6s  BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 25, 2018

At a press conference outside the courthouse, Weinsteins attorney Ben Brafman said he will enter a plea of not guilty and move to dismiss charges, repeating that Weinstein, as he has said before, denies all nonconsensual sexual activity. His next court appearance is set for July 30. Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood, Brafman said.

"We believe that at the end of the process Mr Weinstein will be exonerated."



Harvey Weinstein's lawyer says the Hollywood producer intends to plead not guilty to charges of rape and several counts of sexual abuse https://t.co/6KxwLgmEmK pic.twitter.com/O4u73wPC5G  BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 25, 2018

Todays charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation, Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement. I thank the brave survivors who have come forward, and my offices prosecutors who have worked tirelessly on this investigation. I would also like to thank Commissioner James ONeill and our dedicated partners at the NYPD. We urge additional survivors and others with relevant information to call our sex crimes hotline at 212-335-9373.
This is not the cameo. Photo: Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm Ltd.

Major spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story below.

While Star Wars: Episode IThe Phantom Menace is often reviled in the cultural consciousness, there is one piece of the film that gets a universal pass: the Duel of the Fates fight, a beautifully choreographed three-combatant lightsaber melee in the films final act. The success of that fight can be largely attributed to the silent prowess of its villain: Darth Maul, apprentice to Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, played in body by stuntman Ray Park and in voice by actor Peter Serafinowicz. From the moment that Maul stepped out of the shadows and into the mythos of that galaxy far, far away, fans have been mesmerized by him. His brutal dispatch  severed in half, poor guy  at the hands of a grieving Obi-Wan Kenobi only served to heighten fandoms fascination with the character, his tenure all too short.

So, for a certain breed of Star Wars viewer, one of the final scenes of this weekends Solo: A Star Wars Story will act as a moment of profound surprise and delight. Throughout the film, characters occasionally mention that crime lord Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) has a dangerous boss in the Crimson Dawn outlaw outfit. After Vos is offed, his lieutenant (and erstwhile lover of Han Solo), Qira, makes contact with the Crimson Dawns grand poobah  and it turns out to be Darth Maul, somehow assembled back into one piece and growling his way through life again. The average viewer will either have no idea who this red-and-black-skinned fellow is, or recognize him from The Phantom Menace and wonder how in the world hes canonically kicking.

But Mauls return to Star Wars on the big screen likely wont come as a surprise to the fans who have followed the animated arm of the universe. The Clone Wars  a six-season series that filled in the gaps between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith  was the ground of Darth Mauls first big comeback, detailing his impressive backstory and reviving his neatly divided corpse. Were happy to inform you just how he got from point A to point B. Just a warning: The story that follows is very, very Star Wars, so prepare for ridiculous terminology and somewhat byzantine plots.

Mauls return was carefully seeded, starting with the introduction of the planet Dathomir and its ruling class, known as the Nightsisters. Powerful Force-wielding witches led by Clan Mother Talzin, the Nightsisters counted their male cohorts, the Nightbrothers, as a subservient class that they used to further their own galactic plans. One of those Nightbrothers was Savage Opress (yes, thats his birth name)  Darth Mauls brother.

The tale begins in fourth-season episodes Brothers and Revenge, aired in 2012, just a few months before Lucasfilm was sold to Disney. Mother Talzin gave a talisman to Savage that led him to Lotho Minor, a landfill planet where the rest of the galaxy dumped its refuse. It was revealed that Maul survived his bisection on Naboo and wound up there, spending over a decade descending into madness, a nightmare-worthy figure who had patched his body up with a set of insectoid mechanical legs. Savage brought his brother back to Dathomir, where Talzin used her Force magic to heal his mind and rebuild his body with a new pair of droid legs. Gifted with a loquaciousness that Episode I never gave him, Maul found renewed purpose. He was furious at being cast aside by his master, and angrier still at Obi-Wan Kenobi for cutting his path to glory woefully (and literally) short.

The trio of episodes Eminence, Shades of Reason, and The Lawless closed out Darth Mauls role in the The Clone Wars. Maul and Savage were eventually discovered by the Mandalorian (thats the group that Boba Fetts a part of) warrior splinter sect known as Death Watch, and form an alliance. Death Watch was interested in taking over their homeworld of Mandalore, which had recently been transformed by a pacifist government at the hands of Duchess Satine Kryze, a former flame of Master Kenobi. Maul convinced the group to help him recruit (through intimidation and murder) the criminal syndicate Black Sun and the Grand Hutt Council. With the might of the galactic criminal underworld at his disposal, Darth Maul christened this group the Shadow Collective.

Maul used the Collective to overtake Mandalore, reinstating the former Prime Minister as his puppet. Knowing about the history between Obi-Wan and Duchess Satine, Maul assumed that the Jedi would come to her rescue. He reliably appeared, and Maul took that opportunity to exact his revenge: He murdered Satine in front of Obi-Wan. The Jedi Master still escaped with the help of the Duchesss sister due to the unexpected arrival of Darth Sidious, who decided that it was finally time to put an end to his former apprentices coup. Murdering Savage with little difficulty, Sidious captured Maul and tortured him for the insolence of believing that he could ever replace a true Sith Lord.

The Darth Maul  Son of Dathomir comic series provided an end to this arc, as it was adapted from scripts for the seventh season of The Clone Wars (which was canceled after season six). Due to Sidiouss careful planning, Dathomir was attacked by the Separatists, and the Shadow Collective fell. Maul escaped and hid with a few loyal fighters on Mandalore, but the planet was liberated by Anakin Skywalkers former Padawan Ahsoka Tano near the end of the Clone War, and he was forced to flee.

All of which fits more or less seamlessly with his Solo appearance. The movie picks up about ten years after the events of Son of Dathomir and ten before the action in A New Hope, and it appears that Maul got back into his crime streak, using the lessons of his Shadow Collective career to get back on top of the underworld. People who are only used to seeing him as a Sith in The Phantom Menace may find it surprising to see Maul (who is billed only as Maul in the credits, implying that he got rid of the Darth at some point) soiling himself in criminality. But its a logical extension of character moves that date back to the days when George Lucas was still in charge of Lucasfilm. It appears that his mob career was not to last, however  just a few years later, he was back in the Force stream of things. We know this due to his appearances in The Clone Wars follow-up series, Star Wars: Rebels, which recently killed him off again, seemingly for good.

The show covers the five-year period leading up to A New Hope. In the two-part finale of season two, Twilight of the Apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, Padawan learner Ezra Bridger, and his master Kanan Jarrus were directed to an ancient Sith stronghold on planet Malachor on the advice of Master Yoda. Once there, Ezra encountered a mysterious figure who insisted on being called Old Master. This turned out to be Maul, who crashed on Malachor years prior and wound up stuck there. Working to gain Ezras trust, he convinced the boy to retrieve a Sith holocron, a compendium of Dark Side knowledge, but the ensuing battle saw Kanan and Ezra escaping with that prize rather than Maul.

In the episode Holocrons of Fate, at the start of Rebels third season, Maul kidnapped Kanan and Ezras friends, threatening to kill the group if they didnt bring the Sith holocron back to him  and Kanans Jedi holocron as well. While Kanan was busy trying to rescue their crew, Maul convinced Ezra to unlock both holocrons with him, an act that would grant them each an answer to any question. Once opened, the holocrons delivered a startling revelation: Obi-Wan Kenobi was still alive. Ezra was determined to find the Jedi Master before Maul could kill him.

He didnt have to work hard; in the episode Twin Suns, Ezra did finally come face-to-face with Master Kenobi, who quickly sent him on his way  he knew that Maul was hunting him, and he was prepared to settle their differences once and for all. Maul confronted the Jedi soon after, belittling his life in exile. Obi-Wan refused to rise to his bait until Maul deduced the truth: he was protecting someone on the backwater world. Master Kenobi ignited his lightsaber, and a brief but dizzyingly precise battle ensued. Maul was cut down  again  by his old adversary. In his final moments, he asked Obi-Wan if the person he was protecting was the prophesied Chosen One. Obi-Wan answered in the affirmative. Darth Mauls last thought before dying in arms of his mortal enemy was that this Chosen One would avenge them both. He could finally let go.

The work done by both The Clone Wars and Rebels enriched the Star Wars universe because both shows were able to take time and fully develop underwritten characters like Darth Maul. From a master combatant of few words to a Sith castaway and Dathomirs prodigal son, his adventures beyond the realm of The Phantom Menace belie potential that the prequels wasted. With his story firmly established elsewhere, folding him back into the Star Wars cinematic pantheon was a necessary step in giving the acrobatic adversary his due.
Photo: Amazon Prime Video

Amazons new Picnic at Hanging Rock mini-series will be most recognizable as an adaptation and expansion of the classic 1975 film by director Peter Weir. Weirs movie is widely considered to be a near-perfect treatment of its subject, dreamlike and striking and stubbornly resistant of easy readings. But the new mini-series owes just as much, if not more, to Joan Lindsays original 1967 novel, and its also patently invested in becoming its own thing, filling out backstories and turning the storys previously implicit, sketchy subtexts into fully developed narrative avenues. Heres a list of the major changes made to Picnic at Hanging Rock among book, movie, and mini-series.

The mini-series is much, much bigger

When you stretch a narrative once contained in a film across six episodes of a mini-series, you end up with more. Thats obvious, of course, but its also a fundamentally different way of approaching Lindsays novel. In Weirs film, the story about four women who disappear on a huge rock formation in the Australian bush is ambiguous; your eye spends nearly as much time just watching the young women slowly climb up the rock formation as it does following the detectives investigation into their disappearance afterward. Its a movie made up of arresting, unreal moments, and its much less interested in digging into quotidian details like witnesses or alibis.

The new mini-series is just as interested in the surreal, unexplained, and potentially otherworldly sensations as both previous versions of Picnic at Hanging Rock. But like Lindsays novel, the mini-series anchors the events on the Rock to a lot more stuff. In Weirs film, the police investigation is mostly a shrug. In Lindsays telling, the outside world encroaches on Appleyard College and the Rock in a completely different way: The threat of notoriety in the press looms much larger; the precarity of Mrs. Appleyards finances and reputation plays a much bigger role; and her detective figure spends much more time pursuing possibilities, gathering witness accounts, trying to understand the timeline, and generally behaving like someone actually investigating a mystery. The novel, like the mini-series, treats the police investigation as a serious effort, and it creates a much stronger impression that the rest of the world is invading Mrs. Appleyards intensely private, cloistered space.

Its about female agency and gay relationships

The mini-series largest deviation from the previous Picnic at Hanging Rock stories is the way it fills in character backstories. In Lindsays novel, Mrs. Appleyard is an English widow whos come to Australia to support herself, and the narrator spends a lot of time diving in and out of Mrs. Appleyards mind. The reader has more opportunities to consider Mrs. Appleyards frustrations, her sympathies (and lack thereof) toward the College and its students, and her intense suspicion of any outside eyes prying into her business. This version of Mrs. Appleyard is a restrictive holdover from a Victorian era, overcompensating for her own scholastic insecurities by instituting rigid boundaries on herself and everyone in her power. Weirs movie strips most of this detail away, leaving Mrs. Appleyard as an English widow with a drinking problem and leaving any other allusions to her past as largely hazy and undefined.

In both Lindsays book and in Weirs film, the students are mostly ciphers. Everything we learn about Miranda, Irma, Marion, and Greta McCraw, the math teacher who disappears with them, arrives in the first few chapters of the novel. Once they disappear onto the Rock, thats all we get. Theyre spirited young women mysteriously drawn to the top of a strange rock formation, and then theyre gone.

The mini-series builds significantly more agency and backstory for both the students and their power-hungry headmistress. Most notably, it takes the homosocial subtexts of a clique of girls at a private girls college and leans all the way in. Theres much more attention to Mirandas relationship with the younger student Sara Waybourne, whose devotion to her becomes even more like a crush. Theres also an entirely new, explicitly romantic relationship between Marion and Greta McCraw. In general, the new series is much more invested in expressing the complicated, slippery, potent intimacy of intense female relationships, especially those that slide between platonic devotion, jealousy, and sexual attraction.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Appleyard is an entirely different character in the mini-series. Where both Weirs film and Lindsays novel show us an older woman  a widow, whos carved out a new life for herself and is now protecting it zealously  this version of Mrs. Appleyard is explicitly subversive. Weir and Lindsay suggest that Mrs. Appleyards husband died before the action on the Rock, and she was forced to create a new life to support herself. In the mini-series, Mrs. Appleyard has real agency. Shes not tragically booted out of her past life; she purposely escapes it. Her mysterious past is apparent even from the opening scenes of the first episode, as Natalie Dormers Mrs. Appleyard switches from a posh accent in her spoken language to a lower-class Cockney for her sardonic voice-overs. (From there, her history is revealed slowly through flashbacks and a new story about an enigmatic soapbox containing some clue to her past.) Unlike in either previous version, this Mrs. Appleyard is creating herself, and she gives herself power by establishing oppressive power dynamics at the school so that she can be at the top.

As for those evocative scenes of Mrs. Appleyard whipping Mirandas hands, and of her friends treating her wounds? None of that is in the book, nor are the repeated images of the missing trio of students sleeping together in an intimate, suggestive heap. The mini-series makes the buried, oblique implications of Lindsays novel  of women escaping crushing social expectations, of familiarity among girls, of the total disconnection between men and women, of women policing each other  a much more visually explicit part of the story, even if its still dreamy and largely unspoken.

The (new) mysterious ending

Since its publication, the appeal of Picnic at Hanging Rock has had a lot to do with its stubbornly abrupt, unexplained ending. In her first draft, Lindsay included a final chapter that explained everything, and it was excised from the manuscript by her publisher. Even in the explanatory unpublished final chapter, though, Picnic at Hanging Rock resists giving easy answers. In Lindsays original ending, the girls and their teacher are drawn to the top of Hanging Rock by an inexplicable force, and eventually fall through a reddish pink cloud into another dimension, disappearing forever.

Weirs film keeps many of Lindsays surrealist clues that the Rock is an otherworldly place: watches stop, time behaves strangely, visuals get distorted, and the whole picnic sequence has a pervasive, sleepy, dreamlike tone. But otherwise, the film elides the textual history of Lindsays excised last chapter entirely, just as it elides any answer about what happens to the girls.

The mini-series doesnt take that scrubbed last chapter as text, but its clearly closer to the surface. To the viewers ear, to the eye, and for all of the picnickers in the story, things are very obviously weird on the Rock. That obviousness is both the strength and weakness of the mini-series adaptation. It draws power from turning subtext into text everywhere, and it delights in the freedom to show off so many more beautiful, disturbing, fantastic, and unnerving sides of its story. But all that extra detail becomes surplus, paradoxically diminishing the strange, self-possessed openness of the earlier versions.

So much of whats added to the Picnic at Hanging Rock mini-series is elegant and strong. Its look, its idiosyncratic direction, its effort to turn featureless young women into fully formed characters full of desire and agency  all of it feels thoughtful and smart. But it also feels like filling out the details of a map that used to be a wide, empty space. Its nice to know whats out there, but once you do, it becomes something knowable and closed. Its no longer open to your imagination.
Moments after Harvey Weinstein surrendered to the NYPD, Rose McGowan processed her alleged rapists arrest live on Megyn Kelly Today. I actually didnt believe this day would come. I didnt believe this day would come. Im so proud of Lucia Evans and Paz [de la Huerta], she said, referencing two of the women who brought their cases to the New York authorities. We have to understand, he turned himself in on a Friday. Thats a slow news weekend, Memorial Day. He still has privileges from high up somewhere. But this is a big strike into the heart of abuse of power. This shows people worldwide, which is what I was hoping the whole time, that this cannot and will not stand.

McGowan also condemned Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., who was slow to prosecute Weinstein, according to New Yorks reporting. There will always be sociopaths and predators like Harvey Weinstein, McGowan said. But I find his complicity machine a lot more guilty.
Photo: Mindy Tucker

Alyssa Limperis is a comedian, actress, and writer in New York City. You can find her work on YouTube, Instagram, and buying her fourth coffee of the day at noon.

This week, Limperis talked with me about her funniest tweets and her YouTube sketches, some of which she makes with her mom, Linda!

Live each day to the fullest unless it's raining or you don't feel like it  Alyssa Limperis (@alyssalimp) November 30, 2016

I really try hard to treat each day like it is a gift and to seize it, but sometimes the climb every mountain is more of a watch every Netflix show.

Are your tweets mostly autobiographical or imagined scenarios?

Oh, they are very autobiographical. Some might say too autobiographical or TMI. All of my comedy generally comes from feeling an overwhelming amount of emotions and needing a way to work them out. Making jokes and comedy out of any sort of discomfort is so empowering and satisfying and freeing.

Packing: 10 minutes before I leave

Unpacking: 10 weeks after I get back  Alyssa Limperis (@alyssalimp) March 5, 2017

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO PACK?! I am leaving for two weeks tomorrow morning and it is currently 11:52 p.m. and I havent packed yet. Why am I like this and why is does this tweet age so goddamn well?

Is your voice on Twitter similar to your voice in real life?

Yes, its very similar except I have never once said anything out loud in under 280 characters.

The airport is a lawless place. 7am? Drink a beer. Tired? Sleep on the floor. Hungry? Chips now cost $17  Alyssa Limperis (@alyssalimp) May 23, 2018

I was at the airport and reminded of how once you get through the security, it truly feels like the wild west. Flying can be so stressful, but there is something kind of childlike about how suddenly in an airport, rules dont apply. Ive never had a balanced meal and sleep on a flying day. I eat 70 pounds of sugar, only hydrate with beer, and sleep in increments of 30 minutes while watching a bad movie in between. Its all awful and magical.

Your videos blew up online recently. Congrats! What has that been like? Whats been your favorite response?

Thanks! Its been really sweet to see how many people see their mom in my mom and its a nice reminder that we are all so much more similar than we think. No matter the background or accent, so many people said how it was just like hearing their mom. Also, my mom was with me when the Mom When I Visit Home one blew up, and when I told her so many people liked it and said how loving my mom must be she burst into tears at the restaurant over guacamole (actually my signature first-date move). My favorite responses were people who said their moms had passed and that seeing this character brought back memories of them. That made me really happy and choked up. Followed closely guy the man who said wierd titties  his spelling, not mine.

This is part of a series where I impersonate my mom in different places. I love making these videos so much, especially because my incredible mom films them! We are really close and making these videos brings us both a lot of joy. After my dad died, we spent a lot of time together. She even lived with me for a bit in NYC, and it was so funny watching her interact with the city so I decided to imitate her being here. Then we just kept going and making more. The best part of releasing these has been seeing how similar all of our moms are and that they love us and a clean house equally.

Does your mom ever pitch jokes or premises for the videos?

I write, edit, and create the premises for them, but having her as my director, I couldnt ask for a better one. She knows the subject quite well so will sometimes be like, Noshe wouldnt say that, or Say this, or Seriously though Alyssa, you gotta turn the lights off.

Business Casual is a web series I make with Gwynn Ballard. This episode is my favorite because it is so insane. We both play incompetent sponge reviewers and we out-dumb each other every line. I love playing and writing with Gwynn because we have the exact comedic sensibility but different energies, so we have a lot of fun playing off each other.

What are some upcoming projects or videos that youre excited to work on?

Im always working on new mom videos, so there will be another one soon. My friend Shannon Odell and I are performing in a play we wrote called Wake Up! With Tina and Gina every month at UCB starting June 14 at 9:30 p.m. The show is wild and loose and our cast is phenomenal. A sketch team Im on called All Female Reboot has our next show on June 27 at 8 p.m. at Littlefield. You can also see me monthly on the UCB Maude team, The Gift, and hear me and May Wilkersons weekly UCB podcast Crazy in Bed.

Karen Chee is a Brooklyn-based comedian who writes for The New Yorker, McSweeneys, and Shondaland, among other cool websites.
The Last Days of Disco. Photo: Gramercy Pictures

Whit Stillmans The Last Days of Disco is a quintessential New York fantasy: college classmates Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) arent even sure that they really like one another as friends, but they get dressed up and go out all the same. They drink overpriced cocktails with boys who are a little bit boneheaded just for the experience of living and dancing in New York City. They say silly, naive things with authority, and complain about the rent. Before disco, this country was a dancing wasteland, Charlotte announces at one point. Disco isnt their church or even necessarily a lifestyle  its just where their friends are.

I have a deep, misplaced nostalgia for this movie about deep and misplaced nostalgia. People will laugh about John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, white polyester suits, and platform shoes, but we had nothing to do with those things and still loved disco, a young white guy, fresh from accompanying his friends to collect their unemployment checks, announces to a mostly empty sidewalk near the end of The Last Days of Disco. Those who didnt understand will never understand: Disco was much more, and much better, than all that. Disco was too great, and too much fun, to be gone forever. The guy  Josh, played by Matthew Keeslar  is partly serious, and partly just exercising his ability to care about things. Its the movies parting message: Disco was great, and glamorous, and most of all, it was ours.

Twenty years after the movies release  and ahead of a few anniversary screenings in New York, Los Angeles, and London  I caught up with Stillman to revisit his movie about New York and nightlife. I think theres an idea of what people who went to discos were and what discos were like that were widely held but not specific to clubs, Stillman told me. So I really like the fact that over time that people who are 30 years old have gotten to like the film.

What was going on in your life when you were writing The Last Days of Disco script?

It sort of came out of the editing of the prior film we worked on, Barcelona. When we were in Barcelona, we had a really tough shoot physically with a lot of night shooting. Then we had a wonderful day in a chic, old-style European disco club, Up & Down, and did a big disco scene there and really had a great time shooting. If youre doing a film like this set at night, if its a disco you can actually shoot during the day, so its the easiest day for night. Its really sort of fun. Normally on these films, youre exhausted all the time. We were looking at what we shot in the two disco scenes in Barcelona and it just seemed so visual and so cinematographic. In our kind of films, you have to strive hard to make it look like anything  its people talking and things like that. In this case, those scenes had a sort of action and beauty, and we had the idea of two lovely girls in nightclubs. I myself loved the disco era. I loved the music and the atmosphere, and it gave me a chance to go back to that time.

Do you remember the most difficult scene to shoot for The Last Days of Disco?

I wanted to knock peoples eyes out with how spectacular the disco was. We got this huge space on the inside of the Jersey City Lowes. Its a spectacular place. Then we had to fill it with dancers to make it look like they were getting into a nightclub. It was just so hard to make a big space look like it was crowded with a lot of disco people. That was a huge challenge for us. Just making a big disco scene with people looking like they belonged. And I think, from a production point of view, it would have been better if we had done one of the chic, small discos that were popular before that era and popular after that era. But in that era, it was kind of the big places, so we represented that.

A lot of actors are insecure about dancing on camera. How did you get around that, or make them feel more comfortable with the dancing scenes?

Well, there are actors who dont really like it, like Chris Eigeman who was in all of the first three films. He doesnt really like dancing on camera, and he sort of had to in the Barcelona scene where he dances with the Mira Sorvino character. I wrote Des, his part in The Last Days of Disco, in a way that Des never dances. Des doesnt dance. [Laughs.] I dont think Matt Keeslar, who played Josh, loved doing it, but he did a kind of funny thing in that last scene in the metro.

Some people were really comfortable with it. I think all the women were really comfortable with it and Matt Ross, who has become a director, he really made it a great comic thing. And then, Robert Sean Leonard was just sensational. And thats my favorite scene in the movie: Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny are dancing and having a really good time, and then the camera pushes in on them through a whole crowded dance floor. Its a Chic song, I think Everybody Dance. Robert Sean Leonard arrives playing the Tom character and he and Chloe start dancing.

Are you a good dancer? Do you like to dance?

I do love to dance. I went to boarding school where the only way we saw people socially was at school mixers, so you had sort of survival of the fittest. It was sort of Darwinian. You had to like dances if you were going to meet anyone.

Which character in The Last Days of Disco do you feel resonates the most for you personally?

Generally, there are sort of three or four characters that I feel very close to in a movie, and not necessarily the male characters. So in Disco there are characters where you parcel out different things. I related to Chloe Sevignys character, Alice, because I worked in publishing. I lived in an apartment like the one Alice had. Jimmy Steinway, the dancing ad man character played by Mac Astin, too. The nutty character played by Matt Keeslar. And then the Des character played by Chris Eigeman, who gets the funny line that I wouldnt get in real life, but I can think of them when Im writing.

I love how this movie sees friendship, and how theyre shaping their identities through these awkward pairings. Who was your best friend when you were in your 20s?

The film is kind of a utopian fantasy of an ensemble of friends who are together going out and having a good time and going to all these places. When I arrived in New York after graduating from university in 1973, there just seemed like nothing. It was just a wasteland socially, which we talk about in the film quite a bit. The film is a bit my dream fantasy of what it could have been like. I had really good friends who were in the city and Id see them a lot, but they werent interested in the same things I was.

My best friend from the first day of college to now was never in a disco, according to him. I remember when I showed him and some other people the film and asked, Does the disco seem accurate to you? He said, I wouldnt know. Ive never been in a disco. [Laughs.] At one point I decided that the only way workaholic Americans get to see their friends is if you do work with them, so he became a key investor in the film. My two best friends from college invested in Metropolitan and it gave me an excuse to see them a lot, more than I would have ordinarily.

Chloe Sevigny has said that this film is the movie people ask her about the most. Is it the same for you?

Oh, thats fantastic she says that. I just love hearing that. Thats great. No, no. Metropolitan is definitely the film people talk about the most.

Have you noticed anything about people who really love The Last Days of Disco?

Im really pleased that it is my younger friends, my daughters generation, that really seem to embrace the film. The idea for it was directed toward them. It had an ambivalent reputation when it came out. It got really good reviews in important papers  the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post  that was great.

But then all the other journalistic comment was sort of negative. Even though we benefited from pretty good reviews, theres kind of a bad taste about the reception of the film. There was a lot of talk about whether its accurate or not. But when I asked people what discos they were thinking about when theyre saying it wasnt accurate, they said, Oh, I never went to a disco. I only like punk music. I think theres an idea of what people who went to discos were and what discos were like that were widely held but not specific to clubs. So I really like the fact that over time that people who are 30 years old have gotten to like the film.

Can you tell me about the costumes?

We really were lucky because we got a really important costume designer at the beginning of her career, Sarah Edwards. Really dedicated, really good taste and imaginative. Sarah got what I wanted to do and had these incredibly beautiful outfits. I remember this black dress that Kate Beckinsale had that looked like it had been chopped with scissors. It was really pretty, like a Starburst. She found troves of new clothes from the period that hadnt been worn. I think her parents were in the business, so she had access to all these interesting angles for finding new clothes.

You wrote a novelization of The Last Days of Disco a couple of years after the movies release  did you ever think about where these characters ended up later in life?

Yes, I put that into the novel. People were saying, Oh, theres not enough time for you to write this novel before the film comes out, and then a very good editor at Farrar Straus, Jonathan Galassi, said, No, I dont want you to write it to come out with the movie. Take your time. Make it as good as you think you can make it. Do something else. Not exactly like the movie. So he waited for it and published it two years later.

It is narrated by the Jimmy Steinway character, as if it were written by the Jimmy Steinway dancing ad man character, as if hes a real person. Hes gotten the gig to write the novelization, but hes also talking about the way it really was. The full title of the book is The Last Days of Disco With Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards. Theres a really fun screening room in the basement of Planet Hollywood on 57th Street, near Carnegie Hall. When we were editing this film, we could invite people to see the movie in the evening, and they could have cocktails, they could have something to eat, and its very relaxed and kind of fun to get people in the right mood for the movie. We really loved having our Planet Hollywood screenings. The novel imagined that the characters, that the real characters in the story, had watched a rough cut of the film and afterward theyve gone nearby to the restaurant Petrossian to have cocktails.

Can you tell me more about those Planet Hollywood screenings? Who showed up?

They were really fun screenings, but sometimes you get in a panic when people say the movie is too long or this doesnt work, that doesnt work. One time we did this radical cut that was really a mess. We just took out stuff that we shouldnt have taken out, and it made the film actually seem more claustrophobic and longer. The foreign investors, PolyGram, had flown in from England to see that cut. The backer  Lorne Shafer from Castle Rock  came to me and said, The people from PolyGram dont want to see you at the end of the film. The only place I could go and not be seen as they came out was the mens room! So I hid in the mens room while the people from PolyGram left the screening, which didnt endear me to them.

Thats so wild!

Yeah. I dont understand why people cant come out of a screening room and just lie to the filmmaker. Oh, I loved it!

Whats your favorite song in the movie?

I have to say two: Doctors Orders, which opens the movie. The composer Mark Suozzo did something really interesting. We got permission to continue the music thats not in the song  they took the melody and the elements in the song and created an orchestral bridge  so Doctors Orders continues. So we start with a real song, then it goes into an orchestral score of the song, and then when the girls get into the club, it comes back to the actual song.

I love that Chic song, I think its called Everybody Dance. Which has that great dance scene with Chloe, Kate, and Robert Sean Leonard.

A lot of this dialogue is really endearingly serious, but sometimes nebulous. Was there a line or a monologue you thought wouldnt go over?

I guess you just worry about everything, and then when people get it, then youre relieved. The two sort of key moments as far as dialogue, were the big Lady and the Tramp scene, which was a really intense scene for Matt Keeslar. Keeslar, playing the Josh character, had the two big monologue scenes. He had the Lady and the Tramp scene, and he had the disco will never die scene. He really revved up for those and got them, but it was an intense experience of director-actor, working through those scenes.

What was that back-and-forth like?

It was very intense because I had worked with Chris Eigeman on a lot of [dialogue] like that, and the first time we did one of those scenes in Metropolitan, it was very intense. With Matt, who I had not worked with before, it was a question of getting what that character could be about. I cant describe that directing experience, but generally weve had the luxury of people coming to the films from auditions where weve already kind of done the work in the audition.

In the case of The Last Days of Disco, we were rushed as far as the casting. We were really under the gun because Castle Rock was financing it and it was really important that we come out before the Miramax film called 54. We had to start shooting this film before we had finished all the casting. People like Matt Keeslar and MacKenzie Astin, I really like them, but I wasnt sure where theyd fit. I wanted them to play a part, but I wasnt sure what the part would be, so they kept being moved around in the cast. I really liked them and it was a question of what they wanted to play. It meant that there was more work on set than the other films Id done.

One time Vulture wrote up a comment someone left of The Last Days of Disco when it was on Hulu, and Id like your take on it: [Last Days of Disco] is a great movie to put on if you want to impress a wannabe socialite girl. She will think so much more of you than you deserve, you little wannabe clever guy.

I dont know about that. I dont like the things that categorize the movies too much in sort of class terms. I think everyone goes through some of these experiences, and yes, it is a yuppie descent film, but a lot of people are yuppies. I reject that comment.

Disco is a movie about social animals  this group goes out to these clubs and dinners  but millennials sort of pride ourselves on staying in and binge-watching Netflix. I wondered, if you made a movie about youth today, what do you think wed need to tackle?

I have sort of a different experience because I have two daughters in that age group and I dont know what movie I can make. They just work all the time. All the time! [Laughs.] One is an incredibly hardworking lawyer and one is a medical student, and all I see is work, work, work, work. So, I dont know!

I think it would be good if people would reflect on long-term priorities, and maybe not get into the situation of the job where people are forced to work more than really should be necessary. I wish there were jobs where people can have a private life and pair off happily and have families and spend time having those families. One of the advantages of having kids when youre young is you can get grandkids when youre not too old. As someone pining for grandkids, I have a different perspective on what people in their 20s should be doing now.

Youve been living in Paris for the last few years. Do you feel very nostalgic for New York?

No. Since about 1982, my ambition in life was not to live in New York, so I cant say Im nostalgic for New York.

What happened in 1982?

I just got fed up with New York. I found a cool, funky apartment in Soho in 84 and I decided, I like this down here. This will give me a few more years of living in and enjoying New York. And then I discovered Tribeca, which I like, too. I discovered places that I liked. I said, Okay, I can live in New York for a few more years. Its not so bad. I had a seven-year period of falling back in love with the United States and traveling all over and living in different places, and I really like the United States, but not necessarily the huge cities.
97 students graduated from Elkmont High School today but one students graduation was a little more special than the rest.

Nate Owena senior at Elkmont Highwas completely surprised when his father, who has been deployed for over a year, showed up at todays ceremony.

WAAY 31 spoke with Nate and his dad about the big surprise.

Hes expecting me to FaceTime chat so I can watch him from Texas," said Nathaniel Owen.

Owen was deployed in Afghanistan for thirteen months. Hes now back home, but his sonwho just graduated from Elkmont High Schoolhad no idea.

Im anxious. Thats about all," Owen said. "Im just anxious. Ive been waiting for this to happen.

Owen asked his command sergeant major early on in his deployment if he could be home for his sons graduation, and, luckily, the major said yes, so Owens had it planned out for a while.

The principals going to act like he doesnt have his diploma, and then Im going to approach him from the back and say, Are you looking for this?

But Owen isn't just surprising his son for graduation.

Tomorrows his 18th birthday, so Ill be here for two big events, so Im pretty happy," he said.

Owen says this will be something he never forgets.

Itll be a life memory," he said. "Itll be a happy memory the rest of both of our lives, I think.

Owen tells WAAY 31 he also gets to surprise his son with the news that his deployment is over and hes home for good.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Priyanka Chopra, actress and a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations' children's agency, said Thursday the world should be more compassionate to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children who desperately need help in Bangladeshi camps where they've been sheltered.

Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state since late August to escape military-led violence and are now seeking U.N. protection to return home. Almost 60 percent of the total refugees are children, and 60 babies are being born every day in camps in Bangladesh.

Many children crossed the border into Bangladesh without a parent, according to UNICEF. They saw violence, dead bodies, burned homes while many saw their parents and family members killed in front of their eyes and their mothers and sisters raped. Children were also shot in their hands and legs. Many are recovering from psychological trauma.

Chopra, who came to Bangladesh directly from London after attending the royal wedding of her American friend Meghan Markle on a four-day visit, visited camps in Cox's Bazar bordering Myanmar and passed time with the desperate children at safe homes, makeshift schools and helped them draw pictures of sunshine and hope.

On Thursday, during a press conference and a subsequent interview with The Associated Press, she refused to answer any questions beyond children's welfare in the camps and beyond. She recognized the Rohingya refugee crisis is a "political crisis" but would not talk beyond her mandate as a goodwill ambassador of UNICEF.

"I'm here on behalf of children. I'm too small, I feel, to speak about political situation like this. I'm not someone who believes in a blame game. I think that creates more hatreds and animosities," the former Miss World said.

Chopra, whose third Hollywood film is expected to be released on the Valentine's Day in next February, said she was overwhelmed to see the condition of the children in the camps she visited.

"Open your heart to the children," Chopra, a star in India's Hindi films, urged the world community in the interview with the AP. "Be compassionate for the sake of the humanity," she said.

During her visit to the camps Chopra saw children being screened for malnutrition, a statement by UNICEF said. With 163,295 children less than 5 years old living in the camps, UNICEF's nutrition centers offer a vital lifeline by screening and treating children for malnourishment and teaching new mothers breastfeeding practices to help make sure their babies have the best possible start in life during the critical first 1,000-day period, it said.

She said the international community was working to support the children, but that is not enough.

"Please don't divide children, they are future citizens of the world we live in," she said. "No matter where a child is from or what his or her circumstances are, every child is the future of this world," she said.

The actress, who made debut in Hollywood by acting in Baywatch in 2017, said the sufferings of the children shook her because of the violence "these children were exposed to."

"The kids I met were smiling but I could still see sadness in their eyes that reflected the carnage and horror they witnessed," she said.

She said the children need more support and urged the international community to come forward.

"There is still so much more support needed," she said, also a star in the American TV thriller series "Quantico," said. "It is up to us, as global citizens, to make sure they have a future."

Earlier Thursday, the actress also met Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"It was wonderful to meet her. She has done a commendable job," Hasina said.

The recent violence in Myanmar began when Rohingya insurgents staged a series of attacks on Aug. 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets.

In a subsequent crackdown described by U.N. and U.S. officials as "ethnic cleansing," Myanmar security forces have been accused of rape, killing, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes.

Thousands are believed to have been killed.

Myanmar authorities consider Rohingya to be Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh, and are even refraining from using the word "Rohingya," even though the refugees in Bangladeshi camps say they belong to Myanmar where they have been living for centuries.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed an agreement in November to start repatriating the Rohingya from January, but it is being delayed for lack of safety inside Myanmar and a complicated verification process. Global human rights groups and the U.N. said the condition in Myanmar was not safe for their return.

This year the U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh finalized a memorandum of understanding that said the repatriation process must be "safe, voluntary and dignified . in line with international standards."

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

5/24/2018 4:31:00 PM (GMT -5:00)
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) - John Doxakis carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Texas A&M beat Auburn 4-2 on Thursday night in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

The Aggies (39-19) move into the semifinals while Auburn (39-20) faces Mississippi on Friday in an elimination game.

Doxakis (7-5) didn't allow a hit until Jay Estes' infield single to lead off the eighth. He struck out 10 and didn't walk anybody but did hit two batters.

Conor Davis brought Estes home with a double to center field.

Closer Nolan Hoffman then earned his 14th save, allowing an unearned run in the ninth.

Zach Deloach went 3 for 3 with two RBIs for Texas A&M, which took a 3-0 lead on Braden Shewmake's two-run double in the sixth.

Auburn ace Casey Mize (9-5) pitched into the eighth in his third straight loss. He is projected as a possible No. 1 overall draft pick.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Over two million home burglaries are reported each year in the United States. Police usually only solve 13% of all reported burglaries due to lack of witnesses or physical evidence.

Below are some of the places burglars always look first.

Every 13 seconds a home is broken into. You may fall victim to a burglary at some point, so it's better to be prepared and keep your valuables safe. Where do you keep your treasures?

Hiding things under the mattress is one of the oldest tricks in the book, so it's best not to hide anything of value there.

Another spot: the bedroom closet. Experts at McGoey Security Company suggest you store your items in a box that is purposely mislabeled with a boring name, like college textbooks.

Crooks want to make quick cash, so they'll be sure to browse your medicine cabinet looking for prescription pills they can sell.

An empty vase may seem like a good place to hide your treasures, but chances are if you've thought about it, a burglar probably has too. Try adding flowers to the vase to throw them off.

A spot you may not have thought of is your freezer. If you hide something in there, try making it blend in by wrapping it in an empty frozen vegetables bag.

Another tip, always use a lock on your office drawers and never use a portable safe. Thieves will likely run off with it even if they can't get it open right away.

If you're going out of town, make sure to put your mail on hold, or get someone to stop in every day to pick it up.

Your house may seem like an easy target if newspapers and mail keep piling up at your door.
According to the U.S Census population estimates, Huntsville ranks third in population behind Birmingham and Montgomery.

John Watson, president of Torch Technologies, told WAAY 31 he thinks Huntsville's secret to success is a white collar workforce with a blue collar mentality.

"The hard work of the blue collar, farmer mentality and the high level scientists has really made a tremendous formula for growth here in Huntsville," Watson said.

Torch Technologies has been in Huntsville since 2002. They have two offices in the city with a third on the way.

"There's no better place we've seen in terms of the quality of workforce," Watson said.

Watson told WAAY 31 that out of the company's 15 locations, Huntsville has grown the fastest.

According to the U.S. Census population estimates, 194,585 people live in Huntsville.

Gwendolyn Plant is one of them.

She told WAAY 31 there wasn't much to see in Huntsville when she moved here 10 years ago.

"I was kind of scared and nervous because I didn't know my way around here and there weren't really too many places to go," Plant said.

Now, she's celebrating the city's growth because in her eyes more people means more jobs.

"Huntsville has a lot of jobs here that will be great for our children," Plant said.

Plant told WAAY 31 that right now her only worry is making sure there's enough work to go around.

"Only thing I'm concerned about is hopefully, maybe with all these jobs coming in my children can get a job," Plant said.

WAAY 31 also talked to Huntsville City Councilman Bill Kling who told us his biggest concern with all of the growth is the traffic.

Kling said he's excited for all of the new developments, but he wants to make sure congested roads don't stop people from enjoying all Huntsville has to offer.

Huntsville is also preparing for more growth with the announcement of the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA plant. It's expected to create a total of 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.
BERLIN (AP) - The United Nations nuclear watchdog says Iran appears to be complying with a 2015 deal with major powers that was meant to stop it from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

The United States pulled out of the pact earlier this month, and wants to impose tough sanctions on Iran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in Vienna Thursday, in its first report since the U.S. withdrawal, that Iran continues to stay below the maximum level to which it can enrich uranium and appears to be fulfilling other obligations.

However, the agency criticizes in the report that Iran is slow when it comes to "complementary access" inspections, which are part of the deal.

The report says, "timely and proactive cooperation by Iran in providing such access would ... enhance confidence."

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

5/24/2018 11:40:38 AM (GMT -5:00)
A 74-year-old man is in critical condition at Huntsville Hospital following a crash Thursday afternoon in Decatur.

Decatur Police said Johnny McDowra of Decatur, after stopping at the stop sign, drove his Buick into the path of Honda Accord at West Moulton Street and 6th Avenue NW.

Emergency crews had to extract McDowra from his car.

He, along with the driver of the Honda - 61-year-old Jerry Latham of Trinity - were taken to Decatur-Morgan Hospital before McDowra was taken to Huntsville Hospital.

There is no word on the condition of Latham.

Decatur Police continue to investigate the crash.
Oklahoma City, OK  One person is dead, and three people are injured after a shooting at an Oklahoma City restaurant.

Police said around 6:30 local time, a man walked into Louie's restaurant and started shooting. A woman and a girl were shot. A third person broke their arm while running from the scene.

The suspect, who according to witnesses was wearing ear protection and eye glasses, then walked out of the restaurant. Police said he was then confronted by an armed citizen who shot and killed him.

Captain Bo Matthews with the Oklahoma City Police Department told KOCO News 5 "We had a bad guy go in and shoot some people and then was met by a good Samaritan who shot him. It is a blessing that this was stopped. They put an end to it and we're glad no one else was injured."

At least a hundred people were inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting.

Police said the suspect has not been identified and they are still investigating a motive.

The shooting victims were taken to the hospital. Their injuries are described as non-life-threatening.
Newport Beach, Calif., May 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DPW Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: DPW) ("DPW" or the "Company"), a diversified holding company, announced today that it will present at the 8th Annual LD Micro Invitational, a 3-day investor conference to be held between June 4 - June 6, 2018 at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel in Los Angeles, CA.



Milton Todd Ault, III, the Companys CEO and Chairman, will be presenting at 11:30 AM PDT on June 6, 2018 on behalf of the company and senior management will be available for one-on-one meetings during the event. The Company looks forward to establishing new relationships and meeting current investors and associates attending the event. The Company stated it will issue an investor update before the opening of the market on the morning of June 6, 2018 and will post the presentation delivered to the conference at www.DPWHoldings.com under the Investor Relations tab.

The LD Micro Invitational is the largest independent conference for small/micro-cap companies and will feature 200-plus companies presenting to an audience of over 1,000 attendees. In addition, there will be a variety of speakers/panelists discussing topics of interest to investors and issuers, along with evening networking events.

ABOUT DPW HOLDINGS, INC.

Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, DPW Holdings, Inc. www.DPWHoldings.com, is a diversified holding company with a growth strategy of acquiring undervalued assets, disruptive technologies, sustainable solutions, and exciting ventures for incubation and development to their full potential for long-term growth and investor returns.

DPW, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Coolisys Technologies, Inc., is dedicated to providing world-class technology-based solutions for critical applications and lifesaving services, in which innovation is the main driver. Coolisys serves the defense, aerospace, naval, homeland security, medical, telecom, datacom, and industrial markets. Its growth strategy targets core markets that are characterized by high barriers to entry and that require specialized products and services that are not likely to be commoditized. Through its portfolio companies, Coolisys develops and manufactures cutting-edge switching power products and power solutions utilizing its customized digital power management and resonant topology to achieve the highest efficiency and highest density power converters and inverters; specialized complex airborne high-frequency, radio frequency (RF), and microwave detector-log video amplifiers (DLVA); very high-frequency filters; and naval power conversion and distribution equipment. Coolisys provides its technology and services through its three primary groups: the Power Solutions Group (PSG); the Defense and Aerospace Solutions Group (DSG); and the Advanced Service Industries (ASI) Group. Coolisys manages five divisions, including Digital Power Corporation, www.DigiPwr.com, a leading provider of power electronics technology based in Northern California; Digital Power Limited dba Gresham Power Ltd., www.GreshamPower.com, a designer and manufacturer of power distribution systems primarily for Naval use based in Salisbury, UK; Microphase Corporation, www.MicroPhase.com , a designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics technology based in Shelton, CT; Power-Plus Technical Distributors, www.Power-Plus.com, a value-added distributor based in Sonora, CA; and Enertec Systems, www.enertec.co.il ,a developer and manufacturer of specialized advanced electronic systems for the defense and aerospace sectors based in Karmiel, Israel.

Digital Power Lending, LLC, www.DigitalPowerLending.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is based in Fremont, CA, and is a California private lending company operating under Financial Lenders License ##60DBO-77905 dedicated to strategically providing capital to small and middle size businesses for an equity interest in addition to loan fees and interest. Super Crypto Mining, Inc. www.SuperCryptoMining.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is based in Fremont CA that leverages its engineering expertise and existing locations to create crypto currency mining facilities across the globe. Super Crypto Mining, Inc. operates the branded division, Super Crypto Power, www.SuperCryptoPower.com. Excelo, LLC, www.Excelo.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national search firm specializing in fulfilling strategic executive, professional and hi-tech placements for businesses delivering world-class services. DPW Holdings, Inc.s headquarters is located at 201 Shipyard Way, Suite E, CA 92663; www.DPWHoldings.com. For Investor inquiries: IR@DPWHoldings.com or 1-888-753-2235.

Forward-Looking Statements

The foregoing release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the acquisition and the ability to consummate the acquisition. These forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as believes, plans, anticipates, projects, estimates, expects, intends, strategy, future, opportunity, may, will, should, could, potential, or similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors. More information, including potential risk factors, that could affect the Companys business and financial results are included in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Companys Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. All filings are available at www.sec.gov and on the Companys website at www.DPWHoldings.com.
English Swedish

The Swedish National Debt Office will take a position for a stronger krona against the euro, aiming to reduce the cost of central government debt. As a result, the foreign-currency exposure of central government debt will decrease at a slower pace.

- Based on the overall picture of the Swedish economy our assessment is that the krona is weak at present and is expected to strengthen eventually, says Hans Lindblad, Director General at the Debt Office.

The Debt Office will build up the position gradually at various exchange-rate levels. The position can be increased up to SEK 7 billion. When it is time to start closing the position, the Debt Office will release a statement.

According to the Government's guidelines, the foreign-currency exposure of Sweden's central government debt is to decrease. To accomplish this, the Debt office buys foreign currency on a day-to-day basis at a pace corresponding to SEK 20 billion per year. At the same time, the Debt Office may take Swedish krona positions of up to SEK 7.5 billion. By taking such position the Debt Office can affect the pace at which the foreign-currency exposure is reduced.

The krona has weakened over the past few years and the depreciation has been accentuated in 2018. The Debt Office expects the krona to strengthen eventually. By lowering the foreign currency purchases during a period of krona weakness, the cost of the debt can be reduced.

During the financial crisis in 2009 the Debt Office built up a position of a total of SEK 50 billion against the euro. That position resulted in a profit of about SEK 8 billion.

Contact

Robert Sennerdal, Press Secretary, +46 (0)8 613 46 94
English Finnish

EFECTE PLC -- COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT -- 25 May 2018 at 10.30

Efecte Plc: Efecte's CEO will change

Efecte Plc's CEO Sakari Suhonen has been working in Germany since January to support the growth of Efecte's German operations. Suhonen has decided to remain in Germany after his assignment there and will take a sabbatical leave. For this reason, the company and Suhonen have agreed that Suhonen will leave the company later this year, at a time to be agreed later. The company has started the search for a new CEO aiming for an orderly CEO change by the end of the year. If necessary, the CFO Hannu Nyman will act as the CEO during the possible transition period.

"Our German operations are progressing as planned, and the team we hired last fall is fully engaged in sales work. We are already working on dozens of active sales prospects, and we expect those to start contributing to our net sales during the summer months. Originally my German assignment was planned to end after the summer, but my family and I have decided to stay here for a longer period and spend more time together. As the company is in good shape regarding growth and outlook, the Finnish organisation has proven its ability to operate well and the German team is working at full speed, this is a suitable moment for me to leave the CEO position", says Sakari Suhonen.

Chairman of the board Pertti Ervi comments: "Sakari has significantly developed the company during his five years as the CEO. Efecte's whole product and service offering has been renewed and the company is on a strong growth path. The successful listing to First North ended one phase towards an international software vendor, and now we aim for strong growth, especially in the international markets, with fresh management."

Further enquiries:

Pertti Ervi

Chairman of the Board

Efecte Plc

perttiervi@me.com

+33 685 839 153

Certified Adviser:

Evli Bank Plc, tel +358 9 4766 9926

Efecte Plc

Efecte is a Finnish software company that provides cloud-based service and identity management software solutions, as well as related consultancy services. They simplify and improve the efficiency of managing the services, IT systems and infrastructure in an organization. Measured by number of customers, Efecte is one of the leading software vendors in its field to large, medium-sized and public organizations in Finland and the Nordic countries. The Company was founded in 1998. In addition to Finland, it has operations in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Efecte employs around 100 professionals and had a turnover of 10.6 million euros in 2017.

www.efecte.com
Paris, May 25 2018 - Atos and the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) just launched an industrial research chair , co-funded by the National Research Agency (ANR), to develop research and innovation in quantum computing.

Led by Daniel Esteve (1), the industrial research chair, named "Nasniq" (New nuclear spin architecture for quantum computing), aims to contribute to the development of the quantum computer, which can revolutionize how information is processed in the years ahead and can manage the explosion of data driven by Big Data and the Internet of Things. Quantum technologies represent a key factor for sovereignty which now requires a major effort in terms of research and development, bringing together academic teams and businesses.

To address this, Atos and the CEA-CNRS, with the support of the National Research Agency (ANR), will work in synergy and will contribute their expertise to this initiative.

Atos, a global player in supercomputing and European leader, will bring its expertise in high-performance computing and quantum computing to the industrial research chair. Indeed in 2016 Atos launched "Atos Quantum", an ambitious quantum computing program that has already enabled it to bring to market, as of July 2017, the "Atos Quantum Learning Machine" (Atos QLM), the world's first machine capable of simulating up to 40 quantum bits and which now simulates physical Qubits for increased performance.

Daniel Esteve and the "Quantronic "group, from the Condensed State Physics Department (Spec, CEA-CNRS, Paris-Saclay), are pioneers in the knowledge and control of quantum information. This group founded the so-called Cooper pair box circuit that has led to superconducting quantum bits which are used today.

The Nasniq research chair will combine the essential research efforts carried out by the Spec team (CEA-CNRS) with Atos' developments in algorithmic simulation, further reinforcing the synergies between all the activities of the CEA in this field. In addition, the chair will allow to monitor technological developments in the appropriation of this innovative field.

"This research chair marks an important milestone in the emergence of a French quantum computing industry. In a context in which quantum technologies are becoming a real global issue, it allows us to position Atos and the CEA, two leading French actors, as European leaders in quantum computing. Together we are involved in making France a major research center in quantum computing in the world" said Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO, Atos.

"International competition has accelerated dramatically in recent months in the field of quantum computing. The Nasniq chair is the opportunity for the CEA and Atos to extend their already existing partnership in the field of high performance computing in quantum computing. It will also allow us to position our teams more favourably in future European calls on quantum engineering, within the framework of the European Commission's flagship Quantum Technologies or the 9th Framework Programme", said Francois Jacq, General Manager of the CEA.

A Basic and Applied R&D program

The Nasniq chair must address several challenges:

Design and test new types of qubits and better control quantum coherence: Spec teams are working to control quantum coherence by developing more robust quantum bits;

Quantum software for hybrid qubits: Atos will provide its expertise in quantum software and algorithms, as well as in numerical simulation, for the development of new software relevant for qubits carried by a nuclear spin;

By strengthening the interaction between research teams and industrial teams, the Nasniq chair will also be able to train future engineers and researchers in the field.

Learn more about Atos Quantum: https://atos.net/fr/vision-et-innovation/atos-quantum

To learn more about the Spec (CEA-CNRS) Quantronic group: http://iramis.cea.fr/spec/Pres/Quantro/

Daniel Esteve, member of the Academy of Sciences, is the head of the Condensed State Physics Department (Spec, CEA-CNRS, Paris-Saclay)

###

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 100,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of around  12 billion. European number one in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and Digital Workplace, the Group provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management, Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies, digital expertise and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across various business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Energy & Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications and Transportation. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

Press contact:

Sylvie Raybaud - sylvie.raybaud@atos.net - +33 6 95 91 96 71 - @Sylvie_Raybaud

A propos du CEA

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas: defence and security, low carbon energies (nuclear and renewable energies), technological research for industry, fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences. Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.



The CEA is established in nine centers spread throughout France. It works in partnership with many other research bodies, local authorities and universities. Within this context, the CEA is a stakeholder in a series of national alliances set up to coordinate French research in energy (ANCRE), life sciences and health (AVIESAN), digital science and technology (ALLISTENE), environmental sciences (AllEnvi) and human and social sciences (ATHENA). In 2017, Thomson-Reuters / Clarivate identified the CEA as the most innovative public research organization in Europe. As regards the processing of quantum information, the CEA is developing two main areas of research: qubit-tolerant fault architectures in silicon CMOS technology and the development of qubits of high robustness.

CEA Press Contact

Francois Legrand - francois.legrand@cea.fr - +33 1 64 50 20 11 / www.cea.fr / CEA_Recherche

About the ANR

The ANR provides funding for project-based research in all fields of science - for both basic and applied research - to public research organisations and universities, as well as to private companies (including SMEs). Employing a method based on competitive peer reviews compliant with international standards, ANR provides the scientific community with instruments and programmes promoting creativity and openness, and stimulate new ideas and partnerships, particularly between academia and industry. Its activity also contributes to enhancing the competitiveness and the influence of French research in Europe and across the world.

ANR press contact

Katel Le Floc'h contactpresse@agencerecherche.fr - 01 78 09 80 70 / http://www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr/ @agencerecherche
Over 100 participants representing Customs administrations, international organizations and the private sector attended the WCOs Global Conference on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and Trade Mis-invoicing which took place at WCO Headquarters on 23 May 2018.

Since the WCO was referred to in the outcome documents from the 2016 and 2017 G20 Summits in Hangzhou and Hamburg, respectively, the Secretariat has concentrated its efforts on the production of a Study Report on the topic of IFFs and Trade Mis-invoicing. That Report, which is the culmination of many months of empirical analysis and collaboration between Administrations, the Secretariat and other industry experts, provided a narrative background to the Conference, and the WCO was pleased to welcome many of the co-authors of the Report to present their research, with thanks to funding provided by the Korean Customs Service.

The Conference aimed to provide a platform and food for thought on a multitude of IFF-related topics, and although unanimous agreement concerning definitions, methodologies and even the extent of the problem has proven challenging given the diversity of the stakeholders; from Tax and Customs administrations to Financial Intelligence Units to international organizations, and the sensitivity of the information involved, there was resounding agreement amongst participants that Customs needed to be better equipped, in terms of material and human resources, to deal with this scourge.

The opening session, which focused on assessing the magnitude of IFFs via trade mis-invoicing, was chaired by Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya, and encompassed the theoretical assessment methodologies that underpin the academic field of study devoted to IFFs; the Partner Country Method and Price Filter Method, in addition to high-level remarks from H.E. Mr. Baso Sangqu, South African Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union. South Africa first raised the issue of IFFs during the G20 Summit held in Hangzhou, China, in 2016, and Ambassador Sangqu reminded participants of the real and devastating impact IFFs have on the entire continent of Africa, and urged Customs and policymakers to do all within their power to counter the flow of illicit finances, in all guises. Academics from three American universities; the University of Maryland, Central Michigan University and Pennsylvania State University, outlined the Price Filter and Partner Country Methods, concluding that the methods were not mutually exclusive, neither were they fail-safe, their application depended on the type of data available to researchers. Their analysis concurred with one of the principle conclusions of the WCOs Study Report; cross-referencing of the two methods can be a useful mechanism to detect suspicious trade transactions.

Moving from the academic realm to the practitioners perspective, the second session of the Conference showcased best practices with engaging presentations featuring representatives from the Korea Customs Service and the Nigeria Customs Service, who advocated for a shift in the focus from undervaluation to overvaluation. A representative of the Financial Action Task Force outlined practical policies that Customs could implement in order to facilitate the sharing of information, such as standardizing data formats and centralizing data for operational use. A representative from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development spoke about the necessity to adopt a whole-of-government approach in order to develop a coherent strategy and to avoid a scenario whereby agencies operate in silos. Inter-agency cooperation is the subject of an entire chapter of the WCOs Study Report, and its chief recommendation in this respect is that inter-agency cooperation is paramount in the fight against IFFs.

The WCO Report also advocates for Customs to avail of the potential offered by new technologies such as blockchains, and the third and final session of the Conference explored the possibilities and potential limitations of the application of the new technology. A representative from the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law, Vienna University of Economics and Business acknowledged that the WCO was one of the only international organisations seriously examining blockchains, and presented an overview of the principle features of the technology; the fact that it allows for the creation of immutable records and the decentralization and distribution of ledgers, in addition to a potential increase in transparency, would make it a very attractive option for Customs administrations, particularly those wishing to engage in information sharing with other agencies such as Tax administrations. A representative of Delft University of Technology outlined the principle features and benefits of a pilot project undertaken in the Netherlands by Maersk, IBM and with the cooperation of Dutch Customs; an example of cooperation and collaboration across industries and agencies, which enabled all stakeholders to leverage knowledge from the supply chain. All panelists agreed on the importance for the WCO and Customs to keep abreast of the changes in the rapidly-evolving technological realm.

The WCOs Study Report is a living document which will be shared with Members for their comments and input, before being assessed and approved by the Council, the Organizations highest decision-making body, in June 2018. An excerpt of the Report will be presented to the G20 for their consideration.
Around 30 experts from Member Customs Administrations, regional and international organizations gathered in Asuncion, Paraguay from 21 to 23 May 2018 for a transit workshop for the WCO South America, North America, Central America and the Caribbean (AMS) region. The event was organized with the financial support of the WCO Reserve Fund and was hosted by Paraguay Customs.

In interactive sessions, the WCO set the scene by presenting the guiding principles for the establishment of efficient and effective transit regimes as outlined in the various sections of the WCO Transit Guidelines and the participants shared and discussed good practices, challenges and measures for further improvement of the various aspects of transit in the region. Highly informative presentations were delivered by the General Secretariat of the Andean Community (SGCAN), the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the Customs administrations of Argentina, Honduras, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru.

The workshop concluded with outlining strategic areas in which further efforts need to be invested to enhance transit regimes in the region, but also to support and promote existing good practices.

The transit workshop for the AMS region was the third in a series of regional events planned by the WCO with the objective of promoting the implementation of the WCO Transit Guidelines launched in July 2017, and the establishment by Members of efficient and effective transit regimes in their territories.
The WCO conducted a Workshop on Coordinated Border Management in Muscat, Oman, from 6 to 10 May, hosted by Oman Customs and supported by the Royal Oman Police (ROP).

The main objective of the Workshop was to provide cross-border regulatory agencies in Oman with a WCO perspective and with the tools to improve border management procedures, focusing on sea ports, airports and dry Customs checkpoint operations related to the release and clearance of commodities and flow of passengers. Oman Customs and ROP are the agencies responsible for implementing the Bayan system, the Single Window linking all the relevant agencies to enhance release and clearance. There have been tangible achievements in implementing Single Window advanced business processes, including automated release procedures.

The WCO shared experience and best practice from other countries, and supported further enhancement of the collaborative environment which needs to be taken forward for onboarding other regulatory requirements and services on the Bayan system.

The Workshop was attended by various Omani authorities, including the Royal Oman Police, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, Oman Municipality, Ministry of Health, and ASYAD, the public company responsible for logistics services and reforms in the sector. The Workshop participants highlighted its helpfulness in raising awareness of how other countries dealt with challenges, and of lessons learnt by other administrations in a similar situation regarding Single Window implementation for the cross-border environment.

Around twenty-four officials from cross-border regulatory and other agencies in Oman attended the Workshop, working together on several exercise scenarios involving information-sharing between agencies, and clearance procedures for some categories of goods.

The WCO experts presented different WCO instruments and tools on trade facilitation to provide participants with guidance on adopting a Coordinated Border Management approach and on designing further enhancements to the Single Window environment to meet private sector needs and expectations. During the Workshop, WCO experts outlined, among other concepts, Coordinated Border Management, Single Window, Risk Management, Business Process Analysis and Data Harmonization, supporting this with case studies from different countries.

In addition, the participants, supported by experts, carried out practical exercises with a view to improving and streamlining certain business processes relating to inspection procedures for specific types of HS commodities.

The WCO Workshop on Coordinated Border Management proved highly effective in engaging different stakeholders and in identifying future challenges for the enhancement of the collaborative environment.

For further information, please contact facilitation@wcoomd.org.
FORM 8.5 (EPT/NON-RI)

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY AN

EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER WITHOUT RECOGNISED INTERMEDIARY ("RI") STATUS (OR WHERE RI STATUS IS NOT APPLICABLE)

Rule 8.5 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Name of exempt principal trader: HSBC Securities (South Africa) (Pty) Limited (b) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Sibanye Gold Ltd (c) Name of the party to the offer with which exempt principal trader is connected: Sibanye Gold Ltd (d) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 24-May-2018 (e) In addition to the company in 1(b) above, is the exempt principal trader making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" YES - Lonmin plc.





2. POSITIONS OF THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:







Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



2,735,610



0.121 6,949,934 0.307 (3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell: TOTAL:



2,735,610



0.121 6,949,934 0.307

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchases/ sales



Total number of securities Highest price per unit paid/received (ZAR) Lowest price per unit paid/received (ZAR)

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit

(ZAR)



Ordinary Shares



Swap



Increasing a Short Position







57,531



798.210 c



Ordinary Shares



Swap



Reducing a Short Position



260,133



801.330 c

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

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e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

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e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)

4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the exempt principal trader making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"









(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the exempt principal trader making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

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If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"









(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? No





Date of disclosure: 25-May-2018 Contact name: Sukant Roy Telephone number: 0207 088 2000

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) (TSX:MUX) (McEwen Mining or the Company) is pleased to announce results of a new Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) study evaluating the potential extension of production from its 100% owned El Gallo Complex in Sinaloa, Mexico. The proposed redevelopment plan evaluated in the PEA is called Project Fenix. The key outcomes of Project Fenix include an average annual production rate of 47,000 ounces gold equivalent (AuEq), low initial capital cost, mine pay-back of 4 years, and an after-tax IRR of 25% at current gold and silver prices.



Project Fenix shows that El Gallo has the potential to be retooled to produce silver and gold for years into the future. The current heap leach gold mine would transform first to a mill and process the residual heap leach pad material, then additional mill modifications would enable processing of silver and gold ores from four other deposits. This plan depends on innovative in-pit tailings disposal that we think is a win-win for all stakeholders. Over the coming quarters we intend to advance environmental permitting and refine our plans with a feasibility study before making an investment decision next year, said Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner

Highlights of the Project Fenix PEA at $1,250/oz gold and $16/oz silver prices (1)(2) :

Estimated initial capital of $41 million for Phase 1 and $30 million for Phase 2;

Pay-back period of 4.0 years;

25% after-tax IRR and $60 million NPV at 5% discount rate;

$12 million of average annual cash flow from operations from year 2 onwards;

47,000 ounces average annual AuEq production;

Cash cost of $598 and $797 per ounce AuEq for Phases 1 and 2 respectively;

10 to 12-year LOM;

Updated resource estimate totaling 13 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.39 g/t gold and 77 g/t silver (Measured and Indicated) containing 591,000 oz AuEq, and 5.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.81 g/t gold and 27 g/t silver (Inferred) containing 214,000 oz AuEq.

The PEA was prepared by GR Engineering Services Limited (GRES), an engineering, consulting and contracting company, under the direction of McEwen Mining in accordance with the requirements of Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).

Financial Analysis

The base case generates an after-tax net present value (NPV 5% ) of $60 million, an IRR of 25%, and an average after-tax cash flow from operations of $12 million per year of operation.



Table 1: After-Tax Financial Results

Base Case

$1,250/oz Au, $16/oz Ag Upside Case

$1,300/oz Au, $17/oz Ag Phase 1 Capex $41 million $41 million Phase 2 Capex $30 million $30 million IRR 25 % 30 % NPV@5% Discount Rate $60 million $77 million Payback Period 4.0 years 3.8 years

Figure 1: Graph of Cash Flows

http://www.mcewenmining.com/files/doc_news/archive/20180524_egs/20180524_egs_figure_1.pdf

Mining and Processing

The Fenix Project involves a two-stage development process. Phase 1 includes the reprocessing of material on the gold heap leach pad at our existing El Gallo Gold Mine, and Phase 2 includes the processing of the open pit gold and silver ores from multiple deposits including El Gallo Silver, Palmarito, El Encuentro and Carrisalejo.

The process plant would utilise conventional and proven mineral processing and precious metals recovery technologies. Phase 1 would have a throughput rate of 5,000 tonnes per day (tpd). During Phase 2, fresh mineralised material from higher grade silver deposits (El Gallo Silver primarily) would be processed at 3,250 tpd.

The selected process recovery methods have been based on separate campaign retreatment of heap leach material (Phase 1) and treatment of fresh mineralised material from other deposits (Phase 2).

Phase 1 operation would target gold recovery from the heap leach pad material using a conventional ball mill grinding and a hybrid carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit (hybrid means the first leach tanks are pure leach tanks and the remaining tanks being carbon in leach tanks), to recover gold onto activated carbon. Industry standard elution, electrowinning and smelting circuits would be used to produce a dore product. Soluble copper levels would be controlled and suppressed using established methods. Cyanide in the CIL tailings would be detoxified using the SO 2 / Air process, and the detoxified tailings would then be sent to a tailings storage facility in an existing mined-out open pit.

Tailings produced during the operation, starting with Phase 1 would be stored in the mined-out Samaniego pit at the El Gallo Gold Mine. As part of this, in-pit tailings deposition would include a tailings delivery system designed to maximize tailings consolidation and water recovery. Water would be recovered via surface reclaim pumps, a basin underdrain collection sump and finger drain network and down gradient contingency pump back wells.

In Phase 2 the process facility would be modified to enable treatment of material from the El Gallo Silver deposit to be followed by other deposits in the complex. Phase 2 operation would utilize conventional flotation technology, intensive leaching of concentrates with counter current decantation (CCD) washing used to recover solution for zinc precipitation using the Merrill Crowe process for silver and gold recovery. The Phase 1 CIL plant would be utilized for cyanide leaching of the flotation tailings to maximize overall silver recoveries during Phase 2. Phase 2 would also utilize the existing El Gallo Gold Mine three stage crushing plant to prepare material for delivery to the grinding circuit.

The available volume in the Samaniego pit will enable the Fenix Project.

El Gallo Silver and proposed process facilities are separated by about 6.5 km, requiring construction of a dedicated haul road for transport of ore. A new substation and powerline would connect both projects to the national distribution grid.

Over the mine life, production would total 17.2 million tonnes of mineralized material at an average head grade 1.17 g/t AuEq containing 680 koz AuEq, and recovering a total of 573 koz AuEq. The planned production schedule is shown on Table 2.

Table 2: Production Summary

Source Gold

(g/t) Silver

(g/t) Production

Model

(tonnes) Waste

(tonnes) Strip Ratio Contained

Metal

(oz AuEq) Recovered

Metal

(oz AuEq) % of

Recovered

ozs AuEq El Gallo Heap Leach Pad(3) 0.64 0 9,024,027 0 N/A 197,285 172,989 30 % El Gallo Silver(4) 0.11 117.3 5,413,000 20,468,000 3.8 291,432 248,502 44 % Palmarito(5) 0.37 149.9 1,796,194 5,518,199 3.1 136,498 104,863 18 % Carrisalejo 0.60 95.0 263,177 1,472,104 5.6 15,763 12,894 2 % El Encuentro 1.56 2.3 736,540 5,660,945 7.7 37,678 33,733 6 % TOTALS 1.17 g/t AuEq 17,232,938 33,119,248 N/A 679,106 572,981 100 %

Capital and Operating Costs

The Fenix Project offers low upfront capital requirements to commence the project by:

utilizing existing infrastructure at El Gallo Gold Mine;

commissioning an in-pit tailings storage facility in an existing open pit, and

a significant reduction in required leach tank volumes for El Gallo Silver processing from previous studies.

Phase 1 capital expenditure is estimated at $41 million, additional capital expenses for Phase 2 and the mining infrastructure, haul roads and closure obligations bring the total LOM capital required to $81 million.

Mining and operating costs were estimated based on process design criteria, equipment lease rates, labor, reagent, grid power supply, diesel fuel, explosives, maintenance, and other miscellaneous costs. All costs are in Q1 2018 dollars.

Table 3: Operating Cost / Oz Summary

Cash Cost

per oz AuEq AISC

per oz AuEq Phase 1 $598 $658 Phase 2 $797 $817 Overall Project - $793

Table 4: Capital Cost Summary

Description Phase 1

($M) Phase 2

($M) Sustaining

($M) Process Plant Direct Costs $28.5 $16.6 Infrastructure & Owners $1.4 $0.7 $4.5 Indirect Costs $7.4 $6.0 Contingency $3.2 $2.0 Mining $0.0 $5.0 $5.0 Total $40.9 $30.4 $9.5 Project Total $80.8

Table 5: Operating Cost / Tonne Summary

Resource Plant OPEX

($/t) Mining

($/t) Haulage

($/t) G & A

($/t) Total Opex

($/t) El Gallo Heap Leach Pad(8)(9) $10.77 $0.53 $0.00 $2.50 $13.80 El Gallo $21.50 $8.61 $2.00 $3.85 $35.96 Palmarito $21.50 $7.33 $7.00 $3.57 $39.40 Carrisalejo $21.50 $11.87 $2.00 $3.13 $38.50 El Encuentro $15.00 $15.63 $6.00 $3.13 $39.76

Existing Permits

The current operation at El Gallo Gold is a fully permitted open pit mine with a heap leach and ADR process facility. El Gallo Silver and Palmarito are fully permitted for mining.

Future Permitting & Timing

The current operation at El Gallo Gold is a fully permitted site; however, the Phase 1 project requires amendment of the current permits to include the construction of a mill and leach circuit in the location of the existing facilities for the reprocessing of the heap. The permit amendment will also include the backfilling of the Samaniego Pit with mill tailings as part of an integrated concurrent closure plan for the El Gallo Gold Mine.

Phase 2 project permitting will require authorization at El Gallo Gold to expand the process plant footprint and to augment the tailings volume to be deposited at the Samaniego Pit. The El Gallo Silver permits require amendments to change the processing location to El Gallo Gold, thus eliminating construction of the process components and the tailings facility at El Gallo Silver.

The Fenix Project has CONAGUA(10) approval for the extraction of groundwater and land-use permits for the construction of wells.

Advancing the project will require permit amendments filing for Phase 1 and subsequently filing for Phase 2 permits. Once these amendments are filed, successful approvals by the Federal Environmental Authority (SEMARNAT) will be required before the project can be advanced.

The project seeks to obtain approval of the Phase 1 El Gallo permit modifications by Q4 2018 and Phase 2 approvals by Q3 2019.

Further project advancement in 2019 is subject to permit approvals.

Resource Estimates

Estimated resources for the Fenix Project are comprised only of material within the boundaries of conceptual pit shells, except for the El Gallo heap leach pad and Palmarito dumps, which are considered available for reprocessing.

Table 6: Mineral Resource Estimates(11)

El Gallo Silver In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes

kt Silver Grade

(g/t) Silver

koz Gold Grade

(g/t) Gold

koz Potential COG(13) = 50 g/t Ag* Measured 1,057 150 5,088 0.09 3 Indicated 4,436 120 17,053 0.13 19 Measured and Indicated 5,493 125 22,140 0.12 22 Inferred 564 82 1,488 0.38 7 Palmarito In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 70g/t Ag* kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 1,653 136 7,245 0.38 20 Indicated 11 148 52 0.23 0 Measured and Indicated 1,664 136 7,297 0.38 20 Inferred 528 133 2,258 0.30 5 Palmarito Dumps Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 52g/t Ag* kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 177 177 1,007 0.29 2 Indicated 68 154 338 0.24 1 Measured and Indicated 246 170 1,345 0.28 2 Inferred 0 0 0 0.00 0 Carrisalejo In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 46g/t Ag* kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 0 0 0 0.00 0 Indicated 391 116 1,454 0.11 1 Measured and Indicated 391 116 1,454 0.11 1 Inferred 42 821 1,111 0.02 0 El Encuentro In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 0.78 g/t Au kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 0 0 0 0.00 0 Indicated 534 2 42 1.87 32 Measured and Indicated 534 2 42 1.87 32 Inferred 190 19 117 5.68 35 El Gallo Heap Leach Pad Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 0 g/t Au kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 0 0 0 0.00 0 Indicated 4,679 0 0 0.56 84 Measured and Indicated 4,679 0 0 0.56 84 Inferred 4,352 0 0 0.72 101 Totals In Optimised Pit Shells(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COGs variable(13) kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 2,887 144 13,340 0.27 25 Indicated 10,119 58 18,938 0.42 137 Measured and Indicated 13,006 77 32,277 0.39 161 Inferred 5,678 27 4,974 0.81 148

Table 7: Assumptions Relating to the Pit Optimization



Assumptions for In-pit resource shells Deposits Units Values Gold Price All $/oz 1,250 Silver Price All $/oz 18.00 Mining Cost Heap Leach Pad $/t 1.00 El Gallo(14) $/t 1.95 Palmarito(14) $/t 1.95 Palmarito Dump $/t 1.00 Carrisalejo $/t 1.95 El Encuentro $/t 1.95

Processing and G&A Heap Leach Pad $/t 13.80 El Gallo(14) $/t 23.29 Palmarito(14) $/t 23.29 Palmarito Dump $/t 23.29 Carrisalejo $/t 23.29 El Encuentro $/t 23.29 Recovery - Au Heap Leach Pad % 90 El Gallo(14) % 79.2 Palmarito(14) % 88.4 Palmarito Dump % 87.4 Carrisalejo % 79.2 El Encuentro % 43.7 Recovery - Ag Heap Leach Pad % 0 El Gallo(14) % 87.6 Palmarito(14) % 57.2 Palmarito Dump % 81.5 Carrisalejo % 87.6 El Encuentro % 65.2 Cut-off Grade Heap Leach Pad Au g/t 0 (0.38)(15) El Gallo(14) Ag g/t 50 Palmarito(14) Ag g/t 70 Palmarito Dump Ag g/t 52 Carrisalejo Ag g/t 46 El Encuentro Au g/t 0.78 Inter-ramp Pit Slope Angle Heap Leach Pad Degrees 18.4 El Gallo(14) Degrees 45.0 Palmarito(14) Degrees 45.0 Palmarito Dump Degrees n/a Carrisalejo Degrees 45.0 El Encuentro Degrees 45.0

Metallurgical Testing

Preliminary metallurgical test work conducted in 2018 indicated that the El Gallo Gold heap leach pad material would be amenable to direct cyanidation following conventional grinding. Test work identified moderate levels of soluble copper and zinc.

From 2010 to 2016 extensive metallurgical test work has been conducted on samples from the El Gallo Silver deposit using a direct cyanidation flow sheet. From 2017 to 2018 metallurgical test work has been focused on using conventional flotation techniques to separate the slower leaching minerals to enable separate cyanide leaching of bulk flotation concentrate and flotation tailings streams with tailored leach conditions to reduce overall size of the leaching circuit.

Results have proved favorable and a flowsheet incorporating bulk flotation and separate leaching of bulk flotation concentrates and tailings for treatment of El Gallo Silver has been adopted.

Historical test work records have been utilized to gain a preliminary understanding of the remaining resources along with some scoping test work conducted in 2018 to determine how material from the other higher-grade silver deposits included in the conceptual production schedule would respond to the selected flowsheet.

Results from the scoping tests indicate that the Carrisalejo material will likely perform similarly to the El Gallo Silver with respect to silver recovery. Scoping test results showed only modest silver recovery from flotation for the Palmarito sample. However, separate cyanide leaching of the bulk flotation concentrates and flotation tailings streams achieved positive results. The treatment process for Palmarito and Carrisalejo open pit material has therefore been assumed to be similar to El Gallo Silver pending additional sampling and metallurgical test work to confirm.

Table 8: LOM Metal Recoveries for the Production Model

Resource Area LOM Gold

Recovery LOM Silver

Recovery El Gallo Heap Leach Pad 88 % - El Gallo Silver 75 % 86 % Palmarito 85 % 75 % Carrisalejo 75 % 85 % El Encuentro 90 % 60 %

For the 2018 PEA metallurgical samples selected for testing were assumed to be representative. Note that the Palmarito, Carrisalejo and El Encuentro deposits included in the production schedule have been subjected only to scoping level metallurgical test work using the selected process flowsheet. Further sampling and test work is required to better understand the response of each of the deposits to the selected flowsheet.

Exploration

Over the past years, exploration efforts have focused on both near-mine and property-wide exploration. Near-mine drilling efforts have been successful in delineating and extending mineralization near the Samaniego and Sagrado Corazon open pits. Recently defined mineralization contains significant sulfides and therefore gold extraction is better suited for flotation processing than heap leach processing, the Phase 2 plant could be modified to process these resources. At the property scale, significant mineralization has been confirmed at the El Encuentro zone, which is located 10 km from the El Gallo Gold Mine.

A property-wide soil geochemical survey was completed earlier this year and results indicate the potential for extensions of known zones of sulfide mineralization in the district. In addition, multiple targets were identified from the survey, and field evaluation and ranking of targets for drill testing is in progress.

Further Optimization, Cost Reductions and Project Potential

The Company believes there are opportunities to further improve the economics of the Fenix Project through continued testing and trade-off studies that will be continued throughout 2018.

Capital cost estimates for the project are to a level of accuracy that is consistent with a PEA technical report. During the next 14 months we will continue to review mineral processing, mine sequencing, material transportation and tailings disposal options; and the flow sheet will be optimized by undertaking trade-off studies, update cost models and undertake additional confirmatory testwork.

The complete Fenix Project PEA NI 43-101 Technical Report will be available on www.sedar.com and www.mcewenmining.com within 45 days.

FOOTNOTES

(1) All amounts are in U.S. Dollars. g/t means grams per metric tonne, oz means ounce(s), IRR means Internal Rate of Return, LOM means life-of-mine. (2) All references to AuEq are based on a 75 Ag oz to 1 Au oz ratio. (3) The heap leach pad spent ore resource number assumes a cutoff grade that permits processing of the entire pad whereas blocks within the leach pad model will be mobilized while mining which will make them difficult to segregate; sub-cutoff leach pad material will inherently have potential acid generating sulfide liabilities if placed in our waste dumps and so it will be prudent to process the entire leach pad and place tailings in the Samaniego pit at an overall environmental and economic benefit. (4) Production numbers for El Gallo Silver are taken from designed pits from prior studies, which do not differ materially from published optimized pit resource numbers. (5) Production numbers for Palmarito are also taken from designed pits from prior studies, and do not differ materially from published optimized pit resource numbers. (6) Cash cost is calculated by dividing total life-of-mine production costs by total ounces produced. (7) All-in sustaining costs (AISC) is calculated by dividing the sum of all cash costs plus capital, sustaining capital, operating, tax, and reclamation costs by total ounces produced. (8) Mining of heap leach spent ore requires no drilling or blasting. (9) The heap leach pad is located immediately adjacent to the proposed plant location requiring no separate haulage costs in addition to mining. (10) CONAGUA is the Mexican federal water authority (Comision Nacional del Agua). (11) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves. Numbers in the table have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate and may not sum due to rounding. (12) Resources stated as contained within a potentially economically minable open pit; pit optimization parameters are: USD$1,250/oz Au, & USD$18.00/oz Ag. Resource models have been developed based on gold and silver recoveries from historical testwork programs, which were based on a different process flow sheet to what has been adopted for the project. (13) Cutoff Grades vary by pit according to parameters. (14) Although there is an in-pit resource created by these assumed parameters the production numbers used in this PEA exercise come from designed pits created for earlier studies. (15) The heap leach pad COG is an academic number in this PEA whereas the resource number assumes a cutoff grade that permits processing of the entire pad whereas blocks within the leach pad model will be mobilized while mining which will make them difficult to segregate; sub cutoff leach pad material will inherently have potential acid generating sulfide liabilities if placed in our waste dumps and so it will be prudent to process the entire leach pad.

QUALIFIED PERSONS



Responsible Person Company Primary Areas of Responsibility Luke Willis McEwen Geology, Drilling, Resource Estimates, Sampling, Data Verification, Resource Estimates Xavier Ochoa McEwen Mining, Infrastructure &Tailings, Permitting and Financial Analysis Brendan Mulvihill GRES Metallurgical, Process Plant Capex and Opex

The technical contents of this news release have been reviewed and approved by Nathan M. Stubina, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCIM, Managing Director and Xavier L. Ochoa, QP Member of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, and Qualified Persons as defined by Canadian Securities Administrator National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects".

CAUTIONARY NOTE TO US INVESTORS REGARDING RESOURCE ESTIMATION

McEwen Mining prepares its resource estimates in accordance with standards of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum referred to in Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). These standards are different from the standards generally permitted in reports filed with the SEC. Under NI 43-101, McEwen Mining reports measured, indicated and inferred resources, measurements, which are generally not permitted in filings made with the SEC. The estimation of measured resources and indicated resources involve greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic feasibility than the estimation of proven and probable reserves. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part of measured or indicated resources will ever be converted into economically mineable reserves. The estimation of inferred resources involves far greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic viability than the estimation of other categories of resources.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, including "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements and information expressed, as at the date of this news release, McEwen Mining Inc.'s (the "Company") estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies, and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or other approvals required in connection with operations, risks associated with the construction of mining operations and commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks related to litigation, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral resources and reserves, and other risks. The Companys dividend policy will be reviewed periodically by the Board of Directors and is subject to change based on certain factors such as the capital needs of the Company and its future operating results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information included herein, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. See McEwen Mining's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption "Risk Factors", for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information regarding the Company. All forward-looking statements and information made in this news release are qualified by this cautionary statement.

The NYSE and TSX have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release, which has been prepared by management of McEwen Mining Inc.

ABOUT MCEWEN MINING

McEwen has the goal to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by creating a profitable gold and silver producer focused in the Americas. McEwens principal assets consist of: the San Jose mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest); the El Gallo mine in Mexico; the Black Fox mine in Timmins, Canada; the Gold Bar mine in Nevada, currently under construction; and the large Los Azules copper project in Argentina, advancing towards development.

McEwen has a total of 337 million shares outstanding. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, owns 24% of the shares.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Mihaela Iancu

Investor Relations

(647)-258-0395 ext 320

info@mcewenmining.com



Website: www.mcewenmining.com



Facebook: facebook.com/mcewenrob



Twitter: twitter.com/mcewenmining



Instagram: instagram.com/mcewenmining



150 King Street West

Suite 2800, P.O. Box 24

Toronto, ON, Canada

M5H 1J9

(866) 441-0690




NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DPW Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: DPW) ("DPW" or the "Company"), a diversified holding company, will acquire a minority interest in a partnership that intends to construct a five-star ultra-luxury Manhattan hotel development, investing alongside venerable New York real estate development companies, Mactaggart Family & Partners LP (Sponsor), and Caspi Development.



To maximize long-term predictable cash flow for DPW, the investment will be made in a project with consistently strong luxury hospitality fundamentals, unique location advantages, and on terms pari-passu with top-tier New York City real estate investors.

DPW expects the property to form a long-term anchor of its hospitality assets. The Sponsor has signed a long-term contract with a 106-year, premier European hospitality group, which will share its flagship hotels name, sophistication and exclusive service with the 96 room Tribeca hotel. They are among the largest operators of 5-star luxury hotels and casinos in Europe.

The Sponsor expects to reveal the group as part of a branding effort that will commence in the fall of 2018.

The Sponsor has engaged AECOM Tishman Construction Corp. (Tishman) for the hotels construction which broke ground in December 2017 and is expected to be completed during the summer of 2020, with the opening anticipated to be immediately thereafter.

Based on a projected average daily rate (ADR) of $983 upon stabilization in 2021 (as compared to the competitive sets May 2016 ADR of $1,060), the project is expected to produce a stable, unlevered yield on cost of 10%. A refinancing, three years after opening, is projected to return 50% of the invested equity and should generate cash-on-cash returns of 18% thereafter.

The 94,000 square foot hotel, located one block east of the Hudson River, in the heart of the TriBeCa North Historic District, will feature 96 opulently appointed rooms and suites, a lavish full-service spa and six first-class food and beverage venues, all exclusively designed by renowned designers Martin Brudnizki Design Studio and Stephen B. Jacobs Group.

A record-number Michelin star restaurateur is also contracted to oversee dining in the Hotel, including the New York manifestation of an iconic European institution in operation since the 1800s.

London-based Mactaggart Family & Partners, LP has been operating in New York City since 1985. Its experience spans over 35 years of high-end office and residential development including 589 Fifth Avenue, 590 Fifth Avenue, 183 Madison Avenue, and 576 Fifth Avenue.

Family-run Caspi Development represents decades of real estate pedigree, which along with a comprehensive hands-on approach, has led to an unparalleled reputation for perfection in design, construction and project completion. With a track record of both metropolitan and suburban achievements, Caspi thrives in the competitive Westchester and New York City landscapes. Bringing three generations of experience to the table, Caspi taps into its knowledgeable site selection and financial entrepreneurship to succeed in a variety of markets.

This is a unique opportunity to establish a firm foundation of predictable cash-flow at terms obtained by the leading real estate investors in New York City, commented Milton Todd Ault III, DPWs CEO and Chairman. The asset itself is completely unique and will capitalize on the exploding business and residential growth of Lower Manhattan and this exclusive neighborhood. For more information regarding the hotel project, please use this link where a live video feed is also featured streaming during the day, https://DPWHoldings.com/456luxhotelnyc/.

ABOUT DPW HOLDINGS, INC.

Headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, DPW Holdings, Inc., www.DPWHoldings.com, is a diversified holding company with a growth strategy of acquiring undervalued assets, disruptive technologies, sustainable solutions, and exciting ventures for incubation and development to their full potential for long-term growth and investor returns. DPW, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Coolisys Technologies, Inc., is dedicated to providing world-class technology-based solutions for critical applications and lifesaving services, where innovation is the main driver. Coolisys serves the defense, aerospace, naval, homeland security, medical, telecom, datacom, and industrial markets. Its growth strategy targets core markets that are characterized by high barriers to entry and that require specialized products and services not likely to be commoditized. Through its portfolio companies, Coolisys develops and manufactures cutting-edge switching power products and power solutions utilizing its customized digital power management and resonant topology to achieve the highest efficiency and highest density power converters and inverters; specialized complex airborne high-frequency, radio frequency (RF), and microwave detector-log video amplifiers (DVLA), very high-frequency filters, and naval power conversion and distribution equipment. Coolisys provides its technology and services through its three primary groups: the Power Solutions Group (PSG); the Defense and Aerospace Solutions Group (DSG); and the Advanced Service Industries (ASI) Group. Coolisys manages six entities, including Digital Power Corporation, www.DigiPwr.com, a leading provider of electronics technology based in Northern California; Digital Power Limited dba Gresham Power Ltd., www.GreshamPower.com, a designer and manufacturer of power distribution systems primarily for Naval use based in Salisbury, UK.; Microphase Corporation, www.MicroPhase.com, a designer and manufacturer of microwave electronics technology based in Shelton, CT; and Power-Plus Technical Distributors, www.Power-Plus.com, a value-added distributor based in Sonora, CA; and Enertec Systems, www.Enertec.co.il, a developer and manufacturer of specialized advanced electronic systems for the defense and aerospace sectors based in Karmiel, Israel.

Digital Power Lending, LLC, www.DigitalPowerLending.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is based in Fremont, CA, and is a California private lending company operating under Financial Lenders License ##60DBO-77905 dedicated to strategically providing capital to small and middle size businesses for an equity interest in addition to loan fees and interest. Super Crypto Mining, Inc. www.SuperCryptoMining.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is based in Fremont CA that leverages its engineering expertise and existing locations to create crypto currency mining facilities across the globe. Super Crypto Mining, Inc. operates the branded division, Super Crypto Power, www.SuperCryptoPower.com. Excelo, LLC, www.Excelo.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national search firm specializing in fulfilling strategic executive, professional and hi-tech placements for businesses delivering world-class services. DPW Holdings, Inc.s headquarters is located at 201 Shipyard Way, Suite E, CA 92663; www.DPWHoldings.com. For Investor inquiries: IR@DPWHoldings.com or 1-888-753-2235.

Forward-Looking Statements

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the acquisition and the ability to consummate the acquisition. These forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as believes, plans, anticipates, projects, estimates, expects, intends, strategy, future, opportunity, may, will, should, could, potential, or similar expressions. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of them publicly in light of new information or future events. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors. More information, including potential risk factors, that could affect the Companys business and financial results are included in the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Companys Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. All filings are available at www.sec.gov and on the Companys website at www.DPWHoldings.com.

###
by Richard Coulson

First Published in The Tribune May 23, 2018

No sooner had Simon Potter, CEO of Nassau-based Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), announced that an international oil company had signed a 90-day renewable option to become a farm-out partner with BPC, than our environmental activists predictably denounced the dealindeed, the very concept of drilling for oil in Bahamian waters.

The issue lay dormant in the recent past while the market price for crude oil dropped to less than $40/bbl, making it cheaper to buy in the open market than to develop new sources like the promising but unproven Bahamas . With the price approaching $80, the formula has reversed, leading to success in the year-long negotiations conducted by Mr. Potter. While production of oil in commercial quantities is still by no means assured, it is far more likely now that a major has expressed interest and will help fund the cost of drilling exploratory wells to prove the long-term reserves that have been indicated by extensive seismic research over the last ten years. On this good news, the BPC s London share price jumped 130%

But it was bad news for our environmental spokespeople. Publicist Diane Phillips, Joseph Darville, Chairman of Save the Bays advocacy group , and Re-Earth founder Sam Duncombe are on record as being totally opposed and are actively campaigning to convince uncertain citizens to join their movement. They are all well-meaning folk with admirable vigor in a free society to defend the natural gifts of our unique environment.

But they are profoundly mis-guided.

They seem barely aware, or they discount, that as far back as 2012 our BEST Commission reviewed and accepted a multi-volume Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) , followed in 2014 by an Environmental Management Plan (EMP), a site-specific plan covering all performance criteria to mitigate potential impacts to the environment. They ignore that the EMP is steadily up-graded to meet the requirements of our Petroleum Act 2014 and its associated Regulations, specifically for Environmental Protection and Pollution Control. This regimen was not drafted in a vacuum, but follows the best practices and advice of experienced producing countries.

Our environmentalists remain concerned that, nevertheless, oil spills do occur, citing Wikipedias list of over 100 in the last 60 years. But any such list must be kept in rational perspective. Many spills have been small releases from pipelines that are easily contained with minimal effect. The greatest pollution has been caused by groundings, accidents and collisions suffered by super tankers, such as the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989 and the Torrey Canyon in the British Isles in 1967. Just this January Iranian tanker Sanchi was rammed, burned and sunk in the East China Sea, killing all its crew and leaving a slick of 100 square kilometers still not fully dispersed. But there has never been a serious incident involving all the scores of tankers that every year transit the Gulf Stream or the Northwest Providence Channel, waterways not far from our beaches and marine life.

Of course the down-well explosion and resulting flows from the famous Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010 killed eleven workers and did incalculable harm along the shores of US States on the Gulf of Mexico, with billions of dollars spent on still incomplete clean-up efforts, and the Ixtoc blow-out disaster off Campeche in 1979 had much the same effect on Mexico. With these exceptions, the hundreds of wells drilled and producing across the Gulf have created no major spills. Our activists often cite Deepwater Horizon as a template for what could result from drilling in the Bahamas. In fact, the alleged similarity to our five licensed drilling locations is virtually meaningless. They will reach sea floor at about 1,500-foot depth, while drilling in the Gulf now is at the harder-to-control 10,000-foot level, operating in ambient pressure of 16,000 psi compared to 4,000 in our different undersea geology.

Our wells lie in a narrow strip across the Old Bahama Channel from Cuba, over 100 miles from the nearest Bahamas land-mass on the southwest coast of Andros. The whole Grand Bahama Bank lies firmly between the exploration area and our incomparable beaches, resorts, and fishing grounds. This geography means prevailing conditions will sweep any slicks straight into the Gulf Stream flowing north at a predictable 3-5 knots for dispersion in the vast Atlantic, for past and surely future millennia, unaffected by hurricanes.

Our activists worry that our small country will be left alone without skills or resources to handle a spill. But we have joined several multi-country cooperatives like the International Association of Drilling Contractors (www.adc .org), and upon production BPC will become a dues-paying member of Oil Spill Response Limited. These arrangements assure that any needed equipment and personnel will be committed from Florida and the Gulf. Since Deepwater Horizon in 2010, the expertise of the worlds oil industry has been focused on assuring that a similar disaster does not occur elsewhere.

Balanced against the virtually invisible environmental risk, the potential economic and social benefits are overwhelming. Every cost of the investigative, exploration and drilling programs has been and will be covered by BPC together with all its operating expenses, and a annual license rental of $1 million to Government. When and if oil is sold in commercial quantities, BPC will pay royalties rising from 12.5% to 25% on increasing production levels. These revenues will be channeled into a Sovereign Wealth Fund, for long-term investments capable of meeting national objectives like reducing our critical unfunded pension obligations. This type of fund in has accumulated over $5.5 billion for Trindad-Tobago, the only Caribbean nation with proven oil earnings.

New opportunities will be granted to Bahamians for employment in the offshore oil industry, where technical positions will be available and education will be provided. Once profitability seems assured, BPC will launch a public offering of its shares on our capital markets, giving citizens an equity stake in a type of business sought by investors worldwide

___________________________________________

I am sympathetic to the constant calls that our nations beauty be preserved for our children and grand-children But has passionate environmentalist Ms. Phillips carefully considered her public appeal to Prime Minister Minnis that he leave whatever oil that is beneath the waters right where it is.? He would have to cancel all the leases and extensions granted to BPC since 2007, wiping out the roughly $100 million of capital invested and held by several hundred shareholders on the London Stock Exchange. Such a blatant state confiscation could only leave us with a painful law-suit, and a certain black eye to show international investors, the IMF, and the rating agencies.

Like the hard-bitten saying, No good deed goes unpunished.

___________________________________________________________

Mr. Coulson has had a long career in law, investment banking and private banking in New York, London, and Nassau, and now serves as director of several financial concerns and as a corporate financial consultant. He has recently released his autobiography, A Corkscrew Life: Adventures of a Travelling Financier.
By WestKyStar & WKCTC Staff May. 25, 2018 | 11:23 AM | PADUCAH, KY

West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) has been recognized four consecutive times by The Aspen Institute as an Aspen Prize Top 10 Community College and twice as a Finalist with Distinction for providing students with strong job training and continuing higher education opportunity, for achieving high completion and transfer rates, and for providing strong employment results for its graduates.



West Kentucky Community and Technical College has named mathematics professor Rhonda Adkins the college's dean of math, science and computer information technology, officials announced today."It is such an honor to be appointed as dean of this division. I will be representing an awesome group of faculty and staff from the science, mathematics and computer information technology departments," said the Massac County native who has worked at the college since 1994.Adkins received both a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in teaching mathematics from Murray State University. She has earned 30 hours beyond her master's degree through completion of graduate level courses in mathematics, computer science and mathematics education from Southern Illinois University, University of Kentucky, Murray State University and Western Kentucky University."I am looking forward to working with the deans from other divisions and the WKCTC leadership team as we continue WKCTC's mission under the direction of President Dr. Anton Reece," said Adkins.
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 24, 2018 | 05:28 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The question surrounding the salary of the McCracken County Coroner will have to wait on legal research.McCracken County Judge Executive Bob Leeper explained Thursday morning to Greg Dunker on WKYX, that the Fiscal Court looks at different areas of the county government and the appropriateness of funding them. They discovered an issue with the Coroner, that the county has paid more than like sized communities, and intended to lower it. He said, "all these rules for county governments are kind of vague."According to Judge Leeper, many of the coroner's salary increases have not been made correctly under KRS 64.530. He also explained that the county attorney, Sam Clymer, is currently researching this, to see what can be done, how much, and when to do it. This will determine what corrective action can be taken.Amanda Melton, the unopposed candidate for McCracken County Coroner in the November General Election, has started a Facebook petition to keep the position full time and adequately funded. It further suggests that any major decision involving the office of Coroner should be tabled for one year until the new Judge Executive and potential Commissioners are elected.

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-- #1 Across Key Demographics --

-- +50% growth over last year (Adults 18-34) --

-- +60% growth over last year (Adults 18-49) --

-- +31% growth over last year (Adults 25-54) --

BURBANK, Calif., May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LBI Media, the fastest growing Spanish-language broadcasting company in the U.S., announced today that its Los Angeles flagship station KRCA-62 outperformed all TV networks regardless of language in the Los Angeles market ranking #1 across key demographics with the final results of its hit talent competition show Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento.

This seasons winner, Luis Salgado, is a 48-year old construction worker from Baja California Sur, Mexico who resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Week after week Salgado captivated and intrigued the judges and audiences attention with his enigmatic personality and gifted tenor voice. Salgado won a grand prize of $100,000 along with career launching support from LBI Media and EstrellaTV.

According to Nielsen(1), EstrellaTV and its hit talent competition show, Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento, beat all competition among adults 18-49 and 25-54 in the Los Angeles market as it wrapped up its grand finale show on Wednesday, May 23, 2018. The shows emotional finale took its competitors by storm and reigned supreme regardless of language during Prime Time followed by Univision, Telemundo, Fox and ABC.

Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento, EstrellaTVs premier talent competition show, has consistently ranked #1 in the Los Angeles market and historically has outpaced not only its Hispanic competitors, but also general market television stations. In the Hispanic market, the show ranked #1 with a 2.0 rating among adults 18-34 outperforming Univision (1.5), Telemundo (0.8) and Unimas with a distant 0.3. Among Adults 18-49, EstrellaTV garnered a 2.9 rating followed by Univision (1.9), Telemundo (1.8) and Unimas (0.9). The show was also #1 across other key demos such as Adults 25-54, Households, Men 18-34, Men 18-49, and Men 25-54(2).

On a national level in Hispanic market, EstrellaTV ranked #3 in Prime (7P-11P) for the night, among Adults 25-54, as well as 8P-10P (Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento time period) among Adults 18-34, 18-49, 25-54 and P2+, experiencing audience significant growth from Spring 2017 Final +31% (Adults 18-49) and +32% (P2+)(3).

Some of the special musical performances of the night included Christian Nodal, Lennin Ramirez y Tercer Elemento, Legado 7, Joss Favela, Ana Barbara and last years season winner Bryan Salcedo.

About LBI Media, Inc.

LBI Media is the largest privately held, minority-owned Spanish-language broadcaster in the United States, with ten television stations and seventeen radio stations operating in top U.S. Hispanic markets. LBI Media operates the EstrellaTV Network, Don Cheto Radio Network, Fenomeno Studios MCN, Que Buena Radio and La Raza Radio. The Company produces over 50 hours of original television programming at its Burbank Television Studios each week. The EstrellaTV programming catalog consists of over 7,500 hours of original, Spanish-language television programming in genres including talk, drama, comedy, variety, reality, music and more. To learn more about LBI Media and see company updates, please visit www.lbimedia.com.

(1)Source: Nielsen Media Research, Los Angeles NSI Live+SD, 8p  10p, May 23, 2018, TP average ratings.

(2)Source: Nielsen Media Research, Los Angeles NSI-Hispanic Live+SD, May 23, 2018; 8-10P TP average ratings.

(3)Source: Nielsen (MediaView), 5/23/18 & 5/24/18 Growth based on Live SD (000)s
Georgia new No. 1 in AP football poll; Kentucky vaults to 11
A 27-year-old man who pleaded guilty to soliciting two boys for sex was sentenced Thursday to more than 12 years in prison.

Scott Anderson pleaded guilty to two charges on April 5 in Shawnee County District Court.

Andersons defense attorney, James Spies, asked the judge to depart downward to place Anderson on probation or to sentence him to five years and one month in prison.

In April, District Attorney Mike Kagay said Anderson was the ringleader in a group of five men convicted in a sex trafficking case.

After making Facebook contact with one youth, Anderson first gave him methamphetamines, then sought sex acts from the boy, then sex acts for other defendants, Kagay said.

On Thursday, defense Spies said Anderson was adopted and brought to the United States from Russia when he was 5 years old. Anderson has had an addiction to methamphetamines and other drugs and is unable to have interpersonal relationships with people, Spies said.

Spies said treatment sites can aid people like Anderson, and the attorney questioned whether imprisoning Anderson would serve any purpose.

Deputy district attorney Dustin Curry said the only choice was to imprison Anderson and urged Shawnee County District Court Judge Cheryl Rios to deny the motion to depart downward on Andersons sentence.

The Rev. Tim Haberkorn said Anderson was a good guy, who had a lot of spirit and joy. In talking with Haberkorn, Anderson has spoken of redemption, conversion, a change of heart and learning from mistakes.

I know he can do great things in the future, Haberkorn said. He knows in his heart he can and will do better. Haberkorn is pastor of the Sacred Heart- St. Joseph Catholic Church in Topeka.

Anderson apologized for his actions and the people he has hurt, adding that he has a drug problem.

Im young and Ive made mistakes, Anderson said.

The judge denied the motion to depart downward.

The courts concern is can society be safe from the acts by Mr. Anderson, Rios said. Anderson was given an opportunity by wonderful, loving parents, the judge said, but he made bad decisions that hurt children.

Anderson raped and sodomized a young boy and another charge focused on a second youth who was a victim, Rios said.

Rios sentenced Anderson to 12 years and seven months for his conviction of electronic solicitation of a child believed to be younger than 14 and a concurrent prison term of four years and seven months for electronic solicitation of a child believed to be younger than 16.

Anderson, who can earn 15 percent good time, must register as a sex offender for 25 years after he completes his prison sentence, the judge said.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Datametrex AI Limited (the Company or Datametrex) (TSXV:DM) (FSE:D4G) is pleased to announce that the Company has received its first order from a division of Hyundai Corporation (Hyundai) and the Company has initiated the delivery of its solutions.



This is the result of months of meetings and negotiations; I am thrilled that our team secured this initial contract with Hyundai. We remain in discussions with other divisions and look forward to providing our solutions across more of their business units, says Andrew Ryu, CEO & Chairman of the Company.

About Hyundai Corporation

Hyundai Corporation operates as an import and export trading company worldwide. The company sells long and flat products, steel pipes, semi products, nonferrous metals, and coated steel products; monomers, petroleum products, polymers, and inorganic fertilizers; and passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, OEM parts, and spare parts. It also supplies equipment, parts, and signal communication systems for speed trains, subway trains, diesel cars, locomotives, passenger cars, and light rails; high-angle guns, military vehicles, armored cars, and weapons; and supertankers, bulk carriers, container ships, and gas tankers, as well as engages in shipbuilding financing, ship repairing and remodeling, and used ship sales. In addition, the company provides construction services to environmental and marine, transporting and loading, and gas processing facilities, as well as constructs power plants, oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and desalination plants; produces industrial facilities and supplies related equipment; and provides various turnkey services, as well as offers project financing and offtake services. Further, it supplies electric equipment comprising generators, transformers, and distribution boards; offers commodities and engineering services, as well as transportation, installation, and audit services; and provides trading and financing services. Additionally, the company supplies PV modules, inverters, and wind turbines; offers excavators, wheel loaders, forklifts, industrial vehicles, supplementary equipment, pumping cars, cranes, and trucks; and invests in and develops energy and resource properties, such as coal, oil, and gas, as well as invests in bio fuel, mineral, farm operation, forest development projects, etc. Hyundai Corporation was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

About Datametrex

Datametrex AI Limited is a technology focused company with exposure to four exciting verticals. Big data, collecting data from retail point of sales environments. Artificial intelligence and machine learning through its wholly owned subsidiary, Nexalogy (www.nexalogy.com). Implementing Blockchain technology for secure data transfers through its joint venture company, Graph Blockchain Limited (www.graphblockchain.com). Industrial scale cryptocurrency mining through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ronin Blockchain Corp. (www.roninblockchain.com).

Additional information on Datametrex is available at: www.datametrex.com

To stay informed about Datametrex, please join our Investor Group on 8020 Connect http://bit.ly/2fPUNwF for all upcoming news releases, articles comments and questions.

For further information, please contact:

Jeffrey Stevens  President & COO

Phone: (647) 400-8494

Email: jstevens@datametrex.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding the completion of negotiations with Hyundai and the potential expansion of Datametrex solutions across Hyundais various business divisions. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance or results, since it involves risks and uncertainties. There is no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume and expressly renounces any obligation to update any forward-looking information, which is only applicable on the date on which it is given.
By: Paige Cline The hills are still green for the most part, but a little[Read More]
PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cohen & Company Inc. (NYSE American:COHN) (the Company) today announced that on May 24, 2018, Dekania Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Cohen & Company and the collateral manager and auction appointee of Dekania Europe CDO I PLC (Dekania Europe I), received bids that exceeded the minimum purchase price required for its mandated quarterly auction to be successful. Dekania Europe I has received a security deposit from the successful bidder and the remaining auction proceeds are due to be paid by Tuesday May 29, 2018. As a result of the successful auction, all rated notes of Dekania Europe I will be redeemed at par on the next interest payment date, June 7, 2018, while all remaining funds will be paid in a final distribution to the holders of the subordinated notes once the trustee has paid all expenses related to the liquidation of the vehicle.



Daniel Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Cohen & Company and President and Chief Executive of the Companys European Business, said, We are pleased to announce the successful auction of Dekania Europe I, which is a testament to the Companys capabilities in insurance related investments and asset management. We have been investing in insurance company debt since 2003, and we look forward to strengthening this capacity as we continue to grow our insurance platform.

Paul Vernhes, Managing Director of Cohen & Companys European Asset Management platform, added, The successful auction of Dekania Europe I is strong evidence of the quality of its collateral, which weathered the financial crisis and its 13 years of existence with only one default. We believe this demonstrates the robustness of insurance subordinated debt in general, as well as Cohen & Companys expertise in this area.

The Company has been a leading specialist in investment in the insurance market, having deployed over $4 billion through Dekania Capital Management, LLC and Cohen & Company Financial Limited managed products. In addition to CDOs and managed accounts, the Company currently manages its PriDe program, which provides subordinated debt to both U.S. and European insurers.

About Cohen & Company

Cohen & Company is a financial services company specializing in fixed income markets. It was founded in 1999 as an investment firm focused on small-cap banking institutions but has grown to provide an expanding range of capital markets and asset management services. Cohen & Companys operating segments are Capital Markets, Asset Management, and Principal Investing. The Capital Markets segment consists of fixed income sales, trading, and matched book repo financing as well as new issue placements in corporate and securitized products and advisory services, operating primarily through the Companys subsidiaries, J.V.B. Financial Group, LLC in the United States and Cohen & Company Financial Limited in Europe. The Asset Management segment manages assets through collateralized debt obligations, managed accounts, and investment funds. As of March 31, 2018, Cohen & Company managed approximately $3.4 billion in fixed income assets in a variety of asset classes including US and European trust preferred securities, subordinated debt, and corporate loans. As of March 31, 2018, 88.6% of the Companys assets under management were in collateralized debt obligations that Cohen & Company manages, which were all securitized prior to 2008. The Principal Investing segment has historically been comprised of investments in Cohen & Company sponsored investment vehicles but has changed to include investments in certain non-sponsored vehicles. For more information, please visit www.cohenandcompany.com.
SAN DIEGO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AbacusNext, the largest Technology-as-a-Service (TaaS) provider for the professional services sector, today announced their partnership with the Baton Rouge Chapter of the Federal Bar Association for its June 1, 2018, Wills for Veterans event, co-sponsored by the Baton Rouge Bar Association and the Louisiana State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division. Volunteer attorneys will provide pro bono will drafting and signing services to Baton Rouge area veterans using donated legal document generation software HotDocs, an AbacusNext product.



HotDocs software enables attorneys to accurately draft legal documentssuch as a will, living will, and health care power of attorneyin a fraction of the time of traditional drafting methods, empowering Wills for Veterans to maximize its impact and help as many veterans as possible. All new volunteer attorneys are provided with training on how to use HotDocs software and become familiar with the accompanying document templates published by LexisNexis. Volunteers will access the software using laptops donated by the Louisiana State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division.

Sign-ups for both volunteer attorneys and veterans are well underway and project coordinator, Valerie Schexnayder of the BRBA says, We are thrilled about this opportunity to say thank you to our local U.S. veterans by bringing together members of the Baton Rouge legal community and legal technology partners like AbacusNext for this worthwhile event. We encourage U.S. veterans interested in this no-cost program to register as soon as possible as appointments are filling up quickly.

Timothy Parker, Director of Communications and Corporate Relations for AbacusNext, noted We are proud to partner with the Federal Bar, the Baton Rouge Bar, the Louisiana State Bar and publishers like LexisNexis to support the U.S. veteran community through programs like Wills for Veterans. AbacusNext is honored be part of such a worthy cause and we plan to continue our partnerships with federal, state, and local bar associations across the country to sponsor more Wills for Veterans events in the future.

The Wills for Veterans Event is on Friday, June 1, 9am to 5pm at the Baton Rouge Bar Association Office, located at 544 Main Street in downtown Baton Rouge, LA. Veterans and volunteer attorneys interested in participating in the event should contact Valerie Schexnayder, at Valerie@brba.org or 225-214-5570, or Sharon Whitlow at 225-922-5110.

About AbacusNext

As the largest Technology-as-a-Service (TaaS) provider for the professional services sector, AbacusNext helps legal and accounting professionals achieve ultimate success and peace of mind through the delivery of a complete suite of compliance-ready technology solutions designed to support a secure and cloud-enabled practice at a cost they can afford. Headquartered in San Diego, California, and backed by private investment with Providence Equity, AbacusNext delivers products and services to over 500,000 businesses worldwide.

About the Federal Bar Association

The Federal Bar Association consists of more than 19,000 federal lawyers, including 1,500 federal judges, who work together to promote the sound administration of justice, quality, and independence of the judiciary. Through its multifaceted programs, the FBA advocates on federal issues that impact the practice of federal lawyers and the courts; provides opportunities for scholarship and education to the profession; delivers opportunities for judges and attorneys to professionally and socially interact; and promotes high standards of professional competence and ethical conduct. The mission of the Federal Bar Association includes serving not just the interests of federal judiciary and the federal practitioner, but also the interests of the community that they serve.

About the Baton Rouge Bar Association

The Baton Rouge Bar Association has been serving the legal profession and the public for more than 88 years. With a voluntary membership of over 2400 lawyers, the Baton Rouge Bar has long held a record of being one of the most active and innovative bar associations in the United States. The membership is a cross-section of lawyers from the greater Baton Rouge area and surrounding parishes, from solo practitioners to members of some of the largest law firms in the state. Our committees and Board of Directors represent all facets of the profession at all levels of practice and in all areas of practice.

About the Louisiana State Bar Association

The Louisiana State Bar Association assists its more than 22,000 members in the practice of law. The statewide association, as part of its multi-faceted mission, promotes and maintains access to justice initiatives for the states residents, assists the Louisiana Supreme Court in its regulation of the practice of law, upholds the honor of the courts and the profession, and supports programs that increase public understanding of and respect for the law.
VALLEY COTTAGE, N.Y. , May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the global central venous catheter market in its latest report titled, Global Central Venous Catheter Market: Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 20162026. In terms of revenue, the global central venous catheter market is projected to register a CAGR of 5.1% over the forecast period owing to various factors, on which FMI offers detailed insights and forecasts.

Growth of the global central venous catheter market is mainly driven by rising adoption and growing demand for antimicrobial coated catheters, coupled with socio-economic factors such as increasing disease incidences due to a growing geriatric population. Other prominent growth drivers are product innovations and increasing rates of hospitalisations. A key trend in the global central venous catheter market is the increasing usage of tip location devices for locating the tip of the catheter during central access procedure. Increasing number of oncologists are prescribing antimicrobial coated tunnelled catheters for chemotherapy regimens, which is another prominent trend in the global central venous catheter market.

Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents and Figures: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-949

Segmentation highlights

The market is segmented based on product type, design of the catheters, composition of the catheters, properties, end user and regions. Based on product type, the market has been segmented into tunnelled and non-tunnelled catheters.

Non-tunnelled catheters are expected to exhibit the fastest CAGR, due to increase in the usage of these catheters by anaesthesiologists in the emergency room. The segment is expected to register a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period. However risk of catheter related blood stream infection with non-tunnelled catheters is expected to adversely affect demand for these central venous catheters over the forecast period

To provide deeper insight into pattern of demand for central venous catheters, the market has been segmented based on the properties of the central venous catheters such as antimicrobial coated catheters and non-antimicrobial coated catheters

The antimicrobial coated catheters property segment is expected to witness a highest CAGR of 6.0% over the forecast period. The market has also been segmented based on the composition of the catheter such as catheters made up of polyurethane, polyurethane/polycarbonate and silicon. Polyurethane CVCs are expected to exhibit the fastest CAGR during the forecast period

To analyse the sales of central venous catheter further, the market has been segmented based on the design of the catheters such as single lumen catheters, double lumen catheters and multi lumen catheters

In addition to this, the market has also been segmented by end users into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centres, and speciality clinics. The Hospital end user segment is expected to account for the highest demand for central venous catheter over the forecast period, registering a CAGR of 5.3%. Increasing patient admissions for major surgeries, trauma cases, accidents etc. is anticipated to push the demand for central venous catheters in hospitals over the forecast period

Preview of Central Venous Catheter Market Segmentation By Product Type - Tunnelled Catheters and Non-Tunnelled Catheters, By Property - Antimicrobial Catheters and Non Antimicrobial Catheters, By Design - Single Lumen, Double Lumen and Multi Lumen, By Composition - Polyurethane, Polyurethane / Poly Carbonate and Silicone, By End Use - Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centres, Specialty Clinics and Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/central-venous-catheter-market

Regional projections

This report assesses trends driving growth of each segment on the global as well as regional levels, and offers potential takeaways that could prove substantially useful to central venous catheters manufacturers looking to enter the market. North America has been estimated to dominate the global central venous catheter market with a maximum market share in 2015. North America and Western Europe have been collectively expected to account for around 50% of the total global central venous catheter market share in terms of value in 2015. Amongst the emerging markets, APEJ region is estimated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 6.2% over the forecast period, due to an increase in the number of patients admitted to hospitals.

Vendor insights

Some key players in the global central venous catheter market identified in the report include Angio Dynamics, C.R. Bard, Teleflex Incorporated, Kimal, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Vygon (UK) Ltd., Smiths Medical and Comed B.V. FMI has discussed individual strategies of these companies in terms of enhancing product portfolio, distribution partnerships, market consolidation and advanced R&D initiatives. In addition, the report also provides company share and competitive dashboard for players already present in the market.

Our advisory services are aimed at helping you with specific, customized insights that are relevant to your specific challenges. Let us know about your challenges and our trusted advisors will connect with you: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-949

More from FMIs Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices:

Varicose Vein Treatment Market Segmentation By End User  Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centres, Specialised Clinics; By Treatment Type  Endovenous Laser Systems (Diode Lasers, Yag Lasers), Endovenous Laser Fibres (Bare Tip Laser Fibres, Radial Tip Laser Fibres, Gold Tip Laser Fibres), Treatment (Non-Thermal Ablation, Radiofrequency Ablation, Sclerotherapy): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/varicose-veins-treatment-devices-market

Prosthetic Heart Valve Market Segmentation By Product Type - Mechanical Heart Valves, Biological/Tissue Heart Valves, Transcatheter Heart Valves; By End User  Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centres: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/prosthetic-heart-valve-market

Cardiac Surgery Devices Market Segmentation Product - Heart Lung Machine, Breathing Heart Surgery Systems(Stabilisers, Positioners), Catheters(Ablation Catheter, Drainage Catheter), Perfusion Disposables(Oxygenators, Centrifugal Pumps, Cardioplegia Delivery System); End User  Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgical Centres; Procedure - Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting(On pump CABG, Off pump CABG), Minimally Invasive Surgery: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/cardiac-surgery-devices-market

About Us

Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends.

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Dassault Aviation at EBACE 2018

(Saint-Cloud, France, May 25, 2018) - From May 29 to 31, Dassault Aviation takes part in the EBACE show in Geneva, the major European business aviation event.

Three of our Falcon business jets are presented on the static display:

a three-engine Falcon 8X,

a three-engine Falcon 900LX,

a twin-jet Falcon 2000LXS.

Designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the Falcons are a family of business jets renowned for their handling qualities, flexibility of use, low fuel consumption and technological innovations.

On its booth, Dassault Aviation also presents other models of our aircraft:

the Falcon 6X, a new twin-engine Falcon under development, whose virtual reality cabin experience is offered to visitors to the show;

the Rafale, the omnirole combat aircraft, combat proven in many theatres of operations;

the nEUROn, a stealth combat drone demonstrator built under Dassault Aviation leadership, in cooperation with companies from five European countries, including Ruag for Switzerland.

Dassault Aviation realizes the synergy between civil and military fields thanks to its dual nature: the group produces its combat and business aircraft from the same design office and the same factories. High technologies from defense activities benefit civil activities, which in turn develop very competitive industrial processes.

As the hub of a strategic industrial network comprising hundreds of companies in France and international markets, Dassault Aviation is also the Thales Group's core industrial shareholder.

About Dassault Aviation :

With over 10,000 military and civil aircraft delivered in more than 90 countries over the last century, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter, to the high-end Falcon family of business jets and military drones. In 2017, Dassault Aviation reported revenues of 4.8 billion. The company has 11,400 employees.

https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/

Twitter : @Dassault_OnAir

Press Contacts :

Corporate Communications

Stephane Fort

Mathieu Durand

Tel: +33 (0)1 47 11 86 90

Tel: +33 (0)1 47 11 85 88

stephane.fort@dassault-aviation.com

mathieu.durand@dassault-aviation.com

For high-definition photos:

http://mediaprophoto.dassault-aviation.com/

For high-definition videos:

http://mediaprovideo.dassault-aviation.com/
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The role of technology in the development and growth of the healthcare industry has become increasingly important. According to Transparency Market Research (TMR), the opportunity in this market is anticipated to rise 13.4 percent between 2017 and 2025 and reach US $536.6 billion by the end of 2025. The technological advancements in the medical and healthcare infrastructure are also projected to support this market over the next few years.



Aligned with this trend, Stefanini, a $1B global IT provider, is investing in a broad portfolio of solutions that meets these market expectations, leading digital transformation into institutions and creating value for clients. One of the steps in this direction was announced in Brazil this week, when the company announced the acquisition of the Brazilian company Magma, a multidisciplinary startup specializing in information technology for the health segment.

Created two years ago, Magma develops systems of management and monitoring for patients and teams, based on in-depth studies regarding daily experiences in hospitals and medical centers. With a focus on ICUs, Magma has created a tool based on analytical intelligence, which provides a broad and systemic view of every Intensive Care Unit, transforming decision-making processes with agility, improving financial management and reducing hospitalization timeas well as guaranteeing a better clinical performance.

Analytical Intelligence Providing a Broad and Systemic View

"The predictive solution can analyze, through the patient's admission data, how long he will be in the ICU and his risk of acquiring a hospital infection. It generates intelligence in real time so that care is more effective for the patient and brings improved performance to hospitals," explains Jose Carlos Pires, president of Stefanini Scala.

Magma also developed a platform of medical scales, which proves the presence of the professional in the workplace at the time that was agreed upon and monitors whether everything is being delivered as planned. This solution can be used by companies in other segments, such as manufacturing, retail and the contact center, for purposes like controlling payments.

According to Dr. Jose Albani de Carvalho Junior, founder of Magma and an intensive care physician for 30 years, this medical scale solution, considered innovative in the market, verifies the availability of physicians to distribute their workload so that any unpredicted issue can be solved quickly.

"We are happy to be part of the Stefanini Group, which will certainly help us in international expansion. The health sector has undergone a series of changes in the world, and our solutions may contribute to other regions, such as Latin America and Asia. We want Magma to be recognized as the healthcare company of Stefanini," says Dr. Albani.

According to the doctor, hospitals are lacking in solutions with technological expertise. "We need to show how to efficiently use data to generate indicators and intelligence, which can reduce ICU cost by reducing hospitalization time and optimizing resourcesfrom 20 percent to 25 percentas well as generating more savings, especially in the public hospitals," says the founder of Magma.

In addition to the ICU and medical scale platforms, Magma develops co-managed solutions that can help in other areas through the use of machine learning and other technologies such as IBM Watson.

About Stefanini

Stefanini (www.stefanini.com) is a global company with 30 years of experience in the market, investing in a complete innovation ecosystem to meet the main verticals and assist customers in the process of digital transformation. With robust offerings aligned with market trends such as automation, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and user experience (UX), the company has been recognized with several awards in the area of innovation.

Today, the company has a broad portfolio of solutions that combine innovative consulting, marketing, mobility, personalized campaigns and artificial intelligence services for traditional solutions such as service desk, field service and outsourcing (BPO).

With a presence in 40 countries, Stefanini was named the fifth most internationalized company, according to the Dom Cabral Foundation ranking of 2017. The corporate global headquarters is located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with the European headquarters in Brussels and the North American headquarters in metropolitan Detroit.

Further information is available on the companys website, www.stefanini.com.

Editorial Contacts

Vanessa Morais

Vanessa.morais@stefanini.com

+1 248 263.8612
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Open wide and explore

Dr Geoffrey Sperber shares a lifetime of learning

Its been 60 years since Dr Geoffrey Sperber lectured in the Department of Anatomy at Wits. But over the decades, dentistry and anatomy students worldwide have benefited from his expertise through his publications and visiting lectureships.

Now a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, Canada, he has been honoured for his distinguished contribution to his discipline. That university has established a GH Sperber Annual Lectureship to be delivered on the theme of Craniofacial Development, and has named its campus dental museum after him as part of its centenary celebrations.

The school is pleased to acknowledge individuals like Dr Sperber. His passion for the museum and our centennial were the drivers for what you see here today, said Paul Major, chair of the School of Dentistry. Over the years, Dr Sperber and his wife, Robyn, have donated graciously to our school to support our research and innovation activities.

The third edition of Dr Sperbers textbook Craniofacial Embryogenetics and Development is currently in the press.

One of his recent publications was Teeth as Pearls of Wisdom, in the British Dental Journal, a fascinating look at the kinds of information that teeth can reveal about peoples life histories and about evolution. Fittingly, the museum he has done so much to nurture is a similar treasure.

Dr Sperber graduated from Wits in 1954 with a BSc, followed by the degrees BDS 1956, BSc Hons 1958 and PhD 1963.
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY

A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Sky plc (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree:



(e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 24 May, 2018 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A"

2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



50p ordinary



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled: (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



25,827,654 1.5025



(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:



TOTAL: 25,827,654 1.5025





All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit





(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit 50p ordinary CFD Decreased a long position 400,000 13.6050 GBP 50p ordinary CFD Decreased a long position 300,000 13.5600 GBP 50p ordinary CFD Decreased a long position 145,703 13.6066 GBP 50p ordinary CFD Decreased a long position 60,770 13.5996 GBP 50p ordinary CFD Decreased a long position 50,000 13.5500 GBP

(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)





4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"



NONE





(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none" NONE









(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO

Date of disclosure: 25 May, 2018 Contact name: James Gange Telephone number: 212-446-4029

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service.

The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
UTICA  Alorica is looking to hire 50 new full-time employees at its Utica location and the company will soon be hosting a job fair.

Alorica is a telecommunication company with call centers for its clients, and the Utica office is located at 5701 Horatio Street. The 50 employees theyre looking to hire will provide customer support for an American multinational financial services company.

A job fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 31 at Utica City Hall, located at 1 Kennedy Plaza in Utica.

Our continued expansion in Utica demonstrates our commitment to bringing valuable career opportunities to the community, as well as to continue delivering insanely great customer experiences for our clients, said Lilly Bueno, site director for Aloricas Utica location, in a news release. Serving a dynamic and evolving industry, our goal is to go beyond meeting our employees expectations for their career experience by creating a work environment that encourages teamwork, recognizes excellence, and promotes a culture rooted in the spirit of keeping things fun, engaging, and family-friendly.

If youre unable to make it to the job fair, you can apply online here, or visit Aloricas online scheduling site here.
NEW HARTFORD  The New Hartford Police Department is asking for the publics help identifying a larceny suspect.

Police say theyre seeking the identity of the man pictured in the surveillance photo regarding a larceny investigation. If you recognize him, youre asked to call New Hartford police at 315-724-7111.
SYDNEY, Australia and MINNEAPOLIS, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medibio Limited (MEB or the Company) (ASX:MEB) (OTCQB:MDBIF), a mental health technology company, today announced a significant contract for Medibios Corporate Health product with Dallas, TX-based Jacobs Engineering across their Asia Pacific, Middle East, and European divisions.



Through the Mental Health Check-In, companies can offer employees an end-to-end mental health program, direct to their devices, to see how the mind and body are tracking. Its a personalized, private, and objective way to see the unseeable: mental health issues in the workplace.

Employees are provided the opportunity to confidentially check-in on their mental health and receive personalized confidential results from both an objective biometric screening in conjunction with a 12-minute subjective survey. Employers receive a dashboard providing de-identified, amalgamated data on the well-being of their workforce leveraging both the subjective and objective metrics. Employees then have the option to connect their wearable devices, such as Apple Watch, Garmin, and Fitbit, collect heart rate and sleep data.

The first-phase contract extends Medibios engagement with Jacobs beyond Asia Pacific, to now encompass over 8,000 employees across Asia Pacific, India, the Middle East and Europe. The Check-In will be rolled out to Jacobs European leadership team alongside the Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern workforces and is projected to generate first-stage revenue of approximately $50,000 for the initial four-week program. Services, including consultancy and delivery of ongoing mental health interventions and programs, will be billed as provided.

The correlation of ANS biometrics and mental health has been the focus of the company for over 20 years. Especially while sleeping, our bodies reflect our mental state through the performance of the autonomic nervous system. Medibios technology platform detects dysfunction within the areas of the body regulated by the ANS, and through proprietary data processing and algorithms, the technology correlates these anomalies to different mental health conditions. It is a profound discovery that for the first time provides a tangible, objective understanding of mental health.

We are thrilled to extend our pivotal agreement with Jacobs Engineering, a long-term supporter of Medibio and a leading corporation in driving the way mental health care is delivered to their employee base, said CEO and Managing Director Jack Cosentino. By leveraging our proprietary technology, in conjunction with Jacobs strong corporate advocacy, we look forward to establishing a long-term relationship to enable real change in the area of corporate mental health.

Jacobs Engineering Group is one of the worlds largest engineering and environmental consultancy groups. With a reputation for innovation, performance, and a human centric approach to employment and consultancy they have sought out programs that align with their values and integrate with their culture. Jacobs currently employs over 70,000 employees in over 250 offices worldwide.

Patrick Hill, Sr. Vice President and General Manager Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities at Jacobs said: Our partnership with Medibio appears to have been hugely beneficial to date. Their analytical and evidence-based approach is a significant step forward for an organization like Jacobs that is looking to move from awareness to action, and from reaction to prevention. As a company that aims to puts its people first, we are delighted to be extending the Check-in to other parts of our global business.

This contract signed by Jacobs Engineering continues Medibios rapidly expanding portfolio of global companies participating in the Mental Health Check-in including:

Jacobs Engineering (U.S.)

St. John of God Health Care (Australias third-largest healthcare provider)

Australian Football League (AFL)

Rio Tinto

Aurecon Jacobs Joint Venture for West Gate Tunnel Project

The Mental Health Check-in Campaign is the entry-level offering to Medibios Corporate Health products and is rapidly positioning Medibio as the preeminent mental health technology and services provider offering comprehensive mental health solutions for businesses.

About Medibio Limited

Medibio (ASX:MEB) (OTCQB:MDBIF) is a mental health technology company that has pioneered the use of objective biometrics to assist in the screening, diagnosing, monitoring and management of depression and other mental health conditions. The company offers mental health solutions for business through its Corporate Health programs and is developing products to serve both the consumer and regulated healthcare provider markets. The company was founded in Australia, with offices located in Melbourne (Vic), Perth (WA), and U.S. offices in Minneapolis, MN. Medibio is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Ltd and trades on the OTCQB Venture Market. Investors can find additional information on www.otcmarkets.com and www.asx.com.au.

About Jacobs

Jacobs leads the global professional services sector delivering solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With $15 billion in fiscal 2017 revenue when combined with full-year CH2M revenues and a talent force of more than 77,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of services including scientific, technical, professional and construction- and program-management for business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit www.jacobs.com, and connect with Jacobs on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Further Information: Website: www.medibio.com.au Media Inquiries:

Josh Purdy

Medibio Limited

josh.purdy@medibio.com.au

T: 952-222-0551 ext. 208

M: 612-695-0168 Investor Relations:

Stephanie Ottens

Medibio Limited

stephanie.ottens@medibio.com.au

T: +61 434 405 400

A video accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dca9e5bd-b9a4-4500-9840-9530068038c8
ROME, N.Y.  Nearly 150 people working at a company in Rome will soon be out of a job. Premier Aviation Overhaul Center Ltd. told its employees it will close its Griffiss International Airport facility by the end of August.

The company distributed a WARN notice (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) to its employees Thursday. In the letter the company said it will shut down operations in Rome on August 22nd, 2018. The company also distributed labor department and job information to its employees.

A representative with Oneida County Executive Anthony Picentes office said the county will work with displaced employees to help them find new employment.

Its disheartening to hear that Premier Aviation is closing its Rome maintenance facility and that its employees will lose their jobs as a result. Oneida County will do anything it can to help assist with this situation, Picente said in a statement to WKTV.

Premier Aviation first came to the Griffiss International Airport in November of 2010.
UTICA  As is tradition on the Friday before Memorial Day, retired members of the Utica Police Department and Utica Fire Department who passed away within the last year were honored today.

A ceremony was held inside the Parkway Community Center on Friday, across the road from the Mary S. Hendricks Police and Firefighters Memorial Park.

The event is put on by the Association of Police and Fire Retirees of Upstate New York. The president of the local chapter says its truly an honor to not only remember those who have died, but to honor their families as well.

I think it means a ton, a ton to these families because they gave their husbands and their daughters, or their sisters, brothers, up for holidays, for special events, because they had to come to work to protect the people of the city, said Michael Elafante of the Association of Police and Fire Retirees of Upstate New York.

The four retired Utica police officers honored Friday were Deputy Chief Michael J. Bailey II, Sgt. Donald L. Palmer, Patrolman Leroy Jalonack and Patrolman Benjamin F. Winkler.

The three retired firefighters who were honored were Capt. Harold Luley, Firefighter John Grzywacz and Firefighter Frank Amarosa.
ROME  A female corrections officer was injured at Mohawk Correctional Facility earlier this month while investigating suspicious activity by two inmates, according to the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

According to NYSCOPBA, on May 12 the officer was conducting regular rounds in one of the dormitories when she approached two inmates who she believed were acting suspicious, and she saw that one of the inmates had a latex glove in his hand.

The officer then ordered the inmates two to the wall so that she could perform a pat-and-frisk for contraband. As the officer began searching the inmate with the latex glove he suddenly elbowed her in the face, according to NYSCOPBA, and the inmate then threw the glove at her.

The glove had a liquid inside that was later identified as the drug Neurontin, and the liquid got into the officers eyes, mouth and on her head. Officials say the officer activated her alarm, and after a brief struggle she was able to restrain the inmate with the help of other officers.

NYSCOPBA officials say the officer sustained a laceration to her lip and she was treated by staff at the correctional facility, then transported to a hospital for evaluation.

The 24-year-old inmate who reportedly injured the officer is currently serving a five-year prison sentence after a 2014 conviction in Erie County on charges of first-degree attempted robbery, first-degree attempted assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

NYSCOPBA says the inmate was sent to a special housing unit following the attack.

Recent actions taken by DOCCS to relax disciplinary actions have created an inmate population that is emboldened, said Scott Carpenter, Central Region Vice President for NYSCOPBA, in a news release. There is no incentive for inmates to behave in a manner that is consistent with a safe environment inside the prison. We need to continue to advocate for disciplinary measures that will deter inmates from attacking staff as well as criminally prosecute inmates that commit serious acts of violence.
WKTV Back to Work Job Orders for May 28  June 1, 2018

Monday, May 28, 2018

Job Title: Professional House Cleaners City: Waterville, NY

Summary: Hard working, physically capable of working on your feet for 8+ hours, friendly, able to converse on a multitude of conversations as our clients are diverse with different backgrounds and ages, a team player, visionary. We are primarily hiring for 25-30 hrs a week to start out with. Must be available weekdays. Looking for applicants with 5+ years customer service.

Pay: $10.82/hour Job Order # NY1257800

___________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, May 28, 2018

Job Title: Truck Driver City: Oriskany Falls, NY

Duties: Pre & Post shift maintenance inspections, General maintenance and housekeeping duties required to maintain equipment, Deliver materials (aggregates, hot mix asphalt products) to construction jobsites or local customers as necessary, Proper documentation on all required, CDL Class A or B License required (Class A preferred), Haz Mat & Tank endorsements are desirable, Good physical condition, able to climb in and out of equipment.

Pay: Not specified Job Order # NY1257283

____________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Job Title: Utica Recruitment Day City: Utica, NY

Wednesday May 30th is Utica Recruitment Day at the Utica Career Center, 207 Genesee Street, 2nd floor room 205. From 10am to 12 noon, businesses with immediate openings will be on site interviewing and accepting applications for multiple positions! Free or paid training available for many positions. Don't miss these great opportunities- they won't last. Please bring a photo id for building security.

Pay: Varies Job Order # NY1252423

_________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Job Title: Nutrition Assistant City: Oriskany, NY

Summary: implement public education to improve healthy food and lifestyle choices among limited resource families and individuals encompassing all age groups in various locations throughout the North Country Region. Teach nutrition education with a focus on general nutrition, food preparation, food safety and food budgeting to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligible or SNAP recipients via workshops.

Pay: Not specified Job Order # DE4757900

______________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Job Title: Landscape Laborers City: Utica, NY

Full time, year-round positions. Duties: Maintain grass, shrubbery, flower beds, seasonal plantings and trees. During winter, remove snow from sidewalks, entrances. Requirements: Clean, valid New York State driver's license and ability to frequently lift and carry objects up to 75 lbs. Willing to train a dependable worker with a good attitude. Recent high school or BOCES graduates seeking an entry-level long term career opportunity.

Pay: $11-$15/hour Job Order # NY1257035

___________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Job Title: Hygienist City: Rome, NY

Summary: Evaluates overall oral health, examining oral cavity for signs of periodontal disease or possible cancers, including sores, recessed & bleeding gums, and oral lesions. Documents dental history or chief complaint; records and reports pertinent observations and patient reactions to dental staff, as appropriate; documents lab procedures and ensures follow up on results. Follows through with oral hygiene procedures in accordance with treatment plans prescribed by the attending Dentist.

Pay: Not specified Job Order # DE4770019

____________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Job Title: New Bus Prep Supervisor City: Rome, NY

Summary: We are looking for an aggressive self-starter who has the ability and drive to: Ensure compliance with all International vendor policies and warranty procedures. Investigate vehicle repairs progress, quality of workmanship and cleanliness. Contact customers regarding any additions or changes to the repair of their vehicle, if required. Explains cost and time requirements in detail, and get the proper authorization before any additional repairs are made.

Pay: Not specified Job Order # DE4758211

____________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Job Title: Facilities Technician II City: New Hartford, NY

Openings on both 2nd and 3rd shift.

Summary: Perform maintenance on HVAC, electrical and plumbing, preventative maintenance and repair services on HVAC, electrical and plumbing systems. Will perform all duties as assigned an electrician, may require some supervision. Education: High School diploma with 2 year degree in Building Operations trade related field and a valid drivers license.

Pay: Not specified Job Order # NY1257086

____________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, June 1, 2018

Job Title: Line Service Technician City: Rome, NY

Summary: The line service professional is responsible for providing efficient service for all internal and external customers by using excellent, in-depth knowledge of company procedures and proper ground handling of aircraft as well as communicating effectively with customers, pilots, and team members within the customer service department.

Pay: Not specified Job Order # DE4781471

____________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, June 1, 2018

Job Title: Line Cook City: New Hartford, NY

Summary: Prepare and cook to order foods that require only a short preparation time. Grill/cook authentic Lebanese cuisine in addition to steaks, and fry fish. Must have some experience, especially with steaks, fish fry, etc, but will accept a trainee. Pay is dependent on experience. 30+ hours per week, which will include night and day shifts. References needed.

Pay: Not specified Job Order # NY1256794
A Utica man is facing felony charges after he allegedly deposited a stolen check worth more than $32,000 and used ATMs from the local area to New Jersey to withdraw the funds, according to the New Hartford Police Department.

Police say they were called to the M&T Bank in Consumer Square in New Hartford by employees who reported that 38-year-old Jermaine Waring of Utica was in the store trying to withdraw money from an account.

Police say bank employees discovered that on May 18, Waring had deposited a check for $32,493.95 into a business account that he had opened earlier this month under a business name. Employees say Waring presented the appropriate state-issued paperwork for the business when he opened the account.

After the check had been deposited, approximately $20,000 was withdrawn from the account over the course of three days, at ATMs from central New York all the way down to New York City and New Jersey, according to police.

Bank employees believed it was suspicious so they contacted the construction company in Mount Vernon that issued the check, and company officials confirmed that they issued a check for that amount to a company with a similar name in Illinois, but they said the Illinois company never received the check, or several other checks issued by their company.

Police say an investigation found that Waring came into possession of the check, then filed for a business in New York under a name similar to the company in Illinois, just a few days after the check was written. The account was then opened and the check was deposited, and after the check cleared, money started being taken from the account a few days later.

Police say Waring was at M&T Bank when employees called police to report it, so they transported him to the police station for questioning and an interview.

Waring was then charged with the following felonies:

- Third-degree criminal possession of stolen property

- Third-degree grand larceny

- Second-degree forgery

- First-degree falsifying business records

Waring was arraigned and sent to the Oneida County Jail on $2,500 cash bail. Hes scheduled to appear in New Hartford Town Court next week.
SODUS, N.Y. (AP) - Police in western New York are searching for a 14-month-old boy after his mother's body was found in a bag hidden in the woods.

The Wayne County Sheriff's office said 18-year-old Selena Hidalgo-Calderon's body was found Thursday at a farm in Sodus where she reportedly had worked. She had been missing for a week.

Her boyfriend, Everardo Reyes, was arrested on charges of tampering with physical evidence.

Police say the child, 14-month-old Owen Hidalgo-Calderon, has not been found. Police were to continue searching the area east of Rochester on Friday.

An Amber Alert was issued Friday morning. Owen Hidalgo-Calderon is described as being a Hispanic male, 2 feet tall, weighing 30 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

According to the alert, he is known to be in need of asthma medication, and its unknown what he was last seen wearing.

Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers' Center of Central New York told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Hidalgo-Calderon was from Guatemala and was being deported. She says the mother was in the process of applying for asylum.
NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Century Petroleum Corp. (OTC:CYPE) (Century or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter agreement dated as of May 25, 2018 (the Letter Agreement) with a leading Nigerian-based cement company, Ibeto Cement Company Limited (Ibeto). The Letter Agreement outlines the proposed terms and conditions pursuant to which Century Petroleum Corp and Ibeto Cement Company Limited will effect a business combination that will result in a reverse takeover of Century Petroleum by the shareholders of Ibeto Cement Company Limited (the Proposed Transaction). The Letter Agreement was negotiated at arms length. Per the Agreement, Dr. Cletus Ibeto has acquired 70% control of Century Petroleum Corp. Effective May 24, 2018, Mandla J. Gwadiso, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Century Petroleum Corp has stepped down and Dr. Cletus M. Ibeto has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Board effective immediately. Dr Cletus Ibeto was advised by Palewater Advisory Group Inc. on this transaction.

Ibeto Cement Company Limited, a privately held company organized/incorporated under the Nigerian laws, is one of the most dominant players in the fast-growing cement industry in Nigeria and, by extension, Africa. To increase its production and packaging capacity, the Ibeto Cement Company Limited is currently developing two cement plants in Nigeria namely:  one in Ebonyi State and one in Cross River State/Abia State. Each of the plant is a State-of-the-art 6,000 Metric Tons-per-day (TPD) plant and are sitting on an abundant deposit/reserve of quality limestones.

Ibeto Cement Company Limited is owned by the industrial Nigerian Billionaire - Dr. Cletus Madubugwu Ibeto, CON. Dr Ibeto is a world-class business leader and enterpreneur who has built successful companies/industries in Nigeria and beyond. Through Ibeto Cement Company Limited, Dr Ibeto has seriously impacted the cement market in Nigeria. This transaction will enable Ibeto Cement Company Limited to raise sufficient capital to dominate the industry in Nigeria and West African sub region as a whole.

Kent A. D. Clark, Chairman of Palewater Global Management Inc., the current parent company of Century Petroleum Corp, stated thus:

"The reverse merger with Century Petroleum Corp is a vital step in becoming a vibrant public company and is a key element of our growth strategy. This reverse merger is a significant accomplishment for the Palewater Global Management Inc. Team." Clark continued, "We believe the positioning of Century Petroleum Corp. as a publicly-traded company will afford all the greatest opportunity to capitalize on the rapidly growing demand for high quality, lower-cost industrial products around the world.

Dr. Cletus Ibeto, The Chairman of The Ibeto Group, the parent company of Ibeto Cement Company Limited, Nigeria, opined that:

Our key strategic objective in the vast and extensive development of Cement business in Nigeria and West African sub-region is to make cement affordable to all Nigerians and tiers of government in such a way that they should be able to develop modest homes for themselves and their families inclusive of road infrastructure. As far as I am concerned and with the knowledge I have and what I know in this business, the cement business is an investors haven especially in Nigeria and a much more profitable business than crude oil where a lot of people think is the best place to invest. This probably explains why the few people in the business have deliberately created very strong barrier to entry into the industry for prospective investors. It is therefore my honest belief that this reverse merger will enable us to accomplish this objective. In the end and, in line with our strategic intent and objective, we are geared to be a world-class cement company in terms of quality, affordability, innovation, service, environment, safety, and corporate governance and also to be a part of building the countrys needed infrastructure.

Dr Ibeto continued, it has been a long journey since I have been in business and none of my companies or businesses has been public. I have a desire to build a formidable structure for companies that will outlive me.

Moving on, everybody knows that I have had great success investing in Nigeria for myself, my family and the communities in which my businesses operate, but then the time has come for me to replicate the successes I have enjoyed in Africa on a global scale. My plan is to share my wealth of experience that has made me a leader in business today so as to ensure that which God has given to me as a gift, building successful businesses, benefits Gods people beyond Africa.

For me, this is a legacy I am building for generations to come. Century Petroleum Corp is the vehicle I plan to use as a catalyst of empowerment for all Nigerians and people all over the world as the shares of the company will be traded internationally.

I am extremely excited to have Century Petroleum Corp as future part of the IBETO group and having taken over the reigns as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company will enable me to put together teams that will help grow the company and propel it and also members of the board that will help me breathe life into what Century Petroleum will ultimately become.

It is also my wish to state here that my years of experience in business as well as my success record, prove that I have the ability to build companies/businesses organically as I had done with the businesses that I have started from ground up and inorganically through businesses that I have acquired as means to grow swiftly in my vertical integration strategy.

Terms of the Transaction

The Proposed Transaction will be structured as an amalgamation, arrangement, takeover bid, share purchase or other similar forms of transactions or a series of transactions that have a similar effect with Ibeto Cement Company Limited acquiring total control of Century Petroleum Corp, whereas, the survivor/legacy of the merger would be called Ibeto Cement International Corporation, a transaction that will make Ibeto Cement Company Limited a 70% control shareholder of Ibeto Cement International Corporation (the merger survivor). The final structure for the Proposed Transaction is subject to satisfactory tax, corporate and securities law advice for both Century Petroleum Corps and Ibeto Cement Company Limited.

Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including completion of the merger, receipt of all necessary shareholder/shareholding and regulatory approvals, the execution of related/applicable transaction documents, approval of the SEC and Finra for the business combination and change of name.

In connection with the Proposed Transaction, the Company will be required to, amongst others: (i) change its name to a name requested by Ibeto Cement Company Limited and acceptable to applicable regulatory authorities; (ii) consolidate/consolidation of its outstanding Century Petroleum Shares on a basis to be determined (the Consolidation); (iii) replace all directors and officers of the Company on closing of the Proposed Transaction with nominees of Ibeto Cement Company Limited; and (iv) create a new class of non-participating super voting shares that would be issued to the founder of Ibeto Cement Company Limited, Dr. Cletus M. Ibeto, under the Proposed Transaction.

In the Proposed Transaction, existing shareholders of the Company as of immediately prior to the completion of the Proposed Transaction would hold post-Consolidated Century Petroleum Shares (whose voting rights will be subordinated) with a value, based on the merger. Further details of the Proposed Transaction will be included in subsequent news releases and disclosure documents (which will include business and financial information in respect of Ibeto Cement Company Limited) to be filed by the Company in connection with the Proposed Transaction.

About Century Petroleum Corp

Century Petroleum Corporation operates as an oil and gas exploration company. The Company markets its services throughout the United States.

About Ibeto Cement Company Limited.

Ibeto Cement Company Limited, located in Bundu Ama, Port Harcourt, Rivers State of Nigeria, began cement bagging operations at its bagging terminal in Port Harcourt in the year 2005. It is an ultra-modern bagging plant with a flat-storage capacity of 50,000 metric tons and a production capacity of 1,500,000 metric tons per annum, which translates to a production capacity of 4,000+ metric tons per day.

It has two (2) production lines, each with a capacity of 2,700 of 50kg bags per hour or designed total production capacity of 5,400 of 50kg bags per hour. It also has a third production line - popularly known as the big/jumbo bag plant - for big bags of 1,500 kilograms, and also fourth production line for bulk cement powder which is loaded on special cement trucks fitted with tanks and discharge pumps.

An integral part of the plant facility is a modern purpose-built jetty (Ibeto Jetty) that can take in ships of 190+ meters long with a sophisticated and state-of-art ship-unloaders and mounted at the waterfront on the Jetty to facilitate discharge of bulk cement from offshore/foreign mother vessels.

In line with the Nigerian Backward Integration Policy (BIP) on cement and in response to the Federal Governments call to increase local production of cement, Ibeto Cement Company Limited acquired the premier Nigeria Cement Company Limited (Nigercem) which has a plant located in Nkalagu, Ebonyi State. The strategic acquisition of Nigercem is aimed at expediting Ibeto Cements local production of cement by resuscitating the Nigercem plant and developing the project, as a brand new dry process plant.

Additionally, the Ibeto Cement Company Limited is also developing another 6,000 Metric Tons Per Day (TPD) Cement plant at Cross River State/Abia State of Nigeria. http://ibeto.com/IBETO-page.asp?P=24

Cautionary Note:

The statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Such statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control. In addition, such forward-looking statements are subject to assumptions with respect to future business strategies and decisions that are subject to change. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, technical advances in the industry as well as political and economic conditions present within the industry. We do not take any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or developments after a forward-looking statement was made.
WASHINGTON (AP)  In a dramatic diplomatic turn, President Donald Trump on Thursday canceled next month's summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement by the North.

Trump said in a letter to Kim released by the White House that, based on the statement, he felt it was "inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting." Adding his own threat, he said that while the North Koreans talk about their nuclear capabilities, "ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

The abrupt cancellation of the June 12 meeting withdraws the U.S. for now from an unprecedented summit that offered the prospect of a historic nuclear peace treaty or an epic diplomatic failure. No sitting American president has ever met with a North Korea leader.

In the North Korean statement that Trump cited, a top Foreign Ministry official referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" for his comments on the North and said it was up to the U.S. whether they will "meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown."

Trump said the world was losing a "great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth."

But he left the door open to the chance that the summit could yet be rescheduled: "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

One U.S. official said the decision to call off the summit was made Thursday morning in response to the statement disparaging Pence and threatening nuclear war. A White House official said it was incorrect to focus solely on the "dummy" comment, saying that the nuclear threats meant that no summit could be successful under such circumstances. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying on Capitol Hill, said North Korea had not responded to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the summit. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the lack of responses was an additional reason for Trump's decision.

Pompeo said the North's attitude had changed markedly since he returned from a trip to Pyongyang earlier this month during which he met with Kim and oversaw the release of three Americans being held there.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in played a major role in planning for the summit and sought to keep it on the rails in a visit to the White House this week. His office said Thursday that it was trying to figure out Trump's intentions in canceling the summit.

Pompeo, asked about a report that the South had not been informed before the president's letter was made public, said simply, "We are locked in to the Republic of Korea. We are in lockstep with them."

The cancellation came shortly after Kim made good on his promise to demolish his country's nuclear test site, which was formally closed in a series of huge explosions Thursday as a group of foreign journalists looked on. The explosions at the test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated northeast were supposed to build confidence ahead of the summit. However, the closing of the site is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet the demand for real denuclearization.

The president had agreed to the historic sit-down in March after months of trading insults and nuclear threats with the North Korean leader. But after criticism from North Korea, Trump cast doubt this week on whether the meeting would happen.

White House officials have privately predicted for weeks that the summit could be canceled once or twice before actually taking place, owing to the hard-nosed style of the two leaders. Trump has seemed to welcome chatter of a Nobel Peace Prize, but that has yielded in recent weeks to the sobering prospect of ensuring a successful outcome with the Kim.

Trump's allies in Congress applauded the president, saying he was justified in pulling out of the meeting.

"North Korea has a long history of demanding concessions merely to negotiate. While past administrations of both parties have fallen for this ruse, I commend the president for seeing through Kim Jong Un's fraud," said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

Critics were less impressed.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, called the development "another embarrassment for the country." He added, "This is not ding dong school. It's serious."

This spring, scoring a diplomatic win with Pyongyang had become Trump's top focus.

That had been a far cry from his bellicose rhetoric, issued both on Twitter and from the rostrum of the United Nations last fall. Trump threw off ominous taunts of raining "fire and fury" on the North while belittling its leader as "Little Rocket Man, alarming many global capitals and much of Washington's national security establishment and increasing worries about nuclear war. But Trump believed his outside-the-box behavior would bring Kim to the negotiating table.

Drawn to big moments and bigger headlines, Trump has viewed the North Korea summit as a legacy-maker for him, believing that the combustible combination of his bombast and charm already had led to warmer relations between North and South.

He immediately agreed to the proposed meeting, conveyed by South Korean officials, accepting it before consulting with many of his top national security advisers. And earlier this month, when welcoming home three Americans who had been detained in North Korea, Trump used a televised, middle-of-the-night ceremony to play up both his statecraft and stagecraft.

Some observers raised concerns that Trump was risking legitimizing Kim's government by agreeing to meet him on the world stage without evidence of denuclearization or other concessions. But Trump had bet big on the summit, telling one confidant that he believed a deal with North Korea, rather than in the Middle East, could be his historic victory.

White House officials also believed that a triumph on the Korean Peninsula  something that has eluded the United States for generations  could bolster Trump's approval ratings, help inoculate him against the investigations swirling around him and trickle down to help Republicans in this fall's midterm elections.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - CVS and Walmart Pharmacies have stopped filling Lafayette Dr. Robert Bigler's pain pill prescriptions. Patients are left wondering why.

For pharmacies no longer accepting Dr. Robert Bigler's prescriptions, Brian McIntosh has a question.

"Should I make my next doctor's appointment with you?" said McIntosh.

McIntosh has been seeing Dr. Bigler for about 14 years.

"I was diagnosed with Lupus. Lupus can cause different problems," said McIntosh.

Problems requiring pain management and sometimes, opiates. However, McIntosh said Bigler doesn't give them freely.

"There have been several times where I have requested a little higher dosage and he's said no, we will work through this another way," said McIntosh.

That's why McIntosh was surprised CVS and Walmart decided to stop filling scripts written by Dr. Robert Bigler.

"Why they have picked him out is beyond me," said McIntosh. "I know of no other doctors that are going through this."

However, something similar happened to Pain Management Dr. Anthony Mimms in Indianapolis. He ended up suing CVS for defamation. He won a million dollars in trial court but the decision was overturned on May 9. Another trial has been requested.

"He follows the guidelines," said Beth Carter.

Carter also goes to Dr. Bigler. She's been denied at Walmart Pharmacy.

"And I asked them why and they said, 'well we are not subject, we can't tell you that,'" said Carter.

Telling patients why, could open pharmacies up to another defamation lawsuit. However, McIntosh thinks the public deserves transparency.

"There has to be a reason why they're doing that so let us know at least what it is, pay me that courtesy," said McIntosh.

Walmart refused to comment on the matter.

CVS said it has a program in place to identify prescribers who exhibit extreme patterns of prescribing high risk drugs such as pain medications. It said in some cases, following a thorough investigation, CVS may suspend the dispensing of controlled substances they write. However, they won't confirm specific doctors and the results of those investigations.

McIntosh is currently going to Payless for his prescriptions, Carter is getting hers from Walgreens. However, what if more pharmacies follow suit? Will other local doctors be added to the list?

"I really hope not, that's going to make a big mess," said McIntosh.

If getting prescribed pain pills at the pharmacy gets more difficult, some fear patients will turn to the streets instead.

"It's already happening as a result of what is going on," said McIntosh. "They can buy it cheaper on the street, the drug is stronger, it's more potent."

"I've seen people do it and it's scary. And I don't want to lose no more friends to that," said Carter.

Dr. Bigler's office refused to comment on the matter. According to the Indiana Board of Pharmacy, there are no formal complaints against Dr. Robert Bigler. His license to prescribe is still active.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) Habitat for Humanity of Lafayette is celebrating a milestone in the community. A home on Howell Street is the program's 300th build.

"It's exciting," said homeowner Michelle McGhee. "Yeah, it's kind of surreal."

McGhee said she never thought she'd be a homeowner.

"It's hard to put it into words," she said. "I'm just so appreciative and overwhelmed."

But her dream is coming true, thanks to Habitat for Humanity of Lafayette.

"It means stability," McGhee explained. "It means a safe place to call home for the rest of my life. For my family, it will be a place where we can have a happy place."

For the last 34 years, Habitat has been building or rehabbing 13 to 15 homes a year with low-income families that need a safe, decent place to live.

"It's an amazing program, and it helps build the community and creates good homes with good people in them," McGhee added.

McGhee's home is the program's 300th build. On Friday, a special gathering celebrated the milestone.

Habitat for Humanity of Lafayette Executive Director Doug Taylor said it would not be possible without the community's support.

"Housing is so important to a healthy community," said Taylor. "If people are living in conditions that are substandard and there's a cost burden for their rent, they can't spend money on other things that they really need."

It's that community support that's helping McGhee turn the house into a home for her family.

It's a huge sense of pride," McGhee said. "To have something that's going to be mine, it's an investment in my life and everything. So, it feels great."

Construction began earlier this spring and is set to wrap up in the next couple of months.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  The Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development made a stop in Lafayette to discuss the future of manufacturing in the area.



Commissioner Fred Payne and two other workforce leaders toured Subaru of Indiana. Payne said he's impressed with the training program SIA provides to young people interested in manufacturing as a career. He said factory work is not what it was 30 years ago.

Payne said employees in manufacturing need to know how to use their brain as well as their hands.

"Problem solving, root-case analysis and thing like general leadership training that the students are learning." Payne said. "Learing how to follow instructions and learning how to give instructions are the things are kindof the lifeblood of actually getting the jobs done,"

Payne said what makes Tippecanoe County's economy strong is the variety of jobs available.
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP)  A male student opened fire at a suburban Indianapolis middle school Friday morning, wounding another student and a teacher before being taken into custody, authorities said.

Seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker said the science teacher likely prevented even more injuries by confronting the shooter, who he said pulled out a gun and opened fire after walking in late while the class was taking a test.

According to our media partners News 8, Family members confirmed that the teacher is Jason Seaman.

"Our science teacher immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground," Stonebraker said. "If it weren't for him, more of us would have been injured for sure."

The attack at Noblesville West Middle School happened around 9 a.m., police Chief Kevin Jowitt said at a news conference. He said investigators believe the suspect acted alone, but didn't detail what happened or the severity of the injuries to the victims, who were taken to hospitals in Indianapolis. The identities of those involved weren't immediately released.

Indiana University Health spokeswoman Danielle Sirilla said the teacher was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital and the wounded student was taken to Riley Hospital for Children. She didn't know the seriousness of their injuries.

The attack comes a week after an attack at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers, and months after the school attack that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida. The Florida attack inspired students from that school and others throughout the country to call for more restrictions on access to guns.

After the Indiana attack, students were bused to the Noblesville High School gym, where hundreds of parents and other family members arrived to retrieve them.

Eighth-grader Chris Navarro said he was inside an auditorium when he heard several gunshots about a minute before the bell rang for the change in classes.

"The speaker came on and said we were on lockdown and people rushed in and we went to the back of the room. I went into this little room in the back with three other people," he said calmly standing between his parents as they picked him up.

Erica Higgins, who was among the worried parents who rushed to get their kids, told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home.

"I just want to get my arms around my boy," she said.

Higgins said her son was shaken up but knew little about what happened.

"I got a 'Mom, I'm scared' text message and other than that, it was 'come get me at the high school,'" Higgins said.

Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was returning from a trip to Europe on Friday, issued a statement saying he and other state leaders were getting updates about the situation and that 100 state police officers had been made available to work with local law enforcement.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation," Holcomb said.

Noblesville, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people. The middle school has about 1,300 students from grades 6-8. The school's academic year was scheduled to end next Friday.

Indiana's Senate Democrats issued a statement in response to Friday's school shooting expressing their condolences to the victims and calling for steps to prevent such shootings, including restrictions on guns.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the Ontario election just two weeks away the Ontario Health Coalition -- a public health care advocacy group -- is calling on Conservative Party leader Doug Ford to state clearly his intentions for the provinces health care system. In ridings in Ottawa, London, St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Oshawa, Muskoka and Windsor Conservative candidates have refused to attend all candidates debates on health care organized by the health coalition, nurses, health professionals and community groups. In London last week, Doug Ford made a health care announcement at a private clinic. Mr. Ford has repeatedly stated that he intends to cut more than $6 billion from public services without being clear from which services this money is going to be cut. The Coalitions leaders are worried about what these mean for health care in Ontario.



So far, Doug Fords health care proposals are murky at best and contradictory at worst, noted Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra. Our key questions about funding for our public hospitals and other health services have not been answered.

The Coalition has not endorsed any other parties plans for health care. They have asked all political parties to meet key commitments to fix the crisis in our hospitals and meet our communities needs for care. They note that the Liberals plan was laid out in the recent provincial budget and the NDPs plan is articulated in their platform. Doug Ford alone of all of the major parties leaders has not made clear his plans.

In recent weeks, Doug Ford has made a number of scattered statements about health care but has not released a platform or priced out his proposals:

Most seriously, there is no clear plan for the more than $6 billion that Mr. Ford plans to cut from public services. To put these numbers in context, a recent $17 million cut at The Scarborough Hospital alone resulted in a cut to 200 nurses, health professionals and patient support staff; cuts to departments across the hospital; closure of operating rooms; closure of medical and surgical beds even while patients were waiting on stretchers in hallways for beds; closure of outpatient services including the arthritis clinic and dozens of other service cuts. The Coalition has actively advocated that funding must go directly to care and support services for patients but warns Ontarians that there are not billions in administrative cuts to be made. Without question, billions in cuts would be devastating to access to health care for patients.



Doug Ford has not made any clear commitment to hospital funding. Last week he mused in front of reporters about keeping hospital funding at about the same rate that it is currently. This statement contradicts Mr. Fords other claims that he will end hallway medicine and that he will cut billions from public services. Current funding levels in Ontarios hospitals are the worst in Canada. Hospitals have been plunged into a crisis of overcrowding and long waits for care. A substantial injection of new funding just to meet inflation and population need (5.3% per year) and Ontarians need a clear commitment that funding will go to rebuild care in our community public hospitals not private for-profit clinics.

Ford has said that he will open long-term care beds to address hospital cuts (as have the NDP and Liberals). But it should be clear that any implication that long-term care will solve the hospital crisis is simply not true; it is a much different level of care. Every health system requires both long-term care and hospital care to work. Ontario needs both long-term care beds and hospital beds to be opened and capacity rebuilt in public and non-profit hospitals and long-term care homes to address wait lists and meet our communities needs, and at the same time, care levels in long-term care need to be increased just to meet the current needs of residents.

The bottom line is this: the numbers just dont add up, concluded Ms. Mehra. We are extremely worried about the billions of dollars in cuts that are being proposed and we are asking Mr. Ford for clarity about exactly what he intends. The discussion has to move to clear and accountable proposals to rebuild public health care and restore our public hospitals and long-term care. We are gravely concerned about plans for unspecified and truly massive cuts and what these would mean for patients and caregivers.

For more information: Dana Boettger, Communications Manager (416) 441-2502 (office) or Natalie Mehra, Executive Director (416) 230-6402 (cell).

Ontario Health Coalition

The Ontario Health Coalition is a non-partisan public interest group and the largest and broadest on health care in Ontario, representing  million people. The OHC represents family and patient groups; the major seniors' groups in Ontario; public interest advocates; careworkers, health professionals, nurses and their unions; doctors who support public medicare; non-profit organizations; equity, cultural and anti-poverty groups; municipalities; local businesses and others. The OHC works to safeguard and improve public health care for all under the principles of equity and compassion that are embodied in the Canada Health Act.




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Santa Monica, CA, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Guardian Circle, the first global, decentralized emergency response system, today announced Peter Diamandis, XPRIZE Foundation Founder and CEO, has joined the startups Guardium ($GDM) token sale as an advisor and participant. The Guardian Circle platform gives users in an emergency situation immediate access to a designated circle of trusted friends, family and neighbors located closest to the crisis, significantly reducing the emergency response time and improving a victims chances for survival. Guardians who respond to requests for help are then rewarded in Guardium tokens, which can be redeemed for more services or sold for fiat currency.

Diamandis is an innovation visionary who has founded or co-founded 19 entrepreneurial ventures, including Singularity University, Human Longevity Inc., International Space University, and Planetary Resources. He launched the XPRIZE Foundation in 1994, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions for radical breakthroughs that benefit humanity. XPRIZE is currently teaming with IBM to offer the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, which in 2020 will give $5 million to the artificial intelligence system that gives the best TED Talk. Diamandis is also an engineer and Harvard University-trained physician, and in 2014, he was named one of Fortunes Worlds 50 Greatest Leaders. He advocates the importance of living with an abundance mindset.

We are humbled and honored to earn the endorsement of one of the most influential names in innovation today, said Mark Jeffrey, Co-founder and CEO of Guardian Circle.

After learning of the immediate impact Guardium can offer its users and the alliances Mark has built around him, it was an obvious fit for me and the work I do, said Peter Diamandis. I look forward to working closely with Mark and his team, to save more lives and change the world for the better.

Available for free on iOS, Apple Watch, Android and Alexa, Guardian Circle is currently used by tens-of-thousands and has established partnerships with Anu and Naveen Jain Womens Safety XPRIZE, Upchannel, Bee Token, and 0Chain. The app was recently named as a finalist in Fast Companys World Changing Ideas Awards.

The Guardium Token whitelist, an advanced registration for its token sale, is currently open to applicants where purchasers can receive a 20 percent bonus if they buy before the first five million tokens are sold. The token sale ends on June 1. Those interested in learning more can visit https://guardium.co/ or join the Telegram group here.



ABOUT GUARDIAN CIRCLE

Guardian Circle is a new worldwide public utility offering global, decentralized 911 emergency response. It is the first blockchain-based emergency response system to crowdsource safety, enabling users to access a decentralized pool of pre-selected citizen-rescuers who are alerted in the event of an emergency, dispatching aid closest to the situation. These guardians are then rewarded in cryptocurrency with Guardium, a token that can be redeemed for more services or sold for fiat currency within the platform. Guardian Circle is headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA and backed by Magnus Capital, Distributed Network Advisors (DNA), and prominent investors including Jason Calacanis (LAUNCH, Inside.com), Peter Diamandis (XPRIZE Foundation), Falkora, Michael Terpin (CoinAgenda, BitAngels), Eric Pulier (Digital Evolution, US Interactive, Akana, Desktone, ServiceMesh), and John Valenti. Guardian Circle is currently available worldwide on iOS, Android and Amazon Alexa. For more information and to download the app, visit http://guardiancircle.com/ or join our Telegram group here.

MEDIA CONTACT: Transform Group, guardiancircle@transform.pr

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest. Guardium tokens and virtual currencies, in general, are not legal tender, in any country, and are not backed by any government as legal tender, nor should they be treated as such.





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Fifth Yangjiang unit connected to grid

25 May 2018

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Unit 5 of the Yangjiang nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province has been connected to the electricity grid, China General Nuclear (CGN) announced yesterday. The unit - the first ACPR1000 reactor to be built and the first Chinese unit to feature a domestically-developed digital control system - is scheduled to enter commercial operation later this year.

The six-unit Yangjiang nuclear power plant (Image: CGN)

CGN said the unit was connected to the grid at 9.12pm on 23 May. The milestone marks the formal transition of Yangjiang 5 from the construction and commissioning phase into the power generation phase. CGN noted that it is the first new Chinese nuclear power unit to be grid connected this year. Yangjiang 5 becomes its 21st operational power reactor.

"During the entire grid-connection process, the parameters of the unit's equipment were normal and stable, and the unit was in good condition," CGN said. "The unit has now entered the final load stage before commercial operation."

Six units are planned for the Yangjiang site. The first four units are CPR-1000s, with units 5 and 6 being ACPR-1000s. Unit 1 entered commercial operation in March 2015, with units 2, 3 and 4 following in June 2015, January 2016 and March 2017, respectively. First concrete for Yangjiang unit 5 was poured in September 2013, with that for unit 6 following three months later. All six reactors should be in operation by 2019.

Digital control system

CGN noted that Yangjiang 5 became the first operational reactor that features a digital control system designed in China.

"This is a landmark event in the field of China's nuclear power major technical equipment manufacturing," it said. "China has thus become the fourth country to master the technology after the USA, France and Japan."

The FirmSys digital instrumentation and control (I&C) system developed by CGN's Beijing CTEC System Engineering Co Ltd subsidiary. The company described the system as the "nerve centre" of a nuclear power plant, capable of controlling more than 260 plant systems running nearly 10,000 pieces of equipment and process conditions. It plays an important role in the safe, reliable and stable operation of nuclear power plants, it said.

According to CGN, FirmSys - launched in 2010 - has already been used in the upgrades of several of China's operating plants. However, Yangjiang 5 is the first new reactor to feature the system. CTEC and CGN signed a contract in 2013 for the supply of the FirmSys system for the unit. The I&C system was delivered in November 2016.

The system is also to be employed at Yangjiang 6, as well as units under construction at the plants including Hongyanhe, Tianwan and Fangchenggang, as well as the demonstration high-temperature gas-cooled reactor at Shidaowan. In July 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that FirmSys meets IAEA Safety Standard requirements.

France's Framatome announced today that it provided the digital safety I&C system for unit 3 of China National Nuclear Corporation's Tianwan nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province. That unit - a Russian-supplied VER-1000 - was connected to the grid on 30 December 2017 and is scheduled to enter commercial operation later this year.

The announcement came as Framatome and the Russian company JSC Rusatom Automated Control Systems (JSC RASU) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance their cooperation in the field of I&C. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.



The agreement notably provides a framework for the participation of RASU and Framatome in VVER and Framatome's nuclear power plant projects in the global market, cooperation in the fields of maintenance and modernisation, training, development of nuclear infrastructure, and support for the certification of Russian equipment to ensure compliance with European and international norms and standards. The parties will also look at how to integrate Framatome I&C systems into Rosatom new build projects abroad, with the possible localisation of component and system production on Rosatom sites.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Washington, D.C., May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Veterans Center is set to host the 14th annual National Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 28th, at 2pm ET along the National Mall in Washington, DC. Retired Navy SEAL Britt K. Slabinski, who yesterday received the Medal of Honor at the White House, will attend the event alongside other veterans, active-duty military personnel, celebrities, and musical performers. The parade will be televised on local network affiliates across the U.S. and broadcast LIVE to our troops serving overseas on the American Forces Network. Hosted by Sage Steele (ESPN), Kyra Phillips (ABC News), and Dean Cain, the broadcast will reach over 100 million households worldwide. A special pre- parade performance by Trace Adkins will begin at 1:30pm at the National Archives. The mini concert will feature four of Traces hits, including his tributes to our military, Arlington and Still a Soldier.

This years parade will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Memorial Day, and in addition, it will recognize the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI and the 75th anniversary of the first deployment of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots in U.S. military history. Several local surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen will be in attendance. This is the largest Memorial Day parade in the nation. Thousands of DC-area residents and Americans from all over the United States will gather to pay tribute to those who have served and sacrificed.

While there are many great Memorial Day parades taking place across the country, the National Memorial Day Parade is the largest of them all and it takes place right here in our nations capital, said Tim Holbert, Senior Vice President of American Veterans Center and producer of the parade. Locals and out-of-towners in the thousands will line the National Mall to commemorate the true spirit of the holiday: paying tribute to our nations fallen heroes.

The Grand Marshals of the parade are Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos (Army National Guard Veteran), and Spencer Stone (U.S. Air Force veteran). They are the heroes who stopped the terrorist attack on the train to Paris in 2015 and who recently portrayed themselves in Clint Eastwoods The 15:17 to Paris. Serving as Honorary Grand Marshal is famed actor and veterans advocate Gary Sinise. Also joining the parade are Tony-winning actor Joe Mantegna, Miss America 2018 Cara Mund, and celebrity chef & U.K. Royal Navy veteran Robert Irvine, with musical performances by Trace Adkins, Jerrod Niemann, and Cassidy Daniels.

More about the parade

The National Memorial Day Parade will commence at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 7th Street, NW. It will proceed west down Constitution Avenue, ending just past The White House and the National World War II Memorial at 17th Street. A moving timeline of American military history honoring our fallen, participants will pass by the nations monuments, memorials, and museums, and will be greeted by hundreds of thousands of spectators waving flags and cheering for our countrys heroes.

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About the American Veterans Center: The American Veterans Center (AVC) and its subsidiary, the World War II Veterans Committee, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational foundation dedicated to guarding the legacy and honoring the sacrifice of our military personnel from every generation. The National Memorial Day Parade is held annually in Washington D.C. For more information, visit AmericanVeteransCenter.org or NationalMemorialDayParade.com.

The parade is produced by the American Veterans Center, with support from American Airlines, Leidos, Wells Fargo, The Coalition to Salute Americas Heroes, United States World War One Centennial Commission, Saab North America, Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation, Military Times and many other generous sponsors. To learn more about attending the National Memorial Day Parade, or tuning in to the television broadcast, visit: NationalMemorialDayParade.com






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According to the Miami Association of Realtors, Miami's existing condominium market posted its best April in three years as condo transactions jumped 24.6 percent and condo dollar volume surged 40.8 percent year-over-year. Miami single-family home sales and residential prices rose.



Miami-Dade County posted 1,384 existing condo transactions in April 2018, up 24.6 percent from 1,111 the year before. It was the condo market's best April since 2015 (1,444 sales). Year-to-date Miami condo sales are now up 2.1 percent from last year. Total Miami home sales in April 2018 jumped 12.9 percent while single-family home transactions rose 2.1 percent, from 1,192 to 1,217.



"A significant increase in condo transactions in the $150,000 to $300,000 range played a central role in this robust month for Miami real estate," said George Jalil, a Miami broker and the 2018 MIAMI chairman of the board. "Miami condo pending sales are up 13.6 percent, which indicates another strong month of sales on the horizon."



Total Miami Home Sales, Dollar Volume Surge in April



Total Miami home sales increased 12.9 percent year-over-year in April, from 2,303 to 2,601.



Total sales volume for all properties jumped 17.8 percent, from $1.01 billion to $1.19 billion. Existing condos saw the biggest increase, rising from $401.7 million total sales volume to $565.4 million (an increase of 40.8 percent). Single-family home total dollar volume rose 4.9 percent, from $603.6 million to $633.3 million.



Lack of access to mortgage loans continues to inhibit further growth of the existing condominium market. Of the 9,307 condominium buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, only 12 are approved for Federal Housing Administration loans, down from 29 last year, according to Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and FHA.



Best April for Miami Condominium Sales Since 2015



Sales in the $150K to $300K range led the charge in the robust April for Miami existing condominiums.



The existing condo market had 679 sales in the $150K to $300K range in April 2018, up 46.7 percent from the 463 transactions a year ago. For years, there was little inventory in the aforementioned price range but inventory rose in April 2018. There are 4,269 existing condo listings active in the $150K to $300K at the end of the month, compared to 4,035 property listings in April 2017.



More than Six Consecutive Years of Price Appreciation in Miami



Miami-Dade County single-family home prices increased 7.8 percent in April 2018, increasing from $320,000 to $345,000. Miami single-family home prices have risen for 77 consecutive months, a streak spanning more than six years. Existing condo prices rose 5.4 percent, from $229,000 to $241,325 in April. Condo prices have increased in 80 of the last 83 months.



Low mortgage rates makes purchasing a home more affordable. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage increased for the seventh straight month to 4.47 percent in April (highest since 4.49 percent in September 2013) from 4.44 percent in March. The average commitment rate for all of 2017 was 3.99 percent.



Miami Distressed Sales Continue to Drop, Reflecting Healthy Market



Only 6.1 percent of all closed residential sales in Miami were distressed last month, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared to 10.0 percent in April 2018. In 2009, distressed sales comprised 70 percent of Miami sales.



Total Miami distressed sales declined 30.7 percent year-over-year, from 231 to 160 last month.



Short sales and REOs accounted for 1.7 and 4.5 percent, respectively, of total Miami sales in April 2018. Short sale transactions dropped 18.9 percent year-over-year while REOs fell 34.2 percent.



Nationally, distressed sales accounted for 3.5 percent of sales, down from 5 percent a year ago.



Miami Real Estate Selling Close to List Price



The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Miami single-family home sales was 45 days, an 8.2 percent decrease from 49 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family properties was 90 days, a 10.9 percent decrease from 101 days.



The median time to contract for condos was 79 days, a 3.9 percent increase from 76 days last year. The median number of days between listing date and closing date decreased 0.8 percent to 120 days.



The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 95.8 percent. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 93.5 percent.



National and State Statistics



Nationally, total existing-home sales decreased 2.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.46 million in April from 5.60 million in March. With last month's decline, sales are now 1.4 percent below a year ago and have fallen year-over-year for two straight months.



Statewide closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 24,804 last month, up 4.1 percent compared to April 2017, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide closed condo sales totaled 11,236 last month, up 9.2 percent compared to a year ago.



The national median existing-home price for all housing types in April was $257,900, up 5.3 percent from April 2017 ($245,000). April's price increase marks the 74th straight month of year-over-year gains.



The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes last month was $253,895, up 8.1 percent from the previous year, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide median price for townhouse-condo properties in April was $190,000, up 10.5 percent over the year-ago figure.



Miami's Cash Buyers Represent almost Double the National Figure



Miami cash transactions comprised 38.9 percent of April 2018 total closed sales, compared to 39.4 percent last year. Miami cash transactions are almost double the national figure (21 percent).



Miami's high percentage of cash sales reflects South Florida's ability to attract a diverse number of international home buyers, who tend to purchase properties in all cash. Miami has a higher percent of cash sales for condos due to lack of financing approvals for buildings.



Condominiums comprise a large portion of Miami's cash purchases as 53.5 percent of condo closings were made in cash in April compared to 22.5 percent of single-family home sales.



Balanced Market for Single-Family Homes, Buyer's Market for Condos



Inventory of single-family homes increased 2.1 percent in April from 6,182 active listings last year to 6,309 last month. Condominium inventory increased 2.9 percent to 15,744 from 15,307 listings during the same period in 2017.



The increase in inventory is for properties above $400,000. The market had a 6.3 percent jump in properties listed for $400,000 to $599,999, 6.8 percent for $600,000 to $999,999, and 3.1 percent for $1 million and above.



Miami saw a drop in inventory for properties below $400,000.



Monthly supply of inventory for single-family homes increased 7.1 percent to 6.0 months, which indicates a balanced market. Existing condominiums have a 14.3-month supply, which indicates a buyer's market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six and nine months supply of inventory.



Total active listings at the end of February increased 2.6 percent year-over-year, from 21,489 to 22,053. Active listings remain about 60 percent below 2008 levels when sales bottomed.



New listings of Miami single-family homes increased 14.4 percent to 1,865 from 1,630. New listings of condominiums increased 8.5 percent, from 2,177 to 2,363.



Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of April increased 9.8 percent to 1.80 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 6.3 percent lower than a year ago (1.92 million) and has fallen year-over-year for 35 consecutive months. Unsold inventory is at a 4.0-month supply at the current sales pace (4.2 months a year ago).







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Most holiday travelers in a dozen years, Orlando top destination

Automobiles: The vast majority of travelers - 36.6 million - will hit the road this Memorial Day, 4.7 percent more than last year.

Planes: 3.1 million people will travel by air, a 6.8 percent increase and the fifth year of consecutive air travel volume increases.

Trains, Buses and Cruise Ships: Travel across these sectors will increase by 2.4 percent to 1.8 million passengers.

According to AAA, more than 41.5 million Americans will travel this 2018 Memorial Day weekend, nearly 5 percent more than last year and the most in more than a dozen years. With nearly 2 million additional people taking to planes, trains, automobiles and other modes of transportation, INRIX, a global transportation analytics company, expects travel delays on major roads could be up to three times longer than normal, with the busiest days being Thursday and Friday (May 24th and 25th) as commuters mix with holiday travelers."The highest gas prices since 2014 won't keep travelers home this Memorial Day weekend," said Bill Sutherland, senior vice president, AAA Travel and Publishing. "A strong economy and growing consumer confidence are giving Americans all the motivation they need to kick off what we expect to be a busy summer travel season with a Memorial Day getaway."For the 36.6 million Americans traveling by automobile, INRIX, in collaboration with AAA, predicts drivers will experience the greatest amount of congestion on Thursday, May 24 and Friday, May 25 - in the late afternoon as commuters leave work early and mix with holiday travelers. Several major U.S. metros could experience double the travel times compared to a normal trip, while New Yorkers could see three times the delay."Ranked the most congested country in the world, U.S. drivers are all too familiar with sitting in traffic," said Graham Cookson, Chief Economist and Head of Research, INRIX. "Drivers should expect congestion across a greater number of days than in previous years, with the getaway period starting on Wednesday, May 23. Our advice to drivers is to avoid peak commute times in major cities altogether - traveling late morning or early afternoon - or plan alternative routes."The 88 percent of travelers choosing to drive will pay the most expensive Memorial Day gas prices since 2014. Gas prices averaged $2.72 in April, an increase of 33 cents from last year, due to expensive crude oil, record gasoline demand and shrinking global supply. However, these higher prices are not keeping holiday travelers home, with automobile travel expected to increase for the fourth straight year, by nearly 5 percent over last Memorial Day.While road trippers will pay higher prices at the gas pump this year, travelers can expect some relief in their wallets when paying for airfare, car rentals and most mid-range hotels. According to AAA's Leisure Travel Index, airfares are 7 percent lower than last Memorial Day, landing at an average price of $168 for a round-trip flight along the top 40 domestic routes. At $59, the average daily cost of a car rental this Memorial Day is the lowest rate in the past four years and 11 percent cheaper than last year.Travelers will also save on AAA Three Diamond hotels this Memorial Day, which are trending 14 percent less expensive than last year, with an average rate of $186 nightly. Meanwhile, AAA Two Diamond hotels are 7 percent more expensive than last Memorial Day, with an average nightly cost of $151.Orlando again tops this year's list of the most-visited Memorial Day destinations in the U.S., based on AAA advance travel bookings. Cruises to Alaska, originating in Seattle and Anchorage, as well as warm-weather destinations in Hawaii, Las Vegas, Phoenix and southern California top travelers' domestic itineraries this summer.1. Orlando, Florida2. Seattle, Washington3. Honolulu, Hawaii4. Las Vegas, Nevada5. Anchorage, Alaska6. Phoenix, Arizona7. Anaheim, California8. Boston, Massachusetts9. Denver, Colorado10. New York, New YorkFor those planning to kick off their summers with an overseas vacation, Europe is a major draw this year. Rome, Dublin and London are the most popular international travel destinations for Memorial Day weekend.According to Hertz, a 40-year AAA partner, the busiest airport pick-up locations for travelers renting a car this Memorial Day are expected to be Orlando (MCO), Las Vegas (LAS), Atlanta (ATL), Los Angeles (LAX) and Kahului, HI (OGG). The busiest day for rental pick-ups is expected to be May 25, with an average rental length of nearly six days, as travelers look to take advantage of the long holiday weekend.AAA also expects to rescue more than 340,000 motorists at the roadside this Memorial Day weekend. Dead batteries, lockouts and flat tires will be the leading reasons vacation travelers will experience car trouble.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questrade (www.questrade.com) -- Canadas fastest-growing online brokerage -- is proud to announce it has been named top spot in the category of Initial Impressions in Canadas Best Online Brokers 2018, the sixth annual ranking of brokerages published by MoneySense. As one of the top Best Overall picks again this year, Questrade scored significantly ahead of the remaining firms evaluated in this report.



Questrade was also ranked in the top three across three additional categories including Customer Service, Fees and Commission and Mobile Accessibility. This years review evaluated the top 12 firms covering the gamut of the big bank-owned brokerages to independent online outfits and was produced in a partnership with Surviscor Inc., a leading research and business intelligence company.

Surviscor praised many of Questrades innovations including its fully responsive website and its Smartphone app that makes it easy to execute trades on the go. The company has fully digitized the application process right down to the signature, which also propelled Questrade to the top of the list in the Initial Impressions category. The review lauded the companys 1-cent trades, free to buy ETFs and cited Questrade as having the leading position in chat service. Questrades best features as noted under the comparison tool of the review included strong digital usability, live chat capabilities during market hours, unlimited free ETF buys and multi-leg option orders.

"Were pleased with our showing in this years MoneySense review, stated Edward Kholodenko, president and CEO, Questrade. Ever since our start weve had one clear vision: to help Canadians achieve financial independence by providing them with the very best investment products, technology, and client services  all at a great value. We are obsessed with continual innovation by developing new features and services that truly make a positive difference in the lives of Canadians."

The recognition by MoneySense extends an impressive streak of industry accolades for Questrade including its recent naming as one of "Canada's Best Managed Companies" for the seventh year with Platinum Winner distinction, honouring Canadian companies that have implemented world-class business practices and created value in innovative ways.

About Canadas Best Online Brokers 2018

For the past six years, MoneySense has evaluated and ranked Canada's top independent and bank-owned brokerages based on data collected by Surviscor, a research analysis and business intelligence firm. The survey methodology is based on MoneySense-specific categories based on Surviscors latest mobile and online reviews. There are seven main categories reviewed, with 43 separate criteria, with industry rankings in each based on Surviscor data. Customer service data was logged between April 2017 and March 2018, a total of 169 records. The results are based on a 5-point rating system that awards 5 points to the first-place finisher in a category, 4 points for second, 3 points for third, 2 points for fourth and 1 point for fifth place. The MoneySense Canadas Best Online Brokers 2018 is available online at http://www.moneysense.ca/save/investing/canadas-best-online-brokers-2018/?utm_source=nl&utm_medium=em&utm_campaign=pfm_invest&sfi=8ea2c9cb7b4b4348b695213545971214.

About Questrade

Questrade (www.questrade.com) is Canadas fastest growing online brokerage that is changing the Canadian financial services industry by leveraging technology to lower fees, and providing a viable alternative to traditional financial investment options, thereby allowing Canadians to Keep More of their Money. As a leader and innovator in financial services, Questrade is a trusted ally that advocates for consumers, focused on improving value. With 19 years of challenging the status quo as Canada's leading, non-bank online brokerage, over $7 billion in assets and more than 30,000 accounts opened every year, Questrade and its companies provide financial products and services: securities, foreign currency investment and online wealth management. Questrade has recently been named one of Canadas Best Managed Companies for the seventh year in a row. For more information visit www.questrade.com, or follow on Facebook and Twitter @Questrade.

Questrade Wealth Management Inc. (QWM) and Questrade, Inc. are wholly owned subsidiaries of Questrade Financial Group Inc. Questrade, Inc. is a registered investment dealer, a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), the benefits of which are limited to the activities undertaken by Questrade, Inc. QWM is not a member of IIROC or the CIPF. Questrade Wealth Management Inc. is a registered Portfolio Manager, Investment Fund Manager, and Exempt Market Dealer. 2017 Questrade Financial Group Inc.

For more information, visuals, or to arrange an interview with Questrade president and CEO, Edward Kholodenko, contact Susan Willemsen, Ruth Colapinto or Briana LeGoaix at The Siren Group Inc. Tel: 416-461-5270. Email: susan@thesirengroup.com or ruth@thesirengroup.com.

Visit www.thesirengroup.com and connect on Twitter and Instagram @thesirengroup.
Former Llangollen care home Deputy Principal convicted of 29 sexual offences.

This article is old - Published: Friday, May 25th, 2018

The former Deputy Principal of private childrens home Ystrad Hall in Llangollen has been found guilty of 29 child sex abuse offences including buggery, indecent assault and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Bryan Davies, 71 from at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex was convicted of the offences following a six week trial at Mold Crown Court.

Three men contacted the NCA with new complaints about the abuse they had suffered at the hands of Davies and the investigation team re-interviewed eight other men who had previously detailed abuse by him. The evidence and testimony of these 11 men, one of whom is now deceased, led directly to the trial and conviction.

Davies was found guilty of 20 offences of buggery and indecent assault on 8 teenage boys aged between 10 and 15 who were in care between 1976 and 1978. He was also found guilty of nine internet based offences between 2006 and 2012, where he would use live-streaming sites to incite young boys aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual acts for his pleasure.

Davies was initially arrested by officers from the NCA in Oct 2013 in relation to the contact offences and a number of computers were seized for forensic examination. However whilst on bail, Davies fled to Malta in an attempt to evade facing justice.

The examination of the seized computers identified 167 indecent images of children  mainly young teenage boys  and a number of online conversations with three young boys who Davies incited to take part in sexual acts.

Working with partners in the Crown Prosecution Service and the Malta Police Force, Davies was arrested in August 2017 under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and extradited to the UK.

Senior Investigating Officer, Philip Marshall said: Bryan Davies was sexually abusing vulnerable young boys who were in his care. He should have been protecting them  instead he exploited them for his own sexual gratification. It is clear from the forensic evidence from his computers that his predatory activity had developed in his use of the internet to engage young boys in sexual activity, continuing to present a real risk against the young boys he targeted.

I would like to pay tribute to the tenacity of all of the victims in this investigation, for their continued engagement over a number of years and for standing in court to provide harrowing evidence of their abuse. It is testament to their resolution and integrity that they have sought and achieved justice for events that happened over 40 years ago, but which for them remain real and tangible in their personal lives.

I would also like to acknowledge the professional law enforcement team effort of the NCA, the UK Police Services of North Wales Police, Merseyside, Warwickshire, Sussex and the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as the Malta Police Force and the Malta Attorney Generals office. This collaboration ensured that vital evidence was presented to the jury which ultimately led to Bryan Davies facing justice for his actions.

Chief Constable Mark Polin said: I would like to thank the NCA for the thorough and professional investigation they have conducted since Operation Pallial began at my request five and a half years ago. There have been 10 convictions to date and the team have worked closely with North Wales Police, other partners and agencies to deliver advice and support to victims of past abuse and to investigate crimes.

The victims in each case have waited a long time for justice. It has not been an easy journey for them and it has taken courage to stand by their convictions.

Nothing anyone can do now will change the past, but the investment which now goes in to investigating sexual abuse and the significance it is given is considerably different to how it was in the past.

Karen Mullin of the CPS said: Bryan Davies used his position of influence to prey on young boys, promising them goods and home visits in order to win their trust. His abuse was planned and calculated, driven by his own gratification.

The CPS provided advice to the police from an early stage regarding the investigation and worked with them to secure a European Arrest Warrant.

Despite the lengths Davies went to in order to evade the authorities, he was unsuccessful and was brought back to the UK to face justice.

The victims have shown great courage in giving their evidence to the court, and we thank them for their support. They have waited decades to see the man who abused them answer for his crimes. We hope that it provides some comfort for them.

Operation Pallial, the independent NCA investigation into allegations of past abuse in the care system of North Wales, began in November 2012 at the request of Mark Polin, the Chief Constable of North Wales Police.

Bryan Davies is the tenth person to be convicted under operation Pallial

There are four further trials under operation Pallial scheduled to begin this year.

Any member of the public wishing to report new allegations of past abuse in the care system in North Wales should call North Wales Police on 101
UPDATE 5/25/18 @ 6:30 p.m.

The condition of a 10-year-old girl hurt Thursday night in an accidental shooting is improving.

She has been upgraded from critical to fair at Cabell Huntington Hospital.

The girl is a fifth-grader at Minford Elementary in Scioto County.

Her classmates spent part of their last day of school Friday morning making get well cards for her.

The shooting was reported just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday along Warren Hill Road in Minford.

Sheriff's deputies say the victim's cousin, who is 13, is quite familiar with guns. They call the entire thing a freak accident. The teen was looking through the scope at some turkeys and dropped the gun, damaging it. When he showed it to an adult, it went off, hitting the girl in the abdomen.

The gun involved was a .17 HMR bolt-action rifle.

ORIGINAL STORY 5/24/18

A 10-year-old girl was hurt Thursday night in an accidental shooting, the Scioto County Sheriffs Office says.

It was reported just before 8:30 p.m. along Warren Hill Road in Minford.

The girl, who was shot in the abdomen, was taken by helicopter to Cabell Huntington Hospital where shes listed in critical but stable condition.
According to a CNN report today, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is in imminent danger of being forced to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He would face arrest by British authorities and potential extradition to the US, where he could face life imprisonment or execution on espionage charges.

CNN said that multiple sources with knowledge of Assanges unusually bad situation warned that he could be removed from the embassy any day noweither forced out or made to feel so restricted that he might leave on his own.

Since seeking political asylum in the embassy in 2012, Assange has been effectively detained in a tiny room without charge for 2,726 days. For 59 days, he has been denied visitors and outside communications since the Ecuadorian government cut off his access on March 28.

Assange is now only allowed to see his lawyers, who say their mobile phones are jammed while they are inside the embassy.

Ominously, CNN said Assanges exit from the embassy could open a new phase for US investigators eager to find out what he knows. This indicates that Assange could be subject to forced interrogation or prolonged solitary confinement, like Chelsea Manning, in an attempt to break him.

The concern from day one until the present is that if Julian Assange walks out of the embassy, he will be extradited to face what the executive director of the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] described as unprecedented and unconstitutional prosecution under the US Espionage Act, one of Assanges lawyers, Melinda Taylor, told CNN.

Section 794 of that Act, covering supplying information to a wartime enemy, carries the death penalty. Last year, CIA director Mike Pompeo, now the US secretary of state, labelled WikiLeaks as a hostile non-state intelligence service. Pompeo declared: To give them the space to crush us with misappropriated secrets is a perversion of what our great Constitution stands for. It ends now.

Taylor told CNN: For the last eight years, the UK has refused to either confirm or deny that they have received an extradition request from the US. At the same time, they have refused to provide assurances that Julian will not be extradited to the US if such a request were to be received, and maintained an ever-present vigil of the embassy, notwithstanding a UN directive to take steps to ensure Julians immediate liberty.

Their silence speaks volumes, particularly in light of recent statements from US officials that Julians arrest and extradition are a priority.

In April 2017, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said arresting Assange was a priority. He told a news conference: Weve already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.

For nearly eight years, US officials have maintained a secret grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks, instigated under the Obama administration.

US authorities have stepped up their efforts to silence Assange because of WikiLeaks ongoing publication of documents that expose the criminal operations of its military and intelligence agencies, including a trove of source codes and files revealing details about CIA hacking tools.

The WikiLeaks founder now also faces criminal charges relating to unsubstantiated US intelligence claims that Russia used him as an intermediary to distribute supposedly hacked emails from Hillary Clintons campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

Last month, the US Democratic National Committee (DNC) launched a law suit, naming WikiLeaks and Assange as co-conspirators with Russia and the Trump campaign in a supposed criminal effort to steal the 2016 US presidential election.

What actually alarmed the DNC and others in the US political and intelligence establishment was that the documents published by WikiLeaks laid bare the DNCs intrigues to undermine Bernie Sanders campaign in the 2016 presidential primary elections, and Clintons intimate relations with Wall Street banks and companies.

Ecuadors president, Lenin Moreno, who took office last May, is under mounting US pressure to expel Assange. In January, Moreno branded Assange a costly inherited problem and hacker, and made it clear that he viewed Assange as an obstacle to better relations with Washington.

Morenos government cut off Assanges communications just a day after it welcomed a delegation from the US Southern Command, headed by General Joseph DiSalvo, to discuss strengthening security cooperation.

Ecuadors government granted Assange asylum six years ago after his legal appeals ran out against extradition to Sweden, supposedly to answer questions over fabricated allegations of sexual assault. Swedish authorities finally dropped their trumped-up investigation last May, terminating the European arrest warrant against him.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Theresa Mays British government, a close US ally, refused to cancel a UK arrest warrant against him, nominally for skipping bail when he sought asylum.

The US State Department has refused to deny a bid to extradite Assange. One official told CNN: As a matter of policy, the Department of State neither confirms nor denies the US governments intention to request extraditions.

Last week, the British newspaper, the Guardian, which originally published some of WikiLeaks devastating exposures in 2010, instigated a filthy campaign to justify Ecuador reneging on Assanges asylum.

While claiming, without any evidence, that Assange had violated the embassys communications security systems, the Guardian disclosed that the Ecuadorian authorities had monitored all of Assanges visitors, one of whom the FBI had already interviewed.

This points to close collaboration between the Ecuadorian and US intelligence agencies, as well as the complicity of the Guardian and other corporate media outlets.

Guardian opinion writer James Ball declared that Assange should hold his hands up and leave the embassy. The Guardians lead article set out the intended scenario: If he walks out of the embassy, he can expect arrest and could spend up to a year in prison for breaking his bail conditions. The US might then seek to extradite him. He would contest any attempt, and might win, but would face a long, uncomfortable spell behind bars while his case is decided.

None of this would be possible but for the collaboration of successive Australian governments, starting with that of Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard. She branded Assange a criminal in December 2010 and pledged to assist the US operation to seize the Australian citizen.

The threat to Assange is not an individual issue. It is part of an intensifying campaign by the US government and its partners to impose far-reaching Internet censorship in order to block the development of mass working class opposition to deepening inequality, austerity and war preparations.

Unsubstantiated allegations of fake news are being used by Google, Facebook and other social media giants to restrict access to websitesparticularly the World Socialist Web Sitethat expose the machinations of the capitalist class and its agencies and provide an alternative political perspective.

Despite the intensifying government and media conspiracy, there is deep public support for Assange internationally, precisely because of the damning exposures made by WikiLeaks. We call on workers and young people everywhere to urgently come to Assanges defence and demand his immediate freedom.

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Conspiracy emerges to push Julian Assange into British and US hands

[16 May 2018]

Australian workers and youth defend Julian Assange

[21 May 2018]
English Dutch

The Corbion General Shareholders Meeting held on 25 May 2018 approved the reappointment of CFO Eddy van Rhede van der Kloot for a second term of office.



Corbion's Supervisory Board is pleased to announce that the contract of assignment of Eddy van Rhede van der Kloot, CFO, will be extended for an additional period of 4 years (May 2018 - May 2022).



Mathieu Vrijsen, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: "We are pleased that Eddy is reappointed for a next four year term. With this reappointment, that follows that of CEO Tjerk de Ruiter last year, we have secured the continuing leadership to build on their achievements so far, and to capture the full potential of Corbion's new Creating Sustainable Growth strategy."



The Corbion shareholders also reappointed Rudy Markham as Vice-Chairman and Steen Riisgaard as member of the Supervisory Board.



At the shareholders meeting the proposed dividend of  0.56 per ordinary share for the financial year 2017 was approved. Dividends will be all-cash and will in principle be subject to Dutch dividend withholding tax of 15%. The ex-dividend date is 29 May 2018, the record date is 30 May 2018 and the payment day is 5 June 2018.
In a move that could trigger a major escalation of global trade conflicts, President Donald Trump has ordered the US Commerce Department to conduct a national security investigation into automotive imports.

The probe, which could lead to tariffs as high as 25 percent, will be conducted under section 232 of the 1962 legislation that the administration used to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports earlier this year.

The new investigation, which brought global condemnation, was directly linked in statements by the administration to economic preparations for war.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said: There is evidence suggesting that, for decades, imports from abroad have eroded our domestic auto industry. The Department of Commerce will conduct a thorough, fair and transparent investigation into whether such imports are weakening our internal economy and may impair our national security.

In an interview with the business channel CNBC, Ross said: Economic security is military security. And without economic security, you cannot have military security.

A Commerce Department statement said automobile production had long been a source of American technological innovation. The investigation, it declared, would consider whether the decline of domestic production threatened to weaken the economy by reducing the development of autonomous vehicles, fuel cells, electric motors, advanced manufacturing process and other cutting-edge technologies.

Trump said in a statement: Core industries such as automobiles and automotive parts are critical to our strength as a nation.

The language parallels that employed to denounce high-tech development by China under its Made in China 2025 program, which is regarded as threat to US economic and military supremacy.

The connection between the auto industry probe and the issue of war was made explicit by Don DiMicco, the former chief executive of Nucor Steel, who now serves in US Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizers advisory council.

What was it that gave us the ability to outmanoeuvre Germany and Japan [in the second world war]? he asked. It was our auto industry. It was our industrial might. Everything was here.

Is [the issue] Nissan versus Jaguar versus GM? No. Its having the ability to have the supply chains here, if, God forbid, you get into a conflict and dont have the supply chains we need. Every war weve fought since World War II has been a conventional war. And in a conventional war, the strongest economy wins.

The tariff measures, if implemented following the investigation, will directly hit key nominal strategic allies of the United States, including Japan, Mexico, Canada, South Korea and, above all, Germany, which sell the bulk of cars imported into America.

The US imported 8.27 million cars and light trucks last year, worth $192 billion. More than half came from plants in Mexico and Canada, which are currently involved in renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement with the Trump administration. The latest measures are a means of applying increased pressure to secure greater concessions.

As shares of Asian carmakers fell sharply on the news of the investigation and possible tariffs, Japan responded in a sharply-worded statement.

If they [the US] were to go ahead with such wide-ranging trade restrictions, it would throw the global market into confusion, Hiroshige Seko, minister of economy, trade and industry said. There could be a negative effect on the WTO [World Trade Organisation] multilateral trading system. It is extremely regrettable.

Toyota, the major Japanese car exporter to the US, took issue with the rationale offered for the measures.

The section 232 investigation is intended to cover threats to national security, the transnational stated. Given the global nature of the automobile industry, and the fact that last year nearly 12 million vehicles were manufactured in the US, such a determination seems implausible.

In South Korea, the government called an emergency meeting with car industry officials to discuss the situation.

The European Union, which already faces the imposition of a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminium at the beginning of next month, condemned the auto move and its supposed motivation.

We believe that there is no justification for the US to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium on grounds of national security, a European Commission spokesman said. Invoking national security would be even more far-fetched in the case of the car industry.

The head of the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, Eric Schweitzer, said if US invoked the tariffs it could add as much as $7 billion to the cost of German car exports.

We have to see this almost as a provocation, he said, expressing concern that the US is distancing itself ever further from free and fair trade.

Trump has long made clear that he wants to see a reduction in the German trade surplus with the US, to which auto exports alone contributed more than $16.7 billion last year.

China added its voice to the condemnation of the US moves. A commerce ministry spokesman said that Beijing opposed the abuse of national security clauses, which will seriously damage multilateral trade systems and disrupt the normal international trade order.

The investigation has sparked opposition in the US. Rufus Yerxa, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a trade policy group representing US companies, said he feared the administration had crossed the Rubicon into wholesale protectionism.

Lots of countries have resorted to protectionism when their economies were doing badly. It almost never works. But Trump may be the first leader ever to do it when the economy is booming. Hes trying to fix a problem that aint broke. The auto industry is healthy.

The head of a major car dealers association, Cody Lusk said: To treat auto imports like a national security threat would be a self-inflicted economic disaster for American consumers, dealers, and dealership employees.

Such opposition is grounded on the premise that, because Trumps measures are so disruptive to global economic relations, an appeal to rationality can bring about, if not a reversal, then at least a course correction within the prevailing system.

Such a view ignores the transformation in US policy-making, of which the Trump administration is the expression. In a trend that began before the present administration came to office, the US increasingly regards the present global order as inimical to its interests. It views economic relations as a test of strength with its rivals, in which military capacity, be it in the area of manufacturing or technology, assumes ever-greater importance.
Tuesdays appearance by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg before European Parliament deputies revealed the close collaboration between European governments and intelligence agencies, and the American internet giant in censoring and monitoring the internet.

In his introductory statement, Zuckerberg noted, We are working with governments and other technology companies to share information about threats in real time so for example in Germany before the 2017 elections we worked directly with the German Federal Office for information security. We are also using new technology including AI to remove fake accounts that are responsible for much of the false news, misinformation and bad ads that people can see on Facebook.

Facebooks intervention in the French presidential election of 2017 was likewise as vast. In the lead-up to the election our systems found and took down more than 30,000 fake accounts, Zuckerberg said.

In the next 18 months, there are important elections globally including many here in Europe as well as for the European parliament, the United States, Brazil, India and Indonesia, added Zuckerberg. In 2016, we were too slow to identify Russian interference on Facebook in the US in the US presidential election We were not prepared enough for the kind of coordinated misinformation operations that we are now aware of. Zuckerberg continued, since then weve made significant operation investments to protect the integrity of elections by making these kind of attacks much harder to do on Facebook.

Under the guise of combatting alleged fake news and the entirely concocted claim of Russian interference in elections, Facebook is conducting a vast censorship operation.

We took down in the first quarter of this year around 580 million fake accounts, the vast majority within minutes of being registered as our systems are able to identify that, added Zuckerberg. I think the question here is not whether or not there should be regulation, he said, but what the right regulation is.

In the future, Facebook will work with tens of thousands of independent fact checkers in every country and every language to filter out problematic content and false information as it is posted, he stated. Our goal over the coming years is going to get developing the AI systems and hiring the staff necessary to be able to proactively review more of the content as its coming into the system, added Zuckerberg. It is an arms race, but significant progress is being made.

Facebook is currently expanding centres in Europe responsible for deleting users comments. In the centre in Essen, Germany, 1,000 workers will be employed by the end of the year instead of the current 750. This was announced at a press briefing by Facebook managers and representatives from the operator, Competence Call Centre, on Tuesday. A further staff increase is already in the works. The 10,000 square metre rented building could accommodate many more than 1,000 workers.

In their statements and questions to Zuckerberg, the representatives of all groups in the European Parliament made clear that, notwithstanding their criticism of the US company, they are in fundamental agreement with Facebooks undemocratic machinations.

Udo Bullman, the spokesman for the Progressive Alliance of Social Democrats, said, You mentioned experiences in France and in Germany which came into existence under the pressure of the respective governments. How can you and will you guarantee that no foreign and hostile interference into the democratic process will take place on your platform ahead of the forthcoming vote. Are you ready to guarantee that for the whole European Union?

The leader of the United European Left, Gabi Zimmer, outdid everyone else with her call for censorship. I can only echo what my colleagues have already said, she said. There is a growing amount of information based on fake news, and this can be deadly. For her, the question of whether the online platform should be shut down entirely is posed: Is it time to pull the plug on Facebook?

Manfred Weber, leader of the European Peoples Party, began by thanking Zuckerberg not only for respecting the European Unions new data protection law, but also for using it as its global standard.

He then made clear that the EUs criticism of Facebooks use of data is related to the desire of the EU states to play a greater role in censoring the internet. He urged Zuckerberg to make those algorithms public. Because if you have so much power in social media about who is visible and who is not visible that cannot be any longer a decision of a company, that is I think a decision for our societies.

Representatives of the far-right criticised the targeting of right-wing content by Facebooks censorship measures. Nigel Farage, leader of Europe for Freedom and Direct Democracy, stated, Youve changed your algorithms and it has led very directly to a very substantial drop in views and engagements for those that have got right-of-center political opinions.

Nicolas Bay from Frances fascist National Front struck a similar tone. Facebook decided to close a number of false accounts, but this also included the French group Generation Identitaire. This is very concerning and has totalitarian implications, he said.

The far-rights attempt to pose as fighters against totalitarianism and for democratic rights is absurd. Their methods are well known. While the right-wing extremists spread their inhumane propaganda in the name of freedom of expression, they cooperate closely with the established parties and the state when it comes to shutting down left-wing and progressive viewpoints. In Germany, the parliamentary justice committeewhich has responsibility for the notorious Network Enforcement Law for internet censorshipis now led by a member of the extreme-right AfD.

In his defence, Zuckerberg claimed Facebook is a platform for all ideas, that means we want to make it so that people can come to our service and share any idea across the political spectrum. Its very important to me that we are a service that allows for a wide variety of political discourse, we view that as a big part of our political responsibility and I can commit to you here today that we have never and will not make a decision about what content is allowed or how we do ranking on the basis of a political orientation.

This is a blatant lie. Only recently, Facebook banned the group Arizona Educators Rank and File Committee. It was founded by the WSWS Teacher Newsletter and aimed to provide a forum for teachers in the state and across the country to exchange views and to fight on the basis of a socialist programme against the trade unions' betrayals. In its justification for the censorship, Facebook declared that the content of Arizona Educators Rank and File Committee violates our community standards on false information and spam.

In reality, across the internet as a whole, claims about the need to combat fake news, hate speech and spam are being used above all to censor left-wing and socialist groups. Google has been censoring the World Socialist Web Site on a large scale for over a year. Under the Network Enforcement Law, which has been in full force in Germany since 1 January, left-wing content, including Twitter comments and YouTube videos against the AfD, have been censored.

The meeting of Zuckerberg with EU parliamentary deputies is a warning. It underscores the tremendous significance of the struggle by the WSWS for the defence of freedom of expression on the internet. An alliance between the entire political establishment and multi-billion-dollar corporations cannot be permitted to eliminate freedom of speech on the internet and establish a modern-day police state. We urge all workers and young people seeking to fight this sweeping attack on democratic rights to contact us and get involved in the struggle against censorship.
Justice Department and intelligence officials conducted briefings Thursday for congressional leaders of both parties on the FBIs use of a confidential informant to meet with three advisers to the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

The informant, Stefan Halper, a longtime national security official in Republican administrations going back to Richard Nixon, was tasked by the FBI to approach two Trump foreign policy advisers, George Papadopoulos and Carter Page, and a campaign co-chairman, Sam Clovis, to discuss their contacts with Russian government officials.

Halpers activities were only the tip of the iceberg, however, in the massive intervention by the US military-intelligence apparatus into the 2016 campaign, with rival factions within the state seeking to promote or undermine Clinton or Trump, and in that way determine the outcome of the election and select the next commander-in-chief for American imperialism.

The lengthy public wrangling between congressional Democrats, congressional Republicans and the White House has served mainly to conceal the implications of this state intervention into the 2016 campaign, whose gigantic scale entirely dwarfs the supposed Russian meddling.

Trump, for his own reasons, has been denouncing the deep state conspiracy against his campaign in a series of harshly worded tweets in which he has branded the use of an FBI informant as Spygate, and declared it to be one of the biggest political scandals in US history.

In response, Trumps Democratic Party critics are adamantly defending FBI and CIA spying on the 2016 campaigns, claiming it was a legitimate defense of national security against supposed Russian interference.

Former FBI Director James Comey expressed concern that the exposure of any FBI informant would undermine the powers of the intelligence apparatus, tweeting Wednesday, The FBIs use of Confidential Human Sources (the actual term) is  essential to protecting the country.

After Thursdays briefings, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff of California, said, Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols.

Initially, the White House plan was for a single session for Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, but this was scrapped under pressure from Democrats and Senate Republicans, who were both to be excluded. Two briefings were held with bipartisan congressional representation, and overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

The first session, held at the Department of Justice, involved Nunes, House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Schiff. The second session, held at the Capitol, involved Mitch McConnell and Charles Schumer, the leaders of the Senate majority and minority, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr and Mark Warner.

Also attending were two representatives of Trump: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Emmett Flood, the newly appointed private attorney for Trump, representing him in dealings with Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation. The White House sought to conceal Floods presence at the briefings, while claiming that Kelly had only acted as a facilitator, to convene the meetings, but did not actually receive the briefings.

Behind these arguments were the concerns, expressed by some congressional Republican as well as all the Democrats, that it was improper for a Trump defense attorney to receive what was in effect a disclosure of the internal workings of an FBI investigation into Trump and his closest aides, including son-in-law Jared Kushner, son Donald Trump Jr., and former top officials of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.

While no details have yet been made public from the two briefings, spokesman for the military-intelligence faction opposed to Trump have escalated their attack on the administration in response to the leaking of Stefan Halpers identity and role as an informant.

Former Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, in a series of media interviews linked to the publication of his new book, declared that in his opinion the alleged intervention by Russia into the 2016 campaign decided the election in favor of Trump.

Clapper acknowledged that the intelligence agencies had never drawn such a conclusion in their assessments of alleged Russian actions such as purchasing a small number of Facebook ads and helping distribute documents hacked from the Democratic National Committeeon the contrary, they explicitly declared that they were not able to judge the effect of these actions on the actual vote.

Nonetheless, he told PBS Tuesday, As a private citizen, its what I would call my informed opinion that, given the massive effort the Russians made, and the number of citizens that they touched, and the variety and multi-dimensional aspects of what they did to influence opinion  and given the fact that it turned on less than 80,000 votes in three states, to me it exceeds logic and credulity that they didnt affect the election. And its my belief they actually turned it.

MSNBCs Rachel Maddow declared this a bombshell in her program Wednesday night. The director of national intelligence for the last seven years, she said, has concluded that the current president of the United States was only installed in office because of a successful Russian intelligence operation.

In the face of such claims, it is worth restating that the alleged Russian interventionwhich has never been substantiated with any significant evidenceconsisted in buying $100,000 worth of Facebook ads in a multi-billion-dollar campaign.

Meanwhile, a section of the congressional Republican Party has sought to escalate the factional warfare in Washington, demanding the appointment of a second special counsel to investigate the 2016 Clinton campaign, and particularly the role of the FBI in clearing Hillary Clinton of any crime in the use of a private email server while she was secretary of state in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013. The 12 ultra-right congressmen also demanded the second special counsel, in effect, investigate the first special counsel, charging that the Mueller probe is the successor to an FBI investigation into Trump launched at the instigation of the Clinton campaign.

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[18 May 2018]
Following the unilateral termination of the nuclear treaty with Iran by US President Donald Trump, relations between the US and Europe are at a low point. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who was in Washington for an inaugural visit on Wednesday, was rebuffed on every controversial issue.

Maas held talks with his American counterpart Mike Pompeo, security adviser John Bolton and several congressmen, but failed to reach any agreement on the Iranian issue. Before the meeting Maas had coordinated his approach by phone with senior diplomats from France and Britain who, together with Germany, want to maintain the Iran treaty.

We are going in two completely different directions, Maas said, after his meeting with Pompeo. The only concession he could get from the US secretary of state was to hold a kind of crisis summit with Berlin, Paris and London in early June.

Maass conversation with Bolton, a hardliner on the Iran issue, was even more tense. At the subsequent press conference he referred to Trumps new security adviser only as Mr. Bolton and stressed that the conflict would now be fought out publicly. In his conversation with Bolton he had made the German and European position very clear, he said.

Maas added, We wish there be no lasting damage to the transatlantic relationship. But in view of the irreconcilable viewpoints, this amounts to nothing more than a diplomatic nicety.

In a speech to the right-wing Heritage Foundation on Monday, Pompeo threatened Iran with the hardest sanctions in history and with war. He is also intent on forcing European companies to comply with US sanctions, well aware that, unlike America, European businesses conduct extensive trade with Iran. For their part, Germany, France and the United Kingdom want to keep to the Iran agreement so as not to lose a lucrative market. While they have agreed to put more pressure on Iran, they fear that a premature war would destabilise the entire region, triggering new waves of refugees and increased energy costs.

The fronts also hardened in the second major divisive issue with the US, the imposition of punitive tariffs. President Trump has to decide by June 1 whether US punitive taxes on steel and aluminium will also apply to imports from the European Union. Most political observers expect a decision against the EU. Maas himself commented on the trade dispute, I made it clear that we in Germany and Europe can by no means accept the path the US seeks to take.

As soon as he was on his flight back to Germany, the German foreign minister was informed about the next bad news from the White House. Donald Trump officially instructed the Department of Commerce to check the imposition of import duties on autos, trucks and car parts. Import tariffs of up to 25 percent are being considered. Such tariffs would above all hit the big German auto companies for whom the US is their second largest export market after China. Last year, they exported around half a million vehicles to the US.

The growing transatlantic conflicts have been in the making for some time. Trumps America first policy is not the cause of these conflicts, but rather the result of a long, objective process. The global integration of production, the dominance of international corporations and banks have exacerbated the struggle for raw materials, markets and spheres of influence between the imperialist powers, which have unleashed two world wars in the last century.

The US has long sought to defend its world hegemony through the use of military force and has been at war for the past quarter century. The older great powers of Europe have reacted by rearming and pursuing their own great power politics. They have supported numerous US wars in the past, but are now in conflict with their former ally. In Germany, which was forced to scale down its military because of the crimes of the Nazi regime, the government had already announced four years ago the end of military restraint and has since systematically rearmed.

Now the escalation of the conflict with the United States has triggered an imperialist frenzy, drawing all the major political parties and formerly liberal-minded middle-class layers in its wake. The Left Party accuses the current federal government of cowardice towards Washington. The formerly pacifist Greens mutated into the chief advocates of German militarism 20 years ago, when they sent German troops to fight in Kosovo.

Even politicians and journalists who were hitherto pro-American are now calling for independent German-European great power politics. Typical in this regard is an article which appeared in Die Zeit written by Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Leonard describes himself as a convinced trans-atlanticist, but writes that a reluctant Berlin must now decide whether Europe can hold its own in the new competition of the great powers and whether the whole of Europe is capable of undertaking its own policy in the new political contest between the great powers.

It is necessary to prevent our continent from becoming the plaything of the powers, he writes. To this end, Germany must be willing to actually use real power factorsnot just soft power and dialogue. Europe had to turn against America because that was the only way to be heard in the US.

Maass predecessor in the office of foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democratic Party), was even more blunt. In an article for the Tagesspiegel, he accuses Trump of destroying all that the United States once created. Its still unclear how the new world order will look, Gabriel writes. Europe and Germany, however, should not look on as others develop, but rather assert their own ideas.

In order to exert international influence,  Germany must increase its foreign policy expenditures to 20 percent of the federal budget, Gabriel demands. This includes military spending. On its own, Germany was too small for this task: Germanys most important contribution to a new world order is therefore the strengthening of Europe as an international power. In order to avoid becoming a plaything of American and other interests, Europe must join forces: economically, in terms of development policy and also in terms of security and military policy, he said.

The most grotesque form of German great power ambitions in the name of anti-Americanism is on show in the latest Spiegel online column by Jakob Augstein. Augstein is the wealthy heir of the Spiegel empire and a man who faithfully reflects the mood of the affluent liberal petty bourgeois. He is outraged that Donald Trump is pursuing a policy of pure, sheer US imperialism. It was therefore the duty of Germans to oppose American imperialism. He calls upon Chancellor Merkel, who has her roots in former Stalinist East Germany, to remember her school daysand take up the anti-imperialist struggle.

In fact, German imperialism is no better than the American variant. This is shown by history. Already in the period of the Weimar Republic, propaganda about the enslavement of Germany by the US and the other victorious powers of the First World War was exploited to mobilise the middle classes in favour of German militarism. The result was Hitler fascism and the bestial crimes of the Wehrmacht.

There is only one way to fight against the growing threat of war: the international unification of the working class based on a socialist program directed against war and its root cause, capitalism. The allies of German workers in the fight against Trump are not Merkel, Macron and the German army, but rather the American and the international working class.
A report published Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) details the systematic brutalization of unaccompanied immigrant children captured by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from 2009 to 2014 at the US-Mexican border. Under the Obama administration, methods employed against these youth echoed those practiced by the CIA and US occupation forces at black site torture centers and Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison.

According to the report, CBP officials regularly use force on children when such force is not objectively reasonable or necessary. One agent told a 16-year-old he would fuck him up and then threw him down and smashed his head into the ground with his boot. Agents ran over another child in a truck and refused him treatment for a broken leg. Agents hit a 15-year-old with a thorny branch, smacked a child over the head with a metal flashlight, threw another childs head against a rock and used Taser guns on children for amusement.

Officers routinely rape and sexually assault children. CBP agents forced one 16-year-old girl to strip and forcefully spread her legs and touched her private parts so hard that she screamed.

Even the language used by border guards conveys the depraved character of their fascistic conduct. Agents put another child in a room and said, right now, we close the door, we rape you and fuck you. A male and female agent forced another child to get naked while they watched her for 15 minutes, threatening to lock her in a room with a large male inmate to force her to be his wife.

Agents dehumanized the children with verbal abuse. Agents mocked one child for being gay and said, these people just come here to get a sex change operation. A pregnant young woman was told she was coming to the US to contaminate this country. Another agent asked a child why he had come to fuck over this country. Agents laughed when immigrants requested paperwork to file a complaint.

The government keeps immigrant children in cages that have body fluids on the walls and floors, along with used sanitary napkins and used toilet paper containing feces on the floors, all of which cause a strong offensive odor throughout the processing area, according to an internal government report.

Agents starve children and deny them access to water. One immigrant said agents refused repeated requests by mothers with infant children for milk. As a result, children in the hold rooms were crying from hunger. Other children were repeatedly given spoiled milk and spoiled meat that made them sick.

Agents deny children necessary medical attention. One agent sicced an attack dog on a child, causing his eye to bleed, and then refused him medical attention. In another case, agents denied [a child] her pain medication and sanitary napkins after she underwent surgery for an ovarian cyst.

Border guards also routinely throw out immigrants personal belongings, identity papers and legal documents, including those necessary for proving their asylum cases. Agents also pressure children to sign self-deportation papers waiving all of their legal rights. One agent told a boy to strip naked and then told him he would remain unclothed if he did not agree to sign the document. An agent told a teenage mother that he was going to rape her and then put her child in foster care if she did not sign a self-deportation form.

The Obama administration condoned and covered up the abuse, which violates both international law and the Eighth Amendments proscription of cruel and unusual punishment.

In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it was drastically cutting routine inspections of immigrant detention centers. Later that year, the Obama administration ignored an ACLU Freedom of Information Act request for information about abuse of minors. The 30,000 pages of internal documents upon which the ACLU report is based were only released through a federal lawsuit initially filed in 2015.

One 2014 email exposed by the report typifies the Obama administrations role. Responding to a complaint by one immigrant child, the Obama administration inspector wrote, Are we sure we want to open this given the huge amount of more serious complaints we have? In other words, the abuse detailed by the ACLU is not the conduct of a renegade agency; it is the official policy of the US government.

Conditions are only worsening under President Trump, who has encouraged the fascistic culture within the 20,000-strong border guard.

One immigrant who spent six months in a California detention center in 2017 told the WSWS, It is very difficult to list all of the inhumane conditions. One of my fellow detainees tried to hang himself on a ladder, and another person hanged himself in the bathroom.

This week, Trump repeated the racist claim that immigrants are animals, while Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said schools should report children to immigration agents for deportation. Last year, the US president encouraged police and immigration authorities to rough up arrestees.

CBP has taken Trumps orders to heart: Wednesday an agent shot a young immigrant woman in the head, killing her along the Texas border.

The Democratic Party supports Trumps border security measures, having recently voted to provide Trump with $2 billion in border wall construction funds and $600 million in added funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Democrats have sought to silence opposition to Trumps anti-immigrant policies in order to focus all attention on baseless claims that Trump is tied to Russia.

The scant references to the report in the corporate press were drowned out by allegations that actor Morgan Freeman harassed women by commenting on their appearance, touching their backs and looking at them.

While representatives of the #MeToo campaign denounced Freeman, they ignored the ACLU report, which, in contrast, exposed evidence of actual rape and sexual abuse of hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrant children by the US government. This exposes the fact that the #MeToo campaign has nothing to do with halting abuses of power. Its focus is not the conditions of the poor and oppressed, but rather the careers and bank accounts of multi-millionaire actresses and corporate executives.

The report is an urgent warning to the entire working class, regardless of immigration status. Amid a growing wave of strikes by teachers and other sections of workers as well as demonstrations by students and youth, the methods being used against illegal immigrants at the US-Mexican border and in the ICE detention centers will be used to attack illegal strikes, illegal demonstrations and any other actions that threaten the wealth and privileges of the financial aristocracy. The defense of immigrants must be based on the broadest mobilization of the working class against the capitalist system.
PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

The following is the second part of a three-part interview with Professor Piers Robinson, an academic at the University of Sheffield and a member of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media. Part one was posted on May 24.

Julie Hyland: You have been studying media propaganda in connection to Middle East wars for years. Can you explain how this has developed?

Piers Robinson: I was very interested in international politics and the media. My PhD was on looking at US foreign policy and intervention decisions in Somalia and looking at the CNN effect. That was a big debate in the 1990s. With the end of the Cold War, there was what appeared to be for some people a development in norms, so that we would breach sovereignty and intervene to protect human rights.

It really got underway following the first Gulf War [August 2, 1990, to February 28, 1991] when you had the Kurdish crisis in the mountains and on the border with Turkey. A decision was made to create safe areas. That really got the ball rolling. Then there was the intervention in Somalia a couple of years laterRestore Hopeand it fed through to the war in Bosnia, and then culminated with Operation Allied Force in Kosovo.

These events really elevated the idea of humanitarian intervention, with the media understood to be an important part of pushing these interventions. It seemed to suggest that the media was more independent following the end of the Cold War, more powerful in setting the agenda. So the story went. The idea was that this was a positive development. That you would intervene to help people was seen to be a good thing, at least to some extent.

The PhD work was started in 1996, and it was turned into the book about intervention during humanitarian crises which was published in 2002. By the time that book was going out, the Iraq war of 2003 was really upon us.

We did a very standard thing then. I was with people in Liverpool University who had done large-scale content analysis of media coverage of elections. And they said, why dont we take this methodology and look at media coverage of the Iraq invasion? We can look at it in terms of media bias, autonomy from the government.

That was two to three years, and it was 2010 before it was published, which is quite normal because it takes a long time to do detailed research of media coverage.

I was very aware throughout that with 9/11 we were now into the War on Terror, as it was presented at that time. I argued then that [humanitarian intervention] was off the agenda and we were back to more traditional kinds of war. But I soon became very aware that the humanitarian discourse carried on. We were supposedly taking out Saddam Hussein because of his Weapons of Mass Destruction, but also because he had committed human rights abuses. So the humanitarian narrative never really went away.

I was very focussed on the Iraq study. There was a key moment at that point because I was fully aware of what happened after the Iraq war with the Gilligan BBC report, Dr. David Kelly and that extraordinary battle between the British government and the BBC ending in Kellys death.

[Then-BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan reported on the Today programme May 29, 2003, that the government had ordered that an intelligence dossier on Iraqs WMD be sexed up. Dr. David Kelly was later outed as Gilligans source. He was found deadrecorded as suicideon July 17, 2004ed.]

PR: Thats when I really became interested in the notion of propaganda. How much of the information is being shaped even before it gets to the media? How deep-rooted are the propaganda operations?

A lot of information had come into the public domain through the Hutton Inquiry, also the Butler Inquiry, and then, at that point, the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry [three separate public inquiries into aspects of the Iraq War]. You were able to start building up a very clear picture of what was going on and how they shaped the claims about Iraqi WMD. This ended up with me spending a few years working on a paper with Professor Eric Herring (University of Bristol) which became Report X Marks the Spot: The British Governments Deceptive Dossier on Iraq and WMD.

The claims of the British government, or Tony Blair, were always that I just passed on the intelligence they gave us. And there were other people saying theyd lied, and others saying it was a question of deception through manipulation and distortion. We spent a long time unpacking and detailing what happened with the dossierestablishing and confirming that it was a case of intentional deception.

It was slightly intimidating doing that because you are in the territory where you are making the case that your government has been involved in a deception.

We finally got that study published, and it carefully detailed the deception that had occurred in the case of Iraq. But what I learnt from that was how organised it was. I learnt, for example, that the first idea for the dossier was at least a year before the actual invasion. There were months of preparation, working with John Scarlett, head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, with [Blairs former adviser] Alastair Campbell, in order to build as strong a picture as they could of Iraqi WMD.

At that point I realised that unless we start to understand propaganda, also known as strategic communications, we dont really have a good idea of why the media does what it does and why the public thinks the way it does.

We need to look at these mechanisms of information manipulation. And my research interest in propaganda has carried on since then, to this point with Mark Crispin Miller, David Miller, Chris Simpson and myself setting up the Organisation for Propaganda Studies. Its primary aim is to encourage research and writing into questions of propaganda and manipulation and how that can undermine democracy. But we also want to encourage film makers and artists to talk about these things and to engage the public.

The Syria work has just emerged because I have people around me researching it. I had my head down looking at the September dossier for four years, and I popped my head up when I had finished and it was, Oh, Syria has undergone a terrible war for many years. Whats been going on there?

I think it was a Seamus Milne article in the Guardian in 2015 where he said very clearly that the West is backing militant groups in Syria. That got my mind ticking over. How much of this war is connected to other regime-change operations such as Iraq?

Its really getting a sense that what were looking at here is a semi-coherent strategy that has been pursued especially since 9/11. General Wesley Clark in 2007 said they were talking about knocking out seven countries in a matter of years [starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.]

Our inability to look at these things is partly because of propaganda. People who did quote Wesley Clark or said there is a connection herethere is Afghanistan, Iraq and then Libyastraight away they were called conspiracy theorists. People are scared. They dont want to be called that.

Academics are subject to the same pressures as journalists, and it shapes what you do and what you talk about. The mountain you have to climb intellectually to get yourself out of that situation where I dont want to ask those questions, I think its stupid to ask those questions is tremendous.

But when you get out of that, youre able to think for yourself and also have the confidence to ask the really important questions. Thats another interesting thing if you think about terms such as conspiracy theorist or apologist or denialist. These are ways of bracketing you as an irrational or immoral person, even a lunatic.

They are very effective at doing that and of dissuading you from asking tough questions. You have to get a really good knowledge of what is going on to get to the point where you have the confidence to challenge power.

Becoming aware of my own ideological blindness and blinkers and to the extent I had been propagandised, that awareness comes very quickly when you start to understand propaganda. You start to see the mechanisms and how they work. I was at that point after the September dossier. I thought there is obviously deception going on here.

JH: Your 2017 study, Learning from the Chilcot report: Propaganda, deception and the War on Terror, details the close-knit propaganda campaign that laid the groundwork for the invasion of Iraq. How did this influence your subsequent research?

PR: The Chilcot report [into the Iraq war] had an important influence on my current work. Chilcots report looked at the establishing phase of the war on terror, and there you had Tony Blair and George Bush talking about hitting Iraq, Iran and Syria, which one to do first, and I thought, well, Wesley Clark was very likely telling the truth!

Since then, Ive been very committed to understanding better how we are propagandised in the West, especially in relation to the war on terror, and there is a lot of evidence available now.

In tandem we were looking at Syria carefully. Not just in terms of PR campaigns, but also with respect to the facilitation of grassroots movements.

When you start piecing evidence together, you realise that we are mired in a very belligerent phase of Western foreign policy. The problem really does lie very much at home and with the issue of how propaganda is being used to systematically shape how people are thinking, and to enable the wars we have seen since 9/11.

To be continued
David Moore is the Socialist Equality Party candidate for US Senate in the California midterm elections. He will appear on the ballot in the June 5 primary elections. For more information on the campaign, visit socialequality.com/2018

I want to express my solidarity and support for the nearly 4,000 Google workers and 1,000 academics who signed open letters opposing the companys involvement in the Pentagons drone assassination program. Through Project Maven, Google is developing artificial intelligence (AI) to sort through the surveillance data the military uses to carry out its extrajudicial killings.

The open letter from Google workers, many of whom live and work in California, states, Building this technology to assist the US government in military surveillance  and potentially lethal outcomes  is not acceptable. It demands an end to Googles participation in Project Maven and an explicit renunciation of ever building warfare technology.

Inspired by the Google employees, over 1,000 academics signed a second open letter denouncing the use of AI to support targeted killings. The collaboration of Google, Amazon and Microsoft with the Pentagon, they write, signals a dangerous alliance between the private tech industry, currently in possession of vast quantities of sensitive personal data collected from people across the globe, and one countrys military.

The billionaire executives at Google are driven by entirely different considerations. In a November interview, Eric Schmidt ($11.1 billion), former CEO at Google, explained, Theres lots of money in the DOD [Department of Defense]. Schmidt currently chairs the Pentagons Defense Innovation Advisory Board while also sitting on Googles board of directors.

Googles relationship with the military is part of a broader integration between technology companies and the state. The strategists of the ruling class realize the immense power of AI technologies and want to harness it to pursue their interests. They also see an enormous danger to their interests in the ability of workers and youth to use the Internet to organize and mobilize opposition.

The same technology the Pentagon applies to bombing other countries is being used by law enforcement within the Unite States. Amazon has been contracting facial recognition software to police departments across the country since at least 2016, posing enormous dangers to democratic rights.

By far the largest step taken by Google and other tech companies in the service of the state is through Internet censorship. In April 2017, Google announced that it was updating its search algorithms to surface more authoritative content. Claiming to be fighting fake news, Google systematically removed socialist, left-wing and anti-war web sites from search results.

In August 2017, the World Socialist Web Site issued an open letter to Google executives demanding the changes be reversed. The Google executives never responded.

Google has been joined by Facebook, Twitter and other tech companies in this campaign of censorship as part of the governments efforts to control public access to information.

These efforts go hand-in-hand with the persecution of whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, who exposed the unconstitutional campaign of mass surveillance by US intelligence agencies; Chelsea Manning, who made public American war crimes in the Middle East; and Julian Assange, who founded Wikileaks and has helped expose countless government lies.

Assange is currently in imminent danger of being forced out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London and thrust into the hands of the UK government, which could extradite him to the United States to face charges of treason.

The Democratic Party has spearheaded this campaign of censorship. My opponent for Senate, Dianne Feinstein, has been a consistent defender of the National Security Agencys efforts to surveil all Internet communications. In addition to sponsoring renewals of the PATRIOT Act, Feinstein voted to authorize the warrantless wiretapping of international communications without even the pretense of judicial review.

Currently, Feinstein and the Democrats are using the bogeyman of Russian interference and fake news to censor oppositional views. They are terrified of social opposition. Under the official conspiracy theory, social discontent in the US is attributable to the nefarious operations of the Russian governmentand, therefore, is equivalent to treason.

As part of the campaign against divisive content, Facebook has censored some of my own campaign ads with the slogan No to War, Inequality, and Censorship! because they dont allow ads that contain shocking, disrespectful, or sensational content. In the course of the Arizona teachers strike, Facebook disbanded a page of Arizona teachers critical of the union.

Workers across the country are opposed to the policies of war and social reaction promoted by both big business parties. The ruling class knows that it cannot push through corporate tax cuts, ballooning budgets for the military and anti-immigrant policies with democratic means. This is the fundamental source of the attack on the most basic democratic rights.

The Socialist Equality Party encourages and supports the opposition of Google workers. To succeed, the opposition of tech workers to militarism must be connected to the struggle of the entire working class against capitalism. So long as the tech industry is subordinated to the interests of a handful of billionaires, they will abuse it to defend their own private fortunes and the interests of the ruling class as a whole.

The SEP calls for urgent measures to safeguard the Internet as a platform for political organization and the free exchange of information. Opposition to militarism and censorship, and the fight to end the persecution of Assange and Snowden, must be connected to a revolutionary socialist program, including the transformation of the corporate Internet monopolies into public utilities, under the internationally coordinated democratic control of the working class.

I urge Google workers and all workers and young people to support my campaign for Senate and unite your opposition to tech company militarism with the fight for socialism!
The iconic luxury jewelry company Tiffany & Company announced this week that profits over the first quarter of this year had experienced a massive 53 percent increase to $142 million, compared to $93 million in 2017. Following the announcement Wednesday, the companys shares shot up by more than 23 percent.

The sudden increase in the companys stock prices marked a 52-week high, having increased by roughly 30 percent over the past 12 months. The company now expects earnings per share of $4.50 to $4.70 for the year ending in January 2019, compared to earlier estimates of earning per share of $4.25 to $4.45.

Stock prices also rallied on the announcement that Tiffanys is initiating a new $1 billion stock buyback program to pad the pockets of its wealthy shareholders.

The upsurge in Tiffanys sales is the outcome of the creation of a small but growing ultra-wealthy layer that can afford to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on bracelets, earrings, necklaces and other trinkets out of the immiseration of millions of workers. In fact, jewelry retailers as a group experienced a 13 percent increase in stocks following Tiffanys earnings report, while retail companies that have a base among more working-class shoppers, such as Target and JCPenney, have experienced a fall in sales and their stock value.

At the end of last year, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston noted that the US is plagued with soaring death rates and family and community destruction wrought by prescription and other drug addiction. While a full 40 percent of American adults report that they cannot cover a $400 emergency without going into debt, a small layer is able to live an extremely opulent lifestyle.

The more than $1 billion squandered in just the first three months of this year on a single companys luxury items would cover over two-thirds of the costs of replacing the toxic water infrastructure of Flint, Michigan. The squandering of such resources on frivolous goods, while large sections of the worlds population live without clean water and other essential services, is the most blatant expression of the failure of capitalism.

Sales in the Americas, which is the companys largest market, rose by 9 percent to $425 million; in Europe, sales increased by 13 percent to $107 million, and sales in Japan increased by 17 percent to $151 million over the course of a three-month period that ended on April 30. The Asia-Pacific market experienced the largest growth, with sales skyrocketing by 28 percent to $329 million over the same period.

Tiffanys total first-quarter net sales rose by 14.8 percent to $1.03 billion, more than the estimated $959.4 million, according to Reuters. Part of the increase is due to the tax windfall signed by Trump in December. The companys effective tax rate for the first quarter was 25.3 percent compared to 31.7 percent last year.

The increase in sales is also a reflection of the ever-growing hoards of money controlled by the upper echelons of the global population. According to a recent report by Wealth-X, North American billionaires increased their wealth by 22.8 percent to a total of $3.3 trillion and Asias billionaires increased their wealth by 49.4 percent to a total of $2.4 trillion in 2018.

Tiffany reported that the increase in sales was aided by more tourists shopping in the US, as well as New Yorkers spending more on jewelry. New York, where the companys flagship store is located, is home to 103 billionaires. Same-store sales increased by 7 percent, more than double the 2.7 percent increase that was estimated by analysts.

Tiffanys new CEO, Alessandro Bogliolo, stated in an earnings release that the company was particularly encouraged by the breadth of sales growth across most regions and all product categories. He also hailed a new ad campaign, titled Believe in Dreams, for aiding sales and said the company would continue to ramp up its ads for the rest of 2018 because the company is committed to reaching the sustainable growth potential of this legendary brand.

The company has also diversified into everyday objects and luxury home goods to attract younger wealthy consumers that might otherwise go to Tiffanys competitors. These products include a $1,000 18-karat gold paper clip bookmark and a sterling silver coffee can that costs $1,500. The store also offers diamond-encrusted Swiss-made watches ranging in price from $30,000 to just $2,950.
Facing mass anger over Tuesdays police killing of at least 13 people, and the wounding over 100 others, who demonstrated against Vedanta Resources Sterlite copper smelter in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu state authorities have shut down the polluting facility. A Madras High Court also halted the companys plans to double production from the current level of 400,000 tonnes per year.

Late Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) ordered the closure and disconnection of power supplies to the smelter. The ruling was implemented early Thursday morning.

The TNPCB officially attributed its decision to a May 18-19 inspection by an environmental engineer. He reported that the company was preparing to resume production, despite a previous board order to halt production in April, pending extension of environmental clearance. The TNPCB decision, however, is a clear attempt by state authorities to contain public outrage over the police attack.

Street demonstrations were held in Tuticorin on Wednesday over the police killings the previous day. Police officers again opened fire on protestors, killing one person and injuring others. On Thursday, the protests spread to Bengalaru, capital of neighbouring state of Karnataka, with hundreds chanting slogans against the police attacks.

Tuticorin residents have opposed the Sterlite smelter since it opened in 1996. Indian authorities have ignored these concerns and allowed the facility to keep operating, despite irrefutable evidence it is poisoning the environment. On the occasions when authorities have ordered shut downs over toxic waste, the government has allowed the plant to soon reopen.

The latest wave of protests began in February. Residents demanded permanent closure of the plant over its dumping of toxic waste, including arsenic, lead and sulphur dioxide, which is poisoning groundwater and creating fatal health problems.

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami, from the regionalist AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), cynically declared on Wednesday the government was taking all steps to close the Sterlite plant. He continued to defend the police killing of protestors, however, claiming the demonstrations were instigated by opposition parties.

It is because of this instigation that so many people have died. And we are really saddened by the deaths, Palaniswami said. A day earlier, he told the media the police brutality was unavoidable in order to protect public life and property.

Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, who has a 71 percent share in Vedanta Resources, attempted to whip up Indian nationalism against those opposing the smelter. The campaign, he declared, was a foreign conspiracy to keep India reliant on imports.

The mass opposition to the smelter is a part of growing social struggles by workers, youth and rural toilers throughout India against the central and state governments and company attacks on jobs, working and living conditions.

Sections of the Indian ruling elite fear that the violent state crackdown in Tuticorin will intensify already volatile social tensions to uncontrollable levels.

A Hindustan Times editorial on May 23 warned: The Tamil Nadu governments handling of the situation, its inability to gauge the mood of the people and its disregard for their concerns is worrying  Even now, the government is trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation and justify the police action as being due to the protests turning violent.

Similar concerns were raised yesterday in a Hindu editorial. Entitled Thoothukudi [Tuticorin] firing: entirely preventable, the English-language daily declared: [T]he Tamil Nadu government failed to gauge the intensity of what was coming. It is a tragic irony that such an angry and violent demonstration could have been staged at a time when the plant is not operational and after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board refused to renew its consent to operate.

Official parliamentary parties like Congress, the traditional ruling party of the Indian bourgeoisie, and the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), a rival Tamil Nadu regional party, are trying to exploit public revulsion over the police assaults. Their efforts have nothing to do with residents health and living conditions. They are seeking to boost their electoral fortunes against the ruling AIADMK state government and the central Hindu-supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) administration, which faces national elections next year.

Yesterday, DMK president M.K. Stalin joined other opposition party leaders in protesting outside the secretariat in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu capital. He and Congress leaders were taken into custody by the police.

The DMK and other parties called a bandh (general shut down) today over the police killings. While workers, youths and rural toilers throughout Tamil Nadu will join todays demonstrations and statewide strike, the DMK, Congress and other opposition parties are trying to divert the mass anger into harmless political channels.
CLARKE COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - Officials have released the names of the people involved in a Thursday morning crash in Clark County, Illinois.

It happened around 10:00 a.m. on Interstate 70.

According to police, 45-year-old Suzette Ashbaugh, of Ellsworth, Kansas was in the westbound lanes of I-70 just west of Marshall when she left the road, going onto the shoulder.

That is when she hit the back of an Illinois Department of Transportation dump truck that was parked along the shoulder.

57-year-old Alan Dorjahn of Mattoon was behind the wheel of the parked truck.

After hitting the parked truck, Ashbaugh went off into a ditch.

Ashbaugh and a passenger in the car 24-year-old Joann Ashbaugh were airlifted to Carle Hospital in Danville, Illinois.

A third passenger in the car, 28-year-old Kelsa Cline was taken to Regional Hospital in Terre Haute.

Their conditions remain unclear at this time.
Saskatoon, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- World Wildlife Fund Canada and the University of Saskatchewan invite media and the public to attend a panel discussion on May 28 at the University of Saskatchewan, where experts will discuss where and how new renewable energy projects should be deployed in the province.

In 2015, provincially operated SaskPower set the ambitious target of doubling the percentage of renewable energy by 2030, which would include at minimum 60 megawatts of solar power and an increase in wind power capacity to 30 per cent of the electricity grid. WWF-Canada and University of Saskatchewan are hosting this panel to discuss how projects can be situated to best benefit conservation and community values, and then move toward development co-operatively as we make this urgently needed transition to renewable energy.

When: Monday May 28, 2018 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Where: Room 46, Edwards School of Business, University of Saskatchewan Campus

What: Panel discussion, with media availability

Event Speakers:

Tony Chung, NSERC/SaskPower senior industrial research chair in smart grid technologies, professor, and SaskPower chair of Power Systems Engineering.

NSERC/SaskPower senior industrial research chair in smart grid technologies, professor, and SaskPower chair of Power Systems Engineering. Guy Lonechild, CEO, First Nations Power Authority

CEO, First Nations Power Authority Douglas Opseth, director of generation asset management and resource planning at SaskPower

director of generation asset management and resource planning at SaskPower James Snider, vice-president of science, research and innovation at WWF-Canada, director of WWF-Canadas 2017 Living Planet Report Canada.

vice-president of science, research and innovation at WWF-Canada, director of WWF-Canadas 2017 Living Planet Report Canada. Farid Sharifi, lead specialist, renewable energy at WWF-Canada, leading initiatives to support the development of habitat-friendly renewable energy in Canada



This event is being hosted by University of Saskatchewan professors Dr. Greg Poelzer, School of Environment and Sustainability, Fulbright Scholar and Dr. Bram Noble, department of Geography and Planning.

About habitat-friendly renewable energy

Habitat-friendly renewable energy is essential to reducing the major landscape and climate impacts of fossil fuel production, transportation and use in Canada. WWF-Canada is developing tools to help developers and communities build renewable energy projects that consider nature at the outset, to maximize energy production while minimizing conflicts with wildlife and subsequent costly delays.

About the Renewable Energy in Remote and Indigenous Communities Flagship Program

The University of Saskatchewan has established the world's first multi-sectoral partnership of utility and industry, Indigenous communities and academic institutions to tackle the policy challenges and barriers to renewable energy deployment in remote and Indigenous communities.

About World Wildlife Fund Canada

WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca.





To request an interview, contact

Rebecca Spring, senior communications specialist, WWF-Canada

rspring@wwfcanada.org, +1 647-338-6274

Jennifer Thoma, media relations specialist, University of Saskatchewan

Jennifer.thoma@usask.ca, +1 306-966-1851
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (CBS4) Heres everything our partner station, CBS 4 in Indianapolis, learned about the shooting at Noblesville West Middle School that occurred Friday morning and left one student and one teacher injured.

LINK | FOLLOW CBS 4'S LIVE BLOG HERE



Statement from Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb Speaker Bosma, Pro Tem Long and I are monitoring the situation at Noblesville West Middle School from the air on our return trip to Indianapolis from Europe. Approximately 100 state police officers have been made available to work with local responders and will offer all assistance needed. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation.



Injuries

One student and one teacher were injured when a gunman opened fire inside a seventh-grade science classroom. The student was taken to Riley Hospital for Children, and were told by other students she is a 13-year-old girl. The teacher was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital. The extent of their injuries is unknown at this time.

Additionally, one student was transported to Riverview Health in Noblesville and is being treated for a fractured ankle.

Suspect in custody

Police tell us a male student is the suspected shooter, and he was detained at the school. He is reportedly in the seventh grade. Any information on charges is expected to be announced after the holiday weekend.

Students evacuated

Students were evacuated from the middle school to Noblesville High School. Hundreds of parents were packed in the auditorium waiting to pick up their children. Officials called the students names one-by-one. Police asked parents to have their ID ready and to be patient.

Threat at high school

There was a threat at Noblesville High School, and it was placed on lockdown. SWAT and K9 swept the school and found nothing. The school was given the all-clear. Indiana State Police Cpt. David Bursten says they have the means to track down the call, and that person will be arrested and prosecuted to the highest degree.

Science teacher tackles gunman

The students were taking a test in science class, and the suspect asked to be excused. He later returned with two handguns and opened fire. Students tell us a 13-year-old girl was hit.

The students ran to the back of the classroom to hide, and thats when the science teacher bravely tackled the student and swatted the gun away from him, possibly saving others from getting injured. The teacher yelled at the students to call 911 and run out of the building.

During a news conference on Friday afternoon, authorities said they will not officially release the identity of the victims. However, multiple students and parents have identified the hero as seventh-grade science teacher Jason Seaman. Hes also a football coach at the middle school.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Police are investigating a Thursday night shooting in Terre Haute.

It happened just before 10:00 at 1712 Hendricks Street.

Police say when they arrived, Donald Wilson told them he shot his son, 34-year-old Austin Wilson.

According to Donald, his son kicked the door down and "advanced toward him."

That is when Donald shot Austin in the abdomen.

Austin was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Over the course of their investigation, police learned Austin attacked his father earlier in the day until Austin's mother threatened to call the police, he allegedly fled the scene.

The Vigo County Prosecutor's Office expects to charge Austin Wilson on charges of intimidation, battery, strangulation, and residential entry after he is released from the hospital.

The investigation is ongoing.
TERRE HATE, Ind. (WTHI) - They share a border but Indiana and Illinois gun laws can be very different.

As the debate over gun reforms continues, we take a closer look at several laws already on the books.

News 10's Heather Good spoke with two experts on each side of the border to compare.

Bill Brown is a deputy with the Clark County Sheriff's Office, a firearms instructor and is an expert on Illinois gun law. Chris Wrede is a Terre Haute City Court judge and is an expert on Indiana gun law.

Much like the laws to have a gun, the laws on how you can carry it are significantly different in Illinois and Indiana.

The experts explain, in Indiana, you need a permit to carry a handgun.

Wrede says, "The State of Indiana does issue that license. It's a shall issue state."

He adds once you have that license you can carry a handgun concealed or in the open.

Wrede says, "It's considered a license to carry instead of a concealed carry. The State of Indiana, unlike some states, you can carry in the open. Some states require it to be concealed. Indiana does not one way or another. You can carry it in the open or you can carry it concealed."

In Illinois, you cannot open carry and you must have a license to conceal carry a handgun.

Brown says, "Conceal carry means you can have a firearm on your person at any given time. There is exceptions when you can't carry and rules that guide that but I can have a firearm on me as long as it's concealed or mostly concealed."

The law is different if a person is traveling through Illinois.

Brown says, "If you have a concealed carry permit that you have been issued from your state and you're traveling through then you can indeed carry your weapon loaded and concealed in your motor vehicle but if you stop and go to the restaurant you must leave that weapon inside your vehicle."

Without a permit, the firearm must be locked in a case and unloaded.

Judge Wrede explains Indiana honors all permits issued by other states.

He says, "If you have a permit to carry that handgun in your state, Indiana recognizes that and and you can go through with it loaded just like you carried it in your state."

This means as long as a person has a license to carry a handgun in their home state they can carry it in Indiana and it can be open or concealed.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - As the debate over gun reforms continues, we take a closer look at several laws already on the books in Illinois and Indiana.



News 10's Heather Good spoke with two experts on each side of the border to compare.

Bill Brown is a deputy with the Clark County Sheriff's Office, a firearms instructor and is an expert on Illinois gun law. Chris Wrede is a Terre Haute City Court judge and is an expert on Indiana gun law.

Even though they share a border, Indiana and Illinois gun laws are vastly different in some big ways.

Wrede explains, in Indiana, a person does not need a permit to have a firearm.

Illinois residents do need a permit.

Brown says, "In the state of Illinois, they have to have what's called a FOID card. Firearms Owner Identification card. We are the only state in this country where that's required."

FOID cards are issued through the Illinois State Police Department. To get one, Brown explains, a person must answer questions for a background check.

He says, "It asks you about misdemeanor convictions, felony convictions, mental issues, if a person is having any kind of mental issues, mental health adjudications or things of that nature is what they're looking for."

If approved, you must carry the FOID card with you anytime you are in possession of a firearm.

Brown explains a person must be at least 21-years-old to get a FOID card unless they get a signature from a parent who already has a FOID card.

People convicted of a felony or violent misdemeanor cannot get a FOID card. If a person already has a FOID card and is later convicted the state police will revoke the card.

When it comes to buying a firearm from a licensed dealer buyers have to fill out a Firearms Transaction Record, also called ATF Form 4473. Buyers have to do this in every state.

In Indiana, once the form is processed and approved the buyer can walk out with the gun. Wrede explains there are two other possible outcomes. When the form is submitted a buyer could get a "delayed" response. This could happen for various reasons and means more time is needed to approve the application. If there is no response after 72 hours, the seller can transfer the gun to the buyer. The form could also be denied. Wrede says most approvals happen within seconds if done electronically and sometimes minutes if done over the phone.

Wrede says, "Indiana allows civilian transfer of firearms, or ownership of firearms, without having to go through the 4473 form."

According to Brown, the same is true for Illinois private sales.

The difference in Illinois is, once again, a buyer must have that FOID card.

In Illinois, there is a 72-hour waiting period before a buyer can pick-up a handgun after getting approval. There is a 24-hour waiting period before a buyer can pick up a long gun after approval. It is the same regardless if a seller is a dealer or a private citizen.

This is only a snapshot of the laws regarding gun sales and there are more differences regarding how guns can be carried. News 10's Heather Good will have more on this in a report Friday night on MyFox10 and News 10 Nightwatch.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The newly selected superintendent for Vigo County Schools speaks out for the first time since the announcement.

On Thursday, Dr. Robert Haworth was selected to succeed retiring superintendent Danny Tanoos.

Haworth has been in the top spot for Elkhart Community Schools for the past six years.

LINK | ELKHART COMMUNITY SCHOOLS MAKES THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND VCSC CONFIRMS, NEW SUPERINTENDENT REVEALED

On Friday, he spoke with reporters about Vigo County for the first time.

He told our partner station WSBT-TV that he is excited to get the Vigo County Superintendent job because he has aging family in southern Indiana.

By taking this position, he can be closer to them.

"You are always juggling career, faith, family...and at this point in time I just want to make sure my family is well taken care of," Haworth said.

LINK | AN EMOTIONAL DANNY TANOOS ANNOUNCES HIS RETIREMENT AS SUPERINTENDENT OF VCSC

We did ask him about the pending FBI investigation in Vigo County.

He said off camera that he couldn't comment on something that happened two years ago when he wasn't here.

A public meet and greet is set for May 31st.

We will bring you more details on that when they become available.
VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - The Vigo County School Corporation announced their choice for the next superintendent.

That person is Dr. Rob Haworth.

We spoke with school board president Jackie Lower who said she is very pleased with their choice and feels Haworth will fit in well with the community.

LINK | ELKHART COMMUNITY SCHOOLS MAKES THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND VCSC CONFIRMS, NEW SUPERINTENDENT REVEALED

Lower said Haworth started a respected career and college development program for students in Elkhart.

She said he gets along with teachers and administrators, is an open communicator, and very transparent.

Lower said if some of her colleagues are questioning the selection process now, in the 9th inning, it's too late.

"It's been advertised since February, exactly what the selection process was and we followed it exactly," Lower said.

There will be a public meet and greet with Dr. Haworth on May 31st.

Once the school corporation releases more details on where and what time that will be, we will pass it along.
CORINTH, Miss. (WTVA) - Preliminary autopsy results show a man was shot in the back of the head in Corinth.

Police found George Harris, 57, dead on the front porch of his home on Liddon Lake Road Monday morning.

RELATED: Homicide investigation underway in Corinth

Corinth police originally stated investigators are treating the death as a homicide.

On Thursday, Corinth Police Chief Ralph Dance says officers are still chasing down leads and interviewing family members.

This is a developing story.
BIBB COUNTY, Ala. (WTVA) - A Missing Child Alert has been issued for an Alabama child from Bibb County.

The alert is for Samuel Haiden Simmons, 13.

He is described as a white male.

He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a camouflage shirt and cowboy boots in the area of Vernontown Road at 8:30 p.m. in West Blocton on Thursday, May 24.

If you have any information on his whereabouts, please call the Bibb County Sheriff's Department at 205-926-3129 or 911.
Update 05/25/18 12:32 p.m. - Michael Jackson will spend seven years in prison. On Friday, he was sentenced to 12 years, but the court suspended five of those years.

He will also have to pay a $5,000 fine.

His attorney says they will request a retrial.



He will have to register as a sex offender.

See the original post below.

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) -- A former choral teacher for Columbus city schools has been found guilty of a sex crime.

Michael Jackson was on trial this week for one count of enticement of a child to meet for lustful purposes.

Columbus police arrested Jackson at his home back in February 2014.

Jackson was the school district's public information officer and taught for Columbus High School and Columbus Middle School.

The victim was a 17-year-old male student at Columbus High. Prosecutors say Jackson contacted the teen by text messaging and social media.

District Attorney Scott Colom says a jury returned a guilty verdict against Jackson late Thursday evening.

Jackson's sentencing will be held Friday morning at the Lowndes County Circuit Court.

He faces 5 to 40 years in prison.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE US

TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FSD Pharma Inc. (formerly, Century Financial Capital Group Inc., the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously announced business combination with FV Pharma Inc. ("FV Pharma"). On March 9, 2018 the Corporation and FV Pharma entered into an arm's length definitive business combination agreement (the "Business Combination Agreement") with 2620756 Ontario Inc. ("SubCo"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation, incorporated for the purpose of this transaction. Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, the Corporation changed its name to FSD Pharma Inc. and completed a business combination with FV Pharma by way of a three-cornered amalgamation pursuant to which FV Pharma amalgamated with SubCo (the "Transaction"). The resulting amalgamated corporation carried on in the name of FV Pharma as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Corporation. Following the completion of the Transaction, FSD Pharma Inc. will carry on the medical cannabis business of FV Pharma. For the purposes of this press release, the term "Resulting Issuer" means the Corporation following completion of the Transaction.



On March 15, 2018, the Corporation held an annual and special meeting of the shareholders of the Corporation (the "Shareholders"), where the Shareholders approved a share re-designation, a name change, and other matters relating to the Transaction.

Share Re-designation

In connection with the Transaction, the Shareholders passed a special resolution authorizing the Corporations board of directors to amend the Corporation's articles in order to: (i): effect a re-designation of the Corporation's existing common shares as Class B Subordinate Voting Shares (the "Class B Subordinate Voting Shares") (ii) create a new class of "Class A Multiple Voting Shares" and (iii) eliminate the existing classes of non-voting "Class A Preference Shares" and non-voting "Class B Preference Shares"

Name Change

In connection with the Transaction, the Shareholders passed a special resolution authorizing the Corporation's board of directors to amend the articles of incorporation of the Corporation to effect the change of name of the Corporation to "FSD Pharma Inc."

Board of Directors

The Corporation's new board of directors following the transaction is constituted by Thomas Fairfull, Zeeshan Saeed, Donal Carroll, Vladimir Klacar and Gerald Goldberg.

Escrow Release

Further to a previously announced two-tranche private placement of subscription receipts ("Subscription Receipts") of FV Pharma for gross proceeds of approximately $33,404,392 (the "Financing"), FV Pharma is pleased to announced that it has satisfied the escrow release conditions set out in the agency agreement dated March 9, 2018 between FV Pharma, the Corporation and First Republic Capital Corporation (the "Agent") and the subscription receipt agreement dated March 9, 2018 among FV Pharma, the Agent and Garfinkle Biderman LLP, as subscription agent, and that the net proceeds ($29,862,645) have been released to the Corporation.

CSE Listing

The Resulting Issuer's securities are not currently listed on any stock exchange. The Resulting Issuer has applied to list its Class B Subordinate Voting Shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE"), and conditional approval to list the Class B Subordinate Voting Shares has been granted. The Corporation is anticipating that the Class B Subordinate Voting Shares will commence trading on the CSE on or about May 29, 2018 under the ticker symbol "HUGE". There is no assurance that the Resulting Issuer will ultimately be able to satisfy the listing requirements of the CSE.

About FSD Pharma Inc.

FSD Pharma, owns, through its wholly-owned subsidiary FV Pharma Inc., a license to produce marijuana under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) which was originally granted on October 13, 2017. Headquartered at the former Kraft plant in Cobourg, Ontario, approximately an hours drive from Toronto, FSD Pharma's managements mission is to transform the facility into the largest hydroponic indoor cannabis facility in the world. FSD Pharma intends to target all legal aspects of the cannabis industry, including cultivation, processing, manufacturing, extracts and research and development. To date FSD Pharma and FV Pharma have raised over $53 million from over 4,700 shareholders.

Bennett Jones LLP, McMillan LLP and Garfinkle Biderman LLP acted for FV Pharma, Century Financial Capital Group Inc. and the Agent, respectively, in connection with the Transaction.

For further information please contact:

Thomas Fairfull

Chief Executive Director, FSD Pharma Inc.

thomas.fairfull@fvpharma.com

Zach Stadnyk

Investor Relations, FSD Pharma Inc.

IR@fsdpharma.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Corporations current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the Transaction, including the listing and trading of the Corporations Class B Subordinate Voting Shares on the CSE, changes to laws and compliance with applicable regulations. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof, and the Corporation is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking-information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.
TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) - Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says the state is spending $4.7 million to keep its election system secure.

Hosemann says $4.5 million came from a federal grant, and his office gave $200,000.

"We've already done cybersecurity work on that[Statewide Election Management System]," said Hosemann. "We've encrypted it and worked with the Department of Homeland Security. Some of that money will be used for that."

The rest will be split between every county to help with new machines, disability access at precincts and security.

WTVA asked Hosemann if Mississippi voters should be worried about hacking?

"If the Russians are going to affect the election, they'll probably have to come into the precinct, take the machine and run out with it," added Hosemann.

WTVA viewers had mixed opinions on how they felt about the security of their votes.

"I just want my voice to go where it's supposed to go," said Roger Mcinnish, who was unsure about the security of his vote.

"I'm fairly confident in what we have in place, so I can be reasonably assured that my vote did count," added Mike Flynn.

According to Hosemann, keeping the voting system safe is a day-to-day battle, but he's confident your votes are safe.

"They [state departments] have worked at attempting to penetrate," added Hosemann. "We've had outside people also attempt [to penetrate] our Statewide Election Management System. We have passed on each of those."
MIDWAY, Fla. (WTXL) - Bourbon, Bites & Brew.

Not a bad way to kick off your summer, while also supporting the Big Bend's first independent living community for people with varying physical and cognitive abilities.

Allison Tant Richard and John Leace joined us in studio with details on the B3 Bash.

This event will feature mouthwatering gourmet cuisine prepared by award-winning Chef Jackson Yordon, owner of Kennebunkport, Maine's Salt & Honey restaurant, which has been featured in Town & Country Magazine.

The event also will include exceptional bourbons by Warhorse Whiskey, limited edition craft beers by Anheuser-Busch, and select wines by sommelier Lee Satterfield.

In addition, guests will be treated to gourmet "bites" by Black Fig, bourbon and bacon pairings by Social Catering and Events, Lucky Goat's Cold Brew Bus, and decadent desserts by Paisley Cafe.

It's all going down at Purple Martin Outpost on Thursday, May 31, 2018 from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.

All proceeds benefit Independence Landing, the Big Bend's first independent-living community for individuals with varying physical and cognitive abilities.

For more information, click here.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A group of experts exchanged ideas at Florida State University Thursday about how to combat the ongoing opioid crisis in the U.S. and theyre paying attention to how the drugs affect pregnant mothers and their children.

Many women who use or abuse opioids begin taking the drugs before they conceive, and unknowingly expose their children to dependency.

Data from insurance claims indicates an increase in the rates, neo-natal abstinence syndrome, which is opioid dependence that occurs in babies whose mothers had used opioids during pregnancy.

One thing that we know in Florida is that that rate has gone from 0.4 per 1,000 live births in 1999 to six per 1,000 live births in 2015 so thats a 15 fold increase in something that we really need to take into account in order to understand the true scope of the epidemic," said Samantha Goldfarb, Assistant Professor in the FSU College of Medicine.

Children born addicted are often colicky, and have been known to suffer from cognitive impairments .
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Georgia man could face life in prison for trying to entice and traveling to Tallahassee to have sex with a minor.

Frantisek Pribyl, 48, of Snellville, Ga. was convicted in the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee on Thursday of attempted enticement of a minor and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

In Feb. 2017, undercover investigators conducted Operation Cupids Arrow to identify individuals looking to engage in sexual activity with minors.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Pribyl responded to a Craigslist advertisement in which an undercover officer posed as the mother of a 14-year-old girl and then as the daughter.

Over two days, Pribyl continued his conversation with the girl via e-mail, discussed sexual activity with her over e-mail and during a controlled telephone call, and traveled more than 250 miles to Tallahassee to meet her to have sex.

Pribyl was arrested after arriving at the designated meeting location.

For the attempted enticement charge, Pribyl faces a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison.

For traveling to have sex with a minor, Pribyl faces a maximum of 30 years in prison.

The case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Panama City Police Department, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
DECATUR COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - All the rain is threatening to hamper what's traditionally a busy holiday weekend on rivers and lakes.

Game wardens from Georgia's Department of Natural Resources have an important message for those still planning to head out on the water, don't drink and boat.

Alcohol and drugs don't mix with boats, but a few boaters get carried away while on the water, becoming a danger to those around them.

"BUI and alcohol is one of the main causes of boat accidents in the state of Georgia," said Ryan Cleveland, Game Warden for Georgia Department of Natural Resources. "Drinking alcohol, or drugs, any type of impairment will result in a higher increase of an accident or death."

Last year, Georgia DNR cited 189 people for boating under the influence. More than a dozen of those cases happened in the Flint River and Lake Seminole region.

Game wardens do their best to catch those boating while impaired, but it's not always easy.

"It's harder to detect than a DUI, so to speak. There's just not many of us out here to look for it and to find it," said Cleveland. "It's definitely, it's something common that goes on."

People are often found to be boating under the influence typically after they've been stopped for a minor infraction.

These infractions include young children who aren't wearing a life jacket, or boat lights that have not been turned on.

"During that stop, we do our boat and safety inspection. You know, life jackets, fire extinguishers, registration. It develops into a suspicion where we think a BUI might be taking place," said Cleveland. "From there, we do a little more investigating to develop probable cause."

Those boating Friday morning all had one thing in common, they just wanted to enjoy some time on the water.

"I think you need to be, really have your wits about you and then again, pay attention for other people who maybe don't," said Dana Brooks, Leon County resident who jet skis on the Flint River. "A lot of people out here are partying, having a great time, and they get distracted."

The Department of Natural Resources wants people to enjoy their holiday weekend on the water, but in a safe way.

If convicted, a person caught boating under the influence could face fines, have boating privileges suspended, or even go to jail.
CAIRO, GA (WTXL) -- When school lets out for the summer Friday in Grady County, Cairo city pool won't be an option to keep the children busy.

The pool has been the subject of debate for weeks now, but there is finally some good news.

The only public pool in Cairo, Georgia, started as a small place to swim nearly 20 years ago, and through the years, the Holder Park pool grew and became a summer staple.

"As a child, I actually patronized the pool as well," recalls Booker Gainor, the mayor of Cairo. "I remember summer vacations coming here, family members coming in. This was one of the things that we would do to entertain out relatives that came in. Going forward, like I said, it's just time for maintenance. It's been way over due."

There's a leak near the frog slide, and the pool liner is so cracked that it could cut swimmers' feet. Cairo city council members discussed a number of alternatives, from closing the pool for the summer, to replacing it with a splash pad. Not everyone was on board.

"There's not a lot to do for the kids here," says Demario Byrden, a Cairo city council member for district two. "Closing this pool would take away what they do have. My passion, my goal was to make is stayed open and to make sure we had it running."

After much debate, a decision was finally made...residents in Cairo will be waiting a bit longer to cool off from the summer heat.

The Holder Park pool is expected to re-open in late June.

"We are going to open up if everything goes according to plan as far as the maintenance," explains the the mayor. "It won't be a full season. School starts back August fourth, if I'm not mistaken. We are also trying to keep it open on Friday afternoon as well as Saturday"

Keeping this pool open allows for younger children to learn to swim... and the hope is that it will keep older kids out of trouble.

"This pool, I'm not saying it's going to cancel out all the mischief that kids might do, but it will help," says Byrden. "It provides some avenue for them to have something to to do. Like I said, there's really not a lot here for them. Taking this away could be detrimental to the community."

There is still a bit of work that needs to be done before it opens next month, including hiring lifeguards! Those interested can go to Dollar Business Solutions in downtown Cairo, or visit their Facebook page.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The state released new data this week for all 67 counties and Leon County ranks first in overall crime rate for the fourth straight year.

The Tallahassee Police Department and the Leon County Sheriff's Office both saw significant drops in crime from 2016 to 2017 and that's where the focus is, continuing to bring those rates down in all categories.

We're looking at two different reports, an audit of more than 2,000 TPD cases and the 2017 Uniform Crime Report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The TPD audit found the department over-reported several types of crimes, while the FDLE report states overall crime in Leon County dropped 15 percent.

In other words, not only were there fewer incidents last year, but it's likely the city's numbers reported to the state were higher.

TPD Chief Michael DeLeo told the commission in March TPD is working with the auditor throughout 2018.

"To make sure that we continue to stay on the right track and to help us ensure that all the information from 2017 and 2018 that we're going to import into our new system that goes live in January 2019 is correct and accurate," said Chief DeLeo. "So, we're going to have a strong foundation moving into the future of accurate and valid information."

Chief DeLeo wasn't available for an interview for our special report after we took a closer look at the audit.

The sheriff said this is the lowest rate in five years but he's not satisfied.

Neither is Chief DeLeo but both agencies saw significant improvement last year.

When talking about Leon County having that high crime rate, we're breaking that down to see what the trends are saying.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A piece of Tallahassee history passes by many residents each day, and community members are working to keep the legacy of The Tallahassee Bus Boycott in service.

62 years ago, two African American women and Florida A&M university students, Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson, made Tallahassee history by sitting in the "whites only" section of their local bus, and refusing to give up their seat.

Commemorative events began Wednesday as community leaders continue to laud Tallahassees contribution to the Civil Rights movement.

The bus boycott symbolizes the courageous efforts of men and women who thought it was appropriate to stand up so the rest of us could sit down any place we wanted to on the bus line and in Tallahassee, Florida," said Keith Parker, 2018 Tallahassee Bus Boycott Planning Committee Chairman. "So it is a celebration of courage and the valor of men and women who back in the 1950s only had themselves to rely on for support and for safety.

The annual walk to recreate the steps boycotters would have taken in the 1960s begins Friday at 12 p.m. from FAMUs grand ballroom.

And the C.K. Steele Bus Station, named in honor of another civil rights leader, will offer free bus rides on Saturday.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Central Iron Ore Ltd. (TSXV:CIO) (CIO) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement for the AUD$580,000 sale of its South Darlot Exploration Project to Kingwest Resources Limited (Purchaser).



The Purchaser is an unlisted public company which intends to undertake an initial public offer and list on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The transaction involves the Purchaser issuing 2,900,000 shares at an IPO value of 20 cents per share which comprises:

Tenement Sale of South Darlot Exploration tenements by the issue of 2,700,000 shares with an IPO value of $540,000 which will comprise 5.3% of the total issued share capital of the Purchaser on Completion (based on raising $5,000,000 under the IPO Capital Raising).

Call Option Agreement on E37/1343 and E37/1344 by the issue 200,000 shares with an IPO value of $40,000 which will comprise 0.4% of the total issued share capital of the Purchaser on Completion (based on raising $5,000,000 under the IPO Capital Raising).

Completion of the sale of the South Darlot Exploration Project is conditional upon:

The Purchaser obtaining receipt of Valid Applications for the minimum subscription of $5,000,000 for the Capital Raising;

The Purchaser receiving conditional approval by ASX for the admission of the Purchaser to the official list of the ASX; and

CIO obtaining any consents, approvals, authorisations or clearances which are required for the sale and purchase (including any required TSXV approvals).

KINGWEST RESOURCES IPO

Kingwest is a mineral exploration company established to explore gold and base metal deposits in the Eastern Gold Fields Region near Leonora in Western Australia.

Kingwests advanced stage projects areas have been evaluated to ensure that they have the potential to be fast-tracked to production, should the economic viability and technical feasibility of the project be established with one hosting a Mineral Resource as defined in the JORC code. Intermediate and greenfield stage projects include those where gold mineralisation have been intersected, but further exploration is required to prove continuity.

The Prospectus is seeking to raise AUD$5,000,000 by the issue of 25,000,000 shares at an issue price of $0.20 per share. Money raised will primarily fund the drilling and exploration on the Crawford and Emperor Projects, scoping studies and ongoing working capital requirements.

To best exploit the potential of its mineral assets, Kingwest has assembled a uniquely qualified and experienced management team. Its Board has extensive corporate history in the exploration, development, financing and production of precious and base metal deposits. This management team has a proven track record and diverse management skills in the resource industry of Australia and abroad.

SOUTH DARLOT EXPLORATION PROJECT

The Companys South Darlot Exploration Project area is located approximately 320km northwest of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia .The tenements and applications included in the proposed sale includes:

100% CIO owned granted tenement package covering 120km2.

Project Tenement Status Area (km2) South Darlot E37/882 Granted 84 South Darlot E37/1054 Granted 33 South Darlot E37/1086 Granted 3

100% CIO owned application tenement package covering 169km2.

Project Tenement Status Area (km2) South Darlot E37/1343 Application 99 South Darlot E37/1344 Application 70

Mr. Brett Hodgins, President and CEO, said We are extremely pleased by the transaction entered into with Kingwest Resources Limited for the sale of the South Darlot Exploration properties. This transaction starts the consolidation of exploration properties in the Eastern Gold Fields Region of Western Australia. This reinforces CIOs strategy to create and realise value through mineral asset discovery, managing a portfolio of mineral assets, project development de-risking and commercialisation of those assets.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

CENTRAL IRON ORE LTD.

Brett Hodgins

____________________________

Brett Hodgins, President/CEO

For further information, please contact:

Investor and Media Inquiries:

Direct: +61 2 9397 7555

Email: info@centralironore.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release is not for distribution to United States Services or for dissemination in the united states.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Companys equity securities, the state of the market for iron ore or other minerals that may be produced generally, recent market volatility; variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's disclosure documents for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Companys page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

ABN: 32 072 871 133




KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday that the new Malaysian government will further strengthen cooperation with China, and welcomes Chinese investment to his country.

China has always been a close friend and important partner of Malaysia, said Mahathir when meeting with Bai Tian, Chinese ambassador to Malaysia.

The new Malaysian government is committed to the strengthening of all-around cooperation with China, including in politics, economy and trade, said Mahathir.

The prime minister praised China for its rapid economic development in recent years, as well as the remarkable achievements in infrastructure building like railway and the ever-advancing technology like in agriculture.

There's much space for cooperation between the two countries, as Malaysia can learn from China's experience in development as well as science and technology, Mahathir said, adding that Malaysia welcomes Chinese companies to invest in Malaysia, and to push forward the development of bilateral ties.

He is also looking forward to visiting China again, Mahathir said.

For his part, Bai congratulated Mahathir for becoming Malaysia's prime minister again, praising his contribution to the China-Malaysia ties and regional cooperation during his last time in office between 1981 and 2003.

The Chinese government is willing to work with the new Malaysian government to push forward pragmatic cooperation on the basis of equality, mutual trust and win-win results, and believes that China-Malaysia ties will reach a new stage during Mahathir's tenure, Bai said.

China appreciated Mahathir's statement after taking office that Malaysia supports the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and welcomes Chinese investment, said Bai.

China sees Malaysia as an important partner in building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and willing to join hands with Malaysia for the common prosperity of the two countries and an Asian community with a shared future, the Chinese envoy added.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-24 23:12:05|Editor: Chengcheng

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Lebanese President Michel Aoun (L) meets with Saad Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon, on May 24, 2018. Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Thursday issued a decree designating caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri as the new prime minister and charged him with the formation of a new cabinet. (Xinhua/Dalati & Nohra)

BEIRUT, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Thursday issued a decree designating caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri as the new prime minister and charged him with the formation of a new cabinet.

Hariri received 111 out of the 128 possible votes after Aoun held binding consultations with MPs throughout Thursday.

"After discussing with Speaker Nabih Berri ... the president has summoned Hariri to form a government," a statement from the presidency said.

Hezbollah abstained from naming anyone for the premiership, but voiced its willingness to work with whoever was designated.

After accepting the nomination, Hariri told reporters "I will work from this moment on to form a national unity government."

He stressed "nothing protects us except for our national unity."
ADDIS ABABA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The African Union and the European Union (EU) have adopted measures to address pressing issues in key areas such as peace and security, migration, job creation and agriculture on the African continent.

The measures were adopted on Wednesday during the AU Commission-European Commission meeting in Brussels, Belgium, according to an AU statement on Thursday.

The two commissions discussed their cooperation to enhance resilience, peace, security and governance, including support to African peace initiatives such as the G5 Sahel joint force.

The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding reinforcing the existing cooperation in the area of peace and security.

In addition, they agreed to continue and consolidate the important work made by the AU-EU-UN task force on migration.

The parties also committed to investing in economies and people by stepping up existing cooperation on agriculture and agribusinesses and the digital economy, and dedicated themselves to continue the active engagement with the youth in the Africa-EU partnership in innovative and meaningful ways.

In the context of the AU-EU partnership, the EU made available an additional 400 million euros towards continental and regional projects, including support to institutional capacity building of the AU Commission and regional integration on the continent, as well as support to young people.
VILNIUS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Concentration in Lithuanian banking sector continues to grow, causing threats to competition in the country's financial system, warned the governor of Lithuania's central bank Vitas Vasiliauskas on Thursday.

"Concentration in banking sector has been growing," Vasiliauskas said in a press conference, "Economies of scale and efficiency is not a bad thing. However, it brings risks to competition, and that, without any doubt, is not good," he said.

Vasiliauskas' remarks come amid shrinking number of banks in the Lithuanian financial sector.

Currently, six banks have banking licenses in Lithuania and six banks operate in Lithuania as subsidiaries of foreign financial groups, though the country's financial sector is dominated only by Swedbank, SEB, Luminor Bank -- all three controlled by major Nordic financial groups.

Vasiliauskas presented on Thursday Bank of Lithuania's (LB) annual Financial Stability Review. According to the review, assets of banks Swedbank, SEB and Luminor Bank account to 82 percent of total assets in Lithuania's banking sector.

Concentration of assets has increased to 82 percent from 73 percent last year with the merger of banks DNB and Nordea into Luminor Bank, a new Baltic banking group also controlled by Nordic banks.

"Even before the merger of DNB and Nordea, concentration in Lithuanian banking sector was one of the highest in Europe," said LB.

Last month, Danske Bank, another competitor in Lithuania, controlled by Danish financial group Danske Bank, revealed its plans to leave Lithuania and Baltic States to concentrate on Nordic operations.

"With the departure of Danske Bank from Lithuanian banking sector, concentration will increase even more," said the central bank in its review.

Banks that have merged or have abandoned the Lithuanian market point to its shrinking market and poor economies of scale dampening profitability.

In recent years, Lithuania has been trying to position itself as a regional hub for fintech companies with favorable regulation in order to bring more competitors into the country's financial sector.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 02:43:12|Editor: Chengcheng

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Jacques Vandenschrik (Rear), president of the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA), speaks on the opening day of the 2018 Annual Convention of the FEBA in Budapest, Hungary, on May 24, 2018. The 2018 Annual Convention of the European Food Banks Federation, organized in collaboration with the Hungarian Food Bank Association, started here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Szilard Voros)

BUDAPEST, May 24 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 Annual Convention of the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA), organized in collaboration with the Hungarian Food Bank Association, started here on Thursday.

The 2018 Annual Convention brought together more than 100 participants from 30 countries and regions, including food bankers, policy-makers, business partners, leading experts and other NGO representatives.

The event focuses on "redistributing more nutritious surplus food -- opportunities and challenges," FEBA president Jacques Vandenschrik told Xinhua in a joint interview with the president of the Hungarian Food Bank Association, Balazs Cseh, before the start of the three-day conference.

"According to the available figures, 42 million Europeans suffered from severe material deprivation, meaning they could not afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or vegetarian equivalent every second day," Vandenschrik underlined.

"At the same time, the food supply chain looks for a comprehensive response to tackle growing resource scarcity, promoting an efficient use of those resources and bringing healthy and safe food to as many people as possible," he added.

"Although we can see positive trends in terms of people becoming more sensitive to the question of stopping food waste, the problem is that close to 250 million people in Europe, and I speak in continental terms, not about the EU, are on the verge of poverty," he warned.

Vandenschrik saw education as the primary tool to stop food waste.

Cseh told Xinhua that the different campaigns to make people sensitive for the needs of others was very successful and the problem today was finding volunteers to distribute food rather than to find partners in giving away food products that are taken back from the shelves but are still good for human consumption.

"We work with two systems: in the first, the NGOs and volunteers come to a central depot, where our partners leave the food; while in the second, the volunteers and people from charity services go directly to the partners and get the food from there," he explained.

The convention will further explore how effective logistics and IT systems can improve the redistribution of surplus food to partner organizations.

FEBA brings together 388 food banks and branches which are committed to fight against food waste and to feed the most deprived. In 2017, FEBA provided 4.1 million meals each day to 8.1 million most deprived people through 44,700 charitable organizations thanks to the professionalism of 23,500 co-workers.

eration, organized in collaboration with the Hungarian Food Bank Association, started here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Szilard Voros)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 02:58:15|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday he was "deeply concerned" to hear that U.S. President Donald Trump has called off his planned Singapore meeting next month with the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un.

Speaking at the University of Geneva, Guterres said: "I am deeply concerned by the cancellation of the planned meeting in Singapore between the president of the United States and the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

He urged those involved in the talks to continue their dialogue to "find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

Guterres was speaking at the University of Geneva on "Securing our common future: an agenda for disarmament."

Hours before Guterres was to deliver his speech, Trump sent a letter to Kim, saying that their planned meeting in Singapore on June 12 will not happen, according to the White House.

Guterres cautioned in his speech: "We are living in dangerous times. Cold war tensions have returned -- to a world that has grown more complex."

He noted that some 15,000 nuclear weapons remain stockpiled around the world and that hundreds are ready to be launched within minutes.

"We are one mechanical, electronic or human error away from a catastrophe that could eradicate entire cities from the map," said the UN chief, asserting that all people agree the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is central to the maintenance of international peace and security.

Disarmament -- including arms control, non-proliferation, prohibitions, restrictions, confidence- building and, where needed, elimination -- is an essential tool to secure our world and our future, he added.

Guterres also said he welcomed all actions, by the European Union and others, to work with Iran to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Agreements such as these, between countries and groups of countries, are essential to global peace, said the UN chief.

He also said he was working with the members of the Security Council to build new leadership and unity to restore shared ownership and respect for the global ban on chemical weapons.

This must include creating a new and impartial mechanism to identify those who use them, he noted.
File Photo: Suspect surnamed Du is handcuffed at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, east China, June 20, 2017. A suspect has been returned from Canada to China as part of a campaign to capture economic fugitives, Chinese police said. The suspect, surnamed Du, fled in December 2012 with more than 4 million yuan (over 588,000 U.S. dollars) that he allegedly obtained from others in the name of investment. (Xinhua/Fan Jun)

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- China is a champion of pragmatic cooperation under the UN Convention against Corruption and is grateful for the international support it received in hunting down corrupt criminals, a Chinese anti-graft official said here Wednesday.

Due to international support and collaboration, China's Operation Sky Net was instrumental in having 4,058 corrupt people repatriated, including 52 on China's 100 most wanted list, from more than 90 countries and regions, said Zou Jiayi, commissioner of the National Supervisory Commission of China, on the 15th anniversary of the Convention.

The operation, initiated in 2015, targets corrupt state functionaries who have fled China with their ill-gotten wealth.

"We are grateful to these countries for the cooperation they've rendered," she said, pledging to keep up the momentum and make renewed and unrelenting efforts with a view to achieving long-lasting results with the launching of Operation Sky Net 2018 this April.

In addition, Zou said China is among the first countries to sign and ratify the Convention and in recent years has worked in earnest to promote compliance through amendments to the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedural Law as well as the promulgation of the Supervision Law and Anti-Money Laundering Law.

The legislative efforts aimed to ensure that the main provisions of the Convention are well grounded and rooted in the Chinese legal system, she said.

Moreover, Zou noted, while receiving international support in its anti-corruption campaign, China has also contributed "Chinese solution and Chinese wisdom" to the globe governance in this area.

"China will uphold the vision of global governance featuring consultation, contribution and sharing," she said.

Also, China will "adhere to the three principles of zero tolerance, zero loophole and zero hindrance in expanding and deepening international cooperation," she added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 04:03:33|Editor: Chengcheng

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A visitor tries a bomb suit during a ship tour aboard USS Arlington, in New York, the United States, May 24, 2018. Starting from Thursday, general public in New York city will be able to take free tours to some of the U.S. Navy ships, as the city's annual Fleet Week takes place. (Xinhua/Zhang Mocheng)

NEW YORK, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Starting from Thursday, general public in New York city will be able to take free tours to some of the U.S. Navy ships and Coast Guard cutters, as the city's annual Fleet Week takes place.

The general public ship tours will be conducted daily in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island from Thursday to next Monday.

Participating ships include San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Mitscher and many more. Visitors will have a chance to take photos with helicopters and Marine Corps vehicles and watch equipment demonstrations.

Now in its 30th year, Fleet Week New York is the city's time-honored celebration of the sea service. It is an opportunity for residents of New York and the surrounding tri-state area to meet sailors, marines and coast guardsmen as well as witness firsthand the latest capabilities of U.S. maritime service.

Apart from the ship tours, the U.S. sea services will also host a variety of aviation static displays throughout the week, and Navy Band Northeast, U.S. Coast Guard Silent Drill Team and the Marine Corps Battle Color Detachment will stage performances at various locations.

This year's Fleet Week started on Wednesday, and will end next Tuesday. More than 2,000 sailors, marines and coast guardsmen are expected to participate in the events.
BERLIN, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Envions Founders Responded to the Changing allegations with Detailed Blog Post on a New Website - www.envion-founders.org

According to the founding team of Envion AG (Zug/Switzerland), through their jointly held company Trado GmbH, Matthias Woestmann, the CEO of Envion, has changed his story accusing Envions founding team of illegally generating 40 million extra tokens as part of the companys $100 million Initial Coin Offering (ICO). This change has occurred less than 48 hours after publishing a press release. He made the false claim in response to allegations which went public early Wednesday, May 23rd, that he illegally diluted the founders majority shareholdings. No reason for the change has been offered for his new version of events.

In a press release dated May 16th, Matthias Woestmann stated that 40 million have been generated illegally by Envions founders. An incoherent accounting of tokens replaces that accusation in a May 18th publication, which was delivered by email to Envion investors and also published online.

The newsletter states that 103 million of 127 million tokens were legitimately created. Woestmanns accounting leaves a 24-million-token surplus while simultaneously stating that only 13 million tokens remain illegitimate after eliminating 7 million belonging to a pre-sale investor who defaulted. It goes on to state that 15 million illegal tokens would be on the market were 5 million to be destroyed in a process called a token burn. No explanation is provided for 4 million tokens excluded from Woestmanns revised calculations, nor the 20 million token difference in figures.

In the wake of his legal troubles, Mr. Woestmann has reinterpreted the ICO prospectus, its guiding legal document, to exclude tokens sold to pre-sale investors from the greater pool of sale tokens. The CEO was one of only two board members along with board member Cyrill Staeger who approved the company prospectus.

Envions founders responded to the changing allegations with a detailed blog post on a new website - www.envion-founders.org - launched as part of a total transparency campaign. In the post, they break down the accounting for how the 127 million tokens were generated along with links for investors to verify their locations on the Ethereum blockchain.

The post also argues that Woestmann was aware that pre-sale tokens were included in the ICO prospectus and provides documentation that the CEO initiated pre-sale outreach and managed contracts. Emails showing that Woestmann ignored requests to burn tokens and solve any problems are also included in the post.

Woestmann himself concedes founders requested authorization to destroy tokens, but offers no explanation of why he did not agree or respond to communications on the matter. Likewise, Woestmann did not deny allegations that he illegally took control of Envion from the companys founders, according to an interview on website Swissinfo.ch. After executing an illegal capital raise and diluting founders shares, Woestmann gave the new shares to Thomas van Aubel, an associate known for similar maneuvers which have landed him in legal trouble from disgruntled investors. Envions founders are suing both Woestmann and van Aubel in Berlin court.

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A California cherry grower-shipper has reported gradual restoration of normal U.S. cherries exports to China with less inspection time of the exported items by Chinese quarantine regulation authorities, an online media report said Thursday.

As of Wednesday, inspections of new arrivals of U.S. fruit shipments, including California cherries, into Beijing and Shanghai in eastern China have been released within one day, the freshplaza.com website quoted U.S. exporters as saying.

In the past month, the China Inspection and Quarantine (CIQ) has been detaining all U.S. fruit shipments for seven days upon arrival into China to test for pesticide residues, but the inspection has been eased after the U.S. and China announced in a joint statement last week that China agrees to buy more U.S. farm products.

The U.S.-China consensus prevented their trade frictions from growing into a full-blown trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened in March to slap huge tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese exports to America.

The Californian cherry grower-shipper has seen his first shipment of Chelan cherries arrive in China and be received, which is "very good news for California cherry growers who are in peak season and heavily rely on exports to China," said the online report.

The U.S. and China were at odds over trade and tariffs in the past months, and China, in retaliation for U.S. move, announced in April a 15 percent tariff on a range of U.S. farm products, including fruits and nuts.

The Chinese tariff on California cherries makes the fruit very expensive, which may result in less competitiveness in overseas market, said the cherry grower-shipper.
KINSHASA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A new death of a confirmed case of Ebola was reported on Thursday in the Bikoro Health Zone in Equateur province, southwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the Ministry of Health.

For the moment, a total of 52 cases of haemorrhagic fever have been reported in the region, including 31 confirmed of Ebola, 13 probable and 8 suspected, according to Minister of Health, Oly Ilunga.

Launched since Monday, the vaccination campaign is underway in this region where the epidemic has been declared by the authorities in three health zones since May 8th.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Minister of Health and other partners including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) engaged in the response to the epidemic lamented the resistance of patients against treatment in isolation centers.

Two people have already died in their villages after fleeing the isolation center.
TOKYO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks opened mixed Friday as investors were in a circumspect mood after U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of the highly anticipated U.S.-Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) summit scheduled to take place in Singapore next month.

As of 9:15 a.m., the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average added 26.29 points, or 0.12 percent, from Thursday to 22,463.30.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange edged down 0.71 points, or 0.04 percent, at 1,774.94.

Marine transportation, real estate, and mining stocks comprised notable decliners, while air transportation, glass and ceramics product, and food issues led those that advanced in the opening minutes after the morning bell.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 09:14:48|Editor: Liangyu

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MEXICO CITY, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Mexico will not negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) under pressure, presidential spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said on Thursday.

Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump's latest proposal on imported cars, which was seen as an attempt to pressure Mexico into conceding on other demands and speed up the talks, Sanchez assured the media that Mexico's negotiators can hold their own.

Trump said on Wednesday that he had instructed Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to consider initiating a national security investigation into automobile imports.

The investigation would allow the U.S. administration to impose tariffs on the grounds of national security.

"Our negotiating team is a very professional, very experienced team, and it has been recognized as such practically worldwide. Let me make it very clear, Mexico is not going to negotiate under pressure. Mexico clearly knows what is favorable and what isn't favorable," said Sanchez.

NAFTA partners Mexico, the United States and Canada have been working to update the 1994 trade deal since last August.

This month, analysts said the three parties conceded that the talks were likely to continue until 2019.

"We are not going to rush. If we arrive at an agreement, it will be one that truly benefits Mexico. If the conditions do not exist, Mexico is not going to advance in that regard," said the spokesman.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 10:25:01|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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A man walks past a destoryed vehicle in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, Libya, on May 25, 2018. A car bomb explosion killed six and injured more than 20 people in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi late Thursday, a local official said. (Xinhua)

TRIPOLI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb explosion killed six and injured more than 20 people in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi late Thursday, a local official said.

The blast occurred on the Jamal Abdannaser street near Tibisti Hotel, Capt. Tariq al-Kharraz, spokesman of Benghazi joint security chamber, told local TV channel Libya Al-Hadath.

The area was closed off for fear of similar attacks, the spokesperson said.

The Libyan TV channel released images of the aftermath of the explosion, showing a number of burnt vehicles and the massive destruction in the street, as well as ambulances transporting victims.

"It is too early to reveal any information related to the attack," which he said was "purely terrorist," the spokesperson said.

Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, has frequently been targeted by car bombs and suicide attacks.

In response to the deteriorating security situation, the city set up a joint security chamber composing army and police officers.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 10:45:03|Editor: Lu Hui

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KAMPALA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A 65-year-old U.S. tourist who had been gorilla trekking in the southwestern Ugandan district of Rubanda on Thursday was killed in an attack by wasps, police said in a statement.

Elly Matte, police spokesperson of Kigezi sub-region in Western Uganda, said Gloria Suemiller, a resident of Oklahoma suddenly died after she was stung by wasps while trekking at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

The deceased, along with seven other tourists including her husband, White Gary Lynn, crossed into the East African country from the capital Kigali on Wednesday evening, spending a night at Ruhija sector in Rubanda.

"They this morning decided to go to the park and the victim was the one in front of the others with the park guides," said Matte.

"The wasps just attacked her at once in big numbers as the rest escaped unhurt," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 11:15:07|Editor: Lu Hui

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SEOUL, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Top diplomats of South Korea and the United States had phone talks Friday over the cancelled summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Friday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha had a phone conversation earlier in the day with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to share situations on U.S. President Donald Trump's cancellation of the DPRK-U.S. summit and make an in-depth discussion over future measures.

Trump said in a letter to the DPRK that "it is inappropriate" to hold the planned DPRK-U.S. summit on June 12 in Singapore citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" shown in the DPRK's recent statements.

However, Trump noted that he looked "very much" forward to meeting the DPRK leader "some day."

Pompeo told Kang that the U.S. side had a firm willingness to continue dialogue with the DPRK, vowing to continue efforts for creating conditions for the DPRK-U.S. dialogue.

After Trump's announcement, Kim Kye Gwan, the DPRK's first vice foreign minister, was quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency as saying his country was ready to sit down for talks with Washington anytime.

Kim Kye Gwan said Trump's decision does not conform to the international community's aspiration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world.

The South Korean foreign minister told the U.S. state secretary that Seoul and Washington should make all efforts to maintain the hard-won opportunity for dialogue with the DPRK as President Trump also expressed his will to open a door to dialogue with the DPRK.

Kang and Pompeo agreed to closely communicate with each other while stably managing situations on the Korean Peninsula.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 11:25:08|Editor: Yurou

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Rimbink Pato (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and co-chair of the 24th APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting, delivers his opening remarks during the meeting at International Convention Center of Port Moresby, PNG, on May 25, 2018. The 24th APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting began in the South Pacific nation of PNG on Friday. (Xinhua/Jingchen Hu)

By Levi J Parsons

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The 24th APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting has begun in the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Friday.

On the agenda will be a focus on deepening economic integration and connectivity through digital development as well as sustainable and inclusive growth.

Ahead of the APEC Leaders meeting in November, this year's trade summit holds special significance in the face of growing tensions stemming from the recent implementation of tariff barriers in the United States.

"The meeting is being convened in the midst of rising sentiments in some quarters against the multilateral trading system," PNG Foreign Minister and co-chair of the meeting Rimbink Pato said in his opening remarks.

"As we gather in Port Moresby, let us resolve to send a strong message to the a global community that APEC believes in a free, fair, non-discriminatory and inclusive multilateral trading system."

"We must ensure that APEC is a key driver of global growth creating jobs for our people, reducing poverty and ensuring that no-one is left behind."

A unique feature of the trade conference will be a series of technical working groups led by business and academic experts.

These committees will have the opportunity to present ministers with ideas about how to improve policy in specific areas such as free trade agreements, sustainable fishing, food supply chains and female entrepreneur initiatives.

Another major focus of the meeting will be digital communications opportunities for business and how new technologies can help grow trade in the region.
PHNOM PENH, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Friday issued a statement, reiterating that methanol-laced rice wine and contaminated water left 13 people dead and nearly 300 others hospitalized in eastern Cambodia's Kratie province earlier this month.

Villagers at Sre Non and Aloch villages in Kantuot commune of Chitborey district fell ill and died earlier this month after reportedly drinking home-made rice wine and water collected from two canals.

The poisoning case was caused by "locally-made rice wine that was blended with high levels of methanol" and "high levels of chemical substances in Prek Te and O'Koki canals, that resulted from the chemical substances that were used to kill weeds and insects," said the statement.

The statement was jointly signed by Health Minister Mam Bunheng, Industry and Handicraft Minister Cham Prasidh, and Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem.

The statement was made after local media reported that the poisoning case was caused by cyanide waste that gold mining companies released into the canals.

All rice-wine houses in the two villages had been closed after the incident, Kantuot commune police chief Phon Phea said, adding that the villagers was also advised not to drink the contaminated canal water.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 11:30:10|Editor: Lu Hui

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TRIPOLI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Two civilians were killed on Thursday in an armed conflict with militia members in a neighborhood in central Tripoli, said the anti-terrorist special deterrent force of the Libyan Ministry of Interior.

"Two residents of Ras Hassan neighborhood in central Tripoli were killed in an armed conflict with members of a battalion Bab Tajoura," its spokesman Ahmed Salem said in a statement.

"Our forces intervened to resolve the conflict between the battalion and young people (of) Ras Hassan neighborhood," Salem said, adding that the situation there was under control.

Local media published the image of a bleeding young man injured in the conflict. Social media circulated the video footage of young people from the neighborhood demonstrating and demanding the Bab Tajoura battalion members leave.

Security sources said the roads leading to the Ras Hassan neighborhood were closed for fear that the situation there would escalate.
NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McGlinchey Stafford PLLC is pleased to announce that it has awarded its 2018 1L Diversity Fellowship to Bryson Malcolm.



The award, bestowed annually upon a first-year law student, is a distinguished honor that includes a paid Summer Associate position, a $5,000 scholarship, and formal mentoring from McGlinchey Stafford attorneys throughout the students law school career. Malcolm will participate in the Diversity 1L program from the firms New York City office.

We are proud to honor such an outstanding law student as Bryson with the McGlinchey Stafford Diversity 1L Scholarship, said Deirdre McGlinchey, chair of the firms Diversity Committee. McGlinchey Stafford remains committed to improving diversity within the legal profession through the 1L Diversity Fellowship, our Womens Initiative Network, and other internal programs.

Malcolm is a May 2020 J.D. candidate at Columbia Law School. He is a member of the Jewish Law Students Association (Board Member  1L Representative), Black Law Students Association, Columbia Business & Law Association, Columbia Real Estate Law Society, American Constitution Society, and Federalist Society. He received his B.B.A. in Management, Political Science and Government from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Isenberg School of Management in 2017.

As McGlinchey Staffords 2018 1L Diversity Fellow, Malcolm participated in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Scholars Summit, May 2224 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event brings together diverse law students from around the country to hone interview skills, prepare for the transition from law student to practicing lawyer, and discuss the state of diversity in the legal profession.

The McGlinchey Stafford 1L Diversity Fellowship reflects the firms active commitment to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace and to promoting diversity within the legal profession. From the firms inception, McGlinchey Stafford has challenged the status quo and earned a reputation as a progressive, merit-based business that rewards individual achievement and potential. The firm is a member of the LCLD and actively supports the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society and Association of Women Attorneys, among other organizations. The McGlinchey Stafford 1L Diversity Fellowship is simply one aspect of the firms commitment to attracting, developing, and promoting diverse attorneys.

ABOUT MCGLINCHEY STAFFORD

McGlinchey Stafford is a full-service law firm providing innovative legal counsel to business clients nationwide. Guiding clients wherever business and law intersect, McGlinchey Staffords 180 attorneys are based in 14 offices in Alabama, California, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, DC. To learn more about McGlinchey Stafford, visit www.mcglinchey.com.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b7794565-6245-4cf3-adc7-4dc24317adef

www.mcglinchey.com

linkedin.com/company/mcglinchey-stafford

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Twitter: @mcglinchey
TOKYO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks were essentially flat Friday morning and traded in a narrow direction as investors were caught off guard by U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of a highly anticipated upcoming summit between the U.S. and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average edged up 20.19 points, or 0.09 percent, from Thursday to 22,457.20.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, shed 3.66 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,771.99.

Air transportation, land transportation and food issues led issues that gained, while mining, marine transportation and oil and coal product issues comprised those that declined the most by the morning break.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 11:45:15|Editor: Lu Hui

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WASHINGTON, May 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump canceled his planned meeting in Singapore with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s top leader Kim Jong Un, saying it is "a setback" for the world and the DPRK.

In response, the DPRK said it is ready to sit down with the United States for talks anytime.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump said his determination to cancel the meeting, slated for June 12 in Singapore, is "a tremendous setback" for the world, including the DPRK.

"All of the Korean people ... deserve to be able to live together in harmony, prosperity and peace. That bright and beautiful future can only happen when the threat of nuclear weapons is removed," Trump said.

"No way it can happen otherwise," he said, adding the U.S. military "is by far the most powerful anywhere in the world, and has been greatly enhanced recently ... is ready if necessary."

The White House added that the U.S. maximum pressure campaign against the DPRK, including sanctions, will continue.

In response to the U.S. cancellation of the meeting, the DPRK said Friday that it is ready to sit down for talks with Washington anytime to solve problems between them.

The DPRK expressed regret over Trump's decision, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan was quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency as saying.

The DPRK official also said that Trump's decision does not conform to the international community's aspiration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world.

Also at the White House, Trump said that he has spoken with South Korea and Japan.

"They are not only ready, should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea (the DPRK), but they are willing to shoulder much of the cost of any financial burden, any of the costs associated, by the United States in operations, if such an unfortunate situation is forced upon us," said Trump.

Despite all the rhetoric, the U.S. president hinted that he could meet with Kim someday in the future, saying he "is waiting" if and when Kim Jong Un "chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions."

"Hopefully, positive things will be taking place with respect to the future of North Korea," he said.

"We'd wait -- it's possible that the existing summit could take place, or a summit at some later date. Nobody should be anxious. We have to get it right," he added.

Trump earlier Thursday sent a letter to Kim to cancel their planned meeting in Singapore, saying that it was "inappropriate" at this time to have this meeting "based on the tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed in the DPRK's most recent statements.

The letter came on the heels of the escalating exchanges of accusations between the two sides over the Trump administration's provocative statements against the DPRK and its joint drills with South Korea.

Trump's cancellation of the summit also came after Pyongyang demolished the Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site, where all of its six nuclear tests were conducted, earlier in the day.

In response to Trump's decision, South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed his deep regret.

"It is embarrassing and very regrettable for the scheduled North Korea-U.S. summit not to be held on June 12," Moon said, adding that the Korean Peninsula's denuclearization and the building of permanent peace are historic tasks that cannot be delayed nor be given up.

Singapore also expressed regret over the cancellation. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Singapore hopes that the dialogue and efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 13:00:25|Editor: Li Xia

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by Xinhua writer Xu Haijing

CANBERRA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Australia should remove its "colored glasses" when looking at China's development, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said when meeting with his Australian counterpart Julie Bishop earlier this week.

Bishop admitted that negative reports on China by Australian media have affected bilateral relations. She stressed that those reports do not reflect the Australian government's stance.

When reporting on the Australian parliament's attempt to amend foreign influence laws, Australian media misidentified it as a cause for the anger of the Chinese government.

What they have either intentionally or unintentionally left out is the fact that China was infuriated by those remarks of Australian politicians who had singled out China as the reason for the amendment, without offering solid proof of any Chinese government interference in Australian politics.

By repeating such practices, some Australian media and some China commentators tried to sell allegations as facts.

Some Australian media are known for their "negative reports on China," as outlined by Bishop. The latest reports by major Australia newspapers on a speech on China by Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe offer a classic case study of how colored glasses have tinted a balanced speech, making it a criticism of China.

While Lowe dedicated most of his speech to the importance of the Chinese economy to Australia and expressed appreciation of what the Chinese government has done to address the risks of its financial system, Australian media have invariably reported the speech from a negative perspective, focusing mainly on China's financial system risks.

In his speech, Lowe said Australia's trade with China has expanded rapidly over the past decade, to the point where China is now Australia's largest trading partner.

China accounts for nearly one third of Australia's exports and one-fifth of Australia's imports. A new trend of bilateral trade relations is that Australia's service exports to China, particularly tourism and education, have grown at an average rate of 15 percent, greater than those to the United States and Britain combined.

Last year, 1.4 million Chinese visited Australia, up from 400,000 a decade ago. Currently, there are around 200,000 Chinese students studying in Australia.

Wearing colored glasses for too long, some Australians may find it uncomfortable when they look at China with their naked eyes. However, only by looking at China as it is can Australia bring its relations with China back to the right track and develop a healthy relationship with its largest trading partner.

Wang said China follows a development path that is completely different from that of traditional major countries. China never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries, let alone conducts so-called infiltration of other countries. China's idea is to carry out equal cooperation with all countries, including Australia, to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Wang also said that China attaches importance to China-Australia relations, and is willing to communicate with Australia on how to practically improve bilateral relations.

The Chinese side has a lot of goodwill, and it would benefit Australia to recognize and embrace it.
SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Three policemen and a civilian were wounded after militants carried out a grenade attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Friday.

The grenade was hurled on Thursday night towards a police vehicle near bus stand in Jammu city, the winter capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Last night militants hurled a grenade towards a police vehicle near bus stand here, which exploded with a bang resulting in wounding three policemen and a civilian," a police officer posted in the city said. "The wounded persons were immediately rushed to hospital."

Soon after the attack, police contingents rushed to the spot and launched a manhunt to nab the attackers.

So far, no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Indian government has announced a conditional halt in its ongoing military operations during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the region.

A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989. However, of late Indian policemen too have been trained to fight them.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 13:25:29|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The State Council, China's cabinet, has announced the appointment and removal of several officials.

Zhang Kejian was named deputy minister of industry and information technology, head of the China National Space Administration, director of the China Atomic Energy Authority and head of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Ren Hongbin was named assistant minister of commerce, and Fan Weiping was appointed deputy head of State Administration of Radio and Television (SART).

Wang Xiaohui, executive deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, will concurrently be head of the State Film Administration.

Zhuang Rongwen will concurrently be head of the State Administration of Press and Publication and the National Copyright Administration.

Liang Yan was named deputy head of the State Grain and Reserves Administration.

Zhou Huilin is no longer deputy head of SART.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 13:55:33|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Oman's Sultan Qaboos Bin Said exchanged congratulatory messages on Friday, announcing the establishment of strategic partnership between the two countries and hailing the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.

In his message, Xi said during the past 40 years since China and Oman established diplomatic relations, the governments and people of the two countries respected each other, treated each other on equal footing and forged deep friendship.

Bilateral ties have undergone fast and comprehensive development and achieved sound results in cooperation in various fields within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, which have brought the two nations and two peoples tangible benefits, Xi said.

Xi added that he highly values the development of China-Oman relations and is willing to announce upgrading bilateral ties to strategic partnership together with Qaboos, using the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity.

Xi said he believes that such moves will provide a strong political guarantee for the development of bilateral ties, lead the two countries to achieve more results in Belt and Road cooperation, safeguard the two sides' common interests in international and regional issues so as to elevate bilateral relations.

Qaboos said Oman attaches great importance to its relations with China and cherish positive outcomes of bilateral friendly cooperation over the past 40 years.

Oman is ready to establish and continuously strengthen the strategic partnership with China to further promote their common interests, Qaboos said.
COLOMBO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from Sri Lanka's monsoon rains climbed to 15 on Friday with over 126,000 people affected and thousands of families evacuated to safer zones, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.

DMC spokesperson Pradeep Kodippili said while more rains were expected, the police and tri forces were assigned in all the affected districts to carry out relief and search and rescue efforts.

To date over 4,000 houses, mainly in the south and north central Sri Lanka have been fully or partially damaged.

Kodippili also warned the naval and fishing communities to be vigilant as the sea areas extending from Mannar, in the north to Pottuvil, in the east and then Galle and Hambantota, in the south, could be rough as the wind speed could increase up to 60 to 70 kilometers per hour at times.

The water levels in some major rivers were rising and till Friday morning, disaster relief teams were involved in evacuating families living in low areas to safer zones.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday instructed relevant authorities to immediately provide relief to the people affected by floods and landslides due to continuous torrential rains.

The president directed officials to provide relief supplies to those affected and take steps to provide all requirements.

Sri Lanka is facing its annual southwest monsoons with the Meteorological Department in its latest weather report warning of more rains in several districts across the country in the coming days.

Over 200 people were killed and 78 people missing when the southwest monsoons caused severe floods and landslides across Sri Lanka last year.
SEOUL, May 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea planned to continue diplomatic efforts to maintain a dialogue momentum between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States though U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled the scheduled DPRK-U.S. summit next month.

Baek Tai-hyun, spokesman of Seoul's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs, told a press briefing that the country will make diplomatic efforts to keep the dialogue momentum intact.

All relevant parties made no change in their stances that issues should be resolved through dialogue, he noted.

The comment came after Trump said in a publicly disclosed letter to top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un that it was not appropriate to hold the planned DPRK-U.S. summit on June 12 in Singapore citing the tremendous anger and open hostility shown in the DPRK's recent statements.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in convened an emergency meeting with his senior security and diplomatic aides, expressing deep regret over the cancelled summit.

Despite the cancellation, Trump left room for his meeting with the DPRK leader in the future saying that he looked "very much" forward to meeting Kim "some day."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a phone conversation earlier in the day with his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha, saying the U.S. side had a firm willingness to continue dialogue with the DPRK.

Pompeo vowed to continue efforts for creating conditions for the DPRK-U.S. dialogue. In response, Kang said Seoul and Washington should make all-out efforts to maintain the hard-won opportunity for dialogue with the DPRK.

The DPRK also opened a door to the resumed dialogue with the U.S. side. According to the DPRK's official Korean Central News Agency, First Vice Foreign Minister of the DPRK Kim Kye Gwan said his country was ready to sit down for talks with Washington anytime.

The first vice foreign minister said Trump's decision does not conform to the international community's aspiration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world.

Meanwhile, South Korea will continue to consider a resumption of high-level talks with the DPRK to implement the Panmunjom Declaration, which the leaders of the two countries signed and announced after the April 27 summit at the border village of Panmunjom, according to the Seoul's unification ministry.

Under the Panmunjom Declaration, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to complete denuclearization and the turn of the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty by the end of this year. The Korean Peninsula remains technically in a state of war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with armistice.

The two sides had agreed to hold senior-level dialogue last week in Panmunjom, but the DPRK called it off at the last minute citing the South Korea-U.S. joint annual air combat exercises, called Max Thunder.

The Max Thunder reportedly mobilized about 100 aircrafts, including eight U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets that are used to secretly attack an enemy target.

Moon, the South Korean president, said the inter-Korean talks between senior-level officials could be resumed after the Max Thunder ends on Friday.

Cho Myoung-gyon, South Korea's unification minister, told local reporters that the DPRK seemed to have made no change in its sincerity to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and build peace.

Cho said he would examine the resumed high-level talks between the two Koreas from a broader perspective.
NEW DELHI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- India's southern state of Tamil Nadu came to a halt Friday, following a 12-hour shut down called by opposition parties in protest against the deaths of 13 people in police firing in the port city of Tuticorin.

Most of the busy roads in large parts of the state almost wore a deserted look as schools, colleges and offices were shut and bus services suspended across Tamil Nadu.

The deaths took place when police resorted to firing to control a mob of over 20,000 people who suddenly went on a rampage while staging an anti-pollution protest Tuesday and Wednesday, demanding the closure of a copper smelting plant in Tuticorin.

Police detained a prominent woman leader of state's main opposition DMK party, Kanimozhi, on Friday morning when she arrived in state capital Chennai's Egmore to lead a joint protest with the country's Congress party against the police firing.

"Kanimozhi has been detained to try to hold a peaceful protest in demand for closure of the copper smelting plant," a DMK leader told the media.

Meanwhile, internet services have been snapped in Tuticorin till May 27 and prohibitory orders clamped in the port city as well as two neighboring districts. "We have urged opposition politicians to avoid the port city for the time being," a police official said.

The dawn-to-dusk shut down came a day after the state's environment regulator ordered the closure of Sterlite Copper, owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources, and disconnected power supply to the plant over lack of adherence to certain conditions.

Sterlite Copper's operational license had expired in April and was due for renewal.

The protests against Sterlite Copper have been going on in the city for the past three months, but intensified this, following reports that the company owning the copper smelting plant was seeking renewal of its licence for another five years and even planning an expansion.

Though Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has ordered a judicial inquiry into the shootings, the country's main opposition Congress party has described the deaths as "a brutal example of state-sponsored terrorism."

Some five years back, hundreds of people had to be hospitalised after they complained of breathlessness and nausea, following a gas leak from the plant. Locals claim the plant has been polluting groundwater in the area.

Vedanta has, however, denied all the allegations.

In a video message on Twitter, chairman Anil Agarwal said the company strictly abide by the rules when it came to following anti-pollution norms.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 15:20:50|Editor: Xiang Bo

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GUANGZHOU, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Li Shijia, an accountant, thought his company might have broken the law by using stocks to attract top talent.

"As employer, giving stock options instead of cash saves costs and is a good incentive for the employee, " said Li, "but that poses legal questions in China as how the stock is taxed."

Stock exchange generates tax, however, China has no specific terms as how stocks given to employees should be taxed and Li's company calculates it by applying the rules for stocks exchanged with intellectual property.

"We were worried that if the method is judged illegal, we would receive a large penalty," said Li, whoes company is located on the island of Hengqin in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong pilot free trade zone (FTZ).

Li's concern was addressed in April, as Hengqin launched a tax reporting system which encourages companies to voluntarily disclose tax information, and if need be, they can make up for the shortfall without receiving penalties.

This means Li's company can disclose how the given stock is taxed first, and if tax rules for giving stock change in the future, they can still adjust the tax accordingly, instead of being fined for evading taxes.

"The policy have greatly reduced our risk," Li said.

The tax reporting system is just one example of how the Guangdong FTZ has been creating an environment for companies to better incentivize talent, especially those with degrees from abroad.

On Thursday, China issued a plan to further reform FTZs across the country, giving them greater autonomy in reform and opening-up.

He Changhong, 58, is a witness of the FTZ program to introduce talent from overseas.

An expert working in Canada in the field of remote sensing, he

decided in July, 2017 to set up his second company in the Guangzhou FTZ.

"The government promised two million yuan (around 313,000 U.S. dollars) within six months for starting the company," said He, "and we received the funds in just three months."

Besides the startup funding, FTZs also offer talented people like him rent-free office space for three years, salaries paid directly by dollars for overseas experts, and the return of tax differences for talented people from Hong Kong and Macao.

"China is paying more attention to drawing talent," he said, "Overseas professionals can enjoy good startup support, and promising career development."

The Guangdong FTZ is also reducing the threshold for setting up companies to stir innovation.

Setting up an enterprise takes only three days, close to the level in Singapore and Hong Kong.

He Changhong now intends to further expand his company. "We are introducing a group of experts to the company this year, and we considering moving to a bigger office," he said.

"In the future, the Guangdong FTZ will further reform and opening-up to get greater breakthroughs," said Zheng Jianrong, head of the bureau of commerce in Guangdong.
The first part of the exhibit, titled The Roots of Monozukuri: Creative Spirit in Japanese Automaking illuminates key elements of Japanese design



Two new exhibits set to open: The Roots of Monozukuri: Creative Spirit in Japanese Automaking which explores Japanese innovations in engineering and manufacturing and Fine Tuning: Japanese-American Customs that focuses on Japanese car culture and customization in Japan and the United States

It will be the first time several of the Nissan and Datsun vehicles have been on display outside of Japan

Both exhibits open to the public on May 26

LOS ANGELES, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nissan announced its support of two new exhibits at the Petersen Automotive Museum that celebrate and explore the intersection of American and Japanese car culture. Both open to the public May 26.

The first part of the exhibit, titled The Roots of Monozukuri: Creative Spirit in Japanese Automaking illuminates key elements of Japanese design philosophy in the years preceding its climb to market dominance in the 1970s. In concert, Fine Tuning: Japanese-American Customs examines the rise of Japanese car customization in Japan and the United States, and how each market influenced the other to redefine car culture.

Nissan is honored to be part of the Petersens The Roots of Monozukuri exhibit, which celebrates 60-years of Japanese cars in the U.S., said Richard Plavetich, general manager, Nissan Design America. From practical and economical to sleek and powerful, Nissan vehicle design, durability and performance has resulted in an 85-year global success story that is well represented by the vehicles on display.

Located in the Bruce Meyer Family Gallery presented by Rolex, The Roots of Monozukuri exhibit explores the theme of monozukuri, or "the art, science and craft of making things, as the underpinning for the long-term success of the Japanese automotive industry. Each car exemplifies this theme by highlighting the creativity, innovation, craftsmanship and collaboration central to Japanese manufacturing. Historically significant vehicles from the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee and other private collections will also be on display. Highlights include a 1937 Datsun Model 16 Coupe and 1966 Nissan Silvia, both extremely rare vehicles seldom seen outside Japan. A Datsun 1000 sedan returns to the Los Angeles area, where it starred at the companys first U.S. appearance 60 years ago at the LA Auto Show.

Running concurrently with The Roots of Monozukuri in the Museums Customization Gallery, Fine Tuning elaborates on the aesthetic and stylistic conversation between Japanese and American tuners. Focusing on Los Angeles and Japanese car customizers, this exhibit features true one-of-a-kind custom creations, from drift and drag cars to highly modified customs that include a fan favorite 1973 Nissan Kenmeri Skyline 2000 GTX, among other highlights from Japanese manufacturers.

During the first month of The Roots of Monozukuri: Creative Spirit in Japanese Automaking and Fine Tuning exhibitions, Nissan will proudly display the all-new 2018 Nissan LEAF in the Alternative Power Gallery of the Petersen Museum.

The Roots of Monozukuri and Fine Tuning each run through April 14, 2019. Tickets are for sale at Petersen.org. For more information about Nissans role in the exhibits, please visit NissaNnews.com in the coming weeks for images and video related to the displays.

About Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

Nissan is a global full-line vehicle manufacturer that sells more than 60 models under the Nissan, INFINITI and Datsun brands. In fiscal year 2017, the company sold 5.77 million vehicles globally, generating revenue of 11.9 trillion yen. On April 1, 2017, the company embarked on Nissan M.O.V.E. to 2022, a six-year plan targeting a 30% increase in annualized revenues to 16.5 trillion yen by the end of fiscal 2022, along with cumulative free cash flow of 2.5 trillion yen. As part of Nissan M.O.V.E. to 2022, the company plans to extend its leadership in electric vehicles, symbolized by the world's best-selling all-electric vehicle in history, the Nissan LEAF. Nissans global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, manages operations in six regions: Asia & Oceania; Africa, the Middle East & India; China; Europe; Latin America; and North America. Nissan has partnered with French manufacturer Renault since 1999 and acquired a 34% stake in Mitsubishi Motors in 2016. Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi is today the worlds largest automotive partnership, with combined sales of more than 10.6 million vehicles in calendar year 2017.

For more information about our products, services and commitment to sustainable mobility, visit nissan-global.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and see all our latest videos on YouTube.

About Nissan North America

In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program and has been recognized annually by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year since 2010. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.nissanusa.com and www.infinitiusa.com, or visit the U.S. media sites nissannews.com and infinitinews.com.

About The Lane Motor Museum:

The Lane Motor Museum is home to rare and unique vehicles, as well as those that have been influential to the development of transportation. Boasting the largest collection of European vehicles in the U.S, the museum is located 3 miles from downtown Nashville, TN. The Lane Motor Museum features a collection of 150 unusual cars and motorcycles not typically seen in the U.S.

About The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity. The Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard (at Fairfax) in Los Angeles, California, 90036. Admission prices are $16 for general admission adults, $13 for seniors and students with ID, $8 for children ages 3 to 12. Active military with ID, personal care attendants and children under three are admitted free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For general information, call 323-930-CARS or visit www.Petersen.org.

Contact

Jannelle Grigsby

Manager, West Coast Regional Communications

Office: 310-998-7854

jannelle.grigsby@nissan-usa.com



Steve Yaeger

Manager, Safety, Dealer and Heritage Communications

Office: 615-725-4443

steve.yaeger@nissan-usa.com

Nikki Riedmiller

Kahn Media (for The Petersen Automotive Museum)

Office: 818-881-5246

Nikki@KahnMedia.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cfac0059-2955-4b6a-a6b9-8cbfbcb0e439
A container is unloaded from a ship at the 19th berth in Mombasa Port, Mombasa, Kenya, Jan. 9, 2017. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

NAIROBI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A UN offcial said on Wednesday that China could play a role in helping Africa achieve benefits of the Continental Free Trade Area.

Stephen Karingi, Director of Capacity Development Division at the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), told Xinhua in Nairobi that for Africa to achieve optimum benefit from the free trade regime it will require new investments in the area of infrastructure, human capacity and manufacturing.

"China has all these resources which if deployed in Africa could help the Continent Free Trade area to be fully realized," Karingi said on the sidelines of the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative (PICI) Technical Task Team Workshop.

In March, 44 African leaders signed an agreement for the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area and so far two countries have deposited instruments for the ratification of the agreement.

The campaigners of the free trade pact hope that it will help Africa achieve prosperity as well as sustainable economies that are able to create jobs for its people.

Karingi said there are a lot of opportunities where China can cooperate with Africa to enable the continent to realize benefits of more relaxed borders.

He said China has done a lot for Africa already and is capable of doing even more for the continent.

Karingi noted that the trade pact has potential huge benefits because it will reduce or eliminate import tariffs of goods made and traded within Africa.

"Any investor who comes to any African country will have access not only to the domestic market but a market of approximately 1.2 billion people," he said.

He noted that relocation of industries to Africa lured by the free trade area will also result in technology transfer to the continent.

The UN official said Africa needs to attract capital inflows not just in one sector but in a wide array of sectors from the extractive, intermediate, value addition sectors, insurance and financial services sectors.

The Kenyan government data indicates that intra-Africa trade stands at approximately 15 percent compared to more than 50 percent for other continents due to trade barriers.

Karingi said Africa's proposal to have a single aviation market could also benefit from Chinese technologies.

"We are aware that China has new technology in the aviation sector which Africa can use to fully realize the benefit of open skies," he said.

He noted that Chinese technology in the aviation sector could open up the space for Africa to move beyond the reliance on western firms that have dominated the industry.

According to the UNECA, Africa's trade imbalance with China and the rest of the world is due to the fact that the continent primarily exports raw materials and imports finished goods.

Karingi said that for Africa to solve its trade deficit it will need to invest in manufacturing, research and development in order to move its trade up the global value chain.

"Africa has no option but to engage in value addition because it has everything that is required," he said.

He said the Chinese market would welcome value added commodities from Africa so long as they contribute to the welfare of its consumers.

The director also noted that intermediate imports from Africa will also find a place in Chinese industries if they are globally competitive.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 15:25:52|Editor: Xiang Bo

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KUNMING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Five suspects were arrested and about 70 kg of drugs seized in four anti-drug operations in Dali Bai Autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local police said Friday.

Police caught three suspects in two operations on May 2 and seized 10.2 kg of suspected heroin and 18.45 kg of Magu tablets, a stimulant composed of methamphetamine and caffeine.

On May 3 and May 5, police detained another two suspects. The vehicle of one suspect contained 21.4 kg of substances thought to be methamphetamine and heroin, while 19.8 kg of suspected methamphetamine was found in the vehicle of the other.

Further investigation into the four cases is under way.

Yunnan, which borders the Golden Triangle, known for its rampant drug production and trafficking activities, is a major front in China's battle against drug crime.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban local leader was killed in a gunfight in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar overnight, the provincial government said in a statement Friday.

"Personnel of National Directorate of Security (NDS), the national intelligence agency, launched a special operation to capture Gul Mohammad alias Sangari in Swati locality, Surkh Road district, on Thursday night. But Sangari was killed after a gunfight broke out in the targeted building," the statement read.

Sangari, who served as Taliban shadow military chief for 14 districts of Nangarhar province, tried the flee before being killed, the statement said, adding that two suspect militants were arrested by security forces after the operation.

Afghan forces and the NATO and U.S.-led coalition troops continued mopping-up operations in the mountainous country.

The Taliban, which has been waging an insurgency of years, has yet to make comments.
NEW DELHI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- India Friday sought Australia's help to "neutralize" the Nipah virus in humans, as the outbreak has claimed 12 lives in southern state of Kerala.

In a letter to the Queensland state government in Australia, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), the country's apex body for bio-medical research, has sought an antibody to check if it can neutralize the Nipah virus in humans that health experts claims has no vaccines so far.

"We have asked them to give their monoclonal antibody for conducting a test in India to find out if it can neutralize the Nipah virus in humans," ICMR chief Dr. Balram Bhargava told media.

"In Australia, it has only been tried in vitro (happening outside the body in artificial conditions, often in a test tube) and has been found to be effective. But it has not been tested on humans," he added.

Apart from the 12 deaths in Kerala's Kozhikode and Mallapuram districts, 94 people have been quarantined in their homes while 17 others are under treatment in hospitals. "All steps to prevent the spread of the virus have been taken," state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja said.

Indian federal health ministry has claimed to have contained the virus. "It was a highly localized infection and we have been able to contain it well," Health Secretary Preeti Sudan told the media Wednesday.

Health officials have identified a bat-infested well in a house in Kozhikode district as the likely epicenter of the outbreak.

This is the third outbreak of Nipah virus in India. Two other outbreaks were reported in 2001 and 2007 respectively, in eastern state of West Bengal that shares its border with Bangladesh, claiming 50 lives.

Nipah virus is an emerging infectious disease that first broke out in a Malaysian village in 1999. Health experts say there is no vaccine for the virus that causes fever and breathlessness in affected patients as initial symptoms, and only intensive care can help.
SEOUL, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will make an official visit to South Korea next month at the invitation of President Moon Jae-in, the Blue House of South Korea said Friday.

The Blue House said in a statement that Duterte will visit South Korea from June 3 to June 5 and hold a summit with Moon on June 4.

During the summit, the two leaders will strengthen the bilateral cooperation relationship, discussing ways to beef up bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, infrastructure, defense, agriculture, culture and personnel exchanges.

Kim Eui-kyeom, Moon's spokesman, said the South Korean government was pushing for an expanded cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Moon and Duterte met in the Philippines in November last year on the sidelines of the ASEAN+3 summit and the East Asian Summit.

Duterte would become the first president among the ASEAN members to visit South Korea since Moon took office in May last year.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 16:20:59|Editor: ZD

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SHANGHAI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer electronics retailer Suning on Thursday tested its newly-developed heavy-duty driverless truck in a logistics park in Shanghai, setting foot in the driverless vehicle manufacturing.

The 40-tonne truck was developed by the Jiangsu Suning Logistics Co. Ltd. , the logistics arm of the Nanjing-based retail giant, in partnership with the Chinese tech firm ZCO Design.

Luan Xuefeng, deputy head of Suning's logistics institute, said heavy-duty trucks normally ran in traffic conditions simpler than those for passenger vehicles. International smart car makers including Daimler AG and Tesla are also working on the development of driverless logistics vehicles.

He said that Suning's driverless truck could detect a moving object 300 meters away, when driving at a test speed of 30 kilometers per hour. Its brake reaction time is 25 milliseconds, much faster than for human drivers.

Luan said all trucks with electric power steering and automatic gearboxes could be converted into driverless trucks, once equipped with the self-driving system.

"The modification costs less than 10,000 U.S. dollars per vehicle with Suning's current technology," he said.

Suning Logistics mainly serves its parent company's retail business. It has also taken orders from Alibaba's logistics arm after Alibaba acquired shares from Suning and became its second largest shareholder in 2015.
ULAN BATOR, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia imported 5,582 heavy trucks in the first four months of this year, 2.2 times higher than that in the same period of 2017, according to data released Friday by the National Statistical Office.

Importing these trucks cost Mongolia 84.4 million U.S. dollars, 2.8 times higher than that in the same period in the previous year, attributing the robust growth mainly to mining activities and economic expansion.

About 63 percent of the trucks were imported from China, 10.7 percent from Japan, and 7 percent from South Korea.

The mining industry accounts for about a quarter of Mongolia's gross domestic product and more than 90 percent of its exports.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 16:20:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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SEOUL, May 25 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's presidential Blue House said a National Security Council (NSC) meeting, attended by security and diplomatic officials, was held on Friday to discuss ways to restore the cancelled summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States.

Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor for President Moon Jae-in, chaired the meeting of the NSC permanent committee for an hour from 3:00 p.m. local time.

The NSC members confirmed the need for direct communications between the DPRK and the U.S. leaders, agreeing to make continued efforts to the direct talks.

U.S. President Donald Trump had been scheduled to meet top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, but Trump cancelled it Thursday.

The U.S. leader, however, left a room for his meeting with Kim, saying he looked forward to meeting the DPRK leader "some day."

The NSC members shared a view that efforts to improve inter-Korean relations will contribute to enhanced relations between Pyongyang and Washington and complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The two Koreas had agreed to hold high-level talks last week, but the DPRK called it off at the last minute putting the blame on the South Korea-U.S. air combat exercises scheduled to end Friday.
NEW DELHI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The spread of the Nipah virus in India's southern state of Kerala is "not a major outbreak," but "only a local occurence," said the multi-disciplinary central team led by the country's National Center for Disease Control.

The team was sent to Kerala state to investigate the recent deadly cases of the virus.

According to official figure, 12 people, including nine from Kozhikode district and three from Malappuram district, have died after being infected by the Nipah virus. The total number of confirmed cases was 14, with 20 other suspected cases.

According to an official statement issued by the country's Health Ministry, the central team reviewed all the deadly cases and concluded that it is not a major spread of virus in the state.

The team also fine-tuned the draft guidelines, case definitions, advisory for healthcare workers, information to the general public, advisories for sample collection and transportation accordingly.

The efforts taken so far have been fruitful as the disease has not spread to new areas. The contact tracing strategy has also been successful. All the reported cases including the suspected cases had direct or indirect contact with the first casualty or his family prior to contacting the disease, said the ministry.

The general public has been directed to follow safe hygiene practices, not to consume fruits or vegetables partly eaten by birds or animals and take steps while going near the infected persons or areas, said the ministry.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 16:46:02|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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RIYADH, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi air forces intercepted on Friday a ballistic missile launched from Yemen toward the southern border city of Najran, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The interception came just a day after the forces destroyed another missile targeting the southern border city of Jazan.

In both cases, no injuries or damage were reported.

Col. Turki al-Maliki, spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, said the missile was detected at 12:39 a.m. local time (2139 GMT) while it was still inside Yemen.

The hostile attempts of the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen threaten regional and international security in explicit defiance of UN resolutions, he warned.

In another statement, the Saudi spokesman said the humanitarian aid delayed by cyclone is expected to reach the Yemeni city of Socotra on Friday morning, Al Arabiya local news reported.

The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthis in Yemen for more than three years in support of the exiled Yemeni government.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR

DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S.

TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plateau Energy Metals Inc. (Plateau or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:PLU) (OTCQB:PLUUF) (FRANKFURT:QG1) announced today that it has completed its previously announced non-brokered private placement of units (Units) raising gross proceeds of approximately $2,502,000 (the Financing). The Company issued and sold 4,169.997 Units at a price of C$0.60 per Unit with each Unit consisting of one common share of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a Warrant). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional common share of the Company at a price of C$0.90 Until May 25, 2021. The Company has the right to accelerate the expiry of the Warrants on 30 days written notice if, following 4 months and one day from the issuance of the Warrants, the volume weighted average price of the common shares of the Company on the TSX Venture Exchange for any period of twenty (20) consecutive trading days exceeds C$1.20 per common share. All securities issued in the Financing are subject to a 4-month hold period in Canada and such longer periods as may be required under other applicable securities laws.

The Company issued an additional 125,100 common shares and 62,550 non-transferable warrants (having the same terms as the Warrants) to qualified finders in connection with the Financing. Net proceeds from the Financing will be used to fund further drilling, property payments and the preparation of technical reports on the Companys properties on the Macusani Plateau in southeastern Peru as well as for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Insiders of the Company acquired ownership of, or control or direction over, 756,666 Units, or approximately 18.1% of the number sold in the Financing. As a result of the participation in the Financing by insiders, the Financing was considered to be a related party transaction as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 (MI 61-101) and TSX Venture Exchange policy 5.9 (Policy 5.9). The transaction was however exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 and Policy 5.9, as neither the fair market value of the securities issued to insiders nor the cash consideration paid for such securities exceeded 25% of the Companys market capitalization at the relevant time. The participation of insiders in the Financing and the extent of such participation was not finalized until shortly prior to the completion of the Financing. Accordingly, it was not possible to publicly disclose details of the nature and extent of related party participation in the Financing at least 21 days prior to the completion date.

The securities referred to in this press release have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in the United States or in any jurisdiction in which such offer, sale or solicitation would be unlawful.

About Plateau Energy Metals

Plateau Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian lithium and uranium exploration and development company focused on its properties on the Macusani Plateau in southeastern Peru. The Company controls all reported uranium resources known in Peru, significant and growing lithium resources and mineral concessions covering over 91,000 hectares (910 km2) situated near significant infrastructure. Plateau Energy Metals is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol 'PLU', quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol PLUUF and the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol 'QG1'. The Company has 69,496,054 shares issued and outstanding.

For further information, please contact:

Plateau Energy Metals Inc.

Ted OConnor, CEO

ted@plateauenergymetals.com

+1-416-628-9600

info@plateauenergymetals.com

Website: www.plateauenergymetals.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pluenergy/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/pluenergy/

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The daughter of Martin Luther King on Thursday turned down a claim that the major icon of the U.S. civil rights movements would have been "proud of" Donald Trump.

In a series of tweets, King's daughter, Bernice King rejected Steve Bannon's claim that King would be proud of Trump's policies.

Bannon "has dangerously and erroneously co-opted my father's name, work and words," Bernice wrote.

The assertion "wholly ignores Daddy's commitment to people of all races, nationalities, etc. being treated with dignity and respect," she wrote.

Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, said Wednesday on BBC Newsnight program that "if you look at the policies of Donald Trump, anybody -- Martin Luther King -- would be proud of him, of what he's done for the black and Hispanic community for jobs."

King would have approved of the president's anti-immigration policies as they stop "illegal alien labour forces" from competing with black Americans for jobs everyday, he told BBC.

However, Bernice said the claim has ignored many of King's values, and her father would be "extremely disturbed" by recent events.

"My father's concerns were not sectional, but global. He was an activist for the civil rights of Black people in America, but he was also an activist for human rights," she tweeted.

"Further, he would not refer to people as 'illegal aliens.' The term is degrading and does not reflect his belief that we are all a part of the human family," she added.

Bannon was chief executive of the Trump campaign in its final three months during the 2016 U.S. elections. He became the chief strategist after Trump took office in January 2017 and left the White House in August.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 17:06:07|Editor: ZD

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People visit an Afghan cultural relics show at Zhengzhou Museum in central China's Henan Province, May 25, 2018. A total of 231 pieces (sets) of cultural relics collected by Afghanistan national museum were displayed here on Friday. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)

ZHENGZHOU, May 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 231 cultural relics from Afghanistan are on display at the Zhengzhou Museum in central China's Henan Province starting Friday.

The cultural relics from the National Museum of Afghanistan include precious gold, bronze and glass items as well as ivory carvings.

The collection has been exhibited in more than 10 countries, including France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States, since 2006.

In March 2017, these items began an exhibition tour in 22 museums in China, and the Zhengzhou Museum was the fourth stop after the Palace Museum, the Dunhuang Research Academy and the Chengdu Museum.

The exhibition will be open to the public until July 10 and free to visitors.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 17:16:09|Editor: ZD

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Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Bidhya Sundar Shakya (C) and CEO of China Railway 25th Bureau Group Co., Ltd Li Hongqi (3rd L) show the documents during the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the feasibility study of a monorail project in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 25, 2018. According to the MoU, China Railway 25th Bureau Group Co., Ltd will conduct the feasibility study for the first monorail project in the Himalayan country. (Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese company on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nepal's Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) on the feasibility study of a monorail project in the Nepali capital.

According to the MoU shared to Xinhua by the KMC, China Railway 25th Bureau Group Co., Ltd (CRCC) will conduct the feasibility study for the first monorail project in the Himalayan country, which will go along the existing Ring Road that surrounds a key city areas of Kathmandu Valley.

The Chinese company will conduct the study along the selected alignment including technical, financial, economical feasibility as well as institutional sustainability. It will also conduct social and environmental impact assessments for the feasible alignment and prepare preliminary cost estimates, according to the MoU.

The CRCC will submit a detailed plan for the study within 15 days from the singing of the MoU.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 17:16:10|Editor: Li Xia

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HANOI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam exported 145 million U.S. dollars worth of tra fish (pangasius) to China in the first four months of this year, up 43 percent on-year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

With the turnovers, China surpassed the United States to become Vietnam's largest tra fish importer in the four-month period, VASEP said on Friday, adding that Vietnam is currently the third largest provider of white fish for China, after Russia and Norway.

VASEP considered China a key market for tra fish export this year and forecast its demand for Vietnamese tra fish will expand in the second quarter of 2018.

In 2017, Vietnam exported more than 410 million U.S. dollars worth of tra fish to China, up 34.8 percent against 2016 and accounting for 23 percent of the country's total tra fish exports.

Due to high anti-dumping duties and technical barriers recently imposed by the United States and the European Union, Vietnam's formerly largest importers of tra fish, turnovers in these markets significantly went down, said the association.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country's tra fish output hit 1.2 million tons in 2017, up 5.1 percent on-year, while its export turnovers were nearly 1.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 4.3 percent against 2016, accounting for 21 percent of the fishery industry's total export value.

Vietnam plans to gain tra fish export turnovers of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars this year, making up 31.5 percent of the fishery industry's total export value.
ISTANBUL, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish coast guard has captured 273 illegal immigrants in the last 24 hours along Turkey's Aegean shore, as they were attempting to sneak into Greek islands, the force said on Friday.

A total of 153 Syrian refugees, including 53 children, were seized near the districts of Cesme and Dikili in the western province of Izmir in the sea and on land, the coast guard said in a statement posted on its website.

The force also captured 55 Syrians and an Ethiopian on two small boats near Balikesir Province. During the operations, a human trafficker was detained as well.

In another incident, 64 illegal immigrants, including 14 children, were rescued from an inflatable boat near Dikili district after the coast guard received a call for help. The migrants are mostly Syrian nationals.

A deal was signed between Turkey and the European Union in March 2016 to curb the flow of illegal immigration through the Aegean Sea, a favored route for migrants trying to reach Europe.

A total of 10,623 migrants have attempted to reach Greek islands via Turkey this year, up from 5,282 over the same period in 2017, according to figures released by the Turkish coast guard.
MOSCOW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991, refuting the accusation that Russia was responsible for the crash of MH17 on July 17, 2014, according to Russian media reports.

The Dutch-led five-nation joint investigation team (JIT) announced on Thursday that the installation of the Buk missile that shot downed the flight MH17 in 2014 came from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian army in Kursk. Enditem
JUBA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's Meteorological Department has warned that several regions in the East African country are at risk of floods caused by torrential rains.

The weather agency told reporters on Thursday that heavy rainfall is expected in the months of June, July and August (JJA) and may cause devastating floods in the flood-prone areas of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Unity.

Samuel Thon, a Forecaster at the Meteorological Department, said the towns of Bor, Bentiu, Aweil, and Pibor are particularly at high risk of floods.

"JJA (June, July and August) 2018 rainfall forecast indicates increased likelihood for flooding in the flood prone areas for example Bor, Bentiu, Aweil, Pibor and Upper Nile States plus other flood prone areas. So we are expecting floods because the rainfall is much," Thon said.

According to South Sudan's Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Risk Management, several regions in the country are prone to recurrent floods every year in the rainy season, between May and October, which threatens the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people.

Last year, torrential rains forced over 100,000 people from their homes and destroyed valuable property in central and northern South Sudan.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 18:31:29|Editor: ZD

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Yang Jiechi (R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters Friday.

Yang, who is also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said the development potential of relations between China and New Zealand was huge. The leaders of the two countries have met several times and pointed out the direction for the development of bilateral relations.

"Under the new situation, the two sides should seriously implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, deepen mutual political trust, advance pragmatic cooperation, work together to facilitate Belt and Road construction, safeguard the multilateral free trade system, and advance the negotiations on upgrading bilateral free trade pact," Yang said.

Peters said that New Zealand attached great importance to developing relations with China, adhered to the one-China policy, and was willing to work with China to cement high-level exchanges, strengthen cooperation and push for greater development of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 18:36:30|Editor: ZD

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) holds talks with Winston Peters, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of New Zealand, in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua)-- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday met with Winston Peters, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of New Zealand.

Wang said that bilateral relations have maintained a good momentum of development since the two sides established diplomatic relations 46 years ago. The two sides should continue to uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, maintain closer contacts on all levels, deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields, and promote the China-New Zealand comprehensive strategic partnership.

He said the two sides should work together to push forward the process of multilateralism and safeguard the international free trade and investment system.

Peters said New Zealand's new government attaches great importance to developing ties with China. New Zealand is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road cooperation, and will attend the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) for more cooperation with China.
DUBLIN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A referendum on whether abortions should be legalized or not in Ireland kicked off across the country on Friday morning.

Over 3.2 million registered voters are expected to cast their ballots at more than 6,500 polling stations across the country, which opened at 7:00 a.m. and will close at 10:00 p.m. local time.

In the 15 hours of voting, voters will be asked to cast Yes or No votes on a question written on their ballots as whether or not they agree to legalize abortions in the country, which have virtually been banned by the present Irish laws.

Results of the polling are expected to be announced late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

A survey released five days prior to the referendum showed that 56 percent of the people will vote Yes, 27 percent will vote No, 14 percent say they don't know and three percent have refused to answer.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mezzotin Minerals Inc. (Mezzotin or the Company) (NEX:MEZ.H) announced today that, further to the Companys press release of April 11, 2018, it has completed the debt settlement with Hong Kong-based Max Mind Investments Limited (Max Mind). The Company has issued 8,014,969 common shares at a deemed price of $0.05 per share to Max Mind to settle indebtedness owing to Max Mind of $400,748 (US$314,831.07) representing advances previously made to the Company by Max Mind plus accrued and unpaid interest thereon. Upon completion of the debt settlement, Max Mind owns approximately 14.1% of the 56,994,069 common shares of the Company now outstanding. All shares issued under the debt settlement transaction are subject to a 4-month hold period.



About Mezzotin Minerals Inc.

Mezzotin Minerals Inc. is a junior exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada. The Company is engaged in the exploration of mineral properties in Zimbabwe and holds exploration permits and mining claims known as the Sabi Star project covering approximately 2,348 hectares which has been optioned and is under contract for sale to Max Mind Investments (Zimbabwe) (Private) Limited. The project is located in Eastern Zimbabwe approximately 150 kilometres from Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, and approximately 250 kilometres from the border of South Africa. The project is located on the Odzi Gold Belt, a known mineralization belt having historically produced gold, copper, tin, tantalum, niobium and diamonds.

For additional information please contact:

Lawrence Schreiner

Chief Financial Officer

Mezzotin Minerals Inc.

Tel. 416-496-3077

lschreiner@manbancorp.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
KAMPALA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- At least nine South Sudanese refugees have been arrested for leading riots and damaging humanitarian agencies equipment over alleged delay of food ration supply in the northwestern district of Arua, police said in a statement on Friday.

Josephine Angucia, West Nile regional police spokesperson, said the suspects on Wednesday mobilized fellow refugees to riot, damage and steal humanitarian agencies data equipment at Omugo Refugee Settlement over alleged failure to provide relief food items for the last one month.

She said the refugees broke into the stores of United Nations World Food Program stores, stealing food items, wheel barrows, hoes, slashers, three computers, tarpaulin and spray cans.

"When police swung into action, the riots were stopped. Nine suspects were arrested and detained at Yoro base camp police station pending transfer to Arua CPS (Central Police Station)," said Angucia.

At least 11 wheelbarrows, 11 hoes, 9 slashes, some electric items and computer accessories have been recovered, according to the police.

"Refugees are advised to use proper channels of sharing their grievances through their leaders to the concerned authorities instead of taking the law into their hands," said Angucia.

"When some continue to misbehave and not abide by our laws and procedures, they will be arrested and prosecuted according to Ugandan laws," she said.

In October, 2017, South Sudan refugees at Nyumanzi Refugee Settlement in the neighboring district of Adjumani, which hosts over 20,000 people, protested over delayed food supply.

Last year, WFP announced a food aid cut by 50 percent to hundreds of thousands of refugees in the East African country due to financial constraints.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 19:24:32|Editor: ZD

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Photo taken on May 22, 2018 shows a market under construction at Hainan Resort Software Community in south China's Hainan Province. The community strengthened ecological protection and built education, health care, culture, business and recreation supporting facilities for the convenience of employees. As of March of 2018, a total of 2,632 enterprises have registered in the community. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 19:16:36|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HO CHI MINH CITY, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A Vietnamese third-year student at the Oriental Studies Faculty of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities on Friday won the final round of Southern Vietnam of the 17th "Chinese Bridge," the annual Chinese proficiency competition for foreign college students.

At the one-day event in Ho Chi Minh City, Oriental Studies student Tran Thao Trinh outperformed 17 other contestants to top the competition's final round in Vietnam's southern region. Her faculty mate Bui Hoang Long, and Le Thanh Huy from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy jointly secured the second place.

All the contestants demonstrated their knowledge about Chinese language, culture and history by delivering a speech, answering questions, and showing their art talents.

"The competition is very meaningful to me. I love China and Chinese language, and I plan to apply for a scholarship to study in China after I graduate," Trinh told Xinhua.

The winners of the local competitions in Vietnam's southern and northern regions will be representatives of the country to partake in the final round of the international competition in China in mid-2018.

Hosted by the Confucius Institute Headquarters in China, the "Chinese Bridge" competition is one of the most significant platforms for college students across the world to study Chinese language.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 19:16:36|Editor: ZD

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Delegates attend a side meeting titled "Toward the Universal Coverage of Solid Organ Transplantation", during the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 24, 2018. The ongoing 71st World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva on Thursday shows high appreciation for the value of China's model and experience in organ transplantation. (Xinhua/Alain Grosclaude)

GENEVA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing 71st World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva on Thursday shows high appreciation for the value of China's model and experience in organ transplantation.

The WHA meetings focused on the universal coverage of organ transplantation, with delegates from China, Spain, Russia, Uruguay and Qatar sharing their experience and ideas on the topic.

Huang Jiefu, head of China's National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee and chairman of China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, gave a keynote speech titled "The Chinese Organ Transplantation Undertaking in Achieving One Belt & One Road Initiative."

He said that China's model of organ donation and transplantation features strong government support for legal, administrative and health sectors, and the progress of capacity building in organ transplantation clinical service and technical development.

China is now implementing a national anti-organ trafficking surveillance system with joint effort of health, legal and law enforcement authorities, which, based on available data, may serve as an example of an operational mechanism to combat organ trafficking for the rest of the world, Huang added.

According to Huang, the final Declaration of the Ethics in Action Meeting held in Vatican in March this year endorsed China as a model for regulating organ transplantation and also as a reference on the issue for other member states of the United Nations.

Huang said that China is willing to share its experience with the rest of world under the Belt and Road Initiative, while at the same time working to improve the organ donation and transplantation system in China by benefiting from the highly valued experience of other countries.

As an official appreciation for China's support to the World Health Organization (WHO) in promoting universal coverage of organ transplantation, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said "thank you China" to Huang in Chinese after the meeting.

The 71st annual WHA, held in Geneva from Monday to Saturday, is a gathering of nearly 4,000 delegates from the WHO's 194 member states and partner organizations. The assembly is the WHO's highest decision-making body and determines policy for the organization.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 19:21:37|Editor: Xiang Bo

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GUANGZHOU, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Education said Friday that the country has examined 128,418 after-school training institutions, among which 12,251 have had their issues rectified as of Wednesday.

At the beginning of this year, China launched a campaign targeting after-school institutions for potential safety loopholes and unlicensed operation, Lv Yugang, an elementary education official at the ministry, said at a conference in south China's Guangzhou.

The campaign also targeted after-school training institutions which place students under too much pressure.

A total of 217 teachers or principals at 139 schools across the country were punished for substandard teaching in class while teaching in after-school programs for profit.

A report from the Chinese Society of Education estimated that after-school programs received more than 137 million students in 2016.
BRUSSELS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) top diplomat on Friday called on Russia to "accept its responsibility" for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, an accusation Russia rejected.

Federica Mogherini, the bloc's foreign policy chief, cited the conclusion of an investigation team in a statement, alleging that "the Buk installation used to bring down flight MH17 belonged beyond doubt to the armed forces of the Russian Federation."

"The European Union calls on the Russian Federation to accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability," she said.

The Dutch-led five-nation joint investigation team (JIT) announced on Thursday that the installation of the Buk missile that shot down the flight MH17 in 2014 came from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian army in Kursk.

On the heels of the announcement, the Russian Defense Ministry Friday refuted the accusation, saying that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991.

The Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashed in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, including 196 Dutch citizens.

In August 2014, authorities from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, and Malaysia set up the JIT to conduct a criminal investigation into the crash.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 19:26:38|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The latest report by the UN nuclear watchdog is another indication of Iran's adherence to 2015 nuclear deal, Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi said, according to Tasnim news agency's Friday report.

The IAEA's new report, the 11th one since the implementation day of nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), once again confirms that Iran's nuclear measures and activities are fully in compliance with the JCPOA, Najafi was quoted as saying.

The recent text of the IAEA report is similar to the previous reports and the only changes relate to technical figures, like a planned increase in the stockpile of heavy water and the enriched uranium, he said.

A confidential report of IAEA on Thursday showed Tehran is still complying with the historic nuclear deal after the United States' withdrawal from the deal.

The report said the IAEA is monitoring Iran's nuclear plan under the JCPOA. There is no sign in the report that Iran is violating the deal, which freezes its atomic plan.

China, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Iran are to meet on Friday in Vienna to discuss the Iranian nuclear deal for the first time after U.S. pullout from the accord.

In July 2015, six world powers and Iran signed the JCPOA in the Austrian capital, a landmark deal which eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. The parties began to implement the accord in January 2016.
LONDON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Britons overwhelmingly want British Prime Minister Theresa May to relax immigration rules to allow more non-European Union doctors into the country to fill empty posts in the British National Health Service (NHS), a new poll revealed Friday.

The Ipsos MORI survey for the London-based Evening Standard newspaper found adults believe -- by two to one -- that a cap on skilled workers should either be ditched or relaxed for medics from outside the European Union (EU).

Ipsos MORI interviewed 1,015 adults across Britain by telephone between May 18-22.

Almost 2,000 doctors and health professionals had visa applications rejected in the four months to March due to the annual cap of 20,700 on skilled workers from non-EU countries.

The latest poll found that 37 percent of Britons said there should be no cap on these doctors, while a further 27 percent believe more visas should be issued.

Just nine percent want fewer visas for this group, and three percent want no visas for them at all. Nineteen percent say the cap should remain at the present level.

In a sign of how out of step the ruling Conservative Party are with younger voters on immigration, three quarters of 18 to 34-year-olds said the cap should either be axed for doctors or more Tier 2 visas should be issued.

The survey also found that 49 percent of adults want the cap to be either scrapped or eased for engineers, compared with 17 percent who want it tightened.

A similar picture emerged for teachers: 48 percent compared to 16 percent.

A British Home Office spokesman said: "The government fully recognises the contribution that international professionals make to the UK."

"However, it is important that our immigration system works in the national interest, ensuring that employers look first to the UK resident labour market," the spokesman added.

The poll also found falling trust in the prime minister on the issue of immigration. The proportion of Britons who do not have much trust or none at all in May was 62 percent, far more than the 38 percent in September 2016, just after the EU referendum that year.

This gives her a similar rating to opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose figure is 60 percent, although more people do not trust him at all -- 40 percent, compared with 31 percent for the prime minister.
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame landed in Ethiopia on Friday morning for a three-day official state visit to Ethiopia expected to focus on regional and continental issues.

Kagame is the first foreign leader to make an official state visit to Ethiopia, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was sworn in as Ethiopia's Prime Minister on April 2.

Speaking to local and foreign journalists, Meles Alem, Spokesperson of Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said Kagame is expected to discuss equitable use of Nile waters and AU reform among several items of discussion.

"With Kagame being the current chairperson of the AU and with both Ethiopia and Rwanda having progressive governments, a strategic partnership to reform the 55-member states continental body will be a major item of bilateral discussions," said Alem.

Alem also said equitable and fair use of Nile river water resources will also be a matter of discussion, with both countries being part of Nile river basin.

Ethiopia is building Africa's largest hydro dam, the 6,450 Mega Watts Great Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile river which it hopes to use for internal usage and export revenue by selling energy to several other African countries including Rwanda.

Kagame and Ahmed are expected to visit later Friday Ethiopia's flagship Hawassa Industrial Park, which Ethiopian government sees as crucial to meet its vision of making Ethiopia a light industry hub in Africa and middle-income economy 2025.

Built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the Hawassa industrial park, located in Ethiopia's southern city of Hawassa, was completed in a record time of nine months and commissioned in July 2016.

The Ethiopian government has previously disclosed its plan to generate close to 1 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue from the park once it starts operations at its full potential.
ANKARA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will retaliate if the United States suspends delivery of F-35 fighter jets, Turkish Foreign Ministry warned Friday.

A United States Senate committee bill aiming to prevent Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets is "against the spirit of our alliance with the U.S.," the ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy told reporters at a press conference.

"This is not a program managed merely by the United States. It's a multinational program and we expect everybody to fulfill their obligations," he said.

If the United States takes such steps, "we will have to respond," the spokesman warned.

Aksoy also vowed protection of Turkey's firms following a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies in a move targeting Iranian airlines.

On Thursday, a U.S. Senate committee passed a bill to block Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 jets over its detention of the U.S. priest Andrew Brunson.

The bill also demands steps against Turkey's agreement with Russia to buy S-400 surface-to-air missiles in December 2017.

Lockheed Martin was expected to deliver the first F-35 fighter jet to Turkey on June 21.

Turkey is scheduled to buy more than 100 F-35 fighter jets, while negotiating with Washington over the purchase of Patriot missiles.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunwing Airlines today announced the delivery of their first brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The aircraft is the first of four new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft acquired by North Americas largest vertically integrated travel company as part of a lease agreement concluded with Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) in late 2014. The $350 million deal also included the acquisition of two further Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The second Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft will be delivered the following week, with the remaining two 737 MAX planes anticipated to be delivered in 2019.



The 737 MAX 8 aircraft is an integral part of Sunwings overall expansion plans across an increasing number of both Canadian and U.S. gateways and illustrates the evolution of the company, said Mark Williams, President of Sunwing Airlines. Sunwing may have increased in scale, however, what drove the company in the early 2000s is still central to our business today  in particular, the airlines commitment to its passengers that when they travel with Sunwing, they travel with an award-winning airline and one of Canadas most modern fleets.

Sunwing already flies one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient airplane fleets in Canada and now they take another leap forward with the Boeing 737 MAX, a new jet that can fly farther, use less fuel and provide greater passenger comfort, said Brad McMullen, Boeing Senior Vice President of Sales for The Americas. Congratulations to the Sunwing team. We are confident their new MAX airplanes will bring more Canadians to and from exceptional vacations in the sun.

John L. Plueger, Chief Executive Officer and President of Air Lease Corporation also welcomed the news adding, ALC is delighted to be delivering the very first MAX 8 into Sunwings fleet. This state of the art new aircraft will bring significantly expanded capability, efficiency, and environmental friendliness to Sunwings growing network as well as usher in a new level of customer service and experience.

This newest 737 arrival brings the latest technology to the most popular jet aircraft of all time and will enable Sunwing to offer reliable, cost-effective and environmentally-conscious service  something that is paramount for the brand. A next-generation aircraft, the 737 MAX 8 is expected to reduce Sunwings carbon footprint even further. The MAX uses less fuel and reduces CO2 emissions by 20% compared to the older aircraft that it replaces.

Flying from the Boeing head office in Seattle, Washington, the delivery flight was piloted by Ron Henry, one of Sunwings first pilots, flying Canadians to and from their holidays since the companys inception, and First Officer, Jessalyn Teed, a recent graduate hired through Sunwings cadet program in partnership with the University of Waterloo. The flight carried executives from Sunwing and select media guests who were invited to experience the new aircrafts aerodynamic design, elevated passenger comfort, mood lighting and sleek technology.

Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from 33 gateways across Canada to over 45 popular sun destinations. All Sunwing packages include return flights on Sunwing Airlines where passengers can sit back and relax on board with award-winning inflight service that includes a sparkling wine toast, complimentary non-alcoholic beverage service and buy on board selection of light meals and snacks with choices inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Passengers also benefit from a generous complimentary 23kg checked luggage allowance.

To book your next vacation, visit www.sunwing.ca or contact your travel agent.

About Sunwing

As the #1 to the sun and North America's largest vertically integrated travel company, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from over 33 airports across Canada to over 45 popular sun destinations. This scale enables Sunwing to negotiate the best deals and exclusive offers at all of the top-rated resorts across the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. Renowned for its award-winning service, Sunwing is consistently voted the #1 leisure airline by travel agents and is the perennial winner of the Consumer Choice Award. Customers can look forward to starting their vacation off in style with award-winning inflight service, which features a complimentary glass of sparkling wine, tea and coffee and non-alcoholic beverage service; together with a buy on board menu of light meals and snacks (including kids' choices) inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Sunwing customers also benefit from the assistance of the company's own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey.

The Boeing Company

Boeing is the world's largest aerospace company and leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners, defense, space and security systems, and service provider of aftermarket support. As Americas biggest manufacturing exporter, the company supports airlines and U.S. and allied government customers in more than 150 countries. Boeing products and tailored services include commercial and military aircraft, satellites, weapons, electronic and defense systems, launch systems, advanced information and communication systems, and performance-based logistics and training.

Boeing 737 MAX

Boeings newest family of single-aisle airplanes is the 737 MAX. Each variant  the 737 MAX 7, 737 MAX 8, 737 MAX 9 and 737 MAX 10  is designed to offer customers exceptional performance, reliability and efficiency, with lower seat-mile costs and an extended range that will open up new destinations in the single-aisle market. With more than 4,500 orders from nearly 100 customers worldwide, the 737 MAX is the fastest-selling airplane in Boeing history.

About Air Lease Corporation

ALC is a leading aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. ALC and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline customers worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. For more information, visit ALC's website at www.airleasecorp.com.

For all media enquiries, please contact:

Rachel Goldrick

Senior Corporate Communications Manager

Sunwing Vacations

1-800-387-5602

media@sunwing.ca

https://www.facebook.com/SunwingVacations

https://twitter.com/SunwingVacay

https://www.instagram.com/sunwingvacations

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzjZ-lcuaqBQH7Sq0u3ru7A

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1bddcac5-7dc5-4391-b7a6-d03e94870e3c




Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 20:26:58|Editor: ZD

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BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese military official on Friday ordered the strengthening of disciplinary inspections in the armed forces.

Zhang Youxia, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the inspections would provide a strong political and disciplinary underpinning for building a strong military.

Zhang told representatives from the services and the armed police that the inspections should focus on "upholding absolute Party leadership over the military, obey the Party's command, strengthen Party building in all aspects in the military and exercise full and rigorous governance over the Party."

He said leading officials should oversee the work "to make inspections sharper and more powerful to serve as a constant deterrence."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 20:37:04|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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CAIRO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Arab League (AL) chief on Friday condemned a deadly car bomb explosion in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi late Thursday, which killed six and injured more than 20 people.

According to an AL statement, Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed the group's full solidarity with and support for Libya in combating terrorism and consolidating security and stability across the country.

He also reiterated AL's commitment to continued efforts in resuming the political process and achieving a comprehensive national reconciliation among Libyan sects.

Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, has frequently been targeted by car bombs and suicide attacks.

In response to the deteriorating security situation, the city set up a joint security chamber of army and police officers.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 20:57:08|Editor: ZD

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BERLIN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- UPS will significantly expand its transport services on a 10,000 km railway line connecting the German city of Duisburg with the Chinese city of Chongqing, the U.S. logistics company announced on Friday.

The company wants to make the route more accessible to its corporate customers by handling all related customs formalities and offering an additional ongoing connection to Hong Kong.

UPS said, transportation with China Railway Express along the "Belt and Road" is slower than air cargo but much cheaper. The company promised cost savings of up to 60 percent compared to air transportation.

UPS also pointed out, sea freight remains the cheapest in the logistics industry, but it requires 40 days to reach China. In contrast, the German National Railway Company's cargo unit (DB Schenker) has managed to lower travel time for the "Yuxinou" cargo trains from 18 to 12 days since it began with operations on the Duisburg-Chongqing link back in 2011.

DB Schenker has recorded a steady increase in demand for its services to Chongqing since 2011. Amongst others, the Munich-based carmaker BMW now transports its 1-series vehicles from Leipzig to China via train and recently signed a contract to extend the cooperation.

According data from German railway company Deutsche Bahn, 30,000 containers were transported between Duisburg and Chongqing in 2015. And the number is anticipated to rise to at least 100,000 by 2020 as the closer economic integration of Europe and Asia progresses.
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia and the United Nations jointly launched on Friday a 280.4 million U.S. dollars relief appeal for lifesaving interventions.

The appeal was launched by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and the Ethiopian National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC).

In a press statement, UNOCHA said the funds are needed for the next six months, focusing on priority areas including emergency health services, water and sanitation facilities, access to education and improvements in basic living conditions.

The joint UNOCHA-NDRMC relief appeal will mainly focus on the border regions of Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regional states, where communal conflict has seen around 1 million people get displaced.

The 280.4 million dollars relief appeal also in part targets the requirements of 7.88 million people in Ethiopia who need emergency food aid.

Recent successive failed or under-performing rains mainly in southern and eastern parts of Ethiopia, an increase in conflict-related displacement in the border areas of Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regions, and conflict induced drought conditions, has left 7.88 million Ethiopians in need of urgent food aid.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 21:12:12|Editor: ZD

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NEW DELHI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- As the two largest developing economies, India and China should work together for mutual benefits, said Indian economists prior to the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit.

V. Upadhyay, who specializes in development economics and works at the Delhi-based Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), told Xinhua that the two countries must work together.

"There are so many opportunities ... Already we have a very high level of trade relations between India and China," he said.

China has ample capital and high expertise in many fields, he said, so India can make use of what China has and is ready to offer.

"But in terms of geopolitical terms, if India takes China as a competitor, it won't hold good. In the long run that won't help us really much," he said.

Concerning the Western allegation that China is a developed economy, he said although the Chinese economy has seen a lot of progress, but if one looks at the per capita income of the Chinese people, it is quite low.

"A lot of people continue living in poverty in China, and there can't be any comparison between their living standard with those in European countries, the U.S. or Japan," he added.

Swati Yadav, a senior assistant professor in the department of Economics at the Delhi University's Bhagini Nivedita College, said that while the Western world wants China to embrace the responsibilities of a developed country, China will remain the largest developing country.

"With the status of a developed country comes the responsibilities, especially with regards to the issue of climate change," she said, adding that China is still a developing economy with developed eastern coastal cities and poor western areas.

Swati said that India and China can together present a united front while discussing issues at the international organizations where bargaining needs to be done with the developed nations.
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Friday marked Africa Day that commemorates the birth of the then Organization for African Unity (OAU), reiterating call for the fight against corruption.

The 55th AU anniversary celebrations at the headquarters of the pan-African bloc in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, have featured panel discussion, African bazaar that displayed cultural costumes and items of AU member states, as well as music concerts.

Stating the achievements of Africa in different arenas, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, underlined the need to remain vigilant and conscious that much is still to be done to overcome the obstacles that could derail the hard-won progress.

"Central to the work ahead is the fight against corruption in all its forms," said the chairperson, emphasizing that corruption destroys the lives of ordinary people and undermines the trust in their leaders and public institutions on the continent.

"Resources that are needed for development and the delivery of services, such as electricity, education, healthcare, sanitation and clean water, are diverted by a few, thus depriving the majority of the people from access to these critical services," he said.

The AU has dedicated 2018 as anti-corruption year, under the theme "Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa's Transformation", and African leaders have declared the July 11 every year as the African Anti-Corruption Day.

"I want to challenge all of us, leaders and Africans from all walks of life, to firmly deal with this scourge (corruption)," noted the chairperson of the AU Commission.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been named champion of AU's anti-corruption theme, in recognition of the Buhari administration's commitment to fighting corruption in Nigeria and globally.

In his remarks, Bankole Adeoye, Nigerian Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to AU, reiterated the need to sustain robust efforts to root corruption out of Africa.

The ambassador urged more efforts to ensure transparency and determination of all to address the scourge of corruption, which he said is one of the major impediments to structural transformation in Africa.

Reiterating that several African countries are among the world's fastest growing economies, despite the global downturn, the Chairperson of the AU Commission also said the continent has achieved gains in its endeavor on democracy, food and agriculture, industrialization, health, and climate change issues.

On the ground, AU is making a tangible contribution to the improvement of the livelihoods of the African people and the development of Member States, he said.

Robust efforts are being made to create opportunities that the youth need to fulfill their aspirations. Gender equality and women empowerment are also a central element of our efforts. Measures to deal with diseases and pandemics are in place, with the establishment of relevant institutions.

"Continental integration is being vigorously pursued. So is the objective of ensuring that Africa speaks with one voice on the international stage, especially in the current context marked by increasing threats against multilateralism," he said.

"In parallel, a far-reaching institutional reform process is underway, to ensure that our Union is fit for purpose and financially autonomous," added the chairperson.

The Organization for African Unity (OAU) was established on 25 May, 1963 with a Charter signed by 32 member states, and it was transformed to the African Union (AU) in 2002, which now comprises 55 member countries.
THE HAGUE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Dutch government announced on Friday that the Netherlands and Australia hold Russia responsible for its part in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, while Russia refuted the accusation.

The Dutch-led five-nation joint investigation team (JIT) announced on Thursday that the installation of the Buk missile that shot down the flight MH17 in 2014 came from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian army in Kursk.

"On the basis of the JIT's conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17. The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable," said the Dutch government in a statement.

"A possible next step is to present the case to an international court or organisation for their judgment," said the statement.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991.

Russia has destroyed all its Buk missiles, the warranty period of which expired in 2011, said the ministry in its statement.

On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine. The plane was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. On board were 283 passengers and 15 crew members. Among the passengers were 196 Dutch nationals.

In October 2015, the Dutch Safety Board said the crash was caused by the detonation of a Buk missile that exploded right next to the cockpit. In September 2016, the JIT formed by investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, and Ukraine said the Buk missile was brought from Russia.

Russia has repeatedly rejected the JIT findings, calling it "biased and politically motivated".

Meanwhile, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders tweeted on Friday that "Belgium hopes the decision of the Netherlands and Australia to invoke Russia's responsibility for the destruction of flight #MH17 in 2014 will contribute constructively to the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2166 of the UN."
Protesters stand outside the White House as U.S. President Donald Trump announces the United State's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal May 8, 2018 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)

TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The latest report by the UN nuclear watchdog is another indication of Iran's adherence to 2015 nuclear deal, Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi said, according to Tasnim news agency's Friday report.

The IAEA's new report, the 11th one since the implementation day of nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), once again confirms that Iran's nuclear measures and activities are fully in compliance with the JCPOA, Najafi was quoted as saying.

The recent text of the IAEA report is similar to the previous reports and the only changes relate to technical figures, like a planned increase in the stockpile of heavy water and the enriched uranium, he said.

A confidential report of IAEA on Thursday showed Tehran is still complying with the historic nuclear deal after the United States' withdrawal from the deal.

The report said the IAEA is monitoring Iran's nuclear plan under the JCPOA. There is no sign in the report that Iran is violating the deal, which freezes its atomic plan.

China, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Iran are to meet on Friday in Vienna to discuss the Iranian nuclear deal for the first time after U.S. pullout from the accord.

In July 2015, six world powers and Iran signed the JCPOA in the Austrian capital, a landmark deal which eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its nuclear program. The parties began to implement the accord in January 2016.
ISTANBUL, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Friday detained 51 foreigners in Istanbul over their alleged links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, local media reported.

Anti-terror teams launched simultaneous operations in 11 districts to capture the suspects, who were allegedly plotting terror attacks, the Hurriyet daily said.

Many documents and digital materials were also seized during the raids, the daily said, noting that the nationalities of the suspects were not immediately clear.

Turkey blames a spate of deadly attacks on its soil in recent years on the IS, which is suffering defeat in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
File Photo (Xinhua)

SAN FRANCISCO, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A California cherry grower-shipper has reported gradual restoration of normal U.S. cherries exports to China with less inspection time of the exported items by Chinese quarantine regulation authorities, an online media report said Thursday.

As of Wednesday, inspections of new arrivals of U.S. fruit shipments, including California cherries, into Beijing and Shanghai in eastern China have been released within one day, the freshplaza.com website quoted U.S. exporters as saying.

In the past month, the China Inspection and Quarantine (CIQ) has been detaining all U.S. fruit shipments for seven days upon arrival into China to test for pesticide residues, but the inspection has been eased after the U.S. and China announced in a joint statement last week that China agrees to buy more U.S. farm products.

The U.S.-China consensus prevented their trade frictions from growing into a full-blown trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened in March to slap huge tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese exports to America.

The Californian cherry grower-shipper has seen his first shipment of Chelan cherries arrive in China and be received, which is "very good news for California cherry growers who are in peak season and heavily rely on exports to China," said the online report.

The U.S. and China were at odds over trade and tariffs in the past months, and China, in retaliation for U.S. move, announced in April a 15 percent tariff on a range of U.S. farm products, including fruits and nuts.

The Chinese tariff on California cherries makes the fruit very expensive, which may result in less competitiveness in overseas market, said the cherry grower-shipper.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada House Wellness Group Inc. (CSE:CHV) (Canada House or the Company): This press release is being disseminated as required by National Instrument 62-103 The Early Warning System and Related Take Over Bids and Insider Reporting Issues in connection with the acquisition of securities of the Company by Mr. Michael Southwell (Mr. Southwell or the Acquiror).



The Acquiror announces that, on or about November 7, 2016, Canada House issued to Mr. Southwell 24,832,682 common shares of the Company (Common Shares) pursuant to a share exchange agreement with the Company, among others, and granted Mr. Southwell 1,200,000 stock options (the Options) exercisable into one Common Share per Option at an exercise price of $0.25 until November 7, 2021. Since then, Mr. Southwell has acquired, on November 1, 2017, 1,000,000 Common Shares on a private placement basis through MWS Holdings Inc. (MWS).

The Acquiror further announces that on December 6, 2017, Canada House issued to the Acquiror, through MWS, debentures convertible for up to 5,263,158 Common Shares (the Debentures) and warrants to acquire up to 5,263,000 Common Shares (the Warrants).

The Warrants are exercisable into one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.30 for a period of 12 months; at an exercise price of $0.40 from 12 months to 24 months; at an exercise price of $0.60 from 24 months to 36 months; and at an exercise price of $0.80 from 36 months to 48 months following the closing date.

Prior to November 7, 2016, the Acquiror held no securities in the Company. Assuming the conversion in full of the Debentures and the exercise in full of the Warrants and of the Options, the Acquiror would hold, directly and indirectly, an aggregate of 37,558,840 Common Shares representing approximately 21% of the Companys Common Shares.

The Acquiror is donating 20,000,000 of his 25,832,682 Common Shares to a charity that is being created, named Global Alliance Foundation Fund. It is currently expected that such donated Common Shares will be fully allocated and that this first of its kind in the world veteran owned and operated charity will be active by November 2019.

The Acquiror acquired the Securities for investment purposes and may, depending on market and other conditions, increase, decrease or change its beneficial ownership over the Common Shares or other securities of the Company through market transactions, private agreements, treasury issuances, exercise of convertible securities or otherwise.

A copy of the Early Warning Report filed under applicable securities laws is available under the Companys profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). A copy of such report may also be obtained by contacting DS Lawyers Canada LLP, the Acquirors legal counsel, at kwells@dsavocats.ca.

The name and address of the Acquiror filing the report is:

Michael Southwell

71 Pheasant Drive

Waasis, New Brunswick

Contact:

Kyler Wells

kwells@dsavocats.ca

1.647.477.7317
MOSCOW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The missile that downed Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in 2014 over Ukraine "more than probably" belonged to the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

The Dutch-led five-nation Joint Investigation Team (JIT) announced on Thursday that the installation of the Buk missile that shot down the MH17 came from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian army in Kursk. It presented the remains of the missile at a press conference.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday refuted the accusation, saying that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.

The ministry said in a statement that its experts had analyzed video materials of the press conference and discovered that the serial number of the missile's engine clearly indicated that it was produced in 1986 in the former Soviet Union.

The warranty period of this type of anti-aircraft missiles is 15 years, and Russia has destroyed all of its Buk missiles, the statement said.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the division of its military property between the former Soviet republics of Russia and Ukraine, the latter received some 20 Buk missile system units, it said.

"Thus, the only reason for the deliberate silence of the Dutch commission about the origin of the 1986 missile engine is that it more than probably belonged to the Ukrainian armed forces," the ministry said.

The MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 people on board died, including 196 Dutch citizens.

In August 2014, authorities from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Ukraine and Malaysia set up the JIT to conduct a criminal investigation into the crash.
TOKYO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The former head of a school operator at the center of a cronyism scandal implicating Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that the 10-month long detention of him and his wife was politically motivated.

Yasunori Kagoike, former chief of Moritomo Gakuen, made the remarks at a press conference Friday night after being granted bail earlier in the day along with his wife.

The Kagoikes had been in detention since they were arrested on July 31 last year in Osaka on charges including using fraudulent means to obtain government subsidies.

They were accused of swindling the central and prefectural governments out of subsidies totaling some 170 million yen (1.55 million U.S. dollars) over the past few years.

What has put Kagoike and Moritomo Gakuen under spotlight last year, however, was not the alleged fraud, but a shady land deal implicating Abe and his wife Akie Abe.

Moritomo Gakuen, a private-school operator, reportedly bought a 8,770-square-meter piece of land last June in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, for 134 million yen (1.2 million U.S. dollars), equivalent to only 14 percent of its appraisal price.

The land in question had been intended for a new elementary school with Abe's wife Akie as its honorary principal.

Yasunori Kagoike testified in both chambers of parliament last year, stating he thought the land deal involved "politicians' intervention."

The Abes, for their part, denied involvement in the land deal on many occasions.

During the press conference on Friday evening, Kagoike said the detention of him and his wife was politically motivated and called upon Abe to "tell the truth fair and square."

While declining to discuss his own case, he said the charges against his wife were "false accusations."

The Kagoikes were granted bail earlier Friday after a previous request was rejected last November.

The couple's bail was set at 8 million yen (73,000 U.S. dollars) and 7 million yen (64,000 U.S. dollars), respectively.

Due to the resurfacing of the Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Educational Institution scandals recently, the support rate for the Abe cabinet remained relatively low.

A survey released by Kyodo News earlier this month showed that the cabinet's support rate stood at 38.9 percent, while the disapproval rate was as high as 50.3 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 22:02:29|Editor: Lu Hui

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Huang Jiefu (3rd R), head of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee and chairman of the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, speaks during a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 25, 2018. Experts introduced China's reform and achievements in organ donation and transplantation to international peers, delegations and media here Thursday, and refuted allegations of living organ collecting in the country. (Xinhua/Alain Grosclaude)

GENEVA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Experts introduced China's reform and achievements in organ donation and transplantation to international peers, delegations and media here Thursday, and refuted allegations of living organ collecting in the country.

Huang Jiefu, head of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee and chairman of the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, said at a press conference that China's reform and achievements in this regard are illustrative of the World Health Organization (WHO's) guiding principles of equity, transparency and fairness.

"China's model of organ donation and transplantation features strong government support for the legal, administrative and health sectors, and progress of the capacity building of organ transplantation clinical service and technical development," he told a press conference sponsored by the Chinese Mission to the United Nations at Geneva.

China's State Council promulgated the Regulations on Human Organ Transplantation in 2007 and the National People's Congress promulgated the Eighth Amendment to the Criminal Law in 2011, which includes articles relevant to organ transplantation.

Huang said the above regulations and laws pave the way to serve as the legal foundation to stem all organ-related crimes in China.

What's more, Huang said China has also established a single mandatory national organ allocation computer system, which is interconnected with four transplant registries to ensure the traceability and fairness of organ distribution.

In 2015, a reform was accomplished in China prohibiting the use of organs from executed prisoners, and China has also prohibited foreign patients from undergoing organ transplantations in the country.

The Chinese government has authorized transplant hospitals by a licensing policy, and is now implementing a national anti-organ trafficking surveillance system.

"This big data system may serve as an example of an operational mechanism to combat organ trafficking for the rest of the world, empowered by information integration between health and legal authorities," Huang said.

The expert told reporters that China proposed last year to the World Health Assembly the development of a WHO task force to work with governments to better push forward the global governance of transplants, and the proposal is currently moving ahead smoothly.

"These developments in China represent a new era of organ donation and transplantation," he said.

In response to the rumors by some Western media that "China has a yearly organ transplantation volume of up to 60,000 to 100,000" and "organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners," experts attending Thursday's press conference said the rumors are not grounded in fact.

A figure given by Huang showed that from January 2010 to April 2018, 17,085 Chinese civilians volunteered to have their organs donated after their death, and over 48,000 solid organs were transplanted in China as well.

Zheng Zhe, an expert from Beijing Fuwai Hospital, said at the press conference that as an organ transplant doctor, he personally participated in and witnessed the changes regarding organ transplantation in China, and was proud of them.

In 2017, he said, China handled 5,146 organ donation cases after the death of the donors and 16,000 organ transplantations, so the rumor about60,000 to 100,000 annual organ transplantations in China was totally groundless.

Wang Haibo, an expert from the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, said that organ trafficking is a serious crime in China. Wang said that from 2007 to 2017, some 220 criminal suspects were captured and over 100 people were brought to justice.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 22:12:31|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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ANKARA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will do everything to protect its firms in cooperation with Iran from U.S. sanctions, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said Friday.

His remarks came after the U.S. Treasury Department decided to impose sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish individuals and companies in a bid to target Iranian airlines.

"Imposing sanctions against Iran has started, we are closely monitoring it. We will take every initiative to protect our companies cooperating with Iran," the spokesman said at a press conference.

Turkey is continuing talks with the U.S., he added.

In a statement on its website, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Turkish companies of enabling targeted Iranian airline Mahan Air to secure key aviation goods and services and sustain its fleet of Western-manufactured aircraft.

Turkish citizen Gulnihal Yegane and a network of firms based in Istanbul, including Trigron Lojistik, RA Havacilik and 3G Lojistik, are on the black list of U.S. sanctions.

According to the statement, these businesses purchased export-controlled U.S.-origin engines from foreign vendors, and forwarded them to Mahan Air.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 22:17:32|Editor: Xiang Bo

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HAMBURG, Germany, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Geely Fleet arrived at the Shell Technology Centre in German city of Hamburg on Thursday, to discuss together about future technology cooperation, as well as to highlight the strategic partnership.

"This journey has showcased the capacity of both Geely and Shell products and brands. In the 12 years of cooperation between Geely and Shell both sides have adhered to win-win cooperation," said Lin Xiaozhe, vice president (transmission) of Geely Powertrain Research Institute.

"In the future, we expect to expand our cooperation with the development of new energy vehicles to provide consumers with the energy efficient cars they demand," Lin added.

For the first time, Shell is powering Geely as its new fleet of Geely Boyue 4x4 cars travel across Asia and Europe to further strengthen their relationship.

The Boyue fleet, which began the tour on May 4 in Chinese city of Xi'an, is set to leave Hamburg on Friday for further trip. The entire tour will pass through 58 cities in 9 countries and span 18,000 km until early June.

"We want to showcase the Geely's capability globally, and how Shell has supported that evolution in terms of technology and brand," Ade Ajala, global marketing manager of Shell International, told Xinhua.

According to Ajala, to drive Geely cars across China and Europe, it is a great opportunity to showcase the capability of the Geely vehicles through different conditions and also to demonstrate that Geely goes global powered by Shell.

In the future, both companies look to work together to create a new model of eco-cooperation through brand cooperation, deeper and broader technical cooperation, global market cooperation, and comprehensive supply chain cooperation solutions to share industrial changes and explore new opportunities.
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopia National Metrology Agency (NMA) warned on Friday several regions in the country are at risk of floods caused by heavy rains.

NMA said the cloud cover in the next 10 days will grow thicker, hastening the likelihood of increased rainfall, reported state media Ethiopia News Agency.

NMA said Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa as well as parts of Oromia, Ethiopia Somali, Southern, Gambella and Benishangul-Gumuz regional states could be subjected to heavy rains and flooding.

NMA also urged farmers to undertake the necessary measures to guard against flash floods that can be possibly caused by heavy rains.

About 80 percent of Ethiopia's estimated 100 million population depends on rain fed agriculture for their livelihood.

"Farming and pastoralist communities around Awash, Akobo, Baro, Genale Dawa and Wabishebelle river basins could also be subjected to heavy downpours in the next 10 days," warned NMA.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 22:32:38|Editor: yan

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GUIYANG, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Guiyang National High-tech Zone on Friday signed a letter of intent with Imperial College London to build big data laboratories.

Two labs will be built in London and Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province. The labs will establish an air micro-environmental monitoring platform in the first phase.

Guizhou is a pioneer in big data in China due to its climate, power supply, and network infrastructure.

The project will help the Imperial College London introduce its research results to the province, said Han Ke, associate professor of Imperial College London.
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Federal Attorney General of Ethiopia on Friday dropped corruption charges against some former high-profile government officials.

Among the former Ethiopian government officials whose cases dropped on Friday are Melaku Fanta, the former Director General of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority with the rank of a Minister, and his deputy, Gebrewahed Woldegiorgis, who were arrested in 2013 together with other 11 individuals suspected of involving in large-scale corruption cases, state television EBC reported.

Alemayehu Gojo, former deputy minister of finance and economic cooperation, who was arrested last year as part of Ethiopia's biggest anti-corruption sweep in years, is also another high-profile defendant included in the Federal Attorney General's latest amnesty list.

Gojo, who is a member of Ethiopian Parliament, had his immunity revoked by a vote in the Parliament, a necessary step before he was prosecuted for corruption.

The attorney general, however, did not disclose the total number of corruption cases dropped as part of the latest amnesty program.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 22:47:42|Editor: Yurou

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Zambian President Edgar Lungu lays a wreath at the Freedom Statue in Lusaka, Zambia, May 25, 2018. Zambia on Friday joined the rest of Africa in commemorating the Africa Day. (Xinhua/Chanda Mwenya)

LUSAKA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Zambian on Friday joined the rest of Africa in commemorating Africa Day with President Edgar Lungu saying winning the fight against corruption was a stepping stone to transforming the African continent.

This year's Africa Day is being commemorated under the theme "Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa's Transformation."

The Zambian leader said in a televised address that this year's theme beckons countries to reflect on overcoming shortcomings as well as calls on countries to decisively deal with the things that have held the continent from realizing its full potential.

The adoption of the theme, he said, signifies Africa's collective commitment to the fight against corruption.

He further said Africa should be bold enough to confront the things that have gone wrong on the continent, adding that there should be no room to celebrate or abet vices that weaken the cohesion and freedom of people.

The president said his administration was determined to effectively implement corruption prevention measures by continuously improving corruption detection and promoting fast and effective court processes.

The main event held in Lusaka, the country's capital, started with the laying of wreaths in honor of people who died while fighting for the independence of the continent.

The solemn ceremony was characterized by solemn music as Lungu led other government officials as well as ambassadors accredited to Zambia in laying wreaths at the Freedom Statue.

The celebrations later moved to State House, the official residence and office of the Zambian leader, for a ceremony and luncheon were various individuals were honored for the contributions to the country's development.
MANDERA, Kenya, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Suspected al-Shabab militants raided a Kenyan mosque on Thursday night in the border town of Mandera and preached to Muslim faithful for several hours.

Local police said the heavily armed militants raided the Komor Haile mosque at the Kenya-Somalia border at 10 p.m. local time after Ramadan night prayers before fleeing at 2 a.m. on Friday.

A local resident said the militants forced themselves to the pulpit before snatching the microphone from the cleric who was delivering a sermon.

"They arrived when a sheikh was delivering a sermon, snatched the microphone and ordered him to sit and listen. We were shocked," said the local.

A resident said they were for hours unable to leave the village that is between Lafey and Mandera town.

A senior police officer in the area confirmed the incident, saying around 10 heavily armed militants believed to have crossed from neighboring Somalia raided the mosque and preached to the faithful for about three hours.

"About ten heavily armed al-Shabab militants entered a mosque in Fafi centre and asked for the whereabouts of area chief (local government administrator), positions of security personnel and Kenya Police Reservists (KPR) men. One of the KPR men escaped to the bush. They left later after the three hour incident," said the police officer who declined to be named.

The residents said the militants mostly launched tirade against the Kenya government, local civil servants and the security forces. It is not clear if the militants arrived on foot or used vehicles.

This is the second time the militants have preached their tirade verses - the first one being August 2015 at Hareri where they raided a mosque and preached against the Kenya government and security forces.

The preaching come barely a day after the government forced quarry workers to leave the mines for fear of an attack.

Olaka said the 27 miners will be charged in court for contravening a government order closing the quarries at the Somalia border with Kenya.
Steven Ferdman/Getty Images(NEW YORK CITY) -- Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein turned himself into police Friday morning in New York to face rape and sexual abuse charges before being released on bail.



But just six months ago, Weinstein was one of the biggest power players in Hollywood. Then, it all came crashing down.



Weinstein has maintained his innocence since late last year, with his representation stating time and again, "Any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein ... Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual."



So how did the 66-year-old go from Oscar winner to pariah, who will now face possible jail time if convicted?



Here's a look at how everything went down:



Oct. 5 - The New York Times runs the first story



"Harvey Weinstein paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades," was the headline of an explosive story in the Times, alleging that several women had over nearly three decades accused the producer of sexual harassment or unwanted physical contact.



Weinstein admitted wrongdoing in a statement to ABC News at the time and revealed that he'd be taking a leave of absence from his company.



But he also fired back at the Times through his attorney, Charles Harder, who said the newspaper story is "saturated with false and defamatory statements."



Oct. 8 - Weinstein out



As more victims took to social media and to other news outlets to share their stories of alleged abuse at the hands of the producer, Weinstein's very own company decided to cut ties with him.



"In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company -- Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar -- have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately," a statement from the company's board of directors to ABC News said.



Oct. 10 - "Harvey Weinsteins Accusers Tell Their Stories"



A second explosive story written by Ronan Farrow was published in The New Yorker. The piece featured a number of Weinstein's accusers -- including Asia Argento, Lucia Evans and Mira Sorvino -- sharing their stories of alleged abuse and harassment. At that point, the number of accusers against the producer had climbed into the dozens.



Oct. 10 - Weinstein's wife speaks out, leaves him



In a statement to People magazine, Georgina Chapman, the producer's wife of 10 years, announced she is leaving her husband.



My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions. I have chosen to leave my husband. Caring for my young children is my first priority and I ask the media for privacy at this time, she told the magazine.



Oct. 14 - Expelled from the academy, more bans to follow



Following the mounting allegations against him, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to expel Weinstein.



"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors met today to discuss the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and has voted well in excess of the required two-thirds majority to immediately expel him from the Academy," the organization said in a statement.



A couple weeks later, Weinstein was banned for life from the Producers Guild of America on Oct. 30.



Nov. 3 - NYPD looking into Weinstein



The New York Police Department told the media that there is enough evidence to arrest Weinstein for rape but that no warrant has been issued.



The chief of detectives said that though we have an actual case and there may be probable cause to arrest Weinstein, there was not yet enough information to seek an arrest warrant.



Nov. 15 - Weinstein sued for assault



An unnamed actress filed a lawsuit against Weinstein and The Weinstein Co. alleging that the disgraced media mogul sexually assaulted her twice.



The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by attorney Gloria Allred on behalf of "Jane Doe," alleges sexual battery and assault by Weinstein.



Jan. 10 - Weinstein slapped by patron during dinner



While living in Arizona, out of the spotlight weeks after the scandal broke, Weinstein was slapped in the face by a patron during dinner.



After slapping the producer in the face twice, the man yells, "You're such a piece of s--- for what you did to these women."



April 30 - Ashley Judd sues Weinstein



Judd, one of Weinstein's accusers, files a lawsuit against him, claiming that he damaged her career by blocking her from getting major movie roles in retaliation for turning down his advances.



"I lost career opportunity. I lost money. I lost status and prestige and power in my career as a direct result of having been sexually harassed and rebuffing the sexual harassment," Judd said. "My career opportunities, after having been defamed by Harvey Weinstein, were significantly diminished."



May 25 - Weinstein turns himself in



Weinstein turned himself into police to face rape and sexual misconduct charges, before being released on $1 million cash bail.



"Todays charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement. "I thank the brave survivors who have come forward, and my offices prosecutors who have worked tirelessly on this investigation."



Weinstein's attorney Benjamin Brafman told reporters after the hearing that his client will enter a plea of not guilty on all the charges brought against him. They have known about the investigation for several months and the charges "are not factually supported by the evidence, Brafman added.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Conifex Timber Inc. ("Conifex" or the "Corporation") (TSX:CFF) is pleased to announce that it has filed a preliminary short form prospectus with applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities with respect to a marketed offering of the Canadian dollar equivalent of approximately US$50  US$55 million (the "Offering") of subscription receipts (the "Subscription Receipts") of the Corporation.



The net proceeds of the Offering are expected to be used to partially finance the previously announced acquisition (the "Acquisition") by Conifex, through its wholly owned subsidiary, of all of the outstanding membership interests of each of Caddo River Forest Products, LLC, Suwannee Lumber Holding Company, LLC and Suwannee Timber Management, LLC (the "BW Group"), which own and operate the Suwannee sawmill in Cross City, Florida and the Caddo River sawmill in Glenwood, Arkansas.

The underwriting syndicate for the Offering will be made through a syndicate of underwriters led by Raymond James Ltd. and will include CIBC Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets.

Each Subscription Receipt will entitle the holder thereof to receive, without payment of additional consideration or further action, one common share of the Corporation upon closing of the Acquisition.

The Corporation will apply to list the Subscription Receipts and the underlying common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Offering is expected to close in June 2018 and is subject to receipt of the prior approval of the Offering by the Toronto Stock Exchange and other customary closing conditions.

For further information regarding the Acquisition, please refer to the Corporation's news release dated May 15, 2018 and the preliminary short form prospectus in respect of the Offering, a copy of which is available under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Subscription Receipts will be offered in all provinces of Canada other than Quebec. Subject to applicable law and the provisions of the underwriting agreement to be entered into between the Corporation and the underwriters, the underwriters may offer the Subscription Receipts outside of Canada, including in the United States in reliance on applicable private placement exemptions under United States federal and state securities law.

This Offering is only made by short form prospectus. There will not be any sale of the securities being offered until a receipt for the final short form prospectus has been issued. The description of the Subscription Receipts set forth above is qualified in its entirety by the subscription receipt agreement and the summary thereof contained in the preliminary short form prospectus.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or to U.S. Persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act), except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Corporation's securities to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons.

About Conifex Timber Inc.

Conifex and its subsidiaries' primary business currently includes timber harvesting, reforestation, forest management, sawmilling logs into lumber and wood chips, and value added lumber finishing and distribution. Conifex's lumber products are sold in the United States, Chinese, Canadian and Japanese markets. Conifex has expanded its operations to include bioenergy production following the commencement of commercial operations of its power generation facility at Mackenzie, British Columbia.

For further information, please contact:

Yuri Lewis, Chief Financial Officer at (778) 331-8687

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward looking statements with respect to Conifex and the proposed Acquisition and Offering, including statements regarding the expected use of proceeds of the Offering and the expected Offering and Acquisition closing dates. Although the Corporation believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on information currently available to the Corporation. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, among other things, include risks related to receipt of shareholder and regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other conditions to closing the Acquisition and those related to the Corporation's ability to complete the Offering on acceptable terms or at all, and other factors discussed in materials filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time including matters discussed under Risk Factors in the Corporation's 2017 Annual Information Form and the preliminary short form prospectus referenced herein, copies of which are available under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Corporation assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
JAKARTA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia is eyeing France, a major tourism market in Europe, to further boost foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia through collaboration with French travel organizers, an official at the Indonesian Tourism Ministry said.

Deputy Tourism Minister Nia Niscaya, who supervises marketing development in Europe, said collaboration with local French travel agents and organizers was a strategic move to increase the number of French tourists.

The progressing contacts with five prominent French travel agencies and organizers resulted in the commitment of those agencies and organizers to survey places and accommodations in Bali from July to August and bring significant number of French tourists to the renowned Indonesian resort island from September to November, she said.

"The French market is very interesting. It has good profile and market potentialities. Now it's a matter of how we can seize this opportunity," Nia said, adding that around 23.5 million French people travel abroad each year.

Most of those travel agencies and organizers called for direct flights from France to Indonesia to ensure increasing visits of French tourists to Indonesia, Nia added.

She said French travelers contributed significantly to global tourism spending as the country was ranked fifth with 40 billion U.S. dollars in 2016.

Together with Germany and Britain, France became a major propeller of Europe tourism spending in the year, which accounted for 48 percent of the global tourism market.

Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya supported the ministry's efforts to tap the French market by intensifying the collaboration with French travel agencies and organizers.

"This is a good move as France is apparently a promising market in Europe. We expect to see significant number of French tourist arrivals as the outcome of this concept," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 23:27:55|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran would be able to deal with the issues concerning new U.S. sanctions against a number of Iranian airlines and entities, an Iranian aviation official said on Friday.

Over the past years, "sanctions against Iran's aviation have been in practice in different forms but Iran could manage it," Reza Jafarzadeh, a spokesman of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, told official IRNA news agency.

"Iran aerial transportation industry will be able to protect itself against any cruel sanctions," Jafarzadeh was quoted as saying.

The United States on Thursday sanctioned nine individuals and entities for allegedly "procuring export-controlled, U.S.-origin goods for sanctioned Iranian airlines," and designated them as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).

U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also identified 31 aircraft in which entities previously designated as SDGTs have an interest.

The treasury said the newest designated persons and entities "have been procuring parts and providing services for the fleets of sanctioned Iranian airlines, including Mahan Air, Caspian Air, Meraj Air, and Pouya Air."

These actions were built upon U.S. President Donald Trump's decision earlier this month to cease the U.S. participation in the Iranian nuclear deal, also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and to begin re-imposing U.S. sanctions that had been lifted under the JCPOA.
WASHINGTON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said here Friday that the United States is talking to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and his planned meeting with the country's top leader Kim Jong Un could still happen after he canceled it on Thursday.

Speaking to the media at the White House, Trump said the meeting with Kim "could even be the 12th (of June)," adding that both the DPRK and the United States want the meeting to happen.

"We'll see what happens. We are talking to them now," Trump said. "They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it."

The canceled meeting had been slated to take place on June 12 in Singapore.

Earlier on Friday, Trump tweeted that the DPRK's latest statement regarding the meeting was "warm and productive," calling it "very good news."

"We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace," he tweeted.

While announcing his decision, Trump on Thursday also hinted that he could meet with Kim someday in the future, saying "We'd wait -- it's possible that the existing summit could take place, or a summit at some later date."

Trump's remarks came a day after he sent a letter to Kim, saying that the scheduled Singapore summit would not happen as it was "inappropriate" at this time to have this meeting "based on the tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed in the DPRK's most recent statements.

In response to the letter, the DPRK's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said early Friday that the country is ready to sit down with the United States any time in any manner for talks to solve the problems existing between them.

In the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Kye Gwan also said that Trump's decision to cancel the meeting does not conform to the international community's aspiration for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole world.
VIENNA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he is more confident after the negotiation with 5 major states in Vienna on Friday.

He said Tehran is waiting for the package of measures which could secure the interest of Iran under the historic nuclear deal after the United States' withdrawal.

It was the first meeting between China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Iran in a bid to save the Iran nuclear deal following U.S. pullout.

A source told Xinhua that Iran wanted the parties at the meeting to offer a package of solutions to secure Tehran's interest under the deal by the end of May, but no consensus of deadline was reached. And Iran may give more time for the parties to find the solutions.

Araghchi told reporters that his country is waiting for the package and to see if the solutions work for Iran.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 23:37:59|Editor: yan

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with former French President Francois Hollande at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that he had full confidence in the prospects for China-France ties.

Xi made the remarks when meeting with former French President Francois Hollande at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

"We paid visits to each other's country during your presidency and forged the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership, which has served as the sound foundation for the long-term development of bilateral ties,"said Xi.

"I have full confidence in the prospects for the China-France ties," he said, stressing that China and France reached broad consensus on expanding bilateral and multilateral cooperation during President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to China in January.

The international situation has undergone profound and complicated changes, while countries are becoming more interdependent and no country can stand aloof, said Xi.

China is willing to work with France to enhance strategic coordination, stick to multilateralism, jointly address global challenges and promote world economic growth as well as facilitation and liberalization of trade and investment, so as to help safeguard a world order that should be peaceful, stable, open and inclusive, he said.

China stands ready to enhance cooperation with the European Union, he added.

Hollande said he was glad that he had made efforts to enhance France-China ties during his presidency and injected impetus into the comprehensive strategic partnership.

Saying that he cherished his friendship with Xi, Hollande spoke highly of China's active role in international affairs under the leadership of Xi, especially China's important contribution to the Paris agreement on climate change.

He said he was happy to see the momentum of strategic cooperation between France and China can continue and be enhanced under the current circumstances, as this is conducive to multilateralism and resolving international and regional issues via dialogue and cooperation.
JOHANNESBURG, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The South African police are investing a fraud where more than 28,000 people were defrauded of a total of over 83 million U.S. dollars with promise of higher interests.

The police said Bitcaw trading company, commonly known as BTC Global, invited people to invest money and promised 2 percent interest per day, 14 percent per week and ultimately 50 percent per month.

South Africa's serious economic offences unit is currently investigating the case.

"This may prove to be the tip of the iceberg with potentially thousands more yet to discover they have lost money," said acting National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Yolisa Matakata.

"These is a timely reminder that unregulated, unusual investments at home or abroad come with a high risk that people could lose all their hard-earned pension and other saving," said Matakata.

Matakata said some of the investors got paid according to the agreement and the company failed to pay others and suddenly stopped disbursing funds.

The police invited people who invested in the company to come forward and promised to keep their details confidential.

Matakata said, "Despite the setback we want to assure the affected individuals that we are investigating the matter but due to the large volumes, it will take time to conclude."

The South African Reserve Bank has in the past warned people not to invest in pyramid schemes which are illegal.

The South African Banking Risk Information Center, an association of the banks has also warned people not to invest in the schemes which are "too good to be true."
WARSAW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Poland supports Romania's ambitions to accede to the EU's Schengen area border-control-free travel area, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Friday.

The Polish PM spoke after consultations with her visiting Romanian counterpart Viorica Dancila.

Polish and Romanian governments signed an agreement concerning the graves of soldiers and civilian war victims, as well as places of remembrance dedicated to them.

Morawiecki stressed that it was the first international Polish-Romanian consultation during which positions had been agreed upon on a number of issues. He also stated that Polish-Romanian cooperation has been exceptionally positive for years.

The Polish PM pointed out that the Three Seas Initiative, grouping the countries between the Adriatic, Black and Baltic seas, is not "against anyone", but rather strengthens the EU and this part of Europe.

"Romania is one of our absolute key partners, both in the fields of economic and trade cooperation, as well as in the fields of defense policy, cultural policy and the broadly understood European policy," Morawiecki said.

Dancila raised the issue of historical relations between the two countries, as well as cooperation in the areas of culture, the economy and the military.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 23:43:01|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Following a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Friday, a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official expressed hope about saving the landmark Iranian nuclear deal after the U.S. recent exit.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that he is "more confident about preserving the nuclear deal" after the talks with five other parties to the deal on Friday.

Iran is waiting for the measures by the remaining major world states to secure his country's interest under the historic deal after the United States' withdrawal, Araqchi was quoted as saying.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-25 23:43:01|Editor: yan

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HAVANA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Another Cuban survivor of last week's plane crash has died at a local hospital, raising the death toll to 112, local media reported Friday.

"With deep sorrow, the Ministry of Public Health informs to the population that today Friday, at 1:45 (0545 GMT) in the morning, died Emiley Sanchez from Holguin, survivor of the plane crash that occurred on May 18," said an official statement broadcasted by state-run Radio Reloj.

Sanchez, 40, was hospitalized in the intensive care ward of the Calixto Garcia hospital due to severe traumatic lesions and burns caused by the accident, according to the statement.

Three Cuban women had survived when the Boeing 737 aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Havana. Two of the women have now died, leaving only one survivor, Mailen Diaz, still in critical condition.

Diaz, 19, responds in a positive way to neurological stimulus and is conscious sometimes, according to earlier reports.

The plane, leased by local company Cubana de Aviacion from the Mexican airline Damojh, was en route to Holguin in eastern Cuba. The aircraft was carrying 113 people on board, including six crew members, all Mexicans, and five foreign passengers. The rest of the passengers were Cubans.

So far, the specialists from the Cuban Institute of Legal Medicine have identified 74 corpses of the victims.

Cuban authorities have already found the two black boxes containing the flight data and are still investigating the cause of the crash.

At the site of the crash, about 1 kilometer south of the airport, Cuban experts continue to work on collecting evidence. Local specialists were joined by Mexican aviation authorities, experts from Boeing, the plane's manufacturer, and U.S. personnel from the National Transportation Safety Board.
TRIPOLI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Libya's UN-backed government on Friday condemned a car bombing explosion in the eastern city of Benghazi late Thursday, which killed six and injured more than 20 others.

"The Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord condemns in the strongest terms the cowardly bombing that occurred on Thursday night in Jamal Abdannaser street of Benghazi," the government said in a statement.

Such attack will "only make Libyans more determined to fight terrorism," it added.

The eastern-based parliament House of Representatives also condemned the bombing, calling on all security agencies to "perform their patriotic duty to pursue the perpetrators and bring them to justice."

Meanwhile, the UN Mission in Libya expressed condemnation too.

"There is no justification for such attacks ... those who have organized and enabled this attack must be brought to justice," it said.

Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, has frequently been targeted by car bombs and suicide attacks.

In response to the deteriorating security situation, the city set up a joint security chamber of army and police officers.

Last year, the eastern-based army led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar managed to take over Benghazi after more than three years of fighting against terrorist groups in the city.
China and the United States have agreed to substantially reduce the massive trade imbalance between the two countries, according to a joint statement released over the weekend. Also over the weekend, China reportedly landed military aircraft on artificial islands it built in the South China Sea. Though these issues dont appear connected, they are: Both have to do with the relative power of China and the United States, and both deal with perceptions more than reality.

Since President Donald Trumps election, the United States has been deeply concerned with the balance of trade with China. For the United States, trade is a social issue. Increased trade with China has helped the U.S. economy as a whole by shifting production of certain goods to Chinas low-wage economy. But it has also created severe social stress among those left unemployed or underemployed, a significant part of U.S. society.

For the Chinese, utilizing their low-wage environment to entice Western businesses to transfer production to China was a fundamental element of their national economic strategy. It surged the Chinese economy but also left it vulnerable to the appetites of other countries, particularly the United States, for their goods at a time of global stagnation and intensifying competition among low-wage producers.

A trade war would hurt parts of both countries economies, but on the whole, China needs that trade more than the United States does. Therefore, the aggressive American stand inevitably led China to agree to reduce the trade imbalance. But agreeing to reduce the imbalance doesnt mean China actually will. Its still unclear how Chinese exports would be restrained or how Chinese purchases of American goods would be increased to create more balanced trade. The Chinese government can increase its controls over the mechanics of trade far more readily than the Americans can.

Both sides have an interest in declaring victory and continuing to do business as usual. The Chinese are not in a position to give up their trade surpluses with their major customer, nor can they endure the avalanche of other countries making similar demands. But the Chinese understand American politics: They know that the Trump administration wants a win, and they are likely calculating that Trump will settle for the appearance of victory. That might be true, but since Trumps political opponents are likely to point out that the emperor has no clothes, Trump will need to press the issue, and the Chinese have made what is for them a major concession. The pressure will continue from the U.S., and relations will deteriorate , but it is hard to see how China has much room to maneuver on this. Still, both sides have bought themselves some time.

Meanwhile, China continues to develop its military capabilities in the South China Sea . Last month, U.S. Navy Adm. Philip Davidson told the Senate Armed Services Committee that China can now control the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States because of its increasing military presence there. China has reportedly started to base some aircraft, including bombers, and missile systems on manmade islands in the region, causing concern among other Southeast Asian countries.



(click to enlarge) Some see this development as a major advance for China, but its hard to understand why. The Chinese bombers located on these islands would be used only in the case of war. And if a war does break out, these islands would be turned into craters. They do not affect U.S. naval power because they are small and their location is known. Neither satellites nor unmanned vehicles would be needed to locate them. Cruise missiles launched by air, sea or land could neutralize the islands rapidly. Certainly, the Chinese could build air defenses, but as we have seen in Syria, shooting down cruise missiles doesnt protect your position. Since any air defense system can be saturated by too many missiles, an attacking force could calculate how many missiles it will take to penetrate the system. And since cruise missiles are unmanned, the U.S. wouldnt hold back out of fear of taking on casualties in the way it might if neutralizing the Chinese positions required manned aircraft.

On the surface, these islands are hard to see as military bases at all. Given the size of the South China Sea, China could launch air attacks using manned or unmanned vehicles from bases on the mainland. Basing aircraft on these islands might give China a shorter time to reach some targets if it initiated conflict, but that advantage would quickly disappear. The islands are small, the number of aircraft that can be deployed on them is limited, and the first American response would eliminate them.

Theres a broader point about the strategic reality here. After years of trying to change the balance of power in the South China Sea by taking control of key islands, the Chinese have failed to do so. They have built the artificial islands to compensate for their failure. The advantage this deployment gives them would be militarily insignificant in a time of war. Its value is psychological  it improves Chinas international prestige as a rising power, and its useful for domestic Chinese consumption. (Although, this type of advantage requires vastly overestimating the significance of these islands.) As China must gesture accommodation on trade issues, it must gesture toward its growing military power.

Chinas power in both issues is less than it appears, at least at this point. The Chinese agreement to reduce the trade imbalance leaves open many opportunities for failure. The Chinese deployment of aircraft to artificial islands that are hard to defend opens new vulnerabilities to the Chinese. In both cases, the Chinese gestures have some importance. Each can conceivably become more important than it is now, but neither is as important as it appears.
PRETORIA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said despite some challenges, Africa has made significant strides in addressing economic, social and political challenges facing the continent.

Ramaphosa was addressing diplomatic corps in Pretoria commemorating Africa Day that marks the birth of the then Organization for African Unity (OAU) on May 25, 1963, which was transformed into the African Union (AU) in 2002.

"We take this opportunity to pay tribute to our forebears who bequeathed to us a dynamic vision of a unified and prosperous continent at peace with itself and the world. It laid the foundation for the unity of the continent and contributed immensely to the restoration of the dignity of African people," said Ramaphosa.

He stated that the African Union is on the right path setting norms and standards of governance and deepening the continent's economic integration.

Ramaphosa said South Africa won the war against imperialist because of the support from some African countries. He stated that South Africa's foreign policy is anchored on the Pan-Africanist.

"South Africa's foreign policy will always be rooted on the African continent, seeking to contribute towards Africa's renaissance. As we have done since our liberation, we are determined to redouble our efforts in contributing to peace and security, development and prosperity for Africa," said the president.

Ramaphosa said his country will always be grateful for the support they received from the African countries during the liberation struggle.

He also pledged support to the continental blue print of African Agenda 2063.

Recently African heads of state adopted the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The AfCFTA is expected to create a market of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars, thereby addressing poverty and unemployment.

Ramaphosa said, "This continental free trade area is a critical response to Africa's developmental challenges. It will enable Africa to significantly boost intra-Africa trade, improve economies of scale and to establish an integrated market. It will also be a catalyst for industrial development, placing Africa on a path to exporting value-added products, improving Africa's competitiveness both in its own markets and globally."

The South African President said the continental is now experiencing decline in armed conflicts leading to economic growth.

He expressed joy that some African countries like Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Senegal and Tanzania are part of the 10 fastest growing economies.

Ramaphosa expressed concern about some instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sahel region, Libya, Somalia and South Sudan.

Ramaphosa said 20 countries in Africa will hold presidential and parliamentary elections this year which is indicative of the deepening of democracy in the continent.

Abdelkader Naji, deputy chief of mission at the embassy of Morocco in South Africa, told Xinhua that Africa have made progress in various places even though more work still needs to be done.

Naji said there are few armed conflicts in the continent and improved economic growth.

"We need to improve intra-Africa trade and remove impediments which prevent trade and free movement of people in Africa. We also need to combat corruption and illicit financial outflows and governance issues," said Naji.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 00:13:07|Editor: yan

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GAZA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- For unemployed engineer Ahmed al-Ja'ouny from the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the holy fasting month of Ramadan is not only a happy Islamic festivity, but also a temporary job provider.

During the holy month, al-Ja'ouny sells qatayef, an Arab Ramadan dessert, in a small shop owned by his family in Gaza city's old town.

"I hope the whole year is Ramadan," said al-Ja'ouny, a father of four, as he baked pieces of qatayef.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a celebratory religious occasion during which they abstain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from dawn to dusk.

During the main iftar meal, the evening meal after Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset, Palestinians serve different kinds of dishes, while desserts, including qatayef, are always served after the meal.

Caring for food during Ramadan led the 28-year-old electric engineer al-Ja'ouny to focus on food-related work, mainly desserts.

"I learned how to make qatayef and I used my family's old store as a selling place," he said. "Qatayef is one of the main features of Ramadan for all Palestinians."

Qatayef is made of a mixture of flour, water, powdered milk and other materials. They are baked by being poured on the drum-like surface of traditional round ovens before being sold to be cooked at home and soaked in sugary syrup.

"I sell one kilogram for almost 1.5 U.S. dollars ... this is not too much, but still better than nothing," al-Ja'ouny told Xinhua.

The young man has been jobless since he graduated five years ago.

Unlike thousands of needy Palestinians, al-Ja'ouny does not receive any aid from the government, the United Nations or other local and international nongovernmental organizations, which makes his life tougher.

"I have been looking for any job since my graduation ... I know the situation in Gaza is very difficult, but I'm hopeful that I may find a good permanent job," al-Ja'ouny said.

Gaza has been placed under a tight Israeli blockade since Islamic Hamas movement seized the territory by force after routing forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

The blockade has pushed the 2 million population in Gaza deeper into poverty as extreme poverty hit 53 percent in 2017 compared with 37 percent in 2011.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, unemployment in the Gaza Strip reached 43.9 percent compared with 17.9 percent in the West Bank.

Gaza Chamber of Commerce and Industry warned in a recent report that the Palestinian coastal enclave is unable to create new jobs in the light of the high poverty and unemployment rates among the 2 million population.

The report said the private sector in Gaza is unable to provide any new job opportunities, while the public sector has the same difficulty due to the continued internal political division and the failure to achieve national reconciliation.

Moreover, the 30-percent salary cuts for government employees, which have lasted more than a year, make things worse.

Despite the deteriorating economic and living conditions in Gaza, the situation improves somehow during Ramadan since the rising demand for many commodities has helped create temporary jobs for young people.

Along with qatayef, the carob juice, a traditional Palestinian juice made of dried carob pods, water and sugar, is one of such popular commodities.

Although it is easy to make at home, Palestinians prefer to buy the carob juice from soft drink shops and vendors that can be effortlessly found during Ramadan.

Jamal al-Sousi, 18, seizes the chance of Ramadan to sell carob juice on Gaza city's streets.

"I sell the drink together with my two brothers as it is highly demanded by Gazans during Ramadan," al-Sousi said, while adding pieces of ice to the juice.

He explained that his sisters and mother help make the juice at home.

"We sell well. We almost sell all the juice every day. This helps us secure income during Ramadan," he said.
Palestinian unemployed engineer Ahmed al-Ja'ouny, 28, works inside his family shop to sell qatayef, an Arab dessert commonly served during Ramadan, in Gaza City, on May 23, 2018. (Xinhua/Stringer)

GAZA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- For unemployed engineer Ahmed al-Ja'ouny from the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the holy fasting month of Ramadan is not only a happy Islamic festivity, but also a temporary job provider.

During the holy month, al-Ja'ouny sells qatayef, an Arab Ramadan dessert, in a small shop owned by his family in Gaza city's old town.

"I hope the whole year is Ramadan," said al-Ja'ouny, a father of four, as he baked pieces of qatayef.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a celebratory religious occasion during which they abstain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from dawn to dusk.

During the main iftar meal, the evening meal after Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset, Palestinians serve different kinds of dishes, while desserts, including qatayef, are always served after the meal.

Caring for food during Ramadan led the 28-year-old electric engineer al-Ja'ouny to focus on food-related work, mainly desserts.

"I learned how to make qatayef and I used my family's old store as a selling place," he said. "Qatayef is one of the main features of Ramadan for all Palestinians."

Qatayef is made of a mixture of flour, water, powdered milk and other materials. They are baked by being poured on the drum-like surface of traditional round ovens before being sold to be cooked at home and soaked in sugary syrup.

"I sell one kilogram for almost 1.5 U.S. dollars ... this is not too much, but still better than nothing," al-Ja'ouny told Xinhua.

The young man has been jobless since he graduated five years ago.

Unlike thousands of needy Palestinians, al-Ja'ouny does not receive any aid from the government, the United Nations or other local and international nongovernmental organizations, which makes his life tougher.

"I have been looking for any job since my graduation ... I know the situation in Gaza is very difficult, but I'm hopeful that I may find a good permanent job," al-Ja'ouny said.

Gaza has been placed under a tight Israeli blockade since Islamic Hamas movement seized the territory by force after routing forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

The blockade has pushed the 2 million population in Gaza deeper into poverty as extreme poverty hit 53 percent in 2017 compared with 37 percent in 2011.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, unemployment in the Gaza Strip reached 43.9 percent compared with 17.9 percent in the West Bank.

Gaza Chamber of Commerce and Industry warned in a recent report that the Palestinian coastal enclave is unable to create new jobs in the light of the high poverty and unemployment rates among the 2 million population.

The report said the private sector in Gaza is unable to provide any new job opportunities, while the public sector has the same difficulty due to the continued internal political division and the failure to achieve national reconciliation.

Moreover, the 30-percent salary cuts for government employees, which have lasted more than a year, make things worse.

Despite the deteriorating economic and living conditions in Gaza, the situation improves somehow during Ramadan since the rising demand for many commodities has helped create temporary jobs for young people.

Along with qatayef, the carob juice, a traditional Palestinian juice made of dried carob pods, water and sugar, is one of such popular commodities.

Although it is easy to make at home, Palestinians prefer to buy the carob juice from soft drink shops and vendors that can be effortlessly found during Ramadan.

Jamal al-Sousi, 18, seizes the chance of Ramadan to sell carob juice on Gaza city's streets.

Palestinian unemployed Jamal al-Sousi,18, works inside his family shop to sell carob juice, a traditional Palestinian juice that is usually drunk during Ramadan, in Gaza City, on May 23, 2018. (Xinhua/Stringer)

"I sell the drink together with my two brothers as it is highly demanded by Gazans during Ramadan," al-Sousi said, while adding pieces of ice to the juice.

He explained that his sisters and mother help make the juice at home.

"We sell well. We almost sell all the juice every day. This helps us secure income during Ramadan," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 00:28:12|Editor: Yurou

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Palestinian protesters carry a wounded person during clashes with Israeli troops near the Gaza-Israel border, east of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on May 25, 2018. At least 25 Palestinian protesters were injured on Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers along Gaza's eastern border with Israel, the health ministry in Gaza said. (Xinhua/Khaled Omar)

GAZA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 25 Palestinian protesters were injured on Friday during clashes with Israeli soldiers along Gaza's eastern border with Israel, the health ministry in Gaza said.

The Israeli army has killed 115 Palestinians, after 24-year-old Sami Habib from Gaza City died of his wounds earlier in the day, and wounded around 13,000 others since March 30, the first day of the "Great March of Return" rally, Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry, told reporters.

The Highest Commission of the Great March of Return called the 9th anti-Israel Friday rally "Carry on Despite Blockade."

Yehya Sinwar, Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip, called for a mass protest on June 5, the anniversary of the Six-Day War in 1967 when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza.

A day earlier, Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders said the protests in eastern Gaza will carry on until the Israeli blockade, which has been imposed on the coastal enclave for 11 years, is removed.
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Friday visited textile and apparel manufacturing companies inside the premises of Ethiopia's flagship Chinese-built Hawassa Industrial Park.

Kagame, who is in Ethiopia for a three-day state visit starting Friday, prior to his visit to the Hawassa Industrial Park has received briefing by officials of the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) on the East African country's aspirations in the development of industrial zones in a bid to realize its ambitions of becoming the light manufacturing hub of the African continent.

Kagame, as part of his tour inside the Hawassa industrial park, has visited some of the international textile and apparel companies, including PVH, a company known for marketing diversified portfolio of brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.

He also paid a visit to the park's Zero Liquid Discharge facility, an environment-friendly sanitation facility.

Kagame's visit to the Hawassa industrial park and other infrastructures in Ethiopia is expected to share the positive aspects of Ethiopia's experience on the sector to Rwanda, according to the Ethiopian Government Communications Affairs Office.

The industrial park, which the Ethiopian government considers as a model for the construction of other industrial zones across the country, has proved successful immediately after its inauguration in July 2016. It has attracted world-class textile and apparel companies to the country.

Built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the Hawassa industrial park, located in Ethiopia's southern city of Hawassa, was completed in a record time of nine months.

The Ethiopian government has previously disclosed its plan to generate close to 1 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue from the park once it starts operations at its full potential.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 01:03:17|Editor: yan

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BEIJING, May 25 (Xinhua) -- China and Oman on Friday issued a joint statement on the establishment of strategic partnership between the two countries.

In the document, the two sides agreed that since the establishment of their diplomatic ties on May 25, 1978, political mutual trust and traditional friendship have continued to increase and cooperation in the areas of energy, economy and trade, connectivity and culture has yielded fruitful results. The two sides have broad prospects for cooperation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Oman's Sultan Qaboos Bin Said spoke highly of the rapid development of bilateral relations.

Based on the demands of developing China-Oman relations and the common will to enhance the level of their ties, the two heads of state decided to establish a strategic partnership between the two countries.

This is in the common interest of the two countries and their people and is conducive to the common development and prosperity of the two countries, said the statement.

Under this framework, both countries are willing to focus on the following cooperation:

The two sides agree to strengthen exchanges and consultations between leaders of both countries, maintain regular communication and coordination on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of common concern, continuously expand consensus, and consolidate and deepen mutual political trust.

The two countries support each other on issues concerning national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and emphasize the principle of non-interference in internal affairs.

Oman reaffirms its firm adherence to the one-China principle and recognizes that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, said the statement.

Oman supports the Chinese government's position on issues concerning Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and the South China Sea, while China supports Oman's efforts in safeguarding sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and national security and stability.

Oman welcomes and supports the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and is willing to actively participate in projects under this framework. It will continue to support and participate in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, said the statement.

China appreciates Oman's active participation in the Belt and Road construction and welcomes Oman to become a partner under the initiative.

The two sides are willing to further strengthen policy communication, enhance alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative and Oman's "Ninth Five-Year Plan" and actively implement the cooperative documents on the Belt and Road construction.

The two countries believe that the cooperation on production capacity and investment is an important part of the pragmatic cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides will synergize their development strategies and focus on cooperation in such areas as exploitation of energy resources, chemical industry, manufacturing and marine industries.

The two sides agree to make full use of the mechanism of the China-Oman Joint Committee of Economics and Trade, expand mutually beneficial cooperation in infrastructure construction, industrial parks, railways, ports, power stations and logistics, and promote the all-round development of bilateral economic and trade relations.

The two sides believe that energy cooperation is an important pillar of pragmatic cooperation and support further cooperation in such fields as crude oil trading, exploration and development of oil and gas resources, service engineering and refining and chemical industry. They agree to strengthen cooperation in new energy and renewable energy, the statement said.

The two sides are willing to promote financial cooperation. They support the discussion on the possibility of developing monetary cooperation and playing the role of own currency in bilateral trade and investment.

They encourage financial institutions of the two sides to provide financial support for bilateral trade and investment cooperation.

The two sides will carry out cultural exchanges in various forms to increase understanding and friendship between the two peoples, according to the statement.

China will provide more opportunities for Oman students to study in China and support Chinese language teaching in Oman. Both parties are willing to actively study the establishment of a Chinese cultural center in Oman.

The two sides are willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the areas of law enforcement security and anti-terrorism, strengthen intelligence and information exchanges and carry out technical cooperation and personnel training.

The two countries are willing to work together to promote the establishment of a free trade zone of the China-Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) as soon as possible, strengthen communication and coordination under the framework of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum, in order to promote the collective cooperation between China and the GCC and the Arab countries.

China and Oman share broad common interests in many major regional and international issues and will enhance cooperation and coordination in the United Nations and other international organizations, said the statement.

The two sides emphasize that the reform of the UN Security Council needs the consensus of all member states to advance in a balanced manner, reach the broadest consensus and seek a "package solution."

The two sides support the peaceful resolution to regional hotspot issues through dialogue and political negotiation, said the statement.

Oman appreciates the fair position and important role played by China in regional affairs, while China supports Oman in playing a greater role in regional affairs, it said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 01:23:19|Editor: yan

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VIENNA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he is more confident after negotiations with five major states here on Friday.

It was the first meeting between China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Iran in a bid to save the Iran nuclear deal following the U.S. pullout.

Araghchi said Tehran is waiting for a package of measures from the remaining countries in the deal which could secure the interests of Iran under the deal by the end of May.

However, no consensus of deadline was reached among the parties. Iran may give more time for all parties to find solutions, according to sources.

Araghchi told reporters that his country is waiting for the package and to see if the solutions work for Iran.

To save the deal, all sides need to find ways to continue its implementation, including monitoring of Iranian nuclear facilities, while looking for alternative measures to secure Iran's economic interests. Due to the nature of U.S. sanctions, however, this is proving a difficult task for the European Union.

A western diplomat familiar with the meeting said on condition of anonymity that they don't want Iran to leave the deal, and things need to be done to support Iran. However, the source added that offering solutions needs time.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 01:23:19|Editor: yan

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JERUSALEM, May 25 (Xinhua) -- About 87,000 Palestinians Friday passed through different crossings from Judea and Samaria to Jerusalem as part of the Ramadan prayers, according to a statement issued by the Israeli army.

Additionally, approximately 8,000 Palestinians visited the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in honor of the Ramadan, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.

IDF troops are prepared and reinforced, along with the ISA, Civil Administration, Border Police and Israeli Police forces, in order to enable the Ramadan prayers alongside protecting the communities and routes and maintaining order and security, noted the IDF in the statement.

In addition, the Israeli army also said in the statement that Friday evening an explosive device was hurled at IDF troops in the northern Gaza Strip and no injuries were reported.

According to the Israeli army, on Friday evening about 1,600 Palestinians assembled in two locations along the security fence on the Gaza Strip border and they hurled rocks and burned tires. Attempts to sabotage security infrastructure were identified.

IDF troops were responding with riot dispersal means and fire, and operating according to standard operating procedures, said the Israeli army.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 01:28:21|Editor: yan

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JERUSALEM, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The British HMS Duncan and Spanish frigate Victoria, commissioned by NATO forces, docked in northern Israel's Haifa port, the Israeli military said Friday.

This is the first time that the Spanish frigate docked in an Israeli port, said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in a statement.

Following the arrival, a joint NATO-Israeli naval exercise will be held as well as high-level meetings between Israeli Navy officers and their NATO counterparts, said the IDF.

It added that the exercise is indicative of NATO's commitment to the strategic relationship with the Israeli Navy, and to the maintenance of stability in the region.
PARIS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- French Prime Minister Edourad Philippe on Friday confirmed "an unprecedented commitment" to take on 35 billion euros (40.94 billion U.S. dollars) in debt from the state-run rail company SNCF to end the conflict with labor unions angry at a proposed sector reform.

After holding meetings with the country's main rail unions, Philippe offered to absorb 35 billion euros of the SNCF's debt load of 46 billion euros with 25 billion by 2020 and 10 billion euros at the end of President Emmanuel Macron's term.

"We will put an end to 30 years of non-decisions concerning SNCF's debt. Since the early 1990s, no government has actually addressed this problem," he told reporters.

"With this operation, the SNCF will be relieved of a very large part of the debt burden and it will regain financial leeway for the future. From 2020, it will be able to finance without difficulty like all companies, in 2022... it will be in balance," he added.

In order to give the company "a viable long-term business model," the prime minister also pledged an additional annual investment worth 200 million euros over the next four years to increase by 20 percent the number of trains linking Paris and Lyon, France's two largest cities, and slash by half accidents caused by poor infrastructure between Marseille and Nice.

As part of Macron's reform drive, the government targets to open domestic rail passenger services to create dynamism in the sector in addition to new rules of recruitment for "a more efficient and unified" rail operator.

With the aim, it proposed to scrap the special rail worker status, which allows workers to retire on full pension at 52, a decade before other French employees.

Rejecting the proposal, the country's unions started, in early April, a series of month-rolling nationwide rail strikes with a wave of two successive days out of every five days.

They planned 36 days of action for April-June period to force the president to reconsider his reform.

"Exchanges with the unions have always been conducted in a spirit of openness and firmness, by systematically announcing clearly what was open for negotiation and what was not," Philippe stressed.

"The reform proposed by the government was fully discussed in parliament and had led to a quite wide consultation with the trade unions. It is now complete," he said.

In a sign of no near end of the showdown over the reform, Laurent Brun, of the hardline CGT, the main largest union in SNCF, affirmed that "mobilization is more than ever necessary" despite that recent movement was losing momentum.

"The government seems more open but still has trouble committing itself," he was quoted as saying by local media.

French parliament, the National Assembly, on April 17, approved the rail sector reform on which the Senators will vote next month.( 1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollar)






Summary The migrant crisis that erupted in 2015 has drastically altered the landscape of European politics in several ways. It created a divide among EU member states, separating countries into two groups: those that willingly took in migrants and agreed to the quota system, and those that did not. The crisis has also encouraged the rise of anti-immigration, anti-establishment political parties, which now play key a role in politics in counties of the latter group.

In the past two years, migration has fallen significantly. The International Organization for Immigration reported that 172,000 migrants reached Europe by sea in 2017 compared to 363,000 in 2016. But regardless of the decrease in numbers, migration remains at the center of many political debates in Europe. It is especially pressing because most migrants who have arrived since 2015 are likely to remain on the Continent in the long term. Migration will therefore be a key political issue in Europe (and European elections) for years to come. Anti-establishment movements are highly invested in the immigration issue and wont let it fad away easily.

Immigration will also play a critical role in defining the European identity and the European Unions function in the future. Internationalists hope for a United States of Europe but lack the coercive mechanisms to make this dream a reality.

They are in direct conflict with those who want the EU to be secondary to the pursuit of national interests, whatever those interests may be. The debate will keep Europe internally focused as it faces divisions and struggles to define its path forward. This Deep Dive will assess the status of the migrant crisis today and the impact migration will have on the geopolitics of the Continent.



Geography Migrants coming to Europe can be divided into two categories: refugees fleeing war, often coming from the Middle East and South Asia, and economic migrants fleeing dire economic conditions, often coming from Africa.

For refugees from the Middle East and South Asia, Bulgaria and Greece are two major entry points. From there, migrants use three routes (all of which end in Austria and Germany) through the Balkans to access the rest of Europe. Though the Balkans is a predominantly mountainous region, the mountains have not acted as a natural boundary to curb the flow of migration, as refugees typically use rail and road transport for at least part of their journey The majority of people using these routes are fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. Of the illegal border-crossings through the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkans reported from January to March this year, 2,882 were from Syria, 1,833 were from Iraq, 1,046 were from Afghanistan, 806 were from Turkey, 430 were from Pakistan, 68 were from Kosovo and 57 were from Albania.

Migrants coming to Europe for predominantly economic reasons tend to originate from Africa and often use Italy and Spain as entry points. From January to March this year, Eritrea was the largest country of origin for migrants to the EU through the Central and Western Mediterranean with 1,552, followed by Tunisia with 1,190. Others included Morocco (507), Guinea (498), Mali (410), Nigeria (401), Cote dIvoire (310) and Pakistan (288).

(click to enlarge) Building Walls Due to the accessibility of modern transportation in this region, the mountains of Southern Europe do not act as an effective natural barrier against migration. Given that the EU is a free movement zone, its poorly defended external borders render it especially vulnerable. The EU was not established to deal with external security threats as a bloc, and diverging national political interests have hampered the establishment of common security policies.

The lack of a common foreign policy made it more difficult for the EU to stem the flow of illegal migration. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, was established in October 2016 to improve the security of the EUs external borders. Originally, Frontexs main mandate was to facilitate coordination between the border agencies of member states. In May 2018, the European Commission proposed the creation of a body consisting of 10,000 border guards to patrol the external borders of the Schengen area. In addition, the commission has proposed an increase in spending for 2021-27 by 35 billion euros ($41 billion), nearly three times the current budget, to protect the EUs external borders and manage migration. This proposal will likely be heavily diluted and include opt-out options after further negotiations, as is common for all EU policies.

Within the Schengen area, temporary border controls have been erected in an attempt to monitor and stem the flow of migrants. France implemented border controls as early as 2015, after a terrorist attack in Paris left 130 people dead. Germany has patrolled its border with Austria since September 2015 and, in September 2017, introduced systematic checks on incoming flights from Greece to prevent illegal entries. The Austrian government introduced checks on all external borders in September 2015, but later limited them to the borders of Hungary and Slovenia. All of these controls are due to be reassessed this month, but they will most likely be extended. France, for instance, confirmed in April that checks will remain at all border crossings, including airports and ports, beyond the May deadline. The aim of these border controls is to prevent migrants from entering member states illegally, thus forcing migrants to claim asylum at official checkpoints and borders.

In January 2018, Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the anti-immigration Freedom Party ordered the creation of a border protection unit. If another major influx of migrants were to occur, this standby police unit would secure border-crossings and carry out identity checks. Austria may also extend its checks to the German border. Last month, Kickl said this was a possibility for the second half of this year, when Austria will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Denmark introduced border controls in January 2016 for all of its land borders and sea routes to Germany. The Swedish government established border controls in November 2016 at ports in the south and west of the country, as well as on the Oresund Bridge, which connects Sweden and Denmark. Norway (which is not a member of the EU but still a member of the Schengen area) introduced checks on ferry routes to Denmark, Germany and Sweden back in 2015 and has boosted police checks along its Swedish border.

In Hungary, the government has spent more than 1 billion euros on strengthening its border defenses since the crisis began. This includes erecting a fortified barrier along its border with Serbia and Croatia. Likewise, fences have been erected between Slovenia and Croatia. And even Macedonia, a non-Schengen state, has built physical barriers along its border with Greece.

Under EU law, it is the member states, not the commission, that have the prerogative to reintroduce border controls. The commission can only issue an opinion on the necessity and proportionality of these measures. In 2016, the EU officially recognized the necessity of border controls.

The reintroduction of such controls is not a fatal blow to the free movement of citizens and legal residents in Europe; when crossing a border, one is only required to show an identity card or passport. These borders do not impact the ability of people within the free movement area to travel for business or leisure, or even to choose to reside and work in other member states. The border checks are of the same type as those between France and Britain, which is part of Europes free movement area but has opted out of the Schengen zone and therefore requires passport checks at its border. But the reintroduction of border checks among Schengen countries does help certain political parties make the case that national interests should trump those of the EU. Outsourcing the Problem Migration flows have fallen not because solutions to the crisis were found but because Europe has managed to outsource the problem to Turkey and Libya.

In 2016, the EU signed a deal with Turkey stating that people arriving illegally on Greek islands through the Aegean Sea, including asylum-seekers, would be returned to Turkey. Turkey agreed to improve conditions for refugees there, and it was understood that Turkey would use its security forces to intercept migrants and prevent boats from leaving its shores. In exchange, the EU agreed to several conditions. First, the bloc would provide 6 billion euros of assistance to Turkey, divided into two tranches, for dealing with refugees. The EU would also resettle Syrian refugees from Turkey legally; one refugee would be resettled for every illegal migrant returned to Turkey. The EU also agreed to grant Turks access to the Schengen zone by June 2016 if Turkey fulfilled 72 conditions on border security and human rights. Lastly, the EU agreed to renewed EU membership talks for Turkey.

These commitments have yet to be carried out. In June 2016, the European Commission announced that Turkey had failed to meet the 72 conditions and that visa liberalization was thus postponed indefinitely. At a press conference in Ankara last February, Erdogans spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin announced that Turkey had completed all the necessary conditions and submitted to Brussels a working plan for visa liberalization. So far, there has been no response. In March 2018, Turkeys ministry for EU affairs criticized the EU for not transferring the full first tranche of aid, which totaled 3 billion euros, to Turkey. In addition, the promise of renewed membership talks has yielded no tangible results.

The EU, on the other hand, has reaped the benefits of the deal. As a result of the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan, the number of arrivals on the Greek islands has fallen dramatically. A joint report issued in 2017 by the European Commission stated that irregular arrivals decreased by 97 percent. And though arrivals to the Greek islands still outnumber returns, the action plan has achieved its main goal: to contain one of the largest flows of refugees to Europe in the unions history.

Greeces highest administrative court, the Council of State, ruled in April that refugees and migrants who cross by boat from Turkey to the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Kos, Chios, Rhodes and Leros must be allowed to travel to the mainland instead of being held in camps, which are increasingly overcrowded. This decision applies to new arrivals, not to those currently held in camps on the islands. If the courts ruling is applied, the number of migrants reaching Greek shores will likely spike once again; and after reaching the Greek mainland, migrants will attempt to move further inland to Central Europe. So although Europes containment of refugees arriving through Turkey to Greece has reduced flows since 2016, it remains fragile.

The number of migrants coming to Italy from North Africa has also been contained, this time through cooperation with Libya. Of all the migrants that reached the European Peninsula by sea in 2017, almost 70 percent arrived in Italy. Thus, Italys efforts to curb migration flows have had a significant impact on the total number of migrants arriving on the Continent. The EU did not make a deal with Libya similar to the one reached with Turkey for several reasons. First, there are three competing governments in Libya and numerous clan-based militias that answer only to themselves. Thus, there is no central authority that could follow through on a deal. Second, the EU-Turkey deal labels Turkey as a safe country for refugees. There is simply no way such a determination could be made about Libya given the countrys current state of affairs. This has left Italy to solve its immigration problems on its own.

Italy has reached out directly to Libya, a former colony and an old ally. Geographically, Libya is the most convenient place from which migrants from Africa can reach Europe via Italy or even Greece. During Muammar Gaddafis rule, Libya made an arrangement with Italy to contain migration. When the civil war broke out there and Italy sided with the rebels, Gaddafi threatened to release migrants to Italy. This inevitably occurred after the collapse of Gaddafis regime and his subsequent death, with smugglers taking advantage of the disorganized and ineffective coast guard.

(click to enlarge) In 2017, Italy took steps to change this. In April of that year, Italys interior minister mediated a peace deal between tribal groups that control trafficking routes from Algeria, Chad and Niger. The Italian coast guard trained the Libyan coast guard and sent aid to repair Libyan service boats. Furthermore, Italy forced aid groups rescuing migrants to operate far from the Libyan coast. The idea behind this was that if migrants knew help was less accessible, fewer would take the risk.

The interior ministers biggest victory was reaching an agreement with clan-based militias along the Libyan coast west of Tripoli, which helped stem sea-based human trafficking to Italy. The Italian government has denied making any direct payments to militias. Instead, it says aid has been funneled through the UN-backed government in Tripoli, including vehicles, boats and salaries to militias in the western Libyan city of Sabratha, the largest launching point for migrants across the Mediterranean. Several unity government officials have told The New York Times that Rome also increased payments and supplies of equipment to militias in other coastal smuggling hubs, including Zuwarah.

The Italian strategy has proved extremely effective at reducing flows. Migrant arrivals from Libya fell by about 50 percent between June and July 2017, the month the deal was reached, and have since remained low. The bargains made with the rebel groups, however, remain fragile: They depend on continual buying of support from militias that have the upper hand at the bargaining table.

(click to enlarge) Italys arrangements in Libya, which have gained support from several EU governments, have faced legal challenges. Allegations that these arrangements have led to human rights violations, including torture and slavery, were made this month after a case was filed in the European Court of Human Rights against Italy. Global Legal Action Network, a U.K.-based nongovernmental organization, and the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration, an Italian NGO, filed the case on behalf of 17 Nigerians who survived a sea rescue operation in November 2017. These migrants were attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy and were returned to Libya, where they say they were verbally and physically abused. The submission is supported by the Italian nonprofit ARCI and Yale Law Schools Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, among others. The legal process can take up to three years. Should Italy lose, it may be forced to stop equipping, training and coordinating with the Libyan coast guard. If this happens, more migrants are likely to reach Europes shores. This case serves as a demonstration of the fragility of European containment strategies. Europe Divided Migrant flows may be receding for now, but the affects of the migrant crisis are going nowhere. The immigration issue has divided European states both internally and among themselves, and the influx of migrants from outside of Europe has played into to the hands of populist parties across the Continent.

These parties share a common theme: rejection of the establishment, both at the national and the EU level. This anti-establishment view is anchored in the economic downturn following the 2008 economic crisis and the subsequent austerity programs imposed on the eurozone under Berlins leadership. Populists often denounced these economic policies as being contrary to the interests of the nation, but they were imposed nevertheless by governing elites serving other, non-national interests. Most populist parties adopted similar rhetoric over immigration policies, in particular the attempt by Brussels to establish quotas for refugee intake by member states.

Concerns about Muslim migrants have become a key topic of debate in domestic elections. The main point of contention is how many people should be taken in and whether the mechanisms proposed by Brussels to deal with the migrant inflow are appropriate. In the 2016 French election, Marine Le Pens National Front faced off against Emmanuel Macrons En Marche, which took a softer stance on migration but still argued for controls. In the German election last year, Chancellor Angela Merkel and then Social Democratic leader Martin Schulz both said that Muslims are part of Germany. Merkel defended her 2015 open door policy, which has divided not only her party but also the Social Democrats. In the Hungarian election, a central pillar of Prime Minister Viktor Orbans campaign was that if he was not elected, Hungary would be overrun by refugees. During the 2018 Italian election, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denounced illegal migrants living in Italy as a social time-bomb ready to explode, pledging mass deportations. The other member of his Forza Italia coalition, the League (previously called the Northern League), agreed with his position, arguing that migration should be controlled. The Five Star Movement, the party that won the most votes in the election, strongly criticized how Brussels has dealt with the influx of migrants. The Italian Democratic Party defended the deal engineered with Libya.

The main geopolitical impact of the migration crisis has been the weakening the EU through internal divisions. These run, broadly speaking, between the east and the west. This split is intimately connected to who holds power in member states. Anti-immigration populists have had the most success in Eastern Europe, in countries such as Poland and Hungary. The immigration issue has, as a result, become an even more important topic in domestic politics in these countries because it is a means for parties to mobilize their base. These parties vehemently criticize the softer immigration policies of Western Europe and those engineered in Brussels to spread the burden of migrant resettlement across the EU. The Hungarian government has consistently framed the immigration debate as a choice between a multicultural EU and a Europe based on Christian values. In essence, the immigration debate has brought to the forefront questions about the EUs core principles and future.

Anti-immigration parties have a stronger presence in post-Soviet countries than in Western member states for two reasons. First, there is a different historical experience with immigration in these two regions. After World War II, Western Europe took in large numbers of non-Christian migrants from multiethnic backgrounds, particularly from former colonies. France, for example, saw an influx of Algerians fleeing the civil war from 1954 to 1962. In Britain, immigrants arrived from the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean. In general, from the 1960s onwards, the majority migrants to Western Europe came from outside the Continent, including people arriving as guest workers. Germany, for example, signed treaties with Turkey (in 1961), Tunisia (in 1965) and Morocco (in 1965).

Post-Soviet counties, on the other hand, historically have had fewer migrants of diverse ethnicities, religions and cultures. While it is true that non-Europeans came to the Soviet Union for schooling, they came in much lower numbers compared to those who went to Western Europe. And since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, there have been no large waves of non-European migrants to Eastern Europe. The fact that Eastern Europeans have had less interaction with migrants of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds makes it much easier for populist leaders to frame non-European migrants as a threat to their nations.

The second reason why anti-immigration parties have a stronger presence in post-Soviet Europe is that those parties also typically reject liberal social values that are more prevalent in Western member states and instead support Christian-based values. Since the collapse of the officially atheist Soviet bloc, Christianity has re-emerged as a pillar of national identity. Therefore, populist rhetoric about the threat from Muslim migrants has gained much more traction in this region of Europe than in Western states, which tend to be more secular. These differences in historical trajectories illustrate why populists have had more success in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe, cementing the East-West rift over immigration policy.

The most controversial measure proposed by Brussels on immigration was refugee quotas. A resettlement plan for 160,000 asylum-seekers was launched in 2015 to relieve pressure on Italy and Greece, the main countries of entry for migrants. The aim was to spread the refugee burden among member states based on the size and wealth of each country. Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary voted against mandatory quotas, but to no avail. However, the program was curtailed in September 2017, after the transfer of fewer than 28,000 refugees. The same month, Slovakia and Hungary sued the EU for its quota policy, but the European Court of Justice ruled against them. Nevertheless, since the quotas were initially assigned, the Czech Republic has accepted only 12 of the 2,000 asylum-seekers it was supposed to take in, while Hungary and Poland have accepted none. In December 2017, the European Commission launched a legal procedure against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic at the European Court of Justice for refusing to accept refugee quotas. But these governments will likely only face fines.

Currently, under the EUs Dublin Regulation, a refugee or migrant must register in the first EU country of arrival and cannot seek asylum elsewhere for six months. This system is meant to prevent migrants from claiming asylum in several EU countries at the same time. With the June 2018 EU summit approaching, Bulgaria, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, has proposed extending that period to 10 years. This proposal is supported by Berlin but has met fierce criticism from Italy and Greece. Others have proposed encouraging voluntary allocations of refugees from those countries that are hardest hit to others. These voluntary allocations would be encouraged with financial incentives, and mandatory quotas would be imposed only if migrant numbers spike again. The 2021-27 budget plan proposes linking EU cohesion funding  which supports economic development and investment in member states  to new conditions that include the acceptance of refugees. With this new condition, Brussels is trying to penalize members that do not accept migrants and reward those that do. As with most of its policies, the EU can incentivize this behavior but ultimately cannot force its will on member states.

Conclusion Migrant flows are receding for now, but the divisions in Europe they have brought to the surface are not. The East-West divide between states willing to take at least some refugees and those resisting any efforts at redistribution continues to deepen. In 2015 alone, over 1 million migrants arrived in Europe. Although steps are being taken on the national level to integrate migrants, populists will continue to use the issue for years to come to gather electoral support by portraying migrants as a threat to the nation. Most migrants come from regions that remain unstable and the deals struck to contain migrant flows in Libya and Turkey remain fragile. As a result, Europe might face another wave of migration in the coming years, and the EU is little more prepared than it was in 2015.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 01:28:25|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Following a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Friday, a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official expressed hope about saving the landmark Iranian nuclear deal after the U.S. recent exit, official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that he is "more confident about preserving the nuclear deal" after the talks with five other parties to the deal on Friday.

"In the meeting all the member states in JCPOA unanimously expressed their commitments to the deal," Araqchi was quoted as saying.

They also regretted the U.S. withdrawal from the deal and announced their determination to adopt measures to preserve Iran's interests as well as normalizing economic ties with Iran, he said.

Iran is waiting for the measures by Europe, Russia and China to safeguard his country's interests under the historic deal after the U.S. withdrawal, Araqchi was quoted as saying.

Over the next weeks, the negotiations will continue at different levels, and the Islamic republic will then decide whether to stay in the 2015 nuclear deal, said the Iranian diplomat.

On Friday, Araqchi met his counterparts from Europe, Russia and China to discuss the future of nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
(L to R) Secretary General of the European Union External Action Service Helga Schmid, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano and political deputy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Abbas Araghchi attend a special meeting of the Joint Commission of parties to the JCPOA on Iran's nuclear deal at Coburg palace in Vienna, Austria on May 25, 2018. (AFP photo)

TEHRAN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Following a meeting in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Friday, a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official expressed hope about saving the landmark Iranian nuclear deal after the U.S. recent exit, official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that he is "more confident about preserving the nuclear deal" after the talks with five other parties to the deal on Friday.

"In the meeting all the member states in JCPOA unanimously expressed their commitments to the deal," Araqchi was quoted as saying.

They also regretted the U.S. withdrawal from the deal and announced their determination to adopt measures to preserve Iran's interests as well as normalizing economic ties with Iran, he said.

Iran is waiting for the measures by Europe, Russia and China to safeguard his country's interests under the historic deal after the U.S. withdrawal, Araqchi was quoted as saying.

Over the next weeks, the negotiations will continue at different levels, and the Islamic republic will then decide whether to stay in the 2015 nuclear deal, said the Iranian diplomat.

On Friday, Araqchi met his counterparts from Europe, Russia and China to discuss the future of nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
CHICAGO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. export of corn-based ethanol to China grew 57 percent for the 2017/18 marketing year, reaching 77 million gallons, according to a Wisconsin Ag Connection report on Friday.

The report said U.S. year-to-date exports of corn-based ethanol reached approximately 982 million gallons for the 2017/18 marketing year, up 16 percent from the past year. Brazil remained the top importer of U.S. ethanol while China is the fourth largest importer.

Rapidly-growing Chinese ethanol market also encouraged U.S. producers to study Chinese ethanol market and policy. In the recent Ethanol Summit of the Asia Pacific held in Minneapolis, U.S. ethanol industry and U.S. officials, as well as Industry and government officials from 17 countries joined in a session dedicated to the development of ethanol policy and use in China.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 01:58:30|Editor: yan

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CAIRO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's agricultural exports of vegetables and fruits increased to 2.88 million tons during the current season, state-run news agency MENA reported on Friday.

Egypt exported 1.19 million tons of citrus and 672,000 tons of potatoes, a noticeable increase, the report said, quoting a statement by the Central Administration for Agricultural Extension Services.

Other agricultural exports, including onion, beans, strawberries, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, pomegranate, mango, and grapes also increased, the report said.

Egyptian Agriculture Minister Abdel Moneim El Banna attributed the increase of Egypt's agricultural exports to the ministry's efforts to guarantee the safety and quality of the Egyptian crops.

Egypt has succeeded in opening new markets for agricultural exports, particularly in European Union and East Asian countries including China, Banna said.
OSLO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Artificial intelligence (AI) will help both insurance companies and customers in Norway to save money if the latter are willing to share private information, public broadcaster NRK reported Friday.

Norwegian insurance company Sparebank 1 Forsikring has decided to utilize artificial intelligence in providing insurance. This technology will allow monitoring people who are on holiday.

The company expects to save millions of dollars only on controlling glass damages, the report said.

"A customer can be for example notified that a flood is heading towards the house or that the person is moving in an area where there is a lot of pickpockets," Lars Erlend Leganger from Sparebank 1 Forsikring told NRK.

Leganger expressed belief in a future where it is forced to share personal information with the insurance companies to get a good price on the insurance, but "this is not necessarily a solution or a goal of how the future's insurance will be."

"One should respect that not everyone wants to share such information with their insurance companies, but if someone feels like it, I think that companies should face the challenges and get ready with the security services," he said.

The company, however, has no specific plans to offer such services, and would eventually first assess whether the customers are willing to share that type of information, Leganger explained.

Catharina Nes, specialist director at the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, warned on necessity to be careful when collecting personal date.

"When the insurance companies now apply new technology, there are in practice no limits on how much data they can collect from us. Insurers are therefore facing some dilemmas in the future..." she told NRK.

Nes added that data collection, when being too extensive, may impose restrictions on people's lives.

"You become more aware of how you behave to get a favorable price. This can of course be good. But it can also mean that people avoid doing completely legitimate things that they would otherwise do. That would be a life in which everyone lives on the narrow path," she said.

According to Nes, insurance companies must avoid that customers feel pressured to share data to get better and cheaper insurance.

"Otherwise, we can get a development where those who do not want to be traced get so expensive insurance that they rather choose to save money in bank," she said.

In a survey conducted by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority , only 13 percent of Norwegians stated that they wanted a development where insurance prices were calculated from detailed sensor information from their everyday lives.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 02:43:37|Editor: yan

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GENEVA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday granted an international emergency medical team (EMT) from China the highest level within the WHO EMTs initiative, making China the top country with the most WHO-certified EMTs.

During the ongoing 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hosted a brief ceremony of certification for China International Emergency Medical Team (Sichuan) at the UN Office in Geneva.

Consisting of 166 personnel, including 41 doctors and 65 nurses, the team is a partnership of several hospitals from China's southwest Sichuan Province. It's the first Chinese medical team to be verified as Type 3, the highest level in WHO's ETMs initiative, capable of treating 200 outpatients and performing 15 major surgical procedures and 30 minor surgical procedures per day.

At the ceremony, Dr. Tedros said he had planned to expand the WHO EMTs to include about 50,000 medical professionals in the next few years, and expects even more support from China. "Thank you, brothers!" he said in Chinese to the team members after the ceremony.

The team from Sichuan is the third Chinese EMT that has been certified by the WHO. Back in 2016 and 2017 respectively, two other EMTs from China's Shanghai and Guangdong were also granted the certification, making China the only country that has contributed three international EMTs to the WHO initiative which consists so far of 15 teams.

The WHO EMTs project was launched in July 2015 to quality-assure and peer-review global teams, in light of past shortcomings where medical personnel self-responded without necessarily right skill-set, training, supplies or equipment. It aims to help countries affected by disasters, outbreaks and emergencies to identify teams that are appropriately trained and equipped when they seek international medical assistance.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 02:58:40|Editor: Yurou

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Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa (R) speaks to his Equatorial Guinean counterpart Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo before bidding a farewell at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, May 25, 2018. Mbasogo finished his two-day visit to Zimbabwe Friday.(Xinhua/Wanda)

HARARE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday paid tribute to the founding fathers of the African Union (AU) for their vision of a united Africa.

Speaking to journalists at the Robert Mugabe International Airport where he was seeing off visiting Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Mnangagwa said it was time Africa moved beyond political cooperation to economic integration.

"We are grateful to the founding fathers of the AU and remembrance of their vision for Africa to be united, we will continue to remember and honor Africa Day," he said.

He said the recently formed African Continental Free Trade Area was a huge step towards economic integration of Africa.

"Again the last summit in Kigali which created the African Continental Free Trade Area is enhancing the vision for Africa to be united both politically and economically, for economic cooperation. This is where Africa is going," he added.

The continent on Friday marked 55 years since the AU, then Organization of African Union, was founded.

Mbasogo, who spoke through an interpreter, echoed Mnangagwa's sentiments saying there is need for the AU to enhance cooperation among member states.

"It is a wonderful day. Africa has been brought together one more time. We are almost there as a free continent except for the need for Africa to have closer cooperation in economic areas and political areas," he said.

Commenting on his two-day visit to Zimbabwe during which he held talks with his counterpart Mnangagwa and former President Robert Mugabe, the Equatorial Guinea leader described it as wonderful.

"It has been a wonderful visit. It has afforded me the opportunity of meeting new members of government," he said.

He pledged to continue working with Mnangagwa's new administration.
CAIRO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's ready-made garment exports reached 511 million U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2018, up 14 percent year on year, the state-run news agency MENA said on Friday.

The exports to the United States increased to 247 million U.S. dollars from 216 million dollars during the same period in 2017, the report quoted the Ready-Made Garments Export Council as saying.

Egypt's ready-made garment exports to Europe registered 173 million U.S. dollars, up 20 percent, and to the African countries were up by 40 percent to reach 940,000 U.S. dollars, the report said.

Garment exports to Arab countries dropped by 11 percent to 24 million dollars, compared with 27 million dollars in the first quarter of 2017.

Top countries that are interested in the sector are the United States, Turkey, Spain, Britain, North Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Saudi Arabia, Belgium and the Netherlands.
BRUSSELS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday called on Russia to "accept responsibility" for MH17 downing.

In a statement, the NATO chief said the Netherlands and Australia announced that they hold Russia responsible for its part in the downing of flight MH17 on July 17, 2014.

Stoltenberg said: "Yesterday's interim report of the joint investigation team on the downing of MH17 concluded that the missile launcher used to shoot down the plane originated from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Brigade of the Russian Federation, stationed in Kursk."

"Those responsible must be held accountable," he added.

The Russian Defense Ministry Friday refuted the accusation, saying that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991.

The Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashed in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board died, including 196 Dutch citizens.
KAMPALA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health on Friday announced that the east African country was facing a shortage of a critical drug used to fight opportunistic infections among people living with HIV.

Charles Olaro, acting Director of Health Services in a statement, said the countrywide stock out of antibiotic Septrin, which is used to treat and fight conditions like flu, malaria, diarrhea and tuberculosis due to challenges in the delivery by the manufacturers and suppliers.

Olaro said although the funds for the procurement of the drug were availed there were challenges with the lead time from manufacture to delivery that has resulted in the drug being out of stock.

Local media reported that most of the public health facilities in the country have not received Septrin since January.

The ministry urged people living with HIV to obtain the drug from alternative sources as they wait for the government delivery in the next one month.

"By July 2018, the supply of Septrin will be fully restored and distributed to all health facilities affected by the shortages," said the statement.

At least some 1.4 million people are living with HIV in the East African country, according to the ministry of health figures. Government gives the drugs to people living with HIV free of charge.


Italy illustrates the way to liberal democracys demise



Complacency about the rise of populists is typical of failing political systems



Wolfgang Munchau





The League leader Matteo Salvini, who is looking to take Italy out of the euro  AP





Comparing todays populists and nationalists to the Nazis and fascists of 80 or 90 years ago is pointless. But I see much clearer parallels between the fall of Germanys Weimar Republic and the vulnerability of Europes liberal elites. Some of the current defenders of the liberal order are making the same mistake as, for example, the German Centre party of the early 1930s, by underestimating the scale of the threat that they face.



Harold James, a professor of history at Princeton University, has recently given us 10 reasons why our political systems today share some of the self-destructive characteristics of the Weimar Republic. One is the strength of the economic shock. Another is an excessive optimism about the power of constitutions to protect the system.



I would like to offer some additional thoughts on the role of complacent narratives  the stories we tell each other that make us feel better. As a commentator on eurozone affairs, for example, I keep hearing that an Italian exit from the euro cannot happen because it is not allowed. Italys constitution, for example, makes it impossible for a government to rescind international treaties by referendum.



This argument not only overestimates the power of constitutional law to protect us from illegal acts by governments, as Prof James pointed out. It also ignores the circumstances under which a country would leave the eurozone. All its government would need to do is engineer a financial crisis, declare force majeure, and introduce a parallel currency over a long bank holiday weekend. There is nothing in the Italian constitution to prevent a financial crisis or to stop a government from giving people the means to buy food.



This is also why it does not matter why the Italian coalition agreement no longer contains a formal euro exit clause, as it did in an earlier draft. We know that Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, wants to create conditions for a euro exit. We also know that some, though not all, members of the Five Star Movement, their potential partners in government, want that too.



That is all we need to know.



Another argument is that the financial markets would frustrate such a rebellion. Those who make it again commit the error of attaching the mindset of a centrist politician to that of Italys new leaders. Centrists, in Europe at least, have an emotional need to be considered fiscally conservative. Centrists look at bond spreads the way deer stare at headlights. To someone such as Mr Salvini, a financial crisis is not a threat but a promise, one that allows him to pull the plug on euro membership.



A third argument is the supposedly super-human ability of the Italian president to prevent disaster. Italys constitution has (wisely) given the president strong powers. The president has the right to appoint ministers and can refuse to sign legislation deemed incompatible with the constitution. But presidential mandates are finite, and even a strong president such as Sergio Mattarella cannot tell MPs and senators to pass a eurozone-compliant budget.



A fourth argument is that the centre will always be able to stitch things up. Really? I recall the attempt by the Democratic party and Silvio Berlusconis Forza Italia last year to change the electoral system in their favour. They miscalculated the sheer scale of support of the populists. You cannot save liberal democracy through gerrymandering.



The centrists are now resorting to the hope that the politically rehabilitated Mr Berlusconi could once again strengthen their hand. I see no evidence for this view. And what does it say about Italian politics if its future could only depend on the man who is primarily responsible for the countrys economic disaster?



Fifth, I hear it said that, if all else fails, there is always the European Central Bank. Mario Draghi, its president, saved the eurozone in 2012, but can he save liberal democracy? His main anti-crisis tool, a programme known as Outright Monetary Transactions, is irrelevant in this case. OMT was designed for rule-compliant governments that find themselves under a speculative attack by investors. That is not the case here.



Finally, there is the hope that the economic recovery will benefit the centrist parties. I think the opposite is the case. Five Star and the League will generate a recovery through a large fiscal stimulus  and will gain the credit for it. They are in power precisely because the centrists have failed to deliver on the economy. The truth is that there is no such thing as a technical backstop for liberal democracy.



Herein lies the main lesson of the Weimar Republic. If liberal democracy fails to deliver economic prosperity for a sufficiently large portion of the population over long periods, it ends  along with the financial and economic institutions it has created.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 03:23:46|Editor: yan

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VIENNA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- After the United States pulled out of the historic Iran nuclear deal, five major states and Iran met here on Friday, promising to work together to explore ways to save it.

The parties indicated more confidence was built after the meeting.

It was the first meeting between China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Iran in a bid to save the Iran nuclear deal following the U.S. pullout.

To save the deal, all sides need to find ways to continue its implementation, including monitoring of Iranian nuclear facilities, while looking for alternative measures to secure Iran's economic interests. Due to the nature of U.S. sanctions, however, this is proving a difficult task.

Signal was clear that all sides involved were committed to saving the Iranian nuclear deal by offering Iran a package of solutions to compensate for the United States pulling out.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he is more confident after negotiations with the five major states on Friday.

In a statement, the EU said its priorities over the next few weeks would include "maintaining and deepening economic relations with Iran, the continued sale of Iran's oil and gas, effective banking transactions with Iran" and so on.

No consensus of deadline was reached among the parties. Iran may give more time for all parties to find solutions, according to sources.

Araghchi told reporters that his country is waiting for the proposed compensation package and to see if the solutions work for Iran.

A Western diplomat, on the condition of anonymity, said they don't want Iran to leave the deal, and things needed to be done to support Iran, adding that Friday's meeting was a "good meeting". However, offering solutions would need time.

Diplomats told reporters all sides remain united for saving the deal. Russian Ambassador to the UN in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told Xinhua he is cautiously optimistic about the solutions which could compensate for U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Tehran suggested having a foreign ministers' meeting soon to further push the process forward in discussing solutions for the issue. The proposal was agreed by all sides while no time frame was announced.

A confidential report of UN nuclear agency IAEA on Thursday showed Tehran is still complying with the historic nuclear deal after the United States' withdrawal from the deal.
ANTANANARIVO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The High Constitutional Court (HCC) of Madagascar has ruled that President Hery Rajaonarimampianina must dismiss the government, said a statement published on HCC's website Friday evening.

The decision came following the request of dismissal of Rajaonarimampianina put by the opposition to the HCC. On May 7, about 73 parliament members have asked the HCC to dismiss the president.

The statement also said that the HCC orders the president to end the tasks of the government and he must appoint a new prime minister in seven days from three names which will be proposed by the parliament members.

"The new prime minister should form the new government in seven days, he works until the inauguration of the new president and cannot be dismissed except of serious misconduct," said the statement.

As Rajaonarimampianina has declared on several occasions that he will not resign before the election to follow the regulation of the Constitutional law of Madagascar, the statement of HCC on Friday clarified that the President must resign 60 days before the election if he will be candidate.

The statement also indicated that the election must be held in 2018 and the president must find a consensus with the opposition to restore the order in the country, and if he couldn't fulfill these tasks asked by the HCC, he will be dismissed.
A Malaysian air crash investigator inspects the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), Donetsk region in this July 22, 2014 file photo. (Xinhua/REUTERS)

MOSCOW, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The missile that downed Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in 2014 over Ukraine "more than probably" belonged to the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

The Dutch-led five-nation Joint Investigation Team (JIT) announced on Thursday that the installation of the Buk missile that shot down the MH17 came from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian army in Kursk. It presented the remains of the missile at a press conference.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday refuted the accusation, saying that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.

The ministry said in a statement that its experts had analyzed video materials of the press conference and discovered that the serial number of the missile's engine clearly indicated that it was produced in 1986 in the former Soviet Union.

The warranty period of this type of anti-aircraft missiles is 15 years, and Russia has destroyed all of its Buk missiles, the statement said.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the division of its military property between the former Soviet republics of Russia and Ukraine, the latter received some 20 Buk missile system units, it said.

"Thus, the only reason for the deliberate silence of the Dutch commission about the origin of the 1986 missile engine is that it more than probably belonged to the Ukrainian armed forces," the ministry said.

The MH17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 people on board died, including 196 Dutch citizens.

In August 2014, authorities from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Ukraine and Malaysia set up the JIT to conduct a criminal investigation into the crash.
PRAGUE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Czech financial group J&T reached an agreement on Friday with China's state-owned investment company CITIC Group on sale of receivables of CEFC Europe, the Czech-based branch of Chinese energy company CEFC.

The information was officially confirmed on Friday afternoon by the representative of the J&T Group.

According to the source, the Czech side has already received 11.5 billion Czech crowns (about 547.62 million U.S. dollars), which was the debt amount of the CEFC.

CEFC Europe Chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik announced on Friday morning that the crisis management is over as within Friday all loans of CEFC Europe is to be paid off to J&T and the assets to be returned.

The deal will also let CITIC to acquire 9.9-percent share in the J&T Finance Group.

Vratislav Mynar, chancellor of the Czech President Milos Zeman, said he was glad that the story had finally come to an end. "This means that CITIC Group has taken over all of CEFC Europe assets."

Last week, the J&T Group took over the assets of the CEFC Europe branch in the Czech Republic after the CEFC Group failed to pay its debts on time. Later, the parties agreed that CITIC Group, who has a 49-percent stake in CEFC Europe, would pay off the debts. (1 U.S. dollar = 21 crowns)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 04:49:02|Editor: Yurou

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UN peacekeeping spokesman Nick Birnback speaks during an interview with Xinhua News Agency at the UN headquarters in New York May 25, 2018. The UN is "very grateful" for China's contributions to peacekeeping and the importance that China attaches to peacekeeping "sends a good message" to the rest of the world, Nick Birnback said on Friday. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is "very grateful" for China's contributions to peacekeeping and the importance that China attaches to peacekeeping "sends a good message" to the rest of the world, spokesman for UN peacekeeping, Nick Birnback, said on Friday.

"China's contributions are very important," said Birnback in an exclusive interview with Xinhua, noting that "China's contribution has steadily grown over the years."

"That sends a message that one of the great powers is increasingly showing that it believes peacekeeping to be important. So, that's a good signal to the rest of the troops and police contributing countries and indeed to all our partners and membership," added Birnback, also chief of the Public Affairs Section of the UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support.

Twenty-eight years have passed ever since China began its participation in the UN peacekeeping operations in 1990, when Beijing sent five military observers to the Middle East.

Today, China has become the second-largest country to share UN peacekeeping costs and has some 2,500 peacekeepers serving in nine UN peacekeeping operations.

Speaking of the example that China has set for other big powers, Birnback said that as a permanent member of the Security Council, China's example is very important as "many members of the Security Council don't give forces to us."

Noting that some of the big powers "vote" and "pay (the peacekeeping fees)," which is, of course, "an incredibly important part of the equation," however, the message that is sent by a permanent member that "the Council is constantly increasing and sending forces to some of the difficult missions is excellent" and "important for people on the ground."

Birnback said that the reason why China's contribution is so important is also because of "the quality of the personnel we get," noting that the troops and police that China sends are "are well trained and are ready for the task."

"We can rely on them to execute the very complicated mandates that are signed," Birnback stressed.

In the same vein, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, told Xinhua last year that China dispatches "high-value, hard-to-source enabler troops."

"This in turn not only sends a good message, but allows us to be more effective on the ground," Birnback said.

Highly commending the China-based training bases for UN peacekeepers, Birnback said "those are important to us."

Noting that UN officials regularly visit those bases and discuss with Chinese government officials, military and police officers to make sure that all understand the challenges ahead and to work through some of the issues, he said UN officials have had "very good experience working with (Chinese) officials at those bases."

"What those bases do is guarantee that the forces and personnel that China sends are ready for the challenges that they confront on the ground," he said.

"They come ready to complete the tasks. And that's very important," he added.

Currently, Chinese peacekeepers are serving on a number of missions including, as Birnback put it, "some of our important and dangerous operations."

Due to their outstanding performance and the spirit of sacrifice for world peace, 18 Chinese peacekeepers have so far received the Dag Hammarskjold Medal, a posthumous award given by the UN to military personnel, police, or civilians who lose their lives while serving in UN peacekeeping operations.

The medal is named after Dag Hammarskjold, the second UN Secretary-General, who died in a plane crash in what is now Zambia in September 1961.

The year 2015 was a landmark of China's rise as a global security provider. Not only did China commit 8,000 troops to the UN peacekeeping standby force -- one fifth of the 40,000 total troops committed by 50 nations -- China also pledged 100 million dollars to the African Union standby force and 1 billion dollars to establish the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.

This year, the UN celebrates the 70th anniversary of UN peacekeeping, a unique and dynamic instrument to help countries torn by conflict transition to lasting peace.

The first UN peacekeeping mission was established in May 1948, when the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of a small number of UN military observers to the Middle East to form the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Over the past 70 years, more than 1 million men and women have served under the UN flag in more than 70 UN peacekeeping operations. More than 100,000 military, police and civilian personnel from 125 countries currently serve in 14 peacekeeping operations.
HELSINKI, May 25 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said here on Friday that he was cautiously optimistic about finding a solution to the trade disputes between the EU and the U.S.

At a joint press conference with Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini, Maas said "It cannot be so that free trade is being reduced step by step", adding that it is difficult to negotiate under threats.

Soini said Finland and Germany are both strong supporters of free trade.

There is still some time left, but it will not be easy to reach a solution on the trade issue, said the Finnish minister.

The United States has temporarily exempted the EU from heavier tariffs on steel and aluminum exported to the U.S. But the exemption will expire early June.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had asked for an investigation into automobile imports under Section 232 of 1962 Trade Expansion Act, which would allow increased tariffs on national security ground.

European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said on Thursday that the action was "difficult to understand".

Relations between Finland and Germany were also highlighted in Helsinki on Friday. Maas appeared as the main speaker in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Finnish Foreign Ministry and had talks with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.

Maas underlined the shared values of the two countries as the basis for relationship. "And they share the view of keeping Europe united and making it stronger and more endurable in crisis."

Maas also stressed the need for the European Union to be united and maintain cohesion.

Commentators here have noted the role of Germany as a companion to Finland will increase after Britain's likely exit from the EU.
Members of peacekeeping troops attend a sent-forth event in Monrovia, Liberia, on Feb. 5, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhao Xiaoxin)

by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is "very grateful" for China's contributions to peacekeeping and the importance that China attaches to peacekeeping "sends a good message" to the rest of the world, spokesman for UN peacekeeping, Nick Birnback, said on Friday.

"China's contributions are very important," said Birnback in an exclusive interview with Xinhua, noting that "China's contribution has steadily grown over the years."

"That sends a message that one of the great powers is increasingly showing that it believes peacekeeping to be important. So, that's a good signal to the rest of the troops and police contributing countries and indeed to all our partners and membership," added Birnback, also chief of the Public Affairs Section of the UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support.

Twenty-eight years have passed ever since China began its participation in the UN peacekeeping operations in 1990, when Beijing sent five military observers to the Middle East.

Today, China has become the second-largest country to share UN peacekeeping costs and has some 2,500 peacekeepers serving in nine UN peacekeeping operations.

Speaking of the example that China has set for other big powers, Birnback said that as a permanent member of the Security Council, China's example is very important as "many members of the Security Council don't give forces to us."

Noting that some of the big powers just "vote" and "pay (the peacekeeping fees)," which is, of course, "an incredibly important part of the equation," however, the message that is sent by a permanent member that "the Council is constantly increasing and sending forces to some of the difficult missions is excellent" and "important for people on the ground."

Birnback said that the reason why China's contribution is so important is also because of "the quality of the personnel we get," noting that the troops and police that China sends are "are well trained and are ready for the task."

"We can rely on them to execute the very complicated mandates that are signed," Birnback stressed.



Injured Chinese peacekeeper Si Chongchang (L) waves to people as he leaves a hospital in Dakar, Senegal, on June 26, 2016. Four Chinese peacekeepers, injured in terrorist attacks in Mali, left for China on Sunday. (Xinhua/Wang Meng)

In the same vein, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, told Xinhua last year that China dispatches "high-value, hard-to-source enabler troops."

"This in turn not only sends a good message, but allows us to be more effective on the ground," Birnback said.

Highly commending the China-based training bases for UN peacekeepers, Birnback said "those are important to us."

Noting that UN officials regularly visit those bases and discuss with Chinese government officials, military and police officers to make sure that all understand the challenges ahead and to work through some of the issues, he said UN officials have had "very good experience working with (Chinese) officials at those bases."

"What those bases do is guarantee that the forces and personnel that China sends are ready for the challenges that they confront on the ground," he said.

"They come ready to complete the tasks. And that's very important," he added.

Currently, Chinese peacekeepers are serving on a number of missions including, as Birnback put it, "some of our important and dangerous operations."

Due to their outstanding performance and the spirit of sacrifice for world peace, 18 Chinese peacekeepers have so far received the Dag Hammarskjold Medal, a posthumous award given by the UN to military personnel, police, or civilians who lose their lives while serving in UN peacekeeping operations.

The medal is named after Dag Hammarskjold, the second UN Secretary-General, who died in a plane crash in what is now Zambia in September 1961.

The year 2015 was a landmark of China's rise as a global security provider. Not only did China commit 8,000 troops to the UN peacekeeping standby force -- one fifth of the 40,000 total troops committed by 50 nations -- China also pledged 100 million dollars to the African Union standby force and 1 billion dollars to establish the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.

This year, the UN celebrates the 70th anniversary of UN peacekeeping, a unique and dynamic instrument to help countries torn by conflict transition to lasting peace.

The first UN peacekeeping mission was established in May 1948, when the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of a small number of UN military observers to the Middle East to form the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Over the past 70 years, more than 1 million men and women have served under the UN flag in more than 70 UN peacekeeping operations. More than 100,000 military, police and civilian personnel from 125 countries currently serve in 14 peacekeeping operations.
The file photo taken on Sept. 9, 2014 shows part of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 at the crash site in the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), some 80km east of Donetsk, Ukraine. (AFP Photo)

UNITED NATIONS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Following the conclusion of a probe that holds Russia responsible for the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "has taken note with concern of the latest report," a UN spokesperson said on Friday.

On Thursday, the Dutch-led international investigation team announced the installation of the Buk missile that shot down the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane came from the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian army in Kursk.

In response, the Russian Defense Ministry said the missile that downed MH17 "more than probably" belonged to the Ukrainian armed forces.

At a press briefing, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said Guterres underlined a prior Security Council resolution demanding that "all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability."

"In such instances, establishing the truth about this event is an important part of achieving justice for the victims and their families," Haq quoted Guterres as saying.

All 298 people on board MH17, which was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, died when it crashed on July 17, 2014, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.

It claimed the lives of 193 Dutch nationals, 43 from Malaysia, and 27 from Australia. Other victims came from a variety of countries including Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and the Philippines.
CHICAGO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Catalyst Paper announced on Friday that it plans to sell paper mills in Wisconsin and Maine to a subsidiary of Chinese Paper company Nine Dragons, according to local reports.

Reports said Nine Dragons would pay 175 million U.S. dollars for the two mills and it had no immediate plans for changes after the deal is closed in the second quarter.

Ned Dwyer, Catalyst president and CEO, said the sale of the company's U.S. assets allows it to pay down debt and focus on operations in British Columbia, according to reports.

"Our focus right now is on continuing current operations and conducting business as usual on a day-to-day basis," spokeswoman Kelly Karr said.

The paper mills in Wisconsin and Maine employ nearly a thousand local workers. Reports said there will be no layoffs at the mills.

Nine Dragons' main focus is on environmentally friendly recycled paper, but it also operates conventional pulp mills like those in Maine and Wisconsin that it is purchasing.

In the future, Nine Dragons said it plans to invest in packaging paper and pulp products to keep both of the mills competitive.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 05:34:12|Editor: yan

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RIO DE JANEIRO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed on Friday in a fire at a provisional detention center for minors in Goiania, capital of the central state of Goias, local firefighters announced.

Another minor was injured and is being treated at a local hospital in critical condition.

The disaster took place on Friday morning for unknown reasons at the detention center of the 7th Battalion of Military Police of Goiania.

Witnesses said the teenagers set fire to a mattress inside one of the cells, in an intent to rebel. However, the government of Goiania said in a statement that it had no indication there was any attempt to start a riot, but it had no further explanation for the fire.

According to the firefighters, around 50 minors were in detention at the center at the time, 11 of whom were in the cell where the fire started.

A local medical institute told reporters that the victims would have to be identified by their dental records, as their bodies were severely charred.
The Trump administration is threatening to take federal funding away from organizations like Planned Parenthood if doctors at their clinics so much as refer women to abortion services.

That stiff dose of socially-conservative reality came down last week in the form of a proposed rule posted by the Department of Health and Human Services. It would ban programs that receive federal family planning funds from providing abortions or telling their patients where to get one. However, the proposed rule does allow doctors to offer a list of provider options, including those that perform abortions, to patients that have already decided to have an abortion.

President Donald Trump has said, "American taxpayers have been wrongly forced to subsidize the abortion industry," and that his new restrictions on funding would change that.

In response, Planned Parenthood of New York held an anti-Trump rally on Thursday at City Hall Park. The National Organization of Women, which supported the event, argues that "muzzling healthcare providers on abortion is unethical and dangerous, especially for the millions of low-income women who rely on clinics funded by federal family planning dollars."

Laura McQuade, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City, condemned the move by the Trump administration. This is one of the worst attacks weve seen by extreme politicians attempting to practice medicine without a license, she said, eliciting jeers from the crowd of about 300 protesters. In New York City, more than 150,000 individuals rely on the federal family planning program for their birth control, cancer screenings, and other preventative care and would be impacted by this draconian rule.

The proposed rule is now subject to an inter-agency review by the White House budget office, a process which could take months, and a court battle is likely before it can take effect. NYC Planned Parenthood has already begun to prepare for the incredibly difficult possibility that it will lose more than $3 million in federal funding as a result of the new rule. McQuade told Gothamist that she has reached out to state legislators to help fill what would be a gaping hole in the organizations budget.

At the rally, a protester who gave her name as Eileen called the new rule deeply unjust and said she expected her health care provider to defy it. I plan on speaking to my doctor to see if my doctor is planning to follow through on the gag rule, she said. When asked what shed do if the doctor abided by the new rule, she said, Then Ill change doctors.

Protester Shane Larkin, whod traveled from Huntington, Long Island, to Lower Manhattan, said she found it especially troubling that the funding cuts would fall heavily on low-income New Yorkers. This move will mainly hurt poor people of color, she said. Thats not right. I believe in unfettered access to reproductive health care.

Rally organizers said in a statement that more than half of all patients nationally who rely on federally funded reproductive services are people of color: 21 percent identify as black or African American, and 32 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 05:34:12|Editor: yan

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ANKARA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- More than 360 undocumented migrants are being detained in Turkey, security sources were quoted as saying on Friday.

A total of 33 Afghan nationals, including eight children, were held in the Van province, the Anadolu Agency reported, citing security sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the press.

Thirteen Palestinians were detained in the Cesme district in the Aegean province of Izmir, while 59 Syrian nationals attempting to cross into Greece were held in the Dikili district, the report said.

In the Didim district of the Aegean province of Aydin, 47 undocumented migrants were held along with six smugglers, including one Iraqi national, it said.

In the northwestern province of Edirne, 211 undocumented migrants were detained by border patrols in the districts of Bosnakoy, Ipsala, Kesan and Meric, according to the report.

The detainees include Moroccan, Eritrean, Syrian, Pakistani, and Afghan nationals, who attempt to go to Europe via Turkey, which has become a major route for the refugees since 2011, the start of the Syrian civil war.

In 2017, the majority of undocumented migrants detained in Turkey were from Pakistan -- around 15,000 -- followed by Afghans, about 12,000, and Syrians, about 10,000, the report added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 05:39:13|Editor: yan

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GAZA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- At least 109 Palestinians were injured on Friday by Israeli gunfire during clashes with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza-Israel border, official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Among the victims, who included four children and nine women, three were critically injured by Israeli gunshots in the head, while the remaining others sustained various injuries, the report said.

Despite the hot weather in a day of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims, Palestinians continued to protest along the eastern border of the Gaza Strip.

Over 120 Palestinians have been killed and thousands of others injured by Israeli security forces since the outbreak of the Great March of Return protests near the Gaza-Israel border on March 30.

The Palestinians demonstrated for their right of return to their pre-1948 homes in the historical Palestine.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 05:44:13|Editor: yan

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ANKARA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkish and U.S. working groups have outlined a roadmap for cooperation in ensuring security and stability in northern Syria's Manbij, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The Turkish and U.S. delegations met on Friday in the capital Ankara and discussed Syria and other issues of mutual interest and cooperation, the ministry said in a statement.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo will meet on June 4 to consider the recommendations of the working group, according to the statement.

Turkey and the United States have established a mechanism to solve separate issues in working groups following the visit of former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Ankara in February.

Manbij was captured from the Islamic State (IS) in 2016 by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, mainly led by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

Turkey has repeatedly demanded Washington drive YPG out from the strategic city of Manbij, where about 2,000 U.S. soldiers are currently deployed.

The relations between Turkey and the United States have been strained over Washington's support to the YPG, prompting fears of military clashes in Manbij between the two NATO allies.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday said he hopes that the U.S. and Turkish forces will avoid any risk from close encounters in northern Syria, emphasizing the importance of solving bilateral issues.
(File photo)U.S. forces set up a new base in Manbij, Syria on May 8, 2018. (Reuters photo)

ANKARA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Turkish and U.S. working groups have outlined a roadmap for cooperation in ensuring security and stability in northern Syria's Manbij, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The Turkish and U.S. delegations met on Friday in the capital Ankara and discussed Syria and other issues of mutual interest and cooperation, the ministry said in a statement.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo will meet on June 4 to consider the recommendations of the working group, according to the statement.

Turkey and the United States have established a mechanism to solve separate issues in working groups following the visit of former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Ankara in February.

Manbij was captured from the Islamic State (IS) in 2016 by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, mainly led by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

Turkey has repeatedly demanded Washington drive YPG out from the strategic city of Manbij, where about 2,000 U.S. soldiers are currently deployed.

The relations between Turkey and the United States have been strained over Washington's support to the YPG, prompting fears of military clashes in Manbij between the two NATO allies.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday said he hopes that the U.S. and Turkish forces will avoid any risk from close encounters in northern Syria, emphasizing the importance of solving bilateral issues. Enditem
CHICAGO, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A 13-year-old girl student and a teacher injured after a shooting incident occurred at Noblesville West Middle School in U.S. state of Indiana Friday morning.

The shooting suspect, a male student, has been taken into custody, local media reported.

It is reported that a class in the school was taking a test when the student suspect walked in, pulled out a gun and started firing. The suspect "fired about three to five shots," said a student, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The science teacher in the class ran at the suspect, swatted the gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground, local media quoted a student as saying.

The situation was resolved "very quickly," said Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt at a news conference.

Jowitt said investigators believe the suspect acted alone. He did not release the suspect's name, or the names of the victims, who were taken to hospitals in Indianapolis.

The school is about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

After the shooting, students were moved to the Noblesville High School gym, where their families could pick them up.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb issued a statement saying he and other state leaders were getting updates about the situation and that 100 state police officers had been made available to work with local law enforcement.

Noblesville has a population of about 50,000 people. Noblesville West Middle School has about 1,300 students.

The shooting happened just a week after the deadly rampage at Santa Fe High School in Texas that left 10 dead and more than a dozen injured.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 06:04:17|Editor: yan

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BOGOTA, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos celebrated on Friday that Colombia had been admitted as a new member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), stating this was due to the country promoting good business practices and stimulating investment.

"This is great news for our country. It (the OECD) is the most important organization to promote the best public policies in the world ... this is a very important step on the way to modernizing the country. We want to compare with the best to be able to be the best," he explained.

In a statement on Friday, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said that "we are very pleased to welcome Colombia as a member of the OECD. Accession to our Organisation was set as a priority by President Santos when he assumed office and we are glad that the process could be completed during his mandate."

The statement said that Colombia had been subject to in-depth reviews by 23 OECD committees and had made major reforms in the areas of labour, the justice system, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, anti-bribery, trade as well as new national policies on industrial chemicals and waste management.

Colombia becomes its 37th member, joining shortly after Lithuania which was granted membership in early May.

The OECD specializes in helping governments better understand how to drive economic, social and environmental change, while improving productivity, trade and investment.

"It opens up great possibilities to progress in healthcare, education, the fight against corruption and environmental protection. It has been 7 and a half year of intense work and I thank all those who worked so hard for this achievement to become a reality," added Santos.
TUNIS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian date revenues reached 235 million U.S. dollars in the current date season from October 2017 to May 24, 2018, up 31 percent compared to the same period of last season.

Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said on Friday that Tunisian dates have been exported to 80 countries.

Tunisia has exported about 101,000 tons of dates this season, against 88,000 tons of last season.

Major countries that imported dates from Tunisia include the United States with an increase of 97 percent, Spain up 56 percent, Morocco up 27 percent, and France up 10 percent.
LISBON, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Portuguese Navy rescued almost 300 migrants from the Mediterranean Sea, Portugal's Armed Forces General Staff (EMGFA) announced on Friday.

A Portuguese frigate intercepted three overloaded boats carrying 296 people, who have no life jackets.

Among them, 79 are minors, including three babies and a two-year-old. A further 33 of those rescued were female, some of them pregnant.

The migrants were mostly Tunisian, but there were also people from the Ivory Coast, Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Mali, Palestine and Cameroon.

Portuguese Navy officers provided the migrants with food and basic first aid, before transporting them to the Italian port of Pozzallo.

Portugal is taking part in Operation Themis, aimed at controlling irregular migration into the European Union (EU), combating people smuggling and performing search and rescue patrols.

Operation Themis was launched in February by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.

According to the EMGFA, the Portuguese Navy has now rescued over 800 people from Mediterranean waters as part of Operation Themis.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-26 06:09:18|Editor: yan

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DAMASCUS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- After dislodging the rebels entirely from the capital Damascus, the Syrian army's next military operation will be in the southern province of Daraa, activists and a military expert said on Friday.

The Syrian air force dropped leaflets on rebel-held areas in Daraa on Friday, urging the militants to lay down their weapons as military reinforcements were sent to southern Syria.

Ali Maksoud, a retired military officer, told Xinhua that the military reinforcements and the dropping of leaflets by Syrian helicopters indicate that all preparations have completed for launching the next military operation in Daraa.

This development comes as the Syrian army has recently dislodged the rebels from the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus and the Qalamoun region in the northern countryside of Damascus as well as formerly Islamic State (IS)-held areas south of Damascus.

Daraa is so important as it's located near the Jordanian border and is 100 km from the capital.

"After liberating southern Damascus, the forces have been sent to southern Syria to push the rebels in the western countryside of Daraa to lay down their weapons and embark on reconciliation with the Syrian government before the commencement of the military operations there," Maksoud told Xinhua.

He noted that a state of confusion prevails among the various rebel groups in Daraa, mainly between the Khaled Bin al-Walid group and the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA).

Maksoud noted that Khaled Bin al-Walid group has pledged alliance with IS.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian helicopters dropped the leaflets on Daraa in tandem with the movement of Syrian forces toward Daraa, noting that this military progress has been agreed upon with the Russians.

The leaflets included photos of slain militants with a message reading "don't be like those... this is the ultimate end to all those who insist on holding arms... leave your weapons before it's too late."

Other leaflets read: "You have two choices; either to die or leave your weapons because the Syrian army men are coming so make your decision before it's too late."

The leaflets also urged the people of Daraa to help the Syrian army to dislodge the "terrorists."

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said the Syrian forces started moving toward Daraa under the supervision of Russian experts and without the participation of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

The UK-based watchdog group said this development means a wide-scale military offensive in Daraa if the rebels there refused to surrender.

Meanwhile, activists said that the commanders of the rebels there have held meeting with foreign security apparatuses in Jordan to discuss the next move in Daraa.

Daraa was the birthplace of Syria's seven-year-long crisis, with the first anti-government protests erupting in that place before turning into an armed insurgency that has spread across the country.

The Syrian military move comes after the army secured vital and key areas across the country, including in the capital Damascus.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan addresses the 22nd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, May 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

ST. PETERSBURG, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Friday urged countries around the world to build trust and boost cooperation in order to tackle international challenges and cement the foundation for sustainable global growth.

He made the appeal in a speech at a plenary session of the 22nd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a three-day event in Russia's "northern capital" with the key theme of "Building a Trust Economy."

Pointing out that no single country can cope with today's challenges alone, Wang said building a trust economy that features equality, mutual trust, mutual benefit, inclusiveness and good faith between enterprises, markets and countries, is an effective way to unleash the potential of global growth.

Building trust needs mutual understanding and mutual respect, he said, adding that it also needs all parties to discover and solve their own problems and consolidate their self-confidence.

The Chinese vice president stressed that politicizing economic and trade issues and picking up the stick of economic sanctions at the slightest provocations will gravely impair market certainty.

No country should blame its own problems on others, and all countries should pursue development paths that suit their own realities and strive for common development through opening up and cooperation, Wang said.

He suggested that countries around the world join forces to chart the course forward with structural economic reforms and innovative development.

He also called for global unity in resisting trade protectionism and safeguarding the stable international economic order, particularly the authority of the multilateral trading regime.

Economic and trade disputes should be handled properly through communication and consultation, and different parties need to take care of each others' major concerns, Wang added.

China, he said, is forging ahead under the leadership of President Xi Jinping toward the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation and will steadfastly stick to the opening-up policy of mutual benefit.

Other countries, he added, are welcome to take part in China's economic development, share its market opportunities, and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, which has now become a new platform for international cooperation.

Hailing Russia as a constructive player in global economic governance, Wang said China highly appreciates the socioeconomic development achievements Russia has made under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin and firmly believes that Russia will realize its development goals for the next six years.

He added that with annual bilateral trade approaching 100 billion U.S. dollars, China stands ready to work with Russia to deepen their all-around cooperation, strengthen their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination, and make new contribution to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

Launched in 1997, SPIEF has become one of the leading platforms for global brainstorming on key economic issues facing Russia and the world as a whole, and is now often referred to as Russia's Davos.

Besides Wang, this year's event was also attended by Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde.
In recognition of the 'International Missing Children Day' this annual event in Budapest will be held on Sunday, 27 May, to "Help missing children find the way back home.





Organisers will arrange programmes in Budapest and many Hungarian cities, which will include family activities, educational programmes held by NGOs, concert shows and more.



At the end of the day thousands of illuminated balloons filled with helium will be released to represent all the children lost or missing.



Concerts:

16:00 Kaveszunet

17:00 Dallos Bogi

18:00 L.L. Junior

18:40 Korda Gyorgy & Balazs Klari

19:40 Hevesi Tamas & Zenekara

20:45 Belmondo



21:30 Baloons release

Date and time:

Sunday 27 May, 16:0022:00

Venue in Budapest:

Kiralydomb

1146 Budapest, City Park



Photos of missing children displayed on thousands of milk cartons

Without your help we cannot be more efficient in the search of missing children.

Check the side of the Magyar Tej produced by Alfoldi, where you can find the photos and personal data of lost children.

Should you recognize any of them or feel you could offer your help, do not hesitate to call 112.
Freedom is under threat today as globalisation and the business interests behind it have declared war on the community, resulting in a tough cultural war, Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Ministers Office, said.

The fight is not between two cultures but between the values of the free world and deconstruction, Gulyas told a two-day conference entitled The Future of Europe in Budapest.

The question whether the local has a chance against the global much depends on what happens in the United States, which has just seen a political revolution, he said. Gulyas noted that US President Donald Trumps victory had come as a general surprise.

Hungary is following Trumps presidency with keen interest, Gulyas said, adding that the dominant trend was about giving back the people the right to make decisions and putting more emphasis on national interests.

The underlying idea is quite simple: dusting off the system of democratic institutions and freeing it from the shackles of political correctness, he said. Gulyas said Hungary had joined NATO with a view to becoming part of the free world where individual and collective rights are enforced simultaneously.

The case was the same with the European Union, which offered a chance of economic prosperity and balanced cooperation between free nations, he said, expressing his firm belief that free nations can work together.

Gulyas said there are some common points that may promote mutual understanding in disputes between the US and Europe, such as respect for traditions, defence of security and identity, and commitment to the nation and justice.



Venue: Castle Garden Bazaar (Varkert Bazar), Budapest



Further details about the Conference available here

MTI Photo: Soos Lajos
The planned constitutional amendment includes a passage that allows the establishment of a public administrative court, Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Prime Ministers Office, said.

The idea is to create a new high court that offers a remedial forum at the same level as the Kuria, Hungarys Supreme Court, he said, insisting that the measure would not affect the broader judicial system.

The court, an independent public administration body, falls within the bounds of normal European practice as well as Hungarys own legal traditions, he said. Well be keeping track of what is happening in the National Judicial Council at a distance he replied to a question concerning any future changes to the judicial system as a whole.

He said the government had not discussed the issue and it was not on the agenda either. A further change to the constitution will aim to ensure that the household is inviolable. Everyones private home will enjoy constitutional protection, he said without elaborating.

The government will consult with the opposition parties over the constitutional change, he said. On defence developments, the minister said the army budget would rise by 0.1% each year, so by 2026 it will reach the 2% of the GDP level required by NATO.

Next year, the defence budget will be 80 billion forints (EUR 250.4m) bigger, allowing for serious military developments, he added. On the topic of the Central European University (CEU), he noted that an agreement between the government and the CEU must be concluded by Dec 31 before ratification by parliament.

Commenting on a recent controversy regarding political statements critical of the Constitutional Court for its ruling on the question of the legitimacy of ballots posted without an official envelope, Gulyas said expressing the expectations of society should not be forbidden simply because those convictions are made in a political context. He added that judges, too, have their say on courtrelated matters.

Asked about a campaign by NGO Human Rights Watch to get the ruling Fidesz party thrown out of the European Peoples Party, he said the NGO was financed to a large degree by George Soros and it was therefore no surprise that the governments migration policy did not meet with its approval. He added that Fidesz was the EPPs most successful member.

MTI Photo: Kovacs Attila
Yesterday the Minister heading the Prime Ministers Office, Gergely Gulyas, commented on the EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into effect on today, saying the government would only issue warnings rather than sanctions to SMEs in violation of GDPR.

At the first press conference 'Governmentinfo' held after the formation of the new cabinet, Mr Gulyas informed the press that, according to the governments plans, the authority would only be able to issue warnings to small and medium-sized enterprises if they violated the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which will take effect on 25 May.

Mr Gulyas said regarding the EUs general data protection regulation that the government will make every effort to ensure that the regulation will not hinder the operation of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises and will not result in significant extra expenditures for them.

He indicated that they wish to adopt the Austrian model upon the transposition of the regulation into Hungarian law, meaning that in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information can only issue warnings, and has no authority to impose any other sanction.



The politician said he agrees with the goal of the regulation, and he believes it is wise to introduce more stringent data management rules for large data managers such as Facebook.

In answer to a question, he said that they will define in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce what they actually mean by small and medium-sized enterprises.



Mr Gulyas asked Attila Peterfalvi, head of the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, to provide as much comprehensive information for these businesses as possible.



More: kormany.hu
As the Central Statistical Office reports first quarter GDP data, analysts across the political spectrum wonder if fast growth can be maintained in the long run, and whether the Forint will weaken against the Euro.

On Tuesday, the Central Statistical office reported that in 2018 Q1, seasonally adjusted economic growth was 4.7 year-on-year.

Assessing the growth data on Napi.hu, Daniel Szabo is skeptical whether fast growth can be sustained. Szabo thinks that fast growth is the result of higher wages rather than increased industrial output.

He predicts that GDP growth will soon slow down due to the shortage of labour, although the government and the National Bank will use every fiscal incentive available to them.

Szabo deems it unlikely that the Hungarian economy can sustain higher than 4 per cent growth until 2022, as planned by PM Orban.

Magyar Idoks Gergely Kiss dismisses such fears of an economic slowdown. The pro-government commentator suggests that the Hungarian economy has performed well above the EU average, and even above regional benchmarks.

Kiss thinks that concerns over rising wages are unfounded, as higher wages are necessary not only to maintain internal demand, but also to slow down or even reverse emigration, and thereby ease the shortage of labour.

As the Hungarian economy has performed well since 2010, Kiss is optimistic that the governments critics will be proven wrong again in their pessimistic predictions.

Writing in Nepszava, Miklos Bonta thinks that the Hungarian economy will slow down, unless the government boosts public debt in order to maintain high levels of demand.

The left-wing pundit contends that the structure of Hungarian industry has not been reformed, and thus higher growth is possible only through increased internal consumption. All this, Bonta believes, will be financed from loans as EU cohesion funds run out, and so Hungary will soon suffer from increasing external debt. Bonta notes that the Forint has already weakened against the Euro to a 2-year low.

In Figyelo, Csaba Szajlai suspects that the weakening of the Forint is only temporary. The conservative economist interprets indicators as suggesting that the Hungarian economy and investments are on the rise.

Szajlai recalls that regional and other emerging currencies have weakened far more than the Forint over the past week. As global sentiments change, the Forint will soon recover  even without the intervention of the National Bank, Szajlai concludes.

This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

Click here to Share Your Story
The Hungarian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (HVCA) has announced that Christian Majgaard, former head of global brand and business Development at Lego will be the keynote speaker at its 20th Annual Investment Conference, which will take place at the Hotel Hilton Castle, Budapest on June 12.

Majgaard is widely credited with Legos revival as a 21st-century brand, with breakthrough franchises such as Lego Mindstorms robotics and the Harry Potter license.

Other speakers will include Tamas Bernath, chairman and CEO of the Hungarian Development Bank (MFB), Hubert Cottogni, Ddirector and head of mandate management at the European Investment Fund (EIF), and Jorg Bauer, president and CEO of Tungsram Group.

The HVCAs Annual Investment Conference is the regional event for leaders from business and legal communities to interact and discuss the state of private equity, venture capital, and corporate finance in CEE/SEE. The June 12 event will feature several international expert speakers.

Panelists will debate key issues such as fintech opportunities, strategic exits, and the new social and environmental focus that comes with impact investing. This comes as Hungary shows signs of an meger and acquisition revival in 2017, with number of transactions up from 110 in 2016 to 133, and the value of the Hungarian market up from USD 1.6bn in 2016 to USD 4bn in 2017.

"The fresh perspective of the technology firms entering the financial services industry forces traditional banks also to constantly innovate. We will meet exciting fintech businesses at the conference: Barion, which has recently received venture capital investment and Nivaura from the U.K., whose platform makes bond issues available also to SMEs  even in cryptocurrency," said Zoltan Lengyel, a partner at Allen & Overy, a key supporter of the conference.

Further details and registration is available on HVCA's website.
Last year 25,000 foreigners from non-EU countries received work permits in Hungary, an increase of 10,000 from the previous year, to ease the dire labour shortage in many industries, Magyar Idok reports, citing data from the Immigration Office.

The actual figures may be higher, as from June 2017 workers in professions with the most acute labour shortage do not need to have work permits.

No survey has been conducted regarding which sectors employ the most non-EU citizens, but industry representatives say most come from Ukraine and work in industry and construction.

Laszlo Parragh, head of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Hungary needs 200,000-300,000 guest workers to ease the labour shortage over the long term.

A large number of the foreign workers, some 20% according to estimates, use Hungary as a springboard for moving to Western Europe, but companies are trying to prevent this with clauses in contracts.
Almost a third of parents said they kept the television on while their toddlers were around, according to a survey by Hungarys media watchdog (NMHH).

The authority issued a statement on its report on the media usage patterns of children under the age of three. In the non-representative survey done between October and February, volunteers filled out more than a thousand online and paper-based questionnaires.

Fully 37.4% of respondents thought the ideal length of time children should spend watching TV was between half an hour and an hour.



Altogether 26.4% considered less than half an hour ideal, while 17.6% did not want their child to watch TV at all.



One-sixth thought 1-2 hours was okay, while almost 3% thought 2-3 hours was reasonable.
This arts festival offers music, theatre, literature, and delicious wine for visitors in a natural environment for three days. The event will start off with the open-air concert of the world-famous guitar player Al Di Meola.



Orvenyeshegy which belongs to the village of Zalacsany, is a peaceful area at the fringe of the forest hiding among the hills of Zala County.

This fabled place will host a really special arts festival between the 25 and 27 of May.

The three day event will start off with the open-air concert of the world-famous guitar player Al Di Meola, and proceed with the appearance of Hungarian artists such as Barna Pely, the Szabo Balazs Band, the Pribojszky Matyas Band, and the Jonas Vera Experiment.



Children will be entertained by Agi Szaloki and Szilvia Bognar, while those interested in literature can meet Daniel Varro and Gyorgy Molnar.

The Momentan - Improvisation Theatre will also move to Orvenyeshegy together with the play of Karoly Rekasi and Gerda Pikali.

The festival is organized by the Arts for Rural Development Foundation. As Natalia Oszko-Jakab, the president of the foundation said, there are many undiscovered wonders in our country:

It is always a great pleasure for us when a charming village like this decides to introduce its hidden resources through arts, and we are proud that we can help them, that we can be a partner in their efforts. We happily said yes to the request of Tamas Badacsonyi. Orvenyeshegy is a treasure, and we would like to familiarize it with as many people as possible.

Tamas Badacsonyi and Nikoletta Badacsonyi are the owners of the Palos Resort, that is the main venue of the event. This festival is their dream that has become a reality.



Our family moved here from Budapest, and we all fell in love with Orvenyeshegy. There was this exciting thought already from the beginning that this enchanting place could be the home to fantastic cultural events.

On the territory of the festival there had been the most significant monastery of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit in the 13th century. Nowadays, the Palos Resort - named after the monastery -, cooperating with and helping the Farm Inn, attracts those who wish to relax.

Ticket price: HUF 3500

More: orvenyeshegypiknik.hu
A left-wing commentator accuses the government of hate-mongering with its attack on Soros-funded NGOs and CEU. A pro-government columnist, on the other hand, defends the planned legislation claiming that it is intended to increase transparency.

In a committee hearing on Tuesday, Antal Rogan (pictured on top) the Head of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister said that the government would table the so-called Stop Soros NGO bill and amend the Constitution in order to protect Hungary from undesired immigration.

On the same day, George Soross Open Society Foundations confirmed their earlier decision to move their regional offices from Budapest to Berlin.

In Merce, Nora Dioszegi-Horvath accuses the government of trying to divert public attention from their failures through anti-NGO propaganda. The left-wing blogger thinks that the Hungarian government does not serve the interests of Hungarians.

Dioszegi Horvath recalls that CEU Rector Michael Ignatieff has also announced that Central European University may move to Vienna, unless the government signs the agreement reached last September that would make CEUs operation possible in Budapest. She describes the Stop Soros legislation and the Lex CEU as pure hate propaganda.

Magyar Idoks Gyorgy Pilhal, on the other hand, interprets the Open Society Fundations decision to move to Berlin as admission of their unwillingness to operate in a transparent manner.

The pro-government columnist finds it absurd for NGOs funded by Open Society Foundations to accuse the government of trying to silence them. In Pilhals view, the Stop Soros bill is intended to make the operation of NGOs that help illegal migrants more transparent.

MTI Photo: Kovacs Tamas
Commenting on a new campaign by rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) aiming to get the European Peoples Party to expel Hungarys ruling Fidesz, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said this was a form of pressure exercised by US financier George Soros.

George Soros wants to funnel his money through various organisations... to influence European politics in a way that is bad for Hungarians; he is corrosive, he told public radio.



Meanwhile, Orban referred to a newly unveiled constitutional amendment which, he noted, will include the protection of the home and the protection of private life, stating that people must not be bothered in their homes.



In a normal country, there is room to express opinions, but this freedom should not extend to door-stepping people at their own homes, he added.



Commenting on next years budget plans, he said unemployment, the budget deficit and public debt will be reduced, while wages will increase and employment and economic performance will grow.



The payroll tax will be reduced by a further two percentage points in 2019, and the tax preference for families with two children will be raised to 40,000 forints (EUR 125) a month, Orban said.



Annual economic growth of above 4% projected for next year will enable the payment of pension premiums in addition to pension increases, he added.



A scheme to build kindergartens and creches will be launched, he said, adding that a growing number of women want to work, not only for material reasons, but also because of their personal ambition, he said.



Orban also said the government will announce an action plan related to family policy, preceded by a national consultation on childbirth and child rearing.



We do not want to exclude men, but basically, it is the opinion of women that is of interest, he added.



The issue of demography concerns how many Hungarian women give birth, the extent to which we bring [children] up together, and what must be done to reverse the population decline, he said.



The aim is to ensure that Hungary can sustain itself by 2030, he said. Accordingly, there must be at least as many births as deaths, he added.



Concerning his planning for 2030, Orban said that though the government had received a mandate up until 2022, the next four years would have to include a broader plan for the period up to 2030.



This, of course, has been interpreted to mean that Id like to be Prime Minister until 2030 - which is not a bad idea - except for the fact that Hungary is a democracy and elections take place every four years.



On his aspiration to build a Christian democracy, Orban said liberal democracy had become an empty vessel that failed to respond to challenges such as migration.



Neither does it protect borders, the traditional family model of a man and woman or take the protection of Christian culture as a given. This is why Christian democracy must be dusted off and brought up to date a bit.



The prime minister spoke of the importance of keeping in touch with voters in the four years after the election, and this is why he was meeting pensioners, going to kindergartens and talking to employees and people in workfare schemes.



Orban noted that during the election campaign he had visited a kindergarten and received a fine for breaking election rules.



This was proof that Hungarys democratic institutions were functioning properly, he said, noting that yesterday he had paid another visit as the newly elected prime minister.



MTI photo
By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

BESSEMER  While a last-minute defense motion delayed her fate for a little over a week, former Ironwood Township Treasurer Jyl Renee Olson-DeRosso left Gogebic County Circuit Court in handcuffs Thursday to begin her sentence.

Judge Michael Pope sentenced Olson-DeRosso, 48, to 38 months in prison for the most serious charge she faced  embezzlement by a public official. She was also sentenced on the other nine felony counts she faced  five counts of forgery, refusing to turn over records to the successor treasurer, removal and destructi...
Washington: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that a nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could still take place as scheduled on June 12, just one day after he cancelled it blaming Pyongyang's "open hostility".

"We'll see what happens. It could even be the 12th," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House before leaving for the US Naval Academy to deliver a commencement address.

"They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it. We're going to see what happens," he was quoted as saying by the US media.

We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

Earlier, North Korea issued a conciliatory statement in response to Trump's decision to scrap his meeting with Kim.

"We reiterate to the US that there is a willingness to sit down at any time, in any way, to solve the problem," said a top official at the North Korean Foreign Ministry.

Trump, in a morning tweet, hailed Pyongyang's statement, saying: "Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea."

"We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!"

Asked earlier whether the North Koreans were playing games, the US President acknowledged they were -- and suggested he was too, CNN reported.

"Everybody plays games. You know that," he said when asked about the ongoing talks. "You know that better than anybody."

Minutes before his Friday tweet, Trump claimed Democrats were "rooting" against his administration in its negotiations with North Korea.

"Democrats are so obviously rooting against us in our negotiations with North Korea... Dems have lost touch!"

He wrote a letter on Thursday to Kim informing him that their June 12 meeting in Singapore was off due to Pyongyang's "open hostility" towards Washington.

After the news the summit was called off, Democrats criticized Trump for the decision. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the cancelled summit was "a good thing for Kim Jong-un".

Republicans, however, hailed the President's action as a tough negotiating move.

Trump's comments fuelled the uncertainty and confusion surrounding his attempts to broker a nuclear agreement with North Korea.

A senior White House official said that it would be extremely difficult to hold the summit on the original date, especially because North Korea cut off contact with the US regarding planning and logistics.

"June 12 is in 10 minutes," the official said.
PATNA: A Patna court on Friday found all five Indian Mujahideen accused in the 2013 Bodhgaya blast guilty. The next date of hearing has been set for May 31 when the quantum of sentence will be announced. The decision was announced by a special NIA court in Patna.

Special NIA judge Manoj Kumar Sinha convicted the five men - Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi - under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act.

The pilgrim town of Bodh Gaya was rocked by a series of explosions in the morning of July 7, 2013 which had left a number of people, including some Buddhist monks, injured.

A sixth accused in the case - Taufiq Ahmed - was less than 18 years of age and sentenced to three years in remand home by a juvenile court last year which found him guilty of involvement in the case. All the six accused have also been associated with the banned organization SIMI and are facing trial in the Patna blasts case of October, 2013 when the historic Gandhi Maidan here was rocked by explosions while an election rally of Narendra Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, was underway.

It was contended on behalf of defence lawyer Surya Prakash Singh that the NIA had failed to produce CCTV footage and that a security guard, who was present at one of the sites when the explosions took place had failed to recognize any of the accused.

The contention was repudiated by public prosecutor Lalan Prasad Sinha who pointed towards the association of all the accused in terrorist activities and statements recorded by as many as 90 witnesses during trial, wherein it was placed on record that the blasts had been carried out to avenge alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by the Buddhist majority.

(With PTI inputs)
Karachi: Pakistan has imposed a temporary ban on the exhibition and screening of Indian films during next month's Eid holidays.

According to a notification issued by the ministry of information and broadcasting, the exhibition and screening of Indian and foreign films will be banned from two days before the Eid to until two weeks after the holidays.

An official in the ministry said the step had been taken on the requests by the Pakistani film exhibitors, distributors and production houses.

Under this ban no cinema across Pakistan will be allowed to show Indian movies during the Eid holidays which usually run for four days and bring in big business for the new Pakistani, Bollywood and Hollywood films.

Another official from the Pakistan Film Exhibitors' Association confirmed they had received the notification.

"The notification says that the temporary ban is being imposed in order to promote local movies on the festivals, a time when usual than larger audience is attracted towards cinemas," he said.

He said the notification was also applicable for the Eid-ul-Adha holidays which will fall around late August or September.

Pakistani film producers and artists have been complaining for the last two years that their new films face stiff completion from the Indian and Hollywood movies and due to the limited number of screens in the country they are not able to do good business and in some cases even recover their invested money in the films.

This Eid also a number of new Pakistani films are due for release but it was not clear which Indian films are slated for release during the holidays in India and elsewhere.
"Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran", is dedicated to all the unsung heroes -- engineers, scientists and soldiers, who helped our nation make a mark in the war of nuclear supremacy.

The film is rousing and entertaining, and you get your money's worth, as it gives you an insight into how India achieved becoming a global nuclear superpower. It is definitely an untold story that is sincerely presented.

The narrative begins with informing us that after the disseverment of the USSR, and faced with the dilemma of tackling other superpowers and Pakistan's close association with the US, we had no choice but to conduct the nuclear weapon detonation at Pokhran, a remote location in the Thar Desert region.

The core action takes place in 1998 after a failed attempt in 1995 when Himanshu Shukla (Boman Irani) the Principal Secretary of the then Prime Minister, calls upon Ashwat Raina (John Abraham), a disgruntled and disappointed IAS officer to assist him in this endeavour.

In fact, in 1995, while working in the Research and Development Ministry, Ashwat had put forth his radical views of conducting the nuclear test. But due to politics and red tapeism, he was sidetracked and the mission failed.

How Ashwat puts up a team of diligent workers and executes the mission in total secrecy, forms the crux of the narrative.

While the film has its fair share of drama, there are no moments that sweep you off your feet. Even the patriotic card that plays to perfection at the end makes one uncomfortable as you root for the unsung heroes with some trepidation. Your logical mind is torn between patriotism and leaving a legacy for the future generation -- being a superpower at what cost?

Those raised on summer action films, too will find this disappointing as there is minimal action in fact, only one fisti-cuff scene and a chase that ends in a humourous manner at the police station.

John Abraham stars, in a powerful and effective performance as Ashwat Raina. He puts forth a sincere performance and does well in group scenes, but fails to rise above the basics when the camera focuses on him solely.

He is aptly supported by Anuja Sathe as his wife; Diana Penty as Ambalika Bandhopadhyay in charge of security; Aditya Hitkari as Dr. Viraf Wadia from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC); Yogendra Tikku as Dr. Naresh Sinha from Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO); Vikas Kumar as Army Major Prem Singh and Ajay Shankar as Puru Ranganathan from ISA.

The others who also make their presence felt are Darshan Pandya as the Pakistani spy and Mark Bennington as his American counterpart. They are all effectively perfunctory.

Technically the film is well-mounted with excellent production values. The songs, "Shubh Din", "Jitni Dafa", and "Thare Vaaste" are snuggly fit into the narrative.

The cinematography by Zubin Mistry is striking. He captures the locales, action and scenes competently. And his live action scenes are meshed effortlessly with the stock news reels and the background-score by the editing team.

Overall, the film is worth a watch for the unsung heroes of the tale.

(Ratings: 3/5 Stars)
New Delhi: Lately, a message regarding Jet Airways' free couple tickets has become viral in WhatsApp. People have received several forwards on WhatsApp stating that Jet Airways is giving free couple tickets to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Jetairways Airline is giving 2 Free Tickets to everyone, To celebrate their 25th Anniversary, Click here to Get yours: jetarways.com/tickets, the message read.

However, the truth is that the company has no such plans. Clarifying the doubt on Twitter, Jet Airways has cautioned travellers and wrote that it is a fake news.

#FakeAlert There's a fake link being circulated regarding ticket giveaways for our 25th Anniversary. This is not an official contest/giveaway and we advise caution. Genuine contests & giveaways are hosted only on our verified social media accounts, indicated with a blue tick. pic.twitter.com/NvJrFaq3aL  Jet Airways (@jetairways) May 23, 2018

The Naresh Goyal-promoted airline this week reported a standalone net loss of Rs 1,036 crore in the March quarter due to rise in oil prices and weaker rupee.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 602.42 crore in the year-ago period, according to the BSE filing.

The total income also declined by 3.44 percent to Rs 6,055 crore during the quarter, against Rs 6,271.21 crore in the same quarter last year, as per the filing. Fuel expenses rose by 31 percent to Rs 2,063.34 crore, against Rs 1,282.41 crore.

The airline saw an year-on-year increase in fuel prices of Rs 366 crore, and mark-to-market adjustment due to weaker rupee of Rs 156 crore in the quarter, against a gain of Rs 54 crore in Q4 FY17, it said in a release.

For financial year 2017-18, the airline reported a standalone net loss of Rs 767.62 crore, against a net profit of Rs 1,482.52 crore, according to the filing.

With PTI Inputs
Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has exuded confidence that his party BJP will do a clean sweep by winning all 26 seats in his state in the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Rupani further said that the Congress, which has given a tough fight to BJP in the 2017 assembly elections, will not be able to win a single Lok Sabha seat from the state.

''The BJP will repeat the 2014 general elections results by winning all 26 seats in 2019,'' the Gujarat Chief Minister said this on Wednesday.

"After the 2014 elections, it was only Gujarat where a state government repeated its tenure," Rupani said.

"Despite the Other Backward Classes (OBC), Patidar and Dalit agitations across the state, the BJP was able to prove its metal. People have neglected the Congress and chosen the saffron party everywhere," he said.

"Even the vote percentage of the BJP has increased," the Chief Minister said.

Rupani also pointed out that despite Congress describing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as 'Gabbar Singh Tax', the trader community of the state fully supported the BJP during 2017 elections.

"Despite the central government's move of demonetisation and implementation of the GST, the trader community supported the BJP. We won by good numbers in Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad."

When asked that the farmers were not backing the BJP in the rural areas, the Chief Minister said, "Even after 22 years of BJP`s rule in the state, farmers have full faith in the government."

"We have given the maximum of minimum support prices (MSP) for their produce to support them," he added quickly.

When quizzed about the Dalit atrocities in his state, Rupani said, "We have taken immediate action whenever such a complaint has come."

"After the Rajkot incident, the state government swung into action and arrested four people responsible for the incident. "We also announced compensation of Rs 8 lakh to the kin of the family and took all actions against the culprits," the Chief Minister said.

Replying to a question about Congress president Rahul Gandhi attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over any issue in the state, the BJP leader said, "He has not matured yet. It shows his immaturity. He is doing so to improve his image. But he shall be exposed soon."

Rupani made these remarks during an event where he launched the Dial 108 boat ambulance service in the state.

"Today we are introducing the boat ambulances in the coastal areas to provide proper medical services to the people residing there," he said.

He also said that the state government is fully committed to providing better health services to the people of the state and so it has announced to give an assistance of Rs 50,000 to the accident victims.

"If a person meets with an accident in the state, the state government has announced Rs 50,000 assistance for health services. Under this scheme the accident victim only needs to be brought to any government or private hospital," Rupani said.

(With IANS inputs)
SURAT: Asmita Baa Gohil, who is known as the "Lady Don" of Surat, has been grabbing headlines after she was recently caught on camera brandishing a sword and threatening people of her locality. This sword-wielding 20-year-old lady don, who loves to ride a bike, was caught on camera along with her friend threatening local shopkeepers and demanding protection money from them in Varsha Society in Surat's Varachha.

A complaint was registered against her after the video became viral on the social media following which she was arrested by the local police.

''A 20-year-old girl and her friend have been arrested for threatening a shopkeeper, extorting Rs 500 and forcing him to shut his shop in Gujarat, '' the police said.

In the viral video clip, Asmita Gohil can be seen riding pillion on a bike with her boyfriend Rahul.

The two can be seen going back and forth on their bike. They suddenly stop outside a pan seller's shop where Asmita threatens him with a sword and forces him to close his shop.

On many occasions in past, the lady don was seen openly threatening people with a weapon.

In one such video recorded in March, Asmita was seen abusing and wielding a billhook blade and her friend Sanjay Gohil holding a kitchen knife during a fracas with a group of men on Holi.

They were then booked for inciting riots and arrested. However, both of them later got bail.

"A lot of cases have been registered against this woman. Her past is riddled with criminal activities," a police officer was quoted as saying by ANI.

According to her Facebook account, Asmita Baa Gohil is "self-employed" and has over 2,500 friends and 12,000 followers.

Her bio reads, "Our way of life is different, we don't live by expectations, we live on our own terms."

On her Facebook post, she has posted numerous photographs in which she is flaunting weapons like pistols, swords, knives. She also loves to pose with expensive cars and bikes.

(With ANI inputs)
Hyderabad: A 12-year-old boy died after getting stuck in a lift in an apartment in Hyderabad. The incident took place on Wednesday when the boy who worked for newspaper delivery had entered the elevator to drop newspapers in an apartment complex at Barkatpura.

"It is suspected that after delivering the papers he came down and again went inside the lift from ground floor when he got stuck between the grill door and wall and sustained injuries in the incident and died," a police official attached to Kachiguda police station said.

A police officer informed that the lift has two doors, one on the outside and a grill inside with a small gap between the two. He said that after closing the grill, the boy came out and then suddenly turned back to enter the lift again by attempting to open the internal grill. However, since the lift had already started moving up, he got stuck in the gap between the doors.

The boy was a sixth standard student who used to deliver newspapers in view of his summer vacations. He reportedly earned Rs 1,000 a month to help his parents who are daily wage labourers. A case has been registered against the newspaper agent for employing a minor boy.

The police have said that whether they will act against the owner of the apartment complex will be based on the outcome of further probe.

As per a report in the New Indian Express, the CCTV footage shows the boy coming out of the lift, delivering newspapers, and then returning to the machine. Moments later, the building watchman is seen rushing towards the lift to find the boy's foot dangling from the first floor. His body had been crushed.

The boy was taken to Osmania General Hospital but was declared brought dead. A witness reportedly said that the police had to open the floorboard that closes the gap between the lift floor and the wall to get his body out.
A quick glance at the top news of the day:

1. Army Chief General Bipin Rawat warns Pakistan, says it must stop sending terrorists into J&K

In a stern warning to Pakistan, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday said that the neighbouring country should stop aiding and pushing terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir if it wants peace and tranquillity in the region. Read full report

2. Real action will begin now: HD Kumaraswamy after winning trust vote in Karnataka Assembly

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday said that the Congress-Janata Dal-Secular coalition government led by him will complete its five-year term and also fulfil all the promises made to the state's electorate. Read full report

3. Court of Inquiry ordered against Major Leetul Gogoi after Army chief promises strict action

A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered against Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi who has courted a fresh controversy after he was arrested from a hotel in Jammu and Kashmir with a woman. Read full report

4. Uttarakhand Sikh police officer saves Muslim youth from violent mob, hailed as hero on social media

Gagandeep Singh, a Sikh policeman who had saved the life of a Muslim youth from a violent mob after the latter was allegedly found in a compromising position with a Hindu girl at a temple near Ramnagar, has won praise on social media. Read full report

5. J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti slams Pakistan for ceasefire violations during Ramzan, disrupting peace

Expressing concern over the spate of killings in cross-border shelling by Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday spoke about setting up Border Bhavan where people living closer to the border areas will be able to stay during incidents of ceasefire violation. Read full report
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
PAHALGAM: In a stern warning to Pakistan, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday said that the neighbouring country should stop aiding and pushing terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir if it wants peace and tranquillity in the region. Referring to the situation in J&K, General Rawat said that the suspension of combat operations in Jammu and Kashmir can be extended further if the atmosphere of peace continues in the state.

However, he was quick to warn that any action by Pakistan-backed terrorists would trigger a rethink immediately. Rawat also warned Pakistan that it should stop sending terrorists into the state if it was interested in peace.

"If Pakistan really wants peace, then we will want them to take the first step by stopping infiltration of terrorists into our side. The ceasefire violation mostly takes place to aid infiltration," Gen Rawat said this at a function here, 95-km from Srinagar.

The Army Chief further said that India wants peace along the borders but Pakistan was continuously violating the ceasefire, which caused loss of life and property.

"When such an action takes place, we also have to respond. We cannot sit idle. If there is ceasefire violation, then there will be action from our side," he said. ''For peace, it was imperative that cross-border terrorism comes to an end,'' the Army Chief added.

"It is imperative to stop terrorism from across (the LoC), the camps which are there where training is given to them, from where the ammunition is infiltrated into J&K and India, that should stop. If that happens, then I can assure you that peace will prevail on the borders," he added.

Referring to the suspension of anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir, he said that it was an attempt to make people realise the benefits of peace.

"The suspension of operations or what we call NICO (Non-initiation of combat operations) has been done to make the people believe and see how the atmosphere is when there is peace. The way an atmosphere of peace and calm is here right now, in my opinion, the people here are very happy with that," he said.

On May 16, the Union Home Ministry had announced that security forces would not launch any operations in J&K during the holy month of Ramzan. However, the security forces reserve the right to retaliate if attacked or if essential to protect the lives of innocent people.

Gen Rawat said the Army will think about continuing the unilateral ceasefire if the peaceful situation continues in the valley.

"If this atmosphere of peace continues, then I assure you that we will think about continuing with NICO. But if there is some action by the terrorists, then we will have to rethink on this ceasefire or suspension of operations or NICO," he said.

Gen Rawat was in Pahalgam to launch Digital Education in five Army Goodwill Schools which has been established with the help of Power Grid Corporation and Extra Marks Foundation.

(With PTI inputs)
NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education will on May 26, Saturday announce CBSE Class 12 board results 2018 on its official website - cbse.nic.in. Students who have appeared in the examination will be able to check their scores by visiting the board's official portal. "CBSE Class 12 results for Academic Session 2017-18 to be declared on 26th of May", Education Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted.

The CBSE Class 12 examinations 2018 were held from March 5 to April 13. The CBSE Class 12 Results 2018 will be available on various platforms including Net, SMS, IVRS.

1. RESULTS ON NET

The CBSE Class 12 Results 2018 will be available on various platforms including Net, SMS, IVRS. Like previous years, this year too the CBSE is hosting its results on net with the technical support of National Informatics Centre (NIC). The students will be able to access their results through the following websites - cbse.examresults.net, cbseresults.nic.in and results.gov.in. The schools will automatically get their entire Schools results on email ids already registered with the Board.

2. CBSE Goes Digital and Mobile

- Started in 2016, this year also CBSE will also provide Class XII digital mark sheets in DigiLocker at https://digilocker.gov.in.

- The DigiLocker account credentials will be sent to students via SMS on their mobile number registered with CBSE.

- DigiLocker can also be accessed from your mobile phone on Android and iOS platforms.

- Students can also view their results on UMANG mobile application which is available for android, iOS and windows based smart phone.

3. RESULTS THROUGH IVRS (INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM)/SMS FACILITY OF NIC

The telephone numbers of NIC through which results can be accessed through IVRS are as follows:

A. National Informatics Centre:

TELEPHONE NUMBER(S)/AREA COVERED

24300699: for local subscribers in Delhi

01124300699: for subscribers in other parts of the country

B. SMS

The result can be received by sending SMS for class 12 as given below:

Type 'cbse12' and send it to mobile number - 7738299899

4. Results on Microsoft search engine

Results can also be accessed through Microsoft search engine www.bing.com and SMS Organizer App on mobile which can be installed from playstore https://aka.ms/sms

5. Results on Google search engine

Results can also be accessed through Google search engine www.google.co.in

6. Schools under Delhi Region

Schools under the Delhi Region are advised to collect the results from the office of the respective Zonal office of Deputy Director of Education after declaration of the result by confirming time with them.

The CBSE Class 12 result 2018 will not be available at the Board and the students are advised not to visit Board's office for collection of results. The process of verification will be displayed on CBSEs website.

Over 11 lakh students had registered for the Class 12 examination, which was marred with controversy over the paper leak issue.

The Board had conducted a re-test of Class 12 economics paper on April 25, nearly a month after it was leaked triggering widespread outrage and confusion among students across the country.

The CBSE had also postponed the examinations scheduled to be held on April 2 in Punjab at the request of the state government in view of 'Bharat Bandh' called by several Dalit organisations against the alleged "dilution" of the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

About CBSE

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was founded on November 3, 1962. It's headquartered at Preet Vihar, New Delhi. Its primary function includes preparing academic programmes and organizing examinations, especially for Class 10 and Class 12 students.

CBSE Class 12th Result 2018 Live Updates
NEW DELHI: The CBSE Class 12 board results 2018 will be released by the Central Board of Secondary Education on May 26, Saturday. Once the results are announced, students will be able to check their marks by visiting the board's official website - cbse.nic.in. "CBSE Class 12 results for Academic Session 2017-18 to be declared on 26th of May", Education Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted.

The CBSE Class 12 examinations 2018 were held from March 5 to April 13. The CBSE Class 12 Results 2018 will be available on various platforms including Net, SMS, IVRS.

1. RESULTS ON NET

The CBSE Class 12 Results 2018 will be available on various platforms including Net, SMS, IVRS. Like previous years, this year too the CBSE is hosting its results on net with the technical support of National Informatics Centre (NIC). The students will be able to access their results through the following websites - cbse.examresults.net, cbseresults.nic.in and results.gov.in. The schools will automatically get their entire Schools results on email ids already registered with the Board.

2. CBSE Goes Digital and Mobile

- Started in 2016, this year also CBSE will also provide Class XII digital mark sheets in DigiLocker at https://digilocker.gov.in.

- The DigiLocker account credentials will be sent to students via SMS on their mobile number registered with CBSE.

- DigiLocker can also be accessed from your mobile phone on Android and iOS platforms.

- Students can also view their results on UMANG mobile application which is available for android, iOS and windows based smart phone.

3. RESULTS THROUGH IVRS (INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE SYSTEM)/SMS FACILITY OF NIC

The telephone numbers of NIC through which results can be accessed through IVRS are as follows:

A. National Informatics Centre:

TELEPHONE NUMBER(S)/AREA COVERED

24300699: for local subscribers in Delhi

01124300699: for subscribers in other parts of the country

B. SMS

The result can be received by sending SMS for class 12 as given below:

Type 'cbse12' and send it to mobile number - 7738299899

4. Results on Microsoft search engine

Results can also be accessed through Microsoft search engine www.bing.com and SMS Organizer App on mobile which can be installed from playstore https://aka.ms/sms

5. Results on Google search engine

Results can also be accessed through Google search engine www.google.co.in

6. Schools under Delhi Region

Schools under the Delhi Region are advised to collect the results from the office of the respective Zonal office of Deputy Director of Education after declaration of the result by confirming time with them.

The CBSE Class 12 result 2018 will not be available at the Board and the students are advised not to visit Board's office for collection of results. The process of verification will be displayed on CBSEs website.

Over 11 lakh students had registered for the Class 12 examination, which was marred with controversy over the paper leak issue.

The Board had conducted a re-test of Class 12 economics paper on April 25, nearly a month after it was leaked triggering widespread outrage and confusion among students across the country.

The CBSE had also postponed the examinations scheduled to be held on April 2 in Punjab at the request of the state government in view of 'Bharat Bandh' called by several Dalit organisations against the alleged "dilution" of the SCs/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

About CBSE

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was founded on November 3, 1962. It's headquartered at Preet Vihar, New Delhi. Its primary function includes preparing academic programmes and organizing examinations, especially for Class 10 and Class 12 students.

CBSE Class 12th Result 2018 Live Updates
At the center of a massive storm after 11 died while protesting against a plant his company owns, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal has said that he is keen on continuing with business and will ensure the preservation of the environment and welfare of people.

The main angst against the copper smelting plant of Sterlite Industries - a company owned by Vedanta - in Thoothukudi is that it is a massive source of environmental pollution. Locals allege that the plant was causing air and water pollution that had begun having short and long-term health impact on people in the area. They had been protesting against it for three years but matters flared up on Tuesday when police resorted to firing live rounds from assault rifled to disperse the crowd.

While local police, administration and especially the state government of Tamil Nadu have been flayed repeatedly for how it managed the situation, Vedanta's shares at BSE in the last two days have also seen minor dip. Agarwal though maintains that people and environment are top priorities. "We always make sure that community and people of Tuticorin prosper with us. I'm totally committed to people at large and the community. With their wish and prosperity, we'd like to continue business," said the top official of the multi-million corporation.

While Agarwal may have attempted to calm frayed nerves, there is no denying that Vedanta's Sterlite smelting plant has had its fair share of controversies. It was rejected by three states  Gujarat , Goa and Maharashtra  because of its highly polluting nature, before being allowed to be set-up in Tamil Nadu, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has said. "While taking Environment Clearance (EC), the company had flouted norms by misrepresenting facts and giving a faulty Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, CSE has said.

The plant with a capacity of one-lakh tonne has been shut for well over 50 days now and will like to stay that way because of a legal stay order and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's directive for power lines to be snapped.
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has backed his parties appeal asking people at large for financial contributions, saying that most opposition parties in the country - including his own - are facing 'a bit of crisis.'

Congress, in a tweet on Thursday, had appealed people to 'save democracy' and make financial contributions to the party. Tharoor, a day later, backed the decision to go to people for money and said the party in power mostly always gets maximum political funding. "No doubt that BJP is soaking up most of the political funding, partly because money goes to those who are in power. As a result most of the opposition parties are facing a bit of a crisis - particularly the Congress which has a nationwide presence," he told news agency ANI.

No doubt that BJP is soaking up most of the political funding,partly because money goes to those who are in power. As a result most of the oppn parties are facing a bit of a crisis particularly the Congress which has a nationwide presence: Shashi Tharoor,Congress pic.twitter.com/im7MqRDx6x  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018

Moving forward, Tharoor sees crowdfunding as a viable option for both regional as well as national parties. "In Karnataka, while most candidates financed their own campaign, in one case we did crowdfunding effort and it was successful. It can be repeated in general elections," he said.

It is has been widely known and reported on that while BJP has seen its income rise, Congress coffers have emptied. According to an April report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) - an NGO working for political and electoral reforms in the country, BJP declared an income of Rs 1,034.27 crore to the Election Commission - a rise of Rs 463.41 crore from the previous submission made. The same report noted that Congress has seen its income fall by 14%.

As for regional parties, an ADR report earlier this week outlined that the Samajwadi Party was the richest in terms of assets, followed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Kathmandu: Indian mountaineer Arjun Vajpai this week became the youngest person in the world to scale six peaks over 8,000 metres when he summited the treacherous Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. But the real pinnacle, says the 24-year-old, would be when he achieves the "grand slam" of mountaineering -- scaling all 14 mountains over 8,000 metres across the world.

On May 20, the Noida-based mountaineer scaled the 8,586-metre Kangchenjunga at 8:05 am IST, but could not come down from the Advanced Base Camp till Thursday morning due to severe weather conditions. Vajpai, who became the third youngest person to scale the Mount Everest at the age of 16 in 2010, started his journey to the Kangchenjunga peak on April 26 from the Advanced Base Camp, situated at a height of 5,400 metres.

I have successfully summited Kangchenjunga (8586m) on 20th May 2018, 8:05am along with Alex d'Emilia. A special thanks to Mountain Dew India for being a part of my journey and supporting my dream at every step.@LifeProof#RiskUthaNaamBana #ArjunArmy #Lifeproof pic.twitter.com/xTaAdiIjTu  Arjun Vajpai (@ArjunV_everest) May 25, 2018

Supported by Mountain Dew India's 'Risk Takers of India' campaign on his adventurous journey, Vajpai says the feat is the result of the "combined effort" of a team of sherpas and mountaineers. "There was no perfect recipe but a little of everything mixed into the mess. So, in the end it was like a beautiful montage of things falling into place," Vajpai said as he prepared to return home to Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

"This time we had a great team with us. The coordination between the sherpas and the climbing members was much better. We did better planning before embarking on the mission," he said. The weather conditions were initially very tricky, Vajpai said. The weather reporters would predict something and the ground reality would turn out different.

His friend Alex, who filmed the whole experience till the summit, was a great morale booster, he said. "The credit also goes to a strong fixing team that included three-four sherpas who played a vital role in helping us solve this challenge," Vajpai said.

This year's expedition was Vajpai's second attempt at scaling the peak. Last year, he had to return from Camp 2, at a height of 6400 metres.

Sharing the pride, Naseeb Puri, director, Mountain Dew, PepsiCo India, said, "At Mountain Dew, we are firm believers that we have the ability to break out of the ordinary. We strive to inspire the youth to conquer the real mountain - the one that resides with each of us." He said they were inspired by Vajpai from the first time they met him.

"We aim to take his story, and many others, to the masses in an attempt to inspire youth to achieve the extraordinary. We are privileged to be a part of this incredible journey."

Vajpai, who took to climbing at the early age of 10, has so far scaled Mount Everest (8,848m) in 2010, Mt Manaslu (8,163m ) and Mt Lhotse (8,516m ) in 2011, Mt Makalu (8,486m ) and Mt Cho Oyu (8,201m ) in 2016, according to the Himalayan Database, a record keeper of mountaineering feats.

With his eyes set on the loftier aim of scaling all 14 mountains over 8,000 metres, up next is the Shishapangma mountain in Tibet that stands at 8,027 metres above sea level. Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Nepal so far holds the record of being the youngest climber of all 14 peaks at the age of 30.

As he makes his way to the ascent of his ambitions, one peak at a time, Vajpai is hoping to beat that record.
New Delhi: Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence may be training jail inmates across the country on how to target Indian Army installations, sources have revealed to Zee News.

It has been learnt that ISI - notorious for its operations against India - is preparing dacoits and robbers languishing in Pakistani jails for localised attacks on Indian Army posts across the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. For these operations, the entire training and providing of required weapons would be taken care of by ISI. Once deemed ready, they could be used for actions undertaken by the country's Border Action Team (BAT).

In return for their 'services', the inmates have been promised reduced jail times and cash incentives - but with a catch. Compensation in the form of lesser time in prison, as well as monetary, is subject to how successful they are in carrying out given missions.

Even by ISI's nefarious standards, this could well be a new low. And standards were not too high to begin with.

Pakistan's premier intelligence agency is known for its dubious tactics and covert and often overt support to terrorist organisations - primarily those that target Jammu and Kashmir. Such is its reputation that ISI's own ex-chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani was recently quizzed by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on suspicions that he may have bene involved in rigging elections here in 1990.

There have also been reports in the past that ISI is attempting to revive Khalistan movement in Punjab, that it is preparing suicide squads and preparing honey-trap missions. Sources reveal that ISI may have pressed the panic button in the face of strong retaliation by Indian forces to unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistan from across the LoC.
The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) announced the results of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or Class 10 and Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (HSSLC) or Class 12 Arts on Friday (May 25, 2018) at 10 am. The MBOSE SSLC 10th Exam Results and HSSLC Class 12 Arts results can be accessed on the board's official website megresults.nic.in. The pass percentage and toppers list will also be available on megresults.nic.in.

The Meghalaya Board Class 10 exams were held by the Meghalaya Board of School Education from March 7 to March 19. Results can also be checked on results.mbose.in, examresults.net/meghalaya and indiaresults.com.

Here is how to check MBOSE Result 2018, MBOSE SSLC Result 2018:

Step 1: Log on to the official website megresults.nic.in

Step 2: Look for the links which say MBOSE SSLC Result 2018, MBOSE 10th Result 2018, Meghalaya SSLC Result 2018

Step 3: Click on the desired link - MBOSE Result 2018/Meghalaya 10th Result 2018/Meghalaya Board SSLC Result 2018

Step 4: Enter your roll number

Step 5: Download and save the MBOSE result for future reference

The Meghalaya SSLC Result 2018, MBOSE SSLC Result 2018 can also be received via SMS.

To check MBOSE SSLC 2018 result:

SMS - MBOSE10<space>ROLLNUMBER - Send it to 56263

A total of 23551 male candidates and 27765 female candidates appeared for the MBOSE SSLC Exams 2018. Out of these, 9675 males and 12159 female candidates came under the Regular 1 category (schools affiliated to MBOSE) while 5519 male and 6569 female candidates were in the Regular 2 category (schools unaffiliated to MBOSE).

A total of 1021 male and 1080 female private candidates took the examination. This year, the exam was held in a total of 78 examination centres in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region while 59 of them are located in the Garo Hills.
NEW DELHI: In view of the strengthening and deepening of cross-equatorial flow and enhanced cloudiness and rainfall, Southwest Monsoon on Friday has advanced to some parts of South Andaman Sea, Nicobar Islands and south-east Bay of Bengal.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasted the possibility of light to moderate rain and thundershower to occur over Rayalaseema, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the next three to four days due to trough and upper cyclonic circulations.

"South-west monsoon has advanced to some parts of south Andaman sea, Nicobar Islands and south-east Bay of Bengal. Due to trough and upper cyclonic circulations, light to moderate rain/thundershower likely to occur over Rayalaseema, coastal AP and Telangana over next 3-4 days," an IMD scientist told news agency ANI.

Further advance during next 48 hours

Conditions are favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some parts of South Arabian Sea, Comorin-Maldives areas, some more parts of South Bay of Bengal, north Andaman Sea and Andaman Islands during next 48 hours.

Onset of southwest monsoon over the mainland

Conditions are very likely to become favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some more parts of South Arabian Sea, Lakshadweep, Comorin area, South

Kerala, South Tamil Nadu, some more parts of Bay of Bengal, remaining parts of Andaman Sea and some parts of east-central Bay of Bengal during the subsequent 48 hours.

Observed Rainfall

Fairly widespread to widespread rainfall occurred over Lakshadweep, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and Karnataka during the past 24 hours ending at 0830 hrs.IST of today. One or two places in Lakshadweep (Minicoy  76.7 mm), Kerala (Vellanikkara -80.3 mm) reported heavy rainfall.

Expected Weather Systems:

An east-west shear zone at 3.1 km. above mean sea level is likely to develop along Lat. 7-8N by Saturday and gradually shift northwards upto Lat. 13N during 27th May  2nd June.

An off-shore vortex is likely to develop off Kerala coast around 27th may and move northwards along the west coast during 29th May  2nd June.

A low-pressure area is likely to develop over east central Bay of Bengal and move northwards during 28th  31st May.

These developments are likely to further enhance the cross-equatorial flow, favouring the advance of southwest monsoon as indicated above. Expected rainfall in association with the likely monsoon advance.
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) is expected to declare the Maharashtra Higher Secondary Certification Examination (HSC) Class 12 Result 2018 at the end of May. The HSC Class 12 Result 2018 will be released on the board's official website - mahresult.nic.in.

Media reports suggest that the HSC Class 12 Result 2018 will be out by May 31 while the actual date of announcement of the results will be declared on May 28. Once the results are out, students will be able to check their scores on mahresult.nic.in.

The Maharashtra HSC Results 2018 can also be accessed on other websites like examresults.net/maharashtra, results.nic.in/index or results.maharashtraeducation.com.

The Maharashtra State Board HSC Class 12 examination for the academic year 2017-2018 were held between the month of February and March 2018. The exams were conducted by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE.

Here is how to check the Maharashtra HSC 2018 results:

Step 1: Log on official website Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE on mahresult.nic.in

Step 2: Click on the link which says MSBSHSE Maharashtra HSC Class 12 Result 2018

Step 3: Fill all the details like your roll number and center number to get your Maharashtra HSC result 2018, Maharashtra Class 12 Result 2018

Step 4: You will be able to view your scorecard. You can download and print the same for future reference
NEW DELHI: National Informatics Centre has set up a new state-of-the-art cloud-enabled National Data Centre at Bhubaneswar. The data center will be inaugurated by Union Minister of Electronics and IT and Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad in the presence of Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan.

The data center will offer 24*7 operations with secure hosting for e-Governance applications of the Government and its departments. The unified and shared infrastructure is flexible enough to rapidly respond to Infrastructure requirements and also accommodate future technology enhancements, distributed applications, database applications running on bare metal, virtualized applications running in multi-hypervisor environments, and cloud-based applications that are available on demand.

A centralized cloud environment has been established to host multiple applications with simplified operations and increased application responsiveness to support the new generation of distributed applications while accommodating existing virtualized and non-virtualized environments. The Data Centre and Cloud Services are being offered from the Data Centres established by NIC.

The ICT Infrastructure at Bhubaneswar will be energised in the modular fashion with software-defined ICT Infrastructure. This will facilitate provisioning of services over Cloud with more agility and will also integrate with the NIC National Cloud Services.

The National Cloud Services Bhubaneswar will provide following benefits:

 On-demand access to ICT Infrastructure to ensure easy availability and quick deployment of applications.

 Standardized platforms of deployment to deliver ICT systems that are compliant to government policies and enable easy sharing of data across applications.

 Service-oriented approach for sharing ICT infrastructure to achieve economies of scale.

 Cost-effective, service-oriented approach for sharing computing resources.

Release of NIC Services

During the Inaugural event, the following portals will be released under NIC Offerings:

All districts of Odisha has been converted into SwaaS websites: In a major boost, all districts of Odisha have migrated into NIC's S3WaaS platform (Secure, Scalable & Sugamya Website as a Service).

Districts are the key entities in the government structure where actual execution of schemes and programmes take place and district level websites is an implicit cyber space and an important link between the administration and citizen. S3Waas has been envisaged to bridge this gap and built with an objective to empower the District administrations to generate, configure, deploy and manage secure, scalable and accessible websites for publishing district-specific information and services without much effort and technical knowhow.

Launch of E-Saubhagya- Mobile Application

With the launching of NDC Bhubaneswar Cloud service offerings of NIC would allow departments to provision infrastructure and add to the computing capacity on demand and release them when not required. This elastic nature of the cloud allows departments not only to bring the solution to deployment quickly but also to scale up based on the demand of peak or low loads. In the traditional model, departments have to budget and procure infrastructure at the commencement of the project, this results in either over provisioning of infrastructure or under sizing of the requirements which leads to scalability challenges. This would result in the waste of resources and refreshing technology would take longer.

The Data Centres are the ideal solutions for offering a robust & highly available infrastructure with adequate redundancy enabling the government to render effectively the e-Governance services to the citizens. Realizing the importance of Data Centres, National Informatics Centre (NIC) has established National Data Centres at Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune. The establishment of National Data Centre at Bhubaneswar will further enhance the range of Data Centre related services offered by NIC.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) was established in 1976 and has since emerged as a "prime builder" of e-Government / e-Governance applications up to the grassroots level as well as a promoter of digital opportunities for sustainable development. NIC, through its ICT Network, "NICNET", has institutional linkages with all the Ministries /Departments of the Central Government, 36 State Governments/ Union Territories, and about 708 District administrations of India. NIC has been instrumental in steering e-Government/e-Governance applications in government ministries/departments at the Centre, States, Districts and Blocks, facilitating improvement in government services, wider transparency, promoting decentralized planning and management, resulting in better efficiency and accountability to the people of India.
SRINAGAR: Promising exemplary punishment for Major Leetul Gogoi if found guilty, Army chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday said that no officer at any rank in the force will be spared if they have done anything wrong. "If any officer of the Indian Army, at any rank, does anything wrong, appropriate action will be taken against them. If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that strict action will be taken against them. And the action will be such that it will set an example for the future," he said.

Major Leetul Gogoi has been caught in a controversy after he was held from a hotel in Jammu and Kashmir with a woman. He along with the woman was taken to a police station from where he was handed over to his unit.

Police said that at 11 am they got a call from Hotel Grand Mamta about an altercation at the hotel. "A police party was deputed to the hotel and it surfaced that a woman (name withheld) and a man identified as Sameer Ahmed of Budgam had come to see some person," a police statement said.

"But the hotel reception did not allow them to meet the person. Meanwhile, police reached the spot and got all the persons to the police station.

"Subsequently it was learnt that the woman had come to meet an Army officer. The identity and particulars of the Army officer have been collected by the police.

"The official was handed over to (his) unit after recording their statements. The statement of the woman is also being recorded," the police said.

Major Gogoi is the same officer who had stirred a row in 2017 after photos had gone viral in which a local was tied to the bonnet of his vehicle in Badgam district to avoid stone pelting incident.
New Delhi: BJP chief Amit Shah has acknowledged that the coming together of two arch-rivals - Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP)  will pose a big challenge for his party in the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Shah admitted that an alliance between Mayawati's BSP and Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh will be a big challenge for his party in 2019 but asserted that the BJP will defeat the Congress either in Amethi or Rae Bareli.

"If the BSP and SP contest in an alliance, it would be a challenge to us. But we are sure that we will win either one seat - Amethi or Rae Bareli," Amit Shah told reporters in the national capital.

Replying to a question if a resurgent Congress under its newly-appointed president Rahul Gandhi would make things more difficult for the BJP, he said that the SP-BSP alliance was a much bigger challenge than Rahul Gandhi.

He made these remarks while referring to questions pertaining to the fourth anniversary of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

Shah also inaugurated an exhibition showcasing the achievements of four years of PM Narendra Modi's good governance at Dr Ambedkar International Center in New Delhi.

BJP National President Shri @AmitShah inaugurated an exhibition showcasing the achievements of 4 years of PM Narendra Modi's good governance at Dr. Ambedkar International Center, New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/uhc9CD3FeC  BJP (@BJP4India) May 25, 2018

During the discussion, Shah said that the BJP did not want to give up its alliance with old-time ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra but insisted that his party would have no option if the latter wanted to part ways with it.

"In 2019, the BJP will fight with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. We don't want to oust them from the NDA. But if they go out, it's their will. We are ready for every situation," he said.

Shah also slammed the Opposition parties, which, he said, are aligning with like-minded parties as they know that they may not be able to defeat the NDA in 2019 elections on their own.

"They all fought against us in 2014 too but failed to stop us. They all have their presence in their respective states. Even if they come together they won`t be able to defeat us," he said.

The BJP chief also exuded confidence that his party would win at least 80 more seats in 2019 which it could not win in the last election.

"We will win such seats which were not with us in the northeast, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and many other places," he said.

The BJP president also maintained that the Chief Ministers in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will not be changed.

He said the new BJP president in Rajasthan would be declared after May 26.

Interestingly, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani too had recently made a similar statement, saying that his party BJP will do a clean sweep by winning all 26 seats in his state in the crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Rupani further said that the Congress, which has given a tough fight to BJP in the 2017 assembly elections, will not be able to win a single Lok Sabha seat from the state.

''The BJP will repeat the 2014 general elections results by winning all 26 seats in 2019,'' the Gujarat Chief Minister said this on Wednesday.

"After the 2014 elections, it was only Gujarat where a state government repeated its tenure," Rupani said.

(With Agency inputs)
SRINAGAR: Expressing concern over the spate of killings in cross-border shelling by Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday spoke about setting up Border Bhavan where people living closer to the border areas will be able to stay during incidents of ceasefire violation.

"All countries are coming together to achieve peace. But, I don't know when we (India and Pakistan) will achieve peace. We are working on forming an exclusive Border battalion in which people living closer to border areas will be included," Mufti told news agency ANI.

The Chief Minister called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to safeguard the lives of the people. Condemning Pakistan for the prevailing situation along the borders, Mufti assured employment to the family members of those who lost their lives in recent ceasefire violations.

"We thought in the month of Ramzan, Pakistan would not indulge in ceasefire violations. We are discussing to make Border Bhavan so that at the time of such incidents, people can come and live there. We'll give jobs to family members of those who lost their lives in recent violations," she added.

Earlier today, Chief of the Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, said that Pakistan needs to take initiative to establish peace along the India-Pakistan border by stopping infiltration.

"We want peace at borders but as you know Pakistan continuously violates ceasefire that causes loss of life and property and in such a case we have to retaliate. But if Pakistan wants peace, we expect them to take initiative, which will start with them stopping infiltration," General Rawat said in Pahalgam.

Mufti had earlier demanded a unilateral ceasefire by security forces during Ramzan and Amarnath yatra in the state. But the Centre was initially not too keen on offering an olive branch to the 'terror groups' pointing out that the situation in the state was not conducive for a ceasefire and such an exercise undertaken in 2000 had not given the desired results.

Earlier this month, the Home Ministry announced that the security personnel would halt operations against militants in the state during the month of Ramzan.

The Ministry, however, clarified that the security forces retain the right to strike if attacked or if civilians are found to be in danger.

But there has been no let-up in ceasefire violations at the LoC, and sporadic incidents of militants striking security forces continue.

(With inputs from ANI)
BENGALURU: Newly sworn-in Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JDS alliance government won the crucial trust vote on Friday. Just ahead of the floor test, BJP MLAs staged a walk out of the State Legislative Assembly paving way for an easy win for the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in Karnataka. 117 MLAs voted in favour of the ruling alliance led by Kumaraswamy.

Earlier, while moving the motion of confidence in the Karnataka Assembly to prove his majority in the House, Kumaraswamy had expressed confidence of having enough numbers on his side. "I have no tension. I am going to win clearly," he had said.

The floor test has brought an end to the 10-day political uncertainty in the state that began after the state gave a fractured mandate in the assembly elections. While the Congress has 78 MLAs, Kumaraswamy's JDS has 37 seats, along with two independent candidates. Kumaraswamy had won from two constituencies. After a high drama, the 58-year-old Kumaraswamy was sworn-in as CM at a grand assembly of leaders of non-BJP parties on Thursday.

Before the much-awaited floor test in Karnataka, Congress MLA KR Ramesh Kumar was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the House. Karnataka Deputy CM G Parameshwara proposed KR Ramesh Kumar's name which was seconded by Congress leader Siddaramahaih. The BJP withdrew the nomination of its candidate S Suresh Kumar giving Ramesh Kumar a walkover. CM Kumaraswamy congratulated Ramesh Kumar and hoped that the next five years pass on peacefully. "We are happy that you have been elected unanimously," he said.

Yeddyurappa congratulated Ramesh Kumar and said that while they had nominated a member from their party, they decided to withdraw the name and give honour to the chair of the Speaker. "You have an experience as a humble and fair person. The Opposition will cooperate with you in every possible way," Yeddyurappa said.

Ramesh Kumar is a six-time MLA and has been the Speaker of Karnataka Assembly twice during the HD Deve Gowda and JH Patel governments (1994-99). He was the Health and Family Welfare minister in the previous Congress government of Siddaramaiah. He won from Srinivasapur defeating JDS candidate GK Venkatashivareddy by over 10,500 votes in the recent Assembly elections.

I have no tension, I am going to win clearly: CM #HDKumaraswamy on today's floor test. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/b6VgoKniUy  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018

Ahead of the floor test, Congress Legislative Party met at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru: Congress Legislative Party meeting underway in Vidhana Soudha pic.twitter.com/IrYD37yo9V  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018

The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single-largest party in the elections with 104 seats but fell short of a majority by 7 seats in the 225-member house. Despite the number crunch, the BJP staked claim to form government and BS Yeddyurappa took oath as the Chief Minister. Governor Vajubhai Vala gave BJP 15 days to prove their majority but the Supreme Court in an interim order cut down the timeframe drastically to 2 days. Within 2 days, Yeddyurappa had to step down from the post after he was unable to prove his majority in the House.

Congress MLAs reach Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru ahead of floor test and election of assembly speaker #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/NdLiwjtDhN  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018

After Yeddyurappa's resignation, Governor Vajubhai Vala invited Congress-JDS alliance to form the government in the state and Kumaraswamy was sworn-in.
Mumbai: Shiv Sena, BJP's estranged NDA ally from Maharashtra, on Friday made yet another attack on the saffron party and called it a ''mad murder'' which was "stabbing anyone coming in its way.'' The extremely critical remarks from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party came days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accused the Shiv Sena of betrayal and creating trouble for the BJP-led coalition government in Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra-based party also came down heavily on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for not removing his footwear while garlanding the photo of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji during a public rally in Virar two days back for Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll to be held on May 28.

"The hypocrite Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who visited Palghar for the poll campaign, has stabbed the BJP in the back,'' the party said. ''This shows they have not understood the history or Chhatrapati (Shivaji)," the Shiv Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"Today, the BJP has become a mad murderer that stabs anybody coming in its way," the Sena editorial alleged.

CM Fadnavis had recently said that the Shiv Sena had betrayed the BJP by fielding the son of late MP Chintaman Wanaga in the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll.

Responding to it, the Shiv Sena said the BJP's act of giving candidature to former Congress leader Rajendra Gavit for Palghar bypoll and speaking against the party was actually back-stabbing.

"The language of back-stabbing does not suit Yogi (Adityanath) or Devendra Fadanvis," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said, adding that the BJP was giving an opportunity to those who had back-stabbed Balasaheb (Thackeray) when he was alive.

The Shiv Sena once again reaffirmed that it will fight all the elections alone, be it Palghar bypoll or the recently-held Legislative Council elections.

"This is just the beginning of tomorrow's fight," the Sena said in an apparent reference to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"The Sena's victory in Nashik and Parbhani is just the beginning and our win in Palghar (Lok Sabha bypoll) will be the trailer. The developments that follow will change the course of politics in Maharashtra," it said.

It said although politics was full of selfish people, the Shiv Sena and its saffron flag stands out in the crowd.

"Yogi comes here and gives lessons on Chhatrapati. However, while garlanding his statue, he does not even remove his chappals. This is an insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji. What does the BJP have to say on this," the Sena asked.

It alleged that the BJP was damaging the image of Maharashtra, which is known for its "honesty and trustworthiness".
New Delhi: Chinese smartphone maker OPPO's recently launched sub-brand Realme 1 smartphone will be up for sale in India on Friday.

The device will be exclusively available on Amazon India from 12.pm.

The Oppo Realme 1 will be available in three variants. The first two variants will be up for sale today while the third variant will be available from June.

3GB RAM+32GB ROM in Diamond Black, Solar Red. The phone has been priced at 8,990.

6GB RAM+128GB ROM in Diamond Black, Solar Red. The phone has been priced at 13,990.

4GB RAM+64GB ROM in Moonlight Silver, Diamond Black. The phone has been priced at Rs 10,990 and will be available from June.

Realme 1 buyers will be offered a No Cost EMI on Amazon.in. SBI cardholders will get a 5 percent cash back, and for Jio customers a cashback of Rs 4,850 will be offered.

The Realme 1 comes with 12-nm Artificial Intelligence-based MediaTek Helio P60 chipset with "AI shot" technology.

The phone comes with its own AR Sticker function and is immediately available for use without the need to download any app.

Here are the key specs of the OPPO Realme 1

6 Inch Full HD screen

Screen resolution of 2160X1080 with 403ppi

Helio P60 Octacore processor clocked at 2GHz

13 Mega pixel rear camera

8 Mega pixel front camera

Android 8.1 OS

3410mAh battery

Realme with a range of devices 'Made for and in India', will share OPPO's two manufacturing facilities in the country. Manufactured by OPPO factories, the brand will offer beautifully designed and power-packed choices of extremely high quality in sub Rs 15,000 range.

Realme customers will have access to over 500 OPPO service centers across India with guaranteed 90% of repair cases resolved within an hour. Along with online service supports, Realme is offering a 360-degree customer service system, the company said.
New Delhi: Xiaomi's decision to skip the Mi 7 for Mi 8 for its anniversary launch has left a lot of gadget enthusiasts scratching their heads. However, the latest teaser by the chinese handset manufacturer seems to be answering some queries.

Xiaomi has released a latest teaser denoting a huge number 7. The company says that since the Mi 8 exceeds all expectations, the company has decided to call the upcoming flagship "Mi 8" and and not "Mi 7".

Xiaomi is all set to launch the Mi 8 as part of its 8th year anniversary offering. The phone will be launched at an event in Shenzhen on May 31, the company has confirmed.

Xiaomi spokesperson Donovan Sung tweeted:

Mi Fans, amazing news! To celebrate our 8th year anniversary, we'll be launching Mi 8 at our annual flagship product launch in Shenzhen on May 31. Stay tuned for more details!#Xiaomi #Mi8 #flagship #launch #shenzhen pic.twitter.com/O7Lh3MJAqw  Donovan Sung (@donovansung) May 22, 2018

Rumour mills seem to be working extra time to bring in expected specs of the upcoming phone. As per reports, Xiaomi Mi 8 may come with a notch design something all popular brands are doing these days.

The phone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC coupled with 8GB RAM and a fingerprint sensor.

Other features planned for the Chinese Android manufacturer's flagship include, a 3D facial recognition unlocking feature and a 4,000mAh battery with support for wireless charging, as per a Verge report.

The company said its revenue was 114.62 billion yuan ($18 billion) in 2017, up 67.5 percent against 2016. It also said it made a net loss of 43.89 billion yuan versus a profit of 491.6 million yuan in 2016.

Operating profit for 2017 was 12.22 billion yuan, up from 3.79 billion yuan a year ago.

Alongside smartphones, Xiaomi makes dozens of internet-connected home appliances and gadgets, including scooters, air purifiers and rice cookers, although it derives most of its profits from internet services.
New York: Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual assault by number of women, is expected to surrender to the New York police on Friday to face the charges against him.

According to New York Daily, sources said, "Weinstein is expected to be charged with preying on Lucia Evans who told investigators that the former forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004."

The case was probed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and New York City Police Department, the sources further said, adding that evidence related to Weinstein's possible financial fraud was presented before the jury.

However, it is not clear as of now whether the charges, expected on Friday, will include money mishandling allegations.

More than 50 women, including stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and Angelina Jolie, accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, which the former has denied.
New Delhi: Bollywood's iconic beauty Sridevi breathed her last on February 24, 2018, in Dubai where she had gone to attend a family wedding. The shocking news of her demise not only left her family mourning but also the entire nation joined in their hour of grief.

Producer husband Boney Kapoor, who was by her side has finally opened up on living his life without Sridevi. In an interview with 'Masala!' he for the first time talked about life after the actress's death, and how he's coping with it. Medical reports concluded that the actress died of 'accidental drowning' in a hotel bathtub.

He told 'Masala!', I am trying to be both a mother and a father to my children. She was suddenly gone. These past months have been very difficult. Everything went on a freeze-pause in our lives. There were so many things left unsaid and undone. Now I am finally picking up the pieces again trying to put my life together for my childrens sake. There were things that were put on pause. I am trying to resume my life. I am yet to come to terms with the fact that shes gone forever.

Furthur, he said, We miss her every moment. Even as I talk to you I feel that emptiness in my life that she has left behind.

Sridevi and Boney Kapoor's elder daughter Janhvi is all set to enter the big, glitzy world of movies this year. She will be seen making her debut in 'Dhadak', a film produced by Karan Johar and directed by Shashank Khaitan. It is the official remake of Marathi superhit 'Sairat'.

The film will hit the screens on July 20, 2018. Janhvi has been paired opposite Ishaan Khatter in the movie.

Days after she died, Sridevi was given the Best Actress National Film Award posthumously for her powerful portrayal of a mother in 'Mom'her last film. Husband Boney Kapoor, daughters Janhvi and Khushi attended the event and received the award on her behalf.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the annual meeting of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund (HAAF) Board of Trustees. The following in the unedited official translation of his address.

Your Holiness,

Honorable President of the Republic of Armenia,

Honorary President of the Republic of Artsakh,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am glad for this opportunity and am happy to see you in the capital city of Yerevan.

Since its inception, the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has been supporting Armenias newly established Republic. It actually played a crucial role in the first years of independence. During the years that followed the Funds role was as much important, and I think that the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund acted as the indicator of Diasporas confidence in Armenias authorities. When analyzing the activities of the Fund, one can get serious indications as to what processes are going on in the Diaspora, what kind of concerns are emerging and what kind of solutions can be given to such concerns.

Of course, the political developments that took place in Armenia in April-May gave fresh impetus to our national consolidation, and we must do everything to make sure that consolidation becomes a political product and a permanent political factor.

We have already announced the Governments priorities, the most important of which is the preservation of the flair for victory in the citizens of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people in order to give it a permanent character.

The biggest political issue in our country used to be the enforcement of our citizens right to form a government, since I believe that the problems went worsening from the moment when the public started not to trust the outcome of elections. And therefore, we are facing the challenge of ensuring that after each election the citizen of the Republic of Armenia is on the winning side rather than a specific political force.

I want to emphasize that another top priority for our government is the fight against corruption, ranging from electoral fraud to corruption in the system of public administration and the judiciary. I wish to state that the Government has already taken successful steps to that effect. The process shall continue until we all realize that corruption has been eradicated as a systemic phenomenon in the Republic of Armenia.

Finally, perhaps our most important conceptual and ideological problem is to give an applicable definition to the Republic of Armenia as a State. When the Republic of Armenia was being founded in 1991, it seemed that everything was fine, but I feel that we have committed a conceptual failure. We did not clearly state why the Armenian people founded the Republic of Armenia as a State.

I want to emphasize that the preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia has not changed as a result of all the preceding amendments to the Constitution. That is, the preamble of the Constitution remains the same, stipulating that the Republic of Armenia has been founded by the Armenian people, and not by the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, or the citizens of Soviet Armenia. Therefore, the Armenian people should be the sole beneficiary of the Republic of Armenia, and we have to answer one important question: why the Armenian people have founded the Republic of Armenia?

We are convinced that the Republic of Armenia was established by the Armenian people for the following purposes: concentrating the human, financial, intellectual, scientific, economic, spiritual potential of the Armenian people or its significant part on its own territory and ensuring security and natural development for that potential.

Read more
New Delhi: Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput on Friday signed an initiative with NITI Aayog to promote the Women Empowerment Platform in the national capital. The agreement was signed by Sushant and Anna Roy, Advisor, in the presence of Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

Talking about his collaboration with NITI Aayog, Sushant said during a press conference, "I am deeply honoured and extremely delighted to be associated with the think tank of the Indian Government NITI Aayog and I hope to contribute in the best way possible."

The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) was launched earlier this year with a mission to establish a vibrant, enabling ecosystem for women entrepreneurs across India. It aims to help female entrepreneurs with hands-on support in setting-up and scaling up businesses.

Sushant, who has recently launched a startup named Innsaei Ventures, a tech start-up which aims to bring socio-economic and developmental transformation through Intellectual Property powered by emerging technologies, said, "If you see Innsaei as a successful startup venture, consider my mother and my four sisters as the women entrepreneurs behind its success. I have learnt everything because of them."

The actor who was last seen in 'Raabta' opposite Kriti Sanon also revealed that he will produce a film this year, "There are a lot of films in the lineup, other than 'Kedarnath', I have 'Son Chiriya' by Abhishek Chaubey, 'Fault In Our Stars' remake and there will be another film that I will be producing, this would be the first space film."

The actor further elaborated on how he chooses his movies, "I always take up roles that I feel I cannot do because it keeps me engaged, it betters me and I also feel that I can contribute majorly to the film."

On being asked about his experience working with the newcomers in the industry, Sushant said, "It is a great experience because a newcomer always comes up with new ideas and new ways of approaching things."

"So if the film is good it's because of me but if the film is bad it is because of her," he jokingly signs off.

For the unversed, Sara Ali Khan was supposed to make her debut in Abhishek Kapoor helmer 'Kedarnath' but due to the fallout between the director and producer, the release got delayed. However, Sara would now debut in 'Simmba' opposite Ranveer Singh produced by Karan Johar and directed by Rohit Shetty.
New Delhi: The maverick filmmaker Karan Johar has emerged as a brand name in itself over past many years. He has evolved not only as a director but also as a film personality who has made a difference to Indian cinema. He took over his father's Dharma Productions after Yash Johar's demise and today it is comfortably placed on top.

On Karan's 46th birthday, his industry friends thronged Twitter to wish him well. Check out who said what to their favourite director:

Happy birthday darling @karanjohar ... like u smiling like this.. not pouting sooo upset im missing ur birthday bash pic.twitter.com/FlLCrkiAyT  Farah Khan (@TheFarahKhan) May 25, 2018

May your pout grow stronger, sassier and snazzier with each year ! Happy happiest to you @karanjohar pic.twitter.com/x58yoEhBUZ  Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) May 25, 2018

Happy birthday @karanjohar sir! Your birthday gift from us is expected on the 23rd of november!  Tiger Shroff (@iTIGERSHROFF) May 25, 2018

.@karanjohar sending warm wishes and lots of happiness your way!

Happy Birthday pic.twitter.com/nYdQajGMFp  Madhuri Madhura Sane (@MadhuriDixit) May 25, 2018

Hes a legend in d making or perhaps already one.He is a have not inside, but outside he has manifested a world of riches in goodwill.Probably d hardest working man I know n probably least known 4 that skill as he makes it look so easy.I call him pappu. Happy birthday @karanjohar  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) May 25, 2018

Happy birthday @karanjohar! For always being there for me, to guiding me, to directing me and for just giving the best hugs coz you feel like it. I will always be eternally grateful. Youve turned a year younger, again!! Have a blast.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) May 25, 2018

The best, dancer, director & friend that this industry has! Our lives would be really boring without your wit & charm! Happy Birthday @karanjohar!!  Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) May 25, 2018

Happy birthday Karan. Much love, big hug and best wishes always. @karanjohar  Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) May 25, 2018

Happpy bdayyyy to d most charming person in town @karanjohar !! Hope you have the best year ever filled with sunshine and smiles , laughter and love  Rakul Preet (@Rakulpreet) May 25, 2018

The many moods of our incredible birthday boy ... @karanjohar #happybirthday ... enough now , come back soon pic.twitter.com/9Hh0T1fbEb  Neha Dhupia (@NehaDhupia) May 25, 2018

Besides being a filmmaker and producer, KJo is also a perfect chat show host. His popular celebrity talk show 'Koffee With Karan' has been the most successful one on television and is reportedly going to be back with a new season soon.

Karan also happens to be a favourite choice to play the judge on reality shows. Be it dance, talent or acting shows, KJo has always aced the mentor cap with much elan.

On his special day, here's wishing the Karan a happy birthday!
London: Prince Harry's wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, received a new tailor-made official coat of arms today that pays homage to her Californian roots.

The crest has a blue background that "represents the Pacific Ocean off the California coast," Kensington Palace, the couple's residence, said in a statement.

Two golden rays on the shield "are symbolic of the sunshine of The Duchess's home state" and three quills "represent communication and the power of words".

"Beneath the shield on the grass sits a collection of golden poppies, California's state flower, and wintersweet, which grows at Kensington Palace," it said.

The coat of arms includes a songbird "with sings elevated as if flying and an open beak" - also a symbolic representation of the power of communication.

"The Duchess of Sussex took a great interest in the design," Thomas Woodcock, whose official title of "Garter King of Arms" represents the most senior role in British heraldry, said in the statement.

Check out the design here:

(Image Courtesy: Reuters)

Meghan's tradition-defying wedding to Harry last Saturday included elements of her African-American heritage and she walked part of the way up the aisle on her own in what was seen as a feminist statement.

In her biography on the royal family's website, Meghan emphasised her commitment to women's empowerment and stated: "I am proud to be a woman and a feminist".

Meghan Markle was born in Los Angeles on August 4, 1981 and attended Hollywood's Immaculate Heart High School before studying at Northwestern University and launching her film career.
Mumbai: Huma Qureshi, who will be sharing the screen space for the first time with Rajinikanth in 'Kaala', says working with the superstar was a dream come true for her.

"He is truly inspiring and an amazing human being. The whole shooting was a learning process for me, each and every person on the set was warm and appreciative," Huma said in a statement here.

"'Kaala' was an experience of a lifetime for me, I have learnt and improved a lot from this film," she added.

She also praised director Pa Ranjith for writing strong female roles.

"I am grateful to him for giving me such a beautiful yet complex and strong character- Zareena. I am honoured to play this part," she said.

The gangster-drama revolves around the lives of oppressed Tamils of Mumbai and Rajinikanth will be reportedly playing the role of a feared and revered don.

'Kaala' has been produced by Rajinikanth's son-in-law Dhanush and is set to release on June 7.
New Delhi: Bollywood's power couple Sonam Kapoor Ahuja and Anand Ahuja tied the knot on May 8, 2018, in a big fat Punjabi wedding that was attended by the who's who of Bollywood.

While Sonam's hectic schedule has not allowed her to spend some quality with hubby Anand, their Instagram handles are never bereft of posts about each other. Recently, Anand took to Instagram to explain the hashtag 'Everyday Phenomenal' that they have always used in all their pictures and videos. The hashtag became popular during Sonam-Anand's wedding.

Sharing a sunkissed picture of the much-in-love couple, Anand explained the story behind the hashtag. He wrote, "The meaning & notion behind #everydayphenomenal is best described by this poem, one of my favourites, below: Who has not found the heaven below Will fail of it above. God's residence is next to mine His furniture is love. #EmilyDickinson #MahatmaGandhi taught us that our words become our actions which in turn become our habits, our values and ultimately our destiny. #EverydayPhenomenal reminds @sonamkapoor of the importance of appreciation, positivity, and gratitude...that happiness is not something you get, its something you are. #EverydayPhenomenal #fbf @faraz_khalid @noon."

A post shared by anand s ahuja (@anandahuja) on May 24, 2018 at 7:20pm PDT

We must say the hashtag is as poetic as their relationship and one can always trust Anand to come up with all things romantic!

It is indeed a great year for Sonam as her dream project 'Veere Di Wedding' is all set to release on June 1, 2018. Apart from Sonam, the film stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania. Sumeet Vyas, who rose to fame with web series Permanent Roommates, stars opposite Kareena in the film. It is jointly produced by Rhea Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor and Nikhil Dwivedi.
Actress Sonam Kapoor was snapped at the airport as she left for Delhi for the promotion of her upcoming film 'Veere Di Wedding'.

The actress sported a casual look by donning a blue and white printed full sleeves top and matching skirt from Huda Al Nuaimi. She completed her look with black shades and a stylish handbag.

Sonam kept her hair loose and was seen carrying a fashionable brown-coloured travel bag with her. She added a modish touch to her look by opting for beautiful giant earrings from Sunita Shekhawat's collection.

Check out her photos here:

Apart from Veere Di Wedding, which releases on June 1, Sonam will also be seen in Rajkumar Hirani's 'Sanju' opposite Ranbir Kapoor and Shelly Chopra Dhar's 'Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga' also starring Anil Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Juhi Chawla, Madhu Malti and Regina Cassandra.

Sonam recently got married to her longtime beau and entrepreneur Anand Ahuja in a lavish wedding ceremony in Mumbai. Soon after the wedding, all eyes were set on the couple's honeymoon destination. However, they put it on hold as Sonam had her work commitments.

We saw her dazzle on the Cannes red carpet, just a few days after her wedding.

Now, the buzz is on fire again. According to a Pinkvilla.com report, the actress, in of her Instagram stories, has accidentally talked about flying to Greece. So, now the latest rumour is that after the 'Veere Di Wedding' release, the newsly-wed couple might be heading to Greece for their honeymoon.
Washington D.C.: "Mind your d**n business" is what Will Smith has to tell everyone...at least his new song says so!

The actor-rapper, who has returned as a crooner after 13 long years, addressed the divorce rumours with wife Jada Pinkett Smith in the song, reported E! Online.

In a recently posted preview video of the song 'To the Clique', Will is seen rapping, "20 years of swag y'all just witnessed, stop the divorce rumours and mind your damn business."

Further giving his family a shout-out, mentioning his wife and the kids- Trey, Jaden and Willow- he sang, " The real-life Incredibles, last name Smith, Jaden, Jada, Willow, Trey-y'all ain't f--king with my clique."

Will and Jada, who tied the knot on New Year's Eve in 1997, celebrated their 20-year anniversary last year.

Even after being the subject of numerous split rumours over the years, the couple is going strong, and the latest song is surely a proof of the same.
New Delhi: Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra got a one-year extension up to May 31, 2019, a government order released on Friday said.

The Senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer took over as chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in 2016.

Chandra, a 1980-batch IRS officer, had replaced Rani Singh Nair. He had been Member (Investigation) in CBDT since December 2015.

This is the second extension that he has got. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet last year approved the proposal for re-appointment of Chandra as CBDT chairman for a period of one year from June 1 to May 31, 2018.

CBDT has six members, apart from the chairman, and is responsible for framing policy related to direct taxes and the Income Tax Department.
CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi was detained on Friday after opposition parties held a protest against police firing during the anti-Sterlite protest in Thoothukudi. Along with Kanimozhi, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief Thirumavalavan was also detained. The protest, led by DMK, was held in Egmore in Chennai to condemn the Tuticorin violence in which 13 people lost their lives.

Among those who joined the protest included the Congress, IUML, MDMK, VCK, CPI, CPI(M) and MMK. Demonstrations were held in several parts of the state as well as neighbouring Puducherry.

The shutdown called by the DMK-led opposition met with a mixed response as traffic was disrupted in several locations in the city and security was tightened in all the districts of the State. Authorities claimed that the state-run transport corporation buses were being operated as usual and all steps were being taken to ensure that normalcy was not disrupted.

No fresh case of violence was reported from Tuticorin on Friday, which witnessed large-scale violence on May 22 and 23.

The opposition has been demanding the resignation of Chief Minister K Palaniswami over the violence. Palaniswami had on Thursday blamed the locals for getting violent and said they were misguided by 'certain political parties and anti-social elements.' "The entire episode which happened was primarily because of certain political parties, NGOs and anti-social elements who took protestors to a wrong path. If someone is attacked, the natural course would be to defend and safeguard themselves. This is what has been done by the police in response," he said.

Police personnel had allegedly fired from assault rifles to reign in a crowd of locals who were protesting against a copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi. For three months, the protestors had been blaming the plant for causing pollution in the area but things flared up exponentially on Tuesday.
Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has said that she can't vacate the government bungalow allotted to her since it was converted into a memorial dedicated to party's late founder and her political mentor Kanshi Ram.

The Dalit leader said this while replying to an eviction notice sent to her by the Uttar Pradesh Government.

In a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati said that the sprawling bungalow at 13A, Mall Avenue, which was allotted to her, was converted into a Kanshi Ram Memorial in 2011.

BSP chief stated in the letter that on January 13, 2011, '13A, Mall Avenue' was declared as a memorial, owned by BSP founder Kanshi Ram and that she only occupied two rooms in the bungalow.

Mayawati added that in some parts of the Mall Avenue residence, she was allowed to stay for the purpose that the maintenance and security of the house could be done under her care.

She, however, stated that on December 23, 2011, the Estate Department had allotted 6, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg as her house, which she said would vacate and hand it over to the department soon.

Mayawati further claimed that private workers who used to maintain the memorial site of Kanshi Ram used to live in her `13A, Mall Avenue` bungalow."

''But in the 6, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg house, there is not enough space for the workers to stay," she said. She, therefore, requested Adityanath for some time to arrange their stay.

Mayawati also requested that the safety and upkeep of Kanshi Ram Memorial should be done by the State Treasury Directorate and, if the department faces any hassle, then it should be handed over back to the BSP.

At present, Mayawati is residing at 13, Mall Avenue, which is located close to her party office at 12, Mall Avenue in Lucknow.

A BSP delegation also met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday claiming that the sprawling bungalow party chief Mayawati has been asked to vacate was converted into a Kanshi Ram memorial in 2011.

In the wake of the Supreme Court order directing all former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers to vacate their bungalows, Mayawati is believed to have converted her official residence into a memorial for the late party supremo Kanshi Ram on May 21.

After the top court's order, renovations have also started in full swing in Mayawati's personal residence at 9, Mall Avenue, where she is expected to move to soon.

Mayawati's new residence was used to be the residence of the former speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Kesharinath Tripathi.

Following the Supreme Court order, Adityanath issued notices to six former state chief ministers to vacate their official bungalows, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The notices were sent by the Estate Department asking the former chief ministers to vacate the bungalows in 15 days. Notices were also issued to Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav`s son Akhilesh Yadav and Kalyan Singh. In May 2016, the Supreme Court quashed the law passed by the then Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav-led state government, granting permanent residential accommodation to former chief ministers of the state.

The apex court, in its order, said former chief ministers of the state were not entitled to government bungalows. While striking down the law, the Supreme Court said Section 4(3) of Uttar Pradesh ministers (salaries, allowances, and miscellaneous provisions) Act, 2016 was unconstitutional, which was subsequently challenged by the NGO, Lok Prahari, in the top court.

(With ANI inputs)
Diana Ghazaryan

In 2017, the Armenian government awarded its largest contract, in the amount of AMD 1.873 billion, to the Arpa-Sevan company owned by Republican Party of Armenia MP Hakob Hakobyan, who chairs the parliaments Standing Committee on Health Care and Social Affairs.

Few will be surprised to learn that the most lucrative state contracts go to companies linked to government officials.

Last year, the five largest state contracts were won, in descending size, by the following companies  Arpa-Sevan, Flesh, Suarti, AMPG Group, and EIC Telecom.

The AMD1.873 billion ($3.9 million) contract was signed with the State Committee for Water Managementand obligated the Arpa-Sevan company to make repairs to sections of the Arpa-Sevan #2 tunnel.

The gasoline retailer Flash won the second largest government contract last year  AMD 1.864 billion. The companys owned by BarseghGeglaryan, a close friend of Serzh Sargsyan. The company was to supply gasoline and diesel fuel to the Ministry of Defense.

Flash won the largest state contract in 2016, in the amount of AMD 2.342 billion to supply the defense ministry with gasoline and diesel fuel.

The third largest contract, AMD1.528 billion, was signed between the Ministry of Transport, Communication and IT and the Italian Suarti companys branch in Armenia. The company was to capitally repair 103 kilometers of the Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan interstate highway.

The director of Suartis branch in Armenia is Filippo Duzioni, who also serves as the director of ItalGusto Food, a company that produces frozen food.

On December 5, 2016, Suarti sued the Sevan Municipality for not paying it AMD70.674 million for repairing asphalting and repairing streets in the town. The sides later reconciled, and the case was dropped.

The fourth largest state contract, AMD 1.411 billion, went to AMPG Group, a company owned by Albert Taroyan, Armenias Honorary Consul to the Philippines, to print excise stamps "2018" for imported and local alcoholic drinks (37 million) and cigarettes (295 million), in compliance with standards.

In 2016, AMPG won the second largest state contract in Armenia, totaling AMD 1.891 billion, to print excise stamps "2017" on polymer membranes for imported and local alcoholic drinks (45 million), cigarettes (259 million) and articles subject to mandatory marking (500 million), in compliance with standards.

The fifth largest state contract in 2017 went to EIC Telecom. The company received AMD 960 million to videotape the April 2 parliamentary election vote count in all polling stations throughout Armenia.The State Registry of Legal Entities lists YervandSimonyan as the company owner.

To see what companies won the largest state contracts in 2016, please see: 5 Companies in Armenia Receiving Largest State Procurement Contracts Are Linked to Government Officials.

The photos above show (from left): Hakob Hakobyan, Barsegh Beglaryan, Filippo Duzioni, Albert Taroyan, Yervand Simonyan.
Dehradun: Gagandeep Singh, a Sikh policeman who had saved the life of a Muslim youth from a violent mob after the latter was allegedly found in a compromising position with a Hindu girl at a temple near Ramnagar, has won praise on social media.

Sub-Inspector Gagandeep Singh is now being hailed as a hero after a video purportedly showing him saving a Muslim youth from a violent mob went viral on the social media platforms.

Watch SI Gagandeep Singh's heroic act here.

According to ADG (law and order) Ashok Kumar, the incident occurred on Tuesday when a Muslim youth went to meet his Hindu girlfriend at the popular Garjia Devi temple, which is about 15 km from Ramnagar.

Locals somehow came to know about it and reached the temple to "teach the duo a lesson".

Sub-Inspector Gagandeep Singh, who was informed about a possible trouble in the area, immediately rushed to the spot where he found a mob preparing to attack the couple alleging that they had been found in a compromising position.

Singh, without fearing the violent mob, immediately rushed to their rescue drawing the Muslim youth close to him to act as a shield to him, and in the process taking several blows from the mob on himself.

''The mob was soon dispersed and the couple was taken to a police station from where they were sent back to their families, '' the ADG informed.

The entire incident was caught on camera and it was widely shared on the social media where people hailed the Sikh cop for his heroic act.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand Police have booked at least five people whose faces are visible in the clip and initiated a massive search to nab them.

A reward of Rs 2,500 has also been announced for Gagandeep Singh for his act of bravery, the ADG said.
New York: A US judge in New York has ruled that President Donald Trump may not legally block Twitter users from his account on the social media platform based on their political views.

Trump has made his @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account an integral and controversial part of his presidency, using it to promote his agenda, announce policy and attack critics. He has blocked many critics from his account, which prevents them from directly responding to his tweets.

US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan ruled that comments on the president`s account, and those of other government officials, were public forums, and that blocking Twitter users for their views violated their right to free speech under the First Amendment of Constitution.

Eugene Volokh, a University of California Los Angeles School of Law professor who specializes in First Amendment issues, said the decisions effect would reach beyond Trump.

"It would end up applying to a wide range of government officials throughout the country," he said.

The US Department of Justice, which represents Trump in the case, said, "We respectfully disagree with the courts decision and are considering our next steps."

Twitter Inc , which is not a party to the lawsuit, declined to comment on the ruling.

Buchwald's ruling was in response to a First Amendment lawsuit filed against Trump in July by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and several Twitter users.

The individual plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Philip Cohen, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland; Holly Figueroa, described in the complaint as a political organizer and songwriter in Washington state; and Brandon Neely, a Texas police officer.

Cohen, who was blocked from Trump`s account last June after posting an image of the president with words "Corrupt Incompetent Authoritarian," said he was "delighted" with Wednesday`s decision.

"This increases my faith in the system a little," he said.

Novelists Stephen King and Anne Rice, comedian Rosie O`Donnell, model Chrissy Teigen, actress Marina Sirtis and the military veterans political action committee VoteVets.org are among the others who have said on Twitter that Trump blocked them.

Buchwald rejected the argument by Justice Department lawyers that Trump`s own First Amendment rights allowed him to block people with whom he did not wish to interact.

"While we must recognize, and are sensitive to, the presidents personal First Amendment rights, he cannot exercise those rights in a way that infringes the corresponding First Amendment rights of those who have criticized him," Buchwald said.

She said Trump could "mute" users, meaning he would not see their tweets while they could still respond to his, without violating their free speech rights.

Duke University constitutional law professor Stuart Benjamin said he disagreed with Buchwald`s finding that parts of Trump and other officials` Twitter accounts were public forums. He said he thought such a designation would require a more explicit statement to that effect by the government.

"If Donald Trump is giving a speech to 100 hand-picked people, and one of them heckles him, he gets to throw that person out," said Benjamin, adding that he thought the president had a strong chance of winning an appeal of Buchwald's decision.

Buchwald stopped short of ordering Trump to unblock users. Trump had argued that the court did not have the power to issue a direct order against the president.

The judge said she disagreed, but that there was no need to get into a "legal thicket" over the issue because she assumed Trump or his social media director Dan Scavino, who also was a defendant in the case, would unblock the users in light of her decision.

Cohen said Trump had not yet unblocked him as of late Wednesday afternoon.

"Personally, Im skeptical that he will take that step without more legal pressure," he said.
Washington: The US House of Representatives today passed the annual defense spending bill for fiscal 2019, which among other things seeks better defense relationship with India and greater American commitment in the Indo-Pacific region in view of the challenge being posed by China.

The National Defense Authorization Bill or NDAA-2019, was passed by the House of Representatives by 351-66 votes. It now needs to be passed by the Senate, before it can be sent to the White House for the President Donald Trump to sign it into law.

"In the Indo-Pacific region, the United States faces a near-term, belligerent threat armed with nuclear weapons and also a longer-term strategic competitor," said Congressman Mac Thornberry, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

"In fact, four of the five key security challenges - China, Russia, North Korea, and terrorism - reside in the PACOM area of responsibility. Critical to meeting all of the challenges in the region is our relationship with our allies and also with countries with whom we share interests," he said.

The bill seeks renaming US Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific Command. It seeks a better defense relationship with India.

NDAA bolsters the Department of Defense's efforts to plan for and provide the necessary forces, military infrastructure, logistics capabilities, and bilateral and multilateral training in the region through the Indo-Pacific Stability Initiative.

It invests in critical military capabilities to deter aggression and respond rapidly to crisis and supports strong missile defense systems to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, including the DoD's development of new capabilities and efforts to provide for a layered defense of the homeland.

NDAA renames US Pacific Command to US Indo-Pacific Command to emphasise the Commands' responsibility across the Pacific and Indian Oceans and requires the Department of Defense to conduct a study on the operational requirements needed for language expertise in Korean, Chinese Mandarin and Russian and a plan to address any shortfalls.

To counter aggression in the region, NDAA requires the Administration to construct a whole-of-government strategy to address China's activities.

It requires an assessment and planned responses to address activities by the Chinese Communist Party to include the use of political influence, information operations, use of intelligence networks, economic and military tools, and cyber activities and a US strategic communication plan to counter Chinese influence.

It also highlights China's provocative military, maritime and air activities in the Indo-Pacific region by requiring a quarterly report to Congress that may be disseminated to allies and partners. NDAA modifies the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative by renaming it Indo-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative.

It would include India as a covered country and allow for the inclusion of additional countries in the Indo-Pacific region. In an accompanying report, the House said the US should continue to "develop and deploy robust missile defense" in the Indo-Pacific region.

It allows the Pentagon to conduct missile defense exercises in the Indo-Pacific region with US regional allies and partners to improve interoperability, it said.

Supporting quadrilateral cooperation among the United States, Japan, Australia and India, NDAA said Secretary of Defense may conduct a quadrilateral naval military exercise with these countries.

NDAA also adds new reporting requirement on India-US defense relationship.

It now would include a description of the progress on enabling agreements between the US and India, any limitations that hinder or slow progress, measures to improve interoperability and actions India is taking or the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State believe India should take, to advance the relationship with the United States.

Authorising USD 700 million as Coalition Support Fund to Pakistan, NDAA as passed by the House says that not more than USD 350.0 million may be provided until the Secretary of Defense certified that Pakistan is taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani Network.

It also required the Defense Secretary to submit a report to the congressional defense committees not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act describing the manner in which the Department provides assistance to Pakistan.


Heres the expert point of view of the expatriates living in Ukraine on the country and the people

Open source

Theres hardly a person or media in Ukraine, who havent spoken of high speculative housing and air ticket prices for the UEFA 2018 finals in Kyiv. Ukraine does have its own local charm and wild East (Eastern European) difficulties to overcome. However, being a multimillion country with its diversified economy it has many multinational companies functioning here, which employ experts and top-managers from all over the world. Heres the expert point of view of the expatriates living in Ukraine on the country and the people.

***

www.facebook.com/lana.nicole.niland

Lana Nicole Niland

Owner/Editor-in-Chief at www.WhatsOn-Kyiv.com



Ukraine is a dichotomy. Full stop. You can drink beer on the street but there are few outdoor toilets; it's easy to fall in love here and yet the divorce rate is one of the highest in the world; people drive G-Wagons on the main street where just a few dozen kilometres away there is abject poverty; there are still many who know how to work through the system of corruption and just as many trying to stamp it out.

This place is as ethereal as it is painstakingly difficult but that is what contributes to is beauty. The problems are immediately visible to anyone - it's that incredible soft underbelly that makes it so difficult for those of us who have been here - and have seen and experienced it - to leave.

***

Open source

Martin Nunn,

Chief Executive, Whites Communication and the Ukraine Business Journal

Having lived in Kyiv for the past 25 years I have witnessed a great deal of change... When I arrived six cars in a row was considered a traffic jam, in the markets there was only one butter and one cheese and if you wanted meat then you had the bit they hacked off with an axe. There were no mobile phones, no internet and if I wanted to call home I had to book the call for late on a Saturday evening.

Apartments were for sale on the left bank for under $8,000, the beer was almost undrinkable and at Borispol airport the departure lounge was a wooden shed encircled with chicken wire, you had to walk to the plane and your luggage came on an old farm cart.

What's changed... everything. Kyiv is now a modern European city with more bars, cafes and restaurants than I ever dreamed possible. The business climate especially since 2014 has become electric. Ukrainians learn fast, very fast and what they may lack in time generated experience they now easily make up for in enthusiasm and boundless energy. It's a great city in a great country and the good thing is... it can only get better.

***

Open source

George Lupascu-Pruna,

Accredited Practitioner on Organizational Transformation and InterCultural Management - Hofstede-Insights

"Ukraine: Unquestionable friendship or Status and Power before business?

If you come to Ukraine as a tourist, you will most likely experience it as a very friendly, warm and wonderful place. Most of the Ukrainians treat foreigners very well, much better than they would treat their co-nationals, so you're lucky from this point of view :). Of course, if you step on the Status symbols and start bragging about your own country among strangers and after a few beers, it's only normal what can follow. If you have the time to visit Ukraine, from East to West and from North to South, you'll see the richness in diversity and in history. From Kyiv to Odessa, and from L'viv to Kharkiv, you'll see how the different moments in history left their marks on these cities.

If you come to Ukraine for business, ..now that's a whole different story and one paragraph wouldn't do it justice. A one sentence description would be that business is not just business, and Status and Power have their special place in every transaction regardless the level in the hierarchy of your possible future partner. My recommendations in this sector is to arm yourself with Patience (a loot), Capital, protect your IP and don't go for the short-cuts or for the "shiny deals" as those are long-term lose deals for you.

But enjoy Ukraine as a tourist first, and put business on the 2nd place and you'll do just fine. If you already have friends, you'll have even more, as friendship in Ukraine is addictive and people open up very fast to the friends of the friends. Budmo!

***

Open source

Peter Dickinson,

Publisher of Business Ukraine and Lviv Today magazines, Non-resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council

"I have lived in Kyiv for almost two decades and am still very much enamored by the city's unique charm and gentle soul. In a globalized world where one place increasingly resembles another, Ukraine has succeeded in retaining its own identity and engaging eccentricities.

I have always loved the way Ukrainian passengers applaud when a plane lands safely. Some people - including many Ukrainians themselves - sneer at this habit, seemingly regarding it as embarrassingly parochial or unworldly. I prefer to see it as a refreshingly honest reaction to the miracle of flight.

The modern world is so full of technological wonders that we take everything for granted and rarely pause to reflect on the advantages we enjoy over previous generations. Whenever I hear Ukrainian aeroplane passengers applaud a successful landing, I am struck by the honesty of the gesture and left wondering why this custom is not much more widespread.

***

Open source

Paul Niland

Founder & CEO, Statement Email, charitable crowdfunding platform

"I am an Irishman who has been living in Kyiv for 15 years. In that time Ive taken in two revolutions, and watched Ukrainians continue to demand a better system of accountable governance, never more so that in the years since the Revolution of Dignity.

The initial goal of Statement Email is to raise money to help address the acute problem of ensuring that Ukraines veterans of the war in the east get the kind of help they need to readapt to civilian life after theyve served their country.

Favourite places in Kyiv include Trukhanov island in the summer, Andriivsky Uzviz for the atmosphere, and, of course, Maidan. For me, Ukraine is home, Im happy here living alongside people who are working hard to make a difference in their lives and make a difference for their country."

These opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board of 112.International.
Possession of guns is legal in Ukraine. Despite the government reporting the ever-declining crime rates across a variety of categories, Ukrainians are still far from feeling secure in cities and towns throughout the country

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The issue of gun ownership has become a hot topic of discussion not only in the United States, where the citizens right to do so is officially encrypted in the countrys constitution, but also in Ukraine. Despite the government reporting the ever-declining crime rates across a variety of categories, Ukrainians are still far from feeling secure in cities and towns throughout the country.

The capital of Ukraine is usually hospitable and calm; however, foreign guests still might want to know what kind of hazards could possibly await them. Armed attacks, extortions, frauds - criminal environment does exist in Kyiv, though it's not obligatory a person faces violence while in Kyiv. Here's the legal and actual situation with possessing arms in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian parliament started working on a relevant law that would stipulate the citizens rights to possess guns as early as 1998. However, no such attempts have come to fruition yet. Since the beginning of the military conflict in the eastern part of the country, it seems like the argument in favor of such a right has attracted more supporters.

The experience of other nations in regards to gun ownership does not suggest that more access to guns leads to higher crime rates. For instance, despite virtually non-existent gun rights in countries like Japan or the United Kingdom, those countries exhibit violent crime rates comparable to those observed in the United States. Moreover, the American experience shows that more guns at the hands of ordinary citizens have caused a decline in the violent crime rates throughout decades. Unfortunately, we have grown accustomed to scenes of gun violence in American schools. But it is still true that many more deaths and injuries are prevented by ordinary citizens that eliminate the perpetrators while risking their lives.

Many may be surprised to find out that in fact, the possession of guns is legal in Ukraine. However, the process of obtaining it is rather complex and involves numerous bureaucratic procedures. As a matter of fact, any Ukrainian citizen over the age of 18 is allowed to acquire a bladed weapon, an airgun or a replica weapon (used for imitation of a gunshot). Moreover, those over the age of 21 have the right to obtain a plain-barrel shotgun, and those older than 25 are free to acquire a rifle. There are no restrictions on the number of guns a single person may have, however, relevant permits and medical references are required. Also, a gun owner is expected to ensure the safe storage of his or her weapon.

Article 263 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code suggests a prison sentence of three to seven years for possession, storage, acquirement or disposal of a firearm, ammunition, explosives without the permit required by law. That being said, there is a number of categories of Ukrainian citizens that are allowed to have traumatic weapons because of their occupation. These occupations include law enforcement officers and their immediate family members, professionals engaged in criminal law, journalists, members of parliament, members of non-governmental organizations involved in border patrol or law enforcement, military servicemen (excluding those currently in active military service), and other civil servants.

Therefore, it becomes obvious that the right to possess guns is granted primarily to those working for the state or local government. On the other hand, numerous barriers exist for ordinary citizens that wish to acquire guns in order to protect themselves, their homes and families from intruders and criminals.
Read the original text at 112.ua.

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UEFA Champions League final does not only mean groups fans and overcrowded pubs, but also a serious challenge for the transportation system. Many tourists arriving at the airports will take a cab. What will happen to the taxi services in the coming days at the airports of Kyiv?

It is possible that in the next few days, the passengers of Boryspil international airport would face the lack of the cabs. Last month, representatives of the airport called our association and asked to help to attract more taxi cars for the days of the final match of the Champions League. They agreed to issue temporary special passes and lowered the threshold of their conditions. A number of mandatory requirements were abolished, as well as payment of some contributions. If you are a normal, sane person with a license, then you have a chance to work on the first line in Boryspil for a few days. Temporary passes are issued for five days. On the days of the Champions League final, the number of taxis on the first line in Boryspil will increase to about 200.

Usually, those cabs, which have special passes, are parked in Boryspil in the first line: the entrance to it is limited by a special barrier. To enter the first line in Boryspil, you need to provide all the documents: a license, a medical certificate, a confirmation of the payment of taxes for the previous month, confirmation of the technical strength of the car, and the driver must also attend the course on aviation security. The fact is that the airport is the object of a potential terrorist threat, and the driver must know how to act if the passenger in his car, for example, has left a bag or a suspicious package.

In the days of the finals of the Champions League, the taxi prices operating on the first line at Boryspil will not change. Tariffs are set by the airport along with the carriers, and the price of a kilometer is much cheaper than in Zhuliany (0.5 USD / km versus 1 USD / km). The work of a taxi on the first line is clearly controlled. Prices are agreed with the airport administration for a quarter, and no one will change them (for one day).

Of course, there are crowds of illegal drivers in the terminal. The fact of their presence is polices fault. If a passenger manages to break through the ranks of those gangs, standing there from the 90's, he will come to the first line. Those gangs might call the price and $ 200 for the trip. If the passenger agrees, he is taken to the place, where the car is parked. The driver will receive some $ 30 at best, and 170 will go to the gangs.

A taxi from the first line will ask for no more than $ 15 for the same trip. There are even check-in counters where you can check the cost of a taxi to the address you need to go to. You might even print a ticket and go with it to the taxi driver.

If Boryspil calls a taxi by phone or orders online, it does not mean that it will be cheaper, especially if you call it from services that work with dynamic coefficients. In addition, according to the conditions of Boryspil, cars of the class below Skoda Octavia cannot work on the first line. All the requirements are clearly spelled out, there must be a working air conditioner. If you call a cab yourself, a low-class car, without air conditioning or with a smoking driver might come, and the price in such a taxi could be at least five times higher than in a car legally operating on the first line of the airport.

There is an electronic queue on the first line taxi. But it moves very fast: in the morning at rush hour, 35 taxi cars leave the first lane for 30-40 minutes. At night, the pace slows down considerably: 5-10 cars leave for the same period.

There are no cabs in "Zhulyany" airport. There is only one carrier, which sets tariffs to itself, and they have always been the highest in the country. In this airport, the taxi is the most expensive in Ukraine. There is a well-known case when a passenger was demanded to pay 70 USD for a trip from the airport to Brovary. The price of a taxi in Zhulyany is at least 1 USD per kilometer, so it is certainly better to book a taxi by phone.

Holding the Champions League final should not be something difficult for Kyiv taxi services. But, as far as I know, many taxi services still plan to raise tariffs on May 26.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.
The Netherlands and Australia have officially accused Russia of the crash of the MH17 plane as it is reported on the website of the Netherlands' government.

According to the statement, both states made a decision on this issue and reported Russia about it.

'The government has always said that the truth surrounding the MH17 disaster had to be brought to light and that justice must be achieved for the victims and their next of kin. The Netherlands has the support of the international community in this respect. On the basis of the JITs conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17. The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable', Stef Blok, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands said.

It is noted that the bringing of Russia to the responsibility is a complex legal process and a few ways for this exist for today.

'The Netherlands and Australia today asked Russia to enter into talks aimed at finding a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing of MH17. A possible next step is to present the case to an international court or organisation for their judgment', the message said.

Both countries urged Russia to assume responsibility and cooperate in the investigation.

As we reported the investigators from the Netherlands found another confirmation that MH17 plane was shot down from Russian 'Buk' missile system. Particularly, they got fingerprints from the ammunition.

He added that 'the investigations confirmed that the plane was shot down from 'Buk' transferred from Russia to the uncontrolled territory'.

As is known, Boeing 777 of Malaysian Airlines, flight MH17 was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur, when it crashed in the militant-held area of Donetsk region in July 2014. The aircraft carried 298 people; no one survived. Experts found out that the passenger plane was shot down by a missile, fired from Buk, the Russia-made anti-aircraft missile launcher. The weapon was brought to Donbas by pro-Kremlin militants. Moscow has been denying any ties to the disaster.
The President of Germany is to pay an official visit to Ukraine on May 29-30

Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of Germany, are to discuss the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Donbas, as the Presidents Administration reports.

Reportedly, Steinmeier pays an official visit to Ukraine on May 29-30, 2-18. He will meet with Petro Poroshenko. They will discuss the situation in Donbas and the question of bringing the UN peacekeeping mission in the occupied region.

Besides, the Heads of the states will discuss the wide range of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the ways of Germans further support of Ukraines European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier is to visit Lviv as well.

Earlier, at the meeting with Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, Petro Poroshenko stated that the deployment of UK peacekeepers in Donbas is caused by the absence of the progress in the peace talks.

As we reported earlier, Poroshenko in his speech at the Munich Security Conference stated that Russia had a chance to show its readiness to the compromise and agree to the peacekeepers on the entire territory of the occupied Donbas. Earlier, Kurt Volker, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said that Russias draft resolution, which provides bringing the peacekeepers to Donbas only along the confrontation line is unacceptable for the USA and the UN, as it will not ensure security, but only exacerbate the conflict.

Earlier, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Portugal, Turkey and Finland stated that they were ready to bring the peacekeepers to Donbas.
It is expected that the Heads of the states will discuss the preparation to the 20th EU-Ukraine Summit, which is to take place on July 9 in Brussels

Open source

Petro Poroshenko, Ukraines President, will conduct talks with Boyko Borissov, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, on May 26, as the Presidents Administration reports.

Boyko Borissov, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, is to pay an official visit to Ukraine.

The parties will discuss a wide range of topical issues on the bilateral and international agenda, including in the context of the Bulgarian presidency in the European Union from January 1, 2018, the message.

Besides, the Heads of the states will discuss the preparation to the 20th EU-Ukraine Summit, which is to take place on July 9 in Brussels.

It should be mentioned, that Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of Germany, is to pay an official visit to Ukraine on May 29-30, 2018.

Earlier, Boyko Borissov, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, supported the removal of anti-Russian sanctions.
France may act in some situations where 'certain red lines are crossed', the French leader said

Leaders of France and Russia, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin discussed the current developments in Ukraine. The sides agreed that the implementation of Minsk agreement provisions is vital for solution of the ongoing Donbas conflict.

'We talked through the eastern Ukraine conflict, making emphasis on the rigorous implementation of Minsk agreement', RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying, after the meeting, which took place in St. Petersburg on May 24.

Macron, in turn, said that Paris and Moscow should jointly work to provide collective security.
By Markar Melkonian

They took to the streets by the tens of thousands to end corruption and impunity, and to put the lethargy of the past behind them.

In a stunning turn of events, they reached their immediate goal, removing the Republics first Prime Minister, Serzh Sargsyan, from office. And it all took place without bloodshed, thanks to the appeals of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, as well as the level-headedness of Sargsyan and the police--and thanks, most importantly, to the forbearance and good cheer of the young demonstrators themselves.

As we know, Pashinyan dubbed the events a Velvet Revolution. This was an unfortunate choice of words. The original Velvet Revolution, the one that took place in Czechoslovakia in 1989,resulted in a division of the country, generalized poverty, an explosion of corruption, and abject subservience to Berlin and Brussels. No surprise, then, that twenty-two years after Vaclav Havels Velvet Revolution, a Western opinion poll reported that Czechs preferred life under communism to the post- 89 capitalist regime. (Less than a quarter of adult Czechs feel they are better off now than under communism, according to a new poll, Christian Falvey, Radio Praha, 20 November 2011.)

What took place in Yerevan earlier this month was not a Velvet Revolution; indeed, it was no kind of revolution at all.

A genuine revolution brings a new class to power. And a counter-revolution--like the one that removed the last few vestiges of workers power fromArmenia twenty-seven years ago--brings an exploiting class back to power.

There is no evidence that the events of the past month have done either of these things.

At the end of May, it seems clear enough that the political monopoly of the big capitalists remains unchallenged as before, and workers remain disenfranchised. Indeed, so far the faces of the oligarchs havent even changed. (But stay tuned: we should expect several insiders of the new administration to transform themselves into oligarchs.)

What has taken place in Armenia since Sargsyans resignation was neither a revolution nor a counter-revolution; it was just a change of administration. With any luck, the change might result in greater accountability by officialdom and employers. But if this happens, it will take place against the background of continuing capitalist rule and regional conditions of imperialist domination and rivalries.

Some people have described Pashinyan, the Peoples Candidate, as a democratic socialist. If only this were not a case of wishful thinking!

Pashinyans Civil Contract party describes itself as liberal, which meansthat we should expect to hear even more of the same old bilge about the miracles of democracy and free markets.

The new Prime Ministers advisors and his new cabinet include new faces, but they are almost all male, and it does not look like any of them question the neoliberal boosterism that celebrates thirty years of national disaster in Free Independent Armenia.

Much has been made of Pashinyans announcement that he would seek the advice of economist Daron Acemoglu. The MIT economists belief that democratic institutions facilitate economic growth seems to dovetail with a prevailing hope among Pashinyan supporters that a more democratic capitalism will be the panacea for Armenias ills. In any case, Pashinyans party, like Sargsyans Republican Party and Ter-Petrosyans Armenian National Congress before it, will in all likelihood represent the interests of one or another clique oflocal capitalist managers for foreign capital.

It is not as if Pashinyan and his new administration are bad, deceitful people. If they are to continue to occupy the positions to which they have risen, then they have no choice but to advance the power and wealth of the minority over the majority. There is a lesson here for observers willing to notice, a lesson about a materialist approach to the study of history.

At the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council (SEEC) meeting in Sochi on 14 May, Pashinyan affirmed that the Republic of Armenia would continue membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Let us recall that Pashinyan and his party are members of the Yelk (Exit) Alliance, which, in the minds of some Yerevan residents at any rate, stood for withdrawing from these arrangements. The new Prime Ministers decision to reaffirm Armenias commitment to the EEU and the CSTO should come as a relief to our thoughtful compatriots: Pashinyan at least is no Saakashvili.

True, the new Prime Ministers assurances in Sochi were little more than an acknowledgmentof the facts of life. But for a victorious opposition leader in Yerevan, a prompt recognition of obvious facts should count as something of an achievement: over the decades, at least one of Armenias Presidents, and many of the countrys would-be leaders, too, have not managed to achieve even this.

At this point, then, it does not appear that we should expect dramatic policy shifts. The new administration will be heavy on the anti-corruption rhetoric, but beyond that, it looks like the changes to come will be mostly stylistic.

Many of the young demonstrators who took to the streets in April have had a chance to leave the country of their birthbut chose toremain in Armenia. This is my country, more than one of them explained to foreign journalists.

Armenians decades ago had grown sick of privatization, and since then they have grown tired of unemployment and underemployment, too, and of the elimination of affordable healthcare and quality public schools, of gaping inequalities of wealth, of the impunity of plutocrats, of the toleration of domestic violence, and of pervasive bribery, the ravages of mining companies, political misrepresentation, and crooked judges who almost always side with the rich against the poor.

But now women and men of a new generation are more impatient than they are tired. They want to head in the direction of that genuinely revolutionary demand, equality of opportunity.

In Armenia as elsewhere, their numbers have been growing and their voices have become stronger and steadier. Yet the decision-makers continue to push policies in the opposite direction: further privatization of public schools; the privatization of pensions; further cutbacks for healthcare; a longer work week;a lower age for child labor; fewer legal protections for workers; even more tax breaks for the rich, and even more public giveaways for corporationsand mining companies. As one long-time observer put it, Armenias leaders still, at this late date, expect us to hope for more capitalist solutions to the problems that capitalism itself has created.

But in Armenia as elsewhere, fewer people these days are willing to suspend their disbelief. In the days following the May 8 election of Pashinyan to the office of Prime Minister, groups of women,students, workers, farmers, and consumershave come together at multiple spots in Yerevan and other parts of the country to block streets and highways and to demonstrate in front of public buildings, factories, and offices. Students and parents press their demand to replacea principal accused of corruption; Yerevan residents demand the resignation of the mayor; students at Shirak University in Gyumri demand the resignation of a rector;workers at the Nairit chemical plant demand higher wages; taxi drivers protest traffic enforcement fees that have made it impossible to earn a living; office workers protest job cuts; milk farmers demand higher purchase prices from dairy companies; environmentalists oppose illegal logging in a park.

In an especially interesting case, workers of the Ararat Cement Factory near the town of Ararat blocked the plants entrance with trucks and protested outside, demanding higher salaries. The factorys owner is none other than the well-known oligarch and MP, Gagik Tsarukyan,founder of the Prosperous Armenia Party. Here, we see the reality of a vision of prosperity under the rule of oligarchs who refuse to pay a livable wage to those who produce the wealth. Ominously, the Pashinyan administration has tapped Tsarukyans party for several ministerial posts.

The demonstrations, strikes, and road blockages since May 8 are some of the most significant developments of the past two months. They indicate that more and more of our compatriots are giving up hope for capitalist solutions to the problems that capitalism itself has created.

The demonstrators have been accused of obviously excessive expectations (Hayots Ashkhar, 17 May), but their expectations are not excessive. So far, by all appearances, the protesters have been walking a fine line, advancing their demands forcefully, while resisting provocations to violence. They are to be congratulatedand emulated.

Recent events have shown us once again that real changeirreversible change that will benefit the majoritydoes not come from elections. Real change comes from broad-based struggle in the streets, offices, factories, neighborhoods, and social media. The more unified and organized this struggle, the less the movement will be susceptible to violent provocations.

The events that led up to the ouster of the Republican Party from office of Prime Minister were only the latest of years of escalating grievances, from Buzand Street and Dem Em to Nairit, Electric Yerevan, and Khorenatsi Street, and from protests against corruption and domestic violence to farmers protests against mining pollution. And yet Armenia still lacks an active organization that brings together the demands of the majority poor and working class population of the country, of women, consumers, farmers, environmentalists, debtors, students, and opponents of homophobia.

Without a sustained organizational presence on the ground, each of the campaigns will fall far short of its goal, or will at best achieve only partial success, always in danger of being reversed. As one foreign commentator recently observed:

When they dont or cant move people, demonstrations, marches and occupy movements are insufficient. Its not enough just to be there: The movement has to join or become a political party; the street leaders have to become politicians.

(Anne Applebaum, People Power Worked in Armenia. It Wont Work Everywhere, Washington Post, 26 April 2018.)

If real change is to take place in Armenia, then it will be the work of a well-organized party that brings together a large part of the population within an organization with clear goals to replace capitalist rule by socialism, workers power.

If the events of April and May represent a victory, then the victory goes to the young people in the streets. In the coming weeks and months, as the disappointments set in, these young people should remind themselves of the lessons they have learned: peoples power can win the day.

The exhilarating events of April and May are only a glimpse of the kind of real change this new generation could achieve if it comes togetherunder a common program and organizes for the bottom ninety percent.

Markar Melkonian is a teacher and an author. His books include Richard Rortys Politics: Liberalism at the End of the American Century (1999), Marxism: A Post-Cold War Primer (Westview Press, 1996), and Philosophy and Common Sense (forthcoming from Bloomsbury Academic)..
Open source

Serhiy Ryabokin, the worker of Ukraine's Social Policy Ministry, revealed his views in terms of gender equality and actual military service for women; the views, which the government and the parliament found disturbing and outraging. Iryna Gerashchenko, the first vice speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament said this during the question hour on Friday.

'On the behalf of our inter-faction parliamentary union, I demand an internal investigation against the employee of the Social Policy Ministry, who is the deputy director of the Labour Conditions and Payment Department. Mr. Ryabokin sits in his chair, assuming that certain physiological peculiarities of females prevent them from serving as snipers', Gerashchenko said.

She added that the parliamentary union 'Equal Opportunities' stands for increasing a woman's role in the Ukrainian Army. 'Among 25,000 Ukrainian servicewomen, there are female snipers who proved they are even more efficient than some men,' Geraschenko said.

Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva begged for the union's pardon on the behalf of his authority. 'This does not reflect the views of separate officials or the whole Ministry in this regard. We recently made out position public, and it's official when it comes to equal opportunities for men and women', Reva said.
The draft bill was approved on Thursday; the document foresees active support of Ukraine's cybersecurity and cutting the dependence on Russian information and communication technologies

Open source

The House of Commons of the U.S. Congress supported the allocation of 250 million dollars to support Ukraine in the defense and security area; the money will be assigned from the 2019 U.S. defense budget. The respective draft bill was approved on Thursday.

The overall sum is 100 million dollars more than that offered by the Committee in this fiscal year.

The document features basic provisions of the draft law on the cooperation with Ukraine in cybersecurity issues. According to the Ukrainian embassy in the U.S., it foresees the active support of Ukraine's cybersecurity and cutting the dependence on Russian information and communication technologies.

The U.S. draft defense budget for 2019 is yet to be coordinated with the version approved by the Senate, and then it should be passed - once again - by both chambers of the Congress. Then, it will be submitted for President Trump's signature.
The Kremlin cannot recognize the conclusions of the Joint Investigation Team in the case of MH17 tragedy unless Russia joins the investigation, - Russian leader

The latest conclusions in the case of MH17 disaster and the recent developments in that of Kyrylo Vyshynsky, the detained editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti news agency, - these were among the topics that turned the attention of reporters in Saint Petersburg, where Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron met for negotiations and then gave a joint press conference.

When asked about the Joint Investigation Team's conclusions about the Buk missile launcher that downed Boeing 777 of Malaysian Airlines over Donetsk region in July 2014, the Russian leader said the following: 'Our attitude to the entire case is the following: at first, we offered to work on this case jointly, but then, it appeared that they won't let us participate in the investigation. The Ukrainian side works there, in spite of the fact that Ukraine violated the international law and failed to close the airspace over the embattled territory. But Ukraine is available there, and Russia is not. We need to become full-fledged participants in this investigation before we can recognize these conclusions... So far, I haven't even seen that text'.

The investigators from the Netherlands found another confirmation that MH17 plane was shot down from Russian 'Buk' missile system. Particularly, they got fingerprints from the ammunition. Wilbert Paulissen, the Head of Criminal Investigations Central Department of the Netherlands' National Police claimed this as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

'We have analyzed all available for us pictures of 'Buk' missile systems. We succeeded t got fingerprints from the ammunition that shot down the place. We understand that this ammunition coincided with that owned by Russia's military brigade', Paulissen said.

He added that 'the investigations confirmed that the plane was shot down from 'Buk' transferred from Russia to the uncontrolled territory'.

Dmytro Storozhuk, the First Deputy Prosecutor General reported that the joint investigation group has established that 'Buk' was in the service of Russia's Armed Forces, particularly 53rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade from Kursk.

Putin also answered the question of a French reporter who wondered about the conditions of Oleg Sentsov, the Ukrainian political prisoner, illegally detained in Russia. 'You do know that Sentsov was detained for preparing terrorist acts, not for his journalist activity, right? It's a huge surprise to me that you, the French journalist, never asked about limiting the media freedom in Ukraine', he said. Putin mentioned the detention of Kyrylo Vyshynsky in Kyiv, adding that 'for some reason, you don't care about his conditions'.

As we reported, the workers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has exposed the network of the media entities controlled by the Russian Federation. The law enforcement bodies held the investigative actions at the office of RIA News-Ukraine. Kyrylo Vyshynsky, the detained editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti news agency is charged with state treason.
According to Russia's president, the neglect of norms and loss of confidence in the world economy can become the reasons for the new world crisis

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia has claimed that the neglect of norms and loss of confidence in the world economy can become the reasons for the new crisis the world has never faced before. He claimed this at St. Petersburg international economic forum as RIA News reported.

'The withdrawal of one party of the contract from the legal framework, deal-breakers always mean the significant risks and costs. It is the axiom of the business practices. Globally, such behavior of the states, especially centers of power, is fraught with the most negative or even destructive consequences. Moreover now, when the neglect of present norms and loss of confidence can overlay the unpredictability and turbulence of the major changes. Such confluence of the factors can lead to the systematic crisis that the world has never faced before', Putin said.

Earlier, Russia announced about the termination of the agreement with Ukraine on the mutual deliveries of weapons and military equipment.

The Cabinet of Ministers terminated the Programme on economic cooperation between Ukraine and Russia for 2011-2020 on March 21.

Also, Russia offered to denounce the Agreement on friendship, cooperation and partnership between Ukraine and Russiain the part where countries recognize the territorial borders of each other. Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine commented this.
The president is sure that first of all, Ukraine needs it but not IMF

The law on the creation of the Anti-corruption court can be adopted in June. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko claimed this at the National Investment Forum in Kyiv as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

He reported that at the moment, the law is considered in the second reading. It is most likely that the final voting will take place next week.

'In June Ukraine must and it will vote and I must sign this important draft law. It is important not for the IMF or our international partners, first of all, it is important for Ukraine, for the trust we have win the world', the president emphasized.

He noted that he is committed to see it through and provide the work of the Anti-corruption court in Ukraine.

As it was reported earlier, President Petro Poroshenko is convinced that the process of creating an Anti-Corruption Court will be completed already in the first half of this year. He said this in an interview to Focus magazine during the discussion of the issue of Ukraine's cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

At the same time, Poroshenko stressed that, along with the position on the need to further strengthen the fight against corruption, the IMF notes significant economic growth and the implementation of reforms in our state. "I am proud of the fact that we managed to improve the investment climate, for these four years we reached more than 25 years ago," he said, noting that this is not only an assessment of the IMF, but also of the World Bank.

The Verkhovna Rada supported in the first reading the presidential bill number 7440 on the Anti-Corruption Court on March 1. Since that day, the head of state has called upon the people's deputies to speed up the work on the adoption of the full document.

This bill provides that the Anti-Corruption Court will consider cases if the subject of the crime or the damage caused is at least 500 times higher than the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons (from January 1, this is UAH 881 thousand). This is the basic condition. And it does not matter who considered the case - the National Police, Prosecutor General's Office or NABU. Some of the articles describe violations related to drugs or weapons, but there are no articles regarding electronic declaration.
At the moment, the suspected is in the hospital under escort

The identity of a man suspected in the murder of MP of Cherkasy Regional Council from 'Batkivshshyna' Party Serhiy Gura was established. He is entrepreneur and acquaintance of the MP as Yaroslav Trakalo, the spokesperson of the National Police reported to 112 Ukraine.

'We have established the identity of a man suspected in the murder of deputy mayor of Cherkasy city and MP of Cherkasy Regional Council Serhiy Gura. It is his entrepreneur and acquaintance', the police reported.

At the moment, the suspected is in the hospital under escort.

As we reported a shooting incident occurred at 'Cherkashchyna' NGO central office in Cherkasy, central Ukraine. The police got a call about a man that attacked the office in the evening. The attacker had two hand grenades and a pistol with him; he locked himself up inside the room.

Later, the local reporters found out that another man was killed in the police operation. The deceased man was Serhiy Gura, the MP and the former deputy mayor of Cherkasy.

The suspected was mentioned during the scandal with the distribution of the free land plots in Sosnivka among the relatives and acquaintances of Cherkasy Mayor Anatoly Bondarenko.

One of the land plots was given to Mykola Honchar.
They discussed the further reforms in Ukraine and their financing at the meeting

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met Suma Chakrabarti, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on May 24. At the meeting, they discussed the reforms of the banking, energy and energy efficiency sectors in Ukraine and also the financing of the projects as the press service of Ukraine's President reported.

'We have a great history of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. Today, the Beskyd tunnel was opened - the largest infrastructure project in Ukraine, implemented with the help of international partners, including the EBRD. I am sure that every year we can jointly implement a number of major projects in different spheres', the President of Ukraine emphasized.

Also, the sides emphasized that the National Investment Council appointed for May 25 should become the key event for the presentation of the results of the reforms to the foreign investors and attraction of the new investments.

At the same time, Suma Chakrabarti noted that the EBRD will continue to support Ukraine on the ways of the economic structure reforming.

As we reported Beskydy Tunnel was opened in Ukraine on May 24. It became the part of the transport corridor Trieste  Lviv connecting the EU and Ukraine.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) is Ukraine's biggest integrated steel company. The first metal was produced in 1934, then the enterprise was called Kryvorizhstal. State enterprise Kryvorizhstal became internationally known after privatization in 2004 for a sum of $800 million by a consortium called Investment-Metallurgical Union, which included Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetovs SCM and Interpipe Group, controlled by Presidents Kuchmas son-in-law Pinchuk. By initiative President Yushchenko, the privatization deal was dismissed, and reprivatization by Mittal Steel took place in 2005. The company was renamed Arcelor Mittal Kryvyi Rih in 2006.

Kryvyi Rih workers gave their response to the actions of their owners: in May 2017, coordinated protests of workers took place at the main enterprises of the city (Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant, EVRAZ Sukha Balka corporation, AMKR)  production suspensions, rallies, and seizure of the plant administration. Miners are demanding an average salary of $ 1 thousand. For the first time, this claim was voiced during the May Day demonstration in 2017. In modern Ukraine, this sounded almost unreal, but before 2014, this was a usual salary of some trades of this industry. The labor conflict has stopped after reaching an agreement on the gradual increase of wages by 50%.

The government seemed to be distanced from the problem, for example, in 2016, the State Labor Committee commissioned dozens of violations on the AMKR, but in January this year, the court rejected a demand to temporarily stop production. One day in work-to-rule regime means for the Kryvy Rih factories and mines $ 2.5 million loss in export earnings (and $ 7.5 million in terms of a full-fledged strike).

On the night of March 3rd to 4th, the roof of the "ArcelorMittal" converter shop collapsed, resulting in the death of a 25-year-old worker. March 14, AMKR workers held a rally and voiced claims to AMKR owner and CEO: create safe working conditions, raise the average salary to 1,000 euros, stop job cuts and outsourcing, and not put pressure against the trade unions. After several days, more than 12,000 hired workers have signed this appeal. March 15, representatives of AMKR trade union held a briefing in Verkhovna Rada, asking the MPs to find the solutions to the key challenges faced by the enterprise. March 27, the workers held a special conference, where representatives of different plant departments and trade unions decided on a labor dispute (this procedure was necessary to legally and peacefully conduct the negotiations between the parties).

ArcelorMittal converter shop roof collapsed

In April, the administration has been delaying the work of the conciliation commission, and at the beginning of May, it agreed to sit down at the negotiating table. May 3, an organizational meeting, in which the parties had just to settle the composition of the reconciliation commission, turned into a 26-hour challenge, during which the owners representatives were killing the clock, the police blocked the trade unions representatives right in the negotiating room, and the workers rushed into a spontaneous rally and hardly seized it plant administration. The necessary documents were signed, the composition of the representatives from the factory workers and the owner agreed.

Workers rally in Kryvyi Rih

May 10, the first meeting of the reconciliation commission was finally held, the secretaries were elected and the rules were determined. However, the next day it turned out that the administration sued, demanding to declare the conference on March 27 illegitimate. May 14, independent trade unions of Ukrzaliznytsia launched a work-to-rules strike. They demand higher wages, the return of abolished social benefits, and new engines. The work-to-rules initiative was joined by the AMKR railway production facility; they stopped the delivery of raw materials to the furnaces.

May 18, the administration involved the strikebreakers, and then "Ukrzaliznytsya" brought its locomotives to AMKR to renew its work. The situation around the plant is so intense that May 25, the owner of the corporation, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, arrives in Ukraine. And AMKR's CEO Paramjit Kahlon offers trade unions an increase of UAH 1.1 billion (compared to the wage fund of the factory in October). This number might seem really astronomical, but in fact, it means raising the average monthly salary by about 130 euros. According to the calculations of the Ukrainian economists, increasing salaries up to 1,000 US dollars per month is equivalent to that AMKR owners would funnel to offshore one-third less money.

May 23, one of AMKR trade unionist held a speech in European Parliament and reported on the situation with the labor dispute. The negotiations are continuing.
At a high level, North American farmers  with their thousands of acres of land  face similar challenges to smallholder farmers across Sub-saharan Africa with less than five acres to work with. They all must contend with unpredictable weather as well as ensure they have enough capital to secure inputs and manage their farms to maximize efficiency and yield. They must also be able to get their products to market. The way these challenges manifest for farmers globally, however, depends largely on the size of the farm as well as the sociopolitical context in which the farms operate.

For this reason, the startups developing agtech solutions for farmers in North America and other developed markets are not necessarily relevant to smallholders across the African continent. There is, therefore, a groundswell of startups and technologies emerging to help smallholders increase efficiencies and hopefully move many from subsistence farming to farming for profit. Many of these smallholder-focused startups loosely fit into three categories: finance tech (FinTech), data analytics, and storage technology.

FinTech for smallholder farmers

Farm loans in the US can start at ~$300,000. Meanwhile, you can sponsor a 7-acre rice farm in Nigeria for $250 via Farmcrowdy, a digital platform that connects sponsors to farmers to increase food production. Other fintech for ag startups are enabling smallholders to get credit to purchase higher quality inputs like seeds, while others are selling their own products via in-house asset financing.

Data analytics

Farmers across the world are turning to remote sensing, data analytics, and machine learning to monitor their acreage and optimize their yields. However, while growers in North America are using IoT solutions to automate pumping in across hundreds of acres of rice fields, companies like Kitovu are collecting, analyzing and aggregating soil and geo-location data from remote smallholder farmers across Nigeria to provide them with the right fertilizers, agro-chemicals, and seedlings for their fields.

Cold storage

Worldwide, about 45% of fruits and vegetables are lost or wasted every year. In emerging markets, this is largely due to spoilage before crops can make it to markets because the infrastructure is not there to support the transportation of fresh produce. In developed countries where the cold chain is established, food waste at the consumer end is the primary culprit. In Sub-Saharan Africa, startups like Wakati are developing innovative methods of storage that require minimal space and resources to preserve crops and increase farmer income.

Learn more about 10 startups that are working towards mitigating the challenges faced by smallholder farmers in Africa:

Founded in 2016, Farmcrowdy is Nigerias 1st Digital Agriculture Platform focused on connecting farm sponsors with real farmers to increase food production while promoting youth participation in Agriculture.

Kitovu is a web/mobile based decentralized fertilizer/seedling warehousing system based in Nigeria that matches the right inputs to different farm locations owned by smallholder farmers in distant pocket locations, using geo-location and soil data collected by the mobile app.

Wakati developed the worlds first standalone solution for the preservation of fruits and vegetables without using cooling. Smallholder farmers can store their produce on their farms in a protective microclimate inside a tent with a storage of 200 -1000 kg, using one liter of water per week, and powered by a small solar panel.

Illuminum Greenhouses is an agri-tech greenhouse and drip installation company in Kenya working with smallholder farmers to improve production and increase efficiency through the use of new modern technologies. They construct affordable modern greenhouses and install automated drip irrigation kits for smallholder farmers by using locally available materials and solar-powered sensors.

Apollo Agriculture helps farmers in emerging markets increase their profits. They use agronomic machine learning, remote sensing, and mobile technology to help farmers access credit, high-quality farm inputs, and customized advice. Their first product is a customized package of farm inputs, farming advice, and credit delivered to farmers in Kenya.

AMIntegrated Aerial designed a simple spray boom accessory, called the FiKapSy  short for Flying Knapsack System, for agriculture drone applications in the precision dispersal of agro-inputs on farm fields reducing excessive use/ waste of agrochemicals that lead to the degradation of the soil and environment across Africa.

Pula is an insurance intermediary that implements data-driven agricultural insurance. Pula assists hundreds of thousands of small-scale farmers across six countries in Africa. Farmers can safeguard their crops and invest in their farms through financial tools that take advantage of the rising use of mobile technology.

Futurepump develops solar-powered irrigation technologies to help the 500 million one-acre farmers around the world. Based in Kenya, it offers smallholder farmers a cheaper, cleaner and more sustainable alternative to costly and polluting petrol or diesel pumps. Irrigating crops on demand leads to more reliable harvests. It also gives farmers the opportunity to grow and sell crops out of season, bringing huge economic benefits to the farmers, their families, and the wider community.

Thermogenn has developed high-performance, off-grid, portable, evaporative coolers to expand smallholder farmers marketable dairy products in sub-Saharan Africa, mitigating spoilage to allow farmers to sell their dairy products later in the day instead of only in the morning.

Syecomp specializes in the acquisition, processing, analysis and synthesis of imagery from remotely sensed satellites and multispectral image data from drones to monitor field crops/vegetative status and identify and mitigate potential diseases across fields in Sub-Saharan Africa on farms in Ghana.

Click here to read more about African agtech.
A movement exercise form of dancing to the bars of music as well as a total body workout. Classes focus on stretching and strengthening with music ranging from choral arrangments to funk.

No there are no poles, no ballet bars..Dancing with the Bars is a movement exercise form dancing to the bars of music.

Is a fun way to have a fit, toned body and serene mind. Remember what it felt like as a youngster to skip, jump, imagine and dance for joy? This is a fusion fitness exercise class method that tones your body, mind and spirit. Dancing with the Bars will fit your personal needs and can be experienced by anyone: male, female, old and young; it is user-friendly, playful and easy.

Routines vary from class to class. Though this is a total body workout, some classes may focus on stretching and strengthening a particular part of the body. The music changes too, ranging from ecclesiastical choral arrangements to funk. Dancing with the Bars does not require any equipment. Some benefits include increase in the pleasure of your body, weight loss and maintenance, increased range of motion, improved muscle tone and strength, better balance and stabilization, more endurance, better ability to deal with stress and stay calm, improved posture, better concentration, a happier emotional state and more.

During the class you will come across the influence of dance, martial arts, and the healing arts. The result, a fusion of movement styles freer than other cardiovascular-based exercise. The comforting movement and stretching will melt away your tension and at the end of the class you will walk away with a feel good feeling that will begin your day.

No there are no poles, no ballet bars..Dancing with the Bars is a movement exercise form dancing to the bars of music.

Is a fun way to have a fit, toned body and serene mind. Remember what it felt like as a youngster to skip, jump, imagine and dance for joy? This is a fusion fitness exercise class method that tones your body, mind and spirit. Dancing with the Bars will fit your personal needs and can be experienced by anyone: male, female, old and young; it is user-friendly, playful and easy.

Routines vary from class to class. Though this is a total body workout, some classes may focus on stretching and strengthening a particular part of the body. The music changes too, ranging from ecclesiastical choral arrangements to funk. Dancing with the Bars does not require any equipment. Some benefits include increase in the pleasure of your body, weight loss and maintenance, increased range of motion, improved muscle tone and strength, better balance and stabilization, more endurance, better ability to deal with stress and stay calm, improved posture, better concentration, a happier emotional state and more.

During the class you will come across the influence of dance, martial arts, and the healing arts. The result, a fusion of movement styles freer than other cardiovascular-based exercise. The comforting movement and stretching will melt away your tension and at the end of the class you will walk away with a feel good feeling that will begin your day.
Valerie James is a versatile artist. Her music career began in college at the campus of Purdue University where she sang standards from the 1940s in upscale restaurants. She then moved to the Chicago area where she wrote and recorded her first original album and toured the Midwest singingCountry music. In 1996, she switched genre again by performing mostly rock and pop music. As a full-time musician she enjoyed many successes including an internationally televised performance on the opening day of Chicago River tourism, singing for Mayor Richard Daley and 500 world-wide dignitaries. In 1999, Valerie decided to move to the west coast. She began work on her 2nd original album, The Journey, which contains rock, pop, funk and blues music. Miss James toured Southern California, while also playing shows around the United States. She was nominated for several awards and enjoyed much success in the golden state. Then in 2003, Valerie decided to take her career a step further by re-locating to Las Vegas, NV where she now resides and performs. Valerie performs with several talented groups in and around Las Vegas from the Strip to surrounding states. She is a high-energy performer with a powerful voice who will entertain you, no matter what music you enjoy. Valerie found a true passion for taking on the lead role of Ann Wilson and fronting Heart Alive. She also will be joining the rest of the band when they perform their Fleetwood Mac tribute "Fleetwood Nicks, as the part of Christine McVie.
The Commerce Department has finalized its determinations for fine denier polyester staple fiber imports from China, India, South Korea and Taiwan.



The Commerce Department has finalized its antidumping duty determinations for fine denier polyester staple fiber imports from China, India, South Korea and Taiwan.

Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells its products in the United States at less than fair value.

In its China investigation, Commerce calculated a dumping rate of 72.22 percent for Jiangyin Hailun Chemical Fiber Co. Ltd. and 65.17 percent for Jiangyin Huahong Chemical Fiber Co. Ltd. The China-wide entity received a dumping rate of 103.06.

From the India investigation, Commerce assigned a dumping rate of 21.43 percent to Reliance Industries Ltd. and Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Co. Ltd. It also assigned a dumping rate of 21.43 percent to all other producers and exporters of fine denier polyester staple fiber from India.

In its South Korea investigation, the department calculated a dumping rate of 0 percent for Toray Chemical Korea Inc., but assigned a dumping rate of 45.23 percent to Down Nara Co. Ltd. and Huvis Corp. Commerce set a dumping rate of 30.15 percent for all other producers and exporters of this fiber from South Korea.

For its Taiwan investigation, Commerce calculated a dumping rate of 0 percent for Tainan Spinning Co. Ltd., but assigned a dumping rate of 48.86 percent to Far Eastern Textile Ltd. The department set a dumping rate of 24.43 percent for all other producers and exporters of the fiber from Taiwan.

Commerce has now instructed Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of fine denier polyester staple fiber from the four countries based on these final rates.

In 2017, imports of this fiber from China, India, South Korea and Taiwan were valued at $61.4 million, $23.7 million, $11.9 million and $7.4 million, respectively.

The antidumping duty investigation petition was filed by Nan Ya Plastics Corp. America in South Carolina and DAK Americas and Auriga Polymers, both of North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is conducting investigations to determine whether the domestic industry is harmed by imports of fine denier polyester staple fiber from China, India, South Korea and Taiwan. The ITC is scheduled to make its final injury determinations by July 9.

If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue antidumping orders. If the commission, however, makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will end and no orders will be issued.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. The Last Bell  the graduation ceremony in high schools across is taking place May 25 this year in Armenia.

Yerevan City Hall is organizing a concert in the evening outside the Opera Theater.

The ceremony in Artsakh will take place May 26 because educational institutions in the country operate 6 days a week.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Justice minister Artak Zeynalyan on May 24 held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Armenia Vincenzo del Monaco, the ministry told Armenpress.

During the meeting the justice minister highly appreciated the current level of relations between the two countries and stated that there is a great potential to deepen the cooperation with Italy in the field of justice, especially within the framework of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed on November 24, 2017.

The Italian Ambassador thanked the minister for the reception and said he will do the utmost to deepen the cooperation of the two countries in the judicial sphere.

At the meeting the officials also touched upon the fight against corruption, the opportunities to organize mutual visits, as well as a number of issues relating to the study of Italys experience in e-justice field.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. On May 24 Dro and Philip Kanayans, who were on a tour to Armenia in the framework of the events on the 100th anniversary of the First Republic of Armenia, visited the National Defense Research University (NDRU) of the Defense Ministry. They were accompanied by Arpi Vartanian, Regional Director, Office of the Armenian Assembly of America. The guests were hosted by Lieutenant General Hayk Kotanjian, Founding Head, NDRU, Doctor of Political Science, Professor, the NDRU told Armenpress.

The goal of the visit was to get acquainted with the activity of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), which bears the name of one of the founders of the First Armenian Republic, the hero of the battle of Bash Aparan, the last Military Minister of the First Republic of ArmeniaDrastamat Kanayan. The INSS is now included in the NDRU, as Universitys research component.

The foundation of the INSS was one of the initial steps of Armenia-Diaspora effective cooperation in the defense sphere. The Kanayan family had long been nourishing the idea of establishing an institution which would deal with strategic problems of national security in Armenia. The research institute after General Kanayan became a living monument perpetuating his memory. In pursuance of the establishment of the institute, by the initiative of the Kanayans, in 1998-2000 fundraising was launched in the Armenian-populated communities of the US and Canada, among the organizers of which was Colonel H. Kotanjian, then the Armenian defense attache in the US.

The INSS was founded in the framework of the establishment of the National Defense Research University, as the research component of the future University, as well as its intellectual basis and backbone. The NDRU establishment project in Armenia was elaborated and reviewed in the US National Defense University in 2003-2004 during the academic fellowship of H. Kotanjian. The INSS launched in 2005. In 2007 it became the academic coordinator of the interagency elaboration of the first Armenian National Security Strategy through the application of the American methodology by the US counseling.

On 28 January, 2016, the solemn opening ceremony of the NDRU  which was established through the transformation of the INSS  was held. INSS continues its activities as a research component of the NDRU together with the educational component of the University - the National Institute for Strategic Defense Security Education. In essence, its been more than ten years that the INSS NDRU, as an Armenian state think tank, has been conducting strategic analyses in the defense security sphere and submitting relevant conclusions and recommendations to the state military-political leadership.

In March 2018, the INSS implemented ArmeniasNational Security Strategy Review process, the methodology of which was based on Professor H. Kotanjians and the NDRU youngster Research Fellows continuously updating knowledge gained during their academic fellowships at the US, RF, Israeli, German and Chinese leading academic centers.

During the meeting Professor Kotanjian introduced the NDRUs activities and Dr. Benyamin Poghosyan, Head, Drastamat Kanayan Institute for National Strategic StudiesDeputy Head for Research, NDRU, briefed on the INSS achievements. The guests were impressed by the visit, they appreciated and highly estimated the patriotically committed work of the NDRU, and the INSS in particular, for the benefit of the security of Armenia and Artsakh, as well as the enhancement of the Armenia-Diaspora bonds.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. An Armenian citizen is charged for his alleged role in a bribery scandal at an Ohio-based Rolls Royce subsidiary, the US Justice Department said.

Azat Martirossian, 62, and Vitaly Leskov, 50, a Russian citizen, face one count of conspiracy to launder money and 10 counts of money laundering. According to the US Justice Department, the Armenian citizen is a former Ambassador of Armenia to China.

This information has yet to be confirmed. A diplomat named Azat Martirossian indeed served as Armenias envoy to China in the late 90s, but it is yet unclear if this case relates to the same person. The official statement on the indictment of the Justice Department failed to provide detailed information other than referring to Martirossian as former ambassador of Armenia, without mentioning years of service, designated country etc.

The charges are a superseding indictment filed in the Southern District of Ohio.

Petros Contoguris, 70, a citizen of Greece, was also charged on these counts, as well as one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and seven counts of violating the FCPA. Contoguris previously had been charged on all of these counts in an indictment that was filed on Oct. 12, 2017.

Martirossian and Leskov are employees of an international engineering consulting firm.

They are suspected in participating in a scheme to launder bribe payments to foreign government officials for the benefit of a Columbus, Ohio-based subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc, to secure a contract to supply equipment and services to power a gas pipeline from Kazakhstan to China.

According to the superseding indictment, Contoguris, the founder and chief executive officer of Gravitas & CIE. International Ltd. (Gravitas), former Rolls-Royce employees and executives, and others, allegedly conspired to pay bribes to foreign officials in exchange for directing business to Rolls-Royce Energy Systems Inc. (RRESI). RRESI was a U.S.-based subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc, the United Kingdom-based global manufacturer and distributor of power systems for the aerospace, defense, marine and energy sectors.

The superseding indictment alleges that Contoguris, working with employees of an international engineering consulting firm (Technical Advisor), including Martirossian and Leshkov, devised and executed a scheme with Rolls-Royce executives and employees, whereby Rolls-Royce would pay kickbacks to the Technical Advisor employees and bribes to at least one foreign official in Kazakhstan, and disguise these payments as commissions to Contoguriss company, Gravitas, in exchange for helping Rolls-Royce win contracts with Asia Gas Pipeline LLP (AGP).

According to the superseding indictment, AGP was created to build and connect a gas pipeline between Central Asia and China, and the Technical Advisor purported to provide independent engineering consulting advice and other services to AGP. The superseding indictment further alleges that after AGP awarded Rolls-Royce a contract in November 2009, worth approximately $145 million, Rolls-Royce made commission payments to Gravitas, and Contoguris then passed a portion of those commission payments onto the Technical Advisor employees, including Leshkov and Martirossian, knowing that a portion of that money would be shared with a foreign official consistent with their corrupt agreement.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Armenias defense minister David Tonoyan held a meeting on May 25 with Giuseppe Galati (Italy, EPP/CD) and Yuliya Lovochkina (Ukraine, SOC), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

During the meeting the sides discussed the Strengthening the Application of European Human Rights Standards in the Armed Forces in Armenia program, the defense ministry said. The program is being carried out jointly with the Council of Europe.

The defense minister praised the cooperation between the ministry and PACE, and attached importance to raising awareness on human rights, social justice in the armed forces among servicemen and their families, as well as continuity of trainings of contractual servicemen.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan says he doesnt rule out the possibility of amending the electoral code if political parties reach a consensus over the matter.

Different political forces have different stances. I believe that democratic approaches and the meaning of protecting the constitution is to be able to harmoniously organize our steps and not create a precedent of making any step outside the constitution. If political powers reach a consensus that certain amendments should be made in the electoral code, then it will be done, Babloyan said.

The Speaker said that his party, the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)  the parliamentary majority, has always been ready for negotiations. The party has declared that it will endorse all positive changes.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. A sitting was convened Friday in the central electoral commission regarding the termination of Alen Simonyan (Yelk party) as member of the Yerevan City Council.

Commission chairman Tigran Mukuchyan said the vacated mandate is being handed over to Nara Hovhannisyan, the next in line in the Yelk partys list.

Simonyan was granted a mandate of Member of Parliament to substitute Nikol Pashinyan, the current Premier, in parliament. Simonyan was serving as member of the city council prior to being named as substitution for Pashinyan in the parliament.

However, shortly thereafter ,Simonyan said he is resigning as MP.

And on May 24, Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan said that Simonyan has been stripped of his mandate at the city council.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. The issue of changing the chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has not been discussed and doesnt exist in the agenda, Ara Babloyan  Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia, member of the RPA Board, told reporters at a briefing on May 25, Armenpress reports.

No issue of changing the partys chairman has been discussed. No such statement has been made. There is no issue of such change in the agenda, the Speaker said.

Asked whether the party will receive enough votes if snap parliamentary elections are held, Ara Babloyan said he doesnt consider it right to predict and express opinions on that. When elections are set, we will understand that time, he said.

Third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan is the chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia. On April 23 Serzh Sargsyan resigned from the position of the Prime Minister of Armenia after several days in office. After that rumors on the change of the party chairman intensified on the background of the election of the new PM.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan introduced new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan to the senior officer staff at the defense ministry, the PMs Office told Armenpress.

PM Pashinyan thanked former Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General, Artsakh hero Movses Hakobyan for the dedicated service to the Fatherland and congratulated the new chief, Mayor-General Artak Davtyan on his appointment. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that Movses Hakobyan will fully invest his experience in the position of the Chief Military Inspector to consistently reach the increase of the combat readiness of the Armed Forces.

The PM stated that the Armed Forces enjoy the Armenian peoples complete trust, adding that there are issues in this trust which should be solved urgently, but with no hurry. Starting from the prime minister up to the lowest official at the public administration system, we should put a task to replace the feeling of work into a feeling of mission, since this is the moral-psychological base that will force us to resist the seemingly insurmountable issues. As a result of this the key task is to make the combat readiness of the Armed Forces in accordance with the estimated and predictable military threats and nature of war in order to guarantee the resistance to possible aggression. I attach importance to the fact that the Armenian government, the defense ministry, we all must completely and fully fulfill all duties we have before the serviceman. Finally, we must provide soldiers will all necessary items, the Prime Minister said, adding that he expects from the new chief of the General Staff that soldiers will no longer ask their parents to provide all necessary items.

In terms of the management of the Armed Forces, the PM attached importance to ensuring one-person leadership, increase of education process level in the Armenian Forces.

Of course, the increase of the social protection level of our officer staff and the officer in general is very important. A concrete task is put to significantly increase the level of state revenues, which, of course, should be followed by the increase of the funding of the Armed Forces, Nikol Pashinyan said, highlighting the necessity to take consistent steps to provide the officers with apartments and solve their social issues. This is an important factor, and our government must make serious efforts to solve these issues of the executive. I am convinced that there is a necessary intellectual potential, a necessary atmosphere in the Armed Forces, the Security Council in order to make reforms at these directions, he added.

As for the 2018-2024 Armed Forced Development Program, PM Pashinyan said it should be implemented consistently, meet the requirements of the time, react to the change of the military-political situation and be in line with the real needs of the Armed Forces. Summing up his remarks, the PM stated: I hope we have permanently closed the page of direct or indirect interventions by the Army to the politics. The Army defends the borders and security of our country, PM Pashinyan said, adding that the Armys careful eye should be directed to the adversary, and this principle must be maintained and preserved at all levels.

In his turn Movses Hakobyan thanked his all colleagues for the joint service. He wished the new Chief of the General Staff success, expressing hope that the traditions in the Armed Forces will be maintained and develop.

New Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan thanked the PM for the trust and stated that he will try to compensate that trust.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Vahram Baghdasaryan, head of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) faction in the Parliament, at the moment doesnt see necessity for holding snap parliamentary elections, reports Armenpress.

During parliamentary briefings on May 25, Baghdasaryan reminded that the RPA has announced that they will not hinder the work of the new government. We should support the presentation of the governments programs that will be directed for our countrys economic development and security, we will not select any other path, he said.

The RPA faction head stated that in such circumstances he doesnt see necessity for holding snap elections. Vahram Baghdasaryan noted that they will welcome any positive initiative presented by the government and will voice about positive steps.

Earlier Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told reporters that snap parliamentary elections may be held in autumn, stating that before that all mechanisms for holding fair and transparent elections should be ensured.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Its wrong to view the Diaspora as a source of money, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian told reporters during the break of the session of the Board of Trustees of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, Armenpress reports.

We are talking about the national unity, about the fact that this is a small country, but a global nation. During the movement we saw how our compatriots from different countries of the world were actively taking part. Some of them were active in social networks, some arrived in Armenia. Now a question arises: whether the Diaspora is really for sending money from abroad and should not have any rights, participation in the countrys development? I think this is absolutely a wrong approach, the President stated, adding that the Diaspora-Armenians should have both obligations and rights.

One of our goals should be to correctly, honestly and openly engage the Diaspora in the countrys development. Today there are psychological, legal barriers between Armenia and the Diaspora, and we need to eliminate them. If we dont eliminate them, the Diaspora-Armenian will still be viewed as a helper and will not have rights in Armenia, which is not right. Maybe one day we will reach the point that our compatriots living in the Diaspora, who have an Armenian citizenship, will have a chance to participate in an election, Armen Sarkissian said.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Justice minister of Armenia Artak Zeynalyan today received Giuseppe Galati and Yuliya Lovochkina, co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Monitoring Committee for Armenia, the ministry told Armenpress.

During the meeting the justice minister highly appreciated the efforts of the Council of Europe on strengthening democracy and assured that Armenias new government will implement all international commitments with a great responsibility. Artak Zeynalyan said the government is inclined to make major reforms and added that they will seek to have an Armenia of our dreams by taking into account and implementing the proposals of the international structures directed for that purpose.

PACE co-rapporteur Yuliya Lovochkina thanked for the reception and congratulated Mr. Zeynalyan on his appointment, wishing success to the new government that enjoys the peoples trust.

At the meeting the sides also discussed the priorities of the justice field in the governments new program.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Armen Ashotyan, chairman of the Armenian parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs, proposes the new government to include the provisions of the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in the governments program, Armenpress reports.

I expect concrete steps and propose to synchronize the governments program with the agreement. I am not saying that it should based exclusively on that agreement, but while preparing the governments program these provisions should be taken into account in order to have compatible actions. This is a partnering, constructive proposal, Armen Ashotyan said.

He reminded that some provisions of the Armenia-EU deal will enter into force starting from June 1, stating that he expects concrete steps from agencies in terms of properly implementing those provisions and commitments assumed before the EU. I expect concrete steps from the agencies, since politicians can make statements, the parliament will continue playing its role, but each agency must have its action plan. Previously there was an inter-agency group led by former deputy prime minister Vache Gabrielyan which included the respective stakeholder agencies that should have developed an action plan. I was also a member of that group, the development process of that program was launched. I think this is a perfect opportunity to accelerate the process of reforms in the country, as well as the implementation of the commitments assumed before the EU, he said.

Armenia and the European Union signed the CEPA in Brussels on November 24, 2017. The Armenian Parliament and three EU member states  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have already ratified the agreement.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. The settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should express the interests and aspirations of the Armenian side, Foreign minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told reporters at a briefing on May 25, reports Armenpress.

At the moment the most important goal is to restore the negotiations within the frames of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. We all hope that the settlement will take place very soon, but it should express our interests and aspirations. Compromise is first of all based on the expression of our interests and goal, the FM said, adding that in its turn it is based on the right to self-determination and security of the Artsakh people.

FM Mnatsakanyan stated that the Armenian side is ready to be involved in the negotiations and is in touch with the Co-Chairs. He informed that he held and will again hold a telephone conversation with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will arrive in Armenia on May 27-28.

Asked whether a regional visit of the Co-Chairs and a meeting between him and Azerbaijani foreign minister are possible in the future, the Armenian FM said it is not a matter of possibility, it is the essence of the negotiations. It is the process that stands in the negotiations format, he added.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Currently the most important step in the Armenia-EU relations is the implementation of the CEPAs provisions, foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told reporters.

Weve had a rather big progress in the Armenia-European Union relations, weve reached an important milestone. And our current importance is the implementation of the Armenia-EU agreements provisions, he said.

CEPA  the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement  was signed between Armenia and the EU in November of 2017.

The agreement must be ratified by all countries of the European Union.

In April 2018, the Armenian parliament ratified the agreement.

As of May, 2018, three EU countries have ratified it.

Most parts of the agreement will come into force June 1, 2018, while complete implementation will take place when all EU member states will ratify it.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. On May 8, 2018, a memorandum prepared by the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Artsakh was circulated in the United Nations (UN). The document reflects the position of the Republic of Artsakh on a wide range of issues related to the settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Artsakh. On May 18, the document was published on the UN official web-site and is available at http://undocs.org/en/A/72/858, the Artsakh Foreign Ministry told Armenpress.

The document provides arguments and facts demonstrating the inadequacy of both historical and legal arguments of the Azerbaijani side, which in their totality are a kind of manifesto about Azerbaijans intention to further impede the realization by the people of Artsakh of their inalienable individual and collective human rights.

The memorandum emphasizes that, by a twisted interpretation of the norms of the international law, Azerbaijan is making hopeless attempts to justify its destructive policy of isolating Artsakh and impeding the peaceful settlement of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Artsakh: Undermining any peacebuilding initiatives, aggressively imposing the logic of confrontation, trying to unleash a new war, the Azerbaijani authorities hope to change the course of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict settlement, in which the tendency to an ever-greater recognition of the decisive role of the people of Artsakh in determining its future is clearly traced.

The Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, which began with the mass violations of the rights of the Armenian population of Artsakh, continues to this day precisely because of the unwillingness of the Azerbaijani side to abandon its policy of denying the individual and collective rights of citizens of the Republic of Artsakh. This policy, expressed, inter alia, in an effort to isolate Artsakh, together with the ongoing military provocations by the Azerbaijani side, is not only a violation of Azerbaijans international obligations, but also a serious threat to peace and security in the South Caucasus, the memorandum concludes.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. The session of the Board of Trustees of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund was held in the Armenian Presidential Palace on May 25 chaired by President Armen Sarkissian, reports Armenpress.

The President said the session of the Board of Trustees has been convened during historical days when the 100th anniversary of the first Republic of Armenia is being celebrated.

I cordially congratulate all of us on this historic event. The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has tasks before itself, but I think that one of the most important tasks is the mission to unite that is more than relevant today. The Fund should continue uniting the Armenian citizens, our compatriots living in Artsakh and the Diaspora. The programs which have been implemented are result of pan-Armenian efforts, President Sarkissian said, adding that the Fund should improve its methods every year aimed at recording greater result and implementing ambitious programs.

Photos by Mkhitar Khachatryan

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund became a support to newly-created Republic of Armenia since its establishment. It played a very great role in the first years of independence.

During the years that followed the Funds role was as much important, and I think that the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund acted as the indicator of Diasporas confidence in Armenias authorities. When analyzing the activities of the Fund, one can get serious indications as to what processes are going on in the Diaspora, what kind of concerns are emerging and what kind of solutions can be given to such concerns.

Of course, the political developments that took place in Armenia in April-May gave fresh impetus to our national consolidation, and we must do everything to make sure that consolidation becomes a political product and a permanent political factor. We have already announced the Governments priorities, the most important of which is the preservation of the flair for victory in the citizens of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people in order to give it a permanent character, the PM said.

Executive Director of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Ara Vardanyan presented a report on the 2017 activities. The Funds 22 local agencies, which currently operate in 19 countries of the world, have an active participation and contribution to its activities.

Ara Vardanyan said its already a week they are visiting different communities of Armenia and Artsakh with the representatives of local structures to get acquainted with the Funds projects.

I think I express the opinion of all local structures that the agenda declared by the new government and its successful implementation will definitely contribute to the ongoing activities of the Fund in the Diaspora, Ara Vardanyan added.

The members of the Board of Trustees presented their proposals. In particular, member of the Board Arsen Ghazaryan proposed for the businessmen, the business sector to also participate in the Funds fundraising.

The activities of the Fund have proved that it is one of the most reliable structures. I, as an Armenian businessman, combining the numbers, state that we have 1000 major tax payers, if each of them makes a donation, we will have 10 million USD investment from Armenia annually. I propose to correctly carry out this propaganda, Arsen Ghazaryan said.

His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians also delivered remarks commenting on the proposals according to which the state structures, the church need also to make investments.

The Church has always provided its assistance to the Fund. In 1992 when the Fund was established, the Church called on the people to express support. From that day the Church considered it its sacred duty to support, assist the Fund not only by calls, but also making investments, His Holiness Garegin II said.

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund was established by the decree of the First President of Armenia in 1992. Its a unique structure aimed at uniting all Armenians living in Armenia and abroad, as well as their supporters, who are ready to direct their efforts for sustainable development of Armenia and Artsakh.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan held a meeting with Ambassador Piotr Switalski, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, the government told Armenpress.

The EU Ambassador congratulated Mher Grigoryan on his appointment and stated that he expects a close joint work with the new government aimed at further expanding and deepening the Armenia-EU partnership. Ambassador Piotr Switalski said the EUs assistance provided to Armenia has increased by one quarter in 2018 which is an evidence of the prospect and opportunities to further expand the Armenia-EU ties in the future.

The officials discussed issues of the Armenia-EU relations agenda and the EU-funded projects in Armenia, in particular, they exchanged views on the ongoing works aimed at fighting corruption in Armenia.

Deputy PM Grigoryan highly appreciated Armenias cooperation with the EU, expecting its consistent development.

The EU Ambassador positively assessed the ongoing reforms in economic, judiciary and a number of other spheres in Armenia and expressed readiness to assist Armenia at this important stage for the country.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, 25 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 25 May, USD exchange rate is up by 0.11 drams to 482.76 drams. EUR exchange rate is down by 0.74 drams to 565.36 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate is down by 0.05 drams to 7.81 drams. GBP exchange rate is down by 1.83 drams to 644.63 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price is up by 250.57 drams to 20252.7 drams. Silver price is down by 0.26 drams to 256.25 drams. Platinum price is up by 96.32 drams to 14108.67 drams.
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia Artur Grigoryan has announced first time the price of Iranian gas at the border. Iranian gas at the border with the latest data is offered at $ 165, and we get Russian gas at $ 150, ARMENPRESS reports the Minister told the reporters.

He also noted that they do not stop talks for cheaper gas. Those talks will always take place and we will undoubtedly try to find other sources of cheaper gas, Artur Grigoryan said.

In 2004, Armenia and Iran signed an agreement on electricity- gas exchange, according to which Iran will receive 3 kWh of electricity from Armenia for 1 cubic meter of natural gas. According to statistics, Armenia currently exports 1.2 billion kWh of electricity to Iran.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia, the Head of Armenia-Slovakia Friendship Group Eduard Sharmazanov took part in the exhibition with the heading Parliamentarians against Genocides dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia, he National Assembly Vice President noted in his speech:

Dear Colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948. The Convention on Genocide was among the first United Nations conventions addressing humanitarian issues. The Genocide of Armenian, Greek and Assyrian minorities in Ottoman Empire and Kemalist Turkey is considered to be one of the greatest disasters of the XX century that has taken lives of more than 2 million of innocent Christians.

Dear Mr. Danko and dear Mr. Tittel,it is a great honourforme to be here and address you as the Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia and as a descendent of both nations who survived the Greek and Armenian Genocide.

Before highlighting the milestones of the genocide I would like to find the roots of this terrible tragedy. I would argue that this crime was not a chaotic phenomenon caused by and limited to the World War I. It dates back to the Christian massacres in the days of Sultan Abdul Hamid at the end of the XIX century and steps into the XX century with the 1909 slaughter of 30,000 Armenians in the city of Adana.

Moreover, during the 1911 Summit in Thessaloniki the Young Turks adopted a resolution according to which the Christian population of the Empire, as an untrustworthy element hindering the progress of the country, was condemned to extermination and assimilation.

On April 24 1915, 600 Armenian writers, journalists, doctors, scientists were arrested and exiled to the depths of Anatolia. A part of them died on the way of the exile, while others died after reaching there. Later, in October Enver Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of War, declared in the presence of a German military attache "we shall solve the Greek question, the same way as we have solved the Armenian question.

It is worth mentioning that although the World War I ended, the atrocities against the Greek population continued. In September 1922, when the troops of Mustafa Kemal invaded the city of Smyrna, the city was set on fire, the Greek and Armenian quarters were totally destroyed.

Winston Churchill described the atrocities of Smyrna in the following way, Kemal turned the city into ashes and totally exterminated its Christian population.

Dear colleagues,

The Genocide of Christian minorities in Ottoman Empire is one of the biggest atrocities of the 20th century. This is a crime against humanity. Unfortunately, Turkey today not only continues its policy of denial but also supports Azerbaijans non-constructive policy which is a great regional threat.

Let us not forget, that impunity leads to new crimes. The massacre of Armenians in Sumgait 1988 and Azerbaijans aggression two years ago against peaceful people of Nagorno-Karabakh when innocent Armenians were killed and beheaded, are examples of such impunity.

Recently, the Middle East faces the same threats as Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians a century ago. Innocent Christians and Yazidis are still being exterminated because of their ethnicity and religion. This is unacceptable.

Dear colleagues,

I would like to thank Slovakia for recognizing the Armenian genocide and would like also to say that International Community must condemn the denial of the genocide of Christian population in Ottoman Empire, the massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, aggression of Azerbaijan in 2016 as well as the Yazidi Genocide.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
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YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met with representatives of different branches of culture at Aram Khachaturian Philharmonic Concert Hall.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Prime Minister, greeting them, the PM highlighted holding such meetings with culture figures and noted that the meetings will become periodical from now on. The famous political developments in Armenia, the non-violent velvet revolution, have a major cultural component. To our perception, the key role of culture is consistently and continuously raising the level of relations between any two citizens and to reach this goal we have to be able to preserve the regular interaction of people with culture and cultural environment, the PM said, adding that the often half-empty halls in Armenia even during key cultural events speak about the presence of crisis. The PM emphasized that the he sees the role of the Government not in interfering in the cultural content, but ensuring the regular interaction of people with culture.

A bit ago I was asked if a cultural revolution will take place, and I answered that what happened was a cultural revolution, because I consider the greatest authors of that revolution the culture figures of our country, who managed to somehow, in a way hidden for everyone, influence the mentality of people that finally became a revolution of love and tolerance, Pashinyan said.

During the meeting that lasted nearly 2 hours the head of the executive answered numerous questions of culture figures.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. President of the National Assembly of Armenia Ara Babloyan received the Co-Rapporteur of PACE Monitoring Committee for Armenia Yuliya Lovochkina.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia, welcoming the guest in the National Assembly, Ara Babloyan touched upon the recent political developments that happened in Armenia. The Head of the parliament has underlined that the recent events witness of the fact that our country is faithful to democratic values. It is important for us to provide the stability and security in the country, the National Assembly President said.

In Ara Babloyans word, during these years Armenia has step by step fulfilled the obligations assumed before Europe and is resolute to further expand and develop the cooperation.

Thanking for the reception, Yuliya Lovochkina highlighted the fact that the inner-political problem in Armenia was solved through mutual understanding and peaceful means.

At the guests request Ara Babloyan touched upon the issues of holding the extraordinary parliamentary elections in Armenia and the protection of human rights.

In this context the Head of the parliament presented the work done before, adding that the reforms would be continuous. Ara Babloyan assured that particularly the protection of womens and childrens rights had always been and would be at the centre of attention.

The President of the parliament said about holding of the extraordinary parliamentary elections in Armenia: All the issues should be solved around the table, based on mutual agreement of the political forces. The national interest is of key importance for us.

Ara Babloyan noted that the programmes of the government which would be aimed at the development of the country would be supported by the parliamentary majority.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received on May 25 Jean-Louis Atangana Amougou, Director of the office of the Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (IOF) and Herve Ladsous, Special Advisor to the Secretary General.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the official website of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the PM highlighted the holding of the 17th summit of La Francophonie in Armenia, noting that its a sign of not only partnering relations of Armenia with the Francophone countries, but also of great trust. The Head of the Executive emphasized that the Armenian authorities will make every effort to hold the summit at a high level. The PM particularly stressed the importance of the economic forum to be held in the sidelines of the summit, hoping that it will foster the development of economic activities in Armenia. Pashinyan noted that good traditions of teaching French are present in Armenia and expressed conviction that the IOF summit will give new impetus to the teaching of that language among Armenians.

Jean-Louis Atangana Amougou, conveyed the congratulations of the Secretary General of La Francophonie to Nikol Pashinyan on the occasion of being elected Prime Minister of Armenia, expressing satisfaction of the nature and content of the power change. He emphasized that the April-May developments in Armenia were in the center of attention of the Francophone countries, adding that Armenia became an exemplary country. Mrs. Secretary General asked to convey to you that she trusts you and the Government of Armenia in terms of the proper organization of the Francophonie summit. We are confident the event will be held at a high level, Jean-Louis Atangana Amougou said.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, MAY 25, ARMENPRESS. The National Defense Research University (NDRU) of the Defense Ministry of Armenia has issued a statement over the conversation of the prankers with UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in the name of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, ARMENPRESS was informed from the NDRU.

The statement runs as follows, The fake conversation of prankers with UK Foreign secretary Boris Johnson on behalf of the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on May 24 was shared in internet.

The National Defense Research University, MoD Armenia appreciates the significance of the freedom of speech and the right to share information through the use of modern digital technologies in the process of democracy development. However, The NDRU perceives totally unacceptable any manipulation of the name of the head of the Armenian executive branch of Government for the sake of various machinations. Those kinds of actions harm the international peace and stability.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
Malaysian police said Friday they seized over 400 handbags and cash amounting to almost $30 million in raids on luxury apartments as they probed corruption allegations swirling around ousted leader Najib Razak. The money and a vast trove of handbags, as well as watches and jewellery, were found in two condominiums in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 12 locations, including the ex-leader's home, were searched by police last week as part of an investigation into the scandal surrounding a sovereign wealth fund. After more than six decades in power, Najib's coalition was defeated by a reformist alliance headed by his former mentor Mahathir Mohamad in the May 9 poll. Public disgust at allegations of corruption linked to Najib was a major factor in the upset, with the ex-leader, his family and cronies accused of looting state fund 1MDB. There had been much speculation about what the seized goods consisted of and how much they were worth after five trucks were reportedly brought in to help move the stash. Giving an update, the police's head of commercial crime Amar Singh said: "From the money found, there were 26 currencies, the total amount as of yesterday is 114 million (ringgit) ($28.6 million)." The money was found in 35 bags at one apartment while another 37 bags at the same location contained watches and jewellery, he told a press conference. A total of 284 boxes containing designer handbags were found in that condominium. Police also seized about 150 handbags from another apartment in the same complex where Najib's daughter was staying. - French connection - Many of the handbags were believed to be Hermes Birkins -- a favourite of Najib's luxury-loving, widely despised wife Rosmah Mansor -- and Singh said pictures of the bags would be sent to Hermes in Paris to get an estimate of their value. The seizure of the luxury goods further increased public scorn for Rosmah, long reviled by Malaysians for her perceived haughty demeanour and reported vast collection of designer bags, clothing and jewellery. Her love of overseas shopping trips, as middle class Malaysians struggled with rising living costs, added to a sense of spreading, deeply-entrenched rot in the country's long-ruling elite. Najib's defeated party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), meanwhile insisted the seized cash was party funds, which the ousted leader had intended to return to the party. "Political funding is allowed under our laws," said a party statement. "As such, UMNO seeks to recover these funds and requests the police to release these funds and return them to the party after completion of all due process and investigations by the relevant authorities." Najib's fall from grace has been swift and hard. He has been barred from leaving the country and has been questioned by anti-graft investigators over claims 1MDB money ended up in his bank accounts, and looks likely to be charged. Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing. Malaysian police said Friday they found cash amounting to almost $30 million in a raid on a luxury apartment as they probed corruption allegations swirling around ousted leader Najib Razak Factfile on former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and his links with 1MDB. Malaysian Police's Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) Director, Amar Singh said a total of 26 currencies were found totalling 114 million (ringgit) ($28.6 million)
A conservation agency has constructed what is believed to be the world's longest cat-proof fence in central Australia to save native wildlife and vegetation ravaged by the feline predators. Australia has the highest extinction rate in the world, while declining populations are affected by habitat loss as well as introduced creatures such as cats, foxes and rabbits going feral and killing native species across the vast continent. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy this month finished building and electrifying the 44-kilometre (27-mile) long fence to create a predator-free area of almost 9,400 hectares (23,200 acres) some 350 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs. "Australia does not have an effective strategy for controlling cats," AWC chief Attius Fleming told AFP. "The only way we can save Australia's most endangered animals is by establishing these massive feral cat-free areas using conservation fencing." Fleming said as part of the project -- which is funded by public and government donations -- cats and other feral animals were being removed from the area, with threatened native mammals to be reintroduced next year. The mammals set to be reintroduced in the area, which is owned by the AWC, include the western quoll, the numbat, the bilby and the central rock-rat. The project will be extended in 2020 to cover a larger area of around 100,000 hectares, Fleming added. Feral cats are believed to number between 10 and 20 million across Australia. Cats were first introduced to Australia by British immigrants in the late 1700s as domestic pets, but some went wild and spread across the continent over the next 100 years. Other causes of native species' population declines and extinctions include feral foxes, climate change, fire and habitat destruction. Australia's native wildlife has been affected by habitat loss as well as introduced creatures such as cats, foxes and rabbits going feral and killing native species
An elderly Australian nun facing deportation after angering Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte launched a last-minute appeal against the order on Friday, the deadline for her to leave the country. Sister Patricia Fox, 71, has been accused of illegally engaging in political activism as the government cracks down on foreign critics on its soil. Duterte, who accuses the Melbourne native of "disorderly conduct", had the immigration service detain her briefly last month, after which her missionary visa was cancelled. "Of course my wish is to continue my missionary work here and be with the poor," Fox told reporters after filing her appeal with the justice ministry, which oversees immigration. Fox had earlier filed an appeal with the immigration service, which this week upheld the deportation order asking the nun, who has been in the Philippines for nearly three decades, to leave by Friday. However, on Thursday the immigration service's spokesman Dana Sandoval told AFP her office "will submit to any directive that may come from" the justice ministry. Sandoval did not return calls for comment Friday. Lawyer Katherine Panguban said Fox's legal team was studying other options in case the justice ministry rejects her appeal. "We will exhaust all administrative and judicial remedies available," she said. Authorities have previously said she would be allowed to remain while her appeals are pending. Fox told AFP earlier this month she apparently angered the president by joining a fact-finding mission in April to investigate alleged abuses against farmers, including killings and evictions by soldiers fighting guerrillas in the southern Philippines. "You insult me under the cloak of being a Catholic priest, and you are a foreigner! Who are you? It is a violation of sovereignty," Duterte said in a speech last month, apparently referring to Fox. Duterte has also launched verbal attacks against critics of his government's narcotics crackdown, which has killed thousands of alleged dealers and users. Last month Manila also deported Italian Giacomo Filibeck, deputy secretary general of the Party of European Socialists, who had previously condemned "extra-judicial killings" in Duterte's anti-drug war. Sister Patricia Fox, 71, has been accused of illegally engaging in political activism
Havana expressed regret Thursday that a former CIA agent who led a bloody campaign against Fidel Castro had died without ever being brought to justice for "terrorist" crimes against Cuba. Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born veteran of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, died Wednesday aged 90 at his home near Miami. "The murderer Luis Posada Carriles, who plunged Cuba into mourning, died with impunity," the official Granma newspaper said. Posada went on to plot attacks and assassination attempts against Castro's government, becoming a hero to many Cuban exiles and a terrorist in the eyes of Havana. Posada was "a terrorist financed by the CIA," Granma said, listing what it said was "a chronology of terror" he was responsible for. He died "unpunished, sheltered by the United States." The Communist-ruled island's other main newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, said he had died "without facing justice for his crimes against Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and El Salvador, among other countries that he helped to shower with death." Among the attacks he was accused of masterminding was the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, which killed 73 people. He and the late anti-Castro militant Orlando Bosch were jailed in Venezuela for the bombing but never convicted. Posada, who denied involvement in the bombing, escaped the country after being held for eight years. He was later part of a secret US operation in Central America to arm the Contra rebels fighting the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Implicated in a spate of bombings targeting Cuban hotels, he was arrested in Panama in 2000 for plotting to assassinate Castro. Pardoned in 2004 by Panama's president, he took refuge in Miami, where he fought off Venezuelan and Cuban demands for his extradition. Castro, who died in 2016, referred to Posada and Bosch, who died in Florida in 2011, as the "most bloodthirsty exponents of imperialist terrorism" against Cuba. Posada, a veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion, died Wednesday aged 90 at his home near Miami
The EU's flagship new data protection laws came into effect on Friday but hit an early hitch as several major US news websites were blocked to European users. The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers were among those inaccessible on the other side of the Atlantic following the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Separately Facebook and Google already face their first official complaints under the new law after an Austrian privacy campaigner accused them of effectively forcing users to give their consent to the use of their personal information. The EU has billed the GDPR as the biggest shake-up of data privacy regulations since the birth of the web, saying it sets new standards in the wake of the recent Facebook data harvesting scandal. But it has also been blamed for a flood of emails and messages in recent weeks as worried firms rush to request the explicit consent of users. It led to the hashtag #HappyGDPRDay taking off on social media as people sarcastically celebrated the end of the deluge of spam. Even though the rules were officially adopted two years ago, with a grace period until now to adapt to them, companies have been slow to act, resulting in a last-minute scramble this week. Companies can be fined up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for breaching the strict new data rules for the EU, a market of 500 million people. - 'Currently unavailable' - Several firms experienced real-world problems over complying with the EU laws, with US newspapers owned by the Tronc group, formerly known as Tribune Publishing, saying that they were blocked to Europeans for now. "Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries," said the message carried by the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Orlando Sentinel. "We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism." Local US newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises, including the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Arizona Daily Sun, were also out of reach, explicitly blaming the GDPR. The European Commission insisted that it was not responsible for the blackout of some US sites, saying it was "proud to set high data protection standards" for the bloc's 500 million citizens. "We have seen the press reports, but it is not for the commission to comment on individual companies' policies in terms of offering services in the EU," a spokesman said in an emailed comment to AFP. "We expect all companies to fully comply with the General Data Protection Regulation as of today. With the new rules in place, EU data protection authorities will watch over their correct application across the EU and ensure full compliance." - 'Forced consent' - Meanwhile campaigner Max Schrems said he had launched four official complaints with national regulatory authorities on Friday under the new law. They target Google in France, picture-sharing site Instagram in Belgium, WhatsApp in Germany and Facebook in his native Austria. He said the problem with all these sites was pop ups that have appeared in recent weeks, asking users to agree to new terms of use, adding that this amounted to a system of "forced consent" from users. A previous case brought by Schrems against Facebook triggered the collapse of a previous EU-US data sharing agreement. Brussels says the new laws put Europeans "back in control" of their data. "When it comes to personal data today, people are naked in an aquarium," said EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter that "with the GDPR we are building a European sovereignty on data". The law says individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used. It also establishes their "right to know" who is processing their information and what it will be used for; and gives them the "right to be forgotten". Parents will decide for children until they reach the age of consent, which member states will set anywhere between 13 and 16 years old. The case for the new rules has been boosted by the recent scandal over the harvesting of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, a US-British political research firm, for the 2016 US presidential election. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said as he apologised to the European Parliament on Tuesday over the scandal that his firm would be "fully compliant" with the EU law. The EU's so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on Friday Austrian campaigner Max Schrems is launching new cases against Google, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Top 10 countries and US states affected by Facebook data scandal.
Panama's former president Ricardo Martinelli, currently in a US prison and wanted in his own country on corruption and espionage charges, announced Thursday he would end his fight against extradition. Martinelli, 66, is accused of embezzling public funds to create a network to spy on his political opponents while he was president from 2009 to 2014. Martinelli's lawyers filed a motion in federal court in Miami indicating he would not move forward with an appeal of an August 2017 ruling that he could be extradited, court documents showed. The former president, who had gone into exile in Miami in 2015, was arrested on June 12, 2017, and has been in federal prison ever since. Now, his case will pass to the State Department, which will decide whether to go ahead with the extradition and under what conditions. Lawyer Sidney Sitton told AFP Martinelli's goal was to "remain in the hands of the State Department to be sent to Panama," but under a clause that guarantees he will be prosecuted for only the crimes on which he will be extradited, and no others. "I am accepting what the extradition treaty of 1905 says with its specialty clause. It is up to the State Department to make the final decision," Martinelli wrote in a letter dated Thursday. Martinelli's lawyers filed a motion in a Miami federal court that indicated he would not move forward with an appeal of an August 2017 ruling that he could be extradited
Twitter on Thursday announced new guidelines to clearly mark political ads on its platform as Facebook said it began implementing a policy requiring labeling and verification of identities of those paying for political messages. The moves by the two social media firms come in response to criticism over their role in allowing disinformation to spread during the 2016 US election, in many cases with the help of automated "bots" or disguised Russian-based accounts. Facebook said its new policy would be in effect as of Thursday for ads in the United States on Facebook and Instagram. It intends to implement the same policy worldwide in the coming months. Twitter meanwhile said it would begin enforcing a new policy in the coming months that would require "election labels" for US candidate ads, and require notarized forms that verify the advertisers are in the United States. "We will not allow foreign nationals to target political ads to people who are identified as being in the US," a Twitter statement said. Additionally, the Twitter names of "handles" used for political campaigning advertising will have stricter requirements. "The handle's profile photo, header photo, and website must be consistent with its online presence and the Twitter bio must include a website that provides valid contact information," Twitter's Vijaya Gadde and Bruce Falck wrote in the statement. Twitter, which indicated last month it was working on a new policy for political ads, said it is partnering with the nonprofit group Ballotpedia to help identify the campaign Twitter accounts of candidates once they qualify for the general election ballot in November. Facebook's announcement said it would verify the identity of those paying for ads -- not just for candidates but for hot-button political issues -- which some analysts have said may be difficult to enforce. "Starting today, all election-related and issue ads on Facebook and Instagram in the US must be clearly labeled -- including a 'Paid for by' disclosure from the advertiser at the top of the ad," said a blog post by Facebook product management director Rob Leathern. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said the goal of the new policy is "making sure we help prevent interference and misinformation in elections." "These changes won't fix everything, but they will make it a lot harder for anyone to do what the Russians did during the 2016 election and use fake accounts and pages to run ads," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. - Defining political 'issues' - Facebook politics and government outreach director Katie Harbath and public policy director Steve Satterfield said the definition of "issue" ads was examined carefully with input from outside parties. "In the US, there aren't laws or federal agencies that list specific issues that are subject to regulation," they wrote in a separate blog post. "But to have a policy that our reviewers can enforce, they need a list explaining what's OK and what's not." Facebook said it developed a list of 20 key issues identified by the Comparative Agendas Project, a non-partisan research center. These topics include abortion, civil rights, the environment, foreign policy, guns and immigration, according to Facebook. "We know we'll miss some ads and in other cases we'll identify some we shouldn't," Harbath and Satterfield wrote. "We'll keep working on the process and improve as we go." The executives said that Facebook debated whether to ban all political ads but decided in the end to keep them with stricter label and verification. "Political advertising serves an important purpose. It helps candidates share their views with the public more broadly, and it can help encourage people to get involved in the political process," they wrote. Banning all ads, they maintained "would make it harder for people running for local office -- who can't afford larger media buys -- to get their message out." Facebook also will be developing a searchable archive of political ads under the new policy. Outside the United States, Harbath told journalists on a conference call that "we will be working with election regulators and organizers in various countries" as it implements the policy globally. Facebook and Twitter are both tightening rules for political ads in response to concerns that the online platforms were manipulated during the 2016 US election Facebook's new policy requires labeling of all political ads and verification of those paying for the messages, one of the moves by the social network to stem disinformation campaigns
One year on from a deadly flu season, Australia is experiencing an unprecedented nationwide vaccine shortage that has forced one state to limit availability to children, sick and the elderly.

More than 1.5 million people have now been vaccinated in Victoria, and supplies are now exhausted, Victorias chief health officer Professor Charles Guest told reporters on Friday.

This is a problem experienced by all states and territories as influenza vaccine uptake has been very strong following the high season last year, he told reporters.

Up to 50,000 doses of the vaccine have been distributed daily across the state in recent weeks, Professor Guest said.

Australia is experiencing a nationwide flu vaccine shortage. Source: AAP

We can celebrate, in a way, the fact that we have immunised so many people this season, he said.

More people are vaccinated than ever before and that will help stop the spread of flu this year.

Professor Guest said the remaining vaccine would be conserved for those at greatest need.

This includes the elderly, children under five, pregnant women, those with medical conditions and Aboriginal people aged over 15.

Prof Charles Guest says the remaining flu vaccine will be conserved for those at greatest need. Source: AAP

He urged those at risk to contact multiple GPs to see if there is remaining stock of the flu shot.

Meanwhile, arrangements are under way to import further supplies from overseas.

It follows a horror flu season in Victoria in 2017, which killed 116 people in aged care, as well as an eight-year-old girl and a Bacchus Marsh father.

Despite also feeling the effects of the shortage, no other states have yet to announce they will be following Victorias decision to limit who can access the vaccines.
The heads of the British and French air forces warned Friday that Western dominance in the skies is increasingly under threat as rival powers develop new defence capabilities. Head of the Royal Air Force, Stephen Hillier, referred to the development of new sophisticated surface-to-air missiles and fifth-generation fighter jets by Russia that challenge Western technological superiority. "The global situation has changed, and fast, and we need to wake up to the fact that the control of air space too is being contested to a degree we have not witnessed in the post Cold War years," he said in Paris. As well as Russia, China is investing heavily in new stealth fighter jet technology as part of a vast overhaul of its armed forces. French air force chief Andre Lanata pointed to the loss of an Israeli F16 fighter jet over Syria in February, which was hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire, as an illustration of the dangers. "Our adversaries, our rivals have understood the advantage we have from our aerial power... today they are developing increasingly robust strategies to keep us out of the air," he said. He urged policymakers to "really understand that control of air space in the future will be contested to an unprecedented degree. "It's a major issue for our defence," he added. Hillier was in Paris for a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the RAF which was officially formed at the end of the First World War. He was also highly critical of Russia. "It is now clear that the threat posed to our societies and their national interests by state actors and their proxies has grown to proportions we have not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union," he said. "Russia provides the most telling and pressing example." New sophisticated surface-to-air missiles and fifth-generation fighter jets from Russia challenge Western technological superiority, according to the head of the Royal Air Force
European countries have until the end of May to propose ways to mitigate the effects of the US withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal between world powers and Tehran, a senior Iranian official said Friday. Tehran has threatened to restart its uranium enrichment programme at an "industrial level" if the 2015 pact falls apart. The comments came ahead of the first "joint commission" meeting in Vienna between the other signatories of the deal -- China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Iran -- since Washington's dramatic announcement on May 8 that it was pulling out from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and would re-impose sanctions on Iran. The move has put the deal in "intensive care", the senior Iranian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. US President Donald Trump has long trashed the deal -- concluded under his predecessor Barack Obama -- saying it did not do enough to curtail Tehran's nuclear ambitions. After Friday's meeting, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations were ongoing with the remaining signatories "to see if they can provide us with a package which can give Iran the benefits of sanctions lifting". He added that "practical solutions" were required to address Iran's concerns over its oil exports, banking flows and foreign investments in the country. "The next step is to find guarantees for that package," he said. Araghchi said that talks would continue over the next few weeks "particularly at an expert level", after which Iran would decide whether or not to stay in the accord. "We got the sense that Europeans, Russia and China... are serious and they recognise that JCPOA's survival depends on the interests of Iran being respected," Araghchi added. A senior EU official said after the meeting that the bloc could not "give guarantees but we can create the necessary conditions for the Iranians to keep benefiting from the sanctions lifting under the JCPOA and to protect our interests and continue to develop legitimate business with Iran." "We are working on a variety of measures to mitigate consequences of the US withdrawal," the official, who did not want to be named, said while cautioning that "there are things that will take more time". Russian delegate Mikhail Ulyanov struck an upbeat note, saying: "We have all chances to succeed, provided that we have the political will. "I must tell you that the JCPOA is a major international asset. It does not belong to the United States, it belongs to the whole international community." He added that the possibility of referring the matter back to the UN "was not discussed during this meeting". -'Dying' deal- Unusually for a meeting of the joint commission, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog Yukiya Amano was invited to brief the participants on his organisation's work in Iran. According to a report seen by AFP on Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believes Iran is still abiding by the deal's key restrictions on its nuclear facilities in return for relief from damaging economic sanctions. The IAEA, however, is "encouraging (Iran) to go above and beyond the requirements" of the deal in order to boost confidence, said a senior diplomat in Vienna, where the nuclear watchdog is based. As well as criticising the deal for not adequately restricting Iran's nuclear activities, Trump also said it did not go far enough in limiting Iran's ballistic missile programme, or its intervention in regional conflicts from Yemen to Iraq and Syria. The unnamed senior Iranian official rejected any attempt to link the JCPOA to other such issues. The official said such an attempt would mean "we lose JCPOA and we (would) make the other issues even more complicated to resolve," adding it was pointless for the Europeans to try to "appease" Trump. "We have now a deal which is in the intensive care unit, it's dying," the official said. The five signatories still committed to the agreement have said they want Iran to stay in the deal, with the European countries saying they would not rule out further talks with the Islamic Republic on an expanded text. However, Iranian officials have warned that there was no question of broadening the discussions. An anti-America poster is seen inside the former US embassy headquarters as Iranians take part in an anti-US demonstration in Tehran
Ireland voted overwhelmingly to liberalise some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe on Friday, according to exit polls in a historic referendum in the traditionally Catholic country. The vote to repeal a constitutional ban on terminations except in cases where the mother's life is in danger was predicted to win by a two-thirds majority. An Irish Times poll of 4,000 said the "Yes" camp was leading by 68 percent to 32 percent. Another poll by national broadcaster RTE suggested an even bigger victory, with 69 percent to 30 percent backing reforms. The Irish Times survey suggested that women voted by 70 percent in favour of the proposal and 30 percent against. Support among men was 65 percent pro-choice and 35 percent anti-abortion. "Thank you to everyone who voted today. Democracy in action. It?s looking like we will make history tomorrow," Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who backs the reform, said in a tweet. People over 65, however, voted mostly against change. Among the youngest voters, 18-24-year-olds, the poll found 87 percent had voted to allow abortion, according to the poll. Nearly 3.5 million voters were asked whether they wanted to overturn the ban after an emotional and divisive campaign. People arriving at polling stations from the early morning spoke about the momentousness of a complex decision that in many cases pitted moral against religious beliefs. Chris Garvin, a 20-year-old working in human resources in Dublin, said: "It's a very, very important matter and I think it's going to affect everybody's lives in some way." Ireland has traditionally been one of the most religious countries in Europe. However, the Roman Catholic Church's influence has waned in recent years following a series of child sex abuse scandals. The referendum came three months before a visit by Pope Francis for the World Meeting of Families and three years after Ireland voted to legalise same-sex marriage despite the Church's opposition. "The fact that it's illegal for somebody in Ireland to seek medical treatment, having to travel outside the country and to feel that guilt, shame and isolation, it's absolutely shocking," said Belinda Nugent, 43, a community activist voting in north Dublin. "I took it really personally, this vote." But across the city, Finbar O'Regan, 50, said he wanted a "good, strong No vote". The unemployed Dublin voter said his mother had been sent to England to have him born and adopted. "I'm a staunch No. It's the life of an unborn baby. I'm one of the lucky ones," he said. - 'I'm very emotional' - The count begins at 9:00am (0800 GMT) on Saturday, with the result expected to be announced at Dublin Castle later in the day. Dublin voter Helen, 47, who did not want to give her surname, said: "I've been awake all night. I'm very emotional about this. "We've been marching about this for years and desperately trying to get successive governments to do something. Hopefully our day has come," she said, outside a polling station opposite Dublin's cathedral. Lawyer Rachel Cadden went to vote with her husband near the Dublin docks. "I'm pregnant so it's especially important for us," the 30-year-old said. "It means I can get the proper medical care that I should get and that my needs are put first whenever it comes to me being in hospital." At present Ireland's eighth amendment -- which could be repealed in the vote -- recognises the "right to life of the unborn" with an "equal right to life of the mother". But in the small town of Kilcullen, some 50 kilometres (32 miles) southwest of Dublin, voter Sean Murphy told AFP: "I don't see any reason to change from the position we are in at the moment". Canvassers were out on the streets holding up signs and wearing t-shirts. One in southwest Dublin offered hugs to people who voted in favour of repealing the ban. - 170,000 women - The eighth amendment to the Irish constitution was installed following a 1983 referendum which approved outlawing abortion. Anyone terminating a pregnancy in Ireland could face 14 years in jail. The ban has led to thousands of women travelling each year to neighbouring Britain, where terminations are legal, or increasingly turning to abortion pills sold online. Since 1983, around 170,000 Irish women have gone abroad for terminations. The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life is at risk. The Irish government has proposed that if the eighth amendment is repealed, abortion will be allowed up to 12 weeks and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances. Nearly 3.5 million voters were asked whether they wanted to overturn the ban after a highly charged and divisive campaign Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadakar is backing the reform of the staunchly Catholic country's abortion laws Key facts on Ireland's abortion law
A female journalist was found dead Thursday at her home in Mexico with stab wounds to the back of the neck, the state attorney general's office said. Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, 52, was found by her children, who were upstairs at the time and did not hear anything awry, the office said. The woman "was on the floor, face down, in a pool of blood having suffered blows," a source from the Nuevo Leon state prosecutor's office told AFP on condition of anonymity. The death was confirmed by El Financiero newspaper, where she had worked since January. Editor Mauricio Mejia called for an "urgent... official response" to the death on social media. Authorities have not established a motive for the crime. Diaz's colleagues told AFP she reported on local business activity and financial issues, not "sensitive" information such as drug trafficking. Still, the National Human Rights Commission urged authorities to focus their investigation on Diaz's line of work. Last week, journalist Juan Carlos Huerta was shot dead as he left his home in a suburb of Villahermosa in southeast Mexico. His murder took place one year after Javier Valdez, who received international recognition for his coverage of drug trafficking, was gunned down in broad daylight in his native Culiacan, Sinaloa, where powerful cartels operate. Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist, with more than 100 reporters killed since 2000. Most of those crimes remain unpunished. Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, who worked for the newspaper El Financiero, was found dead in a pool of blood at her home in Monterrey, Mexico
A federal court jury on Thursday ordered Samsung to pay Apple $533 million for copying iPhone design features in a patent case dating back seven years. Jurors tacked on an additional $5 million in damages for a pair of patented functions. The award appeared to be a bit of a victory for Apple, which had argued in court that design was essential to the iPhone. The case was keenly watched as a precedent for whether design is so important that it could actually be considered the "article of design" even in a product as complex as a smartphone. "We don't think it is supported by the evidence," Samsung attorney John Quinn told US District Court Judge Lucy Koh after the verdict was read in her courtroom in Silicon Valley. "We have every concern about the determinations about the article of manufacture." Quinn declined an offer by the judge to send jurors back for further deliberation, saying Samsung would pursue post-trial motions to address its concerns about the verdict. Juror Christine Calderon said the panel agreed that one of the design patents -- the grid of colored icons -- did represent the whole phone, while the other two at issue in the trial were seen as the display assembly that gave the iPhone its look. She compared it to the Mona Lisa: "you use the paint, but it is not the article of manufacture." "I had to really think about it," the 26-year-old Calderon, a technical writer, said after Koh dismissed the jury. "We kind of felt like we ended up at a happy medium." - Long legal road - The case had been sent back to the district court following a Supreme Court decision to revisit an earlier $400 million damage award. Apple reasoned in court that design was so integral to the iPhone that it was the "article of manufacture" and worth all the money Samsung made by copying the features. The lower figure sought by the South Korean consumer electronics titan would have involved treating the design features as components. The jury had been asked to determine whether design features at issue in the case are worth all profit made from Samsung smartphones that copied them -- or whether those features are worth just a fraction because they are components. Apple argued in court that the iPhone was a "bet-the-company" project at Apple and that design is as much the "article of manufacture" as the device itself. The three design patents in the case apply to the shape of the iPhone's black screen with rounded edges and a bezel, and the rows of colorful icons displayed. Samsung no longer sells the smartphone models at issue in the case. Two utility patents also involved apply to "bounce-back" and "tap-to-zoom" functions. An original trial finding that Samsung violated Apple patents preceded a lengthy appellate dueling over whether design features such as rounded edges are worth all the money made from a phone. - Technology vs Style - Samsung challenged the legal precedent that requires the forfeiture of all profits from a product, even if only a single design patent has been infringed. The US Supreme Court in 2016 overturned the penalty imposed on the South Korean consumer electronics giant. Justices ruled that Samsung should not be required to forfeit the entire profits from its smartphones for infringement on design components, sending the case back to a lower court. "Today's decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages," the South Korean company said in response to an AFP inquiry. "We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers." Apple did not respond to a request for comment. The key question of the value of design patents rallied Samsung supporters in the tech sector, and Apple backers in the creative and design communities. Samsung won the backing of major Silicon Valley and other IT sector giants, including Google, Facebook, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, claiming a strict ruling on design infringement could lead to a surge in litigation. Apple was supported by big names in fashion and manufacturing. Design professionals, researchers and academics, citing precedents like Coca-Cola's iconic soda bottle. The case is one element of a $548 million penalty -- knocked down from an original $1 billion jury award -- Samsung was ordered to pay for copying iPhone patents. A jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple more than $500 million in a retrial of a seven-year-old case for damages for infringing on iPhone patents Samsung was ordered to pay higher damages in a retrial of a patent infringement case brought by iPhone maker Apple
At least 15 people have been injured after two people detonated an improvised explosive device inside a Canadian restaurant.

The incident took place at Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga, near Toronto, on Thursday night local time.

Three people were rushed to hospital with critical blast injuries, and another 12 were injured, according to Peel Paramedics.

Peel Regional Police released a CCTV photo of the two suspects shortly after the incident and said three of the victims were in a critical condition.

Police released photos of the suspects shortly after the explosion. Photo: Peel Regional Police
At least seven people were killed and around twenty others injured late Thursday in a car bomb attack in the centre of Benghazi in eastern Libya, a local security official told AFP. The bomb exploded close to the Tibesti hotel on a busy road where many people go to celebrate during the month of Ramadan, the official said, adding that the victims were civilians. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Libyan official blamed the assault on "terrorist sleeper cells who want to send a message that Benghazi is not safe". Libya has been rocked by chaos since a 2011 uprising which toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with two rival authorities and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country. Military strongman Khalifa Haftar in July announced the "total liberation" of Benghazi, three years after his forces launched a military operation to seize the city from jihadists who had made it a stronghold following the revolution. But clashes and attacks in the city have continued, including against diplomatic facilities and security forces. Almost 40 people were killed following a double car bomb attack in front of a mosque in January. In February, another attack left one person dead and nearly 150 wounded, also in front of a mosque. Haftar supports a parliament based in the far east of Libya, while a rival United Nations-backed unity government in the western capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside the west of the country. Earlier this month Haftar returned to Benghazi after a two-week stint in a Paris hospital to launch a new anti-jihadist offensive. Presenting himself as the scourge of Islamist militancy, he announced the start of a military campaign to retake the eastern city of Derna from jihadists. The city is the only part of eastern Libya to remain out of the control of Haftar's Libyan National Army, which has the backing of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. It is currently held by the Mujahideen Shura Council of Derna, a ragtag collection of Islamist and jihadist militias that includes Al-Qaeda and is hostile to both Haftar and the Islamic State group. Haftar was also celebrating the fourth anniversary of his ongoing anti-jihadist "Dignity" operation, initially launched in 2014 to retake Benghazi after it fell to hardline militias. Separately, a suicide attack in early May claimed by the Islamic State group against the headquarters of the electoral commission in Tripoli killed more than a dozen people. The international community is pushing for elections in Libya that it hopes will help calm the turmoil that has plagued it since Kadhafi's fall. Map locating Benghazi in Libya.
They roam Morocco's southern desert, braving the searing heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky. These celestial treasure hunters are searching for meteorites to sell on a burgeoning international market. Equipped with a "very strong" magnet and magnifying glass, retired physical education teacher Mohamed Bouzgarine says that discoveries "can be more valuable than gold". The price "depends on the rock's rarity, its shape and its condition", the 59-year old adds, sporting a dark blue tracksuit, lighter blue scarf and sunglasses. "Rocks coming from Mars are very expensive, sometimes as much as 10,000 dirhams (around $1,000, 900 euros) per gram," he says. Bouzgarine stops in front of a hollow, hoping it could be a crater formed "very long ago" by extraterrestrial matter. "It's a first sign," he says, ready to get down to work, in the township of M'Hamid el Ghizlane. For four years now, he's been sifting rocks in the sand, inspecting them for telltale signs of burn incurred during fiery journeys through the atmosphere. And while he is yet to strike it lucky, the success of some of his hundreds of peers provides the stamina to plod on. - Rich hunting grounds - Likewise Abderrahmane, a 48-year-old paramedic who is spending his vacation searching for meteorites. Others "have made a lot of money... one meteorite hunter found and sold 600 grams for 7,500 dirhams (660 euros, $780) per gram," Abderrahmane says, dressed in a blue safari suit. "From the 2000s, all the nomads started to look for rocks," he says. A few foreign specialists are also drawn to the quest for extraterrestrial fragments in the desert landscapes of Erfoud, Tata and Zagora. These parts of southern Morocco are rich hunting grounds, as the wind uncovers meteorites and their black hue is easy to spot against the near-white sand. "At least half the scientific publications on the subject are made on the basis of meteorites collected in Morocco," geochemist Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane tells AFP. Desert zones are "favourable to the accumulation of meteorites, there is no vegetation... (and) ... the risk of alteration is low," adds Aoudjehane, who teaches at Casablanca's Hassan II university. For scientists, these rocks harbour valuable information about the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, as well as the planets and their internal composition. One in every five meteorites is valuable. Demand from scientists and specialist brokers has raised prices and inspired meteorite hunters. Unlike other countries, where the state stakes a claim, there is no legal framework governing discoveries in Morocco, so it's a case of "finders keepers". While several meteor showers have occurred in Morocco in recent years, a bonanza known as the "black beauty" was the most lucrative. - 'Like playing the lottery' - In 2011, fragments of this Martian landing fell in southern Morocco's Tata region, setting in motion a scramble that saw seven kilograms of fragments recovered. The haul fetched prices of between $500 and $1,000 per gram. Back on the desert plains, it can be frustrating work, requiring a lot of patience. Twenty days into his "holiday", paramedic Abderrahmane has been "searching for fragments" without finding anything of note, he says. But he remains undeterred. "It is a question of luck -- it's like playing the lottery," he smiles. And he knows how he will handle a major find. "The sale is made discreetly -- it is necessary to get the vendor's confidence," he says. Transactions are also made online, in specialist forums and even on classified advertising sites. The most valuable finds are sold at auction in Paris or New York. "What one finds in the (local) souks are just odds and ends," says Abderrahmane. And there's not much money to be made at the bottom end of the meteorite sales chain. Slimane, an old man with a white beard and blue turban, sits under a tent in a souk in M'hamid, surrounded by coloured fabrics, outdated jewels and old coins. He dips into a leather satchel, retrieving some rocks accumulated over the years. But they're "not worth much", he confesses. "I have not risen above penury through rocks," he laments, arms raised to the sky. Meteorite hunters roam Morocco's southern desert, braving the heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky The desert landscapes of Erfoud, Tata and Zagora in southern Morocco are rich hunting grounds for meteorites, as the wind uncovers them and their black hue is easy to spot against the pale sand A meteorite hunter searches for rocks near the town of M'hamid el-Ghizlane, in southern Morocco. Unlike other countries, where the state stakes a claim, there is no legal framework governing discoveries in Morocco, so it's a case of 'finders keepers'.
North Korea on Friday said it was still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump cancelled a summit between the two countries, a decision Pyongyang described as "extremely regrettable". "The abrupt announcement of the cancellation of the meeting is unexpected for us and we cannot but find it extremely regrettable," Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister, said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency. "We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem," Kim added. US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming "open hostility" from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any "foolish or reckless acts". In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, following what the White House called a "trail of broken promises" by the North. In his Friday statement, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim said the North Korean leader had been preparing for the summit to go ahead. "Our Chairman (Kim Jong Un) had also said a meeting with President Trump would create a good beginning and had been putting effort into prepartions for it," Kim said. Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had "completely" dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit. But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been thrown into doubt. On Thursday Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric by attacking US Vice President Mike Pence as "ignorant and stupid". That broadside appeared to hit a nerve with Trump, leading to him abruptly pulling out of the talks. "Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," read Trump's letter to Kim, which was dictated word-for-word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official. US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
North Korea said it was still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a summit between the two countries, a decision that has thrown the Korean Peninsula once more into uncertainty.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong-un, blaming open hostility from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any foolish or reckless acts.

In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, following what the White House called a trail of broken promises by the North.

US President Donald Trump informed Kim Jong Un he is canceling their nuclear summit next month in Singapore, in a letter released by the White House. Source: AFP

Pyongyangs immediate reaction to the sudden u-turn was surprisingly conciliatory. First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trumps decision unexpected and regrettable but he left the door open for further diplomacy.

We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem, he said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had completely dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.

But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been thrown into doubt.

Trumps announcement came a day after Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric, calling comments by Vice President Mike Pence ignorant and stupid.

The letter US President Donald Trump sent to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announcing that the planned summit between them will not take place. Source: AFP

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, read Trumps letter to Kim, which was dictated word for word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official.

This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history, Trump added.

Shocking decision surprises ally

The decision appeared to blindside treaty ally South Korea, which until now had brokered a remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang.

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It is shocking and very regrettable that the US-North Korea summit will not take place as scheduled, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who met Trump in Washington earlier this week, said in a statement as he scrambled his national security team late Thursday.

The Pentagon indicated it was braced to respond to possible provocative actions on Pyongyangs part.

But Trump also held out hope that a meeting with Kim could still take place, saying: Its possible that the existing summit could take place, or a summit at some later date. Nobody should be anxious. We have to get it right.

If and when Kim Jong Un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, I am waiting, he added.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the parties to keep talking, as did host Singapore, while Russias President Vladimir Putin held out hope that dialogue would resume and the talks would eventually take place.

Politically, Trump had invested heavily in the success of the planned summit. But as the date drew nearer, the gulf in expectations between the two sides became apparent.

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the North.

But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrent until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

US aides stood up

A senior White House official said Pyongyang had demonstrated a profound lack of good faith in the run-up to the summit  including standing up the White Houses deputy chief of staff, who had travelled to Singapore for preparatory talks.

They waited and they waited. The North Koreans never showed up. The North Koreans did not tell us anything  they simply stood us up, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The White House viewed North Koreas objection to a routine US-South Korean joint military exercise  and its recent cancellation of a meeting with the South Koreans  as a breach of its commitments leading up to the summit.

It also was unhappy about the Norths failure to allow international observers to verify the dismantling of its Punggye-ri test site, the staging ground for all six of its nuclear tests which was buried inside a mountain near the border with China.

Experts warned that canceling the meeting could have knock-on effects.

South Korea is also likely to be angered Expect Seoul to try to continue engagements with Pyongyang, even if it widens a rift with Washington, Abraham Denmark, director of the Asia program at the Wilson Center think tank, wrote on Twitter.

Democratic congressional leader Nancy Pelosi was scathing towards Trumps administration  blaming a lack of preparation for the summit collapse and judging Kim to be the big winner.

Its clear he didnt know what he was getting into, she said of Trump. And now hes walking away from it in this very chummy, palsy-walsy letter to Kim Jong Un.

US President Donald Trump informed Kim Jong Un he is cancelling their nuclear summit next month in Singapore, in a letter released by the White House.

A series of explosion were seen at North Koreas nuclear test site by a small group of invited journalists.
The Melbourne Rebels thrashed the Sunwolves 40-13 to move to within one point of the Waratahs in the Australian conference as the Crusaders out outmuscled the Hurricanes in Super Rugby action Friday. Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete grabbed a hat-trick and fellow winger Jack Maddocks scored twice as the Rebels ran in six tries to one against a depleted Japanese outfit. The Sunwolves rested 14 players from the team that beat the Stormers in Hong Kong last week and their lack of cohesion showed as the Rebels ran away with the match in the second half. The Sunwolves had started the better of the two and opened the scoring after just three minutes through a try to winger Lomano Lemeki. But the Rebels were on level terms two minutes later as Koroibete capitalised on a break from centre Bill Meakes to score under the posts. Two more tries, to Maddocks and number eight Amanaki Mafi, put the home side in command at 21-7. Two Hayden Parker penalties saw the Sunwolves close to 21-13 at the break but that was as close as they were to get. Maddocks crossed for his second eight minutes after the restart before two Koroibete tries in three minutes in the closing stages completed the rout. Rebels captain Adam Coleman said the plan to get the ball to the wingers had worked perfectly. "They're outstanding players and I think the key for us is to get them more ball and let them do their thing," he said. The Rebels have now won two matches in a row to put pressure on the Waratahs, who play the Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday. - Driving rain - Earlier, the Crusaders won their top-of-the-table clash against the Hurricanes 24-13, a win that puts them in pole position to qualify in top spot for the finals. The Crusaders scored three tries to one in driving rain, with the conditions forcing two of the competition's most potent attacking sides into an arm-wrestle. "We knew what the conditions would be and we had a plan for it, credit to the boys they stuck to it and were disciplined," Crusaders captain Matt Todd said. The Hurricanes and Crusaders have traded the New Zealand conference lead all season but the reigning champions' victory in Christchurch could prove decisive. It snaps a 10-match winning streak for the Hurricanes and extends the Crusaders' run to nine consecutive victories. Hurricanes skipper Brad Shields said the Wellington team's season was far from over after only two losses in 12 matches this season. "This could be a turning point for us, maybe it's something that we needed," he said. There was no score in the first 20 minutes as both sides committed handling errors in the wet. The Hurricanes penalty count mounted as they dominated possession but were continually frustrated by resolute Crusaders defence and their own poor discipline. Scott Barrett made the breakthrough for the Crusaders in the 23rd minute, forcing his way over from a lineout drive, with Richie Mo'unga adding the conversion. Jordie Barrett hit back for the Hurricanes with a long-range penalty from the half-way line, then Beauden Barrett kicked another just before half-time to make it 7-6 to the home side at the break. David Havili crossed the line shortly after the restart but was held up by Julian Savea, with the hosts settling for a Mo'unga penalty. Michael Alaalatoa extended the Crusaders' lead with a converted try from a lineout and Heiden Bedwell-Curtis added another off the back off a dominant scrum as the hosts took control at 24-6. A darting run from Reed Princep gave the Hurricanes a converted try to narrow the gap but it proved too late to trigger a comeback. The Sunwolvesrested 14 players from the team that beat the Stormers in Hong Kong last week
Australian airlines have revealed how often they clean their surfaces after a recent study revealed where the dirtiest areas on planes and airports are located.

US-based insurance website Insurance Quotes collected 18 samples from three US major airports and flights to find out the average number of viable bacteria and fungal cells per square inch  known as colony-forming units (CFU).

The samples were taken from six surfaces and each surface was swabbed three times at the airports or major airlines.

According to the website, the dirtiest surface was the self check-in screen.

A recent study found the dirtiest surface was the self check-in screen. Source: AAP, file

The screen had 253,857 CFU, which was more than 13 times the average amount found on an airport water fountain.

One of the screens tested had more than one million CFU.

On the other hand, the average amount of CFU found on a household toilet seat is 172.

The study also found airline gate bench armrests contained an average of 21,630CFU and water fountain buttons had 19,181 CFU.

Meanwhile on-board planes, the lavatory flush button came up with an average of 95,145 CFU, tray table returned 11,595 CFU and the seat belt buckle had 1,116 CFU.

Bacteria and fungi found on these surfaces were gram-positive rods (which are usually probiotic bacteria), gram-positive cocci (a common organism that can create an infection consisting of pus) and gram-negative rods (associated with hospital-acquired infections).

Bacillus (bacteria that could spoil food and lead to some diseases) and yeast (normally present on human skin and areas of moisture) were also detected.

Drinking fountain in the departure lounge of the airport. Source: Getty Images, file

Airlines respond

Both Tigerair and Virgin Australia said they conducted regular cleaning of their planes.

Tigerair Australia upholds exemplary hygiene standards, a spokesperson for the airline told Yahoo7 News.

This [regular scheduled cleaning] involves deep cleans by our engineers as well as cabin crew cleaning on an as-needs basis throughout the day.

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Lavatory surfaces are cleaned with alcohol wipes at the end of every flight, while our aircraft are also cleaned each night.

Virgin Australia said it also upheld excellent hygiene standards and regular scheduled cleaning of its airport infrastructure.

Its airplanes also underwent regular deep cleans and were cleaned each night, and when necessary by cabin crew.

The lavatories are also cleaned by cabin crew each flight, a spokesperson for Virgin Australia said.

In airport terminals, Virgin Australia team members conduct daily cleans of self-service check-in counters with alcohol wipes.

Yahoo7 also contacted Qantas, Jetstar, Sydney Airport and Melbourne Airport for comment on the matter.

The study also found airline gate bench armrests contained an average of 21,630CFU and water fountain buttons had 19,181 CFU. Source: AAP

Should you be worried?

Professor Marc Pellegrini, from The University of Melbournes Department of Medical Biology, said planes and airports were places where it was easy pick up germs.

But for the most part the bacteria and fungi mentioned in the study are unlikely to cause illness and disease in healthy people if they wash their hands, he says.

And Id make sure kids dont go licking any surfaces, Prof Pellegrini told Yahoo7 News.

Prof Pellegrini said the study did inform people that airports were dirty places and if there were lots of bacteria then there would also be lots of viruses, such as the common cold.

But the study did not attempt to detect viruses.

Primarily because testing for viruses requires very specialised equipment and it is very tricky. But where there are lots of bacteria there are bound to be heaps of viruses, Prof Pellegrini said.

We pick these viruses up when we touch the same surfaces mentioned in the study and them rub our nose or rub our eyes.

Picking up a cold virus during travel is not uncommon but these viruses do not cause severe illness.

The viruses that do kill people and can be picked up in planes and during travel are flu, MERS [Middle East respiratory syndrome] and SARS.

These viruses are primarily spread by coughing. And putting people in a confined space, like a plane, and drying out our throats with air-conditioning helps to create the perfect circumstances for transmitting these viruses.

Additionally, airports bring many people from different places together and this creates a perfect mixing pot such that one infected person can spread their virus across the world via human couriers.
Thailand's women made their first ever Uber Cup final on Friday after a stunning 3-2 upset of defending champions China. The win sets up an unlikely showdown between underdog Thailand and Japan on Saturday after the top seed defeated Korea 3-1 earlier in the day. Thai player Busanan Ongbamrungphan was once again the star, confidently dispatching Olympic champion Li Xuerui -- who was returning from injury -- 21-11, 21-9 in the last game. "Finally we did it, I never expected that today would really come," Busanan told reporters afterwards. "It's lucky that the event was held in our country. I'm proud that once in my lifetime I played at home and have made people in my country happy." Thailand's victory also meant that China's women would not be going to the finals of the cup for the first time since the team started playing in 1984, according to the Badminton World Federation. Japan is the favourite going into the final but the day belonged to the Thais, whose win sparked jubilant on court celebrations, hugs and ended a see-sawing matchup with tournament leader China. World number four Ratchanok Intanon won the first singles game, grinding out a 15-21, 21-9, 21-14 win over China's Chen Yufei, who is ranked one place behind her. With crowds shouting "Thailand! Thailand!" Ratchanok hit smash after smash to come back after losing the first game to win two in a row. Thailand lost the first doubles, but singles shuttler Nitchaon Jindapol clawed her way back from a set down to beat Gao Fangjie in another thriller that had the crowd on their feet. The second doubles went to China levelling up at 2-2, leaving Thai hopes pinned on Busanan, just as on Thursday when she performed under pressure to clinch a victory against Indonesia. - 'Tough battle' - Japan had an easier time against South Korea in their semi, with doubles pair Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi securing their spot in the final. World number two Akane Yamaguchi got the team off to a flying start, easing to a 21-10, 21-13 win against South Korea's Sung Ji-hyun, while Nozomi Okuhara dispatched Lee Jang-mi 21-9, 21-15 after South Korea had levelled at 1-1 with the first doubles. Japanese world number nine Okuhara has yet to lose in this year's biennial Uber cup, which is being held in Bangkok. "I think it will be a tough battle whoever I face tomorrow," she told reporters afterwards as Thailand and China were still doing battle on court. The tournament is held alongside the men's Thomas Cup, whose semi-finals were held later Friday, with China, Japan, Indonesia and Denmark all hoping to move forward. Denmark are returning champions, and are back to attempt a repeat with world number one Viktor Axelsen leading the team. But Axelsen got the team off to a slow start against Japanese star Momota Kento, losing 21-17, 21-9. China has fielded an all-star cast of players as they seek to regain a title lost on home soil two years ago. Olympic champion Chen Long is joined by this year's All England champion Shi Yuqui -- and the player he conquered in the final, Lin Dan. World number two Akane Yamaguchi got Japan off to a flying start Japanese world number nine Nozomi Okuhara has yet to lose in this year's tournament
A brutally honest 10-year-old has written a letter to his local police station, thanking officers for pulling over his mum.

In the hilarious handwritten note, the boy said his mum deserved to be pulled over because she took his phone away and he did not like it.

The boy, from Texas, then goes on to list several other gripes about his mother.

The boy thanked police for pulling over his mum in a hilarious handwritten letter. Source: Facebook/ Fulshear Police Department

And how she always brags about how good of a driver she is. And it just annoys me.

And I also remember that time when one of my mums back lights werent working and she got pulled over.

Captain Mike McCoy from the Fulshear Police Department said the force received many letters of support during National Police Week.

This one, obviously, stood out, he told Fox News.
With famine on the rise worldwide, the UN Security Council threatened sanctions Thursday against governments, armies and rebels that block humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in war zones. A resolution put forward by Ivory Coast, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Sweden was unanimously adopted, winning backing from Russia, which is facing calls to pressure its Syrian ally to allow aid convoys to rebel-held areas. Famine has been on the rise over the past two years, reversing decades of decline, as conflicts have intensified and hunger is increasingly used as a weapon of war. More than 74 million people are going hungry in war zones around the world, according to the United Nations. Dutch UN Deputy Ambassador Lise Gregoire-van Haaren described the resolution as a "landmark" text because the council "for the first time unequivocally condemns the use of starvation as a method of warfare." Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog said the resolution "breaks new ground" by making clear that those who block aid shipments can face sanctions. "It makes sense that countries or individuals that block humanitarian access should be sanctioned, and this is one of the possibilities that now opens up," Skoog told reporters. Addressing the council, Russia argued that armed conflicts were not the only factor behind the spread of famine, pointing to rising food prices, natural disasters and climate change as new drivers of hunger. The war in Yemen has left more than eight million people on the brink of starvation out of 17 million who are severely food insecure, according to the United Nations. South Sudan's army and rebel groups have been accused of using hunger as a weapon of war, with repeated attacks on aid workers. Last year, the United Nations raised alarm over the threat of famine in parts of Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. In Syria, now in its eighth year of war, 13 million people are in need of food aid, including three million Syrians who live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas. Nyakol, a malnourished 18-year-old Sudanese, suffers from the consequences of cerebral malaria, in Touch Riak, on March 7, 2018
The United States produces natural gas in abundance and is poised to become the world's third-largest exporter by 2020, a production ramp-up supported by President Donald Trump. Thanks to advances in shale gas production, notably in the northeast, America has been the world's largest natural gas producer since 2009 and extracted two billion cubic meters per day in 2017. The United States is now seeking fresh international export markets for the product. "This 2018-2019 time period was always flagged as being a crossroads in the global natural gas conversation," said Breanne Dougherty, head of natural gas research at Societe Generale. The United States already exports some of this bounty through pipelines to Canada and Mexico. But to reach more distant markets, US industry is betting on liquefied natural gas, which can be exported by ship. LNG exports began to grow in 2016 when for the first time Cheniere Energy chartered a tanker from its gas terminal at Sabine Pass in Louisiana. Prior to that, US exports had come solely from an Alaskan terminal that closed in 2015. LNG exports quadrupled in a year and the United States became a net exporter in 2017 for the first time in 60 years. More than half of this went three countries: Mexico, South Korea and China. About a third was bound for Europe. Shipments are due to soar even higher since Dominion Energy brought a new terminal online in Cove Point, Maryland in March, with four other projects due to be completed by the end of next year. - Trump and US 'energy dominance' - This should bring US exports to 272 million cubic meters a day. As a result, according to the US Energy Information Agency, the United States should become the world's third-largest LNG exporter by 2020, behind Australia and Qatar. American exporters can expect to find eager buyers. The International Energy Agency estimates demand should grow by 1.6 percent a year through 2040, compared to growth of 0.5 percent for oil and 0.2 percent for coal. Trump is encouraging this effort. After calling US "energy dominance" last year, Trump has several times hailed the virtues of American natural gas, saying for example during a visit to Poland last summer that European countries had an interest in diversifying their sources of supply. Asia is also a particular target. The IEA said 80 percent of the growth in demand expected between now and 2040 should come from emerging markets, China and India chief among them. European officials say they suspect Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which could hold down Iranian gas production, and his recent critical remarks about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline intended to link Russia and Germany, could also serve as a means of expanding US export markets. Dougherty said it would be an exaggeration to assume such considerations were Trump's main motive, but she noted that "There is no doubt that there are energy implications associated with these geopolitical decisions." US Energy Secretary Rick Perry was in New Delhi recently to promote LNG exports
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape and a sex crime in New York on Friday, in what was hailed a landmark for the #MeToo movement, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of accusations of misconduct. The former mogul -- once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars -- smirked as he was escorted into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs to face the first criminal charges lodged against him. Weinstein, a 66-year-old twice-married father of five, was charged with rape in the first and third degrees, stemming from an attack on a woman in 2013, and a criminal sex act against another woman in 2004. Neither victim was named. "Today's charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, thanking "brave survivors" for coming forward and urging others to call a sex crimes hotline. Standing alongside his defense attorney, the former Tinseltown powerbroker looked glum during the brief arraignment, agreeing to post bail at $1 million cash, surrender his passport and be fitted with a GPS monitoring device. Weinstein's career went down in flames in October over sexual assault allegations following explosive articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment reckoning across the United States, in multiple industries. Nearly 100 women have now accused Weinstein of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back decades. New York authorities have been investigating the disgraced producer for months, under growing pressure from Hollywood actresses to bring him to justice, and their probes are ongoing. Weinstein already faces a slew of civil lawsuits, is reportedly under federal investigation, and his former studio has filed for bankruptcy. But these were the first criminal charges against Weinstein. Defense attorney Ben Brafman told reporters that his client would plead not guilty and still denied any non-consensual sexual activity. "We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges," Brafman said. "Bad behavior is not on trial," he added. "Mr Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood." His case was adjourned until July 30. - Handcuffs - The former studio boss surrendered to police shortly before 7:30 am (1130 GMT) wearing a white shirt, pale blue sweater and dark blazer, as dozens of television cameras and photographers mobbed the street outside. He walked into the station clutching several books, apparently including the Rodgers and Hammerstein biography "Something Wonderful" and a volume on late director Elia Kazan. He left handcuffed, without the books, after his mugshots and fingerprints were taken. Police said he was "arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct." Out on bail, Weinstein's travel will be restricted to New York and the neighboring state of Connecticut. - 'Inevitable descent to hell' - Former actress Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004, is thought to be one of the women whose cases triggered the New York charges. New York police previously confirmed another credible rape allegation after "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta accused the former producer of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010. Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are among more than two dozen actresses who say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped. "I have to admit I didn't think I would see the day that he would have handcuffs on him," McGowan told ABC television. "Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice," tweeted Argento. The Time's Up anti-harassment movement -- launched on January 1 -- said the producer "shattered the lives of an untold number of women," adding that it looked "forward to seeing justice prevail." The #MeToo movement has seen people around the world come forward with cases of sexual mistreatment, leading to the downfall of powerful men across industries, including Oscar winner Kevin Spacey. Weinstein has reportedly spent months in treatment for sex addiction. His fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, has left him. But for all the media circus, experts warn that any trial -- let alone a criminal conviction -- would still be a long way off. Sexual assault cases, particularly those that allegedly happened years ago, are notoriously difficult to prosecute and often lack substantive forensic evidence. Weinstein's lawyer is one of America's most celebrated criminal defense attorneys. His past clients include former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who escaped criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011. Harvey Weinstein, center, was led out of the New York City Police Department's First Precinct in handcuffs Harvey Weinstein (C) signs documents at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court The Harvey Weinstein scandal chronology and some of his accusers
Bob Antonacci, the longtime Onondaga County comptroller, has been designated by his home county's Republican committee to run for the 50th Senate District seat.

More than 400 Onondaga County Republican Committee members from the 50th district held a designation meeting Thursday. Antonacci was the "overwhelming choice" of the committee, according to county GOP chairman Tom Dadey.

"I am humbled by the support of the committee and excited about getting down to Albany hopefully in November," Antonacci said in a phone interview Thursday.

It's the third major endorsement for Antonacci in the state Senate race. He already has the support of the state Independence Party, which is the largest minor party in New York, and the Onondaga County Conservative Party. He is expected to secure the support of the state Conservative Party for the 50th district race.

"Antonacci will not only be on the ballot on three lines in November, but I am very optimistic that he will be the next state senator come Nov. 6," Dadey said.

There were two other Republicans in the 50th district. Joe Carni, a Syracuse Common Council member, received some support at the meeting. After Antonacci won the designation, Dadey said Carni wouldn't force a primary for the GOP nomination.
New York's senior senator and the top Democrat in Washington has come out against a proposed trash incinerator in Seneca County.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who visited Seneca County Friday, announced his opposition to the project and sent a letter urging a state siting board to reject the proposal.

The company behind the project, Circular enerG, wants to construct a $365 million waste-to-energy facility on a 48-acre parcel at the former Seneca Army Depot in the town of Romulus. More than 2,600 tons of trash a day would be brought to the incinerator, where it would be burned and converted into energy.

There has been considerable opposition to the project, which would be located only a few miles away from Seneca Lake and less than 10 miles west of Cayuga Lake. Opponents are concerned about the potential environmental impact of the incinerator.

Schumer, D-N.Y., echoed those concerns during his visit to Seneca County.

"Simply put, this incinerator is wrong for the Finger Lakes  and I will fight tooth and nail to ensure that this trash incinerator is snuffed out in its tracks," he said.
SODUS  Police have arrested a man after finding the body of his 18-year-old girlfriend reported missing a week ago along with her 14-month-old son, who is still missing.

The Wayne County Sheriff's Office said Thursday Selena Hidalgo-Calderon's body was found in a bag in the woods behind a farm in Sodus where she reportedly had worked.

Her boyfriend, Everardo Reyes, was arrested on charges of tampering with physical evidence. Police say the child, Owen Hidalgo-Calderon, has not been found.

Information on Reyes' lawyer was not immediately available.

Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers' Center of Central New York told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that Hidalgo-Calderon was from Guatemala and was being deported. She says the mother was in the process of applying for asylum.

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Matt Miller, a resident within the overlay district, said he felt a ban was unnecessary and that the free market should decide what's in the village, not a law.

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"Government shouldn't ban anything, the market should," said Doug Clark, who opened Doug's Fish Fry years ago because, he said, there weren't any options downtown for a family fresh out of the lake to go if they wanted something like a milkshake or a hot dog. "I'm against banning anything," he said.

Others also expressed opinions that not only should people at least have a chance to come before the board with a restaurant proposal, people who decide to live in a commercial district also know what they are getting into when they decide to call downtown their home. Many even added that they love the smell of downtown.

While numerous residents, ranging from high school students to senior citizens expressed disdain for the ban and the ways it could limit both the present and the future of Skaneateles, some also voiced support of the ban.
These candidates for municipal office in the Cayuga County area have submitted information about themselves and their campaign platforms for t
Workers' center staff and local residents helped the families move out, and they held a public protest to draw attention to the situation. A reporter and photographer from The Citizen witnessed ceilings in the living quarters that were so low that most people couldn't stand upright. Dirty mattresses laid on a floor made of particle board that was caked with dirt and mold. Sheets covered the windows and the rooms smelled of manure and urine.

In addition to the town of Owasco's code enforcement citation, state Department of Environmental Conservation and Cayuga County Health Department officials were investigating the situation. Among the conditions being looked into by those agencies was an allegation that the house did not have a working septic system, with human waste being directed to a manure lagoon on the farm.

Fuentes said that despite the cease-and-desist order, migrant workers are still living at the farm. The house is not clearly visible from the public road where the farm is located, but on Friday, a worker could be seen sitting outside.

Farm Housing A farmworker sits by the front door of the workers quarters on Melrose Farm in Owasco on Friday, May 25.
I recently read a letter to the editor published in The Citizen about Congressman's Katko's voting record. The letter, from a Thomas M. Keck, titled, "Let's look more closely at Katko's voting record," was not only inaccurate, but biased and deceptive. Firstly, the author, wrote as if he were an independent and unbiased citizen, while in fact, he is deeply biased and partisan. Mr. Keck is a professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School and a colleague of Visiting Professor Dana Balter, the candidate running against Congressman Katko. He is also a proud and founding member of the radical and leftist CNY Solidarity Coalition and should in full disclosure so have identified himself.

Professor Keck claims that Congressman Katko seems to vote with the Republicans on "important matters" with the exception of the Obamacare repeal bill. This claim is an outright misstatement! Congressman Katko voted against the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017, which seems to me to be very "important" in that it defends people with disabilities and protects their legal rights.
NEW YORK CITYIn February, Donald Trumps personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, news reports revealed, was shopping a book proposal  a book in which he planned to reveal details of what he called the unfortunate saga involving a $130,000 hush money payoff to AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels.

But thanks presumably to Cohens sudden flood of legal problems that began with the April 9 raid on his business and residences by federal investigators in New York, Cohens book deal is now kaput, according to a report by the online magazine The Daily Beast.

Of course, in February, Cohen was reported to be simply shopping the book idea, with the grandiose title, Trump Revolution: From The Tower to The White House, Understanding Donald J. Trump, But according to The Daily Beast, sometime in the interim he actually found a publisher for his promised magnum opus  only to lose the deal just as quickly.

According to two sources with knowledge of the agreement, Cohen reached a deal to publish the book with Center Street, the conservative imprint of Hachette Book Group, the site reported. But the same sources told The Daily Beast that in recent weeks, the book deal had been called off amid Cohens legal woes.

Those legal woes, of course, include Daniels' lawsuit against Cohen and Trump to terminate the deal she signed, agreeing to keep quiet about the sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006.

Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said that he was not surprised to hear that Cohens book deal is now off the table.

In my experience, it is never a good idea for a guy who is under criminal investigation to be writing a book about the very topics for which hes being investigated, Avenatti told The Daily Beast. How stupid could you be?

The publication said that its reporters reached Cohen by phone to solicit a comment, but Cohen simply said, Who is this? then hung up after the reporter identified the publication.

Whether the Hachette-owned publisher bailed out of the contract, or whether it was Cohens call remains unclear. A report by Fox Business News implied that Trump himself or his close associates may have been behind the cancellation.

"Its unclear whether the White House also warned Cohen against doing the book, though people with knowledge of the matter say administration officials weren't happy about the timing, given the growing controversy surrounding Stormy Daniels, the network reported on its web site.

Photo via IowaPolitics.com / Wikimedia Commons
PENSACOLA, FL  Kimmie KaBoom is heading to the 5th Annual CamCon to mingle with other cam models, take part in Fan Day, and patricipate in the Models Open Forum panel. Fans who cant make it can join her via Premium Snapchat.

CamCon is taking place at the ultra-modern SLS Hotel in South Beach Florida located at 1701 Collins Avenue. Cam models from around the globe will come together for the event. KaBoom will be attending all four days, Tuesday, May 29 through Friday, June 1.

On May 31, KaBoom will be part of the Models Open Forum seminar taking place at the Hotel Guest Pool, as well as Fan Day (which is open to the public) from 8:30pm to 11:30pm at the Club Space. ClubSpace is located at 34 NE 11th Street in Miami. For a schedule of events, visit CamCon.com/schedule. Models and fans can purchase tickets at CamCon.com/tickets.

Im excited to be attending and part of CamCon again. Its the best event for cam models to come together and share ideas, says KaBoom. If you cant make it, be there by subscribing to my Premium Snap. As a subscriber, you get to come with me to all my appearances, in addition to indulging in a ton of exclusive content and message me. The lifetime option offered on my site and my ManyVids store are the best options, since its just one fee for life.

There are three ways to purchase Kimmies Premium Snap. You can do it for $14.99 a month on her FanCentro page, get a lifetime membership in her ManyVids Store for $39.00 (which is 20 percent off right now), or head over to her official website at KimmieKaboom.com and click on Extras to get a lifetime membership for $49.99.

Kimmie is self-booking. Get her on set without fees by emailing her at [email protected]
2001 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-2001

news@dhhs.nc.gov (919) 855-4840

RALEIGH The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging people to speak with their physician or local health department about hepatitis A and B vaccine, viral hepatitis screenings and treatment options.From 2012 to 2016, newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis B increased by 62 percent and newly diagnosed cases of hepatitis C increased by 200 percent. Untreated hepatitis B and C may result in long-term liver problems, chronic liver disease and elevated risk of liver cancer. While hepatitis C is curable there is no vaccine yet available. Vaccines are available for both hepatitis A and B.said State Health Director and DHHS Chief Medical Officer Betsey Tilson, M.D., MPH.The leading cause of new hepatitis C cases is transmission through the sharing of needles, syringes and other injection equipment during drug use. It is crucial that these supplies are never shared to prevent the continued spread of hepatitis B and C. Information on the Safer Syringe Initiative can be found here Hepatitis B and C are spread when blood from an infected person enters the body of someone who is not infected. Hepatitis B, and in some instances hepatitis C, can also be spread through sex with an infected partner. It is estimated that as many as 150,000 North Carolinians are infected with chronic hepatitis C and 60,000 are infected with chronic hepatitis B. More information on viral hepatitis in North Carolina can be found here Of those infected with hepatitis C, as many as 75 percent are unaware of their infection and most experience no symptoms. The importance of prevention and treatment for all forms of hepatitis are highlighted this month by a proclamation from Governor Roy Cooper designating May as Hepatitis Awareness Month DHHS urges increased testing with a focus on people who are the most difficult to reach. These include people who have used injection drugs or had blood transfusions, blood products or organ donations before June 1992, when sensitive tests for the hepatitis C virus were introduced for blood screening.said Evelyn Foust, Communicable Disease Branch Head for the Division of Public Health.More than 50 percent of all chronic hepatitis C infections nationwide are among the Baby Boomer population, those born from 1945 to 1965. People born during this time are encouraged to receive one lifetime hepatitis C screening. Testing is recommended for Baby Boomers, regardless of any history of risky behavior or potential health care exposures prior to 1992.With new drugs and treatment methods now available, patients experience fewer side effects, improved outcomes and higher cure rates.NC Department of Health and Human Services
Tom Campbell

After hearing what is apparently taking place in our General Assembly we have to ask why we even need 170 members in the General Assembly? We could save millions of dollars, free up lots of office space and greatly simplify state government if we permanently furloughed 150 or more of them. They obviously are not needed.That whooshing sound you hear coming from Raleigh is the budget freight train racing nonstop through our legislature. Lawmakers are about to pass a $23.9 billion state budget with no input from rank and file members, no hearings and no opportunity to amend it. The spending plan was agreed upon by a handful behind closed doors and, to guarantee speedy passage, a questionable maneuver will be employed so that there's no chance for amendments or meaningful debate.The maneuver is known as "stripping a bill." Here's how it works: the language of an insurance bill, already passed in slightly different versions by each chamber of the legislature, will be completely striped of previous content, replaced by the entire budget for the coming year. The stripped bill will then be presented as a conference report, meaning it cannot be amended and rank and file legislators have only two options: vote for the conference report as presented or defeat it.It won't be defeated, because that would require Republican members to turn against their own leadership. They may not like what's happening, but they don't have the courage to do defeat it. Republican lawmakers know that next year, if the GOP retains control of both houses (a likely scenario), their Judas-like betrayal will be rewarded by lousy committee assignments and the surety that no legislation they propose will see the light of day. They are all standing for re-election this fall and the GOP caucus often provides needed campaign funding. When they solicit your vote ask them if they are proud of what they did.This stripping maneuver has been used before, however such a trick to pass the entire budget is unprecedented and makes North Carolina state government appear to be little more than a banana republic. It should enrage every citizen, regardless of your party preference.I come from an era where crafting a state budget was a big deal. Appropriations subcommittees in each chamber laboriously considered spending requests in public hearings, finally voting out budget recommendations that were passed along to the larger appropriations committee. After further debate and passage by the big appropriations committee the final package was brought to the floor of the chamber, where it was again debated, sometimes amended, and voted upon by the 120 members of the House or 50 members of the Senate. After passing one house the bill went to the other chamber, where it was once again scrutinized, amendments made and voted upon. Differences between the two versions were ironed out in a conference committee and then brought to the floor of each chamber for a final, up or down vote. The process required statesmanship, compromise and a bipartisan camaraderie unknown today. Top leaders in each chamber had a large voice in the final version, but rank and file members were respected and their votes counted.My sources tell me this is outrageous budget trick is going to happen. We should be shouting from rooftops that this is a shameful way to run state government. If it goes through as anticipated you have all the proof you need that we don't need most of the 170 lawmakers in our General Assembly. Send them home.
North Carolina's corporate income tax currently stands at 3 percent, and it is scheduled to be reduced to 2.5 percent in January. This is after annual reductions in the rate, which started in 2013 when it stood at 6.9 percent, the highest in the Southeast at the time. At present, North Carolina has the lowest corporate income tax rate in the country among those states that have a corporate tax. There are six that do not. N.C.'s goal should be to become the seventh.Among the tax increases included in governor Roy Cooper's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2019 is a repeal of the scheduled January reduction in the tax, keeping the rate at 3 percent. In his rhetoric supporting this change, Cooper perpetuates the deception that corporations actually pay taxes and that, in not allowing the corporate tax to continue its decline, average working-class taxpayers will go unscathed. In other words, taxing corporations is just another way to tax the rich.In making these arguments Cooper, either unwittingly or knowingly, is taking advantage of the voters' lack of understanding about taxation generally, namely that every dollar in tax must be paid by some real person. Legal entities, like corporations, cannot pay taxes. If Cooper doesn't know this, then he is probably not fit to be talking about tax policy, and if he does, it suggests that he is demagoguing the issue.A corporation is a legal and accounting entity. It can't pay taxes; only people can. All revenues that flow to a corporation ultimately end up in the wallets and bank accounts of real people. Because of this, all taxes "paid" by a corporation must come out of some real persons' wallet or bank account. The real people who pay the corporate income tax are shareholders, customers, and workers. And clearly, the vast majority of these people are not "the rich."Shareholders pay through reduced dividends and capital gains. For those who are investing outside the context of a tax-free individual retirement account (IRA) or 401(K) retirement plan, the corporate tax imposes a third layer of taxation on their investments. When their principle investment is taxed as regular income, it also reduces any investment returns that investment can generate. That is the first layer. The tax on dividends and capital gains is the second layer. The corporate tax, by reducing the revenues available for dividends and the overall value of the corporation, imposes a third layer of taxation on that income stream. The corporate tax imposes another layer of taxation and reduces overall well being for working families who invest in an IRA (either regular or Roth) or a 401(K), which exempt the principle or the returns to the investment from taxes. It should also be noted that the value of pension funds for state employees and other workers are also reduced.Again, because the corporations must get the funds to pay the tax from some real person, wages will be lower than they otherwise would be. Employees of corporations pay the tax in the form of lower take-home pay. Because their wages are already reduced by the standard income tax, the corporate tax imposes a second layer of taxation on wages of corporate employees. (Also, it has the negative effect of reducing employment opportunities for workers in general since fewer workers will be higher overall.)And finally, customers pay the tax in the form of higher prices. That payment comes as an additional layer of taxation, of course, to the sales tax paid in North Carolina of approximately 7 percent, depending on the county.The bottom line is that those who argue for increasing corporate income tax, like Governor Cooper and most of the Democratic party, in the name making corporations pay their "fair share" of taxes, are really claiming that shareholders, workers, and consumers are all being undertaxed.The corporate income tax is a hidden tax and, as confirmed in North Carolina, easy to demagogue. While a few of the of the individuals making up the groups mentioned above may understand conceptually that they are bearing the burden of the corporate tax, none knows (or even can know) what that burden is. As such, it is a dishonest tax that is antithetical to a transparent democratic process.To make intelligent voting decisions, citizens need to be aware of how much their government is costing them. Unfortunately, those who are paying the corporate tax are being deceived. The tax allows politicians and ideologues, whose desire is simply to raise taxes to support favored programs or interest groups, to gain additional leverage in the process invoking a fiscal sleight-of-hand. It lets them make promises to constituents while misleading them into believing that someone else - "greedy" corporations - are paying the bill.Allowing the corporate tax to fall to 2.5 percent, as current law prescribes, keeps the rate moving in the right direction but it wouldn't make the tax any less dishonest, more transparent, or more consistent with the democratic process. As long as the corporate income tax is in place, North Carolina's citizens will continue to be misled.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, the state's largest health insurance provider, is giving $159,000 to five counties to cut debt in their school lunch programs. School districts in Alamance, Guilford, Forsyth, Rockingham, and Davidson counties will get the money.said Blue Cross NC Director of Community Relations Cheryl Parquet in a news release.The donation is part of BCBSNC's annual giving and won't affect premiums. The payments will occur by the end of the school year when the debt tally is final.North Carolina has the seventh-largest school nutrition program in the country, with nearly 60 percent of students in public schools eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The federal government reimburses a good chunk of school meal funding through the National School Lunch Program. In 2017, the federal government reimbursed the state $387,928,245 for providing more than 140 million lunches.School districts typically incur school lunch debts when parents fail to pay for their children's lunches and aren't enrolled in the child nutrition program.The amount of debt ranges from district to school district. Rockingham County Schools reported about $12,000 in unpaid school lunches; Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools about $15,250. Those numbers are subject to change before the end of the school year as debt is paid off.Brent Campbell, WSFCS chief marketing and communications officer said.If parents don't pay the balances the school district covers the cost. Campbell said the district always plans in advance for meal plan debts.Campbell said.Terry Stoops, vice president of research and director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation, said school nutrition programs share qualities with businesses despite being heavily regulated.Stoops said.NSLP is intended for low-income families at or below the 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Parents or guardians are only required to self-report their income on applications without providing any proof of earnings.Carolina Journal has reported extensively on school districts' failure to monitor reporting and fraud that can result from it.School districts are allowed to audit the program, but the federal government requires they use only 3 percent of all approved applications. Households that have annual earnings within $1,200 of the income eligibility limitation are looked at first because they're the most likely to make a mistake.Stoops said.
Now that it is fully apparent, to all who have the ability to pay some modicum of attention, that Imposter President Biden has extreme cognitive issues, in addition to being an inveterate liar: Can OUR Republic continue with this Executive Office that has completely failed, so many times, on far too many issues here at this early date in this abysmal presidency?

No, Joseph R. Biden is completely unqualified, morally and cognitively, to represent real Americans, and lead this Republic of disparate peoples.

Yes, Joseph R. Biden has started whispering again, even softer now than before; so, I know he still cares, plus, OUR media will soon stop reporting on Afghanistan in favor of OUR Socialist ideals.
"Columbine, Mar 3, 2010" by Dave Cullen... Page 404

Summary of FBI Manual:

Dave's book is the manual for "How To" and "How to Avoid" School Shootings. After scanning the book, page 404 mentioned the FBI manual and also one by the Secret Service. I am a Cliff Note kind of reader and maybe this will help us both.FBI Link to Download PDF Entire Report:- is, therefore, critical that we do all we can to identify young people who need our help, and then get them the help they need. We must continue to search for those crucial behavioral and....It presents a model procedure for threat assessment and intervention-including...that underlie a threat can be love; hate; fear; rage; or desire for attention, revenge, excitement, or recognition.can never be known with complete certainty, in evaluating a threat...mental and emotional state at the time the threat was made, but it is important to remember that a state of mind can be temporarily but strongly influenced by alcohol or drugs, or a precipitating incident such as a romantic breakup, failing grades, or conflict with a parent. After a person has absorbed an emotional setback and calmed down, or when the effects of alcohol or drugs...In general, people do not switch instantly from nonviolence to violence. Nonviolent people do not "snap" or decide on the spur of the moment to meet a problem by using violence.Instead, the path toward violence is an evolutionary one, with signposts along the way. A threat is one observable behavior; others may be brooding about frustration or disappointment, fantasies of destruction or revenge, in conversations, writings, drawings, and other actions.Threats can be classed in four categories: direct, indirect, veiled, or conditional. A direct threat identifies a specific act against a specific target and is delivered.This is enough for you to decide to download the 52 page PDF.The report is 19 years old and I assume every school safety office has a copy.If every student and parent has a copy, I think it is possible for families to detect a problem child but I doubt a social services employee could screen 10,000 students.Next, I will summarize the Secret Service report. How did they get involved?I asked a lawyer to advise me of kids' rights to avoid profile testing and treatment.
The proposal would have essentially allowed industries that use animals, like puppy mills, to police themselves, severely undermining protections for millions of animals. Photo by NE Department of Agriculture

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has abandoned a disastrous proposal to outsource inspections of puppy mills, roadside zoos and research laboratories to third-party inspectors. If implemented, the proposal would have essentially allowed these industries to police themselves and severely undermined protections for millions of animals.

Many members of Congress weighed in strongly against the proposal, including a bipartisan set of 77 lawmakers led by Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., who wrote to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue opposing the agencys plan. Our supporters were also highly engaged. Tens of thousands of you responded to our action alert, and many of you even testified before the USDA, letting the agency know that you do not approve of letting industry groups perform federal animal welfare inspections or determine which facilities warrant federal oversight.

Now that the USDA has taken this important step to preserve the integrity of the Animal Welfare Act, we urge the agency to do the same on transparency for the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act. The agency should fully restore the thousands of inspection reports and other enforcement documents purged from its website last year, as the public has demanded and Congress has directed. And it should abandon the industry self-policing that has been an utter failure for horse soring  by publishing its final rule to update the agencys regulations under the Horse Protection Act, as the USDA announced it would do in January 2017.

Thank you for speaking out and lets keep the pressure on; theres more work to be done.
The bill that the AKC helped kill in New Hampshire was introduced after a high-profile rescue of 84 Great Danes in June last year. It would have put some of the financial burden of caring for rescued animals on the perpetrators of the cruelty rather than on taxpayers, reformed commercial breeder regulations and strengthened penalties for egregious cruelty. Photo by Meredith Lee/The HSUS

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It is a cruel irony when an organization that touts itself as a champion of dogs works behind closed doors to oppose a wide range of animal welfare bills, including those advanced to crack down on cruel puppy mills. But that is exactly what the American Kennel Club has been doing for years, and now AKC has done it again in New Hampshire, where its helped kill a bill that would have protected dogs raised, mistreated and neglected by unscrupulous breeders.

The bill in question was Senate Bill 569, introduced by Sen. Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, with the support of Gov. Chris Sununu, after a high-profile rescue of 84 Great Danes from a mansion in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in June last year. We have extensively covered that rescue  with which the Humane Society of the United States assisted  and subsequent developments, including the trial of the defendant Christina Fay, her sentencing, her appeal, and her conviction last month of 17 counts of cruelty. Even as the trial has played out, and as Fay awaits final sentencing, the dogs have remained in legal limbo. We are committed to caring for them through the entire legal process and the costs of looking after them have reached almost $2 million and counting.

Related: Putting the costs on animal abusers, not animal protectors

One of the facts of the Fay case that shocked us almost as much as the disgusting conditions the dogs were found in was the absolute lack of regulations in New Hampshire for commercial dog breeders. During the course of the investigation, it came to light that New Hampshires Department of Agriculture had been notified of the defendants breeding operation two years prior to the search warrant that resulted in the dogs being seized. But because of weak regulations, the Department of Agriculture could do nothing to require licensing and inspections, which would have alleviated the suffering of the dogs.

SB 569, which was supported by local animal shelters, law enforcement, prosecutors, animal control officers and municipalities, would have put some of the financial burden of caring for rescued animals on the perpetrators of the cruelty rather than on taxpayers, reformed commercial breeder regulations and strengthened penalties for egregious cruelty. The bill flew through the state senate with bipartisan support but its fate was pretty much sealed once it landed in the House Environment and Agriculture Committee. AKC has a strong hold over this committee, not least because its former chairman is also a former director of the AKC. In no time at all the bill was stripped of its commonsense upgrades to commercial breeding regulations. Instead, the AKC worked with allies to weaken existing cruelty laws by prohibiting anonymous reporting of breeders and banning public access to records kept at pet stores and commercial kennels. House committee members walked away from negotiations when Sen. Bradley and his senate colleagues refused to allow a bill intended to protect animals to turn into a bill protecting irresponsible breeders.

The AKC immediately handed out a $1,000 cash prize to the former chairman of the committee for his work to defeat the bill.

This is not the only time the AKC has interfered to hurt animal welfare in New Hampshire. In just the past four years, the organization has opposed every animal protection measure in the state, including cost of animal care, protections for outdoor dogs, penalties for animal fighting, the ability for Good Samaritans to rescue animals from hot cars and even a bill banning animal sexual abuse. And AKC continues to weaken canine protections and prevent progress in stopping puppy mill cruelty in other states as well. In the last 10 years alone, the AKC has opposed almost 250 laws in states to protect animals in puppy mills, prevent the sexual abuse of animals and make it easier to rescue dogs from hot cars.

Consumers who support the AKC through pet registrations and dog show fees often have no idea that some of their dollars are being used to lobby against the interests of dogs. Far from being a champion of dogs, the AKC, by opposing animal welfare bills, enables the bad guys  the ones responsible for animal cruelty, suffering, and neglect  to win.

Support our work to stop puppy mills
Tim Easley's gorgeous sculpture depicting an elaborate circuit board made from modeling clay, was commissioned by the record label Albert's Favourites as the cover art for Modified Man's new release, Modifications: Set 2.



The finished piece is 50cm x 50cm and took 80 hours to complete; Behance has a set of process photos showing the work in progress.

I was commissioned by the independent record label Albert's Favourites to create some unique artwork for their latest release by Modified Man called 'Modifications: Set 2'. Modified Man are a south London based duo made up of Adam Scrimshire and Dave Koor, and create electronic based soulful tracks combining vintage instruments and live performance. The idea behind the cover was how the modified men of the future may make artwork out of ancient circuit boards, not quite understanding what they were for because of their crude appearance. For this I created a design with representations of computer chips and wires.

Modified Man [Tim Easley/Behance]

(via Kottke)

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Dallas-Fort Worth's Prosper High School has an excellent student paper, the Eagle Nation Online, with a most excellent advisor, Lori Oglesbee-Petter, a journalism teacher with 34 years of experience, whose students won 175 state and national journalism awards last year alone.



She's been fired by John Burdett, the school's new principal, who also intervened in the paper's editorial process three times last year in order to censor the student journalists. Burdett had ordered the paper's staff to submit any articles that violated "community norms" to him for editorial approval. Lacking any clarity on what constituted "community norms," the paper's staff began to seek Burdett's approval for all articles.

Oglesbee-Petter's teaching contract prevents her from talking to the press about the circumstances under which her contract was not renewed for the coming year, but the student journalists who worked with her say that the firing is in retaliation for her encouragement of critical thinking and hard-hitting journalism that investigated and questioned the authorities in the school. In this academic year, Burdett had censored articles about removing "A Separate Peace" from the curriculum, and the arbitrary cancellation of a senior class movie night; and an editorial that criticized Burdett's response to the Parkland school shooting as "disorganized and vague."

Burdett then permanently banned editorials from being published in the paper.

"You have a principal that is upset that the teacher is not teaching how to produce fake news," Hiestand said. "He is telling the kids, 'You can publish the news as long as it's happy news.' That is the definition of fake news." Prosper's prior review policy allows the school's principal ultimate editorial authority, including the right to block stories from being published. The policy states: "All publications edited, printed, or distributed in the name of or within the District schools shall be under the control of the school administration and the Board. All publications approved and issued by individual schools shall be part of the instructional program, under the supervision of a faculty sponsor, and shall be carefully edited to reflect the ideals and expectations of the citizens of the District for their schools." On May 18, Madhira drafted a press release with the help of Hiestand and JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission Chair Lori Keekley. It explains in detail Burdett's practice of censorship and Oglesbee-Petter's contract termination, as well as the importance of editorials. "We are not just public relations for the school," Madhira said in the press release. "Not all news will be positive."

Texas principal censors paper, bans all editorials and ousts award-winning adviser [Gabriel Greschler/Student Press Law Center] (Thanks, Robbo!)
A man was driving on I-5 in Washington when he saw "a small black object in the air." He then heard it hitting the front of his car, but it didn't seem like a big deal. It wasn't until he stopped for gas 18 miles later that he noticed a handgun lodged snugly into his bumper.

According to the The Seattle Times:

"It's just crazy. It's a complete fluke it could happen," Trooper Guy Gill said of the incident. The Patrol turned the gun over to Lakewood Police and detectives are investigating whether the gun  which was missing its magazine  was involved in a shooting at a park about an hour earlier, said Lt. Chris Lawler. No one was injured. In his years as a trooper, Gill said he has seen vehicles hit by all kinds of debris on the freeway  bolts, tires, rocks, bits of steel  but never a firearm.

Wellthis is a first ??! Driver saw a small "black object" in the air while driving on I-5 and it struck the front of his car. He drove about 18 miles, stopped for gas, and found this. We recovered it and turned it over to @LakewoodPD. pic.twitter.com/Oo3KlbW362  Trooper Guy Gill (@wspd1pio) May 24, 2018

It's been a strange news day for guns. I'm not sure which is weirder, a handgun spearing a car, or a gun in an oven shooting bullets at his owner.

Image: Washington State Patrol
No matter how shitty a day I've had, I can always count on Florida Man to cheer me up or at the very least, horrify me to the point that my personal problems feel like minor issues.

In this episode, we find Florida Man educating the young in the miracle of human reproduction. Unfortunately, not everyone present for Florida Man's lecture enjoyed what he had to say, or how he said it.

From BuzzFeed:

A Florida man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after climbing on top of a playground full of children and yelling about where babies come from. A police officer said Otis Dawayne Ryan, 30, climbed to the top of the playground equipment at a park in Clearwater on Sunday afternoon and began shouting at the children, telling them "babies come out of women," according to court documents. "He then yelled, 'They come out of their pussies,'" the officer wrote in an arrest affidavit. "At that time parents were rushing to the area to remove their children."

I suppose I can see their point.

This wasn't Mr. Ryan's first brush with the law. Hell, it wasn't even his first brush with the law of the day. According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, before holding his sex education class on top of the jungle gym, Ryan spent his morning yelling at tourists and making lewd comments to any women who happened to pass by.

Despite what a class act he is, the cops were only able to ding Ryan with one count of disorderly conduct, which carries a fine of $118.

Image via Flickr, courtesy of The People Speak!
My Cool Tools podcast guest this week is Scotty Allen. Scotty is a nomadic engineer, entrepreneur, adventurer and storyteller who orbits around San Francisco and Shenzhen, China. He runs a YouTube channel Strange Parts, a travel adventure show for geeks where he goes on adventures ranging from building his own iPhone in China to trying to make a manhole cover in India.

Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes | RSS | Transcript | Download MP3 | See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single page

Show notes:

1080P HDMI digital camera video microscope ($299)

"So one of the things that I have gotten an outsized amount of value from over the past year has been this microscope that I bought here in the electronics markets in China. It's a no-brand-name microscope that I got from a little tiny microscope booth in the market, and it's really been this incredibly high-leverage tool for me, and I didn't realize how much I was missing out until I bought it. It's been really great for doing detail work. And I use it for really small soldering work on iPhones and related circuit boards  It's a binocular microscope. It's not super high magnification, but because it's binocular you get depth of field, and so you can really see well. So you can look through the microscope and work underneath it with tweezers or a soldering iron or other tools and in great depth see what you're doing."

Frame.io

"Frame.io is an online tool that I use for collaborating on the videos I'm making. And it's a really simple tool  The short version is that you can upload a video to it, and then you can share that video privately with other people, who can then go in and leave comments. You can even draw things on a specific frame of the video using some drawing tools. And then you can have threaded conversations on each of the comments you leave, and multiple people can leave comments, et cetera. And that, at face value, is super simple, but it really allows remote collaboration on videos in ways that there really aren't very many other good tools for. In fact, I don't think I've found any other good tools. I come from a software engineering background, and we have some great tools there now that have been built over the past 10 years for doing things like code review where you can do something similar, where you can go in and leave comments on a particular line of code on a change someone wants to make. And so I come from that. I come from running a remote software team prior to doing Strange Parts, and so I was really hungry for all of these tools that I'd used as a software engineer. And so Frame.io is one piece of that. It's sort of that feedback piece of, 'Hey, I did this thing. Can you give me feedback on it in a detailed way that's sort of context-based on the part you're talking about?'"

TV-B-Gone universal remote control ($25)

"The TV-B-Gone is a universal television remote with one button, and the button turns any TV off. So this is a cool thing made by a close friend of mine, Mitch Altman, who I know from Noisebridge hackerspace, and I actually owned one long before I knew Mitch. It was given to me as a stocking stuffer at Christmas one year, probably like 10 years ago, something like that.  for the first long while that I owned it, I didn't really use it very much, but now it has become indispensable because I'm traveling a lot more, and when you're jetlagged and you're in an airport on a layover in the middle of the night in Russia and there's a blaring TV in the corner that nobody's watching, the TV-B-Gone is a great way to solve that problem. So in short, you press the button, it takes up to 15 seconds, and it will cycle through all of the off codes that are programmed in it for all of the different televisions. So you just point it at the TV, and it's great for just sort of calming an otherwise unbearable airport lounge."

Shoe cover dispenser ($114)

"The one I have kind of looks like a suitcase. It's maybe two feet by one foot by like six inches tall, and it's that silver material, silver metal that they make briefcases in the movies for carrying large amount of cash in sort of look. It's got a handle. And on top, it's got an oval-shaped hole that is slightly larger than your average foot, or your average shoe, and the idea is that you stomp your foot down through the hole and it applies a shoe cover over your shoes automatically. You don't have to touch anything. You just step in it and then step out, and now you've got a shoe cover on your shoe.  I ran across it on a factory tour. I visit a lot of factories here in Shenzhen, and I was at an LED factory that was making LEDs. They were trying to keep dust down, and one of the ways they do that is by having everybody wear shoe covers. So there are a number of factories that will do this, and you can tell how fancy the factory is based on whether you have to bend down and put the shoe cover on yourself or whether you have one of these automatic shoe cover machines. And so this LED factory was the first time I'd seen this, and it blew my mind. It was a special purpose thing that was so clever and so well made."

We have hired professional editors to help create our weekly podcasts and video reviews. So far, Cool Tools listeners have pledged $342 a month. Please consider supporting us on Patreon. We have great rewards for people who contribute!  MF
Last week, the Democratic Republic of Congo's latest Ebola outbreak was confirmed to have spread to Mbandaka, a transportation hub, home to over one million people. As of the time that this post was written, 31 cases of the disease have been confirmed in the west African nation. Of those confirmed to have been afflicted, nine have died.

Oh, and three individuals confirmed to have contracted the disease, two of which who were showing significant symptoms, managed to escape quarantine and mingle with an unknown number of people.

From the Washington Post:

In a briefing in Geneva, Jean-Clement Cabrol, a doctor who had just returned from Congo, said "the patients were in the active phase of the disease, vomiting" when their families removed them from the hospital, put them on motorcycles, and took them to a religious gathering of 50 people. Ebola is contagious through bodily fluids, and both patients, who were at an acute phase of the illness, died within hours. Those two were among the three Ebola patients who left a hospital isolation ward and reentered the general population, according to the Doctors Without Borders mission in the Congolese city of Mbandaka.

That two of the patients, at the height of their power to infect others, opted to leave the quarantine that they'd been put under reads like something monstrous. But it couldn't be more human. In their final hours, the pair, knowing that death couldn't have been closer, turned to the comfort of their families and their faith, hoping that it would be a balm against the unspeakable misery that they must have been in.

The third patient, who according to Medecins Sans Frontieres, may have been on the brink of being discharged before deciding to leave the hospital ahead of schedule, opted to return and continue treatment. So that's nice.

Now, here's the problem.

That fancy vaccine that MSF and the World Health Organization are looking to deploy? They don't have enough for everyone. To ensure that what vaccine they do have to inoculate the public with does the most good, it's of vital importance that healthcare professionals figure out who an infected individual has come into contact with. Then, it's on to figuring out who those people came into contact with. Wash, rinse, repeat. Once that's done, it's time to break out the vaccine, and ensure that those in the greatest danger of being infected with the disease are vaccinated against it, hopefully stemming the tide. WHO representatives state that they'd sorted out 628 such contacts as of this week.

But here we are with a couple of infected individuals, puking, sweating and touching stuff as they make their way from the hospital to a prayer group, through a city of 1.2 million people  a city with an airport of a significant size, along with waterway and road access. WHO will have started talking to the families who helped to spring the patients, all of the hospital staff outside of the quarantine ward they escaped from, the prayer group participants and everyone else any of those people can remember having come into contact with since the escape occurred. Hopefully, their memories are all on point.

Hopefully, the disease is contained. Fast.

Image via Wikipedia Commons
Entertainment / Music

by Staff rpeorter

United Kingdom based up-coming artiste Donel Mangena who grabbed the spotlight after appearing in the singing competition, The Voice UK finishing as a runner up is set to perform alongside artistes from the country at a Zimbabwe Culture show.The show which will be held at Warwickshire in England on 2 June will see Donel sharing the stage with the legendary Mbira sensation Mbuya Stella Chiweshe, African Marimba Band, Tsungi Tsikirira, Sekuru Makamazi, Afro Shikisha, to mention a few.The talented lad confirmed he would be performing at the gig via his Instagram page which somehow revealed he is happy to perform alongside his countrymen."Happy to announce I will be performing at the Zimbabwe Culture show," read a post on his Instagram page.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe and the rest of the world are still waiting for Donel to release a bit of his natural composition as he proved to be a talented gem at the Voice UK despite singing cover songs mostly.The success from the musical competition saw Donel performing at Queen Elizabeth's 92nd birthday celebrations last month, where he gave a brilliant performance.He was introduced by Prince Harry at the Queen's birthday. He called him a "star"."It now gives me great pleasure to introduce a star of the future Donel Mangena," Harry said.He performed Happy by Pharrell Williams, a song which describes how Donel is "happy" and grateful of the talent God has given him."It was an honour spending time with Prince Harry and being introduced to the world. I can't believe this actually happened, I am truly humbled by this opportunity and I thank God mostly and you guys (fans) for your love and support it's only the beginning," he wrote on his social media pages.
News / Local

by Byo24News Reporter

Zimbabwean media personality and former Radio 2 presenter Ezra Tshisa Sibanda has been honoured by a private Bulawayo healthcare centre, which named a theatre after him.Tshisa was honoured by his long-time friend and former colleague Dr Solwayo Ngwenya who is also Mpilo Hospital Clinical Director."I don't know what to say or where to start, this is deeply humbling. I have never been appreciated or anything named after me ever since. What you have done is really moving and I'm lost for words.Ezra said he has known Dr Ngwenya since childhood when they did not even know what the future had in store for them."I have known Dr Solwayo Ngwenya since we were in school. We were full of dreams and didn't know if it was ok to dream. We never knew what destiny had in store for us or where life journeys would take us. We were just African boys whose greatest pleasures were running in the African sun and playing from dawn to dusk."Yet, I am forced to sit back and marvel as I close my eyes and cast my mind to the theatre at the state of the art Royal Women's Clinic, Bulawayo, that against all odds, has been built by my friend as part of his medical centre and named after me."He said although he was hardened by the exposure and experiences of the throughout his career, the naming of the theatre in his name it brought tears to his eyes.Ezra appreciated the gesture saying availability of such a facility means lives will be saved."I know first hand what the lack of facilities and services such as the ones that Dr Solwayo will provide mean to our people. The lives that will be saved. I will resist the urge to be political as I want to keep this moment and achievement sterile, but this signifies a step away from dreaming not only for Dr Ngwenya and me but for all Zimbabweans."
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zanu-PF name candidates who won in primary election reruns held in 15 constituencies after next week's Politburo meeting.The reruns were held two week ago.In an interview on Wednesday, Zanu-PF Politburo member Munyaradzi Machacha said the Politburo should approve the names of the winning candidates first before a public announcement was made.He said the Politburo was likely to meet next week."The list is being prepared and once we are done, we will let you know," he said."The Politburo is likely to meet next week and will go through the list before we publish it."We cannot publish it before it is approved by the Politburo."Mashonaland West topped the list of primary election reruns, with six constituencies conducting the plebiscite.The constituencies were Chegutu East, Chegutu West, Zvimba North, Zvimba South, Chinhoyi and Makonde.Although the elections were conducted smoothly in the other five constituencies in the provinces, challenges arose in Chegutu East where former Provincial Minister of State Webster Shamu was facing Zanu-PF Mashonaland youth provincial chairman Vengai Musengi.Shamu was fired as Mashonaland West Minister of State this week and was accused of stealing ballot papers.It is alleged that several ballot papers marked on his name were found stashed in Shamu's vehicle.In Mashonaland Central, primary elections re-run were held in Shamva North, Shamva South and Mazowe women's quota while in Midlands the polls were in Shurugwi.Chipinge Central and Buhera West were the only two constituencies where re-runs were being conducted in Manicaland province.In Harare, the re-runs were in Harare South, Glen View North, Glen View South, Kambuzuma and Hwata senatorial constituency in the women's quota.In Kambuzuma, voting did not take place after people protested the decision that they should vote for the senatorial candidate only.In Glen View North and South constituencies, voting did not take place since voting material arrived late and there were also accusations that some of the contestants were not from the respective constituencies.Party members argued that they never voted for other positions and would want to cast their ballots for National Assembly and local authority candidates.The primary elections re-run followed the successful launch of the revolutionary party's pro-business manifesto.Last week, President Mnangagwa called on party members to go out in full force campaigning for the party to ensure a resounding victory.He urged party members to campaign peacefully using persuasive means to win the hearts of the people.
News / National

by Staff rpeorter

MDC-T national organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe and two other members of a faction aligned to the party's co-deputy president Dr Thokozani Khupe have pleaded not guilty to public violence or alternatively, assault charges.This was heard during the trio's trial which kicked off yesterday before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Gladmore Mushove.Bhebhe (52), Witness Dube (41)  who is Dr Khupe's personal assistant and Elliot Doctor Moyo (52) -allegedly attacked members of a rival faction within the MDC party.They are represented by Mr Kholwani Ngwenya of TJ Mabhikwa and Partners. The magistrate remanded the matter to June 21 for continuation of trial.Mr Ngwenya said the three instead, were victims who were attacked and their property damaged while they were attending a meeting which was convened by the acting president of the party."Dube was attacked while seated inside Dr Khuphe's vehicle and Moyo was part of the participants to the meeting following proceedings. Bhebhe had begun to address the participants of the meeting," Mr Ngwenya said."In the process of the throwing of stones and missiles into the office, some people were injured including Bhebhe and Dube. It later turned out that the people who were throwing stones belonged to a rival faction within the MDC-T political party."Mr Malusi Fuyana, one of the complainants, said he sustained a broken finger and head injuries as a result of the attack.Mr Fuyana denied being among the people who threw stones even after a video was played in court showing a man dressed in clothes similar to his picking up something from the ground."Bhebhe gave an order that I should be beaten and Moyo struck me with a half brick just above the ear. I lost consciousness and woke up in hospital. If I attacked anyone why wasn't a report filed against me?" he asked.Prosecuting, Mr Kudakwashe Jaravaza said on March 4 this year at around 12 noon, the complainants Malusi Fuyana, Edith Moyo, Sibusisiwe Masina, Sandra Moyo and Persuade Jena were part of a group of MDC-T members that had gathered at the MDC-T Bulawayo provincial offices between 2nd and 3rd Avenue along Fort Street waiting to be addressed by Dr Khuphe.He said they were denied entry into the venue of the meeting by people who were manning the entrance.A misunderstanding ensued during which Bhebhe allegedly ordered some youths to attack the complainants whom he accused of being aligned to Adv Chamisa's faction and the MDC Alliance.
News / National

by Thembani Dube, 1893 MHRRM Secretary for Information and Publicity

Released by The 1893 MHRRM Information and Publicity Department

The 1893 Mthwakazi Human Rights Restoration Movement (1893 MHRRM) is deeply concerned by continued and sustained cowardly and violent attacks directed at Nkosazana Thokozani Khuphe by seemingly MDC-T's band of tribal supremacist hooligans, ruffians and political demagogues.These tribal supremacist hooligans, ruffians and political demagogues must read the ever-shifting sands of patriotism in Matebeleland, nurtured, to grow and glow an assertive Matebeleland that shall not brook any form of ill-treatment or violation of its Rights.We strongly condemn all forms of tribal and politically motivated violence perpetrated against Nkosazana Khuphe for being a woman and for being of Matebele origin.The time has come to deal with and confront all the dark forces of Gukurahundism whose spears and daggers are sharpened to destroy the Rights of Matebeleland people.The time has come to deal with and confront all merchants of Anti-Matebeleland Human Rights.The time has come to deal with and confront the Anti-Matebeleland infrastructure of violence and Human Rights violations.Those who are happy to masquerade and strut the political landscape as "Democratic" agents of change while evidence is pointing to the contrary must be warned that such activities can no longer be tolerated.A democrat can never be allergic to divergency of views to the point of nurturing and deploying an infrastructure of violence and terror on those who differ with their opinions and hide by constant cynical public condemnation statements of such thuggery that are devoid of any practical steps taken to root out that ugly infrastructure of violence and mayhem that treat the people of Matebeleland as subhuman.The gravity and scale of these tribal, political and male chauvinist motivated attacks on Nkosazana Khuphe for expressing and exercising her divergent political views, in a dignified way, are deeply worrying and are symptomatic of Zimbabwe's deep-seated and or deep-rooted structural tribalist politics that has long been pioneered, cultivated and nurtured by Gukurahundist Zanu PF since its formation in 1963.Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo, his peers and many others after him have suffered these attacks in the past much to the detriment and suffocation of Matebele Rights. This hegemony status quo of wanton violation of Matebele Rights can no longer be accepted. Every generation has its trials and tribulations to deal with and overcome. These trials and tribulations invoke on such generations a generational mandate to deal with, confront and overcome those trials and tribulations thrust on their generational shoulders. The New Matebele generation has a generational mandate and a generational duty to reverse any forms of discrimination, tribal hegemony and the violation of the God-given Rights of the Matebele people.The New Matebele Man has a generational mandate and a generational duty to Restore the Human Rights and dignity of our people. And this generational mandate and generational duty, pursued by 1893 MHRRM roaders and adherents, disregards organizational ideological differences between and among the people of Matebeleland but pursues and advances the Restoration and the protection of the sacred Human Rights of our people against its aggressors and violators.As such, we strongly urge Chamisa and his MDC-T outfit as well as his Alliance partners to bring the merchants and agents of this tribally motivated violence on Nkosazana Khuphe to a screeching halt. She has a Right to exercise her political Rights the way she deems fit. And she must be proud to be a Matebele woman and not be made to feel that it is a shame to be a woman of Matebele origination. And she has handled herself with dignity of the highest order, in the process shaming and exposing her detractors for who they really are, that is the undemocratic political malcontents who sing "democracy" while exercising and preaching violence in broad daylight.Therefore, there is a call for MDC-T and its Alliance partners and Zanu PF and its security organs to abandon this tribal and sectarian motivated violence on Matebeleland people, whose sole purpose is to help them conquer and retain political power at all costs by appealing to the most beastly and savage instincts of human species.There is no just and moral cause that justifies such thuggish and violent behaviour and disrespect for women in the name of "Democratic Change" or in the name of "sovereignty" and "independence".Chamisa and MDC-T must dismantle, as a matter of urgency, their violent instrument of terror, the Vanguard militia while Zanu PF must disband its violent Youth militias of terror as well as withdraw, from villages, the deployed army units and intelligence operatives used to instil fear in local communities.At the same time, Zanu PF and its blood-letting apparatchiks, must allow the Matebeles, as a matter of urgency, to declare and observe a Matebele "Gukurahundi" Genocide Memorial Day in January 2019 which should be observed yearly. Alongside the observation of this day will be erection of Matebele Genocide Memorial Monuments across the length and breadth of Matebeleland by the people of Matebeleland without any form of interference.
News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

Mt Pleasant independent candidate for 2018 Fadzayi Mahere has urged the government to issue a press statement on foul-mouthed deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development Terence Mukupe's stigmatization of HIV.Mukupe angrily protested against Tendai Biti live on Star FM after he was labelled drunk and in the process asked if Biti had taken his ARVs.Mahere took it to micro blogging tweeter saying, "I hope the Govt issues a press statement condemning Mukupe's utterances as reckless &most unfortunate. There's no honor in mocking /stigmatizing HIV."It's a matter of regret that he weaponized an issue the nation has made so much progress on."Politics aside, this is sad."HIV/AIDS affects many people and families in Zimbabwe and an estimated 1.4 million Zimbabweans are living positively yet a deputy Minister stigmatizes the issue.Mukupe who is no stranger to controversy has proved to be loose canon, grabbing the headlines for the wrong reasons. Government and his party ZANU PF where recently forced to issue a press statement condemning utterances by the deputy minister when he said the military would not allow Chamisa to take over the presidency if he wins.The deputy minister amongst his litany of misdeeds assaulted an employee at the Finance ministry for allegedly giving him a paltry $910 travel allowance.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MDC President Welshman Ncube has denied any personal vendettas or blocking top party politician and MP, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga from a possible return to parliament on a party ticket.Ncube told NewZimbabwe.com Wednesday there has not been a deliberate ploy to shut the former regional integration minister out, adding that she had not applied to be considered for selection.Ncube said there was an unnecessary fixation with Misihairabwi-Mushonga when the party had three other sitting legislators with two of them also missing from the MDC candidate list as they were eying a return to the house through the proportional representation window.Asked if at all they have vendettas against each other, Ncube responded, "Over what! You know it's a matter of public record that various people over the last 5 years demanded the sacking of Priscilla as being a member of parliament for Matebeleland South."The (Moses, former MDC Secretary General) Mzilas of this world left because they were at loggerheads with me for refusing to accept Priscilla being removed."From day one, who has protected Priscilla from being recalled!? Repeatedly and repeatedly in the last 4 years. Have the demands for her to leave not been contained up to this day?!"I am the only thing, over 5 years, which stood between her and being recalled. Is that the conduct of a person who has a vendetta against someone?"
News / National

by Staff reporter

Vice President, General (retired) Constantino Chiwenga has said that election violence is a thing of the past and that Zanu-PF would not resort to violence ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections, NewZimbabwe.com reported.The ruling Zanu-PF party has been accused of using violence in the past in order to intimidate people into voting for them.Addressing Zanu-PF supporters at a rally in Zvishavane on Wednesday, Chiwenga, who is now the country's vice president, was instrumental in toppling Mugabe after leading the military intervention codenamed, Operation Restore Legacy assured the crowd that the elections will be above board."As we go for elections, these elections must be peaceful. They must be held in a peaceful environment, so we can achieve fairness," declared Chiwenga."Violence is now a thing of the past, Zimbabwe has now come of age, we will never resort to violence during elections".
News / National

by Agencies

The Government of Zimbabwe and the African Risk Capacity (ARC) last week held a workshop on Disaster Risk Financing in Harare to discuss critical steps to strengthen the country's capacity to address natural disaster risk.The workshop convened government officials, local experts of various disciplines, and development partners to strengthen existing and government-led disaster risk management and financing systems. Development organizations such as the World Bank, Mercy Corps, United Nations Development Programme and the World Food Programme, as well as private sector firms like EcoFarmer and Old Mutual, also attended the workshop.The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning of Zimbabwe, H.E. Patrick Chinamasa encouraged ARC to continue its work with Zimbabwe and other African governments to shape disaster risk policy and bolster technical collaboration across the continent. He said: "It is my government's wish to participate actively and on a long-term basis in this pan-African solidarity initiative to help us finance part of our huge risk to disasters, especially drought."Zimbabwe was among the first countries to sign the ARC Treaty in 2012, followed by agreements to start technical collaboration between ARC and the Government of Zimbabwe. As a result, Zimbabwe can protect its population and economy from the impact of natural disasters, such as drought and river flooding, by transferring its disaster risk to ARC Ltd's continental drought risk pool.Dolika Banda, the CEO of ARC Insurance Company Limited, thanked the Government of Zimbabwe for its continued engagement. "ARC is ready to work with Zimbabwe in building the necessary capacity required to create awareness on disaster risk, and to help the country benefit from cost-effective financing tools and packages, which will help to protect vulnerable populations from natural disasters."Natural disasters in Zimbabwe have been eroding decades of economic and development gains. Most recently, the El Nino drought of 2016 increased food insecurity and malnutrition of every province of Zimbabwe, and insufficient water made significant and wide-ranging impacts across the economy, notably on energy, manufacturing, education, agriculture, and health sectors. The 2016 drought was also followed by devastating floods in 2017, which displaced thousands of people, burst 70 dams, and swept away five bridges on major highways.
News / National

by Ntando Dube

For more details contact Zakhele Moyo on +27 82 390 5983, Mandoza on +27 78 569 6324, Mkhululi Chimoio on +27 73 738 2717, Thanks Muungani +27 72 215 7190 and Pastor Esnathi Bulayani on +263 772 983 189

Joice Mujuru led National People's Party (NPP) has lost one of its founding members, Mthulisi Clifford Lute Moyo.Moyo passed on at Edenville Hospital, Johannesburg in South Africa after a short illness. He will be buried tomorrow in his home area, Gwambe village in Plumtree as his body is being repatriated today from Kings and Queens in Johannesburg at 17.00 hours.Moyo is a former NPP provincial Commissar and Johannesburg party Chairperson. Moyo is credited with helping establishing and shaping NPP in South Africa when it was still going by the name Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF).Moyo did not assist in shaping the party only but also channelled his resources in growing and moulding the popular opposition party.From the time the party was founded, Moyo has been a dedicated, hardworking and loyal party cadre.Members of NPP expressed shock and disappointment at the sudden death of Moyo."We never thought that Moyo will leave after we managed helping in the removal of the dictator Mugabe. We wanted him to be part of the new Zimbabwe that we are still fighting for. He was a visionary leader whom any sane person or any party will want in their ranks," said Gibson Zvenhamo an official of NPP in Johannesburg."We have lost a leader whose gap will never be replaced by anyone," added Zvenhamo.Colleague and close confident Mkhululi Chimoio expressed shock, sadness and pain at the untimely death of Moyo."It is depressing that good people exit this earth while the evil remain behind. Mthulisi is one person who was committed to the struggle of a better Zimbabwe. He is one person who always pioneered and preached peace. He envisaged a Zimbabwe that knows no tribe, race or boundaries. It is sad that he left us while we still trying push and force the government to work collectively with all progressive forces in the country, be it be in the opposition or ruling forces. We owe it to Mthulisi to see a better Zimbabwe where our children and generations do not experience sad lives we went through under Mugabe. Mthulisi always asked me on what we will tell our children in future if we are to let political leaders destroy our country further and as such his legacy will live on through the ideas and values he stood for as we will impact them on the younger generation. We lost a brother, colleague, community builder, a leader and a national assert that the country never utilised," said Chimoio.According to the family spokesperson and brother Zakhele Moyo the family is saddened at losing a son, brother and father."We lost one of ours. He experienced challenges with ulcers and unfortunately when he was admitted at the hospital he did not make it out. We are still shocked to learn that he succumbed to Meningitis linked disease) Brain TB). We are still not getting how it came out to be another illness that took away his life. It is unfortunate for us and as the family and my young brother he left us in shock," he said.Moyo is also survived by his wife and children.
Opinion / Columnist

Poseidon Tsautsau is a legal studies student, author and a youths activist from Harare, Zimbabwe.

Just like Christmas, only Christians - a group of people- celebrate it but Africa day is worse for it is celebrated by a few (elite) leaders on behalf of the whole continent. It's very funny that every election we vote for representatives and those whom we vote for tend to over-represent us- they represent us in anything from benefitting from the sweet fruits of independence, they represent us in enjoying funds from government deals, they just don't wan to represent us when we have pressing life issues that doesn't affect them. Cry my continent cry.Is Africa day for all Afro-Souls or it's for the rich Africans. A homeless boy in the streets of Harare, Abuja, Johannesburg or Kampala doesn't see the relevance of Africa Day for it's only a relief for the home and well nourished working class to spend a day home with their beautifully clothed families. An addressless mother of two see discriminatory sarcasm or classism when she sees a holiday marked Africa day on the gregorian calendar. Is this the Africa that Joshua Nkomo, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela were harassed for? Are their dreams coming true? Their ideals have been jettisoned by a plane of corruption, deceit, greedness, heartlessness, loveless in an arid desert without life, and their dreams are shouting for help and no one is heeding them.A continent blessed with workaholics and vast resources but cursed with inconsiderate and selfish sons and daughters in charge. I cry, I cry all the time for the spiritual intervention to efface the curse and set the continent free. I read and hear some political analysts stating that the westerners and easterners suppress Africans, but do they sign those so called suppressive deals by themselves. It's our leaders who sign them on our behalf and without enough consultancy and analysis. My fellow Africans let us not be fooled....are our African leaders so dull that they sign one way beneficial deals, that they can be tricked by non-Africans as they say...No!They get some chunk if benefits which they just don't want us to know. Absence of unity has always be a con, a stumbling block towards the development of Africa. Regional and continental conglomeration that benefits the laymen is only a common phrase in government documents and in presidential speeches, but it never moved even an inch towards realism. My fellow continent men let's not be made political tools, violence against each other is not the panacea to our problems. We attack each other yet those we will be fighting for will be dining and wining together. There is no other definition of violence besides these two words:hate and foolishness.All these problems do not affect the leaders, but the ordinary African man who has never made any national decision in a single day. Innocent unemployment and poor young Africans who always stretch their begging bowls to the government only to be dished sugarless porridge because there wouldn't be enough mealie meal to make the lovely African paste.Africa day is only a public holiday, not a day for Africa until we love each other, we fear corruption and violence, we stand with our promises and care about a brother or sister you don't know who's suffering.
Opinion / Columnist

Zimbabwe is one of the many failed states of Africa. The people of Zimbabwe spent slightly more than two decades fighting to free themselves from British colonisation and then Ian Smith's racist Rhodesia unilateral declaration of independence, off British colonisation. On 18 April 1980 Prince Charles handed over the reigns of power to Robert Gabriel Mugabe overseen by Lord Soames, the few months Governor of Rhodesia after the British Conservative Government's successfull Lancaster House talks with the so-called freedom fighters(yes 'so-called'and I hate to say that). If you cook delicious food and you let flies from a nearby pit latrine buzz over it, it becomes undelicious doesn't it, bad enough to throw away. Suffice to say Zimbabweans have never tasted that freedom.It remains hearsay. Why? We have learned a lesson that after fighting a war as tough as the one we fought, you lock weapons in the armoury, pick up tools and go to work. However this has not been the norm in Africa, Zimbabwe not spared. Leaders start killing anybody who opposes them creating security threats to themselves, enticing the army to create a non-existent enemy and letting the gun spit fear to the opponent. Once that is achieved kleptocracy creeps in and corruption swells. They themselves become afraid of losing power and a possible maximum jail sentence. That fear manifests itself in large convoys of presidential motorcades whenever they move from one point to another. They say when a person is engulfed with fear he becomes dangerous to anyone around him. To protect their reign they become the vocalist of a Junta who become the protectionist. But dictators are all the same no matter what century they lived in. They don't seem to realise that dictatorships will always end, in most cases violently against the perpetrator. Robert Mugabe inherited this insecuruty from Ian Douglas Smith and failed to squash it. Instead he expanded it and made it part of his life.Here is what I think is best for all in some philosophical thinking as narrated by William Adama - "There is a reason we separate the military from the police. One protects the state from its enemies and the other serves and protects people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people". Always and always people end up winning.Mr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, why not start by making people win. They will win anywhere because they are destined to as you are just but one cresture of God with limited time on earth. We all know you don't feel secure when not in government as I have laid down the details of the fait of people like you abive, but at times doing good does create an amazing chance of security and freedom for all.Clement Dumisani MoyoMediation for Peace Centre+263 712 708 284/77 662 090clemenmoyo@gmail.com
'You feel you're not alone': African pavilion returns to Mosaic after population doubles since 2011

The African pavilion at Mosaic is returning after more than a decade, thanks to the African population in Saskatchewan doubling in recent years, allowing more people to volunteer.

In 2011, Statistics Canada reported more than 8,000 people of African origin were living in Saskatchewan. In 2016, the number had doubled to more than 16,000.

In some cases, representation from different countries tripled, including Nigeria and Eritrea.

"There's more of a variety in countries from Africa that are now in the city," Nyasha Mwela said.

Mwela is the junior ambassador for the Africa pavilion and originally from Zambia, Africa. She said the population adds to the different cultures in Regina.

Mwela said she thinks it's important to have the African pavilion, "especially for the younger African Canadians."

"It would be really good for them to actually come to the pavilion and see what it's all about because there's a huge difference between hearing your parents tell you stories about the pavilion and just tell you stories about have home versus actually experiencing the culture itself," she said.

"It's just going to a Rider game versus watching it on TV."

Romas Mwenge is managing the pavilion this year. He's also from Zambia and said Mosaic as a cultural event inspired him.

"Culture is a very strong part of people's lives. It influences their views, their values their humour, their hopes, their loyalties, and their worries and fears," Mwenge said.

"So when you're working with people and building relationships with them, it helps to have some perspective and understanding of their culture."

Mwenge said that many African countries will be represented at the pavilion, including: Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Morocco.

A challenge with the pavilion, Mwenge said, was people of different countries and cultures working together.

"I've never done something like this," he said.

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"It has taken a lot of time for us to understand each other and then put on a huge event like this one."

Mwenge said there's differences between countries even how they prepare food.

"For instance, rice in Ghana and Nigeria, they prepare it differently but it's the same rice."

The growing African population in Saskatchewan is exciting, Mwenge said, because diversity is a good thing and most are bringing new skills, but it comes with challenges.

"We've got to learn and live with a different people that we've never known or lived with before  and that can be challenging, it can be uncomfortable," he said.

"Regardless of where they're coming from or how they look like, I need to talk to them so that I can have a good perspective and understanding."

He said he thinks most African people that are coming to Regina are French speaking. He said this will help build the French community in the province.

Originally stopped because there were not enough volunteers

Kiumbura Githinji, executive director of the African Canadian Resource Network, said the African pavilion ended because there weren't enough people to volunteer, as running it was a tough job.

"But now, with the increase in population, I guess we have more hands."

In the past, Githinji said he heard the African community was very small.

"[They were] very few and they almost knew each other. In their own admission over the last six seven years, the numbers have really changed and every corner you turn you at least see someone."

Githinji said this community is important.

"For many, you feel you're not alone, you feel you're many," he said.

"When people are more, there's a little bit more warmth as in you can share a little bit more in terms of culture and other resources that are common to that group or community."

Githinji doesn't know exactly why the population has increased but said it could be to a rising economy, professionals immigrating, and being bringing over family and friends.

The African Pavilion will be held at Carrefour des Plaines School on Hillsdale Street and will be open with Mosaic from May 31 to June 2.
Chateauguay Valley High School raises $1K in cookie bake sale for students in Haiti

A simple bake sale showed high school students how it feels to do little things that can have a big impact on the lives of others.

Students at Chateauguay Valley Regional High School in Ormstown held a school-wide cookie bake sale Thursday to raise money for a girls' orphanage called KC Mother's Love Children's Village in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Student Kayla Carriere-Ward said the work that went into making the day a success strengthened the students' resolve to do good.

"You don't want to give up. You really want to achieve this helpful act," Carriere-Ward said.

Students ended up raising $980  enough to cover the cost of tuition, uniforms and school materials for one student in Haiti.

Teresa Groenewegen-Caza is a retired teacher from the high school and goes to Haiti regularly to improve classroom resources.

She's the person who linked the two schools.

Her ultimate goal is to raise $5,000 to help teachers in Haiti improve the quality of the education.

"We're working on several different projects, one is setting up a community library in Saint Jude, another is working on sponsorship for the young ladies at the orphanage in Tabarre," she said.

Student Tamara Laurin-Ricard baked six dozen cookies for the event.

She was happy to see that within 30 minutes about 75 per cent of her stock was gone.

"We've kind of been lucky to have been granted school and they haven't had that chance. So I've learned that we should try our hardest to give everyone a chance," Laurin-Ricard said.

In total, the bake sale raised $980.
Grassy Narrows mercury victims up to 6 times more likely to have debilitating health problems, report says

Residents of a northwestern Ontario First Nation who have been diagnosed with mercury poisoning are up to six times more likely to suffer from a wide range of debilitating health problems, a new report finds.

That's among the conclusions from peer-reviewed research publicly released Thursday morning by Grassy Narrows First Nation.

The community commissioned environmental health expert Donna Mergler, a member of a World Health Organization-affiliated research group, to study the fallout of eating fish caught from nearby waterways, which were contaminated by decades-old industrial pollution.

"With this health survey and with the discovery of mercury, it's just a very dark picture," said Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle. "But at the same time, our people are doing the best they can to live under the conditions they're living in.

"But we do need help."

Grassy Narrows is located about 100 kilometres northeast of Kenora. Advocates for the community say it remains one of Canada's worst examples of the effects of legacy pollution.

Former owners of a mill upstream in Dryden dumped mercury-containing industrial effluent into the English-Wabigoon River system in the 1960s and early 1970s.

That contamination closed a thriving commercial fishery in the early 1970s and devastated Grassy Narrows's economy. With few local economic opportunities and little money, residents have continued to eat the fish caught from nearby lakes and rivers over the years.

A report by fresh water scientist Patricia Sellers in 2015 found mercury levels still rising in some nearby lakes and Japanese researchers found more than 90 per cent of the populations of Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nations show signs of poisoning.

Mental, physical problems

Mergler's report, community officials said, is "the most comprehensive assessment of the health of the community to date" and was compiled using data from a wide-ranging health survey of hundreds of households, as well as First Nations regional health surveys done in 2008 and 2010.

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The findings show some alarming trends. In general, the report found that the physical and mental health of people in Grassy Narrows is "considerably worse" than that of other First Nations in Ontario.

As well, mercury exposure through the consumption of contaminated fish is associated "with poor health and well-being."

The report also said that the health of the community "cannot be understood without taking into account their history of mercury poisoning."

In general, only 21 per cent of Grassy Narrows members reported their health as being "good or excellent." That compares with 40 per cent in other Ontario First Nations and 60 per cent in non-Indigenous people in Canada.

The report said people who reported being diagnosed by a medical professional with mercury poisoning were:

- Almost six times more likely to have a neuropsychological disorder.

- Five times more likely to have stomach and intestinal problems.

- Four times more likely to suffer from a range of problems, including hearing loss and joint pain in people over 30 years old.

- Three times more likely to have blindness or vision problems.

"It's been a devastation of a whole way of life, a whole  culture that we need to rebuild," said Judy Da Silva, the environmental health co-ordinator for Grassy Narrows.

The likelihood of someone in Grassy Narrows reporting mercury poisoning is five times higher among residents whose father was a fishing guide, Mergler's research found.

Also worrying, officials said, were the conclusions around suicide. Thirty-three per cent of community members reported losing a close friend or family member to suicide, which, according to the report, is nearly five times the rate in other Indigenous communities in Ontario.

Twenty-eight per cent of respondents in Grassy Narrows had attempted suicide, the report found, more than double the rate of other First Nations.

"We live with that big, heavy 10-ton elephant on our back," Da Silva said.

Risk factors for psychological distress, which the report said is a major determinant for suicide, include food and financial insecurity, disability and chronic health conditions.

"If any of you have ever had a family member or a close friend who has committed suicide, you know the anguish that it creates for each and every one of us," Mergler told reporters in Toronto on Thursday.

"Here in a community, we're talking about one third of the people who have had a family member or a close friend who've committed suicide."

Nearly 80 per cent of the people living in Grassy Narrows participated in the survey.

Da Silva pointed to the quick response to the public health crisis in the wake of the Walkerton, Ont., crisis from residents drinking water contaminated with e.coli, contrasting that with the decades it took Grassy Narrows to begin to secure government commitments.

"They got served justice right away," she said. "It's a shame on Canada, a shame on the province that we are treated so inhumanely."

River remediation, better health care

Mergler's report made a number of recommendations, including cleaning up the pollution from the river, and bettering a wide range of treatment and health care available to residents.

The study calls for increased funding and better programs for treating physical and mental injury, a specialized long-term care facility in Grassy Narrows, programs for food security, including access to non-contaminated walleye and permanent institutions to facilitate traditional healing.

"Remember, Grassy Narrows has many fewer elders," Mergler said. "That means they have fewer elders to pass on the traditions."

Ontario has committed $85 million for the remediation of the river, with the money being secured in a trust fund. Da Silva said the community has been told actual remediation won't begin for another couple of years, as pre-cleanup engineering and sediment sampling work still needs to be done.

In late 2017, Ottawa committed to funding a treatment centre.

Having this study to add to the body of research on Grassy Narrows is "a sigh of relief," Da Silva said.

"This expert, this world-renowned mercury expert, has found this evidence  that's what I call it, it's evidence."
A Halifax council committee heard differing perspectives Thursday on its plan to install side guards on heavy trucks in a bid to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Paul Vienneau, a Halifax resident, warned councillors not to back off the plan, recounting in graphic detail the collision with an 18-wheeler that cost him the use of his legs 27 years ago.

Vienneau was riding his bike in Toronto in 1991 when he was hit by an 18-wheeler making a right-hand turn.

"If [side guards] had been in Toronto at that point, I would have been popped out on the sidewalk under the Gardiner Expressway. I probably would have had a little bit of road rash, and my brother wouldn't have had to watch his brother crushed under the truck," said Vienneau at the city's transportation standing committee meeting.

He now uses a wheelchair and has become an accessibility advocate.

Vienneau spoke to the committee after it heard from lawyer Bruce Clarke, who urged the committee to consider exemptions to the plan.

Clarke represents some independent truck owners and said the group is dedicated to safety, but said there are problems with side guards. He said the side guards would get in the way of carrying out repairs and doing pre-trip inspections.

"They should be installed where they're practical. My clients don't disagree with that at all," he said.

Rule being phased in

Two years ago, city council passed a resolution requiring the guards on municipal trucks and on those owned by contractors doing city work.

The rule applies to trucks weighing more than 4,500 kilograms. It started being phased in last year.

Side guards help prevent people from being sucked underneath a truck after a collision.

The U.K. experience

Clarke argued that for some vehicles, like dump trucks, side guards won't improve safety. He said they already have tanks on the side which effectively do the same thing. And he said the guards would hinder drivers' pre-trip safety inspections.

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"There are many vehicles for which it will be practical; there are some for which it will not be."

He also cited some findings from a National Research Council Canada report that noted while there's side guard legislation in many countries, some heavy vehicles are exempted because of their specific operational requirements.

"For example, it is estimated that in [the] U.K. approximately 20 per cent of the heavy vehicles are exempted," said the report. "Such a situation will likely occur in other jurisdictions, based on the fleet characteristics."

Side guards save lives

Vienneau told the committee that any delays in installing the side guards could come at a price. He said he had to undergo 40 surgeries and spent a full year in acute care as a result of the collision.

"The load of things I've had to endure to get here is crazy. I spent my first year in a bed," said Vienneau. "The technology exists that could have avoided all of this."

Bruce Zvaniga, HRM's director of transportation and public works, said the comments would feed into an update report due in the summer. He said he will continue to meet with stakeholders and industry members before writing the report.
Lambton College in Sarnia, Ont. has won a national contest for their work in a southern African country after training 30,000 farmers to become more efficient and successful.

In addition, the project also included starting up a peanut butter company, building infrastructure for alternative energy, increasing the amount of clean water in the region and building a clinic.

One Seed Project

The project, called 'One Seed,' earned students the title of Enactus Canada National Champions  a competition that challenges universities and colleges around the world to come up with innovative ideas to help others.

"It is an amazing thing for [students] to come here and put into practice what they are learning in the classroom and see it actually change lives forever," said Jon Milos, the faculty advisor for the Enactus club at Lambton College.

Milos, who is currently in the small Zambia town of Monze, started the project in June 2012 after a student who was learning about solar panels approached him.

The student wanted to bring alternative energy back to the African village he grew up in, and Milos, along with his former and current students, have been able to accomplish even more than that.

The Enactus program has partnered with an organization called Southwest Ag Partners, the group goes to Africa twice a year with a team of agronomists who development the best farming techniques and practices for the land.

Milos said they've been able to quadruple the crop yields and farmers have three to five times more than their traditional revenue.

Milos believes the program has changed the lives of a quarter of a million people living in Zambia who were living in poverty.

"We have put food in their stomachs and we have put money their pockets ands now they are starting to build their communities because of that," he said.

Milos said the farming techniques have proven to be so success that the Minister of Education in Zambia has agreed to adopt the farming program in 145 schools across the province.

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Peanuts to 20x the profits

One of the clubs most recent projects in Zambia has been the creation of Hippy Peanut Butter. Milos said the Zambian people are able to grow peanuts easily but were selling the product for cheap at the markets.

"Our students said 'What if we took those peanuts and we cleaned them and we processed them and we made peanut butter, packaged, marketed and sold it and we owned the value chain right from the ground to store shelves,'" said Milos.

Milos said Hippy Peanut Butter is now earning 20 times the amount of money than the peanuts would being sold on their own.

Students are also in negotiations with one of Zambia's top grocery stores to get the product on the shelves.

Courtney Neilson is the co-president for the Enactus program at Lambton College, she was one of the students who launched the peanut butter company.

Enactus World Cup

Neilson, who has been to Zambia once, said the project has "changed her life," and she can't wait to go back.

"It has transformed my student experience completely, we took everything we learned in the classroom from market research, business development and we implemented it in the real life," she said.

The Enactus team is preparing for the world competition held in San Jose, California in October.

Lambton College, with a population of only 3,000 students, will represent Canada next to 36 other countries.
Some Saskatchewan residents are upset after Parks Canada staff started a controlled burn in the Prince Albert National Park that quickly became uncontrolled.

The Rabbit fire has grown to more than 31,400 hectares in size since May 4, when the burn was started under more "favourable" conditions. Parks Canada said it was for "ecological" reasons.

"Why a controlled burn at this time of the year, with virtually no rainfall that's been recorded since our spring melt?" asked Prince Albert resident Martin Ring.

All resources have been deployed to fight the growing blaze, including 184 firefighters from Alberta, Ontario, Northwest Territories, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Parks Canada field units.

In addition to the Rabbit fire, there are 15 other fires burning on provincial Crown land, eight of which are contained.

Bryan Lee, who lives near the Fish Lake Metis heritage site, said he has had to wear a mask outside due to the heavy smoke in the area.

"A serious look should be taken at the policy because it's been ongoing now and they've had problems in the last couple of years," Lee said.

He added he has expressed concern to the national park superintendent in the past, but feels he was ultimately ignored.

"I don't know why they decide they have to burn when you have such extreme fire hazard warnings."
There were 39 impaired driving-related deaths on Saskatchewan roads in 2017  a 32 per cent decrease from the previous year, according to preliminary data from Saskatchewan Government Insurance released Thursday.

Thirty-four of those deaths involved alcohol-impaired driving while the rest were attributed to drug-impaired driving, the Crown corporation said.

Earlier this year, SGI said there were a total of 102 deaths on the province's roads in 2017  the lowest number in more than 60 years, according to the insurer.

"The fact that we're seeing fewer collisions, injuries and fatalities attributed to impaired driving has us cautiously optimistic that attitudes and behaviours are changing in our province," Minister Responsible for SGI Joe Hargrave said in a press release.

There were 57 impaired driving deaths in 2016, an increase of three from the year before. Injuries, though still high, are also down for the third year in a row.

There were 340 impaired driving-related injuries in 2017  320 of which were attributed to alcohol, the remainder attributed to drug-impaired driving. In 2016, there were 464 impaired driving-related injuries and 586 in 2015.

"The latest statistics are evidence of an encouraging trend," Saskatoon Police Service Chief Troy Cooper said in the same release.

Impaired driving has been a scourge in Saskatchewan for years. In 2015, the province had 575 impaired driving incidents per 100,000 people  the highest impaired driving rate among Canadian provinces, according to Statistics Canada.

To combat drunk driving, the province has upped punishments for those who are caught impaired behind the wheel.

Impaired-driving deaths, injuries since 2012:

- 2012: 72 deaths, 756 injuries.

- 2013: 43 deaths, 613 injuries.

- 2014: 60 deaths, 560 injuries.

- 2015: 54 deaths, 586 injuries.

- 2016: 57 deaths, 464 injuries.

- 2017: 39 deaths, 340 injuries.

Source: Saskatchewan Government Insurance
Last November came word of Altadis U.S.A.s latest collaborative project, the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica. This project is a three-way collaboration among Altadis U.S.A., Crowned Heads Cigars, and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jrs Tabacalera La Alianza factory. The past four years have seen Altadis U.S.A. teaming up with other factories and brands for collaborations, but for Crowned Heads this was the first project of its kind. This project provides an opportunity for the Nashville, Tennessee-based Crowned Heads to lend its name to one of the worlds most iconic brands. The name Ciudad de Musica means The Music City and is a name Nashville is known by. Music has been a theme incorporated into many releases by Crowned Heads. Today, we take a closer look at one of the cigars in the line, the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto.

For many years, the Montecristo brand has been produced at the famed Tabacalera de Garcia factory in La Romana, Dominican Republic, but since then there have been several releases to come out of other factories. The Montecristo Ciudad de Musica marks the first time any Altadis product has come out of Tabacalera La Alianza. The Montecristo releases that have been done outside Tabacalera de Garcia include:

It is also worth noting there have been several other Altadis brands that have come from other factories including Romeo y Julieta (Tabacalera Fernandez and Plasencia), H. Upmann (Tabacalera Fernandez), Trinidad (Tabacalera Palma), and Gispert (Tabacalera Fernandez).

Altadis has also been working with several other brands on collaborations. These brands include:

The choice of Tabacalera La Alianza for the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica was not a surprising one. Crowned Heads selected Tabacalera La Alianza to make its first brand, Four Kicks. Since then, the factory has served as the exclusive home for all of Crowned Heads Dominican-made cigars. (My Father Cigars serves as the exclusive home for its Nicaraguan-made cigars).

While Crowned Heads has put its name on the cigar, it is currently sold and distributed by Altadis. Currently, the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica is a limited production cigar. The first batch went to members of the Tobacconist Association of America (TAA). The subsequent allocation was then extended to Casa de Montecristo retailers.

Without further ado, lets break down the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend Profile

The Montecristo Ciudad de Musica utilizes an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a base of Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican

Country of Origin: Dominican Republic (Tabacalera La Alianza)

Vitolas Available

The Montecristo Ciudad de Musica is available in four sizes. Each is presented in 20-count boxes. Production was limited to 25,000 cigars per size (100,000 cigars)

Corona Gorda: 5 5/8 x 46

Robusto: 5 x 50

Sublime: 6 x 54

Piramide: 6 1/8 x 52

Appearance

The Ecuadorian Habano wrapper of the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto has a roasted coffee bean color. There was some mottling on the surface of the wrapper. In addition, there was some oil on the surface of the wrapper. This was quite a smooth wrapper with any visible veins on the thin side. Most of the wrapper seams that were visible were minimal.

The band to the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica is black with copper font. It is a large band that covers nearly 2/3 of the length of the Robusto vitola. The center of the band has three circular logos. The top logo is the Montecristo Fleur-de-lis logo. The second logo represents Crowned Heads  it has the initials CH in the center with the text CROWNED HEADS at the top and the companys slogan CYOP at the bottom. The third logo has an image of a bird with the text CIUDAD DE MUSICA above it and the initials CDM below it. The left and right side of the band have the text CIUDAD DE MUSICA in large font arranged in landscape mode. The remainder of the band contains copper colored adornments.

One interesting note is that I found under the band there was a layer of wax paper used to buffer the band and the surface of the cigar.

PERFORMANCE

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting up the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto, I used a straight cut to remove the cap. Once the cap was removed, I moved on to the pre-light draw. The dry draw delivered a mix of natural tobacco, leather, and cedar. I found the pre-light draw of this cigar to be satisfactory. It was time to now light up the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto. Note: I opted to leave the large band on the cigar through the early phases, but some may choose to remove it early because of the sheer size of it.

Flavor Profile

The start to the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto delivered a mix of natural tobacco, black pepper, cedar, and a tangy-citrus note. The natural tobacco moved into the forefront early. This wasnt an overly sweet natural tobacco  in fact, there was a slight bitter component; however it had a savoriness and richness to it  and together with the other flavors, I found it worked well. Meanwhile, the cedar, black pepper, and tangy-citrus settled in the background. There was also an additional layer of black pepper on the retro-hale.

As the cigar moved through the first third, I found the tangy notes to vary in intensity. Once the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica entered the second third, the coffee bean notes increased and made their way into the forefront with the natural tobacco. For most of the duration of the second third, while both the coffee bean and natural tobacco were primary, the coffee bean notes had the edge. The cedar notes present early on dissipated. There still were background notes of black pepper and tangy-citrus. Like in the early stages, the tangy-citrus varied in intensity.

As the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto moved through the last third, the natural tobacco notes once again took control as the primary note. The coffee bean notes returned to the background. There was a slight increase in the black pepper and the tangy-citrus was still present. This is the way the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica came to a close. The resulting nub was firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

As I mentioned above, I opted to leave the band on. In truth, I would have pulled it off if it wasnt for photo purposes. This is noted here because the burn will reach the band rather quickly. The burn line and burn path remained relatively straight and were low maintenance from start to finish. The resulting ash was tight and firm with a light charcoal gray color. The burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

The draw to the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto also scores nicely. This cigar had a pleasant touch of resistance to it.

Strength and Body

When it comes to strength and body, I found the Montecristo Ciudad de Musica Robusto to be a solid medium. Along the way, the body slightly increased, but the strength pretty much remained constant. While there was a little more body at the end of the smoke, I still found this cigar to still be in the medium-bodied range.

In terms of strength versus body with the Ciudad de Musica Robusto, I gave a slight edge to the body.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

While Im not sure exactly how this blend fits into the Montecristo profile, I can say this is an excellent blend  and one of the better non-Cuban Montecristo branded releases in some time. I found a very nice synergy with the flavors delivered. The overall profile had a nice balance of spiciness and sweetness throughout the smoking experience. While I made a couple of comments about the band being big, I still really like the design on it. This is a cigar that I would recommend to a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. As for myself, I really enjoyed this cigar in this particular size. This is not only a cigar I would smoke again, but its one I would purchase a box of.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Coffee Bean. Tangy-Citrus, Black Pepper, Cedar

Burn: Excellent

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Medium Plus

Strength: Medium

Body: Medium

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Box Purchase

Score: 92

References

News: Altadis U.S.A. and Crowned Heads Team Up for Montecristo Ciudad de Musica

Price: $13.25

Source: Crowned Heads

Brand Reference: Montecristo, Crowned Heads

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop, except where noted
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Brazilian community radio presenter Jose Ilton dos Santos told the Committee to Protect Journalists that to date in 2018 he has faced a failed kidnapping attempt in which the assailant threatened to kill him as well as two other threats, the most recent coming on April 13, 2018. Dos Santos described the incidents to CPJ in a series of phone conversations and WhatsApp messages between May 18 and May 22, 2018. The incidents, which occurred in the city of Morrinhos in northeastern Ceara state, were also documented by the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) in a May 16, 2018, statement.

In the April 13 incident, the local secretary for governmental action, Aimee Peixoto Bruno, entered dos Santoss station, Radio Liberdade FM, and verbally assaulted the journalist after he reported on complaints from residents during a flood in the town of Acarau. She had a car of henchmen with her and she said she was going to sue me, that she would have 50,000 people shouting for me to get off the air, he told CPJ. Peixoto Bruno did not return phone calls from CPJ.

On March 20, 2018, dos Santos received abusive text messages and threatening messages on his phone, and when he aired the messages, he received further threats. Dos Santos said in a police report that he believed the threats came from Morrinhos city councilman Antonio Rodrigues de Souza, one of a group of local officials who in 2017 had filed a request for access to nine months of dos Santoss radio shows. Calls by CPJ to de Souzas cell phone and to his city council office in Morrinhos went unanswered and messages were not returned.

Dos Santos told CPJ that on January 24, 2018, an armed man forced him into his own car and pointed a gun at him from the back seat. The man, dos Santos said, told him to drive to the local garbage dump, where he told the journalist they were going to have his last conversation. Dos Santos, who refers to the incident as an attempted homicide, said he managed to crash the car before they got to the dump, and then was able to escape. The police initially treated it as a kidnapping attempt. After an investigation, the incident was downgraded to a robbery, they said in a statement, although an inquiry is ongoing.

Dos Santos, host of the Radio Liberdade talk and music show E do Lascar, takes calls and hosts citizens who air their grievances and complaints, mostly about local issues in and around Morrinhos. He also airs responses from elected officials, and does some of his own reporting in recorded spots.

Ceara states civil police told CPJ on May 22, 2018, that dos Santos had filed separate police reports on each of the three cases. Officials did not investigate the March and April reports because, they said, dos Santos did not provide sufficient evidence to back up the allegations.

In October 2017, four city council members angry over dos Santoss coverage of them had passed a resolution obliging him to turn over tapes of all the shows that aired between January and October 9, the date of the resolution, according to council documents. The request was eventually withdrawn after a local outcry, dos Santos told CPJ by phone.
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Taipei, May 25, 2018The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the World Health Organizations decision to deny Taiwanese media outlets press accreditation to its annual decision-making function, the World Health Assembly, which started on May 21.

Taiwan was not invited to the assembly this year, and no Taiwanese media outlets were granted press accreditation, according to news reports.

The barring of Taiwans journalists from the WHO assembly is especially troubling for the simple reason that global health issues have no respect for borders or nationality, said Steven Butler, CPJs Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. Chinas persistent efforts to isolate Taiwan should not be allowed to block the reporting of vital health-related news or thwart the UNs mission to uphold press freedom.

During a UN press briefing on May 12, a spokesperson said, Only journalists coming from countries recognized by the General Assembly could be accredited. Although Taiwan is not a member state of the World Health Organization, it had nonetheless been invited as an observer to attend the annual World Health Assembly for eight years after 2009. Taiwanese media groups were able to attend and report at the summit with press accreditation issued by the World Health Organization but were blocked from attending starting in 2017.
India: Biodiversity can help mitigate environmental threats

by Vibha Varshney

May 25,2018 | Source: Down to Earth

For ages, people have depended on local biodiversity for food. With the erosion of biodiversity, people stand to lose the potential to adapt to challenges raised by land degradation, climate change and increase in population. India has a huge opportunity here. It is one of the 17 mega biodiversity-rich countries and accounts for 7 to 8 per cent of the recorded species of the world. In tribal villages in Odisha, studies have shown that people harvest as many as 357 types of foods from the forests.



But the governments failure to capitalise on this is evident from the budget allocations for the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. While Rs 30 crore were made available for biodiversity conservation in 2017-18, this has gone down to only Rs 14 crore in 2018-2019. This is out of the total budget of Rs 2,675 crore available to the ministry for the year 2018-2019. As the Convention on Biodiversity celebrates its 25 years of action, this does not bode well. The theme for this years International Day for Biological Diversity is to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.



Along with biodiversity in the wild, even biodiversity in the plants that are cultivated is being decimated. According to the FAO, about three-quarters of the genetic diversity found in agricultural crops has been lost over the last century. For example, today, 90 per cent of energy and proteins comes from only 15 plant and 8 animal species. To promote good practices across all agricultural sectors that will support the conservation and sustainable use and management of biodiversity, Food and Agriculture Organisation and Convention on Biological Diversity are holding a Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Biodiversity Mainstreaming across Agricultural Sectors from May 29 to May 31. The Dialogue will bring together experts and stakeholders from agriculture, forestry, fisheries and the environment sectors to figure out ways for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity while increasing production to meet the growing demand for food.
Myanmar: Inspections to be carried out at factories and farms exporting marine products to Saudi Arabia

by Theingi Win Tin

May 25,2018 | Source: Eleven Myanmar

Checks will be conducted on factories and farms exporting marine products to Saudi Arabia, Tun Win Myint, head of Yangon Region Fisheries Department told a regular meeting of Myanmar Fisheries Federation. "We will be making inspection tours of 24 processing factories and farms that mainly export marine products to Saudi Arabia. Those factories allowed to export their products must do so in line with the prescribed rules. Export will be banned if they fail to follow the rules. The farms which will be inspected are likely to have the chance to export if they take systematic measures. The Saudi embassy sent us a letter in April to make preparations for export," said Tun Win Myint.



Saudi Arabia suspended import of Myanmar's marine products on April 1 citing the announcement of OIE-World Organisation for Animal Health that Myanmar's fish and prawn are not free from disease. Tun Aye, chairman of Myanmar Marine Product Producers and Exporters Association, said: "Suspension is not our country alone, but for other countries as well. All of them are trying in their own ways. Inspections have been made in other countries. They are just waiting for the results. Any inspection has not come to our country yet."



He added that there had been no exact date for inspection. Saudi Arabia suspended marine product import from Vietnam, Bangladesh and India and Myanmar.
Bangladesh: Fighting to save the giants of the seas

by Abida Rahman Chowdhury

May 25,2018 | Source: The Daily Star

A quick visit to the six no. Fisheries Ghat in the busy tourist town of Cox's Bazar and you will be greeted with the intense smell of the town's sludge flowing into the sea, and busy fishermen screaming their lungs out auctioning off their days catch of sea fish in all shapes and sizes. Boat after boat dock by the derelict fish market and unload their catch. To even the naked eye, it becomes obvious there is something unusual about the catch. Mingled with the usual sea-fish fare are endangered Hammerhead sharks, Tiger sharks and many different kinds of rayssome as broad as the rugs in your living room!



Some of the sharks and ray species that land in these markets, to be eventually processed and traded, are globally 'Threatened, Vulnerable or Endangered' and their unregulated, fishing and often illegal trade will threaten their existence more with extinction. We have to ensure our fishermen begin to understand sharks and rays are slow-growing species and they cannot be harvested commercially, says Jahidul Kabir, Conservator of Forests, Wildlife & Nature Conservation Circle of the Bangladesh Forest Department. However, catching sharks and rays brings much needed extra income to the poor fishermen in the region. And what is even worse is it is not always the poor fishermen but the traders who enjoy the ultimate profit. The fishermen who don't have their own boats only get the salary, says Alifa Bintha Haque, lecturer at the Department of Zoology at Dhaka University.



Not the primary catch



Sharks are essentially by-catch which is not discarded and targeted by the fishermen as they recognise it is of high value and will bring them some extra income, says Alifa. No part of the shark or ray is discarded during processing; products comprise fresh and dried meat, skin, vertebrae, jaws, teeth, dried whole fish, intestines and so on, she adds. Bangladesh's mark in the global map as a big shark product producer and exporter cannot be ignored. In Cox's Bazar and Teknaf, processing centres were identified, during a study conducted to observe the processing of shark and ray products in Bangladesh, that have the capacity to turn over thousands of kilogrammes of sharks and rays each day of the year during peak season.



The products are exported to the international market to meet the demand of shark-fin soup, leather products and traditional medicine in China, Thailand and Myanmar. There is also a niche domestic market for dried and fresh meat, liver oil, jaws and teeth. They are sold to tribal groups and non-Muslim communities, traditional medicine practitioners and also to the fish feed industry in Bangladesh. Owing to a demand for these products in neighboring countries, many sharks and rays and their processed products are exported to Myanmar informally through the Teknaf region, according to a short note published on the TRAFFIC Bulletin.



What is important to understand here is that trade of sharks and ray products is not an ecologically sound idea as these species are slow growing. They reach sexual maturity sometimes at nine or ten years age and reproduce very minimal number of pups; and if this practice goes unabated, these species could be lost forever. Unlike commercially harvestable species such as Hilsa fish which lay thousands of eggs potentially producing a thousand other Hilsas each season, sharks are slow growing species and a sustainable management plan is required if there is a plan to harvest any particular species at all, opines Jahidul Kabir. Absence of proper regulations and appropriate export documentation or evaluation of the sustainability of these fisheries means increased pressure on these marine megafaunas.



Is there any legal framework to help protect these species?



As we enter the eye of the great storm of extinction, wildlife and habitats all around the world continue to take blow after blow from economic development. For sharks and rays, in Bangladesh, a lack of baseline data and species-specific research on ecology and habitat use or catch patterns are some of the major challenges in coming up with a conservation action for these species.



In terms of a legal framework, the two most important regulatory instruments to conserve wildlife and fish in Bangladesh are the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950 and Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012. The former, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Fisheries, does not contain any provision to protect sharks and rays. However, the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Bangladesh Forest Department, has the provision to protect species under threat from being exported or traded.



Only 23 species of shark and six species of rays are protected by the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012, and some species are protected under CITES, (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) an international agreement which Bangladesh is party to. The problem though is that it is nearly impossible to determine the species when the products are processed. Dr. AKM Aminul Haque from the Bangladesh's Department of Fisheries admits that the emphasis on monitoring the catch of these megafaunas has been minimal.



It is the duty of the Fisheries department to protect the marine fishes which includes all cartilaginous and bony fishes. However, it does not provide species-based protection. Also sharks and rays are non-traditional catch which is why emphasis on monitoring them has been minimal, says Dr AKM Aminul Haque, Director of Marine, Department of Fisheries.



You see under the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950, the instructions are not clear cut. When this act was prepared, there was very little awareness regarding sharks and rays protection. It was just a broad set of rules, argues Aminul. The need for conservation and protection of threatened species that are being affected due to unregulated fishing and trade are only coming up now. We are working tirelessly but it is almost impossible to monitor each boat and its catch. The way we are currently ensuring protection is by controlling fishing gear. We make sure the fishing nets do not have extremely small mesh sizes to ensure small sharks and rays do not get caught, he adds. According to Aminul, a new Marine Fisheries Act is under the vetting process in the Law Ministry and is in waiting to be passed by the parliament.



Research and subsequent conservation taking shape slowly



Everywhere, wildlife is at threat and without the science to back it, conservation efforts become futile. Discoveries about the cetacean diversity and their abundance in our waters were the foundation of the Wildlife Conservation Society Bangladesh Programme. We are currently building on that knowledge while assessing the status of sharks and rays and developing a national strategy for their conservation in Bangladesh, says Elisabeth Fahrni Mansur, Director of the Education, Training and Livelihoods program of the Wildlife Conservation Society Bangladesh.



The organisation is closely collaborating with the Bangladesh Forest Department to counter wildlife trafficking in Bangladesh, including that of shark and ray products, by strengthening the capacity of the Government of Bangladesh to comply with CITES. Just like the tigers in the Sundarbans or elephants in our hills, sharks and rays, both top predators, maintain a healthy ecological balance in the places they live. Efforts to manage fisheries sustainably and establish well-managed marine protected areas will prove beneficial for both species, says Elisabeth. There are long-term plans to engage with multiple stakeholdersthe government, local communities, traders and consumers to improve the survival chance of Bangladesh's threatened marine megafauna.



We plan on more research in part with citizen scientists such as fish landing site enumerators, coastal gill net fishermen; as well as at sea investigations and market supply chain surveys and consultations, says Elisabeth. The work on all fronts, science, research, monitoring and regulation and eventually conservation of sharks and rays has just started in Bangladesh. More questions remain unanswered as more discoveries are being made. But conservation work, where so many different parties are involved requires a coming together of many parties and playing their small part to kick off a chain reaction.
Pakistan: Illegal occupation of Sindhs freshwater lakes

by Murtaza Talpur

May 25,2018 | Source: Daily Times

Sindh is blessed with thousands of natural freshwater lakes. It is estimated that freshwater lakes account for 65 percent of total freshwater fisheries in Pakistan and over 120 species of local freshwater fish species are from Sindh. Those lakes breed beautiful birds, fish, and flora and fauna species in a rich ecosystem. Apart from this, thousands of local fishing communities in coastal areas such as Thatta, Sujawal and Badin districts are dependent on fishing for their livelihoods.



Sindh is Pakistans richest province in terms of aquatic resources. It has the Arabian Sea, a huge productive estuary; the well-known river Indus; natural depressions; irrigation canals; water logged areas and their fisheries play an important role in the national economy. Sadly, Sindhs water bodies are being controlled by powerful groups, often with political influence. Like always, the rich and powerful are free to further deprive poor people in this country. Hundreds of natural lakes in Sindh are illegally occupied. In this regards, Pakistan Fisher folk Forum (PFF) is one of the strongest social movements in Pakistan struggling for the Mallah communities and their rights.It has been struggling for the rights of fishing communities throughout Pakistan for the last 20 years.



Prior to this, PFF with the support of millions of fishermen/women struggled untiringly for ten years on contract system of about 1209 natural water reservoirs. As a result of that struggle, in 2011 Sindh Assembly passed the law of act 1980, and it declared the occupation of freshwater bodies and lakes illegal. In addition to this, the Sindh government also abolished the contract system on sweet water lakes. Which means that local fishing communities were finally permitted to fish freely so they could earn a living. Sindh is Pakistans richest province in terms of aquatic resources. It has the Arabian Sea, a huge productive estuary; the well-known river Indus; natural depressions; irrigation canals and water logged areas. Their fisheries play an important role in the national economy



Unfortunately, barely after a few years of obliterating the contract system, once again provincial minister of fisheries, local feudal lords, and illegal control mafia and land grabbers have occupied about 600 fresh water bodies leaving poor fishing communities in extreme poverty and on the brink of starvation. Their due rights over the natural lakes on which they have relied on for centuries, is being snatched by the powerful. Owing fear of these influentials, hundreds of local fishing families have already migrated to other areas where they feel safe and can find other sources of livelihood. Nonetheless, thousands of communities still live on the embankments of natural lakes in Sindh and are striving for their legitimate rights and demanding that the government rid the lakes of those occupying them illegally.



On this milieu, PPF chairman Muhammad Ali Shah a few months ago while visiting the Babli Dhand in district Sujawal was abducted alongwith a colleague. His colleague was beaten badly by the abductors, who seemed to be locals. The crux of that matter is that Dhand being controlled illegally by a local politician.The lake covers about thirty thousand acres, and according to sources half of that is controlled by thisleader. That no action has been taken against him means that despite the PFFs victory a few years ago, this countrys impoverished fishermen still have no rights.
According to experts, it could lead to a real-life Jurassic Park where extinct creatures are raised from the dead and released back into the wild. (Photo: Pixabay)

According to reports, British scientists are building a Noahs Ark to store animal DNA so that they can be brought back to life if they die out,

According to experts, it could lead to a real-life Jurassic Park where extinct creatures are raised from the dead and released back into the wild.

CryoArks Biobank aims to preserve the tissues, cells and DNA of every animal from around the world at temperatures of -196C.

It will initially focus on endangered species, which are at risk from climate change and from people hunting.

Lead author of the research Professor Mike Bruford, who is leading the 1million biobank said the Biobank is like a modern-day Noahs Ark but the animals will not be going in two-by-two and they are not expecting an imminent flood.

He added, Instead, we hope to store the DNA of many animals of each species. This will ensure we can maintain genetic diversity. Its exciting to think we could one day bring extinct animals back to life.

The CryoArks Biobank, the first of its kind in the UK, will collect samples from museums and zoos.

Frozen specimens will be made available to researchers, who can use them to investigate the genetic causes of disease, which could, in

This could lead to life-saving treatments for animals and humans.

And conservationists will be able to access the database to examine the genetic diversity of animals in captive breeding programmes.

This will indicate if they are at potential risk of excessive inbreeding.

The UK ark will be stored in Cardiff, with backups in other locations around the country.
LeT terrorist Zaibullah alias Hamza has also told investigators on how Pakistan smuggles arms into India. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, wanted in the 26/11 Mumbai blast case, is still engaged in sending terrorists across the border, National Investigative Agency (NIA) said quoting a terrorist who was captured recently.

LeT terrorist Zaibullah has reportedly told his investigators that the Jamaat-ud Dawa chief gave motivating talks to the terrorists before they crossed the border.

"At two separate occasions, Hafeez Saeed and Zakir Oman Naqvi gave us an motivating talk. We were also given two months training in the snow," he told the NIA.

Zaibullah was arrested on April 6.

Hafiz Saeed is the mastermind of the Mumbai attack in 2008, in which more than 160 people lost their lives.

The United Nations and the United States along with the international community has declared Hafiz Saeed a global terrorist.

In 2012, the US placed a 10 million dollar bounty on Hafiz Saeed.

Zaibullah alias Hamza has also told investigators on how Pakistan smuggles arms into India.

As per NIA, an arms consignment is sent to Jammu and Kashmir with every two infiltration. The cargoes are then taken to an area demarcated by Lashkar by porters or guides, who then cross back to Pakistan.

Zaibullah's disclosure is important considering the fact that as per security forces no terrorist has been caught without ammunition in an encounter. It has been generally believed that terrorists mainly relied on stealing and snatching weapons from the security forces.

(With inputs from ANI)
Ukraine imposes sanctions on WebMoney e-payment system

Internet service providers are prohibited from providing access to domains associated with the payment system.

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NBU allows Russian state-run banks to capitalize their Ukrainian subsidiaries

There are four Russian state-owned banks' subsidiaries in Ukraine: Sberbank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank and BM Bank.

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Ukraine's PM Groysman urges to prevent implementation of Nord Stream 2 project

Groysman says this project is a new hybrid weapon, targeting the European Union.

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Ukraine, EU to start trilateral talks with Russia on gas transit

Ukraine's position in talks will be firm and responsible, the prime minister said.

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Poroshenko: Ukraine repays over US$4 bln in debts this year

The debt repayments did not affect the country's international reserves.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made clear that new and severe economic sanctions will be imposed on the Iranian regime until it makes a fundamental strategic decision to end its support for terrorism; its aggression in the Middle East; its proliferation of ballistic missiles; its pursuit of nuclear weapons capability, and other malign behaviors.

But in outlining the United States new strategy for Iran after the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Secretary Pompeo drew a sharp distinction between the regime and the Iranian people.

He deplored the fact that flush with cash and economic relief from the deal, the regime for three years did nothing to relieve the economic hardships of ordinary Iranians; instead it spent vast sums to fuel its march of destruction across the region.

Secretary Pompeo promised that the United States will be a tireless advocate for the greatest and longest suffering of the regimes victims -- the Iranian people themselves.

The regime must improve how it treats its citizens. It must protect the human rights of every Iranian. It must cease wasting Irans wealth abroad. We ask that our international partners continue to add their voice to ours in condemning Irans treatment of its own citizens.

Secretary Pompeo noted that the protests that have occurred in Iran over the past several months show the people are deeply frustrated with their own governments failures:

The Iranian people, especially its youth, are increasingly eager for economic, political and social change. The United States stands with those longing for a country of economic opportunity, government transparency, fairness, and greater liberty.

Secretary Pompeo expressed hope that the Iranian regime will come to its senses and support  not suppress  the aspirations of its citizens.

He declared that in exchange for the major changes the United States has called for in Tehrans policies, the U.S. is prepared to take actions which will help the Iranian people: Now is the time for the supreme leader and the Iranian regime to summon the courage to do something historically beneficial for [their] own people, for this ancient and proud nation. As for the United States, he said, our eyes are clear as to the nature of this regime, but our ears are open to what may be possibleWe are looking for outcomes that benefit the Iranian people, not just the regime.
US Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green recently visited Kutupalong, a Rohingya refugee camp. The American people, he tweeted, are deeply moved by what the Rohingya have faced.

In response to the humanitarian crisis, he announced the United States will provide more than $44 million in additional humanitarian assistance to meet the urgent needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and people affected by violence and conflict in Burma.

This funding brings U.S. government assistance for the Rakhine crisis response in Burma and Bangladesh to nearly $204 million since the outbreak of violence in August 2017 and the total U.S. humanitarian assistance for displaced people in and from Burma to more than $299 million since the beginning of fiscal year 2017.

Since last August, nearly 700,000 Rohingya people have fled violence in Burma's Rakhine State and crossed the border into Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, a District that already was hosting more than 200,000 Rohingya refugees. In addition, 8.3 million people in Burma live in areas affected by conflict, not only in Rakhine State, but throughout the country. This conflict, and the ensuing displacement of people, has created one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

As the world's largest humanitarian donor, the United States, through the State Departments Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is actively responding to urgent needs on both sides of the Burma-Bangladesh border, including the need for health care, food, protection, and clean water. With this new funding, the United States will provide in Bangladesh emergency food assistance for refugees in and around Cox's Bazar. This includes emergency food for general distribution, specialized foods to treat acute malnutrition, and vouchers so refugees can buy food in local markets, where available.

In Burma, U.S. assistance will provide emergency food and nutrition assistance, shelter, medical care, and other critical aid for people affected by the ongoing conflicts in Rakhine, Shan, and Kachin States.

The United States remains committed to helping those affected by conflict and commends the government and people of Bangladesh, who have responded swiftly and generously to the refugees arriving in Bangladesh.

The U.S. urges the government of Burma to provide free and unhindered humanitarian access throughout the country so life-saving aid can reach communities and people in need. It is also incumbent on the Burmese government to create the conditions that allow for the safe, voluntary, and dignified return of refugees.
Poroshenko meets with leaders of General Electric, Sumitomo and Marubeni

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has held a meeting with the management of General Electric, Sumitomo and Marubeni prior the meeting of the National Investment Council on Friday.

They discussed the implementation of the contract concluded at the beginning of the year between PJSC Ukrzaliznytsya, PJSC Ukreximbank and General Electric U.S. regarding procurement, modernization and leasing of locomotives, the presidential press service reported.

The president informed of the opening of the Beskydsky railway tunnel, which will expand Ukraine's transport and export opportunities.

General Electric Vice President Jamie Miller praised the course of reforms in Ukraine that contribute to the country's development.

The parties discussed the participation of General Electric in the implementation of other projects, in particular, rural medicine project.

He also met with leaders of the Japanese companies Sumitomo and Marubeni.

The president noted the effective cooperation between Ukraine and Japan.

Poroshenko thanked the Japanese side for its large-scale projects, including the construction of the Boryspil Airport and the reconstruction of the Bortnychi aeration station.

The president separately noted the assistance of the Japanese side in implementing a number of humanitarian projects in Donbas.

The parties also discussed the issues of cooperation in the field of nuclear safety, energy saving technologies and infrastructure projects.
An agreement has been reached to conduct negotiations on the transit of Russian gas to European consumers in the Ukraine-EU-Russia format, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said at a meeting with European Energy Commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

"We have agreed to hold gas transit negotiations in the trilateral format of the EU, Ukraine, and Russia. Ukraine will take a responsible and firm stance," the Ukrainian government's press service quoted Groysman as saying.

The Ukrainian gas transport network is a solid alternative to Nord Stream 2, which is part of a political project and is a threat to Europe's energy security, he said.

"The sides have agreed to coordinate positions on using the Ukrainian gas transport network on mutually advantageous terms," the press service said.

In addition, Groysman and Sefcovic discussed the integration of Ukraine's unified power grids into the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E). Groysman said the unification of those networks could set a good example for cooperation in other areas. Energy cooperation could be discussed at a meeting of the Ukrainian government's energy reform coordination council, he said.

Sefcovic said earlier that it was time to have the next round of trilateral gas transit talks with Russia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is confident that Ukraine will continue cooperation with international financial institutions (IFIs).

"It is clear that the achievement of macroeconomic stability has become possible, first of all, thanks to cooperation with international financial institutions. I am firmly convinced that we will continue cooperation in the future, because we are the only team in Ukraine's history that ensured the implementation of six consecutive memorandums with the IMF [International Monetary Fund]. Before that, they promised, they took money and forgot to carry out reforms," the head of state said at a meeting of the National Investment Council in Kyiv on Friday.

At the same time, he added that the IMF funds are sent to the country's forex reserves, which in the past four years grew 3.5-fold, to $18 billion.

"Despite the fact that Ukraine paid more than $4 billion this year, forex reserves now amount to $18 billion. Compare with the situation that was late 2014 - early 2015: forex reserves - $5 billion, and you had to pay $8 billion. How could we avoid default? They believed us, and today the most difficult period also passed, and in these four years the forex reserves grew 3.5-fold. This is the answer where are the funds of the IMF. They are carefully preserved in the forex reserves of the country," Poroshenko said.
The privatization plan for this year includes the sale of 25 large state-owned enterprises (SOE), First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv has said.

"In 2018, we would offer 25 large enterprises for sale," he said at a meeting of the National Investment Council in Kyiv on Friday.

"Our goal is to attract strategic investors who would be able to modernize production at large industrial enterprises and include them to the global chain of added value," Kubiv said.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has confirmed its interest to enter the capital of state-owned Oschadbank.

The EBRD believes in Ukrainian and their country, and it is time that the EBRD continues working and takes a stake in Oschadbank, EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said at a meeting of the National Investment Council in Kyiv on Friday.

He said that the bank's entering the Oschadbank's capital could be a serious driver.

As reported, the Finance Ministry of Ukraine plans to attract minority investment from international financial institutions (IFIs) to state-owned Oschadbank (based in Kyiv) in coming years. It is planned to sell 20% of the bank's shares by late 2020 and bring the bank to an initial public offering (IPO) to place 25% of shares by late 2022.

As reported, the EBRD Board on October 4 decided to provide a facility of up to EUR 50 million under the Trade Facilitation Programme for Oschadbank.

The project is undertaken within a broader effort aimed at facilitating Oschadbank's commercialization and preparation for eventual privatization in the context of the state-owned bank reform program that is developed and being implemented by the government of Ukraine.

This effort will include several stages of financing and Technical Cooperation over a period of up to five years, beginning with the TFP facility and an associated Technical Cooperation Project. The subsequent stages of a broader cooperation in preparation for the privatization are linked to and conditional upon the progress in improvement of corporate governance; commercialization of operations, and operational overhaul of Oschadbank.

Oschadbank was founded in 1991. Its sole owner is the state.
Naftogaz Ukrainy is ready to participate in the trilateral talks of Ukraine, Russia and the European Union on the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukraine for the period after the expiration of the contract with Gazprom in late 2019, but notes the need to involve Gazprom in the negotiations.

"We welcome the talks with the European Commission. We hope that Gazprom will be involved in these negotiations," Naftogaz Board Chairman Andriy Kobolev said during the discussion of the Ukrainian gas transportation route after 2019 in Brussels.

Referring to his experience, he noted that the negotiations should be conducted directly with Gazprom, and not only with the Ministry of Energy of Russia, since at the previous similar talks Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller repeatedly stressed that the company is a joint-stock company, "therefore the position of the minister is not decisive for it."

"Gazprom should be in the room," Kobolev stressed.
Russia will not halt gas transit via Ukraine if this is deemed to be economically feasible, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"I've already said this and I want to say it again: we won't be shutting off gas transit via Ukraine if this is economically feasible. We're prepared for talks with our Ukrainian partners," he said.

Putin said was Russia was carrying out the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project not with the purpose of bypassing Ukraine but to compensate Europe for a drop in production of its own gas. Also, pipeline gas will be more profitable in this case than buying liquefied gas.

"But the thing is that when we talk about the Nord Stream 2 project, bearing in mind falling output in Europe itself in the Netherlands and Britain, that shortfall by European producers will have to be replaced by something. The most correct and environmentally justified means of replacing this would be Russian pipeline gas," he said.

"Specialists in this area know that in some places it makes more sense to carry out liquefied gas projects, for example supplies, to the States once again, to India, to other remote markets. But over a certain distance and in a certain volume pipeline gas alone might be the most profitable, because all our pipeline systems tied to the main consumers in Europe practically have no rivals - if of course Europe wants to stay competitive, and does not want to buy for three times more from other producers," Putin said.

"Both production and delivery over such distances and at such volumes enable us to lower the price of gas that can technically be supplied by the United States by at least 30%," he said.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and British Prime Minister Theresa May during a telephone conversation have discussed methods of confronting Russian aggression, the press service of the Ukrainian president has said.

"The two leaders paid attention to mobilization of the international community in opposing the Kremlin's aggressive policy in the context of preparations for the G7 summit to be held in Canada on June 8-9," a message reads.

The Ukrainian president stressed the need to strengthen the international pressure on Russia in order to fully implement the Minsk agreements. The two emphasized the importance of extending and strengthening sanctions against the Russian Federation, in particular in the context of the construction of the illegal Kerch Strait Bridge with the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Poroshenko and May expressed full support for the findings published by the team investigating the MH17 tragedy and called it another proof of Russian aggression.

During the conversation, they also discussed the intensification of the international pressure on the Kremlin's regime with a view to release Ukrainian hostages and political prisoners.

They also discussed ways to expand bilateral cooperation in the security and defense spheres.

Poroshenko thanked the British side for supporting Ukraine on the path of reforms.
U.S. has complete confidence in JIT findings on MH17 downing case  U.S. State Dept.

The U.S. State Department has urged Russia to clarify its role in the downing of Boeing-777 of Malaysia Airlines in 2014, carrying out the flight MH17 Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur.

"The United States has complete confidence in the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) as presented today by the Dutch Public Prosecutor: the missile launcher used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 originated from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Brigade of the Russian Federation, stationed in Kursk," a statement by the U.S. State Department's spokeswoman Heather Nauert says.

She recalled the UN Security Council's demand that "those responsible  be held to account and that all States cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability."

"It is time for Russia to cease its lies and account for its role in the shoot down," Nauert said.

Earlier on Thursday it was reported that the surface-to-air missile that downed the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) aircraft over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to the 53rd Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces stationed near Kursk.

As reported, Boeing-777 of Malaysia Airlines, carrying out the flight MH17 Amsterdam (the Netherlands) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down in the sky over Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers on board died.
The number of attacks on Ukrainian army positions and Donbas populated localities seen over the past week was the biggest in the past six months, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said while visiting Ukrainian positions in the zone of operation of the Joint Forces.

"Artillery weapons, tanks, and rocket launchers prohibited by the Minsk Agreements are being used," the NSDC press service quoted Turchynov as saying.

Ukrainian territory was shelled up to 30 kilometers deep, which inflicted damage on civilian infrastructure and caused military and civilian casualties, Turchynov said.

The press service explained the visit with the exacerbating situation in eastern Ukraine. Turchynov met with military commanders and security officials to discuss ways of maintaining combat efficiency in the shift from the anti-terrorist operation to the operation of the Joint Forces.

Turchynov also visited positions of the 24th separate mechanized infantry brigade named after Danylo Halytsky near the DPR-held Horlivka, where most attacks were seen lately.

While visiting the epicenter of hostilities near Zaitseve and Pivdenne taken over by the Ukrainian army, Turchynov said that despite the ongoing provocations of the enemy the Ukrainian forces "managed to maintain defense and significantly improved their positions to minimize military and civilian casualties."

"The operation of the Joint Forces started [on May 1, 2018] markedly improved coordination between the military and the National Guard, the National Police, the Ukrainian Security Service, and border guards, which heightened the efficiency of the combat potential being used to defend our country from the Russian aggression in the east," Turchynov said.
Poroshenko confident Rada will pass Anti-Corruption Court Law in June, he will sign it

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has expressed confidence that the Verkhovna Rada in June will adopt the law on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court as a whole, and he will sign it.

"In June, Ukraine must vote, and I must sign this important bill [on the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court]. It is not important for the IMF, it is important not for our international partners - it is primarily important for Ukraine, for the trust that we have won in the world," the president said at a meeting of the National Investment Council in Kyiv on Friday.

He expressed conviction that the final version of the bill "will be agreed, including with foreign partners" of Ukraine.

"We must find enough forces, the deputies must support the bill," Poroshenko added.
Businessman Borys Lozhkin was elected the president of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine. He informed about this on his personal Facebook page. The former head of the confederation, Boris Fuksmann, became the honorary president of the organization.

"A detailed work plan for the confederation will be approved in the course of the following meetings. In the meantime, I can say that we will focus on combating antisemitism, as well as on the support for Ukrainian Jewish community both in Ukraine and abroad, on supporting the independence of the State of Israel and keeping the memory of the Holocaust", Lozhkin said.

The Jewish Confederation of Ukraine was established in 1999 by the country's largest Jewish organizations. The tasks of the confederation include protection of the interests of the Ukrainian Jewish community both on the country level and internationally, on charitable aid for the most vulnerable groups of the Jewish community of Ukraine, and on promoting Jewish culture in Ukraine. The main projects are the reconstruction of the Kyiv synagogue in Podil, the creation and support of a compact home for the elderly Jews, an educational center and a recreation center.

"I want to emphasize that the activities of the confederation will be out of politics. In addition, we are not and do not strive to be a lobbyist organization", Lozhkin stated.

He also stressed that the World Jewish Congress in the person of its president Ronald Lauder is ready to support the Ukrainian Jewish community internationally. "Mr. Lauder fully supported us in striving to strengthen the representation of the Jewish community of Ukraine in the international arena", he said.

Borys Lozhkin is a Ukrainian businessman, investor. A founder of UMH Group  Ukrainian media holding, which after twenty years of operation had become one of the largest media holdings of Eastern Europe. After the successful sale of the group, Lozhkin served as the Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine for two years, and afterwards returned to business. Now he owns the investment company "Samaan Capital" together with Andrei Pivovarsky.
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a motion agreeing to bring Opposition Bloc member Dmytro Kolesnikov to justice, press secretary of the Prosecutor General Larysa Sarhan has said.

"The investigation has established that Dmytro Kolesnikov, being the chairman of the State Property Agency of Ukraine, abusing his official position, committed certain actions, as a result of which it became possible to alienate real estate objects - the production and laboratory-household corps of the state enterprise 'Research and Design Technology Institute of Pipe Industry named after Y. Osada' in Dnipro with a total area of almost 7,000 square meters," Sarhan wrote on her Facebook page on Friday.

According to her, the motion has already been registered in the apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada.

According to the website of the Ukrainian parliament, Kolesnikov, one of the most disciplined parliamentarians - according to electronic registration he attended 93% of the plenary sessions of the Verkhovna Rada.
KYIV. May 25 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Ukrainian MPs Ihor Lutsenko (Batkivschyna) and Natalia Novak (Petro Poroshenko Bloc) and public activists have addressed Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and the State Property Fund (SPF) asking to start the process of compensating a damage caused to the Hostynny Dvir building located in Kontraktova Square in Kyiv by the constructor. "We appeal to Groysman and the State Property Fund, which should keep Hostynny Dvir on its balance sheet, with a request to take all necessary actions jointly with the Prosecutor General's Office in order to receive compensation in the amount of damages caused by the constructor to this facility. I recall that Mr. Yanukovych's "manager" [the alleged developer of the Hostynny Dvir Andriy Kravets] has a business: gas refueling stations, a construction site on Poshtova Square. He has enough assets to seek material reimbursement," Lutsenko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday. According to him, delaying the application for compensation may become an argument in favor of the developer if he filed a lawsuit against the state, demanding compensation for the funds invested in the facility. "Then the discussion can be at a different level, unprofitable for the state," the People's Deputy said. At the same time, he said that the Cabinet of Ministers and the SPF should transfer the Hostynny Dvir to the balance of Kyiv city, so that the city had the grounds to lay funds for the restoration of the building in the budget for 2019. "The question to the Cabinet and the SPF is to initiate the transfer process as soon as possible. If the process of transfer from state ownership to communal ownership is not completed before the end of the year, then the Kyiv City Council will have no reason to provide money in the budget to save Hostynny Dvir, and it will be further to collapse," Lutsenko said. He recalled that the city council had already announced its readiness to receive the said on the city's balance sheet, having passed a corresponding decision in November 2017. "The Kyiv territorial community has a fairly serious budget and, taking into account the statements of the city authorities and the decision of the Kyiv City Council [on the consent to take the Hostynny Dvir to the balance sheet of Kyiv city] there is a formal and actual willingness to take the Hostynny Dvir into the ownership of the city," the people's deputy said. He also expressed the hope that the Verkhovna Rada will consider bill No. 822 amending certain laws of Ukraine on improving the system of protection of cultural heritage at the next plenary week. In particular, the document suggests the introduction of a procedure for the compulsory purchase of facilities of cultural heritage if the rules of their operation are violated. As reported, the Supreme Court of Ukraine on May 8 upheld the decision to return the building of the Hostynny Dvir located in the Kontraktova Square to state ownership.
In an act of political protest, hackers took control of airport electronic sign boards at the city of Mashad in Iran Thursday evening May 24.

Social media reports from Mashad posted pictures of defaced arrival and departure monitors at the citys airport showing a statement protesting against Irans military presence in the Middle East.

Hackers protested to wasting Iranians lives and financial resources in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), according to a statement on the boards.

A group introducing itself as Tapandegan (Palpitaters) expressed support for the people of Kazeroon, a city in Fars Province, where people have been demonstrating against the state for months.

The group also hacked the email of Mashad airport civil aviation head, Mohsen Eidizadeh and sent the news of its hack from his account.

Hackers asked passengers to take pictures of the sign boards and post them on social media with the Hashtag Protests_alloverthecountry in Persian.

Hundreds of Iranians on Twitter posted pictures of hacked boards. The posts came under pseudonyms such as Dr Zhivago and Godless, as users inside Iran fear heavy-handed clampdown by the government.

Mashad is the city where massive anti-government demonstrations started on December 28 and spread to over 100 other Iranian cities. It is a religious city where the holy shrine of the 8th Shiite Imam is located. Local authorities and clerics in the city are among the staunchest hardliners.
In a statement issued on May 23, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has threatened the United States that if it attacks Iran, the leaders in Washington will end up like the deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The IRGCs statement, aired on state-run TV on the anniversary of liberating the port city of Khorramshahr in southwestern Iran, maintained, Three decades after the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), Iranian armed forces have learned that they should never overlook strategic guidelines.

Meanwhile, IRGC Major General and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri echoed the statement by insisting, The likes of the U.S. which violate international agreements will end up like Iraqs Saddam Hussein, who was executed in 2006 over charges of crimes against humanity.

Bagheri made the remarks at an open Parliament session held on the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis on May 24, 1982, during the IranIraq War (1980-1988), state-run Mehr News Agency, MNA, reported.

According to MNA, Bagheri likened Trump and his unilateral withdrawal from Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Irans 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, to Saddam Hussein tearing up his 1975 Algiers agreement with Tehran on fixing Iran-Iraq common borders at Shat-ul Arab.

However, Bagheri did not mention the fact that Saddam remained in power for 15 years after the end of the war and was eventually deposed in 2003 when the United States and its allies invaded Iraq. Three years after the invasion, Saddam was tried and hanged in December 2006.

Bagheri went on to describe the United States as a criminal and oppressor, isolated," and angry with corrupted and disloyal leaders who are mercenaries of the Israeli regime."

He accused the United States of being afraid of facing the Islamic Republic head-on in battle, saying, Instead of engaging in battle with Iran, America is trying to exert pressure on Iran in the economic sector and through psychological warfare."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on May 21 threatened Iran with the strongest sanctions in history if it did not curb its regional influence, accusing Tehran of supporting armed groups in countries such as Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Pompeo was speaking two weeks after President Donald Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran that had lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs to its nuclear program.
By RFE/RL



Senior diplomats from Iran and five world powers began meetings in Vienna on May 25 to try to prevent a 2015 nuclear deal from collapsing after Washington's withdrawal from the deal earlier this month.



"It won't be easy, but we'll try," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said ahead of the talks.



U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement on May 8 and announced it would reinstate sanctions against Iran.



Iranian leaders have said they will uphold their side of the deal, which involves strict curbs on their nuclear program, if Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China uphold theirs by making sure that Iran can keep doing business with the world, despite the revived U.S. sanctions.



"To be honest with you, we are not confident," said another senior Iranian official, adding that Tehran wants European powers to present it with a package of measures by the end of May."



Iranian ministers are under orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to seek guarantees from the Europeans for Iranian oil sales and trade, as well as their agreement to spurn U.S. efforts to negotiate a stronger and broader deal with Tehran.



Khamenei laid out a series of conditions on May 23 that he said must be met for Iran to stay in the deal.



The European powers are expected to highlight EU efforts to legally shield European companies that have established ties with Iran from the U.S. sanctions so they can continue doing business in Iran.



Diplomats said the European Union was trying to make sure that such businesses are not affected in particular by U.S. sanctions prohibiting Iran from using the U.S. dollar or U.S. financial institutions to transact business.



Iranian officials were expected to carefully scrutinize the package of measures EU officials have cobbled together to try to counter the U.S. sanctions.



Some European officials have been openly skeptical that the measures will be effective in keeping businesses from fleeing Iran. Several major corporations, including France's Total and Germany's Allianz, have already announced they are leaving unless they receive exemptions from the U.S. sanctions.



"I think this is a moment of truth for the Europeans," EU chief diplomat Federica Mogherini said this week.



The meeting of foreign ministers is the first since U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8 abandoned the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which originally provided near-universal sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear activities.



In pulling out, Trump argued that the agreement would not stop Iran from eventually developing atomic warheads, and that it did nothing to check Iran's ballistic-missile program or its involvement in regional conflicts in Yemen and Syria.



European and Russian leaders say the deal has accomplished its goal of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons while contributing to stability in the Middle East.

With reporting by dpa and Reuters
The Dutch government says the Netherlands and Australia will hold Russia legally responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

"The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable," Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said on May 25, a day after a Dutch-led international criminal investigation said it concluded the Buk missile that shot down the plane was fired by Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade.

Following the announcement by the Joint Investigative Team (JIT), comprising authorities from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine, Russia reiterated it had nothing to do with the downing of the plane.

Also on May 25, Bellingcat, a British-based team of open-source researchers investigating the crash, publicly named an officer from Russia's GRU military intelligence agency -- Oleg Ivannikov -- in connection with the downing of MH17.

Bellingcat said it had "identified conclusively" that 50-year-old Ivannikov was in charge of military operations in eastern Ukraine when MH17 was shot down over separatist-controlled territory, killing all 298 people on board.

"Ivannikov also supervised the procurement and transport of weapons across the Russia-Ukraine border," said the Bellingcat investigation, conducted jointly with the independent Russian website The Insider. "He held these functions at the time of the downing of MH17" on July 17, 2014.

Bellingcat said Ivannikov held the post during an "undercover deployment" to eastern Ukraine that began during the first half of 2014, and that he "coordinated and supervised the military activities of Russian militants, pro-Russian separatists," and contingents from a "private army" known as the Wagner (Vagner) Group.

Russia denies deploying troops to eastern Ukraine or interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs, despite compelling evidence that Moscow has provided military, economic, and political support to pro-Russia separatists fighting against Ukrainian government forces.

Russia and pro-Russia separatists deny shooting down MH17 and have offered several other theories to explain the tragedy, all of which have been rejected by investigators.

However, Blok said that on the basis of the JIT's conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia "are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the Buk installation that was used to down MH17."

The Dutch government said in a statement that holding a nation-state responsible for a breach of international law would involve "a complex legal process."

Blok called on Russia to "accept its responsibility and cooperate fully with the process to establish the truth and achieve justice for the victims of flight MH17 and their next of kin."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had not been a fully fledged participant in JITs investigation and could not therefore trust its findings.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and the BBC
Penny Watson M.A. is pursuing her PhD at The University of Houston. She received her Master's in Political Science at Sam Houston State University (TX). She is an adjunct professor at both Lone Star College and Sam Houston State University. While pursuing her MA, Penny published an article titled Iran's Latin America Strategy: 2005 to Present in the peer-reviewed journal Democracy and Security, and shes currently working on another article. She completed her thesis on Explaining Iran's Involvement in Latin America. Penny grew up overseas and speaks Spanish, some French and Japanese, and is currently studying Farsi. Radio Farda: What is the state of Irans diplomatic relations in Latin America? Where are its biggest targets for deepening ties and on what issues? Penny Watson: Iran has closely aligned itself with numerous Latin American countries including Brazil, Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia and Nicaragua, all of whom have had leftist governments. Iran has formed these close relations since leftist leaders have come to power. These Latin American countries have formed many mutually beneficial enterprises with Iran, which have extended into investing in each others economy including natural resources (gas and oil), housing, tractor factories, and agriculture products. Two of Irans closest current allies in Latin America are Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Bolivian President Evo Morales because of their strong anti-Americanism. Both Maduro and Morales gave strong verbal support for the Iranian government during the recent protests in December 2017 and January 2018, as well as in their condemnation of U.S. President Donald Trumps rhetoric against the Iranian regime. For Iran, deepening its ties with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, or ALBA, an intergovernmental organization that was founded in 2004 by Venezuela and Cuba as an alternative to U.S. free trade initiatives in the region, is essential to increasing its sphere of influence. Iran is one of three countries that have observer status with ALBA, the other two are Syria, and Haiti. Iran is currently active with ALBA. The ALBA school in Bolivia is being used by Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to train extremist fighters.

RadioFarda: How do building ties to Latin America fit into Irans foreign policy objectives? Watson: An alliance has emerged between ultra-right-wing Islamic fundamentalist groups and far left regimes in Latin America. Although there is little ideological similarity between ultra-right wing Islamic fundamentalist ideology and secular left-wing socialism or communism, the two at the strategic level oppose the capitalist West under U.S. hegemony.This geostrategic alliance between unlikely allies is due to their common anti-American sentiments. By creating alliances in Latin America, Iran has strategically placed itself within striking distance of the United States.In a special briefing in October 2017, Nicholas J. Rasmussen, National Counterterrorism Center Director stated Its our assessment that Hizballah is determined to give itself a potential homeland option as a critical component of its terrorism playbook. There are several explanations for Irans activities in Latin America. One explanation is that the close locale provides Iran, directly or through its proxy groups such as Hezbollah, the opportunities to attack the United States interests should the United States threaten regime change. A second explanation argues that Iran is building the alliance to gain nuclear technology and the necessary raw materials such as tantalum, uranium, thorium, beryllium, zirconium, hafnium, and lithium found in countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Colombia. A third and a benign explanation argues that Iran is purely interested in beneficial economic relations. In my article entitled Irans Latin America Strategy: 2005 to Present I have argued that the first two explanations are more plausible. A substantial proportion of Irans activities in Latin America are covert in nature. Hezbollah has been successfully dealing in asymmetric warfare. They have had a presence in Latin America since the 1980s, and that presence has grown exponentially. The trade deals and MOUs that have been negotiated between Latin American countries and Iran have largely either gone unfulfilled or have served as a cover or front companies for money laundering and drug trafficking. There has been ongoing vast support for Iran from the Venezuelan government. For example, Venezuelas Vice President, Tareck El Aissami, who has been accused of drug trafficking and money laundering, as previous head of the office of immigration (Onidex) issued passports to many Iranians and is suspected of having issued them to members of Hezbollah and Hamas. It is possible that these passports provide them entry into the United States.

RadioFarda: What opportunities does Iran see for expanding ties in Latin America? What are the biggest obstacles? Watson: Opportunities for Iran in Latin America appear less abundant today than in the previous 10 to 15 years, as a result of economic and political changes in the region. For example, the replacement of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvaand his successor Dilma Rousseffin Brazil with Michel Temer, means a leadership far less amenable to a close relationship with Iran.The same is true in Argentina, where Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was replaced with Mauricio Macri as president. Moreover, Irans staunch ally Venezuela is facing its own severe economic and political challenges, restricting the benefits of friendship to rhetorical support. Therefore, in Latin Americas two largest economies, Brazil and Argentina, and its most friendly, Venezuela, political and economic changes have limited the scope of opportunity for Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif is urging stronger ties in Latin America and Africa. He visited Brazil and Uruguay as part of his four-leg tour in April 2018. He states that he seeks to enhance bilateral ties and economic relations with Latin America although he did not state specifically what those would entail.
A bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday May 24, stated Congresss position that no law exists which gives the US president the power to launch a military strike against Iran.

The amendment was introduced by Rep. Keith Ellison and cosponsored by Reps, Barbara Lee, Ro Khanna, Jan Schakowsky, Jim McGovern and Walter Jones, reported Ellison on his website.

The unanimous passage of this bipartisan amendment is a strong and timely counter to the Trump administrations withdrawal from the Iran deal and its increasingly hostile rhetoric, Rep. Ellison said, adding, This amendment sends a powerful message that the American people and Members of Congress do not want a war with Iran. Today, Congress acted to reclaim its authority over the use of military force.

Elison further stressed on his website that the amendment clarifies that the President does not have the authority to go to war with Iran.

The War Powers Act and Constitution is clear that our countrys military action must first always be authorized by Congress. A war with Iran would be unconstitutional and costly. The unanimous passage of Rep. Ellisons amendment sends a strong message to Secretary Pompeo, National Security Advisor Bolton, and the Trump administration that Congress has the power to decide issues of war and peace, said Rep. Khanna.

On the same day the amendment was approved, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Senate that the Trump administration was not after regime change in Iran.

The amendment came two weeks after President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal with Iran also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The deal characterized by President Trump as the worst deal ever was made with Iran in 2015, by five UN Security Council members, U.S., UK, France, China and Russia, as well as Germany (P5+1) to limit Irans nuclear capability.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said May 23 that the United States will work with as many allies as possible to reach a new deal to halt all of Irans nuclear and nonnuclear threats.

We will apply unprecedented financial pressure, coordinate with [the military] on deterrence efforts, support the Iranian peopleand hold out the prospects for a new deal with Iran," Pompeo told a House Foreign Affairs Committee budget hearing on May 23, adding U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States will work with as many allies as possible to reach a new deal to halt all of Irans nuclear and nonnuclear threats.

We will apply unprecedented financial pressure, coordinate with [the military] on deterrence efforts, support the Iranian peopleand hold out the prospects for a new deal with Iran," Pompeo told a House Foreign Affairs Committee budget hearing on May 23, adding Iran simply needs to change its behavior. "
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with VOA Persian Director Setareh Seig Thursday afternoon to discuss the Trump administration's plans for a new security framework aimed at ending Iran's nuclear program. They also discussed recent protests in Iran, and the administration's efforts to free Americans being held by the government.

QUESTION: Secretary Pompeo, thank you very much for doing this interview with us.

POMPEO: Its wonderful to be with you.

QUESTION: As Secretary of State, you chose Iran as your first major foreign policy speech. Why Iran? Is it because of the urgency or the importance of it?

POMPEO: I think its both. Its something that the President has viewed as a serious threat to Middle East stability and therefore to American national security and also looks at the place that the Iranian people find themselves, and he thinks its a place America can help make a difference. He has long thought that the agreement that the previous administration entered into didnt serve any of those interests  the interests of the Iranian people or Middle East stability or, frankly, for America. And so it was a priority for him and thus I wanted in the first weeks since the Secretary of State to have an opportunity to lay out how President Trump thinks we can make things better in each of those three situations.

QUESTION: What is the ultimate goal of the proposed new security framework, and how is it differ  how does it differ from the initial JCPOA?

POMPEO: Yeah, so very different. Different in breadth and I think different in its goal. The first agreement was very narrow. It was an effort to say that the Iranian regime was spending a ton of money on its nuclear program and it wanted to halt that  a noble objective, a good goal, a worthy one. But the threat that Iran presents is so much greater than that, right. Theyre taking  theyre launching missiles into Muslim countries. Theyre taking the human rights away from their people.

All of these things I think President Trump cares deeply about, and so his vision is that if we begin again to set out what we think are pretty basic ideas, right. So these 12 things that I listed are all pretty straightforward. Were not asking a lot from the Iranian leadership, just behave like normal leaders; dont loot your people, dont waste your peoples money on these adventures in Syria and Yemen and in Lebanon and in Iraq, the list goes on; lead your people, build a great nation, use the resources you have for that. Thats all were simply looking for.

QUESTION: Is that going to be part of the new proposed security framework that Iran would stop or should stop meddling in other countries affairs?

POMPEO: Yeah, so weve asked for that. Look, weve asked them to stop spreading terror around the world, not to build out militias in Iraq, not to put Iranian dollars and Iranian citizens, who are losing their lives in Syria  its inappropriate for Middle East security and its bad for the country. So our aim is to set conditions where Iran will behave like a normal nation, right. And if they do that, if they  and this is not the Iranian people. This is the Iranian leaders who have taken control and done this damage. If we can create conditions where theyll stop that, the Iranian people will have great success, and we will have Americans visiting there, and well have all the great things that we do when there are friends and allies as opposed to folks who are presenting risk to our country.

QUESTION: Im going to get to the human rights issue also, sir. But if I may, I want to continue on the security framework if possible. How about a requirement for Iran to let inspections in the military sites? Is that going to be part of also the framework?

POMPEO: So it is. With respect to the use of nuclear material in Iran, just as we have in Saudi Arabia, just as we did with the United Arab Emirates, we dont believe its appropriate for Iran to have the capacity to create fissile material, to enrich uranium or have a plutonium facility. If they want a peaceful nuclear energy program, fine, but they could import that material. And other countries do it; it works for many countries around the world. And in order for us to achieve that, to get comfortable that thats the case, there will have to be inspections. That would include inspections at military sites and research laboratories and all the places that had been participants in previous iterations of Irans program.

QUESTION: And you mentioned human rights. There are protests, anti-government protests, all around Iran. I wanted to get your take on that. What do you  how do you feel about these protests? And do you think that United States can maybe support the protestors?

POMPEO: We can certainly provide moral support. I think importantly, the Iranian people will make these decisions for themselves. These protests have been ongoing now for months and months  some of them very small, some of them larger  often very much in sync with what I laid out this past week, their  how this wealth gets distributed to Qasem Soleimani and not the ordinary citizen in southeast Iran or in Tehran or wherever it might be. This wealth is being squandered so that ordinary Iranian citizens are both sending their young men off to fight and die and living lives that arent as secure and as wealthy as they could be if Iran would simply change its behavior.

So its not about  you asked about regime change. Its not about changing the regime. Its about changing the behavior of the leadership in Iran to comport with what the Iranian people really want them to do.

QUESTION: So it is what earlier John Bolton had said, that the goal of the administration is not regime change in Iran?

POMPEO: Thats correct. Yes, maam.

QUESTION: And how do you feel about the opposition groups in the United States and in Europe? Do you support their efforts?

POMPEO: Yes. They should be  so long as theyre working towards the same goal that we are. Ive seen from time to time that wasnt always the case with some of the groups, some of the smaller groups, frankly. So long as theyre working towards the same thing. We dont want them advocating for regime change either. We want them working on behalf of the Iranian people, ordinary Iranian citizens who want nothing more than to live their lives, to be able to take their hijab off, to be able to go to work and raise their families and worship in the way they want to worship. This is for the Iranian people to do, and so if there are those on the outside who are working towards that goal, we certainly welcome it.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, two years ago as a congressman you personally wanted to go to Iran, you were prepared to go to Iran, and you wanted to press the leadership  Khamenei and Zarif  to give you access to the American hostages. As Secretary, are you going to press the Iranian leadership again to free the American hostages? And as you know, Bob Levinson has disappeared more than 11 years ago.

POMPEO: I know the story of Mr. Levinson well. I pray for his safe return, and our team works for it every day. As for the other Americans, we hope that the Iranian leadership  Mr. Rouhani and Mr. Zarif, Ayatollah  all would see that its in their best interests to  and for nothing more than basic humanity, to allow these innocent Americans to return to their families. There are big, big issues out there, but it seems pretty basic to me that one ought not hold innocent people from returning to their loved ones.

So yes, well work on it. Well pray for it. And we hope that one day, in the same way that we were blessed to have three Americans return from North Korea a few weeks past, we have that same kind of day for those that are being held by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask you about the chants, the slogans that we still hear inside Iran: Death to America, and Death to Israel. Before any type of agreement that Iran or Tehran and the United States would have about Iran, dont you think that it should be a requirement for Iran to stop that?

POMPEO: Yeah, their leaders most especially. In America, people say all kinds of things. We have a wide-open democracy. There are people who like President Trump and who dont. I find that just fine. I am untroubled by that.

When you have senior leaders, when you have others fomenting these sort of fake gatherings to do nothing but come after and talk  chant, Death to America or Death to Israel, the Iranian leadership ought to stop. They ought to stop that because its not the right thing for their people.

I think most Iranians  I think most Iranians look at what weve been able to accomplish here in America and how blessed weve been, and think that thats a model that works in the sense of well certainly adopt a different form of democracy, and well have a different form of government, and well have different values and beliefs across a certain set of things, well have different religions, and that  thats all fine. But the basic common understanding of humanity, that you treat every human being with dignity and respect, that you dont export violence around the world, that you dont steal and plunder from your people, those core values that are civilizational, theyre historical  I think the Iranian people share those in the same way that the American people do.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I want to go back to something that you said, part of your speech. You stressed that  stressed, and you just mentioned it, that no more wealth creation for Iranian kleptocrats. What is your take on congressional efforts to expose the hidden wealth of the corrupt leaders of Iran, from Ayatollah Khamenei to the president? And if there is such a bill that would pass Congress, would the administration support this exposure?

POMPEO: We would. We think its very important. Its just as important as an informational matter. The Iranian people deserve the truth. You have senior leaders that are pocketing money, using businesses that are nominally fronts, and frankly, just stealing. To the extent we can prove that and demonstrate that, Id welcome the chance to expose it so the Iranian people can judge for themselves whether these are the individuals they want to lead their country.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.

POMPEO: Thank you very much, maam. It was great to be with you.

QUESTION: We appreciate it very, very much.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Frances Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit Azerbaijan on May 27, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a message May 25.

According to the message, Le Drian is expected to meet with Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and other officials during the visit.

Following the visit, a joint press-conference of Azerbaijani and French foreign ministers is expected to be held.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

Azerbaijans population growth requires creation of over 100,000 jobs annually, chairman of the Commission on Regulation and Coordination of Labor Relations, Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Ahmadov said at the commissions meeting May 25.

During the last 15 years, Azerbaijans population has increased by 1.5 million people, he noted.

Ali Ahmadov said that the population of Azerbaijan annually grows by 1.2 percent. He noted that employment issues in Azerbaijan are one of the important directions of state policy.

The work carried out in Azerbaijan in the employment sphere bears fruit, he said. For the past 15 years, a great number of jobs have been opened in Azerbaijan and steps have been taken to provide the population with decent jobs. The unemployment rate in Azerbaijan is within five percent. The demographic situation in some developed European countries differs from the situation in Azerbaijan. The population is growing in Azerbaijan, while the population is declining in those countries.

He added that about five million people of Azerbaijans population are able-bodied.

Fifty-four percent of the countrys population lives in rural areas, he said. This is very serious issue.
Details added (first version posted on 16:37)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

Azerbaijans population growth requires creation of over 100,000 jobs annually, chairman of the Commission on Regulation and Coordination of Labor Relations, Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Ahmadov said at the commissions meeting May 25.

During the last 15 years, Azerbaijans population has increased by 1.5 million people, he noted.

Ali Ahmadov said that the population of Azerbaijan annually grows by 1.2 percent. He noted that employment issues in Azerbaijan are one of the important directions of state policy.

The work carried out in Azerbaijan in the employment sphere bears fruit, he said. For the past 15 years, a great number of jobs have been opened in Azerbaijan and steps have been taken to provide the population with decent jobs. The unemployment rate in Azerbaijan is within five percent. The demographic situation in some developed European countries differs from the situation in Azerbaijan. The population is growing in Azerbaijan, while the population is declining in those countries.

He added that about five million people of Azerbaijans population are able-bodied.

Fifty-four percent of the countrys population lives in rural areas, he said. This is very serious issue.
Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 17:39)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

The opening of the Center for History and Culture of Azerbaijan in Almaty city will have positive impact on the rapprochement of the two peoples and the exchange of scientific knowledge, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs, Head of Department Ali Hasanov said at a meeting with the Head of Kazakhstans Almaty city Bauyrzhan Baibek, Kazakh media outlets reported.

We have already managed to hold several conferences dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the 95th birth anniversary of our national leader Heydar Aliyev, Hasanov said. This support testifies to friendly and fraternal relations between our states.

During the meeting, the sides discussed many important issues, including the possible opening of Azerbaijans trading house in Almaty.

Azerbaijan's delegation proposed to make Almaty and the Azerbaijani Ganja twin cities in order to expand bilateral cooperation.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev
Details added (first version posted on 18:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to create the Financial Monitoring Service.

In accordance with the decree, the Financial Monitoring Service of Azerbaijan is established as a public legal entity implementing single regulation, control and coordination activity for prevention of laundering of criminally obtained money and other assets, as well as prevention of financing of terrorism.

The Financial Monitoring Service of Azerbaijan is financed from the state budget.

The Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan has been instructed to prepare and submit the statute of the Service to the Azerbaijani president within five months.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Chairman of Azerbaijani Parliament Ogtay Asadov will leave for Tbilisi on May 26 to participate in the events related to the centenary of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

The president, prime minister, chairman of the Georgian Parliament, heads of state and government invited to the centenary will take part in the event.

Asadov will deliver speech at the round table meeting on Cooperation for development: strategy for the next 100 years to be held in the Georgian Parliament.

It is planned that Asadov will meet heads of the delegations participating in the event as part of the visit.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) and Baker Hughes intend to further enhance their cooperation. Issues related to strengthening bilateral partnership relations were discussed at a meeting of BHOS rector Elmar Gasimov with Baker Hughes Human Resources Director in Europe, Russia and Caspian GeoMarket Baghir Akhundov, HR Manager in Azerbaijan and Georgia Sona Novruzova and Migration Manager Tural Ahmed.

The Higher School rector Elmar Gasimov informed the guests about BHOS latest developments and achievements including expansion of cooperation with local and international companies, new educational programs, and projects and activities, which the Higher School initiated recently. He expressed his gratitude to Baker Hughes management for their continuous interest in joint initiatives and work with BHOS students.

In the words of Baker Hughes HR Director in Europe Russia Caspian GeoMarket Baghir Akhundov, the company looks forward to working with BHOS graduates, as it needs highly trained engineers whose qualification meets international standards. Thus, the office of Baker Hughes in Azerbaijan plans to hold competitive selection among senior students with the purpose of their employment and on-the-job training in the company, he said. He also reported that fifth-year Petroleum Engineering student of the Higher School Emiliya Mamedova starts to work at Baker Hughes as a leading field engineer. She became the company employee after she won several stages of the selection process, which involved nearly 7,500 applicants from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, told Baghir Akhundov.

It has been decided to arrange summer internship at Baker Hughes for four BHOS undergraduates in June this year. The meeting participants also reached an agreement to arrange a Master class for the Higher School students to be conducted by the company top management.

Baker Hughes is one of the world's largest oil field services companies, which operates in more than 90 countries. It provides products and services for the oil and gas industry, which include, among others, oil drilling, completion, production and reservoir consulting. The company headquarters is located in Houston, Texas (USA).

BHOS and Baker Hughes have been developing cooperation since 2015, after signing Cooperation agreement.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Citizen of the Russian Federation Ruslan Huseynov expressed gratitude to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the decree on pardon signed May 24.

"I am a citizen of Russia, my family also lives in Russia, I have three children. I want to thank President Ilham Aliyev for the pardon, which was a happy event in my life," Huseynov, who was convicted by the Ganja Court of Grave Crimes in 2015, told reporters May 25.

He said he had spent three and a half years in prison.

Today, the execution of the decree of President Ilham Aliyev pardoning a number of convicts, signed on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, has been started.

On May 24, President Aliyev signed the decree pardoning 634 people.

Under the presidential order, 607 convicts are released from the unserved part of their prison sentences.

The order also releases one convict facing a deferred sentence and nine people serving conditional sentences.

Also under the order, six persons were freed from the remainder of their correctional labor and 11 persons were freed from fines.

Among the pardoned, there are 39 foreign citizens, including 11 citizens of Georgia, five citizens of China, four citizens of Russia and Iran, three citizens of Turkey and Bangladesh, two citizens of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, citizens of Uzbekistan, Cameroon, India, Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as three stateless persons.

The presidential order reads that the decision on pardon was made in connection with the fact that the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is a significant event in the history of the independence of the Azerbaijani people, the fact that national leader Heydar Aliyev attached special importance to universal values, the rule of law, the ideals of justice and democracy in the construction of the modern Azerbaijani state, as well as in connection with the commitment of Heydar Aliyevs policy to the traditions of humanism, and with the belief that those pardoned will carry out activities on the path of the development of the independent state by integrating into society.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

State-owned Azer Turk Bank always taken care of customer comfort and welfare continues its campaigns on occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

In frames of next campaign, the Bank offers discounts on payment card orders. So, clients can order Mastercard Gold or Mastercard Platinum by paying only 28% of their price and get their benefits and special offers.

For example, MC Platinum with 1-year service costs 100 manats, but in frames of the new campaign, clients can order it only for 28 manats.

Clients can order card at any service point of the Bank with their ID cards, or order a card online at http://azerturkbank.az/online/card/

Clients, who order Mastercard Gold or Mastercard Platinum and replenish their card accounts for 500 AZN or 1000 AZN (or foreign currency equivalent of these sums) respectively, will receive them for free.

More information is available at www.azerturkbank.az , the Banks corporate pages at social networks or at (012) 945 Call Center.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend:

Azerbaijan investment company OJSC is considering proposals to establish new investment funds in the country, Executive Director of the Company Allahverdi Pashayev said May 25.

Pashayev said both foreign and local companies are interested in creating investment funds in Azerbaijan. At the same time, he refused to disclose details.

"The investment funds will mostly appear in the non-oil sector, including agriculture. Their focus will further depend on the proposals received by the AIC," Pashayev said.

Currently AIC is a shareholder of one of the investment funds - Caspian international investment company. This investment company was established in 2008, and the share of AIC here is 24.1 percent. Other shareholders of the investment company are Islamic Development Bank, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector, Al Ahmar Group and AREF Investment Group.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Biysk Oleum Plant in the Altai Region of Russia will start delivery of cetane improver additive to Azerbaijan, the plant's executive director Viktor Golovin said commenting on the results of his visit to Azerbaijan, the official website of the Altai Region reported May 25.

"Ecocetol cetane improver additive has been produced at the Biysk Oleum Plant since 2010. Our first plant had a capacity of 3,000-3,500 tons per year. As a result of measures for improvement, stabilization and automation of the technical process, we have achieved a production capacity of 20,000 tons per year. And most importantly, we have achieved high quality of the additive. We successfully supply our additive to Rosneft and Gazpromneft companies. Hopefully, we will supply the additive to SOCAR [Azerbaijan's state oil company], to our Azerbaijani partners," said Golovin.

On May 14-18, Golovin was on a visit in Azerbaijan as part of a delegation of the Altai Region, where a preliminary agreement was reached on the supply of cetane improver additive produced in Biysk.

Ecocetol cetane improver additive, produced by Biysk Oleum Plant, allows bringing the quality of diesel fuel up to the standards of Euro 4 and Euro 5.

Biysk Oleum Plant expects to increase the volume of export of cetane improver additive as part of the agreements reached in February 2017 during a visit to the Altai Region of a delegation from Belarus, headed by the Minister of Industry Vitaly Vovk.

Golovin said the supply of Ecocetol cetane improver additive to Belarus and Azerbaijan will allow making a new leap in the development of the enterprise, improving capacity utilization and increasing revenue by one billion rubles.
Tehran, Iran, May 25

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:

The Central Bank of Georgia has rejected reports that Tbilisi has closed down the accounts of Iranian nationals in the country, informed sources said.

Reports about the closure of Iranian accounts in Georgian banks are baseless, said the sources in Georgia, IRNA news agency reported on May 25.

No new restrictions are being placed on expatriates and nothing has changed, they added.

TBC Bank Group Plc, Georgia's largest retail bank, issued a statement on May 17 prohibiting Iranians from doing banking transactions without a valid residence card.

Recently, the president of the Georgia-Iran Chamber of Commerce and Industry confirmed this and said Tehran is in talks with its embassy in Georgia to handle complaints by Iranian nationals who have had their bank accounts in Georgia closed.

We held talks with Irans embassy in Georgia and they promised to follow up on the issue and let us know about the results, Seyedeh Fatemeh Moghimi said on May 21.
Kazakhstan has asked an appeals court to overturn a decision that saw BNY Mellon freeze a assets worth more than $22 billion held in the bank by the country sovereign wealth fund, oilprice.com reported.

The bank seized the assets as part of a dispute between Kazakhstan and a Moldovan businessman who sued the Central Asian country for the nationalization of his oil business in the country.

The businessman, Anatolie Stati, won a case against Kazakhstan at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, which awarded it compensation of $520 million, but Kazakhstan refused to pay up and appealed the Swedish courts decision in the United States.

The U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, however, also ruled in favor of the businessman, as did two courts in Belgium and the Netherlands, giving Stati powers to freeze Kazakh oil fund assets.

After BNY Mellon froze the assets, the Kazakh government sued it in a UK court, but the court dismissed the case.

The assets also include a US$5.2-billion interest in Kazakhstans largest oil field, Kashagan, and earlier this year the Moldovan businessman demanded that the stake be sold by the sovereign wealth fund if they were not going to pay his compensation. A Dutch court froze that stake, too.
Details added (first version posted on 13:09)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

Azerbaijan may introduce a unified tax on salary, Taxes Minister Mikayil Jabbarov said May 25 at a conference dedicated to the Entrepreneurs Day.

This issue is being discussed as part of amendments to Azerbaijans Tax Code, he added.

This issue is very important for all taxpayers, Jabbarov said. This step is aimed at reducing the tax burden and facilitating the taxation of salaries. The unified tax will be applied to salary and its rate will be substantially lower than that in the current legislation.

The minister noted that this step will also have an impact on the fight against informal employment.

This reform helps to reduce the level of informal employment, and stimulates the declaration of real salaries, Jabbarov said.

Presently, the maximum income tax rate in Azerbaijan is 25 percent, and the maximum limit of monthly income taxed at a rate of 14 percent is 2,500 manats. At the same time, the annual income of individuals (not engaged in entrepreneurial activity) taxed at a rate of 14 percent is 30,000 manats.

If the monthly salary exceeds 2,500 manats, the income tax is calculated as follows: 350 manats (14 percent tax on 2,500 manats) plus 25 percent tax levied on the amount exceeding 2,500 manats. The annual income exceeding 30,000 manats is taxed as follows: 4,200 manats (14 percent tax on 30,000 manats) plus 25 percent tax levied on the amount exceeding 30,000 manats.

This is while a 20 percent tax is levied on taxable income of individuals engaged in entrepreneurial activity without the creation of a legal entity.

(1.7 manats = 1 USD on May 25)

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Ali Mustafayev  Trend:

The opening of the Center for History and Culture of Azerbaijan in Almaty city will have positive impact on the rapprochement of the two peoples and the exchange of scientific knowledge, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs, Head of Department Ali Hasanov said at a meeting with the Head of Kazakhstans Almaty city Bauyrzhan Baibek, Kazakh media outlets reported.

We have already managed to hold several conferences dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the 95th birth anniversary of our national leader Heydar Aliyev, Hasanov said. This support testifies to friendly and fraternal relations between our states.

During the meeting, the sides discussed many important issues, including the possible opening of Azerbaijans trading house in Almaty.

Azerbaijan's delegation proposed to make Almaty and the Azerbaijani Ganja twin cities in order to expand bilateral cooperation.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Russia is working to lift restrictions from trade with Azerbaijan, Minister for Economic Development of Russia Maxim Oreshkin told the Russia for All website on the sidelines of the 22nd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

A concrete action plan on five directions has been proposed, and we are working as part of this plan to ensure that trade and economic cooperation between our countries grows and strengthens, he said. The flow of mutual investments between our countries doesnt stop. We have strong ties not only at the economic, but also at the human, cultural level. Many Azerbaijanis live in Russia and many Russians live in Azerbaijan. This connects our countries and allows to develop relations in all spheres of life, including in the economic sphere.

Oreshkin stressed that Russia and Azerbaijan can achieve great progress in economic relations.

Azerbaijans trade turnover with Russia amounted to $2.14 billion in 2017, about $1.5 billion of which accounted for the import of Russian products, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. The value of trade between the two countries grew 4.3 percent compared to the previous year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Around 59 percent of Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) route in Greece and Albania is being reinstated, TAP AG consortium said in a message.

Between Greece and Albania, more than 450 kilometers are being reinstated, or around 59 percent of our route (765 kilometers in total), said the consortium.

TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the priority energy projects for the European Union. The project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 to the EU countries.

The pipeline will connect to the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italys south.

TAP will be 878 kilometers in length (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers).

TAPs shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Tehran, Iran, May 25

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:

German, Italian, French and Greek investors are financing solar power plants in the central Iranian province of Yazd, the managing director of Yazd Regional Electricity Company said.

The power plants are located in the cities of Noor, Ashkezar, Mehriz, and Dehshir each with an electricity production capacity of 10 megawatts per year, Mohammad Hassan Sabbaghzadegan said on May 24, IRNA news agency reported.

He added that the power plants production capacity will be increased from 10 megawatts to 70 megawatts by the year-end.

Irans last major solar power plant was inaugurated in February 2016 in the countrys western province of Hamedan. The plant comprised two seven-megawatt units.

Iran is heavily dependent on natural gas and oil to generate power and one of the most energy-intensive countries in the world because government subsidies for fossil fuels encourage inefficient energy use.

Water shortage and air pollution, however, is becoming an acute problem for the country of more than 80 million people, forcing officials to embrace the idea of expanding renewable energy capacity.

Existing wind and solar capacity is tiny. According to SUNA (Renewable Energy Organization of Iran), there are only 15 wind farms in the country where 100,000 megawatts of potential capacity exists from wind alone.

Iran is seeking 5,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020, with more than 4,000 megawatts expected to come from wind power. The country has approximately 141 megawatts of installed wind power.

SUNA is looking to attract $10 billion of direct private investment by 2018 and $60 billion by 2025. The national grid is also being upgraded so it can cope with an influx of renewables.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:

Legislation related to the electronic signatures is under improvement in Azerbaijan, Elnar Asadov, Director of the Information and Computing Center of the Transport Ministry, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, said May 25, when speaking at a seminar on "Electronic identification and reliable services: current situation and prospects of development".

Asadov noted that, the law on the electronic signature of Azerbaijan complies with the EU Directive dated 1999.

"However, today the legislation on e-signature in the EU is being improved and the transition to the new legal regulation of eIDAS is being carried out. Therefore, Azerbaijan also needs to make changes to the legislation. This new legislation will allow us to mutually recognize e-signature certificates with European countries. The European Union provides a great support to us in this matter, and in the framework of the TAIEX program, the European experts have already launched the assessment of the current situation in Azerbaijan. And they will present us their recommendations in this area," Asadov said.

Asadov noted that, the Information and Computing Center is ready to technologically ensure mutual recognition of e-signature certificates with Turkey.

He said the relevant work has already been evaluated by the previously established joint working group, and which concluded that such recognition is technologically feasible.

"The mutual recognition of the e-signature at the interstate level is a priority for the ICC. Azerbaijan joined the UN Convention on the use of electronic communications in international contracts in March, 2018. This Convention will simplify the mutual recognition of e-signatures at the interstate level," Asadov said.

Earlier negotiations on mutual recognition of e-signature were also held with Iran, Qatar and Ukraine.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkeys Ministry of Youth and Sports has announced an open tender for the construction of a stadium in the countrys Elazig province.

Turkish and foreign companies can participate in the tender.

The tender will be held on June 21, 2018 at 14:30 (GMT +3).

Tender bids and proposals are accepted at the following address: Ornek Mah. Oruc Reis Cad. No: 13 Kat:8 06030 Ornek Mah. Altndag/Ankara.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (+90 312) 458 58 93 fax: (+90 312) 458 59 88.

The tender participation fee is 1,000 Turkish liras.

(1 USD = 4.7112 TRY on May 25)

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Sultan Zhumagulov met in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart - Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtulmush, the press service of the Ministry of Culture of Kyrgyzstan stated, Central asia.news reported.

During the meeting, the sides discussed issues of further development and strengthening of bilateral cultural ties and exchange of experience in the field of tourism, and cooperation in the sphere of mass information and the press.

The two countries' ministers approved a special Action Plan for cooperation in the field of tourism. For example, it was decided to train tourism workers and trainee students from Kyrgyzstan, where tourism is just beginning to develop.

And, accordingly, specialists from Turkey will be sent to Kyrgyzstan, where tourism is widely developed, for practical training at specific facilities.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

Trend:

Turkey will help Uzbekistan reform its pension system, according to an agreement reached between Deputy Minister of Finance of Uzbekistan Dilshod Sattarova and Chairman of the Social Security Institution of Turkey Cevdet Ceylan, Sputnik Uzbekistan reported.

"An agreement was reached on mutual cooperation and the creation of a special working group on pension system reform," the message said.

Specialists from Uzbekistan also passed a special course at the training center of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Ankara on the impact of the shadow economy on the revenue side of the state budget. The ministry plans that such training courses and exchange of experience will be held during 2018 for about 600 representatives of the Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan.

In April, the Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan unveiled the draft concept of pension reform, which provides for a phased increase in the retirement age in the country to the world average. Now men can retire at the age of 60 years, and women - at 55 years.
The US has imposed new sanctions against nine Iranian and Turkish individuals and companies as well as a number of aircraft providing goods and services to four Iranian airlines, Presstv reports.

The sanctions announced by the US Treasury Department on Thursday, targeted the entities cooperating with Iran's Mahan Air, Caspian Air, Meraj Air, and Pouya Air.

The Treasury Department claimed in a statement that the banned entities extend a lifeline to the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The statement claimed that Caspian Airlines and Pouya Air had ferried weapons, troops and money to Iran's allies in Syria and Lebanon and threatened to levy sanctions against the entities which grant landing rights and provide services to their aircraft.

Last week, the US named governor of Iran's Central Bank Valiollah Seif and another senior banking official as specially designated global terrorists for allegedly assisting the IRGC's Quds Force.

The latest anti-Iran sanctions follow President Donald Trumps announcement on May 8 of the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Trump also vowed to reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose the highest level of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

Two days later, the US Treasury sanctioned six Iranian individuals and three entities for allegedly operating a currency exchange network that transferred millions of US dollars to Quds Force.

Iran has said it would remain in the JCPOA for now, pending negotiations with the other signatories in the coming weeks before making a final decision on its future role in the agreement.
Within days, there were fresh discussions of new tariffs on other products that hadnt been discussed previously - like cars and trucks  also based on the recognition that a weakened and minimized manufacturing sector isnt just bad for the economy, its bad for national defense.

After three months of saber-rattling on the trade front  including the implementation of high duties on imported steel and aluminum, and threats of similarly high tariffs on a host of business and consumer products both from and to China  the dust appears to have settled for a while, with an announcement that China will work to import more from the USA, and a tentative agreement that a trade war would be bad for everybody.

Not enough is said about this aspect of the Trump administrations trade focus. While jobs and general economics are of course of critical importance, too many in both the business community and the political class have lost touch of the dangers inherent in being utterly dependent on foreign countries for so much, when there is a risk  however small  that we might one day be on opposite sides in a war.

Before we say to ourselves  but we dont have to worry; well never go to war with China; we own too many plants there!  lets think about that for a moment. Virtually all Americans had relatives in England and Scotland in the 1770s, but that didnt stop us from going to war with them. Our connections with Mainland China are much more limited: some of our companies own plants there, thats all. That shouldnt stop a foreign policy decision, if one needs to be made, to defend allies like Japan or South Korea if the need arose.

But thats an extreme example. We could go to war at any time, with any country. We probably wouldnt start it but even though today we cant imagine a war with Japan, Germany, or Mexico, we have faced all of them against the battlefield in the past, and theres no reason to believe we couldnt do so again in the future. We fought on the same side as Italy in WWI, then on the opposite side in WWII. All it takes is a change of administration; one election or coup detat, and a friend can become an enemy overnight.

And if that happens, where do we stand? How independent are we? We depend on foreign sources for half our cars, most of our clothes, tons of manufacturing equipment. We are reasonably independent on food and beverages. Frankly, we are more independent than we may think, but is that enough?

In case of war, we have to consider the things that matter, not just to daily life but to the war effort. We could go without imported shirts and trousers for a year. We could go without German beer or Argentinian wine for a year. But if our defense contractors depend on China for the computers that populate our fighter planes dashboards, or if they depend on Japan for the steering systems on our tanks, or if they depend on India for the aluminum extrusions or steel frames that support the decks on our aircraft carriers, then were not going to be able to ramp up for war as fast if those supplies are cut off, or even worse, if those supplies are behind enemy lines.

The United States have long had export controls in place, serving to dissuade defense contractors and other suppliers of sensitive industries from outsourcing their components and technology, for this very reason. But a long period of peace with other industrialized nations led our government to start softening these export controls under the George W Bush administration, a softening that was accelerated under the Barack H Obama administration. Today, we are dependent on foreign countries, both friendly ones and frankly unfriendly ones, on too many materials that would pose problems in wartime.

So when the Trump administration cites national security as a reason for trade efforts  whether one supports additional duties as the remedy or not  it simply cannot be denied that security is indeed a legitimate concern. Too many in the political and journalistic classes are snidely viewing this as an abuse, claiming that the security claim is a loophole to allow presidential action that ought to be banned. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even those of us who believe that the sudden imposition of high tariffs is the wrong approach must still acknowledge that the security issues at hand are real, and that America must find a way to solve them. It is still a dangerous world, and thus it will always be.

And this is why its interesting that in this week of apparent cooling on the trade front  with the USA and China stepping back from the brink on new tariffs, at least temporarily  this happened to be the very week that the Republican majorities in Congress passed  and the president signed  a crucial partial draw-down of Dodd-Frank.

The new law is limited in its effects; its nowhere near what was hoped for, and still leaves many major businesses suffering under the outrageous overreach of Dodd-Frank. But it does accomplish a great deal, in freeing small and medium banks from the omnipresent, strangling hands of the federal leviathan.

Regaining our standing as a net exporter and as the worlds manufacturing leader  regaining our dominance in production of goods as well as services - and returning America to the defense-related independence necessary for national security  doesnt require punitive tariffs and anti-dumping duties.

It requires the gradual lessening of the grip of the government (at every level) on our manufacturing sector. It requires exactly what this administration has been doing  outside of trade  ever since January 20, 2017: directing every federal bureaucracy  from OSHA to FDA, from the FTC to F&W, every one of them  to reduce the destructive regulations that stymie American business and drive manufacturing abroad.

The tax cuts of last December  with more to come  and the regulatory reforms of this first half of the administration  with more to come in the second half  are exactly the right prescription for getting the nation out of a dozen years of economic doldrums. Its corrections like this weeks partial overturn of Dodd-Frank that will free up local banks to invest in start-ups and small business expansions. Thats what we need in order for the American economy to not just have a recovery, but to return to the enduring, globally-shining economic boom that our Founding Fathers expected from us.

When our Framers developed our new nation  with a Constitution designed to keep government small  their plan was for a free market to prosper in a framework of economic freedom, a framework that has been hamstrung for a hundred years by the self-serving regulatory state.

The Trump administration and the Republican congressional majorities are serving the cause of undoing these travesties, and returning America to a free market again. Its been a long time coming, and is therefore all the sweeter to see at last.

Copyright 2018 John F. Di Leo

John F. Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance manager and trainer, actor and writer. A former spokesman for the Illinois Small Business Mens Administration and the Illinois Right to Work Committee back in the 1980s, his columns have run weekly in Illinois Review since 2009. Permission is hereby granted to forward freely, provided it is uncut, and the IR URL and byline are included.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 24

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

Not so many people on Earth understand all ins and outs of the events taking place around Iran, while the vast majority of public opinion, under the influence of the world mass media, does not doubt rightness of one of the parties.

After the US withdrawal from JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), also known as the nuclear deal, the existing fragile balance maintained by the deal has been badly shaken.

Tehran has neither the strength nor the means and the time to change the circumstances in its favor, although it tries to fight back to the ropes protecting its interests.

Hypothetically, there is still hope that the Europeans will be able to maintain this balance by launching a process to, as they say, protect the interests of European companies investing in Iran as part of their commitment to the nuclear deal. The process is aimed at freeing European companies from compliance with US sanctions and removing obstacles to European banks' trade with Iran.

However, there is a dilemma in front of the entire European business community: President Trump is prepared to impose sanctions on European companies that are going to do or continue business in Iran, while the EU is about to take some measures with uncertain outcomes to protect their interests.

The best answer which clearly describes current state of affairs is Total, Maersk and Airbuss decisions to halt their activities in the Islamic Republic. Nobody wishes to lose access to the US financial/banking system as well as the entire American market. This is why, later on, abandoning process will most likely go in an incremental manner.

Are there still people who believe that the major European banks which, after signing the deal in 2015, did not welcome close ties with Iran, would change their policy in the current worse circumstances?

In the mean time, the recent statement made by French President Macron that his country will not get involved in a trade war with the United States over Iran, despite the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, raises doubts about the coherence of EU policy.

Macron wants to provide all guarantees for businesses that want to stay in Iran, but, without a pressure and probably a trade war with the United States, which is not going to work.

If France could secure immunity for interests of Total, Peugeot and Airbus, which all have large contracts in Iran, and guarantee that they are not affected by any sanctions, I would have taken off my hat in front of the President of France.

But he says it is up to the companies to decide: We're not going to impose on French businesses to stay in Iran. The President of the French Republic is not the CEO of Total.

If a signatory of the nuclear deal absolves itself of responsibility and places it on a business that will, almost for certain, have to leave Iran, then who this is aimed at?

That seems to be a mugs game.

Formally, President Macron is absolutely right, but the matter is that Iran doesnt need leaves without figs. Under the current circumstances nothing is expected to change for the better for Iran.

No wonder Iranian FM Mohammad Javad Zarif told the EU Commissioner Arias Canete in Tehran that European political support is not sufficient. The announcement of the possible withdrawal by major European companies from their cooperation with Iran is not consistent with the European Unions commitment to implementing [the nuclear deal], Zarif was quoted as saying.

Another top Iranian official also cast doubts on whether European nations could be trusted to save the agreement: The contradictions in the words of European authorities are suspicious. We hope that our government will be able to secure the necessary guarantees in the negotiations, as one cannot rely on those who vacillate and speak contradictory words, IRNA quoted Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran Supreme Leaders adviser for international affairs, as saying.

So, Washington is re-imposing all possible sanctions, European businesses (at least major), which will definitely not risk their well-being, will curtail activities in Iran before the end of the year, European governments will formally keep their face, Trump is happy, while Iran is not at all  who needs idle declarations of commitment to the letter and spirit of the nuclear deal if there is nothing behind them?

Thus, Tehran is about to find itself in the pre-JCPOA environment. Whats next?

Since it is also important for Tehran to save face well, you guess: as Reuters reported on Saturday, the head of Irans Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran could resume 20 percent uranium enrichment if the European signatories of the nuclear deal failed to keep it alive following Washington's withdrawal.

The answer was not long in coming.

The United States is ready to respond if Iran decides to resume its nuclear program, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday, Reuters reported. Should they choose to go back, should they begin to enrich, we are fully prepared to respond to that as well, Pompeo said, declining to detail what the response could be.

Honesty is the best policy. The featureless European position in the story with Iran is gradually crumbling under the US drive. Latest news has come from Poland.

Polish leaders are planning to defend the US government's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal within the EU, according to the Associated Press. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday that Poland wants to be a mediator between US and EU and explain the positions of the other.

The Polish government's mediation offer departs somewhat from the united front EU leaders displayed last week in voicing their continued support for the landmark nuclear deal, according to AP.
Indonesia is eyeing France, a major tourism market in Europe, to further boost foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia through collaboration with French travel organizers, an official at the Indonesian Tourism Ministry said, Xinhua reported.

Deputy Tourism Minister Nia Niscaya, who supervises marketing development in Europe, said collaboration with local French travel agents and organizers was a strategic move to increase the number of French tourists.

The progressing contacts with five prominent French travel agencies and organizers resulted in the commitment of those agencies and organizers to survey places and accommodations in Bali from July to August and bring significant number of French tourists to the renowned Indonesian resort island from September to November, she said.

"The French market is very interesting. It has good profile and market potentialities. Now it's a matter of how we can seize this opportunity," Nia said, adding that around 23.5 million French people travel abroad each year.

Most of those travel agencies and organizers called for direct flights from France to Indonesia to ensure increasing visits of French tourists to Indonesia, Nia added.

She said French travelers contributed significantly to global tourism spending as the country was ranked fifth with 40 billion U.S. dollars in 2016.

Together with Germany and Britain, France became a major propeller of Europe tourism spending in the year, which accounted for 48 percent of the global tourism market.

Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya supported the ministry's efforts to tap the French market by intensifying the collaboration with French travel agencies and organizers.

"This is a good move as France is apparently a promising market in Europe. We expect to see significant number of French tourist arrivals as the outcome of this concept," he said.
Kensington Palace officially announced that Prince William will be the first senior British royal to make an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority next month, Israelnationalnews reports.

William will begin his tour in Jordan on June 24 and travel on to Tel Aviv the following day, the palace, his official residence, said in a statement

He will visit Jerusalem on June 26 and then go on to Ramallah on June 27.

The visit by the second in line to the throne "is at the request of Her Majesty's government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities", the statement said.

There have been no previous official visits by members of the British royal family to Palestinian Authority-assigned areas.

Prince William will also be the first close relation of Queen Elizabeth II to make an official visit to Israel, following trips made previously by the monarch's cousins the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Gloucester.

Other foreign trips made by royals, such as attendance at funerals or weddings, were not made at the request of Britain's Foreign Office and were therefore not classed as official visits.

One of those trips was a visit by Prince Charles to his grandmothers grave on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem last year.

Prince Charles, who is Prince Williams father, planned a state visit to Israel last year, but later cancelled.
French President Emmanuel Macron believes in good relations with Russia, as he himself said at a meeting with the Russian and French business circles on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday, TASS reports.

"I believe in good relations between our countries," he said. "We talked about the past history, economy and joint projects during the talks. This is what unites our people," Macron added.

At the same time, the French president emphasized the need "to separate some areas from politics and refrain from politicizing them." "I have been working on that with my partners from the European Union. We have already achieved a lot but we want to move forward," he said.

"We seek European sovereignty," Macron went on to say. "We need to start from independence and sovereignty in the area of financing. We would like more new companies to emerge," he noted. "I believe that the future of our relations is bright and I have a view of Europe stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains. I believe that these relations will gain momentum," the French president concluded.
The North Korean government is still ready to hold talks with the United States at any time, despite US President Donald Trumps decision to cancel the June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported on Friday citing a senior Korean diplomat, TASS reports.

"We would like to make known to the U.S. side once again that we have the intent to sit with the U.S. side to solve problem regardless of ways at any time," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan was quoted as saying in a statement carried by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

According to the diplomat, Trumps decision demonstrates the extent of animosity that still persists in relations between the two states, and underscores the need for a meeting between the two leaders.

"We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the U.S. side time and opportunity," the North Korean diplomat was quoted as saying.

Trump earlier informed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about his decision to withdraw from the summit that was planned to be held in Singapore on June 12. Trump added that North Korea "has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace." At the same time, he pointed out that he was ready to hold talks in the future.
A plenary meeting with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde will be on top of the agenda of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on the second day, TASS reports.

"They will deliver their prepared speeches, and a discussion will follow," presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has said.

SPIEF-2018 runs in Russias second largest city on May 24-26. The forums events are held under the motto: "Creating the Economy of Trust." TASS news agency is acting as an information partner and the official photo hosting agency of SPIEF. TASS is also the operator of the zone of SPIEFs presentations with the support of EY consulting company and the Advisory Council on Foreign Investments in Russia.

"The trust among nations, among business partners, the peoples trust in the state, in new technologies and in each other become factors that may help to overcome artificially created restrictions in the global economy and politics, and to give a powerful impetus to the global economic growth," the events organizers said in a statement.
Chief Executive Officer of Russias top oil producer Rosneft Igor Sechin does not rule out that US may double supplies of energy resources to China within 3-5 years, TASS reports.

"As you know currently Chinas energy import from the US is relatively small, worth around $7.2 bln per year, which accounts for around 3% of Chinas energy imports. If implemented, the US-China tentative framework deal may double supplies of energy resources from US to China within the next 3-5 years. Those agreements bring direct losses for producers of other countries, with some of them concurrently facing direct US sanctions," he said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

According to Sechin, it raises an expected question of misrepresented market mechanisms.
Talks between the United States and North Korea are important at all levels and without them North Koreas denuclearization cannot be solved, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with editors-in-chief of the leading media organized by TASS.

"We believe that direct talks between the United States and North Korea at any, by the way, level and, what is more, at the highest level are of the utmost importance and without those talks the knotty issue of the Korean Peninsula denuclearization is unlikely to be resolved," Putin said.

North Koreas complete denuclearization could be on the negotiating table only after Pyongyang is provided with guarantees of sovereignty and security, he added.

"To my mind, North Korea should be given guarantees of sovereignty and inviolability in order to talk about complete denuclearization of North Korea," Putin said. "They are guarantees of an opportunity to decide on their own future."
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Ankara will take steps to protect Turkish companies having economic ties with Iranian companies and which may suffer as a result of US sanctions against Iran, the Turkish media quoted Spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry Hami Aksoy as saying May 25.

Reportedly, Aksoy has not disclosed a specific action plan on Turkey to protect local companies from US sanctions.

Previously, Turkey did not join the anti-Iranian sanctions imposed by the West. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that the new US sanctions against Iran will not have any effect.

"The US refusal to stick to the nuclear deal shows that Washington was not sincere in relation to the nuclear agreement with Iran," Erdogan said.

US President Donald Trump announced that the US is withdrawing from the agreement with Iran on the nuclear program reached by the "six" international mediators (Russia, the US, Britain, China, France, and Germany) in 2015. The head of the White House also announced the restoration of all sanctions, which were suspended as a result of the deal.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey will respond in a tough way if the US refuses to provide the country with F-35 fighters, and this will negatively affect the relations between Ankara and Washington, said Hami Aksoy, the Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, Turkish media reported May 25.

Aksoy noted that the US has no right to refuse from supplying F-35 fighters to Turkey.

Previously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey is a strategic partner of the US, and Ankara as a partner has always fulfilled its obligations. He also said that Turkey has paid for the supply of F-35 fighters.

The agreement for the supply between the Turkish government and Lockheed Martin company was signed in May 2017.

Meanwhile, representatives of the US Democratic Party put forward the initiative to cancel the delivery of the fifth-generation F-35 fighters to Turkey because of the countrys purchase of Russian S-400 Triumph missile systems.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier said if the US halts the supply of F-35 fighter jets, Turkey will retaliate.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
The Illinois Republican Party's latest updated platform is clear in its support of citizens' right to defend themselves and opposition to anything that impedes law-abiding citizens' to "keep and bear arms." But there is a growing number of those that ran as Republicans to win seats in the Illinois General Assembly that are either ignoring or outright rejecting that constitutional right.

SPRINGFIELD - Not only is the IL GOP divided over social issues that present themselves for votes in the General Assembly, the recent avalanche of leftist maneuvers to restrict 2nd Amendment liberties is showing light on how undependable a growing number of Republican lawmakers are.

The National Rifle Association recently alerted their members in Illinois about legislation that would mount even more gun dealer licensing obstacles:

Senate Amendment 3 to Senate Bill 337, sponsored by Senator Don Harmon (D-3), would create an onerous gun dealer licensing scheme within the state. While the purported intent of this legislation was to enhance responsible business practices, these bills only prove that the intention is to close as many federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs) as possible. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) licenses and closely monitors all FFLs and strictly enforces any violation of federal law. SA 3 to SB 337 go so far beyond federal law in its mandatory regulations and red tape imposed at the state level that they would almost assuredly force the closure of most firearm dealers and prevent prospective owners from opening new ones. This legislation seeks to create so many department divisions, anti-gun 5-member licensing boards, and licensing fees that dealers would be forced to close through oversight by anti-gun appointees or being priced out of business. (Click here to sign witness slip for SA 3 to SB 337)

Two Illinois Republican senators - John Curran of Woodbridge and Chris Nybo of Lombard - not only voted to support SB 337, they signed on a co-sponsors: an outright slap to the NRA. When the vote came before the Illinois Senate, a third joined Curran and Nybo - Tom Rooney of Palatine - to vote in full support of SB 337.

Jim Oberweis of Aurora voted "P" for present, while other Republican senators chose not to be on the floor to vote at all on the bill: Dan McConchie, Karen McConnaughay and Paul Schimpf.

Those seven votes among Illinois Senate members against the 2nd Amendment are indicative of the lack of IL GOP leadership's whipping skills, or the leadership's lack of interest in holding caucus members to the IL GOP Platform planks. It also shows the lack of allegiance to the party faithful - a situation that will contribute to less and less voter enthusiasm statewide.

But it could be just as serious in the Illinois House Republican caucus. The only vote taken thus far on SB 337 was Thursday in the Illinois House Judicial - Criminal Committee. Of the 13 committee members - eight Democrats and five Republicans - only three Republicans opposed the SB337's passage to the House floor. Those Rs that voted "no" include Brian Stewart, Terri Bryant and John Cabello. Republicans Lindsay Parkhurst of Kankakee and Barbara Wheeler of McHenry didn't vote.

One Republican state rep - the retiring Steve Andersson of Geneva - is belligerent to the IL GOP Platform, he has signed on as a co-sponsor of SB 337.

A vote could be taken any day next week as the spring session winds down. If the bill passes the House, it goes to Governor Rauner.

The IL GOP's section on Second Amendment rights:
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Fifty-one members of the "Islamic State" (IS) terrorist organization were detained during a special operation carried out by Istanbuls police, the Turkish media reported May 25.

Reportedly, operations were conducted in 16 districts of Istanbul to detain terrorists.

Among the detainees are foreigners whose citizenship has not been disclosed.

Syrian citizen Riad Haji Osman, one of the IS executioners, was detained during a special operation in Turkeys Adana province on April 13.

Kifah Bashir Hussein, the so-called minister of health of IS, was detained in Sanliurfa province on Jan. 24.

On Jan. 12, the Turkish police detained the so-called minister of agriculture of IS, Tarik Ahmet.

In December 2017, 28-year-old terrorist nicknamed Mahmud, one of the IS executioners, was detained in Turkeys Hatay province on the border with Syria.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed North Koreas statement on Friday that it was still open to talks with the United States after Trump called off a summit with leader Kim Jong Un, saying he still held out hopes for peace, Reuters reports.

Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea, Trump wrote. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell! Trump said on Twitter.

Trump pulled out of what would have been the first meeting between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader, citing North Koreas tremendous anger and open hostility in a letter to Kim on Thursday.

His decision came after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the June 12 summit in Singapore over what it saw as confrontational remarks by American officials.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said North Koreas recent criticisms of certain U.S. officials had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric and that the current antagonism showed the urgent necessity for the summit.

His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it, Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement on state media.

He added that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington regardless of ways, at any time.

North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trumps national security adviser, John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by NATO-backed militants after halting his nascent nuclear program.

Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea appreciated Trump for having made the bold decision to work toward a summit.

We even inwardly hoped that what is called Trump formula would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue, he said, without elaborating.

Trump had initially sought to placate North Korea, saying that he was not pursuing the Libya model in getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: This is the President Trump model. Hes going to run this the way he sees fit.
The White House and US President Donald Trump will be prepared to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un no matter when the summit takes place, Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Friday, Sputnik reported.

"Were always going to be prepared and if the meeting takes place on June 12th, well be ready. If it takes place on July 12th, well be ready. And were going to do whatever is necessary to prepare for that," Sanders told reporters.

Earlier on Friday, Trump told reporters his meeting with Kim could still take place in Singapore on June 12 even though he sent a letter to Kim on Thursday canceling the summit.

In his letter on Thursday, Trump cited anger and hostility in recent statements by Kim as a reason for pulling out of the highly anticipated meeting.

In comments published by North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA, Kim said on Friday that he wanted the United States to know Pyongyang wants to sit down at "any time" to solve problems with Washington.
By Tomoyuki Tachikawa, KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2018 - 22:41 | World, All

A drastic improvement in relations between China and North Korea is behind U.S. President Donald Trump's sudden cancellation Thursday of his talks with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un, diplomats in Beijing suspect.

North Korea has succeeded in obtaining support of the Asian power since the spring and started to take a tougher stance against the United States in the run-up to the Kim-Trump summit that was supposed to take place on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump's reaction, however, has gone far beyond Pyongyang's expectations, forcing Kim to reconsider his strategy to achieve North Korea's cherished goal of obtaining meaningful security guarantees from the United States, the diplomats said.

Recently, Sino-North Korea ties have greatly improved. Kim traveled to Beijing in March to talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and earlier this month the two leaders met again over two days in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian.

Kim's visit to China in March was his first foreign trip since becoming North Korea's supreme leader following the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011. Since then, several senior officials of the two countries have made reciprocal visits.

Many foreign affairs experts say Beijing has already agreed to back Pyongyang up in promoting negotiations with the United States.

U.S. diplomats in Beijing have been carefully monitoring interactions between China and North Korea, a source familiar with the matter told Kyodo News.

When speculation grew Thursday of a North Korea high-ranking official visiting Beijing, the diplomats struggled to obtain details, the source said, with some even calling up journalists for tidbits of information.

Ahead of Trump-Kim talks, the United States has been "really interested in what China and North Korea have discussed, whether China and North have made deals, and how improved China-North relations would affect the U.S.-North summit," the source added.

Trump has expressed frustration over Kim's approach to Xi, saying he detected a shift in North Korea's tone in the wake of their May 7-8 summit in China.

"There was a somewhat different attitude after that meeting, and I'm a little surprised," Trump said in a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae In at the White House earlier this week, adding, "I don't like that...I can't say I'm happy about it."



(Kim Jong Un, left, and Xi Jinping)

[KCNA/Kyodo]

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Friday, "We have no ulterior intention."

But Tong Zhao, a fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, said China and North Korea have "special" ties as communist countries, adding it is likely for them to make behind-the-scenes contacts before the U.S.-North Korea summit.

A diplomatic source from an Asian nation said China may have agreed to assist North Korea to finalize negotiations with the United States, while encouraging Kim to play hardball with Trump.

Since last week, North Korea had threatened to cancel the summit, lambasting Washington's pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons before receiving reciprocal benefits.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, "Over the past many days...we have received no response to our inquiries" from North Korea.

Nevertheless, Trump, being the personification of alpha-male one-upmanship, has been outplaying Kim, the diplomatic source said. In addition to the abrupt cancellation of the summit, the businessman-turned-president has started to warn that the United States may resort to military force.

(Mike Pompeo, left, and Kim Jong Un)

[KCNA-UPI/Kyodo]

Tetsuo Kotani, an associate professor at Japan's Meikai University, said in a TV program that North Korea "has taken the wrong attitude."

Kim is believed to be keen to ask the United States to accept the continuation of North Korea's hereditary authoritarianism, in return for Pyongyang vowing to denuclearize in a "phased" and "synchronized" manner.

Hours after Trump's announcement, Kim Kye Gwan, a vice foreign minister, swiftly released a statement urging the United States to reconsider its summit cancellation.

"We would like to make known to the U.S. side once again that we have the intent to sit with the U.S. side to solve problem regardless of ways at any time," the senior official said in the statement carried by Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency.

"We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and humankind," the official said in the statement, adding, "We, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the U.S. side time and opportunity."
KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2018 - 18:30 | All, World

The Japanese government supports U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore next month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday.

While the cancellation of what would have been the first-ever summit between the two countries is "regrettable," Abe told reporters in St. Petersburg that he respects Trump's decision not to hold the meeting until progress on North Korea's denuclearization and missile issues can be expected.

Abe, visiting Russia for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, added he wants to talk with Trump by phone soon after returning home.

(Japan PM Shinzo Abe, 2nd from left)

[Pool photo]

Earlier in the day, the top Japanese government spokesman pledged to keep maximum pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

"The important thing is not holding a meeting itself but becoming an opportunity to move toward the solution of the nuclear and missile issues as well as the abduction issue," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.

"Japan, the United States and South Korea will continue to put pressure on North Korea to change its policy," Suga said, adding that Tokyo will remain vigilant and closely monitor the situation.

Japan had hoped for a breakthrough toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at what would have been the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit. It had also urged Washington to take up the issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s at the talks.

Speaking to reporters, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Japan will keep applying pressure on Pyongyang, including working to prevent ship-to-ship cargo transfers at sea.

"Japan will closely collaborate with the United States and South Korea to push North Korea to take concrete actions toward the complete abandonment of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles," he said.

(Japan Foreign Minister Taro Kono)

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who is on a visit to Mexico, showed "understanding" of the U.S. decision to cancel the June 12 meeting, saying, "It is meaningless to hold a summit if it does not bring about progress."

But Kono expressed his intention to continue to call for a summit between Washington and Pyongyang. "To achieve the North's denuclearization and solve the abduction issues, Japan will closely work with the United States," he said.

In cancelling the summit, Trump cited, in a letter to Kim, "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement released by North Korea. "I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," the U.S. president said.

North Korea had recently warned that it might cancel the summit, lambasting recent joint military drills by South Korea and the United States as well as Washington's pressure on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons before receiving reciprocal benefits.
KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2018 - 11:59 | All, World

The Japanese government showed "understanding" of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore next month, while pledging to keep maximum pressure on Pyongyang to foil its nuclear and missile development.

"The important thing is not holding a meeting itself but becoming an opportunity to move toward the solution of the nuclear and missile issues as well as the abduction issue," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference.

"Japan, the United States and South Korea will continue to put pressure on North Korea to change its policy," the top government spokesman said, adding that Tokyo will remain vigilant and closely monitor the situation.

(Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga)

Japan had hoped for a breakthrough toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at what would have been the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit on June 12. It had also urged Washington to take up the issue of the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s at the talks.

Speaking to reporters, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera also said Japan will keep applying pressure on Pyongyang, including monitoring the North's ship-to-ship cargo transfers.

"Japan will closely collaborate with the United States and South Korea to push North Korea to take concrete actions toward the complete abandonment of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles," he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Taro Kono, who is on a visit to Mexico, showed "understanding" of the U.S. decision to call off the gathering, saying, "It is meaningless to hold a summit if it does not bring about progress."

But Kono expressed his intention to continue to call for a summit between Washington and Pyongyang. "To achieve the North's denuclearization and solve the abduction issues, Japan will closely work with the United States," he said.

In cancelling the summit, Trump cited, in a letter to Kim, "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement released by North Korea. "I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," the U.S. president said.

North Korea had recently warned that it might cancel the summit, lambasting ongoing joint military drills by South Korea and the United States as well as Washington's call for Pyongyang to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is on a visit to Russia, is expected to issue a comment on the cancellation of the summit later.
KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2018 - 09:28 | All, World

North Korea said Friday it remains open to talking with the United States to work toward peace and stability, in a markedly restrained response to U.S. President Donald Trump's cancellation of what would have been a historic summit with its leader Kim Jong Un.

"We would like to make known to the U.S. side once again that we have the intent to sit with the U.S. side to solve problem regardless of ways at any time," Kim Kye Gwan, a vice foreign minister, said in a statement carried by the country's official media.

The diplomat, who is North Korea's long-serving point man on nuclear issues, made the statement hours after Trump announced he had decided to call off the scheduled June 12 summit in Singapore, citing recent hostile remarks by Pyongyang.

[Korea Summit Press Pool]

"We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and humankind," the official said in the statement, carried by the Korean Central News Agency, adding, "We, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the U.S. side time and opportunity."

A day after Trump cautioned that the U.S. military is prepared to respond to any "foolish or reckless acts" by North Korea, the diplomat made the swift response, indicating that the country still wants to seek security guarantees from Washington by holding a summit.

North Korea recently warned that it could cancel the summit, lambasting ongoing joint military drills by South Korea and the United States, as well as Washington's call for Pyongyang to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, Choe Son Hui, another North Korean official in charge of negotiations with the United States, criticized comments by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence about how Pyongyang should proceed with denuclearization as "ignorant" and "stupid."

In an interview broadcast Monday, Pence said North Korea could end up like Libya if Kim "doesn't make a deal," conjuring up the fate that former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi met some time after agreeing to abandon his nascent nuclear weapons program in the early 2000s.

Gaddafi was overthrown and killed after a North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led coalition intervened in support of an uprising in the North African country in 2011.

Trump said Choe's remarks were based on "tremendous anger and open hostility."

"Our military -- which is by far the most powerful anywhere in the world and has been greatly enhanced recently, as you know -- is ready if necessary," Trump also said in remarks at the White House, in reference to a possible resumption of nuclear and missile tests, or other provocations, by Pyongyang.

U.S. officials have proposed that North Korea agree to a "Libya-style" denuclearization process, in which Pyongyang first gives up all its nuclear weapons before receiving any benefits.

Kim was believed to be concerned that even if Pyongyang gives up all its nuclear weapons in return for U.S. security assurances, Washington could break its promise, attempting to invade North Korea or overthrow the government.

Trump's letter to Kim about canceling their summit was made public just after North Korea said it had dismantled its only known nuclear test site as promised, amid doubts that Pyongyang would really implement concrete steps toward denuclearization.

North Korea said the demolition marks "important progress" toward "nuclear disarmament," but Pyongyang has yet to pledge to give up its nuclear weapons despite Trump's request.

On Friday, foreign media such as CNN, invited by North Korea to observe the demolition of the Punggye-ri test site, and Pyongyang disclosed images showing smoke rising at the mouth of a tunnel and wooden buildings.

At his summit with South Korean President Moon Jae In on April 27, Kim promised to shut down the nuclear test site and invite experts and media from overseas to witness its dismantlement to ensure transparency.

North Korea, however, did not invite experts such as officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency, raising concern that the actual condition of the test site will not be learned.
KYODO NEWS - May 25, 2018 - 17:23 | World, All

China on Friday called on the United States and North Korea to hold their summit to achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of the meeting planned for next month.

"We strongly hope that both sides will move in the same direction to promote denuclearization" through dialogue and consultation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said during a press briefing.

"China has always played a positive and constructive role on the Korean Peninsula," he said, adding, "We will continue to encourage (the United States and North Korea) to hold direct talks."

(China Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang)

An influential tabloid affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party reported Friday that Trump's cancellation of the summit has dealt a "heavy blow" to progress on the peninsula.

Trump's decision will impact the "alleviated situation" and "now difficult tasks will lie ahead for foreign affairs officials hoping to advance to the next stage," the Global Times said in an editorial in English.

"It is imperative the United States and North Korea avoid escalating conflicts. Even if they are unable to achieve their desired results, they should at least work hard to prevent the worst situation from happening," the paper said.

Trump announced Thursday that he had decided to call off the June 12 summit in Singapore on the grounds of recent hostile remarks by North Korea.

North Korea responded on Friday by saying it is ready to always talk with the United States to solve issues, suggesting it wants Washington to reconsider its cancellation of the summit.

Ties between China and North Korea have drastically improved recently. Kim traveled to Beijing in March to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and earlier this month the two leaders met again for two days in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian.
Widespread destruction has been reported from Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur and Kollam districts in the state.
The shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas brought renewed calls for a solution that would prevent similar occurrences in the future, after Dimitrios Pagourtzis Jr., 17, decided to kill ten innocent classmates and injure ten more. As is often the situation, Dimitrios Pagourtzis' family members said they were "as shocked and confused as anyone" by the events that occurred. Pagourtzis, they said, is a "smart, quiet, sweet boy."

Trump weighed in on the incident, addressing a stunned nation shortly after the senseless and horrific school shooting:

We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support and love to everyone affected by this horrible attack in Texas. To the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High School  we are with you in this tragic hour, and we will be with you forever

As could be predicted, anti-gun operatives showed their lack of empathy in the wake of the Texas tragedy by foregoing the sympathy and going straight to their gun narrative.

Parkland Political Activist Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg jumped to Twitter to express their gun hatred and how they think Gun Control is the only option. Emma Gonzalez had this to say:

Santa Fe High, you didnt deserve this. You deserve peace all your lives, not just after a tombstone saying that is put over you. You deserve more than Thoughts and Prayers, and after supporting us by walking out we will be there to support you by raising up your voices.

Followed by Hogg: Get ready for two weeks of media coverage of politicians acting like they give a shit when in reality they just want to boost their approval ratings before midterms.

Would more gun control, mental health screening, background checks and better school security have had any effect on the outcome of the Santa Fe High shooting? Not likely.

The weapons used in Texas were not so-called assault weapons, or weapons of war, (both exaggerations), rather a shot gun and a .38 Special revolver. This, however, will not deter a renewed call for banning assault weapons. After all, thats a convenient "one size fits all solution. It is abundantly clear that anti-gun factions wish to ban all firearms, and singling out assault weapons is only seen as an easy start. Curiously, the major media reported the shooter used a sawed-off shotgun, which would have been a serious violation of Federal law, even if it were true (it was not).

The weapons belonged to the suspects father, legally owned.

There is no record of mental health issues regarding the shooter, and only anecdotal evidence thereof by his unconventional manner of dress - a long trench coat, even in hot weather.

At least one of his classmates cited a history of bullying by a coach or coaches on the football team, of which he was a member. The school has not responded to this allegation.

School security neglected the art room where the murders occurred, which had an unsecured door opening to a parking area behind the school. The assailant entered through this door. Despite lessons from Lakewood, Florida, someone (not the shooter) activated the fire alarm, which brought students into the hall, rather than the relative safety of their classrooms. The armed school security officer was one of the first casualties, left wounded, incapacitated and in critical condition.



There is a significant difference between the Santa Fe High School shooting and that of Broward High School in Florida -- authorities acted. While the Broward County Sheriff Department took a defensive position, the Texas Authorities reacted, went on the offensive, and likely saved lives with their bravery.

Here is how Texas Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw addressed the Santa Fe High incident and the way the officers handled it:

When you get these calls, every police officer, no matter where you are, has to immediately engage the active shooter, period, Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told reporters. Theres no alternative. Because every second means that someone else is going to die.

The brave officers, independent school district here in Santa Fe, stepped up to the plate, engaged. One is in critical condition right now. The other one, the chief got there on scene, was able to rescue his officer, and a Texas state trooper also engaged the suspect. And we know that because they were willing to run in to that building  other lives could be saved. Thats absolutely important.

What is the common thread nobody talks about?: 24/7 news accounts for days after the incident, plus the publicity given for those who express solutions to what went wrong, and protests to promote those solutions.

According to the late artist Andy Warhol, everybody gets 15 minutes of fame. The twist is, that in 15 minutes a nobody becomes famous for days, weeks or months. This particular solution eludes even the most totalitarian governments, much less one in which the freedom of speech is guaranteed by a Constitution.

Similarly, banning all firearms from private possession is unconstitutional, even under the most liberal decisions by the Supreme Court. In the decision to uphold the 1934 National Firearms Act, which restricted machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, it was on the basis that they were NOT weapons of war, hence not subject to the Second Amendment.

WWI ethics were interesting. General Blackjack Pershing banned personal body armor because it implied cowardice in the face of enemy fire. Sending men into direct machine gun fire was fine, and thousands of Americans lost their lives in these futile charges. It would seem General Pickett (Gettysburg) was not the last to subscribe to this fallacy. The Browning machine gun was invented in 1902, but not used in the Great War, in fear that it would be captured and copied by the Germans. Instead our troops were equipped with French Potato Digger and British Lewis machine guns, which fed from small magazines rather than belts, and quickly fouled in battle. Field artillery was not fitted with anti-recoil mechanisms for the same reason - capture and copy. As a results guns had to be repositioned after each round.
Description

Osteria Leana is celebrating its 3rd anniversary! As a thank you for all the community support, dinner guests during Memorial Day weekend will receive a local tomato plant along with a recipe card for Chef Peter's light, fresh tomato sauce.

And, get ready to celebrate summer like the Italians - we'll have new menu items, great Italian wines, and some great late night dining options. Saluti!

Call us at (516) 584-6995 for more information or to make reservations.
International oil and gas behemoth ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) has quite a track record with dividends. Over the past 30 years, the company has increased its dividend by 629%, and in more recent years, has made it a priority to give its shareholders a raise every year. Making it even more attractive for a lot of dividend seekers is that the yield is now over 3.8% at recent prices.

Unfortunately, that high yield is as much a product of a falling share price as dividend increases. Its stock price is down 21% from the five-year peak, and more recently the company reported a surprising event: Its oil production actually declined in the first quarter. And while the biggest of big oil has a plan to drive long-term growth, there are legitimate questions as to whether its best days are in the past now and if investors would be better off looking elsewhere.

Whether ExxonMobil can rebound or not isn't a question we will try to answer in this space today. Instead, here are three dividend stocks with higher yields -- and what these Motley Fool investors think are better prospects -- than ExxonMobil: Bladex (NYSE: BLX), Enbridge Inc. (USA) (NYSE: ENB), and GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR) (NYSE: GSK).

Two hands, one holding a red percent sign and the other holding a yellow dollar sign.

Image source: Getty Images.

Banking on a solid risk-reward profile

Jason Hall (Bladex): Like ExxonMobil, Latin-American merchant bank Bladex hasn't made for a very good investment:

BLX Chart

BLX data by YCharts.

To add insult to the injury of losses investors have suffered, the S&P 500 has produced 37% in total returns over the same period. That's good for some 45% in missed-out potential gains versus the stock market's average returns, even with a dividend that has consistently yielded well above 5% over that entire period.

But I think there's a reasonable chance that Bladex can break out of that slump, which has been as much a product of huge economic woes in some of its biggest markets, including Venezuela and Brazil, as anything the bank itself has caused. To the contrary, Bladex management is focused intently on keeping its risks in check and not becoming overexposed to potentially bad loans simply to reach quarterly numbers.

Story continues

The short-term pain hasn't been much fun, with it only reporting asset growth in two of the past eight quarters. By emphasizing lending quality over quantity, Bladex is smartly avoiding the pitfalls of weak economic environments suffered by many banks. This should make for a stronger bank when its lending growth recovers, which management has a plan to spur. In the meantime, investors can buy a solid bank for a solid value at 1 times tangible book value and less than 15 times trailing earnings, while collecting a dependable dividend yield of 5.6% at recent prices.

Moving energy yields more than producing it

Chuck Saletta (Enbridge): Energy production and distribution are both very capital-intensive businesses. A key difference between the two, however, is that the production side of the business is very exposed to the price that the energy fetches from its consumers, while the distribution side is much less affected. That more stable cash flow enables pipeline operators like Enbridge to pay out higher distribution yields than production-focused energy companies like ExxonMobil.

Indeed, Enbridge's current yield is around 6.3%, easily outpacing ExxonMobil's 3.8% yield. In addition, Enbridge was able to hike its payment by about 10% this year, continuing a trend of annual increases going back over two decades. The ability to pay out -- and regularly boost -- a significant dividend is a hallmark of a business with strong, largely predictable cash flows.

One reason why Enbridge can be so confident in its cash flows is the fact that many of its contracts include "take-or-pay" provisions. Take-or-pay provisions require its customers to pay for their reservation of Enbridge's capacity, whether or not they actually use it. Since those customers have to pay for the service no matter what, it provides a high level of certainty, which helps support Enbridge's shareholder distributions.

A high-yield big pharma stock

George Budwell (GlaxoSmithKline): Britain's largest biopharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline also just so happens to offer one of the country's highest dividend yields as well. With an annualized yield of 5.4%, for example, Glaxo's dividend easily tops that of its closest British peer AstraZeneca, and even that of dividend stalwart ExxonMobil by a wide margin.

Glaxo's juicy dividend yield, however, isn't exactly an accident. The company, after all, has been on a downward spiral for the better part of the last decade, leaving its top-tier dividend as one of its last backstops against a mass shareholder exodus. As proof, Glaxo's 12-month trailing payout ratio stands at a noteworthy 258%; yet management has been hesitant to touch the dividend in any shape or form presumably out of fear of shareholder reaction.

The basic issue at play here is that Glaxo's pharma pipeline has been unable to offset the incoming competitive threats to its core respiratory and HIV franchises. As a result, the company's fairly new management team has decided to throttle back on pharma investment from both a research and development as well as mergers and acquisitions standpoint. Instead, they've diverted critical resources into less risky business ventures like consumer healthcare -- evinced by Glaxo's recent $13 billion acquisition of Novartis' consumer healthcare unit.

The bright side is that Glaxo doesn't seem interested in ruffling the feathers of income investors anytime soon, implying that its sky-high yield should be here to stay. The downside is that the company is arguably years away from returning to healthy levels of growth due to the current management team's inability to find suitable late- or commercial-stage pharma products to acquire.

So, all in all, Glaxo comes across as an attractive income play, despite its weak near-term growth prospects.

More From The Motley Fool

Chuck Saletta owns shares of Enbridge. George Budwell owns shares of AstraZeneca. Jason Hall owns shares of Bladex. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bladex and Enbridge. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In a statement from the Amazon, the company is explaining how a womans Amazon Alexa device recorded a private conversation and randomly shared it with one of her contacts.

The incident first came to light two weeks ago, when a Portland, Oregon-area woman who identified herself as Danielle received a call from one of her husbands Seattle-based employees, who told her to unplug her Alexa devices immediately.

He had received audio files  recordings  from what was going on in our house, said Danielle, who was interviewed on camera by local TV news station KIRO 7, which first broke the story. Danielle asked that the news outlet not use her last name.

In an interview with KIRO, Amazon said the issue was very, very rare. According to an Amazon spokesperson, the device was triggered to record and send the audio by background noise. Here is the companys official statement:

Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like Alexa. Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a send message request. At which point, Alexa said out loud To whom? At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, [contact name], right? Alexa then interpreted background conversation as right. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.

Danielle, who immediately unplugged all her Amazon Alexa devices, has requested a refund for her Amazon Alexa devices, reports KIRO.
[caption id="attachment_32097" align="alignnone" width="620"]

Stormy Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti leaves federal court in Manhattan on April 26. Photo: David Handschuh/NYLJ[/caption] While Michael Avenatti has been loudly battling with lawyers for Michael Cohen and President Donald Trump, hes also been quietly litigating against a former partner for more than two years, leading to a headline-grabbing $10 million judgment on May 22 against one of his law firms, Eagan Avenatti. Avenatti has called reports about the judgment "overblown," and he told New York Law Journal in an email that he rejects the amounts being demanded. But whatever it may cost him, the disputeinvolving three firms, including one in Bankruptcy Court, and dueling claims and counterclaims across multiple venuesoffers a glimpse into Avenatti's business past, before he became a star cast member in the legal and media spectacle now surrounding the presidency. The dispute centers on Eagan Avenatti, where Avenatti remains managing partner, and three lawyers who left to form a law firm of their ownIrvine, California-based Frank Sims & Stolper. Eagan Avenatti has accused them of siphoning off settlement proceeds and clients, while one of the three attorneys, Jason Frank, claims Eagan Avenatti stiffed him out of millions of dollars. Avenatti said in an email that he practices under both Eagan Avenatti and Avenatti & Associates, which share the same Newport Beach, California, address. He used the latter firm's name for his work as counsel to Stephanie Clifford, the pornography actress known as Stormy Daniels, in litigation tied to a $130,000 hush money payment from Cohen, the president's longtime attorney and fixer. The other name partner at Eagan Avenatti, San-Francisco-based Michael Eagan, did not respond to requests for comment. According to court documents, the firm employs up to nine attorneys and has handled high-profile class actions and contingency fee lawsuits. Among its cases, last year the firm won a $454 million jury verdict against Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Halyard Health Inc. in a class action over defective surgical gowns. Eagan Avenatti said in court documents that its estimated gross revenue was about $7.7 million in 2016, although other court papers point to much more. Avenatti himself was paid about $1 million in 2015 and then $850,000 in 2016, court papers said. 'Plotting to Take Cases' Despite that success, Eagan Avenatti was beset by serious problems, according to both the firm and Frank, the former lawyer there. According to a new lawsuit brought by Frank this month and an arbitration demand he served in 2016, Avenatti refused to pay Frank his rightful compensation under a contract while Frank practiced at Eagan Avenatti. In response, Eagan Avenatti alleged in arbitration counterclaims and in its own bankruptcy case that Frank and two other firm attorneys, Scott Sims and Andrew Stolper, were working to launch their own firm while still practicing at Eagan Avenatti. Avenattis firm claimed that the three were terminated in May 2016 due to breaches of fiduciary duty and underhanded dealings in attempting to secretly establish a competing law firm." Eagan Avenatti said it discovered that the three had been using work hours to plan the competing law firm and plotting to take cases. Sims was physically escorted out of the firms office, and he quickly formed a new firm, Eagan Avenatti asserted. They then proceeded to convince various [Eagan Avenatti] clients to leave and install their firm, Frank Sims & Stolper, as counsel, Avenattis firm claimed in court documents. Avenattis firm said it had to invest millions of dollars in investigating claims for its client cases. And when the former employees took substantial business with them, it left the law firm with substantial sunk costs in approximately 17 different matters, the firm said. Eagan Avenatti asserted attorney liens on those clients matters and in some cases filed claims against former clients seeking to recover fees. In a statement, Eric George, a partner at Browne George Ross who represents Frank, said Eagan Avenatti's "counterclaims were laughable, thrown out of arbitration, and thenfor good measurereleased as part of the settlement agreement wherein Mr. Avenatti agreed his firm owed Mr. Frank $10 million." 'Stench of Impropriety' Frank Sims & Stolper and its partners have claimed that Avenatti is personally liable for substantially all claims they have against Eagan Avenatti, and that Avenatti & Associates may also be liable, which Avenatti disputes. In his new lawsuit and in his 2016 arbitration case, Frank claims he was working as an attorney at Avenattis firm under an independent contractor agreement, in which he was to be paid a quarter of the firms annual profits and 20 percent of all fees paid by his own clients. Frank, a former Paul Hastings partner who had a partner title at Eagan Avenatti, alleges the firm violated the agreement by failing to pay millions of dollars owed under it, failing to provide copies of tax returns and other financial information required under the agreement, and misstating the firms profits. Frank resigned from Eagan Avenatti a few months after he filed his demand for arbitration against the firm in February 2016. About a year later, in February 2017, a three-judge arbitration panel found that Avenattis firm had acted with malice, fraud and oppression by hiding its revenue numbers and tax returns from Frank. The panel also issued sanctions against Avenattis firm for failing to comply with discovery orders, according to court documents. But soon after, a purported creditor of the firm, Gerald Tobin, filed a petition to place the firm into involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Eagan Avenatti consented to the bankruptcy, triggering a stay and preventing the trial in the arbitration from going forward. Avenatti subsequently denied playing any role in orchestrating Tobin's involuntary bankruptcy petition, Frank said in court documents, noting a Florida judge initially hearing the bankruptcy case suggested that Tobin's papers have "a stench of impropriety. In December 2017, the parties, including Avenatti, Frank and their firms, signed a settlement agreement to resolve their claims. Under the settlement, Franks corporation agreed to a general unsecured claim of $10 million, but the parties agreed that Eagan Avenatti would pay only $4.85 million. As long as the firm and Avenatti, as guarantor, didnt default under a payment schedule, Franks corporation would waive its right to collect the remaining $5.15 million of the allowed claim, according to the settlement papers. (In early 2018, Avenatti's firm also agreed that the IRS was due nearly $2.4 million in taxes and penalties.) In March, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Catherine Bauer of the Central District of California approved the parties' settlement and dismissed the firm's bankruptcy case. But the May 14 deadline came and went without the first $2 million installment payment due to Frank. Soon after, Frank moved to reopen the bankruptcy case, leading Bauer to enter a $10 million judgment against Eagan Avenatti on Tuesday. After Avenatti missed the payment deadline this month, Franks corporation also filed suit against Avenatti individually in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeking the first installment payment of $2 million. Avenatti's litigation with Frank is not the first time he has battled with colleagues. One of his former partners, John C. OMalley, sued after being allegedly pushed out by Avenatti. The Los Angeles Times reported the matter resulted in a $2.7 million payment for OMalley. Meanwhile, Avenatti's firm has been litigating with another plaintiff's personal injury firm, Los Angeles-based Stoll, Nussbaum & Polakov, since 2011 over a dispute arising from a fee sharing agreement. In an email, when asked to comment on the disputes involving former Eagan Avenatti attorneys and the $10 million judgment, Avenatti, represented by Mark Horoupian, of SulmeyerKupetz, said, "We dispute the amount that is claimed owed." Sims, Frank's current partner who initiated his own arbitration case against Eagan Avenatti for money he claimed the firm owed him, said in a statement that as part of the December settlement, Eagan Avenatti waived any right it had to attorneys fees from clients who moved from the firm to Frank Sims & Stolper, and "we didnt pay Eagan Avenatti or Mr. Avenatti a penny." He added, "Its unfortunate Mr. Avenatti is now trying to relitigate cases which his firm agreed to pay significant money to settle.
(Adds comment from public security minister, oil regulator; updates headline)

By Eduardo Simoes

SAO PAULO, May 25 (Reuters) - A truckers protest over diesel prices that has crippled key sectors of Latin America's biggest economy dragged into Friday night, putting drivers in a standoff with Brazilian President Michel Temer who authorized military force to clear highways.

The protest will stretch into its sixth day on Saturday. South America's largest city and economic hub Sao Paulo decreed a state of emergency, as did Rio de Janeiro.

Gas stations and airports across the nation ran out of fuel, supermarket shelves went bare and hospitals said they were running out of supplies. Public transport and trash collection was reduced or halted across the country, and many schools canceled classes as teachers could not get to work.

Lack of feed supplies may cause one billion birds and 20 million hogs to die, Brazilian meat group ABPA said.

"Those blocking the highways and acting in a radical manner are hurting the population," Temer said in a televised address. "We will not allow hospitals to run out of supplies to save lives. We will not allow children to be harmed by the closure of schools."

Yet Friday night, much of the country remained paralyzed.

Public Security Minister Raul Jungmann said at a Friday night news conference that there were over 500 blockades on roadways across Brazil, but that was half of those registered 24 hours before.

Brazil's oil regulator ANP said once roads are completely cleared, it would still take a week to normalize fuel supplies nationwide.

In response to the threat of military action, Abcam, a Brazilian truckers association that says it represents 600,000 drivers, called on them to no longer block roads.

However, it encouraged drivers to keep protesting and not deliver goods, meaning it was likely the situation would remain critical.

ACCORD, LITTLE ACTION

Negotiators for several trucker groups agreed late on Thursday to suspend their blockages for 15 days after the government vowed to subsidize and stabilize diesel prices, which may cost 5 billion reais ($1.4 billion) this year.

Story continues

To win over truckers the government promised to extend for 30 days a 10-percent diesel price cut announced by state-led oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

Shares of Petrobras, as the company is known, closed down nearly 1.4 percent on Friday after plunging 19 percent in the prior two days, as the blockades continued.

But the Abcam trucking association that ignited the strike was not among the parties that signed the accord and insisted on Friday it would not do so until Congress puts diesel tax cuts into law, which would take several days at the quickest.

No trucks were able to enter the port of Santos, Latin America's largest, and oilseeds crushing group Abiove told Reuters that soy exports would halt on Saturday if truckers did not allow access to major ports.

ABPA said 152 poultry and pork processing plants had indefinitely suspended production.

Auto production, which contributes about a quarter of Brazil's industrial output, ground to a halt on Friday in the latest blow to a fragile economic recovery following the worst downturn in decades.

($1 = 3.65 reais) (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes Additional reporting by Jose Roberto Gomes, Ana Mano, Brad Brooks and Gram Slattery in Sao Paulo and Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro Writing by Brad Brooks Editing by Brad Haynes, Dan Grebler and James Dalgleish)
May 23 (Reuters) - Canada has blocked a proposed takeover of construction company Aecon Group Inc by a unit of China Communications Construction Company Ltd, a Canadian government official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The decision was taken on national security grounds, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement from Canadian Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains. https://bloom.bg/2s4RQLD

CCCC International Holding Ltd, the overseas investment and financing arm of China Communications, had offered to buy Aecon for C$1.51 billion ($1.18 billion) in October.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had earlier said his government will closely monitor security issues when it decides whether to allow the deal, examining the implications for intellectual property protections.

Aecon is known for building Canada's iconic CN tower in Toronto. ($1 = 1.2840 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Taenaz Shakir in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
(Simply Wall St.)

Earlier this week, the Canadian government stepped in to stop a deal that would have seen Toronto-based construction company Aecon taken over by a Chinese state-owned enterprise. The decision not only caused Aecons stock to drop to its lowest price in a year, it could also impact overall trade relations between Canada and China.

After being reviewed under the Investment Canada Act , the C$1.51 billion deal was deemed a potential injury to national security and immediately squashed. The act gives the government the power to review the acquisition of any existing Canadian business as well as the establishment of a new Canadian business by non-Canadians. Aside from its purpose to protect national security, deals subject to review must also offer a net benefit to Canada based on:

The effect on employment, resource processing, utilization of parts and services produced in Canada, and exports from Canad

The degree and significance of participation by Canadians in the business and in any industries in Canada

The effect of the investment on productivity, industrial efficiency, technological development, product innovation and product variety in Canada

The effect of the investment on competition within any industry in Canada

The compatibility of the investment with national industrial, economic and cultural policies

The contribution to Canadas ability to compete in world markets

Hardly the first rejection

This isnt the first deal reviewed under the act, nor is it the first to be rejected (its the fifth). It does however, further strain relations between Canada and China at a time when our prime minister has publicly expressed wanting to do the opposite. In an official response to the decision, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa warned that it would seriously undermine the confidence of Chinese investors.

Previously, in 2017, Ottawa actually approved two deals with Chinese-owned companies, Norsat and ITF Technologies. Norsat was a Vancouver-based company that developed satellite systems for the Canadian Coast Guard and U.S. Department of Defense. While approval means everyone ultimately decided that government security wouldnt be compromised, its obvious to see where the concern came from in that case. In 2014, Beida Jade Birds plans to open an alarm manufacturing plant in Quebec were rejected. According to the Financial Post, unnamed sources claimed the rejection came due to the proposed plants proximity to the Canadian Space Agency headquarters.

Story continues

Keeping things under control

So what exactly made the Aecon deal a bad fit for Canada? Control, or rather the lack of it. Aecon is one of Canadas largest construction companies, and therefore has a big hand in the growth and maintenance of the countrys infrastructure. Handing that influence over to an entity whose interests are not Canadas could be seen as undoing any potential net benefit the deal could have had.

In a comment to the Globe and Mail, former CSIS director Ward Elcock said a state-owned company will always do the bidding of China. At the end of the day, China is not an ally of Canada. It is a trading partner.

After embracing a much more open approach with China, the decision came as a surprise to some, but Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated that Canada is committed to strengthening economic ties with China, just not at the expense of security.

One can easily look at the example from similar investments in Australia where the Australians suddenly realized they had a significant portion of their energy grid  owned and controlled by a government that is not their own, he told reporters on Thursday. There are always going to be concerns about the ability of a country to continue to protect and deliver essential services to its citizens in a way that enhances and maintains their own sovereignty.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Chipotle Is Planning to Close Up to 65 StoresBut It Will Add a Happy Hour Menu

Excitement grew last summer when Chipotle announced plans to add vehicular pickup windows to its restaurants. Now, five new locations across the country have adopted the drive-thru lanes, but be warned: They are unlike your typical fast-food experience.

Rather than using a microphone to order while idling in their cars, customers must order through the Chipotle app or an online form. After placing the digital order, customers receive an estimated pick-up time when they can then swing by their local Chipotle drive-thru and pick up their burrito without ever having to leave their car or even speak.

The idea has perplexed some.

Went through the drive thru, not a drive thru at all, wrote one Yelp reviewer in a one-star review of the San Antonio location. Maybe they should write that on their big drive thru order board thats right in front of the restaurant.

But the premise of digital ordering isnt a novel concept for the company, which fields thousands of customer orders daily through its app for in-store pick up, CNBC reported.

To keep up with this immense demand, Chipotle has had to add second food lines to almost 100 of its stores. These lines are exclusively dedicated to mobile orders and catering.

One of the first things I uncovered was the second make line, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol told Business Insider in early May. I was just like, this is a hugecapability that we have not been taking full advantage of.

Currently, there are only five Chipotle restaurants that feature drive-thrus, but this number is likely to grow in the coming months, CNBC reports. The current restaurants with drive-thrus are in Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Massachusetts.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
MGIC (MTG) reported earnings 30 days ago. What's next for the stock? We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues.

The deals inked by the U.S. administration with Qatar (in January) and the United Arab Emirates (in May) on massive subsidies to Gulf carriers seem to be paying off. Following the deal with the UAE, Delta Air Lines, Inc.'s DAL CEO Ed Bastian had said that he intends to resume services to destinations, where the likes of Etihad Airways, Etihad and Emirates have had an advantageous position earlier.

In keeping with his words, this Atlanta-based carrier announced that it will resume non-stop flights to Mumbai from next year. In fact, to facilitate air travel on the route, Delta aims to expand its codeshare relationship with the Mumbai-based Jet Airways. Expansion of the deal would allow passengers to fly to other Indian cities. Other details pertaining to the resumption of the operation will be disclosed by Dec 31, 2018. Service will, however, start following government clearances.

Assuming that the requisite approvals are obtained, Delta would return to Mumbai after a gap of 10 years. The airline behemoth had last operated on the route (non-stop) in 2009. Currently, United Airlines  the wholly-owned subsidiary of United Continental Holdings, Inc. UAL  is the only U.S.-based carrier to offer non-stop services connecting India and the United States.

Why Did Delta Stop Indian Service in the First Place?

According to an Associated Press report, Delta had pulled out of India in 2015. The carrier had blamed the massive government subsidies enjoyed by its Gulf counterparts for this decision in the otherwise lucrative market. As a result, Deltas operations to India were negatively impacted and became unviable. The company was unable to compete effectively with the Gulf carriers in India due to the massive subsidies enjoyed by the latter. Operations to certain other Asian markets were also similarly hurt.

In 2015, Delta along with American Airlines Group Inc. AAL and United Continental had alleged that state-owned carriers like Etihad Airways and Emirates gained from the massive subsidies and other benefits. Per U.S. carriers, the government subsidies were unfair in nature, which denied a level playing field to them. The issue snowballed into a major dispute between U.S. carriers and their Gulf counterparts.

Story continues

In a bid to resolve the long-standing dispute, the Trump administration inked deals with Qatar and the UAE. The deals require the likes of Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways to increase financial transparency.

Conclusion

With the Indian market offering significant commercial potential, it is of little wonder that Delta has decided to resume services to India immediately after the resolution of the crisis. We expect more U.S. carriers to follow suite, thereby resulting in more U.S. exposure not only to India but other Asian markets as well. Naturally, we expect investor focus to remain on this burning issue going forward.

Zacks Rank & Key Pick

Delta carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked airline stock is SkyWest, Inc. SKYW, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Shares of SkyWest have rallied more than 61% in a years time.

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A statue is pictured next to the logo of Germany's Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/Files

By Tom Sims

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank is slashing more than 7,000 jobs to cut costs and restore profitability, while keeping its international reach as its new CEO seeks to reassure investors and clients.

Germany's biggest bank said global headcount would fall to well below 90,000 from 97,000, with a 25 percent cut in equities sales and trading jobs, which are mainly in New York and London and where it has been losing ground to U.S. rivals.

Deutsche Bank did not give a specific number, but a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters ahead of the lender's annual general meeting on Thursday that it was aiming to axe 10,000 positions.

Christian Sewing, who became CEO in an abrupt management reshuffle last month, said the bank was committed to its international presence, fleshing out his plan to scale back its global investment bank and refocus on Europe and its home market after three consecutive years of losses.

Last month the bank flagged cuts to U.S. bond trading, equities, and its business serving hedge funds.

"We remain committed to our Corporate & Investment Bank and our international presence  we are unwavering in that," Sewing said, while acknowledging a "challenging" revenue environment.

Deutsche Bank has already dismissed 600 investment bankers over the past seven weeks and will cut spending by 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) by the end of 2019 in its investment bank.

"This reduction is already fully underway, and so far, due to the considered way we've handled this, we have not seen any meaningful revenue attrition," Sewing said.

EUROPE'S ALTERNATIVE

Deutsche Bank has long been a default source of lending and advice for German companies seeking to expand abroad or raise money through the bond or equity markets, a role which has had the tacit backing of successive governments in Berlin.

Sewing said that Deutsche Bank's position as a competitor to the Wall Street banking heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, whose clout has grown in recent years, remained an important focus.

Story continues

"We are Europe's alternative in the international financing and capital markets business. However, we must concentrate on what we truly do well," he said.

Another big European bank, BNP Paribas, effectively ruled out any tie-up with the German lender as the French bank's chief executive told its shareholders that it was not considering big deals.

"In the foreseeable future, the group has no intention to carry out large-sized operations, because it is not possible," Jean-Laurent Bonnafe said, when asked by an investor at its AGM if BNP was "analysing" Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche Bank has been losing ground to rivals in investment banking in all regions, Thomson Reuters data shows. Its ranking for investment banking fees fell to 10th from 8th in the Americas between 2010 and 2017,to 15th from 6th in Asia-Pacific and to 3rd from 2nd in Europe.

Coalition data shows that in global equities, Deutsche has also lost market share in the cash, derivatives and prime services businesses over the same period. Overall in global equities it ranked between 7th and 9th in 2017 against a ranking of between 4th and 7th in 2010.

The reductions will reduce the investment bank's leverage exposure by 100 billion euros, or 10 percent, but KBW analysts said the moves were disappointing and its shares, down more than 31 percent this year, were down 3.7 percent at 1221 GMT.

"We view this as confirmation of our view that drastic but necessary restructuring is impossible at this stage," KBW wrote.

"We remain concerned with their ability to generate free cash flow to support business growth post restructuring," it said, adding that to achieve its target for a return on tangible equity of 10 percent, Deutsche would need 6 billion euros of profit, something the broker viewed as highly unlikely.

The cuts are merely a first step and further details are needed, Ingo Speich, a fund manager at Union Investment which holds Deutsche Bank shares, said.

"We would have liked to see concrete announcements at todays shareholder meeting," he told Reuters. "We need clarity on how the decisions will affect the bottom line."

SHAREHOLDER PRESSURE

Deutsche Bank shareholders, who were fed with Frankfurter sausages and pretzels at the AGM, called on it to speed up the recovery process after months of internal turmoil.

"It is high-time to ... end the years-long and still-popular 'Deutsche Bank bashing' and get to work finally getting our bank back on its feet after six long years of restructuring," Klaus Nieding of shareholder lobby group DSW said.

Chairman Paul Achleitner last month abruptly replaced CEO John Cryan with Sewing amid investor complaints the bank was falling behind in executing a turnaround plan.

Achleitner defended his decision, adding that U.S. banker John Thain would head a new strategy committee on the supervisory board of the bank, which is also under pressure from credit ratings agencies.

($1 = 0.8543 euros)

(Reporting by Tom Sims; Additional reporting by Andreas Framke and Hans Seidenstuecker; Editing by Mark Potter and Alexander Smith)
elon musk

Reuters/Mike Blake

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been on an extended Twitter rant against critics of the company.

His most recent target is the media, which he says has lost the public's trust and should be tracked for truthfulness.

Musk is doing all this to distract from the alarming reality of Tesla's struggling business.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk now appears to think the media is his enemy.

For an entrepreneur who has received what can conservatively be described as luminous-megawatt-white-hot-genuflecting press for a decade and a half, this a remarkable development.

But it shouldn't be particularly surprising to Musk's boosters, haters, armchair psychotherapists, and, least of all, members of the media, who have been expressing shock that Musk would propose a new service  trollishly named Pravda, after the old Soviet-era propaganda sheet  designed to crowdsource evaluations of media truthfulness.

The whole thing spewed from an extended Twitter rant on Wednesday, which should be understood in the context of Musk's using the platform to manipulate the message around Tesla's numerous struggles and crises. It's been going on for weeks.

What set Musk off was evidently a note from the Baird analyst and Tesla bull Ben Kallo, who argued that negative media coverage of the company had peaked and is now not having much of an effect on the stock price, which over the past few months has been reverting to a mean valuation after surging toward $400 last year. Tesla is up nearly 1,000% since its initial public offering 2010, but over the past three years, shares have lagged behind the overall return of the S&P.

Musk spotted the note at Electrek, a reliably pro-Tesla site that has jokingly been referred to at times as "Tesla's Pravda." Its editor, Fred Lambert, bolstered Kallo's thoughts with his views about bad-news Elon coverage, describing himself as "increasingly bummed out."

Story continues

Musk also set up a Twitter poll, asking people to vote on whether his version of Pravda (evidently a registered company since 2017) was a good idea, or a bad one because the media is "awesome."

A free press is the opposite of a popularity contest

constitution

I'll take a second here to point out that anyone in the reputable media is completely unconcerned with whether they're "awesome" and doesn't care whether Elon Musk thinks the public respects or despises them. A free press is the opposite of a popularity contest.

That's why it's in the Bill of Rights. Over two centuries ago, the founders presciently anticipated relentless attacks from billionaire technology moguls whose mouthpiece was named after birdsong.

Well, not really. But they certainly feared tyrants and mobs. Someone should take Musk aside and remind him that journalists take their work seriously enough to go to jail and be threatened with death in war zones.

Of course, Musk is no fool. And though his conduct of late has been troubling, particularly given the challenge Tesla is up against, he's getting what he wants from all the coverage about his Twitter taunts. A great way to get the media to talk about you is to attack the media  or turn your rage into marketing, as did the innovative Kara Swisher when she invited Musk to talk Pravda at Recode's Code Conference. Musk's loyalists support him with a nearly religious devotion and are happy to anoint themselves foot soldiers in the Great Man's army.

If the media is talking about itself and dealing with a surge of disgust from the cesspools of Twitter, it's less likely to focus on Tesla's cataclysmic balance sheet and massive debt, a government investigation into Autopilot-related accidents, labor disputes, Securities and Exchange Commission inquiries, and the carmaker's inability to actually make cars.

The company has less than $3 billion in the bank and is likely to lose all its cash by the end of the year. Musk has declared that Tesla won't need to raise new funding, but plenty of auto industry experts think he's also got a bridge to sell in Brooklyn.

By all means, ignore the good news so you can read my taunting tweets

Tesla Model 3

Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

Ironically, the negative news might not be all that negative if Musk weren't radically amplifying it. Sadly, most of Tesla's good news is being drowned out.

The Model 3 sedan, for example, got off to a terrible start last year but is slowly getting on track in 2018. Nobody seemed to notice that Tesla can now sustainably build and sell about 100,000 potentially high-margin luxury vehicles every year. On a personal note, I was recently shopping for a Tesla Powerwall home battery.

Musk was back at it Thursday, re-trolling the same media enemies he taunted on Wednesday. These days, his smoke machine would impress even the members of Spinal Tap. You could almost forget that Tesla has an annual shareholder meeting on June 5 at which Musk's brother and several other consiglieres are facing a vote of confidence as members of the board. Musk's dual role as chairman and CEO is also up for debate.

Tesla could also be on its way to losing another $700 million in the second quarter.

Oh, I almost forgot: The consumer auto site Edmunds just said its Model 3 long-term test car was "falling apart," and Consumer Reports declined to recommend the car to its readers.

Wait, there's more. Tesla has $2 billion in convertible debt coming due in 2020 that will have to be refinanced if the stock isn't trading at $360 per share by then (and the company hasn't gone bankrupt). Also, Musk lives on loans pegged to his Tesla stake of 20%. His factory might be the only place he has left to sleep if Tesla tanks, and that's assuming Tesla would restructure in Chapter 11 rather than liquidate.

I know, none of that is awesome. Just facts  disturbing facts that lead to a disturbing truth. Tesla has been in trouble before, and Tesla is in trouble again.

Samuel Johnson said patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. His biographer, James Boswell, noted that Johnson meant false patriotism, an important distinction. For embattled CEOs, attacking the media is the last refuge of the desperate. The target is an easy mark. But there's nothing false about Musk's desperation, and good journalists everywhere will know how to respond, regardless of whether they're labeled Enemies of Elon  they'll ignore the smoke and mirrors and continue to dig, dig, dig.

The only question now is how dirty Musk wants to get.

NOW WATCH: Jim Chanos on the return of choppy markets, Tesla, and the 'rent-seeking behavior' that's hurting our economy

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elon musk grimes met gala

Reuters

Elon Musk doesn't care about you.

If he did, he would have details about the things that matter to customers and shareholders  the progress of the Model 3, his company's profitability, and continued efforts to make his cars as safe as possible.

Sorry.

In light of Tesla founder Elon Musk's tweetstorms railing against media coverage against the company, I think it's a good time to remind you of something I've mentioned here before.

Elon Musk doesn't care about you.

By you I mean his customers, Wall Street, his shareholders, his creditors, his employees, and anyone who just might be interested in learning more about electric cars. Teaching you about what's going on with the cars, after all, is partly the business of the media. The stories that have most recently upset Musk have to do with dangerously lax safety protocols at Tesla's factory in Freemont and poor reviews of his now $78,000 Model 3.

Tweet Embed:

//twitter.com/mims/statuses/999367582271422464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda 

He seems like a busy guy.

The last time I pointed out Musk's lack of interest in anything you was during Tesla's first-quarter earnings call a mere 22 days ago. Musk had virtually no details on his cash-poor company's progress solving the problems that will define its future. He had no details about when Tesla would meet production goals for the Model 3, how he was going fix production issues, or how he planned to swing the company into profitability.

This is because none of that interests him. That has to do with you, and what interests Musk has to do with him.

Musk is more interested in the appearance of action at Tesla than action itself. That's because, so far, the appearance of action has gotten him as much praise and adulation from the faithful as inaction. Musk is the anti-Cicero. For him seeming is as good as being.

Story continues

"Every metric that we've looked at internally suggests we are the best in class," he said on the call, failing to discuss what those metrics are or any metric, really.

Seeming, so far, has done enough to give Musk what he really craves  enough money to run his businesses with contempt for anyone who might question him, and, more important, the role of venerated leader of the cult of Musk. Everything else is just bothersome detail.

Now the cult of Musk has some good attributes. People love how Teslas drive, and Space X has captured the imagination of the entire country. In what are unquestionably confusing times, the cult of Musk is getting Americans excited about the future. For even the most cynical people, the positivity of endless possibility through science is infectious.

That's where my list of positives ends.

How you do anything is how you do everything

Now back to those bothersome details, because that's where you come into play.

My colleague Matt Debord wrote that Musk's contempt on the call was clearly, singularly for Wall Street. Debord's assessment doesn't go far enough for my taste, obviously, and far be it for me to defend the cabal of geniuses who gave the world such hits as the 2008 financial crisis and the tech bubble.

But it's completely normal for numbers guys to ask questions about numbers. When they get yelled about it for asking "boring, bonehead" questions about a business their clients are investing in, that's a red flag. Questions about the strategic "moat" protecting the business, in this case Tesla's exclusive supercharger network, should not be met with comments like the following:

"First of all, I think moats are lame," Musk said. "Theyre, like, nice, in a sort of quaint, vestigial way. But if your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long. What matters is the pace of innovation. That is the fundamental determinant of competitiveness."

This is not a game of Dungeons and Dragons with your friends. This is a business, and your investors (shareholders and creditors) would like you to protect it. At some point during the call, with all the enthusiasm of a Chinese politician reading out their guilty plea on state TV, Musk monotoned something about how he realizes Tesla "isn't a real company until" it's profitable.

Even Adam Jonas, one of Wall Street's most faithful Tesla fans, got the side of Musk's tongue for suggesting Musk raise money while he could. This in the midst of reports that the company is burning cash at a mind-bending rate.

So, no, Musk does not care about Wall Street bankers, and frankly that's fine. But he also doesn't care about his creditors and shareholders either. That is not OK.

Where are the customers' yachts (Teslas)?

And then there are the customers. On the call, Musk said he was focusing on Model 3 production, and as such is not focused on the Tesla Semi. We "haven't really tried to sell the Semi," he said.

Oh, so you've accepted about 2,000 reservations, and who knows how many thousands of dollars, for a vehicle you haven't really started working on manufacturing yet?

Reports that Tesla is underpaying workers and undercounts their injuries have barely gotten attention. Perhaps that's more of a reflection on us than it is on Tesla. Just this week Son Nguyen, a former worker at Tesla's Freemont factory, filed a lawsuit against the company for injuries.

The complaint says his injuries were caused by an explosion that threw him 15 to 20 feet. Now suffers from permanent orthopedic and neurological traumatic brain injuries, among other catastrophic permanent injuries."

Either way, add employees to the list of things Musk would rather not bother getting into detail about.

You know what else Musk does care about? The media (he even made a poll about us!) and the short sellers. These are two entities that can't attack or change what Tesla is, only its perception. Nevertheless, these are two entities that bother him. Musk called short-seller attacks "hurtful" in Rolling Stone, and on the call he seethed about reporters who dared write about Autopilot crashes.

I bring this up here because it should be clear to anyone with the desire to experiment with any new technology that there should be as much information in the public domain about it as possible. In this case we're talking about the potential for a deadly car crash.

Musk disingenuously compared coverage of traditional car crashes (the causes of which have been known for decades) with an Autopilot crash, the causes for which are still being understood.

The comparison itself is an insult to anyone who might consider driving a Tesla at all, let alone on Autopilot. Which brings me back to my point: Musk doesn't care about customers.

Toward the end of the call someone asked if Musk could just please (please) send a tweet out or something when Model 3 production ramps up to 3,000 cars a week. The investor said he was concerned about the volatility of Tesla's share price.

Musk responded to this by telling the investor that if he didn't have the stomach for volatility, he shouldn't own Tesla's stock.

He has more important things to tweet, anyway.

Musk tweet

Twitter/@elonmusk

NOW WATCH: Jeff Bezos reveals what it's like to build an empire and become the richest man in the world  and why he's willing to spend $1 billion a year to fund the most important mission of his life

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Gold holds above $1,300, on track for weekly gains of 1%

Investing.com - Gold prices moved lower in midmorning trade on Friday but were still on track for weekly gains of around 1% as demand for the safe haven asset increased this week on the back of geopolitical tensions.

At 10:59AM ET (14:59GMT), gold futures for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $1.70, or around 0.1%, to $1,302.70 a troy ounce.

On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump canceled his June 12 summit with Korean leader Kim Jong-Un because of what he called the tremendous anger and open hostility from Pyongyang.

However, Trump described on Friday a conciliatory statement from North Korea saying it remained willing to meet with the U.S. as warm and productive, suggesting that the door was not completely closed on eventual talks.

Escalating friction between China and the U.S. on trade issues also served to increase appetite for the safe haven asset this week. U.S. President Donald Trump gave a bleak outlook on Wednesday, calling for a different structure in trade negotiations and suggesting that the current deal will be too hard to get done.

Global traders were also eyeing political developments in Europe. In Italy, politicians are attempting to move forward to form government with a vote expected as early as next week. As that uncertainty eases, nearby Spain took up the baton on Friday. The lead opposition party announced that its plan to push for a no-confidence motion against current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

As far as Fridays economic calendar, Fed chairman Jerome Powell caused no waves in his participation at the Sveriges Riskbank Conference in Stockholm as he focused on transparency and accountability of central banks in his speech.

Separately, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic, Chicago Fed chief Charles Evans and Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan will participate in a panel discussion at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas conference entitled "Technology-Enabled Disruption: Implications for Business, Labor Markets and Monetary Policy" in Dallas at 11:45AM ET (15:45GMT).

Story continues

On the data front, durable goods orders fell more than expected in May, although the core reading, excluding transport, and the orders most aligned with business investment both rose more than forecast.

The University of Michigans revision to consumer sentiment disappointed with an unexpected decline, but consumer expectations, that measures sentiment for the next sixth months, fell much less than feared.

In other metals trading, silver futures fell 0.9% at $16.535 a troy ounce by 11:00AM ET (15:00GMT).

Palladium futures dropped 0.4% to $963.70 an ounce, while sister metal platinum slid 1.4% at $900.30.

In base metals, copper traded down 0.6% to $3.078 a pound.

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The government may forgive your student loans if you meet these demands

Directions are now out for how people previously rejected for public service can reapply.

But you need to have been denied for the "right" reason and still meet many other requirements.

Your application for public service loan forgiveness was denied? You're far from alone.

Now the Department of Education has issued directions for some student loan borrowers who work in public service jobs to reapply for a second chance at debt relief.

Congress authorized the $350 million "fix" to the popular, yet challenged student loan program in its March spending bill. The Department of Education was given 60 days to put out an application.

Now it has come out with one, dubbed the "temporary expanded public service loan forgiveness" opportunity.

Don't let the word "expanded" get your hopes up, though. The second chance is available only to people who still meet several demands.

The (many) qualification requirements

First, to apply you still need to have made the 120 qualifying and on-time payments under the program and have already been rejected for public service loan forgiveness.

But not all those rejected can apply  only those borrowers who were initially denied because of their repayment plan. Specifically, if you were deemed ineligible because you were enrolled in a graduated or extended loan repayment program instead of an income-driven one, you should reapply.

One important note: Your most recent payment on whatever plan you were in, as well as your payment made 12 months ago, must be as much as you would have paid on the income-driven repayment plan.

If you learn your payments were too low, you might consider switching into an income-driven repayment plan and reapplying for the fix-it fund in a year. The Department of Education warns, however, "This opportunity is temporary, has limited funding, and must be provided on a first come, first served basis."

Other technical reasons that commonly lead to disqualification remain.

Story continues

You still need to have a loan from the federal direct program  not a Federal Family Education Loan, Perkins loan or any kind of private loan.

The program also has a narrow definition of a public service worker: generally someone employed by the government or a 501(c)(3) organization.

If you're unsure whether your employer qualifies, you can fill out the Department of Education's employer certification form to find out.

How to apply

If you're one of those lucky people who meet all of the above requirements, you'll want to send an email to FedLoan servicing  the agency that handles public service loan forgiveness  as soon as possible.

Include your name and date of birth in your email to TEPSLF@myfedloan.org. Simply state that you request the Education Department reconsider your eligibility.

If you don't meet all those requirements, you can try to switch into an income-driven repayment plan or finish the 120 payments and then go through the process of getting formally rejected from Fed Loan, and then reapply for the fix-it fund  so long as it hasn't run out.

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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made five demands for Europe as the Continent seeks to preserve a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran after the United States pulled out.

The "maximalist" demands would be tough for European leader to meet, but Khamenei has shown he is willing to budge in the past.

The remarks follow a speech by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who issued 12 demands Iran must meet before Washington lifts sanctions.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued five demands to Europe that would be difficult for the Continent's leaders to meet as they seek to salvage a 2015 nuclear accord.

The European Union is engaged in high stakes talks with Tehran after President Donald Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal , putting the international agreement on life support. Diplomats from the remaining parties to the deal  Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia  will meet in Vienna with their Iranian counterparts on Friday.

Analysts are skeptical that Europe can preserve the deal in the face of powerful U.S. sanctions. The accord's demise threatens to lift limits on Tehran's nuclear program, disrupt billions of dollars in planned European investment in Iran, exacerbate transatlantic relations and disrupt oil flows from OPEC's third biggest producer.

Ahead of the Friday meeting, Khamenei set guidelines Wednesday for the talks that Eurasia Group analyst Henry Rome described as "maximalist." The demands, translated by Rome on Twitter, include:

Europeans must bring resolution to [the United Nations Security Council] protesting U.S. violation of UNSCR 2231 [the UN resolution endorsing the Iran nuclear deal]. Iran's missiles and regional presence absolutely may not be discussed with European leaders. Europeans [must] clearly oppose all American sanctions against Iran. If the Americans try to interfere with Iran's oil sales, the Europeans must guarantee the purchase of oil from Iran. Europe must guarantee Iranian banking connections.

Khamenei said Iran could start ramping up its nuclear activity, which it agreed to limit in 2015 in exchange for sanctions relief, if the accord no longer benefits the country.

Story continues

@hrome2: "Currently, we are not starting enrichment of 20% but we must be ready so that if it becomes necessary, and we see the JCPOA become useless, the activities that were stopped because of the JCPOA can be resumed."

The demands set a high bar for several reasons. Ahead of the U.S. exit, French President Emmanuel Macron said two pillars of its policy going forward include addressing Iran's ballistic missile program and its role in Middle East conflicts. While the European Union is taking measures to block the U.S. sanctions, it is ultimately up to the Continent's banks and companies to decide if they can stomach the risk of running afoul U.S. sanctions.

But according to Rome, Khamenei's demands should not be read as the final word on the Iranian position.

"He has a habit of laying out guardrails for the government and he did this during the nuclear negotiations in 2014 and 2015, as well," he said. "But at the end of the day, he is known to take both sides of an issue and leave himself lots of opportunities to change his mind or refine his views."

The demands themselves do not alter the prospects for the deal, but Eurasia Group thinks it will not survive long.

"We think it's most likely that in the next three to four months, the Iranians decide to walk, simply because what the Europeans can offer  with regards to trade, investment and oil sales  it will not be sufficient to balance out the nuclear concession that Iran is making."

The tone of the demands appear to be a response to a speech by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo , said Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which opposed the 2015 deal negotiated by President Barack Obama.

On Monday, Pompeo issued his own list of a dozen concessions Iran must make before Washington lifts sanctions and normalizes ties with Tehran.

"While Pompeo went for 'big' in his speech, Khamenei seems to be going for 'bigger,'" Taleblu told CNBC in an email.

"After the U.S. left the JCPOA, Khamenei ordered Iran's President Rouhani to get guarantees from the West about continuing to facilitate trade. Khamenei is now doubling down on that charge," he said, referring to the deal's official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.





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* After dozens killed by army on Monday, bloodshed wanes

* Hamas denies Egypt mediating

* Turkey steps up diplomatic sanctions against Israel (Adds Israeli air strike on Hamas targets)

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams

GAZA/JERUSALEM, May 16 (Reuters) - Palestinian protests on the Gaza-Israel border have dropped off over the past two days, amid reports that Egyptian officials intervened to restore calm after dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire.

Gaza's dominant Islamist Hamas movement denied that it was under pressure from neighbouring Egypt to scale back the six-week-old demonstrations, and said they would continue, although fewer Palestinians were now gathering in protest tents.

Gaza medics said two Palestinians were shot dead during Tuesday's demonstrations along the 51 km (32 mile) border. On Monday, 60 were killed in a far greater turnout on the day that the United States relocated its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.

The bloodiest day for Palestinians in years has created a diplomatic crisis. The Palestinian Authority, which says Washington has abandoned its role as neutral arbiter in the 70-year-old conflict, withdrew its envoy from Washington. Turkey and Israel expelled each other's ambassadors.

On Wednesday the Palestinian Foreign Ministry announced the recall of its envoys in Romania, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic because those countries participated in the reception for the U.S. delegation that inaugurated the embassy.

Pushing back against foreign censure of its army's actions, Israel has - with Washington's backing - accused Hamas of using civilians as cover for attacks across the frontier fence and to distract from Gaza's internal problems. Hamas denies this.

In a speech on Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited figures from Salah al-Bardaweel, a Hamas official in Gaza, saying: "We know of similar numbers and therefore Israel will continue to defend itself as much as is needed."

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Violence along the border was very limited on Wednesday, and the Israeli army said a tank targeted two Hamas positions in the southern Gaza Strip after troops had been fired upon. No casualties were reported by either side.

Israeli aircraft hit four Hamas targets in the northern Gaza Strip after midnight in response to heavy machine gun fire that struck several houses earlier in the Israeli town of Sderot, an Israeli military statement said.

One Gaza resident living near one of the targets was slightly hurt by fragmentation from the air strike, Gaza medical officials said. No casualties were reported in Sderot; there was slight damage to property.

EGYPTIAN PRESSURE

Dubbed the March of Return, the protests were launched on March 30 to assert the right of Palestinians to return to homes lost to Israel during its founding in 1948.

Gaza analyst Akram Attallah, pointing to the smaller number of protesters since Monday's deaths, said: "I can see there is a retreat because of the Israeli bloody response ... but Friday will represent an indicator to where things are going." Fridays normally see protesters turn out in larger numbers.

The reports of Egyptian pressure on Hamas, the armed Islamist faction that controls the Gaza Strip, followed a visit by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday to Egypt, which has sought to act as a broker between Hamas, Israel and other Palestinian factions.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said that an Egyptian intelligence chief, whom he did not name, "made unequivocally clear" to Haniyeh that Egypt would not help if Hamas continued to stoke the protests, and Israel responded with harsher measures.

"Haniyeh returned to Gaza, Hamas gave an order ... and miraculously, this spontaneous protest by a public that could not handle the situation any more dissipated," Katz told Israel Radio. There was no immediate response from Egypt to Katz's statements, and Hamas dismissed the Israeli claims as false.

Hamas leader in Gaza Yehya Sinwar denied that Egypt put pressure on Hamas to end the protests and said that instead, Haniyeh discussed what Cairo could do to ease hardship in Gaza.

"They were keen these marches do not slide into armed confrontations and we agree with the brothers in Egypt over that, Sinwar said in an interview on Al Jazeera television.

HOLDING FAST

Gaza has been controlled since 2007 by Hamas, an Islamist group that denies Israel's right to exist and has fought three wars with Israel in the past decade. Israel and Egypt, citing security concerns, maintain a de facto blockade on Gaza which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse.

Two million people live in the narrow strip, most stateless descendants of refugees who fled or were driven out of homes during fighting between Jewish and Arab forces at the time of Israel's founding. They suffer from what the World Bank says is one of the highest rates of unemployment on earth, and say the blockade makes rebuilding impossible.

At a border protest encampment east of Gaza City, Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, urged people to take part in mass rallies on Friday.

But the start on Thursday of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours, could limit the scale of demonstrations. The factions said the fasting would be taken into account but marches would continue through early June.

Organisers say the Gaza protests are civilian actions, noting the absence of Israeli casualties, compared to 107 Palestinian dead and thousands of wounded. Israel disputes this and says some of those killed were firing at its troops.

On Wednesday, Bardaweel, the Hamas official in Gaza, told a Palestinian television channel that of the 62 people killed on Monday and Tuesday, "50 of them were from Hamas, and 12 from the people."

Israeli officials quickly seized upon his remarks. "Take his word for it. This was no peaceful protest," Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus wrote on Twitter.

In Jerusalem, following the U.S. lead, Guatemala opened its embassy in the city on Wednesday. Paraguay is slated to do the same next week.

Most countries keep their embassies in Tel Aviv, saying the status of the holy city should be decided in peace talks between Israel and Palestinians, which want to have their own capital there. Those talks have been stalled since 2014.

Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they want to establish in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. (Writing by Dan Williams, Jeffrey Heller, Ori Lewis and William Maclean Editing by Peter Graff, Richard Balmforth and Leslie Adler)
Marvell Technology Group Ltd.s MRVL previously announced acquisition of Cavium CAVM moved a step closer after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) cleared the deal of any type of unresolved national security concerns.



Notably, CFIUS is a government committee in charge of reviewing economic transactions by foreign entities.



However, Marvell still awaits approval from Chinas State Administration for Market Regulation to complete the transaction. The company is optimistic regarding obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals in time and closing the deal by mid-calendar 2018.



In November 2017, the two companies entered into an agreement wherein Marvell agreed to acquire Cavium in a cash-stock deal worth $6 billion. Per the agreement, Marvell will pay $40 per share and 2.1757 of its common shares for each Caviums share.



This means, post buyout, shareholders of Cavium will own 25% of the combined companys share. Marvell intends to fund the buyout with available cash in hand and $1.75 billion in debt.



Accretive to Top & Bottom Lines



This deal is expected to accelerate Marvells revenues and margins. Upon successful completion of the deal, Marvell expects the total addressable revenues for the combined entity to cross $16 billion mark.



Apart from this, the company expects to realize at least $150-$175 million in cost synergies, within 18 months post the deal conclusion.



Further, the combined entity is anticipated to witness a compounded annual revenue growth rate of 6-8%. It is also expected to be accretive to its margins. Marvell anticipates combined companys gross, operating and EBITDA margins to be nearly 65%, 35% and 40%, respectively.

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Revenue (TTM)

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Revenue (TTM) | Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Quote



A Smart Move



In the maturing chip industry it only makes sense for both the companies to combine and gain a competitive advantage. The combined entity will have the ability to offer an enhanced product portfolio to its customers.



Marvell is one of the leading providers of chips into the networking, storage and wireless connectivity segments. Caviums product portfolio caters to security, storage and networking segments. Even as both the companies cater to storage and networking markets, their focus lies in different categories helping this business deal serve a broad range of end markets.



Furthermore, Caviums strategy of breaking into Intel Corporations INTC potential hold on the server microprocessor market makes it the most feasible buyout for Marvell, per a Bloomberg report. According to the report, Intel holds more than 99% market share in this space.



In fact, Cavium got a major breakthrough in the server microprocessor market in 2017 when it announced that Microsofts MSFT Azure cloud platform will run on its ARM-based processors instead of Intels. Consequently, we believe the Cavium buyout will provide Marvell a direct access to this lucrative market.



Currently, Marvell and Cavium, both carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



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There are many reasons to love Costco: theyve got great prices on everything your home could ever need, they're generous with their free samples, and they make fantastic rotisserie chickens. But in addition to all of that, theyre also amazing for one other reason: they pay their workers really welland take care of them too. By the way, here are 15 secrets Costco employees won't tell you. According to Glassdoor, the average cashier salary at Costco is $14 per hour, with a range of $8 to $25. That's compared to the national average cashier salary of $11 per hour, according to Salary.com. Front-end assistants, the employees who help customers around the store, take home an average of $13 per hour, with a range of $8 to $22.50. Additionally, both hourly and salaried, part-time and full-time employees are eligible for benefits. Find out what the people who hand out the samples at Costco wish you knew. On top of being compensated fairly, Costco employeesplain and simplejust love working at Costco. One 2014 Glassdoor report found that Costco ranked number two in the United States for compensation and benefits. The ranking was determined solely based on reviews by employees on the site in the 12 months leading up to the report. The retailer ranked right between Google, which was number one, and Facebook, which was number two. But even though Costco employees are well compensated, theres still a few things theyre keeping to themselves. Learn the 15 money-saving secrets Costco employees won't tell you.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the funds flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, in this March 1, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Olivia Harris/File Photo

By A. Ananthalakshmi and Joseph Sipalan

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The government of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak used funds from deals with the central bank and the sovereign wealth fund to pay for some of the liabilities of beleaguered state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The payments, which were kept secret by Najib's administration, show the extent to which federal agencies and government money were used to bail out debt-ridden 1MDB, a fund founded by Najib and subject to money laundering investigations in at least six countries.

About $500 million raised from a land sale agreement with the central bank and about $300 million from the sell-back of shares of sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad were used to fund the $1.2 billion settlement amount owed to Abu Dhabi state fund IPIC, the sources said.

The sources did not want to be identified as they were not authorized to talk to media.

At the time of payments to IPIC last year, 1MDB had said it had funded the settlement through ongoing rationalisation programmes. But Malaysia's new finance minister dismissed those claims this week as "deception" and said the finance ministry had been bailing out 1MDB for over a year.

Najib held the finance ministry portfolio since 2008, including when he was prime minister, until his shock defeat in a general election earlier this month. Neither he nor a spokesman were available for comment on the allegations on 1MDB.

1MDB officials did not immediately reply to questions on the matter.

1MDB's financial position has unravelled in recent days under the new Malaysian administration of Mahathir Mohamad, who has opened investigations into allegations of money laundering and corruption at the state fund.

Najib has been barred from leaving the country and is being questioned by the anti-graft agency.

In civil lawsuits, the U.S. Justice Department has alleged that about $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB.

Story continues

The Malaysian fund has denied any wrongdoing and Najib has denied all allegations of corruption against him.

Khazanah told Reuters in an e-mail that the ministry of finance exercised its right in August 2017 to redeem outstanding Redeemable Convertible Cumulative Preference Shares amounting to 1.2 billion ringgit, which were issued to the ministry in 2011.

In a statement issued later, Khazanah said it had no control over the utilisation of the funds once the shares were redeemed. The finance ministry had the right to redeem the shares at any point, it said.

The central bank said in a statement it initiated the purchase of the land, and it was conducted as an arms-length transaction. It said it has extended information on the deal to the country's anti-graft agency for a complete review.

The finance ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the central bank deal. On the Khazanah transaction, it directed Reuters to the Khazanah response.

New Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng is scheduled to hold a news conference at 0830 GMT.

MISSED PAYMENTS

Funds from the Khazanah share repurchase deal were used to pay for the first tranche of settlement payment owed to IPIC, while money from the land sale to central bank was used to fund the second and final tranche, the sources said.

As part of the initial settlement agreement with IPIC, 1MDB was supposed to pay the $1.2 billion in two tranches - one by July 31 and the other by Dec. 31.

1MDB missed the first deadline to pay $600 million. The Abu Dhabi fund then allowed 1MDB to pay the amount in two equal instalments by end August.

It was not clear when exactly in August Khazanah made the 1.2 billion ringgit payment to the finance ministry that was eventually used to fund the IPIC settlement.

On Dec. 27, 1MDB said it had paid the final tranche and that the entire settlement amount was paid through funds raised by an "ongoing rationalisation" programme.

Bank Negara Malaysia said on Jan. 4 that it had agreed to purchase a plot of land from the Malaysian government for about 2 billion ringgit after several months of discussions.

Najib's government deceived the public and parliament over the country's financial situation and 1MDB, Lim, the finance minister, said this week. The ministry has paid for nearly 7 billion ringgit of 1MDB's dues since April 2017 and the government is due to pay billions more from 2022, he said.

($1 = 3.9800 ringgit)

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi, Joseph Sipalan and Liz Lee; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Placement fully subscribed

Due to demand, Company announces follow-on private placement

Sandstorm Gold Ltd (TSX:SSL) takes 17.3% ownership stake in Nexus



VANCOUVER, CANADA / ACCESSWIRE / May 24, 2018 / Nexus Gold Corp. ("Nexus" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NXS, OTC: NXXGF, FSE: N6E) is pleased to announce that it has closed its non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of 20,027,123 units (each, a "Unit"), at a price of $0.15 per Unit, for gross proceeds of $3,004,068. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company, and one-half-of-one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant is exercisable to acquire one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.25 per share for a period of twelve months.

The Private Placement was fully-subscribed, and due to strong demand, the Company intends to complete a further offering (the "Follow-On Private Placement") of up to 6,000,000 units (each, a "Follow-On Unit"), at a price of $0.25 per Follow-On Unit, for gross proceeds of up to $1,500,000. Each Follow-On Unit will consist of one common share of the Company, and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Follow-On Warrant"). Each Follow-On Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.35 per share for a period of twelve months from the date of issue. Completion of the Follow-On Private Placement remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

In connection with the completion of the Private Placement, the Company has paid cash commissions of $113,954.46 and issued 759,696 share purchase warrants (each, a "Finders' Warrant") to certain persons who have introduced subscribers to the Company. Each Finders' Warrant is exercisable to acquire an additional common share of the Company on the same terms as the Warrants comprising the Units. All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement are subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period.

Story continues

Pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues, Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (TSX:SSL) ("Sandstorm") acquired an aggregate of 6,000,000 common shares of Nexus and 3,000,000 Warrants through the Private Placement.

With the acquisition Sandstorm now holds an approximately 17.3% of the outstanding common shares. Sandstorm is only entitled to exercise, from time to time, such number of Warrants held by it such that, after the applicable exercise, the number of common shares of Nexus then owned by Sandstorm and its affiliates shall not exceed 19.99% of the then issued and outstanding shares.

The acquisition by Sandstorm was effected for investment purposes. Sandstorm may from time to time acquire additional securities of Nexus, dispose of some or all of the existing or additional securities it holds or will hold, or may continue to hold its current position. The early warning report, as required under National Instrument 62-103, contains additional information with respect to the foregoing matters and will be filed by Sandstorm on Nexus' SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. In connection with the completion of the Private Placement, the Company has agreed to grant to Sandstorm a 1.0% net smelter returns royalty on production from the Company's Bouboulou, Niangouela, and Rakounga concessions.

About the Company

Nexus Gold is a Vancouver-based gold exploration and development company operating primarily in Burkina Faso, West Africa. The company is currently concentrating its efforts on establishing a compliant resource oat one or more of it's three current projects. The 38-square km Bouboulou project comprises no less than five established gold zones contained within three separate 5km gold trends. The adjacent 250-square km Rakounga gold concession extends the Bouboulou gold trends and currently contains three drill tested zones of mineralization. The Niangouela gold concession is a 178-square km project featuring high-grade gold occurring in and around a primary quartz vein and associated shear zone approximately one km in length.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of

NEXUS GOLD CORP.

Alex Klenman

Chief Executive Officer

604-558-1920

info@nexusgoldcorp.com

www.nexusgoldcorp.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws.

SOURCE: Nexus Gold Corp.
Oil prices dropped by about $2 a barrel on Friday, falling further from recent 3-year highs and putting the futures on pace for a weekly loss.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said a group of producer nations could soon begin easing production limits aimed at balancing the market.

Novak met with his Saudi counterpart to discuss the agreement in light of declining Venezuelan output and renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Oil prices fell sharply on Friday after influential energy ministers said a group of two dozen producer nations could soon begin easing the production limits they put in place last year to drain a global crude glut.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak met with his Saudi counterpart, Khalid Falih, in St. Petersburg to discuss the deal, which has aimed to keep 1.8 million barrels a day off the market since January 2017. The parties are now considering a gradual exit to that deal to compensate for falling production in crisis-stricken Venezuela and anticipated export disruption from Iran, which faces renewed U.S. sanctions.

"The moment is coming when we should consider assessing ways to exit the deal very seriously and gradually ease quotas on output cuts," Novak said in televised comments, according to Reuters.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices dropped below $69 a barrel, slipping further from this week's peak of $72.83, its highest since November 2014. They were down $2, or 2.8 percent, at $68.71 at 9:56 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, Brent crude fell $1.81 or 2.3 percent, to $76.98. The international benchmark for oil prices last week hit a 3-year high of $80.50, also going back to November 2014.

Brent is down 2 percent this week, on track to break a six-week winning streak. U.S. crude is down more than 3 percent for the week.

The ministers are considering a supply increase of as much as 1 million barrels a day to cool the market, sources told Reuters. Falih is particularly concerned about the impact of oil prices above $80 a barrel on consumer nations like China and India, the news agency reported.

Story continues

The move to potentially ease the production caps follows news reports that Saudi Arabia was roughly targeting $80 a barrel to support domestic initiatives. Those reports helped bolster crude prices within the last two months.

But it now appears that prices accelerated "too far, too fast," said Matt Smith, head of commodities research at shipping intelligence firm ClipperData.

"They've reached their target and it now seems as if they're pulling the levers to try to keep prices around this $80 mark," he said. "The $80 mark is not too hot, not too cold, but just right."

Oil prices struck new multi-year highs after President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and restore punishing sanctions on the country, OPEC's third biggest producer. The administration's hawkish tone since then has raised concerns of substantial supply disruptions from Iran, despite efforts by the European Union to preserve the accord.

Meanwhile, output continues to decline in Venezuela, which re-elected President Nicolas Maduro this week, prompting fresh U.S. sanctions. Venezuela is mired in a devastating economic crisis that has hobbled its ability to tap its lifeblood oil reserves.

In the United States, output continues to rise toward the 11 million barrels-per-day, with U.S. drillers threatening to unseat Russia as the world's top producer. However, bottlenecks in the Permian basin, the nation's biggest shale oil producing region, mean U.S. drillers may fail to meet growing global demand for petroleum.

The pause in the oil price rally could be good news for drivers. The national average for regular gasoline in the United States has risen to nearly $3 a gallon, the highest level since 2014, prior to an historic oil price crash.

Watch: Here's what drives the price of oil



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Pattern Energy Group Inc. PEGI announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its 81 MW interest in 115 MW El Arrayan Wind project in Chile for $67 million in cash and the divestment is expected to close within 90 days, subject to customary closing conditions.



Pattern Energy expects to reduce $1 million annual overhead cost in relation to business management in Chile.



The companys decision to discontinue its wind operation in Chile was strategic as the operational hub was located far from the companys remaining business activities. The wind operation was located nearly 400 km north of Santiago on the Chilean coast, due to which, the company had to incur higher fleet operation cost, different legal, tax and regulatory environments. The sale proceeds will either be utilized to make further accretive investments, clearing debts, share buyback or for other corporate purposes.



Future Plans of Pattern Energy



Pattern Energy is currently working on Pattern 2020 initiative, which sets out targets for its growth into the next decade and beyond. Under this initiative, the company aims to double its existing capability by end of 2020.



Pattern Energy has utility scale renewable operations in U.S., Chile, Japan and Canada. The company is presently focused on expanding its renewable operation in Japan through acquisitions.



The company bought 206 MW of solar and wind portfolio in Japan, of which, four projects with a total of 84MW are in operation and immediately accretive to the companys business. The remaining 122 MW of solar and wind project is under construction



Expansion in Japan is a very profitable venture for the company as in Japan, the average power contract price is $230 per megawatt hour. So the 206 MW that the company acquired in Japan is equivalent to 400-600 MW in North America. Given the profitability and scope, we expect the company to further widen its scope of operations in Japan.



Importance of Renewable



Renewable Energy source has been gaining momentum globally. Wind and solar power have been two of the fastest growing sources of electricity generation on the international front over the past decade. In 2017, global installed wind capacity grew by nearly 11%, thus bringing the global total to 540 GW. Projections by the International Energy Agency indicate that renewable energy will continue to grow at a faster rate than fossil fuels over the next two decades.



Per U.S. Energy Information Administration report, during the 2014 to 2017 time period, renewable sources accounted for more than 50% of the total utility scale power plant added in the United States. In 2018 9 GW of new solar and wind assets will be added, which shows the rising popularity and importance of renewable sources in the United States.



Price Performance



Shares of Pattern Energy have outperformed its industry in the past 30 days. The stock has gained 0.7% against the 1.8% decline of its industry.

Story continues







Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider



Pattern Energy has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Utility  Electric Power Industry are IDACORP, Inc. (IDA), WEC Energy Group, Inc. (WEC), and CMS Energy Corporation (CMS), each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



IDACORP, Inc. IDA reported first-quarter 2018 earnings of 72 cents per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 71 cents by 1.41%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 EPS remained unchanged in the last 30 days to $4.19.



WEC Energy Group, Inc. WEC reported first-quarter 2018 earnings of $1.23 per share, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.16 by 6.03%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 EPS remained unchanged in the last 30 days to $3.30.



CMS Energy Corporation CMS reported first-quarter 2018 earnings of 86 cents per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of 82 cents by 4.88%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2018 EPS remained unchanged in the last 30 days to $2.33.



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At an interview with Fox News on May 21, US Vice-President Pence made unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya, military option for North Korea never came off the table, the US needs complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation, and so on.

As a person involved in the US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president.

If he is vice-president of single superpower as is in name, it will be proper for him to know even a little bit about the current state of global affairs and to sense to a certain degree the trends in dialogue and the climate of detente.

We could surmise more than enough what a political dummy he is as he is trying to compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya that had simply installed a few items of equipment and fiddled around with them.

Soon after the White House National Security Adviser Bolton made the reckless remarks, Vice-President Pence has again spat out nonsense that the DPRK would follow in Libyas footstep.

It is to be underlined, however, that in order not to follow in Libyas footstep, we paid a heavy price to build up our powerful and reliable strength that can defend ourselves and safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region.

In view of the remarks of the US high-ranking politicians who have not yet woken up to this stark reality and compare the DPRK to Libya that met a tragic fate, I come to think that they know too little about us.

To borrow their words, we can also make the US taste an appalling tragedy it has neither experienced nor even imagined up to now.

Before making such reckless threatening remarks without knowing exactly who he is facing, Pence should have seriously considered the terrible consequences of his words.

It is the US who has asked for dialogue, but now it is misleading the public opinion as if we have invited them to sit with us.

I only wonder what is the ulterior motive behind its move and what is it the US has calculated to gain from that.

We will neither beg the US for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us.

Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States.

In case the US offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the DPRK-US summit.
Central Bank of Russia Bitcoin

Russian banking giant Sberbank and the countrys National Settlement Depository will test an initial coin offering on a central bank regulatory platform.

Sberbank and the National Settlement Depository (NSD), Russia biggest bank and the securities depository respectively, will test the issuance of an initial coin offering (ICO) on a regulatory platform established by the Bank of Russia, the countrys central bank. Launched in April, the regulatory platform was developed by the central bank to conduct test pilots of new financial services and technologies that required legislative changes before any implementation.

According to an announcement by Sberbank CIB, the corporate and investment banking arm of Sberbank, the issuer of the ICO will be Moscow-based Level One, a popular commercial lecture website.

The coin offering will occur in late summer 2018 with tokens registered and settled on the NSDs financial market infrastructure, used by traditional stock exchanges. Sberbank says it will act as the organizer and chief investor in Level Ones ICO. The NSD will serve as the custodian and, in addition to safeguarding the digital assets, will also maintain a record of transactions settled.

The two financial institutions claim the pilot will enable them to mitigate any associated risks and gain feedback from the central bank while assessing the performance of an ICO which provides transparency to reduce risks for investors.

Our end goal is to create the fundamental basis for the development of the digital economy in our country, for the emergence of a new type of asset for investors, for ICO ecosystems, and for the circulation of digital assets on the secondary market, NSD chairman Eddie Astanin stated. In conjunction with market leaders, we are implementing a project to create infrastructure to record digital assets.

The noteworthy pilot comes at a time when Russian companies are professing an active interest in fundraising possibilties through initial coin offerings, according to Sberbank CIB chief Igor Bulantseve.

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The Sberbank executive, who is also the senior vice president of the banking group, said:

Sberbank CIB considers the Russian ICO market to be very promising. Many Sberbank clients are interested in this type of investment, and we plan to promote this service proactively once the appropriate legislative framework comes into effect; we will be one of the drivers to institutionalize and popularize this type of transaction.

As reported this week, Sberbank CIB notably purchased commercial bonds from telecom giant MTS over a blockchain, the first transaction of its kind in Russia. Russias NDS has also implemented blockchain technology for e-proxy voting as early as 2016.

Featured image from Shutterstock.



The post Russias Central Bank Will Host an ICO Pilot on its Regulatory Platform appeared first on CCN.


FILE PHOTO - A worker checks the valve of an oil pipe at an oil field owned by Russian state-owned oil producer Bashneft near the village of Nikolo-Berezovka, northwest of Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia, January 28, 2015. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo

ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that Moscow was flexible regarding possible changes to oil production levels but insisted that any decision be consensual.

"We're flexible on taking any decisions including decisions on changing production levels," Novak told CNN. "But this should be a unanimous decision by all parties involved."

Novak added that the global oil glut was over.

OPEC and non OPEC states will convene in Vienna next month to discuss the future of the global deal on oil output.

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal in Dubai; Writing by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Russia quietly conducted the world's longest surface-to-air missile test, according to sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence about the weapons program.

The S-500 surface-to-air missile system successfully struck a target 299 miles away.

Russia claims that the ground-based missile system is capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles, drones, aircraft as well as stealth warplanes like the F-22 and the F-35.

Russia quietly conducted the world's longest surface-to-air missile test, according to sources with direct knowledge of U.S. intelligence concerning the weapons program.

The S-500 surface-to-air missile system successfully struck a target 299 miles away, which the U.S. assessed is 50 miles further than any known test, said the sources, who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity.

Russia claims that the ground-based missile system is capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles, drones, aircraft as well as stealth warplanes like the F-22 and the F-35. The S-500 system would expand the Kremlin's capabilities to engage multiple targets with precision strikes.

Russia also claims the system has a range capable of destroying objects flying at near-space ranges or 62 miles above the Earth's surface.

The developments about the new missile system emerge as investigators claim that a Russian-owned surface-to-air missile blew up Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014 over eastern Ukraine. Russia has denied involvement in the incident. On Thursday, Moscow's defense ministry said none of the country's air-defense missile systems crossed the Russia-Ukraine border.

A medium-range Buk surface-to-air missile system was reportedly used to down the plane, resulting in the deaths of nearly 300 people. The Buk system is from a different family of missile systems as the new S-500 and its predecessor, the S-300V4, which has been operational since the late 1970s.

The test of the new system used a modified variant of the missile used in the S-300V4 surface-to-air system.

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The latest revelation comes one week after CNBC learned that multiple U.S. intelligence reports assess that Russia will be capable of fielding a hypersonic glide vehicle called Avangard, a weapon that no country can defend against, by 2020.

The hypersonic weapon is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, is designed to sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile. Once launched, it uses aerodynamic forces to sail on top of the atmosphere.

Sources, who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity, said Russia successfully tested the weapon twice in 2016 . The third known test of the device was carried out in October 2017 and resulted in a failure when the platform crashed seconds before striking its target.

Meanwhile, Russia is expected to test their hypersonic glide vehicle again this summer.





More From CNBC


Remember President Trumps 2019 budget  that big document released in February and then immediately dismissed or ignored? Well, a new analysis released Thursday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office finds that the presidents proposal wont rein in rising deficits like the White House claims.

CBO estimates that, over the 10 years from 2019 to 2028, the Trump budget request would cut the deficit by $2.9 trillion compared to the current baseline. The White House estimated that the deficit reduction over that time would total $5.2 trillion.

The White House had estimated that the deficit would be $450 billion in 2027 and $445 billion in 2028. CBO, by contrast, sees deficits of $965 billion and $1.1 trillion for those years under the Trump budget.

In all, CBO says Trump's budget would result in cumulative deficits of $9.5 trillion over the next decade compared to $7.2 trillion estimated by the White House.

Under the presidents budget, federal debt held by the public would rise from about 78 percent of GDP this year to 86 percent in 2028. Thats lower than the 96 percent CBO projects in its current baseline, but higher than the 73 percent the White House had estimated.

The bottom line: The big differences between CBOs numbers and those from the White House Office of Management and Budget are mostly the result of vastly different economic assumptions, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: OMB projects real GDP growth averaging 3 percent over the next decade while CBO's projects an average of 1.8 percent. Largely as a result, CBO estimates $1.95 trillion less in revenue than OMB  which constitutes 85 percent of the total difference over 2019 to 2028.

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Trump administration is telling Congress it has an agreement to save China's ZTE: New York Times

The Trump administration is telling lawmakers it has reached an agreement to aid Chinese telecom firm ZTE, according to The New York Times.

The possible deal could include a financial penalty and management changes, as Trump described earlier this week.

The news comes as the U.S. and China are trying to cement a trade deal to avoid potentially damaging tariffs.

President Donald Trump 's administration is telling Congress it has come to an agreement to boost Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, The New York Times reported , citing a person familiar with the matter.

As part of the deal, ZTE would pay a financial penalty, revamp its management and hire American compliance officers, the newspaper reported. The U.S. would scrap a ban on the company buying American products under the agreement. It is unclear how firm the reported agreement is at this point.

The outline reported by the Times appears to fall in line with some steps Trump said he could take to help ZTE get back into business . On Tuesday, the president said he envisioned "a large fine of more than a billion dollars," new "management, a new board and very, very strict security rules." He added that he would want ZTE to "buy a big percentage of their parts and equipment from American companies."

An agreement to revive ZTE, which has argued the U.S. penalties would cripple its operations, could possibly help critical trade talks between the U.S. and China. Trump has called the ZTE negotiations part of broader talks to address alleged Chinese trade abuses, though top advisors have labeled ZTE an "enforcement" issue. Washington and Beijing are trying to cement a deal that would avoid potentially damaging tariffs.

Trump has said he agreed to help the firm, a major smartphone supplier in the American market, at the request of Chinese President Xi Jinping .

The prospect of a deal to aid the phone maker has prompted bipartisan criticism from Capitol Hill. Many lawmakers have argued any deal would hurt national security, as the U.S. government was punishing the firm for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Some members of Congress have also contended the firm's equipment poses a cybersecurity risk.

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Earlier this week, the Senate Banking Committee overwhelmingly passed an amendment introduced by Sen. Chris Van Hollen , D-Md., to limit Trump's ability to remove the penalties on ZTE. Following the Times report Friday, Van Hollen told NBC News "there's strong bipartisan resistance to this idea of the president trading away" national security considerations. He warned an agreement could compromise U.S. efforts to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, largely through sanctions.

"Giving a break to ZTE undermines our maximum pressure sanctions effort against North Korea," he said.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders would not confirm any possible deal terms. She said the Trump administration wants to make sure ZTE is "held accountable."

Read the full Times report here.

 CNBC's Eamon Javers contributed to this report





More From CNBC


President Trump cancelled the June 12 summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un after saying Pyongyangs latest statement demonstrated tremendous anger and open hostility. The sides were far apart on the sequencing of denuclearization, with lingering questions of whether Kim was using his father and grandfathers playbook to delay real concessions. The Trump administration must now initiate the second phase of its maximum pressure campaign, where all those who continue to do business with North Korea are cut off from business with the United States.

The main goal of Kim Jong Uns summit diplomacy was to sabotage the Trump administrations original maximum pressure policy. In just 16 months, the Trump administration issued more North Korea sanctions than the Obama administration did in eight whole years. The Trump administration also used the threat of sanctions to alter North Koreas trade and diplomatic relationships. More than 20 countries have curtailed and/or ended diplomatic and commercial relationships with North Korea.

By proposing a summit and promising denuclearization, Pyongyang earned itself a two-month respite from increased pressure. That should end immediately; Maximum Pressure 2.0 should include the following three components:

First, China needs to know that the U.S. will hold it accountable for any efforts to undermine sanctions on Pyongyang. Managing Chinas reaction to the cancelled summit will be critical since Beijing had finally begun to implement sanctions after more than a decade of inaction. Regrettably, recent reports suggest that China has already begun backsliding.

The way to go after China is to put pressure on its banks, many of which have helped North Korea conduct illicit transactions. Late last year, the Trump administration reportedly was close to sanctioning Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Banktwo of the largest in China with more than a trillion dollars of assets eachbut held back for fear of the impact on the global economy. This was a mistake. The U.S. needs to take a page from its Iran sanctions playbook and make it clear that foreign banks face a simple choice: Do business with the U.S. or do business with North Koreait cant be both. While Chinese banks likely are violating U.S. law, imposing sanctions that would cut them off from the U.S. financial system is not the only option. Instead, if Beijing wont clean up its financial system, the Treasury Department should issue multi-billion-dollar fines and warn that Chinese banks may soon face penalties that are even more significant.

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Second, the Trump administration should move aggressively against North Korean shipping. So far, the maximum pressure policy has only scratched the surface of sanctions on North Koreas shipping sector, which plays a crucial role in Pyongyangs evasion, including the prohibited transfer of commodities. The Trump administration has sanctioned illicit shipping networks and worked with partners in the region to track Pyongyangs activities, including its use of ship-to-ship transfers to evade sanctions. The next big step is to put in place tough inspections of vessels of North Korea-linked vessels to prevent Pyongyang from importing and exporting prohibited items.

Finally, the 2017 State Department Human Rights Report noted there are an estimated 100,000 North Korean citizens working as overseas laborers, primarily in Russia and China. The Kim regime likely earns hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the practice, and the UN noted the regime uses the revenue for its nuclear weapons and missile programs. The U.S. should build a coalition of like-minded countries that commit to prohibiting North Korean overseas laborers. If a country refuses to join the coalition, the Trump administration should enforce mandatory U.S. sanctions against those who employ North Korean workers.

The cancelled summit was a prudent move to end Kims efforts to play the same games that allowed his father and grandfather to fleece the U.S. and its allies. Maximum Pressure 2.0 faces a difficult road ahead, but countries are not going to side with a dictator that builds nuclear weapons while his people starve. And if they do, then they will have to deal with the consequences.

Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, was the nonproliferation advisor to the U.S. delegation to the 2005 rounds of the Six-Party Talks and spent more than 17 years in the U.S. government. Follow him on Twitter @_ARuggiero.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross arrives at a Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee holds a hearing on the FY2019 funding request and budget justification for the Commerce Department on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit China early next month for another round of talks amid ongoing trade frictions between the world's two largest economies.

Ross will visit China from June 2 to June 4, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, adding that Vice Premier Liu He, China's chief negotiator in the trade dispute, had spoken with Ross over the phone. It gave no further details.

The trade dispute took on added complexity this week when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a national security investigation into imports of cars and trucks, a probe that could lead to tariffs against China as well as key U.S. allies such as Canada, Mexico, Japan and Germany.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Monday that Ross is aiming to negotiate "a framework" that could then turn into "binding agreements ... between companies."

In the last round of talks in Washington in mid-May, China agreed to ramp up purchases of U.S. agriculture and energy products, and the two sides worked towards a possible reprieve for ZTE Corp from a U.S. ban on American companies supplying the Chinese maker of telecoms equipment.

The developments and constructive comments from both sides eased fears that the United States and China could plunge into a trade war, but President Donald Trump said this week that any deal would need "a different structure," fueling uncertainty over the negotiations.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion of Chinese goods to combat what he says is Beijing's misappropriation of U.S. technology through joint venture requirements and other policies.

Beijing has threatened equal retaliation, including tariffs on some of its largest U.S. imports, including aircraft, soybeans and autos.

(Reporting by Stella Qiu and Tony Munroe; Editing by Kim Coghill)
FILE PHOTO - Visitors pass in front of the Chinese telecoms equipment group ZTE Corp booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 26, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Picture

By David Shepardson and Karen Freifeld

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration told lawmakers the U.S. government has reached a deal to put Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp back in business, a senior congressional aide said on Friday.

As with a similar announcement earlier in the week, the proposed deal ran into immediate resistance in Congress, where Democrats and Trump's fellow Republicans accused him of bending to pressure from Beijing to ease up on a company that allegedly poses a significant risk to U.S. national security.

ZTE was banned in April from buying U.S. technology components for seven years for breaking an agreement reached after it violated U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea. It would now be allowed to resume business with U.S. companies, including chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.

The deal, communicated to officials on Capitol Hill by the Commerce Department, requires ZTE to pay a substantial fine, place U.S. compliance officers at the company and change its management team, the aide said. The Commerce Department would then lift an order preventing ZTE from buying U.S. products.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated a plan to fine ZTE up to $1.3 billion and shake up its management as his administration considered rolling back more severe penalties that have crippled the company.

The White House did not immediately confirm reports of the latest deal, but a spokeswoman said, "This is a law enforcement action being handled by Commerce. We are making sure ZTE is held accountable for violating U.S. sanctions, pays a big price, and that we are protecting our security infrastructure and U.S. jobs."

Fox News said Trump told them on Thursday that he had negotiated the $1.3 billion fine with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a phone call.

ZTE, which is publicly traded but whose largest shareholder is a Chinese state-owned enterprise, agreed last year to pay a nearly $900 million penalty and open its books to a U.S. monitor for breaking a 2017 agreement after it was caught illegally shipping U.S. goods to Iran and North Korea, in an investigation dating to the Obama administration.

Story continues

The company has lost over $3 billion since the April 15th ban on doing business with U.S. suppliers, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Responding to news of the administration's proposed settlement with ZTE, Republican Senator Marco Rubio tweeted: "Yes they have a deal in mind. It is a great deal ... for #ZTE & China. #China crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us."

Rubio, as well as Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Chris Van Hollen, said Congress should act to stop Trump from letting ZTE get back into business.

U.S. intelligence and U.S. law enforcement agencies have serious concerns that ZTE and other Chinese telecommunications firms use their equipment to gather intelligence on U.S. citizens.

William Evanina, the acting director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said at his May 15 confirmation hearing that he would not use a ZTE phone nor recommend that anyone in a sensitive position in government use one.

Chinese officials sought a pullback on ZTE as part of any broader deal to prevent a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is scheduled to visit China next week for another round of talks.

ZTE needs U.S. components for its mobile phones and network equipment. U.S. companies provide an estimated 25 percent to 30 percent of components in ZTE's equipment.

As part of the agreements ZTE made last year it dismissed four senior employees.

Shares of ZTE's U.S. suppliers traded higher on Friday. Optical networking equipment maker Acacia Communications Inc, which got 30 percent of 2017 revenue from ZTE, rose 4.4 percent. Optical component company Oclaro Inc, which received 18 percent of its fiscal 2017 revenue from ZTE, rose 2.7 percent.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay; Writing by Chris Sanders; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Tom Brown)
A month has gone by since the last earnings report for QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM. Shares have added about 18.2% in that time frame.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is QCOM due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers.

Qualcomm Beats Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates

Qualcomm reported healthy financial results for second-quarter fiscal 2018 (ended Mar 25, 2018), supported by better-than-expected performance in semiconductor business and lower operating expenses.



The quarters results were negatively impacted by the ongoing dispute with Apple Inc. and its contract manufacturers (Qualcomm licensees), as well as the previously disclosed dispute with another licensee.



Net Income



On a GAAP basis, quarterly net income came in at $363 million or 24 cents per share compared with $749 million or 50 cents in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings per share (excluding the Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives segment and certain share-based compensation, acquisition-related items, tax items and other items) were 80 cents, comfortably surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 70 cents.



Revenues



Quarterly total revenues of $5,261 million increased 13% year over year. Moreover, the figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,201 million.



Segment-wise, Qualcomm Code Division Multiple Access Technologies (QCT) contributed $3,897 million revenues compared with $3,676 million in the prior-year quarter. EBT (earnings before tax) margin increased to 16% compared with 13% in the prior-year quarter, backed by strong operational performance in China and growth in adjacent areas which was offset by some impact of lower modem shipments.



Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL) generated $1,260 million, down 44% year over year. EBT margin was 67% compared with 87% in the prior-year quarter. During the quarter, the company did not record any QTL revenues for royalties due on sales of Apples or the other licensees products.



Operating Metrics



Non-GAAP quarterly operating income came in at $1.3 billion compared with $2.2 billion in the year-ago quarter, due to headwinds from weaker industry conditions and litigation costs in QTL.



Chipset Statistics



During the quarter, in QCT, Qualcomm shipped 187 million MSM (Mobile Station Modem) chipsets, up 4% year over year.



NXP Acquisition



During the quarter Qualcomm has inked an agreement to acquire NXP Semiconductors N.V. for an estimated total cash consideration of $44 billion to be paid to NXPs shareholders. NXP is a leader in high-performance, mixed-signal semiconductor electronics in automotive, broad-based microcontrollers, secure identification, network processing and RF power products.



The transaction is subject to receipt of regulatory clearances and other closing conditions. Qualcomm intends to fund the acquisition with cash generated from May 2017 debt offering, and cash and cash equivalents held by its foreign entities.



Cash Flow & Liquidity



During the second quarter of fiscal 2018, Qualcomm generated $516 million of cash from operating activities compared with $820 million in the prior-year quarter.



As of Mar 25, 2018, Qualcomm had $37,946 million of cash and cash equivalents compared with $7,124 million in the year-ago quarter while long-term debt totaled $19,361 million at quarter end.



Stockholders Wealth



During the quarter, Qualcomm returned $1 billion to stockholders. This included $845 million (57 cents per share) of cash dividends and $200 million through repurchases of 3.1 million shares of common stock. On Apr 17, the company announced a cash dividend of 62 cents per share (representing a 9% increase from prior quarterly dividend), payable Jun 20 to stockholders of record as on May 30.



Third-Quarter Fiscal 2018 Outlook



Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2018 are estimated in the range of $4.8-$5.6 billion. GAAP earnings per share are estimated between 35 cents and 50 cents. Non-GAAP earnings per share are projected between 65 cents and 75 cents. Qualcomm is expected to ship 185-205 million MSM chipsets in the ongoing quarter.



Going ahead, the company is expected to progress well with the execution of its $1 billion cost plan. It remains focused on closing the pending acquisition of NXP Semiconductors N.V. and is well positioned to drive the global commercialization of 5G.

Story continues

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in fresh estimates. There have been two revisions higher for the current quarter compared to four lower.

QUALCOMM Incorporated Price and Consensus

QUALCOMM Incorporated Price and Consensus | QUALCOMM Incorporated Quote

VGM Scores

At this time, QCOM has a poor Growth Score of F. Its Momentum is doing a bit better with a D. The stock was allocated a grade of B on the value side, putting it in the top 40% for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of D. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

The company's stock is suitable solely for value based on our styles scores.

Outlook

Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Interestingly, QCOM has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.



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Accra Shepp has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the US and abroad. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the New York Public Library, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Walther Collection, the Museum of the City of New York and Princeton University, as well as in numerous books and publications.



In 2014, Accra Shepp worked with 20 art students at the International School in Luxembourg. He instructed them in how to photograph people in the public squares and to collect short narratives from them about their personal lives or backgrounds. The aim was to address Luxembourgs relationship with national identity, personal history and diversity. Shepp gathered this material and reshaped it into a large-scale book, which became the Windbook.



The Windbook will be exhibited in the courtyard of the National Library of Luxembourg until December 2018. The book will be exposed to the elements and the wind will turn its pages for viewers to observe. After several months outdoors, the pages of the book will have fused together to form a sculptural, wave-like shape. By positioning it outside, away from the viewers hands, Shepp subverts human agency. The book does not obey our bidding but instead the larger forces of the world to which all are subject and reminds us of the limitations of the human reach.



The exhibition opening will be held in presence of the artist and the entrance is free.

About our artists book collection



The National Library has a large collection of artists books and bibliophilic books, which includes many unique works. From illustrated poetry and conceptual works to books with paintings, engravings or typographic experimentations, the collection testifies to the achievements of book artists over the past century. It includes 280 Luxembourg artists books and around 1.400 works by international artists. With this in mind, the National Library acquired two copies of the Windbook created by the American artist and the students of ISL.

Press release by the Luxembourg National Library
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New York, May 25 (IBNS): With a new administration in place and plans to hold free and fair general elections later this year, authorities in Zimbabwe are hoping to see greater international investment in their country, according to the top United Nations official there.

Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), said now is the time to support the southern African nation.

I think the international community should be very open, the UN should be very open, to engage and partner with - and support Zimbabwe - to come out of some of the major crises they have had in the last several years so they can stand on their own, he told UN News during a recent visit to New York.

His successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has pledged to build a new Zimbabwe, one that is not only openly courting foreign investment but also committed to upholding human rights.Zimbabwe is emerging from the nearly 40-year rule of former President Robert Mugabe, who resigned in November.

The Government has been very active in terms of promoting engagement and they have declared themselves as open for business, contrary to the past administration, said Mr. Parajuli.

They are calling for a lot of investors to come in, private sector to come in, which is really fundamental, actually. Aid alone is not enough.

International investment will help Zimbabwe to address numerous development challenges.

Twenty-five UN entities are already operating in the country, supporting national efforts in areas such as stamping out HIV and AIDS, and driving down maternal mortality rates.

Last year, their 150 international staff and 800 local colleagues delivered more than $400 million in projects and programmes.

Overall, they accounted for more than 60 per cent of official development assistance (ODA) administered in the country.

Parajuli explained that the relationship between the UN country team and Zimbabwe had always been excellent and now has now become stronger.

For example, the UN system is supporting promotion of human rights, he said.

We are working in supporting strengthening of the Parliament, we are supporting in areas of peacebuilding, and we are also supporting in different areas of capacity building to the Electoral Commission to contribute to that process of free, fair and transparent elections.

The election is scheduled for July and the new Government has invited the European Union and other international observers to monitor the process: a first for the country.

UNDP chief Achim Steiner, travelled to Zimbabwe in March, marking the first time in years that a senior UN official has visited the country.

In discussions with the authorities, he discussed ways the international community could assist Zimbabwe with its economic recovery, as well as his agencys support for the electoral process.



Parajuli believes Zimbabwe is prepared to hold a credible vote.

As far as we see it, there are some good signs because the new voter rolls are being developed, with 5.4 million in new voter registration, he said.

There is a lot of engagement between political parties and the ruling faction; engagement between the Election Commission, civil society and others. The political parties themselves are getting together to agree on a code of conduct for holding peaceful elections. So, all these signs are positive.

UNDP Zimbabwe/Sirak Gebrehiwot
AU/UNISTPHOTO /Mohamed Guled

New York, May 25 (IBNS): The United Nations and its partners on Thursday expressed grave concern over armed clashes which have broken out in northern Somalia, urging all parties to immediately halt the violence.

According to reports, heavy fighting began in the morning, local time, near the Tukaraq area of the Sool region between Puntland and Somaliland forces, involving heavy weaponry.

The international partners call on both sides to bring an immediate halt to the fighting, start dialogue between military commanders on the ground, secure humanitarian access for displaced persons, and enter into talks to discuss a separation of forces and an exchange of detained security personnel, said a joint statement.

The statement noted that the violence was compounding an already-difficult humanitarian situation that has recently been aggravated by the impact of tropical cyclone Sagar  the clashes only add to the suffering of the people in the area.

Thursdays call for an immediate ceasefire was endorsed by the UN, African Union, European Union, the African regional body known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Belgium, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

New York, May 25 (IBNS): Inclusive talks remain the only way to find a lasting solution to the political, socio-economic and humanitarian crisis that has engulfed Burundi since 2015, the United Nations envoy for the African Great Lakes country said on Thursday.

Briefing the Security Council a week after the country voted in favour of a new constitution, Michel Kafando, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Burundi said that voting has passed off with relative calm but that some irregularities had been reported by civil society groups and opposition.

Burundis election commission also reported some incidents at the polls but, in the commissions view, these were not likely to influence the final result, added Kafando.

The crisis began in April 2015, when President Pierre Nkurunziza began his campaign for a disputed third-term in office, triggering protests and a failed coup attempt.

As Burundi now enters an important phase in its history, an inclusive dialogue, which also includes regional actors, is vital to overcome the obstacles in a climate of mutual trust, said the UN envoy.

The absence of such reconciliation talks could further polarize an already tense political situation, warned Kafando.

The Special Envoy also told the 15-member Security Council that while the security situation in Burundi is largely calm, isolated incidents of violence remain a cause for concern, calling on the Government to continue its efforts to improve security for ordinary citizens.

He also urged the Burundian authorities to resume cooperation with the commission of inquiry established by the Human Rights Council as well as with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Image: Creative Commons

Mississauga, May 25 (IBNS): At least 15 people were injured in an explosion which took place at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario on Thursday night, media reports said.

The police said the explosion was caused by "improvised explosive device".

Among 15, three people suffered critical injuries. The rest suffered superficial injuries.

Police said two suspects came to the spot, detonated the bomb and went away.

Peel Region paramedic Joe Korstanje told CTV News, "We transported three of them to trauma centres in what I would say is critical condition just from blast injuries."
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a report on Thursday, in which they advised that the global focus on Irans financial ties with Europe could represent an opening to engage on press freedom.

The CPJ called on European governments and institutions to make press freedom an explicit and essential element of conversations with Iranian officials in bilateral and multilateral meetings.

Diplomats from the European Union, particularly Britain, France, and Germany, have talked with their Iranian countrys on several occasions, since Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 accord between six world powers and Iran on May 8. Trump, who has called the accord the worst deal ever, cited the deals many flaws, including a failure to address Irans human rights problems, as his reason for pulling out.

Sherif Mansour, the Committee to Protect Journalists Middle East and North Africa Program coordinator, said negotiators should make media rights a priority.

Mansour, who presented the CPJ report on press freedom in Iran at the European Parliament in Brussels on May 24, said: [Iranian] President [Hassan] Rouhani needs to be held to the press freedom commitments he made.

The CPJ also urged the US government to help journalists in Iran access software that will circumvent the Regimes censorship and surveillance. This will provide the journalists with information not carried by the Regimes state-run media and allow them to get stories out to the world, but it will also help them evade imprisonment or worse from the Regime.

According to the CPJ, they found that five journalists were imprisoned in Iran. However, it is important to note that the Regime often underplays the true number of prisoners of conscience in their jails and that the number has risen a lot given the recent Iranian uprising and the Regimes subsequent violent crackdown.

Heather Nauert, a representative for the US State Department, expressed concern about the grave conditions facing the press in Iran back in March, following the release of a detailed report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights.

Nauert called on Iran to respect its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to guarantee the freedom of expression, including for members of the press.

However, as always, the Iranian Regime has not done anything to ensure the safety of the press.
Man Sentenced to 170 Years to Life for Murder, Attempted Murder in South Los Angeles

A 51-year-old man was sentenced today to 170 years to life in state prison for killing his friend and for a separate attack in South Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office announced.

Floyd Odell of Los Angeles was sentenced by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen. A jury found Odell guilty on April 17 of one felony count each of murder, attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a felon, as well as two felony counts of assault with a firearm. Jurors also found true allegations of firearm use and causing great bodily injury.

Deputy District Attorney Stefana Antonescu, who prosecuted the case, said Odell fatally shot Charles Wilson after a dispute on May 18, 2015, at the victims home in the 700 block of West 79th Street. Wilson was shot multiple times and died at the scene.

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That followed an incident just days earlier on May 12, 2015, when Odell shot his nephew and his nephews wife in the 6900 block of Menlo Avenue. The couple were walking to their car when Odell shot his nephew in the pelvic area and the woman in the hand.

Those victims survived the attack.

The Los Angeles Police Department investigated case BA436727.
In the United States, mass school shootings are most likely to happen in small towns and suburban areas.

One example is the shooting last week at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten people died in the attack.

The Associated Press examined records for the 10 deadliest shootings in American schools. All but one of those attacks took place in a town with fewer than 75,000 people. Most were in communities of less than 50,000 people.

Small rural and suburban towns are seemingly perfect places for children to grow up. They generally have low crime rates and good schools. There also is a sense of community, where everyone seems to know your name.

Experts say it is exactly those qualities that make rural and suburban towns a good home for the next school shooter.

American experts react

Peter Langman has been studying school shootings for years. Langman is a psychologist. He keeps records of school gun violence in the U.S and overseas. He said, People tend to think of violence associated with cities, not violence associated with small-town America, but this type of violence is the one associated with small-town America.

Experts say there could be a number of reasons for the connection between small towns and gun violence. They include few restrictions on guns in such communities and the effect of troubled teenagers copying each others behavior.

The pressure of living in smaller towns is another reason. Experts say those pressures make it harder for troubled teens to overcome problems.

James Alan Fox is a professor at Northeastern University in Massachusetts. He has been studying mass shootings for years. He notes, In small-town America, its said everybody knows everybody, and thats well and good except when you dont want everybody to know whats going on with you.

Fox added, "If things are going downhill for you, you did something wrong or someone did something wrong to you and some girl dumps you, everybody knows. So its much harder to get away from it.

He noted that it is a different in the big city because no one knows your name, and it can be a good thing.

Recent school shootings

In Parkland, Florida, a former student shot and killed 17 people in February. Parkland had just recently been voted the safest town in the state.

Newtown, Connecticut seems like many other New England towns. It seems a world away from the crime and problems of Connecticuts biggest cities. Yet in 2012, a school shooting in Newtown took the lives of 20 children and six adults.

The mass shooting at Columbine High School took place in a community outside Denver, Colorado. The Virginia Tech massacre happened in a college town of about 40,000 people. The shooting last Friday took place in a Texas community of just 13,000 people. The town of Santa Fe is a 40 minute drive from Houston.

The number of mass shootings in smaller cities is higher than that of big U.S. cities. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles have strong gun laws and their own problems with gun violence. But it is rare to see a mass shooting in one of their schools.

In the 1980s and 1990s, city governments sought to make schools safer from drug- and gang-related violence. They took steps such as setting up metal detection equipment at entrances to schools. That is exactly what pro-gun activists and the National Rifle Association have been proposing after the latest shootings.

Young gunmen copying others

Some experts say improved school designs and talk of arming teachers fails to solve the problem. People who have been studying mass shooting for years agree.

Peter Langman is head of a website called SchoolShooters.info. He said students often have a sense that a classmate might be planning an attack or know that someone is troubled. But they might be less likely in smaller towns to tell anyone about the problem. They know each other well, visit each others homes and families can be business partners.

Langman said, The best prevention is to catch them early before they show up with a gun rather than trying to make it hard for them once theyre already at the building with a gun.

James Alan Fox also said it is hard to overlook the issue of young people copying others behavior.

Fox said the shooters are all Caucasian male teenagers in small towns or rural areas because they identify with other Caucasian male teenagers in small towns or rural areas. He added that they have totally different issues to deal with than African-American children in New York or the streets of Chicago.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Lisa Marie Pane reported on this story for the Associated Press. Xiaotong Zhou adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

suburban  adj. living in or relating to a community near a big city

detection  n. the act of discovering or confirming the presence of something

tend  v. to be likely; to pay attention to

psychologist  n. someone who studies the human mind and behavior

dump  v. to let fall or drop

type  n. kind or group

associate  v. to join or connect together

gang  n. a group of criminals

rifle  n. a gun that has a long barrel and has a greater chance of hitting a far-away target

association  n. a group of organization
Media organizations often use words like balance and fairness. They want to say that they are reporting without showing favoritism or making judgments. Balance simply means giving equal time to both sides of an issue, or not giving one side more importance.

For example, lets consider a report about abortion bills winding their way through U.S. legislatures. A balanced report will give equal time to both supporters of abortion and those opposed to the operation. However, journalists must verify the facts put forth by each side. It is not balance to allow both sides to make any statement supporting their case. This can perpetuate fake news and leaves the reader or viewer without solid information.

Will you just shut up for a minute and let me finish? Pardon me, sir, you dont get to tell me to shut up and national television.

Shouting and arguing does not bring balance to an issue and it certainly isnt journalism.

But journalists must be careful that seeking balance doesnt lead to unfair reporting, or setting up an unfair moral equivalency or balance, between unequal sides in an argument.

Actually, objectivity means reporting the truth, it means getting everybodys truth and reporting it, but never creating a false moral equivalence. Never saying all sides are equal because thats not the truth, false. Thats a cop-out, its a lie.

Journalist Christiane Amanpour is talking about the Bosnian War, where she reported on attacks against Bosnian Muslims. Experts called it a kind of ethnic cleansing. To give equal weight to official denials of the violence she saw would have been wrong.

Fair reporting represents reality, not a simple he said, she said. False moral equivalency is a failure of journalists to carry out their duties.

A smart news consumer must ask: is this coverage fair to the evidence? And what exactly is evidence? In lesson 5 we will explain how to evaluate news coverage in order to answer these questions.

This lesson is based on the News Literacy class at the Center for News Literacy at Stony Brook University. For more on how to become a news literate citizen, go to The Center for News Literacy.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

abortion  n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus

verify  v. to prove, show, find out, or state that (something) is true or correct

perpetuate  v. to cause (something that should be stopped, such as a mistaken idea or a bad situation) to continue

equivalency  n. a level of that is considered to be on the same level

Ethnic  adj. of or relating to races or large groups of people who have the same customs, religion, origin, etc.
The following companies are subsidiares of The Sherwin-Williams: Acquire Sourcing LLC, CTS National Corporation, Comex North America Inc., Compania Sherwin-Williams S.A. de C.V., Contract Transportation Systems Co., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., Inver East Med S.A., Inver France SAS, Inver GmbH, Inver Industrial Coating SRL, Inver Polska Spoka Z O.O, Inver Spa, Invercolor Bologna Srl, Invercolor Ltd, Invercolor Roma Srl, Invercolor Torino Srl, Invercolor Toscana Srl, Isocoat Tintas e Vernizes Ltda, Isva Vernici Srl, Leighs Paints, M.A. Bruder & Sons, Omega Specialty Products & Services LLC, Oy Sherwin-Williams Finland Ab, PT Sherwin-Williams Indonesia, PT Valspar Indonesia, Paint Sundry Brands, Pinturas Condor S.A., Pinturas Industriales S.A., Piton Paints Limited, Plasti-Kote Co. Inc., Plasti-kote Limited, Productos Quimicos y Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Quest Automotive Products UK Limited, Quetzal Pinturas S.A. de C.V., Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, Sherwin Williams Colombia S.A.S., Sherwin-Williams (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Belize) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Caribbean) N.V., Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Vietnam) Limited, Sherwin-Williams (West Indies) Limited, Sherwin-Williams Argentina I.y C.S.A., Sherwin-Williams Aruba VBA, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Mexico S.de R.L.de C.V., Sherwin-Williams Balkan S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Bel Unitary Enterprise, Sherwin-Williams Benelux NV, Sherwin-Williams Canada Inc., Sherwin-Williams Cayman Islands Limited, Sherwin-Williams Chile S.A., Sherwin-Williams Coatings India Private Limited, Sherwin-Williams Coatings S.a r.l., Sherwin-Williams Czech Republic spol. s r.o, Sherwin-Williams Denmark A/S, Sherwin-Williams Deutschland GmbH, Sherwin-Williams Diversified Brands Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.r.l., Sherwin-Williams Norway AS, Sherwin-Williams Paints Limited Liability Company, Sherwin-Williams Peru S.R.L., Sherwin-Williams Pinturas de Venezuela S.A., Sherwin-Williams Poland Sp. z o.o, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings, Sherwin-Williams Realty Holdings Inc., Sherwin-Williams Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Sherwin-Williams Spain Coatings S.L., Sherwin-Williams Sweden AB, Sherwin-Williams UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, Taiwan Valspar Co. Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Acceptance Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Headquarters Company, The Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing Company, The Sherwin-Williams US Licensing Company, The Valspar (Asia) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Australia) Corporation Pty. Ltd., The Valspar (Finland) Corporation Oy, The Valspar (France) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (France) Research Corporation SAS, The Valspar (Malaysia) Corporation Sdn Bhd, The Valspar (Nantes) Corporation S.A.S., The Valspar (Singapore) Corporation Pte. Ltd, The Valspar (South Africa) Corporation (Pty) Ltd, The Valspar (Spain) Corporation S.R.L., The Valspar (Switzerland) Corporation AG, The Valspar (Thailand) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar (UK) Corporation Limited, The Valspar (Vietnam) Corporation Ltd., The Valspar Corporation, The Valspar Corporation Limitada, UAB Sherwin-Williams Baltic, Valspar (India) Coatings Corporation Private Limited, Valspar (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Valspar (Uruguay) Corporation S.A., Valspar (WPC) Pty Ltd, Valspar Aries Coatings S. de R.L. de C.V., Valspar Automotive (UK) Corporation Limited, Valspar Automotive Australia Pty Limited, Valspar B.V., Valspar Coatings (Guangdong) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Valspar Coatings (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Valspar D.o.o Beograd, Valspar Industries (Ireland) Ltd., Valspar Industries (Italy) S.r.l., Valspar Industries GmbH, Valspar LLC, Valspar Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Valspar Paint (Australia) Pty Ltd, Valspar Paint (NZ) Limited, Valspar Powder Coatings Limited, Valspar Rock Company Limited (Japan), Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.
Less than a year after releasing its first smartphone, it looks like Essential Products might be going out of business.

Bloomberg reports that the company, which was started by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, has cancelled development of its next phone, and may be looking for a buyer interested in acquiring the company.

The Essential PH-1 made headlines last year due to Rubins involvement, and also because of its unusual design and feature set. It was the first phone to hit the streets with a cut it in the display for a camera, beating the iPhone X to market. It also has a ceramix back and pogo pins that allow usera to connect optional accessories, although the only accessiry available so far is a 360 degree camera.

At launch, the phone sold for $699 and features top tier specs, but received negative reviews for its mediocre camera performance. The company has released a number of software updates bringing improvements to the camera, among other things. The phone is also usually one of the first in line to receive Googles monthly security updates.

But apparently thats not enough to move products, because the phone has received a number of price cuts over that past year. It currently goes for about $500, but Ive seen it on sale for as little as $350.

Bloomberg says Essential has sold at least 150,000 phones to date, but the company has yet to release any additional modular accesssories, and the smart speaker Essential promised last year is still nowhere to be seen. The company is also said to have lost dozens if key employees including software and hardware engineers and executives.

So maybe it shouldnt be surprising to see the company making changes to its long term plans. But I hope at the very least that whatever happens doesnt leave existing customers high and dry. Id hate to see those monthly security updates stop suddenly.

One possibility that Essential is said to be exploring would be outsourcing the design of its next phone to a manufacture like Foxconn, if Essential decides to move forward with another phone at all. Meanwhile, the company is said to be working on a smart home product that could be released in 2019. Its unclear if that product would be the missing smart speaker we fiest heard about last year.

Update: Andy Rubin says the company always has multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits. We are putting all our efforts towards our future, game-changing products, which include mobile and home products.

In other words, hes pretty much confirmed the report that the company has cancelled something (probably the phone that was under development), but suggests that new products are still in the works.

Meanwhile the folks at The Information obtained an internal email from Rubin to staff that says that the company is working with bankers to raise money, and that a sale of the company might be one way to do that. But there are currently no plans to shut down Essential.

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LINGUIST List 29.2234

Wed May 23 2018

Confs: Philosophy of Language/Belgium

Editor for this issue: Everett Green <everettlinguistlist.org>

22-May-2018Philippe De Brabanter Brussels Transparency Workshop 2018  The Epistemic Transparency of Mental and Linguistic ContentBrussels Transparency Workshop 2018  The Epistemic Transparency of Mental and Linguistic ContentDate: 13-Jun-2018 - 14-Jun-2018Location: Bruxelles, BelgiumContact: Philippe De BrabanterContact Email: < click here to access email > Meeting URL: https://externalismtransparency2018.wordpress.com Linguistic Field(s): Philosophy of LanguageMeeting Description:According to externalism (or anti-individualism), the contents of mental states are individuated in part by facts about the physical and/or the social environment in which the states are embedded. Externalism has become the dominant view in the philosophy of mind. Putnams (1975) and Burges (1979) thought experiments convinced most philosophers that subjects situated in relevantly dissimilar environments could be in the same (narrow) psychological states and yet think thoughts whose contents are true under different conditions. However, Boghossian (1994, 2015) argued that externalism conflicts with (comparative) transparency, the thesis that a thinker is able to know on a priori grounds, without the benefit of further empirical investigation, whether two of her occurrent thoughts have the same or different content(s). If the individuation of our mental contents depends on the environment, then, providing that we do not know a priori how our environment is, it should follow that (in the relevant, comparative sense) we cannot know a priori what we are thinking.This result threatens a traditional account of self-knowledge which grants that subjects have privileged access to the contents of their own thoughts. One problem here, Boghossian claimed, is that externalism thereby blurs the line, to which assessments of rationality and psychological explanations are sensitive, between logical and factual errors (see also Kripke 1979). Given externalism, it appears that subjects who look intuitively rational will not be able to avoid some simple contradictions and invalid inferences without receiving more factual information about their environment. In response to this challenge, and among many other attempts, Stalnaker (2008) and Recanati (2012, 2016) have recently developed different compatibilist strategies purporting to reconcile externalism and transparency. Stalnakers contextual and attributor-dependent account of content invokes tacit identity presuppositions to rescue the rationality of the subjects in the hardest cases (see the ensuing discussions in Boghossian 2011 and Stalnaker 2011). Recanati concedes that contents are opaque but argues that mental files, construed as vehicles of thoughts supposed to play some of the traditional roles of modes of presentation, are transparent. The aim of this workshop is to continue those ongoing debates and to seek new ways of reconciling externalism and transparency.The meeting description can also be accessed here: https://externalismtransparency2018.wordpress.com/meeting-description/ Program:The meeting will be held at Salle Henri Janne, ULB, Solbosch campus, Institut de sociologie, avenue Jeanne 44, 15th floor.June 13:9:00-9:15:Registration9:15-9:30:Welcome address and introductory words by Gregory Bochner9:30-11:30:Paul BoghossianTransparency and Concepts11:30-11:45: Coffee break11:45-12:45:Gregory Bochnertba12:45-14:00: Lunch14:00-16:00:Robert StalnakerFragmentation and Singular Propositions16:00-16:15: Coffee break16:15-17:15:Amir HorowiczOnes content are not transparent to one17:15-20:00: Drinks/free time20:00: Workshop dinnerJune 14:9:30-11:30:Francois RecanatiSlow Switching and the Transparency of Coreference11:30-11:45: Coffee break11:45-12:45:Bruno Leclercq & Philippe De BrabanterWhat does semantic deference leave to cognitive transparency?12:45-14:00: Lunch14:00-15:00:Elisabetta SacchiA phenomenologically oriented account of compatibilism15:00-15:15: Coffee break15:15-16:15:Michael SchmitzTransparency and externalism from a 1st person point of view16:15:Workshop ends
Jana White, a psychology teacher at West Jordan High School, played a video for her class on Nov. 14, 2002. On screen, psychologist Jackson Katz began: "Boys and young men learn early on that being a so-called real man means you have to take on this tough guise."

Young men are trained, largely through movies and other media, to appear dominant, Katz said, shutting down anything that could look like fear or weakness.

In her lecture afterward, White said such behavior sometimes leads teens to do stupid, even criminal, things, but those actions don't mean they're bad people. Sometimes good people make mistakes.

When the rest of her students filed out to go to lunch, Justin Van Roekel stayed behind, pacing. He looked scared. White had a soft spot for Justin, who wasn't a particularly devoted student, though he had a passing grade at the time.

 I'm a bad kid. I've done bad things." Justin Van Roekel

The 17-year-old junior always wore a black or white T-shirt, jeans and basic sneakers, which White took as a sign that his family wasn't well-off. He stood about 6 feet tall, with acne and dark brown floppy hair that hung to his eyebrows. She remembers Justin as often smiling, but in his class photo, which looks an awful lot like a mug shot, his expression is blank, perhaps impatient.

When the last student left, Justin started sobbing. His body shook.

"I'm a bad kid," he told her. "I've done bad things."

As he cried, Justin said he'd been involved in a series of robberies and shootings and felt like he was "going over the edge." He had wanted to shoot two people during a robbery because "they were acting scared in a funny way." He believed he'd eventually turn into a serial killer. He said he wanted to shoot police officers, "shoot up the school" and maybe even shoot himself.

He wasn't finished.

Justin said he was a member of two gangs, had been involved in a bank robbery in which he made off with $500,000, had participated in drive-by shootings and had played a role in four murders.

His mother was dead, he said, and his father had taken him to a hospital the week before because he had overdosed. He said he used heroin, cocaine, meth, PCP and more. Only when strung out did he evade the constant urge to hurt somebody.

He talked for 25 terrifying minutes.

White was shocked, but she also suspected that the rail-thin introvert was exaggerating.

She tried to remain positive, telling Justin he could still fix things, even if he would have to face some consequences. She remembers Justin saying he couldn't go back to juvenile detention, where he felt a past stay only worsened his problems. She told him he had other options, maybe counseling.

The bell rang, and students started to drift into her classroom. Justin, in a panic, asked her for a ride. She said she couldn't leave the school. "OK, OK.  I just gotta go," he said, and then rushed out.

"What the heck just came out of that kid's mouth?" White thought.

As the "Tough Guise" video played for her third class of the day, White tried to think through Justin's wild claims. Most likely he was lying, she thought, and he wouldn't shoot anybody  but if anything he said was true and Justin's friends found out they talked, she could be in danger.

She consulted with her husband and then talked to the vice principal, who called in crisis counselors from the district and Detective Richard Schaffnit, the school resource officer. Schaffnit ran Justin Van Roekel through police databases and something popped up. He called Detective Brent Jex.

The plan was to confront Justin the next morning. White said she would help, but only if police promised that Justin wouldn't be rushed to juvenile detention. School administrators and officers agreed to enroll him in a drug-treatment program, and they prepared a document for Justin and his father to sign.

The only thing left up in the air was whether Justin would show up for class.

Justin had moved in with his father the previous year and enrolled in West Jordan High as a 10th-grader. His mother wasn't dead; she was living in New Mexico.

In stairwell conversations with friends, Justin often complained about his father, saying he once hit Justin so hard that his ears bled. They weren't sure that actually happened, but they felt Justin's persistent gripes about his dad went beyond normal teenage angst.

His closest friend was Tyler Atwood. They were largely uninterested in school and would frequently skip it. Since Tyler's parents worked late, Justin would hang out in Tyler's basement bedroom, where they would crank up the rap group Insane Clown Posse and smoke pot.

Tyler Atwood, a close friend of Justin Van Roekel

Courtesy photo

Tyler essentially dropped out of school in the 11th grade. He was addicted to drugs, moving from pot to cocaine. His dealer, a gang member, also sold him a Hi-Point 9 mm handgun. It's about the cheapest gun available, made of lower-quality metal than most firearms. At the time, it cost less than $100.

Justin and Tyler had minor run-ins with police  for things like marijuana possession and shoplifting. They used the Hi-Point for the first time June 20, 2002, shortly after Justin finished his first school year in Utah.

That night, two girls who worked at a McDonald's in West Jordan told Tyler and Justin about the security cameras, the cash registers and how the safe in the back office worked. Tyler was dating one of them and gave her a $100 bill for the information. Justin, who hadn't met either girl before, told them his name was Bob. It was after midnight, but the two walked straight to the restaurant, where they knocked on the drive-thru window and ordered two Big Macs, handing the cashier, Thelma, a $5 bill.

At that hour, only one cash register in the main part of the restaurant was in use. When Thelma started walking toward it, Justin and Tyler pushed their way through the window.

Justin carried the Hi-Point while Tyler brandished a knife. They screamed orders at the three employees, who, except for Thelma, spoke scant English. Tyler cut the phone lines and pocketed a cellphone sitting on the counter, while Justin ordered two of the workers to sit on the floor.

He told Thelma, the night supervisor, to get the cash. After emptying the safe, they stuffed roughly $3,300 into a black backpack. They told the three employees to keep their heads down and to not move for 10 minutes. Tyler and Justin then jumped out of the drive-thru window. They'd give some of the cash to Tyler's girlfriend, then split the rest.

On June 20, Justin and Tyler forced their way into the drive-thru window of a McDonald's in West Jordan, stealing roughly $3,300.

Photos from the West Jordan Police Department

Just a few minutes after the robbery, a man pulled into the McDonald's for a late-night snack, finding the traumatized workers. They piled into his car, and he drove them to the police station.

One robber wore a dark hoodie and baggy jeans; he had a scruffy goatee and acne scars, they told police, describing Justin. The other had a gray hoodie and a light mustache, and they were sure they could identify the pair if police could provide a photo.

Three days later, Tyler's girlfriend told her mom what happened. Soon afterward, the teen spoke with detectives saying she had told Tyler and "Bob" how to avoid security cameras and get the most cash. Using a phone number and a rough address, West Jordan police figured that Bob may have been Robert Van Roekel, Justin's father, though they did little to verify the information.

Police did question Tyler, who was adamant that he had played no part in such a crime. Detectives took notes, then the case went dormant. They never showed mug shots to the McDonald's employees. Tyler and Justin thought they got away with it.

At 2 a.m. on Sept. 19, two night owls called police about a white Mercury Sable cruising their neighborhood. West Jordan Officer Robert Faircloth drove by, saw the same suspicious behavior and decided to tail the Sable.

The driver, Sean Tims, and his passengers, Tyler and Justin, spotted the police car behind them. They had two guns, though not the one used in the McDonald's robbery, and two knives. They had just bought a night vision scope, knit hats and gloves.

Tyler and Justin tried to stash their stuff under the seats while a flustered Sean made a right turn and then a left, steering them into a cul-de-sac. He could turn around, signaling that he didn't know where he was headed, or he could play it cool. Sean pulled his mother's car into a stranger's driveway, got out and started walking toward the front door.

Officer Faircloth stopped him.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"What are you doing out so late?"

Sean said he came to visit a friend.

Faircloth told Tyler and Justin to get out of the car, and they did. West Jordan Officer Doug Saunders arrived to provide backup as Faircloth asked Sean to let them search the Sable. Sean had opened the passenger-side door and started leaning in when Faircloth spotted the weapons and yelled, "Gun!"

The two officers pulled their weapons and ordered the teens to the ground. They didn't comply immediately, so Saunders grabbed Sean and started cuffing him. Justin and Tyler got down on the driveway. Faircloth approached Justin first and just as he slapped his handcuffs around one wrist, Tyler jumped up and sprinted down the block. Faircloth pushed Justin to the ground and took off after Tyler, running into Jordan Meadows Park. Justin, with Faircloth's handcuffs dangling from one arm, ran in another direction.

All Saunders could do was watch. He threw Sean into the back of his car and searched the Sable, where he found the weapons, ammo, gloves and masks. West Jordan scrambled police dogs, but they didn't find the other teens.

Sean played dumb, saying he didn't really know those guys and while he was aware they were carrying guns, he didn't know anything about the hats, gloves or night vision scope. The officer cited Sean for having loaded firearms in a car and for "burglary tools," then he released him to his older sister.

Faircloth and Saunders next headed to Tyler's house, where his mother handed over his cell number. Back at the station, Faircloth called and Tyler answered. The officer told Tyler he had their names and knew where they lived, so not turning themselves in was only making it worse. A few minutes before 6 a.m., Robert Van Roekel drove his son, who still was wearing the handcuffs, and Tyler to the station.

Officers talked to Tyler first. He admitted to buying the gloves and knit hats and said the scope was his. So what were they planning? He'd only say the guns were for "future use." Justin's story was similar, except he said they were going to drive into the mountains and fire off some rounds.

The department's gang protocols kick in any time three teenagers are involved in a crime, and that meant Faircloth and Saunders had to clue in West Jordan's man on the Metro Gang Unit  Brent Jex. He had been promoted to detective after a little less than three years working patrol, a quick rise. As a fresh recruit, Jex bought his own Polaroid camera to take pictures of suspected gang members and studied where they hung out. His fellow patrol officers would often call him so he'd have a chance to talk to a suspect before the detective or sergeant arrived.

But this night, he didn't talk to Tyler or Justin, thinking the patrol officers had it handled. They told him the two guns didn't come up as stolen, but one 9 mm appeared to have its serial number intentionally obscured with scratches.

Jex called juvenile detention, asking to book all three, but because of a shortage of beds, the facility wouldn't take the teens over a single, nonviolent offense. Faircloth still wanted to cite Justin and Tyler, and he said so in a subsequent report, but Jex told him not to. He planned to ask his buddy at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to research the guns, a process that could take weeks. He'd rather charge them later with having a stolen firearm, a more serious crime, than a misdemeanor that night. The officers cut Justin and Tyler loose.

Less than three weeks later, two young men, one carrying a gun, walked to a Phillips 66 gas station dressed in black and wearing masks made famous by the movie "Scream"  a white, elongated ghoul face wrapped in a black shroud. They wanted cigarettes. A woman working at the station opened the cage and stepped back. The guys swept 30 packs of Marlboro Reds into a black backpack and ran.

Two weeks after that, on Oct. 25, Tyler and Justin hit the same McDonald's they had robbed in June, and they did it the same way, climbing in the drive-thru window, now decorated with a cartoon mummy, pumpkin and bear for Halloween. This time, they wore "Scream" masks. They took $2,419 from five tills and the backup safe.

Erika Medina was there both times. "I could guarantee that the voices of these two people were the same as the voices of the people who robbed us the time before, and they were the same height," Medina wrote in Spanish in a statement for police.

Three friends were talking outside a bowling alley near the McDonald's when they saw two people in masks run through the shared parking lot, climb in the drive-thru and then, about a minute later, make a hasty retreat in a blue Honda Civic. They got the license plate and showed police where the car had been parked during the crime. Sitting on the ground were two balled-up tissues; one was bloody.

Police find a tissue with blood on it after an armed robbery at a McDonald's on Oct. 25, 2002.

Photo from the West Jordan Police Department

It wasn't long before police found the Civic parked near Tyler's house, with drops of blood on the driver's door. Alerted to the Atwood connection, Jex rushed over.

Tyler told the detective he had been hanging with a friend named Colby all night and knew nothing about any robbery or the stolen blue Honda down the street. Jex asked to look at his hands. Tyler complied, and there it was: a cut.

Police had Medina's witness statement, along with the blood at the scene and on the stolen car  but they didn't arrest Tyler or search his house. Detective Richard Davis, who had handled the first McDonald's robbery, wanted the hard proof of DNA. He got a search warrant to draw some of Tyler's blood, and the samples were sent Nov. 6 to the overworked state crime lab. They'd sit untested for weeks.

The "Scream" robbers would strike again, hitting the city's Food 4 Less on Nov. 13, leaving with $441 and 12 cartons of Marlboro Milds. Sean said he ran into Justin and Tyler before the robbery and saw Tyler holding his mask. He warned them to change it up so they wouldn't get busted, but Tyler said the cops already had his blood on the car after the last McDonald's raid. Essentially, there was nothing to lose.

Justin acted cool, but he was starting to panic. The next day, after watching "Tough Guise," he decided to confide in his psychology teacher.
African countries ought to be selective in viewing Macau as a gateway to China.

Thats according to Kebour Ghenna, the executive director of the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who will make a presentation today at the Fishermans Wharf on the general business environment across parts of Africa.

In an interview with the Times yesterday, Ghenna said he planned to discuss the growth of the middle class in parts of Africa and how that would support long-term investment, as well as the impact of continent-wide developments, such as the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement, signed in March by 44 African heads of state.

Ghenna suggested that Macau, home to some of the largest casino operators in the world, could have very specific investment interests in the continent of more than 1.2 billion people. However, he cautioned that not all of that commerce has to involve Macau, even when considering the lusophone parts of Africa.

Right now, I see Macau as a bridge between China and parts of Africa, he said, and I think Macau can play a role in convincing bigger Chinese investors to look at the continent [for opportunities].

However, Im not saying that everything has to pass via Macau. [] We have to find a niche for Macau. We have to be very selective when looking at Macau as a gateway to China.

We can go to Hong Kong and do more or less the same thing, but maybe on a different scale. Perhaps Hong Kong will be the place to look for financial [activities] and maybe Macau is better for tourism infrastructure.

A growing casino industry in the countries of southern Africa could be a promising start. South Africa, the second-largest country in the continent by gross domestic product, is home to the most robust gaming industry, with approximately three dozen casinos in operation.

Macau investment in similar, fledging industries  such as those in Botswana, Swaziland or Namibia  could be both lucrative for investors and yield long-term benefits for those countries in terms of bringing employment and improving infrastructure.

We need to look at what the casinos can do to create employment, contribute taxes to government and develop the cities other businesses, said Ghenna, reflecting on the two-decade rise of the MSAR. And this is what we hope to learn from Macau.

But the gaming industry represents a mere sliver of Africas economic growth potential. Of particular interest to onlookers is the tourism potential of the continent.

I think the potential for the tourism industry [in Africa] is huge. You can start [with the history] from Egypt and go down to Zimbabwe and South Africa; in between you have Kenya and Tanzania for wild game tourism. On the west [of Africa], you can start with Senegal and go down to see the sights about slavery. And there are beautiful beaches on both sides of the [continent].

This is another sector where investment from Macau could make sense, said Ghenna, and not just within the scope of Lusophone countries. Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, a number of countries along the East coast of Africa might be brought within range of Chinese investment.

When you look at the continent itself, it is well positioned to attract tourists from North American and Latin American from the West, and then from the north you have Europe and then the middle east from the east, he said, adding that all of this needs to start with infrastructure; power, roads, and even improved hotels.

If we are looking at [the potential of] Africa in 20 or 30 years, then the opportunity really starts today, he added.

The Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry was established in 2009 by a group of 35 African countries with the aim of serving the African trade and commerce interests. Much of the institutions work is intra-African, lobbying for greater commerce and trade within the continent. A secondary goal is to promote external investment.
In a dramatic diplomatic turn, President Donald Trump canceled next months summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un yesterday, citing the tremendous anger and open hostility in a recent statement by the North.

Trump said in a letter to Kim released by the White House that, based on the statement, he felt it was inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Adding his own threat, he said that while the North Koreans talk about their nuclear capabilities, ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

In the Korean statement that Trump cited, the North referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a political dummy for his comments on the North and said it was just as ready to meet in a nuclear confrontation as at the negotiating table.

Trump said his letter: If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

He said the world was losing a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth now that their June 12 summit has been canceled. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo read the letter during a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The president had agreed to the historic sit-down in March after months of trading insults and nuclear threats with the North Korean leader. But after criticism from North Korea, Trump cast doubt this week on whether the meeting would happen.

A White House official said it was incorrect to focus on the dummy comments about Pence. The official said the North Koreans had threatened nuclear war in their statement released Wednesday night and no summit could be successful under these circumstances.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

White House officials have privately predicted for weeks that the summit could be canceled once or twice before actually taking place, owing to the hard-nosed style of the two leaders. Trump has seemed to welcome chatter of a Nobel Peace Prize, but that has yielded in recent weeks to the sobering prospect of ensuring a successful outcome with the Kim.

Trumps allies in Congress applauded the president, saying he was justified in pulling out of the meeting.

North Korea has a long history of demanding concessions merely to negotiate. While past administrations of both parties have fallen for this ruse, I commend the president for seeing through Kim Jong Uns fraud, said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who said the nations maximum-pressure campaign on North Korea must continue.

This spring, scoring a diplomatic win with Pyongyang had become Trumps top focus.

That had been a far cry from his bellicose rhetoric, issued both on Twitter and from the rostrum of the United Nations last fall. Trump threw off ominous taunts of raining fire and fury on the North while belittling its leader as Little Rocket Man, alarming many global capitals and much of Washingtons national security establishment and increasing worries about nuclear war. But Trump believed his outside-the-box behavior would bring Kim to the negotiating table.

Drawn to big moments and bigger headlines, Trump has viewed the North Korea summit as a legacy-maker for him, believing that the combustible combination of his bombast and charm already had led to warmer relations between North and South.

He immediately agreed to the proposed meeting, conveyed by South Korean officials, accepting it before consulting with many of his top national security advisers. And earlier this month, when welcoming home three Americans who had been detained in North Korea, Trump used a televised, middle-of-the-night ceremony to play up both his statecraft and stagecraft.

Some observers raised concerns that Trump was risking legitimizing Kims government by agreeing to meet him on the world stage without evidence of denuclearization or other concessions. But Trump had bet big on the summit, telling one confidant that he believed a deal with North Korea, rather than in the Middle East, could be his historic victory. Catherine Lucey & Zeke Miller Washington, AP
China and Japan both condemned yesterday the Trump administrations decision to launch an investigation into whether tariffs are needed on imports of vehicles and automotive parts into the United States.

Chinas Commerce Ministry said Beijing would firmly defend its rights and interests against what it called the Trump administrations abuse of national security provisions in trade.

Japans minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko, said Japan, which accounts for about 40 percent of U.S. vehicle imports, will continue to remind U.S. officials that any trade measures must conform to the rules of the World Trade Organization.

If such a measure is taken, it would be an extremely far-reaching trade sanction that would put the global market into turmoil, Seko said. We are extremely concerned.

President Donald Trump invoked a provision authorizing the president to restrict imports and impose unlimited tariffs on national security grounds, known as Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

The move comes as talks with Canada and Mexico over the North American Free Trade Agreement have stalled.

In Beijing, Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters that abusing national security provisions would undermine the multilateral trade system and disrupt the order of international trade.

China will pay close attention to the progress of the U.S. investigation, conduct a comprehensive assessment of the possible impact and firmly defend our legitimate rights and interests, Gao told reporters at a news conference.

Japanese automakers did not issue individual comments but referred to Global Automakers, based in Washington, an industry group of international automakers that includes the Japanese. Global Automakers Chief Executive John Bozzella said the move would merely hurt American consumers.

The U.S. auto industry is thriving and growing. Thirteen, soon to be 14 companies, produced nearly 12 million cars and trucks in America last year. To our knowledge, no one is asking for this protection. This path leads inevitably to fewer choices and higher prices for cars and trucks in America, he said in a statement.

Last week Japan went to the World Trade Organization to warn of possible retaliation for tariffs on steel and aluminum, which Trump imposed in March. Japan is the only major U.S. ally that was not granted a temporary exemption from the tariffs. Japan estimates they will cost it about 50 billion yen (USD450 million) a year.

China is a relatively minor player in the U.S. auto import market, ranked 10th in dollar terms, but its massive car industry is eager to expand abroad. In auto parts exports to the U.S., China was ranked second last year. AP
Hong Kongs Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, said that she would approach Macau government officials, including Chief Executive Chui Sai On, to discuss the issue concerning some Hong Kong residents who had been denied entry in Macau because they allegedly posed threats to the internal security and stability.

Earlier this week, Hong Kong democrat lawmaker Helena Wong questioned Lam during a Legislative Council meeting about previous events of a number of Hong Kong lawmakers, activists and journalists who were denied entry in Macau. Wong suggested that HKSAR authorities could adopt a punitive measure and randomly reject Macau legislators, officials, journalists, scholars from entering Hong Kong.

Lam replied that every place has its own immigration policy, which was decided by each place itself. First, we must respect other places immigration policy.

She then noted that sometimes, we are also doubted regarding why some people could not [enter Hong Kong]. She pointed out that immigration policy must be an autonomous right of the local government.

Certainly, I will express the concern on behalf of everybody. However, whether [the denied entry] was reasonable or not, it depends on the local places immigration policy, said Lam.

Hong Kongs CE added that no matter what, whether there is a Greater Bay Area plan or not, I hope we [Hong Kong] can be tightly connected with both Macau and mainland China, and I hope human traffic and logistics can become less obstructed.

You mentioned that [I should tell] Macaus government officials, and the Chief Executive, that [our people] come to Macau [just] for a meeting or for teaching [purposes], and that it is not necessary to regard them as rationalists. I will do it. Actually, you would not know even if I had done it already, Lam stated.

Previously, in August, Hong Kong democratic lawmaker Helena Wong Pik Wan was denied entry in Macau upon arriving in the territory to attend an event organized by the University of Macau.

Last April and July, other Hong Kong lawmakers were also denied entry to Macau. In August, a group of Hong Kong journalists were denied entry to Macau.
An international team of investigators said yesterday that detailed analysis of video images and photos has unequivocally established that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago came from a Russia-based military unit, the clearest link yet published by the team to the involvement of Russian military in the deadly missile strike.

Prosecutors said they have presented their findings to Moscow and are seeking answers, but so far have not received a response. The international team running the criminal investigation appealed for help from witnesses who can testify about the involvement of the Russian militarys 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the city of Kursk.

Russia has always denied involvement in the downing of the jet.

Dutch prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said the Joint Investigation Team, or JIT, is not yet ready to name suspects, but added: I can say that we are now entering the [] last phase of the investigation. When we will be ready, it is not possible to say at the moment because there is still a lot of work to do.

The Boeing 777 passenger jet was headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, when it was blown out of the sky over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers and crew were killed.

Prosecutors said in 2016 that the plane was shot down by a Buk missile fired from territory controlled by Russia-backed rebels, using a mobile launcher trucked in from Russia and hastily returned there. yesterdays presentation went a step further by identifying the exact unit allegedly involved and more details of the rocket involved.

Investigators now say that their careful analysis of video and photos from social media and analysis of parts of the rocket found at the crash scene traced its journey into Ukraine and had given them a fingerprint identifying the rocket and where it came from.

All findings from this forensic investigation confirm the earlier conclusion of the JIT that Flight MH 17 was shot down by 9M38 series missile, said Jennifer Hurst of the Australian Federal Police.

Ultimately, any suspects identified and charged will be prosecuted in Dutch courts  if they can be arrested and brought to trial.

Of the 298 people killed, 196 were Dutch, 42 Malaysian and 27 were Australians. Among more than 30 nationalities killed was a joint Dutch American citizen.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok welcomed the newly released findings.

This is an important piece of the puzzle, Blok said. I am very impressed by the evidence that has been collected. Mike Corder, Bunnik, AP
The Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, expressed Macaus support for Guizhou Province in relieving the effects of poverty on Wednesday. There will be complementary efforts at mutual regional development envisaged under the Pan-Pearl River Delta region initiative. Chui was delivering a speech during a seminar about poverty alleviation held in Congjiang County, Guizhou Province. The Chief Executive concludes today a three-day visit to the Province  co-organized by the PRCs Liaison Office in Macau  to discuss poverty alleviation projects.

The Central Government previously approved the Macau SARs participation in the countrys overall effort on poverty relief. The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development suggested Congjiang County in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, as a focus points for Macaus assistance.

According to the first of the four government-to-government agreements, relating to education matters, the Macau SAR Government is to allocate an amount not exceeding RMB30 million to support the rebuilding of a primary school in Congjiang County. In the second of the four government-to-government agreements, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau will initiate a twinning scheme for schools in the two places.

Under the third government-to-government initiative, the Macao Foundation will offer yearly scholarships of an aggregate MOP100,000 per year to underprivileged students from Congjiang to study in Macaus higher education institutions.

The fourth government-to-government initiative will involve economic development. The Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute will invite the Guizhou Provincial Government as well as business associations and enterprises from the Province to join the Macau International Trade and Investment Fair and the Guangdong and Macau Branded Products Fair. The two events are due to be held in Macau on respective dates later in the year.

Funds from Macau to relieve poverty in Guizhou are composed of aggregate money from the SAR Government, the Macao Foundation, and the Macau community.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday stressed the importance of dialogue with China during a visit to Beijing that comes amid shared concerns over trade with the United States and Washingtons rejection of the Iran nuclear deal.

Merkel held morning discussions with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who said China-Germany relations were developing steadily at a high-level, but that the current economic and political situations in the world are complex.

Merkel affirmed their past success in finding answers to issues between them and emphasized the need for regular discussions on issues from human rights to science and technology.

And then our conversations can center on really where are there still problems, what are the solutions, what are the opportunities. Then we can play our part in a global, multilateral system, Merkel said.

Merkel was to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the afternoon. Today, she travels to the technology powerhouse of Shenzhen in southern China.

In her remarks to Li, Merkel also mentioned that, Of course Chinas relationship with the European Union is important to me, and how Germany contributes to that.

That could be seen as a reference to concerns among German officials and the business community that Chinas close relations with the EUs eastern members were undercutting the blocs rules on bidding and transparency. Merkel gave no details before reporters were ushered from the meeting room at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of the Chinese capital.

Merkels visit as the head of a delegation of government and business leaders is her first since she formed her new government. It follows visits to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump and to Sochi, Russia, for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over recent weeks.

Despite tensions with the U.S., German officials have been keen to stress their continued commitment to trans-Atlantic ties and dismiss suggestions that Germany is seeking alternative alliances, even as they find common ground with Russia and China on the Iran nuclear deal and other issues.

Germany and China were among the five nations that negotiated the Iran deal and have called for it to continue despite the U.S. pullout.

Ahead of the trip, the chancellor said her talks with Chinese leaders will address issues such as the rule of law, the economy and trade disputes.

Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Merkel to bring up in her meetings the house arrest of Liu Xia, the widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, and call for her release.

The trip follows high-level talks in Washington between American and Chinese officials that have somewhat lessened tensions between the two countries and buoyed stock markets. AP
Many Pearl Horizon buyers have criticized the government after it announced its intention to build housing units for temporary lodging of residents affected by urban renovation works taking place in old neighborhoods across the city.

In a TDM radio program yesterday, a female buyer, surnamed Hoi, said that she paid between 7,000 and 8,000 patacas per square foot for a Pearl Horizon project.

She then said that using this money to purchase a public house from the government is equivalent to throw[ing] the money into the sea, criticizing the government for not caring about buyers.

The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, noted on Wednesday that the government would grant the possibility of acquisition of only one unit per Pearl Horizon buyer in the new development to be built by the government.

Another buyer, surnamed Lai, cited the government by saying that despite the fact that Pearl Horizon does not exist anymore, buyers still have to pay for the loan. Lai said that the government made mistakes in this case. He deems the governments proposal unreasonable.

A third buyer, surnamed Ng, described the actions of the government as equivalent to robbing the land.

She worries that the governments housing units will have a low value and will also represent an uncertainty in terms of re-sale.

However, one resident, surnamed Chu, does not want buyers to be granted the rights to buy the new housing units.

When [they] pre-bought the house, they should have expected the possibility that the house project would not be finished. I think its unreasonable to use Macau peoples public money to compensate [buyers] to buy public houses. If the government compensates buyers, can all buyers of previous unfinished housing projects do the same? Chu asked. JZ
A court in Thailand extended the detention yesterday of 15 pro-democracy activists arrested earlier this week after several thousand police were deployed to halt their small protest against military rule.

Krisadang Nutjaras, a lawyer for the student activists, told reporters the court agreed to a police request for a further 12 days detention without considering counterarguments.

They were arrested Tuesday at a protest marking the anniversary of a 2014 military coup and calling for elections this year.

We never got a chance to present our reasoning to show the court that the kids are people who love democracy, said Krisadang. If in our country people use their rights to ask for democracy and get arrested and deemed traitors that cause havoc, there is not much hope left.

He said nearly all the activists will now try to apply for bail. Its unclear how long that process would take and whether bail would be granted.

Police have charged each activist with several offenses including violating a ban on political assembly and obstructing officials.

Documents that police submitted to the court argued that bail should be denied because of the seriousness of the offenses. They also said they needed more time to complete their investigations.

Krisadang said police had already fully investigated and accused them of filing excessive charges against the protesters.

They are not afraid of jail. If they were, they would not have marched, he said. AP
Tom Krisher,

Three investors are looking to buy stakes in Uber in an offer that values the company at USD62 billion.

The ride-hailing giant said yesterday (Macau time) the investors want to buy up to $600 million worth of the private companys stock. Theyre offering $40 per share, giving Uber a valuation thats nearly 30 percent above the $48 billion set in a January stock sale.

The announcement comes as Uber posted a $2.46 billion first-quarter net profit largely due to one-time gains from the sale of businesses in Southeast Asia and Russia.

Without the gains, the company still lost money before taxes and depreciation, but the $304 million in red ink was half the amount from a year ago.

Income statements released Wednesday show Ubers gross bookings and revenue rose dramatically during the quarter.

In a statement, Uber said that the Coatue Management LLC, Altimeter Capital and TPG investment firms have offered to buy $400 million to $600 million worth of Uber stock. The offer, to be launched next week and last for 20 business days, would allow longtime investors and some employees to convert shares to cash ahead of a planned public stock offering sometime in 2019.

Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. and others closed a deal in January to buy 15 percent of Uber. The investors, including Dragoneer Investment Group, sank about $9 billion into Uber at roughly $33 per share, including about $1.25 billion in new shares.

No new shares will be sold in the latest offer. Eligible sellers will be limited in how many shares they can sell. They can offer 25 percent of their total shares, or $10 million worth of stock, whichever is of lower value, according to the company.

The stock offer and Ubers first- quarter numbers point to progress for Uber as it heads toward an initial public stock offering sometime in 2019 that was promised by new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shortly after his arrival last August.

Ubers gross bookings from ride-

hailing and other services rose 55 percent from a year ago to $11.29 billion. Net revenue, which is gross bookings minus payments to drivers, incentives and promotions, rose 70 percent to $2.59 billion, the company said.

Uber said it will restate and reduce gross bookings retroactively by about 2 percent due to the way it counts what it considers to be promotional costs. Uber gives each rider a cost estimate for a trip, but the actual cost can be higher or lower depending on road construction, traffic or other factors. The company either pays the difference if the estimate is too low or keeps the money if its too high.

In the first quarter of last year, Uber posted a net loss of $847 million. Uber had one other previous quarterly net profit, in 2016, on a one-time gain from combining its China operations with competitor Didi Chuxing.

In a statement, Khosrowshahi said the business is beating internal goals as the company cuts losses and holds onto its ride-hailing leadership. He hinted that Uber will not try to boost profits artificially ahead of the stock offering, saying it will continue to invest in the business. We plan to reinvest any over-performance even more aggressively this year, both in our core business as well as big bets like Uber Eats globally.

The Uber Eats food delivery service is operating in more than 200 cities at present, and the company says it will continue to expand the service to more cities. It also plans to add its bicycle-sharing services to more cities as it tries to become more of a mobility service company.

Core business investment would be for subsidies to keep prices lower in highly competitive markets.

During the first quarter, Uber closed on deals to sell its businesses in Southeast Asia and Russia for stakes in rival companies. The Southeast Asia business went to Grab in exchange for a stake in the ridesharing, food delivery and financial services business. Uber also agreed to merge its Russian ride-hailing business with Yandex, the search-engine leader that also runs a popular taxi-booking app.

Uber is trying to distance itself from a year of scandals in 2017 including allegations of sexual misconduct and charges that it deployed an espionage team to plunder trade secrets from its rivals. The companys full-year net loss widened to $4.5 billion last year. AP
The Pentagon said yesterday [Macau time] it has withdrawn an invitation for China to participate in a multinational naval exercise the U.S. is hosting this summer, a sign of fresh tension between Pacific powers.

The move comes amid high- stakes maneuvering over North Koreas nuclear program, which is scheduled to be the subject of a meeting in June between President Donald Trump and the Norths leader, Kim Jong Un. Trump earlier this week said he suspected that the Norths recent talk of scrapping the summit could reflect influence from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who recently met with Kim.

Washington also is engaged in a trade dispute with China over U.S. complaints about market access and technology policy.

The U.S. had included China in the past two versions of the naval exercise known as Rim of the Pacific, or RimPac, in 2014 and 2016. The engagements were part of an effort by the Obama administration to stabilize military relations with Beijing even as Washington challenged China to stop placing military assets in the South China Sea. China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves.

Yesterdays announcement raises the prospect of a renewed chill in military relations, which have been disrupted many times by Chinas objections to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and other issues.

Asked about the Pentagons move, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters at the State Department, We find that a very non-constructive move. He said China hopes the U.S. will change its negative mindset.

The U.S. military calls RimPac the worlds largest international maritime exercise and says it helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the worlds oceans.

A Pentagon statement said the decision to disinvite the Chinese navy was an initial response to what it called Chinas militarization of the South China Sea. Chinas Defense Ministry had said in January that it was consulting with the U.S. over an invitation to take part in RimPac.

The Pentagon cited what it called strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to contested areas in the Spratly Island region of the South China Sea. It called on China to remove these systems.

Chinas continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serve to raise tensions and destabilize the region, a Pentagon spokesman, Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, said.

As an initial response to Chinas continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific [RimPac] Exercise, he added. Chinas behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RimPac exercise.

The Pentagon also cited its objections to Chinas recent landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island in the Paracel Island chain, north of the Spratlys.

China maintains that the South China Sea is its sovereign territory and that it is within its rights to build up defenses on the islands.

In his remarks at the State Department, Wang said he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had discussed U.S. complaints about Chinese militarization of features in the South China Sea.

He said China is simply taking measures in self-defense, which have nothing to do with militarization.

Just like the U.S. has military presence in Hawaii and Guam, he said. And Chinas deployment is at a much smaller scaler than the U.S. It is out of necessary defense purposes. We dont hope to see any exaggeration or hype-up of this matter.

Gregory B. Poling, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said disinviting China from RimPac is a moderately big deal because it reverses the Obama administrations emphasis on seeking closer military-to-military ties.

At the same time, it doesnt really do anything to deter China in the South China Sea, Poling said. So this is really more about venting our frustration and sending a signal than it is actually trying to change Chinese behavior. Robert Burns, Washington, AP
A U.S. government employee in southern China reported abnormal sensations of sound and pressure, the State Department said yesterday [Macau time], recalling similar experiences among American diplomats in Cuba who later fell ill.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described it as a serious medical incident. In an emailed notice to American citizens in China, the department said it wasnt currently known what caused the symptoms in the city of Guangzhou, where an American consulate is located.

A U.S. government employee in China recently reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure, the notice said. The U.S. government is taking these reports seriously and has informed its official staff in China of this event.

The department said it wasnt aware of any similar situations in China, either within the diplomatic community or among others. It didnt further identify the person with the symptoms or say when they had been detected.

Chinas National Health Commission did not immediately respond to faxed questions about the report.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who met yesterday with Pompeo in Washington and then addressed a joint news conference, said that China had been investigating and hasnt found any organization or individual responsible for such a sonic influence.

We will stay in communication with the U.S. through diplomatic channels and we would suggest the U.S. side also carry out some internal investigations. We dont want to see this individual case be magnified, complicated or even politicized, Wang said.

Pompeo commended Chinas response, saying it was honoring its commitment under the Vienna Convention to take care of diplomats serving in their country. He said China has offered to assist the U.S. in investigating.

Earlier, Pompeo told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the medical indications of the incident in Guangzhou are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications of the Americans working in Havana.

He said a medical team was being sent to Guangzhou and we are working to figure out what took place both in Havana and Guangzhou.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the U.S. Embassy learned on Friday that the Guangzhou employee had shown clinical findings during medical testing similar to patients with mild traumatic brain injury, known commonly as a concussion. That is the same clinical finding that doctors treating the Cuba patients at the University of Philadelphia have found in those patients.

The Guangzhou worker started experiencing a variety of symptoms starting in late 2017, Nauert said, adding that the symptoms continued through April. The worker was sent to the U.S. for additional testing.

On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and all five of the U.S. consulates in China held town hall meetings so that diplomats and embassy workers could ask questions or voice concerns. Ambassador Terry Branstad led the session in Beijing.

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars in annual trade between them, China and the U.S. are considered strategic rivals for influence in Asia. Tensions in the relationship frequently flare over accusations of cheating at trade, stealing of secrets, human rights and arms sales to Taiwan, a U.S. partner that China claims as its own territory.

In Cuba, the U.S. reported that some of its personnel and family members experienced a range of ailments, often after hearing an unusual sound. For most, the symptoms occurred around May 2017.

The still-unexplained incidents sparked a rift in U.S.-Cuban relations, while investigators have chased theories including a sonic attack, electromagnetic weapon or a flawed spying device.

Pompeo said that he expects the results of an independent investigation into the Cuban incidents by the middle of next week.

Last October, the State Department ordered non-essential embassy personnel and the families of all staff to leave Havana, arguing the U.S. could not protect them from unexplained illnesses that have harmed at least 24 Americans.

Symptoms, sounds and sensations reportedly varied dramatically from person to person. Some have permanent hearing loss or concussions, while others suffered nausea, headaches and ear-ringing. Some are struggling with concentration or common word recall, The Associated Press has reported.

Some felt vibrations or heard loud sounds mysteriously audible in only parts of rooms, and others heard nothing. Christopher Bodeen, Beijing, AP
Nicolas Maduro hasnt wasted time consolidating power in the aftermath of his disputed victory in Venezuelas presidential election. He has thrown out U.S. diplomats, arrested alleged military conspirators and cracked down on the nations last remaining critical major newspaper.

The socialist leader won a second six-year term as president of this crisis- wracked country Sunday despite widespread anger over shortages of food and medicine that have driven hundreds of thousands to leave Venezuela seeking a better life.

His leading challenger and many in the international community accused Maduro of orchestrating a sham election through tactics such as banning leading opposition candidates and buying votes by enticing the poor with the promise of a prize.

Maduro quickly struck back at his biggest critic, taking aim at the U.S. Embassy.

In a speech accepting the election results, Maduro announced that he was ordering the top U.S. diplomat, charge daffaires Todd Robinson, and his deputy, Brian Naranjo, to get out of Venezuela within 48 hours. Maduro accused them of bolstering the most powerful opposition politicians, who boycotted the election in protest.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday [Macau time] that the U.S. will respond reciprocally to the diplomats expulsion. Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump echoed the sentiment.

This provocation will be met with a swift response, Pence said in a tweet repeated by Trump. We will continue to pressure Venezuelas illegitimate regime until democracy is restored.

The State Department announced later on that the charge daffaires in the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington and the deputy consul general at Venezuelas consulate in Houston had been ordered to leave the U.S. within 48 hours.

Venezuelas election officials say Maduro beat his nearest challenger, Henri Falcon, by roughly 46 points.

Human rights activists in Venezuela, meanwhile, said Maduros government arrested at least 11 military officers as suspects in an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

There has been no sign of wavering support from the leadership of Venezuelas military, which long has been the arbiter of Venezuelas political disputes. On election day, top commanders went on state television to heap praise on what they described as a flawless vote across the nation.

Activists Alfredo Romero, executive director of the lawyers co-op Foro Penal, said on Twitter that military courts approved the arrests as voters went to the polls.

Authorities have not reported or commented on the arrests. So far this year, human rights activists estimate more than 120 soldiers have been arrested.

In a broad backlash following the election, a coalition of 14 countries throughout the Americas, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, pledged to scale back diplomatic relations with Venezuela. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy decried the vote as failing to respect minimal democratic standards.

The Inter-American Development Bank announced it was suspending further loans to Venezuela for failing to make good on USD88 million in debt payments. That deprives the cash-strapped country of a potentially important financing source. Venezuelas debt with the bank totals $2 billion, bank officials said. AP
The Wines of Portugal group is set to return to Macau, staging a wine tasting event tomorrow featuring vintages of some 20 wineries throughout Portugal.

The wine pairing will present a lineup of approximately 200 red, white, sparkling and fortified wines, along with local delicacies.

Wines of Portugal is Portugals collective brand for the wine sector.

Jorge Monteiro, president of Wines of Portugal, remarked that the event aims to change the image of Portuguese wines, create awareness and teach consumers about the diversity of its wines.

Macau was a very important market to Portugal. [Recently] we decided to focus on mainland China, [] but its the right time to come back to Macau [] our object is to improve the image of Portuguese wines, Monteiro told the Times via telephone.

We know that Portuguese wines are gastronomic wines and the trade [event] will be the opportunity to not only taste wines but to match with food, he added.

The 2018 Perfect Portuguese Pairings is set to be the groups first main event in Macau, following the wine educational programs it held several years ago.

Monteiro acknowledged that the wine market in Macau is a competitive trade, particularly with the presence of large integrated resorts in the city, adding that most wine consumers in the region are not from Macau.

Sooner or later they would prefer more complex wines [] it is also a complex approach but we are looking for a new kind of [importer] not just [from] the Portuguese community but also international traders.

The president expressed his confidence in the citys market, suggesting that Macau is an effective platform for wine trading.

However, he regretted that the group does not have enough time to educate consumers about wine pairings.

This needs time and opportunity to put consumers to tasting more complex wines. Its not easy [so] we should try to convince the opinion leaders and key people like consumers and scholars so that we can improve our situation in the market, Monteiro explained.

According to the president, Portugal boasts more than 250 indigenous grapes that present a spectrum of different flavors.

He noted that Portuguese wines have already established a foothold in the global market and are consumed by connoisseurs around the world.

Portuguese wines are among the best in the world and thats why so many international awards are given each year to our wines, he said.

Tomorrows 2018 Perfect Portuguese Pairings is open to trade professionals and consumers at the JW Marriot Hotel from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
KAZ Minerals PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in mining and processing copper and other metals primarily in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan. It operates through Bozshakol, Aktogay, East Region and Bozymchak, and Mining Projects segments. The company operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open pit copper mines in the east region and Pavlodar region of Kazakhstan; three underground mines in the east region of Kazakhstan; and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan. It also develops greenfield metal deposits; operates Koksay deposit in Kazakhstan, and the Baimskaya licence area in the Chukotka region of Russia; and produces and sells various by-products, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, and zinc. In addition, the company supplies and distributes heat, water, and electricity; and offers construction, project management, financing, management, sales and logistics, and repairs and maintenance services. The company was formerly known as Kazakhmys PLC and changed its name to KAZ Minerals PLC in October 2014. KAZ Minerals PLC was founded in 1930 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

It's commonly said that you can tell a great deal about a person by the clothes they wear. Now new research suggests that choice of garment colour is a predictor of body mass index (BMI).

The findings being presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Vienna, Austria (23-26 May) reveal that darker and multicolour clothes are preferred by women with higher BMIs, while men with larger BMIs are more likely to choose black or white garments.

Colour plays an important role in influencing moods and emotions, and previous research suggests that the colour of the clothes you wear says a lot about your personality, mood, and even how other people perceive you. The size and colour of the clothing you choose depends on a variety of personal factors, and these may include perceived or actual overweight or obesity.

To investigate this further, Dr. Charoula Nikolaou and Professor Stuart Gilmour from St Luke's International University in Tokyo, and Professor Mike Lean from the University of Glasgow's School of Medicine, examined the relationship between BMI and the size and colours of clothes purchased from a global online retail service. Between October and December 2017, data on body weight and height, clothing size, and colour were collected from over 34,000 customers who completed feedback forms. The data, publicly available online, was taken from the AliExpress website, part of the Alibaba group, the China-based multinational e-commerce site. Countries from which the orders were made were grouped by income: low-income, lower-middle income, upper-middle income, and high-income. Clothing colours were also grouped by dark, light, metal, pastel or print colours.

Over a two-month period (covering different seasons in different countries), 27,083 women (8,119 skirts and 18,964 dresses) and 7,295 men (7,295 trousers) from 119 countries purchased items of clothing from 26 clothing brands. Most were purchased by people living in high- and upper-middle income countries. Online sales were mostly to young and middle-aged customers. Over half of trousers sold, almost a quarter of dresses, and 15% of skirts were purchased by someone overweight or obese (BMI>25kg/m2).

The association between customers' BMI and size and colour garments was estimated using linear regression, a form of statistical modelling which adjusts for potential factors that could influence the relationship such as gender, country of origin, income of country of origin.

Results showed that clothing size was closely related to both BMI and waist circumference. Women with a higher BMI were more likely to buy black/blue/dark colour and floral dresses, and multicolour and dot-patterned skirts. Whilst men with a higher BMI tended to stick to black or white trousers.

The authors acknowledge that their findings show observational differences which are not necessarily evidence of cause and effect. They conclude: "Our study suggests that the size and colour of garments purchased can be indicators of weight problems. Online clothing purchase choices could be used to target non-judgemental messages about weight-management and preventing unwanted weight gain."

The authors say that two practical actions to help people with weight-management or preventing weight-gain could result from this study:

Clothing size is a reliable indicator of BMI so non-judgemental messages about weight-management could be provided with purchases of large size-garments

Advice for people who have successfully lost weight could include changing the wardrobe to smaller size garments and switching to colours and patterns favoured by thinner people and which more overweight people tend to avoid.

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Provided by European Association for the Study of Obesity
Satellite image of Hurricane Irma as it approached South Florida Sept. 8, 2017. Credit: NOAA

FIU scientists are investigating the effects of hurricanes and other natural disasters on brain development in children. Preliminary findings suggest these disasters contribute to increased post-traumatic stress symptoms.

For the first time ever, researchers are able to look on a large scale at both neurobiological and clinical information obtained before and after a hurricane makes landfall. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD)the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United StatesFIU psychologists Jonathan Comer and Anthony Dick are comparing child brain function before and after hurricane Irma with the intention of studying children's response to disasters more generally.

The recently released ABCD dataset gave them access to baseline data from three sites affected by IrmaMiami and Gainesville in Florida and Charleston, S.C.providing a unique opportunity to study the effects of natural disasters in children and collect valuable data on a broad scale. Comer and Dick are combining this existing data with new data to evaluate each child's experiences related to Irma. They also surveyed children in San Diego for comparison.

Preliminary results show increased post-traumatic stress symptoms in children who evacuated under stressful conditions as well as those who remained directly in Irma's path during the storm. These are the children who felt the impacts of the aftermath first-hand and were exposed to large doses of storm-related media coverage in the affected areas. Children in San Diego also exhibited post-traumatic stress symptoms associated with Irma-related media exposure even though they were not directly in harm's way.

"We hope to provide guidance for how communities and families can better prepare for and respond to disasters in ways that mitigate potential long-term child suffering in the aftermath of disaster," Dick said. "This work will identify key factors that can promote resilience in children exposed to disasters."

Comer and Dick recently presented findings of their National Science Foundation-funded study on Capitol Hill as part of the Coalition for National Science Funding. They were in Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress and their staff to advocate for continued science funding.

The next step is to collect additional data from the same families during the year following Irma. The children will also be followed into adulthood to find out how their brains respond to various disaster-related incidents. This will complete the first large-scale study of the effects of disaster exposure on children that incorporates biological data including neural and genetic factors, cognitive, clinical, and neuropsychological outcomes.

"Understanding complex and dynamic interactions that unfold across time when disasters affect youth is important for developing appropriate public response," Comer said. "Parents, first responders, and media and policymakers at local, state and federal levels must know which actions can have particularly negative effects on disaster-exposed youth and which factors can instead promote resilience."

Comer has conducted extensive research on the psychological impact of traumatic events on youth. As director of the Mental Health Interventions and Technology Program at FIU's Center for Children and Families, he conducts research on expanding the quality, scope and accessibility of mental health care for children and adolescents. Dick is a co-investigator in the ABCD study and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience program at FIU. He studies the development and neurobiology of language and executive function. He uses neuroimaging methods, including functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI and MRI) to examine typical and atypical child development.

Recruitment of participants for the ABCD study began in September 2016 at 21 study sites across the country including FIU. The study is designed to include a diverse population that reflects the demographics of the United States. So far, nearly 8,000 youth have been enrolled. The goal is to enroll a total of 11,500 children by the end of 2018. For more information or if you are interested in participating in this landmark study, please visit ABCDstudy.org.
Hawaii recently joined the growing number of states and countries where doctor-assisted dying is legal. In these jurisdictions, help to die is rarely extended to those who don't have a terminal illness. Yet, increasingly, very old people, without a terminal illness, who feel that they have lived too long, are arguing that they also have a right to such assistance.

Media coverage of David Goodall, the 104-year-old Australian scientist who travelled to Switzerland for assisted dying, demonstrates the level of public interest in ethical dilemmas at the extremities of life. Goodall wanted to die because he no longer enjoyed life. Shortly before his death, he told reporters that he spends most of his day just sitting. "What's the use of that?" he asked.

Research shows that life can be a constant struggle for the very old, with social connections hard to sustain and health increasingly fragile. Studies looking specifically at the motivation for assisted dying among the very old show that many feel a deep sense of loneliness, tiredness, an inability to express their individuality by taking part in activities that are important to them, and a hatred of dependency.

Of the jurisdictions where assisted dying is legal, some make suffering the determinant (Canada, for example). Others require a prognosis of six months (California, for example). Mainly, though, the focus is on people who have a terminal illness because it is seen as less of an ethical problem to hasten the death of someone who is already dying than someone who is simply tired of life.

Why give precedence to physical suffering?

Assisted dying for people with psychological or existential reasons for wanting to end their life is unlikely to be supported by doctors because it is not objectively verifiable and also potentially remediable. In the Netherlands, despite the legal power to offer assistance where there is no life-limiting illness, doctors are seldom convinced of the unbearable nature of non-physical suffering, and so will rarely administer a lethal dose in such cases.

David Goodall died listening to Beethovens Ode to Joy.

Although doctors may look to a physical diagnosis to give them confidence in their decision to hasten a patient's death, physical symptoms are often not mentioned by the people they are assisting. Instead, the most common reason given by those who have received help to die is loss of autonomy. Other common reasons are to avoid burdening others and not being able to enjoy one's life  the exact same reason given by Goodall. This suggests that requests from people with terminal illness, and from those who are just very old and ready to go, are not as different as both the law  and doctors' interpretation of the law  claim them to be.

Sympathetic coverage

It seems that the general public does not draw a clear distinction either. Most of the media coverage of Goodall's journey to Switzerland was sympathetic, to the dismay of opponents of assisted dying.

Media reports about ageing celebrities endorsing assisted dying in cases of both terminal illness and very old age, blur the distinction still further.

One of the reasons for this categorical confusion is that, at root, this debate is about what a good death looks like, and this doesn't rely on prognosis; it relies on personality. And, it's worth remembering, the personalities of the very old are as diverse as those of the very young.

Discussion of assisted suicide often focuses on concerns that some older people may be exposed to coercion by carers or family members. But older people also play another role in this debate. They make up the rank and file activists of the global right-to-die movement. In this conflict of rights, protectionist impulses conflict with these older activists' demands to die on their own terms and at a time of their own choosing.

In light of the unprecedented ageing of the world's population and increasing longevity, it is important to think about what a good death looks like in deep old age. In an era when more jurisdictions are passing laws to permit doctor-assisted dying, the choreographed death of a 104-year-old, who died listening to Ode to Joy after enjoying a last fish supper, starts to look like a socially approved good death.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Heart doctors from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Council on Stroke are calling on national health authorities for permission to provide stroke patients with mechanical thrombectomy, a life-saving treatment for acute ischaemic stroke, in regions where there is a lack of trained specialists. Details of the proposal are presented today at EuroPCR 2018.

"We have evidence that after a short period of training on the procedure, interventional cardiologists treating acute ischaemic stroke achieve the same results as traditional interventional neuroradiologists," said Professor Petr Widimsky, Chair of the ESC Council on Stroke.

Acute ischaemic stroke is a severe form of the condition where a blood vessel to the brain becomes blocked. It accounts for up to four in five strokes, or over one million cases in Europe each year.

Without treatment most patients die or are severely disabled and permanently bedridden. Even with clot-busting drugs, 75% of patients die or are severely disabled. With mechanical thrombectomy, a procedure to physically remove the clot and restore blood flow to the brain, about half of patients survive and function normally. If performed within two to three hours of symptom onset, the rate of survival with normal neurological function rises to more than 70% of patients.

In Europe, mechanical thrombectomy is currently provided by interventional neuroradiologists, but there is a severe shortage of these specialists. Even countries with the most specialists, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, only have sufficient numbers to treat around one-third of acute ischaemic stroke patients. In some other countries, less than 1% of acute ischaemic stroke patients can be treated.

Professor Widimsky said: "There are interventional cardiology units in all countries in Europe and the Americas, and in most other continents. The equipment for mechanical thrombectomy is available; it's the trained specialists to perform the procedure that are lacking. This situation could be solved by training cardiologists to perform mechanical thrombectomy."

The ESC Council on Stroke is proposing that interventional cardiologists receive three months of training on how to do mechanical thrombectomy, rather than the typical two years required for other physicians. "Many interventional cardiologists routinely perform stenting of the carotid arteries so three months of training is sufficient to learn intracranial mechanical thrombectomy," said Professor Widimsky. "It is up to health authorities in each country to decide if they will allow this."

The proposals are being put forward by the ESC Council on Stroke and the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions, a branch of the ESC.

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Antibody therapy developed at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences as a treatment against the Nipah and Hendra viruses has led to an agreement announced today between USU, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF), Profectus BioSciences, Inc., and Emergent BioSolutions, Inc., for development of a human vaccine against the two deadly viruses. The USU-HJF Joint Technology Transfer Office licensed the technology, which is supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

Dr. Christopher Broder, of USU, and Dr. Antony Dimitrov, of Profectus Biosciences, started their Nipah virus and Hendra virus collaboration in 2011 with support from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. That pre-clinical Nipah vaccine support was critical in bringing this project to the current stage of development. As a next step in the Nipah vaccine development for use in people, Dr. Thomas Geisbert, a 2003 USU alumnus at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and the Galveston National Laboratory, will conduct the preclinical studies at its biosafety level 4 facility. USU, HJF, and Profectus will collaborate on the development of a clinical assay for the evaluation of the anti-Nipah virus vaccine response.

"Based on the success of this vaccine technology against both Nipah virus and Nipah's close relative, Hendra virus, it is highly likely that the Nipah vaccine to be developed here will also work against Hendra virus," said Broder.

A new outbreak of Nipah has emerged in India's southern state of Kerala, with 10 deaths reported to date. Nipah's human-to-human transmission has been documented, and an initially small outbreak could take the same course as the recent Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.

The public was introduced to Nipah virus through the medical thriller "Contagion," a 2011 film about a global pandemic. Nipah virus and Hendra virus, Nipah's close relative, emerged in the 1990s causing serious disease outbreaks in humans and livestock in Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and India. Recent Nipah outbreaks have resulted in acute respiratory distress syndrome and encephalitis, person-to-person transmission, and greater than 75 percent case fatality rates among humans. The viruses are found naturally in several species of Pteropid fruit bats (flying foxes).

The vaccine is based on Nipah virus and Hendra virus technology developed over more than 15 years by Broder and Dr. Katharine Bossart in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at USU. Bossart, who is a graduate of USU's class of 2003 and founder/CEO of Integrated Research Associates, LLC, in San Rafael, Calif., developed the sG vaccine with Broder while a student in his laboratory at USU. The vaccine was evaluated in multiple animal models and was demonstrated to be completely protective against both Nipah virus infection and Hendra virus infection. In addition, Broder, in collaboration with Dr. Dimiter Dimitrov who is now a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, developed an antibody therapy as a treatment against Nipah and Hendra virus which is also in clinical development.

"In the movie Contagion, scientists frantically raced to invent a vaccine against Nipah virus. Fortunately, Drs. Broder and Brossart have already done that. This development agreement is a huge step forward." said Dr. Art Kellermann, dean of USU's F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine.

This antibody was given to the government of Queensland, Australia for humanitarian purposes and was later successfully tested in a Phase 1 clinical trial in that country. A formulation of this vaccine was shown to be effective in preventing Hendra virus infection of horses in Australia where the USU-HJF Office of Technology Transfer licensed it to Zoetis, Inc., who has marketed it since 2012.

The vaccine component is just a single protein from the virus known as the G glycoprotein which is produced in a soluble form (sG) in cell culture by genetic means and purified to exceedingly high levels. No virus or any infectious agent is involved in the production of the sG glycoprotein vaccine. "It is a single dose, extremely safe, simple and highly effective vaccine that has proven time and time again to provide complete protection against two incredibly deadly viral pathogens that are a biological threat to not only people but important livestock as well," said Broder.

"Since the vaccine is just a recombinant piece of the virus, it is a type of vaccine known as a subunit, thus making it extremely safe to use," Bossart said.

The Nipah and Hendra virus use the G glycoprotein to attach to and infect cells. Nipah and Hendra can infect and cause serious and often highly fatal disease in people and also in pigs, horses, cats, dogs, and several other animal species. When used as a vaccine, the immunized subject develops antibodies that bind to the virus' G glycoprotein and effectively neutralizes the virus preventing it from infecting cells within the host.

Explore further Test vaccine successfully protects monkeys from Nipah virus

Provided by Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU)
The image above shows collagen from a healthy engineered lung tissue. Credit: Ruogang Zhao

Developing new medicines to treat pulmonary fibrosis, one of the most common and serious forms of lung disease, is not easy.

One reason: it's difficult to mimic how the disease damages and scars lung tissue over time, often forcing scientists to employ a hodgepodge of time-consuming and costly techniques to assess the effectiveness of potential treatments.

Now, new biotechnology reported in the journal Nature Communications could streamline the drug-testing process.

The innovation relies on the same technology used to print electronic chips, photolithography. Only instead of semiconducting materials, researchers placed upon the chip arrays of thin, pliable lab-grown lung tissuesin other words, its lung-on-a-chip technology.

"Obviously it's not an entire lung, but the technology can mimic the damaging effects of lung fibrosis. Ultimately, it could change how we test new drugs, making the process quicker and less expensive," says lead author Ruogang Zhao, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University at Buffalo.

The department is a multidisciplinary unit formed by UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

The image above shows the nucleus from a healthy engineered lung tissue. Credit: Ruogang Zhao

With limited tools for fibrosis study, scientists have struggled to develop medicine to treat the disease. To date, there are only two drugspirfenidone and nintedanibapproved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations that help slow its progress.

However, both drugs treat only one type of lung fibrosis: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. There are more than 200 types of lung fibrosis, according to the American Lung Association, and fibrosis also can affect other vital organs, such as the heart, liver and kidney.

Furthermore, the existing tools do not simulate the progression of lung fibrosis over timea drawback that has made the development of medicine challenging and relatively expensive. Zhao's research team, which included past and present students, as well as a University of Toronto collaborator, created the lung-on-a-chip technology to help address these issues.

Using microlithography, the researchers printed tiny, flexible pillars made of a silicon-based organic polymer. They then placed the tissue, which acts like alveoli (the tiny air sacs in the lungs that allow us to consume oxygen), on top of the pillars.

The image above shows actin from a healthy engineered lung tissue. Credit: Ruogang Zhao

Researchers induced fibrosis by introducing a protein that causes healthy lung cells to become diseased, leading to the contraction and stiffening of the engineered lung tissue. This mimics the scarring of the lung alveolar tissue in people who suffer from the disease.

The tissue contraction causes the flexible pillars to bend, allowing researchers to calculate the tissue contraction force based on simple mechanical principles.

Researchers tested the system's effectiveness with pirfenidone and nintedanib. While each drug works differently, the system showed the positive results for both, suggesting the lung-on-a-chip technology could be used to test a variety of potential treatments for lung fibrosis.

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More information: Mohammadnabi Asmani et al. Fibrotic microtissue array to predict anti-fibrosis drug efficacy, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Mohammadnabi Asmani et al. Fibrotic microtissue array to predict anti-fibrosis drug efficacy,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04336-z
(HealthDay)Lots of things grow in the spring, including your risk of severe allergic reactions and asthma attacks. So people need to take preventive measures and know when to seek medical care, an emergency physician says.

"Spring tends to bring more people to the emergency department," Dr. Paul Kivela, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said in a college news release.

"Conditions like asthma and allergies are manageable for most people but they can easily become life-threatening. Minimize your risk by limiting your exposure to known triggers, carrying your medicines with you if needed, and developing an action plan for asthma and allergic reactions with your care provider."

Each year, asthma sends more than 1.8 million people to U.S. emergency rooms, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kivela said people with asthma should go to the ER when: symptoms do not improve quickly after the use of rescue inhalers; they're straining to breathe or can't complete a sentence without pausing for breath; their lips or fingernails turn blue.

Picnics, barbecues, pool parties and other outdoor get-togethers can put some people at risk for a life-threatening allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), which is most often caused by a food allergy. It's estimated that a food allergy sends somebody to a U.S. emergency room every three minutes.

Insect bites and stings are another common cause of anaphylaxis.

Symptoms such as tingling, numbness or a metallic taste in the mouth may occur within minutes, but it might take up to several hours for life-threatening reactions to develop, according to Kivela.

Seek immediate emergency care if you or someone else develops any combination of the following symptoms:

Difficulty swallowing or breathing

Swelling of the tongue, throat, nasal passages or face

Welts, hives, itchiness, redness on the skin, lips, eyelids or other areas of the body

Bluish skin, especially the lips or nail beds (or grayish in darker complexions)

Nausea, stomach cramping, vomiting/diarrhea

Heart palpitations; weak and rapid pulse; confusion, slurred speech; dizziness, a drop in blood pressure, fainting or unconsciousness.

If someone develops anaphylaxis, call 911 immediately. And while you wait for first responders to arrive: lay the person flat and elevate the feet; administer self-injectable epinephrine (such as EpiPen) if available; check for a medical tag, bracelet or necklace that may identify anaphylactic triggers, Kivela said.

Explore further Even if severe allergic reaction is in doubt, epinephrine should be used

More information: The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on anaphylaxis

Copyright  2018 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
HIV infecting a human cell. Credit: NIH

Switzerland's pragmatic HIV prevention policy for intravenous drug users has been extremely successful. Thousands of HIV infections and AIDS cases have been prevented thanks to harm reduction measures, as shown by an analysis by the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich and the Swiss HIV Cohort Study.

Researchers at the University of Zurich, the University Hospital Zurich were able to document and quantify the success of measures taken for the prevention of HIV transmission through intravenous drug use in Switzerland, based on a mathematical model and detailed clinical, viral genetics and epidemiological data from the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. Harm reduction measures such as needle exchanges, methadone programs, supervised heroin programs and contact and consultation services for drug users were all analyzed. Marzel and his colleagues could demonstrate through their work that the measures in Switzerland had prevented a total of over 15,000 HIV infections among drug users. "Previously, the HIV epidemic frequently spilled over from intravenous drug users to the general population through sexual contact, meaning that the prevention measures in drug users also indirectly prevented more than 2,500 cases of HIV infection in people who do not use intravenous drugs," says Prof. Roger Kouyos, head of the study, which was recently published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Impact on public health

Marzel et al's evaluation not only documents the success of Switzerland's pragmatic prevention policy, but also demonstrates that the harm reduction and prevention measures protect the general population from HIV infections. The analysis also demonstrates the value of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. "Without the data from the cohort study, which began its work 30 years ago, it would not have been possible to produce such a detailed quantitative analysis," says Prof. Kouyos.

Even without a detailed cost analysis, the economic implications are clear: based on a conservative estimate for the annual cost of treatment of CHF 20,000 per infection, the Swiss healthcare system would have spent an additional CHF 340 million per year on the 17,000 prevented infections. These estimates thus indicate that prevention measures have saved over CHF 3.4 billion in treatment costs over the last 10 years. The results of the data analysis demonstrate the outstanding effectiveness of the implemented harm reduction and prevention measures. Unfortunately, these are still considered controversial abroad, especially in Eastern Europe. In many countries, no prevention measures are offered at all. "Many cases of the transmission of HIV through intravenous drug use could have probably been avoided by implementing the prevention measures. Considering that worldwide 1.7 million intravenous drug users are HIV positive and around 30% of new infections outside Sub-Saharan Africa occur in this risk group, this is another noteworthy result of our research project," says Dr. Alex Marzel of the Institute of Medical Virology, first author of the paper.

The Swiss HIV Cohort Study was founded over 30 years ago, and has collected anonymous data from over 20,000 HIV positive individuals and a biobank containing over 1.5 million blood samples. All university hospitals in Switzerland, as well as many cantonal hospitals and specialized domestic practitioners, contribute to the cohort study. The largest center is located in Zurich.

Explore further First month after infection is key time to tackle drug-related HIV spread

More information: Alex Marzel et al. The Cumulative Impact of Harm Reduction on the Swiss HIV Epidemic: Cohort Study, Mathematical Model, and Phylogenetic Analysis. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 5, Issue 5, 1 May 2018, Doi: 10/1093/ofid/ofy078
Ebola virus. Credit: NIAID

The deployment of an experimental Ebola vaccine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is an important development in the fight against the disease. If the vaccine proves effective, it will spare many people from sickness and death. However, according to analysis by the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) this approach may not be able to stop the outbreak itself.

Thousands of doses of a recently developed Ebola vaccine are being deployed in the DRC. The World Health Organization (WHO) is prioritizing inoculations through a "ring vaccination" strategy, dosing identified contacts of confirmed or suspected Ebola patients, as well as the contacts of those contacts. Health care workers will also be immunized.

While ring vaccination can alleviate a great deal of suffering, it may not be able to stop the outbreak as a whole. Vaccination supplements the standard WHO approach of contact tracing and the isolation of known contacts until it is determined if they are sick. It can take days or weeks for Ebola symptoms to develop. Immunization can prevent the disease, but it can take as long as two weeks to be effective. This means that exposed contacts will still have to be isolated after receiving the vaccine, because they may still develop or be able to transmit the disease.

An even more significant problem is that unknown contacts, which are neither isolated nor vaccinated, can quickly spread the disease in densely populated areas like Mbandaka. Contact tracing was not able to stop the spread of Ebola in the urban centers of West Africa in 2014 because of unknown contacts. If more cases occur in Mbandaka, contact tracing, even with vaccination, will not work in the DRC either.

NECSI recommends a community monitoring approach. Door-to-door checks for fever, an early symptom of Ebola, can identify potentially infected individuals before they have a chance to infect others, allowing for targeted vaccinations and isolation, as well as other care.

NECSI's simulations have provided strong evidence that community monitoring is ultimately what stopped the spread of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leon. Adopting this strategy sooner in the DRC can prevent the outbreak from becoming a far more serious epidemic.

More information: Yaneer Bar-Yam, Will the new ring vaccination stop the spread of Ebola?, New England Complex Systems Institute. Yaneer Bar-Yam, Will the new ring vaccination stop the spread of Ebola?, New England Complex Systems Institute. necsi.edu/research/social/pand  ringvaccination.html
Credit: Brenkee/Pixabay

,Should you happen to have visited a major city in the past 10 or 20 years, you might have noticed a health trend: yoga. The thousands-year-old Indian spiritual practice made its way into gyms, universities and even religious centres worldwide. New yoga centres seem to pop up weekly, advertising new yoga styles and making new health claims. Interestingly enough, yoga is not just perceived as a recreational activity but mainly as a way to increase and maintain health: national surveys show that about 31 million U.S. adults (more than 13% of the population) have used yoga for health reasons.

Yoga has been shown in clinical trials to improve pain by stretching muscles and aligning posture, to lower blood pressure by rebalancing the autonomous nervous system and to reduce inflammation by regulating chronic stress. In recent times, yoga is more and more perceived not only as a way to reduce stress and increase physical fitness but also to overcome mental suffering. This should not really come as a surprise: already about 2000 years ago the Indian sage Patanjali, the "grandfather" of modern yoga, defined yoga as the "control of the fluctuations of the mind". And "fluctuations of the mind", rumination or uncontrollable thoughts are cardinal symptoms of several mental disorders.

This potential of yoga to control unwanted mind wandering has hit the big time when Hillary Clinton reported how "alternate nostril breathing", a classical yogic breathing technique, helped her to heal from her election loss  and from giving up her lifelong dream of becoming president of the USA. However, beyond gossip and anecdotal evidence, there are hard scientific facts and clear mechanisms by which yoga might help with mental symptoms:

Trauma-related symptoms

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major public health problem affecting up to 6% of the world population. PTSD results from substantial traumatic experiences and is thus far more common among veterans, survivors of wars or natural disasters, and victims of violence. The syndrome is characterized by re-experiencing, avoidance and arousal. PTSD is associated with a brain structure called the amygdala which connects the memory of certain experiences with emotions  in the case of PTSD the amygdala is overactivated and thereby constantly produces the aforementioned symptoms.

By reducing stress, yoga can increase parasympathic activity, this is the relaxation response, and could thereby directly reduce amygdala activity. This seems to be mainly driven by yogic breathing such as alternate nostril breathing. From a psychological viewpoint, PTSD is characterized by the paradox that patients feel anxious about the future although the traumatic event lies in the past. This is mainly driven by an overgeneralization of past experiences and negative appraisal of own actions, negative reactions by other people and life prospects.

Yoga therapy in an American military hospital. Credit: US Navy/Juan Pinalez

Yoga involves aspects of mindfulness, this is a non-judgmental open attention to and acknowledgment of even unpleasant emotions or memories. This can increase emotion regulation rather than avoidance. The mindful awareness of the transitory nature of one's momentary physical, sensory, and emotional experience during yoga practice is thought to lead to a change in self-appraisal, thereby reducing PTSD symptoms.

In line with these thoughts and theories, clinical trials have shown that yoga actually can reduce symptoms of PTSD: studies from North and South America and Australia have recruited veterans and other people with traumatic experiences and randomly allocated them to yoga interventions lasting weeks to months or to control groups which were not treated at all or received rather unspecific health counseling. In a meta-analysis of these studies, my colleagues and I demonstrate that those participants who practiced yoga experienced a much stronger and clinically relevant reduction in their symptoms  even if the yoga style was not specifically designed for participants with PTSD.

Fear and anxiety

Other studies have targeted anxiety disorders. Anxiety is a normal response to specific situations or events. Without anxiety, mankind would surely not have survived. However, excessive fear or anxiety may be indicative of an anxiety disorder. In generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) for example, elevated levels of anxiety, which are associated with concerns about health, relationships, work, and financial issues, lead to a wide variety of physical symptoms and behavioral changes. In the U.S., more than 4% of the population have been estimated to suffer from GAD alone.

Excessive anxiety also has implications for long-term health, with somatic symptoms of anxiety, such as palpitations and irregular heartbeat, being associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Interestingly, treating anxiety is one of the main reasons people give for practicing yoga. Again, mindfulness seems to play a key role here: patients with GAD have been shown to be less "mindful" than the general population, indicating that mindful body work, breathing and meditation can help here  perhaps by "controlling the fluctuations of the mind"? Interestingly, anxiety disorders are more prevalent among patients with breathing disorders such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and breathing retraining has been an essential part of many cognitive behavior therapy approaches for anxiety disorders.

Not surprisingly, yogic breathing is often seen as the main part of yoga when it comes to treating mental disorders, not the well-known yoga postures. The effects of yoga have been researched for a number of anxiety disorders, including GAD or phobia. We have analyzed these studies in a further meta-analysis. While the results are positive, most studies are quite old and do not fulfil the requirements of modern science, so replications are urgently needed. What yoga clearly does is relieving symptoms of anxiety in healthy individuals  be it diffuse everyday fear, examination anxiety or performance anxiety in musicians.

It remains unclear whether alternate nostril breathing alone can really ameliorate mental suffering. What is clear is that yoga can help with trauma-related symptoms and anxiety, and that breathing exercises are a main mechanism by which it does so. Needless to say that patients with mental disorders should not try yoga on their own but only after consulting their psychiatrist and psychotherapist. For minor everyday anxiety, simple yogic breathing techniques might be worth a try as a self-care strategy.

Explore further Yoga may be viable option for people with generalized anxiety disorder

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Guinea pigs, fish, dogs, and horses: What do these animals have in common? They may have an impact on our health.

Since 2008, NIH has studied how these animals affect our healthfrom reducing anxiety to helping us remember to take medicine.

"People have been interested in human-animal interaction for hundreds of years but the science has only started blossoming in the past few decades," said Layla Esposito, Ph.D. "There are a lot of stories about the relationships between humans and pets, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions."

Dr. Esposito and her team are trying to answer those questions. She oversees the human-animal interaction research portfolio at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

What we know

Although trials may help uncover or confirm health benefits from our pets, there are some things we already know. For example, animals can bring people companionship and help us get more physical activity.

"We know that when you're playing with a dog or taking it for a walk, you're obviously increasing physical activity," Dr. Esposito said.

Stress and anxiety

Another popular area of human-animal interaction research looks at how pets can reduce stress and provide emotional support.

Marguerite E. O'Haire, Ph.D., and her team at Purdue University are funded by the program. They studied if playing with guinea pigs in the classroom helps children with Autism Spectrum Disorder feel calmer and more engaged in social interactions. Their findings? They do.

Now Dr. O'Haire is exploring how service dogs can help veterans. Specifically, how dogs can improve the quality of life for veterans and their families who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder following military service.

"Through my NICHD grants, it has been exciting to capture data on areas that have historically relied on emotional intuition rather than objective science," Dr. O'Haire said.

Safety first

The human-animal interaction program studies more than just health. The program also looks at the safety of human and animal participants.

One ongoing study wants to see if dogs can reduce stress, loneliness, and anxiety in children with cancer. Researchers also want to know if the dogs compromise the children's immune systems during these visits.

"It could open up the doors for hospitals to start letting therapy dogs onto cancer wards, which would be really exciting," Dr. Esposito added.

NIH's Clinical Centerthe country's largest research hospitalalready uses therapy dogs to comfort some patients during their stays.

Other animals

In addition to dogs and guinea pigs, NIH research has studied how riding horses can help children with developmental disabilities. It's also researched how feeding fish on a set schedule helps teens to better manage their type 1 diabetes.

Dr. Esposito said she hopes to see more research on our favorite feline friends, cats, since they are popular pets.

Becoming a human-animal interaction researcher

While human-animal interaction research is expanding, it's still a unique, smaller field.

Dr. O'Haire has one of the few research positions in the country solely dedicated to studying how animals interact with humans.

"I have always been interested in studying both animals and psychology, so this field is the perfect intersection of those interests," she said. Her advice for young people interested in this or other research careers: find a mentor.

"I would recommend finding a mentor. Whether the mentor is focused on human-animal interaction or related fi elds, mentorship can be critical to navigating the pathway to successful career development," Dr. O'Haire said.
The Estate Yountville is expanding its culinary team with the addition of Katie Cotten as director of catering and conference services.

Cotten brings more than 13 years of experience to the role, said a news release.

We are thrilled to have Cotten lead our catering and conference team, said Steve Davino, general manager at The Estate Yountville.

Cotten joins The Estate Yountville from Montage Kapalua Resort and Spa in Hawaii where she was director of catering and conference services.

Cotten earned a B.S. in Culinary Management and an Associate of Applied Science in Baking & Pastry from The Art Institutes International Minnesota.
However, with the help of campus clubs, she connected with other students.

With the support of her family she was able to save money.

With the help of the community, she was able to help others.

Volunteering at NVC during the October fire disaster gave me the opportunity to give to my community, and NVC itself gave me the opportunity to further my college career while still in my hometown, she said.

She credited the college faculty and staff, for not only creating an environment of learning, but also for being such truly caring and encouraging individuals who uplift us students and keep our heads above water when we feel we dont know what in the world were doing.

And, with the help of NVC counselors, she earned an associate degree in natural sciences and math, with a grade point average of 3.9.

I also learned how good it feels to work hard for something and have it pay off.

AnnaBelle plans to finish her college career online, performing clinical work with the UC San Diego Extension, as a lactation consultant.

College gives students such a good skill set to become the best people we can be, she told her fellow graduates.
A family in Portland, Oregon, received a nightmarish phone call two weeks ago.

"Unplug your Alexa devices right now," a voice on the other line said. "You're being hacked."

Apparently, one of Amazon.com's Alexa-powered Echo devices in their house had silently sent recordings to the caller without the family's permission, according to KIRO 7, a news station covering Seattle and western Washington state that first reported the story. The person, who happened to be an employee of the husband, was in the family's contact list.

"My husband and I would joke and say, 'I'd bet these devices are listening to what we're saying,' " said a woman to KIRO 7 who identified herself only by her first name, Danielle.

"At first, my husband was, like, 'No, you didn't!' And the [recipient of the message] said, 'You sat there talking about hardwood floors.' And we said, 'Oh, gosh, you really did hear us.' "

Danielle said she felt invaded after listening back to her own conversations, silently captured by an eavesdropping machine. "I'm never plugging that device in again," she said. "I can't trust it."
Armitage plans to finish her college career online, performing clinical work with the UC San Diego Extension, as a lactation consultant.

I think sometimes community colleges get overlooked, she said. Some people only see them as a stepping stone before you get to real college. But I disagree with that. Our little college here in Napa is the one that enabled me . . . This school is precious and so valuable.

Lets go out there and make a difference, said Armitage, so that at the end of the day, and at the end of our lives, we can say we left our world better than the way we found it.

Key note speaker de Leon, raised by a single mother who immigrated from Guatemala, became the first in his family to graduate college and also discussed the importance of making a difference and stressed the importance of access to college.

No matter who you are, where you come from, the color of your skin, your legal status, who you love, or how much money you have, every individual deserves an equal shot, said de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat who grew up in Barrio Logan, the inner city of San Diego.
Those Californians voting in a polling place in a neighborhood garage or the clubhouse or a park or a school auditorium may want to remember the experience well. It might not be repeated often after this primary election and Novembers general election.

Already, Californians in five counties  Napa, Madera, Nevada, Sacramento and San Mateo  are pioneering the new experience that will almost certainly come to voters in most other counties two years from now.

The new election system features vote centers rather than precincts and a big expansion of mail balloting.

The aim is to expand turnout by making things far easier for voters. Its the complete opposite of the vote-suppression efforts Republicans push in many other states where mail balloting has been made more difficult and identification is often required before voters so much as touch a ballot.

After low turnout disappointed California officials in 2014 (25 percent of registered voters) and in the off-year elections of 2013 and 2015, they began casting about for changes. The new system will deliver mail-in ballots to every registered voter about 28 days before each actual Election Day, aiming to end any need for voting in a single place on just one day.
But the 2011 U.S. and European intervention into Libya was not a result of the arms control deal that Gadhafi struck. If the terms of that bargain are the reason for Kim's cold feet, then there wasn't much of a chance for peace on the Korean peninsula in the first place. After all, what is the point of these high-level talks if the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea is not on offer?

What's more, the U.S. can promise Kim not to invade his country. The U.S. can entice Kim with cash and trade. The U.S. can perform all kinds of diplomatic acrobatics and pretend this tyrant is a statesman. But no one can guarantee that one day the North Korean people will not rise up against him. The Soviet Union had a nuclear arsenal that could destroy the world dozens of times over, but even that regime eventually met its end after Boris Yeltsin decided holding the empire together wasn't worth the repression required.

And this is exactly why Bolton is valuable. The fact that the North Koreans despise him is a good thing for American interests. Back when Bolton was undersecretary of state in George W. Bush's first term, he used to keep framed copies of Iranian and North Korean propaganda sheets that denounced him. For Bolton, the furious insults of dictators were badges of honor.
When asked about the secret to living a long life, St. Helenas Midge Burns had a quick and succinct response: Just keep laughing.

And then, as she has so often over the last 100 years, she did just that.

Burns' 100th birthday is on June 26, but her fellow members of the Upper Napa Valley Republican Women celebrated it on Monday during their monthly luncheon at Cindys Backstreet Kitchen. Her friends praised her fun-loving personality, sense of humor and sharp wit, which they say hasnt dulled a bit as shes reached the century mark.

Shes perky and shes always in a good mood, said Della Danner. Everybody loves her.  Shes stayed in good health and she keeps up her social life.

Burns keeps up with a multitude of friends and attends the Presbyterian Church on Spring Street every Sunday. A few years ago, she and the centenarian gentleman she was dating at the time dressed up like Dr. Seuss characters for a Halloween party.

Burns said she sits in her backyard every day and looks across the pool at the flowers on the other side.

I think thats whats keeping me alive, she said. I like flowers and things that are pretty.
The classification of Vinho (table wine) represents wines made with no official scrutiny and forms the base of the quality pyramid. Next up, would be the classification of Vinho Regional (also referred to as IGP) consisting of wines from Portugals 14 official zones that must also have 85 percent of the grapes from the stated region with minimum alcohol levels. At the top of the pyramid is DOP (similar to DOC elsewhere in Europe) where the Regional Wine Commission (CVR or Comissao Vitivinicola Regional) conducts blind tastings for approval, and each wine must contain only those specific varietals approved for the growing region of origin as we see in much of Italy and France.

Outside of these three official classifications there exists one more unofficial group for which the Portuguese take great pride and hold in high esteem. Vinho Velhas translates to old vines, but this category means so much more to the industry, growers, vintners and consumers. The wines classified as Vinho Velhas come from interplanted vineyards that may contain 40 or more varietals and are at least 45 years old. The average age of the vines is thought to be from 60 to 80 years with some ranging to 100 years and more.
There remains plenty of controversy over the minimum parcel size in the preserve (160 acres), with some arguing for it to be smaller, others saying it should be larger.

One threat to the valley at the time of the Ag Preserve proposal was a widely discussed plan that could have put a freeway through the heart of the valley. It would have destroyed towering oaks and created erosion issues. And might have wrecked the potential for vineyard growth and eventual wine greatness.

It was never built, thanks to dedicated men like Davies, Carpy, Winiarski, Robert Mondavi and others, many of whom went door-to-door speaking to residents  even though some vintners opposed creation of the preserve.

Just imagine a supermarket on the Silverado Trail, a Calistoga outlet mall, or a string of fast-food drive-throughs in Rutherford. The Ag Preserve prevented these sorts of things.

Winiarski said Haberger was visionary because the proposal predated almost all of the wine success that followed. It was just two years after Robert Mondavi built the first major new winery in the valley since Prohibition ended, 33 years earlier.
 Felipe Muller East of Vina Tabali

As a winemaker, I do not like to cook. I like to show the wine as it is, said Felipe Muller, CEO and chief winemaker at Tabali in Limari Valley. Muller had been working at a winery in Maipo and was responsible for buying grapes from other regions for seven years. He was familiar with Tabali because he bought Chardonnay from them.

Vina Tabali is owned by Guillermo Luksic who bought the property in 1991 and planted grapes in 1993. He first came to the region as a child and recognized the special climate and temperature. They sold the grapes until they began making wine in 2002. Luksic was the first businessman to build a modern winery in the Limari Valley. Muller joined Tabali in 2006 and his first vintage was in 2007.

One of the vineyards owned by Tabali is the Talinay vineyard, located the Fray Jorge National Park. The vineyard, located 12 kilometers from the ocean, is part of the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Obscured from the highway, this vineyard is tucked in the foothills of the small coastal range.

A pre-desert area, it is surrounded by cacti and brush. Muller did not know it existed until a grower invited him to see it. He was surprised but intrigued to find a vineyard so close to the ocean and felt that he was standing at the end of the earth.
Serve wine at the right temperature

We tend to drink white wines too cold and red wines too warm. Thats because we pull whites right out of the fridge, around 40 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature may make the wine seem refreshing at first, but isnt that like cold water? We want fruit and acidity, nuance, etc. That comes with moderately cool temperatures. If you keep wine in the fridge, take it out about 30 minutes before you want to drink it. If you doubt this, pay attention to the wine as it warms up. Youll notice more flavors. Full-bodied whites, such as some chardonnays or the orange or amber wines fashionable today, are often at their best just barely cooler than room temperature. (Secondary advice: Dont drink the wine too fast.)

Reds should be served at cellar temperature, not room temp. A proper wine cellar is kept around 57 degrees (compared with 40 degrees for refrigerators and 70 degrees or more for modern houses). So stick your bottle of red in a bucket of ice and water for about 20 minutes.

At restaurants, dont be shy: Pull your bottle of white out of the bucket and leave it on the table if its too cold, and plunk your red in the ice bath instead.

Invest in good-quality stemless wine glasses
Armenia ombudsman: During war Azerbaijanis incurred in border area near Tsav village of Syunik Province

Armenia Journalists Union issues statement on Constitutional Court declaring law on insult/defamation constitutional

Spiritual leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan to discuss peacemaking initiative in South Caucasus

Iran test-launches 'Majid' short-range and low-altitude air defense system

Putin, Merkel and Macron discuss Ukraine

Karabakh Prosecutor General's Office on case of murder of citizen by Azerbaijani side

Court renders decision on Armenia Police's unlawful actions against Armenian citizen Argishti Kiviryan

Armenia PM's Chief of Staff attends event dedicated to International Architects' Day

The ARARAT Museum of the Yerevan Brandy Company hosted the Awards Ceremony of the

Participants of motorcade of six cars in Moscow start firing gunshots, Armenia citizens arrested

Political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Denmark

Armenia ruling faction MP: Turkish textiles need to be replaced with Russian ones

Armenian deputy minister: There are companies in Armenia that manufacture items for Russian military planes

Armenia justice minister says government will remove unjust judges from the judiciary

Karabakh President signs law on making amendments to legislation on weapons

Armenia President visits St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican, lays flowers at statue of St. Gregory of Narek

Armenia President meets with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin

Armenia President meets with Pope Francis

Iran's Prosecutor General to arrive in Armenia at invitation of Armenian counterpart

Armenia high-tech industry minister receives Sweden Ambassador

Armenia Deputy PM Suren Papikyan to leave for Moscow

Digest: Pashinyan and Putin scheduled to meet, more on COVID-19 in Armenia

Armenia State Revenue Committee chief meets with UAE State Audit Institution president

Superior command inspects engineering work at Armenia army positions

Iran MFA spokesman: We have never closed our airspace to Azerbaijan

Artsakh ombudsman: Occupied Hadrut undeniable proof of Azerbaijan hatred, ethnic cleansing policy against Armenians

Azerbaijan, Turkey FMs confer on regional situation

Armenia to host French-Armenian Scientific-Medical Conference to help those affected by the war

Iran FM to visit Azerbaijan, media report

One dollar falls below AMD 479 in Armenia

Union of Banks of Armenia has new board chairman

Russian architect: Old Yerevan is about to perish, while Gyumri is being reborn

3 Azerbaijanis cause mass deaths of residents of Russia's Orenburg

Karabakh Armenian architect: It's impossible to cooperate with Azerbaijan in culture sector

UAE State Audit Institution president arrives in Armenia at invitation of justice minister

Mutalibov: Karabakh Armenians will have right to live there if they adopt Azerbaijan citizenship

Ambassador to finance minister: Sweden ready to continue assisting in Armenia reforms

Russia architect: Many monuments in Karabakh are now under threat of destruction

Turkey court orders interior ministry to pay close to $112k to Hrant Dinks family

Catholicos of All Armenians heading for Moscow, will meet with religious leaders of Russia and Azerbaijan

Armenia prosecutor's office to be consistent in investigating Artsakh residents murder, gross violation of ceasefire

Russian FM meeting with Turkish counterpart in Serbia

Armenia FM, Belarus ambassador discuss regional issues

Bitcoin price rises above $ 57,000

Armenia PM to pay working visit to Russia

Azerbaijan State Border Service calls on Iran officials to avoid to spread false and defamatory information

Gas price in Europe exceeds $ 1,100 per 1,000 cubic meters

Man, 37, found half-naked on Armenia river bank

601 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Legal team: Armenia ex-defense minister does not accept charge against him

Russia peacekeepers ensure pilgrims safe visit to Karabakhs Amaras Monastery

Child, 9, found dead under concrete rubble in Yerevan (PHOTOS)

Artsakh historical, cultural heritage being discussed in Yerevan with participation of international specialists

US embassy in Armenia to be closed Monday

World gold prices drop

Armenia participates in Europes largest trade fair for food within EU4Business Initiative

World oil prices going up

Woman kills mother with psychotropic drugs in Gyumri

Borrell: EU is facing risk of turning from subject into object of world politics

California law requires selling gender-neutral baby products

Saakashvili's condition worsens on tenth day of hunger strike

Armenia lawyer: Most ridiculous thing is that only COVID-19 statistics are stated in rationale for legislative amendment

Russian MOD issues statement on murder of peaceful Armenian civilian by Azerbaijanis in Karabakh

Iran FM: Tehran has no intention to be dependent of Russia

Karabakh Central Electoral Commission reports 59.2% voter turnout in elections

Aliyev declares that 'a new era for Karabakh is beginning'

Saakashvili answers questions about his personal life

Veolia Water reports stoppage of water supply in Armenia's Syunik Province on Oct. 11

MP: Armenia is the only country in Europe where 3 opposition MPs are arrested and ambassadors are silent

Garibashvili: New peace initiative was discussed during meeting with Pashinyan

Iran is ready to participate in construction of transit route leading to Georgia through Armenia

Citizens holding rally demanding release of Mikheil Saakashvili near parliament in Tbilisi

Armenia President to visit Holy See with Mrs. Nouneh Sarkissian, to hold personal talks with Pope Francis

Armenia Shirak Province governor appoints acting heads of communities

Karabakh Central Electoral Commission reports 46.6 % voter turnout in elections as of 5 p.m.

Cross-stone commemorating 14 martyrs of 44-day war unveiled at school in Armenia's Abovyan

"Ribbon of Eternity" monument in Armenia vandalized again

Russia's Putin to meet with Armenia PM on Oct. 12

Azerbaijani Navy to hold military exercises in Caspian Sea

Karabakh Central Electoral Commission reports 36.1 % voter turnout in elections as of 2 p.m.

Iran declares presence of Israelis on border with Azerbaijan again

Karabakh Central Electoral Commission reports 15.1% voter turnout in elections as of 11 a.m.

4 Armenian families displaced from Karabakh already provided with dwellings in Armenia

L-410 plane crashes in Tatarstan, leaving 16 dead

Karabakh MP: Azerbaijanis took villager's car and then returned it, they are obstructing harvest

20 new cases of coronavirus reported in Karabakh, 6 patients are in severe condition

Armenian human rights activist: Opposition truly believes Armenia is legal state and it can restrain authorities

Armenia MOD leaves for Moscow

Armenia President attends Aurora Prize Ceremony at St. Lazar's Island

1,151 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia President sends condolence telegram to Georgian counterpart

Iraq holding snap parliamentary elections

Armenia territorial administration and infrastructure minister, India ambassador discuss opportunities for collaboration

President visits Armenia honorary consulate in Veneto region of Italy

Burned body of man, 65, found in Armenia rural community

Armenia MOD: Serviceman wounded at Yeraskh village section of border with Azerbaijan is contract soldier

Turkey detains 6 foreigners on suspicion of espionage

Hraparak.am: Armenia soldier wounded at Yeraskh village section of border with Azerbaijans Nakhchivan

Armenia Constitutional Court finds bill tabled by parliament speaker to be in accordance with Constitution

Opposition MP: Armenia authorities obsessed with false ideas of building dialogue with Turkey, Azerbaijan
Russia regrets that a summit of the US and North Korea was cancelled, as it expected this move to relax tensions on the Korean peninsula, President Vladimir Putin said after talks with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

"We, Russia, have taken this news with regret, as we all expected a major step will be made towards easing tensions on the Korean peninsula, and that this will launch the process of denuclearization of the whole Korean peninsula," Putin said.

He stressed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did all he had promised, destroying the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, after which the US cancelled the talks, TASS reported.

Russia expects that a summit of the US and North Korea will take place eventually, and Russia will continue working to bring the two countries positions closer, Putin said.

"We hope that a dialogue will be restarted, will continue, and a meeting will take place. Without this meeting we can hardly expect sizable progress in the settlement of an extremely important issue, not just a regional one, but I think a global issue. We will be working all together to bring closer the positions of the US and North Korea," Putin said.
YEREVAN.  The millennium-long wheel of emigration of the Armenian people shall ultimately stop and turn back.

The new Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, on Friday stated the aforementioned at the 27th joint meeting of the board of trustees and the local chapters of Hayastan (Armenia) All-Armenian Fund, in capital city Yerevan.

We are convinced that the Republic of Armenia was established by the Armenian people for the following objective: that is, to centralize the Armenians human, financial, intellectual, scientific, economic, spiritual potentialor a considerable part thereofin their own territory, and to ensure the security and normal development of that potential, Pashinyan noted, in particular. We believe that the mid-term result of this process should be the following: the millennium-long wheel of emigration of the Armenian people shall ultimately stop and turn back, and Armenians shall ultimately start a big processto ensure the concentration on the Republic of Armenia, the having of the Republic of Armenia citizenship as an institution, and the security and natural development of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)].

That is, the Republic of Armenia shall ensure the security and normal development of the Armenian people, [and] the Armenian people shall ensure the security and normal development of the Republic of Armenia.

We are moving towards a free and happy Armenia.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Friday introduced Artak Davtyan, the newly appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, to the senior officers staff of the armed forces.

First, the PM thanked the outgoing army chief, Movses Hakobyan, for his services rendered to the homeland.

Stressing that the Armenian armed forces enjoy the peoples complete trust, Pashinyan added, however, that there are some challenges in this trust and they need to be addressed.

We need to put a task of replacing the sense of work with the sense of mission, he said, in particular. As a result of all this, the key issue is to make the combat-readiness of the [Armenian] armed forces match the assessed and foreseeable military threats and the nature of war.

Also, the PM underscored the ensuring of the precept of single leadership of, and the raising of the level of education in, the Armenian army.

Subsequently, the ceremony of the transfer of the position of the chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia was held.
Russia is ready to have a detailed dialogue with the United States since it is long overdue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the SPIEF-2018 plenary meeting on Friday, TASS reported.

"Certainly, we cannot be content with the level and nature of Russian-US relations. We are ready for dialogue. Mr. Trump has suggested holding a separate meeting, but things go wrong for us," Putin said. "Many problems are emerging, but we are ready to hold a detailed dialogue. I think it is long overdue."

The head of state pointed out that Russia has disagreements with the US, but the two countries stances are similar in some issues. For instance, both countries are concerned about a possible new arms race.

"Certainly, those steps, which we are talking about now, related to North Korea and Iran do not make us closer, but they are also a reason to discuss these issues," Putin said.

Putin reiterated that Russia had not meddled in the latest presidential election in the US. "Instigator. I had nothing in common with the election campaign of Mr. Trump," Putin replied to the host of a plenary session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, who supposed that.

Putin has called on the US to establish uniform rules of behavior on the world stage.
1. Comments must not be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted.

2. Comments must not involve little more than name-calling and insulting remarks.

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I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published.
Home | News | General | World Bank urges other states to replicate Edo blueprint

The World Bank has thrown its weight behind the ongoing developmental drive of the Godwin Obaseki-led administration in Edo State, urging other states in the country to replicate the Edo model.

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (middle); his deputy, Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu (2nd right); World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Rachid Benmessaoud (2nd left); Country Manager, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nigeria Office, Eme Essien (right); and Programme Leader, World Bank, Muna Salih Meky (left), after a meeting between the governor and the World Bank team, at Government House in Benin City, on Thursday, May 24, 2018.

Country Director of World Bank, Nigeria and Co-ordinating Director for Regional Integration Programme in West Africa, Rachid Benmessaoud, who led the banks delegation on a visit to the governor at the Government House, Edo State, on Thursday, said: Obaseki has established a flagship effort that has resulted in the Edo Azura Power Plant where he brought the World Bank Group together and we are ready to replicate the model and build more Azura projects in Nigeria and West Africa.

He was accompanied on the visit by the Country Manager, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Nigeria Office, Eme Essien; Programme Leader, Muna Salih Meky; Programme Leader, Kofi Nouve;

Lead Procurement Specialist, Bayo Awosemusi; Senior Private Sector Specialist, Feyi Boroffice; Senior Agriculture Economist, Adetunji A. Oredipe; and Senior Operations Officer, John Paul Ngebeh, amongst others.

Benmessaoud explained that the strong partnership between Edo State Government and the World Bank is highly cherished by his institution, and commended the insistence of the Obaseki administration on transparency and accountability.

I want to assure the governor that the World Bank will help in addressing the human capital needs by pulling her resources together to support the Edo State government, he pledged.

In his response, Obaseki expressed the gratitude of the Edo State government to the World Bank for finding the state a worthy partner in their commitment to bring development to all Edo people and residents.

He showcased the achievements of the government in agriculture to his guests and said that one of his goals is to replace crude oil with oil palm, as aggressive effort is being made to make Edo State the oil palm hub in the country and beyond.

He highlighted some of the challenges faced by his government, including illegal migration and human trafficking, explaining that 60 per cent of returnees to Nigeria are from Edo State.

According to him, Trafficking is high because the people are very aspirational and are prepared to take the risk of embarking on the dangerous journey. If they can turn such zeal to learning a skill and contribute their quota to development, the nation will be a better place for us all.

Obaseki further said that in the state alone, about 3,300 people have returned home after a painful experience in Libya and elsewhere and added that his administration has been reintegrating them into the society through a bouquet of initiatives including creating jobs, mentoring, technical and vocational education; skill development programme, amongst others.

Benmassouds visit follows the visit of 11 Executive Directors of the Bretton Woods institution, who were in the state for on-the-spot assessment of the bank-sponsored developmental projects in the state, recently.

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Home | News | General | Trump Pulls Out of North Korea Summit Meeting with Kim Jong-un

President Donald Trump has cancelled the planned June 12 summit in Singapore with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, citing a flurry of hostile statements from North Korea.Donald Trump in the statement also told the North Korean leader this missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

This is coming a day that North Korea dismantled its nuclear bomb testing site, in the presence of some invited journalists.

But Mr. Trump said later that the meeting with Mr. Kim, which had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, could still hold, even as he renewed threats of military action against the North and vowed to continue a campaign of economic pressure against Mr. Kims regime.

The president made his announcement in a formal and at times mournful-sounding letter to Mr. Kim, in which Mr. Trump cited North Koreas derisive statements about Vice President Mike Pence as the specific reason for canceling the meeting.

President Trump said in the letter to Kim that based on the statement, he felt it was inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. He said;

I have decided to terminate the planned Summit in Singapore on June 12th. While many things can happen and a great opportunity lies ahead potentially, I believe that this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and indeed a setback for the world

The president says the North Koreans talk about their nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

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Home | News | General | Starving women raped by soldiers, Civilian JTF in IDP camps Amnesty International

*As Rights groups ask FG to use report to prevent recurrence

By Abdulwahab Abdulah

ABUJAAmnesty International has in its latest report highlighted sordid tales of how women and girls displaced by insurgency in the North East were raped by soldiers and Civilian Joint Task Force, JTF.

This is even as human rights groups, including Campaign for Human Rights, CHR, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, CISLAC, and Nigeria Action for Youths, NAY, urged the Federal Government to take the report in good faith and use it to prevent a recurrence, rather that dismissing it.

Women and children in one of the IDP camps in the North East.

The report released yesterday by the Manager, Amnesty International, Nigeria, Isa Sanusi, revealed how the military and civilian JTF separated women from their husbands and confined them to remote satellite camps where they were raped, sometimes in exchange for food.

It is absolutely shocking that people who had already suffered so much under Boko Haram have been condemned to further horrendous abuse by the Nigerian military.

Instead of receiving protection from the authorities, women and girls have been forced to succumb to rape in order to avoid starvation or hunger, said Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.

The report said that in some cases, the abuse appeared to be part of a pattern of persecution of anyone perceived to have a connection to Boko Haram, adding that women reported being beaten and called Boko Haram wives by the security officials when they complained about their treatment.

It noted that as the military recovered territory from Boko Haram in 2015, it ordered people living in rural villages to the satellite camps, in some cases indiscriminately killing those who remained in their homes, adding that hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced from these areas.

The report highlighted how scores of women described how soldiers and Civilian JTF members used force and threats to rape them in satellite camps, including taking advantage of hunger to coerce them to become their girlfriends, which involved being available for sex regularly.

According to the report, five women told Amnesty International that they were raped in late 2015 and early 2016 in Bama Hospital camp as famine-like conditions prevailed.

Ama (not her real name), 20, said they will give you food but in the night, they will come back around 5pm or 6pm and tell you to come with them. One [Civilian JTF] man came and brought food to me.

The next day he said I should take water from his place and I went. He then closed the tent door behind me and raped me. He said I gave you these things, and we have to be husband and wife, the report stated.

It stated that ten others in the same camp said that they were also coerced into becoming girlfriends of security officials to save themselves from starvation.

Most of these women had already lost children or other relatives due to lack of food, water and healthcare in the camp. The sexual exploitation continues at an alarming level as women remain desperate to access sufficient food and livelihood opportunities.

Women said the sexual exploitation follows an organized system, with soldiers openly coming into the camp for sex and Civilian JTF members choosing the very beautiful women and girls to take to the soldiers outside. Women reported they were too afraid to reject demands for sex.

Sex in these highly coercive circumstances is always rape, even when physical force is not used, and Nigerian soldiers and Civilian JTF members have been getting away it. They act like they dont risk sanction, but the perpetrators and their superiors who have allowed this to go unchallenged have committed crimes under international law and must be held to account, said Osai Ojigho.

The report also revealed that people confined in the satellite camps faced an acute food shortage from early 2015 until mid-2016, when humanitarian assistance was increased.

It stated further: At least hundreds, and possibly thousands, died in Bama Hospital camp alone during this time. Those interviewed consistently reported that 15 to 30 people died each day from hunger and sickness during these months.

Satellite images, showing how the graveyard inside the camp expanded quickly during this time, confirm their testimonies. There were also daily deaths in other satellite camps such as those in Banki and Dikwa.

From June 2016, the UN and other humanitarian agencies scaled up assistance in the satellite camps. Despite this, many women reported continued barriers to accessing adequate food, exacerbated by restrictions on their ability to leave the camps.

A number of women who arrived in satellite camps in Dikwa town in mid-2017 have not received any food assistance since they arrived and described ongoing hunger, sickness and deaths within their camps.

Yanna (not her real name), who arrived in Dikwa in late-2017 and lived in Fulatari camp, told Amnesty International: People are dying, always there is a burial, burial, burial. I was thinking maybe one day it will be my own.

Even where government and international NGOs distribute food, large-scale corruption has prevented many people from accessing it.

Confining people to camps without enough food, despite the fact that those administering the camps knew the conditions were leading to deaths, violates human rights and international humanitarian law. Those who allowed this to happen may be guilty of murder.

Amnesty Internationals research further revealed that hundreds of women along with their children had been held in the notorious Giwa Barracks detention centre since 2015, adding that while most have been released, an unknown number remained in military detention.

According to the report, many of those detained since 2015 have been victims of abductions or forced marriages by Boko Haram who were detained by the military for being so-called Boko Haram wives instead of being rescued.

It said Amnesty International received five reports about sexual violence in Giwa barracks, while seven women said they gave birth inside their dirty, overcrowded cells without any medical assistance. At least 32 babies and children, and five women, have died in detention since 2016.

The detention of women and girls on the basis that they were allegedly married to Boko Haram members is unlawful under international human rights law and Nigerian law, and is discriminatory, the report said.

The report also noted that since 2015, various NGOs and humanitarian organizations have reported sexual violence and deaths in camps for internally displaced people in North East. It noted that while the authorities frequently promised to investigate such reports, there had been no tangible action to address the problem and no one appeared to have been brought to justice.

It is not always clear if these investigations were carried out as no reports have been made public.

In August 2017, the Acting President of Nigeria Yemi Osinbajo established the Presidential Investigation Panel to review the militarys compliance with its human rights obligations. Many women testified before the Panel, which submitted its report to President Muhammadu Buhari in February 2018.

Now is the time for President Buhari to demonstrate his frequently expressed commitment to protect the human rights of displaced people in north-east Nigeria. The only way to end these horrific violations is by ending the climate of impunity in the region and ensuring that no one can get away with rape or murder.

The Nigerian authorities must investigate  or make public their previous investigations  on war crimes and crimes against humanity in the north-east. They must also urgently ensure, with the support of donor governments, that people living in the satellite camps receive adequate food, and that those arbitrarily detained in military detention facilities are released, the report said.

Both the Presidency and Defence Headquarters have since reacted to report, describing it as not only false but also a calculated attempt to destabilise the country.

The military has degenerated in Nigeria Campaign for Human Rights

Reacting to the report, Comrade Ayodele Akele of Campaign for Human Right, described the development as pathetic and unfortunate.

He said: The report is authentic. Amnesty International has a long credible record we cannot pretend about. Its a fact that we no longer have the military we used to know. There is no difference between them and the police in Nigeria and its so unfortunate and pathetic that our President is not doing anything about it.

The military has degenerated into what Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, retd, called them. He has said it all. The military cannot be relied on for protection. How many times have they come out to announce to us of killing Boko Haram leader, Shekau?

 This government is not just serious. If we dont have organizations as Amnesty International, the country is doomed. Its impunity, upon impunity in this country. I endorse the report, they are the eyes and voices of Nigerians.

Anybody denying doesnot mean well for Nigeria  CISLAC

In his reaction, Awwal Ibrahim-Rafsanjani, Executive Director of CISLAC, said: This report coming from Amnesty International confirms the reports from various civil societies organizations and the National Human Rights Commission in Nigeria which expressed concern over human rights abuses and denial of rights in the IDPs.

This was to show how the victims have been sexually abused and treated badly by security agencies in Nigeria. The report is shedding light on such crimes from the victims directly. This is not good for Nigeria and it shows that the security agents are to protect the victims rather than deny them their rights. Anybody who is denying this does not mean well for Nigeria.

Govt should use it to prevent future occurrences NAY

Similarly, Olalekan Dada, Executive director, Nigeria Action for Youths, said: Amnesty International reports exposed what had been happening in the country, not only at the IDP camps, over the years. It was like a parable of someone who is suppose to be behind you in time of need denying you your inalienable rights. I hope the government, rather than defending the military, would examine the reports holistically to prevent future occurrences.

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There are indications that the much anticipated fast pace of work on the $1.5bn Lagos-Ibadan rail project may not be achieved, at least for now, as the contractor handling the standard gauge line, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, has complained that the rains and other natural elements are slowing it down.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this on Thursday while speaking with journalists after his monthly meeting with representatives of the contractor and inspection tour of the project at Akere town, Ogun State.

He, however, said an agreement was made with the CCECC team to complete two bridges and 11 kilometres of track laying by June 28.

Amaechi stated, Concerning the rainfall that is here, the (CCECC) engineers are not quite comfortable with it. But they will do everything technically possible to meet up with the December deadline.

When they were battling to explain to us about the 2018 December completion date, their worry is not the speed of work. Their worry is that natural elements will slow them down.

The minister, however, said some progress was being made with the project, adding, The next meeting will take place in Ibadan so that we can also access what has been done from Abeokuta to Ibadan.

Amaechi also spoke on what had been achieved with the hindrances being encountered at the Lagos end of the project, saying, We are almost nearly resolving the issue of oil and gas pipelines. For the water pipes, the Lagos State Government will come back to us in the next two weeks with a permanent solution.

We have our own solutions, but the Lagos State Government thinks the solutions can be expanded further. So, they are coming forward with their own expanded solution in the next two weeks.
Justice Kazeem Alogba of the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere has advised a son of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Aminu, to sit down with his estranged wife, Fatima Bolori, and agree on how much he would give her monthly for the upkeep of their two children  Ameera, nine and Amir, seven.

The judge, in a ruling on Friday, urged Aminu to approach Bolori to iron the issue out rather than filing a suit to challenge the N250,000 which a magistrate had ordered him to pay Bolori monthly for the upkeep of the children.

The judge urged counsel for both parties to advise their clients to put heads together to arrive at a reasonable sum in the childrens interest, instead of wasting time litigating this appeal.

Aminu, through his lawyer, Oyinkan Badejo, had approached the judge, seeking a leave to appeal the judgment of a Lagos State Magistrates Court, which, January this year, awarded the custody of Ameera and Amir to Bolori.

The magistrate, Mrs. Kikelomo Ayeye, in a January 10, 2018 verdict, after granting Bolori the full custody of the children, ordered Aminu to pay a monthly upkeep for the children in the amount of N250,000 monthly, beginning from January 2018.

She, however, granted Aminu permission to visit his children in Abuja and request for the children to spend holidays with him.

But the displeased Aminu approached Justice Alogba, praying to be allowed to challenge the magistrates judgment on appeal.

In his ruling on Friday, Justice Alogba said that he was satisfied with the evidence presented by Aminu that he had been substantially meeting the educational, medical, feeding and other needs of the children.

I am satisfied that the applicant has very substantially complied with the lower courts order I grant the stay of execution  pending the determination of the appeal, the judge held.

He adjourned till June 14, 2018 for further proceedings.
Home | News | General | 2019: Coalition of Northern Youths converge in Kaduna, back President Buhari re-election bid

- President Muhammadu Buhari has gotten a major endorsement for his 2019 re-election

- The endorsement came from the Coalition of Northern Youths Organisation

- The groups are under the aegis of Norther Youth Advocacy for Excellence

A Coalition of Northern Youths Organisation under the aegis of Northern Youth Advocacy for Excellence, on Friday, May 25, declared their support to the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

The spokesman of the coalition, Hussaini Usman, said at a press briefing in Kaduna state, that the decision was reached at an extended executive meeting of the group held in Abuja on Sunday, May 20.

According to him, President Buhari has, so far demonstrated his ability to take Nigeria to the next level.

What Nigerians want is good and transparent governance that will stimulate economic growth and development to improve the standard of living of the people, he said.

Usman said that Buhari has done tremendously well to better the living condition of Nigerians in terms of economic and infrastructural development.

His words: The president has promised to tackle insecurity, corruption, power, unemployment; improve infrastructure and agriculture and his achievements in these areas can be seen everywhere.

Boko Haram has been defeated and we now have breath of fresh air in areas previously devastated by the dreaded insurgents.

Buhari is equally winning the war against corruption in a bid to building a corrupt-free society, and so far, billions of naira have been recovered from corrupt politicians and government officials that have enriched themselves illegally.

Also, electricity generation has improved from about 2,600 megawatts in 2015 to the current 7,000 and targeting 10,000 megawatts in no distant time.

He has equally done well in agriculture with drastic drop of rice importation from 644,131 tons in 2015 to 20,000 as at Sept. 2017 from Thailand alone, and infrastructure is also witnessing massive development.

Usman said that, with the aforementioned achievements in the last three years, President Buhari is more qualified to seek re-election and should be supported by all Nigerians.

He stressed that the coalition with membership from across the 19 northern states, would soon hold a two-million-man march in support of Buharis re-election, adding that those asking the president not to seek re-election were self serving individuals with nothing to offer the country.

Meanwhile, the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) has queried the All Progressives Congress (APC) for allowing crisis within its fold to fester less than a year to the 2019 general elections.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

The BCO chairman of Board of Trustees (BoT), Engrineer Markus Gundiri, blamed the APC as a party for getting entangled in internal crisis in a pre-election year.

The APC has gone into so many problems, I don't know why. But we are going to campaign for him (Buhari) for the primaries and for his re-election. Don't get tired, there are so many things we need to do. We need to mobilise and reach out to all the voting units of this country, he said.

2019: Ahmed Buhari tells Nigerians he is the best option for president on NAIJ.com TV

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Source: Naija.ng

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The House of Representatives recently passed a bill to roll back some of the banking industry regulations that were implemented in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

The bill has already passed the Senate and is expected to be signed into law by President Trump shortly. Initially, it was unclear if the bill would clear the House, as some Republicans wanted an even greater rollback of regulations, but any further changes will be included in a separate bill.

Several regulations introduced in the Dodd-Frank Act will be rolled back, and the new bill also provides some new protections for student loan borrowers and consumers who wish to protect their credit. Here's a quick rundown of what the bill will do and what it means to both consumers and investors.

Bank teller greeting a customer who's holding a wallet full of cash.

Image source: Getty Images.

What the bill does

One of the biggest changes the bill makes is dramatically raising the threshold above which banks are considered to be systematically important financial institutions, or SIFIs, from $50 billion to $250 billion. Banks that are considered SIFIs are subject to significantly more regulatory scrutiny than other banks. For example, SIFIs are required to submit to annual Federal Reserve "stress tests" and must have their capital plans (dividends and buybacks) approved by the Fed.

In addition, the bill rolls back mortgage data reporting requirements for most banks, and also provides some consumer protections when it comes to credit monitoring and student loans, as we'll get to in the next section.

What it means to consumers

Now, the SIFI change will save banks with $50 billion to $250 billion in assets money in regulatory expenses, but it won't have much of an effect on consumers. However, some parts of the bill will.

It will be easier for small banks (less than $10 billion in assets) to offer mortgages that don't meet the Dodd-Frank Act's definition of a "qualified mortgage."

Two protections will be added for private student loan borrowers -- it protects borrowers if their co-signer declares bankruptcy or dies and releases the co-signer from any debt obligation if the student borrower dies.

A private student loan default can be more easily removed from your credit report after you've resumed consistent loan payments.

Consumers who wish to freeze their credit will be able to do so for free. Previously, they often had to pay a fee of up to $10 to freeze their credit -- to each of the three credit bureaus.

Short-term credit fraud alerts will be extended to one year from the current span of 90 days. Fraud alerts, which make it more difficult for fraudulent accounts to be opened in your name, were already free.

Which banks could be the big winners?

Story continues

From an investor's standpoint, there are three groups of banks that could be the big winners here. First are the banks that would have formerly been classified as SIFIs, but no longer will -- this includes regional banks like SunTrust and BB&T. These banks could end up saving a significant amount of money in compliance expenses.

The second consists of smaller banking institutions, such as credit unions and community banks, especially those with substantial mortgage lending operations.

The third group is comprised of banks that are getting close to $50 billion in assets -- they will no longer need to worry about the SIFI threshold. New York Community Bancorp is a good example. It's been preparing to exceed the threshold for years now and has paid higher-than-average dividends in order to keep its assets just under the threshold.

More From The Motley Fool

Matthew Frankel owns shares of New York Community Bancorp. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Lmao I did too, oop at us tbh.

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why ain't anyone letting Whitney rest tf in peace lately?!?!? what is in the water!!

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http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-whitney-houston-claim-20130917-story.html They have never let her rest in peace.

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I was wondering if this would make it here, ty op!!

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I wish him nothing but misery tbqh.

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Wow I'm now just noticing his tweet and wtf, this dude is tapped!

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Can Kanye not? Why would you even want this as your album cover....

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The Clipse (pusha t and his brother Malice) have a repeating theme in all their music about the life of a drug pusher/dealer/manufacturer. It's their shtick mostly.

I guess using an iconic photo of an addicts room is something he/they want to...i dunno. Not glamorize. That's not it...





Actually, i dont know what they're going for here, hah!

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I mean, if you want to show that kind of imagery, fine. Make it anonymized or just produce a fake scene. Then, I could understand what you're trying to convey as ~artistry~. But using an ill-gotten photo of the scene where a famous addict died only comes across as both tacky and exploitative.



Edited at 2018-05-25 07:06 am (UTC)

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shock value. that's what they're going for.



RIP whitney.





Fuck this asshole Kanye. i thought he was broke

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i remember that photo on the cover of (whatever magazine it was).

Scurry.



Pusha is gonna get hella shit for this, let alone Kanye

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I doubt it. People on twitter are saying that the album is great and they're calling it a new classic. I'm seeing overwhelming praise and the odd tweet here and there criticizing the cover.

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it very well be a great album. Pusha's great (i think. I kinda fell out of hip hop mostly around 2004ish. I remember the first 2 Clipse albums were soo good and had the great Neptunes production).

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it was taken secretly by one of Houston's family members and sold to the National Enquirer



with family like that :(

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She never stood a chance

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I cant believe Pusha T waited years to diss Drake and all he hit him with is, you dont write your songs, which clearly hasnt hurt Drakes career at all. Hes arguably bigger than hes ever been following that scandal (Hotline Bling, One Dance, Fake Love, Gods Plan and Nice for What are some of Drakes biggest hits).



Also, when everyone knows that his boss, Kanye, has never written his own songs and Pusha & Drake have written for Kanye.



I like his previous disses better. Especially the one where he broke down Drakes record deal and how little money Drake makes from music. Pusha can go way harder than this.



The only bit that may get Drake is naming Kendrick, but I doubt Kendrick even gets to Drake like that anymore.



Edited at 2018-05-25 06:56 am (UTC)

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drake has hits because he raps AND sings.

Rappers have a shelf life in general. if you do songs, even sing-rap type stuff, you're gonna have more longevity, and more pop hits.



And didn't Kanye write Nicki's MONSTER verse?

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Kanye doesnt write - Consequence, Pusha, Cudi and so on have written from him. Hes a producer.



The biggest rumour was that Nas helped Nicki with her verse.

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I gotta listen to this later! That cover is tacky, ngl. I hope Rockys album flops.

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EGHCK! at the cover

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you reminded me of cathy, of comic strip fame

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I forgot all about Cathy. In high school we used to read the newspaper in one of my classes and I remember wondering if they ever had one where Cathy went to the club.

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using that picture is so disgusting and the fact they have to write a diss track about drake of all people who's so lame just shows how desperate they are for plays.

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But Drake came for him

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doesn't mean drake is worth the energy. can he just fade away already?

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lol no need to be desperate for plays, everyone was really looking forward to this album

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what the fuck why

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This probably isn't very tasteful, but the photo is already out there and he paid whatever amount it cost to license it. This doesn't seem as bad as trying to make an album cover of the man who operated on his mom.

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Let him rot.

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will come out in handcuffs



Will he? Here they're reporting that he's going to pay a $2mil bail and will go back home with a monitoring bracelet



Edited at 2018-05-25 12:02 pm (UTC)

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Yes! All the news outlets are reporting he will be handcuffed while being transported to court for arraignment where he will make bail.



Edited at 2018-05-25 12:05 pm (UTC)

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Hell yes!

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$10 million bail!

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Hopefully someone shanks him

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Fingers crossed!

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Maybe he'll get his ass kicked like Jared from Subway.

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omg i totally forgot about everything that happened with him!

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then get shanked

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How much longer till he tries to kill him self?

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MTE

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Not gonna lie - when I was on facebook this morning and saw "Breaking News" with a pic of this pigman, I thought it was going to say he killed himself. I don't think he's hit his bottom yet, though. I think he still thinks he's going to get away with it all and come out unscathed.

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We wont be that lucky. This shit stain doesnt actually think he did anything wrong so he probably wont, unfortunately.

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He's literally selling tens of millions dollars worth of property so he can fight these charges. He's not giving up yet.

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Ive noticed that people who faced their own musics dont really kill themselves. Almost as if they understood the consequences of their sins or something like it and accept the price of losing everything and/or everybody they love. Just based on my own observation on certain kinds of people.



Its usually deeply troubled people who feel they have no place in the world or dont feel like they belong to anywhere or anybody is when they want to kill themselves to end their own pain and/or misery. I dont see Harvey as somebody who will kill himself. Just somebody that will fade away to nothing and drink a lot of expensive alcohol to get through this unforgiving world day by day while hes at it. Best I could ever hope for somebody like him is for him to die a slow and horrible death like cirrhosis in their liver from drinking all the time.

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He won't. He still thinks he's eventually going to have his big comeback.

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TBH he would have done so already? He seems too arrogant to do so, if that's the right word.

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Feckless piece of shit. Rot.

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Watching that vid on repeat!



Lucia Evans is one brave woman, she's gonna have some hard months ahead as this case progresses. Praying justice can be delivered and he rots in jail!

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They should truss him like a pig and hang him in the town square!

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You mean Times Square! Bwaha.

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I don't care if they hang him in a town square, Times Square, or a Four Square court, as long as he's paid for his crimes!

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disgusting pos

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Bye bitch

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bye bitch!

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okay but will he ever actually see the inside of a prison cell? he's still a rich white guy, it'll probably either be not guilty or a suspended sentence or some other bullshit.

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lmao right? he'll probably get a house arrest or fine or whatever so he doesn't have to go in a cell

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Thatd be like the wackiest shit ever tbh

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the fact that its even gotten this far is incredible to me

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Here's hoping he doesn't get off easy with some house arrest plea deal or some shit.

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let him rot!

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he should have been dragged from his home at 3am.

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Mtfe

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That happened to my neighbors. I used to rent a house in a rich neighborhood (the landlord was desperate to rent, so he let me and three of my friends live in the house for dirt cheap) and one morning at like 4am I got up to pee and looked out the window and saw a ton of black cars in my neighbor's driveway. Apparently he was taking bribes or something from construction companies in NYC. Cost taxpayers millions. I don't remember what happened after that.

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Surprised he hasnt killed himself



Hope hes on suicide watch

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He seems too egotistical for that. He wants to fight this and win. I hope he has a long, miserable life.

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I cant believe pressed Mac Miller fans were trying to come for Pete bc of his mental illness like that (well, I can but still). Its v. cruel.

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To be fair, it was also some Ariana fans that were harassing Pete. Just look under his Instagram photos and you'll find them.



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lmao mte. him? seriously?

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i feel like this is, unfortunately, in tune with how people tend to treat those who have BPD. theres a lot of stigma against mental illness in general, but damn...someone says they have BPD and theyre treated like a demon

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I still can't believe the original tweet blaming Ariana for Mac's drunk driving got almost 100k likes. Does Mac Miller really have that many fans? How come that's not reflected in his sales More likely, they're just people looking to hate on a woman in the public eye. :(

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did ariana pump his stomach full of alcohol and hold a gun to his head telling him to drive?

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Hes a man wronged by an evil feminazi woman. Its mens sworn duty to blame his failings on her.

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Pete is doing a lot. He unliked so many of cazzies pictures and deleted comments he wrote her, unless theres an app for that

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Though I probably wouldn't gaf about my ex dating one of the most popular pop stars in the world if I had more intergenerational wealth than God.



lmao truly. If I were that rich I'd probably feel invincible. I'd be like, "Emotions? Emotions are for the poor!" and then I'd cackle and get on my yacht and get day drunk on mimosas.

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I went to lurk her instagram after this and someone literally wrote "iwantdrlovejoy: His dick is like a hot dog being tossed down a hallway in that grande pussy. Good riddens, Jewess. "



Like what in the actual fuck?! And all of the comments are people discussing their relationship! It's wild.

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right? shes the winner in all this

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That's so petty

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lol I know some 20-somethings who have done that as well, idgi

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he deleted his entire instagram when he and carly from girl code broke up

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good on him for sticking up for himself. mental illness is still so stigmatized in this country and I always appreciate it when celebs are open about their struggles with it.

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Pete's message was really sweet and awesomely brave. 

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good for him on being open about his diagnosis, theres so much stigma and misunderstanding surrounding BPD.

lol Ariana really likes dirty smelly looking white boys - who wants to bet she'll get with G-Eazy at some point?

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Eh, I can understand some people's hangups with it. I have it (albeit minor), and I feel like I can frequently be a lot. My partner puts up with it very well, thankfully, and I just can't even imagine if the roles were reversed. It doesn't help that I suffer from bouts of depression as well.

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machine gun kelly first

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isnt ariana white

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what does that have to do with anything?

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lol I've been thinking that.

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Also, did not know he had Borderline Personality Disorder.

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he took some time off SNL to go to rehab and focus on his mental health, iirc.

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I remembered the rehab and mental health, I just didn't know he'd been given such a specific diagnosis beyond addiction and depression.

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He jokes about it on Weekend Update every now and then. The audience doesn't usually get his jokes, but as someone with mental health issues I love them lol.

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Me either. That's very brave of him to be so open about it. He's always kind of been that way though. Like with his Dad and 9/11.

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Why must we have ten posts a day about her and this nobody?

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make your own posts about something different then and feel free to scroll

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no

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I'm sick of this couple already and they've only been dating for like two minutes

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lmao

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She sure loves dating men who look like they smell. Big Sean is her only good looking ex.

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I appreciate him speaking up about this.



That's about it.

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Her taste has been so questionable. There was Big Sean, Mac Miller, her backup dancer, him, that one White guy from that one group before she went with Nathan Sykes. Sis, love yourself.

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I'm so mad people forced this man to address something so basic over their nastiness as if bpd automatically means you're toxic and unworthy of a relationship.

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mte, but Im also not surprised. Tumblr culture is nagl and they even ~*teach people the stupidest shit in regards to mental illnesses so I wouldnt be surprised if theres false information going around about bpd and how it makes you a bad person

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People are vile as hell.



And honestly, living with it, you kind of have that inner voice that tells you you're not worth it. It sucks ass, but like, the way people talk about it takes a heavy toll sometimes. If that makes sense.

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I would say having a diagnosis of BPD and working with a therapist actually puts you in a better place than not having BPD but being the type of person who antagonises other people on twitter.

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theres a conversation to be had about the stigma around mental illnesses other than depression and anxiety. people are much more vicious and ableist when they learn someone has a personality disorder, schizophrenia, psychotic disorders...im not surprised by the comments this davidson fella got.

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very true. My mum has had depression and anxiety her whole life off and on. Shes always been very open about it. She had a psychotic breakdown about ten years ago and was diagnosed bipolar/schizo effective disorder and even she (I can tell) doesn't want one of "those" illnesses. she refuses to accept the diagnosis even though she was hearing voices and having horrific delusions etc. It makes me so sad because she has nothing to be ashamed of.

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this relationship doesn't seem toxic because of his mental illness. it seems toxic because ag seems to have serious issues with being single/faithful. sis needs to do some soul searching on her companionship issues

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She adressed it on her underrated Knew Better / Forever Boy song!! never been with a boy more than six months / couldn't do it / got too use to it



Edited at 2018-05-25 03:55 pm (UTC)

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omg lol..i love it.

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Knew Better / Forever Boy is amazing

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i hope her new album is as good as this one

i still listen to it once in a awhile

so good

love touch it, knew better forever boy

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KB/FB is fucking amazing

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huh it's always someone.



AND a white man, surprise surprise.

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mfte

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honestly

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mte

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Wow Scott, way to be an asshole.

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The part about how he was mad that Takei didn't remember him/wasn't his "friend" is something else.

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K where are all those ppl who thought his appearances on Howard Stern backed this up

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Um sis, that shit he pulled on Howard Stern is STILL DISGUSTING. It doesn't "back up" anything, but let's not act like it wasn't wrong either.

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it was disgusting but it makes him an old pervert not a predator. from what I understand (please correct me if I'm wrong) the man brought on the howard stern show agreed to do it, despite clearly looking uncomfortable. and that can probably be tied into the larger discussion on coercion, but ppl tend to draw false equivalences

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There's not only audio, but video proof to shut that fake news down..



The guy, Jonah, wanted George to touch him. He even asked to make out with him.

He didn't just randomly go over to him and grope him. The gif was passed around and people just made up a story about it.

It was for Georges birthday episode, and the Jonah guy has a famously huge peen.

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Consensual foreplay is so disgusting!

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I am not one of these people, but it kinda made sense, no? Didnt he literally "joke" about groping men against their will at his home?

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But it sort of did tho? People always look back on prior incidents to see if there are clues. I can understand how people would believe the accusations because of the Howard Stern thing

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lol the Howard Stern thing was completely consensual and everybody was acting horrified by it.





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First thing I thought of when I saw this post



/never saw the segments, but recall it being discussed

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A "fun party story." He can go to hell.

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This is straight up libel. George should sue.

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Ugh, it is so frustrating that people like this guy will be used to discredit actual victims by a bunch of MRA trashpiles. This happened to one of my faves (Conor Oberst) a few years ago, and it's fucking awful.



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This. I'm glad he wasn't assaulted obviously and I know realistically that MRA's don't need any actual examples to discredit victims but...still dude. Thanks a fucking lot.

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So Conor Oberst was definitely innocent? I didn't follow the story closely but I used to be a huge fan of his.

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North Carolina resident Joan Elizabeth Harris aka Joanie Faircloth has issued a public apology to Conor Oberst recanting her on-line accusations of being sexually assaulted by the musician. After seven months of attempts to reach Ms. Faircloth to request that she rescind the false accusations she made against Mr. Oberst in the comments section of the xoJane website in December 2013, and repeated elsewhere over the following months, Ms. Faircloth contacted Mr. Obersts lawyers and today issued a notarized statement. Her statement reads in full:



The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100% false. I made up those lies about him to get attention while I was going through a difficult period in my life and trying to cope with my sons illness. I publicly retract my statements about Conor Oberst, and sincerely apologize to him, his family, and his fans for writing such awful things about him. I realize that my actions were wrong and could undermine the claims of actual sexual assault victims and for that I also apologize. Im truly sorry for all the pain that I caused.



https://www.spin.com/2014/07/conor-obersts-name-cleared-rape-accuser-admits-she-lied/ Yeah, I mean as much as anything can be definite:North Carolina resident Joan Elizabeth Harris aka Joanie Faircloth has issued a public apology to Conor Oberst recanting her on-line accusations of being sexually assaulted by the musician. After seven months of attempts to reach Ms. Faircloth to request that she rescind the false accusations she made against Mr. Oberst in the comments section of the xoJane website in December 2013, and repeated elsewhere over the following months, Ms. Faircloth contacted Mr. Obersts lawyers and today issued a notarized statement. Her statement reads in full:The statements I made and repeated online and elsewhere over the past six months accusing Conor Oberst of raping me are 100% false. I made up those lies about him to get attention while I was going through a difficult period in my life and trying to cope with my sons illness. I publicly retract my statements about Conor Oberst, and sincerely apologize to him, his family, and his fans for writing such awful things about him. I realize that my actions were wrong and could undermine the claims of actual sexual assault victims and for that I also apologize. Im truly sorry for all the pain that I caused.

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https://jezebel.com/rape-lies-and-the-internet-the-story-of-conor-oberst-1531785539 Apparently the internet did some sluething and found out she was lying. Bright Eyes didn't even play a concert in her STATE that night.

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Yep the girl lied sigh https://www.spin.com/2014/07/conor-obersts-name-cleared-rape-accuser-admits-she-lied?amp=1

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She was a con artist. She had a gofundme page set up and was spreading all kinds of sob stories all over the Internet. She had cancer, she had a dead child, she was raped by Connor (who she was strangely a fan of) and she was catfishing women on Facebook.

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These replies have me tripping because I still see people talking about "fawning over that sexual predator Bright Eyes" and shit like that!

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Mte. This is gonna be held over their heads now ugh.

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This was my first thought too. MRAs are going to bring this up forever and ever.



Edited at 2018-05-25 06:41 pm (UTC)

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Exactly. One false accuser makes it so fucking hard for people to take all accusations seriously.

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I had completely forgotten about that situation with Conor. Whatever happened in that story? I'm completely blank now.

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can you update me on that? last I heard everyone thought Conor did it

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i swear the conor situation was one of the few times i've heard of an actual false accusation. it was a wild ride from start to finish... esp that a fan blog ended up uncovering the truth.

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A 49ers football player was accused of assaulting his girlfriend (like, really violent stuff, broken eardrum etc) and it was just revealed this week that she lied about it. She actually got her injuries when she got into a fight with another woman in a road rage incident the day before she claimed he beat her. And it turns out she has a history of lying about DV. It's just so fucking infuriating because they're making it harder for real victims of assault to be taken seriously and giving these MRA assholes fire power.

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God, right?



Every fucking piece of shit mansplainer is gonna have a field day with this.





ugh.

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People who lie about assault make it harder for actual assault victims, so fuck the assholes who do that.

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I remember when this was being discussed on ONTD. One of Conors cousins was posting saying that the woman was lying because her story didn't match a timeline or something. I dont think anyone believed her, and then it came out that the accuser admitted she lied. 

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The way this post changed "George Takeis Accuser Has Changed His Story of Drugging and Assault" to "George Takei accuser lied about sexual assault" is already MRA behavior. Not remembering things clearly isn't the same thing as lying.

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I hate that the Conor thing is brought up in terms of "false accusations" because it was literally an anonymous comment on a website. But people act like what she did was the same as a woman coming forward to the police or to the press. (in terms of credibility... not that it didn't suck for Conor)

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Shit, this will be used as a weapon for any new accusation.





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yep, which worries me more now.



they found their scapegoat.

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Wow this is so wild and fucked up

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Takei needs to sue this guy or press charges or something. People really came after him for this.

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Seriously - this shit is vicious.

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Yep, and I doubt a single person that declared him trash and went to town on him will say shit about being wrong about it.





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George should sue tbh. What a fucked up thing to do.

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yeesh, poor george.

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Smuggled boxes of lotions and bundles of used clothing (ukay-ukay) seized by Customs

DAVAO CITY, Philippines  Four different shipments loaded with misdeclared items were seized by operatives of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Sasa Wharf, Davao City.

This was revealed by Davao City Customs District Collector Romalino Valdez on Friday, May 25, saying the shipments contained smuggled items such as onions, magic sugar, candies, mosquito coils and used clothing.

Two shipments were sent from China while the other two were shipped from Indonesia and the United States. All shipments were valued to a total of P50 million.

According to Valdez, the items in one container were declared as plastic plates under the consignee Janrev Enterprises. When opened, the van contained 401 boxes of Snow Bear candies; 869 boxes of mosquito coils; and about 6,300 sacks of apples and onions shipped by a company named Bizreal Trading International.

Itong Snowbear candies na ito nang tiningnan ng mga (These Snowbear candies according to) examiners were made in Pasig City but the container came from China. So hindi natin alam bakit ganoon ang ikot nila (We dont know why the arrangement was such). But still, it wasnt declared. Ang mahirap dito hindi lang fake baka iba pa ang laman (The problem is: not only is it fake, it may even contain something else). We are requesting PDEA to have it examined, said Valdez.

Meanwhile, other shipments sent by Mahmud Enterprises and Kobesean Trading contained misdeclared used clothing or ukay-ukay, 275 boxes of magic sugar and 115 boxes of lotions.

All containers passed and checked through x-ray machine at Davao International Container Terminal.

This recent seizure prompted the BOC to further intensify its monitoring of imported items especially agricultural products that are commonly being smuggled into the country.

I will continue to be very strong in addressing itong (these) smuggling activities na ito. Theres so many losses in the revenue that is due to the government because of under-declaration or misdeclaration, said Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena.

Authorities are further investigating to identify the people behind the illegal shipments who will face multiple charges for violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and Republic Act (RA) 4653 which prohibits the commercial importation of textile articles such as used clothing and rags.  Marisol Montano / Marje Pelayo

The post BOC seizes P50-M worth of smuggled goods in Davao City appeared first on UNTV News.
Retired Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa speaks on his appointment as chief of the Bureau of Corrections, May 11, 2018.

QUEZON CITY, Philippines  The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is planning to assign a separate detention facility for Chinese drug lords apart from Filipino drug personalities inside the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP.)

In an interview with the program Get It Straight with Daniel Razon Friday, May 25, BuCor Chief Ronald Bato Dela Rosa said such move will cut the connections of drug inmates and prevent them from organizing illegal drug activities.

So kung mahiwalay mo itong dalawa, kahit na mag-order nang mag-order itong mga Chinese sa China, magpadala ng shabu dito, wala nang mag-cater doon sa demand side dahil putol na yung contact nila at di na ma-distribute, Dela Rosa explained.

( If you separate the two, regardless of how many times the Chinese [drug lords] send shabu from China, no one will take care of the demand side because their contact has been cut, they cannot distribute the goods anymore.)

Such plan is part of Dela Rosas project to decongest the national penitentiary. He said Bucor is now planning for the construction of additional buildings in all seven colonies of the agency in the country.

The BuCor Chief said he now understands why his predecessors in the BuCor were not able to completely solve illegal drug trade inside NBP. But Dela Rosa stressed that he is determined to finish his job until he achieves his goal.

Ma-deliver ko lang iyong intention ko sa mga drug lord sa loob and it is really my intention to stop them. So in this kind of war, puwedeng ako ang matalo, pwedeng sila ang matalo. But I will see to it na hindi ako magpapatalo, the former PNP Chief exclaimed.

However, Dela Rosa said he couldnt ascertain if illegal drug trade would be totally eradicated in the country given the sophistication of drug lords in transacting illegal drugs.

The BuCor Chief added that big-time drug lords use high-end gadgets and even order fellow inmates to transact drugs on their behalf. Jamming systems are also becoming ineffective thats why drug lords can still establish connection outside detention.

Story continues

Nevertheless, Dela Rosa assured that majority of the inmates are determined to become better persons by veering away from unlawful activities especially when it involves illegal drugs.

Hindi nga lahat diyan ay masasama. Marami pa rin diyan ang mababait, magagaling, matatalino (Not all inmates are bad. Many of them are kind, skilled and smart), he said.

He also agreed that there are inmates who are actually innocent.

To date, BuCor has a total of 2,400 personnel deployed in seven penal colonies across the country. The agency is expecting 500 more this year.

Before he ended the interview, Chief Bato said he is likely to push for the reinstatement of the death penalty should he win as a senator. However, he said his decision still depends on the preference of President Rodrigo Duterte.  Rey Pelayo / Marje Pelayo

The post BuCor Chief Bato to separate Chinese from Filipino drug inmates appeared first on UNTV News.
A research team, led by Professor Jaesung Jang at UNIST has introduced a new air purification system, using the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV). Credit: UNIST

A team of researchers, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has succeeded in developing new air purification technology to eradicate airborne viruses.

Conventional indoor air purification systems often use UV light to sterilize and eradicate harmful airborne biological agents, such as bacteria, viruses, and mold spores. Despite its disinfection efficiency, such UV-based disinfection method generally uses recirculating mode and requires long irradiation periods due to its low photon energy.

Professor Jaesung Jang and Dr. Jeonghyun Kim in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at UNIST have introduced the next-generation of air purification technology, using the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and [hotocatalysis. The new technique can inactivate airborne viruses towards a flow-through indoor air purifier, having short irradiation time. This breakthrough has been published in Aerosol Science and Technology on February 13, 2018.

The UV radiation below 200nm, named VUV is an effective bactericidal option against airborne disease viruses. Nevertheless, the use of VUV light has been limited by the creation of toxic ozone. Such issue has been solved by adding an extra UV photocatalysis system within the device.

Shown above are four types of catalyst frames with an illustration of the gas flow patterns: (a) 2 mm pleated catalyst, (b) 5 mm pleated catalyst, (c) spiral type catalyst, and (d) flat sheet type catalyst. (e) No catalyst. (f) A photograph of the photo-reactor. Credit: UNIST

In the study, the team investigated photocatalysis reactions by VUV with short irradiation times (0.0040.125 s) for simultaneously inactivating airborne MS2 viruses and degrading the generated ozone toward a flow-through air disinfection system with high flow-rates. This cylindrical-shaped device has a low-powered VUV lamp, encased in Pd-deposited TiO2 catalyst frames with different shapes (spiral type and 2 mm and 5 mm pleated type). These photocatalysts use the VUV light to activate the chemical reaction, thereby killing harmful viruses. According to the research team, VUV photolysis treatment showed the highest inactivation efficiencies for MS2 viruses when compared with UV photolysis, ozone dose combined with UV photolysis, and ozone dose alone treatments.

"This system has the potential for high-capacity bioaerosol inactivation in HVAC, regardless of the weather," says Professor Jang. "Most UV-based purifiers take longer times for disinfection, but this new air purification method can significantly improve the indoor air quality."

A bar graph, showing the MS2 inactivation efficiency with irradiation time for all four treatments between VUV light, UV light, ozone dose + UV light combination, and ozone dose. Credit: UNIST

"There are negative pressure isolation rooms for patients in hospitals in case where an infectious airborne disease viruses, such as tuberculosis, strikes," says Professor Jang. "This system is capable of providing clean air at high efficiencies."

Explore further Double disinfection treatment for safer drinking water
The Pachacamac mummy 2018. Credit: ULB P. Eeckhout

A team from the Universite libre de Bruxelles's centre for archaeological research (CReA-Patrimoine) has completed a significant excavation in Pachacamac, Peru, where they have discovered an intact mummy in especially good condition. Pachacamac's status as a Pre-Colombian pilgrimage site under the Inca empire is confirmed by further evidence.

Peter Eeckhout's latest campaign of archaeological excavations has concluded with an exciting surprise: After nine weeks spent exploring the Pre-Colombian site of Pachacamac in Peru, the researchers from CReA-Patrimoine (ULB Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences) have unearthed a mummy in especially good condition. "The deceased is still wrapped in the enormous funeral bundle that served as a coffin," says professor Peter Eeckhout. "Discoveries like this one are exceptionally scarce, and this mummy is incredibly well preserved. Samples were collected for carbon-14 dating, but the area in which it was discovered and the type of tomb suggest this individual was buried between 1000 and 1200 AD."

The excavation was carried out as a part of the Ychsma project, named after the region's native people, under the supervision of professor Eeckhout. Three monumental structures were explored during the campaign, including a sanctuary dedicated to the local ancestors. Under Inca rule, in the late 15th century, it appears to have been transformed into a water and healing temple. The archaeologists discovered many offerings left by worshippers such as Spondylus shells imported from Ecuador; these are associated with the influx of water during El Nino, and they symbolise fertility and abundance.

Pachacamac mummy 2018 (1). Credit: ULB P. Eeckhout

Before the Inca settled in the area, the sanctuary included large funerary chambers and numerous mummies, most of which were looted during the Spanish conquest. Miraculously, though, one of the chambers was found intact during the latest round of excavations: this is the funeral chamber that held the mummy. Due to its good condition, the researchers will be able to study it without unwrapping the bundle. Together with Christophe Moulherat (Musee du Quai Branly, Paris), they will soon examine the mummy using X-ray scans, axial tomography, 3-D reconstruction, and other imaging methods. This will enable them to determine the individual's position, any pathologies, and any additional artifacts inside the bundle.

The other structures that were excavated are also related to worship: the first one, an Inca monument intended to host pilgrims and rituals, was built in several phases, each identified with a series of offerings such as seashells and precious objects. The last structure explored was probably one of the 'chapels' for foreign pilgrims, referred to by Spanish monk Antonio de la Calancha in his 17th-century description of the site. There, the excavations also uncovered many 'foundation' offerings, including vases, dogs, and other animals, as well as a platform with a hole in the centre, where an idol was likely placed. The complex appears to have been designed around this idol, involved in religious activities with pilgrims.

According to researchers, all these discoveries indicate that Incas made considerable changes to the Pachacamac site in order to create a large pilgrimage centre on Peru's Pacific coast. "Deities and their worship played a major part in the life of Pre-Colombian societies," concludes Peter Eeckhout. "The Inca understood this very well, and integrated it into how they wielded their power. By promoting empire-wide worship, they contributed to creating a common sense of identity among the many different peoples that made up the empire. Pachacamac is one of the most striking examples of this."

Explore further Mummies of 15th century dogs discovered in Peru
Werner Baumann, chairman of German pharmaceutical and chemicals giant Bayer tells the company's annual general meeting that the savings from the planned takeover of Monsanto will be less than expected

German pharma and chemicals giant Bayer said Friday that savings from its hoped-for takeover of US seeds and pesticides behemoth Monsanto will be smaller than previously thought.

The company expects the savings from splicing the two businesses together will amount to $1.2 billion (1.03 billion euros) per year from 2022 onwards.

That's short of the $1.5 billion trumpeted by executives when the merger plans were inked in September 2016.

Nevertheless, "I'm convinced that this acquisition has very great potential for creating value," chief executive Werner Baumann told investors at the group's annual general meeting in Bonn.

Bayer has been forced by competition authorities including the European Commission to sacrifice existing activities in seeds and pesticides worth 7.6 billion euros to home-grown rival BASF in exchange for approval of the Monsanto deal.

That means there will be less overlap and fewer savings when Bayer assumes the US firm's product range of genetically-modified seeds and compatible pesticides.

The German firm needs to find some 44 billion euros in new cashfrom borrowing and issuing new sharesto fund the $62.5-billion Monsanto takeover, German business daily Handelsblatt calculated Friday.

A protester wears a bee mask and holds a weed sprayer at a demonstration against the takeover of US seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto by Bayer

Lower savings from the merger will then mean less funds available to pay off the new debts.

"Bayer will indebt itself massively over Monsanto. But it's manageable if the agrochemical division plus Monsanto turns into the promised cash machine," Handelsblatt judged.

Executives hope the one remaining major green light will come from the US Department of Justice before a June 14 deadline, after which Monsanto could withdraw from the deal if the needed approvals have not been secured.

"We anticipate being able to close the acquisition of Monsanto in the near future," Baumann insisted.

Some 200 people demonstrated against the Bayer-Monsanto merger outside the AGM Friday, including a woman wearing a wedding dress and a skull mask holding a sign warning of a "deadly wedding" between the two firms.

"We can't allow gigantic companies to have control over our food system," said Christian Rollmann of protest group "Wir haben es satt" (We're fed up).

Explore further Monsanto CEO and others to leave after Bayer takeover

 2018 AFP
Researchers to examine how young men adapt to fatherhood. Credit: Wikipedia

How young men adapt to fatherhood and whether being a father can speed up becoming an adult is to be examined in new research.

Dr. Francesca Salvi, a childhood studies expert in the School of Education and Childhood Studies at the University of Portsmouth, is to work with new fathers aged 16-24 in South Africa.

Dr. Salvi said: "You hear about parenting and it almost always concerns motherhood. I wanted to identify how men are contributing, what does fatherhood mean to young men and does it equal adulthood in the same way as for women.

"Gender norms appear to be shifting in South Africa, as suggested for example, by the rise of female employment and female-headed households.

"Focusing on young fatherhood is a lens through which we can, not only ascertain how individuals understand the social and cultural norms that define their options, but also understand how they contribute to redefining and changing such norms."

Dr. Salvi will carrying out her research in Durban this summer via qualitative interviews with 15 young fathers, and working with researchers at South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Explore further Do US men value fatherhood over their careers?
Bumblebee landing on an iridescent target. Credit: Karin Kjernsmo

Iridescence is a form of structural colour which uses regular repeating nanostructures to reflect light at slightly different angles, causing a colour-change effect.

It is common in nature, from the dazzling blues of peacock's feathers, to the gem-like appearance of insects.

Although using bright flashy colours as camouflage may seem counterintuitive, researchers at the Bristol Camo Lab found that intense iridescence obstructs the bumblebee's ability to identify shape.The eyes of bumblebees have been extensively studied by scientists and are very similar to those of other insects.

They can be used as a visual model for predatory insects such as wasps and hornets. When presented with different types of artificial flower targets rewarded with sugar water, the bees learned to recognise which shapes contained the sweet reward.

However, they found it much more difficult to discriminate between flower shape when the targets were iridescent.

This current study using bumblebees as a model for (predatory) insect vision and cognition is the first to show that iridescence indeed has the potential to deceive predators and make them overlook the prey, the same way disruptive camouflage would work to break up the otherwise recognisable outline of a prey.

The changing colours make the outline of the prey look completely different to the shape the predators are searching for.

Iridescent rose chafer. Credit: Karin Kjernsmo

The researchers concluded that iridescence produces visual signals which can confuse potential predators, and this may explain its widespread occurrence in nature.

Lead author Dr. Karin Kjernsmo of the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences, said: "It's the first solid evidence we have that this type of colouration can be used in this way.

"Thus, if you are a visual predator searching for the specific shape of a beetle (or other prey animal), iridescence makes it difficult for predators to identify them as something edible. We are currently studying this effect using other visual predators, such as birds as well. This because birds are likely to be the most important predators of iridescent insects."

The first links between iridescence and camouflage were first made over one hundred years ago by an American naturalist named Abbott Thayer, who is often referred to as "the father of camouflage".

He published a famous book on different types of camouflage such as mimicry, shape disruption and dazzle, which is thought to have inspired the "Razzle Dazzle" painting of battleships during the first World War.

However, iridescence has been rather overlooked for the past century, as it is often assumed to be purely for attracting mates and displaying to other individuals.

The UK has several species of iridescent beetle, the largest of which being the Rose Chafer, whose superb green and gold colour-changing wing cases can commonly be spotted on flowers in grasslands during the summer.

Dr. Kjernsmo added: "This study has wider implications for how we understand animal vision and camouflagenow when we see these shiny beetles we can know that their amazing colours have many more functions than previously thought."

Explore further Flowers tone down the iridescence of their petals and avoid confusing bees

More information: 'Iridescence impairs object recognition in bumblebees' by K. Kjernsmo, J. Hall, C. Doyle, N. Khuzayim, I. Cuthill, N. Scott-Samuel and H. Whitney in Scientific Reports, 2018. Journal information: Scientific Reports 'Iridescence impairs object recognition in bumblebees' by K. Kjernsmo, J. Hall, C. Doyle, N. Khuzayim, I. Cuthill, N. Scott-Samuel and H. Whitney in, 2018.
An adult gecko with a backpack containing an RFID tag attached to the lizard's skin. The RFID tag transmits its location and the gecko's body temperature. Credit: Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth, UFZ

The world of reptiles may well include creatures that are more spectacular than the Gehyra variegata, but nevertheless, this small nocturnal gecko has managed to make a couple of fascinating new contributions to the discussion about the ecological consequences of climate change.

These geckos are small grey- or brown-skinned lizards that grow to around five centimetres and spend their lives in the deserts of Australia. The hollowed-out trunks of eucalyptus trees are their preferred hiding places. After spending the night hunting insects, this is where they seek refuge from the heat in a climate where temperatures can often climb to more than 40 degrees Celsius. And it is in exactly these deserts where climate scientists expect to see even more extreme conditions in the future. They are forecasted to become even hotter and drier worldwide. So how will the unique animals and plants that live in these ecosystems cope with these new challenges? This was the question the researchers set out to investigate, using this little gecko as a representative of other nocturnal desert inhabitants.

Prof. Klaus Henle, head of the Department of Conservation Biology at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, began collecting data about Gehyra variegata as far back as the 1980s. Working in the Kinchega National Park in Eastern Australia, he and his colleagues have been catching, measuring, photographing, tagging and then releasing reptiles for more than 30 years.

The researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research then collated this information with weather conditions in the national park, and also with global climate phenomena. Their findings are surprising, to say the least. As biologist Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth said, "We expected the higher temperatures and greater dryness to have a negative effect both on the individual geckos and on their populations." After all, even lizards need a certain amount of moisture to ensure that their eggs develop properly, and to enable them to moult when they need to. If they dry out completely, they will die. And the same is also true if excessive temperatures cause them to overheat. "But our investigations revealed that our geckos grow and survive particularly well in the very hottest years. In fact, they are generally in better condition, and their populations grow rather than fall."

But what could be the reason? To discover this, Grimm-Seyfarth carefully observed the lizards' behaviour and measured their body temperature.

The biologist Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth, searching for a gecko's daytime hiding place in a eucalyptus tree. The radio antenna locates individual creatures that are carrying an RFID tag. Credit: Jean-Baptiste Mihoub, UFZ

At night, she used an infrared thermometer, which can measure temperature at a distance, to locate the creatures while they were hunting. And then, to find where the geckos were hiding during the day, the scientists used tiny passive transmitters, similar to those used as ID chips for dogs. These chips are usually implanted under the skin. But when the tiny reptile is only five centimetres long, this isn't really feasible. So, the scientists created miniature backpacks for the geckos to wear, which keep the chips close to their skin. The researchers then use a radio antenna to locate the chips. The chips not only reveal where each lizard is, but also transmit its body temperature. Despite the tremendous daytime heat in the desert, the scientists discovered that the geckos don't search out particularly cool places to hide. They prefer their refuges to have a temperature between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius. As Grimm-Seyfarth said, "The creatures need these high temperatures so that they can digest their food properly." Consequently, they also crawl around in branches that are particularly exposed to the sun. To her astonishment, Grimm-Seyfarth also found that, in cooler years, the geckos left the safety of their tree and deliberately sat out in the sun to bask in its heat. But searching for enough warmth also takes energy. And, if the search is unsuccessful, the gecko can't digest its food properly. This might be the reason that cooler years had a negative effect on the geckos.

However, even having the perfect temperature range isn't any good if it's also too dry. This doesn't just cause physical problems for these creatures. In particularly dry periods, there are also fewer insects for them to eat. As expected, geckos experience really hard times during periods of drought. But it's not just local precipitation levels that are the decisive factor. Every few years, the La Nina weather phenomenon brings torrential rainfall to the east coast of Australia. Months later, the rivers bring the resulting flood waters to the desert, increasing humidity levels and creating an abundance of insects. As Grimm-Seyfarth said, "These lizards are affected by local conditions and global climate phenomena alike. We need to look beyond the horizon of a particular area if we want to make an accurate prediction about the future of its inhabitants.

Until now, all the evidence indicated that the geckos would face problems caused by drought rather than by heat. But now, we have discovered that they can also compensate for this, to a certain extent. The study shows that, although individual creatures become thinner in years of drought, their population levels remain constant. This is because they scale back their growth and reproduction rates in hard times," explained Grimm-Seyfarth. They can then concentrate all their efforts on surviving into the next year. Thanks to their exceptional longevity (up to 28 years in some cases), these creatures can afford to lose a few reproductive cycles without any particular problem. And when conditions improve again, they can make up for lost time.

Therefore, even if climate change causes deterioration in living conditions for these geckos, they're hardly likely to die out immediately. And, according these evaluations by the scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, these findings could also apply to other long-lived desert dwellers. However, this is in no way a simple carte blanche for letting climate change just happen. "If there are several very dry years in succession, the creatures will no longer be able to cope," said Grimm-Seyfarth. At some point, even the hardiest survival specialists will be overwhelmed.

Explore further Climate change puts the heat on velvet geckos

More information: Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth et al, Some like it hot: from individual to population responses of an arboreal arid-zone gecko to local and distant climate, Ecological Monographs (2018). Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth et al, Some like it hot: from individual to population responses of an arboreal arid-zone gecko to local and distant climate,(2018). DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1301
The American com jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi. Credit: Cornelia Jasper/GEOMAR, DTU Aqua

Twelve years ago, the comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi, originating from the North American East Coast, appeared in northern European waters. Based on the first comprehensive data collection on the occurrence of this invasive jellyfish in Europe, scientists from 19 countries led by the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Technical University of Denmark have now shown that ocean currents play a key role for this successful invasion. The study has been published in the international journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

When the American comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi, also known as sea walnut, conquered the Black Sea as a new habitat 35 years ago, the ecosystem there changed sustainably. The economically important anchovy stocks collapsed since the fish had to compete with the jellyfish for food. Against this background, scientists, fisheries associations and environmental authorities were alarmed when, in 2005, the sea walnut also appeared in northern European waters. Although effects similar to those in the Black Sea have not been observed in the Baltic and in the North Sea yet, scientists are still closely monitoring the developmentparticularly since many questions on invasion pathways are still largely unclear.

A total of 47 scientists from 19 countries have now published the first comprehensive inventory of Mnemiopsis leidyi in European waters in the international journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. With this data, the interdisciplinary team of authors shows that ocean currents as pathways of invasive jellyfish and other drifting organisms in the seas have been significantly underestimated so far. "To explain the invasion of alien species in marine ecosystems, everybody is focused on transport in or on ships. That is important, but does not explain the whole phenomenon", says lead author Dr. Cornelia Jaspers, Biological Oceanographer at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby.

As basis for their study, the participants have collected all reliable data on the occurrence of the American comb jelly in European waters since 1990a total of more than 12,000 geo-referenced data points. "Even this inventory is new, because so far there were only regional studies on the distribution", explains Dr. Jaspers.

In cooperation with oceanographers and ocean modelers, the team linked data on the occurrence of Mnemiopsis leidyi to prevailing currents in European waters. The analysis included not only the flow directions and their strength, but also their stability. The models showed that the steady flow pattern of the southern North Sea closely links the region with much of northwestern Europe, including the Norwegian coast and even the Baltic Sea.

Due to this close connection, not only invasive jellyfish but generally non-native species floating in the sea can be spread over long distances within a very short time. "Using the imported sea walnut as example, we were able to show that these species can travel up to 2000 kilometers within three months," says Hans-Harald Hinrichsen, physical Oceanographer at GEOMAR. Species that arrive in ports in the southwestern North Sea, such as Antwerp or Rotterdam, reach Norway and the Baltic Sea very quickly.

To confirm this connection, the authors used a natural experiment. After a very cold winter season in early 2010, the jellyfish disappeared from the Baltic Sea and large parts of northwestern Europe in 2011 and stayed away until 2013. But after the warm winter of 2013/14, a new population of Mnemiopsis established itself in the Baltic very fast. "This new population was of another genotype than the first invaders. Thus, within a short time, a new immigration took place, driven by the prevailing ocean currents," says Dr. Jaspers. Perhaps the new arrivals from the second invasion wave are even better adapted to the local conditions.

Therefore, the authors plead not only to keep an eye on the transport routes across oceans, but also to better investigate the possibilities of spreading within a region. "The study shows that a single gateway, a single port for example, in which ships with invasive species arrive, is enough, to redistribute non-native species across entire regions," she concludes.

More information: Cornelia Jaspers et al, Ocean current connectivity propelling the secondary spread of a marine invasive comb jelly across western Eurasia, Global Ecology and Biogeography (2018). Journal information: Global Ecology and Biogeography Cornelia Jaspers et al, Ocean current connectivity propelling the secondary spread of a marine invasive comb jelly across western Eurasia,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/geb.12742
Credit: Technische Universitaet Dresden

A reliable functioning of technical infrastructure networks is essential for our modern, high-tech society. Cascading failures, i.e. chain reactions of failures of different infrastructures, are the cause of many failures of entire networks, e.g. large parts of the European power grids. Although cascading failures are usually influenced by network-wide nonlinear dynamics between the individual failures, their modelling has so far concentrated primarily on the analysis of sequences of failure events of individual infrastructures - however, the dynamics between these events have not been taken into account.

In an article now published by Nature Communications, an analysis scheme is presented which takes into account the event-based character of the chain reaction as well as the specific network dynamic influences.

The international team of scientists from the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) at TU Dresden and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Gottingen (Prof. Marc Timme, Dr. Benjamin Schafer), the Forschungszentrum Julich (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Dirk Witthaut) and the Queen Mary University of London (Prof. Vito Latora) was able to find out that some transition processes between different states of the power grid take place on a time scale of a few seconds. "These can play a decisive role in the development of collective reactions, which can eventually lead to a 'blackout.' In our study we propose a prediction method to identify potentially endangered lines and network components already at the planning stage and, if appropriate, also during the operation of power networks. Such dynamic effects could be integrated into network operators' risk assessments and system planning. Overall, our results underline the importance of dynamically induced failures for the adjustment processes of the national power grids of various European countries," says Prof. Marc Timme from the Strategic Chair of Network Dynamics at TU Dresden.

Major power outages, which often affect millions of people, are caused by complex and often non-local interactions between many components. In Europe, for example, the planned shutdown of a line in 2006 led to the failure of large parts of the European grid and affected up to 120 million people. Such unfavorable chain reactions can already build up by switching off a single line in the network. In an advanced stage, a fast dynamic develops, that is based, in particular, on the automatic switch-off devices, which are actually supposed to ensure the safety of the network. This rapid dynamic was the focus of the research of the team of scientists. Professor Dirk Witthaut from Forschungszentrum Julich explains the reasons: "In recent years, the trend in the electricity sector has continued towards strong networking, the countries are very closely integrated into the European grid. Since such failures anywhere in this network could affect us at any time, we must understand the causes. That's why we were concerned with these questions: Can we understand how these fast processes work? Can we predict which lines could cause a large-scale power outage?"

Credit: Technische Universitaet Dresden

"The basic idea behind the security architecture of the power grids is this: If any part of the grid fails, then the power grid should continue to function. The network then takes on a new stable state in order to compensate for the defect. The question of what this state looks like when the network has enough time to find it has already been investigated many times. For the relatively short time scale of the error cascades in power grids, however, our current study is virtually pioneering," says Vito Latora, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Head of the Complex Systems and Networks Group at Queen Mary University of London.

The scientists investigated the error cascades using a combination of computer simulations and mathematical analyses of simple network models. The static approach was compared with the new dynamic approach using a simulated network in which specific connections are interrupted. Often the broader dynamic view shows that the network can become completely unstable, even if the static approach still predicts stability. Overall, more potential failures are detected and the potential extent of a failure is more accurately predicted. In order to compare the processes found on the model with reality, power line networks with real connection structures were examined, specifically the Spanish, British and French topology. The new analysis method was successfully applied to complex and more realistic networks.

In addition, statistical studies on failures were carried out using the dynamic approach. How many lines fail if a random line is affected? "In many cases the effects are small, i.e. hardly any other lines fail. At the same time, there are a few critical lines that lead to major failures. Taking into consideration possible attacks (physical or virtual, e.g. by hackers) it is extremely important to identify and relieve such critical lines. Therefore, using the dynamic approach, we have developed a tool that predicts which lines are critical," describes Dr. Benjamin Schafer from cfaed at TU Dresden.

Finally, initial investigations on the spread of cascades in the network were carried out. "Instead of purely geographical distances between different locations, we consider the so-called 'effective distance,' which takes into account how strongly different parts of the power grid can influence each other. However, in order to gain a better understanding, further research is necessary to examine the possibility of stopping such cascades," explains Schafer.

Explore further A formula for preventing power outages

More information: Benjamin Schafer et al. Dynamically induced cascading failures in power grids, Nature Communications (2018). Journal information: Nature Communications Benjamin Schafer et al. Dynamically induced cascading failures in power grids,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04287-5
New EU privacy rules require online services such as Facebook to get consent for how personal data is accessed and shared

Amid a global scramble to comply with new EU data protections laws, the debate on privacy has intensified in the United States with some calling for similar measures for Americans, and others warning the rules could fracture the global internet.

US tech firms, and virtually all companies with online operations, will need to comply with the rules if their sites are used in the European Union, or face hefty financial penalties.

Some American firms, including news sites like the Los Angeles Times and New York Daily News, blocked access in the EU because they were unable to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect Friday.

Other US websites have shut down entirely, and some have hired consultants to help shut off access for any users in Europe.

Large US tech firms have pledged compliance with the EU rules, and have in many cases promised to extend the same protections worldwide.

But legal challenges filed in Europe accused Google and Facebook of failing to abide by the new law.

Why not in US?

Some US activists argue that the implementation offers an opportunity to give more privacy and data protection benefits to Americans.

"We see no reason why US companies, as they strive to comply with the new European policies, cannot extend the GDPR standard to American consumers," said Katharina Kopp of the Center for Digital Democracy, one of 28 activist groups endorsing a letter in that vein to major US and global companies.

New EU data protection rules are likely to radically change how websites use and share personal information and track users

Senator Ed Markey and three fellow lawmakers introduced a resolution this week that would call on firms to offer the same protections of the European law in the US.

"The American people are going to wonder why they are getting second-class privacy protections," said Markey.

The law establishes the key principle that individuals must explicitly grant permission for their data to be used, and give consumers a right to know who is accessing their information and what it will be used for.

Companies can be fined up to 20 million euros ($24 million) or four percent of annual global turnover for violations.

Cumbersome, confusing

GDPR critics argue the law is confusing and cumbersome, and could lead to unintended effects on both sides of the Atlantic.

Daniel Castro of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank, called GDPR "a confusing and impractical set of rules" that offers consumers little benefit.

"Instead of hiring engineers, companies are hiring privacy lawyers," Castro said in a blog post with researcher Alan McQuinn.

Some analysts fear that news organizations unable to comply with EU data rules will cut off some users, resulting in a "splinternet" where different information is available depending on one's region

Ryan Radia of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said that although GDPR was aimed at Big Tech, it is likely to strengthen the grip of large internet firms.

"This will result in greater market concentration, as small firms and startups will find it difficult to comply with the increased regulatory cost burden," Radia said.

Amy Webb, a fellow at Harvard's Nieman Foundation and founder of the Future Today Institute, warned the new law could lead to a "splinternet" with different kinds of data available in various regions of the world, and could be particularly cumbersome for news organizations.

"It's plausible within a decade, we could find ourselves stuck in a new digital divide, where many disparate splinternets behave and function differently, depending on where in the world the net is being accessed," she said in a blog post this week.

Webb said news organizations could find it especially difficult to comply because of the need for consent in organizing feeds and promoting content.

"The business model for news, already tenuous, could be further weakened," she said.

Henry Farrell, a George Washington University professor who follows transatlantic relations, said the entire business model of the tech sector could be at risk from GDPR.

"This is a fundamental attack on the 'two sided market' profit model that e-commerce companies have pioneered of providing services to individuals, while watching their behavior and feeding up access or data to advertisers," Farrell said in a tweet Friday.

Explore further EU data protection may trigger global ripple effect

 2018 AFP
Xanthomonas citri, the bacterium that causes citrus canker, a disease responsible for major damage to lemon and orange groves in worldwide scale, has a veritable arsenal of weapons to overcome constant competition with other bacterial species and ward off natural predators such as amoebae.

Despite the fact that citrus canker have already caused significant economic losses, X. citri's ability to persist in the environment is still poorly understood. However, a new study performed in Brazil perfects scientific understanding on the gene expression regulating the bacteria's defense mechanism against natural predatorswhich might subsidize the development of strategies to fight the pest on infected plants.

Researchers with the State University of Campinas's Biology Institute (IB-UNICAMP) and the University of Sao Paulo's Chemistry Institute (IQ-USP) have demonstrated a previously unknown mechanism used by X. citri against amoebae, the main source of selective pressure on bacteria in the natural environment.

The study revealed that the mechanism resides in a protein secretion system known as the T6SS (type VI secretion system) present in several species of bacterium but only now characterized in X. citri. It is, basically, a complex of proteins injected into the amoeba through the bacterial envelope.

"X. citri has several secretion systems. The one we studied is a kind of contractile machine that projects out through the bacterial cell membrane and secretes toxins or proteins into the target cell, in this case, the amoeba," said Cristina Alvarez-Martinez, a researcher affiliated with IB-UNICAMP and co-author of an article published in the journal Environmental Microbiology.

Signaling pathway

In addition to demonstrating that the mechanism is used for resistance to the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, the researchers also discovered a new signaling pathway that controls the expression of the secretion system's genes in response to contact with the amoeba. Although the signaling pathway is also found in the genomes of other environmental bacteria, this is the first time it has been studied in X. citri.

"The paper describes a new mechanism for regulating gene expression also used by other bacteria in the natural environment," Alvarez-Martinez said.

The researchers found that the translocation of proteins occurs in a manner controlled by the bacterium. "In the paper, we demonstrate that the bacterium induces transcription of T6SS genes to produce the secretion channel using this new signaling mechanism we identified. The signaling mechanism is activated in response to contact with the amoeba," Alvarez-Martinez said.

Genetically-induced vulnerability

The bacterium's genome was sequenced in 2001 via FAPESP's Genome Program, later enabling localization of the genes that encode the T6SS secretion mechanism. As a result, the researchers were able to modify the bacterium genetically so that it stopped producing T6SS.

The study compares two strains of the bacterium: a mutant strain without the T6SS genes and a wild-type strain with no genetic modification. The conclusion was that the amoeba D. discoideum feeds more efficiently on the wild-type strain.

"When these genes were removed, the bacterium stopped producing the secretion system," Alvarez-Martinez explained. "We saw from the comparison that the wild-type strain displayed far greater resistance to the amoeba and survived better than our mutant strain without the secretion system. We succeeded in demonstrating that this is crucially important to the survival of X. citri."

Arsenal

According to Alvarez-Martinez, the study confirms that X. citri has an arsenal of mechanisms categorized in terms of secretion system families to withstand the attacks of environmental competitors.

"Many of these systems have already been studied. The bacterium's T3SS or type III secretion system, for example, is directly linked to its virulence. If this system is eliminated, it can't cause citrus canker. Its T4SS is involved in the task of eliminating other species of bacterium that compete with it for space and nutrients. Its T6SS, which we're now studying, acts as a resistance mechanism in disputes with predators, in this case, amoebae," said the FAPESP-supported researcher.

More research is necessary to completely understand what happens in this dispute between X. citri and D. discoideum. "One of the hypotheses raised in our paper is that the amoeba may be a sort of reservoir for bacteria. X. citri can kill the amoeba or multiply inside it. What we want to find out now is how the relationship between these two microorganisms is established," she said.

Whether or not this hypothesis is confirmed, one thing is certain: the recently identified secretion system increases the bacterium's resistance. This could have a strong impact on its persistence in the soil and on the leaves of citrus plants.

"The more we know about the mechanisms used by the bacterium to withstand adversity, the easier it will be to design ways and means of preventing the spread of citrus canker. In the future, our understanding of T6SS can help us think about a form of intervention to stop citrus canker from developing in the field, as well as contributing significantly to our understanding of X. citri's biology," Alvarez-Martinez said.

Explore further New insight into the molecular weapons of the plant microbiome

More information: Ethel Bayer-Santos et al, Xanthomonas citri T6SS mediates resistance to Dictyostelium predation and is regulated by an ECF  factor and cognate Ser/Thr kinase, Environmental Microbiology (2018). Journal information: Environmental Microbiology Ethel Bayer-Santos et al, Xanthomonas citri T6SS mediates resistance to Dictyostelium predation and is regulated by an ECF  factor and cognate Ser/Thr kinase,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14085
A car is set alight during the 2005 riots that prompted soul-searching in France about segregated and badly designed housing projects. Credit: A.J./Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

Crime and insecurity are deeply entrenched in some cities. While we have rankings of the most dangerous cities in the world, this does not give a clear picture of how and why dangerous spaces develop in cities.

We are analysing case studies from cities in France, Colombia, Brazil and Australia to understand the factors that lead to insecurity, and to examine possible solutions.

Risks of ghettos in Australia

Australian cities aren't immune to the dangers. While there is no clear upward trend in crime nationally, the social polarisation and concentration of certain crimes in parts of the cities of Sydney and Melbourne are cause for concern. As a result, New South Wales and Victoria are the states with the highest rates of unlawful entry and armed robbery.

Sydney in particular is experiencing a "ghettoisation effect". Social polarisation between suburbs is increasing. Another issue in Sydney's western suburbs is domestic violence.

While crime rates here are much lower than in cities in Latin America and France, we need to be mindful of how neighbourhoods can become dangerous through neglect by planners and policymakers.

What can we do about it?

Social disorganisation theory has dominated research in this field. Central to this approach are neighbourhood mechanisms to reduce crime and disorder.

Some have criticised this theory for not considering the influences on crime of the larger urban political economy. Political and economic decisions may have direct effects by increasing unemployment, residential instability (via planning and housing policies) or population density (via zoning policies).

Reducing crime is also the job of planners. Research has shown, for instance, that better planning can reduce the tragedies of domestic violence.

Incentives at the city scale  such as tax breaks and policies to decentralise public services and promote economic activity in poorer outer suburbs  need to be twinned with strategies to foster social integration at the neighbourhood level.

Latin America: a focus on Colombia and Brazil

Violence and high crime rates have created stark divisions in some Latin American cities. Residents have responded with several strategies to feel safe at home.

In Argentina, crime rates soared after the political and financial crisis of 2001. Citizens started building barricades and fortified their living environments with all types of security devices. Gated communities became the preferred type of housing, especially for upper-middle-class groups who could afford it.

However, gating and security devices have not been successful deterrents to crime. The strategies that have succeeded are linked to encouraging more social integration, shared use of public space, and less opposition to and marginalisation of "the other".

One of the escalators managed by the local community in Medellin. Credit: Sonia Roitman. Author provided

"Social urbanism" policies in cities like Medellin, Colombia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have led to dramatic reductions in crime. The idea of these interventions is not only to physically upgrade housing and public space, but to improve social outcomes.

In Medellin, public space was improved in some of the poorest neighbourhoods, which included new infrastructure. Alleys were upgraded, to make walking easier and increase safety, and the famous escalators were built. The community manages these escalators, which improve access to the upper areas of neighbourhoods and help create safer environments.

The installation of aerial public transport ("metrocable" cable cars) also improved access and helped integrate these areas with the city centre. This in turn led to greater awareness of their existence and less prejudice against them as areas of marginalisation. Residents of other areas who wouldn't normally travel through these poor neighbourhoods became more aware of them while using public transport.

In the case of Brazil, the Favela Bairro program to upgrade slums in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1990s succeeded in integrating favelas with the city to improve living conditions and reduce crime rates.

For such projects to succeed it is essential to have community participation, engagement and buy-in.

Urban policy in France

The 2005 riots in French cities were the results of both structural issues, such as unemployment and police violence, and long-term social and spatial segregation.

Since the 2000s, the "action on places" paradigm has dominated urban policy. Its goal has been to tackle spatial inequality, with the National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU) playing a central role.

In exchange for state funding, cities had to commit to eradicate old social housing projects and build new residential buildings.

Previously, the policy for "deprived neighbourhoods" allowed elected officials and local representatives of the state a larger choice of strategies. These included renovation, positive discrimination, mediation, and the development of local community-led initiatives.

The urban renewal policy, launched in 2003, restricted the range of strategies. It is now criticised because it changed the urban form of neighbourhoods without really changing the social issues.

Today, the possible avenues for action are more diverse. Efforts are concentrated in the most deprived neighbourhoods, with employment, education and security as the budget priorities.

Build on existing social ties

Many strong social ties exist in these so-called deprived neighbourhoods. One promising avenue for action, but which currently attracts the least investment, is to focus on the strengths of those neighbourhoods. This can be done by supporting local initiatives, especially those led by women.

In the book Remake the City, two French researchers stress that it is illusory to think that solutions imposed from above can prevent ghettoisation. They see a need to learn from the experiments carried out in Latin America and in the United States. In the US, the rise of the "community development corporation" has helped to turn negative situations into experiences that foster social integration at the neighbourhood level and present a more positive image of the "ghetto".

Even if the contexts are very different, these examples show that the factors at work in places at risk of ghettoisation need to be analysed at different scales. Solutions need to integrate bottom-up actions with strong engagement from communities and a policy rethink on the structural drivers of strong social and spatial segregation in cities.

Explore further To create safer cities for everyone, we need to avoid security that threatens

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Freeways choked with traffic, supermarkets laden with fertilizer-grown stock from distance fields and virtually everything we touch derived from petroleum-based plastics. It's hard to imagine life beyond our fossil-fueled world. Black gold has brought us unprecedented prosperity, but it's also polluted our environment, perhaps irreparably, and it's in finite supply. Now what?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. But not in the plaintive, unattainable way Bob Dylan expressed in his famous lyrics. Life-giving nitrogen flows all around us and, according to Utah State University biochemist Lance Seefeldt and other top scientists, it holds the key to sustainability beyond nonrenewable energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences gathered Seefeldt and 16 other experts in nitrogen research in Washington, D.C. for an October 2016 summit to discuss the current field of nitrogen activation chemistry and its future directions. The team reports their conclusions in a review article in the May 25, 2018, issue of the journal Science.

"This gathering was a 'Who's Who' of nitrogen research," says Seefeldt, professor in USU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, an American Academy for the Advancement of Science Fellow and a co-chair of the gathering. "Our group included Nobel Laureate Robert Schrock and the culmination of our efforts is truly a tour de force. No one of us, individually, could have written this report."

All life on earth requires nitrogen and a whopping 80 percent of the planet's atmosphere, in the form of dinitrogen, is comprised of the life-sustaining gas. Yet, neither animals nor plants can access nitrogen directly.

"It's an incredible irony," Seefeldt says. "We need nitrogen to survive and we're swimming in a sea of it, but we can't get to it. Humans and animals get nitrogen from protein in our food. Plants get nitrogen from the soil."

Which is where fossil fuels entered the picture about a century ago. German scientists Franz Haber and Carl Bosch pioneered a revolutionary process to break nitrogen's ultra-strong bonds and enable commercial-scale production of fertilizer, which spurred unprecedented growth of the global food supply and, subsequently, the world's population.

"It was one of history's technological marvels, but it currently consumes about two percent of the world's fossil fuel supply and thus, it's come with a very heavy carbon footprint," Seefeldt says.

What did he and his fellow scientists conclude from their summit? It's time to embark on a new revolution.

"Opportunities exist to achieve radically improved, new and different pathways (to achieve nitrogen transformations)," the scientists write. "But progress in this regard will require a molecular-level understanding of nitrogen transformation reactions, as well as ... discovery of new catalytic systems and alternative means of delivering the energy needed to drive those reactions."

Seefeldt and his USU team, whose research is supported by the DOE, have already pioneered efforts toward a clean and renewable light-driven process for converting nitrogen to ammonia, a primary component of fertilizer.

"Our research on this process, which uses nanomaterials to capture light energy, demonstrates how sunlight or artificial light can power nitrogen fixation," Seefeldt says. "It a potential game-changer."

More information: Jingguang G. Chen et al, Beyond fossil fueldriven nitrogen transformations, Science (2018). Journal information: Science Jingguang G. Chen et al, Beyond fossil fueldriven nitrogen transformations,(2018). DOI: 10.1126/science.aar6611
4 continents, 12 telescopes, and half a million bits of space junk. The Falcon Telescope Network means business. And that business is being done in our very own backyard.

Since 1958, humans have been rocketing stuff into space. You can watch some of it here.

Satellites, discarded rocket bodies and other debris orbit Earth, kept close by our planet's gravitational pull. In 2013, NASA estimated that more than half a million bits of stuff surround Earth.

And with small satellites now being sent up to space in big numbers, it's looking to get a lot more crowded up there.

Already, crashes and collisions are happening. Which is worrisome, because the satellite which allows me to stream Netflix is very precious to me. The satellites which ensure our national security are alright too. It may also be pertinent to remember that we have people in space and if anything collides with them it could be catastrophic.

But a network of telescopes is spreading across the globe and together, they'll help us keep tabs on all the stuff in space. The telescopes will be able to identify any space debris in orbit around Earth that is larger than 10cm by picking up any sunlight that the space trash reflects.

One of the scopes in this network has been set up in WA's very own backyard. Not only is it helping satellites steer clear of collisions, it's also providing rural communities unprecedented access to world-class science.

Falcons abroad

The Falcon Telescope Network is a collaboration between USAFA and 16 different international educational and research institutions.

Twelve telescopes will make up the Falcon Network once it's fully rolled out. 7 are spread across America, with one each in Chile and Germany. One will be built in South Africa in the near future. And two reside on Australian soil; one in our capital, Canberra, and one at the Gravity Discovery Centre (GDC) in Gingin. This West Aussie branch of the network is hosted by the GDC and supported by UWA and Catholic Education Western Australia.

They may sit on four different continents, but these telescopes are exact replicas of each other. They can be remotely controlled and simultaneously observe the exact same objects in the sky. This uniformity is critical for data collection, and in achieving the goal of identifying and characterizing the satellites filling our near universe.

But the Falcon Telescope Network is so much more than just tracking things in space.

Rocket science for all

It's also an ambitious outreach effort that has provided opportunities rural communities the opportunity to engage in world class astronomical science.

At St Joseph's School in Northam, students who were curious about the night sky got the chance to work with the Falcon Telescope Network and conduct an actual scientific research project. After learning about astronomical objects with a sky visualisation program, they wrote testable, scientific questions about the stuff in our sky. They then submitted their research proposals to the Falcon Telescope Network First Light Project.

Using data collected from the global network of telescopes, students were able to identify and categorise objects in orbit around our planet. One year 7 girl was thrilled to find that some of the images she captured used data collected all the way over in Chile. The students discussed results, compiled information, and reported their findings as any scientist would.

Around the world, other students have done the same.

In the future the Falcon Telescope Network will give us complete oversight of all objects larger than 10cm in space, helping to keep our satellites safe in the increasingly crowded orbit around Earth. But the network also shows that through cooperation of international research and educational institutions, science of the highest level can be performed around the world and bring knowledge to all mankind. Even year 7 students can do rocket science. Or at least, track rocket debris in space.

Explore further GRACE-FO spacecraft ready to launch

This article first appeared on Particle, a science news website based at Scitech, Perth, Australia. Read the original article.
Credit: South Dakota State University

A summer rainstorm can rejuvenate the landscape, but the runoff it creates may contain contaminants, such as E. Coli bacteria, that can negatively impact water quality in rivers and streams. Peng Dai, a graduate student in the South Dakota State University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is testing an inexpensive yet efficient means of removing E. coli from storm water runoffsteel chips.

"Storm water can carry human and animal waste into rivers and streams," said Dai, who completed his master's degree in May. His research adviser is assistant professor Guanghui Hua. The East Dakota and James River Water Development Districts and the U.S. Department of Transportation through the Mountain Plains Consortium funded the project.

E. coli contamination is one of the major water quality impairments of the Big Sioux River according to South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Testing at several storm water drainage sites at Brookings showed that E. coli concentrations at these drainage sites after a summer storm can be as high as 2,000 colony forming units (cfu) per 100 milliliters (mL).

Hua explained that a previous graduate student had tested zeolite, limestone and steel slag, a byproduct of the mining industry, as well as steel chips. Those results led to Dai's study focusing on steel chips.

Small column testing showed carbon steel chips can remove anywhere from 85 to 98 percent of E. coli from simulated storm drain water, according to Dai. The steel chips tested are waste materials gathered from a Sioux Falls machine shop.

Dai examined steel chips ranging in size from 0.5 to 8 millimeter and used simulated storm water with E. coli concentrations of low (10 cfu/100 mL) to extremely high (106 cfu/100 mL) levels. He also evaluated the effect of pH levels 5, 7 and 9, as well as contact times of 5 to 20 minutes. "I controlled the nutrient levels in the simulated storm water so that the E. coli survived but did not multiply," Dai explained.

He found that the 0.5 to 2 mm chips worked best. In addition, "the longer the contact time, the better. At 20 minutes, the steel chips can remove nearly 99 percent of E. coli," Dai said. Although the lower pH produced better results, Dai recorded removal rates of at least 90 percent for all pH levels tested.

In addition to the continuous flow testing, Dai simulated intermittent storm water events in which water circulated for six hours, then the chips were dry for six hours, followed by six hours of flow. "They worked the samethe chips still keep a high efficiency removal rate," said Dai. His research provided the groundwork for another graduate student who is designing a filter for pilot-scale testing.

Hua has identified south Brookings site where storm water from a 10-acre residential area drains into a retention pond. "The structure, which looks like an open-top box, will be positioned at the inlet of the pond, so the storm water drainage passes through the steel media for E. coli removal." He anticipates having the structure in place this summer.

Explore further Steel byproducts trap phosphorous in agricultural drainage water
In 2017, about 17.2 million vehicles were sold in the United States, of which nearly 8.7 million were imports

US President Donald Trump's threat to impose steep tariffs on auto imports will hit foreign automakers that export a large number of vehicles to the US market, but many also manufacture cars domestically.

Most of these brands, such as Mercedes and BMW as well as Nissan, Honda and Volkswagen, have at least one auto plant on US soil, where they employ tens of thousands of workers.

These automakers have invested billions of dollars in their US facilities. Toyota and Mazda announced at the start of the year plans to build a $1.6 billion joint facility in Alabama that will be capable of producing 300,000 vehicles a year.

Volvo Cars, which plans to open a plant in South Carolina by the end of the year, has warned that new import duties would affect its investment plans.

US auto market

In 2017, about 17.2 million vehicles were sold in the United States, according to AutoData, which compiles figures from manufacturers and dealers.

Nearly 8.7 million of these were imports, according to the Center for Automotive Research, mostly from Mexico and Canada partners in the North American Free Trade Agreementas well as from Japan, Germany and South Korea.

Since the start of this year, the share of domestically-manufactured autos sold in the US has fallen to 50.1 percent, down from 51.1 percent over the same period in 2017, according to Edmunds.com.

At least 82 percent of Volkswagens sold in the US were imports, according to Edmunds, as well as 55 percent of Toyotas, 57 percent of Hyundais, 70 percent of Mercedes-Benz and 68 percent for BMW.

On the other hand, more than half the cars sold in the US by the "Big Three" in Detroit were made locally: 80 percent for Ford, 60 percent for General Motors and 55 percent for Fiat Chrysler.

Honda is the sole foreign automaker manufacturing a large majority of its locally-sold cars in the United States.

Major exporter

The US auto industry is the largest US manufacturing sector which employs about eight million workers, directly or indirectly through related industries.

It also is one of the largest export sectors, according to the American Automotive Policy Council, an industry body representing the major US manufacturers, General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, and foreign automakers.

Auto exports virtually doubled between 2009 and 2015 to $137.7 billion from $74.1 billion, according to AAPC, supporting 771,000 US jobs.

BMW and Daimler, maker of the Mercedes-Benz, notably send US-built cars to the European Union and China.

BMW, which says its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant is the world's largest, exported 70 percent of the 371,284 autos manufactured at the site last year, or about 272,346, representing about $10 billion in total exports.

Domestic manufacturing

Toyota, which employs more than 36,000 people, has 10 factories at locations in Alabama, California, Mississippi and Texas. It produces 1.2 million cars and sells 2.4 million, according to 2017 figures, with the difference made up by imports.

Honda, which employs 4,000, has factories in Alabama, George, Indiana and Ohio and produces 1.2 million, selling 1.6 million.

German giant Volkswagen, which has a Tennessee factory with the capacity to produce 150,000 units annually, did not disclose production figures but sold 339,679 autos. It employs 2,444 workers.

Daimler maintains auto plants in Alabama, Indiana, and South Carolina and has 4,900 local workers. In 2017, it produced more than 286,000 cars and sold 337,246.

BMW, which employs nearly 9,0000 workers, produced 371,284 automobiles in 2017 in the US, and sold 305,685.

Nissan maintains two factories in Mississippi in Tennessee and produced 930,000 autos, selling $1.6 million. It employed 14,400 workers.

Auto imports

Volkswagen luxury brands Audi and Porsche have no US factories and as a result import all the vehicles sold in the US market. In 2017, Audi sold 226,511 units while Porsche brought 55,420 to market.

Explore further Volkswagen rejects 'protectionism' after US car tariff threat

 2018 AFP
The United States and China have reached a deal to lift sanctions on embattled Chinese telecom company ZTE, The New York Times reported

US President Donald Trump said Friday he had reached a deal to keep Chinese telecoms giant ZTE running, rolling back some penalties in exchange for security guaranteesa move that infuriated Democrats and some in his own party.

The news comes as the US prepares to send a trade delegation back to Beijing next week to continue talks aimed at defusing a potentially serious trade dispute with China, after the countries exchanged huge tit-for-tat threats on imports.

In a tweet Friday evening the US president praised his plan while lambasting Democrats as well as the Barack Obama administration, who he said "let phone company ZTE flourish with no security checks."

"I closed it down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine. Dems do nothing...."

In a follow-up tweet he called the "so called Trade Deals" struck by Democrats "the laughing stock of the world!"

The New York Times had reported earlier of a deal with China's ZTE that would lift crippling sanctions slapped on the company.

The reported terms of the deal closely match the conditions US President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross described earlier this week as a means for the firm to escape the export ban that nearly shuttered its operations.

It provoked a harsh reaction among some members of Congress, however, as lawmakers have been critical of the administration for signaling it might ease the pressure on a company that violated US sanctions on Iran and North Korea and repeatedly lied to US officials.

Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, slammed Trump's deal as "a staggering betrayal of the American people."

"Trump pledged to fight for Americans, but he's now using U.S. government resources to enrich ZTE (a foreign company designated a national cybersecurity risk)," Pelosi tweeted.

ZTE was fined $1.2 billion in March 2017, but last month Washington banned the sale of crucial US components to the company after finding it had lied multiple times and failed to take action against employees responsible for sanctions violations.

Under the new deal brokered by the Commerce Department, according to the Times, ZTE would pay a substantial fine, hire American compliance officers to be placed at the firm and make changes to its current management team.

Even while US officials said the ZTE penalties were a national security issue separate from the trade talks with Beijing, Trump said Tuesday he was looking at easing the tough sanctions on ZTE "as a favor" to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Alternatives

On Thursday, Ross said that at Trump's request, his department was looking at alternatives to the harsh penalty he chose to impose.

But, he said, "if we do decide to go forward with an alternative, what it literally would involve would be in planting people of our choosing into the company to constitute a compliance unit and that unit would report back to the Department of Commerce."

Top Republican and Democrat senators have denounced the compromise and one even vowed to block it.

The reprieve for ZTE came just after Washington and Beijing called a halt to a spiraling trade dispute sparked by US accusations of China's unfair practices and the alleged theft of US technology, with Washington suspending plans to impose tariffs on as much as $150 billion in Chinese imports.

Trump also faced accusations of quid-pro-quo after pledging to soften sanctions on ZTE just days after AFP reported a Chinese state firm would pour cash into a Trump-tied real estate venture in Indonesia.

Lawmakers were incensed by Trump's offer last week to rescue the company and Chinese jobs, which came via Twitter in the midst of the trade talks with Beijing. The president angrily denied back-pedaling.

Top Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who chairs a key subcommittee on foreign relations, denounced the move, and vowed lawmakers would work on "veto-proof legislation" to stop the deal.

Tweeting again on Friday, Rubio again accused the administration of reaching an agreement that was beneficial to China.

"It is a great deal... for #ZTE & China. #China crushes US companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us," he said on Twitter.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also decried the deal.

"If the administration goes through with this reported deal, President Trump would be helping make China great again. Would be a huge victory for President Xi, and a dramatic retreat by Pres Trump," he tweeted. "Both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks."

Asked by AFP for comment, a Commerce spokesman said no information was available.

 2018 AFP
Credit: Alfred Wegener Institute

Today, only the eldest inhabitants of the Danube Delta recall that the river froze nearly every winter; since the second half of the 20th century, Europe's second-largest river has only rarely frozen over. This is due to the rising winter and water temperatures in Central and Eastern Europe, as a German-Romanian research team recently determined. Their analysis has just been published in Scientific Reports.

In the Romanian harbour town Tulcea, the Danube Commission has maintained an ice diary. Since 1836, the organization has recorded every winter in which the river froze over, how long the river was covered by a solid sheet of ice, and the day on which the ice began to break up. Until roughly 70 years ago, the ice archivists reported ice cover almost every year. But since the middle of the 20th century, the entries in the column "ice" have become few and far between: between 1951 and 2016, Europe's second-largest river only froze over 10 times. Mathematically speaking, that means fewer than one in six winters. A comparison with regions farther upstream shows that in Tulcea, the entryway to the Danube Delta, the river freezes longer and much more frequently than in Budapest, Hungary, for example.

A German-Romanian research team has sought to determine why. "When climate researchers talk about ice and global warming, most people think of the Greenland Ice Sheet or the sea ice on the Arctic Ocean. Most of them don't realise that the amount of winter ice on Europe's seas and rivers is an equally important indicator for a changing climate," explains Dr. Monica Ionita, a climate researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI).

She and her colleagues have compared the ice records from Tulcea and other cities along the Danube with local and national meteorological time series. Their findings show that the climate in Central and Eastern Europe has changed substantially over the past several decades. "In Europe, there has been a clearly recognisable rise in winter temperatures since the late 1940s. Ever since then, the winter months have rarely been sufficiently cold, and the Danube and other major rivers can no longer freeze over on a regular or extended basis," says Monica Ionita.

Compared to the past, the average winter temperature in Eastern Europe is now roughly 1.5 degrees warmer than between 1901 and 1950. In addition, since the 1980s the Black Sea hasn't become as cold as in past winters, and its warmth is making the winters in Eastern Europe and Western Russia milder and wetter.

Another reason why the Danube no longer freezes over is the inflow of wastewater and heat. Ionita says, "From 1837 to 1950, the winter temperatures only had to drop to minus 0.54 degrees for an ice sheet to form on the Danube. But since the early 1950s, such a light frost isn't enough; today, the air temperature has to dip below -1.05 degrees for the surface to freeze over. As such, we can clearly see the results of human influences."

For those engaged in shipping on the Danube, the lack of winter ice is a benefitwith no ice, they can enjoy smooth sailing. But Monica Ionita warns, "There are likely to be farther-reaching consequences for the Danube's flora and fauna, especially if we bear in mind that, because of global warming, the air and water temperatures will continue to rise."

More information: M. Ionita et al, Vanishing river ice cover in the lower part of the Danube basin  signs of a changing climate, Scientific Reports (2018). Journal information: Scientific Reports M. Ionita et al, Vanishing river ice cover in the lower part of the Danube basin  signs of a changing climate,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26357-w
Education Reporter

Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe.
In advance of monthly community meetings on the issue, the housing of H-2A workers in the citys neighborhoods was again raised at the Santa M
Asian stocks were mostly lower in afternoon trade

Investing.com  Asian stocks were mostly lower in afternoon trade on Friday amid fragile market sentiment following news that U.S. President Donald Trump called off the planned June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, though investor concerns were eased by expectations the two countries may still continue dialogue.

The White House released a letter by Trump to Kim, in which the U.S. president regarding the cancelled summit. Trump cited tremendous anger and open hostility in recent statements from Pyongyang and called the outcome a setback for both North Korea and the world.

While many things can happen and a great opportunity lies ahead, potentially, I believe this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and indeed a setback for the world, Trump said at the White House on Thursday.

In response, North Koreas government said in a statement that it was surprised at the cancellation, but noted that it remained willing to meet with the U.S. at any time.

Our goal and will to do everything for peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and mankind remains unchanged, and we are always willing to give time and opportunity to the US side with a big and open mind, according to the statement. We express our intent that there is a willingness to sit at any time, in any way to resolve issues.

In Asia, Chinas Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component was 0.1% and 0.4% lower at 1:05PM ET (05:05 GMT). Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2%.

Although not a directional driver, Chinas official Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is set to visit China from June 2 to 4 to further discuss Sino-U.S. trade relations.

The report added that China's vice premier Liu He had spoken with Ross in a phone call but did not provide any details.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged China to further open its home market received some focus.

We understand that China is still developing, but we also see that in some areas China is the absolute technology leader, Merkel said at a Germany-China business forum she attended with Li. So in these areas we naturally want reciprocal access. Otherwise, this will gradually lead to us putting in place constraints -- perhaps too many constraints, and that wouldnt be good.

Story continues

Elsewhere, Japans Nikkei 225 slipped 0.02%, while Australias S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.2% lower in afternoon trade.

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South Africas central bank is choosing to call cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as cyber-tokens rather than currencies, arguing they do not meet the requirements of money.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the countrys central bank, prefers to see cryptocurrencies as tokens rather than currencies according to deputy governor Francois Groepe.

As things stand, the authority has not outlined any policies or a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency sector. Even so, the central banks current outlook could lead toward an official policy sometime in the future.

In quotes reported by Bloomberg, the central bank official explained:

We dont use the term cryptocurrency because it doesnt meet the requirements of money in the economic sense of the stable means of exchange, a unit of measure and a stable unit of valueWe prefer to use the world cyber-token.

It isnt immediately clear why the official weighed in on the still-unofficial stance on cryptocurrencies but the deputy governor offered his remarks while speaking to reporters in Pretoria, one of South Africas three capital cities, on Thursday.

Having established a FinTech task force earlier in January, the SARB also installed a self-regulatory body tasked to review and outline a regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency sector in April. [S]elf-regulation through self-regulatory organisations (SROs) may be a more likely solution for the regulation of cryptocurrencies, the central banks banking practice director Bridget King said, claiming cryptocurrencies arent suited to traditional centralized supervision afforded to the banking and financial sectors.

In revealing the SARBs position on cryptocurrencies yesterday, Groepe touched on the FinTech unit at play, stating:

We want to ensure or establish whether there is still compliance with the relevant financial surveillance or exchange-control regulations.

At the fundamental core, central banks represent the very basis of a traditional financial system that cryptocurrencies are meant to disrupt. No surprise then that most central banks and their officials offer a skeptical take with many, like the SARB, refusing to classify cryptocurrencies as money.

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Elsewhere, the deputy governor of Israels central bank also claimed bitcoin and other digital currencies werent currencies nor foreign currencies but a financial asset instead, earlier this year. Bank of England governor Mark Carney opined bitcoin had failed as a currency so far on possessing the traditional aspects of money.

To South Africas north within the continent, a recent effort by Zimbabwes central bank to ban financial institutions from providing services to the cryptocurrency exchanges and the wider industry was quickly snuffed by the High Court in Harare yesterday.

Featured image from Google Maps.



The post Cryptocurrency is a Token, We Wont Call it a Currency: South Africas Central Bank appeared first on CCN.


Soybeans are sorted according to their weight and density on a gravity sorter machine in Fargo North Dakota Soybeans are sorted according to their weight and density on a gravity sorter machine in Fargo, North Dakota, U.S., December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Dan Koeck/Files

By Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's nod to state-owned companies to start buying U.S. soybeans again to help placate its top trading partner may turn into a test of Beijing's will over market forces.

A buying spree right now would be painful for well-stocked Chinese soybean end-users and traders, according to interviews with five executives at major trading houses and processors, particularly as U.S. beans are more expensive than supplies from rival Brazil.

U.S. export prices have pushed even higher this week as sellers have bet on a bonanza, but Chinese crushers already face razor thin margins to turn beans into animal feed or cooking oil.

Meanwhile, state-owned COFCO and other big traders have built up big stocks of Brazilian beans in anticipation of a trade war, leaving them little room to take in much more, according to a source at COFCO and traders.

"Government's guidance or not, it doesn't really matter. Business is business," said a manager at a medium-sized crusher in northern China, which has sufficient supplies for its factory through June. "A crusher won't buy beans if it's not profitable."

Brazilian beans are about $15 per tonne cheaper than American ones.

"If China really steps up buying U.S. soybeans, it won't be good news for the domestic market," said Zhang Yun, analyst with industry portal cofeed.com, pointing to high imports, mountains of meal and narrowing crush margins.

China's soymeal inventory stands at 1.15 million tonnes, near its highest in nine months, while soybean stockpiles have jumped by 25 percent since mid-April to 7.01 million tonnes, their highest since September.

Soybean imports edged up 0.2 percent in the first quarter to 19.6 million tonnes, with arrivals from Brazil more than doubling while U.S. shipments fell.

QUIET RETURN

The renewed interest in U.S. grains comes after Beijing pledged at the weekend to increase imports to avert a trade war that could damage the global economy.

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China gobbles up about 60 percent of globally traded soybeans, which are America's top agricultural export to the country, worth an estimated $13 billion last year.

China's Ministry of Commerce told Reuters it had not issued instructions to state-owned companies to step up purchases of U.S. soybeans.

But state-owned stockpiler Sinograin made enquiries for U.S. beans this week for the first time since early April, a move that market participants interpreted as a sign that government curbs on buying American goods had been lifted.

Restrictions preventing COFCO from buying U.S. soybeans have also been removed, sources familiar with the matter said.

Sinograin and COFCO did not respond to requests for comment.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Friday said private exporters sold 312,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China for shipment in the marketing year that begins Sept. 1 - the first significant sales since early April, when trade tensions between Washington and Beijing began to escalate.

The USDA on Friday also said exporters sold 165,000 tonnes of optional-origin soybeans to China.

The United States sold 264,000 tonnes of new-crop soybeans to an undisclosed destination, data on Thursday showed, which traders said was likely China. Reuters could not immediately confirm this.

Some analysts said logistics problems in South America, including a truckers' strike that paralyzed Brazil transport this week, may steer Chinese buyers back to U.S. soybeans.

"The issue with Brazil and Argentina is they have proven not to be dependable suppliers. It points to the need to diversify your supply lines. I think that is why they (China) are coming back to buy U.S.," said Roy Huckabay with Linn & Associates, a Chicago brokerage.

STRATEGIC STOCKPILE

It is not clear how much China may buy, but the United States is expected to have about 14 million tonnes of beans left over this year after expected sales, worth about $6 billion - an indication of what may be available.

In 2018-19, the surplus is estimated to be 11 million tonnes, worth $4.5 billion. The market has speculated the government may be preparing to replenish its state reserves.

Crushers worry that any extra buying will boost prices and further erode margins as demand dwindles from the animal feed industry. Pig farmers, the top users of meal, are bleeding cash and struggling with sinking hog prices amid a burgeoning glut.

Bids for U.S. Gulf Coast exports rose this week on demand from exporters for old- and new-crop shipments, with activity picking up as trade tensions eased, traders said.

Higher prices are particularly painful for crushers in the south where a manager at a large crusher said firms are bleeding about 20-30 yuan ($3.13-$4.70) for every tonne of beans they crush due to huge imports and weaker demand.

"Some crushers in the south have already started delaying cargoes to reduce pressure on stocks," he said.

($1 = 6.3869 China yuan)

(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton in BEIJING; additional reporting by Karl Plume and Julie Ingwersen in CHICAGO; writing by Josephine Mason; editing by Richard Pullin, Manolo Serapio Jr. and G Crosse)
An Australian grandmother who said she was tricked into carrying drugs into Malaysia after falling for an online romance scam was Thursday sentenced to death after an earlier acquittal was overturned, her lawyer said. Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto was arrested in December 2014 while in transit at Kuala Lumpur airport with 1.1 kilos (2.4 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine stitched into the compartment of a backpack she was carrying. The 54-year-old was cleared in December of trafficking after a High Court judge ruled she did not know she was transporting the drugs. But prosecutors challenged the decision and an appeals court overturned the acquittal Thursday, and found her guilty, her lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told AFP. Anyone caught with at least 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of crystal meth is considered a trafficker in Muslim-majority Malaysia, and death by hanging is mandatory in the case of a conviction. Shafee slammed the ruling as "perverse" and said Exposto would make a final appeal to the country's top court. "I thought there was an overwhelming case for the defence. I am shocked with the decision," he said. The mother of four argued she did not know about the hidden stash of "ice". She said she had been fooled into carrying the bag after travelling to China to see someone she met online called "Captain Daniel Smith", who had claimed to be a US serviceman. After engaging in a long online romance, Exposto had travelled to Shanghai to see "Smith". But she did not succeed in meeting her supposed love interest while there and ended up being given a bag by a stranger, who asked her to take it to Melbourne. When she arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to change flights, she mistakenly went through immigration as she was unfamiliar with the airport. She voluntarily offered her bags for customs inspection and the drugs were discovered. There are at least 900 people on death row in Malaysia, officials have said, but executions have been rare in recent years. Malaysian lawmakers have voted to amend legislation so that capital punishment is no longer mandatory in drug-trafficking cases. But the changes have not yet come into force as they must be passed by the upper house. Two Australians were hanged in Malaysia in 1986 for heroin trafficking -- the first Westerners to be executed in the country -- in a case that strained relations. In 2013 Dominic Bird, a former truck driver from Perth, was acquitted of drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with 167 grams of crystal methamphetamine.
Two former French spies have been arrested after being accused of passing classified information to China, officials revealed on Friday, highlighting what experts see as Beijing's push to develop its foreign intelligence capabilities. The suspected double-agents were charged and detained last December, but the incident only came to light late Thursday following French media reports and a statement from Defence Minister Florence Parly. "Two French agents in our service and probably one of the spouses of these agents are accused of serious acts likely to be considered acts of treason, on suspicions of delivering information to a foreign power," Parly told CNews television. Speaking from Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron called the alleged conspiracy "extremely serious" and said the justice system would investigate and judge the suspects. A security source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed French media reports that the two agents at the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE) were suspected of working for China. At least one of them had been posted in the country, according to the "Quotidien" programme on French broadcaster TMC, adding that the men had been uncovered by domestic counter-intelligence agents. Beijing has long been accused of commercial spying to capture valuable intellectual property, but its intelligence operations are thought to have expanded in step with its growing foreign ambitions. "They're trying to learn what other powers intend to do in terms of politics, diplomacy, etcetera, while of course continuing their hunt for economic information," said Alain Chouet, a former head of intelligence and security at the DGSE. - 'Fish in deep water' - According to French researcher Philippe Marvalin, writing in the "Dictionary of Intelligence" published in March, China has 18 spy agencies employing some 7,000 people handling 50,000 agents known as "chen diyu", or "fish swimming in deep water". "The US is their main target, and in Europe they are especially active in France, Britain, the Netherlands and Germany," he wrote. Another former spy chief, who insisted on anonymity, told AFP that Beijing has sent agents to all corners of French industry, including attractive students to French universities who can be used to entrap targets. "You meet someone here or there: It's quiet infiltration, nothing dramatic. It's not like the movies," he said. Francois-Yves Damon, a China specialist and historian who consulted for the DGSE, recalls surprising a Chinese student at the elite ENA school, which produces France's top public servants, photocopying huge piles of documentation. "Anything he could get his hands on!" Damon told AFP. "Knowing the capacity of China's secret services, seeing two former DGSE agents caught and imprisoned doesn't surprise me a bit," he said. - 'Extremely vigilant' - The revelations came just a few weeks after US authorities indicted a former CIA operative on charges of spying for China, following his arrest in January. And concerns about Chinese spying in Australia led to reforms to espionage and foreign interference legislation last year which singled out Beijing as a focus of attention. Asked Friday about the arrests in France, China's foreign ministry said it was unaware of the situation. The agents are now retired but Parly said they were "quite likely" still in service at the time, though investigators were still determining how long they had been passing along intelligence. She also declined to specify the nature of the compromised information, nor to reveal if the two agents were working together. But a source close to the inquiry said prosecutors have requested the declassification of DGSE documents dating from July 6, 2016, to April 19, 2017, suggesting the agents may have been compromised for months. In a statement, the DGSE -- similar to Britain's MI6 or the United States's CIA -- said the revelations "are a major area of focus for the DGSE as well all French counter-intelligence services." mch-vl-fz-adp/dcr
Migrant groups will march in protest on Sunday over racist and discriminatory remarks Hong Kong lawmaker Eunice Yung Hoi-yan made about foreign domestic workers.

On Friday the groups demanded an apology from Yung, a barrister and New Peoples Party legislator, who said at the Legislative Council that their presence around the city was inconvenient and affected the citys environmental hygiene.

Many of the citys 380,000 helpers typically gather in public spaces such as Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, under flyovers, and on footbridges on a Sunday to relax, sleep, pray and eat.

Yungs party issued a statement on Friday evening, saying the lawmaker had not intended to offend anyone.

[Yungs] main concern is to find more venues for our foreign domestic helpers to gather on their holidays and to find a win-win solution for all, the statement read.

Eunice is sympathetic to their situation. Supporting their families by working abroad is never easy. She appreciates their contribution to Hong Kongs development. It is against her wish to offend anyone.

The party said Yung would engage in constant dialogue with concern groups, to understand their needs.

The statement continued: The New Peoples Party will continue our efforts in urging the government to step up its level of support by providing suitable venues for different ethnic groups in Hong Kong to foster cultural diversity, as well as to promote social integration.

Officials from local labour groups, plus human rights and pan-democratic party representatives, added their voices to the outcry, accusing the New Peoples Party of being anti-migrant and using helpers for its own political ends.

Eman Villanueva, a Filipino group leader and co-spokesman of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, said the march would leave from Chater Road in Central at 11am, and finish at the New Peoples Party headquarters on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai.

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The main objective is to criticise and condemn the racist and discriminatory remarks made by Eunice Yung, and to call on the New Peoples Party to stop using us as political capital for their own political objectives, stop their opportunistic ways to divide local and Hong Kong people, he said.

Sringatin, an Indonesian workers leader and the groups spokeswoman, pointed to comments made by New Peoples Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who in the past referred to foreign domestic workers as homewreckers.

At Legco on Wednesday, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong said 1,858 verbal warnings for obstruction of public places were issued last year to foreign domestic helpers who used Leisure and Cultural Services Department facilities.

That compared with 1,604 in 2016 and 1,455 in 2015, although Sringatin said that according to government figures there were only 22 complaints received last year.

Law said the government departments do not specially deploy personnel at foreign domestic helper gathering places, and rejected Yungs call to set up additional community centres at this stage for domestic workers to use on their day off.

No one wants to stay in public areas. The majority of us only have four to six hours of sleep, and one rest day

Sringatin, Asian Migrants Coordinating Body

Only one such centre, the Bayanihan Kennedy Town Centre, which accommodates 1,800 people, has been available since 1994. It can cost as much as HK$3,000 to rent.

Yung, who represents New Territories East, also complained at Legco on Wednesday about helpers congregating in parks, and in other public places, such as under flyovers and on footbridges.

They sit, eat and sleep on the ground, thus affecting the daily lives of the public, the operation of shops and the environmental hygiene in public places, she said. The problem has persisted for many years and shows a worsening trend.

Sringatin said workers were being criticised, even though they had nowhere else to go to on their days off.

No one wants to stay in public areas, Sringatin said. The majority of us only have four to six hours of sleep, and one day of rest. We are forced to stay in public areas, in rain and heat.

Mung Siu-tat, chief executive of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, said Yungs speech was discriminatory and misleading.

He added: We should never take foreign domestic workers as the source of social problems such as issues with the operation of businesses and public hygiene. The Hong Kong government should think about how to support domestic workers who live in Hong Kong in a better and more decent way.

The government has in recent years come under fire for the treatment of domestic helpers. Groups have accused it of shifting responsibility for providing care services for residents, by importing cheap labour in slave-like conditions.

Foreign domestic workers have been forced to live with their employers since 2003.

Groups, including the Justice and Peace Commission of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese and the Mission for Migrant Workers, have called on the government to lessen restrictions on domestic workers by giving them an option to live out, and to define what is acceptable accommodation in employment contracts.

This article Hong Kongs domestic helpers plan protest march over lawmakers racist and discriminatory remarks first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.
By Anthony Deutsch

BUNNIK, Netherlands (Reuters) - Dutch prosecutors identified a Russian military unit on Thursday as the source of the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people on board.

The airliner flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was hit by a Russian-made "Buk" anti-aircraft missile on July 17, 2014 over territory held by pro-Russian separatists. There were no survivors. Two thirds of those killed were Dutch.

"The Buk that was used came from the Russian army, the 53rd brigade," Chief Dutch Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke told Reuters. "We know that was used, but the people in charge of this Buk, we don't know."

Russia repeated on Thursday that it had nothing to do with the incident.

"Not a single air defence missile launcher of the Russian Armed Forces has ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border," Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Defence Ministry as saying in a statement.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the findings had been based on fake data presented by bloggers and that Moscow's information regarding the case had been largely ignored.

"This is an example of baseless accusations aimed at discrediting our country in the eyes of the international community," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday the United States had "complete confidence" in the findings and called on Russia to admit its involvement.

"It is time for Russia to cease its lies and account for its role in the shoot down," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

Investigators appealed to the public to come forward and help identify members of the crew who operated the missile and determine how high up the chain of command the order originated.

"The Russian Federation didn't help us in providing us the information we brought out into the open today," Westerbeke said. "They didn't give us this information, although a Buk from their military forces was used."

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Prosecutors showed photos and videos of a truck convoy carrying the system as it crossed the border from Russia to Ukraine. It crossed back several days later with one missile missing. The vehicles had serial numbers and other markings that were unique to the 53rd Brigade, an anti-aircraft unit based in the western Russian city of Kursk, they said.

In the interim update on their investigation, prosecutors said they had trimmed their list of possible suspects from more than a hundred to several dozen.

Westerbeke said investigators were not yet ready to identify individual suspects publicly or to issue indictments, but that when they do he expects cooperation, or a firm international political response.

HOLD RUSSIA ACCOUNTABLE

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte cut short a trip to India to return in time for a cabinet meeting on Friday to discuss the latest findings in the inquiry.

The MH17 Disaster Foundation representing families of the victims demanded that the Dutch government take legal action to hold the Russian state accountable.

"It must go beyond legal exploration after this," board member Piet Ploeg was quoted by broadcaster NOS as saying.

A Joint Investigation Team, drawn from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, is gathering evidence for a criminal prosecution in the downing of the plane.

Ukrainian Army General Vasyl Hrytsak, a member of the investigation team, told Reuters the next crucial step would be to pinpoint who issued the orders to move the missile system.

The Dutch Safety Board concluded in an October 2015 report that the Boeing 777 was struck by a Russian-made Buk missile.

(Additional reporting by Bart Meijer and Toby Sterling in Amsterdam, Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber in Moscow, and Justin Mitchell in Washington; Editing by Peter Graff and James Dalgleish)
Lenovo chief says US and China need each other, globalisation wont reverse course

The head of Lenovo Group said that despite trade tensions between the US and China, the worlds two biggest economies need each other as globalisation pushes forward.

No country can develop just relying on themselves, said Lenovo chairman and chief executive Yang Yuanqing in an interview in Hong Kong on Thursday. China needs technology products from the US, while US companies need many things from China, not the least of which are the domestic market and manufacturing.

Thats the globalisation trend, and it will not reverse course, Yang said.

His comments followed recent talks between senior officials from Beijing and Washington that have helped eased frictions between the two sides and averted a trade war for now.

It also reflected how Lenovo, the worlds second-largest personal computer supplier, has conducted itself as a global enterprise, with operations in more than 160 countries, since it acquired the PC business of IBM in 2005. Lenovo has dual headquarters in Beijing and Raleigh, capital of the state of North Carolina in the US.

We originated from China, but we are now a global company, Yang said.

Hong Kong-listed Lenovo has so far escaped the scrutiny and suspicion that hangs over telecommunications equipment manufacturers Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp. The two Shenzhen-based firms also have vast international operations, but both have been the target of US scrutiny for suspicion of being threats to national security.

Such concerns have stymied efforts by Huawei and ZTE to sell network equipment to large US telecoms carriers.

The US recently imposed a seven-year export ban on ZTE for violating sanctions on selling telecoms equipment to Iran and North Korea. That ban prevents US hi-tech suppliers from selling software and other components, especially semiconductors, to ZTE.

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Huawei was reported to be under investigation for violating US trade sanctions on Iran, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources.

The strained relations prompted Huawei founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei to urge employees not to harbour any anti-US sentiments, according to a memo addressed to several departments, dated April 8 and seen by the South China Morning Post.

Yang declined to comment on the security issues faced by Chinese hi-tech companies, saying those topics are hot enough.

Lenovo, which reported on Thursday a US$189 million net loss for its financial year ended March 31 due mainly to a one-time charge, will be among the first group of companies to launch a 5G smartphone in the US and other markets in 2019, according to Yang.

He said Lenovo also plans to embed 5G [connectivity] into other kinds of devices, including PCs and tablets.

5G, the latest advance in mobile communications technology, has become the biggest opportunity for China to emerge as a leader in telecoms development.

We originated from China, but we are now a global company

Yang Yuanqing, chairman and chief executive of Lenovo

Beijing has forecast the countrys total investments on 5G mobile networks to reach 2.8 trillion yuan (US$438 billion) from 2020 to 2030, which would mark the most expensive buildout of telecommunications infrastructure on the mainland.

Lenovo, however, has recently been the subject of speculation that it failed to back Huawei in the setting of the universal standard for 5G.

Although Lenovo initially voted for a technology led by US firm Qualcomm when a Huawei alternative was available, the vote in question was only for part of one specification. The company ultimately voted for Huaweis Polar Code, which won the group vote in a third and final meeting in November 2016, Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi said in a post on the companys WeChat channel last week.

Yang said Lenovo was also sharpening its focus on artificial intelligence (AI), but different from the strategy of Chinese internet giants Baidu, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding, the parent company of the South China Morning Post.

In a separate interview on Thursday, Lenovo chief operating officer Gianfranco Lanci said the goal was to have AI capabilities in a range of products, including personal computers, smartphones and so-called Internet of Things devices.

That would be followed by Lenovo entering the systems integration field, offering services and a new range of products to other manufacturers and large companies to automate their processes using AI.

This article Lenovo chief says US and China need each other, globalisation wont reverse course first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.

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FILE PHOTO: A construction worker talks on the phone in front of a 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 3, 2016. REUTERS/Olivia Harris//File Photo

By Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police said on Friday that cash worth 114 million ringgit ($28.6 million) and over 400 luxury handbags were seized from several apartments as part of an anti-graft probe into a state fund founded by former prime minister Najib Razak.

Najib's home, and the apartments of a son, and a daughter were among a dozen properties searched since May 18, Amar Singh, the head of commercial crime division, told a news conference.

Since his defeat in an election on May 9, Najib has been barred from leaving the country by the new government, which has reopened an investigation into billions of dollars missing from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

At one empty apartment, officers found 35 bags stuffed with cash valued at 114 million ringgit. The banknotes were in 26 currencies, though the largest amounts were in ringgit and Singapore dollars.

"We have sat together with bank officials to tally and estimate the total cash seized," Singh said.

Singh said the empty apartment in Pavillion Residences, in the Bukit Bintang neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur, did not belong to any of Najib's family members. He declined to name the owner.

Police also found 284 boxes of handbags in the apartment, and a further 150 handbags were seized from the home of Najib's daughter, Nooryana Najwa, along with various shoes, including baby shoes.

Singh said most of the bags appeared to be a Hermes brand.

"We have had discussions with Hermes, and we will take pictures and send them to Paris to verify their authenticity and their value," Singh said.

Nooryana, better known as Gina, married a nephew of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev's three years ago.

Singh did not say what was found at the home of Najib's son Ashman.

Experts were being brought in to value the jewelry, watches and other luxury items seized during the raid.

Singh said half a million ringgit, excluding foreign currency, was found at Najib's home.

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Najib concluded giving a statement to anti-graft agents on Thursday that was related to transactions of $10.6 million into his bank account that investigators had traced to a former unit of 1MDB.

Najib, who led the country for almost a decade, has consistently denied any wrongdoing, having explained three years ago that $680 million transferred into his account had been a donation from an unnamed Saudi royal.

In a separate development, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in a tweet that he had asked tax authorities to investigate financier Low Taek Jho and his family as part of the 1MDB probe.

Commonly referred to as Jho Low, the high-living 36-year-old was close to Najib's family. His whereabouts are unknown.

He has previously denied any wrongdoing, but the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to seize his assets, including a $250 million superyacht that the department says was purchased with funds "stolen and embezzled" from 1MDB.

Malaysia's new government pledged on Friday to honour all payments on debt arising from 1MDB. It has estimated that government guarantees covered 38 billion ringgit ($9.54 billion) of 1MDB's debt at the end of 2017.

"We will honour those even though we are not happy with 1MDB, but we have to honour our international obligations," Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said. "I think this will reassure the markets that this government knows what it is doing".

PARTY WANTS ITS MONEY BACK

Late on Thursday, Najib's defeated United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) asked police to return to the party money seized during the raids, describing it as campaign contributions and party funding left over after the election.

UMNO said the funds were in the process of being transferred to the party's new leadership when they were seized.

"As such, UMNO seeks to recover these funds and requests the police to release these funds and return them to the party after completion of all due process and investigations by the relevant authorities," the party said.

Out of power for the first time since independence six decades ago, UMNO said it needed the money to recover from its defeat.

"UMNO is in the process of rebuilding and the return of our party funds will help in this process," the statement said.

Najib quit as president of UMNO a day after the election, and was replaced by his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The new government is led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, a former prime minister and UMNO leader who joined the opposition to defeat his erstwhile protege after becoming convinced of his corruption.

UMNO has long been known for its 'money politics', as the party has built its support among ethnic Malays through a system of patronage.

The UMNO statement noted that Mahathir had handed back 1.2 billion ringgit ($301 million) to the party and its 3 million members when he stepped down as party president in 2003.

($1 = 3.9830 ringgit)

(Additional reporting by Joseph Sipalan and Liz Lee; Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Darren Schuettler)
One day after abruptly pulling the plug on a high-stakes summit with North Korea, US President Donald Trump said Friday the meeting with Kim Jong Un could go ahead after all -- and would "likely" happen on the originally scheduled date of June 12. The summit would be an unprecedented meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, which Washington hopes will result in the full denuclearization of the reclusive state. Trump said in a tweet that "very productive talks" were ongoing with North Korea about reinstating the summit. "If it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th," he wrote, adding the meeting could be extended further if necessary. On Thursday, Trump cancelled the summit that was due to take place in Singapore, blaming "tremendous anger and open hostility" from Pyongyang in recent days. But North Korea responded Friday by saying it was willing to talk to the United States "at any time" -- a reaction Trump welcomed as "warm and productive." "We're talking to them now," Trump said of the North Koreans. "They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it." US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there was "possibly some good news" on the summit, while White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters: "If the meeting takes place on June 12, we will be ready." On Saturday, South Korea, which had brokered the remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang, cautiously welcomed Trump's latest comments. "We find it fortunate that the embers of the North Korea-US talks are reignited. We are watching developments carefully," Presidential Blue House spokesman Kim Eui-gyeom said. Trump's initial cancellation of the summit blindsided treaty ally Seoul, with President Moon Jae-in calling the move "shocking and very regrettable". - 'Twists and turns' - State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert cast the fast-moving developments as simply "twists and turns" in the process. "We never expected it to be easy," Nauert told reporters. But the whiplash from the White House was unusual even for the chaos-loving president. In March, apparently acting on impulse, Trump agreed to the talks with Kim after only limited input from aides. In a letter to Kim, Trump blamed Pyongyang for his decision to call off the summit, and warned North Korea against committing any "foolish or reckless acts" while also highlighting America's "massive and powerful" nuclear capabilities. North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump's decision "unexpected" and "regrettable" but sounded a conciliatory tone, saying officials were willing "to sit face-to-face at any time." Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the meeting, North Korea declared it had completely dismantled its nuclear test site in the country's far northeast, in a carefully choreographed goodwill gesture. - 'Show goodwill' - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he respected and supported the US president's move to cancel the summit while China, Pyongyang's sole major ally, urged the two foes to "show goodwill." Russia's President Vladimir Putin held out hope the talks would eventually take place. Politically, Trump had invested heavily in the success of the planned summit. As the date drew nearer, however, a gulf in expectations between the two sides became apparent. Before Trump's announcement, Pyongyang had hardened its rhetoric, calling comments by Vice President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid." Washington has made it clear it wants to see the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" of the North. Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrent until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression. - Libyan model - The White House was unhappy about what it considered to be a "trail of broken promises" by North Korea -- including failure to show up for summit preparatory talks and complaints about the latest US-South Korean joint military exercise. It also was unhappy about the North's failure to allow international observers to verify the dismantling of the Punggye-ri test site, the staging ground for all six of its nuclear tests. But the North's Kim Kye Gwan countered that Pyongyang's angry statements were "just a backlash in response to harsh words from the US side that has been pushing for a unilateral denuclearization." Both Pence and Trump's hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton had raised the specter of Libyan leader Moamer Khadafi, who gave up atomic weapons only to die years later at the hands of US-backed rebels. Joel Wit, founder of the respected 38 North website that monitors North Korea, said Kim's hand has been strengthened regardless of whether the summit goes ahead because recent weeks have seen him forge connections with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as with Russia and South Korea. "Kim has created sort of a cushion for failure that if the US backs away, the Chinese and Russians will be behind him," Wit said. But others said Trump's demonstrated willingness to walk away could yet extract further concessions from Pyongyang. "North Korea will have to propose more detailed plans for denuclearization if it wants to talk in the future," said Go Myong-hyun, an analyst at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies.
Singapores State Courts. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

A Norwegian man who fondled a woman at Clarke Quay last August was sentenced to one years jail and three strokes of the cane on Friday (25 May).

Gregersen Tommy, 49, had pleaded guilty at the State Courts on 18 May to molesting the inebriated 24-year-old woman. She cannot be named due to a gag order imposed by the court.

According to court documents, the woman had gone out with friends to the popular nightclub Zouk on the night of 11 August last year. Prior to entering Zouk, she had already consumed some alcoholic beverages and continued to do so in the nightclub.

At about 1.50am the next day, the victim exited the club alone as she wanted to vomit. She sat on a stone bench adjacent to the G-Max Reverse Bungy at 3E River Valley Road.

Tommy, a site and commissioning manager who was in Singapore on a work trip, happened to be in the area as well. He noticed the woman sitting alone and approached her. When she vomited, he led her to another bench.

Soon after, the woman received a phone call from her cousin, who was worried about her as she had sounded incoherent on the phone earlier. Tommy took the call instead and told the cousin where they were seated.

After hanging up the call, Tommy patted the womans back as if to comfort her.

Seeing no reaction from her, he slipped his right hand underneath her blouse, unhooked her bra, and fondled her breast. His left hand also reached up under her skirt and past her underwear where he stroked her private parts. The victim was too tipsy to fend Tommy off.

A security guard patrolling nearby spotted the duo. He noticed that the victims head was facing the ground and was unresponsive even as Tommys left hand moved under her skirt. The womans cousin arrived a few minutes after that.

Vile acts

Deputy Public Prosecutor Marshall Lim asked the court to impose a jail sentence of at least 12 months and three strokes of the cane. Calling the facts of the case shocking, Lim called Tommy a sexual predator who had taken advantage of a vulnerable victim within minutes of meeting her.

Story continues

Defense counsel K Chandra Mohan asked the court for leniency and said Tommy was medically unfit to be caned. Court documents show that he asked for a heavy fine, one months jail, and no caning.

In response, Lim said that a medical officer will ascertain Tommys health prior to the actual caning and that had no bearing on the sentencing in court. He added that Mohans request for leniency amounted to a wholly inadequate sentence, given that Tommy had committed a vile offence.

However, Lim recognised that by pleading guilty to the offence, Tommy had spared the victim the trauma of having to testify and recount the vile acts done to her.

District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said that Tommys actions were very intrusive and agreed with the prosecution.

For outrage of modesty, Tommy could have been jailed up to two years, or fined, or caned, or any combination of the three.
Taiwan on Friday scrambled fighter jets to shadow Chinese bombers conducting a drill around the island, just hours after Beijing welcomed Burkina Faso's move to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. Taiwan's defence ministry said it had dispatched fighter jets to monitor two Chinese H-6 bombers that were flying over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and the Miyako Strait, near Japan's Okinawa Island. "We are fully monitoring the situation and taking efficient responsive measures to ensure defence security," it said in a statement. The scrambling comes a day after Burkina Faso became the second of Taiwan's dwindling number of formal allies to jump ship to Beijing in a month. China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on the self-ruled island, which it views as a wayward province to be reunified by force if necessary. Relations have deteriorated between Beijing and Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power two years ago as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of "one China". Tsai's tenure has already seen the loss of three allies to China, with the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Sao Tome and Principe all switching allegiance since 2016. China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang praised Burkina Faso on Friday for making the "correct decision" and that it would not be "unexpected" if the west African state were to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing in the future. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which is in charge of China ties, announced late Thursday that Chinese officials applying to visit the island would be subject to tighter screening, without elaborating. The move aims to "prevent the Chinese communists from dividing and disturbing social order in Taiwan with their unification propaganda measures", it said in a statement. Taiwan now has just 18 formal allies who recognise its government instead of Beijing. For its part, Beijing has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains the island's most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties. President Tsai warned China Thursday that Taiwan would not tolerate what she called its "crude behaviour to undermine our sovereignty". Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tendered his resignation after Burkina Faso's announcement, but said Friday that he would stay on in the position at the president's request.
The government of Taiwan is moving to become more supportive of local and foreign startups to make up for a decade of missed opportunities

Image Credit: Adam Jang on Unsplash

The article Taiwan wants to challenge Silicon Valley and Shenzhen, but still has a long way to go by Nicole Jao originally appeared on TechNode, the leading English authority on technology in China.

The global economic center is gradually shifting eastward and Asian tech hubs are vying to be the regions top destination for global entrepreneurs. Taiwan once Asias hardware manufacturing hub is slowly recognising that it is not only essential to cultivate the local startup ecosystem but also to bring in new ideas and voices.

A growing number of countries and regions are welcoming talented entrepreneurs from overseas, encouraging them to set up shop on their home turf. Entrepreneurs, for their part, see tremendous potential in Asia but lose their nerve once they realise how little they know of the market, the language, or cultural nuances, for example. Many get weak-kneed before even trying.

Taiwans startup ecosystem has been maturing and is growing to become more international. From the dot-com boom in the early 2000s to 2010, the startup landscape began to take shape in many developed markets, but not in Taiwan. Entrepreneurship dwindled in the idle startup scene the regulatory and funding environment did not encourage new startups and many would-be entrepreneurs had gone to Silicon Valley and other locations that offered more resources and opportunities.

But the situation is changing. The government is moving to become more supportive of local and foreign startups to make up for a decade of missed opportunities (in Chinese).

The late bloomer

Several startup related programs, accelerators, co-working spaces have sprung up in the past few years, as well as an increasing number of entrepreneurial initiatives.

It wasnt until 2012, 2013 that we started to see more and more activities happening in the local ecosystem, Elisa Chiu, founder and CEO of startup platform Anchor Taiwan told TechNode. Anchor Taiwan aims to promote collaboration between international entrepreneurs and local communities in Taiwan through a month-long programme that focuses on cultural and market immersion as well as industry access.

Story continues

Image Credit: Anchor Taiwan

Also Read: Taiwan government, US NGO co-sponsor contest for Asian startups

Fostering entrepreneurship inbound and out

Sending local entrepreneurs to global tech startup hubs like Silicon Valley is a great way to gain more international visibility, but bringing foreign entrepreneurs helps inject new ideas and stimulation into the local ecosystem. However, Chiu said more resources are devoted helping get startups out instead of getting more in. Garage+, Epoch Foundations incubation project, is one of the few organisations working on getting more foreign entrepreneurs into the Taiwan ecosystem.

Recognising the importance of connecting foreign startups with local ecosystem, Anchor Taiwan works to strengthen the ties between foreign and local communities. Foreign entrepreneurs have the opportunity to build-up networks in Asia while bringing in new ideas to the local startup community, tit for tat.

A global mindset

Taiwan has found itself in a tight race against some of the worlds top innovation hubs:

Hong Kong offers rich opportunities in fintech

Japan is a hotspot for blockchain technology

Shenzhen is the Silicon Valley of hardware

Taiwan doesnt need to be or probably wont be your final destination, but along your entrepreneurial journey, theres probably a phase that Taiwan can offer the most you can get, Chiu said, adding that startup entrepreneurs of our time need to have the global mindset instead of a single market strategy.

China market is humongous, but the water is also deeper, Chiu said. Without a trusted partner or someone to hold your hand, chances are you will be spending a lot of time and resources learning the ropes. Though compared to other markets, Taiwan is smallerwith a population of 23 million it is relatively easy to navigate.

Chiu said Taiwan is still more a mature market than China especially with its well-established IP protection and high-quality manufacturing. Chiu added that for early-stage startups, Taiwan can offer the right resources for prototyping and hardware-software integration. For software startups, Taiwans market openness and consumers habits, in general, provides a fitting environment for testing and piloting new services. On top of that, the island has an educated workforce abundant with tech talents.

Also Read: Taiwans Bitcoin services platform BitoEX raises US$10M to expand to Singapore, Malaysia, India

Improving the ecosystem

Speaking of the most urgent challenges, Chiu said: The first and foremost is to increase Taiwans visibility. Indeed, Taiwans vibrant startup scene is at times overshadowed by its powerful neighbours. Many associate the Mandarin-speaking island only with its prowess in electronics and hardware manufacturing. Chius organisation has been working on increasing international visibility through hosting workshops and events abroad.

Second, the overall regulatory approach is still unfavourable for startups even with support from the government in the form of the Entrepreneur Visa and the Employment Gold Card. Hong Kong and Singapore two of Asias best places for doing business have been luring foreign entrepreneurs with tax-friendly policies and streamlined incorporation procedures, The island has also been trying to overhaul its infamously strict immigration policies to attract international talents.

Lastly, there is a need for a shift in mindset startups and corporates alike. A common explanation for Taiwans startup frustration lies in the reluctance of its tech sector and investors to support younger startups, making it difficult for them to raise funds.

But dont get the wrong impression, Taiwans corporates and investors have the money to spare. However, they remain tied to the legacy in hardware and electronics manufacturing. Venture capitalists also tend to favour later-stage companies in hardware. Chius organisation has been working with tech companies, including Foxconn, HTC, and Winstron to promote collaboration between startups with well-established native tech enterprises.



The article Taiwan wants to challenge Silicon Valley and Shenzhen, but still has a long way to go first appeared on TechNode.

The post Taiwan wants to challenge Silicon Valley and Shenzhen, but still has a long way to go appeared first on e27.
With famine on the rise worldwide, the UN Security Council threatened sanctions Thursday against governments, armies and rebels that block humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in war zones. A resolution put forward by Ivory Coast, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Sweden was unanimously adopted, winning backing from Russia, which is facing calls to pressure its Syrian ally to allow aid convoys to rebel-held areas. Famine has been on the rise over the past two years, reversing decades of decline, as conflicts have intensified and hunger is increasingly used as a weapon of war. More than 74 million people are going hungry in war zones around the world, according to the United Nations. Dutch UN Deputy Ambassador Lise Gregoire-van Haaren described the resolution as a "landmark" text because the council "for the first time unequivocally condemns the use of starvation as a method of warfare." Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog said the resolution "breaks new ground" by making clear that those who block aid shipments can face sanctions. "It makes sense that countries or individuals that block humanitarian access should be sanctioned, and this is one of the possibilities that now opens up," Skoog told reporters. Addressing the council, Russia argued that armed conflicts were not the only factor behind the spread of famine, pointing to rising food prices, natural disasters and climate change as new drivers of hunger. The war in Yemen has left more than eight million people on the brink of starvation out of 17 million who are severely food insecure, according to the United Nations. South Sudan's army and rebel groups have been accused of using hunger as a weapon of war, with repeated attacks on aid workers. Last year, the United Nations raised alarm over the threat of famine in parts of Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. In Syria, now in its eighth year of war, 13 million people are in need of food aid, including three million Syrians who live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas.
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape and a sex crime in New York on Friday, in what was hailed a landmark for the #MeToo movement, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of accusations of misconduct. The former mogul -- once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars -- smirked as he was escorted into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs to face the first criminal charges lodged against him. Weinstein, a 66-year-old twice-married father of five, was charged with rape in the first and third degrees, stemming from an attack on a woman in 2013, and a criminal sex act against another woman in 2004. Neither victim was named. "Today's charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, thanking "brave survivors" for coming forward and urging others to call a sex crimes hotline. Standing alongside his defense attorney, the former Tinseltown powerbroker looked glum during the brief arraignment, agreeing to post bail at $1 million cash, surrender his passport and be fitted with a GPS monitoring device. Weinstein's career went down in flames in October over sexual assault allegations following explosive articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment reckoning across the United States, in multiple industries. Nearly 100 women have now accused Weinstein of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back decades. New York authorities have been investigating the disgraced producer for months, under growing pressure from Hollywood actresses to bring him to justice, and their probes are ongoing. Weinstein already faces a slew of civil lawsuits, is reportedly under federal investigation, and his former studio has filed for bankruptcy. But these were the first criminal charges against Weinstein. Defense attorney Ben Brafman told reporters that his client would plead not guilty and still denied any non-consensual sexual activity. "We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges," Brafman said. "Bad behavior is not on trial," he added. "Mr Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood." His case was adjourned until July 30. - Handcuffs - The former studio boss surrendered to police shortly before 7:30 am (1130 GMT) wearing a white shirt, pale blue sweater and dark blazer, as dozens of television cameras and photographers mobbed the street outside. He walked into the station clutching several books, apparently including the Rodgers and Hammerstein biography "Something Wonderful" and a volume on late director Elia Kazan. He left handcuffed, without the books, after his mugshots and fingerprints were taken. Police said he was "arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct." Out on bail, Weinstein's travel will be restricted to New York and the neighboring state of Connecticut. - 'Inevitable descent to hell' - Former actress Lucia Evans, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004, is thought to be one of the women whose cases triggered the New York charges. New York police previously confirmed another credible rape allegation after "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta accused the former producer of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010. Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie are among more than two dozen actresses who say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped. "I have to admit I didn't think I would see the day that he would have handcuffs on him," McGowan told ABC television. "Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice," tweeted Argento. The Time's Up anti-harassment movement -- launched on January 1 -- said the producer "shattered the lives of an untold number of women," adding that it looked "forward to seeing justice prevail." The #MeToo movement has seen people around the world come forward with cases of sexual mistreatment, leading to the downfall of powerful men across industries, including Oscar winner Kevin Spacey. Weinstein has reportedly spent months in treatment for sex addiction. His fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, has left him. But for all the media circus, experts warn that any trial -- let alone a criminal conviction -- would still be a long way off. Sexual assault cases, particularly those that allegedly happened years ago, are notoriously difficult to prosecute and often lack substantive forensic evidence. Weinstein's lawyer is one of America's most celebrated criminal defense attorneys. His past clients include former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who escaped criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011.
The production company behind Show Dogs, a family comedy about a talking police dog who goes undercover in a breed show, has removed two scenes from the film and issued an apology. The deleted material, which shows the hero undergoing an inspection of his genitalia while following advice to go to his happy place, brought to mind the grooming of children for sexual abuse. Do judges at a dog show really fondle the animals private parts?

With male dogs, yes; with females, no. Judges in a breed or conformation show evaluate the dogs in several ways. In addition to assessing each animals gait, they perform an up-close physical inspection that lasts two or three minutes. This almost always begins at the animals head and moves rearward. For male dogs, the inspection ends with the judges lightly touching the testicles, to make sure they are present and of equal size. According to American Kennel Club rules, any dog who lacks two normally descended testicles will be disqualified.

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In general, a male dog would not be allowed into conformation shows until its 6 months of age. Thats enough time for its testicles to have descended fully, though problems still turn up, from time to time, in fully developed animals. In some cases, a dog will have had one testicle descend, then shoot back up later on. A dogs testicle might also retract during an exam, and the handler could try to intervene to help it come back down. The presence of a tumor could also lead a judge to disqualify a dog for having one testicle thats bigger than the other.

Any dog who has been disqualified three times for having faulty testicles is barred from any future conformation shows.

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Female dogs in competition must also be reproductively intact. As a practical matter, though, judges cant really make this determination in a brief exam. A female dog might have scar tissue thats suggestive of a spaying, but the same sort of scarring could be the result of other types of surgery as well. Aside from the lack of genital manipulation, the exam for female dogs is similar to the one for male dogs.

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Does a judges groping bother show dogs? In other contexts, the same sort of exam can be very stressful. For a 2009 study, researchers observed 135 dogs at a veterinary practice on the outskirts of Wurzberg, Germany, and found that 61.5 percent of them began to tremble when placed on the examination table, while three-quarters lowered their tails or tucked their tails between their legs. Other research confirms this finding.

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Show dogs are trained to take inspections in stride, however. Handlers practice stacking, or placing their dogs in the proper position to be judged. (Dogs who wriggle around too much to be measured are disqualified.) While an average pet dog may be unsettled by its brief, infrequent trips to the vets office, competition animals are likely to have undergone many such inspections, and they often spend hours at the dog-show venue getting acclimated to the new environment before theyre ever judged.

Got a question about the news? Ask the Explainer.

Explainer thanks Jerry Klein of the American Kennel Club.
Michelle Obama released an image of her book cover via social media on Thursday, and of course she looks beautiful and confident. But the image, and the carefully tasteful cover design, also feels standard-issue, evoking any number of inspirational autobiographies written by powerful women in recent years (see: Sheryl Sandbergs Lean In, Ariana Huffingtons Thrive, orperish the comparisonIvanka Trumps Women Who Work). The implicit message: Come, listen to my words, for my deeds are mighty and my skin has nary a pore.

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Even more importantly than the optics of the cover, the language used in the announcement of the books content is bland and boilerplate. A blurb on Penguin Random Houses website calls Becoming the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectationsand whose story inspires us to do the same. Even Michelles announcement about the book doesnt quite sound like her own voice. As I prepare to share BECOMING this fall, I hope youll also think about your own story, and trust that it will help you become whoever you aspire to be, her release declares. Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own. #BECOMING. The Obamas are no longer in the White House, and neither of them are running for office, much to my chagrin. So why is this much-anticipated memoir getting packaged as a rote recapitulation of platitudes?

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The framing of this autobiography is more than blahit smacks of the actually kind-of-toxic American cult of positivity and self-actualization, which promises that anyone who really tries can defeat trifling systemic obstacles. Of course, influential white women have been cloaking their own memoirs in the language of vague feminist empowerment for a very long time. So in that sense, Michelle Obama should obviously be free to package her own historic, inspiring life story however she pleases. But its still hard not to feel like the publisher is flattening this memoir to fit a pre-established type rather than making space for a new one. Michelles own messaging has historically been more pointed than individualist mumbo-jumbo like Your story will help you become whoever you aspire to be. I wish she could sell books by telling people how to work on structures, not just themselves.

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But since this is Michelle Obama, it seems more than likely that the book itself will be everything the cover and framing is not: moving, original, personal. Just look at the handful of lovely recent Instagram posts, which Michelle noted were photos and memories from my book, in which the former First Lady anchored the concept of #BECOMING in her own specific biography. In these images of a young college student (with enviable style) and a hopeful child at home with her parents, we can see the specifics that the marketing lingo obscures.

Michelle Obama, first-generation college student and daughter of Fraser and Marian, has a story to tell. Heres hoping that Becoming avoids the inspo trap its publishers and marketers seem to have set for it, and says something real.
Theres been another school shooting. According to authorities, a male student opened fire at Noblesville West Middle School in central Indiana on Thursday morning, wounding at least one fellow student and one teacher. The child is in stable condition, while the adults condition was not immediately known. Police say they have the suspect in custody.

Vice President Mike Pence, who previously served as Indianas governor, offered the usual thoughts and prayers:

Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana. To everyone in the Noblesville community  you are on our hearts and in our prayers. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) May 25, 2018

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Barring any major unforeseen developments, this shooting will prove little more than a blip on the national radar. The news cycle will move on, and so will the politicians. Then tomorrow or the next day or perhaps the day after that, there will be another school shooting, and then another, and another after that, ad infinitum, unless (dare I say, until?) our nations elected leaders do something to stop it. More than 400 people have been shot, and roughly 150 killed, in more than 240 school shootings nationwide since January 1, 2014, a date most notable here because it came more than a year after a gunman killed 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.

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All but the most horrific of those shooting were quickly forgotten. And even the most tragic have faded far too fast from the national memory. But all the while they seep ever-further into the consciousness of students who have spent years practicing lockdown drills and who can end up, quite literally, in the line of fire as they go to chemistry class or the cafeteria or gym.

After last weeks shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texaswhich killed 10 and injured 10 others, and which youve probably already mostly forgottena local TV reporter asked one of the students if she was shocked that a massacre could happen at her school. Its been happening everywhere. Ive always kind of felt like that eventually it was going to happen here too, responded Paige Curry, a junior who had to hide backstage in the school theater until police arrived. I dont know. I wasnt surprised. I was just scared.
12500 N.E. Tenth Place  Bellevue, WA 98005  JPFO.org  800-869-1884  info@jpfo.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  May 23, 2018  Contact Floyd Neeland

NEWS OUTLETS THAT FEATURE AND NAME

MASS MURDERERS BORDER ON CRIMINALITY

THEY DON'T ADVANCE NEWSTHEY ENCOURAGE COPYCATS

Media knows this, they've seen it, they've been warned by police, doctors, watchdogs

But it increases our audience!

Ethical Guideline: Don't Inspire Evil

Refrain from gratuitous or repetitious portrayal

of mass murderers' names and images.

Too many news outlets relish the chance to sink to the lowest common sensational interest. News sources displaying names and images of the most heinous mass murderers on page one are giving positive incentives to those murderers. Conferring fame upon murderers is not news, it is a corrupt financial misuse of the public trust. Media outlets that profit from mass murder deserve scorn, boycotts and open recognition for their encouraging copycat murder and societal decay.

Police see how media encourages mass murderers and they oppose making killers famous. The medical and psychological establishments recognize the effects and publish scientific papers denouncing the practice. The public sees what's going on, abandons the so-called news in droves, and loses trust in mainstream media. Meanwhile, mass-media reporters, editors and producers laugh, drink at their parties, rake in cash from useful idiots, and feign ignorance as audiences shrink, credibility evaporates and the public is revulsed. JPFO calls upon the Fourth Estate to wake up to their complicity in mass murder. Stop publicizing the names and faces of killers.

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Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, http://www.jpfo.org is Americas most aggressive civil-rights organization, dedicated to destroying the notion of gun control as any kind of credible public-policy position. So-called gun control does not control guns and doesnt control criminal behavior. What it does do is disarm the innocent, leaving them helpless in the face of criminals, tyrannical governments and genocide. History repeatedly proves this fact. Founded in 1989 by Aaron Zelman as a response to the Holocaust, JPFO speaks with the moral authority and tenacious commitment of survivors of persecution, and knows that surrendering your personal and family safety to government protection courts disaster. You dont have to be Jewish to fight by our side, you just have to love liberty.

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The Russian billionaire at the center of a possible pay-to-play scandal with Michael Cohen met with President Donald Trumps personal attorney in Trump Tower shortly before the oligarchs subsidiary investment arm signed a million-dollar contract with Cohen, it emerged on Friday.

The subsidiary investment arm in question has previously denied that the Putin-connected Viktor Vekselberg had anything to do with the $1 million consulting contract and reported $580,000 in payments to Cohen.

On Friday, the New York Times and CNN reported that Vekselberg had attended meetings with Cohen shortly before the inauguration. The Times reported that the meeting took place on Jan. 9, 2017. The payments to Cohen from Columbus Nova, a company that had been previously listed on Vekselbergs firms official website as a subsidiary of his own, began that same month.

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In a statement earlier this month after the emergence of those payments, Columbus Nova said they were made completely independently of Vekselberg and his Renova Group.

Neither Viktor Vekselberg nor anyone else other than Columbus Novas owners were involved in the decision to hire Cohen or provided funding for his engagement, Columbus Nova said at the time.

On Friday, Columbus Novas CEO Andrew Intrater described his and the oligarchs meeting with Cohen days before the contract was initiated, but continued to deny that Vekselberg, Intraters cousin, was involved in the payments.

Obviously, if Id known in January 2017 that I was about to hire this high-profile guy whod wind up in this big mess, I wouldnt have introduced him to my biggest client, and wouldnt have hired him at all, Intrater told the Times.

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The Times further reported:

In Mr. Cohens office on the 26th floor, he and the oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, discussed a mutual desire to strengthen Russias relations with the United States under President Trump, according to Andrew Intrater, an American businessman who attended the meeting and invests money for Mr. Vekselberg. The men also arranged to see one another at the inauguration, the second of their three meetings, Mr. Intrater said.

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The Times reported earlier this month that Vekselberg had been interviewed at an airport and had his electronic devices searched by Special Counsel Robert Muellers team.

Vekselberg was one of seven Russian oligarchs hit with sanctions last month for Moscows efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. Despite bipartisan support in Congress and the backing of his own advisers, Trump has reportedly attempted to block sanctions against Russia, some of which were watered down last month. Mueller is reportedly investigating Cohens role in promoting a peace plan between Russia and Ukraine that would have involved the lifting of Russian sanctions by the United States. Earlier this week, the BBC reported that Cohen had accepted somewhere between $400,000 and $600,000 to set up a White House meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Trump.

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The money paid by Vekselbergs subsidiary investment vehicle went to the same shell company that paid adult film performer Stormy Daniels $130,000 in exchange for a now-contested hush money agreement to keep silent about an alleged Shark Week sex affair with Trump.

Trump is under investigation by Muellers investigation, which is seeking to determine whether or not anyone in his campaign collaborated with the Russian cyber-attacks on Americas democratic election. Three of his former aides or advisersincluding his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynnhave pled guilty to felonies and agreed to cooperate with federal officials in connection with the case. Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, is meanwhile facing a pair of trials for a laundry list of federal crimes connected to his alleged unregistered lobbying work on behalf of a pro-Putin political party in Ukraine.
The prominent Egyptian blogger and activist Wael Abbas was arrested on Wednesday. He was blindfolded and taken from his apartment at dawn to an undisclosed location without a warrant or a given reason, according to his lawyers. It was the latest event in a crackdown on government critics as Abdel Fattah el-Sisi prepares to begin a new term as Egypts president next month. Other prominent arrests have included labor lawyer Haytham Mohamadeen, satirist Shadi Abu Zeid, and activist Shady Ghazaly Harb, one of the leaders of the protests that topped President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

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Abbas has won several international awards for his work documenting abuses by Egypts security services, both under Mubarak and under the new government. He briefly worked in Slates Washington, D.C., office on a Freedom House fellowship in 2007. After returning to Egypt following the fellowship, he wrote in the Washington Post about his fears of being arrested upon his return and the Mubarak governments crackdown on the emerging Egyptian blogosphere. Is this the kind of regime you want your tax money to support? he asked his American readers.

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More than a decade later, its still a valid question. To his credit, Vice President Mike Pence raised the recent arrests in a phone call with Sisi on Thursday, according to the U.S.

embassy in Cairo, but theres little to indicate that the U.S. will put any serious pressure on a major ally and recipient of U.S. military aid.

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Egypt wasnt the only U.S. ally in the Middle East that was in the news for cracking down on dissent this week. Ten prominent Saudi womens rights activists were arrested, just weeks before the kingdom was set to lift its infamous ban on women driving. They included Loujain al-Hathloul, who attracted international attention when she was arrested after livestreaming herself driving over the border from the United Arab Emirates in 2015. Some of those arrested had recently filed paperwork to establish an NGO to help victims of domestic abuse. They are reportedly being investigated for communicating with foreign entities to destabilize the government. Three of them have now been released.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has made the lift of the driving ban a centerpiece of his efforts to promote himself as a modernizing reformer, an image that several Western journalists have enthusiastically promoted as well. But even as hes loosened some restrictionsallowing movie theaters back into the kingdom for instancehis government has continued to arrest activists and critics. The arrest, just before the lifting of the driving ban, of the very women who made it happen, is as clear a sign as any that reform will only happen on the House of Sauds terms.

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Asked about the arrests earlier this week, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert praised the kingdoms recent reforms but said, We support space for civil society and also free speech, but overall, were concerned about it and we are keeping a close eye on it.

In his speech on Iran policy last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a point of stating that America opposes Tehran not only because of its weapons programs or regional ambitions but because the hard grip of repression is all that millions of Iranians have ever known. He referred to the recent Hijab protests in Iran as evidence that the brutal men of the regime seem to be particularly terrified by Iranian women who are demanding their rights.

Citizens of Americas anti-Iran allies are apparently not extended the same level of righteous outrage.
In 2006, I voted for Daniel Ortega. I was 17 years old, a freshman in college, and strongly influenced by the stories my parents told me about the Sandinista Revolution he helped lead in the 1970s. Oral history took a toll on me. Even if I hadnt even been born in those times, I was able to imagine what my parents felt when they heard they were free.

Ortega fought with the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the FSLN, in its long struggle against Anastasio Somozas dictatorship. After taking power and adopting socialist economic policies, his government fought a brutal civil war against the U.S.-backed Contra rebels throughout the 1980s. He was defeated in the 1990 election, then returned to the presidency in 2006. He was re-elected in 2011, and after changing the constitution to allow him to run for a third consecutive term, again in 2016.

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Over the past 11 years, I, and many other young Nicaraguans, have come to see Ortega not as a revolutionary hero but as the face of dictatorship. But until a month ago, it was hard to believe that anything would ever change. Today, I get the impression that we are about to witness another kind of revolution and another moment of freedom. This time, we hope, it will be different.

For the past four weeks, Nicaragua has been mourning the deaths of more than 70 people, mostly university students, who were killed by the national police and paramilitary forces during demonstrations against Ortegas government.

Over the past 11 years, I, and many other young Nicaraguans, have come to see Ortega not as a revolutionary hero but as the face of dictatorship.

According to a recent report of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, 868 people were also wounded and 438 people have been detained in the past month. These protests have taken place in cities that would historically support Ortega. And theyve been driven and led by young people like me.

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Young Nicaraguans are often described by their elders as individualistic, self-centered, and apathetic to politics. Academic studies describe us as strongly attached to our families and our religious communities. To be honest, I also thought we were politically asleep.

But something changed on April 18. That day, the government informed Nicaraguans that the president had approved a decree that would dramatically transform our social security system. Not only would workers and companies have to increase their financial contributions to the Social Security Institute, but elderly citizens were going to get less money from their squalid pensions. This is a significant cut in a country where the minimum salary ranges between U.S.$130 and U.S.$160 dollars per month.

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Young citizens started demonstrating against the decree. And when the government showed that it was willing to use violence to end the rebellion, the fight changed. The demonstrators were no longer seeking to reject the social security reformthey wanted to get Ortega out of power.

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It was an unequal fight. Pictures and videos posted on national and international media, and social networks, showed that the government shot civilians with guns, including AK-47 rifles, while the students fought with rocks, homemade mortars, and their Nicaraguan flags.

Isaac Briones, a 23-year-old communications student at Universidad Centroamericana, or UCA, felt infuriated when he saw the government killing his peers. He broadcast footage of the anti-government protests on his Facebook page, first showing how the national police were attacking citizens and then inviting people to participate in the marches that he would attend.

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Like me, Briones grew up hearing heroic stories of the FSLN because of his Sandinista family, but he opposes its leader. Daniel Ortega has betrayed the ideals of his political party, he told me.

The Nicaraguan sociologist Elvira Cuadra said that Briones political rejection is common in a generation that she calls the Youth of Democracy, who were born in the late 1980s or 90s and grew up in more peaceful times.

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They grew up hearing about the right to vote, constitutionality, and the construction of democracy. These three generations are building a different political culture from the one we have seen so far, which is based on values and beliefs related to democracy. They are very critical about the way the system works and have a civic attitude, she said.

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Lesther Aleman, a 20-year-old communications student at UCA, got widespread attention for calling Ortega a murderer right to his face, during a national dialogue session with the president that was organized and mediated by the Catholic Church on May 16.

This is not a dialogue. We are here to negotiate your exit and you know it because this is what Nicaraguans have been asking for, Aleman told the president, reminding him of the three massive marches that took place in Managua prior to the event.

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He has become the face of a student coalition driving the protests, but hes not the leader of the movement. There really isnt a leader, a fact some Nicaraguans have used to criticize the movement.

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Cuadra disagreed, saying, In Nicaragua, we are used to having a leader, but this movement has several leaderships as well as new forms of civic organization. That is why it has been so hard for the government to stop it.

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Cuadra believes that Nicaragua has been cultivating enormous social and political capital without even realizing it.

Students have regained their autonomy, independence, and ability to act. There is a new student movement in Nicaragua. They have revitalized their cause, both in high school and university levels, Cuadra said.

But why did these students become so actively involved within four weeks?

The governments crackdown was a major factor in driving more support for the protests. Cuadra said the respect younger people have for elderly citizens also played a role in the social outrage. When the students heard about the social security reform and saw how elderly civilians were beaten by the police and paramilitary forces, there was a breaking point.

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Twenty-six-year-old Gloria Cordero, who works in the marketing department of a private university, said her family also has a Sandinista background, but her mother never imposed support for FSLN on her.

Cordero said she was suspicious of Ortega since she started hearing about him and his potential presidency. I was 15 years old when people talked about the consequences that a second term of Ortega would have on the countrys economy and its diplomatic relations. Daniel Ortega represented the uncertain to me, she told me.

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By the time Ortega returned to power, Gloria became anti-government. Her main motivation for participating in the protests of the past month was to demand a transformation of the political system. She doesnt expect the upcoming governments to be perfect, but she would like to see a cleanup of the parties. For her, Ortega is the representation of corruption.

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On the other side of the spectrum is 36-year-old Selene Reyes, an independent worker who sells food for a living. She admits that there is corruption in Ortegas government but doesnt think it is a reason for overthrowing him. Her family is strongly Sandinista and has got the theory that the university coalition is being financially supported by other political parties.

For me, the legacy of the party relies on sadness, disappointment, and murder.  Isaac Briones

When the protests started, the Catholic church of her neighborhood served as a spot to collect food and medicine for the students who were under siege by the government and to provide medical care for both anti-government and pro-government citizens. It was a neutral area where doctors and aspiring doctors as well as young volunteers provided help for others.

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Reyes supported the students at first because of ethical and Christian principles, but now she has a conflict with their political demands. She said that she voted for Ortega and doesnt have a problem with him staying in power.

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We cannot say that Daniel Ortegas government is completely negative  A lot of people criticize him for his populist programs, but he gave housing, free education, and farm animals for poor people  Daniel Ortega is not perfect, but no one is, she told me.

Reyes thinks that if Ortega was behind the attacks on students, he should be held responsible for his mistake. But even if he turns out responsible, she would vote for him again out of loyalty to the FSLN.

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At this point, talking about the legacy of the FSLN has become a complex task. Isaac Briones said that it will be quite difficult to separate the political figure of Daniel Ortega from the meaning of Frente Sandinista. He thinks that Ortega and his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, have taken over the political party to such levels that there is no distinction between them and the party.

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For me, the legacy of the party relies on sadness, disappointment, and murder, he said.

Nevertheless, Elvira Cuadra thinks that there should be a separation between Ortega and the FSLN as a political movement, which has changed since its origins. That movement, with the structure and organization that it used to have in the 80s, does not exist anymore, but we see the remains of its historical impact when we hear young and old civilians singing the slogans of revolutionary times, she points out.

In the several protests I have attended, we all ended up saying the slogans that we heard from our parents every July 19, in commemoration of Nicaraguas Freedom Day. One, in particular, always come up: The people united will never be defeated. We keep repeating that phrase over and over, in every march. I think we may finally be starting to believe it.
A pedestal isnt always a comfortable place to sit, and Elon Musk is getting antsy. The Tesla and SpaceX CEOs brand of utopian serial entrepreneurship has earned him a legion of fansan army he has sought to activate this week as he has felt increasingly irked by another of his constituencies: the press.

Amazingly, the media is awesome vote is declining, despite hundreds of articles attacking this very poll  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2018

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Musks electric-car company has been the subject of a string of negative headlines recently, including a bombshell report last month from Reveal, a project of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, that detailed how the Tesla plant in Fremont, California, has underreported serious injuries on its factory floor, dismissed worker concerns, and left injured employees to live off of compensation payoffs, with one who even ended up sleeping in his car. In response, Tesla called the Center for Investigative Reporting an extremist organization. Then, this week, there was a frosty review in Consumer Reports of the highly anticipated Model 3, Teslas first mass-market car. Because of problems with its braking and handling, Consumer Reports concluded, it could not give the vehicle its Recommended designation. On top of that, the company has been scrutinized because of crashes that involved Teslas Autopilot feature and delays with its Model 3 assembly line.

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On Wednesday, Musk ratcheted up his criticism of his critics, sounding not for the first time like a certain press-hating president: The holier-than-thou hypocrisy of big media companies who lay claim to the truth, but publish only enough to sugarcoat the lie, is why the public no longer respects them, Musk tweeted above an article from the site Electrek.co, which covers the electric-car industry with a generally friendly touch, about how Tesla stocks could rebound despite media negativity.

When Andrew Hawkins, a transportation reporter at the Verge, pointed out that Musk was behaving like President Trump by trying to undermine the credibility of the media rather than addressing its reporting, Musk didnt exactly disagree:

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Thought youd say that. Anytime anyone criticizes the media, the media shrieks Youre just like Trump! Why do you think he got elected in the first place? Because no ones believes you any more. You lost your credibility a long time ago.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

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Hawkins isnt the first to make the analogy, but its spot on: 60 Minutes Lesley Stahl even said this week that Trump told her in 2016 that he tries to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you. Its hard to see how Musk could be doing something different right now. Hes doing what people in power often try to do, though rarely so audaciously: deflate an unflattering story by making it about the people who reported it. Hes gaslighting us.

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Gaslighting takes a few forms, and it would be a stretch to say Musk is an abuser and journalists are his victims. But he is in a relationship with the press, and instead of engaging with it on the even playing field of reality, hes seeking to alter the terrain. When someone with more power than you tells you youre overreacting when you say theyre hurting you, thats gaslighting. When a famous billionaire responds to journalists reporting on real-world harms caused by their companies by saying the media isnt trustworthy, thats gaslighting too.

Musk is in a relationship with the press, and instead of engaging with it on the even playing field of reality, hes seeking to alter the terrain.

It may have sounded silly when Musk tweeted on Wednesday that Reveals reporters are just some rich kids in Berkeley who took their political science prof too seriously, but that was gaslighting. Its disingenuous, casually dismissive, and dangerousnot because journalists may begin to doubt themselves, in this case, but because a number of Musks millions of followers might.

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Musk didnt stop there. He went on to note that he has plans to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. For a name, he wrote, he is thinking of calling it Pravda. Pravda was the official paper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for most of the 20th century. The paper notably followed orders by Josef Stalin to perpetuate anti-Semitic messages; it also justified the Great Purge, the campaign of political oppression that led to the state-sanctioned deaths of hundreds of thousands of Russians.

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That wasnt a spur-of-the-moment joke, it turned out. The investigative reporter Mark Harris pointed out that Musk had one of his associates incorporate a company called Pravda Corp. last October. In his next tweet, Musk posted a poll asking if he should Create a media credibility rating site (that also flags propaganda botnets), to which, as of Thursday morning, 88 percent of the more than 679,000 repliers had clicked, Yes, this would be good.

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Er, he's not kidding folks. I noticed that one of Musk's agents had incorporated Pravda Corp in California back in October last year. I was wondering what it was all about... https://t.co/y8xGGzwb3M pic.twitter.com/rTazUDUFMb  Mark Harris (@meharris) May 23, 2018

Whether or not Musk will actually do this (he also recently tweeted hes starting a candy company), people are defending him. One verified entrepreneur on Twitter, Scott Wainner, made the point that the media has constant coverage of every Tesla crash  while no one covers the 1000s of daily crashes of any other car, a recent talking point of Musks. This complaint doesnt exactly square with how the press has covered other car companies problems. As Daniel Nguyen, a visiting journalism professor at Stanford, responded on Twitter, other big-name automakers have made orders of magnitude more cars than Tesla, over many more decades, pointing to years of critical coverage of automakers, like when Toyota was sued in 2010 following a fatal crash, leading to a recall of 8.5 million cars worldwide. Then there was the 2016 death of Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin in 2016 after he was crushed by a Chrysler, which led to the recall of 1.1 million cars and a class-action lawsuit. There was the tremendous reporting of sexual harassment at Ford manufacturing plants in 2017 by the New York Times. No one can seriously argue that problems with automakers are undercovered by the press.

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Musk is one of the most popular businessmen in the world. And his dream of building a future in which cars are less environmentally damaging is an important one. Its possible to support his overall goal while critically examining how hes getting there and urge for iterations, improvements, and driver and worker safety along the way. Media organizations certainly arent infallible; they can make errors of both substance and emphasis. But they do follow standards of conduct and practice and make corrections when theyve erred. Anyone as intelligent and successful as Musk ought to know that.

Musk is of course free to say whatever he wants about whoever displeases himand some of the bones he has picked with the medias coverage, like the emphasis on Autopilot deaths over normal vehicular fatalities, may indeed be worthy of respectful debate (though I disagree with him on that point). But when Musk makes ad hominem and categorical attacks, he deserves to be shouted down, because the doubt hes trying to sow could rob the public of their right to knowand impact peoples lives for the worst. Take the extremists at the Center for Investigative Reporting whom he would no doubt prefer remained silent. Their story on the poor working conditions at the Tesla factory helped a local paper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, to report on how Teslas solar panels installed at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, malfunctioned and led to what appears to be the companys largest Occupational Safety and Health Administration fines yet, for more than $110,863 following the finding of nine serious safety violations. We clearly need more reporting on Tesla, not less.

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As a public figure running a public company, Musk should think carefully about what he tells his 21.9 million followers, especially when he frames his beef with the tech and automotive press as one with the press in general at a time when the media is also facing an executive branch that isnt exactly concerned with respecting the cornerstones of a functioning democracy. Instead of responding to the press on the merits of its reporting, hes asked his followers to place their faith in him instead. That might work until it doesnt: If he continues to deny bad news every time it comes out and attacks the people who write it, hell probably start to lose credibility.

And actually, its already happening with Wall Street. On an investor call earlier this month, Musk refused to answer questions from analysists about his company because boring questions are not cool. Teslas share price took a nosedive after the call.
Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation that just went into effect in the European Union, the internet has been raining privacy updates for weeks. Although it may be tempting, especially if youre not an EU citizen and arent enjoying any new privacy rights, to immediately delete these emails, theyre worth preserving long enough to take in all at once. If your inbox is anything like mine, these emails are coming from all over the place: record labels you bought an album from two years ago, that place where you booked a deep-tissue massage that one time, a sushi joint, the gym where you used to be a member. Its the digital remnants of your consumer history, come back to remind you it exists.

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Specifically, its a reminder that all these placesonline and brick-and-mortar businesses where youve registered an online account or used your credit card or were entered into a system for whatever reasonhave some kind of data on you, and therefore youre getting an email with updates to their privacy policy. Its a moment to take stock of all the corporate relationships you didnt even know you still had, to clean things up by closing some accounts and ending some subscriptions.

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I got a GDPR email from a ramen joint in San Francisco I went to twice.  Dave Lee (@DaveLeeBBC) May 24, 2018

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My editor got an email from the indie record label Matador and the music-streaming site Tidal that their policies have been updated. I got ones from Yelp, Uber, Spotify, Medium, my old tattoo artist, my favorite Nashville pizza place (which I havent visited in years), and a shop I went to once to get my jeans altered in San Francisco. These companies are all letting me know what they are able to know about me, but thanks to the sheer volume of them, its tempting to treat the onslaught like spam. Instead, though, Im going through them and taking the opportunity to delete many accounts I didnt even know I had. Clicking past terms-of-service agreements has become so instinctual for us that its easy for these relationships to pile up without us realizing it. And thanks to services like Square, which many businesses use to process payments, we may encounter dozens of vendors we forgot have our email addressesforgot, anyway, until all those sandwich shops emailed you their privacy policies this week. If youre not in the EU, theres not much you can do about all the companies that have data on you, but you can, at least, try to unsubscribe and close your accounts with them.

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Under the new EU privacy rules, companies will have to send copies of the data that they collect on users in the EU if they request it. Companies will also have to delete the data if an EU user requests it be removed, and those users can even make requests for certain practices to be stopped all togetherlike if a company that has collected data on them uses automated software to make decisions about a person or if it profiles a person for marketing purposes. Theres also a provision that specifies what a company is supposed to do if it mishandles user data; in the event of a data breach, a business has 72 hours to alert EU users who were affected. And if a website doesnt comply with the new rules, it could face serious fines. And so companies large and small have been forced to take stock of their data practices. We should do the same.

While outside the EU, we dont have the level of control over our digital lives that EU residents now do, we can still treat the arrival of the new rules as an empowering momentand delete some accounts.
The Justice Department is opening a criminal investigation, along with the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission, into people who may be manipulating cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Sources familiar with the probe told Bloomberg that investigators are in the early stages of examining illegal practices that unscrupulous traders have also been known to use in futures and equities markets. For example, the DOJ is looking into wash trades, which involves bad actors trading with themselves to create the illusion of market demand, and spoofing, which involves bad actors submitting and then cancelling a bunch of orders to influence a coins price. In one particularly egregious case of spoofing, a trader reportedly placed and then cancelled $1 million worth of orders.

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There are also legal methods that traders employ to distort markets, like pumping and dumping, which involves artificially inflating the price of a coin and then selling it before others can cash out. The schemes are more common with smaller, lesser-known cryptocurrencies, since a group of people colluding together can more easily influence the price. Such practices are illegal when it comes to securities, but there are no corresponding laws with it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges.

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Authorities are reportedly concerned that cryptocurrency prices are particularly prone to fraud because the markets are largely unregulated and often fluctuate wildly, which can make it difficult to distinguish cheating from natural trends. This vulnerability to manipulation is part of the reason why countries have placed cryptocurrencies under regulation. Japan, for example, has required exchanges to register with the government. South Korean prosecutors also raided the countrys largest cryptocurrency exchange earlier this month on suspicion of fraud. China banned cryptocurrency exchanges altogether. The U.S. has relatively few laws that apply to cryptocurrencies, though Securities and Exchange Commission has been pushing for stronger regulations. Such markets are often regulated on the state level.

Regulators with the SEC have lately been struggling to reign in scam initial coin offerings (ICO), a procedure by which new cryptocurrencies distribute coins to investors. SEC chairman Jay Clayton testified before the Senate in February about people failing to follow securities laws when conducting their ICOs, claiming that they often resort to semantic gymnastics or elaborate structuring exercises to avoid regulations.
Companies that run websites have been dreading this Friday for months: Its the day Europes robust and sweeping new privacy protections go into effect. Thats why, leading up to Friday, websites across the internet have been franticly sending out emails and making critical updates to their privacy policies to comply with the new rules.

While most websites appear to have tweaked their data-collection policies and are updating their users about the changes in order to continue operating in Europe, some appear to be throwing in the towel completelyamong them one of the biggest newspapers in the United States, the Los Angeles Times.

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The U.K.-based technology news website the Register pointed out that the LA Times was no longer available throughout Europe on Twitter on Thursday evening. We are currently not available in your region, but we are actively exploring options to make our content available to you again, read a landing page for European readers, captured in a screenshot. The Arizona Daily Star, a Tucson newspaper that also went dark for European readers, put it more plainly: We recogise [sic] that you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area, including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation and therefore cannot grant you access at this time, read a posting on the Daily Stars landing page for EU readers that the Register shared.

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#GDPR fallout continues  now US newspaper LA Times [ https://t.co/Qk23BJZ5bt ] blocks all of Europe from its website over new EU privacy rules pic.twitter.com/04HxIEWqaL  The Register (@TheRegister) May 24, 2018

Under the new European rules, websites that collect and store user data will have to bow to requests from users in the European Union to reveal whats collected on them or delete data that the company holds on users. The new law also allows for internet users in EU countries to object to how their data is used and request that certain practices be stopped. If a company mishandles user data that it holds, like in the event of a data breach, the business has 72 hours to alert EU users who were affected. And importantly, if a website doesnt comply with the new rules, it could be hit with serious fines.

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The new EU privacy rules have sent websites across the internet scrambling to restructure how they hold, collect, and will be able delete user data, and while most major sites seem to have been able to change their policies or at least alert users of policies to obtain consent in order to continue doing business and stay within the bounds of the law, clearly that hasnt been the case for everyonecash-strapped newspapers included. Its not just newspapers feeling the strain. The online reputation score service Klout announced earlier this month that it would shut down on the same day the GDPR rules went into effect.

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All those privacy-policy emails youve received in recent weeks are a sign that when some users of the web get new rights, users everywhere notice. The internet is supposed to be borderless, so until some sites can catch up, it looks like their solution to the new rules is to just close some of the doors to their shop for a while.

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Update, May 25: A Los Angeles Times spokeswoman responded with a statement from Tronc, the newspapers parent company:

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

The spokeswoman confirmed that Troncs other paperswhich include the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, Floridas Sun-Sentinel, and the New York Daily Newsare also unavailable to European readers for now.
Students construct first Slovak compressed air car

While emissions from the car are practically zero, the car does have other drawbacks.

Students of the Engineering Faculty of the Technical University in Kosice (TUKE) constructed the first Slovak car powered by compressed air. The project lasted one academic year.

The unique vehicle consists of a three-wheeled frame powered by an air-operated three-cylinder engine with a volume of 1,885 cubic centimetres. As emissions from the vehicle are practically nothing, it does not pollute the environment.

It was a student project, they designed the construction, electronic and steering system under the guidance of educators, said reader of Mechatronics Institute of TUKE Ivan Virgala, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

The car can go a maximum speed of 35-40 kilometres per hour and its tank rage is two to three kilometres. The source of energy is the air pressure of 20 MPa in a compressive 10 litre container. The pneumatic engine is created out of three pneumatic cylinders in the shape of a star which are activated one by one.

The aim was to design the car effectively, Virgala said for TASR, explaining that the vehicles weight is low to reach the smallest resistance and synchronize cylinder movement.

The car is about 2.4 metres long and 1.5 metres wide, weighing about 150 kilograms. The disadvantage of compressed air cars is limited tank range, speed and spatial limitation, according to Virgala. On the other hand, there is plenty of free fuel.

25. May 2018 at 6:55 | TASR, Compiled by Spectator staff
Pro-EU voters vote for anti-EU governments

This phenomenon is no longer limited to Central Europe.

Amid legitimate fears about the future of the European Union, and continentwide support for eurosceptic political parties rising, a strange thing emerged this week. According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, public support for the EU is the highest since measuring began in 1983.

A majority of people in 27 of 28 member states feel their country has benefitted from EU membership. Even in the lone exception, Italy, more people agree that the country has benefitted than disagree (44 percent versus 41 percent). Overall, 67 percent of Europeans believe their own country benefits from EU membership, as compared to just 12 percent who say it is a bad thing. Meanwhile, for the first time since 2007, Europeans are more likely than not to agree that my voice counts in the EU.

In Central Europe support for the EU is even stronger.

25. May 2018 at 17:30 | Benjamin Cunningham
17 Facts That 'Gun Control' Advocates Hate

Infographic provided by George Wauchope at Best Rifle Scopes. May25th, 2018

(To view infographic - click on thumbnail to enlarge and then hit 'F' on keyboard for full size.)

17 Facts

Many people in the gun community feel like there has been a recent attack on the Second Amendment.

Most notably, after the Parkland shooting, the mainstream media did not waste any time promoting David Hogg to push their anti-gun narrative.

The problem with their narrative is that they are wrong.

Guns are not the problem, in fact, it's quite the opposite.

This infographic highlights 17 Facts That 'Gun Control' Advocates Hate.

All the facts and statistics are backed by legitimate sources such as the FBI and ResearchGate.

The founding fathers specifically wrote in the constitution that the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The founding fathers were not ignorant of the potential for governments to become tyrannical, meaning that they made it crystal clear in the constitution. Nevertheless, there are still people arguing that the 2nd Amendment has no place in modern America.

The gun debate is a losing battle for gun control advocates. Most Americans support the second amendment, which is why it's important to spread the facts about guns, to push back against the false narrative that is constantly perpetuated e.g. guns, not people, are the problem.

Even recently, politicians such as the Governor of Texas are proposing talks about gun control with regards to school safety. These sorts of talks are completely misguided when you consider that 97.3% of mass shootings occur in gun-free zones.

Considering that most gun-related homicides in the USA are gang-related, it would make more sense to focus on the increasing rate of single mothers, since most criminals come from single-mother households. However, policies that would reduce single-mother households are contrary to the policies that 'gun control' advocates typically promote.

The USA has a skepticism of government which is unique compared to other countries. This is one of the main reasons why so many people support the 2nd Amendment. It wasn't too long ago that the founding fathers liberated themselves from the British Empire with the use of guns. But tyrannical governments are not the only reason to support gun rights; many people value guns to protect oneself from every day threats. Guns are the great equalizer that allows many women to defend themselves against attackers.

The infographic was provided by Best Rifle Scopes. They are a website that reviews rifle scopes and is a supporter of the 2nd Amendment. An embeddable version of the infographic can be found on their website (scroll down).

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China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited, an investment holding company, provides cellular and fixed-line voice, and related value-added services in the People's Republic of China. It also provides broadband and other Internet-related, information communications technology, and business and data communications services. In addition, the company offers communications technology training, technical, and Internet information and value-added telecommunications services; telecommunications network construction, planning, and technical consulting services; and consultancy, survey, design, and contract services relating to information and construction projects. Further, it provides customer, project design consultation and management, property management, e-payment, venture capital investment, communications technology development and promotion, auto informatisation, financial, data processing, and tourism and information services; advertising design, production, agency, and publication services; technology development, transfer, and consulting services; and technology promotion service of intelligent transportation system's products. Additionally, the company offers technology development and consultation, and other services; technology research and development, consultation, and services of TV video and mobile video; internet of things technology, and online data processing and transaction services; and big data, and cloud computation and infrastructure services. It also provides online video and reading materials; network music; financing leasing services; and data analysis and application services, as well as sells handsets and telecommunication equipment. As of December 31, 2019, it had approximately 254 million 4G subscribers, 83 million fixed-line broadband subscribers, and 54 million fixed-line local access subscribers. The company was incorporated in 2000 and is based in Central, Hong Kong. China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited is a subsidiary of China Unicom (BVI) Limited.

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Electric grid managers and utility companies need to find ways to track, measure, and value electricity consumption and production that account for the variability of electricity that comes from decentralized sources, such as solar, wind, and batteries. Credit: UC Riverside

Californians love renewable energy. In fact, California just became the first state to require solar panels on all new homes.

But the new requirement creates questionsHow will the new law complicate the electricity market? What strains will it place on existing distribution networks?

As California scrambles to meet a 2030 deadline to receive 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, the state needs to find ways to track, measure, and value electricity consumption and production that account for the variability of electricity that comes from decentralized sources, such as solar, wind, and batteries. Without careful management, these sources, known as distributed energy resources, or DERs, have the potential to cause unreliable power delivery, or even outages, and lead utility companies to overcharge customers.

A new paper by electrical engineers in the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, offers a way to account for uncertainties introduced by both the electricity market and DERs so utility companies can balance the distribution grid and find the fairest customer rates.

One way managers of the electricity market ensure equitable distribution of power is by offering incentives for customers to reduce, or defer, power consumption during peak hours. Customers can choose to use less electricity or shift their use to a distributed source, such as rooftop solar panels or batteries. Customers can also make more electricity available during peak loads by selling to the utility excess electricity generated by their rooftop solar panels. Consumers can thus exert a strong influence on the wider electricity grid and market.

The problem, according to the researchers, is that the organizations overseeing the grid as a whole, known as independent system operators, or ISOs, do not dispatch, and often can't see, the location of network DERs. They only see transmission lines and resources connected to them, such as collective demand at the substations and power plants. They determine market conditions based on the big picture without knowing details that might have important consequences in the power grid.

"ISOs see the electricity up to the substation that feeds it into a consumer network but are blind to what happens among the thousands or millions of customers after that point," explained Ashkan Sadeghi-Mobarakeh, a UC Riverside doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering and first author of the paper. "The demand of each customer at each location has a different local impact on the distribution network."

California ISO, or CAISO, has introduced a new index to better manage flexible and responsive loads according to the market conditions. But the index suggests deployment of flexible loads only according to market conditions, meaning CAISO's index doesn't consider that market participation of DERs located in distribution networks may push a network's limits.

If CAISO or the utility determine times to deploy or defer electrical loads without accounting for variable on-site renewable resources and distribution network conditions, they risk overloading the network and causing outages. Contrary to common sense, reducing electricity delivery to distribution feeders at peak load could lead to higher costs and decrease grid stability.

The UC Riverside paper considers not only the market conditions, but also the impact flexible resources have on distribution network constraints.

Sadeghi-Mobarakeh used novel algorithms to model cost and electrical loads in different market scenarios and tested them on a standard distribution network. He used his algorithm to compare the cost and stress on the distribution network to what would be predicted by the conventional model. He found that if the utility company had bid according to his model, they could have delivered power to consumers at considerably lower cost on many days, with less risk to the network.

The researchers propose two new indexes to help utilities look beyond market conditions and identify feeders with better performance for the operation of deferrable loads. They suggest ways that DERs can actively participate in the electricity market by following market signals. The two indexes show how a good feeder responds to market signals without having a negative effect on the distribution network. The new indexes can help utility companies determine an optimal bidding strategy in the day-ahead market, together with the optimal schedules for deferrable loads.

"The indexes proposed in this paper can be combined with field measurements from smart meters at substations to measure in real-time the collective impact distributed energy resources have on distribution system reliability," Sadeghi-Mobarakeh said.

In addition to Sadeghi-Mobarakeh, the authors include his adviser, Hamed Mohsenian-Rad, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC Riverside; Alireza Shahsavari, a doctoral student at UC Riverside; and Hossein Haghighat of Islamic Azad University of Jahrom.

The paper will appear in an upcoming issue of IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

Explore further As more solar and wind come onto the grid, prices go down but new questions come up

More information: Ashkan Sadeghi-Mobarakeh et al, Optimal Market Participation of Distributed Load Resources Under Distribution Network Operational Limits and Renewable Generation Uncertainties, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid (2018). Ashkan Sadeghi-Mobarakeh et al, Optimal Market Participation of Distributed Load Resources Under Distribution Network Operational Limits and Renewable Generation Uncertainties,(2018). DOI: 10.1109/TSG.2018.2830751
$1.21b Nijgadh Intl Airport project cleared for takeoff

The Environment Ministry has approved the environmental and social impact assessment of the planned $1.21 billion Nijgadh International Airport project in Bara paving the way for the construction of the much-delayed air hub. The Forest Ministry allowed the Tourism Ministry to conduct the study in February 2017.
51 minutes ago

California oil spill legal fight likely to last years

LOS ANGELES (AP)  It took little more than 48 hours from the moment a major oil spill was discovered off Southern California until the first lawsuit was filed against the Houston company that owns and operates the ruptured pipeline.

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33 kg gold smuggling case: Police arrest Gores accomplice

Police on Thursday arrested an accomplice of Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind of 33 kg gold smuggling case and subsequent murder of Sanam Shakya, an alleged carrier of smuggled gold who was electrocuted to death.
This site focuses on Republican politicians and conservatives that rip off their constituency. We have the Tea Party, fundamentalist churches, the corruption of ALEC and other special interests groups. But the site also supports progressive Democrats and the local Democratic Socialist of America. We must have ideas on how to replace regressive and corrupt politicians with something better. For comments steveotto2001@yahoo.com or ottozero2001@yahoo.com.
With rice bran oil still unfamiliar to Vietnamese, the country should inform local consumers of its health benefits and potential opportunities for the domestic rice-growing sector, experts said at an international conference on Thursday.

Rice bran oil is produced by extracting oil from the hard brown outer layer of rice outside the chaff.

Vietnam has the potential to develop this healthy oil, specialists said at the fifth International Conference on Rice Bran Oil (ICRBO 2018) held by the International Association of Rice Bran Oil in Hanoi.

Mainly for export

After a friend told him of the benefits of using rice bran oil, Tran Dung, a resident in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, purchased his first bottle on his next visit to a local supermarket.

Previously, I only used soybean oil and had never even heard of rice bran oil, so I was curious to give it a try, Dung said.

Different studies in other countries have shown evidence that rice bran oil is one of the healthiest plant-based oils.

Despite the benefits and its availability in Vietnamese supermarkets for the past five years, rice bran oil is still largely unknown amongst local consumers.

Though rice bran oil is produced in Vietnam, the vast majority is extracted specifically for export.

According to Tran Anh Dung, brand manager of Cai Lan Oils and Fats Industries Company (CALOFIC), about 80 percent of the countrys supply is exported to overseas markets where the benefits of rice bran oil are already well known.

Another factor in rice bran oils stifled popularity is that it sells for 20 percent higher than other popular oils on the market due, in part, to being extracted from the outer layer of rice, the most nutritious part of the grain.

Vietnamese just dont empathize with the benefits of rice bran oil, Dung added.

CALOFIC is the first company in Vietnam to produce rice bran oil from 100 percent domestically grown rice, taking advantage of the countrys abundant supply of rice bran.

Many benefits and potentialities

Peh Ping Teik, chairman of the International Association of Rice Bran Oil, shared at the ICRBO 2018 that rice bran oil is often used in cooking by students and busy people in Japan.

Rice bran oil contains a rich source of anti-oxidants including Vitamin E, Phytosterols, and Gamma Oryzanol, which facilitate anti-aging efforts and maintain a healthy heart by reducing blood cholesterol levels, Teik explained.

In addition, it also has many fatty acids and micronutrients necessary for humans, he continued.

At the ICRBO 2018, Cao Quoc Hung, Vietnams Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said that the country needs to leverage its high rice production to push for the manufacturing and consumption of rice bran oil.

Sharing this view, Dr. M.V. Mehta from India praised the quality of rice bran oil extraction in Vietnam.

The director of a rice exporter in the southern province of An Giang said Vietnam has yet to take the full advantage of its potential for rice bran production.

Currently, several companies in Vietnam are extracting rice bran for plant oil production and other value-added products including cosmetics, he said.

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A resort developer in the southern Vietnamese province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau has raised confusion and doubt with its persistence to build a private airport right beside a garbage burial site.

Ho Tram Project Company (HTP), the developer of the Ho Tram Strip, plans to develop a special purpose airport located 15 kilometers away from its resort complex to attract more visitors, thus contributing to the provinces economic and tourism growth.

Ho Tram Strip is a group of integrated resorts, spanning more than 161 hectares of land along two kilometers of pristine beach in Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

According to Lam Quy, deputy general director of HTP, having an airport to help visitors travel to the resort much easier is crucial to the development of the whole complex.

The distance from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City to Ho Tram is too far, and this inconvenience explains why we receive only around 300,000-400,000 visitors a year, Quy complained.

The resort is located some 115km, at least a two-hour drive, from the Ho Chi Minh City airdrome.

Quy also asserted that Harbinger Capital Partners, the major shareholder of ACDL which wholly owns HTP, has been committed to investing in the airport construction.

However, it turns out that HTP wants to develop the airport at a location only 150-500 meters away from an under-construction landfill project.

If really implemented, the airport will also occupy a small area of agricultural land, according to Ba Ria-Vung Tau authorities.

Nguyen Van Trinh, chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, has required a re-evaluation on the location of the proposed airport construction, as well as a detailed assessment of its possible impact on the local neighborhood.

On Thursday, Le Quoc Tuan, the provincial deputy chairman, also suggested that the resort developer consider another location for the airport, as the foul odor from the garbage burial site may affect its operations in the future.

The provinces administration advised that the airport be developed in Loc An, a commune in Dat Do District, some 14 kilometers from Ho Tram Strip.

But the recommendation faced objection from the Ba Ria-Vung Tau transport department.

Even though Loc An is already included in the list of areas zoned for airport development by the Ministry of Transport, an official from the transport department said it would be unreasonable to build an airdrome there.

The official explained that the commune is only 60 kilometers from Long Thanh District of the neighboring province of Dong Nai, where a megaproject to build the Long Thanh International Airport is already underway.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau also has plans to upgrade its military airport of Go Gang into a dual-purpose terminal, so it does not make sense if [the province] has two airports while the Long Thanh International Airport is located not too far away, he told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Despite the suggestion from the provincial administrators, HTP insists on developing the airport at the place of its choice, saying its corporate parent is losing patience after having been waiting for the plan to be carried out over the last two years.

The foul smell of the landfill will only have a small impact on the airport, Quy said.

We will be fully responsible if anything goes wrong with the plan.

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Vietnam's Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC has sold its first batch of diesel to the local market, after its new refinery was put into operation in April, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group said on Thursday.

The $9 billion facility, the Southeast Asian nation's second refinery, has a processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, the company said in a statement.

The plant, 260 km (160 miles) south of Hanoi, sold its first batches of RON 92 and RON 95 gasoline earlier this month. Sales of jet fuel and petrochemical products are due soon.

The refinery in Thanh Hoa province is 35.1 percent owned by Idemitsu Kosan Co, 35.1 percent by Kuwait Petroleum 25.1 percent by state-run PetroVietnam and 4.7 percent by Mitsui Chemicals Inc.

Vietnam's first refinery, Dung Quat, has a capacity of 130,000 bpd. When Nghi Son is fully operational, it and Dung Quat will meet about 70 percent of Vietnam's fuel needs.
Vietnam and Australia will boost multi-faceted cooperation to make their bilateral relationship on a par with their strategic partnership, Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang and Australian Governor-General Peter Cosgrove agreed during a meeting in Hanoi.

Governor-General Cosgrove joined talks with President Quang in the Vietnamese capital on Thursday morning as part of his state visit to the Southeast Asian country from May 23 to 26.

The Vietnamese head of state shared that the visit is particularly noteworthy considering just weeks earlier the two nations elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership in March in celebration of the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

The leaders expressed their satisfaction with the outcomes so far achieved by the two countries economic collaboration.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Australia hit nearly US$6.5 billion in 2017. Australia has poured $1.8 billion into 400 projects in Vietnam, ranking 19th out of the 129 countries and territories currently investing in the nation.

In order to keep their relationship on a par with the strategic partnership, both parties agreed to work in tandem to consolidate political and strategic trust through regular exchanges at all leadership levels.

Vietnam and Australia should also deepen their ties in national defense and security, education and training, science and technology, culture, sports, tourism, and labor, the leaders consented.

Both sides also shared that they plan to reconsider current trade barriers affecting exports to either country.

They plan to devise policies encouraging and supporting businesses to invest in each market, thus creating breakthroughs in bilateral trade and investment ties.

During the meeting, Governor-General Cosgrove expressed his joy at the increase of visitors from both nations.

In 2017, nearly 400,000 Australians visited Vietnam and more than 200 Vietnamese citizens registered to work in Australia under the Work and Holiday Program.

There are currently 30,000 Vietnamese students studying in Australia and nearly 1,000 Australian students have come to Vietnam under the New Colombo Plan.

These are important factors contributing to boosting the friendship and cooperation between the two countries, President Quang said.

On May 27, the Cao Lanh Bridge worth $160 million, which is funded by the Australian government, will be open to traffic.

Governor-General Cosgrove called the bridges construction a symbol of the Australian governments support for infrastructure development and improvement of living standards for residents in Vietnams Mekong Delta.

Following the talk, the Australian leader also met with Vietnamese Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

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A bridge funded by the Australian government is slated to be open to traffic this weekend in Dong Thap Province, located in Vietnams Mekong Delta.

People will be able to travel on the Cao Lanh Bridge, which spans over the Tien (Front) River to connect the provincial capital of Cao Lanh with Lap Vo District, from Sunday.

An inauguration ceremony will be held in the morning and vehicles will be allowed to enter the bridge at 3:00 pm. The structure will also be lit up with colorful lights at night.

The bridge is designed with four lanes for vehicles in both directions, measuring two kilometers long and 24.5 meters wide.

Local residents take a photo with the new bridge. Photo: Tuoi Tre

It is equipped with modern safety monitoring and surveillance camera systems.

The construction started in late 2013 with an investment of about $160 million, funded by non-refundable aid from the Australian government, besides Vietnams government budget.

It is considered the symbol of the friendship between the two nations, representing Australias support for infrastructure development and improvement of living standards for residents in Vietnams Mekong Delta, Governor-General Peter Cosgrove said during his meeting with State President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi on Thursday.

Workers add asphalt to the road leading to the bridge in Cao Lanh City, Dong Thap Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Workers are now adding asphalt to a 600 meter long street leading to the bridge as well as planting trees along the path.

Thanks to the new bridge, local residents will no longer worry about the difficulties they have previously faced when catching a ferry across the river.

Finishing touches on the new structure. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Local commuters no longer have to wait for hours at the Cao Lanh Ferry Station, said Pham Vinh Hao, a 60-year-old resident in Cao Lanh.

Journeys between Ho Chi Minh City and some provinces in the Mekong Delta will also be shortened.

Aside from the Cao Lanh Bridge, Australia previously offered non-refundable aid to help Vietnam build the My Thuan Bridge, connecting Tien Giang and Vinh Long Provinces in the region.

Engineers examine the construction. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A test run is carried out on the new bridge. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Urban cable car: French Embassy submits feasibility report

The French Embassy in Kathmandu has submitted a feasibility study report on Kathmandu City Urban Cable Car Project.
Netflix has canceled all UK press interviews for Arrested Development, following a cast interview with the New York Times.

We had planned to have most of the Arrested Development cast in London this week to support the launch of the new season and meet fans, Netflix said in a statement. At this time we have decided not to move ahead with promotional activity in the UK but hope to bring the cast back at another time.

During the interview Jessica Walter broke down in tears when discussing verbal harassment from co-star Jeffrey Tambor.

Star Jason Bateman, who defended Tambor, has since apologised.

I sound like Im condoning yelling at work. I do not. It sounds like Im excusing Jeffery. I do not. It sounds like Im insensitive to Jessica, I am not, he tweeted. This is a big learning moment for me. I shouldnt have tried so hard to mansplain, or fix a fight, or make everything OK.

Season 5 screens in Australia next Wednesday on Foxtel.

Source: Hollywood Reporter
Just when you think stories about Harvey Weinstein and sexual harassment and abuse were over and done, more information comes out about the movie producer. Gwyneth Paltrow had already revealed the story of Weinsteins unwanted advances to her on The Howard Stern Show. She also opened up to the New York Times in 2017, becoming one of many actresses that went public with their stories of sexual abuse by Weinstein. Now she has more to say.

Harvey Weinstein confronted by Brad Pitt

While Paltrow told them at the time that Brad Pitt had confronted Weinstein, she gave no further information about the incident when she was alone with the producer in a hotel room and he asked her for a massage.

She has now given more details about the incident and what happened at the time.

Gwyneth Paltrow tells Howard Stern how ex Brad Pitt confronted Harvey Weinstein for her https://t.co/Is7NIiiTpL pic.twitter.com/Qg0N8rwkZ4  ET Canada (@ETCanada) May 24, 2018

It happened in 1995, when Paltrow and her boyfriend at the time, Brad Pitt were attending the opening night of the play Hamlet on Broadway. Gwyneth had told Pitt about Weinstein sexually harassing her and when they spotted the movie producer [VIDEO] at the play, Pitt leaped into action. The Daily Mail reports that Pitt literally threw Weinstein against a wall, threatening his life. Pitt told him that if he ever made Paltrow, who was 22 at the time, feel uncomfortable again, he would kill him.

At the time, reporters for Daily News had mentioned that Pitt and Paltrow were especially shy during the after party.

Gwyneth then went on to praise Brad for his actions, saying that at that time she had no fame or power and was just starting out in the Film industry, while Pitt was already a famous actor. Paltrow had been signed on for two films with Weinstein, making the incident even more disconcerting.

Gwyneth Paltrow says Brad Pitt once threatened Harvey Weinstein https://t.co/VCpubNggxn pic.twitter.com/HWIrrAlMxu  CBS News (@CBSNews) May 25, 2018

The list of victims keeps on growing

As reported by the NZ Herald, the incident happened just a few months after Jason Priestly of Beverley Hills 2010 fame claimed he hit Weinstein at a party following the Golden Globes.

Angelina Jolie has also come forward claiming she was sexually harassed by Weinstein.

According to a report by Variety, Weinstein has now been hit by accusations of sexual abuse and harassment by 50 people and is set to hand himself into the New York Police on Friday. The Manhattan District Attorneys office will be charging the film producer for at least one of the cases and maybe five more. That case involves Lucia Evans, who was forced to perform oral sex on Weinstein during a 2004 audition. Evans came forward with her story in October last year.

Evans said she attended a daytime meeting in the Miramax offices, where Weinstein told her she would be perfect for the film Project Runway, but mentioned she needed to lose some weight.

After speaking about a couple of film scripts, he pulled out his penis, forcing Evans to perform the act against her will. This is considered to be a Class B felony which could bring him a 25-year sentence.
US President Donald Trump has cancelled his upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which was due to take place in the coming weeks in Singapore. Kim had already suggested that he might not show up to the summit, since he was worried by something a White House staffer said about following the Libyan model and the fact that the US Army have been conducted military drills with the forces in South Korea, so Trump has decided to pre-empt it and write him a letter calling the whole thing off before it happens.

The meeting between Trump and Kim would have been a historical moment where the full denuclearisation of Kims arms program in Pyongyang would have been discussed.

He was open to it, too. He has already announced to the UNs aviation authorities that he will no longer be launching any unexpected nuclear tests into peoples flightpaths and he invited the worlds press to come and cover the shutting down of his nuke testing site. Whether or not those plans will go forward with this Singapore summit called off remains to be seen.

During a press conference in the Roosevelt Room following the sending of this letter, Trump admitted that calling off this meeting with Kim would lead to a tremendous setback in the relationship between the United States and North Korea, but also promised that if the regime over there did anything foolish and reckless in response to the cancellation of the summit, then the armed forces of America would be ready as necessary to pounce.

He also took another juncture to announce that the US military are the most powerful anywhere in the world.

Trump says he is waiting for Kim to come around

The door is not totally closed on a potential meeting of the two leaders to diplomatically discuss the nuke problem. Its still a crack open, as Trump said that he will be waiting for the day when Kim decides to come around and engage in constructive dialogue and actions that are conducive to mending the nuclear crisis going on right now.

The tone of the letter that the President sent to the dictator in the North was quite hostile and frustrated.

Sadly, I was forced to cancel the Summit Meeting in Singapore with Kim Jong Un. pic.twitter.com/rLwXxBxFKx  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2018

Trump wrote that while he was looking forward to meeting Kim in Singapore, he has decided to cancel, thanks to the tremendous anger and open hostility he has been showing in his public addresses recently.

The President believes that due to the timing, the meeting would now be inappropriate, and so he cant in good conscience let it go forward. He concluded the letter by declaring once and for all that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.

The summit was set for the 12th of June

The summit where Trump and Kim were due to meet had been set to take place on the 12th of June in Singapore, and it would have been a historical event in that it wouldve been the first time in history that a President of the United States and a leader of a North Korean regime. It was expected to mark a huge change in the two countries relations, with a peace deal being widely expected to result from it.

But now, all of that has gone out the window.

The months of work and careful diplomatic discussions that were slowly and gently bringing the two nations together have all been waste now, as theyre back to square one. It is not yet clear how far back this will set the relationship between the US and North Korea, but its certainly in danger. The phrasing of Trumps letter with aggressive language seems to suggest that hes on his way back to the back and forth of insults that defined his early interactions with Kim towards the start of his Presidency.
US President Donald Trump has once again slammed the Democratic Party and its officials, this time accusing them of sticking up for MS-13. In a recent interview with Brian Kilmeade on the Fox News network on their show Fox and Friends on Thursday, he specifically called out the Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as being the one who voiced the partys defence of this gang.

The President referred to the members of MS-13 as both stone cold killers and vicious killers during the interview. Trump said that the members of this gang were animals, and Pelosi objected to his use of that word to describe them.

The President has seen this as the entire Democratic Party defending the actions of violent gangsters. In the right context, its more of a semantics thing or a labels thing.

What is MS-13?

MS-13 is an international gang of criminals that originated in Los Angeles. It was founded by Ernesto Miranda in 1980. The gang is believed to have between 8,000 and 10,000 members in the United States and between 30,000 and 50,000 across the world. The gang has an international presence in Canada and mainly in the Northern Triangle of Central America in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
Euro coins are seen in front of a displayed Greece flag in this picture illustration, June 29, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

By Francesco Guarascio and Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers will decide next month on all measures, including further debt relief, needed for Greece to exit its bailout successfully, their chairman said on Thursday.

Greece is due to exit the rescue programme - its third since 2010 - in August, and its partners in the bloc are anxious to ensure it can do so on a financially sustainable basis.

"We will decide on all that is needed to ensure a successful exit ...by August. This is our top priority regarding Greece," Eurogroup head Mario Centeno told a news conference.

For the June 21 talks to be successful, Athens has to pursue the last reforms agreed with euro zone creditors to put its economy on a firmer growth path. "That is a crucial element for the conclusion of the programme," he said.

If Greece delivers on the final batch of reforms, the euro zone will be able to disburse new loans that will not only cover its immediate needs, but also create a cash buffer to keep it liquid after the bailout ends.

While the amount of that last disbursement has not been decided, euro zone lenders want it to keep Greece covered for 12 to 18 months. This would help the country return to debt markets more easily after it was cut off in 2010.

Euro zone lenders, Greece's biggest creditors, are also set to decide in June what form of debt relief to grant Greece.

The ministers asked the euro zone bailout fund ESM, the European Commission and the European Central Bank on Thursday to prepare a debt sustainability analysis to inform their discussions.

The debt relief offer, which would need to act as an incentive for Athens not to backtrack on reforms and stick to a prudent fiscal policy, is likely to include some debt relief up front and some spread over time.

Debt servicing would be linked to GDP - the faster the Greek economy expands, the higher the repayments, euro zone finance ministers have said.

Story continues

Because Greece will not have used all the money earmarked for it in its latest bailout, possibly up to 27 billion euros (23.64 billion pounds), some funds could be used by the euro zone to replace much more expensive IMF loans to Greece with its own, cheaper credit.

While there has been no discussion of a reduction of the nominal value of the Greek debt, Greece might also receive back the profits made by euro zone national central banks on their portfolios of Greek bonds and see maturities and grace periods on euro zone loans extended.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Francesco Guarascio; editing by John Stonestreet)
Finland navy NATO warship

NATO/FRAN CPO Christian Valverde

LONDON (Reuters) - Russia has increased its naval activity in international waters close to Norway and its military capabilities are a growing concern, Norway's navy chief said on Thursday.

Norway has an Arctic border with Russia and its economy is highly reliant on its free access to the seas.

Rear Admiral Nils Andreas Stensoenes, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy, told Reuters it was Russia's legal right to operate in international waters.

"We are worried about the increase in activity and the increasing capability because that might be used to their advantage and to our disadvantage later," he said on the sidelines of a Royal United Services Institute conference in London.

Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide told Reuters in April that, while the risk of war in the Arctic was "low," Norway was concerned about how Russia is developing militarily and in terms of civil society.

"What we saw last year were demonstrations of their capability to strike important targets in Norway," said Stensoenes. "That was a very clear demonstration that they have the capability both in the air, naval and from land  that is not reassuring."

Russian Navy Day Parade6

Associated Press

Lieutenant General Morten Haga Lunde, head of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, said in a speech in March that Russian bombers had last year flown tactical flights towards the Arctic town of Vardoe and its Norwegian intelligence installations.

Last year NATO's top officer said Russian naval activity in Europe had exceeded levels seen during the Cold War, although the size of Moscow's seaborne forces was smaller now.

Stensoenes said Norway depended on a "well-functioning international law-based system."

"We have good functioning cooperation (with Russia) on the coastguard, search and rescue, border guards," he said. "So far they are adhering to the international rules."

Story continues

Last year, civilian air flights in northeast Norway, adjoining Russia, experienced a loss of GPS signals, which coincided with Russian military exercises.

"We do see jamming of GPS in the northeast and it has mainly been affecting the civilian air industry," Stensoenes said. "I cannot say if it was deliberately targeted against us or not. But we have registered that there are disturbances on the GPS."

(By Jonathan Saul; editing by Gwladys Fouche and Andrew Roche)

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BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovak police may have inadvertently destroyed evidence through negligence at the scene of the murder of an investigative journalist, his family's lawyer said, in a case that prompted mass street protests and the prime minister's resignation.

Journalist Jan Kuciak, who had written about political corruption in Slovakia, was found shot dead along with his girlfriend at their home in February. They were both 27.

As well as forcing the resignations of veteran prime minister Robert Fico, his interior minister and Slovakia's police chief, the case also exacerbated worries about media freedom in ex-communist eastern Europe.

No one has been charged with the murder, which a prosecutor has said was probably a contract killing.

The Kuciak family's lawyer, Daniel Lipsic, a former Slovak interior minister, said the two bodies had been moved without being examined by a forensic surgeon at the crime scene and this led to an incorrect initial pronouncement of the time of death.

"I don't understand why more experienced investigators from the National Crime Agency (NAKA) were not called immediately, and arrived at the crime scene hours after the district police," Lipsic told Reuters in a telephone interview late on Thursday.

"Some evidence was not secured immediately but was only discovered in photographs from the crime scene," said Lipsic, who served as interior minister in 2010-2012.

"This is a serious dereliction of duty. We don't know how much evidence may have been destroyed," he added.

Pictures from the crime scene published by the Slovak media also show that NAKA's anti-corruption section chief, Robert Krajmer, who does not directly investigate murders, was also present.

The police first denied Krajmer was at the crime scene and later issued a corrected statement saying he had "carried out tasks related to the investigation".

Asked about Lipsic's criticism, the police said only prosecutors could comment on the case.

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The special prosecutor's office said "some failures were detected during initial actions at the crime scene".

Kuciak had, among other things, investigated fraud cases involving businessmen with Slovak political ties. He had also looked into suspected mafia links of Italians with businesses in Slovakia.

(Reporting By Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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Chudamani Upreti aka Gore, the alleged mastermind of smuggling 33 kg gold into Nepal, denied his involvement in the murder of Sanam Shakya, the alleged gold carrier who was electrocuted to death.
The paparazzi might have just exposed a major spoiler for Season 14 of the Bachelorette. Becca Kufrin was caught kissing a mystery man in photos published by TMZ Thursday. Kufrin already spoiled that she was engaged to one of the men from this season, but she didnt reveal his identity.

Kufrin was caught kissing a man at the Shangri-La's Resort in the Maldives. It should be noted that it cant be confirmed the man is her fiance, but it seems likely since hes wearing a suit and shes wearing a white dresstypical honeymoon attire.

Fans of the show might be able to guess who Kufrins fiance is based on the photos. Some of the cast members can be ruled out based on physical appearances alone, but its hard to pinpoint one person. Check out the cast photos here.

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Kufrin was famously dumped by Arie Luyendyk Jr. on live television after they were engaged for several months. He told her he still had feelings for runner-up Laura Burnham and proposed to her. The racecar driver revealed on The View he and Burnham would be getting married in Hawaii next year. Kufrin doesnt hold a grudge against Luyendyk, and she might attend their nuptials.

I dont know if theyd invite me, Kufrin, 28, said during a press conference Thursday. But, yeah, if they would want me there, I would want to share in their love because I truly do wish them nothing but happiness.

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According to Luyendyk, Jr., the wedding will be small, so Kufrin might not merit an invite. Its in Maui  its at Haiku Mill which has this beautiful, old world feel with a lot of vines and greenery, Luyendyk said Wednesday. Its not your typical beach wedding. And its a private wedding, so not on TV  just a close group of friends. Probably 100 guests.

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Kufrin might be too busy planning a wedding of her own. I am engaged! she told People magazine for their Friday issue. It was the happiest moment of my life. And it feels so good to say it. I still pinch myself, like, did that all just happen? Its been a whirlwind.

Find out who Kufrin chose as her husband-to-be when The Bachelorette premieres Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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British and EU flags flying outside the Commission headquarters in Brussels (Reuters)

The EU has dismissed Theresa Mays plan to solve the Irish border issue as a fantasy after the two sides failed to make real progress in the latest round of Brexit talks.

UK and EU officials held talks for three days in Brussels this week in a bid to make the progress on outstanding issues, notably how to avoid a hard border in Ireland.

But a briefing given on the talks by a senior EU official tonight revealed how far apart the two sides remain just four weeks before the next deadline for talks.

The official said they were concerned that the UK government was not prepared to take responsibility for the consequences of Brexit.

I have the impression that the UK thinks everything has to change on the EUs side so that everything can stay the same for the UK, they told journalists.

The most substantial difference comes on how to avoid a hard border in Ireland if the UK leaves the EUs single market and customs union.

Theresa May wants to resolve the issue through a special customs agreement for the whole of the UK that would render border checks unnecessary.

That was ruled out by the EU official, who said any solution would have to be Ireland specific before adding: We have to do away with the fantasy that there is an all-UK solution.

EU leaders have said they want to see substantial progress on the Irish border issue before the EU leaders summit on June 28 and 29, but that has been thrown into doubt by the extent to disagreements this week.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays plans for the Irish border have been dismissed by the EU (Getty)

Progress at this stage seems elusive and substantive progress even more so, said the EU official.

The two sides also seem some distant apart on security cooperation after Brexit  particularly over the Galileo satellite navigation system.

The UK wants full access to the system after Brexit and today said they would claim back their 1bn investment if they did not receive it.

The EU says the UK will maintain access to the encrypted signal used by the military with certain guarantees, but not the propriety information that would allow the UK to control the system.

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That would breach the sovereignty of the EU, said the official, adding: I would expect the UK to have an understanding of this.

The EU has now ruled out UK participation in the European Arrest Warrant, saying membership was not possible for countries which did not abide by EU procedures and standards.

These are not bureaucratic issues, said the EU official. We are talking here about the lives and the liberty of people.

The official said the cooperation on all these areas could continue but not in the same way as now and appealed to the UK government to change their negotiating stance.

They said: The sooner we can start talking about these instruments rather than chasing the fantasy of denying the consequences of Brexit in a given policy area, the sooner we can get to solutions.

A UK government source told the Guardian: This is what they do every time. As usual weve heard it all before. Theres nothing theyve said which concerns us.

MORE: Britain to demand 1 billion back from EU in Brexit satellite row




David Hogg and other Parkland, Florida, activists are calling for a "die-in" at a local supermarket chain across Florida after in light of donations made to a state Republican gubernatorial candidate who supports the National Rifle Association.

Hogg one of the organizers of the March for Our Lives movement and a vocal opponent of the NRA, took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce the protest. The "die-in" will occur at Publix Supermarket in Parkland on Friday to protest the market's donations to gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam.

Putnam, who called himself a "proud NRA sellout has one of the highest rankings from the NRA, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

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@Publix is a #NRASellOut. In Parkland we will have a die in the Friday (the 25th) before memorial day weekend. Starting at 4pm for 12 min inside our 2 Publix stores. Just go [and] lie down starting at 4. Feel free to die in with us at as many other @Publix as possible, Hogg tweeted.

Hogg and other Parkland activists have called for Publix to rescind its endorsement of Putnam and announced a boycott of the chain. The Florida-based supermarket reportedly gave Putnam $67,000 over the past three years, the Tampa Bay Tribune reported.

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Anyone who supports an NRA sellout is an NRA sellout. That is why I am calling on everyone to stop shopping at Publix until they pull their endorsement of Putnam publicly. Publix is supporting the inaction after pulse, strozier, Douglas, liberty city. Dont support an NRA sellout, Hogg tweeted on Tuesday.

Since the announcement of the protest, Publix has responded on social media to customers who are disappointed over the supermarkets endorsement.

As one of the largest employers in the state of Florida, and with the majority of our stores and our corporate headquarters located here as well, we have a significant interest in our home state. As the hometown candidate, Publix has supported Commissioner Putnam...since he ran for the state House of Representatives, Publix tweeted to one customer.

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In a statement to the Sun-Sentinel, Publix spokeswoman Nicole Kraus said the company has supported Florida candidates who they believe will benefit the state.

We regret that some of our political contributions have led to an unintentional customer divide instead of our desire to support a growing economy in Florida. As a result of this situation, we are evaluating our processes to ensure that our giving better reflects our intended desire to support a strong economy and a healthy community, Kraus told the publication.

Hogg is one of the survivors of the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February where 17 people were shot to death by an armed gunman. After the most recent shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas, which left 10 people dead, Hogg took to social media to call out politicians on their inaction of gun violence.

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Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) 's decision to axe 7,000 jobs, many of which will be London-based, is more than just another round of cost-cutting of the kind that is being seen at banks everywhere.

It is a deeply symbolic move that highlights the near-capitulation of non-American players in the field of investment banking.

Deutsche's new chief executive, Christian Sewing, has made no secret of his desire to refocus the bank towards its traditional activities of lending to companies - especially in Germany - and individuals.

And today's announcement marks an intensification of a retreat from global investment banking - a business activity Deutsche has spent nearly three decades building up.

Deutsche first moved into investment banking meaningfully when, in 1989, it bought the venerable old British merchant bank Morgan Grenfell for 950m. The architect of the deal, Deutsche's chairman, Alfred Herrhausen, had a vision for Deutsche Bank very much in line with his vision for the country.

West Germany's big companies were, in those days, interconnected by a series of cross-shareholdings unlike anything in Britain or America at that time.

At the centre of it all was Deutsche Bank, famously described at the time as "the switchboard of the West German economy", an entity capable of blocking foreign takeovers of West German businesses and bailing out struggling ones. It was the organisation that funded what remains Europe's mightiest exporting economy.

But the charismatic Dr Herrhausen could see a time when Germany would be reunified and was anxious that, when it happened, the country could boast a global banking giant capable of competing on the world stage alongside the big American and Japanese players.

He was also keen that, ahead of the creation of the EU's single market in 1992, Germany would be able to take advantage.

Dr Herrhausen never lived to see German unification. Shortly after agreeing the Morgan Grenfell deal, he was murdered by the Red Army Faction, a far-left West German terrorist organisation. More than 10,000 business and political leaders from around the world attended his funeral: this was indeed an age in which great bankers were truly revered.

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The strategy was continued by his successor, Hilmar Kopper, who decided it needed to be stepped up when in 1994 the bank lost out to Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) to lead in the privatisation of Deutsche Telekom (IOB: 0MPH.IL - news) - a lucrative piece of business the bank would have expected to be its by right. Deutsche relocated the centre of its investment banking operations from Frankfurt to London and began poaching aggressively from Wall Street rivals.

The hiring spree reached its peak when, in 1995, Deutsche hired the American banker Edson Mitchell from Merrill Lynch to run its Global Markets division. Mr Mitchell, who famously once said "if you haven't made $100m by the time you're 40, you're a failure", brought 50 of his colleagues, many of them on guaranteed bonuses.

In 1999, under Mr Kopper's successor, Rolf Breuer, Deutsche bought America's eighth-largest bank, Banker's Trust, for 6.1bn. This deal also gave it a significant presence in the City and, in particular, in the UK equities market, where Banker's Trust owned a brokerage, BT Alex Brown, which was built largely on the securities business of the old NatWest Bank.

The deal, which at the time made Deutsche the world's biggest bank, highlighted the organisation's doggedness and its determination to crack investment banking. By then, with only limited success, it had already spent billions in trying to join Wall Street players like Goldman, Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) and Merrill Lynch in the so-called 'bulge bracket'.

It was also a strategy by no means popular at home: a series of scandals at Morgan Grenfell had already tarnished Deutsche's image with the German public.

Resentment built in Germany at how Deutsche, where all the big decisions now appeared to be taken in London and New York, had lost its German-ness. Meetings among bank executives were now conducted in English and not German.

Perhaps, if they had known what was to come, Deutsche's executives would have walked away from investment banking there and then. The bank's breakneck expansion of its balance sheet and, in particular, the building of huge derivatives positions caught up with it when the financial crisis struck.

Going into the crisis, in 2007, two-thirds of Deutsche's employees worked outside Germany and nearly three quarters of its profits were coming from investment banking and related activities. Those profits melted in the crisis. But as Deutsche was able to avoid bailouts from taxpayers, unlike its US and British rivals, it persevered with investment banking.

This was highlighted by the appointment in 2011 of Anshu Jain, head of corporate and investment banking, as joint chief executive with Frankfurt-based Jurgen Fitschen.

The appointments only intensified the rivalry between London and New York on one side and Frankfurt on the other just as the bank found itself increasingly buffeted by scandals dating back to the pre-crisis period: how it had helped wealthy American clients shelter their wealth from the taxman; how it had helped Russian oligarchs get their money out of the country and, of course, Libor-rigging.

Regulators were particularly keen on punishing the bank for mis-selling US mortgage-backed securities - a product which, ironically, one of Deutsche's own traders, Greg Lippman (on whom a character played by Ryan Gosling in the film The Big Short was based) made a fortune betting against.

The co-chief executive experiment ended when, in 2015, British-born John Cryan became chief executive. He quickly found himself having to fight numerous fires started by past misconduct but also made clear he was no fan of the lavish bonuses paid to investment bankers.

If Mr Cryan was the firefighter, the next step was to reduce Deutsche's dependence on investment banking and going back to its roots, which is why Mr Sewing has been appointed.

After 30 years of patiently building up investment banking, tolerating huge costs in the process, Deutsche's shareholders have had enough.

With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) the Japanese having long given up their ambitions in investment banking along with Swiss bank UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) , another former titan in the sector, Wall Street's big names more or less have the field to themselves. Only Barclays and Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) look likely to mount any kind of challenge to them in future.

The big bucks from advising on and financing huge deals and from trading securities will almost exclusively be made from now on by American institutions.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a special session of the National Constituent Assembly to take oath as re-elected President at the Palacio Federal Legislativo in Caracas, Venezuela May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Robin Emmott

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is considering imposing economic sanctions on 11 Venezuelan officials in June following President Nicolas Maduro's re-election which the bloc said was not free or fair, EU diplomats said on Friday.

The travel bans and asset freezes would be on top of the seven senior Venezuela officials that the bloc sanctioned in January, but are not expected to target Maduro, mainly because the EU wants to pressure those around him to change course.

"We are working on a list that might include 11 more individuals," an EU official said. "This might be approved (by EU foreign ministers) in June."

The European Union, Venezuela's third-largest trading partner after the United States and China, is seeking to isolate Caracas and to help end what it sees as Maduro's authoritarian regime that is ruining the economy, provoking food shortages.

The European Union imposed an arms embargo in November.

EU foreign ministers will also issue a joint statement on Monday condemning last weekend's election in Venezuela, which the bloc, the United States and other Western governments see as a farce that does not meet democratic norms.

Venezuela's mainstream opposition boycotted the election because two of its most popular leaders were barred, authorities banned several political parties, and the election board is run by Maduro loyalists.

"The EU calls for the holding of fresh presidential elections in accordance with internationally recognised democratic standards," EU foreign ministers will say, according to a draft seen by Reuters.

"The election and its outcome lacked any credibility," they will say, also warning of sanctions in the statement by saying: "The EU will act swiftly...with the aim of imposing additional targeted and reversible restrictive measures.

However, with no special EU envoy to Venezuela and unwilling at this stage to impose an oil embargo, the EU expects the impact of new sanctions to be limited, one bloc official said.

Experts say broader U.S. sanctions, while providing strong symbolism, have had little or no impact on Maduro's policies so far and that oil sector and financial sanctions may be the only way to force the Venezuelan government to change.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
U.S. president Trump supporter holds a banner against MS-13 before a forum about Central American-based Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang organization at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage, New York, U.S., May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras will keep fighting the scourge of gangs whether or not the United States decides to cut off aid, the security minister said on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened aid cuts.

Trump announced on Wednesday that he is working on a plan to reduce U.S. aid to countries he accuses of doing nothing to stop MS-13 gang members from crossing into the United States illegally. Trump did not provide details on the plan but said it would "radically" change the way U.S. foreign aid is structured.

The notorious crime group was founded by Salvadorans in Los Angeles in the 1980s and spread to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala as the United States deported waves of migrants.

El Salvador said on Thursday that Central America suffered most as those deportations ramped up in the mid-1990s, giving way to gang-fuelled extortion, drug trafficking, killings and the recruitment of children.

It said it is committed to helping deportees re-settle and to reducing "irregular migration" to the United States.

"We express our firm and total disagreement towards those who characterize all of our migrants as criminals," Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren said in a statement.

"The great majority of Salvadorans on U.S. soil are workers and industrious."

Honduran Security Minister Julian Pacheco told reporters that the government is working "incessantly" to break up gangs and otherwise stem the tide of migrants fleeing the violence for better prospects in the United States.

"No one can say Honduras is giving up on this struggle. We're almost alone as we fight it and we're doing so with our own resources," Pacheco said.

"International aid is very important, but if there isn't aid we can't just lay down and cry," he said.

The United States has pledged $750 million to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador through the "Alliance for Prosperity" announced in 2014, seeking to curb migration through development projects and law-and-order funding to crack down on gangs.

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At the start of 2017, $125 million went to Honduras and $98 million to El Salvador.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it will end temporary protections for immigrants in the United States from Honduras by early 2020, leaving potentially 57,000 people vulnerable to deportation.

Last January, it cut the same protections for 200,000 Salvadorans who had been allowed to live and work in the United States since 2001. Their status will expire in 2019.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Nelson Meza in San Salvador; Writing by David Alire Garcia and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Grant McCool)
Did you get stuck in a traffic jam this morning? If so, you're in good company. Just like thousands of human drivers, planet Earth itself gets caught in a patches of bad traffic, a new study published in Science has revealed.

Scientists studying the behavior of Earths weird jet streams have discovered the fast flowing currents of air bottleneck like vehicles on a busy road. These traffic jams, they say, can cause extreme weather events.

5_22_Hurricane Irma

Helene Valenzuela/AFP/Getty Images

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Jet streams are thin and winding currents of air that form in our planets atmosphere. They meander across thousands of miles and interfere with local weather patterns through something called blocking. This blocking can last for days, contributing to weird and sometimes intense weather events like the unexpected New Jersey landfall of Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Sandy tore through the New Jersey coast, leaving thousands without a home. Five years later, many were still rebuilding their lives, NJ.com reported in 2017.

Scientists charting jet streams noticed that atmospheric blocking patterns bear a striking similarity to the ebb and flow of congested traffic on a highway.

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A well-established mathematical model helps researchers describe the behavior of traffic on a highway. In light traffic, cars usually drive near the speed limit and the flow of vehicles stays relatively smooth. When traffic becomes heavier, drivers slow down, disrupting the flow and causing bottlenecks as the density of traffic exceeds a highways capacity.

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Our planets jet streams, the authors think, suffer similar traffic headaches. Stationary waves affect a jet streams ability to produce transient waves. Local blocks form as streams reach their wave flow capacity, like cars slowing down and bottlenecking on a road.

Scientists believe that human-driven climate change is driving extreme weather, according to last year's National Climate Assessment. In the case of jet streams, the team reporting in Science suggest global warming might affect how often jet streams suffer a block. In the Pacific, for example, they think the frequency of blocks may actually be decreasing.

But, the response of jet streams to climate change, they write, is likely non-uniform. For now it's hard to say exactly how these strange and powerful traffic jams in the sky will affect life down on the surface of Earth.

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Nearly 50 people have been arrested as part of a massive police crackdown on biker gangs in Rhode Island.

A total of 49 people have been arrested following the year-long investigation involving more than 150 state, federal and local law enforcement officers, with 53 illegal guns and large quantities of marijuana, crack, cocaine and heroin also seized.

The arrests were made following a series of pre-dawns raids by the Rhode Island State Police. During the raids, explosive devices were used to breach heavily fortified buildings, as well as an armored truck and battering ram to break down doors. Dozens of heavily armed SWAT team members were also deployed to detain the suspects.

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Announcing the arrests, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, Colonel Ann C. Assumpico, described the operation as the single largest takedown in the departments history.

"These gang members are not recreational bikers organizing local charities. These are violent criminals who belong to some of the most sinister motorcycle gangs in this country," Assumpico said.

"When I learned they were trying to establish a foothold here in Rhode Island, I ordered my detectives to use whatever means necessary to investigate and eradicate these gangs.

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"Today's arrests send a clear and convincing message: We will not allow motorcycle gangs and other criminals to sell guns and drugs on our streets and commit violent crimes in our communities.

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Rhode Island State Police

According to the police, one of the suspects they arrested was en route to committing a premeditated murder. The alleged gang member was stopped in his vehicle near to the potential victims home in possession of a 9mm Ruger pistol.

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"I commend the excellent work by the network of law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation, especially the prosecutors from my office and the Rhode Island State Police. As with all good investigations, it took patience and tenacity to unravel what is a vast and complex network of drug and gun traffickers in Rhode Island and bordering Massachusetts and Connecticut, said Attorney General Peter Kilmartin.

More than a dozen additional suspects are being sought by Rhode Island State Police for a string of crimes.

The investigation, Operation Patched Out, focused on targeting members of two gangs: The Pagans and Kryptmen, who are allegedly involved in gun and drug trafficking, with local chapters known for a long history of criminal activity including murder, kidnapping, robbery.

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The U.S. military sent reaper drones into the heart of Europe, marking the first time that U.S. military drones will be based out of Greece.

The MQ-9 Reaper drones are now stationed in the Larisa Air Force Base, located near the Aegean Sea, according to reports. Officials said the drones will be stationed in Greece temporarily while their regular base in Africa is under reconstruction. The U.S. began regularly flying armed drones over Niger last year, where they are used to fight the proliferation of extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The MQ-9 reaper drones are armed, long-endurance aircraft that can be commanded remotely, and they can be used for intelligence collection and combat.

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Given its significant loiter time, wide-range sensors, multi-mode communications suite, and precision weaponsit provides a unique capability to perform strike, coordination, and reconnaissance against high-value, fleeting, and time-sensitive targets, according to the U.S. Air Force. Reapers can also perform the following missions and tasks: intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, close air support, combat search and rescue, precision strike, buddy-lase, convoy or raid overwatch, target development, and terminal air guidance. The MQ-9's capabilities make it uniquely qualified to conduct irregular warfare operations in support of combatant commander objectives.

U.S. Air Force officials told reporters that the drones stationed in Greece would be unarmed, but it is unclear how long the drones will be stationed in that country. The U.S. has just one military base in the country, but Greek media have suggested that the two countries are considering ways to increase their military cooperation. The U.S. closed two of its military bases in Greece in 1990.

The United States provides military assistance to Greece through the International Military Education Training program, which forges lasting relationships between Greeces emerging military leaders and their U.S. counterparts, according to the White House. Additionally, Greece hosts Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the island of Crete - an important military installation that supports the regional objectives of the United States and NATO.

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Cybersecurity software group Defenx has said goodbye to its chief executive officer a month after major shareholder, Italian cyber specialist BV Tech, upped its stake to 54.74% of the company as it narrowed its focus onto cloud-backup services.

Alessandro Poerio resigned in order to "pursue other interests", having taken over from previous boss and founder Andrea Stecconi on 21 November. He will be replaced by Tony Reeves, currently a non-executive director, on 31 May until Defenx appoints a permanet new chief executive.

Stecconi, founder and executive director, resigned from the board a month ago, as a planned part of the changed strategy, which was accompanied by .

Tony Reeves, Defenx's chairman, said, "I would like to thank Alessandro for his contribution to the company over the past six months, during which he has been instrumental in developing our new Defenx 2020 strategy."

"Despite the challenges that the company has faced in recent times, I believe that we have the right strategy in place and I look forward to taking the group forward to ensure we deliver profitable revenue growth in the medium and long-term," he added.

In a trading update issued to the market in February, Defenx warned investors that consolidated revenues from its last trading year would be "materially below" the year prior due to the cancellation of confirmed orders.

The Defenx 2020 strategic plan aims to narrow the focus of the the company's short- to medium-term development and sales efforts on cloud backup for the corporate market. "This strategy reflects the changing competitive landscape, growing demand for cloud-based services, feedback from existing and potential customers and the support of BV Tech, the Defenx Group's strategic partner."

As of 0850 BST, Defenx shares had lost 4.55% to 21p.
Upstream gas company Echo Energy has successfully raised 8.5m through the issue of 71.18m new ordinary shares in the company at 12p each.

Since Echo's acquisition of its Argentinian portfolio and re-admission to AIM back in January, the firm kicked off its "busy" work programme in the South American nation and, along with its partner Compania General de Combustibles, has completed workovers of three existing wells at its Fraccion D asset.

Given the "early successes" of the Argentinian work programme, and the attractive domestic contractor rates available to the firm, Echo and CGC looked to accelerate their commitment by way of the placing.

Echo's placing "will be sufficient" to enable it to cover costs of roughly 6.3m related to its planned seismic programme at its Tapi Aike asset.

As of 1200 BST, Echo shares had tumbled 13.62% to 12.52p.
Gold producer Orosur Mining has terminated its option agreement with Chile's national mining company over its Anillo gold exploration project as part of an effort to focus its resources on core properties in Colombia and Uruguay.

Orosur's agreement with Nacional del Cobre de Chile regarding the Anillo project, originally optioned from the state agency back in 2010, granted the AIM-quoted firm the right to acquire a 65% interest in the project under the provision that it spent $4m over a four year period and completed a bankable feasibility study at the asset.

However, in view of the lack of positive exploration results from its first drilling phase, as well as a funding agreement with Asset Chile Exploracion Minera Fondo de Inversion Privado that failed to materialise, Orosur decided not to proceed with the option agreement.

Orosur noted that there were no penalties involved with the termination.

As of 0900 BST, Orosur shares had picked up 5.65% to 4.49p.
Tehran has set an end of May deadline for Europe to prove their support for the nuclear deal after the US decided to abandon it earlier this month.

Since America's withdrawal, European powers are trying to find a way to minimise the impact of the Trump administration's decision on Iran's economy and to persuade it to remain in the 2015 deal that reigns in its nuclear program.

Officials from the nations that opted to remain in the agreement met on Friday for the first time since US President Donald Trumps decision.

According to Reuters, they assured Tehran that they would continue to invest in the country's firms and petrochemical sector.

EU leaders are already working to facilitate EU-based firms' presence in the central Asian country by helping to offset the potential impact from the US sanctions regime.

On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, laid out five demands that Europe must meet in order to save the deal and which could prove a bit of a problem for the EU.

"Iran will resume halted nuclear activities if Europe fails to provide guarantees," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

His five demands were:

1. "The US has rejected Resolution 2231 to endorse the nuclear deal; Europe needs to issue a resolution against the US's repudiation of it."

2. "Europe must promise not to pursue concessions on Iran's missile programmes and regional affairs of the Islamic Republic."

3. "Europe must encounter any sanction against the Islamic Republic and explicitly stand to USs sanctions."

4. "Europe must guarantee that Irans oil will be completely sold. If the US can damage the sale of our oil, we must be able to sell as much oil as we want. Europeans must guarantee that they compensate for the loss, and that they buy Iran's oil."

5. "European banks must guarantee transactions with the Islamic Republic. We have no conflicts with regard to these three countries; but we do not trust them, based on previous experience."
Spain's High Court has found Spain's ruling Partido Popular party guilty of benefiting from illegal campaign financing, handing down prison sentences for 29 of the 37 defendants.

Following years of investigation, judges in Madrid found that some members of the PP - but not the party itself - ran a secret slush fund from 1999 to 2008, with two of them using roughly 200,000 to finance their own race for mayor in two towns.

Hence, implicitly, the court found that the PP had saved itself those monies and asked that they be returned.

Yet neither the party itself nor Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had been indicted and in July the latter testified that he had no knowledge of such activities nor of supposed paybacks to other members of the party.

On the other hand, Luis Barcenas, the party's ex-treasurer and ring leader, to 33 years in prison on charges of bribery, money laundering and tax evasion. Businessman Francisco Correa, whose firms were at the center of the scheme, was sentenced to 51 years in prison.

Back in 2009, Rajoy claimed that the investigation, known as the Gurtel case, "was a plot against the PP".

On the back of the ruling, the Socialist PSOE, currently the main opposition party but lagging in polls, and its leader Pedro Sanchez, said they wanted to hold a vote on impeaching Rajoy. With the backing of an absolute majority of MPs - including from pro-independence nationalists in Catalonia (and Basque country) - he would automatically be declared as the new Prime Minister.

However, Rajoy could short-circuit such a ploy by calling for early elections.

The centrist Ciudadanos party, which now leads in the polls, has said it would only support an impeachment if it were followed by early elections.

According to a poll conducted by Metroscopia in January, Ciudadanos and the centre-right PP have a slim absolute majority of voters backing them.

Helping them perhaps was a ten percentage point drop to a still high 58% over the past year in the proportion of Spaniards who define the economic climate as negative.

Indeed, despite previous attempts by the opposition parties to unseat Rajoy, including the government deadlock last year or the secessionist gambit in Catalonia, the Spanish has been among the fastest growing OECD economies over the past few years, albeit on the back of economic reforms some of which the PSOE or Podemos say they want to roll-back.
North Korea's diplomatic response to the US decision to pull-out of a planned 12 June summit buoyed markets, helping to offset political tensions in the euro area periphery, particularly in Spain.

Also delivering a boost to investor sentiment was a slightly better-than-expected reading on German business confidence for the month of May.

Against that backdrop, by the close of trading the benchmark Stoxx 600 had edged up 0.14% or 0.54 points to 22,398.15, alongside a jump of 0.65% or 82.92 points to 12,938.01 for the German Dax, while the Cac-40 was off by 0.11% or 5.90 points to 5,542.55.

Despite Friday's gains in some indices, overall stocks on the Continent were headed for their first weekly loss in two months.

That was underscored by sharp falls in Spanish and Italian shares on Friday, with Madrid's Ibex 35 retreating 1.70% to 9,826.50, while the FTSE Mibtel ended 1.54% lower at 22,398.15.

Following an embarrassing legal sentence overnight for Spain's ruling PP party, linked to two of its mayors and its ex-treasurer, most of the main opposition parties are now calling for either the Prime Minister's impeachment or for early elections.

While not yet certain, the odds of the latter appeared to have risen substantially.

Meanwhile, Italian shares were still on the back foot as investors continued to shy away from the country's sovereign debt.

The euro/dollar also traded lower, falling 0.5% o 1.16612.

Longer-term Spanish bonds were also under heaving selling pressure, pushing the yield on 10-year notes up by seven basis points to 1.47%.

On a more positive note, the closely-followed IFO German business confidence index printed at 102.2 for May and was unchanged from the month before (consensus: 102.0).

Nevertheless, economists were wary of calling a bottom, given the ongoing protectionist trade winds that were blowing.
North Korea's diplomatic response to the US decision to pull-out of a planned 12 June summit is buoying markets, helping to offset political tensions in the euro area periphery.

Also delivering a boost to investor sentiment was a slightly better-than-expected reading on German business confidence for the month of May.

Against that backdrop, as of 1134 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was seeing a dip of 0.18% or 41.87 points to 22,708.72, alongside a jump of 1.03% or 131.98 points to 12,987.07 for the German Dax, while the Cac-40 was up by 0.59% or 32.77 points to 5,581.14.

Despite Friday's gains in those indices, stocks on the Continent were headed for their first weekly loss in two months.

Indeed, Italian stocks were still on the back foot as investors continued to shy away from the country's sovereign debt, while in Spain a no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister appeared to be paving the way for early elections.

Thus, the FTSE Mibtel was down by 0.87% or 196.41 points to 22,552.67, while Spain's Ibex 35 was retreating 2.04% or 204.0 points to 9,792.0.

The euro/dollar was also trading lower, falling 0.41% o 1.1674.

Longer-term Spanish bonds were also under heaving selling pressure, pushing the yield on 10-year notes up by nine basis points to 1.48%.

On a more positive note, the closely-followed IFO German business confidence index printed at 102.2 for May and was unchanged from the month before (consensus: 102.0).

Nevertheless, economists were wary of calling a bottom, given the ongoing protectionist trade winds that were blowing.
An independent Scotland would need to delay the launch of an independent currency, cut spending and provide tax cuts to migrants, according to a Scottish National Party report on Friday.

The sustainable growth commission report, commissioned by Nicola Sturgeon, argues that "robust" controls on public spending in the first five to 10 years after independence would allow the country to cut its deficit and target a 2.5% growth rate, similar to that of small wealthy nations such as Denmark and Finland.

The report did warn, however, that achieving such a goal could take at least a generation.

It had been expected that the report would recommend the creation of a Scottish currency but the document instead emphasised a need to attract foreign migrants and students, as well as gain fiscal stability and financial reserves.

Richard Leonard, the Scottish Labour leader, said: "These plans would leave an independent Scotland as a rule taker not a rule maker. The SNP is proposing a decade of unprecedented austerity and no control over the value of their wages, rent and mortgages."

The latest official figures demonstrate that the country spent 13.5bn more on public services in 2016 than had been raised by taxes in Scotland and subsidies from the UK at large.

"It is not a report about the timing of a referendum  rather, it focuses on the why of independence and how we can use the powers it will deliver to build a stronger economy and a fairer society. In so doing, it heralds the start of a debate based on hope and ambition about the future of the country, rather than on the despair of Brexit," said Sturgeon.
B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher and Wickes owner Travis Perkins rallied on Friday as investors bet that disruption at Homebase would benefit the two after Australia's Wesfarmers sold Homebase for 1.

Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers, which paid 340m for Homebase just two years ago, sold the UK DIY chain to restructuring specialist Hilco Capital. Hilco will revert the 24 Homebase stores trading under the Bunnings name across the UK to their original trading name following the disposal, which is expected to cost up to 230m.

Jefferies said in a note that the sale will have "major consequences" for UK DIY.

"The risk was for sharply increased capex in the years ahead. We should now get a sharply improved gross margin outlook. This is materially supportive to B&Q, and Kingfisher," it said. It said the risk ahead of today was that Wesfarmers would be "irrational" and back a significant investment to rebrand Homebase stores into Bunnings.

"Todays news should see B&Qs biggest competitor (and arguably the only alternative to retail customers in the UK large-sheds DIY market, given Wickes squarely more trade oriented offering) become much more sensitive to short, and mid-term, margin and cash flow challenges."

Jefferies said Homebase will miss the "considerable buying muscle" of Bunnings in Asia, meaning pricing on seasonal products including barbecues is likely to be less aggressive as a result.

"A number of branded suppliers had strongly backed BUKI in a bid to create an alternative to B&Q in the UK, and that support is likely to soften under the new ownership structure," it added.

At 1225 BST, Kingfisher shares were up 3.5% to 307.20p and Travis Perkins was up 2.1% to 1,367.50p.
Growing up with two older brothers, University of North Georgia (UNG) junior Caroline Frank was accustomed to watching the anime television show "Pokemon." Something about it stuck with her.

"I liked the show and the animation. I was drawn to it," said Frank, who is majoring in studio art with a concentration in graphic design. "I watched more anime as I got older and really liked the Japanese culture."

Now, the 21-year-old from Cumming, Georgia, will experience the Japanese culture first-hand as one of seven UNG students awarded the Freeman-ASIA scholarships. She will spend nine weeks in Japan this summer. She and eight other UNG students going to study in Japan have received additional funds to cover their airfare thanks to a 2016 grant from the Japan Foundation.

"I hope the experience will make me more culturally aware," Frank said, who, like the other six recipients, will receive $3,000 to study in Asia. "I hope it will increase my communication skills in the language and I hope I will become a more well-rounded person."

The Freeman-ASIA scholarship supports U.S.-based undergraduates with demonstrated financial need to study abroad in East or Southeast Asia. The goal is to increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents with first-hand exposure to and understanding of Asia and its peoples and cultures.

Jonathan Lomas, a sophomore from Gainesville, Georgia, majoring in engineering, said he would never have been able to travel overseas without the Freeman-ASIA scholarship.

"I've always wanted to go to a different country  because it would be a fun experience to learn a new language and learn about a culture that I didn't know about," Lomas said. "The appeal of this program was it paid for the airfare and almost everything, except for my meals."

Lomas, who also is going to Japan, chose the option of staying with a host family instead of living in a residence hall at a college.

"When you are with a family, you can observe how they act, eat and talk to each other. I wanted to see that for myself and participate in it," he said.

Two other UNG students heading to Japan this summer will be Tiffany Bell Hostetter, a junior from Dahlonega, Georgia, majoring in East Asian studies; and Aubrey Rost, a senior from Statesboro, Georgia, majoring in history education.

"I want to move to Japan after I graduate," Hostetter said. "This will be a trial run."

Tiffany Bell Hostetter, a junior from Dahlonega, Georgia, majoring in East Asian studies, earned a Freeman-ASIA scholarship. She will spend the summer studying in Japan.

The three remaining Freeman-ASIA scholarship winners are Ariel Rembert, Josh Shepherd and Samuel "Sam" Thirakoune. All three are part of the Chinese Flagship Program at UNG and have received an additional $1,600 from the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship sponsored by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. They are headed to Taiwan for eight weeks.

Thirakoune, a junior from Locust Grove, Georgia, majoring in Chinese and anthropology, is looking forward to returning to Asia after visiting family there. The 21-year-old's family emigrated from Laos, which is west of Taiwan.

"I am a language major and don't have much exposure to practice it other than in class," said Thirakoune, who is fluent in English, Thai and Lao. "If I was to use the Chinese language in my career, I need to be at a high-proficient level. Being there in Taiwan, I will use it every day."

Samuel "Sam" Thirakoune, a junior from Locust Grove, Georgia, majoring in Chinese and anthropology, earned three scholarships to study abroad in Taiwan this summer. They were the Freeman-ASIA, Benjamin A. Gilman International and Huayu Enrichment Scholarship scholarships.

Dr. Anastasia Lin, assistant vice president of research and engagement and associate professor of English at UNG, said having seven students selected for the Freeman-ASIA program marks an increase for UNG.

"The increase in our numbers is due in large part to coordination with the Center for Global Engagements study abroad advisors and Daniela Martinez in the Chinese Flagship Program," Lin said. It also reflects our students' continued commitment to internationalizing their studies to better understand our globalized world.

In addition to the Freeman-ASIA winners, seven UNG students were notified of winning the Benjamin A. Gilman International scholarships for the summer semester plus two alternates. They are:

Riane Hood received $4,000 to study in Morocco

Lacey Walden received $3,000 to study in Costa Rica

Jonathan Lomas received $6,500 to study in Japan

Edwin Thomas received $3,500 to study in China

Janae Jackson received $3,000 to study in South Korea

Samuel Thirakoune received $4,000 to study in Taiwan

Esteban Reyes received $3,500 to study in Argentina

Ivan Baquerizo is an alternate; he hopes to study in Peru

Katherine Torres is an alternate; she hopes to study in Ireland

The Gilman is open to U.S. citizen undergraduate students who receive Federal Pell Grant funding at a two-year or four-year college or university to participate in study and intern abroad programs worldwide. Lin explained the scholarship is unique because it is geared toward supporting students who are underrepresented in study abroad programs.

UNG has been named as one of the top-producing schools of the Gilman scholarships by the U.S. Department of State. UNG is No. 3 on the list among large public and private schools with more than 15,000 students in Georgia for the 2016-17 academic year.
Kensington Palace revealed the Duchess of Sussex's coat of arms this morning (May 25). According to CTV News, it is a tradition for a new member of the royal family to be given a distinct coat of arms, which is created to distinguish the person. According to The Telegraph, "the coat of arms belonging to a Royal bride impale the emblem of her own family with that of her husband to form a new image, [sic]" but since the Duchess is American, her family does not have one. It was reported by CNN that the Duchess of Sussex worked with the College of Arms to create a coat of arms that would be "personal," as well as "representative."

The Telegraph reported that Queen Elizabeth II has given her approval, as well as Thomas Woodcock, "Garter King of Arms and Senior Herald in England, who is based at the College of Arms in London." It was reported by The Telegraph that Mr.

Woodcock said: "The Duchess of Sussex took a great interest in the design. Good heraldic design is nearly always simple and the Arms of The Duchess of Sussex stand well beside the historic beauty of the quartered British Royal Arms [sic]."

The coat of arms

The Duchess of Sussex's coat of arms has personal touches with symbols that represent her life in California, as well as her new royal life at Kensington Palace. According to CTV News, the shield on her coat of arms has a blue background, which represents the Duchess's birthplace, California's Pacific Ocean coastline. The two lines on the right side of the shield are golden rays, which symbolizes California's sunshine. The three quills placed on either side and in the middle of the golden rays illustrate "communication and the power of words." Underneath the shield, growing in the grass is golden poppy flowers, the state flower of California.

According to The Telegraph, a royal bride generally has two supporters that hold the shield. One represents the bride's family, while the other one represents her husband. However, since the Duchess's family does not have a coat of arms, she chose a white songbird, with an open beak, flapping wings, and a crown-like necklace, to represent herself.

The songbird is using its right leg to hold the shield up.

A thing of beauty

Under the shield, there are wintersweet flowers as well, which are grown at The Duchess of Sussex's new home Kensington Palace. It was reported by CTV News, poppy flowers and wintersweet flowers were both used at the royal wedding. While the right side of the coat of arms represents the Duchess of Sussex, the left side is taken from her husband Prince Harry's.

According to CTV News, Kensington Palace said that it was a custom for a wife's coat of arms to incorporate elements of her husband's. On the left side of the shield, the supporter is a lion with a golden crown, neck piece, and red claws, which is also on Prince Harry's coat of arms. On the left side of the shield itself, there are golden lions on a red background, and a golden harp on a blue background, which are features in Prince Harry's shield.

The Telegraph reported, "A coronet has also been assigned, composed of two crosses patee, four fleurs-de-lys and two strawberry leaves." The gold, red, and white crown that resides over the shield is similar, but different, from the crown over the shield on Prince Harry's coat of arms.

With these symbols, the Duchess of Sussex is showing the pride and care she has for family, as well as her new family at Kensington Palace.
Mission informs Malaysia about migrant issues

The Nepali embassy in Malaysia has informed Malaysian authorities about Nepals call for scrapping all additional fees levied on Nepali workers.
The world is back to square one, as Donald Trump canceled the proposed summit with Kim Jong-un that was scheduled to be held in Singapore on June 12. It is a big blow to the peace efforts that had been initiated by Moon Jae-in, president of South Korea. The camaraderie at the 2018 Winter Olympics and subsequent meeting on the DMZ between the two Koreas had raised hopes of peace in the peninsula. That has come to naught. The Independent UK reports that Kim, true to his word, has destroyed the nuclear test site in the presence of the global media that witnessed the demolition of tunnels at the Punggye-Ri site, which, according to Pyongyang, was proof of its commitment to end nuclear testing.

However, Trump has canceled the summit.

Reasons behind the decision

While canceling the summit, Donald Trump has blamed the increasingly hostile rhetoric from Pyongyang. He had already dropped hints that secret negotiations in preparation for the June 12 summit were not progressing satisfactorily. Therefore he has finally decided to pull out of the meeting. The US president had nurtured hopes of evolving a deal to bring peace in the region and go one-up on his predecessors. It would have been a creditable feat for him because former presidents had failed to do so. His dreams have vanished, but he has ended his letter to Kim Jong-un on a positive note. He has indicated that the door was open to working out fresh dates for the summit provided situations improved.

No one wants a nuclear war

2018 had started off on a positive note when Kim Jong-un reactivated the hotline with the North but, within six months, the situation has changed dramatically. The possibilities of normalizing relations between the two Koreas with consequent return of peace appears to be a distant dream. The fears of a nuclear war had receded but, it could raise its head again.

Both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are unpredictable leaders and have had several rounds of verbal duels in the past. The summit in Singapore was a sensitive issue and the administrators on both sides should have handled it with kid gloves. Instead, they have stirred up a hornets nest by their comments.

Trump, in his letter to Kim, has brought up the subject of nuclear capabilities and cautioned that the capabilities of the North will be no match against that of the United States.

The fact remains that, if both have their fingers on the buttons, the result will be a catastrophe. The solution could lie with Moon Jae-in. He has always wanted the reunification of the two Koreas and he will have to try and retrieve the situation.
Linsey Marr, professor of the civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named the Charles P. Lunsford Professor in Engineering by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The Charles P. Lunsford Professorship was established in 1976 by Charles P. Lunsford II of C.L. Lunsford Sons & Izard Inc., of Roanoke, Virginia, to recognize and reward an outstanding faculty member in the College of Engineering's Charles Edward Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The professorship is held for five years.

Over the past 14 years at Virginia Tech, Marr has established a highly regarded program in air quality engineering as air pollution has overtaken water quality and sanitation as the top environmental risk factor for disease worldwide. Marrs research focuses on characterizing the emissions, fate, and transport of air pollutants in order to provide the scientific basis for improving air quality and health.

Marr has secured substantial external funding  approximately $17.3 million  from several funding sources, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Her research has been recognized with an NSF CAREER Award as well as a prestigious NIH New Innovator Award. She is among the small number of engineers selected for this award, conducting research studying the transmission of influenza viruses by bioaerosols. She was also selected to serve as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines Committee on Grand Challenges and Opportunities in Environmental Engineering and Science for the 21st Century.

Marr has published a total of 81 peer-reviewed journal articles with more than 100 papers and presentations at conference and professional meetings. More than one-quarter of her papers have been published in Environmental Science & Technology/Environmental Science & Technology Letters, the leading journal in the field of environmental science and engineering.

In the classroom, Marrs teaching evaluations in courses are very strong and reflect instruction at every level from the required junior-level introductory course to advanced graduate-level courses. She is known as a very demanding instructor and is at the same time well respected by her students.

Marr received her bachelors degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Related stories
Nepalis denied UT-Tyler grants receive scholarships from other US colleges

Twenty-five of the 61 students, who were stranded after the US-based University of Texas (UT) at Tyler revoked full scholarships granted for their undergraduate programmes for the August intake, have got placement in several American universities.
Heres what I had in mind, kotiro, this

clipping at words like overgrown maikuku 

return the blankets of domestic life; dont fold

washing or wear shoes, polish these rerenga ke.

.

Eh. But this world.

I spose neither of us planned to be in politics,

never did do what others told us to 

wahanui though, go on, get

.

your sedition on girl,

your agitator, your defiant speak

to each other eye to eye 

Maori been jailed for nouns, phrases;

.

butcher up a clause, get buried

in Pakeha kupu, then dig that

out like the old people. No one approved

of their language either.

..

by Anahera Gildea
From Secular Humanism:

In 2015, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari published Sapiens, a sweeping and widely acclaimed history of humankind. In it, he discusses a phenomenon he calls humanism. Humanism, as he defines it, is a family of religions (that) worship humanity, or more correctly, homo sapiens. This worship of humanity, he argues, has made modernity an age of intense religious fervor, unparalleled missionary efforts, and the bloodiest wars of religion in history. The crimes of genocidal Nazism, Stalinist communism, and environmental destruction, he argues, can all be traced to the central tenets of humanism. If Harari is right, humanists need to engage in some serious soul-searching.

In mid-2017, Tom Flynn, editor of this magazine, responded with an editorial arguing that Hararis extreme and factually untethered critique effectively smears humanism (Smearing Humanism, FI, June/July 2017). A. P. (Andy) Norman, a humanist philosopher and frequent contributor to Free Inquiry, shared Flynns concerns but found that he was able to view Hararis efforts in a more charitable light. For if you grant Harari his definition of humanism, much of the rest seems to follow. Moreover, the resulting storya kind of revisionist take on modernitydoes contain important insights. Nevertheless, Norman reached out to Harari with a plea to rethink and rescind his critique of humanism. Harari replied, and the ensuing exchange is presented here, with only minor edits. The issue, it turns out, has profound implications for the humanist movement and its historical legacy.

More here.
Court rule in favour of Elsam/rsted

The High Court of Western Denmark delivered its judgment in the case concerning the former Elsam company.



In 2007, 1,106 Danish plaintiffs headed by the Danish energy trading company Energi Danmark brought an action against Elsam, a previous name for rsted, claiming compensation for losses allegedly suffered as a consequence of the potential violation of the Danish competition rules. The judgment delivered by the High Court of Western Denmark today does not concern the action for damages. The action for damages is pending in the Copenhagen Maritime and Commercial High Court.



In 2007, the Danish Competition Council found that Elsam had abused a dominant position in the market for wholesale of electricity in Western Denmark in the period from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2006.



In 2008, the Danish Competition Appeals Tribunal upheld the Danish Competition Councils decision for the period from 1 January 2005 to 30 June 2006, but repealed and remitted the decision for the second half of 2006.



On 30 August 2016, the Copenhagen Maritime and Commercial High Court upheld the Danish competition authorities claim that Elsam violated the Danish competition rules in the period from 1 January 2005 to 30 June 2006.



The High Court of Western Denmark acquits rsted of the claim that Elsam abused a dominant position in the market for wholesale of electricity in Western Denmark in the period from 1 January 2005 to 30 June 2006.



Were very pleased with the judgment delivered by the High Court of Western Denmark. They've listened to our arguments and agreed that the decision of the competition authorities was made on an incorrect basis, says CFO Marianne Wiinholt, rsted.
This was the message from the North Sea Wind Power Hub consortium, it was given the opportunity to present its vision for the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM).



This year's Clean Energy Ministerial was held as a central part of the Nordic Clean Energy Week in Copenhagen and Malmo. The North Sea Wind Power Hub consortium, consisting of Energinet, Gasunie, Port of Rotterdam, TenneT Netherlands and TenneT Germany, was given the opportunity to present its vision for energy ministers from, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. The chairman of Energinet, Lars Barfoed, chaired the presentation.



"The consortium's common vision is both daring and simple at once," says Lars Barfoed, chairman of the board of Energinet. "We want to establish a central hub in the North Sea, where large-scale offshore wind farms can be linked and new power lines and trade relations between the North Sea countries will be created."



By 2040, North Sea offshore wind turbines are expected to generate 70-150 gigawatts of electricity, which will amount to approximately 20% of the EU's electricity consumption.



This is about 7-15 times as much wind production, as found today in the North Sea. In order for this to succeed, there must be a careful degree of planning and coordination between the countries. At the same time, there will be huge costs to save on the infrastructure through a regional approach. Instead of landing each country's own offshore wind farms, first estimates show that up to 30% of costs can be saved through a common solution.



"The vision takes a long-term and international perspective on optimizing the huge wind energy resources that the North Sea holds. We should be interested in more for the whole, regional synergies and how we can progressively and coordinated expand wind capacity and infrastructure in the North Sea instead of building new wind farms as if they were the last,"says Lars Barfoed.



In addition to investigating perspectives in the central hub as a harbour mooring site, the consortium also works with the development of storage and conversion of electricity, including Power to Gas, as an activity to be able to unfold offshore and create added value for the collected wind turbine flow.



The five partners in the consortium have committed themselves to spending time until mid 2019 to investigate the potential of the vision. This is done through concrete studies of technical, environmental and market perspectives.



"If a wind energy hub in the North Sea is to go from vision to reality, it requires - regardless of the technical and economic potentials - massive political support from a wide range of participating countries. In addition, the North Sea has protected natural areas of vital importance to our ecosystem, and many stakeholders need to be involved to balance both climate and environmental considerations as well as cost-effective development of wind farms and infrastructure. It has today's presentation on the Clean Energy Ministerial hopefully helped to promote," concludes Lars Barfoed.
Where to watch: CNN; after broadcast on demand on cable and satellite and streaming on CNNgo

Air date: Sunday, May 27, and Monday, May 28, 9-11 p.m. ET

The most exciting thing on TV this Memorial Day weekend is the documentary series 1968: The Year That Changed America, produced by Tom Hanks, 61, who besides his movie star gig rivals Ken Burns, 64, as Americas leading historian onscreen. Hanks should get his 16th Emmy nomination for this two-night, four-part, deep dive into a year that outdoes 2018 for tumultuous changes  many of which have a familiar ring.

Theres a controversial game-changer president (Lyndon Johnson) with historically low approval ratings, bloody political riots, a crisis in Korea, a fractured nation at endless war abroad (and also with itself) and an unprecedentedly close  and ugly presidential election nearly upended by charges of illegal foreign interference.

And it all looked so promising when 1968 began. In the documentary, we hear Johnson crowing about his Medicare and Medicaid programs helping 25 million Americans, and Jesse Jackson noting, In terms of civil rights, no tree in the forest is as tall as Abe Lincoln, except Lyndon Johnson. Then all hell breaks loose, cities erupt in flames, George Wallace leads a third-party candidacy that fails (yet also forged the new coalition that now rules America) and Johnson wonders why the people he did so much for turned on him so bitterly.

1968 clarifies why Americans turned on each other in ways that still affect us today. Hanks team packs in a plethora of history in a hurry, brilliantly sorting it all out with archival footage (much of it rare or never before seen) and sharp, concise interviews with power players who were there, cogent journalists, reflective historians and even music and film critics. The show weaves together bewildering events and the important tunes and movies that influenced our thoughts about the amazing things erupting nightly on the news. The soundtrack alone will bring you back, from The Sound of Silence to the Chambers Brothers Time Has Come Today.

Its not just nostalgia, though the series totally satisfies on that score. We learn how the nations head-spinning change was signified and driven by James Browns Im Black and Im Proud, the racial and sexual integration of Sly Stones hit-making band, and the Supremes switch from the likes of Baby Love to the stark social commentary of Love Child.

The series shows how central pop culture was to history. When Mayor Daleys administration asked Abbie Hoffmans Yippie Party about plans for a demonstration during the Chicago Democratic Convention, the Yippies explained that they wanted to dump LSD in the water supply, as in the film Wild in the Streets. The Graduate electrified alienated youth, and Bonnie and Clyde captured the violent rebellion in the air. North Vietnam lost its biggest battle, 1968's Tet Offensive  but won the war by staging shocking scenes on TV that convinced Americans it was unwinnable.

Many grownups remember the innovative zombie hit flick Night of the Living Dead, but 1968 puts it in the context of Martin Luther Kings scary final year. King, attacked by white moderates for opposing the Vietnam War and by black radicals for refusing to advocate armed insurrection, launched a whole new fight for economic rights, siding with underpaid garbagemen who went on strike after two of them were accidentally crushed by their trucks compactor. (They climbed in with the garbage because it was raining and they were forbidden to seek shelter anywhere whites might see them.) Then King was shot. So when Night of the Living Dead came out  a film with a black hero who gets shot by whites  it wasnt just a stunning movie moment. The movie was seen by blacks as a re-enactment of King's death, just as Planet of the Apes was seen as an apocalyptic allegory about racism. In 1968, no movie was scarier than real life.

1968 has many iconic scenes youll remember, but its deeper than most anniversary shows. There are plenty of eye-opening, memory-enriching dramas in Hanks documentary about a watershed year that changed history, from the rise of the womens movement to the Olympic athletes who staged a shocking political protest (raising their fists rather than taking a knee). 1968 is a highly entertaining work of art that helps explain what happened, and how we got here.
Few college graduates have experienced all that Ella Washington has experienced. At 89 years old, she's lived through the Great Depression, World War II and the moon landing, among many other key moments in history. And on Saturday, Washington became Liberty University's oldest graduate, earning her associate degree in interdisciplinary studies.

Even while putting her 12 children through school by working full time, she never gave up on her dream of continuing her education. Growing up in rural North Carolina during the 1930s, Washington dropped out of school in the sixth grade to work on the family farm. But when she got married and had children of her own, she wanted to make sure they received a proper education.

"She has always been a lifelong learner," Washington's daughter Ellen Mitchell told Liberty News. "Her desire for learning and for pursuing an education became a family tradition. She taught all of her children how to read, write and do math prior to their beginning school, just as her grandmother taught her and her siblings."

At age 49, Washington earned her GED diploma after completing an adult education program. But her main desire was to go to college, and so, in 2012, she enrolled in Liberty's online program. And there's no stopping her now. She says she plans to keep working toward a bachelor's degree in history at Liberty, located in Lynchburg, Va.

"To me, history is a great subject," she told Liberty News. "Everybody should know their history and learn more about it. A lot of people don't know much about history. There's nothing wrong with learning more."

She added, "Education will help you make the best life for yourselves and those who come after you."

In addition to Washington, more and more older adults are going back to college  and often back to a community college thanks to their affordability, convenient locations and ease of access. Often, community colleges allow you to sign up for a course or two to learn or sharpen certain skills. Or you can earn an associate degree in fields such as nursing, accounting and web design.
Faulkton Area moves down in 9B in latest poll

As the regular season heads into the final weeks, several teams had big enough performances to create movement in the rankings.
Policing traffic chaos

Traffic police should persist with the campaign against offenders
In 1921, the New York Times named Taos the Provincetown of the Desert, comparing the small, high desert town in New Mexico to a long-established art colony on Cape Cod, Mass.

The Times report was recognition of Taos own up-and-coming status in the art world, spurred by the Taos Society of Artists.

The 12-person collective, which included painters who had moved in from the Midwest and East Coast, like Joseph Henry Sharp, Ernest Blumenschein and E.I. Couse, existed from 1915 to 1927. Most of the members became famous for their paintings of New Mexico landscapes, and the Pueblo people who lived in and around Taos.

It preserved a record of a time and of the peoples in that time, principally in northern New Mexico, said Carl Jones, president of the Couse Foundation, an organization named after the art societys first president that operates the Couse-Sharp Historic Site in downtown Taos.

The society helped preserve customs, traditions, on canvas, that wouldve been lost a long time ago, Jones said.

The existing site includes studios of both Couse and Sharp. For the past several years, the foundation has been in talks about a central location for archival and research materials about all the Taos collectives members. A recent grant of $600,000 has pushed the plan closer toward its goal of a 2021 opening.

The Lunder Foundation, a Portland, Maine, organization started by Dexter Shoe Co. founder Peter Lunder and his wife, Paula, awarded the grant earlier this month.

Jones wouldnt say how much the total project will cost, but noted that a public fundraising campaign is on the horizon. The facility will be named The Lunder Research Center.

This is an opportunity to do something significant for the first time with Western art, said Kevin Gillis, the Lunder Foundations president. He said most of the organizations grants are given on the East Coast, despite the Lunder couples affinity for Western art.

Peter and Paula think what Couse is doing is very worthwhile, Gillis said.

The grant, Jones said, will go toward repurposing a building next to the existing historic site. With 4,800 square feet of usable space, the research center will have a storage room for items like original documents; a smaller storage space for Native American artifacts collected by the Taos artists; a research library with literature on the society and the histories of New Mexico, Taos, and native peoples; a conservation space dedicated to the preservation of decades-old materials, and administrative offices for the Couse Foundation.

Jones said he expects the facility to attract Western art professors, authors, graduate students and other scholars specifically studying the Taos Society artists and their work.

The research center building has housed the Mission Gallery, whose owner is retiring. Parts of the Mission building are remnants of Sharps home, according to Jones.

The centers collection will include documents, articles, photos, artifacts and artworks relating to or previously belonging to almost all 12 society members, including Couse, Sharp, Blumenschein, Walter Ufer, Victor Higgins, Julius Rolshoven, E. Martin Hennings and W. Herbert Dunton. Jones said that as the center establishes itself, he hopes to attract items specifically relating to other society members who didnt leave as much behind.

For Couse alone, the collection includes 10,000 photographic negatives and 5,000 photo prints, all relating to his artwork. Also in the center will be more than 30 Couse sketchbooks, paintings, personal letters and records of who purchased his paintings, and about 30 pairs of moccasins and other pieces of Native American clothing he collected.

Notre Dame connection

Its going to be the most extensive, highly specialized archive on any group of artists, said Dean Porter, a Taos Society scholar and retired director of the University of Notre Dames Snite Museum of Art.

The main gallery and reception area of the research center will be named after Porter. He and several Taos Society experts from across the county have donated or promised the project various items.

Porter is the author of several articles and books about Ufer and Higgins, whose work he discovered in the 1970s as part of Norte Dames museum collection. He also studied and wrote about the entire society as a co-author of the 1999 book Taos Artists and their Patrons: 1898-1950.

Hes promised the center an estimated 20 boxes of materials, including interviews he conducted with close acquaintances and relatives of the Taos artists, like Oscar Berninghaus daughter and Higgins caretaker, as well as books, research papers and news articles. Every article ever written on the Taos Society of Artists I have copies of, Porter said during a recent phone interview from his home in Granger, Ind.

He wishes something like the research center had existed when he started his work on the society more than 40 years ago. Theres a new generation of Taos Society scholars coming up nationwide who will benefit from access to the center collection, he said. Personal items like letters and notes will provide an inside look at the artists lives and thoughts.

Porter recalled a time when there wasnt much focus on documents and papers relating to the Taos Society artists. He recalled a trip to New Mexico in 1975 when he visited Higgins first wife, Sara Parsons, during which time she handed him five paper grocery bags full of his letters, notes and receipts. That was the archives, he said with a laugh.

The project is designed to bring materials like that back home, said Jones. He said theres a risk they could end up donated and scattered among colleges and universities across the country where they might never see the light of day.

It wouldve been a real loss to the state of New Mexico or the town, he said. This is where they were created and this is where they came from.
Journal North makes the following endorsements in the June 5 Democratic primary:

House District 40: Paula Garcia

Garcia is a two-term member of the Mora County Commission whose tenure there serves as good reason to support her as the next representative to serve this strangely drawn district, which sprawls over the mountains from Rio Arriba County and the environs of Espanola eastward into Mora, San Miguel and Colfax counties.

Garcia showed smarts when she cast a vote against Mora Countys controversial fracking ban, enacted using a bizarre, pie-in-the-sky, clearly unconstitutional template created by a national group and which had no chance of standing up in court (where it was eventually killed off). Garcia has instead supported a better ordinance, modeled on ones from Santa Fe and San Miguel counties, with strong and realistic protections against the negative impacts of oil and gas drilling. Her stance has been to get something done instead of jumping on a bandwagon that was going nowhere.

Garcia also has led the commission effort to finally complete the countys courthouse and administrative building, whose shell was built 10 years ago and which has stood empty as a huge monument to government bungling (before Garcias tenure on the commission). Last year, the county finally sued some of the contractors on the project.

Garcias experience includes a job that keeps her in contact with northern New Mexicos traditional economy and with the complexities of water law  shes been director of the New Mexico Acequia Association for 20 years. Garcia is the best pick to succeed the venerable Nick Salazar, stepping down after 46 years in the legislature.

Santa Fe County Magistrate Court judgeships: David Segura and John Rysanek

In Division 1, Segura has served on the bench since 2006 after a long career as a police officer. He came in when the state Supreme Court was working on correcting problems in the magistrate court that, by all appearances, havae been dealt with during Seguras nine years a presiding judge. Segura has also overseen implementation of a drug court to deal with issues of low-level offenders and the issues of addition.

In Division 3, Rysanek is something rare in a Santa Fe County magistrate judge race  a lawyer (no law degree is required for the position in Santa Fe County). His seven years of experience are as a prosecutor in the Santa Fe District Attorneys Office, where hes become a deputy DA. Thats a fine background for a judge at the magistrate level.

Santa Fe County sheriff: Linda Ortiz

With current Sheriff Robert Garcia stepping down due to term limits, Ortiz and another veteran of the sheriffs office, Adan Mendoza, provide voters with good options when choosing a successor.

Ortiz is the Journal Norths choice. She served for 25 years in the sheriffs office, including as a criminal case investigator, and moved through the ranks before retiring as commander in charge of the swing-shift patrol division as a lieutenant.

One of her goals is to establish a division that would include deputies trained to de-escalate situations involving people with mental health issues. And she says wants to restore community confidence in law enforcement amid controversy over police actions nationwide. Ortiz would be Santa Fe Countys first female sheriff.

Endorsements by Journal North will continue in next Fridays edition.
A high school diploma is all thats needed to run for magistrate judge in Santa Fe County. Jerry Gonzales got his just in time.

Gonzales, 44, a former bail bondsman, is a candidate for the Division 1 magistrate judgeship. Hes running in the June 5 Democratic primary against former police officer David Segura, the incumbent judge first elected to the bench in 2006.

In response to a Journal inquiry, Gonzales provided a transcript showing that he completed the necessary credits for a diploma from Robertson High School in Las Vegas, N.M., on Feb. 28. He said he took classes online.

The date for candidates to file to run for magistrate judge this year was about two weeks later, on March 13.

Gonzales said earlier this week that he dropped out of Santa Fe High School in 1991 halfway through his senior year and went straight into his familys bail bonding business.

I just dont think my priorities were right, Gonzales said. I was young and went straight to work.

Gonzales became a licensed bail bondsmen at age 18 and would later assume ownership of the business. His parents started Jerry Gonzales Bail Bonding, named after his father, almost 40 years ago. He said his decision to finish high school recently was unrelated to his entering the race for magistrate judge and that he started taking his online courses soon after the closing of his company last summer.

It was something I just never accomplished and I felt I needed to, Gonzales said. I push (my kids) to go to school and get a college education, and they knew I had dropped out of school. This was a missing puzzle piece in my life personally that I wanted to accomplish and finish.

He said that if voters asked him about when he earned his diploma, he would tell them honestly, but that the situation isnt something he discusses openly. Its something that is very personal to me, he said.

Magistrate judges in most New Mexico counties, including Santa Fe, must have a high school diploma or an equivalent, like a GED, the only requirement other than an address in the appropriate county. A license to practice law isnt required for magistrate judges unless their counties have a population of 200,000 or more.
Return of the dam plan

The Arun 3 saga is a case of squandered opportunities and politics before progress
Its been a long time since state Rep. Nick Salazar, age 89, hasnt been on the ballot in northern New Mexico.

But come primary voting day, June 5, voters in his House District 40  which in its current configuration sprawls across a largely rural area from the outskirts of Espanola in Rio Arriba County north and east to include Mora, Springer, Cimarron, Eagle Nest and even a small stretch of the Colorado state line  will have to pick someone new.

After 46 years, Salazar, of Ohkay Owingeh, is finally stepping down from his House seat. Three candidates  two from Rio Arriba and one from the districts eastern portion on the other side of the Sangre de Cristos  are vying to replace him.

The candidates are Mora Commissioner Paula Garcia, of Mora, executive director of the New Mexico Acequia Association; Rio Arriba Commissioner Barney Trujillo, of Chimayo; and Joseph Sanchez of Alcalde, former CEO of Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative and now an engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The House 40 race has flown somewhat under the radar  especially compared to the bitter race in adjacent House District 46 between incumbent Rep. Carl Trujillo, who faces a legislative investigation over allegations of sexual harassment, and Andrea Romero, whose handling of travel reimbursements at a publicly funded agency has come under fire.

Garcia emphasizes her advocacy for acequias and her experience ushering bills related to that work and water issues through the Legislature, and her work on the Mora commission, where she and the other current commissioners have found a way to finish an incomplete county administrative and courts building they inherited and that stood for years as an empty shell.

Sanchez touts his work at the Jemez electric co-op, which he said is the states largest, with 30,000 customers, and that hes overseen management of projects with budgets of millions of dollars. I did a lot for the cooperative in a short time and my hope now is to help at the state level, he said.

And Trujillo, who formerly worked as an assistant at the New Mexico State Land Office, said his strength is getting community projects done and establishing community services, citing a park in Chimayo he pushed for as a county commissioner. He said it would be a privilege to do the same for other communities in District 40.

But theres also some friction and controversy in the race for Salazars seat.

Trujillo maintains that Sanchez is the hand-picked candidate of Ohkay Owingeh. Trujillo said hes been a thorn in the pueblos side over issues such as water rights and calls Ohkay Owingeh a money-making machine thanks to government contracts, and state and federal appropriations.

I will be an advocate for all the people, said Trujillo.

Sanchez acknowledged that hes been endorsed by Ohkay Owingeh and has received campaign money from the pueblo that he says represents about 2 percent of what hes raised. But he said hes also been endorsed by many others, including the National Education Association teachers union and the Building Trades Council.

If elected, hed serve the entire district, not one area over the other, he said.

Garcia isnt part of this argument. She says she has something to contribute at the Roundhouse thanks to a combination of grassroots experience, her knowledge of the legislative process and her special expertise on water issues.

Attorney generals probe

Trujillo, who is completing his second term on the Rio Arriba commission, ran unsuccessfully against Salazar in 2016. The race came as the state Attorney Generals Office appeared to be targeting Trujillo with a criminal investigation.

The AGs Office used the state Inspection of Public Records Act to seek documents from Rio Arriba County related to projects for which Trujillo had been under press scrutiny, including the Chimayo park Trujillo championed. Its construction led to charges against a local contractor, brought by the state Construction Industries Division, for contracting without a license.

The AGs office later filed suit against Espanola Public Schools seeking more documents, including some related to Trujillo and his marketing company, which was given a $50,000-a-year, no-bid marketing contract with the school district.

Then, in January 2017, investigators from the AGs office raided Trujillos Chimayo house. The office never commented on what it was looking for.

But asked about the status of the case this week, James Hallinan, spokesman for Attorney General Hector Balderas, said, This is a highly active investigation, however I cannot provide any other updates at this time.

Trujillo said no one has ever informed him about anything hes been accused of and that the only time hes spoken to anyone with the AGs office was when the officers came to his house. Last I checked, we do live in America and Ive never been informed of what Ive actually done wrong, he said.

And despite the hoopla over the Chimayo park, he said, theres never been a negative audit finding about it and its now an incredible place where families gather to have a good time.

When interviewed about the House 40 race, neither Sanchez nor Garcia brought up the AGs investigative work on Trujillo.

Trujillo had raised $4,180 for his campaign by the end of the most recent reporting period on May 14. His biggest contribution came from Angie Trujillo of Chimayo, a school bus driver who contributed $1,300. He also received $800 from Wray Ortiz of Ortiz Gallery in Chimayo, and $500 apiece from Albuquerque resident Ashley Gonzales and the PNM Responsible Citizens Group.

Sanchez had received just shy of $50,000 in contributions. His largest contributions came from retirees Brenda Salazar, of Espanola, who gave $2,500, the maximum allowed, and Anna Salazar, of Alcalde, who contributed $2,000. He also received contributions of $1,000 apiece from Z4 Enterprises, Inc., in Alcarde; the Committee to Elect Richard Martinez, a state senator from Espanola; and Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo.

Garcia had raised a little more than $25,000. Her biggest contributor was the liberal Enchantment PAC, based in Albuquerque, which gave $1,250. The next highest contributor was Santa Fe retiree Tom Farrell, who contributed $1,200. Harold Trujillo, an engineer from Chacon, gave $750. Las Vegas farmer Tony Gallegos, Guadalupita retiree Betsy Bloch and the Albuquerque political action committee Justice for America each gave $500.

Paula Garcia

POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic

OCCUPATION: Executive Director, NM Acequia Association

CITY OF RESIDENCE: Mora

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Mora County Commissioner for two terms, 6 years as chairwoman (current); executive director of New Mexico Acequia Association for 20 years; president of NM Association of Counties; chairwoman of the USDA Minority Farmers Advisory Committee.

EDUCATION: Some college, undergraduate studies at University of New Mexico.

CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: paulagarcia.com

Barney Trujillo

POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic

OCCUPATION: One Stop Operator  Northern Area; Local Workforce Development Board

CITY OF RESIDENCE: Chimayo

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Chairman, Rio Arriba County Commission; vice-chair, Regional Coalition of LANL Communities; former public relations assistant at New Mexico State Land Office.

EDUCATION: St. Michaels High School; attended New Horizons learning center and UNM continuing education multimedia development.

CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: barneytrujillo.com

Joseph Louis Sanchez

POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic

OCCUPATION: Electrical engineer

CITY OF RESIDENCE: Alcalde

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: I bring over 15 years of executive management and technical experience in the energy sector, and in the construction and operation of nuclear facilities for waste and research operations. My professional work includes: engineering manager, LANL Engineering Services Division; electrical engineer in support of LANL construction and operation programs; and CEO of Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, Inc.

EDUCATION: Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico; two masters degrees, one in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico and one in Business Administration from New Mexico State University.

CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: josephsanchezfornm.com

House District 40 Democratic candidates

VIEWS ON TOP ISSUES



1. What are the top two things you would do to improve the economy in New Mexico?

GARCIA: First, we need to improve educational and economic opportunities for youth and young families. Education, from pre-K through college and university, should be better funded and aligned with economic development opportunities in the state. Secondly, we need to diversify our economy with home-grown industries in renewable energy, high-tech and value-added agriculture.

TRUJILLO: Invest in our local homegrown businesses curtailing/offsetting economic leakage, which is the import of products into New Mexico that we could otherwise produce for ourselves. This would greatly benefit our rural communities. Also, workforce development. We cannot grow our local businesses or recruit out-of-state industry without a quality workforce.

SANCHEZ: Support the Office of the State Engineer/Interstate Stream Commission effort to help the 16 Regional Water Planning regions update their water plans. Without adequate water infrastructure, NM cant address the many other water needs. We need to expand broadband infrastructure to rural areas for both education purposes and economic development.

2. Do you support or oppose legalizing recreational marijuana use in New Mexico and taxing its sales?

GARCIA: I support medicinal cannabis and I support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of cannabis. I would consider legislation on legalization and taxation based on data on successful implementation from other states, including economic and public health impacts.

TRUJILLO: Yes, I support. We have to regulate and tax properly, preferably at a lower tax rate, to help creative a competitive advantage over our neighboring state.

SANCHEZ: I fully support medical use and am open to supporting recreational marijuana if the pros outweigh the cons. We can look at other states with similar demographics and their impact with recreational marijuana.

3. Do you support or oppose raising New Mexicos minimum wage, currently $7.50 per hour? If so, by how much?

GARCIA: Increasing the minimum wage is one of the most direct ways to support working families. I support increasing the minimum wage in New Mexico to $10 per hour by 2020 and $13 by 2023 to bring New Mexico in line with Colorado and Arizona.

TRUJILLO: I would advocate for $10.00 an hour.

SANCHEZ: I support a raise of the minimum wage in New Mexico. The number determined should not have a negative impact on our small businesses. Basic economics tells us when money moves, the economy moves.

4. Do you favor making New Mexico a sanctuary state?

GARCIA: Being an undocumented immigrant is not a crime. If a law enforcement agent detains an immigrant who is cleared of criminal activity, that person should not be detained by local or state law enforcement for federal immigration authorities. This is often referred to as safe cities or sanctuary.

TRUJILLO: No.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

5. What would you support to make New Mexico schools safer? Would that include changing New Mexicos gun laws? If so, what specific changes to the gun laws would you support?

GARCIA: I support school safety measures including improved security, surveillance, and centralized ingress and egress. I support common sense gun laws, such as closing loopholes on background checks, requiring waiting periods, regulating assault rifles, limiting the number of weapons purchased at one time and keeping guns out of the wrong hands.

TRUJILLO: We need to set a standard for school security and surveillance. For all schools to stay monitored properly. Right now, I dont believe it is necessary to change our gun laws.

SANCHEZ: We need to give schools the resources to identify red flags that may not easily be identified with students that have potential issues. Also limit gun access for people with permanent protective orders from domestic violence incidents.

Get a more complete overview

To see the candidates answers to all of the Journals issues questions, go to abqjournal.com and click on the Voter Guide icon under Editors Picks.
Be a lady.

Celebrate America as the only country in the world where you, child of a first-generation immigrant, could rise up on hard work and talent to a position of power and influence.

And celebrate marriage as the rock on which you built your successful career.

These are all hallmarks of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as we learn in the documentary RBG  one that may surprise viewers with the way it shows how these conservative attributes contributed to the liberal icons success. Not that its won her wide support on the right. The movie opens with hysterical salvos from talk-show hosts describing her as a threat to the nations well-being.

You have to laugh, when you see them contrasted with images of the diminutive, amiable Ginsburg, now 85, on view in RBG. The brisk and informative Betsy West and Julie Cohen documentary shows the life and career of a woman who grew up as a free-range kid in Brooklyn, jumping roof to roof, landing eventually on the U.S. Supreme Court, on the strength of a keen legal mind that applied itself to successful arguments that have advanced equal rights for women.

And talk-show hosts notwithstanding, her prodigious legal talent has won her the admiration of leading conservatives (Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is featured), particularly the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, with whom Ginsburg had a close friendship.

Watching them on screen together, in moments alive with respect and affection, is to get a rare and happy glimpse of a potential future for a political discourse that might yet evolve if we all follow the advice of Ginsburgs mother.

The advice was be a lady, but it might easily be rephrased as be a gentleman. It meant, Ginsburg says, do not let yourself be guided by useless emotions like anger. And she followed it assiduously  as one of nine women in a class of 500 at Harvard Law School, she was denied access to the library on the basis of gender. She didnt get angry  she made the Law Review.

That fact that she remained composed is astonishing given her personal biography. While at Harvard Law, she tended to her newborn and to her husband, Marty, stricken with cancer that required frequent radiation therapy.

Their mutual devotion became a half-century love affair  by far the most important thing that ever happened to me, she says  that forms the emotional core of the film, which includes ample footage of the outgoing Mr. Ginsburg, a charming, joke-telling toastmaster and perfect counterpoint to his phlegmatic wife. (It actually suggests why she became close with the wisecracking, outgoing Scalia after her husband died).

Marty was a successful tax attorney in New York who interrupted his career to follow his wife to Washington, after it became clear she was a rising legal star, probably ticketed for the high court, where she was nominated by Bill Clinton and confirmed in 1993.

Her stature in legal circles derived from the groundbreaking arguments she made on behalf of women  decrying wage and benefit discrimination in the corporate world and the military, or cleverly advocating for widowers denied spousal benefits by Social Security administrators.

The courts responded to the core of her argument. As she says here, gender-based discrimination harms everyone.

Her arguments as an ACLU Womens Rights Project attorney before the Supreme Court (where she went five-for-six) form the films most legally substantial passages. Later, it detours into Ginsburgs adoption as a pop-culture fixture, and the film displays some of the wide-eyed adoration of RBGs ardent fans.

At one point, for instance, a journalist notes that when she interviewed with Clinton, he fell for her.

First of all, ooh.

Second of all, judging by the movies breathless final section, hes not the only one.
The owner of six dogs that died in a hot car last month pleaded guilty to multiple counts of animal-related offenses in Torrance County Magistrate Court on Thursday.

Annette Rosenow, 55, who now lives in Texas, was sentenced to serve 23 days in jail and ordered to pay $703 in fees, according to court records, for charges of failing to properly register her animals and selling dogs without a permit.

Rosenow came under scrutiny last month after she hired Sara Mauter and her husband to transport 11 of her dogs to her new home in Texas after she was evicted from her rented home in Estancia.

Mauter allegedly abandoned six of the animals in a locked SUV in Albuquerque, where they perished.

Mauter faces six counts of extreme animal cruelty but failed to appear in court earlier this week.

The other five animals, including one pregnant dog, were dropped off at a local veterinary clinic unharmed after the incident and have been in the care of the citys Animal Welfare Department since then.

The city sent a letter to Rosenow on May 8 requesting that Rosenow pick up the animals  including the eight puppies born after the dogs were taken into city shelters  by May 22 or they would be confiscated.

Animal Welfare spokeswoman Desiree Cawley said Wednesday that Rosenow had not picked up the animals, but court documents show that she is not allowed to own any animals under the conditions of her probation.

It is our understanding that Ms. Rosenow is still in police custody therefore we are still holding her dogs in protective custody, Cawley wrote in an email Thursday. The dogs are doing well and we will make a determination on next steps when a legal review is completed.
SANTA FE  No more Santa Fe Indian Market?

Without better financial support, the Indian Market could cease to exist in less than a decade, the board chair of Southwestern Association of Indian Arts  which stages the market  predicted in a room filled of dozens of market artists and supporters Wednesday evening.

The comment came near the end of a public Q&A session following a SWAIA membership meeting at La Fonda. The session focused on SWAIAs 2017 decision to abolish its tenure program for legacy artists and issues related to the credentials of jurors who decide which vendors get to sell at the annual event, a centerpiece of Santa Fes summer tourist season.

SWAIA board chair Elizabeth Kirk and director Ira Wilson were answering questions about the artist selection process and the need for both contemporary and traditional crafts at the market. Kirk then took the mic to discuss financial issues.

Without help, without looking forward, I honestly cannot tell you that I see (Indian Market) going beyond 105, 110 years, she said. The 2018 market in August will be the 96th.

Of the numerous tribes and pueblos with artists represented in the market, Kirk told the audience only one is donating to this years event, which will cost $1.3 million to put on. About four years ago, she said, there were seven tribal entities that supported the market. She said in an interview Thursday that the lone tribe is the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

Kirk also took issue Wednesday night with the fact that neither Santa Fe or state government financially supports the event and only about 10 Santa Fe businesses do so, despite the market bringing in an estimated 120,000 visitors and at least $1 million in tourism revenue.

She said Thursday that of the more than 850 artists showing at the market this year, only 13 are dues-paying SWAIA members.

They have the thought process that Santa Fe Indian Market will go on no matter if they support or not, and that isnt the case, she said of all of the events stakeholders.

Youre asking us to go and support you, Kirk told the artists Wednesday. Why are your tribes, nations and pueblos not supporting us to help support you? She noted that many artists vendors have said Indian Market sales make up half or more of their annual incomes.

She also said that if SWAIA used vendor booth fees to cover the total amount needed to operate the market, like other native art shows do, booths would cost nearly $2,000. A small booth currently cost $450 and a large booth $750. Indian Market has a current capacity of 661 booths on and around the downtown Plaza.

Those are numbers that need to be shared so you know what were up against when were trying to raise this money, she said.

SWAIA had to solicit last-minute funding last year after it came up more than $100,000 short of costs for event insurance, emergency personnel, tents, signage and what the city estimates it would have earned in parking without hundreds of booths lining downtown streets, Kirk said Thursday.

How SWAIA fares this year will largely depend on how proceeds from its nighttime gala during the week of the market, she added.
The U.S. government announced May 10 its recommended alternative for expanding the nations production of plutonium pits  the core of a nuclear weapon. They decided to maintain full-scale pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory to produce 30 pits per year, with a surge capability for more, and to create additional capability at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to produce an additional 50 pits by 2030. This is the result of the governments long-term analysis to determine how best to meet the recently released Nuclear Posture Reviews requirement to produce no fewer than 80 pits per year by 2030 in support of the nations strategic nuclear deterrent.

This represents a big vote of confidence in Los Alamos National Laboratory by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the government agency that runs our national laboratories and other sites across the nations nuclear weapons enterprise. To fulfill its mission, the laboratory will need to continue its close partnership with NNSA, its sister laboratories including Sandia and Lawrence Livermore, and the entire nuclear security enterprise  and we are committed to doing just that.

The governments decision not only secures Los Alamos long-term national security future, but our growing employment base and key weapons funding needs, which will translate in the immediate future to more infrastructure, more equipment and more staff. The NNSA has already planned nearly $3 billion in scope at the laboratory to support the pit mission. In addition, NNSA is going to allow the lab to develop a pit manufacturing surge capability that can be used to make in excess of 30 plutonium pits per year. It also reaffirmed Los Alamos status as the nations R&D Plutonium Center of Excellence and the critical role our plutonium science capability plays in our stockpile stewardship mission.

As one of the largest employers in New Mexico, Los Alamos will need continued support from all industry and education sectors in the state to accomplish this expanded mission. We are committed to redoubling our efforts to develop employment pipelines  not just with the states two- and four-year higher education institutions, but also with the building trades. The laboratory needs a workforce with a wide range of skill sets, and we want to hire as many people from New Mexico as possible. Different skill sets require different pipelines for training and recruitment  we want to make sure we help develop those career paths. Furthermore, we are actively engaging our federal, state, local and tribal partners to better communicate our needs and better understand their needs to develop mutually beneficial partnerships.

As a lifelong New Mexican, I believe Los Alamos needs to create more opportunities for our communities because it is those communities that make us strong. Our expanded mission will also require increased purchasing of goods and services from a broader spectrum of vendors. My goal is to procure as much as possible from New Mexico-based vendors, which will require small-business development as well.

I want to create as many opportunities as possible for the people and businesses of New Mexico to help us meet this challenge. Our future at Los Alamos is strong, and I believe it is due in no small measure to the support we receive from our community. We are ready to move forward together.

As Los Alamos National Laboratory marks its 75th anniversary, the government is asking us to make another significant contribution to national security. By working closely with our federal, state and local partners, we are ready to answer that call.
They might be the three hardest words in the English language: I was wrong.

Three simple syllables, but many of us find them unpronounceable. As in a Twitter critic who referred to me as her the other day.

Her? tweeted I. Whereupon, she launched into this tortured explanation of how my beard and name were not enough for her to determine my gender. Cant a woman have a beard and be bald? she asked.

Apparently, that codswallop was easier for her to utter than those three syllables.

And if those syllables are hard to say on a subject so insignificant, imagine how they stick to the roof of the mouth on a subject of critical concern. Like guns. We got a fresh illustration of that in our latest mass casualty event: 10 people, eight of them children, shot dead, 13 wounded at Santa Fe High School near Houston.

Along with the usual thoughts and prayers, candlelight vigils and T-shirts proclaiming Santa Fe Strong, there came, sure enough, a cabal of firearms-fetishizing public figures eager to blame anything, anything, anything except the most obvious thing: the ready availability of guns.

Incoming NRA chief Oliver North pointed the finger at Ritalin. Fox News anchor Jon Scott indicted video games. Radio host Hugh Hewitt suggested banning trench coats. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said schools have too many doors.

Apparently, when it comes to their gun mania, that codswallop was also easier than three painfully obvious syllables.

Other places, after all, have Ritalin, video games, trench coats and, yes, doors. But they dont have mass casualties on a regular basis. They even have guns, albeit guns restricted by tough laws from falling into the hands of teenagers, violent criminals, the mentally ill, the untrained and others who should not own them. So candlelight vigils are a less routine thing in Vancouver, Brisbane or Berlin. Youre unlikely to see a T-shirt Sao Paulo Strong.

Its different here in the land of guns at all times for all people, everywhere. And while a willingness to question your premise is Critical Thinking 101, that particular premise is regarded as sacred and inviolable by far too many of us. Question video games and trench coats? Sure. Question doors? Why not? Question whether a disaffected 17-year-old should find it easy to lay hands on a weapon of mass destruction? How dare you?

But maybe a change is gonna come. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who just a few weeks ago blamed gun violence on godless hearts, said after this latest tragedy that we need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said on Facebook that he has hit rock bottom on the failure to enact gun control legislation.

That such heresy is being spoken in Texas might  might  be a sign more of us are slowly moving closer to saying those three words, to accepting the obvious. But the slowness itself feels like a betrayal.

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? A Navy lieutenant  later, U.S. senator and secretary of state  famously asked that while testifying before a congressional committee in 1971. This was when everyone knew the Vietnam War was a tragic mistake but those in power would not concede it. John Kerrys words got to the crux of what it means when innocent people die because other people cannot bring themselves to admit that they are wrong.

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? We face a question even more damning.

How do you ask a child?
New Mexico Democrats are fortunate to have three solid candidates for governor who have spent time laying out what they would do if elected to the states top elected office. Sen. Joseph Cervantes has been stalwart in the Legislature, fighting for open government and standing up to members of his own party on some issues, even when its not politically expedient. Jeff Apodaca has enjoyed a varied career in the private sector and demonstrated the ability to offer solutions outside the box.

But Michelle Lujan Grishams broad resume and boundless energy give her an edge in the Democratic primary for governor.

Shes served as a Cabinet secretary for 16 years under three governors  two Democrats and a Republican  and is finishing up her third term as a congresswoman. In Congress, Lujan Grisham has cultivated a good track record of constituent services and of representing her district, and she has shown the ability to take moderate positions.

Lujan Grisham knows the ins and outs of state government, having served as health secretary under Gov. Bill Richardson, and overseeing the state Agency on Aging under Govs. Bruce King, Gary Johnson and Richardson. And thanks to the six years shes served in Congress, she also has intimate knowledge of the federal governments inner workings.

She also served as a Bernalillo County commissioner, further bolstering her public-service resume.

On the economy, Lujan Grisham realizes the potential of clean power energy  wind and solar  to create jobs in New Mexico. But she is also realistic and knows investments in electric transmission infrastructure will be required in order to unlock those economic possibilities.

She says New Mexicos tax system needs to be overhauled to create a fair system that maximizes revenues while lessening burdens on families. She is in favor of legislation that would impose a gross receipts tax on internet sales for large sellers to put them on equal footing with New Mexico businesses.

And she takes a cautionary position on legalizing recreational cannabis, saying such legislation must include sensible regulations and protections for kids, DWI and medical cannabis patients.

Lujan Grisham also favors changing New Mexicos primary system, saying opening primary elections to independent voters will create an opportunity for more people to participate and incentivize campaigns  to reach out to a broader electorate even before the primary election.

With all that said, voters should be troubled by Lujan Grishams reluctance to talk to reporters about the recent criticisms her campaign has faced.

Her opponents have raised questions about the circumstances of her 2007 resignation as Department of Health secretary and theyve pushed for her to release her state personnel files. Instead of agreeing to release the file, Lujan Grishams spokesperson uttered some nonsense about it being unclear whether those files could even be released. Given the circumstances, Lujan Grisham can, and should, give the OK to release her personnel file.

And rather than taking questions from a Journal reporter about the health care consulting company she co-founded, Lujan Grisham is allowing her campaign treasurer to handle the controversy. Between her service as a Cabinet secretary and her time as a congresswoman, Lujan Grisham co-founded Delta Consulting Group, which provides management and consulting services for nonprofit organizations in health, disability and long-term care reform issues. She divested herself from the company last year after announcing her run for governor. The company currently has a $600,000 contract with the state.

Hopefully, the less-than-forthright and direct approach that weve seen this week isnt a sign of what a Lujan Grisham gubernatorial administration would be like.

That said, nothing learned so far on either issue would disqualify her.

A 12th-generation New Mexican who earned both her bachelors and law degrees from the University of New Mexico, she is a hard-working public servant who will fight hard for our state. She has demonstrated her ability to listen to both sides of an argument. And her record of serving under both Democratic and Republican governors underscores the fact she is willing to cross party lines to get things done.

The Journal endorses Michelle Lujan Grisham in the Democratic primary for governor.

Below is the Journals recommendation in the contested Democratic primary for governor. Three Democrats are competing in the race. The winner will face Republican Steve Pearce, who is giving up his congressional seat to run for governor.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Never mind this weeks rain. It didnt help much  unless you happen to be a silvery minnow.

A few rainfall incidents does not end a six-month drought, said Royce Fontenot, senior hydrologist in the Albuquerque office of the National Weather Service. We got a big drink of water (this week), but we need to keep getting those big drinks. Thats the story of this drought. It gives you a lot of water and then turns it off.

A map released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agricultures drought monitor shows that more than 20 percent of New Mexico  scattered areas in the northern part of the state  is in exceptional drought, the most serious category, and more than 99 percent of the state is in some kind of drought. And the dropping of water levels in the Elephant Butte and Caballo reservoirs forced a restriction on storing additional water in northern New Mexico reservoirs.

To make things grimmer, Fontenot said Thursday that the outlook for the next eight to 14 days is hot and dry.

There is a silvery lining, however. David Gensler, water operations manager for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, said the sudden increase in Rio Grande flows caused by the rain this week stimulated spawning among the endangered silvery minnow, as indicated by the number of minnow eggs collected in surveys.

The rain made lots of silvery minnow babies, Gensler said. A sudden increase in river flow is like candlelight and violins to them.

Reservoirs down

Twenty percent of the state in exceptional drought is pretty high, Fontenot said. He said New Mexico has not had that degree of exceptional drought since August 2013. But it has been even worse in the past. In a drought that lasted from May 2011 to May 2012, as much as 49 percent of New Mexico was in that category.

Some parts of New Mexico got a lot of rain from a system that moved into the state Monday and lingered into Thursday. A thunderstorm Monday broke a 54-day streak without measurable precipitation in Albuquerque. Albuquerque got 0.12 inch that day, Clayton 0.46, Roswell 0.51, Tucumcari 1.10 inches and Clovis 1.21.

Some areas got more rain in the succeeding days. Fontenot said that on Wednesday up to 6 inches of rain fell within six hours along U.S. 84 in San Miguel and Guadalupe counties.

But the moisture we got (this week) is only going to go so far, Fontenot said. We need that robust (summer) monsoon. Now things look good for that. Im cautiously optimistic, but we have to wait and see.

This weeks rain, as vigorous as it was in some areas, did not stop the water levels in the Elephant Butte Reservoir, five miles north of Truth and Consequences, and Caballo Reservoir, 16 miles south of TorC, from dropping low enough to trigger a Rio Grande Compact provision prohibiting the storage of additional water in upstream reservoirs.

The Rio Grande Compact governs the distribution of water among Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. According to Article VII of the compact, New Mexico cannot store water in northern reservoirs such as El Vado, Abiquiu and Heron when the combined waters at Elephant Butte and Caballo recede to less than 400,000 acre-feet. Water from Elephant Butte and Caballo is used to irrigate lands in southern New Mexico and West Texas, provide water for industrial and municipal use in El Paso and supply water to Mexico.

The Conservancy Districts Gensler said the total water in Elephant Butte and Caballo dropped below 400,000 acre-feet Sunday, putting the Article VII restriction into effect for the first time since early this year. An acre-foot is the amount of water necessary to cover an acre to a depth of 1 foot.

On Thursday, combined water in the two reservoirs was at about 394,000 acre-feet, Gensler said.

If we talk for a while it might be down to 393,000 acre-feet, Gensler told the Journal on Thursday. Its dropping pretty fast.

OK for now

Gensler said the Article VII restriction would probably not change much for the irrigators on the 70,000 acres of cropland served by the Conservancy District.

Opportunities for storage are pretty rare during the summertime anyway, he said. And he noted that even though Article VII restricts the storage of additional water, it does not prohibit the release of water that had already been in storage. He said that adds up to 107,000 acre-feet in El Vado, Heron and Abiquiu.

Thats what weve got to get us through the summer, he said. And any little shot of moisture we get will help. This weeks rain saved us 1,500 acre-feet or so, allowed us to charge up our canals, reduce storage release slightly and got a few more people some water.

Gensler said, however, that things could get really bad if the state is still under the Article VII restriction next spring.

Thats when it will really hurt us, he said. Assuming we have a nice snowpack next spring, it would be nice for us to replenish our reservoirs, and Article VII would stop us from doing that in 2019.

Whether we get through this (irrigation) season or not, whatever happens, we are going to use up much of our storage. We could have a lot of empty lakes by the end of the year.
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Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

Early Thursday morning officers called to a West Side apartment complex found a mother and her teenage daughter had been killed in their home on the third floor.

Then, hours later and more than 500 miles away, authorities say the man detectives are considering a person of interest in the double homicide was shot and critically injured in a Walmart parking lot by the sheriff and undersheriff of Morgan County, Colo.

Officer Simon Drobik, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said detectives are not ready to call 31-year-old Dustin Brian Montano a suspect or charge him because they havent had a chance to talk with him.

As of Thursday evening, Montano was in critical condition at the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colo., according to a spokesman for the Fort Morgan Police Department.

Drobik did not know the relationship between Montano and the victims, Deborah Martinez, 53, and her daughter Irisa Montano, 17, or what the motive for the killings was. He said its an ongoing investigation.

Family members did not respond to messages from the Journal.

Police shooting

Drobik said police were called to the Mesa Ridge Apartments on Atrisco, north of Sequoia NW, around 3:30 a.m. He said when they got there they found Martinez and Montano had been killed. It is unclear what time they died.

He would not say how they died but said detectives were investigating their deaths as homicides.

Drobik said detectives quickly identified a person of interest who they suspected might be headed for Colorado.

Sgt. Kevin Campbell, a spokesman for the Fort Morgan Police Department, said the Albuquerque Police Department confirmed to them that they were looking for Montano in regards to the double homicide. He said they were told he was armed and dangerous and suicidal.

Campbell said shortly before 8 a.m. the Morgan County Sheriffs department spotted Montano in the parking lot of a Walmart off Interstate 76 in Fort Morgan.

Montano, who is from the town of Sterling, about 45 miles away, was in a vehicle that was determined to be stolen from New Mexico, Campbell said. It is unclear from whom he allegedly stole that vehicle.

After the male suspect exited the Walmart store he was attempting to enter his vehicle in the parking lot when he was confronted by deputies from the Morgan County Sheriffs Office, Campbell wrote in a news release. The suspect made a threatening gesture and was shot by the deputies.

Montano was flown to the hospital for treatment.

Police havent said how many times he was shot or what the threatening gesture was. They havent said if he was armed.

Campbell said no law enforcement officers were injured.

He said sheriff Jim Crone and undersheriff Dave Martin had been the ones to fire shots. Crone has been sheriff since he was elected in 1999, and Martin has been with the department since 1986.

The shooting is being investigated by the Morgan County Major Crimes Task Force, which is made up of law enforcement throughout the county.

Double homicide

Back in Albuquerque, investigators remained at the Mesa Ridge Apartments for much of the day. Crime scene investigators could be seen combing through Martinez and Irisa Montanos apartment into the afternoon.

Shane Bryant, 17, said he was hanging out in the courtyard near their building in the middle of the night when he heard the commotion.

I heard yelling over there, he said. I heard things breaking and two ladies screaming for help.

Bryant said after the screaming stopped, he saw a man walk down the stairs and out of the building with a duffel bag under each arm.

He was alone, he said. He didnt care. He was walking down the stairs, kept walking and walking, hopped in the car and left.

Bryant said the man drove away in a red Volkswagen Jetta. Photos of the scene of the shooting in Colorado shows what looks like a Jetta surrounded by cruisers.
NEW YORK  It was the moment the #MeToo movement had been waiting for: Harvey Weinstein in handcuffs.

His face pulled in a strained smile and his hands locked behind his back, the once-powerful Hollywood figure emerged from a police station Friday facing rape and criminal sex act charges, a searing reckoning for the man who became a symbol of a worldwide outcry over sexual misconduct.

This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually, Manhattan Assistant Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said later, in words that brought raised eyebrows from the otherwise stony-faced Weinstein.

The charges stem from encounters with two of the dozens of women  some famous, some not  who have accused him of sexual misdeeds. The rape charge involves a woman who has not come forward publicly; the other is a onetime aspiring actress who was among his first accusers.

Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex.

His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Friday that he would fight to get the charges dismissed.

And he began to take aim at the accusations and accusers, noting that the alleged attacks werent reported to police when they happened and suggesting potential jurors wouldnt believe the women.

Assuming, he added, we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.

Asked about the raft of other allegations against Weinstein, Brafman said the case was a question of crime, not bad behavior.

Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood, the attorney said.

Weinstein was released on $1 million bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on traveling beyond New York and Connecticut.

As he surrendered, the 66-year-old Weinstein found himself surrounded by lights and cameras in a spectacle he couldnt control.

You sorry, Harvey? came a shout from a throng of media as the once powerful movie mogul was led into a lower Manhattan courthouse.

Asked what can you say? Weinstein mildly shook his head and softly said no.

Earlier, he lumbered into a police station carrying books that harkened to his show-business roots: one on the Broadway songwriting team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and another about famed film director Elia Kazan.

During a half-hour in a cell, officials said, he sat on the floor and flipped through the Kazan biography. Later, in a courthouse booking area, he complained he felt faint and his handcuffs were too tight. Officers used three, linked sets to put his hands behind his back  a common procedure for heavyset prisoners. Other suspects who recognized him yelled out, Yo, Harvey!

The top charges against him carry the potential for up to 25 years in prison.

Hes accused of confining a woman in a Manhattan hotel room and raping her in 2013, according to a court complaint.

The criminal sex act charge stems from a 2004 encounter between Weinstein and Lucia Evans, a then-aspiring actress who told The New Yorker magazine he forced her to perform oral sex during a daytime meeting in his office.

We are relieved and grateful that justice is coming, but we also mourn the cases where it didnt, her lawyer, Carrie Goldberg, said in a statement to The Associated Press.

More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing, and authorities in California and London are also investigating assault allegations. Brafman also has said that Weinstein was a principal target of an investigation being conducted by the U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan.

New York City police have also been investigating allegations by Boardwalk Empire actress Paz de la Huerta, who told police last fall that Weinstein raped her twice in 2010.

Other women who have publicly accused Weinstein of criminal sexual assaults include actress Rose McGowan, who said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah; Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, who said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992, and Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe, who said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008.

Until the scandal, Weinstein was among the most influential forces in American film. Companies he co-founded, Miramax and the Weinstein Co., were behind such hits as Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love and The Kings Speech.

But there were rumors in Hollywood for years about Weinsteins pursuit of young actresses. And in 2015, an Italian model went to New York City police and accused him of groping her during a meeting.

Police set up a sting in which the woman recorded herself confronting Weinstein. But Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. decided not to bring charges, citing a lack of evidence.

Vance  a Democrat who faced public pressure from womens groups to prosecute Weinstein this time  said Fridays charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation.

The public allegations against Weinstein helped prompt a broad public furor about sexual misconduct.

Major figures in media and politics have lost their jobs or had their reputations tarnished by allegations that they subjected women to unwanted advances or outright assaults. They include TV hosts Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, comedian Louis C.K, Democratic U.S. Sen. Al Franken, chef Mario Batali, casino magnate Steve Wynn and, most recently, Democratic New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

But on Friday, it was Weinstein in the spotlight.

We got you, Harvey Weinstein, McGowan tweeted. We got you.

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Jake Pearson and Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.
Samsung Galaxy J2 2018 launched in Nepal

South Korean electronics behemoth Samsung has introduced the Galaxy J2 2018, further strengthening its best-selling range of Galaxy J Series smartphones in Nepal.
PROVIDENCE, R.I.  Military veterans who were discharged for relatively minor offenses say they often cant get jobs, and they hope a recent warning to employers by the state of Connecticut will change that.

The states human rights commission told employers last month they could be breaking the law if they discriminate against veterans with some types of less-than-honorable discharges. Blanket policies against hiring such veterans could be discriminatory, the commission said, because the military has issued them disproportionately to black, Latino, gay and disabled veterans.

At least one other state, Illinois, already prohibits hiring discrimination based on a veterans discharge status, advocates say, but Connecticut appears to be the first to base its decision on what it deems discrimination by the military. Regardless of the states reasons, veterans say, the attention there could at least educate employers.

You may as well be a felon when youre looking for a job, said Iraq War veteran Kristofer Goldsmith, who said the Army gave him a general discharge in 2007 because he attempted suicide.

An honorable discharge is the only type that entails full benefits. A dishonorable discharge is given after a court-martial for serious offenses, which can include felonies. Other types of discharges in between  known by veterans as bad paper  are issued administratively, with no court case, and can stem from behavior including talking back, tardiness, drug use or fighting.

The commission says its guidance focused on that middle class of discharges.

Sometimes such discharges are given to veterans whose violations stemmed from post-traumatic stress disorder, like Goldsmiths, or brain injuries. Many private employers may not be aware of those extenuating circumstances or understand the differences between discharges, critics say.

And they either wont hire bad-paper veterans or wont give them preferences an honorably discharged veteran would get, the Veterans Legal Services Clinic at Yale Law School told the Connecticut commission.

The clinic, acting on behalf of the Connecticut chapter of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, showed the commission job postings that require applicants who have served in the military to have been honorably discharged.

It also cited a 2017 report by the advocacy organization Protect Our Defenders that found black service members were more likely to be disciplined than white members. And the commissions guidance to employers notes thousands of service members have been discharged for their sexual orientation.

Employers might require an honorable discharge as an easy way to narrow the pool and get strong applicants, said Amanda Ljubicic, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.

At face value it seems like a simple, logical cutoff to make as an employer, she said. Certainly this new policy forces employers to think about it differently and to think about the complexities.

The Vietnam Veterans of America asked for a presidential pardon for bad-paper veterans. President Barack Obama didnt respond as he was leaving office, nor did President Donald Trump as he was entering, said John Rowan, the organizations president. He was unsure whether activists would ask Trump again.

More than 13,000 service members received a type of discharge for misconduct, known as other than honorable, between 2011 and 2015, despite being diagnosed with PTSD, a traumatic brain injury or another condition associated with misconduct, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, under an order from Congress, expanded emergency mental health coverage to those veterans for the first time last year.

Passing new laws to address the effects of bad paper is probably not the best solution, said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who pushed for the changes; rather, he said, the military should stop issuing bad-paper discharges to injured veterans.

Goldsmith, 32, said he developed PTSD after his first deployment to Iraq. He was set to leave the military and go to college when the Army extended his active-duty service and ordered him back in 2007. Goldsmith said he attempted suicide shortly before he was due to deploy.

Because of his general discharge, Goldsmith lost his GI Bill benefits. He didnt know how hed find a job. If he didnt mention his military service, he would have a four-year gap on his resume. But if he did, he would have to disclose medical information to explain why he left.

A friend eventually hired him to work at a photo-booth company, and Goldsmith began contacting members of Congress to press for health care for veterans with bad paper.

Things like addressing employment discrimination on the national level are so far from possible, he said, I dont think any of us in the advocacy community has put enough pressure on Congress to handle it.
TOKYO  President Donald Trumps decision to walk away from a plan to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next month in Singapore caught a lot of people off guard, including, it appears, Kim Jong Un.

Every indication is that Pyongyang still wants to make the meeting happen. And as soon as possible.

Pyongyang made that clear Friday with a surprisingly conciliatory response to Trumps sudden breakup letter, suggesting North Korean officials may now be thinking they overplayed their hand with defiant rhetoric and by deliberately missing preparatory meetings over the past couple of weeks. That presents an opening for diplomacy to continue if Washington is still game.

But the question remains: Should it be?

Kim has lots of reasons for wanting the summit. Sitting down as an equal with the U.S. president would go a long way toward legitimizing his regime on the world stage and weakening the rationale for continued trade sanctions, particularly by neighboring China. It also lowers the chances of military conflict, at least as long as talks are underway, and if Kim plays his cards right it could give him de facto recognition as the leader of a nuclear power.

Trump also appears to still want the summit to go through at some point. But his position is a bit more complicated.

Well before he decided to pull the plug on the June 12 summit plan, concerns were growing that the gap between the two leaders on the most fundamental issues was so wide that the potential danger of a major breakdown outweighed the whatever benefits might come from simply sitting down together for what would be a historic first.

Its not even clear if Kim intends to give up his nuclear arsenal any time soon.

The Washington-Pyongyang rift widened dramatically after national security adviser John Bolton suggested the North must unilaterally give up its nuclear arsenal before it can expect any easing of U.S. economic and political pressure. For added impact, he said Libya, whose leader agreed to give up his nuclear program only to be deposed and killed, would be a good model.

One of the loudest voices protesting Boltons hard line was Kim Kye Gwan, a senior nuclear negotiator and first vice minister of North Koreas Foreign Ministry.

But it was in his name the North issued its response to Trumps decision Friday.

In a major tone shift, he not only left the door open to more talks, he virtually begged Trump to walk on through.

He said the North inwardly highly appreciated Trumps decision to have the summit, which any other U.S. presidents dared not. He added he had hoped what he called the Trump formula would pave the way for substantial progress.

He even made the highly unusual move of playing down the significance of a statement of another top Foreign Ministry official who on Thursday called Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy and threatened Pyongyang would be just as willing to have a nuclear showdown with Washington as meet to negotiate.

That statement was apparently too much for Trump, compounding the Norths failure to show up for preparatory meetings in Singapore or, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, answer the phone when U.S. officials called.

Such tactics are frustratingly familiar for anyone who has dealt with North Korean officials.

North Korean verbal barrages are a staple of its external propaganda  note its labeling of Trump as a dotard at the height of tensions last year. Just last week, Pyongyang abruptly cut off high-level contact with Seoul over an ongoing round of military exercises with U.S. troops and then refused until the last minute to allow South Korean journalists onto a pre-arranged media trip to observe the closing of its nuclear test site, which took place on Thursday.

North Koreas switch to a tougher stance may reflect some behind-the-scenes influence by China, as Trump has suggested. Kim has already had two summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But it is also quite likely Pyongyang miscalculated that Trump was so invested in going through with the summit as planned that such tactics would drive a wedge between him and the hard-liners in his Cabinet.

For the moment, at least, they seem to be regretting that misstep.

The U.S. sides unilateral announcement of the cancellation of the summit makes us think over if we were truly right to have made efforts for it and to have opted for the new path, Kim said in the statement. But we remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the U.S. side time and opportunity.

So is Pyongyang now ready to make a deal Trump can brag about?

Thats not so clear.

Change in overall tone notwithstanding, Kim didnt cave on Pyongyangs demand that Washington drop its insistence on unilateral denuclearization before it lifts Trumps policy of maximum pressure.

The first meeting would not solve all, but solving even one at a time in a phased way would make the relations get better rather than making them get worse, he said. The U.S. should ponder over it.

No doubt, Washington will. But with hard-liners like Bolton and Pence by the U.S. presidents side, the answer may not be what Kim Jong Un is hoping for.

___

Talmadge is the APs Pyongyang bureau chief. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @EricTalmadge

An AP News Analysis
SEOUL, South Korea  When North Korea slammed U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser John Bolton, its language was very blunt and impolite. But it was milder than its typical crude and inflammatory insults unleashed on other top U.S. and South Korean officials.

The North likely had just tried to strengthen its position in negotiations on the amount of concessions it could wrest from the United States in return for giving up its nuclear program.

But its calling Pence a political dummy was still strong enough for President Donald Trump to cite North Koreas hostility in scrapping his planned June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a time when the president faced mounting pessimism at home about Kims commitment to disarming.

Apparently startled at Trumps abrupt move, a senior North Korean official who touched off his countrys recent rhetorical attacks on Washington issued an unusually conciliatory statement Friday saying the North still wants to engage with the United States.

A look at how North Koreas statements have evolved over the past nine days, from harsh criticism of U.S. officials and threats to cancel the summit to a near apology:

___

BOLTON CRITICISM

After canceling a high-level dialogue with South Korea, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan on May 16 issued a statement threatening to do the same with the Kim-Trump talks if the United States continues to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment.

Kim Kye Gwan categorically took issue with the remarks by Bolton that North Korea should follow the Libyan model, which many experts say meant the North must take complete nuclear disarmament steps before getting major sanctions relief or other outside benefits.

We shed light on the quality of Bolton already in the past, and we do not hide our feeling of repugnance toward him, Kim Kye Gwan was quoted as saying in the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim Kye Gwans wording was weaker than a previous salvo North Korea fired off about the hawkish U.S. official.

In 2003, North Koreas state media called Bolton human scum after he described then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the late father of Kim Jong Un, as a tyrannical dictator. In 2007, when Bolton raised strong skepticism about North Koreas previous disarmament pledges, state media said he talked trash and that he is ill-famed for speaking ill of the countries standing for progress and peace.

___

PENCE CRITICISM

This directly prompted Trump to say that it is inappropriate to go ahead with the summit because of the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in the Norths most recent statement.

In remarks carried by state media on Thursday, Choe Son Hui, another North Korean vice foreign minister, called Pence a political dummy over his comments during a Fox News interview that again compared North Korea with Libya.

As a person involved in the U.S. affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president, Choe said. In case the U.S. offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the (North)-U.S. summit.

Choes political dummy comment was certain to anger the United States. But again, in the past, North Korea attacked others including Trump using worse language.

At the height of nuclear tensions between the countries last year, Kim Jong Un personally called Trump the mentally deranged U.S. dotard after Trump portrayed him as the Rocket Man on a suicide mission. His propaganda machine called Trump a war maniac and mad man.

North Koreas state media called former President Barack Obama a monkey, and his secretary of state, John Kerry, a wolf with a hideous lantern jaw. They called South Koreas former conservative presidents Park Geun-hye a prostitute and Lee Myung-bak a rat.

___

LETTER OF APOLOGY

About eight hours after Trump publicly called off the summit, Kim Kye Gwan issued a lengthy statement saying North Korea is still willing to sit down with the United States at any time, in any format.

The first meeting would not solve all, but solving even one at a time in a phased way would make the relations get better rather than making them get worse. The U.S. should ponder over it, Kim Kye Gwan said.

Kim Kye Gwan called Trumps decision very regrettable but his statement still apparently focused on stressing that Trump misunderstood the Norths true intensions. Experts say it was obvious the North had no plans to walk away from the U.S. summit from the beginning.

It was also highly unusual for the North to make such a quick response to any major policy announcements by Washington and Seoul, and especially one that is so conciliatory in tone.

What appears to be close to an apology letter was contained in Kim Kye Gwans statement, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Seouls Dongguk University.

Choi Kang, vice president of Seouls Asan Institute for Policy Studies. said he believes Trump used the Pence criticism as a way to pull out of the summit because his government wasnt sure if North Korea would disarm in a manner that he wants.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia  Toxic political infighting is preventing U.S. President Donald Trump from improving relations with Moscow, Russias former ambassador in the United States and a long-time Trump campaign contact told The Associated Press on Friday.

Ties between the two countries have deteriorated steadily since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and threw its weight behind separatists in eastern Ukraine. Moscows hopes that Trump would be willing to improve the relationship have been largely disappointed.

Sergei Kislyak, who served as Russias ambassador in Washington from 2008 until his tenure ended last year, told the AP that Trump appears eager to improve ties but a bad political climate is making that impossible.

In the current environment, even for the president, who is interested in improving ties with Russia, its not that easy to do because of the legislation and the political climate, which is toxic, he said.

Kislyak was called off last August amid scrutiny of his recurrent meetings with the Trump campaign staff as Special Counsel Muellers probe into the possible Russian meddling was gaining speed.

The long-serving diplomat popped up on the FBIs radar after maintaining contact with Trump aides during the campaign and immediately after the 2016 election. After Trumps election, Kislyak spoke by phone several times with White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and discussed sanctions put in place by the Obama administration. The calls were monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies, and days after Trump took office in January 2017, Flynn was interviewed by FBI agents about those talks. He acknowledged as part of his plea to lying during that interview.

Speaking on the sidelines of Russias showcase economic forum in St. Petersburg, Kislyak, who now sits in the upper chamber of Russias parliament, expressed hope that mutual business interests will help overcome the bitter strain between Russia and the U.S.

Economy has been chosen as a tool of political leverage, Kislyak said. They (Americans) are cutting the branch of the tree theyre sitting on with those sanctions.

After he became president, Trump not only did not lift the sanctions imposed on Russia by President Barack Obama but approved several more rounds of restrictions, including expelling Russian diplomatic staff from the U.S. and targeting some of Russias richest men, including billionaire Oleg Deripaska and his aluminum company Rusal. Rusal was cut off from international financing and left Deripaska scrambling to try to get the U.S. to roll back the sanction.

Viktor Vekselberg, another Russian billionaire who had to cut his share in some of his overseas holdings to shield them from U.S. sanctions, on Friday spoke in favor of maintaining ties between Russia and the U.S.

We need to talk  we have nothing else left to do, he told a panel at the St. Petersburg forum. We need to use all channels, all opportunities to keep the precious little that is left between our two countries.

A company associated with Vekselberg routed money to Trump lawyer Michael Cohens consulting firm last year, according to documents reviewed by the AP. Vekselberg refused to comment on these reports when approached by the AP on Friday.

In reaction to the new sanctions, Russias parliament last month floated a bill that threatens to freeze key exports to the U.S., crippling long-standing business deals and hitting industries jobs both at home and abroad. The original bill alarmed Russian industries as it proposed tough restrictions, including a ban on exports to the U.S. of titanium.

Under pressure from business groups, the lawmakers toned the bill down and got rid of references to specific restrictions. The watered-down version was passed this week.

Sergei Kravchenko, president of Boeings Russia venture, which would have been hit hard by the bill, told the AP that the deliberations were a worrying moment for his company.

Kravchenko said he was encouraged that Russian leaders eventually recognized that it was foolish to hurt Russian industry by blocking exports because of some emotions on the spur of the moment.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak seemed to agree, warning Friday against slaughtering the chicken that lays golden eggs.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration has told Congress that its reached a deal that would allow Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. to stay in business, a source familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential matter said Friday.

A resolution of the ZTE case could clear the way for the United States to make progress in its high-stakes trade talks with China. But news of the agreement drew immediate fire on Capitol Hill.

Under the agreement, ZTE would oust its management team, hire American compliance officers and pay a fine. The fine would come on top of the roughly $1 billion ZTE has already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

In return, the Commerce Department would lift a seven-year ban on ZTEs purchase of components that the Chinese firm depends on from U.S. companies. The ban, imposed earlier this month, threatened to put ZTE out of business.

This is a law enforcement action being handled by Commerce, said Lindsay Walters, the deputy White House press secretary. We are making sure ZTE is held accountable for violating U.S. sanctions, pays a big price and that we are protecting our security infrastructure and U.S. jobs.

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a call seeking further details about the agreement.

On Capitol Hill, one senior congressional source said leaders have not yet received formal notification.

Lawmakers have warned the administration not to go easy on a company that brazenly violated U.S. sanctions against two rogue nations that were pursuing nuclear weapons production.

If the administration goes through with this reported deal, President Trump would be helping make China great again, said Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.

Schumer added: Both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks.

ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States  and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact, said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. If President Trump wont put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted: It is a great deal  for #ZTE & China  Many hoped this time would be different.

Congress, Rubio said, will need to act.

Trump responded to his critics late Friday, saying Democrats had done nothing to rein in ZTE. I closed it down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine, he tweeted.

The Commerce Department last month blocked Chinas ZTE from importing American components for seven years, having concluded that ZTE deceived U.S. regulators after it settled charges last year of violating sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The ban amounted to a virtual death sentence for ZTE, which relies on U.S. parts, and it also hurt ZTEs U.S. suppliers.

On the eve of broad trade talks last week with a Chinese trade envoy, Trump waded into the ZTE case: He tweeted that he was working with President Xi Jinping to put ZTE back in business, fast and save tens of thousands of Chinese jobs.

He later tweeted that the ZTE talks were part of a larger trade deal being negotiated with China.

Word of a reported ZTE agreement comes nearly a week after the U.S. and China suspended plans to impose tariffs on as much as $200 billion of each others goods. In doing two, the two nations pulled back from the brink of a trade war over Chinese demands that U.S. companies hand over some of their technology as the price of doing business in China.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is scheduled to travel to Beijing on June 2 for further discussions over Chinas aggressive push to challenge U.S. technological dominance. Resolving the ZTE case  a company that employs more than 70,000 Chinese  could make the talks go more smoothly.

___

AP Staff Writers Lisa Mascaro and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
The worlds largest oil exporter just made quite a policy swerve. Within six weeks, Saudi Arabia has gone from advocating higher prices to trying to stop the rally at $80 a barrel.

The U-turn scrambled the outlook for oil markets, hit the share prices of oil majors and shale producers and set up a diplomatic wrangle with other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

After reports on Friday that Russia and OPEC could start producing more oil soon, U.S. crude dropped 4 percent to $67.88 a barrel. It closed at a three-year high Monday and fell 6 percent over the next four days.

Increased oil production and lower prices could reduce profits for energy companies. Exxon Mobil fell 2.3 percent to $78.42 and Chevron gave up 4 percent to $121.57. The S&P 500 energy index is having its worst week since early February.

What changed for the Saudis? The supply threats posed by the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran oil exports earlier this month and the quickening collapse of Venezuelas energy industry are both part of the answer, but theyre secondary to Donald Trump. On April 20, the president took to Twitter to lambaste the cartels push for higher prices. Looks like OPEC is at it again, he tweeted. Oil prices are artificially Very High!

Trumps intervention gave typically strident voice to a concern held more widely in the U.S. and other consuming countries: oils rally from less than $30 in early 2016 to more than $80 this month risked becoming a threat to global economic growth.

On Friday, Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih responded, saying his country shared the anxiety of his customers. He then announced a shift in policy that all but gave a green light for a market sell-off, saying OPEC and its allies were likely to boost output in the second half of the year.

The tweet moved the Saudis, said Bob McNally, founder of consultant Rapidan Energy Group in Washington and a former White House oil official. The message was delivered loud and clear to Saudi Arabia.

Al-Falihs comments were made after a meeting with his Russian counterpart in St. Petersburg.

The bullish tone of recent market chatter, increasingly punctuated with talk about oil prices climbing past $100, $150 and even $300, suddenly looks overdone.
A Catron County man must pay $2,300 in restitution and spend a year on probation after pleading guilty to killing a Mexican gray wolf, an endangered species.

Craig Thiessens restitution payments will go to the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program, federal prosecutors announced in a news release Friday.

According to the release, Thiessen, 46, admitted that in February 2015 he intentionally captured a Mexican gray wolf in a trap on his grazing allotment in the Gila National Forest and hit the wolf with a shovel. Thiessen admitted knowing that the animal was a Mexican gray wolf because it bore a tracking collar, which is affixed to all Mexican gray wolves in the area.
The perfect pirouette, the flawless mudras or high-octane performances  what makes you the greatest dancer? Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they become great because of their passion. Launching a nationwide hunt for the ultimate Dance Deewane, COLORS offers 3 generations of India a glorious chance to share 1 grand stagethat will be judged by the stellar trio  Madhuri Dixit Nene, Shashank Khaitan and Tushar Kalia. With the spotlight on the passion or deewangi for dance, this platform invites dancers from all walks of life and divides them into 3 age categories that is children, youth and adults. The three finalists, one from each category, will compete for the title of being Indias unrivalled dance deewana. Produced by Dreams Vault Media, the showpremieres on 2ndJune and will air every Saturday and Sunday at 9pm.

Click here for related news.

Commenting on the unique format of the show, Manisha Sharma, Programming Head, COLORSsaid, During the audition phase, the participants proved that if one is passionate about dancing, age is no bar. Heading the panel will be dance stalwarts  dancing diva Madhuri Dixit along with choreographer Tushar Kalia and director Shashank Khaitan. The trio make a fantastic combination who will judge these talented participants basis their passion for dance and bring all three generations together.

On returning to the judges seat, Madhuri Dixit Nene said, "COLORS and I have always shared a very successful relationship and I am super excited to be a part of their unique new reality show - Dance Deewane. The USP of this show is that it celebrates the passion of dance across age groups, giving 3 generations of India a common platform to perform on. While talent will always shine through, we are hoping to see the deewangi for dance in our contestants, ranging from children to adults that is the biggest differentiator of our show. For me, dancing is a passion and a very important part of who I am; therefore, I'm eagerly waiting for the show to begin so that we can discover India's true Dance Deewane."

Director Shashank Khaitansaid, With Dance Deewane, I am debuting on a reality show that promises to cut across the clutter and bring together different age groups on the same stage. We are on the hunt for those talented dancers, age no barrier who will enthrall India with their deewangifor dance. Sharing the jury panel with Madhuriji is an honour, she has always been one of my personal favourites and I look forward to the shooting for the show soon.

Elated to be joining this esteemed judges panel, Choreographer Tushar Kaliasaid, From being a contestant to now being a part of the judges trio, it has been a long but enriching journey for me. I am humbled to have been offered this once in a lifetime opportunity; sitting beside Madhuri Maam & Shashank Khaitan as your co-judges is definitely overwhelming. However, I'm sure that this experience will be unforgettable."

Producer, Arvind Rao, Dreams Vault Media concluded saying,Normally every show restricts people by putting an age limit. That was the first and biggest change we made to our format as our country has a lot of untapped talent that deserves an opportunity to be brought to the fore.

The countrywide quest for bringing forth the best talent culminated in the inaugural episode of the show that witnessed phenomenal talent and performances par excellence. Whats more - encouraging the contestants were industry stalwarts Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandes and Daisy Shah. The shoot witnessed many special moments with Salman and Madhuri recreating their Hum Aapke Hai Kaun magic, Madhuri and Jacqueline grooving to their hit number Ek-Do-Teen and Anil Kapoors limitless energy that kept the vibe going for what promises to be a fantastic premiere.

It's time for all the Deewanesto put on their dancing shoes as Dance Deewane makes its way to your television screens starting 2nd June and airing every Saturday-Sunday at 9:00PM only on COLORS
Dhara, Indias leading edible oil brand, is all set to disrupt the Indian edible oil sector with a new Brand campaign aimed specifically at increasing the awareness of usage of edible oils. The new positioning with the essence of promoting healthy living will be intended to make the consumers aware about their daily edible oil consumption habits. The campaign titled Zara sa badlav banaye life behtar is all about driving consumers attraction to use less oil in every day consumption! After all how many brand tell you to consume less responsibly for their own offerings.

Dr. Saugata Mitra, Director, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd, added, Dhara, a time trusted brand has always been blessed with the patronage of consumers for three decades. In our efforts to make our consumers more aware, we have always recommended the right usage of edible oils for a healthy living. Through this new campaign, we are attempting to promote healthy lifestyle and encourage people to bring in small change for larger benefits of healthy living. The larger thought is too bring in a change in routine habits that are sustainable for life.

Brijesh Jacob, Chief Creative Technologist, DDB Mudra Group adds When it comes to Dhara and communication, the world is clearly divided into those who fondly remember the Jalebi Ad and those who just have top-of-mind-recall for the name Dhara. It is a brand a part of India grew up with and the task was to strengthen the emotional connect while also building relevance for the rest of the country. We felt that there needs to be a change in the cooking oil and oil consumption conversation and who better than Dhara to initiate this. While the communication ends with a bold message - an oil brand urging users to consume less oil, the Zara Sa Badlaav campaign is all about change. And the one thing we know about change is that begins best at home. We want to spark meaningful conversations that discusses such change. Both in our homes and society as a whole. All of this is not new, we have retained the most recognisable marker  the Dhara jingle. You will hear a new avatar of the widely popular and loved jingle in the videos.

Execution Idea - TVC

The TVC drives messaging referring a societal change. The frame opens on a dining table where a boss is being served pulao by her colleague and her family including her mother, mother-in-law and husband. The boss resists refilling while applauding the delightful food cooked by her colleagues mother. The colleague insists a revisit over lunch on a coming Sunday, to which her boss expresses unavailability due to busy schedule; but promises to visit her mother in Jaipur to relish the taste again. The follow-up shot moves to husband questioning why Jaipur? And the boss questions colleagues mother in familiar tone about her residence in Jaipur. The husband then responds that his mother-in-law now stays with the family and not Jaipur.

The next frame leads to colleagues mother in law serving desserts quoting, if a son can stay with her mother, then why not a daughter with her mother! This leaves the boss surprised happily, while both mother and mother-in-law show gratitude towards each other. The story towards the end rolls out in kitchen where all three ladies from the family are present and husbands mother is educating her daughter-in-law to use less oil by way of a gesture limiting filling of the oil in the pan.

The closing frame carries a composite unit recommending per person edible oil & fat usage of 30g/day and with a fresh twist to the signature tune of Dhara Dhara Shudh Dhara; which featured in the popular Jalebi ad 25 years ago.

Speaking about the new initiative, Mr. Sanjeev Giri, Business Head - Dhara, said, "Dhara as a conscious brand has always believed in responsible consumption of edible oils. We are amongst the first brands to carry a statutory messaging recommending to consume cooking oil in moderation with physical exercise. Taking the same ethos ahead, we are now evolving our positioning to health living. The initiative titled Zara Sa Badlav Banaye Life Behtar is aimed at educating the consumers about the right usage of edible oils using daily life connotation of a family. We are confident that the consumers will relate to our approach and will gradually be more responsible for a healthy life.

Agency Credits:

Chief Creative Technologist : Brijesh Jacob

Head of Office (North) : Rajiv Sabnis

Creative Head, North : Subhashish Datta, Preeta Mathur

Account Management : Vineet Kindra, Neha Kapoor, Vinshul Upadhyay

Creative Team (Copy) : Brajesh Kumar

Creative Team (Art) : Manoranjan Kumar

Account Planning : Sumeer Mathur

Production House : Radhika Produces Films

Director : Suresh Triveni

For More Stories Visit Here.
BBDO India has further increased its metal tally for this year, winning at the FAB Awards held in London on May 25, 2018. The agency bagged the Grand Prix, or the FABulous Award, for its work on Mirinda  Release the Pressure  in the Integrated Campaigns category. Mirinda also picked a Gold (FAB Award) in the same category. The agency also won a silver for Mirinda in the Online Marketing category and a Silver for Quaker Oats #FuelForTheRealFit in the Effectiveness Category for Online Marketing.

The FAB Awards is an International Awards programme focused entirely on work done for Food and Beverage brands. Celebrating their 20th year, The Awards has taken entries from many clients, every leading agency network, and many important challenger agencies from over 60 countries around the world.

Ajai Jhala, Chief Executive Officer, BBDO India, who collected the awards, said, How did Mirinda go where no brand in the country had ever dared to? Vipul Prakash (CMO, PepsiCo Beverages) and Josy Paul made a pact to break new ground on Mirinda a couple of years ago when both of them were at Cannes. Back in India, Josy led a joint workout session and in a moment of madness made everyone resign from their roles and titles. This unfettered freedom led us to a totally unaddressed but hugely relevant social issue simmering under the social fabric of society  parental pressure to achieve academic excellence. Of course the clients had to subsequently reclaim their roles and titles to approve such a revolutionary idea and move their entire system to put the idea not only on social media but also on 11 million bottles!

Ecstatic over the wins, Ritu Sharda, Senior ECD, BBDO India (North), exclaimed, Mirindaaaaaaaaaah! Aaaah, the joy of spotting the invisible elephant (as Ajai calls it) of parental pressure. The absolute pleasure to be the voice of millions of teens. The courage of a client to take something like this head on. And the satisfaction of making a difference. Mirinda is a journey towards transformation. And may this journey never end.

BBDO India has been at the forefront for the last several years in creating acts and not just ads. Josy Paul, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India, said, Brands can play a useful role in rearranging society for the better. In the process, they build strong emotional roots and consumer preference and affect buying behaviour  which impacts sales and profits positively. We call it creating acts, not ads. And we are thrilled that this holistic approach is being recognised and awarded worldwide.

Mirindas #ReleaseThePressure is one of BBDO Indias biggest campaigns of 2017-2018, having already won at the ANDYs and AdFest.

For More Stories Visit Here.
Scrap West Seti deal or slash installed capacity

A government panel formed to decide the fate of the stalled West Seti Hydropower Project has recommended scrapping the pact signed with the potential developer China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGC) or providing it a second chance to build the plant by slashing its installed capacity.
India News, known for its direct and unbiased brand of journalism, is all set to host a special conclave Manch  Modi Sarkar, Kitni Asardaar? (How Effective Has the Modi Government Been?) in New Delhi on Friday, May 25, 2018. The day-long event will present a comprehensive overview of the BJP government at the Centre as it completes four years in power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event will be telecast live on India News and NewsX starting 10.00 a.m.

Spread over a day, the conclave will feature top political leaders and ministers from the Modi cabinet, government officials and members from the opposition. Besides political leaders, the event will be attended by bureaucrats, economists, leading journalists, corporates and esteemed members of the civil society.

The conclave will feature Special one-on-one interviews and panel discussions with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Honble Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shri Piyush Goyal, Honble Minister of Railways and Coal, Shri Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Honble Minister of Information and Technology, Shri Prakash Javdekar, Honble Minister of Human Resource Development, Dr. Jitendra Singh, MoS, PMO, Shri Subramanian Swamy, Honble Member of Parliament, Shri Randeep Surjewala, In-charge, Communications, AICC, Shri RPN Singh, Spokesperson, AICC, and other prominent politicians and leaders.

Manch is an India News initiative to foster a sense of citizenship and make political processes more transparent and accountable towards the people of the country. The event in New Delhi will be marked by multiple panel discussions and one-on-ones that sought to address several key issues including Law and Order, Development and Infrastructure, Health and Education, Youth Welfare and Employment, Women Safety and Agriculture.

For More Stories Visit Here.
Amit Papney has moved from ZeeUnimedia to Rajasthan Patrika as digital Head-North.

Papney has over 20 years of experience in the field of media marketing, space selling, tie-ups & brand promotion for Digital Media & Print Media, Events & Radio.

He had joined ZeeUnimedia in 2017 where he was heading key categories including Education,Travel, Infrastructure,Consumer Durables for DNA - Daily News & Analysis English Broad sheet daily Newspaper. He was also handling the Integration for Zee Digital/Zee Business & all non-traditional/special revenue initiatives.

In 2015, Papney co-founded Kampuzz.com which is an education portal with details of 26,000 colleges/universities in India and over 5000 colleges abroad. At Kampuzz.com, he headed business development, Sales promotions and Branding.

Papney had also worked Prabhat Khabar for over a decade. At Prabhat Khabar, Papney had the overall responsibilities of North India Market where he handled Corporate, Government DAVP, PSU, Educational Clients & Advertising Agency/client personnel at brand management, media planning, operation and buying levels, Ensuring profitability of all transactions and buying, operations develop relationships with clients and advertising agency.
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An Aiken woman who was sentenced to 27 months in prison for embezzlement was ordered to pay restitution and forfeit certain property.

Carrie B. Caldwell, 40, was sentenced for embezzlement by a bank officer and filing false tax returns, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina.

Caldwell was a bank manager for Regions Bank in Aiken, and during her employment, embezzled more than $600,000 from the bank.

After the 27 months in prison, Caldwell will have five years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $638,993.54 in restitution to Regions Bank, a press release from the Internal Revenue Service says.

Former Aiken bank officer sentenced to prison for embezzlement, false tax returns An Aiken woman was sentenced to 27 months in prison for embezzlement by a bank officer, acco

Caldwell has not yet gone to prison. DeWayne Pearson, Assistant U.S. Attorney, said she will be given a report date, which can be around three to six weeks after sentencing.

Pearson said Caldwell pleaded guilty on Jan. 26, 2018.

The release from the U.S. Attorney for South Carolina says the money was stolen from dormant bank accounts to evade detection, and was used to pay for travel, a boat and other luxury items.

Caldwell also failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars as income to the Internal Revenue Service, it says.

"The role of IRS, Criminal Investigation becomes even more important in embezzlement and fraud cases due to the complex financial transactions that must be unraveled," said Matthew D. Line, acting special agent in charge of the Charlotte Field Office, in the release. "Those who cheat taxpayers by hiding their income and abuse their positions to enrich themselves at the expense of others will be held accountable."

The IRS worked with the Aiken Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Secret Service to investigate the case; the case was prosecuted by Pearson, according to the release.

Jeremy D. King, with Regions Bank released a statement regarding the issue.

"Regions worked closely with law enforcement to investigate these activities thoroughly and help bring this matter to justice. All money that was taken has been reimbursed to the accounts that were affected," King said.

"We appreciate the work of our Corporate Security investigators here at Regions  as well as our colleagues in law enforcement and the U.S. Attorneys Office. Their actions helped make affected customers whole  while ensuring appropriate action was taken. No other associates were involved. The former manager has not worked for us for some time."
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina's Republican heavyweight, ripped into the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday, comparing the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility fiasco to the political mire President Donald Trump promised to drain.

"Nobody's been fired. Somebody needs to be held accountable for starting programs like this, signing deals with the Russians and saying, 'Oh, never mind,' when you get 70 percent of it built," Graham told a U.S. Senate appropriations committee. "If you want to talk about the swamp, this is the swamp."

MOX, a roughly 70-percent complete facility at the Savannah River Site, was designed to turn weapons-grade plutonium into commercial reactor fuel. It's been a work-in-progress for more than a decade now, ballooning past its initial $4.8 billion budget.

The facility is the product of the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement, a pact between the U.S. and Russia that required each country to dispose of 34 metric tons of plutonium.

That's enough stockpile plutonium to create thousands of nuclear weapons respectively.

"I advocated for a mission that I thought was good for the world, the country and the state of South Carolina," Graham said of his longstanding, and often ardent, MOX support. "In good faith, we took weapons-grade plutonium with an understanding what would happen to it. And that agreement is being broken, that promise no longer exists."

On May 10, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry cut down MOX, submitting a waiver to congressional defense committees that promised he had a better  cheaper and quicker, essentially  alternative that would still get plutonium out of the state.

On May 14, a partial stop work order was issued for MOX. The order put a freeze on new hires, new procurements and new construction, among other things.

The MOX-killing alternative, dilute-and-dispose, is the target of heavy South Carolina criticism.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has called dilute-and-dispose nonsensical and has described a MOX shutdown as a "bad error," a "very unwise thing" and a "travesty."

On Thursday, Graham, again, said dilute-and-dispose is destined for failure, comparing the process to previous DOE missteps: "It will not work."

Dilute-and-dispose involves mixing plutonium with inert material for burial at New Mexico's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

DOE recommends pit production at SRS and Los Alamos; plan kills, repurposes MOX facility The National Nuclear Security Administration has officially proposed producing plutonium pits  nuclear weapon triggers  at both the Savannah

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, took Graham's side during the hearing, succinctly condemning Perry's preferred disposition method.

"MOX, as Sen. Graham has described, is a very difficult issue, but DOE does not have a solid plan for what it's doing," Udall said.

The New Mexico senator said he was "very concerned" about DOE's political motivations or considerations.

"WIPP was not envisioned to take high-level waste or weapons-grade plutonium," Udall said. "So far, DOE has done nothing to secure New Mexico's support, besides asking for a new permit that will be decided by the next governor."

Graham concluded his statements  after Udall wrapped up  by summarizing recent multi-million-dollar MOX appropriations.

"I don't know what to do other than just tell you, as honestly as I can, this is a cluster," Graham said. "And somebody needs to understand what you're about to do here."
1. Yes. The medical data shows it will be beneficial to get one. The sooner the better.

2. Yes. Theres no rush, but I plan to get one sometime in the next few months.

3. No. Im not sold on the need for a booster. Besides, the case numbers are falliing.

4. No. I havent been vaccinated for COVID-19, and I dont plan to get the booster, either.

5. Unsure. It may be smart to wait and see how beneficial the booster shots prove to be.

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Egypts Education Minister Tarek Shawki announced in April the implementation of new reforms to improve education in Egypt. The reforms, which are in part funded by the World Bank with a $500 million loan for five years, will cost a total of $2 billion and are expected to replace the existing education system with a new one to better equip Egyptian youth for the current job market.

Starting in September this year, the reforms will be implemented for kindergarten and primary school students, and for secondary students the following academic year.

September 2018 marks the start of the journey to make our students ready for life, and we are pleased to have this partnership with the World Bank to accompany us on that journey. Our goal is to provide our children with the competencies they need to create a society that learns, thinks and innovates, said Shawki in his statement to the World Bank in April.

The reforms include introducing a new curriculum that focuses on character building and critical thinking skills, improving teachers working conditions and development through training and workshops, changing secondary assessment systems and introducing electronic learning platforms, such as tablets, to students and teachers.

So far, the reforms have been well received by educators and families.

I think the new reforms are a great initiative, said Hanadi Fawzi, Early Years educator who has been teaching in Egypt and abroad for 17 years. Changing the education sector should have taken place decades ago. However, change takes time. It is therefore important that the reforms are implemented thoroughly and consistently to see the desired results that the ministry is seeking.

It is no secret that Egypt suffers from a poor education system. The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report of 2013-14 placed Egypt last in terms of quality of primary education offered in public schools.

Al-Watani newspaper reported that although Egypts public education is free, it is currently under significant pressure to operate efficiently given the large number of students entering schools each year, and that the education budget falls short in providing state schools with adequately trained teachers.

The current system also relies on memorization and fierce competition among students to score high grades on exams and secure a university education. As a result, many parents resort to costly private lessons to supplement their childrens education.

A big chunk of my salary goes to private lessons, said a father of four who sends his children to state schools. The curriculum focuses on memorization, and teachers do not teach in classrooms so that they can be hired as private tutors.

Changing the curriculum to do away with memorization and costly private lessons is welcomed by many families whose children attend public schools. I think the new reforms are very much needed and will greatly benefit children. It will also be a relief for parents. Im personally happy about the changes, the father, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al-Monitor.

But changing the curriculum alone will not solve problems inherent in public schools. For the new education system to succeed, teachers must undergo training and professional development. Therefore, the ministry aims to train about 500,000 teachers across all governorates through Teachers First, a development program for teacher training. To date, more than 30,000 teachers have undergone the training and many more are expected to complete the training in the next few months.

According to Teachers First, educators are taught to use specific applications to learn new teaching approaches in the classroom, track their development and even award themselves and their peers for completing milestones. This approach helps teachers embrace the idea of continuous development as well as create a supportive environment where experiences are shared.

Professional development of teachers is vital, said Azza Radwan Sedky, an academic who is also trained in pedagogy and has taught teachers for more than four decades in the Middle East and Canada. Teachers learn from one another especially if they are good at what they do. But there is more to it than professional development. An improved environment, compensation in salary and benefits, and an opportunity to grow go hand in hand with professional development.

Another aspect of the reform is introducing tablets to high school students. As part of the Education Ministrys goal to encourage learning in the 21st century, it will distribute 1.5 million tablets to students and teachers for free, which they can keep. Although this move has been welcomed by some educators and families, it is not without controversy.

It is absolutely important for students to learn to use information communication technologies such as computers, tablets and mobile technology in this day and age, said Fawzi. However, I would recommend for the tablets to stay at school with the teachers so that they aren't stolen, lost or damaged. If the students have homework, they can stay after school and complete their assignments on the tablets or use their own devices at home if they have them.

It seems, however, that giving away the tablets was decided in order to support the national high school exams going digital. The electronic exams will consist of multiple-choice questions and will be based on a cumulative grading system of three high school years instead of a single standardized test. In August 2017, Egypt Independent reported that according to Shawki, this "new system aims to reduce the importance of rote memorization."

Im happy with these high school reforms and know that using electronic devices for learning is important today, said a mother of three boys who attend state schools. Im just concerned that my boys will be playing games instead of doing their homework. However, at home I will ensure that they will use their devices for schoolwork only.

More important than having a tablet is the information provided, said Sedky. If a tablet mirrors the archaic information in textbooks, then we havent changed much. But if a tablet opens up the learning experience, allows the students minds to expand and explore untrodden places, and takes them to another level, then its worth it.

Alongside these technological developments, the high school curriculum is also expected to receive a face-lift. However, according to Reda Hegazy, head of the general education sector at the Ministry of Education, this will be implemented later, as textbooks for next year have already been printed.

While these reforms are the latest to be introduced by the Ministry of Education, they are not the first. There have been several attempts in the last few years to improve education in the country, but they have been met with limited success. These reforms, however, seem to be far more comprehensive and elaborate than previous ones. Will they succeed? Time will tell, but Egyptians are hoping that they will bring about real change to better the lives and increase the contributions of the next generation.

I have hope that the education system in Egypt will change for the better, and hence give us better human beings across the board, said Sedky.
The Donald Trump administration faces growing pressure from US lawmakers to freeze the sale of F-35 jets to Turkey as the NATO ally holds an American pastor in jail and pushes to acquire Russian military equipment.

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week advanced must-pass annual defense legislation that calls on the administration to remove Turkey from the fifth-generation fighter program over its detention of Andrew Brunson. The equivalent House bill, meanwhile, would hold up major arms sales to Turkey until the administration submits a report on the state of US-Turkish military and diplomatic relations amid Turkish efforts to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system.

The Senate bill, which has not yet been made public, also calls on the administration to sanction Turkey if it purchases the S-400. Last month, Turkey said it would move up the delivery of the $2.5 billion system to July 2019.

Some lawmakers are also pressing the administration to block the F-35 sale under last years Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, which targets entities that do business with sanctioned arms firms. The Barack Obama administration first sanctioned S-400 maker Almaz-Antey in 2014 for its alleged role in Russian interference in Ukraine.

Earlier this week, House Foreign Affairs Committee members asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo if he had decided whether Turkey should be penalized under the law, which could potentially jeopardize the F-35 sale.

I have not, Pompeo told Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas. We continue to work to keep the Turks in a place where they dont actually acquire the S-400.

The debate has caused a fury in Ankara, which insists that neither the State Department nor Congress can block the sale. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said at a press conference May 25 that the detention of US pastor Andrew Brunson and the S-400 purchase were different issues that should have no bearing on the F-35 sale.

This is not a program managed solely by the US, Aksoy said. It is a multinational program and we expect everybody to fulfill their obligations.

Turkey has ordered more than 100 of the jets, but since Ankara inked a deal with the State Department to co-produce an air system for the fighter jet in 2002, the deal isnt proceeding through typical US government channels. Turkey can also deduct its contributions to the F-35 from the sale price.

Asked for comment, the Turkish Embassy in Washington pointed out that flight tests of Turkish-flagged F-35 jets recently occurred at a Lockheed Martin facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Ankara insists the first jets will be delivered in June.

Senate aides said the pending bill would prevent the Defense Department from transferring the jets to Turkey in title. Yet its not clear that lawmakers want to push past the State Department, which says it can give a final veto for the sale.

I think theres a question as to what impact that would have on the programs supply chain, a committee aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about the provision. Its a clear statement of concern about where the relationship has been going.

The fears conveyed in the Senate bill are resonating inside the Trump administration. US officials have expressed concern that the S-400 is not interoperable with NATO systems, and that a Turkish purchase of that system could give Russia greater access into the F-35s sensitive technology.

We have been clear that we have serious concerns for Turkeys potential acquisition of the Russian S-400 system and how it could adversely impact Turkeys participation in the F-35 program, a State Department official told Al-Monitor.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, however, has called for a waiver authority for CAATSA, telling lawmakers last month that it could hamper relations with countries trying to move away from legacy Soviet military systems.

Pompeo will soon get the chance to try to sway high-ranking Turkish officials from Russian military purchases when Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visits the United States on June 4. Thats the same week that Senate aides expect the text of the defense bill to come out ahead of a vote on the floor.
Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's highest authority, delivered his most significant speech regarding the United States' withdrawal from the nuclear deal between Iran and the five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

In the May 23 speech, delivered two days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made 12 demands of Iran, Khamenei presented his own list of conditions for Europe to meet if Iran is to stick with the nuclear deal, adding that otherwise Iran would resume its nuclear activities. The conditions include Europe issuing a condemnation of the United States for breaking the agreement, not raising the issue of Irans missile capabilities, opposing US sanctions against Iran and guaranteeing oil sales and banking transactions between Iran and Europe.

Khameneis speech was the top story for Iranian news agencies and newspapers May 24. Kayhan chose an excerpt from Khameneis speech as its headline: We Have No Quarrels with Europe, [but] we dont trust [them]. Javan's headline read, The Nuclear Deal Only under This Condition. The Line of Hezbollah, a publication that analyzes and publishes Khameneis speeches, led with Real Guarantees 

Iranian analyst Mohammad Hassan Ghadriabianeh said that according to Khameneis comments, it is not enough that the Europeans simply remain signatories to the nuclear deal, formally the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Since Iran has remained committed to its end of the agreement by restricting its nuclear capabilities, Europe must indemnify Iran against any potential US sanctions against it.

The Reformist parliamentarian Haidar-Ali Abedi said that while the Europeans may want to remain in the JCPOA, they may not be able to withstand the pressure from the United States. If the Europeans had any honor, they would be embarrassed, he said, given President Donald Trump's repeated accusations that Europe had been tricked in the deal.

Abedi said that if Europe wants to stick with the JCPOA, Iran must assess the advantages and disadvantages. He added, however, that if Europe ultimately decides against maintaining the agreement, a collective decision must be made by the Supreme National Security Council, President Hassan Rouhani's administration and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the best path forward.

The West cannot be trusted. That, according to the conservative Jahan News, was the primary takeaway from Khameneis speech. If our politicians had acted upon the words of the supreme leader, today this bitter experience would not have occurred, it wrote. Historical experience demonstrates that under no conditions can America or the West be trusted. It continued that once this lesson is learned, action for the progress of the country can be taken.

An article published by the Tasnim News Agency outlined 40 important points from Khameneis speech, organizing them under various subheadings. Under Enmity with America, the article quoted Khamenei, stating, Since the beginning of the revolution, the American regime has been the primary enemy of the Iranian nation. Another point stressed that the experience of the nuclear negotiations finally put to rest the dream of trying to negotiate or cooperate with the United States. It said the negotiations demonstrated that the primary problem the United States had with Iran was never its nuclear program or even the countrys missile program, but the principles of the Islamic system and the Iranian nation  for spreading the spirit of resistance in the region and opposition to American oppression.

Potentially most alarming for the future is the article's emphasis on this point made by Khamenei: The path to prevent Americas enmity is not to be flexible and compromise. Going forward, the article stated, Iranian officials, managers and media should refrain from sowing division and attacking one another regarding the nuclear deal and instead show unity and speak with one voice. Further quoting Khameneis speech, the article asserted that the leading European states, in particular France and Great Britain, have shown that they side with America on the most sensitive issues.

The most important points from Khameneis speech related to economics, particularly guarantees from Europe regarding the sale of oil and working around sanctions. Khamenei had previously stated that the US Treasury has been turned into a war room against Iran, given its role in applying sanctions against countries that do business with Iran, and the article stressed that Irans Foreign Ministry must set up its own war room as a counterweight, though it was not clear on the details of how that would work.
The victory of the Sairoon Alliance, headed by Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, in the recent Iraqi elections raised questions in the United States and Iran about the relations of the next Iraqi government with their respective countries, which both enjoy wide influence in Iraq.

The United States and Iran are closely following the negotiations for the formation of the next Iraqi government. Both parties fear that a government where Sadr enjoys the majority would affect Iranian and US influence in the country  albeit at various degrees.

Dhiaa al-Asadi, the director of Sadr's political office, said on May 23 that US officials contacted the Sairoon Alliance through mediators. They spoke about the Sadrist movements position toward the United States in case the alliance accedes to power.

They asked what the position of the Sadrist movement will be when they come to power. Are they going to reinvent or invoke the Mahdi Army or re-employ them? Are they going to attack American forces in Iraq? Asadi said, citing the talks between the alliance and US officials.

Asadi noted that the Mahdi Army was disbanded in 2008, and the Sadrist movement does not intend to re-establish it. Theres no return to square one. We are not intending on having any military force other than the official military force, police forces and security forces, Asadi told Reuters.

Asadis statement carries a positive message that the Sadrist movement, if it comes to power, will seek to overcome its enmity toward the United States. This could mean that in the Iraqi government Sadr will not be the same man who led his political party outside of the government.

In the past years, Sadrs political behavior has varied. He has toned down the critical voice he once used against the United States. He has criticized the United States occasionally, but he hasnt threatened the US presence in Iraq as part of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State. Sadr did not even hint at the possible formation of a military force outside the state to resist the United States, as he did in 2004 and 2008. The Mahdi Army has been completely disbanded.

In a phone call with a senior member in Sadrs office in Najaf, Al-Monitor learned that Sadr is not willing to form or even support any forces against the US presence, but he will probably work through the Iraqi legislative system to legally expel all foreign forces, including the United States. The source who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity insisted that Sadr rejects using violence against US forces, as they are in Iraq by request of the Iraqi government.

The number of US troops in Iraq is estimated at around 7,000 stationed in various military bases across the country, namely in Sunni-majority areas in northern and western Iraq. The Pentagon, however, has openly declared the presence of 2,500 soldiers in Iraq. Although IS has been completely expelled from Iraqi territories, the United States has yet to withdraw its forces from Iraq. There are signs that US troops will remain in the country for years to come. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said back in February that Iraq needs the long-term presence of foreign forces, especially to ensure aerial cover. Sadr has not opposed these statements.

All of these signs show that Sadr, who insists that he is independent, is sending messages to both the United States and Iran that he will not adopt policies that threaten their interests inside Iraq.

Also, Sadr does not have a military force fighting in Syria, unlike most Iraqi military factions loyal to Iran. The latter have been fighting inside Syria alongside President Bashar al-Assads regime for years now. Sadr, for his part, has opposed the presence of any Iraqi force outside of the country and criticized those defending Assads regime, calling on the Syrian president to step down to pave the way for a democracy in Syria.

Sadr also established close and positive relations with US allies in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan. He paid visits to Saudi Arabia and the UAE last year. On May 24, when Sadr was in Baghdad, he received a phone call from prominent Sunni businessmen Khamis al-Khanjar, who heads and supports the Sunni Iraqi Decision Alliance, which won 11 seats in the elections. Khanjar, who is known for his anti-Iranian positions, arrived at the Iraqi capital on May 24, after an eight-year absence.

Meanwhile, it seems the United States gave its blessing for the Sadrist movement to accede to power. US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said May 22, We will work with whoever the Iraqi government and the people of Iraq decide to elect into its government.

Regarding Iran, Asadi said in a televised interview on al-Mayadeen channel, We have a steady relationship with Iran, stressing that the Sadrist movement and its partners will not yield to the US will.

Iranian Ambassador Iraj Masjedi did not attend the meeting held between the regions ambassadors and Sadr last week. Asadi said Sadrs office sent an invitation to the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, but he apologized and said he couldnt make it.

Masjedi said, The relations between Iranian officials and Sadr are friendly and brotherly. Many of those officials, including Qasem Soleimani, harbor great feelings of friendship for Sadr.

Despite these general and diplomatic statements, the Iranians are not remaining silent about Sadrs move toward forming the government. As Sadr announced on May 24 the completion of the final touches of forming the government, noting that it is "an authentic Iraqi government" with no any foreign interferences, Masjedi said in a meeting with a delegation from the Kurdistan Democratic Party that it is too early to talk about the formation of the Iraqi government. According to Masjedi, the Iraqi political forces are still negotiating, and it is important to not be in a hurry to form the new government.

In an attempt to form a rival alliance to Sadrs, head of the pro-Iranian Fatah coalition Hadi al-Amiri hosted a meeting on May 24 with head of the State of Law coalition Nouri al-Maliki and a delegation from the two main Kurdish parties  the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

All of these signs show that Sadr, who insists that he is independent, is sending messages to both the United States and Iran that he will not adopt policies that threaten their interests inside Iraq. But will the United States and Iran accept this kind of change in Sadrs positions, or will they ask him for guarantees to protect their interests? The answer depends on whether the United States or Iran will remain neutral in the negotiations for the formation of Iraqs next government or at least not oppose Sadr rising into the government.

Iran is not being silent about Sadrs move toward forming the new government, and the United States has yet to decide whether to put limits on Irans influence in Iraq by supporting Sadr, but at the same time, allow his anti-US movement to come to the power.
The Wataniya alliance led by Vice President Ayad Allawi has announced that it has agreed to form a Sunni parliamentary coalition capable of leading the parliament with the Al-Qarar alliance led by Khamis al-Khanjar.

Raad al-Dahlaki, a parliament member representing Wataniya, told Al-Monitor, Both lists have the same orientations and objectives. Therefore, we agreed on unifying ourselves into a parliamentary bloc that may include other lists from Sunni provinces who won in the May 12 legislative elections.

Although the majority of those on the lists are Arab Sunnis, we believe in national principles and objectives and we do not adopt a sectarian platform. Moreover, the Iraqi fait accompli necessitates that we take part in the next government by agreement with Shiite and Kurdish blocs, Dahlaki said.

The Wataniya list has 21 seats in the new parliament while Al-Qarar has 11. According to Dahlaki, negotiations are underway with the Baghdad Coalition (4 seats), Anbar Is Our Identity (6 seats), Ninevah Is Our Identity (3 seats), the Arab Coalition (3 seats), Abiroon (2 seats), Salahuddin Is Our Identity (1 seat), Flags of Goodness (2 seats), Al-Jamaheer al-Wataniya (2 seats) and Men of Iraq (1 seat). Therefore, the Sunni coalition could reach up to 56 seats.

The Sunni bloc is holding on to assuming the speakership of the parliament and has no interest whatsoever on who would assume prime minister, especially since the biggest Shiite bloc has not been formed yet and so far no other name has been brought forward to us, Dahlaki said.

Leaders of the Sunni blocs held their first post-election meeting May 22 at the house of Osama al-Nujaifi, who is among the vice presidents. The meeting was attended by Sunni leaders, a number of ministers and representatives who won seats in the elections, political leaders and candidates from Sunni provinces who did not win seats. During the meeting, Nujaifi demanded that the attendees have a unified voice, unanimity and share the same burdens and expectations as their masses and to speak honestly and seriously, his media office said in a statement. It also said, The opportunity is still open to realize goals of concern to all citizens such as the return of the displaced and migrants, reconstruction  and execution of a governmental platform through genuine partnership based on a wide national consensus.

The Baghdad-based Al Mada newspaper quoted Zaid al-Janabi, leader in the Civil Society for Reform under the leadership of parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, as saying May 22, There is a move to gather the largest number of Sunni representatives in one parliament bloc leading toward a coalition with the Shiite bloc holding the biggest majority and establishing a new government.

Janabi said most Sunni blocs prefer the Nasr coalition, led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, which finished in third place with 42 seats, and support a second term under his Cabinet.

Even though Allawi is a liberal Shiite, he will apparently head the largest Sunni bloc in the elected Iraqi parliament, given that Wataniya has the largest number of Sunni seats. Allawis bloc will be the natural heir of official Sunni state offices under the quota system. As has been customary since the first elected government in 2005, such Sunni posts include the speaker of parliament, vice president and various ministries.

Al-Qarar leader Dhafer al-Ani told Al-Monitor, A coalition with lists from provinces liberated from the Islamic State depends on how close or far each list is from Qarar's platform, whose top priorities are rebuilding the provinces, returning the displaced and providing services and security.

The Qarar coalition puts no red lines whatsoever on any list that won or person running for prime minister. Our only criteria is the platform submitted by blocs and their candidates running for executive posts, Ani added.

He said, Negotiations are still under way with everyone without exception.

It is remarkable that there had not been, until today, many announced meetings for Sunni lists that won seats in parliament; Shiite groups have been holding a lot of meetings, the most important of which were led by the head of the Sairoon Alliance, Muqtada al-Sadr, in Baghdad. Sairoon won the most seats of any alliance in the election.

The Sunni bloc will not likely have the numbers it had in the past, as a number of Sunni candidates are participating on Shiite lists. For example, Khaled al-Obeidi, a former member on the now-defunct United List representing Sunnis, is now a Nasr leader. The list he headed won seven (Sunni) seats in Ninevah. He also has his own party, the Flags of Goodness, which won two seats in Ninevah, and has links with the Baghdad Coalition, which includes a female candidate from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. It is unclear how many Sunni parties that used to form part of wider Sunni coalitions will do so this year or whether they will integrate into other Shiite lists.

However, due to the complex nature of sectarianism, racism and absence of national parties in Iraq, it is highly unlikely that sectarian quotas will be done away with in forming the next government, as Sadr has spoken of doing. The largest three blocs, Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish, will join forces based on minimum conditions for a coalition, despite accumulating internal disputes. It also could be that once a government is formed, and top positions are handed out, parties that wind up disappointed will withdraw from the governing coalition.
The chairman of ultra-Orthodox Mizrahi Shas Party, Minister of the Interior Aryeh Deri, is an experienced, old political hand. He was first appointed minister at the age of 29 in 1988 and has since been a member of four Knessets and four governments. In the current government, all this experience has made him the great compromiser and mediator. He is the glue that holds the coalition together, one Likud minister said in a conversation with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

Deri is not particularly well-known in the international arena. His roles in government have always focused on internal affairs. As a member of the security Cabinet, he is considered level-headed and cautious. The heads of all the coalition parties, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, hold him in high regard.

Netanyahu and Deri have a long history of alliances and cooperation in election campaigns, coalition building and even during political conflicts. Netanyahu consults with Deri on numerous issues. He has even said that he does not make any decisions in Cabinet meetings before hearing what Deri has to say.

After the last election in 2015, Deri was one of the first people to sign a coalition agreement with Netanyahu. In all the ensuing coalition crises that the current government faced surrounding issues of religion and state, Deri was the main partner in finding solutions. In the conscription law crisis instigated by Knesset member Yaakov Litzman of Yahadut HaTorah, the coalitions Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox partner in March 2018, Deri was one of the people who came up with the idea of postponing the issue until the Knessets summer session, thereby ending the crisis.

The summer session has already started, and aside from the conscription issue, the conversion law also threatens the future of this government. Deri will have to use all his political adroitness to prevent the coalition falling apart this year and an early election. His renewed friendship with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman should help with this. Deri and Liberman were close for years, despite their principled differences and the fact that they represent conflicting positions and interests: Shas is an ultra-Orthodox party, while Yisrael Beitenus base consists of immigrants from Russian-speaking countries, who, for the most part, are secular.

This friendship hit a crisis in January over a dispute concerning the supermarkets law preventing the opening on the Sabbath of several businesses and Libermans public attacks on Deri. The exchange of tweets and angry statements caused a rift between the two men. It took about two months before they were finally reconciled May 23. In an interview with the ultra-Orthodox press, Deri spoke very flatteringly of Liberman in his role as defense minister: It is Divine Providence that Avigdor Liberman is leading the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] in these crazy times.  He acts with level-headedness and careful consideration, even when compared to previous defense ministers.

In that same interview, Deri was also critical of Knesset members Moshe Gafni and Yaakov Litzman for sending a letter to Netanyahu May 16, demanding that he uphold his commitment to approve a new conscription law in the next few weeks. They didnt ask me to sign [the letter], and even if they did, I would not have signed it, Deri said. I cant understand why it is necessary to create this mood just before the IDF committee completes its work. What is needed at this stage is industrial silence, not media pressure. We want to give this a chance.

By saying this, Deri was once again throwing all his support behind Liberman, who announced May 21 that the military committee that he appointed to look into the conscription law will submit its recommendations soon, and that he will act in accordance with them.

Deri believes that it is possible to bridge the differences within the coalition over issues like conscription and conversion. At a party meeting April 30, he said, Everything depends on the willingness of the coalition partners to continue cooperating. I see that Netanyahu is now interested in continuing with this government, without any major shakeups, and I hope that it continues this way.

With polls very flattering over the past few weeks, Netanyahu may want to take advantage of his recent successes and advance the election. The problem is that Shas does poorly in the polls. A major victory by the Likud Party could see the end of Shas. In the last few months, almost all the polls predict a sharp decline in the partys strength, from seven seats in the current Knesset to as few as four, right on the borderline of the voter threshold. It is possible that the ongoing criminal investigation into Deri for alleged tax evasion and real estate crimes are causing this drop in the partys strength. In that case, there is another good reason why it is in Deris interest to prevent the government from collapsing prematurely.

In the last Knesset, Deri supported raising the voter threshold, causing his major rival among the Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox sector, Eli Yishai, to fail to pass the threshold. Yishai left Shas because of an argument with Deri and founded a new party, Yahad. It needed just 11,000 votes to pass the threshold. The three seats worth of voters that did support him were lost to the right-wing bloc.

Deri now faces a complicated situation. Netanyahus popularity is eating away at Shas, so to ensure that the party makes it into the next Knesset, he will have to make some significant move. One possibility is that he might reconcile with Yishai and the rabbis, who support him. There have been contacts over the last few months, particularly with the rabbis, including Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar. It seems that as long as Deri is not confident in this arena, or in other words, until he can be sure that Shas will pass the voter threshold, he will do everything he can to prevent early elections.
The May 18 decision of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to establish a commission of inquiry into the killing of Palestinian protesters in the latest clashes at the Gaza border, especially those on May 14, was met with a Pavlovian response from Jerusalem: Israel will boycott the commission, will not allow its members to visit Israel and will refrain from testifying to it. As in the past, it might make do with submitting an official paper that explains the need to defend its borders, and protect its citizens.

The UN council is a very problematic body as far as Israel is concerned. Its critique over the years has been far from professionally objective, and much closer to hostile. Most of its debates and decisions touch on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and its leaning against Israel is evident, as is the fact that it overlooks other cases around the world, involving much greater numbers of casualties and cruelty that cant be denied and cant be ignored.

But over the years Israels use of the right to remain silent has not helped at all, has not strengthened its case and has not raised second thoughts among critics of the Jewish state. When the Jewish South African Judge Richard Goldstone headed a commission of inquiry on behalf of the council in 2009, to investigate the events of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, Israel boycotted him and his commission. The report was indeed very critical, but two years later Goldstone published a surprising essay in The Washington Post, where he wrote that if Israel would have cooperated with him, if it had revealed the relevant material to him, which had reached him in the meantime, he would not have accused it of the crimes it was accused of.

Despite all this, Israel sticks to its stance. In 2012, it decided to break any ties to the commission. Shortly afterward Jerusalem changed policy and made every effort to reconnect with the commission, since someone in the government understood that anger cant guide Israels foreign policy and that self-isolation does not punish the states rivals or its enemies  only Israel itself.

The United Nations is an organization intended to protect small nations, so that they are not trampled on by the world powers, as occurred in the two world wars that preceded its establishment. But to meet this challenge, every state, small or large, holds the same weight in its vote in the UN General Assembly and its various bodies (except on the Security Council). Most of these states were only established in recent decades. These are among the nonaligned nations, and they support anything they see as movements fighting for the freedom of their people, while they see Israel as part of the West, and as a colonial state  not as a state that has gathered persecuted Jews and defends them. The work of persuasion is much more difficult than fleeing, and so the Israeli tendency is not to make an effort, but to boycott and cut itself off.

This week, I returned from one of the least comfortable forums for Israel: the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. This has been a problematic forum for official Israel over the years, and the Israelis who participate in its discussions are not  usually  official representatives. The meeting May 18 dealt with possible ways to find a path out of the dead end the peace process has reached in recent years. Most speakers were Palestinians, a few were Israelis, along with researchers sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. The setting was the UN building in New York, and in the audience were many ambassadors and statesmen, such as the Indonesian foreign minister, but also a wider audience of students and experts.

What was said on stage was generally careful and diplomatic. It was much more difficult to hear the questions from the audience, most of which  as usual  were short speeches. These were, in general, provocative, touching not only on Israels refusal to accept Palestinian demands for an agreement, but also the traditional Arab criticism of the very creation of Israel, the right of the Zionist movement to exist and other such arguments that have been repeated for decades, and which give Israelis goosebumps every time they hear them.

This was an opportunity to explain to the young people in the hall the Israeli position, the logic of Zionism and the goal of those who strive for peace in Israel to reach an agreement with the Palestinian people  first of all for selfish reasons, from the understanding that without a border we cant ensure a democratic state with a Jewish majority, and without peaceful relations we and our neighbors would live by the sword.

This was not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus version of public diplomacy, which concentrates on historical proofs for grave Palestinian conduct and Palestinian refusal, but rather an attempt to explain Israel from its subjective viewpoint, as a home for the Jewish people that would not come at the expense of Palestinians who live in Israel or the occupied territories. After the discussion, a young woman from Gaza approached me and said that if thats the Israeli position, she is prepared to accept it. She also admitted that she didnt have the courage to say that before the wider audience.

I dont wish to deceive myself. Such conversations do not change reality. But boycotting them is an outrageous waste of forums that are interested in hearing our voice, where our voice is not heard now. Seeding doubt among people who are used to a certain kind of propaganda could turn them into our partners in the future, while boycotting does not gain us anything but a release from the unpleasant necessity of challenging people. As for official Israel, it not only has to explain but also to listen. Some of the insights voiced at such forums, like some of the questions of the commission of inquiry, are worth hearing, dealing with and drawing conclusions from.

This policy of burying ones head in the sand has large implications, beyond the question whether an Israeli presence at UN debates could change international resolutions or the outcome of different inquiry committees. This introverted approach and resorting again and again to a group of supporting countries, which are hardly Israels first choice of allies or role models, affects Israels new generation of diplomats. These young diplomats become persuaded that the whole world is against Israel, and therefore dialogue will lead nowhere. And so they are led to prefer not coping with the situation, dropping all attempts at convincing others and any attempts of understanding the positions of others. The isolation price that Israel might pay for such mindset could become very costly.

Boycotting the commission of inquiry of the Human Rights Council is very convenient for officials in Israel, and staves off, for the short term, a big headache. But in the long run it damages the national interest. Inviting the commission to Israel, meeting with its members and presenting Israels detailed positions could prevent an extreme report. A boycott invites such a report, which would add to continuing damage to the image of the state, even when it doesnt deserve it.
TRIPOLI, Libya  On May 20, seven Libyan men  some of whom were high-ranking military officers under the former Moammar Gadhafi regime  arrived in Tripoli from their self-imposed exile in Cairo. None of them would have openly set foot in Tripoli unless they had been assured their safety was guaranteed in the Libyan capital, which they hadn't visited since Gadhafi's regime fell in 2011.The group of three former military officers, three activists and one university professor had been invited to attend a reconciliation meeting in the capital hosted by the different militias that are the de facto power brokers in western Libya. One of them, Naji Ahrar, had been a brigadier in the former Libyan armed forces.

While in exile, the men joined one of several political groups set up in Cairo and Tunis. Such groups broadly define themselves as representatives of the former regimes political agenda, which opposes foreign intervention in the country, particularly the NATO military intervention in the 2011 civil war.

The men have, in the past, repeatedly expressed their political opposition to the so-called February Revolution of 2011, but their opposition apparently has remained peaceful as they seek discussions to salvage the war-shattered country that is on the brink of partition  if not disintegration. To this end, they attended reconciliation meetings organized and attended by the United Nations special envoy to Libya, Lebanese Ghassan Salame, in Cairo on April 29 and Geneva on Feb. 15.

In Tripoli, the men attended a May 21 meeting with influential, diehard revolution supporters and militia leaders. According to the available details, the meeting took place near Tripolis destroyed airport just south of the capital. However, at some point in the meeting, something went wrong. Another militia, known as the Special Deterrent Force (SDF), intervened and took the men to jail, accusing them of plotting actions to further destabilize Tripoli and of possessing arms and explosives. The SDF also accused them in a statement on its Facebook page of links with local sleeper cells with the same agenda. As the men are still in detention, little else is really known about what happened.

Details of the arrest, the meeting and the hosts of the meeting are sketchy. However, this incident, little-covered by the media, seems to poison the whole idea of reconciliation in Libya and throw in doubt the efforts of the UN envoy, whose declared priority is to develop reconciliation ideas as a prerequisite for helping to pull Libya from the brink. Local city meetings aimed at reconciliation have been taking place in Libya during the past few months, gearing up to presidential and legislative elections that are planned for sometime this year  though no specific date has been announced so far.

The seven arrested men are said to be working under the umbrella of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya (PFLL). The group's honorary head is Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the late leaders son. He has been imprisoned and released in various Libyan jurisdictions in the past despite being sentenced to death in absentia at one point in Tripoli. The International Criminal Court recently renewed calls for his arrest on charges that he committed international war crimes in 2011.

Yet the group said in March that the son plans to run for president and will present his platform later. The PFLL says it seeks to participate in political talks to shape a new Libya based on free elections and national inclusive reconciliation aimed at ending violence.

The issue of the PFLL members' arrest is still puzzling, but many political leaders believe the members were led into a trap under the guise of a goodwill meeting.

Said Rashwan, a prominent leader in the National Popular Front, another group that supported the former regime, said from his self-imposed exile in Cairo, The men went to Tripoli because of arrangements [to] attend talks aimed at national reconciliation.

Rashwan appeared to accuse the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord of being involved in the arrests. Official parties in Tripoli are responsible for this kidnapping of the seven men," he said.

What happened will certainly play negatively with former regime supporters. The incident comes only few days after a large conference of national reconciliation was organized in Benghazi in which former ministers took place for the first time.

The incident will only make people who are still loyal to Gadhafi more hard-line, which is likely to disrupt any efforts the UN is still making to get Libyans to talk to each other before the elections.

It will also be taken as a clear sign that those in control in Tripoli aren't trustworthy, serious about dialogue or committed to nonviolent approaches to tackle the multitude of complicated issues that have arisen since the 2011 revolution.
RABAT, Morocco  Morocco is becoming more involved in the Palestinian cause of late, staging a variety of events throughout May with the participation of Palestinian political parties and Moroccan organizations and institutions.

On May 5, the Moroccan National Working Group for Palestine organized a political seminar in Rabat that brought together representatives of various Palestinian political parties, including Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Maher al-Tahir and Munir Shafiq, secretary-general of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad. The seminar focused on developments related to the plight of the Palestinians, most notably the faltering Palestinian reconciliation process and the controversial May 14 move of the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Moroccan Minister of Human Rights Mustapha Ramid participated in the seminar, in addition to Abdul Rahim al-Sheikhi, the head of the Moroccan Unification and Reform Movement, leftist leader Mohamed Bensaid Ait Idder, former Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane and Nabil Benabdallah, secretary-general of the Party of Progress and Socialism.

This is the most appropriate opportunity for Palestinian factions to meet in Morocco and overcome their differences, Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad spokesman Ziad al-Aloul, who attended the Rabat seminar, told Al-Monitor. Morocco has offered the largest Arab arena for Palestinian parties from all political affiliations to come together and strengthen their relationship with official Moroccan institutions and civil society organizations.

No other Arab state, with the exception of Egypt, has allowed all Palestinian factions to meet openly, publicly and officially.

Tahir, head of PFLP political relations, said during the seminar that the 10-year division between the Palestinian factions is ridiculous and should end. We will continue our serious efforts to build a Palestinian national unity and hold a comprehensive national council that includes all Palestinian forces, without exception," he said.

Hichame Toufike, a researcher and activist at Al-Quds for Studies and Training (Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies, Training and Networking) in Casablanca, believes Morocco's efforts bring together all Palestinian factions to communicate.

All the Palestinian parties that attended the recent events spoke of the need for Palestinian reconciliation and finding solutions for an all-inclusive Palestinian National Council. Morocco may indeed be the appropriate environment to meet in, Toufike told Al-Monitor.

Morocco's role will not be as significant as Cairo's, he noted. In addition to its proximity to the Gaza Strip, Egypt is familiar with all the dimensions and details of Palestinian politics because it is involved in the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement. The increase of Palestinian meetings in Morocco [makes it] an important pit stop for Palestinian factions to find joint action and reach reconciliation, Toufike added.

On May 11, Mohammed V University and Khaled al-Hassan Center for Research and Studies, under the supervision of Palestinian political science professor Said Khaled al-Hassan, held a conference on human and social sciences in Rabat titled The Jerusalem Cycle: Our Thoughts Over the Last Century  Its Issues and Cultural Origins. A number of Arab researchers participated, coming from countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Palestine. The conference focused on the Palestinian situation and the future of education curricula in Palestine.

On May 13, PLO Executive Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad and Palestinian Ambassador to Morocco Jamal al-Shobaki participated in meetings and events in Fez in support of the Palestinians, at the invitation of Moroccan academic and cultural institutions. The men also attended the Fez Cultural Festival  organized by Al-Eshraq Association for Development in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Morocco  where Palestine was the guest of honor.

Several popular rallies took place in just one week in the Moroccan cities of Rabat, Casablanca, Tetouan and Mohammedia, in solidarity with Palestine. The rallies were organized by the Justice and Development Party, the Justice and Spirituality Association, and various socialist parties, as well as the opposition's Authenticity and Modernity Party. Civil society organizations, including the Moroccan Coalition to Support Palestine and Resist Normalization, staged several rallies.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI, in his capacity as chairman of the Jerusalem Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, wrote a letter May 14 to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In it, the king described the transfer of the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem as violating international law and relevant [UN] Security Council resolutions that stipulate the inadmissibility of changing the legal and historical status of the Holy City.

Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani said at a May 17 Cabinet meeting that his country will continue to support the Palestinians so that they can enjoy their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. He further stressed his country's special and historical relationship with Jerusalem and Palestine and thanked all civil institutions, associations and citizens of Morocco who expressed their rejection of the embassy relocation.

While Arabs seemingly have shown an unprecedented loss of interest in the Palestinians' cause  primarily their right to the return of their now-occupied ancestral lands  Morocco leads peaceful pro-Palestinian activities and events. On May 20, Moroccans staged a mass rally in Casablanca in support of the Palestinian cause and denouncing the US decision to move its embassy.

Lahcen al-Amrani, deputy mayor of Rabat, issued an official decision May 19 suspending a "twin city" project with Guatemala City in protest against Guatemala also transferring its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Yahya Alem, a political researcher at the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, told Al-Monitor that Moroccans' actions in favor of Palestinians have increased noticeably. There is unlimited Moroccan support to the Palestinian cause on the popular level, as well as on the level of civil initiatives that focus on confronting the figures and institutions that are pro-normalization with Israel, he said.

On the official level, Morocco "can play an important role in Palestinian reconciliation," he added. "Morocco has recently shown openness to all Palestinian national parties by constantly calling on both the Hamas and Fatah movements to attend seminars and meetings with Moroccan parties and civil society organizations.
CAIRO  In an effort to break the stalemate between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the round of negotiations held between the three countries' foreign ministers, irrigation and water ministers, and heads of intelligence ended May 15 in Addis Ababa with the signing of a document containing five clauses.

The aim of the document is to create a new road map that would avoid procrastination and have the three countries renew their pledge to cooperate in accordance with the Declaration of Principles signed in March 2015.

However, while the document was issued after 16 hours of back-to-back meetings, it failed to resolve the fundamental differences between Egypt and Ethiopia over the technical studies aimed at determining the negative effects of the dam on Egypt. It also failed to reach an agreement over a storage and operation mechanism in the dam that would avoid causing severe damage to Cairo.

Yet still, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the document was a success. We have set a course to break the deadlock, and I trust that sincerity will lead to the conclusion of technical studies that will be of benefit to the three countries, he said during a press conference following the signing of the document.

Shoukry was referring to the deadlock that emanated from the last round of talks between the three countries and that led them to exchange media accusations.

The document stipulates five clauses, the first of which provides for holding a tripartite summit between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan every six months. The second clause stipulates the establishment of a tripartite infrastructure fund. And while the third and fourth clauses failed to resolve differences based on technical studies, they said that the two French consultancy firms chosen by the three countries shall submit to the Technical National Committee within three weeks a proposal regarding these technical studies based on a compilation of queries and observations made by each country. This proposal shall be deliberated during another round of discussions held June 16 among the nine parties in Cairo.

The fifth clause provides for the establishment of a national independent scientific research study group tasked with discussing and developing various scenarios related to the filling and operation rules of the dam in accordance with the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization of shared water sources while taking all of the appropriate measures to prevent the causing of serious harm to Egypt and Sudan. The document says that this group shall submit the outcome of its deliberations within three months to the water ministers of the three countries.

This document is to be added to a number of documents signed by the three countries regarding the Renaissance Dam ever since a report issued by the International Committee of Experts in May 2013 stressed the importance of studying the environmental, economic and social impact of the dam on downstream countries. Examples of such documents include the Declaration of Principles signed by the presidents of the three countries in March 2015 and the document of the Khartoum meeting signed in December 2015.

Of note, the Khartoum document set timetables for the completion of studies and for reaching an agreement on the filling and operation rules of the dam within a maximum period of one year. However, disagreements over technical details prevented the implementation of any of the commitments stipulated by these documents.

The main differences lie in the obstructed technical studies conducted by the French consulting firms BRL and Artelia, one and a half years following the signing of the contracts for the assessment studies by the three water ministers in September 2016. This is due to Ethiopia and Sudan's rejection of the consultancy firms inception report and attempts on the part of Ethiopia and Sudan to introduce amendments that would invalidate the studies, as per a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation in November 2017.

Of note, Egypt agreed on the inception report as it was in line with the contracts for the assessment studies, but Sudan and Ethiopia rejected it.

Also, there are differences that emanate from the reference that should be used in the studies. For example, Cairo believes that the studies should strictly follow the wording of the contracts, which use as a reference the current water status in the Eastern Nile, including the area behind the Aswan High Dam up until the Nile Delta.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia awaits the upcoming rainy season that begins in July in order to start storing water, complete the construction process at the Renaissance Dam site, conduct safety tests and start operating power turbines. The initial amount of stored water is estimated at 14 billion cubic meters of water, which is the volume of water that the dam will prevent from reaching Egypt and Sudan.

An Egyptian official who participated in the meetings told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, The main determinant of the success of this round will be the implementation of the terms stipulated by the meetings document, respecting the deadlines for resolving the dispute over the inception report of the consultancy offices studies and developing consensual scenarios for water storage in the dam.

The source said that the document is not a radical solution to the existing differences over the inception report or the filling and operation rules of the dam. However, the continuation of the dispute after the failure of the round of negotiations in April almost threatened the Egyptian interests in the Nile waters, especially with the beginning of the storage operations in Ethiopia, the continued intransigence against any proposals put forth by Egypt to push for the completion of the technical studies of the effects of the dam and the inability to accept the Ethiopian individual plan to fill the reservoir dam.

Breaking out of the circle of dispute by working on new areas of cooperation that would achieve common interests such as the tripartite infrastructure fund is a new policy adopted by Cairo. This policy shows great flexibility in the context of policies aimed at securing interests in the eastern Nile and protecting the annual share of Nile water against any individual and intransigent decisions, the source said.

Although observers expected these negotiations to achieve a breakthrough and agree on outstanding points, the outcome of the meetings held in Khartoum on April 5 and Addis Ababa on May 15 failed to produce specific results that would prove the negative effects of the dam on Egypt and prevent any serious harm resulting from the filling and dam operation process.

According to international law, advance notification is required from Ethiopia before engaging in any construction process that could harm the downstream countries. However, Ethiopia started building the Renaissance Dam in 2011, thus sparking a long conflict with Egypt over the dam and its impact on the Egyptian share of the Nile water.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan failed to give a mandatory status to the report that will be issued by the new scientific group that will develop several filling scenarios. In other words, the work of this team will merely serve as a suggestion.
Rarely a day passes in Turkey without newspapers trumpeting another success story in the defense industry. In the past two years, in particular, the defense and aviation sectors have become rich propaganda material in a government rhetoric exalting nativism and nationalism in almost every realm.

Amid the avalanche of exaggerated praise, realistic assessments of the state of the Turkish defense industry are also available. Last week, the Defense and Aerospace Industry Manufacturers Association released its 2017 sectoral performance report, which, in a sense, is the report card of the Turkish defense industry for last year. The document paints a generally successful year, but indicates that the sector should now focus on sustaining growth, drawing a cautiously optimistic picture of the future.

According to the report  a compilation of individual figures provided by members  the sectors turnover was nearly $6.7 billion last year, a 12% increase from 2016. In the breakdown, the biggest turnover  some $2.4 billion  came from the sale of land vehicles and systems followed by military aviation products with $1.13 billion; weapons, ammunition and missiles with $828 million; civil aviation products with $650 million; naval products with $569 million; military maintenance with $171 million; and logistics with $134 million. Another $650 million was listed under the other category.

Exports were worth $1.82 billion, a 6.6% decrease from 2016, including $684 million worth of final products sold to end users, with the rest intermediate products sold to foreign companies.

The report does not indicate how much of the exports were part of offset arrangements in government procurements from foreign manufacturers. If all sales to foreign companies are presumed to be offsets, the remaining $684 million  or 37% of export revenues  are supposed to have come from contracts won in a competition environment. According to this figure, the Turkish defense industry is still weak in terms of international competitiveness.

Stressing that exports had been slowing since 2014, the report notes that the sector has reached a phase of sustaining growth, with domestic sales  primarily to the Turkish military  at a point of saturation. Aside from traditional offset sales to European and US companies, the report underlines the importance of boosting sales to the Middle East, the Turkic republics of Central Asia and the South Asia-Pacific region.

As of the end of 2017, the sector employed 44,740 people, a 30% increase from 2016, according to the report. The increase, which corresponds to about 10,000 new jobs, is indicative of the many Turkish companies that have moved from other sectors into the defense industry, driven by political winds and economic incentives.

The report notes that imports in the sector are on the rise, standing at $1.54 billion in 2017, up 20% from the previous year. The spike in imports stems from the foreign-made components required for the increasing domestic production and the need companies feel to stock some products in the face of covert embargoes by the United States and European countries.

Half of the sectors imports are from Europe and 35% from the United States, indicating how reliant the Turkish defense industry remains on Western technology, including intermediate products and subsystems, despite Ankaras native and national bombast. The Wests 85% share in the imports must be disappointing to Russia, which has sought to cash in on Turkeys souring ties with its NATO allies.

With such high reliance on imports from the United States, Turkish defense industry companies are following with concern the rising calls in Congress to curtail military sales to Turkey.

In another downside, the report notes that efforts to reverse the brain drain by luring qualified Turkish expatriates back home have failed to bear fruit, underscoring the sectors dire need for highly skilled technology workers.

Commenting on the sectors outlook, defense industry insider Arda Mevlutoglu told Al-Monitor that the increase in turnover despite the general deterioration in the Turkish economy was commendable, but he stressed that difficulties obviously persist on the side of exports, which are critical for sustainable growth."

The drop in exports is the result of a slowdown trend since 2014, Mevlutoglu said, pointing to a combination of factors. Due to Turkeys military campaign in northern Syria and ongoing security operations at home, military needs have increased, boosting the turnover of the sector, he explained. The production priority has been on meeting domestic demand, while export-oriented business development and marketing capacities remain insufficient and the sectors productivity problem persists; hence, exports remain below the desired level, he said.

Still, the more than expected increase in turnover is good news. I guess the amount of exports will increase in 2018, given the contracts signed with Qatar. The picture looks good in the long term, he added.

In March, Turkish companies sealed contracts worth some $400 million with Qatari counterparts during the Doha International Marine Defense Exhibition and Conference. The deals involve the sale of armed drones, armored vehicles, assault boats, special operations boats and electronic surveillance systems, among others.

The prospect of sales to Pakistan is also boosting optimism that the decline in exports will be reversed this year. A major deal in the pipeline involves the sale of 30 T129 ATAK attack helicopters to Pakistan, which has also shown interest in buying four MILGEM Ada-class anti-submarine warfare corvettes from Turkey.

An Ankara-based defense industry expert who wished to remain anonymous stressed that self-sufficiency and sustainability would be critical for the growth of the sector. Turkey cannot become a major regional power without military deterrence, but at the same time, it cannot trust weapons suppliers from traditional Western allies, the source said. Therefore, for the sake of better deterrence, Turkey should rely on its own capabilities in developing arms and seek all opportunities to export [to achieve sustainability]. Without self-sufficiency and sustainability, the sector can hardly grow with just hollow bluster.

Indeed, defense autarky appears to be a major driver in the efforts to expand the industry, along with other objectives such as economic gains, international prestige and political grandstanding for domestic consumption.

Ankara, however, still lacks a clear-cut political vision or a road map on how to effectively manage the sustainability phase. A number of serious downsides stand in the way of progress, calling for urgent solutions. Along with institutional challenges within the sector, extreme political interference and nepotism hinder merit-based development. Coordination between the military and civilian bureaucracy remains poor, in addition to inadequate cooperation between the sector, policymakers and universities. Due to the domination of big state-backed firms, small and medium-sized companies have little room to survive, which, on top of the problem of human capital deficiency, has a killing effect on innovation.
What's being billed as an "economic development announcement" that will "positive impact the region" is set for Tuesday at Hyundai in Montgomery.

According to the Montgomery Chamber, the event is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday.

"This announcement will bring new capital investment and jobs to the area and will support the region's growth," the announcement stated.

It's unclear at the moment what the announcement refers to. However, there are at least two possibilities.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama is set to begin production of the newly redesigned 2019 Santa Fe next month in Montgomery.

Montgomery currently manufactures the Santa Fe Sport, which has been selling well in comparison to the rest of Hyundai's North American sedan segment, as buyers have flocked to SUVs. The new design drops "Sport" from the name and adds what the company is calling "family-oriented" designs to the interior.

There's another possibility, but Hyundai last year denied a report that it was planning an expansion of the Montgomery plant this year.

Business Korea reported last November that the company planned on expanding the Montgomery plant with a $270 million investment in the second half of this year. This would allow the plant to produce the mid-sized Tucson SUV, the subcompact Kona, and a pickup, reports said at the time.

Back in February, Gov. Kay Ivey met with Hyundai President CEO Dong Ryeol Choi in Montgomery.
A new drive for auto tariffs on vehicles produced outside the United States may impact Alabama's newest auto manufacturer - Mazda.

This week President Donald Trump initiated an investigation into whether tariffs are needed on national security grounds. The action came after talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement have stalled.

One source says Trump may be seeking new tariffs of 20 to 25 percent on automobile imports. Nearly half of the vehicles sold in the U.S. are imported, with many coming from assembly plants in Mexico and Canada.

According to Bloomberg, Mazda would be among the automakers most affected by tariffs, since all of their vehicles are currently produced in Mexico, where wages are 1-10th of the average American worker's. Trump has blamed low wages in Mexico on outsourcing, which has impacted the American job market.

On Thursday, Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai told reporters in Toyko that Mazda will continue to pay close attention to tariff policies in the markets it operates in. The biggest reason for building a plant in the U.S. would be to strengthen the company's brand, he said.

As most people know by now, Mazda will begin construction this fall on a $1.6 billion joint manufacturing plant with Toyota in Huntsville. The automaker plans to build a crossover for the American market. The U.S. is also one of the biggest markets for Toyota and Hyundai, though both have American factories.

At the same time, other tariff news may benefit Mercedes-Benz. China announced this week it will cut the import duty on passenger cars to 15 percent from 25 percent. German automakers stand to gain from this, as a third of the cars imported by China last year were built in Germany, according to the Financial Times.

Mercedes-Benz alone exports large numbers of luxury SUVs from the U.S. Mercedes will export roughly 65,000 cars from the U.S. to China this year, according to forecasts from research group IHS.

The tariff cut will take effect July 1, and duties on imported auto parts will fall from 10 per cent to 6 per cent, China's Ministry of Finance announced on Tuesday, the Times reported.
A good way to spend the long weekend remembering those who died while serving in the country's armed forces is watching films that pay the same respect.



While Hollywood might seem saturated with war movies that might not tap into the right amount of reverence at times, there are plenty that set out to honor the fallen men and women of the military.



We found several films (and two shows) you can stream on Amazon, HBO, Hulu and Netflix you can stream this weekend to pay respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.



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Band of Brothers (HBO)

Following the success of "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks took to HBO for this popular miniseries to tell the story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division, and their mission in WWII Europe, from Operation Overlord, through V-J Day.

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The Civil War (Netflix)

Ken Burns' comprehensive survey of the American Civil War aired on PBS on five consecutive nights in September 1990, drawing tens of millions of viewers. More than 11 hours long, it's required viewing for history buffs.

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Cold Mountain (Netflix)

Anthony Minghella's adaptation of Charles Frazier's bestseller follows a wounded Civil War soldier who embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart. Gorgeously filmed with terrific period detail, it stars Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Oscar-winner Renee Zelwegger.

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Dunkirk (HBO)

While Memorial Day is an American holiday, that shouldn't stop us from honoring those who fought alongside our troops in wars that shaped our history. In Christopher Nolan's pulsating 2017 drama, Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire and France are surrounded by the German Army, and evacuated during a fierce battle in WWII.

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Full Metal Jacket (Netflix)

Stanley Kubrick's 1987 adaptation of Gustav Hasford's novel "The Short-Timers" follows a U.S. Marine as he observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue. Features an all-timer performance from the late Lee Ermey as Gny. Sgt. Hartman.

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Hart's War (Hulu)

A law student becomes a lieutenant during WWII, is captured and asked to defend a black prisoner of war falsely accused of murder. Stars Colin Farrell and Bruce Willis.

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Heartbreak Ridge (HBO)

Clint Eastwood stars as a hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant who clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude, as they train ahead of going into their first combat mission.

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The Hurt Locker (Amazon)

Winner for best picture in 2009, Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War-set drama follows a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work. Thrilling and poignant, Bigelow looks deep within the idea of war as a drug for some who serve.

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Last Days in Vietnam (Netflix)

An Oscar nominee for best documentary feature in 2014, this film focuses on the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War when the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempted to escape, as American soldiers and diplomats confronted the moral quandary of whether to obey White House orders to evacuate U.S. citizens only, or to risk punishment and save the lives of as many South Vietnamese citizens as they could.

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Last Flag Flying (Amazon)

Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, a former Navy Corpsman (Steve Carell) re-unites with his old buddies and fellow Marines (Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne) to bury his son, a young Marine killed in the Iraq War. Richard Linklater's sequel to "The Last Detail" is a thoughtful look at grief and friendship.

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A League of Their Own (Hulu)

When WWII threatens to shut down Major League Baseball, a candy magnate persuades his fellow owners to bankroll a women's league. Two sisters join and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry. While not a "war movie" (in fact, it's one of the best baseball movies ever made), it goes out of its way to honor the men who served and died in WWII, sometimes in difficult fashion, with several female players waiting to hear back from their husbands overseas.

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Lincoln (Netflix)

Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Oscar for playing the president whose continued struggle with continuing carnage on the Civil War battlefield prompts him to further his fight with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves. Not typically thought of as a war film, but a late scene in which Lincoln rides among the fallen in the aftermath of a recent battle is harrowing imagery reverently handled by Steven Spielberg.

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The Pacific (HBO)

A companion piece to fellow HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," this 2010 edition focuses on the U.S. Marine Corps' actions in the Pacific Theater of Operations within the wider Pacific War, centering on the experiences of three Marines who were all in different regiments of the 1st Marine Division.

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Pearl Harbor (HBO)

Michael Bay's sprawling but misguided story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941. While a love triangle isn't the ideal backdrop to depict the fateful events at Pearl Harbor, you certainly won't find a filmmaker who supports the U.S. military more than Bay. A technical marvel that does try to honor those lost, it just should have rethought the premise in doing so.

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Sand Castle (Netflix)

This 2017 Netflix original film centers on a young rifleman in the U.S. Army who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq. It is based on the true events and the experience of the film's writer Chris Roessner during the Iraq War. Stars Nicholas Hoult.

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13 Hours (Amazon & Hulu)

During an attack on a U.S. compound in Libya, a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos in Michael Bay's chaotic look at what happened in Benghazi. Bay shies away from any politics, instead strictly focusing on those who fought fought to defend the diplomatic compound, some making the ultimate sacrifice.

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Three Kings (HBO)

Prior to "The Fighter" and "Silver Linings Playbook," director David O. Russell rose to fame thanks in part to this Gulf War dramedy following four soldiers who set out to steal gold that was stolen from Kuwait, soon also discovering people who desperately need their help. Stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube.

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The Tuskegee Airmen (HBO)

The true story of how a group of African American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest U.S. fighter groups in WWII. Follows the men from their training in Alabama to their combat missions overseas. Stars Laurence Fishburne.

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USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (Netflix)

During WWII, an American navy ship is sunk by a Japanese submarine leaving 300 crewmen stranded in shark infested waters. You might recall the classic monologue from "Jaws" recited by Robert Shaw that probably tells the story better than this movie happens to. But it does its best to honor those lost in that horrible tragedy.

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The Wall (Amazon)

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena star as two American soldiers trapped by a lethal sniper with only an unsteady wall between them in director Doug Liman's military thriller.

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The War (Netflix)

Ken Burns' brilliant seven-part series focuses on the many ways in which the Second World War impacted the lives of American families.

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When Trumpets Fade (HBO)

A private in the latter days of WWII on the German front struggles between his will to survive and what his superiors perceive as a battlefield instinct in this HBO original film starring Ron Eldard.
An east Alabama man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually abusing a young relative while he was visiting her South Carolina home.

The solicitor for the 14th Judicial Circuit in Bluffton, S.C. on Friday announced the conviction and sentencing for 61-year-old Charles Alfred Dent of Piedmont. Dent also is awaiting trial in Alabama for a charge of possession of pornography of a minor.

The crimes happened in 2013 and 2014. The 9-year-old girl first disclosed the abuse in the summer of 2014 to her mother's boyfriend at the time, according to South Carolina authorities. She said Dent made her perform a sex act on him.

During a video of the child's interview with investigators, she described how Dent went into the bathroom, took pictures of himself and showed her the photos. He also took provocative photos of the girl.

The girl, who is now 13, testified in this week's trial that the abuse took place in 2013 and 2014 when Dent visited her Bluffton home. "This girl was incredibly brave, first to come forward and tell someone about the abuse, but also to remain strong throughout this whole process,'' said Assistant Solicitor Alex Joseph.

In closing arguments, authorities said, Joseph said "The level of detail is so high. This little girl consistently provides vivid descriptions that no 9-year-old should know."

A Beaufort County jury of six women and six men deliberated for three hours before returning Thursday's guilty verdict. Dent was convicted of two counts of disseminating obscene materials to a minor under 12 and first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Circuit Court Judge Alex Kinlaw Jr. handed down the 30-year sentence for the sexual conduct charge and two 15-year sentences for the dissemination of obscene material. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

Alabama court records show Dent was indicted by a Calhoun County grand jury in 2015 stating that on Aug. 22, 2014, he knowingly possessed images of a minor depicting "sado-masochistic abuse, sexual intercourse, sexual excitement, masturbation, breast nudity, genital nudity, or other sexual conduct."

Dent was set to go on trial in Calhoun County in April, but the trial was postponed.
While many college students were donning swimsuits on their summer break, 15 graduate and undergraduate students at the UAB School of Public Health tried on contamination suits used for working with Ebola patients.

The students were part of a 12-day road trip tour of the Southeast, winding from Birmingham to nine different sites across Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia to see public health professionals in action and learn about the history of their field.

Stops on the tour included: a former tuberculosis sanitarium in Mississippi; the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina caused lasting public health impacts; the Centers for Disease Control headquarters in Atlanta; and a site in Baxterville, Miss., where the U.S. government detonated two nuclear weapons underground in the 1960s.

Lisa McCormick, associate professor at UAB's School of Public Health, said she planned the trip to give students a broad view of the many different types of public health jobs and operations out there, and what it's like to actually do those jobs for a living.

"Students learn a lot of information in the classroom, but sometimes it really doesn't sink in until they get into the communities and see it and talk to public health professionals, people who have been working in the field for years," McCormick said.

"That's what we're trying to give them is that 'Ah-ha' moment where they are able to relate what they've been learning in the classroom to public health practice and working in the communities."

The trip also helped show the students how public health employees deal with real-life issues like budget cuts and lack of public enthusiasm for the work that is being done.

"It was really interesting to kind of see the struggle, that give and take, back and forth of a public health department that's trying to fight for the health of the people of the state and sometimes has all of the odds stacked against them," said Claire Auriemma, one of the graduate students on the trip. "Sometimes we are a reactionary society and we don't necessarily value things like public health until there's an emergency and we really need it."

UAB masters student Catherine Toms also said the visit with the Mississippi State Department of Health was particularly enlightening, as she is considering the state health department as one of her potential career options after graduation.

"That was really interesting, just seeing how they cooperate and coordinate things with nonprofits," Toms said. "Their budget has been cut repeatedly over the years, and yet they are really creative in finding ways to serve the public and keep programs open that would have to be closed.

"They're pretty impressive people."

In the first Alabama stop on the tour, the students visited the Poarch Band of Creek Indians' tribal health department in Atmore to learn about tribal health initiatives.

"We visited with the state health department in Mississippi, the city health department in New Orleans, and so I wanted them to see a tribal health department learn about its structure and its service delivery models," McCormick said.

The students then headed to Tuskegee, site of the infamous syphilis study that led to modern rules and ethics practices for informed consent and treatment of patients in research studies. The students also visited the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, located on campus at Tuskegee University, and met with bioethics professor Stephen Sodeke.

"[The Tuskegee study] was something that students hear about in class all the time, but none of them have ever been to Tuskegee, and it's right down the road from us," McCormick said. "[Sodeke] talked them through the history and the legacy of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment from the bioethics standpoint and why African-American populations tend to distrust government and large medical research institutions."

From there, the students visited an animal diagnostics laboratory at Auburn University and then traveled on to Atlanta for visits at the CDC and the Carter Center to learn about President Jimmy Carter's initiative to eradicate guinea worm around the world.

The group is scheduled to return to the UAB campus on Friday, and students have maintained a blog describing their experiences.

"I think all of my expectations for what a public health department would be like or for what the mental health department in the state of Mississippi or for even what a nuclear detonation site would be like, all of those expectations have just been completely shattered and replaced with reality," Auriemma said. "And that has been eye-opening to say the least."
Defense attorneys are questioning the mental state of Christopher Henderson, a north Alabama man charged in the killings of his children, second wife and her relatives.

Appointed attorneys Bruce Gardner and Robin Wolfe have asked a Madison Count Judge for Henderson to be evaluated by a mental health professional.

In a motion filed this week, the attorneys said they question 42-year-old Henderson's competency to stand trial.

"Counsel have reason to believe that the Defendant's intelligence is well below normal levels," Gardner and Wolfe wrote in court papers, "and counsel have further reason to question the defendant's competence to understand the charges against him and his responsibility for the offenses at the time of commission of the offenses charged herein."

Rhonda Carlson

Henderson is indicted along with 44-year-old Rhonda Jean Carlson on nearly 20 counts each of capital murder. The bigamist couple is accused of killing five people, then setting fire to their bodies at a St. Clair Lane home in the New Market community of Madison County.

The five people killed on Aug. 4, 2015 are:

Kristen Smallwood Henderson, 35, who was nine months pregnant with Christopher Henderson's child;

The couple's unborn child, Loryn Brooke Smallwood

Clayton Daniel Chambers, Kristen Smallwood Henderson's 8-year-old son and a student at Riverton Elementary School;

67-year-old Carol Jean Smallwood, Kristen Smallwood Henderson's mother;

Eli Reed Sokolowski, Kristen Smallwood Henderson's 1-year-old nephew

Nearly two years after the killings, a Madison County grand jury indicted the couple.

Christopher Henderson's wife, Kristen, was stabbed multiple times or shot to death, according to the indictments. Her unborn child and 8-year-old son were stabbed to death, the indictments state.

Christopher Henderson and Carlson killed the unborn baby by "cutting her from the womb of her mother and then stabbing her multiple times," according to court documents.

Sokolowski also was stabbed, but he ultimately died of asphyxia in the fire that consumed the home of Carol and Joe Smallwood, investigators have said. Court documents do not make clear Sokolowski's cause of death. The records say he may have died from the stabbing or the fire.

Investigator Eugene Nash Jr. has testified that sheriff's deputies and firefighters were called to the scene that August afternoon for a house fire with possible victims trapped inside. While firefighters fought the blaze, family members showed investigators footage from the home's surveillance system, which they accessed via their cellphones, Nash testified.

The surveillance system was installed the week before the fire, after Kristen Smallwood Henderson got a protective order against her husband.

The video showed Christopher Henderson entering the home and also caught images of Carlson wearing gloves and carrying a gas can, Nash testified. Carlson and Christopher Henderson are later seen on the video leaving the home before smoke begins billowing, Nash told the court.

Nash testified that investigators subsequently searched Henderson's mother's home on Nassau Drive, where they found a backpack that Henderson's daughter said he was carrying when he returned home the afternoon of the fire. In the backpack was a lock pick and duct tape. Investigators also found a black shirt Henderson was reportedly wearing that day.

In Carlson's Jeep Liberty, which Nash testified could be seen in the surveillance footage, investigators found a .22-caliber rifle, a pistol, ammunition and other evidence.

Kristen Smallwood Henderson was the second of Christopher Henderson's two wives. They married on Sept. 26, 2014 but were in the midst of a divorce at the time of the slayings. Kristen Henderson had learned her husband also was married to Carlson.

Henderson and Carlson each are charged with 18 counts of capital murder because the killings were committed during the a first-degree burglary, first-degree arson, killing two or more people and in the process of killing a children younger than 14, the indictments state. Additionally, Henderson is charged with a 19th count of capital murder because he violated a protection order when he killed his wife, court documents allege.

The case is being prosecuted by Madison County Assistant District Attorney Shauna Barnett.

Court dates haven't been set for the couple. Both have been jailed since they initially were arrested in August 2015.
In April 2015 a severe storm scoured across Mobile Bay, wreaking havoc on a fleet of sailboats participating in the Dauphin Island Race. Six people died.

A little over three years later, the first lawsuit over those deaths is almost ready for trial in Mobile County Circuit Court. Valentina Henry is the daughter of Robert Lonnel Thomas, who died during the storm, and the administrator of his estate. Her suit charges that Fairhope Yacht Club's conduct of the race makes it liable for the wrongful death of Thomas.

Henry's suit was filed in September 2016. The 20 months since then have been filled with motions, filings, depositions and subpoenas involving a Who's Who of the Mobile sailing community. Along the way the suit has withstood an attempt to have it moved to Baldwin County and at least two motions for summary judgment. (In May 2017, Presiding Circuit Court Judge John Lockett ruled that although the case is governed by federal maritime law, the circumstances of this case do not preclude a wrongful death claim under Alabama law.)

Outstanding procedural matters were weighed at a preliminary conference on Friday, at which Lockett and attorneys for Henry and the yacht club hammered out a rough timetable. The also agreed that given the number of Mobile-area people who'd been involved in the race and the extensive media coverage of its disastrous end, it would be prudent to start with a larger-than-usual pool of prospective jurors.

Proceedings will start on Tuesday, June 5. Plaintiff's attorneys estimated they would need two to three days to present their case, while defense attorneys estimated they'll need three to four. That would put closing arguments and the start of jury deliberations around June 14 or 15.

The jury's decision may resonate in federal court, where four suits have been filed this year. All have the same lineup of attorneys as the case before Lockett. Their combined claims against the yacht club appear to add up to more than $7 million in damages sought.

Three of those federal cases have been consolidated because they involve one boat, the Razr. Adam Dean Clark, 17, of Mobile, died; his mother, Angelina Tew, has filed a wrongful death suit for $2 million. Jimmy Charles Brown, 71, also of Mobile, died as well; his widow, Jane Brown, has filed a wrongful death suit seeking more than $1.5 million, according to court documents. Robert Luiten and his son Lennard Luiten, of the family that owned the Razr, are seeking $1 million for emotional distress and damages such as the loss of the boat.

Senior U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade ordered on Thursday that those three cases should be consolidated. She ruled that fourth case, involving a death on a different boat, should be tried separately. Kris Beall, 27, of Pineville, La., had been on a boat named Scoundrel. His widow, Amanda Beall, has filed a $2 million wrongful death suit against the yacht club.

No trial date has been set for those federal suits. Attorneys for Fairhope Yacht Club have argued that under applicable law, the club bears no responsibility for the deaths that occurred during the race.
Gov. Kay Ivey today announced that five members of the Alabama National Guard and a guard helicopter will be deployed to the Mexican border.

In a press release, Ivey said the move came at the request of the Trump Administration and upon the recommendation of the Alabama Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Sheryl Gordon. The soldiers will be supporting the Texas National Guard in partnership with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"Alabama is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our nation. We have the greatest group of service men and women in the country," Ivey's statement read. "The Alabama National Guard stands ready to answer the call and we are proud to assist in the Southwest border mission."

The state plans to dispatch a UH-72A Lakota helicopter on Tuesday, along with a flight crew and aircraft maintainers from the A Company, 1-114th Aviation Battalion, out of Birmingham. The mission will operate under the direction of the Texas National Guard. The Alabama soldiers will not be conducting law enforcement operations.

"The Alabama National Guard is always ready to assist our friends and partners on the border and continue the ongoing mission for homeland security," General Gordon said. "We're proud our soldiers are mentally and physically equipped to handle the challenges of the task."
The worst case of child abuse witnessed in more than 30 years is how Baldwin County Sheriff Hoss Mack described the death of a one year-old child that was found dead Thursday.

The child, named as Violet Rice, was 13 months old when she was discovered still sitting in a small chair inside an RV near to the Styx River community, Robertsdale. The child's mother, Jordan Rice, 27, has been arrested and charged with Aggravated Child Abuse, according to Mack, who hosted a press conference in Robertsdale Friday afternoon.

She is not currently charged with the child's death, but is being held on $100,000 bond in the Baldwin County Corrections Facility.

Baldwin County District Attorney Robert Wilters, also present at the press conference, described the charges as the willful maltreatment of a child under six years-old.

"Once we have finished with the investigation, the case will be presented to a grand jury and they will determine whether or not those charges are appropriate and if there is enough evidence to indict," he said.

The child's father, who works in a nearby military base, has been informed.

Two of Rice's other children, aged three and six, were taken into custody by the Alabama Department of Human Resources. Law Enforcement declined to say what condition the two children were in when investigators arrived at the trailer.

Wilters also said that the charges could be increased depending on the results of an autopsy. As the charges stand, Rice could face between 10 years and life in prison, said Wilters.

Neither Wilters nor Sheriff Mack went into detail about the state of the child's body, but the county sheriff indicated that it was bad. "In 33 years of law enforcement, this is one of the most horrific child deaths that I have personally seen," he said.
Peter Capote was sentenced today to death by lethal injection for the 2016 fatal shooting of Shoals teen Ki-Jana Freeman.

Colbert County Circuit Judge Hal Hughston Jr. handed down the sentence. A jury last month found 24-year-old Capote guilty of capital murder and voted 10-2 to impose the death penalty.

Freeman, 19, was fatally shot March 1, 2016 as he sat in a Mustang with his friend Tyler Blythe outside Spring Creek Apartments in Tuscumbia. Blythe, 17, was injured in the shooting.

Capote was sentenced to 20 years for the shooting of Blythe.

Capote is the third man convicted in the case. Prosecutors said Capote and Benjamin Young, who was sentenced to death earlier this year were the trigger men. De'Vontae Bates pleaded guilty last year to criminal conspiracy and agreed to testify about the plan to kill Freeman. His sentencing is scheduled later this year. Two other suspects -- Riley Hamm Jr. and Thomas Hubbard -- are awaiting trial.

"The court finds that the defendant (Capote) was a major participant in this senseless murder from the planning, preparation, riding with co-defendants to the scene of the crimes, and in the commission of the murder," Hughston wrote in an order today.

Authorities have said the suspects arranged to either buy or sell an Xbox to Freeman, but the transaction was a setup. The suspects believed Freeman and another man had stolen an XBox and TV two days earlier in a burglary.

The judge's order includes a summary of the facts of the case, plus details about Capote's life and upbringing. Capote, who is from Illinois, has been associated with Chicago gangs since his early teen years, court papers state. He was raised in a home with an abusive and inattentive parent, according to testimony.

"May God have mercy on your soul," Hughston wrote in his order.
The Rev. Bernice King - an activist and the daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. - has accused former White House aide Stephen Bannon of "co-opting" her father's legacy to support his nationalist politics.

"#SteveBannon has dangerously and erroneously co-opted my father's name, work and words," she tweeted Wednesday. "Bannon's assertion that my father, #MLK, would be proud of Donald Trump wholly ignores Daddy's commitment to people of all races, nationalities, etc. being treated with dignity and respect."

Bannon is the latest conservative to point to President Trump as someone who is helping fulfill the dreams of King.

Bannon, who rose from being the co-founder of a highly influential alt-right website to the White House chief strategist, shared his thoughts on how King would view the president's job creation successes on BBC's "Newsnight." He said he believed King "would be proud of" Trump for creating jobs for black and Hispanic people.

"If you look at the policies of Donald Trump, anybody - Martin Luther King - would be proud of him, what he's done for the black and Hispanic community for jobs," Bannon said. "It's the lowest unemployment in recorded history. You don't think Martin Luther King would be proud?"

"Look at the unemployment rate we had five years ago," he added. "You don't think Martin Luther King would sit there and go: 'You're putting black men and women to work. Lowest unemployment rate in history, and wages are starting to rise among the working class. And you're finally stopping the illegal alien labor force that's coming in to compete with them every day and destroying the schools and destroying the health care." Absolutely."

Absolutely not, King's daughter tweeted.

"My father's concerns were not sectional, but global. He was an activist for the civil rights of Black people in America, but he was also an activist for human rights. #MLK

"Further, he would not refer to people as 'illegal aliens.' The term is degrading and does not reflect his belief that we are all a part of the human family. #MLK"

In fact, King tweeted, her father would be disturbed by the types of leaders who have emerged in the current political climate.

"Bannon's comments are like feeding someone empty calories, in that they don't convey a comprehensive view of #MLK as a global humanitarian who cared about the well-being of all people.

"My father would be extremely disturbed by the climate created by leaders, who have emboldened people to easily express and demonstrate cruelty, predominantly toward people of color and immigrants. #MLK"

Trump, who most Americans think is racist, according to a February poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, regularly points to gains in the job market as proof that he has been a good president for black and Latino Americans, groups that disproportionately voted against him in the 2016 election.

After hip-hop artist Kanye West reiterated his support for Trump and aligned himself with critics of black Democrats, the president went on Twitter last month to praise the rapper and pointed to historic low employment rates.

"Kanye West has performed a great service to the Black Community - Big things are happening and eyes are being opened for the first time in Decades - Legacy Stuff! Thank you also to Chance and Dr. Darrell Scott, they really get it (lowest Black & Hispanic unemployment in history)."

But what Trump and Bannon never acknowledge when talking about unemployment rates is that those gains in the job market can't be solely attributed to the current administration. They actually began before he entered office. The president and his supporters taking credit is not a conclusion backed by data.

The Washington Post's Philip Bump previously wrote that Trump's claims are "very misleading."

"It's not as if black unemployment was 18 percent under Barack Obama and, as soon as Trump took office, it plummeted. Black unemployment fell fairly consistently from 2010 on, as did the rates for whites and Hispanics.

From January to December 2017, the unemployment rate among black Americans fell 1 percentage point. During the same period in 2016, it fell the same amount. In 2015, it fell 1.9 points. The previous year, it fell 1.5 points. The year before that, it fell 1.8 points."

Bannon's words displayed the same lack of awareness and sensitivity that hip-hop artist Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter addressed when he mentioned that things other than financial prosperity matter to people of color.

"It's not about money at the end of the day. Money doesn't equate to happiness. It doesn't. That's missing the whole point," Carter told CNN's Van Jones in January.

"You treat people like human beings. That's the main point," he added. "It goes back to the whole thing - 'Treat me really bad and pay me well.' It's not going to lead to happiness, it's going to lead to, again, the same thing. Everyone's going to be sick."

Bannon's comments come during the 50th anniversary of the Poor People's Campaign, an initiative King started half a century ago to draw more attention to how the civil rights of low-income Americans were constantly in jeopardy. The late pastor wanted people of color to have the same economic opportunities that white Americans enjoyed, but doing so would require combating racism in workplaces, policymaking and other spaces.

A current civil rights leader, the Rev. William Barber, attempted to pick up where King left off last week when he launched a month-long movement called the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

King's daughter endorsed the movement on Twitter after Bannons comments.

"Finally, #MLKwould be proud of a livable wage for all and not merely a low unemployment rate. #PoorPeoplesCampaign"

Barber, a frequent Trump critic, sees the president's impact on the economic advancement of people of color quite differently than Bannon, but representative of a much larger problem in the Republican Party.

"We can't just lay this reality of what we're seeing at the feet of Trump," the liberal minister said in January on "Democracy Now!" "Trump is a symptom of a deeper moral malady. And if he was gone tomorrow or impeached tomorrow, the senators and the House of Representatives and [Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham] and all them would still be there. And what we have found . . . when we look at them, no matter how crazy they call him or names they call him or anger they get with him, it's all a front, because at the end of the day, they might disagree with his antics, but they support his agenda."

Alluding to King is not uncommon for Bannon and others on the right. King's daughter and others on the left regularly call out conservatives for cherry-picking his message, saying that King's words have to be seen in their full context.

"My father was working to eradicate the Triple Evils of Racism (prejudice + power = oppression/destruction of a race deemed inferior), Poverty (Materialism) & Militarism. Pointing out the group that most commonly benefits from all 3 is not "labeling." Truth before reconciliation."
It's probably not a surprise that Mountain Brook is Alabama's wealthiest city. What may surprise you is that the swanky Jefferson County city ranks near the top in the country in another category linked to higher incomes.

24/7 WallStreet recently ranked the richest city in each state. Mountain Brook took Alabama's top honors, boasting a median household income of $129,777, as compared to the state's median income of $44,758.

More than 31 percent of Mountain Brook households earn $200,000 or more, blowing away the state average of 2.9. Median home value in the city is $557,300 compared to $128.500 in the rest of the state.

But it was in educational attainment that the city excelled. According to the analysis, 85.1 percent of adults in Mountain Brook have at least a bachelor's degree, a figure that's some 61 percentage points higher than the state average.

Mountain Brook's education attainment isn't just high for Alabama, however. It's extremely high when compared to the rest of the country. Only three of the other cities making the wealthiest list had higher percentages of adults with at least a bachelor's degree: The Village of Indian Hills, Ohio, (88.1); Winnetka, Illinois (88.1) and Upper Montclair, New Jersey (86.4 percent).
Alabama unveiled on Thursday the first of several portions of a massive $140 million beachside enhancement project at Gulf State Park.

The $7 million Interpretive Center and East Pedestrian Bridge, described as a "gateway" entrance into the sprawling 6,150-acre park, was officially opened during a ribbon cutting ceremony.

It's the first part of a roll out of features at Gulf State Park that will be highlighted with the Nov. 1 opening of a conference center and 350-room Hilton Hotel.

"The interpretive center will help explain what makes the State Park so great," said Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Said Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey: "It will serve as an entrance for our neighbors and partners in Gulf Shores."

The Interpretive Center will feature interactive exhibits aimed at educating visitors about the park's environmental attractions. The exhibits will be installed next month, Blankenship said.

The center also includes a multi-use room, a covered porch with interactive exhibits, an elevated plaza, public restrooms, bike parking, a sand-play area, amphitheater seating and benches overlooking the Gulf.

Connected to it is a pedestrian bridge above East Beach Boulevard that allows visitors a safe access to the park's trail system.

"The Interpretive Center is the launch point for the 28 miles of trails inside the park," Ivey said.

Bill Bennett, regional director and general manager with Atlanta-based Valor Hospitality - the company contracted to operate the new additions - said the Interpretive Center is a sustainable addition that will generate "105 percent" of power and water needed to operate it. The goal, Bennett said, is for the building to be certified as "Living Building," considered the most rigorous environmental certification in the world.

Lee Sentell, the director of Alabama's Tourism Department, described the Interpretive Center and East Pedestrian Bridge opening as a "great tease" ahead of the conference center and hotel's opening in November. Construction is ongoing to that facility, located just west of the Interpretive Center and East Pedestrian Bridge between Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.

It was a tease that was in financial and legal entanglements not long ago.

A federal lawsuit in 2014 challenged the process by which the project was approved during former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's administration. A group called The Gulf Restoration Network had long argued that the hotel and conference center represented a misuse of BP oil spill money that was supposed to restore natural resources.

The state, in October 2017, agreed to spend $65.1 million over a 15-year period starting next year to maintain and operate the public amenities at Gulf State Park as part of a settlement that was reached in that lawsuit.

The agreement also stipulated that the state will maintain and manage a host of non-conference center elements of the project for 20 years, and will not charge fees for the public's use. Among those features is a research and education facility that will open next year. Trails, beach access, pedestrian pathways and the Interpretive Center will also be accessible to the public without fees.

But past legal issues were not part of the discussion on Thursday. Instead, state officials eyed the new development as an attraction that will add to what has been record-breaking tourism since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil spill that ravaged Alabama's coastal beaches.

Said Ivey: "With the improvements here, the Gulf State Park will truly be a world-class facility and the crown jewel of Alabama's tourism."

On Tuesday, Ivey and other state officials unveiled the state's annual tourism statistics, which showed Alabama luring $14.3 billion in tourism-related expenditures last year. Sixty-eight percent of that money came from five counties: Baldwin, Mobile, Jefferson, Madison and Montgomery.

The state saw a 3.3 percent spike in visitors during 2017, from 25.8 million in 2016 to 26.6 million last year.

Baldwin County, once again, was the No. 1 tourism county in the state attracting 6.4 million people.

But the growth slowed last year for Baldwin County, increasing by 1.3 percent over 2016. According to the state, a wet July - the most popular month of the year for beach tourism in Baldwin County - contributed to the slower growth.
Political fisticuffs were on display Thursday during a GOP Alabama State Senate candidates' forum in Fairhope. Very little was off-limits as candidates quarreled over bankruptcy filings, suspended licenses, and allegiance to campaign contributors.

The stakes are high on June 5. Four candidates are vying for the Republican nomination to the District 32 seat that encompasses much of Alabama's fastest-growing county and has long been occupied by state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose.

Pittman isn't running, leaving the seat in the heavily Republican district open to a newcomer. Running are Baldwin County Commissioner Chris Elliott of Daphne, Dr. David Northcutt of Fairhope, Orange Beach City Councilman Jeff Boyd and former Alabama House member Bill Roberts of Foley. The winner will square off against Democrat Jason Fisher of Orange Beach in November.

The four GOP candidates took turns swiping at each other during the two-hour forum hosted by the Common Sense Campaign tea party of Baldwin County.

'Bare-knuckled'

Perhaps the sharpest confrontations pitted Elliott against Northcutt, the top two fundraisers in the campaign.

Northcutt has positioned himself as a non-politician with a feisty style similar to that of President Donald Trump and who will oppose raising taxes. Elliott has positioned himself as a relationship builder who wants to join coalitions in Montgomery to help secure more funding for the coastal region.

"Some of us want to make friends and hang out and do things like that," said Northcutt. "I'm telling you, that's not what Donald Trump has done. He's gone into Washington and it's been a bare-knuckled affair. That's what I intend to do."

Said Elliott: "Make no mistake about it: Montgomery is against coastal Alabama. If we send someone to Montgomery who thinks they know it all and will try to bully those legislators around, we will be put in a box. It will be a disaster for Baldwin County."

Also in the middle of the scrum was Boyd, who supports Elliott's call for more teamwork with fellow lawmakers, but who is also questioning candidates beholden to political action committee support. Elliott, who enjoys support from the Business Council of Alabama as well as Realtors, insurance agents and educators, has secured strong PAC backing in recent weeks.

"President Trump is the president and he can demand whatever he wants," said Boyd. "I am one of 35 senators. I have to work as a team."

Boyd, who along with the other three candidates favor rescinding federal Common Core learning standards in public schools, questioned whether a candidate accepting PAC money would truly fight Common Core.

"Don't take (PAC) money and push it and say you are working for the kids," he said. "You are not."

Heated confrontation

Roberts, who served in the Alabama House from 2010 to 2014, kickstarted the most heated moment in the debate when he questioned Elliott about a campaign flier which Elliott said he "never has filed for bankruptcy and never had his business license suspended."

The suggestion, in the flier, is that some of Elliott's election opponents have had such troubles.

Roberts said to Elliott: "I am asking you to name them."

Elliott said that Northcutt, more than once, has admitted "that he had his ability to prescribe prescription medication suspended."

Northcutt rebutted, "That's not true." He admitted that he'd allowed one of his licenses to expire, comparing the matter to having an expired driver's license. Said Northcutt: "Once I found it out, I immediately contacted the board and it was reinstated. I have not had it expired twice. I have never have been able not to prescribe drugs. That's what you call making a mountain out of a molehill and that's what you can expect from this county commissioner."

Elliott then turned to Boyd, and asked him about a bankruptcy filing on his record.

Boyd said the bankruptcy was related to a condominium deal, in which 32 people were sued for $17 million.

"I was one of them," said Boyd. "I had a $10,000 investment in a condo deal and it went bad. I was the smallest investor in it and we all got sued. I had no option. It wasn't personal."

Boyd added, "This is what is wrong with politics."

Gas tax

Northcutt, meanwhile, continued to promise not to raise fuel taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements, which are a high priority in fast-growing Baldwin County.

He asked Elliott about his support from the BCA, which through its Progress PAC, contributed $25,000 to the county commissioner earlier this month. "They have said their No. 1 goal is to raise taxes," said Northcutt, and then requested Elliott relay what he told BCA members "behind closed doors" regarding a possible increase in the gas tax.

Said Elliott, "We will have to look at difference sources of revenue. That does not mean your taxes will be increased."

He cited his role on the county commission last year to vote for a permanent extension of a penny sales tax increase that went in effect in 2010, but was set to expire on May 31. That extension has funneled revenue into the Baldwin County School System to pay for a series of school construction projects.

"There was no more new taxes and a whole lot more schools being built," said Elliott.

Northcutt said he would "absolutely not" support a gas tax increase and pushed Elliott to state his position on any proposal to hike it. Alabama hasn't increased the state portion of the fuel tax since implementing a nickel increase in 1992.

"I said I would be happy to look at revenue for infrastructure," Elliott said, relaying a conversation he had with the BCA. "I'm happy and open to that. Sometimes as a legislator, it's not just black and white. You have to understand that a piece of legislation evolves over time."

Elliott, meanwhile, said he believes Boyd would be a close second behind him to serve as a state senator. At the end of the forum, he walked toward Boyd and implored the tea party crowd to "please pick someone who understands the importance to build consensus and who will not go to Montgomery and tell them how it is. It will absolutely destroy this county."
The Chinese government is disappointed by US President Donald Trumps decision to pull out of his planned summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un  but privately the leadership will not be surprised.

After all, Beijing is caught between the worlds two most unpredictable leaders.

Just two days ago, while on a brief visit to Washington, Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi had publicly urged the US to cherish the opportunity for peace.

So, it is fair to assume that Trumps decision amounts to a slap in the face not just for Pyongyang but also Beijing.

In his letter sent to Kim, Trump based his decision on what he said was the tremendous anger and open hostility contained in North Korean statements in recent days.





But Chinese commentators say the summits demise ultimately began with John Bolton, Trumps national security adviser, who essentially said Kim could end up like Muammar Gaddafi.

Libyas late leader was forced to give up his nuclear ambitions in exchange for a normalisation of relations with the West. He was eventually killed by Western-backed rebels in 2011.

Chinas leaders will doubtless also wonder about the timing of Trumps decision, coming just hours after North Korea carried out its promise to dismantle tunnels at its only nuclear test site.

Beijing feels that this is further sign that Kim is sincere about moving towards denuclearisation, albeit in his own time. There is a deep suspicion, say some Chinese analysts, that Trump may actually never have had any intention to go to Singapore on June 12 for the planned meeting.

What comes next?

What China says and does next will be crucial, given that talks between Washington and Beijing aimed at averting a trade war remain unresolved.

In the past, Trump has subjected President Xi Jinping to a burst of provocative flattery. But his tone changed a few days ago when he said Xi had influence over Kim  and was using that influence to gain leverage in the trade talks.

China is still the only real ally that North Korea has, yet Beijing has been at the forefront of UN efforts to enforce sanctions against its ideological neighbour.

Will China now feel less compelled to squeeze North Korea economically? The state media on Friday was measured in its assessment.

An editorial in the China Daily concluded that an end to hostilities and denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula are the goals that many countries have been working for in the past decades  which is true of China, whatever, Trump might suggest to the contrary.

There are now multiple friction points between Beijing and Washington: Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Iran nuclear deal and now Trumps decision to cancel a summit China had welcomed.
Key questions answered as another Ebola outbreak raises concern in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

New York City  This week, the World Health Organization (WHO) described the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as sitting on an epidemiological knife-edge.

According to government statistics released to Al Jazeera on Thursday, the total number of confirmed Ebola cases stands at 31. Authorities suspect a further 21 others as either probable or suspected cases of the viral disease.

Though the Congolese government have only confirmed nine deaths thus far, there are suspicions that a total of 22 people may have already died from the virus.

Meanwhile, the WHO has shipped in thousands of doses of the vaccine to stem the virus from spreading. Other NGOs and aid agencies, like the medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF), have stepped in build treatment facilities.

But health experts are concerned that the virus introduction to the city of Mbandaka, could usher in a new, possibly uncontrollable phase of the outbreak.

Here is everything you need to know about the virus in the DRC.

What is Ebola and where does it come from?

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in the DRC. It is considered a zoonotic virus, meaning that it originates from animals and is passed on to humans.

The virus causes a fever, cripples the cells that regulate blood pressure and causes organ failure.

Once infected, patients have a very low chance of surviving.

Symptoms include, but are not limited to fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, and internal and external bleeding.

Are there certain countries in the world more susceptible to Ebola?

The WHO describes Ebola as endemic to the DRC with the current outbreak being the ninth time the virus has made a significant appearance in the past 42 years.

Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead in the rainforest, Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the WHO based in Geneva, told Al Jazeera.

Similarly, Sterghios Moschos, a molecular biologist at the Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, told Al Jazeera that viruses like the Ebola virus or Nipah virus, which has claimed a dozen lives in India, often spring up among small animal populations faced with restricted movement.

We simply dont know where these viruses are hiding in the jungle, but they have been around probably for thousands of years  we only notice these viruses when they jump from animal to man and are able to transmit, Moschos said.

When did the latest outbreak in the DRC begin?

The government of DRC declared an Ebola outbreak on May 8, 2018, after a series of suspected Ebola cases were reported to the ministry of health.

The ministry said two cases of the virus had been confirmed near the town of Bikoro in Equateur Province.

On May 17, the DRC government said the virus had reached Mbandaka, a city of 1.2 million, in what they cautioned could be a new phase of the virus.





However, Jessica Ilunga, communications officer for the DRCs Ministry of Public Health, told Al Jazeera that the virus moving to Mbandaka, a city some 150km away from the original case, was not surprising.

From the notification of the first cases in Bikoro, the government knew this would be a high-risk outbreak especially because Bikoro is near the city of Mbandaka. So Mbandaka was included in our response plan from the beginning, Ilunga said.

But with Ebola moving to a transport hub situated on the Congo River, with direct access to Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, and Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, the possibility of the outbreak spiralling of control became a real possibility.

On Tuesday, EcoHealth Alliance, a research group that studies the intersection of animal, environment and human health, analysed flight patterns from airports in the region, and concluded that eight of out of the 10 cities most at risk from the current outbreak were African countries, with three inside the DRC alone.

Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, told Al Jazeera from New York, that though neighbouring African countries should be most concerned, it is something that everyone in Europe and the US should be concerned about, too.

Unfortunately, we (Americans) care about an outbreak only if it hurts us, he said.

How have the DRC government and international community responded so far?

Many health experts and observers say that both local and international response has been swift. President Joseph Kabila managed to arrange $4m for the emergency response while the US pledged $7m to WHOs call for assistance.

Ilunga from the Ministry of Public Health lauded the international community for being more reactive and responding faster than in previous outbreaks.

The WHO and the larger international community were severely criticised for failing to act promptly during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014-6.

According to Jasarevic from WHO, multiple partners are on board including the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to assist in reaching far-flung areas.

Some 4,500 doses of the vaccine have also been shipped to Mbandaka.

Congos Ministry of Public Health says vaccinations are an integral part of the countrys response plan and a game changer. Health workers in Mbandaka were first in line for the vaccine.

Our surveillance teams on the ground have the important task of identifying and locating all the persons who have been in contact with confirmed Ebola cases in order to administer the vaccine and prevent them from developing the virus, Ilunga said.

Some 4,500 doses of the Ebola vaccine have been shipped to Mbandaka [Kenny Katombe/Reuters]

Others say that the Ebola outbreak points to a larger public health crisis in a country that is also home to a long-standing and underfunded humanitarian crisis.

Amakala Constantin Sodio, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) country representative in the DRC, told Al Jazeera that while the Ebola crisis was now taking centre stage, there was an urgent need for a renewed commitment to providing basic healthcare that would save lives in the country.

Over time, and especially if Ebola isnt contained quickly, it will strain the health system, [and] essential health services such as immunisation, prenatal care and safe births in health facilities will be negatively affected, and children will be at risk of dying in increasing numbers from preventable illnesses such as malaria and diarrhoea, he said.

How does this outbreak compare to the one in West Africa in 2014?

The Ebola outbreak of 2014-6 in West Africa was the worst outbreak in the history of the virus.

Countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea found themselves ill-equipped to deal with complex nature of the virus; nor were they able to handle patients and aftercare of victims.

The shortage of doctors and medical facilities, a difficult and deadly disease of which few knew the details about, mixed with a cascade of rumours and conspiracy theories combined for a most devastating cocktail. More than 11,000 people died.

Unlike the West Africa region, countries like the DRC and Uganda have significant experience with the disease.

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Still, Moschos, from the University of Newcastle, says that conspiracy theories continue to run wild about who and why these outbreaks keep happening.

On Wednesday, three men infected with Ebola escaped from a health facility in Mbandaka. Two of the men later died, and the third was placed under observation, but the DRC authorities are desperately searching for others who might have come into contact with the men.

At this point in time, distrust and misinformation is the greatest risk to the region, for this outbreak. We then have issues such as how care is given to ill people, religion, superstition and burial rites which help the virus transmit, Moschos told Al Jazeera.

Moschos says the biggest difference between the outbreak in West Africa and the current one in the DRC is the record time in which we have gone from discovering the outbreak to thousands of vaccines being delivered, money being made available, and everyone working together to tackle this.

The WHO has learnt the lessons from West Africa and the system is working. But we must engage the local people, not dictate them, he said.

This time there is a vaccine. Is this the end of Ebola?

As it stands, there is no cure for Ebola. But a vaccine, now owned by American pharmaceutical company Merck, has been touted as the best chance to contain and control the spread of the virus.

The vaccine is still unlicensed and in an experimental stage but was used with much success in Guinea in 2015 and marks a dramatic departure from the methods of isolation and hygiene that characterised responses in the past.

At this point in time distrust and misinformation is the greatest risk to the region, for this outbreak Sterghios Moschos, molecular biologist

The vaccine is not without its challenges. For one, it requires refrigeration in areas where often there is little power.

Moreover, it is labour intensive. According to WHO, the process is not a once-off affair. The vaccination team have to visit all persons vaccinated on days three and 14 after the vaccination to monitor their well-being.

In terms of side effects, Moschos says that there is no evidence of any danger or dangerous side-effects emanating from the vaccine.

There is a risk that the vaccine is not as effective as we believe and some people contract Ebola anyway. This risk is found with all vaccines, but here the stakes are higher, he said.

We need to show these people we feel the vaccine is safe, we need to show their leaders this, and we need their leaders to understand what is happening, and what is being done  in their own language, Moschos said.

Follow Azad Essa on Twitter: @AzadEssa
Cables show UAE warned US about Qatar long before crisis began, motives werent only driven by security concerns.

As Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt started their campaign to isolate Qatar on June 5, 2017, accusing it of aiding terrorism and being too close to Iran, the messaging used by the Arab quartet struck a familiar tone.

The blockade against Qatar, now nearing the one-year mark, is often referred to as Saudi-led, but the language used by the Arab quartet has been consistent with private statements attributed to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (also known as MBZ), as revealed in diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011.

A review of this trove  which included secret communications from the US embassy in Abu Dhabi between 2004 and 2010, recapping dozens of meetings with top UAE officials  suggests that the UAE has been a driving force behind the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood (the Brotherhood), and shows the UAE issued a series of stark warnings to US officials about Qatar and Al Jazeera well before the blockade began.

The cables include direct quotes from MBZ on topics he has not discussed in public, providing additional context to the changing political dynamics in the Gulf. The language attributed to him in the cables suggests the UAEs motives for the blockade are not exclusively driven by security concerns involving Qatar, but also a desire to quash dissent at home.

To date, MBZ has not delivered a single public statement about the current Gulf crisis, leaving his brother, Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed (or ABZ) and other surrogates, to speak for the government.

Little Sparta

After UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, suffered a stroke in 2014, MBZ became the de facto ruler of the UAE. Since then, his government has pursued a more assertive foreign policy, becoming one of the top five weapons importers in the world.

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According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the small Gulf country is the second-largest customer for US weapons in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, one reason why US Secretary of Defense James Mattis reportedly dubbed it Little Sparta.

The UAE has fewer than one million nationals but has become the new regional military power, sending forces to fight in Afghanistan and Yemen, allegedly carrying out bombing raids in Libya, building military bases in Somaliland and Eritrea, and, only recently, occupying Yemens Socotra Island off the Horn of Africa.

Under MBZ, the UAE has grown into a key US ally whose support would be pivotal in any military confrontation with Iran.

According to a cable from February 2009, the crown prince promised US officials that when the Iranians fire their missiles, we will go after them and kill them.

The UAEs crown prince became the de facto ruler of the small Gulf country in 2014 [Liewig Christian/Getty Images]

A mortal enemy

While Iran was a top security concern for MBZ long before the Arab Spring, the crown prince and his brothers were also fixated on another mortal enemy, the Brotherhood, the leaked cables show.

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One of the oldest and most significant social and political movements in the Arab world, the Brotherhood believes Islamic principles should regulate aspects of public and personal life.

Their calls for political activism and electoral legitimacy have often been considered a threat by monarchies and semi-democracies in the region, especially since they have wielded power at the ballot box, according to Courtney Freer, author of Rentier Islamism: The Influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gulf Monarchies.

[The cables] demonstrate the extent to which MBZ has conflated radical and violent Islamist groups with moderate political movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, Freer told Al Jazeera.

In a leaked cable from February 2009, US diplomats said that MBZ saw Iranian influence in the Brotherhood very clearly as both a way to agitate the Arab populace and render the traditional leaders of Arab society impotent.

Thank God for Hosni Mubarak, he was quoted as saying in one of the cables from 2007, in which he also predicted that if an election were held in Egypt, the Brotherhood would win.

MBZ had previously told Frances Townsend, US homeland security adviser under George W Bush, that the same would happen in Dubai if elections were to take place  one of the reasons he rebuffed US calls to hold elections, saying it would happen closer to 2030, to focus on the next generation, according to several leaked cables.

Thank God for Hosni Mubarak Mohamed bin Zayed

The UAE began targeting Brotherhood sympathisers in the early 1990s after MBZ took charge of the security services following his appointment as armed forces chief of staff in 1993.

Tensions grew in the years that followed as suspected members were transferred from the education sector to other roles in the public sector, excluded from public office, and had their charities closed.

Counterterrorism policies

In the years that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US  in which two Emirati citizens and 15 Saudi nationals were involved  MBZ and his brothers Hamdan and Hazza expressed concerns about the influence extremists had on UAE society. They dramatically expanded the roles of security services throughout the country.

The 9/11 Commission also found that most of the money that financed the attacks had gone through UAE banks and wire transfers.

The UAE quickly went after money laundering and illicit fundraising, increased security cooperation with the US, and cracked down on those it identified as extremists.

Quashing dissent at home

Their dragnet soon expanded to include non-violent social movements the government had targeted in the past, namely Al Islah (Reform), which was seen as a political and existential threat since it was ideologically linked to the Brotherhood.

During the Bush administration, MBZ often spoke about the supposed influence the Brotherhood had on the education system and the armed forces, the leaked cables show.

According to one cable from November 2004, US officials described how the crown prince said he had identified Brotherhood members in the military and put them through a form of reverse-brainwashing.

In another cable from April 2006, MBZ reportedly said that the challenge is finding a way to take them (the Brotherhood) down in a way that they never come back.

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While discussing the need for Saudi Arabia to confront its extremist problem, MBZ laughed with US officials about his own house cleaning of Muslim Brotherhood influence, saying we used a Hoover (vacuum), according to a leaked cable from July 2005.

US officials comment in at least two cables from 2004 on MBZs generic use of the organisations name as a catch-all for extremist groups in the region.

The differing perspectives on the role of the Brotherhood have become a major fault line in the region and one reason why it is a mess, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, big enough, evidently, to be included along classic divisions between Israelis and Palestinians, Russia and the US, and Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Going after Qatar

Qatar has been under blockade since June 2017, after a number of GCC states severed ties [Thomas Morgan-Corbis/Getty]

After supporting the US invasion of Iraq, MBZ blamed Qatar-based Al Jazeera for having a negative influence on the Arab public, according to the leaked cables.

He also reportedly encouraged the US to bomb the networks Doha headquarters, although this may have been an example of his signature dark humour.

In any case, he was quoted as saying that Al Jazeera underscores the problem he sometimes has with free media.

By 2009, MBZ was growing more suspicious of Al Jazeera and Qatar, offering strong words to Richard Olsen, the then-US ambassador to the UAE, and members of his delegation. He asked them to stop taking notes and to keep his remarks off the record.

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According to a cable from February 2009, MBZ believed Qatar had betrayed the GCC by making diplomatic overtures to Iran and said Qatar was part of the Muslim Brotherhood, two key accusations levelled at Doha in the current Gulf dispute.

In the same cable, MBZ is said to have grouped Hamas and Hezbollah with Osama bin Laden as transnational threats posing as national movements.

According to the cables, MBZ also revealed that his problems with Al Jazeera were personal, saying he believed the network had a negative impact on his family.

While discussing the progress of US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in at least three meetings he told the story of his son.

He said that his son is intelligent  a straight A student  but recently had voiced some anti-Western opinions, which MBZ believe were a result of watching too much Al Jazeera, a cable from April 2004 read.

MBZ was quoted as saying: If [Al Jazeera] can affect the grandson of a moderate leader like Sheikh Zayed this way, imagine what it can do to the uneducated or the lower classes.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain issued a set of demands on June 22, 2017, including shutting down Al Jazeera, severing alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and limiting ties with Iran as a prerequisite to lifting the blockade.

Qatar rejected all the demands, denouncing them as attempts to infringe its sovereignty. It also has repeatedly rejected the allegation that it supports terrorism as baseless.

Kuwait  which has operated as a mediator in the conflict  warned last month that the crisis threatened to derail the work of numerous initiatives by the GCC.

A planned Gulf summit of countries in the US that was supposed to take place at the beginning of April has been postponed to September.

But as the year anniversary of the blockade approaches, there appears to be no end in sight.
In just over a year, Donald Trump has managed to nudge the world closer to conflict on both ends of the Asian continent.

After months of exhilarating anticipation, US President Donald Trump abruptly ditched a scheduled summit with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un.

The US president vaguely cited North Koreas open hostility and trail of broken promises as a pretext for calling off the historic meeting. He warned the North Korean regime against committing any foolish or reckless acts.

Trump has placed the US military on alert, signalling its readiness to engage in another round of brinkmanship with nuclear-capable North Korea.

And just like that, both protagonists are now back to square one. If anything, the US president may have snuffed the life out of an unprecedented opportunity to end the Korean conflict.

Just weeks earlier, the US unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal  a binding international agreement supported by all major powers, except Trump. To careful observers, both decisions were shocking, yet far from surprising.

The Trump administration simply lacks the basic strategic understanding and diplomatic finesse to cope with perplexing foreign policy challenges. When confronted with difficult geopolitical realities, Trump seems to prefer turning things into reality show episodes.

An unreliable superpower

Trumps announcement was met by a melange of puzzlement, outrage and profound anxiety across the world. South Korea responded in total confusion, struggling to find a way out of the latest plot twist in the Trump-Kim saga.

South Korean presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom admitted, We are attempting to make sense of what, precisely, President Trump means.

The visibly flustered South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who played an instrumental role in facilitating the summit, was confessedly perplexed. He described Trumps decision as deeply regrettable.

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Days earlier, he visited the White House to lay the ground for the historic summit between the American and North Korean leaders. Throughout his meeting with Trump, Moon patiently explained the intricacies of dealing with the hermit kingdom and the necessity for a diplomatic approach to the conflict.

Back in April, the South Korean leader held a crucial summit with Kim Jong-un at the Panmunjom demilitarised zone. There, for the first time in history, both sides seriously discussed the prospect of full denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula.

Moon staked his presidency on unlocking the Korean conflict. In an event of actual war, Seoul, which lies within the range of North Korean artilleries, would likely be the first and biggest victim.

Major powers and allies around the world have called on both sides to maintain the diplomatic momentum and refrain from escalation.

French President Emmanuel Macron said, the process with the goal of denuclearization, this process should continue in order to achieve peace on the Peninsula.

Yet, frustration is running high among allies. In recent days, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the de facto leader of the free world, went so far as stating that Europe can no longer rely on the US as a source of protection.

One by one, the US most important allies have openly questioned the Trump administrations capacity for global leadership. For them, Washington is an increasingly unreliable superpower, which is beginning to threaten the existing international order with Trump-style leadership.

Edging towards conflict

Interestingly, North Korea responded with uncharacteristic restraint, expressing its continued willingness to sit at any time, in any way to resolve issues. All of a sudden, Pyongyang looked like the adult in the room.

Yet, its hard to imagine that the regime would maintain its equanimity for long. In the past month, they have not only released three American prisoners, but have also shut down the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site. Both moves were crucial confidence-building measures in advance of the scheduled summit in Singapore in June. In exchange, however, the Trump administration insisted on unilateral, comprehensive, and immediate nuclear disarmament.

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Hawks such as Trumps recently appointed National Security Adviser John Bolton insisted on a Libya model of complete nuclear surrender on the part of North Korea as a precondition for lifting sanctions and improved bilateral relations.

For anyone familiar with North Koreas strategic calculus, however, this was an outrageous non-starter. After all, what Pyongyang prefers is a step-by-step approach, whereby both sides de-escalate their confrontation on a gradual and reciprocal basis over time.

There is just no way for Pyongyang to entirely give up its strongest bargaining chip (nuclear weapons) without first securing massive economic benefits, ending its diplomatic isolation, and receiving a security guarantee from the US.

The Trump administration, however, sought nothing short of a big-bang package deal, on its own terms. As for Iran, they unilaterally reneged on a binding international agreement, even if Tehran has consistently complied with terms of the nuclear deal.

So either the American hawks are strategically naive or simply cynical, bent on undermining every roll of the dice for peace.

The upshot is that both Iran and North Korea now feel betrayed and increasingly outraged. And they will likely up the ante in response to Trumps perfunctory decisions.

A year into power, the controversial American president has nudged the world closer to two potential conflicts on the opposite ends of the Asian continent.

More fundamentally, countries around the world, both friends and foes, are wondering whether the US is a country that can be negotiated with at all.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Alicia Diaz Gonzalez was found dead at her home in Monterrey, having apparently been severely beaten.

Journalist Alicia Diaz Gonzalez was found dead on Thursday at her home in Monterrey, northern Mexico, having apparently been severely beaten.

Diaz Gonzalez was on the floor, face down, in a pool of blood having suffered blows, a source from the Nuevo Leon state prosecutors office told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place between 8:00am (13:00GMT) and 10:00am (15:00GMT) local time on Thursday in Colonia Paseo Residencial in Monterrey.

She was found inside her house at around 10:00 am next to her children, who were resting on the second floor of the building [when the incident took place], the Nuevo Leon state prosecutor said on Twitter.

The 52-year-old reporters death was confirmed by El Financiero newspaper, where she had worked since January. Editor Mauricio Mejia called for an urgent  official response on social media.

Translation: Her name was Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, she was beaten to death in her house in Monterrey. Until when? Enough of impunity, we want the state to guarantee our security. (Sanjuana Marinez a journalist wrote)

https://twitter.com/SanjuanaMtz/status/999799718182928384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Diaz Gonzalez was found by her son, Eduardo Andres, 20, who said he did not hear anything, and he realised next morning when he saw his dead mother on the floor.

The authorities said that all lines of investigation were open.

The National Commission on Human Rights also called on the authorities of Nuevo Leon to guarantee the life, safety and personal integrity of Gonzalez family.

La Fiscalia informa: pic.twitter.com/pwR9BNpnPs  Fiscalia Nuevo Leon (@FiscaliaNL) May 25, 2018

Unpunished crimes

Earlier this month, radio journalist Juan Carlos Huerta was shot dead as he left his home in a suburb of Villahermosa in southeast Mexico.

They went to execute him, Tabasco Governor Arturo Nunez Jimenez said at a news conference at the time, clarifying initial speculation that the shooting may have been robbery.

His murder took place one year after journalist Javier Valdez, who received international recognition for his coverage of drug trafficking, was shot dead in his native Culiacan, Sinaloa, where powerful cartels operate.

He was pulled from his car on May 15, 2017, and shot 12 times.

At least five journalists, including Diaz Gonzalez, have been murdered in Mexico so far in 2018. At least two were killed as a direct result of their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

During the presidency of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which began in 2012, at least 42 journalists were murdered and there have been about 2,000 attacks on reporters, according to the organisation Article 19.

Mexico is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist with more than 100 reporters killed since 2000. Most of those crimes remain unpunished.
Two male suspects wearing hoodies detonate explosive device inside an Indian restaurant in Mississauga before fleeing.

Canadian police have launched a manhunt for two men after a blast at an Indian restaurant near Toronto injured 15 people.

Jennifer Evans, Peel regional police chief, said on Friday that two suspects with their faces covered to conceal their identity entered the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Missisauga, a major suburb west of Toronto late on Thursday.

They dropped the improvised explosive device and fled, she said.

There is no indication that this is a terrorism act. There is no indication that this is a hate crime at this time. We havent ruled anything out as we start our investigation, said Evans.

Every police resource is being used right now to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act.

Investigators were reviewing surveillance camera footage, she added, and asked for the publics help in identifying and locating the suspects.

Al Jazeeras Daniel Lak, reporting from the scene of the blast, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police are assisting Peel Regional Police in their investigation.

The suspects fled in a car and the police are looking for them over quite a wide area, he said.

Police arrive at the crime scene in Mississauga, Ontario [Mark Blinch/Reuters]

Officials said three Indian-Canadians suffered critical injuries and were taken to the hospital while the remaining 12 victims suffered what Evans described as minor and superficial injuries.

Police later updated the condition of the three critically injured patients to stable. The ages of the injured range from 23 to 69.

Children under 10 years old were inside the restaurant at the time of the explosion but were not harmed.

The explosion happened just after 10:30 pm local time (02:30GMT) on Thursday, and the plaza where the restaurant is located was still sealed off on Friday.

Video footage and images of the aftermath showed victims being escorted in wheelchairs and stretchers to waiting ambulances, or limping out of the restaurant, bleeding from wounds caused by flying glass, as red and blue emergency lights lit up the night.

Rafael Conceicao, a student from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was near the restaurant when the explosion occurred. He said there was a childs birthday party inside the restaurant at the time.

Glass was broken in the street  Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood in the floor. Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant, he told The Associated Press news agency.

Bonnie Crombie, Mississaugas mayor, said she was thankful there were no fatalities.

This is a heinous crime, Crombie said. This is not the Mississauga that I know.

The attack comes a month after a white man drove a van into a crowd of pedestrians at high speed in Canadas largest city, Toronto, killing 10 people and wounding 15 others.

The accused 25-year-old driver, who police said acted deliberately, was arrested shortly after the incident.
Amid period of talks over formation of new government, Al Jazeera speaks to Raed Fahmi, secretary of Communist Party.

Baghdad, Iraq  Passing through the Iraqi capitals traffic jams in Andalus square, tucked away behind an ordinary building blocked by spike strips, lies the office of the countrys Communist Party.

The group has recently come under the spotlight after  in an unlikely move  it joined the Sairoon alliance of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr competing in Iraqs recent parliamentary elections.

Beating expectations, the coalition came out on top in the May 12 vote, winning 54 out of 328 seats.

With Iraq entering a potentially long period of negotiations over the formation of a new government, Al Jazeera spoke to Raed Fahmi, the Communist Partys secretary and a former minister for science and technology.

The interview below has been slightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Al Jazeera: What does the Communist Party stand for and what are its goals?

Raed Fahmi: Our party, the oldest in Iraq, was established in 1934. It stands for the rights of working people; for the countrys independence; for its development; and of course, in the current situation, we are calling for a change to the civil state  were calling for a citizens state based on justice and equal opportunities.

We believe that over the past 12 years, the political process was based on an ethnic and sectarian system. I think this so-called quota system is responsible for the crisis the country is now facing. It created the grounds for corruption and lack of development.

Change should begin by reforming state institutions to achieve social justice and real socioeconomic development.

Al Jazeera: You are on the far left of the political spectrum and your partners are from the far right. How did you come together?

Fahmi: We analysed the possible changes in terms of balance of power and the opportunities that we hope to advance.

Firstly, we had to get rid of occupation and regain and enhance our sovereignty. We have now ended up with a capitalist system.





We are calling for social justice, a social security system in terms of creating jobs and enhancing the productive base of the economy.

Since 2003, we are fully dependent on oil. Agriculture, industry, manufacturing have all regressed, accounting for not more than 1.25 percent of GDP. Our strategy is to reactivate agriculture, manufacturing and other productive activity, and at the same time provide protection to the people.

In terms of social advancement, we want to strengthen labour laws and fiscal policies. Iraq should not be a consumer-only market for the production activities of neighbouring countries.



Al Jazeera: So, your vision for Iraq is to become more of a social or welfare state. Yet, you are only a junior partner in this alliance. How effective do you think your message is going to be with you majority partner?

Fahmi: If we are talking about the Sadrists, they also have social content in their manifesto. Its probably not completely formulated, but they are for social justice. We have a lot of common ground because their base is the poor and marginalised people.

We are in a country thats in deep crisis at this particular juncture; all indicators are bad, not only in terms of terrorism and security. There is high unemployment; marginalised people; poor social public services; very bad infrastructure.

All these big challenges constitute a platform under which you can build a very wide-ranging coalition for the national interest.

Al Jazeera: Assuming you come to power with your partners, what will your agenda be? What do you want to achieve in the first 60-90 days?

Fahmi: There are things achievable in the short term, as an orientation to start major reforms. Certain laws have been passed without implementation for eight years  this should be a priority.

Of course, the old files of corruption should be activated. We should give priority to legislation concerning social security.

As far as the government is concerned, the first challenge is to form a government which is based not on an ethnic and sectarian affiliation. We should have a government committed to oversee the reform and social development programmes.





The government should put forward its programme in a very precise way with strict timelines. It will be the governments responsibility to take the country in the right direction.

We need to use a concrete action plan with clear and well-defined priorities regarding public services and education.

The same goes for healthcare. The health system suffers from rampant corruption and this should be revised. Of course, we should probably revisit all the fees and taxes for certain services, and we ought to also consider the real estate sector too.

Not all of this is achievable in our four years but it will be a step in the right direction.

Al Jazeera: In terms of its structure, the Communist Party is seen as secretive. There is also a certain pushback against communists. Some Iraqis see you as atheists, does this pose an obstacle to you?

Fahmi: We are a transparent organisation. All our bodies are elected and our latest congress was held publicly in Baghdad. So theres nothing secretive. Whenever there is a meeting or congress, we publish our documents. In this regard, we are very open and very transparent  our publications are on the website.

Secondly, we have a good image among the population  we should distinguish between voting and image, not everyone who appreciate us actually votes for us.

As far as other issues are concerned, we have our philosophy but in the last 84 years we never did anything to offend others convictions or beliefs  whether those of Muslims or any other religious group and this can be documented.

Regarding atheism, these were just rumours. Reasonable, religious people recognise this. Muqtada al-Sadr is actually a religious man and he is from a well-known religious family. He accepted to deal with communists, he didnt find any reason not to do this. He said publicly that he is working with communists because we have common objectives concerning nationwide reforms, concerning people and change.

The country faces big challenges and we can address these challenges together with parties from different backgrounds and ideologies who share the concerns and interest as the people of Iraq.

Al Jazeera: What is Sairoons vision for Iraqs relationship with other countries? You and al-Sadr were against the US invasion and outside influence. Two areas defining the current political climate in Iraq are its relations with Iran and the US. How do you think you can effect progress in light of these circumstances?

Fahmi: We are saying we are for bilateral relations with all countries but based on respect of Iraqs sovereignty and non-intervention in our internal affairs. It is possible to have friendly relations with all our neighbours on the basis of mutual respect.

We are saying we can keep balanced relations and we can have trade and other commercial relations with all countries but we dont accept military bases in our country.

When we were fighting Daesh [ISIL, also known as ISIS], there was international support for the mission. There is no such need any more.

Al Jazeera: So what will you do with US forces in Iraq, now that the fight against ISIL is almost over?

Fahmi: The only presence that exists is that of advisers, who are here for a few particular functions. But permanent military bases are not acceptable, and as far as I know, the Iraqi government didnt allow permanent military bases.

We must try to deal with issues clearly; our interest must not risk Iraqs interests. If we can build an Iraq on the basis of our own independence and sovereignty, I think this Iraq will be respected by others, whether it be the Americans, Iranians or any other country. And this is what we are working to achieve.

We have to work with the Iraqi people  so far they have been divided and all other external forces found it easy to intervene because they found receptive ears.

What we are saying is that we should reinforce Iraqi unity.

Al Jazeera: What about Iranian influence? You said that you want to build your identity, but on the ground, you have very strong ideological bonds and cross-border affiliations which cant be washed away easily?

Fahmi: Hashd al-Shaaba (Shia militias) are Iraqis. Yes, they are close to Iran but we are saying and insisting that all forces should belong to Iraqs interest first.

And this should apply to all forces and I think when we are talking about building the state, building armed forces, loyalty to Iraqs interest  this should apply to everybody.

As far as I know all, other political forces including Hashd accept these principles. Iraqis will decide who controls Iraq  no one from outside.
Trumps abrupt decision has caught many in South Korea off-guard as diplomats scramble to avert political fallout.

Seoul, South Korea  The cancellation of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has caught many in South Korea off-guard, including President Moon Jae-in, with top diplomats scrambling to avert a political fallout with promises of continued talks.

The current communication method [between the US and North Korea] wont be able to resolve a sensitive and complex diplomatic issue, Moon said during the National Security Council meeting, according to the Korea Economic Daily.

I look forward to seeing two leaders making a direct and close communication to resolve the current situation, he said.





The announcement comes just two days after Trump hosted Moon at the White House for talks widely seen as an effort to save the summit scheduled for next month in Singapore from being scuttled.

Relations between the two Koreas have warmed since Winter Olympics in February, when North Korea agreed to send its athletes to South Korea.

In April, Kim became the first North Korean leader to step into South Korea since the 1953 Korean War for an historic summit between Kim and Moon. The two leaders promised to work for the denuclearisation of the region and pledged to sign a peace deal.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha spoke on the phone with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and received assurance that the US wants to keep the diplomatic channel with Pyongyang open, according to South Koreas Yonhap news agency.

Earlier, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said that despite Trumps decision to cancel the June 12 meeting in Singapore, Pyongyang has the intent to sit with the US side to solve the problem regardless of ways at any time.

Still, politicians in Seoul did not hide their disappointment in the abrupt decision of Trump.

Its a shame that theres a big obstacle in the process of the US-North Korea summit, but we believe the dialogue between the North and the US will be resumed, said Kim Hyun, spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, the political party of Moon.

Trumps disrespect of Moon

Hong Min, director of the North Korean studies division at the Korean Institute for National Unification, said it did not look like the US consulted South Korea over the cancellation.

It is a diplomatic disrespect to President Moon, who has been coordinating between the North and the US as a mediator, Hong added.

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South Korean National Assembly member Hong Jun-pyo, leader of the opposition Liberty Korea Party, said in his Facebook post, I express a deep regret.

He questioned the sincerity of North Koreas promise to denuclearise saying, It reaffirms that the North Korean nuclear issue needs to be resolved with continuous international sanctions and pressure.

Reactions of ordinary South Koreans also reflect the disappointment of the political establishment.

Its a shame that the summit has been called off because the opportunity like this doesnt come easily, said Song Dong-suk, a 36-year-old office worker in Seoul.

But since both sides have left a room for future talks, I think there might be a chance that the talk can happen.

Kim Soon-taek, a 70-year-old retiree said, Theres a feeling of disappointment, but I have seen a lot of cases in which North Korea changed their stance or scrap whats been discussed. I dont have a trust in this case as well.

Meeting could still happen

Experts said the sudden cancellation of the summit comes as a result of recent exchanges of hostile remarks made between the US and North Korea.

The statement from the Norths Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui seems to be an immediate trigger of the Trumps letter, said John Delury, associate professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in Seoul.

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On Thursday, Choe said the summit with the US will be reconsidered if the US continues its unlawful and outrageous acts, describing remarks by US Vice President Mike Pence as ignorant and stupid.

Pence had earlier said that North Korea may end like Libya, if it refuses to adhere to the American demand of denuclearisation.

In 2004, Libya also entered into negotiations with the US to ship out nuclear components out of the country. But six years later, the US supported the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was later killed by rebel fighters.

Beyond the brash comments, the US and North Korea may have been struggling to find a common stance in their denuclearisation agenda, said Delury of Yonsei University.

Presumably, if they saw the deal is about to happen, they would have toned down the language and wouldnt have called off the meeting.

Delury noted that Trumps letter to the North Korean leader leaves open the possibility of a meeting.
Search and rescue missions under way as authorities look for survivors after boat capsizes in Mombovo River.

At least 50 people have died in a boat accident in the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to officials.

The boat which had been transporting passengers and goods tipped over in the Mombovo River as it made its way from Monkoto to Mbadanka on Wednesday night.

We found 49 bodies on Thursday and another one this morning, Tshuapa Vice-Governor Richard Mboyo Iluka was quoted as saying on Friday by AFP news agency.

It was still not clear how many people were on board or how many had survived, with search and rescue missions still under way.

The causes of the sinking and the number of people missing are not yet known. The provincial government has already sent a team to find out more, Mboyo said.

He pointed out that the boat had been travelling by night and without light, which is illegal under government safety measures.

River transport is common in the DRC, where fewer roads mean travellers often have no option but to rely on boats as a low-cost form of transportation.

Accidents on the countrys rivers and lakes are a frequent hazard, due to dilapidated boats, overloading and a lack of safety equipment.

Earlier in February, at least 14 people were reported missing after two boats collided.

The DRC is currently is also having to deal with an Ebola outbreak with 31 confirmed cases and another 21 described as either probable or suspected.
The law passed in the wake of recent bombings faces criticism for granting military involvement in internal security.

Indonesias parliament has unanimously approved a controversial anti-terror law that grants the military direct involvement in counterterrorism operations and internal security matters.

Following a series of suicide bombings carried out by supporters of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the new legislation includes a clause that states combatting terrorism is part of the militarys operations, but that it can only get involved after a request from the police and with presidential approval.

The new laws also give the police the power to detain terror suspects for as long as 21 days without charge, and for another 200 days if police need time to gather evidence.

Those convicted of smuggling explosives or other chemicals and weapons into or out of the country for terrorism will face a maximum penalty of death.

Last week, more than 20 people were killed in separate suicide attacks on churches and a police station by two families  including a nine and 12-year-old girl  in Indonesias second-biggest city Surabaya.

The families had ties to a local group that had pledged allegiance to ISIL, also known as ISIS, which claimed responsibility.

According to authorities, close to 1,000 young men travelled to fight with ISIL in Syria and Iraq between 2014-2018, with more than 500 estimated to have returned.

Wrong approach

First proposed in 2016, the laws languished in parliament amid concerns over crucial details, including how to define terrorism, and after some parties objected to the greater role being granted to the military.

But after last weeks attack, President Joko Widodo threatened to impose the changes by special decree if parliament did not rapidly approve them.

Al Jazeeras Scott Heidler, reporting from Jakarta, said it was unclear what the details of the militarys involvement were and they would be addressed in a separate decree within the next year.

Rights activists had also expressed concerns that the bills vague wording could open the door to a crackdown on any group seen as a threat.





Ahmad Taufan Damanik, the chair of Indonesias National Commission on Human Rights, said granting the military direct involvement in counterterrorism operations, was the wrong approach.

We agree that we need to capitalise, maybe develop a special unit or police, or other law enforcement, but not [include] the military in this bill, he told Al Jazeera.

It should be a law enforcement approach.

Indonesia  which is set to host the Asian Games in three months and an IMF-World Bank meeting in Bali in October  has long struggled with counterterrorism policing.

Security forces have arrested hundreds of men since the Bali bombing in 2002 that killed more than 200 people, including locals and foreign tourists.

However, the countrys elite police squad, Densus 88, says it has thwarted as many as 23 terror plots in the past two years, and arrested more than 360 suspected terrorists.
Iran wants economic assurances to stay in nuclear deal and calls for specifics on how that would happen by end of May.

The remaining signatories of a multinational nuclear deal with Iran have met for the first time in a bid to save the landmark pact following a decision by the US to unilaterally withdraw and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

At Irans request, delegates from China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union gathered on Friday in Austrias capital, Vienna, where they reaffirmed their commitment to the 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Abbas Araghchi, Irans deputy foreign minister, told reporters in Vienna that Tehran was negotiating with the other signatories to to see if they can provide us with a package which can give Iran the benefits of sanctions lifting.

The next step is to find guarantees for that package, he said, adding that Iran needed specifics on how that would happen by the end of May.

Washington has not only promised to impose the strongest sanctions in history on Tehran, but also threatened to punish companies that trade with it. Some Western companies have already quit Iran or said they may have to leave because of the new US sanctions.

For Iran to stay in the deal, Araghchi said specific mechanisms and practical solutions were required to convince companies to continue doing business with Tehran and address its concerns over its oil exports and banking flows.

He said talks would continue over the next few weeks particularly at an expert level, after which Iran would decide whether or not to stay in the accord.

We got the sense that Europeans, Russia and China  are serious and they recognise that JCPOAs survival depends on the interests of Iran being respected, Araghchi added.

He said that, in theory, the deal could survive without the US, but acknowledged in practise, Im not sure.

Russian delegate Mikhail Ulyanov struck an upbeat note after the meeting, saying: We have all chances to succeed, provided that we have the political will.

I must tell you that the JCPOA is a major international asset. It does not belong to the United States, it belongs to the whole international community.

In a statement after the talks, Helga Schmid, the EU representative who chaired the meeting, said parties to the deal discussed practical solutions to ensure, among others, the continued sale of Irans oil and gas, protection of businesses investing in Iran, as well as effective banking transactions and transport links.

Trump withdrawal

Under the landmark accord, Iran had accepted limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from international trade, oil and banking sanctions.





US President Donald Trump pulled out from the deal on May 8.

He denounced it as deeply flawed as it did not cover Irans ballistic missiles programme, its role in Middle East conflicts or what happens after the deal begins to expire in 2025.

The remaining parties to the deal strongly opposed Trumps decision, with European leaders arguing that undoing the nuclear deal would make it far harder, not easier, to address Washingtons concerns.

They said they will stick to the deal as long as Tehran meets its commitments. Inspectors have repeatedly confirmed Irans compliance with the deal.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Irans Supreme Leader, set out conditions on Wednesday for Iran to stay in the pact: unless Europe guarantees Irans oil sales will not suffer, Tehran would resume enrichment activities that are currently prohibited.

Khamenei also rejected any new negotiations over Irans missile programme, which was not covered by the nuclear deal.
Polls have closed in an Irish referendum on abortion that could represent a change in the path of a country that was once one of Europes more socially conservative.

Voters turned out in large numbers on Friday to have their say on whether to repeal the countrys Eighth Amendment, which outlaws abortion by giving equal rights to the unborn.

An exit poll, conducted for the Irish Times by Ipsos/MRBI, suggested that the country voted by a landslide margin to change the Constitution so that abortion can be legalised.

The vote to repeal the constitutional ban was predicted to win by 68 percent to 32 percent, according to the poll of 4,000 voters, the Irish Times said.

Polls closed at 21:00GMT.

The first indications of the final result are expected on Saturday, after the count begins at 08:00GMT.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, in favour of change, has called the referendum a once in a generation decision.

If the proposal to repeal the Eighth Amendment is defeated on Friday, the country will not have a second referendum and it could be another 35 years before voters have their say on the matter again, Varadkar said, according to the Irish Times.

Al Jazeeras Neave Barker, reporting from the Irish capital, Dublin, said the vote has been contentious.

The No camp believes they are defending the right of the unborn child, the Yes camp believe they are defending the right of a woman to make often a very difficult decision.

Currently, 78 percent of the Irish population is Catholic, and members of the church are hoping their members will vote no.

Thousands of people living abroad returned home to vote. Ireland is one of the few countries in the European Union that does not allow those abroad to vote via post or in embassies.

Those away for less than 18 months remain eligible to vote at their former local polling station. Those living on the Atlantic islands cast their ballot a day early to help prevent delays in transportation and counting the ballot papers.

Below is what you need to know about the abortion referendum:

Eighth Amendment

First voted into the Irish constitution in 1983, the Eighth Amendment recognises the equal right to life of the unborn.

It says that the state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

It is commonly viewed to equate the life of a pregnant woman with the foetus, effectively placing a ban on abortion.

When voted on, the referendum passed with 66.9 percent voting yes, and 33.1 percent voting no. About 1.2 million people vote.

Why the Eighth Amendment?

Abortion was illegal in Ireland under the Offences against the Person Act of 1861, but when contraception was legalised in 1974, there was concern from many conservatives that abortions would follow.

A campaign emerged and pro-life anti-abortion rights groups lobbied for constitutional protection of the unborn. A vote was held on September 7, 1983, which proposed adding an eighth amendment to the Constitution.

Irelands then-Attorney General Peter Sutherland warned at the time that the wording will lead inevitably to confusion and uncertainty, not merely among the medical profession, to whom it has, of course, particular relevance, but also among lawyers and, more specifically, the judges who will have to interpret it.

What does the law say today?

Two referendums took place in 1992, allowing women to travel to have an abortion, and another one authorising information about abortion services overseas.

In 2013, the law was changed to permit abortions when doctor felt a womans life might be at risk. But in other cases, a doctor can face prosecution and up to 14 years in jail.

Why is this vote happening now?

There have been a number of high-profile cases that have highlighted what critics say are problems with the current law.

Savita Halappanavar died in hospital in 2012 after being denied an abortion during a miscarriage, and in 2016, Amanda Mellet was forced to travel to England to terminate a pregnancy with a fatal foetal anomaly.

In 2016, the UN called on Ireland to reverse its strict prohibition, and for the first time, the Irish state compensated a woman for the trauma she suffered from having to go abroad for an abortion.

In 2017, the Irish government convened a Citizens Assembly to consider evidence on abortion law reform.

The 99 randomly selected citizens, after hearing extensive evidence, voted in favour (64 percent) of having no restrictions on termination in early pregnancy. The referendum was called earlier this year.

Who is opposed to the referendum?

Anti-abortion rights groups say they are protecting the foetus through their opposition. Many of these groups are supported from abroad, and they often align themselves with the Catholic Church.

Geraldine Martin, a spokeswoman for the Love Both anti-abortion rights campaign, said the government had failed to help mothers with unwanted pregnancies.

At no stage has the government held out its hand to these women and said, How can I help you? How can I take the pressure off you so you dont feel so driven towards abortion? she told AFP news agency.

What is the main argument to repeal it?

Many contend that criminalising abortion does not stop it. They argue a yes vote allows the government to legislate legal access to healthcare for women legally in Ireland.

Im very hopeful because I believe we have understood in Ireland that it [the ban] is a cruelty that must end now, weve had enough, Ailbhe Smyth, the co-director of the Together for Yes pro-abortion rights campaign, told AFP news agency.

#HometoVote

In advance of the vote, the hashtag #HomeToVote trended on Twitter, with voters posting photos of both yes and no.

highly recommend scrolling through the #hometovote to see just how far some women have travelled for #repealthe8th  here are some from LA, Australia, Vietnam, Argentina. pic.twitter.com/Gql1tSXO3N  Rossalyn Warren (@RossalynWarren) May 24, 2018

https://twitter.com/theres_WALLY/status/999711428364906498?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
Israels Supreme Court criticised after upholding use of lethal force against Palestinians protesting in Gaza Strip.

Israels Supreme Court has unanimously rejected two petitions brought by human rights groups demanding Israels army to stop using snipers and live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian protests in the Gaza Strip.

The panel of three justices on Thursday sided with the Israeli military, which argued that the protesters constituted a real danger to Israeli soldiers and citizens.

Israel maintains its forces use of live fire is in line with both domestic and international law, arguing the demonstrations are part of the countrys conflict with Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

The courts ruling gave Israel a green light to its continued use of snipers and live fire against Palestinian protesters, Adalah  The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which filed one of the petitions, said in a statement on Friday.

The Israeli Supreme Court completely ignored the broad factual basis presented to it by the petitioners, which includes multiple testimonies of wounded and reports of international organisations involved in documenting the killing and wounding of unarmed protesters in Gaza.

The human rights groups said the court refused to watch video clips documenting Israeli shootings of demonstrators and, rather than actually examining the case, fully accepted the claims presented to it by the state.

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The extreme nature of the ruling is also highlighted by the striking absence of any mention of the casualty figures that had been presented to the court.

Yesh Din, one of the rights groups that brought the other petition, also criticised the courts decision.

The judges missed an opportunity to prevent the continuation of the killing and injuries, it said on Twitter.

Disproportionate use of force

Between March 30 and May 15, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip protested for seven consecutive weeks calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the homes and villages they were forcibly expelled from by Zionist militias in 1948.

Since the protests began, Israeli forces killed at least 113 Palestinians, including women and children, and wounded more than 12,000 people.

At least 3,569 Palestinians were victims of live ammunition, including, doctors, paramedics, journalists, women, children and the elderly.

UN rights experts denounced Israel for using a disproportionate use of force, while Amnesty International called it a horror that violated international law.

On Twitter, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman welcomed the ruling and criticised the rights groups for challenging the military.
Libya: Amazighs demand language be recognized in constitution

Around a half-million Amazighs live in Libya, but their language was banned by Gaddafi and now they want it protected by Libyas new constitution.
At least seven killed and 20 others wounded in the attack on a busy street in the eastern city, security officials say.

A car bomb explosion has killed at least seven people and wounded 20 others in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, local security and medical sources have said.

The bombing on early Friday morning took place behind the citys largest hotel, Tibetsi, on a busy market street selling mostly Syrian produce.

A local security official told AFP news agency that the victims were civilians.

The citys Al-Jalaa Hospital confirmed the attack on Jamal Abdelnasser Street, adding that it had received at least 20 wounded persons, local news outlet Libyan Express, reported.

Images circulating on social media showed charred cars, a blazing fire and many bystanders assessing the extent of the damage. Red ambulance cars were also at the scene of the commercial street.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier this month, at least 11 people were reported dead after armed men, including two suicide bombers, attacked Libyas electoral commission headquarters in the capital, Tripoli.

In January, a double car bombing in Benghazi killed at least 35 people and left more than 50 others wounded. Ahmed al-Fituri, chief of a special investigation unit attached to the general command of east Libyan security forces, was among the casualties.

Forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar took control of Benghazi in 2017, after a three-year campaign against rival armed groups.

The battles have left large swaths of the port city in ruins.

Libya has descended into a civil war with rival militias fighting for control of territories after longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels in 2011.
Russia slams discrediting bid after Netherlands and Australia say its liable for 2014 downing of jet that killed 298.

The Netherlands and Australia have formally accused Russia of being responsible for the 2014 downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet in 2014 that killed 298 people.

The move on Friday came a day after international investigators concluded that the missile which smashed into the flight MH17 came from a Russian military brigade in Kursk.

At the time of the incident on July 17, 2014, pro-Russian separatists were fighting Ukrainian government forces in the region.

The Boeing 777 broke apart in midair, flinging wreckage over several kilometres of fields in rebel-held territory.

The two countries hold Russia responsible for its part in the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight, the Dutch government said in a statement on Friday.





They may now move towards submitting the complex dossier to an international judge or organisation, it added.

Australia and the Netherlands have now informed the Russian Federation that we hold it responsible under international law for its role in the bringing down of MH17, said Julie Bishop, Australias Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Australia and the Netherlands have requested Russia to enter into negotiations to open up a dialogue about its conduct and to seek reparations.

Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Russias second biggest city of St Petersburg, said the evidence provided by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) led the Netherlands and Australia to believe that Russia was responsible.

Holding a country legally responsible is a complex process but what Netherlands and Australia want is for Russia to enter into negotiations with both of them which will ultimately lead to reparations for the victims families.

Discredit Russia

Russia said on Friday the Netherlands had provided no evidence that Moscow was directly behind the shooting down of flight MH17, accusing the Dutch of promoting their own agenda.

They have practically no doubt that the BUK missile came from Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in St Petersburg.

I asked [Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok] about facts proving these claims. He did not give me any facts saying they want Russia to help establish them based on unfounded suspicions, Lavrov said.

He accused the Dutch of using the tragedy to achieve their own political goals.

We are still ready to cooperate, Lavrov added, saying that information that Russia has supplied should not be ignored or used selectively.

Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Thursday repeated calls that Moscow should be included in the investigation team.

The Russian foreign ministry also denounced what it called an attempt to discredit Russia in the eyes of the international community, but investigators, who painstaking recreated the BUK missile systems route from Kursk across the border into rebel-held eastern Ukraine using videos and photos, stood by their findings.

The team has come to the conclusion that the BUK-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia, top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen said.

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The 53rd Brigade forms part of the Russian armed forces, he told reporters on Thursday.

Prosecutors have said that the BUK missile system was fired from the Ukraine village of Pervomaysk and later returned to Russian territory.

Investigation officials have not yet said who actually fired the missile, stressing that the probe continues.

They have appealed for further information, especially from those who know people among the 53rd Brigade, as they seek to bring criminal charges against those who ordered the plane to be shot down.

Challands said that the information available was enough for Australia and the Netherlands to push forward and accuse Russia of being responsible for the deaths of all those people.

Essentially for Russia this is a political culture where admitting any kind of guilt or contrition is essentially seen as a sign of weakness and for Vladimir Putin, who has invested so much political capital in his image around the world as a strong man leader, its basically not in his interests to back down or accept any of these findings now, Challands said.
Pyongyang calls presidents decision to abruptly cancel talks unexpected but says it is open to dialogue at any time.

Pyongyang has said it is still willing to talk to the US government, despite President Donald Trumps decision to cancel his highly anticipated meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un next month.

In a statement published on Friday by state-run Korean Central News Agency, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said North Korea is intent to sit with the US side to solve [the] problem regardless of way at any time.

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We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the US side time and opportunity, he said.

But he also added that the cancellation of the summit, originally for June 12 in Singapore, made Pyongyang think over if we were truly right to have made efforts for it and to have opted for the new path.

Letter to Kim

The meeting would have been the first time a sitting US president met a North Korean leader.

Trumps move came two days after hosting his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in in Washington, DC, amid looming uncertainty over whether the summit with Kim would go ahead.

You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used, Trump wrote in a letter to the North Korean leader.

Trump later said the US military is ready if necessary to respond to a foolish or reckless act by North Korea.

Our military is the most powerful in the world. We are more ready than we have ever been before, Trump said.





Trump did say, however, that he would be open to a possible meeting in the future.

If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do hot hesitate to call me or write, he said.

Trump had called on Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programme and arsenal before the summit.

But Mark Fitzpatrick, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera the tone of Trumps letter bodes ill for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The way that Trump did this in a letter that threatens North Korea with nuclear annihilation is probably not the right signal to send, said Fitzpatrick

Earlier on Thursday, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui said her country will neither beg the US for dialogue, nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us.

Andrei Lankov, an expert at South Koreas Kookmin University, told Al Jazeera from Seoul that Trumps announcement was shocking and highly dangerous.

There is now again a looming and reasonably high threat of a major military confrontation in Korea, Lankov said.

The entire Korean Peninsula is probably sliding back to a war, and if it happens not only Koreans or Americans but all people of the world will pay a price.
Analysts say sanctions imposed on Dena Airways lone aircraft is aimed at humiliating President Hassan Rouhani.

The United States has imposed new sanctions against an airline company, which routinely transports Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

In a statement on Thursday, the US Department of the Treasury said Dena Airways is being designated for sanctions based on a 2001 presidential order designed to impede terrorist funding.

Dena Airways handles flights for the government of Iran. In November 2017, a previously US-sanctioned airline, Meraj Air, transferred its VIP flight operations to Dena Airways, the US statement said.





According to Trita Parsi, executive director of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), Dena Airways operates only one aircraft, which is being used by President Rouhani.

So whats Trumps aim? Humiliate Irans moderates and strengthen its hardliners, Parsi wrote on social media.

According to public records provided by the website AirFleets, Dena Airways operates only one aircraft, a 19-year-old Airbus A340-300.

The new sanctions could prevent the use of the Dena Airways aircraft for official travel as ground handling companies worldwide may refuse to refuel/service the aircraft, Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of Bourse Bazaar website, wrote on social media.

He referred to the Dena Airways aircraft as Irans own version of Air Force One, which transports the US president.

There was no immediate reaction from the Iranian government on the latest sanctions.

Two Iranians linked to Dena Airways and a Turkish businesswoman named Gulnihal Yegane, are also being sanctioned, as are three aviation-related companies linked to Yegane.

Those individuals are now being designated as global terrorists, according to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Facilitators

Mnuchin accused the Iran and Turkey-based facilitators of providing services to four Iranian airlines already on the US sanctions list.

Among those airlines listed are Mahan Air, Caspian Air, Meraj Air and Pouya Air.

He said the actions of those individuals on behalf of the airlines extend a lifeline to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and enable the Iranian regime to transport weapons, fighters, and money to its proxies including Hezbollah, and prop up Syrias President Bashar al-Assad.

Mnuchin also warned that countries and companies around the world could risk punishment by granting landing rights and providing aviation services to those Iranian airliners.





A total of 31 aircraft affiliated with those airlines have also been added to the sanctions list.

Of those airlines, the US government singled out Mahan Air for playing a critical role in exporting the Iranian regimes malign influence.

It said Mahan Air transported operatives of the IRGC, as well as weapons and equipment to Syria. Mahan has the largest number of aircraft in Iran.

The IRGC is a branch of Irans armed forces that reports directly to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US has been putting financial pressure on Iran, following US President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Last week, US designated two top officials of the Central Bank of Iran as terrorists, for their alleged role in funnelling millions of dollars to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This week, it also announced sanctions against top officials of the IRGC for allegedly providing ballistic missile-related expertise to armed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new policy towards Iran, declaring that unless Iran complies with American demands, it faces the strongest sanctions in history and unprecedented financial pressure from Washington, DC.

In response, Rouhani denounced the US demands saying, Who are you to decide for Iran and the world?
South Sudan: Aid agencies struggle to reach those in need

Recent fighting between government and opposition forces has exacerbated the existing crisis with the number of people needing aid expected to reach seven million.
A day after abrupt cancellation, US president says highly anticipated summit with N Koreas leader might still go ahead.

US President Donald Trump has said his highly anticipated summit with North Koreas leader might still go ahead, a day after abruptly cancelling the meeting.

Trump suggested on Friday that the summit  initially planned for June 12 in Singapore  could still happen after welcoming a conciliatory statement from North Korea which said that it remained open to talks despite the cancellation.

It was a very nice statement they put out, Trump said at the White House.

Were talking to them now. They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it, he added.

Well see what happens  it could even be the 12th.

Latest twist

His comments marked the latest developments in a long-running saga over a summit  the culmination of nearly six months of intense diplomacy  which would have been the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

Concerns grew earlier this month after North Korea responded to the US calling for the denuclearisation of the peninsula and a complete dismantling of Pyongyangs nuclear weapons programme by threatening to pull out of the summit unless Washington offered something in return.

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Amid the rising uncertainty, South Korean President Moon Jae-in arrived on Tuesday in Washington, DC, to meet Trump and hold talks widely seen as an effort to ensure his summit with Kim Jong-un went ahead.

But two days later, Trump sent a letter to Kim saying the summit would no longer be possible based on the tremendous anger and open hostility shown by Pyongyang in its most recent statements.

In response, North Korea said earlier on Friday it was still intent to sit with the US side to solve [the] problem regardless of way at any time.

We remain unchanged in our goal and will to do everything we could for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and humankind, and we, broad-minded and open all the time, have the willingness to offer the US side time and opportunity, said Kim Kye-gwan, North Koreas vice foreign minister.

Dial back

Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trumps latest comments showed that there was a sense of  re-engagement between the two sides.

Although Trump suggested that the summit could even take place on June 12, as originally planned, White House officials downplayed that prospect saying a meeting so soon seemed unlikely, said Halkett.





She added, however, that White House staff were eager to underscore that their focus was not on the date of the summit but achieving denuclearisation.

Many people said that Trump, maybe because of his lack of political expertise, was a bit naive in how these things work, quickly accepting the invitation without even consulting staff in the first place, said Halkett.

Now he may have some time to dial back, work incrementally to set up this in a more traditional fashion so that the conversation  if and when it does take place  can be productive.

Trump-Kim meeting  indispensable

Earlier, South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said that Seoul was still ready to implement an agreement on denuclearisation reached between the leaders of the two Koreas in April.

Our government will do its part in carrying out the Panmunjom Declaration, Cho told reporters, according to the news agency Yonhap.

Kim and Moon Jae-in issued the declaration following their April 27 meeting at the border between the two countries.

Separately, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that Tokyo was disappointed by the cancellation of the summit, saying it was necessary to make progress.

In the future, we need such a meeting  it is indispensable to resolve the problems which have accumulated, said Abe, who is in Russias second city of St Petersburg attending an annual economic forum.
Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro sworn in for a new term

Maduro acknowledged Venezuelas difficulties in a speech at the ceremony, but repeated his accusations that foreign countries, led by the US, were undermining the economy.
Violence in Kashmir erupts despite calls for ceasefire

Hopes for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan have been shattered by renewed fighting between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.
New York police say charges relate to allegations made by two women in a sex abuse probe involving the movie producer.

Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been charged in the US with rape, sex abuse and other crimes against two women.

Weinstein, the founder of Miramax film studio, arrived in handcuffs at a New York City court on Friday to face the accusations.

The case marks the first criminal charges against the Hollywood mogul after months of sexual abuse allegations from scores of women, which destroyed his career and catalysed the #MeToo movement  a public reckoning about sexual misconduct.

Speaking in court, Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, a Manhattan assistant attorney, said Weinstein used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually.

Weinstein flinched as he heard the description. He appeared pale, standing next to his lawyer Ben Brafman, while prosecutors described a bail arrangement.

Judge Kevin McGrath released Weinstein on $1m bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on travelling beyond New York and the neighbouring state of Connecticut.





Not guilty

Brafman, Weinsteins lawyer, told reporters outside the court that his client will enter a plea of not guilty to the charges.

We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges. We believe that they are constitutionally flawed. We believe that they are not factually supported by the evidence, Brafman said.

Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex.

In a statement earlier in the day, the New York Police Department said Weinstein was arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women.

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The statement did not identify the two women.

The Reuters news agency said the rape charge relates to a woman who was not identified.

A court complaint said Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.

According to the New York Times, the criminal sex charge stems from a complaint filed by Lucia Evans, an aspiring actress, who said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him at his office in 2004.

I dont want to do this

Evans was among the first women to speak out about the producer.

She told The New Yorker in a story published in October that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex during a daytime meeting at his New York office in 2004, the summer before her senior year at Middlebury College.





I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont,' she told the magazine. I tried to get away, but maybe I didnt try hard enough. I didnt want to kick him or fight him.

Evans, who is now a marketing consultant, did not report the incident to police at the time.

More than 70 women have accused Hollywood mogul of sexual misconduct, including rape, with some allegations dating back decades.

They include Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The outpouring saw people around the world come forward with cases of sexual mistreatment, leading to resignations and sackings of powerful men across industries.

They include TV hosts Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, comedian Louis CK, Democratic Senator Al Franken, chef Mario Batali, casino magnate Steve Wynn and, most recently, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Women worldwide have also taken to social media, using #MeToo to share their own stories of being sexually assaulted or harassed in the workplace.
The social media giant failed to block a bid that could ban it from sending data about its European users to the US.
There is much to be learned from the endgame between the Reagan administration and the final leaders of the Soviet empire that can be applied to the current situation with Iran.

When Ronald Reagan proposed the "Zero-Zero Option" for no intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe, the pundits  and the Europeans  said, "The Russians will never agree to that." They demanded that Reagan put forward what the Russians could accept  or not aggravate the Russians by putting U.S. Pershing missiles in Europe.

When Israel defines its aims in negotiations as recognition of its legitimacy and permanence as a Jewish State in the Middle East, pundits  and lots of other people  say, "The Arabs will never agree to that." They demand that Israel not build houses in places the Palestinians don't want them, not welcome the U.S. embassy in its capital, and not ensure that rioting Palestinians determined to enter Israel to "rip the hearts out of Jews" are stopped before they get to the aforementioned Jews. It will only make the Palestinians angry and there won't be any more "peace process."

When President Trump said his goal in discussion with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is the de-nuclearization of North Korea, pundits  and Democrats  said, "He'll never agree to that." Other administrations bribed the Kim family to abandon their nuclear project. It didn't work, but hey, at least we weren't making them mad.

So it was inevitable that when secretary of state Mike Pompeo listed twelve objectives that would make Iran a positive actor on the international stage  objectives the United States plans to pursue  the pundits would cry, "They'll never agree to that."

Inevitable, but the level of angst is actually a bit startling. "Sound, fury, and 'regime change' lite." "Economic war on Iran." In an ironic nod to pop culture and perhaps a veiled threat to President Trump, "[i]n the 1976 media satire Network, the frustrated and emotionally unhinged anchor Howard Beale, facing termination, goes on air and shouts 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.'" And Pompeo used "elements of a presentation ... by Benjamin Netanyahu, a strident critic of the accord." "European allies alarmed." "Iran's people will punch U.S. Secretary of State in the mouth."

Wendy Sherman, the architect of the JCPOA, who was not horrified by having the U.S. pay the mullahs $1.7 billion, which they immediately turned around to their clients in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza, was horrified by Mr. Pompeo's statement of American interest. "It was a diplomatic overreach, to say the least[.] ... To think that we'd allow Iran to go back on the path of developing nuclear weapons while we try to get Iran to meet all twelve objectives is dangerous. It's extraordinary." The prospect of Iran acceding to all twelve demands "is virtually zero. What Trump did will actually make it harder to achieve." (For the sake of brevity, we'll ignore the fact that she said Iran will "go back on the path," when the fact is that Iran never left the path of developing nuclear weapons.)



Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, accused the U.S. of "regressing to old habits." Yes, Mr. Zarif. That appears to be true.

It is not the obligation of any country to pursue its adversary's endgame rather than its own. It is not the goal of the United States to appease dictators. And, as the Obama administration tried it and failed in both North Korea and Iran, since when is appeasement successful in any event? Appeasing Hitler, the Kaiser, the American Confederacy, the British in 1776 and 1812, Vlad the Impaler, Genghis Khan, and Saladin would not have made the world a better place.

And what is Secretary Pompeo demanding of Iran?

Declare to the IAEA a full account of the prior military dimensions of its nuclear program, and permanently and verifiably abandon such work in perpetuity.

Stop enrichment and never pursue plutonium reprocessing. This includes closing its heavy water reactor.

Provide the IAEA with unqualified access to all sites throughout the entire country.

End its proliferation of ballistic missiles and halt further launching or development of nuclear-capable missile systems.

Release all U.S. citizens, as well as citizens of our partners and allies.

End support to Middle East terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezb'allah, Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Respect the sovereignty of the Iraqi government and permit the disarming, demobilization, and reintegration of Shia militias.

End military support for the Houthi militia and work toward a peaceful political settlement in Yemen.

Withdraw all forces under Iranian command throughout the entirety of Syria.

End support for the Taliban and other terrorists in Afghanistan and the region and cease harboring senior al-Qaeda leaders.

End IRG Qods Force support for terrorists and militant partners.

End threatening behavior against its neighbors (including)  threats to destroy Israel, and its firing of missiles into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (and) threats to international shipping and destructive  and cyber-attacks.

Which of these twelve Iranian depredations above would Ms. Sherman agree is okay to continue? It's not as if we asked them to throw their male newborns into the river  Pharaoh couldn't be appeased, either.

These are all examples of Iranian behavior that undermine the peace and security of the Middle East and the wider world. And if none is okay, why pretend not to notice them? In the interest of not irritating the mullahs?
It's still the same old story, a fight for semantic glory. This time the fight is to define "proportionate." More familiar is the buzzword "disproportionate," frequently and automatically uttered in meetings of United Nations bodies and by the majority of the "international community" when referring to the actions of the State of Israel and its citizens. Once again in recent weeks the UN Security Council in this fashion condemned the killing by Israeli forces of civilians during protests at the border fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip on March 30, 2018 and April 6-20 , 2018, that had erupted in violence.

On May 15, 2018 the proposal in the UNSC condemned the "excessive use of force against unarmed civilians" after Israeli forces had clashed with Palestinian protestors in the Gaza Strip. The protestors, trying to breach the Israeli fence on the dividing line betweeen the Gaza Strip and Israel, burned tires , used fire bombs and stones. Israeli forces responding to the provocation killed 62 and injured more than a thousand. No Israelis were killed. International criticism focused on Israel's "disproportionate use of military force."

All democratic nations and some of the moderate Arab nations accept the reality that Israel, like every other state, has a right to defend its borders. Even the UN Security Council knowledges this, even if begrudgingly, but always limits it to a more "proportionate resonse." The international pronouncement is always for Israel to refrain from "excessive use of force," to respect the principle of proportionality in its use of force when defending its security interests. The mild admonition to Palestinians, especially to Hamas, is "avoid provocation."

The missing factor is that the "principle of proportionality" is never defined. Does it mean that the same number of Israelis and Palestinians must be killed to ensure equality? The essential reality is that there is no cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip or anywhere in the area in relations between Israel and Palestinians. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is one in which for 70 years Israel has defended itself against threats to its existence or against challenges to its sovereignty as the Hamas organized protests showed in March and April 2018.

A continuing part of that threat has come from inhabitants in the Gaza Strip where two million live in an area of 141 square miles, one of the most densely populated places in the world, where 65% are in poverty 44% are unemployed, and most young people don't work. Hamas may, in part, be concerned to alleviate those poor conditions, but its main objectives are to continue the struggle against Israel, by terror, explosives, tunnels, rockets, and destroying the border fence, and also to seize leadership of the whole Palestinian movement from its rival Fatah and its leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The Gaza Strip has alway been a troubled area. Hamas has added to the problem by its corruption and incompetence, and rivalry with Fatah. In its three wars against Israel it has been guilty of war crimes by using civilian facilities, schools, hospitals, and mosques, for military purposes, firing rockets on Israeli territory, and building tunnels to infilitrate into Israel. Its rivalry with Fatah and the PLO has led Abbas to impose sanctions, and to cut supplies of medicine and payment for Gaza's electricity.

Disagreements exist on the nature of a boycott or controls by Israel of Gaza, but Israel now allows a number of Gazans to enter the country to work, as well as allowing 800 trucks of supplies to enter every day. By contrast, Hamas has not only not renounced violence, but also has refused to allow Israeli trucks with medical supplies from entering its space.

Four things were left unsaid by many in the "international community" concerned with Gaza. The first is the refusal of Hamas to abide by international agreements. The Peace Treaty of March 26, 1979 between Israel and Egypt agreed on the recognized international boundaries between the two countries, "without prejuduce to the issue of the status of the Gaza Strip." The Oslo Accords II, signed first at Teba on September 24, 1995, and then again on September 28, 2018in Washington , D.C. by Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. aimed to set up a "Palestinian interim self-government authority" for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Hamas still struggles with Fatah over control of that self government authority,

A second fact is that at least 50, of the 62 Palestinians killed were not "civilians," but were members of Hamas, and another three belonged to Islamic Jihad, all terrorists who were instructed to bring a knife, dagger,or gun to the anti-Israeli demonstrations. Although Israel in 2005 withdrew all civilian settlements and all its military forces from the Gaza Strip, violence, especially after the emergence of Hamas, continued. To contain this, Israel built fences, physical barriers , one inside Gaza and the other along the Israeli line. For security reasons, Israel controls air and sea approches, and imposed a blockade, by sea as well as by land.

The third issue is that the protests that began in March 2018 were supposedly based on the March of Return , the right for Palestinian refugees to return to the homes and villages which they left , or in Palestinian language were "forcibly expelled by Zionist militias" in 1948. About this reasons for this departure, there will always be dispute, but the key meaningful present issue is that at most 30,000 of the original estimated 700,000 who left their homes in 1948 , as result of the invasion by five Arab armies immediately Israel was created, are still alive. It is doubtful that international law would recognize grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who left as genuine refugees.

Above all, and the fourth issue , the real purpose of the March has been made amply clear in the past and now by recent statements of Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar, now political leader of Hamas, founder and leader of the terrorist Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades in Gaza, and Ismail Haniyeh, former political head, and since May 2017 in charge of the Hamas political bureau since May 2017. The contribution of Sinwar, on the U.S. terrorist list since 2015, is that Hamas does not discuss recognizing Israel, it discussses wiping it out. "We will take down the border, and tear the hearts from their bodies."

Haniyeh is no Mother Theresa, He calls for ending the Oslo Accords, for the Intifada to bring about a general "confrontation" with the "occupation"and for there to be no abandonment of Al-Quds, the mosque on the Temple Mount. The blessed Intifada will continue until the "holy city" is liberated, which implies the elimination of Israel. Not surprisingly he was named by the U.S. State Department as "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" on January 31, 2018.

The troublesome Gaza issue been aggravated and made disproportionate , instead of helped, by international organizations, particularly the UN Human Rights Council , UNHRC. In March 2016 Michael Lynk, Canadian professor of law, was appointed by it to be special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestinan territories, a position held earlier by Richard Falk whose reports were criticised as biased and disproportionate with its focus on Isrsael. The disproportion continues with Professor Lynk who cannot be regarded as a neutral political figure. In 1989 he worked in Palestinian refugee camps. On September 14, 2001 he blamed "global inequalities" for 9/1 . He also blamed it on Western disregard for the international rule of law, but later disavowed this by saying his views were misrepresented.

Lynk in 2013 called for Israel to be brought before the International Court of Justice. He sees the Israeli "occupation" as a legal oxymoron , an unlawful occupation without end. On current events he said that the "blatant excessive use of force by Israel against Gaza, an eye for an eyelash," must end. In a statement on October 26, 2017, he indicated that increased pressure on Israel would lead to a sea change in the attitude of Israeli citizens, and the Israeli government.

Lynk's advice is unsound and counterproductive. He should be calling on Hamas to end its objective of destroying Israel, and as a start to stop displaying flags with swastikas at its demonstrations, He should define and clarify "proportionate response" by Israel when confronted by terrorist attacks on its border.

Perhaps little can be done about the increasing misery of the Gazan population because of Hamas incompetence, corruption, and oppressive rule. The international community should call on Arab countries, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, to persuade Hamas and other militant Palesinans to renounce violence, give up the idea of armed stuggle to destroy Israel , and come to the negotiating table. The world will always welcome efforts of this kind as time goes by.
As the truth slowly leaks out, the Deep State and its media flunkeys are desperately trying to convince Americans that the Obama administration's use of the full power of the U.S. Intelligence Community as well as the FBI and DoJ to spy on the Trump campaign is no big deal.

The latest lie is that the Obama administration was trying to protect Trump from nefarious Russians. Ignoring for a moment that this claim is in direct contradiction to what the same talking heads have been saying for over a year  if Obama people were trying to protect Trump, then they didn't think Trump was compromised, which means they thought the Steele dossier was a pack of lies  it's still easy to show that the Deep State wasn't trying to protect Trump.

The first point that has been widely discussed is that if they thought Trump was a target of Russian perfidy, they would have briefed Trump about it. We know how that would have gone because, when Comey eventually raised the issue with the president, Trump told him to investigate it. Clearly, Trump didn't want any collusion with Russia. By the way, the fact that Trump told the FBI to investigate the matter shows that Trump isn't being blackmailed by Russia, because if Russia did have dirt on Trump, the last thing he would have wanted was the FBI looking into the matter.

But the FBI didn't warn Trump  other than a generic threat briefing that was given to both parties. Instead, the FBI planted a spy who worked hard to entrap the Trump campaign in some sort of faux paus  albeit a legal one, because collusion isn't a crime.

Apparently, the FBI spy told a minor Trump campaign official, George Papadopoulos, that Russians had dirt on Hillary. Papadopoulos then shared that information with a senior Australian diplomat whom Papadopoulos just "happened" to run into in a bar. The Australian official who shared that information with the FBI just happens to have arranged a $25,000,000 donation to the Clinton foundation.

But the significant question is, why did the FBI have to plant a spy in the Trump campaign when it already had an ideal operative in place?

To an honest counterintelligence agent, Carter Page is gold. He feels that the U.S. should follow the Hillary approach and appease Russia and that poor U.S.-Russia relations are due to the U.S. As such, he's the sort of person any Russians who were planning to interfere in the U.S. election or who were trying to subvert the Trump campaign would gravitate toward. The Deep State agrees with that, since it claims that its concern about the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia is, at least in part, due to Page's trip to Moscow.

The problem is that we know that Carter Page has worked with Russian spies before. He worked at least one into a guilty plea in U.S. court. That's right: in addition to being an idiot about Russia, Page is a patriotic American who worked with the FBI to take those Russian spies out of commission. Page wore a wire to get incriminating evidence on a Russian spy, and when he did so, he was an "undercover employee" of the FBI.

F urther evidence of the FBI's and the Intelligence Community's belief that Page wasn't engaged in anything nefarious is that they did nothing to try and question him about his Moscow trip. If they'd really thought he might have been involved in collusion or that he'd been approached with proffers of collusion, it would have been easy for an FBI agent Page had worked with on the previous Russian spy case, or an undercover asset like the ones who talked to Papadopoulos, to "accidently" bump into Page and see what he had to say. Even if Page wasn't truthful, FBI agents are taught how to see if someone is lying or hiding something, so the FBI would have had some basis for suspecting that the formerly loyal Page had gone over to the dark side and was colluding with Russia.

Cultivating assets is a long, complex, risky process, and no competent agent would ignore a proven asset, Page, who was already in place, complete with a track record of being willing to work against illegal Russian activities.

Given that the FBI had every reason to believe in Page's reliability and that Page was an experienced counterintelligence asset who would be attractive to the Russians, why wouldn't the FBI use him? Why did the FBI resort to people who weren't already a part of the Trump campaign?

The answer is that the FBI was looking not to protect Trump, but to frame him, and it had no reason to assume that Page would go along with that.

Hence, there are two strong reasons to label the latest Deep State-media story that spying on Trump was done to protect him as a lie:

1. They didn't tell Trump he was in danger.

2. They refused to even talk to an in-place asset with a proven track record of working against illegal Russian operations.

The reality is that the Deep State, with the collusion of the media, has been desperately trying to nullify the 2016 election because their candidate didn't win. They've fully weaponized the entire U.S. government to attack their political foes, and the only reason they may not get away with it is that Hillary lost the election.

We need to ensure that Republicans, for all their failures, retain control of Congress, because if they lose it, the Democrats will shut down any investigation into the corruption of FBI-DoJ-NSA-CIA and instead work hard to impeach Trump.

You can read more of Tom's rants at his blog, Conversations about the obvious, and feel free to follow him on Twitter.
An armed citizen confronted a man who fired shots inside a restaurant and killed him, according to Oklahoma City police.

The shooter opened fire inside the establishment, injuring two people. As he was fleeing the scene, the armed bystander opened fire, fatally injuring the shooter.

CNN:

A man walked into Louie's Grill & Bar and opened fire, striking two people. As the gunman was fleeing the scene, a bystander armed with a pistol confronted the shooter and fatally shot him outside the restaurant, Oklahoma City Police Captain Bo Mathews told reporters. "Right now, all I know is that it was just a good Samaritan that was there and looks like he took the right measures to be able to put an end to a terrible, terrible incident," Mathews said. The shooter's motive is not known and his identity has not been confirmed. Four people were injured during the shooting. A woman and a girl were shot after the gunman walked into the busy restaurant. They were hospitalized and are expected to survive, Mathews said. The mother and daughter were celebrating a birthday when they were injured, CNN affiliate KOCO reported. A man broke his leg when trying to run out of the restaurant and a fourth person suffered a minor injury, police said. Police detained "a large number of witnesses" and said "there is no indication of terrorism at this point."

Oklahoma has an expansive concealed carry gun law, although the governor vetoed a "permitless" gun bill earlier this year. Anyone doubting the efficacy of such laws need only look at this incident  an incident that is hardly isolated in states that have concealed carry permissions.

The bottom line is that people are alive today in Oklahoma City because of the foresight of our founding fathers, who realized that self-defense is one of the most important natural rights bestowed on people and that restrictions on that right are not only dangerous, but stupid.
In 2015, Rachel Dolezal, the head of Spokane, Washington's NAACP chapter who presented herself as an African-American woman, was outed by a Spokane TV station as a Caucasian by birth. Dolezal's moment in the media spotlight quickly followed as she made the rounds of national TV talk programs including the Today show. To put it charitably, Dolezal had trouble articulating exactly what she was doing. She lost her job with the NAACP and a position teaching African-American studies at Eastern Washington University. Dolezal faded from view, but last month, she gained attention again with a much reviewed new Netflix documentary, The Rachel Divide, about her life today.



Source: KHQ TV Spokane 2015.

On May 24, the latest chapter in Dolezal's life became public when it was reported that she has been charged with felony welfare fraud. The story quickly went national. A comprehensive article and coverage were provided by KHQ, the NBC affiliate in Dolezal's hometown of Spokane:

KHQ has confirmed that Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, is accused of 1st Degree Theft by Welfare Fraud, Perjury in the 2nd Degree, and False Verification for Public Assistance. Her potential punishment under RCW 74.08.331 could include up to 15 years in prison. ... According to court documents, Diallo [Dolezal] illegally received $8,747 in food assistance, and illegally received $100 in childcare assistance. Total restitution, according to the documents, is $8,847, allegedly stolen from August 2015 through November 2017. The investigation into Diallo's alleged theft started in March 2017 when a DSHS Office of Fraud and Accountability investigator received information that Diallo had written a book that got published. The investigator said he'd heard Diallo say she was getting public assistance, but also knew that a typical publishing contract included payments of $10,000 to $20,000. The investigator conducted a review of Diallo's records and found she'd been reporting her income was usually less than $500 per month, in child support payments. At one point when asked as to how she was paying her bills, she reported, "Barely! With help from friends and gifts." However, a subpoena for her self-employment records, which included copies of her bank statements from 2015 to present, tells a different story. The bank records, court documents say, showed Diallo had deposited about $83,924 into her bank account in several monthly installments between August 2015 and September 2017, without reporting the income to the Department of Social and Health Services. The money, according to the case file, had come from authoring her book, 'In Full Color,' speaking engagements, soap making, doll making, and the sale of her art.



John Howard Griffin posing as an African-American (left) and as he was born, a Caucasian.

When Dolezal's strange story first emerged in June 2015, I was reminded of John Howard Griffin's experience as a white man posing as a black in the South in 1959 and then writing about it. His 1961 book, Black Like Me, became a bestseller and an instant classic  it was required reading in many high schools in the 1960s. The book came along at just the right moment, as the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement was gaining ground. Black Like Me was made into a major motion picture in 1964 starring James Whitmore.



Movie poster for Black Like Me, 1964.

John Howard Griffin died in 1980 at age 60, reportedly as a result of Type II diabetes. In 2015, the Daily Mail remembered Griffin's experience in the article "The white man who pretended to be black":

Back in 1959, six years before Martin Luther King marched for civil rights in Selma, one man tried. A white Texan writer called John Howard Griffin walked into a doctor's office in New Orleans and asked him to turn his skin colour black. Griffin took oral medication and was bombarded with ultraviolet rays; he cut off his hair to hide an absence of curls and shaved the back of his hands. Then he went on a tour of the Deep South. The result was a bestselling book called Black Like Me, which is still regarded as an American classic. Griffin wanted to test the claim that although the southern United States was segregated it was essentially peaceful and just  that the two races were separate but equal. What he discovered tells us a lot about the subtleties of racism. In 1959, unlike today, it was legally instituted. But, like today, it also flourished at the personal level  in hostility, suspicion, fear and even self-loathing.

Unfortunately, Dolezal, who underwent a similar racial transformation vaguely reminiscent of Griffin's more than a half century earlier, did it not to document what it's like to be black in America today. Rather, she preferred to be thought of as and to live as a black woman  a preference she developed when she was five, as she told Matt Lauer during her appearance on the Today show. Her critics  and there were many of them  claimed that she used her new racial identity to her advantage in order to attain the top position at her local NAACP and to teach at the university level.

An insightful review of the Netflix documentary on Dolezal in Forbes includes this analysis:

One argument against all the coverage Dolezal's gotten is that if she were black and passing as white, she would be dismissed as crazy or, more likely, ignored. Instead, she is yet another white woman getting heaps of attention for co-opting and appropriating another culture, thereby stealing necessary attention from those whose struggles are genuine and lifelong. And in doubling down on her own claims of persecution and mistreatment, she is only proving herself to be insensitive at best, and, at worst, a hypocritical racist.

This is a sad case. If Dolezal is found to be guilty of the accusations against her, I would like to propose an alternative sentence. I suggest that, rather than having to serve time in prison, Ms. Dolezal-Diallo make restitution for the $8,847 she allegedly ripped off and move to a black-majority country in Africa where presumably she might find satisfaction blending in with the local residents.

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran reporter and analyst of news on national politics, media, and popular culture. He is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka.
It is a joke when people from the press write stories continually complaining about Trump going after MS-13 members and pretending he lumps all immigrants into his description. It becomes self-satire when immediately below a headline accusing Trump of this thoughtcrime, the article's lead paragraph goes on to do exactly the same thing.

For decades, every time someone gets killed with a gun, the media blame the NRA and all of its members and essentially all gun-owners. They always play off groups against each other, but Trump is a problem because he goes hard after violent gang members.

Here is an article in the Washington Post titled "Trump again smears a large immigrant community with the violent actions of a few people."

And here is the lead paragraph:

For the second time in his presidency, President Trump traveled to Long Island to talk about immigrants and crime. While the event in Bethpage, N.Y., was described as a "roundtable on immigration," the chosen location, Trump's opening comments and the assembled guests made clear that the focus was more specifically on the criminal gang MS-13 and tying their actions to immigrants more broadly.

Here is a screen grab of the headline and lead paragraph:

Directly below it:
Sweden, suffering an epidemic of rapes and assaults caused by Muslims, has decided instead to focus on the politically correct needs of its feminist population, passing a new law that will effectively enable nearly all men to be tried for rape.

Under the new law, unless a woman explicitly consents to sex, the man can be tried for rape.

On Wednesday, the Swedish Parliament passed the law requiring explicit consent  verbal or physical  from participants before they engage in a sexual act.

How is consent explicit if it can be physical?

Does consent come in stages for each part of the sex act, and can the woman claim she changed her mind midway through stage 4, so to speak?

Beginning on July 1, when the new law comes into effect, a prosecutor will need simply show that explicit consent was never given.

Since consent is verbal or physical, how does a prosecutor show the absence of consent? It's like trying to prove that something didn't happen. Either this law is completely meaningless or it will enable prosecutors to cast a wide net to arrest men without evidence.

While some argue that the law will be problematic to enforce, others say the legislation is more about changing the culture.

That's exactly what this law is about. There's a mindset that men are rapists and women are victims, even if they don't even know that they are victims.

"The expectation that there should be bruises and clear evidence of physical resistance is also something this legislation moves away from[.] ... So we think it's natural that only active participation should be interpreted as a yes. Passivity cannot be read as consent."

Of course it can be read that way. That's the way most sex occurs. There are no men who constantly ask their wives or girlfriends for permission. They know that if their wives or girlfriends don't want to do something, they will say something.

But the Swedish legislators believe that women are developmentally disabled invalids, incapable of saying no. If you take that a step farther, if women are incapable of saying no, then how can they be capable of saying "yes"?

Since one can never prove that a girlfriend or wife gave consent, conceivably, every Swedish man could be charged with rape by a vengeful wife or girlfriend.

Now we all have a new reason not to go to Sweden. It's just a race to the bottom to see if Sweden will become a caliphate or a matriarchy.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com.
A major privacy gaffe saw one of Amazons Alexa-enabled Echo devices secretly record a private conversation between a married couple from Portland, Oregon, and send it to a random phone contact in Seattle, Washington, Kiro7 reports. Danielle, who wanted her last name kept private, says she received a phone call from one of her husbands Seattle-based employees some two weeks back, with the person in question urging her to unplug all of her Echo devices in the household and asserting the family was being hacked.

While the couple was first skeptical of the claim, their doubts were quickly dispelled when the caller accurately described their conversation about hardwood floors. No Amazon-made smart gadget in their household gave any indication of recording their exchange or sending it to a third party. Im never plugging that device in again because I cant trust it, Danielle said, adding that she felt invaded. After contacting Amazon, the company confirmed her findings, with one of its artificial intelligence engineers repeatedly apologizing for the ordeal and thanking her for bringing the issue to the companys attention. He told us that the device just guessed what we were saying, the woman recalled, adding that the official in question did not elaborate on the matter or made any other effort to explain what caused the AI assistant to malfunction in such a manner.

The tech giant offered to de-provision Alexa while still allowing the family to continue using the home automation features of their Internet of Things setup but the pair refused and pushed for a full refund instead. Amazon denied the request and the situation has yet to be resolved. In a subsequent statement provided to Kiro7, an Amazon spokesperson said the incident happened due to an an extremely rare occurrence that the company is working on preventing from happening again. No other similar cases of the firms speakers spying on users have been reported to date. Earlier this year, numerous individuals were complaining about Alexa malfunctioning in a highly bizarre manner that prompted the digital assistant to randomly laugh at its owners. Amazon also said that issue only occurred in rare cases when the helper thought it heard the phrase Alexa, laugh, having later issued an update that changed the accepted wording of the command to Alexa, can you laugh in order to prevent the problem from happening in the future.
The latest leak containing whats assumed to be the first real-life image of the LG V35 ThinQ came from the Wireless Power Consortium, industry insider Evan Blass discovered Thursday. The regulatory agency in question has already greenlit numerous variants of a smartphone series identified by the model number LM-V350, with the implication being that the commercial launch of the rumored Android flagship is now imminent. All of the newly issued certificates have been published yesterday, with some of them containing the previously spotted image that can be seen below.

Earlier this month, AndroidHeadlines obtained exclusive press renders of the LG V35 ThinQ thats assumed to be an AT&T exclusive in the United States, having shared the images several weeks after also learning a number of details about the next high-end Android offering from LG. Judging by the currently available information, the V35 ThinQ will be an even more premium device than the newly announced G7 ThinQ, featuring the same Qualcomm-made Snapdragon 845 chip but upping the ante with an OLED panel which will lack a screen cutout. Whereas the G7 ThinQ features a small notch on top of its 6.1-inch 19:9 display, the V35 ThinQ will have a slightly thicker bezel sitting above a 6-inch P-OLED screen. The handset should sport the same 16-megapixel dual-camera setup found on the back of the G7 ThinQ, also supported by a variety of artificial intelligence capabilities. An identical wide-angle lens covering a 107-degree field of view will once again be included as well.

A quad-DAC (ESS Sabre 9228) and a 3.5mm headphone jack will also be part of the mobile package, though the dedicated Google Assistant button found on the left-hand side of the G7 ThinQ wont be incorporated into the next LG-made Android flagship, the same information indicates. AT&T previously said it will be retailing a U.S.-exclusive LG device this summer, though its official announcement may be made by the end of spring, especially given how the majority of the South Korean tech giants products are announced at least a month ahead of their commercial releases. The LG V35 ThinQ is expected to be sold in at least a dozen other countries around the world, as indicated by the abundance of its variants listed by the WPC.
Motorola owner Lenovo is aware that its phone business in China has sunk to the bottom, CEO Yang Yuanqing told local media on Thursday. The firms smartphone unit is still bleeding money and is experiencing a significant decline in sales, with its fiscal 2017 revenues dropping 16-percent to $7.2 billion, according to its consolidated financial report published yesterday. Despite disappointing results, Mr. Yang maintains Lenovo is far from giving up, having added how the recent performance drops are part of the strategy. The 53-year-old sees the companys home country as a unique market in which original equipment manufacturers are able to survive even while losing money due to lucrative investments that are still trending, though its presently unclear how much external capital Lenovos mobile business would be able to attract if it doesnt show more significant performance improvements in the near term, provided it opts to seek outside funding.

The fact that the firm now hit its figurative bottom in China also means it has no fear anymore, Mr. Yang insists, adding that the tech giants investments in the local mobile market will continue increasing because the Far Eastern country is too important of a market to give up on. Lenovo so far withdrew its mobile products from nearly 80 countries, with its foreign strategy prioritizing now profits through cost-cutting over rapid growth, unlike the new approach to reviving its operations in China. Recent estimates suggest Lenovo sold fewer than two million handsets in the country over 2017, with that figure being effectively irrelevant in the worlds largest smartphone market which even pushed out global leader Samsung due to its extreme competitiveness and quickly evolving business models.

The Hong Kong-based company is still touting its data center and PC business growth as highly positive indicators of its overall long-term prospects, with its fiscal 2017 revenues being up five-percent year-on-year. Lenovos subsidiary Motorola isnt doing much better in China but is largely successful in Latin America and is also the fastest-selling unlocked handset brand in North America, its recently appointed President Sergio Buniac said last month.
Lenovo is aiming to be among the first adopters of the fifth generation of mobile networks by releasing 5G-ready devices in the near future, Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming told CNBC. The industry veteran labeled 5G a very interesting technology, adding that the company has been working on related solutions for some time now. No firm timelines for the commercial debut of Lenovos first 5G-enabled devices have been provided by Mr. Wong and the CFO also declined to give any details regarding the products themselves.

Most industry analysts are predicting the premier 5G offerings with a mass-appeal factor will come in the form of smartphones, though the very first 5G-ready devices are expected to be pucks which will become available for purchase in the United States in the second half of the year, being devised to work with AT&Ts experimental 5G network. ZTE previously signaled its planning on launching a 5G handset in the U.S. by early 2019 but that project has likely been placed on an indefinite hold following the Commerce Departments seven-year technology purchase ban that effectively crippled the entirety of the Chinese firms operations and is now being appealed with some assistance from the White House. Samsung is likely to be the first original equipment manufacturer to make 5G-ready smartphones commercially available stateside, with Sprint hinting its working on such offerings with a leading Korean manufacturer this past winter. Mr. Wong hasnt clarified whether Lenovos initial 5G-compatible products will be targeted at the U.S. market.

The fifth generation of mobile networks is expected to be further defined next month following a Busan, South Korea-based 3GPP summit meant to be concluded this week. The first implementable 5G standard has already been published in December, having been announced in Lisbon, Portugal, as the 3GPPs Release 15 specification. Large-scale commercial deployment of 5G infrastructure is starting in South Korea and the U.S. in early 2019, though 4G LTE is expected to remain the worlds dominant wireless standard over at least the next half a decade.
Qualcomm seemingly confirmed that the Xiaomi Mi 8 will support Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging. If you take a look at the image provided down below, you will be able to see the Xiaomi Mi 8 listed as one of the devices supporting Quick Charge 4.0, along with the Nubia Z17, Smartisan R1, and so on. As soon as weve seen this, weve visited Qualcomms website and pulled up a list of QC 4.0-supported smartphones, weve located the list shown down below, but the Mi 8 is missing, everything else is identical, but the Mi 8 is not there. Now, there are two options, either someone photoshopped the Mi 8, or Qualcomm made a mistake and removed it from the list recently.

That being said, its possible that Qualcomm included it, and then removed it, as the Mi 8 will probably ship with support for Quick Charge 4.0. The phone got certified recently, and that certification listing claims that it will support 5V/3A, 9V/2A, and 12V/1.5A quick charge protocols, and will support top-ups up to 18W. It is worth noting that a number of phones support Quick Charge 4.0, but dont ship with a charger that can utilize such speeds, and that hopefully wont be the case with the Mi 8. The Xiaomi Mi 8 will be announced on May 31 in Shenzhen, and that wont be the only device that will launch at the said event. The companys CEO already confirmed that several devices will be shown off in Shenzhen, and the Mi Band 3 will probably be amongst them. The Surge S2 announcement is also a possibility, as the companys second-gen mobile processor is expected to launch soon, so it may as well happen on May 31. In addition to all that, Xiaomi confirmed that MIUI 10 is launching on May 31 as well.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 will, if rumors and leaks are to be believed, be made out of metal and glass, while it will support wireless charging. The phone will be fueled by the Snapdragon 845 64-bit octa-core processor, while it will sport 3D facial scanning, similar to the one on the iPhone X. The device will include at least 6GB of RAM, while it will sport thin bezels. Some leaks and rumors even suggested that Xiaomi plans to release two size variants of the phone, and the device will probably ship with MIUI 10 out of the box.
The Trump administration struck a lifeline deal with Chinas technology giant ZTE meant to save the company from bankruptcy that is threatening it following an April ban on purchasing American hardware and software, The New York Times reports, citing a source familiar with the development. The federal government already informed stateside lawmakers of the development, the same insider claims. Instead of being prevented from purchasing Qualcomms chips and licensing an up-to-date version of Googles Android operating system over the next seven years, among other things, ZTE agreed to pay a major fine, make changes to its management team, and hire American compliance officers who will ensure the companys importing practices arent in violations of any U.S. trade bans such as the ones imposed on North Korea and Iran which started the entire ordeal back in 2016.

The Commerce Departments denial order will be lifted simultaneously with ZTE implementing those concessions, as per the same report. The official confirmation of the deal is said to be arriving shortly and may even be made by the end of the day. The White House and President Trump personally pushed for the federal regulator to ease its sanctions on ZTE as a precursor to Washingtons trade negotiations with Beijing whose first round was held in the U.S. capital last week. In exchange, China may accelerate its antitrust review of San Diego-based Qualcomms attempted acquisition of NXP Semiconductors valued at some $44 billion which has been dragging on since late 2016.

The development may prompt significant backlash from Capitol Hill, especially in light of a recent bipartisan legislative effort to prevent easing ZTEs punishment. The Commerce Department previously said ZTE failed to fully comply with its 2017 settlement over the aforementioned trade sanction violations and has paid out annual bonuses to 35 employees it agreed to discipline, in addition to accusing the company of repeatedly lying to federal investigators. ZTE argued the issue has been overblown, accidental, and self-reported to the agency after the firms management learned of its existence, calling the seven-year denial order unfair and unacceptable. President Trumps willingness to push for softer sanctions on ZTE drew criticism from both sides of the stateside political spectrum, with Florida Senator Marco Rubio being one of the most high-profile Republicans who came out in opposition to that approach.
Sentencing during the first stage of the Gurtel trial (1999-2005) has dealt a heavy blow to corruption in Spains Partido Popular. Spain's National Court has found the party led by Mariano Rajoy guilty of actively benefiting from a conspiracy involving bribes and illegally awarding contracts, part of which was destined for the partys finances by means of a slush fund. The Partido Popular used the money to finance its election campaigns in several towns in the Madrid area, such as Majadahonda and Pozuelo de Alarcon.

One of the stiffest sentences was handed down to the partys former treasurer, Luis Barcenas, the poster boy of corruption within the PP, who has other charges pending, such as the 'Box B' case. Barcenas was sentenced to 33 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 44 million. His wife has also been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Barcenas tried to excuse his wife from criminal responsibility for having concealed millions of euros in foreign bank accounts, in exchange for him accepting a stiffer sentence. However, the court refused to consider his request.

This is the first verdict in which the courts have confirmed the existence of illegal accounting by the PP, describing it as: "A financial and accounting structure which existed in parallel to the official one since at least 1989, in which entries were made informally, sometimes in the form of handwritten notes such as those belonging to Barcenas, specifying the partys income and expenses or, in other instances, amounts paid to specific members of the party".

The former Minister of Health, Ana Mato, has also been found guilty of having received illegal payments and will have to pay 28,467. Mato took numerous holidays and held parties, paid for with money from Francisco Correas business network. Correa, seen as the mastermind behind the graft network, has been sentenced to almost 52 years in prison. However, Correa and one of his two business partners, Pablo Crespo, sentenced to 37 years in prison, were both acquitted of the crime of illicit association. Meanwhile, Alvaro Perez, known as 'The Moustache', who was only charged with bribery and tax evasion, has been acquitted and will not face jail. Perez is involved in the Valencian element of the Gurtel case, however. Correas ex-wife, Carmen Rodriguez, a former Majadahonda City Councils chief of staff, has been sentenced to almost 15 years in prison.

The other defendants who have been found guilty include the former mayor of Majadahonda, Guillermo Ortega, with 38 years; the former Madrid councillor Alberto Lopez Viejo, with 31 years, and the former mayor of Pozuelo, Jesus Sepulveda, with 14 years. The penalties include 28 convictions for perverting the course of justice that entail being barred from holding public office for a total of 194 years. In total, of the 37 defendants, 29 were convicted, receiving more than 351 years in prison for crimes of unlawful association, defrauding a public administration, bribery, falsification of documents, embezzlement of public funds, perverting the course of justice, money laundering, tax evasion, influence peddling and unlawful appropriation. The illegal activities, for which Correa was paid 8.4 million, have been given a verdict seven and a half years after Judge Baltasar Garzon ordered the first arrests in 2009.

Dissenting vote by the president

The sentence records a dissenting vote by the President of the Court, Angel Hurtado, who believes that the PP has not liability in this case. He considers that "it is necessary to assume the PPs total lack of participation in and ignorance of the criminal acts" and feels that it has not been proved that the party was aware of the activities of its members in Majadahonda and Pozuelo de Alarcon. According to the judge, "Ortega and Sepulveda kept their activities secret from the party, and it is even harder to see how the PP benefited from them", going on to say he believes the "real beneficiaries" are the two former mayors, who stood in the 2003 municipal elections.

The leaders of the PP make the same argument, when speaking on this issue, having always maintained that the PP knew nothing at the national level, including Mariano Rajoy, when he gave evidence before the National Court in San Fernando de Henares. The two judges whose views are in the majority question the "credibility" of the witnesses, including PM Rajoys, who denied all knowledge of the parallel bookkeeping. The PP has already released a statement announcing that it will appeal the sentence.

Barcenas, a key figure

The judges described Correa's network as an "effective system of institutional corruption employing mechanisms for the manipulation of central, regional and local public procurement thanks to a close relationship with influential members of the PP who had the potential to influence the decision-making processes with regard to the awarding of contracts by certain public bodies". The sentencing statement goes on to say that certain companies enjoyed favourable treatment from the public administration in order to unlawfully obtain significant financial gain. A further illegal practice was the charging of commissions when another company placed a successful bid, with the resulting sums either disbursed by Correa himself or the public officials who participated in the procedure.

In passing sentence, the judges consider that Barcenas was a key figure, "a veritable master of defrauding the Treasury". They conclude that the PP's former treasurer took the necessary steps to ensure that the contracts "would be won by the firm which he wished to favour". However, a significant part of Barcenas sentence is due to having transferred his illegal earnings to Swiss bank accounts and for having siphoned off funds belonging to the PP, sums which the party refuses to lay claim to.

Sentence review hearing

The Prosecutor's Office of the National Court has already requested that a sentence review hearing be held according to Article 505 of the Criminal Code for sixteen of the individiuals who were sentenced. These include, Barcenas and his wife, Lopez Viejo, Sepulveda and Ortega. The Public Prosecutor's Office is likely to ask for them to be held on remand until the sentences become final, since the defence may still appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court. Barcenas is still embroiled in the Box B case, meaning the Prosecutor's Office is more likely to ask for him to be held on remand.
A Guide To Manscaping Your Body Hair

You're Manscaping All Wrong, But This Will Help

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

All illustrations by Sarah Bean

Manscaping. The term itself can be a bit off-putting  its vague, mysterious and downright intimidating if you dont know what it implies. But its actually a false alarm; manscaping is just the guy version of getting cleaned up. It means smelling good, keeping your parts in order, and making a good impression on others in addition to feeling good about yourself. (Yes, manscaping can have a positive effect on your confidence levels.)

Just think about it: Are you going to feel more confident walking into a job interview if your whiskers are trimmed and your skin is healthy, as opposed to overgrown and dry? What about going on a blind date knowing that youre ready for an intimate evening? Its simple logic: Manscaping isnt something to be afraid of, but rather embraced. Especially if you expect your partner(s) to maintain a certain appearance or beauty standard, you owe it to them to return the favor. And trust us, youll feel more relaxed heading into any close encounter knowing that youre in your best form.

RELATED: Prickly, Itchy Skin? These Razors Will Have Women Getting Closer

Manscaping isnt about excessive grooming either  women dont necessarily appreciate a guy whos obviously spent the last 2 hours holed up in front of the bathroom mirror. You dont need to buy a bunch of useless products, and you dont need to be someone youre not. Its just about polishing up your natural assets and showing pride in the person you want to present to others.

Contents

What Is Manscaping?

First, lets start with an official definition. Google states that manscaping is the removal or trimming of hair on a man's body for cosmetic effect.

Although simplified, hair control is the essential component on manscaping, although the definition could be expanded to include other grooming tasks. In any case, however, the real question you should be asking is: How to manscape?

Well, to understand the male grooming practice is to examine its full range, which could involve outlining one specific region of the body, or its entirety.

Pre-Manscaping Essentials

A whole world of hurt awaits you if you try manscaping under dry skin conditions. Same shaving dos and donts you practice on the face must be followed on your entire physique. Now meet the go-to products you should adopt before moving ahead.

Shower gels are cool. Still theres more bang for the buck in Baxters 3-in-1 bar soap. Not only will you scrub off grime from the skins upper layer, but the product features rich ingredients to nourish skin without stripping moisture. Leave your coat feeling cleansed and refreshed right out of the tub before taking a blade to your junk.

Stock Up: Baxter Of California Soap, $17.00 at Amazon.com

Mainly used for facial purposes, shave oils soften hair and protect skin from burning. eShave offers a great selection spread across three aromatic channels  Cucumber, Orange Sandalwood, and Verbana Lime  each well mixed to keep skin moisturized and protected from colder, dryer temps. Cover the body with a few drops and massage it in to give the razor smoother glide action.

Stock Up: Pre-Shave Oil, $22.00 at eShave.com

The market is very low on translucent shaving gels. Lucky for you the search stops here. Recipe For Men creates a foam-free formula that bears a clear-blue appearance for accurate shaving. Special ingredients like sebustop tames acne by reducing skin oiliness. Aloe Vera and lemon extracts cool and purify skin in the process.

Stock Up: Shaving Gel, $26.00 at Amazon.com

The Target Zones

Some get a rush flexing hairless chests at the beach. Others love the reaction they get in the bedroom unveiling their crown jewels. But what exactly falls under the manscaping pyramid remains a mystery to most guys. Reality is your whole body is fair game; we all have our different sweet spots. So, to guide you in the right direction, weve provided a full breakdown of all the major sections to consider deforesting, alongside expert manscaping tips, illustrations, and yes, manscaping treatments.

Note: Remember, you can do as much or as little manscaping as you feel comfortable with. While some will naturally prefer less hair, others will enjoy maintaining a bit of their wild side. All are valid options.

 Groin 

Step 1: Trim & Apply Shave Gel

Depending on the situation down there, a pair of hair-cutting sheers might suffice, though make no mistake, electric clippers perform better. The different guard lengths and shave settings will remove the bulk of hair. Head below the waist at a 45-degree angle and transition your way down to the perineumthe area between the anus and scrotum.

Lets be clear: Vision is key (no pun intended). Here, we must insist on using shaving gels. They work best for lifting whiskers off the body, require less application, and provide skin protection plus nourishment. Most importantly, its translucent presence lets you see where your grooming tools should work, while averting slip-ups in areas where the skin is most delicate.

Step 2: Taut and Razor-Ready

Tug the skin back with your non-shaving hand because you dont want it getting caught under the blade. Start at the balls and perform one stroke, followed by a quick rinse of the blade. Go at it again. Head towards the shaft and hold everything upright as to not go against the grain with the blade. Be gentle. Feel free to pass through the perineum if necessary, just be careful since this area is friction-sensitive.

Step 3: Use A Post-Shaving Agent

Shaving any body part, let alone your balls will lead to some inflammation. Aftershave splashes and lotions can be risky as most utilize alcohol or fragrances that sting like hell. Opt for an aftershave balm to cool down and hydrate skin. Any with aloe or camphor in the ingredients list helps reduce irritability.

For more deets on how to shave yourself like a pro, take the plunge and read our full guide on shaving your balls.

 Arms & Pits

Step 1: Trim. It. Down.

Same as the pubic area, its all about cutting back the forest. Match your hair length to the proper comb attachment and buzz away. If volume is light, use the trimmer head as is.

Step 2: Exfoliate The Skin

This necessarily applies everywhere, but arms and pits benefit hugely from a nice scrubbing. Learn how to exfoliate the body and value a good exfoliant to purge clogged pores and rid yourself of dead skin. Youll produce a smoother landscape for grooming tools to work better. (Razor. Trimmer. Whatever.)

Step 3: Lather Up

Stick with a shaving gel for the same reasons weve previously preached. Itll be much easier to navigate through the contours of your arms and pits. Application is much easier, too; only a little is needed.

Step 4: Shave It Off

Take a cartridge razor, one with a pivoting head and with no less than three blades. Start at the inside of the wrist and transition up to the forearm. Stop at the elbow and move across the forearm with soft strokes. Do the same when tackling the upper part of your arms. When working the pits, shave anyway you please since underarm hair naturally grows in all directions.

Step 5: Rinse and Cool Down

Manscaping in the shower lets you rinse off debris instantly. Let the water from the showerhead take care of the dirty work. Once finished, pat down arms and pits gently. Then top it off with a skin-soothing lotion featuring Aloe Vera or other cooling ingredients.

 Legs

Step 1: Shorten Hair Length

Ads and commercials might lead you to believe it all begins with a razor and some shaving cream. Hell no. You will need to pre-shave your legs with a beard or body trimmer.

Step 2: Scrub-A-Dub

Jump in the tub and apply some form of scrubbing agent (body wash, shower gel, etc.) on your legs. You can spread it across a shower grooming tool, like a loofah or exfoliating gloves, and rub it over the skin in slight circles to get rid of dead skin.

Step 3: Apply Gel

Foam up those calves, knee caps, thighs, and ankles. A translucent gel will ensure you dont miss any lingering hairs.

Step 4: Put In Blade Work

The way you approached the arms is no different from what youll need to do here. Take on the thinnest patches first to determine the razors maximum hair volume. Keep strokes short and be sure to rinse the blades. Shave with the grain (in the direction hair grows)  going against it in sensitive areas like the inner thigh could irritate the skin.

Step 5: Heal Your Legs

A mans skin produces more natural oils than a womans. Rely on a good moisturizer or post-shave conditioner to enjoy healthy, smooth legs. These solutions will destroy any existing bacteria as well. Moisturize every day to prevent friction burns.

 Chest & Abs 

Step 1: Comb Through The Frizz

Hairy chests are obviously common; and some women might love it. But if you want to clear it up, heres what you need to do.

The last thing you want are the trimmer blades getting caught on tangled patches. End result: Pain. Keep a premium hair comb on hand to run through the chest and shoulders (if necessary), which will help untangle any hair knots.

Step 2: Trust The Trimmer

Your chest is prone to accumulate a good amount of fur over time. The abdominal area, not so much. And thats a good thing. Grab a trimmer and go as short as possible within a 45-degree angle in the direction of the natural grain of your hair. Doing so will give your razor some breathing room.

Step 3: Employ A Shaving Agent

Get a good amount of gel out of the jar or tube, lather it up, and spread across the chest and shoulders.

Step 4: Shave It Off

Play it safe with short strokes and shave following the direction of hair growth. Expect to pass the razor through the same spots a few times, primarily around the sternum and (rock-solid) pecs. Flare-ups might occur. Still, its nothing you cant treat.

Step 5: Cool It Down

A quick rinse with lukewarm water and a pat down might be enough depending on how flared up your chest becomes. Then again, an aftershave balm is always welcome.

 Shoulders & Back 

Step 1: Flex And Trim

Were looking at two of the most difficult spaces to trim. Using a trimmer with flexibility and a long reach is a no-brainer. If it supports adjustable comb lengths, even better. Start with a low guard, power that sucker up, and put your contortionist skills to the test snatching up back and shoulder hair.

Step 2: Start Gelling

Youre probably capable of managing shoulder duty on this one. But a second pair of hands are required for the back. Get a girlfriend or part-time lover to smear some shaving gel right down to your crack.

Step 3: Choose A Hair Removal Solution

Razors on your shoulder are no sweat. Same cant be said for the back. Waxes or a topical cream remain the better option. Either way youre going to need another person to get it on. If youre insistent on using a razor, have the operator shave with the grain.

Step 4: Wipe It Down

Treat these areas the same way you would your arms and pits. Rinse, pat down dry, and prepare an aftershave balm.

Step 5: Clean Up & ExfoliateLater On

Ingrown hairs are inevitable. Prevention is the next course of action. Look into getting a back scrubber or have someone gently rub on a good body scrub. This should avoid any bumps, buildups, or redness. Don't forget to rinse off when you're through.

 Everywhere Else 

Step 1: The Moisture Effect

Lotion works for a quick fix. A shower is even better. Again, steam opens up pores and moistens hair follicles for leveled trims. If too time consuming, apply a warm compression pad to the are youre working on.

Step 2: Use A Portable Multi-Trimmer

Most body trimmers host extra accessories to trim facial spots. The problem is that these machines are heavy and provide little-to-no versatility to reach difficult areas. Invest in a nose trimmer, one with multiple heads to clear off the check list.

Step 3: Clean Up

Most of that trimmed hair sticks to your body. Use a wet washcloth to wipe off any lingering whiskers. Maybe take a shaving brush or borrow a girlfriends makeup brush if need be. Our personal suggestion is body wipes for the cleansing and hydrating elements. Stock up on some Ursa Major Essential Face Wipes and never forget to rinse the head of the trimmer.

The Techniques

 Shave & Trim 

Epilator. Razor. Trimmer. Choose your weapon. Each one compliments another and works best on specific body parts. Trimmers mow down hair most efficiently, while epilators handle hair in sensitive areas better than most tools. Razors come into play once hair is cut short or to stubble length, giving the blades enough room for a sleek shave. Keep these grooming instruments on your radar.

A 3D pivoting shaving head combined with a built-in trimmer hosting 5 length settings, the Bodygroom practically accommodates every major body part. Abs. Chest. Shoulders. You name it. Even operate it as an electric shaver to earn a velvety mug. The self-sharpening blades will cut through shrubbery without any lubrication.

Stock Up: Philips Norelco Shaver, $64.95 at Amazon.com

Finally, a gadget to shred that rug on your back. Mangroomers extended trimmer is a godsend for grizzlies struggling to manage their rear, propelled by two shock absorber flex heads and a Power Burst mode that shaves over super-thick hair with finesse. The ultra-sensitive blades are hypoallergenic to warrant long-term use, and the ergonomic rubberized grip of the handle supports maximum control for stabilized trims. You can also use it as a standard body trimmer.

Stock Up: Mangroomer Shaver, $49.71 at Amazon.com

Mowing the entire lawn requires a one-stop manscaping shop. Braun blesses you with a full-on grooming kit designed for precision control across the body. The bundle comes equipped with four combs covering 13 precision setting lengths, plus a few other attachments and a Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor for final touches.

Stock Up: Braun Grooming Kit, $41.92 at Amazon.com

Yes. Epilators are most popular among women shavers, but that doesnt make them gender-specific. In fact, theyre awesome for undertaking pubic stubble. Brauns handheld machine comes built specifically to catch 4x shorter hair than wax (up to 0.5mm), which is as small as a grain of sand. The pivoting head, along with its wet and dry capabilities make the Silk-epil 7 great for trimming pits in the shower.

Stock Up: Braun Epilator, $85.10 at Amazon.com

Flexibility is everything in a razor, especially when aiming below the belt. Gillette sells the best manscaping option. The Fusion Proglide supports patented FlexBall Technology to let the razor head contour every angle and shape of the body. The streamlined comfort guard and enhanced lubrication strip adds relief and security to the chore.

Stock Up: Gillette Razor, $10.77 at Amazon.com

Eyebrows, ears, and nosewere talking three of the most neglected spots on a mans body. The Andis portable trimmer has the grooming prowess to clean up your mug in all areas with recessed cutting blades for closer, safer trims. Pack the device in any dopp kit when traveling or store it in the cabinet with a protective cap to preserve blade sharpness.

Stock Up: Andis Personal Trimmer, $8.58 at Amazon.com

 Waxing 

Nightmares of Steve Carrell having his chest transformed into a checkers board run rampant as we speak. The scary truth is that the more hair you have, the more painful the experience is going to be. Follow protocol and trim first. Once in the waxing phase, results can last as long as four to eight weeks, with hair growing back much softer (and thinner) than before.

These cold wax strips come 20 per box and are sized perfectly for the back, chest, and shoulders. Each strip can also be cut to manage smaller spots. Perfect for last-minute touchups or when hitting the road, they make for great quick fixes and help eliminate the messiness that usually comes with wax application.

Stock Up: Wax Strips, $10.41 at Amazon.com

Cant go wrong with a honey-based wax kit. BodyHonee has a variety of different options with this one being the most effective amongst fellers thanks to its all-natural contents (lemon, salt, sugar from honey). Equipped with two wooden spatulas, a 10-ounce jar of all-natural wax, and eight non-woven wax strips, it pulls hair at the root-level to meet your Brozilian needs.

Stock Up: Waxing Kit, $18.99 at Amazon.com

The Amazon Best Seller is a complete waxing set that caters to both genders. Most customers claim its easy to use with the wax heating at perfect temperatures to dab across the body. Inside are professional-grade products including a wax warmer, Brazilian hard wax, wood sticks, pre-epilation oil and post-wax cooling gel.

Stock Up: Waxing Starter Kit, $56.95 at Amazon.com

 Topicals 

Creams and lotions get no love these days. Shame seeing as this category of products has helped lay down the foundation for many manscaping routines. Interestingly, results are said to last just as long as a complete shave. Furthermore, using these liniments will naturally exfoliate your skin  certainly a bonus.

Nairs affordability and simplicity has made it a consumer favorite over the past two decades. This body cream works best on limbs and the back/chest areas. However, its ability to activate while in the shower is what differentiates it from the crowd, producing a swifter wipe-down removal. Smear it on, wait a good 10 minutes, then let the shower rinse it off.

Stock Up: Nair Hair Remover, $12.82 at Amazon.com

All genital jokes aside, Nad's 4-minute lotion is suitable for every body part, including your balls. Aloe Vera is one of its signature ingredients to protect and soothe skin after eradicating it of rough hair. If you can tolerate the less-than-lovely scent, then consider your testes as smooth as Dominic Torettos dome.

Stock Up: Nad Hair Removal Cream, $9.71 at Amazon.com

The Post-Manscape Routine

Hair removal takes its toll on the skin. Apply these skincare solutions to keep your skin feeling great before and after manscaping.

The companys new hero product is a multi-tasking lotion thats garnered positive reviews across a variety of mens lifestyle sites. It's formulated with active ingredients to simultaneously tackle razor bumps, irritation, and ingrown hairs. Gently rub it into problem areas and allow absorption. Its soothing elements, like allantoin and chamomile, help stimulate cell regeneration.

Stock Up: The Shavior, $24.00 at Amazon.com

Several ingrown hair treatments are available to rid the body of coarse and curly threads. One of our favorites is Anthonys specialty hair serum, which uses glycolic acid to purge skin of dead cells. This in turn releases ingrown hairs by freeing bacteria under the skin and calming inflammation.

Stock Up: Ingrown Hair Treatment, $32.00 at Nordstrom.com

Johnson & Johnson just met its competition. This is the talcum powder youll fancy to help keep your privates comfortable and dry at all times. Use it anywhere (except the face) to avoid odorous funk, in addition to reducing itchiness. A light, fresh scent is an added touch. Suitable for all skin types.

Stock Up: Super Powder, $16.00 at Amazon.com

Related Readings

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Wilderness Workshop produced the above rendering of a potential dam on Maroon Creek, just below the confluence of East and West Maroon creeks, that has been on the city of Aspens books since the 1960s. The environmental group is one of five that have reached settlement agreements with the city that would see rights for the dam and another on Castle Creek moved to other locations.
McIver maintained that he accidentally shot and killed his wife while riding in the back seat of an SUV driven by a family friend. Diane, who was an accomplished senior executive, sat in the front seat of the vehicle. The former partner said he was holding a gun, which he said went off when he fell asleep, because he was afraid of the neighbourhood they were passing through.

The family friend, Dani Jo Carter, said in court that McIver lied to her and tried to convince her to lie. She said seeing her friend die was one of the saddest and most horrific events in her life and has caused her horrible trauma. She described Diane as a sister.

Prosecutors said during the trial that McIver owed his wife hundreds of thousands of dollars at the time of the shooting. His law firm income was said to have dropped from an average of US$570,000 to US$275,000. At the same time, he was said to have been spending more than he was earning.

McIver had claimed that in the months he has been in jail, he has never been alone because he could telepathically communicate with his dead wife. He said there just arent words to describe the nature of our relationship and the energy we derived from each other.

I have spent 263 nights in a jail cell by myself, but not alone. She has joined me there. Its a presence thats hard to describe, he said. Its as if shes on the other side of a curtain or another dimension. Ive never felt alone.
The Queensland Supreme Court today granted the bid to freeze Clive Palmers personal assets over the 2016 collapse of Queensland Nickel.

Brisbane Supreme Court Justice John Bond approved the application by Federal government-appointed liquidator PPB Advisory to freeze nearly $205m of personal assets of the former federal MP.

The injunction also covers other amounts held by his companies. Palmer had contended that the companies needed access to the funds to be profitable.
These 18 cars are the first in a batch of 200 that would constitute a limited run called First Edition. Setting these versions apart from all the others to be manufactured are an exclusive interior plaque on the drivers side of the center console, special interior options, dry-carbon interior trim and a Harman Kardon hi-fi speaker system.The first of the 200 cars has been handed over on Thursday to the BMW i8 Club during a ceremony at the carmaker's Welt location in Germany. The i8 Club was established in 2014, on the heels of the original i8 launch.With not that much competition in its segment, the i8 has become in four years the worlds top-selling hybrid sportscar, prompting the Germans to do a follow-up with an open-top incarnation.The Roadster was presented at this year's Geneva Motor Show, heralding at the same time an upgrade for the regular i8. Both models in the range are now powered by an updated battery, with a cell capacity of 34 Ah, up from the current 20 Ah.The improved electric drive of the i8, comprised of the battery and an AC synchronous electric motor, will give the model in electric mode 144 horsepower.The combined output of the system, including the 1.5-liter turbo engine, is 369 hp, while zero to sixty mph acceleration for the model stands at 4.2 seconds.The Roadster is being manufactured at the Leipzig facility alongside the coupe, the i3 and i3s. Some of the parts used in its assembly will 3D-printed starting in 2019.In the United States, the new i8 Roadster will be sold from later this year for $163,300, nearly $16,000 above the price of the Coupe version.
At the 2018 New York Auto Show, Subaru revealed the all-new 5th generation Forester. Rather than having a complete redesign of the brand's popular SUV, the Forester took on an evolutionary styling and looks nearly unchanged compared to the outgoing model. Under the hood, it was announced that the US-market Forester would be offered with a new 2.5-liter engine which produces 182 PS and 238 Nm of torque.

With the 5th generation Forester having only been revealed recently, there is still no details as to what variants and engine will be offered by Subaru locally. In Japan however, Subaru has already began pre-orders of the all-new Forester. Surprisingly, the new range topper is not a turbocharged XT variant, but instead a hybrid model called Advance.

Most of the information regarding the hybrid-powered Forester are still in Japanese. What we do know however, is that it will be powered by a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated flat four engine coupled to an electric motor called 'e-BOXER'. Combined, it produces a net power output of 145 PS and 188 Nm of torque. Power is then sent to all four wheels via Subaru's lineartronic CVT transmission.

Along with the electric motor, a new lithium-ion battery has also been fitted into the Forester. The SUV's new X-Mode system will also coordinate with the electric motor to help improve fuel efficiency. According to Subaru, the hybrid Forester has a fuel consumption rating of 18.6 km/L.

Should Motor Image Pilipinas decide to bring in the Forester hybrid, it will likely be priced fairly cheaper compared to its rivals thanks to new TRAIN law. For now we have to wait and see if Subaru will offer the hybrid Forester in the local market.
Embry-Riddle-Daytona student Nandish Patel, 22, was killed in the crash of a Cessna 140 at Spruce Creek Fly-In private airport (7FL6) in Port Orange, Florida, on Tuesday evening. Also on board the aircraft was Chase Zinn, 23, a May 2017 Riddle graduate and flight instructor at the school. Zinn was transported to the hospital and remains in critical condition.

The aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from Spruce Creek. According to the NTSB, it banked left after departure and went down in some trees at the end of the runway after climbing no more than 200 feet above the ground. Zinn has been identified as the pilot of the aircraft.

No early indicators of possible causes of the accident have been discussed. At this time, the NTSB doesnt believe the flight was for the purpose of training. The Volusia County Sheriffs Office says the aircraft, a 1946 Cessna 140, was owned by Zinns family. The NTSB is on scene to investigate the accident. The is the second fatal crash involving an Embry-Riddle student in the last two months after an inflight breakup killed a student and examiner in early April.
Aircraft Spruce

People travelling to AirVenture 2018 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, can place orders with Aircraft Spruce for pickup at the companys booth at the show. To take advantage of that option, orders need to be received by noon EST on Monday, July 16. Orders can be placed on the companys website. To have the order delivered to the show, select Pickup at Oshkosh 2018 in the shipment options. There is no additional charge for show pickups, but there is a $100 order minimum. Aircraft Spruce will be in Hangar A, Booths 1022-1029.

Curtis Superior Valve Co.

Curtis Superior Valve Co. Inc. recently announced that they have received FAA PMA approval for a low profile, aluminum oil quick drain valve that fits most Lycoming engines. The CCB-38000 quick drain valve was designed specifically for retractable gear and twin-engine aircraft with close fit cowling. It will also fit Lycoming engines where there might be interference from structure, exhaust, hoses or wiring. The valve comes with a separate activating tool. It can be ordered from Curtis distributor network.

All In Aviation and Lone Mountain Aviation

Flight school and aircraft rental company All In Aviation, along with maintenance partner Lone Mountain Aviation, has announced that the City of Henderson has approved its designs for a 24-hangar facility at Henderson Executive Airport (HND) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The complex will include 9,000 square feet of office space, five training rooms, a full-size classroom, a library, a 16-person conference room, an avionics workshop, a pilot shop, a parts department and a 22,000 square-foot maintenance hangar. All In Aviation hopes to break ground on the project in May and open in December 2018.

Charles M. Schulz  Sonoma County Airport

A Request for Interest (RFI) was issued on May 15, 2018, for the lease and development of four separate parcels located on the Charles M. Schulz  Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California. Three parcels are designated for aeronautical use and one parcel for either aeronautical or non-aeronautical use. The goal of this RFI is to seek interested parties willing and able to lease and develop the sites. The airport has requested that any party submitting an expression of interest is capable of designing, financing, developing, managing and operating the site. The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2018, at 4:00 p.m. See the complete press release for contact information.
Web typography is currently riding a wave of relentless creativity. Google Fonts is an invaluable resource for digital designers, the open source nature of its fonts makes it a viable option for both commercial and personal use. With it being a Google tool, Accessibility is of course key, with its high quality selection of web and mobile typography, taking into account legibility and readability.

The use of typography is a principal design element in the latest trends, making Google Fonts a more valuable resource than ever. Its interface and download system is intuitive and comfortable, allowing you to compare all the fonts and styles available in order to complement the current creative landscape - which sees the fusing of bold typography, serif and display fonts, big paragraphs, and decorative-styles.

Top recommended Google Web Fonts

Here you can find a selection of fonts weve chosen, in part due to their aesthetic qualities, but above all, their functionality. As well as families with many styles and weights, youll find fonts that are optimized for interfaces, UI Optimized web fonts, and others that are especially legible in paragraphs, or particularly comfortable for reading on mobile and legible on any device - be it smartphone, desktop or tablet.

To discover more examples of free fonts, take a look at our collection of Free Fonts, containing a wide variety of free typefaces.

Sora

Hahmlet

JetBrains Mono

Andada Pro

Epilogue

Inter

Encode Sans

Manrope

Lora

BioRhyme

Playfair Display

Archivo

Roboto

Cormorant

Spectral

Raleway

Work Sans

Lato

Anton

Old Standard TT

Oswald

Montserrat

Poppins

Nunito

Source Sans Pro

Oxygen

Open Sans

How to use Web Fonts

At this point everyone knows how to use web fonts, but if youre not sure, you only need to know that there are two ways. The first is to use web fonts services like Google Fonts, Webtype, Fonts.com or Typekit and download the font from their servers, as youll see in the following example: 1. Web font embedding services

The second is to host the font in your server and use @font-face rule in your stylesheet as you can see here: 2. Embedding fonts using the @font-face rule

Web font embedding services

Google Web Fonts (GWF) or Typekit are systems which allow the use of fonts hosted on their servers. GWF is free to use, does not require you to have an account, and has no limit on traffic or domains unlike Typekit. Typekit sets the cost of the service according to the number of domains in which the font is used, or the sites monthly traffic. One of the most valued characteristics of GWF is the option to download a desktop version of the fonts for use in the project design phase.

Implementation

It really is quick and simple:

1. Choose a font. You can add it to your collection or use quick-use to generate the code and options for that font.

2. Copy and paste the code generated into your <Head>

<head> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Tangerine"> </head>

3. The font is now accessible in your CSS code

body { font-family: 'Tangerine', serif; font-size: 48px; }

Here you can consult an extended manual for styles, script subsets, and using multiple fonts.

Embedding fonts using the @font-face rule

Fonts are hosted on the users server independently of external services. @font-face was a deprecated CSS2 rule that has been re-introduced in CSS3 specifications and is supported by almost all modern browsers. A web font is a customized font which is supported by different browsers and comes in formats such as TTF, WOFF, EOT and SVG.

@font-face { font-family: 'ChunkFiveRegular'; src: url('Chunkfive-webfont.eot'); src: url('Chunkfive-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'), url('Chunkfive-webfont.woff') format('woff'), url('Chunkfive-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'), url('Chunkfive-webfont.svg#ChunkFiveRegular') format('svg'); font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; }

Best Typography learning Resources

Check out our selection of courses for digital designers and developers. Awwwards Academy brings you expert learning content to deepen your knowledge about the exciting discipline of typography in digital and interactive productions.
Bureau of Prisons Director Mark Inch resigned from his position two days before the White House's prison reform roundtable last week, per the New York Times.

The big picture: Inch felt excluded from major decisions in the Justice Department and

caught in an "ideological turf war" on prison reform between Jared Kushner, who is pushing the idea from the White House, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who opposes most of the ideas in the bill that has passed the House, according to the Times.

What's next: The White House-backed prison reform bill is now headed to the Senate where Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley  and several Democrats  are insisting the bill include sentencing reform. Some criminal justice reform advocates see Inch's resignation as an opportunity to do just that, despite opposition to lowering federal sentencing guidelines from Sessions, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Trump.

Keep in mind: Whoever replaces Inch will be in charge of actually implementing whatever prison reforms manage to make it into law.

Go deeper: Trump's prison reform turn.
1 big thing: Why China wants Trump and Kim to talk

President Trump's decision to cancel the North Korea summit is bad news for China  because it's in China's interest for Trump and Kim Jong-un to talk.

What's next: If the summit is truly off, the U.S. will likely double down on pushing for strict implementation of all UN sanctions and continue the "maximum pressure" campaign to squeeze North Korea into submission. China has only joined those efforts reluctantly, and has been hoping they would ease off with the Trump-Kim dialogue.

The intrigue: Trump said this week that he believes Kim's attitude towards the summit changed after Kim's meeting with Xi Jinping in early May.

The official Chinese coverage at the time made it clear that Kim was not planning on immediate, complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. As Xinhua noted in its May 8 report:

Kim expressed the hope that the DPRK and the United States would build mutual trust through dialogue and relevant sides would take phased and synchronous measures in a responsible manner so as to comprehensively advance the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and eventually achieve denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula.

The big picture: If the talks really are off, and Trump believes Xi helped derail them, expect a further downward turn in U.S.-China relations. Trump has deferred tougher actions against China across a range of issues, including trade and the South China Sea, in the hopes of securing China's cooperation to solve the North Korea situation.

A tougher approach might include (but not be limited to):
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for "trade peace" and lamented the lack of consistency on international agreements from successive U.S. administrations at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, per Bloomberg.

The trend: It wasn't just Putin. Interestingly, French President Emmanuel Macron attended the forum, and said he wanted to rebuild trust with Russia. He criticized Trump's Jerusalem embassy move, suggested Trump only left the Iran deal because it was negotiated by his predecessor, and noted that no one had followed the U.S. out the door in the Paris climate deal. IMF chief Christine Lagarde pushed for a return to multilateralism, while Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan suggested the world needs to fight against protectionism and stop politicizing trade issues.
In the span of a month, President Trump has managed to create two nuclear crises. First, he walked away from the Iran nuclear deal, and then he scrapped the North Korea summit. Now, the world faces both the prospect of Iran restarting its nuclear program and the far-more menacing threat of a full-blown nuclear-capable North Korea.

The big picture: Gone is American credibility to manage complex global issues. In fact, rather than acting as the bulwark against dangers to world order, the U.S. is now seen as the country inflaming them.

Ironically, given how Trump has handled the two cases, the sympathy of our allies and the broader international community lies with Iran and North Korea. He has alienated U.S. allies just when he needs them most, to the benefit of geopolitical rivals: Much to Russia's delight, the demise of the Iran deal has created a rift between the U.S. and its European allies, while the collapse of the TrumpKim summit has put the U.S. at odds with South Korea, which suits China.

The administrations strategy can be boiled down to the hope that maximum pressure will compel Iran and North Korea to accept new deals. But why would they? The threat of maximum pressure rings hollow when there is scant support for it among U.S. allies. Nor is it convincing that the U.S. would be able to effectively apply maximum pressure on both Iran and North Korea at the same time.

The bottom line: The global expectation now is that Washington will fail. That does not bode well for U.S. foreign policy.

Vali Nasr is dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
The United States was closer to war with North Korea last summer than is widely known, sources close to the White House tell us. And now that same dangerous uncertainty is back.

The big picture: The White House is now sufficiently suspicious of the intentions of Kim Jong-un  "Little Rocket Man" to Trump only eight months ago  that Pyongyang would likely have to grovel to get the president to personally re-engage.

H.R. McMaster, who was President Trump's national security adviser at the time, thought there was a real chance the Pentagon would have to confront Kim Jong-un militarily.

who was President Trump's national security adviser at the time, thought there was a real chance the Pentagon would have to confront Kim Jong-un militarily. The U.S. was preparing for military contingencies with enough specificity that spooked the South Koreans, who were worried enough that they brokered the conversations with the North that led to the summit offer.

Jeff Prescott, a National Security Council senior director under President Obama, said Trump "has been acting like a politician seeking a political 'win' rather than a statesman acting in our national interest."

Why it matters, per Prescott: "[W]e ... find ourselves with heightened risk of war, dimmer opportunities for engagement with North Korea, isolated from our partners, and blamed for todays outcome."

per Prescott: "[W]e ... find ourselves with heightened risk of war, dimmer opportunities for engagement with North Korea, isolated from our partners, and blamed for todays outcome." "[T]he risks of war are again unacceptably high."

Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group, said the announcement is "a big embarrassment for the president, no matter how he tries to spin it."

"[T]he language in the letter is harsh, and reopens talk of military preemption," Bremmer said. "[T]his is a direct slap in the face to [K]im."

in the letter is harsh, and reopens talk of military preemption," Bremmer said. "[T]his is a direct slap in the face to [K]im." Bremmer said Trump killed the summit because the risk of a blowup was rising: North Korea wasn't about to accept unilateral denuclearization, and wasn't likely to show up and give Trump personal credit for the breakthrough.

The White House view: Trump believes he got something  U.S. hostages returned from North Korea for nothing. And hes followed through on enough threats (strikes on Syria, withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, moving the embassy in Israel) that Kim Jong-un can't assume he's bluffing.

Be smart: The world now enters a second dangerous summer.

P.S. N.Y. Times Quote of the Day ... Robert S. Litwak, senior vice president of the Wilson Center for International Scholars, who wrote a detailed study of how to deal with defanging the North Korean threat:
A 30-strong White House advance team is still planning to fly to Singapore on Sunday to prepare for a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, despite President Trumps abrupt cancellation of the event yesterday, Politico reports.

Why it matters: Per the Politico report, the staffers have been asked to keep the door open for a potential summit  which President Trump said today could ultimately still take place. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said today, we have got some, possibly some good news on the Korea summit, where it may, if our diplomats can pull it off, may have it back on even. That followed a statement from North Korea that the summit was still necessary, and they are prepared to talk.
Former President Serzh Sarkisians Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) is not yet making contingency plans for fresh parliamentary elections sought by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, a senior HHK figure said on Friday.

Vahram Baghdasarian, who leads the HHK majority in the current Armenian parliament, commented evasively on Pashinians calls for such elections to be held this fall.

We will move forward along the constitutional path, Baghdasarian told RFE/RLs Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).He said the HHK will formulate its position only after the parliament minority allied to Pashinian formally moves to force snap elections.

Asked whether he thinks holding them this autumn is realistic, Baghdasarian said: For the moment, we are preparing for the 2022 elections of the National Assembly.

Other senior HHK lawmakers have spoken out against the idea of snap polls in more explicit terms. They have also indicated their opposition to major amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code which are also demanded by Pashinian and his political allies.

Baghdasarian said that the parliament majority is ready to discuss such amendments if they are put forward by the three other parliamentary forces: the Yelk alliance, the Tsarukian Bloc and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).

But he stressed the fact that the code was most recently amended ahead of the April 2017 elections by consensus. He also claimed that everyone was happy with the conduct and results of those elections which gave a landslide victory to the HHK.

Critics say that the former ruling party won them thanks to widespread vote buying and abuse of administrative resources. They say its victory was also facilitated by a complicated and controversial system of electing the National Assembly.

Yelk, Tsarukian and Dashnaktsutyun want to change that system so that Armenians vote only for political parties or blocs, rather than individuals candidates, in the next elections.

Under the Armenian constitution, pre-term elections will have to be called if the prime minister resigns and the parliament twice fails to elect a new premier or if the governments policy program is not approved by most lawmakers.
The recent change of Armenias government resulting from mass protests has not had a negative impact on Russias close ties with the South Caucasus state, a senior Russian diplomat said on Friday.

We did not stop or slow down cooperation [with Armenia,] Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Pankin told the TASS news agency. When [Russian President] Vladimir Putin met with the new prime minister of Armenia [Nikol Pashinian] it was confirmed that everything will be preserved. The vector and the dynamics [of bilateral relations] remain the same.

All projects relating to financial, commercial, investment and humanitarian interaction remain on the table, he said. So there is no deviation or scaling back.

Putin and Pashinian met in the Russian city of Sochi on May 14 almost a week after the latter was elected prime minister following weeks of protests that brought down the previous premier, Serzh Sarkisian.

Pashinian assured Putin that Armenia will remain allied to Russia during his tenure. Nobody has cast doubt and, I think, will cast doubt on the strategic importance of Russian-Armenian relations, he said.

The new premier also praised Moscows balanced and very constructive reactions to the protest movement led by him.

Moscow closely watched the dramatic events in Armenia sparked by Sarkisians attempt to extend his decade-long rule. In their public statements, Russian officials avoided taking sides in the standoff that led to Sarkisians resignation on April 23.

Pashinian has since repeatedly stated that he will not pull Armenia out of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The 42-year-old former opposition leader had previously criticized Armenias membership in both Russian-led blocs.
By Rashid Shirinov

Biysk Oleum Plant in Russias Altai region will begin delivery of octane-increasing additives in Azerbaijan, Executive Director of the plant Viktor Golovin said on May 25 commenting on the results of his visit to Azerbaijan.

Ecotsetol has been produced at the Biysk Oleum Plant since 2010. Our first installation had a capacity of 3,000-3,500 tons per year. At the moment, as a result of measures to improve the technical process, its stabilization and automation, we have achieved a production capacity of 20,000 tons per year, Golovin said.

He added that the plants high-quality additives are today supplied to such companies as Rosneft and Gazpromneft.

Hopefully, we will also supply them to SOCAR (Azerbaijani state-owned oil company)  our Azerbaijani partners, Golovin added.

The executive director was a member of the Altai regions delegation to Azerbaijan on May 14-18. During the visit to Baku, a preliminary agreement was reached on the supply of octane-increasing additives produced in Biysk.

The Ecotsetol additive of the Biysk Oleum Plant allows to bring the diesel fuel up to the quality standards Euro-4 and Euro-5.

In addition, the plant expects to increase the volume of the additives export in the framework of the agreements reached in February 2017 during the visit of a delegation from Belarus to the Altai region.

Supply of the additives to Belarus and Azerbaijan will result in a new leap in the development of the Biysk Oleum Plant and will increase its revenue to more than $16 million.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan is improving its legislation in the field of electronic signature, Elnar Asadov, Director of the Data Processing Center (DPC) of Azerbaijans Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, said on May 25.

He made the remarks at a seminar entitled Electronic identification and reliable services: current situation and prospects of development.

Asadov noted that the Law on the electronic signature of Azerbaijan complies with the EU Directive of 1999.

However, today the legislation on e-signature in the EU is being improved and the transition to the new legal regulation of eIDAS is being carried out. This shows that in Azerbaijan we also have to make changes to the legislation, he mentioned.

Asadov added that the new legislation will allow Azerbaijan recognize e-signature certificates mutually with European countries. The European Union greatly supports the country in this matter, and the European experts are carrying out the assessment of the current situation in Azerbaijan in the framework of the TAIEX program.

They will present us their recommendations in this field, Asadov noted.

He added that the Data Processing Center is ready to technologically ensure mutual recognition of e-signature certificates with Turkey. The work has already been evaluated by a joint working group, and, according to its conclusion, this is technologically feasible.

The issue of mutual recognition of e-signature at the interstate level is a priority for the DPC. Azerbaijan joined the UN Convention on the use of electronic communications in international contracts in March this year. This convention will simplify the issue of mutual recognition of e-signatures at the interstate level, Asadov said.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijan has previously held negotiations on mutual recognition of e-signature with Iran, Qatar and Ukraine.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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By Sara Israfilbayova

One of the main activities of the State Migration Service is the fight against illegal migration.

In this regard, the use of modern information technologies should be especially emphasized in organizing the work of the Service. As a result of the work done today, the State Migration Service receives information on the date, year of residence, operation and the date of leaving the country of each foreigner and stateless person through the Integrated Migration Information System, the State Service told Azernews.

The Integrated Migration Information Systems activity was ensured in accordance with the order signed by the Azerbaijani President in 2009. The structure includes a subsystem called Measures and Results Against Illegal Migration.

The Integrated Migration Information System is committed to creating a full understanding of the dynamics of migration processes in the country, taking measures to combat illegal migration and ensuring security, according to the service.

The State Migration Service also stressed that in order to prevent illegal migration, the Service regularly organizes awareness-raising events, meetings, mobile services in towns and districts of the country, because a foreigner or stateless person who does not know his / her rights can become an illegal migrant.

During the first quarter of 2018, 12 awareness-raising aids and a videomaterial about the measures against illegal migration were prepared and broadcast on television.

At the same time, the State Migration Services Office for Migration Control and the regional migration departments have structural divisions to combat illegal migration, the state structure mentioned.

Further, the Migration Service underlined that during 2017 and 4 months of 2018, towards 27,388 persons illegally living in violation of the Code of Administrative Violations and the Migration Code have made relevant decisions.

After the application of the Law on the termination of inspections of business entities on October 20, 2015, the State Migration Service is unable to determine the exact number of foreigners working illegally, the Service emphasized.

Answering the question on conditions created for foreigners, the Service stressed that according to Article 21 of the Migration Code, foreigners or stateless persons temporarily staying in the Republic of Azerbaijan for more than 10 days must be registered at the place of their residence.

Another innovation is that since May 17 2018, foreigners will be able to apply to all ASAN service centers operating in the country, the service said.

With regards to the future plans and innovations the State Migration Service said that today, one of the main priorities is to provide modern and flexible governance in the activities of the State Migration Service, increase efficiency and transparency, eliminate the circumstances that create conditions for the corruption and enhance the authority of the law enforcement agency.

In conclusion it was noted that during the past year, 45,305 persons migrated to the country.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

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By Trend

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Accept my sincere congratulations on the occasion of your national holiday, the Republic Day, which is especially widely celebrated in Azerbaijan this anniversary year, Putin said in his letter.

Your country has achieved significant success in the economic, social, scientific, technical, humanitarian and other spheres. Azerbaijan has great authority in the international community. I note with satisfaction the high level of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan. Our countries cooperate effectively in various spheres and actively interact in resolving important issues of regional and global agenda. I am confident that the strategic cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan will continue to develop for the sake of well-being of the friendly peoples of our countries and the maintenance of international stability and security.

In his letter, Vladimir Putin wished good health and success to Ilham Aliyev, prosperity and well-being to all Azerbaijani people.

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By Trend

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has sent a congratulatory letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

On behalf of the people of Kazakhstan and on my own behalf, I congratulate you and the fraternal people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of your national holiday, the Republic Day, the Kazakh president said in his letter.

Azerbaijan has achieved great success in strengthening the foundations of its statehood, improving the welfare of the people, increasing the countrys authority in the international community. I wish further dynamic development for your country and achievement of the goals set under your leadership. I am confident that the strategic cooperation between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, based on tradition friendship and mutual understanding, will continue to develop for the sake of well-being of the peoples of the two countries.

In his letter, Nazarbayev wished good health and inexhaustible energy to Ilham Aliyev, and peace and prosperity to the Azerbaijani people.

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A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on May 25.

The new edition includes articles New carpet weaving brand to appear, ADB reveals main strategy for Azerbaijan, Rare butterfly found in southern region, Dont miss museum night!etc.

AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The online newspaper is available at www.azernews.az.
By Rashid Shirinov

The growth of Azerbaijans population requires the creation of more than 100,000 jobs annually, Ali Ahmadov, Chairman of the Commission on Regulation and Coordination of Labor Relations and Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, said at the meeting of the Commission on May 25.

He noted that the population of Azerbaijan has increased by 1.5 million people over the past 15 years and that it increases by 1.2 percent annually.

Ahmadov also said that employment issues in Azerbaijan are one of the important directions of the state policy.

"The work carried out in Azerbaijan in the field of employment produces results. Many jobs have been created over the past 15 years in Azerbaijan and steps have been taken to provide decent jobs to the population, he noted.

The deputy prime minister said that the unemployment rate in the country is within five percent.

The demographic situation in some developed European countries is different from Azerbaijans. The population is growing in Azerbaijan, but in those countries, on the contrary, it is decreasing, Ahmadov added.

He also mentioned that today about five million of Azerbaijans population is able-bodied.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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By Trend

Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR will sign two memorandums with foreign companies at the Caspian Oil & Gas conference in Baku, said Aynur Nazarli, the conference manager, at a press conference dedicated to the 25th International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference.

"On the first day of the conference, after a plenary session, two memorandums between SOCAR and foreign companies are expected to be signed. More detailed information will be provided during the conference," Nazarli said.

The 25th International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference and the 8th Caspian International Power and Alternative Energy Exhibition, Caspian Power 2018, will be held from May 29 to June 1 in Baku.

This year 312 companies from 38 countries will take part in Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition. The national groups will be presented by Italy, Belarus and Russia. This year's exhibition has expanded thanks to the addition of new companies, which accounted for 20 percent of the total number of participants. Most of them are foreign participants, showing high interest in the oil and gas market of Azerbaijan. Forty percent of the exhibition area will be occupied by well-known companies that are permanent participants of the exhibition.

Traditionally, for many years, state oil company SOCAR has been acting as the general sponsor of the Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition, BP and Equinor companies  as gold sponsors, TPAO  as silver sponsor, and Azeri M-I Drilling Fluids, AZFEN, Baku Steel Company, Bos Shelf, SOCAR Polymer, CDC, CMS, Global Energy Azerbaijan, Tekfen Construction, and Russian export center are listed among the bronze sponsors.

B2B meetings will be held for the first time within the exhibition this year, where local and foreign companies will take part.

About 500 delegates, including top managers of companies, representatives of industry ministries, international and Azerbaijani experts will take part in the conference dedicated to the exhibition. About 50 speakers will make presentations. The program includes the speeches of the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov, the Secretary General of OPEC Mohammed Barkindo, Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Yury Sentyurin, the President of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev, BP's Regional President Gary Jones, and the European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Gunther Oettinger.

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By Sara Israfilbayova

In recent years, SOCAR has turned into a global company, activities of which are not so much dependent on oil production in Azerbaijan.

More than 90 percent of the revenues of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) brings business outside the country, Deputy Head of the Public Relations and Public Relations Department of the SOCAR Ibrahim Ahmadov said during a press conference dedicated to the 25th Anniversary International Caspian Oil&Gas Exhibition and Conference Baku.

According to him, SOCAR together with its partners is actively working outside the country. SOCAR has become a global company and now it is the leading investor in Turkey, working in Georgia, Switzerland, Ukraine and a number of European Union countries, Ahmadov stressed.

At the first stage Azeri Light oil was recognized, which makes it possible to sell it on world markets at a higher cost than Brent and Urals.

As a result, in five years, the income from the sale of Azerbaijani Azeri Light oil exceeded $ 1.7 billion, he noted.

According to the SOCAR representative, the companys activities are not so much dependent on oil production in Azerbaijan. Of the 108 million tons of oil and petroleum products sold in 2017, 86 million accounted for the products of third parties. In general, more than 90 percent of the companys revenues are formed at the expense of business outside the country, Ahmadov said.

SOCAR is a wholly state-owned national oil company headquartered in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company produces oil and natural gas from onshore and offshore fields in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea.

SOCAR includes three production associations, one oil refining and gas processing enterprise, an oil flotilla, a deep-water base plant, two trusts, one institute, and 23 structures.

SOCAR established joint companies (including Georgia and Turkey), alliances, operating in various sectors of oil and gas spheres.

SOCAR has representative offices in Georgia, the U.S., Turkey, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Great Britain, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Belgium and Canada.

In total, in 2017 38.69 million tons of oil was produced in Azerbaijan, 7.42 million tons of which accounts for SOCAR.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

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By Kamila Aliyeva

The production of Hyundai trucks and buses will be established in Namangan, Uzbekistan, UzA reported.

President of South Korean company Evergreen Motors Group Kim Chang keon arrived in the region to hold negotiations on the implementation of the project.

He was accepted by khokim of Namangan region Khairullo Bozoroy. The sides noted that socio-economic, scientific and technical cooperation established between Uzbekistan and the Republic of Korea is being further strengthened.

Within the framework of the project, the company will assemble trucks with carrying capacity from 1 to 50 tons, as well as intercity, international and tourist buses, special vehicles.

At the first stage, it will manufacture 1,000 cars a year. Within three years, this figure will be brought up to 3,000, that is 2,000 trucks and 1,000 buses.

At the beginning, spare parts will be imported from the Republic of Korea. Then, in accordance with the localization program for three years, the production of spare parts will be gradually mastered in the region.

Car industry occupies one of the leading places in the economy of Uzbekistan. A significant number of the country's population is employed in this sector of industry.

The vast majority of automotive enterprises in Uzbekistan are joint ventures with foreign partners. This shows that the country is successfully working to create a favorable investment climate.

The main production companies are GM Uzbekistan, SamAvto, JV MAN Auto-Uzbekistan and GM Powertrain Uzbekistan.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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By Kamila Aliyeva

Tajikistan plans to annually increase gold production by 6 percent. The authorities intend to put new capacities into operation in order to achieve this result.

An annual increase in gold production at 6 percent due to the commissioning of new industrial capacities and enterprises is envisaged for the period until 2030, said the Strategy for the Development of Industry.

The draft document was approved by the government at the end of March and adopted by the lower house of parliament last week, Central Asian media outlets reported.

The authors of the strategy believe that a group of placer deposits of Hunukob, Sarigor, Kofirbac, Pendzhikent, Matcha, Yagnob, Vozgina, Obiravnov, Dulobi Sangi are of great importance for further development of gold mining.

The new strategy involves taking a number of measures that will promote the growth of gold mining and production. In particular, it is planned to simplify the issuance of licenses for small deposits, the creation of artel miners (production cooperatives) by legal entities, an increase in the number of points of purchase and sale and so on.

Also, the document discusses a question of adjustment of extraction of a precious metal with prospecting and free-carrier methods.

The proposal of the Finance Ministry on the free-carrier extraction of gold has been under consideration by the government for the second year already. It is expected that after the adoption of the relevant document, every citizen of the country on a legal basis will be able to independently search for and extract gold. It will only be necessary to obtain permission from the Ministry of Finance.

Permission will be granted for the extraction of gold in certain territories, which should not belong to individuals or legal entities, and also there should be a high probability of finding a metal. For example, this is the valley of the rivers Zarafshon, Pyanj, Yazgulom, Vanj, Bartang and others.

The extracted gold can be freely sold to state financial structures. The price at which metal will be purchased from the population is determined by the Finance Ministry.

Tajikistan's gold assets contain 137 deposits of industrial gold and 127 deposits of non-industrial gold. Tajikistan has registered a new record in gold production in 2017 as the country extracted 5.5 tons.

The main gold-bearing deposits with balance reserves are located in the central part of the republic.

The Central Asian nation has 10 gold producers, the biggest ones being Zarafshon (70 percent of all gold extracted in the country), Aprelevka, Tilloi Tochik, Odina Group and Pakrut.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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By Trend

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih discussed on Thursday the possibility of softening quotas to reduce oil production within the OPEC+ deal, Novak told reporters on the sidelines of SPIEF-2018, TASS reports.

"Yes, we discussed it," he said.

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By Kamila Aliyeva

Turkmenistan is close to the successful completion of the search for funds to finance the construction of the TAPI pipeline, chairman of the consortium TAPI pipeline Company Limited Muhammetmyrat Amanov said.

He was speaking at the meeting of the 9th International Gas Congress which began its work on May 23, Reuters reported.

The financing will be successfully completed in the third quarter that is in the next three to four months, according to Amanov.

The company is negotiating with several credit agencies, including Italian SACE, French Hermes and Greek ECIO, he noted.

The head of the consortium did not specify how much money had been collected, nor did he mention possible problems related to the pipelines security.

The construction of the Turkmen section of the TAPI was launched in December 2015. Work on the Turkmen section is complete while work on the Afghanistan section of the pipeline project started earlier this year in Herat  in the west of the country.

The pipeline will run from Galkynysh  the largest gas field in Turkmenistan  through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, and finally reach the Fazilka settlement located near the India-Pakistan border.

The total length of the pipeline is 1,814 kilometers, including 214 kilometers in the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers in Afghanistan, 826 kilometers in Pakistan to the settlement of Fazilka on the border with India. The construction of the gas pipeline is scheduled to be completed in 2019. Annual capacity of the gas pipeline will be 33 billion cubic meters.

The project's preliminary cost is estimated at $10 billion. For the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline, a consortium - TAPI Pipeline Company Limited - was established and the state concern Turkmengaz was elected as the leader.

The main problems for the projects implementation largely considered to be financing and security issues as the pipeline is to pass through the territory of Afghanistan.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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By Kamila Aliyeva

Tajikistan exported almost 128 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in April 2018, while about 84 percent of this volume fell for the share of Uzbekistan, Central Asian media outlets reported.

In April 2018, 12 million kWh of electricity was delivered to Afghanistan from Sangtuda-1 and Sangtuda-2, 9.9 million kWh - to Kyrgyzstan and 106.9 million kWh  to Uzbekistan, said the report entitled Monitoring and early warning in Tajikistan.

The report is prepared monthly by the Tajik Ministry of Economic Development and Trade with the financial support of the OSCE.

The electricity exported to neighboring countries amounted to about 10 percent of the total output for last month.

The total amount of electricity produced by the subordinated capacities of Barki Tojik in April amounted to more than 1.4 billion kWh. Supplies of Tajik electricity to neighboring Uzbekistan were restored in early April of this year after almost a decade of interruption.

In total, according to the agreements, Tajikistan will supply up to 1.5 billion kWh of electricity to the neighboring country.

Tajikistan exports electricity to Uzbekistan at a price of 2 U.S. cents per kilowatt.

The state energy holding also noted that currently the third power transmission line with capacity of 220 kW - Uzlovaya in Isfara - is being prepared with the aim to increase the volume of electricity supplies to Uzbekistan.

Tajikistan can export up to 5 billion kWh of electricity. Seasonal recipients of Tajik electricity are Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan (1.5-2 billion kWh) along with Uzbekistan.

Over 18 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, which allowed the country to provide electricity without imposing a limit, were produced in Tajikistan in 2017.

Previously, Central Asia had a unified energy system. It included 83 power plants with total capacity of 25,000 megawatts in the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and southern Kazakhstan.

In winter, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan accumulated water in reservoirs and received electricity and energy resources (coal and natural gas) from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In summer, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent water to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan for irrigation farming.

However, after Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan left the unified energy system of Central Asia in 2003 and 2009, respectively, the system ceased to function.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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A federal judge has ordered that Beaumont ISD and the Harris County Department of Education should be named responsible third parties in a class action suit against the insurers and inspectors of a boiler at Marshall Middle School that leaked carbon monoxide and sent more than 100 people to local hospitals.

Thirty-four plaintiffs have joined the class action suit since it was filed in October, alleging that two insurance companies and HCDE failed in their inspections of Beaumont ISD's boilers.

The "responsible third party" designation allows a jury at trial "to allocate responsibility" among all those responsible for any injuries.

The Jan. 28, 2016, accident was caused by two preventable boiler failures - corrosion that let fire exit the boiler and an inoperative ventilation fan, according to a report from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

In a motion filed in December and granted last week, Continental Casualty Company, which insured the

1988 Raypak boiler, alleged that BISD and HCDE were responsible for maintaining the fan.

The boiler passed inspection less than three months before the leak on Nov. 5, 2015, when Continental's inspector documented that he found "no adverse conditions" and "no violations."

"Maintenance of the boiler, the ventilation fans, the boiler room, and the building's roof was the responsibility of BISD and HCDE," attorney Mike Seely wrote in the motion. "Accordingly, any failure to perform such maintenance responsibilities caused or contributed to the incident."

Robert Calvert, BISD's chief operating officer, testified in a deposition in April 2017 "that BISD had no preventive maintenance program prior to the incident," Seely wrote.

"At a minimum, BISD's failure to have a preventive maintenance program caused or contributed to the incident," Seely wrote.

Calvert told The Enterprise in 2016 that "I, personally, severely question the quality and the integrity of the inspectors, based simply upon the fact that they didn't find this mistake." Calvert has since retired from the district.

BISD does not comment on pending litigation.

A second insurance company was dismissed from the complaint after providing evidence that it did not insure or inspect any boilers at Marshall.

BISD hired HCDE to serve as its director of maintenance from Oct. 1, 2015 to Sept. 1, 2016. The agency is a taxing entity that provides support services and runs specialized schools in the Houston area.

The class action suit named the educational agency as a defendant, but U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Crone determined it had governmental immunity and dismissed it from the suit on May 9.

Governmental immunity, which BISD claimed in 2016 in response to a request for depositions related to the boiler incident, does not prevent entities from being named responsible third parties.

HCDE's attorneys could not be reached for comment.

Jane Leger, who represents the students and their families in the suit, said Continental is trying to "shift blame" for the incident.

She called it "bizarre" that the plaintiffs are not allowed to bring claims against HCDE, because they were ruled immune, but the insurance company is allowed to hold the agency responsible.

While BISD and HCDE "had some responsibility" for maintenance, the insurance company "held themselves out as being specialists and conducting state-required safety inspections," she said.

Continental was "the only one responsible for certifying to the state of Texas that that boiler was safe," she said. "They said that it was safe, and it wasn't."

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com
A Georgia man was arrested Thursday afternoon following a 29-hour manhunt in Jefferson County.

James Westbrook, 35, was charged with felony evading arrest in a motor vehicle and evading on foot, according to information from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

The search for the Atlanta man began Wednesday morning after a Chambers County security camera captured a truck reported stolen in Georgia. The suspect fled from Jefferson County deputies and ran near the area of Texas 365 and Labelle Road.

A resident reported a possible sighting of the man in a wooded area off of Labelle Road Thursday. With the assistance of a K-9 from Port Neches, deputies made the arrest at about 3 p.m.

Additional charges from Georgia regarding the stolen truck are possible, the department said.
The former treasurer of the Lumberton Mighty Raider Band Booster Club will spend four years in prison for stealing from the non-profit, a Hardin County jury decided Thursday.

Helen Cox, 47, pleaded guilty to theft on Monday.

The jury deliberated for three and a half hours before returning the verdict. Cox faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

She'll be required to pay restitution to the club for the $70,820.16 that she stole in 2016. Cox turned over a check for $30,000 to the Hardin County District Attorney's office last Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Bruce Hoffer said.

Cox used the club's money to gamble at four casinos in five months in 2016 and made personal purchases at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and other stores, according to the affidavit for her arrest. The thefts began one week after Cox was elected treasurer and given access to the club's accounts and debit card.

The volunteer organization pays for expenses including uniform cleaning, music and fundraising supplies, T-shirts and trips to play at Disney World in alternate years.

Cox's defense attorney, James Makin, argued in court this week that his client took medication that caused her impulsive and irrational behavior.

"We can't change the fact she stole the money. She spent it. There's no excuse," Makin said during his closing statement Thursday. He said her medication was a "factor" involved in her "betrayal" of the club and of her daughter, who was a member of the band.

He asked the jury to sentence her to probation, rather than prison time, arguing Cox would be able to pay back the remaining restitution more quickly.

Members of the booster club, who filled several rows of the courtroom to hear the verdict, testified on Wednesday about the effect the stolen money had on the community and their fundraising efforts to make up for the loss.

In his closing statement, Hoffer reminded the jury that Cox stole "all the money that the Lumberton boosters had," and urged a long sentence to send the message that "you don't steal from kids, and you don't steal everything they have."

He argued that Cox, a former forensic accountant who worked in loss and theft prevention at Jason's Deli, stole from the club "because it was easy."

"The witnesses talked about betrayal," Hoffer said. "If you're familiar with Dante's Inferno, it talks about where people go to hell, and who's at the bottom. It's the betrayers. That's the bottom, that's where she is. And she did it to her own kid."

He said after the sentencing that the DA's Office had never offered a plea deal in the case because "we wanted to see what a jury would do."

Makin said he thought probation "would have been a better thing for the community," because she would have been able to work and pay back the money. "Now that it's over, maybe the community can heal," he said.

"It's been a long road," said former Booster Club president Randy Eason, who was the first to discover the theft in October 2016. "I'm relieved that justice was served in this case, and thankful for our community."

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitz
In his 36,504 days, Thomas "TJ" Sasser has been a farmhand, a refinery worker, a soldier, a mayor and a pastor.

Sasser, who recently turned 100, said "every day is a good day."

"Yesterday is gone and you can't live for tomorrow," he said.

Sasser grew up on a Mississippi dairy farm, where he and his three siblings would sometimes run down the road for the "very rare" sighting of an automobile. It didn't happen often, especially out in the country, said Sasser, who remembers the debut of Ford's Model T.

PHOTOS: Summers in the Texas Dust Bowl 80 years ago

Sasser worked seven days a week on the farm. He said the cows "wouldn't hold it 'til the next day."

During the Great Depression, Sasser took a bus to Texas, where he crossed the Neches River on a ferry. It was 1936, Sasser said, and if he stayed on the farm, he would have "starved to death."

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Nothing was selling at the time, he recalled, including milk or cotton, which was five cents a pound.

At 18, Sasser was hired by the Port Neches Asphalt Plant for 48 cents per hour.

Although he was married and working at a refinery at the time, Sasser was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943. He spent World War II as a member of Company H, 1st Battalion, 71st Infantry Regiment, 44th Division.

Sasser received the Purple Heart Medal after his left leg was wounded in an attack by German soldiers.

After the war, Sasser returned to his job in Port Neches, retiring from Texaco in 1980.

From 1962 to 1968 he was mayor of Port Neches and later was a mission pastor at First Baptist Church-Port Neches for a decade.

"He's taught us hard work. He taught us God first, family second," said Sasser's granddaughter, Tammi Ogletree. "How fortunate that we are a part of his family and his legacy."

If he had to pick a favorite day, he said, it would be Thursday.

Each Thursday, one of Sasser's great grandsons gives him a call.

Sasser and his late wife Edna, have two sons, six grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

Phoebe.Suy@BeaumontEnterprise.com

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More than 2,000 people and 200 faculty members have called on Los Angeles-based University of Southern California President C.L. Max Nikias, PhD, to resign from his position following the latest scandal involving a former university physician, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Here are five things to know:.

1. Two hundred USC faculty members signed a May 22 letter to the university's board of trustees expressing their "outrage and disappointment" with Dr. Nikias and leadership over USC's handling of the case involving former chief gynecologist George Tyndall, MD, who continued to see patients for at least 30 years despite having numerous sexual harassment complaints filed against him. The university suspended Dr. Tyndall in 2016 after a nurse's complaint to the campus rape crisis center, and forced him out of USC in 2017 after an internal investigation.

2. The university reportedly received allegations of sexual harassment against Dr. Tyndall dating to the 1990s, but did not make the allegations known to the Medical Board of California until after the university was approached by the Los Angeles Times for an investigation published May 16. Hospitals and clinics are required by California law to notify the medical board if they suspend or terminate physicians.

3. The faculty letter calls for Dr. Nikias' resignation and comments on the university's failure to change the way it handles sexual harassment at the institution. The signatories cite previous cases at the university, including the resignations of two Keck School of Medicine at USC deans after allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment.

"In this case, as in prior cases,  the University has kept the wrongdoing quiet, settled financially with the wrongdoer in secret, and denied any responsibility on the part of the University.  Time after time, the administration has admitted to its failings only after being exposed by the Los Angeles Times," the letter reads.

4. However, the board of trustees said in a May 22 prepared statement it has "full confidence in President Nikias' leadership, ethics, and values" and that the board "strongly support[s] President Nikias' implementation of a thorough and comprehensive action plan that addresses these issues."

5. The public outcry over university leadership comes days after at least six former USC students filed three separate lawsuits against the institution over Dr. Tydall's alleged misconduct. More than 2,000 people also have signed two petitions calling on Dr. Nikias to resign or be placed on leave.
After months of discussion, Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Burlington, Mass.-based Lahey Health unveiled the new brand under which their proposed merged company will operate, according to The Boston Globe.

Here are five things to know about the brand.

1. Officials announced the merged company's name would be Beth Israel Lahey Health. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CEO Kevin Tabb, MD, said in a prepared statement the name "signifies a new beginning while harnessing the strength of our revered legacies."

2. The proposed merger, which received a key approval from the Massachusetts Public Health Council last month, will comprise five healthcare organizations, including BIDMC; Lahey Health; Boston-based New England Baptist Hospital; Cambridge, Mass.-based Mount Auburn Hospital; and Newburyport, Mass.-based Anna Jaques Hospital. If successful, the 13-hospital system will become the second-largest hospital chain in the state in revenue, behind Boston-based Partners HealthCare.

3. Dr. Tabb, who will reportedly become CEO of the combined entity, said each hospital in the system will retain its own brand.

4. The deal is still subject to approval by the state attorney general's office and the state's healthcare watchdog organization, the Health Policy Commission, which analyzes how mergers and acquisitions may affect patient costs and access to care.

5. The proposed merger has been criticized by some health experts, including Boston-based Tufts Medical Center President and CEO Michael Wagner, MD, who said, it "would likely siphon the remaining commercial patients from non-Partners hospitals, community health centers and physicians."
A California appeals court on May 23 refused to overturn a lower court's ruling that deemed the state's law permitting physician-assisted suicide was passed illegally, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Here are four things to know about the case:

1. A state superior court for Riverside (Calif.) County judge issued a five-day stay against the "aid-in-dying" law last week, stating the legislation violated the state constitution because the bill did not fall within the scope of healthcare services when it was under debate during a special section. The law, which went to court after several nonprofit organizations and physicians challenged it, allows adults to obtain prescriptions for life-ending medication if a physician has determined they have six months or less to live.

2. An appeals court May 23 refused to overturn the stay on law, but granted California Attorney General Xavier Becerra more time to "show cause," or provide additional arguments for suspending the lower court's ruling. Mr. Becerra has argued the law was legitimately passed. His office did not immediately respond to the Los Angeles Times' requests for comment.

3. Officials of the nonprofit organization Compassion & Choices claim physicians and patients are protected under the law while its fate is being decided.

"Physicians still are protected under the law to write prescriptions for their terminally ill patients who want the end-of-life care option," an official with Compassion & Choices told the publication. "This preliminary ruling is just one step in what promises to be a long legal battle, so people should not change their current treatment plans because of it."

4. An estimated 111 terminally ill patients utilized privileges under the law to end their lives within the first six months after the legislation went into effect in June 2016, according to state health officials. Physician-assisted suicide is also allowed in Oregon, Washington, Vermont, Colorado, Hawaii and Washington, D.C., according to the Los Angeles Times.
With 50 years of experience and up to 50,000 joint replacements performed, Richard Rothman, MD, PhD, retired from surgery at 81 years of age, according to philly.com.

Here are three things to know.

1. Dr. Rothman is the founder of the Philadelphia-based Rothman Institute, which employs 171 physicians.

2. Dr. Rothman will still work about 60 hours a week. Among other activities, he will see patients pre- and postoperatively and help two Chinese firms, an orthopedic implant manufacturer and a group of private hospitals, in which he is a minority investor.

3. He previously served as editor-in-chief and is currently the emeritus editor of The Journal of Arthroplasty. Dr. Rothman developed the Accolade total hip system, which has been used in over 200,000 patients.

Click here to learn Dr. Rothman's key to developing a business that has grown 15-20% annually for the past 45 years.

More articles on orthopedics:

5% of orthopedists spend 25 minutes or more with each patient: 5 statistics

Orthopedic surgeon to know: Dr. Marc W. Hungerford of Mercy Medical Center

10 orthopedic surgeon leaders to know
The International Association of HealthCare Professionals welcomed neurosurgeon Michael A. Thomas, DO, with his upcoming publication in The Leading Physicians of the World.

Here are four things to know.

1. Dr. Thomas is a board-certified neurosurgeon at Advanced Orthopedics in Orlando, Fla.

2. He specializes in general neurosurgery, minimally invasive spine surgery, skull base surgery and endoscopic brain surgery.

3. He received his doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Tulsa and underwent spine fellowship training at the University of Miami.

4. Dr. Thomas is a member of the American Osteopathic Association, the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Florida Medical Association.

More articles on spine:

Study surprises with finding on molecule for SCI repair: 5 insights

8 things for spine surgeons to know for Thursday  May 17, 2018

Dr. Kapil Moza earns Super Doctor Award for 3rd consecutive year: 5 details
Uncertainty around Brexit and the Stormont stalemate have "gone on too long" and politicians need to "get real" about the UK's exit from the European Union, a new survey of accountants has said.

An overwhelming majority of the 400 professionals who took part in the Chartered Accountants Ulster Society survey said the lack of a functioning devolved Executive was having a strongly negative effect on the local economy.

On Brexit, 69% rejected a hard border.

And 64% said it was critical that any deal should protect the common travel area with the Republic.

Eighty-five per cent said our democratic deficit was having a "negative" or "very negative" effect on the regional economy.

Nine out of 10 respondents said the lack of an Executive was having a "negative" or "very negative" effect on business confidence.

And 85% said that it was negatively impacting on business investment decisions.

Nine out 10 of those surveyed said that stalled devolution had a "negative" or "very negative" effect on the provision of public services (91%), and on government spending decisions (93%).

As regards the immediate future, the survey revealed a "subdued sense" of growth for the local economy in the year ahead.

Some 45% expect slow growth (down from 60% in 2017) and 29% said the economy will remain stagnant (up from 21% in 2017).

Niall Harkin, chairman of Chartered Accountants Ulster Society, said its members were "sending a strong message that they feel the democratic deficit in Northern Ireland has gone on too long".

He added: "It is having a negative effect on the economy, on local services and on Northern Ireland's position in Brexit negotiations.

"We believe that Northern Ireland is a great place to live and a great place to do business.

"But there is considerable frustration and anger over what is happening on Brexit and the local political stalemate.

"The profession is urging local political parties to get back to work at Stormont to deliver good government for all our people.

"This is the strongest response from members that we have had in our 10 years of running this survey."

And Mr Harkin added: "My colleagues are also delivering a firm and forthright message on Brexit.

"We don't want to be disadvantaged, held back or impacted negatively."
Jeremy Corbyn was told that trade between Northern Ireland and Britain must remain unfettered regardless of the Brexit outcome during a meeting with business leaders in Belfast yesterday.

Retail NI, Manufacturing NI and Hospitality Ulster chief executives Glyn Roberts, Stephen Kelly and Colin Neill hosted the Labour Party leader, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and shadow secretary of state Tony Lloyd at a round table discussion on the economy at the Europa Hotel.

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The visiting MPs were told that there must be a way to ensure there is no border in Ireland or between these islands in the interest of our economy and the hundreds of thousands of workers here. The Labour delegation were also told that the ongoing political impasse at Stormont was "nothing less than a total disgrace".

The business representatives underlined the need for new leadership and an end to the political "blame game".

And they called for the immediate resumption of talks between our parties.

In a joint statement the trio said: "This was a very welcome opportunity to engage with Jeremy Corbyn and his senior shadow cabinet colleagues on a range of issues covering infrastructure investment, city deals for Belfast and Derry, Brexit, skills and training and the local political situation.

"At the meeting we urged the Labour leader to publish their detailed priorities for the Northern Ireland economy if they are elected to government at the next election.

"We made it clear that trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK must remain unfettered regardless of the Brexit agreement outcome.

"The Labour manifesto has some positive ideas, such as a 250m National Transformation Fund for infrastructure and greater investment in vocational and technical skills."
Tracy Meharg from Invest NI with Dr Kerr in the lab

Fusion Antibodies CEO Paul Kerr (centre) and its advisers and representatives at the London Stock Exchange

A listed Belfast company says it is adding almost 30 jobs and doubling its workforce amid a fresh cash boost.

Fusion Antibodies, a bio-technology business based at Springbank Industrial Estate in west Belfast, says it will add the 28 posts, with more than 200,000 of assistance from Invest NI.

The company, which floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London in 2017, revealed the latest expansion in an update to the stock market yesterday morning.

Earlier this year the company said it was hoping to see growth of 40% this year.

Paul Kerr, chief executive of Fusion Antibodies, said: "Invest NI continues to provide excellent support as we look to expand the business rapidly and to capitalise on our position as a successful international contract research organisation providing a range of antibody engineering services.

"These grants will help to fund the expansion of our team as we more than double the capacity of our laboratory and office space, with work expected to be completed by the end of the summer, ahead of our original schedule.

"The new employees will include technically skilled staff working to deliver our current services to biopharma companies, and also scientists with specialised skills to work in our new product development team.

"In addition, our growth strategy, focused on reinvigorating and expanding our new business development and sales function, will benefit from further resource in this area."

Grainne McVeigh, Invest NI's director of life sciences, said the expansion is an "exciting milestone for Fusion Antibodies which is among a dynamic group of companies contributing to our growing life and health sciences sector". She added: "Invest NI has been working alongside the business for many years and we are delighted to be helping Fusion Antibodies to scale up its workforce and target market opportunities with drug development and diagnostics companies across the globe."

The company - a Queen's University spin-off - listed on the stock exchange in December last year.
Lidl looks set to open a new store and redevelop a Co Tyrone retail park after buying over the site which was on sale for more than 3m, it has emerged.

The German supermarket giant has bought over Strabane Retail Park, amid plans to launch a new store.

The site, which was developed in 2006, is fully let and includes businesses such as Argos, New Look, Peacocks and Menarys.

The outlet is based over 23,317 sq ft and has 110 car park spaces, and was on the market for offers over 3.29m.

It's thought Lidl's store plans include redeveloping an area behind the main retail park.

Lidl said its longer-term investment plans, which are expected to include the development of a new flagship Lidl store, will unlock the wider potential of the sites acquired and deliver sustainable, economic benefits to Strabane and the wider area.

Lidl NI director Conor Boyle said that Strabane was key to its strategic growth, investment and regeneration plans in Northern Ireland.

"We have been committed to the area since we opened our first store at Bradley Way and we're excited about Strabane Retail Park's inherent potential and its location to the town centre," he said.

"Supported by a strong local and regional team, we're confident that investment plans and ambition for the site and the additional adjacent land, will stimulate further economic growth for local communities, the town and the area."

CBRE represented Lidl in its acquisition of Strabane Retail Park.

The retail park, which was being marketed by CBRE, was put on the market in 2016, along with Laharna Retail Park in Larne.

The two shopping outlets had previously been owned by Co Tyrone pharmacist-turned-developer Peter Dolan, as part of his Jermon Ltd empire.

The Strabane Retail Park is located to the west of Strabane Shopping Centre.

Lidl employs more than 750 staff across 38 stores. It is the Northern Ireland's fastest growing food retailer and is committed to supporting local communities, local producers and the environment.

The German giant launched its Community Works initiative and has raised thousands of pounds in funding and provided practical help to more than 700 community groups and charities including Mourne River Search and Rescue, New Horizons Partnership and Sure Start in Strabane.

Last year, Lidl NI embarked on a two year charity partnership with the NSPCC during which the company aims to raise 250,000.

The partnership will help the charity reach children in every primary school across Northern Ireland with its 'Speak Out Stay Safe' programme.
New 'vertical' Ulster Bank notes are being produced and are expected to be in circulation as early as next year.

The bank, which is part of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has released the "living in nature" images of its notes, which are portrait-shaped rather than landscape and will replace its paper currency.

The 5 and 10 polymer notes will show images of Strangford Lough, brent geese, Lough Erne, the Irish hare and guelder-rose shrubs.

Ulster Bank announced last year it would be following the Bank of England by printing plastic money and the new notes were revealed at an event in the bank's Andersonstown branch.

Les Matheson, chief of personal and business banking at RBS, said: "These notes are a signal of our commitment to the heritage and brand of Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland, demonstrating that we are an active and engaged part of the communities that we serve."

Head of Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland Richard Donnan said: "The notes will also contain advanced security features that will make the notes much harder to counterfeit."
The first time Saoirse Ronan starred in an adaptation of an Ian McEwan novel, she played, by her own admission, a precocious child who destroyed everyone's life.

Eleven years on from that breakout role in Atonement, the Irish star (24) reunites with the author of On Chesil Beach, in which she portrays a young married woman "whose life is ruined".

It's an intimate story which McEwan - who has also penned the screenplay for the romantic drama - didn't want anyone else's fingerprints on.

"It's very tender," notes the 69-year-old, who was born in Aldershot in Hampshire.

"It's quite emotionally vulnerable, as it were, to exploitation. It could have been made pornographically, or satirically, or sentimentally.

The writer, who has published more than 20 books, adds fondly: "There's a lot in this novel that is personal, quite dear to me - a lot of the locations."

On Chesil Beach tells the touching tale of two young lovers, Florence (Ronan) and Edward (Billy Howle), embarking on their honeymoon in 1962.

As the couple struggle with the pressures of what is expected on a wedding night, the film looks at how their unexpressed misunderstandings and fears of intimacy shape the rest of their lives.

Audiences first saw the romantic drama at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it premiered last September.

Since this, film producer Harvey Weinstein has had numerous allegations of sexual harassment made against him, spurring on the #metoo and Time's Up movements worldwide.

With this in mind, does Ronan (below) look at On Chesil Beach, with its exploration of male aggression, differently now?

"I suppose what the Time's Up movement has been so brilliant at doing is allowing people to have that conversation and feel like they can," muses the Oscar-nominated actress, whose rise to fame has been accelerated by films such as Brooklyn and Lady Bird.

"Florence and Edward don't ever have a moment where they can both hear the other one - or Edward can't anyway.

"But I understand his reaction and his aggression and shame in a way, because there's a great amount of pressure put on men to be a certain type of man too, and to deliver in a certain way - in the same way that women are expected to be a certain thing.

"Because there's a lack of communication, it means the relationship falls apart just as it's begun and I suppose that's something we've become really aware of in the last six months or so, that it is so important to encourage people to speak openly and without any fear of judgment."

As the characters at the centre of the drama - which is directed by Dominic Cooke - battle with expressing their true feelings, McEwan hopes the audience will feel as much sympathy for Edward as for Florence.

"They're both trapped in this," he points out.

"He's never going to be violent towards her or cursive, but she does feel the pressure - she says on the beach when they have their central row, 'Every time you take a step towards me, I expect you to do something else'."

And when bringing the story to life on screen, it was also important to show how both of the characters' upbringings have affected them.

"We don't want Edward to seem like simply an entitled brute," explains McEwan.

"He's got his own problems and that's why we have those flashbacks - he comes from an emotionally icy background.

"Florence has, in her past, sexual abuse from her father that we don't want to be the whole explanation of who she is, but it is certainly a very powerful element."

The book, which was selected for the 2007 Booker Prize shortlist, was published just over a decade ago.

And there's been another pertinent news event in the years since that has perhaps made McEwan view his own story through a different prism.

"We're now beginning to, maybe, see this through the eyes of Brexit - this fantasy that's common at the moment, among some people at least, of a 'golden age'," he elaborates.

"This (the Sixties) was most certainly not a 'golden age'. People were rather frosty, stiff, conventional, oppressive, misogynistic and so on.

"If we were to suddenly time travel back, I think after a couple of hours we'd want to scream, especially because of the ways in which people related to each other."

It would seem that Ronan, who was born in New York but moved back to Ireland with her parents when she was three, agrees with McEwan's sentiment.

When the notion that the film highlights problems with romanticising the past is put to the talkative actress, the question has barely finished before she exclaims, "Right?!"

With a chuckle, she continues: "I think there's a lot of people that do that in any era, actually, and sometimes you go can go, 'I don't really know what you're reminiscing about!'

"There's always been difficult times for people and that continues. So, yeah, I guess the film makes you think about how much we've actually progressed."

Ronan reckons if there's one thing we can feel optimistic about in today's world, it's that we live in a more open society.

"I grew up being encouraged to talk about how I feel and being quite open about how I feel and how I think, so I've never suffered any sort of repression at all, or anything like that," she says.

"But I think certainly with the feminist movement right now, it's at a point where it's become such a part of pop culture that it's accessible, and the information is accessible for young people - boys and girls - in a way that it wasn't before.

"It's not stigmatised as much as it was, even a few years ago."

On Chesil Beach is in cinemas now
A Belfast boy's story about a superhero lollipop man has put him in the running for a national award.

St Brides Primary School pupil Tomas Sidebottom (5) penned Victor The Danger Stopping Man.

It's the tale of how crossing patrol man Victor protects children with his magic sign.

"Victor can make any car stop, even very big ones. I bet he could make an aeroplane stop. He is brave. He is my real life hero," Tomas wrote.

The competition invited children from across the UK to write a 500-word story about 'heroes' - whether it be their parents, a policeman or their idols.

Organised by tuition provider Explore Learning, the competition is now in its 10th year, and this year's judge was comedian David Walliams, a best-selling children's author.

Tomas' proud mum Ciara said: "Tomas is really chuffed.

"It's the first story he's written, he's only in P2."

The school sent Tomas' story in to the competition, and he won the Northern Ireland regional award.

"The school made a big fuss of him," added Ciara.

"They had a special assembly, and he received a trophy and a certificate.

"I'm so proud of him. How could you not be?"

Warren Hughes of Explore Learning said: "When we read the story it really melted our hearts.

"Everyone that read the story has been blown away by it."

Tomas' effort is now in the running for the UK award, to be announced on June 18 during a surprise visit to the winner's school by Walliams, the star of Little Britain and Britain's Got Talent and author of The Boy In The Dress and Mr Stink, among others.

He said: "I was overwhelmed by the quality and creativity of the stories I was reading and was so impressed that this broad range of exciting ideas have come from such young writers."
A 27-year-old Co Down man who died in a road traffic collision was a "beloved son" whose passing means "a bright shining light has gone out in this world".

Newry man Karl Heaney, a GAA player with Newry Mitchels GFC and a former pupil of Abbey Christian Brothers Grammar School, died following a two vehicle collision on the A1 between Banbridge and Dromore on Wednesday night.

It was reported that he was a teaching assistant at Belfast's Aquinas Diocesan Grammar School, and was travelling home from GAA training when the accident occurred.

Police are appealing for information after his silver Ford Fusion was involved in a collision with a black Kia Ceed on the A1, close to the junction of the Halfway Road, at around 11.30pm.

The 32-year-old male driver of the Kia Ceed and the 30-year-old female driver of a third car, a red Kia Rio, have been arrested on suspicion of a number of motoring offences and are in police custody.

Mr Heaney's funeral will take place on Sunday afternoon.

In his funeral notice, his family described him as the "beloved son of Michael and Monica, cherished brother of Carina, Tara and Aoife, devoted partner of Ciara and treasured grandson of Joe".

They added: "Our Lady Queen of The Most Holy Rosary pray for him.

"Deeply regretted and sadly missed by his mum, dad, sisters, niece, Imogen, partner, grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins and the entire family circle."

Tributes to Mr Heaney flooded in on social media.

Newry Mitchels GFC, where he was a senior player, said the club had been left "truly devastated and heartbroken" by the tragedy.

They stated: "Karl was a true gentlemen, who never had a bad word to say about anyone and always had a smile on his face.

"Always willing to help out in any capacity within the club, he epitomised all that is good in the GAA. Karl Heaney, a dedicated Gael, senior player for Newry Mitchels GFC, an avid Liverpool FC fan, but most of all a devoted son, brother, uncle, friend and boyfriend of Ciara.

"He will be missed by everyone who knew him within our club and far beyond and his loss will leave a huge void in the many lives he touched. Our thoughts and prayers are with his parents, sisters, girlfriend Ciara and his wider family circle".

St Mary's Youth Club, where Mr Heaney was a former member and where his father Micky is a committee member, expressed their "deep sorrow" at the death of "a lovely lad".

As a mark of respect, the club closed last night, and has postponed a trip which was due to be held next week.

They wrote: "It is with deep sorrow and regret to hear of the loss of such a lovely lad, our thoughts and prayers are with the entire family at this very sad time."

New York GAA club Brooklyn Shamrocks GFC, which Karl joined in summer 2014, said that "a bright shining light has gone out in this world".

They added: "To say Karl was loved by everyone that met him is an understatement. There was a smile permanently stretched across his face at all times. He was always up for the craic and a laugh. It was a pleasure just to be in his company. The club extends its heartfelt sorrow and condolences to the Heaney family, Karl's girlfriend Ciara and all Karl's friends at home and here in New York."

Newry, Mourne and Down SDLP Councillor Gillian Fitzpatrick expressed her sympathies to Mr Heaney's family, and said Mr Heaney had had "his whole life ahead of him."

"It's horrific, so sad, and it brings a darkness and sadness to the community," the Crotlieve representative told the Belfast Telegraph. "I can't even imagine what his family is going through.

"I would like to express my sympathies for another tragic death on our roads. It's every parent and every family's worst nightmare. He had his whole life ahead of him, and to be taken away so young is just horrible. Newry Mitchels will rally round and offer support, and the whole community will look after this man's family and friends.

"In times like this we show the strength of the community."

Crotlieve Independent councillor Jarlath Tinnelly called the tragedy "heartbreaking."

"I would like to pass on my condolences - it's heartbreaking for his family and it has an effect on the community," he stated.

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Councillor Glenn Barr said the community was in "total shock to have such a young man die."

He added: "My sympathy, thoughts and prayers are with Karl's family and I hope they find the strength through God to carry on."

SDLP Upper Bann MLA Dolores Kelly and SDLP Banbridge Councillor Seamus Doyle also offered thoughts and prayers to Mr Heaney's family and friends.

Mrs Kelly said: "This is a profound tragedy and has taken a young man away from his family.

"It is also a reminder of how dangerous our roads can be."

Councillor Doyle added: "Urgent action is needed to address the numerous road safety concerns on the A1. There must be investment to complete the ongoing improvement works and it is vital that a Minister is in place to implement these much needed changes."

Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the collision or observed a black Kia Ceed or Red Kia Rio travelling on the A1 to contact them on 101 quoting reference 1643 23/05/18.

Mr Heaney's funeral will take place at 2pm on Sunday in St Mary's Church, Newry, with burial in Monkshill cemetery.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker

ROSA NI campaigners to amend the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution hold a banner outside Queens University Belfast's Wilta Hall Labour wear leader Jeremy Corbyn will give a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018.See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Sinn Fein members (left to right), Francie Molloy, Paul Maskey and Mickey Brady MP, attend Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's lecture at Queens University in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, leaves the stage after delivering a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neil arrives to hear Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn deliver a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable George Hamilton listens as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd MP (left) with Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor James McElnay (second from right), Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation and Engagement at QueenOs University Professor Richard English (right), and Acting Registrar Wendy Galbraith at Queens University in Belfast where Corbyn is due to deliver a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted by Professor James McElnay, Acting Vice-Chancellor at Queen's University in Belfast, ahead of delivering a public lecture in the Great Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference, a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre, obscured and back to camera) waves at a vehicle with Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (back to camera) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) speaking with SDLP politician Mark Durkan, SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan (left) and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood (third from left) after a Londonderry Chamber business breakfast on the second day of Mr Corbyn's visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives the thumbs up after a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

DUP MP Gregory Campbell has called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to apologise to Troubles victims after he failed to meet with them during this week's trip to Northern Ireland.

Mr Campbell had invited Mr Corbyn to meet with victims during his visit.

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He described the Labour leader's "snub" as a demonstration of "basic bad-manners and disrespect".

The East Londonderry representative said Mr Corbyn's office had apologised for how the invitation was handled.

Mr Campbell called for the Opposition leader to apologise to the victims, who live on, or close to the border.

Mr Corbyn visited Belfast on Thursday and Derry, Strabane and the Irish border on Friday.

He has denied snubbing victims of the IRA.

Mr Corbyn said he was only notified of the invitation on Wednesday, when his schedule had already been agreed.

He said shadow Northern Ireland secretary Tony Lloyd would be happy to meet victims' groups.

"It is absolutely not a snub," said Mr Corbyn.

Expand Close Gary Middleton MLA and Gregory Campbell MP with the empty chair where Mr Corbyn would have met victims. / Facebook

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Whatsapp Gary Middleton MLA and Gregory Campbell MP with the empty chair where Mr Corbyn would have met victims.

"I did receive a letter from Gregory Campbell yesterday. We had already made the arrangements for this visit.

"Tony Lloyd, our shadow Northern Ireland secretary, will be meeting them."

Mr Campbell said Mr Corbyn had behaved disrespectfully.

It took 10 days for Mr Corbyn's office to even acknowledge my invitation to meet victims of terror. Even at that stage it was only an acknowledgement and no commitment to either accept or decline. This is not only disappointing but it is downright disrespectful and basic bad-manners," the East Londonderry MP said.

"These victims have employment. As soon as they heard he was coming to the border locality they indicated that they would like to meet with him. They needed sufficient notice to inform their employers and ensure arrangements could be made. The uncertainty continued for ten days.

"Whilst Mr Corbyns office have apologised to me for how this invitation has been handled, actions speak louder than words."

The Belfast Telegraph has contacted The Labour Party for a response to Mr Campbell's comments.
Banned: Thomas Hogg has served twice as Newtownabbey mayor

A Democratic Unionist Party councillor has admitted to drink-driving and been disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Former Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Thomas Hogg got behind the wheel in an "act of kindness" to help a stranded friend, his lawyer said.

Councillor Hogg was also fined 250 after pleading guilty to driving with excess alcohol at his first appearance before Belfast Magistrates' Court on Friday.

The 30-year-old was stopped by police on the city's Crumlin Road on April 29 this year.

A prosecution lawyer said officers had noticed his car weaving over the road. A breath sample showed he was more than two times over the legal limit.

Dressed in a suit, the DUP representative, of Brae Hill Park in Belfast, stood head bowed in the dock as the charge was accepted.

Defence solicitor Keith Gamble said his client feels "shame and remorse" over his actions.

Mr Gamble told the court Hogg had been drinking at a barbeque before going to bed.

"A few hours later he got a phone call from a friend in some level of distress, saying they were stranded in town, couldn't get a taxi and were concerned about their safety," the lawyer said.

Hogg then decided to get into his car to pick his friend up, with the court told he initially felt groggy from sleep.

Mr Gamble contended that "what had otherwise been an act of kindness" ended with the drink driving charge.

He stressed the defendant had not travelled far before coming to police attention.

Elected as a DUP councillor in 2011, Hogg served as Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey for two consecutive years from 2014.

In 2016 he was awarded an MBE for services to local government.

Mr Gamble acknowledged: "He's had to face up to this in another arena than this court.

"This is not in any way within the normal scope of his character.

"He's a gentleman one would have expected to have gone through life completely unfamiliar with the court process."

Following submissions District Judge Fiona Bagnall imposed the 12-month driving ban, fine and a 15 offender levy.
The DUP has released its email exchange with the Labour Party over its invitation to Jeremy Corbyn to meet IRA victims.

The move came as Mr Corbyn said he would not be meeting those bereaved and injured by republicans during his two-day visit to Northern Ireland.

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The DUP revealed the initial email inviting Mr Corbyn which Labour had not responded to for 10 days.

Labour yesterday said Mr Corbyn didn't receive the invitation until Wednesday. It apologised to the DUP for the delay which it insisted was unintentional. It said it would investigate how it happened.

Mr Corbyn strongly denied he was snubbing victims. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph yesterday, he said he would not be meeting them during this trip as his schedule was very tight.

But he added that shadow Secretary of State Tony Lloyd was available to do so.

"Tony is very happy to meet the families of victims and we will do so. I have no plans to meet them during this visit," the Labour leader said.

When asked if he personally was willing to meet IRA victims in future, he said: "I have no problem about meeting anybody.

"Tony will meet them first and we'll take it from there."

Mr Corbyn said he was available to hold discussions with all Northern Ireland's main political parties, including the DUP, during his visit.

Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Extracts from the emails show the correspondence between the Labour Party and the DUP's Gregory Campbell Extract 2 Yesterday's front page / Facebook

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Whatsapp Extracts from the emails show the correspondence between the Labour Party and the DUP's Gregory Campbell

DUP MP Gregory Campbell first sent correspondence to Mr Corbyn's Westminster email address on May 14. He said he believed it would be helpful for the Opposition leader to meet victims who lived near the border.

Mr Campbell said he also hand-delivered the invitation to a Labour MP to pass onto Mr Corbyn earlier this week.

The party said this was not passed onto Mr Corbyn's office.

In correspondence to Mr Campbell yesterday, a Labour official said: "I would like to apologise for the process failure that resulted in your original email to Mr Corbyn not being responded to. I will investigate as to how this occurred and I can assure you that a lack of response was unintentional."

Unionists remained critical of the Labour leader. DUP MP Sammy Wilson said: "Jeremy Corbyn's visit confirms what many people already thought about him. His support for the break-up of the United Kingdom and refusal to engage with victims of republican terrorism come as little surprise.

"Neither would his desire to keep Northern Ireland entrapped within the European Union."

Mr Wilson said that the Labour leader had an opportunity to distance himself from republicans. "However, he has not even tried to avail himself of the opportunity and in doing so proven himself unworthy of a vote anywhere in the United Kingdom," the DUP MP said. UUP leader Robin Swann said Mr Corbyn's visit provided him with an opportunity to condemn the IRA. "Whilst Jeremy Corbyn is here in Northern Ireland, I hope that he will finally state unequivocally that the IRA's campaign of murder was completely wrong and totally unwarranted," Mr Swann said.

"I would especially invite him to acknowledge the fact that people like Ulster Unionist Assembly Member Edgar Graham - murdered by the IRA on the Queen's University campus in 1983 - did not need to die in pursuit of their goal of a United Ireland."

The UUP leader said the murder of an elected representative should be "a reminder to Mr Corbyn of the fascist nature of the IRA and its campaign".

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives the thumbs up after a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) speaking with SDLP politician Mark Durkan, SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan (left) and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood (third from left) after a Londonderry Chamber business breakfast on the second day of Mr Corbyn's visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre, obscured and back to camera) waves at a vehicle with Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (back to camera) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted by Professor James McElnay, Acting Vice-Chancellor at Queen's University in Belfast, ahead of delivering a public lecture in the Great Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference, a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd MP (left) with Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor James McElnay (second from right), Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation and Engagement at QueenOs University Professor Richard English (right), and Acting Registrar Wendy Galbraith at Queens University in Belfast where Corbyn is due to deliver a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable George Hamilton listens as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neil arrives to hear Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn deliver a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, leaves the stage after delivering a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Sinn Fein members (left to right), Francie Molloy, Paul Maskey and Mickey Brady MP, attend Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's lecture at Queens University in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images ROSA NI campaigners to amend the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution hold a banner outside Queens University Belfast's Wilta Hall Labour wear leader Jeremy Corbyn will give a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018.See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker / Facebook

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Whatsapp Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives the thumbs up after a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

He continued: "As the current leader of the Labour Party, Mr Corbyn's words and deeds carry more weight than when he was a backbench MP. Today provides him with an opportunity to state clearly where he stands on terrorism and violence used to try to achieve a political goal." Kenny Donaldson of Innocent Victims United (IVU) said it had so far been unsuccessful in arranging a meeting with Mr Corbyn despite repeated attempts.

"IVU has requested on countless occasions that Jeremy Corbyn would meet with the innocent victims of PIRA terrorism and we have done so through directly contacting his office and also via issuing the request publicly through the public press," Mr Donaldson said.

"For several years he has stonewalled those requests and even now when actually here in Northern Ireland, neither he nor his party have any interest in dealing with these issues.

"That is not the action of someone who would have ambitions to be Prime Minister, it is the actions of someone who does not possess true leadership qualities nor an ability to front up on difficult issues."

Dear Mr Campbell,

Thank you for taking the time to speak to me earlier.

I would like to apologise for the process failure that resulted in your original email to Mr Corbyn not being responded to, I will investigate as to how this occurred and I can assure you that a lack of response was unintentional.

We were made aware by the media that a letter would be hand delivered to our office, and after speaking to you it transpires that this was given to via the Whips Office, however, this was not received in our office.
An announcement that Army Reserves numbers in Northern Ireland will increase by almost 200 has been welcomed by DUP leader Arlene Foster and former soldier turned UUP MLA Doug Beattie.

Mrs Foster met with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson on a flying visit to Northern Ireland during which he went to Palace Barracks in Holywood, Stormont and then on to the military base at Aldergrove.

He met members of the 38 (Irish) Brigade and personnel helping keep the community safe by delivering niche explosive ordnance disposal and search support to the PSNI.

Mr Williamson announced that 189 new Army Reserves posts will be created here, an increase of 9%, which will take overall numbers to 2,100 by the end of the year.

Northern Ireland hosts around 2,000 reserves and nearly 2,000 regular personnel.

As well as the 1,850 Army Reservists, there are 110 Royal Navy and Royal Marine Reserves and 130 Royal Auxiliary Air Force personnel.

The Defence Secretary revealed that the Reserves were extremely popular in Northern Ireland, where more than twice as many people volunteer to serve compared to the national average.

So Im delighted to increase the Armys Reserve numbers in Northern Ireland, underlining the militarys commitment to the entire United Kingdom, he said.

During his visit yesterday Mr Williamson, received an update on the newly-formed Northern Ireland Veterans Support Office (NI VSO), which acts on behalf of a group of charities as a single point of contact to provide services for veterans.

The MoD has also allocated 300,000 over five years to improve the capacity and capability of local authorities and other service providers in here to apply for Covenant Funding.

Meanwhile, 600,000 from the LIBOR Veterans Fund has been allocated to the Somme Nursing Home in Belfast.

Mrs Foster welcomed the increased numbers.

And she pointed to a local proud history in our armed forces.

Now that there will be increased opportunities in the Reserves, I would encourage people to seize them and play a part in this important element of our armed forces, she said.

Mr Beattie, who won the Military Cross and continues to serve in the Army Reserves, added: This is a significant increase and a substantial investment.
A terminally ill father-of-four will fulfil his dying wish of coming home to Co Down after a "phenomenal" outpouring of generosity from friends, family and strangers.

Senior mental health nurse Charles Polson, who lives in Jersey with his wife Joanne and their four sons, is hoping to fly home on a chartered medical flight today following a successful crowdfunding campaign.

The online page was set up by close family friend Donna Vibert, who sought Charles' permission to ask his 600 Facebook friends to donate 20 each to cover the cost of the specialist plane.

It exceeded the 10,000 target within 24 hours.

"It's phenomenal, but it's also a testimony to the love that people have for this amazing couple," she said.

The mum-of-two formed a strong bond with the couple, who have lived in the Channel Islands for the past seven years in heartwrenching circumstances.

Her son Nathan (19), who studied catering with Charles and Joanne's son Andrew, lost his life in a motorbike accident two years ago.

"Being typical boys they never introduced their parents, but when we did meet they became an incredible source of support," Donna explained.

"They would never have asked for this themselves, they are always last in line to seek help despite being the first to reach out to others."

Charles became ill earlier this year and was admitted to hospital on May 8 when his health began to deteriorate further. A day later he was given a life-shattering cancer diagnosis.

"It's everywhere," Donna said. "It's in his blood and in his bones and there is nothing doctors can do, it has been a terrible shock for everyone."

The devastating news came just 18 months after Joanne, who also worked as a mental health nurse, was diagnosed with progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

"She is not a well lady herself and now Charles has been given this dreadful news," Donna said.

"She hasn't been working for a while now and she needs to be home with her parents. They want to be able to care for her."

Charles, whose parents have both passed away, also wants to return to his homeland and be close to his sister before time runs out.

The bleak prognosis means that unless there is a miracle, he only has a few weeks left.

"You can just about cope with packing up home in normal circumstances but to pack up your house and not be able to be by your husband's bedside when there's little time left has been horrible for Joanne," Donna said.

The plane he hopes to travel on normally goes back and forth to Southampton, but he needs it to go to Northern Ireland. Aside from the logistical problems it also has to be staffed with a specially-trained medical crew, although Donna said there are other obstacles.

"There's a debate about who will pay for his health care once he arrives home," she said.

"Is it the responsibility of a health trust in Northern Ireland, here in Jersey, or is it the Polsons themselves who will have to pay? We don't know yet.

"In any situation they are going to need a backstop so all excess funds will be used to help the family set up home when they arrive."

The couple's children - Connor, John, Andrew and Stephen - will all need to find jobs when they settle in Northern Ireland.

Liz Mulholland, another close friend of the couple, described their plight as "horrific".

"They have nowhere to live and no income," she said.

"He was supporting her and intended to continue doing so - cancer was never on the cards, and I just hope people keep helping them."

With this extra pressure in mind Donna doubled the fundraising target to 20,000 and is on one last push to reach it.

"I have to close the account to release the money - I am urging everyone to make last minute donations or to donate cash directly to the family who are going to need so much help in the weeks and months ahead," she said.

She also expressed profound gratitude to all those who have donated to the campaign so far.

"I'm so amazed by the response," she said.

St John Ambulance Jersey, where Charles is a volunteer clinical governance officer is also raising money to help the family - so too are worshippers at Grouville Church where he has been an active member.

Last night, nearly 400 donors had raised almost 15,000 on the crowdfunding page. To donate, visit justgiving.com and search for 'Charles Polson'.
The Labour leader listening to a joke with Baroness May Blood and student Madaline Kelly during a visit to Lagan College

Jeremy Corbyn with Owen Reidy at the Belfast offices of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions

Jeremy Corbyn has insisted he is not advocating or asking for a referendum on Irish unity.

The Labour leader said if he was to become Prime Minister he would only trigger a border poll in line with the terms of the Good Friday Agreement - which stipulates that a vote can only be called if there is evidence that a majority in Northern Ireland would support reunification.

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Mr Corbyn, who in the past made no secret of his support for reunification, was pressed on the issue on his first visit here as Labour leader.

He fielded questions from students at Queen's University in Belfast a day after his official spokesman said Mr Corbyn believed there was majority support for unification across the island of Ireland.

A border poll, which would see separate votes north and south, can only be called if the UK Government believe a majority within Northern Ireland is in favour of unity.

Asked by a politics student whether he would call a referendum if he became Prime Minister, Mr Corbyn responded: "That would be a decision that would be made within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

"If that is a wish then clearly such a poll would happen.

"I am not asking for it, I am not advocating it. What I am asking for is a return to the fullness of the Good Friday Agreement, which would open up the opportunity and possibility for the future of Ireland as a whole.

"That is the point of the Good Friday Agreement. Not direct rule, not imposition of a political view from Westminster but devolution of powers to Stormont here (in Belfast), and of course the relationship with the Republic.

"It's quite clear that it's there for a poll on both sides of the border should that be something that is demanded."

Earlier Mr Corbyn warned that Northern Ireland stood at a potential crossroads between a strengthened peace or a return to the dark days of the past.

He urged Stormont leaders and the UK and Irish Governments to renew efforts to restore powersharing at the crisis-hit institutions in Belfast, insisting peace cannot be taken for granted.

Giving a lecture at Queen's to mark 20 years since the signing of the historic Good Friday Agreement, Mr Corbyn said: "As we stand here today in celebration of 20 years of peace, we must also recognise we are standing at a potential crossroads.

"It is right we celebrate the achievements, not least as it is those achievements we must use as a springboard for the 20 years to come.

"We must neither be complacent, nor reckless. So I want to send this message to the people of this island - Labour is as committed to the Good Friday Agreement as we have ever been.

"It has served us well for 20 years and, with commitment and determination, will provide us with the framework for the next 20.

"And with that in mind I want to make a plea to all parties and all sides. We must do all we can to make power-sharing work again in Stormont. We need all sides to come together and make devolution work again.

"That means tough choices. It means compromise and give and take. But we owe it to the people of these islands not to allow political disagreements to open the way for any return to the grim days of the past." Northern Ireland has been without a properly functioning powersharing government for more than 16 months due to a bitter stand-off between the two biggest parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein.

A row that broke out over a botched green energy scheme, and widened to encompass long-standing disputes such as the Irish language, gay marriage and Troubles legacy issues, shows no sign of resolution.

Mr Corbyn, who made clear his support for an end to the ban on same-sex marriage in the region, urged the revival of a contentious peace process mechanism to enable the UK and Irish Governments to work together to save power-sharing.

He called on Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein and the SDLP have been demanding the re-establishment of the conference, which last sat in 2007, as a means to plot a way forward amid the devolution crisis in Belfast.

However, unionists are wary of the body, and associated suggestions that the Irish Government could have a significant role in deciding the next steps for the region's rudderless public services.

DUP leader Arlene Foster has dismissed the conference as a "talking shop" and instead called for direct rule UK ministers to take decisions on Northern Ireland at Westminster until such time as a power-sharing administration can be pieced back together at Stormont.

Mr Corbyn, who is spending two days in Northern Ireland, also used his speech at Queen's to make clear that Labour will not support a Brexit deal which results in the re-imposition of a hard border on the island.

He argued that the best way to avoid border checks is through a UK-EU customs union - which would offer the UK a say on future trade deals - coupled with a "new and strong relationship" with the EU single market.

"Driven by the free-market fantasists within their ranks, the reckless Conservative approach to Brexit is a very real threat to jobs and living standards here in Northern Ireland and risks undermining and destabilising the co-operation and relative harmony of recent years," said Mr Corbyn, who will visit the border on Friday.

"Labour will not support any Brexit deal that includes the return of a hard border to this island. But we are also clear there must be no border created in the Irish Sea either.

"That is why Labour has put forward a plan that would go a long way to solving this issue, a plan for which I believe there is a majority in Westminster."
Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police search forest land in the Poleglass area of west Belfast on May 25th 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Police are carrying out searches in west Belfast.

Officers descended on the Polegalss area on Friday morning.

They searched a one-mile radius area of overgrown grass and woodland between the Glenwood and Laurel Bank.

Detective Inspector Orr from PSNI Terrorism Investigation Unit added: The operation is part of an ongoing investigation into dissident republican terrorism.
Police investigating the murder of Romanian fisherman Stefan Zait have arrested a man and a woman.

Mr Zait (45), who was originally from Romania, was attacked in Ardglass just before 11am on Tuesday suffering serious injuries. He later passed away in hospital on Thursday sparking a PSNI murder investigation.

A PSNI spokesman said detectives from the Serious Crime Branch arrested a 50-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman in connection with the investigation on Friday.

They were arrested in the Ardglass area as part of the overall investigation and have been taken to a police station in Belfast for questioning.

A 20-year-old man remains in police custody at this time and a 40 year old woman arrested last night has been released unconditionally.
Police have been granted additional time to question a suspect in a murder investigation.

Fisherman Stefan Zait (45), who was originally from Romania, was attacked in Ardglass just before 11am on Tuesday suffering serious injuries. He later passed away on Thursday sparking a PSNI murder investigation.

On Friday police were granted extra time to question a 20-year-old man arrested after the assault.

A 40-year-old woman also arrested remains in police custody.

A 23-year-old man was also arrested in the wake of the incident but subsequently released on bail pending further police inquiries.

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Mr Zait was described as a well-known and popular figure in the local fishing community.

"He was always smiling, from ear to ear," said one friend.

"He was a sea dog - he loved the sea and he didn't deserve what he got."

Sinn Fein MLA Emma Rogan expressed condolences to the man's family.

"The people of Ardglass are stunned and shocked at this news," she said.
Stephen Nolan has responded to criticism of a discussion on his show.

Stephen Nolan has responded to criticism of a discussion that took place on his popular BBC Radio Ulster morning show on Thursday, saying its important for freedom of speech for views that many find offensive to be challenged.

Mr Nolan and guests journalists Lynnette Burrows and Fionola Meredith were discussing same-sex dance partners competing in Strictly Come Dancing when Mrs Burrows said she found the idea "revolting".

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Mrs Burrows mentioned she had recently been in New York she was surprised how "revolting" she saw the sight of two men kissing.

She said it "turned her stomach".

The Rainbow Project described the discussion as "unashamedly homophobic".

Mr Nolan addressed the criticism on his show on Friday morning and said that he "very robustly" challenged the comments from Mrs Burrows.

"I think there's an interesting conversation about free speech, because there are quite a few people who were offended by those comments," he said.

"There were others who were saying that's how some people think, we can't close it down. What you can do if you disagree with it is challenge it."

John O'Doherty from The Rainbow Project joined the show and asked why Mrs Burrows was invited to speak on the programme.

"She has form. Did the Nolan Show know what she was going to say? Before I came on the show this morning one of your staff phoned me and asked what I was going to say. The interview was presented as being about Strictly [Come Dancing] but it had little to do with that," Mr O'Doherty said.

"There was nothing positive or probative about the debate, how much longer do we have to keep having a debate about whether or not LGBT people should be seen in public and whether or not we are disgusting.

"There are much better people you could have on, it could have been a very interesting discussion. Why is it always about the same thing? Whether or not it is right to be gay."

Mr Nolan denied that the conversation was engineered to go a certain way.

"We were not setting up a debate about whether or not it is right to be gay," he responded.

"You live in Northern Ireland and you know that there is a proportion of the population who are still against homosexuality and still do not think it is 'natural', we have had prominent politicians over many years describing the act of homosexuality as 'vile' and 'disgusting' and 'repulsive'.

"Are they entitled to those views or must they be shut down?"

Mr O'Doherty said that he felt the show should have went further in challenging Mrs Burrow's comments and labelled them 'homophobic'

He said it was wrong that Mrs Burrows had been invited onto the show and "possibly paid" as a platform for her views.

Mr Nolan said that he had taken time on Thursday night to consider whether or not the debate should have gone ahead.

"We know that is representative of how some people behave in Northern Ireland and about how some young people are having to live in the same households as parents who talk like that," he said.

"I just think that there's a massive discussion to be had about what effect that has on a human being when words like that are directed towards them

"Do you allow it to be publicly aired because it's happening in society or is it so unacceptable that you shut it down.

"What about the people who don't find it unacceptable? Who do believe what Lynette said."

Mr O'Doherty noted that someone from The Rainbow Project attempted to get on air to discuss the issue with Mrs Burrows and Mr Nolan apologised saying "you should have been able to get on the air".
The bonfire built at the Bloomfield Walkway in 2014

A contentious bonfire in east Belfast will be moved so that it does not endanger homes, a loyalist group has announced.

The East Belfast Community Initiative (EBCI), which is linked to the terrorist UVF, said an agreement had been reached with bonfire builders at Bloomfield Walkway to move it to a safer area.

The move came after DUP councillor George Dorrian intervened to help de-escalate tensions after bonfire material was stored at a car park off the Upper Newtownards Road.

The EBCI said the bonfire will move away from the area to a "safe space".

It also said the height of the pyre will not endanger any homes.

EBCI spokesman Jamie Bryson said: "This is another positive local agreement and once again demonstrates the productivity of self-regulation.

"No unionist worth their salt is ever going to be regulated in their cultural expression by statutory agencies.

"Self-regulation in order to advance our core purpose of enhancing and protecting unionist cultural expression is the only way to resolve contentious issues."

In July 2015 the bonfire forced 50 families to flee their homes at Chobham Street.

The following year a play park was moved to facilitate the bonfire and houses were boarded up before the Eleventh Night.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close William Young used a drone to take this remarkable photo of the bonfire at Sandy Row. 11/07/2017 Sandy Row Photo: William Young Sandy Row Photo: William Young Roden Street Photo: William Young Shankill Photo: William Young The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations takes place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations takes place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations take place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan posted this photo of one of his election posters on a bonfire and said he considers the action a hate crime. Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. [Photo: Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com] Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. [Photo: Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com] Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. Police in Northern Ireland have warned their resources could be stretched amid growing fears of tension around the burning of Eleventh night bonfires. [Photo credit: Liam McBurney/PA Wire] PA Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. [Photo: PA Wire 10/07/2017] PA A bonfire constructed across the road from a petrol station in Carrickfergus was set alight in the early hours of Tuesday morning. / Facebook

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Whatsapp William Young used a drone to take this remarkable photo of the bonfire at Sandy Row. 11/07/2017

In May last year 2,500 pallets were amassed at the site.

A meeting took place between a new local community group and Belfast City Council officials.

The group asked the council to remove and store pallets until nearer to July 11.

The pallets were lifted and stored at a cost of 3,000.

But in June they were stolen from the depot they were being stored in.

Nationalists accused the council of facilitating illegal bonfires and an investigation was ordered.

The EBCI said: "There has been considerable attention on this bonfire in recent years and bonfire builders have been continuously let down by statutory agencies.

"This lack of positive statutory engagement and attempted criminalisation has led to understandable intransigence. However the East Belfast Community Initiative believes in the principle of positive self-regulation.

"Following protracted consultation with local bonfire builders and DUP councillor George Dorrian, this positive agreement has been secured. The bonfire will move away from the contentious area to a safe space and the height of the bonfire will be such that it will not endanger the homes of any members of our community."

Earlier this week the ECBI announced a new protocol for the flying of loyalist flags.

However, other parties expressed scepticism at the move, saying that it would not prevent intimidating UVF terrorist flags being flown for four months of the year.
The Northern Ireland Audit Office has been asked to investigate a controversial Belfast City Council decision to award 400k of ratepayers money to community groups for bonfire diversion.

Sinn Fein and the DUP, who backed the decision made at the council last week, faced allegations of a political carve up when the details of the restricted meeting leaked to the media.

Now it has emerged that Alliance and SDLP councillors have requested to meet with the Northern Ireland Audit Office as a matter of urgency over how the decision to award the public money was made.

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Ulster Unionist Party said the partys Belfast councillors would be meeting at the beginning of next week to discuss their next course of action over the issue, including the possibility of joining the other in any NIAO meeting.

The decision to give various groups cash for Area-based festivals, which involve educational and diversionary activities associated with July and August bonfires, came following a slow uptake in the council's own bonfire grants programme.

DUP council group leader Lee Reynolds said the festivals funding was positive and worthwhile.

Both Alliance and SDLP representatives referred to a string of controversial decisions pushed through the council by Sinn Fein and the DUP in recent months, including Februarys reallocation of 4m of council funds for Community Tourism.

The controversial plan saw cash from the council's City Centre Social Outcomes Fund redistributed to nine community projects in east and west Belfast.

Like the Area-based Festivals Fund decision, the 4m Community Tourism reallocation was agreed without a call-in mechanism in place, or a public bidding process.

The call-in procedure allows other representatives to request that a decision be re-examined by a council lawyer for possible reconsideration.

We have asked the UUP and the SDLP to join us in registering concern over the abuse of ratepayers money regarding this latest carve up by Sinn Fein and the DUP, Alliance councillor Emmet McDonagh Brown said.

This behind closed doors dealing, removing the call-in mechanism so others cant question these decisions, its ridiculous.

If this kind of thing happened in the Civil Service, the allocation of this kind of money would be measured, assessed and interrogated within an inch of its life. Yet, here we are at City Hall where Sinn Fein and the DUP can simply scratch each others backs and no one bats an eyelid.

It is an issue we think the Audit Office, whom I have been in contact with over this political carve-up, needs to look at as a matter of urgency to ensure a fair and proper service for all.

SDLP council group leader Tim Attwood said the council scrutinises some decisions closely, such as the funding for St Patricks Day festivities and community grants, but neglects to examine others.

There has been a number of decisions, such as the Community Tourism fund a number of months ago and now this Festivals Fund, that have been pushed through by Sinn Fein and the DUP with little-to-no transparency or fairness at all, he added.

We want to raise our concerns with the Audit Office to ensure ratepayers money is handled in a fair and equitable way.

Councillor Attwood said one of the strongest aspects of Stormonts 2016 Draft Programme for Government, which Arlene Foster and the late Martin McGuiness signed off on, was the introduction of outcome-based decision making.

This would ensure public money would go where it needs to, to where it can do the most good. The problem here is, we dont know the worthwhile groups from the others, or any details of the funding," the SDLP councillor said.

If outcome-based decision making is good enough for Sinn Fein and the DUP in the Executive, why not in City Hall?
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has moved to distance his party from Sinn Fein amid mounting calls for him to scrap legislation that will overhaul how judges are appointed in the Republic.

The Fine Gael leader has said that there was "no deal".

However, Mary Lou McDonald's party said Mr Varadkar "can call it whatever he wants" but Sinn Fein has agreed to backing the Judicial Appointments Bill in exchange for progress on sentencing guidelines.

The deal has caused unease in Fine Gael with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe stating he would "prefer" if the Government could pass the law with the support of other members of the Opposition. The Bill, which will see the establishment of an advisory committee with a lay majority advise the Irish Government on judicial appointments, has been beset with difficulties.

Irish Labour leader Brendan Howlin criticised both the deal and the Bill as a farce that has descended into a crisis.

"It is becoming more evident now that Fine Gael is content to rely on Sinn Fein support to remain in power and satisfy the demands of Transport Minister Ross, and that Sinn Fein is happy to give it," he said.

The legislation was a red line issue for Mr Ross to secure his agreement to back Mr Varadkar's minority administration.

The focus on the deal between Sinn Fein and Fine Gael sharpened in recent days following comments made by Sinn Fein party whip Aengus O Snodaigh, who claimed judges in the Special Criminal Court have shown an "anti-republican bias", claims dismissed by the Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan as "groundless".

Mr Varadkar said there has been a commitment on sentencing guidelines.

He said voting records show Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein are far more likely to vote with each other and that Fine Gael and Sinn Fein doing so was "exceptional".
Compare and contrast the visit of Jeremy Corbyn to Queen's University Belfast yesterday with that of former Labour leader Tony Blair last month.

Mr Blair was here to join other key players in the peace process to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

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There appeared to be little advance publicity about his presence, presumably in case it led to a mass of protesters angry about the Iraq War.

Ask a random sample of students to name their political heroes and Blair won't feature. Corbyn definitely does, and he received a rapturous response at the university yesterday. Of all the political figures who have visited the campus over the past year - including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and new Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald - he leads the popularity stakes by a country mile.

But for a significant section of unionists and IRA victims, Corbyn is a deeply controversial character.

His close relationship with Sinn Fein leaders at the height of the conflict - when they were pariahs in mainstream British politics - means many unionists don't trust him.

His refusal to meet IRA victims now guarantees this won't change any time soon and it's something he must address.

To say the DUP isn't fussed on Corbyn is putting it politely. When asked by the Belfast Telegraph yesterday about his relationship with the party, Corbyn insisted his door wasn't shut to the DUP, yet it's evident there's not a lot of love on his side either.

"Our party does obviously have meetings and relationships with them (the DUP)," he said.

"Tony (Lloyd) as part of the Northern Ireland team knows them and our party meets them quite regularly to discuss things that are going on within Parliament.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives the thumbs up after a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) speaking with SDLP politician Mark Durkan, SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan (left) and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood (third from left) after a Londonderry Chamber business breakfast on the second day of Mr Corbyn's visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre, obscured and back to camera) waves at a vehicle with Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (back to camera) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted by Professor James McElnay, Acting Vice-Chancellor at Queen's University in Belfast, ahead of delivering a public lecture in the Great Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference, a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd MP (left) with Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor James McElnay (second from right), Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation and Engagement at QueenOs University Professor Richard English (right), and Acting Registrar Wendy Galbraith at Queens University in Belfast where Corbyn is due to deliver a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable George Hamilton listens as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neil arrives to hear Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn deliver a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, leaves the stage after delivering a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Sinn Fein members (left to right), Francie Molloy, Paul Maskey and Mickey Brady MP, attend Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's lecture at Queens University in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images ROSA NI campaigners to amend the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution hold a banner outside Queens University Belfast's Wilta Hall Labour wear leader Jeremy Corbyn will give a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018.See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker / Facebook

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Whatsapp Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives the thumbs up after a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

"Obviously we want to work together with people.

"They are, at the moment, the main prop of the Tory Government in Westminster, which is not helpful for those of us opposing austerity, job cuts and underfunding of NHS across the country."

Corbyn as Prime Minister would be friendlier to Sinn Fein than any previous incumbent of that office. Yet he certainly wasn't advocating a radical republican agenda yesterday. In the absence of power-sharing, he supported nationalists' calls for the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to be reconvened. But he didn't advocate anything like joint rule and stressed that the body should address only non-devolved matters. He also said, if he was in Downing Street, he would remain neutral in the event of a border poll.

In an interview with the News Letter, he specifically condemned the IRA's 1983 murder of Queen's law lecturer Edgar Graham, which unionists had been calling for him to do.

Corbyn had been criticised in the past for condemning violence generally but declining to condemn the IRA specifically.

He told the Belfast Telegraph he opposed an amnesty for both former paramilitary and security force members and stressed "the law must take its course" and "the PSNI go where the evidence leads".

Corbyn also surprisingly declined to give a pledge that he would change the law on abortion or same-sex marriage here.

He said his views on both issues were well-known but he would prefer for a local Assembly to deal with them.

The Labour leader was totally relaxed during his visit and gave the media greater individual access than Theresa May has during her most recent trips.

Yet his past associations will continue to dictate how many unionists who lived through the Troubles view him.

For the younger generation, that is perhaps not the case.

Pupils at Belfast's integrated Lagan College, which he visited yesterday, were given complete freedom to ask him whatever questions they wanted. Nothing was off-limits. They quizzed him about Brexit, economic policy and the environment.

Not one raised the past.
Anastasia Kriegel was last seen alive in St Catherines Park on Monday, May 14 (Garda/PA)

Detectives investigating the murder of a schoolgirl in Ireland have charged a 13-year-old boy.

The youth, who was arrested in connection with the death of Anastasia Kriegel, is expected to face a charge of murder when he appears before a special court sitting in Dublin on Friday evening.

Anastasia, 14, was found dead in a derelict farmhouse outside the village of Lucan, Co Dublin, last week.

The schoolgirl was last seen alive in St Catherines Park on Monday May 14, about one kilometre away from where her body was discovered three days later.

The boy was one of two young people arrested on Thursday. The other boy has been released without charge.

Gardai began searching for Anastasia, known as Ana, after her parents reported her missing.

She had failed to return to her home in nearby Leixlip, Co Kildare.

The teenager was a first year student at Confey Community school in the area.

Gardai began treating the death as murder following a post-mortem on her body.

It confirmed that she had died in violent circumstances.
The first votes in the Irish abortion referendum have been cast as islanders visited the polling stations.

An electorate of just over 2,000 in islands off the west coast were able to cast their votes a day before the rest of the country as the Republic decides whether to reform some of the strictest termination laws in Europe.

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Ballot boxes were taken by boat to 12 islands in Donegal, Galway and Mayo yesterday morning, before the main vote today, to prevent delays in transportation and counting of ballot papers.

On Gola Island in Donegal the polls opened shortly after 11am for the 29 registered voters to have their say.

Presiding officer Nancy Sharkey and Garda Pat McElroy took the ballot box on the 10-minute boat journey to the island, where the polls were open until 3pm.

The polling station was opened in the home of Jimmy Sweeney (65), who has lived on the island since he was born.

Mr Sweeney, who was the first person to cast a vote, said: "We always have the polling station in here, we've no objection."

He added: "There's a lot of interest in the vote."

His son Hugh (26) was second to go to the ballot box.

He said: "This vote means a lot to young people.

"It's a difficult one because in the media you have people pushing a Yes vote and people pushing a No vote and you just need to make up your own mind."

Eleven voters turned out to the polling station to cast their ballots before the box was taken back to the mainland.

Colleen Ui Fhoruisce (30), who took her two-year-old daughter Saoirse to the polling station, said: "It was very hard to know what you were voting for until you read up on it.

"You want to be sure you're voting for the right reason."

Micheal Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig, councillor for the area, said he had been campaigning for a Yes vote in Donegal.

He said: "The reaction's been quite mixed. With those who will tell you how they are voting it's 50/50 and there are a lot of undecided.

"I think it will be very close to call in Donegal but I'm confident that through the rest of the counties there will be a Yes vote.

"We need it. Women need it."

The country is voting on whether to repeal the eighth amendment, which effectively outlaws abortion in all cases unless a mother's life is in danger.

Islanders in south-west Cork will vote today along with the rest of the country.
A silent No vote is the only thing that can derail attempts to repeal the Eighth Amendment, it has been claimed as the Republic goes to the polls.

Yes campaigners were last night confident they have won over enough support to secure victory in todays divisive vote.

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But Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said they are taking absolutely nothing for granted.

More than 3.2 million people are entitled to make their voices heard on arguably the most contentious social issue in Ireland.

The Republic is being asked to make a once in a generation decision as senior political figures have categorically ruled out a rerun if the proposal to allow the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion is rejected.

The weather is not expected to impact on the turnout.

Met Eireann predicts a largely sunny day across the whole country, with just a few showers.

In the region of 120,000 people have added their name to the supplementary voting register in recent weeks and thousands of people have travelled home from abroad to cast their votes.

Health Minister Simon Harris said: This is the moment so many people have waited so long for.

It is an opportunity to face reality and to support women here in our own country.

But Savethe8ths John McGuirk said people must decide whether or not were going to have a liberal abortion regime in Ireland.

The fear of a lot of people on the No side of the campaign is that every time you take the step we are being asked to take, you change the culture of the country.

Mr McGuirk said the key to a No victory will be older voters.

Whether they vote in large enough numbers to help us win the referendum is an open question, he said.

At the same time he admitted some people who might be viewed as conservative on this issue will vote to repeal the Eighth as a screw you to the Catholic Church.

The question being asked of voters is whether they want to repeal a section of the constitution which gives equal rights to the mother and her unborn child.

A Yes vote result will clear the way for the Irish government to bring forward legislation that permits terminations up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

Mr Harris has promised that abortions will only be granted after the first trimester if there is a risk to the life, or of serious harm to the health of, a pregnant woman.

As campaigning drew to a close, Fianna Fail TD Mary Butler, who is part of the Love Both group reiterated her belief that the government has cynically used the tragedies of certain people to push through the most extreme abortion law ever proposed in this country by any Irish.

More than 2,000 people living off the coasts of Galway, Mayo and Donegal had their opportunity to vote yesterday.

The islands vote a day early in order to allow ballot boxes to make it back to the mainland for tomorrows count.

Gardai were last night escorting boxes to local court offices in each constituency.

They were due to be transferred to individual count centres in the early hours of this morning, before polls opened at 7am.

Mr Varadkar said if there is a Yes vote, Ireland will still be the same country as it is today.

Of course we know when it comes to referendums in the past, like the divorce referendum, that went down to less than 10,000 votes, one ballot paper in every ballot box. We urge everyone to vote and vote yes, he said.

Opinion polls have been wrong before. I am conscious that in 1983 there was only a turnout of 55%, most people decided to sit out and I hope that wont happen on this occasion and I am really encouraging everyone to come out and vote, he said.

The Taoiseach said the fact that Irish women had to travel to another jurisdiction to end their pregnancies, and sometimes do so in secret, had created a legacy of shame.

I hope that a Yes vote will help to lift that stigma and help to take away that legacy of shame that exists in our society, Mr Varadkar said.

If there is a Yes vote Ireland will be the same place, just a place thats a little bit more compassionate and a little bit more understanding than it has been in the past.

Thousands returned from around the world to make their voices heard, some from as far away as Asia and Latin America.

Ciaran Gaffney (22), from Argentina, said women should have complete bodily autonomy.

I just think that we should not be exporting an issue like abortion to other countries and I think that we need to be responsible for taking charge of something that is happening in Ireland and will happen in Ireland irrespective of the vote.

Aoife Bennett (25), an editor with a travel magazine based in Dortmund, Germany, will be making the journey back to Dublin then returning in less than 24 hours. She tweeted: This is the most important referendum we may ever face. Of course I was coming home.

Among those backing a No vote was Corrs musician Jim Corr.

The 53-year-old, who found fame with his sisters Andrea, Sharon and Caroline in Irish folk-rock band The Corrs, claimed the vote was a means for the pharmaceutical industry to profiteer from abortion.

He tweeted: As many were duped into believing the Lisbon Treaty would bring jobs and recovery, many are being duped into believing this referendum is about healthcare and choice, when its really about bringing the lucrative abortion industry into Ireland.
The Irish government intends to enact legislation on abortion by the end of the year, if the referendum passes tomorrow - however its passage may be obstructed if enough TDs vote against it.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Cabinet will publish the bill before the Dail breaks up this summer, and allow for debates and voting by Oireachtas before the end of the year.

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"We anticipate having the legislation published before the summer recess and having it through the Dail and Seanad and enacted by the end of the year," Mr Varadkar said.

He was speaking at the final event of the Fine Gael members' campaign ahead of the country going to the polls this morning.

He called on all members of the Oireachtas to vote in favour of the legislation; even those opposed to it because they will be under obligation to implement the will of the Irish people.

"I hope and trust the vast majority of TDs will respect the decision of the Irish people if it is a 'Yes' vote.

"I do think the Irish people are going in to the referendum with their eyes open; they understand what it means to repeal the Eighth Amendment and they understand the proposals that are being put forward by the government on foot of the recommendations of the all party committee and the citizens assembly," said Mr Varadkar.

Notwithstanding the fact that the referendum result is still unknown, there are still several stumbling blocks ahead for the passing of the legislation.

The majority of Fianna Fail TDs are against repealing the Eighth Amendment, and many may vote accordingly, regardless of the referendum result.

At least three have indicated this. Fianna Fail TD for Waterford, Mary Butler, said she will actively "halt" the passage of the proposed legislation which she says is "too extreme".

Ms Butler said she would allow parts of the bill dealing with cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality but said: "I have a serious issue for abortion just because you don't want the baby.

"I personally will not hold up legislation for rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality. I will, however, scrutinise the bill word for word, line by line," she said. "This goes too far, it's too extreme."

Ms Butler also aimed a swipe at Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone, for taking a pro-choice stance "as I call her the Minister for Children; not for the unborn".

Fianna Fail TD for Galway West, Eamon O'Cuiv, said on RTE's Six One last week that he would never support 12-week legislation.

Yesterday, he said he fears that in 'four or five years' a legislature providing for abortion on demand could get in to office by way of a partnership deal.

Dundalk FF TD Declan Breathnach, a staunch opponent of the legislation, said "common sense should prevail" when asked his intention.

Culture minister Josepha Madigan urged people to get out to vote.

"We've seen the catastrophic consequences of the Eighth Amendment over the last 35 years," she said. "I think that the nation is holding its breath at this stage, and we hope to have a collective sigh of relief on Saturday, but we cannot take anything for granted."

She said that the government had a duty to protect Irish women and, by voting Yes, the people would be giving them the mandate to do that.

Meanwhile, GPs advocating a No vote have claimed that asking doctors to carry out abortions without reason being offered cannot be described as healthcare.

Dr Brendan Crowley, one of the signatories, said the doctors were "not expressing a position on abortion one way or the other".

"However, we are united in the view that the Government's proposals would open the door to abortion on demand in a similar manner to that prevailing in Britain," he said.
Northern Ireland needs a voice at the Brexit talks table, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

The Labour leader visited an Irish border bridge on Friday as part of his two-day tour of the country.

The porous 300-mile frontier is one of the most vexed issues facing negotiators in Brussels but Northern Ireland has no ministers to intervene since devolved Government at Stormont collapsed more than a year ago.

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Mr Corbyn addressed a meeting of business leaders in Londonderry: Please, to the parties in Stormont: you have to come together to re-form a government there.

It is impossible to go through a period so crucial as Brexit negotiations without a voice for Northern Ireland being made at the table by the political classes in Northern Ireland.

I hope they understand that message and I hope that we can make very rapid progress on that.

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There is to be a transition period but the transition period is not unlimited, that we well know, and crucial decisions are going to be made in the next three months and I understand very clearly the message that you have given me here this morning.

A backstop border option if no other deal was reached with the EU would see Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK follow Brussels regulations relating to co-operation on the island of Ireland to protect frictionless all-island trade.

The British Government has said it is focused on securing a customs deal which would avoid the need for such a backstop and has ruled out anything which would create a regulatory difference between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

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Mr Corbyn walked the Lifford bridge between Northern Ireland and the Republic, close to the Co Tyrone town of Strabane, and took selfies with passers-by.

He supports a customs arrangement with the EU to protect trade and ensure no regulatory barriers after Brexit.

Any kind of border, physical border, virtual reality border, technological border, whatever, would be very damaging to the economyLabour leader Jeremy Corbyn

The British Government is examining whether a customs partnership or a technological solution to border checks can be made to work.

The Opposition leader added: Any kind of border, physical border, virtual reality border, technological border, whatever, would be very damaging to the economy.

Mr Corbyn said a hard frontier would seriously damage Northern Irelands north-west, including the life chances of those already suffering from excessive unemployment.

He claimed the Government was making a mess of the negotiations and was too divided and weak to get a good Brexit deal.

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Stormont has not sat for months following a dispute over a botched green energy scheme.

Northern Irelands rudderless public services were thrown into sharp relief recently when a Civil Service decision to approve a major incinerator project in the continued absence of powersharing ministers was overturned by a court.

Mr Corbyn added: It is unconscionable that you have civil servants making major decisions, then challenged by the courts, with elected politicians having no say whatsoever.
The incident took place at Stansted airport (Yui Mok/PA)

A Dublin-bound passenger jet carrying dozens of Irish voters home for the countrys abortion referendum was hit by another plane preparing for take-off at Stansted Airport.

Both planes were on the taxiway when the tail of the Ryanair aircraft was clipped by the wing of a Primera flight to Malaga, Ryanair said in a statement.

Staff from The Independent who were on board the Ryanair flight said that the mood among passengers remained calm, even jovial.

An airport spokesman said both planes were required to return to the stand after the minor airfield incident at around 9.15am on Friday.

No injuries have been reported and no evacuation was required from either aircraft, the spokesman added.

As a precaution, airfield operations were briefly suspended, but all flights have now resumed.

Following a minor ground incident, two aircraft due to depart were required to return to stand. All flights have now resumed and our runway is open and operational. Thank you.  London Stansted Airport (@STN_Airport) May 25, 2018

Ryanair said in a statement: One of our aircraft was stationary at the designated holding point on the taxiway at London Stansted Airport this morning when the winglet of a Primera Air aircraft taxiing behind scraped its tail stabiliser.

Both aircraft were under the instruction of London Stansted Air Traffic Control at the time.

The Ryanair aircraft returned to stand to be inspected by Ryanair engineers.

To minimise delay, customers will transfer to a replacement aircraft later this morning.
Police at the scene of a fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old in Sheffield (Dave Higgens/PA)

Police are investigating the second fatal stabbing of a teenager in Sheffield in a week.

A murder inquiry was launched on Thursday night following the death of a 15-year-old boy in the Lowedges area of the city.

Officers received reports at around 7.50pm that the teenager had been stabbed in Lowedges Road, South Yorkshire Police said.

He was taken to hospital but died an hour later.

A murder investigation has been launched after a 15-year-old boy has died in hospital following an incident this evening in the Lowedges area of #Sheffield More information available here: https://t.co/nDDleFZ39a  South Yorkshire Police (@syptweet) May 24, 2018

Chief Superintendent Stuart Barton said on Thursday: I fully understand the concern, alarm and fear that our local communities will have on hearing of this crime.

My thoughts are with the young mans family at this devastating time, and, while the investigation is in the early stages, I would ask anyone who may able to assist with any information to please make contact with us.

The death of the teenager came two days after the death of 19-year-old Ryan Jowle, in the Woodhouse area of the city.

Mr Jowle died at Sheffields Northern General Hospital on Wednesday morning, South Yorkshire Police after he was stabbed at around 11.10pm on Tuesday.

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An 18-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of murder following his death, the force said.

The man remains in custody, and the woman has been released on police bail as inquiries continue.

On Wednesday, Sheffield commander Mr Barton was asked about a number of knife-related incidents in the city in recent months, including the killing of 22-year-old Jarvin Blake, in the Burngreave area, in March.

He said: Its a huge concern to the force. Its a huge concern nationally, not just in Sheffield.

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He went on: When I woke up this morning and saw that a young man has tragically lost his life, and probably not 10 weeks ago I was sat in front of cameras and stood in front of microphones talking about the tragic loss of life of Jarvin Blake, its a very difficult situation to be in.

What I can say is that we continue to do what we can to work with people in schools, work within the city centre night-time operation.

But the answers to knife crime lies with the people who carry those knives.

And its about friends, family and loved ones telling them not to do it, to put those away.

ROAD CLOSURES THIS MORNING: In connection to the murder investigation in Lowedges last night, Chesterfield Road South roundabout to Meadowhead roundabout, towards Sheffield, is closed, as well as the end of Lowedges Road on to Chesterfield Road South, in both directions.  South Yorkshire Police (@syptweet) May 25, 2018

In Lowedges on Friday, the scene of the boys death was marked with a white forensics tent on the side of the main A61 route from Sheffield to Chesterfield.

One carriageway of the road remained closed as part of a large police cordon in the area.

Images have been posted on social media of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance landing at the scene on Thursday evening.
The scene in Islington, north London, thought to be where a carer was fatally injured by a 95-year-old man (Henry Vaughan/PA)

A 95-year-old man who is believed to suffer from dementia has been arrested on suspicion of murder over the death of his female carer.

Two ambulance crews arrived at his first-floor flat in Islington, north London, on Thursday morning after a neighbour heard a scream at around 4am.

A 61-year-old woman was taken to hospital with head injuries but died just before 11am on Friday morning.

Scotland Yard detectives believe she was injured in the flat, where she was working as a carer. She is understood to have been an employee of a care agency commissioned by Islington Council.

Man, 95, arrested on suspicion of murder following death of carer in #Islington https://t.co/0hwWSQbnZi pic.twitter.com/xrfmcihv9B  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) May 25, 2018

The 95-year-old man, who neighbours said was frail and uses a walking stick, was taken to hospital as a precaution after being arrested on suspicion of murder.

The Metropolitan Police said he was granted bail but will remain in hospital until he is moved to somewhere his complex health and care needs can be managed.

A neighbour who has been living in the 95-year-olds block of flats in Holloway for 10 years said he was rarely seen outside his home since he and his wife fell ill.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said another neighbour told her of hearing a scream in the early hours of Thursday morning.

She said the elderly man would normally have a carer looking after him and he was occasionally visited by family members.

Its a surprise. They are a very good family, she said.

I dont know whats happened. I was coming home from work and saw police upstairs.

Another neighbour heard a scream at about 4am, but I didnt.

Max Wurr, senior spokesman for the womans employer, London Care, said: We were devastated that a member of our care team in Islington has died in hospital after paramedics were called to the home of one of our customers overnight.

The cause of death has not yet been confirmed to us and we are assisting the police whilst their investigations are ongoing.

Our thoughts are with the care workers family and friends as they deal with this tragic news.

Councillor Richard Watts, leader of Islington Council which commissioned London Care, said: We are devastated to hear of the death of a carer in Islington.

Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this desperately sad time.
The Texas governor organised the meetings after eight students and two substitute teachers were fatally shot last week inside Santa Fe High School (Stuart Villanueva/The Galveston County Daily News/AP)

Texas governor Greg Abbott has wrapped up three days of emotional meetings on school safety and mass shootings by speaking with survivors from last weeks shooting at a high school near Houston.

The Republican, who is campaigning for re-election, organised the mostly closed-door meetings shortly after eight students and two substitute teachers were fatally shot last week inside Santa Fe High School.

Mr Abbott said he wanted to find swift and meaningful ways to stop future shootings.

Most of the ideas centered on monitoring student mental health and security measures, such as hardening campuses with armed guards and teachers. Abbott hasnt said when or what hell recommend to address those issues, but said on Thursday that we are going to do more than just talk, we are going to act.

Mr Abbott so far has ignored calls from a handful of state politicians from both parties to call the Legislature into special session to address gun laws, which is a sharp contrast to the response in Florida after a high school shooting in February killed 17 people.

Three weeks after that massacre, Florida politicians, who were already in session, passed a gun-control package after a lobbying campaign led by student survivors of the attack.

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Politicians are not scheduled to meet until January 2019 in Texas, a state that embraces its gun-friendly reputation and has more than 1.2 million people licensed to carry handguns.

Unlike the students in Florida, several students at Santa Fe High School have been vocal opponents of increased gun control, including some of those who were invited to meet Mr Abbott on Thursday.

The only tweaks to gun safety Mr Abbott mentioned as possibilities this week were stronger laws on gun storage and reporting of lost or stolen weapons, and quicker reporting to law enforcement when a court order denies someone access to a gun.

Several of the families who met with him on Thursday said they did not want to talk about new gun restrictions or the politics of gun rights.

Mr Abbott has signed bills in recent years that reduce the cost and training needed for a handgun licence and expanded where handguns can be legally carried.

During a National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting earlier this month, Mr Abbott said the violence problem is not caused by guns but by hearts without God.

This is one of many strategies we are looking at to make our schools safer: Gov. Abbott Wants Mental Health Program To ID Potentially Violent Students Across State. #txlege https://t.co/nITu7sSTPr  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 24, 2018

This weeks meetings included representatives of both gun rights and gun control groups. However, Alice Tripp, legislative director of the Texas Rifle Association, an affiliate of the NRA, said her group found no common ground on gun restrictions and would be cautious of anything that would deny access to buy or own guns.

No common ground except to say that public safety is very important and no one supports the criminal misuse of anything, Ms Tripp said. Crimes are not stopped by laws.

Thursdays meeting lasted more than three hours and included more than 30 students, families and staff members from Santa Fe High School, as well as two survivors of the November church shooting in rural Sutherland Springs, Texas, that left more than two dozen people dead.

Stephen Willeford, the church neighbour and former NRA gun instructor who was hailed as a hero for grabbing a rifle and firing back at the attacker, also attended the meeting.

The issues that seemed to get most of Mr Abbotts attention this week  better security, tracking student mental health and school counselings  would cost money, and the states public schools are already living under strained budgets.

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While most of the weeks meetings were closed to the public, media was allowed in for about two hours of conversation between the governor and the students and families.

Several students and parents said schools need more armed security guards and armed teachers to prevent attacks. Texas law allows school districts to arm teachers who pass training courses and they must keep their guns concealed. Others debated whether schools should have metal detectors.

Arming teachers, and not knowing who is armed, that is what we need, said Grace Johnson, a Santa Fe senior who hid in a band room attic during the attack. I cannot tell you how much safer I feel in public with my father having a gun on him.

Ms Johnson noted her government class wrote to Mr Abbotts office after Santa Fe High School had a three-hour lockdown in February because of a false shooting alarm.

We wrote letters to you, my entire government class, on why is this happening and what can we do to fix it. We didnt get anything back. We didnt get acknowledgement, she told Mr Abbott.

It finally happened to our school and we werent surprised.  Its happening everywhere.

An Abbott spokeswoman would not confirm if those letters were received.

The Texas State Teachers Association has resisted calls by the states top Republicans for more teachers carrying guns.

If they are serious about making schools more secure, they need to quit talking about arming teachers and start appropriating the state funds necessary to hire more campus police and install more security safeguards in school buildings, including metal detectors, Clay Robison, spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, said this week.
Vladimir Putin was speaking to the heads of international news agencies on the margins of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (Peter Muhly/PA)

Vladimir Putin has questioned the UKs explanation around the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, saying the use of a military grade agent is not possible as its victims would have died immediately.

Asked by Press Association chief executive Clive Marshall to explain who is responsible for the Skripals poisoning, the Russian president instead cast doubt over Britains own claims and called for an objective investigation.

He said: Im not an expert on those military grade toxic agents, but if such substance is used, then the victims die immediately right on the spot.

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But this was not the case likely, and Sergei Skripal and his daughter are alive.

They are out of hospital now and as weve seen recently on TV, his daughter looks fine, so thank god everyone is alive, everyone is well.

So to say that a military grade agent was used is not possible and if it is the case then it casts doubt on everything that has been said by the UK from the outset.

Mr Putin was speaking to the heads of international news agencies  including Mr Marshall  on the margins of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

The Skripals were admitted to hospital in March after being exposed to the novichok nerve agent in Salisbury.

The British Government has said it is highly likely the Kremlin was behind the attack, an allegation which the Russian government has repeatedly denied.

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It sparked the expulsion of approximately 150 Russian diplomats from nearly 30 countries, with Russia making tit-for-tat moves with expulsions of its own.

Mr Putin said that the most plausible explanation could only be reached as a result of a thorough investigation and a joint investigation.

From the very outset we have suggested that we should work on this investigation together but as youre well aware Britain said no and the UK undertook its own investigation.

The Russian president said the issue should be put to rest unless London was willing to involve Moscow in a fresh probe.

Either we can have a thorough and objective investigation or we should just stop talking about that because they dont add to anything other than an exacerbation of our relationships.
An endangered male okapi has been born at Chester Zoo, making it the 68th born in a European zoo.

The calf, named Semuliki by keepers, is the first for both mother Ktusha and father Stomp.

Semuliki was born on April 27, but has only recently been out in the public eye.

Okapi, the only living relative of the giraffe, are deer-like but with zebra-esque markings. They are found in the wild in the Democratic Republic of Congo but were only discovered by scientists in 1901, due to their camouflage fur and dense forest habitat.

*OKAPI BORN!*



Say hello to our incredibly precious okapi calf, Semuliki!



He's a very first baby for doting mum K'tusha. How cute do they look together?!  pic.twitter.com/hzNnBtCBFC  Chester Zoo (@chesterzoo) May 25, 2018

Their population has declined by nearly 50% over the past 20 years, but Chester Zoo is committed to their survival.

Mike Jordan, collections director at Chester Zoo, said: The biggest current threat to the okapi is hunting due to the presence of illegal armed groups and a growing bushmeat trade across nearly all of the okapis range. This insecurity is a major hurdle to effective conservation action in most areas.

A heart-breaking example of this was in June 2012 when armed rebels attacked the headquarters of a reserve that the zoo supports  the Okapi Faunal Reserve (OFR) in the DRCs Ituri forest  tragically killing seven people and the 15 okapi being cared for at the station.

However, we wont give up on these wonderful animals and Chester Zoo continues to fight for the species. We support our partners in the Okapi Conservation Project and the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, despite these difficult and dangerous conditions, to protect the OFR, a major stronghold for the species.

Along with the Uganda Wildlife Authority and with the support of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, zoo experts have recently led surveys looking for okapi in the Semuliki National Park in Uganda, on the border with DRC.
Harvey Weinstein is escorted into court in New York (Mark Lennihan/AP)

Harvey Weinstein has appeared in court in New York charged with rape.

The disgraced film producer, in his first public appearance since October, spoke only to confirm he understood as he was charged with two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sexual act for alleged incidents involving two separate women.

Weinstein  who has faced an avalanche of accusations including from some of Hollywoods biggest stars  has repeatedly denied any allegations of non-consensual sex.

He posted a one million dollar (751,060) cash bail and agreed to wear an electronic monitor which tracks his movements 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Weinstein also surrendered his passport and agreed to stay within the states of New York and Connecticut.

He intends to plead not guilty to the charges, his lawyer Benjamin Brafman said outside court.

It is the first time he has faced criminal charges since the allegations first emerged and sparked the MeToo and Times Up movements.

In the eight months since, scores of women have made sexual harassment and assault allegations against the movie mogul.

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Weinstein had arrived at New York Police Departments 1st Precinct on Friday morning wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue jumper before being charged.

He was clutching two books, Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammersteins Broadway Revolution, by Todd S Purdum, and Richard Schickels biography of producer, director and writer Elia Kazan.

Less than 90 minutes later, the 66-year-old left in handcuffs and smiling before being taken to a Manhattan court where he was arraigned on the charges.

Statement Regarding Arrest of Harvey Weinstein pic.twitter.com/WKO4rX9eaH  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 25, 2018

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R Vance Jr praised the brave survivors who have come forward as he urged people with relevant information to come forward.

A statement from the NYPD  which has worked with the DA office on the case  also thanked these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice.
Australia and the Netherlands are holding Russia responsible for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane. (PA)

The Netherlands and Australia are holding Russia legally responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

It was shot down over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago, killing all 298 people on board.

The announcement came a day after international investigators announced that the missile system that brought down the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight came from a Russia-based military unit.

Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok said following that conclusion the government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable.

He said the Netherlands and Australia have asked Russia to enter into talks aimed at finding a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing of MH17.

Russia denies involvement in the July 17 2014 missile strike.

Bodies, debris and burning wreckage were strewn over a field of sunflowers near the rebel-held village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, about 25 miles from the Russian border, where fighting had been raging for months.

The father of one of the passengers on the Boeing 777 welcomed the move.

This is great news, said Hans de Borst, who lost his daughter Elsemiek. I understand why the government waited, but now the evidence is clear.

The BUK missile deployed in the tragic downing of #MH17 on 17 July 2014 belonged to the Russian Federations 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Military Brigade. #Ukraine #JIT https://t.co/wC1ZvWaWpx  Julie Bishop (@HonJulieBishop) May 24, 2018

Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop called for support from the international community for the move.

This represents a threat to international security, she said.

If military weapons can be deployed and then used to bring down civilian aircraft in what was essentially a war zone, then international security is at risk and we call on all countries to inform the Russian Federation that its conduct is unacceptable.

Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected the accusations.

He said Moscow has been barred from the investigation and cannot trust its results, and claimed Ukraine contributed to the tragedy by failing to ban civilian air traffic over the war zone.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed the missile that downed MH17 more than likely came from Ukrainian arsenals.

The ministry said fragments displayed by investigators indicated the Soviet-made missile was produced in 1986. It said the Russian military decommissioned all missiles of that type in 2011.

It added that Ukraine inherited such missiles from the Soviet army, adding that the fragments indicated the weapon more than likely belonged to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Emergency services at the scene of the shooting (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

A man suspected of shooting three people inside an Oklahoma City restaurant before being fatally shot by bystanders was legally authorised to carry a firearm, authorities have said.

Oklahoma City Police Captain Bo Mathews said investigators were trying to determine a motive behind the attack that wounded four people.

He said the only interaction police had with the suspected gunman, 28-year-old Alexander Tilghman, was during a domestic assault call when Tilghman was 13.

Live press conference on the Lake Hefner shooting. https://t.co/8ov065oxZI  Oklahoma City Police (@OKCPD) May 25, 2018

A police report from that 2003 incident indicates Tilghman was arrested after his mother told police he punched her several times during a dispute over a vacuum cleaner.

Mr Mathews said the shooting appeared to be random but noted that Tilghman drove to the restaurant and wore protective gear for his ears and eyes.

It looked like his mind was made up that he was going to discharge his firearm once he got there, Mr Mathews said during a Friday news conference.

Mr Mathews stressed that the investigation was ongoing and confirmed that Tilghmans mental health was being looked into.

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Tilghman was licensed as an armed security guard, which authorised him to carry a firearm, said Gerald Konkler, general counsel for the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. The council certifies law enforcement officers and other armed personnel across the state.

Obtaining such a licence requires a background check and at least 72 hours of training.

On Friday, Mr Mathews praised the two citizens who shot Tilghman outside the restaurant. Mr Mathews said each man retrieved a firearm from his vehicle. Tilghmans body was discovered about 50 to 75 feet from the restaurants front door, almost in the car park.

They were able to shoot the suspect and put an end to a very dangerous situation, Mr Mathews said.

Police said Tilghman was armed with a pistol when he opened fire inside Louies On The Lake at around 6:30pm on Thursday. A 39-year-old woman and two girls were shot and wounded, while an unarmed man broke his arm while trying to flee.

All four were in good condition on Friday, according to police.
Northern Ireland has changed enormously in the last 30 years, but Jeremy Corbyn hasn't.

The Labour leader still has the same blinkered view of the Troubles he always had. In his eyes the Provisional IRA may have committed some unfortunate acts in their pursuit of a united Ireland, but republicans are on the right side of history and it's the Brits who bear ultimate responsibility for the deaths because it was they who partitioned Ireland in the first place.

This simplistic analysis wouldn't get the average schoolboy a C grade at history A-level, but the veteran Left-winger has, at least, been consistent in swearing by it.

It should come as absolutely no surprise, then, that Jeremy Corbyn turned down the opportunity to meet with IRA victims during his first official visit to Northern Ireland as Labour leader yesterday.

That snub is par for the course from a politician who will only condemn the IRA in the safe, general context of regretting "all bombing" and who thought it was appropriate to invite republicans - some of whom had recently been in prison for terror offences - to the House of Commons a few weeks after the Brighton bombing murdered five, including Sir Anthony Berry MP.

It might not be surprising, but it is still shocking that a man who would be Prime Minister will not meet with some of those who suffered so grievously at the hands of a movement whose cause he has always championed.

It's easy to get a standing ovation from a crowd of students at Queen's University by calling for same-sex marriage and playing on their fears of Brexit.

Uncomfortable encounters with those who might profoundly disagree with him would be a far more meaningful expression of his commitment to be even-handed. Instead, he's passed that meeting on to shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Tony Lloyd.

Of course, there was an element of calculated mischief-making in Gregory Campbell's efforts to engineer a meeting between the Labour leader and a small group of IRA victims.

The DUP MP must have gone into this knowing that his invitation would most likely be rebuffed. The intent was presumably to expose Corbyn's partisanship when it comes to Northern Ireland.

If so, Corbyn only has himself to blame. He's been Labour leader for nearly three years, much to many of his critics' (and, perhaps, even his own) bemusement. That's more than enough time to finesse his political thinking and explain why, in the past, he has always appeared to be more supportive of Britain's enemies than its friends. It's not just the IRA.

His contacts with Islamic terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah are well-documented. His full-blooded condemnations of Israel and the United States stand in stark contrast to his half-hearted, mealy-mouthed criticisms of certain other regimes.

That he still hasn't managed to convince anyone his attitudes have evolved beyond 1980s' 'Troops Out' agitprop is no accident. He simply doesn't want to, or see why he should.

That stubbornness is admirable in a way. Most politicians, once they get close to high office, start disavowing the radical idiocies of their previous positions. Ambition trumps principle. Corbyn has never taken that route. He was convinced he was right back then and sees no reason to change his mind now.

That's why his intervention into delicate political issues is so riddled with potential potholes. Most politicians tread carefully when it comes to Northern Ireland.

Corbyn, not so much.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives the thumbs up after a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (right) speaking with SDLP politician Mark Durkan, SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan (left) and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood (third from left) after a Londonderry Chamber business breakfast on the second day of Mr Corbyn's visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan (left) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (right) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre, obscured and back to camera) waves at a vehicle with Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd (back to camera) during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn with Professor Deirdre Heenan during a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted by Professor James McElnay, Acting Vice-Chancellor at Queen's University in Belfast, ahead of delivering a public lecture in the Great Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference, a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tony Lloyd MP (left) with Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor James McElnay (second from right), Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation and Engagement at QueenOs University Professor Richard English (right), and Acting Registrar Wendy Galbraith at Queens University in Belfast where Corbyn is due to deliver a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since being elected as Labour leader three years ago. During his speech in Belfast he is expected to say he insists that he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable George Hamilton listens as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neil arrives to hear Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn deliver a public lecture in the Great Hall at Queen's University Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, leaves the stage after delivering a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Sinn Fein members (left to right), Francie Molloy, Paul Maskey and Mickey Brady MP, attend Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's lecture at Queens University in Belfast. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018. Mr Corbyn urged Prime Minister Theresa May to reconvene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference - a body that offers the Irish a consultative role in non-devolved matters concerning Northern Ireland. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 24: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, delivers a speech at Queens University on May 24, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Mr Corbyn was making his first visit to Northern Ireland since he was elected as Labour leader three years ago, during his speech in Belfast he insisted the he will not support any Brexit deal that supports a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images ROSA NI campaigners to amend the 8th amendment to the Irish Constitution hold a banner outside Queens University Belfast's Wilta Hall Labour wear leader Jeremy Corbyn will give a lecture during his first visit to Northern Ireland as party leader. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 24, 2018.See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn arrives at Queens University in Belfast this morning / Credit: Pacemaker / Facebook

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Whatsapp Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives the thumbs up after a visit to Lifford Bridge on the Irish border, during the second day of a two-day trip to learn more about how Brexit affects the country. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Friday May 25, 2018. See PA story ULSTER Corbyn. Photo credit should read: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

His speech at Queen's University ticked all the right boxes for the local audience, while still providing precious few insights into how Labour would respect Ireland's invisible border and, at the same time, deliver on the result of the Brexit referendum. Corbyn is, let's not forget, a lifelong eurosceptic and he hasn't changed his mind about that, either.

For all his praise for the Belfast Agreement, though, it's impossible to make sense of his approach to Northern Ireland without relating it back to that deeper desire for a break-up of the Union.

There's nothing wrong with that. Wanting to see a united Ireland is not a crime.

But agitating for one, while refusing to meet those who were killed and maimed in its name, makes it look as if they should just accept their fate as collateral damage on the path to a greater good.

Ignoring ordinary people who suffered during the Troubles, while finding time to hobnob with business leaders at Belfast's Europa Hotel, isn't a great look for an avowed man of the people either.

Labour insists that it just wasn't possible to fit such a meeting into his schedule. Corbyn said he only heard about it on Wednesday. Campbell, in turn, insists that he'd approached the party repeatedly in the 10 days running up the Opposition leader's visit with a view to setting up a meeting.

The fact remains that Corbyn would have found the time to rejig his schedule if he thought the inconvenience was worth it.

Politicians make last-minute adjustments to their itineraries all the time - and there are certain groups of people that he wouldn't countenance ignoring.

That those targeted by the IRA are not one of them shows where they stand in the current Labour leadership's hierarchy of victims.

Corbyn's deafness to how that might look to unionists is reminiscent of his inability to reassure members of the Jewish community that hard-Left agitators in Labour are not, as their words and actions increasingly indicate, virulently anti-Semitic.

Given those concerns, it was all the more important that Corbyn go out of his way to be inclusive.

His first public engagement in Northern Ireland as Labour leader represents a symbolic moment and he has decades of misgivings to overcome.

He touched on that at Queen's when he spoke of the need to "reach out and talk to people from all communities and all backgrounds". Having ticked off that cliche, though, he stuck rigidly to type.

Even his support for the reconvening of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference as a way to break the political deadlock sounds like just another way of slyly pushing greater involvement in Northern Ireland's affairs by the Government of the Republic of Ireland, an administration which has itself been taking a bullish, ultra-nationalistic stance to Brexit and the continued suspension of power-sharing at Stormont.

It would be tempting to call Corbyn's visit a missed opportunity were it not for the sneaking suspicion that he knows exactly what message it's sending out.

Downing Street will be a cold house for unionists if he ever becomes Prime Minister.
Buying your first home is an incredibly exciting time - your mum, dad, granny, friends and Margaret who lives across the street, will ALL have a mortgage story. While its great to talk out the process with your nearest and dearest, it can quickly become quite overwhelming. However, with the right mixture of prep and help from professionals, it can be a really smooth and stress-free process.

Bank of Ireland UK knows mortgages and even though they can seem complicated, and explanations can sound like financial jargon, Bank of Ireland UK wants to simplify things for you. Mortgage Sales Adviser Patrick Greene has outlined five simple tips to make the whole journey for first-time buyers as trouble free as possible.

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1) Making financial sacrifices:

Anything worth having, is worth saving for isnt that the famous quote? We all love spending money, most of us just cant help ourselves, but when youre saving for a mortgage its important to prioritise and budget your finances in the correct way. Try and keep those credit commitments to a minimum in the 12 months leading up to the application, this shows the bank that youre able to manage your finances effectively - itll all be worth it in the long run.

2) Deposit, deposit, deposit:

Although this is one of the most obvious pieces of advice, its also one of the most important. When youre dreaming of leaving that rental property behind, saving for your deposit is usually the first port of call and it is key to ensuring you can get the home you want. At Bank of Ireland UK we understand its more than just a mortgage, its about finding a house that you can make your home. Bank of Ireland UK has lots of different options available and while most mortgages require a 10% deposit, there are some available which only require 5%. When saving, budget wisely, stretch to save where you can by cutting out some of lifes luxuries such as phone contracts or Netflix subscriptions as every pound counts. Ultimately save what you can afford, keep up the good work and youll get there.

3) The credit check:

For many of us, even hearing the words credit rating is enough to make us run and hide, but theres nothing to fear. Bank of Ireland UK is here to help, and even if you dont think your rating is great, its important to share it with your mortgage adviser. There are often ways your lender can help manage this, so whether you plan to take a mortgage with Bank of Ireland UK or not, come and talk to us  we want to help.

4) The first appointment checklist:

After youve searched high and low to find your dream house its now time to start the mortgage application process. Take some time to pull together basic info prior to your first appointment with your mortgage consultant and have the following to hand: pay slips, address history, employment history, property history and solicitor contact details. Bank of Ireland UK has lots of helpful mortgage advisers to answer any questions you might have in the lead up you your first appointment, so dont be afraid to give us a call.

5) There are no stupid questions:

People learn by asking questions! The journey to owning your first home can be an emotional rollercoaster and mortgages can seem complicated. There are no stupid questions, if there is ever anything you dont understand, just ask!

Bank of Ireland UK wants to work with you to better understand your mortgage requirements and to help you find a mortgage that best suits your needs  we understand that its more than a mortgage.

For even more helpful tips about buying your first home, visit www.bankofirelanduk.com/mortgages/
Officers stand guard outside a detention center inside the compound of the elite police unit Mobile Brigade where a riot broke out, in Depok, West Java, Indonesia, May 10, 2018.

After prisoners seized control of an Indonesia maximum security facility housing 155 terrorist inmates and a baby, Islamic State (IS) leaders in Syria instructed their followers inside to fight until death.

But Indonesian police checkmated ISs plans for a bloodbath inside the penitentiary in Kelapa Dua, near Jakarta, held by inmates from May 8-10.

Taking advantage of a prison riot, IS operationalized three phases of its standard four-step strategy seen in Paris in 2015 and Dhaka the year after: herding and slaughtering hostages; issuing propaganda; inviting government troops for a showdown; and then fighting until martyrdom.

Although 800 personnel from the 40,000-member Brimob staff surrounded the facility and waited for orders to break the siege, the militants were undeterred. Having gained control of the compound, including access to 26 weapons and 300 rounds of ammunition, the IS convicts and detainees maimed and injured seven, tortured to death five and took one Densus 88 officer hostage.

In addition, IS called their supporters throughout Indonesia to storm Kelapa Dua and join the fight to free their supreme leader, Aman Abdurrahman, held in the nearby Brimob provost building.

National Police Chief Tito Karnavian advised a team of counterterrorism officers to meet with Aman. After initially resisting, Aman agreed and advised the inmates not to create a commotion inside a lions cage.

Amans fatwa to end the siege peacefully calmed the inmate population, which had pledged or renewed allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to fight-to-death. All but one terrorist suspect  fatally injured during the take-over  surrendered. The condition of surrender was that there would be no follow up investigations into police lives lost and inmates would be treated like human beings and not animals.

The Context

Indonesia houses its large terrorist population at Nusakambangan, nicknamed execution island. However, the penitentiary in Kelapa Dua was the holding facility for terrorist suspects under investigation, on trial, or convicts waiting to be placed in a prison.

Located at the heart of the headquarters of the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob), the facility housed the most dangerous inmates. They included Abu Qutaibah, the Indonesia IS emir; Young Farmer, arrested in Bandung in August 2017 when he was building a radiological dispersal device with Thorium; and Anggi Indah Kusuma, the IS propagandist deported from Hong Kong, and her 1-year-old baby.

Jointly run by Brimob and Densus 88, the penitentiary was overcrowded and faced the challenges almost all prisons housing terrorists face.

Iwan Sarjana, the police officer held hostage by the inmates, explained the typical mindset of the detainees and convicts to Jawa Pos journalist Ilham Dwi Ridlo Wancoko: They were angry, unhappy, and would be combative with the police. Each time a member [of the police] would walk past a cell, they would be shouting. Usually, they would call out the word thogut [Satan].

May 8

The genesis of the siege can be traced to 7:20 p.m. May 8, when an inmate complained to the staff that food brought by a family member to an inmate was late. The incident was exploited by an IS leader, Wawan, who incited a riot by calling out that the warden is a dog.

After the terrorists broke out of the holding blocks at 8:20 p.m., they attacked a second building in the compound, known as the investigation building, and overpowered the officers inside.

Seven including a female investigator escaped with injuries, but six officers were captured and dragged to the cells. Five were tortured to death.

Iwan was beaten, tied up, blindfolded and lashed with chains. Boiling water was splashed and poured onto his back. I shouted, but still tried to withstand it. The pain was tremendous, but I believed that this would pass, Iwan said.

The inmates broke into the evidence room and seized arms, ammunition and explosives, and renewed their bayat (oath of allegiance) to the Caliph. At this point, 40 percent of the inmates wanted to fight.

Not knowing that their colleagues had been butchered by inmates, police pressured the perpetrators at 9:15 p.m. to release the Densus 88 officers. Police also offered to treat terrorist suspects Ibrahim and Wawan, who had been injured by officers, but there was no compromise. Police threatened to attack the penitentiary, but the terrorist convicts and detainees were unrelenting.

At first, the directions of IS central were followed by the inmates to the letter.

For almost three hours, the dialogue did not bear any fruit, revealed a Densus 88 officer at the forefront of trying to initiate a dialogue.

Initially, the inmates wanted to fight. But over time many of them realized the reality of the situation. Most Densus 88 officers, especially those with experience, had treated the inmates respectfully. They regretted the torture and deaths of the officers at the hands of a few inmates.

Although IS leadership within the facility tried to justify the action, a part of the inmate population realized that they had merely jumped on the bandwagon without thinking through their actions. Meanwhile, food, water and electricity had been cut off.

May 9

At 1:30 a.m. May 9, inmate representative Abu Umar asked for permission to leave the Detention Center and meet with Aman Abdurrahman. Abu Umars request to meet the IS leader was conveyed to senior police officials.

When they met with Abu Umar, they told him that five Densus 88 officers had died, one was still held hostage and one detainee was shot dead, and another detainee was wounded.

In reality, the officers had been tortured to death, and had Ibrahim received timely treatment, he could have been saved. The Jakarta provincial police chief told detainees to surrender and give up the weapons under their control.

At 8:15 a.m., the inmate representative asked to meet again to convey their request to normalize the situation, to meet with Ustad Aman Abdurahman to hear his ruling following the riots, and to get medical treatment for those who were hurt. After reviewing the requests, Densus 88 agreed to evacuate the dead bodies, the female detainees, the two injured inmates and one baby.

To keep up the pressure, however, Densus 88 did not respond to inmate requests immediately. Close to noon prayers, the bodies were retrieved. The female detainees and the child were not released. At 3:35 p.m., police pressured the perpetrators to release the hostage by issuing a warning and agreeing to treat the wounded terrorists.

At 8:15 p.m., the inmates asked to meet again, to convey their requests to the Densus 88 officers and their wish to meet Ustaz Aman and hear his fatwa (ruling). The representative of the inmates promised to release the hostage. But they did not because they were worried that once the hostage was released, all of the inmates would be under attack.

At 10:30 p.m., Densus 88 pressured the perpetrators again by issuing a warning of an imminent attack on the prisoners. The representative of the inmates asked to meet with officers. They told them that when their request to contact Ustaz Aman via telephone was fulfilled, they would release the hostage, who was still alive. After they spoke with Aman, Iwan was released at 11:15 p.m. and was immediately brought to the hospital.

May 10

At 1:30 a.m., Densus 88 officers issued warnings that they would attack within a short period of time.

At 2:40 a.m., the inmates representative asked to meet again to convey that they wanted to surrender and hand over the weapons.

At 5:30 a.m., the inmates representative asked for a meeting to convey the technicalities of the weapons handover. At 6:45 a.m., the detainees left the Detention Centre and surrendered.

Weapons numbering 26 units and about 300 rounds of ammunition were handed over by way of leaving them in cells.

Hard questions

Managing the IS threat requires sophistication, both insight and foresight. There are no easy solutions or positive outcomes, no outright wins and failures. Many hard questions linger.

Will the veterans of Kelapa Dua join the terrorist iconography and be hailed by terrorists and extremists as heroes? Respect within IS rank and file is measured by the number of years a leader or a member has been in custody and the battles they have fought. What can be done to prevent their elevation to iconic status, and will they lead a new wave of violence?

The Densus 88 officers paid the supreme sacrifice for Indonesia, fighting the most ruthless terrorists. Should investigators working in penitentiaries holding terrorist inmates, especially high value targets (HVTs), be better protected, better equipped and trained to fight back?

More than any other group, IS has developed a mastery of how to break out and break into penitentiaries. IS know-how and expertise on breaking walls has grown steadily since 2003. Should prison management protocols and procedures be revisited? Should the perimeter of terrorist penitentiaries be protected by the military?

The IS leadership, including apex leaders like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Aman Abdurrahman, are recidivist. How can terrorist penitentiaries housing HVTs be better secured and better managed? Considering that the Kelapa Dua inmates had phones, should there be innovative measures to screen visitors and staff entering penitentiaries?

Currently, the global best practice is to implement rehabilitation initiatives after a court of law finds a terrorist guilty. Should governments implement rehabilitation initiatives from the point of capture and throughout the investigation phase, rather than wait for sentencing?

Furthermore, rehabilitation is voluntary and not mandatory. If terrorists in custody are not rehabilitated, they will pose a threat, infect others with their ideas and be hailed as icons. Many IS members who are released relapse and are rearrested. Considering the threat posed by recidivists, should rehabilitation be made mandatory and conditional to release?

Conclusion

In the coming months and years, experts around the world will dissect the siege, the state response and the failure to detect the subsequent Surabaya and Riau attacks. The full extent of the siege and follow-on attacks will be known only to those managing security, and their implications will be experienced only by Indonesia and the region.

What is evident is that IS has come of age in the region.

The new wave of extremism and terrorism engulfing the Southeast Asian region requires greater intelligence collaboration between law enforcement, military and national security agencies. At a national, bilateral and regional level, there are different degrees of cooperation within the ASEAN space.

However, considering the rising regional IS threat and the global expansion of IS, Southeast Asian governments need to rethink their existing security arrangements. The siege of Marawi (May to October 2017), multiple attacks in Indonesia in May 2018, and likely future IS-inspired or directed events require a shift from existing cooperation to collaboration within and between governments.

Rohan Gunaratna is professor of Security Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technology University and head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and not of BenarNews.
Muhammad Syafii (right), head of an Indonesian parliamentary committee on the anti-terrorism law, hands a report to a fellow parliament member in Jakarta, May 25, 2018.

After a two-year debate, the Indonesian parliament on Friday unanimously strengthened its 2003 anti-terrorism law, allowing police to take preventative measures and formalizing a military role in counterterrorism efforts.

Pressure to pass the bill grew following terrorist violence over the last two weeks that, according to National Police chief Tito Karnavian, killed 13 civilians, seven police and 31 terror suspects.

The revised law was approved a day after factions in a parliamentary committee handling the bill agreed that spreading ideology or political views that threaten national security could be defined as terrorist acts.

It allows police to wiretap terror suspects without first seeking a warrant from a district court if they are strongly suspected of preparing, planning, and/or conducting terror acts.

In addition, those who have been affiliated with or joined illegal military training in Indonesia or overseas aimed at carrying out terror attacks can be charged with violating the anti-terror law.

Special committee chairman Muhammad Syafii said Indonesians who visit countries such as Syria would now be assessed when they return and if it was established that they had participated in military training to plan terror acts in the country, they would be charged.

The National Counterterror Agency [BNPT] is officially in charge of the assessment. If a person has not been yet been exposed to radicalism, that person can be included in a counter radicalization program, Syafii said. But if he or she is proven to have committed terror crimes or planned to carry them out, he or she can be charged with violating the law.

Expanded rights for victims

Syafii said initiatives in the revised law focus on prevention through countermeasures, rehabilitation and supervision.

Human rights would be addressed during the arrest of terror suspects, Syafii said, adding they would be treated humanely and no torture would be allowed.

This has to be understood to stay in line with the universal principles of human rights, he said.

In addition, the revised law expands victim protection beyond compensation and restitution.

The revised law also regulates other rights such as medical assistance, psychological and psychosocial rehabiliation, compensation for lost lives, restitution and compensation distribution, Syafii said.

Military involvement

Law and human rights minister Yasonna Laoly said technical details of the militarys role in combating terrorism would be regulated by presidential decree. The law on the militarys mandate states the force can be involved in counterterrorism as well as military operations and war, he said.

Although Indonesias military has already been involved in some counterterrorism operations, such as efforts to flush out Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) militants from the jungles of Central Sulawesi, there had been some resistance to expanding or formalizing that role.

Activists had feared a renewed domestic role for the military could restore its prominent and at times repressive role in civilian life. Withdrawing the military from internal security was a key achievement of the reform era following the fall of dictator Suharto in 1998.

Armed Forces Chief Hadi Tjahjanto said he appreciated parliaments giving troops additional duties in the fight against terrorism, recognizing the threat to the national security.

Now that we have been included, we are ready to move, while waiting for the presidential decree to be issued, he said.

Surely we will detect any signs that point to terror attacks. We will anticipate it, he said.

Previously, President Joko Jokowi Widodo said the implementation would commence as soon as the bill was approved.

Whats most important is how to implement the law, he said.

Jokowi also said there should be no doubt about the militarys role because it has long been involved in the campaign against terrorism.

Furthermore, the presidential decree will regulate it, Jokowi said.
By Ruth Anderah.

35 year old man who allegedly defiled a one and half year sisters daughter has been charged and further remanded to Luzira government prison.

Abdul Walusimbi who has been on remand since February 2016 to date charged before High Court Judge Jane Francis Abodo who read to him aggravated defilement charge and he denied it.

Prosecution states that Walusimbi committed the offence on February 14th 2016 at Kazo in Wakiso district in the absence of the victims mother.

He is now to return to court on June 6th for the hearing to kick off.
Updated at 12:07 p.m. ET on 2018-05-25

Reeling from the discovery that national liabilities have ballooned to 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $251.7 billion), Malaysias new finance minister said Thursday the country would honor its financial obligations, while anti-graft investigators questioned ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak for a second time this week.

As Najib entered the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building on Thursday morning, members of a taskforce investigating a massive financial scandal at the 1MDB state fund that he had founded held talks with U.S. Justice Department officials and FBI agents, officials said. 1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Berhad, has become a target of probes in several countries including the United States, where investigators allege that Najibs associates bought properties and laundered $4.5 billion in money siphoned from the fund.

"[T]he Federal Government debt and liabilities amount to a total of RM1,087.3 billion, or 80.3% of the GDP, as at 31 December 2017. Malaysians are rightly concerned with our debt situation, as we did when we were in the Opposition," Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said in a statement.

However, let me emphasize that the obligations and financial commitments of the federal government are unchanged before May 9 and after elections today, he added. The only change is that the new federal government has decided to call a spade a spade.

Necessary to bite the bullet

Lim was responding to Facebook posts by Najib late Wednesday in which the former leader criticized Lims claims that the nations debt had swollen to more than 1 trillion ringgit.

As a result of these alarming and confusing statements, our Bursa Malaysia index fell the most among all worldwide stock markets resulting in tens of billions of ringgit in market value wiped out in one day, Najib said. Our Bursa index fell 40.78 points today or 2.21 percent while the Indonesian stock index added 0.71 percent.

Najib, the subject of domestic graft investigations, was toppled after serving a decade in power, when the opposition bloc, led by Mahathir Mohamad, demolished the ruling coalition in the May 9 general election.

Najib accused the new government of making moves to slander and put all the blame on me to give a perception of a dire financial position to justify why you cannot deliver on your manifesto promises and to massively cut the civil service.



Najibs criticisms came amid confusion over Mahathirs claim on Wednesday that the federal debt had reached more than 65 percent of the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP), surpassing the previous governments official figure.

Lim said his ministry arrived at that figure by looking at the complete picture of the governments financial commitments.



He said the official debt stood at 686.8 billion ringgit ($173.2 billion) or 50.8 percent of GDP, but the nation was committed to pay for government guarantees for entities that have been unable to service debts amounting to an additional 199.1 billion ringgit ($50.2 billion), or 14.6 percent of GDP.



Based on the two items above, the federal government debt would amount to 885.9 billion ringgit ($223.4 billion), Lim said, explaining that with other commitments and obligations, including lease payments, the nations total liabilities had breached the trillion ringgit threshold equivalent to 80.3 percent of GDP, as of Dec. 31 last year.

It is necessary to bite the bullet now, work hard to solve our problems, rather than let it explode in our faces at a later date, Lim said.

Malaysian, US investigators meet for first time

The United States had sought mutual legal assistance twice  in 2016 and in 2017  as Justice Department (DOJ) officials launched a corruption probe, but received no cooperation from Kuala Lumpur, U.S. investigators told the 1MDB taskforce in Putrajaya, the countrys administrative capital.

FBI and DOJ officials met for more than an hour with the taskforce members. These included former Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, former MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed, police Special Branch director Abdul Hamid Bador and the anti-graft agencys current chief, Mohd Shukri Abdul. The two nations agreed about what must be done to bring the stolen assets back to Malaysia, officials said.

Najib grilled again

Meanwhile, Najib smiled and waved to photographers but declined to give a statement as he arrived at MACC headquarters in Putrajaya on Thursday. He spent almost seven hours with the anti-graft body before leaving at about 5 p.m.

Najib, who had also served as finance minister, was grilled over why 42 million ringgit ($10.6 million) landed into his bank account from SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.

Before leaving, Najib told reporters that he was informed by MACC officers that his questioning sessions are completed.

I have answered all the questions to the best of my ability and the MACC have done their job with professionalism, he said.



Najib, 64, was interviewed by the anti-graft commission for four hours on Tuesday, the first time the former leader was formally questioned regarding the scandal.

Najib founded 1MDB in 2009 as a sovereign wealth fund ostensibly to pursue projects beneficial to Malaysians. But, according to U.S. court documents, the fund was used instead to satiate ostentatious lifestyles between 2009 and 2014.

When U.S. prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture case related to 1MDB in July 2016, they described a breathtaking level of fraud in which more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was rerouted in a maze of transactions before ultimately landing in the personal bank accounts of Malaysia Official 1, a veiled reference to Najib.

Najib has denied any criminal wrongdoing, saying the money deposited into his bank accounts was a donation from a Saudi prince.

Washington has described the 1MDB affair as the worst kleptocracy scandal in recent times, pointing out that more than $4.5 billion (17.9 billion ringgit) was stolen from the fund since its inception.

Mahathir, 92, has vowed not to make any deal with Najib and promised to investigate the corruption scandal fully.

As part of the larger 1MDB probe, Malaysian police raided six residences and a former office linked to Najib, carting off hundreds of boxes of designer handbags and dozens of suitcases containing cash, jewelry and luxury items.
Philippine military and local government officials display some of the weapons confiscated in the southern region of Mindanao, March 12, 2018.

A year after they beat back local and foreign militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) in the southern city of Marawi, the Philippine military on Friday rejected calls to lift martial law in the region.

Armed forces chief Gen. Carlito Galvez said at least 30,000 unlicensed weapons remain in the hands of civilians in the southern region of Mindanao, noted for decades of Muslim separatist rebellion in the predominately Catholic nation. The figure is on top of the estimated 130,000 weapons estimated to be in the hands of rebel and lawless groups, including those who led the siege in Marawi.

We need martial law because we still have to get 80 percent of the loose firearms, Galvez said. Peace-loving people have seen the remarkable improvement in peace and order. They no longer see guns in the streets.

Abu Sayyaf acquiring weapons

A recent military intelligence report stated Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern island of Jolo have been acquiring new weapons and state-of-the-art equipment.

The weapons are smuggled in by sea from the nearby countries of Malaysia and Indonesia, with militants taking advantage of porous borders, according to the report seen by a BenarNews reporter. A fresh delivery allegedly included military-grade night vision goggles and assault rifles.

A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said photographs of the weapons circulated in the social media platform Telegram as recently as last month.

The report follows the 2017 attack of Marawi led by IS Filipino leader and Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon. At least 1,200 people, mostly militants, were killed in the five-month battle that ended in October after Hapilons death.

Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejano said troops have been given until the end of the year to defeat Abu Sayyaf, the fiercest of the countrys militant groups operating in the south.

Abu Sayyaf has fewer than 500 members but has been blamed for kidnappings, beheadings and some of the countrys worst terrorist attacks, including a ferry bombing on Manila Bay that killed more than 100 in 2004.

Soldiers will be utilizing all available war materiel, resources, and ground, air and sea mobility to finish the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Sulu, he said.

Previous regional military commanders vowed to crush the Abu Sayyaf only to see the group regroup and commit new atrocities. It is holding 12 hostages including three Indonesians, one Vietnamese, one Dutch and seven Filipinos and has behead three hostages in the past two years.

Martial law to continue

In Manila, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said suggestions by rights groups to lift martial law are ill-timed while he sought to assure the public it would be declared over as soon as President Rodrigo Duterte and the military determine there is no more threat.

Nobody wants martial law beyond the necessity of having martial law. So the palace would like to assure the public the moment the need for martial law ceases, it will be lifted, Roque said.

But certainly one year after the siege, the time to lift martial law is not yet here, he said.

Rights group Karapatan challenged the statement, saying giving the military total control in the south has led to rights abuses and dozens of alleged extrajudicial killings in the southern island of Mindanao.

The Duterte regimes adamant defense for the continuing imposition of martial law in Mindanao speaks of its militarist and ineffective approach in addressing the root causes of the social problems that spawned the armed conflicts in Mindanao and elsewhere, Karapatan leader Cristina Palabay said.

Martial law is among its tools to suppress the exercise of legitimate dissent and of peoples direct actions to uphold basic rights and democratic interests, she said.

Richel V. Umel from Marawi, Jeoffrey Maitem from Cotabato and Dennis Jay Santos from Davao contributed to this report.
Thai Royal Police officers from the Crime Suppression Division escort Buddhist monks after questioning them in Bangkok, May 24, 2018.

Raids involving up to 200 police commandos led to the arrests at Buddhist temples in Bangkok of five senior monks suspected of being part of a money laundering scheme, Thai government officials said Thursday.

Armed with warrants, police searched for seven monks in three different temples  Wat Sa Ket, Wat Sam Phraya, and Wat Samphanthawong  who were believed to be linked to a scam where millions of baht were illegally transferred from temple funds to outsiders.

Of the five arrested, three were members of the Sangha Supreme Council, the organization that governs Buddhist monks in the country, officials said.

In Theravada (conservative) Buddhism, monks are not supposed to touch money. Despite this ban, police said they froze 132 million baht ($4.13 million) in the personal bank account of an abbot at Sa Ket Temple who was not among the five taken into custody.

We found the abbot was involved with embezzling money from two temple-related projects worth 69 million baht. Money was transferred to lay people outside, police Maj. Gen. Maitree Chimcherd told reporters.

In addition, Buddha Isara, a well-known activist monk, was arrested for allegedly stealing weapons during street protests in 2013 and 2014 and for violating the countrys strict royal defamation law through the alleged unlicensed use of the royal emblem on a Buddhist image.

The suspects who were arrested did not respond to questions from reporters as they were led into criminal court. The court stripped them of their positions as monks so they could be sent to jail and then denied bail.

Suwapan Tanyuwattana, a minister in the Prime Ministers Office who oversees the National Office of Buddhism (NOB), told reporters that police were only doing their jobs in arresting and processing the monks.

In order to take legal action, we have to be concerned about Sangha law and Sangha discipline, he said. Everything has regulations and procedures.

Thursdays raids were the latest launched by the military-led government in its efforts to clean up corruption among the clergy of Thailands dominant religion. In Thailand, about 95 percent of its 69 million people practice Buddhism led by nearly 300,000 monks in 41,000 temples nationwide.

In March 2017, authorities ended a 23-day siege at the nations largest temple, Wat Dhammakaya, after they were unable to capture its founding monk on money-laundering and other charges despite deploying hundreds of police and soldiers to hunt him down.

Reformer speaks

A former official of a Buddhism reform panel group said the arrests were a good start to ridding Buddhism of criminal elements.

Senior monks involved with temple-fund fraud will surely impact peoples faith toward Buddhism. This is going to bring a huge change to Thailands religious composition, said Paiboon Nititawan, a former member of National Reform Councils panel on Buddhism reform.

We should amend Sangha law to prevent monks from being involved with money and temple finances. An accountant should be able to examine temple accounts, he said.
Joint Base Charleston executed a Rapid Global Mobility drill Tuesday, May 23 that included 15 C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft and two F16 

C-17 Globemaster III

Primary Function: Cargo and troop transport

Prime Contractor: Boeing Company

Power Plant: Four Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofan engines

Thrust: 40,440 pounds, each engine

Wingspan: 169 feet 10 inches (to winglet tips) (51.75 meters)

Length: 174 feet (53 meters)

Height: 55 feet 1 inch (16.79 meters)

Cargo Compartment: length, 88 feet (26.82 meters); width, 18 feet (5.48 meters); height, 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 meters)

Speed: 450 knots at 28,000 feet (8,534 meters) (Mach .74)

Service Ceiling: 45,000 feet at cruising speed (13,716 meters)

Range: Global with in-flight refueling

Crew: Three (two pilots and one loadmaster)

Aeromedical Evacuation Crew: A basic crew of five (two flight nurses and three medical technicians) is added for aeromedical evacuation missions. Medical crew may be altered as required by the needs of patients

Maximum Peacetime Takeoff Weight: 585,000 pounds (265,352 kilograms)

Load: 102 troops/paratroops; 36 litter and 54 ambulatory patients and attendants; 170,900 pounds (77,519 kilograms) of cargo (18 pallet positions)

Unit Cost: $202.3 million (fiscal 1998 constant dollars)

Date Deployed: June 1993

Inventory: Active duty, 187; Air National Guard, 12; Air Force Reserve, 14

Source: http://www.af.mil
The largest e-pharmacy in the country is planning to expand its offline reach to 50 cities in FY 2019.

Medlife, a fastest growing healthcare company and largest omni-channel pharmacy, has launched its first diagnostic lab in Bangalore, as part of an aggressive plan to expand its offline footprint in India. The company has started off with Bangalore and will gradually ramp up to other metro cities in the country.

As the largest e-pharmacy in India, covering over 80% of the countrys pin-code, Medlife offers customers both medicines, diagnostics and other healthcare facilities through its online portal, mobile application and customer care centres.

With scalable technology and deep analytics, Medlife, in a short span, has successfully created a strong distribution network and unparalleled delivery model that has made healthcare simple, accessible and affordable to people across India. It was, thus, time to leverage these capabilities and deep learning and create a world-class offline business that provides its customers with a seamless healthcare experience.

The company expects revenue of INR 200 million by the end of this financial year from the diagnostic vertical. Medlife has already invested INR 6 Million and is planning to invest another 43 Million within the next year, to set up 6 satellite labs in addition to the centralized lab launched in Bangalore. The lab is undergoing ISO certification and will receive its NABH and NABL certification by FY 19-20. The diagnostic lab will operate under the name Medlife Labs. Medlife Labs also promises same day report delivery and free home sample collection to all their customers.

Speaking about the companys long-term plans, Tushar Kumar, CEO, Medlife said, Our focus is to build a worldclass infrastructure for healthcare. We, at Medlife, have constantly endeavoured to ensure quality healthcare services with affordable rates reach the maximum number of people in India. Through our innovative tech-enabled platform, were building customer touchpoints across online and offline platforms that can seamlessly integrate to provide a high-quality healthcare experience for our end-users. The launch of lab services is in line with this commitment and endeavour

Around 70 per cent of treatment decisions in India are based on lab results. Needless to say then, diagnostic services constitute one of the most critical components of medical care in India. It also helps in building a preventive care ecosystem and better diagnosis of health problems. Thus, creating substantial impact on the continuum of care, added Kumar.

The diagnostic laboratories industry in India is poised for strong growth because of rising demand for healthcare but lack of regulation remains a major concern, considering the risks it poses to patients. The diagnostic laboratories sector in India is highly fragmented with standalone centres accounting for ~ 70% of the market and organized ones having ~ 30% shares. India has around 100,000 diagnostic laboratories, which include pathology laboratories and radiology centres.

Since its inception as an e-pharmacy company in 2014, Medlife has diversified into 24X7 e-consultation, laboratory services, and app-based healthcare-related services. In a short span of just over two years post-launch, Medlife went on to create a customer base of one million unique customers. The company recently launched its own line of generic drugs in line with the Government of Indias recent efforts to encourage the use of affordable generic drugs in India. Apart from diagnostic labs, Medlife will also be launching offline stores across 50 cities this financial year.

Backed by promoters with credible experience in pharmaceutical and healthcare e-commerce businesses, Medlife is known for its best-in-class quality, 100% regulatory compliance and zero-delivery error. With a planned internal investment of $30 million to scale up operations, the company expects to earn a revenue of Rs 900-1000 crores by financial year 2019.
Massey Manor tenants will be allowed back into their homes Friday for the first time since a massive fire wreaked havoc on the downtown building.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 25/5/2018 (1235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Massey Manor tenants will be allowed back into their homes Friday for the first time since a massive fire wreaked havoc on the downtown building.

"Tenants will be allowed into the building in a scheduled fashion (Friday) beginning at 10 a.m.," a spokesperson for Manitoba Housing said via email.

"Tenants will be able to retrieve critical documents such as personal identification if they have not sustained water damage."

Some sources told The Brandon Sun that residents will have approximately 15 minutes to go in and gather their things.

City inspectors will be present, the spokesperson added, as well as property managers for all floors.

Flames spread from the adjacent Christies Office Plus building to the roof of Massey Manor, but the only fire damage reported so far is on the upper floor.

Water damage, however, is extensive throughout the building.

Approximately 200 people were evacuated from the 58-unit building, with 93 adults and 57 children registered at an evacuation centre over the weekend, the city said.

The Brandon Bear Clan organized an overwhelming amount of clothing donations and other supplies for evacuees, and as of Thursday evening a GoFundMe set up by local advocate Kim Longstreet raised more than $12,300.

 The Brandon Sun, with files from The Canadian Press
Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom / Yonhap



South Korea's presidential office said Thursday it is seeking to figure out the background of U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt cancellation of his agreed-upon summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.

"(We) are trying to figure out what President Trump's intention is and the exact meaning of it," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters. (Yonhap)
by Joe Dermody

Irish seafood entrepreneurs have developed enough export experience over the years to navigate their way through what promise to be significant Brexit challenges, and invaluable help is at hand.

Seafood and marine industry leaders at the fifth annual Our Ocean Wealth Summit in a purpose-built marquee at Galway Docks, on June 28 and 29, will discuss the actions Irish companies will need to take to be ready for practical issues such as customs, trade, market access, supply chain and logistics.

Marine Institute CEO Peter Heffernan, Yvonne Thompson, partner at PwC, and Jim OToole, CEO of BIM, who will address Our Ocean Wealth Summit in Galway, June 28 and 29. Pic: Jason Clarke

The two-day programme features inputs Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), Bord Bia, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Failte Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) and the Marine Institute with individual sessions addressing environmental, economic and societal opportunities and challenges to creating a sustainable ocean economy for Ireland. Former President Mary Robinson is the keynote speaker.

BIM chief executive, Jim O'Toole, says seafood companies know they will have to face new obstacles, regardless of hard or soft Brexit outcomes. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic they will surmount those challenges.

Irish seafood companies have always had to battle it out in competitive export markets, confronting challenges on a daily basis. For their relative size, they've managed to perform remarkably well in global markets, said Jim O'Toole.

Irelands Seafood Industry contributes 1.15bn annually to Irelands GDP. The sector employs over 14,000 people, predominantly in coastal communities. Irelands seafood trade sales reached 1bn for the first time in 2017.

Global demand for seafood is soaring, driven by growing awareness of its health benefits. Fish represents 16% of all animal protein consumed globally, and the world's population is set to surpass nine billion by 2050.

Irelands main export markets are: Europe (excl. UK), 392m; UK, 85m; and Asia, 79m. Irelands aquaculture industry grew by 24% in 2017 to 208m.

Irish seafood does reach diverse markets, but a lot of that outgoing product passes through the UK in refrigerated trucks.

We are working with companies and looking at their alternatives and possible solutions, said Jim O'Toole.

There is increased capacity in terms of air freight to Asia, where there is growing demand for seafood. Air freight currently represents less than 2% of our seafood exports, but there is more capacity coming on board.

There is global demand for the product. I am optimistic about the ability of Irish seafood companies to diversify. It is also interesting to see how new channels will evolve. Online selling is growing in China. One exporter told me that, in terms of logistics, he finds China easier to access than London.

BIM has also been working with CrabTree Capital, with industry and logistics partners to scope out potential for an Irish seafood logistics hub. An industry-funded private sector hub, it could be along similar lines to PCF Frankfurt, a thriving hub for perishable goods.

Of course, ticking away behind all of this is Brexit. Several discussions during the two-day Our Ocean Wealth Summit will look at how seafood companies, most of them SMEs, can plan for post-Brexit exports. In most scenarios, this will involve using the UK as a land-bridge to EU and world markets.

John O'Loughlin, PwC director for trade and customs, is a speaker one of the discussion panels in Galway. He says Irish exporters are right to hope for the 'backstop' arrangement wherein regulatory alignment within the island of Ireland would minimise the post-Brexit pain.

John OLoughlin, PwC, director for trade and customs

However, he says it would pay Irish businesses to plan early for a worse outcome. For starters, many Northern Irish businesses will have little interest in a backstop deal; their main export focus is on the UK, not the Irish market.

A fuller picture will start to emerge when the withdrawal text is signed, due in October but unlikely to happen before November. Before that, UK PM Theresa May will publish a white paper.

Most Irish SME owners have been to seminars on Brexit, they're following the information, but few of them are actioning the mitigation measures, said John O'Loughlin.

A lot of Irish SMEs are still asking themselves if Brexit will be reversed, or they're hoping for a soft Brexit.

There remains a real risk of a hard Brexit, because there are still so many red lines. The transition has to be agreed, then ratified by both sides. Management teams will certainly have to make some tough decisions.

A West of Ireland seafood company loading product onto a truck bound for Amsterdam could have four sets of customs paperwork to complete passing through Howth, Dover, Calais and finally Amsterdam. Each document could cost 50 to 100.

Some freight company studies predict Brexit could lead to 9km tailbacks for trucks in ports.

Will perishable goods survive? Will insurance costs rise? How will supply contracts reflect the new risks? How will exporters using the UK land-bridge deal with 'customs transit'?

Will they be able to avoid 'double duty' passing through the UK? Will UK supermarkets only want to buy 'duty paid' goods?

John O'Loughlin is currently advising clients on issues ranging from VAT on imports and exports, the changing supply chain landscape, cash flow and administration challenges. He says there are numerous outcomes still possible from the Brexit talks.

Switzerland and Norway have a hard border, but I don't think that is likely for Ireland in the context of the Good Friday Agreement. The technological Brexit solutions are an option, but we have no idea as to how this would function, he said.

Another option is a customs partnership in which the UK Government would collect duties on behalf of the EU, but there is no precedent within the EU for this to happen, so this raises questions about legality.

Then there is the option of regulatory alignment on the island of Ireland, the 'backstop' arrangement. This could also be problematic. My own personal view is that Northern Ireland businesses would not support this as their main market is the UK.

Mr O'Loughlin said PwC is seeing a surge in queries about arrangements whereby Ireland could be given trusted trader status to bypass the huge tailbacks likely to face truckers in ports after Brexit. This would operate like a priority passenger lane in an airport.

Seminars hosted by Ibec and the Irish Exporters Association covering topics such as Authorised Economic Operators (AEOs), compliance costs, duties and delays are also attracting a lot of interest.

www.ouroceanwealth.ie
By Geoff Percival

Europa Oil and Gas, the British exploration company active off the west coast of Ireland, is looking to drill at its flagship asset close to the Corrib gas field next year.

The company is sitting on around 5bn barrels of oil and 2.5 trillion cubic feet of gas across seven Irish-based licences. Europa recently fast-tracked work at the Inishkea block of prospects and is targeting a 2019 drill date, ahead of which it aims to get a farm-out/development partner on board.

Inishkea is viewed as being a relatively inexpensive drill project, as it lies in shallow water and could utilise existing Corrib infrastructure.

Europa chief executive Hugh Mackay recently said Inishkea could significantly reduce Irelands reliance on gas imports.

Europa is currently working at increasing the number of drill-ready prospects in its Irish portfolio from two to six by the end of this year.

The company remains confident of landing further farm-out partners, after selling 70% of one licence, for $6m (5.2m), to Scottish explorer Cairn Energy last year.

Elsewhere, Dublin-based explorer United Oil and Gas has provisionally been awarded two licensing blocks in the North Sea in the UKs latest offshore licensing round.

United is headed by former Tullow Oil executives and floated in London last year

The award is Uniteds third block of licences in the UK and includes the Crown oil discovery, which could contain up to 16m barrels of oil.

The Crown discovery was Uniteds primary target in the licensing round. The company already has a number of assets in the UK, Italy, and Jamaica, and said it is continuing to evaluate further acquisition opportunities.
Comedian Des Bishop has taken to his social media platforms to offer lifts to Irish citizens who traveled home to vote.

Last night he tweeted offering his services to anyone that needs transport on this very important referendum day.

He just needs to be back in time for his gig at 8:30 pm in Naul, Dublin.

I am in Dublin all day tomorrow for anyone #hometovote that needs a lift to get to where you need to. Just need to be back in the Naul by 8:30pm. Airport pick ups are fine. #voteyes  Des Bishop  (@Desbishop) May 24, 2018

His offer has been widely received and so far he's already booked in for two airport runs collecting voters traveling from Germany and Amsterdam.

Bishop will make his first run from Dublin airport terminal one to Hueston Station and the city centre at 11:30 am and will return to the airport for his second run at 2:30.

Hope everyone is getting where you need to get to vote. If anyone needs a lift I will be picking people up at the airport at 11:30ish (term 1) and dropping in City Centre. Back picking up at airport at 2:30ish. Let me know! #voteyes #motorvoter #votermotor #hometovote  Des Bishop  (@Desbishop) May 25, 2018

The 42-year-old did the same during the same-sex marriage referendum in 2015.

If anyone is feeling lazy and hasn't voted in Dublin I will give you a lift to the polling station right now, he tweeted at the time.

Well @BigDoyler16 took the lift. Just waiting for him while he votes yes! pic.twitter.com/kNi6IxDGs4  Des Bishop  (@Desbishop) May 22, 2015

The polls close at 10 pm.
Update: 2:16 PM

Irish citizens fearing they would miss the chance to vote in the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment because of travel problems in the UK have arrived to catch their ferry in west Wales, a spokesman for Stena Line said.

"There were delays in rail connections and coaches were laid on as a substitute. The coaches arrived on time and everybody is there now," he said.

"The sailing was 1.10pm and we expect the ferry to leave five or 10 minutes behind schedule, which we expect to be made up during the journey.

"I think there was more concern about missing the sailing and not being able to get across.

"The coaches did their job and got everybody there on time and they are being loaded and then will be away."

Eariler:

Over the past few days, Irish citizens have returned home to Ireland from as far away as Argentina and Asia to cast their votes in todays abortion referendum.

People from both sides of the debate are making their way to local polling stations from as far as Australia to have their say.

Some even traveling over 15,579 kilometers to make sure they had a say over the future of the eighth amendment.

To welcome voters home, some Yes campaign supporters gathered at the arrivals gates with cheers and banners.

After following the #HomeToVote tag on Twitter, this Yes voter booked a last-minute $1500 flight from Canada.

She just may have forgotten to tell her parents in the process - surprise Mam!

Last minute flight from Vancouver to London: 00

Length of journey: 15 hours

Repealing the 8th: priceless.

Me mas's reacrion: also priceless. #HomeToVote #abroadforyes pic.twitter.com/G11cjh11c2   (@sn0wflake16) May 25, 2018

Supporting the No campaign, London Irish United For Life, have been documenting voters journey home for various locations around the world.

Eoin OLoughlin, 20, from County Clare but living in London, told the Press Association at Dublin Airport: I think the unborn baby is entitled to life  I think the abortion procedure and the whole industry behind it is fairly frightening.

Theres about 30 of us who are coming home over the next 24 hours. Weve been in touch for the last few weeks and trying to organise flights together and so on.

(Left to right) Concepta Quinn, Bernie O'Hara, Joseph O'Hara, Maura O'Hara and Bernadette Coleman who cut short their pilgrimage to Medjugorje to fly back and vote in the referendum. Pic: PA

One Twitter user also reported a woman handing out Tayto crisps at Dublin airport to people at the arrival gates.
Update 10pm: Voting is over in Irelands referendum on abortion.

Polls closed at 10pm amid reports of strong turnout in many parts of the country, particularly in urban areas.

Earlier Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a proponent of liberalising Irelands strict abortion regime, predicted a high turnout would be good for those campaigning for change.

Thousands of Irish citizens living overseas have travelled home in droves to exercise their democratic right on the emotive issue.

Polls for the historic vote opened across the country at 7am, with citizens effectively opting to either retain or repeal the Eighth Amendment of the states constitution, which prohibits terminations unless a mothers life is in danger.

Counting will begin in the morning, with the result expected later that day.

Update 9.30pm: Some turnout predictions as high as 70%

We are into the final hour of voting in the abortion referendum.

Voting has been brisk across the day, although the rush has now eased.

Many areas have reported higher than usual turnout overall, with some eclipsing the figures seen during the marriage referendum which reached 60% in 2015.

Some turnout predictions are as high as 70% in urban areas in Wicklow, 60% in Athlone and parts of Kildare, and 68.2 percent in Kill.

There is also reports of a higher than usual turnout among young people and those on the supplementary register.

The results of a number of exit polls are expected to be announced tonight.

An Ipsos/MRBI poll was being conducted for the Irish Times among 4,000 people at 160 polling stations across the country, from 7am this morning.

While RTE plans to announce the result of a Behaviour & Attitudes exit poll of 3,000 voters across the country - on tonight's Late Late Show.

Polling booths close at 10pm.

The counting of votes is scheduled to begin at 9am tomorrow morning.

Niamh Gavin with her daughter Fiadh as she casts her vote in the Irish referendum on liberalising abortion law, at St Paul's National school in Athlone, Ireland on May 25, 2018. Photo: PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images)

Update 8.20pm: Votes continue to be cast amid reports of strong turnout

Votes continue to be cast in abortion referendum amid reports of strong turnout numbers in many parts of the country.

Polls close at 10pm, with 6,500 voting centres across the state likely to witness the traditional evening surge in people arriving to vote after work.

Earlier, the President and political leaders cast their ballots in the referendum on abortion laws.

Thousands of Irish citizens living overseas have travelled home in droves to exercise their democratic right on the issue.

Polls for the historic vote opened across the country at 7am, with citizens effectively opting to either retain or repeal the Eighth Amendment of the constitution, which prohibits terminations unless a mothers life is in danger.

Counting will begin in morning, with the result expected later that day.

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes at the polling station in St Marys Hospital, Phoenix Park, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes in Dublin on Friday morning. Around two hours later Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a vocal advocate for repeal, voted in the city.

I always get a little buzz from voting, it just feels like it is democracy in action, Mr Varadkar said after emerging from the polling station at Castleknock.

One of the great strengths of Bunreacht na hEireann is its capacity for change through the will of the people.I have just voted to bring about a more compassionate and humane response for women in crisis pregnancies.#8thRef #Together4Yes pic.twitter.com/bfpnf3JJ5Z  Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) May 25, 2018

Not taking anything for granted of course, but quietly confident  theres been good turnout across the country so far and hoping for a Yes vote tomorrow.

Obviously, I would be encouraging everyone to come out and vote, a high turnout would be to the advantage of the yes campaign.

He urged voters not to be distracted by the sunny weather and exercise their democratic right.

Leader of the main opposition party, Fianna Fails Micheal Martin, voted to repeal in his constituency in Cork while Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald also cast a Yes vote in Dublin.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald presents her identity documents at St Josephs School, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

The irony that the referendum on abortion is being held on International Missing Childrens Day will not be lost on many Irish people, he tweeted.

Those on the margins of society suffer most from abortion. Vote No to Abortion on Demand.

The irony that the referendum on abortion is being held on International Missing Children's Day will not be lost on many Irish people. Those on the margins of society suffer most from abortion. Vote No to Abortion on Demand. pic.twitter.com/NeQ43d0FFn  Peadar Toibin (@Toibin1) May 25, 2018

A total of 3.3 million citizens are registered to vote, with 6,500 polling stations open across the country.

Marie ODonnell casts her vote at Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal Polling Station, Lifford, Co Donegal (Liam McBurney/PA)

Opinion polls have been tight, with most showing the Yes side in the lead.

The indication is that rural voters are more likely to say No than their urban counterparts, while a significant number of dont knows have cast a degree of uncertainty over the outcome.

Around 2,000 voters in 12 islands off the mainland were eligible to vote on Thursday to prevent any delay in counting their ballot papers.

Garda Alan Gallagher and Presiding Officer Carmel McBride carry a polling box, used a day early by the few people that live off the coast of Donegal on the island of Inishbofin to vote in the referendum (Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA)

- Press Association

Update 5pm: Just hours left to vote; Turnout expected to be higher than marriage referendum

There is just a few hours left for people to cast their votes in the abortion referendum.

An early rush of voters across the country before work saw a much larger than normal turnout in many parts of the country.

In Dublin and the commuter belt counties, many polling stations have hit 30% turnout, with Belmont Avenue in Donnybrook hitting 47% turnout before 3pm.

One box at St John of Gods in Waterford has also hit 47% turnout.

Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie

Largely, the number of voters has slowed down ahead of the anticipated evening rush as people get off work.

Earlier, Donegal Town reported a 32% turnout.

Counties like Laois, Westmeath and Offaly in the Midlands are consistently showing between 24 and 26%.

The number of people who were added to the supplementary register and have voted is higher than the general trend.

There is just a few hours now left until the 10pm deadline and many in polling stations across the country think turnout will be higher than the marriage referendum.

The results of an exit poll will be announced on RTE's Late Late Show and on the RTE News website tonight.

Three thousand people across the country will be interviewed immediately after they have voted.

The exit poll is being conducted by RTE in conjunction with a number of Irish universities, and will be carried out by Behaviour & Attitudes.

The overall Yes/No exit poll outcome will be announced tonight, with further results and demographic breakdowns to be released at 8am tomorrow.

Update 4pm: Stena Line delays ferry for Irish heading home to vote

Irish people who were fearing they would miss catching a ferry home to vote in the Eighth Amendment referendum have made their sailing.

People took to social media to plead with Stena Line to hold the 1.10pm Fishguard to Rosslare ferry because of problems with rail services in England and Wales.

Stena Line promised to hold the service for as long as it could in order for passengers to catch the sailing back to Ireland to vote in Friday's referendum.

Great Western Railway organised a coach transfer to get the Irish citizens to the terminal in time from Swansea.

"There were delays in rail connections and coaches were laid on as a substitute. The coaches arrived on time and everybody is there now," a spokesman for Stena Line said.

"The sailing was 1.10pm and we expected the ferry to leave five or 10 minutes behind schedule, which we expect to be made up during the journey.

"I think there was more concern about missing the sailing and not being able to get across.

"The coaches did their job and got everybody there on time and they are being loaded and then will be away."

Stena line had not been informed, we will do our best to wait for the coach now we know Mari  Stena Line UKIE (@StenaLineUKIE) May 25, 2018

Elsewhere, Labour party leader Brendan Howlin has voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

The Wexford TD tweeted: "Today as #IVotedYes I thought of the 18,000 and more women who have travelled to the UK for abortions since 2012 especially the 429 who gave Wexford addresses. The 8th Amendment was wrong in 1983 and is wrong now."

Today as #IVotedYes I thought of the 18,000 and more women who have travelled to the UK for abortions since 2012 especially the 429 who gave Wexford addresses. The 8th Amendment was wrong in 1983 and is wrong now. #repealthe8th #TogetherForYes pic.twitter.com/2zGwCGJaCM  BrendanHowlin (@BrendanHowlin) May 25, 2018

Update 1.50pm: Calls to open Dublin Castle for results tomorrow

Labour councillor Rebecca Moynihan, has called on the OPW to have the grounds of Dublin Castle open to the public on results day, tomorrow.

The Labour Party representative for Dublin South Central said: I have written to Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Kevin 'Boxer' Moran calling on him to open up Dublin Castle on Saturday to allow all those who have given so much to this campaign to congregate.

We said we wouldnt forget. We have fought like tigers since. Today is the day. For Savita #repealthe8th #voteyes pic.twitter.com/f9pKUaSDym  Rebecca Moynihan (@RebeccaMoy) May 25, 2018

"Access should be open to the Upper Yard of Dublin Castle, and the results of the referendum as they come in should be shown on a large screen, as it was three years ago for the marriage equality results day.

Regardless of the result, people who have contributed so much to this referendum campaign, whether they are seasoned campaigners, or new activists, should be allowed to come together at the official announcement as they did for marriage equality.

This has been a long campaign, thirty-five years in the making. It has ignited a new sense of activism among young people in our country. I think it is appropriate for Dublin Castle to be open to as many that want to attend, rather than just the select few who were randomly allocated tickets and accredited media.

Nicola Faherty with Freya Molloy (4months) from Greystones casting vote at Delgany National School, Co Wicklow. Pic: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Meanwhile, campaigners calling for a No vote have said they believe the outcome of the referendum is too close to call.

Save the 8th campaign chairwoman Niamh Ui Bhriain said they were encouraged by the high turnout being reported this morning.

She said more than 4,000 volunteers were helping voters get to and from the polls on Friday.

"The Irish people are very clear about what they are voting on today - this is abortion on demand," Ms Ui Bhriain claimed.

"There is a growing and quiet confidence that all the work done by our campaign, and the other campaigns on the No side, will pay dividend this evening."

A number of politicians advocating for a No vote have cast their ballot.

Independent TD Mattie McGrath, Fianna Fail Waterford TD Mary Butler, Galway East Independent TD Sean Canney and Sinn Fein's Peadar Toibin headed to their local polling stations on Friday to vote.

Earlier: Dublin centres reportedly busier than during marriage equality referendum

By Elaine Loughlin, Political Correspondent

Polling stations around the country are experiencing brisk turnout as the nation votes on the referendum to repeal the eighth amendment.

Voter turnout across Cork was at 16.2% at noon, this compared to 13.3% at the same time for the General Election in 2016, which is unusual for a referendum.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald TD casting her vote. Pic: Gareth Chaney Collins

In one Dublin polling station turnout had reached 24% by noon.

President Michael D Higgins along with his wife Sabina voted this morning and the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tanaiste Simon Coveney and other party leaders have been casting their ballots in centres across the country.

Ballots will be cast at more than 6,500 stations with polls open until 10pm tonight.

At midday, returning officers had recorded 17% turnout in Cork East and 16% in both Cork North-West and Cork South-West, which were all all higher than they were at the same time in the last General Election.

In Dublin voter turnout had already hit 24% in Glasnevin by 12pm, 22% of those eligible to vote had cast ballots in nearby Cabra, while in Ranelagh a 20% turnout was recorded.

Other stations are reporting brisk turnout and it is expected that in excess of 60% of those eligible could come out to vote if these trends continue.

Voters are being advised to bring their polling card along with identification such as a driver's license or passport. Those without a polling card should bring identification and also proof of address.

Update 1.15pm: Polling stations across the country are reporting higher voter turnout than normal in the abortion referendum.

It is ahead of an expected voter rush over lunchtime.

Voter numbers across the country look high with a number of areas already reporting 20% turnout.

Pictured is a nun arriving at the polling station in Ballsbridge College, Dublin. Pic: Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie

In Dublin many centres have said they're busier than they were during the marriage referendum.

The Taoiseach's polling station in Castleknock had hit 14 per cent turnout just after 10am.

Some stations in Limerick City are reporting 25 per cent turnout already, with queues outside some polling centres at 7am this morning.

Galway was brisker than usual in the morning, which Cork overall had a quiet start but numbers have picked up.

In Waterford City turnout is also high.

In more rural counties Tipperary has seen a high of 20 per cent turnout in Carrick on Suir and a low of 10 per cent in Roscrea.

Roscommon and Leitrim are reporting high turnouts ahead of lunchtime.

Edgesworthstown in Co Longford saw a groom and his groomsmen arrive to vote early this morning before the wedding.

Many areas are reporting voting levels higher than the marriage referendum, saying they think the good weather is helping.

Minister for Arts Heritage and an Gaelteacht Josepha Madigan T.D. with her husband Finbarr Hayes and their dog Poppy

Earlier: Turnout across the country described as 'brisk'

As with many parts of the country, voter turnout in Waterford City and County appears to be high at the moment.

St Saviours, Ballybeg staff say it is one of the busiest voting days they have ever had, with far more young people voting today than in previous votes.

In Ballygunnar in Waterford City turnout is twice as high as it would be normally before midday.

Rachel Kiely is the Presiding Officer at Booth number one in Ballygunner in St. Mary's National School.

"We've had a very busy morning to be completely honest with you,

"We probably have about 13% of voters in at this time. This time usually we would probably have about 6% so it's quite high.

"We have seen quite a number of young voters out, obviously we have a usual voters that always come in but looking at folk coming and going we do have a young turnout definitely."

Update on Turnout mid morning pic.twitter.com/RaG7tYXufs  Damien Tiernan (@damienwlr) May 25, 2018

Update 12.30pm

By Anne Lucey, in Killarney, Co Kerry

Early morning voter turn out is stronger than expected in Co. Kerry with polling booths in Killarney and other towns across the county reporting up to 6% by 9am, two hours after polls opened.

The early figures, seeing between 5 and 6%, are being collated by county registrar Padraig Burke from 212 polling booths and are up on the turnout in marriage referendum.

Women in particular seemed to be turning out in numbers early in Killarney, it is being reported.

Throughout Kerry town booths were recording higher turnout than rural.

Further results are being collated at lunchtime.

Over 111,000 people are eligible to vote in Kerry, with over 2,200 registering to vote since February.

Just 85,681 people were eligible to vote in Kerry in 1983 when the county overwhelmingly backed the insertion of the 8th amendment.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar cast his vote at the polling station in Dublin. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Earlier: Turnout around the country so far this morning has been described as "brisk" with people reporting queues at polling stations as people cast their ballot before heading to work and school.

Parts of Dublin were reporting turnouts of between 6% and 8%.

In Cork city and county, it is reported to be slower with turnout by 10am in the low single digits in almost all polling stations.

Local officials said they expected the first surge of the day after morning Masses finished between 10am and 11am.

In Fermoy, one polling station reported a 2% turnout by 10am while in Cork city polling stations in Douglas, Togher, Knocknaheeny and Ballyvolane had turnouts varying between 1.5% and 4%.

Meanwhile, policians have been casting their ballots across the country.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has cast his vote in Dublin.

He took to Twitter to share the moment, writing: "Its a big YES from me. #Together2Vote #Together4Yes #repealthe8th #VoteYes #8thref"

Speaking after casting his vote, Mr Varadkar said he was not taking anything for granted but that he was "quietly confident" of the referendum passing.

He said there had been a good turnout so far across the country and he hoped that would continue throughout the day.

"A high turnout would be advantageous to the Yes campaign," Mr Varadkar said.

The Taoiseach encouraged everyone to get out and vote.

"The upside of a good sunny day in Ireland is that people come out to vote," he said.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has voted and shared the Taoiseach's tweet.

Ive just voted #YES in my local polling station. https://t.co/FZnJwmd4fa  Eoghan Murphy (@MurphyEoghan) May 25, 2018

Fine Gael senator Neale Richmond has posted an image of himself and baby Luke heading to vote Yes in Kilternan, Co Dublin this morning with the hashtag men4yes.

Myself & Luke doing the business this morning in Kilternan (yes were over 50m from entrance) #8thRef #VotedYes #men4yes pic.twitter.com/SXOQsR7c8N  Neale Richmond (@nealerichmond) May 25, 2018

Opposition TD Micheal Martin has cast his vote in the Cork South Central constituency.

The Fianna Fail leader said he had voted Yes for a more compassionate and more humane response for women in Ireland.

One of the great strengths of Bunreacht na hEireann is its capacity for change through the will of the people.I have just voted to bring about a more compassionate and humane response for women in crisis pregnancies.#8thRef #Together4Yes pic.twitter.com/bfpnf3JJ5Z  Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) May 25, 2018

Opposition politician Ruth Coppinger urged everyone to go out and cast their ballot.

It's an historic vote today. Make sure you go and vote YES today. I've voted this morning in Mulhuddart, Dublin West. Bring others with you, make sure everyone you know is reminded to vote. #dubw #repealthe8th #ivotedyes #referendum2018 #8thref pic.twitter.com/mS2YHk5XJ9  Ruth Coppinger (@RuthCoppingerSP) May 25, 2018

Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall has voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

Sinn Fein TD Peadar Toibin took to Twitter last night to encourage people to vote no on today's referendum.

He wrote "Cherish all the mother and children of the nation equally and #VoteNo".

The measure of a people is how they treat the weakest and most vulnerable amongst them. There are none more vulnerable than an unborn child. Life, human rights and equality are not some ones choices. Cherish All the Mothers and Children of the Nation Equally and #VoteNo pic.twitter.com/8WM1aysFY1  Peadar Toibin (@Toibin1) May 24, 2018

Michael Healy Rae filmed a video which was posted to Twitter by LoveBoth.

In the video, the Kerry TD said: "I believe that unborn children have to have a strong voice and somebody who will speak up for them".

#8thref isnt about abortion in limited cases. Its about abortion on demand for any reason. Only a NO VOTE can stop this.



County Kerry needs to have its voice heard. Bring your friends and family with you to #VoteNO on Friday. #LoveBothVoteNO: https://t.co/G2GvAGmzKM pic.twitter.com/emna07euPN  LoveBoth (Official) (@lovebothireland) May 25, 2018

Save the 8th spokesman John McGuirk posted on Twitter to thank those who supported their campaign and said: "Now let's go vote, and save lives #8thref".

On behalf of all of us at @Savethe8thInfo, thank you so much for your support and kindness over these past months. On a personal level, thanks so much to my wonderful partner, Orla, who has put up with so much because of this campaign. Now let's go vote, and save lives. #8thref  John McGuirk (@john_mcguirk) May 24, 2018

Health minister Simon Harris has cast his ballot at his local polling station in Co Wicklow.

Just voted Yes for a more compassionate & caring Ireland with the stories & experiences of all those I have met and chatted with to the fore of my mind. Please keep working to get out the vote #togetherforyes #together2vote #hometovote pic.twitter.com/C6TYESHXMS  Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) May 25, 2018

By Conor Kane and Digital desk

Turnout is reported to be steady if not busier than normal for this time of day in several parts of the country.

This morning, polling stations in Tipperary were seeing a steady stream of voters casting their ballots.

In Cashel turnout was anything between 2.7% and 8.4% depending on the booth at 10am.

Abigail Daly, NO Campaigner Anna Daly, and Joy Cantwell voting at Holy Cross NS, Mahon, Cork. Pic: Larry Cummins

In Roscrea it was 7% which is consistent with previous polls; Nenagh 7.6% which officers say is higher than normal for a referendum.

Turnout was 8.5% in Clonmel for the Sisters of Charity school which was also higher than the norm for the time of day, with a lot of young people voting, 9.1 % in St Peter and Paul's school and 9% in the St Mary's school polling station.

The figure was about 3.3 % in Cahir, polling reported to be busy enough early on and then quiet before picking up after the school run.

It was low at 0.1% in parts of Carrick-on-Suir but expected to pick up during the day; and 8% in Thurles which is quite busy for 10am.

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes at the polling station in St Mary's Hospial, Pheonix Park, Dublin. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Earlier: President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina have voted in the referendum this morning.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is due to cast his ballot in the next hour while Micheal Martin has cast his vote.

Micheal Martin TD and his wife Mary at the polling station at St. Anthony's Boys NS, Ballinlough, Cork. Pic: Jim Coughlan

These people, casting their ballot this morning, explain why it is so important to vote:

"I suppose, a long time ago some people gave their lives for us to have the right to vote so therefore I think it's important that we do it," said one woman.

"I think it's very important because it's a landmark decision that is going to define the country for the next 20-30 years, for my kids, for their kids.

"People have a responsibility to take action and not be passive."

Earlier: Public encouraged to use their vote

The polls have just opened in the historic abortion referendum.

More than three million people are eligible to vote in the first referendum on the Eighth amendment in 35 years.

A man (name not given) arrives at the polling station in Knock National school, Mayo, as the country goes to the polls to vote in the referendum on the 8th Amendment. Pic: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Polling stations around the country are now open and people will be able to vote until 10pm this evening.

You will be asked a Yes/No question in the ballot box.

A Yes vote means repealing the Eighth amendment and allowing the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion.

A No vote would retain the Eighth amendment as it is now.

Mark an X next to your choice.

Do not write anything else on the card as it could be seen as a spoiled vote.

Your voting card will tell you where your polling station is.

If you have not got a voting card, you can still vote as long as you are on the register of electors.

In that case bring your ID to the centre to be allowed to vote.

No videos or photos, including selfies, can be taken in the polling station.

You also should not wear any jumpers, badges or merchandise promoting either side when you go to the station to vote.

Luke Field, Deputy Chairperson and Kathy D'Arcy, Chairperson, Cork Together for YES voting at Sunday's Well NS, Cork. Pic: Larry Cummins

Speaking at polling stations this morning, voters encouraged people to get out and use their vote.

"It's so important to use your voice in referendums, you can make such a change in society and this in particular is such an important one," said one woman. "I can't wait. I hope people get out and vote and it's the biggest turnout that we've seen."

Speaking at a polling station in Dublin, another man said: "Personally, I've transferred my vote from down the country.

I think it's really important for everyone to get out, be part of the decision-making process and don't let other people make the decision for you.

The Referendum Commission has called on voters to inform themselves about the issues around the referendum and to use their vote.

Chairperson of the Referendum Commission, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy said: The Referendum Commission does not campaign for a yes or a no vote, but we do strongly urge you to inform yourself and to use your vote.

"How you vote on this issue is entirely a matter for you to decide, but it is important that you take the opportunity to use your vote.


Summit could be rearranged

By Kim Bo-eun

Despite U.S. President Donald Trump cancelling the June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the regime's denuclearization, it appears a meeting could take place not too far in the future, as both sides seem willing to engage in dialogue.

North Korea, unlike its usual hard-line stance, expressed regret over the cancellation and said it is open to talks at anytime, so the ball is again in the U.S.'s court.

After Trump's announcement late Thursday, North Korea stated that it had a "willingness to resolve issues through dialogue, whenever and through whatever means." The statement was made by North Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, reported by the Korean Central News Agency the following morning.

The vice minister said the cancellation of the summit shows "the deep-rooted hostile relationship between the states and the importance of talks between the top leaders to improve relations."

"If things are taken step by step then relations (between North Korea and the U.S.) will improve," he said.

Kim added that North Korea is "willing to give the U.S. time and the opportunity, with a broad and open heart."

In a letter to Kim Jong-un, Trump stated the reason for cancelling the summit was due to "tremendous anger and open hostility displayed (by North Korea) in recent statements."

A day earlier, another North Korean vice foreign minister, Choe Son-hui, referred to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence as "ignorant" for his remarks that North Korea could end up like Libya, which gave up its nuclear program only to see its leader killed by U.S.-backed rebels years later.
Al Porter has issued a statement this evening in the midst of an ongoing investigation into allegations of misconduct at St. Patrick's Hospital.

In November last year, the hospital confirmed it had received an official complaint in relation to inappropriate behaviour by Mr Porter.

The comedian had been engaging in an awareness-raising event at the Dublin Hospital for mental health services.

The former Today FM radio presenter has issued a statement on his official Facebook page this evening stating he had been "forced to comment due to selective leaking to media."

The statement said:

''Hi all. Below is a statement. The timing, in the midst of a hugely significant referendum is awful, but I've been forced to comment due to selective leaking to media of a report about my charity radio visit to St Patrick's Hospital in 2015.

''I have always denied any impropriety at St Patrick's Hospital during my charity radio visit. An Independent investigation is ongoing with its report being finalised this week.

''I am very pleased with the outcome.

'On our visit there, three years ago, I was exclusively in busy public areas, in full view of staff and visitors, and always in the company of my co-host Colm Hayes, who corroborated my account of the day.'

''I accept the report conclusion:

''That physical contact (a hand on the back and chest) during a conversation made the complainant uncomfortable and later that day physical contact (a hand on his shoulder and a kiss on the cheek), my standard photo pose, for a photo he requested, made the complainant uncomfortable again. I regret that.

'I hope that the complainant has found some closure through this investigation process.

''For me, I continue to focus on my own mental health and my family''.

Porter resigned from Today FM following allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against him on social media and in several newspapers.

The TV host also stood aside from his role in last year's Olympia Panto.

In a statement released by the comedian at the time, he said he "at no time intended to upset anyone" with his conduct.

- Digital Desk
4.15pm: A teenager has been charged in connection with the murder of schoolgirl Anastasia Kriegel.

The body of the 14-year-old was discovered in a derelict farm building in Dublin last week.

14-year-old Anastasia Kriegal.

She was reported missing just hours after she was last seen at St Catherine's Park close to her home on Monday, May 14.

Three days later her body was found on the Clonee road in Lucan - a postmortem revealed she was sexually assaulted and beaten to death.

Yesterday Gardai arrested two teenage boys, this afternoon one has been charged in connection with the investigation and is due before the Children's Court at 6pm.

The second teenager has been released without charge. A file is being prepared for the DPP.

It has taken over a week from the time Ana's body was found to charge someone in connection with her murder.

Gardai wanted to be sure they had all the necessary DNA evidence and supports in place.

The boys were questioned by specialist child interviewers and were also accompanied by their parents.

Update 10am: Two teenage boys have been arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of Anastasia Kriegel in Dublin.

The boys are being questioned by specialist child interviewers and are accompanied by their parents.

DNA testing was carried out, CCTV footage has been reviewed while students at Ana's school were asked to file out questionnaires from Gardai.

Gardai have also warned people in the area not to take matters into their own hands amid fears of vigilante attacks.

Ana Kriegel was last seen alive in St Catherine's Park - close to her home in Leixlip on Monday the 14th of May.

Her naked body was found at a derelict farm building on the Clonee road in Lucan three days later - a postmortem revealed she was sexually assaulted and beaten to death.

Earlier: Two teens arrested as part of Anastasia Kriegel murder investigation

Gardai have confirmed that two juvenile males arrested yesterday as part of the investigation into the murder of Anastasia Kriegel remain in custody.

They are being held at two separate Dublin Garda Stations.

The 14-year-old was found murdered at a disused house on the Clonee Road in the Lucan are of Dublin last week.

Gardai are continuing their investigation into her death, studying DNA evidence and CCTV footage from the area.

Ana, as she was also known, was last seen at St Catherine's Park at 5.30pm last Monday, close to the disused house where her body was found.

Anyone with information, or who can assist with the investigation, is asked to contact Lucan garda station on 01-666-7300, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line at 1800-666-111 or any garda station.

Digital Desk
By Sarah-Jane Murphy

David Drumm answered Ireland's call when it was made to him, and did not engage in any hookery or crookery, his barrister has told a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Closing speeches concluded today at the conspiracy to defraud trial of Anglo Irish Bank's former CEO, which has been running for the past 16 weeks.

Nobody lost, nobody gained, nobody got rich, nobody got poor, and nobody is living on Carribean island with ill-gotten gains as a result of these transactions, Brendan Grehan SC, defending, said.

Mr Drumm (51) of Skerries, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with former bank officials Denis Casey, William McAteer, John Bowe and others to defraud depositors and investors at Anglo by dishonestly creating the impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2bn larger than they were.

The former Anglo Irish CEO has also pleaded not guilty to false accounting on December 3, 2008, by furnishing information to the market that Anglo's 2008 deposits were 7.2 billion larger than they were.

Counsel said Mr Drumm answered Ireland's call when it came, donned the green jersey and didn't desert his post at Anglo.

Judge him with what confronted him at time, not with 20:20 armchair hindsight, Mr Grehan told the jury.

He said the eyes of the Financial Regulator, the Central Bank, PWC and Anglo's auditors EY passed over the transactions prior to their publication yet nobody raised a red flag.

When it became apparent there was a problem, people immediately started running for cover because nobody wanted to be a part of this when things turned sour, he said.

He said the titans of industry and the wise men who sat on the bank's audit committee missed the transactions, yet David Drumm is criminally liable for them.

Yesterday, lawyers for the State told the jury that Mr Drumm had engaged in a massive con, and said the accounting scheme used in the transactions was fraudulent and dishonest.

However Mr Grehan said the case lacked all the hallmarks of conspiracy.

He said it contained no trickery, no deception, no skullduggery and no secrecy.

There was nobody standing over a shredder at Anglo, no whistleblowers saying they saw what happened and were then told to move to different job when they put their hand up, he said.

Colourful phone calls played throughout the trial showed people doing their job under severe pressure, and not individuals acting for personal profit, counsel said.

The calls are not Mafia Dons discussing a crime with a bug underneath the table. They contain evidence of the transactions but not of conspiracy, he said

He said his client acknowledges the preliminary accounts published in December 2008 should have included a note alongside the figures, explaining the transactions more clearly.

But there was no crime, no fraud, no false accounting, no evidence of anyone having been mislead and therefore there was no conspiracy, he said.

David Drumm is not proud of every decision he made, but he made them in good faith with no criminal motivation, while trying to save the bank, Mr Grehan said.

On the opening day of his trial Mr Drumm accepted that the multi-million euro transactions took place between Anglo and ILP in 2008 but disputes that they were fraudulent or dishonest.

Judge Karen O'Connor told jurors that she will commence her charge to them on Monday, prior to the commencement of deliberations in the case.
Update 6.30pm: The body of Jastine Valdez could be flown home to the Philippines by the middle of next week.

Her family released a statement today describing their daughter as fun-loving and wonderful.

The have also thanked the Irish people and Filipino community for their support and compassion, after over 100,000 was raised to help with their expenses.

Earlier: Parents of Jastine Valdez thank Irish people for support

The parents of Jastine Valdez have described their daughter as fun-loving, wonderful, and caring.

Her family have released a statement to thank the Irish people and Philippine community for their support and compassion.

Today her parents Teresita and Danilo released a statement saying it has been some comfort to them knowing how deeply Jastine has affected the people of Ireland and says that she will always be in their hearts.

The body of the young woman was found in south Dublin on Monday after she was kidnapped and murdered.

The statement says the 24-year-old's plans were to settle here, buy a house and make a new life.

Her family have also thanked gardai and emergency services for their professionalism and speed to return their beautiful daughter to them.

Earlier: Search for evidence continues in Jastine Valdez investigation

The search for evidence that may provide an insight into the murder of Jastine Valdez is continuing in south County Dublin today.

Gardai and Defence Forces personnel have been searching a rural part of Rathmichael where Jastine's body was located on Monday.

They are hoping to find the student's blue shoulder bag and her iPad.

Gardai have also been looking at the mobile phone of Mark Hennessy, the man understood to have murdered her.

The search is expected to continue over the coming days.

A public memorial is being planned for Ms Valdez for next week.

She will be laid to rest in her native Phillipines but plans are underway for a service here also.

A Go Fund Me page set up to help her parents has raised more than 121,000  far surpassing its original target of 10,000.

The average donation is 25.

Digital Desk
by Aodhan O Faolain and Ray Managh

Progress has been made in actions brought by three women affected by the CervicalCheck controversy, including Kerry woman Emma Mhic Mhathuna, the High Court heard this morning.

Their cases all arise out of the alleged misreading of cervical tests and involve patients who are terminally ill.

They are all seeking early trial dates in their proceedings against parties including the HSE.

As part of their actions lawyers representing the three women, two of whom cannot be named for legal reasons, went before the High Court on Thursday seeking the production of documentation and cervical smear slides which they say they urgently require as part of their claims.

The women sought the production of cervical smear slides taken from them so that appropriate pathologists and clinicians could study and report on them.

The case was adjourned by Mr Justice Micahel McGrath to see if matters could be advanced.

This morning when the application returned before the court Patrick Tracey SC, instructed by solicitor Cian O'Carroll, for the three women said progress had been made in each of the three cases.

Counsel said that the slides, including ones which are in the United States, are to be transferred today to their representatives.

Counsel praised the efforts of the other parties who he said could not have been more helpful in regards to the provision of the slides.

Counsel said all three cases could be adjourned until next Wednesday's sitting of the High Court when other matters arising out of the case are due to be raised.

Mr Justice McGrath welcomed the fact progress had been made overnight and agreed to put the matter back to Wednesday.

On Thursday Mr Treacy told the court that his clients needed the slides straight away.

He said negotiations with regards the putting in place of a protocol for the handing over of slides by Medlab Pathology Limited Ireland and a New Jersey laboratory Quest had led to the loss of a vital six days in dealing with the legal proceedings.

Lawyers for Medlab, and for Quest, told the court their clients were prepared to immediately hand over slides subject to directions of the HSE and the protocol agreed between the HSE and the plaintiffs.

In reply Ms Eileen Barrington, SC for the HSE, said the matters raised which the HSE accepted they were critical and urgent, were being addressed.

She said the HSE had been given only a half-hours notice of requests for information from The National Maternity Hospital with regard to tests carried out in relation to two of the women in 2009 and 2010 and the hospital and the HSE were doing their best to deal with these new issues as quickly as possible.

Counsel said everything possible was being done to meet the demands of the plaintiffs but she was unable to give an exact time when the slides and documentation would be handed over.

Lawyers for Medlab, and for Quest, told the court their clients were prepared to immediately hand over slides subject to directions of the HSE and the protocol agreed between the HSE and the plaintiffs.
A Syrian family has had a 17 month wait in a rural Direct Provision centre.

Mahmoud, his wife and three children were brought to Ireland under the Refugee Protection Programme.

The scheme aims to house Syrian refugees within three months of arriving in Ireland.

Although the 36-year-old is grateful to the Government he says the system has, at times, made him feel like a prisoner.

He said: "We need community, which is hard here because you are so far from cities. It is hard to meet friends.

"I know here is safe , it is better."

- Digital Desk
The Tanaiste has called on the Russian Federation to cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability for the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

The Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur flight was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board.
There is a warning that young people who come through state residential care are far more at risk of becoming homeless than those in secure foster placements.

The Irish Aftercare Network, which supports young people who leave care, is holding its annual conference in Athlone today.
Update - 3.13pm: Speaking to the press, Harvey Weinstein's lawyer has said the Hollywood producer will enter a plea of not guilty.

"Mr Weinstein will enter a plea of not guilty. We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges, we believe that they are constitutionally flawed, we believe that they are not factually supported by the evidence"

Weinstein posted a one million dollar cash bail (853,146) and agreed to wear an electronic tracking device as he faced an arraignment hearing at the Criminal Court in New York.

He is also surrendering his passport, and will not be able to travel outside of the states of New York and Connecticut.

A New York judge set a staggering million bond for Harvey Weinstein. He can also pay million in cash. Weinstein had to surrender his passport and will wear a GPS tracking device https://t.co/XhJ5FEESoZ pic.twitter.com/1NUnG5G5f3  CNN (@CNN) May 25, 2018

Weinstein's lawyer Benjamin Brafman told reporters outside the court in New York: "Mr Weinstein will enter a plea of not guilty.

"We intend to move very quickly to dismiss these charges, we believe that they are constitutionally flawed, we believe that they are not factually supported by the evidence and we believe that by the end of the process, Mr Weinstein will be exonerated."

He said that Weinstein is doing "as well as can be expected when you are accused of a crime that you vehemently deny having committed".

Mr Brafman said that Weinstein has "always maintained that any sexual activity he engaged in was consensual".

"He has vehemently denied any of the allegations which suggest that he engaged in non-consensual sexual activity.

"Many of these allegations are long overdue, quite frankly, having been made about events that are alleged to have occurred many years ago.

"They were not reported to the police at the time these events occurred and I anticipate that the women who have made these allegations, when subjected to cross examination - in the event we even get that far - that the charges will not be believed by 12 people, assuming we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case."

Weinstein accuser and actress Lysette Anthony celebrated the producer being charged in a post on Twitter.

"And so it begins- #JusticeForAll #MeToo," she wrote alongside news of his arrest.

Update - 1.43pm: Harvey Weinstein has been charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women, police in New York have said.

A statement from the New York Police Department confirmed the charges and thanked "these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice".

The arrest and charges follow the joint investigation between the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

A police official previously said Weinstein will be charged with committing a criminal sex act after an aspiring actress alleged he forced her to perform oral sex in 2004.

It relates to a woman who has not been identified or spoken publicly, the official said.

Weinstein emerged from the NYPD's 1st Precinct in handcuffs with a smile on his face, after being charged with rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct.

He was put into a black car and driven away from the police station.

12.23pm: Harvey Weinstein hands himself in at New York police stationFilm producer Harvey Weinstein has handed himself in at a police station in New York where he's expected to face charges following months of allegations of sexual misconduct.

The exact charges have not been confirmed however some are believed to relate to allegations from former actress Lucia Evans.

Weinstein has denied all accusations of non-consensual sex.

Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York police station where he's expected to surrender himself to officers to answer sexual misconduct charges https://t.co/3iu1bLmiU8 pic.twitter.com/IWXk0HjQ0m  BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 25, 2018

He said nothing as he arrived at the New York Police Department's 1st Precinct on Friday morning, wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue jumper.

Weinstein was clutching two books, Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution, by Todd S Purdum, and Richard Schickel's biography of producer, director and writer Elia Kazan.

He is expected to be taken to Manhattan Criminal Court later today to be arraigned on charges, US media reports.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that investigators in Manhattan were preparing to arrest the disgraced movie mogul and he was expected to surrender to authorities.

Dozens of women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, ranging from inappropriate comments to alleged rape.

It was reported earlier this week that federal prosecutors in New York had launched an inquiry into the allegations, which is separate from the investigation currently under way by the Manhattan District Attorney, the film producer's lawyer said in a court filing.

In a declaration filed on May 3 in the Weinstein Co's bankruptcy proceedings, lawyer Benjamin Brafman said Weinstein was a "principal target" of an investigation being carried out by the US attorney's office in Manhattan.

He added: "I am trying my very best to persuade both the federal and state prosecutors that he should not be arrested and or indicted, because he did not knowingly violate the law."

Mr Braffman added that the allegations against Weinstein are "entirely without merit".

The film director is under criminal investigation in New York, Los Angeles and London.

He has not been charged with any crimes, though police in New York have said publicly that they believe there is enough evidence to make an arrest.

- Digital Desk
A number of US news websites are temporarily unavailable to most European users, as new EU data protection rules come into effect.

The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules offer new protections for web users over how their data is used, stored and shared by organisations.

Many websites - both local and international - are today asking European users to agree to new privacy terms.

However, visitors attempting to access US news websites owned by the Tronc group have temporarily had their access fully blocked.

Tronc - the third-largest newspaper publisher in the US - owns papers such as the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News.

The note reads: "We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market.

"We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism."

Other US sites offered different solutions - with public radio broadcaster NPR informing European users they could either accept their terms for the full website or instead access a basic 'plain text' version.

Some other websites and services were also at least temporarily blocked to European users - such as video game Ragnarok Online and the Pinterest-owned Instapaper.

The GDPR rules are coming into force two years after their adoption.

Speaking about the new GDPR rules, the European Commission's Commissioner for Justice Vera Jourova said: "Data protection is a fundamental right in the EU. The new rules will put the Europeans back in control of their data. Now we have a choice and can decide what happens and who has what sort of data.

"You can ask and companies have to tell you. You can also recover your data if you leave or change service."
The owner of a popular chain of Italian restaurants has been banned from managing companies for five years as creditors chase $3.5 million owing from various failed companies he ran.

Frank Anthony Criniti, the owner of a number of Criniti's restaurants, has been disqualified by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) due to his involvement in several failed companies.

Mr Criniti owns Criniti's Darling Harbour. Credit:Christopher Pearce

Mr Criniti has been allowed to continue running his various restaurant businesses including Crinitis Darling Harbour, Crinitis Woolloomooloo, Crinitis Pantry in Castle Hill and Crinitis Woodfire Pizza, until July 30.

The regulator said his disqualification came after liquidators were appointed to his proprietary-limited companies Ozdime, Auswide Auto Wholesalers, Freddaisy, Global Hospitality, Rackforce, Diamondwich and Frank Masons.
A passenger stricken with acute pancreatitis on a United Airlines flight to Rome sued the airline over the crew's refusal to land the plane so he could obtain treatment.

Lewis Christman and his wife Roseanne filed a complaint against the airline alleging he suffered such severe pain and nausea during the May 2016 flight from Chicago that he was unable to sit up, and lay curled up on the galley floor in a fetal position.

United Airlines' public relations disasters continue. Credit:Bloomberg

"Despite medical professionals (passengers on board) examining Lewis Christman and determining he was suffering a severe gallbladder attack and/or severe pancreatitis, United Airlines Flight 970 decided to continue its 9 1/2 hour flight, with approximately 7 1/2 hours remaining," the complaint alleges.

Upon landing, Christman was hospitalised, first in Rome and then in the US for months, and later required surgery, according to the complaint filed May 17 in Cook County, Illinois state court.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Tony Sheldon will press Labor to address wage theft and the need to regulate the gig economy at the ALP's national conference later this year. "Its time we stopped using polite language to describe it," he said. "It is stealing and it should be treated that way by governments and the legal system. "We will be pushing for the adoption of a wage theft resolution at Federal ALP conference this year. Employers which steal from their workers should be in jail." Unions NSW secretary, Mark Morey Credit:Wolter Peeters Mark Morey, Secretary of Unions NSW said gig economy platforms were exploiting legal loopholes which meant independent contractors had no rights under federal employment laws.

This is driving down wages, but also putting a wrecking ball through safety and licensing," Mr Morey said. "We expect future state and federal Labor governments to act and rein in this catch us if you can business model. Mr Laundy said the gig economy was in its infancy and it would be premature to try and regulate it through statute. He said the best approach to regulation at this early stage was through the evolution of common law principles through the courts and tribunals. "It gets regulated over time as it develops," he said. NSW Labor spokesman for Industrial Relations Adam Searle. Credit:James Brickwood NSW Labor spokesman for Industrial Relations Adam Searle said that as technological innovation continues to develop, more and more workers would be in non-standard forms of work which were not regulated by state or federal laws. NSW Labor has already committed to criminalising wage theft if it wins government next year.

"There has to be a new architecture to ensure they are properly protected with minimum pay and basic conditions that the community rightly expects," he said. "The Labor Party will be addressing the issue of making sure people who work in the gig economy have minimum pay and safe workplaces like other workers." Innes Willox, chief executive of AI Group. Credit:Stewart Donn Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said there was no need for new state laws because federal laws already address the issue. He said workplace relations laws and awards were complex and underpayments were often the result of genuine misunderstanding and pay errors. "Criminalising underpayments and labelling underpayments as "theft" would deter business owners from employing people and investing," Mr Willox said.

The Fair Work Act already contains very large penalties for employers who underpay workers and those who do not keep the required pay records. These penalties were recently increased by up to 20 times. Underpaying workers is not acceptable behaviour. However, wage theft is an emotive term coined by the union movement designed to tarnish all employers. It describes something which is already effectively and comprehensively addressed in legislation." James Lea from Melbourne Credit:Lucie McGough James Lea, 24, from Melbourne will address the Victorian Labor Party Conference on Saturday after being underpaid in four out of five hospitality jobs he has had in the past four years. He was paid nothing at all for a work trial at one cafe. He said he was excited Premier Daniel Andrews had acted to criminalise wage theft.

"I think there been overhwhelming support for the campaign to criminalise wage theft," he said. Mr Lea was backpaid more than $13,000 last week with the help of United Voice which provides template letters to employers as part of its digital union platform called Hospo Voice. "It is about time we changed the law to help exploited workers so we don't have to constantly have to fight for what we are entitled to." Jessica Walsh, secretary of United Voice Victoria, said when workers speak out and name and shame venues, other employers take notice and change their behaviour. "Making wage theft a crime is a game changer for young hospo workers. It means employers wouldn't be able to just ignore or intimidate their staff when they speak out, because the stakes will be a whole lot higher. They would have to pay the legal minimum award, or face jail time," she said.
The humanitarian division of the Australian Red Cross has apologised for making mistakes in its payment of staff which resulted in average underpayments of $1800 per year over several years.

Red Cross chief executive Judy Slatyer said it first realised errors were made during a recent review of its payroll system.

The mistakes were found in a review of the Red Cross payroll system. Credit:Louie Douvis

"These are genuine mistakes and not intentional," Ms Slatyer said. I am very sorry mistakes have been made in paying staff and we are taking urgent steps to fix this and pay everyone their entitlements.

Our estimate is that approximately 800 current staff are impacted. The average individual impact is around $1,800 per annum over a period of several years. Were still calculating what this means for past employees."
Press gallery icons have voiced their support for suspended Sky News host Samantha Maiden.

The former News Corp political editor has been told to take leave while the broadcaster conducts a workplace investigation. It is understood Sky has received complaints relating to her behaviour around other colleagues.

Maiden could not be contacted for comment. However, multiple people in the Canberra press gallery have tweeted messages of support.

Legendary political journalist Laurie Oakes, who retired late last year, said he wasn't aware of the events surrounding the "current fuss".

"Samantha Maiden is one heck of a newsbreaker and, in my experience, a very decent person," he wrote.
Illustration: Dionne Gain Credit:

"Darling. (Yes darling.) Nothing darling. Just darling, darling." Crossing the mighty Darling River always reminds me of this little ditty deployed, back in the day, by punk rocker Ian Dury. This time, though, were just outside Louth, a hundred clicks west-south-west of Bourke, and as our ancient Land Cruiser lumbers across the old box-girder bridge its another voice that murmurs "as he died to make things holy, let us die to make things cheap". Leonard Cohens You Want It Darker seeps from the sound-system like coal tar from a wound.

"Stop the truck," I insist. I need a picture, for the mighty Darling is mighty no longer. Its a dotted line, traversed by bare khaki dirt in several places. Less a chain of ponds, this poor dishevelled deity, than a chain of puddles.

Id woken that morning rubbing my feet on the delicious soft roughness of plain cotton sheets, 30 bucks from Kmart. I mean, who knew Kmart could do anything without polyester and fluoro, right? Beside me, the tiny grandson gurgled happily in his new, pelican-pattern all-cotton Wondersuit, just $14 from Bonds.

But in a flash, on the bridge, I see the links. I applaud Kmarts new venture into a kind of plainness approaching taste. Its almost Quakerish, almost noble in its simplicity. Bonds is excelling itself in the design department and even Target makes a feature of Pure Australian cotton. Thats all great. But the cheapness is illusory. Because this right here is the cost. Were buying this cotton with our river, our grandchildrens future.
The number of Canberrans choosing to end their lives with voluntary euthanasia could grow to 65 a year in the next decade if assisted dying is legalised, an ACT parliamentary inquiry has heard.

That's according to calculations by former Labor economist Dr Brendan Long, maths he said he is "happy to defend" and based off his own analysis of the growth of similar programs running in parts of the US, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland.

Disability advocates were split on the question of introducing voluntary euthanasia in the ACT on Friday's hearings. Credit:.

Dr Long, of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University, shared his insights as an advisor to Victorian Deputy Premier James Merlino, who led an unsuccessful attempt to block euthanasia laws in the state.

Disability groups appearing before the inquiry on Friday were spilt on the issue. The ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service said that, as risky as the legislation could be for those with disabilities, leaving them out altogether was not the solution.
A large shed, caravan and vehicle were allegedly set on fire after thieves stole a firearm and ammunition from a property near Canberra.

NSW police said emergency services were called to a property on Nerriga Road at Durran Durra, near Braidwood, after reports of a fire about 4pm on Thursday.

"Police and Rural Fire Service personnel attended and found a large shed, along with a caravan and a vehicle, well alight. The fire was extinguished; however, significant damage was caused," police said in a statement.

"During a canvass of the property, it was discovered that a number of shipping containers, caravans and cars had been broken into. A firearm, ammunition and other items were stolen from the property."

Officers found a safe, believed to have been stolen from the property, at Molongolo Gorge via Sutton about 12.30pm Friday.
We love this photograph of Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin talking with Canberra school children on International Missing Children's Day.

AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin talks to Canberra children on Friday, International Missing Children's Day.

There was no standing behind lecterns or in front of powerpoints, as the nation's top cop spoke to year six youngsters from 13 Canberra primary schools who attended the AFP's first Missing Youth Forum at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Friday was International Missing Children's Day, a day to remember children who are missing and to provide support to loved ones who continue their search.

Mr Colvin explained to the group that, of the 38,000 Australians who go missing each year, two-thirds are under 18. And young people aged 13 to 17 are six times more likely to go missing than the general population.
A lawyer who claims she fabricated a document to mislead the husband of bestselling Australian author Colleen McCullough into believing he would inherit McCullough's estate wept in the NSW Supreme Court witness box on Friday after being challenged about her evidence.

McCullough's widower Ric Robinson is embroiled in a costly NSW Supreme Court feud with his late wife's executor and a US university over her multimillion-dollar estate, ranging from her art collection to royalties from her 25 books, including the 1977 hit The Thorn Birds.

Author Colleen McCullough. Credit:Danielle Smith

The case has been characterised by a series of explosive allegations, including claims of falsehoods and false documents. Emotions have run high in the NSW Supreme Court, where the hearing commenced on Tuesday.

Mr Robinson claims a will executed on January 17, 2015, days before McCullough's death on Norfolk Island on January 29, named him as sole beneficiary of her estate.
Three people who have come forward with allegations of indecent assault against actor Craig McLachlan wish to remain anonymous in court proceedings, a Sydney court has heard.

McLachlan, 52, is suing the ABC and Fairfax Media  publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age  for defamation over a joint investigation published in January which detailed allegations of harassment and sexual misconduct made against him by female colleagues from the 2014 stage production of The Rocky Horror Show.

Craig McLachlan in The Rocky Horror Show. Credit:Pat Scala

The actor alleges the articles and broadcasts convey a range of imputations, including that he is guilty of "indecently assaulting, sexually harassing, indecently exposing himself to, and bullying female cast members" during the Rocky Horror tour.

He says those claims are false and is seeking damages and an order that the publications be removed from the media outlets' websites.
A car believed to be linked to the suspected murder of Brisbane man Sam Price-Purcell has been seized by police.

Mr Price-Purcell went missing from the Mitchelton area on February 16, 2015.

A car believed to be linked to the suspected murder of Sam Price-Purcell has been seized by police. Credit:Queensland Police Service

The then-25-year-old was seen getting into a bright yellow 2010 Holden Commodore SS sedan and was understood to have been travelling to the Toowoomba area.

He has not been seen since.
It has now been revealed by prosecutor Carl Heaton, QC, that after 10pm on the evening of the 29th, Thorburn told his wife and two sons: Tia is no longer with us, I hope you understand what that means. I have her hidden and Im going to get rid of her tomorrow night," he told his family. Im going to leave home tomorrow morning as if Im dropping Tia off to school and then collect some car parts. Tomorrow night, I dont want you boys home, so that I can get rid of Tias body. I know a good place where I can get rid of the body. On the evening of October 30, Thorburn returned to the familys Chambers Flat home covered in dirt.

Its done, he said. Rick Thorburn has pleaded guilty to the murder of his foster daughter Tiahleigh Palmer. Credit:Fairfax Media When Tiahleighs body was found, she was wearing only a pair of ripped black underpants. Her body was so badly decomposed the cause of death was unable to be determined. The only injury noted was a bruise on her scalp. The time of her death was established by the rate of absorption in her body of some Nurofen she had taken for the stomach cramps.

The Crime Stoppers call prompted a Crime and Corruption Commission hearing during which all four members of the Thorburn family stuck to the story, but it prompted police to install listening devices in their home. Loading These devices captured conversations between the family members, including Thorburn telling his wife and sons to stick to the story about him dropping Tiahleigh at school and to keep Trents relationship with Tiahleigh quiet. All four members of the Thorburn family were arrested in September 2016. In the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday, Rick Thorburn pleaded guilty to Tiahleigh's murder, as well as one count of interfering with a corpse, one count attempting to pervert justice and two counts of perjury.

In the packed courtroom, Thorburn, who was wearing long dark pants and a light-blue button-up shirt, wiped tears from his eyes while pleading guilty. Tiahleighs mother, Cindy Palmer, along with several other family members and supporters, were present but were silent when Thorburn pleaded guilty to the charges and remained quiet when Justice David Boddice sentenced Thorburn to life behind bars. Judge Boddice described Thorburns act or murder as cold, calculating and callous. Outside the court, Ms Palmer said the day marked the end of a long and painful fight for justice for Tiahleigh. As her mother, no sentence will ever be enough, she said.

Tiahleigh was a beautiful young girl who had her entire life to look forward to. Rick Thorburn took that away from me, from our family and most importantly Tiahleigh. Cindy Palmer, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, arriving at the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Friday. Credit:AAP Thorburn's wife and two sons have also been jailed. Trent Thorburn, who admitted to having sex with Tiahleigh, his foster sister, was jailed for a maximum of four years in September 2017 after pleading guilty to four charges, including incest.

His older brother, Joshua Thorburn, was sentenced to three months in July 2017 after pleading guilty to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Trent Thorburn was jailed after he pleaded guilty to having sex with his underage foster sister. Credit:Instagram Rick's wife, Julene Thorburn, served six months in jail after pleading guilty on November 2017 to perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. After Thorburn's sentencing, Child Safety Minister Di Farmer said the Queensland government had commissioned three independent reviews, which made more than 100 recommendations to improve the system. All were accepted by the government, but on Friday afternoon Ms Farmer was unable to say how many of the recommendations had been implemented.

"The important thing to know is that none of those recommendations could have brought back Tiahleigh Palmer, could have actually helped us to predict that Rick Thorburn was capable of what he did to that beautiful young girl," she said. "We cannot predict human beings like Rick Thorburn and the depth of depravity that he has displayed. "Every single process that needed to be gone through in assessing Rick Thorburn as a foster carer was gone through, every single box was ticked." Ms Farmer said the systems in place when Tiahleigh were murdered were "strong and robust". "And the independent reviews confirmed that those systems were strong and robust," she said.
A man in his 50s has been taken to hospital in a serious condition after suffering leg and pelvic injuries following a workplace incident involving a crane in the Moreton Bay region.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said the man suffered "crush-type" injuries during the incident at Lakefield Drive in North Lakes.

The man in his 50s was being treated at the scene by paramedics. Credit:Jorge Branco

Paramedics were called to the incident about 1.38pm on Friday.

A critical-care paramedic team attended the location as one of the high-acuity QAS teams.
A woman who was high on ice when she viciously bit a police officer while being arrested has avoided jail days after the Victorian Government vowed to tighten mandatory sentencing laws for people who attack emergency service workers.

In a move that has infuriated the police union, Craigieburn woman Ayten Ulusoy, 50, was instead sentenced to a two-year community corrections order on top of the 44 days she has already served for her attack on Acting Sergeant Stephanie Attard in 2016.

Ayten Ulusoy, 50, has been sentenced to a two-year community corrections order for her attack on a police officer in 2016. Credit:Nine News

The court was told Acting Sergeant Attard suffered a "painful" bite to her left forearm after turning up to a house in Dallas in Melbourne's north to check on Ms Ulusoy's welfare on September 27, 2016.

The Police Association of Victoria slammed the judiciary for living in the "Dark Ages" and said it was "outraged and disgusted" by the decision.
The Nationals will debate a $500 million cap on company tax cuts next week, as one MP calls for the Coalition to compromise with the crossbench to get its signature economic package through Parliament.

The Turnbull government's $35.6 billion company tax cut plan was pole-axed by One Nation on Tuesday, after it abandoned its support for the package ahead of the Longman byelection, leaving the Coalition well short of the nine crossbench votes it needs to get the legislation through the Senate.

Nationals senator John "Wacka" Williams urged the government's negotiators to consider a proposal from independents Derryn Hinch and Cory Bernardi that would see the tax cut limited to companies with a turnover of up to $500 million.

Senator John "Wacka" Williams. Credit:Louie Douvis

"If they can't get support for the open slather $1 billion and over package by 2024-25 they should push through the $500 million and just do the rest later on," Senator Williams told Fairfax Media.
A new book authored by the influential Institute of Public Affairs calls on the Turnbull government to privatise the ABC by giving it away for free to the ABC's employees or Australian citizens.

Against Public Broadcasting, released on Friday night, labels the ABC "an anachronism" whose rationale is now redundant and which has become a $1 billion-a-year drain on the public purse.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, who has close links with and remains a member of the IPA - a conservative think-tank - quickly distanced himself from the publication and said the ABC would remain in public hands.

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has yielded to some of Pauline Nation's demands on the ABC. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But the book will find its way on to the shelves of many Liberal MPs at a testing time for the public broadcaster as it does battle with a hostile Coalition government and attempts to accommodate an $84 million funding freeze on top of previous cuts.
We're deep into the 2018 budget season.

The federal budget kicks things off on the second Tuesday each May. Then about six weeks later the NSW Treasurer has his or her turn.

The arrival of Dominic Perrottet's daughter Harriet prompted him to think more about the future.

For me, this budget season has had an unexpected theme: the long-term future.

In a story published as part of the Heralds federal budget coverage earlier this month I wrote a feature story which asked what if the budget was to be assessed from the point of view of 10-year-olds.
Brisbane City Council employees have voted overwhelmingly in support of a new pay deal.

The official acceptance of the new enterprise bargaining agreement, which will be in place until October 2020, came after repeated industrial action by staff, including bus drivers, who offered free travel to commuters.

After an independently administered council-wide vote, which was finalised on Friday, 89 per cent of all employees who had their say voted to support the EBA.

The agreement includes a $500 one-off sign-off payment for staff, and annual 2.5 per cent pay rises.

Brisbane City Council reached a wage deal with drivers in September.
Bangkok: Thai police have raided four Buddhist temples, arresting several prominent monks and worshippers in the year's biggest such operation as part of a crackdown on illegal financial dealings by temples.

The raids are the military government's latest bid to reform Buddhism, which is followed by more than 90 per cent of Thailand's population of 69 million, but whose image has been tarnished by money and sex scandals involving monks.

Thai Buddhist monk Phra Buddha Isara is escorted by Thai police officers at the Criminal Court in Bangkok. Credit:EPA

"This is the investigation stage... it will all come down to facts and evidence," police official Thitiraj Nhongharnpitak, of the Central Investigation Bureau, told reporters.
In order to tap in millennials, Bengaluru-based real-estate developer Embassy Group has partnered up with e-commerce giant Amazon to offer smart homes. The houses that Embassy Group are offering would come with Amazon Echo pre-installed and Amazon Alexa pre-enabled in order to lure in GenX as well as millennials. The devices would enable residents to control smart home appliances, play music as well as order products from Amazon through Alexa.

Puneesh Kumar, Country Manager for Alexa Experience and Devices, Amazon India confirmed the development and said that they are offering Embassy Group technology to turn its homes into voice-enabled smart homes with its Echo devices, powered by Alexa Voice Service.







Jitu Virwani, Chairman and MD of Embassy Group said, "We launched Embassy Edge, an integral part of Embassy Springs in north Bengaluru with an aim that the region is witnessing huge job creation through 200 acres Aerospace Park, Devahanahalli Tech Park (ITIR) and BIAL going for aerotropolis development around the airport," as mentioned in a report in Hindu Business Line.







Reeza Sebastian, Senior Vice-President of Residential Business in Embassy Group said that the company zeroed in on north Bengaluru as it is an emerging IT cluster that has already created over 50,000 jobs.







Embassy Edge is part of Embassy Springs that is an Rs 1,200 crore project. The report mentions that Embassy Edge, spread across 12 acres and five towers with 800 apartments is targeted at first-time homebuyers.







Embassy group started off as a residential developer and moved on to build office spaces. In the third and current phase of their journey, the company is targeting mid-segment luxury and technology-driven smart homes.
New Delhi, May 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin a five-day visit on Tuesday to Indonesia and Singapore, two of Indias strategically key partners in the region, with an aim to deepen defence ties, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

Announcing the visit, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said a raft of agreements including in areas of defence and security are expected to be inked during Modis visit to these two countries, which are members of powerful regional grouping ASEAN.

India and Indonesia are likely to sign a pact on defence cooperation as a similar agreement inked years ago had expired.

Secretary (East) in the MEA Preeti Saran said the prime minister will arrive in Indonesia on May 29 and will leave for Singapore from there on May 31 for a three-day visit.

In Singapore, Modi will hold bilateral talks with his Singaporean counterpart and deliver the key note address at the Shangri-la dialogue which is expected to be attended by top leaders from several important countries.

Asked about Singapores apparent reservations over formation of a quadrilateral coalition among India, the US, Australia and Japan, she said there has been a "deep sense" of appreciation among the ASEAN nations about New Delhis views about peace and security in the region.

"We give primacy and importance to ASEANs unity and ASEANs centrality in the region," she said.

Singapore is a key member country of the 10-nation ASEAN grouping with which India has been intensifying its defence and security ties.

The US, Australia and several other leading powers have been favouring a greater role by India in the Indo-Pacific region where China has been flexing its military might.

About Modis visit to Indonesia, Saran said the country is Indias closest maritime neighbour and there will be discussions on ways to deepen maritime cooperation, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

Earlier this year, both countries held their first security dialogue during which areas for boosting military cooperation were identified.

Asked whether Indonesia will give Indian navy ships access to deep sea port in Sabang, Saran did not give a direct reply, but said discussions have been underway on enhancing overall connectivity and cooperation.

Boosting trade and enhancing connectivity will be another focus area of Modis visit to Indonesia, which will be his first to the country as PM.

Saran said the prime ministers engagement in Jakarta will include his address at a gathering of Indian community and at a forum of top businessmen.

He will also inaugurate a kite festival jointly organised by a leading Indonesian museum and Kite museum of Ahmedabad. The kite festival will depict common theme of Ramayana and Mahabharata, showcasing cultural links between the two countries.

On June 1, Modi will hold extensive talks with Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong besides addressing CEOs of top 20 companies of the country during which he is expected to highlight the reforms initiated by his government to boost the economy.

Saran said both the countries are likely to ink a number of pacts in the areas of defence, space and skill development.

In Singapore, the PM will attend a business and community event, will participate at an interaction with president and board members of the Nanyang university, one of the premier educational institution globally, and inaugurate a plaque at a place where Mahatma Gandhis ashes were immersed.

In 1948, Gandhis ashes were sent to various parts of India and the world, including Singapore.

A key highlight of Modis visit to Singapore will be his address at the Shangri-La dialogue.

Modi is the first Indian PM who has been invited to deliver key note address at the forum, said Saran, adding he is expected to delve into Indias view on peace and security in the region.

The prime minister is also likely to share his philosophy on Sagarmala, a project to develop a string of ports to strengthen maritime connectivity, during the keynote address.

On June 2, Modi is scheduled to visit Changi naval base. He will also visit an Indian ship which will be in Singapore as part of bilateral naval exchanges. PTI MPB RT RT
Top American airline, Delta Air Lines would resume its services in India with non-stop flights between New York and Mumbai. Delta that was earlier operating in the country had to bow out of the Indian market in 2009 due to the impact of government-subsidised Middle Eastern airlines. The American airline had even blamed its Middle Eastern counterparts in a statement for rendering it unviable to operate in parts of Asia.

"It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the US as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally," said Delta CEO Ed Bastian, as mentioned in a report in Financial Express. The announcement comes after the governments of United Arab Emirates, Qatar and USA announced an agreement dealing with government subsidies provided to state-owned carriers in these countries.







The new framework allows Delta to return to destinations like India that have been impacted by government-subsidised Middle Eastern airlines. The service is likely to resume next year, depending on government approvals. Complete schedule and details are likely to be announced later this year.







In a statement, Bastian said that they are looking to provide Indian and American customers with their "famously reliable, customer-focused service operated by the best employees in the industry".







The airlines also said that it would expand its marketing relationship with Jet Airways to provide passengers in the NY-Mumbai flight seamless connection to other destinations within India.







As of now, the only airlines operating non-stop flights between the two countries are Air India and United Airlines.
The recent incidents at Vistara involving technical issues with the CFM engines mounted on its aircraft have raised the risk profile of the Indian aviation sector a bit. Some reports say that a few days ago, a Vistara Airbus A320neo flight from Delhi to Bengaluru could not take off as the engines would not start. In March, another incident involving A320neo had to return to Ahmedabad after a problem emerged with its CFM International Leap engine.

According to the reports, the carrier has reported problems with its CFM Leap I engines. Four engines have already been replaced while two more are waiting to be replaced after cropping up of problems in the turbines of the engines. Gurgaon-based Vistara took delivery of the first of seven leased LEAP-1A Airbus A320neos from lessor BOC Aviation in last May. In a tweet, Vistara clarified, "We use engines from a different manufacturer on our A320neos than those used by some other airlines that have been in the news over the past year."

"There have been no safety issues or inflight shutdowns on our A320neo engines. Initial glitches can occur from time to time on any new engine, aircraft, and are addressed as per routine process with the manufacturers in coordination with all regulators - DGCA, EASA, FAA. There is no safety implication whatsoever," says a Vistara spokesperson.

Vistara, a joint venture between Indian conglomerate Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines that began operations in January 2015, is not the only airline that's facing issues with engines mounted on A320neos. Market leader IndiGo and Mumbai-based GoAir have faced problems with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines. IndiGo has been struggling with its A320neos powered by P&W's 450 series engines for the past 18 months. The engines have suffered from mid-air power loss, shutdowns and rapid degradation of oil seals. IndiGo's future deliveries of aircraft have also been impacted due to engine issues.

A320 family aircraft are already popular with domestic carriers with over 300 aircraft under operations out of a total fleet of about 580 aircraft. CFM and P&W are the two companies that manufacture neo engines for narrow-body Airbus A320s. The other large engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is focusing on wide-body aircraft market. The neos (new engine option) are advanced version of ceos (current engine option), which are 15 per cent fuel efficient with reduced noise levels and 50 per cent less carbon emissions.

In April, Vistara took delivery of its 20th aircraft - and seventh Airbus A320neo - that has given automatic regulatory clearance to the airline to fly on international routes. It had placed an order of two more A320neo aircraft that are expected to be delivered by next month.
The employees of public sector banks will go on a two-day strike from May 30-31 to protest against a 'meagre' 2 per cent wage hike offered by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA). The nationwide strike is likely to affect the normal banking operations of several state-run lenders.

The pan-India strike has been called by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), which is an umbrella body of bank unions including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers Association (AIBOA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI).

Earlier, SBI had said its services may be impacted on May 30 and May 31 if the proposed strike by various bank employees unions take place. Pressing for various demands, the unions have opposed IBAs delay in resolving a charter of demands, governments casual approach to wage revision for bank employees, a meagre offer of 2 per cent hike in wage revision.

"All India State Bank Officers Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation are members of UFBU. Thus, it is likely that our bank will also be impacted to some extent by the said strike calls," SBI had said in a regulatory filing.

UFBU has demanded an expeditious and early wage revision settlement, adequate increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions and wage revision settlement to include all officers up to scale VII.

Several others banks, including Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB), have also said that their services and functioning are likely to be impacted if the strike takes place.

In the wage negotiation meeting held on May 5, 2018, IBA made a propositions to offer 2 per cent hike in the wage bill cost as on March 31, 2017. It also maintained that the negotiations on officers demands would be restricted up to scale III officers only.

"It is only because of provisions towards NPA that banks have booked losses, and for this, bank employees are not responsible," United Forum of Bank Unions' convener Devidas Tuljapurkar said.

Tuljapurkar told reporters here. He said in the last two-three years, bank employees have worked tirelessly for implementation of government initiatives such as Jan-Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana, among others.

"This has resulted into huge increase in their workloads," he said.

In the last wage settlement, which was for the period November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2017, IBA had give a wage hike of 15 per cent.

with PTI inputs
Terra Liquid Minerals, an agri-business set up by two brothers in 2012, has won the overall title at the 2018 National Enterprise Awards.

The Kildare-based company created a mineral dosing system for farmers, which provides over 50,000 dairy cows with liquid minerals through their drinking water.

Chair of the Network of Local Enterprise Offices, Sheelagh Daly, said:  TerraLiquid Minerals are very deserving winners this year because of how they have helped farmers to improve animal health through drinking water by providing an innovative Agri Tech solution. The automated controller that they developed here in Ireland, thanks to financial assistance from their Local Enterprise Office, has global appeal for farming communities around the world.

The Athy business employs ten people and announced a 2 million expansion programme late last year.

According to a survey by the Local Enterprise Offices, previous winners of the National Enterprise Award now employ 832 people and generate 131 million in sales annually, including 58 million worth of export sales to 52 countries.

Source: www.businessworld.ie

Source: www.businessworld.ie
New European privacy regulations that go into effect today will force companies to be more attentive to how they handle customer data, while bringing consumers both new ways to control their data and tougher enforcement of existing privacy rights.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaces the bloc's patchwork of rules dating back to 1995 and heralds an era where breaking privacy laws can fetch fines of up to 4 percent of global revenue or 20 million, whichever is higher, as opposed to a few hundred thousand euro.

Many privacy advocates around the world have hailed the new law as a model for personal data protection in the internet era and called on other countries to follow the European model.

Critics, though, say the new rules are overly burdensome, especially for small businesses, while advertisers and publishers worry it will make it harder for them to find customers.

The GDPR clarifies and strengthens existing individual privacy rights, such as the right to have one's data erased and the right to ask a company for a copy of one's data.

But it also includes entirely new mandates, such as the right to transfer one's data from one service provider to another and the right to restrict companies from using personal data.

"If you compare the GDPR with the data protection directive you can really compare it with a piece of software upgrading from 1.0 to 2.0," said Patrick Van Eecke, partner at law firm DLA Piper.

"It's a gradual and not a revolutionary kind of thing ... However for many companies it was a huge wakeup call because they never did their homework. They never took the data protection directive seriously."

Activists are already planning to leverage the right to access one's data to turn the tables on large internet platforms whose business model relies on processing people's personal information.

That means companies are having to put in place processes for dealing with such requests and educating their workforce because any non-compliance could lead to stiff sanctions.

Studies suggest that many companies are not ready for the new rules.

The International Association of Privacy Professionals found that only 40% of companies affected by the GDPR expected to be fully compliant by May 25.

It is unclear how many provisions of GDPR will be interpreted and enforced. A patchwork of European regulatory authorities, many of whom say they are under-funded, will oversee the new law, with a central body to resolve conflicts.

One key provision of GDPR, the right to data portability, is causing particular confusion.

Lawyers and experts say it is not clear how far the right for individuals to move their data from one service provider to another will stretch.

"I think the data portability rights are pretty significant and are going to take a while for people to figure out what the bounds of them are and how to go about complying with them," said David Hoffman, Director of Security Policy and Global Privacy Officer at Intel.

For example, music streaming services like Spotify create playlists for users based on their music preferences. While a user seeking to exercise the data portability right would be able to move playlists he or she created, the situation becomes fuzzy if the playlists are created by the streaming service using algorithms.

EU data protection authorities said individuals should be able to transfer data provided by them but not "derived data" created by the service provider such as algorithmic results.

Tanguy Van Overstraeten of Linklaters said the data portability right could raise issues of intellectual property.

"It's not obvious that you can necessarily migrate the data from your system to somebody else's system," he said.

On the business side, companies are rushing to renegotiate contracts with suppliers and service providers because GDPR increases their liability if something goes wrong.

Under the current rules it is generally the company that determines the purposes of data collection that is directly liable for any breaches.

GDPR changes that, and data processors which only process or store the data on behalf of their clients, for example cloud computing providers, will be directly liable for sanctions and could face lawsuits from individuals, and that needs to be reflected in contracts.

Companies can have hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of agreements which need to be revisited to ensure they comply with GDPR.

"After 20 years of data protection legislation in place, it's only now with the GDPR they (companies) start to think about 'what's my role in the whole story? Am I a data controller or data processor?'" Van Eecke said. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
As Europe's new privacy law took effect today, one activist wasted no time in asserting the additional rights it gives people over the data that companies want to collect about them.

Austrian Max Schrems filed complaints against Google , Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing they were acting illegally by forcing users to accept intrusive terms of service or lose access.

That take-it-or-leave-it approach, Schrems told Reuters Television, violates people's right under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to choose freely whether to allow companies to use their data.

"You have to have a 'yes or no' option," Schrems said in an interview recorded in Vienna before he filed the complaints in various European jurisdictions.

"A lot of these companies now force you to consent to the new privacy policy, which is totally against the law."

The GDPR overhauls data protection laws in the European Union that predate the rise of the internet and, most importantly, foresees fines of up to 4 percent of global revenues for companies that break the rules.

That puts potential sanctions in the ballpark of anti-trust fines levied by Brussels that, in Google's case, have run into billions of dollars.

Andrea Jelinek, who heads both Austria's Data Protection Authority and a new European Data Protection Board set up under GDPR, appeared to express sympathy with Schrems' arguments at a news conference in Brussels.

Asked about the merits of Schrems' complaints, Jelinek said: "If there is forced consent, there is no consent."

Schrems was a 23-year-old law student when he first took on Facebook and he's been fighting Mark Zuckerberg's social network ever since - becoming the poster-boy for data privacy.

He won a landmark European court ruling in 2015 that invalidated a 'safe harbor' agreement allowing firms to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States, where data protection is less strict.

With GDPR in mind, he recently set up a non-profit called None of Your Business https://noyb.eu (noyb) that plans legal action to blunt the ability of the tech titans to harvest data that they then use to sell targeted advertising.

His laptop perched on the table of a traditional Viennese coffee house, Schrems showed how a pop-up message on Facebook seeks consent to use his data - and how he is blocked when he refuses.

"The only way is to really accept it, otherwise you cannot use your Facebook any more," Schrems explained.

"As you can see, I have my messages there and I cannot read them unless I agree."

Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, said in a statement that the company has prepared for 18 months to ensure it meets the requirements of GDPR by making its policies clearer and its privacy settings easier to find.

Facebook, which has more than 2 billion regular users, has also said that advertising allows it to remain free, and that the whole service, including ads, is meant to be personalized based on user data.

Schrems said, however, that Instagram, a photo-sharing network popular with younger users, and encrypted messaging service WhatsApp - both owned by Facebook - also use pop-ups to gain consent and bar users who refuse.

The action brought by noyb against Google relates to new smartphones using its Android operating system. Buyers are required to hand over their data or else own "a 1,000-euro brick" that they can't use, Schrems said.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

noyb is filing the four claims with data protection authorities in France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Ensuing litigation may play out in Ireland, where both Facebook and Google have their European headquarters.

One filing, made against Facebook on behalf of an Austrian woman, asks the country's data protection authority to investigate and, as appropriate, prohibit data processing operations based on invalid consent.

It also asks the regulator to impose "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" fines as foreseen by GDPR, which in Facebook's case could run to 1.3 billion euros.

"So far it was cheaper just to ignore privacy rights," said Schrems. "Now, hopefully, it's going to be cheaper to follow them because the penalties are so high." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
SPIEF logo at the Expo Forum Convention and Exhibition Centre during the 2018 St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on May 24. Photo: VCG

(St. Petersburg, Russia)  China and Russia may soon sign an agreement that will clear a major hurdle to the upgrade of a cross-border railway, a move that could boost the development of Russias Far East, a Chinese industry group official said Thursday.

The two governments are expected to ink a memorandum of understanding to adopt the track-gauge standards of both countries along a 70-kilometer (43-mile) stretch of railway that connects Hunchun, a city on the Sino-Russian border, and Zarubino port in southeastern Russia, said He Zhenwei, secretary-general of the China Overseas Development Association (CODA).

He made his remarks Thursday at a Caixin session during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2018 in the city. Track gauge is the distance between the rails.

Russias track gauge is wider than most other countries, including China. The agreement would see extra rails added to the existing line so that trains from both countries can cross the border without having to unload and reload their goods.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Chinas top economic-planning body, and Russias transportation authorities could sign the deal as soon as next month during Russian President Vladimir Putins visit to China, said He. The CODA, which is linked to the NDRC, provides services for Chinese enterprises overseas investments and development.

Such a change will significantly improve the efficiency of cargo transport on the line and in turn increase the volume of goods transported, He said. It could also set a precedent for the upgrading of another railway between Suifenhe, in Northeast Chinas Heilongjiang province, and Vladivostok, he said.

More importantly, the greater flow of goods is expected to drive greater flow of people, capital and technology  all key elements in the implementation of Russias strategy to develop its sparsely populated Far East region, he added.

I believe that will substantially facilitate the overall development of the Far East, He said.

China is hoping to ship grains, energy and other commodities produced in its northeast to its southern regions via nearby Russian ports as an alternative to domestic rail transport that often struggles with limited capacity during busy seasons.

Jilin province, where Hunchun is, signed an agreement with Russian container operator Summa Group in May 2014 to expand the volume of goods that Zarubinos port is capable to handle by dozens of times to 60 million tons each year.

He said that the State Council, Chinas cabinet, has approved the setup of a new China-Russia development fund that aims to raise a total of 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) in 10 phases to invest in major projects such as the Hunchun-Zarubino rail and in the nuclear sector.

But he also cautioned that skepticism in Russia about Chinese investment has hindered the growth of bilateral economic relations.

Tu Guangshao, vice chairman of China Investment Corp. (CIC), the countrys sovereign wealth fund, also called on Moscow to further open its market.

We expect Russia to take a more-open attitude in terms of promoting two-way investment, he said to the audience at the session.

CIC has invested more than $1 billion via a fund it established four years ago in 20 projects in Russia, he added.

Chinese and Russian leaders have jointly set a goal to boost trade between the countries to $200 billion by 2020. However, two-way trade between them reached just over $84 last year, up 20.8% from 2016 and accounting for just 2% of Chinas total trade, Chinese official figures showed.

Contact reporter Fran Wang (fangwang@caixin.com)
Negative reviews are coming in for a popular social media account whose Chinese name literally means negative review. And now it stands to lose funding from Chinas biggest internet company.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. said it may withdraw its investment in Chaping  a news account that has substantial followings on Tencents own WeChat as well as microblog site Weibo  after the account was accused of plagiarism.

Chaping, which publishes Chinese-language news focused on tech companies, said Wednesday it had received 30 million yuan ($4.7 million) in its latest fundraising round led by a unit of Tencent Open Platform Interest. Chaping did not reveal details about the units stake.

But the status of the investment moved swiftly into question after the operator of another WeChat account, under the name Sanbiao Longmenzhen, revived accusations of plagiarism against Chaping and questioned Tencents integrity in funding the account.

The investment is small for a company like Tencent, which according to Forbes magazine was the 12th most valuable global tech firm last year.

But for Chaping it could be substantial. The account says it has 1.13 million active users on WeChat  a number that could not be verified. Several of its recent posts on the platform have been read over 100,000 times. It has over 400,000 followers on Weibo, often called Chinas Twitter.

Chaping has been accused of plagiarism before. A well-known computer programmer, Huo Zhu, published an article in 2015 documenting in detail how an article that took him a year to research and write was republished and widely read on Chaping with only the reshuffling of a few paragraphs and illustrations.

Chaping denied the allegations, and Tencent said its investigation into the matter could not corroborate the complaint.

After the latest online furor, Tencent said it is reviewing the investment in accordance with its intellectual property policy, and could cut links with Chaping pending the review, according to Zhang Jun, Tencents public relations director.

Zhang said Tencent will show no mercy towards companies on WeChat found to have breached the law, even if Tencent has a stake in these firms.

But Zhang also played down the incident, saying the investment was made by one of its subsidiaries, so it is not necessarily a reflection of Tencents stance.

Contact reporter Li Rongde (rongdeli@caixin.com)
news, latest-news

Canberrans who have fallen through the cracks in the National Disability Insurance Scheme will soon be given a lifeline from the ACT government. As an assembly inquiry heard the harrowing stories of those left behind by the scheme, the Barr government revealed it will pledge $1.8 million in next month's budget to support people with high or complex support needs not "currently being met" by the NDIS. That will include those in crisis requiring emergency funding for services, as well as those in particularly complex or vulnerable positions. It is understood funds will be allocated on a case-by-case basis and paid directly to service providers on behalf of participants, without going through the NDIS. Like other states and territories across Australia, the ACT pulled out of the disability sector as the NDIS rolled into town, leaving the capital without a provider of last resort. At least one child with high needs had been relinquished to the ACT in that time, the parliamentary inquiry heard this month, as their family could not longer care for them, while others had been hospitalised by the stress of navigating the scheme. Craig Wallace at the ACT Council of Social Services said a number of people were now "close to breaking point". He welcomed the new funding hit, which includes $400,000 for independent advocacy to help people navigate the NDIS. "It can be a real David and Goliath struggle for people," Mr Wallace said. ACT Minister for Disability Rachel Stephen-Smith said the territory was proud to be the first jurisdiction in Australia to roll-out the NDIS, but said the new support money came in response to challenges faced by some local participants. "This transition to an entirely new service model is complex and the ACT government is committed to ensuring that no-one seeking support gets left behind," she said. The ACT Office of Disability would also get more staff to help it track problems on the ground and coordinate directly with participants as well as the National Disability Insurance Agency, which manages the scheme. This month, participants, service providers and advocates told the parliamentary inquiry that the well-intentioned national reform had become bogged down in an increasingly opaque bureaucracy. People were routinely left in limbo waiting for funding, others had missed out entirely on vital supports and therapies. Mr Wallace said many of the problems raised before the inquiry had been known for a number of years, and it was never the intention of the scheme to replace mainstream supports for people with disability. "It's a misnomer that the [NDIS] would simply come in and all of a sudden the ACT would have no stake in disability services anymore," he said. "We've been saying the ACT needed to ensure continuity of support...we've said it across a number of budget cycles." On Thursday, Mr Wallace called on both the Commonwealth government and the agency to "step up" its response to problems with the scheme. "We've heard some harrowing concerns at the inquiry...but we have yet to see signs that the agency is seized of the need for change in the same way that the ACT seems to be."

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Not the Messiah (He's A Very Naughty Boy). By Eric Idle and John Du Prez, based on Monty Python's Life of Brian. Conducted by Leonard Weiss. Directed by Ylaria Rogers. Canberra Choral Society and National Capital Orchestra. Llewellyn Hall. Saturday, June 2, 7.30pm. premier.ticketek.com.au. Monty Python fans, shout Hallelujah! The Idea of North's Nick Begbie plays Brian in the Canberra premiere of Not the Messiah (He's A Very Naughty Boy), based on the film Monty Python's Life of Brian. This comic oratorio by Eric Idle and John Du Prez  who previously collaborated on the musical Spamalot, also based on a film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, by the British comedy troupe  is presented by Canberra Choral Society, the National Capital Orchestral and soloists with more than 120 musicians on stage at Llewellyn Hall. The Idea of North's tenor Begbie returns to Canberra as Brian, the man caught up in circumstances beyond his control as a man believed to be the Messiah. "I'm a longstanding fan of Monty Python," he says. "It's going to be fun." He says that while the piece seems to be all about Brian, the role is in fact mostly reactive, with things happening to Brian rather than him driving his fate  "Well, that just happened" is how Begbie puts it. The other soloists are baritone Tobias Cole, whose roles include that of narrator, Louise Page (Brian's mother Mandy) and Demi Smith (Brian's girlfriend Judith) and bass David Pearson, who plays Reg, leader of the People's Front of Judea, and Biggus Dickus, a Roman officer of great power. Conductor Leonard Weiss echoes Begbie, saying Not The Messiah is "a delightfully funny piece". This will be his third time conducting a collaboration between the orchestra and the Canberra Choral Society, although the previous works he conducted, by two Carls  Vine and Orff  are somewhat different in character. Weiss says the focus of the piece is musical rather than theatrical, in a wide variety of genres  Idle called it "baroque 'n' roll". Cole says, "I love that it's a mashup of different styles." While there's obviously some parodying of Handel's Messiah  hence the title  Idle and his collaborator, he says, aren't just going for baroque but include many other styles: "doo-wop, Broadway, even Bob Dylan  using whatever he needs to make people laugh." Python fans will recognise some favourite bits in there, too, including the inevitable singalong ending, Always Look On The Bright Side of Life. Cole says Not The Messiah and the Pythons are in the tradition that includes "the Goons ... music hall, a good-time singalong, and the ghosts of Gilbert and Sullivan are in there too  it's a continuous theme of British humour". While a concert would not normally have a director, because of the strongly narrative, comedic and character-based nature of Not The Messiah, Ylaria Rogers has been engaged to help with acting, accents and other important elements. "It's such a funny piece  you want to be true to the story, to what was originally done with very specific actors," she says, while acknowledging that Not The Messiah is its own beast, not Life of Brian, and these performers are not the Python troupe and bring their own qualities and talents to the project. And it's useful to have someone to keep an eye on the overall size of the project, with more than 100 people on stage working towards a single comedic end, whether what they're performing sounds like country and western, hip hop, pop, a hymn, or something completely different.

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It's just before recess and the halls of Lyneham High School are mostly empty. At one of Canberra's most packed schools, there aren't many classrooms to spare, but neither are there students working in corridors. Principal Rob Emanuel admits timetabling is a daily juggling act in a school now 31 students over capacity, and he's regularly forced to turn away families who live out of the school's priority enrolment area. But, day-to-day, he reports Lyneham High is bearing the extra load well. According to the latest government data, the school is one of 15 across the territory now more than 90 per cent full as enrolments in the public system surge. The ACT government has revealed it will invest in school expansion in this year's budget, with $18.8 million set aside to upgrade and replace aging buildings at Campbell Primary School. A new school is also planned for the growing Molongo Valley, after the Charles Weston school came to the area in 2016. The $47 million P-6 school will open in 2021 in Denman Prospect, with enough room for about 600 students and 44 equivalent preschoolers. ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry said the government would also undertake early planning and feasability work for a future 7-10 campus "that will come online as Molonglo grows". Deputy Director-General at the education directorate Meg Brighton said there were guidelines for the number of students that could be in a classroom per square metre for new school builds, but no set rules for existing buildings. Principals were more guided by student teacher ratios, which she noted were still among the lowest in the country. Ms Brighton said the Australian National University was helping the directorate revise its forecasts for future school demand, including around capacity. At Lyneham, Mr Emanuel said there were advantages to being big. "We can offer so many electives," he said. "I can have 10 language classes going." While teachers frequently booked the library for both classes and staff meetings, the facility hadn't been counted in the government's capacity figures. Ms Brighton said principals were encouraged to monitor what they were using spaces for as student learning evolved, to see if they could be better used in other ways. "Fifteen years ago building computer labs was all the rage, now we have Chromebooks and we don't need nearly as many," Mr Emanuel said.

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A Canberra woman is facing multiple charges after allegedly defrauding multiple victims through catfishing scams. Police said the 27-year-old Lyneham woman's alleged crimes had taken place over several years, with her alleged victims giving her money believing it was for her child's medical treatment. The woman is scheduled to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday, facing numerous charges of obtaining property by deception. ACT Policing urges anyone who suspects they may be a victim of this type of fraud to report it by calling 131 444. For more information on dating and romance scams, visit the ScamWatch website.

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Published On May 25, 2018 06:09 PM By Dhruv.A

The Japanese car giants planning to export the indigenously manufactured vehicles to Africa and other developing markets

A couple of months after Toyota and Suzuki made the big announcement of cross-supplying cars, the two Japanese carmakers have started formal discussions on the same. Suzuki will be producing a new electric powertrain with technological support from Denso Corporation and Toyota. Interestingly, Suzuki had partnered with Denso last year for development of lithium-ion batteries as well.

Coming back to the announcement, the vehicles developed together will then be exported to Africa and other developing markets. Going by the previous report, the cars to be exported in the initial stages could very well be the Vitara Brezza and the Baleno hatchback, followed by the electric vehicles that the two are working on for the Indian market.

In addition to this, Toyota and Suzuki will be discussing plans related to vehicle production, necessary technological updates and the road map needed to tackle the dynamic market developments in India. Related: Toyota And Maruti Suzuki To Cross Supply Vitara Brezza, Baleno & Corolla

Heres what the joint press release we received from the two brands stated:

Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) have agreed today to start discussing new joint projects in the fields of technological development, vehicle production, and market development. After having concluded a memorandum of understanding toward business partnership on February 6, 2017, Toyota and Suzuki have been pursuing concrete forms of cooperation and have announced the mutual supply of vehicles for the Indian market and other joint efforts. Meanwhile, the two companies have also been broadening the scope of their partnership considerations to include joint efforts related to production and market development.

Discussion topics

1) Denso Corporation and Toyota to provide Suzuki with technological support for a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain to be developed by Suzuki.

2) Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Ltd. (TKM) to produce models developed by Suzuki for sale in India through each of the Toyota and Suzuki brand network.

3) Supply of models developed by Suzuki, including those to be produced by TKM (as mentioned above), from India to African and other markets by Toyota and Suzuki, employing each of the Toyota and Suzuki sales networks to sell such vehicles, and advancing cooperation in the domains of logistics and services.

Details related to the above are to be discussed going forward.

Comments by Toyota President Akio Toyoda

Y Suzuki was the first (among Japanese companies) to enter India, and, together with the people of India, has been a presence for pulling forward Indias automotive society. Such represents the spirit of Lets do it that I mentioned when announcing the conclusion of our memorandum of understanding on beginning concrete examinations for business partnership. Or, as I like to say, Suzuki is a company that puts into practice being The Best in Town.

Y As members of Indian society, Toyota, along with Suzuki, will do its best to enhance freedom and fun in a future society of mobility and to make Make in India vehicles cherished in Africa and in many other countries around the world.

Y Breaking from a future that adheres to convention, Toyota has chosen a future in which the path is created by one's own hands. For this, the spirit of Lets do it is necessary. Through our business partnership with Suzuki, I would like to learn more about this spirit.

Comments by Suzuki Chairman Osamu Suzuki

Y At the time we announced the partnership, I said: Under the leadership of President Akio Toyoda, Toyota was enthusiastic throughout our discussions regarding partnership sought by Suzuki, which was concerned about the development of advanced technologies. I want to express my heartfelt appreciation.

Y Immediately afterwards, Toyota arranged a series of intensive and meaningful discussions.

Y Now, we will receive support for the development of a compact, ultrahigh-efficiency powertrain that is vital to Suzuki, and we will focus our utmost efforts on development.

Y It is my hope that the new joint projects will contribute to the future success of both companies, not only in India, but also in the global market.
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Executives. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 50500. The last date to apply for the government job is June 14, 2018.

ECIL Recruitment 2018 For Technical Officer And Scientific Assistant

NTPC Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Executive Organisation National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) Educational Qualification CA or ICWA or MBA Upper Age Limit 35 years Skills Required Accounting skills Salary Scale INR 24900 to INR 50500 Job Location New Delhi Industry Accounting Experience 2 years Application Start Date May 25, 2018 Application End Date June 14, 2018

Also Read: RBI Recruitment 2018 For Medical Consultants: Apply Now!

How To Apply For NTPC Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for NTPC Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the NTPC official website.

Step 2: Click on the button that reads, Click here to apply.

Step 3: Select the name of the post that you want to apply for from the drop-down list box.

Step 4: Click Submit.

Step 5: The brief details of the advertisement will be displayed on the screen.

Step 6: Click the Apply button.

Step 7: The application form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 8: Click Check Eligibility to check your eligibility.

Step 9: Follow the subsequent pages to complete the registration process.

Click here to read the detailed official notification.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Medical Consultant (part-time). Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 850 per hour. The last date to apply for the government job is June 6, 2018.

Saraswat Bank Recruitment 2018 For 300 Junior Officers

RBI Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Medical Consultant Organisation Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Educational Qualification MBBS graduate Age Limit Not mentioned Skills Required Clinical judgement Salary Scale INR 850 per hour Work Type Part-time Job Location Lucknow Industry Medicine Experience 2 years Application Start Date May 24, 2018 Application End Date June 6, 2018

Also Read: Indian Navy Recruitment 2018 For Sailors

How To Apply For RBI Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for RBI Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the RBI official website.

Step 2: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the link that reads, Opportunities@RBI.

Step 3: Hover over the Current Vacancies tab and select Vacancies.

Step 4: The list of recruitments will be displayed on the screen. Click on the relevant link.

Step 5: The details about the opening will be displayed on the screen. Read them carefully.

Step 6: Click on the hyperlink Applications at the beginning of the page.

Step 7: The application form will be displayed. Download and print it.

Step 8: Enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 9: Send the application to RBI.

RBI Recruitment 2018 Application Format And Mailing Address

Superscribe on the envelope, "Application for the post of Part-Time

Medical Consultant on Contract Basis." and send it to:

Reserve Bank of India, 8-9 Vipin Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow 226010 or

RBI, La-place Officers' flats, Shahnazaf Road, Hazratganj, Lucknow - 226001 or at Aliganj Staff Quarters, Sector 'J' Aliganj, Lucknow-226024.

Click here to read the detailed official notification.
Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Assistant Horticulture Officer. Those interested can check out the eligibility, salary scale, how to apply and the complete details of the government job here. Selected candidates can earn up to INR 65500. The last date to apply for the government job is June 24, 2018.

NTPC Recruitment 2018 For Executives

TNPSC Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Assistant Horticulture Officer Organisation Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) Number Of Vacancies 805

Educational Qualification Higher secondary graduate with two years diploma in horticulture Age Limit 18 to 30 years Skills Required Physical fitness Salary Scale INR 20600 to INR 65500 Job Location Tamil Nadu Industry Civil services Experience Freshers can apply Application Start Date May 25, 2018 Application End Date June 24, 2018

Also Read: ECIL Recruitment 2018 For Technical Officer And Scientific Assistant

How To Apply For TNPSC Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for TNPSC Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the TNPSC official website.

Step 2: Click on the One Time Registration button on the home page.

Step 3: Again click on the One Time Registration button on the next page.

Step 4: Click on the option to register as a new user.

Step 5: The registration form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided.

Step 6: Click on the declaration checkbox.

Step 7: Enter the captcha code.

Step 8: Click Save & Continue and follow the subsequent pages to complete the registration process.

Step 9: Go back to the registration page and apply against the post mentioned.

Click here to read the detailed official notification.
Gone are the days when medical and engineering masters were the only career options available to people. Today, the world of career and jobs have undergone a major shift and there are more and more options available. At the same time, after centuries of exploitation of the environment, man has finally started taking notice of all the damage that he has caused to the environment. This has lead to a growing consciousness among people and in turn paved the way for a greater number of career opportunities in the field of environmental studies.

People have started taking a keen interest in development that meets their needs without compromising on the ability of the future generations to meet that of their own. In this regard, a number of courses related to sustainable development have come up. One such course is the habitat policy and practice course which is gaining immense popularity among the youth.

Now it will be fair to say that this is a multi dimensional course as it involves a wide array of topics under its radar. Thus, graduates from a number of backgrounds are eligible to pursue this course and make successful careers out of the same. This article talks in depth about this course.

 Career Scope

The infrastructure of any country has a major role to play in its development. These days the government has partnered with a number of private organizations (in public - private partnerships) to foster infrastructure development. Now while working in this field in any role, a number of factors like consideration of lakes, water-bodies, plants and animals in those habitats have to be borne in mind.

In addition to that, the impact of all such constructions on men and women (irrespective of whether they dwell in places or slums) is something that has to be considered. All of this results in immense career potential for people with a post graduation degree in Habitat Policy and Practice. Jobs are available both in the private sector as well as the government sector.

 Areas Of Specialization

The areas of specialization here range from urban governance and comprehensive assessment of projects to detailed discussion on comprehensive assessment of projects. Through quantitative research methods one can get a more graphic understanding of the urban economy. GIS and urban economics are also things that one can specialize on while working in this field.

With the Supreme Court mandate of making environmental studies a mandatory course at all levels from primary school up to graduation level, there is enormous potential for job opportunities in this field. However, in order to pursue a career in any of the aforementioned specializations, one needs to have a genuine concern to serve the environment and give back to the society.

 Salary

This is a course where the sky is the limit if you are ready to put in the required efforts. The starting salary for a person who has completed his or her post-graduation in this field is about 3.5 Lakhs. If you are ready to put in extra effort and put your best foot forward, you may well make as much as 12 Lakhs per year.

The prospect of job growth in this field is also enormous. The reason for the same may be attributed to the fact that today there is practically no industry that does not require professionals trained in habitat policy and practice.

 Institutes Offering This Course

This course is available to engineers, architects, lawyers and management graduates. However, one does not necessarily need to have a professional degree to be eligible to pursue this course. A basic graduation degree with honors in physics, geography or social sciences are eligible to take up post-graduation degree in this field.

Colleges like Tata Institute of Social Sciences offer MA and MSc programmes in Habitat Policy and Practice. The same is also offered by TERI University, New Delhi. At the global level, the University of Oxford, UK is one of the best institutes to be offering this course. Diploma in this field is also available as a distance education program offered by IGNOU and a few other universities.
The effects of climate change may already affect 85% of the world's population, according to an analysis of tens of...
Zambezi Portland Cement is returned to Ventriglia family

25 May 2018

Zambian multi-millionaire entrepreneur Rajan Mahtani has lost ownership of Zambezi Portland Cement after the High Court of Zambia awarded full ownership of the company to the Ventriglia family of Italy on Monday.

The outcome follows a decade-long court battle between the Ventriglia family and Rajan Mahtani who had claimed that he owned a 58 per cent controlling stake in the business as payment for organising financing for the Ventriglia family years ago, but the Ventriglia family insisted that he had no claim to the stake, asserting full ownership of the company.



The Ventriglia family has insisted that they never transferred the shares to Mahtanis company.

"Mahtani has been unable to produce the original signed copies of the share transfer certificates because they simply do not exist and he never paid for the shares. As such, complete ownership of the company firmly rests with the Antonio Ventriglia family," a spokesperson of Zambezi Portland Cement confirmed.

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Boebert speaks at Columbus Day Celebration, angers some in crowd

There were mixed emotions at the Columbus Day Celebration in Pueblo when Rep. Lauren Boebert took the stage as guest speaker
A male student who is suspected in a shooting at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana has been taken into custody.

Authorities said Friday that the student was detained after a call was made of an active shooter. He has not been identified to the media.

Noblesville Police Department Chief Kevin Jowitt said two people were injured, including a teacher and another student. The two were taken to a hospital and their families have been notified.

Jowitt said there are no more threats to the Indiana middle school but there was a threat targeting the Noblesville High School, where middle school students were taken after the events of this morning.

He said police were on site at the high school. The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also on scene investigating.

According to Fox 59, the male student suspected of the shooting walked into a science classroom with a gun and opened fire. He hit a female student before a teacher was able to swat the gun from the shooter.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was returning from a Europe trip today, said he was being updated on the situation.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation," Holcomb said.

The Indiana State Teachers Association also released a statement Friday saying, When is enough, enough?

This national crisis has landed in our backyard. We all have a responsibility to keep our kids safe from violence, and its unconscionable that they live in fear that one day their school may be next. When is enough, enough?

Noblesville Middle School has about 1,3000 students from grades 6-8. The city is home to about 50,000 people.

Photo courtesy: Thinkstock/Jetta Productions

Publication date: May 25, 2018
Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.

With these words, President Trump notified Kim Jong Un yesterday that he was canceling their June 12 summit in Singapore.

This decision followed a series of ominously worded statements from North Korea. Their senior envoy for US affairs had threatened to call off the summit and warned that their regime could make the US taste an appalling tragedy it has neither experienced nor even imagined. The envoy also described Vice President Pence as a political dummy.

The White House says back channels for discussions with North Korea are still open but states that the regime must first change its rhetoric.

A challenging threat environment

The threat of North Korea is just one of the challenges we face as a nation.

Russia is believed to have 4,300 nuclear weapons, followed by the US with 4,000. There are 9,400 nuclear weapons in military arsenals, with another 5,600 awaiting dismantlement. Nearly 4,000 nuclear weapons are operationally available; 1,800 are ready for use on short notice.

The largest Russian bomb, if dropped on New York City, would kill 7.6 million people.

In addition, China is expanding its economic and military power and influence. Proxy wars in the Middle East involving Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Israel threaten to escalate.

Dan Coats, the US Director of National Intelligence, testified earlier this year before a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: We face a complex, volatile and challenging threat environment. The risk of interstate conflict is higher than any time since the end of the Cold warall the more alarming because of the growing development and use of weapons of mass destruction by state and nonstate actors.

A nation worth protecting

The challenges of our day show why the men and women of our military are so important to our nation. More than 1.4 million Americans are serving on active duty today. Each of them has taken an oath to defend each of us.

Over Americas history, more than 1.1 million men and women have fulfilled that oath at the cost of their lives. Their memory lives in our gratitude. All we do this Memorial Day weekend to honor their sacrifice is so much less than they did to deserve it.

How does God want us to observe this important tradition?

One: Minister to the families of fallen soldiers. Scripture tells us that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). He wants us to be the presence of Jesus as we serve and pray for those in grief.

Two: Pray for wisdom for our military and civilian leaders. In these perilous times, claim the biblical promise: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God (James 1:5).

Three: Pray for peace among nations. Pray for Kim Jong Un and other world leaders to follow Jesus. Make Pauls prayer yours: May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

Four: Make America a nation worthy of their sacrifice. When I meet military veterans, I tell them that our nation owes them an unpayable debt. They often respond by encouraging me to make America a nation worth dying for.

Scripture calls us to set the example: Be holy in all your conduct (1 Peter 1:15).

An estate to be preserved

Noah Webster has been called the father of American scholarship and education. On the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, he delivered a remarkable oration in which he pointed to the values and examples of the patriots whose sacrifice purchased Americas freedom.

At one point, he turned to the youth of our country, who were not spectators of the distresses of the war. His charge to them is just as relevant for us: Let them consider that upon them has devolved the task of defending and improving the rich inheritance, purchased by their fathers. Nor let them view this inheritance of National Freedom and Independence, as a fortune that is to be squandered away, in ease and riot, but as an estate to be preserved only by industry, toil and vigilance.

Let us preserve this inheritance at any cost, to the glory of God.

Photo courtesy: Thinkstock/Goldcastle7

Publication date: May 25, 2018

For more from the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, please visit www.denisonforum.org.

Do you want to live a life in whole-hearted pursuit of loving God and others?

Read today's First15 at www.first15.org.
In 2020, we were the church on our heels. A global pandemic shut down much of our world. But the church has been on the move since it was birthed; it will continue to be on the move until God makes all things new.
Fares Abraham grew up in the West Bank village of Beit Sahour, where tradition says the angels sang Peace on Earth to the startled shepherds. But his clearest memory is of his mother shot in the back by an Israeli soldier as she shuffled him and the neighborhood kids into her house during the first intifada (uprising).

Now in his mid-30s, the Liberty University graduate created Levant Ministries five years ago to mobilize Arab youth to fulfill the Great Commission.

And when he comes back home, he is at peace with his upbringing.

When I was young, I asked myself if I should join the resistance or be a bystander, he said to the 500 attendeesincluding 150 local Palestinian Christiansgathered in Bethlehem from 24 countries at the fourth biennial Christ at the Checkpoint (CATC) conference in 2016.

But now I can go up to a checkpoint, look a soldier in the eye, and say, I forgive you and love you in the name of Jesus.

Working also with global partners, Abraham believes the younger generations are pro-peace, becoming increasingly pro-justice the more their lives are transformed by the gospel.

It is a message communicated at CATC, though its anti-Christian Zionism is often criticized as being anti-Israel.

We as Palestinian Christians, victims of the occupation, want the worldwide evangelical church to stand with us, said Sami Awad, executive director of the Holy Land Trust and a conference organizer.

But after six years, I am hearing less and less of this focus. Before we allowed the political agenda to lead our theology. Now we ask how our gospel theology should drive us within the conflict and politics.

Image: Andrew Larsen / Christ at the Checkpoint

But that was two years ago. Their world today has dramatically changed since Donald Trumpwith his many evangelical advisorswas elected president.

Awad said the fifth CATC, held next week from May 28 to June 1, comes at a pivotal moment.

I thought Christian Zionism had reached its peak, and was beginning a slow decline, he said. But now it has reached the highest levels of power.

The recent US embassy move to Jerusalem makes him nervous about an American green light for more dangerous developmentslike the incorporation of settlements into Israel proper.

Will there even be a movement to rebuild the temple? Awad asked. Many are rejoicing to be connected to power, and see what is happening as a fulfillment of prophecy.

Abraham is right, however. A recent LifeWay Research survey found that younger American evangelicals are still solidly pro-Israel but less decidedly so than earlier generations. And nearly two-thirds agree that Christians should do more to love and care for the Palestinian people (as do 59% of all evangelicals).

CATC is hosted by Bethlehem Bible College, where academic dean Munther Isaac celebrates this shift.

I think we are making an impact. Today there is a dialogue, and no one can ignore our perspective, said the primary conference organizer. I am pleased to see we are pushing people to revisit their positions and theology.

Image: Andrew Larsen / Christ at the Checkpoint

Isaac finds this to be true also among those who disagree, referring specifically to a new Christian Zionism that moves away from dispensationalism and end-times scenarios. In April 2015, the Institute on Religion and Democracy sponsored a conference to reassert the classic political and theological heritage in support of a Jewish Israel.

Evangelicals do need a new, updated public policy perspective regarding the Middle East that stresses human rights for all people, wrote IRD president Mark Tooley in 2016.

But he criticized CATCs tired old version of Liberation Theology and anti-Israel bias, and called its supporters dangerously naive.

Awad had found those pre-Trump developments to be largely positive. He called it a soft-Christian Zionism, and credited it for listening well to Palestinian concerns.

But lately, he has only heard silence.

Robert Nicholson, executive director of the Philos Project, attended the 2016 conference and will again this year. A friend to Awad, he chides CATCs shortcomings in self-criticism and mischaracterization of Christian Zionists as shofar-blowing evangelicals.

Yet he does not want to be quiet about openness toward Palestinians. Despite his disagreements, Nicholson recognizes that the CATC organizers represent the best Palestinians we could hope for.

If all were like them, he said, I believe that the situation here would be in a much better place. [CT recently published his op-ed on how to affirm a positive Palestinian future beyond the Nakba.]

But the challenge to Christian Zionism is still too much for many to bear, and interpreted often as undermining Israel.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians enjoy religious liberty, said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which last year raised more than $140 million to support Israel, and more than $1.5 billion since 1983.

Even as I decry the anti-Israel rhetoric that has taken place [at CATC], I give thanks for the many, many Christians who truly know Israel and continue to support the land and her people in prayer.

Almost every American evangelical (95%) who has traveled to Israel views the state positively, according to the LifeWay survey.

But equally critical is Gabriel Naddaf, an Israeli Greek Orthodox priest who encourages Christians to join Israels army and adopt the ancient moniker of Arameans.

CATC uses buzzwords like love and justice and reconciliation, he told CT after the 2016 conference. In the next breath, they incite against loyal indigenous Christians, slanderously suggesting that we are Uncle Toms who betray our heritage.

Yet we are true to our heritage, and it is they who betray basic evangelical values.

Image: Andrew Larsen / Christ at the Checkpoint

But there are signs CATC is inching into the evangelical mainstream.

Efraim Tendero, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, addressed the 2016 conference, as did Mark Labberton, president of Fuller Seminary.

This year, headliners include Ajith Fernando of Youth for Christ and Eugene Cho, author and lead pastor of Seattles urban, multicultural Quest Church.

David Brog of Christians United for Israel has lamented that young evangelicals are waning in their support, especially on college campuses.

Fuller is indicative, as Labberton led the 2016 CATC daily Bible study and stated his presence was a statement of compassion and empathy with a persecuted part of the church.

Except for a few politicians commenting in the opening, the conference has been absent from shrill political positioning in lieu of a call to love, peace, and justice applied to everyone, said Labberton, noting that Israeli policies are pushing Palestinians from the land.

I am not aware of another venue where the diversity of religious, theological, and political voices are brought together in such a respectful and thoughtful way.

In 2016, this included recorded interviews with Hamas leaders and presentations by a Jewish rabbi and a Jewish settler.

The theme then was The Gospel in the Face of Religious Extremism. This year: Jesus Christ at the Center.

Awad said that this year a resurgent Christian Zionism led organizers to go back to their roots, and focus on Jesus gospel teachings.

And so they also invited Michael Brown, a Messianic Jew, who told Israel Today he wants to hold CATC accountable for its wayward theology.

I get to voice my disagreements in the clearest possible terms, without compromise, excuse, or equivocation. Then I get to hear them do the same, he wrote on his website, in response to friends who said his presence legitimized the conference.

Then we get to challenge each other. Isnt this exactly what followers of Jesus should do?

CATC tries, though even its own community can be resistant. Salim Munayer of the Musalaha reconciliation ministry decried the increasing tendency of Palestinian Christians to withdraw into a ghetto-like mentality toward both Muslims and Jews.

But perhaps Awad can be an example, as his Holy Land Trust has conducted dialogue with settlers and Islamists alike. And a week before the 2018 conference, he was invited to the Negev Desert to address 120 Israeli activists in nonviolence, moving beyond tactics into personal transformation.

Perhaps the hard work is starting to pay off.

I cannot be a voice to the other side in nearly the same way as one of their own, he said. But when you meet, each person goes back to speak the message.

As communal beings, we naturally only trust our own kind. So we need to make our own community uncomfortable.
40 ISIS widows sentenced to death in Iraq after a 10-minute hearing

Judges in Iraq showed no mercy for a group of foreign women who were given just 10 minutes to plead their case, as 40 ISIS widows were handed the death sentence because they apparently supported their radical husbands.

Djamila Boutoutao, 29, who said she is originally from France, told the Iraqi court that she was a victim and thought her husband was a rap artist but learned later that he was actually a jihadist.

"My husband beat me and locked me up in a cave with my children when I refused to follow him," Boutoutao said in her plea.

Now a widow, Boutoutao is one of nearly two thousand foreigners who travelled to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS. Boutoutao's fate has not yet been determined but in the week she faced the judge in court, 40 women were sentenced to death while 300 have already been executed, The Sun reported.

Boutoutao's husband was killed in 2016 in Mosul, according to The Guardian. Kurdish military forces captured her in Iraq with her daughter and they were sent to a Baghdad prison.

The ISIS widow said that her life has been unbearable since meeting her husband. Worse, no one has briefed and talked to her about her case in Iraq. No witnesses could also confirm that she came from Lille in France.

Apparently, governments in Europe have shown little concern for these foreign women because they made their choice to become ISIS brides.

"In the minds of Iraqis and the judiciary and the government, by virtue of the fact that you are foreign and chose to live in ISIS territory there is a level of agency in what you did and more culpability," Belkis Willie, of Human Rights Watch told The Guardian. "If you buy a plane ticket, cross a border and make your choices, you are far more exposed," he added.

After her 10-minute plea to the judge, Boutoutao was ordered to sit in the corner along with 15 other foreign women from Germany, Britain and America.

Samatha Sally, an ISIS bride from Indiana who is awaiting her sentence from the Iraqi court, said that her Moroccan-husband fooled her into marriage. She claims he tortured and sexually abused her, and forced her 10-year-old son to appear in an ISIS video to threaten President Donald Trump.
Conservatives boycott Netflix after Barack and Michelle Obama score content deal

Netflix recently announced that it has partnered with former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for a multi-year content deal. Conservatives, however, threatened to cancel their Netflix subscription to protest the tie-up.

The Obamas will apparently produce shows, movies, features and documentaries under their company Higher Ground Productions. The content will be streamed for Netflix's 125 million subscribers in 190 countries but conservatives are skeptical about the Obamas' liberal agenda.

"I will read the Bible instead," one conservative stated on Twitter where #BoycottNetflix became a trending topic. Others did not even wait for the Obama couple's first show or movie to premiere and posted screenshots of their cancelled Netflix subscriptions.

But media experts told Newsweek that calls to boycott the streaming platform over their deal with the Obamas would not actually have any impact on Netflix. Professor Charlton McIlwain cited that a similar boycott campaign fizzled out in March after Netflix welcomed former Obama-appointed UN Ambassador Susan Rice as one of its board of directors.

Reed Hastings, the streaming platform's CEO, has also openly expressed his political leaning when he supported Hillary Clinton and criticized Donald Trump during the last presidential elections. Despite this, Netflix's growth continued.

Obama said that he would not use Netflix to challenge conservatives in the media or launch a public campaign against current government officials. He said in the press release, "We hope to cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples, and help them share their stories with the entire world."

Netflix began negotiating with the former First Couple last March. Reports revealed that the former president was considering digital media ventures in his final days in the White House.

"He is very interested in how people consume information and the changing trends," former White House communications director Jen Psaki told CNN.


Ecclesiastes 9: The Wisdom of Christ

I wonder whether, if at school we offered a class entitled Wisdom 101, there would be any takers? It seems as though education in the West has shifted from teaching students the basics of how to think (literacy, philosophy, language, numeracy, reason and logic) to teaching them what to think.

Education used to be a case of cramming as much information into people's heads as possible, but now in the era of Wikipedia and Google, who needs memories? So education has largely become social engineering  preparing pupils for the Brave New World of the social class they were assigned at birth. Money buys a better education and money buys degrees. Everything is about the economy, stupid.

Perhaps we live in a meritocracy, where the intelligent and hardworking are rewarded and the cream rises to the top? As I have occasionally heard some Christians argue, the poor are poor because of their bad choices. I guess Jesus was then really saying, 'The stupid you will always have with you.' God preserve us from such callous arrogance.

But the Bible and Solomon come with a different perspective. Knowing facts is one thing, knowing what to do with those facts is another. The former is information, the latter is wisdom. The former is value free, the latter is value dependent. The former Alexa or Siri can do. The latter, only humans made in the image of God can manage.

Solomon talks a great deal about the advantage of wisdom. In this week's passage (Ecclesiastes 9:13-18) he tells a story of a poor man who could (or did) save a city. It is a small city with a few inhabitants against a great king  a real David versus Goliath situation. The poor man saved the city by his wisdom; a happy ending.

But while wisdom can work in the short run, in the long run it is meaningless. No one paid attention to him. No one remembered. So what is the point? Whether you are strong, wise or even rich, what difference does it make?

Another possibility in terms of the translation is that the poor wise man was not listened to at all. He could have saved the city but because he was poor, he was not listened to and so the city was lost.

I think this is a parable for our times. We live in a culture where the wealthy, the powerful and those who make the most noise are the ones listened to. In a world which seems to rely on experts it appears that our experts are self-selected from a relatively small group of people. If you look at the composition of government boards, panels and committees, you are very likely to see the same names coming up again and again. Perhaps it is because they really are wise, but I suspect that more often than not it is because of their connections. I wonder if we sometimes operate in that way in the church? Is who you know more important that what you know?

Perhaps we need to remember that the quiet words of the wise are better than the shouting of the foolish rulers. 'This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it"' (Isaiah 30:15). But it often goes the opposite way  verbosity and power may triumph against quiet wisdom. The strong are listened to and assumed to be wise, the poor are ignored. When a society or church behaves in this way it is to the loss of all.

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded

than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war,

but one sinner destroys much good (Ecclesiastes 9:17).

Here is the depressing thing that Solomon has discovered. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but wisdom is easily defeated. Why? Because of sin and immorality. In the Bible wisdom is always tied in with the fear of the Lord, holiness, love and righteousness. The problem is that even when our rulers may know the right thing to do  they don't do it because of hubris, pride, fear and sin.

That is why the nation is blessed when its rulers know the Lord. Not because he gives them a political master plan, but rather because knowing the Lord they avoid the traps of foolishness and govern according to the light and wisdom they have.

In the New Testament this perspective on wisdom is built upon, most notably by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1: 20-25, where he asks 'Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?' and says, 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.'

How did God make foolish the wisdom of the world? By sending his son to die for our sins so that we might be saved. When the rich and powerful hear the cross preached to them they are horrified. They don't mind if someone tells them that Jesus died as an example so that we can save the world by our love. But when the good news is preached that Jesus died on the cross in our place for our sins the reaction is often bitter: 'I don't need someone to die for me! That's ridiculous! How dare you?' We dare because it is the truth. The cross may be offensive to the world but it is life, and health and peace to those who are being saved.

David Robertson is associate director of Solas CPC in Dundee and minister at St Peter's Free Church. Follow him on Twitter @TheWeeFlea
Illinois high school orders Christian valedictorian to cut Jesus from his speech

A high school in Illinois allegedly ordered its valedictorian to cut out Jesus Christ in his speech minutes before he was to address his graduating class.

Sam Blackledge, 18, of West Prairie High School said that the school principal told him his speech was not appropriate for the event as it was not a religious ceremony. He says he was then asked to remove any mention of Christ, Christianity and God from his message.

The teenager with a 4.0 GPA initially declined and instead offered to say a disclaimer before his speech but he says the school said no. He told Fox News that he was devastated because everyone knew of his devotion to Christ.

"Christ is the only reason I was a valedictorian," Blackledge said. "He's the reason I got that 4.0. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be up there. I was giving Him the credit for that."

The valedictorian's speech tackled goodness, justice, love and forgiveness. He also wanted to remind his fellow graduates on the importance of their relationship with God to guide them in their next journey.

Blackledge said that he's considering suing the school for violating his constitutional rights. The valedictorian has approached First Liberty Institute for legal help.

"They'd do well to remember, as 'Tinker v. Des Moines,' the case in 1969, reminds us, that students do not shed their constitutional rights when they walk through the schoolhouse gates," the non-profit group's lawyer Jeremy Dys told reporters.

Blackledge and his lawyers are set to meet with the district superintendent this week. The school, on the other hand, is also consulting with its legal team and hasn't addressed the issue in public.
Nearly half of Americans support Trump's decision to cut Planned Parenthood funding, poll shows

A new survey has found that nearly half of Americans are in favor of the proposed "Protect Life Rule," which would cut Title X family planning funding for organizations that perform abortions.

The Washington Examiner reported that the Trump administration is planning to file a request that would prevent healthcare facilities from receiving federal funding if they perform or promote abortions.

A poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates has found that 48 percent of Americans support the proposal, while 40 percent are opposed and 12 percent undecided.

The participants of the poll consisted of 1,000 likely general election voters across the U.S., according to the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List, which commissioned the poll.

In the survey, the respondents were asked the question: "President Reagan instituted a policy that taxpayer funds could only go to family planning clinics that do not perform or refer for abortions. Do you support or oppose reinstating this policy?"

According to the SBA List, the proposal does not cut funds allocated for family planning, but rather it redirects the money to family planning facilities that do not promote or perform abortions.

The proposal is based on a Reagan-era rule that required abortion providers to have separate facilities and personnel from family planning services.

The Washington Examiner reported that the rule was never completely implemented as Planned Parenthood and other organizations challenged it in court. The policy was rescinded in 1994 during the term of President Bill Clinton.

The new proposal included a provision that directs clinics to comply with state reporting laws regarding the number of patients treated at the clinics and those who are victims of sexual assault, rape or incest.

Planned Parenthood Vice President Dawn Laguens denounced the proposal saying: "Everyone has the right to information about their healthcare  including information about safe, legal abortion, and every woman deserves the best medical care and information, no matter how much money she makes or where she lives. No matter what.

"This is an attempt to take away women's basic rights, period. Under this rule, people will not get the healthcare they need. They won't get birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing, and treatment, or even general women's health exams," she went on to say.

SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser hailed the administration's decision to enact the policy.

"We thank President Trump for keeping his promise to disentangle taxpayers from the abortion business. Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, is responsible for more than 300,000 abortions a year and has been receiving $50-60 million in Title X taxpayer funds annually," Dannenfelser said in a statement.

The Trump administration has been credited with the implementation of several pro-life measures, such as the reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, a Reagan-era rule that prohibited the government from funding organizations that promote abortion abroad. The policy reportedly affected International Planned Parenthood, which received funding from the previous administration.
Pope warns bishops against letting gay people train for priesthood

Pope Francis has warned Italian bishops to be wary of priesthood applicants suspected of having homosexual tendencies, according to a new report.

'Keep an eye on the admissions to seminaries, keep your eyes open,' the pope said, according to the Vatican Insider service of Italian newspaper La Stampa.

'If in doubt, better not let them enter.'

The remarks were reportedly made at a closed-door gathering at the Vatican on Monday, opening the 71st general assembly of the Italian bishops' conference. The pontiff reportedly called for 'careful discernment' of seminary applicants, including caution about those with 'deep seated tendencies' or who 'practise homosexual acts'. These tendencies could lead to scandal, compromising both the priest and the Church, he said.

The pope's reported comments were confirmed by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Citta della Pieve, president of the Italian bishops' conference, in a press conference yesterday, according to Catholic News Agency. They appear to affirm the traditional Catholic teaching that practising homosexuals should not be admitted to the priesthood.

The remarks will be seen by some as an attempt by Pope Francis to appease conservatives agitated by widely publicised comments the pope has been reported as saying, such as when he told a gay Chilean man who had suffered clerical sex abuse that God loved him the way he had made him.

Juan Carlos Cruz told the Spanish newspaper El Pais last week that Francis had said: 'Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like that and he loves you like that and I do not care. The pope loves you as you are, you have to be happy with who you are.'

Some feared the pope was undermining Catholic teaching on sexuality but the Catholic archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said that the pope's slightly ambiguous remarks to Cruz could be taken as a 'beautiful' expression of 'orthodox teaching'.

'While any sexual expression outside of a man and woman in marriage is contrary to God's purpose, so is not treating anyone, including a gay person, with anything less than dignity and respect,' he said.

In now-famous remarks on his first overseas trip in 2013, the Pope Francis said: 'If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?' In 2016 he said that 'when a person arrives before Jesus, Jesus certainly will not say: "Go away because you are homosexual."'

Additional reporting by Reuters
Prosperity preacher Jesse Duplantis asks for donations to purchase $54 million Falcon 7X jet

Televangelist Jesse Duplantis has asked his followers for money to purchase a brand new Falcon 7X jet so that he can "go anywhere in the world in one stop."

In a five-minute video posted on his ministry's website, Duplantis expressed his belief that preachers should be able to own jets so that they can "go on every available voice, every available outlet, to get this gospel preached to the world."

The preacher went on to show some pictures of the jets that he had purchased in the past, before revealing that he wanted to purchase a new jet.

He explained that he no longer wants to use his older jets because he "can't go at one stop." He argued that he can save more money by avoiding stops because he has his own supply of fuel.

A brand new Falcon 7X, which was first flown in 2005, costs as much as $54 million, according to Sherpa Report.

Duplantis said that he had asked God how he was supposed to pay for the new jet. The preacher claimed that God responded to him saying, "Jesse, I didn't ask you to pay for it. I asked you to believe for it."

The evangelist went on to ask his followers for money, noting that he wanted to pay for the new plane in cash. "We never ask you to give anything that me and [wife] Cathy don't give ourselves," he said, according to PJ Media.

The preacher said he believes that Jesus would be riding airplanes if He was preaching the Gospel across the globe today.

PJ Media noted that Duplantis had once described God as his "sugar daddy" and has been accused of violating tax laws to fund his extravagant lifestyle.

His plea for donations follows that of Kenneth Copeland, who asked supporters to help him pay for an upgrade to his Gulfstream V jet.

The plane, which was purchased from filmmaker Tyler Perry, was reportedly "paid in full" during Thanksgiving week.

Charlie Bollinger, a Kenneth Copeland Ministries partner, explained that the upgrades, which will cost $2.5 million, are needed to comply with new FAA standards. He went on to urge potential donors to prepare to raise $17 million for the maintenance of the aircraft.

The ministry did not disclose how much it paid for the jet but AV Buyer noted that the lowest priced Gulfstream V costs around $6 million.

In 2015, both Copeland and Duplantis insisted during a broadcast of the "Believers in Victory" program that preachers need private jets so that they can pray in privacy.

"We've got to have this! The mess that the airlines are in today. I would have to stop  I'm being very conservative  at least, 75-80, more like 90 percent of what we are doing. Because we can't get there! That's why we are on that airplane. We can talk to God!" Copeland said at the time.
Vatican police detain topless feminist protester breastfeeding baby at St. Peter's Square

A member of the radical feminist group FEMEN has reportedly been detained by the Vatican police after showing up in the middle of St. Peter's Square while breastfeeding a baby.

According to Daily Mail, the woman stood in the middle of the passing crowds at the square with the words "alma mater" - the Latin for "mother feeding" - written across her chest. A video of the incident showed the woman, who was wearing no top, being grabbed by police as she was breastfeeding a child.

FEMEN, which describes itself as a "sextremist" group, has said that the public display was part of a protest to urge Pope Francis to introduce a special edict that would acknowledge the right of women to breastfeed wherever they want.

"The right to feed must be recorded in the Papal Bull called Alma Mater. With this first Bull in favor of a woman the Vatican can partially wash away the shame of centuries-old persecution of women. Alma Mater is holy!" the group wrote in a statement.

The statement also claimed that journalists who were covering the incident were arrested by police, who also allegedly "confiscated the photos and video materials" related to the protest.

Pope Francis has expressed his support for mothers' breastfeeding rights in public back in January when he baptized 34 infants during a ceremony at the Sistine Chapel.

"If they start performing a concert (by crying), or if they are uncomfortable or too warm or don't feel at ease or are hungry ... breastfeed them, don't be afraid, feed them, because this too is the language of love," Francis said.

FEMEN, which was founded in Ukraine in 2008, has grabbed attention in the past for staging protests at the Vatican. In December, one of the group's members tried to steal a baby Jesus statue from the Nativity scene at St. Peter's Square on Christmas Day. The activist was reportedly shouting "God is a woman" before being detained by authorities.

Another FEMEN activist had managed to take the baby Jesus statue in December 2014, but was arrested by police.

The radical feminist group, which is known for its topless protests, reportedly left Ukraine in 2013 due to concerns over the "lives and freedoms" of its members. The main headquarters of the group is now located in Paris, with several branches in other countries.
White evangelicals are the most likely to say US shouldn't welcome refugees

Of all social demographics in the US, white evangelical Protestants are the most likely to say that the US does not have an obligation to welcome refugees.

The study released by Pew Research Center on Thursday revealed that more than two thirds (68 per cent) of white evangelical Protestants said that America has no responsibility to accept refugees.

Half (50 per cent) of white mainline Protestants said the same, but otherwise religious groups were more likely to say the opposite. Most (63 per cent) black Protestants said the US did have the responsibility, along with 50 per cent of Catholics and 65 per cent of religiously unaffiliated adults.

A minority of Catholics (45 per cent), black Protestants (28 per cent) and the unaffiliated (31 per cent) agreed with most white evangelicals that the US had not obligation to protect refugees. A minority of white respondents (46 per cent) said there was a responsibility, in contrast with most black (67 per cent) and Hispanic (59 per cent) respondents.

Across all US social groups measured, 51 per cent said the US should support refugees, 43 per cent disagreed. Youth and education positively correlated with a conviction to support refugees while older, less educated demographics were more likely to say the opposite. Matching typical party lines, most Democrats (74 per cent) said the country must welcome refugees, and most Republicans said it shouldn't (68 per cent).

It comes as the Economist revealed last month that the US, under the Trump administration, was set to welcome fewer refugees in 2018 than in any year since 1980.

Despite white evangelical reluctance to welcome refugees, several Christian leaders and groups have urged it as a moral priority. In February this year several US Christian leaders from various denominations united in an ad demanding the protection of refugees. In January the Christian refugee resettlement agency World Relief publicly damned Trump's infamous 'travel ban' a year after it was first executed. The group called it a 'net loss' that hurt persecuted Christians amongst thousands of other refugees in need.
Why Tax Justice is a mission imperative for today's church

The increasing inequality in our world is surely an affront to a God who makes it clear all human beings are his children and deserve 'an equal sharing of the things that earth affords'.

Yet the gap between rich and poor grows annually. In 2017/18 our local foodbank increased its food parcels from 460 the previous year to 590, and its hygiene packs even more. Meanwhile the Sunday Times Rich List informs us that the wealthiest 1,000 people in our nation increased their wealth to 724 billion last year, a 10 per cent increase on the year before.

Prophets such as Jeremiah and Amos would surely be offering a vigorous critique of a society which tolerates such difference, and allows children to go hungry to school in the sixth richest country in the world. A part of the answer must be a reform of the tax system, which would enable very wealthy individuals and companies to contribute a fairer share of what they hold.

'Tax Justice' is the shorthand name for what has now become a global campaign to bring about that fairer sharing. One of its key areas of activity is to expose the use of so-called 'tax havens', named by others as 'robbers' dens' where the rich can hide their wealth and dodge the tax that should be paid. Among these havens are several British Overseas Territories such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Cayman Islands, and also our three Crown Colonies  Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The BVI was frequently named in the Paradise Papers revelations, which showed in detail how the richest hide their cash.

A small breakthrough was made recently with the amending of the parliamentary Sanctions and Money-Laundering Bill when Labour's Margaret Hodge and Conservative Andrew Mitchell tabled an amendment requiring the Overseas Territories (though not the Crown Colonies) to set up public registers so that it begins to become clear who owns the secret trusts and foundations set up there. The government agreed this has to be done by the end of 2020.

Meanwhile vigorous campaigning goes on at European and global level in relation to an international financial system in which it is estimated 10 times as much money flows out of Africa as flows in through aid and investment.

This is partly due to the activities of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and partly to the way wealthy elites channel money through Swiss banks or via the City of London into tax havens. This causes the whittling away of the tax base for poorer countries, an effect now knows as BEPS, 'Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting'.

The TNCs largely function by dividing up their business into separate entities, depending in which country they work, and move money around, creating more profit in lower-tax countries. Critics urge 'country-by-country reporting' and ultimately a unitary taxation system, where companies will produce a single annual report showing all countries where they operate, with the number of employees, assets, sales, profits and tax paid in each, so proper comparisons can be made.

Until now the churches have not identified tax as a mission issue, but that is beginning to change. In the UK the Methodist Tax Justice Network has been active since 2012, and as already reported in Christian Today relaunched itself in April as Church Action for Tax Justice (CAT).

CAT sees itself as the faith partner of groups such as the international Tax Justice Network, which has been working in this field for over 20 years, and Tax Justice UK, as well as bodies such as Christian Aid, the Ecumenical Council on Corporate Responsibility and the Fair Tax Mark. The latter is launching the first Fair Tax Fortnight in the UK from June 9to 24.

In association with this CAT encourages churches to adopt June 17 as Tax Justice Sunday. Worship materials such a hymns, prayers, bible studies and a creed are available on the CAT website. It also urges churches as investors to question the tax policies of companies in which they invest.

Tax collectors have a bad press in the Bible and perhaps that has contributed to their dislike today. But taxation in the time of Jesus was entirely different. It raised money for the occupying Romans, the corrupt Herodian court and the Temple elite, and did nothing for the craftsmen and peasants from whom it was extracted.

Tax is a seriously cohesive force in bringing societies together. Arguably tax is God's way of sharing the enormous wealth which has been created from this earth He has given us, we should rejoice that we can pay our taxes and seek to ensure everyone shares in 'The Joy of Tax'.

Rev David Haslam is a Methodist minister and chair of Church Action for Tax Justice. 'The Joy of Tax' is by Quaker Richard Murphy, Bantam Press 2015.
BILLINGS, Mont.  Trump administration attorneys defended the disputed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in federal court on Thursday against environmentalists and Native American groups that want to derail the project.

President Barack Obama rejected the 1,179-mile line proposed by TransCanada Corp. in 2015 because of its potential to exacerbate climate change.

President Donald Trump revived the project soon after taking office last year, citing its potential to create jobs and advance energy independence.

Environmentalists and Native American groups sued to stop the line and asked U.S. District Judge Brian Morris to halt the project. They and others, including landowners, are worried about spills that could foul groundwater and the pipeline's impacts to their property rights.

Morris did not immediately rule following a four-hour Thursday hearing in federal court in Great Falls.

U.S. government attorneys asserted that Trump's change in course from Obama's focus on climate change reflected a legitimate shift in policy, not an arbitrary rejection of previous studies of the project.

While the importance of climate change was considered, the interests of energy security and economic development outweighed those concerns, the attorneys recently wrote.

Morris previously rejected a bid by the administration to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that Trump had constitutional authority over the pipeline as a matter of national security.

Keystone XL would cost an estimated $8 billion. It would begin in Alberta and transport up to 830,000 barrels a day of crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with lines to carry oil to Gulf Coast refineries.

Federal approval is required because the route crosses an international border.

TransCanada, based in Calgary, said in court submissions that the pipeline would operate safely and help reduce U.S. reliance on crude from the Middle East and other regions.

The project is facing a separate legal challenge in Nebraska, where landowners have filed a lawsuit challenging the Nebraska Public Service Commission's decision to approve a route through the state.
Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle

All but one of the 21 workers affected by last week's explosion at the Kuraray America Eval plant in Pasadena have been released from the hospital, the company said Friday.

The explosion occurred Saturday morning when one of the plant's production lines leaked ethylene, a highly flammable gas used to make many types of plastics. The release caused an explosion and a flash fire that sent affected workers to the hospital with burns and other injuries. At the time, 266 employees and contractors were onsite.
Oil prices fell the most in 11 months in New York as Saudi Arabia said it expects OPEC and its partners to boost supplies later this year, easing restraints intact since early 2017.

U.S. futures were down 4 percent, the biggest drop since July 5, after Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said the supply caps may be scaled back, though he added that no decision has been made. The $2.83 decline pushed the price below $70 at the close of trading for the first time since May 8.

The potential for an OPEC policy change, following U.S. President Donald Trump's tweet complaining about high prices, scrambled the outlook for oil markets and undercut the stock prices of producers. The S&P 500 Energy index dropped 2.7 percent.

"We're starting to see growing concerns that producers could cut back on their output cuts," said Gene McGillian, market research manager at Tradition Energy, in a telephone interview. "Taking that into consideration along with record U.S. production levels, it's triggered a nice amount of profit taking."

Explorers in the U.S. shale patch, meanwhile, were seen resuming their expansion plans this week as they continue to find a home for their crude around the world. U.S. working oil rigs rose by 15 this week to 859, the highest level since March 2015 and the biggest weekly boost since February, according to data from Baker Hughes.

"We've been having plenty of exports to kind of alleviate any sort of glut here," said Ashley Petersen, lead oil analyst at Stratas Advisors in New York. "There seems to be just enough crude and it's all finding a home to go to."

The Saudi oil minister made his pronouncement on the supply cuts at a meeting in St. Petersburg with his Russia counterpart, Alexander Novak, who echoed the comments. The two ministers plan to meet at least twice more before an OPEC gathering in Vienna next month, the Saudi minister said.

Oil has traded near a 3 1/2-year high on concern about supply disruptions from Venezuela and Iran. The rally has sparked worries that demand may falter, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies appear to be reacting to that idea with the first offer to boost output since January 2017.

West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell $2.83 to settle at $67.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 1.6 percent to $70.71 on Thursday. Total volume traded was about 35 percent above the 100-day average.

Brent futures for July settlement fell $2.35 to $76.44 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, the first weekly drop in seven weeks. The global benchmark crude traded $8.55 above WTI for the same month, the biggest premium in more than three years.

Futures for September delivery fell 1.6 percent to 477.4 yuan a barrel in afternoon trading on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange. Prices are down 1.9 percent this week. The contract rose 0.1 percent to 485 yuan on Thursday.

Trump's April 20 gave voice to a concern held widely in the U.S. and other consuming countries that oil's rally from less than $30 in early 2016 to more than $70 in New York risked becoming a threat to global economic growth. It also came ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, when high gasoline prices will be at issue.

Other oil-market news:

The world's top oil trader, Vitol Group, said it will be near impossible to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iran, suggesting U.S. President Donald Trump's attack on OPEC's third-largest producer may have a bigger impact on the global crude market than many anticipate.

The rise in oil prices to $80 a barrel is starting to cause concern across boardrooms, with some big industrial consumers, including airlines and shipping companies, starting to buy more insurance against rising energy prices.

Andurand's oil hedge fund to turn investors away from June

The world's largest oil exporter just made a policy swerve, moving from advocating higher prices to trying to stop the rally

Gasoline futures in New York were set for the first weekly decline since early May, and traded at $2.1917 a gallon.

--With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima, Grant Smith, Sharon Cho and Robert Tuttle.

2018 Bloomberg L.P.
Jurors in Harris County Thursday sentenced a man to 99 years in prison after he was convicted of aggravated robbery and aggravated assault of a public servant.

According to prosecutors, Terrence Dwayne Small, 49, threatened to burn a cashier alive, and exchanged gunfire with Baytown Police coming to her rescue. He was convicted following a three-day trial.

"This was about as brutal a robbery as there can be," Assistant District Attorney Joshua Raygor said. "Even the defendant later conceded that his actions were barbaric."

Authorities say a surveillance camera captured the events on that Monday morning in April 2016, as the manager of an ACE Cash Express attempted to open the business.

While she unlocked the front door, Small pressed a 9 mm pistol to her head, demanding she open a safe, according the Harris County District Attorney's office.

According to the DA's office, when she fumbled with the combination, Small pulled out a bottle of gasoline and doused her face and body. He then lit some paper afire, held it near her, and threatened to ignite the gas if she didn't open it, according to attorney's.

She lost some vision in an eye when the gasoline burned her retina.

The manager managed to trip a panic button, calling police.

As police arrived, she bolted for the parking lot, and with the help of an officer took cover behind the vehicle.

Officers exchanged gunfire with Small.

Three rounds hit the police car. One police bullet hit Small in the behind.

She told jurors that she was certain she was going to die that morning and that she continues to live in fear as well as grapple with her physical and emotional injuries.
The University of Houston gave incorrect amounts of federal money to students seeking financial aid because the university's systems did not properly evaluate student eligibility, state auditors found.

The audit focused on UHs distribution of federal financial aid, including through work-study programs, the Pell Grant for low-income students and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Regents reviewed the audit of the year that ended in August 2017 at a Thursday board meeting, and UH accepted its findings.

Auditors found similar problems at UH in 2016 as well. Spokesman Mike Rosen said UH has now completed each of the suggested fixes, and auditors will review their implementation over the summer.

Several issues that state auditors found at UH are common to campuses nationally, according to a presentation from advisory firm Baker Tilly.

The number of students who applied for federal financial aid neared 20 million in the 2015-16 award year -- far higher than the roughly 14 million in 2006-07, according to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Issues

For several individual students, according to the audit, UH awarded too much federal money.

In one case, UH considered a part-time student as a full-time student and gave $727 too much in Pell Grant money, which was returned. In another case, a student who enrolled but then withdrew for the spring 2017 term received $1,549 in Federal Work-Study money. UH returned the money, according to the audit.

UH also did not accurately verify certain information -- such as the number of people in a household --that several students wrote on the FAFSA form that students complete to receive federal financial aid money.

A more widespread problem, according to the audit, is that UHs financial aid system did not allow it to accurately track a students progress through a degree program. This is important because students can only receive some federal money if they make sufficient progress toward their degree.

For almost half of graduate, law school, pharmacy and optometry programs, UH never set a maximum time for completing those degrees, making tracking student progress difficult. Baker Tilly found this problem was common in higher education.

Auditors did not identify any students who were ineligible for student financial assistance as a result of that issue, the audit read. However, not determining maximum time frames correctly increases the risk that master- and doctoral-level students could receive financial assistance for which they are not eligible or be denied financial assistance for which they are eligible.

Auditors recommended that UH take several steps to fix the problems, including establishing controls to make sure it gives federal money in correct amounts to enrolled, eligible students.

They will come to UH in June or July to confirm UH has met those requirements, said Don Guyton, chief audit executive.

Financial aid administrators are responsible for fixing what needs to be fixed, he said after the meeting.

Board meeting

Also on Thursday, regents approved budgets for the upcoming fiscal year and discussed police preparedness for mass-shooting events.

Preparations for active shooters include officer skills development, drills and outside training. UH also uses a skills-training program called the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, said Jim McShan, UH's vice chancellor for administration and finance.

McShan's comments come less than one week after a mass shooting at Santa Fe High School left 10 dead and 13 injured. Houston Community College earlier this month shut down its Central Campus after a shooting threat made on Facebook, and police charged a college student with making a terrorist threat.

Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.
For 18 years, from 1902 to 1920 Maben Alexander Anderson lead the county in its highest law enforcement position - the Montgomery County Sheriff.

And remarkably, as noted in a passage about his history in the 1981 Montgomery County Genealogy Society History Book, he never carried a pistol - even in this more primitive times.

He still had the pistol loaded with the same shells that was presented to him by his friend upon his election, quoted the passage written by his daughter Mattie Elizabeth Simonton.

Also of interesting note, the farmer-turned-lawmans son, Edwin Talley Hoss Anderson, served not one but two terms as sheriff from 1947 to 1949 and from 1951 to 1953.

Additionally, his brother was Hulon N. Skipper Anderson, who is considered the father of Conroe ISD and served the school district for many decades.

Maben Alexander Anderson, who also went by M.A., was born Aug. 6, 1869 in the Old Danville community. He attended school in Willis and after his schooling operated a farm near Montgomery.

He was also a clerk in the Willis Cooperative Association.

In addition, he was in partnership with Capt. T.W. Smith raising tobacco.

After three years they gave up the business because of falling markets when the Spanish-American war was over, according to the passage on his life.

Then he bought a livery stable and operated it in Willis for two years until becoming sheriff.

He married Mattie Irene Talley on Feb. 21, 1892.

Her father Reuben was a native of Alabama and a Confederate soldier in the Civil War.

The couple had five children.

Two died in their youth - Morris and Arcola Undine.

Other children included Myrtle Anderson who married John Caron Wahrenberger, Mattie Elizabeth Simonton who married Reuben Davis Simonton and son, Edwin Talley Hoss Anderson who married Ethel Urquhart.

Hoss Anderson served in the US Army in World War I.

He was also a farmer and stock raiser.

Maben Alexander Anderson died on Feb. 3, 1940 at the age of 70 at the Mary Swain Sanitarium in Conroe.

Many beautiful flowers and the large number of friends, many of whom came from a long distance, were a just tribute to a good citizen and friend, The Courier quoted in the Feb. 8, 1940 paper.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, gave a special address to students at the University of Houston on May 22 that detailed her work at the United Nations, and encouraged students to get involved in politics, and bridge differences.

Haley opened up her address by saying that the whole country watched as Houston dealt with Hurricane Harvey last August, and noted that South Carolina experienced flooding in 2015.

It brought a lot of damage, but also an extraordinary spirit, resilience and kindness, Haley said. The whole world saw that same spirit here in Houston. I know that you are all still dealing with the aftermath, but you should all be proud of how your community has come through all of this.

Haley also offered words of support regarding the Santa Fe High School shooting that happened the week prior, noting that everyone must stick together to uplift the families.

Haleys speech was briefly interrupted by student protestors at the event, who shouted Free Palestine, and carried Palestinian flags. The protestors were escorted out of the building by police. Haley noted that both her husband and brother are combat veterans, and they fought for the protestors right to be able to do that.

Haley spoke about the inner workings of the United Nations Security Council.

We are working to show value to the American people for their investment. We have the goal of promoting the interests of the United States, Haley said.

There are 193 countries that are members of the U.N. The Security Council is the council that deals with peace and security. It has 15 members. Five of those members are permanent and have the power of veto: United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia and France. The other members have two year election terms.

Haley noted that her personal goal for being a part of the Security Council is to be a strong American voice.

It is important that other countries not wonder what [Americas] position is, Haley said.

Even though there have been successes, such as with sanctions against North Korea, Haley noted that the Security Council has been paralyzed in the face of Assads regime in Syria.

There is broad support to help the Syrian people Russia has vetoed every single one of those resolutions. As a result, the U.N.s policy on Syria is largely dictated by one government, Haley said.

Haley noted that this means that the U.N. only works when the United States isnt afraid to be a leader within it.

If we cant believe in the principles that unite us, it is difficult for others to be inspired by those principles, Haley said.

Haley stressed that this was important not only in U.S. politics, but also at home. Haley said that, too often, people write off those who have different views as evil.

Our opponents are not evil, they are just our opponents. If we cant keep that difference straight, then we are going to have a hard time conveying a message of hope to the world, Haley said.

Haley spoke about her background, and what lead her to politics.

Haley is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She started bookkeeping for her family business when she was 12. She graduated from Clemson University with a bachelors degree in accounting.

I kept saying that I couldnt believe how hard it is to make a dollar, and how easy it is for government to take it, Haley said.

Her mom told her to stop complaining and do something about it.

Haley entered into the primary for South Carolina Governor against thirty year incumbent Larry Koon.

We defeated the longest serving legislator by knocking on doors, and not by disparaging him, but talking about how the state had way too many lawyers and they needed an accountant, Haley explained.

Haley spoke about the recent North Korea sanctions, and noted that it was difficult to get China and Russia to agree to them, but she used President Trumps unpredictability to work in her favor.

China was worried about war in the region. I told China that we had to cut off the laborers. They said no. Okay, but I cant promise you that President Trump wont use the military, so why cant we do this, Haley explained.

Once China was in agreement, she told Russia that This is getting ready to happen.

Up next on the agenda for the Security Council is Iran, and what happens now that the U.S. has left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Haley said that the other countries cant deny the fact that that Iran is doing ballistic missile testing and they are supporting terrorism.

Haley also noted that everyone wants to see a peace solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The goal right now is to get (Palestinian) President Abbas to the table. That is a negotiation that will happen, we just need to wait for tensions to come down a little bit, Haley said.

Haley ended her address by giving advice to students who may want to join international politics.

Keep in mind that I am an accountant. No foreign policy experience whatsoever. I say that because the sky really is the limit. You just have to have the will and the motivation.

rebecca.hazen@chron.com
Randalls is closing its Cypress supermarket, a victim of Houston's competitive grocery market.

The Houston-based grocer sold the 67,334-square-foot store earlier this year to Williamsburg Acquisitions LLC, a Delaware-incorporated shell company. Financial terms were not disclosed. CBRE Houston, a commercial real estate firm, brokered the deal.

The Randalls store -- which sits on nearly 7 acres at 12220 Barker Cypress, near U.S. 290 -- displayed a sign Friday stating "Store Closing! Liquidation Sale!"

RELATED: Randalls plans Katy store closure in competitive grocery market

Randalls, a subsidiary of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, operates 44 stores in the Houston and Austin areas. The local grocer has struggled to compete against competitors H-E-B, Kroger and Walmart for market share in recent years.

Randalls last year closed one of its Katy locations, citing cutthroat competition in the grocery market. Also in 2017, the company consolidated its distribution operations in Dallas, shutting its Houston-area warehouse, a 700,644-square-foot facility on 70 acres at 10700 Telge.

H-E-B operates a store across Barker Cypress from the Randalls store that is closing in Cypress.
Leah sat on the carpeted hallway floor at Theiss Elementary School in the Klein Independent School District Wednesday afternoon, listened well and waited patiently for friends to come near so she could read with them. Leah isnt a student, but a black and white Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dog.

Shes also part of the Faithful Paws therapy dog program. Faithful Paws is a Bellaire United Methodist Church ministry, and the organization welcomes certified volunteers to take their therapy dogs to visit those in hospitals, nursing homes and schools.

One outreach effort is called Pets Enjoy Reading Kids, or PERK, which is meant to promote literacy in schools and public libraries.

On this day, six therapy dogs and their owners gathered with Theiss kindergarteners, like they have been every month this school year, for their last session before summer break.

To celebrate the time the dogs and kids have spent together, Faithful Paws program leader Melinda Blankenship and her dog, Piper, a golden retriever, addressed the almost 100 kindergarteners theyve been reading with.

We had so much fun helping you learn to read and watching you improve. Its exciting, and now you can read like crazy! Blankenship said.

Blankenship also gave a book to each student to take home, as well as a hardcover book for each of the five kindergarten classrooms.

More Information Want to know more? To learn more about what Faithful Paws volunteers and dogs do, or to learn how to start a similar reading program at your child's school, go to https://faithfulpawshouston.org/. Did you know? One in four U.S. children will grow up unable to read. Find more reading statistics and information about the Pi Beta Phi alumnae club and their commitment to literacy at https://www.pibetaphi.org/pibetaphi/. See More Collapse

The book, titled What Dogs Love, included a photo of each dog that worked with the kids throughout the year and its message encouraged the kids to keep reading during the summer.

It is dedicated to kindergarten teacher Lisa Sweeney, who helped start this program at Theiss two years ago.

The books were provided through sponsorship from the Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club, whose members contributed $150 to print them, according to club treasurer Dorothy Stremmel. One of the sororitys focuses is literacy.

Faithful Paws Volunteer Judy Kistner helped two kindergarteners read the short book during the hour-long session. As an added bonus, her dog Leah did some tricks for the students after they finished the book.

Kistner, who is also a former elementary reading specialist, said that the literacy growth she has seen in the kids is amazing.

(These kids) couldnt read at the beginning of the year, Kistner said.

Blankenship, the program leader, said that this is common.

Not only can (the kids) not read at first, theyre very anxious about it. Theyre shy; theyre not really sure what to do, Blankenship said.

Yet, when the kids are reading to a dog instead of an adult, it seems to have a calming effect.

The dog isnt going to judge them. The dog wants to be there. That unconditional love that the dog gives that takes the pressure off reading, thats the biggest benefit, Blankenship said.

Theiss Elementary Principal JoAnn Keenan said she agreed.

It gives the students confidence. Were so fortunate to have this here, Keenan said.

While the adults had a lot to say about the underlying effects of such a program, the kids, such as 6-year-old Addi Kerry, seemed to focus on the more obvious benefits of having the dogs around during their school day.

I love the puppies. Theyre cute and sweet. I love reading to them, Kerry said.

Kerrys kindergarten classmate, 6-year-old Maci Windham, said she agreed.

I love to read to (the dogs) because theyre cute! Windham said.

jane.stueckemann@chron.com
Rumormongering and unconfirmed reports of threats on the campuses of Dayton ISD were dismissed by school officials late Wednesday, May 23, as just that  rumors.

There have not been any threats, said Dr. Jessica Johnson, superintendent of DISD.

A Saturday afternoon post to the Dayton ISD and campus websites was prompted by district officials regarding the terrible shooting in Santa Fe as they considered tightening security for the remainder of the school year.

The post read:

Dayton ISD would like to express our thoughts and condolences for the Santa Fe Independent School District and its community.

Dayton ISD has not received any threats but with the tragic events that have taken place in schools across the country, Dayton ISD is taking a proactive stance and will have an additional police presence on all campuses.

Again, no threats have been made but as a precautionary measure, additional law enforcement from Harris County Precinct 3, along with Dayton Police Department, will be monitoring all Dayton ISD campuses. Student and staff safety is always our utmost concern.

Johnson said the district wants to be aggressive with security on all their campuses.

We have partnered with Constable Robby Thorntons office and Dayton PD to have more officers on our campuses, Johnson explained.

Dayton is among a growing list of districts taking measures to tighten their security including Aldine, Alief, Alvin, Bay City, Clear Creek, Cy-Fair, Fort Bend, HISD, Katy, Klein, Pasadena, Pearland, Splendora, Spring, Spring Branch, Sweeny, Texas City, Tomball, and Van Vleck ISDs.

On Monday morning, a student at Hargrave High School brought a weapon in his backpack with the intention to harm himself. The same day, law enforcement was investigating an alleged shooting threat found written on a bathroom wall at Crosby High School. The threat alleged a shooting would happen on the campus May 30.

The schools are neighbors to Dayton and is the kind of incident that is frightening for parents.

In addition to an increased law enforcement presence, students at Dayton High School will not be allowed to bring backpacks or large purses for the remainder of the school year. A letter was sent out to parents regarding the new request.

Students who have been sensitive to the shooting in Santa Fe or may have connections are also being attended.

As with any incidents, we always have additional or available counselors ready to assist with both students and staff, Johnson said.

The 2014 bond passed by the community has provided additional help for each school for increased security measures.

Thanks to the bond, we have been able to install cameras at all campuses, additional technology such as card readers that limits the entrance to all campuses via the vestibules, and other upgrades to new and existing facilities, the superintendent said.

Last spring, the district also increased the number of full-time officers on campuses throughout the district.

I appreciate the partnerships that we have with our local law enforcement agencies, both city and county. Our officers have gone through several active shooter trainings this year with another one planned for this summer, she said.

All campus and district administrators went through intruder training with Dayton PD earlier this spring. Hector Herrera, the assistant superintendent of support services, leads the districts safety approach and, according to Johnson, has attended numerous conferences, regional meetings, and has regular meetings with various law enforcement agencies throughout the school year.

Various social media posts are asking parents to attend the next school board meeting to demand tighter security and Johnson welcomes the input.

There is a lot of discussions going on right now at various levels to continue to increase the safety of our children and staff, she said.

Administrators are carefully watching the States round-table meetings hosted by Gov. Greg Abbott in Austin and have an interest in the results and potential legislation that may come out of those meetings.

We will continue to encourage and listen to all stakeholders and make the best choices for our district, she said.

Since 2014, the district has implemented new security measures with best practices, policies, and procedures. One change Johnson said would be made next year was the use of clear or mesh backpacks, especially at the secondary levels. Other security improvements for next year are in planning stages.

Johnson also asked for the publics help in providing information regarding threats to student and staff safety.

Most threatening statements are made on social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram, she said. If you see or hear any suspicious activity on social media, then please alert our administrators.

Those reports allow district officials and law enforcement to immediately investigate.

We take all threats seriously, she reiterated.

Johnson asked for patience and understanding from parents and the community as they continue to build a comprehensive approach to school security.

It is unfortunate that we live in a world today that we have to consider the unthinkable, but it is the reality we live in. We are committed to making each and every student, staff member, and parent feel safe in our schools, and with your help, we can make that possible, the superintendent said.

dtaylor@hcnonline.com
After two years working along the Mexico border in Webb County, Texas Game Warden Lauren Iles is happy for a change of scenery in Southeast Texas. The 30-year-old Austin native is the newest game warden for Liberty County, part of a two-person team along with Game Warden Jake Noxon.

Webb County is one of the biggest deer-hunting counties in the state. Being on the border, I dealt with illegal immigrants as part of my job. I was part of a team that patrolled the Rio Grande River, Iles said. It was a great first duty station because of the different duties.

When the job vacancy for Liberty County posted, Iles was excited to apply. Her family is originally from Southeast Texas and she still has relatives who live in the area.

I thought Liberty County might be a place I would like to work and settle down for a while, she said. It was an area I liked so I put my ring in the hat and asked for a transfer.

Instead of arid desert landscapes where trees are hardly taller than Iler, Liberty County offered a welcome change of lush pine forests.

Its definitely a lot different, she said.

Though she only arrived in Liberty County on May 6, she already has had a few encounters with alligators, which are especially active at this time of year because of mating season.

My first call was for a six-foot alligator. It was my initiation into Southeast Texas, she said. With it being springtime, we are dealing with a lot of baby animal calls, but that is to be expected anywhere in the state this time of year. I had my first day on the river the other day. I am taking in new experiences and am excited to learn more about the county.

Once she gets settled into her new home in Liberty, Iles plans to focus her attention on outreach groups, like hunter education.

I want to have a positive effect on the community and I look forward to getting to know the people of this county, she said.

To reach Iles or Noxon by phone, go online to https://tpwd.texas.gov/ Under the Game Warden tab, search for Liberty County under Find a Game Warden.
One Houston pastor is taking church out of stuffy Sunday morning buildings and putting it in the club.

Thursday night West End Church hosted an evening with its band led by Justin Roelant at Heights Theater. People came out for singing, meeting people and yes, even drinking a beer.
Authorities are searching for a teen who went missing last week on her way to school in Willis in Montgomery County.

According to the Precinct One Constable's Office in Montgomery County, 16-year-old Keilani House was last seen May 16.
Texas City Police Department

A Texas City teacher's aide who allegedly had an intimate relationship with a student has been arrested, according to the Texas City Police Department report

Crystal Nicole Alaniz, 26, of Texas City, is charged with having an improper relationship with an 18-year-old male student while she was working at the Woodrow Wilson Alternative Learning School.
Authorities seized drugs, more than $6,000 in cash and counterfeit bills during an early morning raid on a home in Weston Lakes, the Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Constable's Office said.

Two suspects, Alec McCann, 23 and Kiera Harrison, 22, face multiple charges after they were arrested on May 22 at about 6:15 a.m. in the 4100 block of Weston Drive, according to a press release.
The city of Sugar Land recently named Annette Shinsky-Hollis as the 2017 Volunteer of the Year.

Shinsky-Hollis, who serves as the president of the Citizens Fire Academy Alumni Association (CFAAA), coordinates the Firefighter of the Year program and assists in administering an annual college scholarship program for children of firefighters.

Under her leadership, CFAAA volunteers provide dinner to employees working at fire stations and the public safety dispatch center during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Sugar Lands Serve Sugar Land program has coordinated volunteer efforts in the city since 2007 as a way for the citizens of Sugar Land and surrounding neighborhoods to become involved in their city government.

In 2017, Serve Sugar Land contributed 27,115 hours of volunteer service to the city, equating to more than $654,556 in in-kind service donations.

Each year, city departments are asked to select and nominate a volunteer who enhances the delivery of city services by sharing their skills, positive outlook and fostering an atmosphere of community.

The employee of the year was selected by the citys executive team from a list of the following 10 people who were selected by departments as their volunteers of the year.

Becky Adams, Accounting

Jack Bich, T.E. Harman Center

Patrick Bourque, Permits and Inspections

Brenda Frye, Municipal Court

Cheryl Harris, Animal Services

Ellen Hickmon and Trudy Thompson, Human Resources

Elizabeth Paul, Police Department

Annette Shinsky-Hollis, Fire Department

Dave Sullivan, Police Department Community Assistance Support Team

The generous efforts of our volunteers enables the city to further expand, enhance and enrich the services it provides to the community in new and innovative ways, said Director of Public Affairs Cindy Dees. Volunteers are crucial to our success. While its impossible to measure the true extent of their service, I feel strongly that their contributions are invaluable to our citys success. We are grateful for the efforts of our many volunteers who take the time to do their part to ensure that Sugar Land remains an exceptional place to live.

To learn more about how to become a volunteer with the city of Sugar Land, visit volunteer.sugarlandtx.gov or call 281-275-2329.
District 22 U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, recently congratulated the TX-22 winners of this years Congressional Art Competition.

The first-place winner is Hannah Li from William D. Clements High School in Sugar Land. Her piece, In the Moment, will be on display in the U.S. Capitol for an entire year. The second-, third- and fourth-place winners will have their artwork on display in Olsons Texas and Washington offices.

Congratulations to Hannah Li and all of the talented students who submitted their artwork for this competition, said Olson. The Congressional Art Competition showcases the unique experiences and perspectives of talented artists from across the nation. Im thrilled to have Hannahs work to represent the 22 District of Texas for the millions of people who visit the Capitol each year. I would also like to congratulate Mya Stalnaker, Chelsea Tang and Phuongthy Tran for placing in the top four, and tank all of the incredible students who participated in this years competition.

The Congressional Art Competition began in 1982 for members of Congress to encourage and recognize the artistic talents of their young constituents. The winner from each district will have his or her artwork displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year.
Murderabilia from a Houston man accused of decapitating his mother hit the market this month, even before the case made it to trial.

Kyriakos Savvas Georghiou was charged with murder and aggravated assault in October, following a fatal knife attack that left his mother dead and his father wounded.

The 28-year-old was already out on bail for allegedly punching his mother in the face when he was arrested in connection with the double stabbing at the family's west Houston home. His father, Costas Georghiou, was stabbed but ran to safety at a neighbor's house, according to court records.

The item up for sale is a single letter and envelope, sent from the Harris County jail. It's not clear when or to whom the letter was written, but it appears to be the first time a murderabilia dealer has attempted to pawn off items related to the case.

READ MORE: Houston man accused of decapitating mother in gruesome double stabbing

"I don't think it would be good to talk about my case yet," the letter says. "Hit me back soon can't wait to hear from you."

True Crime Auction House posted the letter for $30.

In February, Georghiou was deemed incompetent to stand trial and ordered to a state psychiatric hospital, according to court records. He's still being held in the Harris County jail. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Though typically murderabilia doesn't end up online till after the case is resolved, victim advocate Andy Kahan said it's happened before, as with Railroad Killer Angel Resendiz and with David Conley, a Houston man who allegedly gunned down his ex and her family.

"In all the research that I've done, there are very few high-profile offenders that actually have items up for sale before they're convicted," Kahan said.

"For whatever reason, Harris County seems to be a fertile ground for dealers. This is not the first time and it won't be the last time."
A federal jury Friday found an affluent Brazilian couple guilty of aiding in the international kidnapping of their Houston-born grandson in a rare prosecution that drew national attention to the U.S. governments lackluster efforts to return thousands of children taken abroad amid custody disputes.

But, in unusual move, U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett did not formally accept the jurys decision, saying he wanted more time to consider defense attorneys request that the couple should be cleared because of allegations raised in the trial that their daughter was fleeing domestic violence.

As the judge of this court I have to make a determination if judgment notwithstanding the verdict is appropriate, Bennett told the lawyers. I want to think on it.

TRIAL: Trial closing for grandparents charged with helping kidnap boy to Brazil

In a closely watched case that drew calls for diplomatic action from prominent U.S. lawmakers, the jury in Houston concluded the grandparents  Carlos Guimaraes, 67, and Jemima Guimaraes, 66  helped their daughter relocate to Brazil in 2013 under the guise she and her now-8-year-old son were traveling abroad for a family wedding. But the jury acquitted the couple on conspiracy charges.

The couple are among just 53 people charged since 2013 by the Justice Department in cases involving international parental kidnapping, despite agency reports that more than 1,100 children are abducted each year.

The boys mother, Marcelle Guimaraes, 40, is a fugitive on related charges and lives in Brazil.

The boys father, Houston physician Christopher Brann, brought the case to the FBI and mounted a vigorous lobbying effort for the boys return. He said Friday he is pleased with the jurys decision.

Im just sorry it had to come to this, said Brann, an internal medicine doctor at Baylor College of Medicine. I begged for five years for them to be rational and see the greater good  I just want my son back. That is the only thing I have ever wanted.

Custody dispute turns international

Marcelle Guimaraes left the U.S. with her then-3-year-old son, Nico, in July 2013 to attend her brothers wedding.

By then, Guimaraes and Brann had separated and had a joint custody agreement in Harris County. Brann formally gave his permission for the 20-day trip.

Just days after her arrival and without Branns knowledge, she appeared before a civil judge in Brazil with documents showing she had a home and a job at her mothers school in the beachside town of Salvador, Bahia, and that Nico was enrolled at the school.

Without notifying Brann of the court dates, Guimaraes told the judge Brann was ill and couldnt travel to Brazil. The Brazilian judge granted her sole custody of Nico.

She told Brann, however, that she was sick and extended the trip twice.

Brann turned to the FBI in 2015 after two years of Skype calls and 20-hour trips to the remote resort city, where he was allowed to see the boy only if accompanied by hired guards.

Since then, state and federal courts in two countries have taken up the question of where Nico Brann should live.

RELATED: Senators call for return of Houston boy, allegedly kidnapped by mother

The fathers lobbying efforts resulted in a letter last week from the bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee, including U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas urging the Trump administration to use every possible tool to bring the child back.

Along with my colleagues, Im urging the Justice Department and the State Department to do everything they can to secure the rightful return of Nico Brann to the United States, Cruz said in an emailed statement to the Houston Chronicle. International parental child abduction is a serious issue and getting worse.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, who authored the 2014 law designed to pressure governments to return kidnapped children, sent his own letter asking for the boys return and his mothers extradition. The Sean and David Goldman Act, named after a New Jersey son and father separated after the boys mother took him to Brazil, gives the State Department punitive tools, including suspension of foreign aid, to pressure governments into returning children more quickly.

Bringing children home, however, can take years. Of the 643 children reported abducted in 2015, only 269 had been returned to their families by May 2018, said an official at the State Departments bureau of consular affairs said.

The case highlights the struggle many left-behind parents face trying to convince recalcitrant foreign governments to comply with a decades old treaty designed to protect them against international parental abductions, according to advocates.

This is primarily now a crime that is committed by mothers, said Laura D. Dale, a Houston lawyer specializing in international child abductions. It sets these kids up for a lifetime of baggage.

Harmful to families

Brazil is among 12 signatory countries cited in a 2018 annual State Department report for persistent failure to comply with the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Suzanne Lawrence, a special adviser for childrens issues in the State Department, declined to discuss any specific cases or why the agency had not sanctioned Brazil. But she acknowledged that courts in Brazil do not move promptly. The average span of inaction is nearly six years, according to the annual report.

The longer these cases go on the more harmful they are to the families, she said.

In the Brann case, the governments of the U.S. and Brazil both concluded Nico was illegally abducted in violation of civil law, but the federal courts in Brazil have ruled he should remain there because his mother was well settled with family support. That ruling is on appeal.

An attorney familiar with the delays said Brazilian courts have allowed such disputes to drag out for years, allowing the parent in Brazil to request clarifications of orders, while so-called left behind parents in the U.S. have little recourse beyond political pressure, if they have the means.

In the four years since the law was passed, the U.S. has only made one extradition request and public condemnation on behalf of an abducted child, according to the May 14 letter from the Senate Judiciary Committee to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Brann testified before the committee on April 24, calling his situation a textbook case for the application of the Hague Convention.

If I couldnt get Nico back with these facts, no left-behind parent can ever rely on the treaty, the Houston doctor said. What has compounded my anguish enormously is that the United States has all the tools it needs to compel Brazil and other countries to comply with the Hague Convention  it just wont use them.

Allegations of domestic violence

The childs grandparents were arrested Feb. 7 during a stopover in Miami on their way to another grandsons birthday in Houston, charged in a sealed federal indictment with conspiracy and aiding in a parental abduction.

ARREST: Brazilian grandparents arrested in kidnapping of Houston boy

Brann testified in the three-week trial that his ex-wife premeditated Nicos abduction with the help of her affluent father, the president of a British-Brazilian agricultural commodities company, and mother, who owns the private school for young children.

Defense attorneys told the jury the couples lack of concern about traveling to the U.S. showed they didnt believe they had done anything wrong.

Brann testified that the relationship between him and his then-wife had become violent. Marcelle raised the issue of domestic violence in her divorce petition in Harris County.

Brann said under cross-examination that he had written an email at his wifes direction saying he was sorry and acknowledging that he had pulled her hair, pushed her to the floor, hit her in the face and arms and kicked holes in the wall. He said she was violent toward him, and that he defended himself.

He also testified that he watched pornography once while on call as a medical resident at a previous hospital, which caused marital friction. He said his wife believed he was addicted to pornography.

Defense attorney Rusty Hardin said the grandparents welcomed their daughter to Brazil.

These people are not in charge, Hardin said. Rightly or wrongly the decision was made by their daughter.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri Zack told jurors that Brann had the sexual proclivities of a typical adult male, and said there was no evidence that Marcelle was afraid for her safety. She called the ex-wife manipulative.

With the mixed verdict Friday, the jury apparently rejected the prosecutions argument that the couple helped their daughter concoct an elaborate scheme to secure a job abroad and enroll her son in a Brazilian school, in violation of the custody order in Harris County.

If the jury had accepted that Marcelle was fleeing an incident or pattern of domestic violence, they could, under the law, have ignored the question of whether the grandparents might have been guilty of aiding in the kidnapping.

I am crushed, our team is crushed, Hardin said following the ruling. The evidence was uncontradicted that they believed their daughter was a victim of domestic violence.

It is that so-called affirmative defense  that they were shielding their daughter from what they believed was an abusive relationship  that the judge now is considering.

Veteran defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Philip Hilder, who is not connected to the case, said the judges reluctance to accept the jurys verdict is a sign that he is weighing concerns.

It is an indication theres a viable issue the judge wants to consider, Hilder said.

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick, meanwhile, said his office will continue to press for Marcelles return to the U.S. to stand trial in what he termed a heart-wrenching case.

International parental kidnapping is a terrible crime, Patrick said in a statement after the verdict. Our office will not rest until the mother is back on U.S. soil to face her own kidnapping charges.

Editor's note: This article has been changed to clarify that Marcelle Guimaraes accused her estranged husband, Dr. Christopher Brann, of domestic abuse in her divorce case in Harris County. Brann testified that he watched pornography only once while on call as a medical resident at a previous hospital. And Brann testified that the marriage had become violent, though two witnesses testified they had not seen him act violently toward his wife. He said his wife believed he was addicted to pornography. An earlier version also mistakenly identified U.S. Rep. Chris Smith as a Democrat; he's a Republican.

Gabrielle Banks covers federal court for the Houston Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter and send her tips at gabrielle.banks@chron.com.
A South Texas gas station became the target of online vitriol known as "shunned servicemen" rage after a man took to Facebook and claimed it wouldn't fly the American flag due to fear of losing "foreigners' business."

Dave Moore, a self-proclaimed trucker, accused the Pilot Flying J gas station in Amarillo of being unpatriotic in a now-deleted Facebook post that went viral in early May.

"I'm here at the Pilot in Amarillo, Texas and currently, you can see there's no American flag flying our colors," Moore said in a video uploaded to YouTube. "I went inside of the Pilot and asked why are you not flying the American flag. He said they had an issue with foreigners coming here and complaining and they didn't want to lose the foreigners' business, so they took it down."

OLD GLORY: 12 things to know about the American flag

Snopes notes misguided rage about American flags and unpatriotic gas stations tend to go viral on social media, largely because they play to people's emotions and sense of patriotism. The website calls the rage "shunned servicemen," where rumors of military members and flags being disrespected at gas stations are widely shared, often with little to no verification.

Pilot Flying J took to Facebook to inform people there wasn't a flag flying at the Amarillo store due to a damaged pole. The gas station chain posted about the flag four times on Facebook this month.

"We are proudly American - started by a Korean War veteran 60 years ago," the gas station chain said in a May 6 Facebook post. "At store #436 in Amarillo, Texas, we are in the process of repairing the flag pole, which was damaged. We regret our team member was misinformed."

TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING: Man carrying American flag and handgun arrives at Santa Fe High School just after deadly shooting

The posts were unsuccessful at quelling people's rage. While the original Facebook post has been deleted, it didn't stop people from sounding off online against Pilot Flying J on Facebook. A vast majority of the claims people have made are unsubstantiated and emotionally charged.

"Pilot and Flying J truck stops announced they were taking down the American Flag," user Dean Smith wrote on the gas station chain's Saturday post.

"If there's a flag pole, but no flag, I'll keep driving! Add before I get the snarky question, the big deal is the purported reason for no flag!" wrote user Nikki Owen-Richards on Pilot Flying J's May 21 post.

BURNED: Thousand American flags burn in fire at American Legion in NW Houston

On Monday, Pilot Flying J posted a video of the flag flying high at the Amarillo store, ensuring customers they are repairing all damaged flag poles at their stores so "the American flag is properly flown with the respect it deserves and according to military protocol."

People are still angry with the gas station chain however, with claims ranging from Pilot Flying J not having flags at many of their stores to simply not caring about America.

A Mobil gas station in Holly, Michigan became the victim of "shunned servicemen" rage after a 2014 Facebook post accused an Arabic man of refusing service to a member of the military. MLive reports the worker told the soldier the premium gas he wanted had run out. That misunderstanding transformed into online hate, with accusations of the gas station being un-American running rampant.

Snopes reports a similar incident took place at a Long Island gas station, where Facebook user Timothy Delaney accused a Mobil gas station of not selling his son tobacco after he showed him a military I.D. in December 2015. Snopes said Suffolk County in Long Island, where the gas station resides, changed the age of purchasing tobacco from 19 to 21. The owner said the military member was not yet 21, making it illegal for them to sell tobacco.

"It is possible that the young man misinterpreted the interaction," Snopes wrote.

In another post about the "shunned servicemen," Snopes wrote the rage is "the sort of shocking tale those angered by the anti-war movement will find great comfort in because it vilifies those who decry the current military action by presenting them as being against not only the war, but also against the men and women who are willing to risk their lives in the service of their country."

Get instant Houston breaking news alerts sent directly to your phone by texting CHRON to 77453.

Will Axford covers the news of Texas for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Follow him on Twitter.
La Porte resident Sarah Tolley was in high school when the Columbine High School massacre occurred in 1999. She remembers wondering how something like that could occur but saw it as an event that happened far away.

I wasnt really scared, she said. It was the first time I had ever heard of something like that, and it didnt affect me like it does kids now. It wasnt a real thing, like, That cant happen here.

Now, after the Santa Fe shooting on May 18 that killed 10 people, the issue of school safety is hitting close to home. Tolley is considering home-schooling her five children and three stepchildren, who attend La Porte ISD campuses.

My kids are scared to go to school, and it makes me want to pull them out, she said last week before classes ended for the summer. I have an 8-year-old who is physically scared to go to school. Its even more scary for the high school kids.

Tolley said she wants to see metal detectors, armed security and more safety training for school staff and students.

Such nervousness has affected many residents in the Pasadena, Deer Park and La Porte school districts. They are asking for more security on campuses, with some calling for metal detectors to monitor entrances.

In the initial, precautionary response to the Santa Fe shooting, both the Pasadena and La Porte school districts increased campus security through partnerships with city police departments to provide additional officers at strategic locations at campuses and surrounding areas.

In a statement posted last week on the Pasadena ISD website, Superintendent Dee Ann Powell detailed precautionary measures for the final days of the school year, such as a ban on all backpacks, limiting the number visitors allowed on campuses and having counselors on hand to address any emotional fallout students may experience in the wake of the tragedy. School ends May 30 in the district.

Powell said that the district would not tolerate senior pranks or any activity that could lead to criminal charges. She called on parents to monitor their childrens social media and texting communication and to report any activity that might concern.

In the week after the shooting at Santa Fe High School, the Pasadena, La Porte, Friendswood, Clear Creek and Texas City school districts each reported cases of terroristic threats on campuses that resulted in students being taken into custody.

At Pasadena ISD, a student was arrested May 23 for bringing a handgun to school at Beverly Hills Intermediate School. District officials said there was no indication of any intent to use the weapon.

Two incidents involving students allegedly making terroristic threats occurred at La Porte ISD after the Santa Fe shooting, with both students taken into police custody. In the second incident, a student made a verbal threat to a teacher and acted as if they were shooting an imaginary gun, according to district spokesperson, Terri Cook.

It seems that no district has been untouched with having some incidences this week because of what happened in Santa Fe, Cook said.

Were asking for parents to talk to their kids about the seriousness of making threats, comments  even if theyre just joking, Pasadena ISD spokesman Art Del Barrio said. These jokes or pranks on social media can get them into serious trouble, and right now is the perfect time to educate kids.

The Pasadena district has a system on its campus websites, See Something, Say Something, in which students can alert school officials of any threatening behavior, whether making threats or bullying, and it uses emergency procedures like ALICE Training ((Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) for staff, parents and student groups.

Cook said the shadow of the Santa Fe shooting will be present when La Porte ISD considers its next steps as it looks to the summer school session and the beginning the 2018-2019 school year.

Weve have had calls from parents wanting to know what were going to do, she said.

Del Barrio wants parents to be assured that kids are safe, saying that as an administrator, he cant walk on campus or into a school without identification credentials.

Anything can be improved, but we are leaving no stone unturned in the possibility of what we can do to improve safety on our campuses, he said. Its the end of the year, this just happened, and we want parents to feel at ease.

Like Tolley , many posters on the Pasadena Citizens Facebook page advocated use of metal detectors at Pasadena ISD campuses. Metal detectors should be #1, wrote Nancy Murdock Muller.

Others see the need for arming teachers, addressing bullying, providing more discipline at home and establishing better communication between schools and parents.

Metal detectors would be great and also showing the kids and Teachers how to identify students that have mental problems to help them and not just ignore these kids, posted Rosalie Garcia. Also parents need to be more open if they see the signs of their child if he/she is being a loner at home and why? They need to ask why?

Officials with Pasadena and La Porte school districts havent commented on if they considering use of metal detectors.

Gun owners, Tolley said, need to be responsible in how they store their weapons. The 17-year-old arrested in the Santa Fe shooting, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, used weapons owned by his dad that had not been secured, the father, Antonios Pagourtzis, told Greeces Antenna TV.

I mean, it does not take five minutes to put a safety on a gun, and its just common sense to keep them from kids, Tolley said. If were not going to be responsible gun owners, then we shouldnt be gun owners at all.

Tolleys daughter, Mackenzie, is one of several students at La Porte High School working to form a school organization where students can have a voice in the safety preparedness planning, has expressed fear.

She said she didnt want to go back to school because she doesnt feel safe, Sarah Tolley said.
Almost exactly one year after construction began, the 13-mile Spring Creek Nature Trail has been completed. Bayou Land Conservancy (BLC) announced that there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 1 to celebrate the achievement.

This is a project built by the community for the community, said Jill Boullion, executive director of BLC. This 13-mile, natural surface trail will be a great asset and provide an entryway onto the Spring Creek Greenway, which is the longest, contiguous, urban, forested greenway in the country. We are grateful for the partnership of Texas Parks & Wildlife and the other stakeholders in this project.

The natural-surface trail is funded by a Recreational Trails Grant of $100,000 from Texas Parks & Wildlife. Matching funds were provided by BLC, The Woodlands Township, the American Hiking Society and REI. Construction began in May 2017 on the Harris County side of Spring Creek at the George Mitchell Nature Preserve and moved eastward. The trail ends at the Montgomery County Preserve, which is owned by Montgomery County Precinct 3 and is preserved with a conservation easement held by Bayou Land Conservancy.

Suzanne Simpson, land stewardship director for BLC, said the trail was created to meet a need in the community.

This trail sprang from increasing community desire for access to these public green spaces, Simpson said. This trail provides a natural surface as opposed to asphalt. So this just provides another amenity that the community can take advantage of, especially hikers and bikers.

Much of the trail construction, including boardwalks and foot bridges, was done by volunteers trained through BLCs Spring Creek Greenway Ambassador Program. Led by a core team of trail builders managed by Simpson, workers did more than 2,500 hours of volunteer time into the construction process.

Its important to note that over 2,500 hours of volunteer service went into this trail, so it really would not have been possible without the dedication of our volunteers, Simpson said.

Simpson added that even though the trail is complete, it will need routine maintenance. The Woodlands Township will offer assistance in the event of major maintenance issues.

They have also provided some staff and resources support and theyll continue to support the trail. After its built we have to maintain it and the Bayou Land Conservancy does most of the maintenance, but for example if a tree were to fall across the trail, the township would help us with big issues like that, Simpson said.

The ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for 9 a.m., Friday, June 1, at Montgomery County Preserve, located near 1118 Pruitt Road, The Woodlands. To RSVP to the event, email cwilson@bayouland.org.

Some of the information in this article was gathered from a press release.
Dr. Laquita Carter, 43, runs The Woodlands chapter of the Jack and Jill of America organization, and she is a firm believer of instilling strong family values in children. As a 20-year educator and administrator at the Spring Independent School District, Carter has first-hand experience working with children and families. Carter joined Jack and Jill in 2014 and became president last year.

QUESTION: Why did you go into education?

CARTER: I was born as a teacher. I had a chalkboard that was built in my room and I always had a classroom of teddy bears and dolls that I would try to teach and direct. From the time I was able to talk, I was always trying to help somebody. It was a natural gift and talent that was birthed in me to be an encourager, a leader and a supporter of people.

QUESTION: What do you do with Jack and Jill of America - The Woodlands?

CARTER: I currently am serving as the chapter president. We have approximately 50 mothers in our chapter with close to 100 children in our organization. It is very exciting. Our chapter has grown over the last year. We are really excited to have a presence in the community as well as to be able to help navigate leadership experiences for our children. This is completing my first year, and I have been in the (organization) since 2014. Since 1986, the charter class was started and the chapter was officially started in 1988. I have the pleasure of serving with an amazing group of women.

QUESTION: What does the Jack and Jill of America organization do?

CARTER: Currently we are under the direction of our national president Joli Cooper-Nelson. The national organization has been around since 1938. It was founded in Pennsylvania where there were 20 mothers who wanted to be in charge of being able to provide children with leadership experiences. The organization services families with children from ages 2 to 19. The mother is the holder of the membership of the organization. What we do is create civic, cultural and educational programs for children to expose them to different things in life again nurturing and facilitating experiences in leadership through social, civic, and cultural platforms while also being philanthropic in giving in terms of community service.

QUESTION: What has your chapter done in the last year since you have been president?

CARTER: This has actually been a very rewarding year. Let me start with the fact that I work with a great team who works together to provide excellence for our children and the community. I can not do this alone. We started out this year with a charge of Yes and what that yes meant for the chapter was, What is your why? Why are you a part of the Jack & Jill of The Woodlands chapter. What is your yes for service? We thought we had a few goals what we wanted to accomplish. One was that we wanted to continue to provide high quality programming for our children. On a monthly basis, the mothers actually plan activities for our families, which are also inclusive of community invitation as well. Some of the activities that we had this year is that we went to the Dispute Resolution Center in Montgomery County, and we allowed our children to actually have to go through a mock trial as a conflict resolution strategy. This is pretty exciting. We thought we had opportunity for them to have to do the story of The Three Little Bears. They actually have to solve that conflict. It was age appropriate. That is what our conflicts are centered around. Looking at what hot topics are happening across the country while also being able to give that information to children without watering it down but meeting them on their level. They had an opportunity to work with lawyers, teachers and with trained mediation specialist to actually go through what that would look like from start to end. It was very exciting to see that. One of the best features about that program was that not only did our children have an opportunity to do that but our mothers at the same time were learning about navigation strategies for conflict resolution as well. That was really a rare opportunity where mothers and children alike were able to learn something where we could use both in the home and in the workplace and in the community as well.

QUESTION: Tell me about how going through the parable of The Three Little Bears in a mock trial could help a child learn conflict resolution?

CARTER: Funny you should ask. We see many adults that dont know how to properly handle conflict resolution sometimes. In your personal life and in relationships, personal communication is needed now more than ever; truly being able to understand another persons perspective and viewpoint is critical in order to be able to solve the problem. Going through that conflict will not only help them to learn strategies but give them the opportunity to practice for a lifetime what that looks like, so that when they truly do become adults, it gives them that time where practice now becomes reality for them. Drawing on some other those fields at an early age helps them to reinforce some of those positive habits that we want them to develop as adults.

QUESTION: Can you provide an example of a conflict or something that an adult may have trouble with?

CARTER: The first thing that comes to mind is communication. Sometimes when you are trying to arrive at a solution to a problem, it can become difficult for people to articulate their thoughts if they havent had the opportunity to have a conversation. Particularly in this society where we live in now where things are so technology driven and people are using text as a form of communication, emails as a form of communication and in some regards, those communications are not formal like they used to be. Your language may be different if youre actually using appropriate vocabulary word or if youre using a shortened framework because youre trying to send a quick message with Twitter, with Facebook, with all of the social media platforms that are so accessible to our children and to our adults alike. We are seeing communication change in terms of how people articulate their thoughts. At the same time, its expected that youre able to know how to do that particularly if youre going to a job interview or if youre having to take any type of assessment for work or for school. We want to make sure that although we are giving the experiences for them to be able to acclimate themselves in our ever changing society, that we also equip them to be successful as adults. We want them to continue to be successful even as practicing adults that are now also having to navigate this new terrain as well.

QUESTION: You have a wide range of ages in your organization, from 2 to 19. How are you able to meet their needs?

CARTER: The groups are actually broken up by age group. We are able to meet the children where they are. We have the Jumping Jacks group (which) services our 2 year olds to our kindergarten children. Then we have our Super Star group, which is our first through our third graders. We have our Pacesetters group, which works for our fourth and fifth graders. The Elite team is our sixth through eighth graders, and then our Essence team, which are our ninth through 12th graders. The groups are broken up where they can then become manageable, so that its something that is socially and educationally appropriate at their age level.

QUESTION: How much has the organization grown in The Woodlands over the past few years?

CARTER: As you know, The Woodlands area and I think Texas as a whole can be transient at times. Naturally you have mothers that are moving in and you have mothers that are moving out, some are transferring out for jobs and/or for personal reasons. We have that steady equilibrium of mothers in the chapter while also mothers that we get to celebrate for transitioning to other areas. The process for getting into the chapter is that you have be sponsored by a current member and they basically have to feel like youre a good fit to the organization in terms of what you could help bring to the organization from the stance of your time, your talent and your treasure. Over the past four years, weve had between six and 10 mothers that have pretty much been inducted every year. As a chapter, you do have to have 25 members and weve always been around that 25 to 30 range and now were holding close to the 50. We are very excited for the opportunity for us to have the mothers but also to keep them. We love sharing them when they go to other areas, but we absolutely want to have all of them present here in The Woodlands to help benefit not only our families but all families. This is an organization that focuses on all children.

QUESTION: What makes a good candidate for the organization?

CARTER: The sponsorship is the predominate factor, so a mother has to be able to get to know you intimately, to be able to get to know your family because it is a family organization. We want to make sure that we are surrounding our children by people who would be good models of excellence. Thats really what it boils down to is having people that have the same values to help rear and develop your children. Ideally if you are in the organization, I would like to have a thriving and positive relationship with you that I would want my children to become your childrens friends. Its a volunteer organization with mothers working to provide exceptional experiences for children. At the same time you are hoping to foster lifelong relationships with the mothers as well as with the families.

QUESTION: Why is so important to get with these mothers and guide them, steer them and help them when raising their children?

CARTER: It takes a village. It absolutely takes a village. It really does take other mothers, other families, sister friends that are there to help you to be better. To be a better person, to be a better mother and to work through the dynamics of day to day life. There are lots of demands that are placed on women as a whole. When you have children that also factor in the equation, its wonderful to have a support system around you. No one that has ever been successful has done it alone. That doesnt change for the families. When families are successful and theyre thriving and theyre children are doing well, its because of the support systems that they around them. We treasure and value that as a whole Jack and Jill is a collective support for our community.

Michelle Iracheta
KARACHI, Pakistan  Sabika Sheikh finally returned to her family in Pakistan on Wednesday from her months away as a foreign exchange student in Texas. Her father was the first to meet her coffin, draped by a Pakistani flag, at Karachis airport in the dark of the early morning.

Army cadets loaded the 17-year-olds coffin into an ambulance as dozens of sobbing family members and friends recited Quran verses. Doors shut, a siren flipped on and the ambulance took Sabikas body and immediate family home for a burial ceremony. The acting U.S. consul general, John Warner, choked back tears on the tarmac as he comforted a friend of Sabikas.

Sabika was one of 10 killed when another student opened fire last week at Santa Fe High School in Texas with guns he had taken from his father. Family members said Sabika had loved her time there and had hoped it would help realize her dream of becoming a diplomat and working for peace.

This is a form of terrorism. It shouldnt happen anywhere: not in America, not in Pakistan, Sabikas father, Aziz Sheikh, said in an interview at the family home in Karachi, Pakistans commercial hub.

A youth ambassador, Sabika was sent to Texas by an initiative sponsored by the State Department called the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program, known as YES. The program sent about 900 students from all over the world this year to live with U.S. families and attend local high schools in nearly every state of the country.

Sabika was drawn to the United States for its modernity, diversity and  like many of the students  its security, her family said. She excitedly texted updates to family and friends back home, sharing her views of the Texan town and the warm American family who hosted her, the Cogburns.

The six-month program is one of many sponsored by the State Department that aims to show students a positive side of the United States and cultivate ties with potential future leaders abroad, top-grade students like Sabika with ambition.

But Sabika was determined that the influence would go both ways, that she would present the best face Pakistan had to offer to Americans.

She was on a mission, friends and family say, to change U.S. views on Islam and convince those she met that hers was not a violent religion. Everyone she met in the United States heard about how there was more to her religion and country than headlines about terrorist attacks.

That she became a victim of violence herself there, right in her school, horrified her friends and family who were counting the days till her return.

On Friday morning, just before the gunman entered the school, she sent a Snapchat message to her best friend, Rumsha Munawar, a classmate in Karachi.

The Snapchat featured Sabika smiling, with a message: 19 days until Im back!

She was so excited to be in America, Rumsha said. She used to call me almost every day during her breaks at school and would tell me stories about how the school was so different, about how boys and girls mixed way more than they did here in Pakistan. Most of all she really liked her host family.

She added: I cant look at my school now. The entire school reminds me of her. Every corner, I have a memory with her.

As the gunman began his attack, sunset was drawing near some 8,500 miles away from Santa Fe in Karachi, where Sabikas family was preparing to break their fast on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslim families come together.

I sat down and put on the news. The ticker at the bottom said, Shooting in a school in Texas, so I switched to CNN and they were showing live footage of Sabikas school, Shiekh said. Then I called her and she didnt pick up. Sabika always picked up, so I knew something wasnt right. Thats when I started getting scared.

Rumsha, Sabikas friend in Karachi, questioned how such a young student could both acquire such guns and smuggle them so easily into school, even in Pakistan, where gun laws are lax.

In Pakistan, even if someone attacks a school, its someone from the outside, she said. Its never one of our own students. I still cant understand why someone would do that.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Lisa Falkenberg has been appointed vice president and editor of opinion for the Houston Chronicle, Publisher John McKeon and Executive Editor Nancy Barnes announced Friday.

Falkenberg, who will take over opinion for online and print on June 4, succeeds Jeff Cohen, who retired earlier this year.

"Falkenberg is a master of her craft, blending deep reporting with a strong, original voice as she calls out injustice in our community and in our state, and thoughtfully outlines her views for change," McKeon and Barnes wrote in the statement.

"The best editorial leadership in the country often begins with deep original reporting, which informs powerful opinion," they wrote. "Falkenberg is supremely qualified to lead that charge at the Houston Chronicle."

Falkenberg will no longer write a metro column but will write a periodic column for the opinion section.

Evan Mintz, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in editorial writing along with Joe Holley last year, will serve as deputy opinion editor. Mintz stepped in to run the editorial pages after Cohen's retirement earlier this year.

Harold Jackson, editorial page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer since 2007, will also join the Chronicle's editorial board in the next month in a role still to be determined, Barnes said. Jackson won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing in 1991 and was a finalist in 1994.

A native of Seguin west of Houston, Falkenberg has been a metro columnist for the Chronicle since 2007 after working as a reporter and writer. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, she joined The Associated Press' Dallas bureau in 2001 and eventually became a regional writer covering Dallas and East Texas.

She covered the Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003 and the deadly BP refinery explosion in Texas City in 2005, and anchored national congressional and Senate races. In 2004, she was named Texas AP Writer of the Year. She joined the Chronicle's Austin bureau that year as a state correspondent, covering legislative politics and hurricanes Katrina and Rita before being named a columnist.

Read the full announcement Here is the full statement from Houston Chronicle Publisher John McKeon and Executive Editor Nancy Barnes: We are delighted to announce that Lisa Falkenberg, our Pulitzer Prize-winning metro columnist, has been promoted to Vice President and Editor of Opinion, effective June 4. Lisa succeeds Jeff Cohen, who retired earlier this year. Falkenberg is a master of her craft, blending deep reporting with a strong, original voice as she calls out injustice in our community and in our state, and thoughtfully outlines her views for change. These skills are essential in leading our opinion writing on all platforms. The best editorial leadership in the country often begins with deep original reporting, which informs powerful opinion. Falkenberg is supremely qualified to lead that charge at the Houston Chronicle. Joining Falkenberg on the Opinion leadership team is Evan Mintz, who will serve as Deputy Opinion Editor. We owe Mintz our immense gratitude for stepping in these last few months. He took ownership of the editorial pages, juiced our digital work, and provided superb leadership during this time of transition. Mintz and Joe Holley were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing just last year. We feel extremely fortunate to have such a deep pool of talent at the Chronicle, leading opinion and commentary during a time of resurgence for this form of journalism. Finally, Harold Jackson, Editorial Page Editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer since 2007, will be joining our board in the next month in a role still to be determined. Harold won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing in 1991 and was a finalist again in 1994. He has held just about every job in American newsrooms, starting as a reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald in 1975. Jackson has also received the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists Trailblazer Award, the Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists, and other journalism awards from the Associated Press, UPI, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, and the Alabama Press Association. While we know Falkenberg best as a columnist, a position she has held since 2007, she has strong daily reporting and writing experience. A graduate of the University of Texas, she joined the Associated Press' Dallas bureau in 2001, eventually becoming a regional writer covering Dallas and East Texas. She covered the Columbia shuttle disaster, the deadly BP refinery explosion in Texas City and anchored national congressional and senate races. In 2004, Falkenberg was named Texas AP Writer of the Year. That same year, Falkenberg joined the Houston Chronicle's Austin bureau as a state correspondent covering everything from legislative politics to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, before being named a columnist. She has earned numerous national, state and local journalism awards for her column-writing. She was a finalist in the Pulitzer commentary category in 2014. In 2015, Falkenberg was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, as well as the American Society of News Editors' Mike Royko Award for Commentary/Column Writing. Please join us in congratulating Falkenberg and Mintz on their roles, and please welcome Jackson to the Chronicle. It's going to be a fantastic team. John McKeon and Nancy Barnes See More Collapse

She was a Pulitzer finalist in 2014. In 2015, she received the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. That same year she received the American Society of News Editors' Mike Royko Award for Commentary/Column Writing.

Mintz, a member of the Chronicle's editorial board, was a finalist in 2017 with Holley for editorial writing about gun laws, gun culture and gun tragedies. He first joined the Chronicle as a freelance writer after leaving the Harris County District Attorney's Office in 2011 and became full-time in 2012.

A licensed attorney in Texas, he attended Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City and served as an editorial board editor of the Cardozo Jurist. He received a bachelor's degree from Rice University.

Jackson started as a reporter at the Birmingham Post-Herald in 1975 and has won numerous awards, including Journalist of the Year from the National Association of Black Journalists and the Trailblazer Award from the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. He has also won awards from the AP, UPI, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association and the Alabama Press Association.
AUSTIN  In a small room on the second floor of the Texas Capitol, Gov. Greg Abbott surrounded himself Thursday with dozens of people whose loved ones were shot and killed in mass shootings.

The families lost children, parents, friends. Speaking at the governors third roundtable of the week, they were grasping for solutions. For something good to come of their pain.

The people hailed from Sutherland Springs and Santa Fe  sites of the two most recent massacres  as well as Alpine and Killeen.

Eric Johnson, who was born and raised in Santa Fe but now lives in Austin, said he wants the governor to call a special legislative session to deal with gun violence.

Throw a dart on the map. Whose town is next? And the dart hit this town, he said, referring to the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School that left 10 dead and 13 wounded.

Johnson said people can have all the guns they want, but they need to be more responsible with them. He said the Santa Fe students are less vocal, and less public, than those of Parkland, Fla.  site of the Feb. 14 high school massacre that killed 17  because in Texas we love our guns.

The parents and students raised a gamut of suggestions: Inspecting backpacks, anonymously arming teachers, hiring more school counselors, installing dual-pull levers on fire and lockdown alarms. They also discussed raising the age to purchase guns and increasing enforcement of gun purchases so felons cant purchase weapons.

Where is the oversight committee for schools, questioned one person. Or what about a panic button, asked another.

Student letter ignored

Abbott, with a notepad on his lap, listened to story after story of heartbreak.

I walk into the hallway and see a kid get shot. And he falls, said Grace Johnson, a Santa Fe High School student.

Johnson said she and her government class wrote all a lot of these ideas in a letter to Abbott in February, just after the Parkland shooting, when someone ignited firecrackers and put Santa Fe High on lockdown. But she said she never heard back from the governor.

We didnt get anything back. We didnt even get an acknowledgment. We just want to know that you got those, she said, her voice choking up. And it finally happened at our school, and we werent surprised.

The roundtable followed two others this week: one on Tuesday with educators and police, and on Wednesday with mental health professionals and advocates of the gun debate.

Several state leaders took part Thursday, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Joe Straus, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Little by way of gun-control enforcement was brought up. Much of the conversation rotated around school safety, including adding more police and mental health counselors on campus.

Cruz said he took away from the meeting a call to increase police presence on campus, ensure doors are impenetrable and have armed teachers in schools, citing one father who expressed frustration that the teachers at Santa Fe High School could have prevented the shooting.

We heard from one dad today who was angry and said, Why didnt they allow the teachers to be armed to protect our students? Thats another solution were hearing from those on the ground, he said.

Cruz added that he wants a system to better identify potential shooters before they become threats and look for ways to punish felons and fugitives who illegally try to buy guns.

When Kris Workman, who was paralyzed from the Nov. 5 Sutherland Springs church massacre and now uses a wheelchair, asked Abbott what course of action should be taken. Abbott said he needed time.

We need to sift through the realistic and achievable from the non-achievable, he said.

Recommendations coming

Abbott next week is expected to roll out his recommendations, which would include immediately actionable solutions, and bills the Legislature would consider when it returns to session in 2019  unless he calls for a special session before then.

Frank Pomeroy, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Annabelle and his closest friends in the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church massacre, listened intently to the presentations.

He said afterward if nothing else, the roundtable was a chance for people to tell and share their stories, sometimes for the first time.

People still need to tell their stories so they dont get locked up and implode, said Pomeroy, the First Baptist pastor.

Scot Rice, a Santa Fe resident, spoke to the media for the first time.

Ive prepared a statement. I hope I can get through it, he said shaking.

Johnny Banda, Santa Fe ISD officer, put a hand on his shoulder while Rice spoke of his wife, Flo Rice, a substitute teacher, who had called him after she was shot multiple times in both legs.

She kept calling him while she dragged herself outside the school and collapsed in the parking lot.

She said Ive been shot. I think Im the parking lot, he paused. Silence.

She had hung up.

Banda had responded to the scene and rushed to Flos aid.

The officer said to her Are you alive? and she opened her eyes, Rice said. Im glad to say we believe Flo is going to make a full recovery.

The room broke out in applause. Pomeroy issued a loud Amen. And Rice and Banda embraced.

Banda received a gubernatorial commendation Thursday for risking his life to save Flo Rice.

Pomeroy had words of advice for the grieving Santa Fe community members.

Focus on each other, he said. And look at that light ahead of you, that hope.

sfosterfrau@express-news.net

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andrea.zelinski@chron.com

twitter.com/AndreaZelinski
An Indianapolis man will be tried in a Houston federal court after being charged with money laundering in an alleged international investment scheme.

Tochukwu Nwosisi, 47, was arrested Thursday on charges of conspiracy of money laundering and concealment of money laundering. He is accused of using his used car dealership in Indianapolis to receive wire transfers from people who were promised investment funding, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office Southern District of Texas.

Nwosisi is one of six people, including two men from Houston, charged in February in connection with the alleged scheme, which defrauded victims of more than $7 million.

Nwosisi, who owns and operates a dealership called Indyrides LLC, received international and domestic wire transfers from victims into his business bank accounts, according to the attorneys office.

Victims were told to pay in advance as a requirement to receive their promised investment funding.

Nwosisi is accused of using the payments to keep a portion of the funds and purchase vehicles to ship to Nigeria, where the scheme originated.

Several bank accounts were closed for suspicious activity, but Nwosisi continued to open new bank accounts to receive payments, according to the attorney's office.

In the operation, people pretending to be U.S. bank officials made false investment promises to victims, the charges allege. The people involved in the scheme met with victims in U.S. embassies or consulates, using fabricated government documents to convince them the investments were sponsored by the government, according to the attorney's office.

Nwosisi made his first appearance in an Indianapolis court on Thursday.

The other people who have been charged are Uju Okigbo, Chioma Okafor, Marita Ranalan Underwood, John Christian Rutledge and Osa May Martin. Okigbo and Okafor live in the Houston area and were accused of money laundering.

Okigbo, 48, of Richmond, and Okafor, 28, of Houston were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, two counts of wire fraud and two counts each of concealment money laundering. Okigbo, who was in custody Friday, is also charged with three counts of engaging in transactions with proceeds of specified unlawful activity and one count of aggravated identity theft for impersonating a U.S. banking executive, according to a news release.
Houston Police Department

Houston police are searching for a man accused of killing his coworker with a crowbar in 2017.

The Harris County District Attorneys Office filed murder charges on Wednesday against Juan Aguilus, 67, in the death of Rosalio Espino-Sandoval, 66. Aguilus is still at large.
Kennedy Rodriguez used to think the solutions for stopping school shootings were simple.

Then, a week ago, one of Rodriguezs classmates at Santa Fe High School opened fire inside the campus, killing eight students and two teachers. As details of the shooters background and method of carrying out the massacre came to light, Rodriguez saw the tangled web of factors that precipitated the murderous gunfire.

Once it became actually personal, I think it made me realize that its not one set thing, or its not necessarily guns that are the problem, said Rodriguez, an 18-year-old senior. There are multiple things that go into it, because each case is so different. Not every school shooting is exactly the same, and it probably never will be.

Still, Rodriguez saw some ways that political leaders could reduce the chances of another community suffering like Santa Fe: new laws designed to promote gun safety, more mental health services for students, better security on campuses.

Rodriguez and three classmates pushed for those changes during a Friday news conference in Houston, the first public event organized by students who put together the March for Our Lives Houston rally two months ago. One by one, the four students calmly urged lawmakers to act on recommendations that are more likely to garner bipartisan support, bridging the cultural divide over gun ownership laws.

The simple reality is that if we do not do something, another town will be ripped apart like mine, said Megan McGuire, a 17-year-old junior at Santa Fe High School. Inaction is not an option. We must do something, and we must get it right. School safety is a complex issue.

In a quiet meeting room nearly 50 miles from Santa Fe, the four students  Rodriguez, McGuire and sisters Bree and Brooklynn Butler  sought to amplify youth voices amid the ongoing debate over how to stop school shootings. None of the four were injured or in the main classroom where the shooting took place, but all four were in the high school at the time.

The students repeatedly said they do not want to take away the rights of law-abiding gun owners, focusing instead on ways to reduce childrens access to weapons, such as gun safes.

My dad is a gun owner. My grandfathers are gun owners. I dont want to take away their guns, or your guns for that matter, McGuire said. What I mean by gun safety is common-sense solutions to keep those who wish to harm themselves or others from obtaining guns.

In many ways, Fridays subdued event reflected the complex atmosphere facing students in Santa Fe.

Following the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 14 children and three adults dead, student activists galvanized parts of the nation, spearheading advocacy marches attended by hundreds of thousands and organizing mass school walkouts. In Houston, more than 10,000 people attended the March for Our Lives rally, where many called for bans on military-style weapons and denounced the National Rifle Association.

The response after Santa Fe, however, has been different.

Unlike Parkland, which skews liberal, Santa Fe is a largely conservative town with a deeply ingrained gun culture. As a result, many students and residents have pushed back against those who seek to use campus shootings as evidence of the need for more restrictive gun laws.

The Santa Fe shooting also has not drawn nearly as much media attention or sparked such strident national discussion. That the Santa Fe shooter used a shotgun and revolver  weapons that are much more common in the U.S.  to carry out his attacks has muted some of the debate over weapons bans.

With those complexities in mind, the four Santa Fe High School students pitched a multifaceted approach to stemming campus shootings. McGuire and Bree Butler said they would support metal detectors on campus, which more Texas legislators have suggested since the Santa Fe shooting. Bree Butler also said students could benefit from more licensed therapists and more armed law enforcement officers in schools.

I do believe this is a three-legged problem, said Bulter, an 18-year-old senior. Its not only gun safety. Its also mental health and security in our schools.

Student organizers from March for Our Lives Houston said they are planning additional events and working to help craft legislation following last weeks shooting. They emphasized their desire to balance advocacy with respect for the Santa Fe community.

We are not here today to talk on behalf of Santa Fe or to push our own agendas, said Kelly Choi, a lead organizer for March for Our Lives Houston and a student at Cypress Woods High School. Instead, we are here as one body, showing our support and love to our students who wish to talk about their experiences and desire for change.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

twitter.com/ChronJacob
Texas fifth- and eighth-graders will not be held back this year if their computers were affected by glitches during State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exams, state education officials said Thursday.

It is not clear precisely how many fifth- and eighth-grade students were disrupted while taking tests in recent weeks, but the two glitches impacted tens of thousands of students across the state. Texas Education Agency officials said an April 10 disruption hit about 41,700 students in grades four through 12 on 3,870 campuses statewide. A May 15 glitch impacted about 29,300 students in grades three through eight on more than 3,000 campuses. Some students may have been impacted by both glitches, TEA officials said. Texas is home to about 8,800 public schools.

TEA records show every Houston-area school district with at least 1,000 students was impacted in some way by the technology issues. Among the regions five largest school districts  Houston, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Katy and Aldine ISDs  about 70 percent of campuses were touched by glitches. The average number of students affected per campus is likely in the teens.

Fifth- and eighth-grade students must pass the STAAR math and reading exams to advance to the next grade. A student who does not pass still can advance if members of a district committee agree the student is likely to meet state academic standards with more intensive instruction.

However, TEA Commissioner Mike Morath has waived those requirements for students who dealt with technology delays on the state tests. The agency also will exclude test scores of impacted students from annual academic accountability ratings issued to campuses and districts, unless the results would improve their ratings.

TEA officials said the decision is based on the agencys commitment to providing a positive assessment experience for our districts and students, and with the priority of ensuring that those affected are not penalized for system failures.

TEA officials said the April glitch caused a 20-minute disruption during testing, though some districts experienced login issues that lasted three hours. The May glitch resulted in a connectivity slowdown of about 90 minutes.

The TEA is ordering ETS, the New Jersey-based vendor that administers most STAAR tests in Texas, to pay $100,000 in damages. In a statement, ETS spokesman Tom Ewing said the company takes full responsibility for the issues and apologizes for the inconvenience to students, teachers and district officials.

We understand the importance of these assessments and strive to make the experience as stress-free as possible, Ewing said. We are committed to ensuring a similar event will not occur in the future and there will be a positive testing experience across the state.

ETS now has been faulted twice for issues related to STAAR. In 2016, the TEA ordered ETS to pay $5.7 million in damages and asked it to invest $15 million to fix several areas of concern after widespread logistical and technical failures. The problems caused an estimated 14,000 students to lose answers on their tests. The TEA dropped passage requirements for fifth- and eighth-grade students and excluded exams impacted by the glitches at that time.

ETS inked a four-year, $280 million contract in 2015 to administer tests in Texas. TEA officials said they have been planning to rebid the contract when it ends, prioritizing the online testing experience and functionality of the assessment.

Any new contract will require greater enhancements and safeguards and will be designed to ensure the agency can offer teachers and students an innovative and comprehensive instructional system, the TEA said in a statement.

jacob.carpenter@chron.com

twitter.com/chronjacob
The woman who accused a Texas trooper of sexually assaulting her could face criminal charges, according to a district attorney.

Ellis County District Attorney Patrick Wilson told news station WFAA-TV that his office is "investigating the possibility" of bringing charges against Sherita Dixon-Cole, 37. Dixon-Cole, of Grapevine, claimed Texas Department of Public Safety officer Daniel Hubbard sexually assaulted her on Sunday after he pulled her over and administered a field sobriety test.

READ THE ORIGINAL STORY: A Texas woman said a trooper sexually assaulted her. Here's why her attorney apologized

Dixon-Cole was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.

The Texas Department of Public Safety released nearly two hours of body camera footage of Dixon-Cole's arrest after her accusations went viral on social media. The footage discredits Dixon-Cole as it doesn't appear Hubbard did any of things she claimed. Her lawyer released a statement apologizing to Hubbard and seems to confirm that Dixon-Cole's story was a fabrication.

Wilson echoed S. Lee Meritt's views and told WFAA-TV that Hubbard did not appear to do anything wrong.

"I see an officer who conducts himself exactly as society demands police conduct themselves today: Beyond reproach," Wilson said. "Tragically, that officer still was publicly and maliciously persecuted. What happened to that officer is a shame."

Wilson's office did not immediately return calls to Chron.com when contacted on Friday.

Assistant Ellis County and District Attorney Ann Montgomery told ABC News on Thursday that "a decision whether to file charges against Dixon-Cole has not been made at this time." Her office is still investigating the incident.

According to Section 37.08 of the Texas Penal Code, filing a false police report is considered a Class B misdemeanor. The Texas Politics Project reports Class B misdemeanors may result in 180 days of imprisonment and a $2,000 fine.

Get instant Houston breaking news alerts sent directly to your phone by texting CHRON to 77453.

Will Axford covers the news of Texas for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Follow him on Twitter.
South Carolina police arrested an MS-13 gang member accused of shooting a Texas man to death and burning his body.

Franklin Platero-Rodriguez, 21, was arrested on Tuesday after being on the run for almost four years from Walker County police and ICE.

Authorities said Platero-Rodriguez, "a documented and confirmed MS-13 gang member," shot and killed a man, put his body into the trunk of a car and poured gasoline on the vehicle to burn it.

Platero-Rodriguez was charged with unlawful carrying of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, and fugitive in possession of a firearm.

Details concerning when and where the Texas murder took place were not released. His charges, as of Friday, do not list the killing.

TWITTER FEUD: Why the NRA's spokesperson thinks Houston police are watching her

According to Fox News, Platero-Rodriguez entered the country as an undocumented minor.

"We work closely with our federal partners and arrests like this are a result of it. Platero-Rodriguez is a dangerous MS13 Gang member and I am glad that we were able to locate and arrest him without him being able to cause further harm," Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis said in a statement.

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.
Beto O'Rourke is ruffling some big feathers.

The El Paso congressman and Democratic candidate for Texas Senator recently caught the attention of one of the nation's most influential right-wing organizations.

Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the billionaire Koch brothers, announced Thursday a six-figure ad campaign targetting lawmakers who voted for a $1.3 trillion spending package earlier this year.

"It's time to take a hard look at what lawmakers say, and what they actually do when it comes to reining in overspending," said AFP spokesman Bill Riggs. "The $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress in March showed a complete disregard for fiscal responsibility. Both parties are responsible for putting the country on an unsustainable fiscal path, which is why AFP is committed to holding both parties accountable."

The spending package, which passed with bipartisan majorities in Congress, averted a government shutdown by providing funding for border security, NASA and measures to prevent mass shootings.

BY THE NUMBERS: She could be Texas' first Latina lesbian governor - but can she win?

Starting Memorial Day weekend, AFP's campaign will negatively target lawmakers who voted for the package with radio, print, digital, and direct mail ads.

An example of one of the ads set to run against O'Rourke shows a picture of the congressman with the words: "What are you waiting for, Beto?"

AFP

Aside from O'Rourke, the Koch brothers will also take aim at John Carter (R) of Round Rock and Henry Cuellar (D) of Laredo.

While the ads may seem relatively harmless, AFP's track record for influencing politics in the U.S. is no joke.

Started by David Koch in 2004, the rightwing organization is widely credited with organizing and funding the Tea Party movement.

SANTA FE: Ted Cruz says injured students told him 'don't take our guns'

In 2010, Barrack Obama criticized the group following the Supreme Court's decision on Citizen United, a landmark case that allowed corporations to write checks to influence elections.

"Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country," Obama said. "And they don't have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are."

"You don't know if it's a foreign-controlled corporation," he said. "You don't know if it's a big oil company, or a big bank."

One of the group's biggest feats: turning Republicans off to climate change science.

"The vast majority of people who are involved in the [Republican] nominating processthe conventions and the primariesare suspect of the science. And that's our influence," Tim Phillips, president of AFP, boasted in 2011. "Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it."

TWITTER FEUD: Why the NRA's spokesperson thinks Houston police are watching her

In a race that's too close to call, there's no doubt that every penny counts especially in a closely-watched contest that symbolizes a turning point for the Lone Star State.

"That race is emblematic of the way things have changed in Texas, where we're finally seeing some serious political talent challenge the current order," wrote the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board on Thursday. "That alone gives voters across the political spectrum good reason not only to sit up and pay attention, but also to register and vote."

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.
Six common myths about criminal inadmissibility to Canada Stephen Sherman Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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There are many common misconceptions when it comes to the issue of criminal inadmissibility to Canada. While entering Canada when you have a criminal record is possible, there are a number of myths that need to be dispelled.

Here are six that lawyers often hear from clients:

1. I have been allowed into Canada on several different occasions

This is a logical assumption, but it unfortunately does not hold true in practice. This is because of the discretion Canadian immigration officers are given in the exercise of their duties. Ultimately, the decision as to whether or not to grant a particular individual entry to Canada lies solely with the immigration officer at the border. So, while a previous officer might have deemed you admissible, it is not safe to assume that this will always be the case moving forward. Anyone with even a minor, seemingly insignificant blemish on their record, or who has had any interaction with the court system, stands a chance of being denied entry to Canada.

2. I am an American citizen

Although the United States is our closest neighbour, both in terms of physical proximity and cultural similarities, being an American citizen does not pose any benefit when it comes to entering Canada if an individual has an offence on their record. Canada and the United States actually have an information sharing agreement whereby immigration authorities of either country have easy access to the criminal records of both U.S. and Canadian citizens. So, when a passport is swiped, the criminal history of the passport holder appears on the screen that the border agent sees, making it easy to determine if an individual is criminally inadmissible to Canada.

3. My offence was only considered a misdemeanor where it was committed

Unfortunately, this is often not taken into account when an immigration officer makes a determination as to inadmissibility. This is because it is how the offence is viewed in Canada that is the overarching factor in this determination; the more serious the offence is in Canadian law, the more likely an individual will be found inadmissible. Certain crimes are classified very differently in Canada and because of this it is important to verify the corresponding Canadian law with respect to the foreign offence in question.

4. My offence is from more than 10 years ago

There is a concept in Canadian immigration law called deemed rehabilitation, which holds that an individual is no longer inadmissible simply as result of the passage of time since the offence. The requisite amount of time is 10 years from the completion of sentence, but this time having elapsed does not necessarily resolve the situation. Firstly, if the offence is serious, meaning it has the potential to be punished by at least 10 years of incarceration according to Canadian law, the inadmissibility never goes away with the passage of time. This is also most often the case if an individual has two or more offences on his record. Secondly, even if an individual should qualify for deemed rehabilitation, the vast discretion of the immigration officer could work against the traveler; if the officer is of the mind that the traveler could pose a security risk to Canadians, he is within his rights to deny entry even if the conditions for deemed rehabilitation have been met. As well, sometimes the officer might be unfamiliar with the concept of deemed rehabilitation and its application, which is also a situation in which individuals are commonly denied entry into Canada.

5. I have met all the terms of the sentence that were imposed upon me

It stands to reason that after you have completed your sentence you would no longer be subject to negative consequences associated with your offence. After all, a legal authority heard your case, you were punished, and you complied with the terms of your punishment. Despite this, with respect to Canadian inadmissibility, there are temporal milestones that must be reached and conditions that must be satisfied, the lengths and natures of which depend on the severity and number of offences. Although you might have paid the price for your offence where it was committed, this unfortunately may not matter when it comes to Canadian inadmissibility.

6. I have been allowed to enter numerous countries all around the world

This is not really that helpful when it comes to Canadian inadmissibility because each country has its own criteria for determining whether or not an individual with a record will be granted entry. Although Canadian immigration authorities might view it positively that an individual with a checkered past has been allowed into other countries, taking this fact into account is completely up to the discretion of the reviewing officer and plays no official role in the process. Despite its seeming relevance, the fact of having been granted entry to other countries is usually not an important factor when it comes to determining inadmissibility to Canada.

Stephen Sherman is a Canadian immigration attorney with the Campbell, Cohen Immigration Law Firm in Montreal. He specializes in resolving issues relating to criminal inadmissibility to Canada.

If you have any questions about gaining entry to Canada, please send a detailed email to crim@canadavisa.com.

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The 2012 case of Ellen Pao versus Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was a turning point in the tech industry. It opened the floodgates for more recent revelations about sexism, harassment, and assault in tech, such as those from Susan Fowler Rigetti.

The technicality that brought Paos case to mainstream attention revolved around private companies use of forced arbitration clauses in employment contracts. A judge ruled that the venture capital firm couldnt force Pao into binding arbitration, which paved the way for the case to go to court. Without that ruling, its likely that Kleiner Perkins would have kept the case out of the headlines and the public might not have known how pervasive these issues are in the tech industry. Thats exactly why these clauses exist  and exactly why they shouldnt.

Forced arbitration clauses are common in private companies; employment attorneys quote statistics saying 80 percent of private companies make employees sign them. Basically, signing a forced arbitration clause means that in the case of grievances, complaints and/or labor violations, an employee must use a private, confidential, third-party arbitrator instead of taking cases to a public court for resolution. The arbitrators verdict is final  and confidential.

As Connie Loizos wrote in TechCrunch last year, arbitration is  a maneuver designed to move a lawsuit off its path toward a courtroom and onto the desk of an adjudicator, whose verdict is legally binding and completely confidential. No one ever hears about employees grievances.

Uber is far from alone in employing the tactic. Employment attorneys say that something like 80 percent of tech companies compel their employees into arbitration, including because it prevents employees from joining together to fight a company, Loizos wrote.

And if tech is to truly address the sexism and harassment issues its still struggling with, it needs to do away with these clauses in employment contracts altogether. Susan Fowler Rigetti herself, in fact, is pushing for this. Last summer, her legal time filed amicus briefs on three cases pending with the Supreme Court, asking them to consider that these clauses violate federal labor laws.

Supreme Court ruling could affect sexual harassment cases

Unfortunately, this week, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling on these cases  and its not good. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that workers may not band together to challenge violations of federal labor laws and must abide by individual arbitration clauses.

This ruling could have a chilling effect on any future sexual harassment and discrimination cases. As NPR reports:

Labor law experts said Monday's decision very likely will present increasing problems for the #MeToo movement, and for other civil rights class actions claiming discrimination based on race, gender and religion. There is no transparency in most binding arbitration agreements, and they often include nondisclosure provisions. What's more, class actions deal with the expense and fear of retaliation problems of solo claims. As [Associate Justice Ruth Bader] Ginsburg put it, There's safety in numbers.

Some private companies are publicly dumping these clauses. Microsoft  I know, I was surprised, too  announced last December that theyre getting rid of forced arbitration clauses and also are supporting legislation that would void any such clauses in the cases of sexual harassment and discrimination claims. Of course, as this Gizmodo article points out, the move on Microsofts part is largely symbolic, as only a few hundred higher-level employees were covered by arbitration clauses to begin with  and those would still be binding outside of gender or racial discrimination cases.

When asked by Gizmodo about forced arbitration clauses, responses varied. Amazon says they never have used such clauses in employee contracts. Facebook says all employees are bound by arbitration clauses to settle all disputes. A few other companies didnt respond.

It remains to be seen if more tech companies will follow Microsofts and Amazons example or if theyll continue to hide behind arbitration and the cover provided by the Supreme Courts decision.
The Nominet Trust has changed its name to the Social Tech Trust and has partnered with Social Investment Business, after parting ways with its corporate funder earlier this year.

The Nominet Trust was set up as a corporate foundation by Nominet, the UK's official registry for domain names, but in January the foundation announced it was becoming independent to enable it to attract new sources of funding.

To date Nominet has provided 44m in support to its foundation but will instead instead focus on its own programme.

None of the charity's existing funding committments have been affected by the change.

Yesterday it announced its new name, Social Tech Trust, and said a new website would launch soon.

"Social Tech Trust will uphold Nominet Trusts heritage of supporting socially motivated UK start-ups and businesses that are transforming lives with tech," the charity said.

Its current portfolio includes over 750 initiatives.

Nominet said it would continue to invest in its own programme helping young people overcome challenges in the digital age.

Mark Wood, chair of Nominet, said: As we focus on Nominets ambitious pubic benefit programme, its the right time for the Trust to have the freedom they need to pursue their social tech agenda. We thank the team for their enormous contribution over the last 10 years, and wish them well as they embark on an exciting new partnership.

New fund

Yesterday the charity announced its new name and strategic partnership with Social Investment Business and plans to launch a new 500,000 fund, called Tech to Unite Us, in July.

The fund will be aimed at supporting ventures that demonstrate how technology can reach its potential when it is used to address inequality.

Nick Temple, chief executive of Social Investment Business, will also join the board of Social Tech Trust.

Bill Liao, chair of the Social Tech Trust said, Powerfully leveraging tech with purpose will be strengthened by the trusts new standing as a key independent contributor to the UK tech ecosystem, in partnership with Social Investment Business. We are all looking forward to delivering our next round of grants to empower a new generation of tech that transforms lives.

Hazel Blears, chair of the Social Investment Business said, I am delighted that we are entering into a strategic partnership with Social Tech Trust. New technology is reshaping the world we live in and the world that charities and social enterprises operate in, attracting new talent and creating new models of change. Theres never been a more exciting and important time to enter into this partnership with the potential to transform peoples lives for the better.

This area is a key priority for Social Investment Business to ensure we can best support the social sector in future. We have complementary skills and expertise as partners, and I am looking forward to working closely with Bill and his team in the coming years to help more organisations harness the power of technology.

For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here.




National homelessness charity Crisis has announced the appointment of Richard Lee as its new director of fundraising.

Lee joins Crisis from international disaster relief charity ShelterBox, where he has been director of fundraising since January 2016. Prior to working for ShelterBox, Lee was director of development at Young Enterprise UK; head of community fundraising and events at Oxfam and helped raise over 100m in his role as head of community fundraising at Macmillan Cancer Support.

Lee replaces Edward Tait in the role, after it was announced that Tait would be join ActionAid UK as its new director of fundraising in February of this year.

Tait worked at Crisis for 15 years in a number of fundraising roles across supporter appeals, services, legacy and major-donor fundraising. He was appointed director of fundraising at Crisis in 2012.

Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: Im delighted to welcome Richard as our new director of fundraising. Richard not only shares Crisis values, but has the drive and ambition to take an already successful fundraising team to even greater things.

I look forward to working with him to further develop our Supporter in the Room ethos and our fundraising communications, which do so much to enhance our brand and help show our supporters how we can end homelessness for good.

Lee said: "I cant wait to work with the talented team at Crisis and to do my bit to put an end to the outrage that is homelessness in the UK. I have always been deeply saddened that people in the UK have their lives destroyed or held back because they have no place to call home. I am already a regular donor to Crisis, so to have the opportunity to directly help put an end to homelessness makes me feel incredibly fortunate."
The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has announced it will allow members of the public to attend its board meetings.

OSCRs first open board meeting will take please on 12 June at Compass House in Dundee and will allow attendees to see the regulators decision making process.

The regulator said the majority of the boards discussions on that day will take place during the open session but there will be some subjects, such as specific inquiry matters, discussed in private.

The Very Reverend Dr Graham Forbes, chair of the OSCR board, said: Our corporate values include transparency and having open board meetings is another great way for OSCR to engage with its stakeholders.

We have published minutes from our board meetings for some time but we felt there was more we could do to share the boards collective thinking around our decisions.

I would like to encourage anyone who is interested to come along. We will make every effort to speak about as much as we can publicly, and look forward to discussing these matters in front of everyone who can attend.

The regulator holds five meetings a year, usually at its Dundee office, with details about each meeting published on its website.

OSCR asked any members of the public who would like to attend a meeting to email [email protected] and put Open board meeting in the subject line.

The Charity Commission told Civil Society News it currently has no plans to follow suit by holding its board meetings in public.

But a spokeswoman said that the regulator for England and Wales does hold public meetings every year at which charity trustees and members of the public are invited to hear updates and ask questions on all aspects of the Commissions work.
Today is an important day for data protection as the UKs new data protection laws, and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), come into force. The charity sector needs to make sure that it plays its part in being compliant with the new rules.

Im sure that many of you will have either been involved in sending emails or received some yourselves, from companies asking if they can stay in touch.

Of course there may be some irony in the fact that before you gain greater control of your data, you have been contacted by mailing lists you might have forgotten you ever were on, but look on it as the last roar of the dinosaur. The days of companies assuming your consent, and being free to do with your data as they will are ending. We are handing control back to you.

Within the charity industry I am pleased to say that there is already a good amount of awareness about the new rules. Lower income charities are less likely to be aware of the changes than higher income charities, so theres clearly more work that needs to be done.

But there is help at hand. Anyone in the sector with concerns about being compliant with data protection laws should contact the Information Commissioners Office. They are there to help with a range of useful information online about how to become compliant and a dedicated phone line offering advice and support (www.ico.org.uk/for-organisations/business).

The GDPR is something that we all need to be aware of - both as business leaders and consumers.

For example, the alleged abuse of data exposed during the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal must never happen again. Our data protection laws were last reviewed in 1998, in the days before digital became default in society, but now, recognising the revolution that has happened since, we are making them fit for the twenty-first century. This week our Data Protection Bill has received Royal Assent, updating and improving our data protection laws and making sure that they are aligned with the GDPR which also come into force across the EU today. The UK has been a leading member on the new rules and the Information Commissioners Office played a vital role in their development.

That is a good thing for everyone.

There is a risk data is becoming a dirty word, the stuff of exposes and scandals. That perception would be very wrong. Used responsibly, data is the lifeblood of a digital economy and key to unlocking prosperity and success. The UK tech sector is booming, and outperforming the rest of our economy by some margin. It is spreading wealth and employment far beyond the capital, which some might imagine is the traditional home of tech, to what Tech Nation recently branded our Silicon Suburbs, with notable growth in towns like Guildford, Enniskillen, Reading, Telford, Burnley and Slough.

Our digital businesses rely on the collection of data to be able to push ahead with the innovative work that is driving such success. Without your data, firms you may already use - perhaps the parking apps JustPark, who can help you find parking spaces in big cities and save you money along the way - would struggle to make their models work.

New technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality and blockchain, which makes cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin a reality, will even further transform the ways we all work and live. UK start-ups like Verv, who are using AI to manage energy bills and reduce carbon footprints, or the cybersecurity firm Darktrace, who have just been valued at over $1 billion (what the tech community call a Unicorn company, because the valuation is so rare) will also need your data to be able to continue with the brilliant work theyre doing. IntelligenceX even claim to have produced the first beer brewed using AI, so the potential applications are truly diverse.

This revision of our data protection rules should help them as much as you by securing public trust in how data is used.

Our new laws will give the UKs Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, much greater power to act swiftly and proportionately in cases of a data breach as well as providing education, awareness and support. She will also be allowed to carry out no notice inspections, with the threat of criminal convictions for those who fail to comply. But charities should be reassured that in many cases they will not require active consent to contact supporters on their databases. Consent is just one of the lawful bases for processing data, and many companies will still be able to process data, contact customers and supporters on the basis of a legitimate interest.

Among the new, more stringent measures that are coming in, we are giving you the right to be forgotten and to ask for your personal data to be erased. If you are young enough to have grown up with the internet, that includes the right to ask social media platforms to delete anything you might have posted in childhood. Those of you who are grateful to have made your youthful mistakes pre Instagram and Twitter can imagine how welcome that move will be.

We are also ending the reliance on those preselected tick boxes whereby companies assume your consent to their policies. The great Tom Waits once sang, The large print giveth and the small print taketh away, and we know people rarely read the small print. From now on companies will need your explicit consent before they can make use of your data.

So make sure that you and your business is aware of the GDPR. Its an important step forward in data protection and something that everyone needs to play their part in.

For more backround on GDPR, download a selection of three in-depth articles from our magazine archive. For the latest news and links to guidance visit our online hub.
Happy Friday everyone and what a Friday it is. We stand on the cusp of a second bank holiday weekend in the space of a month! As the kids say: huge mood.

This week in charity sector satire: the leader of the free world has been blocked from blocking people on Twitter; the Small Charities Coalition has got an Amazon wish list; 'App' Hancock's glowing endorsement of us and a reluctant policy officer wears a pink shirt.

Trumped

We start this week, begrudgingly, in the United States of America and, more specifically, with Donald J.Trump  the Cheesy Wotsit-in-Chief.

Now, its well known that the tangelo terror is a big fan of the social media network Twitter. In Trumps fake-tan-addled mind Twitter allows him to subvert the #fakenews #msm propagandistic lies and pump his own brand of alternative facts directly into the eyeballs of the faithful.

What has emerged this week is the fact that The Donald - in between firing off insults while swaddled in his gilded presidential bedsheets - also quite enjoys blocking people on the platform who call out his nonsense.

A non-profit legal group has now sued the president in court, claiming Trumps liberal use of the block button is unconstitutional, and infringes upon First Amendment rights to free speech.

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University brought a lawsuit against Trump in July. On Wednesday, a judge in New York ruled in favour of the lawsuit, meaning that he can no longer legally block people on Twitter.

The White House have said they will appeal the decision but, for now at least, the lame duck a lorange can no longer isolate himself from dissenting voices.

This block on his ability to block should happily coincide with Trumps upcoming state visit to the United Kingdom in July. With a bit of luck, not only will he be met with tens of thousands of dissenting voices in real life, but also a barrage of dissent on his social media platform of choice.

This is as good a point as any to dredge up some fairly choice tweets made by angry Scots, following his public support of the vote to leave the EU in 2016.

Some of the more colourful tweets, and Diary is strictly quoting here, include: Scotland voted Remain, you weapons-grade plum and, perhaps Diarys favourite: They voted Remain and they hate your guts, you ludicrous tangerine ballbag.

If you want to see David Tennant read out these, and more, watch the video below.

When you wish upon a

Back in the UK now, and to the good folks over at the Small Charities Coalition.

Since taking over the reins at the organisation last year, Mandy Johnson, the coalitions chief executive, has been an almost omnipotent presence in the sector  attending conferences, fronting up to the media and, of course, tweeting like crazy.

Johnson has also been an innovative force when it comes to raising funds to support the work the SCC does. Now however, it seems rather than asking for money, the SCC have gone full your-mate-from-school-you-havent-seen-for-years-who-just-asked-you-to-their-wedding.

Yes, the SCC has put together an Amazon wish list and it makes for interesting reading.

For 3.28 for example you can gift the SCC an eight pack of Staedtler Textsurfer Highlighter pens! Or, for a bargain 8.58, what about a mouse wrist-rest ergonomic gel wrist pad.

Theres even an 80 GTForce Roadster office chair designed to look like the cockpit of a car that yer da purchased when he was seriously in the middle of his mid-life crisis.

Diary is quite into this idea of outsourcing stationery purchases to donors. If any of our readers fancy chipping in, Diary would quite like a multicoloured unicorn stress ball, a dual heat neck massager, and a pair of dark glasses with a rear view mirror.

We're better than TS, the minister said so... kind of

Diary was delighted to hear the government minister ultimately responsible for the charity sector, Matt Hancock declare, at a public meeting about the government's civil society strategy, that without a shadow of a doubt "civil society" was better than "third sector".

Did this also reflect Hancock's choice of reading material? After all, Diary has faithfully followed his movements in excruciating detail  from championing the duty of parliament to enshrine new laws on dead animal (#vivavellum) to the launch of a new social network named Matt Hancock. Had he been loving us, in turn, from afar?

Sadly, no. Diary's affection for Hancock is unrequited. When one of our Diary scribes sat down for a chat with the great man, together with a reporter from our bitter rivals, it turned out that Hancock had actually been explaining his take on the increasingly messy and complicated definition of our loose-and-baggy-monster of a sector, and has no idea about the charity trade press.

"Civil Society" he said (or words to this effect). "That's a mighty fine name for a magazine."

"I think it's already taken," said Tracey Crouch, the minister for civil society, while our scribe sat there looking uncomfortable.

In the pink

It was the Charity Finance Groups annual conference on Wednesday and Society Diary has it on good authority that, along with some hard-hitting charity finance news and some quality eats, the quality of banter on offer was right out of the top drawer.

Exhibit A is, of course, this:

Yes, that is Andrew OBrien, departing head of policy and engagement at CFG, known best for his smiley face and adherence to a strict uniform of charcoal suit, shirt and brogues, in a very on-brand pink CFG polo shirt.

OBrien had apparently been insisted that because he was speaking, and wanted to project some sort of gravitas, that he wouldn't be donning the pink polo shirt worn by all his colleagues who were organising the event. But then up turned Tracey Crouch again, who donned a pink T herself and insisted that O'Brien's sartorial snootiness be brough to a prompt end.

Doesn't he look happy?
Aon Names CEO of Captive & Insurance Management Business

Aon named John English chief executive officer, Aon Captive & Insurance Management effective June 1, 2018. English is currently chief operating officer of Aon Captive & Insurance Management & managing director of Aon Captive & Insurance Management EMEA.

He has been with Aon for 10 years and has over three decades of global experience across insurance, reinsurance and alternative capital markets.

English will continue to be based in London and will report to Rory Moloney, working in close partnership with the global leadership teams across Aons Risk business.

Farmers Names Keith Daly President of Personal Lines

Farmers Group announced current Chief Claims Officer, Keith Daly, as new president, Personal Lines effective June 11.

Since joining Farmers in 2009 through the acquisition of 21st Century Insurance, Daly has led the Claims unit through a strategic transformation to improve the customer experience. He implemented new and improved technologies, such as virtual reality training, to help train claims representatives and introduced the use of drones, satellite and aerial imagery to enhance the claims experience for customers.

Before serving as chief claims officer at Farmers, Daly served as vice president of field claims operations at 21st Century since 2007. Earlier, he served as vice president and claims process leader, directing strategy for Liability, Auto Physical Damage, PIP/MedPay, SIU, Training and Quality Assurance. He also served in various field leadership roles after joining 21st Century in 2001. Daly moved from sales to the insurance industry in 1993, starting as a claims representative trainee at Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., in Atlanta, Georgia. He held numerous technical claims roles before moving into supervision and the leadership track.

Brian Benjamin Joins Zurich North America to Lead Management Solutions Group

Brian Benjamin, a longtime insurance executive with extensive experience in professional liability lines, has joined Zurich North America as head of Management Solutions.

Benjamin will be accountable for the direction, management and performance of the Management Solutions Group (MSG) unit, which is part of Specialty Products in North America Commercial Insurance. He will report to Brian Winters, head of Specialty Products, Zurich North America Commercial Insurance. He will also have global responsibilities for financial lines, reporting to Jim Shea, Zurich Global Head of Commercial Insurance, in this capacity.

Zurichs Management Solutions Group provides solutions that help customers mitigate their risk in areas such as management liability, employment practices liability, healthcare, fiduciary and crime. The Specialty Errors and Omissions (E&O) unit is also a part of MSG and includes professional liability E&O, employed lawyers and security and privacy, as well as captive life insurance agents.

Prior to joining Zurich, Benjamin held executive roles with XL Catlin and AIG, most recently serving as global head Mergers & Acquisitions Insurance for XL Catlin. He has extensive experience working with brokers and customers, as well as expertise in underwriting strategy and models, product innovation and strategic initiatives in various management and professional liability lines.
Friday, May 25, 2018

May 24, 2018 (The New Yorker): Irelands Vote on Abortion Is a Referendum on the Nations Future, by Margaret Talbot:

On Friday, Irish voters will decide whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the countrys constitution, which bans abortion under nearly all circumstances. The vote will help expose how much the Catholic Churchs hold in Ireland has weakened, following years of revelations about child sexual abuse perpetrated by priests and about the Churchs mistreatment of fallen women, who had become pregnant out of wedlock (in 2013, Irelands Prime Minister at the time, Enda Kenny, issued a state apology for the Church-run Magdalene Laundries, where such women were confined as unpaid workers, often in drudgery and cruelty).

Though the Yes sidethose who want to eliminate the Eighth Amendmentcan count on the support of many of the countrys leading politicians and is still ahead in the polls, the gap seems to be narrowing. The most recent polls show that almost one in five voters are still undecided, a figure that raises the spectre of a surprise victory for those who want to keep abortion illegal.

The vote is also an opportunity for tech companies to show how transparent they can be about political advertising and how much they can protect themselves against foreign interference (American anti-abortion activists are among those trying to influence the outcome of the vote). Google announced earlier this month that it would refuse advertising related to the referendum. Facebook said that it would bar such advertising by foreign groups.

Fridays vote will be a test of whether women in Ireland will continue to be coerced and shamed if they do not want to carry their pregnancies to term. The Eighth Amendment, which has been in place since 1983, has not stopped abortion in Ireland. Making the procedure illegal never hasand that is worth remembering, not only in Ireland but in the United States, where the Trump Administration has given new impetus to those who would like to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Between 1980 (when abortion was not legal in Ireland but was less restricted than after the amendment) and 2016, 168,703 Irish women and girls obtained abortions in England and Wales, according to the United Kingdoms Department of Health and Social Care. In 2016, the latest year for which such statistics are available, the number was 3,265. This is almost certainly an underestimate, since it only includes women and girls who give Irish addresses when they show up at hospitals in Liverpool and other English cities. The number also leaves out a smaller group of Irish women who go to countries other than England, such as the Netherlands. And it does not count women who obtain abortion-inducing pills on their own.

In 1992, the Irish legislature passed an amendment that made it legal for women to travel abroad for an abortion. This outlawing-and-outsourcing arrangement has come at an enormous cost to Irish women. In November of 2011, a woman named Amanda Mellet, a charity worker living in Dublin with her husband, had a routine scan for her first pregnancy. It revealed that, at twenty-one weeks, the fetus had a chromosomal disorder that kills ninety-five per cent of babies in utero and had heart defects that made survival impossible. A midwife informed Mellet that she had two choices: continue the pregnancy or travel, which, as she told the Washington Post recently, brought to mind Irelands history of spiriting deviant women away in conditions of secrecy and shame.

To Mellet, the journey she made to Liverpool for the abortion felt like a banishment that deliberately denied her the care and the counselling that she should have had in her own country. She flew home twelve hours later, still bleeding. Not only did we have to make this horrible decision about what to do in the case of a fatal condition, she told the Post, we had to leave the country like criminals, speak in euphemisms to hospital staff in Ireland, pay thousands to end a pregnancy, all the while my heart breaking at having to say goodbye to my darling baby girl. In a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on Mellets behalf, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled, in June, 2016, that the state had violated Mellets rights to freedom from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as well as her privacy and equality before the law.

It is not just the most terrible cases that should be considered when thinking about the Irish ban on abortionor about the American pro-life movements push to ban the procedure here. If Irish voters set aside the amendment, Irish legislators will be able to enact new laws that will likely make abortion freely available to women in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, with restrictions thereaftera framework similar to that of many other countries in Europe. That will certainly provide safety and dignity for women in tragic predicaments. But new laws will also help women in more commonplace ones, who arent prepared, for any number of reasons, to bear a child, and who should not be forced to do so. It will allow women, in other words, the ordinary autonomy that all men have.

Polls in Ireland close at 10PM local time on May 25th.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/reproductive_rights/2018/05/irelands-vote-on-abortion-is-a-referendum-on-the-nations-future.html
Survivors of a devastating high-rise fire in London wept Monday as relatives paid tribute to some of the 72 victims at the opening of an inquiry into Britains deadliest blaze in decades.

The Grenfell Tower inquiry is beginning with two weeks of tributes to those who died when a fire that began in a faulty fridge raced through the 24-story apartment block in June 2017. The statements from friends and family members are meant to keep the victims at the center of the inquiry, which will try to determine how the disaster happened and prevent a similar tragedy happening in the future.

When we die, we live on in the memories of those who knew and loved us, said retired judge Martin Moore-Bick, who is leading the inquiry. It is fitting therefore that the opening hearings  should be dedicated to the memory of those who died.

The victims included baby Logan Gomes, who was stillborn after his family escaped from the 21st floor of the building.

He might not be here physically, but he will always be here in our hearts, and will be forever, said his father Marcio Gomes, his voice breaking. I know hes here, with God, right next to me, giving me strength and courage to take this forward.

The inquiry heard a message left by Mohamed Amied Neda from inside his apartment.

Goodbye, we are leaving this world now, goodbye, said the 57-year-old, who came to Britain from Afghanistan and ran a chauffeur company. He was found dead after falling from the building. His wife and son were left comatose but survived.

Mohammadou Saye remembered his 24-year-old daughter Khadija Saye, a promising visual artist whose work was shown at last years Venice Biennale.

Her burning passion was photography, encouraged by her mother, Mary Mendy, who also lost her life in the same fire, he said in a statement read by a lawyer.

Khadija said to me one day: Daddy, Im in love with images.

Moore-Bicks inquiry will look at causes of the blaze, the response of local authorities and the countrys high-rise building regulations. But some survivors are critical because it wont investigate wider issues around social housing that many residents had wanted to include.

Many residents accuse officials in Kensington and Chelsea, one of Londons richest boroughs, of ignoring their safety concerns because the publicly owned tower was home to a largely immigrant and working-class population.

Police say they are considering individual or corporate manslaughter charges in the blaze, but no one has yet been charged.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Operation Rent-To-Burn: $187,000 Arson-for-Profit Crime Ring Taken Down

Three Florida residents were arrested following a joint investigation conducted by the Miami-Dade Police Departments Economic Crimes Bureau Arson Squad and CFO Jimmy Patronis Bureau of Fire and Arson Investigations.

Yamina Grafal, Walther Avila Lainez and Gennie Avila Lainez were identified as members of a crime ring that allegedly played various roles when conducting an arson-for-profit scheme, fraudulently collecting at least $187,000 in insurance payouts by setting seven residential structures on fire between 2009-2016 in Miami-Dade, Lee and Collier County.

The investigation was initiated after authorities received information from Citizens Insurance regarding falsified receipts in support of an insurance claim for a fire loss. This investigation revealed that multiple individuals had conspired to rent residential properties, and after obtaining renters insurance, intentionally set the homes on fire for economic gain. The fires were set in such a manner that responding fire departments did not suspect criminal activity.

The investigation revealed the following locations were intentionally set on fire:

October 11, 2009  Residential fire at 2161 41 Street SW, Naples, FL

February 16, 2010  Residential fire at 3116 NE 7th Place, Cape Coral, FL

June 28, 2012  Residential fire at 3415 SW 13th Terrace, Miami, FL

October 31, 2014  Residential fire at 901 NW 50th Street, Miami, FL

December 28, 2014  Residential fire at 674 Pine Cone Lane, Naples, FL

April 4, 2015  Residential fire at 5621 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, FL

December 13, 2016  Planned residential fire at 1850 NW 112th Terrace, Miami, FL

The following individuals have been arrested:

Gennie Avila Lainez  arrested 05-17-2018: Racketeering/Rico, Racketeer/Conspire To, Insurance Claims/False, Arson 1st Degree

Walther Avila Lainez  arrested 05-17-2018: Racketeering/Rico, Racketeer/Conspire To, (3) Insurance Claims/False, Arson 1st Degree, Grand Theft 1st Degree, Grand Theft 2nd Degree.

Yamina Grafal  arrested 05-18-2018: Racketeering/Rico, Racketeer/ Conspire To, (2) Insurance Claims/False/Fraudulent

Vicente Olana  arrested 07-08-2016: Grand Theft 1st Degree, (2) Insurance Claims/False, Arson 1st Degree, Grand Theft 2nd Degree

Kenia Martinez-Rosales  arrested 12-15-2016: Insurance Claims/False/Fraudulent

Luis Rosales  arrested 09-30-2015: Grand Theft

Walther Avila Lainez was taken into custody May 17, 2018 in Tennessee by ATF agents and the Hamilton County Tennessee Sheriffs Office. He is in custody pending extradition to Florida.

Source: Florida Chief Financial Officer
The kind of materials that fed a fire below a metro Atlanta, Ga., highway overpass which collapsed last year will no longer be stored under state bridges, officials said.

The Georgia Department of Transportation has officially declared that only non-combustible materials may be stored under bridges, news outlets reported. The policy was finalized in April following the blaze that destroyed part of Interstate 85 in March 2017.

A department spokeswoman told WSB-TV on Monday the policy was formalized, and includes input from the state fire marshals office.

The department previously said it has stopped storing combustible material under Georgia bridges.

A homeless man, Basil Eleby, was accused of setting the fire, but the National Transportation Safety Board said last month that the material the department stored underneath had contributed to the flames.

Elebys lawyer, Mawuli Davis, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the policy confirms the cause of the fire was directly related to the departments negligent practices and not any criminal act committed by Eleby.

The department has acknowledged that its stored materials contributed to the I-85 fire, but it has maintained the main cause was arson.

In December, Elebys case was transferred to Fulton Countys Behavioral Health Treatment Court. If he completes a court mental health program, the charges against him will be dropped.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ROOTSTOWN, Ohio - Northeast Ohio Medical University's department of psychiatry received today a $7.5 million grant from Peg's Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Hudson that funds mental health initiatives in Ohio.

The grant is the largest ever given specifically for mental health treatment by a private foundation in Ohio, according to a press release.

The Peg's Foundation grant will help NEOMED's department of psychiatry with its mental illness outreach programs that touch residents across Ohio, NEOMED said. The university is located in Rootstown.

"Mental health challenges touch all families," said Peg's Foundation president Rick Kellar in a statement. "I am grateful for the impact this partnership is having locally and across the state."

The grant will help the department of psychiatry's three centers - Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment, the Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health, and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence, the statement said.

NEOMED's Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment Center provides training, consultation and technical assistance to community mental health agencies that offer schizophrenia treatment.

The university's Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health Center offers suicide prevention, mental health awareness and stigma reduction activities at college campuses across the state of Ohio. NEOMED's Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence promotes alternatives to jail for people with mental health issues.

Peg's Foundation, started in 2001 by Burt and Peg Morgan, awards $5 million in grants annually throughout Northeast Ohio, according to the organization's website. Peg Morgan advocated for her son, who was living with mental illness, and she recognized the challenges of families affected by mental illness, the website said.

NEOMED has partnered with Peg's Foundation for more than 12 years, and has received more than $20 million from the foundation since 2005. That figure includes the latest $7.5 million grant.
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- The Independence Fire Department is getting a new brush truck for battling off-road fires, and now has the option of adding up to three new paramedics.

At its meeting May 8, City Council approved the truck purchase and an ordinance increasing the maximum number of firefighter paramedics in the department from 20 to 23.

Fire Chief Steve Rega explained that increasing the maximum number of paramedics allows for more staffing throughout the work day and more efficient response times.

He said the department has seen a 5 percent increase in EMS calls over the last year. This, in addition to a 24-hour care nursing home coming to the city in the next year, is why the ordinance was proposed.

Rega said increasing the number of paramedics will allow the department to "keep up with the demand that is needed for residents and the business district. It allows us to carry out our EMS responsibilities to the community."

There are no plans at this time to hire new paramedics, but this makes that option available. The department currently has 18 full-time firefighters and 10 part-time firefighters, who fill in as needed.

Staffing also includes the chief, an assistant chief, four lieutenants and an administrative assistant.

The department also needed to replace its current 35-year-old brush truck. Rega said a lot of national parks border the city, and a brush truck is useful in fighting off-road and forest fires. While not often needed, it can fit into small areas such as the new Hemlock All Purpose Trail.

The department has designed the new truck to be utilized as more than just a brush truck, however. It will also be able to hold more equipment, such as floatation vests, rescue equipment and a rack to roll a fire hose back into the truck, so that firefighters won't have to do so by hand.

The new truck also can hold a higher volume of water than the old truck, and will feature a hose ramp, so that cars may safely drive over the hose while it is in use.

The base cost of the truck is $132,000. The additional equipment and features bring the total cost to $140,000. It will be purchased through the State Cooperative Purchasing Program, which offers Ohio counties, townships, municipalities, school districts, public libraries and regional park districts the opportunity to buy goods and services through state contracts.

"[The truck] keeps the equipment fleet newer and increases our ability to respond to second and third calls," Rega said.
CEDARVILLE, Ohio -- An online petition is circulating to remove a Cedarville University trustee because of comments he made more than a decade ago to an abused woman, according to the Dayton Daily News.

An online petition to remove Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson from the Ohio school's board of trustees has garnered more than 350 signatures.

The Washington Post reports that Patterson in 2000 encountered a woman who was being abused. Patterson said he told the woman to pray to God to step in. The woman returned with black eyes, and told Patterson, "I hope you're happy," the Post reports.

Patterson replied that he was, because her husband listened to her prayers and attended church for the first time the next day, the Post reports.

The remarks weren't widely disseminated until late April.

Patterson first refused to apologize for his comments, according to the Post.

Patterson remains listed as a member of the Cedarville University board of trustees on the school's website, according to the Dayton Daily News. The publication reached out to Cedarville to find out if Patterson will remain on the board.

Patterson was removed from his job as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas, this week.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The administration of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish acknowledged Friday that it awarded a $9 million contract to an IT vendor without the firm having posted a performance bond as required to ensure that taxpayers are not left holding the bill for an unfinished job.

And County Council President Dan Brady said that someone in county government knew before the contract was awarded that Colorado-based Ciber Inc. had been involved in an earlier bribery case involving Pennsylvania's turnpike commissioner.

Brady also expressed concern about the administration's failure to require Ciber to obtain a performance bond.

County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan declined to comment on what the county knew about Ciber before awarding the company the contract. But she said the administration is working with another company, Infor Public Sector, to "secure the bond Ciber should have had."

Ciber was hired to help with a much-delayed computer-integration project. The company filed for bankruptcy in April of 2017, and Infor took over the work Ciber had contracted to do. Madigan said the county incurred no additional costs when Infor took over for Ciber.

In 2013, Ciber was involved in an investigation that resulted in Pennsylvania's former turnpike commissioner, Mitchell Rubin, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor bribery charge, according to media reports at the time.

Cleveland.com disclosed Wednesday that Rubin also is the father of Emily McNeeley, one of two Cuyahoga County IT administrators who have been placed on unpaid leave after being named in multiple subpoenas served on the county by corruption investigators.

Last week, investigators also served a subpoena naming both McNeeley and Ciber. McNeeley worked on the Ciber contract. Her lawyer, Roger Synenberg, told cleveland.com that McNeeley disclosed her father's involvement with Ciber to county Law Director Robert Triozzi. Triozzi, Synenberg said, signed off on McNeeley working on the Ciber contract.

Before winning the contract in Cuyahoga County, Ciber was sued by the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The lawsuit contended that the company "overcharged and under-delivered on its $82 million in contracts to create and install a computerized financial-reporting system for the turnpike," according to a philly.com article from Feb. 3, 2015.

The suit seeking $45 million was filed in state court, but was later transferred to bankruptcy court, first in Pennsylvania and then Delaware, where Ciber recently agreed to a $2 million settlement, according to philly.com story.

According to a Nov. 13, 2014 story by Pennsylvania-based triblive.com, McNeeley's father "accepted meals and contributions for political candidates from technology contractor Ciber from 2005 to 2009" while serving as the state's turnpike commissioner.

Rubin pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of commercial bribery and was sentenced to two years of probation.

Ciber also ran into trouble in Hawaii, where the Honolulu Star Advertiser recently reported that the state prevailed in a lawsuit after Ciber failed to deliver on a contract to "implement a new financial accounting system."

Ciber was ordered to pay $1 million and the company's insurers were directed to pay $10 million, according to the Star Advertiser.

In a phone interview Friday, Brady declined to identify the county employee who supposedly knew about Ciber's problems before the county gave the firm a contract in October 2016.

The council president also said he was told Ciber would have had to "put up" $500,000 to secure a performance bond.

"So, my conjecture is that maybe they couldn't get it because of their background," he said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County sheriff's deputy on Thursday shot a man on Interstate 90, officials said.

The shooting happened about 8 p.m. on I-90 eastbound near the West Boulevard exit. Two lanes of the highway are blocked at West 44th Street as Cleveland police investigate the shooting.

Breaking: Cuyahoga County Sheriffs deputy shoots man on I-90 in Cleveland. Reporters Hannah Drown and Justin Madden are on the scene. Posted by cleveland.com on Thursday, May 24, 2018

A Cleveland EMS supervisor said the man was taken to MetroHealth in critical condition. Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Thomas Gilson is at the scene, along with more than two dozen sheriff's deputies and Cleveland police homicide detectives. City homicide detectives investigate all officer or deputy-involved shootings in the city.

Officials have not given information on the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Spokesman for the county sheriff, the county administration have not responded to messages seeking comment. A call to Cuyahoga County Sheriff Clifford Pinkney was not immediately returned.
WASHINGTON - A political organization underwritten by the Koch Brothers is launching a major nationwide ad campaign that will applaud members of Congress who voted against the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill and criticize those who didn't.

According to a press release from Americans for Prosperity, Wadsworth GOP Rep. Jim Renacci - who is running for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown - is among those the ads will praise.

The group said it will send out mailers, and run digital, print and radio ads on the issue. It will place positive ads on behalf of more than a dozen Republicans, and run negative ads about 10 Republicans and eight Democrats who backed the bill. Renacci is the only Ohioan in the group's ad buy.

"The $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress in March showed a complete disregard for fiscal responsibility," said a statement from the group's spokesman Bill Riggs. "Both parties are responsible for putting the country on an unsustainable fiscal path, which is why AFP is committed to holding both parties accountable."

In a statement on Twitter after the vote, Renacci said he opposed the bill because he disliked having such short notice to review it.

"As a businessman, I wouldn't sign a 100-page contract in a 24-hour window, let alone vote for a 2,000+ page bill in a 15-hour window," his statement said. "I can't support this process."

Brown and Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman both supported the bill. Statements from Brown praised the bill's inclusion of $15 million in funding for Toledo's 180th Fighter Wing, $400 million for waste cleanup at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, and $1.8 billion to support upgrades and modifications of the Abrams Tank and Stryker Vehicle built in Lima, Ohio.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - If you miss Memorial Day ceremonies on Monday, you'll get a second chance on Wednesday, May 30, when the Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on Public Square holds its commemoration of this day to honor our nation's fallen military members, on the traditional date.

According to publicity material, the program will start at noon and feature keynote speaker and retired Marine Daniel McGill, chairman of the assistance committee for the Three Deuce Five Marine Foundation, and Duncan Virostko, who will play the national anthem and "Amazing Grace" on violin.

The event originally known as Decoration Day was created in 1868 by General John A. Logan, leader of an organization for Northern Civil War veterans.

Logan set May 30 as a day "for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land."

That date was changed to the last Monday in May when Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971.

The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument will be open, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., to visitors on May 28, the federal holiday.

Future events at the monument include extended visiting hours until 8 p.m. on July 6 as part of the Cleveland Orchestra's Star-Spangled Spectacular on Pubic Square; a Navy Exhibit on August 2 to coincide with Navy Week in Cleveland; and a POW/MIA Action Exhibit opening on September 4.
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

"(It will) serve a need ... for kids in general and kids in trouble," said Commissioner Richard Clark.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - In 1956, Elvis Presley got $400 for his second appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show.''

A replica of the check is part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's new exhibit, "Stay Tuned: Rock on TV,'' which opens to the public on Saturday, May 26. It's just one of more than a hundred artifacts that take up the top three floors of the museum.

Make that three floors and at least as many generations.

Karen Herman, the Rock Hall's vice president of curatorial affairs, has put together another winning exhibit. Step off the escalator on the fourth floor, and you're confronted by a massive replica of an old-style television - one with 13 channels on the main dial and a VHF knob for those local stations we all loved.

It was the kind of TV where all us kids were the belt-operated remote: If you didn't get up and change the channel when Mom or Dad said to get up and change the channel, you got the belt! And so it was the perfect transformation back to those days. The only thing missing were the rabbit ears. And, of course, a belt.

Step around the corner, and Herman has found the original "American Bandstand'' logo, the one that hung from Dick Clark's studio for all those years as he welcomed the people who eventually would be enshrined in the Rock Hall. There's a stage-door sign for Sullivan's show, plus the tiny Rickenbacker guitar (it looks to be the size of an overgrown ukulele) John Lennon played on the Beatles' debut on "Sullivan."

Fascinating to me are the contracts, like Presley's $400 signup to return to the Sullivan show, or the $155 Little Richard got to appear on "American Bandstand'' in 1965. And I loved James Brown's contract that called for him to be paid $210 for an appearance, but $250 for his wardrobe.

It's little things, too, that mean a lot, such as Clark's trademark white microphone on which he asked newbie Madonna what her plans were, and she replied, "I want to rule the world.''

The Rock Hall really is unique among museums, largely because the "things" that are in it all are relatively young. There's no suit of armor dating back to the Crusades, no paintings by someone who was dead a hundred years before our great-great-great-great grandfathers were born.

No, the items in it are things most of us can see and remember in our own pasts. For example, that Rickenbacker? I was 8 years old when the Beatles debuted on "Sullivan," which ran from 1948 to 1971, in February 1964. That summer, my friends and I stood on a picnic table stage strumming badminton racquet Rickeys and belting out "She Loves You, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" for girls who suddenly transformed into beings that were neither icky nor infested with cooties. That Halloween, I wore a Beatles wig and went trick-or-treating as one of the Fab Four.

So that's what the Rock Hall does: allows us to connect with our personal pasts, and in telling the stories of the music and the musicians, lets us tell our own stories. Like singing "She Loves You" on a picnic table for girls who suddenly transformed into beings that were neither icky nor infested with cooties.

The fifth floor - each floor is a different era, getting more and more "modern'' as you climb - boasts outfits worn by Sonny and Cher, Donny Osmond's white ice skates (I'd forgotten he had anything other than purple!) and the lime green leisure-suit-looking outfits the Jackson 5 sported in 1969.

Is anybody in rock 'n' roll normal-sized? "Soul Train'' founder and host Don Cornelius' suede jacket looks to be the only article of clothing made for someone other than a Hobbit. Monkee Davy Jones' tweed jacket, for example, looks like it came from the JC Penney boys section circa 1969. Then again, he was a trained jockey, so you sort of expect him to be tiny.

Of course, Cleveland's entry into the "Bandstand'' field - "Upbeat,'' hosted by Don Webster - gets its due, alongside such shows as "Shindig,'' "Hullabaloo,'' "Midnight Special," "Solid Gold,'' "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert'' and the only one still running, "Austin City Limits.'' The show produced at WEWS by Herman Spero ran from 1964 to 1971 and was syndicated around the country, from Bluefield, West Virginia, to Honolulu.

Cleveland also scores with a kick drum from Jim Bonfanti of the Raspberries that was used when Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson and Bonfanti played the Kirshner show in 1973.

One of my favorite sections ought to please some of those who fuss every year about who gets into the Rock Hall. It certainly pleases me. It pays homage to the cartoon musicians, the Banana Splits (the What Furrs in their original incarnation), and the "stars" of "Josie & the Pussycats,'' "Jem,'' "Metalocalypse,'' "Johnny Bravo,'' "Schoolhouse Rock'' and - of course - the Archies, the only one of the bunch to have had a No. 1 record.

So the next time some wag complains and says, "If they induct so-and-so into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, they might as well put the Archies in there,'' I can put on my smart-aleck hat and say, "They already did. Oh, and the Monkees and the Partridge Family are in there, too! Nyah! Nyah!''

The sixth floor is dedicated to MTV and has a slew of must-see items in it, from animation cels from Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract'' and the drawings for A-Ha's "Take On Me'' to Joan Jett's leather coat laden with pro-choice buttons and Michael Jackson's "We Are the World'' jacket.

Yet nothing tops - you'll forgive the expression - the oversized hat made for Tom Petty in the video of "Don't Come Around Here No More.''

But the wealth of artifacts that will be on view for about a year - and then it will become a traveling show - means nobody's going to heed that advice. Or should.

Do come around here. A lot more.

REVIEW

Stay Tuned: Rock on TV

What:

Three floors of artifacts chronicling the link between rock 'n' roll and television. It opens Saturday, May 26, and runs for a year.

Admission:

$14 to $26, depending on age, residence and military status.
PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Parma Heights City Councilman Jim McCall says that because his home is so close to Big Creek, he feels committed to helping maintain its beauty. That's why he participates in the annual Big Creek Watershed Clean Up.

"I walk around Big Creek all of the time," McCall said. "I'll do some cleanup if I see some loose stuff, but this is really a team effort. It's good to see people get excited about doing good things."

The 20th annual Big Creek Watershed Clean Up takes place from 9 a.m. to noon June 2 at the Snow Road picnic area along Big Creek Parkway in Parma and Parma Heights, at Brookfield Park (Brookfield Avenue between Bellaire Road and West 130th Street) in Cleveland, and at the Brooklyn Fire Department (8400 Memphis Ave.).

The event is sponsored by the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District and Big Creek Connects.

"We've seen a major improvement in the state of the creek," said Amy Roskilly, conservation education program manager for the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District. "We still collect a lot of trash from the creek and surrounding areas, but it's much less than years past.

"The trash, tires, plastic bags, shopping carts, bikes and garbage we find have a negative impact on the creek and all the fish and life that uses it as its home. Besides, it is just unsightly," she said.

McCall encourages residents to join in as part of the solution to keeping the Big Creek clean.

"It's just more about what's entering our waterway and what we can do to eliminate that by people wading in there and cleaning it up and just making sure we're good stewards of the environment," McCall said.

Someone else who takes an active interest in Big Creek is Parma City Council President Sean P. Brennan, who annually participates in the Clean Up.

"I've been working with the team for about 10 years," Brennan said. "It's a great way to learn about our watershed and the importance of keeping it clean."

Big Creek Connects Executive Director Bob Gardin has been managing the Snow Road picnic area since it was added into the mix several years ago.

"We average about 40 people at the site," Gardin said. "Sean Brennan and Jim McCall usually lead the teams going north and south, respectively. They are also both on the Big Creek Connects Advisory Committee."

The Clean Up targets areas of accumulated trash along Big Creek and tributaries that are not normally or easily accessible throughout the year. Gardin said removing contaminants and nondegradable debris enables aquatic habitat to establish and maintain a foothold, while the natural and uncluttered stream corridors increase their social and economic value to the communities.

Big Creek is the third-largest tributary to the Cuyahoga River. Its watershed contains over 130 miles of streams, with more than 90 percent in developed areas. Because Big Creek is the most heavily urbanized watershed of any major tributary in the Cuyahoga River watershed, with nearly 40 percent impervious land surface, it contains a high amount of debris and pollutants, as well as trash from yards and streets.

"All this water from Big Creek and all this trash makes its way into the Cuyahoga River and out to Lake Erie eventually," Roskilly said. "Over the years, as people see efforts being made to clean it up and take a vested interest in the health of the creek, we hope the trash will continue to decline.

"Just doing your part to not litter at your house, school, church, store is enough, but if they want to get more involved we have opportunities like these Clean Ups."
ORANGE VILLAGE, Ohio - Modern home furnishing and design giant, West Elm, opened its first Cleveland area store yesterday in the new Pinecrest mixed-use living, working, shopping and dining development in Orange Village.

From seating to silverware, West Elm offers unique and creative design for every room in the house and a visit makes you think seriously about redecorating. You'll find affordable and elegant table settings, kitschy kitchen stuff, pottery, planters, bedding and barware, take the time to take it all in.

Mid-century modern design is likely the most versatile and popular style we're seeing these days and West Elm is all about it. There's chic lighting, couches, cabinetry, outdoor seating, baby furniture, desks, everything for the dining room and so much more.

With almost 11,000 square feet, the bright, airy store with a helpful and friendly staff features home furnishings and decor as well as a growing selection of locally made and handcrafted products by eight Ohio-based makers and artists honoring Cleveland's rich history in manufacturing and crafts.

The local makers featured in the store come from northeast Ohio as well as from Columbus probably because West Elm's other Ohio store is at Easton in Columbus.

They are:

Bearded Woodcraft, makers of eco-friendly wooden coasters custom made in Columbus.

Boundary & Thorn, makers of fine art prints and greeting cards designed in Cleveland.

FOUNT, makers of heirloom quality leather bags and accessories made with care in Cleveland.

Lauren HB Studio, maker of geometric ceramic dishes handmade in Lakewood.

Linda's Other Life, offers Ohio inspired pillows custom stitched in Cleveland.

Little City Love, offers unique black and white prints produced in Columbus.

Little Korboose creates modern minimalist tea towels designed by the company founder, a Cleveland artist.

Root 23, makers of all natural, small batch simple syrups specializing in the farm to cocktail movement, made in Columbus.

"In time, we'll host more local makers and we'll offer the space for artists to host pop-up shops right in the store," says Jeannine Hoeffler, West Elm Cleveland general manager. "We want to connect to the creative community in Cleveland."

The Pinecrest store is designed to honor Cleveland's rich creative and industrial history with details throughout. The ornate steel screen behind the register reminds us of the area's deep roots in the steel industry and in ironworking. The maple wood backing behind the screen was chosen to represent one of the area's more popular trees. The checkout counter, or cash wrap, is adorned with upcycled slate triangles cut from blackboards that once hung in Cleveland schools.

Cleveland's West Elm also offers Williams Sonoma, Inc.'s cross brand design consultation program called Design Crew. The program pairs customers with experts who can provide design, installation and registry services. So, if you're not sure how to make things work with your existing pieces or how to redo a room, they have staff on hand to help. Make an appointment with the store's home stylist who will even come to your house to assist with a plan.

West Elm began in 2002 and today has more than 100 retail locations as well as booming e-commerce sites in the U.S., Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, shipping items around the world.

On Thursday, June 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. West Elm Cleveland will host a special grand opening celebration with a live DJ and refreshments. A portion of the evening's proceeds will benefit LAND Studio, a local nonprofit that works with strong community partners to create places and connect people through public art. To RSVP for the party, visit westelmcleveland.splashthat.com.

As for the rest of Pinecrest, much of it is surrounded by chain link and dust as construction wraps up. The development looks like it offers fresh architecture and an inviting experience. We're looking forward to more stores opening in the coming months and we'll be reporting on them as they open. REI is the only other large store open right now but look for Vineyard Vines, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Sweeties Big Fun, Apricot Lane, Eye Candy Optical, Gracylane, Scout & Molly's, Blackbird Fly, several restaurants and more.

West Elm Cleveland details:

Where: 411 Park Avenue, Orange Village in Pinecrest.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday - Saturday, 11p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

Phone: 216-378-9220

Links: Visit westelm.com for information and go to the West Elm Facebook page for special events, sales and more. See @WestElmCleveland on Instagram for photos and ideas. Follow updates at Pinecrest at discoverpinecrest.com.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @AlliArtStyle and at Allison Carey Fashion Reporter/Photographer on Facebook.
There's a lot of advice out there for writing resumes. From the ideal number of job titles to the optimum length, opinions differ. But at least there's one thing on which all can agree: It should be all about you. Right? Wrong. According to leading careers advisor, Marc Cenedella, that's the first and single biggest mistake you can make. "Your resume is an advertisement targeted at your future boss," Cenedella told CNBC Make It. "So you should write it in a way that appeals to them." That's not always easy. Typically it means putting yourself in the shoes of someone two levels above your current role. But Cenedella recommended focusing on how your work impacted your then-boss and how it could help your future employer, rather than what it meant to you.

princigalli | Getty

"You want to show your ability to succeed at the kind of job you're looking for by advertising your past success in the kind of skills required for the job you want," said Cenedella, who is founder and CEO of TheLadders.com, a careers site. One of the best ways to do that is to use numbers and stats to emphasize tangible outcomes, said Cenedella, who claimed there is "no role on the planet" that can't be summarized in numerical terms. Another method is to use success verbs like "achieved," "delivered," "gained," and "exceeded," which are far more powerful than static verbs, like "managed."

The goal is to get your foot through the door. Marc Cenedella founder and CEO of Ladders

Sticking to numbers and keywords also has the added benefit of keeping your resume concise, said Cenedella. According to Ladders' research, the average hiring manager spends just six seconds looking at a resume at the initial screening stage. As such, he recommended those with less than 10 years' work experience to keep their resume to one page, while those with more can stretch to two. "The goal is to get your foot through the door, not tell your life story," said Cenedella, who noted that the more detailed questions about your career history and your motivations will come if and when you secure an interview.

Steve Carell as Michael Scott in U.S. TV series 'The Office' NBC | Contributor | Getty

Here's what you should include:

Cenedella, whose books "Interviews Guide" and "Resume Guide" are both Amazon bestsellers, recommended starting with a professional summary  "I am an experienced X looking for ..."  followed by a chronological list of relevant professional roles. Each professional role should feature a short outline of the company, followed by a few bullet points highlighting your key achievements. The amount of detail provided for each should correspond to the seniority of the role. For new graduates with little professional experience, those roles could be replaced with membership of university clubs and other social groups which demonstrate your "ability to be a top performer," said Cenedella. He added that the page should be finished with contact details at the top and educational background at the bottom, keeping it clear and simple. "In my advice, this is not where you should be guessing or having creativity," noted Cenedella, who advised against trying to go viral with a quirky resume. Instead, the A4 sheet should be "informative, interesting and relevant," he said.

If you're type of person who can create a successful gimmicky resume, please do ... But, in general, it doesn't pay off. Marc Cenedella founder and CEO of Ladders
TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks were slightly higher on Friday, supported by defense-related companies after U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a summit with North Korea, although the return of geopolitical tensions kept wider investor sentiment subdued.

The Nikkei share average gained 0.2 percent to 22,482.31 in light midmorning trade after dipping into negative territory earlier. For the week, the index has fallen 2.2 percent so far and is poised to post the first weekly decline in nine weeks.

The broader Topix dropped 0.1 percent.

Defense equipment maker Ishikawa Seisakusho surged 6.3 percent, Howa Machinery jumped 6.4 percent, while health protection device maker Shigematsu Works soared 2.8 percent.

"Investors see exporter shares are difficult to invest in now due to a strong yen, so they are shifting their money to defense-related stocks for now," said Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.

"Investors' risk stance came back earlier this week as trade war worries seemed to ease, but the relief was short-lived and investors seem risk averse again."

Trump, in a letter to North Korea released by the White House, called off the June 12 summit, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement by Pyongyang. The cancellation came even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site.

Automakers continued to slide on worries about new U.S. tariffs.

Toyota Motor Corp dropped 1.0 percent and Subaru Corp declined 0.7 percent.

Defensive shares such as railway and food stocks, which are less affected to global risks, found support. East Japan Railway rose 1.0 percent, while Ajinomoto Co advanced 0.7 percent. (Editing by Sam Holmes)
Alden Ehrenreich is the first to admit that he's never had to "worry too much about money," he tells online investing platform Wealthsimple. "Not that there haven't been lean times," adds the 28-year-old actor, who plays Han in the latest "Star Wars" movie, "Solo."

"But on the whole, I've always had steady work and haven't dealt with the financial struggles that so many actors  and young people in general  often deal with when they're starting out," he says.

Just because Ehrenreich has done well for himself doesn't mean he spends lavishly, though: "Like most people, I have a certain queasiness about buying anything that's really expensive."

In fact, the best investment he's ever made is an inexpensive one: books.
A police officer looks inside the Bombay Bhel restaurant, where two unidentified men set off a bomb late Thursday night, wounding more than a dozen people, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada May 25, 2018.

Several people are being treated for injuries after two suspects detonated an improvised explosive device inside a restaurant near Toronto, Canada, according to police.

Fifteen patients were transported from the scene of the incident, which took place on Thursday night local time, a police source told CNBC.

tweet

Three of those 15 people were taken to trauma centers with "critical blast injuries," according to a twitter post from Peel Paramedics.

Two suspects fled the scene immediately after the explosion, said police, who asked for the public's assistance in identifying the men.
Below is the transcript of an exclusive CNBC interview with Enel CEO, Francesco Starace, and CNBC's Geoff Cutmore and Hadley Gamble, which was broadcast live from the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday 25 May 2018.

GC: Francesco Starace has stopped by, the CEO of the Italian power company, Enel. Very good morning to you sir.

FS: Good morning

GC: And thanks very much for coming to see us. Can I just start off by asking you a few questions about the state of the government in Italy. Just, are you optimistic that investors may now get some stability and there might be some some good news about where we're going?

FS: Well I think we're going to have a government, that's really good news. We have a Prime Minister appointed and he's trying to put together a cabinet. At the end this is going to be a completely new government because parties that are together in this coalition are new, in many ways, and the programmes are new and the people are new. So, it's going to be for the first period probably a discovery exercise from the investors standpoint, from the community of the business and probably from the point of view of the Italians. But there's no reason to say that you know this should be a bad government from the beginning  I think it's a government that Italians voted for, by and large I think it was, the vote was very clear, and I don't think there is a reason to say that this is going to be a disaster. The important thing is that we have one and it start to work.

HG: It's incredible isn't it because it seems as if these governments, whether they be the Italian government, whether it be the British government, the United States, Russia, they're kind of combining to create economic stress.

FS: Yeah, I think, actually I don't think the Italian government really can can, you know, has the size to create a world shock the way that maybe the US or Russia can but I think in general there is a big change in the mood of people, and that this mood of people needs to be channelled somehow by governments and political parties that have been not, that are new. And so, the issues, all these new things are coming up altogether and they need to be understood, processed and measures taken to work with them. They have on turn, on their turn to learn what's going on, you know how to govern a country complex like Italy, or Spain, or whatever, it's not an easy task. So, I think we should give these people a break and see how they do that.

GC: Yeah, I mean my, my sense is that actually business people have just been getting on with business and actually the economic environment has been relatively benign, regardless of the politics. I mean I know you're in a slightly sensitive position since the Italian government has a stake in your business, but are you, and we will have to wait and see what happens with this government before we can judge it in real terms, but as you look at some of the early signs about the economic policies that they wish to pursue, are you optimistic or pessimistic for the Italian economy going down the road?

FS: I think that if you look at the promises that any political party makes during elections and they all are, I would say, extreme in, in their dimensions trying to attract the larger number of political support. If you look at what can be delivered facing the reality and what kind of measures need to be taken to prove the point, probably there is no reason to really be that scared. There is no doubt that our government now needs to simplify the country, to simplify the fiscal structure we have, why not, there's nothing wrong with that. The issue is do, what is the time frame for that? Will people be patient enough to wait

GC: Yes

FS: for this really be delivered, that's a big question. That, if you look around most governments fail when they have, they don't give themselves enough time to do what they promised and they just try to deliver everything in the first day, and that's typically very difficult.

GC: The issue of the government stake is, is interesting I think because Iberdrola has been using that issue in this hand-to-hand combat between you two guys as you try to take this Brazilian business, Eletropaulo. Are you disappointed that Iberdrola has sunk to these depths to actually go to the commission and use the fact of the government's stake as a way of trying to rule you out of the competition?

FS: No I'm not disappointed, I'm a little bit

GC: It's dirty politics though isn't it?

FS: I am a little bit surprised, let's put it this way that they seem to be so aggressive on this deal, which is dis --- it's a nice thing, but it's not a deal of the century or the deal of the year even. It's a good deal, it's a nice deal, this, we are a large company, they're also a large company, we're not going to die or whatever if we don't make this deal, so I don't get this testosterone content [Inaudible].

GC: Very quickly, before we let you go, you've got a deal that you're doing here, you happy still to be in Russia? Are you worried at all about the US administration getting tougher with sanctions on this country?

FS: I am very happy to be in Russia. This country has managed the past crises in a remarkable manner, business is doing well, we are restructuring the company and moving out of coal into renewables in a successful way. I think, yes, there is a small uncertainty --- I, rather than small, it's a cloud about the way these new sanctions can or may disturb what's going on in the business because no one really has a clear picture of how they would be applied, what is the implication of all this new rules they've thrown at us, so I think that needs to be understood deeply, but so far for what we are concerned, you know we don't export or import matters or materials back and forth from Russia, we produce energy for Russians in Russia using Russian gas

GC: Yeah

FS:and Russian coal. It's not, we are never, we so far have not been affected by sanctions by and large.

GC: Sir, it's always a pleasure catching up with you --- thanks so much for coming and joining us early here. Francesco Starace coming to us from Enel.

ENDS

For more information contact Jonathan Millman, EMEA Communications Executive: Jonathan.Millman@cnbc.com / +44 7788 307 996

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A publicity stunt encouraging "crypto enthusiasts" to climb Mount Everest and bury a hard drive holding $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency reportedly indirectly led to a man's death, the Financial Times said Friday.

Ukrainian social network ASKfm, which is planning to raise money through an initial coin offering, or ICO, sponsored four people to climb Everest and bury the hard drive holding its digital tokens, which at this point have no proven value.

In the process, one of the local Nepalese Sherpas accompanying the group died, according to a blog of Alan Arnette, a Colorado climber who covers Everest events each season. He mentioned the Ukrainian group under the subhead: "Preventable Deaths."
urrounded by security agents, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt (2nd R) steps out of his armored SUV as he arrives to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Environment Subcommittee outside the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 26, 2018 in Washington, DC. Getty Images

The Environmental Protection Agency's bill for protecting Administrator Scott Pruitt is nearly twice the typical cost of providing security for his two predecessors. The EPA spent nearly $3.5 million on security costs for Pruitt during his first full four quarters in office, according to a CNBC analysis of figures released by the agency on Friday. That compares with an average of just under $1.9 million for the comparable periods over the last eight years. In those previous years, the EPA spent as little as $1.7 million and as much as $2.2 million to protect the previous two administrators, Gina McCarthy and Lisa Jackson, as well as interim officials.

Pruitt and the EPA are currently facing about a dozen investigations into various ethics, spending and management issues. A central focus of the probes is the cost of Pruitt's travel and his security detail. The records released Friday showed the EPA spent more than $2.7 million in payroll for Pruitt's security detail during the period. The agency spent an additional $763,263 in travel costs for personnel charged with protecting Pruitt. Pruitt was sworn into office on Feb. 17, 2017. The analysis period runs from the third quarter of the government's fiscal year, which begins on April 1. The data are broken down by quarter, so it is not possible to discern how much EPA spent to protect Pruitt immediately after he was confirmed. Pruitt and his staff have consistently sought to justify the higher costs by pointing to a higher-than-average number of threats against the administrator. Pruitt has become a lightning rod for his history of climate change skepticism and his cozy relationship with the energy, agricultural and chemical companies he is responsible for regulating.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.14 percent, with most major bourses negative and sectors mixed.

Italy's designated Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose credentials have been hit with scrutiny, met with Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco on Friday. Italian short-dated bond yields soared as uncertainty over the country's incoming anti-establishment government continued. The two-year note rose as high as 35 basis points on Friday. Italy's FTSE MIB benchmark, meanwhile, was down 1.54 percent.

Bank stocks were among the worst performers, down 0.76 percent. European finance ministers struck a deal for risk reduction in the continental banking system. Italian lender Banco BPM was the worst performer in the sector, down 7.34 percent.

Europe's travel and leisure stocks led the gains Friday lunchtime, up more than 1 percent amid earnings news. British gambling firm GVC Holdings forecast higher cost synergies following its 4 billion ($5.4 billion) acquisition of bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral late last year. The group's total gaming revenue rose 7 percent for the period of January 1 through to May 20. Shares of GVC Holdings rose more than 4 percent on the news.

Looking at individual stocks, gold miner Centamin tumbled to the bottom of the European benchmark after it announced a hefty cut to its full-year production guidance on Friday. It also raised its cost expectations because of lower grade ore at a mine in Egypt. Shares of Centamin were down over 18 percent on the news.
However, last week, Trump speculated whether Chinese President Xi Jinping may be influencing Kim. Trump voiced concerns about North Korea changing its posture toward the U.S. after Xi and Kim met in China on May 8, their second meeting in two months.

Foreign policy experts have speculated that North Korea possibly wasn't on board to fully give up its nuclear ambitions, the stated goal of the U.S. for the now-canceled June 12 summit .

"China is very much in the driver's seat," Baucus told CNBC on Friday, a day after President Donald Trump called off next month's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un , "China will find a solution that suits China."

The U.S. goal for a denuclearized Korean Peninsula is shared by China but for different reasons, said Max Baucus , former U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama and a former longtime Democratic senator.

In response to Trump's statements, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Friday that Beijing's position on North Korea has not changed. "We will hold fast to resolving the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula [and] the issue of peace and stability, through dialogue and negotiation."

In a "Squawk Box" interview, Baucus said Trump was right to scuttle the summit, but he insisted it was really "postponed" not "canceled," because both sides left the door open to possibly meeting down the road.

Trump's tweet Friday morning was also hopeful.

Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!

On his way to the U.S. Naval Academy graduation, Trump told reporters Friday that his administration has restarted dialogue with North Korea. "We'll see what happens. We're talking to them now."

Baucus, ahead of Trump's comments, stressed, "Any solution we approach in finding a solution to all of this has to include China." Chinese officials "don't really like Kim Jong Un because they can't control him quite at much as they'd like," he added.

While Kim wants to flex his muscles on the world stage, he can't afford to alienate China too much, considering "90 percent of the North Korean economy depends on China," Baucus added.

The U.S. also needs to work with China but has to be aware of Beijing's real endgame, Baucus said. "China would, frankly, like to see a solution so that U.S. troops leave South Korea," the Montana Democrat said. "That's China's goal. It's always been their goal. They think very long term."

Navigating China's role in defusing the North Korea situation is complicated for the U.S. because the Trump administration is also in the midst of trying to reach a trade deal and avoid a trade war with the world's second-largest economy.
Both bride and groom should start by writing down their three favorite things, such as art, food and beach or nature, history and spa, suggests Jenna Mahoney, travel editor for Bridal Guide magazine.

Planning a honeymoon can be exhausting for both the bride and groom, and these once-in-a-lifetime trips aren't getting any cheaper . To help newlyweds save money, reduce stress and plan better, honeymoon experts share their best tips to consider.

"Brainstorm some activities that you love and give your wedding guests the option to formulate an itinerary for you," Methfessel tells CNBC Make It . She adds that this makes it special for all parties involved and helps save time when choosing a destination if you can't quickly decide a place.

Taylor Methfessel, a honeymoon specialist at SmartFlyer, says she is seeing more couples start a " honeyfund ," a version of crowdfunding where guests put money toward experiences that have been chosen in advance by the couple.

For instance, Mahoney says everyone wants to go to Italy, but picking interests will narrow down the places to visit. If you want history and architecture, pick Rome, Tuscany for food and wine. If you both pick beach, spa and seclusion, try Tahiti or Maldives .

"From there, you can drill down your interests to help define where you want to go," she says.

3. Go during the off season

Traveling during off season, or "shoulder season" as it's called in the travel industry, will always be cheaper, says Tom Marchant, CEO of luxury tour company Black Tomato. That's especially true for popular honeymoon destinations like the Caribbean (low season: April to December), Maldives (April to December) or Africa, where you can save hundreds of dollars depending on the hotel you book.

"If 24-hour sun isn't your top priority, then you could take advantage of some great offers," he says.

Marchant says safari destinations have a "green season" that takes place January to May, when it's known to rain more but a lot more lush.

Safari rates are typically cheaper, like Angama Mara in Kenya, where high-season rates run $1,650 per person per night. In "green season," all-inclusive rates are around $1,200 per person per night. Marchant says safari lodges also offer other incentives during this time, like 30 percent cheaper lodge transfers.

4. Take a "mini-moon" first, honeymoon later

"In the olden days, you married a guy, you had a wedding, it was six hours long then everyone leaves," says Mahoney. "Today, you have a wedding weekend. Even if it's not a destination wedding, 20 percent of guests are traveling from out of town and the wedding weekend is typically four days.

"The last thing I want to do as a newlywed is get on a 20-hour flight somewhere after entertaining tons of people, having an emotional weekend and dropping loads of cash," she says.

Instead, Mahoney recommends newlyweds start with a "mini-moon," an abbreviated version of a honeymoon that's not far from your wedding site. For instance, if you get married in Boston, go to Nantucket. If you have a destination wedding in Mayakoba, Mexico, mini-moon in Isla Holbox, a nearby island, for two nights.

"This really gives you time to decompress, be with each other and bask in the glow of early marriage," says Mahoney.

She adds that many honeymooners who do this say they feel more romantic without the stress of a big honeymoon right after the wedding and enjoy the chance to just sleep in. "Going on a trip right after the wedding is traditional, but assume that you'll be tired!" she says.

Then, Mahoney suggests taking your honeymoon six months to a year after the mini-moon.

"This way, the honeymoon becomes its own event," Mahoney says. "You can save for it and savor the experience. It becomes another opportunity to make another memory that's not crushed in together with the wedding."

Methfessel recently planned the honeymoon for Bluestone Lane coffee company owner Alex Knight and husband Nick Stone, who traveled a full year after their wedding. "It didn't make it any less special for them."

5. Consider staying brand loyal if you have a wedding at a luxury hotel; you could get unadvertised honeymoon offers

"If you're considering a hotel wedding, ask the wedding planner or point of contact to see if they have sister properties that offer honeymoon offers for the bride," says Mahoney. "Even if they don't have something advertised, they'll probably offer you something, like free honeymoon nights or upgrades."

For instance, if you want to get married at Mandarin Oriental San Francisco and want to honeymoon in Thailand, "the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok will likely offer you something special to honeymoon there. It happens all the time," says Mahoney.

She says luxury hotel chains like Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Belmond and Rosewood are known to do this, even if it's not advertised, so talk with the wedding planner.

Don't miss: Here's how you can rent these vacation mansions for under $200 per person a night

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Privacy activist Max Schrems has wasted no time making use of Europe's new data protection law to target the giants of Silicon Valley.

The Austrian lawyer's non-profit organization NOYB filed complaints against Google, Facebook and Facebook-owned services WhatsApp and Instagram on Friday. The complaints could result in penalties worth up to 7 billion euros ($8.1 billion).

Schrems alleged that the companies "forced consent" from users to obtain the right to use their data and comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

GDPR, which was implemented on Friday, means that firms must obtain explicit consent from customers in order to user their data. It also lets people request to see all the data firms have on them and to have that data deleted.

"Facebook has even blocked accounts of users who have not given consent," Schrems said. "In the end, users only had the choice to delete the account or hit the 'agree' button  that's not a free choice, it more reminds (me) of a North Korean election process."

GDPR threatens to fine firms up to 4 percent of global annual turnover or 20 million euros ($23.4 million)  whichever is bigger  for violations.
A sweeping data privacy law known as the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) goes into effect across the EU today.

While businesses have had two years to prepare for the new rules, a recent survey from data analytics firm SAS found only 49 percent of companies worldwide said they will meet the deadline to comply.

"I think a lot of companies are kind of sitting on their hands and seeing, well, how does this play out?" said David Smith, head of GDPR technologies at SAS UK & Ireland.

Now, with GDPR officially in effect, companies and individuals in the data management space are taking advantage of big business opportunities.

"It's good news for people like me," said Tamzin Evershed, global data privacy lead at Veritas Technologies, a U.S.-headquartered data management firm. "We need more and more people who really understand how data protection and privacy really works."

Evershed has spent the past two years preparing for GDPR, working with Veritas' IT and legal teams around the world. "It's actually quite complicated and many people are having to come up to speed really quickly," she said.
Pasquale Tridico, member of Five Stars Movement, attends the presentation of would-be cabinet in case of election victory on March 1, 2018 in Rome, Italy. Italy is set to hold a general election to form a new parliament and government on March 4, 2018.(Photo by Alessandra Benedetti - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Italy's Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte labored to finalize his cabinet team on Friday as markets tumbled on fears the incoming eurosceptic government will embark on a spending spree that will undermine fragile state finances.

The eurozone's leading financial risk indicator, the gap between Italian and German sovereign debt yields, surged to 215 basis points, its widest for four years, while Italy's bank stock index hit an 11-month low.

With investor concern growing, Conte, a political novice with no managerial or administrative experience, met Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco, then held talks with his political backers to try to sign off on a list of ministers.

The meeting broke up without agreement, political sources said, with much attention still focused on the key role of economy minister.

Coalition partners the far-right League and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement are eager to give the job to 81-year-old economist Paolo Savona, who has questioned Italy's membership of the euro.

However, President Sergio Mattarella has made clear he is unhappy with the choice and has the power of veto. A political source said League leader Matteo was refusing to back down.

"Nobody should have fear of change," Salvini said in a brief statement, adding that he was working on a government that would make Italy "a protagonist in Europe and in the world".

A source close to 5-Star said it was doubtful Conte would be able to present his ministerial team on Friday. Mattarella earlier cancelled his engagements on Friday afternoon raising speculation that a deal had been reached.

There was no apparent link between the fall in the markets and the delay in forming a cabinet.
The CEO of Italy's largest utility firm says he's been left stunned by the tactics deployed by Spain's Iberdrola, amid a bitter feud over Brazil's largest power distributor.

Europe's top two utilities, Enel and Iberdrola, are in the midst of a fierce battle to secure the assets of Brazil's Electropaulo. The South American grid operator became one of the world's most prized power assets last month, prompting Italy's Enel and Spain's Iberdrola to lock horns and try to outbid one another for control of the company.

Tensions were frayed further when Iberdrola wrote to the European Commission in April, accusing state-controlled Enel of using the weight of the Italian government to allow it to make investment decisions it would otherwise not be able to submit.

Speaking on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Enel CEO Francesco Starace told CNBC Friday that he could not understand the "testosterone" fueled efforts of Iberdrola.

When asked whether he was disappointed by the Spanish firm's decision to write to the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, he replied: "No I'm not disappointed, I'm a little bit surprised. They seem to be so aggressive on this bid (when) it is just a nice deal, it is not the deal of the century or the deal of the year even."

"We are a large company, they are also a large company, we are not going to die or whatever if we don't make this deal," he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump might have called off what would have been a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but experts said that the bets aren't off on a meeting taking place in time.

In a letter, Trump said it felt "inappropriate" to have the summit, which had been scheduled on June 12, because of "anger and open hostility" in a recent statement from North Korea.

Doubts had clouded the prospects of the meeting taking place in recent days, with Trump on Tuesday commenting that there was a "substantial" chance the summit may not pan out. But the tone of Trump's letter could leave the door open to future discussion, analysts said.

"I would bet that the meeting has a substantial chance to take place as scheduled. 12 of June in Singapore. Because everything is transactional for President Trump, so who knows?" Bong Young-shik, research fellow at the Yonsei University Institute for North Korean Studies, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday.

"If North Korea bows to the pressure imposed by the Trump administration and demonstrates the general willingness to meet all the demands by the Trump administration, then there is no reason why the Trump administration wouldn't revive the summit meeting as scheduled ... (or) in the near future, I believe," Bong added.

But Bong also pointed out that North Korea's recent charm offensive, from its participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics earlier this year to the landmark inter-Korea summit in April, had not been directly related to its denuclearization.

"All those nice things may give you a sense like you are on the rocking chair," he said. "You may have a sense that you have movement, but when you are riding a rocking chair, the rocking chair doesn't move forward. It only gives you a sense of movement."
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, favors yellow gold. Around that time (of the engagement), we started seeing more sales of yellow gold and the last couple months its increased more," David Borochov, of New York-based R&R Jewelers, said on Thursday.

The first three months of the year were the strongest first quarter for gold jewelry demand in the United States since 2009, according to the World Gold Council. Sellers say that is due in no small part to the public's fascination with American actor Meghan Markle, who was engaged to Britain's Prince Harry last November and who married him in a dazzling ceremony on Saturday.

The Meghan Markle effect has spread to yellow gold jewelry, helping boost United States sales in the first quarter of 2018 with further gains expected, jewelers said.

Yellow gold jewelry sales have risen about 30 percent this year. For the last 15 years, white gold, silver, and platinum have been the metals of choice for jewelry and couples tying the knot, jewelers said.

Over the last few years, rose gold has become a favorite, while yellow gold was considered outdated. Borochov said he typically sells about 70 to 80 percent in white gold and platinum, and 20 to 30 percent in yellow and rose gold. He expects the latter to increase.

"We saw an increase of about 20 percent (in yellow gold jewelry sales) from the beginning of the year," said Nerik Shimunov, owner of Crown Jewelers in New York, which specializes in custom jewelry pieces for celebrities. Meghan and Harry told the BBC in November that yellow gold is her favorite; her engagement ring is set in that metal.

Gold jewelry sales at Chicago-based Daniel Levy Jewelry increased by 10 percent after the engagement, primarily because of the surplus of white gold, said Daniel Levy, though he noted a recognizable shift to yellow gold.

Celebrity purchases influence jewelry sales, said Alistair Hewitt, the World Gold Councils director of market intelligence. Council research from 2016 found that 22 percent of U.S. women buying jewelry or luxury fashion were inspired by magazines and newspapers, with another 11 percent citing influence from celebrities. It would not be surprising to see the coverage of the royal wedding including the choice of engagement ring and wedding band influence shoppers behavior, he said.
Disney continues to take full advantage of its 2012 purchase of Lucasfilm and the "Star Wars" franchise.

Two new "Star Wars"-themed areas, one at Disneyland and the other at Walt Disney World Resort, will open next year, Disney announced May 22.

"Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" will first open in Anaheim, California, during the summer of 2019 and then at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, in late fall 2019.

The additions will be Disney's biggest "single-themed land expansion" ever, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger. Each will be an expansive 14 acres.

A replica of the Millennium Falcon spaceship, which guests will be able to pilot, will be a key attraction.

Set on the planet Batuu, "Galaxy's Edge" will provide a fully immersive experience for guests. Rather than interact with Disney employees, guests will interact with Batuu's residents: a collection of smugglers, bounty hunters and rogue adventurers. Fly the Millennium Falcon well, and you can expect congratulations from a passerby.
Oil prices fell sharply Friday after influential energy ministers said a group of two dozen producer nations could soon begin easing the production limits they put in place last year to drain a global crude glut.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak met with his Saudi counterpart, Khalid Al-Falih, in St. Petersburg to discuss the deal, which has aimed to keep 1.8 million barrels a day off the market since January 2017. The parties are now considering a gradual exit to that deal to compensate for falling production in crisis-stricken Venezuela and anticipated export disruption from Iran, which faces renewed U.S. sanctions.

"The moment is coming when we should consider assessing ways to exit the deal very seriously and gradually ease quotas on output cuts," Novak said in televised comments, according to Reuters.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices dropped below $68 a barrel, slipping further from this week's peak of $72.83, its highest since November 2014. The contract finished the session down $2.83, or 4 percent, at $67.88 a barrel.

Meanwhile, fell $2.42, or 3.1 percent, to $76.37 by 2:27 p.m. ET. The international benchmark for oil prices last week hit a 3-year high of $80.50, also going back to November 2014.

Brent is down nearly 3 percent this week, on track to break a six-week winning streak. U.S. crude is down almost 5 percent for the week.

"Today's low at $67.50 was an important support level, but really to change the complexion of the chart fullsomely you need to get under $66," said John Kilduff, founding partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital.

"Then the year long uptrend channel will have been broken and you'd look for even lower prices from there, targeting $60 to $62."

The ministers are considering a supply increase of as much as 1 million barrels a day to cool the market, sources told Reuters. Al-Falih is particularly concerned about the impact of oil prices above $80 a barrel on consumer nations like China and India, the news agency reported.

The move to potentially ease the production caps follows news reports that Saudi Arabia was roughly targeting $80 a barrel to support domestic initiatives. Those reports helped bolster crude prices within the last two months.
* Trump's cancelling summit further strains U.S.-China ties

* China calls for both sides to meet halfway

* Beijing will grow closer to Pyongyang, nervous of U.S. - expert

BEIJING, May 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatens further strain on U.S.-China ties amid a trade dispute that had been intertwined with Beijing's pressure on isolated Pyongyang.

The United States and China are also increasingly at odds in the disputed South China Sea. The Pentagon this week withdrew an invitation for China to take part in a major naval exercise in Hawaii, and Beijing has ramped up pressure on self-ruled Taiwan, armed by Washington but claimed by Beijing.

Trump on Thursday released a letter to Kim announcing his withdrawal from the planned June 12 meeting in Singapore, which would have been the first between leaders of the two countries.

Although Chinese state media called for continued engagement between Washington and Pyongyang, Trump's move could mark a split between China and the United States over how to deal with North Korea and its nuclear weapons, experts said.

It also risks adding fuel to simmering trade tensions, just days after China and the United States pulled back from the brink of a full-blown trade war.

"Definitely there are people in the U.S. who want to use this as an excuse for their efforts to push the relationship in the direction of confrontation," said Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at China's Peking University, referring to the collapse of the Trump-Kim summit.

"This is one of the lowest points in the relationship since the normalisation of relations between the two countries," he added.

China's foreign ministry on Friday said the government would keep encouraging the United States and North Korea to have direct talks, describing such communication as having a "pivotal" role in denuclearisation.

"Rest assured, China will continue, in our own way, to carry out U.S.-North Korea work, so as to promote the resumption of the dialogue process on the peninsula," ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters.

CHINA ALIGNED WITH KIM

China has long viewed North Korea as a useful buffer between it and U.S. forces in South Korea. The two also have deep emotional ties; Chinese troops fought side-by-side with North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.

But in recent years, relations between China and North Korea had nosedived to the point of a near diplomatic freeze, as Beijing signed on to ever-stricter United Nations sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

China's willingness to keep up pressure on its neighbour may now wane.

Even with the summit's collapse, China must continue to improve ties with North Korea given Kim's pledge not to carry out nuclear and missile tests, China's widely read state-run Global Times tabloid said in an editorial on Friday.

A military conflict on the peninsula might see refugees flood over China's long border with North Korea, or even drag it into confrontation with the United States - both scenarios Beijing would like to avoid.

"China actually has played the role of hidden guarantor for the North Korea-United States summit, so China will continue to promote this meeting," Sun Xingjie, an expert on North Korea at the Jilin University, said in comments to the People's Daily Overseas Edition, an official Communist Party paper.

"If they cannot come to the negotiating table, then they will enter the battlefield," Sun said.

Trump last week hinted that he partly blames China for how summit preparations went awry, saying President Xi Jinping might be "influencing" Kim after the North Korean leader made two visits to China in quick succession.

But Chinese experts said Xi would not have sabotaged the meeting, given China's deep interest in reducing tensions on the peninsula.

"If the summit is cancelled, China is the one that faces great increase of uncertainty," said Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at Renmin University in Beijing who has advised the government on diplomatic issues.

Renewed friendly ties between China and North Korea would make Beijing more closely aligned with Pyongyang and nervous about Washington, Shi said.

"A return by Trump to maximum pressure and military and economic threat brings a significant problem" for China.

TRADE DEAL UNCERTAINTY

Meanwhile, Trump also cast uncertainty over progress in trade talks, saying Wednesday that Washington would seek a new "structure" for the deal and a new direction for talks with Beijing, days after the two had taken conciliatory stances.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit China from June 2 to 4.

"China does not link trade and North Korea because that will make things more complicated," said Ruan Zongze, a former diplomat now with the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank linked to China's foreign ministry.

Some analysts had suggested, however, that China was using its leverage on North Korea, and Trump's perceived desire for a successful summit with Kim, to blunt the sharpest edges of U.S. trade threats.

Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said the summit's collapse added to uncertainty in U.S.-China trade relations.

"Even before this announcement, Trump's attitude on trade with China had changed a bit," he said. "I am a little pessimistic about this trade deal."

A souring of relations could see a tougher line from Washington on other issues deemed sensitive in Beijing, analysts say.

This week, the United States uninvited China from a major U.S. naval drill in response to what it sees as Beijing's militarisation of the disputed South China Sea, drawing a sharp response from China.

Disagreements have also flared over what China calls its most sensitive political issue, its claim on Taiwan, after Trump in March signed legislation encouraging U.S. officials to visit Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts.

Taiwan's diplomatic isolation has grown, however, as Burkina Faso on Thursday cut official ties with Taipei. It was the second nation to do so in a month, dropping the number of Taiwan's formal allies to 18.

On Friday, a pair of Chinese bombers flew around the island. Taiwan's air force scrambled aircraft, which accompanied and monitored the Chinese bombers, the island's defence ministry said.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd and Michael Martina; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tony Munroe and Gerry Doyle)
* SSEC -0.1 pct, CSI300 0.1 pct, HSI -0.3 pct

* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 2.4 pct, Shanghai->HK daily quota used -1.7 pct

* FTSE China A50 +0.3 pct, BNY Mellon ADR China Select Index -0.7 pct

SHANGHAI, May 25 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks edged lower on Friday, as sentiment soured after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a planned June meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

** The CSI300 index rose 0.1 percent to 3,831.67 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent to 3,152.35 points.

** The Hang Seng index dropped 0.3 percent to 30,681.12 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 0.5 percent to 12,088.28 points.

** Trump on Thursday called off a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for next month, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility", and warned that the U.S. military was ready in the event of any reckless acts by North Korea.

** North Korea's vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan said on Friday Pyonyang is open to resolving issues with the United States.

** Trump's threat to impose tariffs on auto imports also fuelled worries about trade war.

** U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will visit China early next month for another round of talks amid ongoing trade frictions between the world's two largest economies.

** On the mainland, most sectors lost ground, but consumer and healthcare firms gained, as investors sought shelter in the two defensive sectors.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.19 percent, while Japan's Nikkei index climbed 0.24 percent.

** The yuan was quoted at 6.3871 per U.S. dollar, 0.16 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.377.

** The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Nanjing Inform Storage Equipment Group Co Ltd up 10.03 percent, followed by Guangdong Champion Asia Electronics Co Ltd gaining 10.01 percent and Suzhou Douson Drilling & Production Equipment Co Ltd up by 10.01 percent.

** The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Datang Telecom Technology Co Ltd down 5.01 percent, followed by Shandong Tyan Home Co Ltd losing 5.01 percent and ENN Ecological Holdings Co Ltd down by 4.8 percent.

** The top gainers among H-shares were CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd up 2.55 percent, followed by ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co Ltd gaining 1.78 percent and Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd up by 1.37 percent.

** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were CNOOC Ltd which has fallen 2.79 percent, PetroChina Co Ltd which has lost 2.6 percent and China Vanke Co Ltd down by 1.5 percent.

** About 7.07 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 50.5 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 14.02 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 12.41 billion as of the last full trading day.

** As of 0400 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 20.36 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

** The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and below its 200-day moving average.

** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 13.55 as of the last full trading day, while the dividend yield was 2.3 percent.

(Reporting by Luoyan Liu and John Ruwitch, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
sources@

* Move would reduce over-compliance with agreed production cuts

* Oil price up almost 20 percent since end of last year

* Talks among Saudi Arabia, Russia, UAE in St. Petersburg (Adds details, background)

DUBAI/MOSCOW/LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil output by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), easing 17 months of strict supply curbs amid concerns that a price rally has gone too far, sources familiar with the matter said.

Such an increase would bring compliance with agreed supply curbs down to 100 percent from April's level of around 152 percent, the sources said.

The initial talks are being led by the energy ministers of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia at St. Petersburg this week along with their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, which holds the OPEC presidency this year, the sources said.

OPEC and non-OPEC ministers meet next in Vienna on June 22-23, and the final decision will be taken there.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers led by Russia have agreed to curb output by about 1.8 million bpd until the end of 2018 to reduce global stocks, but the inventory overhang is now near OPEC's target.

The current discussions are aimed at relaxing record-high compliance with the production cuts, the sources said, in an effort to cool the market after oil hit $80 a barrel on concerns over a supply shortage.

While Russia and OPEC benefit from higher oil prices, up almost 20 percent since the end of last year, their voluntary output cuts have opened the door to other producers, such as the U.S. shale sector, to ramp up production and gain market share.

The final production number is not set yet as dividing up the extra barrels among deal participants could be tricky, the sources said.

"The talks now are to bring compliance down to the 100 percent level, more for OPEC rather than for non-OPEC," one source said.

RALLY CONCERNS

OPEC may decide to raise oil output as soon as June due to worries over Iranian and Venezuelan supply and after Washington raised concerns the oil rally was going too far, OPEC and oil industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

However, it is unclear which countries have the capacity to raise output and fill any supply gap other than Gulf oil producers, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia, the sources said.

"Only a few members have the capability to increase production, so implementation will be complicated," one OPEC source said.

OPECs compliance with the output deal reached unprecedented levels in recent months, meaning it had cut well above target. Falling Venezuelan output due to an economic crisis has helped OPEC deliver a bigger cut than intended.

So far, OPEC had said it saw no need to ease output restrictions despite concerns among consuming nations that the price rally could undermine demand.

The rapid decline in oil inventories and worries about supplies after the U.S. decision to withdraw from the international nuclear deal with Iran, as well as Venezuelas collapsing output, were behind the change in OPEC's thinking.

Concerns raised by the United States that oil prices were too high also made the exporting group start internal discussions, OPEC sources familiar with the matter have said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, whose country is a major oil producer but is not part of the supply-cutting pact, last month said OPEC had "artificially" boosted oil prices. (Editing by Dale Hudson and Adrian Croft)
* Pakistan scrambling to shore up plummeting FX reserves

* China now Pakistan's biggest investor, debt inflows grow

* Some analysts say Pakistan will need another IMF bailout

* Pakistan received $6.7 bln IMF bailout in 2013

ISLAMABAD, May 25 (Reuters) - Pakistan expects to obtain fresh Chinese loans worth $1-2 billion to help it avert a balance of payments crisis, Pakistani government sources said, in another sign of Islamabad's growing reliance on Beijing for financial support.

Lending to Pakistan by China and its banks is on track to hit $5 billion in the fiscal year ending in June, according to recent disclosures by officials and Pakistan finance ministry data reviewed by Reuters.

The ramp up in China's lending comes as the United States is cutting aid to Pakistan following a fracture in relations between the on-off allies. In February, Washington led efforts that saw Pakistan placed on a global terror financing watchlist, drawing anger in Islamabad amid fears it will hurt the economy.

The new Chinese loans that are being negotiated will help bolster Pakistan's rapidly-depleting foreign currency reserves, which tumbled to $10.3 billion last week from $16.4 billion in May 2017.

The talks come only weeks after a group of Chinese commercial banks lent $1 billion to Pakistan's government in April.

The reserves decline and a sharp widening of Pakistan's current account deficit have prompted many financial analysts to predict that after the general election, likely in July, Islamabad will need its second International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout since 2013. The last IMF assistance package was worth $6.7 billion.

Beijing's attempts to prop up Pakistan's economy follow a deepening in political and military ties in the wake of China's pledge to fund badly-needed power and road infrastructure as part of the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key cog in Beijing's vast Belt and Road initiative.

"I think this month we will get that $1-2 billion," said a senior Pakistan government official, saying the funds will come from Chinese state-run institutions.

A second government official confirmed Pakistan was in "sensitive" talks with Beijing over extra funding for up to $2 billion.

Pakistan finance ministry officials did not respond to a request for comment.

China's finance ministry and central bank, who were faxed questions about the loans, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Although Pakistan's economic growth has soared to nearly 6 percent, the fastest pace in 13 years, the structural problems with the economy are coming to the fore. It is similar to 2013, when foreign currency reserves dwindled and Pakistan narrowly escaped a full-blown currency crisis.

"The current situation appears to be a replica of what we experienced in 2013, albeit on a slightly larger scale," said Yaseen Anwar, who was the governor of the central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), back in 2013.

The darkening macroeconomic outlook prompted the IMF earlier this month to downgrade its economic growth forecast for Pakistan to 4.7 percent for the next fiscal year ending in June 2019, way below the government's own ambitious target of 6.2 percent.

"TEMPORARY BRIDGE"

Over the past nine months Pakistan has enacted a series of measures to combat its ballooning current account deficit, including hiking tariffs on more than 200 luxury items and devaluing its currency by about 10 percent.

In the six months to end of March, Pakistan took bilateral loans worth $1.2 billion from China, according to the Pakistan Finance Ministry document reviewed by Reuters. During this period the government also borrowed about $1.7 billion in commercial loans, mostly from Chinese banks, finance ministry officials added.

In April, Pakistan's central bank borrowed another $1 billion from Chinese commercial banks to buffer its reserves, State Bank of Pakistan Governor Tariq Bajwa told the Financial Times (FT). A spokesman for the central bank told Reuters the FT report was accurate.

The $1-2 billion under discussion would be in addition to that loan.

So far, all the measures appear to have had a limited impact on Pakistan's economy and foreign exchange reserves continue to plummet.

The collapse of the reserves is mainly due to the central bank's efforts to maintain an artificially strong rupee over the past few years, analysts say. The currency is now trading at about 115.50/116 to the U.S. dollar, down 9.8 percent in last six months after two separate devaluations since December.

In the past three weeks, reserves have declined by $1.2 billion and now stand at two months worth of import cover.

"This new (Chinese) money is a temporary bridge until August or September, when a new government will come into office and the country will likely opt for a new IMF program," said Saad Hashmey, chief economist at brokerage house Topline Securities.

Hashmey and several other economists are predicting another currency devaluation by the end of 2018.

Pakistan may also seek help from Saudi Arabia. The Middle Eastern ally loaned $1.5 billion to Pakistan in 2014 to shore up its foreign currency reserves.

RISING EXPORTS

The scale of the task facing Pakistan is huge as the current account deficit widened to $14 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, according to SBP data. Dollar-denominated debt repayments in 2018 are also expected to top $5 billion, analysts say.

Part of the problem for Pakistan has been a multi-year consumer boom accompanied by huge imports of Chinese machinery for CPEC projects, which has piled pressure on the current account deficit. More recently, a jump in the oil price has compounded the problem as Pakistan is a fuel importer.

One of the senior Pakistani government officials said the money from China should give the economy breathing space.

He said exports have shot up in the last two months, helped by the devaluation in the rupee, and that should help ease the current account deficit.

However, Pakistan's central bank appears more nervous as oil prices climb, raising its main policy rate by 50 basis point to 6.5 percent on Friday and warning the "the balance-of-payments picture...has further deteriorated." (Reporting by Drazen Jorgic Edited by Martin Howell)
* For the week, Brent drops 2.7 pct and WTI down 4.9 pct

* Russian, Saudi oil ministers meet in St Petersburg

* Russia says oil output cuts likely to be eased at June meeting

* U.S. drillers add most rigs in week since Feb -Baker Hughes (Updates with CFTC data)

NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than $2 per barrel on Friday as Saudi Arabia and Russia discussed easing production cuts that have helped push crude prices to their highest since 2014.

Brent crude futures fell $2.35, or 3 percent, to settle at $76.44 a barrel. The global benchmark lost about 2.7 percent this week, its largest weekly drop since early April. The contract hit its highest since late 2014 at $80.50 last week.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slumped $2.83, or 4 percent, to finish at $67.88 a barrel. For the week, WTI tumbled about 4.9 percent, its biggest loss since early February, a sharp course reversal after six weeks of gains.

The discount of WTI to Brent hit $8.60 per barrel, its widest since May 17, and not far off levels last seen three years ago.

The energy ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia met in St. Petersburg to review the terms of a global oil supply pact that has been in place for 17 months, ahead of a key OPEC meeting in Vienna next month.

The ministers, along with their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, discussed an output increase of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), sources told Reuters.

Russia's energy minister said oil ministers from OPEC states and non-OPEC countries participating in a deal to cut output would likely decide to gradually ease curbs at their meeting in Vienna next month.

"After hitting that $80 level, which is a psychological level, we were seeing a little bit of a pull-back yesterday, and then rhetoric out of Saudi and Russia has only exacerbated the sell-off today," said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData.

Global crude inventories have fallen over the past year because of the OPEC-led cuts, which were boosted by a dramatic drop in Venezuelan production.

The prospect of renewed sanctions on Iran after Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Tehran has further supported prices in recent weeks.

This comes even as U.S. crude production has risen. The United States in February produced 10.3 million bpd, a record.

The U.S. oil rig count, an indicator of future production, rose by 15 to 859 in the week to May 25, the highest level since March 2015, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said.

Hedge funds and other money managers raised their bullish bets on U.S. crude futures and options in the latest week after four consecutive cuts in the net long position, according to data released on Friday.

The increase lifted the wagers from 6-month lows, in the week to May 22, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The speculator group raised its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 2,009 contracts to 421,916 during the period.

(Additional reporting by Ron Bousso in London, and Henning Gloystein and Roslan Khasawneh in Singapore Editing by Marguerita Choy and Chris Reese)
(Recasts with gov't authorizing military to clear highways; Sao Paulo declaring state of emergency)

SAO PAULO, May 25 (Reuters) - Brazil's government authorized the military on Friday to clear highways blockaded by protesting truckers, a government official said, after the nationwide protests entered a fifth day despite an agreement by most participants to end the demonstrations.

The fifth day of protests by truck drivers paralyzed major sectors of Latin America's biggest economy and led the city of Sao Paulo, the region's biggest business hub, to declare a state of emergency due to scarce fuel supplies.

President Michel Temer decided to authorize the army, along with federal highway police and state police forces, to clear major roadways following a meeting with ministers in the capital Brasilia, said the official, who requested anonymity because the decision had not been publicly announced.

Negotiators for several trucker groups agreed late on Thursday to suspend their blockages for 15 days after the government vowed to subsidize and stabilize diesel prices, which may cost 5 billion reais ($1.4 billion) this year.

But Abcam, a trucking group that ignited the strike and says it represents about 600,000 drivers, was not among the parties that signed the accord, raising serious questions about how truckers would respond to government concessions.

By Friday afternoon, the strike showed no signs of letting up and its impact on Brazilians' daily lives and several key economic sectors in the commodity powerhouse persisted.

No trucks were able to enter the Santos port, Latin America's largest, and oilseeds crushing group Abiove told Reuters that soy exports would halt on Saturday if truckers did allow access to major ports.

Brazilian meat group ABPA said 152 poultry and pork processing plants had indefinitely suspended production. Lack of feed supplies may cause millions of birds and hogs to die.

Gas stations ran out of fuel across the country, while consumers hit grocery stores in a panic in several areas, emptying shelves. Public transport and trash collection was reduced or halted across the country.

To win over truckers, who began the blockades on Monday to protest high fuel prices, the government also promised to extend for 30 days a 10 percent diesel price cut announced by state-led oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

Shares of Petrobras, as the company is known, rose more than 2 percent in early trading after plunging 19 percent in the prior two days, as news of government subsidies softened the blow of political interference in the firm's fuel pricing.

Auto production in Brazil, which contributes about a quarter of industrial output, ground to a halt on Friday in the latest blow to a fragile economic recovery following the worst downturn in decades.

($1 = 3.65 reais) (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes Additional reporting by Gram Slattery, Jose Roberto Gomes, Ana Mano and Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo Editing by Brad Haynes and Dan Grebler)
credit@ (Adds Banco do Brasil repayment)

SAO PAULO, May 25 (Reuters) - Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht SA's will use part of a 2.6 billion reais ($709.96 million) bank loan to repay a loan in arrears with state-controlled bank Banco do Brasil SA, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Under the terms of an agreement announced on Friday, the engineering group, at the center of a corruption scandal, will repay a 100 million reais debt to Banco do Brasil.

Banco do Brasil and Odebrecht did not comment on the matter.

The company previously said it would repay a 500 million reais bond issued by construction unit Odebrecht Engenharia e Construcao that was due on April 25. Friday is the last day of a 30-day grace period for the repayment.

Odebrecht said on Friday that Itau Unibanco Holding SA and Banco Bradesco SA, Brazil's top two lenders, will give Odebrecht a joint loan of 2.6 billion reais. The money will be disbursed in two installments, the first 1.7 billion reais. One source said the company will pay 135 percent of interbanking basic rates on new loans.

The loan agreement gives the engineering group a maximum two-year relief after being close to default. Odebrecht's net debt, excluding petrochemical company Braskem, totals 49 billion reais.

The conglomerate's debt refinancing also involved Banco do Brasil SA, Banco Santander Brasil SA and development bank BNDES, which had to agree on changes to collateral.

Shares of petrochemical company Braskem SA were given as collateral to new loans. Although Braskem's shares already served as collateral, its price increase in the recent months allowed Odebrecht to get more loans.

As part of loan approval, some former loans that were not guaranteed received new collateral. Banks may seize Braskem shares and sell them if not repaid by May 2020, according to one of the sources. Braskem said in a securities filing that Odebrecht's 38.3 percent stake is serving as collateral.

Odebrecht will also use part of the loans to pay leniency agreement fines, according to the statement. In December 2016, Odebrecht and its subsidiary Braskem agreed to pay at least $3.5 billion to authorities in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland. At the time, it was the largest penalty in a foreign bribery case.

In Brazil, the company has pledged to pay 3.8 billion reais ($1.04 billion) to federal authorities and recently the company reportedly reached an agreement with Brazil's federal comptroller over the final fine value.

($1 = 3.6622 reais) (Reporting by Carolina Mandl Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Cynthia Osterman)
(Updates with Canadian government comment, more quotes)

MEXICO CITY, May 25 (Reuters) - There is about a 40-percent chance of concluding the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) before Mexico's presidential election on July 1, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Friday.

The United States, Mexico and Canada have been bogged down in trade negotiations for the past nine months, with progress held up by U.S. demands to impose tougher minimum content requirements for autos built in the region.

For a deal to be struck to rework the 24-year-old accord, U.S. negotiators would need to show flexibility, Guajardo said.

"I think there's a 40 percent probability of being able to conclude it before (July 1)," he told Mexican television.

If not, there was about an 80 percent chance of finishing the renegotiation before the U.S. mid-term congressional elections in November, Guajardo added.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to change the auto rules to create more manufacturing jobs in the United States. He blames lower-cost Mexico for the loss of U.S. employment.

Guajardo said it was important to agree a new NAFTA deal as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of quality.

On Thursday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto expressed optimism about the process after a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Still, talks were complicated this week by a U.S. probe looking at auto tariffs.

Canada's government said that during the call, the two discussed their "strong concerns" about the so-called Section 232 investigation by the United States into whether imports from around the world were harming the U.S. automobile industry.

Guajardo said talks should not be distracted by the U.S. probe, which he noted had been lampooned in the United States, describing the initiative as a "fireworks display."

Mexico has proposed that 70 percent of overall content of a vehicle made in North America come from the region, countering a U.S. proposal of 75 percent for high-value parts.

The United States also wants 40 percent of auto content to be sourced from areas paying at least $16 hour. Mexico has proposed that 20 percent of any auto made in the region be from high-wage areas, an industry source briefed on it said.

Guajardo also denied there was a rift between him and Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray over the NAFTA talks. He was responding to media reports that Videgaray was pushing for a quick deal, while he was holding out for a better one.

Guajardo also addressed suggestions by the front runner in the presidential election, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, that the NAFTA negotiation should be postponed until the next Mexican government takes office in December.

In reality, whoever was the next president did not want to have to take office faced with NAFTA, he said. "Deep down, what they want is for this problem to be taken from them."

(Reporting by Dave Graham Additional reporting by David Ljunngren in Ottawa Editing by Nick Zieminski and Susan Thomas)
* Russians, Saudis meet in St Petersburg

* Russia says oil output cuts likely to be eased at June meeting

* OPEC, non-OPEC producers to meet in June

* U.S. drillers add most rigs in week since Feb -Baker Hughes (Updates market activity, prices, adds U.S. rig count)

NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about $3 per barrel on Friday as Saudi Arabia and Russia discussed easing supply curbs that have helped push crude prices to their highest since 2014.

Brent crude futures fell $2.69, or 3.4 percent, to $76.10 a barrel by 1:07 p.m. EDT (1707 GMT). The contract hit its highest since late 2014 at $80.50 last week. Brent was on track to fall about 3.1 percent this week, which would be its largest weekly percentage loss since early April.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $3.04 to $67.67 a barrel, a 4.3 percent loss. Following six weeks of gains, WTI was set to lose about 5.1 percent for the week, which would be its biggest loss since early February.

The discount of WTI to Brent hit $8.53 per barrel, its widest since May 17, and not far off levels last seen three years ago.

The energy ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia met in St. Petersburg to review the terms of a global oil supply pact that has been in place for 17 months, ahead of a key OPEC meeting in Vienna next month.

The ministers, along with their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates, discussed an output increase of about 1 million barrels per day (bpd), sources told Reuters.

Russia's energy minister said oil ministers from OPEC states and non-OPEC countries participating in a deal to cut output would likely decide to gradually ease curbs at their meeting in Vienna next month.

"Different options will be put forward. But, it is likely that this will be a gradual easing," Alexander Novak said in comments published on the Russian energy ministry website on Friday.

Global crude inventories have fallen over the past year because of the OPEC-led cuts, which were boosted by a dramatic drop in Venezuelan production.

This comes even as U.S. crude production has risen. The United States in February produced 10.3 million bpd, a record.

The U.S. oil rig count rose by 15 to 859 in the week to May 25, the highest level since March 2015, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said.

Speaking in St. Petersburg, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said any easing of restrictions on pumping levels would be gradual to avoid a shock to the market.

The prospect of renewed sanctions on Iran after Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Tehran has further boosted prices in recent weeks.

However, market participants should not read too much into Friday's sell-off due to thin volume ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, said Derek Rollingson, portfolio manager of the ICON Energy Fund.

"It's the last Friday before a long weekend and the volume has a tendency to go down and with lower volume there's always a chance of higher volatility," Rollingson said.

(Additional reporting by Ron Bousso in London, and Henning Gloystein and Roslan Khasawneh in Singapore Editing by Marguerita Choy and Chris Reese)
People pass by a video sign display with the logo for Roku, a Fox-backed video streaming firm, that held it's IPO at the Nasdaq Marketsite in New York, September 28, 2017.

Shares of Roku spiked Friday after short-seller Citron Research said it is reversing its negative view on the maker of streaming players, given a major shift away from the traditional cable television subscription model.

"The move to cutting the cord and [over-the-top] advertising is real and it is a megatrend that Citron not only does not want to be short, but at this valuation I want to be long," the research firm, headed by Andrew Left, said in a report Friday.

Roku shares climbed more than 7 percent, closing at $38.54 a share. The stock is down roughly 25 percent for the year so far.

After the company went public in late November, the stock soared above $50 and Citron said it tweeted the stock would fall back to $28.

"BUT NOW EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED, AND IT IS TIME TO REEVALUATE," the report said, in red capital letters.
A Russian oligarch closely tied to Vladimir Putin met with President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen at Trump Tower less than two weeks before the inauguration, The New York Times reported Friday.

Cohen and the oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, both expressed a desire to strengthen Russia's relationship with the U.S., and made arrangements to meet at the Jan. 20, 2017, inauguration, the Times reported.

Shortly after the inauguration, Cohen's company Essential Consultants was awarded a $1 million, one-year consulting contract by private equity firm Columbus Nova, according to the newspaper.

The Times' account was based on an interview with Vekselberg's cousin Andrew Intrater, the head of Columbus Nova and an attendee of the meeting in New York City. The Times also cited video footage from Trump Tower and people briefed on the meeting.

The Times had previously reported that Columbus Nova decided to end the agreement with Cohen's company after just seven months and paying $580,000. Cohen had reportedly failed to deliver on Intrater's expectation to gain access to a slew of Republican donors for new deals and investors for Columbus Nova.
House Republican Whip Steve Scalise has made it clear that he will not run against House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy if an election is called for speaker of the House.

Yet, that hasn't stopped Scalises' closest advisors from preparing him for the possibility that if McCarthy fails to capture the nomination, he could become the alternative candidate lawmakers could support.

In private conversations that have taken place since House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced he would be retiring at the end of the year, friends and allies of Scalise, who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity, say they've been told that the House whip's team are formulating a plan for their boss to run for speaker if McCarthy's bid fails.

Here's why Scalise's team has hope. There is growing speculation on Capitol Hill that House Freedom Caucus leader Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, will jump into the speaker's race disrupting McCarthy's chances of pulling off a victory, those sources say. Jordan has been privately courting lawmakers and allies on the Hill about possibly running, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

In a statement provided to CNBC, a spokesman for Scalise did not deny that the Louisiana congressman would try his hand against an opponent other than McCarthy, or that the whip's staff had been preparing for the possibility of a failed McCarthy bid.

"Speaker Ryan has made it clear that he will serve his full term, and Whip Scalise has made it clear that when the time for leadership elections comes, he will support Leader McCarthy as our next speaker," Chris Bond, Scalise's spokesman, said in statement. "Clearly there will be plenty of rumors and palace intrigue in the meantime, but the fact is, this leadership team is focused on working together to bolster our Republican majority, not on some leadership election months down the road  because no one wants the Democrats to take the House and Nancy Pelosi to be our next speaker," he added.

Representatives for Jordan and McCarthy did not return requests for comment.
A freight train leaves an Eskom power plant in Hendrina, South Africa, on February 22, 2018, after having discharged its load of coal.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that some of the country's largest public companies will return billions to the economy, potentially reviving industries that are renowned for their financial troubles.

In a major speech this week, the country's president claimed that they are expected to invest a total of 420 billion South African rand ($33.7 billion) over the next five years. He said that after "several meetings with the CEOs of some of this country's larger state owned companies ... they have given us an indication of their investment plans over the coming years."

"They have informed us that over the next five years, they expect to invest a total of 420 billion (South African rand) into the South African economy," he said Thursday in Cape Town.

Ramaphosa added that his government was "seeking investment that expands the industrial capacity of our economy," as well as creating jobs to help address South Africa's rampant unemployment.

"Investment in itself is not a guarantor of growth, nor of job creation," he warned. "But without investment, neither of these will be possible."
A total of 39,506 people applied for a spot in Harvard University's undergraduate class of 2021, and just 2,037 were accepted  that's an acceptance rate of roughly 5.2 percent. Zero students were accepted off the waitlist. Now, imagine earning one of those coveted spots after spending your early years moving between homeless shelters, a hospital bed and motel rooms. That's what Richard Jenkins was doing when, in grade school, he became so committed to academics that he went on to become the valedictorian of his high school and earn a spot at Harvard. In an interview with Philadelphia public radio station WHYY, Jenkins recalls being ashamed of his upbringing. "In the sixth grade, one time I was walking from school with my friend, and he was asking me where I lived," he recalled. "The shelter looked like a big house  it could have been a mansion. So I told him, 'Yeah, that's my house right there,' because I was so embarrassed to say I lived in a shelter."

The moment inspired him to focus on school, despite bullies who nicknamed him "Harvard." "That's when I realized I've got to buckle in, because I can't have my potential kids going through what I'm going through now," he explained. Indeed, Jenkins did buckle in. In middle school, he attended a non-profit after-school program called Mighty Writers that helps students with their writing skills. With the program's support, Jenkins began the competitive application process to attend a selective high school, marking a difficult time in the young man's life. "My migraines started in the eighth grade because of all of the stress I was dealing with at the time. There was a lot of pressure to get into high school and succeed. And then my dad had a heart attack," he recalls for WHYY. Jenkins' condition worsened and he ended up spending significant time in the hospital, sometimes for weeks at a time. "I was eventually able to fight through it and get my work done because, at the end of the day, that was what was the most important to me," he says. That work paid off, and he was accepted at Girard College, a full-scholarship boarding high school for students from single-parent families with limited financial resources.

Richard Jenkins at Mighty Writers in Philadelphia
"Solo," the latest movie in the "Star Wars" franchise, is expected to bring in $170 million during its opening weekend, which is also forecast to be the biggest weekend for U.S. theaters ever. And although the original "Star Wars" creator George Lucas sold Lucasfilm and the franchise to Disney in 2012 for $4 billion, the retired filmmaker's Type A tendencies are arguably what set up the sci-fi series for continued, decades-long success.

Mashable editor Chris Taylor describes Lucas as a "ruthless perfectionist" in his 2014 book "How Star Wars Conquered the Universe," further explaining, in a New Yorker interview, that Lucas "had a dogged persistence to produce something that had the general contours of his vision."

It is possible that Lucas picked up some of his creative habits from the late tech visionary Steve Jobs. The two worked together when Jobs briefly left Apple and bought the computer animation studio Pixar from Lucas. And they both benefited from having Type A personalities.

Venture capitalist Guy Kawsaki, who also worked with Jobs in the '80s and '90s, says that "one of the things that made Steve so successful was he was such a perfectionist."

"One of the most important lessons that I learned from Steve Jobs is that changing your mind is a sign of intelligence, it's a sign of competence," he adds.
The cancellation of a summit between the United States and North Korea casts doubt on prospects for trade negotiations between the U.S. and China  and could result in the Trump administration taking a harder line on China, a White House official told CNBC.

The official said President Donald Trump was holding off on his natural instincts when it came to China. Instead of relying on China hawk Peter Navarro, one of his top trade advisors, the president let more moderate Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin take the lead on trade negotiations.

The talks haven't yielded any results so far, and Trump said he was dissatisfied with last week's high-level trade negotiations with Chinese officials including Vice Premier Liu He. Mnuchin has said the possible trade war between the nations was on hold, while Larry Kudlow, the president's top economic advisor, said that tariffs were still on the table.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump often targeted the U.S. trade relationship with China, claiming that previous administrations had allowed the world's most-populous nation to rip off American workers. Yet since he took office, Trump has developed what he calls a friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, even as their nations remain trade adversaries.
"Another revenue stream to target is the income of an estimated 100,000 North Korean laborers sent overseas to generate hard currency for the regime while working in conditions that might be described as industrial slavery."

Despite this hope, the president and his national security team apparently kept their focus on the clear benchmark they had set for what constitutes a good deal: the "permanent, verifiable, irreversible dismantling of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction," as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced.

On top of that, the process would have to be rapid, so North Korea couldn't cash in on relief from U.S. sanctions while dragging its feet on denuclearization, then walk away from the deal.

When North Korea backed away from the promise of denuclearization, even using harsh language to criticize administration officials, Trump was right to pull the plug. Though there is talk that dialogue between the two parties has already reopened, Kim is unlikely to consider full denuclearization until he faces much tougher measures.

That means it's now time for the next stage of the policy known as maximum pressure, whose impact was one important reason that Kim felt the need to propose a summit, release American hostages, and pause his missile test program.

Despite the name, the pressure applied so far is nowhere close to the maximum, but it has been a dramatic departure from the passivity of the Obama administration. In 16 months, this administration has sanctioned more North Korean entities that its predecessor did in a full eight years.

One major target for additional pressure is the North Korean shipping sector. Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned dozens of North Korea-linked vessels and shipping firms, and there are plenty more targets. To really turn up the heat, the U.S. and its allies should begin mandatory inspections of North Korea-linked vessels to ensure they aren't violating sanctions.

Another revenue stream to target is the income of an estimated 100,000 North Korean laborers sent overseas to generate hard currency for the regime while working in conditions that might be described as industrial slavery.
President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration has restarted dialogue with North Korea following his cancellation of a historic summit, with the president suggesting that a meeting between the two countries could even take place on the originally scheduled date.

After days of fiery remarks from North Korea that appeared to suggest the country would not give up its nuclear arsenal, Trump abruptly cancelled the summit in a letter released on Thursday. The cancellation took South Korea by surprise, and left officials in Seoul scrambling to contain the fallout.

However, Trump left the door open to a meeting in the future, and on Friday hinted that the lines of communication remained open.

"We'll see what happens. We're talking to them now," he told reporters as he left the White House on his way to speak at the U.S. Naval Academy graduation. The president added that the scrapped meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un "could" still happen.

Late Friday, Trump said the two sides were engaged in "very productive" discussions, and a Singapore rapprochement might still be in the cards.

Trump tweet

The summit, part of a process the U.S. hopes will lead to Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear and missile programs, had been set for June 12 in Singapore. If, as Trump suggests, the confab takes place, it will be the first time a U.S. president met with a North Korean leader.

On Thursday, Trump denounced North Korea's "tremendous anger and open hostility." A senior White House official said North Korea had stopped direct communication with the U.S. over the previous week.
Border patrol agents apprehend an immigrant who illegally crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. in the Rio Grande Valley sector, near McAllen, Texas, April 2, 2018.

The prosecution tactic is expected to compound an existing problem: Federal officials are losing track of migrant children in the U.S. foster care system, The Associated Press reported last month. While parents are jailed, children are turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. The children are then designated as "unaccompanied minors," AP reported, and the government tries to connect them to family members who are already in the United States.

The new prosecution strategy went into effect this month, the report found, reversing precedent that families would remain together in shelters while undergoing asylum or deportation proceedings. Sessions' policy extends to misdemeanor charges for first-time improper entry, according to the report.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions escalated criminal prosecutions for people crossing the border illegally, including enacting a zero tolerance policy that will see even more parents jailed and separated from their children, NBC News reported this week.

"ORR was unable to determine with certainty the whereabouts of 1,475 [unaccompanied alien children]," Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary for the HHS' administration for children and families, said at a Senate subcommittee testimony in April. The figure was for 2017.

The ability of HHS to track the well-being of unaccompanied minors is limited by its budget, according to Wagner. U.S. officials have been under scrutiny since 2016, when policies intended to protect children running away from violence in Central America were scaled back, the AP reported.

At the same time federal officials were unable to find children already placed in foster care, Sessions' increasingly strong penalties sent hundreds more into the system, NBC News reported. From October 2017 to mid-April, before the new prosecution strategy officially went into effect, more than 700 children were reportedly separated from their parents at the border, according to NBC News.

While official government figures for May are yet to be released, immigration public defenders told NBC News there has been a large increase in the number of family separations since Sessions' announcement.

Cases such as that of Guatemalan immigrant Esteban Pastor, reported by the Houston Chronicle, are becoming even more frequent. Pastor and his 18-month-old son were jailed after crossing the southern U.S. border last summer, according to the report. Pastor's sick toddler was separated from him and placed in a federal shelter, according to the Houston Chronicle, but he was not told the location.

After three months, Pastor was deported, the report said, with federal agents telling him that his child remained "somewhere in Texas."
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note , which moves inversely to price, was lower at around 2.931 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 3.09 percent.

U.S. government debt yields fell Friday and notched weekly losses after the Federal Reserve signaled it could allow inflation to run above its target and geopolitical fears pushed investors toward safer asset classes.

The Federal Reserve's May meeting minutes released this week showed the central bank may be willing to let inflation run a little hotter than its two percent goal. A pivot to safer asset classes in the wake of geopolitical concerns has also helped send rates lower.

"I think we're facing a situation akin to that in 2008, when we had the Fed saying the economy was very strong," said Komal Sri-Kumar, president of Sri-Kumar Global Strategies. "Despite the fiscal stimulus from the tax cuts, the optimism is not reflected in the bond market."

"The other thing I would say concerns the Fed minutes  the Fed blinked. That was the beginning of the downturn this week," he added. "The Fed tried to make up for it up by saying that they would allow inflation to rise above its target ... [but] the Fed never admits to an error."

New orders for U.S.-made capital goods increased more than expected in April, hinting that business spending on equipment was accelerating after a slowdown toward the end of the first quarter.

The Commerce Department said Friday that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, jumped 1 percent last month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core capital goods orders rising 0.7 percent last month.

Overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, dropped 1.7 percent in April.
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President Donald Trump is set to address this year's graduates of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Friday morning. This is the first time he will speak at the academy's ceremony.

Trump is expected to discuss his efforts to boost federal defense funding in his speech to the 1,042 new ensigns and second lieutenants.

Friday morning, Trump tweeted that he is "looking forward to being with some of the greatest people on earth!"

Trump tweet
Venture capitalists David Cowan, Sarah Guo, Nicole Quinn, Tomasz Tunguz, and Mike Vernal on stage at the Churchill Club Tech Trends event, voting on one of Quinn's tech predictions via colored paddle. Ed Jay Photography

Silicon Valley investors are worried that China's tech sector will eat their lunch. The idea came up at a Bay Area debate earlier this week when Sequoia Capital venture partner Mike Vernal posited that China will soon overtake the U.S. in areas like artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. "The Chinese government and the Chinese tech leaders are marching in lockstep towards innovation," he said on stage at an event hosted by The Churchill Club. "So I think there's a real risk that in three to five years' time, we wake up and realize that China is far ahead of the U.S. and Silicon Valley."

The four other investors on stage  David Cowan from Bessemer, Sarah Guo from Greylock, Nicole Quinn from Lightspeed and Tomasz Tunguz from Redpoint  largely agreed with Vernal's prediction. In China, the government is eager to clear hurdles for self-driving cars, data sharing, or factory automation, while start-ups in the U.S. get caught up in regulation, Vernal said. Not only is the Chinese government more aligned with the country's tech sector, but start-ups there have access to much larger data sets to train their AI algorithms, due to both the size of the population and fewer concerns or regulations around privacy, added Tunguz. Each investor had to present two technology trends that they thought would take off in three to five years and this was one of Vernal's pitches:

The only investor who didn't agree with Vernal's prediction was Cowan, who argued that technology isn't a winner-take-all situation and that innovation in China will benefit economies and consumers everywhere. Guo rebuffed that notion. "Technology overall is not a zero-sum game, but for any of the companies we invest in, sometimes it is," she said. Chinese start-ups relating to artificial intelligence are already attracting more funding: They received 48 percent of global AI funding versus 38 percent in the U.S., according to CB Insights. One way that Silicon Valley could maintain its status as a global innovation hub is to continue to make it a place where people from all around the world want to work, Guo added.

'Wide-eyed optimism about China'

Several of the VCs brought up their opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration reform plans, which could cause a brain drain in Silicon Valley. "This is not a criticism about China  it's wide-eyed optimism about China," Vernal said. "It's more of a criticism of the U.S. I am deeply patriotic ... but I fear that China will become a more forward-leaning society and we descend into bickering and complacency."
It's been three and a half years since Moniteau County prosecutor Shayne Healea was arrested on multiple charges after he backed his truck into Addison's restaurant in downtown Columbia. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that one paragraph will be sealed from the special master's report.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Jenkyns resigns as PPS to fight for Brexit

May criticised for delaying Withdrawal Bill vote until after Lewisham by-election  The Sun

Prime Minister needs to quit over Greek tragedy Brexit talks, claims Tory donor  Daily Telegraph

Theresa May has suffered her first resignation over Brexit as officials admitted that the cabinet row over customs may not be settled before next months European Council meeting. Andrea Jenkyns quit as a parliamentary private secretary to fight for the right sort of Brexit that would not leave the UK half-in and half-out. Although Ms Jenkyns, Conservative MP for Morley and Outwood, said Mrs May had her full support, her resignation will be a warning to Downing Street as the prime minister seeks to head off a rebellion. In her resignation letter, Ms Jenkyns said she wanted to rejoin the Commons Brexit committee to make the case for leaving the EU. I have an obligation to my constituents and the 17.4 million people that decided to leave and take back control of our destiny, she said.  The Times

Comment:

My decision to resign from the Government  Andrea Jenkyns, MP Website

>Yesterday: Left Watch: The finely-balanced votes on the Withdrawal Bill amendments come down to how many Labour MPs will abstain

as Davis claims EU stance risks undermining security

Brexit will put European citizens at greater risk from terrorist attacks unless Britain and the EU agree a new system for working together on tackling crime, the UK government warned on Thursday. David Davis, Brexit secretary, is concerned that when Britain becomes a third country after Brexit, the EU could restrict information sharing and co-operation on areas such as the European arrest warrant. Mr Daviss Brexit department has warned that existing agreements between the EU and third countries on crime fighting do not go far enough and would not replicate the close co-operation on security that currently exists between Britain and the EU. The security of our citizens must be our overriding priority and that will not be achieved by a marked  and avoidable  reduction in our ability to combat serious crime and terrorism, a UK government paper, submitted to Brussels said.  FT

UK makes Galileo satellite programme a condition of defence collaboration  FT

Exclusion creates irreparable security risk, Britain claims  The Guardian

EU accuses Britain of chasing fantasy over the Irish border  Daily Telegraph

Post-Brexit security hampered by Brussels spat  FT

Editorial:

We must be firm with arrogant EU bureaucrats  The Sun

>Yesterday: Henry Hills Red, White, and Blue column: New polls find no surge in support for Northern Ireland leaving the UK

and leaked dossier apparently reveals Best for Britains strategy

Second vote is credible, says Article 50 author  FT

Dossier suggests UK might go soft on breaking free from EU judges  The Sun

Carney hints at rate cut if Brexit is disorderly  Daily Mail

Pro-EU supporters are being trained to ruthlessly target MPs in a series of nationwide roadshows aimed at stopping Brexit, the Daily Mail has claimed. The Best for Britain campaign, which is backed by billionaire George Soros, is allegedly using the events to highlight ways activists can press the right buttons to frighten politicians into voting against leaving Europe. The strategy reportedly includes getting negative stories about MPs in the local and national papers because these will get to them on a personal level. It also encourages mass phone-ins and letter-writing campaigns to get MPs with slim majorities into believing they will lose their seat if they support Brexit, the paper claims The details of the anti-Brexit roadshows come after the Mail was given leaked papers that show Best for Britain has launched a six-month plan to stop the UK leaving the EU. The group, which aims to spend 5.6 million on the campaign, plans to contradict whatever final agreement Theresa May strikes with Brussels  arguing it is not what we voted for.  Daily Mail

>Today: Lord Ashcroft in Comment: My Republic of Ireland focus groups on Brexit. They both agree that the UK is making a terrible mistake.

>Yesterday: Dr Tony Sewell in Comment: Brexit, Windrush, and the rebirth of liberal Britain

Hinds ignores advice to press ahead with new technical qualifications

Damian Hinds has resisted a rare formal warning from a civil servant on the cost implications of a policy and insisted on pushing ahead with the start of teaching in new technical qualifications in 2020. The education secretary took the decision after receiving a request for a ministerial direction from Jonathan Slater, permanent secretary at his department, over the direction of policy. In a letter sent on May 17, Mr Slater said it would clearly be very challenging to ensure that the first of the new T-Level qualifications in England would be ready for teaching to start by the planned date of 2020. He also warned that it would be difficult for them to be taught to a consistently high standard by that time. He went on to point out that civil service rules required him to consider the regularity, propriety, feasibility and value for money of public spending.  FT

Hunt says voters would pay an NHS tax

Health Secretarys direct challenge to Chancellor  Daily Telegraph

Treasury damps hopes of large NHS cash injection  FT

Jeremy Hunt has insisted that families would be more than willing to pay higher taxes to fund the NHS  as long as they knew the money would not be wasted. The Health Secretary was speaking at the launch of a major report warning households they face a 2,000-a-year tax rise to save the Health Service. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said taxation may need to rise to historically high levels in order to give the NHS the money it needs to cope with an ageing population. The economists said that to get the NHS back on track with targets that are currently being missed, funding increases of 4 per cent a year would be required over the next 15 years. Mr Hunts intervention comes as senior Brexiteers demanded Theresa May honour the Leave sides pledge during the EU referendum campaign to spend an extra 350million a week on the NHS.  Daily Mail

Comment:

Is the public ready to foot the bill for health and social care?  Nancy Kelley, Times Red Box

>Today: ToryDiary: We cant just tax our way to a better NHS

Gove may quarantine imported plant life

Trees could soon be quarantined on arrival to Britain to guard against foreign plant diseases, the government warned yesterday. The move follows two cases in which major threats to home-grown trees were blamed on plants commercially imported from Europe. To guard against future problems, Environment Secretary Michael Gove says trees and shrubs may be placed in secure areas for observation before they can be sold or planted on UK soil. We must seize every opportunity offered by Brexit to strengthen our biosecurity, he declared yesterday. Insects, fungi, bacteria and invasive weeds all present a risk to British trees. Millions of ash trees are already at risk of ash dieback virus which was first found in a consignment of trees sent from a nursery in the Netherlands to one in Buckinghamshire in 2012.  Daily Mail

Gauke says ex-offenders can bolster the workforce

Prison governors afraid to take controversial decisions after Worboys  Daily Telegraph

Ministers blasted for incompetence over bid to improve criminal records checks  The Sun

Ex-offenders could help bolster the UKs workforce after Brexit, the Justice Secretary claimed today as he unveiled new training scheme to cut re-offending. David Gauke for a culture change in how employers perceive former prisoners. His plans could see more inmates let out temporarily to go to work to improve their job prospects after release. Mr Gauke said ex-prisoners could fill jobs in catering or agriculture if Brexit delivers the planned curbs to low skill migration. Under the reforms, ministers are also considering offering National Insurance holidays to businesses which hire individuals who have served their sentences. Another scheme to recruit them directly into the Civil Service is being drawn up. The Government will continue to support pilot projects where prisoners are given laptops or tablets in their cells so they can take part in education classes.  Daily Mail

Comment:

How we can get prisoners off the wings and into the workplace  David Gauke, Times Red Box

Not every prisoner will leave with a degree, what of the rest?  Will Heaven, Daily Telegraph

Williamson demands more Armed Forces cash

The UKs only defence to aggressors could be nuclear if more money is not pumped into the Armed Forces, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson warned yesterday. Stepping up his battle for more resources from Chancellor Philip Hammond he said that without sufficient conventional forces Britain might have to turn to the greatest deterrence of them all. The Ministry of Defence faces a potential shortfall of 20billion over 10 years and is currently undergoing a defence review. It is also investing in the new generation nuclear deterrent Dreadnought submarines Downing Street last night played down claims that Mr Williamson was proposing using nuclear weapons more readily than had previously been considered.  Daily Express

Williamson warns against making UK over-reliant on nuclear deterrence  The Sun

Johnson spends 18 minutes talking to Russian-backed pranksters

UK accuses Kremlin over hoax callers  The Times

Boris Johnson spent 18 minutes on a phone call with pranksters pretending to the Armenian Prime Minister, it emerged today. The Foreign Secretarys long phone call touched on the UKs relationship with Russia, the nerve agent attack in Salisbury and the Iranian nuclear deal. Mr Johnson sounded particularly startled when the pranksters claimed Vladimir Putin had revealed he was influencing Jeremy Corbyn. But he finally rumbled the scam after 18 minutes and terminated the call. He did not reveal any sensitive information and spoke in similar terms as in media interviews. The call on May 8, which was connected by Foreign Office staff, eventually ended abruptly but pranksters successfully reaching the Foreign Secretary has raised security questions from critics of Mr Johnson.  Daily Mail

More:

Royal Navy intercepted Russian ships 33 times in 2017  FT

Fraser Nelson: Javid could be the leader the Tories have been waiting for

He isnt disliked, which counts for a lot at a time when Tory leadership elections are won by whoever has the fewest enemies. When he ran for the leadership two years ago, the junior partner on a joint ticket with the now-forgotten Stephen Crabb, they presented themselves as the nice guy duo. That was the biggest boast either could make, having not achieved much or made clear what they stood for. As Home Secretary, Mr Javid is making it clearer now: hes a reformer, someone who wants to change the tone of the party and is impatient for radical change. Someone whos sure of himself and his form of conservatism. Of course, it could all end horribly. He might end up stepping on one of the Home Office landmines, as Ms Rudd did. But if he survives, he might end up being seen as the best chance of restoring purpose and direction to a party in dire need of both.  Daily Telegraph

>Today: Iain Dales column: Will Javid deliver?

Hancock warns firms over spam emails

Lewis urges Labour to expel aide who joked about hanging May

Culture Secretary Matt Hancock warned firms not to cynically ask people to sign up to spam emails as new data laws come into force. Companies have asked millions of customers if they can continue to send them messages after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect. Some have been accused of using emotional blackmail and bribery to get people to opt in. Mr Hancock reminded businesses that the GDPR will make it illegal to email people without their permission.  The Sun

A Labour parliamentary aide who said Theresa May would look better with a noose around her neck must be kicked out of the party, Brandon Lewis has told Jeremy Corbyn. The Conservative Party chairman has written to Mr Corbyn to urge him to remove Paul Robertson, an assistant to Ian Lavery, the chairman of the Labour Party, over his violent, misogynistic comments. Mr Lewis said the remarks were deeply concerning and abhorrent as he said Mr Corbyn needed to act in order to live up to his promise of a kinder politics Mr Lewis said Mr Corbyn had failed to take swift action against abuse in the past and I hope you do not fail again. Mr Corbyns spokesman said on Wednesday that Mr Robertsons comments were unacceptable.  Daily Telegraph

Corbyn under fire from IRA victims

DUP say visit is snubbing victims of terror  The Times

Labour leader struggles to diffuse anger over backing for unification  Daily Mail

Corbyn says UK should be neutral in border poll  The Sun

but rejects claim he would push for united Ireland  The Guardian

and rules out Sinn Feins joint authority plan  News Letter

Jeremy Corbyn came under fierce attack yesterday when he failed to mention a prominent IRA murder victim in a speech near the scene of his death. Edgar Graham, a law lecturer, barrister and rising star of the Northern Ireland Assembly, was shot in the head by two IRA assassins at Queens University in Belfast in 1983. Aged 29, he was seen as a near-certain future leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and one IRA source said he was killed because he would have turned into too effective a political opponent. Mr Corbyn  on his first visit to Northern Ireland as Labour leader  gave a lecture at Queens about Brexit, the Irish border and the need to re-start devolved government in the province. But he angered Edgar Grahams sister Anne and families of other IRA victims by failing to condemn violence in the Troubles or even mention Mr Graham.  Daily Mail

Comment:

He acts like he wants peace, but we know what hed really do  Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph

Corbyns simplistic solutions threaten Northern Ireland  Oliver Kamm, The Times

as Labour MP brands him unfit to lead

Labours civil war burst into the open today as one of his own MPs said Jeremy Corbyn was unfit to lead. Moderate Ian Austin blasted the extreme views held by his party leader and accused him of hijacking Labour. The MP pointed to Mr Corbyns links to terror groups such as the IRA, Hezbollah and Hamas. And he also ripped into the leaders weak stance on anti-Semitism and Russia. Mr Austin, the MP for Dudley North, wrote on PoliticsHome: The fact is that Labour has never in its history had a leadership as far to the left as this one. Never. Mr Austin said it was just not true that the lefties connection to the IRA was only meant to help peace in Northern Ireland.  The Sun

SNP independence commission floats tax breaks to encourage immigration

No razzmatazz for this much-rewritten blueprint for breaking up Britain  Alan Cochrane, Daily Telegraph

Skilled immigrants could be offered income tax breaks to move to an independent Scotland, an SNP review published today will recommend despite ministers last month hitting middle-class Scots with an increase in the levy. The SNPs Sustainable Growth Commission report will suggest introducing a Come to Scotland golden hello including transition relief for some immigrants so they can offset their moving expenses against their income tax bills. The revised economic blueprint for separation also proposes introducing financial incentives for wealthy entrepreneurs to move north of the Border, retaining an extra 5,000 international students a year and a more liberal visa system to increase immigration levels. Andrew Wilson, the commissions chairman and a former SNP MP, said increasing the working age population was the greatest national challenge we have and warned of the threat to this posed by Brexit.  Daily Telegraph

Comment:

Davidson could be the leader of an independent Scotland  Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman

News in Brief:

The last thing the NHS needs is more funding  Ben Ramanauskas, CapX

Putins war in Ukraine has been a strategic disaster  Askold Krushelnycky, Reaction

We must reshape the debate around student debt  Luca Mattinson, 1828

The Tories are the masters of vice signalling  Nick Cohen, The Spectator

How digital dissidents are defying the despots  Ian Birrell, UnHerd

and finally: Osborne finds time for yet another job

No one could accuse George Osborne of taking it easy since he moved on from politics. Not content with editing Londons evening newspaper and advising the worlds largest fund manager  as well as taking on a range of academic appointments  the former chancellor has added one more role to his list of job titles. Mr Osborne, 47, has been appointed chairman of the newly formed partners council of Exor, the listed holding company of one of Italys wealthiest families, the Agnellis George Osborne will bring his unique knowledge and viewpoint to the councils work, added Mr Elkann, whose personal worth is estimated at more than $800 million. The Agnelli fortune is believed to be in excess of $13 billion. Mr Osborne said: I am delighted to have been asked to chair this impressive panel of business leaders.  The Times
Yesterday I reported on what my focus groups in Ballymena and Belfast had to say about Brexit, the border and the Union. Today, the view from the South.

One thing that united our focus groups in the Republic of Ireland  Fine Gael voters in Dublin and Fianna Fail supporters in the north-western city of Sligo  was the conviction that by voting for Brexit the UK had made a terrible mistake which it would regret, if it didnt already: They misunderstood what they were doing; Places like the North-East are wholly reliant on foreign investment. Its like turkeys voting for Christmas; It was for all the wrong reasons. We are Britain and were going to be great again, were not going to have the EU telling us what to do, we won the war.

In Ireland, wed have a second referendum to get the right result.

A few conceded that British voters might have a different perspective from their own: In Ireland, if we didnt have the EU, what would we be? Just a tiny little country. The UK are much more prominent in the global scheme of things and think theyre more self-sufficient, which they probably are. Still, in Ireland wed have a second referendum to get the right result.

Many feared that Brexit would have a massive impact on Ireland, especially on agriculture: If youre producing beef or dairy and your biggest market is across the Irish Sea Our biggest trade is with the UK, but thats all up in the air. The currency fluctuations are enormous.

Though there might be opportunities to attract British companies who wanted their headquarters in the EU, not everyone was optimistic on this score: If youre a UK company, your first look is Dublin, but its not that attractive. We have a housing crisis, an expensive health system, so the consequence of our policies is that we cant benefit from Brexit. We should be able to say over here, lads, but for most of the big corporations Dublin doesnt compete with Paris or Frankfurt.

We used to see the UK as a powerful country that knew how to organise itself in a time of crisis, but now they dont know what to do.

Another problem was uncertainty, exacerbated or at least prolonged by what they saw as the UKs inability to decide what it wanted: The British want to have their cake and eat it. Two years later no-one knows what they want, even the Tory party. Theresa May says one thing and Boris Johnson says another. Until they decide, we might as well sit and wait; They cant make up their mind. We used to see it as a powerful country that knew how to organise itself in a time of crisis, but now they dont know what to do; When there are negotiations with other countries its usually Ireland who say itll be all right on the night and its the UK saying this is how its going to be. So its a complete role-reversal.

I cant believe MI5 arent saying to Theresa May, whatever you do, love, dont have border posts.

As with the Nationalists we spoke to in Belfast, our Dublin and Sligo focus groups were at least as unhappy with the symbolism as the practicalities when it came to the prospect of a hard border, and the feeling that it would be a backward step: It would be so sad to see. Its putting us back in time. The whole politics of the past; To me its not a different country. We travel freely up and down; Theyre saying its not a military border, its a customs border, but people still see it as a border; We thought we were moving on, the border had been taken away, were working together, this is good. There were also fears over peace and security: Once you start talking about borders and checkpoints again, its bringing it all back, that rawness; I cant believe MI5 arent saying to Theresa May, whatever you do, love, dont have border posts.

They also thought that committed Unionists in Northern Ireland would support a border as a way to emphasise its separateness: They would build the border themselves if they had the tools and werent 85.

While there were mixed views about Leo Varadkar (a breath of fresh air, young and different, trying to engage in the way life is going for our Fine Gael voters; out of touch, out of his depth, the Taoiseach of Dublin for our Fianna Fail supporters three hours to the west), most agreed that his stance on Brexit was clear and right. They also respected the way he had apparently marshalled senior EU figures to support the countrys position: Hes been hardcore holding the line. It shows good leadership qualities; He has done well to articulate the case and bring European leaders to the table saying the Irish border situation will be protected; If Brexit goes ahead, Ireland will do well because of the friends it has made in the EU.

There will be a political fudge somewhere along the way.

Nevertheless, there was a widespread expectation that the worst would be avoided, and the posturing would resolve itself in traditional European fashion: There will be a political fudge somewhere along the way; The British government will use us as a bargaining tool to get support from the Irish government for a trade deal; Therell be no border. It will be resolved; Just leaving would be a foolish way of doing it. I dont think theyll do that.

I would love Northern Ireland to be part of this country but we cant afford it.

Both sets of participants in the Republic were somewhat ambivalent to the idea of Irish unification, at least in the short term: I would love Northern Ireland to be part of this country, but we cant afford it. Its a black hole that the British government pours money into. We would wake up on 1st January with a 12 billion deficit; The politicians have to say they want a united Ireland but I dont think its really on their list; Were so much better than forty years ago, but theyve stagnated. Isnt 60 per cent of their economy reliant on the public sector? Some even seemed disturbed by the idea that Brexit might be the spur to a border poll: Would it just be the North who get to vote?
Iain Dale is Presenter of LBC Drive, a columnist and broadcaster, and a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

Sajid Javid has done well in his first three weeks as Home Secretary. On Wednesday, he addressed the Police Federation conference in Birmingham  always a tricky experience for any holder of his office.

Theresa May was usually received with outright hostility from her audience which, given what she was saying to them, was hardly surprising. Amber Rudd fared little better, even though she was slightly more conciliatory.

Javid sent the police a message that he gets it, and understands their need for extra resources. He seems determined to rebuild the relationship between the Government and the police, and some will say thats not before time.

He even got some laughs from his difficult audience, and at the end they applauded. He said what they wanted to hear, but the question is: when the time comes, can he deliver? Or perhaps more importantly, will he be allowed to deliver?

         

All my instincts tell me that we are reaching crunch point on Brexit.

The Commons will soon be debating Lords amendments on the Brexit Bill, and even though Jeremy Corbyn may ride to Theresa Mays rescue on some of them, there are a couple over which the more devout Conservative Remainers could force through amendments.

Paul Waugh of the Huffington Post has calculated that only 13 of them need to vote against the Government line to trigger a defeat. If they do that on any of the more significant amendments, designed in effect to wreck a proper Brexit, who knows what the consequences may be?

If the Prime Minister doesnt make this an effective vote of confidence, it may well be that her position becomes (yet again) very shaky indeed. Its time for her to come out fighting, and give a lead. Shes at her best when she does that  even though there are huge risks for her.

         

GDPR. What a load of old bollocks.

         

In ten years at Biteback, I published more than 600 books by around 500 different authors. On Tuesday, I announced I was stepping down as Managing Director and leaving the company. I cant pretend it wasnt a wrench, but it was the right thing to do. Ill be replaced by former SAS soldier and best-selling author Andy McNab.

Dealing with some authors over the years has been an absolute pleasure. Dealing with others has left me so exasperated that Ive wanted to kill some of them with my bare hands. The difference between me and Andy McNab is that Ive only wanted to do that. He is actually capable of doing it! Now theres an incentive to deliver a manuscript on time if ever there was one!

         

Ive just watched Emily Maitliss 20 minute interview with Steve Bannon on Newsnight. She really does get the big US interviews. It was a fascinating tussle, which I urge you to watch on the BBC iPlayer. She got a lot out of him because she didnt try to trick him, even though you could tell her underlying hostility from her demeanour. Given Bannons reputation and his cosying up to European fascists, that was understandable.

She had clearly worked out that socking it to him wouldnt have got her anywhere, so she adopted a more conversational style. It fascinates me that Bannon is still operating as an outrider for Trump, given that the President rejected and sacked him. Personal loyalties can often transcend business decisions. Bannons loose tongue cost him his job, but he remains loyal to the man whose benefaction in part created him. Bannon doesnt expect Trump to ever acknowledge that, but there are lessons there for many of us.

         

On Wednesday night, I hosted a pub quiz night for parliamentary researchers. They were quite a boisterous lot! So much so that I had almost lost my voice by the end of the evening.

When I walked in and met one of the organisers, I thought I recognised him, but couldnt quite place him. It turned out that six or seven years ago I judged him the winner in a schools debating competition. I was glad to know that at the age of 55, my memory is still more or less intact!

        

On Sunday, I travelled to Bath to record an episode of the podcast I do with Jacqui Smith, For the Many, at the Bath Festival. Normally, we record it on a Sunday morning with her at her home in Malvern and me in Kent.

It was rather strange to record it face to face in front of an audience. We normally degenerate into smutty humour towards the end, but this week I just couldnt do that, with her sitting next to me.

I think she felt the same. Isnt that odd? I suppose its the equivalent of people writing things in a letter which they cant say face to face. The internet has ruined the art of letter-writing. Writing an email is just not the same.
The coming NHS spending announcement is the strangely-conceived love child of Jeremy Hunt and Dominic Cummings. From Hunt comes a new outspokenness  a product of his accumulated experience as Health Secretary, Theresa Mays loss of a Commons majority, and his consequent unsackability. He wants a ten year funding plan for the service. From Cummings comes his focus groups  and the stress they placed, pre-EU referendum, on more money for the NHS. In Government, Boris Johnson has pressed for that famous 350 million a week to be found for the service, almost as though this were a Vote Leave government, which for better or worse it is not. Hunt, the former Remainer, and Johnson, the committed Leaver, are united in wanting more public money. Theresa May has been unable to hold out against their lobbying, plus more from a mass of the usual suspects, as the NHSs 70th anniversary approaches in July.

How much more cash? One account has it that Hunt wants three per cent more a year. The Health Foundation and the Institute of Fiscal Studies are calling for four per cent. Thats roughly the figure that Simon Stevens, whose influence on the politics of healthcare is greater even than Hunts, requires for his five year plan. The background is familiar: an ageing population and rising health costs. How to pay for it? The Health Secretary has cited economic growth and tax rises. Others seem to have more confidence in the latter than the former. Nick Boles wants National Insurance to become National Health Insurance. Nick Macpherson also wants an earmarked health tax. Hes a former Treasury Permanent Secretary, and his call is a raspberry to the departments orthodoxy. David Willetts, urging his own menu of rises, says that the age of tax cuts is over. Everywhere you look its tax, tax, tax.

Certainly, it is impossible to see how health and social care costs can be met without those who use them paying more. But Hunt is not alone in wanting more money for his department. Gavin Williamson is calling for more resources for defence: as coincidence would have it, an annual three per cent rise in the defence budget would cost roughly the same as Cummings 350 a week. Only yesterday, Sajid Javid threw his newly-increased political weight behind more resources for the police. Where they go, others will follow. Local authorities are knocking on James Brokenshires door. Teachers campaigning for more money for schools paid a part in last summers Conservative election reverse. The Treasury is apparently holding out for an NHS rise of two per cent only. Which brings us to the politics of spending as well as the finances.

George Osbornes long squeeze has paid off. The deficit is now at its lowest as a proportion of GDP for some 15 years. In his Budget, Philip Hammond promised a balanced approach between the competing claims of reducing debt, cutting tax and raising spending. A flexible approach is inevitable given the exigencies of Brexit. But adaptability is one thing and recklessness quite another. There is a lotus-eating mood among some Tory MPs. Spooked by Jeremy Corbyns general election revival, and under pressure in their constituencies from the lobbies, there is a sense among some that, after years of relative restraint, the Chancellor should turn on the spending taps. A re-Instagrammed Liz Truss is making the case for keeping the roof maintained while the sun is still out. That is part of the point of FREER.

Sajid Javids instincts are for prudence, for all yesterdays warmth for the police. So are David Gaukes. But, with a departmental spending review looming next year, it is unclear how many of their Cabinet colleagues take the same view. Nor is the Chancellor operating from a position of strength. It was Greg Clark, not Hammond, who recently fronted the case for the customs partnership on TV, and the Chancellors absence from the public debate suggests that the schemes supporters believe that his weighing-in would be counter-productive. The Prime Minister distanced herself from Osbornes approach even before last summers electoral reverse. Her launch speech for the Conservative leadership spoke of economic reform. Her first Party Conference speech challenged Mark Carneys record on monetary policy. He slapped her down and no more was heard of it.

One outcome is certain. Voters complain when they think the NHS is starved of funds  and of cash being wasted and of the service being ripped off  but their gratitude for new money is strictly limited. Much of any further increase will vanish into the system. Anger may be staved off but gratitude will be in short supply. Meanwhile, Britain cannot be taxed into prosperity. Any new rises must be balanced against consequent reductions elsewhere. How  given the pressures we describe? And from where? The Conservative Party hasnt thought afresh about the challenge since its opposition days, the best part of ten years ago. As Steve Moore pointed out on this site recently, part of the rationale of David Camerons Big Society was that it would come with a Jean Chretien-type public spending review  and more reform. Those new Tory think-tanks and the Treasury should be dusting down the Partys recent history.
Experts say significant population growth is one contributing factor

A new study conducted by researchers from the Earth Institute at Columbia University found that extreme heat and humidity levels in cities around the globe have increased significantly since the 1980s.

Their work revealed that these heat conditions have tripled in recent decades due to substantial population growth in urban areas and rising global temperatures.

This has broad effects, said researcher Cascade Tuholske. It increases morbidity and mortality. It impacts p...
The 2nd Annual Internet of Manufacturing Midwest 2018 event at the Hyatt Magnificent Mile, in the heart of downtown Chicago, is on June 6 and 7, 2018. CFE Media is a media partner for this event, which brings together 300+ leading manufacturing experts from companies such as ThyssenKrupp, Whirlpool, GE Aviation, Salesforce, Ford, BUNN, Nalco Water, C3 IoT, Stanley Black & Decker and many more to share their expertise on how to implement the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

With the pressure on manufacturers to reduce costs, increase production uptime and improve product integrity remains the core focus of manufacturing companies. In the digital era, data can open a new horizon of opportunities to cut operational costs and become more efficient. For that reason, its now more crucial than ever for manufacturers to learn how the IIoT, AI, edge computing, and other digital transformation tools can help reshape production.

This years program will delve into manufacturing applications of predictive maintenance, AI, automation, additive manufacturing and cover how the IIoT is strengthening the links between the production line, product design, engineering, and supply chain.

 Edited from a Internet of Business press release by CFE Media. Internet of Business is a CFE Media content partner.
CORNWALL, Ontario  In the early 1950s, the Clercs de St. Viateur opened the Classical College in Cornwall. The College was open from 1955 until 1968, but the students who attended that school during those 13 years still have fond memories.

Those years were jewels as far as Francophone culture and education were concerned, said Andre Vermette, a graduate of the college who was one of the students who boarded at the school.

Vermette and his fellow alumni are organizing a reunion in honour of the 50th anniversary of the colleges last year.

The event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018 at the Nav Centre.

We want to invite anyone who had any ties to the college in the community, said Vermette.

The Cornwall Classical College was located in Cornwalls East End where St. Lawrence College is now. Through a partnership program with the University of Ottawa, the college offered a classical Liberal Arts education for students from Grade 9 right up until they graduated eight years later with their Bachelor of Arts degree.

Pierre Guindon, another graduate from the college who grew up in Cornwall said that this classical education has influenced him throughout his life.

My love of classical music started there, he said. The first classical piece I heard was Bolero by Ravel.

Guindon went on to transfer to the University of Ottawa. After he graduated he played in the CFL for the Winnepeg Blue Bombers and the Montreal Alouettes before becoming Solicitor for the City of Cornwall.

The Classical College was not just restricted to male students however, female students like Madeleine Fournier were allowed in the college at the post-secondary level.

Alumni of the Cornwall Classical College or community members who supported the school are all invited to the reunion in September.

Those interested in tickets or more information are asked to reach out to Ronald Lalonde at lalonderonald@gmail.com
UPDATE: for more information about the walk, please email Melissa Ferguson at lil_fergy_333@yahoo.ca and Melanie Brisson at melanieb711@gmail.com.

CORNWALL, Ontario  The WALK for ALS will be happening on June 2 this year, starting at St. Lawrence College at 9:30 a.m. Mark Vivarais, 61, was diagnosed with ALS in December of 2017 and is this years WALK for ALS ambassador.

Mark was really inspired to take on an advocating role for the disease after meeting the husband of a 29-year-old Ottawa woman who was recently diagnosed with ALS. So when ALS Canada contacted Mark about the walk, he quickly agreed to be the local face for this years fundraiser.

Even though I have it, I think it hurt me more knowing that young girl has it, said Mark.

Mark is greatly supported by his wife of over 40 years, Sandra Vivarais, and his entire family. All five of his grandchildren will be attending the walk, including Keaten Ayotte, 3, who helps Mark with everything he can.

According to Sandra, ALS Canada has been very supportive in providing equipment and services to help with the disease. But she understands that accommodating people with ALS can become a heavy financial burden.

If they need different equipment for all the stages of the disease, it becomes really costly, said Sandra. Thats why ALS Canada is so important.

The Vivarais are hoping to surpass last years donations and raise $35,000. They are eternally grateful for all the support and donations theyve received so far.

You know what I wish people would do? said Mark. Just take their time and say why a cup of coffee this morning? Why not put it towards someone that could really use it?

To donate online, go to www.walkforals.ca/cornwall or www.alsevents.ca/TEAMVivarais.
CORNWALL, Ontario  The Ontario Law Enforcement Torch Run is the largest grass-roots fundraiser supporting the Special Olympics.

For 31 years, the Cornwall Community Police Service (CCPS) have done their part to support the cause, and this year was no different. On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, the CCPS helped escort a parade of supporters as they carried a Special Olympics torch through Cornwall in support of the Special Olympics.

Along the way, walkers were encouraged to collect money in cans from local passersby and businesses.

The run started at the CCPS East End Station on Montreal Rd., then traveled down to CCVS via Sydney St. before ending at Baxtroms Your Independent Grocer.

Walking with the police this year were students from CCVS, St. Lawrence Secondary School and Beyond 21, who have been a part of the Torch Run for the past three years.

Last year, the Torch Run raised $1.5 million across Ontario for Canadian Special Olympic athletes.
Private equity firm Apax Partners announced that it is poised to buy Expereo, a global managed internet and cloud access provider based in the Netherlands, from investment giant The Carlyle Group.

Expereo has more than doubled earnings in the four years since it was purchased by Carlyle Group in 2014, and CEO Irwin Fouwels expects this to accelerate under the new owners. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed and the deal remains subject to legal and regulatory approvals.

With Apax Partners, we have a new partner who will continue to invest in Expereos strategic growth and development, through enhancement of our product portfolio, complementary acquisitions, and delivering ever higher standards of excellence in our global go-to-market execution and service, Fouwels said in a statement.

Expereo, one of the worlds largest managed internet network and cloud connectivity solutions providers, has more than 11,500 enterprise and government sites under management across over 190 countries. The company reported revenue of $107 million in fiscal 2017.

An Expereo company spokesman told CRN that many businesses are adding more connectivity and bandwidth, which will continue to drive Expereos growth. The spokesman said Expereo also provides clients with SD-WAN managed services and support from multiple vendors.

What we see more and more is that enterprises around the world are embracing, theyre including more internet connectivity in their network, the spokesman said. Our value is that we can provide that. Were currently connecting companies across about 190 countries. We have a huge amount of suppliers, we have about 3,000 suppliers that we manage across the world. Through them we provide the connectivity. 

It is known for providing optimized internet services to keep clients linked world wide, including places with marginal IT infrastructure, using two of the companys major products: XCA Edge and XCA Accelerated Cloud Access, the spokesman said.

So if you have a U.S. company and they have an office in Singapore, Expereo told CRN. They might be trying to use Office 365 from a data center in the US. The experience isnt always going to be great. So we have hubs that run our XCA platform that optimize that connection, so it's fast and employees are as productive as possible.

Thomas de Villeneuve, a partner at Paris-based Apax said they are looking forward to working with Fouwels and the team that hes assembled.

Expereo meets all the criteria we look for when investing: a strong management team with a clear strategic vision and the ability to execute it, highly differentiated and innovative value propositions and technologies and leading positions in the very attractive cloud services and software defined networking global markets, he said in a statement. Our investment also materializes our strong will to invest in Dutch leading companies.
HP Inc. is advancing beyond the early-adopter stage with its 3-D printing technologies and is poised to generate massive opportunities for channel partners to expand into 3-D as a new area, HP executives told CRN.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company is also seeing wins in other 3-D technologies with its "immersive computing" products such as the Sprout Pro, which enables simple 3-D scanning of objects.

[Related: HP CTO Lays Out A Vision Of 'Fully Digital,' On-Demand Manufacturing]

But there will be some new skills and investments needed for partners that want to get involved with HP's 3-D portfolio, executives told CRN this week during the HP Global Innovation Summit 2018, held outside Barcelona at the company's 3-D technologies hub in Sant Cugat.

Selling 3-D technologies is all about deeply understanding the specific applications that end customers will be using them for, said Ramon Pastor, vice president and general manager for HP's Jet Fusion 3-D printer business.

"It's not like re-selling a PC or a desktop printer," Pastor said. "You need to sell applications. You need to have knowledge of the technology -- where it makes sense, where it doesn't make sense."

In the second half of this year, HP plans to launch four new Jet Fusion 3-D printer models, which will be known as the 300 series and 500 series and will be focused on prototyping.

The models will feature the same technology of the original 4210/4200 models -- which have focused on printing final production parts -- but will have a smaller footprint and lower cost in order to reach a broader set of customers.

HP is also launching a separate channel program for the new Jet Fusion 3-D printers that doesn't require partners to provide servicing.

"We're investing on HP support, which means we will enable partners with the 300/500 series to not have to invest in support capabilities to be able to make this technology available to their customers," said Alex Monino, HP's vice president of global strategy and business management for 3-D printing. "So that means we will get a wider network of partners, including from the traditional HP partners."

Interest from channel partners is "very high," Monino said. "We get a lot of calls, a lot of interest. But really we're making sure people understand that this is not just adding another SKU to your PC portfolio that you have."

Pastor said that selling the 3-D printers will be a "consultative sale" that will require partners to have a dedicated salesforce, which "knows the technology and can do a good job positioning the technology."

The Jet Fusion printers may also require a lengthy sales cycle, he said.

"It's not one call and you sell it. It's a sales cycle that takes months. And they need to be prepared to do this journey with us," Pastor said. "So setting the expectation is very, very important."

Likewise, the novelty of the Sprout Pro is requiring some extra sales efforts in the channel. The Sprout Pro combines a PC with 3-D and 2-D scanning, a touch-screen mat and a projector--and is targeted for end users in both the education market and commercial industries.

Harrisburg, Pa.-based D&H Distributing, for instance, has been on the front lines of evangelizing the Sprout Pro to the SMB reseller community.

D&H has aimed to help HP and partners seize the opportunity by sending one of its business development managers -- formerly a 25-year veteran of HP -- into the field to demonstrate the technology, said Greg King, HP Business Unit senior director at D&H Distributing.

"He's been running around the country demonstrating the Sprout and helping partners do demos on the Sprout, to help partners get some sales going on that," King said. "It's still at the early stages, but it's a product that really needs to be demonstrated. You've got to see it in action."

In terms of 3-D printing, Monino said the new Jet Fusion printers will be an especially good fit for channel partners that already sell products to engineering teams, such as workstations.

"If they have access to engineering teams--they sell into segments where they access to designers and engineering teams--we will have programs to enable them to play with significantly low investment," Monino said.

Additionally, the new Jet Fusion printers could be a great addition to partners that already work with 3-D software vendors such as SolidWorks and Siemens, he said.

Technical know-how will be a must, Monino added.

"This requires a group of dedicated salespeople that are specially trained ... You need a level of deep technical engineering in order to have a meaningful discussion with them -- and to know the right materials, what mechanical properties this is going to have, what the accuracy is that I can achieve," he said. "It's not something that just a regular reseller selling PCs can handle."

However, "they can make a plan to handle it -- that's why we're working with them," Monino said.
When it comes to address the European Union's new data regulations, many consulting firms assumed their clients had nothing in place and would need to start from scratch.

But InteliSecure took a different approach, according to CTO Jeremy Wittkop.

The Greenwood Village, Colo.-based solution provider conducted a gap analysis of its clients, Wittkop said, and found that most customers were already between 70 percent and 85 percent compliant. Most of InteliSecure's clients had both the technology and data security controls needed to be compliant in place, Wittkop said, and were working to ensure they had all forms of sensitive personal data covered.

[RELATED: 13 Big Bets Security Vendors And Partners Have Made To Help Customers Become GDPR Compliant]

Wittkop said InteliSecure's customers therefore usually ended up focusing on modifying their programs and procedures to ensure they fulfilled the intent and spirit of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, which were adopted in April 2016 and started being enforced today. The policy aims to give EU citizens and residents greater control over how their personal data is used.

The most common areas of GDPR where clients have been coming up short have included consent requests, complying with the right to be forgotten, and providing an explanation around how they're planning to use or process an individual's data, according to Wittkop. Organizations have also needed to address policies that are no longer allowed under GDPR, he said, such as buying and selling list of names.

The new GDPR requirements are considered to be the toughest in the world, with violators subject to fines of up to 4 percent of global revenue or 20 million Euros  whichever is higher  for non-compliance. GDPR requires businesses to be transparent about how user data is being handled, and to get an individual's permission before the data can be used.

EU citizens and residents can also ask technology firms, banks, retailers or other businesses what information they hold about them, and then request for it to be deleted. And if a user suspects their information is being misused or collected unnecessarily, they can set an investigation in motion by complaining to their county's data protection regulator.

Many technology companies are rolling out GDPR-related changes beyond Europe since it's hard to determine the citizenship of people logging in to use services, extending clearer explanations as well as new protections to U.S. citizens. However, citizens outside the European Union don't have any recourse if they still have a problem with a company's practices.

Channel partners attuned to GDPR have largely focused on conducting assessments to determine where a customer's GDPR-relevant data resides and how it flows into, through, and out of the organization. But some like Accudata Systems, No. 200 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, go beyond the preliminary data mapping to provide policy development assistance and remediation services.

The Houston-based solution provider takes an in-depth dive into the customer's policy process to understand how it works and interacts with GDPR, according to Advisory Services Principal Paul Kendall. Any aspects of GDPR that need to be codified in policy such as data retention and managing encryption can both be written and shepherded through the firm's engagement process by Accudata, Kendall said.

From a remediation perspective, Kendall said Accudata's risk and compliance group can help organizations develop strategies and implement an incident response plan.

And for businesses looking to take an approach to GDPR that goes beyond just legal remedies, Finnish tech evangelist Juda Sallinen launched a company two years ago that does exactly that. Sallinen left Veritas at the end of 2016 and launched GDPR Tech, which focuses on addressing security, information governance, legal, and people and processes consideration around the impending regulation.

Sallinen said he's found that information governance is often the biggest area of deficiency for businesses since a good number haven't even had any kind of documented risk assessment. GDPR Tech also focuses on helping clients understand where data comes into the company, Sallinen said, as well as what kinds of risks they're assuming when hiding that data.
Ponant's Le Laperouse has passed its first set of sea trials off the coast of Norway, according to a statement. The first of six 180-guest Explorer-class ships for the French brand will be delivered from VARD next month.

These sea trials were a real success for the company. Remarkable nautical performance, technical excellence and a high standard of comfort; everything is in place for our Ponant Explorers to be a real triumph, sauid Jean Emmanuel Sauvee, CEO.

It is also the first of a new wave of expedition ships, with 28 new vessels scheduled for delivery between now and 2022, according to the 2018 Cruise Industry News Expedition Market Report.

The ship will debut in Iceland in June, heading then to the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Asia and the Far East.

She will be followed by five more identical ships, including Le Champlain later this year. That ship recently arrived in Norway in late April, having been tranferred from a shipyard in Romania. The first cruise is scheduled for October 25.

Next year, Ponant welcomes Le Bougainville and Le Dumont-d'Urville.

In 2020, Le Bellot and Le Surville follow, with the steel cutting for those two vessels recently taking place at a VARD facility in Romania.

Photos by Philip Plisson / Ponant
The Costa neoRiviera will transfer to AIDA Cruises in late 2019, according to a statement. The 1999-built ship will join the AIDA Selection fleet, along with the AIDAaura, AIDAcara and AIDAvita, traveling what the company called "unusual" routes.

"The feedback we have received from our guests and the high demand for our AIDA Selection program continually inspires us to keep expanding our variety of routes and to call at new dream destinations in the most beautiful regions in the world," commented Felix Eichhorn, president. "Therefore, we are very pleased to have found with the Costa neoRiviera the perfect ship within the Costa Group for our explorer fleet at such short notice. Many of our guests have been hoping for AIDA cruises to South Africa for a long time. I am pleased that we are now able to fulfill this wish."

Before going into service, the 1,248-guest ship will be remodeled and refurbished.

AIDAmira will depart on its maiden voyage on December 4, 2019, in Palma de Mallorca.

Later that month, she will move to Africa, sailing a 14-day cruise from Cape Town with port calls in Durban, East London and Luderitz on the edge of the Namib desert and also overnighting in Walvis Bay.

The ship originally launched service for Festival Cruises in 1999, built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique.
The second of Hurtigrutens advanced hybrid battery-powered expedition ships, the Fridtjof Nansen, is also delayed, the company announced in a letter sent to travel agents and guests on May 24.

The ship, like its sister the Roald Amundsen, is under construction at the Kleven shipyard in Norway.

Earlier this year, the yard informed us that due to the complexity of the construction of the Roald Amundsen, they will not be able to deliver the ship as scheduled, Hurtigruten said, as the delivery of the first ship was pushed back to spring 2019, an eight-month delay.

Unfortunately, we have just been informed by the yard that this delay will also affect the construction of the Fridtjof Nansen, and the yard will not be able to deliver her as scheduled. This delay is linked to the yards challenges with the delivery of the Road Amundsen, Hurtigruten said.

Hurtigruten is issuing full refunds, including flight cancellation costs to guests, and presenting them with alternative sailings.

Roald Amundsen's first voyage is now expected to depart on May 3, 2019 from Lisbon, while a delivery date for the Fridtjof Nansen has yet to be announced.

Kleven shipyard faced financial issues in 2017 and was subsequently bailed out by a consortium of investors, led by Hurtigruten, which combined with other parties to take a 40 percent interest in the yard.
BRIDGEPORT  City police charged one woman after an assault involving two women, a baby and knife near the Bridgeport train station recently, an incident report said.

Tyquashaya Hairston, 20, of Hartford, was charged with third-degree assault, second-degree breach of peace, second-degree threatening, carrying a dangerous weapon and risk of injury.

On May 4, officers patrolling in the area of the train station, at 710 Water St., saw two people arguing in the middle of Water Street across from the train station.

The officers saw the suspect, later identified as Hairston, start to hit the victim with her hands and feet, the incident report said. Officers quickly separated the two women and detained them for questioning.

One witness, a Greater Bridgeport Transit employee, told officers he saw Hairston harass another woman in the bus terminal. He told police he heard Hairston say, she was going to stab (the victim) and then displayed what he believed to be a knife, the incident report said.

Another witness and the victim reiterated what the GBT employee told police.

The victim admitted she used pepper spray, which did not hit Hairston. She told police Hairston threatened to stab her and her baby. She said her and Hairston, have long-standing issues and they have fought in the past, the incident report said.

Hairston told police the victim was the aggressor. She admitting brandishing a knife in an effort to get the other woman to leave her alone.

The victim was released from custody. Police arrested Hairston. Two knives were taken from Hairstons purse and logged as evidence. She was held on a $10,000 bond and appeared in court on May 7.

Court records showed she was released on a promise to appear after her May 7 court date. She was scheduled to be arraigned on May 16., but no further updated court records were immediately available.
BRIDGEPORT  Gateway Community College celebrated its 26th commencement ceremony Thursday, conferring 1,132 degrees and certificates to the class of 2018.

At Webster Bank Arena, families, friends and loved ones sat in the crowd to watch dreams come true. Most parents looked on from their seats, but a few walked the stage with their children as they accepted degrees together.

Erika Chavez Cardenas and her 21-year-old son, Sergio Rincon Chavez, started and finished college together. Cardenas started at Gateway only taking English as a Second Language courses but her son encouraged her to go for a degree.

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

He gave me the little push to jump on the college, she said.

Through school they leaned on one another to be study partners for the three classes they took together.

We are so excited because weve been working so hard, Cardenas said. It was like working on a team. I feel more close to my son.

After graduation Cardenas is going to pursue education at the University of Connecticut for dentistry and has been accepted to Yale Summer Enrichment Medical Academy. Chavez is transferring to Southern Connecticut State University to pursue a bachelors degree in computer science.

Before I didnt feel confident in myself, but knowing Im graduating with my associates I feel like going for more, Chavez said. Now Im trying to go for my bachelors and go for my masters. I feel pretty excited right now, a little bit nervous but pretty excited. ... It makes it more exciting to do it together.

The youngest graduate was 16-year-old Klotoume Kromah from West Africa. Since she was in middle school, every time she would be set to move up a grade, her teachers said she needed to go even higher. She started college when most teenagers are beginning high school.

I feel amazed because its a really big achievement to be able to graduate at a very young age and to see people who are older than me graduating, I think I have a chance they might not have had and I need to use it in the best way I can, she said.

Kromah wants to earn a bachelors degree in biology and go pre-med to eventually become a doctor.

During the ceremony, the college gave special awards to two community members: New Haven Mayor Toni N. Harp and Larry Bingaman, president and chief executive officer of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority.

Harp received the Presidents Award for her social justice advocacy, longtime service to New Haven and leadership as the citys 50th mayor and first African-American woman to hold the position.

Mayor Harps priorities are unwavering and fully transparent as she operates with the highest level of integrity for the people of New Haven, said Mary Ellen Cody, dean of development and community partnerships at Gateway. Present and growing initiatives of New Havens population are in the forefront of Mayor Harps leadership. Her compassion extends beneath the surface taking up serious concerns to solve poverty and homelessness. An advocate for womens rights with an intention for pay equity, Mayor Harp is fully engaged.

The college honored Bingaman by conferring an honorary associate degree in science upon him for his focus on sustainable and conscientious business practices and deep involvement in the New Haven community. Bingaman serves on the Presidents Executive Council for Gateway and sponsored a chemistry lab at the college.

Gateway alumnus and adjunct professor Edwin Martinez delivered the keynote address, speaking to graduates about achieving success when faced with doubt and sacrifices.

I dont believe in luck and if youre here today, luck has nothing to do with it, Martinez said. This is intentional. I urge you to succeed until you have nothing in common with those you have something in common with today and when you get to the doors of success, pry them open. There are two types of people and we all want the same thing, except one wants it more.

Martinez grew up and lives in the Fair Haven section of New Haven and graduated from Wilbur Cross High School. He sat in the same position 17 years ago as 2018s graduates did Thursday.

I cant tell you who exactly who spoke at my graduation or what the keynote speaker said or everyone who grabbed the microphone, but I remember telling myself Id like to hear from someone who has walked in my shoes, someone who had graduated from Gateway and reached some level of success, Martinez said. Be careful what you ask for, because life will put a microphone in front of you.

He added graduates should strive for the highest level of success because their graduation is a dream come true for many  more than only them.

What you have accomplished here today is not for you, its for those people who support you, whos dreams you will now fulfill and for those who will come after you who you can show it is possible, Martinez said.
STORY LINK Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) Exchange Rate Tumbles as UK GDP Misses its Mark

UK Q1 GDP Estimate Confirmed Soft  Pound (GBP) Exchange Rates Fall

Australian Dollar (AUD) Exchange Rates Prove Resilient  Geopolitical Concerns Ease

Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) Exchange Rate Forecast: BoE Rate Outlook Explored

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The Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate weakened on Friday, falling as investors responded to a disappointing Q1 GDP print.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed the UKs economic growth in the first quarter at 1.2% year-on-year, with the group recognising a pattern of slowing growth around consumer-facing industries.The most notable, however, was a -2.7% slowdown in the UKs construction sector, though a small contraction in business investment also raised some eyebrows.Analysts are currently split regarding the extent of influence that the severe storms had during this period, with the ONS downplaying the Beast from the East and the Bank of England (BoE) largely attributing to fall to the weather.The news is pertinent in that it could push the BoE even further away from hawkish policy measures in the coming months, but investors had largely already priced in a disappointing performance for the first quarter, perhaps negating the influence of this report.The Australian Dollar managed to climb against the Pound Sterling (GBP/AUD) on Friday, despite rather sudden shifts in market risk aversion.Geo-politically, investors were pleased to hear that North Koreas response to the US pulling out of the planned June summit was not outright hostile - with another summit still seeming to be on the table, if delayed.In other news, the US-China trade standoff appears to have massively cooled, with both leaders having sent top officials to hash out a deal over trade, investment and overarching intellectual property rights.In this regard, the trade row seems to have been shelved indefinitely, with China agreeing to the two key requests:1. China is to substantially reduce the bilateral trade deficit by expanding the import of US goods and services.- In exchange, US President Donald Trump has taken his tariff threat off of the table.And:2. China is to change technology licensing measures in its foreign trade laws which discriminate against holders of foreign intellectual property rights.Combined, this news increased risk appetite amongst investors, returning demand to the riskier commodity currencies like the Aussie Dollar.The outlook for the Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate could improve in the near-term, though this will be largely dependent on the performance of British data in Q2 and the response from the BoE.Investors were disappointed by the Q1 GDP result, but yesterdays rather upbeat UK retail sales report for Q2 seemed to indicate that it was a temporary blip, rather than evidence of an ongoing trend.More data will be required, however, before this outlook is certain.If a marked recovery does occur in the second quarter then we could see the BoE become increasingly hawkish, and the Pound gain in strength simultaneously.

International Money Transfer? Ask our resident FX expert a money transfer question or try John's new, free, no-obligation personal service! ,where he helps every step of the way, ensuring you get the best exchange rates on your currency requirements.

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Democrat AG Josh Shapiro set to announce for Pa. governor

His resume and fundraising ability make him a frontrunner in the eyes of several party leaders, as he enters the Democratic field unchallenged.
Between snarky remarks about the governments #FitnessChallenge having ulterior motives of preparing people to walk in the wake of rising fuel prices, critics and members of the Opposition issuing Prime Minister Narendra Modi challenges about Achhe Din, his college degree and other things and, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians uploading videos of them trying to exercise  Kiren Rijiju, Manoj Tiwari, Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Jayant Sinha and more  and sportspersons and sundry celebrities complying, the question that no one is asking is  who challenged Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to doing push-ups on Twitter? After all, this is what brought the Jane Fonda-like fitness craze into mainstream politics, days after the ruling party lost face in an uber-important state election!

#HumFitTohIndiaFit ????????????Post pictures and videos of how you keep yourself fit and send a #FitnessChallenge to your friends on social media. Here's my video ????and I challenge @iHrithik, @imVkohli & @NSaina to join in???? pic.twitter.com/pYhRY1lNEm  Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) May 22, 2018

A little bit of digging around and you will find that this fitness challenge has its origins, not in distractions from failures of the state, messy economic conditions and other governmental embarrassments, no. It is, in fact, yet another classic case of one-upmanship. And who else but Pakistan comes to mind when such exercises (pun unintended) take place.

Rathores frantic attempts to flex his muscle (physical, not political) is nothing but a long-delayed reaction to a challenge thrown at India by its loving neighbour.

Sardar Muhammad Bux Khan Mahar, a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and a young face in the Sindh provincial government, in 2016 set aside his partys socialist-progressive ideologies for a bit and got down to proving his machismo. The 30-year-old, newly appointed sports minister, in an online video, challenged the Punjab provincial ministers, especially the sports minister, to do 50 push-ups to prove they were as fit as him.

"I think no one can beat me in doing 50 push-ups," he said, adding, For the first time a sportsman will run this department.

Of course, Mahar was heavily criticised for engaging in the politics of push-ups, but not before the minister threw another tough challenge: "Let's have an arm-wrestling [match]. I'm ready for it. Are you?"

As of yet, the arm-wrestling challenge seems to have not been accepted by Indian politicians and BJP supporters. But it is only a matter of time before this too turns mainstream. After all, 2019's Lok Sabha polls are close by and nothing sells ones worth as a political heavyweight in India other than some Pakistan-bashing  mixed with aggressive machismo.

Also read: 20 years on, how I imagine the world looks to Harry Potter
Famously known as the father of modern political science, Niccolo Machiavelli (1467-1527) had argued that sometimes it is "a very wise thing to simulate madness". During the 1970s, this argument was known to be put in practice by the-then US President Richard Nixon. At the time, the idea was to project to the erstwhile USSR and the states in their block that the US president is capable of taking irrational decisions and is not afraid of starting an all-out war.

In the realm of international political system this concept is known as "madman theory". Is the current president of the US, Donald Trump, following similar philosophy or he is trying to establish his own theory of total irrationality? If not, then how can one explain his arbitrary decision of cancelling the talk with the DPRK leadership at Singapore on June 12, 2018?

Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, is no saint. However, international politics and diplomacy is actually not about engaging saints, but people with various good and bad traits. Trump who himself is not a saint clearly understands this, but it has been observed that, mostly craziness overpowers his rational thinking. His pulling of the Iran nuclear could be considered as the defeat of the European diplomacy particularly that of major powers like France, Germany and the UK. Now, his decision to postpone his meeting with Kim indicates the failure of South Korean efforts to make the DPRK a "normal" state.

Madman theory: US President Doland Trump

Is China the major factor for his pull-out? Just the other day, Trump had called names to the Chinese leadership and claimed that president Xi Jinping is one of the best poker player in the world. Trump feels that Kim has changed his approach to resolve the issue after he visited China recently. However, it would be naive for Trump to assume that China would not play their games. North Korea is a geopolitical pawn for China and for all these years they are using it to create checkmate situation mainly for powers like the US and Japan. So, the onus is on the US spin doctors to ensure that China remains suitably engaged.

Possibly, the US feels that by managing South Korea and Japan they can unilaterally resolve this issue, little they understand that their biggest adversaries namely, China and Russia share geographical borders with North Korea. To their good luck so far Russia has kept itself away from the present happenings, but how long?

South Korea appears to have done all possible to get the ball rolling. Even on part of North Korea it did some efforts like handing over the three US citizens. More importantly, it did destroy their nuclear weapon testing facility and also gave international media access to his. Unfortunately, immediately after the destruction of this facility which was in use since their first nuclear test in 2006, Trump decided to cancel the talks. This has definitely send a bad signal. Now, Kim would think twice before planning/doing any act for confidence building. Also, on the part of US and South Korea it could have been a good gesture not to conduct any military exercise, at least till Jun 12 meeting.

Fire and fury: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

If the US administration thinks that Libya model could be replicated for North Korea for denuclearisation then it is living in a fools paradise. Why would Kim agree for a process when he knows what fate Muammar Gaddafi has met with?

Today, a win-win situation is possible only when the US gives up the maximalist positon of total denuclearisation in immediate future. There is a need to give Kim some assurance that the US is serious about constructive engagement. Notionally, some sanctions could be removed by the US in order to begin the process of normalisation. May be initial engagement could began by providing some medical assistance etc. Even at somewhat later date, talks could began on restarting Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) and expand its scope.

Missile and nuclear issue is too sensitive and would require some out-of-the-box solutions. It is possible that during the last few weeks nothing substantial would have transpired amongst the deal-breakers from both the states and hence, the US administration would have thought of not continuing with the leadership-level summit.

However, it needs to be understood that even if the two leaders had discussed weather conditions in the meeting, it would have sent a major signal and at least some beginning would have been made. The onus was on the US to make this meeting happen and also if required to manipulate its success to certain extent. The likes of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo should have "created" and kept ready a face-saver for Trump as plan B.

Trump should understand that since Vietnam war none of the military successes of the US have helped them to resolve any conflict. Being a headstrong leader has limited utility. At times diplomacy is also about losing a battle to win a war.

Also read: Why Indians are obsessed with Kim Jong-un
Tuticorin at once reminds us of snipers and sharpshooters. One of them in a striking yellow shirt.

They seem to be calling the shots these days, celebrating the bloodbath of innocents, unprecedented in recent times. What seemed a distant phenomena in the Middle East, has suddenly come to stalk the political unconscious of the civil society in the heart of Tamil Nadus industrial hub. It has raised once again the simmering wounds of one-dimensional globalisation at all costs, even as ecology is subsumed by the brute power of profit, big corporations and multinational lobbies, while the mighty state chooses to become the armed pimp, on behalf of big business. The people, and the environment, can go get damned.

Spot the yellow dog: A policeman in plainclothes aiming a rifle at protesters as they marched to the Tuticorin Collectorate against the expansion of the Sterlite Copper plant owned by Vedanta. [Credit: Twitter]

Indeed, snipers and sharpshooters, often in "mufti", surrounded by hordes of armed security forces, seem to be in much demand these days by repressive regimes. At the Gaza Strip in recent times, Israeli snipers shot dead at least 60 unarmed protesters, including an eight-month old baby, picking up targets at random, and shooting at knees, chest, throat and faces, even while Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump, along with the Israeli establishment, celebrated with great glory, pomp and show, the symbolic "annexation" of East Jerusalem with the new American embassy. Thousands have been injured and hospitalised, in abysmal medical conditions, insulated, imprisoned and isolated by Israel in what is called the largest ghetto in the world.

#WATCH Local police in Tuticorin seen with assault rifles to disperse protesters demanding a ban on Sterlite Industries. 9 protesters have lost their lives. #TamilNadu. (Earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/hinYmbtIZQ  ANI (@ANI) May 22, 2018

Trump really cared a damn that almost the entire world, including most of Europe, does not recognise it, the United Nations calls it a violation of international norms, and the Palestinians of "Occupied Palestine" would always call East Jerusalem their real and imagined capital.

At Tuticorin, on May 22, the man with a yellow shirt, perched on the top of what appears to be a police van, surrounded by hordes of armed khaki personnel, seems to be inspired by the Israeli snipers. The sniper, among allegedly others in "civilian" clothes, was picking people at random, shooting to kill  as if Tuticorin is the Gaza Strip.

They killed my baby: The mother of the eight-month-old Palestinian infant who was killed by tear gas mourns as she carries her body during the funeral in Gaza. [Credit: Reuters]

Basic police parameters were not applied when face to face with protests, peaceful or violent. These parameters include police permission for the protest, awareness of the nature of protests and the organisers, early intelligence reports, multiple warnings on loud speakers, the use of water cannons, mild lathicharge, rubber bullets, and after more warnings, if the situation is ugly, violent and beyond redemption  firing. Even then, firing is meant to be on the knees  below the waist as the cliche goes.

However, as in Gaza, or in Kashmir, police firing seems to be almost always done to shoot and kill. In Kashmir, the pallets which blinded hundreds of young protesters, were another lethal method used to "crush" street protests. It basically implies one important fact  that the governments of the time believe that dissenters are all enemies and should be treated as such. As in war.

There has been a long and protracted war going on at Tuticorin against Vedantas Copper Smelter plants which apparently generates four lakh tonnes of copper per annum. It has been shut in recent times because it allegedly violated multiple environmental laws  which is denied by the London-based company. Vedanta is loved by various governments because of its deep pockets and reasonable disregard for social and ecological ethics.

It has acquired a certain pronounced global notoriety in terms of violating basic environmental norms, while backing multi-million projects, including mining in ecological hotspots such as Niyamgiri in western Odisha. Their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and PR apparatus often makes it look like the greatest symbol of development and philanthropy, but environmentalists as much as local and indigenous people who are directly hit by their huge projects, have seen through their game.

The controversial plant has been shut in Tuticorin for some time now, as in the past. Locals have accused Sterlite of polluting air and ground water. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had refused to pass Vedanta's licence to operate the smelter in April. It had categorically stated that the company did not comply with local environmental laws. The order was challenged by Sterlite. The next hearing is slotted on June 6. Sterlite has also been charged with dumping copper slag in a river and not providing factual documentation of groundwater condition of borewells around the plant.

In Tuticorn, the last 99 days witnessed mass peaceful protests. On March 24 earlier, there have been huge protests comprising thousands of people. The protest is not limited to the industrial site, but has struck a chord across the district. On May 22, locals knew that it will be a massive march, involving thousands. So, how come, the government, the district administration, the police and its bosses, missed this basic intelligence

Latest ground reports claim that the death count might increase. Petrol bombs were hurled by the protesters, vehicles were burnt, even ordinary people were attacked because they thought they were cops in civilian clothes. Scores of people are apparently hiding with serious wounds or gunshots. There are many under detention.

Up a blind alley: Kashmiri women protesting against the use of pellets in the Valley. [Credit: AP photo]

The Tamil Nadu government, led by the fledgling factions of the AIADMK, have defended the killings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweets routinely and has a lot of anecdotes to tell in his "Mann ki Baat"  has once again chosen abject silence. There are reports that Vedanta is allegedly one of the big backers of the BJP regime in Delhi. Almost the entire Tamil Nadu Opposition, including human rights groups and civil society members, have condemned the killings. The Madras High Court has ordered that the Sterlite Copper Smelter Plant will not operate until further orders.

The armed struggle of the Maoists, who do not believe in the Indian Constitution, in the mineral-rich jungles of Chhattisgarh and western Odisha, has effectively blocked the many MOUs signed by the Centre and state government with miscellaneous multi-national companies and Indian big business groups, even while the bloody war with ritualistic killings on both sides continues unabated.

What is ignored in the process are the many non-violent, peaceful, unarmed and constitutional struggles across the deep interiors of rural and tribal India against the entire might of corporates and the state, with social/political movements continuing for decades amid relentless repression and against all odds. And most of them are not led by any Left or radical group. They are mostly an indigenous synthesis of local dissent comprising multiple ideologies and political currents from Gandhi to Birsa Munda to Marxism-Leninism and socialism. Witness the killings of 13 tribals in cold blood in Kalinganagar in 2006 against a private steel plant.

Or the long non-violent struggles, facing jail, violence and police repression in the interiors of Kashipur in western Odisha against bauxite mining, or against the massive 12 billion Posco project of the South Koreans in Jagatsinghpur in Odisha. Even the peaceful Niyamgiri struggle against bauxite mining by the Vedantas, led by the Dongria tribes, with their women with flowers in their hair leading the struggle, has been a big success. Vedanta was just not able to violate environmental laws out there by hook or crook as the tribals in this sublime and beautiful eological hotspot, rejected the project, in one gram sabha after another.

Indeed, in contemporary India, from Nandigram to Singur, or Kundankulam to Jaitapur, human rights, land rights, fundamental, constitutional rights, and environmental consciousness has risen across the landscape of protest. People are deeply sensitive and aware of their ecology and social expanse. They will not accept the downward filter theory of brutish development and globalisation, without social consensus or conscience, anymore.

And, for that, they are often paying a bloody price. As in, Tuticorin.

Also read: Blaming RSS for Tuticorin killings is a cheap shot by Rahul Gandhi
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Is US Bellicosity Backfiring? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 348173

05-25-2018 04:40 PM











Post: #1 Is US Bellicosity Backfiring?

Advertisement



U.S. threats to crush Iran and North Korea may yet work, but as of now neither Tehran nor Pyongyang appears to be intimidated.



Repeated references by NSC adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence to the Libya model for denuclearization of North Korea just helped sink the Singapore summit of President Trump and Kim Jong Un. To North Korea, the Libya model means the overthrow and murder of Libya strongman Col. Gadhafi, after he surrendered his WMD.



Wednesday, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui exploded at Pences invocation of Libya: Vice-President Pence has made unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya  I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks.



Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States.



Yesterday, Trump canceled the Singapore summit.



Earlier this week at the Heritage Foundation, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out our Plan B for Iran in a speech that called to mind Prussian Field Marshal Karl Von Moltke.



Among Pompeos demands: Iran must end all support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza, withdraw all forces under Iranian command in Syria, and disarm its Shiite militia in Iraq.



Iran must confess its past lies about a nuclear weapons program, and account publicly for all such activity back into the 20th century.



Iran must halt all enrichment of uranium, swear never to produce plutonium, shut down its heavy water reactor, open up its military bases to inspection to prove it has no secret nuclear program, and stop testing ballistic missiles.



And unless Iran submits, she will be strangled economically.



continued



http://buchanan.org/blog/is-us-bellicosi...ing-129375 By Patrick J. BuchananU.S. threats to crush Iran and North Korea may yet work, but as of now neither Tehran nor Pyongyang appears to be intimidated.Repeated references by NSC adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence to thefor denuclearization of North Korea just helped sink the Singapore summit of President Trump and Kim Jong Un.Vice-President Pence has made unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya  I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks.Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States.Yesterday, Trump canceled the Singapore summit.Earlier this week at the Heritage Foundation, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out our Plan B for Iran in a speech that called to mind Prussian Field Marshal Karl Von Moltke.Among Pompeos demands: Iran must end all support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza, withdraw all forces under Iranian command in Syria, and disarm its Shiite militia in Iraq.Iran must confess its past lies about a nuclear weapons program, and account publicly for all such activity back into the 20th century.Iran must halt all enrichment of uranium, swear never to produce plutonium, shut down its heavy water reactor, open up its military bases to inspection to prove it has no secret nuclear program, and stop testing ballistic missiles.And unless Iran submits, she will be strangled economically.continued LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 249781

05-25-2018 04:42 PM











Post: #2 RE: Is US Bellicosity Backfiring?

They are intimidated.



You think they are going to come out and say they are intimidated? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 348173

05-25-2018 04:44 PM











Post: #3 RE: Is US Bellicosity Backfiring?

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-25-2018 04:42 PM) They are intimidated.



You think they are going to come out and say they are intimidated?

Those are intimidating remarks by Pence, so not surprised over the reaction to it by NK. Those are intimidating remarks by Pence, so not surprised over the reaction to it by NK. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442669

05-25-2018 04:45 PM











Post: #4 RE: Is US Bellicosity Backfiring?

Lets see, the Iran deal was not working for Iran either, so not exactly bad for them as they need the deal fixed too... so not sure where they would be upset with the current situation... as for the North Koreans, I don't see anything more than some posturing on both sides.. so can't see anything backfiring as of this moment for any side..
















Like any addict who gets drawn back to snorting, smoking or injecting toxic stuff, India too suffers withdrawal symptoms if it remains disengaged from Pakistan for long. Sometimes this disengagement is just a couple of months, other times a couple of years, but never permanent because like any incorrigible addict, India doesnt have either the staying power or even the will to get rid of this addiction.

It is difficult to believe that despite 70 years of unremitting and implacable hostility from Pakistan, there are still politicians and bureaucrats in India who are utterly clueless about Pakistans intentions and its deviousness.

But just as every addict knows that re-imbibing the toxic stuff is not good for him, Indian politicians and bureaucrats are aware that Pakistan is a neighbour from hell and yet get sucked into the vortex of a desultory and debilitating dialogue process, again and again.

Big problem

A fundamental problem dogging Indias Pakistan policy is that it has no such policy. What India has is a seasonal approach: season changes, what goes for policy also changes. No one should, therefore, be surprised if the current dispensation might be once again preparing to yield to the temptation of dialoguing the Pakistanis.

The way the choreography normally works is as follows: a few Indian journalists travel across the border on a conducted tour; while in Pakistan they are given access to some senior Pakistani officials who speaking with a forked tongue call for peace and dialogue (even as they keep supporting and spawning jihadists across the border); their remarks will be blown out of proportion, and either deliberately or out of sheer ignorance, these remarks will be reciprocated by the Indian side; soon the ball will be set rolling and an announcement will be made of some visit or another, which will then be used to announce a resumption of talks or at least a high-level meeting after which some roadmap will be unveiled; some sort of talks will commence; then there will be the inevitable terror attack; at that point, either India continues the talks or goes back into a sulk; and then repeat the entire sequence after a few months.

Straws in the wind suggest that India might once again be inching towards re-engaging Pakistan. Replying to a question on a recent statement by the Pakistan army chief wanting talks with India, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared: Any comment on wanting peace will definitely be taken seriously.

That such trite remarks are routinely made by top Pakistani officials and mean nothing seemed to have escaped the defence minister.

Then there are the recent comments by the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad who has told visiting Indian journalists about small steps forward, particularly on the humanitarian side, to build an atmosphere of trust between the countries. Once again, this is something that has happened so many times in the past without it leading to anything except for yet another round of talks which meander and then disappear like a desert stream.

Of course, the problem with diplomats, especially the ones dealing with Pakistan, is that they dont feel they are doing their job unless they engage the enemy. They forget that diplomacy isnt only about dialoguing but also not dialoguing.

Finally, we have an old spymaster who has come up with a hare-brained suggestion of calling the Pakistan army chief to India, give him a red-carpet welcome and see what happens.

The ridiculousness of the idea can be gauged by the fact that he draws inspiration from a possible meeting between the US president and the North Korean dictator. Well, that meeting may still not happen. But even if it does, only the most delusional person can think that it will solve the problems between North Korea and the US and its allies.

Vacuous suggestion

Again, no surprises over such a vacuous suggestion from the former spymaster. Way back in 2001, after the Ramzan ceasefire collapsed, the then NDA government was at a loss on what to do next. Some bright spark suddenly came up with the suggestion to invite Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf.

The Agra summit followed and turned out to be a disaster simply because serious issues of inter-state diplomacy cannot and should not be trivialised and dealt with in a cavalier manner without adequate planning and preparation and in complete disregard of the ground realities and situation. And guess what? The spymaster was part of the ruling dispensation back in 2001!

New buzzwords

It isnt just these three examples that hint at some kind of thaw with Pakistan. Increasingly the new buzzwords that are being thrown about are grand bargain, grand reconciliation, and of course out of the box and we need to think big. None of the geniuses assaulting the common sense of ordinary Indians by dropping these nice sounding words care to explain what they mean by these stock phrases.

What, for instance, are the contours of the "grand bargain" they are talking about? Does "thinking big" include abandoning Kashmir to the forces of jihadism? What will the "grand reconciliation" involve? These phrases sound sexy and make the people uttering them look intelligent, even visionary. But these are nothing but empty words uttered by utterly vacuous people.

Indians are a unique specimen in the world that even when the other side screams and shouts that they are our enemy, we continue to insist we are the same people, even long-lost brothers, and we are ready to extend our hand in friendship!

Instead of basing policy on the stated intentions and actions of the adversary, we prefer to be beguiled by their lies and deception. We assume that the fringe group of Pakistani liberals represents the thinking of the people and establishment of Pakistan, even though there is no empirical basis to reach this conclusion.

Since we keep going round and round in circles, we keep making the same mistakes with Pakistan. We might now be getting ready to repeat the same old script again.

(Courtesy of Mail Today)

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Daimler AG, together its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures passenger cars, trucks, vans, and buses in Germany and internationally. It operates through Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks and Buses, and Daimler Mobility segments. The Mercedes-Benz Cars segment offers premium and luxury vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand, including the Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, and Mercedes-EQ brands; small cars under the smart brand name; and ecosystem of Mercedes-Benz under the Mercedes me brand, as well as vans and related services under the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner brands. Daimler Trucks and Buses segment offers its trucks and special vehicles under the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, FUSO, and BharatBenz brands; and buses under the Mercedes-Benz, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, and FU brands, as well as bus chassis. The Daimler Mobility segment provides financing and leasing packages for end-customers and dealers; and automotive insurance brokerage, banking, investment, and fleet management services under the Athlon brand. It also sells vehicle related spare parts and accessories. Daimler AG was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany

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Keane Group Inc (NYSE:FRAC) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October, 31st. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.09. The company earned $558.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $545.56 million. Keane Group had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 0.53%. The firm's revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share.

View Keane Group's earnings history.
The following companies are subsidiares of Lloyds Banking Group: A G Finance Ltd, A.C.L. Ltd, ACL Autolease Holdings Ltd, ADF No.1 Pty Ltd, Addison Social Housing Holdings Ltd, Alex Lawrie Factors Ltd, Alex. Lawrie Receivables Financing Ltd, Amberdate Ltd, Anglo Scottish Utilities Partnership 1, Aquilus Ltd, Automobile Association Personal Finance Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services 2 Ltd, BOS (Ireland) Property Services Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 2) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland) No. 3) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages (Scotland)) Ltd, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 1 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 2 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 3 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 4 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 5 plc, BOS (Shared Appreciation Mortgages) No. 6 plc, BOS (USA) Fund Investments Inc., BOS (USA) Inc., BOS Edinburgh No 1 Ltd, BOS Mistral Ltd, BOS Personal Lending Ltd, BOSSAF Rail Ltd, Bank of Scotland (B G S) Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland (Stanlife) London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Branch Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Central Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Equipment Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Foundation, Bank of Scotland LNG Leasing (No 1) Ltd, Bank of Scotland London Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Nominees (Unit Trusts) Ltd, Bank of Scotland P.E.P. Nominees Ltd, Bank of Scotland Structured Asset Finance Ltd, Bank of Scotland Transport Finance 1 Ltd, Bank of Scotland plc, Bank of Wales Ltd, Barents Leasing Ltd, Barnwood Mortgages Ltd, Birchcrown Finance Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Financial Services Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Land Development Ltd, Birmingham Midshires Mortgage Services Ltd, Black Horse (TRF) Ltd, Black Horse Executive Mortgages Ltd, Black Horse Finance Holdings Ltd, Black Horse Finance Management Ltd, Black Horse Group Ltd, Black Horse Ltd, Black Horse Offshore Ltd, Black Horse Property Services Ltd, Boltro Nominees Ltd, British Linen Leasing (London) Ltd, British Linen Leasing Ltd, British Linen Shipping Ltd, C.T.S.B. Leasing Ltd, CBRail S.A.R.L., CF Asset Finance Ltd, CF1 Ltd, CM Venture Investments Ltd, Cancara Asset Securitisation Ltd, Capital 1945 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 12 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 3 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 5 Ltd, Capital Bank Leasing 9 Ltd, Capital Bank Property Investments (3) Ltd, Capital Personal Finance Ltd, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2018-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation 2019-1 Plc, Cardiff Auto Receivables Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Cardnet Merchant Services Ltd, Cashfriday Ltd, Cashpoint Ltd, Caveminster Ltd, Cedar Holdings Ltd, Celsius European Lux 2 S.A.R.L., Central Mortgage Finance Ltd, Chariot Finance Ltd, Cheltenham & Gloucester plc, Cheltenham II Securities 2020 DAC, Cheltenham Securities 2017 Ltd, Chepstow Blue Holdings Ltd, Chepstow Blue plc, Chester Asset Options No.2 Ltd, Chester Asset Options No.3 Ltd, Chester Asset Receivables Dealings Issuer Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Chester Asset Securitisation Holdings No.2 Ltd, Chiswell Stockbrokers Ltd, Clerical Medical Finance plc, Clerical Medical Financial Services Ltd, Clerical Medical International Holdings B.V., Clerical Medical Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Clerical Medical Managed Funds Ltd, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Guadalix Spanish Prop Co SL, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Hold Co BV, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Megapark Prop Co SA, Clerical Medical Non Sterling Property Company S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Funding S.A.R.L., Cloak Lane Investments S.A.R.L., Conquest Securities Ltd, Corbiere Asset Investments Ltd, Create Services Ltd, Credit Card Securitisation Europe Ltd, Dalkeith Corporation, Deva Financing Holdings Ltd, Deva Financing plc, Deva One Ltd, Deva Three Ltd, Deva Two Ltd, Dunstan Investments (UK) Ltd, Edgbaston RMBS 2010-1 plc, Edgbaston RMBS Holdings Ltd, Elland RMBS 2018 plc, Elland RMBS Holdings Ltd, Eurolead Services Holdings Ltd, First Retail Finance (Chester) Ltd, Fontwell Securities 2016 Ltd, Forthright Finance Ltd, France Industrial Premises Holding Company, General Leasing (No. 12) Ltd, General Reversionary and Investment Company, Gresham Nominee 1 Ltd, Gresham Nominee 2 Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 1) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 10) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 11) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 12) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 13) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 14) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 15) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 16) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 19) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 20) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 21) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 22) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 23) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 24) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 25) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 26) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 27) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 28) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 29) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 3) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 30) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 31) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 32) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 33) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 34) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 35) Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 36) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 37) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 38) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 39) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 40) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 41) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 44) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 45) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 46) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 47) UK Ltd, Gresham Receivables (No. 48) UK Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No 3) Ltd, Guildhall Asset Purchasing Company (No.11) UK Ltd, HBOS Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS Final Salary Trust Ltd, HBOS Financial Services Ltd, HBOS Insurance & Investment Group Ltd, HBOS International Financial Services Holdings Ltd, HBOS Investment Fund Managers Ltd, HBOS Social Housing Covered Bonds LLP, HBOS UK Ltd, HBOS plc, HSDL Nominees Ltd, HVF Ltd, Halifax Credit Card Ltd, Halifax Financial Brokers Ltd, Halifax Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Halifax Financial Services Ltd, Halifax General Insurance Services Ltd, Halifax Group Ltd, Halifax Investment Services Ltd, Halifax Leasing (June) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (March No.2) Ltd, Halifax Leasing (September) Ltd, Halifax Life Ltd, Halifax Loans Ltd, Halifax Ltd, Halifax Mortgage Services Ltd, Halifax Nominees Ltd, Halifax Pension Nominees Ltd, Halifax Premises Ltd, Halifax Share Dealing Ltd, Halifax Vehicle Leasing (1998) Ltd, Heidi Finance Holdings (UK) Ltd, Hill Samuel Bank Ltd, Hill Samuel Finance Ltd, Hill Samuel Leasing Co. Ltd, Home Shopping Personal Finance Ltd, Horizon Capital 2000 Ltd, Housing Association Risk Transfer 2019 DAC, Housing Growth Partnership GP LLP, Housing Growth Partnership LP, Housing Growth Partnership Ltd, Housing Growth Partnership Manager Ltd, Hyundai Car Finance Ltd, IBOS Finance Ltd, ICC Enterprise Partners Ltd, ICC Equity Partners Ltd, ICC Holdings Unlimited Company, Inchcape Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Financial Services Ltd, Intelligent Finance Software Ltd, International Motors Finance Ltd, Kanaalstraat Funding C.V., Katrine Leasing Ltd, LB Healthcare Trustee Ltd, LB Motorent Ltd, LB Quest Ltd, LB Share Schemes Trustees Ltd, LBCF Ltd, LBG Brasil Administracao LTDA, LBG Capital Holdings Ltd, LBG Equity Investments Ltd, LBI Leasing Ltd, LDC (General Partner) Ltd, LDC (Managers) Ltd, LDC (Nominees) Ltd, LDC GP LLP, LDC I LP, LDC II LP, LDC III LP, LDC IV LP, LDC Parallel (Nominees) Ltd, LDC V LP, LDC VI LP, LDC VII LP, LDC VIII LP, LTGP Limited Partnership Incorporated, Legacy Renewal Company Ltd, Leicester Securities 2014 Ltd, Lex Autolease (CH) Ltd, Lex Autolease (VC) Ltd, Lex Autolease Carselect Ltd, Lex Autolease Ltd, Lex Vehicle Finance 2 Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing (Holdings) Ltd, Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd, Lime Street (Funding) Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I Holdings Ltd, Lingfield 2014 I plc, Lloyds (Gresham) Ltd, Lloyds (Gresham) No. 1 Ltd, Lloyds (Nimrod) Specialist Finance Ltd, Lloyds America Securities Corporation1, Lloyds Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Branches) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Colonial & Foreign) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Fountainbridge 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (I.D.) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank (International Services) Ltd, Lloyds Bank (Stock Exchange Branch) Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Asset Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Ltd, Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance Scotland Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (HP) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance (No.4) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Wertpapierhandelsbank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets plc, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds (LM) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Covered Bonds LLP, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 7) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Equipment Leasing (No. 9) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Financial Services (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales, Lloyds Bank Foundation for the Channel Islands, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Holdings Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Insurance Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 11) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 20) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 3) Ltd, Lloyds Bank General Leasing (No. 5) Ltd, Lloyds Bank GmbH, Lloyds Bank Hill Samuel Holding Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank International Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 6) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing (No. 8) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Bank MTCH Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 10) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 13) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No. 17) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Maritime Leasing (No.16) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Offshore Pension Trust Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 1) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension ABCS (No. 2) LLP, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 1) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pension Trust (No. 2) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Pensions Property (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Bank Properties Ltd, Lloyds Bank Property Company Ltd, Lloyds Bank S.F. Nominees Ltd, Lloyds Bank Subsidiaries Ltd, Lloyds Bank Trustee Services Ltd, Lloyds Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd, Lloyds Capital GP Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Properties Ltd, Lloyds Commercial Property Investments Ltd, Lloyds Corporate Services (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Development Capital (Holdings) Ltd, Lloyds Engine Capital (No.1) U.S LLC, Lloyds Far East S.A.R.L., Lloyds General Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Group Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Holdings (Jersey) Ltd, Lloyds Hypotheken B.V., Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, Lloyds International Pty Ltd, Lloyds Investment Bonds Ltd, Lloyds Investment Fund Managers Ltd, Lloyds Investment Securities No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Leasing (North Sea Transport) Ltd1, Lloyds Leasing Developments Ltd, Lloyds Nominees (Guernsey) Ltd, Lloyds Offshore Global Services Private Ltd, Lloyds Plant Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Portfolio Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Premises Investments Ltd, Lloyds Project Leasing Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 3 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No. 4 Ltd, Lloyds Property Investment Company No.5 Ltd, Lloyds Secretaries Ltd, Lloyds Securities Inc., Lloyds TSB Pacific Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Asset Rentals Ltd, Lloyds UDT Hiring Ltd, Lloyds UDT Leasing Ltd, Lloyds UDT Ltd, Lloyds Your Tomorrow Trustee Ltd, Loans.co.uk Ltd, London Taxi Finance Ltd, London Uberior (L.A.S. Group) Nominees Ltd, Lotus Finance Ltd, MBNA, MBNA Direct Ltd, MBNA Europe Finance Ltd, MBNA Europe Holdings Ltd, MBNA General Foundation, MBNA Global Services Ltd, MBNA Indian Services Private Ltd, MBNA Ltd, MBNA R & L S.A.R.L., MBNA Receivables Ltd, Mainsearch Company Ltd, Maritime Leasing (No. 19) Ltd, Membership Services Finance Ltd, Mitre Street Funding S.A.R.L., Molineux RMBS 2016-1 plc, Molineux RMBS Holdings Ltd, Moor Lane Holdings Ltd, NFU Mutual Finance Ltd, NWS Trust Ltd, Nominees (Jersey) Ltd, Nordic Leasing Ltd, Ocean Leasing (July) Ltd, Oystercatcher Nominees Ltd, Oystercatcher Residential Ltd, PIPS Asset Investments Ltd, Pacific Leasing Ltd, Penarth Asset Securitisation Holdings Ltd, Penarth Funding 1 Ltd, Penarth Funding 2 Ltd, Penarth Master Issuer plc, Penarth Receivables Trustee Ltd, Pensions Management (S.W.F.) Ltd, Peony Eastern Leasing Ltd, Peony Leasing Ltd, Peony Western Leasing Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 1) Ltd, Permanent Funding (No. 2) Ltd, Permanent Holdings Ltd, Permanent Master Issuer plc, Permanent Mortgages Trustee Ltd, Permanent PECOH Holdings Ltd, Permanent PECOH Ltd, Perry Nominees Ltd, Prestonfield Investments Ltd, Proton Finance Ltd, R.F. Spencer And Company Ltd, Ranelagh Nominees Ltd, Retail Revival (Burgess Hill) Investments Ltd, SARL Coliseum, SARL Hiram, SAS Compagnie Fonciere De France, SCI Astoria Invest, SCI De LHorloge, SCI Equinoxe, SCI Rambuteau CFF, SW Funding plc, SW No.1 Ltd, SWAMF (GP) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (1) Ltd, SWAMF Nominee (2) Ltd, Saint Michel Holding Company No1, Saint Michel Investment Property, Saint Witz 2 Holding Company No1, Saint Witz 2 Investment Property, Salisbury II Securities 2016 Ltd, Salisbury II-A Securities 2017 Ltd, Salisbury III Securities 2019 DAC, Salisbury Securities 2015 Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 Holdings Ltd, Sandown 2012-2 plc, Sandown Gold 2012-1 Holdings Ltd, Sandown Gold 2012-1 plc, Savban Leasing Ltd, Scotland International Finance B.V., Scottish Widows Administration Services (Nominees) Ltd, Scottish Widows Administration Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Annuities Ltd, Scottish Widows Auto Enrolment Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Europe, Scottish Widows Financial Services Holdings, Scottish Widows Group Ltd, Scottish Widows Industrial Properties Europe B.V., Scottish Widows Ltd, Scottish Widows Pension Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Property Management Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth (ACD) Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Personal Wealth Ltd, Scottish Widows Schroder Wealth Holdings Ltd, Scottish Widows Services Ltd, Scottish Widows Trustees Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Funds Ltd, Scottish Widows Unit Trust Managers Ltd, Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society, Seabreeze Leasing Ltd, Seaspirit Leasing Ltd, Share Dealing Nominees Ltd, Shogun Finance Ltd, Silentdale Ltd, St Andrews Group Ltd, St Andrews Insurance plc, St Andrews Life Assurance plc, St. Marys Court Investments, Standard Property Investment (1987) Ltd, Standard Property Investment Ltd, Sussex County Homes Ltd, Suzuki Financial Services Ltd, Swan Funding 2 Ltd, Syon Securities 2019 DAC, The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation Plc, The British Linen Company Ltd, The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, The Mortgage Business plc, Thistle Financing Holdings Ltd, Thistle Investments (AMC) Ltd, Thistle Investments (ERM) Ltd, Thistle Leasing, Three Copthall Avenue Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (10) Ltd, Tower Hill Property Investments (7) Ltd, Tranquility Leasing Ltd, Trinity Financing plc, UDT Budget Leasing Ltd, UDT Sales Finance Ltd, Uberior (Moorfield) Ltd, Uberior Co-Investments Ltd, Uberior ENA Ltd, Uberior Equity Ltd, Uberior Europe Ltd, Uberior Fund Investments Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments (No.2) Ltd, Uberior Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Uberior Investments Ltd, Uberior Nominees Ltd, Uberior Trading Ltd, Uberior Trustees Ltd, Uberior Ventures Australia Pty Ltd, Uberior Ventures Ltd, United Dominions Leasing Ltd, United Dominions Trust Ltd, Universe The CMI Global Network Fund, Upsaala Ltd, Vine Street IX LP, WCS Ltd, Ward Nominees (Abingdon) Ltd, Ward Nominees (Birmingham) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees (Bristol) Ltd 1, Ward Nominees Ltd 1, Waverley  Fund II Investor LLC, Waverley  Fund III Investor LLC, Waymark Asset Investments Ltd, West Craigs Ltd, Wetherby II Securities 2018 DAC, Wetherby III Securities 2019 DAC, Wetherby Securities 2017 Ltd, Wood Street Leasing Ltd, and Zurich Insurance Group - UK Workplace Pensions and Savings Business.
The following companies are subsidiares of MetLife: 1001 PROPERTIES LLC, 10700 WILSHIRE LLC, 1201 TAB MANAGER LLC, 150 NORTH RIVERSIDE PE MEMBER LLC, 1925 WJC OWNER LLC, 23RD STREET INVESTMENTS INC., 500 GRANT STREET ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, 500 GRANT STREET GP LLC, 60 11TH STREET LLC, 6104 HOLLYWOOD LLC, AFP GENESIS ADMINISTRADORA DE FONDOS Y FIDECOMISOS S.A., AFP PROVIDA S.A., AGENVITA S.R.L., ALICO EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LIMITED, ALICO HELLAS SINGLE MEMBER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, ALICO OPERATIONS LLC, ALICO PROPERTIES INC., AMMETLIFE INSURANCE BERHAD, AMMETLIFE TAKAFUL BERHAD, American Life Insurance Company, BEST MARKET S.A., BIDV METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, BLOCK VISION HOLDINGS CORPORATION, BLOCK VISION OF TEXAS INC., BORDERLAND INVESTMENTS LIMITED, BOULEVARD RESIDENTIAL LLC, BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER LLC, CC HOLDCO MANAGER LLC, CHESTNUT FLATS WIND LLC, CLOSED JOINT-STOCK COMPANY MASTER D, COMPANIA INVERSORA METLIFE S.A., CORPORATE REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC, COVA LIFE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, DAVIS VISION INC., DAVISVISION IPA INC., DELAWARE AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, DES MOINES CREEK BUSINESS PARK PHASE II LLC, ECONOMY FIRE & CASUALTY COMPANY, ECONOMY PREFERRED INSURANCE COMPANY, ECONOMY PREMIER ASSURANCE COMPANY, EURO CL INVESTMENTS LLC, EXCELENCIA OPERATIVA Y TECNOLOGICA S.A de C.V., FEDERAL FLOOD CERTIFICATION LLC, FORTISSIMO CO. LTD, FUNDACION METLIFE MEXICO A.C., GLOBAL PROPERTIES INC., General American Life Insurance Company, Grand Bank N.A., HASKELL EAST VILLAGE LLC, HIGH STREET SEVENTH AND OSBORN APARTMENTS LLC, HOUSING FUND MANAGER LLC, INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL AND ADVISORY SERVICES LIMITED, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO DOS LIMITADA, INVERSIONES METLIFE HOLDCO TRES LIMITADA, JOINT-STOCK COMPANY METLIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, LHC HOLDINGS, LHCW HOLDINGS, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING, LHCW HOTEL HOLDING LLC, LHCW HOTEL OPERATING COMPANY, LONG ISLAND SOLAR FARM LLC, LUMENLAB MALAYSIA SDN. BHD., Logan Circle Partners, MARKETPLACE RESIDENCES LLC, MAXIS GBN S.A.S., MC PORTFOLIO JV MEMBER LLC, MCJV LLC, MCMIF HOLDCO I LLC, MCMIF HOLDCO II LLC, MCP - WELLINGTON LLC, MCP 100 CONGRESS MEMBER LLC, MCP 1500 MICHAEL LLC, MCP 1900 MCKINNEY LLC, MCP 2 AMES LLC, MCP 2 AMES ONE LLC, MCP 2 AMES OWNER LLC, MCP 2 AMES TWO LLC, MCP 220 YORK LLC, MCP 22745 & 22755 RELOCATION DRIVE LLC, MCP 249 INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS PARK MEMBER LLC, MCP 3040 POST OAK LLC, MCP 350 ROHLWING LLC, MCP 4600 SOUTH SYRACUSE LLC, MCP 550 WEST WASHINGTON LLC, MCP 60 11TH STREET MEMBER LLC, MCP 7 RIVERWAY LLC, MCP 9020 MURPHY ROAD LLC, MCP 93 RED RIVER MEMBER LLC, MCP ALLEY 24 EAST LLC, MCP ASHTON SOUTH END LLC, MCP BLOCK 23 MEMBER LLC, MCP BRADFORD LLC, MCP BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER 2 MEMBER LLC, MCP BUFORD LOGISTICS CENTER BLDG B LLC, MCP BURNSIDE MEMBER LLC, MCP CENTER AVENUE INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, MCP CLAWITER INNOVATION MEMBER LLC, MCP COMMON DESK TRS LLC, MCP DENVER PAVILIONS MEMBER LLC, MCP DILLON LLC, MCP DILLON RESIDENTIAL LLC, MCP ENV CHICAGO LLC, MCP FIFE ENTERPRISE CENTER LLC, MCP FRISCO OFFICE LLC, MCP GRAPEVINE LLC, MCP HIGHLAND PARK LENDER LLC, MCP HUB I LLC, MCP HUB I PROPERTY LLC, MCP LODGE AT LAKECREST LLC, MCP MA PROPERTY REIT LLC, MCP MAGNOLIA PARK MEMBER LLC, MCP MAIN STREET VILLAGE LLC, MCP MOUNTAIN TECHNOLOGY CENTER MEMBER TRS LLC, MCP NORTHYARDS HOLDCO LLC, MCP NORTHYARDS MASTER LESSEE LLC, MCP NORTHYARDS OWNER LLC, MCP ONE WESTSIDE LLC, MCP ONYX LLC, MCP PARAGON POINT LLC, MCP PLAZA AT LEGACY LLC, MCP PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, MCP SEATTLE GATEWAY INDUSTRIAL I LLC, MCP SEATTLE GATEWAY INDUSTRIAL II LLC, MCP SEVENTH AND OSBORNE MF MEMBER LLC, MCP SEVENTH AND OSBORNE RETAIL MEMBER LLC, MCP SHAKOPEE LLC, MCP SLEEPY HOLLOW MEMBER LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  ANAHEIM LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  BERNARDO LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  CANYON LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  CONCOURSE LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  FULLERTON LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  KELLWO00OD LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  LAX LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  LOKER LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  REDONDO LLC, MCP SOCAL INDUSTRIAL  SPRINGDALE LLC, MCP STATELINE LLC, MCP THE PALMS AT DORAL LLC, MCP TRIMBLE CAMPUS LLC, MCP UNION ROW LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE ONE LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE OWNER LLC, MCP VALLEY FORGE TWO LLC, MCP VANCE JACKSON LLC, MCP VINEYARD AVENUE MEMBER LLC, MCP VOA HOLDINGS LLC, MCP VOA I & III LLC, MCP VOA II LLC, MCP WATERFORD ATRIUM LLC, MCP WEST BROAD MARKETPLACE LLC, MCP  ENGLISH VILLAGE LLC, MCPF ACQUISITION LLC, MCPF FOXBOROUGH LLC, MCPF  NEEDHAM LLC, MCPP OWNERS LLC, MCRE BLOCK 40 LP, MEC HEALTH CARE INC., MET 1065 HOTEL LLC, MET CANADA SOLAR ULC, METLIFE 1007 STEWART LLC, METLIFE 1201 TAB MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MANAGER LLC, METLIFE 425 MKT MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 555 12TH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE 8280 MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ACOMA OWNER LLC, METLIFE ADMINISTRADORA DE FUNDOS MULTIPATROCINADOS LTDA., METLIFE ALTERNATIVES GP LLC, METLIFE ASHTON AUSTIN OWNER LLC, METLIFE ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., METLIFE ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE ASIA SERVICES SDN. BHD, METLIFE ASSET MANAGEMENT CORP., METLIFE ASSIGNMENT COMPANY INC., METLIFE AUTO & HOME INSURANCE AGENCY INC., METLIFE BL FEEDER, METLIFE BL FEEDER LP, METLIFE BORO STATION MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CABO HILTON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAMINO RAMON MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CAPITAL CREDIT L.P., METLIFE CAPITAL LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, METLIFE CAPITAL TRUST IV, METLIFE CB W/A LLC, METLIFE CC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CHILE ADMINISTRADORA DE MUTUOS HIPOTECARIOS S.A., METLIFE CHILE INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS DE VIDA S.A., METLIFE CHILE SEGUROS GENERALES S.A., METLIFE CHINO MEMBER LLC, METLIFE COLOMBIA SEGUROS de VIDA S.A., METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INCOME FUND GP LLC, METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE INCOME FUND LP, METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE ORIGINATOR LLC, METLIFE COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE REIT LLC, METLIFE CONSQUARE MEMBER LLC, METLIFE CONSUMER SERVICES INC., METLIFE CORE PROPERTY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY FUND LP, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY REIT LLC, METLIFE CORE PROPERTY TRS. LLC, METLIFE CREDIT CORP., METLIFE DIGITAL VENTURES INC., METLIFE EMEKLILIK VE HAYAT A.S., METLIFE EMERGING MARKET DEBT BLEND FUND, METLIFE EU HOLDING COMPANY LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE INSURANCE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPE SERVICES LIMITED, METLIFE EUROPE d.a.c., METLIFE EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LLC., METLIFE FINANCIAL SERVICES CO. LTD, METLIFE FM HOTEL MEMBER LLC, METLIFE FUNDING INC., METLIFE GENERAL INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE GLOBAL BENEFITS LTD., METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY I GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDING COMPANY II GMBH, METLIFE GLOBAL HOLDINGS CORPORATION S.A. De C.V., METLIFE GLOBAL INC., METLIFE GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE GROUP INC., METLIFE HCMJV 1 GP LLC, METLIFE HCMJV 1 LP LLC, METLIFE HEALTH PLANS INC., METLIFE HOLDINGS INC., METLIFE HOME LOANS LLC, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE LIMITED, METLIFE INNOVATION CENTRE PTE. LTD., METLIFE INSURANCE AND INVESTMENT TRUST, METLIFE INSURANCE BROKERAGE INC., METLIFE INSURANCE K.K., METLIFE INSURANCE LIMITED, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HF PARTNERS LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED LLC, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND I LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND II LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND III LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND IV LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND V LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VI LP, METLIFE INTERNATIONAL PE FUND VII LP, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE INVESTMENTS ASIA LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS PTY LIMITED, METLIFE INVESTMENTS SECURITIES LLC, METLIFE INVESTORS DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, METLIFE INVESTORS GROUP LLC, METLIFE IRELAND TREASURY D.A.C., METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND GP LLC, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY FUND LP, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS, METLIFE JAPAN US EQUITY OWNERS LLC, METLIFE LATIN AMERICA ASESORIAS E INVERSIONES LIMITADA, METLIFE LEGAL PLANS INC., METLIFE LEGAL PLANS OF FLORIDA INC., METLIFE LHH MEMBER LLC, METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METLIFE LIFE INSURANCE S.A., METLIFE LOAN ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC, METLIFE MAS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MEMBER SOLAIRE LLC, METLIFE MEXICO HOLDINGS S. DE R.L. DE C.V., METLIFE MEXICO S.A., METLIFE MEXICO SERVICIOS S.A. DE C.V., METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT GP LLC, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL FUND LP, METLIFE MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE DEBT PARALLEL GP LLC, METLIFE MULTI-FAMILY PARTNERS III LLC, METLIFE MUTUAL FUND COMPANY, METLIFE OBS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE OFC MEMBER LLC, METLIFE ONTARIO STREET MEMBR LLC, METLIFE PARK TOWER MEMBER LLC, METLIFE PENSION TRUSTEES LIMITED, METLIFE PENSIONES MEXICO S.A., METLIFE PET INSURANCE SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE PLANOS ODONTOLOGICOS LTDA., METLIFE POWSZECHNE TOWARTZYSTWO EMERYTALNE S.A., METLIFE PRIVATE EQUITY HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE PROPERTIES VENTURES LLC, METLIFE RC SF MEMBER LLC, METLIFE REAL ESTATE LENDING LLC, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF BERMUDA LTD., METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF CHARLESTON, METLIFE REINSURANCE COMPANY OF VERMONT, METLIFE RETIREMENT SERVICES LLC, METLIFE SAENGMYOUNG INSURANCE COMPANY LTD., METLIFE SECURITIZATION DEPOSITOR LLC, METLIFE SEGUROS S.A., METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FINCO LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING FUND LP, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING GP LLC, METLIFE SENIOR DIRECT LENDING HOLDINGS LP, METLIFE SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS LLC, METLIFE SERVICES CYPRUS LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EAST PRIVATE LIMITED, METLIFE SERVICES EEIG, METLIFE SERVICES EOOD, METLIFE SERVICES SOCIEDAD LIMITADA, METLIFE SERVICES SP Z.O.O, METLIFE SERVICIOS S.A., METLIFE SLOVAKIA S.R.O. V LIKVIDACII, METLIFE SOLUTIONS PTE. LTD., METLIFE SOLUTIONS S.A.S., METLIFE SP HOLDINGS LLC, METLIFE SYNDICATED BANK LOAN FUND SCSP, METLIFE SYNDICATED BANK LOAN LUX GP S.A.R.L., METLIFE THR INVESTOR LLC, METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO FUNDUSZY INWESTYCYJNYCH S.A., METLIFE TOWARZYSTWO UBEZPIECZEN NA ZYCIE I REASEKURACJI S.A., METLIFE TOWER RESOURCES GROUP INC., METLIFE TREAT TOWERS MEMBER LLC, METLIFE WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, METROPOLITAN CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN DIRECT PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC., METROPOLITAN GROUP PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN LIFE SEGUROS E PREVIDENCIA PRIVADA S.A., METROPOLITAN LIFE SOCIETATE de ADMINISTRARE a UNUI FOND de PENSII ADMINISTRAT PRIVAT S.A., METROPOLITAN LLOYDS INC., METROPOLITAN LLOYDS INSURANCE COMPANY OF TEXAS, METROPOLITAN PROPERTY AND CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, METROPOLITAN TOWER REALTY COMPANY INC., MEX DF PROPERTIES LLC, MFA FINANCING VEHICLE CTR1 LLC, MIDTOWN HEIGHTS LLC, MIM CLAL GENERAL PARTNER LLC, MIM EMD GP LLC, MIM I LLC, MIM METWEST INTERNATIONAL MANAGER LLC, MIM ML-AI VENTURE 5 MANAGER LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LLC, MIM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT OF GEORGIA 1 LLC, MIM THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MANAGER LLC, MISSOURI REINSURANCE INC., ML - URS PORT CHESTER SC MANAGER LLC, ML 300 THIRD MEMBER LLC, ML ARMATURE MEMBER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MANAGER LLC, ML BELLEVUE MEMBER LLC, ML BRIDGESIDE APARTMENTS LLC, ML CAPACITACION COMERCIAL S.A. DE C.V., ML CERRITOS TC MEMBER LLC, ML CLAL MEMBER LLC, ML DOLPHIN GP LLC, ML DOLPHIN MEZZ LLC, ML MATSON MILLS MEMBER LLC, ML MILILANI MEMBER LLC, ML ONE BEDMINSTER LLC, ML PORT CHESTER SC MEMBER LLC, ML SENTINEL SQUARE MEMBER LLC, ML SLOANS LAKE MEMEBR LLC, ML SOUTHLANDS MEMBER LLC, ML SOUTHMORE LLC, ML SWAN GP LLC, ML SWAN MEZZ LLC, ML TERRACES LLC, ML THIRD ARMY INDUSTRIAL MEMBER LLC, ML VENTURE 1 MANAGER S. DE R. L. DE C.V., ML VENTURE 1 SERVICER LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 1 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 2 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 3 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 4 LLC, ML-AI METLIFE MEMBER 5 LLC, MLIA MANAGER I LLC, MLIA PARK TOWER MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF COLONY MANAGER LLC, MLIA SBAF MANAGER LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS II LLC, MLIC ASSET HOLDINGS LLC, MLIC CB HOLDINGS LLC, MLJ US FEEDER LLC, MM GLOBAL OPERATIONS SUPPORT CENTER S.A. DE C.V., MMP CEDAR STREET OWNER LLC, MMP CEDAR STREET REIT LLC, MMP HOLDINGS III LLC, MMP OLIVIAN OWNER LLC, MMP OLIVIAN REIT LLC, MMP OWNERS III LLC, MMP OWNERS LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK OWNER LLC, MMP SOUTH PARK REIT LLC, MREF 425 MKT LLC, MSV IRVINE PROPERTY LLC, MTC FUND I LLC, MTC FUND II LLC, MTC FUND III LLC, MTL LEASING LLC, MTU HOTEL OWNER LLC, NATILOPORTEM HOLDINGS LLC, NEWBURY INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, OCONEE GOLF COMPANY LLC, OCONEE HOTEL COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND COMPANY LLC, OCONEE LAND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LLC, OCONEE MARINA COMPANY LLC, OMI MLIC INVESTMENTS LIMITED, PACIFIC LOGISTICS INDUSTRIAL SOUTH LLC, PARK TOWER JV MEMBER LLC, PARK TOWER REIT INC., PJSC METLIFE, PLAZA DRIVE PROPERTIES LLC, PNB METLIFE INDIA INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, PREFCO FOURTEEN LLC, PREFCO XIV HOLDINGS LLC, PROVIDA INTERNACIONAL S.A., SAFEGUARD HEALTH ENTERPRISES INC., SAFEGUARD HEALTH PLANS INC., SAFEHEALTH LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, SEVENTH AND OSBORN MF VENTURE LLC, SINO-US UNITED METLIFE INSURANCE CO. LTD., SOUTHCREEK INDUSTRIAL HOLDINGS LLC, ST. JAMES FLEET INVESTMENTS TWO LIMITED, SUPERIOR PROCUREMENT INC, SUPERIOR VISION BENEFIT MANAGEMENT INC., SUPERIOR VISION HOLDINGS INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE INC., SUPERIOR VISION INSURANCE PLAN OF WISCONSIN INC., SUPERIOR VISION OF NEW JERSEY INC., SUPERIOR VISION SERVICES INC., Safeguard Health Enterprises, Security First Group Inc., THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH AVENUE MEZZANINE LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL HOLDING LLC, THE BUILDING AT 575 FIFTH RETAIL OWNER, THE DIRECT CALL CENTRE PTY LIMITED, TRANSMOUNTAIN LAND & LIVESTOCK COMPANY, UVC INDEPENDENT PRACTICE ASSOCIATION INC., VERSANT HEALTH CONSOLIDATIONS CORP., VERSANT HEALTH HOLDCO INC., VERSANT HEALTH LAB LLC, VIRIDIAN MIRACLE MILE LLC, VISION 21 MANAGED EYE CARE OF TAMPA BAY, VISION 21 PHYSICIAN PRACTICE MANAGEMENT COMPANY, VISION TWENTY-ONE MANAGED EYE CARE IPA INC., Versant Health, WDV ACQUISITION CORP., WFP 1000 HOLDING COMPANY GP LLC, WHITE OAK ROYALTY COMPANY, and WHITE TRACT II LLC.
Tate & Lyle PLC, together with its subsidiaries, provides ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage, and other industries in the United States, the United Kingdom, other European countries, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Food & Beverage Solutions, Sucralose, and Primary Products. The company offers texturants; nutritive sweeteners, such as high fructose corn syrup and dextrose; health and wellness ingredients; and stabilizers. It also provides industrial starches for paper, packaging, and industrial adhesives; acidulants, such as citric acid; and commodities comprising corn gluten feed and meal for animal nutrition, as well as corn oil and ethanol. In addition, the company engages in the treasury and insurance businesses; and provision of research and development services. Tate & Lyle PLC was incorporated in 1903 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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thyssenkrupp AG operates in the areas of automotive technology, industrial components, plant technology, marine systems, steel, and materials services in Germany, the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Automotive Technology segment develops and manufactures components and systems and automated production systems for the automotive industry. Its Industrial Components segment manufactures and sells forged components and system solutions for the resource, construction, and mobility sectors; and slewing rings, antifriction bearings, and seamless rolled rings for the wind energy and construction machinery sectors. The company's Plant Technology segment builds plants for the chemical, cement, and mining industries. Its Marine Systems segment provides systems in the submarine and surface ship building, as well as in the field of maritime electronics and security technology. The company's Materials Services segment distributes materials and offers technical services for the production and manufacturing sectors. Its Steel Europe segment provides flat carbon steel products, intelligent material solutions, and finished parts. thyssenkrupp AG was founded in 1811 and is headquartered in Essen, Germany.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Cigna: Accredo Health Group, Accredo Health Incorporated, Alegis Care, Allegiance Life & Health Insurance Company, Allegiance Re, American Retirement Life Insurance Company, Benefits Management Corp., Bravo Health Mid-Atlantic, Bravo Health Pennsylvania, Brighter, CareAllies, CareCore National LLC, Central Reserve Life Insurance Company, Ceres Sales of Ohio, Choicelinx, Cigna & CMB Life Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Apac Holdings Limited, Cigna Arbor Life Insurance Company, Cigna Beechwood Holdings, Cigna Behavioral Health, Cigna Behavioral Health of California, Cigna Behavioral Health of Texas, Cigna Bellevue Alpha, Cigna Benefits Financing, Cigna Brokerage & Marketing (Thailand) Limited, Cigna Cedar Holdings, Cigna Chestnut Holdings, Cigna Corporate Services, Cigna Data Services (Shanghai) Company Limited, Cigna Dental Health, Cigna Dental Health Plan of Arizona, Cigna Dental Health of California, Cigna Dental Health of Colorado, Cigna Dental Health of Delaware, Cigna Dental Health of Florida, Cigna Dental Health of Illinois, Cigna Dental Health of Kansas, Cigna Dental Health of Kentucky, Cigna Dental Health of Maryland, Cigna Dental Health of Missouri, Cigna Dental Health of New Jersey, Cigna Dental Health of North Carolina, Cigna Dental Health of Ohio, Cigna Dental Health of Pennsylvania, Cigna Dental Health of Texas, Cigna Dental Health of Virginia, Cigna Elmwood Holdings, Cigna Europe Insurance Company S.A.-N.V., Cigna European Services (UK) Limited, Cigna Finans Emeklilik ve Hayat A.S., Cigna Global Holdings, Cigna Global Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Global Reinsurance Company, Cigna Global Wellbeing Holdings Limited, Cigna Global Wellbeing Solutions Limited, Cigna HLA Technology Services Company Limited, Cigna Health Corporation, Cigna Health Management, Cigna Health Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Cigna HealthSpring, Cigna Healthcare Holdings, Cigna Healthcare Mid-Atlantic, Cigna Healthcare of Arizona, Cigna Healthcare of California, Cigna Healthcare of Colorado, Cigna Healthcare of Connecticut, Cigna Healthcare of Florida, Cigna Healthcare of Georgia, Cigna Healthcare of Illinois, Cigna Healthcare of Indiana, Cigna Healthcare of Maine, Cigna Healthcare of Massachusetts, Cigna Healthcare of New Hampshire, Cigna Healthcare of New Jersey, Cigna Healthcare of North Carolina, Cigna Healthcare of Pennsylvania, Cigna Healthcare of South Carolina, Cigna Healthcare of St. Louis, Cigna Healthcare of Tennessee, Cigna Healthcare of Texas, Cigna Healthcare of Utah, Cigna Holding Company, Cigna Holdings, Cigna Holdings Overseas, Cigna Hong Kong Holdings Company Limited, Cigna Insurance Middle East S.A., Cigna Insurance Public Company Limited, Cigna Insurance Services (Europe) Limited, Cigna Intellectual Property, Cigna International Corporation, Cigna International Health Services, Cigna International Health Services BVBA, Cigna International Health Services Kenya Limited, Cigna International Health Services SDN BHD, Cigna International Services, Cigna International Services Australia Pty. Ltd., Cigna Investment Group, Cigna Investments, Cigna Korean Chusik Hoesa, Cigna Laurel Holdings, Cigna Legal Protection UK Ltd., Cigna Life Insurance Company of Canada, Cigna Life Insurance Company of Europe S.A.- N.V., Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York, Cigna Life Insurance New Zealand Limited, Cigna Linden Holdings, Cigna Magnolia Holdings, Cigna Myrtle Holdings, Cigna Nederland Alpha Cooperatief U.A., Cigna Nederland Beta B.V., Cigna Nederland Gamma B.V., Cigna Oak Holdings, Cigna Palmetto Holdings, Cigna Poplar Holdings, Cigna Sequoia Holdings, Cigna Spruce Holdings GmbH, Cigna Taiwan Life Assurance Company Limited, Cigna Walnut Holdings, Cigna Willow Holdings, Cigna Worldwide General Insurance Company Limited, Cigna Worldwide Insurance Company, Cigna Worldwide Life Insurance Company Limited, CignaTTK Health Insurance Company Limited, Connecticut General Corporation, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, CuraScript Inc., E-2 CIGNA CORPORATION - 2018 Form 10-K, ESI Mail Pharmacy Service Inc., ESI Partnership, ESI Resources Inc., Express Scripts Holding Company, Express Scripts Inc., Express Scripts Pharmaceutical LLC, Express Scripts Pharmacy Inc., Express Scripts Strategic Development Inc., FirstAssist Administration Limited, Firstassist Insurance Services Ltd, Great-West Healthcare of Illinois, Grown Ups New Zealand Limited, Health-Lynx LLC, HealthSource, HealthSpring, HealthSpring Life & Health Insurance Company, HealthSpring of Alabama, HealthSpring of Florida, HealthSpring of Tennessee, KDM Thailand Limited, LINA Financial Services, LINA Life Insurance Company of Korea, Life Insurance Company of North America, Loyal American Life Insurance Company, MCC Independent Practice Association of New York, Manipal Cigna Health Insurance Company Limited, Medco Containment Life Insurance Company, Medco Health Services Inc., Medco Health Solutions Inc., NewQuest, NewQuest Management Northeast, Olympic Health Management Services, Oz Parent, PT Asuransi Cigna, Provident American Life and Health Insurance Company, Qualcare, Qualcare Alliance Networks, Qualcare Captive Insurance Company Inc. PCC, Qualcare Management Resources Limited Liability Company, RHP (Thailand) Limited, Scibal Associates, Sterling Life Insurance Company, Tel-Drug, Tel-Drug of Pennsylvania, Temple Insurance Company Limited, United Benefit Life Insurance Company, Verity Solutions Group, Zurich Insurance Middle East, and eviCore 1 LLC.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through four strategic business units: Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; and Capital Markets. The company offers chequing, savings, and business accounts; mortgages; loans, lines of credit, student lines of credit, and business and agriculture loans; investment and insurance services; and credit cards, as well as overdraft protection services. It also provides day-to-day banking, borrowing and credit, investing and wealth, specialty, and international services; correspondent banking and online foreign exchange services; and cash management services. The company serves its customers through its banking centers, as well as direct, mobile, and remote channels. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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Bluegreen Vacations Holding Corp. is a holding company, which engages in the real estate, real estate joint ventures, and middle market operating businesses. It operates through the following segments: Bluegreen, BBX Capital Real Estate, Renin, and BBX Sweet Holdings. The Bluegreen segment markets, sells, and manages real estate-based vacation ownership interests in resorts located in popular, high-volume, and drive-to vacation destinations. The BBX Capital Real Estate segment includes acquisition, development, construction, ownership, financing, and management of real estate and investments in real estate joint ventures. The Renin segment involves in the design, manufacture, and distribution of sliding doors, door systems and hardware, and home decor products and operates. The BBX Sweet Holdings segment engages in the ownership and management of operating businesses in the confectionery industry, including IT'SUGAR, Hoffman's Chocolates, and Las Olas Confections and Snacks. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

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Aptiv Plc engages in the design, development, and manufacture of vehicle components. The firm also provides electrical, electronic, and safety technology solutions to the global automotive and commercial vehicle markets. It operates through the following business segments: Signal and Power Solutions, Advanced Safety and User Experience, and Eliminations and Other. The Signal and Power Solutions segment includes complete electrical architecture and component products. The Advanced Safety and User Experience segment covers component and systems integration in connectivity and security solutions, as well as advanced software development and autonomous driving technologies. The Eliminations and Other segment comprises of elimination of inter-segment transactions, other expenses, and income of a non-operating or strategic nature. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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Global Brass and Copper Holdings, Inc. converts, fabricates, processes, and distributes specialized non-ferrous products in the United States, the Asia Pacific, and Mexico. It operates in three segments: Olin Brass, Chase Brass, and A.J. Oster. The Olin Brass segment manufactures, fabricates, and converts specialized copper and brass sheets, strips, foils, tubes, and fabricated products; and rerolls and forms other alloys, such as stainless steel, carbon steel, and aluminum. The Chase Brass segment manufactures and supplies brass rods in round, hexagonal, and other shapes. The A.J. Oster segment processes and distributes copper, brass, and aluminum sheets, strips, and coated products. The company sells its products to the building and housing, automotive, electronics/electrical components, munitions, coinage, transportation, and industrial machinery and equipment markets under the Olin Brass, Chase Brass, A.J. Oster, Green Dot, and Eco Brass brands through its direct mill sales, distribution network, and third-party distributors. Global Brass and Copper Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise: 3Com International Inc., 3PAR Inc., Apogee, Aruba Networks Inc., Aruba Networks International Cayman, Aruba Networks International Limited, BlueData Software, Cloud Cruiser, Cloud Technology Partners, Cloud Technology Partners Inc., Compaq Computer (Mauritius), Compaq Trademark B.V., Cray, Cray Inc., EDS World Corporation (Far East) LLC, EYP Mission Critical Facilities Inc., H3C Holdings Limited, HP Enterprise Services Australia Pty Ltd, HP Financial Services (Australia) Pty Limited, HP Financial Services (Chile) Limitada, HP Financial Services (Japan) K.K., HP Financial Services Arrendamento Mercantil S.A., HP Financial Services Company (Korea), HP Financial Services International Holdings Company, HPE Government LLC, HPFS Global Holdings I LLC, HPFS Global Holdings II LLC, HPFS Rental S.R.L., Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co. Ltd, Hewlett Packard Caribe BV LLC, Hewlett Packard Colombia Ltda., Hewlett Packard Enterprise (China) Co. Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise B.V., Hewlett Packard Enterprise B.V. Amstelveen Meyrin Branch, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Co., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Co. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Canada Cie, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Costa Rica Limitada, Hewlett Packard Enterprise GlobalSoft Private Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India Private Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Ireland Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Luxembourg SCA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Polska sp. z o.o., Hewlett Packard Pathfinder LLC, Hewlett Packard Taiwan Ltd., Hewlett-Packard (Israel) Ltd., Hewlett-Packard (M) Sdn. Bhd., Hewlett-Packard (Nigeria) Limited, Hewlett-Packard (Schweiz) GmbH, Hewlett-Packard (Tanzania) Limited, Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) Limited, Hewlett-Packard ApS, Hewlett-Packard Argentina S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Australia Pty Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Belgium SPRL/BVBA, Hewlett-Packard Bermuda Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard Brasil Ltda., Hewlett-Packard Bulgaria EOOD, Hewlett-Packard Caribe B.V., Hewlett-Packard Caribe Y Andina B.V. LLC, Hewlett-Packard Chile Comercial Limitada, Hewlett-Packard Cyprus Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Hewlett-Packard Egypt Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Financial Services (India) Private Limited, Hewlett-Packard Financial Services Canada Company, Hewlett-Packard Financial Services Company, Hewlett-Packard France SAS, Hewlett-Packard G1 SPV (Cayman) Company, Hewlett-Packard Gesellschaft mbH, Hewlett-Packard Ghana Limited, Hewlett-Packard GmbH, Hewlett-Packard Guatemala Limitada, Hewlett-Packard HK SAR Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Hellas EPE, Hewlett-Packard Holdings Ltd., Hewlett-Packard International Bank Designated Activity Company, Hewlett-Packard International Bank Public Limited Company, Hewlett-Packard International Sarl, Hewlett-Packard Italiana S.r.l., Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Korea Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Leasing Limited, Hewlett-Packard Limited, Hewlett-Packard Luxembourg Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard Macau Limited, Hewlett-Packard Manufacturing Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Marigalante Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Hewlett-Packard Middle East FZ-LLC, Hewlett-Packard Mocambique Limitada - Sociedada em Liquidacao, Hewlett-Packard Nederland B.V., Hewlett-Packard New Zealand, Hewlett-Packard Norge AS, Hewlett-Packard OY, Hewlett-Packard Operations Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Hewlett-Packard Peru S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Philippines Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Portugal Lda., Hewlett-Packard SARL, Hewlett-Packard SIA, Hewlett-Packard Servicios Espana S.L., Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Sales) Pte. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Hewlett-Packard Sverige AB, Hewlett-Packard Technology Center Inc., Hewlett-Packard Teknoloji Cozumleri Limited Sirketi, Hewlett-Packard The Hague B.V., Hewlett-Packard Venezuela S.R.L., Hewlett-Packard Vision Limited, Hewlett-Packard d.o.o., Hewlett-Packard s.r.o., Limited Liability Company Hewlett Packard Enterprise, MapR Technologies, New H3C Technologies Co. Ltd., Niara Inc., Nimble Storage, Nimble Storage Inc., Nimble Storage Israel Ltd, Nimble Storage Japan GK, Nimble Storage UK Limited, Plexxi, RedPixie, SGI (Silicon Graphics), Sapphire Holding Co, Scytale, Shanghai Hewlett-Packard Co. Ltd., Silver Peak, SimpliVity, Sinope Holding B.V., Trilead, UAB ES Hague Lietuva, and Unis Huashan Technologies Co. Limited.
The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, 2nd Road Pty Ltd., ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Ltd, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Innovation Singapore Holdings Pte, ?What If! Limited, ?What If! Shanghai Co. Ltd, ?What If! USA LLC, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD Dialeto Agencia de Publicidade SA, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Beijing) Mobile Technology Co Ltd, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co Ltd, Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (South Africa) Pty Limited, Accenture (UK) Ltd, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Azerbaijan Ltd, Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BV, Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A, Accenture CAS GmbH, Accenture Canada Holdings Inc., Accenture Capital DAC, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd., Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SAS, Accenture Customer Services Limited, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Ltd, Accenture Delivery Poland sp. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital France Holdings SA, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance (Gibraltar) III Ltd, Accenture Finance GmbH, Accenture Finance GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II GmbH, Accenture Finance II GmbH in liquidation, Accenture Finance II Ltd, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services Srl, Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Ghana Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Ltd., Accenture Global Services Ltd, Accenture Global Solutions Ltd, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services Ltd, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc., Accenture Holding GmbH, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. 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(SH), Avanade Guangzhou, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy SRL, Avanade KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Netherlands BV, Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland Sp. z o.o., Avanade Poland Sp. z.o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain SL, Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Ltd, Avanade do Brasil Limitada, Avanade Osterreich GmbH, AvantBiz Consulting Limited, Avenai, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. 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Ltd., DMA Solutions Limited, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (Australia) PTY LTD, DayNine Consulting (Deutschland) GmbH, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting France SAS, DayNine Consulting Japan K.K., DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings, Declarative Holdings LLC, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digiplug SAS, Digital Consulting & Software Services LLC, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Ltd., Duck Creek Technologies, Duck Creek Technologies LLC, Deja Vu Security LLC, ESR Labs, Elcurator SAS, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting L.P., End-to-End Analytics, Energuia Web, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Ltd., Energy Quote Private Ltd., EnergyQuote JHA, EnergyQuote JHA Ltd., EnergyQuote Trading Ltd., Enimbos, Enkitec, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V. , Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enterprise System Partners PR LLC, Enterprise System Partners S.A.S., Entropia, Epylon, Ethica Consulting Group, Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Exton Consulting, Fairway Technologies Inc, Fairway Technologies LLC, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, First Annapolis International, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Focus Group Europe Limited, Formicary, Formicary Holdings Limited, Formicary Limited, FusionX, FutureMove Automotive, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, Genfour Limited, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gestion Altima Canada Inc., Gevity, Global Public Firm S.L., GlobalView SAS, GoodFilm GmbH Filmproduktion Stuttgart, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Hytracc Consulting UK Limited, Hytracc Holding AS, I-Faber S.p.A., IBB Consulting, IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INCAD, INSITUM, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Imagine Broadband (USA) Ltd, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Industrie&Co, Infoman AG, Infoman Schweiz AG, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Infusion Development Inc., Infusion Development UK Limited, InfusionDev LLC, Innoveer Solutions India Pvt Ltd, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria Brasil LTDA, Insitum Consultoria Colombia SAS, Insitum Consultoria Europa SL, Insitum Consultoria Peru SAC, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., Intrepid, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Advertisement (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inventor Technology Limited, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, Javelin Group (Bulgaria) EOOD, Javelin Group Limited (UK), Javelin Group SASU, K Comms Group Limited, KCS.net AG, KCS.net AG West, KCS.net Deutschland GmbH, KCS.net Holding AG, KCS.net Osterreich GmbH, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Ltd, Kogentix Singapore Pte. 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Ltd., Mackevision UK Ltd, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd., Maihiro, Matter, Matter Llc, Maud Corp Pty Limited, Maxamine International, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing Corporation, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mindtribe Product Engineering LLC, MobGen, MobGen Technology S.L, Moonrise NV, Mortgage Cadence, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, N3 LLC, NBS Marketing Inc., NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile, Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Chile SpA, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda., New Energy Aborda, New Energy Associates Ltd, New Energy Group, New Energy S.r.l., NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage China Ltd., NewsPage Pte Ltd, Nice Agency Limited, Northstream, Northstream AB, Northstream Holding AB, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology LTDA, Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Octo Technology SPRL, Octoman SAS, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Openmind, Openminded, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium Consulting Ltd, Orbium GmbH, Orbium Holding AG, Orbium Inc., Orbium International AG, Orbium International sp. z o.o., Orbium Licences AG, Orbium Limited, Orbium Pte. 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Accenture, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Ltd, Pragsis Technologies S.L, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Ltd, Procurian Germany GmbH, Procurian Inc., Procurian International I LLC, Procurian International II LLC, Procurian LLC, Procurian Singapore Pte. Ltd., Procurian Switzerland GmbH, Procurian USA LLC, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co Ltd, Radiant Services, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Limited, Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (Asia) Pte Ltd, Redcore (India) Private Limited (India), Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Renacentis IT Services, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Rothco, Rothco Holdings Designated Activity Company, Rothco Unlimited Company, S.C. 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New York City Ballet dancers will be led by the interim leadership team for at least several more months. Here, the company in Justin Peck's The Times Are Racing. Photo by Paul Kolnik, Courtesy NYCB.

NYCB Has Officially Started Its Search for a New Leader. Here's What We Know So Far.
A total of 24 accused have been listed in the charge sheet, filed under section 45 of the PMLA, including Nirav Modi.

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed its first charge sheet in the over USD 2 billion PNB fraud case involving diamantaire Nirav Modi and his associates stating that over Rs 4,299 crore of Rs 6,939.84 crore of bank funds were allegedly laundered abroad to dummy companies by him and others.

It alleged that a sum of USD 50 million, out of these monies, was "diverted" to Modi's father Deepak Modi who is reported to be based in Antwerp in Belgium.

Officials said an about 12,000-page charge sheet or prosecution complaint, with the operative part being about 80 pages, has been filed before a special court here under various sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"The court will soon take cognisance of the charge sheet," a senior official said.

A total of 24 accused have been listed in the charge sheet, filed under section 45 of the PMLA, including Nirav Modi, his father, brother Neeshal Modi, sister Purvi Modi, brother-in-law Mayank Mehta and the designer jewellers' firms--Ms Solar Exports, Stellar Diamonds and Diamonds R Us.

"These firms and Modi's Firestar group of companies had fraudulently obtained Rs 6,498 crore through Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued by the Punjab National Bank, Brady House branch in Mumbai," the central probe agency said in a statement.

The funds so obtained, it said, by the three were "partly utilised for payment to various overseas companies and also for offsetting earlier LOUs".

"It was revealed during investigation that the payments were made to 17 overseas entities in Hong Kong, Dubai and the USA since 2011 in the guise of export and import," the agency said in its charge sheet.

It added that its probe revealed that all these overseas firms are "dummy companies" of Nirav Modi and the directors and shareholders of these companies were "dummy directors" and were employees or ex-employees of Firestar group of companies who were working on directions of Nirav Modi and his other trusted officials-- Shyamsunder Wadhwa (Firestar vice president who was arrested by the ED in the case), Aditya Nanavati, Mihir Bhansali (US-based partner of Nirav Modi) and Saju Poulose.

It said the modus operandi of money laundering was to show manufacturing activities in these dummy overseas companies by over-valuing invoices and inflating balance sheets.

"The export and import was also not genuine and was just rotational transactions. The jewellery exported from India was dismantled and diamonds and pearls were taken out and the gold and silver was sent for melting," it said.

The melted metals, the ED said in the charge sheet, were re-exported to Dubai and India and diamonds and pearls were also separately re-exported to India.

The whole process, it said, was carried out without any substantial value addition and was only carried out for inflating the turnover of Indian companies in order to acquire maximum credit facilities from the banks.

"Till date, diversion of the proceeds of crime to the extent of USD 629.21 million has been traced to several group companies, relatives, other dummy companies under Nirav Modi's control," the ED said.

It added that on the basis of this information, the ED has sent Letters Rogatories (LRs) to 15 countries till now for seeking evidences.

The agency would soon file a second charge sheet against Modi's uncle and jeweller Mehul Choksi and his businesses, who are also accused in this case.

The ED had registered an FIR, called the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), in this instance on February 14.

The CBI had also filed two charge sheets in this case early this month.

Nirav Modi, who is absconding and has not joined the ED probe in the case till now, and others are being probed under various criminal laws after the fraud came to light this year following a complaint by the Punjab National Bank that they allegedly cheated the nationalised bank to the tune of over Rs 13,000 crore, with the purported involvement of a few employees of the bank.

Both Nirav Modi and Choksi are said to have left the country before criminal cases were lodged against them.
Prabhu will visit Washington and New york during his five-day visit beginning from June 10.

New Delhi: Import duty hike on certain steel and aluminium items and visa restrictions are among the key issues to be flagged by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu during his meeting with the US Trade Representative (USTR) and American commerce secretary.

Prabhu will visit Washington and New york during his five-day visit beginning from June 10.

"I have a meeting with USTR and also with their commerce secretary. We will raise the issue of unilateral actions by the US, the recent restrictions put on (movement of professionals) and imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium," Prabhu told PTI.

He said that India is engaging with the US at every level as there are huge business opportunities for American companies here.

"We want to make sure that we have a much bigger agenda with the US," he said, adding there is a market for the US in the civil aviation sector in India.

The minister would also meet private players besides think tanks which influence US decision making. India has time and again raised its concerns over tightening visa restrictions by the US on IT professionals.

The proposed overhaul of popular H-1B visa regime by the US President Donald Trump has raised concerns among Indian IT firms, as any changes in the visa regime may result in higher operational costs and shortage of skilled workers for the USD 110 billion Indian outsourcing industry.

The country also expressed its disappointment over the US imposition of high import duties on certain steel and aluminium products.

India has also dragged the US in WTO's dispute settlement system against the decision. India's exports of steel and aluminium products to America stood at about USD 1.5 billion every year.

The US too has filed a complaint against India's export support programmes. It alleged that those schemes are harming its companies. India's exports to the US in 2016-17 stood at USD 42.21 billion, while imports were USD 22.3 billion.
An increase of about 1 million bpd would bring compliance with global supply curbs down to 100 per cent from around 152 per cent.

Dubai: Saudi Arabia and Russia will discuss raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil output by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), easing 17 months of strict supply curbs, sources familiar with the matter said.

An increase of about 1 million bpd would bring compliance with global supply curbs down to 100 per cent from around 152 per cent, the sources said.

The initial talks are being led by the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia and Russia at St. Petersburg this week along with their counterpart from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which holds the OPEC presidency this year, the sources said.

OPEC and non-OPEC ministers meet next in Vienna on June 22-23, and the final decision will be taken there.

Discussions are still ongoing aimed at relaxing record high compliance with the production cuts which reached 152 per cent in April, to just 100 per cent, the sources said, in a bid to cool the market after oil prices rose to $80 a barrel on supply shortage concerns.

The final production number that needs to be added is not set yet as dividing up the extra barrels can be tricky, the sources said.

The talks now are to bring compliance down to 100 per cent level, more for OPEC rather than for non-OPEC, one source said.

OPEC may decide to raise oil output as soon as June due to worries over Iranian and Venezuelan supply and after Washington raised concerns the oil rally was going too far, OPEC and oil industry sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Dhaka: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra, who is on a field visit here, has shared her on-ground experiences from the Rohingya refugees shelters - from stumbling upon "calmness" in the conflict-stricken zone to urging global community to come to their aid.

The 35-year-old actor took to Instagram to document her visit - day-by-day - through posts, pictures and videos at various camps.

"As I walk into the Women Friendly Space at the Jamtoli Camp, I am instantly struck by a certain calmness. These camps are loud & crowded, actually overcrowded, and so to find a quiet oasis, in this case a small hut with a tarp roof and thatched bamboo walls, is surprising.

"But for the girls in this camp, this is what they call their 'house of peace'. It's a place they can come and just be. A place to interact with friends, seek counselling, learn about hygiene, or learn life skills like art and music," Chopra wrote alongside a photograph in which she can be seen having a 'tea party' with a refugee girl.

The 'Quantico' star added there are approximately 50 Women Friendly Spaces in the camps, which give shelter to 50-70 Rohingya girls on a daily basis.

She said she met three 18-year-old women whose stories "shook" her up.

"One scarred with memories of houses in her village being burned - she and her parents travelled for two days to get here, passing hundreds of decapitated and dismembered bodies along the way. Another shared stories of young girls being pulled from their homes to be raped and tortured. They even tried to kill her and cut her with a knife, but she fought back. How did you manage to be so brave, I asked her... She replied, 'If you're born you will die, so I'm not scared of dying today'. In what world is it normal for an 18-year-old girl to have this perspective on life? The third young woman travelled for nearly two weeks on foot through the forest, where her youngest brother died along the way. There was lots of rape and torture back home she told me, and some women's breasts were even cut off."

Chopra also shared a video cradling eight-months-old, Shohida and narrated her difficult journey to the camp.

"It's a poignant reminder of the dichotomy of life... Here she was getting all the help she needed, when just a few months before, her mother, Alada (who was only 19-years-old at the time) walked for 15 days, while six months pregnant with her, to get across the border. It shows us that there is hope left in this world," she wrote.

The actor again visited Nutrition Centre at the Jamtoli camp in Cox's Bazar.

"More than 60,000 babies have been born in the camps over the past eight months, so this centre is an essential resource for new mothers to learn about proper feeding and nutrition," she said.

"While their lives are safer now, they are all still struggling. They know that with an education they can get a job and create better lives for their family, like buying protein for their meals, and clean drinking water. It's literally as basic as that," the actor added.

Chopra urged people to send in donations and lend their support through UNICEF.
Harvey Weinstein attend the premiere of 'August: Osage County,' at the Regal Cinemas at LA Live in Los Angeles, California. Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's former company has announced on February 26, 2018 it will file for bankruptcy, complaining that talks with frontrunner investors to buy the troubled studio had collapsed, leaving it with "no choice" but to go to the wall. The Weinstein Company said that it had failed to reach a deal with an investor group led by Maria Contreras-Sweet, a former Obama administration official, for a reported $500 million despite a last-minute push to make the deal palatable to New York prosecutors. (Photo: AFP)

New York: Disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to the police in New York on Friday on charges of raping a woman, US law enforcement officials said.

Weinstein, 66, once one of the most powerful men in the American film industry, has agreed after months-long probe to surrender himself at a police precinct in Manhattan and will be arrested on a criminal complaint, the New York Times reported.

He is then expected to be taken to Manhattan Criminal Court to be arraigned on the charges.

As part of a bail package negotiated in advance, Weinstein will put up USD one million in cash and agree to wearing a monitoring device. His travel will be restricted and will have to surrender his passport, the report said.

Weinstein will be charged with first-degree rape and third-degree rape in one case besides a first-degree criminal sex act in another where he forced a woman to perform oral sex on him, the report quoted law enforcement officials as saying.

His arrest and charges follow innumerable accusations leveled against him by several women from the movie industry.

As women opened up about Weinstein's history of sexually abusing and assaulting them, women from across the world come forward with their own accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men, triggering the global #MeToo movement.

"Weinstein had until recently seemed untouchable, harnessing his wealth and his influence in the movie industry to intimidate women out of speaking publicly and, only three years ago, withstand an investigation into groping allegations," the NYT report said.

The criminal sex act charge against Weinstein stems from an encounter with Lucia Evans, who told The New Yorker and then investigators from the Manhattan district attorney's office that Hollywood producer forced her to perform oral sex on him during what she thought would be a casting meeting.

The victim in the rape case has not been publicly identified.

Weinstein has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting movie stars and employees of his former namesake company over the course of decades and then paying them or coercing them to stay silent.

Weinstein's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment, the report said.

In the past, Brafman had said that Weinstein denies any allegations of "nonconsensual sex".

Authorities opened investigation into Weinstein's conduct. Prosecutors in the office of the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance conducted dozens of interviews in New York and elsewhere and issued hundreds of subpoenas, and their inquiry is not over.

An investigative grand jury, still convened, will look into other sexual assault allegations against Weinstein as well as possible financial crimes relating to how he paid women to stay silent, the report said.

"Among other things, the grand jury is delving into whether Weinstein used employees of his former production company to identify women for him to assault, to set up meetings with the women or to discredit them if they complained," it said.

Prosecutors have also gone through Weinstein's financial records in an effort to uncover any possible improprieties.
Talk about multitasking! It appears engaging in various endeavours from acting to production to heading TFPC and Nadigar Sangam and foraying into politics  comes easily for Vishal.

Known as the actor who never fails to raise his voice for various causes, Vishal has taken a new avatar. Yes, the lanky lad is making his foray into television for the first time and hosting a reality show on a popular satellite channel.

Confirming the news, Vishal who is basking in the success of his recent release Irumbu Thirai, tells DC in an exclusive, Yes, talks have been on for a while and the concept of the show is something which touched my heart. And hence I had given a go ahead with the makers.

The reality show has been designed on the lines of Memu Saitham, a popular show in Telugu hosted by Lakshmi Manchu for two seasons, which helps people to realise their dreams. Perhaps, he is taking cue from the likes of Kamal Haasan, Suriya, and Prakash Raj who turned hosts of popular shows in Tamil.

Not really! Many have been approaching and luring me to the small screen, but I felt those were sort of commercial. When the makers of the new show came up with the innovative idea, I felt this is the right time to launch myself on television. The show is used as a platform to help the poor and needy to achieve their dreams. The money earned through the show will go for charity. I watched Memu Saithamand was totally fascinated by its concept, the Avan Ivan star declares.

There wold be celebrity guests who will turn into common people for a day and earn money, which would then go towards the particular cause. The makers have already initiated talks with several celebrities to be part of the show in Tamil, and Vishal is also chipping in with his bit to identify people from underprivileged backgrounds who are in immediate need of funds and help.

The makers are yet to find a suitable title for the show. And a few more people to be helped realise their dreams are to be finalised, he adds. The actor will undergo an image makeover for his looks and a top stylist will be designing his clothes, says an insider.

Ask him about rumours of his joining Kamal Haasans newly floated political party, Makkal Needhi Maiam, and Vishal shakes his head in disapproval. He asserts, I will float my own party and enter politics at an appropriate time. In saying that Vishal probably means completing his Nadigar Sangam building, which is his lifetime vision. Apparently, thats the time he has fixed for tying the knot as well with his longtime girlfriend Varalaxmi Sarathkumar.
Rating:

Cast: Danny Denzongpa, Geetanjali Thapa, Adil Hussain, Tisca Chopra

Director: Deb Medhekar

How many of us in this generation, have, either read, or seen the film adaptation of the iconic story by Rabindranath Tagore, Kabuliwala? Not too many, I could say with confidence. The tall, well-built Pathan in the story has many references in the stories that feature in the Calcutta of the early 19th century. Supposedly, a great hit with children who loved him for his bag full of dry fruits, he earned the nickname of Kabuliwala. Director Deb Medhekar, who makes his directorial debut with Bioscopewala, probably realises the gap that exists between many young film buffs and the rich treasure trove of some of the greatest stories, and gives us a restructured and modernised version of the story that may be inspired by the bards story, but has its own definite track. In fact, it takes off from where the original story leaves us.

Bioscopewala takes forward the timeline of Kabuliwala of the 19th century to the trouble-torn world of 1980s during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for the story to gain acceptance by a larger audience. He changes the profession of the central character of the migrant Rehmat Khan (Danny Denzongpa) from a dry fruit-seller to a man who goes around showing films to children through his bioscope. As he goes about showing slides to children, he comes in contact with Minnie, a five-year-old girl. He is reminded of his daughter he has left behind in Afghanistan and develops a special bond with Minnie. Not many aware that he has run away from his home in Kabul because of the fundamentalist Taliban, who set ablaze his cinema and forced him to flee. He pines for his home and it is special and unlikely friendship with Minnie is something that keeps him going in a foreign land. When the Bioscopewala accidentally kills a man, he is charged and is jailed for murder, and put behind bars for several years.

In the original story, when he is set free, he returns to Minnies home and discovers much to his delight that she is getting married that very day. As he expresses his desire to see her in her bridal attire, a reluctant Minnie comes briefly only to find a stranger in their midst, and leaves immediately. An inconsolably forlorn Afghan then mutters that if Minnie failed to recognise him, how his biological daughter he left behind in Kabul would react to his sudden appearance. Biscopewala moves forward from this point adding more subplots to keep their affection and striking attachment undamaged. The film opens with a grown-up but shattered Minnie, a documentary filmmaker (Geetanjali Thapa), who is struggling to get her father Robis (Adil Hussain) body back after he passes away in a plane crash. Her fathers sudden departure for Kabul is a mystery she has not been able to fathom. Around the same time, a feeble, aged and somewhat slovenly looking old man has been picked up by their family loyalist help Bhola (Brajendra Kala) and brought home. Minnie fumes at first but soon in a dramatic turn of events her memories of the Bioscopewala are revived as she takes it upon herself to look for him. After getting to know him, she unravels the mystery behind her fathers sudden change of plan in his itinerary even as war rages in Afghanistan.

The poignant story is bound to resonate with not just all those who have read Tagores story, but will evoke the same tenderness for Kabuliwala, who almost epitomises longing, suffering, pain and separation. In the modern version of the story a parallel of turbulent times has been created in the form of warn-ravaged Afghanistan, where Minnie goes to look for the Afghans daughter. Her determination to disentangle Rehmats life leads to her trying the best to trace his life that includes his close friends, rummaging through files from drawers, and meeting other Afghans based in Calcutta. She doesnt find much, but is nevertheless, excited to link her fathers mission with that of her own: to help Rehmat!

There are some sepia-tinted images that instantly take us back to the bylanes of Calcutta as it sets the tone for essentially a tale that tells us about the missing links in our lives. There is the old-world charm of storytelling too that seems to be completely missing in our modern-day life of gadgets. Rehmats projector that displays kaleidoscopic images are a grim reminder of the lost times when our imagination would help us visualise multiple stories. Medhekar cleverly and most admirably juxtaposes two timelines to suggest our sense of loss and heartbreaks remains the same. Though Kabuliwalas are longer visible, the helplessness of an outlaw who wants to unite with his family could still be an affliction at any age. The new captivating story doesnt go beyond the obvious, and doesnt give us an insight into the Afghan, leaving us asking for more. While Kabuliwala (written in 1892) gave us enough reason to empathise with Tagores hero, Bioscopewala doesnt allow us much insight into his unsettled disturbed and messy life.

Even the core theme  that of Minnies relationship with the Afghan  is not much delved into; only a few glimpses suggest their eternal bonding. One gets a sense of incompleteness at the end of the 95-minute film that should have ideally explained the voids that are never filled. The tales of Tagore that are a part of every Bengali family folklore have far more depth and intensity, the reverberations of which linger on in their psyche forever. Medhekars additions are enough to contemporise a tale that never dates; what he doesnt add are moments that would have added another layer to Bioscopewala. Danny Denzongpa seems perfectly as Bioscopewala, so is Adil Hussain and Thapa in their respective roles.

The writer is a film critic and has been reviewing films for over 15 years. He also writes on music, art and culture, and other human interest stories.
These symptoms only lead to stigmatization of those suffering from the condition, and people in a developing country like India usually attribute all these symptoms to black magic.

Chennai: An individual trying to harm himself, or a person who believes that all the people around them are talking to them or someone is following or monitoring their activities despite no evidence to prove it.

In a few cases, an individual thinks that they have been sent on a special mission to Earth, while others feel like aliens or satellites are controlling them. As these conditions are illogical, people with such condition are usually thought to be mentally ill, but all these symptoms are of a mental condition called schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia, which is a mental condition that affects an individual's ability to think, feels or behaves. These symptoms only lead to stigmatization of those suffering from the condition, and people in a developing country like India usually attribute all these symptoms to black magic.

Kin of people with such condition go to faith healers for remedy which might ultimately prove detrimental because the delay is initiating treatment will worsen the condition even further and also the recovery. On World Schizophrenia Day, medicos stress that though there is no cure available for the Schizophrenia, the need to bring awareness on the disorder and available safer treatments for the disorder.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterized by disorganized thinking, disorganized behavior, hallucinations, delusions (false beliefs). People with this condition can have auditory hallucinations like as if someone is talking to them or giving commands to them or giving a commentary on their activities or at times people can also hear voices which are discussing about the person among themselves. These are some symptoms that are characteristic of this disorder, says Dr Vivian Kapil, consultant psychiatrist, Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre.

Schizophrenia occurs due to chemical imbalance in the brain predominant being the chemical called dopamine. Genetic factors, environmental factors can also make the individual vulnerable.

Treatment of this condition is mainly through antipsychotic medications that help in controlling the hallucinations and false beliefs (delusions) of people suffering with the illness. Once these symptoms are controlled, people can be made to engage in rehabilitation measures like vocational rehabilitation and cognitive remediation therapy to improve their condition, added Dr Vivian.

The discovery of anti-psychotics and other treatments recently has really improved the quality of life of people suffering from this disorder. People with schizophrenia are unable to understand or realize that they have an illness and kin needs to seek the medical help, say medicos.

Around 1 per cent of the population suffers this condition, but the patients are usually abandoned. Anti-psychotics and anti-tremor medications aid the patients, while counseling can help with rehabilitation of the person suffering from the condition. Several cognitive therapies, behaviour therapies, family and psychotherapies can improve the mental condition of people with Schizophrenia, says clinical psychologist Dr V Raman.

What are Early Warning Signs of Schizophrenia?

The signs of schizophrenia are different for everyone. Symptoms may develop slowly over months or years, or may appear very abruptly. The disease may come and go in cycles of relapse and remission.
Both the horses were transported to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) cattle pound in Malad for immediate medical examination and veterinary care.

Mumbai: The Kherwadi police station in Bandra East, on Thrusday, May 24, seized two young horses, used in a political rally organised by the followers of Indian National Congress party, to protest against the increasing fuel prices.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India assisted the Bandra police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against the horses' custodians under Sections 3 and 11 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, for treating the weak and exhausted animals cruelly, which included, people turn by turn sitting on them, forcing them to walk under the scorching sun for hours without food, water and shade and the custodians of the horses constantly kicking them to force them walk with the people sitting on them and taking pictures.

Both the horses were transported to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) cattle pound in Malad for immediate medical examination and veterinary care.

Earlier this week, after PETA India's complained to the Mumbai police about two malnourished and very thin horses in Nariman Point, who have visible ribs and backbones and are injured, the Cuffe Parade police filed an FIR against the horses' custodians and also transported the animals to the BMC cattle pound.

"Keeping horses in Mumbai is illegal, and using them in rallies and protests is also not allowed," says PETA India Emergency Response Coordinator Meet Ashar. "Political parties must stick to eye-catching and creative protests that don't subject animals to frightening, frenetic crowds. PETA India is working with the police and BMC to get neglected horses the care they need."
In 2015 a French court objected to a girl being named Nutella saying that she may be mocked later in life (Photo: Pixabay)

Parenthood is an important experience for a lot of people across the globe and naming the child is a crucial aspect of it. While people do like to give unique names to their children, everyone may not be pleased with it.

In a bizarre case from Italy, a court ordered a couple to change their daughters name or let the court pick an alternative. The 18-month-old girl has been named Blu which is Italian for blue.

The couple had received a summons to appear in court as the name based on the English word blue cant be attributed to a female in the birth certificate. The birth certificate needs to be rectified with a name the parents propose.

The objection comes from a presidential decree in 2000 stating that a childs name should correspond to the sex. The couple will challenge the order arguing that the name has already been used for girls.

Similar judgments have been seen before when a French couple faced problems after naming their daughter Liam which is considered a name for boys. In 2015 a French court objected to a girl being named Nutella saying that she may be mocked later in life.
A police officer said the minor took Akshara away from the play area and when Akshara started crying, the girl took her towards the sump and pushed her. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: For five hours, an 11-year-old girl tried to mislead the police investigating the death of a 14-month-old girl near Jalavihar by saying that the toddler had been kidnapped by an unidentified person on Thursday.

She later confessed that she had pushed the victim, Pitta Akshara, into a 15-foot deep sump with a four-foot opening, which was left open. Ramgopalpet police who initially registered a case of suspicious death altered case to murder and apprehended the 11-year-old girl. DCP, Central Zone, Vishwaprasad said she was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board and sent to a juvenile home on Friday.

The girl was residing with her grandparents at Vizianagaram and completed Class V. As she was very aggressive and not interested in studies, she was sent to her parents, a police officer said.

After analysing CCTV footage in the area, police found that Akshara was seen playing with a few other kids from the area. In one clip, Akshara was last seen with the minor before she went missing. The footage was not clear as the camera was at a distance and the police had to enhance the image to identify the girl.

On Friday, after trying to mislead the police for five hours, the minor admitted that she had pushed Akshara into the sump. She told the police that Akshara had bitten her on the left hand on Wednesday while playing. When Akshara bit her again on Thursday, she decided to take revenge, the girl told the police.

A police officer said the minor took Akshara away from the play area. Akshara started crying and, when she did not stop, the girl took her towards the sump and pushed her into it. Then, she rushed to the toddlers parents and informed them that some unidentified persons kidnapped Akshara, the police said.

The worried parents started searching for the child and approached the police. The rumours on social media regarding prowling gangs added to their worry.

Police after analysing the CCTV footage found no suspicious movement in the area and ruled out kidnap angle. They began searching the area and found Aksharas body in the sump that collects sewage water from Jalavihar. It is usually closed but had been left open for two days for repair work.

Inquiries revealed that Aksharas parents and those of the minor were working in the housekeeping department at Jalavihar and they had differences over sharing work, due to which they had arguments at home as well. Aksharas family resides in Shed No 5, while the juvenile girls family resides nearby. The arguments between their parents could have had an effect on the juvenile girl and could have triggered her to act violently after being bitten, a police officer said.
Chennai: With the death toll in the Thoothukudi police firing rising to 13, following Selvasekar of Iruvappapuram village, succumbing to injuries due to lathicharge, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday justified the police action against the anti-Sterlite protesters, saying the police acted in self-defence. Anti-social elements had attacked the police under the guise of agitation, he said referring to police firing on May 22 and 23.

"Some political parties and leaders had misguided the agitators against Sterlite. Opposition parties were instigating innocent people to agitate," he said in a series of tweets in response to criticism from various quarters on police firing and violence.

"When someone hits you, you naturally tend to defend yourselves. So, on such situations, no one acts in a pre-planned manner," he said.

The CM's defence came minutes after the DMK working president M.K. Stalin was bundled out of the Secretariat for staging a sudden dharna in front of Mr. Palaniswami's office, demanding Chief Minister's resignation in connection with the Thoothukudi police firing incident.

Tense moments had prevailed for sometime outside the Secretariat complex when the DMK members at around half past noon resorted to a road blocade and argued with the police for evicting and detaining their leader. Stalin was later released in the evening.

Speaking to reporters outside the Secretariat Mr. Palaniswami claimed that some anti-social elements intruded into the agitation (against Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi) on May 22 and attacked police and torched police vehicles. Under a tense situation, the police resorted to firing, which was not pre-planned.

He charged the Opposition parties and anti-social elements with vested interests, inciting violence and said the Tamil Nadu government has been taking steps to shut down the Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi legally. The State government continues to respect views of people on Sterlite issue. Thoothukudi administrators met agitators 14 times about government stand. ?State government has been taking steps to close down Sterlite plant, through legal means. Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board did not renew license for Sterlite, he explained.

I am deeply pained by the loss of precious lives during the agitation at Thoothukudi. The Ministry of Home Affairs has taken cognisance of the situation and has sought a report on the incident, and the prevailing situation from the State government, Mr. Palaniswami said and added his thoughts were with the bereaved families. I also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured. I appeal to the people in Thoothukudi to remain calm and maintain peace and tranquility in the region, he said.

Asked about DMK working president's arrest, he expressed surprise over the latter's protest near his office and said, only a few minutes earlier we were together in the Assembly Business Advisory Committee meeting. Had he sought an appointment I would have received him in office, he said and accused the DMK of enacting a drama in the issue.

DMK, allies have taken up false campaign on Sterlite: Ponnar

Union minister of state for finance and shipping Pon Radhakrishnan has lashed out at the opposition DMK and its allies charging them with launching a "false and malicious campaign" with ulterior motive and appealed to the people not to believe their bundle of lies. DMK and allies have taken up a false and malicious campaign against the Centre on the Sterlite's copper smelter plant, with an ulterior motive. They even go around giving one the impression that the Centre is behind this and also the police firing in Thoothukudi on May 22 and 23.

I appeal to the people of Thoothukudi and the people of Tamil Nadu not to believe the false campaign undertaken by the DMK and the Congress and their bundle of lies with regard to the Sterlite issue, Mr Radhakrishnan said on Thursday night.Speaking to reporters at the Chennai airport, here, on the eve of the all party agitation announced by the DMK, Mr Radhakrishnan asserted that he had adequate proof on who was really behind granting permission to the Sterlite's plant in the southern coastal town.
Chennai: The anti-Sterlite protests have reportedly led to the loss of Rs 100 crore every day ever since the shootout in Thoothukudi.

According to local traders, digital India and the GST execution has now backfired without internet. The entire wholesale trade now depends upon on digital transactions through internet and the unprecedented violence has crippled the retail and the export business of pearl city, said A.M. Vikrama Raja, president, Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu (TNVSP).

The wholesale daily market of Thoothukudi alone accounts for Rs 100 crore, but the overall trade loss per day will be actually high. There are reports of shipping and export industry being affected due to the Sterlite protests. The law and order problem coupled with Internet restrictions has choked even neighboring districts. Due to the violence, workers from other districts engaged in Thoothukudi trade have left the city and traders are unable to produce invoice and engage customers, he noted.

The order by the state government banning internet for five days means straight away loss of Rs 10 crore for the telecom industry. There are more than 50 lakh mobile customers in these three districts (Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari), said a top source with a telecom major. Airtel and Vodaofone has 30 lakh customers. BSNL, Gio and others contribute to another 20 lakh customers with high data consumption. A blanket ban will make us loose least `20 per day from a customer and this is a huge setback for the entire telecom sector, the source said adding that there is a constant pressure from our customers ranging from banks, MNCs and hospitals seeking immediate restoration of internet services.

According to a top TN BSNL sources, the call centres are flooded with complaints from customers in Thoothukudi complaining about poor signal with no internet. Our staffers are under pressure and we are not used to such a scenario. Further thousands of new customers who recently migrated from Aircel to BSNL have linked their mobile numbers for all banking and digital transactions and this is the reason that has affected them, rued the BSNL insider. The sooner the state restores internet it is better for the public and the industry, the BSNL official said seeking anonymity.
The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi who was detained by police at Srinagar Wednesday after he had a scuffle with the staff of a Srinagar hotel on being refused to check in with a local teenage girl. (Photo: YouTube | Screengrab)

Srinagar: The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi who was detained by police at Srinagar on Wednesday after he had a scuffle with the staff of a Srinagar hotel on being refused to check in with a local teenage girl.

The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles regarding an incident that occurred on May 23. If found guilty, appropriate action would be taken against him," Defence Ministry spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia told on Friday.

Earlier during the day, the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had assured that exemplary punishment will be awarded to Major Leetul Gogoi if found guilty of any offence.

General Bipin Rawat, who is in the Valley to review the security situation ahead of the annual Amarnath yatra, told reporters at Pahalgam: If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action."

He added, If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest and the punishment will be such that it will set an example.

Read: Exemplary punishment for Maj Gogoi if found guilty: Army chief Bipin Rawat

The J&K police is investigating the incident separately. It had detained the Army officer briefly after the incident took place in Srinagars tourist frequented Dal Gate area on the morning of May 23.

Also Read: 'Human shield' officer Major Gogoi held after scuffle with hotel staff in J&K

Major Gogoi had earlier in April 2016 stirred up a hornets nest by ordering his men to tie Farooq Ahmed Dar, a Kashmiri shawl-weaver from Chhil Brass village of central Budgam district, to the bonnet of an Army jeep during by-poll in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. He is a resident of Assam and was returning to his unity in Beerwa area in Kashmirs central district of Budgam after spending vacations at home.

Sources said that in the backdrop of May 23 incident and impending inquiry into his conduct Major Gogoi was taken off from field duties and attached to the headquarters. He may be shifted out for alleged lack of command and control over his subordinates.

He had booked a room in Hotel Grand Mamta in Dal Lake area online. A teenage girl from Chak-e-Kawoosa village of Budgam along with a local man Sameer Ahmed Malla who later turned out to be soldier also arrived at the hotel around same time. The hotel staff told the police that the person by the name of Leetul Gogoi who had introduced himself as a businessman from Assam while booking a room on line for two people for one night had arrived at the reception around 11 am on Wednesday along another person and a girl. The second person, it said, was driving the Maruti Alto car in which they had come to the hotel.

While mentioning the purpose of his visit and mode of payment, Major Gogoi had said, I am travelling for business and I may be using a business credit card.

The staff at the hotel front desk asked him to show it his identity card which he failed to do and instead gave them his driving license. When they asked him about the girl he wanted to check in with, neither he nor she could give it a satisfactory answer. This made the hotel staff suspicious and when it refused them to check in, the driver became violent and started abusing and threatening us. The argument turned into a physical brawl. We called the police which took the guest, the driver and the girl to police station Khanyar, said Manzoor Ahmed, the hotel owner.

The staff later learnt that the person who wanted to check in with the girl was Major Leetul Gogoi who had hit the headlines and was in the midst of a major controversy after his allegedly using a Budgam resident as a human shield about a year ago.

The Army had been maintaining silence on the incident officially but had launched an internal inquiry into the conduct of Major Gogoi immediately after learning about it. The police had after detaining the officer briefly handed him over to his unit while the girl was sent to her parents. The girl is reported to have told the police that she wanted to spend some time with Major Gogoi out of my own will. But the Army officer has failed to convince the police on the purpose of his checking in a hotel with a local girl away from his place of posting.

We have egg on our face, an Army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

He, however, also said the internal inquiry being held by the Army will nail the truth if the girl was a source for the officer or it was going to be consensual sexual activity.

The girls mother has told the police and the reporters that Malla had helped her daughter to become a member of a self-help group of the State Rural Livelihood Mission and after sometime he guided Major Gogoi to their dwelling.

He (Major Gogoi) barged into our tin-shed dwelling twice since March this year and forced my daughter into interaction, she alleged.

Her husband Gulam Muhammad Wani has said that he had no knowledge about Malla taking his daughter to Srinagar.

The family lives in extreme poverty in the tin-shed in Chak-e-Kawoosa. The father of the girl is labourer who has to support a family of six. The girl is a student of 11th clash and her younger brothers are in primary classes.

The police is under tremendous pressure to register a case against Major Gogoi and Malla under the relevant provisions of law as many people here believe it is a clear case of trafficking, blackmail or sexual exploitation of a minor girl. The police is, in fact, being widely criticised including on social media for having let the Army officer and panderer off on the day of the incident. Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range) S P Pani had said that the incident would be investigated and that We need to go by the merit of the case. He had also said that the police would find if the girl was a minor and had been brought to the Srinagar hotel with any malafide intension.

Major Gogois allegedly using a civilian as a human shield in April 2016 had evoked rage within the State and beyond with human rights groups including Amnesty International demanding action against those responsible. However, the Army had after a probe not only exonerated him but he was awarded Commendation Card for his sustained distinguished service in counterinsurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir by the Army Chief Gen. Rawat.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and opposition National Conference (NC) working president, Omar Abdullah, has released Rs 1.30 lakh in favour of the girls father to help in the construction of their house.

Abdullah is also the MLA of Beerwa, the constituency where the family lives in. His political secretary Tanvir Sadiq on Friday tweeted, Our local party office bearers have visited Check Kawoosa area of Beerwah. After a firsthand report & finding the family living in extreme poverty & living in a tin shed, Mr @OmarAbdullah has released an amount of 1.30 lakh in favour of Gh. Mohd Wani for construction of the house.

Tanvir also shared a letter issued to the Deputy Commissioner Budgam regarding the release of constituency development fund in favour of the girls father. This may please be done on the same pattern as is being done under the IAY/PMAY scheme, read the letter.
Serial explosions rocked the renowned temple town of Bodh Gaya, including four in the Mahabodhi Temple complex. (Photo: File)

Patna: The Patna court on Friday found all five accused in the 2013 Bodh Gaya blast guilty.

Special NIA judge Manoj Kumar Sinha held all the five accused - Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi - guilty in the case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act. The court fixed May 31 as the date for pronouncement of the quantum of sentence.

The pilgrim town of Bodh Gaya was rocked by a series of explosions in the morning of July 7, 2013 which had left a number of people, including some Buddhist monks, injured.

A sixth accused in the case - Taufiq Ahmed - was less than 18 years of age and sentenced to three years in remand home by a juvenile court last year which found him guilty of involvement in the case.

The court has set the next hearing date on May 31.

(With PTI inputs)
Congress' K R Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, after BJP candidate S Suresh Kumar pulled out of the race. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Bengaluru: Congress' K R Ramesh Kumar was today unanimously elected the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, after BJP candidate S Suresh Kumar pulled out of the race, in a major victory for the JD(S)-Congress coalition before Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy faced the floor test.

Shortly before the start of the proceedings, Suresh Kumar said he was withdrawing his nomination following a direction from the BJP leadership.

"On the directions of our party, I had filed the nomination for the post of Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Now, after discussion in the party, it is felt that the Speaker has to be elected unanimously following the parliamentary traditions. I'm withdrawing my nomination," Suresh Kumar tweeted.

Suresh Kumar, a 5th term MLA from the city, had filed his papers on Thursday, in an apparent indication by the BJP that it wanted to give the JD(S)-Congress coalition a run for its money in the race for speakership before Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy faced the floor test.

As the House met and pro-tem speaker K G Bopaiah took up the matter, BJP's Sunil Kumar stood up and said he was not moving the motion proposing Suresh Kumar for the Speaker's post. Suresh Kumar then said, "I accept it."

Ramesh Kumar's name was then proposed by former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and seconded by Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara. The motion was unanimously adopted by the House.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy and BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa escorted Ramesh Kumar to the chair.

The move by the BJP, which is the single largest party with 104 MLAs, apparently came because it failed to muster support of additional lawmakers required for the victory of its candidate.

The Congress-JD(S) combine has claimed support of 117 members. The Congress has 78 MLAs, Kumaraswamy's JD(S) 36, and BSP 1.

The alliance has also claimed support of the lone KPJP MLA and an independent. Kumaraswamy had won from two seats.
Chennai: The bandh called by the DMK-led opposition parties to condemn the Tuticorin violence in which 13 people lost their lives and to demand the resignation of Chief Minister K Palaniswami began in Tamil Nadu on Friday.

DMK MP Kanimozhi was detained after opposition parties held a protest against police firing. While protesting, Kanimozhi told reporters that the Palaniswami-led government has become "bloodthirsty" and the chief minister should be held responsible for the incident.

In addition to Kanimozhi, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan was also detained.

Demonstrations were staged by the DMK, its allies Congress, IUML and friendly parties like MDMK, VCK, CPI, CPI(M) and MMK in several parts of the state and neighbouring Puducherry.

Section 144 has been imposed in the city, and the electricity supply to Sterlite Copper has been cut off. Police have been deployed in large numbers in the sensitive coastal areas, while the internet services have also been temporarily shut down for the next five days

Raising slogans denouncing the government and asking Palaniswami to tender his resignation, demonstrations were held at locations including Egmore and Saidapet here.

In the wake of the protest, traffic was disrupted in several locations in the city and security was tightened in all the districts of the State.

Buses of the state-run transport corporations were being operated as usual and all steps were being taken to ensure that normalcy was not disrupted, according to government authorities.

No fresh violence was reported so far on Friday from Tuticorin, which witnessed large-scale violence on May 22 and 23. Buses with police security were operated to a few locations from Tuticorin city.

Violent protests erupted in Tuticorin on Tuesday as locals took to the streets demanding the closure of a copper factory of the Vedanta group over pollution concerns.

Meanwhile, in a BSE filing, Vedanta said its Tuticorin plant closure was ordered by the State pollution control board.

"The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) vide its order dated May 23, 2018 ordered disconnection of electricity supply and closure of the company's 'Copper Smelter Plant 1 at Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu' under provisions of Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Section 31A of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1971, with immediate effect," it said. "We would also like to inform that the plant was not operating since March 27, 2018," it added.
The Army has launched an internal inquiry against Major Gogoi whereas Jammu and Kashmir police is investigating the incident separately. (Photo: File)

Srinagar: The Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Friday assured that Major Leetul Gogoi if found guilty, will be awarded exemplary punishment.

Major Gogoi was caught in a scuffle with the staff of a Srinagar hotel on being refused to check in with a local woman on Wednesday.

Gen. Rawat who is in the Valley to review the security situation ahead of the annual Amarnath yatra told reporters at Pahalgam, If any officer of the Indian Army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action."

He added, If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest and the punishment will be such that it will set an example."

The Army has launched an internal inquiry against Major Gogoi whereas Jammu and Kashmir police is investigating the incident separately. The police had detained the Army officer briefly after the incident took place in Srinagars tourist frequented Dal Gate area on the morning of May 23.

Major Gogoi of the Armys 53 Rashtriya Rifles had earlier in April 2016 stirred up a hornets nest by ordering his men to tie Farooq Ahmed Dar, a Kashmiri shawl-weaver from Chhil Brass village of central Budgam district, to the bonnet of an Army jeep during by-poll in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

Gogoi is a resident of Assam and was returning to his unit in Beerwa area in Kashmirs central district of Budgam after spending vacations at home.

He had booked a room in Hotel Grand Mamta in Dal Lake area online. A teenage girl from Chak-e- Kawoosa village of Budgam along with a local man Sameer Ahmed Malla who later turned out to be a soldier also arrived at the hotel around the same time.

The hotel staff told the police that the person by the name of Leetul Gogoi who had introduced himself as a businessman from Assam while booking a room online for two persons for one night had arrived at the reception around 11 am on Wednesday along with another person and a girl.

The second person, they said, was driving the Maruti Alto car in which they had come to the hotel.

While mentioning the purpose of his visit and mode of payment, Major Gogoi had said, I am travelling for business and I may be using a business credit card.

The staff at the hotel front desk asked him to show his identity card which he failed to do and instead gave them his driving license.

When they asked him about the girl he wanted to check in with, neither he nor she could give a satisfactory answer.

This made the hotel staff suspicious and when they refused to check the duo in, the driver became violent and started abusing and threatening us.

The argument turned into a physical brawl. We called the police which took the guest, the driver and the girl to police station Khanyar, said Manzoor Ahmed, the hotel owner.

The staff later learnt that the person who wanted to check in with the girl was Major Leetul Gogoi who had hit headlines and was in the midst of a major controversy after he used a Budgam resident as a human shield.

The Army had been maintaining silence on the incident officially but had launched an internal inquiry into the conduct of Major Gogoi immediately after learning about it.

The police had after detaining the officer briefly handed him over to his unit while the girl was sent to her parents. The girl is reported to have told the police that she wanted to spend some time with Major Gogoi out of my own will.

But the Army officer has failed to convince the police on the purpose of his checking in a hotel with a local girl away from his place of posting. We have egg on our face, an Army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

Also Read: 'Human shield' officer Major Gogoi held after scuffle with hotel staff in J&K

He, however, also said that the internal inquiry being held by the Army will nail the truth if the girl was a source for the officer or it was going to be consensual sexual activity.

The girls mother has told the police and the reporters that Malla had helped her daughter to become a member of a self-help group of the State Rural Livelihood Mission and after sometime he guided Major Gogoi to their dwelling.

He (Major Gogoi) barged into our tin-shed dwelling twice since March this year and forced my daughter into interaction, she alleged. Her husband Gulam Muhammad Wani has said that he had no knowledge about Malla taking his daughter to Srinagar.

The family lives in extreme poverty in the tin-shed in Chak-e-Kawoosa. The father of the girl is labourer who has to support a family of six. The girl is a student of 11th class and her younger brothers are in primary classes.

The police are under tremendous pressure to register a case against Major Gogoi and Malla under the relevant provisions of law as many people here believe it is a clear case of trafficking, blackmail or sexual exploitation of a minor girl.

The police are, in fact, being widely criticised including on social media for having let the Army officer and panderer off on the day of the incident.

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range) S.P. Pani had said that the incident would be investigated and that we need to go by the merit of the case.

Major Gogois allegedly using a civilian as a human shield in April 2017 had evoked rage within the State and beyond with human rights groups including Amnesty International demanding action against those responsible.

However, the Army had after a probe not only exonerated him but he was awarded Commendation Card for his sustained distinguished service in counterinsurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir by the Army Chief Gen. Rawat.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and opposition National Conference (NC) working president, Omar Abdullah, has released Rs 1.30 lakh in favour of the girls father to help in the construction of their house.
The 17-year-old girl had accused the woman's husband of molesting her. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Rajkot: In a shocking incident of brutality, the hand of a 17-year-old girl was forcibly dipped in hot oil to prove that she was not having an affair with a married man in her neighbourhood.

The girl suffered serious burns and was admitted to the civil hospital in Gujarat's Rajkot.

The accused Suman, who lives with her husband Rahul Parmar in Bhagvatipara area of Rajkot, suspected that Rahul was having an extra-marital affair with the girl. However, the girl accused Rahul of molesting her. The couple are in their 30s and the girl lives in the same neighbourhood.

On Tuesday, an infuriated Suman asked Rahul and the girl to dip their hands in piping hot oil to prove their innocence. When the girl refused to do so, Suman forced the girl's hand in hot oil kept in a wok. After Suman was done with the girl, she went after her husband who too received burn injuries.

The girl was rushed to a hospital by her parents where the doctors were shocked to see her scalded hand.

Later, the girl's parents filed a complaint against the couple.

"We have registered their complaint and are questioning the couple. Further investigations are on," said sub-inspector M M Zala, Rajkot.

(With inputs from ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina during the annual convocation of Visva Bharati University, in Birbhum, on Friday. (Photo: PTI)

Kolkata: In a significant move, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday pressed for the Rohingyas' return to Myanmar while seeking India's assistance to her government to repatriate them to their country.

However, Sheikh Hasina openly defended her government's shelter to Rohingyas in Bangladesh in presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose government ruled out any shelter to the Rohingyas in the country citing serious security concerns.

Sheikh Hasina was speaking at Bangladesh Bhaban in Visva Bharati University (VBU) campus in Santiniketan of Birbhum after inaugurating the building alongwith with PM Modi.

Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who supported Rohingyas' shelter in the state, and West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi were also present at the inauguration.

On a two-day India visit, Sheikh Hasina arrived at Kolkata from Dhaka on Friday morning with a delegation.

She travelled to Santiniketan where she attended the VBU convocation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, being the Acharya of the premiere academic institution, Mamata Banerjee and Keshari Nath Tripathi.

In her address at Bangladesh Bhavan, Sheikh Hasina said, "You know nearly 11 lakhs of Rohingyas have taken shelter on the Bangladeshi soil. We have given them shelter on humanitarian grounds. We want them to return to their homeland quickly. We can not help but offering shelter to the people who have been subjected to torture. We also could not and that is why we offered them shelter."

She elaborated, "Bangladesh is a country of 16 crores population. When Rehana, my younger sister, asked me: Cant you feed around 5--7 lakhs of people when you feed around 16 lakhs, I told her I can do it also certainly. If needed, we will share our food and only then we will have our food." Sheikh Hasina's comments earned her a thunderous applause in the auditorium.

She added, "We seek help from all. We want a pressure to be created on the Myanmar government so that it takes back the Rohingyas. We want peace to prevail upon this region."

In sharp contrast, Rohingya issue remained untouched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who delivered his address after the Bangladesh PM at the programme.

Sheikh Hasina also praised the effort of exchange of enclaves: Chhit Mahal between the two countries.

"You will find that wars have been continuing between many countries in the world over the exchange of enclaves," she told the audience.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister mentioned, "But we, India and Bangladesh, exchanged the enclaves in a cordial environment with a feeling of brotherhood and amidst of joy. I consider it an example in the world where two neighbouring countries could do it finally with a festive spirit. Frankly speaking, I turned so emotional that I could not control my tears in eyes. I felt that the way the amount of support we received from India in 1971, our neighbour, which is a big friend of ours also, again stood by us and made such a huge contribution."
Santiniketan: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not confer the 'Desikottam', Visva-Bharati University's highest award, during its convocation ceremony on Saturday due to paucity of time, an official said.

The announcement, however, drew a sharp reaction from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Sabujkali Sen, officiating vice-chancellor of the university, said there were previous instances when the award had been conferred to international dignitaries not at the annual convocation, but during special convocation programmes organised by the university.

"For the time being, the award ceremony is being deferred due to paucity of time. In the 60s too, the award was not conferred due to paucity of time. It was later conferred to eminent personalities," Sen told reporters at Santiniketan.

The West Bengal chief minister, however, expressed "unhappiness" over the decision and said she was "shocked".

In April, the Visva-Bharati academic council had proposed to honour Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, author Amitav Ghosh, poet Gulzar, writer Suniti Kumar Pathak, Rabidra Sangeet exponent Dwijen Mukherjee, physicist Ashok Sen and painter Jogen Chowdhury with the 'Desikottam' award.

The university executive council had approved the names in May.

Mamata Banerjee said, "I am unhappy. Those who were supposed to get the award were not getting it. Amitabh Bachchan's name was there, Dwijen Mukherjee's name was there. They are above politics. They deserve it (the Desikottam). They should have got it".

"I do not want to go into the reasons why they are not getting the award. I am shocked," she said.

The chief minister said it was not new for her to attend the (Visva-Bharati) convocation.

"This time I have come here as the prime ministers of India and Bangladesh will be there. The convocation is not the place for doing politics. And Visva-Bharati is our pride," she asserted.
Prime Minister Hasina is also scheduled to visit the Netaji Bhawan in Kolkata, the ancestral home of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. (Photo: ANI)

Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina arrived at Santiniketan to attend the convocation of Visva Bharati University.

Hasina, who is on a two-day visit on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi to India, was received by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The two leaders inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan within the campus here, as a symbol of the cultural ties between the two countries.

Also Read: PM Modi to not present Visva-Bharati Awards, Mamata Banerjee 'shocked'

The Bangladesh Bhavan features a museum that showcases Rabindranath Tagore's association with the country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.

It was built at a cost of Rs 25 crore, which was provided by the Bangladesh government. A fund of Rs 10 crore would be given to help maintain the museum premises.

Reportedly, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will also be signed between Visva-Bharati and the Secondary and Higher Secondary Division of the education ministry of Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Hasina is also scheduled to visit the Netaji Bhawan in Kolkata, the ancestral home of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

As per reports, both Prime Ministers will likely hold bilateral meetings.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister, Education Minister, and Cultural Affairs Minister will be accompanying Prime Minister Hasina, as per The Daily Star.

Prime Minister Hasina will return to Bangladesh on Saturday night.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Modi will proceed to Jharkhand's Sindri from Kolkata to lay the foundation stone of various projects of the Indian government and the state government.
BJP president Amit Shah said the parties were aligning with like-minded parties as they feel they may not be able to defeat the NDA in 2019 elections on their own. (Photo: File | PTI)

New Delhi: With less than a year left for the 2019 general elections, political parties are getting charged to defeat their opponents.

In a major development, BJP President Amit Shah on Friday admitted that an alliance between Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh will be a challenge for the BJP in 2019.

Amit Shah also asserted that the BJP will defeat the Congress either in Amethi or in Rae Bareli.

"If the BSP and SP contest in alliance, it would be a challenge to us. But we are sure that we will win either one seat: Amethi or Rae Bareli," he told the media in Delhi on the occasion of the completion of four years of the Modi government.

Amit Shah said it did not want to give up its alliance with old time ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra but insisted that the BJP would have no option if the Sena wanted to go alone in the 2019 general elections.

"In 2019, the BJP will fight with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. We don't want to oust them from the NDA. But if they go out, it's their will. We are ready for every situation," the BJP chief said.

Talking about the opposition forming alliance ahead of the 2019 general election, Amit Shah said the parties were aligning with like-minded parties as they feel they may not be able to defeat the NDA in 2019 elections on their own.

"They all fought against us in 2014 too but failed to stop us. They all have their presence in their respective states. Even if they come together they won't be able to defeat us," he said.

Amit Shah said that the BJP would win at least 80 seats in 2019 polls which it could not win in the last election.

"We will win such seats which were not with us in northeast, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and many other places," the party chief said.

Amit Shah also maintained that the Chief Ministers in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will not be changed.

He said the new BJP President in Rajasthan would be declared after May 26.

(With input from agencies)
Activities of 20-year-old Asmita Gohil have earned her the title of 'Surat's Lady Don'. (Photo: Facebook | Screengrab | Asmita Baa Gohil)

Surat: A sword-wielding 20-year-old girl and her friend have been arrested for threatening a shopkeeper as well as extorting Rs 500 and forcing him to shut his shop in Gujarat, police said.

In the CCTV footage of Varsha Society in Surat's Varachha, Asmita Gohil, who is known as "Lady Don" in the area, can be seen pillion riding her friend Rahul.

It was little past 6 in the morning on Monday and the duo could be seen going back and forth on their bike. They stopped outside a pan-seller's shop, Asmita threatened the shopkeeper with a sword after which he closed his shop.

This was among many such incidents when Asmita Gohil was seen threatening people with a weapon.

Earlier in March, a video of Asmita abusing and wielding a bill hook blade and her friend Sanjay Gohil holding a kitchen knife during a fracas with a group of men on Holi had gone viral. The police had charged them for inciting riots. Both of them were arrested, but later got bail.

In another case, Asmita along with her accomplice Kalia forced a biker to alight and sped away with his motorcycle. Her activities have earned her the title of "Surat's Lady Don".

"A lot of cases have been registered against this woman. Her past is riddled with criminal activities," officer MP Patel told news agency ANI after her arrest.

According to her Facebook account, Asmita Baa Gohil is "self-employed" and has over 2,500 friends and 12,000 followers.

Her bio reads, "Hamare jeene ka tareeka thoda alag hai, hum ummeed par nahi, apni zidd per jeete hain (Our way of life is different, we don't live by expectations, we live on our own terms)."

She has posted numerous photographs in which she is flaunting weapons, such as pistols, swords, knives, and posing with expensive cars and bikes.

(With inputs from ANI)
The protests have been going on for over three months, but violence first erupted on Tuesday with agitators fighting pitched battles with police, prompting it to open fire. (Photo: File/AP)

New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday appealed to the people of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu to remain calm and maintain peace in the wake of the violence that has claimed 11 lives.

The Home Ministry has sought a report from the Tamil Nadu government on the police firing and the prevailing situation in the port city, the minister said.

"I am deeply pained at the loss of precious lives during the agitation at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. My thoughts are with bereaved families. I also pray for the speedy recovery of the injured. I appeal to the people in Tuticorin to remain calm and maintain peace and tranquillity in the region," he said in a statement in New Delhi.

12 people were killed in police firing during protests demanding the closure of Vedanta group's Sterlite Copper plant over pollution concerns in Tuticorin.

The protests have been going on for over three months, but violence first erupted on Tuesday with agitators fighting pitched battles with police, prompting it to open fire.

The DMK and other opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh on Friday, condemning the police action against protesters in Tuticorin.
Many saw B S Yeddyurappa's remarks as a barb at the Congress. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Bengaluru: Minutes before Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamys trust vote in the Karnataka Assembly today, the BJP changed its mind on contesting for the post of the Speaker and withdrew its candidate Suresh Kumar.

The withdrawal of Suresh Kumar paved way for the Congress nominee K R Ramesh Kumar to win the post unopposed.

Also Read: Congress Ramesh Kumar wins Speaker's post after BJP withdraws from fray

"We withdrew our candidate as we wanted the election to be unanimous in order to maintain the dignity of the Speaker's post," said the BJP's B S Yeddyurappa in the assembly.

Many saw it as a barb at the Congress, which had moved the Supreme Court against the election of BJP MLA K G Bopaiah as interim speaker to preside of B S Yeddyurappa's trust vote last Saturday.

The court rejected the Congress's argument that Bopaiah was not suitable for the post as he had been known to break rules to help Yeddyurappa in a past vote.

The trust vote never took place as B S Yeddyurappa resigned after failing to get the numbers needed for a majority.

Today, in a discussion following the Speaker's election, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said: "When Siddaramaiah proposed your (Ramesh Kumar's) name and filed the nomination yesterday, I should have been present too."

His Deputy G Parameshwara "thanked" Suresh Kumar for "taking his advice" and dropping out of the race.

Ramesh Kumar was the Speaker of the house from 1994 to 1999.

Suresh Kumar, a five-time BJP MLA, had earlier said based on numbers and other factors, his party was confident he would win.

The BJP is the single largest party in the Karnataka Assembly with 104 MLAs. The Congress has 78 legislators and Janata Dal Secular has 37.
Hyderabad: BJP workers are claiming credit for the re-opening of a few cantonment roads in Secunderabad. Candidates aspiring for MLA and MP tickets in the 2019 general elections conducted a palabishekam to the portrait of defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman at AOC, hailing her for the decision to re-open the roads. Separately, TRS leaders were quick to take credit.

The real heroes, however, are the 20 lakh residents who relentlessly fought to get the roads reopened. Till Friday, the residents were worried over the implementation of the order and opening of all closed roads. They continue to take circuitous routes stretching several kilometres to reach their destinations.

BJP aspirant Jai Prakash said. It is the BJP minister who followed up with the Local Military Authority and ensured that the citizens are not put to difficulty.

He said a few roads were shut while the Congress was in power, and the others after the TRS formed government. It is the BJP government at the Centre that worked on re-opening the roads, he said. He said a series of palabishekam functions were held at the AOC to fete Ms Sitharaman for the decision.

This comes amid unconfirmed reports that the roads are only likely to stay open till the 2019 elections, and the order was only meant to score political points. However, the Army has been tight-lipped on the issue.

When asked about the reports, Secunderabad Cantonment Board Vice-President J. Ramakrishna said, It depends, we cannot predict it. Whatever the decision the government has taken so far is the right decision. Let's wait and see.

Since the roads have been closed, the state government which proposed alternative roads from Ramakrishnapuram flyover and Safilguda to East Marredpally has done to little work to take it forward. The state government has neither acquired defence land nor exchange the promised land with the Army. The entire proposal on the alternative roads lies on paper.
Over 11.86 lakh students from across the country registered for class 12 exams were held from March 5 to April 25 in 4,138 centres within the country.

CHENNAI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the results of Class 12 board examinations on Saturday. The results will be announced at 12 noon on Saturday, an official confirmed to this paper.

Over 11.86 lakh students from across the country registered for class 12 exams were held from March 5 to April 25 in 4,138 centres within the country. Many students also wrote the exams from outside the country.

Over 50,000 students from Chennai region have appeared for the class 12 exams. This year, students will also be able to check their results on Google.

For the first time, CBSE has partnered with Google to host the board's class 12 results on the search engine, the official said. Students will be able to check their results on Google by searching for CBSE Class 12 results.

The board has announced that the results can also be accessed through Microsoft search engine www.bing.com and SMS Organizer App on mobile.

Students also can check the results on following websites of the board: www.cbseresults.nic.in, www.cbse.nic.in and www.results.nic.in. Earlier, union education secretary Anil Swarup broke the news with his tweet. CBSE Class 12 results for Academic Session 2017-18 to be declared on May 26, he tweeted.

Originally, the class 12 exams scheduled between March 3 and April 13. But it was extended to April 25 after the board came to know that the paper was leaked in three states including Haryana and Delhi. However, the board has not made any announcement on class 10 results. It is expected to be released soon.

Post-result counselling for students

After confirming the release of class 12 results on Saturday, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that the post-results counselling will be available to students on the same day. The students can dial toll-free number 1800 11 8004 from any part of the country for general queries related to results or for telephone counselling for psychological problems from May 26 to June 9 on all days.

The telephone counselling service will be available from 8 am to 10 pm. During the second phase, 69 expert volunteers including principals, trained counsellors, special educators, psychologists will be available for tele-counselling. Out of 69 experts, 20 of them are from outside India. The techniques to cope with result related anxiety are available at the CBSE website www.cbse.nic.in
Thiruvananthapuram: Pressure is mounting on the Tamil Nadu government to order a detailed inquiry into the allegations of the removal of organs of a brain- dead youth belonging to Meenakshipuram in Palakkad at a private hospital in Salem allegedly without the informed consent of his relatives. The organs harvested included kidneys (both), corneas (both), liver, intestines, pancreas, heart and lungs. While the authorities of VIMS Hospital, Salem, claimed that consent was taken before retrieving the organs, the relatives alleged that their signatures were taken on certain forms without explaining the reason.

The youth, Manikantan, 24, sustained grievous injuries in an accident and was admitted to VIMS Hospital. The accident occurred when he along with a few others was returning to Meenakshipurm from Chennai. Soon after the accident, seven injured persons were admitted to a local government hospital. Later, they were referred to VIMS which is 120 km away. In a letter to Tamil Nadu counterpart Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought a detailed probe into the complaint of the relatives.

On May 22, the doctors declared Manikandan brain-dead. Subsequently, he was put on ventilator support. The hospital authorities demanded Rs 3 lakh as treatment costs. Besides, they also demanded Rs 25,000 to take the body to Meenakshipuram. Since the relatives were not carrying enough cash, the hospital authorities allegedly made them sign on some papers. Later, the body was handed over to the relatives and no post-mortem report was provided to them. This incident has violated all ethical norms of medical profession and requires to be probed in detail, the chief minister said.

Another tribal youth of Perumatty panchayat, who also sustained serious head injuries in the accident and was undergoing treatment at VIMS, was shifted to medical college hospital, Coimbatore, on the intervention of Chittur MLA K. Krishnankutty. He visited the patient in Coimbatore and also spoke to the doctors ."His condition is extremely critical. Doctors say he will have to be on ventilator support for at least a week. Free treatment will be given to him during this period. We will provide financial assistance as well," he said.

The MLA said he had spoken to Salem district collector on Thursday and demanded an inquiry into Manikantans case. "The collector called back to inform that the hospital had taken the required consent from the relatives," he said. The MLA would apprise Mr Pinarayi Vijayan about the outcome of his visit and the talks held with doctors and district administration. Meanwhile, the VIMS authorities have refuted the allegations saying that the organs were harvested after getting the consent of the relatives. They produced documents to show that the patient suffered traumatic brain injury.

The police intimation form sent by the chief operating officer of VIMS hospital to the investigation officer of the police station concerned says, the near relatives of the patient have expressed a positive inclination to donate the organs of the patient in the event of brain death The police officer was asked to reach the hospital at the earliest to expedite the inquest proceedings and carry out necessary procedures to enable the cadaver organ donation. The documents produced by hospital authorities had the signatures of the relatives of Manikantan on the consent form.
Hyderabad: Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu in his 10-month tenure has made the maximum number of official visits to Telangana state and AP. About 36 per cent of his trips has been to the two Telugu states, followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra.

These trips have been mainly for awards functions, convocations and multiple events. Mr Naidu has made 77 trips in 10 months, against 74 in five years by his predecessor Hamid Ansari. So far, Mr Naidu has visited 24 states while Mr Ansari had covered only 21.

In five months last year after he was elected Vice-President, Mr Naidu made 41 domestic tours and another 36 so far this year. This brings the average number of trips per month to eight.

The average for his predecessor was one. Mr Ansari made fewer visits to Telangana state and did not visit AP after bifurcation.

As per protocol and security requirements, traffic is stopped for the convoy of the Vice-President, and police bandobsat arranged.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the highest number of domestic visits to Uttar Pradesh, followed by his home state Gujarat and then Maharashtra. Mr Modi has visited states in the south fewer times, unless he was invited for an inauguration or for campaigning for elections.

The PMs official website shows that between June 2014 and April 2018, he made 25 visits to Uttar Pradesh, 23 to Gujarat and 18 to Maharashtra, all official tours. The least visited states were in the North-East, TS, AP, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Kerala.
Hyderabad: The new zonal system announced by CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday triggered protests in the neighbouring districts of Hyderabad on Friday. People there wanted their districts to be a part of the zone comprising of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.

In Bhongir, student organisations and political parties held protests demanding their inclusion in the Ranga Reddy district. Protests were witnessed in the Parigi Assembly constituency against its inclusion in the Vikarabad district. People fear losing government job opportunities in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts which have more vacancies.

Congress MLA from Parigi, T. Rammohan Reddy, announced a hunger-strike demanding clubbing of Parigi in Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy zones.

Telangana Jana Samith president Prof. Kodandaram lashed out at the chief minister M for announcing the zones in haste without consultations with the stakeholders. Prof. Kodandaram said The cabinet sub-committee constituted by the CM had recommended six zones. The CM announced seven zones. The CM should make public the report submitted by the cabinet sub-committee and what prompted him to increase the zones to seven and what was the benchmark adopted to club each district in a particular zone?

The BJP accused the CM of keeping selfish political interests in mind while announcing the new zones. KCR had announced new districts in haste in 2016 to suit his political interests. Now, in the same manner, new zones have been announced without consulting anyone. We demand the government consult all political parties and associations of students, youth and employees, on whom the impact of the new zones will be more, said Dr. K Laxman, President, BJP Telangana unit.
One of the samples was from a techie, 24, who had gone to Kerala on May 18 and returned on May 20.

Hyderabad: Two samples sent on Friday from Cure Hospital and NIMS in Hyderabad have tested negative for the Nipah virus that is spread by bats.

Initial tests by hospitals had shown that the two patients had not caught the bat virus but the samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, to be certain.

One of the samples was from a techie, 24, who had gone to Kerala on May 18 and returned on May 20. He contracted high fever and was admitted to Continental Hospital in Gachibowli.

District medical and health officer Dr Padmaja K said, We shifted the patient to Cure Hospital and collected his throat and blood samples and sent them to Pune. We created a quarantine zone for the patient and ensured that all medical personnel treating him wore protective gear. The patient is stable now and his tests have come up negative.

A 30-year-old man was admitted at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences after he fell unconscious due to high fever. Director of medical education Dr K. Ramesh Reddy said the patient had no travel history to Kerala and was a resident of Mahbubnagar.
The CM said that even though the premium amount would be lesser for accident insurance, the government had decided to go for the life insurance.

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday announced the launch of the Rs 5 lakh free insurance scheme for farmers, from August 15, the first of its kind in the country like the Rythu Bandhu Scheme.

The date of birth mentioned on the Aadhaar card will be considered. Mr Rao said that even though the premium amount would be lesser for accident insurance, the government had decided to go for the life insurance despite the cost. The idea was to come to the rescue of the bereaved family.

The Chief Minister told LIC officials that in view of the large number of people and huge premium as well as the insured amount, the corporation should take it as a prestigious scheme and a challenge.

Mr Rao was speaking at a review meeting with ministers and officials to finalise the modalities for implementing the scheme. Small and marginal farmers account for 93 per cent. There are 18 lakh farmers whose holdings are less than one acre. Their livelihood is agriculture and farming and for any reason when the farmer dies his family will have to face lot of hardships, he said.

In view of this we have decided to provide Rs 5 lakh insurance coverage to the farmer. This would be to ensure proper support to the bereaved family. This is another step forward by the government, Mr Rao said.
Chennai: The bandh called by the DMK-led opposition parties to 'condemn' the police firing at the anti-Sterlite protesters in Thoothukudi in which 13 lives were lost, and also to press for Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to resign, passed off peacefully on Friday.

The bandh evoked strong response with most business establishments and shops closed in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts adjoining Thoothukudi where the shops were mostly open to cater to the conflict-weary public. There was good response to the bandh in Tiruvarur, Tirupur and Coimbatore also. In the Congress-ruled Puducherry, the impact was total with even the government-run buses off roads and most establishments were shut, including cinema houses.

The response to the bandh was, however, only luke-warm in the rest of the state; perhaps due to the public fatigue over such mass protests-the last one was over Cauvery on April 5 called by the opposition parties.

There was another bandh by the traders association the day before that. The public had a tough time on April 12 too as the Opposition protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Chennai for inaugurating DefExpo. And so on.

In this latest one, DMK and allies, including the Congress, IUML and MMK, besides other parties such as the VCK, CPI, CPI (M) and MDMK, took out protest rallies, with their leaders and cadres courting arrest. They were released later in the evening. DMK working president M.K. Stalin led the protest at Madurantakam in Kancheepuram district while his sister and party Rajya Sabha Member Kanimozhi was in the forefront of the demo at Egmore in Chennai, where she was joined by VCK's Thol Thirumavalavan and M. H. Jawahirullah of the MMK.

Speaking to reporters after his release from a marriage hall at Acharapakkam in the evening, Stalin said the Opposition would continue agitating "until this government goes for good".
Hyderabad: Numbers belie the claims of Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy that they will play a key role in national politics.

It is difficult for either of the three parties to win all the seats unless there is a very strong wind in its favour. The TRS is likely to face a strong fight from the Congress and in AP, the YSRC will take on the TD.

Moreover the TRS is confined to only Telangana state and the TD and the YSRC are mostly confined to AP. In 2014, the TD and the YSRC won one Lok Sabha seat each from Telangana state, and the TRS 11, Congress two and MIM one. The YSRC has almost disappeared in TS, and the TD is struggling for existence.

In AP, the TD won 14 Lok Sabha seats, the YSRC eight and the BJP three seats. The TD, then with the BJP, benefited from the Modi wave. The TD has to fight the 2019 elections alone. Compared to TS and AP, states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Naidu, Bihar and Maharashtra have more Lok Sabha seats. In 2014, the Trinamul won 34 out of 42 seats in West Bengal and the AIADMK 37 out of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu.

According to speculations, the Samajwadi Party-BSP-Congress alliance is expected to win a bigger share of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. UP may then play a key role in national politics.
New Delhi: With the Karnataka shadow looming over the BJP, coupled with the rise of the regional parties, the worried saffron partys poll strategy for the coming electoral battle of 2019 will be centered around winning seats in non-BJP ruled states like West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and also in the North-East, where the party could not make a significant impact the last time.

The party, which is confident of winning the next Lok Sabha elections, has set the target of winning at least 80 Lok Sabha seats from these states in 2019.

As the Modi government and the BJP get ready for celebrating the NDA governments fourth anniversary, the RSS has decided to hold a four-day long samiksha baithak (review meeting) with the party leadership, including Central ministers, to gauge the impact of Modi governments schemes and the BJPs organisational strength. Representatives of other Sangh Parivar affiliates will also attend the meeting.

RSS top brass including Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna Gopal are likely to attend this meeting, which would also see BJP chief Amit Shah discussing organisation-related issues with them.
The camaraderie between 20 Opposition leaders, and a most unusual hug between UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, that unfolded at Vidhana Soudha as Karnatakas new chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal (S) and his deputy G. Parameshwar from the Congress took the oath here Wednesday, is being talked about as the template for an anti-BJP front at the national level for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, can mere physical proximity automatically translate into a foolproof alliance?

While arch political rivals like the Samajwadi Partys Akhilesh Yadav and BSPs Mayawati have already showed the way forward by burying their differences to steal Phulpur and Gorakhpur from under UP chief minister Yogi Adityanaths nose, the arrival of every Opposition leader worth his name has raised hopes of a larger coalition, but that could be belied; the handshake between old adversaries Mamata Banerjee and Sitaram Yechury notwithstanding.

The elephant in the room is whether the Congress is willing to take this experiment, of playing second fiddle to a regional party, as the model for a grand coalition to face down Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in 2019. No doubt Mrs Sonia Gandhis warmth towards Mayawati papers over the bad blood of the past, and the presence of diehard anti-Congress leaders like Andhra chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and NCPs Sharad Pawar do raise hopes that Opposition unity is not an impossible goal.

But as the CPI(M)s Sitaram Yechury spelt out, given the regional rivalry with the Congress in Kerala  whose CM Pinarayi Vijayan was present as the JD(S) has a minister in his Cabinet  and with Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, a pre-poll alliance will be a tough call. Instead, he said, it would be better if the Opposition fights 2019 as separate entities.

Clearly, there can be no throwback to similar unity demonstrated over three decades ago when Jayaparakash Narayan galvanised the Opposition against Indira Gandhi, and again when erstwhile Congress leaders like V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekar came together at a rally alongside then Karnataka CM Ramakrishna Hegde to oust then PM Rajiv Gandhi.

The impetus that drives Mr Yechury to maintain his rapidly shrinking voter base is the same factor that compelled the Congress to offer support to a regional party with a much smaller vote base in Karnataka, using the coalition route to safeguard its own OBC-dalit-SC-ST voteshare that it cant afford to let slip out of its grasp. The success and failure of the Karnataka experiment will therefore go a long way in deciding whether a coalition, where a national party makes way for regional leaders in states, is a feasible option in other states when faced with a rising BJP, led by Mr Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, who now hold 21 states as opposed to the Congress four. Karnataka may have slipped out of the BJPs grasp, but the political forces striving to put an anti-BJP coalition together must know that its only in rethinking their old rivalries and laying their differences aside to fight the BJP together that they stand even a ghost of a chance, come 2019.
India cant afford to let its guard down over Nipah. The virus 70 per cent mortality rate is a warning sign, as much as it being one of eight deadly diseases that could trigger a global epidemic like Ebola and Zika. To dismiss it as a local phenomenon, as officials with an eye on Kerala tourism termed it, is dangerous. Four persons from one family at the suspected epicentre of a well in Kozhikode district have perished, showing the dangers of close contact with those affected. The tragic death of a nurse reiterates the point that extreme precautions must be taken to arrest the spread of this virus outbreak, which might also have travelled to Mangalore in Karnataka, where blood test results are awaited on two patients. There is no vaccination for Nipah, which induces flu-like symptoms possibly leading to agonising encephalitis and coma.

Its believed habitat loss of bats could be contributing to this emerging zoonosis, whose natural host is the fruit bat. While the speed of diagnosis in Kerala has been excellent in pinpointing the problem after the first death was reported on May 5, what must be done to contain the outbreak is a daunting challenge for Indias healthcare system. Its heartening to know that people can recover from acute encephalitis, even if they are at risk later from neurological damage. Stricter quarantine measures and travel advisories to avoid areas around the epicentre are urgently needed. Theres no question of this being scare-mongering by vested interests as global pharma has no vaccine or cure. Big pharma could help by investing in research to combat WHOs list of priority diseases.
Its a pity US President Donald Trump acted so hastily in cancelling his June 12 Singapore summit with North Koreas Kim Jong-un. In a grumpy letter, Mr Trump not only poured cold water on the proposed face-to-face talks, which might have furthered world peace, but also reminded North Korea of Americas massive and powerful nuclear arsenal. Given Mr Trumps moodiness and impulsiveness and Mr Kims enigmatic and dictatorial persona, a golden opportunity to break the ice was lost. Mr Kims move to destroy some of his nuclear testing infrastructure buried in a mountain may be hollow as the process is not irreversible. Its significant, though, that he did the demolition before the worlds media. The point is Mr Kim carried through on his pledge to discontinue nuclear testing.

The West largely believes while it can build nuclear arsenals, no one else should. But whats the harm in talking to someone who shows interest in capping his advanced nuclear weapons programme? The silver lining is North Koreas reaction was restrained despite its perception that the US decision is not consistent with the desire of humankind for peace and stability. Mr Kim has left the door open for a meeting in the near future, but that depends on the Americans not misinterpreting signals like North Koreans not taking phone calls for pre-summit negotiations. The way forward will be defined only by Mr Trumps negotiating style: threats in one hand and olive branches in the other.
Is there any precedent of a public body which ends the day with no work done and still expects its members to be paid their daily allowance? (Photo: Twitter/ANI))

This is a problem faced by the famous XYZ School. The background to the problem is as follows. The school was set up a few years ago with great expectations. It was created so that it was run by the students who would be good citizens in a truly democratic tradition. To this end, they were first made aware of their rights and privileges as well as their duties and the code of public behaviour they are to follow.

The setting up of such a school was done with some trepidation, because other similar schools in the neighbouring districts had not done well. Although started as bastions of democracy these schools had become attached to specific groups of people or ideologies and thus were operating in a dictatorial atmosphere. How to avoid a similar fate for the newly emerging XYZ School?

The wise men opined: Get a set of rules compiled by an experienced expert, to control the working of the School. These rules should respect the original motivation for setting up the school but they should also ensure that the day-to-day running of the school is smooth. Above all, democracy must continue as an ideal.

This advice was promptly followed and an experienced expert duly prepared the rule book of the XYZ School. This expert was well respected and what is more important, he was (rightly) perceived as an impartial character. He had no axe to grind.

Thus the control of the school was to be by a party elected by the residents. Any queries that arose in administration were handled in situ. But this arrangement could not stand the test of time. The divergent views expressed about the school showed how even rational persons might differ in details. The annual elections for positions in the school administration, allowed these differences to surface and survive. They would be seen in the election debates.

Although in the initial years these differences were appreciated in the spirit of tolerance, gradually these differing views began to dominate. Thus it was that when the school held the annual elections the speeches by contending candidates began to turn ugly and often in bad taste.

A senior mediaperson visited the school during elections. He wanted to witness a school debating session in working mode. The PRO of the school seemed reluctant to oblige but eventually at the intervention of the Principal he agreed. While agreeing to the request the Principal muttered: I am sure, he has seen worse situations. The visitor was puzzled by this remark but said nothing. Indeed he was to see the justification of that remark shortly.

The PRO led the mediaperson to an inner gallery of the school hall, which had seats for viewing the proceedings below. The handout that was distributed gave the topic of the next debate as: This House has no confidence in the existing government.

This rang a bell. The mediaperson recalled his visit to Cambridge a few months back. He had then visited the Cambridge Union Society whose first debate of the term was to take place that night. The topic? The topic of the debate was: This House has no confidence in the Her Majestys government.

As they approached the viewing spot, they could hear considerable noise. Evidently some exciting discussion was going on? To the media mans conjecture, the PRO replied. Sir, this is normal as you shall shortly see. And as they took their seats the visitor looked below and saw the following scene. The Prefect was a senior student in charge, sitting in his seat on a raised platform. He was looking helpless as he was surrounded by students making arguments in shouting mode, with the different shouts together producing a noise that was bereft of any signal.

What were they arguing about? asked the mediaperson. The PRO had a wan smile as he said:  Nothing, Sir! They are only calling each other names. They may not get to the main point of the argument because, I am certain, the Prefect in Charge will shortly close this session on the grounds of excessive noise but no signal.

It was a correct prediction. The Prefect could no longer control the mob and a loud bell tolled to announce that the session was adjourned till the next day.

As they made their way out of the crowd of students, the PRO asked: Sir, what did you think of it? The mediaperson described his visit to the Cambridge Union and said: The Oxford and Cambridge Union follow the pattern of the British Parliament which has a certain protocol of behaviour in the Parliament. Here we saw a similar event. The chaos and noise we saw here are following the pattern set by our Lok Sabha. However, there are serious issues underlying all this which make me sad as well as alarmed.

What is that, Sir? asked the PRO.

There are three things. First, we are wasting time and money that nation can ill afford. Number two, the interruption is being caused by parties that had lost the last election: so we see the losers deciding how the nation should or should not be run. This is not fair in a democracy. And, finally our students watch and note that our lawmakers act as if they are above the law. Naturally they too do the same!

As he walked back to his car, the visitor felt that the school example that he had just witnessed gave the glimpse of what happens to the real lawmaking body. If a lawmaking body is not allowed to function, how does the nation carry on? Also, is there any precedent of a public body which ends the day with no work done and still expects its members to be paid their daily allowance? And finally, what does the senior school population think of the chaotic behaviour of their elders?
At the time I wrote them

I meant every word

Even the silences between them

I clearly heard

Time has a tendency

To turn truths to lies

Think of him who said The rose once blown forever dies.



 From Kaida ka Baida by Bachchoo

A local bookshop in Dulwich offers customers free delivery to their door of any available book within 24 hours. I presume they mean any London address rather than one in, say, Papua. Dulwich is a rich part of South London and is proud of the public schools founded by Edward Alleyn, the Shakespearean actor of the Elizabethan era, to one of which P.G. Wodehouse went. The cheaper part of Dulwich into which young professional couples moved in the last decade used to be a working-class district that now calls itself East Dulwich and has been gentrified, with the local pawnshop selling out to the exclusive wine merchant and the West Indian grocery shop transformed into an expensive ice-cream parlour. The house prices are 20 times of what they were a decade or two ago. Its the sort of thing that happens when native Americans are displaced from Manahatta by European settlers.

Dulwich, original and East, boasts of three bookshops within a mile of each other and the above offer has been made by one of them. The bookshop is, you may have guessed, trying to stay in business because Amazon and other Internet suppliers are drawing a huge percentage of the book-buying clientele away from the high-street retailer. I am sure I can find some statistic which would tell me what percentage of the entire book trade has gone on-line, but I wont, gentle reader, bore you with it. The point is that Amazon is not merely an additional outlet for books (among everything else), it is seen as a predatory competitor. And nothing or nothing much can be done about it, as very little could have stopped the White man laying claim to New England and Manahatta. Some call it progress, though native Americans and probably Australian aborigines and New Zealand Maoris, not to mention the Adivasi populations displaced by mining and industrial progress in India, would shrug in justifiable indignation.

Technological progress does its own devastation in conflict and then often turns to forms of conflict occasioned by, but not using, the technical advance. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastating results of the invented nuclear capability. Since then there have been conflicts, diplomatic and those using conventional weapons between states armed with the capability and often as with Iran, or North Korea because of this capability. My childhood experience of such technological progress was infinitely smaller in scale. At the walls of our school in Pune, every lunch and study break and after school, Manji, a vendor of ice-fruit, or ice-lollies as the Brits call them, would appear on his bicycle. His handle bar had two large thermos flasks hanging from it and I think there was a third tied to the pillion of his bicycle. From these he would sell us, for an anna or two, a stick with gaudily-flavoured ice.

The ice-fruits with milk in them were more sophisticated and costly so were out of our affordable reach. Manji did what we considered a thriving trade. I dont think he made the lollies himself. There were other vendors with bicycles and hanging flasks around the town but Manji was the only one who struggled up the slopes of Pune cantonment to our school. Then a restaurant chain and ice-cream manufacturer called Kwality came for the first time to our town. The vendors of ice-cream for this manufacturer were equipped with three-wheelers with a frozen box attached. Some were driven by peddling and some were mechanised. Inevitably, one of these apostles of progress targeted our school and immediately began to thrive, competing with poor Manji and his handle-bar flasks. The ice-lollies of the Kwality man were more varied, more expensive and rapidly monopolised the ice-fruit business of the school. A classmate of mine, Vasant Sirur, formulated a classic comparison which, as they say now went viral  not on any computer which hadnt been invented, but by the word of mouth. He declared, Manji was under Kwalitys balls.

The competition gave rise to bitterness and finally Manji could take it no more. He attacked the Kwality man physically and was charged with assault and taken away. Later, someone spread the rumour that the Kwality ice-lollies of the time contained blotting paper. I hasten to say they didnt. While the bookshop traders of the world and of Dulwich are being undermined or overtaken by Amazon, a feebler offer of competition comes from a non-technological source. Some charitable person, or just someone who wanted to clear clutter from his or her bookshelves, began free book exchanges at Londons under and overground railway stations. He/she set up trestle tables and left books there which anyone could take for free. Of course it encouraged others to donate unwanted books to the same tables.

I am tempted to unburden two of my bookshelves by donating the collected works of Lenin to this good cause. But will anyone take them or will I be charged with cluttering a public space? I have, on two occasions, given my unwanted books as a donation to a small stall-owner who operates just outside West Dulwich station. He sells second-hand books and will perhaps now face a pinch in his business from the free book exchange 10 yards away inside the station. But maybe not. The buyers of Kants Critique of Pure Reason are unlikely to find it donated to the free table. And perhaps the stall-owner doesnt stock Fifty Shades of Grey. As a writer I am caught in a dilemma. Amazon undoubtedly sells the books I write, so with one eye on my bank balance my head is with it  but my heart bleeds for the places I haunt to browse.
In this file photo provided by Blue Origin, the New Shepard booster lands in west Texas during a test. (Blue Origin via AP)

President Donald Trump is asking the government to make it easier for private companies to get to and from space.

Trump signed the space policy directive Thursday. He was joined at the White House by Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the National Space Council.

During a meeting at Floridas Kennedy Space Centre in February, Pence and other council members recommended the government ease restrictions on private US companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin. The reforms are meant to get businesses moving faster and farther into space.

White House officials say little change is expected until next year after the new regulations are written and reviewed.

There are many innovative companies across this nation working hard to build a bright future in space, and our policies should help ensure their success on all fronts, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.

Trumps first space policy directive, signed in December, puts the moon ahead of Mars for astronaut visits.

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Russian state telecommunications watchdog will check whether Facebook and possibly Whatsapp are complying with Russian laws. (Photo: Pixabay)

Russian state telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor will check by December whether Facebook and possibly Whatsapp are complying with Russian laws, TASS news agency reported on May 24, citing the head of the watchdog.

Russia has said it would block access to Facebook unless the social network complies with legislation requiring websites which store the personal data of Russian citizens to do so on Russian servers.

We will take a decision based on the result of these checks, Alexander Zharov, Rokomnadzors chief, was quoted as saying by TASS.

Besides, Facebook recently streamlined its security system. As security is the prime aspect of the social network, the company beefed up its security measures to make its users account more secure. The social media giant, in a blog post, mentioned the latest enhancements to its two-factor authentication security system to make it more convenient for its users to set up.

The blog states that the company has now made it easier than ever to enable two-factor authentication with a streamlined setup flow that guides you through the process. Facebook has also expanded the ways in which users can secure their account with a second factor by ensuring that even users without a phone number can enable two-factor authentication.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.

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In a personal letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the June 12 summit in Singapore, following what the White House called a "trail of broken promises" by the North. (Photo: AFP)

Pyongyang: North Korea said Friday it was still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a summit between the two countries, a decision that has thrown the Korean peninsula once more into uncertainty.

Trump on Thursday called off his planned June meeting with Kim Jong Un, blaming "open hostility" from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any "foolish or reckless acts."

In a personal letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the June 12 summit in Singapore, following what the White House called a "trail of broken promises" by the North.

Pyongyang's immediate reaction to the sudden u-turn was conciliatory. First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump's decision "unexpected" and "regrettable" but he left the door open for further diplomacy.

"We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem," he said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

Also Read: Cancelling June 12 meet due to anger in your statement: Trump to Kim Jong Un

Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had "completely" dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.

But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been thrown into doubt.

Trump's announcement came a day after Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric, calling comments by Vice President Mike Pence "ignorant and stupid."

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," read Trump's letter to Kim, which was dictated word for word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official.

He said talks could still go ahead "at a later date"

'Shocking'

The decision blindsided treaty ally South Korea, which until now had brokered a remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called the move "shocking and very regrettable" as he scrambled his national security team.

Seoul's foreign ministry said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo phoned his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha Friday morning and said the two nations should continue efforts to "create conditions" for talks with Pyongyang.

Separately, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said Seoul would continue talking to Kim's regime which he said "remains sincere in implementing the agreement and making efforts on denuclearisation and peace building".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the parties to keep talking, as did host Singapore, while Russia's President Vladimir Putin held out hope that dialogue would resume and the talks would eventually take place.

Politically, Trump had invested heavily in the success of the planned summit. But as the date drew nearer, the gulf in expectations between the two sides became apparent.

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" of the North.

But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrent until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

US aides stood up

A senior White House official said Pyongyang had demonstrated a "profound lack of good faith" in the run-up to the summit -- including standing up the White House's deputy chief of staff, who had travelled to Singapore for preparatory talks.

"They waited and they waited. The North Koreans never showed up. The North Koreans did not tell us anything -- they simply stood us up," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The White House viewed North Korea's objection to a routine US-South Korean joint military exercise -- and its recent cancellation of a meeting with the South Koreans -- as a breach of its commitments leading up to the summit.

It also was unhappy about the North's failure to allow international observers to verify the dismantling of its Punggye-ri test site, the staging ground for all six of its nuclear tests which was buried inside a mountain near the border with China.

But the North's Kim Kye Gwan countered that their angry statements were "just a backlash in response to harsh words from the US side that has been pushing for a unilateral denuclearisation".

Experts warned that cancelling the meeting could have knock-on effects.

"South Korea is also likely to be angered... Expect Seoul to try to continue engagements with Pyongyang, even if it widens a rift with Washington," Abraham Denmark, director of the Asia programme at the Wilson Center think tank, wrote on Twitter.

Democratic congressional leader Nancy Pelosi was scathing towards Trump's administration -- blaming a lack of preparation for the summit collapse and judging Kim to be the "big winner".

"It's clear he didn't know what he was getting into," she said of Trump. "And now he's walking away from it in this very chummy, palsy-walsy letter to Kim Jong Un."
Citizens groups in Bengaluru are campaigning for a stronger municipal structure. Metrolife brings insights on how the city can be administered better even without a minister for Bengaluru development.

BMTC under BBMP

Extending the mayors powers is the Constitutionally right thing to do, says Vinay Srinivas, member of Bengaluru Bus Prayaanikara Vedike.

According to the 74th Amendment, Article 243 Z, urban local bodies should have control over transport and water and electricity supply. If you look at cities like Pune and Mumbai, bus transport comes under the municipal corporation, says Vinay.

The BMTC managing director should be answerable to the mayor. Corporators know where bus stops are required. At the moment, there is no forum to redress such grievances at the BBMP, he says.

All utilities should come under the BBMP. But for this to happen, the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act has to be amended. At the moment, the mayor holds no executive powers and everything comes under the BBMP commissioner, he says.

Light on Bescom

The mayor being head of Bescom would channel many initiatives in the right direction, says Kathyayini Chamaraj, founder of Citizens Voluntary Initiative for the City (CIVIC).

She says Bescom engineers should be accountable to the municipal ward committees, which can decide on everything from replacing streetlights with solar lights and implementing solar energy for water pumping.

More coordinated participation will come into play when a mayor heads all local bodies. Things will become more people-centric, she says.

BWSSB and digging

D S Rajshekar, president of the Citizens Action Forum, is among those who recommend a longer term for the mayor.

BBMP provides ground infrastructure, but BWSSB digs up the roads for repairs, and so coordination is essential, he argues.

When roads are dug up, pipes leak. If the mayor is directly handling all agencies, he would be able to coordinate and set appropriate deadlines, understanding the limitations of all agencies, he says.

If BWSSB is brought under the mayors belt, distribution of water across neighbourhoods will be better, he reckons. One will not have to ask 10 people for solutions, says Rajshekar.

Aye or nay?

Leo Saldana, a full-time coordinator of Environment Support Group says empowering the mayor is not possible in the current structure.

There is no provision for a direct elected mayor now. There has to be a political shift for a strong mayoral system. This can come with the risk of turning into an oligopoly. A mayor in such a case should be the head of the Metropolitan Planning Committee and the BDA will cease to exist, he says.

He believes the current one-year term is not workable, and a two-and-a-half or five-year term may be an idea worthy of consideration.

Term length

The Bengaluru mayor now enjoys a year-long term, but that is too short to do anything meaningful, activists say. They are pitching for a longer term of three to five years.
The Indian Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi, who was caught in the middle of an unsavoury controversy involving a Kashmiri girl following an altercation at a Srinagar hotel.

The army has ordered a Court of Inquiry and appropriate action will be taken after the inquiry is finalised, said an officer at the army headquarters.

Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat, who is touring Jammu and Kashmir to review the impact of the suspension of operations in the holy month of Ramzan, too, made it clear that the Major's case wouldn't be treated leniently.

If Maj Gogoi has done something wrong, then I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example. If anyone in the Indian Army, at any rank, does any wrong and it comes to our notice, then the strictest action will be taken, Gen Rawat told reporters in Srinagar.

Maj Gogoi hit headlines worldwide last year when he used a local Kashmiri as a human shield to rescue an election party caught in the middle of a stone-pelting mob.

Though he received brickbats from many for such an act, Gogoi received a Commendation Card from the army chief for sustained efforts in counter-insurgency operations.

But on Wednesday, the same officer was questioned by the Jammu and Kashmir police following a complaint from Grand Mamata hotel where he wanted to check in with a local girl. The officer was accompanied by his driver, who is also from Kashmir.

Objections by the hotel staff resulted in a heated exchange with Gogoi. This led to an altercation. The hotel rang up the police. On arrival, the police interrogated Gogoi and others involved in the incident. The officer was later handed over to his unit. The Inspector General of Police, Kashmir ordered a probe.

The girl's age is also under probe. A section of the press in Kashmir claims she is a minor, while it was denied by official agencies.
Fuel prices continue to skyrocket even after the elections in Karnataka. As of today, the petrol price has increased by 32 paise and diesel price by 18 paise.

According to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), the revised petrol prices in metropolitan cities are: Delhi: Rs 77.83 per litre; Mumbai Rs 85.65; Kolkata Rs 80.47, Chennai 80.80 and Bengaluru Rs 79; while diesel prices are: Delhi: Rs 68.75; Mumbai: Rs 73.2; Chennai: Rs 72.58; Kolkata Rs 71.30.

The rising fuel prices have been a cause of huge concern for people in the last few weeks. Many took to Twitter reminding the government of their promise when the UPA government had hiked the fuel price.

Looking back

PM Modi, the then Opposition leader, joined the protest against fuel price hike in 2013.



This guy is protesting against petrol diesel price hike #PetrolPrices pic.twitter.com/B73IAqEKBq  Ravish kumar (@Siravishkumar) May 23, 2018

After PM Modi took office in 2014...

Since we formed the Government, petrol & diesel prices came down. We are committed to removing the obstacles our Nation is facing.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 4, 2014

Amul was at its quirkiest best

On Wednesday Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis said that if petrol and diesel comes under GST, the government could provide some relief to the public.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram immediately questioned the present government's inaction after Fadnavis statement. He earlier claimed that government can easily reduce Rs 25 a litre but won't.

Bringing petrol and diesel under GST will lower prices, said Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis. He should ask his party's government at the Centre to do that.  P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 25, 2018

He tweeted "central government saves Rs 15 on every litre of petrol due to fall in crude oil prices. Central government puts additional tax of Rs 10 on every litre of petrol."

Central government saves Rs 15 on every litre of petrol due to fall in crude oil prices. Central government puts additional tax of Rs 10 on every litre of petrol.  P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) May 23, 2018

Fuel challenge

PM Modi accepted Virat Kohli fitness challenge on Twitter on Thursday. Many Opposition leaders noticing the PM's tweet asked him whether could take up the fuel challenge.



The Opposition's Twitted challenge to Modi was started by Tejasvi Yadav. He asked Modi to fulfil the promise of jobs, provide relief to farmers and peace in the country before he took up the fitness challenge. This followed by other Opposition leaders posing challenges to Modi.

While we have nothing against accepting fitness challenge from @imVkohli . I urge you to accept the challenge to provide jobs to young, relief to farmers, promise of no violence against dalits & minorities. Would you accept my challenge @narendramodi Sir?  Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) May 24, 2018

Dear PM, Glad to see you accept the @imVkohli fitness challenge. Heres one from me: Reduce Fuel prices or the Congress will do a nationwide agitation and force you to do so. I look forward to your response.#FuelChallenge  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 24, 2018
The Congress on Thursday blamed electronic voting machines (EVMs) as one of the reasons for its debacle in the elections.

The Congress was reduced to 78 seats from the 122 it won in the previous 2013 elections. The BJP went up from its earlier 40 seats to 104. However, no party bagged the required number of seats to form a government on its own, forcing the Congress to join hands with the JD(S), which won 38.

We had a doubt that electronic voting machines were manipulated. I also personally feel there was such a possibility, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who is also the KPCC president, told reporters here.

Parameshwara claimed that the party had identified constituencies where 70-80% of the population were Congress voters. If the BJP got high leads in such constituencies, certainly there will be doubts. Im not saying EVMs were manipulated in all 224 Assembly constituencies, but those who do it are clever. Manipulation will be done to ensure victory in select places, he said.

The deputy chief minister was responding to a question on why the Congress faced defeat in the elections. He objected to the use of the word defeat and pointed out that the Congress had increased it vote share to 38.4%. If we had been defeated, wed not have come forward to form a government.

The Congress, he said, will continue its campaign against EVMs. Much, much before the election, we had given a representation to the Election Commission demanding ballot papers. In the coming days we will continue to oppose the machines. We dont want EVMs. We want ballot papers. We will demand this for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Its up to them to consider or not.

Parameshwara also admitted that there could have been sabotage. We will form a committee to scientifically analyse our loss. In some places, it has come to my notice that there was internal sabotage. If that is found true, action will be taken against those involved.
SALT LAKE CITY  Utahn Ronald Mortensen was nominated by President Donald Trump Thursday to serve as assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration.

If his nomination is approved by the U.S. Senate, Mortensen, a retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department, would head the U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

The bureau's mission "is to provide protection, ease suffering, and resolve the plight of persecuted and uprooted people around the world on behalf of the American people," according to its website.

Mortensen has lobbied the Utah Legislature on identity theft and other issues and supported Trump in 2016. He is a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan organization that bills itself as "low immigration, pro-immigrant."

He has been described as continuing to respond to humanitarian crises around the world, including in Mali and Iraq after being recognized by the State Department for his courage during a civil war in Chad.

Mortensen, a veteran who holds a doctorate degree, was on the White House advance team for the 1986 summit between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Iceland that helped lead to an end to the Cold War.
One day after the removal of a prominent seminary president following a series of contentious remarks about women, Southern Baptists have begun a public reckoning.

The forced retirement of Paige Patterson, the president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has broken a dam of anger, resentment and recrimination both for his comments about abused women as well as apparent efforts by the seminarys trustees to protect his reputation even as they eased him out.

While not discussing Patterson by name, Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., sounded an alarm.

I have to see it as the judgment of God upon a denomination and the larger evangelical movement for decades of failure in dealing rightly with questions of sexual abuse and misbehavior, Mohler said in an interview with RNS.

Mohler warned that the impact of the #MeToo movement on the denomination was just beginning and that were going to discover this problem is far more widespread.

He was referring to comments by Patterson in a 2000 interview and a 2014 sermon in which he boasted that he once advised a woman to stay with her abusive husband and objectified the body of a 16-year-old girl as built. Both resurfaced in the past few weeks in the media. On Tuesday (May 22), The Washington Post reported that in 2003 Patterson asked a female student not to report an alleged rape to the police and to forgive her assailant.

Patterson, the architect of the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention in the early 1980s, is also known for using his position to push back against feminism and the womens movement. He helped reinstate a biblical literalism when it comes to marriage, family and the role of women and helped push an amendment to the denominations statement of faith that says a wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband.

Around 3 a.m. Wednesday, after 13 hours of deliberation, Southwesterns board of trustees issued a statement thanking Patterson for his contributions and service to the school over the past 15 years and announcing that it wanted new leadership.

The trustees named Patterson president emeritus, a new post that comes with undisclosed compensation. They allowed him to remain on campus as a theologian-in-residence in a house now under construction.

For some Southern Baptists, that kid-glove treatment for Patterson rankled  especially among a younger generation of pastors who are trying to evangelize to a modern setting.

I believe a mockery was made, to be honest, said Dean Inserra, 37, pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Fla. This was basically an accelerated retirement plan that was already in place before. Its very frustrating. It sends a very poor message, not only to the women of the SBC and of the congregation I pastor and our staff here, but also all other Baptists.

Patterson sounded unapologetic in a letter emailed Wednesday to seminary students and staff, published by the Post. We are, of course, hurt. But we did not compromise and we still have our voice to witness, he and his wife, Dorothy, wrote in the email, which the seminary did not release publicly.

Patterson is scheduled to give a keynote sermon to pastors during next months annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, though many pastors said that is now unlikely. They say Kie Bowman, pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church and The Quarries Church in Austin, Texas, will likely give the sermon instead.

Southern Baptists have no formal hierarchy. Each church is independent, as are its members. Some expressed fierce loyalty to Patterson.

To retroactively punish him for remarks he made years ago is unfair, said Chris Thompson, a pastor and former chief of staff for Patterson during his 10 years as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

I dont know any pastor, or public speaker for that matter, who would ever want to be subject to someone pulling an audiotape from some archive and having to answer for those words 18 years later. Whos next, is really what my question would be.

Thompson said Pattersons comments to the abused woman reflect a desire  however imperfectly stated  to communicate that the Bible hates divorce.

Southern Baptists do not appear ready to reject the theology of complementarianism, the idea that, though men and women are equal in worth, men alone should hold leadership roles in the home and in the church.

But many pastors said they thought Pattersons long pattern of belittling or disrespecting women was a mistaken application of biblical teaching.

Any statement that would seem to affirm a woman remaining in an abusive situation or that would demean or devalue the apparent worth of women is theologically problematic, said Micah Fries, pastor of Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.

These Southern Baptists say Pattersons understanding of womens roles is culturally anachronistic. Former employees of Southwestern say that one of the first things he did when he arrived on campus in 2003 was to mandate that women wear modest skirts or dresses (except for casual Fridays and in summer).

Patterson also pushed out Hebrew professor Sheri Klouda and church historian Karen Bullock because he does not believe a woman should teach men or interpret Scripture.

Debra Smith, a onetime student at Southwestern who now attends a Southern Baptist church in Georgia, said she has long thought Patterson and other SBC leaders have a warped view of womens roles.

If church leadership is using the Bible as an excuse to subjugate women and keep them in their place, I think they need to go back and do a reread of Scripture, she said. Jesus valued women. Jesus protected women. He celebrated women.

Smith said she was grateful that some people are beginning to speak out.

But, she added, there are still so many people who dont want to rock the boat and who want to focus on whatever accomplishments they think Patterson and his ilk might have achieved for the convention and his church. Theyre protecting their own people.
Gov. Gary Herbert unveiled his 10-part Energy Action Plan at the Utah Energy Summit last week. In doing so, he modeled innovative conservative leadership that will pioneer a new path forward for the state and the country.

Herberts plan demonstrates the potential synergy of clean energy production and local economic development  two agendas that for too long have lain motionless by partisan politics.

Herberts plan targets rural business development while investing in energy research and infrastructure development for alternative fuels. The proposal aims to maximize the potential of citizens, businesses and families while ensuring the health of communities. Focusing on rural development while investing in energy education, research and alternative fuels is a forward-thinking approach to ensure economic growth for Utahns has a lasting impact  giving the state an essential competitive edge in the growing alternative energy market.

With the global renewable energy market set to increase by over $300 billion between 2014 and 2019, Utahs cities will be well positioned to tap into this market and attract companies, jobs and research to the state. If this plan is realized, cities like Park City will become models for effective and sustainable city governance, with city operations expected to rely on 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2022.

Additionally, Herberts plan will ensure Utahs students have the education they need to be at the forefront of energy research for years to come  an important long-term investment for the health and vitality of the state.

The Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah is one of two finalists in a competition for federal funding to research geothermal energy in Milford in Beaver County. Securing the money will position local students to lead out in establishing rural Utah as a front-runner in renewable energy.

Utah is poised to increase its geothermal energy output, a clean and sustainable source that harnesses the earths underground heat to power steam-driven generators. If fully realized, geothermal energy production could power a sizable chunk of the region as well as bring development to areas riddled with joblessness and poverty.

In the short term, Herberts report shows that investing in alternative energy is essential for protecting Utahs finite resources and making energy more affordable. As his plan states, diversifying energy sources eliminates monopolistic markets and helps citizens maintain a lower cost of living, allowing residents and businesses to have more flexibility in their budgets for spending, investing and saving.

These goals are among the most ambitious in the country. They offer an important counterpoint to those arguing the national government determines the state of the countrys energy goals. The executive branch is not ground zero for energy innovation. Instead, Herbert has shown that pioneering energy leadership is occurring on a local level  revitalizing communities and unlocking the potential of Utahns in the process.
SALT LAKE CITY  University of Utah President Ruth V. Watkins and Lt. Gov. Spencer J. Cox called on Utahns Thursday to develop the best policy and technology innovations to support a thriving middle class in Utah.

The best ideas may be eligible for up to $1 million in funding.

The goal of the challenge is to find, fund and develop policy and technology innovations that have the potential to increase net income by 10 percent for 10,000 Utah middle-class households by the year 2020, according to a university press release.

"This is a community-based approach where we will seek ideas from you, from our state's most innovative thinkers, about how we can strengthen the middle class in Utah. The vision of this project is that a vibrant, healthy middle class is essential for America, for our future prosperity," said Watkins at a press conference on the U. campus.

The U. is one of four universities selected by Schmidt Futures to serve as anchors for the Alliance for the American Dream.

Cox said Utah was recently recognized as a state where upward mobility remains possible but "the American dream is under attack here as well as it is across the United States. We need the best and brightest to solve help these issues to make sure we continue to have a robust middle class and upward mobility remains alive and well."

While many of Utah's best and brightest minds were part of Thursday's press conference, "far too often, the most innovative out there are not in these rooms. That's what this initiative is about, going out to the public.  Those are thinkers we need to look at ways to increase income for the middle class," Cox said.

Project director Courtney McBeth said the challenge seeks "innovative ideas that will help families and communities not only survive but thrive."

The challenge seeks proposals to create sustainable ways to expand access to and increase stability of the middle class in Utah through "innovative and interdisciplinary solutions in the areas of health care, workforce development, education, transportation, housing and supports for families," according to documents from americandream.utah.edu.

Submissions will be accepted through noon on Aug. 30 at americandream.utah.edu.

Schmidt Futures, according to its website, seeks to "advance society through technology, inspiring breakthroughs in scientific knowledge, and promoting shared prosperity."

Eric Schmidt, its founder, is a technical adviser to Alphabet Inc., a member of its board of directors and its former chairman. Alphabet Inc. is the parent company of Google. He lived in Utah during the 1990s.

Schmidt, in a prepared statement, said ideas to strengthen the middle class could target raising incomes or lowering the costs of transportation, housing, utilities, food, etc.

"Today, too many middle-class families find themselves at risk of falling into poverty, while too few see a path to build a brighter future for their children," Schmidt said.

"America needs a strong middle class. Our future depends on it."

Schmidt Futures launched the Alliance for the American Dream in April "to seed ideas that have the potential to support and grow America's middle class."

In addition to the U., Ohio State University, Arizona State University and University of Wisconsin-Madison have been selected as anchor institutions for the challenge.

"As the flagship university for our state, what I'm becoming fond of calling us the University for Utah, we are uniquely positioned to join you, to partner with you, to facilitate and help make great things happen," Watkins said.

In the coming weeks, the U. will launch a process to solicit ideas statewide. Ten proposals will be selected this fall. Each will receive $10,000 to further develop their idea.

A local advisory board will winnow those submission to three, which will be eligible for additional awards up to $30,000 to further refine their proposals.

The final three teams will have access to the U.'s facilities, resources and faculty to fully develop their proposals, which will be submitted to the Alliance for the American Dream, along with nine others from the other "anchor" universities.

The alliance will provide up to $1 million for additional support to the best ideas.

Community advisory board member Keith McMullin, president and CEO of Deseret Management Corp., said the challenge is an opportunity for Utah to be an example to the nation.

The Beehive State has strong families and strong educational ethic that make upward mobility possible, he said.

"More importantly, we have the people that have the desire to move forward, step up and make a great contribution," McMullin said.

Contributing: Ladd Egan
OGDEN  Weber County on Thursday joined the list of local governments in Utah suing opioid manufacturers, alleging they engaged in deceptive marketing practices that diminished the public's understanding of the risks associated with their products.

"This case is about one thing: corporate greed," the new lawsuit filed Thursday in 2nd District Court states. "Defendants put their desire for profits above the health, well-being, and safety of Weber County residents."

Salt Lake, Summit and Tooele counties have already filed similar lawsuits, and the Utah Attorney General's Office has promised to ramp up its opioid litigation with a new filing by the end of the month. Utah County has also announced its intentions to sue.

Weber County Attorney Chris Allred said Thursday that the lawsuit is "very similar to the suits already filed by other counties," and was submitted with the goal of recouping costs incurred by local governments' struggle to confront the crisis of opioid addiction.

"I would like to see the money spent (on problems) that have thus far been an expense for the taxpayer," Allred said.

Actavis, AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health Cephalon, Cephalon Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Insys Therapeutics, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, McKesson Corp., Purdue Pharma, and Teva Phemaceuticals are listed as defendants in the case, as are Drs. Perry Fine, Scott Fishman and Lynn Webster.

Multiple defendants reacted to a similar lawsuit filed against them last month by Salt Lake County, saying they had made proactive efforts to offer their own solutions to opioid addiction. One cited the promotion of opioids "with abuse-deterrent properties," while another criticized the allegations as "baseless" and said at the time that they include information with their products about their inherent risks.

Multiple attempts to reach Fine, Fishman and Webster for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

The lawsuit does not seek a pre-established amount of damages.

Colin King, an attorney with the Salt Lake law firm Dewsnup King Olsen Worel Havas Mortensen, which is one of three outside legal teams carrying out the case on behalf of Weber County, said chances are high it will ultimately lead to a settlement before going to trial. King said there is a strong possibility that the case will eventually be added to a class action lawsuit with other counties around the United States.

"They're the ones paying for this," King said of county governments. "They're the ones that are feeling the pain of this crisis."

He added that his law firm has recently been working with a new county "every week" as several more local governments throughout the state prepare to sue. King's firm is also involved in the Summit County and Tooele County lawsuits.

Weber County Commissioner James Ebert said that aside from financial considerations, he hopes the case and others like it will serve as a deterrent to opioid manufacturers' allegedly deceptive public messaging tactics.

"The marketing has to be fixed by those who are making the drugs," Ebert said.

He said for residents who become addicted, "trying to get them help is extremely expensive" for counties. But the costs aren't the only reason communities are frustrated, he said.

"There's the financial component to this, but there's also the community component  what it does to individuals and families," Ebert said.

Weber County's expenditures have been affected in several ways as a result of increasing opioid addiction, the lawsuit alleges.

"As a direct and foreseeable consequence of defendants' wrongful conduct, (Weber County) has been required to spend substantial funds each year in its efforts to combat the public nuisance created by defendants' deceptive marketing campaign," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also claims the defendants "trivialized or obscured (opioids') serious risks and adverse outcomes" in their public messaging, "including the risk of addiction, overdose, and death."

"Defendants persuaded doctors and patients that what they had long understood  that opioids are addictive drugs and safe in most circumstances  was untrue, and to the contrary, that the compassionate treatment of pain required opioids."

The lawsuit also cites data indicating Utah has the seventh-highest fatal opioid overdose rate in the country, and that Weber County's rate is above the state average.
SALT LAKE CITY  A former Draper man being sentenced for a federal hate crime unleashed a racist diatribe in U.S. District Court on Thursday, saying African-Americans are "pimps" and "drug dealers."

"I've been around a lot of blacks. I just don't want to associate with them anymore," Mark Olic Porter told Judge Dee Benson. "I don't want to live around them because they're dangerous people."

After Porter finished his tirade, which included references to Bill Cosby and to his own sister marrying a black man in the '70s, Benson called him a racist. He said Porter's openly racist views are "ugly, despicable and distasteful."

Porter's remarks, however, didn't factor into the sentence Benson imposed on him after a jury last week convicted the 59-year-old man of yelling racial slurs at a black man's young son and then shocking the father, Mike Waldvogel, with a stun cane last November.

"He's entitled to have those views. It's not against the law to be a racist. It is against the law to act on those racist views," the judge said.

Benson sentenced Porter to nine months in prison, much lower than prosecutors argued for and NAACP Utah chapter President Jeanetta Williams expected. Porter, who has been held in the Weber County Jail since last fall, will get credit for time served and be released as early as next month. He also will serve a one-year probation.

The judge said he wasn't trying to be lenient, but the crime came down to an altercation between two men.

Benson said the "most disgusting" part of the incident was Porter using the n-word toward the boy.

Porter shouted the slur at the 7-year-old boy as he rode on a scooter in a common area at a Draper apartment complex last fall. After he told the child to "get out of here," he knocked Waldvogel to the ground with a stun cane when the father confronted him about yelling at his son. Porter then referred to Waldvogel and his son using a racial slur and told them both to "get out of here."

Porter said he thought the man was going to take a swing at him, so he held out the "zap cane"  which he said he bought because it was advertised to ward off "thugs" and "animals"  and the man grabbed it.

"I never hit him," he said.

Prior to the incident, Porter told an employee and maintenance staff at the apartment complex that he did not want to live near any blacks. He also told another neighbor that he thought that blacks needed to be "exterminated," according to testimony during the trial.

Rose Gibson, a Department of Justice lawyer with the Civil Rights Division's criminal section, argued that Porter should serve nearly four years in prison. His use of the stun can  a stick with electrified metal bars  amounted to aggravated assault, she said.

Also, she said the racial slur left the boy scared.

"The incident was serious for the family. It was serious for the community," Gibson said.

Williams, who attended the hearing, said Porter's comments in the courtroom were offensive and that he wasn't remorseful or apologetic.

"His ranting will continue on," she said. "I think that we have to be more careful about what people say and how they say it, and words do hurt."

Williams said a nine-month sentence "was not what I was looking for at all," and Benson ignoring prosecutors' recommendation was "very disheartening." She said the sentence doesn't send a clear enough message that hate crimes won't be tolerated in Utah.

In court, Porter said the Bill Cosby "thing" bothered him. "I could always sense something about that guy," he said. He also said his sister marrying a black man "destroyed" his family.

"I just don't want to be around them. They've ruined so many people's lives," he said.

Dave Backman, the U.S. Attorney's Office criminal chief in Utah, said Porter hasn't learned a thing.

"It was painful to sit there through the sentencing and hear what he had to say. He is obviously a racist," he said, adding authorities worry there could be another confrontation that could turn violent.

"It was clear in court he is not a changed person from this jury verdict. I'm not sure his sentence would change that," Backman said. "But we're encouraged he won't be living here in Utah, at least."

Assault charges filed against Porter in state court last year were dismissed due to the federal prosecution. He was living in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, when he was arrested. He plans to return there after his release.
The newest installment in the Star Wars universe will hit theaters Friday with Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The newest film will follow Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) as he works with a crew of smugglers led by a man named Beckett (Woody Harrelson). During his journey, Solo, along with Chewbacca, meets Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and even spends time with his friend-from-home, Qira (Emilia Clarke).

There are many ways for "Star Wars" fans to get excited for the new film. Weve collected previously published Deseret News articles that offer insight into the Star Wars franchise that should help get you ready for the new movie.

Read these legendary 'Star Wars' books before you see the next Star Wars film  If youve ever wondered what happened in the Star Wars universe before Disney bought Lucasfilm, youll want to read some of the old Star Wars Legends books that exist. Read more about them here.

Here is the proper order in which to watch the 'Star Wars' films, according to Mark Hamill  Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies, revealed his favorite way to watch the movies, which includes starting with the prequels.

Jar Jar Binks isn't the most hated 'Star Wars' character. So who is?  You would think that Jar Jar Binks is the most hated "Star Wars" character. Heres why that might not be the truth.

'Star Wars' hit theaters 40 years ago. These photos would hint at its legacy  The original Star Wars certainly got a lot of fans talking. Take a first look at the films popularity with these photos.

Why Jar Jar Binks (and 4 other 'Star Wars' characters) deserve spinoff films instead of Han Solo  Han Solo isnt the only character who deserves a spinoff film. Read our list of potential other characters.

We asked Deseret News readers about their favorite 'Star Wars' characters. Here are the results  The Deseret News surveyed readers to find that Han Solo is one of the most-loved characters.
WEST JORDAN  A Murray man accused of luring young boys to meet him and sexually abusing them has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to prison.

Weston Ray Kubbe, 38, took plea deals Monday in 3rd District Court in three criminal cases against him, then was sentenced the same day to prison.

In the first case, Kubbe pleaded guilty to forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony. He admitted to meeting a boy when the boy was about 14 years old and touching him inappropriately.

Kubbe met the teen online and acted as a confidant to gain his trust, then sexually abused the boy when he came to Kubbe's Murray home, according to charging documents. The victim, now an adult, contacted police in July 2016 when he said Kubbe reached out to him on social media for the first time since the assault.

In the second case, Kubbe pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old, a third-degree felony, admitting to meeting a 17-year-old boy for sex.

Kubbe first connected with the teen on the internet when he was 14 and Kubbe was 32, and met him for sex on a walking trail, according to charging documents. Now an adult, the victim spoke with police after seeing reports about Kubbe's arrest on the news and realizing he was older than he had been led to believe.

In the third case, Kubbe pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old, a third-degree felony. Kubbe was accused of meeting the 16-year-old boy online and taking him to his house on multiple occasions for sex.

In exchange for his guilty pleas, multiple charges in each of the three cases were dismissed, including forcible sodomy and object rape, first-degree felonies, unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a third-degree felony, and several additional counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old, a third-degree felony.

After pleading guilty Monday, Kubbe was sentenced to three concurrent prison terms: one to 15 years for the forcible sexual abuse convictions and zero to five years for the convictions of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old.

Kubbe had been charged in six cases total. He took plea deals in three of the cases in Ogden last month, including the allegation that first drew law enforcement's attention to Kubbe. He was initially arrested in October 2016 when police said he took an 11-year-old boy he considered his boyfriend from the child's home in Weber County to his own house in Murray. An Amber Alert was issued when family members discovered a note in the boy's bedroom and realized he was missing.

Kubbe is scheduled to be sentenced in the Ogden cases on June 1.
SALT LAKE CITY  Heres a look at the news for May 25.

MUST-READ NEWS THIS MORNING:

FanX founder takes leave of absence

Salt Lake FanX co-founder Bryan Brandenburg confirmed he will take a leave of absence for the foreseeable future after the controversy surrounding the pop culture convention's handling of sexual harassment, the Deseret News reported.

He said the leave of absence is meant to help fans move past the controversy surrounding the convention.

Brandenburg first fell under fire earlier this week when he suggested Utah author Shannon Hale sit out the convention when she complained about FanXs response to a sexual harassment complaint.

"I thought it was so important once I realized all my missteps and mistakes and how it had hurt people and made them angry, I needed to send a big, huge message that it wasn't enough that I said sorry, it wasn't enough that we updated our policy, it wasn't enough that we made sure the person they were complaining about would not be at our event," Brandenburg said.

Read more.

Police say missing woman case now an active homicide investigation

Police officials said Thursday that the death of a Provo woman who had been missing for three years until this week will be treated as a possible murder, the Deseret News reported.

"This is an active homicide investigation," Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said. Were calling it a homicide investigation under suspicious circumstances.  We dont know exactly how or why she ended up in Hobble Creek Canyon. Those are the things were trying to find leads on.

Tracy made the announcement with Provo Police Chief Richard Ferguson and FBI Supervisory Special Agent for Utah Eric Lerohl while confirming that Elizabeth Elena Laguna Salgados remains had been found in the canyon.

"This is just terrible," Rosemberg Salgado, one of Elizabeth Salgado's uncles, told the Deseret News. "I can't believe there are so many evil people in this world that would do that to another human being. We will find you whoever you are. We will find you.

Read more.

Will Utah Jazz change the lineup?

Utah general manager Dennis Lindsey said Thursday that the Jazz would likely be the same team for the 2018-19 season, according to the Deseret News.

Lindsey said the team could make changes, though, if it needs to.

I think were in a good position where we havent cornered ourselves economically relative to the performance of our team, and that should give us a few options to consider, he said. My best guess is the option that well ultimately consider, is bringing the team back intact, but I dont know what other things are going to come our way.

The Jazz will face many questions this offseason, including whether to bring back Derrick Favors and Dante Exum.

Read more.

Harvey Weinstein surrenders to N.Y. police

Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to police officials in New York Friday morning, according to BBC. He will likely face sexual misconduct charges.

Dozens of women have made accusations against Weinstein, including allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Weinstein denied having non-consensual sex despite the allegations. But this could be the first time he is charged.

The allegations triggered the #MeToo movement which sought to demonstrate and draw attention to the widespread prevalence of sexual abuse and harassment, according to BBC.

Read more.

AROUND THE WEB:
MURRAY  The Humane Society of Utah is partnering with the Animals for Armed Forces Foundation to waive adoption fees for all active and retired military looking to adopt a pet over the Memorial Day weekend.

The adoption center, 4242 S. 300 West, will be open Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The adoption special applies to active duty, reserve and veterans of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and National Guard. Last year, 56 pets found new homes with military members.

All animals adopted from the Humane Society of Utah are spayed or neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. The societys regular adoption process applies to ensure the best fit for both animal and adopter.

To receive the adoption discount, a photo ID and one of the following is required: military ID, dependent ID, DD-214 and drivers license, or National Guard Bureau Form 22.

For more information, visit utahhumane.org/adopt.
OREM  Incoming Utah Valley University President Astrid Tuminez will assume official duties at the university on Sept. 17.

Tuminez, regional director of corporate, external and legal affairs for Microsoft in Southeast Asia, was selected the seventh president of UVU by the Utah State Board of Regents on April 20.

She will succeed President Matthew S. Holland, who has been called to serve as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission starting in July.

Jeffery E. Olson, senior vice president of academic affairs, will serve as interim president until Tuminez's arrival, officials said Friday. The fall semester begins Aug. 20.

Tuminez was selected after an international search. She was one of four finalists forwarded to the regents by a 24-member search committee. The board of regents announced its decision by unanimous vote during a meeting on the university campus.

We honor the vision and legacy of President Holland over the last nine years, and celebrate his many accomplishments at Utah Valley University, said Utah Commissioner of Higher Education David Buhler.

At the same time, we look forward to UVUs bright future under the direction of President Tuminez, who is a proven visionary leader in the academic, nonprofit, public policy and corporate sectors.

Tuminez has also served as the vice dean of research and assistant dean of executive education at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, where she trained over 2,000 government officials and private-sector professionals in leadership and organizational change.

She has also served as a senior consultant to the U.S. Institute of Peace, director of research at AIG Global Investment, and program officer at Carnegie Corporation of New York. She previously ran the Moscow office of the Harvard Project on Strengthening Democratic Institutions.

Tuminez earned a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University, a masters degree from Harvard University and a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Tuminez said she looks forward "to leading UVU to its next level of success," according to a statement issued by the Utah System of Higher Education.

"Education frees the human spirit, and UVUs dual mission, which emphasizes engaged learning and inclusivity, gives students from many different backgrounds the same opportunity to access higher education and transform their lives. I am excited to work with UVU students, faculty, staff, trustees and community leaders to continue providing that transformative experience.
PARK CITY  A Greenwich, Connecticut, school administrator has been selected superintendent of the Park City School District.

The Park City Board of Education voted unanimously Friday to appoint Jill Gildea as superintendent of the 4,800-student school district.

A career educator, Gildea is superintendent of Greenwich Public Schools. She has worked as a superintendent for 11 years, assistant superintendent, educational programs director, curriculum director, high school division administrator and elementary principal. She has also taught middle and high school.

"Her experience as a superintendent both in the Chicago area and in Greenwich will bring valuable intellectual capital to our district, said Andrew Caplan, Park City School Board president.

Her history of helping children succeed academically, socially and emotionally stood out to the board and made her our first choice for this position. The board looks forward to welcoming Dr. Gildea to our community this summer and we are excited to support her leadership in the coming months and years ahead.

Gildea earned her doctorate in curriculum and supervision from Northern Illinois University and a master's of education in language and literacy and her superintendent's endorsement from National Louis University based in Chicago. She earned a bachelor's in English and secondary education from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

According to a school district press release, Gildea "has a proven track record in managing school districts using data-driven decisions and sound fiscal practices, working collaboratively with staff and parent groups, as well as with local township governments to fund educational needs."

Caplan said Gildea impressed the school board as a strong educational practitioner and thought-leader, well-versed in the national conversation on public education.

"I'm honored to join the Park City School District and to work collectively on the important visionary and strategic work of an exemplary system, Gildea said in a prepared statement.

From my perspective in visiting other districts across the country through my work with a variety of national organizations, I believe that Park City School District keeps its students at the center of key decisions, and models whole-child practice. The district is well poised as a leader not only in Utah, but in the nation. I look forward to joining this talented and dedicated team.
SALT LAKE CITY  Shaun French was "obsessed" with 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw and harassed her in the days leading up to her brutal murder, investigators say.

On Friday, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office charged French with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, in the West High teenager's death. Charging documents say French slit the teen's throat and told an acquaintance that he "damn near cut her head off," the charges state.

French, 24, is also charged with aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony; obstructing justice and sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree felonies.

On May 7, Baleigh arrived home, 1624 W. 500 North, in her Fairpark neighborhood from school just after 3 p.m. She called her mother, as she always did, to let her know she was home.

Baleigh "started screaming" while on the phone with her mother, according to charging documents. A neighbor went to check on the girl but called police after seeing blood inside the house.

After the incident, French called family members to say "he cut a girl's throat," the charges state.

French and another man then began driving, allegedly to South Carolina. They stopped at a gas station in Evanston, Wyoming, where French threw his bloody clothes and a backpack into a dumpster, according to court documents. Salt Lake police later spent more than 250 staffing hours searching the Uinta County Landfill. They found the backpack and inside it, clothing with blood stains, a knife, rubber gloves, duct tape, latex gloves and a ski mask, charging documents state.

French was arrested on U.S. 50 near county Road 13 in southeast Colorado by the Otero County Sheriff's Office following a two-day manhunt. His friend was in the car with him at the time of his arrest.

As investigators began piecing together a possible motive, they learned that Baleigh told her mother on May 2 that she had a sexual relationship with French when he lived with their family from December 2016 until July 2017 when she was 14, according to court documents.

French threatened to send Baleigh's mother nude pictures of her daughter as well as post them on social media, the charges state. As Baleigh was telling her mother this information, her phone kept ringing. She stated "it was French and that he had called her 13 times that day."

Later, Baleigh's mother received nude photographs of her daughter sent to her via social media. At that point, Baleigh and her mother discussed getting a restraining order against French, police say.

Detectives interviewing friends and family of French were told that "French was 'obsessed' with (Baleigh) and that he wanted to marry her."

The friend who was with French when he was arrested told police that French had recently visited him in Ohio and "was trying to get his life together and breaking up with a girlfriend in Utah," the charges state. The two planned to drive to Southern Carolina together. But French diverted their trip back to Utah because investigators say he "wanted to talk to his ex-girlfriend about her statutory rape accusation."

On May 6 and 7, French and the man spent part of their days at an undisclosed park. On May 7, French allegedly left the man to walk to Baleigh's house. When he returned, he "had blood all over his face and hands," according to the charging documents.

An autopsy determined that Baleigh had "severe lacerations" to the front of her neck and a "deep stab wound" to the back of her neck.

Prosecutors have requested that French be held without bail. An initial appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, and a special scheduling conference is set for June 9.
Dhanush Condoles His Fans Demise In The Sterlite Killings

Actor Dhanush is currently in Paris preparing for the international project, The Extraordinary Journey of The Fakir but he is still connected to his fans back home. The actor took to Twitter and mourned the death of his fan, who died in the protests against the Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu. The incident has claimed the lives of 14 people this far.





One of the members of Dhanushs welfare association was among the civilians who lost his life during the protest. Dhanush posted a condolence message in Tamil on Twitter. It read, The death of S.Ragu (a) Kaaliyappan has deeply saddened me. I would like to deliver my deepest condolences to his family. Once I return to India, I will visit his house and family members. I pray to God that his soul rests in peace (sic).





Notably, the entire Tamil film industry stood in solidarity with the people of Tuticorin. They have also expressed their condolences for the people who died. Right from Kamal Haasan to Rajinikanth, celebs spoke in one voice and also criticised the act of state government.





May the souls of the departed find peace.





For latest movie reviews, ratings and trailers, download the Desimartini App.





Source: www.lehren.com
Google on Thursday announced that users can get their Class 10 and 12 results delivered directly to Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day. Since 2016, Microsoft has partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to display the board examination results on www.bing.com.

Beginning this year, users can avail the feature on "SMS Organizer", the tech giant wrote in a blog post. To get CBSE Class 10 and 12 results on SMS Organizer, users first need to download the app and then register for CBSE results. On the result day, the pre-registered users will receive a notification for the result, clicking on which their score-card will appear.

Since the scorecard data is sent via an SMS, users will be able to see it even if they do not have Internet connectivity on result day, the post said. The results will also be available on Bing for parents, teachers and students to easily search and get the score-cards.

"Over the last few months, we have been working with multiple education boards in India to deliver the results of the various exams they conduct, on Bing apart from their own websites," the company's blog post revealed. "So far exam results for Class 10 - Andhra Pradesh SSC board, Class 10 - Telangana SSC Board and Class 10 and Class 12 - Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad are available on Bing."

Earlier, Google had partnered with CBSE for the JEE Main exam results and other exam-related information. Students could quickly, securely and seamlessly locate their score on their smartphone or desktop using Google Search.

"We are collaborating with Google for the smooth dissemination of results through an easy and secure platform," Rama Sharma, Senior Public Relations Officer, CBSE, had said in a statement.

The tech giant has also introduced an improved Search experience for other popular exams like GATE, SSC CGL, CAT. Students searching for these competitive exams will find important information such as test dates, registration dates, important links, and other key information right within Google Search.
A US court has finally asked Samsung to pay $539 million to Apple for copying patented iPhone designs after the two giants got entangled in a legal battle in 2011. According to a report in Fortune late Thursday, Samsung was found liable in the initial verdict in 2012 and was initially asked to pay over $1 billion to Apple but the amount was later reduced in further court hearings.

Under the US patent law, infringement of a design patent can result in a plaintiff receiving total profits made through the product.

Samsung's lawyers appealed the case, bringing down the compensation of $1 billion to $400 million in 2015 at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This time, a jury in a northern California US district court in San Jose deliberated for five days to decide the fresh penalty in a case that alleged that Samsung's Android handsets used design elements stolen from the iPhone maker.

"We're grateful to the jury for their service and pleased they agree that Samsung should pay for copying our products," Apple said in a statement. "This case has always been about more than money. Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design. It is important that we continue to protect the hard work and innovation of so many people at Apple," the statement said.

Samsung, however, was displeased with the verdict. "Today's decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favour of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages," Samsung said in its statement. "We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers," reported The Registrar, quoting the statement from the South Korean giant.
The Nokia 8 Sirocco is one of most well-crafted Android phones we have come across, but compromises under the hood and an underwhelming camera works against it, nevermind the steep asking price.

Nokia 8 Sirocco detailed review

Nokias resurgence has mostly relied on a portfolio of mid-range and entry-level smartphones. It makes sense. The Nokia brand in the past stood for affordability and ease of access. But it was also known for pushing the boundaries of product design and beautiful craftsmanship. While a majority of Nokias Pure Android portfolio consists of mid-range and budget devices that represents the affordable part of Nokias philosophy, the Nokia 8 Sirocco (along with the Nokia 8 last year) is a sign that HMD Global-backed Nokia also aims to establish itself as a premium brand. Yet, much has changed since Nokia made the unfortunate exit from the smartphone market. As of now, the premium flagship segment is dominated by a handful of players, all of which are established and well-known such as Samsung, Apple, OnePlus and the likes. In fact, even well-known brands like LG and HTC have been bleeding themselves dry trying to convince customers to buy their flagships instead of the tried and tested Galaxy and the iPhone. The Nokia 8 Sirocco is the companys best-looking phone till date, but does it have enough to convince buyers to ditch the existing options and go for a brand thats new as well as have a lasting legacy? We find out.





Design

As I mentioned earlier, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is the best looking Nokia phone to date. All of HMD Globals smartphone portfolio has been designed keeping mid-range buyers in mind. Even then, most of the Nokia phones look distinctly different from the rest of the crop and the Nokia 8 Sirocco really stands out. Stunning design aside, this is also one of the most radically different devices in comparison to its peers. Theres no notch. There's no taller 18:9 display. For the most part, its a reimagination of the Nokia 8 from last year with certain changes to the camera on the back and the materials used to make the phone. But then again, phones have never looked so good.

The phone is built out of a single block of stainless steel sandwiched between glass on both sides. The screen also curves to meet the glass panel at the back and theres a shiny steel rim that runs around the edges. At its thinnest, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is just 2mm thin. Simply put, this is craftsmanship at its best. It does look a lot like the Blackberry Priv which also was quite radical for its time. Because of its traditional design, the Nokia 8 Sirocco comes off as short and stout. Its too wide for one-handed use and too small for multi-tasking. The steel frame is also quite sharp and tends to dig into the palms during prolonged use. It does render some discomfort while using, but not something that drastically impacts the ergonomics.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco looks a lot like a pebble. Its shiny and has a shimmer thanks to the ceramic-like finish. However, that also makes the panel at the back a smudge magnet. Truth be told, slapping a case at the back of this phone should be a criminal offence. But the glass back does need the additional protection. Theres Gorilla Glass 5 both on the front and the back that promises durability, but history is not on its side. Nevertheless, even though it would be a disservice to put the Nokia 8 Sirocco in a case, it is necessary. In fact, the box comes with a TPU clear case that at least prevents smudges on the phone.

The added weight because of the stainless steel frame adds to the premium feel of the phone. The camera bump is also quite prominent and you cant keep the phone flat on the surface. Because of the camera bump though, its easier to find the fingerprint sensor at the back which is quite responsive. The phone is also IP67 water and dust resistant and the glass panel at the back facilitates wireless charging.

The materials used, the finish, and the feel of the Nokia 8 Sirocco in the hands certainly makes it one of the best-designed phones out there, but the fact that it bucks the latest trends might not bode well with most users. Especially for the price and considering that it runs on hardware thats a year old now, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is looking at stiff competition from this year's flagships. Nevertheless, the premium feel is what HMD hopes will draw buyers to the phone.

Display

Compared to last years Nokia 8, the refreshed offering has even smaller bezels on the top and the bottom while the sides are essentially bezel-less. This means that the screen takes up most of, the real estate up front. The display has the traditional 16:9 aspect ratio and curves to meet the edges like the Galaxy S7 Edge and the Blackberry Priv. Being used to seeing the taller 18:9 display, the wider and smaller panel on the Nokia 8 Sirocco felt almost like going back in time. But thanks to the 5.5-inch screen size, the aspect ratio more or less works for the phone.

The panel type on the Nokia 8 Sirocco is P-OLED, like the Pixel 2 XL and has quad HD resolution. However, it has the same issues that plague the Pixel 2 XL. For instance, theres a blue tint when you tilt the display slightly. Its more evident when youre viewing something on a white background, like Gmail. The curves also distort content at the edges. Viewing photos and videos tends to be problematic as the parts of the image or the video around the edges tapers from the sides. The curved edges also quite inept at palm rejection. The Galaxy S9, which has a similarly curved screen has algorithms to detect the palms coming in the way and blocks the input from the edges. Thats not there in the Nokia 8 Sirocco and I often had accidental touches because the palms touched the edges. All that is an indication that even though the curved edges look futuristic, the implementation needs more work. However, thanks to the extra pixels in the display, text and the interface, in general, look rich and vibrant. The peak brightness of the panel on the Nokia 8 Sirocco is quite high and I had no problem in using the phone outdoors. Since this is an AMOLED panel, the blacks are quite deep and colours tend to pop out. If not for the distortion around the edges, this would have been one of the best displays in the class of compact phones.

Performance

The Nokia 8 Sirocco may have received some superficial upgrades from last years Nokia 8, the underlying hardware is in some ways still the same, which means the performance of the phone is also expected to be on last years standards. The 8 Sirocco is powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage. Theres an added option to expand the storage via a microSD card as well. The fact this phone runs on older hardware might be an indication that Nokia plans to launch a full-fledged flagship later this year and the 8 Sirocco is indeed a special edition to showcase its craftsmanship.

The older hardware expectedly performs poorer than other 2018 flagships on synthetic benchmarks. On AnTuTu 7.0, the Nokia 8 Sirocco notched up a score of 150130 which is definitely much lower than the Samsung Galaxy S9, which scores 248535. It also couldn't beat the Pixel 2 XL. On Geekbench Single Core and Multi-Core tests, the Nokia 8 Sirocco scored 1938 and 6660 respectively, again in line with last years flagships.

In real world usage, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is quite a performer. All the apps I tested on the phone performed perfectly fine. Games like the PubG Mobile ran smoothly with no frame drops (although the smaller screen did take some time to get used to). I used the phone to type out an article and I particularly liked the typing experience. The haptic feedback is quite close to phones like the iPhone 8. Furthermore, the phone can also do some heavy lifting in the form of transferring around 15GB of files from an USB OTG pendrive to the internal storage qutie fast.This only goes on to show that synthetic benchmarks are only one half of a story.

This makes me wonder about the philosophy of the company. Last years lineup of Nokia phones weren't really powerful either, as far as the spec-sheet was concerned, but they did perform as advertised  Snappy and reliable. The company, which is just a year old, might be optimising software and older hardware to deliver buttery-smooth performance. A part of that smooth performance could also be due to the fact that the company relies on pure, stock Android. In fact, the Nokia 8 Sirocco is Android One certified, and over my period of use, I already received the April 2018 security patch. Nokia has done good on its promise of pushing out regular updates. The older Nokia phones that came out with Android Nougat are all updated to the latest version of Android Oreo. Android One also promises two years of version upgrades which means the phone will not become outdated in just a year.

Camera

Cameras can be the defining point for a smartphone's failure or success, and the ones at the back of the Nokia 8 Sirocco are just about average. They don't do much to convince buyers to look beyond phones like the Pixel 2 or the Galaxy S9 which are a tad more expensive. The Nokia 8 Sirocco touts dual cameras by Zeiss optics, but the iconic lens maker doesnt instil much confidence as the sensor on the Nokia 8 Sirocco is exactly the same as that of the Nokia 7 Plus. Now, the imaging prowess of the 7 Plus isnt exactly bad for the price its offered at, but for double that price, one would definitely expect more from the 8 Sirocco. Nevertheless, there are dual sensors at the back. The primary 13-megapixel lens has a f/1.7 aperture while the other 12-megapixel sensor has a f/2.6 aperture and acts as the zoom lens. Things like OIS are lacking from the phone which was there on the Nokia 8 last year.

Whats new is that the 8 Sirocco now uses the Nokia Pro camera app which makes taking photos really easy. Everything is easy to access. A swipe up from the bottom brings up the pro mode where you can tweak the exposure, white balance and the likes, while on top you can toggle the bothie feature on or off or go live straight from the app. You also get 2X optical zoom on the phone.

Photos shot during the day in well-lit situations from the Nokia 8 exhibit good colour reproduction and adequate dynamic range and contrast. In the daylight, the photos retain a good amount of details and sharpness. Although I did notice some highlight clipping when the light is a little too harsh.

Closeup shots also come out quite decent, with the extra zoom helping in getting even closer to capture detail. Theres a little oversaturation though especially when you are taking photos of trees and leaves.

Under lowlight though, the camera fails to live up to the competition. Unless you have a steady hand or use a tripod, photos are likely to come out blurred and lack details. The low light performance is where phones like Pixel 2 and Galaxy S9 score higher. Dingy pubs with poor lighting where most millennials hang out in the evening will not be captured well by 8 Sirocco which is a reason compelling enough to not recommend the phone, despite its premium design.

Battery

The Nokia 8 Sirocco is powered by a 3260mAh battery. If you compare with the Galaxy S9 or the Huawei P20 Pro, thats much lesser. But dont get fooled by the battery capacity because the 8 Sirocco is quite capable of lasting well over a day of use, and then some. It outlasted the Galaxy S9 easily. The phones standby time is also one of the highest I have seen. Leave the phone idle for over a week and you will still have more than enough battery to last half a day. Thats partly because of the optimisations Nokia has done to the hardware and mostly because of the stock Android interface that does not tax the processor much.

The phone also supports Qualcomms Fast Charging and refuel the tank in just about an hour. Plus theres wireless charging that also makes it easier to charge the phone. Simply plonk it on the pad and leave it and it charges quite fast. It may not be as fast as wired charging, but the convenience is something worth getting used to.

Bottomline

The Nokia 8 Sirocco is defintely a good looking phone. It's Nokia's best by far. The stainless steel body makes the phone look distinctly different from the rest of the crop and the black ceramic finish is defintely classy. The compact size also works for those who are always on the move. As a result, this is the businessman's phone of choice. However, if you are the sort of person that uses the phone as the primary device to take photos, or play games, there are better options out there. The underwhelming camera and the aged hardware makes it diffcult to reccomend the phone over the likes of the Pixel 2 or the OnePlus 6.
Blast at Indian restaurant in Canada's Ontario injures 15

At least 15 people were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga city in Canada's Ontario province on Thursday night, police said.

A search operation has been launched for two male suspects who detonated the device inside the restaurant and fled the scene after the blast, reports CBC Canada.

The restaurant is located in the area of Hurontario Street and Eglinton Avenue East. The blast took place at around 10.30 p.m.

According to initial reports, two bombers were behind the blast which injured 15 people, three of whom are in a critical condition.

Reports said that emergency crew responded to calls in Mississauga at around 10.32 pm local time. The area where the blast occurred is between the Hurontario Street and Eglinton Avenue of Ontario.

Mississauga has a large immigrant population and is especially popular destination for Indian immigrants.

Reports quoted the Peel Regional Police which confirmed that two people set off an "improvised explosive device" in the restaurant before fleeing the scene. "The police released a photo of the suspects, describing them as male, wearing dark sweatshirts with hoods pulled up and their faces covered," The New York Times reported.

According to a report in the paper, "Peel Paramedics, a local ambulance service, said it was on scene with multiple patients at an explosion in Mississauga." Three people had critical blast injuries, the service said, while the rest suffered minor injuries.

Indias minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj tweeted from her official handle and said, "There is a blast in Indian restaurant Bombay Bhel in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I am in constant touch with our Consul General in Toronto and Indian High Commissioner in Canada. Our missions will work round the clock. The Emergency number is : +1-647-668-4108. Please RT."

The Plaza area around the restaurant has been sealed, The Express quoted the police as saying. Multiple patients were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries.

The blast comes months after the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians and killed 10 people in Toronto and injured 14 more. The suspect in that attack, Alek Minassian, intentionally struck the victims in what was likely to count as Canada's deadliest vehicular assault, the police said.
South Korea shocked as US abandons talks with North Korea

US President Donald Trumps decision to cancel next months summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un came as shock to South Korean officials, who only days ago were publicly predicting a 99.9 per cent chance the meeting would proceed as scheduled.

Trump who boasted of his eligibility for the Nobel Peace Prize for a new approach that aimed to put him at a table with North Koreas leader, Kim Jong Un, to negotiate denuclearisation, decided to call it quits, saying the North Korean leader is still not ready for talks.

Now that the planned meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, scheduled for 12 June in Singapore, has been called off, capping months-long engagement with nuclear-armed Pyongyang, Trump can claim no victory in his foreign policy initiative.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in presided over a meeting of the National Security Council at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, today to assess the situation after a failed mediation between North Korea and the United States.

Trumps decision to call off the talks comes as big blow to Washington as the US has apparently failed to give its allies in Seoul any clue about his announcement.

Speaking at a White House event, the president refused to acknowledge it as a setback for Washington, but said the cancellation was a setback for North Korea and the world.

For former New York businessman Trump, who prides himself on his ability to make deals with his unconventional style, this is the second backtracking after he pulled off from the Iran nuclear deal.

Trump also aggravated trade disputes with trade partners with trade tariffs on steel and aluminum, without gaining anything with the biggest US trade partner China.

Its obviously a setback (for Trump.) Whether its a blow is another matter altogether, said William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a political analyst.

Some experts said the cancelled meeting might add to scepticism in Washington that Moon might have misled Trump on North Koreas willingness to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, although US officials have held at least two face-to-face meetings with Kim in recent weeks.

For South Koreas Moon who returned from a trip to Washington to convince Trump to proceed with the summit, the about-turn also signalled fresh friction between the North and the South that had vowed end to hostility.

It is also possible that there has been a big difference between what South Koreans told Washington about North Koreas denuclearisation move and what the US officials actually found when they met the North Koreans, says a professor in North Korea studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.
US boots China out of RIMPAC defence exercise; India still in

The United States has withdrawn an invitation to China to participate in the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise, the Pentagon announced, citing Beijing's "destabilising behaviour" in the South China Sea and signalling fresh strain in bilateral ties.

As an initial response to Chinas continued militarisation of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific exercises, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Held every two years and based in Hawaii, the Rim of the Pacific exercise (RIMPAC) involves more than 20 countries from across the world, including Australia, India, Japan and the United Kingdom.

The exercise was established in 1971 by the US, Australia and Canada and has included the armed forces of nations including China. This year, Brazil, Sri Lanka and Vietnam are to take part in the biennial exercises that unfold near the Hawaiian Islands and off the coast of California.

The decision to withdraw the invitation to the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) this summer was made by US Defense Secretary James Mattis in coordination with the White House, according to a US official, after Beijing's recent deployment of missile systems and the first landing of a Chinese strategic bomber on an island in the South China Sea.

Asserting that the US is committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific, the Pentagon said China's continued militarisation of disputed features in the South China Sea only serve to raise tensions and "destabilise" the region.

We have strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems, and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea, Logan said in the Pentagon statement. Chinas landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island has also raised tensions.

"While China has maintained that the construction of the islands is to ensure safety at sea, navigation assistance, search and rescue, fisheries protection and other non-military functions, the placement of these weapon systems is only for military use," he said.

Chinas continued militarisation of disputed features in the South China Sea only serve to raise tensions and destabilize the region.

China, which claims much of the South China Sea, one of the worlds busiest shipping routes, has bolstered its military presence by building artificial outposts on reefs. That has led to fears of armed conflict.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims which have also been rejected in international arbitration. The strategic South China Sea is rich in energy reserves, fishery resources and is a busy shipping route.

Last year, China warned an American warship, the guided-missile destroyer Dewey, to leave waters it claims in the South China Sea. The Chinese had built an airfield on a reef in the area.

Chinas foreign minister, Wang Yi, who was visiting Washington, told reporters at the State Department that we hope the US will change such a negative mindset.

Wang, who had been meeting with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, added, Both China and the US are big countries, and were well-positioned to have greater cooperation at sea.

Asked about the dispute, Pompeo said, State Councilor Wang and I spoke about it. He added that weve expressed consistent concern about militarisation in the South China Sea, and I will leave it to our militaries to talk about their efforts together.

The Pentagon called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarisation of the disputed South China Sea features.

"We believe these recent deployments and the continued militarisation of these features is a violation of the promise that President Xi made to the United States and the World not to militarise the Spratly Islands," Logan said.

On the militarisation in the South China Sea, Wang said, "China is only building civilian and some necessary defense facilities on its own islands.

"That is the right to self-defence and preservation of every sovereign state. It is a normal deployment and has nothing to do with militarisation, just like the US has military presence in Hawaii, in Guam."

China said last week that it landed long-range bombers for the first time on an island in the South China Sea, the latest in a series of manoeuvres putting Beijing at odds with its neighbours and Washington over China's growing military presence around disputed islands.
PNB moves US court against 'rigging' of Firestar bankruptcy auction

Scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) has reportedly moved a New York court seeking appointment of Chapter 11 trustee in order to safeguard assets and provide transparency and access to information in the sale of assets of bankrupt Nirav Modi firm Firestar Diamonds.

PNB, defrauded by diamond merchant Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi to the tune of over Rs14,000 crore, moved a motion in the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York on 23 May alleging that Modi and his team may engineer a fraud in the auction sale of Firestar Diamonds.

The bank has sought the appointment of a trustee to serve as a responsible fiduciary who can oversee a sales process not tainted by the Modi fraud.

The move follows the US Bankruptcy court ordering a probe into Nirav Modis ties with Firestar Diamond.

PNBs latest motion seeking appointment of a Chapter 11 trustee, if granted, would clearly indicate underlying issues in the manner in which Nirav Modis companies  Firestar Diamond Inc, A Jaffe Inc and Fantasy Inc  filed for bankruptcy in the US.

PNB also claimed that before filing bankruptcy petition, Modis right hand man Mihir Bhansali was in touch with the fugitive diamantaire. Bhansali also spoke to Modi after one of his company's (A Jaffe) auction process was completed on 3 May 2018. PNB fears foul play in totally rigging the auction process to allegedly favour a company, Parag Diamonds, considered to be close to Modi.

Parag Diamonds, a New York-based company, is owned by Panna Jain and his wife Rajni Jain. Subsequently, Panna and Rajni Jain formed a company Paramount LLC in Delaware, USA to facilitate Asset Purchase Agreement (APA).

On 11 May 2018, Modis A Jaffe Inc and Paramount entered into an APA agreement for the purchase and sale of substantially all of the A Jaffe Inc assets.

Jain, however, claimed that none of Parag Diamonds and Paramounts owners or employees are connected or related to Modis companies. He also claimed that none of the directors had direct or indirect communication with the fugitive diamantaire or his associates and that Modi or his aides did not negotiate the auction in any way.

PNB, however, suspects foul play. In a submission to the US court on 23 May, the PNB attorney said, It was only through cross-examination of the Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) by counsel for PNB that this Court learned of the communications between Mihir Bhansali and Modi, the communications between management and potential bidders relating to their future employment and the possible connection between family members of Modi and Mr Jain's family.

The motion moved by the attorneys for PNB said the debtors (Nirav Modis company and affiliates - Firestar Diamond, Inc, Fantasy, Inc and A Jaffe Inc - all based in the US) and existing management have failed to take any serious steps to ensure that those involved in fraud and other wrongful conduct were not involved in the sale process, that employees did not engage in discussions with potential bidders that gave rise to obvious conflicts of interests, or that employees ceased their communications with Modi, the indirect majority shareholder of the debtors and a fugitive from justice.

After the Sale Hearing, even more disturbing facts came to light, as the debtors' president, Mihir Bhansali, abruptly resigned to avoid providing information required by the court at the sale hearing and, through his counsel, informed the court that if called to testify he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, PNB attorneys submitted in the court.

Bhansali, a resident of 23 Park Avenue, New York, was one of the directors of Nirav Modi Limited, UK before he was removed on 9 March 2018. He is also listed as an employee of Modi-owned Firestar Diamond USA, which has filed for bankruptcy. He was made president and sole director of the debtors when Firestar Diamond filed petition for bankruptcy, but he abruptly resigned triggering suspicion that Modi and his group was trying to plot some conspiracy.

PNBs attorney has also told the US court that Modi transferred the money garnered through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoU) to other companies abroad. These funds should have been dispersed to the exporter/beneficiary to finance the import of goods into India; however, funds were dispersed to other Modi entities instead of to third-party exporters/suppliers and were not used for bona fide import/export purposes, the submission further stated.

PNB has also revealed to the US court that other funds were used to pay exporters for purported import transactions of semi-precious and precious stones that according to a preliminary analysis are unsupported by any documentation (eg, key documents are missing from Indian customs authority records) and often involve shell companies affiliated with Modi and his associates. PNB suspects that in many instances the proceeds of the fraudulent LOUs were routed back to Modi and the Modi entities without ever being used for the import of semi-precious or precious stones.

PNB's attorneys claimed in the US court that debtors were engaged in frequent business dealing with affiliates like Firestar International Limited, Firestar Diamond International Private Limited and Firestar Diamond FZE, which are prima facie beneficiaries of Modi fraud. These suspect entities allegedly hold more than $7 million in claims against the debtors, which suggests that the Nirav Modis company was engaged in highly suspect transactions with affiliate entities, which could be just round tripping of money.

The debtors also have numerous relationships with exporters and importers associated with Modi and the related fraud. According to the debtors' schedules, the total amount owed to certain suspect exporters and importers is approximately $6.5 million. In fact, A Jaffe's two largest creditors, Pacific Diamonds FZE and Tri Color Gems, are named as the "exporter/beneficiary" on LOUs already identified as fraudulent. These facts, along with other facts disclosed in PNB's prior filings with this court, strongly suggest that the debtors were involved in the Modi fraud, PNB attorneys claimed.

Questions are also being raised about the involvement of another trusted lieutenant of Nirav Modi -- Ajay Gandhi, who is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Fire Star Diamond and till March 9 2018 served as one of the Directors of Nirav Modi Limited UK.

On 23 March, 2018, Modis men filed a motion requesting the US court for the sale of all the assets and a hearing to consider approval of the proposed sale. The auctions for the assets of Firestar and Modis another subsidiary firm Fantasy Inc were later adjourned to a date to be determined.

Requesting the court for appointment of a trustee to oversee the sale process and ensure Nirav Modi does not manipulate it.

This Court, PNB, and other parties in interest should not be forced to worry that every single action taken by the Debtors may be tainted by fraud. The integrity of the US bankruptcy process should not be an open question, PNB submission in the US court said.
After series of adverse reports, Elon Musk joins 'fake news' chorus

In a series of tweets on Wednesday that would be music to the ears of the Donald Trump administration, Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk lashed out at media, following critical coverage of his electric car company Tesla.

The billionaire said "big media companies" only "lay claim to the truth" but instead they publish sugar-coated lies.

Taking aim at reporters, Musk derided their stories as a "disinformation campaign" aimed at harming his business.

He also said he would create a site called Pravda where readers could rate news stories on whether or not they were fake.

Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor and publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda, Musk said.

And he isnt just talking  it is reported that Pravda Corp was certified as a corporation in October.

Problem is journos are under constant pressure to get max clicks and earn advertising dollars or get fired, Musk declared Wednesday afternoon. Tricky situation, as Tesla doesnt advertise, but fossil fuel companies and gas / diesel car companies are among worlds biggest advertisers.

But as The Washington Post points out, that is not the problem at all. Journalists, at least in developed democracies, dont sit down and calculate which stories are likely to draw certain advertisers to their publication or site  the idea is anathema to their mission of objectivity. In fact, the article that has apparently dug the deepest on Tesla factory safety came from the Center for Investigative Reporting, a non-profit.

The real problem, according to most of the media, is that Tesla has faced a number of challenges and adverse reports in recent months, including about missed production goals, questions about the company's financial health, concerns about working conditions at the factory in California's Fremont, where the company makes its cars and tests the safety of their vehicles.

Auto-piloted Tesla cars are crashing; the mass-market Model 3 has big flaws in braking and controls. And Tesla stock has started to tumble. Then theres the burgeoning push for unionisation at Tesla factories, and investigative reporting revealing that some safety hazards have gone ignored and that injuries have been left off the book.

It is all of this coverage that has made Musk mad, and he has taken to Twitter to decry the holier-than-thou hypocrisy of the media.

Taking aim at reporters, Musk derided their stories as a "disinformation campaign" aimed at harming his business. There are clear echoes of President Donald Trump here.

The Verge reporter Andrew J Hawkins responded, "Musk continues his slow transformation into a media-baiting Trump figure screaming irrationally about fake news. Hope it works out for you dude!"

"Thought you'd say that," Musk replied. "Anytime anyone criticizes the media, the media shrieks 'You're just like Trump!' Why do you think he got elected in the first place? Because no one believes you any more. You lost your credibility a long time ago."

The Washington Post explains why a crowd-sourced media rating website like the proposed Pravda wouldnt work: more likely than not, it would attract a particular crowd of mainstream-media sceptics. And even if Musks site did draw in a more diverse possible slate of reviewers, their opinions wouldnt create a reliable metric of accuracy  you cant take people who like and dislike a story and decide its accuracy by dividing the total by two.
Citroen has unveiled its answer to the Mazda CX-5 by launching its new C5 Aircross SUV in Europe this week.

The French marque promises to offer the most comfortable model in its segment, combining clever suspension solutions with a plush cabin loaded with luxury car features.

Key technology for the C5 Aircross includes a suite of 20 driver aids including a 360-degree camera, autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality. Up front, drivers benefit from a 12.3-inch widescreen digital dashboard with customisable layouts, along with a central 8-inch screen loaded up with sat nav, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and wireless charging.

New front seats are available with front heating and massaging systems, while rear accommodation is split into three separate chairs with fore-aft and reclining adjustment.
A Dublin man who was a passenger in a car that had been stolen following a burglary in the Cooley area, had to be subdued after it crashed, by the use of a Taser, Dundalk Circuit Court heard last week.

Michael Tuite (21) of St. Catherines Gate, Parnell Road, Dublin 12 has been jailed for a total of two years, after he pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary at Mullabane, Greenore on November 7th 2016 and further counts including obstruction of a garda and possession of a screwdriver.

The court was told last Tuesday that the occupant of a house in the Willville area had been playing a computer game, when she heard a noise at the front door and when she went to investigate, discovered the bottom of the door had been kicked in.

She then grabbed her keys from the lock and ran to a neighbours home.

A mobile phone and a gold heart-shaped USB stick, were stolen from the property.

The court heard a silver Corolla was taken from a separate address, after the keys were stolen, when entry was gained through a kitchen window. The driver  who was previously sentenced by the court, had failed to stop for members of the Regional Support Unit but he and Michael Tuite were apprehended following a collision.

They resisted arrest by attempting to assault gardai and the accused was detained after he was tasered by members of the R.S.U. The USB stick was recovered from the Corolla, but the defendant denied seeing it before.

The accused had 34 previous convictions including burglary, handling stolen property and the unauthorised taking of a vehicle, but the Defence said all but two of those were from the Childrens Court when her client was 16 and the only two as an adult were for refusing to give his name and being a pedestrian on a motorway.

She added that he had a turbulent upbringing, with both parents active substance abusers.

The court heard he has engaged with educational courses and addiction treatment programmes while in custody.

Judge Michael OShea imposed sentences totalling two years.
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Dundalks Annual Customer Appreciation Day  Super Saturday  returns this June Bank Holiday Saturday with fun events for all, including Art in Action by the Crafty Rock, Craft & Food Market and a Big Prize Giveaway where one lucky winner takes it all!

The fun takes place in Dundalk Town Centre from 11am to 4pm with this years sponsors Dundalk BIDS, Louth County Council, The Crafty Rock, Carlingford Adventure Centre, Bridge Street Studios and An Tain Theatre

Following a successful first year, this years Art in Action by the Crafty Rock take place in Dundalk's An Tain Theatre Building. Focusing on fun craft activities including Jewellery, card making, yarn and fabric crafts, why not bring your budding artist along to join in the fun.

Its not just all about crafts for kids as there will be live demonstrations in pottery & basket weaving taking place in an even bigger Food and Craft Market this year.

This year's Food and Craft Market features delicious treats and unique artworks which something to suit everyone's tastes

Once again entrants of the Primary School Art Competition will be celebrated with the winner announced on Super Saturday. This years top prize will win one student and their entire class an all expenses trip to the Carlingford Adventure Centre.also taking part in Super Saturday as sponsors for the Primary School Art Competition is Bridge Street Studios.

Another feature of this years Super Saturday is a Family Treasure Hunt with the winning team set to receive 100 in Shop Local Vouchers.

Of Course Super Saturday is all about Customer Appreciation and one very lucky Dundalk Shopper will get the opportunity to walk away with vouchers galore in a Winner Takes All Giveaway. Entry to this competition is via participating shops receipts. Sign the receipts and mark them SS 2018 then bring them to Dundalk BIDS and Tourist Office. Entries will be accepted until 11am on Saturday, June 2nd. The lucky winner will be announced via the Dundalk BIDS and Dundalk Super Saturday Facebook Pages.

Another annual feature of Dundalks Super Saturday is the arrival of the Tain March into Dundalk.

To top it all off Town Centre Shops will have a variety of special offers on the day  another way of saying Thank You to valued customers.

Dundalk BIDS Manager Martin McElligott said he is looking forward to Super Saturday.

Dundalks Super Saturday is our way of saying thank you to all our loyal town centre customers who support local businesses throughout the year.

We have come up with a great five hour programme of events for all ages, with plenty of choice to suit all tastes. Well keep our fingers crossed for continued good weather, but we do happily have the options of events undercover in both the Town Hall and our Super Saturday Marquee.

Organising a day like this is a big undertaking and would not be possible without the generous sponsorship of Louth County Council, The Crafty Rock, Carlingford Adventure Centre and Bridge Street Studios and An Tain Theatre.
Sydney based startup, Seaquatix, proves that entrepreneurial inspiration can strike anywhere, anytime  even while snorkeling off the coast of Asia.

Seaquatix is the brainchild of founders Aprille Lim and Max Mabeka who have developed waterproof cases for phones and valuables using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) technology and a patented lock system.

Max and I were holidaying in Asia for about a month. We did a lot of watersports and on one particular occasion, a random tour guide asked if we wanted to go snorkeling. He said the snorkeling spot had crystal clear water and an amazing variety of fish and coral, Ms Lim said.

Curious, we decided to go but felt a little uneasy being on a small wooden boat in the middle of the ocean with complete strangers, and even more unsettling was the idea of leaving our valuables in the boat while we were snorkeling.

We couldnt fully enjoy the underwater experience because we were worried about the safety of our things, or worse, the possibility they would leave us stranded in the middle of the ocean with no way to call for help. So, we took turns snorkeling

When the pair returned to their hotel room, they thought wouldnt it be great if we had an accessory that allowed us to take our phones and essential valuables with us into the water?

So, with an idea and the help of social media, Seaquatix was launched in July 2016.

In our first year, we worked really hard at building our profile and brand. We worked with a lot of influencers and gave away a lot of product for people to use and post about on social media. Although this exercise rarely converted to sales, it did help us build a bank of content we could use to promote the product.

In its first year, Seaquatix, secured a contract with General Pants Group and online retailers such as Wrapped by RedBalloon, HardToFind and The Store by Fairfax.

Partnering with General Pants Group was a dream come true. One night after work I was thinking about all the stores Seaquatix would be perfect for and I compiled a wish list  on top of that list was General Pants.

I had no idea how to get a product stocked in a major retail store, so I went ahead and reached out to the CEO of General Pants group and asked if he would be interested in meeting with us and stocking our product across their stores.To our surprise, he was quick to respond and within a month, Seaquatix secured its first major retail deal with General Pants Group.

Ms Lim said that partnering with such a well-known lifestyle brand allowed them to leverage of the brands credibility, target market, resources and audience reach.

We are really grateful that they took a chance on us and back us as the partnership gave us our own brand credibility in the market.

I guess at the heart of being an entrepreneur is taking huge risks and thinking outside the box. In this case, it paid off.

Despite Ms Lims future aspiration to see Seaquatix really scale through partnerships with more B2B companies, she said one of her toughest decisions was turning down another retail deal.

Since we had great success the first time around with our method of emailing the CEO of the company, we decided to replicate this method across the rest of our retailer wish list.

Funnily enough, the method worked and garnered the same response.

Seaquatix had managed to secure another meeting with a major Australian retailer that could have really propelled the business, but it was not to be.

As our interactions progressed, I realised that this retailer knew it held all the power in the relationship and used it to their advantage. We bent over backwards for this retailer to get the product over the line, but in the end, we decided not to do business with them.

As hard as it was to turn the deal away, it was a really defining moment for Seaquatix and for myself as an entrepreneur. It made me realise how much I believed in our brand and how much I didnt want to compromise the brand just to achieve scale.

Social media has been an extremely successful form of marketing for Seaquatix with the products pitched to millennials who would use their products taking selfies in the ocean, chilling poolside, swimming or boating. However, this year, Seaquatix plans to broaden their target market to include non-water sport activites and those who enjoy the great outdoors.
Sydney deep tech incubator, Cicada Innovations, has been named Top Incubator in the World by global peak industry association for entrepreneurship programs, the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA).

[Related: Now that more capital is available to deep tech startups, they need better access to makerspace: Cicada Innovations CEO]

Finalists were selected from over 2,200 InBIA member incubators, accelerators, and entrepreneurship centres from across the globe, with Cicada Innovations being the only Australian in the running.

Applicants were assessed across economic and social impact-based metrics, including the number of startup entrants and successful exits, jobs created, patents filed, new products and services launched, investment dollars received, value and impact of companies created and depth of collaboration.

In addition to being named the Top Incubator in the World at the InBIA Awards held in Dallas, Texas, Cicada innovations was also shortlisted in the categories of Top Technology Incubator in the World and Top Super Incubator in the World awards. Ahead of the event, the Redfern-based incubator also won InBIAs February 2018 Technology Incubator of the Month.

According to Petra Andren, CEO of Cicada Innovations, the incubator snared the top gong at the InBIA awards by proving a focus on the industries of the future, including taking an innovative, holistic, long-term, and program-driven approach to supporting and growing startups.

This award is strong validation of Cicadas unique program-driven business model, and our position as the home of deep technology in Australia, she told Dynamic Business. It is also serious acknowledgement of the amazing community of entrepreneurs and innovators we house within the incubator  they are truly world-leading!

We would like to thank our shareholder universities  USYD, ANU, UTS, UNSW. Their constant connection with and support of us allows us to gain access to some of Australias best capabilities, talent, and research. This constant flow of science-based innovation and research into the incubator is what allows us to consistently build and nurture businesses with the potential to truly change the world.

We will continue to push the envelope by launching ever-more-specialised accelerator programs in more industry sectors and we will use our shareholder universities to place talent into our companies when they are ready to scale. In this way, Cicada will continue to be a literal embodiment of the governments National Innovation and Science Agenda.

Andren said the primary point of difference at Cicada is its program-driven leadership in deep technologies that are solving some of the worlds greatest challenges, such as food security, climate change, and an aging population.

These innovative technologies need longer time to market, and greater access to domain expertise and STEM talent to scale, she said. This is where Cicadas shareholder universities and its ecosystem of industry partners and local and overseas investors come into play.

Being program-driven and taking a create, validate, and incubate approach allows us to provide longer-term support until our promising startups reach scale-up phase, which can take many years.

We create businesses by sourcing world-changing IP and qualified researchers and tech founders through commercialisation training programs, such as the Medical Device Commercialisation Training Program (MDTCP) for medtech.

We then validate their proof of concept by running businesses through specialised accelerator programs, testing early stage ideas for real-world applications, before considering them for long-term incubation. Our GrowLab accelerator program is an example of one such program that feeds directly into the Cicada incubator.

Once residing inside Cicada, we incubate these businesses through access to specialised infrastructure such as labs, hardware spaces, and cleanrooms. They also receive tailored business support services such as mentorship programs from alumni founder entrepreneurs and domain experts offering free assistance on such matters as legal or IP requirements, networking events, easy access to talent in the form of PhD placement programs, access to highly specialized capabilities from our University shareholders, and much more.

Cicada Innovations is the only incubator in Australia to be classified as a super hub by InBIA, which defines one as a hub that blends several models of entrepreneurial growth into a single location, supporting technology entrepreneurs with a wide range of critical services throughout their entrepreneurial journey until graduation.

Noting that Innovation is doing things differently and doing them better, Alan Kinkel, Australias Chief Scientist, described Cicada Innovations as an innovator amongst incubators. He explained, [Theyre] doing it differently through their programs to attract the best commercialisable ideas, and doing it better by using alumni and industry experts to provide business, legal and financial acumen to the founders to support their validated scientific ideas.


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Building a community around a brand is an important and often-overlooked part of being successful in e-commerce.

"Community solidifies the relationship between your brand and your customer," said e-commerce consultant Ian Rhodes.

"It creates loyalty. Whilst the majority of retail brands are seeking people to buy from them, the community-minded brand invites people to buy into their brand," he told the E-Commerce Times.

What are the best ways to build this community? What kinds of community are most effective? How can they be sustained? We talked with experts in the field to bring you some of the following tips to help you get started in the process of community-building.

1. Invite Customers on Your Journey

The more customers get behind-the-scenes glimpses of your company and hear about stories that make you who you are, the more they'll want to join you.

"Acknowledge that your brand is on a journey," said Rhodes. "Invite your customer to come along for the ride. This will provide purpose to the content you create and share. You'll share the inner workings of your brand -- your brand's perspective and purpose."

2. Make It More About Them Than You

It's easy to forget that the world doesn't revolve around your company -- particularly when you're working to build brand identity and awareness. The fact is, though, if you come across as a pushy salesperson all the time, no one will want to hang out with you.

"The biggest mistakes companies make with engagement are about vanity, narcissism, self-centeredness," said consultant Brian Carter.

"We're talking about smart people who would never walk into a mixer and talk about themselves for 15 minutes straight," he told the E-Commerce Times. "Hopefully, they're smart enough to know that people like people who focus on them -- not on themselves. They ask others about their lives and family and hobbies, and they make a friend."

Similarly, brands must engage customers around their interests and concerns and not always try to sell them something.

"You have to just be with them without selling, sometimes, or you're not building a relationship -- you're just an annoying salesperson, and that's not a likable approach," explained Carter.

"You have to go a level beyond your product into the customer's life and emotions, and live with them and talk about other things, and have faith that this creates a relationship that makes them love you so much that -- of course, they want to buy your products."

3. Create and Foster Online Spaces

Digital spaces are key to creating a sense of community around your brand, allowing customers to meet, talk, share ideas, and interact with you and other customers. Whether they're social media groups or privately branded sites, such spaces can be integral in fostering and nurturing community.

The most effective way to attract a loyal online audience is to "build a welcoming space for all members," said Maxim Schram, CEO of CMNTY.

"A community platform allows customers to share stories, ideas and experiences," he told the E-Commerce Times. "It can be a forum, a chat room, idea contests. Any of these could come in handy."

As customers engage with each other and with your business, they also can provide helpful information about ways to enhance and improve your business.

"By utilizing branded communities, a business can genuinely communicate with their audience and receive useful feedback," said Schram.

4. Be Mobile-Friendly

The best communities form where people already gather, and that increasingly means mobile spaces. As you begin to foster communities, therefore, consider ways to make them mobile-friendly.

"If you want to go a step further, you can adapt your platform to be mobile-friendly," said Schram. "As mobile marketing is getting bigger, the on-the-go audience is increasing. You can use that as an additional gateway. All these channels serve to gather insights and feedback, which in turn can be implemented into broader business strategies."

5. Invite Customers to Share Their Own Content

Communities revolve around sharing photos, videos and experiences, so you'll want to encourage that in the communities you create for your customers.

"As people feel part of something, they will be naturally incentivized to share their own content and imagery that focuses upon your products and your brand," said Rhodes. "These strategies work because they offer openness and transparency. When you make great products, people take ownership and pride from that ownership."

The best communities are ones where customers want to connect and interact. They're there because they want to be there, and your goal is, simply, to hold space for them -- encouraging engagement, communication and sharing.

Vivian Wagner has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. Her main areas of focus are technology, business, CRM, e-commerce, privacy, security, arts, culture and diversity. She has extensive experience reporting on business and technology for a variety of outlets, including The Atlantic, The Establishment and O, The Oprah Magazine. She holds a PhD in English with a specialty in modern American literature and culture. She received a first-place feature reporting award from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. Email Vivian.




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Apple plans to launch a news subscription service within the next year.

The new service will combine features from its recent Texture acquisition and Apple's existing news app, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Texture's technology and its employees will be integrated into the Apple News team, which will build the new service, according to the report. The company will split revenues with publishers.

Apple purchased Texture, which offers access to more than 200 online magazines for US$9.99 a month, in March.

"We're excited Texture will join Apple, along with an impressive catalog of magazines from many of the world's leading publishers," Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, said when the purchase was announced.

"We are committed to quality journalism from trusted sources and allowing magazines to keep producing beautifully designed and engaging stories for users," he added.

Popular Business Model

Apple has had success in the past with subscription acquisitions. It bought Beats Music for $3 billion in 2014. At the time, Beats had fewer than a million subscribers. Now it is part of Apple Music, which has more than 40 million users paying $9.99 a month for the service.

That kind of success will be needed if Apple is to meet its goal of $50 billion in services revenues by 2021, Bloomberg noted.

Subscription services have become a trend in delivering online content, noted Vincent Raynauld, assistant professor in the department of communication studies at Emerson College.

"Subscribers keep coming back, so it's a more stable model than an ad-based business," he told the E-Commerce Times.

With satisfaction declining in news published on social media, Apple may be positioning itself to become a trusted source of online news.

"Fake news is rampant," declared Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies.

"A curated news site that only carries solid journalism that is fact-checked would be of great interest to many Apple customers and others who do not want to deal with fake news," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Solving the Pay Wall Problem

An Apple subscription news service could address a problem encountered by publishers who erect pay walls around their content. They can gain hard core readers as subscribers, but they can lose casual readers who don't read their publication enough to make a subscription worthwhile.

"We are seeing some success by newspapers and other news organizations in charging for digital subscriptions," said Dan Kennedy, author of The Return of the Moguls: How Jeff Bezos and John Henry Are Remaking Newspapers for the Twenty-first Century.

"Your most avid news readers might pay for one, two, maybe three digital subscriptions," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"By paying a subscription fee to Apple, you could get access to more than two or three news organizations," Kennedy said. "There's potential there for something like Apple News becoming a main news source for many people."

Risky Business

With few details about the new Apple service available, questions remain about how it might affect existing publishers, many of whom charge much more than $9.99 a month for their digital subscriptions.

One alternative would be for major news players to offer a subset of their content to Apple.

"They could get a little bit of money from Apple from that, while at the same time trying to persuade people reading their articles to become regular subscribers," Kennedy said.

The risks for publishers who provide content to Apple may outweigh the benefits, noted Greg Sterling, vice president of strategy and insight for the Local Search Association.

"In the best case scenario, Apple news represents incremental revenue," he told the E-Commerce Times. "In the worst, it could cannibalize potential direct subscriptions."

Apple's service might do pay wall publishers a favor by conditioning consumers to pay for content, Sterling reasoned. "On the other hand, it might make people less likely to be tolerant of a myriad of publication pay walls."

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.


Ten families from Fiji, Kenya and countries across Europe who are already suffering the effects of climate change filed a case against the EU Wednesday in a bid to force the body to increase its commitments under the Paris agreement, AFP reported.

The "People's Climate Case," as it is being called, challenges the climate policies of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, saying they will not reduce emissions quickly enough to stop rising temperatures from disrupting the plaintiffs' lives. While an increasing number of communities and individuals have taken fossil fuel companies and governments to court over climate change in recent years, this is the first such case to be brought against the EU as a whole.

The case was brought before the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice by people who "are already being impacted by climate change, already incurring damage ... and they are saying: 'EU, you have to do what you can to protect us because otherwise our damage will be catastrophical,'" Roda Verheyen, the lawyer arguing the case, told AFP.

The EU currently plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, but the plaintiffs say that is not enough. They are asking the EU to strengthen its plan's emissions trading scheme directive, its land use, land use change and forestry regulation and its effort sharing regulation.

The UN calculated that current international commitments under the Paris agreement would still allow for three degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels, despite the agreement's goal of limiting warming to "well below" two degrees. Scientists say a three degree warmer world would lead to even more extreme weather and sea level rise, according to AFP.

"This case is important because it asks the EU to increase its climate ambition to 2030, in order to take a fair share of the burden required to meet the temperature goal of the Paris agreement and to protect the human rights of European citizens," ClientEarth lawyer Sophie Marjanac told The Independent.

According to The Guardian, there is precedent for the success of such an argument. In 2015, a judge at The Hague ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a case brought against the Dutch government asking it to reduce emissions by 25 percent within five years. The Netherlands appealed the case, and the appeal will be heard next week.

The plaintiffs in this case are not seeking any financial compensation, only policy change, and their stories put a human face to the sometimes abstract concept of climate change.

They include members of the indigenous Swedish Sami Youth Association Saminuorra who say that warmer Northern winters are threatening the reindeer that their way of life depends upon.

"If we lose the reindeers, the Sami culture will be lost. Many of the Sami youth want to stay with their families and be reindeer herders, but they cannot see a future. This is mostly due to the threat of climate change. This must be urgently addressed for the safety of our generation and the next generations." Saminuorra Chair Sanna Vannar said, as quoted by The Guardian.

Further south, 72-year-old Provencal lavender farmer Maurice Feschet is also concerned with passing on his livelihood. He said that climate change cost him 44 percent of his harvest within six years.

"My family has been farming here since the 1800s. I am taking this action for my 38-year-old son who lives on the farm. We want him to continue to be able to farm, but it is not going to be easy. There must be more done," he told The Guardian.

According to AFP, Vannar and Feschet are joined by about 30 other plaintiffs, including a Romanian sheep farmer whose herd is threatened by drought , a Portuguese forester who lost all of his trees to wildfires in 2017, residents of a German island threatened by rising sea levels, owners of a diminishing ice-climbing business in the Italian Alps, Fijians concerned with more intense cyclones and coral bleaching and a Kenyan family coping with desertification.
By Jason Mark

Can any one group of actors be held responsible for the damages caused by global climate change?

That was the central question argued in federal court on Thursday as attorneys representing San Francisco and Oakland tried to beat back efforts by ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell to have a judge throw out a potentially groundbreaking climate change related lawsuit.

The nearly three-hour hearing was the latest round in a burgeoning effort by cities and counties nationwide to hold major fossil fuel producers accountable for climate change-related damages. Last year, seven California cities and counties sued the oil majors, claiming that their production and sale of fossil fuelseven as they were aware of the risks of CO2 emissionsconstitute a public nuisance. Since then, similar suits have been filed by New York City; Boulder and two Colorado counties; and King County, Washington, home to the city of Seattle. (For more, see SIERRA's May/June cover story, "The Case for Climate Reparations.")

Thursday's hearing represented the first major test of such lawsuits as Judge William Alsup considered whether the Oakland and San Francisco complaint should move forward. The defendants challenged the lawsuit on a broad range of grounds, forcing Judge Alsup, a Clinton-appointee known for being an idiosyncratic jurist, to say at one point, "There are a lot of arguments here. As soon as I focus on one, you run off to another one."

The defendants' arguments for dismissing the suit centered on two main questions: whether the Federal District Court for Northern California is an appropriate jurisdiction to decide the case, and, of larger concern, whether the lawsuits might be displaced by existing federal laws and policies.

Arguments hinged on a welter of legal terms such as "general jurisdiction" versus "personal jurisdiction" versus "specific jurisdiction," while also touching on the distinctions between a holding company and an operating company. (Lawyers for Royal Dutch Shell maintained that the Netherlands-based multinational corporation is a holding company, and therefore has no agents in California.) In the course of the arguments it became clear that the very scale of the contested issueglobal climate changefurther complicates the questions of jurisdiction. The defendants argued that it's hard, if not impossible, to establish direct causation for a specific harm when the source of that harm is billions of people burning fossil fuels worldwide.

"[The plaintiffs] have decided that they do not want to and cannot disaggregate the conduct that leads to their harm," Jaren Janghorbani, an attorney representing ExxonMobil, said. "They cannot attribute any of the harm they are alleging to the company's activities in California."

Jonathan Hughes, a lawyer representing BP, echoed that point. "The amount [of CO2 emissions from its California operations] that could be attributed to BP would be a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent. And under the but-for argument, if BP hadn't produced any fossil fuels, would they have still suffered an injury? The answer is yes. We are talking about a speck in the ocean."

In response, Benjamin Krass, a lawyer representing San Francisco and Oakland, said the oil company attorneys were "muddying up" the but-for argumentthe principle of tort law that establishes liability. "The end result of the defendants' argument is that a company that does business everywhere should be held accountable nowhere."

In the end, Judge Alsup said he didn't have enough information to make a decision on the jurisdiction question. He gave both sides at least 60 days for a discovery process and depositions to establish whether each of the defendants has sufficient business operations in California for the two California cities to claim injury.

That left Chevron, the only defendant headquartered in California, to argue for dismissal based on the merits of the case. Chevron attorney Theodore Boutrous, Jr. began by saying that the cities' claims stretch federal common law and that "the plaintiffs are asking this court to throw caution to the wind." Boutrous went on to argue that a complex issue like climate change "should be committed to those who write the laws rather than those who interpret them." And Congress, Boutrous argued, has again and again passed laws in favor of fossil fuel production. "Congress has made clear that energy production is not a public nuisance; it is a public necessity."

As a rebuttal, Steve Berman, the lead counsel for the two cities, argued that the cities' complaints are not nearly as novel as the defendants make it seembut instead merely the application of ancient laws to contemporary circumstances. "The law of nuisance has been around forever, and it has responded to changes in mankind. What we are doing is applying hundreds of years of law to a new situation." Berman later said, "We allege that this was a deliberate nuisance, based on phony science."

The San Francisco and Oakland case has generated a great deal of attention among legal scholars and climate change activists. In March, Judge Alsup held an unusual "climate science tutorial" as a preliminary step in the casean event that attracted so big a crowd, the court had to reserve an overflow room. The case has also become a proxy battle of sorts. Fifteen states with Republican attorneys generalincluding Indiana, Colorado, Kansas and Louisianafiled an amicus brief in support of the oil corporations' position. Meanwhile, California, New Jersey and Washington filed their own brief backing the cities' arguments.

The federal government has also weighed in. Two weeks ago the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief supporting the five oil companies, and on Thursday, Eric Grant, a deputy assistant attorney general, was given time to express the federal government's opposition to the San Francisco and Oakland suits. "It is upon Congress, not the courts, to prescribe policy in areas of special interest," Grant said. "As this court knows, in respect to domestic emissions, the kind of national policy-making sought by plaintiffs is inappropriate  [Climate change] is a complex issue involving trade-offs affecting a nation of more than 300 million people. Individual federal district courts lack the competence to undertake that task."

The federal government's arguments appeared to give Judge Alsup pause, even as he continued to express exasperation with the legal maneuverings of some of the defendants. "There is no court in the history of the universe that has extended this [federal common law] to global warming," the judge said. "The United States is pointing to Supreme Court language that judges like me have to move slowly  There's no doubt there will be some sea rise. But will it be in 75 years or 25 years? We don't know."

To which Berman, the plaintiff's attorney, responded, "That's what the trial is for. Today we're talking about a motion to dismiss."

Whether the case will ever make it to a trial is, of course, now in the hands of Judge Alsup.

Reposted with permission from our media associate SIERRA magazine.


McDonald's shareholders rejected a proposal to take the first step in banning plastic straws at its 36,000 outlets worldwide.

The proposal, published in an SEC filing in April, would have required the fast food giant to prepare a report on the business risks of using plastic straws, and the company's efforts to develop and implement more sustainable alternatives in its restaurants.

"We believe our company has an opportunity to improve its brand by demonstrating leadership in the elimination of plastic straws," the proposal states.

Despite vigorous campaigning from environmental activists, the proposal received only 7.65 percent of the vote at Thursday's annual meeting, USA TODAY reported.

The result was not surprising. The shareholders followed a recommendation from the chain's board of directors, who said the proposal would divert resources from their other environmental initiatives, such as a pledge made in January to source all packaging from renewable or recycled sources by 2025.

"[T]he requested report is unnecessary, redundant to our current practices and initiatives, and has the potential for a diversion of resources with no corresponding benefit to the company, our customers, and our shareholders, particularly in light of our ongoing packaging sustainability efforts," stated materials shared with shareholders before the meeting, the Mercury News reported.

McDonald's distributes 95 million plastic straws around the world every day, according to the consumer advocacy group SumOfUs, which backed the proposal.



A SumOfUs online petition urging the company to ban plastic straws has gathered more than 480,000 signatures.

"McDonald's uses millions of plastic straws every single day. Used for just a few seconds, then thrown away, many end up polluting our oceans," the petition reads. "If we can get McDonald's to ditch its dirty habit we can stop millions of plastic straws clogging up our oceans and killing the animals that live in them."

McDonald's might not be ready to take this step, but many businesses, municipalities and governments around the world are taking steps to reduce single-use plastics.

Earlier this week, Alaska Airlines announced it will stop distributing single-use plastic stirring straws and citrus picks in its lounges and on its domestic and international flights. On Wednesday, New York City Council introduced a bill to ban the use of plastic straws in the city.

In March, McDonald's said it would phase out single-use plastic straws in its UK restaurants.
Sixty-eight National Parks along the coastal U.S. could be in danger from devastating oil spills if President Donald Trump's plan to open 90 percent of coastal waters to offshore oil drilling goes through, a report released Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Parks Conservation Association found.

The report, SpOILed Parks: The threat to our coastal national parks from expanded offshore drilling, summarizes the danger drilling poses to parks that saw 84 million visitors in 2017, supported 59 thousand jobs and earned $5.7 billion. Parks threatened include iconic pieces of American culture and landscape, from the Statue of Liberty National Monument to the Everglades National Park to Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

"These places matter, and we cannot completely protect them if we start to drill off our coasts," senior vice president of conservation programs for the National Parks Conservation Association Mark Wenzler told The San Francisco Chronicle.

Expanded drilling threatens six national sites in the Bay Area alone.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced the expanded drilling plans in January in response to an executive order by Trump ordering the rethinking of drilling bans implemented by former President Barack Obama, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. According to the new report, Zinke's plan would lease federal waters for oil and gas drilling and allow drilling in waters where it hadn't been allowed for decades, including areas off the coasts of Alaska and Florida and in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

"It may be stating the obvious to some," Franz Matzner, director of federal affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The San Francisco Chronicle of the report, "but it may not be obvious to the Trump administration, which is barreling ahead with a plan that is unprecedented."

To provide a sense of what is at stake, the report reviews how historic oil spills have devastated parks in the past. In 1969, an oil rig spilled 200,000 gallons into the Santa Barbara Channel in California, killing thousands of seabirds and marine mammals in the Channel Islands National Park.

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound affected Kenai Fjords National Park, Katmai National Park and Preserve and Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve. Oil washes up on park beaches to this day.

Finally, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill harmed every island in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, where plants, wildlife and archeaological sites are still recovering.

All of these parks would be in danger again if Trump and Zinke's drilling proposal goes ahead.

According to the NRDC blog post announcing the report, more than 1.3 million Americans have sent comments opposing the plan to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Ben Lecomte, the first man to swim across the Atlantic in 1998, will attempt another grueling, history-making ocean crossing.

On Tuesday, the 50-year-old Frenchman and his crew will set out from Tokyo for a 5,500-mile swim across the Pacific, Reuters reported. If all goes as planned, Lecomte will arrive in San Francisco six to eight months later.

The purpose of "The Swim" is not just to break a record. "The mission of my historic swim is to bring to light the current state of our oceans," Lecomte said in a statement, adding that the research he and his team collect "will ultimately help us better protect our oceans."

According to a press release, Lecomte and the crew are collaborating with 27 scientific institutions, including NASA and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Along the trans-Pacific journey, the team will collect more than 1,000 samples to help understand the ocean's state, from mammal migrations to plastic pollution. The route will cut through the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive trash vortex floating off the coast of California.

"I remember my father and he was the one who taught me how to swim in the Atlantic. I remember times when we would go on the beach and walk and never see any plastic. Now, everywhere I go, on the beach I see plastic everywhere," Lecomte told Reuters.

"If we are all aware of it then after it is much easier to take action and to change our behavior because the solution is in our hands. We know what we have to do."

Press handout

Among other endeavors, the team will also collect data on the spread and concentration of radioactive seepage from Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. The effort will also help medical researchers gain insight about endurance, the human body in extreme conditions, as well as the effect of low gravity on bones and vision.

Lecomte spent the last four years training for the event. Once in the waters, he will kick and paddle for eight hours a day, covering about 30 miles and burning though 8,000 calories. For the rest of the day, the swimmer will recover and refuel on a sailboat with his support team. Doctors and other specialists on land will monitor his physical condition and provide any required support.

Lecomte partnered with science publisher Seeker.com and Discovery to bring the expedition and its scientific findings to viewers around the world. The journey will be captured in multiple platforms, including live video from the boat, Instagram stories and weekly swim updates. The effort will culminate with a feature-length documentary in 2019.

"Not only are we documenting history, but we will be creating never-before-seen content in real-time from deep in the Pacific. Additionally, Seeker will shed light on key marine conservation issues, with the goal of driving viewers to take action to reverse the negative impact that humans have had on our oceans."

Lecomte's 1998 swim from Cape Cod to France measured 3,700 miles over 73 days. After his incredible feat, he told Oprah Winfrey on her talk show: "When I arrived after swimming the Atlantic, my first words were, 'Never again.' Then a few months after, I said, 'No, I need to go back.' It's something that I need. It's within me. I need to find another challenge and to push myself."
(Photo: Church of Scotland)Imam Sayed Razawi, Director-General of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society, addresses the Church of Scotland General Assembly on May 25, 2018.

A leading Muslim cleric has said the Church of Scotland is a "home" for him as he addressed its annual General Assembly praising the Presbyterian church for fighting Islamophobia during a speech in Edinburgh.

Imam Sayed Razawi, director-general of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society, said those who follow Christianity and Islam represent "different shades of the creator".

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is church's governing body that generally meets each year and is chaired by a moderator who is elected at the start of the Assembly.

The Shia imam made the remarks in an address to the General Assembly in Edinburgh on May 25.

He said friendships lead to hope and the world needs hope because many people live in a state of confusion.

He said that despite living in an age of social media, real dialogue is often lacking.

"As I come here today, I feel at home and feel part of a family," he said. "I feel like a brother."

Most of Scotland's Muslims are members of families who immigrated in the late 20th century, says Wikipedia.

Scotland's Muslims in 2001 represented just 0.9 percent of the population (42,557), with 30,000 in Glasgow. By 2011, the Muslim population had increased to 76,737, accounting for 1.4 percent of Scotland's population.

FAR RIGHT AND FAR LEFT ON THE RISE

The imam said countries across Europe were witnessing the rise of far right and far left movements.

"There is a term I picked up in Sweden known as Liberal Fascism," he noted. "I did not understand what that was but I came to realize that it is intolerance from people who claim to be religious.

"In our strive to be equal, what we are doing is polarizing people."

Razawi said different types of ideological extremism and fundamentalism was "plaguing our world."

Brotherhood is the most powerful position in Islam and that why is it important to extend the hand of friendship, he added.

The Muslim cleric told the gathering, "We will be with you in times of difficulty in the same way over the years you have been with us in times of difficulty.

"The Church of Scotland, for me, has become a home.

"Whenever we have seen the rise of Islamophobia, you have been there to support us and just two days ago I was in Pakistan supporting Christians there.

"We are walking with you shoulder to shoulder - the days have gone just to sit opposite.

"To hold hands under the shadow of God and walk together with God."

The iman told the General Assembly that religious people ultimately "believe in the same reality."

"An absolute being is found in all of us, we are the image of God," he said. "We represent different shades of the creator."
(Photo: WCC / Paul Jeffrey)People pray of all faiths pray at a memorial in Hiroshima, Japan for the victims of the atomic bombing of the city by the United States and its allies in 1945. A delegation of pilgrims from the World Council of Churches was in Hiroshima for the commemoration , and they are building a movement to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Leaders from the Presbyterian Church of Scotland leaders have applauded members of the Scottish Parliament for voting in a debate to end the Trident nuclear weapons program.

His statement came at a time of national debate on the nuclear weapons program used to provide a protective umbrella for the United Kingdom using submarines armed with rockets.

An attack Britain's Armed Forces boss on the leader of the UK's parliament's main opposition Jeremy Corbyn and his antinuclear stance provoked an angry response from the Labour Party head.

The recently-elected Labour leader is a lifelong anti-nuclear campaigner and he hit back at the UK's chief of the defence staff General Nicholas Houghton who said Nov. 7 he would be "worried" if Corbyn became prime minister after he pledged never to press the nuclear button.

Corbyn hit back in a statement: "It is a matter of serious concern that the Chief of the Defence Staff has today intervened directly in issues of political dispute."

The Rev. John Chalmers, the Church of Scotland's Principal Clerk, had said in a Nov. 4 statement a debate at the general assembly in 1982 was a defining moment for the Church of Scotland.

Then the church, "agreed a statement which included a commitment to the Christian vocation of peace-making, opposed the use of nuclear power for war-like purposes and pressed for the immediate cessation of the further manufacture of such armaments."

"The language used then was powerful, describing the level of nuclear force held by the Government as 'absurd and sinful'.

"A year later the General Assembly went further and affirmed its "conviction that nuclear arms, including readiness to use them, are by their nature morally and theologically wrong."

Immediately after the church leaders' latest decision, the Rev. Sally Foster-Fulton, Convener of the Church of Scotland's Church and Society Council, commented.

She said, "We welcome the vote and are encouraged by the fact that the two largest parties in the Scottish Parliament have joined forces to call for Trident renewal plans to be scrapped.

"For over 30 years the Church of Scotland has stated clearly that the ownership, use, or even the threat to use nuclear weapons is morally and ethically abhorrent.

"We have consistently stated that such weapons run counter to the Church's understanding of God who created the world out of love."

Foster-Fulton said the church had a deep concern for each and every person, and their families, who may lose their jobs in the event of Trident being scarpped.

"Everything must be done to support new jobs. However, the first steps must be the cancellation of a weapons system which has no part in a civilised world."

Chalmers noted, "In 1987 the General Assembly received a report on the implications for Christian Theology of the Nuclear Threat to Life; this report is still well worth reading.

"It finishes with a prayer which includes the words, 'Deliver us from the temptation of thinking that your new Earth will come through a nuclear war, or that somehow your people will survive, or that we need do nothing. And deliver us from the evil of believing that there is good in weapons that can destroy all human life.'"
(Image: Barna Group)

Scotland is a divided nation when it comes to Christianity, a new survey has found.

It is a much more secularized country than the United States with just over half of all the people in the country in the United Kingdom describing themselves as Christians.

A survey by the Barna Group found that 51 per cent of the people in Scotland identity as Christians while the rest say they have other half identify with another faith or none.

In another poll the latest Scottish Annual Household Survey suggested that 27.8 per cent of Scots feel they belong to the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland, a drop of 0.6 per cent on the previous year.

The Barna Group's survey, its first outside North America examined if the Christian community can flourish in a post-Christian context.

"Despite levels of secularization that are much higher than in the U.S., the research findings from Scotland will likely strike American readers as familiar," the study found.

It found increasing numbers of non-religious adults, declining church attendance numbers and fewer people engaged with the Bible.

The yearlong research effort was commissioned by the Maclellan Foundation and it examines the current state of the Christian faith in Scotland.

It identifies ministry approaches that seem to be working in this particular post-Christian context.

"While some of the trends revealed in the new report, Transforming Scotland, may paint an uncomfortable picture for church leaders, the research also shows surprising 'countertrends' that refute traditional expectations of secularization, including best practices among growing churches."

The survey finds the cultural trend to identify as Christian is in decline and younger adults are much less apt than older adults to describe themselves as Christian.

"As is also true of Americans, not all Scots who self-identify as Christian are fully engaged with or committed to their faith.

"For many, in fact, the label alone is enough. The power of Christendom's cultural legacy remains strong in Scotland, especially among older adults."

Barna found seven out of 10 self-identified Christians in Scotland are "legacy Christians" who do not believe basic elements of Christian doctrine or express personal faith in Jesus (69 per cent).

The Scottish Annual Household Survey's data indicates almost 1,500,000 people state an affinity to the Church of Scotland, the Edinburgh-based Ekklesia think tank reports.

Scotland has a population of some 5.3 million people.

Responding to the results, Rev. Colin Sinclair, convener of the Mission and Discipleship Council said: "These latest figures represent the challenges facing many established organisations in Scotland, not least the churches.

"Fewer Scots are identifying with the Church, even at a time [when] the Church of Scotland is helping provide care and support for increasing numbers of people across the country, of all faiths and none."
Nearly three monthsand seven school shootingssince President Donald Trump created a commission to seek solutions to school violence, the Cabinet-level panel is being slammed for what critics see as its slack pace, lack of transparency, and limited representation.

Advocates, parents, and educators note that the commission, which is led by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, has met only once since it was set up in the wake of Februarys massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. They say theres been very little outreach to the education community. And they worry that the commission seems to have already made up its mind about where to go on school safety.

It really begs the question of how seriously they are taking this situation, said Myrna Mandalowitz, the director of government relations at the School Social Work Association of America. Its past time for this commission to meet and get the ball rolling.

Besides DeVos, the commission includes Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. It has had one organizational meeting, on March 28. Since the commission was first announced on March 11, there have been seven school shootings resulting in death or injury, according to Education Week tracking of such incidents.

Tentative Timetable

DeVos told lawmakers on the House education committee last weekat a hearing just days after the May 18 high school shooting that left 10 students and educators dead in Santa Fe, Texasthat the commission plans to put out a final report by the end of the year and may also release an interim report before then.

We are looking forward to listening to every interest group, every constituency, particularly teachers, parents, and law enforcement and school leadership that have been close to these situations, DeVos said.

She also noted that she met May 17 with school safety experts and with those personally affected by past school shootings. That meeting was not open to the public or press, but the department later posted it online. Advocates from organizations representing principals, state chiefs, parents, school counselors, and others were invited to attend.

None of the panelists, including those who lost family members in previous school shootings, mentioned the need for boosting gun control, according to the video of the meeting.

Mandalowitz said she was disappointed that social workers were left out of the meeting. And she isnt sure how the commission could offer much advice to schools without an expert or educator as a member.

I dont really understand how you appoint a commission thats four Cabinet members who really are not experts on this topic, she said.

Kelly Vaillancourt Strobach, the director of government relations for the National Association of School Psychologists, also has concerns about the commissions pace. She noted that the Obama administration put out a host of recommendations for programmatic changes and new gun restrictions a little more than a month after the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012, which left 20 children and six educators dead.

Its really discouraging to hear that three months after Parkland, they are still finalizing the agenda, she said. It feels like theres no sense of urgency about this. This is an issue that is on every educators mind and every parents mind.

Limited Input

The National Association of School Psychologists was among the groups attending the May 17 meeting with DeVos, but its representatives were only permitted to listen, not to offer input, Vaillancourt Strobach added.

There were a lot of policy and practice proposals thrown out around the table as part of that listening session, she said. No one was given the opportunity to weigh in or respond.

In fact, she said, the public doesnt have an avenue to share its thoughts other than by emailing the commission at safety@ed.gov, adding, We dont know what they are doing with the information thats being sent there.

That has contributed to the perception that the commission has already made up its mind about what it will recommend, said Amanda Karhuse, the director of advocacy for the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

They seem to have their own idea of who they should be listening to, Karhuse said. The president has already said some things publicly. He has an idea of what he wants the commission to say and what the recommendations should be. And theyre not ones we agree with.

Trump and DeVos, for instance, have said states and districts should consider arming certain teachers in order to deal with school shootingsa proposal NASSP opposes.

Outlining Concerns

NASSP also was among eight groups representing superintendents, state chiefs, school psychologists, social workers, and parents that sent a letter to the department earlier this month outlining their concerns about the lack of outreach. (The letter was sent prior to the Texas school shooting.)

The Education Department said that two top officialsMick Zais, the deputy secretary, and Kent Talbert, a senior aidehad a 45-minute conference call with the National PTA, one of the groups on the letter. Jacki Ball, the director of government relations for the PTA, said there were no specific details provided during that call about when future meetings of the commission and/or listening sessions would be held. And the Council of Chief State School Officers was told the department would be scheduling a meeting with the schools chiefs soon. Zais and Talbert have also met previously with state teachers of the year to discuss the issue.

But Ball said more needs to be done, beyond conversations with individual associations. All of us want to engage in this work, and we want to be partners, she said.
Ambassador Varricchio visits the italian navy frigate class FREMM "Alpino" during her campaign in the United States

2018-05-25

Maeci

Norfolk, Virginia, May 22nd, 2018 Today, the Ambassador of Italy to the United States, Armando Varricchio, visited the Italian Navys class FREMM frigate in Norfolk, on the occasion of her first US campaign. Norfolk, where the US Naval Station and the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) of NATO are headquartered, is the first stop of her US itinerary and will be followed by Baltimore, New York and Boston. Frigate Alpino", built by Fincantieri and delivered to the Italian Navy in 2016, represents the extraordinary combination of technology, innovation and tradition that has always distinguished Italy, its Armed Forces and defense industry. The presence of Alpino in the US and the joint exercises with the US Navy, before arriving in Norfolk, are a tangible demonstration of the strong Italian and American commitment to international security. During the visit on the ship, Ambassador Armando Varricchio recalled the precious contribution of the Italian Navy to the security of our Country and of the International Community, in the framework of numerous missions from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. After the salute to the crew of Alpino, Ambassador Varricchio met the Commander of the US Fleet Forces, Admiral Christopher Grady, and of ACT, General Denis Mercier, underlining the importance of bilateral cooperation between Rome and Washington and within the Alliance to successfully address present and future challenges.
When the American comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi, also known as sea walnut, conquered the Black Sea as a new habitat 35 years ago, the ecosystem there changed sustainably. The economically important anchovy stocks collapsed since the fish had to compete with the jellyfish for food. Against this background, scientists, fisheries associations and environmental authorities were alarmed when, in 2005, the sea walnut also appeared in northern European waters. Although effects similar to those in the Black Sea have not been observed in the Baltic and in the North Sea yet, scientists are still closely monitoring the development - particularly since many questions on invasion pathways are still largely unclear.

A total of 47 scientists from 19 countries have now published the first comprehensive inventory of Mnemiopsis leidyi in European waters in the international journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. With this data, the interdisciplinary team of authors shows that ocean currents as pathways of invasive jellyfish and other drifting organisms in the seas have been significantly underestimated so far. "To explain the invasion of alien species in marine ecosystems, everybody is focused on transport in or on ships. That is important, but does not explain the whole phenomenon", says lead author Dr. Cornelia Jaspers, Biological Oceanographer at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby.

As basis for their study, the participants have collected all reliable data on the occurrence of the American comb jelly in European waters since 1990 - a total of more than 12,000 geo-referenced data points. "Even this inventory is new, because so far there were only regional studies on the distribution", explains Dr. Jaspers.

In cooperation with oceanographers and ocean modelers, the team linked data on the occurrence of Mnemiopsis leidyi to prevailing currents in European waters. The analysis included not only the flow directions and their strength, but also their stability. The models showed that the steady flow pattern of the southern North Sea closely links the region with much of northwestern Europe, including the Norwegian coast and even the Baltic Sea.

Due to this close connection, not only invasive jellyfish but generally non-native species floating in the sea can be spread over long distances within a very short time. "Using the imported sea walnut as example, we were able to show that these species can travel up to 2000 kilometers within three months," says Hans-Harald Hinrichsen, physical Oceanographer at GEOMAR. Species that arrive in ports in the southwestern North Sea, such as Antwerp or Rotterdam, reach Norway and the Baltic Sea very quickly.

To confirm this connection, the authors used a natural experiment. After a very cold winter season in early 2010, the jellyfish disappeared from the Baltic Sea and large parts of northwestern Europe in 2011 and stayed away until 2013. But after the warm winter of 2013/14, a new population of Mnemiopsis established itself in the Baltic very fast. "This new population was of another genotype than the first invaders. Thus, within a short time, a new immigration took place, driven by the prevailing ocean currents," says Dr. Jaspers. Perhaps the new arrivals from the second invasion wave are even better adapted to the local conditions.

Therefore, the authors plead not only to keep an eye on the transport routes across oceans, but also to better investigate the possibilities of spreading within a region. "The study shows that a single gateway, a single port for example, in which ships with invasive species arrive, is enough, to redistribute non-native species across entire regions," she concludes.

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The Czech company Riocath Global developed and patented in collaboration with the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) a world-wide unique technology applicable to tubular medical devices. One of the first clinically significant applications is a new form of urinary catheter. The RIOCATH (Reversal Inside-Out CATHeterisation) design greatly reduces the risk of introducing infection into the body as well as the trauma of sensitive tissues. So far, private investors have invested more than two million euros in the development. Clinical trials will begin by the end of this year and the first product market entry is expected in 2019.

Every day, various types of catheters, probes, tracheal tubes and drains are used by millions of patients around the world, protecting their health and in many cases saving their lives. However, application of tubular devices is also associated with certain risks, such as infection, as well as with considerable discomfort and pain for the patient. Insertion in the human body and use of such device often results in irritation or even damage to soft tissues or mucous membranes and subsequent scarring of the tissue. Another danger resulting from the use of current catheters is the introduction of infection into the patient's body that cannot be fully prevented even if the best sterilization techniques are used. The reason is that as the catheter makes its way through the urethra into the bladder it carries on its surface the microbes from the urethra's tip. Infection then easily spreads into the kidneys and can even be carried by blood to other parts of the body.

"Application of double-skinned RIOCATH catheters will revolutionize patient care in many health care fields. The unique patented mechanism can significantly reduce the risk of infection and damage to tissues in comparison to existing medical devices and makes for a safer and more comfortable use. Unlike old catheters whose casing rubs on the urethra's wall during its insertion, the new technology allows for the catheter to extend by unfolding itself from the inside out, virtually imitating a snail's eye stalk," explains Miroslav Svoboda, MD, the project initiator, co-inventor and CEO of Riocath Global.

The new type of RIOCATH urinary catheter will be of great benefit to a broad spectrum of patients. A significant reduction in the number of infections, mainly of the urinary tract, should contribute significantly to reducing the need for antibiotic treatment. All this will lead to a better, more comfortable patient care and to significant savings in the health care system.

The Riocath Global team has been cooperating with the IOCB Prague and its Development Center since the beginning of the project in 2013. "Dr. Svoboda came up with a revolutionary technical solution and was searching for an institution capable of assisting with the development of a functional prototype," says Prof. Martin Fusek, IOCB Prague Deputy Director. "Although this is not a typical field for the IOCB Prague, our Development Center could provide expertise and was able to help him. We're very pleased that the Institute can assist with such a remarkable invention that has the potential to protect hundreds of thousands of patients from unnecessary infections and other health complications."

The RIOCATH project has raised more than two million euros from private investors. "Upon completion of clinical trials and marketing of the catheter, the estimated value of the company will grow to tens of millions of euros. Apart from urinary catheters, the principle can be used in a number of other applications which are part of the company's development portfolio, in most cases with considerable market and therapeutic potential," commented on the importance of the patented technology Jaromir Zahradka, Ph.D., a member of the Board of directors of Riocath Global responsible for the intellectual property protection, and the CEO of the i&i Prague, a biotech incubator founded at IOCB Prague. "RIOCATH's technical solution is a unique one worldwide as was confirmed by a comprehensive search by the European Patent Office after the application was first filed. So RIOCATH's principle and use will most likely have adequate patent protection throughout the world," concluded Jaromir Zahradka.

During the development of the new type of catheter, a wide range of concepts had been designed and tested at the IOCB Development Center before the final prototype was created. "When you pull back an ordinary latex or silicone tube to make a double layer, you can't pull the outer layer on for more than a few centimeters because of clamping forces and friction. RIOCATH is unique because of the catheter's dynamic character which allows for the layers to move smoothly on one another when the catheter's tip extends," explains co-author of the invention Ing. Vit Pokorny from IOCB Development Center. "Thanks to the excellent collaboration with the Centre of Polymer Systems at Tomas Bata University in Zlin and the contribution of Compuplast and several other partners, we were able to create several concepts of the catheter prototype with different forms of active profile and to choose the optimal solution for the urinary catheter," adds Vit Pokorny.

The RIOCATH solution was already presented to the Czech Society of Hospital Epidemiology and Hygiene and impressed its experts. "The RIOCATH mechanism has a potential to significantly reduce the incidence of catheterization-related infections in hospitals. If clinical tests demonstrate the properties of these products, as shown by preclinical tests so far, this will be undoubtedly a revolutionary step in catheterization. It will enable health professionals to make catheterization more patient-friendly and to more effectively prevent the risk of infections. The potential extension of RIOCATH technology will be of benefit to patients," expressed the opinion of hospital hygienists and epidemiologists Pavel Totusek, MD, Chairman of the Czech Society of Epidemiology and Hygiene.

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RIOCATH principle explained in animation: https://youtu.be/gE-9MCpwopo

Riocath Global, a.s. (http://www.riocath.com) is a successor to Riocath Medical Devices, a.s., which managed and funded the entire development of the catheter. The company was founded by Miroslav Svoboda, MD in 2014, and received in the same year its first funding from private investors to develop his original idea of an "unpacking" catheter. The company has gradually developed several strategic partnerships with significant scientific and development institutions, including the IOCB Prague and its Development Center, Polymer Systems Center at Tomas Bata University in Zlin or Compuplast. After the successful creation of a functional prototype in 2016, the European patent application was filed jointly with IOCB Prague and the company received additional funding from private investors to optimize the prototype for clinical testing, certification, and industrial production. At present, Riocath Global's holding structure is being prepared to facilitate further development of the project with the ambition to enter the global market, especially by providing RIOCATH licensing for multiple human health and veterinary medicine applications. The urinary catheter is the first out of many innovative medical devices to be introduced to the global markets.

The Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences / IOCB Prague (http://www.iocb.cz) is a leading scientific institution in the Czech Republic, recognized internationally. Its primary mission is basic research in the fields of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, organic and material oriented chemistry, chemistry of natural compounds, biochemistry and molecular biology, physical chemistry, theoretical chemistry and analytical chemistry. The Institute has a long tradition and expertise in medicinal chemistry and drug development together with the pharma industry. Antivirals discovered by Antonin Holy and developed further by Gilead Sciences revolutionized the treatment of AIDS and hepatitis B and have significantly improved lives of millions of people around the globe.

The IOCB Development Center is a technological department of the Institute, providing repair and development services in the field of laboratory instruments, special laboratory glassware, computer hardware and software. The Center provides its services to IOCB research groups that need, for example, unique laboratory instruments, but it also cooperates with companies or other institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Among others, the Center created and patented a unique automated device for drug testing in cooperation with Zentiva (Sanofi group).
Hirosi Ooguri, Principal Investigator at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe at the University of Tokyo, and the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics and the Founding director of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at California Institute of Technology, is being awarded the 2018 Hamburg Prize for Theoretical Physics. This is the first year the prize covers all areas of theoretical physics (previously it was given to theorists in quantum information, quantum optics, and quantum many-body systems). With a new endowment established for the prize, the prize money has been increased from 40,000 euros to 100,000 euros, making it one of the most valuable science prizes in Germany.

In honor of the award--presented by the University of Hamburg and the Joachim Herz Foundation--Ooguri's work and related science will be the subject of a three-day symposium that will take place in November 2018 at the University of Hamburg.

"I am pleasantly surprised to learn that I am receiving the Hamburg Prize. I look forward to the Prize Ceremony at the Planetarium and to discussing physics with my colleagues and other researchers during the Symposium at the Hamburg University," says Ooguri.

"The Joachim Herz Stiftung is delighted that awarding the prize to Ooguri honors not only an outstanding theoretical physicist, but a brilliant teacher as well. Ooguri's contributions have enabled significant advances to be made in superstring theory research in recent years," says Dr. Henneke Lutgerath, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Joachim Herz Stiftung.

"We are very much looking forward to discussing our research work with Ooguri in person. We are hoping for stimuli which will be mutually very fruitful for our research in string and quantum field theory," says Professor Volker Schomerus, chair of the jury tasked with awarding the prize, a leading scientist at DESY, and spokesperson of the Wolfgang Pauli Centre.

Ooguri's research focuses on creating new tools for superstring theory--the leading "theory of everything" that combines the laws of quantum physics, which operate at very small scales, with the laws of gravity, which operate at larger scales. In one version of the theory, there are 10 dimensions--the three dimensions of space, one dimension of time, and six other tiny dimensions curled up in a structure known as the Calabi-Yau manifold.

"The six-dimensional Calabi-Yau manifold is not separate from the other four dimensions, in the same way that height is not separate from width," says Ooguri. "But the six dimensions are much smaller. We are working on new theoretical tools to understand those dimensions better."

He is particularly renowned for his work on topological string theory, which has had broad applications ranging from black hole physics to algebraic geometry and knot theory in mathematics.

"It is wonderful news for Kavli IPMU that Hirosi Ooguri was chosen as the first example of the expanded Hamburg Prize with a higher honor. This award is based not only on his accomplishments, but also on the high anticipation for more developments in his research on string theory and quantum field theory. I'm as happy as if I were the awardee," says Hitoshi Murayama, Director of the Kavli IPMU.

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ABOUT HIROSI OOGURI

Hirosi Ooguri is the Fred Kavli Professor of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics and Director of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at California Institute of Technology, and a Principal Investigator at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) at the University of Tokyo. Ooguri received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Tokyo in 1989 and has held academic positions at the University of Tokyo, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the University of Chicago, Kyoto University, and the University of California at Berkeley, before joining California Institute of Technology in 2000. Ooguri became a principal investigator at the Kavli IPMU in 2007. He was named the Founding Director of the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics in 2014, and is also the President of the Aspen Center for Physics. Among his prizes and honors, he is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Simons Investigator, and a recipient of the Eisenbud Prize for Physics and Mathematics from the American Mathematical Society.
Views on human age need to be revisited. The value of adulthood as a period of certainty has declined for many, which means that this period is being delayed. The processes of personality development vary, and adults are preserving signs of infantilism. HSE University experts, Elena Sabelnikova and Natalia Khmeleva, suggest a new way of looking at the phenomenon of infantilism in their paper Infantilism: Theoretical Construct and Operationalization which avoids a 'judgemental' approach.

The traditional life periodization by age 'child - young person - adult' is not quite relevant today. Too many things have changed: the pace of life, approaches to education, social roles and institutions, marriage, and professional identity. People's life courses have become less predictable. The beginning of adult life has changed. Finally, the value of adulthood is being questioned, and infantilism is becoming a common phenomenon.

Delayed Self-identity

From a psychological perspective, adulthood implies self-regulation, emotional maturity (rationality, self-control, lack of impulsivity, etc.), responsibility, ability to self-reflect, and the need to work and have stable relationships. Adults strive for success in their professions and in family life. Some psychologists emphasize the importance of the motives of affiliation and achievement. It is important for a person to define his or her civil and social position, lifestyle, etc.

According to Sabelnikova and Khmeleva, infantile personality, on the contrary, is characterized by immature feelings ('childish' reactions, lack of willpower, lack of confidence), external locus of control (other people are blamed), inflated self-concept, low demands on self (accompanied by high demands on society), and egocentrism. 'An infantile person seeks to escape the need to adequately assess objective social reality', the paper's authors added.

In other words, maturity is associated with successful mastering of the key social roles: professional, spousal, and parental. But more and more people are delaying this choice, and valuing it differently. People are spending more time in search of themselves and are taking longer to get an education and choose a partner. As a result, the process of professional and personal identification is taking longer.

Age Boundaries Are Relative

Demographic data show that the age of separation from the parents' family has shifted from 18-20 in older generations (for example, among Russians born in the 1950s) to 23-25 for those born during the 1980s baby boom.

Almost one-third of the generation born between 1980 and 1986 believe that they rushed into independence too early. 'On the one hand, we can assume that 70% of the younger respondents had made a well thought out decision since they are sure they started off on their own at the right time for them', said demographers Alina Dolgova and Ekaterina Mitrofanova. 'However, a fairly large and growing proportion had apparently taken the decision lightly and later regretted it'.

Periodization of ages has varied in different studies. Adulthood has different names: maturity, personal agency stage, middle age, etc. Some researchers, including American psychologists Grace Craig and Don Baucum, suggest talking about 'early adulthood' between 18 and 40. Other scholars, such as American psychologist Virginia Quinn, define the same period as 'young age'. According to Sabelnikova and Khmeleva, this is the main period of self-realization.

Infantilism Factors

Delaying adulthood is a response to the new reality, many scholars believe. Everything is changing, from the set of competencies and jobs (some of them are disappearing while the others are evolving), to relationships.

A number of new 'ways to live' have been discovered. Alternative models of adulthood have evolved. People's life courses have become unpredictable. For example, people earn a degree, work, and then study again and change their profession. People can leave their parents' home, but then come back and extend their 'childhood'. Meanwhile, the range of life opportunities is too wide, which can be disorienting and make it difficult to make a choice.

Educational choices have an 'unknown expiration date' (due to the unclear future of professions) and, according to psychologist Alexandra Bochaver, cause lack of confidence. As a result, young people tend to become escapist and delay important decisions. Instead of choosing a strategy, they limit themselves to tactical solutions in various spheres of life and delay their final ('adult') choices.

Conditions for socialization have changed. Communication has largely gone online, and is mediated by digital technology and devices: gadgets, mobile apps, social media, messengers, etc. But such contacts are superficial, Sabelnikova and Khmeleva believe. Some studies have shown that when live communication is replaced with digital communication, empathy decreases and 'autistic-like behaviour' grows (self-absorption, escaping reality). This leads to emotional immaturity.

The sociocultural environment has also changed, and traditional roles are being devalued. 'The goal "to be happy" is being replaced with the goal "to be successful"', Sabelnikova and Khmeleva write. 'Many values are getting a "not" prefix: not to get married, not to have children, since the old patriarchal values will be an obstacle for contemporary young people who are willing to become successful by all means'.

With all these powerful changes of environment, infantilization looks like a logical phenomenon.

In addition, some types of activities also impact the coming-of-age process. For example, according to Virginia Quinn, long studies (Master's, doctoral, continuing education) somewhat slow the process of growing up. Such people often live with their parents and are not willing to get a job and earn an income.

Peter Pan, Prince, Eternal Boy

Psychologists have studied the signs of infantilism from various perspectives. Jeffrey Arnett, author of the Emerging Adulthood theory (2000), outlined a special age period from 18 to 25. Young people of this age are no longer teenagers, but they are not adults yet. They are only partly independent, since they usually live with parents. Such young people have a lot of opportunities and few responsibilities. Before choosing a partner or a vocation, they can try different options several times.

Carl Gustav Jung provided a psychoanalytical analysis of this phenomenon. Speaking about the 'eternal boy' archetype (puer aeternus), he meant people avoiding adult responsibility.

Jung's peer Marie-Louise von Franz developed these ideas in her book 'Eternal Boy. Puer Aeternus'. She looked at a particular form of neurosis in such people: a 'provisional life'.

A man suffering this neurosis feels that he doesn't exist yet in real life. In his search for a partner, a job, or a vocation he constantly feels that this is not what he wants. The state of 'provisional life' may linger on: an 'eternal boy' starts avoiding living in the present. As a result, he may acquire addictions, anger attacks, and phobias.

A similar phenomenon is kidults (kid+adult), a term that first appeared in The New York Times in an article by journalist Peter Martin during a burst of arcade machine popularity. Kidults are people who preserve their teenage likings (from video games, anime and fantasy, to a responsibility-free lifestyle) until they are 30-35 and older. Psychologists illustrate this type with such characters as Peter Pan and the Little Prince.

Legitimation of Infantilism

Some scholars argue that adulthood is no longer an unconditional value. For example, a study on attitudes among 5th-graders today revealed that they are not willing to grow up. They associate adulthood not only with independence, but also with a lot of responsibilities. Young adults are in a similar situation. 'The contradictory image of the future... frightens a young person and encourages them to stay 'in childhood', where there were no problems and the life was stable and safe', Sabelnikova and Khmeleva write. It turns out that infantilism in this case is almost a conscious choice.

The researchers believe that infantilism should not be judged. To a certain degree, it can be considered a sign of time diversity in personal development. Lev Vygotsky used to write about similar processes.

'The personality's path to maturity is not homogeneous by type', say Sabelnikov and Khmeleva. Due to time diversity, in infantile people, the emotional and willpower area 'falls behind the general development rates, and intelligence and cognition develop faster than the average in this period'.

'Legitimation' of infantilism can also be related to its assessment as a protective mechanism, a way to overcome the difficulties in life. Nancy McWilliams, a psychoanalyst from the U.S., emphasized that the term 'infantile personality' is disappearing from the official list, which is logical; in modern terms, it's just an alternative life course.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the Simons Foundation, has launched four new centers to bring mathematical perspectives to the biological search for the Rules of Life.

The NSF-Simons Research Centers for Mathematics of Complex Biological Systems will explore how information encoded in DNA results in complex organisms with diverse forms, functions and behaviors when it is manipulated by changing environments across multiple time scales.

Such knowledge may lead to a predictive framework for understanding the pathways that lead from the DNA within a cell to the myriad expressions of an organism in its environment, with applications to agriculture and health.

"Many people think of math as proofs or calculations, but it's so much more," said Juan Meza, director of NSF's Division of Mathematical Sciences. "It's really a powerful tool that helps us study nature. By applying mathematics to the complex processes that underlie biology, we may finally be able to understand exactly how something as seemingly simple as a sequence of genes led to the broad diversity of organisms we see today."

Contingent on the availability of funds, each of the four centers will receive a total of $10 million to support a five-year project. NSF will distribute $20 million in federal funds that will be matched by $20 million provided independently by the Simons Foundation.

"We very much look forward to collaborating with NSF on this major public-private initiative to develop novel mathematical approaches to problems in biology," said Yuri Tschinkel, director for Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the Simons Foundation.

The four centers, selected through NSF's merit review process and an additional review by the Simons Foundation, are headquartered at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Northwestern University and the University of California, Irvine. Researchers will come together annually to share progress in meetings held at the Simons Foundation in New York City.

The centers will build research capacity at the interface between mathematics and biology through cross-disciplinary training of students and postdoctoral associates, outreach activities, and programs of nationwide scope for visiting researchers. Collectively, the centers will produce a new generation of scientists equipped to tackle questions that cannot be answered today.

"The NSF-Simons Centers will enable scientists to understand, in unprecedented clarity, how genes translate into so many diverse phenotypes," said Theresa Good, acting director of NSF's Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences. "This effort will help NSF address one of its 10 Big Ideas, Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype, explaining how the Rules of Life are expressed across many scales of structure and time."

The four centers are:

The NSF-Simons Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology will address how genetic information impacts phenotypic traits. Headquartered at the Georgia Institute of Technology, this center also includes researchers from Clemson University, Duke University, Tulane University, the University of South Florida, the University of Florida and the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

will address how genetic information impacts phenotypic traits. Headquartered at the Georgia Institute of Technology, this center also includes researchers from Clemson University, Duke University, Tulane University, the University of South Florida, the University of Florida and the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The NSF-Simons Center for Mathematical and Statistical Analysis of Biology at Harvard University aims to use mathematics and statistics to accurately predict how organisms respond to changes in their genes and their environments.

at Harvard University aims to use mathematics and statistics to accurately predict how organisms respond to changes in their genes and their environments. The NSF-Simons Center for Quantitative Biology at Northwestern University seeks to integrate hypothesis-driven mathematical modeling, data-driven mathematical analysis, and advanced imaging, genomics, and metabolomics tools to investigate the complex interplay between genetic programming and extrinsic inputs during organismal growth and development.

at Northwestern University seeks to integrate hypothesis-driven mathematical modeling, data-driven mathematical analysis, and advanced imaging, genomics, and metabolomics tools to investigate the complex interplay between genetic programming and extrinsic inputs during organismal growth and development. The NSF-Simons Center for Multiscale Cell Fate Research at the University of California, Irvine, will study what determines cell fate -- the differentiation of cells into specific biological cell types. The center will focus on three themes: cellular complexity and plasticity in skin, stochastic dynamics and migration of neural crest cells, and epigenetic control of stem cell specification. Data-driven and principle-based multiscale models of cell fate will guide experiments, with subsequent feedback to the modeling efforts.

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SAN ANTONIO -- May 23, 2018 -- Southwest Research Institute scientists integrated NASA's New Horizons discoveries with data from ESA's Rosetta mission to develop a new theory about how Pluto may have formed at the edge of our solar system.

"We've developed what we call 'the giant comet' cosmochemical model of Pluto formation," said Dr. Christopher Glein of SwRI's Space Science and Engineering Division. The research is described in a paper published online today in Icarus. At the heart of the research is the nitrogen-rich ice in Sputnik Planitia, a large glacier that forms the left lobe of the bright Tombaugh Regio feature on Pluto's surface. "We found an intriguing consistency between the estimated amount of nitrogen inside the glacier and the amount that would be expected if Pluto was formed by the agglomeration of roughly a billion comets or other Kuiper Belt objects similar in chemical composition to 67P, the comet explored by Rosetta."

In addition to the comet model, scientists also investigated a solar model, with Pluto forming from very cold ices that would have had a chemical composition that more closely matches that of the Sun.

Scientists needed to understand not only the nitrogen present at Pluto now -- in its atmosphere and in glaciers -- but also how much of the volatile element potentially could have leaked out of the atmosphere and into space over the eons. They then needed to reconcile the proportion of carbon monoxide to nitrogen to get a more complete picture. Ultimately, the low abundance of carbon monoxide at Pluto points to burial in surface ices or to destruction from liquid water.

"Our research suggests that Pluto's initial chemical makeup, inherited from cometary building blocks, was chemically modified by liquid water, perhaps even in a subsurface ocean," Glein said. However, the solar model also satisfies some constraints. While the research pointed to some interesting possibilities, many questions remain to be answered.

"This research builds upon the fantastic successes of the New Horizons and Rosetta missions to expand our understanding of the origin and evolution of Pluto," said Glein. "Using chemistry as a detective's tool, we are able to trace certain features we see on Pluto today to formation processes from long ago. This leads to a new appreciation of the richness of Pluto's 'life story,' which we are only starting to grasp."

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The paper, "Primordial N2 provides a cosmochemical explanation for the existence of Sputnik Planitia, Pluto," is coauthored by Glein and Dr. J. Hunter Waite Jr., an SwRI program director.

The research was supported by NASA Rosetta funding. The member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA both contributed to the Rosetta mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) manages the U.S. contribution of the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information, see: https://www.swri.org/planetary-science.
Researchers have identified a type of genetic aberration to be the cause of certain neurodevelopmental disorders and congenital diseases, such as autism and congenital heart disease, which are undetectable by conventional genetic testing.

The discovery that genetic mutations called epivariations are involved in these diseases could lead to more advanced diagnostic tools for many congenital and neurodevelopmental disorders, say researchers from the Department of Genetics and Genomics Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and collaborators from Radboud University Medical Center (The Netherlands), University of Minho (Portugal), and Porto Hospital Center (Portugal). The research team's results were published in May 2018 in Nature Communications.

Epivariations are variations in the DNA molecule that do not affect the basic composition of the DNA molecule, called the DNA sequence, but result in a change in gene function. Because conventional genetic testing analyzes the DNA sequence, diseases that are caused by these epivariations need to be tested for using different mechanisms. The specific epivariation found in this study was caused by excess DNA methylation--when a methyl group, composed of hydrogen and carbon atoms, is attached to a DNA molecule.

"Our study suggests that these epigenetic mutations are a significant contributor to human disease," said Andrew Sharp, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Genetic and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine and lead investigator of the study.

The research team studied the genetic profiles of 489 patients with known neurodevelopmental or congenital disorders, who had all previously undergone genetic testing that identified no DNA mutations. These disorders had long been thought to have genetic origins, so the scientists suspected that even though conventional testing hadn't discovered a genetic cause for them, epivariations in their DNA could be present, resulting in gene dysfunction leading to disease. To assess for epivariations, Sharp's team conducted methylation profiling--determining the DNA methylation within each patient's genome--finding epigenetic mutations that could be the cause of disease in approximately 20 percent of the studied cohort. Furthermore, in analyzing more than 5,000 genome profiles of individuals with no known diagnosis of congenital disease or neurodevelopmental disorder, the team discovered epigenetic mutations to be relatively common, and that they could typically be identified via a blood test.

Standard genetic screening methods, such as whole-genome sequencing, are applied to thousands of human genomes around the world. What's missing, says Dr. Sharp, is epigenomic profiling. "These findings can open up a whole new world in what we know about disease and genetic profiling," Dr. Sharp continued. "Investigating DNA methylation when profiling genomes for disease mutations could help us uncover causative defects in congenital and neurodevelopmental diseases that have eluded us for years."

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About the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is an international leader in medical and scientific training, biomedical research, and patient care. It is the medical school for the Mount Sinai Health System, which includes seven hospital campuses, and has more than 5,000 faculty and nearly 2,000 students, residents and fellows. The School is made up of 36 multidisciplinary research, educational, and clinical institutes and 33 academic departments. It ranks 13th among U.S. medical schools for NIH funding and 2nd in research dollars per principal investigator among U.S. medical schools by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). The School was named 4th among "World's Most Innovative Companies in Data Science" by Fast Company magazine in 2016. For more information, visit http://icahn.mssm.edu

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 7,100 primary and specialty care physicians; 10 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of 3 medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, No. 13 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in four other specialties in the 2017-2018 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked in six out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 12th nationally for Ophthalmology and 50th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
New biotech could reduce time and cost of developing medicine for deadly lung disease

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Developing new medicines to treat pulmonary fibrosis, one of the most common and serious forms of lung disease, is not easy.

One reason: it's difficult to mimic how the disease damages and scars lung tissue over time, often forcing scientists to employ a hodgepodge of time-consuming and costly techniques to assess the effectiveness of potential treatments.

Now, new biotechnology reported in the journal Nature Communications could streamline the drug-testing process.

The innovation relies on the same technology used to print electronic chips, photolithography. Only instead of semiconducting materials, researchers placed upon the chip arrays of thin, pliable lab-grown lung tissues -- in other words, its lung-on-a-chip technology.

"Obviously it's not an entire lung, but the technology can mimic the damaging effects of lung fibrosis. Ultimately, it could change how we test new drugs, making the process quicker and less expensive," says lead author Ruogang Zhao, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University at Buffalo.

The department is a multidisciplinary unit formed by UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

With limited tools for fibrosis study, scientists have struggled to develop medicine to treat the disease. To date, there are only two drugs -- pirfenidone and nintedanib -- approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations that help slow its progress.

However, both drugs treat only one type of lung fibrosis: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. There are more than 200 types of lung fibrosis, according to the American Lung Association, and fibrosis also can affect other vital organs, such as the heart, liver and kidney.

Furthermore, the existing tools do not simulate the progression of lung fibrosis over time -- a drawback that has made the development of medicine challenging and relatively expensive. Zhao's research team, which included past and present students, as well as a University of

Toronto collaborator, created the lung-on-a-chip technology to help address these issues.

Using microlithography, the researchers printed tiny, flexible pillars made of a silicon-based organic polymer. They then placed the tissue, which acts like alveoli (the tiny air sacs in the lungs that allow us to consume oxygen), on top of the pillars.

Researchers induced fibrosis by introducing a protein that causes healthy lung cells to become diseased, leading to the contraction and stiffening of the engineered lung tissue. This mimics the scarring of the lung alveolar tissue in people who suffer from the disease.

The tissue contraction causes the flexible pillars to bend, allowing researchers to calculate the tissue contraction force based on simple mechanical principles.

Researchers tested the system's effectiveness with pirfenidone and nintedanib. While each drug works differently, the system showed the positive results for both, suggesting the lung-on-a-chip technology could be used to test a variety of potential treatments for lung fibrosis.

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The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health; the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB; and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UB.
USTC researchers have shed new lights on the correlation between sunlight exposure and related neurobehaviors. Combining single-cell mass spectrometry isotopic labeling technique, the multi-institutional team led by Prof. XIONG Wei and Prof. HUANG Guangming uncovered a novel sunlight-activated glutamate biosynthetic pathway in the mouse brain. Such pathway may fundamentally contribute to our daily neurobehaviors such as mood, learning and cognition.

The research article entitled "Moderate UV Exposure Enhances Learning and Memory by Promoting a Novel Glutamate Biosynthetic Pathway in the Brain" is published in Cell on May 17th.

According to Professor XIONG Wei from the School of Life Sciences, the ultraviolet (UV) light enhanced learning capacity has been observed on mice. "The mice without UV exposure typically require 6 rounds of training to adapt to the rotating rod," says Professor XIONG Wei, "however for the UV-exposed mice, they become smarter and only require 4 rounds of training."

The mechanism is examined using interdisciplinary techniques. It is revealed that the moderate UV exposure elevates the blood urocanic acid (UCA), which is later converted to glutamate (GLU) in the brain cells. The as-synthesized GLU contributes to the enhanced learning capacity of mice. In addition to learning, such UV-triggered GLU synthesis could contribute to more sunlight-induced neurobehavioral changes such as memory and mood.

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The project is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Major/Innovative Program of Development Foundation of Hefei Center for Physical Science and Technology and the Recruitment Program of Global Experts.
LOGAN, UTAH, USA -- Freeways choked with traffic, supermarkets laden with fertilizer-grown stock from distance fields and virtually everything we touch derived from petroleum-based plastics. It's hard to imagine life beyond our fossil-fueled world. Black gold has brought us unprecedented prosperity, but it's also polluted our environment, perhaps irreparably, and it's in finite supply. Now what?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind. But not in the plaintive, unattainable way Bob Dylan expressed in his famous lyrics. Life-giving nitrogen flows all around us and, according to Utah State University biochemist Lance Seefeldt and other top scientists, it holds the key to sustainability beyond nonrenewable energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences gathered Seefeldt and 16 other experts in nitrogen research in Washington, D.C. for an October 2016 summit to discuss the current field of nitrogen activation chemistry and its future directions. The team reports their conclusions in a review article in the May 25, 2018, issue of the journal Science.

"This gathering was a 'Who's Who' of nitrogen research," says Seefeldt, professor in USU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, an American Academy for the Advancement of Science Fellow and a co-chair of the gathering. "Our group included Nobel Laureate Robert Schrock and the culmination of our efforts is truly a tour de force. No one of us, individually, could have written this report."

All life on earth requires nitrogen and a whopping 80 percent of the planet's atmosphere, in the form of dinitrogen, is comprised of the life-sustaining gas. Yet, neither animals nor plants can access nitrogen directly.

"It's an incredible irony," Seefeldt says. "We need nitrogen to survive and we're swimming in a sea of it, but we can't get to it. Humans and animals get nitrogen from protein in our food. Plants get nitrogen from the soil."

Which is where fossil fuels entered the picture about a century ago. German scientists Franz Haber and Carl Bosch pioneered a revolutionary process to break nitrogen's ultra-strong bonds and enable commercial-scale production of fertilizer, which spurred unprecedented growth of the global food supply and, subsequently, the world's population.

"It was one of history's technological marvels, but it currently consumes about two percent of the world's fossil fuel supply and thus, it's come with a very heavy carbon footprint," Seefeldt says.

What did he and his fellow scientists conclude from their summit? It's time to embark on a new revolution.

"Opportunities exist to achieve radically improved, new and different pathways (to achieve nitrogen transformations)," the scientists write. "But progress in this regard will require a molecular-level understanding of nitrogen transformation reactions, as well as ... discovery of new catalytic systems and alternative means of delivering the energy needed to drive those reactions."

Seefeldt and his USU team, whose research is supported by the DOE, have already pioneered efforts toward a clean and renewable light-driven process for converting nitrogen to ammonia, a primary component of fertilizer.

"Our research on this process, which uses nanomaterials to capture light energy, demonstrates how sunlight or artificial light can power nitrogen fixation," Seefeldt says. "It a potential game-changer."

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Authors of the Science paper, in addition to Seefeldt, are Schrock of MIT; lead author Jingguang Chen, Columbia University; Richard Crooks, the University of Texas at Austin; Kara Bren, University of Rochester; Morris Bullock, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Marcetta Darensbourg, Texas A&M University; Patrick Holland, Yale University; Brian Hoffman and Mercouri Kanatzides, Northwestern University; Michael Janik, Pennsylvania State University; Anne Jones, Arizona State University; Paul King, National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Kyle Lancaster, Cornell University; Sergei Lymar, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Peter Pfromm, Washington State University and William Schneider, University of Notre Dame.
In a move to further strengthen its ecosystem of strategic investments and financial planning, Creativeland Asia Group has appointed Venkat Balasubramanian as the Groups Chief Financial Officer. Bala also serves as the Chief Investment Officer of Ventureland Asia, a new age Venture Capital Fund, affiliated to the Group.



Venkat brings with him over 20 years of extensive experience of working in media, creative, cultural and knowledge industries on several international projects in over 30 countries. With an Economics & Statistics major from Delhi University, and a degree in Law. Balasubramanian is also a postdoctoral fellow of the National University of Singapore in macroeconomics.



An economist with legal and financial acumen, Balasubramanian was a Senior Partner with Centaur Consult, advising businesses on finance, law and business transformation, leading M&As and corporate re-structuring. His diverse experience in the creative industries come from working with the Smithsonian Institution (US), Agenda 21 (UN), Universal Forum of Cultures (Barcelona), The Earth Centre (UK) and Wieden+Kennedy, as CFO.



Balasubramanian has been associated with the group for the last couple of years and has played a pivotal role at Ventureland alongside its CEO Srijib Mallik in structuring its maiden Venture Capital Fund. True to its DNA this SEBI registered AIF brings a paradigm shift to the industry with a partnership of capital and creative expertise to unlock value creation. Bala has been instrumental in structuring various investments at Ventureland including the one in Masala Baby, the New York based international kids clothing label.



On Venkats appointment, Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder & Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia Group, said, When a prudent investment advisor and a finance expert comes on board, it is early signs of the times to come. Through last two years of his consultancy with Ventureland, I have found in Bala, a great partner who understands the ambition Creativeland has for itself. Now, as a key member of my team, I am certain his finance and legal acumen along with his keen sensitivity for the creative culture and his experience of working across various sectors across the globe will play a significant role in chartering a stronger growth trajectory for Creativeland.



On joining Creativeland Asia Group Balasubramanian said, In these interesting times as young Indian businesses are coming of age, its time that creative industries gear up to the challenge. Creativeland Asias ambition and vision to touch lives with creativity is a great starting point to a seemingly simple yet underachieved objective in our country. I am excited to be a part of this journey and look forward to working with Raj and the Creativeland Asia team.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
Americans may be happy getting on with their lives overseas but they have a duty to cast a vote toshape politics back home, or so argues Alexandra Dufresne.

I recently began teaching American law here in Switzerland. On the first day of class, I asked the students to share questions they had about law and policy in the United States. Three questions were by far the most common: why do you have the death penalty, why do you not regulate guns more strictly, and how could Trump possibly have been elected?

Hmm. Let me get back to you on the last one, I said.

I still dont know the answer, though I ask myself the question every morning when I read the newspaper. There are so many factors at play. But one factor (of many) may have been voter turnout  or lack thereof.

How did this happen?

In the 2016 Presidential election, only about 58 to 60% of eligible voters voted, depending on how one calculates the pool of eligible voters. This means that only about 26% of the American electorate voted for Mr. Trump.

The voter turnout figures from Americans living abroad are much worse. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 633,000 Americans voted from abroad in the 2016 Presidential election and only 93,000 voted from abroad in the 2014 midterm Congressional elections. Estimates of the number of Americans abroad range from 2.6 to 9 million, with the federal government estimating the total at about 5.7 million and the population of eligible voters (given that people under 18 cannot vote) at about 2.6 million. (This 5.7 million figure would make us the equivalent of approximately the 20th most populous state, about the size of Colorado, Minnesota or Wisconsin). The Overseas Vote Foundation estimates that the voting rate for eligible overseas voters in the 2014 midterm elections was 4%. Even if you take the much higher 633,000 number for the 2016 Presidential election and divide it by 2.6 million, you get only 24%.

This is embarrassing and shameful for a country that (used to) pride itself for its democracy. But its much more than embarrassing  its dangerous.

It has been yet another bad few days in the news  yet more school children shot, the appointment of Gina Haspel as Director of the CIA, the forced separation of parents and children seeking refuge at the border  and yet people still cling to a strange belief that we have hit rock bottom, because things could not get any more heartbreaking or absurd. I spent many years practicing and teaching refugee law. If theres one thing I have learned from my clients, it is that things can always get worse  much, much worse. How could we possibly think that we are special, that American exceptionalism is real, that things could not get worse?

A shot at redemption

But we still have a chance to redeem ourselves. There are critical midterm Congressional elections in November 2018. Although data from 2014 and 2016 show that seven times as many Americans abroad voted in the Presidential election than in the midterm Congressional elections, midterm Congressional elections often turn out to be equally  or more  important.

Why? First, Congressional districts are small, turnout is relatively low, and many elections are expected to be very close, meaning that the chances of your particular vote making a difference is significant.

Second, the Congress can hold the President accountable, through impeachment (if warranted), by refusing to pass or fund the legislation he proposes, or (in the case of the Senate) by refusing to confirm his appointments.As we discuss frequently in class, our entire system is built on the idea of the separation of powers. Our government is a three-legged stool  remove one leg and the stool can no longer bear weight, and it topples over. But separation of powers only works if the Congress does its job and vigilantly guards against Executive overreach. And Congress can only do its job if it is actually represents the will of the American people.

For better or worse, Congress members are not selected and do not make decisions based on what we say on social media or over the dinner table. They cannot hear what we say to one another. They are selected and make decisions based on our votes. If some current Members of Congress refuse to protect our values and if we do not vote them out in November 2018, then it is no ones fault but our own.

No excuses

A lot of Americans I meet abroad are adept at making excuses for not voting. I have heard some creative ones. If they are dual citizens, it feels like double dipping. If they come from states that are clearly red or blue, they argue that their vote wouldnt make a difference. Some are concerned about tax implications for voting in federal elections. Others decry the role money plays in corrupting politicians on all sides.

Fortunately for our democracy, these excuses do not hold water. Many Congressional seats are genuinely up for grabs this election. Overseas votes did, in fact, help determine the outcome in two Congressional elections: Jim Webbs 2006 victory in Virginia and Al Frankens 2008 victory in Minnesota. The March 2018 special election in Pennsylvania was decided by a small number of absentee ballots (though it is unknown whether those absentee ballots came from absentee voters overseas or elsewhere). More fundamentally, the basic rule of almost all ethical systems is that we should behave as we would want everyone else to behave. Otherwise, your goat will eat up too much of the grass in the commons, and we will all starve.

And to be clear: there are no tax implications for voting in any federal elections. (There may be tax implications for voting in state elections, depending on what state you are from). Voting in federal elections for President, Senator, or Members of the House of Representatives is your right, per the 1975 Overseas Citizens Voting Right Act.

If you are concerned about having too many benefits as a dual citizen  somehow you are double dipping at democracy  then fine: research a bit on how disenfranchised people in America (immigrants, children, people too sick or poor to go to the polls, people without access to drivers licenses or other identification, people who cant take the time off work, and people stripped of voting rights due to criminal convictions) are feeling right now and imagine you are voting in their stead.

If you are concerned about the corrupting influence of money in elections, then join the club. But the proper response is to engage in more political action, not less.

And finally, if you are too busy, can I just ask what you are doing? Ordinary people  mothers of young children, businesspeople, scientists  in America are taking to the streets and suffering the exhaustion and public scrutiny inherent in running for office. If they have time to run for office, surely we have time to spend the 10 minutes it takes to register to vote and the 10-30 minutes it takes to send in the ballot. There are indeed a number of factors that lead to the effective disenfranchisement of large numbers of low-income and minority voters, and these barriers to voting absolutely must be dismantled. But these barriers do not explain why many Americans abroad (who tend to have identity documentation, not to be extremely low-income, and not need to take off time from work to mail in their absentee ballots) do not vote.

More fundamentally, none of the excuses above hold water at a time like this: a time when our basic institutions and most fundamental beliefs  the very things bind us together as Americans  are under threat. You may have come up with some good reasons not to vote, but the arguments on the other side are stronger.

We are the adults in the room

Because there is a time in your life when you realize, with a jolt in the pit of your stomach, that you have to take a seat at the table, because you are now one of the adults in the room. We are the adults in the room. And there are certain things decent adults do, not because they want to, but because they are decent. Registering to vote is on that list. And so is talking to others about registering to vote. It may take time and be slightly awkward. But so are many of the things we do  not because we want to but because the costs of not doing so are unbearable.

In that vein, an all-volunteer group of 300 Swiss and Americans that I help lead has made a series of silly, funny, 60-second skits on Youtube designed to encourage Americans abroad to register to vote in the 2018 midterm congressional election. Many of the skits poke fun at the challenges of living abroad and the mistakes Americans make when speaking German, under the theme that some aspects of living abroad are hard, but voting is not. The videos can be found here. Theygive information for the voter registration website: votefromabroad.org This quick and easy-to-use website was created by Democrats Abroad, but you can use it to register to vote regardless of whom you plan to vote for. If you feel more comfortable using a purely nonpartisan website, go to overseasvotefoundation.org. You can also find voting information on the State Department website.

The volunteers in our group are lawyers, scientists, teachers, mothers, business people, academics, IT professionals, ministers, retired people, students, fathers. We spent collectively hundreds of hours making these skits not because we are fabulous actors, screenplay writers, and directors (though Chris Volke, the young Swiss film director who volunteered his time and expertise to direct these videos actually is, as is the Swiss comedian Eddie Ramirez, who stars in one of the skits). We did so because democracy is important to us. And we are committed to doing everything we can to not let fellow Americans sit this election out. Many states registration deadlines are fast approaching. Its time to take care of this.Because if we as ordinary Americans dont encourage one another to step up to the plate to register to vote, who will?

Opinion series swissinfo.ch publishes op-ed articles by contributors writing on a wide range of topics  Swiss issues or those that impact Switzerland. The selection of articles presents a diversity of opinions designed to enrich the debate on the issues discussed.




The Val Bondasca, site of the huge landslide in Switzerland last August, is expected to stay closed for the rest of the year. Further rockfalls in the valley near the village of Bondo cannot be ruled out, experts say.

More mud and debris flows also remain a possibility, Anna Giacometti, mayor of Bregaglia, which represents five communes in the Val Bondasca, including Bondo, told Swiss public radio SRF on Friday.

There is still a mass of rock and mud in Val Bondasca  a remote area popular with hikers and climbers  which could start to move again if there is heavy rainfall or snowmelt, she said.

On August 23, the Piz Cengalo mountain on the Swiss-Italian border collapsed,resulting in a massive landslide made up of rock, debris and mud. A second landslide followed two days later. Altogether, some three million cubic metres of rock and earth came down  making it one of the largest landslides in Swiss history.

Here is a clip of the landslide in action last August.

Eight hikers went missing and are presumed dead.The landslide caused CHF41 million ($42 million) in damage.

The closure affects everyone: tourists, hunters and owners of mountain huts. Also remaining shut are the two Swiss Alpine Club mountain huts near the Piz Cengalo.
A popular initiative aimed at banning pesticides throughout Switzerland was filed on Friday with the Federal Chancellery, obtaining more than 140,000 signatures. Despite the radical nature of the move, those behind it hope to convince a majority of citizens in a popular vote.

Etienne Kuhn, who works in the music business, is the person behind this popular initiative called For a Switzerland free of synthetic pesticides. It was officially launched in November 2016 by a group of apolitical citizens from the Neuchatel region in western Switzerland.

The text seeks a ban on pesticide use in Switzerland, and on the import of food containing pesticides. It has gathered more than 140,000 signatures in 18 months, which is likely to further boost Kuhns motivation and hopes in the run-up to a popular vote that will no doubt be watched closely abroad.

swissinfo.ch: What kind of reception did your initiative get during the signature gathering phase?

Etienne Kuhn: The enthusiasm was amazing! In the street, we managed to convince close to nine people out of 10 to sign the text. As well as the thousands of pages of signatures returned through the postal service, we also received 20,000 letters of support and thanks from all over Switzerland. We are more convinced than ever that we are carrying the voice of the people. The political and economic elites havent realised the strength of feeling against pesticides.

Pesticides on the political menu The pesticides issue will be at the centre of the political agenda in the coming years. As well as the Neuchatel initiative, another initiative was also filed on January 18 with the Federal Chancellery by the Clean Water for All association. This demands that in future state subsidies go only to farmers who refrain from using pesticides or antibiotics as a preventive measure. It is likely that both popular initiatives will be put to a vote in the next two years.

swissinfo.ch: You nevertheless had to pay students to finish gathering the signatures

E.K.: Our committee is composed of seven people who are all very busy in their various professional activities and are strangers to politics. We embarked on this without the financial and communication resources that political parties and national NGOs have, by giving up a lot of our weekends and evenings.

Its mainly thanks to word-of-mouth that our initiative reached places like Uri and Lugano. So it took time, and with the deadline set at 18 months for gathering signatures, external help was indispensable. But we still gathered 70 to 80% of the signatures ourselves. Given our modest funding obtained via the internet, I think thats a good proportion.

swissinfo.ch: You will face opposition from the powerful agriculture and agrochemical lobbies when parliament debates your initiative, as well as during the campaign before the popular vote. Isnt the fight unbalanced?

E.K.: Of course. We dont have the colossal budget or the means of communication of our adversaries. But that does not stop me from being very confident about the outcome of the vote. The politicians need voters, and since our initiative has a lot of support among the population, we could get some unexpected backing. With this initiative, we want to transcend the traditional left-right divide and unite as many people as possible around this key issue.

swissinfo.ch: The Swiss are nevertheless not known for causing revolution through the ballot box. Isnt your initiative too radical to convince a majority of voters?

E.K.: Absolutely not. The initiative provides for implementation over 10 years, which will allow farmers to adapt gradually to a new mode of sustainable production. At the moment it takes an average four to five years to move from traditional production to 100% organic. So, it is completely reasonable.

You can contact the author of this article onTwitter:@samueljaberg



Translated from French by Julia Crawford




A leader of Cameroon's English-speaking community was handed a 15-year prison sentence on Friday over his alleged role in the anglophones' fight for their rights in the French-majority country.

The military court in Yaounde found radio journalist Mancho BBC Bibixy guilty of acts of terrorism, hostility against the homeland, secession, revolution and insurrection, an AFP reporter said.

Bibixy was among several activists arrested last January after anti-government protests erupted in the two main English-speaking provinces, known as the Northwest and the Southwest Regions.

The anglophone minority  which dates back to the colonial period and makes up about a fifth of Cameroons population of 22 million  has long complained about suffering discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking government.

Bibixy is one of the voices associated with a radical movement in the anglophone town of Bamenda in the Northwest.

Five other anglophones on trial alongside the journalist received jail terms ranging from 10 to 15 years on Friday, while one other person was acquitted.

The six convicted were also ordered to pay a joint fine of 268 million CFA francs (398,000 euros) and must also pay the legal fees.

The decision is excessive and pointless because it will not resolve the problem of Cameroons anglophone crisis, said Claude Assira, one of the lawyers representing the accused.

He told AFP he would appeal the decision.

The conflict spiralled after President Paul Biya, in power for more than 35 years, rejected demands for greater autonomy.

His refusal prompted separatists to declare independence in October 2017.

Since then, violence between armed anglophone rebels and government forces occurs almost daily in the restive provinces.

Abductions have been proliferating, with officials, foreigners and locals alike targeted.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday Tokyo was disappointed by the cancellation of the summit between the US and North Korean leaders, saying it was necessary to make progress.

In the future we need such a meeting  it is indispensable to resolve the problems which have accumulated, he said at Russias annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled the high-stakes summit with Kim Jong Un, following what the White House called a trail of broken promises by North Korea.

However on Friday Trump said it was possible the summit could still go ahead, perhaps even on June 12 as originally planned.

Nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction, an effective means of destroying all these types of weapons is needed, said Abe, over whose country North Korea has fired missiles as it has tested its efforts to build rockets that can reach the United States.

That is the main goal of negotiations between these countries (US and North Korea) and it is namely by holding such a summit that we need to move things forward, he added.

Abe said other countries should continue to put pressure on North Korea to respect UN resolutions concerning its nuclear and missle programmes.

The most important (thing) is that we continue our efforts, said Abe.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday the rocket that shot down flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine in 2014 was "of course" not Russian, dismissing the Dutch and Australian decision to blame Moscow for the tragedy.

Asked at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg if the rocket was Russian, Putin said: Of course not.

The Russian leader added that there is nothing that inspires confidence in the international investigation and that several versions of what happened exist.

The Netherlands and Australia on Friday took the first step towards dragging Russia to court over the shooting down of the flight, accusing Moscow of being responsible for the disaster.

The move won swift support from international allies, a day after investigators concluded that the Russian-made BUK missile which tore apart the Boeing 777 passenger plane in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a Russian military brigade based in the southwestern city of Kursk.

There is but one conclusion to be made from yesterdays presentation, namely that Russia is thoroughly responsible for the deployment of this BUK system, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters.

All 298 people on the flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when the missile slammed into the plane as it flew over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The Dutch government said in a statement that, together with Australia, it was holding Moscow formally accountable for the tragedy, and may now move towards submitting the complex dossier to an international judge or organisation.

Russia has repeatedly denied any responsibility in the disaster. Moscow has come up with numerous theories to deflect the blame and pointed the finger at Kiev.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday he had been informed by his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok that they have practically no doubt that the BUK came from Russia.

I asked him about facts proving these claims. He did not give me any facts saying they want Russia to help establish them based on unfounded suspicion, Lavrov added.
Ireland's current abortion laws ban all terminations except in cases where the mother's life is at risk.

If, as exit polls suggest, the pro-choice vote wins the historic referendum Saturday pre-prepared draft legislation would legalise abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and up to 24 weeks for health reasons.

Here is a rundown of the main legislative points.

 What the law says 

The eighth amendment to the Irish constitution, introduced by referendum in 1983, acknowledges the right to life of the unborn. It forbids abortions, even in cases of rape, incest or where the foetus is malformed. The penalty is 14 years imprisonment and a fine.

In 2012 the death of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old who died of sepsis after a miscarriage when she was denied a medical abortion, outraged public opinion and led to a change in the law.

The following year an exception was introduced to the amendment, authorising abortion in cases where there was a mortal risk to the mother, including the risk of suicide. Under this provision 26 abortions were performed in Ireland in 2014, 26 in 2015 and 25 in 2016.

 Abortions abroad 

The 13th amendment of the Irish constitution guarantees an individual freedom to travel to other states.

More than 168,000 women used this freedom to visit hospitals in England and Wales for abortions between 1980 and 2016, according to British Department of Health statistics compiled by the Irish Family Planning Association. By these figures, around 13 women who give Irish home addresses have abortions in England and Wales every day.

In 2011 Irish citizen Amanda Mellet was forced to travel to the city of Liverpool in the north of England to have an abortion when it was discovered the foetus of her child was mortally deformed.

Doctors reportedly told her the infant would be born dead or die shortly thereafter.

Considering herself to be a victim of unfair Irish legislation, she took her case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee which agreed she was subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Dublin paid her 30,000 euros ($35,000) in compensation.

 Information on abortion 

Spreading information on how to acquire an abortion is also strictly controlled in Ireland.

Following the approval of the eighth amendment, Irish courts initially forbade agencies from helping women in their efforts to organise abortions abroad.

But the 14th amendment, voted in by a 1992 referendum, guaranteed the right of an individual to obtain information relating to services lawfully available in another state.

However this right was strictly framed by the Regulation of Information Act, adopted in 1995.

This law, among other things, forbids individuals to advocate or promote the termination of a pregnancy using services outside the state.

The act also obliges professionals giving advice to women about abortion to make them aware of all alternatives, encompassing scenarios such as adoption at birth.

 Plans for reform 

On Friday, Irish voters were asked to choose whether or not to remove the eighth amendment and replace it with the phrase provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancies.

If, as exit polls suggest, the pro-choice vote wins, the government will be tasked with drafting fresh legislation which, if it is passed by parliament, should legalise abortions during the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy and up until 24 weeks for reasons of health.
Scottish nationalists rebooted their case for independence on Friday with a study claiming that Scots could be 4,100 (4,700 euros, $5,500) per person better off annually outside the United Kingdom.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the separatist Scottish National Party, said the report would restart the debate about independence for pro-EU Scotland as messy Brexit negotiations drag on.

Scotland voted against independence by 55 percent in 2014, but then voted by 62 percent to remain in the European Union in a 2016 referendum, generating a rift because the United Kingdom as a whole voted to leave.

Sturgeon immediately made plans for a second independence referendum, but momentum stalled when polls showed little change in Scottish attitudes and even less appetite for another vote.

The SNP lost seats in the parliaments in Edinburgh and London in subsequent elections. But the nationalist grassroots have been agitating for a swift return to the ballot box.

Referring to Fridays report, Sturgeon wrote on Twitter: So much better to be debating how we maximise our potential as a country than just focussing on how we limit the damage of Brexit.

But David Mundell, the UK governments most senior lawmaker in Scotland, urged Scots to maximise the opportunities of Brexit rather than leave the UK.

The public do not want another divisive independence referendum, he said.

 Keep the pound 

The report outlined 50 recommendations to grow Scotlands economy to match the very best small countries in the world, comparing an independent Scotland to countries like Denmark, Finland and New Zealand.

It proposed keeping the British pound for an extended transition period, before moving to a more permanent solution which could lead to a new Scottish currency.

The UK government forcefully rejected SNP proposals to maintain a currency union with Scotland if it left the UK in 2014, but the nationalists insist Scotland can still use the pound in the same way that Panama uses the US dollar.

Critics have pointed out this would leave Scotlands fiscal policy in the hands of a foreign power.

The report also included measures to encourage immigration amid fears Brexit will cause a decline in Scotlands working age population and put pressure on public spending through falling tax receipts.

North Sea oil revenues should be treated as a windfall and invested in a fund similar to Norway, rather than used for day to day spending, it said.

Andrew Wilson, the reports author, said: Brexit will mean a long-term hit to jobs and living standards.

In contrast, our report looks at how we build a better economy, how we build a better society and how we build a better country, he said.
The Netherlands and Australia on Friday took the first step towards dragging Russia to court over the shooting down of flight MH17, accusing Moscow of being responsible for the disaster over war-torn eastern Ukraine in 2014.

The move won swift support from international allies, a day after investigators concluded that the Russian-made BUK missile which tore apart the Boeing 777 passenger plane in mid-air on July 17, 2014 came from a Russian military brigade based in southwestern Kursk.

There is but one conclusion to be made from yesterdays presentation, namely that Russia is thoroughly responsible for the deployment of this BUK system, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters.

All 298 people on the flight en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed when the missile slammed into the plane as it flew over territory held by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The Dutch government said in a statement that, together with Australia, it was holding Moscow formally accountable for the tragedy, and may now move towards submitting the complex dossier to an international judge or organisation.

Russia however swiftly denied any responsibility.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had been informed by his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok that they have practically no doubt that the BUK came from Russia.

I asked him about facts proving these claims. He did not give me any facts saying they want Russia to help establish them based on unfounded suspicion, Lavrov added.

 Russia accountable 

The downing of flight MH17 caused unimaginable suffering, said Blok the day after the latest findings from the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

On the basis of the JITs conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are now convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the BUK installation that was used to down MH17, he added.

Piet Ploeg, who lost three relatives in the crash, told AFP the Dutch and Australian decision to hold Russia responsible is exactly the right thing to do.

Its an important step on the way to get justice for victims, Ploeg added.

The EU and NATO both urged Moscow to accept responsibility for the disaster. Russia should fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability, said the EUs foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in a statement.

The United States and Britain also said they backed the move to hold Russia responsible for the disaster.

It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

Rutte also urged Russia to look seriously at the results of the investigation, adding the Netherlands would demand Moscows full cooperation at a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine due to be held on Tuesday.

But the Russian defence ministry also vehemently rejected the findings, saying the missile most likely belonged to the Ukrainians.

Although the BUK missile had indeed been manufactured in the Soviet Union in 1986 all the missiles made that year were withdrawn from service in 2011, the ministry said.

 Compensation claims 

Investigators however painstakingly recreated the BUK systems route from Kursk across the border into rebel-held eastern Ukraine using videos and photos.

The team has come to the conclusion that the BUK-TELAR that shot down MH17 came from the 53rd Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade based in Kursk in Russia, top Dutch investigator Wilbert Paulissen said.

Investigation officials, seeking to bring criminal charges, have not said who actually fired the missile. But they are appealing for further information, especially about the BUK systems crew, and who ordered the plane to be shot down.

A group of about 230 relatives are joining an action already underway at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the NOS public broadcaster said. Their lawyer is planning to submit claims demanding millions in compensation.

Meanwhile, the investigative site Bellingcat claimed it had identified the second of two men whom the JIT consider top suspects after obtaining wire-tapped conversations before and after the plane was shot out of the sky.

Bellingcat has alleged that both men are top-ranking Russian military officials. All points lead to a centralised military operation, Bellingcat researcher Moritz Rakuszitzky told reporters.

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An alleged bitcoin currency scam in South Africa has left speculators with losses of more than $80 million as an investment company admitted Friday its senior trader had disappeared without trace.

This may prove to be the tip of the iceberg with potentially thousands more yet to discover theyve lost money, said Yolisa Matakata of the Hawks police investigations unit.

Unregulated, unusual investments at home or abroad come with a high risk that people could lose all their hard-earned pension and other savings, she warned.

BTC Global said that its services had been suspended after its primary trader, identified as Steven Twain, had failed to reply to emails requesting payments.

We are as shocked and angry as everyone. But we all knew the risks involved in placing funds with Steven. We all became complacent, BTC Global said on its website.

Until Steven Twain resurfaces or is found there is nothing the admin team can do.

South African police said they were investigating the alleged fraud, with more than 28,000 investors affected.

Police said the company had targeted potential investors with promises of two percent interest per day, 14 percent a week and 50 percent per month.

Payments to investors were reportedly made every Monday until they suddenly dried up.

Regulators worldwide are grappling with the boom in crypto-currencies like bitcoin, which lure investors with the promise of high returns but are not backed by any central banks.

On Thursday, a South African teenager was found four days after he was kidnapped by a gang who demanded a ransom in 15 bitcoins, worth about $123,000 (105,000 euros).

Police gave no details about any ransom payment.
The Trump administration may not be in a rush to close negotiations on NAFTA 2.0 after all, leaving farmers and ranchers in limbo.

Ambassador Gregg Doud, chief agriculture negotiator for the Office of U.S. Trade Representative told reporters and agricultural stakeholders this week that progress has been made on updating the 24-year-old pact between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, things are a lot more complicated than they were when existing terms were being hammered out.

The pens are not down, Doud said. Obviously, wed rather have it done right than be in a big hurry. So that means if we dont get it ratified in this Congress, we do it in the next Congress. It doesnt mean that anything has gone the wrong direction on us.

Uncertainty surrounding trade agreements have been weighing heavy on the minds of U.S. farmers and ranchers. The biggest fear has been losing market share as North American Free Trade Agreement countries and others look elsewhere to stock commodities like corn, soybeans, dairy products and beef.

Texas alone in 2016 exported $3.3 billion in agricultural products to Canada and Mexico. China is now the states largest buyer of grain sorghum  a non genetically modified animal feed as well as liquor base  and Texas growers breathed a sigh of relief last week when China said it would drop an anti-dumping probe. Doud said emphasis now was on getting a trade deal with Japan, noting that that along with other Asian country agreements would give the U.S. the bulk of what it would have gotten from joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Doud spoke Tuesday during a Washington, D.C. forum sponsored by the Farm Foundation, which bills itself as a nonpartisan agricultural policy institute. He was joined by three other former chief agricultural negotiators from both Republican and Democratic administrations: Darci Vetter,Richard Crowder and Al Johnson.

Vetter, the chief agricultural negotiator from 2014 to 2016, largely mourned President Donald Trumps withdrawal from the TPP, an agreement between the U.S. and 11 other countries aimed at reducing Chinas trade clout and defended the World Trade Organization, which Trump has criticized.

Crowder, who served from 2006 to 2008 in that role, was cautious but optimistic, noting that there were asks from the Trump administration he never would have imagined, such as a sunset clause that would essentially force parties back to the table every five years.

Having been in the private sector most of my life  you think about building a frozen food plant in Mexico when I was with Pillsbury ... a seed plant in Argentina. Im not sure my decisions would have been the same if I knew the rules were going to change in five years.

The environment didnt change but the playbook did, Crowder said. What changed? The negotiating structure changed. The president is now the chief ag negotiator, the chief goods and services negotiator, the chief everything negotiator.

He said the worst case scenario would include a loss of Chinese soybean market share to Brazil, Chinese pork market share to the European Union, Chinese beef market share to Australia as well as lost market share of U.S. dairy producers top customer: Mexico.

He also questioned news U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue had the authority to compensate agricultural producers suffering economic losses to trade deals without authorization from Congress.

Prediction: If its bad enough to be compensated for it will be more than a one-time event, Crowder said.

He said his optimism came from thinking that policy makers around the world know that the economic and political consequences of not being successful (in trade negotiations with the U.S.) are not acceptable.

Johnson, the chief negotiator from 2001 to 2005, applauded the U.S. teams tough stance.

I dont have any problem revisiting trade agreements, even ones that I worked on, he said. I also agree that many countries and the WTO itself live with the expectation that the U.S. will make things happen and that in itself isnt a bad thing  But they also live with the assumption oftentimes that the U.S. can take a hit without them having to do much of anything, and thats just wrong.

Of Trump, he said, I think we can see that hes not leaving his base behind for the most part. Whether you want to talk about North Korea, whether you want to talk about Jerusalem, talk about Iran, tax cuts, hes been pretty consistent in what he says he is going to do.

But he said agricultural producers may have been living in an enchanted world when it comes to international trade.

Whether youre in manufacturing, technology, intellectual property or other sectors, they were feeling abused by the same trading system. They were losing investments, markets, jobs, intellectual property, et cetera, he said. Something happened in other sectors that we just werent sensitive to.

Russell Boening, a farmer, rancher and dairyman who is president of the Texas Farm Bureau, said he was pleasantly surprised by what he heard of the dialogue, and particularly on NAFTA.

If theyre really committed to work till we get it right than we can operate under what weve been operating with, he said We do know that several months ago they were talking about scrapping the whole thing and I didnt hear that at all.

Talk initially had been that NAFTA needed to reach Congress before the U.S. midterm elections and before Mexicos presidential election in July.

Were going into summer already and I think the election process in Mexico itself is kind of ramped up, he said. And of course the runoff primaries are pretty much over now, so I think a lot of folks are going to get in election mode. And so I hate to keep saying the same things, but weve been cautiously optimistic for some time. And thats where we are still.

Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | @lbrezosky
The San Antonio Express-News laid off 14 newsroom employees Wednesday and Thursday as parent company Hearst Corp. coordinates the operations of its newspapers throughout Texas.

Publisher Susan Pape attributed the layoffs to economic factors and a desire to combine the companys resources across the state. She said the paper remains profitable.

The layoffs were spread across the newsroom affecting writers, editors and photographers on the sports, metro, features and photo teams.

CENSUS: San Antonio ranks No. 1 in cities' population growth

Nancy Barnes, the executive editor for Hearst Texas Newspapers and the Houston Chronicle, told the Express-News staff in an hour-long meeting that the company wants to maximize collaboration between newsrooms. In addition to San Antonio and Houston, Hearsts Texas holdings include daily newspapers in Beaumont, Laredo and Midland.

Barnes said the Express-News will continue to focus on local news, but that the San Antonio and Houston newsrooms will combine efforts on coverage of statewide issues such as energy and immigration, and on certain coverage areas including college sports.

As part of the process, the Washington, D.C. bureau and the Austin bureau of both newspapers are being combined. Two employees of the Houston Chronicles Austin bureau were laid off Wednesday. The 14 positions lost at the Express-News included one reporter in the Austin bureau.

Hearst is also conducting a national search for a new editor-in-chief for the Express-News.

Mike Leary, who was the editor of the paper since August 2012, retired May 18.

Managing Editor Jamie Stockwell left the Express-News this week to join the New York Times as its deputy national editor in June.

Vernon Loeb, managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, is leading the newsroom in San Antonio until a permanent editor is named.

Metro editor Nora Lopez told the staff in a newsroom meeting Thursday, We are still the largest newsroom in this city. We still own this city. Its our city. And its up to us to make the choices to continue to serve our community the best that we can.
A Bexar County homeowner did not violate a neighborhood associations restrictions on property use when he rented out his home to short-term visitors, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The courts ruling comes as city leaders in San Antonio weigh how to regulate short-term rentals made through vacation rental services like Airbnb, HomeAway and VRBO and as the city of Austin engages in a legal fight over its ordinance governing short-term rental use.

Kenneth Tarr bought a single-family home in the Timberwood Park subdivision north of Stone Oak in 2012. Two years later, Tarr began renting out the home to short-term guests through sites like VRBO when his employer transferred him to Houston.

The Timberwood Park Owners Association objected to Tarrs use of his home, arguing that Tarr had violated deed restrictions limiting property use to residential purposes and single family residence by allowing multiple guests to rent his home for commercial purposes  a view backed by a Bexar County district judge in 2015 and the Texas Fourth Court of Appeals in 2016.

The Texas Supreme Court overruled the lower courts in Fridays opinion, determining that Tarr had not violated Timberwood Parks restrictive covenants.

Writing for all nine justices, Justice Jeff Brown said that so long as the occupants to whom Tarr rents his single-family residence use the home for a residential purpose, no matter how short-lived, neither their on-property use nor Tarrs off-property use violates the restrictive covenants in the Timberwood deeds.

Tarrs lawyer Patrick Sutton had argued that Timberwood Parks restrictive covenants did not explicitly bar property owners from using their homes for short-term rentals. After Fridays ruling, homeowners across the state now have clarity that what deed restrictions do not say, they do not say, Sutton said in a phone interview.

A lawyer for Timberwood Park Owners Association did not immediately respond to a call requesting comment.

Elected officials in Texas have struggled with how to oversee short-term rental properties.

In April, the San Antonio City Council sent a draft ordinance back to the drawing board after members raised concerns about legal pushback and how such properties could reshape neighborhoods.

Austins rules restricting short-term rentals by landlords who dont live in the residence listed for rental drew a legal challenge from the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, in which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intervened in 2016.

And state lawmakers are expected to take up the short-term rental issue during the 2019 legislative session. Two bills filed during the 2017 session would have limited how Texas cities could regulate short-term rentals and prevent them from banning the practice, but neither made it to Gov. Greg Abbotts desk.

Joshua Fechter is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jfechter@express-news.net | Twitter: @JFreports
Greg Kingsley lives in Cleveland but knows all about our pet overpopulation problems and the efforts to save the lives of dogs and cats in San Antonio. He runs Oshies Tail Wagon rescue group, an Ohio-based rescue group that identifies dogs on San Antonios Animal Care Services euthanasia list, tags them for pick up by San Antonio Pets Alive, and then relies on volunteers to foster dogs or drive dogs from Texas to Ohio.

Since 2015, hes placed 24 San Antonio dogs in homes in the Midwest.

San Antonio has such a great rescue community, he said. Where else on the planet do you have a group of people with such a singular mission, except maybe on a military base?

On his one and only trip to San Antonio this past December, Kingsley got to meet some of those volunteers while paying tribute to Max, a 12-year-old German shepherd who didnt make it to Ohio or to his new home in Michigan.

Related: Express-News reporter saves dog while covering flood rescue

Last year, Kingsley tagged Max for pick up. Before Max could leave ACS, however, he had to be neutered. While blood work is traditionally done on senior pets in veterinary hospitals before surgeries, the expensive lab work is not standard at animal shelters, leaving uncertainty as to whether some dogs are healthy enough for these surgeries.

Afterward, Kingsley sent Max to a local veterinary hospital for overnight care. Sadly, the veterinarian called Kingsley a few hours later with news that Max was convulsing and suffering from renal failure.

We had to put Max down, he said. Everyone was heartbroken.

Kingsley did an open record request and found out where Max had lived before being relinquished at ACS. When he visited San Antonio in December, Kingsley and some volunteers paid their final respects to Max near his former home.

A final goodbye was the least we could do, Kingsley said. Its such a tragedy. I dont think dogs this old need to be neutered. Unless there is blood work, how do you know how they will do with the surgery?

Since then, Kingsley requests waivers on senior dogs, so his group can determine through a veterinarian if the dogs are good candidates for the surgery. So far, one senior dog did not meet the surgery criteria and was placed directly into a good home.

MORE FROM CATHY M. ROSENTHAL: A dog walking service can give fido a needed workout

Kingsley says there are at least 100 rescue groups outside of San Antonio that help save the lives of our communitys homeless dogs and cats every day. We owe these rescuers a debt of thanks for caring so darn much that they are willing to come to San Antonio to pay final respects to a homeless dog.

Send your pet questions, tips and stories to cathy@petpundit.com. You can read her Animals Matter blog at http://blog.mysanantonio.com/animals and follow her @cathymrosenthal.
This story has been updated to reflect two corrections.

There's a story Bud Frazier tells often. It was around 1966, and Frazier, now one of the world's most celebrated heart surgeons, was a medical student at Baylor College of Medicine.

An Italian teenager had come to Houston for an aortic valve replacement, but at some point during or after the surgery, the teen's heart stopped. Doctors told Frazier to reach in and start pumping the failed organ by hand.

As he did so, the teen lifted a hand to Frazier's face, and in that moment, just before the patient died, he says he realized his life's calling.

"As long as I was massaging that kid's heart, he would wake up," Frazier, now 78, said last year. "I thought then, and I've often returned to this: If my hand can keep this kid alive, why couldn't we make a device to do the same?"

About the series Published on Thursday, May 24, 2018, at 5 a.m. This story is the result of a collaboration between the Chronicle and ProPublica, an independent nonprofit newsroom based in New York. Mike Hixenbaugh is an investigative reporter for the Chronicle. Charles Ornstein is a senior editor at ProPublica. Trouble at St. Luke's

The hospital and its legendary surgeon Denton Cooley performed some of the world's first heart transplants back in the 1960s. In recent years, though, it has had some of the worst heart transplant outcomes in the country. Click here to read the story. A medical mishap

The call from St. Luke's came on the first day of 2018. Lee Lewis was finally getting a new heart. Three months and more than a dozen surgeries later, Lewis was dead. His widow documented his slow decline on Facebook. Click here to read the story. Help us investigate

Are you an employee, patient or a family member of a patient at the Texas Medical Center? We'd like to hear from you about your experience. Please fill out this confidential questionnaire.

In the five decades since, Dr. O.H. "Bud" Frazier has obsessively pursued that goal, contributing to many breakthroughs in the long and unfinished effort to develop a permanent mechanical replacement for the human heart. Today, devices he tested at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center and its research partner, the Texas Heart Institute, are credited with extending the lives of thousands of people worldwide each year.

But out of public view, Frazier has been accused of violating federal research rules and skirting ethical guidelines, putting his quest to make medical history ahead of the needs of some patients, an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and ProPublica has found. Reporters reviewed internal hospital reports, federal court filings, financial disclosures and government documents. The records and interviews with former St. Luke's physicians show:

 Frazier and his team implanted experimental heart pumps in patients who did not meet medical criteria to be included in clinical trials, according to a hospital investigation a decade ago. The findings, which have never been disclosed publicly, prompted St. Luke's to report serious research violations to the federal government and repay millions of dollars to Medicare.

 A former top St. Luke's cardiologist said he believes that Frazier favored experimental heart pumps over more proven treatments and that Frazier was reluctant to acknowledge when the devices led to serious complications. Two other doctors made similar observations. In one instance, one of them said Frazier discouraged publication of research that found a high rate of strokes in the first group of patients implanted with a pump he championed.

 Frazier has often failed to publicly disclose consulting fees and research grants  and in one case, stock options he received and later transferred to his son  from companies that made the pumps he tested. Most medical journals require such disclosure so that other scientists and the public can judge whether personal interests may have influenced research findings.

 And a former St. Luke's nurse alleged that Frazier allowed a researcher who was not licensed to practice medicine in Texas to treat heart failure patients in his program. Her 1994 lawsuit, which was backed by patient records, testimony and secret recordings of hospital employees, revealed that Frazier's signature stamp was sometimes used to authorize the researcher's improper medical orders.

Over time, several St. Luke's and Texas Heart executives were made aware of many of these allegations. But for years, they took little or no action to rein in a doctor whose work continues to earn the hospital international acclaim, according to records and interviews.

HEART FAILURE: At St. Luke's in Houston, patients suffer as a renowned heart transplant program loses its luster

Frazier continued to operate on patients well into his 70s, and during those latter years, his Medicare outcomes ranked among the worst in the country. From 2010-15, about half of the traditional Medicare patients who received an implantable heart assist device from Frazier died within a year, nearly double the national mortality rate for such patients, according to a ProPublica analysis of federal data.

In a phone interview in April and subsequent written responses to questions, Frazier denied any wrongdoing and said his patients were sicker and higher risk than those treated at other hospitals.

He disputed the accuracy of a report commissioned by St. Luke's that described "serious and repeated" research violations in his program. He said he never discouraged the publication of negative research findings about heart pumps. He said he could have cashed in on his work with medical device makers, but he never did. And Frazier's lawyer maintained that the unlicensed physician who worked under him more than two decades ago did not treat patients.

"It's sort of discouraging," Frazier said, "to be impugned after working so hard to keep these patients alive."

Officials at St. Luke's and Baylor College of Medicine, where Frazier remains on the faculty, hailed him as a great surgeon and a pioneer. Frazier stopped operating full time in 2015, at the age of 75, but remains in a prominent role at Texas Heart, seeing patients and working toward his ultimate goal of a permanent artificial heart.

Supporters defend his actions, arguing that he followed the example of Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley, the pioneering cardiac surgeons under whom he trained. Both tried untested techniques when the field of heart surgery was in its infancy; Cooley famously obtained an artificial heart from DeBakey's lab without his approval and implanted it in a patient, becoming the first in the world to do so.

Like his mentors, Frazier was willing to try promising but unproven medical devices to help desperate patients, his allies say. If he broke rules, they say it was to give dying people a shot at survival, a mission that consumed his life. Frazier was so committed to the work, he was known to roam the hospital late into the night checking on patients and often slept on a leather sofa in his office.

Dr. Billy Cohn, a longtime Texas Heart surgeon who has worked closely with Frazier since 2004, defended Frazier's approach to clinical research: "He had a different view of the world. If he had had the modern view, this field wouldn't exist, and tens of thousands of patients wouldn't be alive."

Dr. Frank Smart, Texas Heart's top transplant cardiologist between 2003 and 2006, sees it differently. Smart said he admired Frazier's commitment to developing lifesaving heart pumps, but he believed it led him to surgically implant the devices into some patients who were not yet sick enough to justify what was, at the time, an experimental treatment.

Frazier's drive likely moved the field forward, Smart said, but he and others worried that it sometimes came at the expense of individual patients.

"In the old days of medicine ... that's the way these guys did things," said Smart, now the chief of cardiology at Louisiana State University School of Medicine. "It was, 'Well, I have an idea, and I'm the one that knows best, and by golly, I'm going to do it.' And did that advance the field? Maybe. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely not."

The case of 'Dr. Brano'

By the early 1990s, after decades of failed attempts to create an artificial heart, researchers in Houston and around the world had shifted their efforts to the development of internal pumps that would do the work of the heart's largest chamber, easing the organ's pumping burden without replacing it entirely. The devices were known as left ventricular assist devices, and Frazier was among their most vocal advocates.

Early milestones drew national media attention, including in 1992, when a 34-year-old patient walked out of St. Luke's a year after receiving a battery-powered LVAD, the first in the world to do so.

It was the dawn of a new era in heart care, and Frazier was at the center of it.

But even then, his program was accused of crossing serious ethical lines: An unlicensed physician had been illegally treating heart failure patients, according to a 1994 federal lawsuit filed by former St. Luke's nurse Joyce Riley. The hospital and Frazier "participated in a scheme" to unnecessarily admit patients in order to move them higher on the national heart transplant waiting list, the lawsuit alleged.

Although Frazier and others considered Branislav Radovancevic, or "Dr. Brano," a leader in the field of transplant research and aftercare, the Serbian-trained physician had failed at least twice to pass licensure exams, making it illegal for him to practice medicine in Texas.

Branislav Radovancevic treated transplant patients at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital despite not having a license to practice medicine in the U.S., a lawsuit filed against the hospital said.

Yet following the conclusion of his medical fellowship at Texas Heart Institute in 1987, Radovancevic routinely issued orders for patients in Frazier's program, prescribed drugs, took resident medical students on rounds, helped harvest organs for transplant and provided post-surgical patient care. The activity is described in patient medical records, transcriptions of secret recordings of St. Luke's employees and pleadings filed as part of Riley's lawsuit.

Riley, who died in 2017, reported sharing her concerns about these practices with supervisors. When that did not lead to changes, she sued in U.S. District Court in Houston under a provision of the False Claims Act that allows whistleblowers to try to recover damages on behalf of the government. The hospital, she alleged, had fraudulently billed Medicare for unnecessary medical treatments.

The litigation dragged on for more than a decade, with little publicity. Lawyers for Riley presented medical records of five patients  example cases intended to prove the larger conspiracy  who spent weeks in the intensive care unit at St. Luke's, despite being well enough to walk around the hospital. One received a second heart transplant from Frazier just days after physicians concluded his health troubles were not heart related and he could likely go home, an amended complaint alleged.

At the time, admission to intensive care and orders for certain medications automatically moved patients higher on the transplant wait list.

"Dr. Frazier knew of, directed, and personally participated in the fraudulent conduct and false claims described herein," the lawsuit alleged.

Lawyers representing St. Luke's, Texas Heart and Frazier vigorously denied the allegations in court filings. Three prominent physicians reviewed medical records and wrote reports on behalf of the hospital, saying the care provided to the five patients was appropriate, that Riley and her lawyers did not seem to understand the complexity of such medical cases and that Radovancevic appeared to have served only in an advisory role.

Nevertheless, after the lawsuit was made public in 1996, the hospital instructed Radovancevic to stop seeing patients, and he complied, Frazier testified in an October 2007 deposition.

During the deposition, one of Riley's lawyers introduced medical records in which nurses took verbal direction from "Dr. Brano" at the bedsides of patients and then stamped Frazier's signature onto the orders  including some that were recorded when Frazier's calendar showed he was in France and Russia. Frazier dismissed the orders as record-keeping errors and blamed others for the mistakes, according to a partial transcript of the deposition filed in court.

The lawyer, Jim Perdue Jr., asked Frazier why a nurse would have stamped his signature on medical orders that Radovancevic apparently gave at the bedside of a patient.

"I mean, I don't know why," Frazier said. "You have to ask the nurse why she would do that."

Radovancevic remained an active partner in Frazier's research until his death in 2007 at the age of 55. Frazier wrote a tribute at that time, and in response to questions for this article, he wrote that "'Brano' was and, even after his death, remains one of the most highly regarded individuals in the history of heart transplant" with modern immunosuppressant drugs.

Two years later, in 2009, St. Luke's, Texas Heart, Frazier and other defendants agreed to settle the case, attracting no media attention. The terms  including the total payment and whether the defendants acknowledged any wrongdoing  remain secret.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department said the federal government's share was $500,000, but that does not include the significant legal fees repaid to her lawyers.

A St. Luke's spokeswoman noted that the hospital changed ownership in 2013, and its current leaders wouldn't comment about events before then.

As the lawsuit was drawing to a close, hospital executives were working to address other issues in Frazier's program.

Hiding patients

Dr. Frank Smart joined Texas Heart Institute as medical director of the transplant and LVAD program in 2003 and quickly grew troubled by what he saw. During his tenure, he said, he witnessed things "that I just couldn't imagine."

The overarching frustration that drove him to complain to a top St. Luke's executive before leaving in 2006: Smart believed the program, under Frazier's guidance, was putting LVAD research ahead of what was best for patients.

Smart has never spoken publicly about his concerns. He agreed to do so now, he said, because he believes patients deserved better.

His arrival at Texas Heart came at a critical time in the evolution of LVADs, which had shown promise but remained ineffective as a long-term treatment, in part because of inevitable malfunctions. At about 100,000 beats per day, no mechanical pump simulating a human heart rhythm could run indefinitely without breaking down.

When Smart got there, the program was beginning to test a new generation of pumps designed to propel blood continuously, without a pulse, minimizing the number of moving parts and making the devices far more durable. Frazier had long championed the idea and maintained that the new LVADs could do more than just keep patients alive long enough to receive a new heart. He believed they could, over time, help restore strength to diseased hearts, possibly avoiding the need for transplants.

MEDICAL MISHAP: A heart transplant, faulty equipment and a drawn-out death

The method has since been shown effective in a small percentage of patients, but Smart believed Frazier's desire to prove his theory caused him to recommend the devices to patients who were not yet sick enough to justify them.

Dr. Frank Smart was the top transplant cardiologist at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital from 2003-2006. (Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle)

Smart recalled a troubling pattern: A patient would come to St. Luke's with symptoms of heart failure. Smart or another cardiologist would make recommendations for treatment, such as prescribing drugs used to improve heart function, a common first step in attempting to control the disease and delay the need for a transplant. But soon after, before that initial therapy had time to work, the patient would be told he or she had days or weeks to live and then "whisked off for an LVAD," Smart said.

Some patients thrived with the device; others did not.

In 2005, more than half of the 34 patients who received heart assist devices at St. Luke's died without leaving the hospital, slightly higher than the national average, according to a Chronicle analysis of Texas data on patients discharged from the hospital that year. The survival rate steadily improved in the years that followed, but at the time, Smart believed many patients would have benefited from more conventional treatments.

"There were patients who walked into the hospital for an elective measurement of the pressures in their heart," Smart said. "Now, they had heart failure and they needed to be looked at, but laying down on the cath table was the last time their feet ever touched the floor."

In other cases, once a patient received an LVAD, Smart said Frazier often turned down high-quality donor hearts for them. That led Smart to believe that Frazier and others on his team were more interested in demonstrating how well the devices performed over longer periods.

"Unfortunately," Smart said, "that meant that some people didn't get transplantation when that was probably a better option for them."

As the medical director of the program, Smart said, he felt powerless. He recalled growing so frustrated that, on a few occasions, he yelled at Frazier. Sometimes, Smart and other cardiologists resorted to "hiding patients"  moving them to other parts of the hospital to prevent Frazier from recommending experimental LVADs, buying the patients time to recover with less invasive treatments or receive a transplant instead. Two other former St. Luke's staffers confirmed the highly unusual practice.

"I can think of this one young girl we moved four or five times," Smart said.

Late in his tenure, Smart said he took his concerns about patient care to the hospital's leadership, but he said nothing came of it.

In a written response to questions, Frazier praised Smart as an "excellent director" and said if Smart had concerns about the program, "he never expressed them to me." He said he and Smart both "were trying to do the best we could for the patients," and any disagreements were settled during weekly meetings.

Frazier denied implanting LVADs in patients who did not require them, writing that all patients were evaluated extensively to assess the risks and benefits of the procedure "and were presented to a multi-disciplinary review board and had to be approved before they could be electively implanted."

He also said patients who needed transplants received them when suitable donor hearts became available. "If the patients could [be] treated medically the cardiologist would never refer them to our service," he wrote.

In early 2006, not long after Smart said he voiced his concerns, he received a job offer in New Jersey. Although he had come to Texas Heart planning to spend many years at the program, he decided to take it.

He took pride in small changes he made to improve patient care at St. Luke's  "I made more people go out vertical instead of horizontal," he said. But in the end, Smart concluded there was nothing he could do to stop what he considered improper research in the LVAD program.

He didn't know, until told by a reporter, that a couple of years after he left, St. Luke's executives raised similar concerns.

'Serious and repeated' violations

Jan. 20, 2010, was a big day for Frazier and Texas Heart Institute: The Food and Drug Administration approved, for the first time, a continuous-flow LVAD for use as a permanent treatment for advanced heart failure. The HeartMate II had proved more durable than its predecessors, and far fewer patients died in the hospital after receiving one. That opened the possibility for people to survive several years or longer with the device alone.

Frazier was a lead researcher in the pump's key clinical trial.

"This is a huge accomplishment, ushering in a new era of hope for thousands of people," Frazier was quoted as saying in a Texas Heart news release.

Not mentioned in the announcement: In 2008, the hospital had learned of "serious and repeated" problems associated with its participation in that trial.

Those findings were detailed in a special report to members of St. Luke's board of directors and in correspondence between the hospital and federal health officials, according to documents obtained by the Chronicle and ProPublica.

Based on multiple reviews summarized in the report to hospital board members, St. Luke's executives concluded that Frazier and his team had implanted the experimental HeartMate II and another LVAD, the Jarvik 2000, in 30 patients who were enrolled in government health plans and for whom the medical need for the devices and compliance with trial parameters "could not be documented by the patient's medical record." The patients had been enrolled in the trials "without justification," the summary said.

In one of the reviews commissioned by the hospital, a prominent Cleveland Clinic cardiologist, Dr. James Young, concluded that St. Luke's heart failure program "pushes the limits," according to the summary document. "Dr. Young found the documentation to be poor and noted that Dr. Frazier was not up-front."

Executives at the hospital  known at the time as St. Luke's Episcopal prior to its 2013 acquisition by Catholic Health Initiatives  were troubled by what they were learning. They contemplated which scenario would be worse for the hospital's bottom line and reputation: cutting ties with Texas Heart, the famed research organization founded 46 years earlier by Cooley, or continuing to be associated with the institute should the public ever learn about its research violations.

"Should the affiliation be dissolved, the impact to St. Luke's market position is unclear," executives wrote, according to the summary report. "It is likely that such news would generate national attention and negatively impact our standing in the US News & World Report rankings."

Top officials at St. Luke's and Texas Heart reported the research violations to the federal Office for Human Research Protections in July 2008, and they pledged a host of reforms, according to a letter obtained by ProPublica and the Chronicle through the Freedom of Information Act.

St. Luke's and Texas Heart said they would audit every ongoing study for which Frazier was the lead researcher, to find and report any additional research deviations. And, according to the report to St. Luke's board, the hospital planned to give back between $3.4 million and $5.4 million in payments that Medicare had made on behalf of patients who received unjustified surgical treatments.

At one point, St. Luke's executives questioned whether Texas Heart and its leaders, including then-president Dr. James Willerson, were taking the allegations seriously. Texas Heart "evidenced no concern" that the hospital would need to repay millions of dollars to Medicare, according to the summary.

"Since Dr. Willerson's position was 'Stop trying to run off Bud,' " the report said, "it was believed that he was not conveying the seriousness of the issues to THI's board."

Dr. James Willerson after becoming president of Texas Heart Institute in 2008. (Eric Kayne/Houston Chronicle)

Reached by phone in April, Willerson initially said he did not remember any allegations of research violations against Frazier. Weeks later, after a reporter informed Willerson that his signature appeared on a letter disclosing the violations to federal regulators, he said, "I've signed a lot of things."

"If you got a signed document with my signature on it, then obviously I did it," said Willerson, now Texas Heart's president emeritus. "But I really don't have any specific recollection of that."

During a phone interview in April, Frazier said no one ever informed him that he had been accused of violating research rules, and it was "totally false" that patients received LVADs without medical justification.

In subsequent written answers to detailed questions, David Berg, a lawyer representing Frazier, said the hospital based its findings on a "deeply flawed" two-day review by a health-care consulting firm known as the Anson Group. Berg described its findings of research violations as "defamatory," and he said all of the actions the hospital took as a result were "questionable."

Berg said the Anson Group, which did not interview Frazier, inappropriately faulted him and his team for implanting LVADs in mortally ill patients who qualified for humanitarian exemptions to the research protocols. "There is no mention [in the Anson report] of the exemptions, the fact that the FDA conducted unannounced audits of the program, and that the sponsor and the FDA were fully informed about these cases," Berg wrote.

He described two cases in which young patients received LVADs and are still alive a decade later. The Anson report, completed in early 2008, identified them as "prime examples of noncompliance," Berg wrote, adding: "That is not noncompliance. That is miraculous."

St. Luke's said it doesn't have a copy of the Anson Group report, and Navigant, a consulting firm that acquired the Anson Group, said it doesn't either. Berg also did not provide the report when reporters asked for it.

As for Young, the Cleveland cardiologist who found problems in the program, Frazier said he "was always jealous of me." Berg noted that Young has subsequently praised Frazier's contributions to the field. Young declined to comment.

When asked about Frazier's contentions, David Pate, St. Luke's CEO through 2009, said he stood by the hospital's decision to report research violations to the federal government. In emailed answers to questions, Pate said he took the research violations seriously, though he said the problems were technical and he did not believe patients were harmed. The hospital took appropriate corrective actions, he said, including repaying Medicare.

None of this was disclosed when the results of the HeartMate II trial were published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in 2009, with Frazier listed as an author. A spokeswoman for the journal said editors were not aware of the issues until reporters asked in April and are now seeking more information.

Abbott, which now owns the company that makes HeartMate II, said the "study was conducted in accordance with the highest research standards, all patients were enrolled and followed per study protocol, and all data was fully audited and vetted prior to publication and submission to the FDA."

In June 2009, an FDA inspector reported finding some deficiencies in Frazier's handling of the HeartMate II trial but determined they did not rise to the level of violating the U.S. Food Drug and Cosmetic Act.

As a result of the episode, Pate said he and other executives concluded that Frazier needed to be replaced as head of the transplant and LVAD program. He praised him as a visionary surgeon but said he failed to adapt to modern research requirements.

"The culture needed to change with the evolving times," Pate, now CEO of a hospital in Idaho, wrote to reporters. "It was time for a new leader, who could build on the great foundation Dr. Frazier laid."

But for several years, that did not happen.

Stroke research never published

About the same time that St. Luke's reported the research violations, some cardiologists at Texas Heart Institute were concerned about another aspect of the HeartMate II study. They had observed a troubling side effect in some patients who received the device, and they believed the finding deserved attention.

About a quarter of the first 71 patients implanted with the LVAD at St. Luke's had suffered strokes.

Two physicians familiar with the research told reporters that they believed those findings should have been published in a medical journal, but they were not. One of the doctors said Frazier argued against it because doing so would "kill the field" of mechanical heart pumps.

Cohn, the surgeon who worked closely with Frazier after joining the program in 2004, recalled the disagreement. He said doctors had already figured out a way to more accurately measure patients' blood pressure and, as a result, better manage the pump settings to reduce the risk of brain bleeding.

Frazier didn't want to needlessly "freak people out" with research showing a high rate of serious complications, Cohn said.

"That would just pour water on the smoking ember of this new important field," Cohn said, adding that, in hindsight, the team "probably should have" published the stroke findings alongside their solution.

Dr. Biswajit Kar, the former St. Luke's cardiologist who led the effort documenting the high rate of strokes, declined to comment.

In a written response, Frazier said he did not recall any effort to turn the stroke research into a paper and "never opposed [Kar] publishing anything."

Frazier said he was the first to diagnose hemorrhagic strokes in patients who had received HeartMate II devices, years earlier in 2006, and he recalls organizing a meeting in Chicago with leading cardiologists from other hospitals and the device's maker to discuss the issue. "I recommended to the company that they require that blood pressure be controlled and that all new implanting centers be required to do the same."

Nevertheless, the initial stroke findings were never published in a formal study.

Kar presented a summary of the report at two 2009 conferences, with Frazier listed among the authors of the presentations. But other than short abstracts included in the conference programs, there is little public record of the research.

A lack of disclosure

By Frazier's own accounting, he has had a hand in developing nearly every cardiac pump in use today. But unlike many of his peers, he said, he never made money from his work on behalf of device makers.

"My efforts have never been for personal financial gain," Frazier wrote in response to written questions, adding that he "freely shared the mechanics of my heart flow pump with all comers, including two companies that later sold for billions of dollars."

Berg, Frazier's lawyer, recounted how the head of one major device maker told Frazier, "Bud, I'll give you ... the credit, but I'll keep the cash."

TELL US YOUR STORY: Help us investigate care at the Texas Medical Center

Over the years, however, some of the companies have reimbursed him for travel, and paid him consulting and lecture fees; others supported his research with grants. One device maker rewarded him with stock options, corporate filings show.

He has often failed to disclose these potential conflicts.

The issue has come up before. The 2008 report to St. Luke's board noted Frazier's "failure to accurately complete the conflict of interest form." The hospital had apparently attempted to address the issue, according to the report, but "Dr. Frazier still doesn't understand."

ProPublica and the Chronicle reviewed the past 100 papers on which Frazier was listed as an author, dating to 2010. Frazier disclosed conflicts of interest in less than 10 percent, and those disclosures often were inconsistent and incomplete.

For example, Frazier served for years as chairman of the medical advisory board of HeartWare International, which was developing a continuous-flow pump with Frazier's help.

A 2008 Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows that HeartWare awarded Frazier options to purchase the equivalent of 7,142 shares in its newly formed U.S. company at a pre-set price. Frazier said he held the options until March 2009, when he transferred them to his son, Todd, a musician. Todd Frazier exercised the options between 2010 and 2011, collecting proceeds totaling $130,813, according to financial documents provided by Berg.

HeartWare's stock more than doubled in value between early 2009 and the end of 2011 as physicians tested the device in a pair of key clinical trials. The elder Frazier played a leading role in the research, implanting the pumps in numerous St. Luke's patients in those years and speaking glowingly of them in HeartWare's corporate press releases. But when those studies were published in 2012 and 2013, Frazier disclosed no conflicts, even as some of his fellow authors did.

"There were no conflicts to report in 2012 and 2013," Frazier wrote to reporters, pointing out that neither he nor his son had any financial interests in the company by then. "It never occurred to me that Todd's having owned and sold the options (by 2011) was a conflict."

Most major medical journals require researchers to disclose financial conflicts, including stock options, dating back three years from the time a paper is submitted for publication.

In the years that followed, from mid-2013 through 2016  the only period for which federal data is available  device makers paid Frazier more than $44,000 for travel, meals and work on their behalf. He was listed as the primary investigator on research grants that brought in another $56,000 to St. Luke's and Texas Heart in 2015 and 2016, according to payment data compiled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

But more often than not, Frazier did not disclose those payments in related research papers.

After reporters asked the New England Journal of Medicine about Frazier's omissions in two specific studies and a letter, editors at the journal contacted Frazier for a response. Journal spokeswoman Jennifer Zeis later said Frazier agreed to submit revised disclosure forms, which will be posted online.

"We expect the disclosures reported by authors to be complete and accurate," she wrote in an email.

Frazier said he doesn't know which companies paid for his travel or consulting fees.

"I have personally never sent a bill," he wrote, "and don't know what is charged for anything I do."

High mortality rate

In 2010, two years after the hospital became aware of questionable research practices in Frazier's program, Frazier turned 70 and, he said, began to transition into a new role, continuing to direct research at Texas Heart Institute while allowing younger physicians to take the lead on most transplants and pump implantations.

But even as Frazier dedicated more time to his goal of developing an artificial heart, he continued operating on patients. During those years, his LVAD outcomes lagged far behind those of his peers, Medicare data shows.

From 2010-15, Frazier implanted long-lasting left ventricular assist devices in 63 Medicare patients, according to a ProPublica review of federal data. Some 31 of those patients  nearly half  did not survive a year, one of the highest mortality rates in the nation.

That was nearly double the 25 percent one-year mortality rate for Medicare patients who received LVADs from other St. Luke's surgeons during the same period; the national rate for Medicare was 28 percent.

Frazier took issue with ProPublica's analysis, saying it was "grossly unfair" to focus only on Medicare patients rather than the larger pool of patients the hospital treats, though he did not provide data showing his overall outcomes. "I implant devices in people, not 'Medicare patients,' " Frazier wrote. "I have never known what insurance carrier any patient has."

Researchers commonly compare outcomes using Medicare data because it represents tens of millions of patients and because data for privately insured patients is not publicly available. (See how ProPublica conducted its analysis.)

Frazier also said he was rarely the lead surgeon during his final five years operating, but when asked about this contention, St. Luke's said it stood behind the accuracy of the numbers it submitted to Medicare.

Frazier said the decision for him to stop operating full time in 2015 was his and had nothing to do with surgical outcomes. At the age of 75, he said, he was ready to slow down. It was a quiet exit from the operating room for a surgeon who had reportedly performed more heart transplants and implanted more LVADs than anyone in the world; there was no public announcement.

Three years later, Frazier is still called upon at times to assist with complicated operations, and he continues to be featured in St. Luke's marketing materials. His staff bio on Texas Heart's website calls him a "living legend."

Frazier's supporters say he has devoted his life to helping patients. Many in Houston and across the country, they say, would not be alive if not for Frazier's willingness to take the most difficult cases.

Doug Shonkwiler counts himself among them. He was so grateful, he gave his son the middle name Frazier.

In 2005, Shonkwiler, then a 37-year-old aerospace engineer in Fort Worth, drove himself to St. Luke's seeking help for persistent heart troubles. After some initial tests, he remembers a Texas Heart cardiologist telling him, "You only have a few hours to live."

Shaken by that prognosis, Shonkwiler agreed to let Frazier implant a HeartMate II in him, and he is glad he did. A year later, Frazier removed the device after concluding it had worked as he'd long predicted, relieving the strain on Shonkwiler's diseased heart and allowing it to recover. Shonkwiler remained in good health for another decade before returning to St. Luke's in 2016 to receive a transplant.

If not for Frazier, Shonkwiler, now 50, believes he would be dead: "Dr. Frazier has been really good to us," he said. "I can't imagine what our life would be like without him."

In the April phone interview, Frazier said he was disappointed to learn from a reporter that colleagues and administrators had questioned his methods over the years. He said Cooley, the famed surgeon who was his mentor, once told him there is a price to pay for rising to the top of your field.

"People were always attacking him for one thing or another," Frazier said of Cooley. "He said, 'Any time you're at the top of your profession, people are going to take a shot at you all the time.' I guess that may have been the case."

In recent years, Frazier has collected numerous honors for his work developing implantable heart pumps, including in April, when he traveled to Nice, France, to receive a lifetime achievement award from the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.

In a video interview played during the ceremony, Frazier acknowledged that his breakthroughs came at a cost: When the field of heart pumps was in its infancy, his first 26 LVAD patients died.

Those losses were painful, he said, but "absolutely necessary."

"Courage is grace under pressure," Frazier said in the video, quoting Ernest Hemingway. "I think that's the one thing you have to have. You have to be able to do things that may or may not result in a favorable outcome, calmly and as accurately as you can  that may in fact result in the death of a patient."

After the video ended, Frazier was invited onto the stage. There, he posed for photos while the world's leading heart and lung transplant surgeons stood and applauded.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that an abstract describing strokes in patients who received HeartMate II LVADs had been presented at one conference. It was presented at two conferences. It also said that the abstract was not available online; the second abstract was online prior to publication of this article. The article also incorrectly characterized a legal settlement involving St. Luke's hospital, O.H. "Bud" Frazier and other defendants. The story said the $500,000 settlement did not include the share given to the nurse who brought the suit; the settlement did include the nurse's share.

Houston Chronicle data editor Matt Dempsey and ProPublica data reporters Hannah Fresques and Olga Pierce contributed to this report.



Mike Hixenbaugh is a Chronicle investigative reporter focused on health care. He recently was awarded the Associated Press Media Editors storytelling award, is a four-time Livingston Awards finalist, and in 2018 was named Star Reporter of the Year for the state of Texas. Before joining the Chronicle in 2016, he was a reporter at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., where his work on the military and veterans affairs was co-published with ProPublica, NBC News and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley. He graduated from the University of Akron in 2007, before going to work for newspapers in Ohio and North Carolina. Follow him on Twitter at @Mike_Hixenbaugh. Contact him at mike.hixenbaugh@chron.com.

Charles Ornstein is a senior editor at ProPublica, overseeing its Local Reporting Network. From 2008 to 2017, he was a senior reporter covering health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining ProPublica, he was a member of the metro investigative projects team at the Los Angeles Times. In 2004, he was a lead author on a series on Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, a troubled hospital in South Los Angeles. The articles won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He previously worked at the Dallas Morning News, where he covered health care on the business desk and worked in the Washington bureau. Ornstein is a past president of the Association of Health Care Journalists and an adjunct journalism professor at Columbia University. Follow him on Twitter at @CharlesOrnstein.

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The former comptroller of a 120-year-old San Antonio company that makes locks and other detention equipment for prisons and jails has been charged with fraud and tax evasion for allegedly embezzling about $1.4 million.

Ryan Glenn Martinez worked for Southern Folger Detention Equipment Co. LLC, formerly a subsidiary of Phelps-Tointon Inc., and hes accused of setting up shell entities to funnel money intended to pay Southern Folger for equipment between January 2012 and May 2014.

A federal grand jury indicted Martinez last week on 10 counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and four counts of filing false tax returns, charges that stemmed from an investigation by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. He turned himself in Thursday, entered a not-guilty plea and was released on personal recognizance bond.

According to the indictment, Martinez set up shell company M.C. Media LLC and aliases that included MCM LLC to use them in various ways in his scheme. The indictment said he stole checks or money orders issued by customers as payment to Southern Folger, stole checks issued by health insurers to Southern Folger and used MCM as a fake vendor to bill Southern Folger and its then-parent company Phelps-Tointon.

The indictment said he deceived co-workers with false emails that caused Southern Folger and Phelps-Tointon to wire money to a bank account he owned and controlled and that he covered up his fraud with false entries in the companys books.

Nobody is fighting that he did some things he shouldnt have done, said Martinezs lawyer, Mike McCrum. (The amount of money) is overstated. Money was withdrawn, but put back into the company. Were going to try to clear that up.

Southern Folger, formerly, Southern Steel, has been in operation for 121 years and is a leading global provider of detention locks and hardware, detention equipment contracting, and security electronics systems, and its a leader in facility service and maintenance, according to a May 2017 news release announcing that Coastal Detention Holdings LLC of Georgia had bought 100 percent equity in Southern Folger from Phelps-Tointon.

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedland
AUSTIN  In a small room on the second floor of the Capitol, Gov. Greg Abbott surrounded himself Thursday with dozens of people whose loved ones were shot and killed in mass shootings.

The families lost children, parents, friends. Speaking at the governors third roundtable of the week, they were grasping for solutions. For something good to come of their pain.

The people hailed from Sutherland Springs and Santa Fe  sites of the two most recent massacres  as well as Alpine and Killeen.

Eric Johnson, who was born and raised in Santa Fe but now lives in Austin, said he wants the governor to call a special legislative session to deal with gun violence.

 Throw a dart on the map. Whose town is next? And the dart hit this town, he said, referring to the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School that left 10 dead and 13 wounded.

Johnson said people can have all the guns they want, but they need to be more responsible with them. He said the Santa Fe students are less vocal, and less public, than those of Parkland, Florida  site of the Feb. 14 high school massacre that killed 17  because in Texas, and we love our guns.

The parents and students offered a variety of suggestions: Inspecting backpacks, anonymously arming teachers, hiring more school counselors, installing dual-pull levers on fire and lockdown alarms. They also discussed raising the age to purchase guns and increasing enforcement of gun purchases so felons cant buy weapons.

One person asked, where is the oversight committee for schools? Another inquired about a panic button.

Abbott, with a notepad on his lap, listened to story after story of heartbreak.

I walk into the hallway and see a kid get shot. And he falls, said Grace Johnson, a Santa Fe High School student.

Johnson said s he and her government class wrote all a lot of these ideas in a letter to Abbott in February, just after the Parkland shooting, when someone ignited firecrackers and put Santa Fe High on lockdown. But she said she never heard back from the governor.

We didnt get anything back. We didnt even get an acknowledgment. We just want to know that you got those, she said, her voice choking up. And it finally happened at our school and we werent surprised.

The roundtable followed two others this week: one Tuesday with educators and police, and Wednesday with mental health professionals and advocates of the gun debate.

Several state leaders took part Thursday, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Joe Straus, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Little by way of gun-control enforcement was brought up. Much of the conversation rotated around school safety, including adding more police and mental health counselors on campus.

Cruz said he took away from the meeting a call to increase police presence on campus, ensure doors are impenetrable and having armed teachers in schools, citing one father who expressed frustration that the teachers at Santa Fe High School could have prevented the shooting.

We heard from one dad today who was angry and said, Why didnt they allow the teachers to be armed to protect our students? Thats another solution were hearing from those on the ground, he said.

Cruz added that he wants a system to better identify potential shooters before they become threats, and look for ways to punish felons and fugitives who illegally try to buy guns.

When Kris Workman, who was paralyzed from the Nov. 5 Sutherland Springs church massacre and now uses a wheelchair, asked Abbott what course of action should be taken, the governor said he needed time.

We need to sift through the realistic and achievable from the nonachievable, he said.

Abbott is expected to roll out his recommendations next week, which would include immediately actionable solutions, and bills the Legislature would consider when it returns to session in 2019  unless he calls for a special session before then.

Frank Pomeroy, who lost 14-year-old daughter Annabelle and his closest friends in the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church massacre, listened intently to the presentations.

He said afterward that if nothing else, the roundtable was a chance for people to tell and share their stories, sometimes for the first time.

People still need to tell their stories so they dont get locked up and implode, said Pomeroy, the First Baptist pastor.

Scot Rice, a Santa Fe resident, spoke to the media for the first time.

Ive prepared a statement. I hope I can get through it, he said shaking.

Johnny Banda, Santa Fe ISD officer, put a hand on his shoulder while Rice spoke of his wife, Flo, a substitute teacher, who had called him after she was shot multiple times in both legs.

She kept calling him while she dragged herself outside the school and collapsed in the parking lot.

She said, Ive been shot. I think Im the parking lot. He paused, then added: Silence.

She had hung up.

Banda had responded to the scene and rushed to Flos aid.

The officer said to her Are you alive? and she opened her eyes, Rice said. Im glad to say we believe Flo is going to make a full recovery.

The room broke out in applause. Pomeroy issued a loud Amen. And Rice and Banda embraced.

Banda received a gubernatorial commendation Thursday for risking his life to save Flo Rice.

Pomeroy had words of advice for the grieving Santa Fe community members.

Focus on each other, he said. And look at that light ahead of you, that hope.

sfosterfrau@express-news.net
If the March primaries gave some of Texas long-shot congressional candidates hope, last weeks runoff results snuffed them out in a big way. Candidates with fundraising advantages and Washington, D.C., backing won by comfortable margins in several races  including in Bexar County.

In the 21st Congressional District, Democrat Mary Wilson finished atop her primary field in the first round but came up short May 22 against better-funded runoff opponent Joseph Kopser.

On the Republican side, Chip Roy was boosted by the Club for Growth Action super PAC, which spent more than $830,000 on the race, as well as $732,000 of his own fundraising. He beat Boerne resident Matt McCall 53 percent to 47 percent.

In the 23rd Congressional District, Rick Trevino, an Our Revolution-backed high school teacher, overcame former prosecutor Jay Hulings fundraising advantage in the Democratic primary in March. But he lost by 36 points to Air Force veteran Gina Ortiz Jones in the runoff. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named Jones to its Red to Blue candidate list, and she outraised Trevino in funding by about 25-to-1.

Heres a look at where Kopser, Roy and Jones drew their strongest support, how the results fluctuated from March to May, and what the general election might look like.

District 21 Democrats

In the first round, Wilson beat Kopser by about 5 points in Travis County. In the runoff, results showed Kopser  who won the runoff in a landslide, 58 to 42 percent  beat Wilson by 13 points in Travis. The county made up nearly half the runoff vote.

Kopser improved his showing relative to Wilson in all but one of the districts 10 counties. (He lost ground in Real County, where eight people voted.) Notably, he won Bexar County by almost 21 points last week after beating Wilson there by six points in March. Bexar makes up 29 percent of the vote.

In sum, Kopser won 58 percent of the vote in the two counties  Travis and Bexar  that made up 77 percent of the vote. Wilson would have needed about three-quarters of the vote in the Hill Country to make that up, but Kopser drew 58 percent there.

District 21 Republicans

Roy and McCall split the 10 counties in District 21, but the five counties Roy won made up 71 percent of the votes cast, giving him a victory of more than 5 points.

Roys strongest support came from Travis, Comal and Bexar counties. He won Hays County by the widest margin, though only about 1,200 Republicans voted there.

McCall in his native Kendall County nearly doubled up Roy. He also won by 14 points in Kerr County. But combined, those counties had fewer votes than in Comal alone, where Roy got 59 percent of the vote.

McCall received just 9.5 percent of the vote in Bexar during the first round, compared with Roys 26 percent. Roy also had a big edge over McCall in Comal (34 to 16) and Travis (30 to 13) during the first round, mostly maintaining those margins in the runoff.

District 23 Democrats

Jones won Bexar County by about 4,000 votes, with 85 percent, and ran away with an overall 68 to 32 victory.

Maverick County accounted for a little more than a quarter of the runoff turnout and the most votes of the districts 29 counties. Third-place finisher Judy Canales won 40 percent of the vote there in the first round, leaving a big chunk of votes up for grabs, and ultimately Jones won the county 56 to 44.

Other large turnouts came in Val Verde, Dimmit and El Paso, each of which went to Jones by margins of more than 30 points. Trevino won La Salle, which had the sixth-highest county turnout, by four points.

Looking ahead

Jones strong performance in Bexar County sets up an interesting battle with incumbent Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, over the territory. He won the county with 53 and 57 percent of the vote in 2016 and 2014, respectively. More than half his votes came from Bexar in the two elections.

Former Rep. Pete Gallego, Hurds Democratic opponent the past two elections, won a whopping 81 percent of the El Paso vote in 2016 and won by a huge margin in Maverick. Jones got 66 percent in El Paso but won by a less convincing margin in Maverick during the runoff.

Republican Lamar Smith, the longtime incumbent in the 21st District, who is retiring, has typically received about one-third of his vote share from Bexar County, and he won the county with more than 58 percent in 2016. Kopser received 60 percent in Bexar County, comparable to prior Democratic nominees in their primaries.

Roys deep support in Comal  a stronghold for Smith, too  means Kopser will likely have to make huge inroads there to win in November.

Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspscherer
Steve Allison did the voters of this state a favor. He raised an issue thats been begging for clarity for three years.

It was back in 2015 that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill allowing licensed firearms owners to openly carry holstered handguns.

What the law left vague, however, was the question of whether law enforcement has the right to stop people openly carrying and ask to see their permit.

To Second Amendment absolutists like Matt Beebe, who ran against Allison in the Republican runoff to succeed Joe Straus in Texas House District 121, its a question with an obvious answer.

During a debate last month with Allison, Beebe invoked the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution  which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures  as a basis for the idea that police have no more right to stop someone legally carrying a gun than they do to pull over a motorist simply to see their drivers license.

Beebe said the standard for stopping someone should always be an articulable suspicion of a crime. He added, We must stand up for the entire Constitution or we will lose it bit by bit.

In fact, the issue is complicated.

A rare coalition of conservative and progressive lawmakers expressed concerns in 2015 about police having the power to stop people carrying openly. Conservatives saw it as an infringement on the right to bear arms while progressives worried that it would be used as an excuse for racial profiling.

As a result, an early version of the open-carry bill carried a provision preventing officers from stopping people simply for open carrying. Lawmakers removed that provision at the urging of law enforcement officials such as then-Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, who currently runs the Houston Police Department. Acevedo said it would handcuff officers.

Allison, an attorney and former VIA Metropolitan Transit board member in the Strausian pragmatic, bipartisan mold, defines himself as a Second Amendment proponent and an unapologetic gun owner.

But he rightly sees a common-sense imperative to empowering police officers to ask for gun permits, when they see a need to do so.

Consider last Fridays massacre at Santa Fe High School in Galveston County, which took 10 lives, making it the deadliest school shooting in this state in 52 years. Consider the shooting last November at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, only about 30 miles from downtown San Antonio, which killed 26 people.

If you saw someone in a Charles Manson T-shirt, wielding a handgun, pacing around and mumbling to themselves, a block away from an elementary school, wouldnt you want a police officer to ask to see that persons permit?

As Allison put it during a testy exchange with Beebe, this isnt a seizure, its not the taking of someones weapon. Its an inquiry that enables law enforcement to enforce permit requirements and address suspicious behavior.

Allisons point got muddied when he picked a fight with CJ Grisham, the president and co-founder of Open Carry Texas, who led a gun-rights demonstration in Olmos Park two months ago, an incident chronicled by my colleague Brian Chasnoff.

Olmos Park police overreacted to the situation, which became a violent confrontation and culminated with Grisham getting tased and arrested. At a candidate forum, Allison mistakenly described Grisham as a convicted felon. (In fact, Grisham had a Bell County misdemeanor on his record.)

Beebe got serious mileage out of that blunder.

Those details, however, dont alter the bigger point: that Allisons position on permit checking was reasonable, and, to borrow a phrase from an old book title, his stance offered a profile in courage.

Simply put, there was no political upside for Allison to break with Beebe on this issue.

He knew that anyone who suggests even modest limits on gun rights tends to be viewed with suspicion by the GOP electorate. And even if he was looking ahead to a possible general election, District 121 is so solidly Republican, there was no great need for him to try swaying Democrats or independents to his side.

Predictably enough, his also incurred the wrath of Empower Texans  a perennial right-wing thorn in Strauss side  which said his stand flew in the face of the Second Amendment.

The only logical conclusion is that Allison committed an act of principle  risking some heat from the GOP base to take a stand he considered correct.

And he won his runoff anyway.

@gilgamesh470

Gilbert Garcia is a San Antonio Express-News columnist. Read more of his stories here. | ggarcia@express-news.net | @gilgamesh470
GREENWICH  Shock and disappointment followed the announcement Friday that Superintendent of Schools Jill Gildea is resigning her position in Greenwich after less than one year to accept a new job in Utah.

Gildea told school board members of her decision Thursday night, and official notification of the resignation was made the following morning.

The school administration issued a statement that said Gildea is leaving due to her familys unanticipated relocation to Utah.

News of the abrupt departure came as an unsettling turn of events. The position of Greenwich schools superintendent has seen turnover a dozen times in the past two decades  including interim school chiefs who filled in for a year while the school board searched for a new permanent leader.

Its shocking, Im really surprised, said a school parent near New Lebanon School on Friday afternoon. Whoever takes the job next, I hope they stay, she said.

Another parent said there were many questions in her mind about the latest resignation.

Why? asked the New Lebanon School mother. Why so much turnover? Is the town that dysfunctional?

First Selectman Peter Tesei wondered the same thing.

The fact Greenwich has been unable to retain a Superintendent for the long-term, is indicative that something is structurally, and perhaps philosophically, wrong with the processes employed by the Board of Education, Tesei said in a statement. It is my hope and desire that the Board of Education will review its policies, procedures and processes and be able to identify what needs to be done to bring long-term stability in the leadership of our school system.

Tesei said he enjoyed working with Gildea and appreciated her commitment to work through the summer. But, he added, While I understand her decision to leave Greenwich, I certainly am disappointed.

Gildea, whose salary was set at $250,000 this year, wrote in a statement to the Greenwich community: Though my time here in the district was shorter than I imagined, I look back with great pride and satisfaction knowing that we, together, have prepared students for their next steps. I remain grateful for and impressed with the work of our instructional and operational administrators, educators, and support staff. Their dedication and commitment to excellence is evident in all they do across the District.

Gildea was hired by the district in March 2017 for a term that began July 1. She replaced interim Superintendent Sal Corda, who was brought on in the prior year after former Superintendent William McKersie left to take over the schools in Weston in 2016. McKersie took the Greenwich post in 2012, and his four-year run was the longest in recent history.

The school district in Park City, Utah announced Friday it had hired Gildea to be its new superintendent after an extensive national search.

Gildea and her husband, Greg Gildea, have three adult children and a daughter who was attending Greenwich High School. She was known during her short time in Greenwich for a level-headed, low-key style, according to a number of parents. Prior to coming to Greenwich, Gildea was superintendent of a school district in the Chicago suburbs for six years, and another in northern Illinois for three years before that.

In addition to her annual salary in Greenwich, she received a $15,000 annuity and a $3,500-per-month housing allowance. The district reimbursed her moving costs to Greenwich from the Chicago area. McKersie was paid $238,368 in his last year.

Todays announcement certainly came as a surprise to Council, said Karen Bierman Hirsh, president of the Greenwich PTA Council. I have really enjoyed working with Dr Gildea and in her short tenure, feel she has been an incredible asset to the district, our students and to Council. ... We are a district with high expectations, and while I am sad to see her leave and wish her well in Utah, we must now turn our attention to hiring a new superintendent who will continue to build on to the great framework created this year.

The Park City School District Board of Education voted Friday morning to appoint Gildea.

She has a proven track record in managing school districts using data-driven decisions and sound fiscal practices, working collaboratively with staff and parent groups, as well as with local township governments to fund educational needs, the district said in an announcement on its website.

Her experience as a superintendent both in the Chicago area and in Greenwich will bring valuable intellectual capital to our district, Park City Board President Andrew Caplan said, adding Gildea was the first choice for the Utah position.

Park City, a winter-resort town near Salt Lake City, is best known for hosting the Sundance Film Festival.

From my perspective in visiting other districts across the country through my work with a variety of national organizations, I believe that Park City School District keeps its students at the center of key decisions, and models whole child practice, Gildea said in a posted statement. The District is well poised as a leader not only in Utah, but in the nation. I look forward to joining this talented and dedicated team.

Gildea was selected for the Greenwich job from a national candidate pool as part of a nine-month search led by Ray and Associates. The school board interviewed seven superintendent candidates starting in February 2017.

Local school officials indicated Gildeas abrupt departure means more turnover is likely ahead.

The Greenwich Board of Education initiated recruitment efforts today for an Interim Superintendent immediately following Superintendent Dr. Jill Gildeas announcement that she will be leaving the Greenwich Public Schools later this year due to her familys unanticipated relocation to Utah, the school board said in a statement. In addition, the search for a permanent Superintendent will begin without delay. Dr. Gildea will be available to provide support throughout the transition.

BOE Chair Peter Bernstein said the Greenwich district is well-positioned to attract a new superintendent based on the roadmap provided by our Strategic Plan, the continued success of our students and the continuity of our dedicated administrators and staff.

The school board spent about $35,000 on the search that resulted in Gildeas hiring.
BRIDGEPORT - Like many around the country, Sarah Ann Masse watched the newscasts Friday as movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was escorted into a New York City court to face sexual assault charges.

For Masse it was both a relief and a vindication of her own claims that the movie producer molested her in his former Westport home in 2008.

Harvey Weinsteins arrest is an important step on the path to justice for myself and all of his victims. But it is not where this ends, she told Hearst Connecticut Media. This is a systemic issue, and this is one step in the right direction in a series to move us forward. Harvey must be sentenced and pay for his heinous crimes. Those who surrounded him, supported him, were complicit in and facilitated his crimes must also be brought to justice.

Weinstein emerged from a police station Friday morning with his hands locked behind his back in steel cuffs. The once-powerful Hollywood faces rape and criminal sex act charges, a searing reckoning for the man who became a symbol of a worldwide outcry over sexual misconduct.

This defendant used his position, money and power to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually, Manhattan Assistant Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said later, in words that brought raised eyebrows from the otherwise stony-faced Weinstein.

The charges stem from encounters with two of the dozens of women  some famous, some not  who have accused him of sexual misdeeds. The rape charge involves a woman who has not come forward publicly; the other is a onetime aspiring actress who was among his first accusers.

Underwear interview

Masses Westport encounter with Weinstein came in 2008, whenshe was working as a nanny to support herself as she pursued an acting career in New York City. Her agency informed her of a job babysitting Weinsteins three children from his first marriage.

After about a month of interviews with Weinsteins assistants, Masse said she was told that Weinstein wanted to meet her. The assistant scheduled the interview to take place at Weinsteins then home on Beachside Avenue in Westport.

In her federal lawsuit she filed against Weinstein last year, Masse states she drove to Weinsteins home. When she arrived, he opened the door in his boxer shorts and an undershirt. Thomas assumed Weinstein had forgotten about the interview, and that he would excuse himself to go change. But he did not, the suit states.

Weinstein then proceeded to conduct the interview in his underwear.

At the conclusion of the interview, still clad only in his underclothes, Weinstein grabbed Masse and pulled her tight against his body, the lawsuit states.

The hug was uncomfortably close, and lasted too long. She did not know how to get out of his embrace, the suit continues. Weinstein then told Masse that he loved her. Thomas felt unsafe and sexualized. She was afraid to try and pull away or push him off or even ask him to stop because she feared he may become violent.

Thomas left feeling upset, shaken, afraid and disrespected. When she returned home, she told the story to her mother, the lawsuit states.

It continues that a few days later, Weinsteins assistant informed Masse that she did not get the job because she was an actor.

On information and belief, the reason Thomas was not hired was because she did not respond to Weinsteins propositions, the suit states.

Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex. His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said Friday that he would fight to get the charges dismissed.

Weinstein was released on $1 million bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on traveling beyond New York and Connecticut. The top charges against him carry the potential for up to 25 years in prison.

Hes accused of confining a woman in a Manhattan hotel room and raping her in 2013, according to a court complaint.

The criminal sex act charge stems from a 2004 encounter between Weinstein and Lucia Evans, a then-aspiring actress who told The New Yorker magazine he forced her to perform oral sex during a daytime meeting in his office.

More than 75 women have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing, and authorities in California and London are also investigating assault allegations. Brafman also has said that Weinstein was a principal target of an investigation being conducted by the U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan.

Other women who have publicly accused Weinstein of criminal sexual assaults include actress Rose McGowan, who said Weinstein raped her in 1997 in Utah; Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, who said he raped her in her New York apartment in 1992, and Norwegian actress Natassia Malthe, who said he attacked her in a London hotel room in 2008.

Blacklist threat

Until the scandal, Weinstein was among the most influential forces in American film. Companies he co-founded, Miramax and the Weinstein Co., were behind such hits as Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love and The Kings Speech.

After Weinstein was fired from his own company in the wake of numerous sexual assault complaints from women, Masse said she finally felt she could speak publicly about Weinsteins predatory behavior. She also publicly declared that she will not audition for roles for productions in which known predators are involved.

In early December 2017, Masse said she was informed that several casting directors had complained about her public position on Weinstien, implicitly threatening to blacklist her.

This movement is changing the discourse of abuse and assault so that survivors are heard and believed, she told Hearst. Through breaking the silence, through class actions against predators like Harvey and his ring of conspirators, through cooperating with criminal cases, and through being a part of creating the art, industry, and society that no longer stands for this type of behavior. Today we can both appreciate what we have done and appreciate what we have yet to do.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Connecticuts Democratic congressional delegation mostly saw President Donald Trumps own fingerprints on the demise of what would have been a historic summit meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Denuclearization is an extraordinarily complex goal, requiring a high level of scientific expertise as well as personal hands-on diplomacy by people steeped in the history and current economic and cultural situation in North Korea, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said in an interview Thursday. The U.S. was unprepared, and President Trump was unwilling or unable to do the hard work of diplomacy.

The president announced his decision Thursday to back away from the June 12 summit, saying tremendous anger and open hostility by North Korea had forced cancellation of a meeting that, had it been successful, would have been a major diplomatic achievement.

The two Koreas have been in a technical state of war ever since the 1953 ceasefire armistice ended the Korean War. In varying degrees, every president since then has mounted diplomatic efforts to woo Pyongyang, all doomed to failure.

North Koreas acquisition and testing of nuclear weapons, combined with threats to use them, have raised the stakes of negotiations considerably.

Trump appeared to score a major breakthrough when he got a positive reception from Kim Jong Un to his offer of a summit. His name was even mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hopes for the meeting appeared to take a wrong turn when National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence used the term Libya model  a reference to the death of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi at the hands of rebel forces in 2011.

But Libya voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons program in 2003 to comply with Western conditions. The U.S. and Europe helped topple his Gaddafis regime anyway  likely a lesson not lost on the North Korean leader.

The lead up to the meeting has been as discombobulated as everything else in this White Houses foreign policy, said Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But I still hope these talks happen, because the alternative  the White House war cheerleaders using this failure as an excuse to move toward military action  is unacceptable.

Rep. Jim Himes, a member of the House intelligence committee, said Trump deserved credit for thinking outside the box, showing a willingness to try a fresh approach.

Nevertheless, the president believed he could use the power of persuasion, but thats not how it works in the world of high-stakes diplomacy, he said. You shoot from hip, you get played. And we got played here.

Blumenthal pointed to the decimation among State Department ranks of officials with long experience in North Korea. A careful, thoughtful approach to a major diplomatic undertaking is an attribute of both past Republican and Democratic administrations, he added.

Look at Nixon to China, he said, referring to President Richard Nixons successful opening to China, resulting from a 1972 trip to Beijing. He didnt just get on Air Force One and head over there. There was a lot of preparation beforehand.

dan@hearstdc.com
WASHINGTON  After a series of allegations on Capitol Hill  including one complaint in Rep. Elizabeth Estys office  the Senate has voted unanimously to change the rules about congressional staffer claims of sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination.

For Anna Kain, the former Esty staffer abused by the representatives ex-chief of staff, the Senate bill that passed Thursday is long past overdue.

Had it been in place while she was being mistreated, Kain said, it would have made coming forward easier, and made complaints more difficult to brush under the rug.

If this was in any way part of the conversation in my office, I wouldnt have questioned myself and would have known that I had real options for standing up for myself, Kain said Friday.

Under the legislation, abusers would be sanctioned if they are found to have sexually harassed a congressional employee. Victims would be required to report their case to a congressional committee that would hear out their claims.

The Senate approval comes months after the House passed its own version of the legislation in February. The Senate and House would need to mesh their versions  or choose which piece of legislation to adopt  before the bill lands on President Donald Trumps desk for signing.

Competing versions

Esty, D-Conn., said the House legislation is stronger and should be adopted over the Senate bill, because the House version does not let members of Congress opt out of committee hearings about sexual misconduct, which the Senate bill allows.

The American people would be served better, and people who work for the House and the Senate would be better served if House and Senate negotiated a final bill, Esty said in an interview.

The uproar over harassment and abuse in Congress has grown over the years, culminating in the resignations last year of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. It bubbled over in March, when Kain went public with her account of being abused by Estys former chief of staff, Tony Baker.

Esty said she was not aware of the abuse until 2016, when she was told of a series of threatening voicemails and phone calls Baker placed to Kain after a night of heavy drinking.

When she found out, Esty asked a former chief of staff, Julie Sweet, to investigate. Baker remained on the payroll for three more months. Esty fired him in the summer of 2016.

Later that year, Baker went to work in Ohio for Newtown-based Sandy Hook Promise on Estys favorable job recommendation. Sandy Hook Promise fired him after Kains complaints were made public. Esty later announced she would not run for re-election this year.

Updating procedures

The Senate bill, from Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is an update to old legislation. The new act scratches previous congressional rules that forced victims of sexual harassment to undergo counseling and wait 30 days  called a cooling-off period  before bringing their complaint to court.

The new legislation, named the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act, requires sanctions against lawmakers who are found to have sexually harassed a congressional employee or staffer.

Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both D-Conn., favored the legislation.

It should not have taken us this long to change this broken system and give victims of harassment the protections and support they deserve, Murphy said.

Blumenthal said the change would give victims peace of mind that their complaints would be resolved fairly.

Previously, senators and House members typically handled sexual assault complaints on their own. Kain and others said the system amounted to a sanction of congressional fiefdoms, in which lawmakers set their own rules.

The #MeToo movement was spawned last year when Harvey Weinstein, a former Hollywood producer, was hit with allegations of sexual assault and harassment from more than 10 women. Weinstein turned himself in on sexual misconduct charges Friday.

After the complaints against Weinstein surfaced, dozens of women came forward with cases of sexual harassment and assault against high-profile figures.

Several complaints prior to #MeToo were remedied with hush money. More than $300,000 in taxpayer dollars were used to settle sexual harassment complaints in the House between 2008 and 2012. The new bill mandates that congress members repay settlements taken out of the U.S. Treasury.

Esty admitted that she paid Baker $5,000 in severance when he left her office in 2016, an amount she has since paid back out of her own pocket.

Sarah.roach@chron.com
The increasing number of lambs killed due to ravens has led farmers to call for a cull to "responsibly reduce" numbers in Scotland.

With reports of young lambs being lost to raven predation during lambing time, the National Sheep Association (NSA) is reiterating its support to grant licences to allow raven numbers to be responsibly reduced.

NSA believes licences should also be readily available in other parts of the UK affected by what it says is a "massive increase" in raven numbers.

The sheep group says the increase has come about due to the birds protected status allowing populations to grow with little deterrent or control.

As well as impacting sheep flocks, local wildlife is also facing the danger of limited food stocks, endangering prey and ground nesting bird species such as oystercatchers and lapwings.

With lambing now finished across the UK, NSA has received reports of very high losses to ravens this year, including flocks in Scotland where 50 to 100 lambs have been killed.

'Loss of a tongue or eye'

NSA Chief Executive, Phil Stocker describes the gruesome way ravens kill lambs. Ravens target lambs in vulnerable moments, even striking the very moment they are born, and the loss of a tongue or an eye is a terrible way for these young animals to die.

Farmers respect the legislation but must have trust that when species levels reach strong numbers, there can be debate on sustainable levels. Responsible culling under licence will allow farmers to keep on top of the numbers and protect stock when they are at their most defenceless.

The Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the body responsible for granting licences to farmers to cull, has come under criticism for its lack of movement on the issue.

NSA Scottish Region Chairman John Fyall has spoken out in defence of giving farmers' licences, calling it an "emotive issue".

Nothing is as emotive as seeing a newborn lamb trying to find a teat to feed from its mother with no tongue and no eyes.

Stringent process

The licence application process is stringent, with a farmer required to prove the birds have caused or are at high risk of causing serious damage.

Mr Stocker says the licences are used to protect ravens from killing livestock and wildlife, and will not be given out liberally or without proven reason.

He says: NSA supports the practice of licencing in this way, as it ensures no action is taken without considered reason.

The purpose of protecting a species is to ensure numbers do not fall below dangerous levels, and when positive progress is made and populations boom, options must be provided to prevent unintended consequences on other species of domestic and wild animal.
The government has been called to support the UK's dwindling number of small abattoirs rather than introduce a ban on animal exports in a bid to reduce livestock travel time.

In written evidence to Defras consultation on the matter, the Countryside Alliance supported the government's objective of reducing travel time from point of production to slaughter.

However, the rural organisation argued that this was best achieved by establishing more small and medium size abattoirs in the UK rather than introducing a ban on live exports for slaughter.

The purpose of Defra's consultation was to seek views on controlling live exports of farm animals for slaughter once the UK has left the EU which could include regulatory measures as well as prohibitions.

Leaving the EU will give the UK the opportunity to change the regulations for transporting animals to Europe, including the possibility of introducing a ban on live exports.

The Countryside Alliance has argued that there is no evidence to suggest that transportation over water is of any greater risk to animal welfare than transportation over land, and stressed that farmers and producers in the UK could be disadvantaged by a one-sided ban.

'Completely illogical'

Countryside Alliance Head of Policy, Sarah Lee said it is vital that animal welfare is central to the regulations for transporting animals, but any changes must be based on "principle and evidence".

The majority of campaigners on this issue accept that travel within the UK should not be affected so we may face a situation where animals cannot be transported from Dover to Calais but they can be moved from Liverpool to Belfast. This would be completely illogical, Ms Lee said.

We fully support the governments aim of slaughtering animals as close as possible to the point of production, but there are many ways this can be achieved without simply focusing on international movement.

She said it is "disappointing" that the government is not using the opportunity of Brexit to look at ways of supporting small and medium sized abattoirs, which have "struggled to cope with regulation from the EU".

Reviving a network of small, local abattoirs would do far more to help reduce journey times than a simple ban on live exports, Ms Lee added.

Decline of small

Small abattoirs also help deliver public goods to local communities, and are seen as essential to the future of local and traceable meat production in the UK.

But they run the risk of closing down, with the decline running against the growing public demand for local food.

As a recent report shows, without urgent action there will soon be no small abattoirs left in large parts of the country.

A third of small abattoirs have closed in the last decade and more are continuing to go out of business.

The report shows that over the last decade more than a third of small abattoirs have closed. In England there are just 63 small abattoirs left, down from 96 in 2007.

Two further small abattoirs have already closed this year in Scotland. In total the number of all red meat abattoirs has fallen to 249 from 320 in 2007 and almost 1,900 in 1970.
Police in Scotland are appealing for witnesses following the high-value theft of two Massey Ferguson tractors, worth 70,000.

The incident happened sometime between 9pm on Monday 22 May and 7am on Tuesday 23 May at Longford Farm, West Calder, West Lothian.

A shed on the site was entered and two high-value Massey Ferguson tractors, worth 70,000, were stolen.

The first is a red 5470 model with registration number SF57 HJZ and chassis number S074034. It was fitted with pallet forks.

The second is a red 6460 model with registration number KO06 SDY chassis number R200008. It was fitted with a red Kverneland topper at the rear.

Constable Louise McReight from the Community Investigation Unit said: "The value of the stolen tractors is around 70,000 and we are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry to trace the vehicles and identify those responsible for their theft.

"Stealing two tractors would require a large truck and so anyone who remembers seeing such a vehicle around Longford Farm on Monday evening or Tuesday morning, or who witnessed any other suspicious activity in the area should contact police immediately.

"In addition, anyone with any further information that can assist with our investigation is also urged to get in touch."

The incident follows news of a scheme launched by Warwickshire police to help tackle thefts of agricultural vehicles in the county.

Stickers with Police  Stop, if moving between 10pm and 5am are being made available for farmers to apply to their vehicles, trailers and other road-going equipment.

Those with information can contact the CIU via 101 and quote incident number 1159 of the 23rd May. Alternatively, an anonymous report can be made to the charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Dorset farmer named Dairy Woman of the Year

She was praised for her work with schoolchildren
Actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Priyanka Chopra sought to draw the world's attention to the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya refugees, as she met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and lauded the country for its response to the massive humanitarian crisis.

Chopra, who arrived in Bangladesh on Monday on a four-day visit, also visited and met some of the displaced Rohingyas of Myanmar living in the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, a town on the southeast coast of the country.

"The world should learn from Bangladesh," aspokesperson from the prime minister's office quoted Chopra as saying during her meeting with Hasina.

The prime minister's additional press secretary Nazrul Islam said the Bollywood star particularly praisedHasina for shouldering the burden of over a million "forcibly displaced" ethnic minority population ofMyanmar during her courtesy visit at the premier's Gonobhaban residence this afternoon.

Chopra, 35, who visited the Rohingya camps for the second time, shared her comparative experience of interacting with the children there, saying over the months they overcame the trauma of violence they witnessed at their homeland, the official said.

"Earlier, when I visited the Rohingya camps I asked the children to draw a picture ... they drew pictures of arms, gunfire and mortar shell from roving helicopters. As I told them to do the same this time they drew pictures of sun, animals and nature," Chopra said, terming the change as a "testimony of their inside healing".

"And it was possible due to your motherly shelter and security," she told Hasina.

The prime minister's sister, Sheikh Rehana, and family members were present during the call on.

Chopra, however, feared the Rohingya children still were exposed to a hazardous situation in their camps.

On behalf of the UN's children emergency relief fund, she called upon the international community to extend all out support for the Rohingyas.

The "Quantico" star told Hasina that she was concerned about the possibility of a "generation loss" of a particular ethnicity as a large number of children have no access to education and passing their days roaming around.

"The children may go astray and even become extremists if they are deprived of the opportunity of having education," Chopra feared.

Hasina told Chopra that her government has given shelter to the Rohingyas solely on humanitarian ground as people of Bangladesh experienced the same situation in 1971.

Hasina also said that her government has been making efforts to give the Rohaingyas all support, but it was not possible alone for Bangladesh to mitigate their sufferings and UNICEF and other international agencies should come forward with more support.

According to the UN, the humanitarian crisis caused by escalating violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State has forced close to seven lakh Rohingyas to cross the border into Cox's Bazar.

Not only has the pace of arrivals since August last year till April this year has made this the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world, the concentration of refugees in Cox's Bazar is now amongst the densest in the world.

Credits - PTI
Parmanu Movie Public Review: John Abraham | Diana Penty | Abhishek Sharma | FilmiBeat

Rating: 2.5 /5 Star Cast: John Abraham, Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Darshan Pandya, Zachary Coffin Director: Abhishek Sharma

John Abraham's 'Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran' has been a talking point ever since its inception. For those who ain't aware, the film is a reconstruction of one of the most pivotal events in the history of modern India. It documents the 1998 Pokhran II tests in which India sneakily conducted a series of three nuclear bomb test explosions under utmost secrecy right under the nose of the CIA spy satellites. While the film is based on true events, director Abhishek Sharma adds a generous dose of fiction to make it commercially palatable.

Parmanu begins with Ashwat Raina (John Abraham), an upright civil servant from the Research & Analysis department trying to convince the Prime Minister's Office to let India conduct its own set of nuclear tests and declare its arms might to the world.

Ranveer Singh- Deepika Padukone To Get MARRIED On This Date? Insiders Reveal Details!

Unfortunately, he is mocked by the officials and his idea is 'plagiarized'. However, the operation fails to escape from the prying eyes of CIA and eventually Ashwat is made the 'scapegoat' leading to his suspension. Betrayed by the system, he moves to Mussoorie to begin his life afresh with his family.

Three years later, with the change in regime, Ashwat is brought back on board by Himanshu Shukla (Boman Irani), who is the Principal Secretary to the new Prime Minister, to spearhead the second set of nuclear tests in the desert of Pokhran in Rajasthan. With a motley crew of scientists and army personnel, Ashwat sets out to make the nation proud and tackle the odds against this mission which includes nosy CIA satellites, a Pakistani spy and a seed of doubt.

To begin with, John Abraham & team needs to be applauded for picking up a story that would make every Indian proud. Parmanu is a blend of facts and fiction packed in a runtime of roughly 129 minutes. Having said that, a subject like this needs taut direction and that's where Parmanu wobbles. Abhishek Sharma tries to pack in too many ingredients only to succeed to some extend. The mixing of genres doesn't work in his favour.

A little insight about Pokhran-I codenamed Smiling Buddha which was India's first nuclear test in 1974 could have made the narrative more intriguing. Further this film loses its fizz at several places due to its chest-thumping patriotism and jingoistic lines which spells it out loud.

John Abraham with his limited acting chops plays it fair. But, the actor seems a tad uneasy when it comes to mouthing heavy-weight dialogues in the film and his face at these moments gives it away all. However, he gets his little moment of 'triumph' towards the end where his character breaks down. Also he scores some brownie points from us for backing this story which needed to be told.

Diana Penty as security expert Ambalika begins on a promising note only to trail away later; blame it on her poorly-sketched character. Even in the midst of a sandstorm and a nuclear testing explosion, our lady manages to look as if she's just stepped out of the salon, all prime and proper! Oh dear, I am dying to know how her character escaped from getting tanned in the scorching heat of Rajasthan summer when I barely manage a ten-minute walk in the sun without breaking into sweat and all dusty.

Boman Irani lends a good support. The rest of the cast- Anuja Sathe, Yogendra Tiku, Aditya Hitkari and others play their parts well.

The film's music doesn't add any layers to the narrative and looks misplaced instead. You have real footage of Indian political leaders making statements to the media and US' condemnation after the nuclear testing and CIA intelligence failure juxtaposed with the reel which blends quite seamlessly and goes with the flow. The editing works fine.

Parmanu has an intriguing premise with its fair share of 'thrills', but the film doesn't blow your mind because of its weak execution. While this John Abraham- Diana Penty starrer has noble intentions, it does not skyrocket your excitement levels leaving you a little underwhelmed. I am going with 2.5 stars here.

Aamir Khan REVEALS His First Salary For Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak & It Will Leave You Surprised!
Mohanlal is at present busy with the shoot of his upcoming film with Ranjith, which is yet-to-be-titled. Meanwhile, the actor gave a surprise to all social media users, by making a special entry through a live video posted by actor Tini Tom.

Actor Tini Tom, who is also in the UK, for the shoot of the Ranjith movie, did come LIVE on Facebook, to send out a message to the viewers. Tini Tom is a part of the popular show, Comedy Utsavam, aired on Flowers TV channel.

The actor informed through the LIVE video that he won't be able to be a part of the show, for the next few episodes as he in the UK, for the shoot of the movie. He also spoke about the shoot of the film that he is doing at present and with the legend that he is working with. Meanwhile, Mohanlal made a surprise entry to the LIVE video and gave a special Hi to the audiences and moved away. Well, the big entry of Mohanlal definitely came as a huge surprise to all.

Mohanlal and Tiny Tom were previously seen together in the movie Loham, which was also directed by Ranjith. Tini Tom had played a special cameo role in the Mohanlal starrer, which had hit the theatres in 2015. More updates regarding the upcoming film of Mohanlal and Ranjith are being awaited.
Versatile actor Vijay Sethupathi will soon be seen playing a pivotal role in young director Karthik Subbaraj's film with Rajinikanth. And, as expected, movie buffs are quite excited about seeing Kollywood's 'Thalaiva' sharing screen space with 'Makkal Selvan'.

During a recent interview with a Tamil daily, Sethupathi revealed that he signed the film without even reading its script as he has full faith in Subbaraj's directorial abilities. He added that he is looking forward to working with the Superstar as he can learn a lot from him. He, however, did not confirm whether he will be playing the antagonist in the film. One can expect more clarity on this once the film hits the floors this June.

A short while ago, while talking to Sun TV, Subbaraj had said that directing Rajinikanth will be an 'enjoyable challenge' for him.

"Even though I've made four films in my career so far, I grew fascinated towards cinema because of superstar Rajinikanth sir. To get to direct him is the best moment of my life," he had said.

We wish the team good luck and hope that the film turns out to be a success.

On a related note, this is a busy time for Sethupathi. He is currently shooting for Mani Ratnam's Chekka Chivantha Vaanam. The film is a multi-starrer and also has Aishwarya Rajesh, Simbu and Jyothika in the lead. Vijay Sethupathi will also be seen in the period-drama Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy. Featuring Megastar Chiranjeevi in the titular role, it is one of the biggest Telugu films of the year.

As far as Rajini is concerned, he is currently gearing up for the release of Kaala. The film is a crime-thriller and hits screens on June 7, 2018. Besides Rajini, it also has Bollywood star Huma Qureshi and veteran actor Nana Patekar in the lead.

Rajini also has the sci-fi thriller 2.0 in his kitty. The film is a sequel to the 2010 release Enthiran, and has been directed by S Shankar. In it, he will be seen alongside Akshay Kumar and Brit beauty Amy Jackson. Akki plays a character named Dr Richard and will be seen in a shocking avatar in the film.
Hina Khan Trolled For Her Ramadan Post

It has to be recalled that the actress faced the wrath of trollers as she wished fans during Ramadan (first Sehri). She was blamed for being clueless and stupid. Many of them argued that it was not first sehri, but Hina (and few fans) stopped the trolls by pointing out that it was indeed first sehri in Mumbai (as Mumbai was observing the fast a day later from most of Indian cities).

When A Person Grows, Many Try To Put Them Down

When Hina was asked about the same at the event, she was quoted by IE as saying, "When a person grows and moves up in their career, there are many, who would try to put them down or talk ill about them."

Social Media And Trollers Are Faceless

"But that shouldn't ever deter us from moving ahead. Social media and trollers are faceless and it doesn't bother me at all. I want to focus on my work and career and I can't let all this affect me."

The Actress Recalls Her Childhood Memory

The actress also recalled her childhood memories, as to how she (as a child) and her brother found it difficult to observe fast and tried their best to avoid it. She also added that their parents didn't force them for it.

Hina's Parents Never Forced Them

She was quoted by the leading daily as saying, "We were really young and not wanting to fast, we would hide under blankets. It was an innocent action and our parents were really understanding and never forced us for it. When I am not working, I try to observe fast now."

Does Rocky Observe Fast?

Many partners observe fast for each other. When asked whether her boyfriend, Rocky Jaiswal too, observed fast, she told, "It's not easy and Rocky cannot stay without water so he hasn't tried it and I will never ask him also. It's a personal choice after all."
Old Shows New Season

Sony TV is all set to launch a set of interesting shows. Recently, the channel launched Ram Kapoor's Zindagi Ke Crossroads. Dus Ka Dum, Comedy Circus and Kaun Banega Crorepati are all set to return soon!

Salman & Sohail's Shows

Salman is all set to return to the channel after nine years. Also, after more than four years, Archana Puran Singh and Sohail Khan will be back as judges on Comedy Circus.

Danish Khan On Comedy Shows

Talking about the comeback of the series, Sony TV's EVP and Business Head, Danish Khan was quoted by IE as saying, "Comedy is a very important offering for us and the show has been exceptionally successful."

Comedy Is A Big Format & Brand!

"It was the place where it all happened. Be it Kapil Sharma, Krushna Abhishek or Sudesh Lahiri, they've all emerged from the same stage. It's a big format and brand for us and we are really excited to have it back."

Has Current Incident Surrounding Kapil Left Bad Blood Between Him & Channel?

When asked whether the incidents in the last couple of months surrounding Kapil Sharma has left a bad blood between them, he told IE, "Not at all. It's really unfortunate that after a couple of episodes his health deteriorated and he had to take a break."

We Completely Believe In Kapil And His Competence

"Kapil will always remain a premium talent for Sony and we completely believe in Kapil and his competence. The day he is physically and mentally fit and ready to drive a show, Sony will be more than happy to associate with him."

Its Only Human To Give The Person Space And To Recover

He further added, "I think it's all part of business and every artist works really hard and goes through a lot of pain and to see them breaking down is sad. It's only human to give the person space and to recover. Whatever happened, we have taken it on our stride and moved ahead."
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) has appointed its first female chairman. Jane Garvey, a United board member since 2009, was selected as the new non executive chairman. 'Jane steps into this critical role bringing with her decades of experience as both a leader and pioneer in our industry,' Oscar Munoz, United's chief executive, said in a statement. Ms. Garvey is North America chairman of Meridiam Infrastructure Finance Sarl, a public-private-partnership development and investment firm based in Paris focused on greenfield opportunities in transportation, water and social infrastructure. Before assuming the United board role in 2009, Ms. Garvey served on the transition team for President Barack Obama. Before that, she headed U.S. public/private partnerships at JPMorgan , advising states on financing strategies for state governments. She also served as the 14th administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
ANKARA, Turkey, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- XCMG, the world's leading construction machinery manufacturer, has established a new overseas company, XCMG Turkey Co., Ltd. and Spare Parts Center (XCMG Turkey), in Ankara, Turkey, which will allow the company to provide products and services to customers in the rapidly-growing country.

XCMG Turkey will work with local dealers to provide a complete one-stop experience for local customers, promoting sustainable development of the XCMG brand locally and laying a solid foundation for expanding into surrounding markets. At the company's opening ceremony, XCMG signed a US$7 million deal with a Turkish dealer, a milestone cooperation covering a variety of equipment including excavators, cranes and loaders.

"We are excited to expand our presence in Turkey through the establishment of a local company," said Jiansen Liu, Assistant President of XCMG and General Manager of XCMG Import and Export Co. "Turkey, is an important node along China's 'Belt and Road' Initiative and the market there plays an important role in XCMG's international growth strategy thanks to its geographical and economic position in the region."

Merih Ozgen, President of the Turkey Construction Machinery Association, believes that the establishment of XCMG Turkey has epoch-marking significance to the development of Turkey's engineering machinery industry and will accelerate the development of Turkish infrastructure construction. "The ancient Silk Road started in China and ended in Turkey. The Belt and Road tightens the relationship between China and Turkey," he said.

XCMG entered the Turkish market in 2000 and the brand's advanced and endurable products including cranes, excavators, loaders, land levelers, rotary drilling rigs and more have been used by many construction projects in the country. At present, more than 1,000 XCMG machineries are working in the Turkey.

XCMG has expanded its market share in the 57 countries participating in China's "Belt and Road" Initiative, with exports to those countries accounting for 72 percent of the company's total outbound volume. Just in April, XCMG delivered concrete mixing plants to assist the new capital project in Egypt.

About XCMG

XCMG is a multinational heavy machinery manufacturing company with a history of 74 years. It currently ranks sixth in the world's construction machinery industry. The company exports to more than 177 countries and regions around the world.

For more information, please visit: www.xcmg.com, or XCMG's pages on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696780/Turkey_XCMG.jpg
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- HemoSonics today announced it will be participating in the scientific proceedings as well as have a commercial presence at Euroanesthesia (ESA), to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 2-4th. HemoSonics will be participating in the ESA's pre-congress session on Point of Care Guided Haemostatic Management During Massive Bleeding held on June 1st where the Quantra System will be demonstrated. On June 2nd, as part of the congress, Chief Scientific Officer Francesco Viola will be co-chairing the poster session entitled "Laboratory Coagulation Measurements". He will also be presenting a poster regarding a new cartridge in development for the Quantra Hemostasis Analyzer, which measures fibrinolysis in addition to clot stiffness and clot time parameters. The Company welcomes congress attendees to the HemoSonics booth where the Quantra will be demonstrated and members of the team will be available to answer clinical and scientific questions.

ESA Exhibit Location: C2-040

ESA Poster Details: A Novel Differential Assay to Quantify Fibrinolytic Function in Whole Blood with the Quantra Hemostasis Analyzer, June 2, 14:00-15:30; Poster e-Board 5.

In addition, HemoSonics will be demonstrating the Quantra at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Scientific Subcommittee (ISTH SSC) meeting on July 18-21 in Dublin, Ireland. HemoSonics is partnering with Stago on the symposium "The Role of the Core Lab and Point-Of-Care Testing in Managing Bleeding Disorders Benefits and Challenges." The Company welcomes congress attendees to the Stago/HemoSonics booth where the Quantra will be demonstrated and members of the team will be available to answer clinical and scientific questions.

ISTH SSC Exhibit Location: H1 in the Forum, Ground Floor

ISTH Sponsored Symposium: Liffey Hall, July 18 13:15-14:30

About the Quantra System

The Quantra system is a rapid, easy-to-use diagnostic platform that utilizes consumable cartridges to run a panel of tests. The initial QPlus Cartridge measures the treatable aspects of coagulation in under 15 minutes. The Quantra Hemostasis Analyzer is designed for use in critical care settings which require that results be generated quickly from an instrument that is easy to operate at the point of care. The Quantra System is commercially available in Europe.

About HemoSonics

HemoSonics is a medical device company offering a novel point-of-care diagnostic platform to guide the management of critical bleeding to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by enabling more targeted transfusion of blood products. The Quantra System is designed to transform the way clinicians manage coagulation dysfunctions by providing comprehensive, timely information on coagulation status at the point of care. HemoSonics is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, with research, development and manufacturing facilities in Durham, NC. For more information, visit www.hemosonics.com.

Contact

Remi Corlin

HemoSonics

VP International Markets

contact@hemosonics.com
COLOGNE, Germany, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Global tyre manufacturer and distributor, ZAFCO is partnering with Van Den Ban, Europe's total tyre supplier, to launch the next generation of Armstrong tyres during The Tire Cologne 2018 show in Germany.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696399/Armstrong_Banner_Logo.jpg )



Armstrong Tyre, established in 1912 by George F. Armstrong in New Jersey, has risen from a long period of dormancy. The iconic American brand was once a Fortune 500 Company known for its strength of quality and product performance. "We want to stay true to the Armstrong legacy of craftsmanship, which is why we set up a brand new state-of-the-art Non-Chinese manufacturing facility with the best German and Japanese machineries to produce premium & top class Passenger car and Truck & Bus quality products. Every single tyre that leaves our factory undergoes an x-ray to ensure the highest quality," explains Zafar Hussain, Executive Director ZAFCO.

The summer Passenger tyre range includes a line-up of three patterns: BLU-TRAC PC (Passenger), BLU-TRAC HP (Ultra High Performance), and TRU-TRAC SU (SUV). The TRU-TRAC name is a homage to the highly popular Armstrong TRU TRAC pattern from the 20th century.

The Armstrong Tyre Passenger & Light Truck range comes embedded with the 'TUFF 360 Warranty Program,' a comprehensive warranty inspired by Armstrong's beloved mascot, TUFFY the Rhino. Besides a competitive Manufacturer's Warranty, TUFF 360 also offers Mileage Treadwear Warranty up to 75,000 kilometers, as well as a 30-Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee.

The goal of ZAFCO & Van Den Ban's partnership is to combine their unique strengths as a manufacturer and distributor to bring Armstrong tyres to Europe.

"With Armstrong we add another value to our portfolio. And we create value for our customers based on heritage & future continuity and on a large range & quality" adds Frans van Lenten, managing director of Van den Ban Group

To learn more about Armstrong's next generation,

Visit Stand A-046 B-049, Hall 7 at Tire Cologne, Germany.

You can also read more at http://www.armstrongtyres.com

or follow us on social media @armstrongtyres and stay tuned with the latest updates from our brand mascot; Tuffy the Rhino

About ZAFCO

Founded in 1993, ZAFCO is a leading global distributor of tyres, batteries and lubricants to over 800 customers around the world in 83 countries. Key values for the company are social responsibility, environment preservation, health and safety of its employees, associates and customers.
OSLO, Norway, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Approval for multicenter study "TIES-C03" in major university hospitals in Leeds, UK & Umea, Sweden.

OstomyCure AS has achieved an important milestone on the way to making the revolutionary TIES Solution available to ileostomy patients, a patient population that has not experienced any major improvements in "standard of care" in the last 30-40 years. The study aims to gather more and longer term clinical data regarding safety, performance and Quality of Life.

The study has started at Norrland University Hospital, Umea, Sweden with Associate Professor Karin Strigard and Prof. Ulf Gunnarsson and at St. James Hospital, Leeds with Professor David Jayne as the main investigators. OstomyCure plans to commit additional clinical centers to participate in the "TIES-C03" study.

The TIES Solution is a "no skin touch" solution which uses a titanium ring implanted at the stoma site, creating an external attachment point for lids or drainage bags. The indwelling part of the device is a porous mesh that allows the intestinal and surrounding skin tissues to grow through, creating a tight seal and a safe and stable junction between intestinal and dermal tissues and implant. The device extends a few millimetres above the skin, allowing it to be sealed with a fitted plastic lid with a hatch and a bag attachment system that allows patients to drain the intestine easily and at their convenience, with no direct contact with the skin. The TIES aims to provide a tested alternative to the current standard of external stoma pouches glued to the skin that overcomes the problems of skin infection/irritation and fungi that afflict almost all ostomates today. With a tightly sealed stoma and no constant need for external bags, patients can now control waste discharge directly, and are free to bathe, swim, and engage in other activities that are restricted or impossible with the traditional solutions, none of which offer a continent seal.

OstomyCure's system is expected to largely eliminate the painful skin issues associated with stoma care today, and greatly reduce the inconvenience and cumbersomeness of current systems. The TIES device - leak-free, sanitary and odourless - gives patients greater independence and control and significantly improves their quality of life. The product is already CE-marked in Europe, but OstomyCure, in consultation with its regulators, is undertaking the current trial to increase the base of safety and efficacy data available before a full commercial launch.

Dr. Ben Broennimann, M.D., CEO of OstomyCure, saluted his team. "Our team at OstomyCure has worked incredibly hard and tenaciously at establishing this study on schedule. The outstanding collaboration between all internal and external stakeholders has been a great contributor to the success in achieving the initiation of the study according to plan. This is a significant milestone for our company, and brings the TIES Solution closer for the many thousands of ostomy patients who have waited so long for innovative products to improve their lives."

"We are pleased to see the high interest and commitment of a number of highly renowned clinical centers and opinion leaders, as well as of the patient community for the TIES Solution clinical study," added Dr. Ben Broennimann.

OstomyCure AS is a privately-owned Norwegian medical technology company developing a revolutionary technology called the Transcutaneous Implant Evacuation System (TIES), addressing a market estimated to be worth $2bn annually. For more information, please visit http://www.ostomycure.no. The stoma market today is dominated by Coloplast, Convatec & Dansac/Hollister but other players such as B. Braun, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson/Ethicon, Baxter, Salts Healthcare, Welland and Fresenius Kabi also participate.

Investor Relations:

Dr Ben Broennimann, CEO

info@ostomycure.com

+41 793 016 272
Eisai Co., Ltd. Public Relations Department +81-(0)3-3817-5120

TOKYO, May 25, 2018 - (JCN Newswire) -Key Points of Research- Through research on the small molecule analogue of E6007 which is under clinical development as a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)(1), a novel mechanism of action was revealed in which this analogue inhibited the adhesion and infiltration of various leukocytes through the blockade of the interaction between calreticulin (CRT)(2) and the leukocyte adhesion molecule integrin(3) alpha (ITGA) by associating with CRT.- When this compound was orally administered to IBD model mice, remarkable anti-inflammatory effects were demonstrated through the suppression of the adhesion and infiltration of leukocytes into the inflamed sites.- This novel mechanism of action elucidated is expected to lead to value enhancement and acceleration of the development of E6007 which aims to provide a new remedy for IBD patients.Professor Fukamizu's research group of Life Science Center for Survival Dynamics (Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance, TARA), University of Tsukuba, Eisai Co., Ltd. (Eisai) and its gastrointestinal business subsidiary EA Pharma Co., Ltd. (EA Pharma) have revealed a mechanism in which an analogue (ER-464195-01) of Eisai's in-house discovered E6007 inhibits integrin activation by dissociating interaction between calreticulin (CRT) and integrin alpha 4 (ITGA4), suppressing adhesion and infiltration of leukocytes overall. This mechanism was revealed through the use of a biomarker developed by University of Tsukuba that visualizes protein-protein interaction. E6007 is currently under investigation by EA Pharma in ongoing studies as a treatment for IBD.IBD refers to a group of intractable diseases which lead to repeated inflammation in the mucus of the large or small intestines, resulting from an unidentifiable cause, and is generally classified as ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD). This joint industry-academia research group found that increased CRT-ITGA interaction influences cell adhesion and inflitration of leukocytes at the inflamed sites in large intestines affected by UC, and discovered that ER-464195-01 suppresses this protein-protein interaction using cultured cell line. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that oral administration of ER-464195-01 in IBD model mice induces anti-inflammatory effects through the suppression of infiltration by leukocytes into the inflamed sites. In addition, from transcriptome analysis(4) of the colonic structure of IBD model mice, the genetic information for programming the healthy-inflammation-recovery process was made clear.With the continuing increase in the number of IBD patients in recent years, there is a need for an orally active treatment with a novel mechanism of action that has superior efficacy and makes it easy to comply with treatment. It is hoped that the results of this joint research on this point will lead to the provision of a new option for treating IBD.This research is being conducted under the Japan Science and Technology Agency's Newly extended Technology transfer Program (NexTEP) for "Treating inflammatory bowel disease using small molecules and biomarkers" (Principal Investigator: Professor Akiyoshi Fukamizu, period of research: 2014-2020)Background to ResearchIBD refers to a group of intractable diseases which lead to repeated inflammation in the mucus of the large or small intestines, resulting from an unidentifiable cause. According to a survey by the Japan Intractable Diseases Information Center (http://www.nanbyou.or.jp (Japanese only)) in 2013, IBD had the greatest incidence among young people (in their 20's and 30's), and among IBD, it is reported that the number of patients with UC and CD was 166,060 and 39,799, respectively, which means IBD is the intractable disease with the greatest number of patients. Currently, in addition to observing infiltration of various leukocytes into the inflamed sites of IBD, ITGA4 is strongly expressed, and therefore treatment consists of leukocyte apheresis therapy or monoclonal antibody treatment targeting ITGA4. However, with the number of IBD patients increasing year after year, development of a small molecule treatment that makes it easy to comply with treatment and has superior efficacy is highly anticipated.Eisai and EA Pharma are engaged in development of the small molecule compound E6007, as a new IBD treatment with a mechanism of action for inhibiting integrin activity (Reference document 1), and using an analogue of this E6007 (ER-464195-01), the joint research group utilized a biomarker technology developed by University of Tsukuba which visualizes protein-protein interaction in an attempt to reveal the mechanism expressing anti-inflammatory effects.Outline and Results of ResearchCRT, a molecular chaperone(5), binds to integrin subunits and promotes cell adhesion (Reference document 2). Using a biomarker to investigate CRT and ITGA4 interaction in the colonic structure of UC patients, the joint research group found that interaction at inflamed sites significantly increases compared to healthy areas. Given that dissociation of CRT and ITGA4 interaction could suppress activation of leukocytes, high-thoughput screening assay was conducted on Eisai's compound library. Consequently, ER-464195-01 was identified as a small molecule that suppresses leukocyte adhesion by binding to CRT and inhibiting CRT-ITGA4 interaction.When mice were orally administered ER-464195-01 as a prophylactic treatment, in addition to exhibiting remarkable anti-inflammatory effects in dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis, from a comprehensive analysis of gene expression using RNA sequencing found that inflammatory cytokines and expression of inflammatory response signaling factors were significantly suppressed. Furthermore, when ER-464195-01 was therapeutically administered to mice with DSS-induced colitis, it was interesting that mucosal barrier injury(6) as well as infiltration of inflamed cells was remarkably improved. This novel mechanism of action revealed through this joint research is expected to lead to the provision of a new IBD treatment option.Future DevelopmentER-464195-01, which possesses this mechanism of action revealed through this joint research, is an analogue of E6007, and it is believed that E6007 also has the same novel mechanism of action. Therefore, our finding is expected to lead to value enhancement and acceleration of the development of E6007 which aims to provide a new treatment method for IBD patients.(1) Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)Referring to ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, IBD leads to ulcers and inflammation in the mucosal membrane of the large intestine, and causes symptoms such as bleeding, diarrhea, weight loss and fever, without any identifiable cause.(2) Calreticulin (CRT)CRT is a molecular chaperone binding to calcium ions (Ca2+) that are located in the endoplasmic reticulum. It is a protein with diverse biological functions within cells including cell adhesion, homeostatis of calcium ions, information signaling between cells, gene expression, and glycoprotein synthesis.(3) IntegrinIntegrins are adhesion molecules comprised of heterodimers for alpha and beta subunits. From the combination of 18 types of alpha subunits and 8 types of beta subunit, there are 24 different types of integrins known. CRT binds to amino acid sequences within cells of integrin alpha subunits.(4) Transcriptome analysisThe transcriptome is the set of all mRNA (messenger RNA) within a cell. In recent years, with the development of next generation sequencing technology, it has become possilble to rapidly analyze gene sequences and expression. Among these developments, it has also become possible to rapidly analyze a large volume of RNA sequence information through the development of RNA sequencing methods.(5) Molecular chaperonWithin cells, proteins are folded into their structural arrangement. A molecular chaperon is a protein that assists with this folding so that various proteins can acquire functionality.(6) Mucosal barrier injuryIntestinal mucosal barriers are made of intestinal epithelium, and their function is to block pathogens, toxic substances, viruses ingested through the mouth and other substances from being absorbed into the body through the intestinal wall. If the intestinal membrane experiences severe inflammation, the mucosal membrane will be damaged, causing injury to the mucosal barrier.About EisaiEisai Co., Ltd. (TSE:4523; ADR:ESALY) is a research-based human health care (hhc) company that discovers, develops and markets products throughout the world. Eisai focuses its efforts in three therapeutic areas: integrative neuroscience, including neurology and psychiatric medicines; integrative oncology, which encompasses oncotherapy and supportive-care treatments; and vascular/immunological reaction. Through a global network of research facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, Eisai actively participates in all aspects of the worldwide healthcare system. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit www.eisai.com.Source: EisaiContact:Copyright 2018 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Oslo, Norway (ots/PRNewswire) -Approval for multicenter study "TIES-C03" in major university hospitals in Leeds, UK & Umea, Sweden.OstomyCure AS has achieved an important milestone on the way to making the revolutionary TIES Solution available to ileostomy patients, a patient population that has not experienced any major improvements in "standard of care" in the last 30-40 years. The study aims to gather more and longer term clinical data regarding safety, performance and Quality of Life.The study has started at Norrland University Hospital, Umea, Sweden with Associate Professor Karin Strigard and Prof. Ulf Gunnarsson and at St. James Hospital, Leeds with Professor David Jayne as the main investigators. OstomyCure plans to commit additional clinical centers to participate in the "TIES-C03" study.The TIES Solution is a "no skin touch" solution which uses a titanium ring implanted at the stoma site, creating an external attachment point for lids or drainage bags. The indwelling part of the device is a porous mesh that allows the intestinal and surrounding skin tissues to grow through, creating a tight seal and a safe and stable junction between intestinal and dermal tissues and implant. The device extends a few millimetres above the skin, allowing it to be sealed with a fitted plastic lid with a hatch and a bag attachment system that allows patients to drain the intestine easily and at their convenience, with no direct contact with the skin. The TIES aims to provide a tested alternative to the current standard of external stoma pouches glued to the skin that overcomes the problems of skin infection/irritation and fungi that afflict almost all ostomates today. With a tightly sealed stoma and no constant need for external bags, patients can now control waste discharge directly, and are free to bathe, swim, and engage in other activities that are restricted or impossible with the traditional solutions, none of which offer a continent seal.OstomyCure's system is expected to largely eliminate the painful skin issues associated with stoma care today, and greatly reduce the inconvenience and cumbersomeness of current systems. The TIES device - leak-free, sanitary and odourless - gives patients greater independence and control and significantly improves their quality of life. The product is already CE-marked in Europe, but OstomyCure, in consultation with its regulators, is undertaking the current trial to increase the base of safety and efficacy data available before a full commercial launch.Dr. Ben Broennimann, M.D., CEO of OstomyCure, saluted his team. "Our team at OstomyCure has worked incredibly hard and tenaciously at establishing this study on schedule. The outstanding collaboration between all internal and external stakeholders has been a great contributor to the success in achieving the initiation of the study according to plan. This is a significant milestone for our company, and brings the TIES Solution closer for the many thousands of ostomy patients who have waited so long for innovative products to improve their lives.""We are pleased to see the high interest and commitment of a number of highly renowned clinical centers and opinion leaders, as well as of the patient community for the TIES Solution clinical study," added Dr. Ben Broennimann.OstomyCure AS is a privately-owned Norwegian medical technology company developing a revolutionary technology called the Transcutaneous Implant Evacuation System (TIES), addressing a market estimated to be worth $2bn annually. For more information, please visit http://www.ostomycure.no. The stoma market today is dominated by Coloplast, Convatec & Dansac/Hollister but other players such as B. Braun, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson/Ethicon, Baxter, Salts Healthcare, Welland and Fresenius Kabi also participate.Investor Relations:Dr Ben Broennimann, CEOinfo@ostomycure.com+41 793 016 272ots Originaltext: OstomyCure AS Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de
TOKYO, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Metaps Plus, the Korean subsidiary of Metaps Inc (TSE:6172) will have its token PlusCoin listed on QRYPTOS. Metaps Plus owned PlusCoin will be traded on QRYPTOS starting May 29th.

Plus Coin (PLC) is the first Korean ICO token with a successful crowdsale that ended in November 2017. Metaps Plus is a leading fintech company in Korea with a mobile O2O payment platform that executed 10 million transactions per year across more than 30,000 offline stores in Korea. Metaps Plus plans to connect PlusCoin to offline payments later in 2018.

"We are excited to have PlusCoin available for trading to QUOINE users. We plan to have a deeper strategic partnership with QUOINE going forward," said Metaps Plus CEO Seungyeon Kim.

"We welcome the listing of PlusCoin on QRYPTOS, which will help enable the vision for financial inclusion in the new crypto economy. We look forward to strengthening our cooperation with other fintech companies such as Metaps in Korea," said Mike Kayamori, CEO and Co-founder of QUOINE.

To distribute PLC tokens, Metaps Plus will focus on token stability and connecting the world economy to their cryptocurrency and plan to focus on improving accessibility to the cryptocurrencies. Metaps Plus will continue to expand its network with major overseas companies to make it easier to use blockchain technology in the real economy anywhere in the world.

About Plus Coin

Plus Coin is based on Ethereum Smart Contract technology, providing more stable service by applying rapidly changing virtual currency value and technology that can balance and connect the real economy in various angles. It is also expected to become a link between Bitcoin and Etherium, which are traded actively, and the real economy.

About QRYPTOS

QRYPTOS is QUOINE's fully digital cryptocurrency exchange and trading platform launched in June, 2017.

QUOINE is a leading global fintech company that provides trading, exchange, and next generation financial services powered by blockchain technology. With offices in Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, QUOINE combines a strong network of local partners with extensive team experience in banking and financial products to deliver best in class financial services for its customers. QUOINE is the first global cryptocurrency exchange to be officially licensed by the Japan Financial Services Agency. More information is available at www.quoine.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696849/20180523_pluscoin_1.jpg
SIA, a European high-tech leader in payment infrastructure and services, and First Data Corporation (NYSE: FDC), a global leader in commerce-enabling technology, have signed an agreement for SIA to acquire First Data's card processing businesses in parts of Central and Southeastern Europe for 375 million. In 2017, these businesses generated a combined revenue of approximately 100 million for First Data.

This acquisition by SIA provides card processing, card production, call center and back-office services, including 13.3 million payment cards, 1.4 billion transactions, in addition to the management of POS terminals and ATMs. These businesses are primarily located in 7 countries: Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

As a result of the transaction, SIA will become a leading player in processing and services in the region. The agreement includes the transfer of about 1,400 First Data employees into SIA.

"This acquisition is in line with our strategy to become the leading European independent digital payments platform. SIA is further strengthening its position in the e-payments international market, increasing its market shares in e-money high-growth countries," said Massimo Arrighetti, CEO of SIA.

"Thanks to the agreement with First Data, SIA Group continues on its path of international growth, confirming its leadership at European level in a sector like that of electronic payments undergoing continuous consolidation", commented Nicola Cordone, Deputy CEO, Senior Vice President Global Business Solutions of SIA. "In particular, in Central and Southeastern Europe we will become the foremost technology provider in a market that in the coming three-year period will see a rise in payment transactions of over 11% per annum, nearly double the growth of Europe at 6%. With this acquisition, SIA's revenues, on a 2017 pro-forma basis, will increase by around 18% with a significant surge in income from outside Italy, which will rise from 20% to 33% of the total".

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 and is subject to normal closing conditions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180525005156/en/

Contacts:

SIA

Filippo Fantasia Valentina Piana

Tel. +39 02.6084.2833/2334

pressoffice@sia.eu
KENITRA, Morocco and BURSCHEID, Germany, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Adient (NYSE: ADNT), the global leader in automotive seating, announced the opening of its first plant in Morocco as it continues to strengthen its global market position.

The Moroccan plant based in Kenitra will expand Adient's fabrics business, which designs and manufactures high-quality materials for seating and interior applications.

"The automotive industry has been steadily growing in the region, and it's projected to grow even more in the near future," said Jef Vercammen, vice president Global Fabrics, Adient. "The plant's strategic position will make it easier for us to serve our customers both in Northern Africa and Southern Europe," he added.

The plant will employ local talent to serve customers such as Renault, PSA, Opel, BMW, Nissan and others. Production is planned to start at the end of the month.

The plant will focus on fabric lamination for automotive seating - a process of binding fabric layers together to create higher endurance, greater resilience, and a premium look and feel.

About Adient:

Adient is the global leader in automotive seating. With 85,000 employees operating 238 manufacturing/assembly plants in 34 countries worldwide, we produce and deliver automotive seating for all vehicle classes and all major OEMs. From complete seating systems to individual components, our expertise spans every step of the automotive seat making process. Our integrated, in-house skills allow us to take our products from research and design all the way to engineering and manufacturing - and into more than 25 million vehicles every year.

For more information on Adient, please visit adient.com.

CONTACT

Claudia Steinhoff

T +49-2174-654481

Claudia.stenhoff@adient.com


The Philippine Stock Exchange approved the P15-billion stock rights offering of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. of the Yuchengco Group. The PSE said it approved the listing of up to 540 million additional RCBC shares under the rights offering to all stockholders of record as of June 14. RCBC expects to raise gross proceeds of up to P15 billion, which it will use to support the increase in the capital stock to P28 billion from P16 billion and to comply with the minimum capital thresholds required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The offering is also expected to support the growth in the risk assets of the bank over the next three years. The offering price, to be set on June 7, will be based on the 10-day volume weighted average price of RCBC subject to a discount. The offering period is scheduled from June 25 to 29, with the tentative listing date on Aug. 3. The bank tapped Credit Suisse Ltd and UBS as global coordinators and international underwriters of the offering.The Yuchengco Group of Companies and Cathay Life Insurance Co Ltd., the two largest shareholders of the bank, earlier committed to subscribe to their proportionate share of the stock rights. The bank believes it is well positioned to capitalize on the economic growth of the Philippines, which the bank expects to be conducive to further the loan expansion across the industry segments and consumer spending, the bank said. RCBC said it would focus on consumer, SMEs, the middle market and microfinance sectors in a bid to ensure sustainable loan growth. It also intends to invest in technology to improve customer experience, broader investor base and increase operational efficiency. RCBC is the third bank to conduct a right offering this year. Early this year, Bank of the Philippine Islands of the Ayala Group raised P50 billion while Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. of tycoon George Ty generated P60 billion from their respective rights offering.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Office for National Statistics releases second estimate for the UK GDP at 4:30 am ET Friday. The ONS is expected to confirm 0.1 percent sequential growth for the first quarter. Ahead of the data, the pound dropped against its major rivals. The pound was worth 1.3350 against the greenback, 146.03 against the yen, 1.3243 against the franc and 0.8765 against the euro as of 4:25 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Actionable intelligence accelerates sales wins.

AUSTIN, Texas, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zilliant, a company helping B2B enterprises turn data into actionable intelligence to accelerate profitable growth, today announced that customer Mestergruppen, a construction and building materials distributor based in Norway, has successfully deployed Sales IQ.

"We were seeking a solution to help us understand the full revenue potential existing in our business and deliver actionable intelligence to our sales team," said Mestergruppen ERP and Process Director Kristian Reistadbakken. "Zilliant took the time to understand the unique dynamics of our business, including a thorough data diagnostic, and provided us the unique ability to retain customers while expanding those relationships. To date, Sales IQ has had a positive effect on revenue"

In addition to Sales IQ, Mestergruppen will soon deploy Price IQ to replace the current pricing approach. Once deployed, sales reps will have transaction-specific pricing intelligence that accounts for business variables, such as cost fluctuations, and strikes a delicate balance between customer price sensitivity and goals of the business.

"We're thrilled that Mestergruppen has realized such rapid success with Sales IQ," said Zilliant CEO Greg Peters. "We welcome many years of shared success ahead, helping the company maximize the lifetime value of every customer relationship."

Mestergruppen, like many B2B distributors, has many SKUs and customers, which makes delivering a relevant, highly-targeted customer experience a complex endeavor for sales reps. By leveraging the Zilliant IQ platform, the company can cut through complexity and turn their data into actionable intelligence for sales reps that alerts them to retention threats, serves up cross-sell/upsell opportunities, and provides market-aligned price guidance in real time, for every transaction.

About Mestergruppen

Mestergruppen is one of Norway's leading groups of construction product distributors. The group is present in all parts of Norway and owns the store chains Byggeriet, Byggtorget and XL-Bygg, as well as the house building chains Mesterhus, Systemhus and Blink Hus. In addition, Mestergruppen operates property development through Mestergruppen Eiendom, offers architectural and advisory services through Unikus, Blink Hus Arkitekter and Klepp Prosjektering, and is one of Norway's largest cottage producers, with well known brands such as Saltdalshytta and Rroshytta in the portfolio. Learn more at www.mestergruppen.no

About Zilliant

Zilliant helps B2B enterprises turn data into actionable intelligence that accelerates profitable growth. The Zilliant IQ Platform uses AI to deliver actionable, real-time sales and pricing intelligence for traditional and digital channels, so you can maximize the immediate value of every transaction - and the lifetime value of every customer. Because when customer lifetime value is maximized, profits are accelerated, competitive advantage is created, sales performance is improved, and sustaining organizational success is achieved. Learn more at www.zilliant.com or follow @Zilliant.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/322835/Zilliant.jpg
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2018) - Sunniva Inc. (CSE: SNN) (OTCQX: SNNVF) ("Sunniva" or the "Company") plans to release its results for the first quarter 2018, after market close on Wednesday, May 30, 2018.

The Company's executive management will discuss the results during a conference call on Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 11:00 am Eastern Time/8:00 am Pacific Time. To participate in the call, please dial 1-800-319-4610, or (604) 638-5340. An audio replay will be available shortly after the call by dialing 1-855-669-9658 or (604) 674-8052 and entering access code 2365. The replay will be available for two weeks after the call.

About Sunniva Inc.

Sunniva, through its subsidiaries, is a vertically integrated medical cannabis company operating in the world's two largest cannabis markets - Canada and California - where we are committed to delivering safe, high-quality products and services at scale. Our vision is to become the lowest cost, highest quality cannabis producer in the markets we serve by building large scale purpose-built current Good Manufacturing Practices greenhouses, offering better quality assurance with cannabis products free from pesticides, providing better patient and doctor access to cannabis education and sourcing better therapeutic delivery devices. Sunniva's management and board of directors have a proven track record for creating significant shareholder value both in the healthcare and biotech industries.

For more information please visit: www.sunniva.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contact Information:

Dr. Anthony Holler

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Investor Relations Contact:

George Jurcic

Manager, Investor Relations

587-430-0680

ir@sunniva.com

Corporate Communications Contact:

NetworkNewsWire (NNW)

New York, New York

www.NetworkNewsWire.com

212.418.1217 Office

Editor@NetworkNewsWire.com
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks were modestly higher on Friday as investors took trade concerns and higher Italian bond yields in their stride. North Korea said it is open to talks with the U.S. despite Trump's cancellation of the summit, helping support underlying sentiment. The benchmark CAC 40 was up 30 points or 0.53 percent at 5,578 in opening deals after declining 0.3 percent on Thursday. The euro slipped and was on track for its sixth consecutive week of losses. Wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard advanced 1.3 percent after it announced a deal to produce and distribute whisky in Myanmar. Aeroports De Paris gained 1 percent on securing a contract for the planned expansion of Sharjah International Airport. Cosmetics group L'Oreal rose 0.8 percent. The company said it has finalized the acquisition of Pulp Riot, a professional haircolor brand launched by David and Alexis Thurston in the United States in June, 2016. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
The solar facility will sell part of its power to a company near Toledo. Through a seven-year PPA, the buyer will cover around 40% of its energy needsGalicia-based EDF Solar has announced it has secured a seven-year PPA from an undisclosed buyer for the sale of electricity from a 7 MW PV plant it is developing in Toledo, central Spain. EDF Solar said the solar facility will cover 40% of the energy needs of a unit of the buyer located near Toledo, and that the project will be built on a 15-hectare site next year. The solar park will be built with around 21,000 modules with a power output of 335 ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
HANNOVER, Germany and CABO DA ROCA, Portugal, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

"EU Road Trip Project", Part 2

On a journey of discovery with the Multivan

Drive, see and experience: start of the second part of the "EU Road Trip Project". Portugal was where it began for two young Europeans in the T6 Multivan Highline. Objective: to get to know the people and countries of the EU. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is supporting the EU project.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696904/Volkswagen_Multivan.jpg )

Yldau de Boer, 24 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) is looking forward to the journey via Spain, France and Belgium all the way to her home country of Holland: "I can't wait to see new places and above all to meet interesting people. There will be lots of opportunities to do that during the stops in towns and small villages over the next four weeks. It's going to be awesome!"

Fabian Sanchez, 25 from Vilnius (Lithuania) will also be in the Multivan and adds: "Our journey takes us directly along the Atlantic coast. I'll certainly be going surfing with the locals and afterwards having a barbecue with them and hopefully some good conversations."

The two will be letting the world share in every experience via social networks (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube).

This is already the second stage that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has supported. The first trip took another team of two from Greece to France, a distance of over 4,000 kilometres. Coming up, from June to August, are another route along the Danube and a journey through the Baltic states - over 12,000 kilometres in all. Each of the four trips is being "experienced" in each instance by two young Europeans.

About the "Road Trip Project"

Using a casting process, eight Europeans aged between 19 and 26 were selected by the European Commission from a large field of over 2,000 applications. The travellers get on-site support from local celebrities and bloggers, who present their home region and part of Europe to them. From the experiences and the insider tips from the locals a unique online travel guide gets produced. The aim of the project is to create a platform of interaction between young people across Europe.





More about the project:

Website: http://www.roadtriproject.eu

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EUinmyregion

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/euinmyregion

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/RegioNetwork

Hashtag: roadtripproject



Further pictures under http://www.vwn-presse.de



Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles

Sales & Marketing Communications

Lia Perenboom

Tel.:+49-(0)-511 / 7-98-9797

E-mail: lia.perenboom@volkswagen.de

http://www.vwn-presse.de




VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Pumping test well drilled to 30 9 meters

Target depth set at 400 meters

Geology identical to adjacent core hole.

NRG Metals Inc. ("NRG" or the "Company") (TSX-V: NGZ) (OTCQB: NRGMF) (Frankfurt: OGPN) the Company is pleased to report that the drilling of a pump test well at the Hombre Muerto North Lithium Project is progressing on schedule. The rotary hole, which is located 15 meters east of the core hole currently underway, is now at 309 meters, with an expected target dept of 400 meters. On site geological staff are reporting identical geology to the core hole. The rotary hole is being drilled at a diameter of 12 inches, and upon completion, the hole diameter will be enlarged by reaming to a diameter of 17 inches, and 10-inch perforated casing will be installed so that pumping tests can be performed. If the results warrant, the hole can be utilized as a production well.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696743/NRG_Metals_rotary_hole.jpg )



The pumping well is being drilled in tandem with the core hole because the Company was confident that it would obtain acceptable results in the core hole. The average values of 905 mg/l Li that were recently reported in the top 100 meters have confirmed that expectation. The rotary hole will provide essential information on the pumpability of the brine identified to date.

The project is located in the province of Salta, Argentina at the northern end of the prolific Hombre Muerto Salar, adjacent to FMC's producing Fenix mine and Galaxy Resources' Sal de Vida development stage project.

About the Company

NRG Metals Inc. is an exploration stage company focused on the advancement of lithium brine projects in Argentina. In addition to the Hombre Muerto Norte project, the Company is evaluating its 29,000 hectare Salar Escondido project in Catamarca province where the company recently completed a 400 meter rotary hole, as described in the Company's press release dated May 8, 2018. The diameter of the hole is currently being enlarged by reaming to install casing so that it can be sampled.

NRG Metals Inc. currently has approximately 132 million shares issued and outstanding, and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under symbol NGZ, on the OTC QB Market under symbol NRGMF, and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under symbol OGPN. The Company currently has working capital of approximately CAD$3.2 million dollars.

The preparation of this press release was supervised by Mr. James K. Duff, a Licensed Professional Geologist and a Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Duff approves the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this press release.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed the content of this news release and therefore does not accept responsibility or liability for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release.

This news release contains certain "forward- looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes forward- looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward- looking statements. The transaction described in this news release is subject to a variety of conditions and risks which include but are not limited to: regulatory approval, shareholder approval, market conditions, legal due diligence for claim validity, financing, political risk, security risks at the property locations and other risks. As such, the reader is cautioned that there can be no guarantee that this transaction will complete as described in this news release. We seek safe harbor.

On behalf of the board of directors of NRG Metals Inc.:

Adrian F.C. Hobkirk

President and C.E.O.

T: Investors / Shareholders Call 855-415-8100 / Direct to Adrian Hobkirk 714.316.3272

E: ahobkirk@nrgmetalsinc.com

W: http://www.nrgmetalsinc.com


VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2018 / MGX Minerals Inc. ('MGX' or the 'Company') (OTCQB: MGXMF, CSE: XMG; FRA: 1MG; ) is pleased to announce that 100% wholly-owned subsidiary ZincNyx Energy Solutions, Inc. ('ZincNyx') and its research partners will receive a grant from Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council ('NSERC') to develop nanostructured material for their next generation Zinc-air energy storage.

The drive toward a renewable energy economy was recently given a big push by NSERC in this year's Strategic Partnership Grants announcement. ZincNyx, in a consortium with researchers from the Universities of Waterloo, Calgary, and Simon Fraser University, are exploring and developing materials for their next-generation Zinc-air energy storage system. The project, titled Grid-scale Energy Storage Using Zinc-air Fuel Cells with Nanostructured Electrodes, will receive a grant of $580,000 over the next three years to support research. The consortium will be studying the use of graphene-based materials that have shown impressive performance in the lab, and are ready to graduate to commercial applications.

'Graphene is getting a lot of attention for many applications, but is particularly promising for electrochemical reactions since it can perform on par with traditionally used platinum' says project lead Prof. Jeff Gostick of the University of Waterloo. ' As engineers and applied scientists, it's very exciting for us to see our ideas leave the lab and get into the hands of an industrial product, it's what it's all about'

'ZincNyx is very pleased with the timing of the grant, which ties in perfectly with our business plan. We are entering early commercialization, but saw a strong need on the horizon to drive down costs to fuel further growth,' points out ZincNyx CEO Suresh Singh. 'We are very pleased to be working with this particular group of researchers.'

The Team includes two Canada Research Chairs (Drs. Viola Birss and Erik Kjeang) as well as veteran electrochemical engineer Ted Roberts.

About ZincNyx Energy Solutions

ZincNyx has developed a patented regenerative zinc-air flow battery that efficiently stores energy in the form of zinc particles and contains none of the traditional high cost battery commodities such as lithium, vanadium, or cobalt. The technology allows for low cost mass storage of energy and can be deployed into a wide range of applications.

Unlike conventional batteries, which have a fixed energy/power ratio, ZincNyx's technology uses a fuel tank system that offers flexible energy/power ratios and scalability. The storage capacity is directly tied to the size of the fuel tank and the quantity of recharged zinc fuel, making scalability a major advantage of the flow battery system. In addition, a further major advantage of the zinc-air flow battery is the ability to charge and discharge simultaneously and at different maximum charge or discharge rates since each of the charge and discharge circuits is separate and independent. Other types of standard and flow batteries are limited to a maximum charge and discharge by the total number of cells as there is no separation of the charge, discharge and storage components.

The ZincNyx mission is to provide the lowest cost, longest duration and most reliable energy storage system for markets involving renewables firming, peak shaving, diesel generator replacement, telecom facility back-up, electrification of ferries and tug boats and electric vehicle charging support.

With a portfolio of 20 granted patents and an experienced management team, ZincNyx is now ready to start commercialization of the product.

To watch a short video outlining ZincNyx technology, please visit http://www.zincnyx.com/technology/.

About MGX Minerals

MGX Minerals is a diversified Canadian resource company with interests in advanced material and energy assets throughout North America. Learn more at www.mgxminerals.com.

Contact Information

Jared Lazerson

President and CEO

Telephone: 1.604.681.7735

Web: www.mgxminerals.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively 'forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: 'believe,' "expect,' "anticipate,' 'intend," 'estimate,' 'potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: MGX Minerals Inc.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 8:30 am ET Friday, the Commerce Department will release U.S. durable goods orders for April. Ahead of the data, the greenback traded mixed against its major counterparts. While the greenback eased against the yen, it rose against the rest of major opponents. The greenback was worth 109.36 against the yen, 0.9931 against the franc, 1.3339 against the pound and 1.1673 against the euro as of 8:25 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LONDON, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Forecasts by Application (Retail Sales, Service & Finance Management, Insurance & Leasing, In-Plant Logistics & Management, Spare Parts, Warranty & Other After Sales Services, Internet of Things (IoT) & Others) Plus Analysis of Leading Companies Developing Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/523989/Visiongain_Logo.jpg )



The latest report from business intelligence provider Visiongain offers comprehensive analysis of the global blockchain supply chain technologies within the automotive market. Visiongain assesses that this market will generate revenues of $88.1 Mn in 2018.

Now: There was more than 500,000 fake car parts which were seized in a raid at Abu Dhabi. This is an example of the business-critical headline that you need to know about - and more importantly, you need to read Visiongain's objective analysis of how this will impact your company and the industry more broadly. How are you and your company reacting to this news? Are you sufficiently informed?

How this report will benefit you

Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in this sector. Visiongain's new study tells you and tells you NOW.

In this brand new report you find 182 in-depth tables, charts and graphs- all unavailable elsewhere.

The 203 page report provides clear detailed insight into the global blockchain supply chain technologies within the automotive market. Discover the key drivers and challenges affecting the market.

By ordering and reading our brand new report today you stay better informed and ready to act.

Report Scope

Global Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Market Forecasts From 2018-2028

Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Submarket Forecasts From 2018-2028 Covering

 Retails Sales, Service and Finance Management

 Insurance and Leasing

 In-plant Logistics and Management

 Spare Parts, Warranty and Other After Sales Services

 IoT and Others

Regional Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Market Forecasts From 2018-2028 Covering

North America Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Market Forecasts From 2018-2028

 U.S. Forecast 2018-2028

 Canada Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of North America Forecast 2018-2028

Asia-Pacific Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Market Forecasts From 2018-2028

 China Forecast 2018-2028

 Japan Forecast 2018-2028

 India Forecast 2018-2028

 Australia & New Zealand Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of Asia Pacific Forecast 2018-2028

Latin America Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Market Forecasts From 2018-2028

 Brazil Forecast 2018-2028

 Mexico Forecast 2018-2028

 Argentina Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of Latin America Forecast 2018-2028

Europe Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Market Forecasts From 2018-2028

 U.K. Forecast 2018-2028

 Germany Forecast 2018-2028

 France Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of Europe Forecast 2018-2028

Middle East & Africa Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Market Forecasts From 2018-2028

 GCC Forecast 2018-2028

 North Africa Forecast 2018-2028

 South Africa Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of Middle East & Africa Forecast 2018-2028

Analysis Of The Key Factors Driving Growth In The Global, Regional And Country Level Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within Automotive Markets From 2018-2028

Profiles Of The Leading Blockchain Supply Chain Companies Within The Automotive Sector

 Mesosphere

 Dash

 Bitpay

 Shapeshift

 Bittrex

 Factom Inc

 Coinbase Inc.

 Blockchain

 Ripple

 IBM

 Chain Inc

 Monax

Who should read this report?

 Automotive OEMs

 Component suppliers

 connected car specialists

 Electronics companies

 Logistics companies

 Technology providers

 Automotive retailers

 Insurance companies

 Leasing companies

 CEOs

 Senior Executives

 Asset managers

 Heads of strategic development

 Marketing staff

 Market analysts

 Procurement staff

 Company managers

 Industry administrators

 Industry associations

 Company procurement departments

 Business development managers

 Consultants

 Investors

 Banks

 Governmental departments & agencies



Visiongain's study is intended for anyone requiring commercial analyses for the Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies market and leading companies. You find data, trends and predictions.

Buy our report today Blockchain Supply Chain Technologies Within the Automotive Market 2018-2028: Forecasts by Application (Retail Sales, Service & Finance Management, Insurance & Leasing, In-Plant Logistics & Management, Spare Parts, Warranty & Other After Sales Services, Internet of Things (IoT) & Others) Plus Analysis of Leading Companies Developing Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). Avoid missing out by staying informed - get our report now.

To request a report overview of this report please contact Sara Peerun at sara.peerun@visiongain.com or refer to our website: https://www.visiongain.com/Report/2090/Blockchain-Supply-Chain-Technologies-Within-the-Automotive-Market-2018-2028

Companies Listed

Accenture PLC

Access Venture Partners

Aliant Payment System

Bank of Montreal

Bitcoin & Altcoin Exchange

Bitfinex

Bitpay inc.

Bitso

Bitstamp

Bittrex

Blockchain

Blockchain Capital

Blockchain Tech Ltd.,

Blockr

BlockrBloom Solutions

Bloom Solutions

Braintree

CaixaBank

CASC Data

Chain inc.

China Construction Bank (Asia)

Coinbase

Coinsetter

Commerzbank

CrossCoin Ventures

Cryptsy

DASH

Dell

Dell EMC

Deloitte

Digital Currency Group

DISH Network

Dole

Driscoll's

Earlybird Venture Capital

Ebay

Eris Industries

Erste Group

Expedia

Factom Inc.

FundersClub

Go Coin

Golden State Foods

Google

GV

HCL Technologies

HP Enterprise

IBM

Intel Corporation

Kakao

Keepkey

Kippt

Kraken.com

Kroger

Lakestar

McCormick and Company

McLane Company

Mesosphere

Microsoft Corporation

Monax

Nestle

Noc Room

Openbazaar

Overstock

Pagobit

Pantera Capital

PayCommerce

Paypal

Poloni

Ripple Labs Inc.

SemEquip

Shapeshift

Stellar

Stripe

Time Inc.

Toyota

Tyson Foods

UBS

Unilever

Visa

Walmart

Wirex

XAPO

ZipZap inc.

To see a report overview please e-mail Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongain.com
The Justice department said Thursday it had ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to probe the killing of retired Ozamiz prosecutor Geronimo Marabe Jr. and to bring his killers to justice. I have directed the NBI to investigate this latest attack. The DoJ will not take these violent incidents sitting down, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a text message. Let us remain hopeful that the truth will be revealed and the perpetrators will be made to suffer the consequences of their treacherous act. In Quezon City, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Thursday urged the police to protect prosecutors and other court officials from evil forces. She reacted to the murder of the citys Deputy City Prosecutor Rogelio Velasco who was shot and killed while driving along Holy Spirit Drive to pick up his wife from work at 4:55 pm on May 11. Belmonte said the police should step up their efforts to stop the rising number of armed attacks on prosecutors, judges and lawyers not only in Quezon City but in the entire country. They should have a security plan, at least, to protect these men and women of the court, Belmonte said.Marabe was shot dead by four unidentified assailants while he was driving his car in a village in Ozamis City on Tuesday. Marabe had served as a public prosecutor for several cases involving the Parojinog drug cartel in Ozamiz City. On May 17, Guevarra expressed support for the proposal to provide bullet-proof vests to state prosecutors and to arm them, though he said they could not do it easily because of budgetary constraints. Earlier, Prosecutor General Jorge Catalan Jr., head of the National Prosecution Service, condemned the attack and said the arming of prosecutors was necessary to defend themselves from violence. He said the series of killings targeting prosecutors had raised concerns about their safety. Catalan said Marabe was the 14th prosecutor to be killed in the country in the past 26 years.
LONDON, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Volume (MT) & Value ($m) Forecasts by Technology (Water-Borne, Solvent-Borne, Powder, UV-Cured), by Product (Primer, Basecoat, Electrocoat, Clearcoat), by Resin Type (Acrylic, Epoxy, Polyurethane, Others), by Region Plus Analysis of Leading Chemical Companies

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/523989/Visiongain_Logo.jpg )



The latest report from business intelligence provider Visiongain offers comprehensive analysis of the global Automotive Coatings market. Visiongain assesses that this market will generate revenues of $22.3 Billion in 2018.

Now: There was more than 500,000 fake car parts that were seized in a raid at Abu Dhabi. This is an example of the business critical headline that you need to know about - and more importantly, you need to read Visiongain's objective analysis of how this will impact your company and the industry more broadly. How are you and your company reacting to this news? Are you sufficiently informed?

How this report will benefit you

Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in this sector. Visiongain's new study tells you and tells you NOW.

In this brand new report you find 162 in-depth tables, charts and graphs- all unavailable elsewhere.

The 189 page report provides clear detailed insight into the global Automotive Coatings market. Discover the key drivers and challenges affecting the market.

By ordering and reading our brand new report today you stay better informed and ready to act.

Report Scope

 Global Automotive Coatings Market Report Market Forecasts From 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 Regional Automotive Coatings Market Forecasts From 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 North America Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 U.S. Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of North America Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Europe Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 U.K. Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Germany Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 France Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Italy Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Spain Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of Europe Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Asia-Pacific Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 China Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Japan Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 India Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of Asia-Pacific Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 LAMEA Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 Brazil Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Saudi Arabia Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 South Africa Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Rest of LAMEA Automotive Coatings Forecast 2018-2028

 Automotive Coatings Submarket Technology Forecasts From 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 Primer Forecast 2018-2028

 Basecoat Forecast 2018-2028

 Electrocoat Forecast 2018-2028

 Clearcoat Forecast 2018-2028

 Automotive Coatings Submarket by Resin Type Forecasts From 2018-2028 In Volume (MT) & Market Value ($M)

 Acrylic Forecast 2018-2028

 Epoxy Forecast 2018-2028

 Polyurethane Forecast 2018-2028

 Others Forecast 2018-2028

 Analysis Of The Key Factors Driving Growth In The Global, Regional And Country Level Automotive Coatings Markets From 2018-2028

 Profiles Of The Leading Automotive Coatings Companies

 Axalta Coating Systems

 BASF

 PPG Industries

 Kansai Paint

 Nippon Paint

 Bayer AG

 KCC Corporation

 Valspar Corporation

 AkzoNobel

 Sherwin-Williams

 Berger Paints

 Cabot Corporation

 Clariant

 NOROO Paint and Coatings

 Kapci Coatings

 The Dow Chemical Company

How will you benefit from this report?

 Keep your knowledge base up to speed. Don't get left behind

 Reinforce your strategic decision-making with definitive and reliable market data

 Learn how to exploit new technological trends

 Realise your company's full potential within the market

 Understand the competitive landscape and identify potential new business opportunities & partnerships

Who should read this report?

 Automobile OEMs,

 Chemical companies,

 Composites companies,

 Component suppliers

 R&D staff

 Technologists

 Market analysts

 Consultants,

 CEOs

 Asset managers

 Heads of strategic development

 Procurement staff

 Industry administrators

 Industry associations,

 Business development managers

 Marketing managers

 Suppliers

 Investors

 Banks

 Government agencies

Visiongain's study is intended for anyone requiring commercial analyses for the Automotive Coatings market and leading companies. You find data, trends and predictions.

Buy our report today Automotive Coatings Market Report 2018-2028: Volume (MT) & Value ($m) Forecasts by Technology (Water-Borne, Solvent-Borne, Powder, UV-Cured), by Product (Primer, Basecoat, Electrocoat, Clearcoat), by Resin Type (Acrylic, Epoxy, Polyurethane, Others), by Region Plus Analysis of Leading Chemical Companies. Avoid missing out by staying informed - get our report now.

To request a report overview of this report please contact Sara Peerun at sara.peerun@visiongain.com or refer to our website: https://www.visiongain.com/Report/2087/Automotive-Coatings-Market-Report-2018-2028

Companies Listed

3M Company

Ace Hardware Corporation

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.

Aisin Seiki

AkzoNobel

Arkema Coating Resins

Arkema SA

Asian Paints

Auto Alliance Thailand

Axalta Coating Systems

Axalta Huajia Coatings

Bajaj Allianz

BASF SE

Bayer AG

Bayer MaterialScience

Berger International Ltd

Berger Paints

BMW

BMW Manufacturing

BNB Coatings

Bolix SA

Bollig & Kemper GmbH & Co.,

Bosch

Cabot Corporation

CARSTAR

Charoen Pokphand Group (CP)

Chemetall

Clariant

Continental

Covestro

Cuming Microwave Corporation

Denso

DIC Corporation

Dow Chemical Company

DPI Holdings Co. Ltd

DuPont

Evonik

Faurecia

Ford

Formosa Plastics Corporation

General Motors

Guangdong Yinfan Chemistry Co., Ltd

HDFC ERGO

Hino Motors

Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.

Honda Automobile

ICICI Lombard

Inver Group,

Isuzu Motors

Johnson Controls

KAC Korea Autoglass Corporation

Kanoo Group

Kansai Paint Co. Ltd.

Kapci Coatings

KCC Corporation

KCC Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd.

KCC Mineral Resources Co.

KCC Paints, Kumgang Leisure Co.

Kronos, Inc.

Lear

Lubrizol Corporation

Magna International

Mazda

Mazda-Auto Alliance

McLaren Automotive

Mercedes-Benz Thailand

Metekote Corporation

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation

Mitsubishi Motors

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc.

NB Coatings.

New India Assurance

Nippe Trading Co., Ltd.

Nippon Bee Chemical Co. Ltd

Nippon Paint Marine Coatings Co., Ltd.

Nippon Paints

Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.,

Nissan Motors

Noroo Coil Coatings

NOROO Paints & Coatings.

Oriental Insurance

PPG Industries, Inc.

Quest

SAIC Motor Corp, China,

Shanghai Kinlita Chemical

Sherwin-Williams

Suzuki Motor

Tata AIG

Tata Motors

The Dow Chemical Company

Toyota Motors

Tronox Limited

Valspar Corporation

Volvo Car Thailand.

Wuthelam Holdings Ltd.

Yazaki

Yongjia Group

ZF Friedrichshafen

To see a report overview please e-mail Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongain.com
PUNE, India, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Bariatric Surgery Devices Market by Type (Minimally Invasive (Stapling, Suturing), Non-Invasive), Procedure (Sleeve Gastrectomy, Gastric Bypass, Revision Surgery, Adjustable Gastric Banding, Mini Gastric Bypass) - Global Forecast to 2023", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to reach USD 2.16 Billion by 2023 from an estimated USD 1.64 Billion in 2018, at a CAGR of 5.7%.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg )



Browse 73 market data Tables and 29 Figures spread through 125 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Bariatric Surgery Devices Market"

" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/bariatric-surgery-device-market-173150134.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report

The key factors driving the growth of Bariatric Surgery Devices Market are the growing obese population, increasing number of bariatric surgery, and increasing preference for minimally invasive procedures.

By type, the minimally invasive surgical devices are expected to account for the largest share of the market in 2018

On the basis of type, the Bariatric Surgery Devices Market is broadly segmented into minimally invasive surgical devices and non-invasive surgical devices. The minimally invasive surgical devices segment is further subdivided into stapling devices, energy/vessel sealing devices, suturing devices, and accessories. In 2018, the minimally invasive surgical devices segment is expected to account for the largest share of this market. The high growth in this segment can be attributed to the rising obesity rates and the increasing preference for minimally invasive procedures.

By procedure, the sleeve gastrectomy segment is expected to command the largest share of the market in 2018

On the basis of procedure, the market has been segmented into sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, revision bariatric surgery, non-invasive bariatric surgery, adjustable gastric banding, mini-gastric bypass, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. The sleeve gastrectomy segment is expected to command the largest share of the market in 2018. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the advantages of sleeve gastrectomy safety, effectiveness, and affordability and limited complications as compared to other bariatric procedures.

Ask for PDF Brochure:https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=173150134

North America to dominate the market in 2018

North America is expected to account for the largest share of the Bariatric Surgery Devices Market in 2018, followed by Europe. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the rapidly growing obese population and rise in the number of bariatric surgeries.

Ethicon (US), Medtronic (Ireland), Intuitive Surgical (US), Apollo Endosurgery (US), and ReShape Lifesciences, (US) are the key players in the Bariatric Surgery Devices Market. Other players involved in this market are Aspire Bariatrics (US), Mediflex Surgical Products (US), Spatz FGIA (US), Cousin Biotech (France), and Olympus Corporation of the Americas (US).

Know more about the Bariatric Surgery Devices Market:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/bariatric-surgery-device-market-173150134.html

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.

Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.

MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledge Store" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.



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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - At 10:00 am ET Friday, the University of Michigan has released its revised reading on consumer sentiment in the month of May. After the data, the greenback traded mixed against its major rivals. While the greenback changed little against the yen, it fell slightly against the rest of major rivals. The greenback was trading at 1.1655 against the euro, 1.3323 against the pound, 109.20 against the yen and 0.9905 against the franc around 10:04 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oscar-winning producer Harvey Weinstein has been charged with rape and several other counts of sexual abuse involving two women after he surrendered to New York police Friday. Weinstein, 66, 'was arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women,' the New York Police Department said in a statement. He was escorted out of the police station in lower Manhattan in handcuffs. Some celebrities, who have accused Weinstein of sexually harassing them, have welcomed the charges. 'Twenty years ago, I swore that I would right this wrong. Today we are one step closer to justice,' said actress Rose McGowan. Italian actress Asia Argento reacted to the news in a one-word tweet saying 'Boom.' The biggest sex scandal that rocked Hollywood was exposed by New York Times in October 2017. It published a report citing allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein stretching over nearly three decades against women in the film industry, his female assistants and employees, resulting in at least eight private settlements. Several women accused Weinstein of raping them, while sexual misconduct allegations emerged from Hollywood A-listers such as Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Uma Thurman, Rosanna Arquette, Cara Delevingne and Gwyneth Paltrow, all who have worked with him. The married father-of-five acknowledged mistakes he has made, but claimed that some of the sexual encounters were consensual, and denied some of the accusations as 'patently false.' The Weinstein Company (TWC) that Weinstein co-founded fired him as its chairman following the allegations. Weinsten's wife Georgina Chapman left him as allegations popped up. He was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and BAFTA, while Amazon cut ties with TWC over two projects. NYPD and London Police have been investigating some of the claims against the movie mogul, who has been at a rehabilitation center in Arizona. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
ATLANTA (dpa-AFX) - Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) will resume non-stop flights between the U.S. and India next year, almost a decade after it exited the Indian market. The airline said Thursday that its decision to resume non-stop flights from the U.S. to Mumbai, India follows agreements between the U.S. and the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to address the issue of government subsidies provided to state-owned carriers in those nations. Delta was forced to exit the Indian market in 2009 after three subsidized state-owned Middle Eastern carriers - Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline - made its service economically unviable. 'It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the U.S. as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally. We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible,' Delta's CEO Ed Bastian said. Delta will now become the second U.S.-based airline after United Airlines to fly non-stop to India from the U.S. The service requires government approval and Delta will announce full schedule details later this year. Delta also plans to expand its existing code-sharing relationship with Indian partner Jet Airways to carry passengers to other destinations within India, subject to government approvals. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
PYONGYANG (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. military continues its 'maximum pressure campaign' in regard to North Korea, and U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula are 'ready to fight tonight,' the Pentagon says. Pentagon's chief spokesperson Dana W. White said Thursday that Defense Secretary James N. Mattis spoke with President Donald Trump ahead of the cancellation of the planned June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S. forces on the peninsula maintain their usual high state of vigilance, White and the director of the Joint Staff, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., told reporters in a news briefing. 'In terms of we are ready to fight tonight -- that's always been the case,' White said. 'Our position has always been to support our diplomatic-led effort.' North Korea has proven to be unpredictable in the past, McKenzie said. U.S. forces are ready to respond quickly to anything that could happen, he added. He described the stance as the 'normal state of vigilance' of the United States. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Regulatory News:

The Tikehau Capital (Paris:TKO) combined general shareholders' meeting was held today at the Capital 8 Conference Centre in Paris, under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Christian de Labriffe.

The quorum was established at 90.05%.

All of the resolutions proposed by the General Manager were approved, including the resolutions regarding the approval of 2017 annual financial statements and consolidated accounts, the distribution of a dividend of 1 euro per share and the financial authorizations granted to the General Manager by the shareholders' meeting.

An update of the Group results, business activities and developments during 2017 was presented by representatives of the General Manager at the combined general shareholders' meeting, along with outlook for the Group in France and abroad.

Lastly, the Supervisory Board acknowledged the resignations of Ms. Natacha Valla and Mr. Jean-Pierre Denis from their positions as Board members and appointed Mr Jean-Pierre Denis as non-voting member (censeur

Ms. Natacha Valla had to resign from her position as Supervisory Board member following her appointment as Deputy Director General for Monetary Policy at the European Central Bank. The Supervisory Board thanked Ms. Natacha Valla for her contribution to the Board and wished her every success in her new position.

The detailed results of voting will be published on the Company's website at: www.tikehaucapital.com (section: Shareholders/AGM/Annual Shareholders Meeting 25 May 2018).

About Tikehau Capital

Tikehau Capital is an asset management and investment Group which manages 14.2bn of assets with shareholders' equity of 2.5bn (as at 31 December 2017). The Group invests in various asset classes (private debt, real-estate, private equity and liquid strategies), including through its asset management subsidiary Tikehau IM, on behalf of institutional and private investors. Controlled by its managers, alongside leading institutional partners, Tikehau Capital employs c. 220 staff in across its Paris, London, Brussels, Madrid, Milan, New York, Seoul and Singapore offices.

Tikehau Capital is listed on Euronext Paris, compartment A (ISIN code: FR0013230612; Ticker: TKO.FP)

www.tikehaucapital.com

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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J., cruised to re-election in 2012 with more than 58 percent of the vote, but the results of a Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll suggest he could face a much tougher race this fall. The poll found that 28 percent of New Jersey voters support Menendez, while 24 percent back his likely Republican challenger Bob Hugin, a former Celgene Corp. (CELG) executive. The four-point advantage for Menendez is just outside the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The poor showing by Menendez comes as his trial on federal corruption charges ended in a hung jury, but he still faced bipartisan admonishment by the Senate Ethics Committee. 'It's not uncommon for incumbents to cruise to reelection, but these numbers suggest he's going to have to woo voters like he hasn't had to in a long time,' said Krista Jenkins, director of the FDU poll. The outcome of the race between Menendez and Hugin could hinge on the substantial 46 percent of New Jersey voters who say they are undecided. 'Both men will pick up considerably more support as the race progresses as the undecideds begin to break for the candidate who shares their partisan leanings,' Jenkins said. She added, 'With New Jersey a more Democratic state, Menendez is likely to pick up more of this group than Hugin.' The FDU survey of 856 registered New Jersey voters was conducted May 16th through 21st and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Member of Congress have reportedly been told President Donald Trump's administration has reached an agreement to put Chinese telecom giant ZTE Corp. back in business. Reports from the New York Times and Reuters said the deal brokered by the Commerce Department would require ZTE to pay a substantial fine, place American compliance officers at the firm and change its current management team. In return, the Commerce Department would lift the denial order banning ZTE from buying American products, which has crippled the company. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the denial order last month, claiming ZTE made false statements about employee disciplinary actions related to the illegal shipping of telecom equipment to Iran and North Korea. In a post on Twitter, Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., indicated the administration has a 'deal in mind' and called it a great deal for ZTE and China. 'China crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us,' Rubio tweeted. 'Many hoped this time would be different. Now congress will need to act.' Other lawmakers have also been critical of a potential agreement to save ZTE, noting intelligence agencies have warned the company's technology and phones pose a major cybersecurity threat. The New York Times noted the potential agreement is seen as part of an effort to win trade concessions from China, including purchases of agriculture and energy products. Trump has highlighted the fact that ZTE buys a tremendous amount of equipment from American companies and claimed an agreement to revive the company would be just a small component of an overall trade deal with China. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2018) - Cryptobloc Technologies Corp. (CSE: CRYP) (OTC Pink: CRYBF) (FSE: GR9) ("Cryptobloc" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following corporate update.

Settlement of Litigation

On January 31, 2018, the Company was named as a defendant in a Supreme Court of British Columbia action (the "Action") commenced by DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc. ("DMG"), which alleged that the Company had infringed a DMG copyright when it used materials in a slide deck presentation designed by DMG in its own presentation to potential investors. On March 29, 2018, a default judgment was entered in the Action, with damages and costs to be assessed. Since such date, DMG and the Company have been working towards a settlement respecting the Action and the Company announces today that the terms of a settlement (the "Settlement") have been agreed upon. The terms of the Settlement are confidential and provide that the Company will make a cash payment to DMG.

Resignation of Akash Patel

The Company also announces the resignation of Akash Patel as president and a director of the Company. Mr. Patel has left the Company to pursue other interests. The Company thanks Mr. Patel for his service and contribution to the Company and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours.

The Company has initiated a search for one or more new directors to replace Mr. Patel.

About Cryptobloc Technologies Corp.

Based in Vancouver, BC - Cryptobloc Technologies Corp. is focused on developing and implementing blockchain, distributed ledger, closed loop, and cryptocurrency services for Government and commercial partners. Cryptobloc is committed to developing innovative and disruptive solutions that constantly improve active business practices for our partners.

Cryptobloc Technologies Corp. is a public company, traded in Canada, U.S. and Germany under the symbols (CSE: CRYP) (OTC Pink: CRYBF) (FSE: GR9).

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Neil Stevenson-Moore, CEO

Further information about the Company is available under its profile on the SEDAR website, www.sedar.com, on the CSE website, www.thecse.com, and on its website, www.cryptobloctech.com.

Contact: Neil Stevenson-Moore

Phone: (888) 787-2797

Website: www.cryptobloctech.com

Forward-Looking Information: This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. The forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of the Company, including in regards to the Settlement, the Company's search for one or more new directors to replace Mr. Patel. Although the Company's management believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward- looking information because the Company cannot provide any assurance that it will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (operated by CNSX Markets Inc.) has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.
TaipeiTaiwan on Friday scrambled fighter jets to shadow Chinese bombers conducting a drill around the island, just hours after Beijing welcomed Burkina Fasos move to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. Taiwans defenSe ministry said it had dispatched fighter jets to monitor two Chinese H-6 bombers that were flying over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and the Miyako Strait, near Japans Okinawa Island. We are fully monitoring the situation and taking efficient responsive measures to ensure defenSe security, it said in a statement. The scrambling comes a day after Burkina Faso became the second of Taiwans dwindling number of formal allies to jump ship to Beijing in a month. China has increased diplomatic and military pressure on the self-ruled island, which it views as a wayward province to be reunified by force if necessary. Relations have deteriorated between Beijing and Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power two years ago as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of one China. Tsais tenure has already seen the loss of three allies to China, with the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Sao Tome and Principe all switching allegiance since 2016. Although it was not immediately clear if Burkina Faso and China would establish diplomatic relations, Beijing has welcomed the move by the west African state.Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council, which is in charge of China ties, announced late Thursday that Chinese officials applying to visit the island would be subject to tighter screening, without elaborating. The move aims to prevent the Chinese communists from dividing and disturbing social order in Taiwan with their unification propaganda measures, it said in a statement. Taiwan now has just 18 formal allies who recognize its government instead of Beijing. For its part, Beijing has been incensed by a recent warming in relations between Taiwan and the United States, which remains its most powerful ally and arms supplier even though it has no official diplomatic ties. President Tsai warned China Thursday that Taiwan would not tolerate what she called its crude behavior to undermine our sovereignty. Taiwans Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tendered his resignation after Burkina Fasos announcement, but said Friday that he would stay on in the position at the presidents request.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 25, 2018 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Molina Healthcare, Inc. ('Molina' or the 'Company') (NYSE: MOH). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.

The investigation concerns whether Molina and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here to join a class action]

On April 28, 2016, Molina reported that it had missed its earnings targets for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, and sharply cut full-year 2016 earnings guidance, citing higher costs tied to administrative capacity issues. On this news, Molina's share price fell $12.46, or 19.4%, to close at $51.76 on April 29, 2016.

On February 15, 2017, Molina announced its financial and operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2016, advising investors that the Company could not commit to Affordable Care Act ('ACA') Health Exchange participation beyond 2017. On this news, Molina's share price fell $10.71, or 17.88%, to close at $49.18 on February 16, 2017.

Then, on August 2, 2017, Molina announced its financial and operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, reporting a net loss of $230 million for the quarter, termination of its ACA Health Exchange participation in Utah and Wisconsin, and a major restructuring plan. During the Company's related earnings call, Molina disclosed to investors that its administrative infrastructure was inadequate to sustain Molina's rapid growth. On this news, Molina's share price fell $3.92, or 5.92%, to close at $62.32 on August 3, 2017.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP
The Supreme Court of Gibraltar has issued a judgment against Pablo Fajardo, Luis Yanza, Ermel Chavez, Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (the "Front") and Servicios Fromboliere for their role in a conspiracy to procure and attempt to enforce a fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron. The court awarded Chevron Corporation $38 million in damages and interest and issued a permanent injunction against the defendants, preventing them from assisting or supporting the case against Chevron in any way.

Fajardo, Yanza and Chavez are Directors at Amazonia Recovery Ltd. ("Amazonia"), a Gibraltar-based company set up to receive and distribute funds that the co-conspirators hoped to obtain from the corrupt Ecuadorian judgment. The company was established in 2012 by Steven Donziger, the lead American lawyer behind the fraud, and his associates. Donziger and Fajardo, an Ecuadorian lawyer, were found by a U.S. Federal Court to have engaged in extortion, money laundering, wire fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. The Front, which has long been involved in peddling a dishonest public relations campaign against Chevron aimed at extorting a settlement from the company, and Servicios Fromboliere, an Ecuadorian law firm established by Fajardo, are both shareholders in Amazonia and part of the extensive web of obscure entities established by the participants in the fraud against Chevron to attempt to hide their misconduct and profit from it.

Today's ruling is the latest in a series of setbacks for Donziger and his team, which has been unsuccessful in its attempts to enforce the Ecuadorian judgment across a variety of jurisdictions.

"In issuing this decision, the Supreme Court is holding the perpetrators of this fraudulent enterprise accountable for their actions," said R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron's vice president and general counsel. "In courtrooms around the world, this fraudulent scheme against Chevron Corporation continues to implode."

This latest judgment against Donziger's associates and their supporting organizations follows a December 2015 ruling against Amazonia itself, in which the Supreme Court of Gibraltar awarded Chevron $28 million in damages and issued a permanent injunction against Amazonia preventing it from assisting or supporting the case against Chevron Corporation in any way. Chevron claims against Amazonia asserted that the company is a vehicle to perpetuate the ongoing fraud scheme against Chevron, with the express purposes to procure funding for the scheme, fund the plaintiffs' conspiracy, issue shares of the company to lawyers, advisors and funders, and receive and distribute proceeds from the corrupt Ecuadorian judgment.

In 2015, Chevron filed similar claims in Gibraltar against Fajardo, Yanza and Chavez, and later, in 2017, successfully joined the Front and Servicios Fromboliere to the proceedings as additional defendants. Despite orders from the court, and their status as directors and shareholders in the Gibraltar company, the defendants failed to acknowledge service of court documents or participate in the proceedings. As a result, the court issued a default judgment against the defendants, awarding Chevron $38 million. The award was based on legal fees and other costs incurred by Chevron to uncover and combat the conspiracy. The Gibraltar court also issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from further participation in the scheme and ordered the defendants to reimburse Chevron for any future expenses it incurs defending itself against the fraud.

In addition to these developments in Gibraltar, efforts to enforce the fraudulent Ecuadorian judgment have now been rejected in Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

In the United States, in March 2014 Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the Ecuadorian judgment was the product of fraud and racketeering activity, finding it unenforceable in the United States and holding Donziger liable for RICO violations. In his opinion, Judge Kaplan described Amazonia as a "Gibraltar companythrough which the property collected on the judgment is to be funneled."

In Brazil, in 2015 the Federal Prosecutor's Office issued a recommendation to the country's Superior Court of Justice that the judgment not be recognized for enforcement, finding that it was "issued irregularly, especially under uncontested acts of corruption" and that recognizing it would violate Brazilian and "international public order." The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice subsequently unanimously rejected attempts to enforce the judgment in November 2017. On May 16, 2018 the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice rejected attempts by the plaintiffs to limit the scope of its decision through a motion to clarify.

Similarly, in 2016 Argentina's public prosecutor's office recommended that its National Court reject the effort to recognize the Ecuadorian judgment in that country. The National Court No. 61 in Buenos Aires dismissed the recognition action on October 31, 2017. An appeal is now pending.

In Canada, in January 2017 a court ruled that the Ecuadorian judgment could not be enforced against Chevron Canada Limited, an indirect subsidiary of Chevron. That decision was upheld on appeal in on May 23, 2018 by the Ontario Court of Appeals.

Since the extent of Donziger and his team's fraud scheme was revealed, more than a dozen former insiders and allies have abandoned the effort, including Donziger's former co-counsel, environmental consultants, funders, investors, employees and Ecuadorian collaborators.

Chevron Corporation is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. Through its subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide, the company is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells petrochemicals and additives; generates power; and develops and deploys technologies that enhance business value in every aspect of the company's operations. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180525005733/en/

Contacts:

Chevron Corporation

Sean Comey, +1 925-842-5509
Commerce minister Suresh Prabhu will visit Washington and New york during his five-day visit beginning from 10 June.

New Delhi: Import duty hike on certain steel and aluminium items and visa restrictions are among the key issues to be flagged by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu during his meeting with the US Trade Representative (USTR) and American commerce secretary.

Prabhu will visit Washington and New york during his five-day visit beginning from 10 June.

"I have a meeting with USTR and also with their commerce secretary. We will raise the issue of unilateral actions by the US, the recent restrictions put on (movement of professionals) and imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium," Prabhu told PTI.

He said that India is engaging with the US at every level as there are huge business opportunities for American companies here.

"We want to make sure that we have a much bigger agenda with the US," he said, adding there is a market for the US in the civil aviation sector in India.

The minister would also meet private players besides think tanks which influence US decision making.

India has time and again raised its concerns over tightening visa restrictions by the US on IT professionals.

The proposed overhaul of popular H-1B visa regime by the US President Donald Trump has raised concerns among Indian IT firms, as any changes in the visa regime may result in higher operational costs and shortage of skilled workers for the $110 billion Indian outsourcing industry.

The country also expressed its disappointment over the US imposition of high import duties on certain steel and aluminium products. India has also dragged the US in WTO's dispute settlement system against the decision.

India's exports of steel and aluminium products to America stood at about $1.5 billion every year.

The US too has filed a complaint against India's export support programmes. It alleged that those schemes are harming its companies.

India's exports to the US in 2016-17 stood at $42.21 billion, while imports were $22.3 billion.
Bringing petroleum products under GST brooks no delay. All that it requires is convening of the GST council meeting immediately

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari is known for his pragmatism as much as much as he is loved for his project execution skills. That is why jaws dropped collectively when he made a case for not reducing taxes on petroleum products on the specious ground that it would ground several of the welfare and infrastructure projects of the government. But his colleague, the one who is closer to ground zero, Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has not been mincing words. He has been an ardent votary of petroleum products being brought under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which in his perception would bring down the oil prices to half. Another person equally closer to ground zero, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis too has come out openly in support of fuel being brought under the GST so as to provide a lasting solution to the vexed problem of climbing fuel prices for consumers.

The windfall tax proposed on the little oil produced in the country should be thrown out of the nearest window. It is the surest way to kill fresh investments in the oil exploration business the country so badly needs.

It is wrong to ascribe windfall status to the extra revenue earned by domestic producers on the back of rising international prices just as it would be wrong to impose windfall tax on life-saving drugs. Both would drive away fresh investments in crucial areas. To a passerby, if a ripe mango is blown away by the wind and falls on the ground that is windfall but not when international crude price breach the arbitrary figure of $70 per barrel. Be that as it may.

Bringing petroleum products under GST brooks no delay. All that it requires is convening of the GST Council meeting immediately. To be sure, our GST Council functioning like the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is often stymied by the need for unanimity to pass a resolution. Unanimity is as cruel as its other extreme, veto power. But Finance Minister Piyush Goyal should nevertheless convene the GST Council meeting and dare the Opposition. Let the obstructors and obfuscators be exposed. Petroleum products can no longer be milch cows for the government.

Break-up of petrol prices in Delhi Elements Unit Before GST After GST Cost & freight price on moving average basis of crude oil $/barrel 86.61 86.61 Average exchange rate Rs/$ 67.51 67.51 Price charged to dealers (Excluding excise & VAT) Rs/Litre 37.89 37.89 Add: Excise duty Rs/Litre 19.48 0 Add: Dealer commission (average) Rs/Litre 3.63 3.63 Total 61.00 41.52 Add: VAT applicable for Delhi @27% Rs/Litre 16.47 0 Add: GST at peak rate of 28% (assumption) 0.00 11.63 Retail selling price in Delhi Rs/Litre 77.47 53.15

Let us see how GST works assuming the peak rate of 28 percent is what mollifies the Opposition besides suiting the central government. At present the Delhi government imposes 27 percent VAT on petrol. The selling price to dealers is Rs 37.89. To this, when excise of Rs 19.48 is added besides dealer commission of Rs 3.63, it makes the petrol bunk price Rs 61 per litre. The 27 percent VAT on this results in a final price of Rs 77.47 per litre to consumers.

Break-up of petrol prices in Mumbai Elements Unit Before GST After GST Cost & freight price on moving average basis of crude oil $/barrel 86.61 86.61 Average exchange rate Rs/$ 67.51 67.51 Price charged to dealers (Excluding excise & VAT) Rs/Litre 37.89 37.89 Add: Excise duty Rs/Litre 19.48 Add: Dealer commission (average) Rs/Litre 3.63 3.63 Total 61.00 41.52 Add: VAT applicable for Mumbai @ 39.78% Rs/Litre 24.27 Add: GST at peak rate of 28% (assumption) 0.00 11.63 Retail selling price in Mumbai Rs/Litre 85.27 53.15

Dealer price remains the same at Rs 37.89. Add the same dealer commission of Rs 3.63. The petrol bunk price before GST would be Rs 41.52. On this GST of 28 percent would lead to a tax revenue of Rs 11.63, thus making for an affordable consumer price of Rs 53.15.

Thus, the consumer will save Rs 22 in Delhi when fuel is brought under the GST. Likewise, the consumer in Mumbai will save Rs 32 per litre of petrol as current value added tax (VAT) is much higher at 39 percent compared with 28 percent GST.

The GST eschews tax on tax besides reining in states' greed in fixing rates whimsically.

Mumbai and Kolkata consumers would heave a great sigh of relief. Indeed, the whole nation would. One nation one tax and one price would become the reality for this arguably most sensitive item on ones purchase basket and budget.

If unanimity eludes the Narendra Modi government at the GST Council meeting convened for this purpose, let the bigoted Opposition be exposed soon after they forged an anti-Modi front in Bangalore a few days ago and flaunted it in full view of TV cameras. The next course of action, albeit less desirable, would be for the BJP-ruled states to reduce their own VAT on petroleum products so that the consumer gets to pay the price he would have under the GST regime that alas was not to be due to Opposition intransigence. This would shame the Opposition like nothing else.

The GST is transparent whereas the proposed windfall tax would be convoluted with no back-to-back relationship between the tax and it being passed on to the consumers. There is no guarantee that it would ever be passed on to the consumers. Even if there is a binding guarantee through law, finding wherewithal for its seamless and automatic transmission to consumers is well nigh impossible.

(The writer is a senior columnist and tweets @smurlidharan)


The standalone tower businesses of Vodafone and Idea have a combined portfolio of nearly 20,000 towers, which included around 10,200 towers of Vodafone and the rest of Idea.

New Delhi: The telecom department on Thursday cleared sale of standalone mobile towers of Idea Cellular for Rs 4,000 crore to the Indian arm of American Tower Corporation -- paving the way for merger of Idea and Vodafone India.

"Idea-ATC deal has been cleared," an official source told PTI. Queries sent to Idea and ATC did not elicit any reply.

ATC (American Tower Corporation) Telecom Infrastructure had signed pact with Vodafone India and Idea in November 2017 to buy their standalone towers for Rs 7,850 crore. The deal excluded holding of Vodafone and Idea in Indus Towers.

The standalone tower businesses of Vodafone and Idea have a combined portfolio of nearly 20,000 towers, which included around 10,200 towers of Vodafone and the rest of Idea.

With the closure of deal with Idea, ATC Telecom Infrastructure will have around 68,000 mobile towers in its portfolio.

The clearance of this deal will also bring merger of Idea-Vodafone, which will create the country's biggest mobile operator with over 430 million subscriber, closer to the regulatory approval.

According to sources, DoT wanted to clear Idea, Vodafone and ATC tower sale deal before approving merger of Idea-Vodafone as change in structure of the organisations would have created complexity in document work.

Idea has already accounted the proceed of Rs 4,000 crore that it will get from ATC for the debt that it will carry forward to the merged entity with Vodafone.

The Aditya Birla group firm has also option to sell its 11.15 per cent stake in Indus Towers for a cash consideration of around Rs 6,500 crore.

The lower level of debt and operational cost in the merged entity is expected to stabilise the position of both Idea and Vodafone in the Indian telecom market, which is reeling under heavy debt and facing intense tariff war.
By Devidutta Tripathy MUMBAI (Reuters) - When the Indian government announced a surprise $32 billion bailout plan for the nation's state-controlled banks last October, credit rating firms and the nation's central bank saw it as a huge step to getting the industry back to robust health  and lending more to businesses and consumers. But their optimism may have been majorly misplaced judging by the latest numbers coming out of the banks. And that may in turn crimp economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

By Devidutta Tripathy

MUMBAI (Reuters) - When the Indian government announced a surprise $32 billion bailout plan for the nation's state-controlled banks last October, credit rating firms and the nation's central bank saw it as a huge step to getting the industry back to robust health  and lending more to businesses and consumers. But their optimism may have been majorly misplaced judging by the latest numbers coming out of the banks. And that may in turn crimp economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

Thirteen state banks have reported combined losses of $8.6 billion for the year to March - including $6.5 billion in the last quarter - and their non-performing loans have surged nearly a fifth from end-December levels. Two state banks have reported modest profits and six are still to report.

While many of the banks, including top lender State Bank of India , have said the worst is probably over, they still see one or two more quarters of pain. That means more bad loans getting disclosed and loss provisions shooting up as a central bank order will cause more debt defaulters to be dragged into bankruptcy.

"The government capital is only going to just plug the hole, there is definitely no growth capital," said Udit Kariwala, an analyst at Fitch Ratings' India Ratings & Research. He said smaller state lenders with limited ability to raise capital from the market will have to curtail their lending.

The 21 state lenders hold two-thirds of India's banking assets, and accounted for the bulk of the record $150 billion of soured loans in the banking sector last year.

The banks, which have been blamed for indiscriminate lending to sectors such as metals and power that turned sour, can still be held responsible for much of the balance sheet carnage.

A more than $2 billion fraud at India's second-biggest state lender, Punjab National Bank , disclosed less than four months ago, not only left a hole but also underlined how weak the banks' grip on risk is.

Exacerbating the problems is a move in February by the Reserve Bank of India, the nation's central bank, to withdraw half a dozen loan restructuring schemes that banking experts said were helping banks to avoid disclosing dud loans. It also tightened other rules governing bad loan accounting.

In addition, the RBI this month banned Dena Bank , a loss-making smaller state-run lender, from making any new loans. Days later, Allahabad Bank , another smaller state-run lender, said it had been asked by the regulator not to increase the number of risky loans and costly deposits on its books due to its capital and leverage position

Bank analysts say more state banks could come under similar restrictions aimed at conserving limited capital. The RBI already has 11 state lenders under its "prompt corrective action" framework that restricts them from expanding.

That is not all. Capital needs will also be exposed by global banking rules fully kicking in by March 2019. They mandate banks to have a minimum core capital ratio of 8 percent, and at least six banks, including PNB are short of that number.

ELECTION AGENDA

Under New Delhi's recapitalisation plan - aimed mainly at driving credit growth in an economy where bank loans are the main source of funding for everything from buying a car to building a port - the government has already injected about 880 billion rupees ($13 billion) into 20 banks as of end-March.

It has 650 billion rupees to inject in the current fiscal year, and the banks themselves were supposed to raise 580 billion rupees through share and asset sales.

Some, including SBI and PNB, last year raised funds from share sales, but several others have postponed such plans.

Kariwala at India Ratings estimates the banks now need 800 billion to 1 trillion rupees to fund soured-asset provisions and maintain minimum capital ratios alone, which means there will be little left from the bailout for lending growth.

Some bank analysts say the government may have to increase the size of the bailout.

Certainly, bank lending - and its impact on growth - will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda ahead of a general election that has to be held within a year.

"Given how the stocks are doing, the nearly 0.6 trillion rupees banks need to raise looks difficult. So, the government may have to slightly increase the amount they are planning to inject," said Srikanth Vadlamani, vice president of the Financial Institutions Group at Moody's Investors Service.

Moody's said this week that PNB alone would need 120-130 billion rupees of new capital in the year to March to achieve an 8 percent core capital ratio. At the end of the last quarter it was at just 5.95 percent.

IMPORTERS' FUNDING CHANNEL SHUT

Businesses, especially the smaller ones, are already complaining of not getting the loans they want.

In February to March, lending to small businesses dropped 0.2 percent, though overall lending grew 5.9 percent.

For importers, a major channel of funding - overseas credit through letters of undertakings from Indian banks - has been shut after the PNB fraud, forcing those businesses to depend more on domestic rupee loans.

The Indian government will ensure that all state banks including the weaker ones meet the minimum regulatory capital ratio, said Rajeev Kumar, the top bureaucrat overseeing the banking sector at the finance ministry.

He also said with the planned recapitalisation some of the banks will have room to grow, while bad loan recoveries in the bankruptcy process will further aid banks' bottomlines, He said he expects the banks woes to subside in a quarter or two. "Whenever you do the cleaning part, a bit of dust, a bit of pain, upfront is okay," said Kumar. "It's only one quarter that you have to just wait."($1 = 68.3175 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Additional reporting by Abhirup Roy in Mumbai and Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Martin Howell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
With Jet Airways incurring a huge fourth-quarter loss of Rs 1,036 crore on high oil prices and weaker rupee, its auditors have said the 'appropriateness of assumption of going concern' for the company depends on its ability to raise necessary funds, among other factors.

Mumbai: After posting a massive loss in the March quarter, private carrier Jet Airways on Thursday said it may see a rise in debt for the next one or two quarters.

"The (March) quarter had negative cash flow generation. May be for a quarter or two you would see the debt going up. There could be a short-term blip in terms of rise in the debt," Jet Airways chief financial officer and deputy chief executive officer Amit Aggarwal said during a post-earnings analysts call.

Agarwal said the airline has already reduced its debt by Rs 3,000 crore over the last two-and-a-half year, adding that the overall strategy of reducing debt would continue on an ongoing basis.

As on 31 March, 2018, the airline's gross debt stood at Rs 8,424 crore, of which Rs 2,054 crore was aircraft-related, Agarwal said.

With Jet Airways incurring a huge fourth-quarter loss of Rs 1,036 crore on high oil prices and weaker rupee, its auditors have said the "appropriateness of assumption of going concern" for the company depends on its ability to raise necessary funds, among other factors.

The Naresh Goyal-owned full service carrier reported a quarterly loss for the first time in eleven quarters.

Jet Airways' chief executive officer Vinay Dube said that the airline will be inducting 11 Boeing 737 Max aircrafts in the fleet by March next year with the first two expected to arrive next month.

"We have recently placed orders for additional 75 B737 Max aircraft, taking the total Max order book to 150. These aircraft will start inducting into our fleet from this year, with two joining the fleet in June," he said.

For financial year 2017-18, the airline reported a standalone net loss of Rs 767.62 crore, against a net profit of Rs 1,482.52 crore earlier.
Essar Oil advocated that cutting excise duties is a better option than subsidising petrol and diesel prices or going back to exercise of controlling rates

While the government is mulling an 'immediate solution' to deal with record high fuel prices, Essar Oil Limited has advocated that cutting excise duties is a better option than reversing reforms -- subsiding petrol and diesel prices or going back to controlling fuel rates, according to a media report.

Private oil companies have reportedly conveyed to the government that subsidies, or any attempt to control fuel prices could be detrimental to the sector.

It would be unfortunate if the government were to bring back price control or subsidy in fuel prices. It would be a reversal of the process that started with deregulation of petrol. We are, however, hopeful that the government will not take such steps and instead focus on reducing taxes embedded into the fuel price, said B Anand, CEO, Essar Oil was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.

Union oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, on Thursday, said the government was considering bringing petroleum products under the purview of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in order to lower the prices of petrol and diesel.

Amid higher prices and a growing public clamour for tax cuts, it's unclear whether the Centre will cut the excise duty on fuels, or decide to ask the states to reduce VAT on petroleum products.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, on 1 May, said the government was not considering cutting the excise duty on petrol and diesel as rates had not touched levels that could trigger such an action.

Without providing details about a threshold for oil prices that could trigger an excise duty cut, he said, "If the level (of prices now) does not go up, there is no reason (for excise duty cut).Every rupee cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel will result in a revenue loss of Rs 13,000 crore."

The central government levies an excise duty of Rs 19.48 a litre on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. A state's sales tax or VAT on fuel varies. In Delhi, the VAT on petrol is Rs 15.84, and on diesel it is Rs 9.68 a litre.

With inputs from PTI
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has reached a deal to put Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp back in business, the Trump administration told lawmakers, according to a report Friday in the New York Times.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has reached a deal to put Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp back in business, the Trump administration told lawmakers, according to a report Friday in the New York Times.

The deal, brokered by the Commerce Department, requires ZTE to pay a substantial fine, place American compliance officers at the company and change its management team, the Times reported, citing a person familiar with the agreement. The Commerce Department would then lift an order preventing ZTE from buying U.S. products.

The White House did not immediately confirm the deal.

"Well let you know when we have an announcement on that front," spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

A congressional aide told Reuters the Trump administration held a classified briefing to discuss the status of the ZTE talks, but did not elaborate.

ZTE was banned from buying American technology components for seven years for violations of sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The Commerce Department decision would allow it to resume business with U.S. companies, including Qualcomm Inc, the chipmaker that is a key ZTE supplier.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton, David Shepherdson and Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
A special National Investigative Agency (NIA) court on Friday convicted five Indian Mujahideen militants in the 2013 Bodh Gaya serial blasts case in which several persons including Buddhist monks were injured.

Patna: A special National Investigative Agency (NIA) court on Friday convicted five Indian Mujahideen militants in the 2013 Bodh Gaya serial blasts case in which several persons including Buddhist monks were injured.

Special NIA judge Manoj Kumar Sinha held all the five accused  Imtiyaz Ansari, Haider Ali, Mujib Ullah, Omair Siddiqui and Azharuddin Qureishi, as guilty in the case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activity (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act.

The court fixed 31 May as the date for pronouncement of the quantum of sentence.

The world-renowned Buddhist pilgrim town of Bodh Gaya was rocked by a series of explosions on the morning of 7 July, 2013 which had left a number of people, including some Buddhist monks, injured.

A sixth accused in the caseTaufiq Ahmed, was less than 18 years of age and was sentenced to three years in remand home by a juvenile court last year which found him guilty of involvement in the case.

All the six accused have also been associated with the banned organization, Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and are facing trial in the Patna blasts case of October, 2013 when the historic Gandhi Maidan was rocked by explosions while an election rally of Narendra Modi, then Gujarat chief minister and the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, was underway.

It was contended on behalf of defence lawyer Surya Prakash Singh that the NIA had failed to produce CCTV footage and that a security guard, who was present at one of the sites when the explosions took place had failed to recognize any of the accused.

The contention was repudiated by public prosecutor Lalan Prasad Sinha who pointed towards the association of all the accused in terrorist activities and statements recorded by as many as 90 witnesses during trial, wherein it was placed on record that the blasts had been carried out to avenge alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by the Buddhist majority.
BRASILIAThe Brazilian government and transport unions struck a deal late Thursday to halt for 15 days a nationwide truckers strike that has caused severe shortages of fuel and food in some areas. The union heads commit to suspending the strike movement for 15 days, when a new meeting with the government will be held, announced President Michel Temers chief of staff Eliseu Padilha, on the night of the fourth straight day of road blockades that threatened to paralyze the vast South American country. After seven hours of negotiations, the government pledged to abolish at least one tax on diesel and implement subsidies to maintain a temporary 10 percent fuel price reduction announced Wednesday by state oil company Petrobras. Truckers had attempted to put a stranglehold on the movement of goods in Brazil to protest fuel price hikesblocking main roads in 26 of the 27 states in the large country, which has only limited rail services. Earlier on Thursday, airports and gas stations were running out of fuel, food prices were spiraling and agricultural exports were hit. The increases are the result of a politically sensitive decision made in late 2016 to allow the Petrobras oil giant autonomy over its pricing, as well as a rise in world prices in recent weeks. But the determination of the truckers caught center-right President Michel Temers government flat-footed, five months ahead of presidential elections. As a way of defusing an increasingly out-of-control situation, Petrobras yielded to pressure on Wednesday and reduced fuel prices for 15 days, sending its shares plunging by around 14 percent on the Sao Paulo stock market by close on Thursday. In the port of Santos near Sao Paulothe largest in Latin Americathere were virtually no arrivals or departures of trucks for three days, the management said, even if the loading and unloading operations of ships continues normally for now. In the capital Brasilia, the airport was allowing only planes to land that had enough fuel to take off again, and schools were closed. At five other airports, including Recife in the northeast and Congonhas in the economic capital of Sao Paulo, fuel reserves could run out on Thursday, the G1 news site said.Various abattoirs have also halted operations, affecting a key export sector. Prices of fruits and vegetables were rocketing in some places to 400 percent, due to supply problems. Pump prices were also higher, and long lines formed at many gas stations. A spokeswoman for Rios fuel retailers union Sincomb told AFP that the main service stations were last supplied on Monday. There is a lack of fuel in practically all the service stations that we have contacted, she said. The movement appeared to have some popular support. I think that this has been provoked by poor management by the federal government, said Ana Maria Lobo, a driver waiting in line at a gas station in Sao Paulo, who also noted all these corruption scandals. As a temporary measure ahead of Thursdays agreement, the lower house of congress had decided late Wednesday to suspend the introduction of two taxes on diesel until the end of the yeara proposal that sparked government tensions. Head of the Abcam truckers association, Jose de Fonseca Lopes had said the strikes would end if the Senate approved the suspension Thursday. But the spokeswoman of the National Transport Confederation (CNT) had insisted that blockades would continue until the president signs the measure into law.
Confusion prevails over the age of the girl who was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir police with Indian Army Major Leetul Gogoi in a Srinagar hotel on Wednesday. Police sources said Gogoi has a lot to answer for, including why he reserved a hotel room in a part of Srinagar that is volatile, risking his own life and that of others.

Confusion prevails over the age of the girl who was detained by the Jammu and Kashmir police along with Indian Army Major Leetul Gogoi in a Srinagar hotel on Wednesday. The girl's parents maintain she's a minor, born in 2001, a statement backed by the hotel manager who recorded her details. However, a few police officials have said she's legally an adult, as evidenced in her Aadhaar card. A few other policemen, the reporter interviewed the day after the two were held, described the girl as being under the age of consent.

Gogoi was in the news last year for allegedly strapping a Kashmiri shawl-weaver to the bonnet of his army vehicle and driving through a few villages, ostensibly to ward off stone pelters. An army enquiry found nothing amiss in Gogoi's actions. He was later awarded the Army Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card.

He was briefly detained on Wednesday morning after the two were found together in a hotel near Dal Lake in Srinagar. According to the police, he checked in as a "businessman". It was unclear what he, or the girl, was doing at the hotel. Gogoi has not been charged with a crime. Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, meanwhile, said, "...If Major Gogoi has done something wrong then I can say that he will be given due punishment & the punishment will be such that it will set an example."

On Thursday, the reporter travelled to the village where the girl lives and was directed to a two-room tin-shed where her family lives. The house of the family was washed away in the 2014 floods and lack of money forced them to relocate to this makeshift lodging. We aren't identifying the village given the security threat the family faces.

The reporter met with two women in the shed, both visibly frightened of venturing into the details of the incident. One of them, Mehmooda (name changed), mother of the girl, sobbed quietly. She said the girl was the eldest among four siblings, and had left home on Wednesday morning to "visit a bank" but instead landed up in a police station.

Mehmooda said Gogoi along with a man named Sameer Mala, who also works in the army, visited her tin-shed on two occasions. Once he came in the middle of the night. There was furious knocking on the door and I fainted. On the second occasion, at around 7 pm, he came along with Sameer. The army officer asked if anyone was harassing us. We were surprised and told him that there was no such issue, she said. It is as yet unclear why the two men visited the family.

My daughter is innocent. She had nothing to do with the army major. I dont know how she reached Srinagar," Mehmooda said. "She is a minor. She was born in late 2001. The army major and the local army man should be punished for trying to take advantage of her.

But the mother failed to produce any documentary evidence of supporting her claim about the age of her daughter. According to her, the girl, who failed her class 10 exam, was working with a self-help group. She said Sameer Malla helped her daughter join the self-help group.

In Srinagar, no one, including the police, was willing to state the girl's age for the record. While a few police officers told reporters on Wednesday that the girl was a minor, a senior officer told Firstpost on Thursday that she was indeed an adult. He added that no case would be made out against Major Gogoi. "It looks like a case of two consensual adults being together," he said.

The Tribune reported that the girl came to the hotel of her own free will and she wanted to spend time with the Major. The newspaper quoted sources saying that the girl showed her Adhaar card to the magistrate mentioning her birth as 1999.

However, police sources said Gogoi has a lot to answer for, including why he reserved a hotel room in a part of Srinagar that is volatile, risking his own life and that of others. It is as yet unclear if he informed his unit about his stay in the hotel. He is reported to have told police that the visit was made to "meet a source".

It is not common for army officers  even those involved in counter-insurgency operations  to check into hotels or take up lodgings in private homes.

While no case has been registered against Gogoi, the police will prepare a report about the incident. "We have started investigations and we are hopeful that the army will cooperate with the police to bring out facts of the matter," a senior police officer said.
The army has ordered a court of inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi for allegedly seeking to check into a hotel in Srinagar with a minor girl.

The army has ordered a court of inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi for allegedly seeking to check into a hotel in Srinagar with a minor girl, according to reports. Future course of action will be decided after completion of the probe. This came shortly after army chief Bipin Rawat said exemplary punishment would be given to Major Gogoi if he was found guilty of "any offence".

#BREAKING -- #MajorGogoiScandal: Army to begin court of inquiry against Major Gogoi over hotel scandal pic.twitter.com/Jcw4DzL1s4  News18 (@CNNnews18) May 25, 2018

The army chief said, "Major Gogoi will be severely punished if he is found involved in any unlawful activity.

"If anyone in the Indian Army, at any rank, does any wrong and it comes to our notice, then strictest action will be taken. If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, then I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example," he said.

Major Gogoi hit the headlines in April last year when he tied a local weaver, Farooq Ahmad Dar, to the bonnet of an army jeep during stone-pelting in Budgam district.

The officer was on Wednesday taken to a police station in Srinagar along with the girl and a man for questioning after the staff at a hotel reported that the officer had booked a room and wanted to stay there with the girl, according to IANS.

After questioning, police handed over the Major to his unit. A special investigation team headed by a Superintendent of Police has been set up to probe the incident.

With inputs from agencies
CBSE will declare the results for Class 10 Board exams today at 4 pm on its official website cbse.nic.in. Students can get their Class 10 and 12 results delivered directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day using Microsoft's 'SMS Organizer', an Android app available for free download on Google Play Store.

CBSE will declare the results for Class 10 Board exams today at 4 pm on its official website cbse.nic.in. Students can get their Class 10 and 12 results delivered directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day using Microsoft's "SMS Organizer", an Android app available for free download on Google Play Store.

Microsoft also released a video explaining the process to check results without internet on Twitter.

Anxiously refreshing your browser to get your CBSE Class 10 or Class 12 results? Stop! Get your results delivered to your SMS Organizer inbox as soon as they are announced, even when you are offline. https://t.co/UxGkXVHSHY pic.twitter.com/c4zhOolMry  Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) May 24, 2018

To get CBSE Class 10 and 12 results on SMS Organizer, users first need to download the app from Google Play Store and then register for CBSE results.

On the result day, the pre-registered users will receive a notification for the result, clicking on which their scorecard will appear. Since the scorecard data is sent via SMS, users will be able to see it even if they do not have Internet connectivity on result day, the post said.

The results will also be available on Bing search engine for parents, teachers and students to easily search and get the scorecards.

"Over the last few months, we have been working with multiple education boards in India to deliver the results of the various exams they conduct, on Bing apart from their own websites," the company's blogpost revealed.

Since 2016, Microsoft has partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to display the board examination results on www.bing.com.

So far exam results for Class 10 - Andhra Pradesh SSC board, Class 10 - Telangana SSC Board and Class 10 and Class 12 - Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad are available on Bing.

Earlier, Google had also partnered with CBSE for the JEE Main exam results and other exam-related information.

Students could now quickly, securely and seamlessly locate their score on smartphone or desktop using Google Search.

Senior Public Relations Officer, CBSE, Rama Sharma said, "We are collaborating with Google for smooth dissemination of results through an easy and secure platform."

The tech giant has also introduced an improved Search experience for other popular exams like GATE, SSC CGL, CAT.

Also, students searching for these competitive exams will find information such as test dates, registration dates, important links, and other key information right within Google Search.

With inputs from IANS
The Delhi sealing drive against illegal constructions has caused furore among the Delhiites.

Even as the sealing drive against illegal constructions has caused furore among the Delhiites, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has recently demolished more than 300 shops allegedly encroaching the road at Vijay Chowk Path in Laxmi Nagar, leaving more than 2,000 people jobless.

The drive that has resulted in small businesses shutting down on Vijay Chowk Path, one of the old markets in Delhi, comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself cited trades as small as the sale of pakodas as examples of job creation.

The move to demolish our shops without any notice was a move that goes against the very interest of small businesses. The prime minister himself has pointed out small businesses as job creators. The EDMCs move to demolish them was just against the vision of the prime minister, said a trader unwilling to disclose his name.

The Vijay Chowk Path, otherwise a bustling business centre, now looks like an array of ruins. Out of more than 300 shops, many lost all the floors that were protruding towards the roadside.

After the eviction drive started on 11 May, customers stopped stepping into the area. We are now busy re-building the destroyed shops, said Anil Garg, a trader in the area.

Traders say that they were not given enough time to shift their goods in the shops, as a result of which they incurred losses due to damaged goods. Many of the shops traded in apparel, groceries and stationery goods, which now stand closed.

The drive began on 11 May and has been continuing intermittently since then, said Garg.

On 9th of May, the Deputy Commissioner of East Delhi Municipal Corporation came and told us that our shops are encroaching upon public road illegally. Without giving us time, the EDMC began with demolition on 11th of May using excavators, he adds.

Significantly, it is a rule to serve notice to owners of illegal buildings prior to a demolition drive and give them the opportunity to prove that their buildings are not built illegally, but sources in the EDMC say that it is not required to do the same if the encroachment is on public utilities.

We do not serve notice to people who encroach upon public roads, said Santosh Kumar, ward councillor of the area.

The traders say that the EDMC could have given them the opportunity to demolish the illegal part of their buildings by themselves.

That would have contained the losses to some extent. Since the EDMC itself demolished haphazardly by using excavators, the buildings got heavily damaged even in the parts which were legally constructed with due permission, said Arun Bhati, another trader.

He also said that every shop employed 6 to 7 persons per head and the count of people who lost jobs due to the demolition would be more than 2,000.

But Kumar said that the demolition drive has not yet ended and there are still more shops to be demolished.

We have only demolished half of the shops those have been built illegally. The drive to demolish the remaining half would start soon, he said.

He declined to divulge when the next drive will start and how many buildings would be demolished in the next round. The fear of demolition has kept the traders anxious.

Today is the month of Ramzan and we have Eid after it. But we dont know how to celebrate the festival when our income sources are destroyed, said Phiroze Khan, a trader in the area. Traders also said that they would have to bear huge expenditure in reconstructing the market as it has been severely damaged by the drive.
The Delhi government has directed 575 private schools in the city to refund the excess fees charged by them citing implementation of the 6th pay commission recommendations.

The Delhi government has directed 575 private schools in the city to refund the excess fees charged by them citing implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendations. The government has also directed the schools to refund the excess fees charged  between June 2016 to January 2018  with 9 percent interest.

The directive by the AAP dispensation comes following the report of a committee constituted by the Delhi High Court for examining the records of private schools in respect of the implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendations. The panel has audited 1,169 schools in the city so far.

"The committee has identified 575 schools in its report to refund excess fees charged by them with 9 percent interest. The schools are directed to refund the fees within 7 days and ensure disbursal of pending payment of salaries if any," an order by the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.

"Non-compliance with the order shall be viewed seriously and action shall be taken against errant schools under the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973," it added.

The DoE order has also asked district and zone deputy education officer (DDEs) to "submit a status report of compliance by the unaided recognised private schools of their jurisdiction within 15 days", as per an India Today report.

"For the first time in the country, schools are being disciplined. They are not being allowed to hike fees arbitrarily. Many schools are being made to return hiked fees. Because there is an honest government in Delhi," the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

According to a report in NDTV, the AAP government had earlier directed two schools to roll back fee hike and de-recognised a private school in the city for not providing free uniform and books to students admitted under the EWS category.

An India Today report states that last year too, a show-cause notice was issued to 449 private schools by the Delhi government, giving them two weeks to refund excess fees charged following which many schools issued public notices in newspapers asking parents to take the fee refund.

Also, in December 2017, the Delhi govt had announced an audit of the financial accounts of around 1,700 private schools after receiving complaints of "unjustified fee hike", says a DNA report.

"These schools have been sent notices in the past, yet they are not complying. We have two options as per rules. Either take over the school or de-recognize them. The second option will leave hundreds of students without a school so the government has decided to take them over," the report quotes Atishi Marlena, an adviser to Delhi's education minister Manish Sisodia.

With inputs from PTI
Two police personnel were injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants in Jammu and Srinagar.

Jammu: Two police personnel were injured in a grenade attack by suspected militants at a bus stand in Jammu on Thursday, while a similar attack took place at a CRPF camp on Wednesday in Anantnag district, Srinagar, the police officials said.

"There was a grenade attack in the bus stand area tonight by suspected militants," Jammu Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Gupta told PTI. He added that two police personnel were injured in the attack, who have been hospitalised.

The area has been cordoned off and searches are launched to track down the suspected militants, the SSP said.

It is after a long time that a grenade attack has taken place in Jammu.

Meanwhile in the Srinagar grenade attack on Wednesday, ten civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured. There was no loss of life, police said.

"Militants lobbed a grenade on the CRPF camp at Braripora in Nawakadal area of the city", a police official said. There was no loss of life due to the explosion, he added.
While deterrence through criminal action is important, it is equally vital to address the underlying conditions which drive the supply and demand for trafficked children.

When 12-year-old Kavita (name changed) was produced in front of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Delhi, she had already changed two shelter homes. She had been thrown out of a home where she used to work as a domestic help, after being sexually abused by her employer. She couldnt remember much about her childhood, except that she used to speak Bengali. Kavita retained the language throughout her stint in Delhi, the city that became her home; but somewhere between her miserable childhood and tormented adolescence, the language started to slowly fade from her memory.

By the time the CWC unearthed details about her family after an extensive investigation, Kavita had completely lost the language  the tenuous thread that connected her to her roots. The CWC was able to find out that she was from Siliguri, West Bengal, but Kavita couldnt recollect the faces of her parents. Subsequently when she was reunited with them, neither could they identify their daughter who didnt speak their language anymore. Kavita was about to go through another ordeal, despite the fact that she was restored to her family. It was not just a case of another child going missing; rather it was a missing childhood, and missing memories for people close to her.

While Kavitas story underscores the problem of child trafficking, it also shows us how reintegrating a child into her family after many years becomes a daunting task. Most of the trafficked children are taken away from their families when they are very young. We see so many children every day  on the streets, in shops, restaurants and factories  and the fact that they could be children who either went missing or were abducted for labour, begging or the sex trade, is completely lost on society. We assume that they must have a family somewhere, and that it is abject poverty that makes them beg and engage in labour. Sadly, these theories are seldom true.

Trafficking is a money-power nexus that is expanding by the day; it is the third largest form of trans-national illegal trade after arms and drugs. Delhi is ahead of all other cities with regard to number of missing children in 2018  a spot it's held on to for the past few years. A total of 174 children went missing every day in the year 2016, according to Ministry of Home Affairs data. Out of that, when we say that an average of 17 children went missing from Delhi every day, it makes a strong case for the exponential rise in child trafficking in the city. The number of missing children from Delhi is way higher than the national average, and that is an alarming trend. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, in 2016, Delhis rate of kidnapping and abduction stood at a whopping 106 against a national average of 12.3 (NCRB 2016). An even bigger concern is that only about 50 percent of the children reported missing were traced in 2016.

According to Alliance for Peoples Rights (APR), an organisation working towards child rights, within the 0-8 age group, boys exceed the number of girls among children who go missing. While the reasons can be manifold, APR claims that there is a nexus between illegal agencies and traffickers who sell babies to childless couples, and there is a demand for boys. On the other hand, for the 12+ age group, more girls than boys go missing, and they are mostly pushed into the flesh trade or put to work as domestic help. In Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the rate of child marriages are high, girls are also abducted as brides.

While First Information Reports (FIRs) are being registered these days  a significant improvement over the last few years  the states overall safety mechanisms for children are far from being in place. Police play an integral part in finding methods to curb the problem; their understanding of the situation and its gravity is essential for speedy trials after children are reported missing. There is a need to create a security network around children and the responsibility lies both with the state as well as with communities. It is of utmost importance to focus on forming vigilance groups within communities to look out for any danger sign or potential harm to children.

We need to relentlessly work on the underlying reasons for various forms of deprivation which afflict our society at large, and accelerate our efforts in varied aspects related to bringing missing children back home  inter and intra-state coordination and convergence, rescue and rehabilitative mechanism and more importantly, investing in adequate resources and trained personnel at every level. With the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 on its way, and government initiatives like TrackChild, Operation Smile and Muskaan trying to track the status of missing children, one can be hopeful that the country will take the requisite steps in addressing the issue.

Sensitisation and awareness about the various risks associated with children is still very low. It is thus important to form communities, make parents aware and equipped with preventive as well as responsive support. It is necessary to invest hugely into aspects of personal safety, peer group behaviour and knowledge about safe spaces and people.

If we really want our children to be safe, there needs to be a shift in the way the problem of missing children is approached by both, the establishment and communities. To start with, a missing child case has to be reported as an FIR, as this ensures that the case is produced before a court.

Regular follow-up on cases is equally important for quick and safe rescues of missing children. Rescued children need special care and protection to ensure their rights are protected and they are not drawn into the traffickers net again. While we recognise the importance of deterrence through criminal action to rescue victims and protect their lives and rights today, it is equally important to address the underlying conditions which drive the supply and demand for trafficked children. For this, adequate livelihood measures need to be set up, coupled with a strengthened social security net.

The author is the regional director (North) at CRY  Child Rights and You
Police had filed the case of illegal confinement against Major Leetul Gogoi after a local youth Farooq Ahmad Dar was tied to the bonnet of an army vehicle and made a human shield.

Jammu and Kashmir Police have written to the army that its lack of cooperation was hampering the investigation against Major Leetul Gogoi who allegedly kept one local youth in illegal confinement before tying him to the bonnet of a vehicle and paraded him on the streets in Kashmir on 9 April last year. The police have also pointed out to another incident involving the same army unit 53 Rashtriya Rifles where a local youth was allegedly murdered on 21 October last year.

A series of letters by the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Magam to the Commanding Officer of 53 RR and the report prepared by Senior Superintendent of Police, Budgam, in the alleged murder case of Tanveer Ahmad Wani, a youth of Beerwah area of Central Kashmirs Budgam, and the illegal confinement of Farooq Ahmad Darwho was tied to the army vehiclereveal that the army has not been submitting the details of the personnel and the vehicles deployed for duty to the police.

The army, however, said that it fired after facing stone pelting. Major Gogoi is also facing a police investigation after he was caught with a Kashmiri girl from a Srinagar hotel.

The SDPO Magam has written many letters to the Company Commander of 53 RR complaining that the delay in providing information about vehicle deployments on the Gundlipora-Beerwah stretch in Budgam made on the polling day on Srinagar parliamentary seat was lingering the investigation in the case. He had written the letter only a few days after Farooq was tied to the bonnet of the vehicle. Another communication was sent to the army unit on 12 May 2017. Subsequently, many other requests were made with the army and letters were also shot off on 6 August 2017 and 27 November last year, seeking the deployment details.

Police had filed the case of illegal confinement against Major Gogoi after Farooq was tied to the bonnet of an army vehicle and made a human shield. One of the letters by the SDPO to the army unit seeks details on whether the vehicle bearing no 339Y is allotted to your unit or otherwise. If the said vehicle is allotted to your unit, the name of the officer with rank and company location may kindly be intimated who used the said vehicle for performing the duties on the date of bypoll on 9.4.2017." However, the subsequent letter dated 27 November noted, Till date nothing has been heard from your end due to which the investigation in the case is lingering without progress."

In the murder case of Tanveer, SSP Budgam noted in his investigation report that after the death of the youth on 21 October, The correspondence has been made with the army to provide the nominal roll of army personnel who were deployed for duty on the spot on the date of incident, but till date the concerned Army authorities have noted prepared the same." In October, police personnel of Beerwah police station had received information that a patrolling party of 53 RR camp opened fire on two youths Tanveer and Mohammad Ibrahim Wani of Beerwah at the market of the town due to which they received bullet injuries and were hospitalised by the local people. The youth Tanveer later succumbed following which a murder case under 302 RPC was registered against the personnel of 53 RR.

SDPO Magam, Showkat Ahmad, confirmed that the police have written to the army seeking deployment details in the case. He said that the investigation in the case of the murder of Tanveer and illegal confinement of Farooq was going on and the case will be shortly finalised for prosecution." "While Major Leetul Gogoi has been identified in the video for tying the youth to the bonnet of a vehicle, some personnel of 53 RR have also been identified who fired on Tanveer resulting in his death," he said.

SSP Budgam, Tejinder Singh, said that the investigation in the cases was going on and findings will be disclosed at an appropriate time."

However Human Rights Activist, Mohammad Ehsan Untoo, who filed the case against Major Gogoi for the illegal confinement of Farooq said that a stringent punishment should be awarded to him.

Major Gogoi should be hanged. After he paraded Farooq by tying him to his vehicle he has illegally detained a Kashmiri girl and took her to the hotel to sexually assault her," he said. "His conduct is despicable and shameful."
The Indus Water Treaty gives Pakistan control over the waters of the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum and Pakistans stand was that building of KHEP would involve changing the course of the Kishanganga thereby affecting its flow.

Has the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project (KHEP) become another flashpoint for India and Pakistan? This 330 MW 3 unit project to generate 1713 million units of electricity annually was inaugurated by remote from Srinagar by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 May.

Pakistan retaliated to its construction by threatening to re-open this festering issue by demanding the World Bank to place this matter once again before an International Court of Arbitration.

India started work on KHEP way back in 2007. In 2010, Pakistan took the matter to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), The Hague, which stayed the project for three years.

The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) gives Pakistan control over the waters of the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum and Pakistans stand was that building of KHEP would involve changing the course of the Kishanganga thereby affecting its flow.

The problem is inextricably linked with the peculiar way in which rivers flow in north India. The Kishanganga is a tributary of the Jhelum and it originates in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, then flows from there into Jammu and Kashmir only to once again re-enter Pakistan.

The PCA ruled in Indias favour green signalling the construction of the run-of-the-river plant. The conditionalities placed on India was that it lowers the height of the dam from 98 metres to 37 metres and ensure a minimum flow in the river of 9 cumecs (one cubic metre of water per second) both of which India agreed to adhere to.

Other restrictions placed by the PCA to which India complied was that there would be no draw downing of the dam, a process by which water levels of the dam are brought down to flush out the silt. But this is not allowed under the IWT.

Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator for South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People points out that the construction of KHEP has meant that even though it is a run-of-the-river project, water flows in the Kishanganga do get affected.

"In a normal run-of-the-river project, we divert water into a tunnel and then put it back into the river. Here we divert water of the Kishanganga, put it into a tunnel and then allow it to flow into the Jhelum," Thakkar said.

This he believes, could impact the Neelum (as the Kishanganga is called in Pakistan) Jhelum Hydro Electric project which was inaugurated by Pakistan prime minister Shahid Khaqm Abbasi last month.

Thakkar has other major objections to the setting up of KHEP which has been shown as a prodigious feat of engineering by Indian engineers and which has involved the building of a 23.24 km long tunnel using special state-of-the-art tunnel boring machinery.

"KHEP cannot be viewed as an economically viable venture. Every megawatt of electricity is costing the public exchequer Rs 10 crore. This means the NTPC will have to sell electricity at Rs 8-10 per unit to recover costs but the present electricity tariffs are between Rs 3-4 per unit so where is the question of their recovering the costs?" asked Thakkar.

But senior NTPC executives point that the construction of KHEP has to be viewed as a strategic victory for India vis-a-vis Pakistan and therefore the cost is of little consequence.

Former special envoy and veteran diplomat Satish Lamba believed Pakistan is overreacting to the KHEP construction. This overreaction can be gauged from the fact that with KHEP located close to the LoC, on November 2016, Pakistan resorted to firing near the dam site.

"I do not see the construction of KHEP being an infringement on the IWT. We are only completing a project which had started much earlier. I know they are once again taking up the matter to the International Court of Arbitration which has given a judgment on this earlier to which we have complied," said Lamba.

He went on to add, "India is building this project keeping in mind its own long term need for water. Of course, both countries are in need of water but Pakistan has gone ahead and built the Neelum-Jhelum hydro project on the Neelum (Kishanganga) also. I think it is time we put them (Pakistanis) in their place."

But the local Kashmiri population is also upset that they are going to receive only 12 percent of the power from the Kishanganga with the rest going into the national grid. This is seen as a major betrayal on the part of New Delhi which is presently using 3,000 MW of electricity generated from Jammu and Kashmir for the rest of the country leaving Jammu and Kashmir power starved.

Kashmiri commentator Wajahat Habibullah has pointed out that after visiting Gurez, he found that though the hydel project has used state-of-the-art machinery, the people of Gurez and its surrounding villages had no electricity, no water, no drainage, no public sanitation, no tarred roads and no hospital.

The Ratle Hydroelectric Plant is a run-of-the-mill hydroelectric power project under construction in the Chenab river downstream of the village Ratle near Drabshalla in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The project includes a tall gravity dam and two power stations adjacent to one another with water being diverted from the dam through four large intake tunnels located south-west of the power station.

Once again, Pakistan has accused India of violating the IWT as it goes ahead with construction of the Ratle dam and this matter has also been taken up this matter with the ICA.

India can hardly be complacent on this issue because ICA re-opening this issue will depend on how much pressure Pakistan can place on the World Bank. Meanwhile, China has stepped in to show its solidarity with Pakistan and started work on building two mammoth Bhasha and Bunji dams on the river Indus in Gilgit-Baltistan at a cost of $27 billion. The entire installed hydro projects of Jammu and Kashmir will not equal the capacity of Bhasha Dam which is the smaller of the two projects and the electricity generated from both dams will be used by China.

China has also announced the building of 55 reservoirs on the Tibetan plateau and has announced plans to build 28 dams on the Brahmaputra river and its tributaries. This will immediately affect the water sharing balance in the North East and with Bangladesh.

Thakkar and other water experts are strongly opposed to the present government plan to build several large hydro projects on a single river basin as is being done with the Chenab.

Several projects are in the pipeline on the Chenab river for which there have been no proper cumulative studies on their impact on the environment.

"Once these projects are operationalised, they will have a multiplier impact ( mostly negative) on the environment of the region," Thakkar said.

What is even more alarming is that projects such as Bursar, Sawalkote and Pakul Dal are being pushed through even though the regional environment department has given it a negative report. Issues of ecology, seismic concerns and environmental flows needed to be addressed.

The main concern remains how in the long run, construction of a large number of hydro projects adversely impacts the flow of a river. Once the flow of a river is adversely affected, the entire ecology of the region gets affected.

Even more trenchant is his criticism of the multiple dams being constructed on the Chenab in Himachal Pradesh. "All the private players have pulled out of these projects because they were found to be unviable. Then surely the government also needed to have second thoughts about their viability," said Thakkar.

With the competitive dam building going on in the northern region and in the Tibetan peninsula, there is no doubt that the ecology of this entire sensitive mountainous zone is going to change irreversibly in the years to come.
The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) result for the Maharashtra Board HSC Class 12th was released on 30 May at 1 pm.

The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) result for the Maharashtra Board HSC Class 12th was released on 30 May at 1 pm.

The MSBSHSE put up the Maharashtra HSC Class 12th result on its official website mahresult.nic.in

The result is also available on result.mkcl.org, examresults.net, and results.gov.in

The examination was conducted between 21 February and 20 March through nine divisional boards, that are primarily located at Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Latur, Nagpur, Amravati and Ratnagiri.

Around 14,85,132 students registered to appear for the exams conducted in 9,486 junior colleges and 2,822 centres across the state of Maharashtra, The Times of India reported.

Of the total students registered, 5,80,820 students were for Science, 4,79,863 students for Arts, 3,66,756 students for Commerce, and the 57,693 students for the vocational stream, according to The Free Press Journal.

In 2017 also, the Maharashtra Board had declared the result for Class 12th exam on 30 May.

Steps to check HSC 2018 exam results:

- Visit the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE)'s official website mahresult.nic.in

- Click on the link which says Maharashtra Board Class 12th Results OR Maharashtra HSC Result 2018

- Enter your roll number and other required details

- Download the MSBSHSE Maharashtra HSC Class 12th Results 2018 and take a print out for future reference

- Students can also request their Maharashtra Board Result 2018, Maharashtra HSC Result 2018 through SMS. To receive results via SMS, type MHHSC<space>SEAT NO and send it to 57766.

As has been observed over the course of the past few weeks, the dates and times of result announcements have been frequently changed around. The information above has not been independently verified. However, this article will continue to be updated to reflect official updates as and when they come in.
SydneyAustralias spy chief has issued a new warning that foreign interference and espionage in the country had reached unprecedented levels that could cause catastrophic harm to Canberras interests. Duncan Lewis, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, did not single out any specific country but his remarks coincided with a sharp escalation of concerns over Chinese interference in domestic politics. Lewis, in remarks in parliament late Thursday, said the current scale of foreign intelligence activity ... is unprecedented. He said foreign actors were targeting privileged and classified information on Australias alliances, partnerships and positions on diplomatic, economic and military issues. Information on energy, mineral resources and science and technology innovations was also of interest, he added. Espionage, interference, sabotage and malicious insider activities can inflict catastrophic harm on our countrys interests, Lewis told a parliamentary hearing in Canberra.It undermines potentially our sovereignty, our security and our prosperity... The grim reality is there are more foreign intelligence officers today than during the Cold War, and they have more ways of attacking us. Lewis backed efforts by the government to pass wide-ranging reforms to strengthen and modernize laws when investigating and prosecuting alleged political meddling. Under the proposed laws, a transparency scheme would also require people to declare which foreign actors they are working for. Lewis remarks follow allegations raised by senior politician Andrew Hastie on Tuesday that a billionaire Chinese-Australian businessman, a major political donor, had been identified by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation as a co-conspirator in a plot to bribe a top UN official. Beijing criticized the disclosure, made under parliamentary privilege, and has also reacted angrily to the foreign interference laws, which came in the wake of fears about Chinese efforts to shape policy and opinion in democracies.
In a first reaction to the controversy that has gripped the Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat said that if anyone, at any rank, in the Indian Army does wrong and 'it comes to our notice', strictest action will be taken. Speaking to ANI, Rawat named Major Leetul Gogoi and said, 'If Major Gogoi has done something wrong then I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example.'

In a first reaction to the controversy that has gripped the Indian Army, General Bipin Rawat said that if anyone, at any rank, in the Indian Army does wrong and "it comes to our notice", strictest action will be taken. Speaking to ANI, Rawat named Major Leetul Gogoi and said, "If Major Gogoi has done something wrong then I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example."

Major Leetul Gogoi, who hogged headlines last year for using a Kashmiri man as human shield, was caught on Wednesday with a "minor" girl from a Srinagar hotel. The army officer spent a night with a minor girl in the hotel before rejoining duty at 53 Rashtriya Rifles (Punjab Regiment) base at Beerwa in central Kashmir's Budgam district.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police said an army officer, a minor and a driver were apprehended after they got a call from Hotel Grand Mamta in Dalgate area of Srinagar. The eyewitnesses said that the major was dragged by the locals after the scandal surfaced before taken under police custody.

Manzoor Ahmad, the owner of Hotel Grand Mamta told Firstpost that the army major had booked a room in the hotel using an online service, booking.com, and appeared in the hotel in the morning from Srinagar airport.

Commenting on constant cross-border firing across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Rawat said, "We want peace at borders but as you know Pakistan continuously violates ceasefire that causes loss of life and property and in such a case we have to retaliate but if Pakistan wants peace, we expect them to take initiative, which will start with them stopping infiltration."

Rawat also commented on the recently agreed upon ceasefire during the month of Ramzan, and said, "We suspended operations to show people atmosphere of peace and I believe people are happy, if things continue in a similar way we can say that continuing of NICO (Non-Initiation of Combat Operations) can be thought of, but if terrorist activities continue we cannot do so."
The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) declared the results of SSLC Class 10th examination today on its official website, megresults.nic.in

The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) declared the results of SSLC Class 10th examination today on its official website, megresults.nic.in. The results of Class 12th Arts stream was also declared by the Meghalaya Board of School Education on 25 May.

According to Times of India, Anurag Tewari topped the MBOSE matric exams by scoring 581 out of 600. Trisha Seal Sharma came second with 573 marks while Yash Khandelwal came third with 569 marks. Of the 50,077 students who had appeared for the MBOSE SSLC Class 10 exam, only 28,424 cleared it, the report said.

According to a report in The Indian Express, girls outshined the boys in the Class 10 Board exams with 79.67 percent girls clearing the exam. Among boys, the pass percentage was 78.44 percent. The East Khasi Hills emerged as the top-performing district with a pass percentage of 79.04 percent. The South Garo Hills recorded the lowest passing percentage at 26.65 percent, it added.

Follow the steps to check the results:

-Go to the official website: megresults.nic.in or mbose.in.

- Click on Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) results.

- Enter the required details.

- Click on 'submit' and take a print for future reference.

- Students can also check their results on their mobile phones by sending a short text message (SMS) in the format  MBOSE10<add space>ROLLNUMBER  to 56263.

MBOSE declared results of its Class 12 board exam for Science, Commerce and Vocational courses on 10 May.
The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) has declared the results of SSLC Class 10th examination on its official website.

The Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) has declared the results of SSLC Class 10th examination on its official website. Candidates who have given the test can log on to megresults.nic.in or mbose.in to check their results.

According to Times of India, 28,240 of the 50,077 students who had appeared for the MBOSE SSLC Class 10 exam cleared it. Anurag Tewari topped the MBOSE matric exams by scoring 581 out of 600. Trisha Seal Sharma came second with 573 marks while Yash Khandelwal came third with 569 marks.

Here are the steps to check the results:

- Go to the official website: megresults.nic.in or mbose.in.

- Click on Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) results.

- Enter the required details.

- Click on 'submit' and take a print for future reference.

- Students can also check their results on their mobile phones by sending a short text message (SMS) in the format  MBOSE10<add space>ROLLNUMBER  to 56263.

The Meghalaya Board Class 10th exams were conducted by the Meghalaya Board of School Education from 7 March to 19 March. The exam was conducted across 137 centres in Meghalaya and 23,551 boys and 27,765 girls in total appeared in the same, according to Times Now.
Mehbooba Mufti on Friday asked Pakistan to 'respect the sentiments' associated with Ramzan and end ceasefire violations along the border.

Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday asked Pakistan to "respect the sentiments" associated with Ramzan and end ceasefire violations along the border, as she met the affected people in the frontier areas.

Twelve people including two minor children and two BSF jawans were killed and over 60 people were injured due to shelling by Pakistan troops along the border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua in nine days, where over one lakh people have migrated from the IB. However, there has been a lull in the firing for two days.

The halt of security operations during Ramzan by the Centre "has led the people of the state to heave a sigh of relief," the chief minister said, adding Pakistan should respond positively by bringing peace on the border.

She reminded the people that complete peace prevailed along the borders for more than a decade after the ceasefire in 2003 and appealed to the leadership of Pakistan to respect the sentiments associated with the holy month of Ramzan.

Mehbooba Mufti visited the border areas of RS Pura, Samba and other places of Jammu province which have been severely hit by the cross border shelling during the past few days.

She interacted with the affected people, who apprised her of their difficulties. The minister for Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction and Disaster Management, Javed Mustafa Mir, accompanied the chief minister during the visit.

In RS Pura, she met the affected people who have taken shelter at the local ITI, Chakroi Farm and Satarian.

Interacting with the people, the chief minister said she was deeply distressed and anguished due to the continued flare up on the borders and sought an immediate end to it "to save the people of border areas from more losses of life, property and peace".

Responding to the demands of the locals, Mehbooba Mufti announced that her government would examine the issue of raising a battalion of JK Police comprising of youths exclusively from border areas.

She also assured them that her government would look into their demand of bringing people living in areas along International Border (IB) on a par with those of LoC areas in terms of facilities and other incentives.

The chief minister also said that steps would be taken to construct Border Bhawans in urban areas where they can stay during the difficult times.

She said her government has already got the loss to livestock included in the compensation package by the Centre.

Responding to other demands, Mehbooba Mufti said the local hospital at RS Pura would have more facilities in terms of equipment and manpower and also the local veterinary unit would be upgraded.

The minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Choudhary, and MLA Gagan Bhagat were also present.

Later, the chief minister visited Samba and interacted with the people from border areas at Thandi Khui and Chichi Mata Mandir.

Here also, the people raised similar demands.

The chief minister said that she will look into the issue of late settlement of compensation cases and ensure early resolution.

The minister for Health & Medical Education, Devinder Manyal, was present.

The chief minister gave away Rs one lakh each to the kin of those killed in cross-border shelling in these areas. This is in addition to the ex-gratia extended to them by the Jammu Divisional administration.
To enhance women's safety in the megapolis, Mumbai police are planning to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance.

Mumbai: To enhance women's safety in the megapolis, Mumbai police are planning to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for surveillance and install 'panic buttons' across the city, a senior official said on Friday.

The measures are part of a Rs 252-crore Safe City Project, which will be implemented fully in three years.

"Use of UAVs for this purpose will be the first in the country," said KMM Prasanna, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), who worked on the project.

After the Delhi gangrape incident of 2012, the Union Home Ministry invited proposals from police departments of big cities to provide more security to women. It also allocated central funds for such projects.

Mumbai Police came up with Safe City Project which contemplates use of state-of-the-art technology, said Prasanna.

Sixty percent of the cost is expected to be borne by the Centre, he said, adding that the Maharashtra government recently gave in-principle nod for the project.

The entire city will be mapped using the Geographic Information System (GIS), and the spots where crimes against women have been reported frequently will be identified for installation of panic buttons.

On pressing the panic button, alert will be sent to the nearest police station which can rush its personnel to the spot.

"Women travel a lot by buses, taxis and auto rickshaws. We are planning to provide QR Codes and a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to these vehicles so that they can be tracked," Prasanna said.

Introduction of automatic number plate identification system and facial recognition system are also part of the Safe City Project.

In addition to over 5,000 CCTV cameras already in place, another 1,500 cameras will be set up to widen the surveillance network in the city, Prasanna said.

"We have identified 500 locations with underpasses and sky-walks. These spots too will be monitored by CCTV cameras," he said.

Police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar and Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjay Saxena were monitoring the implementation of the project which will roll out over the next three years, Prasanna said.
Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan on Friday with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan on Friday with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. At the inauguration, the prime minister said that the Bangladesh Bhavan is a reflection of the two nations' cultural ties.

He also invoked Rabindranath Tagore and said that his legacy has bound India and Bangladesh together. Hailing the ties between the two nations, he said that India has opened new ways of connectivity with Bangladesh. Modi further said that the two countries will work towards the progress of the youth.

The prime minister also congratulated Sheikh Hasina and expressed happiness that the two nations stay in touch with each other.

Meanwhile, Hasina raked up the Rohingya crisis during her address. She reportedly said Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh. "We've given them a place on humanitarian grounds. We want them to return to their country as early as possible. I request you to help us to interact with Myanmar so that they take Rohingyas back," she was quoted as saying by ANI.

The Bangladesh prime minister also talked about Tagore and said that he belongs to both the countries because he has written the national anthems of both the nations. "He wrote most of his poems in Bangladesh and that is why we can claim a greater right over him," she added.

Rabindranath Tagore belongs to both the countries because he has written the national anthems of both the nations. He wrote most of his poems in Bangladesh and that is why we can claim a greater right over him: Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina #ModiHasinaMeet pic.twitter.com/xhTtZtGd7X  News18 (@CNNnews18) May 25, 2018

Earlier in the day, Modi and Hasina attended the convocation ceremony of Visva-Bharati University. During his address at the university, he said that India and Bangladesh are two separate countries bonded by co-operation and understanding.

Apart from Hasina, Modi shared the dais with Banerjee and the university Vice-Chancellor Sabujkoli Sen.

"Be it culture or public policy, the people of the two countries get to learn a lot from each other," the prime minister said. One such example is Bangladesh Bhavan, Modi asserted.

The Bangladesh Bhavan at Santiniketan will house a library, a state-of-the-art archival centre, and a seminar hall, besides a sprawling space for cultural get-togethers. Apart from the literary works of Rabindranath Tagore, the centre will also showcase books and photographs on the Bangladesh Liberation War and India's role in it.

Modi and Hasina are expected to hold informal talks later. The issue of Rohingya crisis and Teesta Water Dispute is likely to come up in their discussion.

With inputs from PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, met his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Friday as she arrived for her second visit to the country in just under two months.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, met his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Friday as she arrived for her second visit to the country in just under two months. Modi addressed the convocation ceremony of Visva-Bharati University and inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan in Shantiniketan with Hasina.

The Bangladesh Bhavan at Santiniketan will house a library, a state-of-the-art archival centre, and a seminar hall, besides a sprawling space for cultural get-togethers. Apart from the literary works of Rabindranath Tagore, the centre will also showcase books and photographs on the Bangladesh Liberation War and India's role in it.

While addressing the convocation ceremony, Modi, who is the chancellor of the university, also sought forgiveness from the students because as he said, some of them tried to tell him through gestures that there was no arrangement for even drinking water. He further said that he has attended several convocation ceremonies as the prime minister but, he has come to the Visva-Bharati University as a chancellor.

The prime minister also said that it is his privilege to spend time on Tagore's soil. "Tagore was a global citizen and wanted Shantiniketan to be a home for the world.... He wanted students in India to have a wider global view and always gave priority to the identity of India," Modi said.

It is my privilege that I have got this opportunity to spend time on Rabindranath Tagore's soil: PM Modi in Shantiniketan | #ModiHasinaMeet pic.twitter.com/GGk7sItSne  News18 (@CNNnews18) May 25, 2018

Welcoming Hasina, Modi said that it has hardly ever happened before that two prime ministers of different nations attended the convocation ceremony of a university. He hailed the India-Bangladesh ties and said that the two nations can learn a lot from each other, be it in the field of public policy or culture. Bangladesh Bhavan is also an example of this and it is a reflection of Tagore's ideas, he added.

Modi also congratulated the students who got their degrees at the convocation ceremony. He said that while the degree is important, what the students learned at the university is also equally significant.

Talking about new India, the prime minister said that about 125 crore Indians have pledged to create a new India by 2022. He said that the Centre is trying to match the education requirements to fulfill the idea of a new India. He further said that he wants the Visva-Bharati university to reach out to 100 villages and help them evolve.

The prime minister arrived in his chopper at Panagarh in Bardhaman West district around 10 am on Friday and left for the convocation venue soon after. He was greeted with a bouquet of flowers by Banerjee upon his arrival. Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and senior leaders of West Bengal BJP unit were also present at the helipad to welcome the prime minister.

Both Modi and Hasina signed the visitors' book at the university before taking to the dais at the convocation venue. Earlier in the day, the university witnessed unruly scenes as youths were seen protesting outside the convocation venue over the paucity of water, an official said.

The youths alleged that some students fell sick as there were inadequate arrangements for water and other facilities at the venue. The university authorities, however, said that the protesters were outsiders and had nothing to do with the university. "Some of the protesters were identified and asked to leave the venue. The problem has been taken care of," said a university official.

Modi and Hasina are expected to hold informal talks later. The issue of Rohingya crisis and Teesta Water Dispute is likely to come up in their discussion.

With inputs from agencies
Almost 47 percent of the total participants surveyed from 19 states are of the opinion that the Modi government does not deserve another chance in 2019.

There's only one year more to go for the BJP-led regime before another test at the hustings. But is the country in a mood to reelect Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government?

Four years ago, the country had voted the present regime to power in the hopes of better days in all socio-economic-political spheres. But despite some strong structural reforms like GST, and gut-wrenching changes like demonetisation, the jury may still be out on how good the past four years have been.

There are more people in the country today who believe that the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government does not merit another opportunity to govern India after the 2019 Lok Sabha election, an ABP News-CSDS Mood of the Nation survey has found.

According to the survey, almost 47 percent of the total 15,859 participants from 19 states are of the opinion that the Modi government does not deserve another chance in 2019. Around 39 percent thought it did deserve a second innings in power, with the rest being non-committal.

Results mimic 2013 mood

These results do not bode well for NDA, the surveyors said, as they are similar to those recorded for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in July 2013, nine months before the 2014 General elections.

"Back then, 39 percent had been against giving the UPA another chance, 31 percent had been in favour and 30 percent had been noncommittal," the survey said. When the results were out, the UPA was routed as the alliance managed to win only 60 seats.

As per the survey, 32 percent of voters have said they would vote for the BJP in the event of a snap Lok Sabha election. According to News18, at the start of the year, the same survey had found out that 34 percent of the voters would do so. This two percent drop in a five-month period is another indicator of a declining trend for Modi's government.

Strong anti-NDA sentiments among minorities

The survey also revealed that the countrys religious minorities harboured strong anti-Modi government sentiments. "About three-fourths of Muslims, three-fifths of Christians and well over half the Sikhs indicated that they do not wish to see the Modi government coming back to power next year," the survey found out.

While the Muslim disapproval of the Modi government, largely seen as a Hindu-base party, isn't a largely contested narrative in the public, what is surprising is that a sizeable section of Hindu voters also has an anti-government sentiment.

"The Hindu votes are nearly split down the middle on the question on whether the Modi regime should be given another chance with 44 percent exhibiting a pro-government stand and 42 percent taking an anti-government position,"

"Out of all Hindu communities, Dalits and Adivasis, who have also been victims of violence and atrocities, were found to be most vociferous in their opposition to the government at 55 percent and 43 percent respectively. Dominant OBC communities are also quite opposed (42 percent) to the present government," the survey found.

Advantage Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh

The forthcoming Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh also reflect a similar view for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), if the results of the survey are to be considered.

The Congress is making substantial gains in Rajasthan as the BJP is lagging behind the Grand Old Party by five percent vote share, the survey has found.

"The Congress is likely to get 44 percent vote share and the BJP may only manage to get 39 percent of votes if elections to the 200-member Assembly were to be held today," the survey said.

Earlier this year, the Congress had won four out of six Assembly bypolls and two parliamentary bypolls in the state.

Meanwhile, in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is likely to get 49 percent vote share, BJP just 34 percent and others 17 percent if Assembly elections were held in the state today.

The BJP has had three consecutive governments in Madhya Pradesh and anti-incumbency could play a strong role in the election. Even in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress with a 49 percent vote share, is leading with a comfortable margin over the BJP with a 34 percent vote share.

Gandhi neck-and-neck with Modi

The survey also shows that an equal number of respondents (43 percent) like Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi now. While Gandhi seems to be gaining among his adversaries, Modi is losing out on his core supporter base.

The survey showed that 25 percent of the respondents feel they did not like Modi earlier but like him now. This number is 29 percent for Gandhi.

Meanwhile, 35 percent of the respondents who liked Modi earlier dislike him now. This number is significantly lower, at 22 percent, for Gandhi. Gandhis popularity, however, does not seem to be translating into support for the Congress.

With inputs from agencies
In the wake of Nipah virus cases in Kerala, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has written to the Queensland government in Australia asking it to provide an antibody developed to test if it can 'neutralise' the virus in humans.

New Delhi: In the wake of Nipah virus cases in Kerala, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has written to the Queensland government in Australia asking it to provide an antibody developed to test if it can "neutralise" the virus in humans.

The antibody has not been tested on humans so far.

"We have asked them to give their monoclonal antibody for conducting a test in India to find out if it can neutralise the Nipah virus in humans. In Australia, it has only been tried in vitro (happening outside the body in artificial conditions, often in a test tube) and has been found to be effective. But it has not been tested on humans," said ICMR Director General, Dr Balram Bhargava, while clarifying that it will not lead to creation of a vaccine.

ICMR is the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.

"We are preparing a dossier on what will be the methodology and what would be the regulatory process so that we can fast track the process," he said.

According to Dr Bhargava, Australia is ready to share as it will help generate data on the efficacy of the antibody.

"It is not yet sure how much it will be effective," he said, adding the infection caused by Nipah virus has a high mortality rate (50-70 percentage).

According to National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, the drug, Ribavirin has been shown to be effective against the viruses in vitro, but human investigations to date have been inconclusive and the clinical usefulness of the drug remains uncertain.

The death toll due to outbreak of Nipah virus rose to 12 in the southern state of Kerala, with one more person succumbing to the deadly virus in Kozhikode, said a Health ministry official.

Meanwhile, there are reports of dead bats being found on the premises of a government school in Himachal Pradesh, samples of which have been sent for testing to NIV, Pune, to ascertain the reason behind their deaths.

According to the health ministry officials, of the 12 deaths in Kerala so far due to the virus, nine people died in Kozhikode district and three in Mallappuram. Besides, about 160 samples have been sent for testing at the virology institute.

While 18 people with specific symptoms are admitted at hospitals in Kozhikode, 22 patients with suspected Nipah cases, all from Malappuram district, are admitted at Kozhikode Medical College for observation.

"They are all contacts of the confirmed cases and their lab results are awaited. Also, 95 families are under surveillance," a health ministry official said.

The Nipah virus (NiV) infection is a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans. The natural host of the virus are fruit bats of the Pteropodidae Family, Pteropus genus.

Currently, there is no vaccine or drug for the treatment of the NiV infection. The treatment for human cases is supportive and management treatment along with intensive supportive care.

The virus spreads through close contact with people's secretions and excretions. Eating food which may have the droplets of saliva and urine of infected bats can lead to the transmission of the virus.

Earlier, cases of Nipah virus were reported from Siliguri in 2001 and Nadia in 2007 in West Bengal and around 47 deaths were reported.
Deserted streets in several parts of Kozhikode district are gradually coming back to life. Locals who fled in fear of the fatal Nipah virus (NiV) that killed 11 people are gradually returning home.

Deserted streets in several parts of Kozhikode district are gradually coming back to life. Locals who fled in fear of the fatal Nipah virus (NiV) that killed 11 people are gradually returning home.

Those who left the area are coming back. Life is returning to normalcy, said Aiysha KK, sarpanch of Changaroth Grama Panchayath, Sooppikkada village in Perambra taluk, where the first case was reported. The government is trying its best to contain the virus from spreading, she added.

Kerala has issued travel advisory warnings to residents visiting four districts in the state. Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kannur and Wayanad, are currently being monitored to contain the virus from spreading. People from outside Kerala have been advised to avoid visiting these four districts, said Rajeev Sadanandan, additional chief secretary of the Health Service Department.

According to the district collectors office, the death toll due to Nipah stood at 11, with at least 22 other suspected cases. The case came into light after three members of a family from Sooppikkada died of viral encephalitis with myocarditis. While 26-year-old Mohammed Sadik and his brother 28-year-old Mohammed Salih died on 5 May and 18 May respectively, their aunt Mariyam passed away on 19 May.

Following the deaths, several rumours spread on social media prompted residents in and around the area to flee to other towns and cities. State police chief Loknath Behra said the police force has noticed a number of fake messages circulating through social media asking people not to visit Kerala or allow people from Kerala to visit other places due to the Nipah virus.

Such messages have caused panic among people. No official agency has issued any such advisory. Creation of fake or false messages, spreading them to cause panic or public disorder are criminal acts and liable for investigation and prosecution, he said. Those who forward such messages will face investigation and prosecution. Directions have been issued to all DGPs (crime) to register criminal cases against those promoting such fake messages, he added and asked residents to not get affected by such fake messages. They should not panic. They should cooperate with the police, Behra said.

Nipah virus, which was first identified during an outbreak in Kampung Sungai Nipah, Malaysia, in 1998, is primarily carried by fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family. The virus can spread through other mediums including human-to-human contact and has a fatality rate of 70 percent. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nipah is capable of infecting pigs and other domestic animals and there are no vaccines available for the disease; the primary treatment for infected humans is through intensive care.

Lini Sajeev, a 28-year-old nurse who reportedly died of Nipah after spending a week in the hospital, was treating two patients from whom she is suspected to have caught the infection. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced a solatium for Sajeevs family from the state relief fund.

The chief minister said a sum of Rs 10 lakh will be deposited for her two children and her husband will be provided a job according to his qualifications in the government sector. He also announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh for the relatives of those who died due to the Nipah outbreak.

While earlier reports said the Kerala government had locked down Sooppikkada, Thulasidharan Nair D, a junior superintendent at the Perambra Village office, said the government did not order any evacuation. People left on their own will, Nair said. He added that the situation is coming under control. The infected people who died were first treated at the Perambra taluk hospital. Some left the area, but they are coming back. Some had plans to visit the area; they have postponed it, another official said.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda has spoken with both the director of the National Cooperative Development Cooperation (NCDC,) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) team camping in Kerala.

Instructed them to leave no stone unturned in terms of proactively countering the nipah virus threat. I urge everyone to stay alert and avoid rumours(sic), he tweeted.

The Centre sent a team of exprets, including Surjit Singh, director for the National Centre for Disease Control, SK Jain, head of epidemiology, NCDC, P Ravindran, director, Emergency Medical Relief, and Naveen Gupta, head of Zoonosis, NCDC, to monitor the situation.

The state government has additionally set up advisories on food and hygiene habits. Kozhikode district collector UV Jose was unavailable for comment.

The author is a member of The NewsCart, a Bengaluru-based media startup
ParisTwo former French spies, one of whom was reportedly posted in Beijing, have been charged with passing intelligence to a foreign power, a disclosure that has rocked the countrys intelligence services. Defense Minister Florence Parly, who oversees the countrys General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), said Friday that she was not in a position to identify the country that recruited the agents, who were discovered and indicted in December. Two French agents in our service and probably one of the spouses of these agents are accused of serious acts likely to be considered acts of treason, on suspicions of delivering information to a foreign power, Parly told CNews television. I cant say much else, she added. France has partners but we live in a dangerous world, and unfortunately these types of things can happen. French media reports, citing sources close to the inquiry, said China is suspected. Parly said the agents were quite likely still in service at the time but investigators were still determining how long they had been passing along intelligence. She also declined to specify the nature of compromised information, nor to reveal if the two agents were working together. A judicial source told AFP late Thursday that two of the three suspects are being prosecuted for delivering to a foreign power information that undermines the fundamental interests of the nation and compromising the secrecy of national defense. One of them has also been charged for direct incitement to the crime of treason, the source added.The third personbelieved to be the wifehas been indicted for concealment of treasonable crimes and placed under judicial control, meaning they are subject to certain constraints pending trial, according to the same source. The armed forces ministry said: These acts of extreme gravity have been detected by this service, which has brought these facts to its knowledge to the Paris prosecutor. The revelations came just a few weeks after US authorities said they had indicted a former Central Intelligence Agency operative on charges of spying for China, following his arrest in January. Frances domestic intelligence service, the General Directorate for Internal Security, first discovered the suspected double agents, before alerting the defense ministry, which began its own investigations. In a statement, the DGSEsimilar to Britains MI6 or the United Statess CIAsaid the revelations are a major area of focus for the DGSE as well all French counter-intelligence services. We are being extremely vigilant in this matter, Parly told CNews. The three people were charged on December 22, 2017, and two have been detained since then, the judicial source told AFP. On Thursday, Frances Quotidien television program and Le Monde newspaper reported that four people were suspected of having been recruited by the Chinese authorities to spy on French foreign intelligence operations. The defense ministry has refused to comment on the reports.
Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday hailed India for standing beside her country in times of crisis.

Santiniketan: Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday hailed India for standing beside her country in times of crisis and said negotiations in an amicable way have led to the resolution of many bilateral issues.

In the past, the two countries had settled border disputes with the signing of Land Boundary Agreement for exchange of enclaves, she said.

"Together, we have resolved many bilateral issues in an amicable way for the benefit of both the countries. Although there are issues that still need to be taken care of, I do not wish to mention them at this programme," Hasina said.

Inaugurating the Bangladesh Bhavan  a centre dedicated to cultural cooperation  at Visva Bharati University campus, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hasina expressed gratitude to India for "standing beside Bangladesh in times of crisis".

"We shall never forget how India stood beside us during 1971 liberation war," she said.

Bangladesh was working hard to alleviate poverty in the region, which poses a major problem for a developing country, Hasina said.

"We are getting all cooperation from India, as both the countries want to alleviate poverty in this region. By 2041, we want to develop Bangladesh into a 'Sonar Bangla' (Golden Bangladesh)," she asserted.

Talking about Bangladesh Bhavan, set up by her government, Hasina said, "We are delighted with our share in Visva Bharati University. The students, scholars and teachers will be immensely benefitted from this Bhavan."

Remembering Rabindra Nath Tagore, Hasina said the bard had built the university to give shape to his ideals.

"Tagore belongs to both India and Bangladesh because he has written the national anthems of both the nations. He wrote most of his poems in Bangladesh and that is why we can claim a greater right over him," she added.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's two-day visit to India, which starts today could throw up some unlikely topics for discussion during her informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi such as the Rohingya crisis, NRC update in Assam, Teesta water dispute and the Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN) transport corridor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to roll out the red carpet for his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina as she arrives today in her second visit to the country in just under two months. The Bangladesh prime minister will be visiting Shantiniketan to attend Visva-Bharati University's convocation ceremony, and thereafter hold an informal talk with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Hasina's 'informal visit' widely seen as part of India's renewed efforts to improve ties with neighbours on the subcontinent, is expected to throw up some unlikely topics for discussion. We take a look at some of the key issues that may feature in the "informal summit" between Modi and Hasina at Banga Bhavan in Shantiniketan this week.

Rohingya crisis: Though the focus of Hasina's two-day visit to India is on the culture of the two neighbouring countries, as Firstpost columnist Shubha Singh had commented, the Bangladesh prime minister could bring up the Rohingya crisis, especially since India's stance on the issue often seemed to be "tilting in favour of Myanmar". Hasina is likely to focus on getting more financial aid (similar to Operation Insaniyat) from India, a push to resolve the issue by expediting the return of refugees to Rakhine state is also likely on the cards.

The latter could be more likely happening since as the author argued, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj who recently returned from the visit to Myanmar had stressed on "safe, speedy and sustained return of displaced persons to Rakhine state".

NRC issue in Assam: Assam's National Register for Citizens is another issue that may emerge during the informal summit between Modi and Hasina. Dhaka may seek assurance from Modi that there will be no attempts for deportation.

Connectivity, power, and infrastructure: Bangladesh and India have a lot to benefit from each other from ties in infrastructure, power, and connectivity, a key element of which is the proposed Bhutan, India, and Nepal (BBIN) transport corridor. According to The Diplomat, while the corridor could allow India's North East greater connectivity via Bangladesh's infrastructure, it would allow Bangladesh access to Nepal and Bhutan via India. That Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, and Nepal went ahead with the project despite Pakistan creating obstacles, it's only pertinent that the project moves forward smoothly.

Teesta Water Dispute: During her last visit in April, India-Bangladesh signed around 22 deals and India extended a credit line of $5 billion to Dhaka. A major component of this was $500 million line of credit to for procurement of defence equipment for the Bangladesh military forces. The sore point during Hasina's April visit was the lack of progress made in the Teesta water dispute.

As Singh writes in the article, Modi has promised concrete steps towards resolving the Teesta water dispute. The Bangladesh prime minister is likely to bring the topic back on the table, especially with elections in Dhaka right around the corner. A timely resolution of the issue could be a win-win for both New Delhi and Dhaka. The only bottleneck would be West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been reluctant to take any step towards resolving the issue.
The Delhi High Court on Friday left it to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to decide a lawyer's representation for an independent probe into the killing of people in police firing during protests against Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district.

The Delhi High Court on Friday left it to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to decide a lawyer's representation for an independent probe into the killing of people in police firing during protests against Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher said the NHRC has already taken up the matter on its own and sought a report from the state's chief secretary and the director general of police and asked the Tamil Nadu-based lawyer to appear before it to obtain suitable directions.

The court also said his representation should be placed before the Commission for directions on 29 May. Violence broke out on 22 May during protests demanding the closure of the factory over pollution concerns with police opening fire, resulting in the death of 10 people. The agitation has been going on for over three months for the closure of the factory.

A plea was yesterday moved in the High Court by petitioner-lawyer A Rajarajan for a direct intervention of NHRC into the incident.

The plea said he gave representation to the NHRC on 23 May seeking its earliest intervention into the "unlawful killings" and claimed the commission refused to consider it as a matter of urgency and ignored ground realities.

It has alleged that "human rights violation and continuous unlawful killings by indiscriminate police firing was happening even after the case was suo motu taken and the report was requested by the respondent (NHRC)".

The petition has alleged that unless the NHRC directly intervenes in the issue at the earliest or through an independent agency, the "unlawful killings by police" will continue and there is a possibility of destruction of evidence. The NHRC had sent a notice to the Tamil Nadu's chief secretary and police chief.
The Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to consider restoring internet services in Thoothukudi (also called Tuticorin), which saw violent protests this week.

The Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to consider restoring internet services in Thoothukudi (also called Tuticorin), which saw violent protests earlier this week opposing a copper smelter plant there, reports said. The high court also questioned why internet services were blocked in other districts. This was after the state government informed the court that the situation in the district is now normal.

The high court also issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government in response to a plea seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the violence that took place on 22 and 23 May.

The Delhi High Court has also taken cognisance of the issue and directed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to look into a representation by a petitioner with respect to the violence. The petitioner has sought a probe by the NHRC into police firing during the protests, which left 13 people dead, ANI reported. The panel is said to have sought reports from the state DGP and chief secretary.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu upped the ante against the state government over the clashes. The DMK, on Friday, led a bandh called by Opposition forces seeking the resignation of chief minister K Palaniswami.

Demonstrations were staged by the DMK, its allies Congress, IUML and friendly parties like MDMK, VCK, CPI, CPM and MMK in several parts of the state and neighbouring Puducherry.

Raising slogans denouncing the government and asking Palaniswami to tender his resignation, demonstrations were held at locations including Egmore and Saidapet in Chennai.

Former Chennai Mayor and DMK leader M Subramanian, party Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, VCK chief Thirumavalavan, MMK leader MH Jawahirullah were among the leaders who participated in the demonstrations.

In the wake of the protest, traffic was disrupted in several locations in Chennai and security was tightened in all the districts of the state.

Buses of the state-run transport corporations were being operated as usual and all steps were being taken to ensure that normalcy was not disrupted, according to government authorities.

No fresh violence was reported so far on Friday from Thoothukudi. Violent protests erupted in Thoothukudi on Tuesday as locals took to the streets demanding closure of the copper factory of the Vedanta group over pollution concerns.

Meanwhile, in a BSE filing, Vedanta said that the state pollution control board has ordered the closure of its plant.

"The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) vide its order dated 23 May, 2018 ordered disconnection of electricity supply and closure of the company's 'Copper Smelter Plant 1 at Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu' under provisions of Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Section 31A of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1971, with immediate effect," it said.

"We would also like to inform that the plant was not operating since 27 March, 2018," it added.

With inputs from PTI
Nityanand Jayaraman speaks about how Vedanta's Sterlite has been evading accountability in spite of repeated statutory and human rights violations.

The movement against Sterlite Corporation in Thoothukudi has been a long one. It has seen the coming together of local residents and environmental activists from across Tamil Nadu. In spite of recorded violations pointing to widespread pollution, Sterlite continued to function with full government support leading to regular protests across the state calling for its closure.

This 24-year struggle hit rock bottom on 22 May, when 13 protesters were killed in police firing. Thoothukudi has been under curfew since, with internet connectivity being suspended till 27 May. While the ongoing outrage might have forced the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to act and cut off electricity to Sterlite's Copper Unit, it is crucial to understand the history of Sterlite's parent company, Vedanta Limited.

Nityanand Jayaraman is a writer and environment activist based out of Tamil Nadu. He has been part of the struggle and has been documenting Vedanta Sterlite's environmental violations for more than 15 years. Firstpost spoke to him to get a closer look at how Vedanta Limited has been evading accountability in spite of repeated statutory and human rights violations on their part. Edited excerpts follow:

Sterlite's parent company Vedanta seems to be in trouble everywhere that it is operating in India. Can you tell us more about Vedanta's track record in India?

Vedanta, not just in India but around the world, has had a very controversial track record on human rights and environment. One of the largest pension funds in the world, Norwegian Pension Fund, has an advisory body called Norwegian Council Ethics, which goes into different corporate stocks and checks which ones are eligible for Norwegian Pension Fund to invest into.

This is because Norwegian law has a requirement that government money should not be put into stocks that are engaged in problematic environmental and human rights violation. This fund has actually blacklisted Vedanta since 2007 which is primarily because of their long list of violations not only in India but also in Zambia, Australia and other places where Vedanta has its operations.

In India, the most notable cases are the ones which have seen big community struggles, one of them concerning the Aluminium Smelter in Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of Odisha and the other one being the struggle against the companys proposed bauxite mines in Niyamgiri Hills, also in Kalahandi.

Both these projects were fought tooth and nail by the local communities. In both cases, the company managed to recruit the government and the police to do its dirty work, to ensure that the projects went through. Of course, the projects didn't go through in the end, that is a different story.

But in the process, what came out as the collateral damage, with Vedantas emergence as one of the most significant non-ferrous metals manufacturers in the world, is that communities have been left shattered, local livelihoods have been completely disrupted and the members of local communities have been criminalised.

Any kind of dissent has been criminalised. The relationship between the state and its people has been vitiated wherever the company has entered. 22 May is probably the most extreme vitiation of the relationship between people and the state, promoted by the one actor who has been consistent in all the places, be it Odisha, Chhattisgarh or Tamil Nadu. Or like in Goa, where again the mines have caused a lot of conflict between the State and its people.

In Niyamgiri, in particular, the companies' actions have resulted in seeking out a community that has been completely cut off from the mainstream. This is the Dongria Konds, who live in the hills of Niyamgiri, worship the hill as a deity. When the hilltop was to be mined by Vedanta, they fought back. It is a very small community and they fought it with the means they knew.

This entire community was criminalised. Their leader, Lado Srikala, one of the eldest in the community who was very articulate and spoke for his people, was hunted down, caught by the police, tortured and then returned to his village.

This has happened time and again. Many more have been victims of police violence, just because theyve challenged Vedanta. In Thoothukudi too, boys are being picked up from their homes by the police. Even now, the state is devoted to the company and theyve still not started working for their people.

For all the companies to be functional, they are subject to obtaining statutory clearances, from across departments of the state...

One key thing that one needs to look at is that the company has deep pockets. Any company with deep pockets and the desire to impose its will can do it in India. Let us not look at it like Vedanta is the only company that is bypassing norms. Large corporations generally get away with what they want.

In Cauvery Delta, ONGC, a public sector unit but a corporation never the less operates 183 hydrocarbon extraction wells. Not one of them has a valid license to operate. How does that happen? That happens because these are big corporations. Eminent offenders are never questioned by the court or the authorities. In fact, everybody works with these people.

In 2013, the Supreme Court of India heard the case regarding Thoothukudi's copper smelter. After hearing the matter for three years, they concluded that the company had violated environmental laws, had polluted the environment, had operated for most of its lifetime without licenses and had made false representations to various statutory authorities, including the apex court.

After observing all this, the Supreme Court goes on to allow the company to resume operations, after the payment of a fine of Rs 100 crores, saying that India needs copper. These are two completely different things. For the need of copper, you can kill, you can pollute, you can do whatever you want. This is the message the highest court of law in the land has given.

When you have the Supreme Court with such a view on the importance of environmental due diligence, how can we blame the pollution control board or the district collector for being any different?

So they are just going along?

They will collude, knowing full well that the Supreme Court of India doesn't really care about licences as long as you are a big company. If you have a thirty percent market share, the worst consequences of the law will never trouble you. But if you are a small entrepreneur trying to make ends meet, then the courts will throw the book at you, will tell you what justice means, what environmental sustenance means. I would like the SC to talk about Vedanta's refinery in Thoothukudi. We heard them talk about this and their judgment is a very pathetic one.

Time and again, Vedanta has responded that they've complied to the norms, like for instance, their main contention has been that Sterlite is well within the SIPCOT Industrial Complex limits...

So what? The issue is, is the SIPCOT Industrial Complex equipped to handle large red category hazardous industries? The answer is no. How does one arrive at that conclusion? A look at the master plan will tell you this.

Red category industries can be permitted only in areas specifically earmarked as Special Industries and Hazardous Use Zones. This is what the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act of 1971 says. When you look at the master plan, a portion of SIPCOT Industrial Estate is for the use of general and light industries.

The bulk of the remaining estate is agricultural land, which has not even been converted for industrial use, leave alone for special or hazardous industries. So here, theyve been able to get by the local land use laws by cosying up to the district administration.

Yes, because even in 2004, TNPCB official records point to Vedanta for constructing another factory complex without obtaining consent but still they were not held in default?

That's right.

And the Supreme Court judgment came much after these officially recorded violations?

Much after that, yes, but usually it's not a matter of whether or not Sterlite has a license now. Licenses have to be obtained prior. But in Sterlite's case, licenses usually follow violations. Meaning that theyll violate first, and then theyll wait for the license followed by the TNPCB hurrying up and giving them the license.

Isn't that visible impunity?

Most large corporations enjoy that. In Vedanta's case, its particularly more blatant because Copper Smelters are very dirty industries the world over. I can't just single out Vedanta and say their copper smelter is polluting. Their smelter may be more polluting or less polluting which is dependent on various factors.

The issue over here is that such large copper smelters are generally located away from urban spaces but here we have one right one within the municipal limits. If one were to use this as an excuse saying that in 1996, there wasn't much awareness... okay, but now the central and state governments have allowed Sterlite to double its capacity within city limits. That is like asking for trouble, especially because we've had a tragedy like Bhopal before us.

What do you think about Vedanta's official responses to the protests and recent killings?

Anil Agarwal, founder and Chairman of Vedanta, seems to have said sorry about something which is fantastic, it is an unprecedented move, and he usually doesnt feel sorry but the companys press release which I saw two days ago did not even mention the lives that were lost.

It is an extremely insensitive press release which only talked about the factory and its premises. It mentions that Sterlite hopes for the safety of its factory and the safety of a so-called community living around it. The safety of this faceless community is endangered not by agitators, outside protestors or by the police but by Sterlite itself. This is what the protestors have been saying as the state took action for Sterlite and not those protesting.

Sterlite has been talking about zero waste and how there are no health effects because of them, that Thuthukudi has very low cancer statistics in comparison to other places. We know the quality of our cancer registry. In India, we also know the quality of science. The central or state governments do not undertake scientific exercises to assess problem.

Even to this date, if you were to go to Bhopal and ask for a sound epidemiological report on what has happened, say by the Indian Council of Medical Research, you will not get it. This is because the ICMR was asked to suspend all medical investigations and studies in the 1990s by the Government of India once they started finding evidence of very serious problems including inter-generational problems. What governments in India usually do is they say that there is no evidence but theyll do nothing to gather evidence. Even now that is what is being done.

The complaints about cancer started 14 years ago, in 2004. Around that time, the TNPCB asked Sterlite to conduct comprehensive health studies. It took four more years of insistence from people and the TNPCB for Sterlite to finally submit its health study in 2008. This health study was done by the Government Medical College of Tirunelveli which found a high incidence of respiratory disorders, muscular-skeletal disorders, high incidence of menstrual disorders and they linked this to the presence of industries in the area.

The largest industry in that area is Sterlite. Normally, when youve such important tentative evidence  Im calling it that because high incidence of respiratory disorders in this particular area as compared to rest of Tamil Nadu or Thoothukudi indicates the presence of some kind of problem  then, the normal thing that any science-oriented society would do is to go in for a deeper, much better study.

From 2008, ten years have been spent with not a single study sanctioned by the government to look into this. What that tells us is that even when Sterlite has spent a lot of money on the government, the government doesnt even want to find out what is happening to its people. Lets say you have a person suffering from a disease in your family and for ten years you dont take them to a doctor. Or you dont try to find out what happened to them. This is the situation in Thoothukudi.

Anil Agarwal kept stressing on how the company is trying its best to make India less import-dependent and job generation is also something they should be given credit for  be it in this case or the other projects in India.

A corporation is not set up for the public interest. A corporation is a legal entity set up under the companies act to maximise returns for its shareholders. That is the dharma of a corporation and theyve to do this in a lawful manner. This is what the law requires.

A corporation is not required to build toilets, sponsor Swatch Bharat or purchase CCTV cameras for the Thuthukudi police. That is not the job of the corporate, if the corporation is doing it, that might be because it is incidental to its business. Probably it is required for its business because it requires the police to do what it did on 22 May. Therefore, purchasing CCTV cameras for the Thuthukudi police is a small price to pay for the kind of protection that they get.

Sterlite's job is to manufacture copper. Sterlite's obligation is to ensure that its shareholders do not get shafted. In this case, Sterlite has done not even that, theyve not even been loyal to their shareholders.

If Vedanta is interest in India and its development, then why set up in London? The founder is from Bihar, why hasn't he kept the headquarters there? Why doesn't the bulk of the GDP show up over here? Why did it have to be in UK's GDP?
Tuticorin residents allege that over a hundred people remain missing after the Sterlite protests, and police are arresting and detaining youngsters.

Tensions that escalated after policemen gunned down civilian protesters in Thoothukudi (also called Tuticorin) on Tuesday seem to have finally been subdued, but, residents allege that over a hundred people remain missing, and police are arresting and detaining youngsters and reportedly subjecting them to torture.

"Yesterday (Thursday), lawyers visited people who were detained with the permission of the judicial magistrate; they were being kept in inhumane conditions. They were found without clothes and were forced to disrobe and kept confined in their undergarments," a resident of Thoothukudi said, on condition of anonymity.

"People are being marked and targeted. Everyone is afraid. We do not know what is going to happen next," the resident added.

Of the ninety people, reportedly detained by the police, thirty were released on spot and the remaining were granted bail by district court judge Charu Hasini. "Kaali Muthuvel, a judge from the district court, visited Valland and saw that police had confined 90 people illegally. He asked the police to immediately release them. The police released 30 people on the spot and the remaining 60 were produced in court, but they were not given bail. Only after they were produced in the district court, judge Hasini gave them immediate bail," said another resident, who is part of the protests in Thoothukudi.

Though Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh sought an explanation from the Tamil Nadu government over Tuesday's firing, protestors including activists, feel that the move is a mere eyewash.

"Citizens have been shot dead by the government. Why didn't the home minister himself come and take a look at the situation? No Tamil Nadu minister or central minister has visited Thoothukudi. I hear that some senior officials have been placed to create documents and explain the situation. It's pathetic. This is all a part of their game to explain things and cover the crime," said environmental and anti-nuclear activist Dr SP Udayakumar, who founded the Patchai Tamilagam Katchi (Green Tamil Nadu Party).

But Police said on Friday that the situation in Thoothukudi has normalised. "No more arrests have been made. The situation is normal and government buses have started plying," an officer in Thoothukudi said.

A large police contingent continues to patrol the streets, particularly in the Anna Nagar area, which has seen a large share of the violence unleashed by the Tamil Nadu police force on people protesting against the Vedanta-group owned Sterlite copper plant.

Eyewitnesses say that a police battalion is patrolling every major street. Thousands of police officers, including the additional director-general of police (Law), four deputy inspectors-generals and fifteen superintendents of police, have been deployed to maintain calm in the shipping town. Agriculture secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi and transport secretary PWC Davidar are also monitoring the situation.

Though the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board also ordered the copper factory to shut down and the Madras High Court issued a stay order on the expansion of the plant, Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal is positive to restart operations there. "I'm very sad to hear about the incident that happened yesterday (22 May). This was absolutely unfortunate The plant is closed because of an annual shutdown and we are waiting for a court and government clearance to restart the plant. We are strictly following the court and government's orders," Agarwal said in a statement.

Udayakumar is of the opinion that despite such violent protests, the government will work in favour of the Vedanta group. "He (Agarwal) has paid most politicians in India, he thinks he can do whatever we wants He needs to understand that the local people will not allow the plant to function. Not after the loss of so many lives. They are ordinary people who want to live their lives with dignity and honour," he said, adding that social activists and environmentalists are contemplating the start of a global campaign against the Vedanta group. "This isn't a Thoothukudi issue. It is a global issue now," he said.

Thirteen people were reported dead due to police firing and several others injured; residents alleged that police took the liberty to use their batons on innocent civilians in an attempt to intimidate and dissuade protesters.

The violence started on Tuesday after police shot at protesters marching towards the Thoothukudi district collectorate, demanding the closure of the Sterlite copper plant that they accuse of polluting the water and air, leading to skin and lung diseases. Nine of the injured were declared dead on arrival; the death toll climbed to 13 in the next two days.

On Wednesday, police fired two rounds outside the Thoothukudi district hospital, to disperse protesters including relatives of those who were injured or killed by policemen before former Thoothukudi collector N Venkatesh met victims.

In an attempt to control the mobs' ire, the government swiftly transferred Venkatesh and the Thoothukudi superintendent of police P Mahendran. But despite Nanduri assuring immediate results, and promising normalcy, an atmosphere of fear and dissent continues to hover over Thoothukudi.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) and other Opposition parties called for a day-long shutdown on Friday to protest against the police brutality, Vedanta's Sterlite plant and failure on part of the Tamil Nadu led government. Opposition leaders, including DMK's MK Stalin, MDMK's Vaiko (Vaiyapuri Gopalsamy), Makkal Needhi Maiam's Kamal Haasan, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol Thirumavalavan, state president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Su Thirunavukkarasar and K Balakrishnan, were booked under Sections 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups).

"Youngsters who are protesting are not from Anna Nagar but from other areas. But police are pulling out youngsters from Anna Nagar and beating them up for a crime they have not committed. The current situation is such that the judiciary is our only hope," said a local resident.

"I cannot disclose my name or area because a few people who were seen talking to journalists on television were arrested from their houses. We have been told that Section 144 is still in place. I lost one of my close friends in the firing. Police are detaining youngsters from everywhere. We are shattered by what is happening here," said another resident.

The resident added that due to the internet shutdown, they are unable to show the ground reality of what is happening in Thoothukudi.

The author is a member of The NewsCart, a Bengaluru-based media startup.
The protestors have been demanding permanent closure of the Sterlite copper factory and stringent action against officials responsible for killing 13 and injuring several others.

Thoothukudi looks similar to a war zone. Few vehicles and government buses ply on desolate roads, guarded by armed police forces. Almost every commuter is being stopped and questioned by police personnel.

Three days since policemen opened fire at protesters, killing at least 13, fresh allegations of police torture and high handedness continue to supplement the atmosphere of fear that is keeping local residents confined to their houses.

Members of the Thoothukudi bar association, who filed a petition under IPC section 97 (Right of private defence of the body and of property), alleged that several people had been confined at the Vallanad Shooting Range in Thoohtukudi.

"Following our petition, chief judicial magistrate (Thoothukudi) Bhagavathi Amal sent Vilathikulam Magistrate K Muthuvel to take stock of the situation and ensure the release of detainees. But on visiting Pudukottai police station, the legal team found out that no detainees were kept there. They had been detained at the Vallanad shooting range," said an advocate associate with the Thoothukudi Bar Association, in condition of anonymity.

"When the magistrate reached the spot (Vallanad), he saw that several detainees were sitting there without clothes, wearing only their underwear. Statements from all of those were collected and they were later produced in front of the chief judicial magistrate, where they were given bail," he added. The advocate informed that over a 140 people were produced in court.

Denying the allegations, police said, "The people who were arrested from home were wearing the same clothes that they were during the time of arrests. We gave them proper food and water. We never laid a hand on them."

A police official added that the detainees were granted bail by the judicial magistrate following the Thoothukudi Bar Associations petition.

But despite the police saying that the situation is Thoothukudi is returning to normalcy, a local resident said, "The current situation remains pathetic. Some shops have opened but most remain closed. Yesterday, policemen remanded several youngsters without providing any reasons. Some of them have been released but many remain missing."

Another resident, however, agreed with the police and said, "Right now the situation is normal, but police are still in groups everywhere. Only if any youngsters move around in bikes they are being stopped for questioning."

District Collector Sandeep Nanduri said, "The situation is returning to normalcy in Thoothukudi. Buses are being operated to Madurai and Tirunelveli. Local buses will also be operated soon. The Aavim booth supplied 11,500 liters of milk to people today. Amma canteens will be open 24/7 and provide free meals for three days. Vegetable markets and ration shops are open and people are getting their basic needs."

While the protests have been subdued, allegedly by brute muscle and gun power that was exercised unconstitutionally by the police, in Thoothukudi, opposition party members accompanied by activists and local residents are creating a stir across the state.

Several opposition leaders, including DMK MP Kanimozhi, were detained while protesting at the Egmore area in Chennai on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear a petition filed by Desiya Murpokku Dravia Kazagham (DMDK) leader and Supreme Court advocate, GS Mani on Monday.

Mani submitted in his petition that the death of 10 innocent civilians in the hands of police is not an ordinary murder case but a rare instance where state machinery was abused in the name of security and demanded for a CBI inquiry against the former Thoothukudi superintendent of police P Manikandan and former district collector N Venkatesh. The petition also demands for a compensation of Rs 50 lakh each for the families of those who were killed in police firing and Rs 25 lakh for the families of those who were injured. "It (the situation in Thoothukudi) is a complete failure of the government and the administration. It is a case of murder and the accused should be booked under section 307 (IPC)," said Mani.

Alleging that the Thoothukudi Police firing which claimed 13 lives was premeditated and ordered by higher authorities to kill unarmed antiSterlite protestors, Tamil Desiya Periayakkam leader P Maniarasan said he has photographs of former Thoothukudi collector N Venkatesh posing with policemen who shot at protesters before the firing happened on Tuesday.

Maniarasan who visited families of the victim in Thoothukudi on Wednesday, said, "The streets in Thoothukudi are deserted and people are in the grip of fear. We have visited over 65 women who have been admitted in two wards in the general hospital."

Residents in Thoothukudi seem to have lost all faith on the government and are hopeful the judiciary will help them out of their turmoil.

"Over a 100 youngsters were brutally attacked and kept semi-nude. The magistrates brought those people back, but we fear that there are several others like them who are illegally detained by policemen. There are several people missing and we are afraid about their whereabouts," a local resident said, while another said, "the judiciary are the only ones supporting us."

"All advocates are working together to ensure that these people (those who were arrested) are released. All of us were at court till 2 am yesterday. All advocates from the Bar Association are helping to get these people out," a member of the Thoothukudi Bar Association said.

The protestors have been demanding permanent closure of the Sterlite copper factory and stringent action against officials responsible for killing 13 and injuring several others.

While the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) ordered the Sterlite plant shut and discontinued electric supply to the factory, a TNPCB official said that the order will to be reworked. "We cant comment on anything till we receive the reworked order. Power supply to the factory will remain disconnected till then," the official said.
The police firing on protestors campaigning against the Sterlite Industries' copper smelter plant in the southern port town of Thoothukudi in which 13 persons, including a woman and a teenage girl, died, is an outrage Tamil Nadu has not seen in its history.

The police firing on protestors campaigning against the Sterlite Industries' copper smelter plant in the southern port town of Thoothukudi in which 13 persons, including a woman and a teenage girl, died, is an outrage Tamil Nadu has not seen in its history.

An incident that comes close to what unfolded in Thoothukudi was when 17 people of a tea estate in Tirunelveli marched to the collectorate to demand wage revision were lathicharged. While fleeing from the police, many got into the Tamraparani river and drowned. In Thoothukudi, the unarmed campaigners were marching to the collectorate to press for the closure of the plant which they believe is polluting the air and ground water.

The plant in Thoothukudi has remained closed since 27 March as the Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board rejected Vedanta's license to operate the smelter. Sterlite Industries has challenged it in the court. This is not the first time that the plant has been ordered to be shut. It remained shut for weeks in 2013 when the owners appealed to the National Green Tribunal against a similar shutdown order by the Madras High Court.

The locals have demanded permanent closure of the smelter unit, however, no immediate closure is in sight.

It happened on the 100th day of the protest. When it was peaceful all along, why did it turn violent on the 100th day  a question the police refuse to answer. They had announced their plan to lay siege at the collectorate. Why did not they not then make any preventive arrests? To prevent the protest march, the district administration clamped Section 144 in the town. Why did the police not take the protestors into custody en route which is the normal practice?

The crowd stoned the heavily-outnumbered police and set fire to police buses and vans as well as private vehicles. When the situation threatened to get out of hand, the police lathicharged the protesters and deployed tear gas. It was only after the violence spread to the collectorate that the police opened fire.

The events were seen by thousands on television channels. They also saw the police raining lathi blows on the agitators. Worse, the police gave no notice before opening fire. There was no district magistrate present on the scene. Who permitted the police to open fire? They did fire in the air. Thereafter, they took aims and shot to kill, a flagrant violation of police rules.

The Tamil Nadu government has ordered an official enquiry and entrusted the job to retired High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan, a judge who exonerated the police in an encounter where armed robbers from Bihar were shot dead in cold-blood in a Chennai suburb a few years ago.

The larger question is why didn't the police use water cannons and when firing became inevitable, use pellets or rubber bullets? Even in Jammu and Kashmir, the para-military forces use only pellets on stone-throwing mobs. There has been a stoic silence from the Tamil Nadu police.

The tragic irony is that the copper plant is not in operation and waiting for clearance for its second unit. It is the construction activities going on in the plant for the expansion which triggered the latest agitation. Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of the UK-based Vedanta group, has a dubious record on pollution. During its chequered operation in the last 20 years, there have been sulphur dioxide emissions and NEERI studies commissioned by the Supreme Court has found that there is presence of sulphur and other pollutants in the ground water, but within permissible limits.

In 2013, the Sterlite copper plant was fined by the Supreme Court after a gas leak. The apex court had also slammed the plant for operating without requisite permits for a considerable period of time. Sterlite however said it was fined for deviating from the NEERI norms and it had since taken remedial measures.

Twice before the Madras High Court ordered that the plant be shut down. The company in appeal found relief.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board also ordered shutdown in May 2013 on the ground that the plant had leaked toxic sulphur dioxide. Subsequently, the National Green Tribunal dismissed it as unfounded fears and allowed the plant to operate under expert guidance.

The bench observed Sterlite's unit is located an industrial complex and there are a number of other industries there, including thermal power units. "The TNPCB has not placed on record any determinative scientific data or reports to show that applicant industry (Sterlite) alone was responsible for the alleged emission of sulphur dioxide.

The Tamil Nadu Government's appeal against the green tribunal's order is pending in the Supreme Court which refused to grant stay on the ground that copper is meets the countrys defence needs. The court said it would be better to await the final order of the tribunal.

The company in its website has denied that the plant is emitting sulphur dioxide beyond permissible limits. It has also denied that it is discharge of effluents into the ocean and this is affecting marine life It has said effluents are recycled and there is zero discharge, a fact endorsed by NEERI in 2011. As for fears of incidence of cancer in Thoothukudi, it has cited statistics to show it is well below State average

The company has also denied that it is polluting ground water. It says water samples from the bore-wells/dug wells are being checked by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on monthly basis inside the plant premises and in the nearby villages. "If Sterlite Copper were polluting the groundwater, we would expect to see evidence of marker pollutants like copper, zinc and arsenic. The samples do not reveal the presence of these marker pollutants."

However, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on 5 May told the appellate authority, hearing the plea of the company for reopening the plant, said the company misleading facts. It has said there is an alarming rise in number of persons being diagnosed with respiratory diseases due to atmospheric pollution.

It has said women in the villages surrounding the unit having inexplicably high incidence of menstrual disorders. There is fear of arsenic laced wastewater from Sterlite plant reportedly flooding tanks in the town.

The pollution control board has also reminded the Appellate Authority on how Vedanta and its subsidiary Konkola Copper mines are currently being sued in English courts by Zambian villagers for polluting their water and destroying their livelihood through their mining operations. In such a backdrop, the plant is planning to start a second unit when consent to operate its existing unit is pending before the authorities which led to the renewed agitation leading to police repression.
Two persons, including one who visited Kerala recently, were admitted to hospitals with suspected Nipah virus infection.

Hyderabad: Two persons, including one who visited Kerala recently, were admitted to hospitals with suspected Nipah virus infection even as the Telangana health authorities have advised people to avoid visiting Kerala.

The health department officials are conducting a campaign to caution people against visiting Kerala, at least till the dreaded Nipah virus comes under control.

K. Shankar, director, Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) said on Friday that people should postpone their plans to visit Kerala in view of the situation. He said people should avoid visiting affected areas.

Officials of Medical and Health Department also said that they were advising people not to visit Kerala at least till the situation comes under control.

The authorities are conducting campaigns in residential colonies to create awareness among people about Nipah virus and also to advise them against visiting Kerala.

They were also screening people at airport, railway and bus stations for suspected symptoms of the dreaded virus.

Telangana Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy said samples of two persons were sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. One of them returned from Kerala with suspected symptoms and he has been isolated at IPM.

Though the 25-year-old man did not visit the area which is affected by the virus, the authorities did not take any chances and sent his samples along that of another man, who is admitted to Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) with encephalitis.

The official said the test reports were expected in a day or two. He said there was no need for panic as the state had not recorded any confirmed case of Nipah virus.

The authorities have advised people to take all precautions. Rames Reddy said people should avoid eating cut fruits. The fruits and vegetables should be washed properly before using them. People were also advised to avoid pork as pigs are also suspected to be carriers of the virus.
They roam Moroccos southern desert, braving the searing heat to scour the undulating sands for bounty fallen from the sky. These celestial treasure hunters are searching for meteorites to sell on a burgeoning international market. Equipped with a very strong magnet and magnifying glass, retired physical education teacher Mohamed Bouzgarine says that discoveries can be more valuable than gold. The price depends on the rocks rarity, its shape and its condition, the 59-year-old adds, sporting a dark blue tracksuit, lighter blue scarf and sunglasses. Rocks coming from Mars are very expensive, sometimes as much as 10,000 dirhams [around $1,000, 900 euros] per gram, he says. Bouzgarine stops in front of a hollow, hoping it could be a crater formed very long ago by extraterrestrial matter. Its a first sign, he says, ready to get down to work, in the township of MHamid el Ghizlane. For four years now, hes been sifting rocks in the sand, inspecting them for telltale signs of burn incurred during fiery journeys through the atmosphere. And while he is yet to strike it lucky, the success of some of his hundreds of peers provides the stamina to plod on. Rich hunting grounds Likewise Abderrahmane, a 48-year-old paramedic who is spending his vacation searching for meteorites. Others have made a lot of money... one meteorite hunter found and sold 600 grams for 7,500 dirhams (660 euros, $780) per gram, Abderrahmane says, dressed in a blue safari suit. From the 2000s, all the nomads started to look for rocks, he says. A few foreign specialists are also drawn to the quest for extraterrestrial fragments in the desert landscapes of Erfoud, Tata and Zagora. These parts of southern Morocco are rich hunting grounds, as the wind uncovers meteorites and their black hue is easy to spot against the near-white sand. At least half the scientific publications on the subject are made on the basis of meteorites collected in Morocco, geochemist Hasnaa Chennaoui Aoudjehane tells AFP. Desert zones are favorable to the accumulation of meteorites, there is no vegetation... [and] ... the risk of alteration is low, adds Aoudjehane, who teaches at Casablancas Hassan II university. For scientists, these rocks harbour valuable information about the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, as well as the planets and their internal composition. One in every five meteorites is valuable. Demand from scientists and specialist brokers has raised prices and inspired meteorite hunters. Unlike other countries, where the state stakes a claim, there is no legal framework governing discoveries in Morocco, so its a case of finders keepers.While several meteor showers have occurred in Morocco in recent years, a bonanza known as the black beauty was the most lucrative. Like playing the lottery In 2011, fragments of this Martian landing fell in southern Moroccos Tata region, setting in motion a scramble that saw seven kilograms of fragments recovered. The haul fetched prices of between $500 and $1,000 per gram. Back on the desert plains, it can be frustrating work, requiring a lot of patience. Twenty days into his holiday, paramedic Abderrahmane has been searching for fragments without finding anything of note, he says. But he remains undeterred. It is a question of luckits like playing the lottery, he smiles. And he knows how he will handle a major find. The sale is made discreetlyit is necessary to get the vendors confidence, he says. Transactions are also made online, in specialist forums and even on classified advertising sites. The most valuable finds are sold at auction in Paris or New York. What one finds in the (local) souks are just odds and ends, says Abderrahmane. And theres not much money to be made at the bottom end of the meteorite sales chain. Slimane, an old man with a white beard and blue turban, sits under a tent in a souk in Mhamid, surrounded by coloured fabrics, outdated jewels and old coins. He dips into a leather satchel, retrieving some rocks accumulated over the years. But theyre not worth much, he confesses. I have not risen above penury through rocks, he laments, arms raised to the sky.
Despite the government's efforts to implement the Ujjwala Yojana, awareness regarding LPG and its health and other benefits is still in a sorry state.

Editor's note: Over two years have passed since the inauguration of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in the district of Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. The scheme, which aims to provide LPG connections to economically weaker sections, has often been cited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to showcase the Centre's work towards poverty alleviation. In this series of reports, Firstpost seeks to assess the impact of the scheme on the ground in western Uttar Pradesh.

Mukesh Jain, a resident of Sonta village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, says that the mindset of expecting the government to offer lifestyle-altering services absolutely free of cost is deep-rooted among the people of India. When asked about the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), under which LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) connections are offered to people below the poverty line, he says that the first problem is that people are expected to pay Rs 1,500 for one connection. Firstpost hit ground zero to assess the implementation challenges of this programme, that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 May, 2016, in Ballia.

First and foremost, the cost for each LPG connection is between Rs 3,100-Rs 3,200. Initially, under this scheme, per family indemnity of Rs 1,600 was being offered and families were paying Rs 1,500 for an LPG stove and gas cylinder. Jain explains that many people in Muzaffarnagar district misinterpreted the scheme and thought that it meant that the government is going to hand out free connections.

Gradually, they began feeling that the Rs 1,500 they were made to pay were filling the pockets of private gas companies that gave rise to speculations regarding corruption by government officials. The misinformation regarding the Ujjwala scheme is evident from the way people speak about the scheme in western Uttar Pradesh.

However, the government has devised a way to deal with this situation at the grassroots level. To those who were unable to pay the Rs 1500 fee, gas companies started offering interest-free loans. The beneficiaries were granted Rs 1,500 to avail the benefits of the Ujjwala scheme and easy instalments were fixed.

Gas companies found their own way to recover these interest-free loans. The government subsidy on gas was converted into a loan instalment and until the loan amount of Rs 1,500 was completed, the subsidy was not stopped. So, if someone takes a loan of Rs 1,500 from the gas company for the LPG connection under the Ujjwala scheme, then the repayment of the loan will be effected through deductions from the gas subsidy provided by the government. If a subsidy of Rs 200 is given on a gas cylinder of Rs 715, then the consumer availing the loan will have to pay the company Rs 715 for the gas cylinder.

An amount of Rs 200 will be deducted from the consumer loan. So, after a deduction of Rs 200 from a loan of Rs 1500, the repayment amount will be Rs 1,300. In this way, consumers who opt for the loan will not get the subsidy till the full loan of Rs 1,500 is paid. The beneficiary of a loan under the scheme receives the amount of government subsidy after taking seven-eight gas cylinders.

This plan comes across as a good option initially because of not having to pay a single penny while taking the LPG connection but, as soon as the consumers realise theyre not receiving any subsidy on the gas cylinder, they become careless about taking the next cylinder. This is a common sentiment in Muzaffarnagar, where poor villagers complain that they can't afford expensive cylinders without subsidy.

Another hurdle in the successful implementation of the scheme is that a section of villagers doesn't consider LPG as primary cooking fuel. To make food in the villages, wood and dung extract is still considered cheap and effective. These are age-old practices and mindsets take a long to change.

Under the Ujjwala scheme, consumers in Muzaffarnagar who receive the facility of LPG gas connections also think that wood and cow-dung cakes should be used up before the gas stove is lit. Also, the assumption that they don't have to separately spend on wood and cow-dung the way they have to on a gas cylinder keeps them wary of the idea which in the long run will prove beneficial to them.

For instance, Sunita from Sonta village hasn't started using the LPG connection that was given to her months ago. Jain explains that cow-dung cakes are readily available and says this explains the abysmal usage of LPG available to villagers like Sunita. He also talks about how one cylinder lasts up to a year in some homes.

Here, many women like Sunita ask what they should do with cow-dung cakes lying around the house all the time. Hence, LPG cylinders are used on special occasions or during some kind of emergency or when it's entirely too hot to burn wood.

According to the 2011 Census, 85 percent of rural households use biomass, coal or kerosene as cooking fuel. Whereas in the cities it is used in 25 percent households. Also, 60 percent of the total LPG users use it as the primary cooking fuel. These figures from 2011 have not changed much. This figure can be understood from the fact that there are many consumers who can afford the use of LPG, but still, do not use it as the primary cooking fuel.

The ground reality at Muzaffarnagar corresponds with the findings of a Crisil report on the transition from biomass to LPG cylinders, where 85 percent of the respondents who hadn't adopted the technology cited expense as the prime reason.

Among the surveyed states, the perception of LPG being unsafe is 46 percent. In states like Gujarat, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, 50 percent or more households mentioned safety as a barrier. Low awareness with regard to advantages of LPG as a cooking fuel has been cited as a spanner towards the adoption of LPG. The report states that non-familiarity about operating an LPG stove is a concern expressed by 35 percent of the surveyed households.

The scheme may have reached the poorest of homes in western Uttar Pradesh in a district like Muzaffarnagar where communal and caste violence is common, but despite the government's efforts, the awareness regarding their own health and well-being still waits at a sorry distance.

Read Part 1: Dalits in western UP laud benefits despite resentment against Centre on other issues
In leading up to the book cover reveal, Michelle Obama also shared four family photographs that illustrated milestones in her personal journey, leading to the present day.

Michelle Obama has unveiled the cover for her to-be-published memoir  titled Becoming  in an Instagram post. The cover features a portrait of the former First lady of the United States that has been shot by the photographer Miller Mobley.

Im thrilled to share with all of you the cover for Becoming. The process of writing this book has been so personally meaningful and illuminating for me. As I prepare to share Becoming this fall, I hope youll also think about your own story, and trust that it will help you become whoever you aspire to be. Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own, Michelle Obama wrote in a post accompanying the cover photo.

In leading up to the book cover reveal, she also shared four family photographs that illustrated milestones in her personal journey, leading to the present day.

Becoming will be published in 25 languages around the world. It is slated to release on 13 November 2018. A statement by the publishers read:

"In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerising storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her  from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the worlds most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it  in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is an unusually intimate reckoning from a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectationsand whose story inspires us to do the same."

Also read  Netflix signs the Obamas: Has the streaming giant taken on a responsibility they are not ready for?
The BJP on Friday claimed that it has been forced to relocate its over 3,000 panchayat members.

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday claimed that it has been forced to relocate its over 3,000 panchayat members, who won in the recent local polls in West Bengal, due to "threats" from the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The BJP's general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is the party's state in-charge, alleged that TMC workers supported by local police have been threatening its elected members with dire consequences if they do not either join their party or resign.

"We have been forced to remove about 3,000 of our 6,000 members to different locations due to harassment from the TMC leaders," he said.

Vijayvargiya said his party has taken close to 1,000 panchayat members to neighbouring Jharkhand for safety.

He said these members will return to their villages only after their tenure begins after one-and-a-half months.

Attacking state chief minister Mamata Banerjee, he said she is projecting herself as a champion of democratic values, but her conduct has been far from it with over 60 murders and 1,500 injured in the elections.

"Talk of democracy does not behove her," he said.
RSS worker BN Prahlad will mourn the death of his brother Vijay Kumar and honour his legacy by contesting from Bengaluru's Jayanagar constituency. Kumar, a BJP MLA who passed away due to a heart attack while campaigning, was primed to win the Jayanagar Assembly seat.

RSS worker BN Prahlad says he will mourn the death of his brother Vijay Kumar and honour his legacy by contesting from Bengaluru's Jayanagar constituency. Kumar, a BJP MLA who passed away due to a heart attack while campaigning, was primed to win the Jayanagar Assembly seat.

Though Ramalinga Reddys daughter Sowmya generated good support, the youngest of Kumars five siblings is confident of victory. Prahlad, 57, who has worked with the RSS-affiliated social organisation Rashtrottahana Parishat for 18 years, said his brothers image and his contribution to society is something voters will not forget and help him win.

Edited excerpts of his interview with Firstpost follow:

Did you volunteer to contest the elections after your brothers death?

Prahlad: My brother has contributed a lot to Jayanagar. The RSS and BJP high command and those who supported my brother told me I would be right for this position. I didnt choose it; it came to me unknowingly. After my brother passed away, leaders like Amit Shah and Ananth Kumar visited and offered condolences They (the central leadership) approached me and told me to take his place.

Do you think you'll be able to meet the standards your brother set as an MLA?



Prahlad: It is very difficult to reach my brothers standards. The amount of patience he had, his politeness of accepting everything the way it is and not blaming it on someone. He was very talented and highly intelligent. I dont think I will be able to be even 1 percent of what he used to be.

What changes do you want to see in your constituency?

Prahlad: I want to bring about many changes and implement several things like my brother did during his days as an MLA. He was the one who installed a drip irrigation plant in Jayanagar If I become an MLA, I will talk to people, figure out their problems directly and definitely try finding solutions.

Are you receiving good support?



Prahlad: I have received a very good response from the people. When my brother passed away, many people gathered outside our house to pay their respects. They are with me and will give me their full support. People who I havent spoken to in decades are calling me up and extending their full support.

Have you started campaigning?

Prahlad: The nomination will be filed on 25 May and only after that will we start campaigning. As Im new in this field, the partys high command will help plan my campaign. The Karnataka BJP president asked to me wait for now.

Is your family supportive of you contesting?



Prahlad: Initially, my family told me not to contest. First my wife said no and then my elder brother said no. They said things should happen by itself; I had to earn the nomination. But they told me to accept if the party (BJP) or the Sangh Parivar asks me to contest.

Do you think your opponents have a stronger chance of winning?

Prahlad: What my brother has done for Jayanagar is beyond words. The amount of effort he invested to develop Jayanagar is not everyones cup of tea. Im contesting under his umbrella and am hence sure I'll get the support of people and defeat all my opponents. There was a 100 percent chance of my brother winning. He would have won the elections with a margin of at least 30,000 votes. I feel the same people who supported him will help me win.

What strengths and weakness do you think people see in you?

Prahlad: My biggest strength is my brother. I will be building a house for which he has been the pillar for almost a decade. My biggest weakness is that I am impatient and react to things very fast. My brother was a very polite man. Even though he had so much of work pressure he used to be remain calm.

Now that the JD(S)-Congress alliance has formed the Karnataka government, do you think people will vote for the BJP?



Prahlad: People will vote for the party which has done good for society and the candidate who will help people. As far as Jayanagar is concerned, the BJP has been ruling for the last two decades and they have done tremendous work. So, I think people will definitely choose a party based on the kind of work they do and not by who has formed the government.

You are not a known face in the party. Do you think it will affect your vote share?

Prahlad: I have learnt how to interact with people from my daughter; she has been performing on stage for over 13 years. The political thing is an entirely different chapter in my life. I think the fact that all my family members are into social work will get me the support of the people.

What problems do you think needs immediate redressal in your constituency?

Prahlad: Traffic congestion is the main problem here; apart from that, garbage is an issue and old trees are falling. There are several challenges for me. If I win, I will adhere to my responsibilities, if I lose, Ill continue fighting for the causes I believe in.

The interviewer is a member of The NewsCart, a Bengaluru-based media startup
HD Kumaraswamy on Friday asserted that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would complete its five-year tenure in Karnataka.

Bengaluru: Seeking the trust vote in the Karnataka assembly, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday asserted that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would complete its five-year tenure.

He said he was conscious that he was not running a majority government but promised "a new kind" of coalition government that would become a model for the country.

"You (BJP) may be feeling that this government will go in two or three months, it will not go in two months or one month, but will stay with stability for five years," Kumaraswamy said.

In his speech after moving a motion for the vote of confidence, he said "We will work for the people of the state. We are not here to fulfill our personal wishes...I will work for the all round development of the state without any discrimination. I promise a new kind of coalition government that will be a model for this country."

Kumaraswamy said he was not assuming the chief minister's post "happily", as he has not got the complete trust of the people.

"I have not become chief minister happily. I have pain. I had placed several issues in front of people during the election, feeling that they will trust me, but people of the state have not shown trust in me," he said.

"I'm not running a majority government, but people have not given majority to anyone...they may have given you (BJP) 104, but it is not a majority..." Kumaraswamy added.

Thanking the Congress for the support, the chief minister, while promising not to misuse their trust in him, said he would work towards ensuring a good name for the party, and for a "new type" of political development that will begin in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Promising to continue the popular schemes of the Congress government, Kumaraswamy said the government would not only be stable, but would protect the interests of everyone and provide honest and good administration.

"Let's end politics here and look at the interest of the people and development of state," he said.

Trying to find fault with the governor's decision to invite the BJP to form the government first and to give them 15 days' time to prove majority, the chief minister rejected claims made by Yeddyurappa that Congress and JD(S) MLAs were in captivity.

Recalling his 2006 decision to join hands with the BJP, Kumaraswamy said it was a wrong decision that had impacted his father and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda's health.

"I had a pain that I have put a black mark on the political philosophy that he (Gowda) stood for all along in over 60 years...he was even hospitalised for 3-4 days as he was pained that I had gone against the secular identity that he stood for."

Kumaraswamy said neither Gowda, nor his family is hungry for power.

"In over 60 years of his political life, Deve Gowda was prime minister for 10 months, chief minister for about 18 months. For three or four years, he was a minister in the Ramakrishna Hegde and SR Bommai governments. In his long political life, we have seen power for about four or five years only."

Kumaraswamy also conceded that his decision to join hands with Congress was also to wipe out the black mark that he had put on his father's political legacy, by joining hands with BJP in 2006 to form a coalition government.

"I want to tell the BJP that if I had not formed government with you then, you would not have seen power in south India. For the BJP's door to power in south India to open, I also have my small role," he said.

Hitting back at Yeddyurappa's threat to take to the streets if the government does not fulfill its promise of farm loan waiver, Kumaraswamy said the government would not give BJP any chance to go to the streets.

"I need not learn from you about farm loan waiver...this government is committed to waiving loans of farmers made through cooperative, nationalised and grameena banks," he added.

Later, rebutting Opposition leader Yeddyurappa's speech, Kumaraswamy said it was unbecoming of his age, seniority and experience, and also called BJP's walkout as "escapism."

He said Yeddyurappa has spoken like a drama artiste rehearsing for a play in open theatre.

Kumaraswamy alleged that Yeddyurappa during the Dharm Singh government had come to him stating that he would quit BJP and had sought a minister's post.

He said a false document about him floating a company in Malaysia had been created.

Hitting out Yeddyurappa's call for a bandh if loan waiver is not announced, Kumaraswamy said he has seen several such bandhs.

"If any attempt is made to instigate people, it won't be allowed."
Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy won the floor test in Karnataka Assembly unanimously by voice vote after BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly.

Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday won the floor test in Karnataka Assembly unanimously by voice vote after BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly.

During his speech in the Karnataka Assembly, Kumaraswamy asserted that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would complete its five-year tenure.

He also said he was conscious that he was not running a majority government.

"I am also pained that the people have not placed their trust on me," he said as he moved the motion seeking a vote of confidence, apparently referring to his party JD(S) not being given a clear mandate by the voters.

He said, "We will be stable for five years. We will work for the people. We are not here to fulfil our personal interests."

Kumaraswamy said neither he nor the Deve Gowda family ever hankered after power and pointed out that they had spent much of their political life in the Opposition.

"I am not hankering after power...nor my (Gowda) family...we have spent much of our political life in the opposition," he added.

Kumaraswamy also said there was a "blot" on JD(S) supremo and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda after he joined hands with the BJP to form a coalition government in 2006.

But he was now relieved that the "blot" had been removed (with the formation of a coalition government with the Congress).

He also said the government was committed to a waiver of farm loans as promised during the elections.

The legislators of the saffron party walked out of the Assembly soon after BS Yeddyurappa finished his speech against the Congress-JD(S) government.

In his speech, Yeddyurappa alleged that there are several charges of corruption against the Gowda family. He warned that the JD(S) had betrayed BJP in the past and may do the same with Congress, according to CNN-News18.

Earlier, Yeddyurappa was recognised as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

Newly-elected Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar made the announcement shortly after his election as the presiding officer of the House.

Govind Karjol would be the deputy Opposition leader, Kumar said.

Congress' KR Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly after BJP candidate S Suresh Kumar pulled out of the race.

As the House met and pro-tem speaker KG Bopaiah took up the matter, BJP's Sunil Kumar stood up and said he was not moving the motion proposing Suresh Kumar for the Speaker's post. Suresh Kumar then said, "I accept it."

Ramesh Kumar's name was then proposed by former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and seconded by Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara.

The motion was unanimously adopted by the House. Kumaraswamy and Yeddyurappa escorted Ramesh Kumar to the chair.

The move by the BJP, which is the single largest party with 104 MLAs, apparently came because it failed to muster the support of additional lawmakers required for the victory of its candidate.

The Congress-JD(S) combine got the support of 117 members.

With inputs from PTI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday demanded that the Centre address the problems faced by the common man due to rising fuel prices in the country.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday demanded that the Centre address the problems faced by the common man due to rising fuel prices in the country. "We want the central government to take care of the problems faced by people due to escalating fuel prices," Banerjee told reporters here in Birbhum district.

She requested the Centre not to look at the issue of petrol and diesel price increases as a matter of politics. "In politics, one has to keep in mind the practical scenario. Politics is not for today, but for tomorrow also," said the Trinamool Congress supremo.

Calling it a "people's issue", the chief minister said that every person should join the protests against the hike.

Banerjee said that during her visit to Bengaluru on Wednesday for HD Kumaraswamy's swearing-in as the chief minister of Karnataka, she had requested leaders of all opposition parties present there to protest jointly on the fuel price issue.

"I requested all leaders I met that we should protest jointly. During the tea break, I spoke to Sonia ji (Congress leader Sonia Gandhi), Telugu Desam Party chief (Chandrabadu) Naidu, (Bahujan Samaj Party supremo) Mayawati, and (Samajwadi Party chief) Akhilesh Yadav. I told them we should take out rallies, and protest against the petrol price hike."

"I don't want to get into a quarrel with the Centre on this issue. But I feel, on issues like these which affect the people, we shouldn't do politics, but our focus should be to protect the interests of the people."

The TMC government has already chalked out a protest programme against the Centre on the issue. Top party leaders are scheduled to hold a protest rally in Kolkata on Friday. Similar protests will be held in the districts on Saturday and Sunday.
Congress' KR Ramesh Kumar was elected as the Speaker of the House in Karnataka on Friday after the BJP withdrew its candidate S Suresh Kumar's candidature for the post.

Congress' KR Ramesh Kumar was elected as the Speaker of the House in Karnataka on Friday after the BJP withdrew S Suresh Kumar's candidature for the post. BJP's Yeddyurappa said that they withdrew the candidature because they wanted the election to be unanimous in order to maintain the dignity of the Speaker's post.

Meanwhile, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy called it an honour to have Ramesh Kumar as the Speaker.

Kumar, a six-time MLA who served as Speaker during the HD Deve Gowda and JH Patel governments in the state (1994-99), will be the new Legislative Assembly Speaker, India Today reported.

Congress' DK Shivakumar recollected Ramesh Kumar's previous tenure as Speaker and how it helped new MLAs learn about participating in the House proceedings, according to The Hindu. "With his election again as Speaker, the chair has got new respect. You took us to Hyderabad for training and a better understanding of how the Assembly works. This cannot be forgotten. There is no one more suitable for the Speaker's post than you," he was quoted as saying by The Hindu report.

Ramesh Kumar, who hails from Srinivasapur in Kolar district, represents the same constituency. In the recently concluded Assembly Elections in Karnataka, he retained his seat by winning 93,571 votes. He was pitted against BJP's Venu Gopal KN.

Ramesh Kumar's first brush with politics was during his days as a student at the Government Arts College in Bengaluru in the 1970s, according to a report in The Print. He was selected by former chief minister Devaraj Urs to contest on a Congress ticket.

He started his political career in the 1970s with the Congress party and later on, he moved to Janata Party in mid-1980s, according to an article in The Financial Express. He again came back into the Congress in early 2000, the report added.

He was later inducted into the Siddaramaiah-led government of Karnataka as a Cabinet minister in 2016.

Before becoming the health minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet, Ramesh Kumar headed a committee on amendments to the state Panchayat Raj Act, along with former union panchayat raj minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, The Print report said.

Follow LIVE updates on Karnataka floor test here
Samajwadi Party made clear on Friday that its president Akhilesh Yadav will not address any rally in support of the joint Opposition candidate.

Lucknow: With the electioneering for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat nearly over, the Samajwadi Party made clear on Friday that its president Akhilesh Yadav will not address any rally in support of the joint Opposition candidate.

An SP leader said there was no need for him to campaign given the anti-BJP mood in the Uttar Pradesh constituency where a by-election will be held on 28 May.

The party had earlier indicated that Yadav may address a rally in support of Rashtriya Lok Dal candidate Tabassum Hasan, who is also being backed by the SP, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress.

The Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose daughter Mriganka Singh is now that party's candidate.

A bypoll will also be held for the Noorpur assembly constituency in the state on the same day.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently attacked Akhilesh Yadav over the 2013 riots in neighbouring Muzaffarnagar, virtually daring him to campaign.

The SP chief doesn't have the courage to come here and campaign. His hands are stained with the blood of Muzaffarnagar riot victims," Adityanath had said during an election meeting in Saharanpur.

"The SP president is yet to be seen here, as people will question him about the Muzaffarnagar riots if he comes here," he had said.

SP legislator Sunil Singh Sajan said the party workers had initially asked Yadav to hold a rally in Kairana.

However, later we only asked him not to come, especially after seeing the frustration in the speech of UP CM Yogi Adityanath, he told PTI.

He said in the prevailing anti-BJP mood there was no need for him to campaign. Also, Lok Dal candidate Kanwar Hasan had now pulled out of the contest, he added.

"The SP president has not campaigned for the bye-elections on both Kairana and Noorpur seats though he has been in direct touch with party leaders and office bearers there," SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said.

"A written appeal by him has been sent but he has not gone there personally," Chaudhary said, adding that the decision on this was taken by the party.

The Opposition campaign is being led by RLD leaders Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary.

Akhilesh Yadav staying away is a strategic move, a senior SP leader said.
Reuters

Tesla Inc chief executive Elon Musk gained the support on Thursday of more than half a million people on Twitter for plans to create a website evaluating journalists credibility, spurred by his frustration at media reports about the electric car maker.

Musk made his proposals in a tweet linking to posts on auto blogging site Electrek that criticised recent coverage of crashes of Tesla cars and pricing.

The holier-than-thou hypocrisy of big media companies who lay claim to the truth, but publish only enough to sugarcoat the lie, is why the public no longer respects them, Musk wrote.

"Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda ...," he tweeted here.

He followed that up with a series of tweets arguing that sanctimonious journalists were driven by constant pressure to generate clicks and earn advertising.

An associate of Musks registered Pravda Corp with the state of California in October, according to public records. The president of that company is also listed as the president of another company of Musks, Neuralink, which is working to link human brains with computers. After a reporter posted the paperwork on Wednesday, Musk responded with a smiley face emoji.

The point of such a site would be to help restore the credibility of the media. They dont realise how little credibility they actually have with the public, he added.

By 9 a.m. ET, 583,000 people had voted on Musk's poll here with 88 percent supporting his plan.

Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda   Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

Tesla has been fighting negative press for several months over production bottlenecks for its Model 3 sedan, crashes involving its cars and doubts raised by Wall Street over its cash position.

Earlier this week, a review by the influential magazine Consumer Reports said its Model 3 sedan, despite many positives, had big flaws, including braking slower than a full-sized pickup truck. Musk has promised a fix in the next few days.

The billionaire businessman, who also runs rocket company SpaceX and underground transit venture Boring Company, uses Twitter to give commentary about various issues and gets thousands of likes and comments on his posts.

He has 21.8 million followers on the microblogging site.

Andrew J Hawkins, a transportation reporter with tech website The Verge, tweeted that Musk was slowly transforming into a media-baiting Trump figure screaming irrationally about fake news.

Thought youd say that. Anytime anyone criticises the media, the media shrieks Youre just like Trump! Why do you think he got elected in the first place? Because no ones (sic)believes you anymore. You lost your credibility a long time ago, Musk responded in a tweet.
There are factors affecting our understanding of our claim in the South China Sea. This has deeply divided us such that the US has been using this to create a wedge between this country and China. This stems from our lack of understanding of our own history and of the subsequent conventions redefining international law. Unfortunately, the Liberal Party and the opposition have been exploiting this to ingratiate themselves with the US and instigate an anti-Chinese sentiment. The first factor is on our understanding of the historical document known to us as the Treaty of Paris signed on Dec. 10, 1898. The Philippine archipelago was sold by Spain to the US for $20 million. Maybe Spain purposely did not include the Paracel and Spratly islands because they do not form part of the Philippine archipelago or that those islets have yet to be effectively occupied to assert sovereignty over the area. This misunderstanding was reinforced when our historians purposely ignored the degrees indicating the latitude and longitude that form the Philippine archipelago which would later constitute the formal boundaries of the first republic in Asia. The grant of Philippine independence by the US on July 4, 1946 constitutes the same boundaries demarcated by Spain that was handed to us when the US finally granted us our independence. It is worth noting that the US did not alter the boundaries by adding, say, new islands or territories, subsequent to its US occupation of the Philippines. Although not directly connected to our definition of national boundary, conflict among states somehow altered boundaries of which the defeated states were ordered to return by the Allied powers the territories they occupied and annexed during the war. The Treaty of San Francisco signed on September 8, 1951 mandated Japan to renounce all rights and claims to the Spratley and Paracel islands. Even if the San Francisco Treaty has no reference to our claim in the South China Sea, the treaty nonetheless acknowledged China as having the sovereign right over those islands. The only thing that is unclear is whether the Treaty has reference to the Peoples Republic of China or to Taiwan which today, both remain politically at odds. The second factor is our misunderstanding of the role of the US. Most Filipinos do not understand whether the presence of the US military bases here is purely pursuant to its hegemonistic interest as a world power or pursuant to our existing alliance with that country. Even on that issue, there are questions whether their involvement is not due to our claim in the South China Sea, or that the Philippines is a victim of aggression to which US Congress would still have to approve the US involvement considering that our alliance is merely based on an executive agreement and not a treaty similar to Nato, where an attack would mean an automatic retaliation from other member-states. Even if the US has manifested several times that its naval presence in the South China Sea is to assure compliance to the freedom of navigation, which is of general application for free passage. However, that gives no assurance that the US would come to our assistance in the event of conflict with China over those disputed islands. There is much skepticism whether the US would assist the Philippines if the latter is attacked or invaded by other countries. What is disheartening is the earlier pronouncement made by Hilary Clinton when she was the US Secretary of State, that the US would not take sides over our claim in the South China Sea.Interpreted otherwise, the presence of US forces in our territory and its routine naval patrol in the South China Sea has nothing to do with the military agreements we entered into with that country but is solely intended to secure their own interest veiled in keeping open the freedom of navigation. Maybe US naval presence is intended to pre-empt possible attack by China because of the heightening tension which the US itself created by the sale of weapons, aircrafts, lately a submarine, and by President Trumps signing of the Taiwan Travel Act on top of the looming trade war with China. China strongly protested to the signing of the Taiwan Travel Act as a violation of the One-China principle signed during Nixons visit to China in 1972. Looking back, it appears that the Philippines is the one facilitating to heighten the tension to validate and justify US sale of its costly weapons to substitute to its increasing trade deficit. Chinas reclamation of about 290,000 square kilometers in seven of those islands and the building of facilities, installation of radar and communication facilities, construction of a deep port for the berthing of ships, runways, installation of defensive missiles and anti-aircraft batteries and ultra-sensitive jamming device for intruding aircrafts and vessels are rights that can be carried out by sovereign states over its own territory. They can never be interpreted as a threat or much more, would constitute an act of aggression The third factor is the provision of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea with regard to our claim to the Scarborough Shoal or locally known as Bajo de Masinloc, Panatag Shoal or Huangyan Dao to the Chinese. The basis of our claim is the result of a new demarcation made by Unclos called exclusive economic zone. This boundary stretches up to 200 kilometers from the coastal baseline of the adjacent state, and the Panatag Shoal is located 124 miles off Zambales province. Nonetheless, the Panatag Shoal is located outside the boundary demarcated in the Treaty of Paris. The problem began when China ratified the UNCLOS, and the Philippines now interpreted Panatag Shoal as belonging to the Philippines. We hold no historical record except to assert that our fishermen have traditionally been fishing in the area because the shoal is the spawning ground for variety of fish due to its rich corrals and marine nutrients found in the area. The Aquino government avoided accepting the truth that the ECC merely bestows upon the state the right to fish or explore and to exploit some minerals but does not vest upon that state sovereign ownership over the area. Chinas accession to the Unclos cannot be interpreted as a waiver of its sovereign right nor can it be prevented by adjoining states to fish or explore and exploit mineral resources found in the area. This explains why China has relaxed its stranglehold of the shoal after President Duterte sought to peacefully resolve the naval standoff created by the Aquino administration for which the US Navy merely looked at the tense situation like a bystander. [email protected]
IANS

The General Data Protection Regulation  better known as GDPR  that gives citizens of the European Union (EU) more rights to control their personal information comes into effect from Friday.

With the new regulations in force, companies working in the EU  or any association or club  must now get express consent to collect personal information, or face hefty fines, the BBC reported.

At a time when several technology companies have come under the scanner for misuse of personal data of users, the new EU legislation, passed in April 2016, is seen as an attempt by the European lawmakers to restrict the powers of the technology companies.

The new regulations give the users of tech companies the right to see what information about them is being collected and also have them deleted if they wish so.

It also makes mandatory for companies to tell all affected users about any data breach, and inform the overseeing authority within 72 hours, the BBC report said.

To ensure that companies in the EU comply with the GDPR rules, EU member states must set up supervisory authorities which will work in a coordinated manner.

Major technology companies have said that they are ready to comply with the GDPR rules.

Microsoft this week announced that it will extend the core rights guaranteed under the new regulations to all of its customers worldwide.

"GDPR is an important step forward for privacy rights in Europe and around the world, and we've been enthusiastic supporters of GDPR since it was first proposed in 2012," Julie Brill, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Microsoft, wrote in a blog post.

"That's why... we are announcing that we will extend the rights that are at the heart of GDPR to all of our consumer customers worldwide," Brill added.

"Known as Data Subject Rights, they include the right to know what data we collect about you, to correct that data, to delete it and even to take it somewhere else. Our privacy dashboard gives users the tools they need to take control of their data," she said.

Facebook said it was committed to transparency and providing people with control over how their data is used.

"Starting this week, we're asking everyone on Facebook to review important information about privacy and how to control their experience," Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer said in a statement.

Twitter also updated its privacy policies ahead of the GDPR coming into effect.
tech2 News Staff

Huawei has announced accidental and liquid damage protection plans for a bunch of Honor and Huawei devices in India.

Being offered in partnership with OneAssist, the plan starts at Rs 1,249 a year. The damage cover includes unintentional drops, accidental and liquid damages. Additionally, customers will be given pick up and drop service and round the clock call assistance.

According to a report by gizchina, the users can avail this plan after 15 days of purchasing the handset.

The plan is currently available for the Huawei P20 Pro and Huawei P20 Lite, Honor 7X, Honor V10, Honor 8 Pro and a few others.

Companies like Oneplus and Xiaomi also offer accidental cover protection.

The Huawei P20 and P20 Lite are the recent releases from the Chinese smartphone maker. The phone was released in a 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage (Huawei P20 Pro) and a 4 GB RAM and 128 GB model of the Huawei P20 Lite.

The P20 Pro is priced at Rs 64,999, and the P20 Lite is priced at Rs 19,999. For Huawei P20 Pro there is one year of accident, liquid and screen damage protection plan for Rs 5,949. According to Amazon this plan of Huawei's is for phones which are priced between Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000.
tech2 News Staff

Pornhub has just launched its own free VPN service with an unlimited bandwidth which lets users avoid censorship and keep browsing information confidential.

Named VPNhub, the service is available for download on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store and also works on PC and macOS devices. The virtual private network encrypts data and secure connections to protect users' personal information. As per a report by The Next Web, the app also keeps browsing data confidential, rendering it inaccessible to hackers and government entities to try and pry on when on a public WiFi network.

While the mobile version of VPNHub offers a free ad-laden service with unlimited bandwidth, the desktop service requires a premium account, which users are allowed to try for free for 7 days. The only issue with the free service is that if you are locked on to a US-based proxy then you cannot change it unless you sign up for a premium account.

Premium subscriptions in India are available in two options  Rs 720 a month and an annual plan which will set you back by Rs 329 a month.

A premium account does come with its set of perks though. Apart from access to a number of more location options, subscribers also get access to faster speeds and an ad-free experience in the app. The service will be available across the world, except for the countries that the US forbids domestic companies to do business with where it will be banned soon if not immediately. These countries include Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
Reuters

US semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc on 8 February rejected Broadcom Ltds revised $121 billion buyout offer, but proposed meeting its peer to see whether they can address what it called the bids serious deficiencies in value and certainty.

Qualcomms response attempts to strike a balance between continued resistance of Broadcoms takeover attempt and heeding the calls of some Qualcomm shareholders, who urged the company in recent days to engage with its rival in case it can clinch an attractive deal.

Qualcomm had rejected Broadcoms first unsolicited $103 billion acquisition offer in November, without engaging further. In response, Broadcom nominated a slate of directors to replace Qualcomms board.

Qualcomm shareholders are scheduled to vote on these nominations at a 6 March meeting.

Qualcomm said Broadcoms latest $82 per share offer, comprising $60 per share in cash and $22 per share in stock, materially undervalues Qualcomm and falls short of the firm regulatory commitment it would demand given the significant antitrust risks involved.

Broadcom did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Qualcomm shares were up 1.1 percent at $63.12 in after-hours trading on 8 February. Broadcom shares were up 1 percent at $232.00.

Even though Broadcom has promised to pay a large breakup fee in the event regulators thwart the deal, as well as a ticking fee if the deal takes more than 12 months to close, Qualcomm believes Broadcom needs to offer a hell-or-high-water legal commitment to complete the deal irrespective of divestitures that antitrust watchdogs around the world may require.

If you are not willing to agree to do whatever is necessary to ensure a transaction closes, we will need you to be extremely clear and specific about exactly what actions you would refuse to take, so that we can properly evaluate the risk to Qualcomms shareholders, Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs wrote to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan in a letter published by Qualcomm.

Broadcom has not specified the size of the breakup fee it is willing to offer Qualcomm, other than to describe it as an appropriate amount for a transaction of this size.

Qualcomm argued on 8 February that this would not compensate Qualcomm if several large customers were to walk away or infringe their licensing agreements.

Qualcomm also said in its statement that Broadcoms plan to address antitrust concerns by selling two Qualcomm businesses, its Wi-Fi networking processors and RF Front End chips for mobile phones, was inadequate to allay concerns that the deal would not win regulatory approval.

Qualcomm added that the regulatory approval process could take longer than 18 months and disrupt Qualcomm during a period of explosive innovation in the industry that includes the development of 5G mobile phones, autonomous driving and the expanding use of computerized gadgets from refrigerators to thermostats.

NXP DEAL

The takeover battle is at the heart of a race to consolidate the wireless technology equipment sector, as smartphone makers such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd use their market dominance to negotiate down chip prices.

Singapore-based Broadcom is mainly a manufacturer whose connectivity chips are used in products ranging from mobile phones to servers. Qualcomm primarily licenses its technology for the delivery of broadband and data, a business that would significantly benefit from the rollout of 5G wireless technology.

Broadcom said on 5 February its improved offer was premised on either Qualcomm acquiring NXP Semiconductors NV at the current disclosed terms of $110 per share in cash, or the $38 billion transaction being terminated.

NXP shareholders, led by activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, are resisting the deal, pushing for Qualcomm to raise its offer. NXP shares closed at $115.94 on 8 February, indicating investors were expecting a sweeter deal.

Qualcomms proposed acquisition of NXP was approved by European Union antitrust regulators last month. Qualcomm expects Chinas blessing as early as this month, at which point it has to decide whether it would raise its offer.
Reuters

US tech companies would be forced to disclose if they allowed American adversaries, like Russia and China, to examine the inner workings of software sold to the US military under the proposed legislation, Senate staff told Reuters on 24 May.

The bill, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee on 24 May, comes after a year-long Reuters investigation found software makers allowed a Russian defense agency to hunt for vulnerabilities in software that was already deeply embedded in some of the most sensitive parts of the US government, including the Pentagon, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and intelligence agencies.

Security experts say allowing Russian authorities to conduct the reviews of internal software instructions  known as source code  could help Russia find vulnerabilities and more easily attack key systems that protect the United States.

The new source code disclosure rules were included in Senate version of the National Defense Authorisation Act, the Pentagons spending bill, according to staffers of Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

In a statement, Shaheen said that tech companies have a duty to help protect federal software systems.

This is why the Department of Defense and other federal agencies should know of any potential vulnerabilities relating to a partner companys business practices overseas, she said. The language in the bill mandates those disclosures and ultimately makes overdue reforms to harden the Department against cyber attacks.

Details of the bill, which passed the committee 25-2, are not yet public. And the legislation still needs to be voted on by the full Senate and reconciled with a House version of the legislation before it can be signed into law by President Donald Trump.

If passed into law, the legislation would require companies that do business with the US military to disclose any source code review of the software done by adversaries, staffers for Shaheen told Reuters.

If the Pentagon deems a source code review a risk, military officials and the software company would need to agree on how to contain the threat. It could, for example, involve limiting the softwares use to non-classified settings.

The details of the foreign source code reviews and any steps the company agreed to take to reduce the risks would be stored in a database accessible to military officials, Shaheens staffers said. For most products, the military notification will only apply to countries determined to be cybersecurity threats, such as Russia and China.

Shaheen has been a key voice on cybersecurity in Congress. The New Hampshire senator in 2017 led successful efforts in Congress to ban all government use of software provided by Moscow-based antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab, amid allegations the company is linked to Russian intelligence. Kaspersky denies such links.

In order to sell in the Russian market, tech companies including Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co, SAP, and McAfee have allowed a Russian defence agency to scour software source code for vulnerabilities, Reuters found. In many cases, Reuters found that the software companies had not previously informed US agencies that Russian authorities had been allowed to conduct the source code reviews. In most cases, the US military does not require comparable source code reviews before it buys software, procurement experts have told Reuters.

The companies have said the source code reviews were conducted by the Russians in company-controlled facilities, where the reviewer could not copy or alter the software. McAfee announced in 2017 that it no longer allows government source code reviews. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has said none of its current software offerings have gone through the process.
An explosion was reported at an Indian restaurant in Canada's Ontario on Friday. According to initial reports, 15 were injured in the blast and three of them are critical.

An explosion was reported at an Indian restaurant in Canada's Ontario on Friday. According to initial reports, two bombers were behind the blast which injured 15 people, three of them are critical.

Reports further added that emergency crew responded to calls in Mississauga at around 10.32 pm local time. The area where the blast occurred is between the Hurontario Street and Eglinton Avenue of Ontario. The restaurant, called Bombay Bhel, is in Mississauga, Ontario, a city just south of Toronto. Mississauga has a large immigration population and is especially popular destination for Indian immigrants.

Reports quoted the Peel Regional Police which confirmed that two people set off an "improvised explosive device" in the restaurant before fleeing the scene. "The police released a photo of the suspects, describing them as male, wearing dark sweatshirts with hoods pulled up and their faces covered," The New York Times reported.

According to a report in The New York Times, "Peel Paramedics, a local ambulance service, said it was on scene with multiple patients at an explosion in Mississauga." Three people had critical blast injuries, the service said, while the rest suffered minor injuries.

@Peel_Paramedics have transported 15 pts. from The Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga. 3 pts. were taken to trauma centres with critical blast injuries. pic.twitter.com/Qhd9mX2wV7  Peel Paramedics (@Peel_Paramedics) May 25, 2018

Meanwhile, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj tweeted from her official handle and said, "There is a blast in Indian restaurant Bombay Bhel in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I am in constant touch with our Consul General in Toronto and Indian High Commissioner in Canada. Our missions will work round the clock. The Emergency number is : +1-647-668-4108.

Please RT."

There is a blast in Indian restaurant Bombay Bhel in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I am in constant touch with our Consul General in Toronto and Indian High Commissioner in Canada. Our missions will work round the clock. The Emergency number is : +1-647-668-4108.

Please RT  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 25, 2018

The Plaza area around the restaurant has been sealed, The Express quoted the police as saying. Multiple patients were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries.

The blast comes months after the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians and killed 10 people in Toronto and injured 14 more. The suspect in that attack, Alek Minassian, intentionally struck the victims in what was likely to count as Canada's deadliest vehicular assault, the police said.
Mekunu, which hit the Yemeni island of Socotra, is likely to trigger heavy showers along the western coast of Maharashtra in the next few days, an IMD official said.

Cyclone Mekunu, which hit the Yemeni island of Socotra, causing severe flooding and damage, is likely to trigger heavy showers along the western coast of in the next few days, an Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) official said on Thursday, according to PTI.

The Konkan region of Maharashtra would get a few showers in the next few days. Some isolated places in Konkan will receive rain, but the rest of Maharashtra will have no impact, the official added.

The IMD on Thursday issued a warning to fishermen advising them not to venture into the west-central Arabian Sea till 26 May. It had also warned them against venturing into the south-west Arabian Sea till 24 May.

Mekunu, bearing hurricane strength, is growing ever stronger in the Arabian Sea. The storm is forecast to slam into southwest Oman, packing maximum sustained winds of about 110 miles per hour late Friday into early Saturday local time.

"If the storm is, in fact, this strong at landfall, it would match the power of a high-end Category 2 or low-end Category 3 hurricane. In recorded history, no storm that intense has struck the region," a report in The Washington Post said.

According to the report, Mekunu is presently classified as a very severe cyclonic storm and packs peak winds of 90 miles per hour. "Its predicted path brings it very close to or just to the west of the city of Salalah, Omans second-biggest, with a population of about 200,000," it added.

According to the Khaleej Times, Oman's Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) has issued a release indicating that "due to the severity of the weather conditions, Salalah International Airport will be closed for 24 hours", which started from 12 am on Friday.

The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Muscat has also issued an advisory to its citizens in Oman. "Citizens are urged to take precautions and stay away from all shoreline and valley areas. Remain alert for all changing weather conditions and follow the safety instructions pending the landfall of the cyclone. Register for the Tawajudi service and contact the embassy for all alerts," the advisory, according to the report, said.

According to an Al Jazeera report, there are high chances of the storm gathering energy, and becoming a Category 3 system before it makes landfall especially "with sea surface temperatures in that region of the Arabian Sea between 31 and 32 degrees Celsius, and low wind shear (a change of wind speed and direction with height)". The report forecast the landfall to be on late Friday afternoon or during the evening.

The Al Jazeera report also added that the Mekunu development has occurred barely a week after another cyclone, Sagar, had formed in the same region. However, while Sagar passed right through the Gulf of Aden, and hit Somalia leaving around 30 people dead and causing devastation to crops and livestock, Mekunu is expected to take a very different track as it has already made a glancing blow across the Yemeni island, the report claimed.
Hundreds of Indians have been evacuated from low-lying areas in Oman, where cyclone Mekunu was expected to make a landfall.

Video by NewsCart/Bader al Baddei

Hundreds of Indians have been evacuated from low-lying areas in Oman, where cyclone Mekunu was expected to make landfall.

A global forecast announced the cyclone was likely to hit Salalah  a southern Omani town bordering Yemen  at around 1 pm (2: 30 pm IST) on Friday. Salalah is home to around 80,000 Indians.

Indians from the low-lying areas have been moved to schools and other shelters, Manpreet Singh, the Indian consular agent in Salalah told Firstpost.

We have urged people to move to apartments in high areas. We have arranged them free of cost for the people, Singh added.

At around 11 am (IST), Oman's meteorology department tweeted that the extremely severe cyclone has intensified into a Category 2 storm.

Wave heights are expected to rise up to 12 metres, the Oman meteorology said in a special bulletin.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Risk (TSR) centre reported at 1 am (2.30 am IST) on Friday that Cyclone Mekunu will hit the coast with winds up to 85 kts (98 miles per hour).

Mekunu is a category 2 storm on the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the Tropical Storm Risk centre said. A Category 2 storm is accompanied by strong destructive winds with typical gusts attaining a speed of 125-164 kilometres per hour.

An Indian medical professional in Salalah said that patients have been evacuated from the Sultan Qaboos Hospital, the biggest in the city, and other hospitals, and that police and rescue teams have been kept on alert. Shibu S, an Indian accountant in Salalah, said he has moved to Muscat, around 1,500 kilometres from Salalah.

The Omani government has declared government and private schools shut for the next few days. Salalah airport remained closed since Thursday. Residents from low-lying areas in the city are being evacuated to nearby schools on police vehicles.

The coastal road in the region of Dahrez in the Governorate of Dhofar and the coastal road in the Governorate of Al Wusta are being closed for traffic, the Royal Oman Police (ROP) announced online. The roads have been closed due to a rise in sea level, said an ROP official, adding that they will be patrolling the affected areas the moment Mekunu hits Oman.

Many Indian volunteer groups have come forward to lend help.

In 2007, the northern part of Oman was hit by a similar cyclone named Gonu.

Considered one of the worst natural disasters in Omans history, Gonu caused 50 deaths and about $4.2 billion in damages. In Iran, Gonu killed 28 people and caused damages worth $216 million.

Emergency Tel Numbers:-

Add 00968 before all numbers

Civil Defence dhofar 23234599

Civil Defence sadha 23234975

Civil defence salalah 23290077

Civil Defence Awqad 23212146

Civil Defence Raysut 23219131

Civil Defence Mirbat 23268594

Civil Defence Thaka 23258077

Water Emergency 1445

Water Emergency 23290052

Electricity Emergency 154

Electricity Emergency 23219188

Amulance Awqad 99479463

Sultan Qaboos Hospital 23216100

Police Station Salalah 23290099

Police Station Sadha 23234170

Airport Salalah 23295747

Indian volunteer numbers

Sainudheen 99490108

Sabeer 92822648

Sabukhan 95445348

Abdullah 95851425

Rashid 92653948

Sameer 97080566

Mustafa 94052178

Sidiq 99484599

The author is a member of The NewsCart, a Bengaluru-based media organisation.
Ireland votes on Friday in an abortion referendum that could be a milestone on a path of change in a country that, only a few decades ago, was one of Europes most socially conservative.

Dublin: Ireland votes on Friday in an abortion referendum that could be a milestone on a path of change in a country that, only a few decades ago, was one of Europes most socially conservative.

Polls suggest Irish voters are set to overturn one of the worlds strictest bans on terminations. Prime minister Leo Varadkar, in favour of a change, has called the referendum a once-in-a-generation chance.

Voters in the once deeply Catholic nation will be asked if they wish to scrap a prohibition that was enshrined in the constitution by referendum 35 years ago, and partly lifted in 2013 only for cases where the mothers life is in danger.

Ireland has been changing fast. It legalised divorce by a razor-thin majority only in 1995, but three years ago became the first country in the world to adopt gay marriage by popular vote.

A decades-old battle over abortion has played out in a fiercely contested debate that divided political parties, saw the once mighty church take a back seat and became a test case for how global internet giants deal with social media advertising in political campaigns. The campaign has dominated public debate in Ireland over recent months and has forced its nearly 3.5 million voters to decide if the constitutional ban on abortion should stay or go.

Unlike in 1983, when religion was front and centre and abortion was a taboo subject for most people, the campaign was instead defined by women on both sides publicly describing their personal experiences of terminations.

The conversation that has resulted in me going to the ballot box to vote Yes with certainty hasnt been a straightforward one, deputy prime minister Simon Coveney wrote in the Irish Independent newspaper on Thursday.

I have found it difficult, I have stumbled but I have met extraordinary women and men along the way who have changed my perspectives on this deeply emotive issue.

Yes campaigners like Coveney have argued that with over 3,000 women travelling to Britain each year for terminations and others ordering pills illegally online, abortion is already a reality in Ireland.

Government plans "extreme"

Although not on the ballot paper, the No camp has seized on government plans to allow terminations with no restriction up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy if the referendum is carried, calling it a step too far for most voters.

More and more people are realising that this government has planned to introduce an extreme abortion law, the only way to stop this is to vote No, said Mary Butler, an anti-abortion lawmaker from the main opposition party, Fianna Fail.

Opinion polls have put those who favour changing the law in a clear lead. The two most recent surveys showed the Yes side pulling further ahead.

Polling stations close at 21.00 GMT and national broadcaster RTE plans to publish an exit poll at 22.30 GMT. The first indications of the result are expected mid-morning on Saturday after the count begins at 08.00 GMT.

Voters on 12 remote islands in the Atlantic Ocean went to the polls a day early on Thursday to ensure the ballot boxes could be shipped or flown to count centres on the mainland in case of poor weather. After voters on Gola  total electorate 29  off the Donegal northwest coast cast their ballots, the sealed ballot box was taken back to the mainland on a 10-minute ferry ride by a policeman and an election official.

Meanwhile, city streets are filled with people wearing campaign badges, stickers and tops. Ciara Grealy, 21, from Dublin, said: "I don't know see we should export women to another country to have something that should be done safely and legally here. "One of my best friends had to do it. She found out she was pregnant; the doctors said 'our hands are tied'. She had to get a flight to Liverpool with her parents." She said her friend had found seeing the omnipresent referendum placards distressing.

Activists were out on a final push for votes on Thursday, attempting to convince wavering voters in what has been an emotionally-charged campaign. Cian Flaherty, 22, a history student at Dublin's Trinity College, said it was a matter of human rights and "the unborn is a human being". "Often times, the narrative of choice is a false narrative. A lot of the time, if you feel you've got no support and the only option you have is a termination, I don't think that's a genuine choice," he said.

Caoimhe Mulcahy, 27, an actor from County Clare in western Ireland, said it was a question of women's health and many had "really suffered" with unregulated, unsafe and illegal abortions. "There isn't one easy solution but people are suffering and we need to change it," she said.

Many expatriate Irish have travelled home to vote in one of the few European Union countries that do not allow those abroad to vote via post or in embassies.

Those away for less than 18 months remain eligible to vote at their former local polling station, and a majority appeared to back change. Analysts said a high turnout, particularly in urban areas, would likely favour the Yes side.

If anything, Im sitting a little bit more comfortably after the last week having viewed the debates and the general moods and commentary of the No camp, said Richard Colwell, chief executive of Red C, whose latest poll on Sunday showed 56 percent for, 27 percent against and 14 percent still undecided. But thats what everybody thought when Brexit happened. We cant be complacent about it but it does appear that its going to be a Yes vote at this stage.

The law was tweaked in 2013 to allow terminations if the mother's life is at risk, following the death of Savita Halappanavar, a pregnant woman originally from India who was refused an abortion. The Irish government has proposed that if the eighth amendment is repealed, abortion will be allowed up to 12 weeks and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

With inputs from Reuters and AFP
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's Finance Minister Kyaw Win has resigned, President Win Myint said on Friday, without giving a reason.

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's Finance Minister Kyaw Win has resigned, President Win Myint said on Friday, without giving a reason.

Kyaw Win was "allowed to resign," the president said in a short statement posted on the presidency's official Facebook page late on Friday.

This week the English-language news magazine Frontier cited the head of Myanmar's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) as saying that the body was in the final stage of an investigation into corruption allegations against Kyaw Win.

There had been no previous official comment on the matter. Reuters was not able to reach Kyaw Win for comment. Myanmar government spokesman and ACC did not respond to requests for comment late on Friday.

(Reporting By Sam Aung Moon and Yimou Lee; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Appointed Mister National Universe Philippines Kenley Filarca will represent the country at the international pageant happening in Thailand next month.

Kenley Filarca, a.k.a. Keny Ong, a 27-year-old banker and owner of a chain of restaurants in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, was handpicked as Philippine representative to the Mister National Universe 2018 hapenning in Thailand from June 13 to 19. The Ilocano-Chinoy businessman, was officially proclaimed the first Mister National Universe Philippines by the Kings of K Events Productions (KKEP), local franchise holder of the Mister National Universe international pageant, headed by its managing editor Ferdinand Abejon. Reigning Mr. National Universe Pankaj Alhlawat of India and 2nd runner-up Seageme Mekardkard of Thailand attended the sashing and crowning of Filarca. We are proud to select Kenley as our first representative in Mister National Universe 2018. His participation will be a good showcase of determination amidst adversity. We hope that he will give inspiration to the other international delegates in the competition, Abejon said.I am very thankful for this opportunity. It gives me a platform to share my advocacy not only in the Philippines but to foreign countries as well, said Filarca, an Anti-Bullying campaign supporter having experienced being bullied as a youngster.With a passion for cooking, Filarca put up the Kusina de Kenyong bar & restaurant to get additional income from his earnings as a banker. Kusina de Kenyong, which holds the record for the biggest and smallest burger in the Philippines, also serves longganisa, bagnet and other Ilocano dishes. The Mister National Universe Pageant is owned by HOT Hua Hin Co. Ltd., publisher of the Thai luxury lifestyle magazine HOT Magazine, from which editor, Tanya Siri Vijitsomphong, came the idea of creating the new male pageant. Vijitsomphongs motto Where pageantry and luxury meet for the 2018 Mister National Universe reflects the expanding tourism around the world and provides a platform for the countries delegates to showcase what makes their homeland, culture and history worth visiting and experiencing for.
Three people were shot and wounded at an Oklahoma City restaurant and one person was injured while fleeing before the gunman was shot dead by two armed citizens, police said Friday.

Oklahoma: Three people were shot and wounded at an Oklahoma City restaurant and one person was injured while fleeing before the gunman was shot dead by two armed citizens, police said Friday.

The NRA said in a tweet Friday that the Thursday shootings were an example of "how the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

The NRA has been critical of Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin for vetoing a so-called constitutional carry bill that would have allowed adults to carry firearms without a license or training.

The Oklahoma City Police Department says two armed citizens shot and killed the alleged gunman after he emerged from a restaurant where at least three people were injured by gunfire.

Police released a statement alleging that 28-year-old Alexander Tilghman opened fire inside Louie's On The Lake around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, wounding a 39-year-old woman and two juvenile girls. An unnamed man fell and broke his arm while fleeing.

Tilghman was then shot dead outside the restaurant by two citizens identified by police as Carlos Nazario and Bryan Wittle. A suspected motive for the shooting hasn't been released.

All four victims are reported in good condition, according to Oklahoma City police Capt. Bo Mathews.

Dennis Will said two of the shot victims are his daughter and granddaughter. Talking with reporters outside the hospital where the shooting victims were taken, Will said his daughter called him after the shooting and said they had been shot while entering the restaurant for a birthday dinner.

The Hal Smith Restaurant Group, which owns the restaurant, released a statement saying the restaurant will be closed Friday and counselors will be available to employees and customers.

"We will continue to support our guests and families in any way we can during this difficult time," the statement said. "We are extremely thankful the situation didn't escalate further, and that injuries were not more widespread. However, our hearts are with the wounded during this incident."

The statement referred other questions to police.

In April, a restaurant patron wrestled an assault-style rifle away from a gunman at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee. Four people were killed in that shooting. Police have said there would have been far more casualties if it weren't for the patron's quick thinking.
Vladimir Putin said on Friday he would respect the Russian constitution which bans anyone from serving two consecutive presidential terms, meaning he will step down from his post in 2024 when his current term expires.

Reuters: Vladimir Putin said on Friday he would respect the Russian constitution which bans anyone from serving two consecutive presidential terms, meaning he will step down from his post in 2024 when his current term expires.

His remarks, made to reporters at an economic forum in St Petersburg and broadcast on state TV, are not a surprise and do not necessarily mean he will relinquish power in six years.

Putin has stepped down as president once before, in 2008, after serving two back-to-back terms only to return in 2012 after doing a stint as prime minister, a manoeuvre he would be legally entitled to carry out again.

"I have always strictly abided by and abide by the constitution of the Russian Federation," Putin said, when asked if and when he would be leaving office.

"In the constitution it's clearly written that nobody can serve more than two terms in a row ... I intend to abide by this rule."

Putin easily won re-election in March, extending his tenure by six years to 24 - which would make him Moscow's longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
Film mogul Harvey Weinstein has been arraigned on rape, criminal sex act and other sex charges stemming from encounters with two women. The former powerhouse movie producer stared grimly as he appeared Friday in a Manhattan court. He agreed to post $1 million cash bail, wear an electronic monitor and not travel beyond New York and Connecticut.

New York: Film mogul Harvey Weinstein has been arraigned on rape, criminal sex act and other sex charges stemming from encounters with two women.

The former powerhouse movie producer stared grimly as he appeared Friday in a Manhattan court. He agreed to post $1 million cash bail, wear an electronic monitor and not travel beyond New York and Connecticut.

Weinstein didn't enter a plea. That's common at this stage in a criminal case in New York.

Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of nonconsensual sex.

He turned himself in early Friday to face the first criminal case brought after scores of women made sexual harassment and assault allegations against him. The claims destroyed his career and set off a national reckoning over sexual misconduct known as the #MeToo movement. Here's a round up of reactions after Weinstein's arrest Friday.

"I hope this gives hope to victims and survivors everywhere, that we are one step closer to justice. Because one win is a win for all of us."  Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan, to The Associated Press. In a tweet: "We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you."

"Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell. We, the women, finally have real hope for justice"  Weinstein accuser Asia Argento, via Twitter. In another tweet: "What took you so long Harvey?"

"What's on the menu for #Weinstein @AsiaArgento"  Argento's friend, chef Anthony Bourdian, with an image of a prison menu, via Twitter.

"Toxic masculinity and misogyny can no longer be ignored or tolerated at the workplace or any other place in society. We stand with the brave women who came forward against Harvey Weinstein. We hope their courage will continue to inspire others to break their silence."  The Women's March, in a statement.

"#Justice..."  Weinstein accuser Mira Sorvino, via Twitter.

"It's been a long time coming and today my fellow victims and I rejoice and pray no one ever underestimates the power of women when we stand together + scream the truth #WeSpoke #MeToo #TimesUp #LockHimUp"  Weinstein accuser Lauren Sivan, via Twitter.

"Dear Mira, I know how hard it was for you and the other women to risk so much to come forward with the details of one of your worst experiences -- but thank you thank you! Today is for you -- and also for the young women who would surely have become his next victims #Justice"  Actress Mia Farrow, who is also the mother of investigative journalist Ronan Farrow who helped break the Weinstein story, addressing Mira Sorvino on Twitter.

"For every woman who spoke in this story, it's an incredible and unexpected moment."  Ronan Farrow, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Weinstein coverage in The New Yorker, on CNN.

"We're in the courtroom waiting for Weinstein. For so long he had his own private system --- fancy lawyers who paid to silence women, private investigators and spies. Now he answers to the same system as the rest of us."  Journalist Jodi Kantor, part of the team for The New York Times who broke Weinstein story, via Twitter.

"This is an emotional moment. We are relieved and grateful that justice is coming, but we also mourn the cases where it didn't."  Carrie Goldberg, attorney for Weinstein accuser Lucia Evans, in a statement to The Associated Press.

"Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood, and to the extent that there is bad behavior in that industry, that is not what this is about."  Weinstein attorney Benjamin Brafman, to reporters outside courthouse.

"Today is a day I never thought I'd see when I came forward 22 months ago alone. Thank you for listening to women."  Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who accused the late former Fox News chief Roger Ailes of sexual harassment, via Twitter.

"You sorry, Harvey?"  Shout from a throng of media as Weinstein walked into courthouse in handcuffs.

"Today a man whose actions were so egregious that they spawned a global reckoning has been taken into custody."  Time's Up, via Twitter. In second tweet: "Harvey Weinstein shattered the lives of an untold number of women. We stand with them, and remain in solidarity with women everywhere who have faced unsafe and abusive workplaces. We look forward to seeing justice prevail."
By Mohammed Mokhashaf ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen declared a state of emergency on the island of Socotra on Thursday as a tropical storm intensified after flooding several villages and capsizing boats to leave at least 19 people missing, government officials said.

By Mohammed Mokhashaf

ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen declared a state of emergency on the island of Socotra on Thursday as a tropical storm intensified after flooding several villages and capsizing boats to leave at least 19 people missing, government officials said.

Socotra, which lies between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, has been largely untouched by Yemen's three-year-old war. It is under the control of the internationally-recognised government whose president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is in exile in Saudi Arabia.

The island "requires urgent aid to help people stranded in their villages or those who reside in the mountains," government spokesman Rajeh Badi told state news agency SABA.

Nineteen people were missing after seven boats capsized and three cars were washed away by floods, said one Yemeni government minister, adding that evacuations to shelters are still under way in the island's capital. Another official said more than 200 families had been evacuated from their villages.

The storm is worsening and most parts of the island have lost communications, said the governor of the nearby province of Hadhramaut.

The same weather system hit the Horn of Africa on Wednesday, killing more than 50 people in Somaliland.

Yemeni government spokesman Badi called on international humanitarian organisations and the Riyadh-led military coalition participating in the war to provide urgent aid to the island, where Saudi and UAE forces have a presence.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said late on Thursday that the coalition is coordinating with the Yemeni government and humanitarian assistance will reach the island on Friday morning, Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya reported.

The Saudi ambassador Mohammed al-Jaber said tens of thousands of tons of relief, shelter and medical items are being prepared to be transported to the island, provided by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.

The Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to try to restore Hadi's government, toppled by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

The storm is expected to hit southern Yemen and the coast of neighbouring Oman on Thursday, Oman's state news agency reported.

It said Omani authorities evacuated hospitals in Dhofar province and other areas bordering Yemen, while the Public Authority for Civil Aviation said the country's second largest airport, in Salalah, would be shut for 24 hours from midnight (2000 GMT).

Yemen is already grappling with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The war has killed more than 10,000, displaced three million people, triggered a cholera outbreak and pushed the impoverished country to the verge of starvation, according to the United Nations.

(Additional reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai and Sarah Dadouch in Riyadh; editing by Ghaida Ghantous, John Stonestreet and Gary Crosse)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince William will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah when he becomes the first senior member of Britain's royal family to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next month. William, second-in-line to the British throne, will begin his trip to the Middle East in Jordan on June 24 before travelling to Tel Aviv the following day, his office Kensington Palace said in a statement on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince William will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah when he becomes the first senior member of Britain's royal family to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next month.

William, second-in-line to the British throne, will begin his trip to the Middle East in Jordan on June 24 before travelling to Tel Aviv the following day, his office Kensington Palace said in a statement on Friday.

The prince will spend the next three days in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah in the West Bank, although the palace gave no further details of where he will go or who he will meet.

The trip, which William is carrying out on behalf of the British government, was announced in March and was widely welcomed then by both Israeli and Palestinian officials.

"It is an historic visit, the first of its kind, and he will be received here with great enthusiasm," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's office said it was an important visit "which we hope will contribute to strengthening ties of friendship between the two peoples".

Britain regards Israel as a close and important ally but the visit comes at a time when the two countries have publicly disagreed over a number of major issues.

Like most of its Western allies, the British government criticised U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv earlier this month.

Dozens of Palestinian protesters were shot dead in subsequent protests at the Gaza border which Prime Minister Theresa May described as "concerning" and called for Israeli restraint.

The governments were also at odds over Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a move lauded by Israel while Britain pledged to maintain the agreement.

Despite their differences, London has adopted a more positive approach to Israel since May became leader and William's trip will be the first official state visit by a senior British royal to Israel, which in April marked its 70th anniversary of independence from British Mandatory rule.

Queen Elizabeth's cousins the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Gloucester made unofficial visits to Israel in 1998 and 2007, while William's father Prince Charles attended the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in 2016.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The president's surprise exit from the planned talks on Thursday had capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down.

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Friday warmly welcomed North Korea's promising response to his abrupt withdrawal from the potentially historic Singapore summit and said "we're talking to them now" about putting it back on track.

"Everybody plays games," said Trump, who often boasts about his own negotiating tactics and skill.

The president, commenting as he left the White House for a commencement speech, said it was even possible the summit could take place on the originally planned June 12 date.

"They very much want to do it, we'd like to do it," he said.

Earlier Friday, in a tweet, he had called the North's reaction to his letter canceling the summit "warm and productive." That was far different from his letter Thursday to North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, blaming "tremendous anger and open hostility" by Pyongyang for the U.S. withdrawal.

The tone from both sides was warmer on Friday. First, North Korea issued a statement saying it was still "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks "at any time, at any format."

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump's withdrawal "unexpected" and "very regrettable," and said the cancellation of the talks showed "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties."

Then Trump, in his response to that response, said it was "very good news," and "we will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!"

The president's surprise exit from the planned talks on Thursday had capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down. The U.S. announcement came not long after Kim appeared to make good on his promise to demolish his country's nuclear test site. But it also followed escalating frustration  and newly antagonistic rhetoric  from North Korea over comments from Trump aides about U.S. expectations for the North's "denuclearization."

The White House has repeatedly offered mixed messages. Hours after releasing his cancellation letter on Thursday, the president declared, "I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do what's right."

After that, however, a senior White House official said the North had reneged on its promises ahead of the summit. Trump said from the White House that a "maximum pressure campaign" of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea  with which the U.S. is technically still at war  though he added that it was possible the summit could still take place at some point.

The senior U.S. official said the North violated a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed implosion of the test site. International journalists were present, but the U.S. government can't verify the site's destruction. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid overshadowing Trump's comments Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a staunch ally of Kim Jong Un, said the North Korean leader had in fact done "everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts" of the site. Putin said of Trump's cancellation announcement, "In Russia we took this news with regret."

On Friday, North Korea's vice foreign minister said his country's "objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged."

Trump, in his letter to Kim, objected specifically to a statement from a top North Korean Foreign Ministry official. That statement referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" for his comments on the North and said it was up to the Americans whether they would "meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown."

Underscoring the high stakes, Trump said he had spoken with military leaders, as well as Japan and South Korea, and stressed that the United States was prepared for any threat.

Still, Trump's cancellation announcement had appeared to surprise South Korea, which had pushed to keep the summit on track as recently as Tuesday, when President Moon Jae-in met with Trump in the Oval Office and said the "fate and the future" of the Korean Peninsula hinged on the talks. The Blue House said Thursday that it was trying to figure out Trump's intentions in canceling the summit.

Trump, who considers himself a master dealmaker, has confounded aides and allies at every turn of the fateful flirtation with the North. He looked past the warnings of senior aides when he accepted Kim's invitation to meet back in March. He unveiled the date and the time with characteristic showmanship. And after initially projecting calm in the face of North Korea's escalating rhetoric, he made a sudden about face, though his letter also waxed poetic about the "wonderful dialogue" emerging between the two leaders.

Wrote Trump: "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

Trump's aides had warned that merely agreeing to the summit had provided Kim with long-sought international legitimacy and, if Trump ultimately backed out, risked fostering the perception that the president was insufficiently committed to diplomatic solutions to the nuclear question.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials have repeatedly assessed the North to be on the threshold of having the capability to strike anywhere in the continental U.S. with a nuclear-tipped missile  a capacity that Trump and other U.S. officials have said they would not tolerate.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying Thursday on Capitol Hill, said North Korea had not responded to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the summit. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the lack of response was an additional reason for Trump's decision.

"We got a lot of dial tones, Senator," he told committee chairman Bob Corker.

A White House team was set to fly to Singapore this weekend to continue logistical planning for the meeting.

Trump suggested this week that China was to blame for "a little change" in Kim's attitude. Kim paid a secret visit to his primary ally just before Pompeo's visit, and China is wary of any shift in the balance of power on the Korean peninsula.

White House officials have privately predicted for weeks that the summit could be canceled once or twice before actually taking place. Trump has seemed to welcome chatter of a Nobel Peace Prize, but that had yielded in recent weeks to the sobering prospect of ensuring a successful outcome with the Kim.
Trump's imposition of 'toughest ever' sanctions on North Korea to bring Kim-Jong-un to the discussion table may not mean much unless China plays ball.

The aborted Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un summit is a test case for both the art of diplomacy and botched diplomacy. Like the good old sheriff in Wild West flicks, Trump tried to gunfight his way through the diplomatic maze and ensure 'complete denuclearisation' (and the Nobel Peace prize) before the audience can even reach for their popcorn. The script went slightly awry. At the end of a short, tumultuous yet entertaining movie, Trump's transformation from a gun-toting sheriff to a tissue-holding jilted lover was complete. Kim walked away with brownie points and Xi Jinping, the invisible puppeteer in the cancelled talks, walked away with all the leverage for the US-China trade war.

Sadly, I was forced to cancel the Summit Meeting in Singapore with Kim Jong Un. pic.twitter.com/rLwXxBxFKx  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2018

Trump's letter to Kim, announcing the cancellation of talks that were planned for 12 June in Singapore, reveals his frustration. It also reveals that he was in a race against time to pull out of the summit with a face-saver, having boxed himself into a corner with an "all or nothing approach". In the end, his insistence that the meeting was "requested by North Korea" and his citing of "tremendous anger and open hostility" as the immediate cause is not even a face-saver. It is a reflection of his lack of depth in international diplomacy against a North Korean regime that has a disingenuous history of indulging in deceit over dialogues and was clearly playing him like a flute.

The American president failed to realise the futility of his approach until very late when he was reportedly desperate to salvage a modicum of pride by being the first to fire the shot. NBC News reports, quoting White House sources, that discussions on cancellation started late Wednesday and Trump reached a conclusion by Thursday morning. He was scared that "North Koreans might beat him to the punch."

Post-cancellation, Trump has resumed a "maximum pressure" campaign on North Korea. The administration will continue with the policy of imposing tough economic sanctions and threat of military action, while the president has kept the door slightly ajar for talks. Few would bet on a renewed rapprochement, even though the North Koreans have offered Washington "time and opportunity". Pyongyang's carefully worded response suppresses an understated glee, typical of a side that realises that it has pulled off a comprehensive victory in a tough mental battle and now holds all the cards.

Well may Trump impose "toughest ever" sanctions on North Korea to force Kim to appear at the discussion table to negotiate the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program. Such a tactic will be a non-starter unless China  which accounts for almost 90 percent of Pyongynag's external trade  plays ball and implements those measures.

Though Beijing had, albeit reluctantly, agreed to implement United Nations-mandated sanctions on North Korea in the past, it may be less willing to oblige this time. China may argue that while Pyongyang has taken a series of steps, including detonation of a nuclear test site and release of three American hostages in preparation for talks, Trump has unmade his case by announcing a 'unilateral withdrawal'.

China's state-controlled media has wasted no time in putting forth the contention. "Pyongyang had shown its utmost sincerity by demolishing the nuclear test site. It was a turning point where North Korea could replace their confrontational policies with concerted efforts aimed at working with international communities to resolve Korean Peninsula issues," China's Communist party-controlled Global Times wrote in an editorial on Friday.

In contrast, "America's national image has been damaged ever since Trump announced his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. The cancellation of the Singapore meeting will only enhance their negative image, regardless of any explanation provided by Washington," wrote GT.

It left little space for doubt that Beijing won't be a party to Washington's 'maximum pressure' campaign. "China will continue to improve and develop friendly relations with North Korea as they stopped testing nuclear weapons and offered assurances on denuclearization," read the editorial.

If China's backing of Pyongyang is strategic, across the Korean peninsula in the South, support for Kim and strong condemnation for Trump has become an emotional release for citizens who are clearly alarmed and fatigued at the prospect of a catastrophic war.

President Moon Jae-in, who had invested substantial political capital in setting up the summit, admitted that he was "perplexed" by the cancellation while fuming South Koreans vented their anger on Trump and hailed Kim. The tinpot dictator seems to have pulled off a diplomatic masterstroke by holding an inter-Korean summit, at least among young Koreans anyway.

North Korea was in the process of doing everything that had been demanded of it. They even detonated their nuclear test site, news agency Reuters quoted a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul, as saying. Trump has no interest in peace in our country. Why cant he just let us, the two Koreas, live in peace?

One has to appreciate the way Kim has upended Trump. The Korean official response to Trump's missive appears restrained and even flattering in its praise for the American president even as Kim moved to claim the moral high ground. Suddenly, from being an immature, reckless dictator who loves to test nuclear weapons and issue vituperative rhetoric against adversaries, Kim appears to have transformed into a mature leader who, having achieved his strategic goals, now wants to sit across the table and sort out the differences.

N. Korea has just published the English-language version of its statement on Trump's pullout from the Singapore summit. pic.twitter.com/wjri8Q0I3X  Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) May 25, 2018

There is huge amount of deceit hidden in this image but in diplomacy, perception is as good as reality. In reality, there is not even a remote chance of Kim agreeing to Trump's plan of "complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement" (CVID) of his nuclear weapons and missile capabilities. But by taking some token steps (such as detonation of the test site, no first use) and appearing agreeable for talks, Kim has achieved his objectives of claiming moral victory, getting to keep his weapon stockpile and yet secure for his country some breathing space against American sanctions.

This becomes clear when we consider that even though CVID was perceptibly on the table, in reality it never was because Trump and Kim had completely different objectives from the discussion. While Trump wanted CVID and nothing else, Kim was never going to let go of his nuclear arsenal which he considers to be his sole insurance against US aggression. What Kim wanted from the summit, instead, was a legitimacy as a nuclear-powered state which would bestow upon it some sort of equality  a position of power  from where future negotiations would take place.

As Michael Green writes in Foreign Affairs, "What North Korea really wants from this summit is probably not denuclearisation but the oppositeacceptance of its nuclear weapons status. This should not be surprising. In 2012, North Korea revised its constitution to pronounce itself a nuclear power, and Kim declared earlier this year that his intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programme was near completion, an indication that he was ready to negotiate This is why Kims proposals thus far mimic the moves of a nuclear weapons state, such as pledging testing freezes, no first use, and no transfer."

Squeezed between these two stools, the summit never had a chance. Trump's hands were also tied by the hostile domestic media which predicted that the president may settle for exactly what Kim wants  legitimacy for his nuclear weapons  in exchange for a myopic assurance that America wont be targeted.

To dispel these notions, NSA John Bolton and vice-president Mike Pence upheld the 'Libya Model' where Muammar al-Qaddafi handed over his nuclear weapons in 2003 only to be lynched to death by US-backed insurgents.

In effect, these comments served to squeeze Trump's space for manouvre and amounted to waving the red flag to a dictatorial regime that considers the Libya Model as its worst nightmare and has invested in nuclear weapons precisely to take that possibility out of equation.

Apart from Kim, who would be mighty pleased at the turn of events, Chinese president Xi Jinping is the other clear winner. He showed considerable diplomatic prowess in influencing Kim and turning the course of a summit that seemed to have kept him out of the loop. Trump admitted that Xi had an impact when he claimed on 22 May that the summit could be delayed due to an attitudinal change in Kim following the North Korean leader's meeting with "world class poker player" Xi in Dalian.

The aborted summit places Xi once again at the front and centre of Trump's North Korea policy which he may use as a leverage during trade talks with the US. This was, in every sense of the term, a diplomatic coup de grace.
Deeply concerned over the Amnesty International report on the alleged killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the United States of America (US) said there was an urgent need for a credible and independent investigation into the human rights violations in Myanmar's restive Rakhine province.

Deeply concerned over the Amnesty International report on the alleged killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the United States of America (US) said there was an urgent need for a credible and independent investigation into the human rights violations in Myanmar's restive Rakhine province.

"We are deeply concerned by Amnesty's report on the killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Accountability for all those responsible for human rights abuses and violations in northern Rakhine state remains critical," a US State Department spokesperson told PTI.

He said the report further highlights the urgent need for a credible and independent investigation in Rakhine state to further determine all facts on the ground to fix accountability and provide justice to victims. "The United States continues to support such an investigation," the spokesperson said.

In its report early this week, the Amnesty International said a Rohingya armed group brandishing guns and swords was responsible for at least one, and potentially a second, massacre of up to 99 Hindu women, men and children as well as additional unlawful killings and abductions of Hindu villagers in August 2017.

"At around 8 am on 25 August 2017, ARSA attacked the Hindu community in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, in a cluster of villages known as Kha Maung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township. At the time of the attack, the Hindu villagers lived in close proximity to Rohingya villagers, who are predominantly Muslim. Rakhine villagers, who are predominantly Buddhist, also lived in the same area," Amnesty said in its latest report.

In a statement Burma Task Force, a coalition of 19 US and Canadian Muslim organisations, slammed the Amnesty International for "such a report". "It is a major public relations bonanza for the genocidal Burmese regime. It puts 60,000 Rohingyas in India even at more risk than they already are," it said.

"The Amnesty International report presents, as fact, evidence and conclusions that are both seriously questionable, and by doing so it aids the propaganda efforts of a regime whose every action suggests it is bent on carrying out genocide," the task force said.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorisation Act 2019, which addresses the issue of alleged ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. "This provision imposes new sanctions on Burmese military officials and bars their forces from US joint drills," Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

Over the past year, the Burmese military has escalated its decades-long campaign against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 7,00,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee and thousands have been slaughtered. Entire villages have been burned and bulldozed, he said.
Saudi authorities have released four female rights campaigners fighting for womens right to drive and the end of man guardianship, one month before removal of the controversial ban.

Eleven Saudi women known as prominent activists campaigning for female rights to drive and the end of man guardianship were detained last week after being suspected for working for foreign entities.

The released activists have been identified as Aisha al-Manea, Hassa al-Sheikh, Madeha Alajroush and Walaa al-Shubbar.

Their release came following an international large scale pressure on Saudi authorities who have embarked, under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on polishing the kingdoms image, including through the improvement of womens rights and conditions.

The activists and their likes still held have been branded as agents of embassies. The female rights campaigners have called for the removal of the kingdoms restriction forbidding women to drive. They also campaigned against mens right to monitor their movements and to have a say in their decisions.

Their arrest has cast a doubt on the kingdoms eagerness to open up and improve womens rights.

Activists and diplomats have speculated that the new wave of arrests may be aimed at appeasing conservative elements opposed to social reforms pushed by the Crown Prince, Reuters reports.

The waves of arrests took place one month before the lifting of the ban on womens right to drive as Saudi women can sit behind a wheel as of June 24.
Wing Zone Named One of the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers

Atlanta-based Franchise Recognized as Top Brand in Annual Ranking of Fast Casual Concepts

ATLANTA (PRWEB) May 24, 2018 - Wing Zone has been named one of the top fast casual concepts in America by Fast Casual. The ranking, part of the publications annual Top 100 Movers & Shakers, was unveiled during an event in Chicago on May 20. For 14 years, Fast Casual has recognized the industrys most innovative brands with their annual ranking. This year, Wing Zone landed at 54 out of 75 companies represented on the list.

This ranking validates the hard work and dedication of our franchisees and team members serving guests at Wing Zone locations across the country, said Matt Friedman, co-founder and CEO of Wing Zone, who accepted the award at the gala event. We remain focused on constantly innovating and improving the Wing Zone experience. While were excited about this ranking, we are even more excited about the big things in store for our company heading into the year ahead.

Qualifications to be recognized on the Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers list include growth and sales accomplishments as well as innovation in the use of technology to enhance the customer experience and a willingness to take risks in the name of brand elevation. Brands had the opportunity to submit for consideration and provided information about their business practices and successes and a panel of judges weighed each nomination carefully before deciding on the final 100, composed of 75 brands and 25 executives.

While each winner offered customers a little something extra to differentiate it from its competitors, the top performers also shared important similarities  a heavy emphasis on employee training, high-quality ingredients, technology upgrades, brand culture and a passion for giving back to their communities. The list also recognizes brands and leaders for their contributions to the growth of the fast casual segment. When it comes to creativity, progressiveness and hard work, these 100 are leading the restaurant industry as a whole, said Cherryh Cansler, editorial director of Networld Media Group, the parent company of Fast Casual.

Today, there are more than 80 Wing Zone locations across the globe. In 2017, Wing Zone underwent its first global brand refresh to further the mission of creating a fun, relatable dining atmosphere offering guests the best chicken wings in the universe. The refresh focused on Bigger Tenders, Better Boneless, Jumbo Wings, a modernized menu, stronger alignment between domestic and international locations, and an updated guest promise.

To find the closest Wing Zone, visit https://www.wingzone.com/locations/. More information can be found by visiting Wing Zone on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Wing Zone

Wing Zone was founded in 1991 at the University of Florida by Matt Friedman and Adam Scott, who dubbed themselves Flavorholics because of their love of great wings and amazing flavors. The Wing Zone franchise was born in their fraternity house kitchen, and the concept quickly flourished through delivery to their fellow college students. After opening several more Wing Zone locations in college markets across the country, Scott and Friedman began offering franchises in 2000. Wing Zone now has nearly 100 locations open across the U.S. and a strong international presence, including Panama, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Malabo, Singapore and Guatemala. For more information about Wing Zone visit http://www.wingzone.com.



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Saudi air defense force intercepted a ballistic missile that was launched from Yemen towards the city of Najran on Friday, a day after Iran-backed Houthi rebels suffered heavy losses.

The Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces of the coalition (RSADF) detected the launch of a ballistic missile launched by Irans Al-Houthi militia from within Yemeni territories (Omran Province) towards the Kingdoms territories, the official spokesman of the Coalition Forces Command Colonel Turki Al-Malki said in a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency.

Debris from the intercepted missile fell on populated areas of Najran but did not cause any injuries, Colonel Al Malki said.

Colonel Al-Malki further said that this hostile action by Irans terrorist Al-Houthi militia proves the continuing involvement of the Iranian regime in support of Al-Houthi armed militia with qualitative capabilities. He said this is a clear and explicit defiance of UN resolutions (2216 and 2231) in order to threaten the security of Saudi Arabia as well as regional and international security. Launching ballistic missiles towards densely populated cities and villages is contrary to the international humanitarian law, he said.

In a related development, UAE daily The National reported that on Thursday, more than 70 Houthi fighters were killed in Yemens Hodeidah province as government troops backed by the UAE Armed Forces cut off a rebel supply line, reported the.

Aseel Al Sakladi, media officer in the Yemen armys Al Amalikah Brigade, said the rebels main supply route between Al Tuhaiyta and Zabeed districts was seized in a surprise operation, the daily reported.

On Friday morning, jets from the Arab Coalition supporting the government launched air strikes at Houthi reinforcements heading towards Zabeed, a military source in Al Tuhaiyta told The National.

The strikes destroyed several Houthi military vehicles trying to approach Zabeed through the desert, the source said
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Jean-Claude Juncker to visit Tbilisi in relation to Independence Day of Georgia - GeorgianJournal
Meizu M8c with 18:9 aspect ratio display officially launched for Rs 11,000 News oi-Vivek The Meizu M8c is the latest entry-level smartphone from the Chinese smartphone maker Meizu for the Russian market.

Chinese smartphone maker Meizu has launched a new entry-level smartphone, the Meizu M8c in Russia for a starting price of RUB 9,990 (Rs 11,000). As of now, there is no information on the availability of the Meizu M8c outside Russia. Here are the complete specifications details of the Meizu M8c.

Design

There is nothing new about the design of the Meizu M8c. In fact, the smartphone is designed to look like a metal unibody device. In reality, the smartphone is made using polycarbonate with a hint of metallic paint on the top. The design looks clean and will be appealing to those, who are looking for a smartphone without flashy/trendy form factor.

Specifications

As this is an entry-level smartphone, the Meizu houses a 5.45-inch HD+ 1440 x 720p resolution IPS LCD screen with a modern 18:9 aspect ratio with narrow bezels on the top and bottom part of the smartphone. According to press-release images, the smartphone looks extremely modern and the higher screen to body ratio. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by the entry-level Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 Quad-core chipset paired with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage, which is expandable up to 128 GB using a micro SD card.

For the optics, the smartphone offers a 13 MP primary camera with an f/2.2 aperture and an 8 MP front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone neither has a fingerprint sensor or nor face unlock. So, a user has to use either pattern, pin or a passcode to secure the smartphone.

The smartphone has a 3070 mAh Li-ion battery, which charges via a micro USB cable. There is no fast charging, as the chipset does not support. Finally, the smartphone has all the necessary sensors and ports like 3.5 mm headphone jack, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. The smartphone weighs at 140 grams with an overall dimension of 146.4x70x8.5mm.

How to schedule a WhatsApp message on Android smartphones

Conclusion

This might be a great smartphone in the Russian market. However, the company should think twice if they planning to launch this in India. As we have smartphones which offer a dual camera, fingerprint sensor, and a metal unibody design with a more powerful processor and costs a lot less than the Meizu M8c.

Best Mobiles in India

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Ethio Telecom, Ethiopias state-run telecom company has agreed to allow some local firms to provide internet services through its infrastructure.

Ethiopia is one of the few African countries that still have a state monopoly on telecommunications.

The move to open the telecoms sector to limited competition will bolster competition in the country and expand the data market, according to Abdurahim Ahmed, the companys head of communications.

Abdurahim said the decision to allow private companies to sell services was not a harbinger of complete liberalization of the sector.

There may be price reductions. There will be competition among themthat is the core idea, Ahmad told Reuters News Agency.

In April, Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome Wirtu said Ethiopia is not yet ready for foreign investments in its telecoms and banking sectors.

In the past, the government justified maintaining state ownership and monopoly on all telecoms services on the grounds that only the state could guarantee access to the entire population. It argued that private companies would focus on urban centers and neglect other areas.

Ethio Telecom has more than 16 million subscribers to internet services in the country of over 100 million people.

It generated over 27.7 billion birr ($1 billion) in revenues in the first nine months of 2017/18, 70 percent of which was earned from mobile services and 18 percent from the internet.
Nigerias military has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including torture, rape and killing of civilians during its fight against terrorist group Boko Haram, according to claims in a new report by human rights group Amnesty International.

The 89-page report, based on hundreds of interviews, said the crimes were perpetrated for years and have continued despite a presidential inquiry established last August.

According to the rights group, interviewees said that when the military conducted operations in their villages, they burnt down homes and opened fire at remaining residents indiscriminately.

The Nigerian military in a statement described Amnestys findings as a false report on fictitious rape incidents in IDP (internally displaced people) camps in the North East region of Nigeria.

In a 2016 report, another rights group, Human Rights Watch, said it had documented 43 cases of sexual violence against women by soldiers in displacement camps in northern Nigeria, forcing the Nigerian government to investigate.

Troops have been battling the insurgents since 2009 in Borno and other northeastern states.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict, and about 1.8 million people have fled their homes.
At least 49 people are feared drowned while about the same number survived after an overcrowded whaleboat sank in the River Congo, a local official told a Congolese radio station.

According to Richard Mboyo Iluka, vice governor of Tshuapa Province, in northern Congo, the whaleboat had sunk late on Wednesday.

The number of victims can be higher because boats can be overcrowded and lack life jackets, and passengers routinely do not know how to swim.

Boat accidents occur frequently in DR Congo, both in the vast countrys lakes and on its rivers.

Waterways in the mineral-rich nation are a substitute for traveling by road.

Decades of conflict and neglect have left the nations infrastructure in tatters. The country has few highways, and they are often poorly maintained.

Chinese firms Sinohydro Corp and China Railway Group Limited are building roads and railways in exchange for a 68 percent stake in the Sicomines copper and cobalt mine, one of the largest in Africa with about 6.8 million tons in proven reserves.

Chinas state-run Exim Bank and smaller Chinese banks are stumping up $3 billion for infrastructure plus a further $3 billion to develop Sicomines, with all the loans to be repaid with mining profits.

General elections are scheduled to be held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 23 December 2018 to choose a successor to incumbent President Joseph Kabila.
A new concept in fast-food hamburgers is spreading across the country, and Brookfield will be the first in New England to experience it.

Burgerim, a Los Angeles-based, fast-casual restaurant franchise with aggressive expansion plans, will open at 7 Federal Road in early June. Burgerim offers four types of beef, two types of lamb, chicken, salmon and falafel for its slider burgers and salads.

Its a matter of what youre offering. We differentiate ourselves with the meat options, Syed Shah, franchise owner, said of the numerous dining options on Federal Road. No one else has this many options.

All food at the Brookfield location will be halal, making it permissible for Muslims to eat. Halal shares similarities with the kosher designation in that it describes how the animal is slaughtered and prepared for consumption. Shah, a New Milford resident, said the ability to make the food halal was a major factor in his decision to return to the restaurant industry and specifically to Burgerim. Shah previously owned Subway franchises.

Some ethnic groups have few options for fast food dining, Shah said, because the meat is not halal. Fish sandwiches are typically the only option available to many people.

For Muslims, when it comes to fast food, there is no other option, said Shah, who stressed that Burgerim is welcoming to all religions and ethnicities.

Not all Burgerims are halal, but each of Shahs franchises will be. He will also open Burgerim locations in Meriden and Manchester this year. He hopes to open one in the SoNo Collection, a mall under construction in Norwalk, next year.

Burgerim first opened in Tel Aviv in 2011. It has more than 100 locations  mostly in California and Texas  with nearly 500 under construction. It plans to have 1,000 restaurants by 2019. The Northeast expansion is not limited to Connecticut; there are restaurants currently being built in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.

It will be a big national franchise, Shah said.

Burgerim will join a crowded, fast-food restaurant scene in Brookfield and Danbury. Burger King recently opened to join McDonalds, Wendys, Arbys, Subway, KFC, Chick-fil-A, Moes, Salsa Fresca and Dunkin Donuts along a two-mile stretch of Federal Road. Burgerim is in the same building as a new Dunkin Donuts.

Five Guys and Hummus & Pita are under construction.

Shah sees Burgerim competing with the healthier fast-casual concepts.

Everything is gourmet here; nothing is fried, he said. Its fast food, but the offerings are more healthy. The entire food industry is heading toward healthier options.

Burgerim will offer beef, spicy beef, chorizo, Wagyu, lamb, spicy lamb, salmon, veggie and chicken patties and a wide variety of toppings such as sunny-side-up eggs and pineapple for what the company describes as its sensible-sized burgers. Sandwiches, salads, chicken wings and desserts will also be available.

Shah said Burgerim and Hummus & Pita, which is slated to open later this year, will add variety to the area.

There are all kinds of options available, he said. These two restaurants are a big addition to the area. All of the options are different and unique.

cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338
The state Department of Transportation will begin its annual roadside herbicide spraying program starting June 1 and continuing through the fall.

Since the mid-1970s, the state has been spraying herbicides to control vegetation under guardrails, signs, and roadside barriers. It says the work is needed to improve the visibility of guardrails and to maintain sight lines on curves and intersections.

Herbicides, it says, are also used to reduce fire hazards, maintain drainage and control invasive plants.

Among the roads that will be sprayed are Interstates 84, 91, 95, 384, 395 and 691 and all other divided highways and secondary roads, DOT said in a release.

The spraying on major roads will begin first in the western Connecticut, followed by the central, southern and eastern areas of the state.

Spraying on secondary roads will start in eastern Connecticut then move west.

From August 15 through November, a program of spot spraying will be in place to manage specific locations populated by invasive plants/trees, the DOT says.

A bill that would have prohibited the DOT from spraying was approved by the Environment Committee in 2017, but didnt win full passage in the Legislature.

Supporting the ban was the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, arguing prohibiting the use of toxic herbicides on state highways would protect Connecticut's soil and water resources, protect public health and food security and the health of important pollinators.

It said, although initially effective, weeds and other unwanted plants will develop chemical resistance over time. Glyphosate, the most common herbicide on today's market, is known to permeate through soils and easily runs off into storm drains and catch basins. As Connecticut moves toward efforts to establish pollinator-friendly habitats, such as highway medians, it is essential that the state reduce unnecessary uses of harmful herbicides in areas where they may not be needed.

The Rivers Alliance of Connecticut has long sought to limit the use of pesticides and herbicides. It said chemicals sprayed on land eventually enter water. It noted highway spray areas are frequently adjacent to steep slopes, wetlands, and streams.

Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr, who led the Environmental Committees passage of the bill, said year after year, DOT sprays our roadsides with thousands of gallons of glyphosate, defoliants and other toxic herbicides, poisoning our water and threatening our health, all in the name of weed and vegetation control.

The Environment Committee has called for DOT to stop this practice and asks the agency to consider safer, and often times less expensive options, such as mowing, planting pollinator-friendly flowers, and using non-poisonous herbicide alternatives. Connecticuts environment is one of our states strategic economic assets that must be protected and preserved for future generations.

The EPA says Glyphosate products can be safely used by following label directions, adding Glyphosate has low toxicity for humans.

It noted, however, Glyphosate and the related acid and salt compounds are currently undergoing registration review, a program that re-evaluates all pesticides on a 15-year cycle, the EPA says.

Kennedy, who is not seeking re-election, said newly-unsealed court documents revealed how Monsanto, the maker of the most widely used herbicide, glyphosate, repeatedly tried to hide evidence of the herbicides toxicity. The World Health Organization deemed glyphosate a probable human carcinogen in 2015, and many countries have already banned or restricted the chemicals use.

The DOT opposed the bill.

At the bills hearing, Commissioner James Redeker said removing this vegetation manually would require several cuttings throughout the growing season. This is a very labor intensive task with a high potential for employee injury. Most vegetation, once cut, will produce multiple stems increasing the amount of vegetation under the guardrails and on barriers. One plant, poison ivy, is especially harmful to Department maintainers that would be cutting it or repairing the guardrails.

Redeker said the herbicides have no soil movement or leaching properties ensuring that no off-target trees, plants, or pollinators are exposed.

DOT says this years spraying program will have minimal impact on travel.

This is operation utilizes a moving (rolling) traffic pattern, and all products utilized by the department have EPA approval as well as DEEP approval.
Are doctors obsolete? Deep learning AI system trounced doctors in predicting heart failure in patients, boasting 97 percent accuracy

Autonomous cars are controversial, but proponents point out that they are far safer than traditional cars because the artificial intelligence systems controlling them are not vulnerable to human error. The computer, they say, wont fall asleep at the wheel, get distracted checking its text messages, or drive while intoxicated. Its better at math than humans, accurately calculating when to slow down or change lanes safely. Now this same technology could bring new levels of accuracy to the medical field and even save lives.

Deep learning computers developed by Case Western Reserve University have been handily outperforming medical doctors in detecting cancer and diagnosing heart failure. With $9.5 million in funding from the National Cancer Institute, theyve developed tools that can analyze digital pathology images of cancers of the lung, head, neck and breast to accurately identify those patients who could be spared undergoing risky chemotherapy.

For example, the researchers have found that their system is better than human experts in distinguishing malignant and benign lung nodules using CAT scans. This is a very valuable advancement when you consider the fact that around 98 percent of the nodules flagged by human radiologists as being suspicious turn out to be benign. The system could save people a lot of worry, not to mention unnecessary additional testing.

The artificial intelligence system is so advanced that it predicted which people out of a group of 105 patients showed evidence of a pending heart failure with a 97 percent accuracy rate; the two pathologists who assessed the same group were only correct 73 and 74 percent of the time.

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In another study that looked at prostate cancer scans in three countries, the computation imaging algorithms caught clinically significant prostate cancer in MRIs in more than 70 percent of the cases where radiologists failed to detect it. Similarly, in half of the cases where radiologists had mistakenly identified someone as having clinically significant prostate cancer on MRIs, the machines correctly determined that the disease was not present.

Deep learning AI could prove to be a lifesaver

All of this is extremely promising, but the researchers would like to see further validation in bigger studies. Nevertheless, theres a huge amount of potential here to spare people unnecessary treatment and better identify those who need interventions.

The machines are excellent at comparing and contrasting hundreds of tissue samples in the same amount of time that a pathologist needs to pore over a single slide, and they can compile data and make predictions with ease.

That doesnt mean that doctors should start worrying about losing their jobs to machines any time soon, however. While the computers excel at doing things quickly and in high volumes with a great degree of accuracy, there will always be the need for doctors to manage peoples health. What it can do, however, is make their work easier and let them know which patients they need to focus on and which cases arent as concerning as they might appear.

This technology, therefore, isnt going to replace doctors; it will just help them do their work better than before. Case Western Professor of Biomedical Engineering Anant Madabhushi said that in a country like Botswana, where there is only one pathologist for 2 million people, it could allow many more individuals to get much-needed help.

Of course, like any technology, there are ways it could go wrong, but the high accuracy rates that have been demonstrated so far show that this technology could prove to be a lifesaver.

Sources for this article include:

TheDaily.Case.edu

OnlineLibrary.Wiley.com
The Hebrew word Bamidbar translates as meaning in the wilderness and is the name of the 4th Book of our Torah, also known as the Book of Numbers.

Bamidbar also is the name of the 1st Torah portion of the Book of Numbers, and it is usually read before our celebration of the Festival of Shavuot, which celebrates Gods gift of Torah to our people at Mount Sinai.

The first verse of Bamidbar states: And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai ...

The rabbis perceive a connection between wilderness and revelation.

We received Gods Torah even before we entered into our promised land.

Usually the opposite would be the case  land first, laws second. People plant themselves in a land, and then the societal laws develop over time.

But for the Jewish people, our social contract planted Gods laws within our collective peoplehood, and then our land was occupied.

This inversion of normative practice of most nations explains the secret of the Jews survival.

The origin of our Constitution was portable; even landless. Our Jewish societies could always take root wherever Jews would reside.

We do possess our formal Jewish State. And during the historical eras where we lacked national self-autonomy, we were exposed to greater physical dangers.

However, for Jews, no matter our geographic location, our spiritual selves were always made secure because we possessed with our Torah the eternal moral compass by which we can always navigate whatever wilderness environment that we might reside.

Our declaration of Not by Might, Nor by Power, but by Spirit alone is the historical reality of our people.

We survive, we thrive, because we stand eternally committed to living our individual and communal lives by the guiding principle of Gods Laws.

God resides within our midst, no matter where we might be geographically located.

Today, we continue to march through the wilderness of our lives. Its no accident that the Torah was given to us Bamidbar  in the wilderness.

Lets firmly re-grasp the gift that is Gods Torah.

Eitz Chayim  Torah is a tree of life to those who cling to it; Blessed are they who uphold it.

Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz is senior rabbi at Temple Sholom of Greenwich, co-founder of the Sholom Center for Interfaith Learning and Fellowship and a past president of the Greenwich Fellowship of Clergy For an archive of past columns, visit www.templesholom.com
The challenges they face can change with sometimes startling speed.

But whether the enemy is a long-established disease such as influenza, cancer or tuberculosis or are still emerging and evolving maladies, cadres of health professionals across the state  researchers, doctors and nurses alike  stand ready to carry on the fight.

Throughout Connecticuts long history, countless men and women have been involved in often-pioneering efforts to develop new treatments and/or medicines or to improve health care for people nearing death.

Some of the achievements  the development of the first neonatal intensive care unit, for instance  are stunning.

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Not surprisingly, many of the advances  both societal and medical  occurred at the Yale School of Medicine, which opened its doors in 1813.

In 1857, the school awarded a degree to its first African-American graduate, Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Creed.

But it wasn't until 1916 that women  in the persons of Louise Farnam, Helen May Scoville and Lillian Lydia Nye  were admitted to the school.

The school takes understandable pride in listing areas where it led the way: Yales historical contributions to medicine include the first X-ray performed in the United States, the first successful use of penicillin in America, the first use of cancer chemotherapy, and the introduction of fetal heart monitoring, natural childbirth and newborn rooming-in, its website says.

Yale doctors designed the first artificial heart pump and the first insulin infusion pump for diabetes, and it was here that the means of transmission of the polio virus was established, paving the way for the Salk vaccine. Lyme disease was identified by two Yale physicians in 1975.

Still more history was made at Yale in October 1960, when Dr. Louis Gluck opened the first neonatal intensive care unit for premature or under-strength newborn babies in the United States.

Gluck turned the standard practice  isolating newborns  on its head, by grouping them together in a large, open-space unit where their needs more easily could be met.

As late as the 1930s, many births took place at home with often tragic outcomes. By the 1940s, however, that pattern had changed and more and more births were taking place in hospitals.

But the risks for premature babies still were significant, largely because so-called preemies did not have fully developed lungs.

Doctors, especially in France, had begun advocating for changes in the way premature babies were treated.

In a July 2016, article, Elizabeth Payne traced advances in the treatment of premature infants.

Early incubators were developed in the latter part of the 19th century. But still many in the medical profession  and especially hospitals concerned about their cost  were slow to embrace incubators.

In an effort to prove their worth and encourage the wider use of incubators, French doctor Martin Courney took the highly unusual  and dramatic  step of displaying babies in incubators at Coney Island in 1903, Payne reports.

Similar demonstrations were featured at the 1939 Worlds Fair in Queens, N.Y.

Baby science

In was only in the post-war years when suddenly nearly everything seemed possible, that American hospitals began to more widely accept incubators.

But, Payne writes, even as hospitals created Special Care Baby Units, there still was concern about the risk of infection for premature newborns.

Here Gluck took the lead.

Working with a team at Yale, Gluck found regularly washing newborns  and requiring visitors to the special-care units to wash their hands  dramatically reduced the risk of infection.

Gluck then took a pioneering step by abolishing the existing model of isolating premature babies.

Instead, he grouped isolettes and incubators all in one room, Payne writes.

Doing so enabled caregivers to easily access and tend to the babies.

Those changes were tremendously impactful, said Dr. Mark R. Mercurio, chief of neonatal-perinatal medicine at Yale School of Medicine.

There was a phenomenal reduction in mortality rates, Mercurio said.

Continuing advances in the technology of respirators gave doctors another weapon to combat respiratory distress syndrome, Mercurio said.

Because they are not carried to term, premature babies cannot develop the alveoli, the tiny sacs that inflate when they breathe.

Surfactant, a chemical that stimulates the growth of the alveoli, is produced in the placenta in the late stages of pregnancy.

Fortunately, scientists have developed artificial surfactant, which now is administered to premature babies, Mercurio said.

Another of Glucks ideas has had a significant impact on the treatment of premature babies.

Throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, premature babies were separated from their mothers, Mercurio said.

That was not a positive development for either the baby or the mother, he said.

Gluck pushed to keep them together.

In the ensuing years, the practice has further improved, to the benefit of both mother and the child, Mercurio said.

In January, Yale New Haven Childrens Hospital opened a new family-centered neonatal ICU that included couplet rooms, Mercurio noted. The unit can accommodate 68 babies, and was designed with room to make starting to breast feed easier, among other features.

Mothers and their babies remain together in the room as the baby receives care, Yale spokesman Mark DAntonio explained.

This unique model of care strengths the maternal-infant bond by fostering skin-to-skin contact supporting breastfeeding and further inducing healing, DAntonio said.

***

Other Connecticut residents also have left their mark on the development of medicine and health care.

Sherwin B. Nuland, for instance, served humanity in two roles, as a surgeon and as dean of the Yale School of Medicine.

Later in life he fused the two roles and began writing on medical issues for the general public.

Nuland achieved significant celebrity when, in 1994, he published How We Die, a sober, no-holds-barred explanation of death and dying that sold an astonishing 500,000 copies worldwide and won a National Book Award.

In an obituary published upon Nulands death in 2014, the New York Times wrote that he had sought to demythologize death , making it more familiar and therefore less frightening, so that the dying might approach decisions regarding their care with greater knowledge and more reasonable expectations.

The Times did not shrink from also describing the book as a criticism of a medical profession that saw death as an enemy to be engaged, frequently beyond the point of futility, adding Nuland had pointed a finger at himself for sometimes being guilty of the very thing he criticized.

Florence S. Wald also engaged with death as an advocate for bringing a measure of peace to the dying.

The Bronx-born Wald trained as a nurse, and after serving in the Army Signal Corps in World War II she returned to Yale, where she eventually became dean of the school nursing.

In 1963, according to her obituary in the Times, Wald attended a lecture given by Dame Cecily Saunders, an English woman who was preparing to open the first hospice facility in the world.

Wald immediately was taken with the idea of a facility where families could be actively involved in providing comfort and care for a dying person.

Wald eventually resigned from her post at Yale, went to South London where she trained with Saunders , and then returned to work toward creating a hospice facility in the U.S.

In 1970, a 44-patient facility opened in Branford.

As of 2014, there were more than 4,000 such facilities in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Further, a Hartford-born dentist, Horace Wells, was instrumental to finding a way to ameliorate the pain that marked so much of medicine into the 19th century.

Unfortunately, it did little to give him the peace he personally sought.

In the 1840s, Wells did extensive testing of various chemicals, including nitrous oxide and chloroform, as a way to reduce the pain in surgery.

His tests eventually overwhelmed him, however, causing him to become unbalanced, leading to his death by suicide. Wells is credited as the father of ether.

***

Connecticut styles itself the land of steady habits, but over the years it has often been a battlefield on issues involving contraception and birth control.

Hilda Crosby was an early soldier in those battles.

She grew up in Hartford, graduated from Wellesley College and earned a medical degree from Cornell University.

She then moved to China where she lived and worked for five years providing medical care for the Chinese until she was driven out by the expanding Japanese occupation in 1935.

Having seen the necessity for family planning in war-torn China, upon her return returned to Connecticut, Crosby was recruited to become director of a maternal health center by Katharine Houghton Hepburn, mother of actress Katharine Hepburn.

In 1936, Crosby married a fellow physician, Erland Myles Standish, and began raising a family even as she continued her work at the clinic until it was forced to close in 1940.

Crosby remained active in the continuing medical history of Connecticut until her death in 2005 at the age of 103.
More than 3,500 Cases of Violence Only Last Year

The Institution for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) has released the statistics of domestic violence, covering the period between 2013 and 2018.The data released on May 21 reads that 3,599 women and 497 men became victims of domestic violence only in 2017, which was the highest figure compared to all the previous years reported in the data.The IDFI statistics read that 253 women and 32 men became the victims of domestic violence in 2011; 308 women and 27 men  in 2012; 220 women and 20 men- in 2013; 742 women and 87 men- in 2014.The number of female victims amounted to 2,301, male victims  to 337 in 2015; 2,585 women and 381 men became the victims of domestic violence in 2016; 3,599 women and 497men in 2017.IDFI claims that 240 men and 21 women committed violence in 2011; 291 men and 22 women - in 2012; 207 men and 18 women - in 2013; 690 men and 60 women - in 2014; 2,283 men and 186 women - in 2015; 2,544 men and 222 women  in 2016; 3,492 men and 393 women - in 2017.In total 6,464 cases of violence were reported between 2013 and 2018, 172 cases of damage to health on the grounds of violence and 89 violence-based murder cases.Tbilisi, Imereti and Racha Lechkhumi and Kakheti regions were at the top of the list with violent crimes, while the Guria region took the bottom line.Beginning with 2015, the number of domestic violence cases have been increased by 50 percent, which indicates a sharp increase in the number of willing complains, the IDFI reads.The president of Georgia announced about a month ago that he temporarily suspended the pardon of the convicts accused of violent crimes.The suspension will continue until the president ends consultations with all involved institutions about the pardon of such convicts.
McLaren F1 team announced a multi-year VR partnership with HTC that should bring new virtual reality and augmented reality experiences to the platform. The Taiwanese company will also launch a McLaren-themed Vive VR headset to celebrate the occasion.

McLaren will use the Vive Pro for the "world's first VR esports competition integrated with a real sport". The McLaren team already has some experience in organizing esports competitions as last year the company held the World's Fastest Gamer event and the winner got a job as an official simulator driver for the team.

But for now, no details have been revealed regarding the planned VR experiences. Don't get your hopes too high for a 360-degree streaming/video on your Vive headset, though, as the motorsport series won't give up easily broadcast rights and digital media.

Via
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By Vasia Orion | Published on 2018/05/24

"Arthdal Chronicles" is piling on the ambitious quests, and its efforts have landed PD Kim Won-seok of "Incomplete Life", "Signal" and "My Mister" fame. Its casting spree continues, and there's finally a name that excites yours truly involved, as actor Jang Dong-gun is being courted by the production.

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I'm not partying quite yet, as Jang Dong-gun's agency has made it clear that this is simply one of the works under the actor's consideration, but he'd be an asset to this series. The production is still courting Song Joong-ki and Kim Ji-won, both of whom are still positively considering their respective offers.

"Arthdal Chronicles" is a drama revolving around the power struggle, love and growth of the ancient city of Arthdal, which is presumed to be the capital of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom. It is written by Kim Yeong-hyeon and Park Sang-yeon, the duo behind dramas such as "Queen Seon-deok", "Deep-rooted Tree" and "Six Flying Dragons".

As you can tell by all of these names, this is quite the high-aiming project, so the fact that it will be fully pre-produced is a relief. The series is reportedly already building the grand set for its location filming, and its production will be in full swing for a release in the first half of next year.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

Sources (1) (2) (3) (4)
Metropolitan Employees Strike and Decisions of Tbilisi City Court

By Levan Khutsishvili

2018 Tbilisi City Court, based on the application of Tbilisi Transport Company Ltd, decided to grant Tbilisi metro employees the right to go on strike but only in non-working hours on May 21.The decision is equal to the restriction of the right to strike, because the strike itself is a refusal to work organized by a body of employees as a form of protest, typically in an attempt to gain a concession or concessions from their employer.The main demand of the Metropolitan employees is the raise of the salary, and they claim it from 2016. But it is a third time Tbilisi City Court is restricting the right of metro employees to strike.In 2016 Tbilisi City Court postponed strike for a month, in May 2018 Independent Trade Union of Machine-operators  Unity 2013 announced about the upcoming strike on May 3, but court postponed it for a month once more.According to the latest decision of the court, metro employees are allowed to strike but in non-working hours that actually means that constitutional right of employees to strike was violated."The Court decision says that they do not prohibit the strike but restrict in working hours. It is not the right of gathering and manifestation but the right to strike. The strike means refusing the work process and expressing the protest, so I think that court decision is a very dangerous precedent that may in future adversely affect other strikes, said NGO EMC lawyer, Lina Gvinianidze, who is protecting the rights of the workers.The decision to postpone the strike was only based on the unilateral position of the employer without the possibility of involvement of employees.Even, on April 30, Tbilisi City Mayor, Kakha Kaladze said that he is sure that metropolitan will continue working, even though several month negotiations between transport company and metro employees failed and workers had strongly decided to strike, right after Kaladzes statement court postponed the announced strike.As it was noted by the Tbilisi Transport Companies application, strike will cause serious financial problems for company, as well as it will paralyze the transportation infrastructure of Tbilisi and it will threaten the lives and health of citizen. The population will likely use individual vehicles, which will cause traffic jams.The Court agreed with the employers arguments, without even listening to the second party, accordingly it creates the reasonable doubt that Tbilisi City Courts decisions in these cases are not objective and City Hall has influenced them.Despite the decision of the City Court, Metropolitan employees claim that they will strike on June 3.The right to strike is our Constitutional right and we do not agree with the decision of the Court and therefore, as we have declared, we will use this right on 3 June and will go on strike, said Archil Labadze, representative of labor union Unity 2013.
MIT researchers have built an ingestible sensor equipped with genetically engineered bacteria that can diagnose bleeding in the stomach or other gastrointestinal problems.

This bacteria-on-a-chip approach combines sensors made from living cells with ultra-low-power electronics that convert the bacterial response into a wireless signal that can be read by a smartphone.

By combining engineered biological sensors together with low-power wireless electronics, we can detect biological signals in the body and in near real-time, enabling new diagnostic capabilities for human health applications, says Timothy Lu, an MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of biological engineering.

In the new study, appearing in the May 24 online edition of Science, the researchers created sensors that respond to heme, a component of blood, and showed that they work in pigs. They also designed sensors that can respond to a molecule that is a marker of inflammation.

Lu and Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MITs School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, are the senior authors of the study. The lead authors are graduate student Mark Mimee and former MIT postdoc Phillip Nadeau.

Wireless communication

In the past decade, synthetic biologists have made great strides in engineering bacteria to respond to stimuli such as environmental pollutants or markers of disease. These bacteria can be designed to produce outputs such as light when they detect the target stimulus, but specialized lab equipment is usually required to measure this response.

To make these bacteria more useful for real-world applications, the MIT team decided to combine them with an electronic chip that could translate the bacterial response into a wireless signal.

Our idea was to package bacterial cells inside a device, Nadeau says. The cells would be trapped and go along for the ride as the device passes through the stomach.

For their initial demonstration, the researchers focused on bleeding in the GI tract. They engineered a probiotic strain of E. coli to express a genetic circuit that causes the bacteria to emit light when they encounter heme.

They placed the bacteria into four wells on their custom-designed sensor, covered by a semipermeable membrane that allows small molecules from the surrounding environment to diffuse through. Underneath each well is a phototransistor that can measure the amount of light produced by the bacterial cells and relay the information to a microprocessor that sends a wireless signal to a nearby computer or smartphone. The researchers also built an Android app that can be used to analyze the data.

The sensor, which is a cylinder about 1.5 inches long, requires about 13 microwatts of power. The researchers equipped the sensor with a 2.7-volt battery, which they estimate could power the device for about 1.5 months of continuous use. They say it could also be powered by a voltaic cell sustained by acidic fluids in the stomach, using technology that Nadeau and Chandrakasan have previously developed.

The focus of this work is on system design and integration to combine the power of bacterial sensing with ultra-low-power circuits to realize important health sensing applications, Chandrakasan says.

Diagnosing disease

The researchers tested the ingestible sensor in pigs and showed that it could correctly determine whether any blood was present in the stomach. They anticipate that this type of sensor could be either deployed for one-time use or designed to remain the digestive tract for several days or weeks, sending continuous signals.

Currently, if patients are suspected to be bleeding from a gastric ulcer, they have to undergo an endoscopy to diagnose the problem, which often requires the patient to be sedated.

The goal with this sensor is that you would be able to circumvent an unnecessary procedure by just ingesting the capsule, and within a relatively short period of time you would know whether or not there was a bleeding event, Mimee says.

To help move the technology toward patient use, the researchers plan to reduce the size of the sensor and to study how long the bacteria cells can survive in the digestive tract. They also hope to develop sensors for gastrointestinal conditions other than bleeding.

In the Science paper, the researchers adapted previously described sensors for two other molecules, which they have not yet tested in animals. One of the sensors detects a sulfur-containing ion called thiosulfate, which is linked to inflammation and could be used to monitor patients with Crohns disease or other inflammatory conditions. The other detects a bacterial signaling molecule called AHL, which can serve as a marker for gastrointestinal infections because different types of bacteria produce slightly different versions of the molecule.

Most of the work we did in the paper was related to blood, but conceivably you could engineer bacteria to sense anything and produce light in response to that, Mimee says. Anyone who is trying to engineer bacteria to sense a molecule related to disease could slot it into one of those wells, and it would be ready to go.

The researchers say the sensors could also be designed to carry multiple strains of bacteria, allowing them to diagnose a variety of conditions.

Right now, we have four detection sites, but if you could extend it to 16 or 256, then you could have multiple different types of cells and be able to read them all out in parallel, enabling more high-throughput screening, Nadeau says.

The research was funded by Texas Instruments, the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Fund, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics, Brigham and Womens Hospital, a Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada. Chip fabrication was provided by the TSMC University Shuttle Program.
Sometimes when World Ark staff members interview families in the field, we also ask our interviewees for a folk tale. Its an interesting way to learn about the local culture.

The following story seems to be a Bangladeshi classic that has been passed down from generation to generation. Two Heifer project participants in different districts, Joly Begum and Khodeja Begum, shared versions of this gruesome tale with me.

One day, a landowner gave a poor, young cattle farmer a delicious pitha (a fried rice flour cake). Instead of eating it, though, the farmer planted it in the ground. The next morning, a tree grew and fruited pitha cakes.

The farmer shared the cakes with people in the community. One day, a stranger passed by and asked for some pitha. The farmer climbed the tree to harvest one, and he said, Ill throw it to you. But the stranger said, How about you hand it to me instead?

Khodeja Begum tells the story of the rakkhoshi.

The farmer obliged, and when he did, the stranger grabbed his arm and revealed himself to be a rakkhoshi, a demonic shape-shifter with sharp fangs and claws. I will eat you, the rakkhoshi said, putting the farmer in a sack. This will be a very tasty treat.

With the farmer still in tow, the rakkoshi returned home and asked his daughter-in-law to chop up the boy and cook him. Well invite guests and enjoy a grand party. Then he went to take a bath.

At that moment, the farmer got out of the bag and killed the monsters daughter-in-law. Quickly, he put on her dress and got to cooking.

That evening, the farmerdressed as the daughter-in-lawserved the party, and no one suspected a thing. Later in the evening, the rakkhoshi noticed a beautiful water lily in a nearby pond and asked the disguised farmer to retrieve it. The farmer agreed, but when he neared the flower, he didnt collect it.

Instead, he revealed himself, saying, Its not me youve eaten tonight, and fled.
A drunk retail worker who was asked for his name by gardai told officers he was "Oscar Wilde" before laughing in their faces.

Oskars Goldmanis (29) said he didn't have a great memory of the incident as he had drunk too much.

When Judge Dermot Dempsey heard Goldmanis had laughed after telling gardai his name was "Oscar Wilde", he said: "He's not laughing now, is he?," as the defendant stood in front of him at Swords District Court.

Goldmanis avoided a conviction yesterday after Judge Dempsey ordered him to donate 300 to the Ladies Circle and applied the Probation Act.

Goldmanis, of Main Street, Applewood Village, Swords, admitted refusing to give gardai his name and address in Church Road, Swords, on April 1.

He had no previous convictions.

Sergeant Terri Ferguson said the defendant was interfering with a roadworks sign and then threw it into a ditch.

Laughing

When gardai asked Goldmanis to return the sign and provide them with his name, he said: "No. My name is Oscar, Oscar Wilde", and began laughing, the court heard.

Sgt Ferguson said the defendant was intoxicated at the time.

Defence barrister Patrick Jackson said Goldmanis, who was originally from Latvia, moved to Ireland 12 years ago and had been working consistently. He said he now worked in the retail business.

"He has never been a burden on the public purse," said Mr Jackson, adding that his client didn't have a great memory of the night.

"He apologises to gardai. It was completely out of character. He drank too much and he has always been of good behaviour in the past," he said.

He added that when Goldmanis was arrested he spent time in a cell, "so he has received some punishment".
Gardai look for clues at the derelict farmhouse where her body was found. Photo: Colin Keegan/Collins Agency

Gardai fear that a number of youths could be targeted by vigilantes after being linked to schoolgirl Ana Kriegel's murder in her home town, the Herald has learned.

In recent days the names of at least two teenagers have been circulated in the Leixlip area, where the 14-year-old victim lived with her family.

The juveniles' names have been shared through messaging apps, including WhatsApp, as people connected to the murder investigation.

Neither of the youths has been arrested in connection with the investigation, but there are now fears that the teenagers will be targeted by vigilantes.

"Their names are out there, at least within the community of Leixlip, and there are concerns that they will be targeted," a source said.

"Gardai are continuing their investigation, and any act of vigilantism is strongly advised against."

Derelict

Detectives at Lucan Garda Station are continuing their inquiry into the murder of Ana, whose naked body was discovered at a derelict farmyard in Lucan last Thursday.

Investigators hope that DNA recovered from the murder scene will play a vital role, while a large amount of CCTV footage from private homes and business premises has also been reviewed.

Gardai were hopeful of making arrests in the investigation this week, but are continuing to await the full results of DNA analysis to detain people for questioning.

A suspect in the case has also submitted his DNA to detectives.

The Herald previously revealed how a 13-year-old boy had been treated as a suspect in Ana's murder. The boy had a number of injuries, which he claimed were the result of being assaulted by two men.

Earlier this week, gardai also visited Confey Community College, where Ana was a first- year student, as part of their investigation.

Her classmates were given questionnaires relevant to the investigation to fill out, which are now being reviewed by officers.

It is understood that most of the pupils in Ana's year did not see her after school on Monday, May 14, the day she was reported missing.

However, a small group of youths saw her or spent time with her in the hours after school had finished.

Gardai believe that Ana left her home in Newtown Park, Leixlip, at around 5pm.

She was last seen alive in St Catherine's Park, Lucan, a short walk away from her home.

A post-mortem, carried out by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, confirmed that the schoolgirl died from blunt force trauma to the head.

The examination showed she had been savagely assaulted with a blunt weapon, possibly a brick, in the farmhouse at Clonee Road, near St Catherine's Park.

The schoolgirl was then left for dead and her body was found without clothing, which was scattered nearby, at around 1pm on May 17.

Struggling

Gardai believe that the murder weapons used were at the farmhouse rather than brought to the scene.

There was also a sexual motive to the killing.

Detectives suspect that Ana was murdered shortly after she went missing.

Her worried parents had contacted gardai at 8.30pm on Monday of last week, when she had not returned to the family home, as it was out of character for her.

A vigil had been planned for Ana on Monday but it was called off as her parents attempt to deal with their grief.

"They're really struggling," said Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, who is a close friend of the family.
It was many people's favourite look of the day, and now you can get your hands on a replica of the Stella McCartney dress Meghan Markle wore for the evening reception at her wedding - without the designer price tag.

In just a matter of hours, people were sharing similar styles to Meghan's first look of the day - a white Givenchy gown.

Irish designer Shauna Fay even managed to create a replica of the gown in just 24 hours.

Budget

Now, eagle-eyed fashionistas have managed to spot a strikingly similar style to the bride's second dress, by Stella McCartney.

The high neck "extreme split" front maxi dress by Faith is stocked by Boohoo.com and - with 20pc off - is available for a very purse-friendly 24.

At the budget price, it's probably not going to have the same fit and feel as Meghan's bespoke Stella, but it might well be worth a fitting anyway.

The dress comes in three colours - white, lilac and red.

Meghan wore the dress for the couple's exclusive evening reception at Frogmore House, which saw 200 selected guests from the day joining Harry, Meghan and host Prince Charles for a night of music and dancing.

Shauna told how she only decided to design a replica of the Stella halter after designing her version of Meghan's first wedding gown from fashion house Givenchy.

"I said at around 5am, 'You know Sharon [Patterson, from Elody Bride], I've a bit of a notion to do the second dress', and she said, 'Sure go for it!'," Shauna said.

"The second one was a real knock-up but it looked really good."

She designed both dresses within 24 hours.

Meghan accessorised the dress with a statement aquamarine ring from Princess Diana's collection, believed to be a special gift from Harry to his new wife, and a pair of Aquazzura satin shoes, which had baby blue soles.

Designer of the sleek second dress, Stella, said she felt "humbled" to be chosen to dress Meghan for her wedding reception.

"I am so proud and honoured to have been chosen by the Duchess of Sussex to make her evening gown and represent British design. It has truly been one of the most humbling moments of my career and I am so proud of all the team on this stunning sunny royal day," Stella said.

Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, was also dressed in Stella McCartney to celebrate her daughter's marriage to Harry, wearing a scarlet red, long-sleeve silk dress with suede sandals and a brass-coloured box clutch bag. Stella also dressed stars who attended the wedding service, including Amal Clooney, who wowed in a yellow silk midi dress.
A 17-year-old boy accused of ransacking an elderly man's home has been remanded in custody. (stock photo)

A 17-year-old boy accused of ransacking an elderly man's home has been remanded in custody.

An engagement ring belonging to the pensioner's late wife was allegedly stolen during a burglary in south Dublin. The widower is in his 80s.

The teen dodged custody on April 11 owing to a shortage of space at the Oberstown detention centre and failed to turn up to his next hearing at the Dublin Children's Court two days later.

He was arrested in Bray yesterday and taken back before the Children's Court in Dublin.

He was accompanied to the hearing by his mother and his barrister who said there was no application for bail.

The teenager was remanded in custody to appear again in a week for directions from the DPP to be obtained.

During the hearing on April 11, the seriousness of the allegation was cited by Detective Garda David Lestrange who objected to the boy getting out on bail.

He was accused of burgling the elderly man's home on the Stillorgan Road on April 6.

It was alleged that 1,300 cash was taken along with jewellery, including an engagement ring which belonged to the man's late wife.

Raiders

The widower was not at home at the time but arrived when the raiders were leaving.

The boy cannot be named because he is a minor.

The Co Wicklow teenager was released on bail on April 11 subject to conditions.

At a hearing on April 13, Det-Gda Lestrange told the court that officers went to the boy's home but his mother said she had not seen him since the previous day.
A teenager who drove a BMW dangerously in a bid to evade gardai only to crash into a wall has been banned from driving for two years and ordered to do community service work in lieu of a prison sentence. Stock photo: PA Archive

A teenager who drove a BMW dangerously in a bid to evade gardai only to crash into a wall has been banned from driving for two years and ordered to do community service work in lieu of a prison sentence.

Aaron O'Brien (18) was also given a two-month suspended sentence for driving without insurance.

He was driving around the Donabate area at 2.45am on July 4, 2017, but when he was signalled to stop, he made a number of dangerous manoeuvres in an attempt to evade gardai, Swords District Court heard.

He drove along the Portrane Road in the direction of Portrane before turning into Burrow Road where the BMW collided with a wall.

O'Brien, of Cappagh Road, Finglas, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, and driving without insurance or a driving licence.

Failed

Defence barrister Annette Kealy said the teenager was studying carpentry, computers and catering.

She said O'Brien had engaged with the restorative justice service, had donated 100 to Temple Street Children's Hospital and had written a reflective journal on the effects that his actions might have on the public.

"He has since taken the driver theory test but failed it, but he is making an effort," Ms Kealy added.

"The entire incident has had a negative effect on him. He is also making use of his time and has structure and a routine now."

Judge Dermot Dempsey fined O'Brien 200, ordered him to complete 240 hours of community service in lieu of two months in prison and banned him from driving for two years.

He further imposed a two-month suspended prison sentence and a two-year ban for the driving without insurance charge.
Two children rescued from Noland Village house fire Thursday die

Two children, ages 4 and 2, died from injuries sustained in a house fire in Noland Village in Hagerstown. The fire's cause is under investigation.
The News in Brief

Ex-President of Georgia Accuses Geostat of Data Falsification



Former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili accuses the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) of data falsification.



The old data shows that during the nine years of Saakashvilis presidency, more people have returned to Georgia than left the country. However, as a result of recount, Geostat announced that during Saakashvilis term more people left the country that after the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) came to power.



Saakashvili stated that the number of those citizens, who have left the country increased since ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and his GD team came into power.



The Geostat deliberately changed the statistics, because they were instructed by Ivanishvili. This means that the oligarch [Ivanishvili] will falsify the presidential election results as well, Saakashvili told Rustavi 2 TV.







Deputy Public Defender: No Application Submitted Regarding May 12 Incident



Deputy Public Defender Giorgi Burjanadze stated that no application has been submitted to the Ombudsman's Office regarding the May 12 incident, when the police raided two nightclubs in Tbilisi, saying they aimed at arresting drug dealers.



No application has been submitted to the Public Defender's Office. We received calls by hot line and we are studying them. No official application has been submitted yet. We are currently learning the information spread through public sources, including video materials and information spread by individuals. We also requested information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and we are waiting for materials, "Burjanadze said.



The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia carried out investigative measures in two popular clubs, Bassiani and Cafe Gallery on May 12. The Ministry reported that 8 persons have been detained for drug traffiking.



The raid in nightclubs came after 48 cases of drug intoxication of clubbers over the past two weeks.

(By Mariam Chanishvili)




One of the most volatile regions of the world, the Korean Peninsula also never fails to surprise. In March, North Koreas 34-year-old ruler Kim Jong-un startled the world by offering to denuclearise and meet United States President Donald Trump. It was to be a historic first. In late April, Kim walked across the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) for a summit (only the third in 70 years) with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Yet on May 16, North Korea (DPRK) threatened to call the summit off. But it was Trump who actually pulled out of the summit on May 24, alleging tremendous anger and open hostility by Kim. Bewildering as it may seem to the uninitiated, there is indeed a method to this ostensible madness.

DPRK is virtually friendless, except for China. It is one of the most impoverished and heavily-sanctioned countries in the world. South Korea, on the other hand, poorer than DPRK in 1953 (at the end of inter-Korean war), has a per-capita GDP that is 20 times that of DPRK. Pyongyang is a ruthless dictatorship, while Seoul is a vibrant democracy. South Korea, under the American security umbrella, has emerged as a hi-tech and innovation power. DPRK, perceiving an existential crisis, with some justification, has gone about developing a lethal armoury of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) to deter a possible US-led military strike. Last year it conducted its most powerful nuclear test and fired an ICBM (Intercontinental ballistic missile) that can hit mainland America with its 13,000-km range.

However, realising its vulnerability in the face of Trumps muscular diplomacy and having developed a WMD deterrent, Pyongyang offered an olive branch of peace, dialogue and denuclearisation, on January 1, provided its security was guaranteed. Things moved quickly thereafter. DPRK and China patched up, albeit for different reasons, through two quick summits in Beijing (March 25-26) and Dalian (May 7-8). Kim wanted to enhance his leverage with the US and South Korea. Chinas President Xi Jinping, feeling left out, wanted to reclaim Chinas primacy in the Korean Peninsula.

Kim, painted as a brutal autocrat all these years, emerged as a brilliant strategist and nimble-footed leader, in merely a matter of weeks. He appears to have realised the need to embrace economic development. He also knew that the South was keen on reconciliation and under the liberal government led by Moon, open to mutual accommodation. Seoul shudders at the thought of conflict and has little interest, unlike Washington, to engineer a regime change in Pyongyang.

As expected, the inter-Korean summit was productive, with the sides agreeing to conclude a peace treaty within this year, hold regular military-to-military dialogue, disarm in a phased manner and enhance economic and people-to-people engagement. The catch, however, is that everything hinged on American endorsement and a successful Kim-Trump summit in Singapore.

The issue of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved, if South Korea and the United States respond to our efforts with goodwill, create an atmosphere of peace and stability while taking progressive and synchronous measures for the realisation of peace, Kim stated in Beijing.

The Americans, however, sought complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation (CVID) upfront by DPRK. Just the other day, national security advisor John Bolton mooted the idea of a Libya-like disarmament by North Korea, which is the latters worst nightmare, having closely studied the fate of Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein. Trump was quick to contradict Bolton, but the damage was done. Hawk-like secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Bolton have been votaries of regime change in DPRK.

Successive North Korean leaders have staked everything in pursuit of developing credible WMD assets, which are meant to ensure regime-safety. Kim describes them as the treasured sword of justice. He knows the transactional disposition of the US leaders. This belief must have been further reinforced by Trumps decision to unceremoniously pull-out of the Iran nuclear deal, which Tehran was adhering to.

Pyongyang craves respect and wants to engage in talks as an equal, not as a supplicant. It will do everything to have sanctions lifted, secure financial assistance and forge detente, so long as it feels secure. It will even agree to permanent moratorium on further tests and a freeze on its WMD programme under IAEA safeguards or a variant thereof. Yet, it rightly trusts nobody, especially the Americans and will not completely roll back its WMD programme. China and Russia have no difficulty with such a stance.

The US and DPRK were holding quiet discussions at various levels to prepare for the big day. Pompeo had travelled twice to Pyongyang to meet Kim in recent weeks. As promised, Kim halted WMD tests and blew up the nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri on May 24. However, the Americans brusquely kept demanding CVID. They also recommenced joint military exercises (at a lower key) with South Korea, which riles DPRK as a rehearsal for invasion.

And hence, DPRKs threat to pull out of the summit that it eagerly seeks. Having painted themselves in a corner and knowing that a bad deal was not an option (as Pompeo put it), Trump was forced to cancel the Singapore engagement. Kim emerged a winner in the process. He came across as reasonable and measured. He has made up with China and created daylight between the US and South Korea. However, the enthralling play is far from over as all sides get back to the drawing board.

Vishnu Prakash is former Indian ambassador to South Korea

The views expressed are personal
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus O.Kravchenko meets the Deputy Assistant Secretary General of NATO

25-05-2018

On May 24, 2018 on the margins of the Minsk Dialogue Forum, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, Oleg Kravchenko, met with the Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy and NATO Secretary Generals Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the situation in regional and international security, as well as the development of Belarus-NATO cooperation.

   

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Member of parliament and state Congress campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday the cancer of corruption prevailing in Madhya Pradesh under BJP regime would be treated with chemotherapy and radiation after Congress forming its government in November this year after the assembly elections.

Scindia said the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh would have zero tolerance on corruption.

In Madhya Pradesh, he said, corruption prevailed from top to bottom in the government machinery and money was taken for every work whether it was an insignificant work or establishing of any industry. There was commission for every permission (chahiye permission to de do commission).

Referring to Vyapam scam he said he used to think that Munnabhais were produced in films only but during BJP government in Madhya Pradesh fake doctors were produced through Vyapam.

He said whereas farmers, youths, women and people in every sphere of society suffered due BJP governments misrule in Madhya Pradesh approximately Rs 3000 crore were being spent annually on advertisement on image building of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Today, he added, Madhya Pradesh was number one in the country in crimes against women, malnutrition, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, illegal mining, unemployment and corruption etc.

He said there were about 14 lakh malnourished children in the state. There were about one lakh children who couldnt see their first birthday. As many as Rs 2000 crore were being spent on mid-day meal annually but malnutrition continued to remain as a blot on the face of the state.

He said there were approximately 50 lakh educated unemployed in Madhya Pradesh. After every global investors meet the state government claimed of having signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) worth lakhs of crores of rupees but there was hardly any new plant in the state.

On petrol and diesel prices hike he said the central government got Rs3.5 lakh crore annually through petrol and diesel. Thus it got more than Rs 10 lakh crore in the past 3 years but nobody knew where did money go. During UPA government when rate of crude oil in international market was high and prices of petrol and diesel were comparatively much lower in the country the BJP leaders used to say that the then government was not adept at managing finances. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan used to ride a bicycle to reach the secretariat. But now, when the rate of crude oil was much low in the international market and the prices of petrol and diesel were increasing by the day in the country none of the BJP leaders said anything. Chouhans didnt ride bicycle now and didnt go to Delhi to lodge his protest.

He said Congress had a road map for the progress of the state. Employment would be given in manufacturing and IT sectors and also by linking agriculture sector with food processing. There would be a timebound inquiry into the charges of corruption.
Playing a significant role in Luv Ranjans Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, actor Ishita Raj Sharma garnered a lot of praise from fans and critics alike. Im happy that people noticed me. The reaction Ive got after SKTKS is way more than both the Punchnama films (combined), says Ishita, who made her acting debut in Pyar Ka Punchnama (2011) and was seen in its 2015 sequel.also.

Read | Ishita Raj Sharma shares the thought behind her funny bikini scene

Asked why she has done only three films in a span of seven years, the actor says, I know Ive been lacking behind and Im already too late for a lot of things. You see, I was not an industry kid and coming from Delhi, maybe I was destined to be a part of films. After PKP did well, I moved to Mumbai. At that time, maybe I was not getting the right scripts or maybe I wasnt ready to settle for anything less. So, when PKP 2 was offered, I felt being a part of a hit film sequel is no harm.

The actor is quick to add that its not like she wasnt getting offers all this while. A lot of films came my way but I didnt want to get associated with a film where I would not have been happy with the work I did. I wanted to be confident about the script. I would rather be known for lesser work but good work, maintains the actor, who co-starred with Kartik Aaryan, Sunny Singh and Nushrat Barucha in the film.

But even in these three films, Ishita was seen portraying similar characters. What is holding her back from exploring other genres? Thats because I worked with the same director in these films. When Id work with other people, of course Id do different characters. I dont have a godfather or any backing and, so I know I have to prove a lot. As an actor, my job is to play different roles, styles and people onscreen. I want to channel my talent and tap into that field where I can play a very sweet naive girl to a village girl to a vamp. I want people to say that this girl has guts to adapt into any character, says Ishita.

Read | Ishita Sharma aka Pihu from Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety: I was told that my role is like Salman Khans in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

Having got the push she needed, asked how she is ensuring that more work comes her way, Ishita says, Now that people have noticed and appreciated me, Im being more rigorous. SKTKS has helped me look good and exposed me in a different light. Ive been getting calls, reading scripts and meeting the right people. Lets hope that soon I will get something good.

Interact with Monika Rawal Kukreja at Twitter/@monikarawal
A top American airlines -- Delta Air Lines --on Friday said that it would resume its non-stop services from New York to Mumbai next year.

The airlines had suspended its non-stop survives to Mumbai in 2009. It had then blamed Middle Eastern airlines for hurting its ability to operate in parts of Asia.

It is exciting to be able to announce Deltas return to India from the US as part of our vision to expand Deltas reach internationally, said Delta CEO Ed Bastian.

Deltas announcement in this regard follows agreements between the US and the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to address the issue of government subsidies provided to state-owned carriers in those nations.

The framework created by the agreement allows Delta to move forward with service to India, a market long impacted by government-subsidised Middle Eastern airlines. This move will mark a return to India for Delta, which was forced to exit the market after subsidised state-owned airlines made service economically unviable, the airlines said in a statement.

We are thankful to the president for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible. We are looking forward to providing customers in the US and India with Deltas famously reliable, customer-focused service operated by the best employees in the industry, Bastian said.

Delta, in the statement, said it also intends to expand its existing codeshare relationship with partner Jet Airways to provide seamless connections to other destinations within India, subject to government approvals.

Full schedule and details of the New York-Mumbai service will be announced later this year. Currently the United Airlines and Air India operate non-stop services between India and the United States
Along with a meal or preferred seat, air passengers in India may soon have the option to choose WiFi services while booking a flight ticket, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Ever since the Telecom Commission approved WiFi services in domestic flights on 1 May, there has been interest from several airlines. The list includes major domestic airlines, who see this as an opportunity to increase their non-aero revenues, said a senior official at the department of telecommunications (DoT), who didnt want to be named.

DoT is now in the process of creating a separate category of licensees called in-flight connectivity provider who will provide internet as well as voice services within Indian territorial airspace in both domestic and international flights. DoT will soon start framing licence terms for these providers and invite applications over the next two-three months.

Major domestic airlines are clearly interested in providing such services. We are studying the recommendations in detail, and in due course, we will determine the economics of offering the service on domestic and/or international routes, said a Vistara spokesperson.

An Air India official said that the national carrier would definitely consider introducing WiFi services once there is a more clarity around its business model. SpiceJets chairman Ajay Singh said earlier this month that his airline would be one of the first to offer inflight connectivity.

Queries sent to Jet Airways, IndiGo, GoAir and AirAsia India did not get responses.

However, industry experts say that bundling inflight WiFi along with other services could be a difficult proposition for airlines to sell to economy passengers.

It would be difficult to bundle for economy class initially, given the high capex involved, said Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at KPMG, adding that passengers may not mind paying up to Rs200-300 for a two-hour flight.

According to an analysis on WiFi installations on Indian carriers by aviation consultancy Martin Consulting Llc, installing WiFi in an aircraft, including the aftermarket kit, maintenance, testing, crew training and certification, may cost airlines Rs22 crore per aircraft.

The airplanes could be grounded for as many as 13 days for installing on-board WiFi, the report said.
Over the past few weeks, inboxes across the world have been swamped with updates of privacy policies and terms of reference. You probably have faced such pop-ups on social media platforms, pointing out how they are changing the way they collect and manage personal data. The reason for this surge is that the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR came into being on Friday, pretty much changing the digital domain.

These rules, formally limited to residents of the EU, promise much in terms of protecting users, and punitive measures against transgressing firms, equal to 4% of global revenue. Since such companies operate across geographies, they obviously will impact users getting online elsewhere, including in India. Among GDPRs potential benefits will be flagging fake news, by not allowing bad actors easy access to target demographics.

As far as digital disinformation goes, tech innovation may better resolve that crisis than ham-fisted officiousness, as the recent attempt to control online outlets in India shows. A Brookings Institution report noted late last year the evolution of algorithms to weed out nearly 99% of fraudulent news.

For instance, the startup TruePic uses blockchain technology to serve as a digital notary for photographs and videos. This is relevant to countries like India where manipulated images can spark strife. The TruePic app watermarks smartphone visuals with date, time and location within seconds of their being uploaded, to ensure that for a change, seeing is believing.

In fact, there is a geopolitical element to this apps utility. Images coming out of conflict zones, for instance, are often questioned and critiqued depending on political predilections. The same goes for those at public protests, as India has increasingly witnessed in recent months. An image authenticated by TruePic, meanwhile, makes it difficult for malicious actors to manipulate media for their purposes.

As these inventive intermediaries appear, they do so because they fulfil a need, often far more effectively than government diktats. Even social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook have managed to democratise the flow of information. Of course, ineffective internal policing of hate material has only helped in making them targets of political potshots.

The next wave of technology will help debug the virulence of some online media. A light regulatory touch can assist the process. However, major moves like GDPR will work for giants like Facebook, Amazon or Apple, while smaller players will fall into a complicated compliance black hole. The effect will be felt not just in the EU, but also across the world.

Governmental measures sound great until you realise they will be administered by bureaucrats. Babus let loose on ambiguous protocols  what could go wrong, right? Theres the telling EU GDPR resource to educate the public on the main elements of the rules that encompass over 150 pages and 99 Articles. Thats been inaccessible much of the week leading up to its coming into force.

Anirudh Bhattacharyya is a Toronto-based commentator on American affairs. The views expressed are personal
As the anointments of office settle on HD Kumaraswamy, he knows that he has become more than the chief minister of Karnataka.

The timing of the Karnataka election has given him, adventitiously, this national dimension. Coming just after the one in Gujarat and just before the ones due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Karnataka poll became a dress rehearsal for those and, more significantly, for the general election in 2019. The rehearsal that gave no clear verdict did hold one clear lesson to the Congress and the JD(S) in Karnataka: coordinate or perish. And one clear lesson to the Congress and all non-BJP parties in the country: unite or face another defeat in 2019.

The Congresss reaching out to the son of the JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda and forming a coalition had to be hailed by parties across the country, from the CPI-M to the Trinamool, the AAP to the Telugu Desam, the National Conference to the DMK. It was inevitable that Kumaraswamy should become a Kashmir to Kanyakumari mascot. A BJP defeat in 2019 requires electoral coordination by non-BJP parties and, today, that coordination requires such a mascot.

A similar hailing had occurred last year around the son of another regional leader with a national profile  the DMK chief M Karunanidhis chosen heir, M K Stalin. Leaders of parties from across the country, including Nitish Kumar, who was later to move to the NDA, gathered on the Marina sands to celebrate father and son, very like they did last Wednesday at the Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru. That coming together did not go in vain. Opposition unity at the time of the elections of the President and Vice President last year could not have changed the outcome of those. But it showed that the Opposition, if it wants to, knows how to hold together.

The recently-concluded Gujarat elections, and the by-elections in Uttar Pradesh showed that when opposition forces group, the notional 69% that did not vote for the BJP in 2014 becomes real. Jignesh Mevanis election to the Gujarat Assembly from Vadgam, Gujarat, in December 2017 as an independent candidate backed by the Congress and AAP showed how the BJP could be routed by a consolidated opposition in its own fortress. He polled some 20,000 votes more than the BJPs Harkhabhai. Jigneshs charisma plus the Congress and AAP vote was unbeatable. Likewise, Pravin Kumar Nishad of the SP winning the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-election in March this year over the BJPs Upendra Dutt Shukla was quite simply because the BSP had backed him. The SP-BSP combine was invincible. Nishad polled 4,56,513 against Shuklas 4,35,632. The Congresss Surheeta Kareem polled 18,858. If the Congress too had supported him, Nishad would have won more comfortably. There are other examples as well, but Vadgam and Gorakhpur stand out.

Before the Karnataka election, the Congress and JD(S) missed the message of Vadgam and Gorakhpur. Post-poll, they have grasped it adroitly. But in what has transpired in Karnataka, there is something beyond intelligence, beyond adroitness. And that is the subordination of egos. The Congress has not been celebrated for egolessness. The JD(S) has not been known to acknowledge anothers political superiority in Karnataka. Their respective results pared down their respective egos. And this is where two national personalities come in  Sonia Gandhi and HD Deve Gowda. The former Congress President who could have become Prime Minister of India on at least two occasions, and the former Prime Minister of India have a sense of India beyond state assemblies. They also have an idea of the arithmetic of elections in India. They know where the future of India lies with a supremacist party in power at the Centre and in several states. There can be no doubt that their advice to their sons and legatees would have been: We should have done it pre-poll but let us at least get together now, not just for Karnataka but that of the 2019 elections. And the sons, with wisdom and intelligence and the courage of ego-elimination, listened.

The pursuit of political power, of electoral success, does not lend itself to the elimination of ego. Rather, it feeds and feeds on the ego. Rahul Gandhis example in Karnataka is, therefore, atypical in politics. It is certainly different. The coming electoral tests require just that touch of difference. If he shows the same egolessness, logolessness, selflessness, then the 2018 mascot in Bengaluru could well impact on the 2019 mandate in India.

Gopalkrishna Gandhi is distinguished professor of history and politics, Ashoka University

The views expressed are personal
A Sikh police officer saved a Muslim youth from being attacked by an angry Hindu mob in Uttarakhands Nainital district on Tuesday after they allegedly found the youth in a compromising position with a Hindu girl. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media.

The incident happened near Garjia Devi temple in an isolated area, about 15 km from Ramnagar town. The youth had gone to meet the girl from Hindu community, who is his friend, according to the police. Locals caught them and alleged that they were found in a compromising position, and later called members of Hindu right wing organisations who started thrashing the youth.

On being informed, a police team was rushed to the spot. Police tried to pacify and disperse the mob even as sub-inspector Gagandeep Singh escorted the youth away from them. But when some angry activists started shouting and assaulted the youth, Singh shielded him by embracing him and taking the blows from angry activists.

Singh bravely took the youth from there, said additional director general of police (law and order), Ashok Kumar, adding that the police soon dispersed the mob.

The youth and the girl were taken to a police station and later sent with their parents.

Five of the attackers who are clearly visible in the video have been identified by the police and have been booked under relevant sections, the ADGP said.

The police department has also announced a reward of Rs 2,500 for sub-inspector Gagandeep Singh, Kumar said and appealed to the public not to spread the video with wrong intentions to incite communal violence.
Delhi Police Wednesday arrested two persons for allegedly killing a 21-year-old who had gone missing from his residence in Baba Haridas Nagar in South West Delhi on May 12.

Police said that after killing him, the accused  26-year-old Varun and his brother-in-law Rituraj alias Vicky (24) -- chopped his body up and hid the pieces at a septic tank inside a haunted house in Dwarka.

Police said the victim, identified as Sachin Yadav, was an employee of a furniture store. On May 12, Yadav left home for work early in the morning. When he did not return till late in the night, his parents informed police staff in the area. The next day, a missing complaint was registered.

Shibesh Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, (Dwarka), said that even though the search operation had begun, no leads could be found till parents of the missing youth received a ransom call from their sons phone number later that day, wherein the caller demanded Rs 50 lakh. The couple informed Delhi Police, who, in turn, traced the call.

Singh said, The caller demanded Rs 50 lakh ransom to release Yadav. When surveillance was mounted, we found that the calls were made from the Delhi-Haryana border. The callers even asked Yadavs parents to come to a secluded stretch in Majnu Ka Tilla in North Delhi with the money. However, sensing police presence, they themselves did not turn up.

Singh added that another police team was, at the same time, scanning the numbers of people who were in touch with Yadav before he went missing. After thorough search, police zeroed in on Varun, who was Yadavs colleague at the furniture shop.

We found that Varun had not reported to work since May 12. He had also not been staying at his rented accommodation since that day. We then asked the victims family to contact Varun so that his call location could be traced. However, he did not take any of their calls. Further inquiry revealed that Varun hails from Muzaffarpur in Bihar. A police team was rushed to his village to nab him, the officer said.

While raiding his village, the police team found out that Varun has been staying at his in-laws place. A raid was conducted. Varun and his brother-in-law were arrested, Singh said.

During interrogation, Varun told police that he knew Yadavs father owns properties across Delhi as well as their village. He admitted that he and his brother-in-law had abducted Yadav so that they could get Rs 50 lakh. However, Yadav tried to escape from the haunted house in Dwarka, where they had kept him. Agitated, Varun and Vicky strangled him to death. They then severed his body into pieces and stuffed it inside a septic tank at the haunted house, the DCP said.
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia was questioned for around three hours on Friday by a six-member police team that is probing the case of alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu Prakash on February 19. Sisodias questioning comes a week after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was questioned in the case by the investigating team.

Police said Sisodia was cooperating but he avoided answering many questions. We asked more than 150 questions. He dodged some of our questions, said Harendra Kumar Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police (north). The police recorded the entire proceedings on camera.

A senior investigating officer said Sisodias questioning was important because the chief secretary in his complaint had accused him of allegedly intimidating him over phone on the evening of February 19.

The chief secretary alleged that around 7pm, Sisodia had called him and asked him to clear the files related to advertisement about the achievements of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi in three years. He alleged that Sisodia had told him if he did not clear the files, he should be ready to come to the chief ministers residence at midnight and discuss the matter, said the officer.

Additional DCP Singh said the allegations of the chief secretary against Sisodia was one of the important issues regarding which the deputy CM had to be questioned.

Asked about Sisodias reaction on the chief secretarys allegations against him, the investigating officer said, Sisodia neither denied nor confirmed having called Prakash on the evening of February 19, saying he often called him for one official issue or other. He, however, said he does not remember that days telephonic conversation.

Sisodia later issued a statement saying he was questioned was done under a pleasant ambience. The police are not at fault. They are under great pressure to file a fake case (against us). I will cooperate in the probe in future as well. We are confident that like other cases, this case too will be dismissed in the court, Sisodia said.

In his statement, Sisodia accused BJPs Union government and Delhis lieutenant governor (L-G) for such harassment by the police.
Its so tedious. Everywhere you look, those Old Delhi shacks selling summertime favourite drinks seem to confine themselves to rose-flavoured concoctions, or lemonade.

No other choices. Not even a humble lassi.

But there are always exceptions to any rule.

That hunch proved right the other day as we chanced upon a jaggery sherbet stall in Pahari Imli thats been at it for more than 70 years. It was started by my father, explains proprietor Aqeel, who is literally doling out his special sherbet day and night.

He politely but firmly declines to share the family recipe but does explain that he buys the jaggery from a nearby market. The finished drink is poured onto an ice-filled brass platter and then covered with a plastic sheet to ward off flies.

A little girl now approaches with a Rs 5. Aqeel squeezes half a lemon into a glass and pours the sherbet from an old ladle that has a Mughal-kitchen appearance.

The child gulps down the very sweet drink in and wanders off happily, far less listless.

The shop opens from 8am to 10pm. Years ago the stall would start even earlier  at the crack of dawn  but people sleep later these days, mutters Aqeel, shrugging his shoulders as if the world has lost all its good manners.

Pradeep specialises in Hindi film songs and bhajans  always performing on the footbridge at the Vaishali Metro station. (HT photo)

THE FOOT OVERBRIDGE MUSICIAN

Most commuters walk hurriedly past Pradeep as they head home. They hardly notice him.

But then a little girl, nudged by her, hands over a Rs 2 coin. Even though hes not performing at the moment. Pradeep carefully places the coin atop his harmonium.

I only turn up for an hour or two every evening, because the summer sun is too much for me, explains the 28-year-old physically challenged musician. He specialises in Hindi film songs and bhajans  always performing here on the footbridge at Vaishali Metro station.

Before long, hell make his way back to Anand Vihar, at a Rain Basera that is a shelter for the homeless. During the heat of the day he normally slumbers under a tree until the temperature subsides by eventide.

Pradeep says he grew up in Hardoi in the heartland of Uttar Pradesh, learning music in school. He never had a family and cant walk. I go around in a special rickshaw.

Is it difficult living alone? He lifts his eyes, looking at the other side of the bridge, and then he speaks.

But Im not alone! I have four friends, and we all earn by trusting people to give some little money to us. At night well all be together at the shelter.

Pradeep now withdraws from the conversation, staring vacantly at his harmonium. Finally, he starts playing, picking up a tune that is difficult to recognise.
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Six cellphones, bottles of perfume, imported chocolates, 73 packets of ready-to-eat food and biscuits -- these were some of the items recovered from an SUV at t he jail number 1 parking lot within the Tihar jail compound.

On Wednesday evening, when a senior jail officer found the items inside a Toyota Innova and questioned the drivers identity, the man said his name was Vikrant Mahant. Questioning revealed he was an employee of Ajay and Sanjay Chandra, owner-directors of the real estate firm Unitech Ltd.

The Chandra brothers have been in prison since April last year for allegedly duping over 500 home buyers in a proposed housing project in Gurgaon.

Prison officers had another surprise waiting for them. When they went to inspect a room inside the jail where two brothers have been allowed by the Supreme Court to negotiate the sale of properties to pay off investors, they found more perfume bottles, chocolate boxes, one mini refrigerator, two cell phones, two cordless phones and two desktop computers.

Tihars director general Ajay Kashyap has ordered an inquiry to find out how the items came to be in the high-security jail. In October last year, the Supreme Court had allowed the Chandras to use video conferencing facilities from a makeshift office inside the prison to arrange a R750 crore deposit for grant of bail.

Jail officers said the recovery of imported chocolates, perfume bottles, and the mini refrigerator came as a surprise, because the apex court had only permitted the use of cell phones, computers, and tablets with an internet facility.

A Tihar jail spokesperson confirmed the recovery of the items.

An inquiry committee, constituted to look into allegations of misuse of facilities by prisoners, intercepted a cherry colour Innova car in the parking area outside jail 1 at around 6.05pm. They first recovered the six phones and other items from the car. More items were found in the makeshift office. Our team also checked the cell where the two brothers are lodged but no prohibited items was found, a Tihar jail spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the inquiry would look into the role of jail officials. There is no way the car driver would have managed to sneak the items found in the car inside the prison. The driver would have to go through a body search before entering the gate of jail number 1. In prison, we do not allow any inmate to misuse the facility, which is why the items have been detected by the jail officers. We will match the items recovered from the office with those of the facilities allowed by the court, the spokesperson said.

Advocate Vishal Gosain, counsel for the Chandras, denied that the items in the car belonged to his clients. We have nothing to do with the cell phones found in the car. It must be that of the employees (of the clients). The employees are there to ferry clients from the jails main gate to jail number 1 so they must have kept the biscuits and food packets. It is natural. We do not know about the chocolates and the perfume. Maybe they were using it.

About the items recovered from the makeshift office, Gosain said. The phones and computers have been allowed by the court. We deny the presence of chocolate boxes, or perfume bottles, or the mini refrigerator in the office. The refrigerator has nothing to do with my clients; it may have been there from before. This is a ploy by some jail officers. Earlier last month, our clients had filed a complaint against one head warder who was demanding money. That head warder has been transferred and is planting fake stories. There was a fake news report about my client and their wives partying inside prison. The truth is the two women were out of the country (at the time).

Gosain denied allegations that his clients were violating any jail rules. The two brothers have arranged close to R80 crore and have also put up 600 acres of land for auction to raise the money, he said.
Delhi Police on Thursday claimed to have busted an online banking racket that operated out of Maoist-affected regions of Jharkhand and Bihar.

The accused in the racket allegedly used voice-over-internet technology to gain access to credit cards numbers or bank details for illegal transactions.

The gang members allegedly stole credentials of bank account holders, such as debit/credit card numbers, the CVV numbers and generated OTPs, by posing as bank managers or employees of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The conmen persuaded their victims to share confidential details on the pretext of linking their Aadhaar cards with their accounts.

Four members of the gang, including its kingpin Ram Kumar Mandal, who hails from Jharkhands Jamtara and was wanted in over a dozen states, have been arrested by the cyber cell of Shahdara district police in the last one week. The other three accused were identified as Purnanand Kumar Tiwari from Giridih, Jharkhand and Shabir Ali and Surendra Singh from Rajasthan.

Police said Mandals syndicate, which has over 500 members, has its network in almost all Indian states. He allegedly operates his illegal business through multiple unorganised call centres, that operate out of forested areas in Bihars Jamui and Jharkhands Jamtara, Giridih, Deoghar, and Dhanbad.

Each member is assigned a different task to perform during the cheating process. Mandals job was to collect details of account holders through his contacts in the call centres associated with various banks and then make calls posing as the manager of a bank or customer care executive, said Nupur Prasad, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara).

After obtaining relevant credentials, Mandal used to siphon money from the victims account and deposit it into multiple e-wallets. The money was then used to pay utility bills of customers in different states, through the members of the racket. These members collect money from their clients and then deposit it in various bank account owned by Mandal after deducting commission, said Prasad.

DCP Prasad said the arrests came following investigation into an online cheating case that was filed by a 78-year-old woman in March this year. The elderly woman told police that Rs 1.85 lakh was illegally withdrawn from her account after a fake RBI employee tricked her into sharing her banks credentials.

During the probe, Prasad said, the police learnt that the stole money was transferred into various e-wallets. All the e-wallet merchants were contacted and instructed to block the accounts and stop illegal transactions. The e-wallet accounts were verified and it was found that they were used for paying several electricity bills in Rajasthan.

The power company told us that all bills were paid through the e-Mitra counter, one of the private counters opened by the Rajasthan government for the purpose of public friendly digital governance, in Churu, Rajasthan, said the DCP.

Police then arrested one Surendra Singh, the beneficiary of e-Mitra counter and he disclosed that he used to take cash from clients and paid their power bills through Tiwari, who used his e-wallets. Ali was a middleman between Singh and Tiwari, while the cash amount was transferred into Mandals account after deduction of 15% commission.

Police claimed that some Maoists provided support and safe shelter to these conmen, whenever there was a police raid.

A police officer said Mandals interrogation had revealed that he has trained around 300 youngsters in areas around his village and they all work for him. This year alone, Mandal had earned more than 1 crore through online banking fraud, said the officer.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the results of Class 12 board examinations on Saturday at www.cbseresults.nic.in.

The pass percentage this year is 83.01% (nearly 1 percentage point increase than 2017s 82.02%).

Meghna Srivastava is the all-India topper with 499 marks out of 500, followed by Anoushka Chandra with 498 out of 500 marks. Seven students with 497 out of 500 marks secured the third position. The first and second all-India toppers for the CBSE class 12 examination are from the humanities stream, said CBSE officials.

Meghna Srivastava scored 99 in English core, 100 in history and geography, and 100 in psychology and economics. Trivandrum tops with 97.32% followed by Chennai (93.87%), and Delhi (89%). This year, 72,599 candidates scored 90% and above marks, while 12,737 students have scored 95% and above.

Girls have done better than boys by 9.32 percentage points. Pass percentage for girls is 88.31 and for boys it is 78.99.

Heres direct link to check.

Around 28 lakh students registered to appear for the CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 examinations this year.

More than 16,38,420 candidates registered for the Class 10 exam conducted at 4,453 centres across India and 78 centres abroad. For Class 12, 11,86,306 candidates registered and the exams were held at 4,138 centres in India and 71 centres outside the country.

Students can check their results on the official websites of the board: www.cbseresults.nic.in, www.cbse.nic.in and www.results.nic.in after they are released.

This year, students will also be able to check their results on Google.

CBSE has partnered with Google for the first time to host the boards Class 10 and Class 12 results on the search engine, the boards spokesperson Rama Sharma told Hindustan Times. Students will be able to check their results on Google by searching for CBSE Class 12 result. They will have to key in the required details to login and check their results.

CBSE 12th exam results 2018: Steps to check

1) Visit CBSE results website at http://cbseresults.nic.in/#

1) Click on the link for result 2018

2) Key in your roll no, school no and centre no on the login page that opens

3) Submit

4) Result will be displayed on the screen

5) Download the result and take a print out of the same

Class 12 students anxious a day before declaration of result

After a brief respite, anxiety is back on CBSE Class 12 students minds.

In Lucknow, students of GD Goenka Public School were hoping for the best even as the school principal and psychology teacher tried to lift their spirits up to keep the students in the right frame of mind.

To apply for Delhi University colleges, I need a great percentage. So, Im hoping a lot from the results as my college destination depends on it, said Aishwayra Sharma, who wants to do B Com from the Delhi University.

I have applied in other colleges too as an alternative, she said.

Ive applied for colleges in UK which demand a certain percentage. So, getting a good percentage for me is very important, said Aadhya Aron, another student.

This year, Class 12 Economics and Class 10 Mathematics papers got leaked, triggering criticism against the board over the way the exams were conducted. A re-test was held for Class 12 Economics students, but CBSE decided against one for Class 10 Mathematics paper.

The students who sat for JEE Advanced seemed comparatively indifferent about the results as their main focus continued to be the IITs.

To some extent, it doesnt bother. Of course there is some pressure about the result. Balancing the two was quite a task for me. A good percentage will give a boost, said Prakhar Maurya, an IIT aspirant.

The students have been stressed for long and are trying to de-stress themselves. Netfilx and chill mainly. My parents have been extremely supportive and caring which is a big relief to my mind, said Aishwarya Sharma.

Ive taken to swimming these days to relax and energise myself. We also have counselling sessions in our school which are very helpful, said Suramya Ahuja, another IIT aspirant.

We finally have the time to go out with our friends and wander. Im watching all the movies I put on pause for a year, said Vatsalya Vaibhav.

Allahabad

In Allahabad, while some students of Class 12 who appeared for the examination experienced anxiety pangs, others tried their best to keep calm in the knowledge that the matter was now beyond their control.

I became anxious after I came to know that the results would be declared on Saturday. So I went to the Bade Hanuman temple at Sangam and offered prayers for a good result, said Rupam Shukla, a Class 12 student of Gangagurukulam School in Allahabad.

Shikha Singh, also from the same school, is currently spending her summer vacations with her grandparents. I studied hard and did well in my examinations, but its getting difficult to sleep. Tomorrow morning, I will go to Nagvasuki temple and offer prayers, she said.
Sherwood School at Tura in West Garo Hills secured the first four positions in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations declared by the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) on Friday.

Girls outshined boys in both the examinations.

The overall pass percentage came up to 56.76%, an increase of 2.72% when compared to last years 54.04%. However, the Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate (Arts) pass percentage saw a slight drop when compared to 2017, with an overall pass percentage of 74.78% this year. An overall pass percentage of 75.38% was recorded in 2017.

As many as 28,424 of 50,077 students from 593 schools cleared the SSLC exams held in 137 centres, while 17,318 of 23,160 students from 226 schools who appeared for the HSSLC exams held in 100 centres were declared successful by the board.

As many as 28,424 of 50,077 students from 593 schools cleared the SSLC exams held in 137 centres. (HT photo)

While Sherwood School stole the limelight in the SSLC category, Shillong-based St Anthonys Higher Secondary School repeated last years performance by topping the HSSLC (Arts) examinations again this year. With todays results, St Anthonys has wrapped up all three streams with top honours. On May 10, the school nearly made a clean sweep of the science stream while succeeding in getting as many as seven students into its top 10.

Sherwood School also improved its performance, securing the second, third, fourth, seventh and eighteenth position in the SSLC-2018 examination. St Anthonys HS School also bagged the third, fifth, eight, ninth and tenth positions in the HSSLC examination.

Anurag Tewari of Sherwood School, Tura, was this years topper in the SSLC examination with 581 marks, while Lily Kharthangmaw of St Anthonys HS School topped the HSSLC examination with a total score of 440 marks.

East Khasi Hills district scored the highest pass percentage at 79.04% while South West Garo Hills registered the lowest at 26.65% in the SSLC examination. In the HSSLC examination, Ri Bhoi district recorded the highest pass percentage with 86.01% while South Garo Hills could manage only 48.21%.

Meanwhile, three candidates were expelled for adopting unfair means in the SSLC and HSSLC examinations (two and one respectively). They have been debarred from appearing in the 2019 examinations.
Women in Hollywood applauded on Thursday after Harvey Weinstein turned himself into authorities in New York after a months-long investigation into multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

More than 70 women have accused the once-powerful film producer of sexual impropriety, including rape, since October 2017. Weinstein has denied having nonconsensual sex with anyone.

Weinstein was expected to surrender on Friday morning, a person familiar with the case said. The exact nature of the charges being brought against him by Manhattan prosecutors was unclear.

In this courtroom sketch, Harvey Weinstein, center, is escorted into New York County Criminal Court in New York on Friday, May 25, 2018. Weinstein was arraigned Friday on rape and other charges in the first criminal prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him that sparked a national reckoning over sexual misconduct. (AP)

BOOM, tweeted Italian actress Asia Argento, who has accused Weinstein of raping her at the Cannes film festival in 1997 when she was 21.

#timesup A post shared by Anne Hathaway (@annehathaway) on May 25, 2018 at 7:27am PDT

Argento repeated her accusations in an emotional speech at the Cannes festival on Saturday.

Weinsteins Italian attorney said on Saturday that Argentos allegations were completely false. On Thursday in the United States, Weinsteins spokesman Juda Engelmayer and Weinsteins New York lawyer Benjamin Brafman both declined to comment.

Rose McGowan, who was among the first actresses to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault, said his victims were one step closer to justice.

I, and so many of Harvey Weinsteins survivors, had given up hope that our rapist would be held accountable by law, McGowan said in a statement. May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere that are telling their truths.

A friend just texted me with this: "Karma NEVER loses an address." https://t.co/BOHun3cOn8  Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 24, 2018

Former Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra, who has said she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein in the 1990s, tweeted Cant Wait! followed by Anyone know where I can get front row seats?

A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay, one of the leaders of the Times Up campaign against sexual harassment in the workplace, posted a link on Twitter to news of Weinsteins expected surrender, adding Karma NEVER loses an address.

TIMES Literally UP Friday #HarveyWeinstein  Constance Zimmer (@ConstanceZimmer) May 25, 2018

Tarana Burke, the founder of the wider #MeToo movement triggered by accusations against Weinstein, told Hollywood trade publication Variety that the expected charges represent a shift in the movement to change how sexual violence is handled.

We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you  rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) May 25, 2018

This moves from the court of public of opinion into an actual courtroom, Burke told Variety in an interview. That is super cathartic for a bunch of the survivors, or even survivors who are not necessarily victimized by him.

Melissa Silverstein, founder of the blog Women and Hollywood, wrote on Twitter, This is for all the women who stood up and spoke out and for those who endured years of pain who probably never thought this day would come.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Academy Award winner Danny Boyle will direct the next James Bond film, the movies producers said on Friday, with actor Daniel Craig returning for his fifth outing as Britains famous fictional spy, the smooth-talking, martini-drinking 007.

Production on the 25th instalment in the Bond movie franchise will begin in December at Britains Pinewood Studios. The film will be released in autumn 2019.

In a statement, producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli describe Boyle, who won an Oscar for heart-warming drama Slumdog Millionaire and is also known for Trainspotting and Steve Jobs, as exceptionally talented.

Weve been expecting you #Bond25, Daniel Craigs 5th outing as 007, will be directed by Academy Award-winning Danny Boyle from an original screenplay by John Hodge. Production is set to begin on 3 Dec 2018. MGM will partner with Universal Pictures to release the film worldwide pic.twitter.com/h8fVhyYhyY  James Bond (@007) May 25, 2018

Boyle previously worked with Craig on a short film for the opening ceremony at the 2012 London Olympics, in which the actor, as Bond, entered Buckingham Palace, where he was greeted by Queen Elizabeth.

The as-yet-unnamed Bond films screenplay will be written by John Hodge, who worked with Boyle on Trainspotting.

Craig has played Bond since 2006s Casino Royale. After months of speculation on whether he would reprise the role after 2015s Spectre, the 50-year-old actor confirmed last year he would put on Bonds tuxedo for a fifth time.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Universal Pictures Indias Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is all set to release in India on June 7 along with superstar Rajinikanths Kaala. The film, second in the Jurassic World series, was earlier slated to open in India on June 8.

It will be released in more than 2300 screens in India and in languages such as English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, a release here said.

The film opens in the US two weeks later on June 22.

Directed by J.A Bayona, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will reprise their roles from Jurassic World as Owen and Claire, respectively.

Bringing back one of the most loved character from 1993 Jurassic Park series actor Jeff Goldblum returns as Dr Ian Malcolm in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Cast member Jeff Goldblum conducts an interview near a model dinosaur during a photocall to promote the forthcoming film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in London. (REUTERS)

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the first Jurassic Park film which was released in 1993.

Steven Spielberg, who directed Jurassic Park, is the executive producer of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

The prequel, which released in India in 2015, had made box-office collection of Rs 147 crore in India.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
The Hyderabad police on Friday arrested a 11-year old girl for allegedly pushing a 14-month old baby girl into a sewage pit, resulting in the latters death, at Necklace Road on the banks of Hussainsagar lake in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The body of P Akshara, daughter of a slum dweller living adjacent to Jala Vihar waterpark on the banks of the lake, was retrieved on Thursday evening and was sent to Gandhi hospital for post mortem. The doctors concluded that the girl died of asphyxiation as she gulped sewage water.

Initially, police thought the girl had accidentally fallen into the sewage pit as the closed circuit cameras installed in the area indicated that the girl was walking out of their house alone.

However, Aksharas father Appala Naidu, in his complaint to the police suspected that somebody might have kidnapped her when she was playing with other children and killed her.

On Friday, the police made enquiries with the children in the surrounding areas. During the investigation, they came to know that an 11-year old girl, who was playing with Akshara, had pushed the baby into the pit.

Apparently, Akshara bit the girls hand while playing and in a fit of anger, the girl pushed the baby away and she fell into the adjacent pit accidentally. When Akshara did not come out, the girl was frightened and ran away from the spot, the police said.

After interrogation, the police arrested the girl and sent her to juvenile home.
Two people were suspected to have contracted Nipah virus infection in Hyderabad on Friday.

Officials have sent the blood samples and throat swabs of the two patients who had suspected symptoms of Nipah virus infection to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for test.

One of the patients, a 25-year old techie, who had travelled to Kerala along with 60 friends last week, has been quarantined at the state-run Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases, also known as Fever Hospital.

The other patient, who never visited Kerala, is undergoing treatment at Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS).

So far, no positive case has been detected. The case admitted to Fever hospital is also a suspected one and we sent the samples to Pune. We expect the result to come by Saturday evening, director of medical education, Ramesh Reddy told reporters.

At least 12 people died and eight others were affected in Keralas Kozhikode due to the Nipah virus infection, which spreads mainly through bats, pigs and other animals.

The Telangana medical and health department also launched a campaign to discourage people from going to Kerala for some time.

We have deployed our paramedical staff in colonies to carry out campaign about the Nipah virus among the people. We are specifically advising people not to go to the Kerala, Hyderabad district medical and health officer Dr Padmaja said.
At least two policemen and a civilian were injured in a grenade attack by suspected terrorists at a bus stand in the heart of Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir, late on Thursday night.

An officer at Jammu Bus Stand police station said that unidentified terrorists hurled a grenade from a flyover around 11:15pm last night and escaped in a vehicle. A first information report has been lodged, he added.

The injured have been identified as selection grade constable Israr Shah, special police officer Arjun Kumar and Jagdev Raj of Billawar. They have been shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital.

I was strolling there on the BC Road when I heard a big explosion around 11:15pm. A police Gypsy was on a patrol. Initially, I thought that tyre of a vehicle might have burst but then I heard that it was a terror attack. People started running helter-skelter towards the bus stand to save themselves, Raj Kumar, a waiter at a hotel in the bus stand, said.

This is the second terror attack in Jammu city after six soldiers and a civilian were killed in February this year in an attack on the Sunjuwan military station.

Experts said the terror attack in the heart of the city has not only exposed chinks in the security grid of the state police and other security forces as well intelligence agencies but also the deteriorating law and order situation in Jammu region.

Lobbying grenade and escaping from the spot is a modus operandi of homegrown terrorists in the valley. The incident in Jammu clearly indicate that they are being helped by some moles in the security grid to reach to Jammu and carry out terror strikes, Mahesh Kaul, a prominent research scholar, said.

The attack comes amidst unilateral ceasefire announced by the Union home ministry on the insistence of chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.

Jammu grappled with intense shelling by Pakistan army from May 15 to May 23 that has left a dozen dead and 56 injured in nine days. And, over one lakh people have been affected by the ceasefire violation.

The director general of the Border Security Force said on May 15 that a group of five suspected terrorists have probably infiltrated into the Hiranagar sector on May 13 through a trans-border tunnel and that the BSF will find and neutralise them soon.
BJP leaders Ganeshi Lal and Kummanam Rajasekharan were appointed on Friday as governors of Odisha and Mizoram respectively.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, Prof. Ganeshi Lal will take over as the new governor of Odisha, a post which had fallen vacant in March this year after veteran Naga leader S C Jamir completed his tenure.

Bihar governor Satya Pal Malik had been given additional charge of Odhisa.

Lal is a former Haryana BJP chief.

The President of India has been pleased to appoint Prof. Ganeshi Lal to be the Governor of Odisha with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office, the communique said.

In his second order, the President appointed Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan as the governor of Mizoram.

He will be replacing Lt. General (Retd.) Nirbhay Sharma, who is completing his tenure on May 28, 2018.

Sixty-five-year-old Rajasekharan had given up his government job to became pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. He was appointed as the state BJP chief in 2015.
The Manipur government has stepped up efforts to curb the flow of Rohingya refugees into the state following the arrest of eight illegal immigrants from the community in Imphal on May 21.

Chief minister N Biren Singh also instructed law-enforcement agencies to install check posts at border gates in places like Behiang, Moreh, Mao and Jiri to prevent refugees from entering. On Thursday, police sent back 45 immigrants  38 from Mao and seven from Jiribam  and arrested three Myanmar nationals for travelling through the state with fake documents.

The Myanmar nationals were identified as Thant Zin Soe (32) and Aung Thi Ha (28) from Meiktila in Mandalay, besides Thant Zin Tun (29) from Myitkyina in Kachin. While Soe carried a fake Aadhaar card that identified him as Asaddullah of Kollam in Kerala, Tun had papers claiming that he was Mohammed Haroon of Moreh. Has fake Aadhaar card identified him as Mohammed Ahmad, a resident of Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh.

The fake ID cards recovered from the possession of three Myanmar nationals arrested by police. (HT Photo/ Handout)

The three were arrested with fake Aadhaar cards that were allegedly prepared in Uttar Pradesh, a police officer said on the condition of anonymity. An FIR has been lodged at the Tengnoupal police station.

The BJP-led government in Manipur has been cracking down on illegal immigration as well as gangs issuing fake Aadhaar cards ever since it came to power last year. The government will continue its drive against Rohingya refugees in the state as it concerns the security of the state as well as the nation, said Biren Singh. The chief minister has already promised to table a bill aimed at protecting indigenous people of Manipur in the state assembly.

With Thursdays arrest, the total number of arrested Rohingyas since March 22, 2018, has gone up to two dozen. Rohingyas have been dubbed by the United Nations as the most persecuted ethnic minority in the world.
Several Congress leaders and workers in Mandsaur, Neemuch and Ratlam in the Malwa region have quit over the past two days to protest against the induction of a leader from Mandsaur in the state Congress coordination committee, a party member said.

The Mandsaur leader, Rajendra Singh Gautam, was once expelled from the party for contesting the Lok Sabha election in 2009 as a rebel candidate.

The resignations have caused a flutter in the state unit as Congress president Rahul Gandhi is set to visit Mandsaur on June 6 to blow the bugle for the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh later this year.

The Congress has been out of power in the state for 15 years.

Mahendra Gurjar, who resigned from the post of vice-president of the district Congress committee, said Congress workers were upset with Gautams induction.

Gurjar claimed that more than half a dozen block Congress committee presidents and about a dozen Mandalam committee presidents in Neemuch, Mandsaur and Ratlam had submitted their resignation to the party and there were more than six other Congress leaders who resigned in Neemuch.

State Congress media incharge Manak Agrawal said, The issue has been sorted out. All party leaders and workers are engaged in the task of making preparations for Gandhis rally.

Those who have submitted their resignations are said to be close to former MP Meenakshi Natrajan.

Gurjar said Gautam contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections as a rebel candidate against Natrajan, who was the partys official nominee, and was thus expelled for six years.

While Gautam refused to comment on the issue, Natrajan said:

This is the partys internal issue and I dont comment on the partys differences and internal issues before the media.
Congress legislator KR Ramesh Kumar was elected unopposed as the Karnataka assembly Speaker in Bengaluru on Friday after the BJP candidate withdrew his nomination for the post.

Congress legislative party leader Siddaramaiah proposed Kumars name for the Speakers post, which was seconded by deputy chief minister G Parameshwara.

Speaking in the assembly, chief minister Kumaraswamy said, Doubts were expressed over Ramesh Kumar holding the Speaker position given his young age. But, he brought dignity to the office in his first stint in the 90s.

Ramesh Kumar was formerly a member of the Janata Dal. He has previously served as the speaker of the assembly between 1994 and 1999. Kumar first won an election in 1978 as a Congress member before moving to the Janata Dal in 1985. In 2004, he moved back to the Congress and has been with the party ever since.

BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa said his partys candidate, Suresh Kumar, withdrew his nomination so there could be a unanimous choice. The Speakers post belongs to no party, the former CM said

Parameshwara had appealed to the opposition on Thursday to not contest the post and allow Ramesh Kumar to become the speaker, considering his experience in the post.
A 25-year-old youth, declared brain-dead following an accident, will be giving a new lease of life to seven persons, as his vital organs have been donated to the Ahmedabad civil hospital.

Hardik Hadiya, an engineer working at a factory in Shapar Industrial Area, met with an accident last week and suffered a severe head injury. He was admitted to Wockhardt Hospital here on May 18.

He had a severe brain injury, our doctors tried their best, but he was not responding to treatment and was declared `brain dead, said Dr Ravi Moga of the hospital.

Doctors managed to convince his parents to donate his organs. A medical team from the Ahmedabad hospital came here last night and harvested the organs, Dr Moga added.

Vital organs including kidneys, liver, eyes and pancreas were harvested from Pandyas body.

It will benefit at least seven patients who need organ transplants, Dr Moga said.

Chief minister Vijay Rupani had instructed authorities to create a green corridor and make available an air-ambulance so that Hardiks heart could be taken to Ahmedabad for an urgent transplantation, he said.

However, as the condition of the patient who was to receive it deteriorated, the transplant procedure was cancelled, Moga said.
A BJP MLA from Rajasthan has said that the Hindu god Hanuman was the worlds first tribal leader.

Worlds first tribal leader was Hanuman ji. First saint among the adivasis was Hanuman ji. When Lord Ram was on his way from Chitrakoot to the southern part of the country for the exile, Hanuman made his army of tribals and got training from Lord Ram, Gyan Dev Ahuja, MLA of Ramgarh, said at the party office on Friday.

He also said that on seeing a picture of Hanuman placed under Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkars idol, that he said disrespected the God, in a video of the April 2 Bharat Bandh protests, he called up BJP MP from Rajasthan, Kirodi Lal Meena and told him, You all should be ashamed. You call yourself tribals and then disrespect him.

Ahuja reiterated his remarks to HT. These SC/ST people call themselves tribals. Even if they call Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar as their god, the first true tribal leader in the world was Hanuman ji. He is their first god. He trained the Dalits, he said.

He also claimed that Hanuman has 40 lakh temples all over the world, which is the highest number of temples for any god.

Reacting to Ahujas remarks, Meena sought to steer clear of any controversy, saying, During Hanuman jis era, there was no politics. Ahuja would be better aware as to why he has called Hanuman a tribal.

I had also heard that Lord Hanuman had been disrespected. That was wrong and unfortunate. What does this have to do with Adivasis? He is a religious figure and such an incident hurts the sentiments of many devotees, Meena said.
Police deployment in Madhya Pradeshs Mandsaur has increased as the first anniversary of the death of protesting farmers in police firing on June 6 last year draws near.

Police personnel are maintaining a close vigil on the movement of people in the area and are also being trained to restrain from using guns and firepower in case a volatile situation arises in the coming days to avoid a repeat of last years police action, officials familiar with the matter said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to address a rally at Pipliya Mandi, the village where five farmers had died in police firing last year. Several farmers outfits have also planned pay tributes to the dead farmers during their stir from June 1 to 10.

Mandsaur SP Manoj Singh, said police had been deployed at sensitive spots in the district and an additional 10 to 12 companies of police force would be brought in the area to maintain law and order in the coming days.

The death of the farmers, who were demanding a fair price for their yield, had become a rally point for farmers outfits and the Opposition, which sought to corner the states BJP government on the prevailing agrarian crisis.

OP Shrivastava, collector, Mandsaur said all stepswere being taken to ensure there was no law and order problem in the district . We are holding meetings with the farmers representatives and are trying to redress their grievances,, he added.

Farmer dies at mandi

A farmer died at the krishi upaj mandi in Shajapur on Thursday. In the last eight days three farmers have died in the states mandis, which are being thronged by farmers looking to sell their yield. Farmers at a mandi in Bundelkhands Chhatarpur district allegedly looted gunny bags on Friday, accusing the government of selling the bags in the black market instead of making them available at the market.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged the students of Visva-Bharati to turn 100 villages around Santiniketan in Birbhum district of West Bengal self-sufficient to mark the central universitys centenary in 2021.

The villages should have a power connection, LPG gas supply, the children should receive vaccinations, the villagers should be able to fill up forms digitally, Modi said during the universitys convocation programme.

The Prime Minister referred to a few central projects such as Swachh Bharat that would help them in this effort.

Modi also said he was sorry to know about the non-availability of drinking water in Santiniketan.

As I was coming by car, some children gestured to me that they dont even have drinking water. As the chancellor, I tender my apology, Modi said at the beginning of his speech.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was present on the dais along with Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina when Modi was speaking. Hasina and Banerjee became the first head of government of a foreign country and the first chief minister to be present during the ceremony.

It is a rare occasion where the prime ministers of two countries are present at the convocation programme of a university, said Modi.

However, in a major security breach, a man broke the safety cordon for Modi to give him a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore at the venue.

When Modi was leaving the dias after declaring the convocation closed, the man suddenly went up the platform to give him the portrait. The prime minister took the portrait and handed it over to his security personnel.

Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore formally started the college in Santiniketan in December 1921 with the money he received as the award for the Nobel Literature Prize in 1913. This was Modis first visit to Visva-Bharati, the only central university of which he is the chancellor.

He was a global citizen then, he is a global citizen now. In many countries that I have visited, I have seen people carrying his values with deep respect. In Afghanistan, everyone knows his story Kabuliwala, the Prime Minister said while speaking of Tagore.

Modi also said that Tagores elder brother Satyendranath Tagore, the first Indian to become an Indian Civil Service officer, taught the poet English literature in Ahmedabad.

Gujarat also had a small contribution towards making the personality of Tagore, he said.

Modi and Hasina also inaugurated Bangladesh Bhavan, a centre dedicated to the cultural cooperation between the India and Bangladesh, in the university campus.

May 25 is also the date of birth of Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh.
Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy won a vote of confidence in the assembly for his three-day old Congress-JD(S) coalition government.

Kumaraswamy won with 117 votes after he moved the one-line motion following the unanimous election of Congress MLA Ramesh Kumar as Speaker.

BJP lawmakers however walked out of the assembly before the trust vote was conducted. BS Yeddyurappa, who was named leader of opposition, threatened the government with a state-wide stir if farm loan waivers were not waived by Monday, leading to the walk out.

BJPs BS Yeddyurappa, who was sworn in as the chief minister on May 17, resigned two days later just ahead of a floor test as the national party has 104 MLAs.

The 224-member Assembly has an effective strength of 221, as election for Jayanagar seat was countermanded following the death of the BJP candidate, and deferred in RR Nagar over allegations of electoral malpractices.

Follow live updates here:

5.21 pm: Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy says, Real action will start now, whatever promises I have made to the citizens of Karnataka, I am going to fulfil them. I am not going to care about this (BJP call for state-wide bandh) threat.

4.08 pm: Congress DK Shivakumar responds to BJPs call for state-wide bandh on May 28 in case chief minister doesnt waive off farmer loans.

They cannot waste public money, if a law and order problem in created itll be because of them. They cannot force and blackmail us, we are a responsible govt and cannot act to wishes of BJP, says Shivakumar.

3:46pm: Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy wins floor test after 117 MLAs vote in his favour.

3.45 pm: BJPs R Ashoka says the party walked out of the Karnataka assembly on the issue of farmers loan waivers.

We will hold state-wide bandh on May 28. We will be aggressive now, he says.

3:40pm: Bommai says coalition government doesnt have the peoples mandate.

3:39pm: BJP legislator Basavaraj Bommai, who walked out of the assembly, says Yeddyurappa has torn the Congress into pieces. Predicts the government will collapse soon. DK Shivkumar will likely break the coalition, Bommai says.

3:35pm: BJP legislator R Ashok says they have no faith in Kumaraswamy.

3:24pm: Kumaraswamy says he has never attacked anyone personally. Yeddyurappa, in speech, said his fight was not with the Congress but with JD(S) leaders Kumaraswamy and his father HD Gowda.

3:23pm: BJP lawmakers begin walking out of the assembly.

3:22pm: Yeddyurappa calls for farmer loans to be waived by Monday, threatening to launch a stir.

3:21pm: Yeddyurappa raises issues of farmers loans. The BJP leader had earlier said the party would launch a party-wide stir if the ruling alliance did not waive farmer loans within 24 hours.

3:17pm: Yeddyurappa appeals to his colleagues to let him speak.

3:16pm: MLAs get into a heated argument over Yeddurappas comments.

3:15pm: Yeddyurappa calls the Congress-JD(S) coalition a sinking ship, NDTV reports.

3:04pm: Yeddyurappa addresses assembly.

2:59pm: BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa recognised as leader of the opposition in Karnataka Assembly.

2:09pm: The decision caused a strain in his relationship with his father, says Kumaraswamy.

2:07pm: The CM says when the JD(S) formed a coalition with the BJP, none from the high command were part of the decision making process.

2:05pm: Kumarswamy says he was hurt when in 2006 the BJP, the JD(S) coalition partner at the time, accused him of taking a Rs 150 crore bribe.

2:04pm: Kumaraswamy reiterates the secular nature of his father, indicates that the alliance with the Congress was a natural choice.

2:02pm: My father was never after power, our actions have always been for the people, he says.

2pm: Kumaraswamy says the decision to tie up with the Congress now after tying up with the BJP a decade ago is way for him to cleanse himself of the guilt. His ties with the BJP back then strained ties between his father and him, he adds.

1:59pm: Taking our MLAs away from their families and putting them up in hotels were measures we took to protect our lawmakers, says Kumaraswamy.

1:58pm: Kumaraswamy says the Governors move to invite the BJP to form government and give the party 15 days to prove majority were the grounds for suspicion.

1:56pm: The CM recounts the events that have led to this point in the assembly which will soon vote in a floor test.

1:54pm: Kumaraswamy says the irony of the situation is that the JD(S) was earlier backed by the BJP against the Congress, but the party is now being supported by Congress.

1:53pm: Kumaraswamy says he received call from Parameshwara and Ghulam Nabi Azad as soon as the results of the election began trickling in. He thanks the party, right from its high command down to the state leaders, to making the coalition happen.

1:51pm: The CM brings up the split in the house between the single largest party and the majority coalition.

1:51pm: Kumaraswamy wonders if he can leave behind the tag of controversy.

1:49pm: Kumaraswamy tables motion for trust vote. Addresses assembly in Kannada.

1:48pm: Speaker Ramesh Kumar responds to speeches made by MLAs congratulating him.

1:04pm: Speaker Ramesh Kumar invites MLAs to keep their speeches brief so they may move ahead with the days business.

12:55pm: Siddaramaiah lays out the difficulties the Speaker will likely face during his tenure, expressing confidence in Ramesh Kumars abilities to handle the position.

12:53pm: Siddaramaiah says Ramesh Kumar brings with him rich experience to the post of Speaker.

12:47pm: Congress leader Siddaramaiah recounts Ramesh Kumars first tenure as Speaker.

12:45pm: Deputy CM Parameshwara congratulates Ramesh Kumar on his appointment.

12:39pm: BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa says the partys candidate, Suresh Kumar, withdrew his nomination for Speaker to uphold the position, so there may be a unanimous choice. The Speakers post belongs to no party, says the former CM. Fellow party MLAs thump their desks in approval.

12:39pm: Kumaraswamy congratulates Ramesh Kumar on his appointment

12:38pm: The chief minister says he is counting on Ramesh Kumars experience to handle the proceedings of the House.

12:37pm: Ramesh Kumar was the Speaker when my father (HD Gowda) was chief minister, says Kumaraswamy.

12:36pm: Kumaraswamy says there were doubts over Ramesh Kumar holding the Speaker position given his young age. However, Kumar brought dignity to the office in his first stint in the 90s.

12:35pm: CM Kumaraswamy addresses assembly.

12:28pm: Congress Ramesh Kumar elected as Speaker of Karnataka Assembly: ANI.

12:24pm: Senior BJP leader Suresh Kumar withdraws nomination for the Karnataka assembly Speakers post, reports PTI.

12:21pm: Assembly session convenes.

12:20pm: Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah, and BJPs BS Yeddyurappa are present at the meeting.

11:53am: Congress Legislative Party meeting underway in Vidhana Soudha.

11am: Congress MLAs reach Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru ahead of floor test and election of assembly speaker.

9:30am: Chief minister Kumaraswamy is confident of winning the floor test. I have no tension, I am going to win clearly, he tells ANI.
Striking an aggressive note, Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa on Friday warned of a state-wide stir if the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy did not waive farm loans within 24 hours.

Speaking to reporters before Kumaraswamy took the floor test to prove his majority in the assembly, Yeddyurappa said the JD(S) leader had promised to waive farm loans worth Rs 53,000 crore, including those borrowed from nationalised banks.

LIVE UPDATES: Kumaraswamy tables motion for trust vote in Karnataka assembly

It was you who had promised waiving farm loans within 24 hours (after assuming office). The farmers will not be ready to buy your stories that you head a coalition government and it has its own compulsions. You have to announce it in this special session itself. Else, we will prepare an action plan to launch our agitation across the state, he said.

Yeddyurappa said he would not comment on the Congress as it is already out to finish the JD(S).

However, he said, the BJPs struggle was mainly against the anti-farmer, anti-people and corrupt government of Kumaraswamy.

To support his claim that the Kumaraswamy government would be corrupt, he quoted JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowdas grandson Prajwals recent reported remark that no work happens without suitcase in the party.

Corruption during the JD(S) government will only continue and nobody will bother to protect the interests of people, the BJP leader said.

Irrigation will not get priority. Under these circumstances, it is my duty as an opposition to continue our struggle to protect the interests of people, said Yeddyurappa, who had stepped down as chief minister two days after assuming office, without taking the floor test, on May 17.
Pressure must be kept on Myanmar government to take back their Rohingya people, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in the presence of her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Santiniketan on Friday.

There are 11 lakh Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. We have given them shelter due to humanitarian consideration, we want them to go back to their land. We cannot help offering shelter to oppressed people. We appeal to all to keep up pressure on the government of Myanmar to take them back, Hasina said during the inauguration of Bangladesh Bhavan, a centre to further cultural cooperation between India and Bangladesh.

When the question of giving them shelter in Bangladesh was raised, I said if we could feed 16 crore people. We could also offer food to a few lakhs. If need be, we would share our food, said Hasina, who turned emotional during the speech.

Accommodating Rohingya refugees is an issue on which the establishments in Delhi and Dhaka differ. Settlement of refugees from Myanmar is an issue that also divides the ruling party of West Bengal and the establishment in Delhi.

While the Modi government wants to deport all Rohingya refugees, who are considered as the most persecuted ethnic minority in the world, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed support for them last year.

Several dozens of Rohingya families have been accommodated in different villages of the South 24 Parganas district by NGOs, an initiative that received the tacit support of local Trinamool Congress leaders.

Issues Between Neighbours

The Bangladesh Prime Minister also hinted at issues with India, but did not mention them in the inauguration programme.

Neighbours do have problems, but we can resolve them through discussions. I dont want to bring it up and spoil this excellent programme, Hasina said.

India and Bangladesh have settled many issues through mutual talks in the past. For example, I was touched by the proactive role played by all political parties in India is settling the land boundary issues. People living in enclaves along the border of our countries for decades found home. However some issues are yet to be addressed. I would not like to rake up these issues on this special occasion, Hasina said.

India and Bangladesh need to work together more closely and address common issues such as poverty and hunger, she added.

In his speech, Modi said that the relations between India and Bangladesh have entered a golden phase, highlighting the expanding road and rail connectivity projects, cooperation in power sectors, land boundary agreement between the two countries.

The type of progress that Bangladesh has attained in social sectors and in the area of poverty alleviation provides encouragement to us in India too, Modi remarked.

After the programme, Hasina had a 30-minute meeting with Modi behind closed doors. Despite speculations, Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee did not attend the meeting. She left Santiniketan immediately after the function without even having lunch at the venue.

Banerjee is scheduled to meet Hasina in Kolkata on Saturday afternoon. The Teesta water accord might come up for discussion at the meeting. The two leaders are also expected to talk on the Rohingyas, said a senior state government official who did not wish to be named.

Earlier, while addressing the 49th convocation at Visva Bharati, Modi urged the students to turn 100 villages around Santiniketan self-sufficient and thus celebrate 100 years of the university in 2021.

The villages should have power and LPG, children should receive vaccines, villagers should be able to fill up digital forms, Modi said.

He also referred to a few Central projects such as Swachh Bharat that might help the students in this effort.

This was Modis first visit to Visva Bharati as Prime Minister. This is the only Central university of which he is the chancellor.
The Kerala government on Friday asked Dr Kafeel Khan, the suspended paediatrician of the BRD Medical College in Uttar Pradeshs Gorakhpur, to defer his plan to visit the areas affected by the deadly Nipah virus in the state.

The doctor, who volunteered to treat the virus-affected people, said he was deeply saddened by the governments decision.

I have been informed by the Kerala government to defer my travel plans. I am helpless and tried level best to render my service in the crisis situation. I dont know what prompted the government to take such a decision at the eleventh hour, he said while talking to the Hindustan Times over the phone.

He was planning to reach the worst-affected district of Kozhikode in north Kerala by Friday evening.

Dr Khan is out on bail after spending seven months in jail in connection with the deaths of 30 infants allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College (BRDMC) in Gorakhpur in August last year.

The doctor took to social media to pay tributes to Lini, the nurse who succumbed to the virus, three days ago and offered to extend his services. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan responded immediately and he later announced his travel plans to Kerala.

Dr Khan said he has treated thousands of patients afflicted with Japanese encephalitis in Gorakhpur and thought his services would be of some help in the southern state.

When I announced my decision to go to Kerala, my family members were really upset. I really struggled to convince them. But after the governments decision, I am really upset. Still, I am waiting for the call, he said.

Reports have said the Kerala government took a U-turn after the Bharatiya Janata Party and other opposition parties criticised the move to invite the doctor, who was facing charges in another state.

The reports also said that the principal of the BRD Medical College was against his proposed trip to Kerala, saying he needed the permission of the state health department.

No fresh case has been reported from the affected areas in the state.

Twelve people have died out of 20 affected in the state and eight infected are being treated in isolation wards and another seven without the Nipah symptoms are under observation, health officials said.

The blood samples of at least 80 people, including the hospital staff and persons who were in direct contact with the dead, have been sent for an examination, they added.

The government has called an all-party meeting in Kozhikode later on Friday evening.
The fresh rhetoric of the BJP government in Haryana that the much-delayed 136-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway will become operational by June 30 seems to be a ruse to avoid embarrassment in view of the scheduled May 27 inauguration of Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) expressway by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The KGP has been completed in a record two-year period but its other half, the KMP e-way is only partially operational. Though the 53-km Manesar-Palwal section got completed in March 2016 with the toll collection starting in July 2016, the 83-km Kundli-Manesar section is yet to be completed. The concessionaire has till May 20 achieved a physical progress of 83% for the Kundli-Manesar stretch.

On Tuesday, Haryana chief secretary DS Dhesi issued strict directions to officers to ensure that construction work of the KMP expressway gets completed by June 30. Project status documents, however, show that the June 30 deadline seems far-fetched.

Unfinished work

As per the official records, eight major structures on the e-way are yet to be completed. These include all the four railway over-bridges (RoBs), three out of six major bridges and one grade separator. The four ROBs are on Delhi-Ambala, Delhi-Rohtak, Gurgaon-Farrukhnagar and Delhi-Rewari-Jaipur railway tracks. All these structures would take time for completion. The June 30 deadline looks implausible, The concessionaire though has assured us that he will try to get it completed, said an official in know of the project details.

Besides, works like setting up embankments, laying of granular sub-base, wet mix macadam, dense bituminous macadam, bituminous concrete for road work also is unfinished, official said.

Essel Infra to complete project

The HSIIDC had awarded the work of development of access controlled Kundli-Manesar section to M/s Essel Infraprojects on July 31,2015 on build, operate and transfer basis. The agreement was executed on September 3, 2015. The initial completion deadline for the stretch was August 2018. However, due to delays in achieving financial closure, the project deadline was extended to February 2019. The concessionaire achieved financial closure on August 24, 2016, which is the commencement date of the project.

Jinxed project

The e-way project, which was first allotted to KMP Expressway Ltd during the previous Congress regime, had got derailed, being mired in sticky legal and financial complications. The previous Congress regime decided to go beyond the provisions of the concession agreement thereby terminating the concession agreement with mutual consent and giving the contract for construction of the project to a new company.

As a part of the bail-out plan, the Congress government decided termination payment of about Rs 1,300 crore to be paid to KMP Expressways and the project lenders by the new company which will get the contract to complete the project. However, the present BJP government rejected the move.
On December 31, when violence spread in Pune on the 200th anniversary of the Bhima- Koregaon battle, it was the first time many people in other parts of the country got to know about the encounter between the army of Peshwa Bajirao II, and a small force of the victorious East India Company that comprised Mahars, a Dalit sub-caste.

But Ashok Das, founder editor of the magazine and website Dalit Dastak, felt vindicated. For Das, 34, has been carrying stories on the battle every January since 2012. In February, Das published a piece titled Babasahebs dream about Koregaon is now realised. He argued that the upper castes could not come to terms with the fact that Dalits were to celebrate their hero, Govind Gopal Mahar, and that was why they desecrated his tomb which resulted in tension in the area. The resulting violence shifted the spotlight to the place which Ambedkar wanted to develop as a symbol of self-respect for Dalits in the locality, wrote Das.

It was one of the many examples of issues that matter to the Dalit community but do not exist for the mainstream media. It is unfortunate but the violence in Bhima-Koregaon was the reason TV channels and newspapers followed it, said Das, who works from a non-descript office in a two-room flat in West Delhis Pandav Nagar area.

Rather than feeling ignored by the mainstream media or disgruntled by the biased coverage, Dalits are using digital space to publish news and opinions.

TRIGGERS

While the traditional media claims to be diverse, it is actually casteist and exclusive. Alternative media has given a sense of ownership to Dalits, said Vivek Kumar, professor at the School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University and author of Indias Roaring Revolution: Dalit Assertions and New Horizons.

Lower-caste groups continue to feel marginalised in India. One in every four people in the country admitted to practising untouchability, as per a survey conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland in 2014.

The average age at death of Dalit women is 14.6 years below that of higher caste women due to factors such as poor access to sanitation, inadequate water supply and healthcare, points out the latest data of the National Sample Survey.

More than 70 per cent Scheduled Caste farmers are daily wage labourers on land they do not own, according to the data released by the Census of India in February.

But a combination of social awareness, affirmative action, reservation in education and migration to urban centres has produced a more assertive section among the Dalits.

READ: How Muslim voices are breaking stereotypes online

Currently around 50 magazines and half a dozen websites in English, Hindi and regional languages offer an eclectic mix of writings and multimedia documentation on caste in Indian society. Dalit Dastaks YouTube channel has crossed one lakh subscribers. Justice News, a website run by Dalit journalist Arun Khote of Lucknow publishes news about atrocities on Scheduled Castes and other marginalised groups. YouTube channel Dalit Camera is a repository of discussions, talks, songs, views and oral literature on caste. Round Table India offers news, features and opinion pieces on Dalits. The online magazine Velivada (Telugu for Dalit ghetto) is a platform on which volunteers write first-person accounts of caste-based discrimination faced at housing societies, workplaces and educational institutes.

PRESSURE VALVES

It is an attempt to pass on the pen to the voiceless. The oppressed know better what they are going through, said Pardeep, a mechanical engineer in Hungary who runs the website Velivada and the Facebook page Ambedkar Caravan.

A majority of Dalits dont trust mainstream media. For us, it is a sector with no representation of Dalits. The emergence of Dalit-Bahujan led websites is creating pressure on the mainstream media to cover stories it has been ignoring so far. Another reason for the medias love for Dalits is purely economical. Dalits are getting awakened and they constitute a big market for profitable business, he said.

Ashok Das, editor, Dalit Dastak magazine and portal, at his west Delhi office. (Anushree Fadnavis/HT PHOTO)

Pardeep manages the site alone and the challenges are many: funding to technical issues to creating and presenting content in a user friendly manner. I cut down on my sleep, and avoid family and friends, he said.

In October last year, after members of the Rajput community in Gandhinagar beat two Dalit men sporting moustaches, Dalit men in Gujarat started a social media campaign posting selfies displaying their own moustaches.

In June 2016, upper caste men flogged seven members of a Dalit family in Una, south Gujarat, based on the allegation that they were skinning a dead cow. The incident triggered massive outrage particularly in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

Early that year, Dalit youth in India had been simmering over the suicide of 26-year-old Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, a student at the University of Hyderabad, who killed himself allegedly due to caste based discrimination.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Apart from underreporting by the conventional media, experts and researchers link the proliferation of Bahujan online groups and websites to the lack of Dalits in Indian newsrooms. There are trained Dalit journalists. You will find them in journalism institutes. But most of them either dont find jobs in mainstream media or they face discrimination because of which they quit, said professor Vivek Kumar.

In 2006, a survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, found that none of the 315 key decision-makers in Hindi and English newspapers and television channels belonged to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.

In 2013, media watchdog, The Hoot, published a write-up by journalist Ajaz Ashraf based on his interviews with 21 Dalit journalists. Ashraf concluded that discrimination against Dalits was rampant in the Hindi and other language media; it is less pronounced in the English media; and that discrimination was a principal factor behind them leaving the private sector media.

P N Vasanthi, director, Centre for Media Studies said that it would be an exaggeration to say that Dalit websites were influencing news selection process of mainstream media. Most of the time the information on these platforms is circulated among interest groups only. Mainstream media picks up issues based on what is trending on social media. It need not necessarily be a crucial issue, she said.

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Even as south Kashmir has become a hotbed of violent confrontation between security forces and local Kashmiri commanders, police and state intelligence are warning of a sharp rise in militant activity in north Kashmir with infiltrators from across the border attempting to gain a foothold in the region.

According to experts, senior Jammu and Kashmir police officers and intelligence officers, several incidents in north Kashmir in the past few of months, coupled with fresh intelligence inputs, seem to suggest that the northern region of the Valley could be a major target area for militants.

A string of civilian killings that have taken place in north Kashmir is an extremely disturbing sign. These civilians were suspected to be informers for the security forces and their killings, we fear, serves a dual purpose. One, it deters locals who cooperate with authorities and two, it gives militants a platform to display their strength, said a senior J&K police officer who asked not to be named.

On April 30, three civilians, all in their twenties, were shot dead in the Old Town of Baramulla district. On April 8, two civilians were abducted from their homes and killed in Hajin area, a few days after another civilian was abducted from his home and killed by suspected militants.

The officer added that, unlike in south Kashmir, insurgency in the north is led by Pakistani nationals who suffered a major blow last November when six militants, including the nephew of Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, were killed in a gunbattle in Hajin.

Civilian killings are not the only indication of a growing militant presence in north Kashmir. The Indian Army on Thursday said it had foiled a major infiltration bid in Keran sector of north Kashmirs Kupwara district and local police sources said at least 15 militants were attempting to cross over before being repelled by security forces.

Director general of J&K police SP Vaid said they had been receiving fresh inputs of Pakistan attempting to foment trouble in north Kashmir.

Most of the militants operating in north are Pakistani nationals and we had been getting inputs all year that they are trying to gain a stronger foothold in the region. The government has ordered suspension of all counter-insurgency operation in view of the holy month of Ramzan but we are keeping a strong watch over the situation in the valley including the northern areas, Vaid said. Other security officials said the militant network in Kashmir is likely to put the north on the radar in a bid to not give an impression that only the southern region of the valley is affected by insurgency.

Former Union home secretary GK Pillai attributed the onset of the summer season for an increase in militant activity in the north as the region is host to majority of infiltration routes. Pillai, however, added that security forces have checks and balances in place to deal with any increase in militant activity  in south or in north. The last two years in Kashmir were among the bloodiest in its history as the government launched an intense crackdown on the local militancy, most notably dismantling the unit led by Burhan Wani. According to government estimates, over 660 people  militants, civilians and security personnel  died during this period, an annual spike of more than 167% when compared to 2015.
A 35-year-old man was killed in North Kashmirs Bandipora district in an alleged terror attack,while militants lobbed a grenade on an army camp and tried to snatch a rifle from a policeman in two separate incidents in the restive states Kulgam district on Friday.

These incidents come barely hours after at least two policemen and a civilian were injured when a grenade was hurled by suspected militants at Jammu bus stand, police said.

The body of the man, identified as Mohd Yaqoob Wagay, was found with his throat slit at Hajin, some 5km from his residence in Gund Preng village.

Police blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba militants led by one Saleema Parray, for the killing of the man, who is a butcher by profession.

Relatives of Wagay said around 12am, three to four masked men forcibly entered his house, overpowered him and bludgeoned him to death inside the room.

At the time of the incident, his wife and his eight-year-old son were present inside the house, said one of his relatives.

Superintendent of police Bandipora, Zulfkar Azad said the killing was carried out by LeT militants.

In another incident in the day, unidentified militants hurled a grenade targeting a Rashtriya Rifles camp at Nehama village in South Kashmir. The grenade exploded close to the army camp, killing a sniffer dog.

In the same district at Wanpoh village militants tried to snatch a rifle from a policeman guarding a power station. The alert sentry, however, fired some rounds in air forcing militants to flee.

In the Thursday nights grenade attack on the Jammu bus stand, constable Israr Shah, special police officer Arjun Kumar and a civilian Jagdev Raj of Billawar sustained injuries.

An officer of the Jammu Bus Stand police station said unidentified terrorists hurled a grenade from the nearby flyover around 11.15 pm and escaped in a vehicle.

An FIR has been lodged over the incident, he added.

Meanwhile, 25 people suffered injuries from pellets and tear-smoke-shells after clashes erupted following Friday prayers at Srinagars Grand Mosque Jamia Masjid.

Eyewitnesses said that soon after culmination of Friday prayers, a group of youth started a protest rally carrying banners with pictures of militants. The police and the CRPF chased the youth who retaliated with stone pelting.

Locals said that the forces fired dozens of tear gas shells and pellets to disperse the stone throwing youth.

They said that pellets hit youth even inside Jamia Masjid creating chaos in the mosque which witnessed a huge gathering owing to holy month of Ramzan.

Police spokesman said that after prayers concluded a huge gathering of youth carrying anti-national flags /banners started heavy stone pelting on security forces.
At a time when the BJP is expanding its footprint in the Northeast through strategic tie-ups with regional parties, the Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram has ruled out striking an alliance with the saffron party ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.

An alliance with the BJP is not possible, MNF chief Zoramthanga said, when asked if he would consider any such deal to thwart the ruling Congress.

The elections to the 40-member state assembly are scheduled for later this year. Mizoram is the last citadel still held by the Congress in the Northeast region in the face of an energetic BJP. The MNF is part of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), an umbrella of regional parties floated by the BJP when it came to power in Assam in 2016.

The Northeast will be Congress-mukt (Congress-free) after the Mizoram polls, BJP president Amit Shah had promised in an address delivered at the third convention of NEDA in Guwahati recently. However, with Zoramthanga not even sending a representative to the convention, speculations were rife that all was not well between the BJP and the MNF. Some even believed that the MNF was going the Naga Peoples Front way by moving away from NEDA in the light of the BJP forming a government in Nagaland with the help of the rival Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party.

JV Hluna, president of the BJPs state unit, said the partys decision to take the support of six elected members of the Congress instead of the MNF in the recently held polls to the Chakma Autonomous District Council may have upset Zoramthanga.

After the MNF emerged as the single-largest party in the electoral contest, it announced that it would rule the tribal body with the support of elected BJP members allegedly without even consulting the saffron leadership. The BJP, however, decided to seek the support of the Congress members in their individual capacity after they offered unconditional support to a saffron party candidate for the post of chief executive member.

The BJPs decision is the strangest thing. Only they can explain it, said Zoramthanga after the development, but maintained that the MNF continues to be a part of NEDA and NDA. He cited fever and diarrhoea as the reasons for not being able to visit Guwahati for the NEDA convention.
A man was arrested in Mundi in Madhya Pradeshs Khandwa district for allegedly raping his 12-year-old daughter, a police official said on Friday.

On the complaint of the victim, the accused was arrested on Thursday night and has been charged with rape under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, said Assistant Sub Inspector Parinita Belekar.

She said that according to the complainant, the incident occurred on April 29 when she was sleeping outside her home.

After the incident, the victim went inside her house at around 3 am, but she did not reveal the incident to her mother, the official said.

Later, the victim, along with her mother, went to her maternal grandparents place in Indore where she narrated her ordeal to her mother.

Police said that the victims mother then filed an online complaint with the Womens Help Desk of the MP police.

The complaint was later transferred to Mundi police station.

Niraj Medha, Mundi Police Station in charge, said that, following the complaint, the accused was arrested and produced before a magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody.

The accused claimed in court that his wife was framing him due to a family dispute.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
The mystery over the source of the deadly Nipah (NiV) virus infection that has claimed 12 lives in north Kerala deepened after the blood and serum samples of 21 bats tested at the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal returned negative results for the virus.

Keralas first NIV outbreak has killed 12 people and infected 20.

Health officials will now examine the travel history of Mohamed Sabith, 26, who was the first to die in the Moosa family that lost four members to the virus.

He returned home from Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a helper, with what his mother described as a stomach ailment.

With four people of the same family infected by the virus, health and animal husbandry officials looked for possible sources of the infection.

They thought they had solved the problem when they found fruit bats in the well at Moosas house in Changaroth village.

Since fruit bats from the Henipavirus genus of Paramyxoviridae family are natural hosts of NiV, from whom the virus jumps to other animals and humans, fluid and blood samples from the bats were sent to Indias apex animal testing laboratory in Bhopal for testing.

We sent 21 samples and all are negative. Along with samples from bats, we also took samples of domesticated animals like cow, goat, rabbit, dog and cat and those too are negative, said a senior official of the state animal husbandry department who did not want to be named.

Experts in the health ministry, however, say these could just be the initial findings and requires more investigations.

Its a zoonotic disease, and in past outbreaks, the epidemiological link has been the bats primarily. Maybe the samples that were tested didnt have the virus present; it is a long-drawn exercise that requires further investigation. There arent too many piggeries (for pigs to have been the source) in the area. This may be just the initial result, said a health ministry official, requesting anonymity.

The sudden deaths have led to people abandoning their homes and livestock in the affected Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. An all-party meeting convened by the state government on Friday decided to take out a march through the worst affected Kozhikkode district to instil confidence among people and check their exodus.

Two ministers, excise minister T P Ramakrishnan, and health minister K K Shailaja, will participate in the yatra. The government has also decided to sack the employees of the electric crematorium who refused to cremate bodies of people who died of Nipah .

The situation is under control. We contained the outbreak effectively and localised it. There is no need for panic. But we will not lower our vigil, said Shailaja.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched a blistering attack on those accusing him of working for the rich, saying people neck-deep in vote bank politics should answer if moneyed people lived in the 18,000 villages where his government had provided power for the first time since Independence.

Repeating his naamdar (dynast) barb at the Congress, he said they did not know the pain of kaamdars (ordinary workers) and were accusing him of working for the wealthy.

Those guided by fashion of showing devotion towards the poor by bad-mouthing the rich should answer, are there any moneyed people living in the 18,000 villages kept in darkness since Independence before our government provided electricity to them, Modi said.

I wish to question these naamdars about this (why 18,000 villages lived in darkness), who does not know the pain of kaamdars, he said.

Those neck-deep in vote bank politics, who had no time to spare for these 18,000 villages living in darkness even after 60 years of Independence during their time, were accusing him of working for the wealthy, the prime minister said.

Modi had earlier used his naamdar barb apparently targeted at Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the campaign for the Karnataka assembly election.

The prime minister was addressing a function at Sindri, about 20 km from Dhanbad town, after inaugurating five projects worth Rs 27,000 crore for Jharkhand.

Jharkhand governor Draupdi Murmu, chief minister Raghubar Das, Union power minister R K Singh, minister of state for health Ashwani Choubey and Dhanbad MP P N Singh were present at the event.

The PM said that besides electrification of these villages, the Union government has set a target to provide power connection to four crore families having no electricity through the Saubhagya scheme.

Out of the four crore families, 25 lakh hailed from Jharkhand, he said.

Modi said in addition to the Rs 27,000 crore worth of projects, works are underway in projects earmarked for the state at an estimated cost of Rs 80,000 crore. Fifty such works are in progress, he added.

The five projects which were inaugurated today by the prime minister included revival of closed Sindri urea fertiliser unit, thermal power plant with a capacity of 2,400 MW at Patratu, AIIMS and an airport in Deogarh and taking gas pipeline to households in Ranchi.

The PM recalled that it was Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee who as minister at the Centre had started the Sindri urea unit.

Modi said that during campaign for the 2014 parliamentary election he had urged people that if they elected a BJP government at the Centre too along with Jharkhand, the double engine would propel development of the mineral-rich state.

Today this double engine of Jharkhand government and one at Delhi working in the same direction is taking the state to greater heights of development, he said.

Saying that in democracy, election is the yardstick to gauge peoples satisfaction over performance of governments, Modi cited the saffron partys victory in panchayat polls in Jharkhand to buttress the point.

Modi had flown straight to Sindri from Santiniketan in West Bengal where he addressed the university convocation and also inaugurated Bangladesh Bhawan with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

From Sindri, he flew to Ranchi to have a brief session with District Magistrates of 19 Aspirational Jharkhand districts and Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

The prime minister recently launched the aspirational district programme to ensure all-round development of these areas.
Yogi Adityanath founded the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) on Ram Navami in 2002 with the objective of promoting Hindutva and nationalism. In subsequent years, it went on to play a significant role in his political rise in Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous state.

When Adityanath became chief minister in March 2017 after the Bharatiya Janata Partys spectacular performance in assembly elections, HYV members exulted in the belief that their fortunes would look up, too.

A little more than a year after his ascent to power, the HYV finds itself in unprecedented churn. On Sunday, May 13, 35 Adityanath loyalists in the organisation launched a breakaway group called Hindu Yuva Vahini (Bharat), amid seething discontent over the groups perceived sidelining by the BJP. Sunil Singh, a former aide to Adityanath and president of the HYV (B), said the group would open offices in various states to spread its ideology.

We were sidelined in the organisation for demanding tickets during the 2017 assembly election. After Maharaj ji (Adityanath) became CM, we hoped that the founder members of HYV would be given important positions in the BJP district and division units, but our hopes were dashed soon, he said.

The new outfit will work on the original agenda of the HYV  construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, ban on cow slaughter, uniform civil code, abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution and uplift of the weaker sections, Singh said.

HYV general secretary PK Mall said the rebels had been expelled from the organisation.

The new outfit will have no impact on the working of the HYV. Adityanath, who founded the HYV in 2002, remains its patron, he said.

OBJECTIVES OF THE HINDU YUVA VAHINI  HYV aims to unify and inspire the Hindu community for the protection and reestablishment of the Hindu religion and culture.

 Promote harmony in the society with abolishment of the untouchability as well as the caste system.

 To woo the members of the Hindu community who have converted to Islam and Christianity to adopt Hinduism through ghar wapasi programme.

 To promote nationalism, ban on cow slaughter, assist poor, to make the unemployed youth self-dependent and fight against corruption.

 To bring the tribal as well as communities residing in the hilly terrains and forest areas into the national mainstream.

 To work towards making India a developed and prosperous country.

 To establish coordination with like-minded organisations. To establish a fund for printing and promotion of Hindu literature. HYV aims to unify and inspire the Hindu community for the protection and reestablishment of the Hindu religion and culture.Promote harmony in the society with abolishment of the untouchability as well as the caste system.To woo the members of the Hindu community who have converted to Islam and Christianity to adopt Hinduism through ghar wapasi programme.To promote nationalism, ban on cow slaughter, assist poor, to make the unemployed youth self-dependent and fight against corruption.To bring the tribal as well as communities residing in the hilly terrains and forest areas into the national mainstream.To work towards making India a developed and prosperous country.To establish coordination with like-minded organisations. To establish a fund for printing and promotion of Hindu literature.

Discontent had been growing among HYV leaders for months, culminating in the rebellion.

Take, for instance, Ram Laxman, a Dalit student leader in Gorakhpur University. Ram Laxman led the HYVs Ghar Wapsi campaign, aimed at reconverting Hindus who had switched to other faiths, in the districts of eastern UP in 2007. He visited Dalit-dominated villages with volunteers to urge Christians and Muslims belonging to the scheduled caste community to convert to Hinduism. His efforts paid dividends when 28 families joined the shah-bhoj (community feast) to announce their return to the Hindu fold. He was rewarded with the post of state general secretary in the HYV.

On March 19 last year, when Adityanath was sworn in as chief minister, celebrations took place at Laxmans home. It was a dream come true for me; the founder of the HYV, Yogi Adityanath, became the CM of the largest state in the country, he said.

A year on, Ram Laxman rarely visits the HYV office. He does not even wear the saffron scarf that the organisations cadre are identified by. We hoped that after Maharaj ji (Yogi Adityanath) takes over as the CM, the HYV would gain ground in the state as a large number of people offered to join the organisation. But what happened was just the opposite  the HYV has been virtually dismantled and its cadre rendered listless. The leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have sent us feelers to join their party, he said.

Many members of the HYV have reason to be disappointed with the relegation to the sidelines of an organisation that played a pivotal role in strengthening Adityanaths base in Gorakhpur and adjoining districts.

Dozens of criminal cases were slapped on brothers Chandan Vishwakarma and Saurabh Vishwakarma, who had been hardcore members of the HYV since its inception, during the 2007 Gorakhpur violence. After the BJP won power in March 2017, both were expelled from the HYV.

Although a large number of young people across the state wanted to join the organisation, the HYV froze its membership drive.

General secretary PK Mall said, The decision to dissolve the district units was taken after we received reports that office bearers were involved in unlawful activities. There were reports in the media that people claiming to be members of HYV were indulging in vigilantism.

Several self-styled leaders of the HYV put up hoardings and banners across the state claiming to be office bearers of the organisation. They were engaging in criminal activities for which HYV was being blamed, Mall said.

HYV versus BJP

Adityanath raised HYV in 2002 after his relationship with the BJP soured over differences on ticket distribution during assembly elections that year. He challenged the BJP leadership by fielding Radha Mohan Das Agarwal from Gorakhpur on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket against BJP candidate Shiv Pratap Shukla. Agarwal defeated Shukla, establishing Adityanath as the unchallenged BJP leader in east UP.

Soon, HYV volunteers were also entrusted with the task of spreading the Hindutva agenda promoted by Adityanaths Gorakhnath Math. From 300 members in 2002, the strength of the HYV increased to 1.5 million in 2014. In Gorakhpur division alone, 500,000 people joined the HYV as it expanded to the villages. The HYV also launched an awareness drive on encephalitis, a scourge in the region, sanitation and development schemes, helping Adityanath in getting the vikas-purush (development man) tag. Manoj Kumar Singh of Jan Shanskriti Manch, a social and cultural organisation says, As the HYV spread its wing in the state, the aspirations of its leaders increased as well. Several of them wanted a BJP ticket in the 2017 assembly elections. When their claim was rejected, they rose in rebellion and filed nomination as independent candidates. The then state president of HYV Sunil Singh and several HYV leaders were expelled.

The activities of the HYV, which has in the past been blamed for communal violence in the state, never gelled with the BJP leadership, which considered it a private unit of Adityanath, existing to only serve his interests. The UP BJP unit complained to the top leadership that a parallel organisation run by the CM would be counterproductive and could damage the prospects of the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

According to people in the party who requested anonymity, during a visit to Gorakhpur, BJP national president Amit Shah informed Adityanath about the concerns of the BJP leaders and asked that the CM curtail the activities of the HYV.

HYV leaders were not allowed to share the dais with BJP leaders at public meetings. Soon after, the dismantling of the organisation started. The estrangement of HYV leaders proved costly for the BJP; it is seen by some as one of the biggest reasons for the defeat of the BJP candidate in the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-poll.

According to SP Singh, a political observer, the HYV cadre were deployed at polling booths during the assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

They played an important role in mobilising the voters. In the by-poll, the HYV volunteers were missing from the booths and the BJP workers failed to fill the vacuum, Singh said.

Although Adityanath contested the 2014 election to the Lok Sabha from Gorakhpur as a BJP candidate, it was the HYV cadre who prepared and executed the campaign strategy, former HYV state president Sunil Singh said. They worked at the booth level and countered attacks by rival political parties. Adityanath won from his pocket borough. The Gorakhpur Lok Sabha by-poll result was testimony to the impact of the HYVs alienation from the BJP, he claimed.

Terming the dismantling of the HYV a conspiracy hatched by local BJP leaders to weaken Adityanath, Singh said the group had played an important role in strengthening the political base of Adityanath. Thousands of youths, who were working for 16 years, are suddenly in disarray and feel cheated. There is need to re-engage these youths as well, he said.

HYV general secretary Mall says HYV volunteers are active and maintaining a close watch on the implementation of development and welfare programmes launched by the Adityanath government. We have identified the officers who are slack and indulged in corrupt practices. A report has been forwarded to the state government for action. Recently, the HYV launched a plantation drive in the districts of east UP as also a mass awareness programme against Japanese encephalitis, he said.
BJP president Amit Shah on Friday said that an alliance between the BSP and SP in Uttar Pradesh will be a challenge for the BJP in 2019 but asserted that the BJP will defeat the Congress either in Amethi or Rae Bareli.

If the BSP and SP contest in alliance, it would be a challenge to us. But we are sure that we will win either one seat: Amethi or Rae Bareli, he told journalists here on the occasion of the completion of four years of the Modi government.

The BJP chief said it did not want to give up its alliance with old time ally Shiv Sena in Maharashtra but insisted that the BJP would have no option if the Sena wanted to part ways with it.

In 2019, the BJP will fight with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. We dont want to oust them from the NDA. But if they go out, its their will. We are ready for every situation, he said.

Shah said the opposition parties were aligning with like-minded parties as they feel they may not be able to defeat the NDA in 2019 elections on their own.

They all fought against us in 2014 too but failed to stop us. They all have their presence in their respective states. Even if they come together they wont be able to defeat us, he said.

The BJP chief said their party would win at least 80 seats in 2019 which it could not win in the last election.

We will win such seats which were not with us in northeast, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and many other places, he said.

The BJP president also maintained that the chief ministers in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will not be changed.

He said the new BJP president in Rajasthan would be declared after May 26.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
A recent representation by people of 40 Maharashtra villages, seeking their integration with Telangana, after seeing the development in the latter, has sent IT minister of the state, KT Rama Rao on cloud nine.

On Tuesday, a delegation of farmers from 40 villages in Dharmabad tehsil of Nanded district in Maharashtra met TRS MLA Bajireddy Goverdhan in Telanganas Nizamabad, and urged the government to take steps to integrate them with Telangana.

The villages fall along the border between Telangana and Maharashtra.

Kadam told the local media that their villages has been neglected by successive governments in Maharashtra for the last 70 years.

Our villagers are deprived of even basic amenities such as roads and water. The facilities currently available in neighbouring villages in Telangana are much better than in Maharashtra, he said.

Hence, we submitted our proposal to the Telangana government for integration with Telangana. We wish to be a part of Telangana rather than Maharashtra, Kadam said.

K T Rama Rao, son of chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, took to social media on Friday to acknowledge and appreciate their wish.

Unique compliment to Telangana Govt & @TelanganaCMO. For expeditious development, 40 villages in Dharmabad, Maharashtra want to be part of Telangana!! And their MLA supports!! Can there be a better compliment, I wonder (sic), KTR tweeted.

The Maharashtra villagers told the TRS MLA that they were impressed with the Rythu Bandhu scheme of the Telangana government, which provided Rs 4,000 per acre to each farmer twice a year.

Thanking the Maharashtra villagers, the TRS MLA, however, told them that the merger was not technically possible as it was not in the hands of the state government.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to suggestions that the vacant post-graduate seats in private unaided medical colleges could be filled up as per the order of merit in the All-India National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) list.

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra said this while hearing a matter of Uttar Pradesh during which the Medical Council of India (MCI) said that almost 41.95 per cent of post-graduate medical seats for academic year 2018-2019 in private unaided medical colleges in the state have remained vacant.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Pinky Anand, who appeared for the Centre, suggested to the bench that a similar dispensation can be followed in other states, if they so desire, while ensuring that the cut-off date of May 31, 2018 is strictly adhered to.

We agree with this suggestion, the bench said and disposed of the plea filed by the UP unaided medical colleges welfare association.

The ASG and MCIs counsel assured the apex court that its order would be forthwith published on the official websites of MCI, Medical Counselling Committee and the ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Earlier during the hearing, the MCI counsel told the bench that since the cut-off date of May 18 was already over, the Director General of Medical Education of Uttar Pradesh must take the responsibility of allotting the seats to students from the NEET merit list in respective colleges by May 31.

We find this suggestion to be most appropriate and also assuage the grievance of the private medical colleges and open up new opportunity to the aspiring candidates in the merit list who otherwise could not secure admission in other medical colleges, the bench noted in its order.

The top court accepted the MCIs suggestions and asked the Director General of Medical Education of Uttar Pradesh to take immediate steps in this regard while ensuring that the cut-off date of May 31, 2018 was adhered to in its letter and spirit.

The bench also made it clear that in the guise of recommending names of candidates to private colleges, the candidate who has already secured admission elsewhere cannot be permitted to resign from the concerned college to avail of the opportunity under the stated dispensation.
Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal on Thursday described as unfortunate the loss of 11 lives in violent protests demanding closure of a copper factory owned by group firm Sterlite Copper at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.

In a video message on Twitter, Agarwal said the company would like to continue the business at the plant with the wish of the community.

At present, the company is waiting for clearance from court and government to restart the plant, which is currently closed for annual maintenance, he added.

I am very sad to hear the incident... This was absolutely unfortunate. My full sympathy is with the families (of the deceased), Agarwal said.

Claiming that the company strictly follows what the court and the government orders are, he said,We always make sure the community and Thoothukudi people at large prosper with us.

The NRI billionaire further said, I am totally committed for the community, people at large, and with their wish, and with their prosperity we would like to continue this business.

Reiterating the commitment of the company to environment and the development of people of Thoothukudi and Tamil Nadu, Agarwal said, (we) will abide by the law of the land. Once again, I am very much in pain, (with) what happened...

The total number of deaths in the protest against the copper smelter plant reached 13 on Thursday after people injured in Tuesdays violence succumbed to their injuries. Ten people lost their lives in police action on Tuesday.

The home ministry on Thursday sought a report from the state government while home minister Rajnath Singh appealed to citizens to remain calm and maintain peace.

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court also stayed a proposed expansion of the plant.

Locals have been agitating for over 100 days now demanding closure of the Vedanta group copper plant over pollution concerns.

The Tamil Nadu government constituted an inquiry commission to look into the matter. The Commission of Inquiry, headed by retired high court judge Aruna Jagadeesan, will probe the violence.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognisance of the violence and issued notices to chief secretary and the director general of police, calling for detailed reports in two weeks.
The initial documents presented to the police by the woman in the row involving army officer Leetul Gogoi, and a Kashmir hotel, revealed that she was not a minor and that she had come to meet the army officer of her own volition, said a senior police officer, who asked not to be identified.

On Wednesday, Gogoi, the woman, and a local man were detained by the police.

Gogoi had booked a room in a hotel and the other two reached the hotel wanting to meet him in his room. When the staff demurred, an altercation broke out following which the police were summoned.

Gogoi was subsequently allowed to rejoin his unit, the Rashtriya Rifles.

Gogoi shot to fame after tying a Kashmiri civilian to the front of his jeep, apparently in an attempt to prevent stone-pelters from targeting his convoy.

In her statement to the police, the woman said she had gotten in touch with Gogoi over Facebook.

The womans Aadhar card, which was given to the police, shows that she was born in November 1999.

The senior police officer added that the probe is still on and no conclusion has been reached so far.

So far there is no legal case here, but tomorrow the girl and her family can turn around and say something, said the police officer.

Another police officer said Major Gogoi had violated the standard operating procedure with his presence in the area. The head of his unit was not informed. He had checked into the local hotel without backup, he was moving without security. That is breach of the standard operating procedure, said the officer. The army has so far not issued a statement on the matter.

People familiar with the matter in the Armys headquarters said it would decide the course of action only after the conclusion of the police probe.

Former Corp commander of the Chinar Corps, Lt General (retd) Syed Ata Hasain, wrote on Twitter that the only legal sticking point can be the Majors presence in an unauthorised area.
Illegal clinics run by quacks, unqualified healthcare providers, claimed two lives in Bharatpur district, putting spotlight on the need to curb such practices.

A 27-year-old woman died after a quack terminated her three-month pregnancy in Bharatpur city, police said.

After termination of pregnancy, Rakhi Devi from Bada Mohalla under Kotwali police station suffered bleeding. Her family took her to the district hospital on Thursday evening, where doctors declared her dead on arrival due to excessive bleeding. The body was handed over to the family on Friday after the postmortem.

Police registered a complaint lodged by Rakhi Devis husband Chandan Singh. In the complaint, Singh blamed the quack, Tanu Devi, a nurse in a private hospital, for her wifes death.

He said they took Rakhi Devi to hospital on May 22 after she complained of stomach pain, but Tanu Devi met them on the way. The nurse took Rakhi Devi to her house and confirmed that she was three-month pregnant.

Singh said Tanu Devi aborted the pregnancy, but the bleeding continued after his wife came home. Family members then took her to a private hospital on May 24, but doctors recommended that she be taken to a better healthcare centre in Jaipur, Singh said. The family rushed her to Raj Bahadur Memorial district hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

In the complainant, the womans husband alleged that negligence led to her death. Police are trying to arrest the quack who is on the run, said Rajesh Verma, station house officer of Kotwali police.

In a similar incident, a man, Fajju Mev (35) from Gadhajan village, died after an unauthorised medical practitioner treated him in Kaman. Mevs son Mohammad Afridi took his father to the quack, Rajendra Sain, after he complained of stomach pain, police said.

Afridi said his father fell unconsciousness after the quack administered him an injection and gave tablets. He then took his father to the community health centre at Kaman, where doctors declared him dead.

The body was kept in mortuary for postmortem after the mans son lodged a complaint, said Neki Ram Chaudharu, SHO of Kaman police station. After being informed, police reached the spot. Police will inquire and take legal action against the quack after getting the postmortem report.

Illegal clinics run by untrained practitioners in towns and rural areas of Rajasthans Bharatpur district pose dangers to peoples lives. The medical and health department had issued notices to 151 quacks; six quack clinics were sealed and seven closed till last year.

Nearly 430-500 quacks are illegally practising in the district, said Praveen Kumar, coordinator of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and in-charge of action against quacks.

Ileegal clinics are being run in rural areas of Kaman, Pahari, Sikri, Gopalgarh, Jurahara, Nagar, Deeg, Kumher, Sewar, Nadbai, Rupwas, Uchchain, Bayana, Weir, and Bhusawar of Bharatpur district. Such clinics are also being run in Dholpur, Karauli and Sawai Madhopur districts of Bharatpur division.

We have formed teams to start a campaign for legal action against quacks. I have directed all block chief medical and health officers to list inexperienced practitioners who run clinics without licence. We will take police help during the campaign, said Gopal Ram, Bharatpur chief medical and health officer.

Drug wholesalers and retailers supply medicines to illegal clinics in violation of rules. Under Drug and Cosmetic Rules 1945, medicines cannot be supplied to clinics if they do not have licence from the drug department and the drug control organisation of Rajasthan.
Looking to shore up finances to fund its promised farm loan waiver, the Rajasthan government Friday got a shot in the arm with National Cooperative Development Corporation sanctioning Rs 5000 crore as loan to the state.

This comes even as state Congress hit out at the Raje government claiming its loan waiver scheme was burdening the state.

Abhay Kumar, principal secretary in cooperative department confirmed the development and said he is in the possession of the sanction letter issued by the NCDC.

Apart from the NCDC, the state has got proposals from two other banks agreeing to extend the credit and the government will decide which one to choose, depending on who was offering the lower rate of interest, the official said.

Chief minister Vasundhara Raje in her budget speech had announced a one-time crop loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000 for small and marginal farmers. Her government promised to bear a burden of Rs 8,000 crore giving benefit to nearly 20 lakh farmers. The government had budgeted Rs 2,000 crore for the waiver. It had been knocking the doors of the banks seeking a loan of Rs 6,000 crore especially as the camps to hand over waiver certificates were to begin from May 26. They were on Thursday later postponed to May 31.

Cooperatives minister Ajay Singh Kilak had claimed that the government would arrange Rs 5000 crore from NABARD and National Cooperative Development Corporation.

Cooperative department officials had approached multiple agencies including the NCDC in Delhi to pursue the matter. The government had given a proposal for Rs 5000 crore loan to NCDC on May 17 and it was sanctioned on May 24, the principal secretary said.

With this, the state now has Rs 7000 crore in its kitty for the loan waiver. The NCDC loan, the official said, has been given for 270 days and has to be repaid in two installments.

The government will provide guarantee for the loan that will be given to the Rajasthan State Cooperative Bank.

Meanwhile, state Congress chief Sachin Pilot hit out at the CM claiming that the loan waiver scheme was burdening the state which was already facing a rising fiscal deficit. Pilots criticism comes a day after government issued an order barring present and former ministers of the state and the Centre, MLAs, income-tax payee farmers from the Rajasthan Crop Loan Waiver Scheme, 2018. It also bars present and former officers and employees of the Centre and pensioners from the scheme.

Fiscal deficit of the state in 2014 was Rs 1.2 lakh crore and it has shot up to Rs 2.4 lakh crore at present. CM knows that they (BJP) are not going to make government in the state (again) and is burdening the state by taking loans to fulfil promises of waiving-off loans of farmers, Pilot told PTI.

At the Banswara camp on May 31, loans of 1.94 lakh farmers amounting to Rs 250 crore will be waived.

He said, earlier, the scheme was announced for loans taken from cooperative banks whereas 80 per cent loans were availed from non-cooperative banks.

A senior government official said that the decision by the Rajasthan Cooperative Department to leave out some categories of farmers was a policy matter of the state government.

The financial implication of keeping the categories out of the waiver scheme has not been worked out. It was not a consideration before making the announcement and it is a policy matter decision taken by the state government, he said on condition of anonymity.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be the first head of government of a foreign country to be present on the dais of Visva-Bharati on Friday. Incidentally, Mamata Banerjee will also be the first chief minister of Bengal to be present on the dais along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is chancellor of the central university.

West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is the rector of the institution, and vice chancellor Sabujkali Sen will also be present on the dais.

Read: Bengal govt readies defence on Rohingya issue ahead of Modi-Hasina meet

I was not even aware that I will the first chief minister to be present on the dais during convocation. However, I will be present between the prime ministers of two countries as a commoner, Banerjee said on Thursday afternoon, referring to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been invited as special guest.

It has been 42 years since a Bengal chief minister attended a convocation at Visva Bharati. In 1976, former chief minister Siddharttha Shankar Roy attended the ceremony. This time around, the chief minister will be on the dais. But as far as I can remember, Roy attended the convocation but did not sit on the dais, Sen said.

The tradition is being broken for the first time, the vice chancellor said.

After the convocation, which will take around an hour, Modi, Hasina and Banerjee would attend the inauguration of the Bangladesh Bhavan at Santiniketan. This will be followed by a meeting between the two prime ministers.

Read: Activists write to PMO to raise Atreyee river issue during Hasina visit

Bengal government officials said Mamata Banerjee may be invited to be present at the meeting between the two prime ministers. If she attends it, possibilities are high that crucial issues such as Teesta water accord and influx of Rohingya refugees will be discussed, said a senior bureaucrat accompanying the chief minister on conditions of anonymity.

This will be a meeting between the prime ministers. I cannot say now if I will be there. It is probable. However, I would have a meeting with Sheikh Hasina in Kolkata on Saturday evening. But I do not think there will be a discussion on Teesta water accord. We have many issues to talk about. She is very affectionate towards me and I love her very much, said Banerjee.

Banerjee was, however, unhappy that the university will not give away the Desikottam awards, which is usually done during the convocation ceremony. This is unfortunate. It is Visva Bharatis highest award. Had the award function taken place, the convocation would have been more significant, said Banerjee.

Sabujkali Sen said the Bangladesh Bhavan project was initiated after Hasina expressed her wish to construct a structure that would strengthen the cultural ties between the two countries much on the one lines of China Bhavan and Japan Bhavan. The entire cost, which is around Rs 25 crore, has been borne by the Bangladesh government but Bisva Bharati will look after it, Sen said.

The architecture is a blend of contemporary and old designs, with the exterior walls having terracotta designs. It has a huge auditorium, two seminar halls, a museum, a photo- gallery and a cafetaria.
Ankaha Lucknow is already generating heat ahead of its Saturday release.

The book by BJP veteran Lalji Tandon has kicked up a controversy over its claim that Lucknows biggest Sunni mosque  the Teele Wali Masjid was built by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb over the Laxman Teela  a raised platform believed to be christened after Lord Rams brother Laxman.

ANKAHA LUCKNOW In Ankaha Lucknow that translates to Untold Lucknow, Tandon has gone on to make a disputed claim that the Teele Wali Masjid, the biggest Sunni mosque in Lucknow believed to be nearly 375 years old, was built over Laxman Teela. Right wing leaders believe it was named after Lord Rams brother Laxman, from whom Tandon claims Lucknow got its name.

HT had first reported the excerpts of the disputed claim in February.

This city was originally named Laxmanavati, then Laxmanpur and after that Lakhnavati, before finally being named Lucknow, Tandon says in his book in which he claims that a Shesh Gufa also stood on the Laxman Teela - proof of Lucknows link with Laxman.

The Gufa, Tandon claims, was demolished during Alauddin Khiljis reign while the mosque came up over the Teela during Mughal emperor Aurangzebs tenure, says the BJP veteran.

Hindus believe Lord Ram to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu while his brother Laxman was taken to be the incarnation of Shesh Naag, the serpent king who guards Lord Vishnu, after whom Tandon believes Shesh gufa  virtually a temple after Laxman was named.

Tandons mosque over Teela claim was, however, dismissed by Fazle Mannan, the imam of Teele Wali Masjid.

I believe Tandonjis claim has been guided more by politics than history. He should give us proof before making such claims, said Mannan.

Lalji Tandon.

We have documents to demolish Tandonjis claim that appears to have been made with 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind, he said while agreeing that the mosque indeed came up during Aurangzebs time.

But, city-based archaeologist DP Tiwari differs with Mannan, saying if fresh digging was to be carried out in citys Laxman Teela - where Aurangzeb built the mosque - it could indeed throw up archaeological evidence to substantiate the citys Laxman connect.

Tiwari refers to Uttar Kand  a portion of Valmikis Ramayana to indicate that the religious scripture bears testimony of Laxman having travelled down to the Teela after crossing the Gomti.

Religious texts bear association of Laxmanji with the Teela where digging in the past had revealed painted greyware pottery that dates its origin to the Mahabharata era. I would suggest that after Tandonjis book fresh digging could be carried out to check for ochre colored pottery which relates to the Ramayana period, said Tiwari.

But professor Makhan Lal, director of Delhis Institute of Heritage Management, is guarded in his take on Laxman Teela.

All that I can say is that there is a place called Laxman Teela that could have come into existence around 3,600 years ago, even earlier and yes, there is a mosque built on it, supposedly by Aurangzeb, he said without getting into Tandons claims that have angered the Samajwadi Party.

Its near election time and BJP leaders are out to divert peoples attention, said SP leader Sunil Singh Sajan. However, UP governments lone Muslim minister Mohsin Raza feels that Tandons book and his claim need to be looked into carefully.

Coming from a veteran who spent his entire life in old city and given his extensive knowledge on Lucknow his point needs careful examination. It cant be dismissed just like that, Raza said.

The book is scheduled for Saturday release by vice-president Venkaiah Naidu in the presence of union home minister Rajnath Singh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath and others.
Thousands of lawyers and activists of different social organisations staged protest outside the venue of CM Yogi Adityanaths rally in Shamli on Thursday in support of their demand for the high court bench in western UP.

A few lawyers also made their way into the rally and displayed placards and raised slogans.

The agitating lawyers paid no heed to former minister Sanjeev Baliyan when he tried to calm them down and shouted go back.

Later, a delegation of 20 lawyers and the representatives of social organisations met the chief minister. Sanjay Sharma, ex convener of the High Court Bench Sangharsh Samiti said that CM was convinced that demand was genuine but said that only the high court and the Supreme Court could take decision on it. Committees chairman Rajendra Singh Jani apprised the CM that there is no need of seeking permission from the apex court and the high court and suggested the CM to pass a resolution for setting up the bench in western UP to which the CM allegedly refused.

Sharma claimed that attorney generals comment in support of the bench was already attached in the file. Committees convener Devkinandan said that CM was convinced with the demand but did nothing for it. He said that their movement for the bench would continue.

Police had barricaded at least four locations to stop lawyers from reaching at the rally venue. But lawyers dodged police and used alternate alleys to reach at the venue.

Meanwhile, lawyers and other staff in Kutchery of 22 districts of western UP staged strike in support of the demand for the HC bench.
Ankaha Lucknow  a book in which BJP veteran Lalji Tandon goes on to accuse the Muhgals of destroying the historical Lakshman Teela as well as the present day politicians for wiping out the name of Lakshman by naming the place Teele Wali Masjid, has created a storm in the political circles. Tandon talks to Anupam Srivastava about the controversy and Lucknows rich culture and heritage.

What do you have to say about the controversy?

I have not written anything controversial in my book. Whatever I have written is based on facts. Im not a historian, have written the book only in the capacity of a Lucknowite. But tell me, have historians done justice to the glorious past of Awadh or Lucknow? Dont you think they have confined the history of Lucknow to 100 years of Nawabi rule. Its unfortunate for a city that has a glorious past of 7,000 years. My book has only brought out the truth.

What is wrong if the Nawabi era is talked about more than Lakshman by historians?

I dont want to create any controversy through my book but I will not shy away from telling the truth. I have always called spade a spade. The historians have only focused on Nawabs, their wives and sons, lavish lifestyle, food and dresses. Has anyone highlighted the common mans plight during that era? Has anyone highlighted how many buildings of the Vedic era, Kushan era and Maurya era were destroyed? Has anyone talked about the temples of Awadh or its cuisine that includes more than 1,000 types of sweets, 20 kind of laddoos, rabri, malai? The writers limited the cuisine to a few types of kebabs and biryani, but they never talked about the real taste of Awadh.

Then what you have tried to convey through your book?

I have highlighted the real culture, cuisine and traditions of Awadh. I have talked about the culture from the era of Lord Ram to Wajid Ali Shah. Puranas were written in Neemsar while Tulsidas wrote Ramayan in Awadh. This is the place where Sufism was born. Qawwali is always in Awadhi and the art form was born here.

What according to you is the best thing about Lucknows culture?

When I see politicians dividing the society on the basis of caste I feel sad. Lucknow has never seen casteism. The city has always witnessed communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims. Secularism runs in the blood of Lucknowites so no one should teach us about the same.

What makes Lucknow different from other cities?

Lucknowites dont believe in communalism and casteism; they only believe in professionalism. Today, you say Lucknow has become a hub of medical tourism, but people used to come here for treatment in the past also. There were establishments of vaids and hakeems around Akbari Gate where people used to come and stay for treatment. Lucknow still has Abdul Aziz road named after a popular hakeem, Kalli ji road after a hakim with the same name. Vaidya Madhukar Shastri and Vaidya Shyamji were also famous for their treatment all over the country.
The politics of Roza Iftar will be at play once again in the coming weeks with leaders of different political parties vying to host one during the holy month of Ramzan.

The state has witnessed this political ritual during Ramzan ever since late Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna introduced it in the political circles as states chief minister in 1974.

Bahugunas initiative became a tradition over the years and most of the states and central leaders, including late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, began hosting Iftar parties. Successive chief ministers, including Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh and Union home minister Rajnath Singh simply continued the tradition at their official residence. As state chief minister BSP chief Mayawati too had hosted iftar but at a five star hotel in the state capital. Late Ram Prakash Gupta was probably the only exception.

In 2017, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, however, decided not to host any such party. Yogi also stayed away from the Iftar party that governor Ram Naik had hosted at the Raj Bhawan on June 23, 2017. A question mark hangs over Yogis participation this year too at the governors do at Raj Bhawan on June 8.

As Mahant of Gorakhnath temple, Yogi has organized Kanya Poojan etc. on a number of occasions but stayed away from hosting Iftars. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too did not host Iftar though his predecessors Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihari Bajpai had hosted such parties. So far the BJP ministers too have also stayed away from hosting Iftar parties.

This is between me and my Allah. I do not want to comment on the issue, said Mohsin Raza, the only Muslim minister in Yogi Adityanath government.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Raj Babbar will hold one in coming weeks. Yes, Babbar will host a party on May 28, said senior Congress leader Siraj Mehandi.

Former minister and senior Congress leader Ammar Rizvi has invited US Ambassador to India to attend the Iftar this year. The Samajwadi Party is also likely to host one next month (announcement likely to be made after Kairana and Noorpur bypoll).

More leaders are giving a final shape to Iftar programmes in coming weeks.
Questions have been raised over the ridership of Lucknow Metro since the day the service was launched on the 8-km Transport Nagar-Charbagh route. But LMRC MD Kumar Keshav said Metro has had overwhelming response from people here  much better than what metro in Delhi saw after its launch.

He said Lucknow Metro crossed a cumulative ridership of 10 lakh in just 70 days of its commercial operations since September 6, 2017. According to Keshav, this was a remarkable figure for any Metro during its initial days.

Contrary to impressions among people who sometimes see the Metro train running empty, the ridership was 4.8 lakh in September 2017, 4 lakh in October and 3 lakh in November and December. In January, February, March and April the figure remained around 3 lakh.

Every day, around 10,000 people travel in Metro, which is good response  better than other Metros running in the country. The ridership is expected to touch around 3 lakh in a day when the route from Amausi airport to Munshipulia will be thrown open for public, said Kumar Keshav.

Work on the section from Charbagh to Munshipulia is expected to be completed by March 2019, he added.

Keshav said, Lucknow Metro has organised more than 100 visits for the promotion of Lucknow Metro among locals. Many school children, members of social institutions, old age homes, Women Power Line, para foundation, PCS trainees, bureaucrats and judicial trainees have visited Lucknow Metro. Special care is extended to all the differently-abled Metro commuters.

The LMRC has also conducted tours for special kids and orphans who could not have boarded the Metro otherwise, he added.

Campaigns like Dos and Donts in Metro and Emergency Evacuation were also launched.

Literature on safe journey is regularly distributed to the commuters at all Metro stations, he said.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday charged the previous Samajwadi Party government with fanning communal riots in west UP and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to create an atmosphere of communal harmony.

The SP government had pushed west UP region into the fire of communal riots. The party has a blot of riot on it and that is why it has fielded its candidate on the symbol of another party, Yogi said addressing a rally in Shamli in support of BJP candidate for Kairana Lok Sabha by-election Mriganka Singh.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has fielded Tabassum Hasan who is being supported by the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress. Kairana will go to poll on May 28.

Yogi said the BJP would not bow down in front of those who supported terrorism.

Raising the issues of Muzaffarnagar riots and alleged Hindu exodus from Kairana, Yogi said: BJP leader and former MP late Hukum Singh had raised these issues. Soon after coming to power, we made efforts to improve law and order in the region.

The ignorant attitude of previous governments towards west UP is responsible for the backwardness of the region. The BJP is committed to solving peoples problems, Yogi said.

He said the criminals were nailed in the BJP regime and police would continue their drive against criminals to ensure peaceful atmosphere in the state.

He said camps of provincial armed constabulary (PAC) would be set up in Kairana and Kandhala towns to check the activities of anti-social elements.

Recalling the contribution of former prime minister and farmers leader Chaudhary Charan Singh, Yogi said his government celebrated Singhs birth anniversary as the BJP understood the sacrifices he made for the cause of farmers.

Anyone trying to exploit the farmers will be treated as the BJP governments enemy. The government has launched special schemes for the welfare of farmers, he said.

The state government has initiated steps for the welfare of farmers and youth. We are creating employment opportunities. Closed sugar mills will be made operational in the region, Yogi said.
Threatening messages being sent to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators and other leaders may be the mischief of a professional hacker or a group of cyber criminals, police said on Thursday.

The sender has used a virtual private network (VPN) to send messages to legislators. This is allowing him to hide original internet protocol (IP) address and use proxy IP address. The sender is continuously changing IP address from one country to another, said a senior police officer privy to the investigation.

He said earlier the IP address was from Islamabad in Pakistan but later changed to USA and Germany. Only a professional hacker can change proxy IP address using VPN, he added.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, law and order, Praveen Kumar said initial probe hinted that it was a mischief by a professional hacker and there was no need to panic.

He said a three-member special investigation team (SIT), under the supervision of inspector general of special task force (STF), Amitabh Yash was already on the job and found some crucial leads.

He said tracking the sender was a technical issue and would take some time.

Kumar said director general of police OP Singh had already issued an advisory to all district police chiefs and local intelligence units had been asked to review security of the MLAs receiving threats.

He said so far 22 MLAs had lodged FIRs in various districts across the state.

In last three days, MLAs and other politicians of the BJP have complained of receiving extortion messages on their WhatsApp numbers purportedly sent by Ali Baba Budesh, a notorious extortionist based in a Gulf country.

The number of politicians receiving extortion messages has gone up to 25, including 22 BJP MLAs, two former MLAs and a party officer-bearer.

Additional director general (ADG), law and order, Anand Kumar had told media persons on Wednesday that Budesh was a notorious extortionist and underworld don based in Bahrain.

Budesh fled to Bahrain in the late 80s where he set up his new base. But there are no reports of his involvement in any criminal activities in India, he added.
Controversial chairman of UP Shia Central Waqf Board Waseem Rizvi nominated on Thursday Mahant Narendra Giri, chairman of the Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad, as the patron of his fledgling political outifit Indian Shia Awami League (ISAL).

"History bears testimony that all 14 Shia rulers in the country not only protected the Hindus but also constructed several temples during their regime in various parts of the country," said Rizvi, who went to Allahabad to seek the Mahant's blessings. Rizvi has been a votary of construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and had presented a draft of his compromise formula to Mahant Gir in November last year, though neither of them are party in the title suit on Ayodhya pending in the Supreme Court.

The political outfit was floated on May 14 by Rizvi in an attempt to carve a separate political identity for the minority Shia within the Muslim community ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The idea is to assert Shia identity separate from Sunni Muslims and there was no clash of the former with the Hindus, he said.

Traditionally, the vote-bank politics has only catered to Sunnis in India, since we are in minority. But when there are riots in the country because of Sunni extremism, we also get targeted due to our Muslim identity, said Waseem Rizvi on Monday. Rizvi, however, asserted that it would not be a sectarian party and give representation to people irrespective of caste and religion.
Bioscopewala

Director: Deb Medhekar

Cast: Danny Denzongpa, Adil Hussain,Geetanjali Thapa, Brijendra Kala

Rating: 4/5

A life defined by loneliness and the scarring belief that your own father doesnt love you, only to realize  eventually  that love runs deeper than its obvious display. The various shades of affection and complexities of human relationship is the world that Deb Medhekars endearing film, Bioscopewala, inhabits.

Based on the timeless tale Kabuliwala by Rabindranath Tagore, Bioscopewala features Danny Denzongpa in the lead role while Geetanjali Thapa, Brijendra Kala and Adil Hussain essay pivotal parts in the story. Bioscopewala deviates from the original story but surprisingly, none of it feels disruptive. Instead, the film is adapted effortlessly to the times that we live in.

In Tagores original story, an Afghan man selling dry fruits in Kolkata forms a bond with a young girl because she reminds him of his daughter. Deb adds layers to the story as he swaps the dry fruits for a bioscope and fills his Kabuliwala with undying passion for rebellion, cinema and story-telling.

The film opens with the death of Robi Basu (Adil Hussain) who was on his way to Afghanistan. His daughter Minnie (Geetanjali) is trying to come to terms with the sudden loss when she meets an old Alzheimers patient, Rehmat Khan (Danny) taking shelter in her own house. As she tries to shake off the responsibility, she realises she has a long lost connection with the man. In fact, she remembers that she became a documentary filmmaker thanks to the passion and love for cinema Rehmat instilled in her.

The old Afghan fled from his own country in the hope that it would save his wife and five-year-old daughter. Unlike Tagores Kabuliwala, we know more of Rehmats back story as well  he was a rebel in Afghanistan who protested Talibans oppression by showing films, which was considered a crime by the regime. His home-based cinema would regale people with old Bollywood movies of Raj Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan before the Taliban burnt it down and condemned him for spreading the sin of cinema. He continued showing films through a bioscope until he was told his daughter might be killed if he stayed on in Afghanistan.

His journey to India via Kashmir shines a light on Rehmats benevolent and brave self. In Kolkata, Rehmat meets Minnie (Geetanjali) and gets close to her as she reminds him of his own daughter.

Their relationship goes beyond the mere story of father-daughter; it celebrates humanity across cultural boundaries just as cinema is presented as a means of rebellion. How violence -- in the name of religion or a nation  destroys humans and humanity is showcased through touching visuals.

What adds to the entire experience of watching this 1.40 hour long film is the brilliant performances. Be it Dannys stunning portrayal of the titular character, Adils ever efficient father, Brijendras humble caretaker or Geetanjalis slightly dramatic Minnie, the actors bring to life their characters.

With the script focussing on his character, Danny is certainly the one that shines. One cant help but wonder why Bollywood mainly offered him roles as villains for his range is so vast? We have seen him as Kancha Cheena in Agneepath as well as Khuda Baksh of Khuda Gawah but from now on, he is the Bioscopewala to me.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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Parmanu

Cast: John Abraham, Diana Penty

Director: Abhishek Sharma

Rating: 3/5

On a scorching May afternoon, an American spy, while sitting at an urbane cafe in Jaisalmer, advises his bosses to be careful about some suspicious activities near the nuclear site in Pokhran. He begs to be taken seriously, but the in-charge back home is very confident of the state-of-the-art Lacrosse satellites America uses for surveillance. He believes technology more than the intuition of the on-field agent. It turns out to be one of the biggest intelligence failures in the history of the CIA.

The first draft of Indias nuclear bomb explosion was written in the year 1995, but a tactical mistake leaked the information to the west, and the plan was abandoned under severe diplomatic pressure.

Parmanu The Story of Pokhran begins with Research And Test Wings Ashwat Raina (John Abraham), who is still ruing over the apathy displayed by the Prime Ministers Office, PMO, during crucial moments. He had proposed the idea of nuclear test at a high-level meeting where the PMs representative looked more interested in the snacks than the strategy.

Watch: The real story behind Parmanu The Story Of Pokhran

Life has come a full circle for Ashwat, and he is called back by the PMO to re-launch the nuclear programme. Its a shaky start with actors trying to adjust to their non-melodramatic characters. The writers mean business and thus nobody is allowed to take extra-long pauses. Important information about satellites, code-words and blast site are conveyed in a matter-of-fact tone.

Initially, it appears over simplified. Is it really this easy to dodge the worlds most efficient surveillance system? But this simplicity also makes the plan believable. One step at a time, characters begin to fit into the story.

The director, Abhishek Sharma, shows restrain and doesnt hurry into the matter. He lets the plan sink in into the minds of the viewers. They know what to expect.

Parmanu movie review: John Abrahams film has a thrilling climax

Its a tricky situation. Parmanu is a film based on a real event not long ago. You can easily predict the direction of the wind. A structure is already developed. The only way to stop the audiences from losing interest is by keeping them thrilled.

Sub plots are introduced and they serve their purpose. In fact, the film doesnt lose its sheen and engagement value because of the two spies introduced mid-way. Played by Mark Bennington and Abhiroy Singh, they add sleekness to Parmanu, usually non-existent in Hindi films.

There is also an attempt to introduce dark humour. It works, especially during an emotionally charged scene between John Abraham and Anuja Sathe, his wife in the film.

Parmanu revolves around John Abrahams persona. There are dark edges and the writers dare to touch them. Maybe unintentional, but their idea of a headstrong and nationalist government servant sometimes looks like a plea for war. Thankfully, they control it in time and let the theme take over.

Sharma has judiciously used real footage. That take the focus away from uncertain actors and breaks the monotony of shooting at the same location.

John Abrahams deadpan expressions are a hindrance but he somehow manages to hold his ground. Other actors follow his footsteps. Its the writing that saves the day for Abraham and Parmanu.

Actually, the best moments of Parmanu arrive towards the end, just when they are needed. A film that was slowly progressing towards a definite end in the first half starts to gather steam 20 minutes into the second half.

Suddenly, the events begin to unfold at a better pace. Small spoiler here, but the intercutting between the blast site and the PMO adds to the tension mostly absent in the first half. In fact, urgency is the word that defines Parmanu to a large extent. Had they shown more of it in the first half, it would have been a much better film!

Climax saves Parmanu from drowning in the dust of Pokhran. It picks up the pace at the right juncture, and gives audiences the choice to overlook some sketchy acting. At 129-minute duration, Parmanu keeps you hooked once you let the dull opening scenes pass.

Interact with Rohit Vats at Twitter/@nawabjha

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Around 190 college students will get free entry to the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival for the first time. The festival is being held in Mumbai at two Liberty and Metro cinema between May 23 and 28.The invitation is an attempt by the organisers to make students understand the challenges faced by members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community.

There are various notions that people have about the community, as a result of which the acceptance level towards the community is low. Films and documentaries screened at KASHISH convey identity issues faced by the community. So students will be able to understand their problems, said Bhagirathi Raman, consultant, KASHISH Film Festival.

Vivek DSouza, a masters student at Mumbai University said, The festival can provide a very positive space for exchange of ideas, as one would get to know the perspective of people of different sexual orientations.

Read more: Mumbais LGTBQ community members house film festival participants with pride

Raman, who headed the student outreach programme for the festival, added that she reached out to colleges in South Mumbai, who were keen on engaging students to experience different kinds of films.

We spoke to various college principals and BMM incharge and asked them to pass on the information. The response we got was quite good because the free tickets were sold out in no time, Raman said.

While 190 students were given free entry on the basis of their ID cards, there were several others who were given access at a discounted rate. The festival is being held in Mumbai at two cinema halls between May 25 and 28.

Ashok Wadia, principal, Jai Hind college, said that students had often expressed concerns and have spoken about issues faced by LGBTQ community in various panel discussions that have taken place earlier.

If a discussion is arranged with experts who can speak on scientific terms about the problems, it would help students and parents understand the problems better, said Wadia.

Over the years, we observed that a lot of students were unavailable to attend the festival because they couldnt afford to pay for it, and were missing out on good cinema, which is why we decided to provide scholarship to college students, said Parmesh Shahani, head, Godrej India Culture Lab.
A 70-year-old woman, who lived alone, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at her residence in Turbhe on Saturday evening.

Gold jewellery worth Rs3 lakh and her mobile phone worth Rs 7,000 are missing.

The police suspect that the victim, Suman Hande was killed by the thieves between Thursday and Saturday, but they have not registered a case of murder yet due to lack of evidence.

The body was in the early stages of decomposition, when it was found in her room, police said.

Initially, the police had registered it as an accidental death case, but after realising the theft of jewellery and based on the complaints by her family, they registered a case under section 460 and 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code on Wednesday.

According to police, Hande stayed at Sector 22 in Turbhe.

Handes son, Pravin stays with his family in Bhayandar and her three daughters live in Bhayandar, Pune and Kolhapur.

On Friday, when we tried her number, it was unreachable. On Saturday, few residents informed us that her door was locked for two days and a foul smell was emanating from inside, Pravin said.

Two of my cousins reached the spot and opened the door. They found the body and took it to NMMC Hospital, where doctors said she had died around two days ago as the body was decomposing by then, Pravin said.

Rajendra Galande of APMC police station said, We had registered an accidental death case as no injury marks were seen on the body. After the family told us about missing gold, we applied other sections of the IPC.

Assistant police inspector S Rakh said, We are exploring the murder angle, but we cannot confirm now. Her viscera have been preserved for forensic tests, he said.
A first-year BTech student from a reputable engineering college in Mumbai has alleged that she was molested by a professor inside his cabin at the institute on May 18. In her complaint to the institute director, the student said the professor touched her inappropriately and forcefully kissed her when she went to him to get a signature on a form.

HT spoke to the director, who confirmed to have received the complaint and said an internal enquiry has been launched. He said the internal complaints committee (ICC) was looking into the complaint, while the professor has been sent on a forced leave.

In her letter, a copy of which is with HT, the student alleged the incident happened around 5pm. She alleged the professor asked her to shut the door of his cabin after she had entered, and came close to her while they spoke. He then pulled her towards him and forcefully kissed her on the lips while running his hands over her body, the student alleged. The student, in her letter, said she pushed him away, after which the professor threatened her that he would make sure she failed in the exams if she did not listen to him.

The student claimed she managed to run away from the cabin and informed her father about the incident on returning home.

The director of the institute said he received the complaint last Friday and had handed it over to the ICC on Monday. The committee began its probe on Tuesday by conducting hearings with various people at the institute. However, the complainant is yet to appear before the committee.

I met the student and her father. She narrated the incident to me. They havent been able to appear before the committee so far owing to some reason, said the director, adding that the professor has been asked to go on leave to avoid any confrontation with the complainant. The committee will work as per Vishakha guidelines, he said, referring to the Supreme Courts directives on sexual harassment at workplace.

However, Amol Matele, Mumbai president of the Nationalist Student Congress, who claimed he was approached by the complainant for help, accused the ICC of working in a sloppy manner. Matele said he had written to the institute, University of Mumbai and the state government, seeking suspension of the professor. The committee asked the student and her father to appear for a hearing, even though they have now gone to their native place. If the complaint is in writing, the committee can seek a response in writing, he said.

The director, however, defended the institutes actions. I requested the ICC to convene a meeting, even though its vacation period at the institute. The institute is concerned about ethics, values and safety of students. We have a reputation to uphold, he said.

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The University of Mumbai (MU) has goofed up again. Civil engineering students appearing for their third-semester exam were given a question paper that was a replica of the paper from the exam held in December 2017. Eighteen of the 20 questions in the 100-mark Strength of Materials (SOM) subject paper were the same. HT has copies of both the question papers.

An estimated 500 to 1,000 students appeared for the exam on May 22.

Teachers expressed surprise over the similarity in the two papers. Usually around 10%-20% questions in the SOM paper are from previous years question papers. But for the first time, so many questions have been repeated. Even the numeric values in questions are the same, said a teacher from a Thane college.

Vaibhav Naravade, president, Mumbai University and College Teachers Association (MUCTA), said he has informed the varsity registrar and the vice-chancellor about the goof-up. Action should be taken, as this has happened too many times. It is an act of sheer laziness and all the officials involved should be questioned, he said.

The question paper is set by a panel consisting of teachers from different colleges. They draft three papers of which one is picked for the exam. There is no specific criterion for selecting the paper. It is strange how the paper that got selected was an exact copy of the previous paper, Naravade said.

In 2017, the entire Building Design and Drawing II (BDD II) fifth-semester paper was a copy of the previous examination held in May. In February 2016, a question paper in the Master of Computer Application (MCA) first-semester exam was copied from the internal examination of a city college.

Suresh Ukarande, chairperson, MUs board of studies in civil engineering, said, We will have to verify the claim [that the two papers are similar].
A 32-year-old man from Kopar Khairane, who allegedly harassed and attempted to kill his 27-year-old wife in 2016, was held at Mumbai airport on Tuesday.

Mandar Pagare, who works with a private company, got married in 2016. But within a week of their marriage, Pagare started harassing his wife for dowry and demanded 5 lakh. He kept harassing woman by repeatedly asking her about her affairs before their marriage.

When the womans family said they would not be able to meet Pagares demand, he and his family members tried to strangle the women to death. The woman some somehow saved herself and informed her parents about the attempt to murder her.

An FIR was registered under section 498a (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 307 (attempt to murder), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the family and eight people were arrested in May 2016, said an officer from Kopar Khairane police station.

Pagare, prime accused, went into hiding and the police issued a lookout notice against him. His photograph and other details were sent to different police stations and airport authorities.

On Tuesday, he reached the airport to leave for Dubai. The airport police identified and detained Pagare when he went to for immigration formalities. They then informed us and we arrested him on Wednesday, he said.

The accused was produced in court on Thursday and was remanded in judicial custody.

We are now trying to find out where he was hiding for the past two years, said another officer.

Sources from Kopar Khairane police station said Pagare was abroad for the past two years and he had come to India a month ago.
As thousands of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers crowded at Krishna Kunj, MNS chief Raj Thackerays residence in Dadar on Thursday to wish his son Amit on his birthday, the main attraction was the bullet train-shaped birthday cake, brought by the partys Thane unit.

Thackeray has been opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modis ambitious bullet train project, and has been particularly vocal about it in since the Elphinstone Road station stampede in September 2017.

Amidst jokes and laughter, Amit, who was hailed as the future MNS leader by party workers, cut the cake. MNS secretary Sachin More said it was just a spontaneous reaction from party workers.

The social media, too, was full of congratulatory messages for the Thackeray scion, who turned 26.

His father was not present for the celebrations as he is currently touring the state.

While Amit has occasionally hit the campaign trail with his father, such as during the Mumbai civic body elections, as well as campaigned on social media, he has not yet joined politics formally. His cousin and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray is already fully involved in politics and is one of Shiv Senas star campaigners.
A 35-year-old doctor from Bandra has filed a police complaint against a man whom she met on a matrimonial website for molesting her on multiple occasions and threatening to defame her. The police are on the lookout for the accused.

In her complaint filed earlier this week, she said the accused also borrowed money from her, abused her and threatened to get her fired from her job.

The Bandra police said the woman met the accused through a matrimonial website meant specifically for divorcees, as she had got divorced five years ago and was hoping to remarry. In January, after a few interactions, the accused allegedly proposed to her. He told her that he worked in a private firm and earned between Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000 per month.

When they met, he told her that his family had no objections to their marriage, and then demanded a sexual relationship, which she said she refused, the police said. In all, they met around 15 times, and each time he would touch her inappropriately and demand sex, the complainant has said in her statement.

He also borrowed Rs 42,000 from her to buy a bike and promised to return the money once he got his salary. However, he later told her that he had lost his job and had no money to pay her back. When the woman asked when they would get married, the accused denied proposing to her and got abusive, the woman told the Bandra police.

When she asked him for her money, he threatened to defame her in public by visting her building. He also threatened to complain against her to the medical council via an email and get her fired, the official said.

The woman finally approached the Bandra police earlier this week, following which a First Information Report was registered under sections 354 (molestation), 354A (sexual harassment), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insulting modesty of a woman by act, gesture or word) of the Indian Penal Code.
Third-year Commerce (TY BCom) students will have one less subject to study, from the upcoming academic year 2018-2019. Currently, TY BCom students have seven subjects, which will be brought down to six.

The University of Mumbai (MU) has not taken the decision to ease the pressure of the students. It has in fact, taken the decision to ease the assessment burden, currently worrying the examiners.

The change in the syllabus is aimed at spreading out subjects more evenly during the three-year course. It will reduce the assessment burden on the delay-prone examination department, and will likely ensure timely results for the final year students.

The university started gradually revising the curricula of the undergraduate courses from 2016-17 and culminated in 2018-19. Under the earlier syllabus, the students studied seven subjects each, in the first and third years and six subjects in the second year. The varsity decided to move one out paper of the special subject chosen by a student [accounting or management] from final year to the second year, as the second year had only one paper of the special subject, said Siddheshwar Gadade, dean in-charge, commerce faculty, MU.

With the new curriculum in place, the university will have to assess 70,000 - 80,000 fewer papers in a semester examination. This is because MU only conducts final year examinations for other undergraduate (UG) courses, while the first two years tests are conducted by the respective colleges.

Earlier, MU, which is being weighed down by assessments after it adopted the on-screen marking system last year, shifted all but final year examinations of three and five year LLB courses to colleges.

Teachers hope that, with fewer papers to assess, MU will be able to declare the final year results on time. Any delay in the third year results, affects the future career prospects of students, said Jayant Apte, vice principal, KES Shroff College, Kandivli.

There is an uproar because final year results are delayed. But number of examiners are not sufficient, added Gadade.
Citizens have until June 21 to send in suggestions for and objections to selected parts of the Development Plan 2034 (DP).

Send suggestions and objections to: Deputy Director of Town Planning, Greater Mumbai, E-block, ENSA Hutment, Azad Maidan, Mumbai

The DP is a blueprint for land use over the next 20 years. It covers areas like affordable housing, promoting development of slum rehabilitation projects, parking authority, redevelopment of dilapidated buildings, high-rise restrictions and regulating open spaces in Mumbai.

When it was announced earlier this month, the DP was divided into two parts  Sanctioned and Excluded. The Sanctioned parts are the final provisions that are ready for implementation. The Excluded Parts (EP) have newly-introduced provisions and changes, suggested by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) planning committee and the state government. Some of the changes suggested by the state are substantial and citizens are invited to send in their suggestions and objections.

The DCPR had 163 excluded parts, which will be open to feedback from citizens. These are mostly highly technical in their phrasing, but are important issues that will affect a large demographic. For example, the EP discusses increased floor service index (FSI) premium (which will affect the redevelopment of old structures) and how expensive the FSI is for the construction of hospital and educational buildings.

The deadline for filing suggestions and objections currently stands at June 21, according to a senior civic official of the DP Department.

After June 21, the EP will be sent back to the state government and a final call will be taken. Architect Milind Dasaria said, Only after getting an overall sanction to the DP, the citys real estate sector will get a boost.

The state government is yet to issue DP maps and report, which is making it difficult for citizens to send their responses.

We are trying to finalise the excluded part in the DP by December, said NR Shende, director of town planning and valuation.
The Kherwadi police have arrested two horse owners for allegedly treating their animals, which were part of the Congress protest rally on Thursday, cruelly.

The rally, to protest the steep rise in fuel prices, was held on Thursday afternoon on the southbound stretch of Western Express Highway, near Teachers Colony in Bandra (east). Party workers were taking photographs with the horses, which were used to make a point that it had become unaffordable to drive vehicles.

According to the Kherwadi police, the owners were seen kicking the two animals. Then a photo session started. It was very hot out there, but the animals were made to work in the scorching sun, which amounts to cruelty, said a police official, requesting anonymity, who was on bandobast duty at the spot.

The accused have been identified as Gajral Jaiswal,49, and Nate Jaiswal,45, both residents of Khar Danda.

The duo has been booked under section 3 (duties of persons in charge of animals) and 11 (treating animals cruelly) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, confirmed Rajendra Patil, senior police inspector of Kherwadi police station.

A First Information Report was also registered against protesting Congress workers, for unlawful assembly and wrongful restraint for blocking traffic.
The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday refused relief to a homeopathy student who claimed that her college did not allow her to attend classes as she wears a hijab. The hijab is a headscarf traditionally worn by Muslim women.

A vacation bench of Justice SJ Kathawalla and Justice AS Gadkari was hearing the plea of a Bandra resident, Fakeha Badami, seeking permission to sit for a repeat examination of her first year of her course, bachelor in homeopathic medicines and surgery (BHMS), scheduled to begin on June 6.

The bench denied her permission to appear for the exam for want of the minimum 75% attendance, after which she claimed that she was not allowed to attend classes due to her hijab. The Thane college, Sai Homeopathic Medical College in Bhiwadi, has denied the allegation.

The vacation bench disposed of Fakehas petition after the college assured that she will be allowed to answer the repeaters examination in December, provided she attends lectures and meets the minimum attendance requirement.

According to the petition, Fakeha secured admission in the BHMS course in 2016 and classes commenced on December 27, 2016. She claimed that she started going to college from December 28, but college authorities started coercing Muslim students to remove their hijaab. Initially she was allowed to attend classes, but was later asked to either remove the hijab or leave the classroom, she said.

The petition further states that her father then alerted the concerned authorities, based on which AYUSH, the parent central department, sent a warning to the college in January 2017. Despite the warning, the institute did not change its stance, compelling the complainant to approach the high court in November 2017.

The first petition was disposed of by a division bench on March 12, after the college management assured HC that she will be allowed to attend repeaters classes, which had already commenced by then. That bench had also directed the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences to consider any requests made by the student, with respect to the rules and regulation.

However, when she was not allowed to appear for the repeaters examination, she approached the high court again.She contended that she was able to attend lectures only from March 19, 2018 onwards, after the earlier high court order. However, the contention failed to impress upon the vacation bench.
In his February 29, 1920 article Hindu Muslim Unity, Mahatma Gandhi wrote, My dream is that a Vaishnava , with a mark on his forehead and a bead necklace, or an ash-smeared Hindu with a rudraksha necklace, ever so punctilious in his sandhya and ablutions, and a pious Muslim saying his namaz regularly can live as brothers. God willing, the dream will be realised.

The prevention of Muslims from offering namaz in public places by some groups in Gurugram recently goes against Gandhis vision. It imperils the ideal of Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava, the foundational pillar of secularism enshrined in our Constitution. It is tragic that some forces are trying to shatter Gandhis dream in the name of Hinduism, which Gandhi said is no narrow creed but a grand evolutionary process encompassing in its scope the ideals of Jesus, Muhammad and Zoroaster.

The forthcoming 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi should make us more aware of his legacy. In My Experiments with Truth, Gandhi recollects how in the Tolstoy Farm he established in South Africa during his first satyagraha, the Muslims freely followed their religion and offered their daily namaz without any hindrance.

Gandhi juxtaposed forms of prayer associated with all faiths and underlined their essential unity and linked them to the performance of ones duty. On this he wrote, There can be no greater mistake than to suppose that the recitation of the gayatri, the namaz or the Christian prayer are superstitions fit to be practised by the ignorant and the credulous. He adds, Fasting and prayer... are a most powerful process of purification and that which purifies necessarily enables us the better to do our duty and to attain our goal. Therefore, in preventing Muslims from offering namaz attempts are being made to prevent them to purify themselves and perform their duties as citizens.

Gandhi refused to construct a temple in Sabarmati Ashram and place an idol there in spite of the request of Meera Ben to do so. He believed that the open space was his prayer hall, the ceiling of which was the sky and the four sides (east, west, north and south) constituted its four walls. He explained that prayer offered in such a hall could transcend the barriers of faith, caste, language and nationality.

While participating in numerous open air prayer meetings across India and speaking on such occasions Gandhi used to stop at the scheduled time meant for Muslim participants to offer namaz and resume his speech after that. On one occasion while addressing a prayer meeting on November 16, 1946, he stopped for the Muslim participants to offer namaz and when pin drop silence was not being observed, he chided those causing disturbance and observed, Culture and good breeding required that they should observe silence when others said their prayer.

It is fascinating to note that Gandhi understood namaz not only as a form of prayer but also as a form of exercise and it was evident from his observation in 1921 that, One gets exercise through namaz. In 1946 while addressing a prayer meeting in Delhi, he told that someone sent him a book describing how namaz should be offered and he found a sentence in it to the effect that prayer offered in congregation was 27 times as effective as prayer said by oneself. He then observed that if they all joined in the prayer whole-heartedly and methodically it would transform the atmosphere and riots in Delhi would become an impossibility.

To uphold the cause of Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava, Gandhis thoughts on namaz are of abiding significance.

SN Sahu is former OSD and press secretary to President of India KR Narayanan

The views expressed are personal
Pakistans former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs comments on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the lack of progress in the trail to bring its conspirators to justice and Pakistans international isolation have drawn enormous attention in Pakistan and India. In the latter, it is seen as indictment, if it was needed, of the forces that powered the attacks and have kept a protective cloak around its leaders. In Pakistan reactions varied.

A few acknowledged the fact that no more than the truth was spoken and Pakistans poor international image was standing proof of all that had gone wrong in Pakistan. More felt betrayed that ground was being conceded to the Indian position on account of Pakistans internal politics. Many more probably while conceding the truth in both these positions nevertheless were more interested in witnessing the latest unfolding of a major political partys tangle with the military establishment.

From mid-2013 till July 2017 Sharifs tenure as PM was regularly punctuated by very visible run-ins with the military. After his ouster he has been vocal in speaking out against the forces that unseated him  sometimes directly, sometimes by allusion but no one was left with any doubt about who his defiance was aimed at. The remarks on the 26/11 attacks have given the civil-military tussle in Pakistan an added intensity. This is not surprising in itself and this has happened in the past on a number of occasions. Even as the terrorists in Mumbai were being neutralised, on November 28, 2008, the Pakistan foreign office had announced that the DG ISI would visit Mumbai as part of the investigation into the attacks by the LeT. Within hours the decision was annulled  not so much formally as simply not acted upon. It was a Pakistan Peoples Party government in Pakistan then, itself still reeling from the impact of Benazir Bhuttos assassination less than a year earlier. The fact is that where dealing with India is concerned Pakistans military trusts neither the PPP nor the PML(N), it believes that the role is its, and its alone.

In any event the trail, such as it was, of the lead plotters of the attacks became an instrument in the hands of the military to thwart political initiatives to stabilise and improve ties with India. Both houses of our Parliament had spontaneously adopted resolutions of support and grief after the Army Public School massacre in Peshawar in December 2014.

Before this move could gather momentum and barely three days later came the news that an anti-terrorist court had granted bail to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, one of the 26/11 masterminds. He was released on bail within days of the Indian foreign secretarys Islamabad visit in March 2015 to restart a dialogue stalled then for some months after the Pakistani high commissioners ill-fated meeting in Delhi with the Hurriyat. Not surprisingly this step came to nothing. The fact also is that the 26/11 attacks and the trail has been the site of civil-military contestation in Pakistan from the very beginning.

What underwrote Sharifs remarks is Pakistans own experience of the backlash from terrorist outfits long-sponsored by the military. How much things have actually changed because of this is impossible to gauge and there is no basis to be overly optimistic. At about the same time as the controversy over Sharifs remarks there was much anguish in Pakistan over the failure of its application to the UNSC that Umer Khalid Khurasani, the leader of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, be listed by the Al Qaeda/Taliban sanctions committee. He is believed to have been the mastermind behind many major terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including the Army Public School massacre.

It was widely reported in the Pakistani media that the application failed because the United States objected to it. The Pakistan foreign office spokesperson speaking about this last week expressing deeply disappoint at this outcome said if the organization Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has been listed by the sanctions committee, its leader should also have been listed. This is a fair point. But the same analogy exists with the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Masood Azhar where Pakistan effectively lobbied China to block Azhars listing. This failure of Pakistan to apply uniform standards to terrorist outrages even as it reels under attacks is the heart of the problem.

It is to Sharifs credit that he said this so pointedly. Whether he does so out of careful political calculation or gut instinct or straightforward frustration, perhaps even desperation, is more difficult to decipher. In any event, Pakistans general elections will reveal the answer.

TCA Raghavan is a former high commissioner to Pakistan

The views expressed are personal
Three-year-old Aarav says he will shoot the murderers of his father with his toy gun as scores of people throng the murdered Bank of Baroda (BoB) branch managers house in Nawada district of Bihar.

Mere papa ko gundon ne mar diya. Mumma, dada jee, dadi aur chachu sabhi ro rahe hain. Main gundon ko mar dunga (Criminals have killed my father. Mummy, grandpa, grandma and uncle, everyone is crying. I will kill those criminals), the boy says as he waives his toy gun inside his house in Kutari village.

Alok Chandra, who joined BoBs Arwal branch last year, was shot dead on Monday by unidentified men near Nehalpur village. He was on his way to the office from Jehanabad on a motorcycle when the men intercepted him near Nehalpur diversion and pumped three bullets into him. He died on the spot.

The 31-year-old officer lived in a rented house in Jehanabad, some 25km from his bank branch.

A preliminary probe by police suggests that Alok could have been targeted because he recently exposed a man called Deepak Sharma, who ran an illegal customer service point (CSP) and allegedly duped 37 customers of their cash with the help of his associates. Alok lodged a police complaint and also deposed against them.

Aloks father Chandrabhushan Sharma urged Union minister Giriraj Singh to ensure that his sons killers are arrested as soon as possible when he came to meet the bereaved family a day after the murder.

My son had no hostility with anyone and he loved and admired everyone in his office and at his village. His honesty turned out to be his only enemy as he wanted to bring transparency at his Arwal branch, said the ageing father before bursting into tears.

His wife fainted after hearing her husband cry and the women from neighbouring houses ran to lift her to a cot and spray water on her face.

Known as a disciplinarian and an honest man, Chandrabhushan is a marginal farmer with a meagre two bighas of land. Despite financial constraints, he ensured a good education for his sons and did not hesitate to sell his land to realise his dreams of seeing them do well in life.

The biggest curse in life for a man is to shoulder his sons body. I have no lust to live longer now, he rued.

Anjani Kumar Singh, a neighbour and member of the Nawada District Board, said everyone is in a mourning.

Since the incident, the family has preferred not to switch on the lights and remained in the dark. They say Alok was the familys light and torch bearer. With him gone, the artificial lights are hurting their eyes, Singh said.

Singh and his mother have been taking care of the family and little Aarav. Aloks mother, Neelam Devi, an auxiliary nurse midwife at the Warisaliganj government health centre hasnt spoken a word and his widow, Nidhi Chandra, is in a shock.

Aloks father-in-law Mahesh Sharma has taken charge of talking to the visitors and helping police in their investigation by replying to their queries.

My son-in-law was too helpful and honest. He never thought of any wrong-doing in his life, the reader with the Nawadas superintendent of police rued, wondering why anyone would kill such a person.

Alok, his friend Rakesh Sharma said, came to the village last Saturday to participate in the last rituals of his neighbour and it proved to be his last visit.

He was an icon for the youth of his village and always made it a point to remain in the village at least on Sundays to guide all those preparing for banking examinations, Rakesh said.
Passengers flying from Chandigarh will soon get connectivity to Indore, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. As many as four domestic flights are starting to these destinations after the Chandigarh International Airport reopens on June 1 after a 20-day closure for runway upgrade work.

Go Air will start an Ahmedabad-Chandigarh-Srinagar flight on June 1. They had earlier listed this flight for April 16, but could not operate it due to airports closure.

Indigo will begin its Bengaluru-Chandigarh flight on July 1, while its flight to Kolkata is scheduled for first take-off from Chandigarh on July 15. Kolkata flight is also connected to Srinagar. The airline is already operating two flights to Bengaluru from the airport.

Similarly, Jet Airways will start a flight between Chandigarh and Indore on August 1.

Sharing this, Chandigarh airport spokesperson Deepesh Joshi said the new flights will improve airports domestic connectivity. However, no new international flights are scheduled in the near future, he added.

The airport currently operates 27 domestic flights and three international flights.

Flight schedule:

Go Air Ahmedabad-Chandigarh-Srinagar

Starting: June 1

Departure to Srinagar: 12.30pm

Arrival from Srinagar: 3pm

Departure to Ahmedabad: 3.35pm

Indigo Bengaluru-Chandigarh

Starting: July 1

Departure: 3.20pm (on Tuesdays, it will depart at 1.20pm)

Indigo Kolkata-Chandigarh-Srinagar

Starting: July 15

Departure to Srinagar: 7.55am

Arrival from Srinagar: 10.50am

Departure to Kolkata: 11.20am

Jet Airways Indore-Chandigarh

Starting date: August 1

Departure: 3.15pm
As towering waves smashed onto Costa Ricas Cocles beach, sucking away much of its sand, surf instructor Leo Downer was scared the coastal road, along with his Toyota car, would be washed into the Caribbean by the ferocious February storm.

Low boulders now sit in place to help shelter Cocles, with its reggae bar and cafes serving rice and beans, where tourists cycle past fruit stalls selling lychees and soursop and signs warn of sloths crossing the beach road. But as rising seas threaten parts of the tropical eastern coast, dubbed Little Jamaica, many worry that the visitors who generate numerous jobs in the area  known for its palm-fringed beaches and exotic wildlife  could go elsewhere.

This year was the craziest Ive ever seen... we lost everything  there was no sand, there was nothing, the water was hitting right here, all those trees fell down, said Downer, pointing to the nearby road amid a torrential downpour. I saw the water come under my car, whoosh  it didnt take it, but... Ive never seen that before. I think everything is changing, its a little warning, he said, his family sheltering from the rain under their beach shack surrounded by surfboards.

Global warming could cause sea levels around the world to rise between 70 cm and 1.2 metres (28-47 inches) in the next two centuries, ramping up pressure on the roughly half of the worlds population who live near the coast, said a German-led team of researchers in a study published in February.

Scientists say parts of Costa Ricas Caribbean coast have lost at least 20 metres (66 ft) of beach in the past 15 years, as creeping sea levels and changing wave patterns cause coastal erosion, often exacerbated by coral reef degradation.

They warn that higher seas and increasingly unpredictable conditions could start to damage infrastructure and take a heavy economic and social toll. In addition to the creeping effects of climate change, extreme events like hurricanes are likely to worsen the impact on many coastal communities, said Borja Reguero, a researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Trees are being replanted on parts of Costa Ricas coast to halt erosion and protect livelihoods. But more extreme conditions demand hefty spending on infrastructure such as wave breaks and sea walls to delay mass relocations, some experts say. In 100 years, all of the villages in Costa Ricas Caribbean and Pacific coasts will inevitably be flooded, said Omar Lizano Rodriguez, a University of Costa Rica oceanographer.

Theres not the resources or political will to solve the problem. Costa Rica deals with emergencies but not prevention.

Frightened tourists

Tourism is a mainstay on the tropical coast, some 200 km (125 miles) east of San Jose, where many are descended from the Jamaicans who originally came to work on a jungle railway, and English mixes with Spanish and Patois.

In Cahuita, where the coastal national park draws tourists looking for sloths snoozing in the treetops and howler monkeys leaping through the forest, the sea has already consumed slabs of beach and is starting to menace the sleepy town.

On the wooden veranda of Spencer Seaside Lodging where she works, Araceli Huertas explained storm waves are now much higher than in previous years and sometimes crash over the reinforced sea wall in front, soaking the hotels rooms. The tourists are frightened its a tidal wave or a tsunami or something, as they dont see this very often, said Huertas, who has lived in the beach town for 15 years. Now the sea is calm but when the sea looks very high, they want to leave.

Wild conditions are causing trouble for fishermen who cannot go out in rough seas and are landing smaller catches, said Jose Ash, as two men dragged a boat out of reach of the high tide. People who live from the ocean cant go anywhere  its too dangerous, said the fisherman and tour guide, whose own boat was moored offshore.

In Cahuita, where the coastal national park draws tourists looking for sloths snoozing in the treetops, the sea has already consumed slabs of beach and is starting to menace the sleepy town. (Shutterstock)

What I hear is theyre going to build a dock right here for the fishermen, theyre going to put some big stones and jacks out there by the big breakers, but thats just like blah, blah, blah for the past 10 years. Cahuitas national park regularly has to redraw its coastal paths but an elevated wooden walkway built after parts of the access road were washed away now allows it to stay open even when the sea washes ashore, helping keep local guides in work.

As rising waters push back the parks shorelines and reduce its trees, the animals that tempt visitors to the area are also coming under pressure, said park guard Mirna Cortes Obando. All the coastline inside the park has been affected  for example, weve lost nearly 50 metres of beach over the last 10 years, said Cortes, on the veranda of the parks headquarters, which was surrounded by water during recent storms.

Were losing much of the trees here, the almonds, the sea grapes, the coconuts that the animals use for food. Together with the non-profit Talamanca-Caribbean Biological Corridor Association, the park is now planting more trees along the coast to limit erosion, while a team monitors the coral reef that helps protect parts of the shore.

Branching out

Some of the young trees such as coconut palms have been wiped out by storms, but they should eventually create a barrier to protect against rising waters, said Julio Barquero Elizondo, marine biologist at the association. Educational programmes are also crucial to better prepare for climate change, said Barquero in Hone Creek village, where hundreds of saplings grow in the non-profits plant nursery.

We have to have alternatives and not just think about the beach and the sea  the guides should also know about forest tourism and indigenous communities, to have a broader offering so that climate change wont be so damaging, he said. Back in Cahuitas national park, wildlife guide Richard Hills-Wilson pointed to the tangle of sun-bleached trunks that was once a broad stretch of sand he played on as child.

He is bracing for the next storms, as he marks 33 years of working in the area next month. The beach is going to go, he said. If theres no beach, then nobody comes.

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Tourism in Kerala is bearing the brunt of the sudden occurrence of Nipah virus in a section of the state. However, locals and tourists believe that the situation has been falsely portrayed by the media.

News of the presence of the virus was first reported from Kozhikode earlier this week, and now, at least 12 deaths have been confirmed to have taken place due to the rare and deadly virus. As the death toll is rising each day, a wave of panic has gripped the state, since the infection spreads through human contact.

However, locals in Kochi believe that unnecessary panic has been spread through various sections of the media, which in turn, is disrupting tourism to the region. In Northern India, it is the holiday season now, due to which we get many tourists from there. However, the news of the Nipah virus has led to almost 50 to 60% cancellation of bookings. We are also getting inquiries from Gulf countries, as the Arab holiday season is approaching. It has created unnecessary panic, said Tourism Profession Club secretary Paul.

Keralas health department issued an advisory for people travelling to the state, and urged travellers to be extra cautious while visiting Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur districts. (Shutterstock)

Echoing a similar thought, Ajay Kumar, a local tourist guide, said the false portrayal of the situation is hampering his business. In Kochi, there is no need to panic as the area is safe from the virus. It (Nipah) has only spread in a small section of Kozhikode. However, the media is portraying it in such a way that tourists believe the whole of Kerala is affected by the disease. I have lost business due to this, as travellers are cancelling trips booked even for the next month, he added.

However, tourists in the area, although unfazed by the virus, are taking precautionary measures in the wake of the disease. We are trying to eat home-cooked food for our own safety. We are avoiding excessive amounts of hotel food and fruits for now. We are also planning to avoid visiting Kozhikode at this time, a tourist said.

So far, the virus has claimed 12 lives in Kerala, following which the states health department issued an advisory for people travelling to the state, and urged travellers to be extra cautious while visiting Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur districts.

A similar note of caution has also been issued by the Himachal Pradesh health ministry on Thursday after more than 18 dead bats were discovered on Wednesday in the premises of a government school in Nahan, triggering a panic among locals. For those unversed, Nipah virus, spread by fruit bats, causes communicable disease and is fatal for both animals and humans. The symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, drowsiness, respiratory illness, disorientation and mental confusion. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), these signs and symptoms can progress to coma within 24-48 hours.

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Unidentified persons set off a bomb in an Indian restaurant in a Toronto suburb on Thursday night, with the blast injuring 15 people, three seriously.

The blast occurred at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga as two separate birthday celebrations were in progress. The members of the families were people of Indian origin. While three were taken to hospital with serious injuries, 12 others suffered minor injuries from the blast.

Peel regional police provided CCTV images of two men wearing hoodies, with their faces covered, entering the restaurant prior to the explosion, and then fleeing.

Police said there was nothing in their investigations so far which suggested terrorism or hate crime, adding that they were ruling nothing out in terms of the possible motive for the attack. An improvised explosive device was used in the attack.

Police chief Jennifer Evans, in a Friday morning conference, said the investigation was in its early stages. She said: Every police resource is being used to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed solidarity with the victims of the violence.

Security footage shows the suspects, dressed in dark hoodies, enter the restaurant. Police posted the image on Twitter asking for peoples help in identifying the suspects. (Peel Regional Police/Twitter)

Canadas high commissioner to New Delhi Nadir Patel tweeted authorities were following closely reports of an explosion at an Indian restaurant in #Mississauga, Ontario. At this time, our thoughts are with those injured in the blast and wishing for their speedy recovery. Patel is scheduled to appear at an Indian community event in Mississauga on Friday evening.

Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie described the incident as a heinous crime.

Indias external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said was monitoring the situation from New Delhi. She tweeted: I am in constant touch with our Consul General in Toronto and Indian High Commissioner in Canada. Our missions will work round the clock.

High commissioner Vikas Swarup was also tracking developments.

Officials from the Indian consulate visited both the site of the explosion and the hospitals where the injured were taken. Indias consul general to Toronto Dinesh Bhatia was among those who were at the hospital for a large chunk of the night.

Bhatia told the Hindustan Times: The consulate opened a helpline immediately after receiving the information about the explosion to extend all possible assistance. We are keeping a close watch on the situation. External affairs minister and ministry of external affairs are fully informed of the developments.

Local police are coordinating with forces across the region to comb for the two men who fled the restaurant. Police have also sought information from the public in an effort to identify and apprehend suspects.

In a message on Facebook, the restaurant, part of a chain owned by the Nagpal family, stated: It was an extremely horrific and sad incident that happened at our Hwy 10 location yesterday evening. We want to thank you for all of your support and well wishes, especially to the families that were affected. At this time, the police are undergoing a full investigation to ensure the individuals are apprehended.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed solidarity with the victims of the violence. Canadas high commissioner to New Delhi Nadir Patel tweeted they were following closely reports of an explosion at an Indian restaurant in #Mississauga, Ontario. At this time, our thoughts are with those injured in the blast and wishing for their speedy recovery.

Police also posted descriptions of the two men who were witnessed fleeing the scene. The first is a male, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, stocky build, mid-20s, light skin, wearing dark blue jeans, dark zip up hoodie pulled over head, baseball cap with light grey peak, face covered with black cloth material. The other man was described as :59-510, fair skin, thin build, faded blue jeans, dark zip-up hoodie hood pulled over head, grey t-shirt, dark coloured skate shoes, face covered.

Groups like the Indo-Canadian Harmony Forum called upon the Indo-Canadian community to assist police so the culprits are punished. Its chairperson Azad Kaushik said: It seems that the purpose of the attack was to instil fear in the mind of law-abiding innocent Canadians at the time when provincial elections are to be held on June 7.
US President Donald Trumps letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cancelling their summit next month prompted a deluge of derisory comments on Twitter on Thursday, including many about the now discounted commemorative coin pre-minted for the occasion.

The President Trump United States and Korea Summit coin was the deal of the day at the White House Gift Shop on Thursday after Trump earlier in the day called off the historic summit with Kim, citing Pyongyangs open hostility.

The coin, which was selling for $19.95 after the price was cut from $24.95,shows gold embossed images of Trump and Kim facing each other with a montage of their countries flags in the background. Kims title is designated as Supreme Leader.

The coin was minted by the US military, which has long issued challenge coins commemorating specific events or accomplishments. A military detachment called the White House Communications Agency, regularly issues coins when the president travels abroad.

What some described as the breakup tone of Trumps letter to Kim, coupled with the premature coins, drew a lively response from social media users on Twitter.

Along with the breakup letter, Trump also sent Kim half of the Peace Summit Coin, imploring him to wear it around his neck until they're reunited, in love pic.twitter.com/USjVHiDoWh  Adam Blickstein (@AdamBlickstein) May 24, 2018

I am going to break up with you before you can break up with me and I get to keep all of the commemorative coins... SO THERE, said @AOPhoenix

Are they going to make a coin to commemorate the breakup between Kim Jong Un and Trump? Steelsnowflake1 asked.

No bel! No bel! Worthless coins! Worthless coins!, said Sally Thomas, @SallyTh24566914, referring to speculation that Trump could be in line for a Nobel Peace Prize if the summit takes place.

Seeing as Trump never apologises for anything, except the break up letter to Kimmy, do you think hell keep the money from the commemorative coin?, morosejews asked.

I wonder what the White House will do with all those Commemorative Peace Talk Coins that were made featuring Trump and Kim Jung-Un that were made in honor of the talks that are canceled now? Do they just get melted down or something?   Jimmy G (@JGwinn1048) May 25, 2018

What about his break up email to Kim Jong? What will he do with all his silly challenge coins he made?, asked Stablegenius Steve @numberone2

You didnt break up with me, I broke up with you first. I want my ring back and reimbursed for the stupid coins I had made, said @sandrafualkenb1.

Trumps letter to Kim announced his abrupt withdrawal from what would have been a first-ever meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader. It had been due to take place in Singapore on June 12.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, Trump wrote in his letter to Kim.

A man wearing a mask of US President Donald Trump performs next to a cutout of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-US President Donald Trump rally near US embassy in Seoul, South Korea. (Reuters Photo)

Please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday said it was possible a planned summit with North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un could still take place on June 12 as originally planned, just a day after he cancelled the meeting citing Pyongyangs tremendous anger and open hostility.

Trump welcomed the conciliatory statement from North Korea saying it remained open to talks after on Thursday he called off a summit with North Koreas autocratic leader, Kim Jong Un.

It was a very nice statement they put out, Trump said as he left the White House to deliver a commencement address at the US Naval Academy. Well see what happens - it could even be the 12th.

Were talking to them now. They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it.

Earlier on Twitter, Trump had noted very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea.

After decades of tension on the Korean peninsula and antagonism with the United States over its nuclear weapons program, Kim and Trump agreed to meet in what would be the first meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader. The plan followed months of war threats and insults from both leaders.

Trump scrapped the meeting on Thursday after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the summit in Singapore over what it saw as confrontational remarks by US officials. Trump cited North Korean hostility in cancelling the summit.

In Pyongyang, North Korean vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan said North Koreas recent criticisms of certain US officials had been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric and that the current antagonism showed the urgent necessity for the summit.

His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it, Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement on state media.

He added that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington regardless of ways, at any time.

North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trumps national security adviser, John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by NATO-backed militants after halting his nascent nuclear program.

Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea appreciated Trump for having made the bold decision to work toward a summit.

We even inwardly hoped that what is called Trump formula would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue, he said, without elaborating.
Israel said Thursday it will give final approval to the construction of 2,500 new homes in the occupied West Bank, the first tranche of settlements since the controversial US embassy move to Jerusalem.

The announcement was slammed by the Palestinians, as prospects of a peace accord between the sides appeared as distant as ever.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced his intention to request final approval from a planning committee for the building of 2,500 new homes in 30 West Bank settlements.

The 2,500 new units well approve in the planning committee next week are for immediate construction in 2018, Lieberman said in a statement, adding he would also seek the committees approval for a further 1,400 settlement units for later construction.

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said Washington was complicit in the latest move.

The continuation of the settlement policy, statements by American officials supporting settlements and incitement by Israeli ministers have ended the two-state solution and ended the American role in the region, he said in a statement published by official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The 2,500 units include 400 homes in Ariel, 460 in Maale Adumim, 330 in the Etzion bloc, and a retirement home in Elkana, according to Lieberman.

Israels West Bank planning committee was set to convene on Wednesday next week to discuss the request, though this was not officially confirmed.

Were continuing the development momentum of the Judaea and Samaria settlements and are approving thousands of new units, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on his Twitter account, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

We will soon approve more units.

Torpedoing peace prospects

Israels West Bank settlements are considered illegal under international law and are bitterly opposed by Palestinians.

Neighbouring Jordan, along with Egypt one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, slammed the latest move.

Unilateral Israeli measures, in particular settlement plans, are systematically aimed at torpedoing any prospect of peace, Information Minister Mohamed Momani wrote in an Arabic-language statement.

In a recent appeal to the International Criminal Court, the Palestinian foreign ministry called Israeli settlements the single most dangerous threat to Palestinian lives and livelihoods.

Thursday was the first major settlement announcement since the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, a move that infuriated Palestinians and intensified protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day.

Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

The Palestinians have said that in light of US President Donald Trumps decision to move the embassy, they could no longer trust Washington in its traditional role of brokering a peace deal with Israel.

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said that data, including Thursdays announcement, showed a leap in settlement-building during Trumps term so far.

In the year and a half since President Trump took office some 14,454 units in the West Bank have been approved, the NGO said in a statement.

That, it added, is more than three times the amount that was approved in the year and half before his inauguration (4,476 units).

US ambassador blasted

US ambassador to Israel David Friedman maintains, however, that Trump hasnt failed on the ultimate deal, the term the US president has used to describe peace with the Palestinians.

In a Wednesday interview with Israeli Channel 10, Friedman said Trump was working on a deal, which was expected to be presented within months.

While Israel would expect to retain certain settlements in any two-state peace deal, longstanding international consensus has been that their status must be negotiated.

Friedman, who is Jewish and a longstanding supporter of Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is deeply unpopular among Palestinians.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in March labelled him a son of a dog.

And on Wednesday Abbass adviser for religious affairs, Mahmud Habbash, called Friedman a terrorist settler, in comments published by WAFA.

That came after a picture was published in Israeli and Palestinian media of the ambassador being presented with a provocative photo of annexed east Jerusalem with the revered Al-Aqsa mosque erased and replaced by a simulation of a Jewish temple.

A US embassy statement said the doctored image was pushed in front of Friedman without his consent during a visit to a charitable institution in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.
The Pakistan government has declared a ban on Indian films on the occasions of Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha.

Both are big occasions when films, particularly from Bollywood, make the most money upon their release.

Pakistans central board of film censors released a statement on Thursday saying the move comes in order to revive, and promote the local film industry in Pakistan.

Although it is not a blanket ban and Indian films can screen before and after Eid, the government has slotted a period for local cinemas during which Indian films cannot be shown.

The films can be screened till two days before Eid and two weeks after the holiday.

There are already a number of local films which will be competing at the box office this Eid-ul-Fitr: Azaadi, Wajood and 7 Din Mohabbat In.

Hamza Ali Abbasi-starrer Parwaaz Hai Junoon which was also slated to release alongside these films has now been pushed back to avoid the clash.

The temporary ban also applies to foreign language films.

An official at Pakistans ministry of information and broadcasting said the step had been taken on the requests by the Pakistani film exhibitors, distributors and production houses.

An official from the Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association confirmed they had received the notification.

The notification says that the temporary ban is being imposed in order to promote local movies on the festivals, a time when usual than larger audience is attracted towards cinemas, he said.

Eid-ul-Adha holidays which will fall around late August or September.

Pakistani film producers and artists have been complaining for the last two years that their new films face stiff completion from the Indian and Hollywood movies and due to the limited number of screens in the country they are not able to do good business.(With inputs from agencies)
China on Friday urged the US and North Korea to be patient and show goodwill, hours after American President Donald Trump cancelled a rare meeting with the Communist countrys leader, Kim Jong Un.

Trump abruptly cancelled the summit scheduled in Singapore on June 12. Beijing had backed the summit and was possibly taken unawares with the cancellation following heated exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang this week.

Trump released a letter to announce the cancellation around the time when North Korea dismantled its nuclear testing site witnessed by a small group of international journalists.

The recent easing situation on the peninsula is hard won, the political settlement process is faced with a rare historic opportunity, Lu Kang, ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) spokesperson said at the regular ministry briefing on Friday.

With North Korea saying earlier in the day that it was ready for talks with the US any time, Lu noted that both countries had left the door ajar to holding talks.

We believe as the parties directly engaged on the issue, the summit of the DPRK (North Korea is formally known as Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) and US can play a crucial role for promoting the denuclearisation of the peninsula, Lu said.

Under the current circumstances we hope both the DPRK and the US can cherish the recent positive progress, stay patient, show goodwill, move in the same direction and continue to stay committed to promoting the denuclearisation of the peninsula, he added.

Expectedly, Chinas official statements through the MFA were adequately neutral about the cancellation and didnt give any indication whether it would impact US-China ties recently strained over a looming trade dispute.

China is North Koreas key ally and economic benefactor and is certain to have played a crucial role in the evolving ties between Washington and Pyongyang.

Kim met President Xi Jinping twice in less than 40 days as US-North Korea ties seemed to thaw.

China actually has played the role of hidden guarantor for the North Korea-United States summit, so China will continue to promote this meeting, Sun Xingjie, an expert on North Korea at the Jilin University, told the Peoples Daily Overseas Edition, an official Communist Party of China paper.

The renewed confrontation between the US and North Korea could threaten peace and stability on the peninsula. It would be wise for both sides to exercise a level of restraint and avoid using excessive action against one another, the nationalistic tabloid Global Times said in an editorial on Friday.

Trump cancelled the June summit hours after North Korea had demolished its Punggye-ri nuclear test site. The time difference may have inspired Pyongyang to think Trumps public announcement was delivered on purpose and could result in North Korea moving to its next anger phase, it added.
Undercover French officers could hardly believe their luck this week when two dealers they were tailing walked up to them and offered them 67 kilogrammes of cannabis.

The unlikely encounter took place Wednesday evening in the northern Paris suburb of Bondy, where a group of plain clothes officers were discreetly watching a stolen car.

Two clearly inexperienced dealers came up to them and asked if the goods were for them, police sources told AFP.

The officers replied in the affirmative and then used tasers to immobilise and arrest the pair, who were transporting 67 kilogrammes of cannabis resin, the sources said.
US president Donald Trump personally dictated a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday conveying his decision to call off their Singapore summit amid growing signs of skittishness from Pyongyang accompanied by an alarming rise in sharp rhetoric.

Last week, a team of US officials hoping to hold preparatory talks with North Korean officials was left waiting in Singapore, the venue of what was expected to be a historic visit.

The North Koreans didnt tell us anything. They simply stood us up, a senior White House official said.

The official also spoke of broken promises on the part of the North Koreans.

Responding to Trumps letter, Pyongyang said it is willing to hold talks at any time, at any format and echoing US presidents letter  that talks could still happen if Kim changed his mind  said it was willing to give the United States time and opportunities to reconsider the cancellation.

The US president held out the possibility of talks still happening in both his letter and in following remarks, in what to many seemed like a contradictory position to hold but which to others appeared to be a negotiating position from a man who fancies himself as an ace dealmaker.

There were also reports that the US president decided to call off the meeting to pre-empt North Korean withdrawal, to avoid looking strung along and abandoned by Kim.

But roadblocks had begun popping up as demonstrated by the US team being stood up in Singapore at a meeting arranged by the secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the senior-most American official to have been in direct contact with the North Korean leader with two face-to-face meetings, once as CIA director and then as the top US diplomat.

Pompeo read out the presidents letter at the start of his pre-scheduled hearing before the US senates foreign affairs committee and sought to reassure lawmakers that the administration was prepared to go through with the talks. But he could conceal his frustration.

Over the past many days, we have endeavoured to do what Chairman Kim and I had agreed, which was to put teams, preparation teams together to begin to work to prepare for the summit  and we have received no response to our inquiries, the secretary of state said.

That was an alarming admission from the top American negotiator with North Korea, reflecting growing unease about the talks on both sides.

And then came the Wednesday diatribe against vice-president Mike Pence. A North Korean official considered close to Kim lashed out at Pence calling him a political dummy and ignorant and stupid.

As a person involved in the US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president, Choe Son Hui, a vice-foreign minister who previously handled ties with the US, said in a statement.

North Korea seemed annoyed by Trump administration officials talk of the Libyan Model. Libyas Muammar Gaddafi gave up his nuclear weapons programme between 2003 and 2004 in return for relief from sanctions. He was forced out of office during a Nato-led military intervention in 2011 and was killed by rebel forces while on the run, as he had pleaded for his life.

It was first suggested by national security adviser John Bolton in a TV interview and Pence said later that Libya was what could happen to North Korea if it did not go ahead with denuclearisation.

Trump sought to reassure Kim in remarks since that it was not his administrations policy to oust him and said: Hed (Kim) be in his country, hed be running his country.
In a stunning reversal, US President Donald Trump on Friday said his officials are back in touch with North Korean and a summit with Kim Jong Un, which had cancelled just the previous day, could still take place on June 12.

Well see what happens, Trump told reporters when asked about the summit. Were talking to them now. It was a very nice statement they put out. Well see what happens.

He added: It could even be the 12th (of June). Were talking to them now. They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it. Were going to see what happens.

Trump had called off the summit on Thursday, accusing North Korea of displaying tremendous anger and open hostility. But he left the door open for the meet, saying if Kim changed his mind, he could call me, or write.

North Korea did issue a conciliatory statement later, in which Kim Kye Gwan, a top foreign ministry official said: We would like to make known to the US side once again that we have the intent to sit with the US side to solve problem(s) regardless of ways at any time.

The official also went on to praise Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other US presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit.

Trump seemed mellowed by that statement, later tweeting: Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!

It wasnt clear yet if the summit is still on or whether it will be rescheduled.

Trump personally dictated the letter to Kim on Thursday, in which he had called off the meeting, amid growing signs of skittishness from Pyongyang accompanied by an alarming rise in sharp rhetoric.

Last week a team of US officials hoping to hold preparatory talks with North Korean officials was left waiting in Singapore. A senior White House official said: The North Koreans didnt tell us anything, they simply stood us up.

The official also spoke of broken promises on the part of North Koreans.

There were also reports that Trump decided to call off the meeting to pre-empt a North Korean withdrawal, and to avoid looking strung along and abandoned by Kim.

Roadblocks had begun popping up as demonstrated by the US team being stood up in Singapore at a meeting arranged by secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the senior-most American official to have been in direct contact with Kim.

Pompeo, who read out Trumps letter at the start of his hearing before the US Senates foreign affairs committee, had sought to reassure lawmakers that the administration was prepared to go through with the talks. But he couldnt conceal his frustration.

Over the past many days, we have endeavoured to do what chairman Kim and I had agreed, which was to put teams, preparation teams together to begin to work to prepare for the summit  and we have received no response to our inquiries, he said.

That was an alarming admission from the top American negotiator with North Korea, reflecting growing unease about the talks on both sides.

His spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters on Friday they had anticipated problems. We always knew there would be twists and turns leading up to this meeting on June 12. We never expected it to be easy, so none of this comes as a surprise to us.

The conciliatory note struck by Pyongyang may have been reassuring, with the North Korean foreign ministry official addressing Trumps complaint about tremendous anger and open hostility.

As for the tremendous anger and open hostility referred to by President Trump, it is just a reaction to the unbridled remarks made by the US side, which has long pressed the DPRK unilaterally to scrap nuclear programme ahead of the DPRK-US summit, the official said.
North Korea responded on Friday with measured tones to US President Donald Trumps decision to call off a historic summit with leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for next month, saying Pyongyang hoped for a Trump formula to resolve the standoff over its nuclear weapons programme.

On Thursday, Trump wrote a letter to Kim to announce his withdrawal from what would have been the first-ever meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, Trump wrote.

Trumps announcement came after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the summit over what it saw as confrontational remarks by US officials.

Fridays response by North Korean vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan was more conciliatory, specifically praising Trumps efforts.

We have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other US presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit, Kim said in a statement carried by state media.

We even inwardly hoped that what is called Trump formula would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue, he said without elaborating.

North Korea has sharply criticised suggestions by Trumps national security adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and murdered by NATO-backed militants after halting his nascent nuclear programme.

Trump had initially sought to placate North Korea, saying that he was not pursuing the Libya model in getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said: This is the President Trump model. Hes going to run this the way he sees fit.

Kim Kye Gwan said its recent criticisms against certain US officials had just been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric, and that the current antagonism showed the urgent necessity for the summit.

His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it, Kim Kye Gwan said, while noting that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington regardless of ways at any time.

The first meeting would not solve all, but solving even one at a time in a phased way would make the relations get better rather than making them get worse. The US should ponder over it, Kim said.

Nuclear site decommissioned

Trumps letter came just after North Korea announced it had completely dismantled its Punggye-ri nuclear test facility to ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear test.

Footage of the event broadcast by South Korean media showed explosions throwing huge clouds of dust and debris as they destroyed tunnel entrances as well as multiple wooden structures around the site.

Other images showed North Korean officials displaying a map of the site, including several major tunnel complexes they said were unused and completely operational prior to being collapsed.

Analysts worried the cancelling of the talks could prompt a resumption in hostilities on the Korean peninsula, including renewed shorter-range missile tests or stepped-up cyber attacks by Pyongyang and increased sanctions or deployment of new military assets by Washington.

Trump, in scrapping the June 12 summit in Singapore, sounded a bellicose note, warning Kim of the United States greater nuclear might, reminiscent of the presidents tweet last year asserting that he had a much bigger nuclear button than Kim.

Speaking later, Trump said the US military stood ready if Kim were to take any foolish action, and that the United States would continue its maximum pressure campaign of sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who worked hard to help set up the summit and urged Trump at a White House meeting on Tuesday not to let a rare opportunity slip away, said he was perplexed by the cancellation. He urged Trump and Kim to talk directly.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, held a phone call and agreed to continue working towards creating the right conditions for the United States and North Korea to talk, the Souths foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Pyongyang had not responded in recent days to queries by the United States about the leaders summit, Pompeo told a Senate hearing.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Tokyo understands Trumps decision to cancel the Singapore summit, Kyodo News reported.

Its meaningless to have talks that dont achieve results, Kono told reporters on a visit to Mexico City, the news agency said.

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera also played down the significance of the cancelled meeting.

The important thing is not the US-North Korea meeting itself, but that the meeting becomes an opportunity to move forward in the issues of denuclearisation and abductions, he told reporters in Toyko.
Appointment

25 May 2018

DelSuites, the largest leading Corporate Housing provider in Toronto, has announced the appointment of hospitality industry veteran Vishal Sagar as its new General Manager, effective March 5, 2018. Sagar brings over 17 years of successful management and sales experience. Sagar most recently served as a Director of Sales and Marketing for Sun Peaks Resorts in British Columbia, as well as the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in Manitoba from 2014 to 2017.

Sagar has also worked with such prestigious international hotel brands as The Hyatt and Marriott Hotels. Sagar was part of the launch team for the Grand Hyatt hotel in Dubai, and comes with a great understanding of luxury hospitality. He is known as a strategic manager, with an astute business sense, an entrepreneur to the core, with outstanding financial acumen, whilst delivering the highest standards of service for all stake holders. His management style has always been focused on employees and their development.

Sagar noted that DelSuites won Oakwood Worldwide's 2017 partner Service Excellence Award, achieving the highest level of guest satisfaction in Oakwood Worldwide's internal and client surveys.
Event

UJA-Federation of New York will honor Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., chairman, president, and CEO of Park Hotels & Resorts, and Dorothy A. Jennings, executive vice president of HVS, and conference coordinator of the New York University Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, at its Hospitality Division Cocktail Reception.

Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, will present Mr. Baltimore, Jr., with his award in recognition of his professional and philanthropic achievements. UJA's Hospitality Division Chair Jonathan M. Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels & Resorts, will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ms. Jennings.

Event chairs are Joel Eisemann of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC; Jonathan Falik of JF Capital Advisors; Mark Gerstein of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC; Mark Gordon of Intrinsic Hotel Capital; Steven Kamali of Hospitality House; Michele Mahl of Eastdil Secured LLC; Gary Mendell of HEI Hotels & Resorts; David A. Pepper of Choice Hotels International, Inc.; Stacy Silver of Silver Hospitality Group LLC; Evan Weiss of LW Hospitality Advisors; and Ian Weissman of Park Hotels & Resorts.

About UJA-Federation of New York

For more than 100 years, UJA-Federation has brought New Yorkers together to solve some of the most pressing problems facing our community. Through UJA-Federation, more than 50,000 donors impact the issues that matter most to them, pooling their resources to care for Jews everywhere and New Yorkers of all backgrounds, respond to crises close to home and far away, and shape our Jewish future. Working with a network of hundreds of nonprofits, UJA-Federation extends its reach from New York to Israel to nearly 70 other countries around the world, touching 4.5 million people each year. For more information on how to donate or volunteer, please visit our website at www.ujafedny.org.

UJA-Federation of New York - Hospitality Division Cocktail Reception is organized by UJA-Federation of New York
External Article

25 May 2018

An important distinction travelers make when booking a hotel room is the designation of how many people will be staying in the hotel room. Business travel tends to be single occupancy, where family/leisure travelers often have multiple occupants per room. All metasearch publishers except Google have offered an occupancy designation for a while. This can be an important indicator for hoteliers depending on what sort of travelers they are trying to target, and it's important for the traveler since the room rate varies, typically, based on the occupancy. Providing the most accurate traveler information and qualifying traffic before reaching the booking site is an important tool metasearch can offer. Recently, one of our analysts noticed a new ad experience on Google.de where users were able to designate single, double, triple, or quadruple occupancy within the knowledge panel.
Press Release

25 May 2018

RLH Corporation (NYSE:RLH) today announced it has entered into consulting agreements with key executives Roger Bloss, President of Global Development, and Bernard (Bernie) Moyle, Chief Operating Officer, which will continue through 2020. Bloss and Moyle have agreed to end their employment with the Company effective May 31, 2018, and start their consulting work on June 1, 2018.

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"Roger and Bernie built a distinctive and highly successful platform of brands, including the expansive Americas Best Value Inn," said RLH Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Mount. "Since we acquired those brands from Vantage in October 2016, Roger and Bernie have worked relentlessly as part of our team to successfully integrate those brands and their more than 1,000 hotels into the RLH Corporation network. Due in large part to their efforts, RLH Corporation brands are poised for continued aggressive growth in the coming years. We are looking forward to our continued relationship with Roger and Bernie and their continued support of the company."

In recognition of this successful brand integration, RLH Corporation has also agreed to guarantee an earn-out payment in October 2018 in the amount of $3,000,000 and 276,000 shares of RLH Corporation stock as described in the agreements documenting the 2016 acquisition.

"Bernie and I, along with the help of many key players, have reached the culmination of an acquisition that secures the long-term success of the Americas Best Value Inn brands we worked so hard to grow," said Roger Bloss. "It is gratifying that the many hotel owners with whom we have developed relationships over the years are now in the hands of a franchisor that is a leader in the critical current technology necessary for successful brand growth. We are also excited that our next generation of leaders are thriving with new opportunities for development at RLH Corporation. We feel thoroughly validated in our decision to join the company, and we are happy to agree to step out of executive roles now to make room for further forward momentum while at the same time continuing our relationship as consultants. We look forward to working with RLH Corporation as we refocus much of our effort on the pursuit of management, development and ownership of hotel properties, which we expect to include opportunities to brand hotels with RLHC."

"I am very thankful for the hard work Bernie and Roger have put in over the last two years," added Mount. "I know they will continue to influence the company through their consulting roles, while having the freedom to grow their personal businesses. We look forward to the opportunity to recognize them with our franchisees at the RLH Corporation Conference - Global Brand Showcase & Expo in Las Vegas, December 10-12."

To learn more about franchising with RLH Corporation, visit franchise.rlhco.com. We don't wait for the future. We create it.
Performance

25 May 2018

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee -- The U.S. hotel industry reported mixed year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 13-19 May 2018, according to data from STR.



In comparison with the week of 14-20 May 2017, the industry recorded the following:

Occupancy: -0.5% to 70.2%

Average daily rate (ADR): +3.5% to US$132.36

Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +3.0% to US$92.92

Among the Top 25 Markets, Miami/Hialeah, Florida, experienced the largest jumps in occupancy (+9.9% to 81.4%) and RevPAR (+22.3% to US$149.70). ADR in the market rose 11.3% to US$183.84.

San Francisco/San Mateo, California, posted the largest lift in ADR (+12.5% to US$259.77).

Phoenix, Arizona, reported the second-largest increases in occupancy (+8.1% to 67.1%) and RevPAR (+16.0% to US$81.51).

Overall, 16 of the Top 25 Markets reported an increase in RevPAR.

Orlando, Florida, reported the steepest decline in RevPAR (-16.4% to US$80.90), due primarily to the largest decrease in occupancy (-13.3% to 68.7%). ADR in the market fell 3.6% to US$117.80.

St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois, also reported a 3.6% ADR decrease to US$114.86.

Denver, Colorado, experienced the second-largest drop in occupancy (-8.9% to 76.7%) and the only other double-digit decrease in RevPAR (-10.1% to US$99.31).
Performance

25 May 2018

According to Lodging Econometrics (LE), the total Construction Pipeline in Canada currently has 237 Projects/29,881 Rooms, up 11% by projects Year-Over-Year (YOY).

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There are 90 Projects/11,811 Rooms Under Construction, up 20% by projects YOY. Projects Scheduled to Start Construction in the Next 12 Months are at 93 Projects/10,658 Rooms, up 11%, while those in Early Planning are at 54 Projects/7,412 Rooms, down 2%.

The top hotel companies in Canada's Construction Pipeline by projects are: Marriott with 54 Projects/7,718 Rooms, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) with 44 Projects/4,528 Rooms, and Hilton with 38 Projects/4,319 Rooms. The largest brands in the Pipeline for each of these companies are: Courtyard by Marriott with 11 Projects/1,596 Rooms, IHG's Holiday Inn Express with 29 Projects/3,017 Rooms and Hilton's Hampton Inn & Suites with 14 Projects/1,428 Rooms.

Cities in Canada with the largest pipelines are: Toronto with 34 Projects/4,915 Rooms, Calgary with 15 Projects/2,310 Rooms and Edmonton with 12 Projects/1,825 Rooms.
Pete Davidson is newly dating Ariana Grande and according to reports, it's all very casual especially since she just ended things with Mac Miller. Ariana has already gotten a dose of the online trolls as they tried to blame her for Mac's recent DUI. It seems as though it's Pete's turn since people are going after him, saying he can't be in a relationship because he has Borderline Personality Disorder.

Normally I wouldnt comment on something like this cause like fuck you, he wrote on his Instagram story. Just Because someone has a mental illness does not mean they cant be happy and in a relationship. It also doesnt mean that person makes the relationship toxic. He continued saying how everyone is different and he's been treating his mental illness and handling it. I just think its fucked up to stigmatize people as crazy and say that they are unable to do stuff that anyone can do. Its not their fault and its the wrong way for people to look at things.

Even though Pete made the post to shut the haters up, it's a powerful message to any and all suffering from mental illness and feel like they're alone. Read the statement in full below.
Harvey Weinstein has turned himself - finally.

Over the past seven months, women came forth with allegations against the 66-year-old ex-film producer, which include accusations of rape and sexual assault.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that a statement from the New York Police Department said Weinstein "was arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women." Weinstein was arrested by the New York City police department shortly thereafter and taken to court. He denied committing any non-consensual sex acts.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance filed felony sex crimes charges against the fallen producer after he turned himself into authorities at the first precinct police station in Tribeca.

Todays charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation, Vance said in a statement. I thank the brave survivors who have come forward and my offices prosecutors who have worked tirelessly on this investigation. I would also like to thank Commissioner James ONeill and our dedicated partners at the NYPD. We urge additional survivors and others with relevant information to call our sex crimes hotline at 212-335-9373.

Weinsteins Bond has been set at $10 million or $1 million cash. Weinstein was asked to relinquish his passport and has to wear a GPS monitoring system and can only travel between New York and Connecticut.

The fallen Hollywood exec arrived at the police station in lower Manhattan carrying three books and was seen smiling for the cameras as he was escorted out of the station with handcuffs.
On May 18, Santa Fe High School in Texas experienced a fatal shooting spree that left ten dead at the hands of 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis. Exactly a week later, Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana has become the latest victim of gun violence, as a teacher and teenage girl have been critically injured after a gunman opened fire.

The male student was detained shortly after firing off his rifle early Friday morning. Authorities believe there are no other suspects, but have revealed that there have been additional threats made at other schools in the area, including Noblesville High School. Police are monitoring the premises, but have reported that there is no concrete evidence to suggest that the threat credible.

The student victim has been rushed to Riley Hospital for Children while the teacher is being treated at Indiana University Medical Center.

Police and medical personnel promptly responded after receiving a call around 9 a.m. about an active shooter situation occurring at the middle school, which is located 25 miles north of Indianapolis.

Vice President Mike Pence tweeted about the incident, noting how he and his wife Karen "are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana. To everyone in the Noblesville community, you are (in) our hearts and in our prayers. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders."

This is now the 23rd school shooting to happen in 2018, where innocent students and faculty were either injured or killed as a result.
Krispy Kreme has announced that they will be celebrating National Doughnut Day by giving away their famed confectionary delights at participating locations throughout the United States. Customers will receive a complimentary donut of their choice, including Original Glazed, Chocolate Iced Glazed, Blueberry Glaze, New York Cheesecake, Glazed Lemon Filled, Cinnamon Twist, Glazed Cruller, alongside a slew of other options.

Chief marketing officer Jackie Woodward reveals how "providing our guests a free doughnut of their choice on National Doughnut Day has become quite a tradition here at Krispy Kreme. We cant wait for our fans to enjoy their favorite Krispy Kreme doughnut on us! We just love this day."

Visit the company's website to view a list of stores that will be partaking in the day's festivities.
For the last couple of months, Lil Uzi Vert's social media use has been limited as his account was seemingly hacked after the artist wrote his log-in information on a bathroom wall. While it certainly may not have been the smartest thing to do, he has been making appearances on Young Thug's account after Thugger gave him full access to quench his social thirst. After performing yet another epic stage dive during his Miami performance at Rolling Loud, Uzi is keeping up his stellar work ethic to complete as many tracks as he can before year's end. In doing so, he linked with producer Wheezy to set up a studio on the beach, allowing him to enjoy the sun while working on his craft at the same time.

At this point in his career, Uzi is a bonafide superstar with his releases garnering significant amounts of attention. Teaming up with buzzing producer Wheezy, the duo look to have a song named "Xmas 2019" on the way and, while the Atlanta beatmaker stated that it would drop at midnight last night, it is still nowhere to be found. Regardless, the Winter-themed track will likely be dropping imminently as Wheezy and Uzi enjoy their time at the beach studio.

Perhaps the producer simply lost track of time and meant that it would release tonight at midnight? Whenever it drops, the people will surely be ready for some new Uzi.
UFC fighter Nick Diaz was reportedly arrested in Las Vegas on Thursday night and has been charged with felony domestic battery by strangulation as well as misdemeanor domestic battery, according to MMAJunkie. The report states that Diaz, 34, is being held on $18,000 bail, which he cannot post until after a court hearing scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m.

Per MMA Junkie:

"Officer Larry Hadfield of the LVMPD office of public information told MMAjunkie that the alleged victim was female. Hadfield said officers responded to a call and were dispatched to a Las Vegas residence at approximately 7:20 p.m. PT." "The person with knowledge of the case told MMAjunkie that 12 units were dispatched to the scene, the alleged victim was transported to a local hospital and Diaz was combative with officers during his arrest."

Diaz just recently became eligible to fight in the UFC again after serving a one-year ban from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for missing three out-of-competition drug tests within a 12-month span.

He has not fought in the UFC since losing to Anderson Silva at UFC 183 on January 31, 2015. That result was later ruled a no-contest because Silva tested positive for PEDs and Diaz tested positive for marijuana.
Scott Thaler sees Mattress Firm as a disruptor in an industry battling mounting competition from bed-in-a-box startups.

I believe we are perfectly suited to really disrupt the industry, the mattress giants new chief marketing officer said. We are in the best place to provide the consumer the exact products in the exact way and at the exact price they need.

Thaler is one of several new executives to join Mattress Firm in recent months as the Houston-based retailer faces financial uncertainty. Its South African parent company, Steinhoff International, is under investigation for accounting irregularities affecting some $11 billion in assets.

Ken Murphy, Mattress Firms most recent CEO and chairman, stepped down earlier this year after two years at the helm, and he was replaced by the companys former CEO Steve Stagner. In May, Mattress Firm hired Thaler to oversee the companys marketing efforts. The company later tapped retail veteran Lorie Silva as its new chief merchandising officer.

Thaler, an ad agency veteran, is no stranger to the nations largest mattress retailer. The Florida native spent the past 14 years with Fort Lauderdale-based Zimmerman Advertising, working with brands such as McDonalds, Michaels and Ashleys Furniture. It also had Mattress Firm as one of its clients for five years.

Thaler said he took an exorbitant amount of interest in Mattress Firm, which has a third of the U.S. mattress market, employs more than 10,000 workers and operates more than 3,000 stores and 75 distribution centers nationwide. The company generated $2.5 billion in sales in 2015 before it was acquired by Steinhoff International and became private in 2016, according to IBISWorld, a business research firm.

I liked the leadership group, I liked the vision of what they wanted to do and I liked their approach on what they wanted to do, Thaler said.

The Chronicle was able to sit down with Thaler for about 15 minutes to discuss his plans for Mattress Firm. Silva, the retailers other recent executive hire, declined through a spokeswoman to be interviewed.

Q: A mattress is a product that we use every day, but its something we hardly think about. Why are you interested in marketing mattresses?

A: If you have a brand that is top of mind, Im not going to say its an easy sell, but its sort of easy to figure out how I have to go sell it. Most consumers dont know the brand of mattress they sleep on, even though they spend a third of their life on it. Thats why the onus is on us as Mattress Firm to make sure were putting them in the right product. The excitement for me is making sure that customers understand the reasons why they should be coming to Mattress Firm: more selection, more ways to buy and well make your budget stretch farther than anyone else can because our buying power assures us of that. We want to make sure were getting that message across to consumers and they are getting the product they are going to really sleep well in.

Q: Whats your marketing strategy for Mattress Firm?

A: Our approach is about making sure that we reach the consumer at their moment of greatest need. This is not about having the flashiest, newest ad campaign. Its about making sure you understand who is your audience, what are the mediums that we have to reach them, and how do we put together the most integrated program we have from TV to print to digital video, audio, push notifications and mobile ads.

Q: How do you plan to compete against bed-in-a-box startups, which are increasingly using snazzy online marketing to attract customers?

A: We came out with a bed-in-a-box product called Tulo to service that niche market. There are tons of other options. For us, its about making sure you understand what the right kind of product is for you. Its all about giving consumers options, whether its something that can recline, something that is bed-in-a-box for ease of delivery or something at a lower price point. The benefit of our approach is we have so many retail locations that it gives you confidence that if you need something today, we have the distribution channels in order to deliver it today, tomorrow or at your own discretion. If theres something youre not satisfied with  if it didn't feel the same way you thought it was going to  were right down the street.

Q: Mattress Firm has pushed technology in a lot of its recent marketing, such as running TV ads that tout new mattresses like a smartphone reveal. How big is technology when it comes to marketing mattresses?

A: We are all about how we identify technologies that are going to solve a problem a consumer has with sleep. We are constantly searching for new products from one of our partner brands, or well figure out how we can go about and create it. We have set up a sleep innovations lab. Its so new that it hasnt been named yet, but its our own little closed-off secret lab, our playroom to be figure out new and different sleep technologies.  Were constantly testing new ways we can push technology forward.

Q: That sounds a lot like what a technology startup would say. Do you believe Mattress Firm can disrupt an industry as mature and stable as mattresses?

A: I dont believe anyone is better positioned to be a disruptor in this industry because we have more locations and we sell more mattresses than anyone. We have trained and knowledgeable sales staff, and we have a merchandising team that has the ability to go and find all the products that we need. We can create change within the industry.

If you look at so-called disruptors, theyre actually going back to traditional ways of selling. They are opening up retail locations, theyre starting to do popup stores. They realize this is a tactile industry that consumers need the ability to touch. Well allow you to go to a Mattress Firm store and try it out. A mattress is a long-term purchase. Wouldnt you want to be able to lay on one before you buy it?

paul.takahashi@chron.com

twitter.com/paultakahashi
Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday it made another discovery in the Gulf of Mexico as it hopes to bring new life to the United States languishing deep-water oil sector.

The Anglo-Dutch oil major said its new Dover well discovery is near its multibillion-dollar Appomattox platform that was completed and launched into the Gulf this month. The well is about 13 miles from the Appomattox.

That means the new discovery can be drilled and developed without building another expensive platform, connecting the oil field to the Appomattox with pipelines and umbilicals known as tiebacks. The Appomattox is expected to start producing oil by the end of 2019 once its fully set up.

COMING SOON: New sand mine planned for rebounding Eagle Ford shale

While big platform projects are few and far between, more oil and gas activity is returning to the Gulf through these types of tieback projects. Other Big Oil companies such as Chevron and Frances Total have announced recent Gulf discoveries, while smaller Houston companies, such as Talos Energy and Fieldwood Energy, are expanding in both the U.S. and Mexican sides of the Gulf.

The Dover discovery is Shells sixth in the Norphlet region of the Gulf where the Appomattox is centered. The Dover well is located southeast of New Orleans, about 170 miles offshore.

Dover showcases our expertise in discovering new, commercial resources in a heartland helping deliver our deep-water growth priority, said Andy Brown, Shells upstream director. By focusing on near-field exploration opportunities in the Norphlet, we are adding to our resource base in a prolific basin that will be anchored by the Appomattox development.

The multibillion-dollar Appomattox was authorized by Shell in 2015, representing the first major deep-water project approved after oil prices crashed in late 2014. Since then, only two other Gulf platforms have moved forward, including Shells Vito project, which was authorized in late April.

Analysts consider the Vito decision a sign that the long-stagnant offshore sector is showing signs of life as oil prices hover above $70 a barrel. The other platform under construction is BPs Mad Dog Phase 2 project.

Shell owns 79 percent of the Appomattox project. The remaining 21 percent is held by a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC. The Dover well lies about 7,500 feet below the surface and was drilled to a depth of 29,000 feet deep vertically, Shell said.

This isnt Shells only Gulf discovery Shell this year. In January, Shell and Chevron said they made a discovery, called the Whale, in the western Gulf of Mexico, about 10 miles from Shells massive Perdido platform. Since those holdings are near the Mexican border, Shell also leased several offshore blocks from Mexico that could include the extension of the Whale play.

Despite the sluggish recovery of deep-water projects, Gulf production is expected to average a record 1.9 million barrels a day this year, due to projects that were completed before the oil prices were higher, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
When Hurricane Harveys seemingly endless rains headed into Ron Kronbergs Meyerland home, he packed a single suitcase and headed to Four Leaf Towers, where his sister had recently bought a condo.

It was plenty high up and it was dry, and Kronberg needed a respite.

In the weeks after, he got his home remediated and pitched all of his wet stuff to the curb. It was a purge prompted not just by the foot of water that came into his home, but a rough year overall that told Kronberg it was time for a change.

Ive always wanted to live in a high-rise with big windows. I just never had the nerve to make that move, the 64-year-old said of moving into the same high-rise in Houstons Uptown district. The flood kicked me in the butt.

As other Houstonians scrambled to find new housing, Kronberg simply looked around the building he was visiting. A three-bedroom unit was on the market, and Kronberg grabbed it. It certainly didnt hurt that he was a fan of its architect, Cesar Pelli.

His home had barely been listed when his Realtor called to say a couple from China wanted to see it. They made an offer with a two-week closing, and it was done.

Theyre going to fix it up and live in it, he said of the new owners of the home he lived in for 30 years. I said if it never floods again, you got a great bargain. If it does, not so much.

But there he was with his suitcase and a bed the previous owner had left behind. Kronberg graduated from the University of Houstons architecture school in 1976, but instead of pursuing an architecture career, he shifted to his parents building-supplies business in Bellaire and reinvented it as Kronbergs Flags and Flagpoles.

It was the bicentennial and, with the Vietnam War behind them, Americans were getting patriotic again.

Kronberg still runs the family flag business but says his employees have been there so long that all they need is for him to delegate and empower. That freed up Kronberg to focus on his new project: creating a new home.

He called on his friend Anne Breux, a Parisian ex-pat and interior designer known for her modern minimalist aesthetic. Breux studied at the School of Modern Art and Architecture in Paris, and her first visit to Houston was to do residential work for a Paris client whod moved here in the 1980s. One job led to another, and Breux moved here for good in 1995.

Both had worked on galas and other events for UHs School of Architecture, and Kronberg knew Breux would know exactly what hed like.

Most important, Breux  whos serious about the minimalism  jokes that she was his cleaning lady, getting the clutter out of his home.

The Four Leaf Towers condo Kronberg bought reeked of the 1980s. Its owner had lived there for decades and it had faux marble on pillars, big Art Deco sconces and dark, heavy drapes  the opposite of what Kronberg wanted.

He consulted with Breux, and they set out on a nearly yearlong project that tapped into some of Kronbergs favorite things.

It was a learning journey, Kronberg said. She knows a lot more about it than I do. I went to architecture school, but I spent 40 years building a flag business.

Breuxs task was to ease Kronberg into a new chapter of his life and a new kind of fun.

I wanted him to feel like its good architecture. I know he didnt practice architecture, but I wanted that to be pulled out of him, she said.

The original flooring was damaged, so they replaced it with new wood. Originally they thought theyd go light and monotone, but when Kronberg visited Napa Valley with his daughter he saw wood flooring with beautiful graining in an art gallery. He snapped a picture and texted Breux.

From there, they opted for maple with more movement. Darker walls were painted white, and the whole space is brightened up with floor-to-ceiling walls that run the full length of his great room and around the corner to a media room.

So much of the home and its furnishings are white because Breux believes its the best resource in a designers tool box.

I use as much white as possible, and gray, because it is always elegant. If you stay white and neutral, the most important things in the house will be the clients and the art, said Breux, whose firm is the Anne Breux Design Studio. She also encourages a love for art as a docent at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. So if we do things that are too busy with a lot of patterns and colors, when your client is extremely well dressed with patterns and colors, its a fight. Art has to come before the pattern on the furniture. I have followed that lesson all of my career. It was something I learned in the 1980s, and it was a good lesson.

Kronberg loves that his home is stylish and a good balance between masculine and feminine. From his high-rise perch, he can watch Fourth of July fireworks as well as holiday lights.

At night, its like a light show out there. I love the sunsets. And the moon was just gorgeous last night, said Kronberg, standing near a black leather Le Corbusier lounge chair positioned perfectly to watch the scenery. You just dont get that in suburbia. On a clear day, I can see all the way to Katy.

Kronberg brought his art and a black leather Eames lounge chair with an ottoman that hes had for 30 years and several pieces of art he already had. Other than that, he and Breux had a clean slate.

They shopped for modern furniture at Sunset Settings, Internum, Roche Bobois and Kuhl-Linscomb. In the end, his bachelor pad turned out to be a showplace for modern design and a whos-who list of furniture designers.

Six Mies van der Rohe Brno chairs that Kronberg bought at an auction in the 1980s and reupholstered in white leather surround a round black table from designer Mark Krusins Clay collection for Desalto, and a large Foscarini Spokes light fixture dazzles from overhead. And on the wall is a painting  titled Mild-mannered Hurricane  by Houston artist William Cokeley.

Four bold watercolors  made by Kronbergs father, Louis A. Kronberg, who took up painting around the time he retired  hang in the living room. Two white leather Roche Bobois sofas sit across from one another with a glass-topped Le Corbusier coffee table in between. Two Minotti Cortina black leather armchairs sit nearby.

The space gets a bit of whimsy from a Noguchi coffee table that sits on what look like bicycle wheels. Kronberg told Breux how much he liked one in the Pondicheri bakery, and Breux knew just where to get it. Just buy it, he said  sight unseen. It holds an architecture model in an acrylic box, an artful piece that was actually a model created by a UH architecture student; Kronberg bought it at a galas silent auction.

In the media room, that Eames chair sits next to a Patricia Urquiola Husk Chair with its own ottoman, and built-in shelving that holds a TV also displays coffee-table books by two of his favorite architects: Pelli and Philip Johnson.

The condo has a small galley kitchen, still in its original 1982 form  thats a project for another year  and in a tiny breakfast nook, two leather covered Elisa chairs by Matteograssi sit around a small Saarinen Tulip table.

Kronberg feels the energy of his new home.

I feel like Im in the vortex of the city. Theres so much going on around here with restaurants and stores and stuff I can walk to, he said. When the Post Oak Street project is done, it will feel like the des Champs Elysees of Houston.

Breux is proud that she could buy all of his modern furniture here.

When she started doing modern design in Houston, there was virtually nothing to buy here. Shed fly to Europe and fill a container to ship over.

We have everything now, and its getting better and better with the opening of CASA at West Ave. All of the best lines are here, American or European, worldwide, Houston has it, she said, noting that the biggest market for it seems to be in baby boomers who are retiring and downsizing and, like Kronberg, seeking a new look for a new chapter in their lives.

diane.cowen@chron.com
Steve Allison did the voters of this state a favor. He raised an issue thats been begging for clarity for three years.

It was back in 2015 that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill allowing licensed firearms owners to openly carry holstered handguns.

What the law left vague, however, was the question of whether law enforcement has the right to stop people openly carrying handguns and ask to see their permit.

To Second Amendment absolutists like Matt Beebe, who ran against Allison in the Republican primary runoff to succeed outgoing House Speaker Joe Straus in Texas House District 121, its a question with an obvious answer.

During a debate last month with Allison, Beebe invoked the Fourth Amendment  which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures  as a basis for the idea that police have no more right to stop someone legally carrying a gun than they do to pull over a motorist simply to see a drivers license.

Beebe said the standard for stopping someone should always be an articulable suspicion of a crime. He added, We must stand up for the entire Constitution or we will lose it bit by bit.

In fact, the issue is complicated.

A rare coalition of conservative and progressive lawmakers expressed concerns in 2015 about police having the power to stop people carrying openly handguns. Conservatives saw it as an infringement on the right to bear arms, while progressives worried that it would be used as an excuse for racial profiling.

As a result, an early version of the open-carry bill included a provision preventing officers from stopping people simply for open carrying. Lawmakers removed that provision at the urging of law enforcement officials such as then-Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, who currently runs the Houston Police Department. Acevedo said it would handcuff officers.

Allison, an attorney and former San Antonio mass transit board member in the pragmatic, bipartisan mold of Straus, defines himself as a Second Amendment proponent and an unapologetic gun owner.

But he rightly sees a common-sense imperative to empowering police officers to ask for gun permits, when they see a need to do so.

Consider the May 18 massacre at Santa Fe High School in Galveston County, which took 10 lives, making it the deadliest school shooting in this state in 52 years. Consider the shooting last November at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, only about 30 miles from downtown San Antonio, which killed 26 people.

If you saw someone in a Charles Manson tee-shirt, wielding a handgun, pacing around and mumbling to themselves, a block away from an elementary school, wouldnt you want a police officer to ask to see that persons permit?

As Allison put it during a testy exchange with Beebe, this isnt a seizure, its not the taking of someones weapon. Its an inquiry that enables officers to enforce permit requirements and address suspicious behavior.

Allisons point got muddied when he picked a fight with CJ Grisham, the president and co-founder of Open Carry Texas, who led a gun-rights demonstration in Olmos Park two months ago, an incident chronicled by my colleague Brian Chasnoff.

Olmos Park police overreacted to the situation, which became a violent confrontation and culminated with Grisham getting tased and arrested. At a candidate forum, Allison mistakenly described Grisham as a convicted felon. (In fact, Grisham had a misdemeanor on his record in Bell County.)

Beebe got serious mileage out of that blunder.

Those details, however, dont alter the bigger point: that Allisons position on permit checking is reasonable, and, to borrow a phrase from an old book title, his stance offers a profile in courage.

Simply put, there is no political upside for Allison to break with Beebe on this issue.

He knew that anyone who suggests even modest limits on gun rights tends to be viewed with suspicion by the GOP electorate. And even if he were looking ahead to a possible general election, District 121 is so solidly Republican, there was no great need for him to try swaying Democrats or independents to his side.

Predictably enough, he also incurred the wrath of Empower Texans  a perennial right-wing thorn in Strauss side  which said his stand flew in the face of the Second Amendment.

The only logical conclusion is that Allison committed an act of principle  risking some heat from the GOP base to take a stand he considered correct.

And he won his runoff anyway.

ggarcia@express-news.net

@gilgamesh470
AUSTIN  Democratic gubernatorial nominee Lupe Valdez owes more than $12,000 in overdue taxes on seven properties in two counties, taxes that were due just days before she loaned her campaign $20,000 to get it started, official records showed Thursday.

Valdezs campaign officials acknowledged that she owes taxes on several properties but said she is paying them in monthly installments because she cannot afford to pay the total amounts, which were due at the end of January.

In a statement, she blamed Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott for the fact that Texas property taxes are so high.

REACHING OUT: Fletcher seeks aid of Republicans 'without a party' to challenge Culberson for Congress

As weve been saying all along, under Greg Abbott's failed leadership, property taxes are unpredictable and burdensome for Texans everywhere, including Sheriff Lupe Valdez, said campaign spokesman Juan Bautista Dominguez. Sheriff Valdez has an agreement with the counties to payoff 2017 property taxes and plans to do so entirely in the coming months.

Valdez, the former Dallas County sheriff who won a runoff election Tuesday, has campaigned to close loopholes in the states broken property-tax system. Valdezs campaign said she paid her property taxes late in the past, as well.

In previous years, she had made similar arrangements, Dominguez said. In 2015, for example, Sheriff Valdez had similar arrangements and she fulfilled her agreement with the proper tax authorities.

The current Dallas County sheriff earns about $175,000 annually. Valdez retired at the end of December 2017.

Dallas tax officials said while they could not confirm an agreement on file, Valdez could be paying the taxes late along with penalties and interest  which records show are included in the amounts she owes.

Online property tax records show Valdez personally owns or has an interest in 15 properties  including her two-story Oak Cliff homestead and several other houses along with several vacant lots  and has not fully paid taxes on six in Dallas County and one in Ellis County.

Tax collection officials in both counties verified the online information on Thursday. Records show Valdez has been making monthly incremental payments  ranging from $100 to $500  toward the overdue bills.

The other seven properties have no delinquent taxes listed.

In addition to the $20,000 loan to her campaign in February, state records show, she loaned her campaign another $5,000 on Jan. 25.

Tax officials said the overdue bills, if not paid by July, will be certified as officially delinquent and will go to a collection agency. Campaign officials said she plans to pay them off by then.

In addition to the unpaid taxes, Valdez appears to have lapses on her official financial-disclosure report: A Dallas property that she owns is not listed, and two companies listed on the filing have incorrect names on the form.

Mistakes on that report could subject her to state penalties or fines if they are not quickly corrected.

One of Valdezs properties, a lot at 2608 Bakersfield St. in Dallas, is not among those she listed on her personal financial statement filed with the Texas Ethics Commission earlier this year.

State law requires officeholders  Valdez filed a disclosure as a candidate for governor  to annually disclose all their income and property, stock holdings and financial ties in the interest of public transparency to guard against conflicts of interest.

Dominguez said the Bakersfield address is connected to an adjacent property that Valdez owns, and she considers it one property.

She makes all pertinent tax payments for this property at the same time, he said. We plan to file an amended PFS to reflect this detail.

EARLIER: Valdez wins close race over White in Dems' gubernatorial runoff

While Valdez listed interests in two firms  Triple V Inc. and Triple L Inc.  one of those firms doesnt show up on state corporation filings as doing business in Texas. The other is registered to an address in Odessa. In fact, property records in Dallas County show Valdez is listed as the owner of five properties through Triple VVV LLC and another three as Triple L Place LLC.

Corporate records list Valdez as the owner of both firms, which are registered with the Texas Secretary of States Office as required by law. The post office address on Valdezs gubernatorial campaign website is the same as whats listed for both companies in the online tax records.

Calling the listing on the state form a typo, Dominguez said the filing will be amended with the correct company names.

Earlier this month, Valdezs campaign was forced to amend her campaign-finance filing disclosing campaign contributions since February after she initially reported contributions of $290,000 and then, after acknowledging an administrative error, reduced it to $208,000.

During her six-month campaign for governor, Valdez has repeatedly criticized Abbott for his failed leadership to reform skyrocketing property taxes across Texas, and has pledged to close tax loopholes that benefit those at the top, reducing property taxes for the everyday Texan and reform our broken school finance system.

Much of property taxes collected in Texas goes to fund local public school districts.

mike.ward@chron.com
WASHINGTON  They've stuck with him through battles on Obamacare, Russia, immigration and taxes, but Texas Republicans are showing increasing unease over President Donald Trump's push to impose costly new tariffs on imported cars, trucks and commodities like steel.

With Trump threatening new tariffs on imported cars, Texas U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, issued a blistering statement in opposition Thursday  marking a clear escalation of the muted criticism that has been growing out of a chorus of GOP lawmakers concerned about trade.

The growing opposition among Trump's allies in Congress serves as a counterweight to the populist promises of his 2016 presidential campaign about protecting American workers from foreign competition. The concern has been particularly acute among lawmakers from Texas, a major exporting state, as well as Houston, a port city and export hub.

IN TEXAS: Oil producers fight steel tariffs, quotas

"The Honda Accord is not a threat to our national security. However, taxing it with trade tariffs is a threat to the economic security of millions of hardworking American families," Hensarling said. "Trade laws designed to uphold critical national security measures should never be used as an excuse for raw protectionism."

Hensarling, speaking as NAFTA trade talks are coming to a head, also warned that the costs of an all-out trade war could cancel the benefits of the GOP tax cuts that will be the centerpiece of their 2018 midterm campaigns.

"All of the great gains President Trump has made with generational tax relief and bureaucratic regulatory reforms  the reforms that are fueling our economy  can be wiped out overnight if we end up in a global trade war," he said. "I again call upon the President and his administration to exercise extreme caution and focus on the nation states that violate the actual trade rules and force transfers of our technology and intellectual property."

Hensarling's words echoed those of Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who told a Houston business group last month that Trump's proposed tariffs on tens of billions of dollars' worth of imported goods could offset the consumer benefits of the GOP tax cuts.

"The tariff issue dampens some of the economic enthusiasm we've seen from the tax cuts and the rollback in regulations," Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said at a luncheon talk hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership. "We need to have that growth to keep on going. It's been a bit of a mixed message."

Cornyn's warning came several days after House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, a Republican from The Woodlands, held a hearing featuring Kevin Kennedy, who owns a steel fabricating business in Splendora, Tex., that has been hurt by Trump's tariffs on imported steel.

"Today, we are presented with an insurmountable obstacle that no U.S. manufacturer should have to face," Kennedy told the lawmakers. "These tariffs have eliminated imported steel overnight, and without any competition, U.S. steel producers have raised prices over 40 percent.

"Before today," Kennedy continued, "we were an exporter. We were competitive enough to manufacture drilling rigs and export them to countries like India, Russia, and even Mexico. Not so today. We went from exporting our products to international buyers, to having the U.S. government force our U.S. customers to import the products we make from our foreign competitors."

Brady called Kennedy Fabricating "the perfect example of the dangerous impact that tariffs can have on American job creators and workers."

OPINION: Tariffs will bolster Texas manufacturing industry

Brady added that while Trump is "absolutely right" to go after China for its aggressive trade practices and theft of American intellectual property, "The challenge is to carefully target these tariffs so that businesses like Kennedy Fabricating are not negatively impacted as well."

The concerns over trade, which have helped stall the financial markets in recent months, have been bipartisan. Last month, Texas U.S. Rep. Ted Poe of Humble teamed up with Massachusetts Democrat Bill Keating to introduce a resolution reaffirming the "vital importance" of the U.S. trade relationship with the European Union.

The resolution urges the administration to issue a permanent exemption for the EU from the steel and aluminum tariffs.
After a tragic explosion in West, Texas left 15 first responders dead, injured more than 150 and flattened portions of the city, politicians across the political spectrum spent years studying how to improve chemical safety.

But five years after the fertilizer plant disaster, the Environmental Protection Agency, now led by Scott Pruitt, has started to roll back those post-West safety plans.

We have called for his resignation before, and again we reiterate: Too many lives are at risk to leave a man like Pruitt in charge.

EDITORIAL: West's warning to other facilities in Texas

Specifically, Pruitt canceled plans to enact a new rule developed in response to the West disaster that would have required chemical plants to improve emergency management planning and disclose information about dangerous toxic stockpiles.

Some industry groups are cheering, but West Mayor Tommy Muska isnt happy.

In part because of loopholes in EPA programs, volunteer firefighters in his city didnt know about the risk of explosion they faced when they responded to that fertilizer plant blaze.

With all due respect to Scott Pruitt, hes never lost 15 firefighter friends, Muska told the Austin American-Statesman. Im as pro-business as anyone, but some things are way, way, way more important than too much regulation, and that includes the safety of these chemical plants.

OPINION: Chemical accidents can be prevented

Houstonians health and lives have also been put at risk from the EPAs historically weak rules and oversight of Risk Management Plans  called RMPs.

The way things are now, the EPA requires formal Risk Management Plans to be filed every five years. Often they are inaccurate or out of date. Sometimes complex and unreliable lists of dangerous chemicals gets handed to first responders only as they enter a burning plant. Sometimes no list is provided at all.

The Obama administration had proposed fixes to the RMP rule, which Pruitt put off and has now rejected. The revisions would have required companies to share user-friendly information about toxic stockpiles and related risks. It also spurred hiring of independent auditors and required companies to evaluate safer technology for disaster planning, instead of sticking with outdated equipment or technology, as the Austin-American Statesman reported.

Houstonians already have suffered because of secrecy, inaccuracy and loopholes in these chemical safety programs.

MORE: The West disaster could have been completely avoided

Back in May 2016, the public never learned and firefighters did not know what caused a major fire at a warehouse filled with 40,000 pounds of chemicals in Spring Branch. That blaze released toxic fumes and turned a nearby creek a bizarre shade of orange.

Firefighters still dont know exactly what was released in August 2017 when stockpiles of volatile chemicals began to explode at an Arkema site during Hurricane Harvey. The unknown chemical cocktail of pollutants spewed foul smoke into our air, poisoned residential wells and fouled floodwaters.

And those with a somewhat longer memory know that major gas releases and explosions already have killed people here too.

Four people died in a pesticide plant disaster in Duponts LaPorte complex in 2014. Back then, DuPont had an RMP on file for the plant approved by the EPA. DuPont is one of the worlds largest chemical companies  but that accident proved the companys RMP, equipment and disaster response plans were inadequate.

Unless Houston (or Baytown or Crosby or LaPorte or Freeport or Pasadena or Deer Park or Texas City) wants another West to happen here, we cant afford to let large chemical plants police themselves. Disaster plans must be independently audited.

We should demand plants disclose everything that our emergency planners need to know in advance - especially after weve see major companies continue to keep firefighters in the dark. And it is time to confront the fact that we cant trust major companies to make sure dangerous chemicals dont explode or catch fire during floods or hurricanes.

Responsibility for this bad RMP decision falls on the EPA administrator. Pruitt should be ashamed of himself.
2 1 of 2 David Goldman, STF / Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less



On Aug. 1, 1966, a gunman climbed The University of Texas at Austin clock tower and systematically shot 31 people before his life was ended by local authorities. Our modern history of Texans shooting Texans began at that clock tower, and it should have ended there. Instead, on May 18, 2018, we added another date to a growing list of Texas massacres. The events in Santa Fe should not be considered routine, yet this year alone weve seen 36 Texans die from mass shootings. We are not doing enough to abate this epidemic of gun violence. In Houston, we have a world-renowned medical center, and we are failing to use it as a resource to find solutions for our gun violence epidemic. We can do more to ensure that Santa Fe is the final page in this dark chapter in Texas history books.

Our political leaders are quick to offer one of two solutions from the top of their bully pulpits; either for gun control or increasing access to firearms, but nobody really knows if their proposed interventions will work. Some tout what works in other countries, while ignoring the sheer quantity of privately owned guns in America: 300 million firearms in homes across the U.S.  well above any other nation in the world. Our situation is unprecedented, and we cannot simply extrapolate solutions used by other countries. Texans dont need impulsive reactions to a deadly issue. We need solutions proposed by our local public health community. We should turn to the Texas Medical Center before we propose options for the Capitol.
As state officials began looking for solutions to curb school shootings like the tragedy at Santa Fe High School that left 10 people dead and 13 people wounded, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blamed the "culture of violence" prevalent in the United States as a factor.

On network television, Patrick suggested that factors other than guns -- including the prevalence of violence in video games -- plays a role in teenagers committing horrendous acts in their schools.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott has empaneled a series of roundtable forums in Austin from which he plans to come up changes in school-safety policies and state law to prevent future shootings.

And while hundreds of ideas are on the table, this is certain: Texans want a plan, and they want one soon.

While much of the week's political focus remained on school shootings, Texans went to the polls to determine party nominees for the fall election. And Lupe Valdez, the Democrat who was selected to run against Abbott, quickly faced controversy: She owes more than $12,000 in property taxes.

Her retort: She can't pay them all at once because they're too high.

Perhaps not surprisingly, she blames Abbott for not curbing the skyrocketing property tax bills in Texas.

Go behind the headlines for a look at what's really going on in Texas politics. Join the conversation featuring the Chronicle's Austin Bureau Chief Mike Ward and Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report, an acclaimed Texas political newsletter, with special guest Ryan Poppe, Texas Public Radio's Capitol reporter.

Our sponsors this week: Texas Association of Counties and Lone Star Targeting.

Texas politics are entertaining but never boring, as this edition of the state's leading political podcast, produced in collaboration with partner Texas Public Radio, shows
Scott Olson/Getty Images

(SANTA FE, Tx.) -- A beloved art teacher and two teenage boys who were among those killed at Santa Fe High School will be laid to rest Friday.



Ten people were killed and 13 others were injured when a gunman stormed into two art classrooms in the Texas high school on May 18.



Here are the victims being remembered at funerals Friday:



Cynthia Tisdale



Cynthia Tisdale, an art room teacher's aide and loving wife and mother, was among the two teachers and eight students gunned down in art classrooms.



As her loved ones mourn the shocking loss, her high-profile death has provided one blessing for the family.



Tisdale's husband, William Tisdale, has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a fatal lung disease, according to their son, William Recie Tisdale, who goes by Recie.



On March 29, the family started a GoFundMe page to raise money for stem cell treatment. They set an initial goal of $13,000, but the money was only trickling in. Prior to the Santa Fe shooting, the campaign had raised $1,215, GoFundMe spokesperson Kate Cichy told ABC News.



In the days since Cynthia Tisdale's death, the GoFundMe page has raised over $140,000.



"We have been blessed," Recie Tisdale told ABC News via text Tuesday. "And I would prefer any more outpouring be given to Santa Fe High School for all the victims."



Recie Tisdale said his father's "GoFundMe page was done prior to this tragedy and we are now blessed. We can get stem cell, maybe [a] lung transplant," and still have extra funds to help him with home health care.



"Our mother's main priority was to make sure our father was taken care of and now he gets to have his stem cell treatment and the true blessing is now he has a chance at long-term health care," the Tisdale family wrote on the GoFundMe page Monday night. "We feel all the support and thank you all so much."





Christian Riley Garcia



Christian Riley Garcia, 15, saved the life of his best friend, 15-year-old Courtney Marshall, during the art room shooting, Courtney told ABC News.



Christian "grabbed me and my teacher and got us into the closet," she said. "[The gunman] just shot into the closet. I saw my teacher just die in front of me and I just saw my best friend die in front of me.



"Christian saved my life -- hes a hero," she said.



Christian grew up attending Crosby Church in Crosby, Texas, according to a Friday night Facebook post from Pastor Keenan Smith.



"I just left his wonderful, loving family and extended all of the prayers and love for them from our Church," Smith wrote. "Riley you are greatly loved and greatly missed."



Chris Stone



Chris Stone, 17, was among the students who blocked the art room door, trying to keep the gunman out, student Abel San Miguel told The Associated Press.



But the gunman shot through the door, hitting Stone in the chest, Abel told the AP.



Stone, an adventurous thrill seeker, was the youngest of three siblings, and acted as the protector of his older sisters, his father said, The New York Times reported.



Being a brother was his best job, his father, also named Christopher Stone, said, according to the newspaper. He was always there if someone needed someone to listen or some cheering up.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Imperial Valley News Center

Memorial Day: a time for fun and remembrance

Washington, DC - They will be burning the American flag across the country this Memorial Day weekendnot in protest but out of respect. Its the proper way of disposing of a flag that is no longer in a condition to be a fitting emblem.

It is improper to display a tattered, weather worn flag. It should be disposed of, preferably in a formal ceremony conducted by organizations such as the VFW [the Veterans of Foreign Wars], according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens. However, an individual may privately dispose of an unusable flag as long as protocol is followed.

The ceremony involves the proper folding of the flag and its placement atop a well-supervised fire hot enough to ensure its complete destruction. The ritual includes showing respect by saluting during the disposal process and/or reciting the pledge of allegiance.

Weber says that there is no particular day when the disposal procedure takes place. But, in many parts of the country it has become part of the Memorial Day celebration. Perhaps it is because the flag helps to remind us why we observe the holiday.

According to the VA a total of more than 150,000 service men and women have lost their lives in all the military campaigns since World War II, including Korea, Vietnam, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars as well as the continuing Global War on terror.

There are more than 19 million veterans among us, including 620,000 of the 16 million who served our nation during World War II. They are living memorials, each and every one of them, of the valor and gallantry of all who have served in the military throughout our countrys history.

Most of us will be out playing with our kids and grandkids this weekend. Well probably eat a little too much. Well catch up on the latest doings of our neighbors, friends and family members. Well be busy celebrating the non-official beginning of summer. Is it too much to ask that we take a few minutes to bow our heads in tribute to the men and women who gave their lives for us? And, perhaps, you may want to say a little prayer for the safety of those who are in service today, Weber suggested.
Imperial Valley News Center

FTC Announces Agenda for June 5 Workshop on Competition in Residential Real Estate Brokerage to Be Held Jointly with the Department of Justice

Washington, DC - The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice issued the agenda today for a joint public workshop that will explore competition issues in the residential real estate brokerage industry. The workshop will take place on June 5, 2018, at the FTCs Constitution Center Auditorium, 400 7th St., SW, Washington, DC. The event begins at 9:00 a.m.

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial transactions that most consumers make in their lives, and the residential real estate brokerage industry has experienced significant change in recent years, including the emergence of new technologies and business models. The agencies joint public workshop will focus on developments since the publication of their Report on Competition in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry in 2007.

FTC Chairman Joseph J. Simons will open the workshop, which will bring together academics, consumer advocates, data standards experts, real estate brokers, information marketplaces, and multiple listing services. In a series of panel discussions, the agencies will explore technological developments, the availability of listings data, and the evolution of the consumer experience in real estate transactions; developments in real estate brokerage fee and service models; and regulatory and industry factors affecting residential real estate brokerage competition.

The workshop is free and open to the public, and will be webcast live on the FTCs website. Workshop updates will be available via Twitter @FTC. To join the discussion, please use #RealEstateFTCDOJ.

Until July 31, 2018, the FTC and DOJ will accept public comments relating to competition in the residential real estate brokerage industry and the topics covered by this workshop. For further information on the workshop and the public comment process, including a list of suggested questions open for comment and registration information, please visit the workshop event page. Advance registration is not required, but is strongly encouraged.

Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Attendees should bring a valid government-issued photo ID (government badge, license, passport, etc.) and arrive in time to go through security.

The Conference Center is accessible to people with disabilities. If you need an accommodation related to a disability, please contact Kristal Peters in advance at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 202-326-2913. Such requests should include a detailed description of the accommodations needed and a way to contact you if we need more information.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Meeting With German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas

Washington, DC - Secretary Pompeo met with Germanys Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on May 23, 2018, in Washington, D.C., to reaffirm the two nations strong commitment to the transatlantic partnership and to discuss key shared priorities.

During the meeting, Secretary Pompeo thanked Foreign Minister Maas for Germanys partnership with the United States and our allies in standing up to Russian aggression. The two discussed the upcoming NATO Summit and agreed NATO was essential to countering global threats.

Secretary Pompeo and Foreign Minister Maas also discussed approaches to countering Iranian aggression and supporting the Iranian people. The two agreed to stay in close contact as they address global challenges together.
World Arthritis Day 2021: Did You Know That This Disease Also Impacts Children? Here's How It Can Be Diagnosed
Inspired by David Graeber's new book, Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, I asked a lot of people if their jobs were pointless.

If they answered "No, my job has a point, thank you very much," I had a follow-up:

Well, have you ever had a pointless job?

Because Graeber says as many as 40 percent of workers will answer that question with a resounding yes.

The answers I heard? Basically a bunch of resounding yesses. Here are 10 of them, plus a bonus.

1. I got paid to read business books.

"My job was to prepare reports for meetings. I had to go through a few steps online, then print them out and staple them. This process took me between 30 and 40 minutes, three days a week, but I was paid a salary. I asked [my boss] what to do with my extra time, and she said I could read business books. I literally read books for nine months."

--Bill Fish, now the co-founder of Tuck.

2. I sold $5 watches for $100+

"My first job was selling watches to tourists at the Swatch Store: $100+ a watch that costs less than $5 to make. The lack of mental stimulation was draining. I had a manager ... who had been working [there] for 10 years. I do not know how he did it. He was always trying to suggest that we go hiking or some other date-type activity. Needless to say, I got the hell out of there."

3. I was an attendant at an automated car wash.

"[W]hen I was a teenager, I worked at an automatic car wash. We were completely unneeded. ... I think our boss just didn't want to leave the car wash unattended. We even had the gall to ask for tips. I made $80 in tips one night doing absolutely nothing."

--Chad Zollinger, chief editor of the Debt and Tax blogs at Best Company

4. My job was to enter obsolete information into a database.

"I was given a zip code and I had to look up cell phone or cable plans within that specific market, and add the details to a Microsoft Access database. Nearly everything you input would be out of date after a certain amount of time. Once I saved my information, I had no idea where it went or who reviewed it."

--Lou Haverty, of Financial Analyst Insider.

5. I was the on-site assistant to an executive who traveled constantly.

"I worked for the president of a holding company and I had SO MUCH FREE TIME. I was really a personal assistant and had full days with nothing to do. However, I was earning more than I ever had, so I figured out ways to keep myself busy."

--Regina Rodriguez-Martin, manager at The Shift.

6. Consulting on a project I knew was doomed.

"This was a well-compensated consulting gig, and the client was a medium-sized hospital in Texas. They engaged us to help them build a Medicaid plan for very ill children. This was a pointless job because we knew that it would fail. ... My boss at the time said: 'It's like being a defense attorney and knowing your client is guilty.'"

--Chris Lee, founder and career consultant, Purpose Redeemed

7. Pushing paper for a digital business.

"Pointless jobs were my only jobs for a few years. I worked for Countrywide Home Loans in college, ... Stuffing envelopes, opening mail, filing paper. ... I went to the office everyday wondering why in the world all of this wasn't digital."

8. Writing bullsh*t citations

"[I was] a citation inspector for Baltimore City. I would spend all day patrolling poverty stricken neighborhoods ... writing citations for uncut grass, uneven side walks, unsecured trash cans, and boarded up windows. It felt absurd. Nobody I was writing citations for had the money to pay and it felt counterproductive."

9. I stood in a small room and ran a shredder.

'I was a pre-med student with aspirations of becoming a doctor. I took a job at a local hospital. ... The supervisor told me that my duties would include shadowing nurses and doctors. [But], they just had me shredding stacks and stacks of paper in a small room away from the main areas of the hospital. [Also], it was a shredder that was built for home use instead of industrial use, so it could only handle a few sheets at a time."

--Jesse Harrison, CEO, Employee Justice Legal Team

10. I pressed a button to run a macro.

"I used to work at an online electronics retailer as part of their, analyzing lots of SEO data. It was completely pointless. Within the first week, I made my own Excel macro that automatically processed all of the data into a fancy document I could read and send to my boss. The entire process took around 10 minutes and completed my entire week's worth of work. With my free time, I would just sit there browsing Reddit."

Bonus: I walked the floor.
With the American flag behind him and the future of the U.S. Navy sprawled out across the field before him, President Donald Trump stood beaming on stage at the United States Naval Academy's 2018 graduation ceremony earlier today.

Delivering a commencement speech that touched upon the importance of the military, his own efforts to increase defense resources, and how good it feels to win, Trump's message was at times unfocused, but it wasn't void of inspirational takeaways. The businessman-turned-politician offered two universal pieces of advice that resonate regardless of politics and should be kept in mind for those embarking upon new ventures.

Learn from your heroes

As one of the most competitive colleges in the nation, there has been no shortage of talent gracing the halls of the U.S. Naval Academy with many alumni going on to leave tenured legacies. Trump told the story of one such former student, Bruce Voorhees, a member of the academy's class of 1929 and a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Voorhees died in an attempt to defend American forces from a surprise attack and was caught in the blast of his own bombs: "He knew full-well that he would likely never return. He knew he was going to die. But he also knew his daring action could prevent a surprise attack on large-scale American forces."

Trump emphasized the bravery demonstrated by Voorhees and his hope that today's graduating class would embody the same trait, learning from their surroundings and squeezing every ounce of wisdom and history from the great achievements of those who preceded them.

"Each of you inherits the legacy of the heroes who came before you," said Trump. "It's a living history passed down from officer to officer and generation to generation. Each of you will make your own mark on the Navy, the Marine Corps, the military, and the history of our great nation."

This advice isn't just unique to military or Naval officers, it is applicable to anyone in any industry. Find people whom you respect, learn their stories, and do what you can to honor and emulate their legacies.

'Don't give up on the ship'

Drawing from his copious experience in business, Trump advised the crowd: "Don't give up on the ship."

"It's a famous phrase, we even use it in business. If things are going bad, we say 'don't give up on the ship,'" he explained. "Our country cannot prevail without those who rally."

In any new endeavor, you will find yourself face-to-face with great challenges, but a captain cannot leave his ship. When it comes to business, there are going to be many times when you'll want to jettison a project. But instead of bailing when the future seems bleak, if you believe in what you are doing, hold on. Ride out the storm, Trump says.

"You know that as long as we are proud of who we are and what we're fighting for, we will not fail. We cannot fail. We will always succeed. Always," Trump said, nearing the end of his time on stage.
When Devaki Raj, the founder of the San Francisco-based deep learning startup CrowdAI, and an Inc. 30 under 30 alum, learned that an artificial intelligence engineer she was trying to recruit was in the hospital, she didn't think twice about what she did next: Raj showed up at the hospital with flowers and balloons. She wanted to make sure the candidate got the message that her startup would be a very different atmosphere than what he'd get at a larger company.

There's a talent war brewing between startups and big companies as both scramble to find top-notch artificial intelligence experts in a relatively small labor pool.

"There's just not enough talent out there," Raj says.

The number of experts in this field is not clear--Montreal startup Element AI, which helps businesses build machine learning teams, estimates there are some 20,000 PhD-level computer scientists around the world capable of building AI systems. These are the experts who are needed to develop autonomous cars, facial recognition technology, virtual assistants, and more. What is clear is that tech giants are trying to lure them by offering exorbitant salaries that can start at $300,000 a year, according to Bloomberg.

The struggle to find AI talent is hard felt for startups that can't throw around cash as easily as companies like Google, Amazon, or Facebook. According to a McKinsey report, tech giants invested $20 billion to $30 billion in AI in 2016. Startups that need to staff up in AI face the additional hurdle of finding talent that is unique enough to solve the specific challenge they're working on.

With AI still a relatively new field, tech companies often look to recruit experts from universities who are working on the cutting-edge of technology and steeped in high-level mathematics and statistics. For instance, in 2015, Uber hired 40 people from Carnegie Mellon to work on its self-driving car project. But such recruits don't always transfer so neatly to a startup environment.

CrowdAI maps out infrastructure changes such as roads and buildings on a global scale, and counts among its clients Udacity, Planet Labs, and Cruise Automation. Because the startup collects data on satellite and aerial imagery, particularly in areas not well-mapped in the world, CrowdAI works with a lot of messy data, which may be an unfamiliar challenge for experts in academia. Raj says she wades through hundreds of resumes in a week and often notices applicants will have the deep learning background needed but not necessarily the startup experience to "actually implement these things in a clear structure."

"At a startup, everything is fairly ad hoc--you have to be able to work with certain types of uncertainty," she says. Raj added that she's essentially "looking for a unicorn" who has the academic experience but also capabilities of doing production-ready work.

The other problem startups face is seeing their recruits snatched up before they even have time to make an offer. Once candidates learn of higher salaries elsewhere, they often don't wait around for an offer, says Sameer Maskey, founder of New York-based FuseMachines. He's experienced that scenario more than once. Founded in 2013, his startup develops automated sales and customer service platforms. "Many candidates have gone just because we could not afford it," he says. (His offering salary starts at $120,000.)

So Maskey started looking elsewhere. Also a machine learning professor at Columbia University, Maskey said he started sourcing from around the world to address the talent shortage. After four-and-a-half years, he built a team of almost 100 remote AI engineers from Nepal, Canada, and the Dominican Republic. Maskey says he realized there is a lot of undiscovered talent in developing countries--they just might not have spent 10 or so years earning a PhD degree.

Seeing the model worked for his team, Maskey created a fellowship program within his startup last year that sources and trains remote AI engineers for other companies in need of this talent.

Companies outside of technology, telecom, and finance face even bigger hurdles when trying to recruit AI engineers. The expertise hasn't really trickled down to other industries yet, according to the McKinsey report.

"In the medical field, you wouldn't even be able to recruit someone with medical device experience and AI experience. That would be a true unicorn because AI hasn't been applied to that area," says Peter Verrillo, founder of Enhatch, a New Jersey-based medical device technology company that builds planning and logistics software for surgeons to plan in advance of the procedure. His team is 20 employees, eight of which are dedicated to working on AI, and Verrillo is looking to hire more AI engineers in the future.
This Friday, May 25, is the day privacy changes forever. Well, it would be, if all companies complied with the European Union's new privacy regime, called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR represents the biggest overhaul of data protection standards since 1995, putting new responsibilities on those gathering, processing, and storing data, and handing back power to those who own it.

If you think businesses in the U.S. don't have to comply, think again. Yes, GDPR is only supposed to apply to the EU and EU residents, but if your organization markets to or processes the information of EU citizens, the GDPR applies to you, whether or not you're based in the EU. So any company that has an online presence and markets its products over the internet--which by default reaches into the EU--must comply with GDPR, regardless of size, maturity, or revenue. Because so many companies do business in Europe, American technology giants like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are scrambling to become GDPR compliant. That's why your email inbox is filled with so many "privacy policy" updates this month.

Resistance will be futile and may be extremely costly. This means you need to understand and start working on a plan to meet the GDPR requirements. GDPR squarely puts the onus on businesses to obtain consumer consent. Such consent must be "freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous." That is, it must be in plain English and easy to understand without a law degree.

Further, users must be able to review, revise, port, and even delete any data collected on them. Companies that fail comply with GDPR can be fined up to four percent of their global revenue, up to 20 million (approximately $24.5 million).

8 Steps to Get Your Small Business Ready

Document the personal data. Understand what personal data you hold, where it came from, who you share it with, what it was collected for, and whether it's still relevant and necessary for the purposes you collected it. Have a legal reason to collect data. Under the new regime, opt-out boxes are no longer enough. The same goes for long, complicated legalese. Instead, everything must be opt-in, and a citizen will only give their permission for their data to be processed by you for a limited period of time, for a narrowly defined purpose (for example, collecting their home address in order to ship them a product they just purchased). Consent may also be withdrawn at any time. Prepare for data breaches. You must be able to notify the data protection authority of a data breach within 72 hours of finding out about it. Be able to honor citizens' data requests. Under the new regulations, EU citizens can request that you delete, amend, or move their data to a different organization. Your processes and technology must make it possible to honor user demands within 30 days. Appoint a data protection officer. For small businesses (those with under 250 staff) a data protection officer is not mandatory, but it is still a good idea. Someone on your team must stay up to date with the privacy regime and make sure compliance is ongoing. Train all staff. Make sure your data protection officer briefs all staff regularly, so that they are appropriately informed and familiar with privacy matters and compliance. Audit your supply chain. The GDPR is all-encompassing. You must ensure that all entities in your supply chain are GDPR compliant. For example, if you store your transactions with customer data on a cloud service, you are responsible for confirming that the service provider is GDPR compliant. Inform everyone. Always share your privacy policy and make sure you have disclosed to all users, stakeholders, and customers what you plan to do with the data they have provided. I have seen lots of business models where the startup simply collects user data, and plans to figure out later how to monetize it. This process is reversed under the GDPR. Before you collect data, you must first disclose, in plain English, what that data will be used for.
Actresses and survivors Asia Argento, Rose McGowan and Annabella Sciorra have applauded disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein's being arrested and charged with rape and sexual assault.

Following news that Weinstein would turn himself in on rape and sex abuse charges, and before he was officially charged, the three women posted their reactions on social media.

On Thursday Argento  who accused Weinstein of raping her in the 90s  initially wrote, "What took you so long Harvey?" adding today, "This is the only moment Harvey Weinstein will be remembered for #perpwalk."

McGowan  who also accused Mr Weinstein of raping her 20 years ago  posted a powerful message to Instagram saying: "I, and so many of Harvey Weinsteins survivors, had given up hope that our rapist would be held accountable by law. Twenty years ago, I swore that I would right this wrong. Today we are one step closer to justice. We were young women who were assaulted by Weinstein and later terrorised by his vast network of complicity. I stand with my fellow survivors. May his arrest give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere that are telling their truths."

The actress later tweeted, "We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you."

Sciorra  who alleged Mr Weinstein raped her around the year 1992 when she filmed Miramax's The Night We Never Met  wrote "Can't Wait!" when she saw Weinstein was being arrested.

She continued: "Anyone know where I can get front row seats?"

Other Hollywood advocates of the #MeToo movement and the Time's Up campaign also commented on Weinstein's impending arrest.

Director Ava DuVernay tweeted, "Karma NEVER loses an address," linking to the story about Mr Weinstein.

Actress Constance Zimmer posted on Twitter, "TIMES Literally UP Friday #HarveyWeinstein."

Today President Trump  who has faced allegations of sexual assault himself  addressed the Mr Weinstein case saying, "I'm not familiar with the case, but it's really too bad."

Mr Weinstein, who has previously denied all accusations, was charged on Friday morning with four offences including rape and a criminal sex act on two women, after months of sexual abuse allegations.

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Mr Weinstein did not enter a plea, which is common at this stage of proceedings, but the 66-year-old's lawyer told reporters he was likely to plead not guilty. He has previously denied the allegations.

The film producer agreed to post $1 million (750,000) cash bail, wear an electronic monitor and not travel beyond New York and Connecticut.

Miramax co-founder and producer Weinstein has been accused of allegations ranging from rape to sexual harassment by over 50 women.

In the past he has said that his actions "caused a lot of pain" but has claimed many of the accusations were "patently false."
Harvey Weinstein is expected to do a perp walk on Friday morning into a New York Police Department precinct.

This follows reports from multiple US media outlets that Weinstein is set to turn himself in to police. He has previously denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told The Independent he is not commenting on the matter at this time.

More than 60 women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault and harassment by the Hollywood producer. He has said that all sexual acts were consensual, while his legal team have called a number of the allegations false.

This guy doesnt get to hide from the cameras, a law enforcement official said Thursday, with sources suggesting the move is designed to give officers on the case their due after extensive investigations.

Weinstein is expected to arrive at around 7am ET at an NYPD station, going first through the booking process before being transferred in handcuffs to Manhattan criminal court. He is then expected, with lawyer Benjamin Brafman by his side, to respond to the complaint from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Show all 42 1 /42 Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Harvey Weinstein Harry Weinsteins reputation as one of Hollywoods leading executives was long cemented in stone. The acclaimed movie mogul, who produced Oscar-winning films Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, and The Artist, clocked up box office successes and accolades aplenty. But this has quickly changed since a chorus of women have come forward to accuse the Hollywood producer of sexual harassment and assault. Since the New York Times bombshell report disclosed sexual harassment and rape allegations against the film mogul dating back decades, Weinstein has been fired from his namesake company, expelled from the Oscars and has had his wife leave him. Weinstein has apologised for having caused a lot of pain but has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Annabella Sciorra The Sopranos actor alleged Weinstein raped her after shooting The Night We Never Met, a 1993 movie that Weinstein produced. Similar to the stories told by other women, Weinstein drove the actor home, only to reportedly burst into Sciorra's apartment and start unbuttoning his shirt. He shoved me onto the bed, and he got on top of me, Sciorra said. I kicked and I yelled. Weinstein then allegedly locked her arms and forced sexual intercourse on her. After the incident, Sciorra found it increasingly hard to get work, many filmmakers saying 'We heard you were difficult', something the actor claims was because of the 'Weinstein-machine'. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Natassia Malthe The model and actress, who has appeared in around 50 films, said she met Weinstein at a BAFTA after party in 2008 while she was working as a spokeswoman for LG. She told a press conference in New York that she felt pressured into telling Weinstein she was staying at the Sanderson Hotel after being put on the spot. Malthe, now 43, said after her shift on February 10 she went back to her room and went to sleep, but was awoken by "repeated pounding" on her door, from someone yelling: "Open the door Natassia Malthe, it's Harvey Weinstein." Feeling humiliated, she said she opened the door. She alleged Weinstein began implying sex would get her a role in an upcoming film while semi-undressed and then he began to masturbate. "I was sitting on the bed talking to Harvey when he pushed me back and forced himself onto me. It was not consensual. He did not use a condom," she said. AP Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Sean Young The actor, best known for her role in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, said that Weinstein exposed himself to her in the early 1990s, when she was starring in the Miramax-produced Love Crimes - a production company that Weinstein headed at the time. "I personally experienced him pulling his you-know-what out of his pants to shock me," she said. "My basic response was, 'You know, Harvey, I really dont think you should be pulling that thing out, its not very pretty.'" Young never worked with Weinstein again after the incident. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mimi Haleyi Mimi Haleyi said she was assaulted by Weinstein in what appeared to be a child's bedroom in his New York City apartment in 2006 when she was in her 20s. She said she was aspiring to work in television and film production when she was first introduced to him at the London premiere of The Aviator around two years earlier and he helped her get experience on the set of a TV show being produced by The Weinstein Company. But, she added, he repeatedly hassled her and even tried to force himself through her front door in an effort to get her to join him on a trip to Paris. At one point he allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on an aspiring production assistant while she was on her period. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lupita Nyong'o In an op-ed for The New York Times, the Oscar-winning actor said she was invited to Weinsteins family home in Connecticut on the premise of watching a film shortly after they met in 2011. But she said shortly after it started he "insisted" in front of his children that she follow him and she was led to his bedroom. The Kenyan-Mexican actress, now 34, said she felt pressured into giving him a massage after he offered her one. "Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants," she wrote."I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that." Over the years that followed, he continued to get in touch, Nyong'o said, and when she declined another proposition she felt her career was threatened. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lena Headey Writing on social media, the Game of Thrones actor claims she first met Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival in 2005 where, after taking her for a walk by the water, he made some suggestive comment and gesture. Headey claims she bumped into Weinstein years later where he kept asking her questions about her love life. She alleges that, when Weinstein invited her to his hotel room to show her a script, the "energy shifted. The actor notes how, after saying she was not interesting in anything but the work, Weinstein was furious, apparently marching her back to a lift, "grabbing and holding tightly to the back of [her] arm." She claims that, after paying for her car, he whispered in her ear: "Don't tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent. Headey finished the post, writing: I got in the car and I cried. Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lucia Evans The actor told The New Yorker that after a meeting to discuss casting her in various projects, Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont. She added: Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Laura Madden Madden, a production assistant who worked at Miramax for a decade, told the Times that Weinstein allegedly prodded her for massages at hotels, a common theme among the sources the Timess reporters spoke with. On one occasion, she claims she locked herself in his hotel bathroom, sobbing Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ashley Judd Judd recounted for the Times how Weinstein allegedly harassed her while she was filming Kiss the Girls in 1996, inviting her to his hotel room and asking her for a massage, then inviting her to watch him shower. Judd first went public with the allegations in a 2015 interview with Variety during which she discussed the experience without naming the producer involved. She described Weinsteins alleged behaviour as coercive bargaining; I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back at me with some new ask, she told the Times AFP/Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Rose McGowan McGowan reportedly reached a previously undisclosed $100,000 settlement with Weinstein in 1997, over an incident that occurred in a hotel room Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mimi Haleyi Mimi Haleyi said she was assaulted by Weinstein in what appeared to be a child's bedroom in his New York City apartment in 2006 when she was in her 20s. She said she was aspiring to work in television and film production when she was first introduced to him at the London premiere of The Aviator around two years earlier and he helped her get experience on the set of a TV show being produced by The Weinstein Company. But, she added, he repeatedly hassled her and even tried to force himself through her front door in an effort to get her to join him on a trip to Paris. At one point he allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on an aspiring production assistant while she was on her period. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Emily Nestor Nestor had been temping at the Weinstein Company for only one day in 2014 when Weinstein allegedly offered to boost her career in return for sexual favours, according to the Times. She declined and reportedly complained of his behaviour to colleagues, who later passed the information on to senior executives. An internal Weinstein Company document cited by the Times describes Nestors encounter with Weinstein as follows: She said he was very persistent and focused though she kept saying no for over an hour Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ambra Battilana In March 2015, Battilana, an aspiring model and actress, was reportedly summoned to Weinsteins office on a Friday night to discuss her career. According to a police report cited by the Times, Battilana claimed she was assaulted by Weinstein, who grabbed her breasts after asking if they were real and put his hands up her skirt. Weinstein later claimed that Battilana had set him up, according to colleagues of his who were interviewed by the Times. The Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, later declined to press charges, and according to the Times, made a payment to Battilana. On 5 October, the International Business Times reported that after Vance dropped the charges, he received $10,000 from Weinsteins lawyer Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lauren OConnor Lauren OConnor, an employee of the Weinstein Company, penned a memo to executives alleging a toxic environment for women at the company. The memo cited numerous incidents of Weinstein harassing or coercing women who worked for him. She expressed fear that Weinstein was using her and other female employees to facilitate liaisons with vulnerable women who hope he will get them work. That same year, Weinstein allegedly reached a settlement with OConnor Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Kate Beckinsale The actor, who starred in the Weinstein Company films Serendipity and The Aviator, alleges that she was invited to Weinsteins hotel room at the age of just 17. When she approached the door, the producer reportedly greeted her dressed in just a dressing gown. I was incredibly naive and young and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man would expect me to have any sexual interest in him, she wrote on Instagram. After declining alcohol and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy but unscathed. Theo Wargo/Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Gwyneth Paltrow The actor alleges that after he cast her in the title role of the film Emma when she was 22, he took her to his hotel room, placed his hands on her and suggested massages. I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified, Paltrow told the New York Times. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Asia Argento Italian actress Asia Argento has alleged that in 1997 Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop. When I see him, it makes me feel little and stupid and weak, Argento told The New Yorker. After the rape, he won. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Cara Delevigne The British model and actress penning an Instagram post claiming that Weinstein had ordered her to kiss another woman in his hotel room, and tried to kiss her on the lips. AFP/Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Ashley Judd Ashley Judd said she rebuffed Harvey Weinsteins unwanted sexual advances by offering to consent only after she had won an Oscar. When she was initially invited to a meeting with Weinstein, Judd said, she was surprised to learn the producer was in his hotel room - a tactic that recurs in other womens accounts. Echoing the accounts of other women, Judd said Weinstein suggested she give him a massage and then invited her to watch him shower. After a volley of nos she said she would only after she wins an Oscar, fleeing after making the comments. Reuters/Mike Segar Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Judith Godreche French actress Judith Godreche said when she was 24 Weinstein invited her to his hotel room and asked to give her a massage. The next thing I know, hes pressing against me and pulling off my sweater, she told the New York Times. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Mira Sorvino The Oscar-winning actor said she found herself in a hotel room with Weinstein in 1995 where he started massaging my shoulders, which made me very uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me around. According to an interview in The New Yorker Weinstein subsequently arrived at her apartment late at night and she had to call a friend to come over to pose as her boyfriend in order to get Weinstein out of the house. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Katherine Kendall The actress said Weinstein undressed and chased her around a living room when she was just 23. She subsequently felt that telling others meant Ill never work again and no one is going to care or believe me, she told the New York Times. WireImage Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Tomi-Anne Roberts As an aspiring actress and working in a restaurant in New York, Tomi-Ann Roberts encountered Weinstein who encouraged her to audition for one of his films back in 1984. She subsequently went to meet him and found him naked in the bath and invited her to get naked and get into the bath with him, she told the New York Times. She said she left feeling manipulated. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Myleen Klass It has also been alleged that the disgraced film producer propositioned Myleene Klass with a sex contract at Cannes Film Festival in 2010. One of the singer and television personalitys friends reportedly told The Sun, Klass had told Weinstein to f*** off. Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Sophie Dix Sophie Dix, best known for her role as Captain Sadie Williams in Soldier Soldier, described her encounter with Weinstein when she was 23 as the single most damaging thing thats happened in my life. She told The Guardian Weinstein had pushed her to her bed and was tugging at her clothes. She rushed to the bathroom to escape, but when she came out she found him standing there masturbating. I quickly closed the door again and locked it, she said. Then when I heard room service come to the door I just ran. Rex Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lea Seydoux The actor and director claims she had to fight off Weinstein after he brought her to his hotel room during what she remembers to be 2012. He suddenly jumped on me and tried to kiss me. I had to defend myself. Hes big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room, thoroughly disgusted, she wrote in The Guardian. AFP/Getty Images Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Claire Forlani British actress Claire Forlani wrote on Twitter that she had evaded Weinsteins advances on five occasions at the age of 25. At meetings with the Hollywood a-lister, she says massage was suggested, and that Weinstein had boasted of all the women hed had sex with. Mark Douet Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Florence Darel French actress Florence Darel claimed Weinstein relentlessly pursued her in the mid 1990's and propositioned her while Eve Chilton, his wife at the time, was in the hotel room next door. I was astonished, she told People magazine. When you have someone so physically disgusting in front of you, continuing and continuing as though this was all perfectly normal What happened to me may not be illegal but it was inappropriate. Very inappropriate. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lysette Anthony Lysette Anthony, who starred as Marnie Nightingale in Hollyoaks, has claimed Weinstein raped her in the late 1980's after turning up to her London home in the late 1980s. She described the disgraced film producers alleged attack as pathetic and revolting and said it left her feeling disgusted and embarrassed. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Dawn Dunning Dunning said she met Weinstein in 2003 when she was 24-years-old and the disgraced film producer suggested she have a threesome with him and someone else. She told the New York Times Weinstein got angry when she refused. Youll never make it in this business, she said he told her as she left. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Arquette was already well known for her role in Desperately Seeking Susan, when she said she met Weinstein at his hotel to pick up a script in the early nineties. Weinstein was dressed only in a dressing gown, and tried to put her hand on his erect penis. Speaking to the New York Times, Arquette said as she left she told him: I will never be that girl. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Emma de Caunes Caunes, a French actor, claimed Weinstein took her to his hotel room in 2010 supposedly to retrieve a book he was making into a film, but once there he went into the bathroom. De Caunes said he then emerged naked, with an erection and told her to lie on the bed. She fled the room. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Zoe Brock Model Zoe claimed that she had to lock herself in a bathroom at Weinsteins hotel in 1997, after the mogul had sent all of the assistants out of the room, and then appeared naked. I was alone with Weinstein, she told ITVs This Morning programme. He very quickly left the room and came back naked. He chased me naked. Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Jessica Barth Actress Jessica Barth described an encounter with Weinstein in 2011 in an interview with The New Yorker in which she said Weinstein veered between offering her roles in films and demanding a naked massage. She alleges the producer said to her: So, what would happen if, say, were having some champagne and I take my clothes off and you give me a massage? When she tried to leave, he then promised to give her the number of a female executive at the company. He gave me her number, and I walked out and I started bawling, Barth said. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Romola Garai The actress told The Guardian she felt violated after she went to a meeting with Weinstein at the age of 18 and he met her in his hotel room wearing nothing but a dressing gown. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Heather Graham Graham claimed that during a casting opportunity in the early 2000's Weinstein had told her he had an open relationship with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy, Graham told Variety. There was no explicit mention that to star in one of those films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there. Graham was never hired to work in a Weinstein film. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Jessica Hynes Spaced and W1A star Jessica Hynes tweeted about an encounter with Weinstein earlier this week, but subsequently deleted the tweet. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Lucia Evans The actor told The New Yorker that after a meeting to discuss casting her in various projects, Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him. I said, over and over, I dont want to do this, stop, dont. She added: Hes a big guy. He overpowered me. I just sort of gave up. Thats the most horrible part of it, and thats why hes been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like its their fault. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Louisette Geiss The former actress said she met Weinstein to pitch a film script she was working on. During the meeting, Weinstein allegedly went out and reappeared naked and got into a jacuzzi where he masturbated in front of her and said he would make the script into a film if she stayed and watched. Getty Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Liza Campbell Liza Campbell, a British writer and artist, alleged that Olympically ugly Weinstein asked her to join him in the bath and began getting undressed at a hotel. In a piece for The Times, Campbell claimed she was forced to sprint to the door to escape. Rex Features Harvey Weinstein: his accusers Louise Godbold Writing in a blog post, Louise Godbold, a non-profit director in Los Angeles, said her encounter with Weinstein took the form of an office tour that became an occasion to trap me in an empty meeting room. She said then Weinstein was begging for a massage, his hands on my shoulders as I attempted to beat a retreat.



Bail will likely be set at around $1 million. Weinstein has also reportedly been deemed a flight risk and may be required to give up his passport and wear an ankle bracelet, or similar monitoring device.

The Manhattan D.A.'s office declined to comment on the proceedings. In November, an NYPD official said authorities were building a rape case against Weinstein based on credible and detailed allegations from actress Paz de La Huerta, as well as four others, including those brought by Lucia Evans, who alleged that Weinstein forcer her to perform oral sex on him in 2004.

The producer is also currently under investigation by police in London and Los Angeles. Weinstein has consistently denied engaging in non-consensual sex.

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Popular Turkish rapper Ezhel has been arrested in Istanbul on charges of "encouraging drug use" by anti-narcotics police, according to local media reports.

The 28-year-old, whose real name is Omer Sercan Ipekcioglu, was detained on 24 May and referred to a court after undergoing a health check in hospital.

The hashtag #FreeEzhel in support of the artist, whose videos have racked up millions of views online, was among the most-shared in Turkey on Twitter on the night of his arrest - including by famous venue Babylon - known as the Turkish equivalent to The Roundhouse in London.

Ezhel - one of the most famous rappers in Turkey - released his debut album Muptezhel in 2017, impressing fans and critics with a genre he defines as "Anatolian Urban Core/hip hop/Reggae-Dub/trap". The video for his song Sehrimin Tad (Taste of my City) received 31 million views on YouTube.

As well as rapping and singing, he plays the guitar, piano, darbuka, ney and tambourine. He is scheduled to perform with US rapper Wiz Khalifa on 4 July, and at Sziget Festival in Hungary in August. On 20 May he performed his first ever UK show, at the Jazz Cafe in London.

Many social media users in Turkey have expressed outrage and confusion over the arrest, questioning why police targeted and jailed a rapper for his lyrics, rather than investigate serious crimes.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

A member of an Istanbul-based band, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Independent: "It's so sad to see this is really happening in Turkey. Sercan is a really talented musician and definitely doesn't deserve to be in jail, he inspires people in a good way - not in a bad way. Let's support art and not punish the people creating it."

Ezhel's manager Riza Okcu added: "FreeEzhel, writing a song cannot be a crime - the government should arrest the real criminals. Rap music tells the truth about what happens in the streets."

Turkish law can punish "encouragement of drug use" with a sentence of 5-10 years in prison, according to Bianet.
When Lana Beaton and Amy Sanders decided to introduce their babies to one another, they hoped that the two children with Downs Syndrome would form a friendship of some sort.

However, they could never have imagined the inseparable bond that their babies would share with one another.

Lana and Amy had known each other growing up in North Dakota as their parents had been friends.

However, theyd never been particularly close pals themselves.

Lana and Amy both had babies born with Downs Syndrome within months of one another.

It was only when a mutual friend told Lana that Amys son Cutler had the same condition as her daughter Clara that she chose to reach out and arrange a meeting.

Stay-at-home mum Lana and school teacher Amy eventually met in a local Starbucks in April 2016 with their toddlers in tow, and the rest is history.

Clara and Cutler's mothers knew each other growing up (SWNS)

Lana believed that meeting Amy in person could be beneficial for both the mothers and their babies, as they could provide support for each other.

I thought we might be a good support for one another, she said.

I sent her a sensitive message asking her if Cutler had an extra chromosome like Clara and Amy wrote back within an hour.

Recommended Mother shares touching moment she found out newborn has Down syndrome

We met up about a week later in a local Starbucks and we really connected.

We laid the babies out on a blanket and they started touching each other - you could see that there was a connection between them.

Clara and Cutler, both two years old, now meet up regularly, spending at least two days a week in each others company and accompanying each other to physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions.

Their characters are very well balanced, as Clara is more outgoing whilst Cutler is more shy and reserved.

Clara and Cutler have had an incredible bond ever since their first meeting (SWNS)

Everybody is blown away by their friendship. Everybody is smitten with them, said Amy.

While Clara is a very bubbly little girl, shes spent much of her life in and out of hospital due to complications with her health.

When she was just three months old she had to undergo open heart surgery.

Recommended Student with Down sydrome goes viral after being accepted to college

As a result, the youngster has to be fed through a gastrostomy tube in her stomach.

She was also diagnosed with Hirschsprung disease, a condition that affects the colon in newborns, babies and toddlers and makes it difficult for them to pass stool.

When in hospital, Claras spirits are lifted by watching videos of her friend Cutler from her bed.

Lana and Amy have created a blog together called Clara & Cutler in the hopes that other parents raising children with Downs Syndrome can find and support one another.

'Everybody is blown away by their friendship,' said Cutler's mother Amy (SWNS)

I think Cutler has an amazing ally in Clara and we know theyll be a great support for one another growing up," said Amy.

They make my heart happy."
Government cuts in the face of rising patient demand contributed to NHS beds being fuller than ever this winter, according to new analysis.

It also found thousands of cancelled operations were not enough to prevent bed crisis.

Between January and March this year bed occupancy across all NHS trusts averaged 92.6 per cent according the analysis by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) found.

This was well above the safe level of 85 per cent recommended by medical experts, above this threshold patient management regularly hits crisis point and infections become more likely.

It is even above the maximum threshold of 92 per cent which the Department of Health said no hospital should exceed, though The Independent found 20 per cent of hospitals at 100 per cent occupancy within weeks of winter starting.

NHS England said it saw more patients than ever and had fewer in hospital inappropriately, but critics have said the pressures were made worse by government austerity measures since 2010.

The report confirms this was the worst winter on record, as bed occupancy over the whole period was 1.2 per cent higher than in the same period last year when the NHS managed 91.4 per cent occupancy.

This was despite prime minister Theresa May claiming the NHS was better prepared than ever for winter, with additional funding allocated to social care to allow patients to be sent home when well.

The winter also saw NHS leaders take the unprecedented step of calling for the pre-emptive cancellation of tens of thousands of non-urgent operations in December and January to ensure there was space for emergency patients.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt and the heads of the National Emergency Preparedness Panel, which recommended the cancellations, said this would mean operations could be rescheduled in a more timely way.

Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been sitting on a shelf unused, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised ideological reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a zero suicide ambition being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of procedural issues in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide new class of treatment for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Bransons company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an 82m contract to provide childrens health services across Surrey, citing concerns over serious flaws in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work could halve risk of cancer and heart disease Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests  but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty

However the RCS also found that last minute cancellations, on the day or 24 hours before a patient was due to be in hospital or operated on, hit 25,475 in the same period- the highest number since records began in 1994.

RCS vice president Mr Ian Eardley, said cancellations had been exceptionally high and this could be very distressing for patients and cause their condition to deteriorate.

These figures are very worrying but they will come as no surprise to frontline staff who struggled to provide care for their patients because of increasing demands and a shortage of hospital beds this winter.

He added: The fact remains that none of what the NHS experienced this year was new. A recent European Commission report found that the UK had the third lowest number of hospital beds in the EU at 2.6 per 1,000 in 2015, compared to the EU average of 5.1.

In a meeting of the NHS England board today director of operations Matthew Swindells said health service is already gearing up for next year but that the NHS would need another 4,000 beds.

There were 103,358 beds available across the NHS this winter, but the government has cut more than 5,000 since the winter of 2010/11.

Mr Swindells stressed that currently large numbers of patients were sat in hospital for more than three weeks, despite being well enough to go home, and tackling this could free up the space.

Yet again this is more damning evidence of a Tory made crisis in the NHS, said Labour shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth. Government ministers should be ashamed that years of cuts to beds, cuts to social care and austerity have led to the worst bed occupancy rates on record.

Bed occupancy rates above 85 per cent pose a significant risk to patient safety and the downturn compared with last year should be a cause of serious concern.

An NHS England spokesperson said: The NHS treated 160,000 more A&E patients within four hours compared to last year and freed up an average 1,533 beds a day by reducing delayed discharges. But with an estimated one-in-four people in a hospital bed not needing to be there, these figures show the importance of NHS organisations and local authorities continuing to work together to keep people healthy at home for longer.
Promotion for the latest series of Netflixs sitcom Arrested Development got off to a difficult start over an alleged on-set blowup by star Jeffrey Tambor.

The actor, who plays conman patriarch George Bluth, had admitted to the row with co-star Jessica Walter, his onscreen wife, in an earlier interview with The Hollywood Reporter but matters came to a head when Ms Walter broke down in tears recalling the incident during a roundtable with fellow cast members for The New York Times.

The exact nature of the episode was not disclosed but Mr Tambor, recently fired from the Amazon show Transparent over sexual harassment allegations, is understood to have issues with anger management.

Refuting lead actor Jason Batemans dismissive suggestion that such incidents are common in the hot house environment of film studios, Ms Walter said: In almost 60 years of working, Ive never had anybody yell at me like that on set.

I have to let go of being angry at him. He never crossed the line on our show, with any, you know, sexual whatever. Verbally, yes, he harassed me, but he did apologise. I have to let it go. [Turning to Tambor] And I have to give you a chance to, you know, for us to be friends again, she added.

While actress Alia Shawkat supported Ms Walter, their male co-stars Mr Bateman, Tony Hale and David Cross sought to downplay the affair on the grounds that acting is not a normal profession and sometimes emotions, kept necessarily close to the surface, can spill over.

This explanation has been offered many times before to justify a toxic atmosphere on a film set, usually when revelations about an exhibition of self-indulgent male aggression from a powerful star have been leaked to the press. Johnny Depp was previously the most recent example, the star accused of drunkenly assaulting a location manager on the set of his new film City of Lies, further troubling claims against a leading man also accused of abusing his ex-wife Amber Heard.

The most famous such case undoubtedly remains Christian Bales spectacular meltdown on the set of Terminator Salvation (2009) when director of photography Shane Harbut walked across his line of sight while the actor was preparing for a green screen shoot. Mr Bales sweary rant  in which he railed against Mr Harbut as a f***ing amateur and threatened to kick his f***ing ass and trash his lights  became a viral sensation. It was even remixed by RevoLucian as an unlikely dance track entitled Bale Out, also featuring a sample of Barbara Streisand haranguing a reporter over a political dispute in 2006.

Arguably even more shocking was the behind-the-scenes footage leaked from the set of David O Russells existential detectives comedy I Heart Huckabees (2004).

Mr Russell, a director with a difficult reputation who is rumoured to have had a fist fight with George Clooney on the set of Three Kings in 1999, is seen going ballistic at veteran actress Lily Tomlin. The filmmaker berates his leading lady for questioning his contradictory orders, shoving a pile of paper off a prop desk, storming around the set and, with an astonishing lack of self-awareness, telling her to Act like a f***ing grown up!

Marlon Brando  notoriously disruptive late in his career, notably on the set of Richard Stanleys disastrous 1996 adaptation of The Island of Dr Moreau  angrily told director Frank Oz to f*** off while filming gangster drama The Score in 2001 with Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton. When Brando later discovered that Mr Oz had previously worked on The Muppet Show, he taunted him mercilessly: I bet you wish I was a puppet so you could stick your hand up my ass and make me do what you want.

The style of Method acting Brando once embodied has often been used as an excuse for all manner of outrageous or appalling behaviour, particularly when actors insist on staying in character.

The recent Netflix documentary Jim and Andy recounted Jim Carreys antics on the set of the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, driving his co-stars and the legendary Czech director Milos Forman to distraction in pursuit of the same authenticity Kaufman bought to his peculiar brand of comic performance art.

Perhaps the most extreme exponent of this was German actor Klaus Kinski. A uniquely driven but wildly temperamental man, Kinskis devotion to his craft saw him realise the extraordinary Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972) and Fitzcarraldo (1982) with Werner Herzog but his behaviour during the demanding location shoots for those films in the Amazon became the stuff of legend. Herzog documented their turbulent friendship in the 1999 documentary My Best Fiend.

Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation, arguably better remembered for its leads anger than the film itself (Warner Brothers)

The movie industry has relished stories of behind-the-scenes turmoil since the Golden Age heyday of professional gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons and Kenneth Angers scurrilous book Hollywood Babylon (1959). The rivalries of great stars like feuding sisters Olivia de Haviland and Joan Fontaine or Joan Crawford and Bette Davis provided fodder for the tabloids and the relentless glare of the spotlight has often provoked bizarre reactions.

While Tom Cruise leaping on Oprah Winfreys couch to declare his love for new bride Katie Holmes in 2005 was endearing in an unhinged sort of way, the darker side of this privileging of male emotion has become all-too-apparent in the last year following the revelations about the sexual harassment of actresses by disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein and others.

It should be stressed that the problem of male fury being indulged and fostered is not solely reserved for film production. Witness ex-Fox News anchor Bill OReillys notorious Well do it live! rant, Seinfeld star Michael Richards panicking and racially abusing a black audience member in a comedy club in 2006 when his set was going badly or Kevin Spacey breaking character at the Old Vic to hector his public for failing to silence their phones.

Jessica Walters traumatic experience at the hands of Jeffrey Tambor is both the latest example of a petulant male star with a heavy sense of entitlement losing control and a timely warning to the industry that it must take greater responsibility for protecting its performers and holding its most powerful players to account.

That Tambor, Depp, Russell, OReilly and Spacey have all faced questions about their behaviour in their private lives as well as in the workplace is no accident.
The asteroid that smashed into the Earth 65 million years ago, triggering a mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, also drove a persistent bout of lethal global warming.

Temperatures across the planets surface increased rapidly by 5C, and remained that high for the next 100,000 years, according to a new study.

Scientists think this sudden rise, which contributed to a wave of extinctions that swept the planet, is comparable to the global warming that is currently gripping the planet.

Dr Ken MacLeod, a geologist at the University of Missouri who led the research, said the impact of the infamous Chicxulub asteroid would have triggered wildfires that burned for months.

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This would have been exacerbated by ferocious lightning storms that continued long after the event.

You have a period of years to decades where youre pumping large amounts of carbon dioxide by burning everything on the surface of the Earth into the atmosphere, Dr MacLeod told The Independent.

This led to rapid warming due to the influx of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

While the Earth has gone through many phases of intense heating in its long history, many of which left large swathes of the planet completely uninhabitable, what Dr Macleod noted about this period was its similarity to human-induced global warming.

Whats unusually comparable about the CretaceousPaleogene boundary and the modern is that the rates are so similar, he said.

Those changes in greenhouse gas concentrations after the impact would have occurred on the timescale of decades, whereas the changes we have brought about have occurred over a century and a half.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary

A period of warming following the Chicxulub asteroid has long been postulated by scientists, but they lacked the data to support it.

To understand this phenomenon better, Dr MacLeod and his research team examined a collection of fossilised fish teeth, scales and bone  no bigger than grains of sand  from a site in Tunisia.

These tiny samples retain chemical signatures that indicate the temperature at the time when the ancient creatures died.

Traditionally, this technique for estimating past temperatures uses ancient shellfish  but many of the species geologists usually study went extinct following the impact.

Instead, the scientists were able to piece together the history of the time leading up to the Chicxulub impact, and the time afterwards, using resilient fish that survived the shock.

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From this analysis they were able to come up with their 5C figure, a result that matched previous work exploring the levels of carbon dioxide that were emitted following the mass extinction event.

Their results were published in the journal Science.

We were quite concerned we would get muddy, uncertain results and we were absolutely thrilled that they came out as clean and dramatic as it did, said Dr MacLeod.

While it is likely the dinosaurs themselves were wiped out by the wildfires and other natural disasters that followed the asteroids impact, Dr MacLeod is willing to bet the global warming that ensued polished off many of Earths remaining creatures.

Marine creatures that are sheltered from wildfires that might survive those decades of disaster could very easily be ones that were done in by the global warming pulse, he said.
A woman has been convicted for performing grossly offensive antisemitic songs that included lyrics calling Auschwitz a theme park.

Alison Chabloz, 54, sang her compositions at a meeting of the far-right London Forum group, whose leader Jeremy Bedford-Turner has been separately jailed for stirring up racial hatred.

A judge at Westminster Magistrates Court found Chabloz had violated laws criminalising gross offence and intended to insult Jewish people.

District judge John Zani delayed her sentencing until 14 June but told the court: On the face of it this does pass the custody threshold.

Chabloz, a Swiss-British dual national, had uploaded tunes to YouTube including one defining the Nazi death camp Auschwitz as  a theme park just for fools and the gas chambers a proven hoax.

The songs were partly set to traditional Jewish folk music, with lyrics like: Did the Holocaust ever happen? Was it just a bunch of lies? Seems that some intend to pull the wool over our eyes."

Chabloz told the court her songs were satire and claimed some Jewish people found them funny.

But while being cross-examined in March, she called for an official investigation into the number of victims killed in the so-called Holocaust, and claimed there was no proof that gas chambers existed.

A scuffle outside Westminster Magistrates' Court, where Alison Chabloz was found guilty of posting antisemitic songs online (PA)

Adrian Davies, defending, previously told the judge his ruling would be a landmark one, setting a precedent on the exercise of free speech.

He had argued his client did not commit an offence, saying: "It is hard to know what right has been infringed by Miss Chabloz's singing."

But Judge Zani said Chabloz failed by some considerable margin to persuade the court that her right to freedom of speech should provide her with immunity from prosecution.

I am entirely satisfied that she will have intended to insult those to whom the material relates, he added. Having carefully considered all evidence received and submissions made, I am entirely satisfied that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty.

Prosecutor Karen Robinson previously told the court: They're not political songs. They are no more than a dressed-up attack on a group of people for no more than their adherence to a religion.

Around 20 of Chablozs supporters were in court for Fridays hearing and groaned when the guilty verdicts were given, with shouts of shame from the public gallery.

A scuffle ensued outside the building as the defendant left, with a man holding an Israeli flag involved in several heated arguments before police arrived to keep the peace.

Chabloz, of Charlesworth in Derbyshire, was convicted of two counts of causing an offensive, indecent or menacing message to be sent over a public communications network after performing two songs at a London Forum event in 2016.

The Independent infiltrated a meeting of the far-right group the following year, where Chabloz performed again, finishing her set with a parody of Edith Piafs I Regret Nothing and performing a quenelle salute.

The event was compered by London Forum leader Bedford-Turner, who was jailed for a year earlier this month over a speech where he incited people to free England from Jewish control.

Chabloz was previously banned from the Edinburgh Fringe for performing a quenelle salute, which is linked to antisemitism, during the arts festival in 2015.

On her website, she describes herself as a fierce anti-Zionist campaigner for freedom of expression and, in particular, Holocaust revisionism.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. 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This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters

The charges against Chabloz were initially brought in a private prosecution by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism after members accused authorities of failing to act.

Chairman Gideon Falter said: Chabloz has dedicated herself over the course of years to inciting others to hate Jews, principally by claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax perpetrated by Jews to defraud the world.

This verdict sends a strong message that in Britain Holocaust denial and antisemitic conspiracy theories will not be tolerated.

The group said there was a crisis of confidence in Britains Jewish community over a perceived lack of prosecutions for antisemitic hate crimes.

Gross offence laws were controversially used to prosecute a YouTuber who taught his girlfriends pet dog to perform Nazi salutes earlier this year.

Lawyers and the Index on Censorship group raised concern about the scope of the law and potential freedom of speech infringements, arguing that separate laws against hate speech were sufficient to punish offenders.

Additional reporting by PA
A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder following a fatal stabbing in north London.

He was detained on Friday after a 30-year-old man was knifed to death outside an ice-cream parlour in Islington earlier this week.

The victim has been named locally as Marcel Campbell, a father-of-two from Tottenham.

He was found with multiple stab wounds following an attack in Upper Street, near Islington Town Hall, at 6.30pm on Monday.

Mr Campbell was pronounced dead in the street, which is lined with high-end shops and restaurants.

He was a wonderful father, he lived for his kids. He was a good boy, his aunt Lynette told the Evening Standard. We are losing too many of our young people. His mother is devastated.

The Metropolitan Police appealed for witnesses to come forward.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams said: This was a brutal attack that was carried out on a busy street in broad daylight. I am asking anyone who saw the assault or has any information to contact detectives.

In particular we would like to hear from anyone who was in the area around this time, who may have filmed any part of the incident on their phones or has dash-cam footage of the incident.

Your information could be vital in helping us establish the course of events that unfolded during the early evening of 21 May and what caused a young man to lose his life.

The stabbing is the latest in a spate of knife crime in London, where police have launched more than 60 murder investigations this year.
A 656m government scheme to upgrade the UKs criminal records checks system has been branded a masterclass in incompetence in a damning Commons report.

The Home Office project to modernise the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has been marred by poor planning, delays and spiralling costs after it was outsourced to a private consultancy, said the Public Accounts Committee.

The programme is more than four years late and costs are expect overshoot its budget by 229m, the report added.

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Government has a crucial role to play in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults but the handling of this project has been a masterclass in incompetence, said PAC chairwoman Meg Hillier. None of the cost-saving and service benefits set out in the original business case have been achieved.

In 2012, the government contracted Tata Consultancy Services to design, build and run a new IT system that would modernise DBS and move its services away from a paper-based system.

The project was expected to be completed by June 2014 but it was delayed from the start and the DBS was forced to extend a contact with its previous contactor, Capita, by two years.

The modernisation is still not complete, while the expected total cost has soared from 656m to 885m.

It is not clear when Tata now expects to complete the project and the PAC said there was a strong risk that they may run out of time before the contract ends in March 2019.

A new feature introduced to make it easier to check for updates to records has received only a fraction of the demand expected due to a failure to understand what service users want, added the report.

It said the project has not delivered the promise of a cheaper, better safeguarding service for customers.

It added: Negotiations affecting the future of DBS are under way and government must monitor these carefully, said Ms Hillier. It then needs to be straight with Parliament and the public about what, if any, benefits it expects to materialise by the time DBSs contract with Tata Consultancy Service ends.

Four million disclosures were issued by DBS in 2016/17, of which 260,000, or 6.1 per cent, contained information that was potentially relevant to safeguarding, according to figures published by Whitehalls spending watchdog earlier this year.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA

The PAC said it also had serious concerns about the implementation of the Emergency Services Network (ESN), the new communication system that will be used by the UKs police, paramedics services and fire crews.

The 1.2 billion system, which has been contracted to EE, is scheduled to launch next year but in February the committee criticised progress as deeply unsatisfactory.

Ms Hillier said: These are testing times for the Home Office. The department also faces huge challenges arising from the UKs departure from the EU  not least, potential threats to security at the border from day one of Brexit.

On both DBS and ESN the Home Office appears either to have ignored or not fully understood the needs of the end user. It does not fill us with confidence that all is rosy on the departments other major projects. Although we received verbal assurances that they are running smoothly, these are not enough.

We expect the Home Office to demonstrate that, when things go wrong, it has learned from and is acting on the lessons.
A veterinary surgeon has claimed horses used in the royal wedding were in obvious oral discomfort, in an open letter published by the British Veterinary Associations journal.

Michael Fox, a US-based vet, said the wedding between Harry and Meghan was marred due to the use of bits in the horses mouths.

In the letter, which was published in Veterinary Record, he wrote: Several horses were tossing their heads, mouthing and chomping and drooling in obvious oral discomfort.

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Mr Fox added that a British veterinary colleague has long established the inhumanity of the snaffle-bit and has developed a widely used bitless bridle for horses.

After leaving St Georges Chapel last Saturday, Meghan and Harry rode in a carriage being pulled by four horses as crowds of well-wishers cheered them along.

The Ascot Landau carriage they used was the same the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge rode in after their wedding in 2011.

 Harry and Meghan's wedding carriage revealed

Mr Fox said he hoped the couple would extend their compassion to break the circle of anthropocentrism, and help ensure the humane treatment of all creatures great and small.

Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Show all 90 1 /90 Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Duke and Duchess of Sussex kiss on the steps of St Georges Chapel after their wedding WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Top gear: William and Kate had an Aston Martin with balloons and a JUST WED number plate. Harry and Meghan score extra points: this 1968 E-type Jag, which took them to the evening party at Frogmore House, has been converted to electric power. And the number plate, E190518? Its their anniversary AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and Prince Harry leave St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle after their wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in Windsor Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stand at the altar Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Kingdom Choir outside St Georges Chapel in Windsor, Berkshire, after performing at the wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The pageboy whose smile went viral Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests toast as they attend a viewing party for the royal wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle reaches the altar in St Georges Chapel Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures John Major and his wife Norma Major attend the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives for the wedding ceremony to marry Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Fans attend a Royal Wedding watching party at Lillies Victorian Establishment in New York AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex emerge from the West Door of St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers lining the streets wave and cheer as Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex pass riding in the Ascot Landau Carriage during their carriage procession AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures James Blunt and Sofia Wellesley attend the royal wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kiss on the steps of St Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy arrive for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex begin their carriage procession in the Ascot Landau Carriage after their wedding ceremony AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures James Corden and Julia Carey attend the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Harry and Meghan emerge from the West Door of St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Left to right, Lady Louise Windsor, Sophie, Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne, Princess Royal arrive for the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry looks at his bride, Meghan Markle, as she arrives accompanied by the Prince of Wales in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for their wedding in Windsor, Britain REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian arrive at St Georges Chapel Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry places the wedding ring on the finger of Meghan Markle during their wedding service, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby WPA Pool/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The royal wedding cake has been revealed AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public view a live screening of the marriage ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Winchester Cathedral Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Rex Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Duke of Cambridge (left), the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of York during the wedding service for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle during their wedding service PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures US actor Abigail Spencer (left) and Indian actor Priyanka Chopra (second from left) arrive with other guests for the royal wedding EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland drive along the Long Walk for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Sir Elton John leaves St Georges Chapel PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland drive along the Long Walk for her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Oprah Winfrey arrives at St Georges Chapel REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry's niece and bridesmaid Princess Charlotte arrives for the wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and US actress Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for their wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Bishop Michael Curry delivered a passionate sermon during the royal wedding ceremony PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures In this frame from video, Meghan Markle walks down the aisle with Prince Charles for her wedding ceremony at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall attend the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle is driven by the Long Walk to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for her royal wedding ceremony to Britain's Prince Harry, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle is driven down the Long Walk to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for her royal wedding ceremony to Britain's Prince Harry, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives for the wedding ceremony to marry Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, at St George's Chapel, Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle before the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for her wedding to Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Bridesmaids and pageboys arrive for the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle (R) with her mother Doria Ragland arrive at Windsor Castle ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales marries Ms. Meghan Markle in a service at St George's Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. Among the guests were 2200 members of the public, the royal family and Ms. Markle's Mother Doria Ragland Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Princess Charlotte (right) arrives for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle, right, and her mother Doria Ragland leave Cliveden House Hotel in Taplow, near London, England AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for her wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Doria Ragland arrives at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry (right) sits with his best man the Duke of Cambridge in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle ahead of his wedding to Meghan markle wedding PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests are pictured as they take their seats inside the Chapel ahead of the wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and US actress Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Britain's Prince Harry (R) and his brother and best man, Prince William (C), Duke of Cambridge arrive at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for his royal wedding ceremony to Meghan Markle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Prince Harry (left) and the Duke of Cambridge arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Meghan Markle leaves Cliveden House Hotel in Taplow, near London, England, Saturday, May 19, 2018 before her wedding ceremony with Prince Harry at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castl AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Britain's Prince Harry (L), Duke of Sussex, arrives with his best man Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R), at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, on May 19, 2018 for his wedding ceremony to marry US actress Meghan Markle AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures British Ministry of Defence shows around members of the Band of the Irish Guards entertaining the public ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor, Britain, EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Princess Eugenie, The Duke of York and Princess Beatrice, from left, arrive for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Key Newss Kay Burley enjoys the moment Rex/Shutterstock Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Sarah Ferguson leaves after the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A general view of guests arriving in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor, Britain REUTERS Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Amal and George Clooney arrive for the wedding ceremony AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guests arrive at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures US tennis player Serena Williams (L) and her husband American Internet entrepreneur and investor Alexis Ohanian (R) arrive for the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Irish Guards marching band parades through Windsor for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public gather ahead at Windsor Castle for the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Alison Tinsley on the Long Walk ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Police patrol the streets ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor, Britain EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans wearing wedding dresses hold a sign reading When Harry met Meghan he hadnt met us first ahead of the royal wedding ceremony EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers gather to watch the Royal Wedding of Britains Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and US actress Meghan Markle at the Pear Tree in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Members of the public gather near Windsor Castle prior to the wedding of HRH Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Guardsman play for the crowd ahead of the royal wedding ceremony of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, in Windsor EPA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans wear wedding dresses near the castle before the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales marries Ms. Meghan Markle in a service at St George's Chapel inside the grounds of Windsor Castle. Among the guests were 2200 members of the public, the royal family and Ms. Markle's Mother Doria Ragland Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures War Veteran Phyllis Walker smiles during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle at Cambridge Gate Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures David and Victoria Beckham arrive at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle Reuters Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Band of the Irish Guards perform outside the castle prior to the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A member of staff holds goodie bags ahead of of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A Royal fan waits for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England, Saturday, May 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) AP Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans within the grounds of Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans gather behind the barriers on the Long Walk, in Windsor, ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. PA Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans soak up the atmopshere during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on The Long Walk Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures A man sweeps the path outside St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Two men wearing wedding dresses buy train tickets to Windsor to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Waterloo train station Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Crowds gather during the wedding of Prince Harry Harry to Ms. Meghan Markle on The Long Walk Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Well-wishers draped in a Union flag with an image of Britain's Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle walk along the Long Walk leading to Windsor Castle ahead of the wedding and carriage procession of Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Windsor AFP/Getty Images Royal Wedding - Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle in pictures Royal fans line the Long Walk in Windsor ahead of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle PA

However, he finished the letter by saying: Time for the royal horse brigade to get with the times and put animal welfare and respect before blind tradition.

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Speaking to The Independent about his letter, Michael Fox added: The snaffle-bits can also distract [the horses] and their focus on the task at hand and what is going on around them.

Some horses who chomp on the bit may be showing heightened anxiety.

A spokesperson for the royal household told The Independent: The horses in the royal mews are trained to participate in large ceremonial events.

Professional care is taken to ensure their wellbeing.
The head of the international chemical weapons watchdog has suggested it could start naming the culprits behind global atrocities in the wake of the Salisbury attack.

Ahmet Uzumcu, the outgoing director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter should be a serious wake-up call to the international community.

If accountability is avoided, the potential re-emergence and acceptance of chemicals as weapons of war and terror will not be deterred, he added.

I dont think we can afford to continue in the absence of an attribution mechanism to identify the perpetrators using chemical weapons.

The OPCW verified the UKs identification of novichok as the nerve agent used in Salisbury, but did not comment on its origin.

Police have not yet identified a suspect over the poisoning, which saw the substance smeared on Mr Skripals front door handle.

Asked by The Independent whether the OPCW had evidence pointing to who launched the attack, Mr Uzumcu would not be drawn.

But speaking at Chatham House in London, he slapped down a conspiracy theory circulated by the Russian government claiming a different nerve agent could have been used.

 Salisbury spy poisoning: Yulia Skripal says she is 'lucky to have survived' and would one day like to go home to Russia

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was among officials citing evidence from a Swiss laboratory to suggest that BZ was deployed and evidence had been covered up.

Mr Uzumcu said a precursor chemical of BZ and a blank sample was sent to all designated laboratories alongside real evidence taken from Salisbury to prove their tests were accurate.

The BZ samples did not have anything to do with the Salisbury samples, he added. It was solely for checking the quality of the work.

Another popular conspiracy theory has centred on claims that the nerve agent used on the Skripals could have come from the British militarys own Porton Down defence laboratory, which sits just outside Salisbury.

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Mr Uzumcu said the global Chemical Weapons Convention permits members to conduct experimental activities in facilities that are verified and regularly inspected by the OPCW.

It is allowed by the Convention for some state parties to have small-scale facilities where they can conduct research activities for protective purposes, and they can manufacture very small amounts of chemical weapons in order to do it, he added.

He would not confirm whether the UK already had samples of novichoks, which were originally developed by the Soviet Union, but said officials were able to identify the nerve agent used in Salisbury in a very short space of time.

Mr Uzumcu said that if identification had been slower, the Skripals and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey  who have all been released from hospital  would not have been effectively treated.

All three main victims have survived and I think this proves the efficiency of British authorities, he added.

He was speaking following meetings with senior British government officials including foreign minister Sir Alan Duncan and defence minister Earl Howe, who gave an update on ongoing decontamination work in Salisbury.

Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile spy swap in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - Skripals home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripals house. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been turned upside down by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters

The UK has accused Russia of culpability for the Salisbury attack after the Kremlin failed to explain how it might have lost control of novichok to another party, despite claiming to have destroyed all chemical weapons stockpiles.

Vladimir Putin has denied any involvement and cast doubt on analysis by Britain and the OPCW.

Im not an expert on those military grade toxic agents, but if such substance is used, then the victims die immediately...right on the spot, he said on Friday.

But this was not the case likely, and Sergei Skripal and his daughter are alive.

They are out of hospital now and as weve seen recently on TV, his daughter looks fine, so thank god everyone is alive, everyone is well.

So to say that a military grade agent was used is not possible and if it is the case then it casts doubt on everything that has been said by the UK from the outset.

Ms Skripal said she and her father were lucky to have both survived in an interview filmed in a secret location, calling their recovery slow and extremely painful.

The 33-year-old has so far declined assistance from the Russian Embassy, where the ambassador has accused British authorities of kidnapping her and her father.

The attack has further heightened tensions between the West and Russia, amid ongoing disputes over the war in Ukraine and the Kremlins backing of the Syrian regime.

A child is treated in a hospital in Douma (White Helmets/Handout via Reuters) (White Helmets)

Mr Putin has also dismissed the OPCWs finding that Bashar al-Assads forces launched a deadly attack using the nerve agent sarin last year, while the body is currently investigating another massacre in Douma.

The secretariat must be allowed the space to carry out its activities without the fear of political backlash, Mr Uzumcu said, warning that the cold reality of international politics was preventing perpetrators from being held to account.

The international community does need to address this gap.

He said existing powers under the Chemical Weapons Convention would allow the OPCW to expand its role adding: The notion that the OPCW does not go into attribution needs to be re-considered.

Wilful defiance of an international norm should not be allowed to go unchallenged.

Mr Uzumcu said such work could currently have to be outsourced or new experts could be hired for the task, but technically we would be capable.

As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW works to permanently eliminate stockpiles worldwide.

Since 1997, it says 192 state parties have destroyed more than 96 per cent of their declared stockpiles.

But the Salisbury attack has cast doubt on recording practices, after it emerged that Russia had never declared the existence of novichok following a secret Soviet weapons programme.
A plane carrying dozens of Irish voters home for the country's abortion referendum has been struck by another passenger jet on the runway at Stansted.

The FR205 Ryanair flight to Dublin was waiting for permission to take off when it was shunted from behind by a Primera flight to Malaga taxiing behind it. No injuries were reported.

Cabin crew quickly confirmed to those on board that the aircraft had been hit and that all passengers would have to be evacuated.

Three fire engines quickly appeared on the scene, seemingly as a precaution, although there appeared to be no sign of danger.

Staff from the Independent who were on the flight say the mood remained calm, even jovial.

The back doors of the plane could not be opened, so passengers were gradually evacuated from the back of the plane up to the front door "to avoid tipping issues", according to cabin crew.

A large number of those on board were travelling to Ireland to vote in today's referendum on repealing the country's eighth amendment, which effectively criminalises abortion.

Around 25 passengers were wearing jumpers bearing the 'Repeal' slogan.

Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Members of the public hold yes placards on Fairview road Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Taoiseach Leo Varadkar casts his vote at Scoil Thomas, Castlenock Dublin PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Members of the public hold no placards on Fairview road Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures A woman wears a campaign T-shirt and badges REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Lorraine Curtin with her son Cillian Curtin, age 5 months, and Petrina Conmee arrive at Dublin airport from Portugal, having traveled especially to vote in Ireland's referendum REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Members of the public hold yes placards on Fairview road Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures A nun casts her ballot REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadakar leaves a polling station after casting his vote AFP/Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Tom Harrington arrives to cast his ballot at Knock national school AP Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Leo Varadkar casts his vote PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures A woman carries her baby as she arrives to vote Reuters Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures REUTERS

Genevieve Hulme Beaman, aged 29, from Dublin, was among those on the flight.

"My whole reason to get home is to vote, so as long as I get home to vote it's fine," she told The Independent.

"You can vote until 10pm. I wanted to be there to support the women there, I have a lot of friends who are very emotional today and they could do with the support. It's not ideal to be here. I booked this early flight to be there for the whole day."

Grainne Maguire, a 34-year-old from Navan, told The Independent: "I actually don't have a vote but I was really looking forward to getting home to canvass, and annoy anti-choice people by walking around in a Repeal jumper looking confident."

One of the passengers, Malena McQuarrie, 23, from Dublin, said: "I'm extremely annoyed, but I hope we're going to get home in time to vote.

"Luckily I live by the airport so it's not so bad for me but some people have to go far into the country. A girl in front of me was saying she has to fly back tonight."

Passengers on the Ryanair flight were waiting to be put on another flight, while Primera said a substitute aircraft would be sent to Stansted to take passengers to Malaga. It said they would be delayed by around eight hours in total.

A statement from Ryanair said: One of our aircraft was stationary at the designated holding point on the taxiway at London Stansted Airport this morning when the winglet of a Primera Air aircraft taxiing behind scraped its tail stabiliser.

"Both aircraft were under the instruction of London Stansted Air Traffic Control at the time. The Ryanair aircraft returned to stand to be inspected by Ryanair engineers. To minimise delay, customers will transfer to a replacement aircraft later this morning.

A Primera statement said: "A substitute aircraft will be sent to Stansted airport to perform the affected flights and carry passengers to their destinations. Meanwhile, all passengers will be offered assistance by a handling agent.

"At the moment the expected delay for the flight to Malaga is about eight hours. Further information will be provided as soon as possible."

Stansted said in a statement: Following a minor airfield incident at approximately 09.15, two aircraft due to depart were required to return to stand.

"No injuries have been reported and no evacuation was required from either aircraft. As a precaution airfield operations were briefly suspended but all flights have now resumed.
A very warm bank holiday weekend is expected but thunderstorms and travel disruption could dampen the mood.

Temperatures could reach 30C in some parts of the UK, but commuters are being warned about delays as the bank holiday coincides with not only a spell of warm weather but also the start of half term.

Anyone who is lucky enough to be in Northern Ireland, which along with Scotland will see the best of the sunshine, could come close to enjoying record bank holiday temperatures. The current record for Northern Ireland is 25.2C, set in Strabane in 1978.

The warmest late May bank holiday weekend on record is officially 32.8C, set on the 29 May 1944 bank holiday Monday in Horsham, West Sussex, and Tunbridge Wells, Kent, together with London's Regent's Park. The capital could hit 30C and surpass the warmest day of the year so far, which was the 29.1C recorded at London's St James's Park on 19 April.

It will feel warmest across southern England and Wales, where temperatures could rise into the high 20s.

But not everywhere will stay dry through the weekend, and barbecue plans may need to be put on hold in some places.

Chief meteorologist for the Met Office, Andy Page, said: "There is a risk of potentially severe thunderstorms during the bank holiday weekend. These are most likely to affect the south and southwest of the country, however exact location details are uncertain at this stage.

"Impacts from heavy downpours are possible, however are likely to be localised. We are carefully monitoring the thunderstorm threat and recommend people keep updated with the forecast on the day if they have outdoor plans."

Drivers are also being warned to prepare for delays as up to 20 million motorists are expected to embark on trips this weekend, according to the AA.

Roads will be busy from late afternoon on Friday as commuters battle for space with those making an early start on their getaway trips.

The AA's Vince Crane predicted that congestion will be "pretty intense".

He said: "The best indicator of traffic levels is the weather. Forecasters say it is likely to be warm and sunny and that's going to tempt people to travel further, so motorways and coastal routes are likely to be busy."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA

RAC traffic spokesman Rod Dennis, said: "Motorists planning on covering any significant distance should try to avoid Friday afternoon and evening and get away early on Saturday or Sunday to miss the worst of the jams.

"But with the UK's constrained road space, and with road traffic at an all-time high, it doesn't take much for congestion to occur so the message is to expect queues on some of the busiest routes."

Anyone hoping to escape traffic jams by taking a train are urged to check whether their route is affected by engineering work.

Network Rail is carrying out projects across Britain between Saturday and Monday.

No trains will run between Birmingham New Street and Coventry due to signalling work, causing disruption for Aston Villa fans travelling to Wembley.

Agencies contributed to this report
A senior Home Office official who advised Amber Rudd during the Windrush scandal that eventually led to her resignation has left the department after 27 years.

Hugh Ind, the director general of immigration enforcement, is expected to take up a new role at the Cabinet Office as part of several senior staffing changes at the top of the Home Office.

The move is being viewed by some as a demotion after Mr Ind was caught up in the row over deportation targets that cost Ms Rudd her job as home secretary last month.

More than 5,000 potential Windrush cases have been already been identified since it emerged that Caribbean immigrants  who moved to the UK between 1940s to 1970s  had lost their jobs, been refused medical care or been threatened with deportation as they did not have the right documentation.

At the height of the row, Ms Rudd incorrectly told a Commons committee that there were no Home Office targets for removing illegal immigrants.

She was later forced to resign from her cabinet position for misleading MPs when a leaked memo revealed she had been told of the targets.

The six-page document was prepared by Mr Ind for Ms Rudd and her advisers last year, saying the department had set a target of achieving 12,800 enforced returns in 2017-18 and boasts that we have exceeded our target of assisted returns.

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty

The Home Office confirmed that Mr Ind was moving to another Whitehall department in early June but insisted he had not been fired or demoted.

Patsy Wilkinson, the second permanent secretary to the department will also be leaving, officials confirmed.

It comes as a dedicated taskforce set up in the wake of the Windrush debacle was revealed to have taken more than 13,000 calls, of which 5,000 have been identified as potential cases.

However guidance issued as part of a package of measures by Sajid Javid, the new home secretary, revealed those rejected under the scheme will not attract a right of appeal.
People are willing to pay higher taxes to fund the NHS, Jeremy Hunt has said, amid an ongoing row among senior ministers over how to secure the future of the health service.

The health secretary said the public was open to the idea of tax hikes to pay for healthcare "provided they can see that it is not being wasted", after a major report said the NHS would need 2,000 from every household to stay afloat.

The comments will stoke the ongoing row with the Treasury, which has reportedly pushed back on Mr Hunt's calls to increase the NHS's annual budget.

Theresa May has promised to put up a long-term plan for funding the NHS and suggested that fresh cash could be made earmarked for the cash-strapped service later this year.

Speaking at a thinktank event in London, Mr Hunt said: "Poll after poll shows that they do recognise that through the tax system we will end up having to contribute more and there is a willingness to do that, providing they can see the money going to the NHS and providing they can see that it is not being wasted.

"From the chancellor's point of view, he well understands that. He has a responsibility to make sure that the funding for all public services is within what the country can afford and of course that is important because the NHS depends on a strong economy more than other health systems because the vast majority of our funding comes directly from tax coffers."

Philip Hammond is reportedly reluctant to hike taxes to pay for the NHS and his colleague Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, recently told The Telegraph that a ring-fenced tax would be a "bad thing".

However as the NHS approaches its 70th birthday in July, Mr Hunt and NHS bosses are keen to secure more cash to ensure its long-term future.

It comes as new analysis showed that healthcare spending needs to rise by an average 3.3 per cent a year over the next 15 years simply to deliver the same levels of care to an influx of sick and ageing patients.

Respected thinktanks, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Health Foundation, said funding these increases would mean taxes need to rise by between 1.6 and 2.6 per cent of GDP - the equivalent of between 1,200 and 2,000 per household.

"We are finally coming face to face with one of the biggest choices in a generation," said IFS director Paul Johnson.

"If we are to have a health and social care system which meets our needs and aspirations, we will have to pay a lot more for it over the next 15 years.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA

"This time we won't be able to rely on cutting spending elsewhere - we will have to pay more in tax.

"But it is a choice: higher taxes and a health and social care system which meets our expectations and improves over time, or taxes at current levels and a more constrained health service delivering less than we have become accustomed to."

It also follows new analysis by the Royal College of Surgeons, which found that government cuts in the face of rising patient demand contributed to NHS beds being fuller than ever this winter.
Thousands of innocent people may be unaware that they can demand their mugshots are deleted from police systems under "unjustifiable" government rules, MPs have said.

The Science and Technology Committee said facial images should be treated the same as fingerprints and DNA, and expressed concern at the Home Office's "unacceptable" approach, where people who have not been convicted, have to request their image is deleted, rather than it being an automatic process.

Committee chairman Norman Lamb said keeping mugshots of innocent people was a "significant infringement of people's liberty" and demanded to know why the government had not acted nearly six years after the High Court ruled mass retention was unlawful.

Thousands of innocent people are believed to be among the 21m images on the Police National Database, of which 12.5m are in a gallery which can be searched using facial recognition software.

A Home Office review last year said unconvicted individuals should have the right to apply for the deletion of their custody image from all police systems.

However the cross-party report said: "The Government's approach is unacceptable because unconvicted individuals may not know that they can apply for their images to be deleted, and because those whose image has been taken should not have less protection than those whose DNA or fingerprints have been taken."

Only 67 requests for custody image removals were made up to October last year to forces in England and Wales.

Mr Lamb, a Liberal Democrat former minister, said: Large scale retention of the facial images of innocent people amounts to a significant infringement of peoples liberty without any national framework in place and without a public debate about the case for it.

"The Government must urgently set out the legal basis for its current on-request process of removing images of innocent people. It is unjustifiable to treat facial recognition data differently to DNA or finger print data.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA

Under new rules, people who are not convicted of any offence can demand their custody image be deleted, unless there is an "exceptional reason" for keeping it.

Forces should automatically review all pictures held after specified periods but the Home Office decided against imposing a "weeding out" exercise to identify those which should no longer be retained.

Ministers claimed it was too expensive to delete millions of mugshots as it would have to be done manually by local police forces, The Independent recently revealed.

Campaigners and watchdogs have raised questions about the approach, which are echoed by the committee.

Martha Spurrier, Director of Liberty, said: "Its been years since the retention of these images was ruled unlawful  and the Government goes on knowingly breaking the law. Meanwhile the potential for privacy violations and unjustified police interventions grows graver and graver, with police rolling out intrusive and inaccurate surveillance technologies like facial recognition, which can be used in conjunction with vast databases like these.

This cross-party report shows all too starkly the risks this broken system continues to pose to the publics rights. The Government must urgently introduce an automatic deletion process for photos of activists, bystanders and people not convicted of any crime.

The independent Biometrics Commissioner, Paul Wiles, previously attacked the government allowing power to remain in the hands of the police and said the public deserved a "presumption of deletion".

A Home Office spokesperson said: We expect the new police IT systems that we are putting in place will be able to automatically delete custody images by linking them to conviction status, as is the case with fingerprints and DNA.

We understand the need to strike a balance between protecting an individual's privacy and giving the police the tools they need to keep us safe. The storing of custody images helps police solve crime but it must be done in a way that is legal, ethical and transparent.
A Scottish government report has proposed giving prospective immigrants financial incentives to move to Scotland, in a bid to boost the countrys economy and offset the consequences of Brexit.

The Sustainable Growth Commission, set up by the SNP to assess the countrys economic prospects, suggested introducing a Come to Scotland package that would include tax cuts for highly skilled migrants.

It would see immigrants allowed to deduct the costs of their move from their income tax bill.

Such a policy would likely generate far greater revenues than it would cost, the report said.

The commission, which was chaired by former SNP MSP Andrew Wilson, said Scotland could become one of the most successful small economies in the world, with living standards that could equal the best small countries in the world".

It said attracting skilled migrants should be one of the top priorities of Scottish Government economic policy, with measures designed to offset the impact of Brexit and what it called the UK Tory government's hostile approach to migration".

For example, the UK currently only offers permanent investor visas to people with at least 10m to invest. The commission said Scotland should consult on introducing a much lower cap, which would be set at 75,000.

UK restrictions stating entrepreneurs should have at least 50,000 to invest in their business before moving to the EU should also be reformed in Scotland, it said.

And the commission said the Scottish government should aim to persuade an additional 5,000 overseas graduates each year to stay in the country, including offering tax breaks to incentivise them to do so.

The report said: Changing the visa requirements to allow more international students to stay may well be sufficient to encourage more to do so.

However, to ensure that Scotland continues to be a competitive location and in recognition of the contribution already made to the economyand the exchequer, we recommend that international graduates from Scottish universities that stay and work in Scotland should also be incentivised to do so via the taxation system, for the first three years.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters UK news in pictures 8 October 2021 WW II veteran, 96-year-old Lorna Cockayne, who served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), popularly and officially known as the Wrens, as a Bletchley Park codebreaker, poses for a photograph with the Legion d'honneur after receiving it during a ceremony at the Pear at Parley in Ferndown, Bournemouth PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2021 British comedian Jo Brand poses with cut-out silhouettes representing women outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters New Scotland Yard, to highlight violence against women by male police officers or former police officers AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 6 October 2021 A protester, wearing a mask of Johnson, holds a sign reading Question it all on the final day of the Tory conference Getty UK news in pictures 5 October 2021 Members of Insulate Britain outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, before a hearing over the injunction banning the environmental activists from blocking the M25 PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2021 A delegate passes a street cleaner on the second day of the annual Conservative Party Conference being held at the Manchester Central convention centre AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2021 Margaret Thatcher-themed mugs for sale at the annual Conservative Party conference in Manchester EPA UK news in pictures 2 October 2021 A couple make their way through a flooded underpass in Bristol as a yellow weather warning for rain and wind is issued for parts of the UK Tom Wren/SWNS UK news in pictures 1 October 2021 A driver talks to members of the media after passing his HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) driving test at National Driving Centre in Croydon, south London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 30 September 2021 The centrepiece One Thousand Springs by Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota is seen ahead of the beginning of the Japan Festival, a celebration of the countrys plants, art and culture running from 2-31 October, at Kew Gardens in London PA UK news in pictures 29 September 2021 The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2021 A sign referring to the lack of fuel is placed at the entrance to a petrol station in London AP UK news in pictures 27 September 2021 Police officers detain a protester from Insulate Britain occupying a roundabout leading from the M25 motorway to Heathrow Airport in London PA UK news in pictures 26 September 2021 Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer watches the Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur match at The Font pub in Brighton PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2021 Scottish pro-independence supporters hold a march and rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK news in pictures 24 September 2021 Police officers remove two protesters from the top of a tanker, as Insulate Britain block the A20 in Kent, which provides access to the Port of Dover in Kent. The environmental activists have moved location after been banned from campaigning on the M25 motorway in London PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2021 Gabriella, the seven year old daughter of imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, joins in a game on a giant snakes and ladders board in Parliament Square, to show the ups and downs of her mothers case to mark the 2,000 days she has been detained in Iran AP UK news in pictures 22 September 2021 A new sign hangs on the Millicent Fawcett statue after it was altered by CrackTheCrises coalition activists to highlight the climate crisis as a feminist struggle in Parliament Square in London EPA UK news in pictures 21 September 2021 Gabriella Diment prepares a monumental bronze patinated fibreglass wall sculpture depicting household cavalry soldiers on horseback which is expected to be sold for 12,000-18,000 when it goes up for auction at Summers Place Auctions in Billinghurst, Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2021 Florist Judith Blacklock puts the finishing touches to a floral carousel installation in Halkin Arcade, which she has designed with Neill Strain for the Belgravia in Bloom festival, running from September 20-26, in London PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2021 Bubbles surround Manchester Uniteds Cristiano Ronaldo before the match against West Ham at London Stadium Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 18 September 2021 Children take part in the Settrington Cup Pedal Car Race as motoring enthusiasts attend the Goodwood Revival, a three-day historic car racing festival in Goodwood, Chichester, Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2021 Hugo, 7, from London rides past a 4x7 metre rainbow arch, made entirely of recycled aluminium cans, which has been installed by recycling initiative 'Every Can Counts', in partnership with The City of London Corporation in front of St Paul's Cathedral in London, to encourage members of the public to recycle their drinks cans ahead of recycling week, which starts on 20 September PA UK news in pictures 16 September 2021 Sheikeh MOhammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of Abu Dhabi, leaves Downing Street after meeting with Boris Johnson PA UK news in pictures 15 September 2021 Children pose by ice sculptures depicting people collecting water by charity Water Aid to show the fragility of water and the threat posed by climate change in London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 14 September 2021 Heavy rain covers the A149 near Kings Lynn in Norfolk PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2021 Luke Jerram's 'Museum of the Moon' at Durham Cathedral PA UK news in pictures 12 September 2021 Inspirational young fundraiser Tobias Weller crosses the finish line, near his home in Sheffield, as he completes his latest epic feat where he swam and triked his way to the end of his awesome year-long Ironman Challenge. This is the third challenge Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, has completed, raising more than 150,000 for his school and Sheffield Children Hospitals charity PA UK news in pictures 11 September 2021 British player Emma Raducanu, holds up the US Open championship trophy winning the women's singles final of the US Open in New York AP UK news in pictures 10 September 2021 People paddle board during a misty morning in Ullswater, the second largest lake in the Lake District, Cumbria PA UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA

The 429,000 people who were born outside the UK and now living in Scotland are estimated to contribute 1.3bn to the countrys economy.

Mr Wilson said: "It is a fact that those born outside the UK who have made Scotland home for their businesses, their research or their families are significant net contributors to our economy and public finances - we need more of this.

"We also need more people from across the UK to consider the benefits of living and working here.

"Our package is designed to attract people to Scotland to study and to stay here, to build a career and a fulfilling future for themselves.

He added: "We have a great opportunity for Scotland to strike a completely different tone on a vitally important area of economic policy - how we attract talent to our country.

"Under current UK policy there is a real danger that the working population in Scotland could fall - meaning fewer people creating wealth, jobs and contributing to our NHS.

"Growing our working population and, through it, our economy is perhaps the greatest national challenge we have - and is made even more urgent by Brexit and the threat it poses to our working-age population."

 Nicola Sturgeon says she will restart debate on Scottish independence in coming weeks

The 354-page report said an independent Scotland should continue to use the British pound for a transition period after any decision to break away from the rest of the UK.

It also claimed reducing the countrys gender pay gap by 11 per cent could boost the economy by 6.1bn, while doubling overseas exports would add 5bn a year.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands First Minister and the SNP leader, said the report would restart the debate on Scottish independence.

She said: "What this report shows is that Scotland is a wealthy nation with huge resources, encompassing our traditional strengths in innovation, our hi-tech sectors, our energy reserves, our food, drink and tourism strengths - and perhaps above all our strength in human capital, with a highly-educated population.

"Despite those enormous strengths, similar-sized nations have performed better over decades - all of them independent but most of them with fewer resources than us.

The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Show all 8 1 /8 The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Post-Brexit immigration workers sorting radishes on a production line at a farm in Norfolk. One possible post-Brexit immigration scheme could struggle to channel workers towards less attractive roles - while another may heighten the risk of labour exploitation, a new report warns. PA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Customs union A key point in the negotiations remains Britain's access to, or withdrawal from, the EU customs union. Since the referendum there has been hot debate over the meaning of Brexit: would it entail a full withdrawal from the existing agreement, known as hard Brexit, or the soft version in which we would remain part of a common customs area for most goods, as Turkey does? No 10 has so far insisted that Brexit means Brexit and that Britain will be leaving the customs union, but may be inclined to change its position once the potential risks to the UKs economic outlook become clearer. Alamy The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Northern Ireland-Irish border Though progress was made last year, there has still been no solid agreement on whether there should be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. To ensure borderless travel on the island, the countries must be in regulatory alignment and therefore adhere to the same rules as the customs union. In December, the Conservative Partys coalition partners, the DUP, refused a draft agreement that would place the UK/EU border in the Irish Sea due to its potential to undermine the union. May has promised that would not be the case and has suggested that a specific solution would need to be found. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Transition period Despite protests from a small number of Conservative MPs, the Government and the EU are largely in agreement that a transitional period is needed after Brexit. The talks, however, have reached an impasse. Though May has agreed that the UK will continue to contribute to the EU budget until 2021, the PM wants to be able to select which laws made during this time the UK will have to adhere to. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the UK must adopt all of the laws passed during the transition, without any input from British ministers or MEPs. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Rights of EU citizens living the UK The Prime Minister has promised EU citizens already living in the UK the right to live and work here after Brexit, but the rights of those who arrive after Brexit day remains unclear. May insists that those who arrive during the transition period should not be allowed to stay, whereas the EU believe the cut-off point should be later. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreement (with the EU) Despite this being a key issue in negotiations, the Government has yet to lay out exactly what it wants from a trade deal with the EU. Infighting within the Cabinet has prevented a solid position from being reached, with some MPs content that "no deal is better than a bad deal" while others rally behind single market access. The EU has already confirmed that access to the single market would be impossible without the UK remaining in the customs union. Getty The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Future trade agreements (internationally) The Government has already begun trying to woo foreign leaders into prospective trade agreements, with various high profile state visits to China, India and Canada for May, and the now infamous invitation to US President Donald Trump to visit London. However the UK cannot make trade agreements with another country while it is still a member of the EU, and the potential loss of trade with the world's major powers is a source of anxiety for the PM. The EU has said the UK cannot secure trade deals during the transition period. EPA The biggest issues facing UK on leaving EU Financial services Banks in the UK will be hit hard regardless of the Brexit outcome. The EU has refused to give British banks passporting rights to trade within the EU, dashing hopes of a special City deal. However according to new reports Germany has suggested allowing trade on the condition that the UK continues paying into the EU budget even after the transition period. Getty

Opposition parties criticised the report and its focus on independence.

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservatives finance spokesman, said: "Of course we want to attract the best and brightest to come and live and work in Scotland. But you don't do that with high taxes and you don't do it by trying to tear up the UK.

"You do it by growing Scotland's economy - something the SNP government is failing to do, largely because it is spending so much of its time obsessing about independence.

"Four years on from the independence referendum, it really is time for the SNP to stop building castles in the sky, and to get on with the job of building a stronger Scotland now.

Richard Leonard, leader of Scottish Labour, said: "The SNP government can attempt to reboot the case for independence as much as it likes. The people of Scotland do not trust it and want a government focused on jobs, schools and hospitals instead."
The remains of a mysterious creature have washed up on a Welsh beach, leaving experts as puzzled as the locals who found it.

Beth Janetta, 41, discovered the carcass while walking her dog along Rhossili beach in Gower.

Some believe it belongs to either a whale or a dolphin, but its advanced state of decomposition makes it hard to identify.

 'Globster' creature found washed up on beach in Philippines

Dr Daniel Forman, a biosciences lecturer at Swansea University, told the BBC: "When you look at it the first time you may think it is a crocodile, but it is certainly not."

He added: "Its jawline suggests it is like a cetacean whale or a dolphin."

National Trust area ranger Mark Hipkin, who collected the remains, said he believed it was a dead porpoise.

He mentioned that as well as aquatic life, occasionally sheep fall into the sea and wash up later after decomposing.

Earlier this month another strange and unidentifiable carcass washed ashore in the Philippines.

Thought to have been either a manatee or a whale, the creature was nicknamed a 'globster' due to its unusual appearance.
Two dying Ebola patients were taken out of a hospital by their relatives on motorbikes and brought to a prayer meeting with 50 other people, potentially exposing them all to the deadly virus.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is scrambling to contain an outbreak of the disease, which has infected 31 people and killed 22, according to government figures.

Both patients were vomiting and infectious and died hours after the prayer session in the river port city of Mbandaka, Dr Jean-Clement Cabrol, emergency medical coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) said.

The escape was organised by the families, with six motorcycles as the patients were very ill and couldnt walk, Dr Cabrol told a news briefing in Geneva after returning from the affected region.

They were taken to a prayer room with 50 people to pray. They were found at two in the morning, one of them dead and one was dying. So thats 50-60 contacts right there. The patients were in the active phase of the disease, vomiting.

A health worker in West Africa attends to a suspected Ebola patient (AFP/Getty) (AFP / Getty Images)

The patients got out of the isolation ward on Monday. One of the patients died at home, CNN reported, while the other returned to the health facility but died. A third patient who left the ward survived.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the risk to public health had been raised to very high after Ebola was confirmed to have spread to the major city.

It led health officials to monitor for Ebola at busy ports in the capital, Kinshasa, which is downstream on the Congo River.

Health officials started trying to trace the motorcycle drivers and other people who came into contact with the patients as soon as the escape was reported, Dr Peter Salama, head of emergency response at the WHO, told Reuters.

Health workers wear protective equipment as they prepare to attend to suspected Ebola patients (AFP/Getty)

From the moment that they escaped, the health ministry, WHO and partners have been following very closely every contact, he said.

All it takes is one sick person to travel down the Congo River and we can have outbreaks seeded in many different locations ... that can happen at any moment. Its very hard to predict, he said, referring to the river linking the trading hub of Mbandaka to the capital Kinshasa, whose population is 10 million.

It is going to be at least weeks and more likely months before we get this outbreak fully under control, Mr Salama said

 Simon Calder on how ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo affects travellers

It is the DRCs ninth Ebola outbreak since 1976, when the disease was first identified.

Symptoms of the often fatal haemorrhagic fever include vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and sometimes internal and external bleeding.

It can be fatal in up to 90 per cent of cases, depending upon the strain.

Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Show all 27 1 /27 Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 During Ebola, they quarantined areas. My husband was at Kailahun and couldnt cross the boundary, so we were separated. They taught us how to wash our hands and we were all washing our hands every day; even my children were washing their hands. Haja is the mother of three surviving children, two of her children died from diarrhoea WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna Bockarie, 24 This is the finished toilet that we have built in our compound, I am very happy to have my own toilet and I will be proud to use it WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna Bockarie, 24 All the parents came together and built a school in the village, we have just opened the school. The children are at assembly with no uniforms. I am the teacher at the school so I took this photo to show how we have been working hard for our children to be educated WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 Here is my son, Sessay (left), with his friends. I was happy to snap them. I have given birth to six children, but only three are still alive. The first one I lost was three years ago, and the second was two years ago. Four months ago I lost Senior Lahai. He was six months old and was affected by a runny stomach and a rising body temperature WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 Four months ago I lost Senior Lahai. He was six months old and was affected by a runny stomach and a rising body temperature. He was really, really sick, he wasn't even taking breast milk, and he died. My heart was broken. My baby used to be strong. He was able to sit by himself and was just starting to practise to crawl and reach for things. He laughed a lot when I played with him, Id clap and dance. I have a happy moment when he started sitting by himself and learning to crawl. Those are the happy moments that makes a mother most happy. The moment I remember most about Lahai was when he was breastfeeding and was playing with my neck and chin with his hand. I look to the future and hope that such things won't happen again, and that God will give me children that stay with me WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna Bockarie, 24 My step brother Ibrahim is building our toilet with loamy soil because we dont have cement. WaterAid taught us about good sanitation and I want to show that we are now building our own toilets so that we will not go to the bush or use the stream as a toilet that is why I took this photo WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Aruna, 33 Washing in the stream: When we came here the water system was very bad. I know that when I drink dirty water I get sick. We are getting diarrhoea because we are drinking that type of water. If I am sick I am not able to earn money because I am not able to go to work, and I have to stay at home, which is very difficult for me WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yajah These are the contractors that came to build the water well, and they are mixing the stones and the cement to build the cover of the well WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yajah I started tree climbing when I was living with my grandmother and she was trying to get some palm kernels and process them to make the oil that we use. I didnt like doing the processing part so I decided to climb the trees to do the harvest instead. Tree climbing is very difficult. At times you can be confronted by a snake, as you are going up you just see one and it will hiss at you. If you are not strong you are going to fall out of the tree, and could die! I am just doing it for necessity sake. I dont want to do this job really, but at the moment I have no other means of making money, so I have no choice but to do this to manage my family WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 They killed my uncle during the war. I was not in this village during the war; I was in Guinea. Just after the war, my mother asked me to come back home. There were no houses when I returned; it had all been destroyed WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yajah This is my son Bockarie. He reminds me of his mother, who is not presently here with me, and he resembles me. Recently my son was very sick and we had to take him to the clinic to get treatment. Even getting to the clinic costs money. I didn't have any money, so I had to borrow money from the community people so I could take him to the hospital. Having very good drinking water would ease the issues with having to take people to the hospital because of illness, and the problem of finding the money to manage that WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Tailu Yujah Sidique is 21 years old, he is my daughters husband and is drinking from the stream we use to fetch water. Our forefathers created this village, and the water was good. They covered it with a concrete box to keep it safe, but all of that fell down during the war, and afterwards no one could repair it. The water is not good here now and I have worms as a result. It will be very good to have clean water; it would give us a long life. If you have good drinking water, then your life is safe, but if you dont then your life is not secure. Having good drinking water would ease the issues with having to take people to the hospital because of illness, and the problem of finding the money to manage that WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Matu, 40 We the women of this village are experiencing the problems with lack of water and we pray that things will change. The rain washes everything, including faeces into the water. The children get diarrhoea from the water. With clean water, I would be clean and would not suffer from sickness WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Matu, 40 This is my brothers wife, she is holding both her daughter and my granddaughter WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Matu, 40 Matu is the life and soul of the village of Tombohuaun. She is a traditional birth attendant and plays an important role within the womens society. Matu suffers from poor health; she has stomach problems caused by the dirty water WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 My name is Amadou Kokoyeh, but I am more familiar with Kokoyeh [Bush Chicken]. The name Kokoyeh was given to me by fathers older brother. Its meant to be a bird that is in the bush and mostly eats other peoples groundnuts when they plant them. WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 This is my father helping to dig the water well, so that we will have clean water to drink. I am happy because we are going to have a well in my village. I dont think the water we currently collect from the muddy spring is good for drinking because it is exposed, and leaves and other things fall in it. I also get water down there with my mum, and sometimes I go with the other kids. Sometimes when I drink it, I have a stomach pain, and it also brings me headache. I have got sick from that, and I was taken to the health centre WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 This is my family  my mother, father and younger brother. When Im not with them this picture will make me feel closer to them WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 Moserie Yajah was lying down in the grass, and asked me to get a shot of him. At the moment, every day people ask me to get a photo of them. I feel very happy when people ask for a picture. What I love most to get a shot of is people that are well dressed, sitting in a chair or in a very comfortable area that I can snap WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 We were going down to Matus place, and my friends and brother decided to cover themselves with that fishing net, and asked me to take a shot of them. The fishing net was taken from Ginnahs mother (Massah) and I think the picture is really good. I like the photo mainly because they are standing close to the wash yard, where people go to heat their water and wash. I love it because they are all my brothers, and we look out for each other WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 I love this picture. I took this photo of Bockarie when he was drinking water. The water was collected from the muddy spring where everyone collects water. I dont think it is good for drinking because it is exposed, and leaves and other things fall in it. I also get water down there with my mum, and sometimes I go with the other kids. Sometimes when I drink it, I have a stomach pain, and it also brings me headache. I have got sick from that, and I was taken to the health centre. If it rains, we harvest rainwater WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Amadou Kokoyeh (Bush Chicken), 8 This is my cousin Papay; we are very close  he lives nearby and we spend lots of time together. In this picture he is messing around. On his head is what our fathers make to catch fish in small streams. We then eat some fish and they sell the rest. It is important for our survival WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Kempah Ginnah, 42 The community people helping to build the water well, I was glad about this, that is why I took this photo. Kempah is a youth leader and mechanic from Tombohuaun WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Kempah Ginnah, 42 These children are our next of kin, my children and their friends. They are wonderful children WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Jeneba, 13 Here, my father, brothers and aunt are separating cocoa fruit from pods. By selling cocoa, my family earns enough to pay my school fees WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 We have now built a small school in our village. This is inside the class for my childrens first day in school. I took this picture to show them in the future so they will know that I want them to be educated and also free from diseases WaterAid Life after Ebola: a community rebuilds in Sierra Leone Haja Bobor, 31 This is my Aunt Mamie Ansumana. She is 40 and is a farmer. She loves going to the farm and likes to smile. She looked after me when my children died. The dirty water caused the death of two of my children; I dont want anything to happen to the others. She took me from the room where Senior Lahai died to her own room. I slept in her room for some time. I want to thank to her because she is still taking care of us WaterAid

This week, the WHO began vaccinations using a ring vaccination approach, targeting the contacts of people infected of suspected of infection, and then the contacts of those people.

More than 600 contacts have been identified so far.

The WHO is also accelerating efforts in nine countries neighbouring the DRC to try to prevent the Ebola outbreak from spreading, saying the regional risk is high.

The UK Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to the Equateur province where the outbreak was announced.

Additional reporting by agencies
Family members of six victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting have sued radio host Alex Jones for allegedly suggesting the 2012 massacre was a hoax.

The plaintiffs in the suit, filed on Wednesday in a Connecticut court, claim Mr Jones was the chief amplifier" for a group that "worked in concert to create and propagate loathsome, false narratives about the Sandy Hook victims, and promote their harassment and abuse.

Mr Jones is the host of far-right radio show InfoWars, and boasts more than 2m subscribers on YouTube. He is known for promulgating conspiracy theories like Pizzagate  the false theory that Democrats were running a child sex trafficking ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizza restaurant.

Recommended Why parents of Sandy Hook victims are suing Alex Jones

The year after the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people at the Connecticut elementary school, Mr Jones began suggesting that some of the victims families were paid crisis actors. He also questioned whether the entire shooting may have been staged, though he later claimed was only playing the devils advocate.

The lawsuit claims that, as a result of Mr Joness statements, the victims families were forced to endure "malicious and cruel abuse at the hands of ruthless and unscrupulous people . The abuse allegedly included death threats and physical harassment, as well as strangers video taping them, according to the lawsuit. Some families even moved to undisclosed locations to avoid the harassment.

 Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones addresses his thoughts on Sandy Hook shooting being a hoax

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit also include a first responder to the Sandy Hook shooting, who claims he was also accused of being a crisis actor. The suit also names several of Mr Joness businesses, as well as two independent journalists who the plaintiffs claim helped spread Mr Joness message.

Mr Jones denied the claims in his InfoWars broadcast on Wednesday, describing the lawsuit as an attack on the First Amendment and claiming his statements had been taken out of context.

"This is defamation against me, it's an information war. It's a misrepresentation, he said. They can find lawyers every week to file disinformation. It says they're desperate and they're wild and it shows we've got to get past their intimidation."

Representatives from InfoWars did not respond to The Independents request for comment.

Sandy Hook elementary school shooting 2012 Show all 5 1 /5 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting 2012 con0.ap.jpg AP Sandy Hook elementary school shooting 2012 Connecticut.jpg AP Sandy Hook elementary school shooting 2012 con1.reut.jpg REUTERS Sandy Hook elementary school shooting 2012 con2.reut.jpg REUTERS Sandy Hook elementary school shooting 2012 obama.reut.jpg REUTERS

Two other families of Sandy Hook victims filed defamation suits against Mr Jones in Texas last month. The host responded to those suits by saying that he did not believe the shooting had been staged, but did believe the victims families were being controlled by the media and the Democratic party.

"Theyre being manipulated by the Democratic party, by the big media, to be part of the news cycle, to say, 'Alex Jones is fake news' [] to set the president, as they admit, to de-platform everybody and kill the First Amendment," he said.

Mr Jones has also been sued by a man who claims Mr Jones falsely identified him as the gunman in the Parkland school shooting, and by a man who says Mr Jones incorrectly labelled him as a CIA operative at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last summer.
Flint native Jada Coleman decided to step up when she watched a Netflix documentary about her own city and felt it only told just part of the story.

It talked about the crime and poverty, the scandalous water crisis, and the way the city police force was responding. But it said little about its people, how they were suffering, and even less about the way residents were working to help each other when confronted by official deceit and failure. She had to do something.

It started with the 24-year-old graphic design student designing and selling T-shirts, with the intention of raising both awareness and funds. Less than three months later, her activist group 810H2O  810 is the phone code for east Michigan  is helping organise the citys young people, and her T-shirts are being snapped up by people across the country.

Even now, the vast majority of people in the city say they will only drink bottled water (Andrew Buncombe)

Four years after the Michigan citys water supply was unintentionally poisoned, the events covered up and the physical and psychological health of its residents shaken to the core, Jada and her younger sister, Jallyah, are among dozens of ordinary people still fighting to provide that most very basic of needs  safe drinking water.

I got the idea after Flint Town appeared on Netflix and I started watching it, and I was thinking it was just focussed on all the negativity, Jada said, sitting outside her uncles house in Flints North End. I wanted to find a way to show the positive things were trying to do. That was when we started the 810H2O movement.

After the the states Republican governor Rick Snyder announced last month he had concluded the tap water was safe and he was stopping the supply of free bottled water, church groups and volunteers have been scrambling to fill the gap. The city government, which is also trying to start its own distribution, is considering suing the governor.

Recommended Judge attacks Flint city council for failing to replace poisoned water

The activists include military veterans looking out for other former soldiers, mothers whose own family was poisoned by the lead, and amateur comedians doing standup charity nights. LeeAnn Walters, who helped reveal the danger of the citys water and the cover-up by authorities, recently received the Goldman Environmental Prize, an award that recognises grassroots activism.

The state is not being transparent and neither is the city of Flint, said Ms Walters, referring to various claims being made about the waters suitability for consumption.

The mother-of-four who educated herself about water safety and sought the help of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Miguel del Toral, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer Marc Edwards, to reveal what was going on. For three consecutive weeks in 2015, she worked almost without pause, to obtain more than 800 water samples from each the citys zip codes, and showed many of them contained levels of toxins that exceeded what is officially classified as hazardous waste.

Of Mr Snyders decision to end the water supply, she added: I asked why the state had taken away bottled water. I asked that question.

Harm

Flints water became poisoned in 2014 when officials switched the citys water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which is 19 times more corrosive, according to researchers from Virginia Tech. At the time, the citys management was under state control and the step was taken to save money.

Almost immediately afterwards, people reported their water having a foul smell and being discoloured. Residents experienced rashes and hair loss. Estimates suggest up to 12,000 children were exposed to dangerous levels of lead.

The city was also struck by an outbreak of Legionnaires disease, which affected 87 people and killed 12 of them. The city received a state and federal aid package of $450m. Fifteen former and current state and city officials have been charged with criminal offences, ranging from willful neglect of duty to manslaughter.

Jassmine McBride was among more than 80 people who contracted Legionnaires disease  12 of them fatally (Andrew Buncombe ) (Andrew Buncombe)

Jassmine McBride came very close to becoming the 13th person to die from Legionnaires.

In August 2014, the young woman, who has diabetes, was in hospital for a check-up when doctors detected that her oxygen levels were very low. Eventually, she was rushed into the Emergency Room, where she had to be resuscitated. Her family was told she had Legionnaires disease, which experts believe was linked to the both the presence of metals in the water and an insufficient amount of chlorine, which is typically added to water as a disinfectant. She had to stay in hospital until Christmas.

Today the 28-year-old, who used to dance and sing with her church, spends her days in the familys small house on a street of decaying or abandoned properties in the North End. She has crutches but struggles to walk more than a few yards, and uses an oxygen tank because both of her lungs were permanently damaged. She requires regular dialysis.

I cant work, I cant do any of the normal things I used to do, she said. The family said the area had become more dangerous and felt less hospitable over the past decade.

Bruno Mars is donating $1m to the Flint water crisis

Theres nothing for the children and people to do, so people look the other way or take a different path, she said, a reference to the areas reputation for high crime. At night, they hear the crack of gunshots.

While Flints lead problems have received widespread coverage, corrosive water can also release other metals, such as iron, which both promotes the growth of bacteria, including Legionella pneumophila, which causes a severe and dangerous form of pneumonia, but also inactivates chlorine, which is added to the water supply as a disinfectant.

Nick Lyon, the former Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director, is being tried for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the Legionnaires deaths. Preliminary hearings into the accusations are currently taking place in the city of Flushing.

He has denied any criminal wrongdoing, through his lawyers, and presented his own expert witnesses, who have testified that at least two victims probably died of other causes.

They set a narrative when this started, and I said This is not just about lead, said Art Woodsen, a 50-year-old US Army veteran, who helps deliver water to other former servicemen. Its about Legionnaires, copper, and carcinogens in the water.

He added: A lot of attention has been focused on the kids, but they poisoned everyone.

Is the water safe?

When Mr Snyder announced on 6 April that Michigan was ending its supply of water to Flint, he claimed the scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended.

We will now focus even more of our efforts on continuing with the health, education and economic development assistance needed to help move Flint forward, he claimed,

Karen Weaver, the towns mayor, said when she complained and asked him to continue it at least until work to complete all the citys pipelines have been replaced, she was told to get over it, a claim denied by the governors spokesperson.

Ms Weaver said she was only told of the governors decision hours before it was announced, a claim some activists have disputed. She said she was now considering suing the governors office.

The mayor said she believed the water provided to peoples taps was safe, if they made use of a filter. Yet she said she encouraged people to get it tested, either by the city government or a private tester, if they had doubts.

A spokeswoman for Mr Snyders office said the provision of free bottled water had continued seven months longer than it was legally obligated to, since two consecutive six-month monitoring periods showed the citys water system was in compliance with the federal standards.

In pictures: Flint water crisis Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Flint water crisis In pictures: Flint water crisis Anthony Fordham picks up bottled water from the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan to deliver to a school after elevated lead levels were found in the city's water in Flint Reuters In pictures: Flint water crisis Michigan National Guard Staff Sergeant William Phillips (L) assists a Flint resident with bottled water at a fire station in Flint Reuters In pictures: Flint water crisis Flint residents Arthur Woodson, left, and Tony Palladino Jr. protest the arrival of Flint native and filmmaker Michael Moore as Moore accuses Gov.Rick Snyder of poisoning Flint water during a rally outside of city hall in Flint AP In pictures: Flint water crisis Flint residents pick up bottled water and water filters at a fire station in Flint. Michigan National Guard members were set to arrive in Flint to join door-to-door efforts to distribute bottled water and other supplies to residents coping with the city's crisis over lead-contaminated drinking water Reuters In pictures: Flint water crisis Soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard Flint prepare to give Flint residents bottled water at a fire station in Flint Getty Images In pictures: Flint water crisis Justin Roberson (L), age 6, of Flint, Michigan and Mychal Adams, age 1, of Flint wait on a stack of bottled water at a rally where the Rev. Jesse Jackson was speaking about about the water crises at the Heavenly Host Baptist Church in Flint Getty Images In pictures: Flint water crisis A man sits next to a stack of bottled water at the Heavenly Host Baptist Church in Flint 2016 Getty Images In pictures: Flint water crisis The top of a water tower is seen at the Flint Water Plant. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Michigan and ordered federal aid to be used to help state and local response efforts to an area affected by contaminated water Reuters In pictures: Flint water crisis Rosie Wright, center, rallies with the crowd over Flint's water crisis in Ann Arbor, Michigan AP In pictures: Flint water crisis Rick Catherman participates in a rally around Flint's water crisis in Ann Arbor, Michigan AP

The state continues to fund free water filters and filter replacement cartridges for all residents, even those who have already had their service lines replaced, said the spokeswoman.

Yet, activists have criticised Mr Snyders move to terminate the free water, something exacerbated by the states decision to allow Nestle to double the amount of water it pumps from a spring in the north of the state to 400 gallons per minute. The company, which pays a fee of just $200 each year to the state for the water it pumps, is to provide 100,000 bottles to Flint each week for free distribution.

The National Resources Defence Council, an environmental group, said the people of Flint deserved better.

Cyndi Roper, the NRDCs senior advocate for Michigan, said results of tests carried out by Susan Masten from Michigan State University, part of the settlement of lawsuits by residents, could only reveal so much, as they were only designed to test for lead and copper levels, not other contaminants. She said that while lead levels appeared to have fallen, these results do not show that water in Flint generally is safe or unsafe.

Lashaya Darisaw is running for the state legislature (Andrew Buncombe ) (Andrew Buncombe)

She added: No amount of lead in drinking water is safe.

Given all that, the fact the residents of Flint should still feel the need for bottled water is entirely understandable. The governor may say the tap water is safe, the citys mayor may say it is safe if people use the filters provided, but very few people believe them.

Indeed, during three days in the city, only two people out of several dozen interviewed by The Independent said they drank tap water. One of them, Ms Weaver, was the mayor.

For the vast majority, it seems, part of daily life now involves obtaining bottled water, either buying it or collecting it from the groups still providing it.

Even when they leave the city, or even go out of the state, many are reluctant to drink from a tap, something they pass on strongly to their children.

Me, I most definitely dont drink the water. I dont trust the people in office, said Tom Norman, a landscaper, who was filling up his pick-up truck with petrol in the North End.

If I went to Atlanta, I would still be hesitant to drink the water. Im not saying theres anything wrong with the water. I just feel I cant trust anything.

Church groups

Floyd Burns moved to Flint from Alabama in the early 1960s, a time when well-paying jobs in the auto industry were easy to find. He spent 43 years with General Motors, which was founded in Flint in 1908 and which, at the peak of the citys fortunes, employed as many as 80,000 people.

From 1931 to 2007, GM was the largest car manufacturer in the world and was credited with turning Flint into a prosperous, thriving city of 200,000, the embodiment of the middle class American dream.

Those days are long gone, along with the vast majority of the manufacturing jobs. The most recent census suggested that, in a city that is 57 per cent black, 37 per cent white, 4 per cent Latino and 4 per cent of mixed race, at least 41 per cent of residents live below the federal poverty level.

When the state decided the city's water was safe to drink and ended the supply of free bottled, volunteers stepped in with donated water (Andrew Buncombe)

For the past four years, the now retired Mr Burns has been among the volunteers distributing water at the First Trinity Baptist Church. After Mr Snyder stopped the supply of free bottles, the church is one of just a handful of places that provide them, able to do so because of donations from across the country.

He said even if the water was safe  he said he had been drinking bottled water for 15 years  the authorities faced a huge challenge in trying to win back credibility in the eyes of citizens.

People dont have the trust because they let them drink the bad water for so long, he said, loading cases of water in the rear of peoples vehicles. Its going to take a lot.

One of those stocking up was Robert Person, who had arrived in a battered pick-up with two friends. All complained about the tap water being too toxic to even wash with. It causes bumps on the skin, said a middle-aged woman in the passenger seat. It makes your skin feel like an alligators.

Nobody is laughing

Lashaya Darisaw wants to bring about change by getting elected to the state legislature. The political organiser and mother of 13-year-old daughter is running her own grassroots campaign and trying to raise awareness through social media and organising protests.

People tell me I am providing a voice for the voiceless, but I disagree, she said. I am showing people how to have a voice.

Earlier this year, Ms Darisaw led a protest inside the state legislature in Lansing, video footage of which went viral. People go to the Capitol all the time, but we decided to have a protest inside the chamber, she said, sitting at her kitchen table.

She said winning back peoples trust would take a long time. Eventually, they will trust the faucet, but no time soon. Right now its boil it, filter it, boil it again.

Because she realises the trust deficit crosses generations, she is encouraging her teenage daughter, Tiara, to be an activist herself and educate her friends about what is happening in their city.

Im starting a programme about how to pick elected officials, said the teenager, recalling how the water from the citys taps ran brown at the height of the crisis. People are not going to trust the government.

Four years after the water crisis began, many in Flint feel the world has forgotten them, the media moved on to other stories.

Many were grateful their situation was thrust back into the spotlight by the American comedian Michelle Wolf, who performed at the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner earlier this year in Washington.

Each year, the group hires a comic to poke fun at the White House, the president and at the media themselves. The president usually attends, though Donald Trump has twice declined. This year, Ms Wolf received criticism from some for her comments about White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders who attended the event. Ms Wolf said Ms Sanders is frequently accused of not being entirely honest with the media.

I actually really like Sarah. I think shes very resourceful. She burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe shes born with it, maybe its lies. Its probably lies, she said.

Yet in this city, if people heard about Ms Wolfs routine, it was because of her final line, which was most definitely not a joke: Flint still doesnt have clean water. Ms Walters, the winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, said residents appreciated what she did. People in Flint were so proud of her trying to shine light on the problem.
Megan Kibby, 33, said she never expected to become a grandmother at such young age. But when Tassi, the goat she raised with her business partner, Jason Lewis, gave birth to twins in the midst of a goat yoga session in Suwanee, Georgia, on Sunday afternoon, she was delighted.

Ms Kibby and Mr Lewis run Red Wagon Goats, a goat yoga business based in Stone Mountain, Georgia (Ms Kibby teaches the yoga). They knew that Tassi was going to give birth soon. Another of their goats, Emmylou, had given birth to twins the previous day and, as Ms Kibby put it, when one of them goes they all go.

They did not think it would happen in the middle of a class.

Red Wagon Goats was holding a goat yoga fundraising event at one of citys parks on Sunday, when Tassi  named for the Tassili nAjjer site in Algeria  began to paw the ground, looking for a place to nest. Mr Lewis picked her up intending to take her to a trailer where she could give birth more privately, when she began to deliver.

Shes having this baby right here, he said. (Several days later, the story of the birth was featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.)

Mr Lewis and Ms Kibby are just two of the many goat owners who have joined the goat yoga craze. It started in 2016 and has spread from the Pacific Northwest to the rest of the country, and others, including Canada, South Africa and Australia.

Goat yoga did not spring from some Burning Man brainstorm. It was born at a children's birthday party in Albany, Oregon, at the home of Lainey Morse, who had between six and eight pet goats at the time. One of the parents in attendance, Heather Davis, was a yoga instructor. Watching the kids cavort, she had a eureka moment: "Why not combine goats and yoga?"

The concept took off, fuelled by goat-lovers on Instagram. News of the trend was spread by the news media. But most viral stories die early; goat yoga is stronger than ever.

Im sure that everyone in the world thought that this was going to be done in five minutes, Ms Morse said. But its not. It keeps growing.

Ms Morses company, The Original Goat Yoga, now has 10 locations in different states and hundreds of competitors, (one of which, based in Arizona, snatched up GoatYoga.com). She has done goat yoga sessions with 10 of her 13 goats for employees of companies based in the area, including Intel, Adidas and Nike.

She says that no one has ever gotten hurt or head-butted in a session but that there are plenty of goat-related distractions.

Sometimes they sneeze right in people's faces and the whole class just erupts in laughter, she said. Ive had over 3,000 people through my class and only one person has gotten peed on, so thats pretty good. And goats do poop. If people have a problem with that they probably shouldnt come.

But shed never heard of one giving birth during a class.

Tassi was the first goat that Ms Kibby and Mr Lewis raised together. The first twin that she gave birth to on Sunday, Sue-Anna, has bright blue eyes just like her momma, Ms Kibby said proudly.

The second kid came as a surprise. Clouds had begun to roll in during Sue-Annas birth and as the goats owners tended to her and the class cooed over the baby, lightning flashed and the hooves and head of another kid began to emerge. They named him Storm.

We have grandkids now, Ms Kibby said.

Sue-Anna and Storm joined the other babies born over the weekend, Electra and Orion, bringing Ms Kibby and Mr Lewiss head count up to 35. Red Wagon Goats holds family friendly yoga classes as well as sessions for adults 21 and up, after which they serve wine and chocolate. (Private events cost $40, or 34, a person for a minimum of 10 people.)

They are hired by a surprising number of bachelorette parties. At one such party recently, Ms Kibby said, Half the girls were from the south and half the girls were from New York and the New Yorkers were screaming if the goats got near them.

But most people who attend their sessions have a hard time resisting the animals. At goat yoga, for example, the instructors tell their students theyre free to abandon the yoga part of the class at any time.

I am not delusional enough to think that they all are there to work out with me, Ms Kibby said.

The New York Times.
At least two people have been taken to hospital, and a student is in custody, after a shooting at an Indiana middle school.

A teacher and a female student were taken to hospital the wake of the incident at Noblesville West Middle School. A male student has been detained and is considered the suspect, according to Noblesville police chief Kevin Jowitt.

Mr Jowitt added that there had been a "secondary threat" communicated to Noblesville High School - and police are monitoring that situation.

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Indiana University Health spokeswoman Danielle Sirilla said the adult victim was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and the child was taken to Riley Hospital for Children.

Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said that the suspect is believed to have acted alone.

Noblesville Fire Department tweeted that it also in the scene. Helicopter footage showed students being led from the school, with Mr Orem saying they were being taken to Noblesville High School's gym, where they could be picked up by family members.

One of the parents who rushed to the school was Erica Higgins, who told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home. I just want to get my arms around my boy, she said.

 Audio of the initial dispatch for the shooting at Noblesville High School in Indiana

The Indiana State Teachers Association, through its president, Teresa Meredith called the gun violence "senseless".

Our hearts go out to the students, educators, families and community members of Noblesville who this morning faced a senseless act of gun violence at Noblesville West Middle School," Ms Meredith said.

"This national crisis has landed in our backyard," she added. "We all have a responsibility to keep our kids safe from violence, and its unconscionable that they live in fear that one day their school may be next. When is enough, enough?"

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, said that he and other local officials were "monitoring" the situation while on a flight back to the state from Europe. Dozens of state police officers had been made available to work with local police.

Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation, Mr Holcomb added.

Noblesville, which is about 20 miles (32km) northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people. The middle school has about 1,300 students.

The attack comes a week after an attack at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers.
The driver of a bus full of young schoolchildren that crashed killing two passengers in Mount Olive, New Jersey, had his licence suspended 14 times, including once late last year, state records show.

About half of those suspensions, including the most recent, were for parking violations, according to the records of the state's Motor Vehicle Commission.

Only one of the 14 suspensions over a 43-year driving record was for a moving violation  making an improper turn.

The driver, 77-year-old Hudy Muldrow, has a valid commercial drivers licence and an endorsement from the state to drive a school bus, said Mairin Bellack, a spokeswoman for the commission.

Recommended Two dead and 43 injured in US school bus crash

Investigators have been trying to determine if he tried to make an illegal U-turn on Interstate 80 as he was taking 44 passengers from East Brook Middle School in Paramus on a field trip to Waterloo Village in northwestern New Jersey.

The bus collided with a rubbish truck on the highway and overturned. One 10-year-old student, Miranda Vargas, was killed, as was a teacher, Jennifer Williamson, 51. Everybody else on board, including Mr Muldrow, was injured and taken to a hospital where some of them remain.

The investigators at the Morris County Prosecutors Office have a video of the bus entering the highway westbound just before the crash.

But they have not released it to the public, nor have they discussed details of the crash or what may have caused it.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Ms Bellack said Mr Muldrow had been licensed to drive in New Jersey since 1975.

During that time he had been involved in five accidents, but Ms Bellack said the records did not indicate the severity of those accidents or whether Mr Muldrow had been driving.She said they could have involved a car registered to him but driven by someone else.

Paramus school officials said Mr Muldrow was employed by the boroughs school board and was driving one of the school districts buses on the trip last week.

The states record did not indicate how long Mr Muldrow had been driving for the Paramus schools.

Ms Bellack said a driver must be at least 21 and pass a doctors physical exam every two years to maintain a commercial drivers licence. She said there was no upper age limit for those licences.

The New York Times.
Top Democrats said they have seen no evidence to support President Donald Trumps claim that the FBI planted a spy in his 2016 campaign.

Republican and Democratic leaders attended hearings with FBI and Justice Department officials on Thursday to review classified information related to Mr Trumps claims. The president has repeatedly stated  without evidence  that the FBI placed a spy inside his campaign to aid his campaign rival, Hillary Clinton.

Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols, Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committees top Democrat, told reporters after the hearings.

Mr Schiff, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer later released a joint statement saying there was "no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, one of the Republicans who attended the hearings, said he would not comment on a classified session. He added that he looked forward to the "prompt completion of the intelligence committees oversight work in this area.

 President Trump on FBI spy claims

Mr Ryan, Mr Schiff, and top House Intelligence Committee member Devin Nunes attended the first hearing on Thursday. House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy was also in attendance.

The second meeting was attended by the Gang of Eight  a group that includes House and Senate leaders from both parties, and top Democrats and Republicans on both intelligence committees. The second meeting was called after Democrats accused House Republicans and the White House of excluding them from the first.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein led the meetings. Emmet Flood  one of the White House lawyers handling the Russia investigation  and White House chief of staff John Kelly dropped by both meetings, but did not stay for long, according to senators present.

Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

Mr Trumps spy claims came after the New York Times reported that the FBI sent an informant to speak with members of his campaign during the election. The informant reportedly spoke with two campaign aides  George Papadopoulos and Carter Page  after the bureau found evidence that the Trump campaign had made suspicious contact with Russia.

The spy was there early in the campaign and yet never reported Collusion with Russia, because there was no Collusion, Mr Trump tweeted on Tuesday. He was only there to spy for political reasons and to help Crooked Hillary win - just like they did to Bernie Sanders, who got duped!

James Clapper, the director of national intelligence during the election, has said the informant was not focusing on the Trump campaign, but on the activities of the Russians. Democrats have claimed Mr Trump's allegations are an attempt to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
President Trumps chief of staff and a White House lawyer representing the president in the Russia investigation were present on Thursday at the start of two classified meetings requested by members of Congress to review sensitive material about the FBIs use of an informant in the inquiry.

The two men left both meetings after sharing introductory remarks to relay the presidents desire for as much openness as possible under the law and before officials began to brief the lawmakers, the White House said in a statement.

But the presence of John Kelly, the chief of staff, and Emmet Flood, the presidents lawyer, infuriated Democrats, and legal experts said their visit, at the least, could give off the appearance that the White House abused its authority to gain insight into an investigation that implicates the president.

The presidents legal team was unapologetic. We are certainly entitled to know what information the government has on the FBI informant, Rudy Giuliani, another lawyer representing Mr Trump in the investigation, said in an interview. The meeting cuts off a long subpoena, he said, referring to a legal fight for the information.

At least two lawmakers participating in the briefings told Mr Flood to his face that his presence was inappropriate.

Although he did not participate in the meetings which followed, as the White Houses attorney handling the special counsels investigation, his involvement  in any capacity  was entirely improper, Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

House Republicans close to the president, led by Representative Devin Nunes of California, the committees chairman, had been pressing for weeks for access to material related to a law enforcement informant who had approached at least three Trump campaign advisers who had been in contact with suspected Russian agents. People familiar with the matter said that the purpose of using the informant  a common FBI tool  was to glean information about what the aides knew about the Russian efforts to hack into Democratic emails, not to spy on Mr Trumps campaign.

But the issue exploded when Mr Trump accused the FBI, without evidence, of planting a spy in his campaign. He demanded in recent days that the Justice Department investigate the matter and turn over records to Congress, despite warnings from law enforcement officials in his administration that sharing the documents would put the informant and foreign intelligence partners at risk.

Law enforcement and intelligence officials did not provide documents to the lawmakers on Thursday, but they did provide information about the use of the informant, according to two people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a classified meeting.

Republicans close to Mr Nunes made clear in the run-up to the meetings that they would not be satisfied unless officials turned over documents. Neither Mr Nunes nor lawmakers close to him spoke publicly after Thursdays sessions.

Democrats who attended said after the meetings that the FBI had done nothing wrong by employing the informant, an American academic who served in several Republican administrations and has taught more recently in Britain.

Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign, or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols, Mr Schiff told reporters on behalf of the Democrats in the briefing. He did not take questions.

White House officials had at first arranged for only Mr Nunes to be briefed. But Republican Senate leaders, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, and Richard Burr of North Carolina, the Intelligence Committee chairman, pressed the White House to change the audience to the so-called Gang of Eight, the select bipartisan group with whom the governments most sensitive intelligence is shared.

Mr McConnell said in an interview on Thursday that the Gang of Eight meeting was an appropriate way to convey whatever information the administration had to convey, but he declined to critique Mr Trumps charges of illegal spying.

As Mr Trump continued to fan unsubstantiated claims that partisan Democrats had planted a spy in his campaign, the logistics for the meetings shifted several times.

Ultimately, Mr Schiff was allowed to attend a morning session that had previously been offered to just Mr Nunes, Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and another Republican congressman. The Gang of Eight met later Thursday afternoon on Capitol Hill.

Mr Floods presence at the meetings was entirely unexpected. While Mr Kelly helped arrange the meetings at Mr Trumps request, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, had said no White House staff members would attend. Guidance circulated by the Justice Department late Wednesday did not include Mr Flood among the invitees.

For the record, the Presidents Chief of Staff and his attorney in an ongoing criminal investigation into the Presidents campaign have no business showing up to a classified intelligence briefing, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said on Twitter.

When Democrats confronted Mr Flood in the Gang of Eight meeting, Mr Kelly intervened and dismissed their criticism, according to one of the officials familiar with the meeting.

Democrats tried to start their own inquiry. Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, made a formal request for the Justice Department to investigate the disclosure of the confidential informants name and existence to the news media.

While there is no constitutional provision that says the presidents personal lawyer cannot make a statement at a classified briefing, legal scholars expressed misgivings.

Even if Flood wasnt there for any operative parts of the meeting, the optics are disquieting, said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. Rather than being sensitive to the clear potential conflict this creates, the president is driving a truck through the middle of it. Historically, a president would be very careful to avoid the appearance of a conflict, as opposed to relishing in it.

Mr Ryan, who has been criticised for not reining in House Republican attacks on the Russia inquiry and federal law enforcement, defended the unusual meetings.

Inherent in the Intelligence Committees work is the responsibility to ask tough questions of the executive branch, he said in a statement. That is why we have insisted and will continue to insist on Congresss constitutional right to information necessary for the conduct of oversight.

Mr Nunes, a loyal ally of Mr Trump who advised his presidential transition, has been quiet about what exactly he hoped to learn about the informant, saying only that his late April request was part of an oversight investigation into potential political bias and abuse of power within the Justice Department as it relates to the Russia investigation.

It was the latest in a series of bold demands for classified documents and testimony related to the Russia inquiry  and far from his first open confrontation with top Republican officials in the department. And it echoed another episode, from last spring, in which Mr Trump falsely claimed that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, and Mr Nunes went public with information that he said showed the Obama administration had incidentally collected intelligence on Trump associates.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Democrats say that the latest episode  including the presidents involvement  is the most recent gambit by Mr Nunes and Mr Trump to undermine the special counsel, Robert Mueller III, and gain information about his inquiry.

Many of Mr Nuness targets were in the room for the meeting: Christopher Wray, the FBI director; Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general; and Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, along with other law enforcement and intelligence officials.

Mr Trump continued to rail against law enforcement on Twitter on Thursday, repeating his unsubstantiated claims. Large dollars were paid to the Spy, far beyond normal, he said, without citing evidence, before referring to the matter as one of the biggest political scandals in US history.

Five former top American intelligence officials who have worked for Democratic and Republican administrations, including Leon Panetta and Gen. Michael Hayden, warned on Wednesday that House Republicans were putting at risk the tradition of bipartisan oversight of intelligence.

When congressional oversight is overly partisan  or focused on undermining important counterintelligence investigations  we worry about inappropriate political influence on the investigators and the erosion of a bipartisan approach to intelligence and national security, they wrote in an open letter.

The New York Times
Donald Trump has revealed his administration is talking to North Korea and that the 12 June summit he cancelled yesterday could still take place.

On Thursday, Mr Trump announced he was pulling out of the Singapore meeting with Kim Jong-un, citing open hostility Pyongyang had displayed in recent comments. Hours later, North Korea said it was still willing to talk, at any time in any form and vice-foreign minister Kim Kye-gwan said Mr Trumps decision was extremely regrettable.

On Friday, Mr Trump responded to North Korea, saying on Twitter, it was very good news to receive the warm and productive statement.

 Mike Pompeo confident US and North Korea have 'shared understanding of ultimate objectives from summit'

Shortly after that, Mr Trump spoke to reporters before departing in his Marine One helicopter for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he was due to address graduates.

Asked about his decision to pull out of the summit, and North Koreas subsequent statement, he said: Well see what happens. We are talking to them now.

The Associated Press said the presidents surprise exit from the planned talks on Thursday had capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down.

Escape from North Korea Show all 16 1 /16 Escape from North Korea Escape from North Korea Jeong Min-woo A hat belonging to Jeong Min-woo in Seoul. Min-woo is from Hyesan, on the border with China. He was a commissioned officer in the Korean People's Army, and left in his uniform. South Korean intelligence confiscated it, but he persuaded his North Korean military contacts to send him a new one. Reuters Escape from North Korea Jeong Min-woo Jeong Min-woo, 29, poses for a photograph in Seoul Reuters Escape from North Korea Kang Kang, 28, who wanted to be identified only by her surname, poses for a photograph in Seoul. The parents of Kang sent out a coat across the Chinese border after she reached the South in 2010. "I didn't ask my mother to send me this coat," said Kang. "But she knew I feel the cold easily and sent it to me. She sent some honey too, but it went missing on the way. The coat is made of dog fur. I don't know what kind of dog. In 2010, it cost about 700,000 North Korean won ($88 at the unofficial rate). It was really expensive. A North Korean friend went to China to pick it up for me. I liked this coat when I got it. I thought my mother must've spent quite a lot of money on it. Reuters Escape from North Korea Kang The dog fur coat belonging to Kang, "My father was a party officer. Our family had a car and we lived in a special apartment. Ordinary people couldn't afford to wear this kind of coat, not even soldiers. Commissioned officers could afford them. Border guards would wear them. It wasn't easy to buy this kind of coat, but as time went on, fake ones began to appear. The state often clamped down on this item. It's technically military supplies so the state monitored people who altered the design of the coat. I know just from looking at this coat that it's a counterfeit one, not the official version. The counterfeit ones look quite different from the original ones. Military officials preferred the fakes to the original because the design looked much better. The children of rich families would wear them. I look too chubby in this, so don't wear it here. I thought I could probably wear it if I altered it." Reuters Escape from North Korea Lee Oui-ryuk Lee Oui-ryuk is from Onsong, near the border with China. He defected in 2010, and brought his ID card with him. "I brought my ID with me when I left North Korea. Juche 95.11.7 (the date in the North Korean calendar, which equates to Nov. 7, 2006) is the date I was issued with my ID. It says here my blood type is "A", but I'm actually an "O." For the 23 years I lived in North Korea, I thought my blood type was "A." They wrote down my blood type without even doing a test. They just wrote whatever they wanted to. I was caught trying to defect to South Korea around Kim Jong Il's birthday. They strengthen border security just before and after that date." Reuters Escape from North Korea Lee Oui-ryuk "The bottom of the lamp is dark," as the saying goes, and I thought I'd be able to cross right under their noses. The soldiers shot at me as I tried to run away from the Tumen River. I managed to get away and hid, but someone reported me and I was caught. That's when I was taken to the bowibu (North Korean secret police) for three months of interrogation. The state ruled that I had tried to defect to South Korea, and I was sent to a camp for political prisoners. I escaped when they were transferring me to the camp. I hid and managed to make it to my big sister's house - that's when I grabbed these photos. I couldn't go home easily, so decided I had to hide in the mountains or somewhere remote. I needed my ID to move around without getting caught. and I took these 12 photos with me in case I wanted to look back and reminisce. I wrote on the back of them so as not to forget." Reuters Escape from North Korea Ji Sung-ho Ji Sung-ho, 35, from Hoeryong, near the border with China. He left North Korea in 2006 with a pair of wooden crutches. "I lived as a child beggar in North Korea. I was stealing coals from a train when I fell off and lost my leg and my hand. I had to bring the crutches with me. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't have made it here. The state doesn't help you in North Korea, and people who need crutches make their own. Mine are therefore not factory-made, so they're not perfect and break easily. I had several pairs of crutches but they all broke, and this was the last pair. I used these crutches for 10 years, until I was 25, when I arrived in South Korea. I would steal coal from moving trains and fall off, destroying my crutches. Or I would get beaten up by the police and they'd take and then break my crutches. When they broke, I would make new ones. When I had new ones, I could go back outside." Reuters Escape from North Korea Ji Sung-ho "When I first arrived in South Korea I thought about throwing them out. South Korea's intelligence agency gave me a prosthetic leg. My friends said I should throw the crutches out and not think about North Korea. They said I should show Kim Jong Il I was living a new life in South Korea and throw out everything I had from the North. Some asked if I got upset when I saw my crutches. But I couldn't just throw them out. To make my crutches, my friends had given me some wood that they had bought, and someone I knew in North Korea who had carpentry skills had made them. It was my father who added the final touches. There is a lot of love from my North Korean friends and family in these crutches. So I didn't throw them out. The South Korean government gave me some new crutches because the wood from my North Korean ones is hard and painful. But I still keep them, so as not to forget those memories." REUTERS Escape from North Korea Kim Ryen Hui Kim Ryen Hui, 48, is from Pyongyang. She says she never wanted to defect. In 2011, she says, a broker helped her go to China for treatment on her liver. But the broker tricked her, she said, and she ended up in South Korea. She is campaigning to return, which Seoul says would be against the law. "I miss my parents even more than I miss my daughter. They're everything to me. For the first few years, I couldn't even breathe properly when I thought of them. My little brother lives with them in Pyongyang now. My mother can't see out of one eye. The thing I fear the most is finding out they've passed away before I have the chance to go back. Reuters Escape from North Korea Kim Ryen Hui "My daughter and I have been writing letters and sending photos to each other. My cousin lives in China, so she's been sending them on. My daughter's name is Ri Ryon Gum. She was born on February 15, 1993. I don't want her to live out her life with me here. When she was young, she did taekwondo. She wanted to get involved in espionage operations against South Korea. She was so fearless. That's why she was doing taekwondo - to get involved in anti-South espionage. So I was really surprised to hear she became a chef. In a video of her I received, she explained why. She said that after I had left, she moved in with her father in Pyongyang and had been cooking for him. She said she decided to become a chef so she could fulfill my role at home. I was sad when I heard that." Reuters Escape from North Korea Lee Min-bok Lee Min-bok, 60, was a researcher at North Korea's Academy of Agricultural Science. He first tried to defect, unsuccessfully, in 1990. He eventually left North Korea in June 1991 and came to South Korea in 1995. His family sent him these diaries. "I have a bit of an academic side. According to Kim Il Sung's teachings, people are supposed to keep diaries. Everyone in North Korea should strictly follow Kim Il Sung's teachings, so I did as I was supposed to and kept a diary. Even though Kim Il Sung is a villain here, in North Korea he's above everything. We learned that he studied well and gave our lives purpose. I lived according to those teachings. I wrote these out of loyalty to the Leader. That was our ideology, and I lived my life in strict adherence to it. No one could think differently." Reuters Escape from North Korea Lee Min-bok "I got hold of these diaries 10 years after I arrived in South Korea. I had been sending money to my family in the North and they sent them to me. I didn't write any complaints in diaries. I would've been in big trouble if I did. My diaries are a record of my history in North Korea. I am thinking about turning these diaries into a book. I'd like to publish a book about how to change North Koreans' thinking when unification happens. These diaries show how North Koreans think and how their minds are constructed. People need to make these into a textbook, because they need proof. Talking is not as effective." Reuters Escape from North Korea Song Byeok Song Byeok was a propaganda artist. His father drowned trying to cross the Tumen river, in 2000. When the artist finally left North Korea in 2001, he brought photos of his family with him. "We left that August to find food," Byeok recalled, describing the first attempt. "We were from a town further inland, and we weren't sure where the river was high and where it was low. I didn't know at the time but the river was swollen because of the rainy season. I thought we had to cross it anyway. All I could think about was getting to China to buy food. I took off my clothes and tied them into a rope to strap us together. I told my father not to let go. As we approached the middle of the river, the strap felt lighter. I looked back and saw my father drifting away. I was devastated." Reuters Escape from North Korea Song Byeok "He was going under the water and couldn't get out. I rushed up to the (North Korean) border guards and asked them to save him but they just said why did I come out, why didn't I die too. They handcuffed me and took me away. It was Aug. 28. I was tortured by the "bowibu" (North Korean secret police) in Hoeryong, then jailed for four months in Chongjin prison camp. But after I was released from the camp I felt like I needed to survive and carry on living. Right before I tried to defect again, I went back home and grabbed my family photos. Even if I died trying, I thought, at least I would have this picture with me. I never found my father. After I came to South Korea, I went back to China in 2004 and held a memorial service for him by the river. My heart still aches." Reuters Escape from North Korea Baek Hwa-sung Baek Hwa-sung, 33, left Sinuiju, on the border with China, in 2003 and resettled in South Korea in 2008. He kept a diary as he defected. "In 2004, I started to write down all my thoughts in a diary. I didn't know if I'd get caught. I just wanted to let it be known where I was from, and where I wanted to go. After I left the North, I became very depressed, hiding in the mountains alone for a while. The people who were watching over me told me not to come down to the village and left me by myself in a mountain shelter. Alone, with no one to engage with or talk to, I felt like I would go insane. So I wanted to leave something behind in case I died there or got caught - that's why I started to write. Reuters Escape from North Korea Baek Hwa-sung "Alone in the mountains, I desperately sought something to talk to. That was my diary. My diaries are proof of my life's journey. I read them when I want to remember home. I can't return home, and I already have no memories of my hometown. But when I go through my diaries, there are notes which detail the vivid memories of that time. Sometimes I might forget my father's birthday, but when I go back to my diary, his birthday and my mother's birthday are there. My diaries are a record of my life. They prove I'm alive." Reuters

The US announcement came not long after Mr Kim appeared to make good on his promise to demolish his countrys nuclear test site. But it also followed escalating frustration and fresh rhetoric from North Korea, in response to increasingly hard comments from US officials as to what they expected from Pyongyangs denuclearisation.

Such were the comments from Mr Trumps hawkish national security adviser, John Bolton, who said North Korea should give up its weapons as a starting point for negotiations, that some analysts believed he was trying to scupper the talks before they started.

On Friday, asked by a reporter if he believed North Korea was playing games, Mr Trump replied: Everybody plays games.

He added: They very much want to do it, wed like to do it.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, a staunch ally of Kim Jong-un, said the North Korean leader had in fact done everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts of the site. Mr Putin said of the cancellation announcement: In Russia we took this news with regret.

Mr Trump, in his letter to Mr Kim, objected specifically to a statement from a top North Korean foreign ministry official. That statement referred to Mike Pence, the US vice-president, as a political dummy for his comments on the North and said it was up to the Americans whether they would meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

Underscoring the high stakes, Mr Trump said he had spoken with military leaders, as well as Japan and South Korea, and stressed that the United States was prepared for any threat.
A US border patrol agent has fatally shot a migrant near the US-Mexico border, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.

The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon near Laredo, Texas in a border town about seven miles away called Rio Bravo. The officer was responding to a call that there was illegal activity. CBP has not immediately responded to a request for comment on the nature of the activity that was being reported and to which the officer was responding.

"Initial reports indicate that as the agent attempted to apprehend the group, he came under attack by multiple subjects using blunt objects," the agency said in a statement, referring to the undocumented immigrants as illegal aliens.

Recommended Report alleges increase of Border Patrol child abuse

The officer then fired one shot and killed a young woman in the head, one witness told NBC News. The agency has not released the identity of the officer or the victim.

Marta Martinez, a woman who lives near the scene, posted a video of the incident on Facebook. Though the agency said the officers were investigating activity in a culvert, Ms Martinez said there is no culvert on the property. She also noted the group of migrants did not have any objects that looked like they could have been used as weapons against the officer.

The incident occurred in a lot approximately one-quarter mile from the Rio Grande, the river near the Mexican border.

I didnt hear any yelling or stop or dont run, she told the New York Times about the few minutes before the shot rang out just ten feet from her home. She can be heard screaming at the officer in the video she posted, asking why did you kill her? while the officer attempted to do chest compressions on the victim.

 US border patrol guards kick over water left for migrants near Mexico border

In the video, officers can be heard saying See what happens? This is what happens with you people at the men they captured who appeared to have been with the deceased.

Ms Martinez told a local NBC News affiliate: "They come here to the United States to live the American dream. So there's no American dream right there. She died right there on the scene.

Life on the US-Mexican border Show all 12 1 /12 Life on the US-Mexican border Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A house stands next to a section of the border fence separating Mexico and the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico The border fence in Tijuana stretches all the way to beach Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Migrants can often be spotted trying to cross the rusty barrier Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Joaquin, 36, a chef from Guatemala who says he was deported from the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A shack stands next to a section of the border fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Tourists pose for a picture at the border Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A family burns rubbish near the fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Joaquin makes a living by selling rubbish Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Neither Trump nor the wall is going to stop anyone, says Pedro Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Mexicans have built homes right next to the fence Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico Mexican Carlos, 27, who says that he was deported from the United States, heats up tortillas at his house near the double fence that separates Mexico and the US Reuters Life on the US-Mexican border Tijuana, Mexico A girl climbs stairs near a section of the fence

The FBI is also investigating the event.

Last year, there were 17 use-of-force cases with firearms by Border Patrol agents, a decrease from 55 in 2012, according to Customs and Border Protection. The federal agency does not identify how many of the episodes were fatal, the New York Times reported.

The shooting comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has put pressure on federal agencies to crack down on illegal immigration at the border and even deployed state National Guard troops to help the effort. He is also still promising to build a roughly 2,000-mile border wall.
At least three people have been killed and nine others injured in mob violence across southern India, in what police are describing as a wave of social media-inspired lynchings.

Nightly patrols of villagers have started beating up outsiders, according to police, after rumours circulated on WhatsApp and on social media that there were gangs of thieves and child-kidnappers roaming the region.

The police chiefs of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Indias 12th and 10th most populous states respectively, both held news conferences urging members of the public not to believe the rumours.

They said there was no indication that such gangs actually existed.

The most high profile incident was the death of a 33-year-old auto-rickshaw driver, named by The Hindu as Nimmala Balakrishna, in the Telangana village of Jiyapalli on Wednesday night.

Police officer E Ramchandra Reddy told the Associated Press the villagers had suspected Mr Balakrishna to be a child abductor.

The driver had been drinking at his brothers home in Jiyapalli and was preparing to leave for his nearby hometown when he was descended upon by a gang of men, police said.

The men beat him with sticks before driving him to the village centre and fleeing. Another group of villages also attacked him there, The Hindu reported. Mr Balakrishna died as his brothers family, alerted to the attack, drove him to a hospital.

Six men have now been arrested and another 12 are reportedly wanted in connection with the killing, but have fled.

In Andhra Pradesh, a woman visiting from the eastern state of Bihar was thrashed by a mob at a railroad station, after she was suspected of seeking to abduct children, state police chief M Malakondaiah said. She did not know the local Telugu language, creating a misunderstanding with local villagers.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

And in Bengaluru (formerly known as Bangalore), the capital of neighbouring Karnataka state, police arrested nine people for tying a person to a tree and beating him on Tuesday, senior police officer T Suneel Kumar said. He said there had been no incidents of gangs abducting children, despite video messages circulating on social media.

Telangana state police chief M Mahender Reddy urged members of the public to have faith in the authorities rather than taking the law into your hands, repeating the mantra: Police is with you, you are safe.

Mr Malakondaiah, the Andhra Pradesh police chief, said stringent action would be taken against those guilty of mob violence. These are rumours that gangs of child kidnappers are moving in the state, dont believe them. Dont beat up people.
Donald Trump is "winging it" on the international stage and his failure to lay the groundwork for a summit with North Korea is to blame for a breakdown of talks this week, a former White House official has said.

Victor Cha, who was dropped as Mr Trump's pick to be ambassador to South Korea earlier this year after he questioned the value of military threats against Pyongyang, said the president's decision to rush into talks "was probably a mistake" and "put us in the position where we are today".

In a letter to Kim Jong-un on Thursday, Mr Trump said he was pulling out of a planned summit in Singapore on 12 June because of the "tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in a recent statement from North Korean officials. It came after a senior North Korean official dismissed remarks from the US vice president, Mike Pence, as stupid.

Mr Trump had "raised expectations greatly for a meeting and now pulled out of it, and nobody really knows what will happen next", Mr Cha told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He questioned "the manner in which Trump approached this, which was to be very abrupt and very spontaneous and agree to a meeting without really doing the necessary work in advance to ensure that would be successful".

Mr Cha suggested that "the unconventionality of Donald Trump" could one day prove an asset in breaking the decades-long deadlock with North Korea.

"On the other hand, the way in which he conducts himself, winging it and basically shooting from the hip, can lead us to problems like we have today, where we have a cancelled meeting," he added.

Meanwhile, the White House has suggested China was most to blame for the manner in which relations quickly broke down between the US and North Korea.

Mr Trump himself told reporters on Thursday that "the dialogue was good until recently, and I think I understand why that happened."

That, NBC quoted senior administration officials as saying, was a reference to meetings held between Kim Jong-un and President Xi Jinping. Mr Kim has travelled twice to Beijing in the last three months, his first and only foreign trips since coming to power in 2011.

Mr Trump was also asked about China during an Oval Office meeting with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday.

Then, he said: "I will say I'm a little disappointed because when Kim Jong-un had the meeting with President Xi in China, the second meeting ... I think there was a little change in attitude from Kim Jong-un. So I don't like that."

He added: "I think things changed after that meeting, so I can't say that I'm happy about it."

Mr Cha said there was little doubt China also played a role in the Singapore talks collapsing. A jealous Beijing "maybe wanted things to be slowed down so they wouldn't be cut out of any North Korea deal, and they probably want to play a central role in any future meeting of the parties," he suggested.

Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Show all 25 1 /25 Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement Korea Summit Press Pool via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Kim Jong-un heads towards Moon Jae-in to shake his hand between the military demarcation line, at the Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone in the border village of Panmunjom in Paju EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hold hands as they cross the military demarcation line EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Koreans react while watching a screen reporting the Inter Korean Summit Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chat as they arrive at the Peace House Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un was escorted by bodyguards from the North to the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two Koreas to meet with his South Korean counterpart at the truce village AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un crosses the military demarcation line to meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in shake hands Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after Kim crossing the military demarcation line Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Joint Security Area EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un speak with two South Korean children who presented Kim Jong-un with a bouquet of flowers EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting Moon Jae-in Kim Jong-un pose for photographers at the Joint Security Area (JSA) EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signs the guest book as South Korean President Moon Jae-in looks on Getty Images Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-uns entry in the guestbook. The writing reads A new history starts now. An age of peace, from the starting point of history Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-In and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talk during their summit meeting at the Peace House EPA Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un smiles AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un talks with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in prepare to plant a pine tree near the military demarcation line AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un applaud after planting a tree at the truce village Korea Summit Press Pool/Pool via Reuters Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un and South Koreas President Moon Jae-in take a walk after they planted a tree AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un talks with South Koreas President Moon Jae-in at a bench on a bridge next to the military demarcation line at the truce village of Panmunjom AFP/Getty Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in sign on a joint statement Korea Broadcasting System via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in embrace each other after signing on a joint statement Korea Summit Press Pool via AP Korea Summit: Kim Jong-un crosses border for historic meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands after their joint announcement AP

But the former White House policy adviser said there was a third factor which might indicate a waning of confidence in North Korea towards its leader.

Mr Kim is being judged not just on his apparent success in bringing forward the country's nuclear programme, but also on his ability to deliver economic growth.

"Hard-liners" underneath the supreme leader have been questioning the improvement of relations with the long-time enemy America, preferring instead to focus on an allegiance with Beijing.

The breakdown in talks "may not just have to do with China, but may also have to do with broader internal domestic struggles", Mr Cha said.
Politicians and civilians alike have been left reeling in South Korea after US President Donald Trumps seemingly spontaneous decision to call off firm plans to meet North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on 12 June.

South Koreas President Moon Jae-in responded Friday with apparent shock and a sense of betrayal, his aggrieved feelings obvious in his remark that he was very perplexed and it was very regrettable that the summit would not be held as scheduled.

In an emergency session with top aides, Mr Moon left no doubt his shock was all the more acute since he had met Mr Trump just two days earlier in the White House for what was supposed to be an opportunity in person to coordinate on how to deal with Mr Kim.

Instead, with the summit not about to happen, Mr Moon encouraged Mr Trump to get in touch with Mr Kim as soon as possible, perhaps by phone.

There was, said an aide, an urgent need for direct communication in order to resolve what South Koreas leadership regarded as misunderstandings.

Recommended Tensions with North Korea are more to do with capitalism than missiles

The American president and the North Korean dictator needed to communicate in a direct way to grasp what the other party has in mind. The aide described Mr Trumps decision as a snag, one that Mr Moons government clearly hopes can be overcome.

Interestingly, that view was quite similar to the response from North Korea, whose influential first vice foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan spoke highly of Mr Trump and his earlier decision to engage in summitry after having threatened to go to war against North Korea last year.

In a lengthy statement carried by Pyongyangs Korean Central News Agency, Kim Kye-kwan offered this flattering assessment: We have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other US presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit.

Those soft words came as a surprise to South Korean and American officials alike. They had fully expected a blast of invective from North Korea and particularly the vice foreign ministry, who the week before had lambasted the US for insisting on complete denuclearisation, making clear the North had no intention of giving up its nuclear programme on which leader Kim Jong-un has staked his prestige.

On Friday, however, North Korea appeared to be changing its tune in an effort to persuade Mr Trump to change his mind.

 Donald Trump says North Korea summit 'could still happen'

Kim Kye-gwan even seemed inclined to back away from his refusal of the previous week to consider denuclearization.

Rather, he said, We even inwardly hoped that what is called "Trump formula" would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue.

While both South and North Korean leaders sought to recover from Mr Trumps decision, sentiment on the streets of Seoul ranged from surprise and disappointment to relief and applause.

It is very disappointing for the Americans to behave this way, said Jang Sung-eun, a manager for a small company. They should try to resolve the problem. They are making it worse.

But that view was by no means universal. Conservatives applauded Mr Trump, some of them carrying signs and American and South Korean flags, saying President Moon should resign or at least give up his overtures toward the North.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

They were opposed by demonstrators attempting to get near the American embassy, carrying signs urging US forces to go home.

Amid such conflicting views, however, the overwhelming sense was that somehow it might be possible eventually to get the Trump-Kim summit back on track.

At the same time, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to assuage damaged feelings and sensitivities here in a phone conversation with the foreign minister, Kang Ktyung-wha. The foreign ministry said that he had told her the US had a clear will for continued dialogue.

The most surprising assurance from the US side came from the commander of Americas 28,500 troops in Korea, General Vincent Brooks. At a forum here, he said he was not worried about cancellation of the summit because the opportunity is not lost, just delayed.

While it may have been too early to celebrate the summit, he said, it was also too early to quit  never quit.
Australia marks National Sorry Day every 26 May.

Unlike Anzac Day, which celebrates the heroism of Australian and New Zealand troops fighting overseas, Sorry Day is an occasion for solemn commemoration of the mistreatment of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders throughout the country's history.

Begun as a national day of mourning in 1998 for the Stolen Generation  those children of indigenous people forcibly separated from their families by federal, state and church authorities between 1905 and 1967  the date was chosen to remember the Bringing Them Home report being tabled in Parliament in 1997.

The official survey, carried out by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, records a dark episode in Australian history, revealing the devastating details of the lives of those taken from their mothers and raised in orphanages and foster homes by whites in a misguided attempt to better assimilate them within Australian society. Many were beaten, raped and abused by their intended protectors, often in remote areas like the Northern Territory.

The day also serves as a means of apologising to the Outback's indigenous people for the brutal treatment they were subjected to by colonial forces in the 19th century, when many were viciously hunted and slaughtered on the racist premise that their "stone age" culture had no place in the New World.

The prejudices of the past have not entirely gone away, however. Conservative prime minister John Howard, in office at the time of the report's publication, dismissed judge Sir Ronald Wilson's call for a formal apology to be issued, rejected the idea that Aborigines had been the victims of genocide and complained of an "Aboriginal guilt industry", an attitude still shared by some, typically in rural parts.

His successor Kevin Rudd did make a historic apology to the Aborigines in Perth on 13 February 2008, saying sorry for the state's having "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians". He pledged to close the gap between white and Aboriginal Australians in "life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity".

Oxfam points out that Aborigines and Torres Stait Islanders are still living 10 to 17 years less than white Australians, have an infant mortality rate twice that of their peers and are more likely to die of preventable diseases of the heart and kidney and to suffer diabetes, so there is still plenty of work to be done.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The day was officially renamed the National Day of Healing (although it is still colloquially known as Sorry Day) by the National Sorry Day Committee in 2005 and is marked with ceremonies, marches and speeches across the nation celebrating Aboriginal art and culture and discussing the harrowing experiences of the Stolen Generation.

In 2000, more than 250,000 people took part in the Bridge Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of reconciliation.

The Healing Foundation, set up by the human rights organisation Reconciliation Australia, has also been established to work with members of the Stolen Generation on coming to terms with their past treatment and reconnecting with lost relatives.
A former British soldier subjected a French village to a one-man crime wave, prosecutors have said.

Peter Seymour, 61, is accused of committing more than 60 burglaries, initially targeting Britons with second homes in Surin, central France, before going after locals.

He managed to avoid a huge manhunt for at least five months by living rough in the countryside for months, prosecutors said.

Seymour took refuges in makeshift tents covered by branches and leaves after he failed to appear before a criminal court in January, where he was convicted and given a 15-month prison sentence.

His disappearance led to a European arrest warrant in case Seymour had returned to Britain and the urgency of the search increased after it was suspected that he had committed 20 more burglaries since his conviction.

We soon realised he hadnt gone back to Britain because food started disappearing from peoples fridges again and gas canisters from their homes, Claudie Memin, the towns mayor, told The Times.

One family was burgled eight times. In the village, the children and the old people were very afraid, she said.

Officers arrested Seymour in a tent inside a thicket and they found about 200 stolen objects, including a television running on a battery, cooking utensils, gas canisters, jewellery, computers, food and drink.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

He is a former soldier and I think he used his military training to escape us for five months, Captain Benjamin Duval, head of the local police unit, said. I would not go so far as to say we admire him but we recognise that he has a certain rusticity to be able to survive like that for so long.

He said that Seymour was not violent and did not try to resist either of his two arrests.

Seymours family had not heard from him for 20 years and the missing persons bureau had tried to track him down.

His family said they did not know he was in France or even alive.
Two boys have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 14-year-old girl in Dublin.

Anastasia Kriegel was found dead in an abandoned farmhouse in Lucan after she had been missing for three days.

A post mortem showed that she had died from a trauma to the head after being subjected to a vicious assault.

Anastasia Kriegel was found beaten to death in a farmhouse after being missing for three days (An Garda Siochana) (An Garda Siochana)

The two youths, who are both believed to be 13, were detained on 24 May and remained in custody in separate police stations.

Arrangements have been made to allow their parents to stay with them and they can be questioned for 24 hours.

In an official statement, A Garda spokesman said: Gardai can confirm that two juvenile males arrested yesterday 23 May as part of the investigation into the murder of Anastasia Kriegel remain in custody.

They are being held at two separate Dublin Garda Station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

Ms Kriegel was a student at Confey College, a co-ed Community College in Leixlip, County Kildare.
The Netherlands and Australia will hold Russia legally responsible for its role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

The Dutch government said accusing a country of being at fault for the 2014 air disaster, which left almost 300 people dead, was a complex legal process.

But, its cabinet said both the Netherlands and the Australian government wanted answers after crash investigators found the missile that shot down the plane was fired from Russias 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade.

Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok said that following that conclusion, the government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable.

Mr Blok added the Netherlands and Australia have asked Russia to enter into talks aimed at finding a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing of MH17.

The passenger flight was shot down over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board, including 28 Australians, as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in July 2014.

Russia has routinely denied any involvement in the attack, claiming on Thursday none of its missile launchers have ever moved onto Ukrainian soil, despite photo evidence released by prosecutors seeming to suggest otherwise.

Prosecutors stopped short of saying who actually fired the fatal shot, but Mr Blok told reporters on Friday the findings point to direct involvement of Russia.

The foreign minister said attempts to hold Russia responsible for the planes downing under international law would be a different, parallel process from the ongoing investigation by prosecutors seeking to establish individual criminal responsibility.

But, a Dutch cabinet statement mooted presenting the case to an international court or organisation for their judgment as a possible next step, adding Australia shared its assessment of Russias role.

In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Show all 109 1 /109 In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A man cycles past a piece of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Petropavlivka, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Dutch military personnel carry a coffin containing the remains of the victims of the MH17 plane crash to a hearse at the airbase in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. A Dutch Air Force C-130 Hercules plane and an Australian Royal Australian Air Force C17 transport plane brought back 74 more coffins containing remains of the victims of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash, from Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine to the Eindhoven air base in the Netherlands In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A couple is backdropped by pictures of victims of the MH17 air crash during a memorial concert in Kharkiv, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A man lights a candle as family and friends attend a multi-faith service at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne for those who lost their lives on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A woman cries after leaving a photograph (L) on the altar during a multi-faith service at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne for those who lost their lives on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Sympathizers hug in front of flowers tribute at the entrance to the Korporaal van Oudheusdenkazerne, army barracks, in Hilversum, The Netherlands, where bodies of the people killed in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 air crash in Ukraine will be identified In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Angela (R) and George Dyczynski (L), walk past a Flight MH-17 memorial after arriving at Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands. Mr and Mrs Dyczynski have flown from Perth, Australia, to search for their daughter, Fatima, who was on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 which crashed in the Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 The tower and airport buildings are reflected in the window of a terminal building as an airline hostess arranges floral tributes placed at the the Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam, The Netherlands In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Members of the church share their grief at a Multifaith memorial service held for victims of the MH17 disaster at St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 The column of funeral hearses drive near Boxtel after leaving the airbase in Eindhoven to Hilversum, The Netherlands, after the arrival of a Dutch Air Force C-130 Hercules plane and an Australian Royal Australian Air Force C17 transport plane with the first bodies of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash in eastern Ukraine arrives from Kharkiv, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A procession of hearses carrying the bodies of victims in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 crash, depart after a ceremony at Eindhoven Airbase, the Netherlands In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 (L-R) King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the airbase in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, during the arrival of a Dutch Air Force C-130 Hercules plane and an Australian Royal Australian Air Force C17 transport plane with the first bodies of the 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash in eastern Ukraine arrives from Kharkiv, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Bodies of victims in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 crash are transferred to funeral hearses by Dutch military personnel during a ceremony at Eindhoven Airbase, the Netherlands. The bodies were flown from Kharkiv, Ukraine, to the Netherlands after being recovered from the crash site In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Relatives of victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 react as people wearing white clothes gather in memory of the victims, in Amsterdam In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People release white balloons in the air during a silent march in memory of the victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, on July 23, 2014 in Amsterdam Getty Images In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People gather during a silent march in memory of the victims of MH17, in Amsterdam Getty Images In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Hearses carry coffins containing unidentified bodies from the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 leave the airport in Eindhoven, Netherlands EPA In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A column of funeral hearses carrying the bodies of Dutch passengers after leaving the airbase in Eindhoven EPA In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 The extent of the wreckage at the site where Malaysia Airlines MH17 crashed near Hrabove (Grabovo) close to Donetsk Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A Malaysian man lights up candles during a vigil in remembrance for passengers and crew of the Malaysian Airline flight MH370 & MH17 in Petaling Jaya near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia EPA In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Belongings of victims are pictured at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in a field near the village of Grabove, in the Donetsk region AFP In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Flowers lie on the tarmac of Kharkiv airport as a Hercules transport aircraft, belonging to the Royal Dutch Airforce, prepares to take off AFP In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Honour guards load a coffin of one of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on to a transport plane heading to the Netherlands at Kharkiv airport In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A coffin containing the body of a victim of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is loaded onto a plane for transport to the Netherlands during a departure ceremony in Kharkiv, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A coffin containing the body of a victim of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is loaded onto a plane for transport to the Netherlands during a departure ceremony on July 23, 2014 in Kharkiv, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Honour guards take part in a ceremony with coffins of some of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine before they are being loaded on to a transport plane heading to the Netherlands at Kharkiv airport In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A coffin containing the body of a victim of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is loaded onto a plane for transport to the Netherlands during a departure ceremony in Kharkiv, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Dutch flags fly half-staff in honour of 3 citizens, a mother,17 year old daughter and 13 year old son were among the victims of flight MH17 in Delft, Netherlands In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 On-lookers during a ramp ceremony at Kharkiv Aiport In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A worker uses a forklift to load coffins containing some of the remains of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on to a transport plane before they head to the Netherlands at Kharkiv airport In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People lay coffins containing some of the remains of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on the tarmac before loading them on a transport plane heading towards the Netherlands at Kharkiv airport In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Ukrainian officials attend a farewell ceremony near the transport plane used to carry some of the remains of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, before it heads off to the Netherlands at Kharkiv airport In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 The train carrying the bodies recovered from the downed Malaysian flight MH17 arrives at the Malyshev Plant, in the government-held Ukrainian city of Kharkiv In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A Ukrainian policeman watches as a train carrying the remains of the victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine arrives in the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Police officers secure a refrigerated train loaded with bodies of the passengers of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 as it arrives in a Kharkiv factory for a stop In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A guard stands on a train carrying the remains of victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 downed over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine after it arrived in the city of Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 An armed pro-Russian separatist stands guard as monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and a team of Malaysian air crash investigators inspect the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), Donetsk region In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Malaysian experts check debris at the main crash site of the Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed flying over the eastern Ukraine region, near Grabovo, some 100 km east from Donetsk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Members of the Malaysia Special Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, on hand to assist in the investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, wait near the gate of the Malyshev Factory, a state-owned producer of heavy machinery where a train transporting the victims was taken in Kharkiv, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Two black boxes recovered from the crash site of the MH17 jet being handed over to Malaysian officials during a press conference in Donetsk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A Malaysian expert (L) examines a black box belonging to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 during its handover from pro-Russian separatists, in Donetsk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Aleksandr Borodai (C), self proclaimed Prime Minister of the self proclaimed 'Donetsk People's Republic', looks up after speaking at a news conference in which he he handed over the two black boxes of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to Colonel Mohamed Sakri (2-R) of the Malaysian National Security Council during a press conference organized in Donestk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Donetsk People's Republic official (L) and Colonel Mohamed Sakri of the Malaysian National Security Council signing documents during the handing over to Malaysia of the two black boxes recovered from the crash site of the MH17 jet at a press conference in Donetsk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Malaysian activist holds banners during a protest at the United Nations office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Netherlands Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans speaks after a vote at the United Nations. With the backing of Russia, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet and demanded crash site access in rebel-held east Ukraine. Timmermans who flew to New York to attend the Security Council session expressed outrage over the delays in securing the crash site In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A photo of Belgian national Benoit Chardome, one of the victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines jetliner, is seen during a ceremony in Berchem, Antwerp In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Mourners dressed in white leave flowers as they gather in remembrance of the owners of the Asian Glories restaurant, after they were killed in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash over eastern Ukraine, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 The Dutch government honors the victims of the MH17 plane crash in Ukraine with a full-page advertisement in Dutch newspapers, as seen here in Rijswijk, The Netherlands. The advertisement with the title 'Geschokt en verdrietig' (Shocked and sad) contains the 298 names of the victims In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A pair of clogs with a message for Dutch citizens killed on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is seen in front of the Netherlands Embassy in Washington In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People surround a refrigerator wagon as monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and members of a forensic team inspect the remains of victims from the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, at a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Torez In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and members of a forensic team inspect a refrigerator wagon containing the remains of victims from the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, at a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Torez In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (C) leaves the Netherlands embassy in Kiev after signing his condolences ceremony In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Pro-Russia rebels guard a train containing the bodies of victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 crash in Torez, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Alexander Hug (L), Deputy Chief Monitor of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, speaks to reporters after visiting a train containing the bodies of victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in Torez, Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Tirso Pabellon, brother of Irene Pabellon Gunawan, one of three Filipinos who perished in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 passenger plane crash over East Ukraine, leave the Department of Foreign Affairs after obtaining his passport at suburban Pasay city south of Manila, Philippines In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Bodies are removed from the site AFP/Getty In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Members of the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry gather the remains of victims at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Ukrainian workers handle debris at the main crash site of the Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Mourners attend a memorial service held for a family of five killed in the flight MH17 disaster, in the suburb of Eynesbury in Melbourne, Australia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima sign a condolence register at the Ministry of Safety and Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte signs a condolence register at the Ministry of Safety and Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Malaysian youth gathers during a candlelight vigil for passengers and crew of the Malaysian Airline crash flight MH17 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Journalists look at debris from the Boeing 777 Malaysia Arilines flight MH17 In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Pro-Russian separatists block the way to the crash site of MH17, near the village of Grabove AFP/Getty In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Local people roam the wreck of MH17 AFP In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Men carry a stretcher with a bodybag at the crash site EPA In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A local resident stands among the wreckage at the site of the crash Getty Images In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Passengers' belongings lie at the site of the crash Getty Images In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Floral tributes are left at the gates of the Dutch Embassy in London and the Dutch flag flies half mast a day after a Malaysian airliner was brought down over Ukraine carrying over 170 Dutch passengers REX In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A woman crosses herself as people lay flowers and light candles in front of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Kiev, to commemorate passengers of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur which crashed in eastern Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Personal belongings and luggage of passengers between debris of the Boeing 777, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed during flying over the eastern Ukraine region near Donetsk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Armed pro-Russian militants pass next to the wreckage of a Boeing 777, of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 debris, which crashed during flight over the eastern Ukraine region near Donetsk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Members of the Ukrainian Emergency Ministry search for bodies near the site of Thursday's Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo, in the Donetsk region In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People search for bodies at the site of the crash of a Malaysian airliner near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A diver searches for a black box on the site of the crash of a Malaysian airliner near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Rescuers stand on the site of the crash of a Malaysian airliner near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Debris is seen at the site of Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo, in the Donetsk region In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Belongings of passengers on the site of the crash of the Malaysia Airlines near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A woman grieves for victims of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crash as she arrives to lay flowers at the the Dutch embassy in Moscow, Russia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Relatives of a passenger who was on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur react over the news at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Widi Yuliono a relative of John Paulisen, shows photographs of John Paulisen (Top-L), Yuli Hastini (Top-R), Arjuna Martin Paulisen (L) and Sri Paulisen (R) who are victims of the Malaysian Airline flight MH 17 plane disaster in eastern Ukraine, at his residence in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People bring flowers and candles to the Dutch embassy to commemorate the victims of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash in Kiev In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A young boy lights a candle in commemoration of the victims of Malaysia Airlines plane accident in eastern Ukraine in front of the Dutch embassy in Kiev In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A woman holding a sign that reads, "Putin is a murderer", lies down near flowers left by people to commemorate victims of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash, at the Dutch embassy in Kiev In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A family member cries as she receives the news of the ill fated flight MH17 on the phone in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Family members of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 cry at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A firefighter sprays water to extinguish a fire, amongst the wreckages of the Malaysian airliner after it crashed, near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Flames and smoke amongst the wreckages of the Malaysian airliner near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A firefighter stands as flames burst amongst the wreckages of the Malaysian airliner near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the pro-Russian separatist 'Donetsk People's Republic' Alexander Borodai (C) stands as he arrives on the site of the crash of a Malaysian airliner, near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Debris of the Boeing 777, Malaysia Arilines flight MH17, which crashed during flying over the eastern Ukraine region near Donetsk In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People walk amongst the debris, at the crash site of a passenger plane in Ukraine AP In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 The wreckages of the Malaysian airliner Getty Images In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 An armed pro-Russian separatist stands at a site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region of Ukraine Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 People stand near part of the wreckage of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane near Grabovo Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Taken from an amateur video, smoke rises from a fireball seen in the distance shortly after a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane crash AP In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A man works at putting out a fire at the site of the plane crash in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region of Ukraine Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Smoke rises up at a crash site near the village of Grabovo AP In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Smoke rises from the wreckage at the crash site near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region of Ukraine Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A part of the wreckage of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane is seen after it crashed near the settlement of Grabovo Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Alleged image of smoke from the crash In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 In a picture taken from a mobile phone smoke is seen rising from the crash site AP/Andrei Kashtanov In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A general view of the crash site in the Grabovo settlement in the Donetsk region of Ukraine Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Emergencies Ministry members work at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 takes off from Schiphol airport near Amsterdam EPA In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Outgoing Belgian vice prime minister and foreign minister Didier Reynders makes a statement on the crash AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 The upper floor of Schiphol Airport is closed for media and reserved for family and relatives of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Reuters In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 A closed Malaysia Airlines counter at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam EPA In pictures: Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 Airport security personnel look at the flight information board in the departure hall, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where flight MH17 was flying to AP

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson said the UK fully supports the request by the Dutch and Australian governments for Russia to accept state responsibility for the disaster.

The Kremlin believes it can act with impunity. The Russian government must now answer for its actions in relation to the downing of MH17, Mr Johnson said.

This is an egregious example of the Kremlins disregard for innocent life.

The UK will continue to offer its full support to the efforts of the joint investigation team, the Dutch and Australian authorities and other grieving nations to deliver accountability for this terrible act and justice for all those who died.

The father of one of the passengers has welcomed the move.

This is great news, said Hans de Borst, who lost his daughter Elsemiek in the crash. I understand why the government waited, but now the evidence is clear.

Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop called for support from the international community for the move.

This represents a threat to international security, she said.

If military weapons can be deployed and then used to bring down civilian aircraft in what was essentially a war zone, then international security is at risk and we call on all countries to inform the Russian Federation that its conduct is unacceptable.

The US department of state said it strongly supported the move by the Netherlands and Australia.

It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH-17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign, said department spokesperson, Heather Nauert.

As the findings of the joint investigative team made clear, the BUK missile launcher used to bring down the passenger aircraft is owned by the Russian Federation and was assigned to the Russian 53rd anti-aircraft brigade near Kursk.

It was brought into sovereign Ukrainian territory from Russia, was fired from territory controlled by Russia and Russia-led forces in eastern Ukraine, and was then returned to Russian territory.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, called on Russia to accept responsibility for the crash and cooperate with international efforts to establish accountability.

The downing of MH17 was a global tragedy, and those responsible must be held accountable, Mr Stoltenberg said.

Nato has repeatedly expressed its full support for the efforts undertaken by the Dutch authorities and others to shed light on what happened on that terrible day, and to achieve justice for the 298 people who were killed and their loved ones.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the Dutch and Australian conclusions, and said that an atmosphere of mutual distrust existed between the investigation team and Russia.

We categorically deny the allegations, he said. The investigation was a collective investigation  but it did not include the Russian side. Ukraine, however, was allowed to participate.

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Mr Peskov said Ukraine held responsibility for the disaster given that it took no measures to close air space in and around a war zone.

Meanwhile, the investigative group Bellingcat says it has conclusively identified joint investigation team person of interest Andrey Ivanovich as former Russian defence ministry officer Oleg Ivannikov.

Also known by the covert name Orion, the group claim the figure it believes to be Mr Ivannikov coordinated the military activities of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine from early 2014 until at least the following year.

Bellingcat also alleges the agent arranged the transport of arms across Russia-Ukraine border at the time MH17 was downed.

It said this was the first time it had been established a high-ranking Russian military official had been operating inside Ukraine at the time the Malaysia Airlines flight was destroyed.

Additional reporting by agencies
The Yemeni island of Socotra has been devastated by one of the biggest storms in recent memory, leaving at least 40 people missing, roads and buildings destroyed and causing unknown damage to the islands precious ecosystem.

Governor Ramzi Mahrous said that Cyclone Mekunu made landfall on Wednesday but the weather conditions were so severe the authorities were only able to begin assessing the damage properly on Friday. The severe storm is now heading towards southern Oman on the Arabian Peninsula, where people in coastal areas have been warned to evacuate.

It is feared the missing people, among them Yemeni, Sudanese, Somali and Indian nationals, are dead after being swept out to sea in the flash flooding. At least 19 of the missing were aboard boats which sank or ran aground during the storm.

The tense political situation on the island  revealed by The Independent earlier this month to be the subject of a secret power struggle between the Arab governments fighting Houthi rebels in Yemens war  will undoubtedly deteriorate as a result of the desperate circumstances.

The Yemeni government has declared a state of emergency and Saudi Arabia and the UAE have landed at least two plane loads of emergency aid on the islands lone airstrip.

Several residents on the island were contacted for comment by The Independent but could not be reached. It is believed the electric supply is out in several parts of the island, including much of the two main towns of Hadibo and Qalansiyah.

Thousands of goats and other animals  essential to almost all of the underdeveloped islands residents as part of their livelihoods  are also believed to have drowned.

Socotra is known as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean for its unique flora and flora, including almost 700 endemic species. It is not known how much of its protected wildlife, including the rare dragon bloods tree, so-called for its red sap, has been affected by the cyclone.

Socotra was hit by two severe storms in 2015 which upended hundreds of the previous trees and also killed a significant amount of coral  vital for the marine ecosystem and fish stocks. At least six people died and up to 70 per cent of the islands roads were left unusable.

Environmentalists have warned the island, like most isolated ecosystems, is under serious threat from sea level rise and changing temperatures caused by climate change.

Socotra Show all 6 1 /6 Socotra Socotra Bethan McKernan Socotra Bethan McKernan Socotra Bethan McKernan Socotra Bethan McKernan Socotra Bethan McKernan Socotra Bethan McKernan

It was the cyclones three years ago that first led to significant UAE interest in the Yemeni island.

The wealthy Gulf nation initially sent aid to help rebuild, but later built a military base on the geopolitically strategic island.

Tensions between the Yemeni government and the Emirates over Socotras future came to a head earlier this month after Yemeni prime minister Ahmed bin Daghr demanded UAE troops leave the island.

Saudi Arabia, the lynchpin of the Arab coalition fighting in Yemens three-year-old civil war against the Iran-backed Houthis, was drafted in to mediate the UAEs departure last week.

The Independents reporting, however, suggests that there are still UAE soldiers stationed on Socotra, as well as a new Saudi military presence.
A number of beaches were closed this week in the seaside resort of Benidorm, Spain, after a swarm of Portuguese man o war jellyfish were spotted off the coast.

The creatures carry venomous tentacles which can grow up to 50m, with a sting powerful enough to kill fish and humans, though incidents of the latter are rare.

As reported by the Manchester Evening News, an 11-year-old boy was taken to hospital after being stung at La Marina beach near Elche on the Costa Blanca last weekend.

Miles of coastline have subsequently been closed between Denia and Torrevieja, a nearly 150km stretch which takes in Benidorm and the popular city of Alicante.

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The creatures have been reported as far as Orihuela Costa, approximately 92km away from the Costa Blanca.

The local town hall tweeted: We ask you to be careful because of the presence of Portuguese men o war on our coastline. They shouldnt be touched.

Two of these creatures have so far appeared in the water at La Caleta beach. The public should be extremely careful because their sting can be very dangerous.

A local news website also reported that beaches in the Pilar de Horadada area had erected red flags as well as flags with pictures of the animals, warning visitors of the potential dangers of coming into contact with them.

The Atlantic Portuguese man o war lives near the surface of the ocean. With no means of propulsion, it is moved by currents, winds and tides, and has been found in distant locations such as Nova Scotia in Canada and the Hebrides in Scotland.

Portuguese man o' war stings are painful but rarely fatal (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The jelly fishes' sting is extremely painful and should be treated with salt water immediately, with fresh water known to cause the creatures' nematocyst (a venomous thread) to discharge.

Last year more than 100 Portuguese man o' war jellyfish were spotted off the coast of Cornwall, leading to concern among locals. However, while potentially deadly, human fatalities following a sting are extremely rare.

Once a sleepy fishing village, Benidorm has become a hugely popular tourist resort in recent generations thanks to low-cost flights and the rise of all-inclusive holiday packages. There have been calls for the town to be recognised as a World Heritage Site for its tourist-driven growth model, though there has been some backlash. Last year, one hotel in the town stopped selling all-inclusive holidays due to the number of what it claimed were false gastric illness claims by British visitors.
If the mid-19th century was the heyday of railway development, this second decade of the 21st century is a new Golden Age for train travel  so say Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries in the introduction to their splendid new Great Train Comparison, a Europe-wide report created with the online rail booking service, Loco2.

This week, passengers seeking to travel from Brighton to Cambridge or from Blackpool to Bolton may not quite share the Golden Age sentiment. Between 50 and 90 per cent of these trains have been cancelled this week due to staff shortage (specifically, appropriately trained drivers).

Jon tweeted from Flitwick on Monday morning to say: Two of four peak-time trains cancelled. Got on one of the two that ran, which was packed. We were all kicked off at St Albans after the driver was told to take the train empty to the depot.

If the same thing happens at the start of the next working week, at least Jon will be able to learn from the Great Train Comparison that there is another way. Inconveniently for those hoping to get from Bedfordshire to Blackfriars, though, the evidence that railways can be well run is mostly located on the continent.

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The overall first, second and third places may simply confirm your suspicion that they organise things so much better where German is the main language: Swiss Railways, Deutsche Bahn and Austrian Railways respectively.

Each collects a good sprinkling of specific awards, in a dozen categories from Best for Backpackers (Deutsche Bahn) to Best for Couples (Austrian Railways, where they still have what I will call canoodling compartments).

Yet there are some surprisingly non-Germanic winners. Best-value food goes to Czech Railways, where Schnitzel and beer are staples, with keenly priced wine and tasty salads. Sounds more appealing than that old British Rail staple, the Casey Jones burger.

Best business travel product is to be found not in Germany, France or Spain, with their superb high-speed networks, but in Italy: Trenitalia seems to be rising magnificently to the challenge of competition from other rail operators as well as domestic airlines.

You will also discover gems that had previously eluded me. In Switzerland, the railways will even  for a modest fee  pick up sledges, snowboards and other gear from your front door and transport it to the ski resort for you. (I assume your front door has to be in Switzerland, not Swindon.)

And bear this courtesy in mind if you have mobility issues and wish to travel to France, Belgium or the Netherlands in style: For passengers using wheelchairs, Eurostar gives a complimentary upgrade from Standard Class to Standard Premier, where theres more space for wheelchair users and their companion.

Surely after yet another Eurovision Song Contest humiliation, Britain must excel at something? Indeed it does. Virgin Trains East Coast is top of the charts for People with Pets. This category provides a clean sweep for the UK, with GWR and CrossCountry second and third respectively.

We may not treat human travellers perfectly at all times, but evidently we are good at caring for animals.

You can hop aboard most British trains with your dog or cat  or one of each, say the editors.

To be fair to the UK, I believe if there were a category for most creative fares then we would win that comfortably as well. We are ahead of most nations in demand-driven pricing, as well as some pretty creative high fares: Think of a sensible cost and then treble it, seems to be the policy for some routes.

We beat the rest of Europe, too, for most creative excuses. This is the nation that brought you the wrong kind of snow  a phrase actually coined in 1991 by James Naughtie of Radio 4s Today programme to describe what he had just been told by a British Rail manager about why so many trains were breaking down in winter.

Now we have a 21st century version to enjoy, courtesy of the Thameslink Twitter feed. Anyone who asked about the reason for the calamitous start to the new timetable was told it was an operational incident.

Dig deeper, as many did, and you learnt only: We are not privy to the nature of the operational incident Im afraid.

They dont make up excuses like that on the continent, even on social media. Or given the enigmatic unhelpfulness of the message, should that be anti-social media?
Although nominally a referendum about the eighth amendment of the constitution of Ireland, and obviously concerned with the issue of abortion, what is in fact at stake is nothing less than the human rights of the people of Ireland.

That is, after all, how the current wave of protest and campaigning for the liberalisation of abortion laws began: a ruling in the European Court of Human Rights in 2012. The ruling stated that the draconian restrictions on termination, worsened by inconsistency in application, were an abuse of the rights of Irish women. Soon after that, the case of Savita Halappanavar added a devastating shock: a blameless woman died in a Galway hospital due to complications from a septic miscarriage, despite having requested an abortion when she first fell ill that could have saved her life.

Irish law was amended at the time, for example to allow for lawful travel to Britain for a termination (though not Northern Ireland, where it remains more restricted). However, this left Ireland in the humiliating position of having a British chancellor get up in the House of Commons to declare that the National Health Service would ensure funding for such operations as a simple matter of mercy.

As matters stand  that is, until the final results come in  rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality are not, of themselves, sufficient conditions for a woman to be allowed to exercise control over her own body. Repeal of the eighth amendment, which was only passed in 1983, would mark a significant, albeit long overdue, progressive reform.

Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Members of the public hold yes placards on Fairview road Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Taoiseach Leo Varadkar casts his vote at Scoil Thomas, Castlenock Dublin PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Members of the public hold no placards on Fairview road Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures A woman wears a campaign T-shirt and badges REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Lorraine Curtin with her son Cillian Curtin, age 5 months, and Petrina Conmee arrive at Dublin airport from Portugal, having traveled especially to vote in Ireland's referendum REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Members of the public hold yes placards on Fairview road Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures A nun casts her ballot REUTERS Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadakar leaves a polling station after casting his vote AFP/Getty Images Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Tom Harrington arrives to cast his ballot at Knock national school AP Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures Leo Varadkar casts his vote PA Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures A woman carries her baby as she arrives to vote Reuters Ireland votes in historic abortion referendum: in pictures REUTERS

Even if the vote is defeated, though exit polls suggest a victory for Yes to liberalising the laws, the very strength of the movement for change demonstrates once again how readily Ireland is modernising as a nation, not least because of its position as a committed and mutually supportive partner in the European Union. The nation is led by a mixed-race gay man, for example, a notion that would have been out of the question a few decades ago.

It is well within living memory, too, that the Roman Catholic Church held a special position guaranteed by the 1937 constitution as the guardian of Irish moral values. That went in the 1970s, and with it, haltingly and gradually, much of the old deference towards the Catholic Church, a trend reinforced by the numerous scandals around the behaviour of nuns and priests given free rein by conservative social mores.

By contrast, in the recent referendum campaign the Catholic Church adopted a relatively low profile. The national mood has turned more distant, detached and hostile to a Church that once made fallen women forced labour prisoners in the Magdalene laundries, for example, and turned a blind eye to child sexual abuse. The shaming of single mothers led to untold human misery, and Ireland seems at last ready to face up to that.

 People arrive at Dublin airport on Ireland's abortion referendum day

The recent legalisation of same sex marriage and an earlier relaxation of discriminatory laws affecting LGBT+ people were also landmark changes for a country travelling at rapid speed towards full human rights for all. A referendum on divorce laws in November will be another progressive step.

So, as it approaches its centenary as an independent state in 2022, as well as nearly half a century in the EU, Ireland has come a long way, socially, economically and culturally, in a relatively short space of time.

What is striking today, and again in the context of Brexit and the border issue, is how much Ireland has moved on, where Northern Ireland has not  as of yet. The example set by Ireland and the rest of the UK on human rights and liberal reform should give the authorities in Stormont some further cause for thought. This might most poignantly be the case if women from the North seeking terminations travel south to exercise their human rights after a change in Irish law.

Human rights are universal, and recognise no intellectual, religious or physical borders, after all, Brexit or not.
The Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution is the reason I had to leave Ireland and travel to the UK when I needed an abortion. I was 18, in a relationship and the contraception we were using failed. The Eighth Amendment was voted for in 1983 after contraception had been made legal in Ireland in 1980. The conservative forces, accustomed to locking away women and girls like me in mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries, were worried that abortion would become legal too.

So they put pressure on politicians to insert a clause into the constitution which would make abortion legal only if there is a direct threat to a pregnant persons life, ruling out abortion being made legal in cases of rape or in instances of fatal foetal abnormality, while compromising the wellbeing and medical consent of all pregnant people in Ireland.

The Eighth Amendment has caused suffering for hundreds of thousands of women all over Ireland. I know I am one of at least 170,000 who travelled to the UK and gave an Irish address. Not all of us do, some give a friend or family members UK address or some travel to the Netherlands. Women who until very recently didnt share their stories.

To change attitudes and laws when abortion is illegal, it takes women standing up and telling their truth  that they had an abortion. With abortion having been so heavily stigmatised here in Ireland, it has taken a lot of courage to do so, especially when having one at home (which people do by ordering pills online) currently carries a 14-year criminal sentence.

I was one of the lucky ones. I was saving up to go to university and I knew I wasnt ready to be a parent yet. I had money, a passport, I was able to get time off work and I was able to get the information to make the appointment with a BPAS clinic. Many more dont have those things and are forced to continue a pregnancy against their will or resort to desperate measures.

This coming Friday 25 May we are being given a chance to vote Yes to remove this cruel amendment, so that we can finally have legislation which will make abortion available in Ireland in line with the care provided in the majority of modern EU countries. It has taken many years to convince the political parties and people that this is what is needed to provide essential healthcare in Ireland.

 'We sat crying in the airport for hours': Irish couple who had to travel to England for abortion share their experience

When I started sharing my story I was scared. I got support from friends and family, but I did have strangers saying the horrid things I had expected. What I did not expect was the solidarity and kind messages from so many others, some of whom shared their stories of having to travel to the UK with me. There are thousands of us who have travelled  everyone knows someone  and we are done being silent.

At one of the marches for choice I carried the banner at the front with my teenage daughter. She had argued with me that this was about her rights too. That day we marched with thousands, all who supported my choice and wanted to remove the Eighth Amendment, so that if needed my daughter could get care here at home in Ireland.

She isnt old enough to vote, so my Yes vote is also for her and everyone who may ever need an abortion. I hope that my country will be a kinder place to all pregnant people after the Eighth Amendment is removed.
The culpability of the British government and its intelligence agencies in enabling suicide bomber Salman Abedi to blow himself up at a pop concert in Manchester is being masked one year later by the mood of grief and mourning over the death and injury of so many people.

It is heartrending to hear injured children and the relatives of the dead say they do not hate anybody as a result of their terrible experiences and, if they feel anger at all, it is only directed towards the bomber himself. Victims repeatedly say that they did not want the slaughter at the Manchester Arena to be used to create divisions in their city.

The downside of this praiseworthy attitude is that it unintentionally lets off the hook those British authorities whose flawed policies and mistaken actions really did pave the way towards this atrocity. Appeals against divisiveness and emphasis on the courage of survivors have muted attacks on the government, enabling it to accuse those who criticise it of mitigating the sole guilt of Abedi.

Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on Show all 10 1 /10 Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Flower Festival at St Ann's Church marking the Manchester Arena bombing Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trail in St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Flower Festival at St Ann's Church marking the Manchester Arena bombing Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trail in St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on Embracing Manchester Exhibition at St Ann's Church was created by artist Ghislaine Howard after being inspired by Muslim video blogger Baktash Noori who, after the attack spent days in the city centre trying to win the trust of the public. Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Flower Festival at St Ann's Church marking the Manchester Arena bombing Manchester Bombing Attack: one year on The Trees of Hope trailin St Ann's Square where people are encouraged to leave and share tributes

This attitude is highly convenient for former prime minister David Cameron who decided in 2011 on military intervention against Muammar Gaddafi. His purported aim was humanitarian concern for the people of Benghazi, but  as a devastatingly critical report by the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs said last year  this swiftly turned into an opportunistic policy of regime change.

The military intervention succeeded and by the end of the year Gaddafi was dead. Real power in Libya passed to Islamist militias, including those with which the Abedi family were already associated. Pictures show Salmans brothers posing with guns in their hands. Libya was plunged into an endless civil war and Benghazi, whose people Cameron and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy were so keen to save, is today a sea of ruins. Inevitably, Isis took advantage of the anarchy in Libya to spread its murderous influence.

This is the Libyan reality which was created by Cameron and Sarkozy, with sceptical support from Barack Obama, the then US president, who famously referred to the Libyan debacle as a shit show.

Libya became a place where the Abedi family, returning from their long exile in Manchester, were able put their militant Islamist beliefs into practice. They absorbed the toxic variant of Islam espoused by the al-Qaeda clones, taking advantage of their military experience honed in the Iraq war, such as how to construct a bomb studded with pieces of metal designed to tear holes in human flesh. The bomb materials were easily available in countries like Britain.

Salman Abedi was responsible for what he did, but he could not have killed 22 people and maimed another 139 others, half of them children, if the British government had not acted as it did in Libya in 2011. And its responsibility goes well beyond its disastrous policy of joining the Libyan civil war, overthrowing Gaddafi and replacing him with warring tribes and militias.

Manchester had since the 1990s become a centre for a small but dangerous group of exiled Libyans belonging to anti-Gaddafi groups, such as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, originally formed by Libyans fighting the communists in Afghanistan. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, strict measures were taken by MI5 and the police against Libyans thought likely to sympathise with al-Qaeda in Iraq and, later, Isis. They were subject to counter-terrorism control orders monitoring and restricting their movements and often had their passports confiscated.

Recommended Manchester comes together to mark anniversary of bomb attack

But no sooner had Britain joined the war against Gaddafi than these suspected terrorists became useful allies. Their control-orders were lifted, their passports returned and they were told that the British government had no problem with them going to Libya to fight against Gaddafi. In place of past restrictions, they were allowed to pass to and fro at British airports. Some militants are reported as saying that when they had problems with counter-terrorism police when flying to Libya, the MI5 officers with whom they were in touch were willing to vouch for them and ease their way to the battlefront in Libya, where MI6 was cooperating with Qatar and UAE as financiers of the armed opposition.

This opportunistic alliance between the British security services and Libyan Salafi-jihadis may explain why Salman Abedi, though by now high up on the list of potential terrorists, was able to fly back to Manchester from Libya unimpeded a few days before he blew himself up.

There should be far more public and media outrage about the British governments role in the destruction of Libya, especially its tolerance of dangerous Islamists living in Britain to pursue its foreign policy ends. The damaging facts about what happened are now well established thanks to parliamentary scrutiny and journalistic investigation.

The official justification for British military intervention in Libya is that it was to prevent the massacre of civilians in Benghazi by Gaddafis advancing forces. The reason for expecting this would happen was a sanguinary speech by Gaddafi which might mean that he intended to kill them all. David Cameron, along with Liam Fox as defence minister at the time and William Hague as foreign secretary, have wisely stuck with this explanation and, as a defence of their actions, they are probably right to do so. But a report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee says that the belief that Gaddafi would massacre the civilians in Benghazi was not supported by the available evidence. It points out that he had retaken other towns from the rebels and not attacked the civilian population.

The British followed the French lead in military intervention and Sarkozy similarly justified his policy as being in defence of the people of Benghazi. We are a little better informed about the real French motives thanks to a report, revealed through the Freedom of Information Act, made in early 2011 by Sidney Blumenthal, an unofficial advisor to Hillary Clinton, the then US secretary of state, after a meeting he had had with French intelligence officials about Sarkozys motives for intervention.

 Mancunians mark one year since the Manchester Arena bombing

The officials told Blumenthal that Sarkozys plans were driven by five main causes, the first being a desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production and the next being to increase French influence in North Africa. His other aims were to improve his own political standing in France, enable the French military to reassert their position in the world, and prevent Gaddafi supplanting France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa.

The intelligence officials make no mention of any concern on the part of Sarkozy for the safety of the Libyan people. Conceivably Cameron, Hague and Fox had much purer and more altruistic motives than their French counterparts. But it is more likely that the aim was always regime change in the national interest of those foreign powers who brought it about.

It is easy enough to convict Cameron and Sarkozy of hypocrisy, but a more telling accusation is that they betrayed the very national interests that they were seeking to advance. They destroyed Libya as a country, reduced its six million people to misery and played into the hands of men like Salman Abedi.
EUROPEAN Union negotiators dismiss as "fantasy" some main British demands for Brexit, including on the sensitive issue of the Northern Ireland border, a senior EU official said on Thursday.

The official accused London of failing to accept that Brexit will necessarily distance it from the EU.

The broadside followed three days of talks with British negotiators in Brussels and comes a month before a summit where Prime Minister Theresa May hopes to defuse the Irish issue.

British demands to continue participating in the EU's easy criminal extradition system or in the most high-security parts of the Galileo satellite programme were unacceptable to other member states since May rejects EU legal supervision.

"The sooner we can get out of the business of denying the consequences of Brexit, the sooner we can get on with finding solutions," the official told reporters. "The sooner we move away from this fantasy, the quicker we can get to constructive discussions about how to design that future relationship."

British proposals to avoid a hard land border with EU member Ireland, complete with customs and other checks, were also firmly rejected by Brussels, in part because London was coupling them with a bid to also secure better "backdoor" access for the rest of the United Kingdom to the EU's single market.

In uncompromising language indicating wide gaps just five months before a target date for a treaty to ensure a smooth Brexit in March, the official said of the Irish issue: "Progress so far seems elusive and substantive progress even more so."

Talks on a framework for future relations also made little advance, with Britain rejecting a simple free trade pact and the EU refusing London's offer of mutual recognition of each other's regulations. But a status-quo transition period through 2020 means those are less pressing than the need for an Irish border deal which both sides want as part of a pre-withdrawal treaty.

BACKSTOP DEADLOCK

In December, a provisional draft included language, rejected by May, for a "backstop" under which Northern Ireland would if need be remain aligned with EU economic rules.

Dependent for her majority on Northern Irish allies opposed to new barriers between the province and the British mainland, May has suggested making the backstop time-limited and that it may see the whole United Kingdom apply EU customs rules .

But the EU official dismissed that, saying that a deadline for ending the backstop would make it pointless - effectively just delaying a possible introduction of a hard border that could inflame sectarian violence - and said London must stop seeking a solution that would greatly benefit mainland firms.

"We need to have the recognition that the backstop has to be Northern Ireland-specific," the official said. "We need to do away with the fantasy that there is an all-UK solution to that."

EU negotiators regard proposals to keep the British mainland aligned to EU regulations as a "back door" to keep access to the single market. They may be flexible at the modest scale of Ireland but not for the second biggest economy in Europe.

The official said Britain had promised a new proposal on the Irish issue and Brussels hoped to have them early next month.

Saying that a consequence of full British involvement in Galileo would be that London might be able to block the EU's own access to satellites in a dispute, the official denied however that such arguments betrayed a deep lack of trust.

Any future relationship would rely on trust, the official said, but Britain could not expect the same treatment as member states subject to stricter EU oversight.

Reflecting a sour tone, however, the official also told reporters that British negotiators said they would use their place inside the EU for the remaining 10 months to try in budget discussions to alter rules for access to non-member states.

Britain's finance minister Philip Hammond hit back at suggestions it was up to London to deal with its own decision to leave the EU: "I fear many EU opinion-formers ... see the Brexit challenge as simply one for the UK to resolve," he told a business conference. "This has to be a two-way conversation."
Michael McMorrow from Dowry has special elevation for his wheelchair at Manorhamilton Mart Photo Brian Farrell

People must use common sense themselves and recognise the dangers of mixing with animals, according to the Minister for Employment and Small Business, Pat Breen.

The Minister is who is responsible for Workplace Safety policy said that under no circumstances should members of the public be in the passages between the pens or the pens themselves because cattle at marts are in unfamiliar surroundings and their behaviour can be unpredictable.

It comes following a major Health and Safety crackdown by mart owners and managers with an effective ban in many marts on farmers entering areas where cattle are penned.

New rules involve keeping mart visitors and livestock apart from each other this may include restricted access to livestock delivery points, closing off passageways and the establishment of gantries and bridges to allow for safe viewing of livestock, depending on the size of the mart involved.

It came following a serious accident in Mohill Mart where a man sustained severe head injuries after an incident involving an animal.

Minister Breen said mart owners and managers have statutory obligations under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

"They have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their employees and the general public.

"Most marts and co-operatives are very conscious of safety around animals.

"The public should be in the auction rooms rather than outside where the animals are penned.

"The pens should be reserved for employees only.

"Marts are dangerous places, particularly in the morning when cattle are being offloaded from trailers into the pens, he said.

The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has urged mart-goers to embrace and support the safety measures being implemented on an ongoing basis by marts across Ireland.

Everyone was very upset to hear of this distressing accident. Its always important to figure out how something like this could have happened and also to take any measures necessary to avoid a recurrence.

Over the past number of months, marts have been implementing extra measures to further reduce health and safety risks. All ICOS mart drovers already receive professional training in livestock management including health and safety.

"We are also providing additional training for our staff along with safety information, new signage and announcements re-advising patrons that safety comes first. It is a mutual concern that everyone must work together collectively to address," it said.
Trucks line up before cattle are loaded into the NADA vessel in the port of Santos, Brazil, December 2, 2017. Picture taken December 2, 2017. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) declared Brazil free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) with vaccination this week, opening new export prospects for the worlds largest beef exporter.

The OIE already considered most of Brazil to be free of foot-and-mouth with vaccination. The declaration, which the government had been expecting since the start of the year, extends certification to the whole country.

Brazils access to many top-tier markets had remained limited by concerns over the introduction of the highly contagious disease which causes fever, mouth blisters and foot ruptures in cattle, swine as well as sheep, goats and other cloven-hoofed ruminants.

With this change in status we will have new countries with whom we can trade, Brazils Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi told Reuters in Paris where he was attending the OIEs general assembly.

He cited China as a major potential market and Japan, which does not buy meat extracts from Brazil due to the risk of the disease, he said.

Maggi said he has launched a program which aims to have the full country free of FMD without vaccination by 2023. Only one state in Brazil, Santa Catarina, has this status so far.

The disease, often fatal to animals, can infect humans, although it is extremely rare.

Separately, the OIE also assigned the following statuses at its general assembly:

- Peru and Surinam were recognised as free from foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease without vaccination and one zone in Chinese Taipei, in addition to Brazil, was officially recognised as FMD-free with vaccination.

- Argentina, Bulgaria and Costa Rica were recognised as being free of classical swine fever (CSF).

- Madagascar, Peru and Uruguay were recognised as being free from Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR)

- Nicaragua was recognised as having a negligible risk of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
Inability to recruit staff is now the number one threat to small businesses in Ireland. Stock image

Inability to recruit staff is now the number one threat to small businesses in Ireland.

Sven Spollen-Behrens, director of the Small Firms Association (SFA), yesterday said that the tightening labour market was proving to be very challenging for SFA members.

Two-thirds of them are looking to recruit over the next 12 months.

And it appears that labour market pressures are having an impact on the outlook of small businesses, with sentiment having fallen nine percentage points in the past six months, according to a survey from the SFA.

Just over half (53pc) of small firms now believe that the business environment is improving, down from 62pc last November.

"Even in a growing economy, less than half of owner-managers tell us their businesses are growing," Mr Spollen-Behrens said.

At its annual conference yesterday the SFA launched its small business strategy.

Under the strategy the representative body outlined eight key considerations for Government when designing a strategy for small businesses including a focus on all small business, with no 'right' sector to be in.

In addition, the SFA said that Government strategy should provide coherence, with all policies in respect of small businesses aligned.

"In Ireland, we know what it takes to create real, transformational change, as we have successfully built a world-class environment for multinational companies.

"This know-how must now be harnessed for the benefit of small businesses," Mr Spollen-Behrens added.
Independent News & Media (INM) has confirmed the appointment of Richard McClean in the newly created senior role of Managing Director of Publishing for Ireland, with responsibility for the media groups commercial and editorial teams.

He was previously Managing Director of INM in Northern Ireland, responsible for the groups Northern titles including the Belfast Telegraph and digital products. The appointment was confirmed in a memo to staff on Friday.

The appointment had been well flagged following the departure earlier this week of INMs Group Editor in Chief Stephen Rae after five years in the role. The editor in chief role has been discontinued.

The change is in line with a new group strategy, that structures INMs main operations under divisions headed by senior executives  including the Publishing arm to be headed by Richard McClean.

One of those divisions will be headed by the newly hired Transformation Director - Richard Morgan  who has joined INM after 11 years with the Telegraph Media Group in the UK.

In his new role he will work with the executive team in developing the change programme to realise INMs strategic aims, staff, according to the staff memo.

The other members of the senior team named in the new structure  are Celine Doyle, as Chief People Officer, who will continue to head the groups human resources functions.

Ryan Preston will continue in his role as chief financial officer.

INMs distribution business Newspread will become the core of a rebranded Reach Group, that will continue to be headed by Ian Keogh.

In addition, recruitment is underway for a Chief Customer Officer and Chief Information Officer to complete the senior team.
Ability to scale in an ever-changing payments landscape has meant many Irish retailers are leaning on e-commerce platforms for support.

Headquartered in Ottawa, Shopify's 3000-strong global team helps power over 600,000 businesses in around 175 countries worldwide.

Global brands such as Red Bull, Nestle, Rebecca Minkoff and Kylie Cosmetics put their trust in the platform while, closer to home, Chupi and Gym+Coffee avail of Shopify's services.

With over 2000 retail-specific apps layered on top of Shopify's base platform, Lynsey Thornton, VP of User Experience & Core Product at Shopify said the service covers "all functionality and all types of needs for the firms to help serve those individual needs".

As the cloud-based, multi-channel retail platform market base continues to expand, the importance of Shopify's Irish unit, and its support for the EMEA region increases.

The team in Ireland has grown from 50 to over 200 employees in the last three years - and the recruitment drive is ongoing.

Known as 'Gurus', Ireland's staff at the cloud-based, multi-channel retail platform all work remotely in support staff and recruitment roles.

This was a strategic effort by Shopify from the outset, said Thornton, as the company can target the best person for the job, regardless of their location or flexibility requirements. Dublin-born Thornton works remotely herself from her home in Canada.

"Originally all the customer service team were based in Canada but we needed to follow the time zones, it's no fun working through the night!" she told Independent.ie.

"Remote working gives the employee a lot of flexibility, whether they have animals at home to look after or elderly parents to care for or children to mind, it allows a lot of flexibility in your day to day work, no commute," she said.

"It really appeals to a certain type of person."

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Niall Horgan, CEO and co-founder Gym + Coffee

How does your company work online?

At Gym+Coffee we are a pure play e-commerce business meaning almost 100pc of our sales come online through our website. As a start-up business, our margins weren't as strong as companies like Nike or Adidas so we've had to concentrate on selling through our own website so we are able to keep control of the costs. Through high quality content on our site, social media promotion and some digital advertising we direct people to our site.

How has Shopify facilitated the success of your online sales?

Shopify has been crucial to getting our business off the ground and scaling since then. Since we don't have technical or coding skills ourselves we were able to use Shopify to build an amazing website that we can edit and customise, and we can track everything that happens on our site. It's an incredibly powerful platform. Shopify allows entrepreneurs with an idea to get their business of the ground without needing technical skills or lots of capital. Without Shopify we would have had to spend thousands of euros to get a custom built site that would be very difficult for us to manage ourselves.

How important has Shopify become for Irish retailers?

Ireland is a small market and Shopify has allowed us to scale internationally much quicker than we would have expected. We were able to build and manage a second website tailored for the US audience and have been able to start building a US customer base, all from here in Dublin. Previously this would have required a massive investment of cash, time and resources, however now this can be achieved quite quickly. It has allowed us to test and learn and grow as a result.

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Chupi Sweetman, co-Founder of Chupi

How does your company work online?

We tap into Ireland's rich design heritage to make beautiful sparkly things in Ireland and sell them all over the world.

How has Shopify facilitated the success of your online sales?

I worked with Topshop in my twenties and London was the place to be, but I always knew I wanted Dublin to be my home. Working with Shopify has enabled my husband and I to build an incredible business in Ireland. We have a brilliant team of 23 people, export into 64 countries around the world all from our studio in Dublin. Shopify is such a flexible platform, when we started five years ago out of our spare room with just the two of us we worked off the entry-level platform. Now as a grown up brand, we produce bespoke apps and functionality in-house. As we have scaled, Shopify has grown with us.

How important has Shopify become for Irish retailers?

Ireland is such an incredible country but it's a tiny market, having an e-commerce store with Shopify enables us to sell our jewellery all over the world from Dublin. As a company, we have always looked at the world as our market and Shopify has made that possible.
Les lunettes de marque ne sont pas ce qui manque dans les commerces. Il y en a de toutes les sortes dont les lunettes de []
The company has worked on developing strengths in the efficient development, construction and operation of onshore wind.

Bottom line operating profit at SSE Airtricity owner SSE has fallen by 28.9pc year-on-year to 1.4bn (1.6bn) amid what the company chairman described as "a number of complex challenges."

In the 12 months to 31 March the group adjusted reported operating profit of 1.8bn, a decline of 2.4pc year-on-year.

During the period the group incurred exceptional charges of 213m, according to the company's results announcement.

Revenue increased 8pc to 31.23bn, however reported earnings per share were down 48.7pc to 81.3p.

During the 12 month period the group, which operates in Ireland and the UK, lost 430,000 customers and was impacted by charges linked to the merger of its retail arm with Npower.

"As expected, 2017/18 presented a number of complex challenges to manage, but SSE's operational performance was generally very robust and significant progress was achieved in key aspects of the company's capital investment programme," Richard Gillingwater, chairman of SSE, said.

"The challenges will continue in 2018/19, which is also expected to be a year of major transition for SSE."

"A strong operational and investment focus on meeting the current and future needs of energy customers is essential, as is preparing the businesses in the SSE group for the changes that lie ahead."

In its 2017/18 financial year the company paid 22.6m of taxes in Ireland, compared to 16.5m the previous year.

This year marks ten years since SSE's acquisition of Airtricity, during which period the company has worked on developing strengths in the efficient development, construction and operation of onshore wind.

In the last 16 months the company has delivered seven new onshore wind energy projects across Ireland and the UK, including Leanamore (18MW) in Ireland.

At 31 March 2018, SSE Airtricity supplied electricity and natural gas to 740,000 household and business customer accounts across the island of Ireland, a fall on the previous year, due to what the company said was increased competitive pressures.

(Additional reporting from PA)
Demand for recent graduates is at an all-time high, according to the Hays Ireland 'Salary and Recruiting Trends 2018' report.

With Ireland currently the fastest-growing economy in the eurozone - an upward trajectory that is expected to continue until 2024, according to a PwC forecast - the country will need to be able to continuously meet the demand for graduates to sustain this growth.

The report notes strong demand for graduates across the technology, life sciences and construction sectors.

Looking at the expected salary levels in those fields the report finds that recent technology graduates can expect to earn between 30,000-55,000 per year, as demand for workers in this sector increases.

Meanwhile those who have recently qualified in the field of life sciences can expect to earn around 25,000-50,000 a year.

The emigration of qualified engineers during the recession is still being felt in Ireland today, resulting in a "major" shortage of engineers with four-to-six years' experience.

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As a result of the scarcity, salaries are being pushed upwards, with newly chartered candidates and graduates benefiting as companies compete to attract the best talent.

Taking all of the construction sector into account, graduates in the area can expect to earn between 25,000-35,000, according to the report.

"Although the demand for recent graduates is at an all-time high, it is important for graduates to understand what skills are in demand and a job's earning potential," according to Maureen Lynch, director at Hays Ireland.

"Our 'Salary and Recruiting Trends 2018' report provides valuable insights for graduates looking to gain a greater understanding of the opportunities in the Irish jobs market today and in the years ahead," Ms Lynch said.

The report comes amid increased calls for greater balance between apprenticeships and degrees in Ireland.

Earlier this year, Eoin O'Malley, director of the MSc in Public Policy at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University, said people here will "soon need a PhD to pull a pint".

Research last year showed Irish workers are among the most overqualified in Europe for the jobs they do.

Dr O'Malley said that reliance on third level needed to be balanced by the apprenticeship system in Ireland.

The number of people in apprenticeships in Ireland is at about 8,000, a small fraction of the number in third-level colleges.

By contrast, in Germany as many as 60pc of school leavers take up apprenticeships, often followed by ongoing professional education.
Press Ombudsman Peter Feeney speaking at the launch of the report yesterday. Photo: Caroline Quinn

Social media platforms which are not subject to any form of regulation represent a significant threat to press freedom, the chairman of the Press Council of Ireland has warned.

Sean Donlon said at the launch of the 2017 annual report of the Press Council and the Office of the Press Ombudsman in Dublin yesterday that "election and referendum campaigning in Ireland has until now taken place in a fairly regulated environment".

He pointed out that the press, broadcasting and advertising sectors were subject to codes of practice and standards. "In recent campaigns, however, in Ireland and elsewhere, it is becoming clear that a lot of campaigning is taking place in the entirely unregulated and opaque social media [platforms]," he said.

Mr Donlon said the decision by Facebook to refuse to take referendum advertising that was funded from outside the State, and the subsequent decisions by Google and YouTube to cease carrying any referendum advertising, was a recognition they were an influential factor in determining the outcome of elections and referendums.

"It is essential governments and international organisations such as the European Union now address the disproportionate and unaccountable power of the social media. There has to be an acceptance that responsibility goes with power," he said.

Mr Donlon also told the meeting that a review of the Defamation Act was now seriously overdue.

He said that disproportionate defamation awards were having "a chilling effect on press freedom".

At the launch, it emerged that the Office of the Press Ombudsman received 330 complaints last year, up from 261 in 2016.

The complaints related to articles published in national and local newspapers, magazines and online-only news publications.

Peter Feeney, the Press Ombudsman, said: "Interestingly, I upheld less complaints than I did in 2016 and 2015.

"Arguably, that shows our journalistic standards are being maintained."

The highest number of complaints, in 39pc of cases, related to issues of truth and accuracy last year.

A total of 21 cases were ultimately decided by the Press Ombudsman. Five complaints were upheld, 15 were not upheld and in one other case, sufficient remedial action was offered by the publication.

Mr Feeney said at the launch that social media had in his view contributed to "a level of aggressiveness in public discourse which wasn't there 10 or 15 years ago".
Ryanair has never made an approach for Norwegian Air and does not intend to, the Irish airline has said - disputing a claim by the chief executive of its rival budget carrier.

"Not last year, not now," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary insisted yesterday.

Earlier, the Reuters news agency had reported that Ryanair approached Norwegian Air last year with a proposal to take a stake of around 20pc in the Oslo-listed carrier. That report cited a source with close knowledge of the discussion.

Norwegian CEO Bjorn Kjos agreed there had been contact between the companies and that he brought it up with his airline's board, but declined to discuss any details.

"There is no truth to these claims. We have not made an approach to Norwegian and we have no interest," Ryanair said later in an emailed statement.

Michael O'Leary counter-claimed that Norwegian was "desperately trying to manufacture a mythical interest" in the group.

It's all part of an escalating war of words between Europe's largest and third-largest low-cost airlines dating back at least to last year, when Norwegian confirmed last September that it had recruited 140 pilots from its bigger rival, around the same time Ryanair was being forced to cancel flights because of a pilot-rostering crisis.

More recently, Michael O'Leary has questioned whether Norwegian has a future as a stand-alone airline - a notion rejected by the Nordic carrier.

In the meantime, Aer Lingus owner IAG acquired a 5pc stake in Norwegian, but its approaches for a potentially bigger deal have been rebuffed - to date.

There is widespread speculation IAG boss Willie Walsh will return with a third bid. (Additional reporting Bloomberg/Reuters)
As Europe's new privacy law took effect on Friday, one activist wasted no time in asserting the additional rights it gives people over the data that companies want to collect about them.

Austrian Max Schrems filed complaints against Google , Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing they were acting illegally by forcing users to accept intrusive terms of service or lose access.

That take-it-or-leave-it approach, Schrems told Reuters Television, violates people's right under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to choose freely whether to allow companies to use their data.

"You have to have a 'yes or no' option," Schrems said in an interview recorded in Vienna before he filed the complaints in various European jurisdictions.

"A lot of these companies now force you to consent to the new privacy policy, which is totally against the law."

The GDPR overhauls data protection laws in the European Union that predate the rise of the internet and, most importantly, foresees fines of up to 4pc of global revenues for companies that break the rules.

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That puts potential sanctions in the ballpark of anti-trust fines levied by Brussels that, in Google's case, have run into billions of dollars.

Andrea Jelinek, who heads both Austria's Data Protection Authority and a new European Data Protection Board set up under GDPR, appeared to express sympathy with Schrems' arguments at a news conference in Brussels.

Asked about the merits of Schrems' complaints, Jelinek said: "If there is forced consent, there is no consent."

SCOURGE OF FACEBOOK

Schrems was a 23-year-old law student when he first took on Facebook and he's been fighting Mark Zuckerberg's social network ever since - becoming the poster-boy for data privacy.

He won a landmark European court ruling in 2015 that invalidated a 'safe harbour' agreement allowing firms to transfer personal data from the EU to the United States, where data protection is less strict.

With GDPR in mind, he recently set up a non-profit called None of Your Business that plans legal action to blunt the ability of the tech titans to harvest data that they then use to sell targeted advertising.

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His laptop perched on the table of a traditional Viennese coffee house, Schrems showed how a pop-up message on Facebook seeks consent to use his data - and how he is blocked when he refuses.

"The only way is to really accept it, otherwise you cannot use your Facebook any more," Schrems explained.

"As you can see, I have my messages there and I cannot read them unless I agree."

Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer, said in a statement that the company has prepared for 18 months to ensure it meets the requirements of GDPR by making its policies clearer and its privacy settings easier to find.

Facebook, which has more than 2 billion regular users, has also said that advertising allows it to remain free, and that the whole service, including ads, is meant to be personalized based on user data.

"1,000 BRICK"

Schrems said, however, that Instagram, a photo-sharing network popular with younger users, and encrypted messaging service WhatsApp - both owned by Facebook - also use pop-ups to gain consent and bar users who refuse.

The action brought by noyb against Google relates to new smartphones using its Android operating system. Buyers are required to hand over their data or else own "a 1,000 brick" that they can't use, Schrems said.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

noyb is filing the four claims with data protection authorities in France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Ensuing litigation may play out in Ireland, where both Facebook and Google have their European headquarters.

One filing, made against Facebook on behalf of an Austrian woman, asks the country's data protection authority to investigate and, as appropriate, prohibit data processing operations based on invalid consent.

It also asks the regulator to impose "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" fines as foreseen by GDPR, which in Facebook's case could run to 1.3bn.

"So far it was cheaper just to ignore privacy rights," said Schrems. "Now, hopefully, it's going to be cheaper to follow them because the penalties are so high."
Shares in London-listed United Oil & Gas were up over 3pc in afternoon trading yesterday after the company was awarded two "highly prospective" blocks in the UK North Sea. (stock picture)

Shares in London-listed United Oil & Gas were up over 3pc in afternoon trading yesterday after the company was awarded two "highly prospective" blocks in the UK North Sea.

Included in the blocks is an oil discovery, which the group says could contain up to 16m barrels of recoverable oil.

The Irish oil and gas explorer has provisionally been awarded a 95pc interest in the pair of blocks, which cover an area of around 13.6 sq km.

The company said they contain multiple targets.

One of the blocks contains the "Palaeocene Crown" discovery, and United's internal estimates suggest a range in recoverable volumes for Crown of 4-16m barrels of oil.

"The award of the blocks is part of the strategy of utilising our technical expertise to develop what we believe to be highly prospective opportunities," Brian Larkin, CEO of United Oil & Gas, said. "Crown is the latest addition to our growing portfolio of high grade targets in the UK, Italy, and offshore Jamaica that are at various stages of development and monetisation. We continue to evaluate further acquisition opportunities."

The blocks, which have been applied for in conjunction with private oil and gas exploration company Swift Exploration, are close to the substantial Piper, MacCulloch and Dumbarton/Donan oil fields. They have been awarded on the basis of a work programme involving the reprocessing of seismic date to reduce the uncertainty on the estimated oil volumes, and to optimise the location of any future development well.

The licence applications are part of the company's strategy to identify and acquire exploration plays that offer investors near-term value trigger opportunities and "significant" value upside.
Deutsche Bank is slashing more than 7,000 jobs to cut costs and restore profitability, while keeping its international reach as its new CEO seeks to reassure investors and clients. Photo: PA

Deutsche Bank is slashing more than 7,000 jobs to cut costs and restore profitability, while keeping its international reach as its new CEO seeks to reassure investors and clients.

Germany's biggest bank said global headcount would fall to well below 90,000 from 97,000, with a 25pc cut in equities sales and trading jobs, which are mainly in New York and London and where it has been losing ground to US rivals.

The bank employs around 650 in Ireland, where staff process transactions for global clients.

Deutsche Bank did not give a specific number, but a source told Reuters ahead of the lender's AGM yesterday that it was aiming to axe 10,000 positions.

Christian Sewing, who became CEO in an abrupt management reshuffle last month, said the bank was committed to its international presence, fleshing out his plan to scale back its global investment bank and refocus on Europe and its home market after three consecutive years of losses.

Last month, the bank flagged cuts to US bond trading, equities, and its business serving hedge funds.

Deutsche Bank has already dismissed 600 investment bankers over the past seven weeks and will cut spending by 1bn by the end of 2019 in its investment bank.

"This reduction is already fully under way and, so far, due to the considered way we've handled this, we have not seen any meaningful revenue attrition," Mr Sewing said.

Mr Sewing said that Deutsche Bank's position as a competitor to the Wall Street banking heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs and Bank of America remained an important focus. (Reuters)
Harvey Weinstein has been charged with rape following an investigation by police in New York.

The film producer was arrested on Friday morning in his first public appearance since October before being charged with rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women.

Weinstein emerged from the NYPDs 1st Precinct in handcuffs with a smile on his face. He was escorted by officers to a waiting black car before being driven away.

Statement Regarding Arrest of Harvey Weinstein pic.twitter.com/WKO4rX9eaH  NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) May 25, 2018

He has been the subject of an investigation in the US into allegations.

A statement from the New York Police Department confirmed the charges and thanked these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice.

The arrest and charges follow the joint investigation between the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorneys office.

In his first public appearance since October, Weinstein arrived at the New York Police Departments 1st Precinct wearing a black suit, white shirt and blue jumper.

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A police official previously said Weinstein will be charged with committing a criminal sex act after an aspiring actress alleged he forced her to perform oral sex in 2004.

It relates to a woman who has not been identified or spoken publicly, the official said.

Weinstein  whose lawyers have denied allegations he forced himself on women  said nothing as he entered the police precinct.

He was clutching two books, Something Wonderful: Rodgers And Hammersteins Broadway Revolution, by Todd S Purdum, and Richard Schickels biography of producer, director and writer Elia Kazan.

He is expected to be taken to Manhattan Criminal Court later on Friday to be arraigned on the charges, US media reports.

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The New York Times reported on Thursday that investigators in Manhattan were preparing to arrest the disgraced movie mogul and he was expected to surrender to authorities.
The company behind a 10m art house cinema in Galway recorded "no income" over 10 years although it was receiving public donations, a watchdog report has revealed.

The investigation by the Charities Regulator examined Solas - Galway Picture Palace Company CLG - which was the charity behind the Galway Picture Palace.

It received nearly 10m in public funds for the building which is now in control of a private company. But the report said it was transferred to Element Pictures without carrying out an independent valuation of the building.

The charity also did not have a competitive disposal process or source competitive bids within either the private or charitable sector for the building.

The inspectors found Solas received more than 7m from public sector bodies, together with the site for the cinema that Galway City Council purchased for 1.9m in 2007.

The freehold interest in the site is still owned by the council.

In July 2017 the charity went into voluntary liquidation.

In December 2016 an agreement was reached for the charity to transfer a substantial portion of its assets and liabilities to a private third-party operator.

As part of the agreement the third-party operator, through a newly incorporated company, was assigned a 30-year lease with Galway City Council for the site on which the partially constructed cinema stood, and a rent of 1 per annum for the first 25 years, with agreement to pay market rent for the final five years. The third party agreed to pay 881,000 to complete the project.

"The trustees' decision to enter into negotiations with one preferred operator effectively removed any potential opportunity for the asset to remain within the charitable sector, which may have been a motivation of public donation," the inspectors said.

The investigation found that from the start and over the subsequent years, the charity did not ensure it had the appropriate corporate governance structure in place.

Regulator John Farrelly said: "While there is now an art house cinema in Galway, the lack of oversight and sufficient competence to manage a capital project of this size evidenced in this case serves to undermine public trust and confidence in the management and administration of charities."
A woman arrives to vote carrying a baby as Ireland holds a referendum on liberalising its law on abortion. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Nicola Faherty with Freya Molloy (4months) from Greystones casting a vote at Delgany National School,Co Wicklow this afternoon. Photo: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

VOTING is under way as Ireland decides whether to liberalise its strict abortion regime by repealing the controversial Eighth Amendment.

Polls for the historic referendum opened across the country at 7am, with voters opting to either retain or repeal the Eighth, which prohibits terminations unless a mother's life is in danger.

Counting will begin on Saturday morning, with the result expected later that day - and the early indications are that it has been a strong turnout in many parts of the country so far today.

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes in Dublin at 9.30am.

Expand Close President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes at the polling station in St Mary's Hospial, Pheonix Park, Dublin: Niall Carson/PA Wire / Facebook

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A total of 3.3 million citizens are registered to vote, with 6,500 polling stations open across the country.

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The referendum is asking whether people want to repeal the Eighth Amendment and replace it with wording that would hand politicians the responsibility to set future laws on abortion, unhindered by constitutional strictures.

The Catholic Church is among influential voices arguing that the life of the unborn should be sacrosanct, but the retain campaign faces a major challenge from a Yes camp which has portrayed itself as modernising and in step with international opinion.

If the public votes Yes, the Government intends to legislate by the end of the year to make it relatively easy for a woman to obtain the procedure in early pregnancy.

Ministers have promised to allow terminations within the first 12 weeks, subject to medical advice and a cooling-off period, and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

The debate during eight weeks of campaigning has been divisive, with the leaders of all the main political parties, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, backing change.

They argued that a Yes vote represented the compassionate choice for thousands of Irish women forced to travel to England for the procedure.

"I think it's the right thing for the women of Ireland  care, compassion, dignity and safety. Equal healthcare is why I'm voting 'Yes'," said Joanna Faughan (33) voting in the north Dublin suburb of Castleknock where queues formed before polls opened.

On the opposing side is a a vocal No camp, including the bishops, which insisted the life of the child is sacrosanct and interference in that right is immoral.

Campaigners against change have used emotive language to highlight the threat to the foetus and warned against "extreme" proposals from the Government which could be expanded in future years.

"I think it's important that we protect the unborn babies, people don't care anymore about the dignity of human life. I've a family myself and I think it's really important," said John Devlin, a marketing worker in his early 50s voting 'No' near Dublin's city centre.

Opinion polls have been tight, with most showing the Yes side in the lead.

The indication is that rural voters are more likely to say No than their urban counterparts, while a significant number of "don't knows" have cast a degree of uncertainty over the outcome.

Around 2,000 voters in 12 islands off the mainland were eligible to vote on Thursday to prevent any delay in counting their ballot papers.

The Eighth Amendment is a clause in the constitution which was written after a previous referendum on the issue in 1983 recognised the right to life of the unborn child.

It protects the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn and effectively prohibits abortion in most cases.

In 1992, women were officially given the right to travel abroad, mostly to the UK, to obtain terminations. Pro-repeal campaigners said almost 170,000 have done so.

The liberalisation campaign gathered momentum after an Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar, died in hospital in Galway aged 31 when she was refused an abortion during a miscarriage.

Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, said she repeatedly asked for a termination but was refused because there was a foetal heartbeat.

In 2013, legislation was amended to allow terminations under certain tightly restricted circumstances - the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act.

When doctors felt a woman's life was at risk due to complications from the pregnancy, or from suicide, they were permitted to carry out an abortion.

Under pressure from the UN about alleged degrading treatment of women who travelled to England for terminations, the Government began exploring the possibility of further reform, culminating in the calling of this referendum and the promise to legislate.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who voted 'Yes' at his local polling station in Castleknock, has called the referendum a "once-in-a-generation" chance.

"A high turnout would be advantageous to the Yes campaign," Mr Varadkar said.

The Taoiseach encouraged everyone to get out and vote.

"The upside of a good sunny day in Ireland is that people come out to vote," he said.

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Opposition TD Micheal Martin has cast his vote in the Cork South Central constituency.

The Fianna Fail leader said he had voted Yes for a more compassionate and more humane response for women in Ireland.

He tweeted: "One of the great strengths of Bunreacht na hEireann is its capacity for change through the will of the people.I have just voted to bring about a more compassionate and humane response for women in crisis pregnancies. #8thRef #Together4Yes"

Vocal anti-abortion politician Peadar Toibin has called for Irish people to vote No to "abortion on demand".

The Sinn Fein spokesman for the arts posted on Twitter: "The irony that the referendum on abortion is being held on International Missing Children's Day will not be lost on many Irish people. Those on the margins of society suffer most from abortion. Vote No to Abortion on Demand."

His party leader Mary Lou McDonald, however, has been calling for a Yes vote throughout the campaign.

She voted in St Joseph's School in Cabra.

"This is a momentous decision we're being asked to make for all of Irish society but particularly for Irish women," Ms McDonald said.

She described May 25th as a "date with destiny for all of us".

"I think this issue is important because it's been 35 years since any person has had a choice to vote on this," said Sophie O'Gara (28) who was voting 'Yes' near Dublin's bustling 'Silicon Docks'.

"So many women have travelled across to England to take care of their family and healthcare needs and I think it's a disgrace and it needs to change," she said, referring to women who travel to Britain for abortions."

The polls are open until 10pm tonight and turnout so far around the country is being described as "brisk", with large queues in some areas this morning as people voted before work and school.

Around Dublin, various areas were reporting turnouts of between 6pc and 8pc, for example.

It is reported to be slower in polling stations across both Cork city and county.

In many places, such as Mullingar, the turnout is higher than at this time during the Marriage Equality referendum in 2015.

In Dublin city centre turnout at St Francis Xavier school in the north inner city was 30pc at 1.30pm according to Fine Gael councillor, Ray McAdams. In Glasnevin in St Colombas National School turnout is 31pc at 2.15pm - with almost 66pc of those on the supplemental register having voted already, he said.

RTE news reports that voter turnout varies from 15pc to 23pc in Waterford to 20pc in Cork city at lunchtime.

Labour Senator Kevin Humphreys has reported a turnout of 47pc at a polling station on Belmont Avenue in Donnybrook, Dublin 4.

Save the 8th Campaign Chair Niamh Ui Bhriain said the group is encouraged by the high turnout so far.

The Irish people are very clear about what they are voting on today  this is abortion on demand, she said.

There is a growing and quiet confidence that all the work done by our campaign, and the other campaigns on the No side, will pay dividend this evening. Our own projection of the result has it too close to call, and every vote will count.

Both Yes and No campaign groups are organising transport for voters to polling stations.

Speaking this afternoon, Orla OConnor, Campaign co-director with Together For Yes said: Early indications are that turnout across the country is quite strong, however we know there are certain pockets where turnout is a bit slower, so we would encourage voters in these areas to talk to their friends, family members and work colleagues, and make sure they vote before the deadline of 10pm.

In Co Mayo voting turnout at 4pm showed a high of 32pc in Westport and Ballina, with turnout in Castlebar coming in at the lowest in the county (23pc). Claremorris had a turnout of 27.5pc at that time, while Foxford stood at 26pc.
Emma OReilly and Orla Price on the ferry to Dublin from Holyhead yesterday to vote in the referendum today. Photo: Mark Condren

More than three million people are expected to vote in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment today - and many of those have travelled from lands afar to exercise their voting rights.

Thousands of Irish people have made the journey home from countries such as Australia, England and America to have their say on the highly divisive issue of abortion.

The #HomeToVote hashtag is now trending worldwide, with news organisations across the world reporting on the efforts of our expats.

Famous faces are also having their say on social media, with actor Russell Crowe encouraging people to vote Yes.

"I have two beautiful sons . I wasnt lucky enough to have a daughter. If I had, Id wish her to have courage like yours," he said.

"Nobodys daughter should ever be told she doesnt have authority over her own body."

Polling stations opened at 7am this morning and will close at 10pm tonight, and hundreds more are due to land on Irish soil today to cast their votes.

Here are some of the emotional posts shared by people both young and old.

My 'drop of golden' son just landed in Cork airport. He is #hometovote and will be voting YES for his sister, YES his mum & YES for a better day for women and a kinder Ireland. Our family all #TogetherForYes #together2vote @CorkTogether4Y pic.twitter.com/fK9Dc7nCi6  Colette Kelleher (@ColetteKelleher) May 24, 2018

Group of us who met in the airport as a result of our passion to fly home from Canada last night to vote. Lots of others on the flight 4 same reason. Most incredible part was landing in Dublin airport today and being cheered, welcomed and high 5ed by airport security #HomeToVote pic.twitter.com/MlWQbO4dAW  Rach DeNogla (@Waychull) May 25, 2018

My dad sent my sister a text this week saying he will vote on her behalf since she can't get home to vote.

Little do either of my parents know I'm sitting in the airport waiting for her flight to arrive. #hometovote #Mna4Ta #Together4Yes #men4yes #Repealthe8th  Avril Hayden (@AvvyEire) May 24, 2018

4:30am start - rail/sail journey home with my son - celebrating my right to choose motherhood - celebrating life and voting YES #repealthe8th #hometovote pic.twitter.com/6UgzNTLTqg  Sorcha (@Sorcha444) May 25, 2018

Currently on our way #hometovote to #REPEALTHE8TH so far our train has been delayed about 30 minutes, my actual nerves. See you soon Ireland. @ProChoiceBerlin pic.twitter.com/riX9F8f37d  Sarah McGregor (@sarahmcgregs) May 25, 2018

Started my own solitary 6 hour #HomeToVoteYes journey - more tired, sad and scared than I ever thought I would be. Living away from Ireland does not shield me from this. In fact, it reminds me why I had to leave my home country in the first place #TogetherForYes #hometovote pic.twitter.com/BnSNMC27Zx  Ciara (@CiaraBurb) May 25, 2018

All the #HomeToVote tweets have me this morning. So many inspirational stories of people traveling the globe to vote, so that women never have to make a sad and lonely journey! My heart is full! #Repealthe8h  Mandy Hughes (@MJHworkforcemod) May 25, 2018

Welling up reading these #hometovote tweetspeople offering lifts, paying for strangers flights and travelling enormous distances to #repealth8th. You are inspirationalnow go get what you came for! We in the UK are right with you  Lauren Newman (@_LaurenNewman1) May 25, 2018

I'm an American, and #hometovote is positively inspirational to me. Irish people traveling 10,000+ miles to vote, to participate in deciding the direction of their nation.  Chris Walters (@twitchchris) May 25, 2018
Ireland is on course to legalise abortion after a massive turnout of young people seeking to repeal the Eighth Amendment, according to two separate exit polls.

According to the first exit poll after polling stations closed, Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of changing the constitution so that abortion can be legalised.

The poll, conducted for The Irish Times by Ipsos/MRBI, suggests that the margin of victory for the 'Yes' side will be 68pc to 32pc.

The poll was conducted by interviewing four thousands voters as they left polling stations today.

The sampling began at 7am and was conducted at 160 locations across every constituency throughout the day, according to the Irish Times.

Meanwhile, according to the RTE Behaviour and Attitudes poll, a total of 69.4pc of voters ticked the 'Yes' box.

Polling stations closed at 10pm on Friday evening and voter turnout of up to 70pc was recorded in some parts of the country.

Gender:

According to the Irish Times poll, women were strongly in favour of repeal, with 70pc in favour, and 30pc against.

Some 65pc of men who voted were in favour of repeal, while 35pc were against.

According to the RTE poll, a total of 69.9pc of men voted 'Yes'. Meanwhile, 72.1pc of women voted 'Yes'.

Urban/Rural:

The Irish Times exit poll shows the rest of Leinster outside of Dublin voted 66pc to 34pc for 'Yes'.

Munster voted 66pc to 34pc in favour of repeal, and Connacht-Ulster voted 59pc to 41pc in favour of repeal.

The Connacht-Ulster poll forecast is important as these provinces were expected to deliver a strong vote in favour of retaining the Eighth Amendment, which hasn't been borne out in this exit poll.

The highest 'Yes' vote was in Dublin where some 77pc voted to repeal, according to the Irish Times.

Although Dublin was predicted to deliver a strong 'Yes', campaigners on the 'No' side believed the rural vote would favour them. However, 60pc of voters in rural Ireland voted to repeal.

Meanwhile, according to the RTE poll, in the urban areas, 72.3pc of people said 'Yes' to repealing the Eighth Amendment, while 63.3pc of people in rural areas voted to repeal.

Youth vote:

People in the 18 to 24 age group voted overwhelmingly in favour of repeal, with 87pc voting Yes, according to the Irish Times poll.

Finally, according to the poll, voters over the age of 65 voted to retain the Eighth Amendment.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Simon Harris said he will "sleep tonight in the hope of waking up to a country that is more compassionate, more caring and more respectful".

He wrote online; "It has been an honour to be on this journey with you and to work #togetherforyes. See you all tomorrow!"

As evidence of how this referendum has engaged the public, queues were reported at some polling stations before they opened at 7am on Friday morning.

Staff at polling stations around the country suggested that turnout was equal to or better than during the marriage equality referendum in 2015.

All the signals were that more than 60pc of voters  around 2 million people  made their way to the ballot box.
A plane carrying dozens of Irish voters home for the abortion referendum has been struck by another passenger jet on the taxiway at Stansted.

The FR205 Ryanair flight to Dublin was waiting for permission to take off when it was shunted from behind by a Primera flight taxiing behind it. No injuries were reported.

Cabin crew quickly confirmed to those on board that the aircraft had been hit and that all passengers would have to be evacuated.

Three fire engines quickly appeared on the scene, seemingly as a precaution, although there appeared to be no sign of danger.

The back doors of the plane could not be opened, so passengers were selectively evacuated from the back of the plane up to the front door "to avoid tipping issues", according to cabin crew.

One of the passengers, Malena (23) from Dublin, said: "I'm extremely annoyed, but I hope we're going to get home in time to vote.

"Luckily I live by the airport so it's not so bad for me but some people have to go far into the country. A girl in front of me was saying she has to fly back tonight."

Passengers on the Ryanair flight are currently waiting to be put on another flight, but it was confirmed that since the Primera flight was the only aircraft that company has, those passengers will not be flying today.

A statement from Ryanair said: One of our aircraft was stationary at the designated holding point on the taxiway at London Stansted Airport this morning when the winglet of a Primera Air aircraft taxiing behind scraped its tail stabiliser.

"Both aircraft were under the instruction of London Stansted Air Traffic Control at the time. The Ryanair aircraft returned to stand to be inspected by Ryanair engineers. To minimise delay, customers will transfer to a replacement aircraft later this morning.
Many referendums have been decided by the people who stay at home and don't bother to vote. Today's referendum will be no different as turnout will have a big say in the result.

Last time we voted on the issue of abortion, on March 6, 2002, almost six out of 10 people did not vote. Even in the very first referendum on the issue, which in September 1983 created the provision we are being asked to keep or throw out today, almost half the voters stayed away.

The exception on turnout was back in November 1992 when almost seven out of 10 voters participated. It may well have been influenced by the extraordinary emotive circumstances surrounding the campaign which arose from the notorious 'X' case.

But it is also more likely that the holding of a snap general election on that same day was the main factor which increased the turnout. November 25, 1992, saw everyone picking up four ballot papers at their local polling booth - three referendum papers, and one election ballot to pick the local TD.

The outgoing Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader of the day, Albert Reynolds, was in very bad shape going into that general election. In his autobiography, Reynolds's successor, Bertie Ahern, recalls a train of events centred on personalised rows with the Progressive Democrats and their leader, Des O'Malley.

Ahern also recalls things getting far worse as the short campaign wore on and Reynolds's morale sank lower and lower. But Reynolds did one thing right: voters would separate out the election, based on economics, and the referendum with its extraordinary emotional tangles.

We must stress both Albert Reynolds and Bertie Ahern were, like most of the rest of us, cut to the quick by the events surrounding the 'X' case. Here was a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant as a result of rape being denied the right to travel to England for an abortion as part of the provisions of the 1983 referendum.

The immediate issue was resolved by the Supreme Court which ruled the girl must have access to an abortion. The following three-part referendum further remedied certain other issues on information and travel, and re-affirmed a mother's suicide threat as grounds for an abortion.

But it has remained as unfinished business over the ensuing 25 years and this referendum is an attempt to resolve things.

For many people, today's vote is about endorsing change to vindicate mothers', and by extension families', rights to safe healthcare. For others, it is about preserving an important provision which protects human life.

Anyone who is not emotional to some extent really does not comprehend what is at stake. But it is time to dial down those emotions and make a practical choice by putting an X in a box opposite Yes or No.

Many citizens are often indifferent whether their TD is from one party or another, or none. They could not care less whether that TD is from up the road or the dark side of the moon. It is not a particularly laudable viewpoint and often smacks of extreme selfishness and a lack of care for those around us. But it is to some extent understandable.

Today's question laid before voters is very different and transcends usual election issues. It touches the very heart of life around us and we must not remain indifferent and abstain.

It is not too late to equip oneself with the information and decide which way to vote. The alternative is to shun the polling booth and influence outcomes in a very dispiriting way by default. A decision by default is not good enough.
A woman arrives to vote carrying a baby as Ireland holds a referendum on liberalising its law on abortion. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Nicola Faherty with Freya Molloy (4months) from Greystones casting a vote at Delgany National School,Co Wicklow this afternoon. Photo: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

A MAJOR evening voting surge could see turnout in the Eighth Amendment referendum reach 60pc.

The number of people on the supplemental register who had cast their vote by mid-afternoon was as high as 66pc in some individual polling stations, pointing to a high turnout of newly registered voters.

In Cork, a number of constituencies exceeded the 40pc turnout mark - with more than three hours of voting still to take place.

Polling stations in Ballincollig, Fermoy, Douglas, Bishopstown and Carrigaline in Cork confirmed they have exceeded 40pc turnout - several having passed the mark before 6pm.

In Co Mayo voting turnout at 4pm showed a high of 32pc in Westport and Ballina, with turnout in Castlebar coming in at the lowest in the county (23pc). Claremorris had a turnout of 27.5pc at that time, while Foxford stood at 26pc.

In Dublin at one polling station - St Finbarrs National School in Cabra - turnout hit 40pc before 5pm, while in the south of the city turnout by early evening in Rathmines was 36.2pc, while in Sandymount it was 42pc according to Labour Senator Kevin Humphreys.

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According to RTE News in south Wicklow the overall turnout had reached 32pc and in the west of the county it was lower at 27pc.

At 4.30pm turnout in Athlone was around 37pc, while in Roscommon it was 33pc.

The good weather was believed to be a helpful factor in the high voter turnout earlier today, but Taoiseach Leo Varadkar warned that the good weather could deter people from voting after work.

Both sides of the campaign are continuing to canvass as voting continues, and transport has been arranged by groups advocating on both sides of the debate to bring people to and from polling stations.

Earlier today the Save the 8th campaign group welcomed the early high turnout as "encouraging". However the Together For Yes group urged people not to be complacent over reports of a high turnout.

Polling stations will remain open until 10pm tonight and counting will begin at 9am on Saturday.

RTE News are to release the results of an exit poll at 11.30pm on the Late Late Show.

Graduation

Turnout was exceptionally high in Fermoy, Cork where, on the eve of voting, a walk-out took place at a local graduation ceremony over the referendum being brought into a keynote school address.

A cleric devoted part of his address to the gathered Leaving Cert girls to the referendum - and then underlined a personal pro-life message.

However, one parent publicly challenged the cleric at the event - pointing out that multiple families had requested that the referendum not to be referenced as the graduation was not deemed an appropriate ceremony for such a discussion.

Several parents said they felt the specific topic was not suited to a graduation ceremony and could distract girls from their imminent examinations.

Other parents had also asked that all 'Yes' and 'No' campaign posters be removed from the vicinity of the graduation before the ceremony.

The father was applauded by a number of other parents after he publicly voiced his protest.

Several parents subsequently left the ceremony. Fermoy in Cork East has reflected the national referendum campaign - with multiple demonstrations and rallies by both sides over recent weeks, some on Kent Bridge over the River Blackwater.

With the peak evening voting surge traditionally taking place between 6pm and 8pm, there are now predictions that many parts of Cork could see a turnout in excess of 60pc.

Voting was initially slow across parts of Munster with many polling stations in low single digit turnout by 10am.

However, the first surge in voting took place from 10am to 11.30am - many involving people who decided to vote after attending religious ceremonies.

Polling stations officials have noted a significant increase in the number of women voting compared to previous referendum ballots - with the number of young women voting said to be at record levels.

Rural

Meanwhile, Tanaiste Simon Coveney said some rural constituencies may yet surprise people when it comes to the vote tallies in the Eighth Amendment referendum.

Mr Coveney acknowledged that it has only been over the past week or so that areas outside Dublin appear to have engaged with the same intensity in the referendum campaign as was evidenced from the very beginning in the greater Dublin area.

He also said that he believes many will be surprised by the strength of the 'Yes' vote in some rural areas.

Up until around ten days ago, there wasnt same level of intensity to the campaign outside Dublin as there was in Dublin," he said.

"I suspect that many rural constituencies may yet surprise people."

The Tanaiste said he believed a key element of the campaign is the number of voters who did not want to voice a preference - the so-called 'silent vote.'

My sense from the private conversations I have had is that Ireland has changed its perspective on this issue."

Mr Coveney said his position had effectively changed once he started listening to the stories of people impacted by the law as it currently stands.

"A lot of people no longer see this issue in the sort of polarised pro-life versus pro-choice perspective."

Instead, they see it as a much more complex issue that requires a more complex solution through legislation."

Mr Coveney said it is simply not acceptable for Ireland to effectively allow a situation where thousands of women are forced to go to the UK for procedures - and for thousands of others to take abortion pills sourced over the Internet and with little more treatment advice than what they can read via Internet search engines.

"This is not acceptable any longer and the pretence that by refusing change we are somehow protecting unborn life does not hold up either any longer.

Mr Coveney, who was speaking as he voted in Carrigaline, Co Cork, again stressed that Ireland will not see any type of ultra-liberal abortion regime in Ireland.

I am constantly trying to reassure people that if we see a strong 'Yes' vote tomorrow, we will not see the introduction of some kind of hyper-liberal approach to abortion in Ireland."

"(It will be) quite the opposite in fact  it will see the introduction of some of the most conservative legislation in Europe.

The Cork TD also said that it will be matched by a radical overhaul of Ireland's sex education regime and greater supports for those in crisis situations.

Opposition TD Micheal Martin has also cast his vote in the Cork South Central constituency.

The Fianna Fail leader said he had voted Yes for a more compassionate and more humane response for women in Ireland.

He tweeted: "One of the great strengths of Bunreacht na hEireann is its capacity for change through the will of the people.I have just voted to bring about a more compassionate and humane response for women in crisis pregnancies. #8thRef #Together4Yes"

Voting

Polls for the historic referendum opened across the country at 7am, with voters opting to either retain or repeal the Eighth, which prohibits terminations unless a mother's life is in danger.

Counting will begin on Saturday morning, with the result expected later that day - and the early indications are that it has been a strong turnout in many parts of the country so far today.

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes in Dublin at 9.30am.

Expand Close President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes at the polling station in St Mary's Hospial, Pheonix Park, Dublin: Niall Carson/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes at the polling station in St Mary's Hospial, Pheonix Park, Dublin: Niall Carson/PA Wire

A total of 3.3 million citizens are registered to vote, with 6,500 polling stations open across the country.

The referendum is asking whether people want to repeal the Eighth Amendment and replace it with wording that would hand politicians the responsibility to set future laws on abortion, unhindered by constitutional strictures.

The Catholic Church is among influential voices arguing that the life of the unborn should be sacrosanct, but the retain campaign faces a major challenge from a Yes camp which has portrayed itself as modernising and in step with international opinion.

If the public votes Yes, the Government intends to legislate by the end of the year to make it relatively easy for a woman to obtain the procedure in early pregnancy.

Ministers have promised to allow terminations within the first 12 weeks, subject to medical advice and a cooling-off period, and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

The debate during eight weeks of campaigning has been divisive, with the leaders of all the main political parties, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, backing change.

They argued that a Yes vote represented the compassionate choice for thousands of Irish women forced to travel to England for the procedure.

"I think it's the right thing for the women of Ireland  care, compassion, dignity and safety. Equal healthcare is why I'm voting 'Yes'," said Joanna Faughan (33) voting in the north Dublin suburb of Castleknock where queues formed before polls opened.

On the opposing side is a a vocal No camp, including the bishops, which insisted the life of the child is sacrosanct and interference in that right is immoral.

Campaigners against change have used emotive language to highlight the threat to the foetus and warned against "extreme" proposals from the Government which could be expanded in future years.

"I think it's important that we protect the unborn babies, people don't care anymore about the dignity of human life. I've a family myself and I think it's really important," said John Devlin, a marketing worker in his early 50s voting 'No' near Dublin's city centre.

Opinion polls have been tight, with most showing the Yes side in the lead.

The indication is that rural voters are more likely to say No than their urban counterparts, while a significant number of "don't knows" have cast a degree of uncertainty over the outcome.

In many places, such as Mullingar, the turnout is higher than at this time during the Marriage Equality referendum in 2015.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is joined by Fine Gael party colleagues at Merrion Square, Dublin, ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, in Dublin. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The Government intends to enact legislation on abortion by the end of the year if the referendum passes, however its passage may be obstructed if enough TDs vote against it.

The Taoiseach said Cabinet would publish the bill before the Dail breaks up this summer, and allow for debates and voting before the end of the year.

"We anticipate having the legislation published before the summer recess and having it through the Dail and Seanad and enacted by the end of the year," Mr Varadkar said.

He was speaking at the final event of the Fine Gael members' campaign ahead of the country going to the polls this morning.

He called on all members of the Oireachtas to vote in favour of the legislation, even those opposed to it, because they will be under obligation to implement the will of the Irish people.

"I hope and trust the vast majority of TDs will respect the decision of the Irish people if it is a Yes vote. I do think the Irish people are going in to the referendum with their eyes open; they understand what it means to repeal the Eighth Amendment and they understand the proposals that are being put forward by the Government on foot of the recommendations of the all-party committee and the citizens assembly", said Mr Varadkar.

Notwithstanding the fact that the referendum result will only be known tomorrow, there are still several stumbling blocks ahead for the passing of the legislation.

The majority of Fianna Fail TDs are against repealing the Eighth Amendment, and many may vote accordingly, regardless of the referendum result. At least three have indicated this.

Mary Butler, Fianna Fail TD for Waterford, said she would actively "halt" the passage of the proposed legislation which she said was "too extreme".

Ms Butler said she would allow parts of the bill dealing with cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality, but said "I have serious issue for abortion just because you don't want the baby.

"I personally will not hold up legislation for rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormality. I will, however, scrutinise the bill word for word, line by line," she said. "This goes too far, it's too extreme."

She took a swipe at Children's Minister Katherine Zappone for taking a pro-choice stance.

"As I call her, the Minister for Children, not for the unborn," said Ms Butler.

Eamon O Cuiv, Fianna Fail TD for Galway West, said on RTE's 'Six One' last week that he would never support 12-week legislation. Yesterday, he said he fears that in 'four or five years' a legislature providing for abortion on demand could get in to office by way of a partnership deal.

Dundalk Fianna Fail TD Declan Breathnach, a staunch opponent of the legislation, said "common sense should prevail" when asked his intention.
Emma OReilly and Orla Price on the ferry to Dublin from Holyhead yesterday to vote in the referendum today. Photo: Mark Condren

After the hustle and bustle of Manchester, the train journey takes on a leisurely pace.

With unseeing eyes, generations of Irish women have come this way, their troubled minds elsewhere. From the collection of visual snapshots, one might have lodged, unbidden - a string of holiday caravans by the seaside, a turreted castle nestled into the Welsh hills, the shopping centres built outside drab towns.

An elderly English couple travelling with their middle-aged son have their own, more comfortable memories. "That is where we picked strawberries," the woman reminisces as the men murmur in agreement. Their tickets are punched by the jovial train inspector before they count out coins with slow care to order tea from the trolley. They alight at Bangor.

How might this journey be for an Irish woman, travelling alone with her thoughts? Traumatised, broken-hearted, fearful. Sharply dislodged from the comfort of familiar surroundings, longing to reach the port of Holyhead. And then the slow boat home.

On the journey this time there are, indeed, Irish women travelling alone. And Irish men, too. Determined to have their voices heard at last, their votes counted.

The word 'pilgrimage' is wrong in this context, yet there is an undeniable pathos about this quiet voyage.

Expand Close Emma OReilly and Orla Price on the ferry. Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook

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Last time around, when the 'boat to vote' contingent travelled for the marriage referendum, there was a jubilant, party atmosphere on the Irish Sea. This time, the mood is sombre and reflective, yet determined. No triumphant displays are foreseen, regardless of the outcome.

An Irish woman in her late 40s, pulling along a pink wheelie case, is coming home to vote, she concedes. "But I'm not even going to get involved," she says, hurrying away, not wanting to be drawn.

An elderly man with his daughter and granddaughter had been over in the UK for a poignant purpose, to scatter some of the ashes of his late wife, who died only last month. They do not want to be named because some of their extended family were very much against her cremation, they explain.

But they had timed the trip particularly in order to be home in time to vote. They tell of meeting a Welsh woman in her early 80s who had been strongly encouraging them to vote Yes after learning of the referendum on British television.

"I see this as part of the progression of us as a society," says the man, who reveals he used to work in the lab of a hospital in London which performed terminations "30 or 40 years ago".

The statistic cited by the No side that one in five pregnancies in the UK are terminated troubles him, he confesses - but so, too, does the case of Savita Halappanavar, he adds.

With both a Yes and a Ta badge on her lapel, Orla Price (27), from Garristown, north Co Dublin, works with a charity for the homeless in London, having recently moved over. "It feels emotional," she says of coming home to vote.

Queuing up at the ferry terminal, another young Irish woman turns to her in delight. "You're home to vote too," she says, explaining she had been upset at the thought of doing the journey alone.

Emma O'Reilly, from Ballinasloe, Co Galway, moved recently over to Norwich. She was up very early to get the 5.30am train, she says, determined to cast her vote, which is in Dublin.

Should the referendum be passed, she sees it as "Ireland having a rebirth, to become the society it should have been all along". But it would be bitter-sweet, she adds. "Nobody will be celebrating."

Jack Olahan (27), from Rathfarnham, in Dublin, works for Betfair and is living in Shoreditch, London, and is also travelling by ferry. He feels the importance of coming home for this. "I have to stand by my Irish sisters," he says simply. "We've seen elections that we didn't expect so you can't be complacent. If I didn't come home and the referendum was lost, I would feel guilty."

Waving to him is Omar O'Reilly (23), from Donnybrook, also home to vote. He does not want to see female friends or relatives stuck in an impossible situation and to be told they cannot make a choice.

Most of his friends have travelled home to vote. "I'd say 50 plus, from all over Europe," he says.

"It's an expense - but it's an expense with a potentially great return. This is important."
More than 120 GPs from around the country have warned that the Government proposals to liberalise the grounds for termination of pregnancy will amount to "abortion on demand".

As the nation goes to polling stations to vote on repealing the Eighth Amendment, the 122 family doctors put their names to an open letter expressing "serious concerns" about Health Minister Simon Harris's plan.

It entails unrestricted abortions up until 12 weeks of gestation.

Dr Brendan Crowley, one of the signatories, said the doctors were "not expressing a position on abortion one way or the other".

"However, we are united in the view that the Government's proposals would open the door to abortion on demand in a similar manner to that prevailing in Britain," he said.

"As GPs, we have serious concerns about the Government's proposed law on abortion that envisages a GP-led service for unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks, in the event of repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

"In circumstances where the draft abortion law specifies that the role of the GP will be 'carrying out the termination of pregnancy' at the request of the patient, without the need for any reason to be given by the patient, there is no way such a proposal could be described as 'healthcare'.

"The Government's legislative proposal in the event of the referendum passing would also permit abortion, including on mental health grounds, up to 24 weeks in pregnancy.

"Again, these vague and ill-defined grounds for abortion do not constitute evidence-based healthcare."

The GPs include former Independent TD from Mayo Dr Jerry Cowley, former president of the Irish Medical Organisation Dr Ken Egan, and Killarney family doctor Dr Gary Stack.
Why are we having a referendum now?

Today is the fourth time in 35 years the country is being asked to address this most divisive topic.

When the Eighth Amendment was introduced in 1983, it gave equal rights to a woman and her unborn child which amounted to a ban on abortion. Previous referendums have dealt with issues such as allowing women to travel and whether suicide was considered a serious risk to a mother's life.

But campaigners have long sought the outright repeal of the Eighth. The Government committed to holding the referendum after the last election.

So what are we being asked to vote on?

Voters have to decide if they want to repeal the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution and allow the Oireachtas to legislate for terminations.

If there is a Yes, will abortion automatically become legal?

No, unless and until the Oireachtas introduces legislation permitting abortions in Ireland it will remain illegal.

Even if the referendum passes, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 stays in place. It allows for terminations only if there is a serious threat to the life of the mother.

When would the Government legislate?

Health Minister Simon Harris has indicated he would like to bring legislation before the Dail ahead of the summer recess in July. The target would be to have a GP-led abortion service legalised by the end of the year - but this might be ambitious.

What does a GP-led abortion service mean?

The Government has said it does not want to see abortion clinics set up in Ireland. Instead, it is proposing to allow GPs prescribe an abortion pill on request up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy. A 'pause period' of 72 hours would apply between when a women first sees her doctor and receives the pill.

What about after 12 weeks?

Abortion will remain illegal after 12 weeks except in a number of limited circumstances.

These include where there is a risk to the life, or of serious harm to the health of the pregnant woman, without a distinction between risk from physical or mental health. The minister has said 'serious harm' would go well beyond the expected and common complications of pregnancy, and other common chronic conditions that may be exacerbated by pregnancy.

Who decides what is 'serious harm'?

Two medical practitioners would have to certify that in their reasonable opinion (a) there is a risk to the life or of serious harm to the health of the pregnant woman, (b) the foetus has not reached viability and (c) the termination of pregnancy is appropriate to avert the risk.

One of the medical practitioners would have to be an obstetrician and the other a medical practitioner appropriate to the clinical circumstances of the case.

What if the foetus has reached viability?

If doctors believe the foetus is capable of sustained survival outside the uterus, they are duty bound to deliver it.

What have been the main arguments made by the Yes side during the campaign?

Yes campaigners have argued that abortion already exists in Ireland but it is unsafe and unregulated. They say nine women travel to the UK every day to procure an abortion. Another three order abortion pills online. The Yes side have also talked a lot about the 'hard cases' such as rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormalities.

They believe it is not right for a rape victim or a woman whose child has no chance of survival outside the womb to be forced to continue the pregnancy for the full term.

What have the No side been arguing?

No campaigners have said the proposals currently on the table amount to "abortion on demand". They note that a woman will not have to give any reason for seeking an abortion in the first 12 weeks.

They also argue that the conditions for procuring a late-term abortion are not restrictive enough. Among the fears being raised is that babies diagnosed with disabilities while in the womb will be aborted. In the final days of the campaign, the No side has told voters that a better regime can be adopted.

If there's a No vote, will the Government go back to the drawing board?

This is being described as a "once in a generation" vote. The Taoiseach has said nothing can change unless the Eighth Amendment is repealed. He has also claimed 12 weeks is the best option possible because there is no way to specifically legislate for abortion in rape cases.

What do the polls say?

All the polls have pointed to a Yes vote. A 'wisdom of the crowds' technique predicted 56pc in favour of Yes versus 44pc for No. But neither side is putting too much faith in the pollsters. Turnout will be key, especially in terms of young versus old and rural versus urban.

What will the ballot paper say?

The ballot won't mention 'abortion' or even the Eighth Amendment. It will ask whether you approve of the proposal "to amend the Constitution contained in the undermentioned Bill" which is the "Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018". If you vote Yes it means you want to repeal the Eighth. If you vote No, it means you want to retain the status quo.
Father Tom Harrington arrives at the polling station in Knock National school, Mayo, as the country goes to the polls to vote in the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

A silent No vote is the only thing that can derail attempts to repeal the Eighth Amendment as the country goes to the polls.

Yes campaigners were last night confident they have won over enough support to secure victory in today's divisive vote.

But Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said they are "taking absolutely nothing for granted".

More than 3.2 million people are entitled to make their voices heard on arguably the most contentious social issue in Ireland, as the polls open at 7am.

The country is being asked to make a "once-in-a-generation" decision as senior political figures have categorically ruled out a rerun if the proposal to allow the Oireachtas legislate for abortion is rejected.

The weather is not expected to affect the turnout. Met Eireann predicts a largely sunny day across the whole country, with just a few showers.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close The ballot box arrives on Gola Island, Co Donegal. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire Presiding Officer Carmel McBride and Garda Alan Gallagher carry the polling box onto Inishbofin, Co Donegal. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp The ballot box arrives on Gola Island, Co Donegal. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

In the region of 120,000 people have added their name to the supplementary voting register in recent weeks and thousands have travelled home from abroad to cast their votes.

Health Minister Simon Harris told the Irish Independent: "This is the moment so many people have waited so long for. It is an opportunity to face reality and to support women here in our own country."

But Savethe8th's John McGuirk said people must decide "whether or not we're going to have a liberal abortion regime in Ireland".

"The fear of a lot of people on the No side of the campaign is that every time you take the step we are being asked to take, you change the culture of the country," he said.

Mr McGuirk said the key to a No victory will be older voters.

"Whether they vote in large enough numbers to help us win the referendum is an open question," he said.

At the same time he admitted some people who might be viewed as conservative on this issue will vote to repeal the Eighth as a "screw you" to the Catholic Church.

The question being asked of voters is whether they want to repeal a section of the Constitution that gives equal rights to mother and her unborn child.

Expand Close Votes are cast on Inishbofin, Co Donegal. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Votes are cast on Inishbofin, Co Donegal. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA Wire

A Yes vote result will clear the way for the Government to bring forward legislation that permits terminations up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

Mr Harris has promised that abortions will only be granted after the first trimester if there is a risk to the life, or of serious harm to the health of, a pregnant woman.

As campaigning drew to a close Fianna Fail TD Mary Butler, who is part of the Love Both group, reiterated her belief that the Government has "cynically used the tragedies of certain people to push through the most extreme abortion law ever proposed in this country by any Irish".

More than 2,000 people living off the coasts of Galway, Mayo and Donegal had their opportunity to vote yesterday.

The islands vote a day early in order to allow ballot boxes to make it back to the mainland for tomorrow's count.

Expand Close Votes are cast on Inishbofin, Co Donegal. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Votes are cast on Inishbofin, Co Donegal. Photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/PA Wire

Gardai were last night escorting boxes to local court offices in each constituency. They were due to be transferred to individual count centres in the early hours of this morning, before polls opened at 7am.

Mr Varadkar said if there is a Yes vote, Ireland "will still be the same country as it is today".

"Of course we know when it comes to referendums in the past, like the divorce referendum, that went down to less than 10,000 votes, one ballot paper in every ballot box. We urge everyone to vote and vote Yes," he said.

"Opinion polls have been wrong before. I am conscious that in 1983 there was only a turnout of 55pc, most people decided to sit out and I hope that won't happen on this occasion and I am really encouraging everyone to come out and vote."
The Air Ambulance was scrambled west Belfast after reports a young child hand impaled a hand on fencing.

The air ambulance has been scrambled after reports a young child became impaled on fencing in west Belfast.

It is understood the child's hand was impaled on fencing in the Riverdale area.

A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said they received a 999 call at 4.47pm on Friday following reports of an incident in the Andersonstown area involving a young child.

The spokesman added: "One Rapid Response Paramedic and one emergency ambulance crew were dispatched to the incident. The charity air ambulance was also tasked to the scene.

Following assessment and treatment at the scene, the patient has been transported to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children by road ambulance. The air ambulance crew travelled with the patient."
A 13-year-old boy has been remanded in custody after being charged with the murder of Anastasia Ana Kriegel (14).

The schoolgirl's body was found on Thursday of last week in a derelict house in Lucan, Co Dublin after being reported missing three days earlier.

This evening a male juvenile, who can not be identified for legal reasons, appeared before a special sitting of the Dublin Children's Court.

He was charged with the murder of Anastasia Kriegel on May 14 last at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Road, Lucan contrary to common law.

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Whatsapp Ana Kriegels body was found in a derelict farmhouse

The accused was brought to the Smithfield court complex by gardai shortly after 6pm.

Wearing a black jumper, blue jeans and black runners, the accused had a slight limp as he walked into court. He only briefly spoke to say "yes", when asked by the judge if this was his first time in court.

His mother sat next to him during the brief hearing, while his father and grandfather were also in court.

Det Inspector Mark ONeill, of Lucan Garda station, gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.

Det Insp ONeill said that he arrested the youth at 4.01pm today at Clondalkin Garda station.

I was later present at 4.39pm when he was charged by the member in charge Sgt Maeve Wood. His father was present when he was charged, Det Insp ONeill said.

The senior garda added that the youth made no reply when charged.

Judge John OConnor said that reporting restrictions were being put in place under the childrens act.

The Judge said that the youths name, his address, his school or his picture are not to be published.

He also said that there is a particular focus on social media in relation to the child not being identified.

Judge OConnor said that if the child is identified or his picture reproduced on social media, those responsible will be found in contempt of court and liable to prosecution.

Judge OConnor said he did not have the jurisdiction to grant bail due to the serious nature of the charge, and after confirming that there was a space in Oberatown, the youth was remanded to the detention centre.

He will appear again at Dublin Childrens Court next Friday, June 1, at 10.30pm.

Legal aid was granted, with defense solicitor Donnagh Molloy stating that his client was 13 and a school child.
Former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm answered Irelands call and was trying to save the bank when he authorised a 7.2bn deal at the height of the 2008 financial crisis, his defence has said.

There was no crookery in the transaction and what happened was missing all the hallmarks of conspiracy, the jurors in his trial was told.

Asking them to acquit the accused, defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said Mr Drumm was not proud of all the decisions he made back then, but he made them in good faith with no criminal motivation whatsoever.

Mr Drumm concluded his closing speech to the jury this afternoon.

Mr Drumm (51) is pleading not guilty to conspiring to defraud by dishonestly creating the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they really were in September 2008.

He is alleged to have conspired with Anglos former Finance Director Willie McAteer and head of Capital Markets John Bowe, as well as Irish Life and Permanents then-CEO, Denis Casey, and others.

The case centres on a series of interbank deposits which circulated between Anglo and ILP.

The transfers were routed through Irish Life Assurance (ILA), returning to Anglo where they were then treated as customer deposits, which are a better indicator of a banks health.

Mr Drumm also denies false accounting, by providing misleading information to the market.

Mr Grehan said the jury had seen and heard a succession of witnesses, statements and phone calls and there was no evidence that anyone, including Mr Drumm was doing this for personal profit.

Mr Drumm, we say, cannot be held criminally liable for the actions, inactions or omissions of those over whom he had no control, Mr Grehan said.That cannot be right, that cannot be just.

Despite the size of the transactions, there was no evidence of any defrauding of anyone.

No-one got rich, no-one got poor, no-one is living off in a Caribbean island on ill-gotten gains," Mr Grehan continued.

Money was moved at great pace, an accounting exercise followed and it was accepted that it should have included a note.

That is all, there is no crime, there is no fraud, there is no false accounting, there is no evidence anyone was misled and theres simply no conspiracy, Mr Grehan said.

The jury had been told this was not a trial by accountants and if it was, Mr Grehan said the prosecutions accountancy expert Dan Taylor was heavily outgunned by those who were there at the time who had different views.

This case is missing all the hallmarks of conspiracy, he said. There was no trickery, deception, skullduggery or secrecy and no one standing over a shredder getting rid of evidence.

There was no whistleblower coming in to say I saw this, I put my hand up and was told to move to a different job.

Nobody, it appears, was struck that something wrong was going on.

Mr Drumm is not necessarily proud of every decision he made back then, nor could he claim with the benefit of hindsight that he made all the right decisions, but he made them in good faith with no criminal motivation whatsoever. He was trying to save the bank.

Yet, the jury had been told by the prosecution that his motivation and the context of all this was irrelevant.

It cannot be the case that that history is airbrushed and pushed to one side, Mr Grehan said.

The prosecution was telling the jury we have the bad guy over here and that they should not be looking at anything else.

Mr Drumm answered Irelands call when it was made to him, he didnt desert his post. Judge him by what confronted him at the time, and not with 20-20 hindsight, Mr Grehan said.

Prosecutor Mary Rose Gearty SC had quoted Oliver Cromwell, using the phrase by hook or by crook in her closing speech yesterday.

There was no crookery involved here, there was no hookery involved here, this was not a con job, this was somebody simply doing their best in the circumstances in which they found themselves, Mr Grehan said. In those circumstances, you ought to acquit Mr Drumm.

Earlier, Mr Grehan said everyone in the trial had come to understand that money never sleeps and moved at a speed.

When money moved out of an account, It seemed to be very hard to know where the money is until the music stops.

He said the jury had heard new language and different meanings to common words, like balance sheet management or bolstering customer deposits. They had also heard more nebulous terms like sentiment, confidence, comfort, stress and panic.

It was a bit like the film Its a Wonderful Life - when word goes out that theres a problem, people panic and it is a death knell.

The jury had been told what happened was a big con job, Mr Grehan said. Confidence was absolutely key to banking, he said, particularly when there was a crisis or uncertainty in the market and confidence could be ruined by rumour or gossip.

The jury had heard about the green jersey agenda - the notion of the need for banks to club together in the crisis.

He also reminded the jurors that two of them would be going home as it was an enlarged jury for dealing with longer trials.

Mr Grehan said a governing rule was Mr Drumms presumption of innocence. The onus was on the prosecution to prove guilt.

The jury would have to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt rather than on the balance of probabilities.

Before you convict you have to be sure that you are right because you cant come back afterwards and change it, he said.

The jury was not there to give some certificate of good character to Mr Drumm and if they acquitted him it did not mean anything other than that the prosecution had not proved its case to their satisfaction.

They were not there to decide if the transactions were honest, but rather if there was a dishonest intention on Mr Drumms part.

The two charges were separate but had been tried together for convenience, he said. The jury had to treat them separately.

A conspiracy charge was a common law offence, was complex and an unusual class of a beast because you did not have to prove anything happened, he said.

You dont need a victim, you dont need to prove any loss or consequence, you just have to allege that there was a plan or a plot.

False accounting was set out in legislation and he read the ingredients out to illustrate just how complicated it is.

The wording read that what was alleged to have been done by an accused was to his knowledge false and misleading.

One of the ironies in the whole matter was that Mr Drumm was saying that rather than trying to defraud any investors or cause any depositors to lose any money, what he was doing was the opposite - to save the bank if he could, to safeguard the interests of those people.

With the scale of the allegations, there wasnt a single person putting their hands up saying I did something because of this or I was at a loss because of this," Mr Grehan said.

The prosecution had to prove the actions and intention in an offence. In this case, the actions were not in dispute, but the mental ingredient - the intention was, Mr Grehan said.

The offences could not be committed carelessly or recklessly and intention means exactly what it says on the tin - you are acting with the purpose of bringing about a particular result.

In terms of fraud, Mr Grehan told the jury some things they might think are morally wrong are not a fraud.

Clearly, if Mr Drumm had taken all the money out of the bank and gone off with it that would be a fraud or theft, and so would it if someone lied to the auditors to get them to sign off on the accounts.

There was no evidence that any of this happened notwithstanding the gallows humour of some of the phone calls that you heard.

Mr Grehan said the transactions were linked and could not be viewed in isolation. The prosecution had suggested what happened in March was a prototype and what happened in September had been planned in March.

That simply cannot be so, he said.

The financial crisis started in 2007 when Ireland was swept up in a tsunami that started on the other side of the Atlantic with the dodgy business of subprime mortgages. The crisis spread, there was a run on Northern Rock in England, people got the jitters and there was a loss of confidence. This continued in 2008 with the takeover of Bear Stearns in the US and in response Anglos share price fell by 30pc in the so called St Patricks Day Massacre.

Everyone thought after that things would settle down and nobody could possibly have foreseen how bad things were going to get in September, he continued. Nobody could have predicted that the height of the global crisis would come at the worst possible time for Anglo - its September 30 reporting date.

To say that March was the prototype and there was advance planning I would suggest makes no sense, he said.

What was done in March to increase customer funding (a 750m transaction) did not seem to have been viewed by the prosecution as a crime and Mr Grehan said we are dealing with elastic concepts like materiality.

It was a question of scale rather than black and white rules. Balance sheet management existed and people had different views as to how to go about it and how much of it you could do, he said.

That is fundamental to why we say David Drumm is not guilty of committing any fraud because what he did and authorised and stands over is something that was viewed as legitimate balance sheet management, Mr Grehan said.

What was glossed over by the prosecution was all the eyes that were looking at what was happening without anybody raising any kind of red flag.

There had been evidence that there was no commercial rationale to the transactions and that may be the case if you viewed them individually, but in terms of the relationship between the two banks, there was a clear rationale, Mr Grehan said.

You could put it as simply as you scratch my back, Ill scratch yours, he continued.

Judge Karen OConnor told the jury to return on Monday, when she is expected to begin her charge, which consists of instructions on the law as it applies to the case and may include a summary of the evidence.

The enlarged jury of 10 men and four women will then be reduced to 12 before they are told to begin their deliberations.

Earlier, Mr Grehan said in December 2008, Anglo had planned another transaction of in the order of 7bn with ILP and the Central Bank told them to wind that up.

The idea that a 7.2bn fraud in September was dreamt up as far back as March was not made out by the records, Mr Grehan said.

Referring to emails that had been seen by the jury, Mr Grehan said 7.2bn was not planned at all and the sum grew organically.

The jury had heard from witnesses that there was nothing unusual about banks trying to plan for their reporting dates and putting in place measures to ensure they hit their targets.

An e-mail from Anglos Ciaran Cunningham about the accounting solution seemed to have been suggested by the prosecution to be some sort of blueprint for a conspiracy but Mr Grehan said this was simply people discussing the nuts and bolts of a transaction.

In a fraud you wouldnt have people leaving a paper trail, he said.

PWC were retained by the Department of Finance to come in and take a hard look at Anglo and if there was something to hide you would expect there was some attempt to hide it from the good people of PWC.

But nothing like that happened because the transaction showed up in a report which came back before the board in October 2008, well before the publication of the accounts.

What was in meeting minutes about the transaction was not particularly surprising because there were more pressing matters and you would not expect a big, long recital but they came up in some shape or form, Mr Grehan said.

Nobody thought this was erroneous or the big deal it is now asserted to be, he told the jury.

The first Sterling transaction in September (of 978m, the equivalent of 1.2bn) was completely separate from the euro transactions and got stuck in the system and had to be sent back to Anglo, he said.

Another 2bn was done on September 29, then things ground to a halt. Anglo was then running out of liquidity, Mr Grehan said.

That was where things might have stayed but the most significant event happened the next day - the Government guaranteed all the banks, which meant money began to flow into the banks.

4bn came into Anglo, which happened to be the number that was transacted with ILP that day.

Mr Grehan said it seemed to him the 4bn transaction on Sept 30 was a totally pointless exercise because there was no need for it.

In hindsight that was probably not the right decision but he said it was a fraught time and nobody knew if the guarantee would work.

The prosecution sought to draw down the shutter on September 30 and say that was the end of the alleged conspiracy.

After that, of all the accountants who looked at it; Anglos own accountants, the audit committee, Ernst and Young, PWC and the Financial Regulator, nobody flagged a problem but when the figures were published its suggested that this man over here committed a criminal offence.

After the external bodies were told in explicit terms about the transactions, nobody but nobody raises a red flag.

He pointed to a conversation in whch Anglos Ciaran McArdle told Financial Regulator official Clare Taylor on October 1, 2008, about the transactions: Its trying to manipulate our balance sheet for our financial year end last night.

The figures were referred to in explicit terms to the Regulator, Mr Grehan said. Nothing was hidden or massaged.

Maybe these people missed it or didnt see the significance of it, nobody seemed to think it was a big deal at the time.

Ernst & Young had given an opinion that the accounts were true and fair.

It was hard to see how Mr Drumm could have committed any criminal offence having published the results in reliance of the external auditors of the bank having this view.

Where the buck stops is with the audit committee, Mr Grehan said.

He referred to the years of experience of Non Executive Directors on it, Gary McGann, Michael Jacob and Donal OConnor.

How can it be if these three wise men, these titans of industry missed it, how can it be that Mr Drumm is criminally liable for something that they missed? Mr Grehan asked.

He said other things were kept secret from the market, such as the Anglos own liquidity breach that year.

Other things were happening that demonstrated that these were the most incredibly trying times for anyone in a financial institution.
A FORMER employee has been charged with the theft of more than 400,000 from an Irish credit union.

Moira Coughlan appeared before Fermoy District Court in respect of 592 charges in respect of Synergy/Fermoy Credit Union in North Cork.

Judge Brian Sheridan was told that the defendant made no reply to Detective Garda James O'Shea when the charges were formally put to her at Fermoy Garda Station.

Inspector Tony O'Sullivan said that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had ruled that the matter be dealt with on indictment by judge and jury before Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

He told the court that the defendant has indicated she will go forward to the Circuit Court on a signed plea of guilty to all 592 charges.

The 592 charges involve a total amount of 407,441.94.

Defence counsel, Joe Cuddigan, confirmed that his client would be signing guilty pleas to all charges.

He pointed out that his client is currently awaiting surgery on her shoulder and has nerve problems with her hand.

In light of that, he asked that she be allowed to sign by marking her initials on the 500 plus charge sheets rather than having to sign each one individually.

The judge allowed her to do so.

Such were the number of charges sheets that a room was provided beside the courtroom for the defendant to sign the pleas while attended by Det Garda O'Shea.

The judge granted a State application for the defendant to be remanded on continuing bail to appear before the next sessions of Cork Circuit Criminal Court which commence on June 6 next.

Judge Sheridan said that the issue of legal aid would have to be resolved by the Circuit Court.

Mr Cuddigan had submitted a sworn affidavit in support of a legal aid application to both the court and the Gardai.

The defendant of The Stables, Mineville, Knocknahorgan, Sallybrook, Glanmire, Co Cork did not speak during the brief court hearing - she simply stood in court to identify herself to Judge Sheridan.

She faces a total of 592 charges with the counts involving various dates from 2009 to 2015.

All involve funds from Synergy/Fermoy Credit Union where the defendant used to work.

The counts include 251 charges of theft contrary to Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Theft and Fraud Offences Act, 2001.

The counts include 300 charges of the unlawful use of a computer contrary to Section 9 of the same Act.

There are a further 41 counts of false accounting contrary to Section 10 of the Act
One of Irelands wealthiest families is giving 25m to Trinity College Dublin in what is the single largest donation from Irish philanthropists in the history of the State.

Leading industrialist, Dr Martin Naughton and his wife Carmel, are providing the funding towards the new E3 Institute in Engineering, Energy and Environment to be built on the Trinity campus.

The donation by the Naughton Foundation is meeting almost half the 60m cost, with a further 15m committed by the Department of Education, while other private funding is also forthcoming.

The new institute will have the capacity for 1,800 additional places for students of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), amounting to a 50pc increase in places in these disciplines in Trinity over 10 years.

Work on E3 - which will be located at the eastern end of the TCD campus, close to the Science Gallery - is starting this year and is expected to be completed by 2022.

Central to the vision of the E3 Institute is the construction of what is being called the Learning Foundry, to be shared by the schools of engineering, computer science and statistics, and natural sciences.

New interdisciplinary programmes will be developed in areas such as technology for change, smart cities, data science, sustainable energy, climate change and sustainable development and spatial data.

Speaking at the announcement, Dr Naughton, founder of the Glen Dimplex Group, said E3 represented a real step change in education, which would benefit future generations for years to come.

He said it was the first global centre of its kind integrating engineering, technology and scientific expertise at scale in addressing some of the major challenges facing Ireland and the world.

Trinity provost Dr Patrick Prendergast said E3 would introduce a new STEM curriculum, involving a seamless integration of teaching, project work and research in new innovative ways for students, graduates and researchers.

He said it would produce of scientists and engineers, who, during their studies will learn from each other and who will be equipped to change the way society solves its challenges.

Education Minister Richard Bruton said if Ireland was to be at the forefront of global technological revolution, it must be a leader in nurturing, developing and deploying STEM talent and the 60m investment inE3 will make an important contribution towards achieving our goal.

The Naughton Foundation is a private family foundation established by Martin and Carmel Naughton in 1994, to support worthwhile causes in the arts and education.

The foundation is well known for its scholarship programme for Leaving Certificate student studying engineering, mathematics, science and technology at third level in Ireland.
Mark Hennessy, who abducted and killed Jastine Valdez, leaving her body at Pucks Castle Lane

Twisted killer kidnapper Mark Hennessy was leading a shocking secret life in the weeks before he brutally murdered tragic student Jastine Valdez.

The Herald can reveal that gardai are investigating if the father-of-two was using the dating app Tinder to search for women with whom he could have extramarital affairs.

His secret life - which he kept hidden from his wife and has left his family "completely stunned" - included abusing cocaine, drinking heavily and apparently using Tinder to meet women.

Investigators also believe a missing iPad owned by Jastine holds the key to establishing whether or not there is any link between the Tallaght IT student and her murderer.

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A source disclosed last night that it is believed the killer had been using the app but it is not known whether he had interacted with Jastine on it in the weeks before he savagely strangled the Filipino national (24).

"This man's family are absolutely devastated and shocked by his actions," a senior source said last night.

"They had no idea that he would be capable of such a thing and have fully co-operated with the garda investigation."

It is also understood that Hennessy's devastated Welsh wife and mother of his two children was re-interviewed by specialist detectives yesterday and has fully co-operated with the probe.

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The Herald understands that this innocent woman is "completely stunned" by the manic actions of her 40-year-old killer husband last weekend, which ultimately led to him being shot dead by a garda detective in Cherrywood Business Park on Sunday evening.

We can also reveal that the body of the killer has been returned to his family.

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A funeral service for Hennessy is due to take place tomorrow afternoon at Mount Argus in Harold's Cross.

"This man's body has been handed over to funeral directors and his family are making arrangements for an extremely private ceremony," a source confirmed last night.

While Hennessy's heartbroken family is said to be struggling to come to terms with his shocking actions, a massive garda investigation continues.

Investigators have not yet found any evidence to "definitely" link him to tragic Jastine but have said that mobile phone evidence and her iPad may be the key to establishing exactly how the shocking murder unfolded.

"The missing piece, the key piece, is finding her handbag and its contents, which it is suspected include an iPad Mini," a source said last night.

"Garda technical experts are also trying to rebuild her mobile phone, which also may contain key data.

"At this stage, this murder still looks like a random act of mindless evil. There is still absolutely no evidence of contact between the two of them yet."

Tragic Jastine is due to be buried in her native Philippines, but this is not due to happen for a number of days at least.

Yesterday, gardai continued to search for Jastine's missing handbag near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, where dense gorse and undergrowth was being probed by officers.

Searches are expected to continue today.

The Garda Siochana Ombudsman (GSOC) released details about the fatal shooting of Hennessy by a south Dublin-based detective on Sunday night.

It said Hennessy was shot dead in his car and had wounds consistent with self-harming.

Hennessy's death was caught on camera footage from a garda traffic car at the scene.

"A garda service weapon was recovered from the scene. The remaining ammunition and one spent cartridge was located in the firearm," a GSOC spokesperson said.

"A Stanley knife was subsequently recovered from the vehicle, the Nissan Qashqai, which had been the subject of a garda alert."

The spokesperson confirmed that a post-mortem showed Hennessy was in fact shot in the shoulder.
BUNGLING burglars fled the scene of a cash-in-transit robbery with a cash box containing no money.

The thugs, armed with a hammer, threatened a security guard outside a bank in a Dublin industrial estate this evening.

Fire is dying out. Garda helicopter overhead pic.twitter.com/KipEyjFaSa  Jess Kelly (@jesskellynt) May 25, 2018

They made a getaway with a cash box in a car that was left burnt-out nearby with the two men fleeing in another vehicle.

However, gardai say there was no money in the box.

No arrests have been made, with gardai appealing for information.

"Shortly after 5pm a two men armed with a hammer approached and threatened a security guard. They made off with a cashbox in a waiting red Toyota Corolla car," a spokesman said.

"The car was located burnt out a short distance away.

"No arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing. No one was injured during the incident. It is understood the cash box was empty," he added.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dundrum Garda Station 01- 6665600 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.
A recent report by Daft suggests that 53pc of Dublin's rental space is now targeting short-term lettings with available Airbnb spaces now standing at 1,419, (data from Inside Airbnb) compared to 1,264 advertised regular long-term lets.

So why have we come to a point where there are more beds available for tourists than for Irish home-seekers? Airbnb must be doing something right if so many homeowners see the Airbnb way as the only way.

First off, not many want to let out spaces in their homes on a permanent basis but having the option to do it for a portion of the year adds a welcome extra household income. Second, those who have to shelve their careers or businesses because of family commitments can turn space at home into a more manageable business via Airbnb.

Joanna Sloan and her husband Simon Kelly say their lives have been transformed since they joined Airbnb. They only opened their gate lodge in Dunganstown, Co Wicklow to Airbnb guests two years ago, but are already termed 'superhosts', with 90 five-star reviews under their belt. Joanna was running her clothing company out of the lodge but family demands meant she needed to make changes.

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"I ran a company called Old Rectory Print Ltd where I produced children's' organic clothing and textiles," says Joanna. "I managed it quite well when the children were small, but as they grew and their academic needs increased, I had to put the clothing business to sleep for a while."

Two years ago, the family left Wicklow and went to Spain for a year so the children could have a bi-lingual experience. It was here that they had their first taste of Airbnb-living and realised that their gate lodge would convert perfectly into a self-catering unit.

"We considered getting a long-term tenant but then decided that we're just not the kind of family that would suit that. For us it wouldn't just be a tenant, it would be someone living right beside us and there would be an extra pressure to always get along. Having different people every week keeps it nice and light."

Once they made the decision, they started taking photos of the property and uploading them onto the site. Within 10 minutes, they had a booking and it hasn't stopped since.

Joanna is delighted because it has given her the opportunity to run her own business from home so she can be around for the kids. It has also been a good experience for the younger members of the family. James (18), Cuan (16), twins Hugo and Senan (12) and Wolsey (8) have learned that the upkeep of the property is part of their lives.

"When I first told the boys I was doing this, the older ones were up in arms because I think they had this fantasy that the lodge would be a party venue for them! They've really settled into it though and enjoy meeting new people and learning about different cultures."

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The only thing that Joanna wasn't prepared for was the amount of digital correspondence involved. "The digital end of things gives me a headache. You can't really put your phone away because of bookings and guest queries."

In 2015, Eva and Stephen Hegarty spent 40,000 transforming an old horse box into luxury Airbnb accommodation. They chose Airbnb because they found it to be an easy and approachable way to connect with prospective guests. Three years on and they are fully booked for the summer months.

"We love meeting the people who we are hosting," says Eva. "For us, it's like travelling from the comfort of our own home. We usually spend a lot of time with the guests, sharing stories and learning about their lives."

They are fortunate that they've never had a bad experience but have learned lessons along the way in how to improve things.

"We try to avoid one-night stays," says Eva. "It's very costly and time-consuming and has a negative impact on the environment. There is so much to do around the Burren and the scenery is so beautiful that any of our one-nighters usually say that they wish they'd booked for longer."

For those who remain eager to take to plunge and create an Airbnb at home, Sarah Reynolds, a decluttering expert with Organised Chaos, has plenty of good advice:

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1. Create a welcome pack

In every hotel room, there is a folder with information. Why not recreate this for your own guests. It is useful for your guests and reduces the questions you might get after check-in.

2. Zoning

The key for efficient separation of your life and your hosting life, is to create clear zones within your space. Allocate one shelf in the hotpress for guest bed linen and towels. In the bedroom, use the tops of wardrobes for your items and free up lower shelves for guests. In the kitchen, clear a cabinet, place some crockery and leave space for their food supplies.

3. Create a stock of supplies

Have a specific set or two of bedlinen and towels for guests. Having more than one will mean your guests won't have to worry about laundry or should you have a quick turnover of guests you will have another set ready. Have a stock of toiletries for your guests and a stock of basic food especially for guests arriving late.

4. Declutter

Eliminate any unnecessary clutter. You may wish to write a checklist of the items you like to hide away so that with each visit items can be identified and put away quickly.

5. Hooks and shelving

One of the quickest and easiest ways of adding more space is with basic hooks and shelving.

6. Dual function furniture

Maximise space by opting for dual function furniture. Beds that fold up into a wardrobe, bookshelves that hold your dining set, beds that incorporate your desk space give you twice the storage for the space they occupy.

www.organisedchaos.ie
Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration. That's from Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb. He ought to have known! It's the same with interiors. Creating a really beautiful home involves a lot of hard graft. But you still need that tiny spark of inspiration. Without it, you can end up with a home that's, well, uninspired. Nobody wants that.

Inspiration is the secret ingredient of interior design. When it strikes, all the other aspects of the project will fall into place. It'll still be hard work, but it won't be a chore. The trouble is that inspiration is hard to come by. You can't just turn it on like a tap and there are few things more annoying than someone instructing you to "go and get inspired". When people say that to me, it makes me want to burst them.

Inspiration is a state of mind. It's subtle, individual and precious, and it's not something you can buy in the shops. But there are ways of making it easier on yourself and one of these is to listen to the experts. That's why the Inspiration Stage is one of my favourite things at House which takes place this weekend at the RDS. It's soothing to hear the industry's finest creative minds tell us that it's not easy to get inspired. "If you're lacking inspiration, the best place to start is you," says Jo Hamilton, one of the keynote speakers at House. "It's all in there! You just have to tap into it." Hamilton isn't just a celebrity interior designer. She's also a wonderfully entertaining speaker and her mission is to demystify the process of interior design. "I'm going to break it down into key principles: colour, lighting, space and planning. I'll take the panic away and give people some practical tips so that they can walk away inspired!"

Hamilton has plenty of experience with inspirationally-challenged clients. "I know that rabbit-in-the-headlamps feeling!" she says sympathetically. "Sometimes I see the panic in their eyes." She remembers a recent client. "She didn't know what she wanted, she didn't know where to start, and she kept telling me that she didn't have a style. I told her not to worry about it, and we just started talking about her life. She told me that she'd lived for two years in Japan and that she loved the Japanese tea ceremony. I asked her if this was something that we could work into the design scheme. She said that it was and then she produced a couple of art works that she'd bought in Japan and a few special pieces of Japanese furniture. We built the scheme around them."

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Like Hamilton, the interior architect and award-winning blogger, Suzie McAdam, will use the Inspiration Stage to throw a bit of light on her design process. "I'll be going through my own projects, from mood boards to the finished interior, to show how it works for me," she says. "Travel is key! I love going to design shows, especially the Salon de Mobile in Milan. I'm really impressed with the way that some of the big furniture companies are collaborating with designers." This year's discoveries include the curvy wrap-around Vuelta armchair and sofa, designed by Jaime Hayon for Wittmann.

Where people struggle to find their style, she urges them not to lean too heavily on online platforms. "Pinterest and Houzz are useful for redefining a concept, but don't overuse them. Design becomes boring if you try to recreate a single image." Often, the inspiration is in the detail. "I've just finished a project for a client who loves Paris. When we were looking at the kitchen, we decided to bring in a Parisian element." But, rather than decorate an Irish kitchen in the manner of a French bistro, it was a matter of bringing in subtle references. "It can be as simple as brass handles on the presses," McAdam explains.

When Roisin Lafferty of Kingston Lafferty Design joins me on the Inspiration Stage this afternoon, we'll be talking about how she manages to create cosy comforting spaces. "Home is very important to me," she says. "At the end of a long day I just want to curl up on the sofa. "Life can be so frantic! Social media is relentless and we're consumed by productivity. I want to go in the opposite direction and help people create spaces in their home where they can detach from the world and be calm. It's not just a nice thing. It's absolutely necessary!"

But calming doesn't mean bland. Kick-ass colour is Lafferty's trademark. In a recent collaboration with DFS, she styled the industrial spaces of Dublin's Chocolate Factory, just to show people just how much fun you can have with colour. "People tend to play it safe with sofas," she said. "I do understand that. It's an investment purchase. But there are such amazing colours out there. In one of the rooms, I used a lime green armchair. It sounds disgusting, but it was my favourite thing there!" The chair in question was the DFS Peace chair (519). She also used the L-Shaped Zinc sofa (2,099) in emerald green; the Palace sofa (2,329) in blush pink; and the Eden 3 seater (1,689) in mustard.

Not everyone, she admits, will want a brightly coloured sofa. If you don't, she recommends the new range of velvet cushions from Foxford (from 59 at Arnotts). "They come in deep jewel colours and they're really cosy." The prints on the wall were by the Dublin-based print collective, Jill and Gill (300 each) and the paint was from Fleetwood's Pantone collection (50 for a 2.5 litre tin). "We used very strong colours on the wall as well," Lafferty admits. "I wanted to show people the power of colour!"

Still chicken? Tomorrow morning, Fleetwood Colour Consultant, Sinead Cassidy, will take the stage to tell us how to be brave with colour. When she finishes, be prepared to fight for your seat. Next up is the massively popular Dermot Bannon (in case you've been living under a stone, he's the charismatic architect from the RTE TV series, Room to Improve). I don't know what he's planning to talk about but, if last year was anything to go by, you can expect a good buzz. There's no better man for generating a bit of creative energy around design.

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For a full schedule of speakers at House see house-event.ie. See also fleetwood.ie, kingstonlaffertydesign.com, johamilton.co.uk, suziemcadam.com, jillandgill.com, dfs.ie, and arnotts.ie
Laudamotion, the budget airline owned by Niki Lauda and in which Ryanair has a 24.9pc stake, will fly from Dublin to Vienna this winter.

The Austrian Airline will expand its Vienna base in late October, with routes including Dublin/Vienna flights from 19.99 each-way.

Laudamotion will operate its new 'city shuttle' service from October 28, Dublin Airport has confirmed, with an Airbus A320 aircraft. It will compete directly with Aer Lingus, which already operates daily flights on the route.

The airline is owned by former Formula 1 racing driver Niki Lauda. This March, Ryanair announced it was taking a 24.9pc stake in the airline - a figure it plans to increase to 75pc subject to approval by the EU Competition Authority.

Growth of the airline, which previously concentrated on business jet charters, has sprung from the ashes of Niki - a carrier that collapsed last year along with its parent, Air Berlin.

We are offering price-conscious customers exactly what they want with our city shuttle routes," Lauda said. "I am certain that the interest will be high with our attractive fares on our new Dublin to Vienna service."

Laudamotion will be our fifth new airline customer to Dublin Airport this year and we look forward to welcoming its new service, added Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison.



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This week is National Biodiversity Week and there are over 50 free, family friendly events taking place around the country to celebrate the special week.

Biodiversity is very much the flavour of the month as Monday, May 21, was European Natura 2000 Day and today, Tuesday the 22nd, is International Day for Biological Diversity.

Biological diversity explains itself; it is the diversity or variety of life found in a particular place. The diversity may be very high in a wood or on the seashore and low in a farmer's well-managed field of Oilseed Rape.

A field of Oilseed Rape is a monoculture; a stand of just one species of plant. The crop may look and smell lovely when the plants are in full flower, but as far as biological diversity goes a field of Oilseed Rape supports few life forms with the notable exception of the Honeybees that visit the bright yellow flowers to collect pollen.

The two words 'biological diversity' are often combined, blended and contracted to give the single word 'biodiversity'. The blended word, or portmanteau, was coined in 1968 by wildlife scientist and conservationist Raymond Dasmann in his book 'A Different Kind of Country' advocating conservation, but it didn't come into common usage till Thomas Lovejoy popularised it in the 1980s.

Biodiversity is the variety of life found in a particular place, the particular place being known as a habitat. Many habitats both globally and throughout the European Union are under threat and the situation here is in Ireland is bleak.

In Ireland, we have 58 habitats of European Community importance. Every six years, the government is obliged to report to the European Commission on the conservation status of these habitats. The last report was made in 2013. That report found that of the 58 habitats only 9% achieved 'Favourable' status; the other 91% scored 'Inadequate' or 'Bad' status. So, there is a way to go in looking after our natural heritage.

National Biodiversity Week is all about connecting people with nature. It's about communicating the importance of biodiversity and motivating people to play their part in protecting it. It's also about entertaining them, showing the fun and wonder that can be found in nature, and inspiring people to learn more, see more, do more.

There are over 50 free, family friendly events taking place around Ireland to celebrate National Biodiversity Week. To find out about events in your area check out http://biodiversityweek.ie/events/
Hundreds of mourners gathered around the clock tower in Enniskerry last night (Tuesday) for a candlelit vigil in memory of the late Jastine Valdez.

The Filipino community of north Wicklow and natives of the region alike joined in grief to remember their friend and neighbour.

The previous evening, prayers were said in Enniskerry at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, and in Bray around 200 people attended prayers at St Fergal's Church.

A service was also held at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in Dublin, led by Fr Rene Esoy SSS, who is the spiritual adviser of the Filipino Community Network (FCN) and Couples for Christ Ireland CLG.

A vigil will be held today (Wednesday) in Cork, organised by the United Filipino-Irish Association, with Mass at St Joseph's Church, Wilton, Cork, on Friday night.

The Powerscourt Arms hotel in the village has opened a book of condolence at reception for members of the community to sign. Books of condolence have also been opened in the village churches.

'Our thoughts and prayers are with Jastine's family and friends at this devastating time,' the Powerscourt Arms posted on social media. 'As the community tries to come to terms with the events of the last 48 hours, little anyone says will help ease the pain of Jastine's passing. However, the community can grieve together. We can show support to Jastine's family, friends and Filipino community at this devastating time.'

Parish priest Fr Bernard Kennedy said that the people of Enniskerry are very much standing with the Valdez family in their prayers and in their feeling of empathy. 'We have been praying for them at Mass,' he said. 'Jastine could have been any of our sisters, daughters or granddaughters. She was a beautiful young person and new to the country.' Fr Bernard said that the Filipino people do so much for our country, particularly in medicine and healthcare. 'There are feelings of sadness, shock and deep upset,' he said. 'We are thinking of the lovely Filipino people and their community in Wicklow and Dublin.'

Archbishop of Dublin Dr Michael Jackson said that the discovery of Jastine's body had brought to a tragic end a weekend of anguish and pain for the young woman. 'Having been in the nearby parish on Sunday morning and heard of the worries of parishioners of Powerscourt and Kilbride for her, I would like to express my sadness at Jastine's death,' he said. 'I also wish to voice the sympathy of the local Church of Ireland community to her family and all who loved her. May she rest in peace and may those who mourn her loss be comforted in their distress at this harrowing time.'
Wicklow County Council has been ranked joint 19th in a national integrity list of the country's local authorities carried out by Transparency International Ireland (TI).

TI carried out research into local government in Ireland from July 2017 to February 2018. The majority of the information for the study was found on council websites while phone calls to local authority and freedom of information requests were also used. An email was sent to each council containing questions.

Wicklow ranked joint 19th out of 31 counties with an overall score of 12 out of 20. Also achieving 40 per cent were Sligo, Louth, Cavan and Mayo County Councils.

Each Local Authority was marked on Transparency, Accountability and Ethics.

Wicklow scored a total of four in the Transparency category after being rated on a number of different indicators. One of these was that council minutes from meetings weren't provided online in a timely fashion. As of January 25, 2018, the latest meeting minutes were from May 2017. There was also no annual budget or budget commentary for 2017 available online.

Researchers also examined whether Wicklow County Council publishes online a searchable database of past and current planning applications, with complete documentation for each application. They found multiple applications in which the planning application states that pre-planning consultations took place, but there are no corresponding reports included in the file.

No written motions submitted by Councillors on development plans were found on the council's website.

Regarding the publication of comprehensive information on Wicklow County Council's procurement process, as of December 11, 2017, there was no online information for users or contracts awarded.

Reports on Councillor expenses and payments failed to include their attendance at meetings. Councillors donation statements weren't found on the council website, while the Chief Executive's diary also wasn't published.

Wicklow County Council received a point apiece for publishing information online on the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, including a complete list of its designated public officials; the publication of reports on councillor expenses and payments online; the publication of all purchase orders raised for goods and services over 20,000, on a quarterly basis and for placing written submissions and observations submitted by the public development plans on the local authority's website.

The Local Authority scored six for Accountability. Scores were provided for providing confirmation of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests after two weeks and for providing a decision on FOI requests within four weeks.

Scores were also awarded for publishing a comprehensive protected disclosures policy and procedures and for publishing online the annual report on protected disclosures. Further scores were achieved for allowing the internal audit unit full operational independence and for allowing members of the public to attend monthly meetings. The council lost points for not publishing online audited financial statements, for not sharing the procedures in place to investigate alleged contraventions of Part 15 of the Local Government Act 2001 by councillors and relevant employees and for failing to publish the 2016 report online. The council was also found not to be fully responsive to requests from TI Ireland.

Wicklow County Council only achieved two scores out of eight in the Ethics category, with these points achieved for its Ethics Registrar pro-actively reviewing the completeness of ethics declarations filed in accordance with the Local Government Act 2001 and for providing online the 2016 Registers of Interests for council members, though it was noted that two declarations were missing two pages.

The remaining points were lost for a number of reasons. As of August 2, 2017, Wicklow County Council didn't have a comprehensive up-to-date page within its website dedicated to ethics and governance. The council also doesn't maintain and publish summary data on reports received by the Ethics Registrar and Chief Executive. The council's risk management or alert plan, addressing corruption and fraud risks is from 2005 and isn't considered up-to-date. There also was no sign of the report online. No points were awarded for the council's role in preventing employees from taking on certain positions in the private sector, whether during or following employment.

In response to the report, a council spokesperson said: 'Wicklow County Council is committed to good communications and providing accurate up-to-date information to the public. In this regard, the council communicates with its customers through a variety of means, including Twitter and Facebook as well as by telephone, in person, written correspondence and through our website. The council would welcome more resources for communications, but we have to be responsible in how we manage public funds, and that means prioritising delivery of essential services.'
Jastine Valdez, known as Jas to her friends, had just been in Ireland a few years.

She joined her parents Danilo and Teresita in Enniskerry, where the couple live and work.

Jastine (24), pictured right, had completed a degree in accountancy in her home city of Aritao, and was continuing her studies in the Institute of Technology, Tallaght.

Her friends both in the Philippines and Ireland will remember a happy, industrious young woman, who was very much loved. Locals in Enniskerry knew of a friendly person with a sunny smile, who went about her business quietly.

Her parents are natives of the province of Nueva Vizcaya. Only child Jastine had been staying with her grandparents before coming to Enniskerry.

Addressing the media at Bray Garda Station on Monday evening, Superintendent Paul Hogan said that it was highly unusual for Jastine not to maintain contact with her mother, either by phone or by Facebook.

Jastine loved the company of her friends and family, and had recently dined in Koi restaurant in Bray. A photograph from that happy occasion was circulated by gardai investigating her disappearance.

Jastine's devastated parents live just outside Enniskerry, where they work for a local family.

Their daughter was a student at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, where she was doing accountancy. In the Philippines, Jastine had attended St Teresita's Academy, graduating in 2009.

Classmates were broken-hearted this week to learn of the tragedy in Ireland. One wrote on Facebook that it was the first time they had experienced the death of a friend from school. 'Our friend since elementary school, super kind and you are so beautiful. You're going to go home to the Philippines, but we won't be able to talk to you or touch you.'
The crannog on Lough Allua near Beal Atha an Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary), one of the priority water bodies cited in the plan

A number of water bodies around Cork have been earmarked for significant remedial and clean-up works under a comprehensive new three-year initiative aimed at improving the overall quality of our water.

In his forward to the The River Basin Management Plan for Ireland (2018-2021), Housing, Planning and Local Government Minister Eoghan Murphy conceded that the overall quality of our water has "stood still" over the past decade.

"As we look to the future, we are faced with increasing demands on our water resources from a growing population and economy," wrote Minister Murphy.

He said it was "essential that we take strong steps" to protect and improve water quality by making river basin management plans and implementing them.

"We are addressing this imperative. This plan is a new approach to the protection, improvement and sustainable management of the water environment.

It will build the foundations and momentum for the long-term delivery of water quality improvement," said Minister Harris.

"The improved implementation and engagement structures which have guided the creation of this plan are the foundations for taking better care of our water environment for the future".

The plan set out a programme of action that will be undertaken to improve water quality in rivers, lakes, estuaries, groundwater and coastal areas, with several in Cork (see attached panel) listed as being 'priority' areas for action over the life of the plan.

The newly appointed Community Water Officer for County Cork, Kieran Murphy, said the plan provides a framework for co-ordination between local authorities and public agencies to protect public health and the environment.

Mr Murphy it would also help to sustain water-intensive industries including agri-food and tourism, particularly in rural areas.

"Specific actions will be taken to improve water quality in these water bodies for the benefit of people, wildlife and the economy," said Mr Murphy.

"The plan builds on lessons learned over the past decade and sets out the new approach that will be taken to protect our natural waters up to 2021," he added.

Key elements of the plan include: an investment of 1.7 billion by Irish Water in waste water treatments plants; the employment of specialist scientists by local authorities to assess water bodies and deliver improvement measures; the extension of the Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems grant scheme; and the establishment of a Community Water Development Fund to enable and support community water initiatives.

A new Sustainability and Advisory Support programme, a partnership between the State and the dairy industry, will promote best farming practise in designated areas and a Dairy Sustainability Initiative will be established to offer farmers advice on sustainable working practices and improving water quality.

The contents of the plan are available to view online at www.housing.gov.ie.

Corks priority listed waterways

* Upper Deel (near Dromina).

* Owentaraglin (near Kiskeam and Cullen).

* Allow (near Kanturk)

* Awbeg West (near Liscarroll)

* Ogeen and Farahy (near Kildorrery).

* Upper Funshion (Mitchelstown).

* Upper Lee and Lough Allua (Beal Atha an Ghaorthaidh/Ballingeary and Inchigeelagh).

* Keel and Foherish (Carriganima).

* Carrigadrohid Reservoir.

* Martin (near Blarney).

* Bride (North Cork City).

* Owennacurra and Dungourney (Midleton).

* Owenboy (near Crossbarry, * Ballyhass and Carrigaline).

* Caha (near Dunmanway).

* Bandon Estuary (Innishannon and Kinsale).

* Clonakilty Bay.

* Kilkeran Lake (near Rathbarry).

* Rosscarbery Bay.

* Glan (Dunmanus) .

* Ardigole.

* Lough Fadda and Ownagappul (Ardgroom).
Pope Francis has been handed an official invitation to come to Drogheda - and see the head of St Oliver Plunkett - during his visit to Ireland in August.

Mayor Pio Smith had the chance to deliver the message personally after a meeting in the Vatican last week.

The mayor was part of the Drogheda Male Voice Choir delegation that performed for the Pontiff in St Peter's Square and later he met the Pope along with members of the choir.

'We shook hands and I extended an invitation to him to come to Drogheda during his visit to Ireland later this year,' Mayor Smith stated. 'He immediately acknowledged it, so we'll have to see!'

He doesn't know if the Pope will take him up on the offer but feels it was appropriate to issue the invitation when the obvious opportunity presented itself.

The visit to Rome also saw the mayor and the choir honour Bro Christopher 'Sonny' Kierans, who has been working in the Vatican for over 40 years. He said it was an honour to recognise Sonny's role.
Enniscorthy will welcome history buffs from all over the country over the weekend as the Vinegar Hill Archaeological Conference takes place at The Presentation Centre. The event seeks to debunk some of the myths and legends surrounding what is perhaps Ireland's most prominent battlefield site.

The conference will take an in depth look at over four years of research, including a major architectural survey of the landscape, which aimed to identify the extent of the battlefield, areas which saw the most intense fighting, weaponry, domestic ware and mass graves.

The conference gets underway on Friday evening from 7 p.m. at The Presentation Centre where Chairman of the Municipal District Council Keith Doyle will welcome everyone to Enniscorthy with a drinks reception. There will also be an outline of everything the weekend will consist of before a full day of fascinating lectures on Saturday, getting underway at 9 a.m. Dr Ronan O'Flaherty will kick things off with an introduction to the project, followed by Jacqui Hynes who will speak on the History and Folklore of the Battle. Edmund Joyce will discuss the Architectural Landscape of Enniscorthy in 1798 while Dr Niall Brady will give a run down of the Underwater Survey carried out on the River Slaney. After lunch, Cian Hogan will outline the findings of a Geophysical Survey of Vinegar Hill before Damian Shiels discusses some of the findings of the metal detection.

On Sunday there will be field trip to Vinegar Hill so that those in attendance can get a real feel for the findings discussed the previous day. A big crowd is anticipated over the course of the weekend and it is hoped that a good crowd of locals will join those with an interest in archaeology from across the country. Tickets are priced at 25 for all of the weekend's events and are available from www.enniscorthycastle.ie.
Gorey town is gearing up for the Polska Eire Festival, an annual celebration of Polish and Irish friendship by people working and living in the district.

After the hugely successful past Gorey Polska Eire Festivals, Gorey Polish Cultural Association, in cooperation with Gorey Municipal District, Wexford County Council and the local community, are proud to host their fourth annual festival.

It is a great opportunity for the Polish and Irish communities from county Wexford and beyond to meet and interact in a fun atmosphere.

The festival will begin on Tuesday, May 22, and run until Saturday, June 9. For further information, visit PolskaEire Gorey Festival on Facebook or call 085 1273219.

The events are as follows: Tuesday, May 22 - 'Bilingualism Everyday' workshop for parents and guardians in Gorey Community School at 6.30 p.m. The talk is in Polish and it may be of interest to parents and carers of bilingual children; Sunday, May 27 - Family Fun Day in Gorey Civic Square from 12 p.m., until 5 p.m. There will be a barbecue and activities.; Sunday, May 27 - The 'My Kashubia' photography exhibition will be launched in the foyer of Gorey Library. The exhibition will continue until June 16.; Sunday, May 27 - There will be a lecture by Dr Danuta Dettlaff in Gorey Library on 'Kashubian North - Cultural Phenomenon' at 2.30 p.m.; Friday, June 1 - Theatre groups will meet award winning actor Robert Wieckiewicz. This event is invitation only.; Saturday, June 2 - There will be a movie screening of 'The King of Life' with English subtitles in Movies@Gorey at 4 p.m. This will be followed by a Q&A session with Robert Wieckiewicz. Tickets available online at gorey.pl; Sunday, June 9 - A Polska Eire disco in the Loch Garman Arms at 7 p.m.
Ever wondered why there happens to be a 'Listowel' in Ontario? And an Ennismore?

We might be closer to an answer thanks to the arrival into north Kerry last week of a couple on a mission to trace their roots and with a fascinating story to tell of 19th century emigration from north Kerry.

Ed and Carol Costello were helped by Listowel historian Kay Caball in the search for information on Edward's great-great-great-grandfather Michael Costello (1782-1826); who left north Kerry with his family for Canada in 1825.

Michael sadly did not get much time in the New World, dying within the year, but his progeny clearly took strong root on the northern shores of Lake Ontario.

The family were among the 2,000 farming families resettled there under the Peter Robinson Scheme - named after its supervisor, who came over from New Brunswick on Canada's east coast to administer the resettlement.

"The settler families were offered free land and passage but they had to be recommended by church or state as progressive and able farmers," Kay explained.

"There was quite a number from north Kerry, settling mostly in Ontario and they called their settlement Ennismore after Viscount Ennismore (later Lord Listowel) who facilitated their departure." One of their proud descendants is Ed, who now lives in Arlington, Virginia in the US, and who, along with wife Carol, visited the Listowel/Ballybunion/Ballyduff area.

Along with Kay they made a very interesting visit to Gurtinard House in Listowel (pictured) where Ed came face to face with the grand home in which the letter recommending his antecedent for the scheme was written.

It's a letter that attests to the incredible vagaries of chance - as it hints at how Ed's family history might have been so much different.

"Ed is in possession of a copy of an interesting letter written by Dr John Church, who was Lord Listowel's agent at the time, in 1825 from Gurtinard House recommending Michael Costelloe and his family in the place of another family who decided not to travel," Kay explained.

The scheme was in part introduced to alleviate the intense pressure on the land in Ireland under the pre-Famine population, no doubt a great move to also drive down the numbers of formidable native Catholics, targeted as it was at the most able and productive farmers.

But at least for the Costellos and their fellow Robinson scheme participants they were to become serious landowners at a stroke.

"Michael Costello (1782-1826) and his family left Ireland for Canada in 1825 as a member of a group of some 600 Irish families that were resettled in Ontario. Each adult member of the family was given 100 acres of land and equipment and supplies to assist in settlement. The immigration plan both reduced land pressure in Ireland and helped settle sparsely populated areas of Canada," Kay explained.

Now, in a bid to untangle the knotted history, Ed is deploying cutting-edge technology.

"Ed brought DNA kits with him and he was able to get samples from families in Beale, Duagh and Lixnaw which will hopefully narrow down the search for his relatives.

"Upon analysis back in the US the DNA tests will be able to show if Ed shares a common ancestor with them, hopefully pinpointing exactly where his ancestors came from," Kay told The Kerryman.
For composer Una Keane it was something of a given when she decided to kick her Irish tour off in St John's Theatre in Listowel on Thursday May 24. The composer and pianist may hail from Dublin, but her roots stretch deep into the fabric of town.

For Una's father and grandfather were both from Listowel, with her grandfather having been local principal Michael Keane. Una, who released her debut album just last year, will be performing her pieces from the album entitled 'As I Wake, I Still Dream.' It's an album she describes as being characterised by 'minimalist piano'; "something that people can connect with."

Una's album took almost a year for her to compose and she cannot wait to perform her work in Kerry. "I am very excited to kick it all off in Listowel. It'll be very special going back as I have not been back in nearly six years. I am really looking forward to bringing my daughter to the town I spent so much time in as a kid." Una's eight-date tour around Ireland is set to kick off in Listowel before she travels the length of the country to perform all over. In the later half of the year Una is looking forward to performing in some major European cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and also northern Italy.

Una's album has received a four-star review from the Irish Times and a soothing set of beautifully simple piano. Meanwhile, Listowel native Christian O'Reilly brings his play 'The Good Father' to St John's on Thursday next, May 30, with doors opening at 8pm on what is the very first day of the full Writers' Week programme getting underway in Listowel. Acclaimed author Jon McGregor will discuss his lauded novel Reservoir 13 at St John's earlier on the opening day of the Festival - at 5.30pm - in an interactive event based on a novel which 'explores the rhythms of the natural world and the repeated human gift for violence.'

Local drama group Theatrix Stage School make a Writers' Week return to the boards in a colourful performance of 'I Can Do Anything.' That's on Friday, June 1, at 2.30pm Award-winning novelist and journalist Alex Preston will deliver a talk at St John's on Saturday, June 2, at 2.30pm amid much else at the intimate venue over the course of the festival. For more on the full range of events at St John's and across town visit www.writersweek.ie.
It was a quiet and simple ceremony, but one that was hugely emotive; 3,500 people became new Irish citizens in the INEC in Killarney on Monday.

Natalia Makowska from Killarney and Alisia Munya Dogan from Tralee were among the thousands who became Irish citizens at the first ever citizenship ceremony to be held in Killarney on Monday.

Approximately 3,500 people from 120 countries were given Irish citizenship at the ceremony, and they travelled from all over Ireland to receive their new passports. The majority being conferred with Irish citizenship were from Poland, Romania and the United Kingdom, with many more from India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

All have made Ireland their home; many of them have made Kerry their home. The Minister for Justice and Equality Charlie Flanagan TD and the Minister of State with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration David Stanton TD attended the ceremony on Monday and congratulated the new Irish citizens.

"It is a great privilege for me to be here with you in Killarney on this very special day, the day on which Irish citizenship will be formally conferred on you during this simple but solemn ceremony," said Minister Flanagan.

"On becoming Irish citizens you will have the same rights, the same duties and the same responsibilities as every other Irish citizen."

The ceremony was presided over by retired High Court judge Mr Justice Bryan McMahon as the new Irish citizens swore fidelity to the state.

Monday's ceremony brings the total number of citizens to have received their Certificates of Naturalisation to over 86,000 across 131 ceremonies since Citizenship Ceremonies were first introduced in 2011.

If minors, who are not required to attend a ceremony, are included, the total granted Irish citizenship since 2011 is over 119,000 people from 181 different countries. The top ten nationalities of persons naturalised in that time are: Poland, India, Nigeria, Romania, Philippines, Pakistan, China (including Hong Kong), Ukraine, South Africa and Bangladesh.
Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has indicated that it will be difficult to accommodate the required 'state of the art' facilities needed at Tralee Courthouse in its current location on Ashe Street. He described the current courthouse as 'dilapidated' and 'not fit for purpose' following a visit to the Tralee Courthouse complex on Monday evening, and he said he would make a decision on the future of the building by the end of next year. He also re-iterated at a media briefing in Tralee on Monday that he would abolish the court poor box as soon as possible.

"I have indicated and I reaffirm my view that I don't see the court poor box as having any place in the Irish legal system and I am going to abolish it," he said. The Minister said that he has made no decision on whether to move the courthouse to a new location or not but he indicated that it would be difficult to meet the requirement for a modern courthouse in its current location. It has long been mooted that Tralee Courthouse could be moved to a new greenfield site in Ballymullen - a move that the local legal and business communities are against. Minister Flanagan said that he would take into account their concerns about the move but added that the current courthouse situation "can't continue".

"I will meet with the Courts Service and move matters on. I expect a decision between now and the end of this year. The officers of court are clear they want to retain the building. I am impressed at the strong case made to me by lawyers and the business people. However, to ensure we have state-of-the-art facilities will involve a square footage or square meterage which is considerably greater than we have at moment," he said.

"I want great facilities for the people of Kerry. I want a family law suite, I want a vulnerable witness suite, I want separate entrances for juries; I want prisoners to be treated in a way that has been described as humane; and I want parking. The challenge is going to be to ensure that we can have all these services that the people deserve. I'm not in a position to make any decision today." Minister Flanagan also met with Superintendent Jim O'Connor while on his visit to Tralee. When questioned about assaults on gardai - an issue raised in The Kerryman in recent weeks, he said that he would not arm rank and file gardai despite calls to do so.

"Stun guns are firearms under the Firearms Act. Specific units are equipped and I don't intend amending this at legislation. However, I am anxious to ensure that society has zero tolerance to any attack on gardai. I am concerned about attacks and I am satisfied that the court are dealing strenuously with those convicted of assaulting gardai."

Minister Flanagan refused to comment on the Kerry Babies controversy despite a re-opening of the investigation earlier this year. "I am not making any further comment of a public nature on this issue, having regard to my respect to the privacy requested by the Hayes family. I am honouring that in particular today to the visit to Kerry in Ms Hayes' home county." he said.

The minister also met with Fine Gael elected representatives in Kerry during his visit, but refused to be drawn on who will be a running mate for Minister Brendan Griffin in the next general election. Minister Griffin said that Fine Gael has the 'opportunity to win two seats in Kerry', and the focus is now on getting the strategy right. Currently no second candidate has emerged despite several names being mooted, but it is known that extensive discussions are still taking place to try and find such a candidate. "We have a lot of options but it is about getting the right option," said Minister Griffin.
A gang of professional Eastern European criminals who flew into Ireland to undertake a series of burglaries are believed to have been behind a late night raid at the Spar supermarket in Castlegregory during which more than 30,000 worth of cigarettes were stolen.

The gang spent a number of days 'casing' the shop before making the move on Thursday last, when they entered the building through the roof and disconnected the alarm. The gang were unable to break open the supermarket's safe, but they successfully made off with 30,000 worth of cigarettes and over 1,000 in cash.

The gang involved in the raid are believed to have been flown in from Eastern Europe for a series of raids in the Kerry area. They are also believed to have been involved in a similar supermarket incident in Abbeyfeale a few days later.
Operating profit at Kerry Airport grew by almost 500,000 in 2017 - but Brexit; and reliance on both Government Grant Aid and two key airlines have been identified among the main risks and uncertainties going forward.

Profit for 2017 was over 728,000, up from 287,613 in 2016, according to the airline's 2017 annual report and accounts. Gross profit was over 4.8million, up by almost 174,000. This was driven by the 335,000 passengers that used the airport, an increase of almost 10,000. Retained profit now stands at over 4.4million.

But while it was described by Chairman Denis Cregan as "another satisfactory year in terms of financial growth and passenger traffic, they recognised ongoing Brexit discussions as a concern for the airport's services with Ryanair to London Stansted and London Luton.

Directors and managers have said they will work closely with their airline parters and government agencies to minimise the effect of the discussions.

Directors welcomed the Government's renewal of the Public Service Obligation for regional air services on the Kerry-Dublin route for 2018 to 2022 and has reiterated the importance of government support in attracting airlines to operate often enough at times that can benefit the local economy.

Directors also said they hope to minimise reliance on Government Grant Aid and stated they continue to engage with airlines throughout Europe for inclusion in any expansion plans they may be considering.

"The Board is committed to working with, investing in and co-operating with the local and national tourism organisations to look at ways in attracting new airlines and new routes that will be of benefit to the region as a whole," the annual report read.

An average of 50 full-time equivalents (FTEs) were employed at the airport, which Mr Cregan said reflects increased activity on the site. More than 1.25 million was invested for the period on infrastructure such as aircraft parking stands, runway upgrades, and navigation aids. This was supported by more than 580,000 in Capital Grants.

The Kerry-Dublin route's performance was described as satisfactory. The London Stansted route increased its numbers, while the London Luton route "performed well". The route to Frankfurt maintained its numbers, while the routes to Alicante and Faro performed "extremely well".

"The new Kerry-Berlin service commenced in November 2017, and it is too early to report on at this stage," Mr Cregan added.
I stopped at traffic lights on Dublin's Dame Street last week I had a fleeting chat with another cyclist. I thought he was Chinese but no, he was from Mongolia. I quickly said to him 'ah Ulan Bator is the capital of Mongolia'. His response was an immediate smile. We exchanged a few kind words. The lights changed to green, we bad adieu and off we went. A fleeting moment of pleasantness. Two people from different parts of the world engaging in friendly talk. A life-enhancing experience.

That same day newspapers in Ireland and around the world carried photographs of Ivanka Trump with her husband Jared Kushner at the opening ceremony of the United States embassy in Jerusalem. Side by side with these pictures were photos of demonstrating Palestinians being fired on with plastic bullets, water-cannon and live ammunition. The previous day the Israeli army killed 60 people and wounded large numbers of demonstrators. Not one Israeli was killed.

The splendour and wealth of the occasion at the US embassy was in stark contrast to the Palestinians protesting at the fence dividing Palestine from Israel. They looked poor, beaten, angry and frustrated. And why not when one considers the lives they lead. Approximately two million people are locked into a small area of land where the basic necessities of life are in short supply.

In many ways the problems of the Israel-Palestine conflict tell in graphic detail what happens when people hate one another, when societies are incapable of living in peace and harmony. Opposing sides will always try to claim that truth and right is on their side. At the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the world truth was on the side of Israel. He used the word truth many times while at the same time his army was using live ammunition against poverty-stricken people.

What is it about humans that sees us in various degrees of conflict? It happens at all sorts of levels, in families, among friends, within countries.

Since Easter Sunday the liturgy in Christian churches has been emphasising different aspects of the Trinity. For most people it is probably true to say the Trinity is some obtuse mystery they have heard mentioned in church. Since the foundations of Christianity the Trinity has afforded theologians the possibility of infinite discussions and mental gymnastics trying to get their heads around the greatest and most challenging Christian mystery. These days the Trinity seems to be out of fashion.

And yet it is centre stage in Christian theology. It's about how perfect unity exists in God. It is a fabulous reminder or example to us how people have been called to live in unity and harmony, respecting in justice and truth one other's differences.

Christianity offers the world amazing gems. What a shame we don't try to live out the Trinity in our families, in our country, on the world stage. Instead the world spent 1.7 trillion last year on armaments. We can do better. We have to do better.

My fellow cyclist from Mongolia and I deserve better, demand it too.
The Boston Society of Architects was the unlikely venue for a recent Kennedy Summer School event to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

This was the first time that the Summer School has held an event outside New Ross and this was done at the request of Boston College, who sponsored the entire occasion.

Speaking to the New Ross Standard, Kennedy Summer School Chairman Willie Keilthy said: 'It was a pleasure to be in the hometown of the Kennedys for this wonderful event, which has served to further reconnect Boston to New Ross. We were gratified that a large crowd turned up to get a feel for the Summer School, to see it in action and to listen to our panellists. We are grateful to Dr Bob Mauro and Boston College for this opportunity, which can only be of benefit to promoting the Summer School and the town in the years to come.'

A large audience of over 100 people turned up at the lunchtime event, which was chaired by the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist from the Boston Globe, Kevin Cullen, who fondly recalled his trip to New Ross in 2016.

The panel discussion focused on the past, present and future of Irish-US relations and the importance of the Good Friday Agreement in building a more prosperous, peaceful Ireland.

Mark Durkan, the former SDLP leader - who was immersed in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 - told the Boston audience that the Agreement remained hugely relevant today and had to be protected.

Mr Durkan said: 'As the Brexit negotiations intensify, it's welcome that the EU27 have continued to voice a strong commitment to protecting the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. The full potential and flexibility of Strands Two and Three of the Agreement must be har harnessed to protect and preserve relationships.'

Shannon Quinn, a native of Cookstown, County Tyrone, spoke about growing up in Northern Ireland in the era following the ceasefires and the opportunities that this had brought to her generation. Mary Sugrue spoke about the importance of ending generations of mistrust in Northern Ireland and fostering new cross-community understanding for the next generation.

She spoke about the work of the Irish-American partnership, of which she is CEO, in supporting educational initiatives and community development programmes in Ireland, North and South, through direct grants to primary schools, science teacher training, university access scholarships, and employment learning programmes.

Dr Brian Murphy, Co-Director of the Kennedy Summer School in 2018, told the audience of Patrick Kennedy's journey from Dunganstown in the late 1840s, as Ireland grappled with famine and starvation, and he put that journey in the context of a wave of Irish emigration that made 'Boston, at the turn of the twentieth century, the largest Irish populated city in the world outside of Dublin.'

Dr Murphy spoke about the historic bonds of friendship between Boston and New Ross and he extended an invitation to the US audience to visit New Ross for the annual Kennedy Summer School event on September 6 to September 8.
Bishop Jones celebrating his Golden Jubilee and Fr. Patrick McHugh who celebrated his Diamond Jubilee of their Ordination to the Priesthood with the Mayor of Sligo Clr. Rosaleen OGrady in 2012

Bishop of Elphin Kevin Doran has led the tributes to his predecessor, Bishop Christopher (Christy) Jones who passed away last Friday night.

Bishop Doran said Bishop Jones would be remembered by many for the way in which he put flesh on the Gospel through his care for and friendship with those who were poor and most at risk in our society. 

This is a sad day for all of us in the Diocese of Elphin. I offer my personal sympathies and prayers to his sister Eileen and to all his extended family, and also to the priests, sisters and deacons and all who worked closely with him in the Diocese.

I also want to express my grateful appreciation to all who cared for Bishop Christy so well during his long illness.

The death of Bishop Christy is like the loss of a grandparent. Up to the time of his retirement in July 2014, he worked tirelessly in the service of God and of the people of God, in this Diocese and further afield.

Since his retirement Bishop Christy has been a discrete presence in the Diocese.

He accepted courageously the loss of four of his sisters over the past four years and the loss of his own energies through ill health.

In recent months especially, he appreciated very much the short visits from colleagues and friends who kept him up to date on all that was happening in the Diocese and in the nation.

Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin said he was very saddened to hear of the death of Bishop Jones.

Fifty-six years of priesthood, and twenty-four years as a bishop sums up a life of commitment, fidelity, service and love for the people, religious and priests of his home Diocese of Elphin.

I shall never forget the warmth of his welcome to me upon my own ordination as a bishop five years ago; the encouragement and support he gave me is typical of this generous and devout servant of God.

I wish to sincerely acknowledge Bishop Jones contribution as a member of the Bishops Conference, particularly in his nine years as chair of the Episcopal Commission and Department for Pastoral Care.

Bishop Jones also served for many years as chair of the Bishops Committee for Family Welfare and Children and was instrumental in the foundation of the Bishops Council for Marriage and the Family, on which he served as its first chairman. From 2010 to 2014 Bishop Jones also served as President of Accord, Catholic Marriage Care Service.

Bishop Christy was a man for others, and was very committed throughout his lifetime to person-centred social services.

Throughout his ministry, Bishop Christy also showed a great affinity and pastoral dedication to the Travelling community, and the mutual warmth between both was very evident during the 50th International Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin in 2012.

The opening of the Bishop Christopher Jones Learning Centre in 2016 for students with autism at the College of the Immaculate Conception in Sligo brought particular joy to Bishop Jones, who held a deep connection to the school as a former student, staff member and patron.

Bishop Christy was a much loved pastor, kind and caring. He had strong principles and was courageous in speaking his mind on many issues of the day.

On my last visit to him on Easter Monday, he was calm and at peace, conscious that he would soon be returning to God who called him to service all those years ago.

Father Dermot Meehan, Diocesan Administrator, Diocese of Achonry the death of Bishop Jones left a significant gap in the life of the Western Dioceses.

His friendship was deeply valued and sustaining. His untiring witness to outreach to the poor and marginalised was truly a blessing to many and an example to all.

His place in our memory is assured and we pray that he may eternally enjoy the fullness of the Kingdom of God, to which he was ever faithful and to which he continually called those in his care, he said.

Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Councillor Seamus Kilgannon recalled the late Bishop Jones as a decent and generous man whose discreet acts of kindness touched so many people.

He was a true and loyal friend to the most vulnerable people in our community and was always a passionate and articulate advocate on their behalf. He was a special person and was held in great fondness by the people of Sligo.

Bishop Jones retired as Bishop on 13 July 2014, but continued to live in Sligo.

Since his retirement he suffered the loss of four of his sisters, Patricia, Pauline, Ann (Nan) and Mary.

In the face of these losses and the serious decline in his own health during the same period, he showed great courage and resilience maintaining his interest in everything that was going on in the Diocese and in the wider Church.

Though not obliged to do so, he participated in the Ad Limina visit of the Irish Bishops to Pope Francis in January 2017.

Bishop Jones is survived by his sister Eileen (Sisters of Jesus and Mary, Enniscrone), by his sister-in-law Pauline and by a host of nieces and nephews.

Over his ministry Bishop Jones immersed himself in the life of the Diocese.

As a Diocesan Bishop, Bishop Christy also participated actively in the Councils and Commissions of the Catholic Bishops Conference.

He chaired various commissions and councils, including the Commission for Pastoral Care and the Council for Social Welfare.

He was also a Director of Cura, the crisis pregnancy agency.

At the time of his retirement in 2014, he was chairperson of the Episcopal Council for Marriage and the Family and President of Accord, the Catholic Churchs Service for Marriage and the Family.

He consistently sought to raise awareness of the dependence of society on a stable family life.

Until his retirement, Bishop Jones devoted a very significant amount of his time and energy to developing policies and procedures for safeguarding children in the Diocese of Elphin. Bishop Jones led the Diocese through the first audit of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland.
The three young sons of murder victim Natalia Karaczyn have moved to Poland for good.

The children, aged 2, 5 and 9 years were brought to their parents home country on Sunday to be reared by their grandmother and uncle.

It's believed moving to Poland gives the children the only chance of a normal childhood where their mother's murder has gone largely unreported among the wider public there.

Before they left, Gardai from Sligo Garda Station organised a few special treats for the boys before they left Ireland for good.

The children were treated to a fishing trip with Ewing's Boat Charters around Sligo Bay, a family meal in the Clayton Hotel, a tour of the Coastguard Helicopter and a meet and greet with Sligo Fire Brigade. An anonymous donor also paid for a bouncy castle and "a few other surprises" last Thursday and Friday.

"The eldest son said he'd never be able to go fishing with his Dad - if that doesn't break your heart nothing will," a local Garda source told The Sligo Champion.

Judge Kevin Kilrane referred to the fund at last Thursday's sitting of Sligo District Court:"If I can put some monies to that I will do that. It's a very worthy event to relieve their obvious distress and trauma. It's a very good idea by Sgt Gerry Moylan who will keep a full and complete record of it. If there are any monies left over they will be donated to Cancer Care."

One young defendant before the court agreed to donate 100 to the cause.

The body of Natalia (30) was recovered near Lough Gill shortly after 10am on Tuesday 1st May following a large-scale search effort by local gardai.

The young mother had been strangled to death. Her husband Rafal Karacyzn is currently in custody on a charge of murdering his wife at their home in Crozon Park, Sligo on Sunday 29th April.
Miranda Kerr went public with the news on Instagram (PA)

Miranda Kerr has confirmed the birth of her first child with Snapchat co-founder husband Evan Spiegel in an adorable Instagram post.

The Australian model, 35, welcomed baby Hart into the world earlier this month but until now had remained silent on social media.

Now, 17 days after giving birth in Los Angeles, Kerr has gone public with the news.

Alongside a picture of a stuffed animal and wooden block letters spelling out Hart, Kerr wrote: Thank you so much for all of your warm wishes. Evan, Flynn and I have been in baby bliss for the last 17 days with our new arrival, baby Hart.

She added: We feel so very blessed.

News of the childs birth broke earlier this month when it was reported Hart was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

This is the first child for Kerr and Spiegel, who married in May 2017.

Kerr, a former Victorias Secret Angel, has a seven-year-old son, Flynn, with her former partner, actor Orlando Bloom.
A police officer has thanked a family who paid for his evening meal just because he was a cop.

The unnamed officer, who serves with Oxford Police Department in Mississippi, shared a picture of his bill on Twitter with a message from a family explaining it was settled.

The officer  and a fellow diner  ate a burger and steak washed down with tea and coffee.

But when they received the $28 (21) printed bill a note had been added in pen.

To the McCarty family I never got to meet.... Thanks for the great meal!#stayawesome pic.twitter.com/zsE7L2t2Vp  Oxford Police Dept (@OxfordPolice) May 24, 2018

It read: Yall support us, so I can feed yall! It was signed McCartys family.

The officer had been eating at the Ajax Diner in Oxfords Courthouse Square.

Sharing a pic on Twitter, the officer wrote: To the McCarty family I never got to meet Thanks for the great meal!

The gesture had the departments followers welling up.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the completed railway that connects Koam and Dapchon, in this undated photo released by North Koreas Central News Agency yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump has threatened Kim Jong-un with military action if he acts in a "foolish" manner after he cancelled their June 12 meeting in Singapore.

The US president said America's military "is ready if necessary" to act after consulting with James Mattis, the US defence secretary, and the joint chiefs of staff.

Mr Trump said he had spoken to America's allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, who were prepared "should foolish or reckless acts be taken by North Korea".

He added: "Hopefully, positive things will be taking place with respect to the future of North Korea.

"But if they don't we are more ready then we have ever been before."

The president cancelled the planned summit in a letter to the North Korean leader on Thursday, warning: "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

It marks a significant shift in tone from just a few weeks ago, when Mr Trump said the meeting could be a "very special moment for World Peace!"

Mr Trump said he was calling off the meeting because of North Korea's rhetoric in recent comments about his Vice-President, Mike Pence.

The North Koreans hit out at Mr Pence yesterday, calling him "ignorant and stupid" after he warned Kim it would be a "great mistake" to try to play Washington ahead of the planned summit.

Vice-minister of foreign affairs, Choe Son-hui, issued a statement saying North Korea was just as ready to meet in a nuclear confrontation as at the negotiating table.

"I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," the president said.

Mr Trump kept open the possibility for future talks with Kim, saying: "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call or write.

"The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth."

Failure

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, said North Korea's failure to respond to repeated requests from US officials to discuss logistics for the summit was another reason it was cancelled.

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Pompeo said: "We've not been able to conduct the preparations between our two teams that would be necessary to have a successful summit.

"We had received no response to our inquiries from them."

Mr Pompeo said the North's attitude changed markedly since he returned from a trip to Pyongyang earlier this month, when he met with Kim and secured the release of three American prisoners being held there.

However he said he did not think the summit's cancellation was a sign Kim was a "weak leader." "In fact, he has demonstrated enormous capacity to lead his country and his team," he told the committee.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in's office said it was "trying to figure out" Mr Trump's intentions in cancelling the summit.

North Korea claimed it had completely destroyed a nuclear test site as a positive gesture ahead of the planned talks.

The state blew up three tunnels and up to 10 buildings in a series of spectacular explosions yesterday observed by international journalists in line with promises it had made for the June summit with the US.

"There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud," reported Tom Cheshire on Sky News, who was among those invited.

"It blew an observation cabin made out of wood to complete smithereens."

In an official statement, Pyongyang hailed the dismantlement of the remote Punggye-ri site in the mountains of North Hamgyong province as an important step towards a "nuclear-free peaceful world."

Thirty journalists from the UK, US, Russia, China and South Korea spent about nine hours at the location where six nuclear tests have been conducted since 2006.

The most recent, a hydrogen bomb with an estimated yield of 250 kilotons, on September 3 last year, caused a 6.3 magnitude earthquake, which some believe caused extensive damage to the facilities.

However, amid an ongoing diplomatic thaw with South Korea, Pyongyang announced its plan in April to totally demolish its testing ground as a sign of its genuine commitment to work towards denuclearisation and peace on the Korean peninsula.

Scientist and North Korea experts have raised questions about whether the site's destruction will have any tangible impact on Pyongyang's already well-advanced nuclear weapons programme, which Kim declared in April was "complete".

But others say the fact North Korea agreed to destroy the site without preconditions or asking for something in return from Washington suggests the regime is serious about change.

The "high-level transparency" of the dismantlement attested to the "peace-loving efforts" of the North Korean government, said an official statement released through the official news agency, KCNA.

"The discontinuance of the nuclear test is an important process moving towards global nuclear disarmament." ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
The only ones to survive were flightless species that lived on the ground and every bird alive today is descended from these emu-like ancestors, scientists believe. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Birds had to rediscover flight all over again after the meteor strike that killed off the dinosaurs, scientists believe.

The cataclysm 66 million years ago not only wiped out Tyrannosaurus rex and his relatives, but also tree-living flying birds.

The only ones to survive were flightless species that lived on the ground and every bird alive today is descended from these emu-like ancestors, scientists believe.

Co-author Dr Daniel Field, from Bath University, said: "The ancestors of modern tree-dwelling birds did not move into the trees until the forests had recovered."

The 10 to 14km-wide meteor, which may have been an asteroid or comet, struck the Earth off the coast of Mexico, releasing a million times more energy than the largest atomic bomb.

Fossil records show evidence of mass deforestation and birds surviving the end of the Cretaceous period had long sturdy legs made for living on the ground.
A prank call to Boris Johnson has triggered a diplomatic row after the Kremlin was accused of being behind the "desperate" stunt.

The UK foreign secretary was caught out by a Russian prankster who kept him on the phone for 18 minutes by pretending to be the new prime minister of Armenia.

Mr Johnson unwittingly discussed President Vladimir Putin and the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal before he rumbled the hoax and ended the call.

The UK's Foreign Office believes the pranksters, who have previously caught out other politicians, made the call with the blessing of the Kremlin to "save face" after it was shamed over the Salisbury attack.

A recording of the phone call, which happened last week, was put online the day after Yulia Skripal made her first public statement about her poisoning, in which she said she had been the victim of an attempted assassination.

It also came on the day that Dutch investigators revealed evidence that a Russian military missile shot down flight MH-17 over Ukraine in 2014.

Alexei Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov, who call themselves Lexus and Vovan, are the two men who made the call to Mr Johnson last week.

Their previous victims include Elton John, the Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the US energy secretary Rick Perry.

They are understood to have convinced the UK's Europe Minister Alan Duncan in a previous call that one of them was Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian premier.

It enabled them to get through to Mr Johnson's private office in a second call.

Speaking in English with a Russian accent, the caller asked Mr Johnson for advice on what he should say to Mr Putin when he met him, as well as discussing the Skripal case. Mr Johnson responded by saying that "we will continue to tighten the squeeze on some of the oligarchs who surround Putin", adding: "You throw a stone in Kensington and you'll hit an oligarch."

He also said Britain was "almost 100pc sure" Russia was behind the Salisbury poisonings, and said: "If I have a message to Putin, it's that we don't want a cold war but we do want to see an improvement in the way Russia behaves."

A senior diplomatic source said: "This seems to be the latest desperate attempt by the Kremlin to save face after it was internationally shamed in the wake of the Skripal attack." ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
A "very dangerous, coercive and manipulative" Army sergeant has been found guilty of attempting to murder his wife by tampering with her parachute and sabotaging a gas valve at their home.

A jury of nine men and three women convicted Emile Cilliers (38), of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, of two attempted murder charges and a third count of damaging the gas fitting, recklessly endangering life, following a retrial at Winchester Crown Court.

The defendant showed no emotion as he was convicted unanimously on the two counts of attempted murder and by a majority of 10 to two on the criminal damage charge.

Victoria Cilliers, a highly experienced parachuting instructor, suffered near-fatal injuries when both her main and reserve parachutes failed when she took part in a jump at the Army Parachute Association at Netheravon, Wiltshire, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015.

Speaking outside court, Detective Inspector Paul Franklin said: "The real danger with Emile Cilliers is he is cold, calculated, deliberate and acted for financial and sexual motives.

"There was absolutely no consideration of his wife or anyone else, he serves his own needs and that makes him a very dangerous man."

Expand Close Emile Cilliers, who was found guilty of trying to murder his wife Victoria by sabotaging her parachute, also tried to kill her by tampering with a gas valve at their home. Photo: Getty / Facebook

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Whatsapp Emile Cilliers, who was found guilty of trying to murder his wife Victoria by sabotaging her parachute, also tried to kill her by tampering with a gas valve at their home. Photo: Getty

Describing the impact on Ms Cilliers, Mr Franklin said: "I don't think we can underestimate the ordeal that she has been put through.

"Physically she is well but obviously she is still traumatised."

Hannah Squire, junior counsel for the prosecution, said: "The jury heard details of his coercive behaviour towards his wife and his continued manipulation of all the women in his life to satisfy his own desires, whether financial or sexual.

"He showed complete and utter contempt for his wife and this culminated in his desire to have her dead, whether that be to start a new life with his lover Stefanie Goller, benefit financially from the death of Victoria Cilliers, or both."

The trial heard Cilliers, who had "out of control" debts racked up by taking his lover on expensive holidays, first attempted to kill his wife by tampering with a gas valve at their home in Amesbury, Wiltshire, at the end of March 2015.

After his wife discovered the gas leak, Cilliers, who was also in contact with prostitutes and seeing his former wife for sex, made a second attempt on Ms Cilliers' life by sabotaging both her main and reserve parachutes, causing her to fall 4,000ft to the ground, which she "miraculously survived".

Expand Close The parachute. Photo: Wiltshire Police / Facebook

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Michael Bowes QC said the defendant should be considered "dangerous" and added: "We submit the defendant has shown himself to be of quite exceptional callousness, who will stop at nothing to satisfy his own desires, material or otherwise."

Remanding the defendant in custody until sentencing on June 15, Mr Justice Sweeney said he would ask for a probation report to be prepared on Cilliers and added: "Because dangerousness plays such a significant part in this sentencing, it does seem to me that I ought, in fairness to the defendant, get a view."
Apple said it was pleased with the outcome

A US jury has decided Samsung must pay Apple 539 million US dollars (403 million) in damages in the latest twist of a legal battle that began in 2011.

Apple contends Samsung would not have emerged as the worlds leading seller of smartphones if it had not ripped off the technology powering the pioneering iPhone in developing a line of similar devices running on Googles Android software.

Previous rulings had already determined that Samsung infringed on some of Apples patents, but the amount of damages owed has been hanging in legal limbo.

Another jury convened for a 2012 trial had determined Samsung should pay Apple 1.05 billion dollars, but US District Judge Lucy Koh reduced that amount to 548 million dollars (409 million).

The issue escalated to the US Supreme Court, which determined in 2016 that a lower court needed to re-examine 399 million dollars (298 million) of the 548 million dollars.

That ruling was based on the concept that the damages should not be based on all the profits that the South Korean electronics giant rung up from products that copied the iPhone because its infringement may only have violated a few patents.

Expand Close The revised damages figure was not as much as Apple had sought (PA) / Facebook

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Whatsapp The revised damages figure was not as much as Apple had sought (PA)

Apple had argued it was owed more than one billion dollars while Samsung contended the 399 million dollars should be slashed to 28 million dollars (20 million).

The revised damages figure represents a victory for Apple, even though it is not as much as the Cupertino, California, company had sought.

Todays decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favour of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages, Samsung said in a statement.

We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.

An eight-person jury came up with the new amount following a one-week trial and four days of deliberation in a San Jose, California, federal courthouse.

Apple expressed gratitude to the jury for agreeing that Samsung should pay for copying our products.

This case has always been about more than money, a company statement said.

Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design.
Dresden extended a mass evacuation sparked by the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb after a failed bid to defuse it sparked a fire.Stock image

Dresden extended a mass evacuation sparked by the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb after a failed bid to defuse it sparked a fire.

"At the moment the danger level is quite high and an assessment of the situation is impossible," police said about the bomb site near the German city''s central station.

The fire near the 250kg weapon forced the evacuation of almost 9,000 people, including residents of two care homes and a hospital.

The corroded bomb had been discovered during construction work in the Saxony state capital, which was heavily bombed toward the end of World War II.

A police bomb squad managed to blast away the detonator but the operation set ablaze materials that had been placed nearby to help absorb blast waves from a potentially larger detonation.

Police said specialists would only be able to return once the fire had gone out.

Some 25 flights in and out of Dresden were scrapped as authorities closed the air space near the bomb site on Wednesday, and more flights were cancelled yesterday.
A woman carries a picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at an event in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Photo: Reuters/Hassan Abdallah

Iran's supreme leader has threatened to pull his country out of the nuclear deal and resume enriching uranium if European countries do not promise to buy Iranian oil and to oppose all new US sanctions against Tehran.

Three days after US secretary of state Mike Pompeo delivered America's extensive list of demands of Iran for a new nuclear agreement, Ayatollah Khamenei laid out his own demands of European countries for Iran to stay in the 2015 deal.

"If the Europeans hesitate in responding to our demands, Iran is entitled to resuming its nuclear activities," he said.

The sweeping demands are likely to be rejected by Britain, France and Germany - diminishing the already narrow hopes of saving of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

The ayatollah made five demands, calling on them to "guarantee the total sales of Iran's oil", meaning Europe must promise to make up for any oil sales from third countries which are cancelled because of US sanctions. Such a guarantee would potentially cost Europe billions of dollars.

The ayatollah said European banks "must guarantee business transactions with the Islamic Republic", even in the face of US sanctions. European banks that continue to deal with Iran could be blacklisted and frozen out of the American financial system.

He called on the Europeans to issue a UN security council resolution condemning US president Donald Trump's decision to leave the deal and Europe "must confront imposition of any sanctions on the Islamic Republic and stand firmly against US sanctions".

Finally, he said Europe "must guarantee it will not raise the issue of the Islamic Republic's missiles and regional affairs".

The ayatollah may have staked out a deliberately demanding position to give more room for the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, to appear conciliatory in his own meetings with the Europeans to try to save the nuclear agreement.

Mr Zarif and other reformist figures are eager to preserve the deal, while more hardline politicians and elements with the Revolutionary Guard want to see it scrapped. The supreme leader has the final decision.

But if Iran's real red lines are even close to the sweeping demands made by the ayatollah it is unlikely the Europeans will be able to satisfy Tehran.

A UK Foreign Office spokeswoman did not directly address the ayatollah's demands but said the UK, along with the EU, "continues to view the nuclear deal as a vital factor in our shared security".

The two positions staked out this week - one by Mr Pompeo and the other by Ayatollah Khamenei - leave a narrow and treacherous path for European diplomats as they try to salvage the 2015 agreement.

Mr Pompeo said the US would inflict the "strongest sanctions in history" on Iran unless it agreed to 12 American demands, including withdrawing from Syria and halting its funding of militant groups like Hizbollah and Hamas.
The Netherlands and Australia are holding Russia legally responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

It was shot down over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago, killing all 298 people on board.

The announcement came a day after international investigators announced that the missile system that brought down the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight came from a Russia-based military unit.

Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok said following that conclusion the government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable.

He said the Netherlands and Australia have asked Russia to enter into talks aimed at finding a solution that would do justice to the tremendous suffering and damage caused by the downing of MH17.

Russia denies involvement in the July 17 2014 missile strike.

Bodies, debris and burning wreckage were strewn over a field of sunflowers near the rebel-held village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, about 25 miles from the Russian border, where fighting had been raging for months.

The father of one of the passengers on the Boeing 777 welcomed the move.

This is great news, said Hans de Borst, who lost his daughter Elsemiek. I understand why the government waited, but now the evidence is clear.

The BUK missile deployed in the tragic downing of #MH17 on 17 July 2014 belonged to the Russian Federations 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Military Brigade. #Ukraine #JIT https://t.co/wC1ZvWaWpx  Julie Bishop (@HonJulieBishop) May 24, 2018

Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop called for support from the international community for the move.

This represents a threat to international security, she said.

If military weapons can be deployed and then used to bring down civilian aircraft in what was essentially a war zone, then international security is at risk and we call on all countries to inform the Russian Federation that its conduct is unacceptable.

Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected the accusations.

He said Moscow has been barred from the investigation and cannot trust its results, and claimed Ukraine contributed to the tragedy by failing to ban civilian air traffic over the war zone.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed the missile that downed MH17 more than likely came from Ukrainian arsenals.

The ministry said fragments displayed by investigators indicated the Soviet-made missile was produced in 1986. It said the Russian military decommissioned all missiles of that type in 2011.

It added that Ukraine inherited such missiles from the Soviet army, adding that the fragments indicated the weapon more than likely belonged to the Ukrainian armed forces.
International journalists observe the destruction of the Punggye-ri test site in North Korea. Photo: Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the completed railway that connects Koam and Dapchon, in this undated photo released by North Koreas Central News Agency yesterday. Photo: Reuters

If one thing is known about Donald Trump's approach to foreign policy, it is that he sees every issue as a zero-sum game negotiation.

From the Iran nuclear deal and China trade battle, to getting Mexican border wall funding and more Nato defence spending, the president has followed a similar pattern.

First he builds up the threat of something terrible happening, then forces the other side to the negotiating table in the hope of reaching a middle ground.

With North Korea, exactly that had been playing out. There were threats of "fire and fury", escalating military exercises in the region and a spiralling war of words with Kim Jong-un in 2017.

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But when Mr Kim changed his tune in 2018, sending athletes to the South Korean Winter Olympics and holding talks with South Korea, Mr Trump jumped on what he wanted: to sit down at the negotiating table.

So what has changed? Why has the president pulled the plug on a June 12 summit in Singapore so historic that the US government already minted coins to celebrate?

The president's view of negotiations is you are either coming from a position of strength or weakness.

In the run-up to the summit, Mr Trump felt well-placed.

His tough rhetoric had brought Mr Kim to the negotiating table. He had tangible wins in the form of three US detainees being returned.

Mr Kim had begun showing the respect rhetorically that he demands from other world leaders and in turn the president had reciprocated, thanking the "excellent" North Korean leader for the US detainees' return.

But in the last fortnight that changed. Suddenly it has been the regime making the running - threatening to pull the talks and chastising America for its approach and demanding concessions.

The change in tone left Mr Trump appearing weakened, seeking to placate the North Korean regime in an attempt to keep the summit afloat.

The president tried at first. He undermined John Bolton, his national security adviser, by saying the Libya model - when Muammar Gaddafi abandoned his nuclear programme - would not be used for North Korea. He also offered Mr Kim "protections" if he did a deal.

But the tough rhetoric from Pyongyang continued, leaving Mr Trump to play a card familiar from his business career - walking away from the negotiating table.

Interestingly, in Mr Trump's letter announcing the cancellation he repeatedly keeps the door open to rearranging talks, telling Mr Kim: "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

North Korea had begun to indicate that it was unwilling to agree to Mr Trump's terms for talks.

The Trump administration's starting point to talks was that the North Koreans must agree to fully denuclearise - whatever the time frame and definition - before the US would act.

In other words, Mr Kim needed to act first and follow through on his warming rhetoric. Only then would America consider easing economic sanctions.

In recent statements, the North Koreans have rejected that starting point.

Last week Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea's first vice-minister of foreign affairs, said: "If the US is trying to drive us into a corner to force our unilateral nuclear abandonment, we will no longer be interested in such dialogue."

The North Koreans wanted a tit-for-tat approach, where steps towards denuclearisation were made alongside an easing of sanctions.

In the last week that has looked less and less likely.

Pyongyang's decision to target figures close to the president for criticism likely rankled for a president who prizes loyalty above all else.

Mr Bolton was singled out by North Korea last week in the first signs the regime was changing its stance on talks.

Mr Kim, the senior foreign affairs official, said the county's leaders viewed Mr Bolton with "repugnance" and criticised his adoption of the 'Libya model' for talks.

Then on Thursday, Mike Pence, the US vice president, was dubbed a "political dummy" who had expressed "impudent" views by another North Korean official.

The president said in an interview on the Wednesday before that there was a "good chance" the meeting would go ahead, suggesting those comments had an impact.

North Korean jibes at senior Trump administration officials could only be left unanswered for so long.

Finally, there is the domestic political pressure.

The first few months of 2018 have seen Mr Trump lauded by his right-wing supporters as North Korea appeared to come in from the cold.

Some floated the idea of Mr Trump winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The president humbly reacted by saying "everyone" thought he should get the award but that "victory for the world" would be much better.

What a difference a fortnight makes.

The return of North Korea hostility has got the left crowing again, portraying the president as a dunce who got fooled by Pyongyang.

"North Korea acts like North Korea" tweets were issued by foreign policy experts with a "we told you so" tone that may have got under the president's skin.

When Mr Kim threatened to scrap the summit, Mr Trump was criticised for believing North Korea's earlier warming in rhetoric and proclaiming that progress was being made.

Now the president has taken back the initiative by doing what he always threatened to do - walking away. ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
North Korea said it is still "willing to give the US time and opportunities" to reconsider talks (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea has said it is still willing to sit down for talks with the United States at any time, at any format after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un.

Mr Trump blamed tremendous anger and open hostility by Pyongyang and abandoned for now a meeting that held the promise of a historic peace deal but also the risk of diplomatic meltdown.

North Korea issued a statement on Friday saying it is still willing to give the US time and opportunities to reconsider talks at any time, at any format.

Vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan called Mr Trumps decision unexpected and very regrettable, and said the cancellation of the talks shows how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-US relations is and how urgently a summit should be realised to improve ties.

In a letter to Mr Kim announcing his decision to back away from the June 12 summit, Mr Trump pointed to Americas vast military might and warned the rising nuclear power against any foolish or reckless acts.

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The letter kicked off a day of mixed messages by the president, who declared hours later that I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do whats right.

Then, after that, a senior White House official said the North lacked judgment and had reneged on its promises ahead of the summit.

Mr Trump said from the White House that a maximum pressure campaign of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea, with which the US is technically still at war, but he added that it was possible the summit could still take place at some point.

The presidents surprise exit capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down.

Th US announcement came not long after Mr Kim appeared to make good on his promise to demolish his countrys nuclear test site.

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But it also followed escalating frustration  and newly antagonistic rhetoric  from North Korea over comments from Trump aides about US expectations for the Norths denuclearisation.

The senior US official said the North violated a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed implosion of the site on Thursday.

International journalists were present, but the US government cannot verify the sites destruction.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, a staunch Kim ally, said the North Korean leader had in fact done everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts of his countrys nuclear testing site.

Mr Putin said of Mr Trumps announcement, In Russia we took this news with regret.

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Mr Trump, in his letter to Mr Kim, objected specifically to a statement from a top North Korean Foreign Ministry official.

That statement referred to US vice president Mike Pence as a political dummy for his comments on the North and said it was up to the Americans whether they would meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

Underscoring the high stakes, Mr Trump said he had spoken with military leaders, as well as Japan and South Korea, and stressed that the United States was prepared for any threat.

Still, Mr Trumps announcement appeared to surprise South Korea, which had pushed to keep the summit on track as recently as Tuesday, when President Moon Jae-in met with Mr Trump in the Oval Office and said the fate and the future of the Korean Peninsula hinged on the talks.

The Blue House said on Thursday that it was trying to figure out Mr Trumps intentions in cancelling the summit.

Mr Trump, who considers himself a master dealmaker, has confounded aides and allies at every turn of the fateful flirtation with the North.

He looked past the warnings of senior aides when he accepted Mr Kims invitation to meet back in March. He unveiled the date and the time with characteristic showmanship.

After initially projecting calm in the face of North Koreas escalating rhetoric, he made a sudden about face, though his letter also waxed poetic about the wonderful dialogue emerging between the two leaders.

Mr Trump wrote: If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

It was unclear whether Mr Trumps move marked a negotiating ploy or a manifestation of mounting internal concerns over ensuring a successful outcome for the summit.

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Mr Trump was briefed on Wednesday night and made the decision to exit on Thursday morning after consulting with top advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, to whom he dictated the letter, said the senior official.

The question now is how Mr Trumps manoeuvring will be received.

His letter could make the situation worse in a society where saving face can be pivotal. Mr Kim might well take offence at the hard-nosed US approach after he released American detainees and destroyed a nuclear site.

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Singapore said it regrets the cancellation of the summit that was to be held there next month.

A statement from Singapores foreign affairs ministry said it hopes that the dialogue and efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue.

Japan said it understands Mr Trumps cancellation.

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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the summit is useful only when it makes progress on the Norths nuclear and missile abandonment and on the issue of the Norths abductions of Japanese citizens.

Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono, in Mexico for talks with officials, said Japan expects a summit where North Korea can commit to denuclearise itself and said Japan will keep cooperating with Washington to achieve it.
North Korea said it is still "willing to give the US time and opportunities" to reconsider talks (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Donald Trump has welcomed North Korea's latest statement on nuclear talks as "good news" and said: "We will soon see where it will lead."

The North Korean government said it was still "willing to give the US time and opportunities" to reconsider talks "at any time, at any format".

The statement was issued in response to Mr Trump's abrupt cancellation of the June summit between the two countries in the US bid to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapon.

The US president tweeted: "Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!"

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Previously, Mr Trump blamed "tremendous anger and open hostility" by Pyongyang and abandoned for now a meeting that held the promise of a historic peace deal but also the risk of diplomatic meltdown.

North Korea issued a statement on Friday saying it is still "willing to give the US time and opportunities" to reconsider talks "at any time, at any format".

Vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan called Mr Trump's decision "unexpected" and "very regrettable", and said the cancellation of the talks shows "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-US relations is and how urgently a summit should be realised to improve ties".

In a letter to Mr Kim announcing his decision to back away from the June 12 summit, Mr Trump pointed to America's vast military might and warned the rising nuclear power against any "foolish or reckless acts".

The letter kicked off a day of mixed messages by the president, who declared hours later that "I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do what's right".

Then, after that, a senior White House official said the North lacked judgment and had reneged on its promises ahead of the summit.

Mr Trump said from the White House that a "maximum pressure campaign" of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea, with which the US is technically still at war, but he added that it was possible the summit could still take place at some point.

The president's surprise exit capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down.

Th US announcement came not long after Mr Kim appeared to make good on his promise to demolish his country's nuclear test site.

But it also followed escalating frustration - and newly antagonistic rhetoric - from North Korea over comments from Trump aides about US expectations for the North's "denuclearisation".

The senior US official said the North violated a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed implosion of the site on Thursday.

International journalists were present, but the US government cannot verify the site's destruction.

Russian president Vladimir Putin, a staunch Kim ally, said the North Korean leader had in fact done "everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts" of his country's nuclear testing site.

Mr Putin said of Mr Trump's announcement, "In Russia we took this news with regret."

Mr Trump, in his letter to Mr Kim, objected specifically to a statement from a top North Korean Foreign Ministry official.

That statement referred to US vice president Mike Pence as a "political dummy" for his comments on the North and said it was up to the Americans whether they would "meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown".

Underscoring the high stakes, Mr Trump said he had spoken with military leaders, as well as Japan and South Korea, and stressed that the United States was prepared for any threat.

Still, Mr Trump's announcement appeared to surprise South Korea, which had pushed to keep the summit on track as recently as Tuesday, when President Moon Jae-in met with Mr Trump in the Oval Office and said the "fate and the future" of the Korean Peninsula hinged on the talks.

The Blue House said on Thursday that it was trying to figure out Mr Trump's intentions in cancelling the summit.

Mr Trump, who considers himself a master dealmaker, has confounded aides and allies at every turn of the fateful flirtation with the North.

He looked past the warnings of senior aides when he accepted Mr Kim's invitation to meet back in March. He unveiled the date and the time with characteristic showmanship.

After initially projecting calm in the face of North Korea's escalating rhetoric, he made a sudden about face, though his letter also waxed poetic about the "wonderful dialogue" emerging between the two leaders.

Mr Trump wrote: "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

It was unclear whether Mr Trump's move marked a negotiating ploy or a manifestation of mounting internal concerns over ensuring a successful outcome for the summit.

Mr Trump was briefed on Wednesday night and made the decision to exit on Thursday morning after consulting with top advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, to whom he dictated the letter, said the senior official.

The question now is how Mr Trump's manoeuvring will be received.

His letter could make the situation worse in a society where saving face can be pivotal. Mr Kim might well take offence at the hard-nosed US approach after he released American detainees and destroyed a nuclear site.

Singapore said it regrets the cancellation of the summit that was to be held there next month.

A statement from Singapore's foreign affairs ministry said it "hopes that the dialogue and efforts to find lasting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula will continue".

Japan said it understands Mr Trump's cancellation.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the summit is useful only when it makes progress on the North's nuclear and missile abandonment and on the issue of the North's abductions of Japanese citizens.

Japanese foreign minister Taro Kono, in Mexico for talks with officials, said Japan expects a summit where North Korea can commit to denuclearise itself and said Japan will keep cooperating with Washington to achieve it.
Two parents are reportedly facing charges after their four-year-old daughter was killed by a space heater.

According to the Idaho Statesman, Jennifer Miller (31) and Nicolas Rose (26) were arrested on Wednesday in connection to the death of their daughter, Alliee (4).

The four-year-old died on April 10 in the carpark of Walmart in Boise.

Police said that Alliee had been sleeping in a car with her mother and younger brother Lane when the space heater went on fire.

The mother and boy sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries, but Alliee later died from her injuries.

Boise police in April said the fire was likely caused by a portable heating device being used in the car.

According to the Idaho Statesman, Miller was charged with felony injury to a child while Rose faces a felony burglary charge and misdemeanor petit theft.

Authorities said they believe Rose stole the portable heating device that likely started the fire.

A GoFundMe page was created to cover the 4-year-olds funeral costs.

Alliee was a beautiful, carefree little girl who loved her family and her baby brother, Lane, the page said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has bemoaned troubled relations with the US, saying Russia wants to improve them but is effectively held hostage by the disputes surrounding Donald Trump.

Mr Putins comments, during a meeting with top editors of international news agencies, underlined how Russias once-high hopes for improved relations under Mr Trump have eroded.

Although the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Russia and expelled scores of its diplomats, Russian politicians generally portray Mr Trump as blocked by domestic opposition from fulfilling his campaign promises of improving relations with Moscow.

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Earlier in the day, speaking at an annual economic forum, Mr Putin sharply criticised Mr Trumps decision to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal, saying it could trigger dangerous instability.

The Russian leader said the US withdrawal from the 2015 agreement came even as the international nuclear watchdog confirmed that Tehran was fulfilling its obligations. What should it be punished for, then? Mr Putin asked.

Mr Trumps administration has demanded that Iran stop the enrichment of uranium and end its involvement in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Afghanistan in order to negotiate a new deal.

If international agreements are revised every four years it would offer zero horizon for planning, Mr Putin said. It will create the atmosphere of nervousness and lack of trust.

During the meeting with editors, Mr Putin declined to assess relations between Mr Trump and North Koreas Kim Jong Un, but said the United States should not try to take a hard line with the country.

In order to talk about a full denuclearisation of North Korea, I believe we should give North Korea a guarantee of their sovereignty and inviolability, the Russian president said.

I am deeply convinced that if you dont impose anything, if you dont behave aggressively and if you dont corner North Korea, the result that we need will be achieved faster than many would think, and at less cost.

Mr Putin also expressed frustration at having little contact with Mr Trump and faulted the investigation into whether there was collusion between Mr Trumps campaign and Russia and whether Russia tried to interfere with the 2016 US election.

We are hostages to this internal strife in the United States, Mr Putin said. I hope that it will end some day and the objective need for the development of Russian-American relationships will prevail.

At the economic forum, Mr Putin also engaged in a tongue-in-cheek exchange with French president Emmanuel Macron, saying with a smile that Russia could help protect Europe if its rift with the US widens over Iran.

Dont you worry, we will help ensure your security, Mr Putin said. Mr Macron responded on a serious note that France and its allies could stand for themselves.
A source said Donald Trump's lawyer met Viktor Vekselberg ahead of the inauguration (Evan Vucci/AP)

Donald Trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with a Russian oligarch and discussed US-Russia relations just 11 days before Mr Trump was inaugurated as president, according to a source.

A person familiar with the meeting, held at Trump Tower in New York, said the oligarch, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, met with Mr Cohen for about 20 minutes in his office.

The two men were joined by Andrew Intrater, Mr Vekselbergs American cousin, who leads a New York private equity firm that manages his financial assets.

Soon after the inauguration, Mr Intraters company, Columbus Nova, paid Mr Cohen 500,000 US dollars (376,000) for consulting work.

Mr Vekselberg was targeted in April with US Treasury Department sanctions, citing his ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrived in India on May 24 for a two day visit. A 200 member delegation accompanied him, the largest Dutch delegation to any country  including the deputy PM, cabinet ministers in charge of health, trade, and infrastructure, representatives from 130 firms, and CEOs from 15 companies, among others.

Despite having to cut his own trip short due to domestic political matters (findings released on the MH-17 air crash over Ukraine in 2014), the Dutch delegation will continue to attend all programs as planned.

The delegates will be visiting Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru to sign several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to promote cooperation and collaboration between small and medium enterprises and startups in India and the Netherlands.

Trade and investment discussions will focus on the infrastructure, education, healthcare, life sciences research, waste management, water conservation, and agro-processing sectors.

Expanding Indo-Dutch trade ties

Indo-Dutch trade ties date back to 400 years during the colonial era. Since then, relations between the two countries have transformed. At present, the Netherlands is Indias 28th largest trading partner globally, and sixth largest in the EU.

Major Indian exports to the Netherlands include: petroleum products and related materials (19.8 percent); apparel and clothing textile yarns, fabrics, and made-up articles (15.3 percent); organic chemicals (7.9 percent); vegetables and fruits (5.3 percent); and electric machinery (3.6 percent). Dutch exports, on the other hand, consist of metalliferrous ores and metal scrap, plastics, and general industrial machinery.

While trade between the two countries slowed down after peaking in 2013, due to the global economic downturn, it has once again picked up in volume. Bilateral trade currently stands at US$7 billion (Rs 479 billion).

In a recent interview, the Dutch PM appreciated the improving business climate in India. However, high import tariffs and complex tendering procedures remained a cause of concern for Dutch businesses.

India and the Netherlands do not have a bilateral trade agreement as Netherlands is bound by EU regulations. No EU member country can pursue a separate free trade agreement (FTA).

Both countries are thus keen to push forward the EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) to boost the quantum of bilateral trade.

The BTIA is still in limbo  sticky issues include Indias demand for visa relaxations and the EUs demands for stricter intellectual property rights regulation and duty cuts on automobile and wine exports.

Netherlands a key European partner after Brexit

Netherlands is home to an Indian diaspora of about 235,000, the largest in mainland Europe. Referred to as the Hindustani community, they are an important element permeating Indo-Dutch bilateral ties.

As the UK exits the European Union in 2019 and India stands to lose a strong foothold for business entry into mainland Europe, India is revisiting its relationships with old European partners like the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden.

Already, the Netherlands serves as the gateway for over 20 percent of all EU-bound Indian exports; the country will play a pivotal role in Indias future trade talks with the EU.

IT sector a core area of investment

The Netherlands is Indias fifth largest investment partner globally, and has emerged as the third largest source of FDI for the country in the last three years.

Further, 28.8 percent of Indias outbound investments go to the Netherlands.

Currently, 180 Indian companies are present in the Netherlands and over 115 Dutch companies have their presence in India.

The inclusion of close to 150 representatives of Dutch companies in the prime ministerial delegation points to the urgency placed by the Netherlands on developing its business ties and investments in India.

India is a crucial business process outsourcing (BPO) base for the Netherlands and Indias IT efficiencies have bridged the skill gap for Dutch companies. The services sector, which includes BPOs, attracts 16 percent of total FDI from Netherlands to India.

On the other hand, Indian companies such as the Tata Consultancy Services, Indias largest IT service provider and the steel producer, Tata Steel, are among the biggest employers in the Netherlands.

Other Indian companies with regional operations in the Netherlands include top IT firms Wipro and Infosys, pharmaceuticals supplier Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals Ltd., mobile app developer 01 Synergy, IT solutions firm Nucleus Software Netherlands B.V., tire manufacturer Apollo Tyres, and telecom giant Bharti Airtel.

Important Dutch business portfolios have also been acquired through mergers and acquisitions with Indian firms, including: Tata Steel and Corus, Apollo Tyres and Vredestein, and Banco Products and Nederlandse Radiateuren Fabriek.

Promoting entrepreneurship, investments in technology, healthcare, renewables

The Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Sigrid Kaag, is expected to launch the Start-Up Link Digital Hub in Bengaluru on May 25.

The program, in partnership with the Startup India Program, intends to deepen the collaboration and innovation ecosystem in both countries. Key areas of interest include facilitating entrepreneurial ventures in R&D and business activity driven by the Internet of Things, blockchain technology, cyber security, 3D printing, and clean energy.

The move builds on the invitation by the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency to Indian tech startups to leverage the existing infrastructure in Netherlands in their R&D ventures. As a follow up event, 10 Dutch startups are expected to visit India, later this year, to take part in a series of business-to-business and business-to-government meetings.

The Dutch delegations Bengaluru visit will also focus on investments in healthcare and life sciences. A proposal to increase cooperation on new vaccines and affordable medical devices is also expected to be announced on this visit.

This is in line with the agreements signed on Prime Minister Modis visit to the Netherlands last year. Both countries have initiated programs to promote innovative solutions to challenges in healthcare, water, energy, and agriculture.

Modi also announced Netherlands inclusion as a member of the International Solar Alliance.

India Netherlands Business Association (INBA)

The INBA helps Dutch companies set up operations in India and Indian businesses looking to expand or set up operations in the Netherlands. Their contact information is provided below.

Royal Netherlands Embassy

6/50-F, Shantipath

Chanakyapuri

New Delhi -110021 (India)

Tel: + 91-11-24197670

Fax: +91-11-24197712

E-mail: info@inbadelhi.com

Website: www.inbadelhi.com
New Delhi, May 23 (IBNS): The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Denmark regarding cooperation in the areas of food safety.

The MoU was signed on April 16, 2018.

The MoU is expected to improve food safety standard setting by getting access to best practices and facilitating food trade of important commodities.

According to a government release, the MoU will promote understanding of the best practices in the areas of food safety in both countries and in faster resolution of issues related to food safety.
Srinagar, May 25 (IBNS): Unknown militants reportedly executed by a man by slitting his throat in North Kashmir's Bandipora area.

Police have identified the deceased as Muhammad Yaqoob Wagay, a butcher by profession.

Reports said that Wagay was abducted from his home by unknown militants.

According to officials, investigation has been started to ascertain the facts.

This month, North Kashmir has witnessed a spate of killings.

The police have blamed militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba for these killings.
Bengaluru, May 25 (IBNS): Congress MLA KR Ramesh was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly as the floor test for the HD Kumaraswamy coalition Government is underway, reports said.

Ramesh Kumar is an MLA from the Kolar region. He was selected for the post by the Congress-JDS combine.

Welcoming Ramesh Kumar, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy said: "We are happy that the speaker has been elected unanimously. I strongly believe in your sense of fairness and responsibility in any task that will be delegated to you. We will see good days going forward.".

He also said that this was a proud moment for him because KR Ramesh Kumar was the speaker of the Assembly when his father, HD Deve Gowda, was serving as the Chief Minister.

We will cooperate with you in whatever decisions you will make as the speaker of the house, he added

. Kumaraswamy, who took oath on 23 May, said that the Congress-JD(S) coalition had the tally in their favour, with 117 seats in the 225-member assembly. Three seats remain vacant.

Along with Kumaraswamy, G Parameshwara took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state on Wednesday.

The Congress will get 22 ministries compared to 12 for JD(S).

The Congress and the JD(S) formed the government after a week-long political drama, which occurred after the Karnataka poll results.

While the Karnataka people gave a fractured mandate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which emerged as a single largest party with 104 seats, was invited to form the government by Governor Vajubhai Vala amid controversy.

However, the Congress and the JD(S) combine claimed to have the simple majority (113) with the support of 117 lawmakers.

The political tussle reached the judiciary with the Congress-JD(S) moving the Supreme Court to stall BJP's strongman BS Yeddyurappa's swearing-in as the CM.

Though the swearing-in ceremony could not be stopped, the top court slashed the 15-day period, which was given by the Governor to the BJP to prove majority, to little more than 24 hours.

Even before the floor test began, Yeddyurappa resigned as the BJP failed to secure a simple majority. With two seats yet to be polled, BJP would have required the support of 111 MLAs for the time being to form the state government.

Meanwhile, the BJP had boycotted the swearing-in ceremony making allegations that the Congress-JD(S) formed the Karnataka government against the people's mandate.




New Delhi, May 25 (IBNS): Dutch Prime minister Mark Rutte has cut short his India visit and is flying back home on Friday night, a day early, to discuss with the rest of the cabinet the new findings about the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, reports said.

On Thursday, the team in charge of the investigation had said that the Buk missile which hit the passenger plane had come from a unit of the Russian army stationed in Kursk.

Rutt arrived in Delhi on a two-day visit on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rutte held delegation-level talks to step up economic and political ties between the two countries.

On Thursday, India and the Netherlands on Thursday signed more than 50 pacts to deepen cooperation in areas like education, water and waste management, agriculture food processing, information technology and the development of smart cities.

The value of the deals was not known but this is said to be one of the largest rafts of pacts that India has signed with any country in recent times.




New Delhi, May 25 (IBNS) : Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte inaugurated the Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum to take forward the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India and the Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment of the Netherlands in June last year.

Addressing the gathering, Rutte appreciated the efforts being made under Namami Gange programme and acknowledged the vastness of the task at hand. He said that local governments, the financial sector and the private sector, as well as communities, will need to join hands with the Indian and the Netherlands governments.

He also advocated waste-to-wealth approach to encourage sustainability of projects.

Minister of Water and Infrastructure, Netherlands,Cora van Nieuwenhuizen also advocated trash-to-cash approach. She expressed the Netherlands governments keenness to work closely with National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).

Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, U.P Singh said that there are more than 2,000 aquatic species in river Ganga and around 2 million people bathe in it every day. He also said that cleaning river Ganga is a continuous process.

Director General, NMCG Rajiv Ranjan Mishra gave an overview of the Namami Gange programme and said that the work is being done expeditiously to achieve the herculean task of Ganga cleaning. He added that more innovations are being brought-in to have more efficiency and transparency and also to keep in mind life cycle costs.

The inauguration of the Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum was followed by a technical session on Innovative Financing Models for Indo-Dutch PPP Projects during which a detailed discussion on Hybrid Annuity based PPP mode took place. NMCG shared with the Dutch delegates the efforts made by NMCG to start two projects under Hybrid Annuity mode in Varanasi and Haridwar which was appreciated by Netherlands government. NMCG expressed its willingness to adopt proven international experience and technologies in waste water treatment sector.

Executive Director (Projects), Mr. Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana briefed the gathering about the status of various projects under Namami Gange programme and the challenges ahead. Mr. Makwana apprised the audience with innovative models like Hybrid Annuity based PPP model and One-City-One Operator concept and explained that the funds for the projects under Hybrid Annuity are given through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed for individual project to build confidence.

The subsequent sessions saw discussions on themes Dutch Approach to Partnership in Public Utilities in India and Innovative Dutch Solutions for Urban Water Challenges and Techniques like Dutch triple-helix model were contemplated for Barapullah drain project as well.

The Netherlands government also shared the experiences of their collaboration with Uttar Pradesh government to reduce water consumption and employ cleaner technologies in tanneries in Kanpur.




Santiniketan, May 25 (IBNS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Friday inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan at Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal.

Along with the two PMs, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was also present at the event.

Modi, Hasina and Banerjee came down to Santiniketan to attend the convocation of the university.

The Bangladesh Bhavan, which symbolises the ties between the two nations, features a museum.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday apologised to the local people for the shortage of drinking water facility in Santiniketan as he attended the convocation of Visbha Bharati University along with his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

While addressing the students, Modi urged them to turn 100 villages around Santiniketan in Birbhum district self-sufficient to mark the central universitys centenary in 2021.

As I was coming by car, some children gestured to me that they dont even have drinking water. As the chancellor, I tender my apology, Modi said at the beginning of his speech.

The villages should have a power connection, LPG gas supply, the children should receive vaccinations, the villagers should be able to fill up forms digitally, he said.

"In 2021, this institution will complete 100 years. By then can you take the partnership for the progress you have with 50 villages to a 100 or 200?"

The Prime Minister referred to a few central projects such as Swachh Bharat that would help them in this effort.
New Delhi, May 25 (IBNS): Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu on Friday urged the Indian diplomats to ensure effective diplomacy in the context of multipolar and fast changing order of international relations to protect national interests.

He spoke for about half an hour on India and the World when a group of 41 officers of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) of 2017 batch called on him at his residence.

Naidu urged the young diplomats who are going to take up assignments in different countries after training To be alert and quick on the grasp to properly calibrate Indias position in the multipolar and ever changing world affairs and effectively leverage Indias core civilizational values and ethos and modern strengths of democracy, economic and other capabilities for collective good. Pro-active and effective diplomacy for advancing national interests in the challenging global environment is the need of the hour.

Responding to queries from the young diplomats, Naidu acknowledged that for too long, the capacities of and opportunities offered by India have not been properly articulated in the leading and other centres of the world.

He said that over the last four years, concerted efforts were being made to address the perception deficit and present India in right perspective across the world, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself leading the charge.

He said, Prime Minister is the number one Ambassador of India and you should supplement his efforts by amplifying his vision in different parts of the world."

Referring to the growing global interest in India, Naidu said Whatever happens in India these days attracts global interest as we seek to speak for our strengths, our aspirations and the role we can play in furtherance of peace and prosperity for all. You need not be on the defensive."

"Secularism and peace are in the DNA of our nation. We stand by the principle of One Nation, One Country and One People. Hold your head high and speak for the New India in the making. Project Indias role in todays world, commensurate with her economic power and its ambitions and aspirations within and outside the country, said he.




Image: Wallpaper

Hollywood, May 25 (IBNS): Tainted movie producer Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to police on Friday, after the former was found guilty of committing sexual offences against numerous women, during his stint in Hollywood.

Weinstein will turn himself in to New York police, after investigations found him guilty based on allegations made by actor Lucia Evans.

Last year, Weinstein, a successful movie producer in Hollywood, found himself in hot water after a list of actresses and workers accused him of rape and sexual assault.

However, Weinstein has unequivocally rejected any claims of non-consensual sex with anyone.

The allegations soon found pace and culminated in the formation of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged victims across the globe to share their sexual harassment stories.

The allegations also led to his firing from the Oscars.

He is presently undergoing investigations from the UK and US police.




Washington/Pyongyang, May 25 (IBNS): On the cusp of creating history, US President Donald Trump chose to ignore it after cancelling talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which was scheduled to take place in Singapore on June 12. The decision has been termed 'extremely regrettable' by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.

The summit, which was canceled by the White House on grounds of 'open hostility' from North Korea, could have been the first time a sitting US President meeting a leader from Pyongyang.

Trump, who made the announcement through an open letter directed towards Kim Jong-un, said he looks very much forward to meeting the North Korean leader.

"I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only the dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you," he said.

The US President also thanked his North Korea counterpart for the release of the three American hostages.

"In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated," Trump wrote.

Reacting to North Korean Vice Foreign Minister and longtime nuclear negotiator, Choe Son Hui's statement about a nuclear showdown, Trump said that the US possess much bigger weapons and he prays to God that they will never have to be used.

"You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used," Trump said.

Calling it a sad moment in history and a lost opportunity for North Korea, the US President has urged Kim Jong-un to write or call if the latter changes his mind about the meeting.

"If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for latest peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history," he said.

Tensions heightened between the two nations after US Vice President Mike Pence warned North Korea not to play Trump, during an interview with Fox News.

"It would be a great mistake for Kim Jong-un to think he could play Donald Trump," Pence said.

Following Pence's warning, US National Security Adviser John Bolton reportedly told media that America would follow the 'Libya model' of denuclearisation in the Korea Peninsula.

In Libya, the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi shook hands with Western powers in 2003, to allow the latter to come to his nation and dismantle his nuclear programme, in exchange of lenient sanctions.

Gadaffi was killed eight years later by the same allies-backed rebels.

The US came under fire from Choe Son Hui, who in a scathing statement said: "At an interview with Fox News on May 21, US Vice-President Pence made unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya, military option for North Korea never came off the table, the US needs complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation, and so on."

"As a person involved in the US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president.

"If he is vice-president of "single superpower" as is in name, it will be proper for him to know even a little bit about the current state of global affairs and to sense to a certain degree the trends in dialogue and the climate of detente.

"We could surmise more than enough what a political dummy he is as he is trying to compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya that had simply installed a few items of equipment and fiddled around with them.

"Soon after the White House National Security Adviser Bolton made the reckless remarks, Vice-President Pence has again spat out nonsense that the DPRK would follow in Libya's footstep.

"It is to be underlined, however, that in order not to follow in Libya's footstep, we paid a heavy price to build up our powerful and reliable strength that can defend ourselves and safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region," she added.





Here's Trump's full text:

Dear Mr. Chairman:

We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore. We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place. You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only the dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.

If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for latest peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

Sincerely yours,

Donald J. Trump

President of the United States of America




The Cowlitz Tribe recently celebrated the first anniversary of its gaming facility in Washington, a development that neighbors in Oregon feared would cause all sorts of problems.

But it turns out that the Oregon Lottery and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde have survived. Although both entities have seen a decline in revenues and visits, it was far less than anticipated, Willamette Weekly reported.

Specifically, Oregon Lottery revenues in the area along the Oregon-Washington border in the Portland region fell 15 percent, instead of the anticipated 40 percent. And revenues at the Spirit Mountain Casino , owned by Grand Ronde, are down 17 percent, the tribe's Smoke Signals newspaper previously reported. Again, that was less than expected.

"It is challenging to do a full and accurate postmortem on the reasons for such a large error. Many factors influenced the forecast itself and the grand opening and rollout of the casino was not without issues either," a newly released report from the Oregon State Office of Economic Analysis read. "That said there was a clear forecast mistake."

The Cowlitz Tribe debuted ilani in April 2017. Located in Ridgefield, Washington, it's the closest Indian gaming facility to Portland, Oregon.

The Grand Ronde Tribes have long depended on the Portland market for visitors. Concerns about competition helped fuel a long-running lawsuit that sought to derail the Cowlitz casino.

The courts, however, sided repeatedly with the tribe and the federal government. Grand Ronde dropped the case after losing a key ruling, and non-Indian opponents were unable to get the U.S. Supreme Court to review the matter.

Read More on the Story: The Cowlitz Tribes Ilani Resort Casino Has Hurt Oregon Lottery and Spirit Mountain Casino Less than Expected (Willamette Weekly May 25, 2018)

Legal challenge to Cowlitz Tribe's casino

Indianz.Com on SoundCloud: D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Oral Arguments in Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon v. Sally Jewell

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision: Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon v. Jewell (July 29, 2016)

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Is the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians a "local" government under Michigan law? That's a question the state's highest will soon be answering.

In an order issued on Wednesday , the Michigan Supreme Court agreed to hear Fred Paquin v City of St. Ignace. At issue is whether Fred Paquin, a tribal citizen who was convicted of a federal crime while serving in tribal government , can run for public office in the city of St. Ignace.

Under state law, a person who has been convicted of a crime while serving in "local, state, or federal government" cannot run for office . Tribal government is not mentioned at all.

The Michigan Court of Appeals, however, held that the Sault Tribe is a "local" government because it retains authority in "matters of local self-government," a phrase that comes from Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez , a well-known U.S. Supreme Court case.

Although the Michigan court acknowledged the tribe's sovereign status, Paquin says the decision "fails to uphold that sovereignty and actually, notwithstanding their opinion to the contrary, diminishes or undermines the tribe's inherent sovereign authority."

The city of St. Ignace filed a brief opposing review of the decision, as did the state attorney general

Applying the state law at issue in Paquin's case "does not violate the Sault Tribes sovereignty over its land and members," the attorney general's brief stated.

Separately, the attorney general issued a legal opinion which includes tribal government in the definition of "local." The Michigan appeals court relied in part on the opinion in arriving at its decision last October.

Paquin was serving as the tribe's police chief and on the tribe's board of directors when he was accused of stealing federal funds from the tribe's police department. He was supposed to go to trial in early 2010 but pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States by dishonest means and was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison , followed by two years of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay $231,785.03 in restitution, to the federal government, for stealing the funds.

After completing his sentence "in complete satisfaction," Paquin said in his application to the Michigan Supreme Court, he tried to run for office in St. Ignace on two occasions but was denied. He filed his lawsuit after being denied a spot on the ballot on his second try.

Nearly one-third of the population in St. Ignace is Native, according to the 2010 U.S. Census . The Sault Tribe has land in the city and operates a casino there as well.

Oral arguments in the case have yet to be scheduled . The Associated Press said a hearing is expected in the coming months.

Read More on the Story: Dispute Over Election, Tribe Catches Supreme Courts Eye (The Associated Press May 25, 2018)

Michigan Court of Appeals Decision: Paquin v. City of Ignace (October 19, 2017)

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The middle-east is known for suppression of women's rights and imposing ridiculous restrictions on women. This regressive mentality hit an all new low after a woman TV presenter was suspended for merely calling a 'male colleague' handsome on air.

YouTube/Screenshot

According to Al Arabiya English, Basima Al-Shammar was in the middle of a news segment about municipal elections when she turned to get the latest from a reporter on the ground.

A video that subsequently went viral shows Nawaf Al-Shiraki adjusting his gutra or traditional headgear as he appears on air.

That's when Ms Al-Shammar says in Arabic, "No need to fix your gutra, Nawaf, you look handsome!"

The word she uses is "maizyoon," which translates into "cute" or "handsome" in the Kuwaiti dialect.

It's was comment hat the even the reporter didn't pay attention to.

      https://t.co/XLvSpBx8HW pic.twitter.com/oKoEydWGaa    (@alqabas) 13 May 2018

Soon after the clip went viral, Kuwait MP Mohammad Al Hayef tweeted the country's Minister of Information, 'asking him to take action against the TV host,' Stepfeed reports.

According to a local newspaper, the Ministry of Information said the woman's suspension is temporary and will not be finalised until she is investigated over the incident.

Tweeples criticised the government decision with humour:
Amitabh Bachchan is an avid user of social media. While some celebs seldom post on their social media accounts, Senior Bachchan is a regular at the circuit. Be it Twitter, Facebook or his blog, Big B makes sure that he updates it regularly. From philosophical thoughts to his hilarious one-sided conversations with Twitterji, we have seen it all. In one his recent blog posts, he said he will consider himself a failure if he is not able to preserve the writings of his late father and poet, Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

Poetry needs understanding the mind of the poet. Believing his nerve, his pulse, his every pore, his breath. Its not an easy task.

At times an impossible task, for we shall never exactly know what gave them the reason to put to thought what they did even if they are your own blood, Amitabh wrote in his blog on Friday.

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In the absence of my father, my responsibility rises even greater. Not just for its justice, but for its preservation for posterity and life. I shall fail as a son if I did not accomplish this, and I would never want to fail in his eyes.

I shall never be able to fill his exalted mind, but even the minutest effort would give me the smallest of beliefs in his greatness and acclaim and his renown, he added.

Big B has been reciting poems of the renowned poet on various public platforms for a long time.

I shall be forgotten in a year or two, but Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan shall be remembered and known for a 1000 and more till eternity, Amitabh said.

On the work front, the Shahenshah of Bollywood is currently gearing up for the 10th season of Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Priyanka Chopra is at her peak, at present. Professionally, she is going places. Despite her show Quanticogetting axed by ABC network, the woman still has some prestigious projects lined up in both Hollywood and Bollywood. Now, a woman who has her hands fulls with work, still manages to take out time for her UNICEF commitments.

Instagram/PC

For the uninitiated, Chopra is UNICEFs goodwill ambassador and has been visiting several places. After her visit to South Africa to create awareness about violence against children, she recently visited Bangladesh to meet the Rohingya refugees. Instead of praising her for her commendable social work, she was trolled by the internet and several politicians as well.

But the lady is unstoppable. She is unaffected by all the distasteful comments and opinions. In fact, she went on to share her on-ground experiences from the Rohingya refugees shelters. Describing it as calmness in the conflict-stricken zone to urging global community to come to their aid, shes trying to rally for the Rohingya refugees in every way that she can.

The 35-year-old actor took to her Instagram to share photos from her visit and their stories in full details.

As I walk into the Women Friendly Space at the Jamtoli Camp, I am instantly struck by a certain calmness. These camps are loud & crowded, actually overcrowded, and so to find a quiet oasis, in this case a small hut with a tarp roof and thatched bamboo walls, is surprising. But for the girls in this camp, this is what they call their house of peace. Its a place they can come and just be. A place to interact with friends, seek counselling, learn about hygiene, or learn life skills like art and music, Chopra wrote alongside a photograph.

The Quantico star added there are approximately 50 Women Friendly Spaces in the camps, which give shelter to 50-70 Rohingya girls on a daily basis.

She said she met three 18-year-old women whose stories shook her up.

One scarred with memories of houses in her village being burned - she and her parents travelled for two days to get here, passing hundreds of decapitated and dismembered bodies along the way. Another shared stories of young girls being pulled from their homes to be raped and tortured. They even tried to kill her and cut her with a knife, but she fought back.

How did you manage to be so brave, I asked her... She replied, If youre born you will die, so Im not scared of dying today. In what world is it normal for an 18-year-old girl to have this perspective on life? The third young woman travelled for nearly two weeks on foot through the forest, where her youngest brother died along the way. There was lots of rape and torture back home she told me, and some womens breasts were even cut off.

Chopra also shared a video cradling eight-months-old, Shohida and narrated her difficult journey to the camp.

Its a poignant reminder of the dichotomy of life... Here she was getting all the help she needed, when just a few months before, her mother, Alada (who was only 19-years-old at the time) walked for 15 days, while six months pregnant with her, to get across the border. It shows us that there is hope left in this world, she wrote.





However, there are some percentage of people who fail to see the good side in everything. Haters wasted no time in trolling her and started questioning her motives behind visiting Rohingya refugees and ignoring all the sufferance in her own country. Here are some of those distasteful comments:

Haters are going to spread hatred. However, we are really proud of Priyanka's philanthropic work. You go, girl!
twitter

In his first ever interview after Sridevis death, he said how miserably he misses his wife and is trying to be both their kids Jahnvi and Khushis mom and dad,

I am trying to be both a mother and a father to my children.

Instagram/PC

For the uninitiated, Chopra is UNICEFs goodwill ambassador and has been visiting several places. After her visit to South Africa to create awareness about violence against children, she recently visited Bangladesh to meet the Rohingya refugees. Instead of praising her for her commendable social work, she was trolled by the internet and several politicians as well.





twitter

An account of a production assistant who worked on the 2015 comedy Going In Style which also starred Freeman, reveals that the 80-year-old actor subjected her to unwanted touching and commented about her figure on a regular basis.





Now that social media is such a small world, Swara too managed to see the collage of her and the Nirma girl, her reaction to it deserves an applause.

She shared the picture on her Instagram profile and wrote,

Very observant I must say guys. @ministry_of_bollywood Reminded me of my childhood ambition! I always wanted to be the washing powder Nirma child!.

Youtube

In an interaction with Film Companion, Bobby Deol confessed that his wife and kids motivated him to be back,

I wanted them to not look at me and say he is a loser. I didnt want my kids to look at me and say he has given up. I want to be their inspiration as my father is to me. Thats most important thing for me and my wife who believes so much in me.
Five persons were arrested on charge of abusing and assaulting an Army Captain deployed with a commando unit and his family members in west Delhi's Dwarka, police said.

Captain Vikas Yadav of special commando force had gone along with his wife, sister, brother-in-law and three daughters for dinner at City Center mall on May 13. As the family came out after dinner around midnight, he went away to get his car parked at some distance from the mall gate.

"Meanwhile, five occupants of a Sport Utility Vehicle stopped near my family members who were waiting for me and started misbehaving and passing lewd comments. When my sister confronted them, two of them came out and inappropriately touched my daughters," Yadav said in his complaint.

The officer said he and his brother-in-law confronted them and threatened to call police, all the occupants of the SUV came out and started beating him. "One of them hit me on the head with a beer bottle. They also threatened to rape the women," he said.

Security personnel at the spot came to the family's rescue while the attackers fled. However, one of them, later identified as Mohammad Irshad Ali Hashmi, was caught by the security staff at the mall.

"We have registered a case against the accused and at the instance of Hashmi, arrested his four other accomplices and seized the SUV," Deputy Commissioner of Police Shibesh Singh said.
Love know no bound, it doesn't understand any religion, caste, creed or colour. But, in India, inter-faith or inter-religion marriages are not allowed. People are ready to kill in the name of honour and pride. However, what could have been yet another case of mob lynching in Uttrakhand in the name of religion has been avoided. All thanks to this brave police officer who stood up to the crowd to save a couple.

In a video that is making rounds on social media, Sub-Inspector Gagandeep Singh is seen shielding a young man from the fury of a mob.

The youth, a Muslim boy was meeting a Hindu girl near a crowded temple in Girija village in Nainital.

According to a report by The Lallantop, the mob comprising of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad men had surrounded them and began manhandling the boy. SI Gagandeep is seen confronting the violent mob, who demanded the youth be handed over to them.

Fearing the mob turning violent, the officer stood up to them and made sure that the boy was not hurt.

The crowd can be heard demanding to see the ID card of the boy.
Two people with suspected Nipah symptoms have been admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad, raising fears of the deadly epidemic reported in Kerala spreading to other parts of India. Read More

2. Brave Sikh Police Officer Saves Muslim Youth From Mob Lynching In Uttarakhand

In a video that is making rounds on social media, Sub-Inspector Gagandeep Singh is seen shielding a young man from the fury of a mob. Read More

3. Over 1,400 Sanitation Workers In Mumbai Lost Their Jobs Due To Spelling Errors In Names

These workers were sacked by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the spelling of their names was not right in documents submitted to the Supreme Court that sought permanent status for their jobs. The workers held a protest against the civic body's decision at Azad Maidan. Read More

4. At Least 15 Injured In IED Blast At Indian Restaurant In Canada, 2 Suspects Wanted

At least 15 people have been injured in an explosion - that may have been caused by two suspects - at an Indian restaurant near Toronto, tweeted police in the Peel regional area. The blast was caused likely by an improvised explosive device, police said. Read More

5. Nirav Modi Diverted Rs 4,299 Crore To Himself, Family And Firms Through Shell Companies

Using shell companies based in the UAE and Hong Kong fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi diverted about Rs 4,299 crore of the Rs 6,939.84 crore outstanding fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoU) issued by Punjab National Bank (PNB) to himself, his firms and his relatives, the Enforcement Directorate has told the court. Read More

6. Innocent Muslim Labourer Thrashed For Failing To Name PM Of India and CM Of West Bengal

A migrant labourer from Maldas Kaliachak, travelling back home in a general compartment of the Howrah-Malda Fast Passenger, was abused and assaulted by four youths when he failed to name the Prime Minister of India and the chief minister of West Bengal. Read More
The outbreak of the deadly Nipah Virus could not have happened in Kerala at worst time. The state which attracts millions of domestic and foreign tourists was gearing up for another good year when the outbreak surfaced.

With Northern India sizzling under summer heat and the upcoming holiday season in the Gulf countries, the state would have welcomed a large number of holidaymakers in the coming weeks.

BCCL

This is in addition to the monsoon tourists who throng the state every year in June and July to enjoy the rains, houseboat ride and Ayurveda massages, which the state is famous for.

BCCL

But with the confusion over Nipah looming large, many tour operators have seen their bookings cancelled or postponed.

"In Northern India, it is the holiday season now, due to which we get many tourists from there. However, the news of the Nipah virus has led to almost 50 to 60 per cent cancellation of bookings. We are also getting inquiries from Gulf countries, as the Arab holiday season is approaching. It has created unnecessary panic," Tourism Profession Club Secretary Paul told ANI.

BCCL

The news of Nipah Virus have been widely reported in the international media, but so far only Bahrain has issued an advisories against travelling to Kerala.

UAE has only advised its citizens to take precautionary measures and follow instructions issued by the concerned Indian authorities.

Those in the industry say advisories by more countries could have serious consequences for the tourism in the state, especially on the arrival of Non-resident Keralites, who often visit the state with their families.

BCCL

Tour operators also pointed out that so far Nipah has been confirmed only in two districts, Kozhikode and Malappuram, which are not among the most sought after destinations.

Kerala Tourism in its advisory has asked tourists to avoid Kozhikode, Malappuram and neighbouring districts of Wayanad and Kannur, though no cases have surfaced from the two districts.

Reiterating that other parts of Kerala are safe to visit, the industry said they have taken additional precautions and have left nothing for chance.

All the tourist locations and the state in general are safe as usual for holiday activities. The tourism industry partners in the state are more vigilant and equipped to provide a hassle-free holiday to the visiting travellers. The airports, railway stations, hotels and places of visit all are following the right protocols and are free of problems as usual, said the statement issued by the president of the Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI) EM Najeeb.

BCCL

Tour operators who have seen their bookings cancelled blamed the media for blowing the epidemic outbreak out of proportion.

"Media is portraying it in such a way that tourists believe the whole of Kerala is affected by the disease. I have lost business due to this, as travellers are cancelling trips booked even for the next month, a tour operator based in Kochi said.

BCCL

Another section affected by the outbreak of Nipah is the fruit vendors across the state. With initial reports claiming that the deadly virus was transmitted to humans from bats through fruits bitten by them, fruit vendors say customers are turning away from them. Traders said since 75% of the fruits sold in Kerala are brought from outside, there is no reason to be concerned about the fruits.

AFP

So far 11 people have been confirmed dead due to the deadly outbreak, while more than a dozen other are admitted in hospitals with suspected symptoms.

An expert committee of medical professionals sent by the Union Health Ministry has said that the Nipah Virus in Kerala seems to be localised and not a major outbreak.
'Silence does not mean a yes', 'No means no'

We all are familiar with these statements but forget about it when required. However, Sweden has actually decided to do something about it.

Sweden has passed a new law saying that sex without consent is rape, even when there are no threats or force involved.

With the new law, Sweden will join a small number of countries, including Britain and Canada, where the lack of consent in sex, even without violence, is enough to constitute a crime.

reuters

Details about the law on the Swedish government website said there will no longer be a requirement to prove violence or the threat of violence to obtain a conviction.

The law, due to come into force on July 1, stopped short of making expressed consent a condition for consensual sex but stressed passivity was not a sign of agreeing to sex.

Womens rights campaigners said they hoped the law would spark change across Europe where most nations still define rape as an act carried out with the use or threat of violence.

While there is still a great distance to travel, we are hopeful that todays decision will herald a Europe-wide shift in legislation and in attitudes, Anna Blus, a researcher on womens rights for Amnesty International, said in a statement.

Law and order is likely to be a major issue in Swedens parliamentary election in September with the populist, opposition Sweden Democrats linking public concern about a rising crime rate to an increase in immigrants.

The government said the incidence of sexual offences was rising in Sweden with young women facing the greatest risk but too few of these offences were reported.

The new law will introduce two new offences, negligent rape and negligent sexual abuse, carrying a maximum prison term of four years.

The new law, as published previously, stated that in the judgment of whether participation is voluntary, it should be taken into special consideration whether consent has been expressed in words or action.

If a person wants to engage in sexual activities with someone who remains inactive or gives ambiguous signals, he or she will therefore have to find out if the other person is willing, the law read.

Elin Sundin, head of Swedish consent campaign group Fatta, said the move came as women globally were stressing the importance of bodily rights in the wake of #MeToo.

When it comes to sexual consent and integrity and bodily rights it is something close to the heart of many women, Sundin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
PM Narendra Modi is understood to have expressed serious concern over data leaks and alleged manipulation of user information by global internet and social media giants. According to top sources, the PM has instructed that data sharing should be regulated and servers be located within the country.

The issue came up for discussion during a recent meeting of the Union Cabinet, where the episode of data leakage and manipulation by Facebook and UK-based Cambridge Analytica was raised, said sources.

"The PM said that servers that house data of millions of users should be located within India. The issue was thereafter discussed within the IT ministry which carried out a thorough review last week," a top source told TOI .

ap

The majority of user data generated on platforms of top companies such as Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram is stored across servers located internationally. Moreover, access to these servers - and the information they hold - is highly regulated by US laws and certain international treaties.

Questions sent to Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram - regarding their plans for having local servers - and also on steps initiated towards data security, remained unanswered. The sources said the issue is being pursued on "top priority" by the government.

"The PM has said that instruments should be established to ensure that user information is increasingly stored locally, and that its sharing is regulated. Data protection is of utmost concern in a highly-digital society... "

ap/representational image

A key concern of the IT ministry is that user data does not get misused for any kind of manipulation, including for 'managing' electoral processes in India.

"An inquiry is already on regarding the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica episode where data may have been manipulated during polls. The government also wants to look into the other aspects related to data protection," said sources.

The PM's call for local servers comes days after banking regulator RBI mandated that all payment system operators have to store data within the country by September.

ap

RBI's move will also impact Google and WhatsApp as they have entered the domestic digital payments sector.

Facebook has already said that it is taking steps to ensure user privacy and guard against manipulation by third-party vendors. While Google has three data servers in Mumbai, they are only for enterprise/business customers. Data generated by millions of consumers is not stored locally.
The world has created a system where businesses only have rights but no obligations. There is no international tribunal that can make businesses liable for human rights violations. What is perverse is that Texaco knew they polluted the land. World corporations refuse responsibility.

They Knew What They DidTexaco left an unparalleled destruction in Ecuador. Pablo Fajardo fights for compensationBy Theresa Leisgang[This article published in April 2018 is translated from the German on the Internet, http://www.freitag.de . The company will acknowledge the judgment when hell freezes over. Pablo Fajardo has much to do.]May 1 was intense with the following traumas: uncertainty in the streets. Pablo Fajardo had accepted the idea that his adversaries wanted to kill him. He would not give up. However, he had become more cautious since the first murder threat. For example, he reserves bus tickets three hours before the departure. "I could never forgive myself if a bomb blew up on my account and some innocent person died," he said.Pablo Fajardo, 45, a family man happiest when on his way with a bicycle, is the man who battles the fifth-largest company of the world. For that, he studied law and became a lawyer. All the people in the village raised the money to finance his study. They wanted something to finally change. The soil on which their house stands is poisoned. The groundwater is contaminated. The cancer rate of their province is the highest in the country.Fajardo fights for compensation for the afflicted from the oil company Texaco which in the meantime was bought by Chevron. There is no international tribunal that can make businesses liable for human rights violations abroad. A group of states under the auspices of the United Nations urge an agreement for enforcing the global liability of businesses but the negotiations are sluggish.25 Years of LitigationPablo Fajardo jointly created the initiative. The Ecuadorian sits in a cramped office in the north of the capital Quinto. Health reports, technical literature from biology and chemistry and a letter to the president of the republic are stacked on a desk. His cell phone rings every five minutes. The loud chicken clucking resounds a silly melody that makes Fajardo laugh. He has maintained his optimism although the litigation has already lasted `25 years.At the beginning of the 1960s, engineers from Texas drilled for oil in the Amazon basin for the first time. When their firm Texaco withdrew from Ecuador in 1992, they left behind the greatest oil catastrophe of the world up to then, an "Amazon Chernobyl." According to studies, around 65 million liters of crude oil and 70 billion liters of toxic waste water seeped into the soil. No one warned the natives that the groundwater could be polluted with heavy metals, benzyl, and other cancer-causing substances. They had no medicine for the skin rashes of babies, for chronic diathermia and proliferating tumors."What is perverse is that Texaco knew that they had polluted the land," Fajardo opened a PDF document on his laptop. A less environmentally-harmful technology for oil production already existed in the 1960s that was patented by Texaco in the US. It was used in the US. But the engineers channeled all the residues into unsafe containers to save costs. "The world has created a system where businesses only have rights but no obligations," Fajardo criticized. The problem is global. In 2012, a fire broke out in the Ali Enterprises textile factory in South Pakistan. 254 persons died more than 50 endured serious wounds. 70 percent of all clothes for the German discounter K.K. were knit here. Still today, the families are waiting for a long-term compensation from the company. They have documented the lack of safety precautions. But no one can force K.K. to fulfill its promises.Free trade agreements enable businesses to sue states. That happened recently to Australia and Uruguay. The Philip Morris Company sued the governments for protecting their populations from lung cancer with intensified tobacco laws. In Uruguay, the tobacco sought $25 million compensation for future revenue losses. The lawsuit was rejected. But that companies have the possibility to sue foreign states is most important for Fajardo. Citizens cannot sue multinational businesses for their rights.Fajardo knows this because he tried this everywhere, first before a New York court. Ecuador's highest law court ruled for the indigenous petitioners and ordered Chevron to pay $9.5 billion compensation. But Fajardo's feeling of success did not last long. The world corporation refuses to accept responsibility. "Hell will freeze over before we recognize this verdict," one of the hundred Chevron lawyers commented. Since the company withdrew all business assets from Ecuador, Fajardo submitted the lawsuit in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. He even brought the case before the International Criminal Court in the Haag and the Latin American tribunal for human rights."There is no justice for the victims of such crimes," says Fajardo. This makes him furious and more resolved to change something. He lost his best friend Maira and many fellow-combatants through cancer. As long as the oil multinational does not clean up its toxic waste, the region will continue suffering under the consequences of crude oil production. At the beginning of March, Fajardo flew to Geneva to report on the case to the UN Human Rights Commission. In 2014, Ecuador and South Africa urged a binding treaty of the United Nations. This agreement should create an obligatory legal framework to call the firms to account. In addition, the initiators want to establish an International Tribunal for Human Rights. Besides governments, 200 organizations from civil society collaborated in the draft. One of them is the union of the concerned from Ecuador.The US and other big industrial nations like Russia, China and Germany rely on voluntary business responsibility. In 2011, the United Nations passed its guiding principles for the economy and human rights. They should be realized in national action plans.The European Union is the Biggest HurdleThe German government presented such an action plan in December 2016. The processing cost over two million euros. Businesses shared the costs. The idea was that the guidelines would then be realized. Critics said this would not work.Most of the advocates of a binding agreement are governments of poorer countries. Their citizens suffered most under the evaded liability of foreign firms. However, the agreement will only bind states that ratify it. Therefore, it is important to Fajardo that as many states as possible sign it. Vital questions are still open: to what should businesses be obligated? Does the agreement only obligate multinational companies or all firms with foreign subcontractors? With regard to Chevron, how can the judgments of poor countries be carried out in industrial nations?Pablo Fajardo wanted to discuss these questions with colleagues from the study group. Then they will present a draft of the agreement to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The lawyer sees the critical attitude of the EU as the greatest hurdle for the process. In the end, the EU put the legitimation of its study group in question. Only France accepted a special role. After 2017, French companies must fulfill internationally their human rights duty of care. "This can work," Fajardo says. But Europe must finally show its true face. "The EU must at least openly admit when human rights are not actively protected," the lawyer insists.The meeting in Geneva showed: it is a long way until European elites support a binding UN agreement. For Fajardo, this is not a reason for giving in. He knows this from the long drawn-out struggles.
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The size and scope of our global operations requires increasing sophistication and expertise in a number of financially oriented fields, said Alan Jay Kaufman, president and CEO of H.W. Kaufman Group. Joshs expertise will be an important asset in strengthening our team and fostering our continued global growth.

Hunegs comes to Kaufman from Wells Fargo, where he most recently served as a director, specializing in foreign exchange.

Kaufman continues to impress in the insurance industry with their smart and strategic investments, Hunegs said. Its a privilege to join a family-owned business that continues to invest in its people, technology and the future of the insurance industry. Being able to move to Detroit during this momentous time for the region, on top of having the chance to build upon two generations of successful leadership, made this a tremendous opportunity.

Hunegs holds a bachelors degree in business administration from American University.

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Burns & Wilcox's Alan and Daniel Kaufman lay out acquisition strategy

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However, the bucket was not secured with a password  which meant anyone could access the storage for information.

Andrew Lech, who founded AgentRun in 2012, informed the companys clients of the breach in an email.

We were migrating to this bucket during an application upgrade and during the migration the permissions on the bucket were erroneously flipped, Lech explained.

The data bucket was closed within an hour of disclosing the leak, ZDNet reported.

Lech also said that his company will be notifying the proper authorities of the data breach, as per state laws.

Some of the insurance companies found in the exposed data include Cigna, Everest, Manhattan Life, SafeCo Insurance, Schneider Insurance, and TransAmerica.

AgentRun had claimed on its website that its service is secure and uses the latest encryption standards to protect its clients data, though ZDNets investigation found no evidence that any encryption was used on the bucket.

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The flight crew on the Southwest Airlines jet that was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia after an engine exploded described the harrowing experience in their first joint interview on Wednesday.

Capt. Tammie Jo Shults called her first officer Darren Ellisor an unsung hero on CBS This Morning , saying he helped communicate with the flight attendants while she took controls for the landing.

Shults, who was one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy, said her military training helped her keep calm.

Meanwhile in the cabin, flight attendant Rachel Fernheimer said she made sure to reassure passengers that everything would be OK.

The crew had met together before the flight and one of the topics they discussed was faith, according to Shults. Flight attendant Seanique Mallory said considering what happened moments later, God had already prepared us without us even knowing.

The plane was heading from New York to Dallas on April 17 when one of the engines on the Boeing 737 exploded at 30,000 feet.

Part of the engine struck a window, shattering it and causing a partial loss of pressure that led to 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, being partially sucked out. She died later.

Shults said while she is glad the plane landed safely, the survival of 148 never eclipses the loss of one.

A preliminary finding by the National Transportation Safety Board showed one of the planes engine blades snapped due to metal fatigue.

Dallas-based Southwest executives said crews inspected its fleet and found only one engine blade that showed signs of cracking.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Aviation
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has vetoed a handful of GOP-backed bills related to health care.

Northam vetoed a bill that would have allowed all groups like the Virginia Chamber of Commerce to pool their members together in a group to shop for health insurance. Supporters said it would help reduce costs.

Northam said that legislation and other Republican-backed bills he vetoed would undermine efforts to expand affordable health care. He said lawmakers could help lower rising health care costs by expanding Medicaid to 400,000 low-income adults.

The GOP-led General Assembly is currently split on whether to expand the publicly funded health care program for the poor. The disagreement has led to a lengthy delay in passing a state budget that threatens a potential state government shut down on July 1.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Virginia Politics
The Illinois House has sent the governor a measure legalizing industrial hemp.

The House voted 106-3 this week to allow hemp cultivation for commercial use. Hemp is a form of the cannabis plant distinct from marijuana. It does not produce any high-like effects and is often used in clothing or food.

Hemp was banned nationwide in 1937 for its relation to the marijuana plant. Former President Barack Obama opened the door for states to legalize industrial hemp in 2015. That removed opposition from Illinois Republicans who had blocked previous attempts to legalize the plant in the state.

Rebecca Osland is a lawyer with the pro-farming Illinois Stewardship Alliance. She says the move can add hundreds of new jobs and up to $100 million in state revenue.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Cannabis Illinois
Costs from climate change-driven extreme weather events are on the rise, and the amount of time left to stop those impacts before they get progressively worse is rapidly closing, according to a Columbia University professor speaking on Tuesday during a webinar hosted by Climate Central.

Radley Horton, a Columbia University research professor, and a lead author for the Third National Climate Assessment, presented the hour-long webinar, Climate Change and Extreme Weather.

Horton summarized his findings in his studies of climate change as: Its real. Its us. Its serious.

The window of time to prevent widespread, dangerous impacts is closing fast, Horton said.

Horton explained that while a few degrees warming doesnt sound like much, the resulting impact will be noticeable.

A small shift in average temperature could mean a huge change in the frequency and duration of extremes, he said. Its not just the temperatures that are going up. The entire planet is changing.

More water vapor, warmer ocean temperatures, less sea ice, changing temperatures over land, and less snow cover, are among the changes the planet is experiencing.

And far more heat records than cold records are being broken, he added.

Horton looked at the roughly 1,800 weather stations recording temperatures from the period between 1950 and 2009. With 1-degree Fahrenheit of global warming on average by the early 2000s, the change to the climate was already pronounced, he said.

Wed already reached a state where you had almost twice as many record-breaking high extremes as low extremes, he said, adding that there is still veritably in the weather. But a signal is emerging. We cant any longer plan for the climate extremes of the past.

Horton said that while a great deal of attention is being given to the potential impacts of climate change on the weather, such as more severe droughts, worse storms, and rising sea levels, that not enough attention has been given to the potential of the combined effects.

A potential sea level rise of 2 feet over the next century, even without adding changes in the severity storms, would more than triple the frequency of dangerous flooding along U.S. coastal areas, he said.

That 2 feet of sea level rise represents a transformative change in frequency, he said.

So the damaging one-in-100-year events that produce high water levels will be far less rare, according to him.

You dont need stronger storms to get that catastrophic flooding, he said. Events that were happening every 100 years before could be happening in the lifetime of a typical mortgage.

Got it Covered?

A handful of insurance firms in Europe are showing true leadership on climate change by actively managing the financial risks it poses in capital markets, but nine-in-10 investment strategies in the sector fail to align with the goals of the global climate agreement hammered out in Paris, according to a new global ranking of the sector released today.

The report Got it covered? Insurance in a changing climate, by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project, part of responsible investment organization ShareAction, examines 80 of the worlds largest insurers with $15 trillion assets under management.

The report looked at insurer disclosures based on recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures covering climate strategy, climate risk management and targets. It drew on publicly available information and private survey responses. The TCFD was set up by the G20s Financial Stability Board to provide a framework to improve the ability to assess and price climate-related risk and opportunities.

Twenty-four of 80 insurers responded to the AODP survey, up from just three last year.

Results show that the UK takes two of the top four spots in the climate leaders category, a statement from AODP reads. The top-rated insurance firms are AXA followed by Aviva, who received a AAA rating, and Allianz and Legal & General, who were awarded AA. Legal & General was also the most improved insurer in total, moving up eight rating bands from last year. Japanese firm Tokio Marine also shot up six rating bands to a BBB rating, having been rated D in 2017.

There have been no shortage of reports out lately examining what insurers are doing with their assets in response to climate change.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced earlier this month announced he ran a stress test on the states largest insurers. Insurers analyzed in Jones test have more than $500 billion in fossil fuel-related securities, issued by power and energy companies, $10.5 billion of which consists of investments in thermal coal enterprises, according to the analysis.

The AODP reports key recommendations include:

Regulators must strengthen regulatory frameworks and mandatory requirements for climate-related disclosure.

Investors should prioritize engaging with the U.S. insurance sector to promote better disclosure and management of climate-related risks and opportunities

To meet the the goals of the Paris Agreement, insurers need to take a more comprehensive and bold stance on climate change.

To be fully compliant with the TCFD recommendations, insurers need bridge the gap identified in the report around metrics and targets.

Tragedy of Horizons

According to new research from the University of Waterloo, the insurance industry hasnt considered in their practices a changing climate, which represents a tragedy of the horizons for the finance and insurance sector because the economic risk associated with its effects is beyond the time and spatial horizon of most organizations.

A study from university researchers took data from 178 insurers and found that most insurance companies assumed the risk to property from extreme weather is static and based their premiums on historical data.

However, as extreme weather events are increasing in severity, frequency, and unpredictability, insurers have not adjusted, according to the report, titled Insurance and Climate Change Risk Management: Rescaling to Look Beyond the Horizon.

As extreme events become more frequent, insurers that ignore climate change will not put away enough money to cover their claims, Jason Thistlethwaite, a climate change economist at the University of Waterloo, said in a statement. To re-coup those losses, theyll have to raise rates or pull coverage from high risk areas. When this shift happens, thousands of people will lose coverage or it will be unaffordable.

Data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Climate Risk Disclosure Survey  thanks to the same survey we know that U.S. insurers are increasingly willing to disclose their risk management practices related to climate change  was analyzed to detect whether there is evidence of insurers adopting riskmanagement practices consistent necessary to capture the scale of risk associated with the effects of climate change on the insurance industry.

The report isnt entirely down on the insurance business. It compliments reinsurers for being better at adapting to climate change-related financial risk, although it noted that dynamic could lead to significant disruption in the industry.

Some insurers are better at understanding climate change than others, Thistlethwaite said. These organizations will survive, and likely be able to sell climate services to their counterparts struggling to understand the problem. Those that dont, will fail. Insurers are supposed to watch our backs by looking into the future and protect us from unexpected events. We pay to not worry about these things.

NASA Head

NASAs new top guy doesnt doubt that climate change is manmade.

Jim Bridenstine, President Trumps newly installed NASA chief, said this week that he now believes human activity is the main cause of climate change.

He was speaking at a recent hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee and stated that his views on climate change have changed from his previous position, which was that it is unclear how much humans contribute to climate change.

The National Climate Assessment that includes NASA, and it includes the Department of Energy and it includes NOAA, has clearly stated it is extremely likely  is the language they use  that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming, he was quoted as saying by The Hill in an answer to a question from Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. I have no reason to doubt the science that comes from that.

A little over a year ago, Bridenstine said that he accepted that humans were a cause of climate change, but he wouldnt say that they were the primary cause.

This is a bit of a departure for a Trump appointment list that includes a few that some would call climate science skeptics, such as Scott Pruitt as head the Environmental Protection Agency, Rick Perry as head of the Department of Energy and Kathleen Hartnett as head of the Council on Environmental Quality.

Past columns:

Topics Carriers USA Climate Change Pollution
United Airlines has reached a resolution with the owners of a small French bulldog puppy that died during a flight after a cabin attendant ordered it stowed in an overhead bin in March, the carrier said on Thursday.

We are deeply sorry for this tragic accident and have worked with the Robledo family to reach a resolution, the carrier said in a statement.

United did not disclose how much it would pay the family of the dog, Kokito, in the settlement.

The March incident touched off fresh backlash against the carrier that has made headlines in recent years for various customer service failures.

Social media users at the time called for a boycott of the airline, and two U.S. senators introduced to Congress the Welfare of Our Furry Friends Act, or WOOFF bill, that would impose civil fines for stowing animals in a planes overhead.

Figures from the U.S. Transportation Department showing that out of 24 animals that died on U.S. carriers last year, 18 were on United flights, were cited by lawmakers as evidence of Uniteds animal problem.

United has implemented new rules for its pet transport service, including barring certain breeds that are known to die during flights at higher rates than others.

The carrier has also said it would begin issuing brightly colored bag tags to passengers traveling with in-cabin pets to help flight attendants easily identify the animals.

(Reporting by Alana Wise in Chicago Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Topics USA Aviation
California-based life insurance agents, Samuel Tadlock III, 32, of Eastvale, Marlene Ramirez, 42, of Murrieta, Daniel Herrarte, 34, of Sylmar, and Jorge Lopez Jr., 38, of San Fernando, were arrested this week on multiple felony counts of identity theft and grand theft after allegedly submitting fraudulent insurance applications with information from stolen identities to collect approximately $124,000 in unearned commissions from insurance companies.

Agent Scotty Carlisle, 42, of Corona, is reportedly making arrangements to surrender himself.

According to an investigation by California Department of Insurance, the agents issued life and supplemental insurance policies for accident, accident care, critical illness, disability, medical bridge, and group medical bridge, using fraudulent applications as part of a scheme to earn commission advances from insurers.

The suspects reportedly altered and falsified applications by making changes to essential information, including addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and social security numbers and submitting new application through the insurers electronic database. Not only were the agents collecting unearned commissions, they were allegedly trying to take advantage of bonuses, including a Hawaiian trip incentive offered to qualifying insurance agents, according to the charges.

When the victim insurer discovered inconsistencies in the applications, they terminated the sales agents contracts, removed them from the incentive promotion and reported the alleged illegal activity to the department.

During the investigation, the department reportedly found evidence that the agents allegedly victimized another insurer, as a result the investigation is ongoing. The department has taken administrative action to suspend the agents licenses and will take further action if convicted. This case is being prosecuted by the Riverside County District Attorneys office.

Topics California Agencies Fraud
In estate planning, Canadians dont have to contend with an estate tax the way U.S. citizens do. However, what many people dont realize is that a deemed disposition tax applies when you die. In this article, well provide tips on minimizing your estates exposure to this tax and structuring your estate plan to ensure your beneficiaries get the assets you intend for them.

Key Takeaways Canadas deemed disposition tax, which is similar to the estate tax in the U.S., is deferred when assets are transferred to or held in a spousal trust for a surviving spouse.

Creating a trust allows you to transfer assets while you are still alive, which avoids probate costs when you die.

If you die without making a will, the Canadian province in which you lived decides how your assets will be distributed.

Taxation and Estate Planning

The deemed disposition tax is so named because your investments are deemed to be sold at death. Any capital gains triggered by their sale are included in a final income tax return filed in the year of your demise. A final tax return also includes the value of any retirement accounts and income received from stocks, bonds, real estate investments, and even life insurance proceeds in the year of death, from Jan. 1 up to the date of death.

With Canadian federal income tax rates of up to 33% in 2019, this final taxation can be substantial. Provincial taxes and probate fees also apply. (Skipping out on probate costs is possible, though, with proper advance planning.)

The good news is that the tax is deferred if the assets are transferred to a surviving spouse, rather than sold or otherwise left unclaimed. Taxes are deferred even if the assets are held in a spousal trust, which provides income to the surviving spouse. However, if the spouse sells the assets, the tax applies. When the spouse dies, and the assets are passed on to other heirs, 50% of the capital gains of any stocks, bonds, real estate investments, and other assets are taxable at the personal income tax rate.

The government of Canada also has special rules that apply to depreciable property, depending on its proceeds or deemed proceeds of disposition at the time of the individual's death, if it is not left to a spouse.

Why Its Important to Make a Will

Nothing is certain but death and taxes, the old saying goes (attributed to American founding father, Benjamin Franklin). While you cant control either of these two inevitable events, you can make a will to ensure that your financial affairs are managed according to your wishes once youre no longer able to do so due to incapacity or death.

Without a valid will, you are considered to have died intestate. When that happens in Canada, the province you lived in decides how your assets are distributed, without regard to your wishes. Following the laws of intestacy, the province typically distributes the first $50,000 of value to a surviving spouse, then divvies up the rest between the spouse and children. If you dont have a surviving spouse or children, your parents are next in line to receive your assets, followed by any brothers and sisters.

Dying without a will also leads to delays and extra expenses. The court appoints a bonded administrator to serve as an executor of the estate. In addition, any assets distributed to children under age 19 must be passed along to a bonded guardian or to the Public Trustee. The process of appointing these administrators is both expensive and time-consuming.

Last Will and Testament

The purpose of the last will is to give instructions to a person you choose as an executor on how you want your assets distributed after your death. It typically doesnt give directions on your funeral or burial, as it usually wont be opened until after the funeral, when the heirs come together for the reading of the will.

Power of Attorney

Power of attorney gives the person of your choice the power to manage your financial affairs if you become incapable of managing them yourself. It gives this person, designated as your agent or attorney-in-fact, the power to handle such day-to-day tasks as:

Paying bills

Filing tax returns

Opening mail

Banking

Talking with accountants and lawyers

Looking after pets

Voting on your behalf

Without a power of attorney, your spouse has no legal authority to perform a variety of important tasks for you if you become disabled.

Living Will

A living will gives healthcare/mental power of attorney to a person of your choice. It gives this person, acting as your agent or attorney-in-fact, the power to implement the medical treatment you wish to receive if you become unable to express your wishes. The document tells doctors, family members, and the courts your wishes for life-support and other medical procedures if you were to become brain dead, unconscious, terminally ill, or otherwise unable to communicate.

A living will essentially gives your chosen agent the power to choose whether or not to pull the plug or to decide your fate for you, but its value is debatable. Euthanasia isnt legal under section 215 of Canadas Criminal Code, and the living will has no legal status. However, Canadas Charter of Rights throws the constitutionality of this section of the Criminal Code into question by giving everyone the right to security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof.

How a Trust Simplifies Estate Planning

A will ensures that your heirs get exactly what you want them to get, but a trust can simplify the process of transferring these assets to your heirs. The main difference between the two is that the trust will let you transfer assets to beneficiaries when youre still alive, while a will transfers your assets when you die.

A trust is a legal entity that owns some or all of your assets, such as bank accounts, real estate, stocks, bonds, mutual fund units, and private businesses. The terms of a trust are more legally binding than those of an ordinary will, which can be challenged in a court of law as to whether it fulfills the deceaseds moral obligation. A trust also allows you to avoid the probate process, where the contents of your will are made publicly available.

Types of Trusts

The main type of trust in estate planning is a revocable living trust, so-called because you can change or revoke the terms of the trust at any time while youre alive. The trust instructs the trustees on how to distribute your assets to beneficiaries while youre alive, after death, or if you become incapable of doing so.

Both you and your spouse can be trustees and manage the trusts assets. This feature of a living trust may be important, for example, if a family business is placed in a trust and you want to continue to have some control over its operations. When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse continues as trustee, but the trust becomes irrevocable in that only limited changes can be made to its terms.

As the income from trust-held assets is taxable at Canadian trust tax rates, living trusts are not as popular in Canada as they are in the U.S., where the income is taxed at your personal income tax rate. A living trust established after June 17, 1971, is subject to tax on all income at the highest marginal rate of tax in the province of residence. In contrast, a testamentary trust, which operates only after death, is taxed at the personal provincial tax rate.

In addition, assets that are transferred into or out of a Canadian trust are generally treated as if they have been sold, and they are taxed on any increase in value (appreciation) from the purchase date. However, two relatively recent trust structures, the alter-ego trust, and joint-spousal trust allow you to avoid capital gains taxation.

The Bottom Line

In sum, to ensure that your assets are distributed the way you want them to be, you will need a last will and testament, and you also may want to consider a living will, a power of attorney, and a trust.
What Is the IESE Business School?

The term IESE Business School refers to a graduate business school of the University of Navarra in Barcelona, Spain. Founded in 1958, the school is known for its emphasis on business ethics, international collaborations, and highly diverse student body.

The IESE Business School offers graduate and doctorate degrees, as well as programs catering to professional development. IESE consistently ranks among the top business schools, especially for its Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. The school has a global footprint with five campuses in Europe and the Americas, as well as partnerships with more than a dozen schools. 

Key Takeaways IESE Business School is a graduate business school based in Barcelona, Spain.

It is known for its international outlook and highly rated MBA programs.

Students can enroll in in-person and online learning opportunities in both English and Spanish at five campuses in Europe and the Americas.

The school has partnerships with more than a dozen international schools, as well as collaborations with top schools in the U.S., including Harvard Business School.

Understanding the IESE Business School

The school was founded in 1958 in Barcelona. The name, IESE, stands for Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa, which means Institute of Higher Business Studies in Spanish. While the school's main campus is located in Barcelona, it also has campuses in Madrid, New York, Munich, and Sao Paulo.

Students can sign up for in-person and online learning in either English or Spanish. With a team of about 113 full-time professors, the school offers a number of graduate programs, doctorate degrees, and professional development programs for corporate executives. Among its offerings are the:

MBA program

Executive MBA program

Global Executive MBA

Master of Research Management

Ph.D. in management  

IESE's MBA program is rated among the top five international MBA programs. Its executive education program is also widely acclaimed and was ranked the top program of its kind in the world by the Financial Times every year from 2015 to 2020.

Graduates of IESE Business School join an alumni network of over 50,000 people. This community includes many prominent members such as:

Steve Shiffman, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Calvin Klein

Juvencio Maeztu, deputy CEO of IKEA

Yuko Keicho, director of strategy and operations at the World Bank

Equally impressive is IESE Business School alumnis track record of producing startup companies. The school boasts supporting more than 250 startups.

IESE students can also enroll in exchange programs with more than 25 business schools across the globe.

Special Considerations

IESE has partnerships with 15 international business schools. According to IESE, this is the largest network in the world. The majority of these institutions are located in Africa and Latin America while others are found in Europe and Asia.

In 1963, it formed the Harvard-IESE Committee, a collaboration with Harvard Business School that was intended to guide the development and growth of IESE, particularly in relation to its two-year MBA program. This partnership still exists and plays a key role in the success of the school's executive education programs.

IESE Business School works closely with many other partner institutions across the globe. For example, it offers a global CEO program, which is jointly delivered with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the China Europe International Business School. IESE also has a partnership with the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, offering students the Become a Positive Leader to Accelerate Positive Change program.

These jointly delivered programs are part of a larger strategy of embracing international partnerships, which currently involves associations with 15 different business schools around the world, as well as foreign-exchange agreements with over 25 partnering institutions.
What Was the Institutional Investor Index?

The Institutional Investor Index, also known as the Country Credit Survey, was a measure of sovereign credit risk that was published biannually in the March and September issues of Institutional Investor magazine.

Institutional Investor magazine began publishing the Institutional Investor Index in the late 1970s when the field of risk assessment was in its early stages. Today, the Institutional Investor Index is no longer published, having ceased publication in March 2016.

Key Takeaways The Institutional Investor Index was a measure of sovereign credit risk that was published by Institutional Investor Magazine from the late 1970s until March 2016.

It was intended to help investors navigate the complex risks associated with investing abroad at a time when gaining information on foreign countries was more difficult.

Country credit risk includes political risk, exchange rate risk, economic risk, sovereign risk, and transfer risk.

Today, investors have many resources to choose from, including credit rating agencies, international organizations, and the governments themselves.

Today, Institutional Investor magazine focuses on surveying buy-side and sell-side analysis as well as portfolio managers to determine their opinion as to the worlds best investor relations programs and executives.

Understanding the Institutional Investor Index

The Institutional Investor Index was a country risk assessment model available to investors. Country risk refers to a collection of risks related to investing in a foreign country, including political risk, exchange rate risk, economic risk, sovereign risk, and transfer risk. Country risk is an important consideration for those interested in investing abroad.

When the Institutional Investor Index was first published, governments and agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not regularly disclose information on which to gauge the credit risk of sovereign debt. Investors and banks had minimal data on which to make decisions; instead, they relied on ideology and assumptions to assess global credit quality.

The Institutional Investor Index aimed to fill this void by soliciting survey responses from between 75 and 100 investment bank research departments. The respondents were asked to provide evaluations of a particular countrys creditworthiness. Their answers were then weighted in accordance with the respondents banks global exposure and the perceived quality of that countrys financial reporting standards. The resulting scores ranged from 0 to 100, indicating a very high and very low probability of default, respectively.

Today, investors have many more resources to turn to when it comes to assessing a countrys creditworthiness. These include credit rating agencies, international organizations, and governments themselves.

The last Institutional Investor Index was published in March 2016. Today, the publisher focuses on surveying buy-side and sell-side analysis as well as portfolio managers to determine their opinion as to the worlds best investor relations programs and executives.

Real-World Example

The final (March 2016) edition of the Institutional Investor Index considered Switzerland, Norway, and Germany to be the three most credit-worthy countries in the world, with scores of 95.2, 94.8, and 94.7, respectively.

The United States ranked in fourth place, with a score of 93.4. To put these scores in perspective, the global average rating of the 179 countries surveyed was 44.7. Rounding out the top 10 countries with the best credit ratings were Luxembourg, Singapore, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, and Denmark.

At the other extreme were Somalia, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe. These were found to be the worlds least credit-worthy countries, with scores of 3.3, 6.3, and 6.8, respectively. Rounding out the bottom 10 countries were Sudan, North Korea, Central African Republic, Syria, Yemen, Guinea-Bissau, and Afghanistan.

The Index would also come with an overall analysis of the credit ratings around the world. For example, in March 2016, the Index assessed that overall European ratings rose and that emerging market countries also posted widespread gains. It identified that Greece's rating improved from its large slide during its debt crisis but that it still had a lot of ground to recover.

The report also noted that of the top 20 ranked countries, only South Korea posted a gain of more than a point in its credit score, while Canada and Finland experienced falls. The report would include facts of how the World Bank covered the global growth forecast as well as discussing changes in interest rates.
What Is NEXUS?

NEXUS is a government-sponsored Trusted Travelers Program that allows pre-screened U.S. and Canadian citizens to expedite border crossings. U.S. and Canadian citizens using NEXUS experience expedited border crossings into the United States and Canada with less immigration and customs questioning. NEXUS is valid for air, land, and sea travel, and a NEXUS ID can be used in lieu of a passport.

NEXUS also helps the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) reduce travel risks by increasing the number of known safe travelers.

Key Takeaways NEXUS is a government-sponsored program that eases travel bureaucracy for pre-screened citizens of the United States and Canada across air, land, and sea.

NEXUS members can use the Global Entry and TSA PreCheck programs without applying separately to each.

Membership to NEXUS is valid for slightly more than five years and is available by paying a $50 fee and consenting to a background check and personal interview.

Understanding NEXUS

NEXUS members experience more efficient border crossings between the United States and Canada through dedicated lanes, airport kiosks, and land and sea border checkpoints. NEXUS members do not have to remove their shoes, belts, or light outerwear for airport security screenings and can keep their laptops and 3-1-1 compliant bag of liquids in their carry-on bags.

NEXUS members can use the Global Entry and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Precheck traveler programs without applying separately to each. Global Entry members can use the NEXUS program to cross the border from Canada into the United States without becoming NEXUS members. However, expedited crossing from the United States into Canada requires NEXUS membership.

Applying for NEXUS

NEXUS applicants must pay a $50 fee (USD or CND) and submit to a background check and a personal interview. If approved by both the United States' and Canadian governments, applicants receive a NEXUS ID card with their photo and radio frequency identification document (RFID) functionality. The card is valid for slightly more than five years and can be renewed following the same procedure as outlined above. The date of expiration is calculated from the next birthdate after the cardholder's last interview. NEXUS participants can also have their irises scanned as an alternative form of identification at border crossings.

NEXUS is open to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent U.S. residents, Canadian citizens, and lawful permanent residents of Canada. Individuals with a criminal history, customs violations, or immigration violationsor who do not meet criteria for admission to the United States or Canadamay not be approved for NEXUS. Either country can deny an individuals application, but both must approve it.

Reasons for NEXUS Ineligibility

You may not be eligible for participation in the NEXUS program if you:
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Following a successful second edition of the BATA Fashion Weekend in Milan , Bata continued with its new fashion tradition and this week hosted 4th Generation and CMO BATA Mr. Thomas Archer in Nairobi.

This Years theme is The Sound of Style, featuring an engaging combination of music, design and craftsmanship something Mr. Thomas is keen on spreading during his trip.

Born in Toronto, Canada and raised between the UK and Switzerland, he holds an MA in political science from the University of Edinburgh.

He also has a passion for people and innovation which are the main areas of focus in driving his business agenda as well his personal interests.

He was here to continue with the glam and cheer which started in Milan as the brand gears itself to create more awareness on BATA Red Label in the country.

Bata Red Label, designed and developed jointly between Bata and the Aldo Group combines the latest fashions with comfort and affordable prices.

Designed in North America by the ALDO Group, and inspired by styles seen on the streets of New York and London, Red Labels delivers new trends such as floral patterns and bold bright colors to the Bata collection. With highly fashionable product range at accessible price, the collection is aimed at consumers who want to look and feel young and are never satisfied with the content of their closet. The collection will have a consistent flow of new products that will be constantly changing  so better pick up the pair you like before its gone!

Sexy comfort at an affordable price is one of our main goals with this collection. Everyone should be able to express their character through their looks, and our new Red Label collection is exactly about this, about democratizing beauty and style, says, Keziah Kabutu, Advertising Manager at Bata.

Bata teamed up with Aldo, as both companies believe there was an opening in the market between their traditional segments: Aldo, a global leader in bringing trends quickly to market, and Bata delivering Comfort and Great Value.

Our Bata Team worked closely with ALDO to develop and design a strong offering based current trends from all over the world. We are very proud of this fresh and distinctive collection of products for both men and women. With Bata Red Label weve delivered the utmost fashion experience for our customers, adds Batas Brand Manager Marcos Canovas Barbe.

The red color chosen to represent the collection is based on the values of the Bata brand and its heritage. Thomas Archer Bata, Batas CMO stresses: For over 120 years, the red color has represented Bata and is as much a part of today as it was when we got going. We have always strived to get our consumers what they want and go beyond this. Red Label is the embodiment of our efforts.

We have a great deal of respect for the Bata organization, and are very excited with the potential of this global partnership for both organizations. Our teams worked closely on design and trend, and together we have delivered a very relevant Red Label collection says Jonathan Frankel, SVP ALDO Product Services.

The Red Label collection will support Bata in connecting a new generation of customers, with a wide array of trends, styles and designs. Whilst Bata might be trusted and loved, it has not always been on the cutting edge of trends. With Red Label, we want to address a young generation that grew up with us, by giving them want they want  today, concludes Thomas Archer Bata.

The collection is available in the below participating stores in Kenya:
Founder of the Happiness Research Institute, Meik Wiking, has spent the past five years delving into what makes societies smile, writes Deirdre Reynolds

Perched comfortably on a couch in the sun-dappled loft of 4 Dame Lane in Dublin, Meik Wiking takes a sip from a glass of water that is distinctly half full.

As the founder of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, the Dane has spent the past five years delving into what makes societies all over the world smile.

If youre reading on in the hopes of discovering the secret to turning that frown upside down for once and for all, however, hes got bad news, for a change.

Im sorry to tell you, but I dont think there is one big secret, smiles the happiness expert, whose name is pronounced Mike Viking.

There [are] a lot of factors that impact our wellbeing, but I think the best predictor of whether people are happy or not, globally, is unsurprisingly our relationships; so do we have somebody we can rely [on] in times of need, do we have somebody we connect with, who we feel we belong with, family and friends?

Thats also what I see in the data, that we are first and foremost humans, and the same things that drive happiness in Copenhagen also drive it in Dublin.

The Little Book of Hygge author jetted to the capital to help Carlsberg launch The Danish Experiment, a five-part web-series following four Irish celebrities, including street artist, Maser, and Kodaline bassist, Jay Boland, as they join forces with some of Denmarks top creatives to explore the countrys famously laid-back way of life.

Pipped to the post by Nordic neighbours Finland and Norway, Denmark was this year named the third happiest nation on earth in the World Happiness Report, released annually by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Sandwiched between slightly more upbeat Costa Ricans and marginally more miserable Germans, meanwhile, Irish people were found to be the 14th happiest people on the planet by the research, which ranks 156 countries across six factors including GDP, life expectancy and freedom.

[Ireland is] usually in the top 20, and theres 156 countries in the World Happiness Report, so I think youre doing quite well, says Wiking, whose bestselling books have been translated into more than 30 languages.

I think what characterises Denmark to some extent also characterises Ireland, in terms of a focus on togetherness, a focus on families, a focus on a decent work/life balance; those are some of the things that Denmark [does] well in in the happiness ratings, and I think that also pushes Ireland up the list.

Also I think because were both small countries, theres a modesty, but also a sort of international perspective, that were sort of outward-looking and open to seeing inspiration from elsewhere.

I think the pace of life, the atmosphere, both in Copenhagen and Dublin is similar; we focus on hygge, you focus on the craic, but I think theres a lot of similarities between those two.

From knocking off work on time to cuddling up at home with a hot chocolate, his 2016 guide to happiness famously sparked a global phenomenon, not to mention an ongoing debate over how to pronounce the self-care practice (its hue-gah, he repeats).

So was the former civil servant with the Danish ministry for foreign affairs surprised at the number of people suddenly getting hygge with it?

A little bit, he admits, but I think the reason why it took off was we described something that people were already doing and essentially gave it a label.

Hygge happens everywhere it happens in Dublin, it happens in New York, it happens around the world, but Danes have a word that describes that situation, and I think people just felt that.

Studies show how happy people have stronger immune systems, healthier hearts, suffer less stress and even live longer than their malcontented counterparts.

In a world of LOLs and smiley faces though, how do we know if were truly happy?

I think we recognise it when we feel it, answers Wiking. Happiness can both be sort of looking at my life, and feeling happy with my life overall, but it can also be how happy I feel right now  what sort of emotions do we feel on a daily basis.

[For example], people who have a shorter commute to work are happier, so yes you are born more or less happy, but also the choices you make on a daily basis impacts your happiness.

Theres a lot of factors that impact happiness, but we see people in all sorts of circumstances achieve happiness, he adds, but, of course, in some circumstances its easier than in others.

I think thats a global thing that the way weve been measuring progress in terms of GDP is perhaps not the only or the best way to do it, but I see more and more governments now focusing on measures of progress that include wellbeing and quality of life as a measure of progress, and not just focusing on standard of living.

Every nation has challenges; my objective in my work is to understand how can we create good conditions for good lives, and one of the things seems to be to create good conditions for people to connect with one another, and I think all countries could focus more on that.

After one study by the UKs Royal Society for Public Health established a link between social media use and increased rates of anxiety and depression among 19-24 year-olds, temporarily unplugging from Facebook and Instagram is one way to get appy, and avoid compare and despair syndrome, says the happiness guru.

Weve done studies on the impact of social media on happiness and [it] seems to have a negative effect in part because, as you describe, we compare ourselves to other people, he agrees, and usually social media is this channel where we only show the good sides [of] our lives.

But I think its also interesting to see schools and families looking at new ways of embracing technology and saying, OK, between 6pm and 8pm, its no phone time for the entire family and we actually sit down and have a meal together as a family.

We see more and more families in Denmark doing that; we also see boarding schools saying to kids, You can have your phones one hour a day, but for [the other] 23 hours, you connect with the people you are among, so I think we are becoming better at using the new technology.

There is good evidence on the positive impact of journaling in part because, especially if you do gratitude journals, you focus more on the positive things that do happen in your life, where we have perhaps a tendency to focus on the negative ones, continues the author.

I think it sort of rewires our brain to focus more on what we can be grateful for instead of what we dont have, so there is evidence in that sense.

As for Wiking himself, who is routinely described in interviews as the happiest man on earth, its the little things.

I think the not-so-secret secret to happiness is connecting with other people, he concludes. I think Im very ordinary  what I see in the data I also experience in my own life.

Bringing together some good friends over good food  I think thats a very good recipe for happiness, whether you are Irish or whether you are Danish.

The Danish Experiment premieres on Facebook.com/CarlsbergIreland and @CarlsbergIreland on Instagram on Tuesday, June 12.

Living the Danish way

1. Get on your bike

Biking to and from work and social activities is not only fun, it will also get you out in the open and get your heart beating. It will give you a moment to think or simply take in the sounds of life around you.

2. Remember hygge

In Denmark hygge is not just for special occasions. Hygge is something we do every day. Take time to simply exist and enjoy everyday moments.

3. Happiness is not expensive

Happiness doesnt have to cost money. Danes have decoupled money and happiness. We dont have to go out to have a nice Friday night. We can just as well stay in with some friends and play board games.

4. Trust

In Denmark we trust each other. And that makes life so much easier. Findings state that people are generally more trustworthy than we believe. So, give it a try and start trusting you neighbour with you house-key when you are away for a weekend next time.

5. Work-life balance

Danes work hard and we work many hours  but we dont forget to go home. We normally work 37 hours a week. We cherish time with friends and family and will not answer emails in the weekend or stay late to prove ambition.
The director of BreastCheck has called for a mediation forum to address false negative test concerns and possible legal actions, after 15 legal letters were received in recent weeks in the wake of the cervical cancer screening controversy.

There is growing concern that there may now be cases of breast cancer diagnosis that were missed by screening.

Fianna Fails Dara Calleary raised the matter with Tanaiste Simon Coveney during leaders questions.

Mr Calleary said that while BreastCheck has saved thousands of womens lives and is one of the best screening programmes in the world, the Government needs to be one step ahead and not caught blind once again and must guarantee that there are no other underlying issues concerning any other screening programmes.

Professor ODoherty [the director] is genuinely worried that if these cases are successful, it could absorb all the money from the programme and may end up jeopardising it altogether, said the Fianna Fail deputy leader.

She mentioned legal costs of tens of millions of euro. She said the taxpayer will require the stopping of the screening programme, which would mean women would die unnecessarily from breast cancer.

Arnie Hill, a consultant surgeon at Beaumont Hospital and adviser to the national cancer control plan, has also echoed Prof ODohertys fears. Prof Hill has said if 100 women with breast cancer underwent a mammogram, the disease would not show in 10 of them.

The Scally scoping inquiry is looking into the inaccurate cervical cancer test results scandal and the the failure of doctors and health services to tell patients. But it will also examine other cancer screening programmes.

We have asked Dr Scally to examine our screening programmes generally in addition to CervicalCheck in his work to ensure we correct the wrongs of the past in regard to CervicalCheck and the information flow that should have happened but did not, the Tanaiste told the Dail.

Mr Coveney said the Government is aware of the legal cost concerns for BreastCheck but that a review is also underway of medical litigation in Ireland: On the legal issues that are of concern, the Taoiseach has set up a working group to examine tort law in respect of medical litigation. We will, of course, await the outcome of the review.

Mr Coveney moved to reassure people about the test rates and success of BreastCheck, which is internationally recognised: It is important to reinforce the point that BreastCheck statistics are impressive by international standards.

The programme is working. We need to learn lessons from recent weeks regarding the obligation of the State to ensure that information flow is appropriate and proper and that women can gain access to information when they want it.

Prof Doherty this week told an Oireachtas Committee that, during testing, 9.6 per 10,000 cases of breast cancer are not detected. Nonetheless, screening picks up the vast majority of breast cancer cases, she told TDs and senators.

Mr Coveney continued yesterday to reassure people about screening, telling the Dail: I wish to provide reassurance that, as far as we can see, BreastCheck is performing really well and saving lives, and it will continue to do so.

He also confirmed to Mr Calleary that BreastCheck wont introduce an open disclosure policy on informing patients about inaccurate results until next year. Currently, Mr Coveney noted, England is the only country in the world providing open disclosure in all its systems linked to screening.
These authors appear alongside the likes of Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, Sylvia Plath, and Hilary Mantel on the list, unveiled by the Hay Festival.

The annual literary and arts event in Wales is this year celebrating literature penned by women since 1918 to mark the centenary of women first gaining the right to vote.

Rowlings third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, published in 1999, succeeded over all the other books in the wizarding series thanks to votes cast by hundreds of voters over the last three months.

Gillian Flynns dark thriller Gone Girl, published in 2012, also features on the top 100 selection, described as a combination of great books of all genres, fiction and non-fiction by the Hay Festival.

Other books to feature on the list include Orlando by Woolf (1928), The Body in the Library by Christie (1942), To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee (1960), and Plaths Ariel (1965).

Among the Irish authors to make it to the list are Marian Keyes for Rachels Holiday (1997), Eimear McBride for A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing (2013), Iris Murdochs Under The Net (1954), and Edna OBriens The Country Girls (1960).

Titles by Caitlin Moran, Maya Angelou, Zadie Smith, Carol Ann Duffy, Germaine Greer, and Jacqueline Wilson are also included, while Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding and The

Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson also made the cut.

The Color Purple (Alice Walker), The Handmaids Tale (Margaret Atwood), The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 (Sue Townsend), and Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell feature prominently on the list.

The list was compiled following three months of voting for the festivals #Vote100Books campaign.

The announcement was made on the opening day of the 2018 Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, which takes place in Hay-on-Wye in Wales.

The selected books will be discussed at an event held by womens arts and lifestyle website The Pool at the festival on Monday

Hay Festival director Peter Florence said: There are books here that have changed lives, and changed the world.

The list is an extraordinary testament to the power of ideas and stories. And a testament to the wisdom of crowds.

What a fabulous bedside book-pile of empowering and enlightening treasures. Race you to the library!

This years Hay Festival runs June 3, and will feature a programme of 800 events, including appearances from authors such as Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Jilly Cooper, Philip Pullman, and Salman Rushdie.
The man was also accused of saying: Lets go to a field somewhere and one of us wont come back.

Judge John King, who dismissed the case and said the neighbours need to sort out their difficulties, stated at the end of the case: I find the whole thing quite bizarre.

He said there was a complete conflict of evidence where Jim Carroll, of 32 Brooklodge, Maryborough Woods, Douglas, Cork, denied a charge of engaging in threatening words or behaviour on August 30, 2016.

The witness against him was his neighbour, Justin Banks, who is in his mid-30s.

Judge King said there were inconsistencies between what Mr Banks said in his statement to gardai and in his court testimony.

The judge pointed to defence solicitor Frank Buttimers cross-examination of Mr Banks, that he described seeing Mr Carroll sitting in his car but later said he was standing beside his car.

I have to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt. I am not convinced beyond reasonable doubt, so I dismiss, the judge ruled.

I would, however, say there is clearly a difficulty between them and they need to do something about it.

Both men stated that they had been good neighbours before the incident.

Mr Carroll told the court he had no problem with children playing but that his difficulty was with the noise of a ball banging against a wall in what he described as an area not designated for ball-playing.

Mr Banks alleged that Mr Carroll took two poles from his car and had a tea towel folded over, which he pulled back to reveal two steak knives. He said he went straight to gardai and reported what the defendant allegedly said to him.

Mr Buttimer said whatever happened between the parties that morning, there was nothing sinister or intimidatory from Mr Carroll.

The defendant said he was taking stuff to the dump that morning and that Mr Banks was throwing stares at him.

As for what Mr Banks said about him, Mr Carroll said: It never happened.

Inspector Gary McPolin said to the defendant: The elephant in the room is that the ball-playing in the park stuck in the craw for you.
Guidos lasting physical injuries have left him requiring round-the-clock care. He has devoted the past two years of his life to his writing project.

And, as he looks ahead to his 36th birthday tomorrow, the Turin native received a timely present, after signing a deal with a leading Italian publishing house.

The book has a working title of Una Vita Spezzata, which translates as A Shattered Life.

It will revisit, in detail, the horrific day in 1999 when Guido, who was on his first trip to Ireland, suffered irreversible injuries after a mindless assault in Dublins Fairview Park.

As a result of being struck over the head with a bottle, the fun-loving teenager was left partially-sighted, unable to walk or feed himself, and battling depression.

However, both Guido and his 76-year-old mother Simonetta  with whom he shares an apartment in Turin  have been given a huge boost after learning his book is expected to be released by Christmas this year.

Bernadette Kelly, a Dublin-based victim support volunteer who built up a close friendship with the Nasi family following the attack, said:

Its such a great achievement for Guido to have written a book because it was such a difficult thing for him to do. He typed out every word himself, but even moving his finger from key to the next key would take him about 20 seconds. So that will give you an idea of how hard it must have been.

Bernadette, a fluent Italian speaker, attributed Guidos improved mental health to his new hobby, bocce, an Italian equivalent of lawn bowls.

He only took up bocce last year, but has become so good at it that hes representing Turin in a national competition for people with disabilities thats coming up, she said. Its great that hes found this outlet, because its allowed him to get outside and its certainly improved his state of mind.

However, its not all good news in the Nasi household, as Simonetta was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in February.

Bernadette said: Simonetta has been worried for a long time about what will happen to Guido when she is no longer around. Now she has the diagnosis, that is even more important.

But thankfully the council are making arrangements to house Guido in a special complex in the hills near Turin in the future.

"Both Simonetta and Guido have been to visit the place and they are very happy with it. Its given them both some much-needed peace of mind.

In 2001, James Osbourne, then aged 31, from East Wall, Dublin, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years over the attack. He was released in 2008.
The figures were officially confirmed by a number of independent groups yesterday as final preparations were made for the national vote on Irelands strict abortion laws and amid fevered international media attention.

With polling stations due to open at 7am and close at 10pm tonight, before an initial exit poll is known at 11.30pm and counting begins tomorrow, officials confirmed that 3.2m people are registered to vote nationwide.

The figure is based on Department of Housing and Local Government statistics compiled from each of Irelands 31 city and county councils, and includes 118,389 new voters  almost double the 66,000 new votes for the 2015 marriage equality referendum.

Among the 118,389-person figure, the highest number of new voters is 19,805 in Dublin City Council, followed by 9,729 in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and 9,049 in Cork County Council.

The lowest new voter figures are in Leitrim, Roscommon and Longford, where there are 670, 708 and 841 people who are on the register for the first time.

In a statement yesterday, the Union of Students in Ireland said it expects todays vote to be the largest student turnout in the history of the State.

Students know their future is at stake here. Were expecting student turnout to be bigger than the marriage equality vote in 2015. With almost 125,000 new voter on the register, we expect the majority to be first-time young voters, said USI president Michael Kerrigan.

In a separate statement, the Referendum Commission called on members of the public to use their vote, with Commission chair Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy saying it is important you take the opportunity to use your vote.

The Referendum Commission does not campaign for a yes or a no vote, but we do strongly urge you to inform yourself and to use your vote.

How you vote on this issue is entirely a matter for you to decide, but it is important that you take the opportunity to use your vote, Ms Justice Kennedy said.

Polling stations across the country will open at 7am today and close at a strict 10pm deadline, before an initial exit poll  which is an early estimation of how people voted  likely to be revealed on RTEs The Late Late Show at 11.30pm.

Official counting of the ballot boxes in constituencies across the country will begin tomorrow morning, with an overall result tentatively predicted for Saturday evening in Dublin Castle, although a close vote or recount of ballot boxes could delay proceedings.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fail TD James Lawless released a statement on Twitter yesterday saying that while he continues to have pro-life views he will vote yes in todays referendum.

I had many long, dark nights of the soul over this [the referendum] and find it very difficult. I personally would come from a pro-life outlook.

However, I no longer think it is credible to pretend that everything is fine as it is. We cannot ignore all the stories we hear of pain and hardship experienced by so many at the most difficult of times.

I think the majority of Irish people are in the middle but unfortunately this referendum has been reduced to two binary options. I still old the same beliefs I always did, I just dont believe I have the right to enforce them onto others, said Mr Lawless.
The 36,000 annual cost, based on a current three-year lease, was revealed by UCC chief financial officer Diarmuid Collins in response to a question by the Tipperary Labour TD Alan Kelly at a meeting with the Dail Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Patrick OShea returned from the US to take up a 10-year role as UCC president from February 2017, starting on a salary of 185,000.

We dont have an equivalent of a residence like other universities so we pay for rental accommodation for the president, Mr Collins told the PAC.

Prof OShea added that the rent is treated as a benefit in kind, meaning he is liable for tax on the amount paid.

Mr Kelly acknowledged that University of Limerick and other colleges have a residence for their president on their campuses. He said he wished to find the amount being spent compared to other colleges.

For all he knows, he said, it may be cheaper than the comparable cost elsewhere.

It would be a good thing to look at other costs across the board, he said, suggesting that the Higher Education Authority take a comparative look at all the universities.

Its 36,000 a year to pay for rent for the president, he said. Obviously for students or for the public out there, that might seem strange, but Ive set it in the right context I think.

The PAC hearing was convened to discuss UCCs financial statements for the year to the end of September 2016, which declared a surplus of 560,000.

As previously reported by the Irish Examiner, a factor in this was the 1.659m from its share of the 2016 sale of a former spinout company at UCCs Tyndall National Institute to Facebook subsidiary Oculus.

The university received almost 1m more in royalties associated with the companys technology, and Prof OShea told TDs that 100 people are currently employed by Oculus in Cork arising from the deal.

Mr Kelly said the committee does not accept UCCs claim in a written reply to the PAC earlier this month that the eight-year 500,000-plus partnership with Cork Opera House is being funded by fee income other than that which comes from the exchequer.

You cant separate it, because if you didnt have the taxpayers money in the first place, you wouldnt be in a position to do it, its obvious and that goes for all third-level colleges, he said.
Arts Elderly Artists Defy Stereotypes With New Group Show

Myanmar culture paintings by Sein Myint

YANGON  In Myanmar there is a saying that when people get old they go to a monastery and pray the rosary. It means that the elderly in Myanmar prefer to seek peace of mind over an active lifestyle.

But the saying hardly applies to the versatile artists Win Pe and Dr. Ko Ko Gyi, both of whom are in their 80s. Despite the knee pain and hearing loss that has come to them in old age, the two stay busy with brush and canvas in their studios.

Artist Ko Thike and Sein Myint, both in their 70s, are also still as eager as bridegrooms about their abstract drawings and Myanmar-style modern paintings.

Joined by fellow artist K2K, they have come together for Moment of Expressions at the Yangon Gallery in Peoples Park. Last year, Win Pe and K2K organized the exhibition in Mandalay. This year, Dr. Ko Ko Gyi, Sein Myint and Ko Thike have brought it to Myanmars commercial capital.

Win Pe has created paintings depicting Zawgyi, a creature or demigod in Myanmar myth.

Zawgyi is not important. Other figures are also not important. My paintings are just about lines and colors, and I am happy with it, he said.

Dr. Ko Ko Gyi earned a doctorate in psychology in Hungary and is a retired professor at Mandalay University. He was exposed to international art through museums in Europe and is also a close friend of Myanmars modernists. He has participated in art exhibitions since the 1970s and is showcasing his abstract expressionist paintings, which he has created over the past 40 years.

Ko Thike is showcasing his abstract paintings as well.

My paintings are about village life and culture, pagoda festivals, traditional dance and drama, puppet shows and nat pwe [spirit festivals], said Sein Myint, who is known for his Myanmar-style modernism.

K2K has created his paintings based on tarot cards. I love the figures in tarot cards. I add things based on those figures. Mainly I play with colors, he said.

Over 70 paintings will be on display at the exhibition, which runs Saturday through Monday. Prices range from $100 to $3,000.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
A Kenyan fighting for the al Shabaab terrorist group has been found dead at a camp in Jilib in an apparent suicide.

The body of the deceased, identified as Abdi Kimani, was found dangling behind a house in the camp that holds new foreign recruits. According to sources, Kimani took his life after staying in the camp for three weeks.

He is said to be the third foreign fighter, among five who have killed themselves at the camp. An unknown number reportedly fled the camp for its unbearable conditions.

It is claimed that harsh living conditions are one of the unrealistic expectations faced by the new recruits when they arrive at the camp.

The source further disclosed that last week a Tanzanian female recruit, identified as Amina took her life after she reported to have been sexually assaulted several times by the militants.

She spent whole morning groaning and screaming saying that she wanted a doctor. But no one came to her aid and after the cries went silent at around midday, she was found dead.

Reports indicate that she stabbed herself.

According to unconfirmed reports from the Al-Shabaab camp in Afmadhow, two female recruits had attempted to commit suicide over rape allegations.

The two were, however, subjected to lashing by the militants as punishment for attempting to end their lives.
News Corruption-Tainted Planning and Finance Minister Resigns

Outgoing Union Planning and Finance Minister U Kyaw Win is seen in 2016. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  Myanmar Planning and Finance Minister U Kyaw Wins resignation has been accepted after the Anti-Corruption Commission confirmed that he was under investigation for corruption, the Presidents Office announced on Friday evening.

His resignation is the first since President U Win Myint vowed to make the fight against corruption a priority in his inauguration speech in March. U Kyaw Win is the most senior official in the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government official to be investigated on corruption charges so far.

The Presidents Office said the minister was allowed to resign from his post of his own volition, in accordance with the Constitution and the Union Government Law, which state that a Union minister or deputy minister may resign from office voluntarily before his term expires after submitting a written resignation to the president.

The Union minister submitted his resignation to the president on Monday, sources close to the matter told The Irrawaddy.

Since last week, news reports have circulated alleging that the minister and his son are being investigated for corruption by the commission and the Bureau of Special Investigation, which is under the Home Affairs Ministry.

Their home in Yangon was searched and U Kyaw Win has also been banned from leaving the country, according to reports.

When the ruling NLD listed its nominees for ministerial positions in March 2016, it emerged that the doctoral degree in finance listed by U Kyaw Win on his publicly released CV was fake.

The investigation into the minister stirred public interest and much talk about whether the Anti-Corruption Commission is making good on its vow to go after big fish.

In his meeting with the commission on April 11, President U Win Myint instructed its members not to be influenced by powerful figures in undertaking their duties and to carry them out decisively.

The Anti-Corruption Commission was the first governmental body to meet the new president after his inauguration on March 30.

In recent cases, Food and Drug Administration Director General Dr. Than Htut was arrested and sued under Section 56 of the Anti-Corruption Law for allegedly demanding bribes worth more than 15 million kyats from a construction company, while an administrator in Mandalays Pyin Oo Lwin Township and another local official were both sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for taking bribes from villagers in return for registering their land.
News Dhaka, UN to Coordinate Contraception Campaign in Rohingya Camps

A Rohingya refugee sits in a waiting room at a women's clinic in Balukhali refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, / Reuters

DHAKA  Bangladesh and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have agreed to cooperate on providing contraception to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar as the estimated population of the camps housing them has now passed 1 million.

An agreement between the Bangladesh Family Planning Directorate (DGFP) and the UN agency signed on April 17 lays out 13 areas of cooperation in providing reproductive health and family planning information and services to the Rohingya refugees and host communities in Coxs Bazar district without discrimination and with dignity and respect.

According to a copy of the agreement seen by The Irrawaddy, the agencies will adopt policies and guidelines for providing both short- and long-acting reversible contraceptive services, maternal health services, and record keeping and reporting, and will strengthen coordination and collaboration with agencies working with the host communities and refugees in Coxs Bazar to ensure culturally sensitive quality healthcare information and services are provided without discrimination, and with dignity and respect.

According to the bilateral agreement, the UNFPA will procure and supply long-acting reversible contraceptives, including intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, to the DGFP based on the needs of the Rohingya refugees.

We have already procured 8,600 implants and 600 other IUDs following the agreement, Abu Sayed Hasan, a family planning specialist at the UNFPA, told The Irrawaddy.

He said the agencies had decided to include long-acting methods of contraceptives because the dropout rate for short-acting methods including pills and condoms was high.

DGFP chief Kazi Mustafa Sarwar said many Rohingya are reluctant to use condoms and pills, adding that they threw the condoms away when our staff supplied them with the items.

Many of them have been given short-acting injectable [contraceptives] with three-months effectiveness, but we want to introduce long-acting methods that last three years and 10 years, Mustafa said.

Between October 2017 and mid-May, Coxs Bazar family planning officials said the displaced Rohingya population was administered only 3,223 condoms, compared to 15,500 short-acting injectable contraceptives.

A total of 19,456 strips of oral contraceptive pills were also distributed, according to the district family planning office.

In September and October 2017, 1,000 condoms and 3,000 strips of pills were distributed and 3,900 women were given birth control injections.

The DGFP has permitted other NGOs employing trained providers to offer long-acting reversible contraceptives as long as they obtain prior permission from the DGFP, the Bangladeshi officials said.

The DGFP, with financial support from the UNFPA, will recruit two full-time doctors to provide sexual reproductive health services in Rohingya camps in Coxs Bazar. Once the doctors are recruited DGFP plans to withdraw its seven mobile medical teams from the refugee camps.

The DGFP chief said the funding for this came from the UNFPA and there would be additional funding from the World Bank.

According to the Bangladesh National Institute of Population Research and Training, better known as NIPORT, Bangladeshs maternal mortality ratio (the annual number of female pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births) declined by 40 percent from 322 in 2001 to 194 in 2010.

According to their latest statistics, the total fertility rate (TFR) in Bangladesh declined from 2.7 in 2007 to 2.3 in 2014. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), TFR refers to the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her life time if she were subject to the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility in the population.

But, said family planning specialist Hasan, we have conducted a survey in [Rohingya] camps and found that their rate is higher than the host community.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled across the border from Myanmar into Coxs Bazar. Bangladesh has so far completed registration of 1.1 million Rohingya, including some who have been living in Coxs Bazar for several decades.

According to the Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, 35,355 Rohingya were already registered in two official camps in Coxs Bazar district by June 2014. The number had risen to 38,455 by August 2017.

According to NIPORT, the contraceptive prevalence rate in Bangladesh increased from 56 percent in 2007 to 62 percent in 2014, while the use of modern contraceptive methods increased from 48 percent to 54 percent in the same period.

In mid-May, the United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund said in a statement that more than 16,000 Rohingya babies had been born in camps and informal settlements in Coxs Bazar in the previous nine months.

About 100,000 Rohingya children are expected to be born in Bangladesh in 2018, according to a projection by the WHO.

Religious Beliefs Pose a Challenge

Family planning is a sensitive subject in Muslim Rohingya communities, according to both Bangladeshi and UNFPA officials.

Bangladeshs top family planning official Kazi Mustafa Sarwar told The Irrawaddy that motivating Rohingya people to use contraception is a big challenge.

We plan to recruit eight interpreters who can provide counseling to convince them [about the benefits of family planning services]. Its our main challenge, as we have yet to make them convinced [that they would benefit from receiving the services]. Many of them were not at all aware of family planning in Myanmar.

Regarding the beliefs of Rohingya people, he said, They are conservative in their religious beliefs. Many of them are madrassa educated. A madrassa is an Islamic religious school.

In fact, views in the camps toward contraception are somewhat mixed, with a spectrum of cultural and religious beliefs apparent among refugees.

Aminul Islam, a religious teacher based in Bangladeshs Rajshahi district, believed any temporary method of contraception that protects a womans health is acceptable, but that permanent birth control procedures were in conflict with the faith.

Hafez Abdul Wahab, 43, came to Bangladesh 27 years ago and is a registered refugee in the Kutupalang camp. He and his wife have 11 children.

Wahab said on Friday that in the past he had been reluctant to use birth control, describing the process as difficult. However, he is now in poor health and said he would be willing to follow family planning methods if the government or an agency approached him about it.

Of course religious belief is an issue Some Rohingya also believe that they need large families if they are to survive, said another family planning officer in Dhaka who did not want to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Hasan, the UN family planning specialist, said the size of the average family in the camps was 5 to 6 members.

The UNFPA plans to recruit 40 more midwives and deploy 10 paramedics to provide family planning counseling in the Rohingya camps, taking the total to 100 in the Rohingya-populated Ukhia and Teknaf sub-districts of Coxs Bazar. The UN agency in partnership with NGOs will also recruit 100 community volunteers to build awareness of the need for family planning, maternal health and safe delivery procedures among the Rohingya refugees.

Under the agreement between Dhaka and the UN, Pintu Kanti Bhattacharjee, the head of the family planning office in Coxs Bazar district, will supervise and coordinate the areas of cooperation on behalf of the Bangladesh government.

Pintu criticized NGOs operating in the area for focusing too much on financial and infrastructure assistance to Rohingya and neglecting the issue of birth control.

He said his office had held a series of meetings with donors and charity agencies to discuss ways of increasing coordination and bringing the population of the camps under control.

Now, we are hopeful about our progress, said Pintu, adding that a voluntary sterilization plan was also being considered as a way of tackling the high birth rate among the Rohingya.

The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka announced on March 28 that in response to a request from the Bangladesh Health and Family Welfare Ministry, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had on March 25 supplied 622,800 doses of injectable contraceptives to Bangladesh, bringing the total contribution from the U.S. to nearly 1 million doses.

USAID mission director Janina Jaruzelski said that USAID remains committed to helping the most vulnerable Rohingya refugees gain access to essential and life-saving health commodities.

A family planning official in Dhaka said last week that a report by Agence France-Presse on the possible introduction of voluntary sterilization in the camp had resulted in a delay in the approval of the introduction of long-term contraceptive methods, as the government feared the report cast its assistance activities for the Rohingya people and others in a bad light.

In October, the AFP reported that Bangladesh was planning to introduce voluntary sterilization in its overcrowded Rohingya camps after efforts to encourage birth control failed.

Many of the refugees interviewed for that report told AFP they believed a large family would help them survive in the camps, where access to food and water remains a daily battle and children are often sent out to fetch and carry supplies. Others had been told that contraception was against the tenets of Islam.

Bangladesh has for years run a successful domestic sterilization program, offering 2,300 taka ($28) and a traditional lungi garment to each man who agrees to undergo the procedure.

Every month 250 people undergo sterilization in the border town of Coxs Bazar.

But performing the permanent procedure on non-Bangladeshi nationals requires final approval from a committee headed by the health minister, according to the AFP report.

But, we finally got approval, the family-planning official in Dhaka said. Bangladeshi officials believe sterilization of males is the best way to control the population, as it permanently removes a mans ability to reproduce, regardless of how many wives he has.

An official at an Ukhiya-based NGO working on gender-based violence told The Irrawaddy that many Rohingya males have multiple wives in various camps, adding that once a wife becomes pregnant the male often goes to stay with another for sexual relations.
News ICRC Ready to Help With POW Handover If Asked

Three Myanmar military soldiers captured by the AA are posed with seized weapons and ammunition. / Arakan Army / Facebook

YANGON  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was ready to assist with the handover of prisoners of war, reacting to comments by the Arakan Army (AA) that it wanted the aid group to help with the return of three Myanmar military soldiers.

The Arakan Army, they knows the service we provide, so they know that we can play forward as what we call a neutral intermediary. So they know about this and they already expressed their interest in releasing the detainees, Fabrizio Carboni, the head of the ICRC delegation in Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

The AA says it captured the three soldiers on Sunday during fighting with the militarys Light Infantry Battalion 263 in Buthidaung Township, Rakhine State, near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

AA spokesman Khine Thukha told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the ethnic armed group would like the ICRCs help in handing the soldiers over, as it did nearly three years ago. In July 2015, the ICRC helped facilitate the release and handover of two soldiers held by the AA in Bangladesh.

Carboni said the ICRCs role was strictly humanitarian and that it did not take part in negotiations between hostile parties. He said the ICRC could help with the soldiers release should a request come from both sides.

Neither the military nor the AA has contacted the ICRC for help.

Now we dont have any details. We have not been approached, Carboni said. I believe its more of an internal discussion to the Arakan Army than a dialogue with us.

The AA said the three soldiers include a lance corporal and two privates and that nine soldiers were killed during Sundays fighting. The military has not released any information about the incident and could not be reached by The Irrawaddy for comment.

Khine Thukha said the captured soldiers were being detained in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, which Myanmar is a signatory to.

Article 3 (a) of the 1949 Geneva Conventions states that persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, color, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.

Carboni said ICRC procedures included interviewing prisoners before a handover and following up with them afterward.

We tend to follow what happened to the people when they are back. This is part of our protection work, he said.

In the case of people who are released, we always do interviews with them. We ask them if they want to go back. We expect the people to know all the consequences of them going back, so we will never take somebody against their will. We have the interview before the handover, we share all the information we have, and we make sure that the person takes the decision knowing the consequences of his decision.

There have been no cases of Myanmars military handing back the captured fighters of ethnic armed groups. Fighters who have been arrested have all been prosecuted, convicted and sentenced by the courts.

Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint contributed to this report.
News Military Officers Wife Detained for Alleged Murder of Domestic Worker

The victims four children. / Thazin Hlaing

YANGON  A domestic worker at the quarters of a military officer of the Inn Daing armored battalion in Yangons Hlegu Township died of intestinal injuries, according to a post-mortem examination.

Khin Thandar Oo, also known as Kayin Ma, 38, a mother of four children, died within an hour after she was sent back to her home in Oh Po village in Twante Township by the wife of the military officer on May 19, citing her ill health.

Dr. Ne Win Thwin of the Twante Township Health Department who conducted the post-mortem examination confirmed that the woman died of injuries to her intestines.

She would not have died if surgery was done in time to patch up the wounds in her intestine. Because the wounds were not treated for three, four days, her body could not absorb food and got dehydrated. Her belly was swollen with intestinal fluid. Whats more, feces spread in her body and became toxic. Thats the cause of death, Dr. Ne Win Thin told The Irrawaddy.

He also found bruises that he claimed were likely due to being hit with a blunt object on her head and belly, as well as cuts on other parts of her body.

The woman told her neighbors before she died that she had been tortured by her employer, said U Wunna Soe, administrator of the village tract where she was from.

She asked her neighbors to bring me to her home immediately. I went to the police station and reported it. I saw that she was injured on her left eyebrow and had bruises on her back, chin, pelvis, chest and left leg, U Wunna Soe told The Irrawaddy.

The victim was sent back by Theingi Su, 31, the wife of the military officer, saying that she was suffering from a swollen abdomen and hemorrhoids, said administrator U Aye Thaung of Oh Po village.

She said before she died that she was accused of stealing a necklace and beaten, he said.

Ka Luak Chaik police station in Twante Township confirmed that Theingi Su has been arrested for murder.

Bail is not granted for murder. So, we have detained her at our police station. We cannot provide details as the investigation is still ongoing, police lieutenant Myo Chit Swe told The Irrawaddy.

The victim was buried the day after she died, said U Wunna Soe.

The husband of Khin Thandar Oo died four years ago and the victim is survived by four children aged between 10 and 16.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
News Thailand Arrests Senior Monks in Temple Raids to Clean Up Buddhism

Supporters of the Dhammakaya temple and Buddhist monks confront Thai soldiers at a gate to Dhammakaya temple in Pathum Thani province, Thailand, March 9, 2017. / Reuters

BANGKOK  Thai police raided four Buddhist temples on Thursday, arresting several prominent monks and worshippers in the years biggest such operation amid a crackdown on illegal financial dealings by temples.

The raids are the military governments latest bid to reform Buddhism, which is followed by more than 90 percent of Thailands population of 69 million, but whose image has been tarnished by money and sex scandals involving monks.

This is the investigation stage it will all come down to facts and evidence, police official Thitiraj Nhongharnpitak, of the Central Investigation Bureau, which is investigating the monks, told reporters.

More than 100 police commandos raided four temples in Bangkok, the capital, and the adjacent central province of Nakhon Pathom, in the early hours of Thursday.

Among those arrested was Phra Buddha Issara, 62, an activist monk who led street protests in 2014 and launched a campaign to clean up Buddhism, but gained enemies by publicly naming other religious leaders he accused of wrongdoing.

Buddha Issara was formally stripped of his position as a monk and sent to Bangkok remand prison to await trial on charges of robbery, forgery, and illegal detention of officials during the protests, his lawyer, Theerayuth Suwankaesorn, told Reuters.

Phra Phrom Dilok, 72, a member of the Sangha Supreme Council, which governs Buddhist monks in Thailand, was also arrested over alleged embezzlement of temple funds, police said.

Two other senior monks, Phra Sri Khunaporn and Phra Wichit Thammaporn, both assistant abbots of Bangkoks Golden Mount temple, were also arrested over alleged embezzlement, they added.

Representatives of the three monks did not immediately respond to Reuters telephone calls to seek comment.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said the arrests were about getting to the bottom of the allegations.

This is part of the investigation, Prawit said.

Thailands temples, which earn billions of dollars every year from donations, have been embroiled in scandals ranging from murder, sex and drugs to shady financial dealings.

Under pressure from the junta, Thailands body of Buddhist monks has been trying to clean up its own act since last year, by enforcing tougher discipline for more than 300,000 monks.

The military took power in a 2014 coup it said was needed to restore order after months of anti-government protests, and has promised to hold elections next year, despite postponing the date several times.

Buddhist monks are highly respected in Thailand and taking action against them was historically considered taboo. But recent scandals have forced authorities to rethink how they handle allegations against Buddhist religious leaders.
News 'Trump Formula?' N Korea Says Still Open to Talks After Summit Canceled

People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on a canceled summit between the US and North Korea, in Seoul, South Korea, on Friday. / Reuters

SEOUL  North Korea responded on Friday with measured tones to US President Donald Trumps decision to call off a historic summit with leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for next month, saying Pyongyang hoped for a Trump formula to resolve the standoff over its nuclear weapons program.

On Thursday, Trump wrote a letter to Kim to announce his withdrawal from what would have been the first-ever meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, Trump wrote.

Trumps announcement came after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the summit over what it saw as confrontational remarks by US officials.

Fridays response by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan was more conciliatory, specifically praising Trumps efforts.

We have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other US presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit, Kim said in a statement carried by state media.

We even inwardly hoped that what is called Trump formula would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue, he said without elaborating.

North Korea has sharply criticized suggestions by Trumps national security adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and murdered by NATO-backed militants after halting his nascent nuclear program.

Trump had initially sought to placate North Korea, saying that he was not pursuing the Libya model in getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said: This is the President Trump model. Hes going to run this the way he sees fit.

Kim Kye Gwan said its recent criticisms against certain US officials had just been a reaction to unbridled American rhetoric, and that the current antagonism showed the urgent necessity for the summit.

His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we can not but feel great regret for it, Kim Kye Gwan said, while noting that North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington regardless of ways at any time.

The first meeting would not solve all, but solving even one at a time in a phased way would make the relations get better rather than making them get worse. The US should ponder over it, Kim said.

Nuclear Site Decommissioned

Trumps letter came just after North Korea announced it had completely dismantled its Punggye-ri nuclear test facility to ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear test.

Footage of the event broadcast by South Korean media showed explosions throwing huge clouds of dust and debris as they destroyed tunnel entrances as well as multiple wooden structures around the site.

Other images showed North Korean officials displaying a map of the site, including several major tunnel complexes they said were unused and completely operational prior to being collapsed.

Analysts worried the canceling of the talks could prompt a resumption in hostilities on the Korean peninsula, including renewed shorter-range missile tests or stepped-up cyber attacks by Pyongyang and increased sanctions or deployment of new military assets by Washington.

Trump, in scrapping the June 12 summit in Singapore, sounded a bellicose note, warning Kim of the United States greater nuclear might, reminiscent of the presidents tweet last year asserting that he had a much bigger nuclear button than Kim.

Speaking later, Trump said the US military stood ready if Kim were to take any foolish action, and that the United States would continue its maximum pressure campaign of sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who worked hard to help set up the summit and urged Trump at a White House meeting on Tuesday not to let a rare opportunity slip away, said he was perplexed by the cancellation. He urged Trump and Kim to talk directly.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, held a phone call and agreed to continue working toward creating the right conditions for the United States and North Korea to talk, the Souths foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Pyongyang had not responded in recent days to queries by the United States about the leaders summit, Pompeo told a Senate hearing.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Tokyo understands Trumps decision to cancel the Singapore summit, Kyodo News reported.

Its meaningless to have talks that dont achieve results, Kono told reporters on a visit to Mexico City, the news agency said.

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera also played down the significance of the canceled meeting.

The important thing is not the US-North Korea meeting itself, but that the meeting becomes an opportunity to move forward in the issues of denuclearization and abductions, he told reporters in Tokyo.
News Ultranationalist Sued for Hate Speech

Maung Thway Chun speaks during a DVB debate on hate speech. / Facebook

YANGON  Ultranationalist Maung Thway Chun has been sued under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code in connection with religious hate speech during Dhamma talks in March in the village of Kyauktan in Sagaings Mingin Township.

U Naing Naing Zaw, the deputy township administrator of Mingin Township, filed a complaint with the township court on Monday, said U Kyaw Hsan, regional lawmaker of Mingin Township.

U Wirathu, the high-profile leader of the ultranationalist religious organization better known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Tha, also delivered sermons during these Dhamma talks. The monk has returned to giving sermons after a one-year preaching ban against him expired in March.

Maung Thway Chun, a staunch Ma Ba Tha supporter and the chief editor of its weekly and monthly publications, delivered hate speech at these Dhamma talks.

He spoke with disregard for the current government. His speech could mislead people and he apparently has an intention to incite a riot. So, he was sued under Section 505(b), said U Kyaw Hsan.

In a video clip that went viral on social media, Maung Thway Chun said that although it has been only 70 years since Myanmar got independence, Myanmar will soon be subjugated again, and this time, it is bound to lose its race, religion and territory.

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar will be changed to Myanmarnistan or Myanmarnesia, said Maung Thway Chun, referring to Muslim-majority countries Pakistan and Indonesia.

There wont be Buddhism in the country, and mosques and churches will replace pagodas and temples, he added.

He further argued that speakers in both houses of Myanmars legislative branch are Christians, and that the race and religion protection laws  that largely target certain Muslim religious and cultural practices  endorsed by Ma Ba Tha may be scrapped soon.

One of the vice presidents [Henry Van Thio] is Christian. And [the government] is being instigated by Muslim Kalars, he said, using a racial slur for those of South Asian descent often used against Muslims.

Christians and Muslims have joined up and started a scheme to annihilate Buddhism. No, not just started, they are already implementing it. And we and Sayadaw (U Wirathu) are defending against this, he said.

U Kyaw Hsan said it took awhile to file the lawsuit, as he had to seek the approval of the regional government.

When asked by The Irrawaddy, Maung Thway Chun said that he has not been informed about the complaint.

Reports spread online that I have been sued. But [the court] in Sagaings Mingin has not notified me, said Maung Thway Chun.

He said he would face trial if he were sued under Section 505(b), adding that what he said during the talks was not as harsh as what he wrote in Ma Ba Tha publications. He said he only talked about the reality of preventing the danger imposed by the Bengalis, a term used by nationalists to refer to Rohingya Muslims, implying that they are interlopers from Bangladesh.

I have time to hide if I want to. And there are many places where I can hide. I could even hide until the governments term ends. But I wont. I would face the trial, he said.

Penal Code Section 505(b) states that whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumor or report, with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offense against the State or against the public tranquility; shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
News US House Backs Measures to Sanction Myanmar's Military, Nudge Gem Sector Reform

Gawdu Zara, a Muslim village in southern Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, is seen burning in early September. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  The US House of Representatives has approved measures that call for targeted sanctions against more of Myanmars military leaders over human rights abuses in Rakhine State and encourage further reform of the countrys murky gemstone industry.

The measures, added as amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act by the House in Washington on Wednesday, received strong bipartisan support.

In December, the US imposed sanctions on General Maung Maung Soe  who oversaw the militarys crackdown in Rakhine State last year  that effectively shut him out of the US financial system. The crackdown was triggered by militant attacks on security posts in Rakhine in late August and has driven nearly 700,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh in what the UN and US have labeled a case of ethnic cleansing.

The amendments call on the US president to impose asset freezes and travel restrictions on other senior officials of Myanmars military or security forces who ordered or carried out any serious human rights abuses or impeded the investigation of allegations of serious abuse by subordinates, including against the Rohingya community in the state of Rakhine.

The amendments do not name any specific military officials, though a version of the measures the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed in February singles out Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the militarys commander-in-chief, and Major General Khin Maung Soe.

Let me say that since August of 2017, the Burmese military has inflicted horrific violence against the Rohingya in Burmas Rakhine State, and is today using the same tactics against the Kachin, US Representative Eliot Engel, who sponsored the measures, said on the floor of the House, using another name for Myanmar.

This is a man-made crisis  ethnic cleansing, perhaps genocide. And to date, there has been no accountability, Engel said. This measure would change that.

A spokesman for the military could not be reached for comment.

The military has denied committing rights abuses in Rakhine and said its actions were part of a legitimate counter-insurgency operation against terrorists. In April, however, it said seven soldiers had been sentenced to 10-year prison terms for their part in the massacre of 10 Rohingya men in Rakhine in September.

In a statement issued Friday, Myanmars main opposition, the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, accused the US of seeking to influence and interfere in the countrys internal affairs.

The party said it strongly condemned the measures and urged the government to do the same in consideration of the reputation and long-term interests of the country.

Erin Murphy, founder and principal of the Inle Advisory Group, a business consultancy that monitors US policy on Myanmar, said the measures add to the authorities and criteria the US already uses to designate sanctions targets. The targets include entities owned or controlled by rights abusers, their immediate family members, and anyone they provide significant financial or material support to or receive support from.

I think it also does encourage (and remind) the Trump administration of what authorities he hasand to focus on the issue and know what is available to them to address atrocities, she said. I think Congress has been frustrated by the lack of engagement by the Trump administration on the issue and on Asia policy writ large.

The amendments added to the defense bill Wednesday also limit US military cooperation with Myanmar and call on the State Department to report back to Congress on the rights abuses in Rakhine State last year and determine whether they amount to not only ethnic cleansing but also crimes against humanity or genocide.

In April, Reuters reported that the State Department had already begun an intensive investigation of alleged atrocities against the Rohingya for the possible prosecution of Myanmars military, interviewing hundreds of refugees about reports of murder, rape and beatings by soldiers.

The government is trying to avoid censure and this would send a clear message that the US is taking steps to address those concerns, said Paul Donowitz, lead Myanmar campaigner for rights group Global Witness. This sends a message that the US is not satisfied with the current direction of the government.

But more than seeking to target specific generals over the violence in Rakhine, Donowitz added, the amendments are looking much more broadly at the militarys outsize role in politics and the economy.

To that end, the amendments seek to encourage reform of Myanmars lucrative but opaque gemstone sector by having the State Department draw up a list of producers who meet strict transparency standards on ownership, licensing and revenue. It would exclude any producers connected to the military or security forces and allow the list to be rescinded if Myanmar caries out certain sector-wide reforms.

A 2015 report by Global Witness called Myanmars jade industry possibly the biggest natural resource heist in modern history, a vast slush fund for the countrys military elite that generated as much as $31 billion in 2014 alone and continues to fuel a decades-long civil war.

Last year, the non-government Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) placed Myanmars mining sector near the very bottom of a list of 81 countries it ranked on the management of their natural resources. It placed Myanmar in the lowly company of countries with almost no governance framework to ensure resource extraction benefits society.

Donowitz said Global Witness was consulted on the gemstone industry measures in the amendments and was supporting them over similar measures in the Senate, which would see sanctions on jade  but not rubies  from Myanmar that were lifted in 2016 snap back in place. The House measures would only nudge US importers to source from the State Departments list of vetted producers.

The Senate does not recognize that there is a reform process in Myanmar, Donowitz said, which he described as midstream.

Since the National League for Democracy took power in 2016, the government has stopped issuing new gemstone mining licenses or extending existing ones and started drafting a new policy for the industry with input from non-government groups.

We believe that finding ways to incentivize reformis the right way to go, Donowitz said. Its not a panacea. its part of a process in reforming the sector. Right now we have nothing.

Though the vast majority of Myanmars jade exports currently heads across the border  often illegally  to China, he said the promise of broader access to a new market, and with it higher prices, could help spur reform.

NRGI Country Manager U Maw Htun Aung said he also supported the Houses approach to reforming the industry because its not black and white, because the gemstone sector is complicated and the blanket sanctions did not work.

He said the number of active licenses in the gemstone sector has plunged by more than half since the freeze to less than 10,000 and that incentives were more likely to spur further reform than the return of sanctions.

If there is a benefit to being a good companythen it could have a chain of reactions in the long term. I dont think its going to be a short-term solution, he said.

But U Maw Htun Aung said he saw little chance of the US becoming a major importer of Myanmars jade any time soon and that enforcement would be key to ensuring that gemstones headed to the US, rubies especially, were not being laundered through Thailand or Hong Kong, as they often are

Its very easy to hide the country of origin, especially once its polished, he said. And if there [are] no penalties, I dont see how its going to work.

U Than Zaw Oo, deputy director of Myanmar Gems Enterprise, the governments gemstone sector regulator, said the measures being proposed in the US, whether incentives or sanctions, would make little difference because US restrictions on money transfers with Myanmar were still in place.

So nothing is going to be new for us; its just adding black on black, he said. Even if there were new sanctions imposed on Myanmar, it would not impact us much because Western countries mostly buy rubies and sapphires rather than jade.

The deputy director played down the militarys share of the gemstone sector and said the industry was much more transparent than it used to be.

The gem industry is now taking part in the EITI [Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative] process, which is very tough because you have to submit revenue, company income and all of a companys projects, as well as project validity and expiration dates, he said.

He also lauded last weeks launch of an open data website on Myanmars jade mining sector by NRGI. Open Data: Myanmar Jade visualizes several years worth of official data on the countrys jade sector with interactive charts and makes the data easy to search.

This sort of situation was impossible in the past, U Than Zaw Oo said. You cant access such data on other industries.

By drawing exclusively on official data, though, the site fails to capture the large volumes of jade still believed to be smuggled out of the country.

The next hurdle for the proposed military sanctions and gem sector reform measures in the US is making it into the Senates own version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Donowitz, of Global Witness, said the massive defense policy bill was considered must pass legislation and that US President Donald Trump has indicated that he would sign what Congress sends him. But he sees an obstacle in Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, who opposes measures that could compromise the position of Myanmars de facto leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Much of the international community has criticized the pro-democracy icon for not doing more to hold the countrys still powerful military to account for last years violence in Rakhine State. Some analysts say a more forceful approach could jeopardize the countrys ongoing transition from military dictatorship to civilian rule.

Murphy, of the Inle Advisory Group, noted that even if similar measures do make it into the Senates defense bill, their final form could change once the House and Senate hash out any differences in the two bills before sending it to the president.

The House vote [Wednesday] could convince the Senate about the need for this provision, or something close to it, to be in the final product, she said.

There are a lot of ifs, but certainly a lot of bipartisan support for accountability on the violence occurring in Myanmar. Myanmar policy has typically not fallen on political lines; any policy moves have been bi- or non-partisan and this is another example of that.

Additional reporting by Moe Myint.
Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has received rare support from a lobby group comprising of Matatu owners, boda-boda operators, hawkers and Jua-Kali artisans.

The group, Friends of Nairobi City County, in addition to defending the governors performance, urged the government to reinstate his withdrawn bodyguards.

Ken Onyango, Chairman of the Boda Boda association of Kenya, said: In this Cit,y there are forces that want to make sure that Governor Mike Sonko does not work. The government should safeguard the life of our Governor before its too late.

Onyango observed that the Governor had formed powerful enemies by dismantling cartels and automating most revenue collection streams.

Matatu Welfare Association (MWA) chairman, Dickson Mbugua urged the public to give Sonko at least a year before criticising him as he is only six months into the job.

Mbugua acknowledged that there were efforts by the Governor in revenue collection which had ensured City Hall collected approximately Sh17 million daily.

He, however, called for the inclusion of Matatu owners in the regeneration programme meant to decongest the City.

The bus termini set up by the County as alternative stages should be used as holding grounds where commuters can then walk or take a cheap mode of transport into the central business district, stated Mbugua.

Former Mayor and coordinator of the lobby group, Joe Akech noted that Sonko gets blamed for everything that is wrong with the city.

Everything that happens nowadays is blamed on Sonko and this should stop. It is everyones responsibility to ensure the City moves forward, he said, adding that the business community should work in harmony with the governor to ensure the Nairobis prosperity.

The group has also proposed a County clean-up day each and every month to deal with the garbage menace.

On flying to Rwanda for a benchmarking tour, Akech revealed that plans were still in place to have 300 boda-boda riders, hawkers, Matatu operators and Juakali artisans fly out to Kigali.

They are expected to attend a symposium where each sector would be trained on the best practises with a view to implementing them in Nairobi.

The trip is scheduled for next month and will last four days.

If Michuki transformed the Matatu sector then we can also inculcate the lessons learnt from Rwanda to transform Nairobi and regain our lost glory as the best in Africa, he added.
American technology companies may be required by law to inform the government if they permit countries seen as enemies  China and Russia, for example  access to the source code of applications that are being used by the US military.

A Reuters report said that legislation to this effect had been proposed by Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen and given the tick of approval by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The report hinted that the same strictures on source code reviews would apply to any foreign companies whose software was in use by the US armed forces. And if a review did throw up any anomalies, then the use of that software would be limited to non-classified areas.

The new rules on source code disclosure have been added to the Senate's version of the Defence Department's spending bill which is known as the National Defence Authorisation Act.

They need to be voted on by the Senate and incorporated into the version of the bill which is in the House of Representatives before it goes to US President Donald Trump for being signed into law.

US companies have, in the past, allowed inspection of their source code in order to obtain sales contracts. In June 2017, it was reported that McAfee, Cisco, IBM and SAP were acceding to demands by Moscow for source code inspections.

In October last year, Russia was allowed to review the source code of software from Hewlett Packard Enterprise known as ArcSight which is used by the US military for cyber defence.

The inspection was done by the Russian defence agency Echelon which has close military ties. ArcSight is now owned by British mainframe company Micro Focus which bought HPE's software assets in a sale completed in September last year.

Also, Microsoft allowed China to inspect the source code of its operating system, Windows, a process that took two years, before it was allowed to build a product  Windows 10 China Government Edition  that could be sold to the Chinese public sector.

Not even 10 days after the report about ArcSight was published, the chief executive of American security giant Symantec, Greg Clark, said that while he was willing to sell his company's products in any country, that is a different thing than saying, Okay, were going to let people crack it open and grind all the way through it and see how it all works.

Symantec changed policy on source code inspections by other countries in 2016.

In what is the exact opposite, Russian security company Kaspersky Lab said it would allow source code review by independent third parties. Use of Kaspersky software has been banned in the US public sector since September 2017.
The US has finalised a deal to let Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corporation start operating again, a little more than a month after it was hit with a seven-year ban on importing American-manufactured components.

Reuters cited a congressional aide as its source for the news, which it said had been conveyed to legislators by the Commerce Department.

Under the deal, ZTE would have to pay a big fine, allow US compliance officers to operate at the company and effect a change of management.

After these steps are taken, the ban would be lifted, allowing ZTE to resume business as usual.

The change of management and fine wereby US President Donald Trump earlier this week. The news of a deal comes despiteby members of Congress to stop easing the ban on ZTE.

In April, ZTE was hit with a seven-year ban on importing components from American companies for breaking US sanctions on exporting goods to North Korea, Iran and Cuba, and not adhering to the terms of a settlement.

Yes they have a deal in mind. It is a great deal... for #ZTE & China. #China crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us. Many hoped this time would be different. Now congress will need to act. https://t.co/ETMUCe9ia6  Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) 25 May 2018

The company, a major player in the global telecommunications equipment business, was fined US$1.19 billion in March 2017 and also agreed to a seven-year suspended export ban which would take effect if it was found to be in violation of the Export Administration Regulations.

Subsequently, the Commerce Department claimed to have found that statements made by ZTE to the Bureau of Industry and Security were false.

As a penalty, US firms cannot sell components to ZTE for seven years.

Trump has argued for lifting the ban because it affects American suppliers too. In 2017, ZTE paid more than US$2.3 billion to 211 American suppliers.

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican who has been one of the leaders trying to get the ban to remain, said in a tweet: "Yes they have a deal in mind. It is a great deal... for #ZTE & China. #China crushes US companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us. Many hoped this time would be different. Now Congress will need to act."

Reports on Thursday indicate that ZTE was expecting some kind of deal and gearing up to get back to work. The company shut down its main business activities in the US on 9 May.
Amazon Echo smart assistants have received a great deal of puff in the media but the devices may be surreptitiously recording conversations and sending them to random people in the address book of a user, as was demonstrated in a US case this week.

This is what happened to a woman in Portland, Oregon, who contacted the company to complain that audio of a private conversation of hers was sent to a random person in Seattle who was on her family's contact list.

A report on the website of the TV channel Kiro7 said that the woman, who was named as Danielle and did not wish to provide her surname, wanted to return the Echo devices and obtain a refund, Amazon was unwilling to take them back.

Every room in Danielle's house was wired with the devices to control heating, lighting and the intrusion detection system.

The person who received the audio file of a conversation between Danielle and her husband was one of his employees who called to tell her to unplug all the Amazon devices.

"We unplugged all of them and he proceeded to tell us that he had received audio files of recordings from inside our house," she said.

"At first, my husband was, like, 'no you didn't!' And the (recipient of the message) said 'You sat there talking about hardwood floors.' And we said, 'oh gosh, you really did hear us'."

An Alexa engineer whom Danielle contacted did not offer any specifics about the eavesdropping, only saying that the device had guessed what was being said.

"They said 'our engineers went through your logs, and they saw exactly what you told us, they saw exactly what you said happened, and we're sorry'. He apologised like 15 times in a matter of 30 minutes and he said we really appreciate you bringing this to our attention, this is something we need to fix!" she said.

There was no indication whether the auto-forwarding is enabled in all Echo devices or not.
Grant West has been given a jail term of 10 years and eight months.

A British hacker has been given a jail term of 10 years and eight months for using phishing attacks to steal financial data from more than 100 companies which he then sold on the dark web.

In a statement, cyber crime detectives at London Metropolitan Police said they had seized bitcoin worth about half-a-million pounds (A$881,744) from Grant West who was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

West was arrested and charged in September 2017 after an investigation spanning two years which identified him as mainly targeting London-based organisations. He operated under the pseudonym Courvoisier.

During their investigation, officers from the Met's Cyber Crime Unit discovered that West had attacked major companies such as Sainsburys, Nectar, Groupon, AO.com, Ladbrokes, Coral Betting, Uber, Vitality, RS Feva Class Association 2017, Asda, the British Cardiovascular Society, Mighty Deals Limited, Truly Experiences Ltd, T Mobile, M R Porter, the Finnish Bitcoin exchange, and Argos.

The Met said West had begun selling the data he had stolen in March 2015 and made about 47,000 sales from an online store. Apart from the stolen data, he was also selling marijuana and guides for carrying out online attacks.

One of the phishing emails that Grant West sent to try and lure unsuspecting users.

In one phishing attack, aimed at the online takeaway service Just Eat, West made a bid to obtain the personal data of 165,000 customers, an effort which cost the company about 200,000, even though it did not lose any data.

West used a laptop belonging to his girlfriend, Rachael Brookes, to stage the attacks, and also stored the personal financial information of more than 100,000 people on the machine.

He was also found to have regularly used stolen credit cards to pay for his purchases of holidays, food and household goods.

A listing of stolen passwords and other digital data offered by West for sale on the dark web.

Officers found an SD card at Wests home in Kent which contained about 78 million individual usernames and passwords as well as 63,000 credit and debit card details.

Brookes was given a two-year community order on 2 May.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Gallagher, head of the Mets Organised Crime Command, said: "This case illustrates the lengths that our detectives will go to in order to pursue offenders on the dark web.

"We will use many different measures to ensure such offenders are identified, prosecuted and their assets are seized. This is the first time we have seized a cryptocurrency and we are determined to remain one step ahead of cyber criminals who believe they can act with impunity."

Screenshots: courtesy London Metropiltan Police
National broadband network builder NBN Co has killed off plans to offer a 100/40Mbps fixed-wireless service, with chief executive Bill Morrow confirming the decision at a Senate Estimates committee hearing.

There are widespread media reports this morning, including by the ABC, that Morrow told the committee yesterday we killed it, basing the decision on economic grounds.

According to the ABC report, Morrow said consistently achieving 100Mbps would cost "billions and billions of dollars"  a taxpayer spend he described as "outrageous".

"The economics  [start] to actually break apart to a point where it doesn't make any sense," Morrow is reported to have said.

The decision to drop the fixed wireless services will negatively affect regional Australia where fixed wireless uses mobile phone technology to deliver broadband.

Morrow is reported to have defended the backflip, commenting that "there's not mass-market demand for 100 [Mbps] services".

He told the Senate Estimates that more than 230,000 households were currently NBN fixed wireless customers and the cost to date of rolling out towers was $2 billion.
Police officers from Huruma Police Station in Nairobi are on the spot for allegedly stripping a woman to determine her gender.

Mumbi Maina, a middle-aged woman from Kayole, says officers from Jonsaga (Huruma Police Station) arrested her alongside other touts on May 15 while they were on duty.

The mother of one said they were picking up passengers at the Kariobangi roundabout when they were arrested. According to Mumbi, the officers asked for a Sh400 bribe and when it was not forthcoming, they threw her in the cells.

Narrating her ordeal to Citizen Digital, Mumbi said the officers would then come into her cell, look at her curiously, and then leave.

The 33-year-old noted that the beard hairs on her chin may have been the reason behind their sudden interest in her features.

Mumbi added that the officers then decided to parade her in front of them before two of them ordered her to strip saying they needed to ascertain her gender.

Her tearful pleas with the officers not to make her strip fell on deaf ears. She said they were adamant that she should undress.

The officers then allegedly proceeded to touch her private parts, reports Citizen Digital.

Mumbi said that when she told the OCS what had transpired, the police boss jumped to the officers defence.

The OCS reportedly told her that they had not done anything wrong in trying to ascertain her gender.

Speaking yesterday, Mumbi said that she has been unable to return to work for fear of being arrested and a similar incident recurring.

She maintains that the officers stripped her off her dignity. Lawyer Danstan Omar has termed the officers actions as unconstitutional and an infringement on Mumbis privacy.

If the police have doubts on ones gender they should take them to a doctor for confirmation, he said.

Police are yet to respond to the allegations.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 81F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
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Co-author: Rouba El Husseini |  

Beirut (AFP)  Seven years of war and massive displacement have redrawn Syrias demographic map, erecting borders between the countrys ethnic, religious, and political communities that will be hard to erase.

Displaced Syrians, analysts, and rights defenders have described to AFP a divided country where regime opponents have been driven out, minorities stick closer together and communities generally have become more homogenous.

The demographic reshuffle is likely to last, they say, with around 11 million Syrians displaced either abroad or within the country and unsure if they can go home.

Abu Musab al-Mukasar, a 25-year-old rebel fighter, doubts hell ever return to his birthplace in Homs city, now fully held by Syrian troops.

I could never go back to regime territory  or live side by side with Alawites, he says, referring to the religious minority sect of President Bashar al-Assad.

The minority-led government has ruled a Sunni-majority population for decades, but Abu Musab says the rifts are now deeper than ever.

Of course Ill tell my son all this, so hell hate the people that did this to us, too, says the fighter, contacted by AFP on an online messaging platform.

Abu Musab, a Sunni, first left Homs for rural rebel zones nearby in a 2014 evacuation deal.

Last week, another negotiated withdrawal saw him, his wife, three-year-old son and infant daughter bussed north to Idlib province.

Idlib has become a dumping ground for hundreds of thousands of Sunni rebels and their families transferred from areas recaptured by the regime.

The demographics changed without us even noticing. The country has been divided, says Abu Musab.

 Tit-for-tat 

The fighter described the broad outlines of what he saw as Syrias new sectarian map: The north is Sunni, the northeast is Kurdish, those in (coastal) Latakia, Tartus, and Homs are Alawite and Shiite Muslim.



AFP/File / LOUAI BESHARA. A billboard shows pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) and his late father former president Hafez in the coastal city of Latakia, a stronghold of his Alawite sect and Shiites.

Syrian rebels pushed Alawite and Christian minorities out because they were perceived as Assad loyalists, says Fabrice Balanche, an expert on Syrias population and politics.

Before the war erupted in 2011, Sunni Arabs made up 65 percent of the population, Kurds about 15 percent, and all religious minorities about 20 percent.

The regime has lost territory, but the consolidation of Alawites, Shiites, and Christians around it has actually granted it a stronger base, according to Balanche.

Today, 70 percent of Syrias population is in regime territory, and more than a third of them are minorities, he says.

Some of those shifts were through population swaps, including the controversial Four Towns Deal that tied the fate of Sunni-majority Madaya and Zabadani to the Shiite villages of Fuaa and Kafraya.

Since 2015, thousands were transferred from Fuaa and Kafraya to Damascus, in exchange for similar numbers leaving Madaya and Zabadani for Syrias north.

In a 2017 AFP interview, Assad admitted that displacement was compulsory but temporary.

 Things are different 

But minorities say they cannot imagine going home.

Abbas Abbas, 36, fled Kafraya years ago for Sayyida Zeinab, a neighbourhood near Damascus that hosts a shrine revered by fellow Shiites.

Most people from Kafraya dont want to go back. At least Im not afraid of being kidnapped here, he tells AFP.

In the past, Kafrayans mixed with other villagers. But eight years into Syrias war, things are different, says the sound engineer.



AFP/File / Sameer Al-Doumy. A general view taken on April 26, 2018, shows a man selling vegetables in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin that Ankara-backed forces captured from Kurdish fighters in recent months.

He expects the remaining 8,000 residents of Fuaa and Kafraya to be forced out sooner or later.

Not far from Abbass estranged hometown, another communal conflict is unfolding.

A Turkish-led assault this year displaced over 137,000 people from Kurdish-majority Afrin to nearby regime zones, or even farther to Kurdish areas in the northeast.

Some of their homes now house other displaced. Around 35,000 of those bussed out of the onetime rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus have resettled in Afrin.

Their houses either destroyed or occupied, Afrins original residents see return as a distant dream.

Im not optimistic. The more time passes, the more entrenched the demographic changes are, says Ahmad Yussef, an academic who fled Afrin.

Kurdish authorities accuse Turkey of ethnic repopulation, and observers say Ankara wants to resettle the 3.5 million Syrian refugees in its territory into Afrin.

The accusations go both ways: Syrian Arabs accuse Kurdish fighters of preventing them from returning to their northern hometowns after ousting jihadists.

Widespread destruction and complex legislation on property restitution have compounded fears of permanent displacement.

And despite calls to include transitional justice in a political solution, real reconciliation remains unlikely, says Diana Semaan of Amnesty International.

Because there wont be a truth commission or public acknowledgement by the government towards the Sunnis or armed groups towards Alawites or Christians, there will be no accountability or justice, Semaan says.

This is why Syrian society will be polarised and disintegrated, and why all the sects will turn internally.

Featured photo: AFP/File / Rami al SAYED. Rebels and civilians prepare to be evacuated from the southern outskirts of Damascus for opposition-held parts of northern Syria on May 3, 2018 under a negotiated withdrawal to secure the last opposition holdouts of the capital.

Rouba El Husseinis reporting has appeared in Yahoo Singapore, Business Insider, Channel 7, France 24, Yahoo, Arab News, MSN, The Times South Africa, La Presse, Daily Star (Lebanon), The Citizen (South Africa)
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San Francisco (The Progressive)  On my most recent reporting trip to Gaza, I stayed with a family living just a short walk from the Israeli border. At dusk we watched a beautiful sunset over the Mediterranean and could forget the ongoing conflict for just a few minutes.

Living conditions for the family have gotten much worse since my visit. They have electricity four hours a day, medicine is in short supply, and they have to get all their water delivered by truck. Overall unemployment in Gaza is 27 percent, with youth unemployment at a staggering 60 percent, according to the World Bank.

That high unemployment presents the biggest problem, said one of my hosts, family member Jihad Mosalami, an English professor. People cant survive, he told me in a phone interview.

Many of Mosalamis students were among the tens of thousands who have gathered to demonstrate at the fence separating Gaza and Israel of the past several weeks. A few went to the fence to throw stones, he said. Others went to the fence to pray.

It didnt matter to Israel Defense Forces soldiers, who shot tear gas and live ammunition at the gathering Palestinians.

It was like hell, said Mosalami.

From March 30 to May 15, Israeli security forces killed over 100 Palestinians and wounded more than 10,000, according to the Palestinian health officials. No Israeli soldiers were killed or even seriously injured during this same period.

Palestinians organized the Great March of Return, to protest the Israeli military blockade of Gaza. Israeli soldiers control all food, medicine, building supplies, and other goods that enter or exit Gaza. The Israeli military frequently holds up essential goods to pressure Hamas, the ruling party of the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli authorities claimed they were protecting their border from hordes of Palestinians, some armed, intent on crashing through the fence. In reality, no one got though the double fence or the large no mans land buffer zone created by Israel. The soldiers shot civilians to intimidate themnot out of self-defense.

But these tactics backfired. Palestinians won the political battle by gaining renewed sympathy for their struggle around the world.

A young generation of Palestinians discovered they can make a difference, not least of which is bringing global attention to their cause.

The young generation of Palestinians discovered they can make a difference, not least of which is bringing global attention to their cause, Brian Barber told me. Hes professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee and a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies in Washington D.C. The protests gave young Palestinians their first taste of vibrant collective action  as their parents had with the first intifada.

Why would young people risk their lives to protest the occupation? Lets take a look at some of the underlying political issues.

Whats the Right of Return?

Sixty-eight percent of people living in Gaza are registered with the U.N. as refugees, either expelled from Israel in 1948 or their descendants. Ive interviewed Palestinians who still have the keys to their 1948 houses. Under international law, these refugees have the right to return to their towns and villages, according to James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

Ive interviewed Palestinians who still have the keys to their 1948 houses.

There are 5 million Palestinians worldwide. As a practical matter, many would not want to return to Israel. Their homes and villages may no longer exist. And many Palestinians dont want to live as a minority in Israel, Zogby told me.

If Israel recognizes a fully independent, viable, and contiguous Palestinian state, many refugees would return there. Years ago the Palestine Liberation Organization proposed that a limited number of Palestinians should be allowed to return to their villages in Israel while the vast majority would have the right to return to a newly independent Palestinian state.

But Palestinians wont make any compromises on such a critical issue except in the context of an overall peace settlement. (As of press time, neither the United States nor Israel have shown any interest in peace talks.)

One state or two?

For many years the left and progressives supported the concept of one state in which all Palestinians would be free to return to Israel as equal citizens. The democratic state would champion one person, one vote with no discrimination based on ethnicity or religion.

Eighty-one percent of Israeli Jews reject the idea of a one-state solution, according to a 2017 poll, because the return of millions of Palestinians would eliminate Israel as a Jewish state. The one-state plan has little support even among progressive Israelis opposed to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

By the 1980s, the Palestine Liberation Organization began to propose a two-state solution in which the Palestinians and Israelis would have their own states living in peace. Negotiations would determine borders based on Israels pre-1967 territory. Different parts of Jerusalem could serve as capitals for both countries. The two-state solution served as the basis for the 1993 Oslo peace accord.

Successive Israeli governments never implemented the Oslo agreement, however. They continued to build Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and unilaterally built a wall dividing Israel and the West Bank that doesnt follow the 1967 border line.

In March a Palestinian poll showed 48 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza supported two states and 50 percent opposed. But only 28 percent supported one state.

Im not an activist or politician, said my friend Mosalami, but I do believe the majority of Palestinians will accept two states. Its the practical solution.

But doesnt Hamas reject two states?

Actually, Hamas is willing to accept the two-state solution. Soon after Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections, its leaders faced reality. Having one state was not possible and most Palestinians favored two states.

We accepted that our state should be on the 1967 borders, but Israel rejected that, then top Hamas leader Khaled Meshal told me. He confirmed that position with former President Jimmy Carter. I re-confirmed that view with two different Hamas ministers during a 2011 trip to Gaza.

Hamas doesnt emphasize that position because there are no peace talks on the horizon. Hamas leaders want Israel or the United States to put forward a viable two-state option, and then it will respond.

But isnt Hamas a terrorist organization? How could Israel trust them in negotiations?

Hamas is a political party with an armed militia that functions as Gazas security force. It considers itself a national liberation movement fighting occupation forces through armed struggle. Hamas has intentionally killed civilians, including bombing buses and restaurants.

Using terrorist tactics, however, does not make one a terrorist organization. Jewish militias fighting the British and Arabs in 1948 and 1949 used terrorist tactics. They murdered and tortured Arabs in the village of Deir Yassin, forcing residents to flee. They blew up the King David Hotel, killing over ninety Jews, Arabs, and British soldiers.

Some of the Jewish militia tactics parallel recent events in Gaza. Yuri Avnery, today one of the Israels major peace movement leaders, described how he participated in a 1948 Tel Aviv march organized by the Irgun, a militia later incorporated into the IDF.

Civilian Irgun youth marched down a street where the offices of the British administration were located, Avnery wrote. There we sang the national anthem, Hatikvah, while some adult members set fire to the offices.

I oppose the use of terrorism whatever the justification. But Hamas is fundamentally different from Al Qaeda or the Islamic State, who use terror to ethnically cleanse groups they opposeChristians, Jews, Shia Muslims, and others. Those organizations refuse to participate in elections and use religion as the excuse to give themselves absolute power.

Hamas promotes a conservative religious agenda but it is not the Islamic State. I would not vote for Hamas if I lived in Palestine. But Hamas is a legitimate party whose views are part of the Middle East political reality.

Labeling Hamas a terrorist organization gives Israel, and the United States, an excuse to never hold peace talks. The Israeli government labelled the Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists until Israel agreed to the Oslo peace talks. Then they became peace partners.

Earlier this month Hamas offered Israel a hudna or ceasefire. Hamas sources told the website Al Monitor if Israel lifted the siege of Gaza, Hamas would enter into negotiations with Israel for a long-term ceasefire.

Should Israeli leaders trust Hamas? No. And Palestinian leaders shouldnt trust the Israeli government. But there is a common need to begin serious discussions to establish a viable Palestinian state. Each side can advance partial measures and verify their implementation before moving ahead.

My Gaza friend Jihad Mosalami said, They have to negotiate and reach a deal. People in Gaza want a decent life.

He acknowledged that the current leadership in Washington and Tel Aviv wont start talks anytime soon.

We wont have war forever, he said with just a hint of optimism. The war will end and there can be peace.

Reprinted from The Progressive with the authors permission.
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San Francisco (Tomdispatch.com) 

They are like the camels nose, lifting a corner of the tent. Dont be fooled, though. It wont take long until the whole animal is sitting inside, sipping your tea and eating your sweets. In countries around the world  in the Middle East, Asia Minor, Central Asia, Africa, even the Philippines  the appearance of U.S. drones in the sky (and on the ground) is often Washingtons equivalent of the camels nose entering a new theater of operations in this countrys forever war against terror. Sometimes, however, the drones are more like the camels tail, arriving after less visible U.S. military forces have been in an area for a while.

Scrambling for Africa

AFRICOM, the Pentagons Africa Command, is building Air Base 201 in Agadez, a town in the nation of Niger. The $110 million installation, which officially opens later this year, will be able to house both C-17 transport planes and MQ-9 Reaper armed drones. It will soon become the new centerpiece in an undeclared U.S. war in West Africa. Even before the base opens, armed U.S. drones are already flying from Nigers capital, Niamey, having received permission from the Nigerien government to do so last November.

Despite crucial reporting by Nick Turse and others, most people in this country only learned of U.S. military activities in Niger in 2017 (and had no idea that about 800 U.S. military personnel were already stationed in the country) when news broke that four U.S. soldiers had died in an October ambush there. It turns out, however, that they werent the only U.S soldiers involved in firefights in Niger. This March, the Pentagon acknowledged that another clash took place last December between Green Berets and a previously unknown group identified as ISIS-West Africa. For those keeping score at home on the ever-expanding enemies list in Washingtons war on terror, this is a different group from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), responsible for the October ambush. Across Africa, there have been at least eight other incidents, most of them in Somalia.

What are U.S. forces doing in Niger? Ostensibly, they are training Nigerien soldiers to fight the insurgent groups rapidly multiplying in and around their country. Apart from the uranium that accounts for over 70% of Nigers exports, theres little of economic interest to the United States there. The real appeal is location, location, location. Landlocked Niger sits in the middle of Africas Sahel region, bordered by Mali and Burkina Faso on the west, Chad on the east, Algeria and Libya to the north, and Benin and Nigeria to the south. In other words, Niger has the misfortune to straddle a part of Africa of increasing strategic interest to the United States.

In addition to ISIS-West Africa and ISGS, actual or potential U.S. targets there include Boko Haram (born in Nigeria and now spread to Mali and Chad), ISIS and al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Libya, and Al Mourabitoun, based primarily in Mali.

At the moment, for instance, U.S. drone strikes on Libya, which have increasedunder the Trump administration, are generally launched from a base in Sicily. However, drones at the new air base in Agadez will be able to strike targets in all these countries.

Suppose a missile happens to kill some Nigerien civilians by mistake(not exactly uncommon for U.S. drone strikes elsewhere)? Not to worry: AFRICOM is covered. A U.S.-Niger Status of Forces Agreement guarantees that there wont be any repercussions. In fact, according to the agreement, The Parties waive any and all claims against each other for damage to, loss, or destruction of the others property or injury or death to personnel of either Partys armed forces or their civilian personnel. In other words, the United States will not be held responsible for any collateral damage from Niger drone strikes. Another clause in the agreement shields U.S. soldiers and civilian contractors from any charges under Nigerien law.

The introduction of armed drones to target insurgent groups is part of AFRICOMs expansion of the U.S. footprint on a continent of increasing strategic interest to Washington. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, European nations engaged in the scramble for Africa, a period of intense and destructive competition for colonial possessions on the continent. In the post-colonial 1960s and 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union vied for influence in African countries as diverse as Egypt and what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Today, despite AFRICOMs focus on the war on terror, the real jockeying for influence and power on the continent is undoubtedly between this country and the Peoples Republic of China. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, China surpassed the United States as Africas largest trade partner in 2009 and has never looked back. Beijing has steadily diversified its business interests in Africa, the Councils 2017 backgrounder continues, noting that from Angola to Kenya,

China has participated in energy, mining, and telecommunications industries and financed the construction of roads, railways, ports, airports, hospitals, schools, and stadiums. Investment from a mixture of state and private funds has also set up tobacco, rubber, sugar, and sisal plantations Chinese investment in Africa also fits into Chinese President Xi Jinpings development framework, One Belt, One Road.

For example, in a bid to corner the DRCs cobalt and copper reserves (part of an estimated $24 trillion in mineral wealth there), two Chinese companies have formed Sicomines, a partnership with the Congolese governments national mining company. The Pulitzer Center reports that Sicomines is expected to extract 6.8 million tons of copper and 427,000 tons of cobalt over the next 25 years. Cobalt is essential in the manufacture of todays electronic devices  from cell phones to drones  and more than half of the worlds supply lies underground in the DRC.

Even before breaking ground on Air Base 201 in Niger, the United States already had a major drone base in Africa, in the tiny country of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen. From there, the Pentagon has been directing strikes against targets in Yemen and Somalia. As AFRICOM commander Gen. Thomas Waldhauser told Congress in March, Djibouti is a very strategic location for us. Camp Lemonnier, as the base is known, occupies almost 500 acres near the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport. U.S. Central Command, Special Operations Command, European Command, and Transportation Command all use the base. At present, however, it appears that U.S. drones stationed in Djibouti and bound for Yemen and Somalia take off from nearby Chabelley Airfield, as Bard Colleges Center for the Study of the Drone reports.

To the discomfort of the U.S. military, the Chinese have recently established their first base in Africa, also in Djibouti, quite close to Camp Lemonnier. That country is also horning in on potential U.S. sales of drones to other countries. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab emirates are among U.S. allies known to have purchased advanced Chinese drones.

The Means Justify the End?

From the beginning, the CIAs armed drones have been used primarily to kill specific individuals. The Bush administration launched its global drone assassination program in October 2001 in Afghanistan, expanded it in 2002 to Yemen, and later to other countries. Under President Barack Obama, White House oversight of such assassinations only gained momentum (with an official kill list and regular terror Tuesday meetings to pick targets). The use of drones expanded 10-fold, with growing numbers of attacks in Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia, as well as in the Afghan, Iraqi, and Syrian war zones. Early on, targets were generally people identified as al-Qaeda leaders or lieutenants. In later years, the kill lists grew to include supposed leaders or members of a variety of other terror organizations, and eventually even unidentified people engaged in activities that were to bear the signature of terrorist activity.

But those CIA drones, destructive as they were (leaving civilian dead, including children, in their wake) were just the camels nose  a way to smuggle in a major change in U.S. policy. Weve grown so used to murder by drone in the last 17 years that weve lost sight of an important fact: such assassinations represented a fundamental (and unlawful) change in U.S. military strategy. Because unpiloted airplanes eliminate the physical risk to American personnel, the United States has embraced a strategy of global extrajudicial executions: presidential assassinations on foreign soil.

Its a case of the means justifying the end. The drones work so well at so little cost (to us) that it must be all right to kill people with them.

Successive administrations have implemented this strategic change with little public discussion. Critiques of the drone program tend to focus  not unreasonably  on the many additional people (like family members) who are injured or die along with the intended targets, and on civilians who should never have been targets in the first place. But few critics point out that executing foreign nationals without trial in other countries is itself wrong and illegal under U.S. law, as well as that of other countries where some of the attacks have taken place, and of course, international law.

How have the Bush, Obama, and now Trump administrations justified such killings? The same way they justified the expansion of the war on terror itself to new battle zones around the world  through Congresss September 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF). That law permitted the president

to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

Given that many of the organizations the United States is targeting with drones today didnt even exist when that AUMF was enacted and so could hardly have authorized or aided in the 9/11 attacks, it offers, at best, the thinnest of coverage indeed for such a worldwide program.

Droning On and On

George W. Bush launched the CIAs drone assassination program and that was just the beginning. Even as Barack Obama attempted to reduce the number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, he ramped up the use of drones, famously taking personal responsibility for targeting decisions. By some estimates, he approved 10 times as many drone attacks as Bush.

In 2013, the Obama administration introduced new guidelines for drone strikes, supposedly designed to guarantee with near certainty the safety of civilians. Administration officials also attempted to transfer most of the operational responsibility for drone attacks from the CIA to the militarys only-slightly-less-secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Although the number of CIA strikes did drop, the Agency remained in a position to rev up its program at any time, as the Washington Post reported in 2016:

U.S. officials emphasized that the CIA has not been ordered to disarm its fleet of drones, and that its aircraft remain deeply involved in counterterrorism surveillance missions in Yemen and Syria even when they are not unleashing munitions.

Its indicative of how easily drone killings have become standard operating procedure that, in all the coverage of the confirmation hearings for the CIAs new director, Gina Haspel, there was copious discussion of the Agencys torture program, but not a public mention of, let alone a serious question about, its drone assassination campaign. Its possible the Senate Intelligence Committee discussed it in their classified hearing, but the general public has no way of knowing Haspels views on the subject.

However, it shouldnt be too hard to guess. Its clear, for instance, that President Trump has no qualms about the CIAs involvement in drone killings. When he visited the Agencys headquarters in Langley, Virginia, the day after his inauguration, says the Post, Trump urged the CIA to start arming its drones in Syria. If you can do it in 10 days, get it done, he said. At that same meeting, CIA officials played a tape of a drone strike for him, showing how theyd held off until the target had stepped far enough away from the house that the missile would miss it (and so its occupants). His only question: Why did you wait?

You may recall that, while campaigning, the president told Fox News that the U.S. should actually be targeting certain civilians. The other thing with the terrorists, he said, is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, dont kid yourself. When they say they dont care about their lives, you have to take out their families. In other words, he seemed eager to make himself a future murderer-in-chief.

How, then, has U.S. drone policy fared under Trump? The New York Times has reported major changes to Obama-era policies. Both the CIAs and the militarys kill lists will no longer be limited to key insurgent leaders, but expanded to include foot-soldier jihadists with no special skills or leadership roles. The Times points out that this new approach would appear to remove some obstacles for possible strikes in countries where Qaeda- or Islamic State-linked militants are operating, from Nigeria to the Philippines. And no longer will attack decisions only be made at the highest levels of government. The requirement for having a near certainty of avoiding civilian casualties  always something of a fiction  officially remains in place for now, but we know how seriously Trump takes such constraints.

Hes already overseen the expansion of the drone wars in other ways. In general, that near certainty constraint doesnt apply to officially designated war zones (areas of active hostility), where the lower standard of merely avoiding unnecessary civilian casualties prevails. In March 2017, Trump approved a Pentagon request to identify large parts of Yemen and Somalia as areas of active hostility, allowing leeway for far less carefully targeted strikes in both places. At the time, however, AFRICOM head General Thomas D. Waldhauser said he would maintain the near certainty standard in Somalia for now (which, as it happens, hasnt stopped Somali civilians from dying by drone strike).

Another change affects the use of drones in Pakistan and potentially elsewhere. Past drone strikes in Pakistan officially targeted people believed to be high value al-Qaeda figures, on the grounds that they (like all al-Qaeda leaders) represented an imminent threat to the United States. However, as a 2011 Justice Department paper explained, imminence is in the eye of the beholder: With respect to al-Qaeda leaders who are continually planning attacks, the United States is likely to have only a limited window of opportunity within which to defend Americans. In other words, once identified as an al-Qaeda leader or the leader of an allied group, you are by definition continually planning attacks and always represent an imminent danger, making you a permanentlegitimate target.

Under Trump, however, U.S. drones are not only going after those al-Qaeda targets permitted under the 2001 AUMF, but also targeting Afghan Taliban across the border in Pakistan. In other words, these drone strikes are not a continuation of counterterrorism as envisioned under the AUMF, but rather an extension of a revitalized U.S. war in Afghanistan. In general, the law of war allows attacks on a neutral countrys territory only if soldiers chase an enemy across the border in hot pursuit. So the use of drones to attack insurgent groups inside Pakistan represents an unacknowledged escalation of the U.S. Afghan War. Another corner of the tent lifted by the camels nose?

Transparency about U.S. wars in general, and airstrikes in particular, has also suffered under Trump. The administration, for instance, announced in March that it had used a drone to kill Musa Abu Dawud, a high-ranking official in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, as the New York Times reported. However, the Times continued, questions about whether the American military, under the Trump administration, is blurring the scope of operations in Africa were raised when it was revealed that the U.S. had carried out four airstrikes in Libya from September to January that the Africa Command did not disclose at the time.

Similarly, the administration has been less than forthcoming about its activities in Yemen. As the Business Insider reports (in a story updated from the Long War Journal), the U.S. has attacked al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) there repeatedly, but of the more than 114 strikes against AQAP in Yemen, CENTCOM has only provided details on four, all of which involved high value targets. Because Trump has loosened the targeting restrictions for Yemen, its likely that the other strikes involved low-level targets, whose identity we wont know.

Just Security, an online roundtable based at New York University, reports the total number of airstrikes there in 2017 as 120. They investigated eight of these and found that U.S. operations were responsible for the deaths of at least 32 civilians  including 16 children and six women  and injured 10 others, including five children. Yemeni civilians had a suggestion for how the United States could help them avoid becoming collateral damage: give them a list of wanted individuals. A list that is clear and available to the public so that they can avoid targeted individuals, protect their children, and not allow U.S. targets to have a presence in their areas.

A 2016 executive order requires that the federal director of national intelligence issue an annual report by May 1st on the previous years civilian deaths caused by U.S. airstrikes outside designated active hostility zones. As yet, the Trump administration has not filed the 2017 report.

Bigger and Better Camels Coming Soon to a Tent Near You

This March, a jubilant Fox News reported that the Marine Corps is planning to build a fancy new drone, called the MUX, for Marine Air Ground Task Force Unmanned Aircraft System-Expeditionary. This baby will sport quite a set of bells and whistles, as Fox marveled:

The MUX will terrify enemies of the United States, and with good reason. The aircraft wont be just big and powerful: it will also be ultra-smart. This could be a heavily armed drone that takes off, flies, avoids obstacles, adapts and lands by itself  all without a human piloting it.

In other words, the MUX will be a drone that can truly run vital missions all by itself.

Between pulling out of the Iran agreement and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Trump has made it clear that  despite his bases chants of Nobel! Nobel!  he has no interest whatsoever in peace. It looks like the future of the still spreading war on terror under Trump is as clear as MUX.

Rebecca Gordon, a TomDispatch regular, teaches at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes. Her previous books include Mainstreaming Torture: Ethical Approaches in the Post-9/11 United States and Letters from Nicaragua.

Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Tom Engelhardts A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoys In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power, John Dowers The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II, John Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, and Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead.

Copyright 2018 Rebecca Gordon

Via Tomdispatch.com

Featured Photo via defense.gov.
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Islamabad (AFP)  Pakistan passed legislation Thursday paving the way for its restive tribal areas, long a focal point in the global war on terror, to enter the political mainstream, ending a colonial-era arrangement that endorsed collective punishment and fuelled militancy.

The constitutional amendment would see the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border with Afghanistan officially merged into neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

It will extend the writ of Pakistani courts to its districts, and increase development assistance to residents of the region which Washington has long insisted provides safe havens to militants including the Taliban and Al Qaeda  an allegation that Islamabad denies.

The amendment received broad support from across the political spectrum in the National Assembly, with 229 voting to approve the measure and one voting against it.

Another 10 abstained, according to state media.

The legislation still needs final approval from the senate and the signature of the president  a formality that is all but guaranteed after receiving overwhelming support in the lower house.

Today this house has approved a historic bill, which will have very positive effects for Pakistan. I thank the opposition for their support, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told legislators after the vote.

We need to provide (FATA residents) with all those facilities which are available to the people in the rest of Pakistan, he added.

Pakistans tribal areas have long been neglected. The government has taken this decision very late, Rahimullah Yusufzai, a regional analyst and an expert on the tribal areas, told AFP.

Yusufzai predicted that implementation of the amendment could take months as Pakistan prepares for elections due this summer, which would leave the reforms in the hands of the incoming government.

 A historic day 

Since the days of the British Raj, the territory has long been seen as a backwater ruled by hostile tribesmen and kept as a buffer zone between Afghanistan and the settled territories that became Pakistan.

Following the 9/11 attacks the tribal belt along the Afghan border became a notorious terrorism flashpoint, with Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters operating in the area with impunity.

The US has repeatedly accused Pakistan of allowing the tribal areas to host safe havens for militants fighting in Afghanistan  an allegation Islamabad has consistently denied.

The Pakistani military has carried out multiple operations in the region and insists it has eradicated militancy. It is also building a fence along the border with Afghanistan.

But FATA residents have long complained its development has been overlooked by authorities, while appointed administrators were able to punish whole tribes for the crimes of an individual under draconian colonial-era laws.

The move was largely welcomed across the FATA.

Its a historic day, I am more than happy, said Malik Zarnoor Afridi of Khyber tribal district.

Samiullah Jan, from South Waziristan district, said he hopes the tribal areas will see an increase in development aid.

They will get quality education, quality health care, roads, electricity, gas and economic opportunities, said Jan.

However small pockets of resistance remained, with some calling for FATA to become its own separate province.

We will lose our cultural norms and traditions because of this merger, Ahmed Saeed, local leader of a religious party in North Waziristan, told AFP.

The vote was also trending on Twitter in Pakistan, with social media users lauding the decision.

Salute the political leadership for coming together on this. Proud moment!, wrote Nizamuddin Khan.

The seven tribal districts  Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand, North Waziristan, Orakzai and South Waziristan  are home to some five million residents, mainly ethnic Pashtuns.

The decision comes as a new rights movement emanating from FATA has accused Pakistans military establishment of using the territory to nurture militant groups fighting in Afghanistan, while overseeing a campaign of extrajudicial killings and abductions targeting tribesmen.

Featured Photo: AFP/File / AAMIR QURESHI. Since the days of the British Raj, the territory has long been seen as a backwater ruled by hostile tribesman that was kept as a buffer zone with Afghanistan.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 25, 2018) - Carube Copper Corp. (TSXV: CUC) is pleased to report the appointment of three new directors at its Annual General and Special Meeting ("AGM") held in Toronto, Ontario, on May 24, 2018.

Tony Manini, Chairman of the Board of Carube Copper stated, "I am very pleased to welcome our three new directors to Carube Copper. They will significantly add to the depth of our board with their rich experience in the exploration and mining industry. Carube Copper looks forward to leveraging the combined success and experience of its new board and management to deliver on its vision of building a successful mid tier copper-gold company."

T. Sean Harvey has over 25 years experience in the mining sector, including 10 years working in senior investment banking roles with Nesbitt Burns (BMO) and Deutsche Bank. In addition to co-founding two TSX Venture Exchange-listed companies, he was president and chief executive officer of TVX Gold at the time of its sale to Kinross Gold in 2003. Subsequently, he was president and CEO of Atlantico Gold Corp., a private company involved in the development of the Amapari project in Brazil that was sold to Wheaton River Minerals (acquired by Goldcorp). Mr. Harvey was also president and CEO of Orvana Minerals Corp. from 2005 to 2006. More recently he has held board positions with various mining companies, and is currently a director of Victoria Gold Corp., Perseus Mining Ltd., Serabi Gold PLC, Sarama Resources Inc. and Abacus Mining and Exploration. Mr. Harvey holds an honours BA degree in economics and geography from Carleton University, an MA in economics from Carleton University, an LLB from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from the University of Toronto. He is also a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Zimi Meka is one of the founding directors of Ausenco Limited and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director in 1999. Mr. Meka's background includes senior roles in engineering and operations companies prior to the formation of Ausenco in 1991. He has over 25 years' experience in the design, construction and operation of a wide range of processing plants and infrastructure in the minerals industry in Australia and internationally. He is the Queensland University of Technology's 2008 Alumnus of the Year, was awarded the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy's 2009 Institute Medal and is one of Australia's top 100 most influential engineers as awarded by Engineers Australia. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Stephen Hughes is an economic geologist with over 20 years technical and management experience covering exploration, development and mine geology. Specializing in porphyry copper-gold, skarn and epithermal systems he has lead the discovery-delineation and development of more than 2 billion tonnes of copper-gold resources in the Asia-Pacific region since 1999. Steve's experience includes 12 years with PT Freeport Indonesia at the giant Grasberg mine, both in the open pit and as manager of the underground mine geology and exploration groups and 14 years as Exploration Manager - Indonesia for Oxiana Limited and VP - Exploration for Tigers Realm/Asiamet Resources where his roles have focused on managing the acquisition, exploration and development of Company making Cu-Au opportunities. Recent successes include the acquisition and development of the Beutong porphyry Cu-Au deposit and discovery and development of the BKM copper and BKZ polymetallic deposits in Indonesia, all of which are currently being advanced through resource delineation and/or feasibility studies. Stephen holds an honours degree in geology from Saint Mary's University in Nova Scotia.

Results of Voting

More than 26% of the record date outstanding shares of the Company were represented at the meeting by proxy or in person. All of the matters submitted to the shareholders for approval set forth in the Company's Notice of Meeting and Information Circular dated April 24, 2018, were approved by more than 99% of votes cast; including the re-election of Alar Soever, Tony Manini and Yale Simpson as directors.

The appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors was confirmed unanimously.

The Stock Option Plan and the reservation for issuance of the maximum number of shares permitted under the plans were approved by 99% of the disinterested shareholders.

The officers of the company are:

Mr. Antony Manini, BSc (Hons), FAusIMM, FSEG, Chairman of the Board, Independent Director

Mr. Anthony Houston, BSc. (Geology), MAIG, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Jeffrey Ackert, B.Sc. (Geology) VP Business Development

Mr. John McNeice, C.A., CPA. Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Chris Irwin, B.A., LL.B. Corporate Secretary and Counsel

Corporate Presentation

Following the formal business meeting, Mr. Tony Houston, Interim CEO and President of Carube Copper presented a corporate update in which he outlined the near-term objectives for the Company as follows:

Complete Joint Ventures over certain Carube Jamaica assets in order to reduce the Company's exposure to the higher risk exploration phase while still retaining a significant equity position and operatorship;

Continue to sole fund stand alone targets where Carube's work is highly likely to produce positive results and substantially lift value prior to drilling. Carube can elect to sole fund or joint venture at drill stage;

Lower priority projects are to be divested, farmed out or retained where costs are minimal; and

Actively pursue advanced medium to large scale projects that have compelling drill targets and near-term resource potential.

The corporate presentation can be viewed on the Company's website here.

Additional Corporate Information

In other corporate news, on May 24, 2018, the Company's Board of Directors approved the award of 153,333 Restricted Share Units valued at $0.09 per unit to an officer of the Company and 1,676,404 Deferred Share Units valued at $0.09 per unit to certain directors of the Company.

About Carube Copper

Carube is focused on the exploration and development of copper and gold projects in Jamaica and Canada. In Jamaica, Carube Copper holds a 100% interest in 11 licenses, totalling 535 square kilometres. In Canada, it holds a 100% interest in three porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum properties, totalling 492 square kilometres within the Tertiary-aged Cascade Magmatic Arc in southwestern British Columbia.

Tony Houston, Interim CEO and President +1 (416) 882-2541  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Jeff Ackert, Vice President, Business Development  +1 (647) 957-2249  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

John McNeice. CFO  +1 (613) 692-7704  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.carubecopper.com

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

DISCLAIMER & FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, and by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on currently available information, Carube Copper Corp. provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Factors which cause results to differ materially are set out in the Company's documents filed on SEDAR. Undue reliance should not be placed on "forward looking statements".

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Carube Copper hereby incorporates the entire disclaimer set forth on its website at Click Here
DELTA, BC, May 23, 2018 /CNW/ - Desert Gold Ventures Inc. (the "Company") (TSX.V: DAU, FF: QXR2, OTC: DAUGF) announces, further to its news release of April 26, 2018 that the Company has closed its non-brokered private placement (the "Offering"). The Company raised an aggregate of $647,500 from the sale of 4,676,668 units at a price of $0.15 per unit (the "Unit").

Pursuant to the terms of the Financing, each Unit consists of one common share in the equity of the Company and one share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.20 per share for a period of five (5) years from the closing of the Offering.

All securities issued as a result of this Offering are subject to a statutory hold period. There are no finder's fees payable in connection with this Offering. This Offering is subject to exchange approval.

The proceeds of the Offering will be used for exploration activities at the Company's projects in Western Mali and general working capital.

The Company also announces that it has amended the exercise price of its stock options announced on May 2, 2018 from $0.19 to $0.25.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Jared Scharf"

___________________________

Jared Scharf

President & Director

+1 (858) 247-8195

For further information please visit www.SEDAR.com under the company's profile.

This news release contains forward-looking statements respecting the Company's ability to successfully complete the Offering. These forward-looking statements entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations, are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such statements, including the inability of the Company to successfully complete the Financing. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the capital markets, the price of gold; operational, funding, and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; and the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with mining operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and available at www.sedar.com and readers are urged to read these materials. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such statements unless required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the united states securities act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the united states or to the account or benefit of a U.S. person absent an exemption from the registration requirements of such act.
MONTREAL, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (CSE:AUAG) is pleased to announce that the Company has acquired worldwide rights to a non-mercury, non-cyanide gold and silver extraction process that is currently patent-pending. The metallurgical extraction process was developed by Central America Nickel Inc. for the extraction of energy metals such as nickel, cobalt, vanadium, scandium, manganese and copper. The process was then applied to gold and silver samples originating from Auxicos Zamora gold and silver property located in Sinaloa, Mexico.

The process extracted over 90% of the gold and over 80% of the silver in less then one hour, without the use of cyanide and mercury. The process uses no pressure and no heat. Auxico has agreed to pay Central America Nickel Inc. a 2% net royalty on the production of gold on any deposit in the world where the process is used. Auxico has the option to buy back this 50% of this royalty (or 1% of the 2% royalty) at any time through the issuance of 2,000,000 common shares of the Company.

Auxico recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Department of Bolivar (Colombia), with the goal of implementing the environmentally friendly technology. Auxico will be in charge of the financing and construction of gold producing operations in Bolivar, as well as the management of the export and sale of gold and/or gold concentrates. The Department of Bolivar will provide: the property on which the gold production will take place; physical security of the gold production operations; help with the permitting process; and the liaison with local miners who will supply mineralized material to the Auxico gold production operations.

The Minamata Convention, whose objective is to end the use of mercury by artisanal miners, has been signed by 128 countries. The Auxico process is expected to provide an economic industrial alternative to the use of mercury while generating a much smaller environmental footprint.

Qualified Person

This news release was reviewed and approved by Joel Scodnick, P.Geo., an independent consultant to Auxico, in his capacity as a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

 signed 

Mark Billings

President, Auxico Resources Canada Inc.

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Cell: +1 514 296 1641

About Auxico Resources Canada Inc.

Auxico Resources Canada Inc. (Auxico) is a Canadian company that was founded in 2014 and based in Montreal. Auxico is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Colombia and Mexico.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.
TORONTO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE:MUX) (TSX:MUX) (McEwen Mining or the Company) is pleased to announce results of a new Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) study evaluating the potential extension of production from its 100% owned El Gallo Complex in Sinaloa, Mexico. The proposed redevelopment plan evaluated in the PEA is called Project Fenix. The key outcomes of Project Fenix include an average annual production rate of 47,000 ounces gold equivalent (AuEq), low initial capital cost, mine pay-back of 4 years, and an after-tax IRR of 25% at current gold and silver prices.

Project Fenix shows that El Gallo has the potential to be retooled to produce silver and gold for years into the future. The current heap leach gold mine would transform first to a mill and process the residual heap leach pad material, then additional mill modifications would enable processing of silver and gold ores from four other deposits. This plan depends on innovative in-pit tailings disposal that we think is a win-win for all stakeholders. Over the coming quarters we intend to advance environmental permitting and refine our plans with a feasibility study before making an investment decision next year, said Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner

Highlights of the Project Fenix PEA at $1,250/oz gold and $16/oz silver prices(1)(2):

Estimated initial capital of $41 million for Phase 1 and $30 million for Phase 2;

Pay-back period of 4.0 years;

25% after-tax IRR and $60 million NPV at 5% discount rate;

$12 million of average annual cash flow from operations from year 2 onwards;

47,000 ounces average annual AuEq production;

Cash cost of $598 and $797 per ounce AuEq for Phases 1 and 2 respectively;

10 to 12-year LOM;

Updated resource estimate totaling 13 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.39 g/t gold and 77 g/t silver (Measured and Indicated) containing 591,000 oz AuEq, and 5.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.81 g/t gold and 27 g/t silver (Inferred) containing 214,000 oz AuEq.

The PEA was prepared by GR Engineering Services Limited (GRES), an engineering, consulting and contracting company, under the direction of McEwen Mining in accordance with the requirements of Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).

Financial Analysis

The base case generates an after-tax net present value (NPV 5% ) of $60 million, an IRR of 25%, and an average after-tax cash flow from operations of $12 million per year of operation.



Table 1: After-Tax Financial Results

Base Case

$1,250/oz Au, $16/oz Ag Upside Case

$1,300/oz Au, $17/oz Ag Phase 1 Capex $41 million $41 million Phase 2 Capex $30 million $30 million IRR 25 % 30 % NPV@5% Discount Rate $60 million $77 million Payback Period 4.0 years 3.8 years

Figure 1: Graph of Cash Flows





Mining and Processing

The Fenix Project involves a two-stage development process. Phase 1 includes the reprocessing of material on the gold heap leach pad at our existing El Gallo Gold Mine, and Phase 2 includes the processing of the open pit gold and silver ores from multiple deposits including El Gallo Silver, Palmarito, El Encuentro and Carrisalejo.

The process plant would utilise conventional and proven mineral processing and precious metals recovery technologies. Phase 1 would have a throughput rate of 5,000 tonnes per day (tpd). During Phase 2, fresh mineralised material from higher grade silver deposits (El Gallo Silver primarily) would be processed at 3,250 tpd.

The selected process recovery methods have been based on separate campaign retreatment of heap leach material (Phase 1) and treatment of fresh mineralised material from other deposits (Phase 2).

Phase 1 operation would target gold recovery from the heap leach pad material using a conventional ball mill grinding and a hybrid carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit (hybrid means the first leach tanks are pure leach tanks and the remaining tanks being carbon in leach tanks), to recover gold onto activated carbon. Industry standard elution, electrowinning and smelting circuits would be used to produce a dore product. Soluble copper levels would be controlled and suppressed using established methods. Cyanide in the CIL tailings would be detoxified using the SO 2 / Air process, and the detoxified tailings would then be sent to a tailings storage facility in an existing mined-out open pit.

Tailings produced during the operation, starting with Phase 1 would be stored in the mined-out Samaniego pit at the El Gallo Gold Mine. As part of this, in-pit tailings deposition would include a tailings delivery system designed to maximize tailings consolidation and water recovery. Water would be recovered via surface reclaim pumps, a basin underdrain collection sump and finger drain network and down gradient contingency pump back wells.

In Phase 2 the process facility would be modified to enable treatment of material from the El Gallo Silver deposit to be followed by other deposits in the complex. Phase 2 operation would utilize conventional flotation technology, intensive leaching of concentrates with counter current decantation (CCD) washing used to recover solution for zinc precipitation using the Merrill Crowe process for silver and gold recovery. The Phase 1 CIL plant would be utilized for cyanide leaching of the flotation tailings to maximize overall silver recoveries during Phase 2. Phase 2 would also utilize the existing El Gallo Gold Mine three stage crushing plant to prepare material for delivery to the grinding circuit.

The available volume in the Samaniego pit will enable the Fenix Project.

El Gallo Silver and proposed process facilities are separated by about 6.5 km, requiring construction of a dedicated haul road for transport of ore. A new substation and powerline would connect both projects to the national distribution grid.

Over the mine life, production would total 17.2 million tonnes of mineralized material at an average head grade 1.17 g/t AuEq containing 680 koz AuEq, and recovering a total of 573 koz AuEq. The planned production schedule is shown on Table 2.

Table 2: Production Summary

Source Gold

(g/t) Silver

(g/t) Production

Model

(tonnes) Waste

(tonnes) Strip Ratio Contained

Metal

(oz AuEq) Recovered

Metal

(oz AuEq) % of

Recovered

ozs AuEq El Gallo Heap Leach Pad(3) 0.64 0 9,024,027 0 N/A 197,285 172,989 30 % El Gallo Silver(4) 0.11 117.3 5,413,000 20,468,000 3.8 291,432 248,502 44 % Palmarito(5) 0.37 149.9 1,796,194 5,518,199 3.1 136,498 104,863 18 % Carrisalejo 0.60 95.0 263,177 1,472,104 5.6 15,763 12,894 2 % El Encuentro 1.56 2.3 736,540 5,660,945 7.7 37,678 33,733 6 % TOTALS 1.17 g/t AuEq 17,232,938 33,119,248 N/A 679,106 572,981 100 %

Capital and Operating Costs

The Fenix Project offers low upfront capital requirements to commence the project by:

utilizing existing infrastructure at El Gallo Gold Mine;

commissioning an in-pit tailings storage facility in an existing open pit, and

a significant reduction in required leach tank volumes for El Gallo Silver processing from previous studies.

Phase 1 capital expenditure is estimated at $41 million, additional capital expenses for Phase 2 and the mining infrastructure, haul roads and closure obligations bring the total LOM capital required to $81 million.

Mining and operating costs were estimated based on process design criteria, equipment lease rates, labor, reagent, grid power supply, diesel fuel, explosives, maintenance, and other miscellaneous costs. All costs are in Q1 2018 dollars.

Table 3: Operating Cost / Oz Summary

Cash Cost

per oz AuEq AISC

per oz AuEq Phase 1 $598 $658 Phase 2 $797 $817 Overall Project - $793

Table 4: Capital Cost Summary

Description Phase 1

($M) Phase 2

($M) Sustaining

($M) Process Plant Direct Costs $28.5 $16.6 Infrastructure & Owners $1.4 $0.7 $4.5 Indirect Costs $7.4 $6.0 Contingency $3.2 $2.0 Mining $0.0 $5.0 $5.0 Total $40.9 $30.4 $9.5 Project Total $80.8

Table 5: Operating Cost / Tonne Summary

Resource Plant OPEX

($/t) Mining

($/t) Haulage

($/t) G & A

($/t) Total Opex

($/t) El Gallo Heap Leach Pad(8)(9) $10.77 $0.53 $0.00 $2.50 $13.80 El Gallo $21.50 $8.61 $2.00 $3.85 $35.96 Palmarito $21.50 $7.33 $7.00 $3.57 $39.40 Carrisalejo $21.50 $11.87 $2.00 $3.13 $38.50 El Encuentro $15.00 $15.63 $6.00 $3.13 $39.76

Existing Permits

The current operation at El Gallo Gold is a fully permitted open pit mine with a heap leach and ADR process facility. El Gallo Silver and Palmarito are fully permitted for mining.

Future Permitting & Timing

The current operation at El Gallo Gold is a fully permitted site; however, the Phase 1 project requires amendment of the current permits to include the construction of a mill and leach circuit in the location of the existing facilities for the reprocessing of the heap. The permit amendment will also include the backfilling of the Samaniego Pit with mill tailings as part of an integrated concurrent closure plan for the El Gallo Gold Mine.

Phase 2 project permitting will require authorization at El Gallo Gold to expand the process plant footprint and to augment the tailings volume to be deposited at the Samaniego Pit. The El Gallo Silver permits require amendments to change the processing location to El Gallo Gold, thus eliminating construction of the process components and the tailings facility at El Gallo Silver.

The Fenix Project has CONAGUA(10) approval for the extraction of groundwater and land-use permits for the construction of wells.

Advancing the project will require permit amendments filing for Phase 1 and subsequently filing for Phase 2 permits. Once these amendments are filed, successful approvals by the Federal Environmental Authority (SEMARNAT) will be required before the project can be advanced.

The project seeks to obtain approval of the Phase 1 El Gallo permit modifications by Q4 2018 and Phase 2 approvals by Q3 2019.

Further project advancement in 2019 is subject to permit approvals.

Resource Estimates

Estimated resources for the Fenix Project are comprised only of material within the boundaries of conceptual pit shells, except for the El Gallo heap leach pad and Palmarito dumps, which are considered available for reprocessing.

Table 6: Mineral Resource Estimates(11)

El Gallo Silver In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes

kt Silver Grade

(g/t) Silver

koz Gold Grade

(g/t) Gold

koz Potential COG(13) = 50 g/t Ag* Measured 1,057 150 5,088 0.09 3 Indicated 4,436 120 17,053 0.13 19 Measured and Indicated 5,493 125 22,140 0.12 22 Inferred 564 82 1,488 0.38 7 Palmarito In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 70g/t Ag* kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 1,653 136 7,245 0.38 20 Indicated 11 148 52 0.23 0 Measured and Indicated 1,664 136 7,297 0.38 20 Inferred 528 133 2,258 0.30 5 Palmarito Dumps Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 52g/t Ag* kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 177 177 1,007 0.29 2 Indicated 68 154 338 0.24 1 Measured and Indicated 246 170 1,345 0.28 2 Inferred 0 0 0 0.00 0 Carrisalejo In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 46g/t Ag* kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 0 0 0 0.00 0 Indicated 391 116 1,454 0.11 1 Measured and Indicated 391 116 1,454 0.11 1 Inferred 42 821 1,111 0.02 0 El Encuentro In Optimised Pit Shell(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 0.78 g/t Au kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 0 0 0 0.00 0 Indicated 534 2 42 1.87 32 Measured and Indicated 534 2 42 1.87 32 Inferred 190 19 117 5.68 35 El Gallo Heap Leach Pad Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COG(13) = 0 g/t Au kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 0 0 0 0.00 0 Indicated 4,679 0 0 0.56 84 Measured and Indicated 4,679 0 0 0.56 84 Inferred 4,352 0 0 0.72 101 Totals In Optimised Pit Shells(12) Tonnes Silver Grade Silver Gold Grade Gold Potential COGs variable(13) kt (g/t) koz (g/t) koz Measured 2,887 144 13,340 0.27 25 Indicated 10,119 58 18,938 0.42 137 Measured and Indicated 13,006 77 32,277 0.39 161 Inferred 5,678 27 4,974 0.81 148

Table 7: Assumptions Relating to the Pit Optimization

Assumptions for In-pit resource shells Deposits Units Values Gold Price All $/oz 1,250 Silver Price All $/oz 18.00 Mining Cost Heap Leach Pad $/t 1.00 El Gallo(14) $/t 1.95 Palmarito(14) $/t 1.95 Palmarito Dump $/t 1.00 Carrisalejo $/t 1.95 El Encuentro $/t 1.95

Processing and G&A Heap Leach Pad $/t 13.80 El Gallo(14) $/t 23.29 Palmarito(14) $/t 23.29 Palmarito Dump $/t 23.29 Carrisalejo $/t 23.29 El Encuentro $/t 23.29 Recovery - Au Heap Leach Pad % 90 El Gallo(14) % 79.2 Palmarito(14) % 88.4 Palmarito Dump % 87.4 Carrisalejo % 79.2 El Encuentro % 43.7 Recovery - Ag Heap Leach Pad % 0 El Gallo(14) % 87.6 Palmarito(14) % 57.2 Palmarito Dump % 81.5 Carrisalejo % 87.6 El Encuentro % 65.2 Cut-off Grade Heap Leach Pad Au g/t 0 (0.38)(15) El Gallo(14) Ag g/t 50 Palmarito(14) Ag g/t 70 Palmarito Dump Ag g/t 52 Carrisalejo Ag g/t 46 El Encuentro Au g/t 0.78 Inter-ramp Pit Slope Angle Heap Leach Pad Degrees 18.4 El Gallo(14) Degrees 45.0 Palmarito(14) Degrees 45.0 Palmarito Dump Degrees n/a Carrisalejo Degrees 45.0 El Encuentro Degrees 45.0

Metallurgical Testing

Preliminary metallurgical test work conducted in 2018 indicated that the El Gallo Gold heap leach pad material would be amenable to direct cyanidation following conventional grinding. Test work identified moderate levels of soluble copper and zinc.

From 2010 to 2016 extensive metallurgical test work has been conducted on samples from the El Gallo Silver deposit using a direct cyanidation flow sheet. From 2017 to 2018 metallurgical test work has been focused on using conventional flotation techniques to separate the slower leaching minerals to enable separate cyanide leaching of bulk flotation concentrate and flotation tailings streams with tailored leach conditions to reduce overall size of the leaching circuit.

Results have proved favorable and a flowsheet incorporating bulk flotation and separate leaching of bulk flotation concentrates and tailings for treatment of El Gallo Silver has been adopted.

Historical test work records have been utilized to gain a preliminary understanding of the remaining resources along with some scoping test work conducted in 2018 to determine how material from the other higher-grade silver deposits included in the conceptual production schedule would respond to the selected flowsheet.

Results from the scoping tests indicate that the Carrisalejo material will likely perform similarly to the El Gallo Silver with respect to silver recovery. Scoping test results showed only modest silver recovery from flotation for the Palmarito sample. However, separate cyanide leaching of the bulk flotation concentrates and flotation tailings streams achieved positive results. The treatment process for Palmarito and Carrisalejo open pit material has therefore been assumed to be similar to El Gallo Silver pending additional sampling and metallurgical test work to confirm.

Table 8: LOM Metal Recoveries for the Production Model

Resource Area LOM Gold

Recovery LOM Silver

Recovery El Gallo Heap Leach Pad 88 % - El Gallo Silver 75 % 86 % Palmarito 85 % 75 % Carrisalejo 75 % 85 % El Encuentro 90 % 60 %

For the 2018 PEA metallurgical samples selected for testing were assumed to be representative. Note that the Palmarito, Carrisalejo and El Encuentro deposits included in the production schedule have been subjected only to scoping level metallurgical test work using the selected process flowsheet. Further sampling and test work is required to better understand the response of each of the deposits to the selected flowsheet.

Exploration

Over the past years, exploration efforts have focused on both near-mine and property-wide exploration. Near-mine drilling efforts have been successful in delineating and extending mineralization near the Samaniego and Sagrado Corazon open pits. Recently defined mineralization contains significant sulfides and therefore gold extraction is better suited for flotation processing than heap leach processing, the Phase 2 plant could be modified to process these resources. At the property scale, significant mineralization has been confirmed at the El Encuentro zone, which is located 10 km from the El Gallo Gold Mine.

A property-wide soil geochemical survey was completed earlier this year and results indicate the potential for extensions of known zones of sulfide mineralization in the district. In addition, multiple targets were identified from the survey, and field evaluation and ranking of targets for drill testing is in progress.

Further Optimization, Cost Reductions and Project Potential

The Company believes there are opportunities to further improve the economics of the Fenix Project through continued testing and trade-off studies that will be continued throughout 2018.

Capital cost estimates for the project are to a level of accuracy that is consistent with a PEA technical report. During the next 14 months we will continue to review mineral processing, mine sequencing, material transportation and tailings disposal options; and the flow sheet will be optimized by undertaking trade-off studies, update cost models and undertake additional confirmatory testwork.

The complete Fenix Project PEA NI 43-101 Technical Report will be available on www.sedar.com and www.mcewenmining.com within 45 days.

FOOTNOTES

(1) All amounts are in U.S. Dollars. g/t means grams per metric tonne, oz means ounce(s), IRR means Internal Rate of Return, LOM means life-of-mine. (2) All references to AuEq are based on a 75 Ag oz to 1 Au oz ratio. (3) The heap leach pad spent ore resource number assumes a cutoff grade that permits processing of the entire pad whereas blocks within the leach pad model will be mobilized while mining which will make them difficult to segregate; sub-cutoff leach pad material will inherently have potential acid generating sulfide liabilities if placed in our waste dumps and so it will be prudent to process the entire leach pad and place tailings in the Samaniego pit at an overall environmental and economic benefit. (4) Production numbers for El Gallo Silver are taken from designed pits from prior studies, which do not differ materially from published optimized pit resource numbers. (5) Production numbers for Palmarito are also taken from designed pits from prior studies, and do not differ materially from published optimized pit resource numbers. (6) Cash cost is calculated by dividing total life-of-mine production costs by total ounces produced. (7) All-in sustaining costs (AISC) is calculated by dividing the sum of all cash costs plus capital, sustaining capital, operating, tax, and reclamation costs by total ounces produced. (8) Mining of heap leach spent ore requires no drilling or blasting. (9) The heap leach pad is located immediately adjacent to the proposed plant location requiring no separate haulage costs in addition to mining. (10) CONAGUA is the Mexican federal water authority (Comision Nacional del Agua). (11) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves. Numbers in the table have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate and may not sum due to rounding. (12) Resources stated as contained within a potentially economically minable open pit; pit optimization parameters are: USD$1,250/oz Au, & USD$18.00/oz Ag. Resource models have been developed based on gold and silver recoveries from historical testwork programs, which were based on a different process flow sheet to what has been adopted for the project. (13) Cutoff Grades vary by pit according to parameters. (14) Although there is an in-pit resource created by these assumed parameters the production numbers used in this PEA exercise come from designed pits created for earlier studies. (15) The heap leach pad COG is an academic number in this PEA whereas the resource number assumes a cutoff grade that permits processing of the entire pad whereas blocks within the leach pad model will be mobilized while mining which will make them difficult to segregate; sub cutoff leach pad material will inherently have potential acid generating sulfide liabilities if placed in our waste dumps and so it will be prudent to process the entire leach pad.

QUALIFIED PERSONS

Responsible Person Company Primary Areas of Responsibility Luke Willis McEwen Geology, Drilling, Resource Estimates, Sampling, Data Verification, Resource Estimates Xavier Ochoa McEwen Mining, Infrastructure &Tailings, Permitting and Financial Analysis Brendan Mulvihill GRES Metallurgical, Process Plant Capex and Opex

The technical contents of this news release have been reviewed and approved by Nathan M. Stubina, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCIM, Managing Director and Xavier L. Ochoa, QP Member of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, and Qualified Persons as defined by Canadian Securities Administrator National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects".

CAUTIONARY NOTE TO US INVESTORS REGARDING RESOURCE ESTIMATION

McEwen Mining prepares its resource estimates in accordance with standards of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum referred to in Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). These standards are different from the standards generally permitted in reports filed with the SEC. Under NI 43-101, McEwen Mining reports measured, indicated and inferred resources, measurements, which are generally not permitted in filings made with the SEC. The estimation of measured resources and indicated resources involve greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic feasibility than the estimation of proven and probable reserves. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part of measured or indicated resources will ever be converted into economically mineable reserves. The estimation of inferred resources involves far greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic viability than the estimation of other categories of resources.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, including "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements and information expressed, as at the date of this news release, McEwen Mining Inc.'s (the "Company") estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies, and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or other approvals required in connection with operations, risks associated with the construction of mining operations and commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks related to litigation, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral resources and reserves, and other risks. The Companys dividend policy will be reviewed periodically by the Board of Directors and is subject to change based on certain factors such as the capital needs of the Company and its future operating results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information included herein, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. See McEwen Mining's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption "Risk Factors", for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information regarding the Company. All forward-looking statements and information made in this news release are qualified by this cautionary statement.

The NYSE and TSX have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release, which has been prepared by management of McEwen Mining Inc.

ABOUT MCEWEN MINING

McEwen has the goal to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by creating a profitable gold and silver producer focused in the Americas. McEwens principal assets consist of: the San Jose mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest); the El Gallo mine in Mexico; the Black Fox mine in Timmins, Canada; the Gold Bar mine in Nevada, currently under construction; and the large Los Azules copper project in Argentina, advancing towards development.

McEwen has a total of 337 million shares outstanding. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, owns 24% of the shares.
In a report on the Central African Republic (CAR) published on May 18, Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls for more political and financial support to the Special Criminal Court (SCC), which is being set up to try serious crimes committed in the country since 2003. The report, which comes as the CAR is experiencing a new upsurge of violence including in the capital Bangui, looks at the progress, obstacles and challenges for the Special Criminal Court in its initial phases. JusticeInfo.Net talked to Elise Keppler, associate director of the International Justice Programme at Human Rights Watch.

JusticeInfo: Why have donors been slow to provide funds for the SCC to start its work?

Elise Keppler: The Special Criminal Court fortunately has had funding to begin its operations. The problem is continuing to have sufficient resources to operate going forward. The challenge is not unique to the Special Criminal Court. We have seen a trend in international justice for funding to be based on voluntary contributions as opposed to assessed dues by UN member states. The Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia also have relied on voluntary contributions. But it creates major challenges for a court to function and court officials can end up having to fundraise constantly when they should be able to focus more exclusively on investigations, prosecutions and administering a court.

I have been struck how firm and unequivocal the demand for justice for past crimes in order to break cycles of violence with impunity in the Central African Republic is. It is our hope that this report will help highlight how important the Special Criminal Courts work is for donors, and that they will step forward to provide continuous, sufficient funding for this court.

Does the CAR government really want to see this Court working? Arent there some people within its ranks who should be prosecuted by the SCC?

Central African Republic authorities have consistently affirmed their commitment to the Special Criminal Court, but it will be important that they show this commitment in action over time, such as by encouraging the swift adoption of the rules of procedure and evidence of the court by parliament, following through on their offer to allocate housing for the domestic judges and their families who work at the court to foster adequate security for them, and being available to address without delay any additional recruitment of court staff or other administrative issues that may arise. The courts operationalization got off to a very slow start. Momentum has picked up in the past eighteen months with many appointments and the commencement of work out of a make-shift premises. That momentum needs to be continued and supported by the Central African Republic authorities. As for investigation and prosecutions of specific individuals, that will be a matter for the special prosecutor of the Special Criminal Court to determine.

Is it possible for the SCC to start its investigations with the current levels of insecurity?

There is no question that adequate security for victims, witnesses and court staff will be essential for the court to succeed. And, ensuring this security is a huge challenge in the Central African Republic as much of the country is under the control of different armed groups, and we have seen resurgence of violence in Bangui this month. MINUSCA, the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, is in charge of ensuring security for the Special Criminal Court. It is important that they have the necessary staffing and resources so that they can achieve this task. Even so, security will be an ongoing issue that needs to be constantly evaluated.

What if the warlords are deliberately fuelling this insecurity to hamper the Courts work?

This is a possibility. For the last five years leaders of armed groups have maintained that there should be a political solution first, in order to establish peace, then justice. This debate, peace before justice, is a popular refrain from those who have committed abuse. The reason they dont want justice is simple: they are afraid of being held accountable for their actions. The leaders of the armed groups know what they have done and they know what will happen to them if they are put in a courtroom. They know there is no justifications for their actions. And as the court gets closer to being fully operational, they may threaten to derail the process. This should be anticipated and it should not deter the court.

Dont you think the time mandate of the SCC  crimes committed since 2003  is too big to be workable?

The national justice system is still in the stages of recovering from years of mismanagement and war. As such, very few people have been held responsible for the serious crimes committed since 2003. This reinforces the message to leaders of armed groups that they can kill civilians without consequence. The Special Criminal Court will only go after those who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, crimes that will still be too much of a challenge for that national system.

The International Criminal Court investigations opened in 2014 into crimes committed in the CAR since 2012 are going very slowly. Dont you think this is helping to fuel the current insecurity?

The International Criminal Courts investigation of crimes in the more recent conflict is ongoing. While investigations are taking quite a bit of time and there are no arrest warrants issued to date, it is also important that the court takes the time it needs to assess what are really the proper cases to move ahead with. No one wants a situation where the ICC prosecutor moves ahead too quickly and then has cases that are not supported with adequate evidence. It is also important that the ICC consider cases by crimes committed by both warring sides of the conflict (which have now splintered into multiple groups) and not move ahead too quickly with one side in isolation from cases involving crimes by the other side. In other ICC situation countries, most notably Cote dIvoire, this has been a major problem that has fuelled perceptions of partiality.

What are HRWs recommendations for the CAR to find the peace that it so needs?

The Central African Republic faces a range of complex problems that need to be overcome to solidify peace in the country. Justice for the gravest crimes committed is not a panacea that can answer every challenge. But experience suggests that continued abuses in the Central African Republic are being fuelled by lack of accountability. By contrast, fair, credible trials of grave crimes can build respect for the rule of law, contributing to long-term stability, in combination with other factors. The Special Criminal Court has the potential to deliver a measure of justice for past crimes and should receive robust support to do so.
Frances highest court on Thursday upheld a landmark conviction against a former Rwandan intelligence agent for his role in the countrys 1994 genocide.

Pascal Simbikangwa, 58, was sentenced to 25 years in 2014 in a trial that marked a turning point in Frances approach to genocide suspects living on its soil.

The former presidential guard member had already lost an appeal against his conviction for crimes against humanity and genocide in 2016.

The Cour de Cassation, Frances court of final appeal, on Thursday ruled it was obvious that Simbikangwa had willingly participated in abuses against the Tutsis and against the civilian population in general.

Simbikangwa, who has been confined to a wheelchair since a car crash in the 1980s, was accused of organising roadblocks where Hutu militia carried out murders, mainly targeting the Tutsi minority. He always insisted his innocence.

More than 800,000 people died during the Rwanda genocide, mostly ethnic Tutsis as well as some moderate Hutus.

The three-month slaughter began after the plane of then president Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down in April 1994.

In a separate case, prosecutors in Paris asked judges to order a Rwandan former doctor accused of being an accomplice in the genocide to stand trial in a criminal court, following an investigation that began 23 years ago.

 Tense relations 

Prosecutors accuse Sosthenes Munyemana, who fled to France after the end of the massacre, of signing a motion of support for government genocide and detaining Tutsi civilians under inhumane conditions.

His lawyer, Jean-Yves Dupeux, said the former gynaecologist had behaved as he should have in trying to protect refugees in a difficult situation.

Meanwhile, other cases in France involving Rwandans accused of committing atrocities in the genocide are also being appealed.

Former eastern Rwandan mayors Octavien Ngenzi and Tito Barahira  prosecuted over the genocide  are both appealing life sentences they were handed in 2016.

The two were convicted of crimes against humanity and genocide over the massive and systematic summary executions of Tutsis in Kabarondo in 1994.

For decades, the genocide has led to tensions between France and the small East African country.

Rwanda has accused France of complicity in the mass killings through its support of ethnic Hutu forces who carried out most of the slaughter.

France has admitted it made mistakes but insists it never had a role in the massacre. It had previously also been accused of dragging its feet over prosecuting cases.

After meeting Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday backed a Rwandan candidate to head the world association of French-speaking nations, in a move likely to strengthen Frances ties with Rwanda.
An opposition party leader accused of defaming Zambian President Edgar Lungu has finally been released from prison after spending a month inside.





Fresher Siwale accused Mr Lungu in April of being a foreigner from Malawi.





Although Mr Siwale was initially granted bail a month ago, he could not meet the conditions set by the court: one required a government worker to be his guarantor.





But his lawyers applied to the court to relax the bail conditions, which led to his release today.





Mike Mulongoti, one of his guarantors, said the court set Mr Siwale free after waiving the requirement for a government worker to be his guarantor.





He told the BBC: "He's out. I signed for him as well as another gentleman. It's just a pity that while we live in a country that presumes someone innocent until proven guilty, the courts seem to do the opposite."





"he bail conditions the courts set make people first get incarcerated as if they are first guilty then proven innocent."





Mr Siwale, who could not be reached because his phone confiscated by the police, is due to appear in court on 5 July for the defamation case.

















BBC
Seven years of war and massive displacement have redrawn Syrias demographic map, erecting borders between the countrys ethnic, religious, and political communities that will be hard to erase.

Displaced Syrians, analysts, and rights defenders have described to AFP a divided country where regime opponents have been driven out, minorities stick closer together and communities generally have become more homogenous.

The demographic reshuffle is likely to last, they say, with around 11 million Syrians displaced either abroad or within the country and unsure if they can go home.

Abu Musab al-Mukasar, a 25-year-old rebel fighter, doubts hell ever return to his birthplace in Homs city, now fully held by Syrian troops.

I could never go back to regime territory  or live side by side with Alawites, he says, referring to the religious minority sect of President Bashar al-Assad.

The minority-led government has ruled a Sunni-majority population for decades, but Abu Musab says the rifts are now deeper than ever.

Of course Ill tell my son all this, so hell hate the people that did this to us, too, says the fighter, contacted by AFP on an online messaging platform.

Abu Musab, a Sunni, first left Homs for rural rebel zones nearby in a 2014 evacuation deal.

Last week, another negotiated withdrawal saw him, his wife, three-year-old son and infant daughter bussed north to Idlib province.

Idlib has become a dumping ground for hundreds of thousands of Sunni rebels and their families transferred from areas recaptured by the regime.

The demographics changed without us even noticing. The country has been divided, says Abu Musab.

 Tit-for-tat 

The fighter described the broad outlines of what he saw as Syrias new sectarian map: The north is Sunni, the northeast is Kurdish, those in (coastal) Latakia, Tartus, and Homs are Alawite and Shiite Muslim.

Syrian rebels pushed Alawite and Christian minorities out because they were perceived as Assad loyalists, says Fabrice Balanche, an expert on Syrias population and politics.

Before the war erupted in 2011, Sunni Arabs made up 65 percent of the population, Kurds about 15 percent, and all religious minorities about 20 percent.

The regime has lost territory, but the consolidation of Alawites, Shiites, and Christians around it has actually granted it a stronger base, according to Balanche.

Today, 70 percent of Syrias population is in regime territory, and more than a third of them are minorities, he says.

Some of those shifts were through population swaps, including the controversial Four Towns Deal that tied the fate of Sunni-majority Madaya and Zabadani to the Shiite villages of Fuaa and Kafraya.

Since 2015, thousands were transferred from Fuaa and Kafraya to Damascus, in exchange for similar numbers leaving Madaya and Zabadani for Syrias north.

In a 2017 AFP interview, Assad admitted that displacement was compulsory but temporary.

 Things are different 

But minorities say they cannot imagine going home.

Abbas Abbas, 36, fled Kafraya years ago for Sayyida Zeinab, a neighbourhood near Damascus that hosts a shrine revered by fellow Shiites.

Most people from Kafraya dont want to go back. At least Im not afraid of being kidnapped here, he tells AFP.

In the past, Kafrayans mixed with other villagers. But eight years into Syrias war, things are different, says the sound engineer.

He expects the remaining 8,000 residents of Fuaa and Kafraya to be forced out sooner or later.

Not far from Abbass estranged hometown, another communal conflict is unfolding.

A Turkish-led assault this year displaced over 137,000 people from Kurdish-majority Afrin to nearby regime zones, or even farther to Kurdish areas in the northeast.

Some of their homes now house other displaced. Around 35,000 of those bussed out of the onetime rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus have resettled in Afrin.

Their houses either destroyed or occupied, Afrins original residents see return as a distant dream.

Im not optimistic. The more time passes, the more entrenched the demographic changes are, says Ahmad Yussef, an academic who fled Afrin.

Kurdish authorities accuse Turkey of ethnic repopulation, and observers say Ankara wants to resettle the 3.5 million Syrian refugees in its territory into Afrin.

The accusations go both ways: Syrian Arabs accuse Kurdish fighters of preventing them from returning to their northern hometowns after ousting jihadists.

Widespread destruction and complex legislation on property restitution have compounded fears of permanent displacement.

And despite calls to include transitional justice in a political solution, real reconciliation remains unlikely, says Diana Semaan of Amnesty International.

Because there wont be a truth commission or public acknowledgement by the government towards the Sunnis or armed groups towards Alawites or Christians, there will be no accountability or justice, Semaan says.

This is why Syrian society will be polarised and disintegrated, and why all the sects will turn internally.
A European court sentenced Friday a former member of Kosovos reserve police force to six and a half years for torturing and beating ethnic Albanian civilians during the late 1990s war.

The court found Zoran Vukotic guilty of physical abuse of civilians held in the Smrekonice prison, 35 kilometres (22 miles) northwest of Pristina.

Prisoners were held in inhuman conditions and subjected to inhuman treatment such as frequent beatings and torture in which Vukotic was the most dangerous of all policemen, the court said.

Vukotic was arrested in 2016 in Montenegro on an international arrest warrant and extradited to Kosovo.

The 45-year-old, who pleaded not guilty, can appeal the verdict.

The crimes took place in May 1999 and the victims were military-age men who were previously separated from women and children to be taken to the prison.

They were part of systematic reprisals led by Serbian forces under the command of then Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic against Kosovo ethnic Albanians, who supported their independence-seeking guerrilla forces.

The 1998-1999 war ended after a NATO air campaign lasting three months that ousted Serbian forces from Kosovo.

After almost a decade-long UN administration, Pristina declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Months after, the European Union launched in the territory a rule of law mission (EULEX), whose judges and prosecutors handle sensitive court cases.

A special court was established in The Hague to investigate and prosecute crimes allegedly committed by ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) figures during the 1998-1999 war.

The first indictments are expected to be unveiled by the end of the year.
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I recently went to an infectious disease educational session sponsored by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Journal of Medicine called Epidemics Gone Viral. The focus was preparedness for the next epidemic, which may come from anywhere. John Brownstein talked about how its arrival will be monitored and reported using Twitter and artificial intelligence.

With the meeting going viral with excitement as Bill Gates got on stage talking about technology and epidemic medicine, a thought popped in my head: What if the vector for the next epidemic is already at our fingertips  our mobile phones?

People touch their phones an average of ,2617 times a day, making it a perfect way for travelers to bring back all sorts of new infections by colonizing their screens and cases. What could be worse will be when sick people go to the hospital  both because they still use their phones, and their doctors do, too.

In different studies they have found:

Healthcare workers phones from the hospital have

Detectable viral mRNA for influenza or other viral pathogens in 38%

Bacterial colonization rates of 74 to 98%

Potentially dangerous bacteria in 5 to 28%

More common on smartphones (34.8%) than other cell phones (20.5%)

59% of medical students reported using smartphones in the bathroom: Only 32% had ever disinfected their cell phone

Patient cell phones are colonized in 84% with 11% having risky bacteria and 100% resistant to penicillin.

So while we were tweeting the meeting with #epidemicsgoviral, likely doctors and researchers were sharing viruses, bacteria and other pathogens with each other at the table watching world experts on infectious disease warn us all about the coming plague. Jeremy Farrar of Wellcome Trust talked about how important intensive care professionals are in identifying and treating emerging epidemics. We have to make sure ICU staff, and other health professionals avoid letting our mobile technology contribute to spreading it.

Here are some possible considerations to lessen the risk of infection:

1. Keep it in your pants. Or pocket or purse. Dont have your phone out while youre seeing patients.

2. Keep them separated. Dont use the same pockets for your stethoscope and your phone.

3. No news on the loo. Cell phones and toilets just dont mix well. Checking email, Twitter or Facebook can wait.

4. Universal precautions before heading home. Apple brags that the iPhone is water resistant; alcohol wipes are no problem and may keep you from bringing infections home to your families.

5. Apply the rules to hospitalized patients. They are at the highest risk of exposure and becoming carriers that can spread to rehabilitation facilities or their homes.

6. Leave your phone outside when you visit. This rule is currently impractical to implement for all situations, but it should be a consideration for visitors and doctors for patients admitted for an infection or with some immunocompromise.

From what I can find, there are not different standards for cell phones. The only other writeup online was from the pre-smartphone era. I would love to hear what infectious disease experts recommend as best practices.

Keeping communications devices from spread communicable diseases seems like a good idea.

Matthew Katz is a radiation oncologist and chair, Committee on Communications, Massachusetts Medical Society. He blogs at ASCO Connection and Radiation Nation. He can be reached on Twitter @subatomicdoc.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
One rural Kilkenny polling station is reporting an early voter turnout this morning that is double what it generally has been at this stage of the day in previous plebiscites.

Local councillor David Kennedy says the polling station in Tullogher in South Kilkenny is at 13%, and would normally be around 5-6% at this time of the day. As of 12 noon, he reports that Listerlin polling station is at 13.5% turnout.

Polling stations around County Kilkenny have been reporting a high voter turnout this morning in the Referendum on the 8th Amendment.

Castlecomer polling station in north Kilkenny report they have passed the 20% turnout figure, while Muckalee is at 13% and Johnswell is at 11% as of 11.30am. Local councillor Pat Fitzpatrick has described the turnouts as 'relatively strong'.

The polling station supervisor in Callan (Kilkenny City West) has confirmed they have an 18% turnout as of 11.30am. She says it has been busy all morning.

At 10am this morning, the polling station at CBS Primary School reported a 12% turnout, while in Bennettsbridge Community Hall, the figure was around 13% by 10.45am.
Posted by Mark Williams | May 25, 2018





By Patrick Masterson

Vehicles Affected: Model-year 2015-16 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks are part of a recall affecting approximately 23,000 vehicles; the recall includes Tahoe Police Pursuit and Special-Service SUVs

The Problem: The flexible steel cable connecting the driver's seat belt to the outboard side of the seat may be repeatedly bent over the seat side shield as the driver enters and exits the vehicle, causing the cable to fatigue and separate. If the cable becomes fatigued or breaks, the driver may not be properly restrained, increasing their risk of injury in the event of a crash.

The Fix: Dealers will replace the pretensioner cable and seat side shield for free.

What Owners Should Do: Chevrolet manufacturer GM did immediately announce an owner-notification schedule. Owners can call the automaker at 800-222-1020, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle-safety hotline at 888-327-4236 or visit its website to check their vehicle identification number and learn more.

Need to Find a Dealer for Service? Go to Cars.com Service & Repair to find your local dealer. Click here to schedule a free recall repair at your local dealership.

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Islamic terror attacks in the West are far less common since 2017
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A man who was arrested for riding a bicycle without due care and consideration and for causing criminal damage to a New Holland tractor came before Athy District Court on Tuesday last.

43-year-old Ian Brown of 954 Narraghmore, Ballitore, was before the court for the bicycle offence at Narraghmore on March 24 last and for criminal damage to a New Holland tractor at the same address on March 25 last.

The court heard that Mr Brown, when he drinks, tends to "lose the plot". His solicitor Conal Boyce said that his client has a particular problem with a particular individual.

He said that the defendant smashed a window of a tractor belonging to a neighbour and former employer of his, causing 300 worth of damage, because he worked for the neighbour for 10 years and was only paid 5 an hour, which is not even the minimum wage.

The defendant attended RACE in Kildare town and is now seeking a fresh start, and will go to the UK to live and work. Judge Desmond Zaidan warned Mr Brown that he tends to go overboard with drink adding that he "does have an issue".

He then gave him the benefit of the Probation Act.
An Athy company Terra Liquid Minerals which was set up by two brothers, Tom and Padraig Hennessy, six years has just scooped the title of Overall 2018 Winner of the National Enterprise Awards

As overall winners of the National Enterprise Awards, the title also comes with a significant prize - Terra Liquid Minerals have won 10,000 investment for their business.

The brothers developed an intelligent mineral dosing system and specialise in the accurate delivery of its custom-made formulation to livestock.

Having used the Irish market to test and develop their product, TLM are positioned for international growth and have been supported in their expansion by Local Enterprise Office Kildare.

LEO Kildare could not have been prouder to have been represented by Padriag, Tom and the Terra Liquid Minerals team, said Jacqui Mc Nabb, Head of Enterprise, LEO Kildare.

This is a hugely competitive award and very well deserved. The TLM team first engaged with LEO Kildare early in 2015. Since then they have under taken significant training programmes including Management Development and Lean. With LEO Kildares support they have grown their team to 10 and are preparing for expansion into the UK and Europe. LEO Kildare will be delighted to support TLM further in the progression to Enterprise Ireland and the development of their export strategy. A great success story from Athy."

Funding for the Local Enterprise Offices is provided by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland, and further details about the supports on offer to small businesses are available through www.localenterprise.ie.
The first Strategic Plan of the Hive Youth Hub in Kildare Town was launched by Martin Miley, Mayor of Kildare on Thursday evening 24 May.

The launch was very well attended by young people, parents, the local community, an Garda Siochana, local businesses, The Hives board members, agencies and politicians.

The Hives Manager, Lynne OConnor spoke about how the plan is based on a consultation that she undertook with local young people, voluntaryand statutory agencies and the local community themselves.

"The Hive shows the value of the youth work approach through working in partnership with young people as was evidenced in then role that young people played in all aspects of the launch today," she said.

Cllr Miley outlined in his speech that currently Kildare has the highest youth population under the age of 24 in the country.

"The 2016 census shows that the youth population of Kildare town was 3,297 which is 38.2% of the population in the town. This is higher than the national level of 33.2% and the county level of 36.6%," he said.

"This alone shows that there will be an increasing need and demand for provision for young people in coming years."

The Hive has been running successfully as a youth space for the past 3 years and is continuing to build on this with a number of new activities and programmes taking place from a variety of organisations and groups such as Kildare Youth Services, Foroige, Bank of Ireland, Mojo Kildare and County Kildare LEADER Partnership.

There are also many activities facilitated by the Hive for the younger age groups such as art, drama, the slime club, movie nights, and the Hives very own music group which played at the launch. Young people who signed and sang at the launch are setting up their own club called Lets sign for Summer.

A number of young people spoke about their own experiences of attending activities, programmes and the Youth Cafe in the Hive and the positive impact it has had on their lives.

Lynne thanked Kildare County Council, Tusla, 4 Peaks Challenge, Kildare Credit Union, SWRDATF, Bank of Ireland, Tesco, Kildare Village and Kildare Tidy Towns for their support and all the volunteers who work tirelessly at the Hive. Lynne also thanked the Silken Thomas for providing refreshments at the launch and other previous events.
A Kildare nurse has won a national award for her outstanding care for her patients.

Yesterday the Institute of Community Health Nursing (ICHN) hosted its 2018 community nurse awards in association with Home Instead Senior Care, at its annual nursing conference in Limerick.

Emer Casey, who is a nurse at Maynooth Medical Centre, was one of the recipients.

The orgnaisers said Emer demonstrates her ability to work in partnership with the patient, families, healthcare disciplines and voluntary agencies by advocating tirelessly on behalf of the patient.

"She has achieved excellent outcomes in a complex case as she worked alongside the vulnerable adult service, home care package and home help service over a long period of time. It was Emers persistence in requesting and coordinating the services that allowed the patient to successfully stay in his own home with supports," they said.

Emer has completed a post graduate diploma in wound management and tissue viability from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland. She now runs a specialist wound management clinic in which she acts in a capacity to review and advise on wound care and accepts referrals from the Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and Registered General Nurses (RGNs) in Kildare.

"Emer is a role model for the patient, her junior colleagues and her peers. She mentors and teaches the BSc student placements in Maynooth Health Centre, assists the health care assistant and is a reliable support to her nursing colleagues," they said.

This year the conference moved out of Dublin to the Strand Hotel, Limerick, the theme of the conference being New Horizons: Enhancing Clinical Practice in Community Nursing and aimed to provide a day of education, knowledge sharing and networking for public health nurses and an opportunity to take the time to reflect upon industry best practice and new innovations.

Six awards were presented to nominees who delivered exceptional care in their communities in 2018, across a range of services, enhancing the lives of many, and the community at large.

SEE ALSO: Castletown House gets Kildare's first Failte Ireland customer service award
Met Eireann is forecasting a weekend of fine weather with prolonged sunny spells and rising temperatures. The temperatures could reach the mid-twenties by Saturday and Sunday as the entire country basks in late MAy sunshine.

Friday will start with some nice early sunshine will extend through the afternoon with a slight risk of thickening cloud and showers in some parts in the evening. Most of these will be confined to the east coast.

Friday night will see scattered showers gradually moving westwards in a moderate northeast breeze, although we are set for another relatively mild night with lowest temperatures 8 to 12 degrees.

Saturday will begin with a mix of cloud and hazy sunshine through the day, all in a moderate to fresh easterly breeze. Once again though some showers will move in off the Irish Sea through the evening, turning heavy and possibly thundery across parts of south and east Leinster later. Spot flooding is possible towards nightfall, but during the afternoon sun, highest temperatuers will range from 17 to 21 degrees.

Met Eireann says the weather is "becoming even warmer over the coming days as Continental air continues to feed in across Ireland."

They forecast a lot of dry, bright weather generally with light to moderate easterly breezes. Saturday night will be mild and close with fairly widespread showers. Some of the showers will be heavy and possibly thundery, especially across the southern half of the country.

Sunday is again set to be warm and humid with highest temperatures typically ranging 18 to 22 or 23 degrees, warmest across the Midlands and northern areas. There could be some scattered showers early on but they will tend to become more isolated with spells of sunshine through the day, all in near calm wind conditions. Thundery showers may move in across eastern counties around nightfall.

The outlook suggests the sun will stay around next week with the national forecaster expecting "very warm" conditions on Monday and Tuesday with temperatures in the low to mid twenties generally.

Those days will be "mostly dry and sunny with light easterlies."
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THE FAMILY of the pensioner who shot himself at University Hospital Limerick have said that the hospitals waiting list for MRI scans is killing people.

This comes as new figures reveal that more than 800 patients were waiting for the crucial scan at the end of April.

There is just one MRI scanner for public patients in the Mid-West, and it is located at UHL. It only operates Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm.

A hospital spokesperson said that, though no service is available on weekends, if it is necessary to transfer the patient to another centre, this is arranged promptly.

However, an inquest earlier this month heard that Jack Liston, a 67-year-old pensioner, deteriorated rapidly while waiting for an MRI scan after he was diagnosed with cancer.

Jack died by suicide after suffering a gunshot wound to his chest at the UHL chapel on January 18, 2017.

His partner of 11 years, Mary Manton, of Cratloe, told the inquest that he shot himself because he wanted to make a point to the HSE: You did this to me.

Figures received by Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins, through a parliamentary question, show that a total of 847 patients were waiting for an MRI scan by April 30.

The figures show that 629 patients were waiting for up to six months, while 182 were waiting between six months and a year. A total of 36 people were waiting for more than a year for a scan.

In a statement to the Limerick Leader, the family of Jack Liston said they were deeply appalled at the lack of use of the MRI scanner at the Dooradoyle hospital.

A waiting list of over 800 patients as of 30th April 2018 with 36 people waiting between 12 to 18 months is wholly unacceptable and inexcusable. For patients with a cancer diagnosis this scan is of paramount importance to their overall treatment plan and their chances of living.

Medical health is not a nine-to-five office hours industry and this machine should be running throughout the day and night, alongside the rest of the hardworking staff of the HSE.

The family added: This will, without a doubt, save lives and lead to better patient outcomes. Our father had this nine-to-five office hours mentality inflicted on him and others should not be made to suffer the same fate and die unnecessarily. Emergency funding action for UHL must now be taken by Government and the HSE, it can no longer be ignored as simply put this is killing people.

Deputy Collins said that the delay in patients, especially cancer patients, receiving an MRI is totally unacceptable.

It is putting a major strain on them through additional anxiety and stress, and worst of all, its delaying possible treatments and interventions that may save or extend a life.

MRIs are crucial and necessary diagnostic tests; they arent optional, and patients should be getting them in a timely manner if their doctor deems it necessary, he told the Leader.

He added that extra resources are needed to end the backlog of patients waiting for these scans. Its not fair, and its most definitely not good medical practice.

The Leader asked the UL Hospitals Group if it was looking to secure a second MRI scanner, if it was going to extend its services, and to explain the waiting times for those waiting for more than a year.

However, a comment was not received at the time of going to print.
A JUDGE has warned hes keeping all his options open in the case of Limerick man who admitted selling drugs to ensure he had money for Christmas.

Patrick McCarthy, aged 28, who has an address at OMalley Park, Southill, Limerick, has pleaded guilty to possession of a significant quantity of drugs for the purpose of sale or supply.

Detective Garda Damien Kennedy of the divisional drugs unit said cannabis with a street value of almost 7,000 was seized when a house at the Commons, Castleconnell was searched on November 7, 2016.

He told John OSullivan BL, instructed by State Solicitor Padraig Mawe, the drugs were located in four plastic packs which were in a larger bag.

The defendant, whose then partner lived at the house, told gardai he had been selling drugs for a number of weeks.

He said he got it to make money for Christmas as he was broke the previous Christmas, said Detective Garda Kennedy.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told the defendant claimed he had collected the drugs after they were dropped at a graveyard near his home.

He told gardai he had paid around 6,000 for the drugs and was making around 1,000 per week.

Mr OSullivan told the court the State case was not about the value of the drugs but was a systems case.

Eimear Carey BL said her client, who has no previous convictions, is a user and abuser of cannabis and that he needed to money to buy presents for his children.

She said Mr McCarthy was brutally frank with gardai and that he has made serious efforts to get his life in order.

The barrister told the court her client is no longer using drugs and is now working as a mechanic.

Adjourning the matter to October, Judge ODonnell requested an up-to-date probation report.

Im keeping all options open, he said.
THE option of pedestrianising part of OConnell Street in Limerick was put to the public  but was never included in the councils initial revitalisation plan.

In a week where Limerick City and County Council has faced fresh criticism over new tarmac layering on its main streets, and a delay to the flagship 9m redevelopment scheme of OConnell Street, this is likely to raise more questions of the local authority.

Documents shown to councillors this week reveal five options were given as part of the councils second public consultation phase for the 'movement of traffic on the scheme, which may now not get under way for 14 months due to planning delays.

Crucially, one of these options provided for pedestrianisation between William Street and Roches Street.

But the initial plan  presented last summer  did not see the vehicle ban many were anticipating, instead seeing one lane of traffic heading outbound from Denmark Street up to the OConnell monument.

The proposals were derided by many parties for not going far enough, with former secretary general at the Department of Finance John Moran in particular critical.

And there was more criticism of the council this week following the laying of new Ecoflex tarmac covering this week in the city centre.

Chamber chief executive Dr James Ring said: Its crazy, I havent heard one person who thinks its okay. Its almost like adding insult to injury in that for the last two years, we are talking about OConnell Street being beautified, and then we see the most ugly looking thing applied to our street.

For its part, the council says the layering is an interim solution, with the revamp of the main thoroughfare will include a new surface for OConnell Street.

But businesswoman Helen ODonnell said: My question is that it is also on Catherine Street and Roches Street and these streets are not going to be part of the OConnell Street. So what will happen there?

She acknowledged there is a need to make some of the urban footpaths safer, but added: It looks very scrappy.

A spokesperson for the council said Ecoflex is the most economical solution on the market.

But Ms ODonnell said: We have lovely cobble-lock in some areas, but this just looks awful.

Its so disappointing as we are a significant city.

People are talking about investing in Georgian buildings, then we see this happening.

Mr Moran said: It would be difficult to give it ten out of ten for aesthetic quality.

Its unfortunate that instead of seeing grass on the footpaths, we now seem to see road surfacing on the footpaths reinforcing the dominance of vehicular traffic in the downtown area.

Instead, he said artificial grass could have been an interesting experiment as a new surfacing.

It emerged earlier this week that the revitalisation plan for OConnell Street will be decided by An Bord Pleanala.

Normally, public projects like these are decided upon by councillors, under part eight planning legislation.

But council official Joe Delaney confirmed the national appeals body will adjudicate on these proposals, because of the fact that traffic will be restricted, businesses will be impacted and building will take place around protected structures.

Cllr Daniel Butler criticised the move, saying: What a part eight would have allowed us to do is put in more changes if we wanted. local control has gone to Dublin.

If the council were brave enough to make a decision and keep it part eight, we could have had further consultation if we were not happy.
POLLING stations have now opened across Limerick as decision day arrives on Irelands abortion referendum.

Dozens of polling stations opened across Limerick City and County at 7am this Friday morning, and they will remain open until 10pm.

Around 66,000 people are eligible to vote in rural Limerick, with a further 73,000 entitled to have their say in Limerick city, the areas being reflective of the Dail boundaries in the 2016 election.

Voters are being asked to decide on whether to remove the eighth amendment from the constitution.

This amendment states: The states acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

One voter in Raheen, who attended the polling station at St Nessans N.S, said that there was a good turnout already at the polls given the early hour and that there was a noticeable amount of women attending the polling station.

Another early voter in Kildimo said that the polling station was quiet this morning.

Counting will begin at 9am on Saturday, May 26, with a final result expected by afternoon.

The votes cast in the two constituencies will be counted separately and the local results will only be announced once they have been sent to the national returning officer.

- Follow the Limerick Leader online, on twitter and on facebook for coverage of the referendum
THE CONTROLLING owner of the parent company of Aughinish Alumina, Oleg Deripaska, has officially resigned from his role as non-executive director at Rusal.

The embattled Russian oligarch, who was the target of sanctions by the US in April, announced his resignation overnight.

It is not yet clear if he plans to divest his shares in the company to avoid sanctions. After the US measures were announced in April, the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the company could avoid the sanctions if Deripaska relinquished his control over the company and brought his shares to below 50 percent.

In a statement announcing Deripaskas resignation, Rusal warned that the sanctions impact may still be materially adverse to the company.

On Thursday, Rusals CEO and seven of its other directors also resigned from their positions.

Rusal warned that, because of the fallout from the US sanctions, it may have problems servicing its debts and keeping operations going past October.

The US sanctions and the global fallout from the diplomatic tensions between Russia and the west, have pulled Askeatons Aughinish Alumina plant into uncertainty. Since the saga began, there have been fears for up to 1,000 jobs in West Limerick, both through direct and indirect employment.

Announced on April 6, the sanctions were a response to what the US believes is Russias malign activity around the globe.

They targeted a number of Russian oligarchs, who the US said had profited from Russias regime, and their companies - but the sanctions appeared to target, in particular, energy tycoon Deripaska.

Rusal owner Oleg Deripaska has famously been linked in the past to president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He is also a person of interest in the US investigation into Russian collusion in the Trump presidential campaign.

By making these changes, the company is attempting to convince the US Treasury to roll back the sanctions, under a plan that would reduce Deripaskas control of the company.

Mr Deripaska previously resigned from the board of EN+, his company through which he owns a stake in Rusal.

In order to take up the US deal and avoid sanctions, Deripaskas shareholding in EN+ would need to be reduced to below 50 percent, and a majority new board of independent directors would also need to be appointed.

The US has given American customers and suppliers of the company until October 23, to wind down business with Rusal.
A COUNTY Limerick man charged with a burglary was remanded in custody this Friday after his bail was revoked.

Garda Brendan Daly gave evidence of executing an arrest warrant on John Harris, aged 22, of De Valera Park, Bruree.

Mr Harris was previously charged with committing a burglary at Ballynoe, Bruree on April 23, 2018 and threatening to damage property on the Main Street of Bruree on April 6, 2018.

Sergeant Ted Riordan told Kilmallock Court this Friday that part of Mr Harriss bail conditions following the alleged offences is that he sign on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in Bruff garda station.

Sgt Riordan said Mr Harris was to obey a curfew at his home between 11pm and 7am.

The main breach is failing to sign on. He didnt sign on on May 2, May 5, May 7, May 9, May 12, May 14, May 16, May 19, May 21 and May 23, said Sgt Riordan.

The garda sergeant said that gardai called to his address in De Valera Park, Bruree after the curfew on May 10 and May 12 and there was no answer.

I must have been asleep, said Mr Harris, who took the stand.

Inspector Dermot OConnor asked the defendant why he didnt sign on.

I live at home with my mother. I have no way of getting to Bruff. I asked my solicitor to try and change it. If I have to I will walk there, said Mr Harris.

Con Barry, solicitor for Mr Harris, asked Judge Marian OLeary to give his client "one last opportunity to prove he will sign on".

Judge OLeary said: I am revoking bail and remanding you in custody until Tuesday, May 29 in Limerick by videolink.
TOM Hayes, who has raised over 125,000, for Multiple Sclerosis Ireland is hosting his 10th walk in Doon on this Saturday evening May 26.

He has organised six events in the Galtees and this will be his fourth in Doon. Those wishing to participate in the stroll are asked to meet from 7.30pm at the community centre. All monies raised will be divided between the local mens shed in the convent and the community centre.

We will be leaving at 8pm and afterwards Joanne and James Fox, of The Local bar, are kindly putting on a barbecue for all the walkers. It is only a 6km walk so we will be back in plenty of time for the Champions League final.

It is not a race, it is a nice sociable walk. We head down by the church. Three lucky participants will go home with a 100 voucher thanks to Heiton Buckleys and we have a few more prizes as well, said Tom.

All are welcome to come along and donate on the night. The money will go towards the ongoing running costs of the community centre and mens shed.
KILLER Molly Martens attempted to send friend requests to Limerick classmates of Jason Corbetts son in an effort to glean information about Jasons two children in the months following his murder.

A psychological war of attrition was launched against Jason Corbetts family following his brutal murder and gardai feared they would have to place Raheen on lockdown, according to Ms Corbett Lynch who made the revealations in the new book just published.

An orchestrated online campaign targeting families in Raheen was launched by the Martens in a bid to gather information about Jack and Sarah.

This campaign included Ms Martens sending friend requests from her personal account to classmates of Jasons young son, including one boy who sat beside him in school.

We were just under siege really, Ms Corbett Lynch told the Limerick Leader.

Letters would be sent, first to our house and then to neighbouring houses, most likely in the hope that the neighbour might call and give them information.

The Martens also attempted to charter a plane to fly over Limerick city with a birthday banner for Jack and Sarah.

The plan was foiled when the company they attempted to hire contacted Ms Corbett Lynch before accepting the contract.

Thank God Ireland is a small place, the kind of place where when somebody thinks something isnt right, they call.

In the months following Jasons death the Corbett family, as well as other families and teens in Raheen, were bombarded with unsolicited social media friend requests from North Carolina.

Fearing the Martens, Limerick gardai debated placing his children Jack and Sarah on their CRI alert programme, a rapid response system for children at risk from estranged parents or family members.

Ms Corbett Lynch received assurances that all airports and ports would have full details on Jack and Sarah, and that if the alert was raised, Raheen would be on lock-down in minutes.

Ms Corbett Lynch has also revealed that an undercover detective carried out a security screening at her Raheen home.

Everybody was fully briefed on the situation.

Molly had been given the airways of a radio station to ask people to approach the kids, Ms Corbett Lynch said.

She went on live and asked people to approach them and tell them she loved them.

It restricted everything for us and for the kids and just compounded the pressure of trying to protect them.

Everything we were trying to do was alongside trying to love and nurture and support and provide care and security to two traumatised kids.

Following his death, Martens also claimed the Corbett family had threatened her with the Irish Republican Army in an effort to blacken Jasons name.

She also told police in the US that Jason was a trained MMA fighter, a claim Ms Corbett Lynch dismisses as "ludacris."

Physical evidence then had to be provided to the Davidson County police to prove that these claims were untrue.
UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick will take part in exclusive research into inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) after teaming up with life sciences company Genomics Medicine Ireland.

UHL, through the Health Research Institute at UL, is one of eight hospitals nationwide taking part in the pioneering genomics study, which is the first of its kind in Ireland.

Genomics is the study of genomes, the genetic material found in a cell or organism.

IBD, the onset of which is typically at a young age, can impact sufferers education and work performance and quality of life.

The purpose of the study is to identify genetic markers that can help diagnose and predict the severity of IBD, as well as to identify personalised treatments for sufferers.

Dr Maeve Skelly, of UHL, said it is exciting to be part of the research and is inviting patients to learn more about this innovative research.

Dr Manus Moloney, of UHL and Nenagh Hospital, said: Its great to see this kind of advanced research happening across Ireland and were excited to be able to offer participation to eligible IBD patients at University Hospital Limerick.

Dr Moloney added that this study has great promise for treating associated conditions, such as Crohns and ulcerative colitis. Ireland has the highest rate of colitis in the world.

Prof Rachel Msetfi, director of HRI at UL, expressed delight at being part of the research.

We hope the discoveries coming out of this collaboration will enhance patient treatments and improve the health of people living with IBD.

Sean Ennis, Chief Scientific Officer, Genomics Medicine Ireland said: Our research is focused on new discoveries leading to the prevention of IBD. We will be examining the underlying genetic changes using techniques such as whole genome sequencing to identify both common and rare variants associated with IBD.

People with IBD attending research centres and who are interested in participating in the study can ask their consultant for more information.
A WOMAN who was randomly pulled from her car and repeatedly punched has questioned how the culprit has been allowed to walk the streets of Abbeyfeale happy and laughing with friends since the incident.

Sanjay OBrien, aged 21, who has an address at Radharc na Feile, Abbeyfeale has pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman at Convent Street in the town on April 3, 2015.

Detective Garda Jerry OSullivan told Limerick Circuit Court, the woman was driving to work shortly after 5am when she was flagged down by a youth who was standing in middle of the road.

The defendant, who was with another youth, kicked her car and after opening the door he repeatedly punched her in the face with his fists.

He stopped when another car approached but gestured to the woman to stay quiet as he fled.

While she did not require treatment in hospital, the woman sustained facial bruising and was prescribed anti inflammatories and painkillers by her GP and could not work for a week.

In a victim impact, she said she is trying to be a person and not a victim but gets scared every time she enounters the defendant.

I have since seen the defendant many times in Abbeyfeale and each time it effects me and I wonder how could he be walking the streets happy and laughing with his friends after attacking me in such a vicious way, she said.

Detective Garda OSullivan told Lily Buckley BL, instructed by state solicitor Aidan Judge, the defendant was apprehended shortly after the incident after the victim spotted him in a house in the town.

He said Mr OBriens knuckles were covered in blood and that he made some admissions in relation to what happened.

Being questioned by gardai, the defendant said he had been drinking through the night and did not fully remember the incident.

Brian McInerney BL submitted his client was apprehended following a drive by identification in darkness which could have been problematic at any trial.

He said his Mr OBrien, who has a young child, did not know the woman prior to the incident and that he accepts what happened was a disgraceful episode which cannot be explained.

Adjourning the matter to July, Judge Tom ODonnell said what happened was absolutely shocking and that people should be entitled to go about their lawful business with being attacked at random.

He said he would need time to consider the contents of the victim impact before imposing sentence.
THERE is a debate whether life experiences are crucial to a writer or not but Micheal O Siochru certainly has them.

He clearly remembers March 24, 1968 when he worked with Aer Lingus in Cork Airport. An aircraft, en route to Heathrow, came down off Tuskar Rock, killing all 57 passengers and four crew members. Micheal recalls that his immediate reaction was never to fly again but, the following summer, he jetted off to Australia where the plight of the Aboriginal community left a lasting impression on him.

The Castleconnell residents third novel, entitled Redshank, will be launched by Professor Eoin Devereux, UL, at the Castletroy Park Hotel on Saturday, May 26 at 7.30pm.

The bilingual writer from Baile an Sceilg Gaeltacht in South Kerry has had collections of poetry and novels published in the Irish language by Coisceim. Redshank will be his second English publication by Limericks Revival Press.

For years, Micheal taught Irish, as well as English and History at Rosary Hill and Vocational Schools in Castleconnell, at St Clements College in the city and at Mary Immaculate College. He resides with his wife, Joan, near his beloved Castleconnell on the banks of the Shannon.

Micheals fondness for his adoptive place was definitely, he says, love at first sight.

This new novel, Redshank, is a contemporary story of the poets struggle with the isolation of his craft, while, at the same time, having to deal with some complicated familial issues. He knows that he must accept the constraints which his poetic ability places on him: the solitude of the craft, the fact that, for the most part, he must function alone. Individuality is of paramount importance to him; there must be total loyalty to his poetry.

The story deals with the three years Cathal O hUrdaill, the main character, spends in Riversdale, near Limerick city where he combines poetic writing with a teaching career, as well as a wild social life. This is a poetic novel, punctuated with some zany minor characters, but it is Cathal, who displays the craziest humour of all. It is his method of coping .Redshank will be available from www.limerickwriters

centre.com as well as from main book outlets. All are welcome to Saturdays launch.
May 4, 2021, 3 AM

Sent from New York to California, this 1950 cover bears a handstamped message saying that the content is properly paid mail to a merchant marine crew member whose ship had sailed before receipt of the letter. At that time, the Post Office Department allowed such mail to be forwarded without additional cost.

Also from 1950, this cover sent from Pope & Talbot Lines in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to the companys Steamship Division in New York City has a pasted-on message in place of postage.

U.S. Stamp Notes  By John M. Hotchner

As recently as 1972, mail for crew members and passengers of merchant ships could be forwarded to them without payment of additional postage.

Two examples are shown here. Both are dated in 1950, and the two covers bear nearly identical inscriptions.

The first cover, from Sept. 29, 1950, is addressed to California and bears a printed return address of J.H. Winchester & Co. Inc., steamship agents and brokers of New York City. The handstamped message in red in the upper right reads:

This Parcel contains Merchant Marine Crews Mail forwarded in bulk by Authority Third Assistant Postmaster General. No Postage Required, Proper Postage Affixed By Senders of Letters in Accordance with Operation Regulation Governing Merchant Marine Mail.

This cover includes a typewritten SS SOLFA above the address. It was backstamped Oct. 3, 1950, in Los Angeles.

The other cover has a Pope & Talbot Lines, San Juan, Puerto Rico, printed return address and is addressed to the same companys Steamship Division in New York City. In red in the lower right is Crew Mail/SS P&T Adventurer. The pasted-on message that is in place of the stamp reads:

This envelope contains mail for members of Merchant Marine forwarded in bulk by Authority Third Assistant Postmaster General

The 1972 date at the beginning of this column refers to the Domestic Mail Manual for that year, in which Section 234.31, reads:

As an alternative to 234.2 and 243.2, ordinary (unregistered) articles of correspondence (except those which appear to contain merchandise) addressed to crew members or passengers on board a ship may be forwarded in the international mail, by surface or air, in one envelope addressed to a ship or travel agency under the following conditions:

a. The envelope in which the articles are to be forwarded shall be approximately 9 inches by 6 inches in size, and shall be supplied by the sender. Do not put postage on this envelope but place the following endorsement in the upper right corner of the envelope:

THIS ENVELOPE CONTAINS PREPAID LETTERS FORWARDED IN BULK BY AUTHORITY OF ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL FINANCE DEPARTMENT, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE, ANY REQUIRED ADDITIONAL INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE HAS BEEN AFFIXED TO THE ARTICLES ENCLOSED.

b. The envelope must be presented unsealed at the mailing office for check of the contents. Any additional postage required must be paid on each of the articles enclosed, as follows:

(1) Articles of United States Origin. Pay on each article the difference between the postage already paid and the appropriate international rate (surface or air) to the new country of designation.

(2) Articles Originating in Other Countries. If envelopes [sic] is to be forwarded by air, place full air postage from the United States to the new country of destination on each article enclosed. No additional postage is required if the envelope is to be forwarded by surface means.

c. If the envelope is intended to be transmitted by air, place lable [sic] 19 bearing the words Par Avion, in the upper left corner of the envelope immediately below the return address of the sender.

d. The total weight of the forwarding envelope and its contents is limited to 18 ounces.

Earlier versions must have allowed for postage free domestic forwarding.

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My copy of the Domestic Mail Manual is dated in 1988. It has no entries permitting this sort of free mail. My conclusion is that the service no longer exists in the United States.

Any Linns reader who can tell me more about the history of this service is welcome to email me.
More details released for first U.S. scratch-and-sniff stamps

May 25, 2018, 7 AM

A promotional image from the United States Postal Service shows the 10 different designs of its Frozen Treats forever stamps. The stamps will be issued June 20 in a double-sided pane of 20 and will have a scratch-and-sniff feature that releases a scent reminiscent of the treats that are shown.

By Michael Baadke

The United States Postal Service is about to unveil its first-ever set of scratch-and-sniff postage stamps.

The set of 10 Frozen Treats forever stamps will be issued June 20 in a double-sided pane of 20, which the Postal Service describes as a booklet.

The nondenominated (50) stamps will have a scratch-and-sniff component according to the USPS.

The stamps are printed with a coating that evokes a sweet summer scent, the Postal Service noted in its Stamp Announcement 18-16 published May 24.

The new stamps will add the sweet scent of summer to letters of love, friendship, party invitations and other mailings, according to the Postal Service.

No additional details were provided about the scent that the stamps will carry. Linns Stamp News requested information from the Postal Service about the material and the process used to create the scratch-and-sniff component, but the inquiry had not been answered as this issue was going to press.

Technical details for this issue show that both offset lithography and flexography were used to manufacture the stamps, so it is likely that the scented material is added during the flexographic process.

Flexographic printing, which employs a flexible relief plate in a rotary printing process, has been used previously by the Postal Service; for example, to apply a surface texture to the 2016 set of eight Have a Ball stamps (Scott 5203-5210).

The 10 different Frozen Treats stamp designs each show two frosty, colorful, icy pops on a stick, set against a white background.

The watercolor illustrations are by California artist Margaret Berg, a native of South Africa who studied at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.

Leslie Badani and USPS art director Antonio Alcala, both of Alexandria, Va., also contributed to the design of this issue.

The treats that are shown each have distinctive characteristics, including one that has decorations resembling a circle of watermelon seeds; another adorned with kiwi, orange and strawberry; others with colorful stripes and curlicues; and a few that appear to include chocolate as an ingredient.

Forever and USA are printed along the bottom of each stamp.

This is the first time the United States has issued scratch-and-sniff stamps, where a scent is released if the surface of the stamp is scraped by a fingernail, coin or similar object.

For stamp collectors, who make every effort to preserve their collectible items in an undamaged state, the scratch-and-sniff option might create a dilemma, as scratching the surface of the stamp runs counter to that instinct of preservation.

The solution might be to buy two panes of the new stamps: one to save, and one to scratch and sniff.

Linns has not had access to the Frozen Treats stamp panes as this issue was being prepared, and therefore cannot report if the aroma can be detected without scratching the stamps.

A first-day ceremony for the Frozen Treats stamps will take place at 6 p.m. Central Daylight Time in the Event Courtyard at the Thinkery Childrens Museum, 1830 Simond Ave., in Austin, Texas. The ceremony is free and open to the public. Parking is available at nearby Alamo Parking, according to the Postal Service, and tickets will be validated at the museum admission entrance.

The Postal Service advises that visitors planning to attend the ceremony can RSVP online.

Modern frozen treats are available in many varieties, the Postal Service said. Ice pops are made by large manufacturers, home cooks, and artisanal shops. In recent years, frozen treats containing fresh fruit such as kiwi, watermelon, blueberries, oranges, and strawberries have become more common. In addition, flavors such as chocolate, root beer, and cola are also popular. Some frozen treats even have two sticks, making them perfect for sharing.

Historic figures from Marco Polo to Thomas Jefferson reportedly enjoyed ice creams and treats made from shaved ice and flavorings, but Unilever, the company that today markets the well-known Popsicle brand of ice pops, claims that this treat was the first such item prepared on a stick, an accidental invention in 1905 by 11-year-old Frank Epperson.

The Frozen Treats forever stamps are the second U.S. issue within two years to feature icy cold dessert treats. The Postal Service issued a set of five Soda Fountain Favorites forever stamps in a pane of 20 on June 30, 2016, illustrating an ice cream cone, an egg cream, a banana split, a root beer float and a hot fudge sundae (5093-5097)

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On April 20, 2017, a set of six forever stamps titled Delicioso and featuring Latin American prepared dishes was issued in a double-sided pane of 20 (Scott 5192-5197).

The Frozen Treats set, therefore, is the third in what seems to be an unannounced series of U.S. stamps celebrating prepared foods  but the first to convey an aroma.

The scented stamp concept has been used by other countries over the past 45 years.

Switzerland rather famously issued a pane of 12 stamps in 2001 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chocosuisse, an association of Swiss chocolatiers (Scott 1100). The 90-centime stamps, printed to look like pieces of a chocolate bar, release a chocolate scent when scratched.

That same year, Brazil issued a 1.30-reis stamp celebrating coffee, an issue that the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue describes as being impregnated with a coffee scent (Scott 2830).

Bhutan issued what is believed to be the worlds first scented stamps in 1973 (Scott 150-150E). The six stamps depict varieties of roses, and smell like them, too.

The American Topical Association has compiled a checklist of scented stamps that is available to ATA members for a small fee.

As of mid-May, the ATA checklist has 114 listings that include the country name, issue date, denomination, Scott number (if assigned) and subject description.

For more information about the ATA, visit its website, or write to American Topical Association, Box 8, Carterville, IL 62918-0008.

The technical details for the Frozen Treats stamps released by the Postal Service describe the dimensions of a press sheet that appears to comprise eight double-sided panes of 20, but no ordering information for a press sheet was provided. The stamp announcement also did not provide information about USPS-prepared first-day covers.
May 25, 2018, 6 AM

Canceled June 22, 1977, in Posen, Ill., the day after a surprise visit (interrogation) by the Secret Service, Jim Czyl created a special commemorative cinderella and The Secret Service Visits Czyls Penny Post cover marking the event.

By Molly Goad

The June 11 issue of Linns Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Tuesday, May 29 (due to the Memorial Day holiday). And if you subscribe to Linns digital edition, youre at the head of the line with early access Saturday, May 26. To heighten your anticipation even further, enjoy these three previews of exclusive content available only to subscribers.

The day the U.S. Secret Service came to call on a cinderella collector

With the constant onslaught of millions of modern postal counterfeits from China (and almost no way to trace them to the source and prosecute), writes Odd Lot columnist Wayne Youngblood, it is hard to believe that the United States Postal Inspection Service once took the counterfeiting of stamps seriously.

Very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that it regularly investigated all reports of possible counterfeiting activities and even called upon its colleagues, the Secret Service, to help when other crimes were being committed in tandem, which was usually the case.

An unusual use of customs collection process

Even though the United States customs duty collection process is almost entirely concerned with collecting duties on incoming foreign mail, there is one exception: duty collection on incoming U.S. Armed Forces mail. This week, Tony Wawrukiewicz takes a look at this process with a letter mailed in 1943 from APO 788, essentially a leased defense base, to Duluth, Minn.

Mixture includes many quality stamps

In the Kitchen Table Philately column in each issue of Linns, E. Rawolik VI or E. Rawolik VII analyzes the content of stamp mixtures offered to collectors. E. Rawolik, of course, is a pseudonym that is kiloware (a stamp mixture) spelled backward. This week, E. Rawolik VII reviews a pleasing mixture from Saracino (New York) that includes a variety of countries, a mix of mint and used and generally satisfactory cancellations.

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The reconstructed skull of Dracula, another pterosaur found in the same region of Romania as the newly analyzed specimen.

The largest pterosaur jawbone on record has just been analyzed, and it's so big that it likely helped the prehistoric beast gulp down freshwater turtles and large dinosaur eggs for dinner more than 66 million years ago, a new study finds.

The fossil of the pterosaur's robust lower jaw is a mere 7.4 inches (18.8 centimeters) long, but the jawbone likely measured longer than a yardstick  or between 37 and 43 inches (94 and 110 cm)  when the reptile was alive, the researchers wrote in the study.

This absurdly long jaw is "more than three times the size of the complete, 290-millimeter-long [11.4 inches] holotype mandible of Bakonydraco," a pterosaur that appears to be closely related to the newly analyzed creature, the researchers wrote in the study. [Photos: Baby Pterosaurs Couldn't Fly as Hatchlings]

Study co-researcher Dan Grigorescu, a geologist at the University of Bucharest in Romania, collected the fossilized jawbone at the junction of two creeks in the Hateg Basin, near the village of Valioara, which is in Transylvania, Romania, in 1984. But the fossil wasn't recognized as belonging to a pterosaur until 2011, when lead study researcher Matyas Vremir, a geologist at the Transylvanian Museum Society, and study co-researcher Gareth Dyke, a paleontologist at the University of Debrecen in Hungary, realized its importance, according to National Geographic.

The rocks where scientists found the pterosaur Dracula. The newly studied fossil comes from the same region in Romania. (Image credit: Matyas Vremir)

During the Cretaceous period, when this pterosaur was alive, Hateg Basin was an island inhabited by dwarf dinosaurs, which were smaller than their counterparts on the mainland. Vremir unearthed the fossilized remains of one of these weird, stocky dinosaurs  a predator known as Balaur bondoc  in 2009, Live Science previously reported.

But Hateg is also known for large pterosaurs, including Hatzegopteryx, which likely stood as tall as a giraffe, with a wingspan of up to 36 feet (10.9 meters). Another pterosaur from Hateg, nicknamed Dracula, had an even larger wingspan of up to 39 feet (12 m).

"Islands are notorious for throwing up oddities. We have a bunch of weird dinosaurs from Hateg and a lack of really big carnivores, so the pterosaurs were basically tyrannosaur surrogates," Dave Hone, a paleontologist at Queen Mary University of London in England, told National Geographic.

The newly studied specimen is slightly smaller than Dracula, shown here. (Image credit: Dinosaurier Museum)

But just because the newly studied pterosaur  which has yet to be scientifically named  has the largest jawbone ever found, it doesn't necessarily mean it was the biggest pterosaur on record, the researchers said. Rather, it probably had a wingspan of over 26 feet (8 m) and likely belonged to a family of pterosaurs known as the Azhdarchids, the researchers wrote in the study.

"It's always exciting to see new Azhdarchid material in the literature, especially fossils of giant pterosaurs," Kierstin Rosenbach, a doctoral student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan who wasn't involved in the study, told Live Science.

The researchers discussed the different sizes and shapes of Azhdarchid pterosaurs  characteristics that are much appreciated by paleontologists who study pterosaurs, she said. That's because there appears to be a division within Azhdarchidae that the researchers elaborated on: "The authors state that Azhdarchids could have either long necks with thin skulls or short necks with robust skulls," Rosenbach said.

So, which camp does the newly analyzed pterosaur fall into? It's likely "a robust, short-skulled azhdarchid," the researchers said in the study.

The study was published online April 17 in the journal Lethaia.

Original article on Live Science.
News of virus outbreaks often seems to come out of nowhere: One day, no one's heard of a virus, and the next, it's dominating headlines  like the Nipah virus outbreak in India. Or, you may have thought that a virus disappeared, only for it to re-emerge  like Ebola.

But viruses don't just pop up out of nowhere. They're in us, on us, all around us  quietly, and sometimes noisily (cough cough, the flu), existing.

In fact, "we really only know the tip of the iceberg of the viruses that exist in nature," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease physician and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Take, for example, a classic visit to the doctor's office for an upper respiratory infection, Adalja said: The doctor will most likely tell you it's a viral infection but won't know which virus it is, because diagnostic tools haven't yet gotten us there. [27 Devastating Infectious Diseases]

"The vast, vast majority of viruses are probably harmless to humans  it's only a small proportion that have the ability to infect us and an even smaller proportion that can cause disease," Adalja told Live Science. But those few harmful ones can cause a ripple effect in our increasingly globalized world. (Even back in 1918, when the world wasn't nearly as connected, the Spanish flu wiped out an estimated 20 million to 50 million people.)

The two viruses that are currently grabbing headlines  Nipah and Ebola  are "zoonotic" viruses, which means they typically exist in animals but sometimes can be transmitted to humans. "That initial transmission, from animal to human, is an accident  it's not what the virus wants to do," said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University.

However, these large outbreaks are the exceptions. Usually, the virus hits a "dead end" in that one human host, Adalja said. "Oftentimes viruses are tied pretty tightly to host species," he added. "Those genetic characteristics that allow them to flourish in one species may not be the same in another, so that becomes a big barrier for a virus to surpass."

But, of course, from time to time, you get the hardy ones; in both the Nipah and Ebola outbreaks, the viruses showed they can jump between humans.

"There's a very, very, very select few [viruses] that can actually sustain transmission between humans, and that's where a lot of the danger lies," Adalja said.

If the viruses become capable of hurling themselves from human to human, they begin to jump countries, hitching free rides across an ever-globalized world. Then, it becomes a pandemic.

Where are viruses when they're not causing outbreaks?

Viruses aren't quietly lurking for decades or centuries, waiting for the right moment to infect a host, because without a host, a virus can't survive. Viruses can be in one of two places: inside hosts (though not necessarily causing symptoms), or in a short transition between hosts (like a flu virus particle left behind on a doorknob). "They're not just laying there on the ground like four-leaf clovers," Adalja said. In fact, out in the environment, ultraviolet light, humidity or other environmental conditions would degrade them, he said.

And new viruses can be created. Because viruses have genetic material and selection pressures on them, they can evolve over time, Adalja said. Thus, new viruses may continuously take the stage. This not only makes predicting outbreaks difficult but stifles human efforts to develop vaccines. [10 Deadly Diseases That Hopped Across Species]

"Every time we get a little change [in a virus], we get a new outbreak," Schaffner told Live Science. Because the flu virus continuously evolves, for example, the vaccines for it are never 100 percent effective. This is one of the challenges in creating an HIV vaccine as well, he added.

Other viruses, such as measles and smallpox, remain pretty much the same for centuries, even millenia, Schaffner said. The latter is a vaccine success story: Following global vaccination efforts, smallpox has been completely eradicated from the world, save for a couple of vials in locked-away freezers in Russia and the United States, he said.

Outbreaks spread, outbreaks contained

Despite the recent outbreak, the Nipah virus still has very limited ability to spread between humans, Adalja said. In fact, he thinks experts will be able to contain the current outbreak to Kerala, India. But it's important to track the Nipah virus and make sure it's not acquiring the ability to jump more easily between humans over time, he added.

Meanwhile, researchers are working to develop a Nipah vaccine. Because bats, a favorite host of the Nipah virus, are common around the world, Adalja expects to see more unrelated Nipah outbreaks pop up in other places in the future. (Contact with bats is the source of most Nipah outbreaks. Some previous outbreaks have been linked to people drinking raw date palm sap contaminated by bats, and the animals can also transmit the virus to pigs, which, in turn, can infect humans).

As for the current Ebola outbreak, pharmaceutical company Merck has been distributing experimental vaccines to thousands of people in an effort to contain it.

These viral outbreaks will occur, and then they'll be contained. Then, other outbreaks will occur, which will again be contained. It's just hard to predict when and where these viruses will flare up, Schaffner said. "That's why we have to have a surveillance system that's out there constantly monitoring what's going on," he said.

Improved technology certainly has benefits: Today, there are much more "sophisticated diagnostic capacities, [so] we're able to define these events much more quickly and much more precisely than we were able to 20 years ago," Schaffner said.

But better technology brings challenges as well: A more globalized world makes it easier for viruses to spread widely."Today, anyone can get on a plane anywhere in the world and be around the world in 24 hours," Schaffner said. "The world is smaller than ever  it's easier now than it was 50 years ago to introduce one of these viruses into the United States."

Editor's note: This article was updated to include more information about the source of the Nipah virus.

Originally published on Live Science.
Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed the remains of a huge, red, brick building  likely the remnants of a Roman bath  as well as a mountain of treasures, including a statue of a ram and a gold coin featuring King Ptolemy III, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

The building itself is huge  for Roman times, anyway  measuring about 52 feet (16 meters) long, or nearly as long as a bowling lane. The structure likely dates to the Greco-Roman era, Ayman Ashmawy, head of ancient Egyptian antiquities, said in a statement released May 23.

The artifacts the archaeological team uncovered at the site of San El-Hagar, in Tanis, include pottery vessels, terra-cotta statues, bronze tools, a stone fragment engraved with hieroglyphs and a small ram statue. [In Photos: Ancient Egyptian Tombs Decorated with Creatures]

The gold coin, in particular, caught the archaeologists' attention. It features King Ptolemy III and was created during the 221 B.C. to 205 B.C. reign of King Ptolemy IV in memory of his father, according to Saeed Al-Asal, head of the archaeological mission.

This 52-foot-long (16 meters) red brick building might be part of a Roman bath. (Image credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)

One side of the 1-ounce (28 grams) coin depicts the face of King Ptolemy III, who is shown wearing a dazzling crown. The other side of the coin has a symbol of prosperity that looks like a cornucopia, which is surrounded by the name of the king.

The archaeologists plan to continue excavation work at the site in the coming field seasons so they can learn more about the building and how ancient people may have used it.

Archaeologists in Egypt uncovered this small statue of a ram. (Image credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)

Original article on Live Science.
Serious problems at the China-Mongolia border at the Erlian border station has led to the temporary suspension of eastbound services, disrupting Europe-China freight trains.

In a note yesterday to customers, intermodal operator Far East Land Bridge (FELB) said: Due to a heavy influx of train traffic at the Erlian border station at the Chinese/Mongolian border, all eastbound trains have been suspended to Changsha for the moment. Chinese railways and Mongolian railways are doing their best to relieve the congestion situation and return the situation to normal.

Included in the suspension are FELBs trains to Shenyang via Erlian.

Apologising for the disruption to its own services to Changsha, in central Chinas Hunan province, FELB said it was offering a couple of alternative options to China while the issue is being fixed: Trains to Shenyang via the Zaibalkalsk/Manzhouli border station; this option is running perfectly, twice a week without delays. Trains to Suzhou with on-carriage options to Changsha - based on our new speed train service: Duisburg to Suzhou.

The company said it would notify customers immediately when it had any more information.
The U.S. Border Patrol agent who fatally shot an undocumented female immigrant in Rio Bravo did not commit any wrongdoing, his attorney said Thursday.

"This matter is being investigated, and rightfully so, by every three-letter acronym under the sun, including the Texas Rangers," the attorney, George Altgelt, said. "We welcome their investigation and are confident that the evidence will prove my client's innocence.

"It is common knowledge and common sense that being a Border Patrol agent is a dangerous job. Every day the men and women in green put their lives on the line so that we can sleep and live safely here in Laredo."

READ MORE: Border Patrol agent who fatally shot undocumented immigrant claims he was attacked by group

The case unfolded at about 12:20 p.m. Wednesday, when the agent, a 15-year veteran of the Border Patrol, responded to a report of illegal activity near a culvert by Centeno Lane. He discovered a group of immigrants who had entered the country illegally.

According to a press release provided by Customs and Border Protection, the agent said the group ignored his verbal commands and instead rushed him. The agent discharged one round from his service-issued firearm, striking one member of the group. The rest of the group fled.

CBP said the agent then broadcasted shots fired over the service radio and called for EMS. First aid was rendered to the woman until the Rio Bravo Fire Department arrived.

Authorities have not identified the immigrant nor her nationality.

Agents detained three immigrants in connection with the case, which is under investigation by the FBI and Texas Rangers.

"The Mexican government regrets the loss of human lives in the context of migration, regardless of nationality and immigration status," said the Consulate General of Mexico in Laredo in a statement. "It also calls for an investigation into the incident and the use of lethal force by the Border Patrol agent."

The consulate said it stands ready to provide consular protection and assistance if needed.

The American Civil Liberties Union's Border Rights Center also released a statement regarding the shooting.

READ ALSO: Death penalty possible for Laredo Border Patrol agent accused of murder

"While we do not yet have all the facts in this case, Border Patrol's history of violence against immigrants requires us to scrutinize every incident involving lethal force closely," said Astrid Dominguez, director of the ACLU's Border Rights Center. "We call on the Texas Rangers and the FBI to conduct their investigation thoroughly and transparently, and we demand that Border Patrol expand its use of body cameras to include each and every one of its agents in the field."

The center cited a recent analysis conducted by The Guardian showing that Border Patrol agents have been involved in nearly 100 "fatal encounters" since 2003 and have paid out roughly $60 million in wrongful death settlements.

The ACLU said Border Patrol is currently testing body cameras in nine of its offices. Laredo is not among them. The Laredo Sector Border Patrol did not respond to a request for comment on the body cameras.
Solano County prosecutors tacked on four charges of lewd conduct in their case against Jonathan Allen, a Fairfield father accused of torturing and abusing 10 children in a home described as squalid.

The new allegations are the latest turn in the disturbing case against Allen and the childrens mother, Ina Rogers. The two were charged with multiple felonies dating to 2014, in a case where officials said the children were waterboarded, shot with BB guns and crossbows and burned with scalding water.

Both Rogers, 30, and Allen, 29, have pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors said the lewd conduct between Allen and a child under the age of 14 occurred between March 1, 2017 and March 30, 2018. The child was only identified by his or her initials, which remain the same in each of the four counts.

According to court documents, the crimes were allegedly committed with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions, and sexual desires of Allen and the child.

Allen would be required to register as a sex offender if convicted on the latest charges.

In a statement, Allens defense attorney, Thomas Barrett, called the charges against his client very serious.

They are, of course, merely allegations at this point. Mr. Allen is presumed to be innocent and has pled not guilty, Barrett said. We absolutely intend to vigorously contest these allegations, but we intend to contest these allegations in court and not through the media.

An attorney for Rogers did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Fairfield police first took notice of the couple on March 31, when Rogers reported her 12-year-old son missing.

The boy was found soon thereafter in a nearby yard, but a follow-up check inside the couples home steered officers in a new direction.

Inside the cream-colored house on a quiet cul-de-sac investigators found nine more children living in filth. Human and animal feces covered the floors, and debris was stacked so high it made some areas of the home impassable. Meanwhile, neighbors said they were unaware that so many  if any  children were living in the quiet suburban home.

Rogers was immediately arrested on suspicion of child neglect, and prosecutors would charge her and Allen on May 11 with additional felony counts.

Allen is charged with seven counts of torture and nine counts of felony child abuse or endangerment, in addition to the latest lewd conduct charges.

Rogers faces nine counts of felony child abuse and one count of child neglect. Both are being held in custody at the Solano County Jail. Allens bail is set at $5.25 million; Rogers at $495,000.

Both are due back in court July 10 at 8:30 a.m.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
The new "Solo: A Star Wars Story," which is tracking to have the lowest opening of Disney's "Star Wars" films, is an adventure that many fans weren't sure they wanted. The collective shrug essentially asked: Do we really need Han Solo's origin story?

Yet as some skeptics question just how far Disney can stretch this franchise - Lucasfilm has knighted "Last Jedi" writer-director Rian Johnson to guide an entire new trilogy after the current one concludes next year - "Solo" should rightly be embraced as a refreshing change of pace.

Instead of being so tightly tethered to the main franchise's requisite elements and expectations, "Solo" - sometimes rather thrillingly - gets to fly as free as a whooping Han when finally coming into his own as a Kessel Run-clearing pirate pilot.

There is a joy to these Disney spinoffs that render them worthy of creative sorties. And part of what ultimately really helps elevate "Solo" is that it bears none of the narrative payload that has freighted every single film in the franchise - since creator George Lucas first launched "Star Wars" into theaters 41 years ago Friday.

Consider: This is the first "Star Wars" movie in which the characters don't meditate upon, or get educated on, the ways of the Force.

Veteran "Star Wars" screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan was persuaded to return to this universe because Han is his favorite character, and with co-scribe son Jonathan Kasdan, they set out to track a primary arc: How did Han become such a cynical dude - and what was he like before?

In other words, this might be a tale of self-discovery, but this is no deeply philosophical and spiritual journey.

This film is a first in this universe because it is not centered on the Jedi, and it does not feature fighters from the Skywalker blood line. "Solo" does not play out like a rebel fulfilling some destiny; this is not space Shakespeare. Instead, its spirit is more like the youthful whiz-bang of a family Spielberg film, as a young man simply tries to achieve a dream.

Many fans might have minimal hopes for this potential spinoff franchise, but there is plenty to be ventured and gained from the weightlessness of lowered expectations.

"Solo" will not spark hot social media debates about whether a director did wrong by Luke Skywalker, or Admiral Leia, or even a snuffed-out Snoke. "Solo" is a light aircraft, maneuvering with the easy liberty of a vehicle that has no ammunition - because, refreshingly, it has no new Death Star to destroy.

Instead, only Han's star need be aligned, to swashbuckling derring-do, a first-time flight with a familiar flying buddy or two - and an engaging origin in which a Carbonite-bound future lies far, far away.
Kanye West called the time his wife, Kim Kardashian, dressed up as Mexican-American icon Selena for Halloween one of his "favorite moments" in their four years of marriage.

The producer/rapper's recently controversial tweets took a more amorous tone in celebration of his matrimonial milestone this week. On Thursday, he recirculated a video Kim shared last Halloween showing her dressed in a Selena costume.

"This is one of my favorite moments," his tweet, paired with a trio of flame emojis, read.

Her rendition of the purple jumpsuit worn by the Queen of Tejano for the 1995 Houston Rodeo concert garnered mixed reviews when it debuted last year. The conversation reignited this week, but the flames were fanned by West's recent public support for President Donald Trump, who he dubbed his "brother."

RELATED: Kim Kardashian's Selena Halloween costume receives mixed reactions from fans

More than 800 people replied to the rapper's tweet. Some celebrated his affection for Kim, others were happy Selena was recognized in the English-speaking, mainstream world, many body-shamed the reality TV star and another set of people questioned how West could enjoy a representation of Mexican culture while supporting Trump.

"Right... have your problematic wife emulate one of the most famed Mexican-American icons after pledging allegiance to a man systematically denigrating Mexican people, casting them out of their homes and ripping them from their children all while calling them rapists and animals," Twitter user @rsbnyc replied.

Meanwhile, Kim reinvented her look again on Thursday by dying her hair platinum blonde because she said that look was her husband's "favorite."

Read some of the conversation in the gallery above.

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye
For those wanting to spend Memorial Day weekend at Enchanted Rock, officials have one piece of advice  get there early.

On holidays, the park tends to experience a "high volume" of visitors and reach capacity, according to the park's Facebook page.

RELATED: What's open and what's closed on Memorial Day 2018

Officials advise visitors to arrive before 9 a.m. Even then, visitors "will likely have to wait in line."

Over spring break, officials with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department posted a photo of a line of cars stretching as far as was visible at 7:30 a.m., with a warning that those not already in line would likely not make it into the park that day.

The post also includes some other handy reminders, mentioning that pets are restricted to the picnic, camping and trail areas. Pets are not allowed to be on "the Rock" at all, according to the post.

The closest places for motorists to fill up is 18 miles south of the park in Fredrickburg, or 23 miles north of the park in Llano.

Park officials will be on-hand to answer calls at 830-685-3636, but given the busy weekend, they're expecting the phone lines to be busy.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA
A student from Cigarroa High School was killed in a vehicle crash Thursday evening on U.S. 59 and two others were reported to be in critical condition, according to a spokesperson for Laredo ISD.

Veronica Castillon, director of communications for LISD, told LMTonline.com that three students were involved in the collision. The two injured students were flown to a San Antonio hospital.
The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the person killed in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. 59 Thursday evening as Alexis Isabel Raygoza, 18, of Laredo.

Veronica Castillon, director of communications for LISD, said that Raygoza was a senior at Cigarroa High School. Two other students involved in the crash suffered serious injuries and remain in the hospital, DPS said.

READ ALSO: Video: Laredo teen saves two from near-drowning during heroic rescue

According to DPS, the crash occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. Preliminary investigation revealed a 2007 Mini Cooper occupied by the driver and two passengers was traveling eastbound on U.S. 59 while a Ford F-150 occupied by a driver and two passengers was traveling westbound.

DPS said that the driver of the Mini Cooper attempted to turn northbound onto Las Pilas Road, failing to yield the right of way to the on-coming traffic.

The driver of the Mini Cooper is currently in San Antonio Military Medical Hospital. The other passenger is at the Laredo Medical Center in serious condition. The third passenger, Raygoza, was killed.

The driver and passengers of the Ford F-150 were also taken to Laredo Medical Center with injuries.

READ ALSO: Officials ID victim in fatal south Laredo crash

Paloma Villanueva, 19, told LMTonline.com that she met Raygoza at McDonald's, where they worked together for nearly nine months. Villanueva remembered Raygoza as an "amazing person."

"Alexis was my best friend. She was like a sister to me. We always had each (other's) back," Villanueva said. "I am never going to forget about her."

LISD's crisis counseling team is at the school offering support to students and staff, Castillon said.

The Webb County Sheriff's Office said the Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the crash.

Check back with LMTonline.com for updates on this story.

jerilynn.thorpe@lmtonline.com | Twitter: @jerilynnthorpe
Following the fatal shooting of an immigrant woman by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Rio Bravo, the Laredo Immigrant Alliance will hold a vigil to honor lives lost on the border.

In a press release provided by the LIA, the group said they are "outraged by the actions taken by the Border Patrol agent that shot and killed a young undocumented woman." The LIA is extending an invitation for community leaders, neighboring cities of Rio Bravo and El Cenizo to gather together this Saturday to commemorate the lives and recent life lost on the border.
Laredo police said Thursday they need the community's assistance to locate a man accused of stealing $20,000 in jewelry.

The alleged robbery occurred April 28 in the 10100 block of FM 1472 Road. Police said the suspect walked into the business armed with a handgun and carried a backpack.
Shanghai had been a disappointment.

The 54-year-old Australian grandmother had traveled to China in 2014 in hopes of meeting her boyfriend, a man she'd met online years before who claimed to be Capt. Daniel Smith, a U.S. service member. She had fallen deeply in love with him, she said, and flew to Shanghai to at last see him in person. He never showed up.

Upon leaving Shanghai, Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto was approached by a stranger, who asked her to take a backpack back to Melbourne. She said yes. Then, while changing flights at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, she mistakenly went through immigration. She volunteered her bags for custom inspection, according to the Agence France-Presse news service.

That's when officers discovered a secret compartment stitched into the backpack that contained 1.1 kilograms of crystal meth. Exposto was arrested.

Then, in December 2017, Exposto was cleared of the charges. It was a rare twist of fate in the Muslim-majority country, where hundreds of people have been sentenced to death in recent years for drug trafficking, officials told AFP.

A Malaysian High Court judge ruled at the time that Exposto wasn't aware she was transporting the drugs and had fallen victim to an online romance scam. She told the court that she had agreed to take the backpack from the stranger because she was told it carried her online boyfriend's clothes.

"He (Smith) made me feel loved, he made me feel wanted," she told the court, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, adding that the boyfriend often sang to her and sent her photos and poems.

Upon her acquittal, she wept and hugged her son.

"I'm happy now that I'm free," Exposto had said at the time, according to AFP.

But prosecutors at the time indicated that they wanted to appeal the acquittal, meaning Exposto couldn't return home to Sydney and to her three grandchildren, as there was a still a chance she could face the death sentence, AFP reported in December.

On Thursday, the acquittal was overturned and Exposto was sentenced to death, according to AFP.

Drug trafficking issues have long strained the relationship between Malaysia and Australia. In 1986, Australians Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers became the first non-Asians to be executed in the country when they were hanged for heroin trafficking. The New York Times reported at the time:

The foreign reaction to the case of Mr. Barlow and Mr. Chambers has provoked widespread criticism in Malaysia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, where Government officials said they would not be deflected from their ''war on dadah'' by Western or international protests when Western lives were involved. Dadah is the Malay word for any mind-altering drug.

Countries in the region, particularly Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, have introduced stringent narcotics legislation partly in response to growing addiction problems at home and partly as a result of pressure from the United States to curb the flow of heroin and opium from the Southeast Asian Golden Triangle area. When Westerners are caught by the laws, officials in the region say, they cannot expect a double standard to apply.

Another Australian, Michael McAuliffe, was hanged in Kuala Lumpur in 1993 after he was discovered with heroin in his pocket at an airport checkpoint, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Last year, Malaysian lawmakers voted to abolish mandatory death sentences for drug offenses and did not execute anyone for for drug-related offenses that year, according to Harm Reduction International, a nongovernmental organization partly funded by the European Union that tracks of death-penalty laws for drug offenses globally. According to the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, however, Malaysia carried out four executions.

AFP reported that changes to the death penalty have not yet come into effect, as they must be approved by the upper house of Malaysia's parliament.

An appeals court Thursday overturned Exposto's acquittal and found her guilty of drug trafficking, according to Exposto's lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, AFP reported.

He called the ruling "perverse," and told AFP that he believed there was "an overwhelming case for the defense." Shafee Abdullah now plans to make a final appeal to Malaysia's top court.

There have been previous acquittals, too: In 2013, Australian Dominic Bird escaped the death penalty after he was allegedly caught with 167 grams of crystal meth.

In a statement Thursday to News Corp Australia, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said "Australia opposes the death penalty in all circumstances for all people." She said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade would work to help Exposto avoid the death penalty.
Five animal rights activists who removed two piglets from a Smithfield Foods hog farm in Utah last year were charged by the state this week with felony burglary, rioting and a "pattern of unlawful activity."

The charges come about eight months after unusual raids of two animal sanctuaries in Utah and Colorado by FBI agents, who, witnesses said, sought DNA samples from pigs at the facilities as part of a search for the missing piglets.

The defendants, all affiliated with the California-based group Direct Action Everywhere, "engaged in a pattern of unlawful activity and committed the offenses of burglary and theft targeting animal enterprises located in Utah and other states," a warrant filed Monday in Beaver County said. "The defendants also videotaped their criminal acts to solicit monthly donations for the DxE open rescue network."

Prosecutors said they did not know how many years the defendants faced in prison if convicted. Wayne Hsiung, a lawyer who is the group's co-founder and one of those charged, said they could be sentenced to more than 60 years in prison. None of the accused has been arrested.

Direct Action Everywhere, also known as DxE, says it rescues "animals in captivity, exposing violence behind closed doors." A video its members took at the Smithfield farm alleged the animals were poorly treated.

"Piglets were rotting to death in piles of their own mother's feces at Smithfield," Hsiung said in a statement at the time. "Rescuing them was an act of compassion, not a crime." A Smithfield spokeswoman called the video evidence of "trespassing onto company property, breaking into a barn, stealing animals and violating Smithfield's strict biosecurity policy to prevent the spread of disease onto our farms."and said it featured "blatant inaccuracies and assertions."

Court documents this week detailed the efforts of the FBI and the Beaver County Sheriff's Office to track the pigs, which were taken to the sanctuaries in Utah and Colorado, and investigate DxE through the group's online videos and cellphone records.

In an interview, Hsiung called the charges an "end-run" around Utah's "ag-gag" law, which targeted whistleblowing at agricultural facilities. The law was repealed last year.

"It is shocking to see how much power the industry has in states like Utah and how relentless they are in trying to crush nonviolent dissent," he said. "I don't think any American that thinks taking a sick animal to the vet justifies possibly life in prison."

DxE activists also face unrelated state charges after removing a turkey from a Norbest plant in Sanpete County, Utah, in January 2017. A representative for Norbest did not return a request for comment; CEO Matt Cook said at the time that he was "disappointed," and that the company's own animal care team had already documented violations at the farm and removed birds from its owner.

Andrew George Sharo, a biology doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley who was charged in both cases, said he became involved with DxE when he realized that "being a non-pushy vegan is not enough" to advance animal rights.

"There's billions of animals out there languishing," he said. "There's a need for people who are willing to make a sacrifice and put themselves out there."

Sanpete County Attorney Kevin Daniels, on the other hand, compared DxE's actions to kidnapping a child one suspects is abused. He said he would have investigated the activists' claims about animal abuse at the plant if they had gone through the proper channels.

"What they didn't do is follow the law," he said. "It's black and white - they took property that did not belong to them. In my mind, it has nothing to do with the ag-gag law."

Daniels said those charged could be sentenced up to five years in prison, but "a prison sentence is highly unlikely in a case of this nature unless the defendants have a lengthy criminal record."

Animal rights activists have been imprisoned for releasing animals before. Two activists were sentenced to federal prison last year after pleading guilty to releasing thousands of mink from farms in what prosecutors called a "cross-country crime spree targeting the fur industry" in 2013. They were charged under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which prohibits conduct "for the purpose of damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise."

"Whatever your feelings about the fur industry, these sentences are a pretty strong signal that this isn't the right way to effect change," Acting U.S. attorney Alana W. Robinson said at the time.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said late Friday he had allowed embattled Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. to remain open despite fierce bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill, defying lawmakers who have warned that the huge technology company should be severely punished for breaking U.S. law.

Trump, in a series of Twitter messages, said he was allowing it to "reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board," a requirement that it must purchase U.S. parts, and a $1.3 billion fine.

Sensing such a move, top Democrats and at least one Republican on Friday said the White House's decision was tantamount to a bailout of a large Chinese company with little benefit for the United States.

The requirement that ZTE purchase U.S. parts could draw criticism on Capitol Hill, as the company relies on U.S. parts to make its products. In fact, it was the Commerce Department's April penalty that banned ZTE from buying U.S. parts that effectively put it on the brink of closure.

The Obama administration and Trump administration have repeatedly punished ZTE for violating sanctions laws by selling products to Iran and North Korea and then lying to federal investigators.

After Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross imposed the April penalty, Chinese leader Xi Jinping personally appealed to Trump to intervene and allow the company to continue operating, something Trump said he would do as a personal favor.

Trump has tried to pitch his intervention to help ZTE as a move that could help broker unrelated concessions from China on a broader trade agreement. This has drawn loud opposition from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who have said ZTE poses a national security risk to the U.S. because they believe its technology could be used to spy on Americans.

It couldn't be immediately learned whether the U.S. was getting anything in return. Ross is traveling to China next week for negotiations on a range of trade matters and the precise details regarding ZTE will likely be discussed.

In his Twitter messages, Trump blamed Democrats and the Obama administration for allowing ZTE to stay in business before he took office. But the Obama administration took multiple steps to punish the company in the lead up to Trump's presidency, cracking down on ZTE through both the Commerce Department and Justice Department.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has led the GOP charge pushing back against President Trump's effort to release ZTE from strict prohibitions, and he criticized the administration again on Friday.

"Yes they have a deal in mind. It is a great deal . . . for #ZTE & China," Rubio wrote on Twitter. "#China crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us. Many hoped this time would be different. Now congress will need to act."

It's unusual for a White House to advance a foreign policy decision that has virtually no congressional support, and so far few lawmakers have said they believe helping ZTE is a good idea.

To block such a deal, Congress would probably need to pass a law with a veto-proof majority that prohibits the Commerce Department from rolling back penalties. Passing such a law could be difficult, but lawmakers could also pressure the administration by threatening to block any votes on Trump nominees or even unrelated trade agreements until they are satisfied.

The Senate's pending National Defense Authorization Act contains a provision that would make it hard for the White House to roll back restrictions on ZTE without congressional approval. The White House could be forced to fight to have this provision stripped out if they want to consummate their deal with the Chinese.

"ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States - and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the provision's author. "If President Trump won't put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him."

U.S. intelligence officials think ZTE poses a U.S. security threat because its products could be used for spying or cyberattacks. Earlier in May, the Pentagon ordered bases to stop selling phones made by ZTE and Huawei, another Chinese company.

And a number of Democrats and Republicans have said products from ZTE, which is partly owned by the Chinese government, could also be used to collect information on U.S. companies and steal intellectual property.

"If the administration goes through with this reported deal, President Donald Trump would be helping make China great again," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said Friday. "Simply a fine and changing board members would not protect America's economic or national security, and would be a huge victory for President Xi, and a dramatic retreat by President Trump. Both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks."

Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping has personally asked him to intervene to help ZTE, and he has said that he would.

Trump has also said that efforts to help ZTE are meant to be part of broader trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, which have sputtered in recent weeks as China has resisted U.S. demands. Trump has said the a new fine against ZTE could be about $1.3 billion.

"As a favor to the president [of China], I am absolutely taking a look at it," Trump said this week about ZTE.

Ross is scheduled to travel to Beijing next week to accelerate talks, particularly focused on securing a commitment from China to purchase more U.S. goods. While on the trip, Ross is expected to also play a role in dealing with the ZTE discussions.

Some Chinese officials have said they would not follow through on other parts of the trade talks until U.S. officials reach an agreement to free ZTE. Trump has said helping ZTE would actually help American companies as well, as it would allow them to continue selling their products overseas.

Trump has advanced an adversarial trade agenda with numerous U.S. allies so far this year, threatening many of them with tariffs if they don't take steps to allow more U.S. companies to freely sell goods overseas.

This has led to showdowns with Japan, Turkey, Mexico, Canada and members of the European Union. Trump has delivered many of his trade threats in a way that allows him to sidestep congressional intervention, a key element of his strategy because many Republicans oppose the protectionist policies he wants to impose.

His treatment of ZTE has been different, though, as he has used the prospect of helping the company as a carrot to lure Chinese leaders into broader discussions about trade. Trump wants Chinese officials to change their rules in a way that would allow more U.S. exports into China, though he hasn't defined how this would work.

Many lawmakers support boosting exports to China, but numerous Democrats and Republicans have opposed including help for ZTE as part of any package. They have said the company broke U.S. laws and shouldn't be easily forgiven.

"We urge you not to compromise lawful U.S. enforcement actions against serial and premeditated violators of U.S. law, such as ZTE," numerous lawmakers, including Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wrote to top White House officials this week. "This is particularly critical when the violators are state-owned and -influenced, part and parcel of China's policies and practices designed to strengthen its own national security innovation base, and essential tools of efforts to spread China's influence in other countries that pose national security threats to the United States."

And lawmakers are taking active steps to intervene. A provision written by Sen. Chris Van Hollen D-Md., was attached to the Senate's National Defense Authorization Act that would make it very hard for the White House to roll back restrictions on ZTE without congressional approval. The White House could be forced to fight to have this provision stripped out if they want to consummate their deal with the Chinese.

"ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States - and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact," he said Friday. "If President Trump won't put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him."
Canadian authorities are searching for two suspects after an improvised explosive device detonated at a crowded restaurant in Ontario, injuring at least 15 people, three of whom suffered critical injuries from the blast.

Police said there were no immediate indications that the explosion late Thursday at an Indian restaurant in Mississauga was a hate crime or had possible terrorist links. But it remained unclear why the restaurant was targeted, Peel Regional Police media relations officer Constable Iryna Yashnyk told The Washington Post.

Police said two men walked into the Bombay Bhel restaurant Thursday night in Mississauga, a city neighboring Toronto, planted the IED and ran from the scene, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Then at about 10:30 p.m., it exploded, shattering glass and sending bleeding diners running for cover, according to the news organization.

"Glass was broken in the street . . . everything was destroyed. Lots of blood in the floor," Rafael Concaceicao told CBC News. "Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant."

One person told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News that the blast sounded like an electric generator exploding.

Another person told the Toronto Star that it "felt like a mini earthquake."

"After hearing that it was a bomb blast, it brings shiver down my spine," Vikram Mann told the newspaper.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie later called it "a heinous, reprehensible act, committed by cowards."

"Whoever has committed this heinous act needs to answer for their crimes and be brought to justice," she said, her hands shaking, according to the Toronto Star. "This is not the Mississauga that I know."

Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans said Friday during a news conference that "every available police resource is being used to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act."

No one was killed in the blast. Police said the three victims who were critically injured are in stable condition.

Following the horrific incident, authorities recovered security camera video of two attackers. One was described by police as between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet with a stocky build and in his mid-20s. The other, also about 5-foot-10, was wearing faded blue jeans and a dark zip-up hoodie. Both men had their faces covered.

Shitan Yan, who was grocery shopping nearby, told CBC News that he heard the exposition and saw two men running "like crazy."

"They looked back for a while and then just kept running," he added.

Peel Regional paramedic Joe Korstanje told CBC that the three critically injured people had been taken to a nearby trauma center. The remaining 12 victims suffered minor and superficial injuries, Korstanje said.

Those with noncritical injuries are receiving treatment at local hospitals, Yashnyk said.

In the aftermath of the explosion, numerous police vehicles and ambulances surrounded the restaurant, which was cordoned off with yellow tape. Bombay Bhel is located in what Yashnyk described as a "local convenience plaza," which has other restaurants and small businesses.

Authorities have not released a possible motive.
Ireland appears poised to liberalize some of Western Europe's most restrictive abortion laws in a vote that may represent the nation's most decisive break yet with its Roman Catholic roots.

Voting on removing a constitutional ban on pregnancy terminations in most circumstances started at 7 a.m. on Friday in Dublin and ends at 10 p.m. The vote count will begin at 9 a.m. on Saturday with polls and bookmakers' odds suggesting the government's proposal will pass. Broadcaster RTE is planning to release an exit poll as early as 11:30 p.m. on Friday.

"I don't see any easy win, and I think there's a general caution about polls on this matter because of the nature of the subject," said Diarmaid Ferriter, professor of history at University College Dublin. "But I'm not convinced the No side has enough of a base to defeat the proposal."

At about 1 p.m. in Dublin, campaigners said voter turnout looks strong, with anti-abortion leaders saying the result is too close to call.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called on his supporters to avoid complacency, as he sought to settle the last great secular-religious issue in Ireland. Contraception wasn't widely available until the 1990s, while divorce was legalized in a close 1995 vote. In 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage by a public vote, and Varadkar, the gay son of an Indian immigrant, became the country's leader last year.

Varadkar, a doctor who once opposed the widespread availability of abortion, said his mind had been changed by a number of "really tragic and difficult cases."

"If you are still undecided, I ask you to put yourself in the shoes of a woman who faces a crisis pregnancy, perhaps she's been raped or perhaps she's a child herself," Varadkar said in a final plea to voters. "If you vote no, nothing can change."

Much of the debate has been fought online, despite Google's decision midway through the campaign to ban all advertisements linked to the referendum. In particular, the #hometovote Twitter hashtag is showcasing Irish emigrants traveling back to vote, in a movement which carries echoes of the marriage referendum.

The law banning abortion is enshrined in the country's constitution, which can only be changed by referendum. As a result of the Eighth Amendment to the constitution, which voters overwhelmingly backed in 1983, the state "acknowledges the right to life of the unborn" and gives the unborn "equal right to life as the mother."

Effectively, that means abortion is banned in Ireland unless the pregnancy poses a real and substantial risk to the mother's life. Almost 200,000 women have traveled to Britain for terminations since 1983, Varadkar said.

The government wants to remove the current language on abortion, paving the way for an abortion with the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy, with stricter limits -- such as a fatal fetal abnormality -- after that.

Polls put the pro-choice side ahead by 12 percentage points to 29 percentage points. Bookmakers' odds suggest the government has an 85 percent chance of succeeding.

Pro-life campaigners have tried to turn the tide by labeling the government's proposals "extreme."

"If abortion on demand is introduced, thousands more abortions will happen in Ireland every year," said Clare McCarthy of the LoveBoth organization. "There can be no mistake; the government is asking us to support extreme abortion on demand."
The first of two federal trials for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort this year has been delayed two weeks because the judge has a personal conflict.

Alexandria, Virginia-based U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis said in an order Friday that he cannot begin trial July 10, "owing to a family member's medical procedure." Instead the trial will begin July 24.
The canceled summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un leaves both men with big decisions to make if they want to avoid a march to war over North Korea's nuclear program.

Their actions in the weeks ahead open a range of possibilities with broad implications for Northeast Asia. Chinese President Xi Jinping could see his trade fight with Trump further entangled with the North Korea dispute, while South Korea's Moon Jae-in could be forced to choose between his dream of reconciliation with Pyongyang and the security demands of his U.S. ally.

Here are three possible scenarios for where we go from here:

- 1. Protracted stalemate.

Trump's abrupt cancellation of his summit with Kim, which had been planned for June 12 in Singapore, highlighted a key criticism of his surprise decision to hold the meeting in the first place: Neither the U.S. nor North Korea had done enough advance work to ensure a successful outcome.

Almost immediately after Kim committed to "complete denuclearization" in his April 27 declaration with Moon, disagreements over the term began to simmer. Kim's harsh statements -- including one on Thursday calling Vice President Mike Pence "stupid," which led Trump to cancel the meeting -- protested Trump administration references to a fast-track "Libya model" requiring him to give up his nuclear weapons without getting anything in return.

Still, both Trump and Kim have left open the door to rescheduling a summit they both appear to want. In a more conciliatory missive on Friday, North Korea said it "inwardly highly appreciated" Trump and hoped his more flexible approach would lead to a deal. That could give diplomats the space they need to build trust behind the scenes and set more realistic goals. Permanent United Nations sanctions against North Korea mean Trump has time on his side.

"We have to remember, it was North Korea who asked for this meeting -- they have more to gain," Sean King, a senior vice president at Park Strategies LLC, told Bloomberg Television. "Trump may have called their bluff, and good for him if that's what the case is."

- 2. Trade war.

North Korea and trade have long been linked for Trump -- and that puts China in the firing line. When Trump needed Xi's help with Kim, he spared China from harsh trade actions he promised on the campaign trail. When Kim began talking, he turned the guns on Xi.

Now, Trump must decide whether escalating those trade disputes will increase his leverage over North Korea. Trump's speculation that Xi has encouraged Kim to take a harder line suggests that he might look for a renewed confrontation with China -- a view that has bipartisan support in Washington these days.

Besides following through on threats to levy tariffs on more than $150 billion dollars of Chinese goods, Trump could subject China's massive state-owned banks to the same rough treatment as telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp. That could prompt retaliation by Xi, who has also rebuilt his country's "strategic" bond with North Korea in the recent diplomatic flurry.

"The cancellation of the summit raises China trade risk," said Ryan Hass, who directed China policy for the National Security Council's China during Obama administration and is now a Brookings Institution foreign policy fellow. "President Trump now will feel fewer constraints on pressing China to acquiesce to his requests."

- 3. Bombs away.

In his remarks on Thursday, Trump warned North Korea the U.S. military was ready to respond if Kim's regime took any "foolish or reckless acts." While Kim has already declared his nuclear program complete and suspended missile tests, any increased hostilities may prompt him to resume provocations: On Thursday, his regime warned of a "nuclear-to-nuclear showdown" with the U.S. if talks failed.

The Trump administration now has even more hawks than it did last year, when the president warned of "fire and fury" against Kim's regime: John Bolton, his new national security adviser, penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in February titled "The Legal Case for Striking North Korea First." A North Korean nuclear attack on Seoul and Tokyo could kill as many as 2.1 million people and injure another 7.7 million people, 38 North said in a report last year.

There's no reason to suspect either Trump or Kim wants to push things this far. If anything, Kim's diplomatic outreach over the past six months has shown he wants a better life for him and his people -- not a devastating war that would end his regime. But, as this week's events have shown, the chances of miscalculation between the volatile leaders is high.

"If it's not a diplomatic trick, they're going to see mounting tensions," Andrei Lankov, a historian at Kookmin University in Seoul, said of Trump's move to cancel the summit. "If it's a diplomatic trick, it still can go the wrong way. President Trump is playing a really dangerous game, and if it doesn't work out, many people can die. Nothing nice about it."

- - -

Bloomberg's Colin Keatinge contributed.
John H. Anderson Jr. had just turned 20 years old when he arrived in Vietnam on the last day of April in 1968. Like so many of the 500,000 Americans who served in Vietnam in 1968, he'd been drafted.

The young soldier, who lived in Wellsville, Pennsylvania, arrived in Southeast Asia at a moment of peak violence. The communists had launched a May offensive, also known as mini-Tet. American generals were aggressively pushing a counteroffensive. May 1968 would turn out to be the bloodiest month of the bloodiest year for Americans in Vietnam.

Pfc. Anderson served in the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, and was soon engulfed in fighting in the northern part of the country, near the ancient imperial capital of Hue. He survived less than four weeks. He was killed in a place named Nui Ke, known as Hill 618.

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, Anderson's name is the first one visitors see as they approach the west side of the iconic black wall. If they come from the east, the first name they encounter belongs to Jessie C. Alba, a sergeant from Port Lavaca, Texas, who served in the 101st Airborne Division and was killed near Hue in a mortar attack.

Alba was engaged to be married, and his fiancee, Mary Ann Lopez, once penned a tribute to him online. "Even now," she wrote, "after so many years past, I still think of him and what our lives, could of been."

She visited the memorial in 1996 at night. "It was so overwhelming for me," she remembered. "The wall is so huge and very scary, in a way. I finally found his name, and how ironic it was that his name is the last one, almost all by itself at the end."

Like Anderson, Alba was 20 years old. Anderson and Alba had something else in common: Both were killed on May 25, 1968, half a century ago.

The midpoint of the war, as measured in the 58,000 American lives lost, is how visitors encounter the wall. Architect Maya Lin conceived of the wall when, as a senior at Yale working on a class project, she visited Washington and saw the site of the proposed Vietnam memorial.

"I had a simple impulse to cut into the earth," she wrote in The New York Review of Books. "I imagined taking a knife and cutting into the earth, opening it up, an initial violence and pain that in time would heal."

She had another idea, also radical: The names would be chronological rather than alphabetical. That proved controversial, like so much else about the design. Lin initially figured the chronology would be left to right when facing the wall, starting in 1959 and ending in 1975. But at a professor's urging she changed the design to make the chronology of deaths begin and end at the apex, creating a closed loop.

The single most lethal day of the war for American troops was Jan. 31, 1968, when 246 personnel were killed or mortally wounded as the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army regulars launched the Tet Offensive.

But if you had to pick a random date to represent the U.S. combat experience in Vietnam, May 25 would be a defensible choice. It was a day of hard, relentless fighting all over South Vietnam, from the Mekong Delta to the demilitarized zone, and much of that combat has been overlooked by historians or overshadowed by more famous events such as the Battle of Hue or the siege of Khe Sanh earlier in the year.

Ronald Spector, a professor of history and international relations at George Washington University, remembers visiting a Marine base near the DMZ during his 1968-69 tour as a Marine corporal.

"During my brief unhappy stay there, because it was in artillery range, it used to be shelled right around lunchtime," said Spector, author of "After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam." He said the high casualty rate in 1968 led to a great deal of fatalism day in and day out.

"You're counting the days until you're going home," he said. "You wanted to accomplish the mission, whatever the mission was, and get back alive."

The brutal May fighting was inextricably connected to the peace talks that had gotten underway in Paris. Both sides in Vietnam had intensified their efforts to inflict casualties, hoping to influence the talks.

The Viet Cong had suffered heavy losses in the Tet Offensive and the U.S. generals and the South Vietnamese government wanted to press their perceived military advantage and regain control of rural areas. Field commanders received an order to go all-out - "kind of a pep talk," one military spokesman said in downplaying press accounts of the order.

Vietnam rarely had set-piece battles, but rather was seen by the U.S. as a war of attrition, with success measured in body counts and kill ratios. The U.S. had vastly superior firepower, including air dominance. But combat success for the Americans did not seem to sap the fervor of the communists, who saw this as a fight to the death against an occupying power.

"It is better to die than to be a slave. There is nothing more precious than freedom and independence," North Vietnam's president, Ho Chi Minh, told the National Assembly on May 24.

Those words about freedom and independence became famous - and could be seen decades later on billboards in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), noted Meredith Lair, a George Mason University historian who teaches and writes about the Vietnam War.

She said the American war of attrition in Vietnam "involves this kind of aimless, open-ended campaign to inflict as much damage on the enemy as possible so that at some future point in time they give up," including abandoning the idea of a unified Vietnam. "They were simply not going to do that."

The U.S. inflicted heavy losses on the communists, but that didn't translate into strategic success. As 1968 progressed, public opinion in the U.S. pivoted against the war.

"The enemy has not conceded defeat. There is no sense of geographic progress being made as in World War II. There is increasing concern on the home front that the war may not in fact be winnable," said Gregory Daddis, a retired Army colonel and now a professor at Chapman University.

By May 1968, he said, with upward of 500 Americans dying every week in Vietnam, many Americans in the U.S. were asking: "Why are we still fighting? Why is the enemy not giving up? Why are we still being asked to sacrifice more?"

More Americans died in May - 2,403 - than in any other month of the war.

As for May 25, that brutal Saturday half a century ago, the names of the fallen go from A to Z, from Jessie C. Alba to Robert E. Zeske. There are 87 names in between.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's abrupt decision Thursday to abandon a summit next month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left the White House scrambling to explain the outcome to allies amid fears that the collapse of talks would mean a return to heightened tensions between nuclear powers in East Asia.

Trump announced he was pulling out of the planned meeting in Singapore on June 12 in a letter to Kim that came less than 12 hours after a North Korean official had personally disparaged Vice President Mike Pence and warned of a nuclear showdown if the United States did not alter its tone ahead of the summit.

In a missive that aides said the president dictated, Trump was by turns regretful of the missed opportunity and adamant that he would not tolerate the "tremendous anger and open hostility" from North Korea. The president pointedly warned Kim that he oversees a nuclear weapons arsenal that is "so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

Trump's aim was to remind the young dictator "of the real balance of power," a senior White House official told reporters. "The president's overarching goal isn't a meeting. It's always been the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He will never compromise the safety and security of the United States and its allies."

In remarks at the White House, Trump left the door open for the summit to be rescheduled and a North Korean official, perhaps eager to foist blame on Trump, responded that Pyongyang remains ready to meet "at any time."

A summit is urgently needed to deal with the "grave hostilities" in the relationship, vice minister Kim Gye Gwan said, according to North Korea's state media. "Leader Kim Jong Un had focused every effort on his meeting with President Trump."

But senior White House aides emphasized that a rescheduled meeting was unlikely anytime soon, citing a series of "broken promises" from Pyongyang that have frayed trust.

Among other things, they said, North Korea failed to show up for a key logistical planning meeting with a U.S. delegation in Singapore last month. Pyongyang offered no communications with Washington for a week before the bellicose statement late Wednesday, White House aides said.

"I believe that this is a tremendous setback for North Korea and, indeed, a setback for the world," Trump said.

The breakdown represented a stunning turn of events for Trump's boldest and riskiest foreign policy endeavor, coming just 10 weeks after the president impulsively agreed in March to meet Kim after a year of escalating hostilities that had raised the specter of a military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula.

Amid visions of a historic peace deal that had eluded his predecessors and inspired talk of a Nobel Peace Prize among his core supporters, Trump rushed headlong into the summit process - disregarding warnings from his own aides that North Korea has long been an untrustworthy negotiating partner and that Kim's intentions remained unclear.

On Thursday, the president's cancellation of talks sent renewed shock waves through East Asia, where the other major powers - South Korea, Japan and China - had jockeyed for leverage over the prospects that warming relations could reshape alliances.

Trump and his aides have blamed Beijing for influencing Kim in recent weeks to take a harder line, souring relations ahead of the summit. But the president's decision was likely felt most acutely in Seoul, where President Moon Jae-in, fearful of the escalating threats between Washington and Pyongyang last year, had staked his presidency on a policy of engagement with the North and positioned himself as the intermediary between Trump and Kim.

Moon, who met with Kim last month in the Korean demilitarized zone, had visited Trump at the White House on Tuesday in a desperate bid to save the Singapore summit. Instead, having arrived back in Seoul just hours earlier, he appeared blindsided by the news, convening an emergency midnight meeting with aides at the presidential Blue House.

Trump's decision came on the same day that North Korea announced that it had followed through on a pledge to destroy its underground nuclear testing facilities, although White House officials said the action could not be verified because Pyongyang did not admit international nuclear security experts to the site.

Moon said he was "very perplexed and sorry" that the summit had been canceled, adding that "the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and ensuring a permanent peace are historic tasks that cannot be delayed or forsaken."

White House aides sought to tamp down fears that the collapse of the talks would leave the president without a strategy to deter North Korea from further destabilizing the region. The aides emphasized that the administration would maintain its policy of "maximum pressure" through economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation of Pyongyang.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying before a Senate panel Thursday, said the United States would continue to work with allies to increase the sanctions, including intercepting ship-to-ship transfers and shipments of refined petroleum to North Korea.

"The pressure campaign continues," Pompeo said. "That won't change."

But critics said Trump's hasty jump into a poorly thought-out summit process had left the United States in a weakened position. Kim's outreach to Seoul and Beijing, where he visited twice with President Xi Jinping, has fractured the pressure campaign, analysts said, and Trump's personal dalliance with Kim elevated the stature of a brutal, authoritarian regime on the global stage.

"The Administration's approach to North Korea from start to finish has been one long amateur hour," Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser under President Barack Obama, wrote on Twitter. "In that way, it is not much different from Trump's approach to many other issues. But the difference is that with North Korea the stakes could not be higher."

Victor Cha, who served as a top Asia policy aide in the George W. Bush administration, noted that Trump had plenty of warnings that the North Koreans were untrustworthy partners given that the regime had violated past nuclear agreements with the United States.

"This is what happens when you jump too early to a summit," Cha said. "If this breakdown means North Korea is no longer beholden to their missile-testing moratorium, that takes us to a very bad place."

The chief concern, analysts said, was a return to the threats and hostilities between the countries that marked Trump's first year in office, when the administration was said to be exploring options that included potential military actions.

Though Kim had attempted to offer signs of goodwill, including the release of three American prisoners this month, top Trump aides, including national security adviser John Bolton, have remained skeptical of talks with Pyongyang.

Bolton's suggestion, echoed by Pence, that North Korea must relinquish its nuclear program completely before receiving reciprocal benefits from the United States - a situation he compared to Libya's actions in 2003 - inspired fierce denunciations from Kim's aides over the past two weeks.

During his remarks, Trump said he had consulted with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and he praised the U.S. military as "by far the most powerful anywhere in the world."

"Hopefully, positive things will be taking place with respect to the future of North Korea," the president added. "But if they don't, we are more ready than we have ever been before."

- - -

Fifield reported from Tokyo. The Washington Post's Ann Gearan in Chicago, and John Hudson, Josh Dawsey and Seung Min Kim in Washington, contributed to this report.

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Video: The Post's Adam Taylor explains what led up to President Trump's May 24 letter to North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and what to expect going forward.(Joyce Lee,Adam Taylor/The Washington Post)

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Video: Senators reacted on May 24 to President Trump's decision to pull out of a June summit with North Korea.(JM Rieger,Jordan Frasier/The Washington Post)

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On December 13, 2000, seven desperate inmates pulled off the biggest prison break-out in Texas history.

They busted into the prison armory, stole weapons and stormed out of the Connally Unit in a prison truck. After orchestrating two robberies in Houston, they headed up to the Dallas area.

There, on Christmas Eve, the men held up a store in Irving and made off with $70,000 and 44 guns. But on the way out, they ran into a cop.

The escapees surrounded the Officer Aubrey Hawkins' patrol vehicle and shot him 11 times before running over his body with an SUV on the way out, according to court records.

They were finally captured in Colorado a month later.

One of the escapees killed himself before police could get him. But the rest were sent to death row, where three have since been executed.

And now, a fourth, Joseph Garcia, has a date with death.

The Bexar County killer - originally sent to prison for stabbing a man more than a dozen times - is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Aug. 30, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel.

"We are exploring several issues in this case that have not been considered by the courts in the past," said Mridula Raman, one of Garcia's attorneys. "We intend to raise these matters with the courts in the near future."

For Toby Shook, a former prosecutor who handled the case, news of the date was a welcome relief.

"It's been almost 18 years," Shook said. "It's satisfying that the actual sentence will be carried out."

George Rivas, who was already serving 17 life sentences, was the ringleader who planned the escape from the unit just 60 miles south of San Antonio.

With his six co-conspirators, Rivas masterminded the plan to overpower a supervisor and tie up civilian workers as hostages.

Two of the gang dressed up as prison workers to sneak into the armory where they overpowered another employee and took control of the guard tower.

Then, three of the men took the keys to a maintenance truck and loaded it with provisions and guns before they all fled the prison near Kenedy.

After their murder and robbery spree across Texas, they holed up near Colorado Springs before police caught them.

Larry Harper killed himself rather than face a return to Texas prisons. Rivas, Michael Rodriguez and Donald Newbury have already been executed, while Patrick Murphy and Randy Halprin remain on death row with Garcia.

"He was one of the more violent ones during the prison breakout," Shook said. "The hostages described him as one of the more violent ones, who made threats and went out of his way to frighten them."

At one point some of the other men said he was the one who'd fired the fatal shot, Shook said.

In the years since his conviction, Garcia has raised a number of appeals based on claims of bad lawyering. His attorneys didn't specify what appeals they plan to raise moving forward.

Texas has already executed six men this year. Including Garcia, another nine are scheduled to die - which means the state has exactly as many doses of its death drug left as it does executions on the calendar.
William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

A conspiracy theorist who claims the November mass shooting in which 26 people were killed at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs never took place was ordered held Thursday pending a bail hearing next week.

Robert Mikell Ussery, who refers to himself as Side Thorn Journalist, and his girlfriend, Jodi Mann, known as Conspiracy Granny, were arrested March 5 on state charges of resisting arrest, trespassing and other counts. Theyre accused of walking onto the church lawn and telling Pastor Frank Pomeroy that he was perpetrating a government hoax and that his daughter who was killed in the massacre never even existed, according to a criminal complaint affidavit.
A woman is dead and her son is in police custody, accused of stabbing her to death Thursday night in a home in a Northwest Side neighborhood, according to police.

San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Hernandez, who declined to give his first name, said police were called out to the home on the 2100 block of West Kings Highway around 8:10 p.m.
Cashews. Who knew it would take travelling to Brazil to learn that the fibrous fruit from which the nut is borne, which tastes like a subtle pineapple, is native to my home country of Ghana? Or that the fruit would spin a harmonious thread through food, fashion and overlapping cultures for me?

There are several prisms through which the culture of a people and the pulse of a place can be refracted. When South Americas largest airline, LATAM, launched its inaugural nonstop flight from Miami to Salvador, Bahia, last month, I thought I might use it as an invitation to learn about Brazils fashion scene. I immediately contacted my friend Thiara Collorec, a London-via-Paris-based former lawyer and current fashion editor for Elle.fr, or simply put, the most stylish Brazilian I know. She also happens to be a Baiana.

According to her, Brazilian style is difficult to explain but easy to recognize. Brazilians dress to feel sexy and empowered, whatever the body type. Of Baiana style, she told me, You can still feel the influence of African heritage there, especially in that Bahia style is more colorful and vibrant than that of southern Brazil.

Given Thiaras words, I was ready for headwraps and shocks of color, but I was not ready for how much Bahia would feel like one of the places I call home. To attempt to enumerate all the ways Bahia reminds me of Ghana  from all the forms of cassava consumed throughout the region to the eyes, lips and noses that seemed spun from the DNA of my own  might be a task as feckless as attempting to drink the Nile. Suffice it to say that Ghana and Bahia are certainly tributaries that flow into the same river of whatever constitutes Afro-ness.

Once, during an interview about the concept of home on the podcast On She Goes, host Aminatou Sow asked me whether I adapt to the places I travel to or make them adapt to me. My answer then and now is that I must find a symbiosis of the two extremes: Who I am will not relent because of a change in terrain, but who I am is also allowing my being to be transfigured by the air of a place. Which brings me back to fashion and my exploration of it in the Brazilian context. Certain garments did not always speak to my inclinations, and yet I found a welcome challenge in molding those I wouldnt otherwise gravitate towards into my own aesthetic model. Above all, it was a joy to learn about and meet some of the minds and hands driving the Brazilian fashion train.

Of Orixas and Caipirinhas

Alessandra Affonso Ferreira, the design brain behind Sao Paulo-based label Sissa, spent her formative years in Salvador, where she and her husband-turned-business partner, Julian, also got married. Alessandra loves the rustic chic of the Pelourinho, Salvadors historic district, known for variegated colonial buildings and the air of African mysticism of Bahia, and this is evident in her earthy design ethos.

Here Im wearing her Claudia dress, which is your typical shirt dress with a touch more volume, as if an homage to traditional Baiana regalia and the festivals of Lavagem do Bonfim and Yemanja, when the faithful of Bahia are clad in alabaster in homage to the Orixas (Yoruba gods) Oxala and Yemanja respectively. For a look to carry me from day exploration to a night of sipping caipirinhas, I layered it with a matching beaded and embroidered bra and jacket set by PatBO, the brand founded by Brazils goddess of embellishment, Patricia Bonaldi. Nothings ever black and white  neither Brazils African ancestry nor this outfit  so I chose midnight-blue knotted heels by perhaps Brazils most recognizable fashion name, Alexandre Birman. Streamlined yet whimsical, the trio of knots on the shoes are redolent of the ritual of tying garlands into three knots on the fences surrounding Salvadors Bonfim church  each knot representing a wish  which culminates in fences festooned with a rainbow of possibilities: the dreams and prayers of a multitude rendered in living color and tickled by the passing wind.

Opposites Attract

Paula Raia is perhaps the Brazilian clothing brand with which I found the most consonance. With sharp lines and weighty fabric, her designs are often monochromatic but textured for nuance, like this ribbed cream ensemble. For a pop of color, I chose shoes by Brazilian fashions darling du jour, Lane Marinho. The bouffant-haired Salvador native, responsible for the made-to-order sandals that all of Brazil covets, started out at another well-known shoe brand before she began crafting her own shoes, at first making each pair entirely by hand. She now takes orders at her Sao Paulo atelier with a 45-day wait time for delivery.

Rise though her star has, Salvador and its rustic Sao Joaquim market (where Im pictured) remain fondly ensconced in her heart. I found myself caught up in Sao Joaquims similarities to the markets of my youth, like Accras Santana market. White yams, sexy green okra and towers of sugarcane: A sea might separate us, but certainly food links the western coast of Africa and northern Brazil. Linkage is also the word that comes to mind to describe the pair of earrings I chose from Bia Daidone and its interacting orbitals. The earrings seem to be a study in concavity versus convexity and the interaction of opposites that results in seamless circularity. I finished the look with a clutch from Serpui, a brand known for its small handbags that range from amoebic toucan shapes to classic beveled boxes like the brushed brass one I am carrying.

Fringe Benefit

Praia do Forte is a archetypal beach town about a 90-minute drive from Salvador where the sea breeze is relentless and the evening light sublime. There, in this sleepy enclave, among the coast-seeking masses and on its quiet village streets, this floral jacket from PatBO found meaning for me. The flow of the beaded fringe dripping from the sleeve hem found its way in the wind, just as a vendor of shell necklaces found me and offered to tie a green one of the ubiquitous Baiana garlands on my wrist in three knots for three wishes.

This much jacket meant the rest of the look had to be toned down, but not so much as to be drowned out. Enter Studio Chofakian shoes. The label founded by Sarah Chofakian is known for its minimalist, architectural form, and if any Brazilian shoe brand could withstand this much jacket with dulcet fierceness, this is it.

Orange Is the Warmest Color

By morning light at the Tivoli Eco Resort in Praia do Forte, I slipped on a three-part citrus symphony by beachwear designer Adriana Degreas. Degreas is known for her vibrant swimwear and breezy kaftans with surprising details and is a mainstay in the Miami market with shops at Aventura and Merrick Park malls. Encircling my neck is a choker I found at the aforementioned Bia Diadone atelier in Sao Paulo. Bia, though slight in appearance, is a tower of effervescence with graceful fortitude of spirit. Creating each 18k-gold-plated brass piece by hand, her process begins with feeling the metal in delicate yet calloused hands, bending and beating brass into geometric submission and allowing the process itself to reveal the form. The choker presents a powerful interplay of strength and sensuality: a whisper and the crescendo of an operatic aria all at once.

And who can resist the work of sea breeze against volumes of silk? I cheated a little on Brazilian designers  but fittingly, given Bahias African heritage  and pulled in this black silk and batik kimono from Ghanaian-American label Studio One Eighty Nine. Its easy to feel like a formidable Orixa arising from the morning mist when wearing a bright orange turban and arabesques of obsidian silk, and isnt that the feeling we all require from a holiday?

Silks and Stones

The Garcia dAvila fortress in Mata de Sao Joao, Bahia, is one of designer Juju Afonso Ferreira of Isoldas favorite places. Yet another Bahia native in Brazils constellation of design stars, her brand is renowned for its ultra-feminine aesthetic. Against the decaying aubergine and brown walls of the skeleton of the castle overlooking the Atlantic, her sanguine silk skirt sings in harmony with this pink off-shoulder shirt. Another iteration of Alexandre Birmans sandals, rendered in red and pink velvet, mirrors the gradient of rouges, but a middle tie in moss green cuts the color-coded look.

Paula Cadematoris Twi Twi bag in tan, with its subtle yet defining pink edging, is also a nod to a red color story. The Milan-based Brazilian designers bags are often as boldly colorful as Brazilian culture itself. Not visible, unfortunately, is how the orbital pair of Daidone earrings I chose pair with the petite, gold, cashew-shaped buttons that fasten the shirt cuffs. The cashew closures are, of course, a quiet reference to the oft-overlooked slice of historic and cultural paradise that is Afonsos hometown: Bahia.

Bahia itself is probably better suited to spending the whole day in shorts, shoeless, as is my friend Thiaras definition of happiness, and Sao Paulo is undoubtedly the epicenter of Brazils fashion universe. And yet Bahia has borne some of the highest-hanging fruit on the tree of Brazilian fashion, perhaps because of the soul espoused by the place. Everyone told me Id be intoxicated by the light in Bahia and, while I could drink its evening light to the lees, for me, Bahia represents finding a culture an ocean away that in so many ways resembles my own. Fashion was the icing on the cake (or in this case, the shrimp on the acaraje).

20 PHOTOS click for more

Follow Natashas adventures in travel and the arts at @natashanyanin.

Photos by Colby Blount.
Trying to appease European regulators, Facebook is encouraging its more than 2 billion users to carefully review their privacy settings.

Were asking everyone on Facebook to review important information about privacy and how to control their experience, Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook, notes in a new blog post.

In the form of an alert on users News Feed, the tech titan is asking everyone to review everything from the ads they see to face recognition to the information they share in their profiles.

In preparation for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Facebook already launched a similar educational effort in the European Union.

The broader rollout keeps a recent promise made by Mark Zuckerberg, and is just one of many changes designed to assuage widespread criticism over Facebooks privacy shortcomings.

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In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica controversy, Facebook undated its data policy, and endeavored to make its privacy controls easier to find.

Now, over the coming weeks, Facebook plans to show users customized messages explaining how it targets ads; political, religious, and relationship information theyve chosen to include on their profiles; and how it uses face recognition.

Users can expect to see a summary of the choices theyve already made, but they wont see information about those features theyve already disabled or decided not to use.

For example, if users have already disabled face recognition, Facebook is promising not to push them to activate that feature.

Along with its rivals, Facebook has been bracing for the GDPR for some time. Asking users if their data can be used to power targeted advertising and facial recognition technology is part of an effort to comply with comprehensive European data law.

Last month, Facebook CFO David Wehner said he did not expect the GDPR to significantly impact ad revenue.
Do e-cigarettes produce dangerous formaldehyde levels? This question has split scientific opinion for years. A new study reopens the discussion.

Share on Pinterest The toxicity of vaping is once again being debated.

Three years ago, researchers at Portland State University in Oregon conducted a study that found previously unknown forms of formaldehyde in the vapor of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes).

Following criticism of their work, the researchers revisited their investigation. Their findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

This time, they concluded that the risk posed by the formaldehyde content of e-cigarettes is, in fact, greater than they had originally believed.

Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring chemical that is used in the manufacture of building materials and many household products. Industrially, formaldehyde is used as a disinfectant, and as a preservative in medical laboratories and mortuaries.

As well as building materials and cleaning products, formaldehyde can also be found in the smoke from cigarettes, unvented gas stoves, wood-burning stoves, and kerosene heaters.

Since the early 1980s, doctors have suspected that formaldehyde is a carcinogen  a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue.

And finally, in 2011, after many studies, the Department of Health and Human Services National Toxicology Program officially confirmed that formaldehyde is a human carcinogen.
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The University of Calicut on Thursday announced postponement of all examinations listed for this week. A public service examination has also been deferred in view of the current situation in the district.The Health Department said on Thursday that a total of 160 samples were sent for testing to Pune. Of the 22 results that came, 14 are positive.Adding to the 14, a woman nursing student at Kozhikode is reported to have become the latest person to test positive for the infection.The Kozhikode Medical College has 136 patients and nearby Malappuram district 24 patients under observation.The authorities have, in the meantime, come out with a protocol to be carried out when the last rites of Nipah victims is performed.While cremation is favoured as the best method to stop further spread of infection, in case families opt for burial, the body would have to be covered in a polythene bag and then put into a deep pit.A large number of medical professionals and health experts deputed by the Centre, state government and the private sector are working in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts. They are meeting those under observation, besides running awareness programmes, an official said.Malappuram District Medical Officer K. Sakina told the media that the only thing the people in the district need to do is to follow the directions of the health authorities."Things are under control. What is being seen now is that if anyone has fever, there is a panic and when a patient tests positive, neighbours and relatives of the affected also turns panicky."We have opened a control room and we are always on the alert and we are doing everything possible to keep things under check. Therefore, no one needs to fear, instead they should cooperate with us," said Sakina.The authorities in Kozhikode on Thursday decided to take action against two staff members at the state-owned crematorium here for not cooperating with the conduct of the last rites.Transmission of Nipah virus takes place through direct contact with infected bats, pigs or other Nipah-infected persons.Source: IANS
NiV infection, also known as NiV encephalitis, is an important emerging viral zoonotic disease that affects both humans and animals. NiV is spread by fruit bats (also known as flying foxes), which belong to the Family Pteropodidae and Genus Pteropus . These bats are the natural reservoir host of NiV. Currently, NiV encephalitis is on the WHO list of Blueprint priority diseases.

Nipah Virus (NiV) derives its name from a village called Kampung Sungai Nipah in Malaysia, where it was first isolated from an infected person in 1998, who succumbed to the infection. NiV is an RNA (ribonucleic acid) virus, belonging to the Family Paramyxoviridae and Genus Henipavirus . NiV is closely related to the Hendra virus, which was previously known as Equine morbillivirus. This virus causes pneumonia and acute respiratory infection in horses as well as humans and has been reported mainly from Australia .

History and Origin of Nipah Virus

History of Nipah Virus

The history of NiV goes back to the year 1998, when the first outbreak of NiV occurred in peninsular Malaysia during the period between September 1998 and April 1999. A total of 265 cases of NiV encephalitis were reported from Malaysia, among those who had close contact with infected pigs or had physical contact with NiV infected patients. Importantly, the disease has devastating zoonotic potential, which is reflected by the fact that over 1 million pigs were culled and destroyed to control the disease in Malaysia, causing huge economic losses and adverse social disruption. In March 1999, 11 abattoir workers in Singapore became infected after handling imported pigs from Malaysia. It is interesting to note that NiV infections can cause high mortality, such as in the Malaysian outbreak, or low mortality as in the Singapore outbreak where the abattoir workers primarily presented with neurological complications and pneumonia. Since May 1999, no new NiV outbreaks have been reported from Malaysia and Singapore till date. However, evidence of the virus, without clinical disease, has been found in fruit bats in Madagascar, Cambodia, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Indonesia.

Origin of Nipah Virus

Since there have been no reports of circulation of NiV prior to 1998, scientists have hypothesized that the virus remained largely within the fruit bat population in the tropical forests of Malaysia. However, due to mass deforestation activities to develop settlements, farming and rearing of domestic animals including pigs for food production, the natural habitat of the fruit bats was encroached by humans. Consequently, pigs became infected with NiV from the urine and feces of these bats. The virus replicated rapidly within the pigs, as a result of which the virus became amplified and eventually spilled-over to the farmers rearing the pigs, who become infected by animal to human transmission. Eventually, more and more people became infected by human-to-human transmission and when it reached the tipping-point, the explosive Malaysian outbreak occurred.

Transmission of Nipah Virus

Nipah virus is carried by fruit bats, which are the natural reservoir hosts. The virus is present in bat urine, feces, and saliva. It has been reported that fruit bats can infect date palm sap, while being extracted from palm trees. Upon consumption of raw sap, the infection can spread to humans. Likewise, fruits bitten by fruit bats can become infected, which upon consumption can cause NiV infection in humans.

The intermediate hosts are usually pigs. Infected pigs can infect other pigs as well as domestic animals. This is an example of animal-to-animal transmission. Infected pigs can also transmit the disease to humans, especially to pig handlers or through consumption of pork. This is called animal-to-human transmission.

Importantly, the disease can also be spread between humans by nasal discharges and other body fluids. The virus can also be transmitted via fomites such as clothing, equipment and shoes. This transmission between humans is called human-to-human transmission.

NiV infections can be caused by various factors. These are briefly highlighted below:

Close contact with the excretions and secretions of individuals potentially infected with the virus.

Consumption of partially-eaten fruits by bats.

Undercooked meat of infected animals.

Drinking of raw date palm sap/juice/toddy, which may be infected.

Uncovered containers used for collecting raw date palm sap can potentially cause NiV infection if the contents become infected by fruit bats.

The initial presentation of NiV infection is non-specific. It is characterized by sudden onset of fever, often called brain fever . This is accompanied by headache, drowsiness, nausea and vomiting. The patient can also experience photophobia (an aversion for sunlight). Neck rigidity and severe muscle pain/spasm can also occur. The patients condition deteriorates rapidly and is accompanied by mental confusion and disorientation, often leading to coma within a couple of days. In the absence of prompt supportive care, the patient may die.

The consequences of NiV infection can be very grave. Serious complications such as encephalitis, associated with brain fever can occur, where there is inflammation of the brain. When these complications occur, control of NiV replication is not possible. A consequence of this is altered consciousness, sometimes even causing the patient to become unconscious. In very severe cases, the patient can slip into coma within a matter of 24 to 48 hours. The ultimate consequence of this is death!

The disease is very difficult to diagnose based on clinical symptoms alone. However, a definitive diagnosis can be made based on laboratory tests, which are briefly highlighted below:

ELISA: ELISA stands for Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay. It is a very accurate and sensitive immunological test for detecting antigens or antibodies, depending upon the format of the ELISA technique used.

In case for NiV infection, antibodies will be generated against the virus surface proteins (antigens). These antibodies circulate within the patients blood. So, a small sample of blood can be used for detecting as well as quantifying the level of virus-specific antibodies in the patients body using the ELISA test. The level of these antibodies is technically termed as titer, which gives an idea of the amount of virus present in the body  the higher the titer, the higher the severity of the disease.

RT-PCR: RT-PCR stands for Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction. This is one of the most sensitive molecular tests currently available for detection of viral infections. Since NiV has an RNA genome, a minute sample of blood is taken from the patient, which will contain the viral RNA.

The RNA is unstable, so it has to be converted to DNA, which is more stable. This is done by reverse transcription of the RNA to produce complementary DNA (cDNA), which is subsequently amplified by PCR using a thermocycler to generate millions of copies of the DNA from even a single strand of DNA molecule. This DNA is quantified by a procedure called agarose-gel electrophoresis. A positive test indicates that virus is definitely present in the patients body.

In any outbreak situation, these tests are generally carried out at the National Institute of Virology, Pune, which is the National Reference Laboratory for viral diseases in India.

These is no specific treatment for Nipah virus infection. Primary treatment involves intensive supportive care with continuous monitoring. The drug ribavirin has been shown to be effective against viruses in in vitro studies. However, its effectiveness in human clinical trials remains inconclusive and therefore lacks clinical applicability.

There is currently no vaccine available for preventing NiV infections. However, recent research has indicated that a subunit protein vaccine, using the Hendra virus G protein, produces cross-protective antibodies against Hendra virus as well as NiV. This experimental vaccine has been recently used in Australia to protect horses against Hendra virus infection. Importantly, this vaccine also has a great potential for protecting humans against NiV infection.

You can prevent NiV infection by taking the following precautions:

Avoid contact with sick people, infected animals such as pigs and horses, as well as the natural host, namely, the fruit bat.

Do not drink raw date palm sap or toddy.

Use netting on the opening of containers used to collect date palm sap, so that the fruit bats cannot cause contamination.

Maintain personal hygiene and hand washing practices.

Do not consume raw fruits.

Eat cooked, homemade food until the outbreak passes away.

Use personal protective equipment (PPE) like goggles, head covering and masks e.g. N95 mask while traveling and working in public areas to reduce the chances of human-to-human transmission.

Immediately report to the nearest health facility if you develop symptoms of NiV infection.

Nipah Virus Outbreaks

Malaysia Outbreak: It is the first outbreak of Nipah in the world (discussed above). The disease was primarily spread by infected pigs. Besides pigs there is evidence of NiV infection in several species of domestic animals, including dogs, cats, goats, horses, and possibly also sheep. However, following the initial Nipah outbreaks, the virus has primarily affected human populations around the globe.

Meherpur (Bangladesh) Outbreak: NiV was isolated during an outbreak in April-May 2001 in Meherpur district of Bangladesh. In this Bangladesh outbreak, there were 13 cases and 9 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 69%. Since then, NiV encephalitis has been reported almost every year in many districts in Bangladesh.

Siliguri (West Bengal, India) Outbreak: The Siliguri outbreak is the first Nipah outbteak on Indian soil. It occurred from January to February in 2001. The patients presented with fever and neurological symptoms. Blood samples were obtained from the patients and analyzed by ELISA and RT-PCR. NiV-specific antibodies were detected in 9 out of 18 patients by ELISA. RT-PCR detected viral RNA in 5 patients. In this outbreak, there were 66 cases and 45 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 68%.

Nadia (West Bengal, India) Outbreak: This is the second Indian outbreak, which occurred in Nadia district of West Bengal. In this outbreak 30 patients initially presented with febrile illness, of which 5 were confirmed as Nipah cases. All 5 cases proved to be fatal. All the fatal cases tested positive for NiV by RT-PCR. Therefore, the case fatality rate in this outbreak was 100%.

Important Details in Nipah Outbreaks:

In the outbreaks reported in Bangladesh and India, so far 263 NiV encephalitis cases and 196 deaths have been reported since 2001. NiV encephalitis exhibits a case fatality rate of 0-100%, with an average case fatality rate of 74.5%.

In the Bangladesh and Indian outbreaks, there was no involvement of pigs in the transmission of NiV infection, unlike the Malaysian outbreak. Consumption of raw date palm sap infected by fruit bats was the primary cause of the spread of NiV.

Kozhikode (Kerala, India) Outbreak: This is the third outbreak to occur in India and is currently ongoing in Kozhikode district in Kerala. Of the 20 patients who had presented with symptoms of NiV infection, 12 have so far died, including a nurse who got infected while treating patients.

The Kerala government has assured the public that it is safe to travel to Kerala, but has nevertheless issued a travel advisory to preferably avoid 4 districts in Kerala, namely, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur.

It is believed that the virus has the potential to spread to other states. One case of Nipah has already been detected from Mangalore in Karnataka, which has stepped-up surveillance and case detection efforts in the state as well as the neighboring states of Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

Experts from the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi are currently in Kozhikode to assess the situation. The outbreak is presently under control and the Union Health Ministry has urged citizens to remain calm and not to panic.
A New-York-based couple recently sued their 30-year-old son for staying at their house without paying rent or helping with the chores. And guess what? They won. Christina and Mark Rotondo live in New York and Michael Rotondo, their 30-year-old son, moved back 8 years ago into their family home. The elderly couple allegedly issued multiple warnings to their son to move out and do some work, but looks like Michael was in no mood to comply.

The couple even offered their son an investment of money  $1,100 (Rs 75,000 approx) to help him settle down elsewhere. Their offers fell on deaf ears. Eventually, they sent him eviction letters  5 of them  but the son ignored them too. Finally, Mr and Mrs Rotondo took legal action against their own son and filed a case in the Supreme Court.

 Reuters

They had initially filed a case in the local court, but since there was family involved they were asked to take the case to the Supreme Court. In their note to the local court, they wrote:

Michael, after a discussion with your mother, we have decided that you must leave this house immediately. You have 14 days to vacate. You will not be allowed to return. We will take whatever actions are necessary to enforce this decision.

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It is rather interesting to note how cultural expectations in the West differ from those in Asia. While parents in the West literally throw their kids out of the house once they read adulthood, their counterparts in India would rather have their adult children come back home on time every day and eat rajma chawal. Dare you miss one phone call from mother, and all hell breaks lose.

The only time Indian parents asked us to leave the house and live our lives was this:
The fall in the value of the lira reduced the number of cargoes booked this week, leading to weaker offer prices. The markets in the United States and India both stagnated as a result of the Turkish situation, causing buyers to step back and wait until market conditions improved.Taiwan scrap prices were also affected by the falling Turkish market, with prices dropping in response.Steel mills in Turkey continued to struggle with the weakness of the lira against the US dollar, caused by the political uncertainty in the Middle Eastern country arising from the calling of early elections.Turkeys ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) agreed, in a surprise move, to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24 this year, 17 months before they were required to be held.This is affecting the local market very badly, while demand for finished steel in the export markets was also sluggish, according to market sources.The lira was trading at TRY100 to $21.32 on May 25, down from TRY100 to $22.22 at the start of the week, according to exchange rate website Oanda.com.Everybody is watching to see where the lira will stop falling. It is getting worse every day, one source said.Some Baltic Sea merchants reduced their offers to $345 per tonne, Metal Bulletin was told, although other sources believed that offers were not below $350 per tonne cfr.Turkish mills cannot accept those offers under the current economic conditions. Only mills which need scrap urgently would pay $330-335 per tonne cfr for HMS 1&2 (80:20), a mill source added.But a steel producer in the Iskenderun region booked a Baltic Sea cargo on May 24, comprising 10,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20), 9,500 tonnes of shredded and 5,000 tonnes of plate and structural scrap (P&S) at an average price of $347.50 per tonne cfr.Mills are securing short-sea scrap for their urgent requirements. They were buying A3-grade scrap at around $330 per tonne cfr but they have already cut their bids to $325 per tonne due to the liras weakness, one market source said on the same day.Late on Thursday, however, a steel mill in the Marmara region booked a Baltic Sea cargo, comprising 16,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $338 per tonne cfr and 4,000 tonnes of bonus scrap at $348 per tonne.Around the same time, another steel mill in the Iskenderun region booked a UK cargo, comprising 7,000 tonnes of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $333 per tonne and 3,000 tonnes of bonus at $343 per tonne cfr.US bulk ferrous scrap export prices were stagnant, with Turkish mills continuing to bypass the country in favor of more affordable European and Baltic material, and with prices for containerized scrap on both the East and West Coasts of the US starting to crack under the pressure.No cargoes were confirmed sold from either US coast over the week, although sources said that demand for US bulk scrap was increasing in the secondary markets.I am seeing demand out of Mexico and even Brazil, one trader source said. In the past two weeks, there has been increased demand for shredded scrap from Turkey and strong demand for full shred cargoes from South America.Buying activity was likely to become more robust in the coming weeks with Latin American countries, and emerging Asian markets such as Thailand and Malaysia, waking up, a broker source added.Turkish steelmakers were buying cargoes at a sedate pace, preferring to stay mostly on the market sidelines due to slow rebar export demand, the diminished business activity during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, and the weakness of the lira.Sources believed that Turkish mills will have to buy during Ramadan this year because they have been holding back from deep-sea purchases in the hope of lower prices.The Turks need cargoes. They have to buy. But the question is whether they will go to Europe or come to the US. I think they will probably head to Europe first because European suppliers are more willing to take lower prices right now, the broker said.Even though shredded scrap currently commands a premium in the bulk market due to healthy demand, the same resilience was not reflected in the containerized market on the US East Coast. Market participants indicated that prices for containerized shredded scrap slipped to $335-345 per tonne fas from $350-355 per tonne fas a week ago.On the US West Coast, the market for containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) was also facing downward pressure from buyers. Prices drifted on the low end of the range to $320-330 per tonne fas from $325-330 per tonne fas a week ago.I think that many West Coast dealers will be out of the market if prices drop by more than $5 [per tonne], a West Coast broker source said.American Metal Markets weekly US East Coast ferrous scrap export indices for HMS and shredded scrap were stable on Wednesday at $327.75 per tonne fob New York and $333.75 per tonne fob New York.Import prices for containerized HMS-grade material in Taiwan decreased this week, with sentiment in the spot market turning bearish.Metal Bulletins assessment of import prices for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) sold into Taiwan was $340-345 per tonne cfr for the week ended May 25, down by $5 per tonne on the high end from a week earlier.US scrap was offered at $350 per tonne cfr Taiwan in the earlier part of the week, before dropping to $345 per tonne cfr Taiwan on Friday.There were deals heard done for such material at $340-345 per tonne cfr Taiwan, down from $340-350 per tonne cfr Taiwan heard last week.A major buyer purchased 1,000-2,000 tonnes of ferrous scrap at close to $340 per tonne cfr Taiwan, citing sufficient raw material inventory as the principal reason not to buy more.Bulk Japan-origin HMS 1&2 (50:50) was offered at $355 per tonne cfr Taiwan, down from $355-357 per tonne cfr Taiwan last week, with buyers bidding $348 per tonne cfr Taiwan. Bulk Japan-origin HMS 2 was offered at $343 per tonne cfr Taiwan.Market sources pointed to the weakening of Turkeys lira and the lower scrap import prices there as being among the key reasons for the downturn in sentiment in Asia, because sellers would be willing to send more cargoes to Asia due to the more attractive prices there.The price may continue go down in the near term because the Turkish economy is not expected to improve any time soon, a second Taiwanese trader said.Metal Bulletins weekly index for containerized imports of shredded scrap into India was $382.90 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on May 25, little changed from $382.31 per tonne cfr Nhava Sheva on May 18.Market participants estimated the highest achievable offers for shredded material into India to be $385 per tonne during the week, down from $390 per tonne the week before.One deal for UK-origin material was reportedly made at $385 per tonne cfr Nhava Shava but material was available at prices as low as $375 per tonne on the same delivery terms.The market was quiet this week. We will sell our material next week. Were waiting for the right price, a trader said.There are no buyers in the market. Prices are not viable. We will wait and watch, a second trader said.The market has gone down by about $5 per tonne the past few days. No buyers want to do deals. People want to wait, perhaps for one week. Lets see what happens, a buyer said.Traders have been actively looking to other markets such as Indonesia and Pakistan. Buyers are going to need to buy at some stage [and] then everybody will come to the table. Its a strange time of year, its difficult to [discern] a direction [in the market], a seller said.The problems in Turkey affected the international scrap markets over the week, sources said.We expect a price correction in the international market of around $10-15 per tonne. The local market is good, prices are stable, but people are holding back. The Turkish market is also down. People will start buying when prices fall a bit, a second seller said.We are not keen to buy because we want to see what happens in the market. We will be back trading next week. Were not trading in big quantities until the market situation is clear. The lira went down a lot, so people will not buy for a few weeks, a third trader said.Its risky. Its quiet everywhere, not only in India, but also in Pakistan and even in Turkey. Prices will fall a lot if it stays quiet. And the market in the UAE is quiet because there are fewer working hours due to Ramadan - which means less exports, a third seller said.Turkish domestic scrap prices increased in line with the rise in finished long steel prices over the week that ended on May 21, sources said on Monday.Steel producers in Turkey and a major scrapyard increased their buy prices for auto bundle scrap by TRY25-80 ($6-18) per tonne over the preceding seven days.Metal Bulletins weekly price assessment for domestic auto bundle scrap (DKP grade) in Turkey was TRY1,380-1,560 ($294-333) per tonne delivered on May 21, up from the previous weeks TRY1,370-1,530 per tonne.Paul Lim in Singapore, Cem Turken in Mugla, and Mei Ling Toh in New York contributed to this report.
The Greek economy is returning to normalcy with its August 2018 exit from the memorandums, and foreign investments, including Russian investments, can contribute to the achievement of significant growth rates in the coming years, Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos stressed during his intervention as a panellist in the round-table discussion on Greek-Russian economic relations, which was held within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.



There is significant room for growth in Greek-Russian economic relations, in sectors such as tourism, shipping, agri-food and energy, Mr. Katrougalos added, expressing the conviction that the Greek-Russian Joint Interministerial Committee will meet by the end of the year, in Russia. It was also agreed, with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, to carry out a large business and investment mission to Athens in the fall of 2018.



Other participants in the discussion included Georgy Kalamanov, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Giorgos Tsipras, the head of the Prime Minister Economics Office, Alexander Murichev, the Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Anastasios Tzikas, President of Thessaloniki International Fair Helexpo, Nikita Bantsekin, director general of the SME support service, Dimitris Bakolas, President of the Hellenic-Russian Chamber of Commerce, and Pavel Skurikhin, President of the National Union of Grain Producers. The discussion was monitored by Dimitrios Velanis, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic.



The local government of St. Petersburg and the Hellenic-Russian Chamber of Commerce signed an agreement on the promotion of tourism and commercial transactions. Additionally, the more than 20 Greek enterprises participating in the Forum signed bilateral cooperation agreements in sectors such as shipping, agri-food and tourism.



On the margins of the Forum, Mr. Katrougalos met with Tatiana Valovaya, Minister in charge of the Development of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
The biggest problem Europe is facing today is the sharp rise in inequalities within and between states; inequalities that undermine both the economy and democracy. Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos stressed this in his address to the 3rd Forum of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, which is taking place in Catania.



In contrast, Mr. Katrougalos added, these EU initiatives for the countries of the Adriatic and Ionian Region, which link EU member states with countries that are candidates or potential candidates for accession, enhance the regions political and economic stability. We need regional strategies that will contribute to just development that benefits all of the European Unions citizens. No citizen should be left behind and driven to poverty or unemployment.



Greece, Mr. Katrougalos highlighted, promotes similar policies in the wider Balkan region, strengthening cooperation in the sectors of energy, transport and trade.



Issues of maritime and onshore cross-border cooperation during the period 2021-2027, the migration- and refugee-related challenges for the countries in the region, and the potential for further cooperation were discussed at the Forum.



Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia are the countries participating in the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region. For the first time, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was welcomed as an observer,in an effort towards confidence-building measures between the states of the region. FYROM submitted an application to become the ninth country participating in this EU Strategy.
PORT AUSTIN -- The U.S. Congressional Candidate Kimberly Bizon is looking forward to meeting constituents Saturday at the Port Austin Farmers Market.

Bizon will have volunteers handing out free Shasta Daisy seeds at the market.
LANSING -- Legislation that has passed the Michigan House of Representatives could help bolster rural hospitals across the state.

The House this week approved a proposal from Rep. Edward J. Canfield, R-Sebewaing, improving access to health care in rural areas of the state.

HB 5934 calls for providing at least $26 million for rural hospitals to help care for Medicaid patients -- money some hospitals need to remain open, Canfield said. Some of the money would be dedicated specifically for baby delivery and related services.

Canfield's plan increases funding for the rural hospital access pool and gives it more permanency. The current fiscal year appropriation is $16 million for the rural hospital access pool.

"Many rural hospitals need this money simply to keep their doors open," said Canfield. "And they are in areas where we simply can't afford to lose hospitals and health care providers. These funds are too important not to have some permanence."

Under the bill, no single hospital could receive more than 10 percent of the total rural hospital access pool.

Canfield said the financial viability of rural hospitals has life-and-death consequences.

"Keeping these hospitals open saves lives and makes lives better," he said. "In some areas, losing a hospital may mean a drive that's an hour or more longer to receive critical care -- and that's time people don't have in many situations."

House Bill 5934 advances to the Senate for further consideration.
From mans beginning on earth, war of one kind or another has been waged.

War spits in the face of the natural order of the universe when a child dies before a parent. The death of a soldier means the loss of a family member to those who love the person who made the ultimate sacrifice.

That loss was officially recognized in 1864 when Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew wrote President Lincoln asking him to express condolences to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a widow who was believed to have lost five sons during the Civil War.

Lincoln acted on the suggestion. He wrote a letter to her which was reported to have been printed the Boston Evening Transcript.

The following is that letter:

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.

But, I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln.

Later on it was determined only two of Mrs. Bixby's five sons died in battle, Charles and Oliver. As for the other two sons, it is believed that one deserted the Army, one was honorably discharged, and another deserted or died a prisoner of war.

Whether the death of one or five children, the loss of a child cuts the soul to the quick.

Over the years, millions of lives of those in the Armed Services have been sacrificed on the alter of freedom.

Monday is the day to honor and remember those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. There will be Memorial Day observances throughout the area to do that. Most events last about half an hour  just 30 minutes to honor those whose future was terminated to protect others.

Mary Drier is a veteran journalist who will now write bi-weekly columns for the Huron Daily Tribune, effective June 9. Her son, Sgt. Charles A. Drier, died May 24, 2005, while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
You know what they say  don't mint your North Korea peace summit novelty coins until North Korea stops threatening nuclear war.

That's a lesson the White House appears to have learned the hard way this week. With Trump having announced the June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is not to be, the coins minted to commemorate the historic occasion are now on sale at a discount.

MORE: Trump cancels North Korean summit, citing 'open hostility'

"If Summit Does Not Occur You can Request a Refund but Most Supporters Have Said They Want This Heirloom of Political History Regardless of Outcome," the item description reads, a little defensively.

Now the coins and their "perfectly baked enamels" can be yours for the low low cost of $19.95 (and also global stability), down from $24.95, so it would seem the international community's loss is the novelty coin collector's gain in this case. Gold-plated commemorative ornaments are also on sale at $59, down from $85.

Apparently this price cut sparked some interest because the White House Gift Shop site was down for some time on Thursday morning due to high volume of visitors, according to an error message on the page. And the coins only say 2018 on them, so technically, if the summit is rescheduled this year  a possibility Trump has suggested he's open to  they could still be legitimate.

So go ahead and get 'em while you can  the perfect gift! Nothing says "nothing matters and we're all going to die" like souvenirs from a nuclear peace summit that's no longer happening. Also on sale today? An impressive array of bomber jackets. Let's all hope that's not an omen of what's to come.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter
Tucked away in far corners of continents and buried at the bottoms of oceans, an average of 18,000 new plant and animal species are discovered every year.

To raise awareness of the new finds, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (EFS) in Syracuse, N.Y., puts together a list of the top 10 new species in the previous year.

The 2018 list released Tuesday includes everything from a rare great ape identified on Indonesia's island of Sumatra to an ant no bigger than a grain of rice living in Costa Rica to the deepest-dwellingfishever discovered in thedarkabyssoftheMarianaTrenchinthewesternPacific. (See all 10 in the gallery above.)

Dr. Quentin Wheeler, who has overseen the list since founding it in 2008, says he can't name which species is most notable on this year's list.

"It's like saying which of my children I like best," explains Wheeler, an entomologist and president of tEFS "Each one has its special aspect."

He will say the discovery of a new tree in Brazil's Amazon demonstrates the list's purpose in pointing out that there is still a world out there to be discovered.

"The fact that we're still discovering species of 150-foot tall trees has to make you wonder what else we don't know," he says. "All of them are reminders that we have so far to go and discover what species are out there."

More than two million species have been identified over the last two and a half centuries, and scientists estimate as many eight million are awaiting discovery. Since the 1940s, the number has remained flat at 18,000 a year.

"Think of all the technological advances that have been made since then," he says. "It should be happening at a faster speed if we made it more of a priority."

He adds: "Wethinkatleast20,000peryeararegoing extinct. ... Somanyofthesespecies ifwedon'tfindthem,namethemanddescribe themnow willbelostforever.Andyettheycanteachussomuchaboutthe intricaciesofecosystemsandthedetailsofevolutionaryhistory.Eachofthem has foundawaytosurviveagainsttheoddsofchangingcompetition,climateand environmentalconditions.Soeachcanteachus somethingreallyworthknowingaswe

faceanuncertainenvironmentalfutureourselves."

Developing the list is an imperfect science and graduate students help Wheeler comb through journals and papers describing new species.

"We're looking for something that's strikingly beautiful or very weird or things of record... whether the smallest of record or the largest  anything that might catch a casual reader's eye," he says.
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Johnie Webb's corner office is full of memories from a grim but fulfilling mission.

As the Army veteran leans over his desk -- strewn with gifts given to him over the course of a 40-year career -- he grabs a wooden box and pulls out a modest bracelet. Engraved on stainless steel reads the name of a staff sergeant killed in the Vietnam War.

When he begins to share the story of how he received it, his light blue eyes well up with tears.

"I keep it on my desk, because this is what we're all about," said Webb, deputy of outreach and communications for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Since 1975, Webb has traveled dozens of times to former combat zones as a Soldier and later as a civilian for the joint agency or one of its predecessors. The agency is responsible for locating the remains of the more than 82,000 Americans who are still missing from past conflicts.

While much of his time had been in search of those fallen service members, Webb, 72, is now an advocate for their families who continue to wait for updates.

"I'm not going to say closure, because I'm not sure if there ever is closure when you lose a loved one. But at least [we can] provide them answers and give that loved one back," he said. "That's extremely important and I'm honored to play a small part."

VIETNAM VETERAN

Early in his Army career, Webb, a retired lieutenant colonel, led convoys as a logistics officer all over Vietnam to ensure bases had fuel for operations during the war.

Under the constant threat of roadside bombs and ambushes, he briefed his Soldiers to move their vehicle out of the road if it were ever hit so other vehicles could escape.

"If you block the road, then we're all done," he recalled saying.

During one of those missions, a Soldier did just that after a rocket-propelled grenade struck the cab of his 5-ton vehicle and left him with severe burns.

His sacrifice was something Webb never forgot.

"Unfortunately, he didn't survive," he said. "But he probably saved the rest of us by doing what we were trained to do and that was to get his truck off the road."

A few years after his tour, the Army assigned Webb to the Central Identification Laboratory-Thailand, which was later moved to Hawaii and consolidated into DPAA.

The role of the new unit was to find the remains of Americans from the Vietnam War.

At first, he was confused, he said, since he knew nothing about the organization or its mission. In the Army's eyes, though, he was qualified for the job because as a young lieutenant he once took a course on graves registration.

It would eventually come full circle for Webb in 1985, when he was chosen to lead the first recovery team into Vietnam only a decade after the end of the war.

"It became very personal for me," he said, regarding the sacrifices made by fallen comrades. "We couldn't let them be forgotten."

Being back in Vietnam was initially "unnerving," he said. After all, he had once fought an enemy there and it was uncertain how his team would be treated.

The mission was to search for human remains from a B-52 bomber crash site near Hanoi. But the team's visit to Vietnam was also an opportunity to rebuild the diplomatic relationship between the former warring nations.

The Vietnamese still distrusted Americans then, he said, and even photographed his team with cameras that were crudely hidden in briefcases.

Now, more than 30 years after that first mission, Vietnamese officials work closely with the DPAA teams that rotate in and out of the country each year. The agency is even permitted to permanently base one of its detachments in Hanoi to support teams as they search for roughly 1,600 Americans missing from that war.

"We were there before we had diplomatic relations. We were there before an embassy was ever established," Webb said. "A lot of groundbreaking effort went into getting us to where we are today."

NORTH KOREA

While the agency's mission started with the work to account for those lost in Vietnam, it grew to include sites from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War and other conflicts.

Webb was again behind another pioneering effort, but this time in North Korea. He and others took several trips to the country and helped negotiate with the North Koreans so teams could conduct missions at former battle sites from 1996 to 2005.

They even traveled from the capital, Pyongyang, to the Chosin Reservoir, where a decisive battle had taken place in the winter of 1950. As they were driven through the country, Webb recalled seeing how desperate the North Koreans had lived.

"It was very interesting times," he said, "but it made sure you were really appreciative of being an American."

As U.S. and North Korean governments currently aim to thaw relations between each other, Webb hopes it will lead the reclusive country to reopen its borders to the agency's teams.

About 7,700 Americans are still unaccounted for from the Korean War, with the majority believed to be in North Korea.

"If we want to get answers to the families, and we definitely want to get them answers, we're going to have to get access back into North Korea," he said.

With the days of digging at excavation sites now behind him, Webb maintains a pivotal role in keeping families, distinguished visitors and veterans service organizations apprised of agency efforts.

"I couldn't say enough good things about Johnie Webb and the fact that he is literally one of the staunchest contributors to this mission," said Kelly McKeague, the agency's director.

McKeague, a former Air Force major general, credits Webb's "Texas roots" for his compassion and calm demeanor. There is no better person, McKeague said, to speak with families struggling with loss.

"Johnie has a sense about him to be able to communicate with them, to be empathetic to them, and to literally not just be their friend but be their confidant," he said. "They have so much confidence in him."

FAMILY ADVOCATE

Whether in a foreign country or back at the headquarters in Hawaii, Webb said the younger troops at the agency have always impressed him.

"Most of them weren't even born when the guy who they are trying to recover was lost," he said. "Still, they feel that kinship to that military buddy who wore the uniform for them."

The "grunt work" these troops -- many of whom are Soldiers -- do at an excavation site can take months to years to find remains, if there are any. Once recovered, it can take even longer to identify them by lab staff.

While the long process sometimes leaves families irritated, the agency wants to ensure human remains are properly excavated and identified.

"Not only is it frustrating to the families, it gets frustrating for us as well because we want to provide those answers," Webb said. "We want to return that loved one, but we want to do it right."

When the answers do come, some family members do not want to believe them.

Inside a wooden box on his desk, the engraved bracelet reminds Webb of one such family member.

The father of the staff sergeant whose name is on the bracelet often spoke to Webb about his missing son before he was found. He had hoped his son was still alive and pleaded to Webb to bring him back.

A team then discovered remains from a site of a crashed helicopter, which the staff sergeant was on. Shortly after, Webb advised the father to prepare to receive his son's remains so he could honor his life.

"It was clear that he was not wanting to hear that," Webb remembered.

Webb asked other families who knew the grief-stricken father and had also lost loved ones to talk to him so he could come to terms with the news. He finally did.

When his son's remains were returned to the family, there was a huge outpouring of public support. The funeral had full military honors and even dignitaries showed up to it.

"It was a day of celebration for this young man to come back home," Webb said. "I was happy that he had honored his son the way he should have been honored."

A few weeks later, a brown envelope addressed to Johnie Webb came in the mail. In it, there was a "thank you" note along with the bracelet, which the father always wore.

"I'm giving to you the POW bracelet that I have worn since my son was lost," Webb said, recalling what the father wrote. "I finally took it off when he came back home. I want you to have it as a token of my appreciation."
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Algerian authorities to respect the freedom of expression and media following the sentencing of Algerian blogger Marzoug Touati to 10 years in prison.

The blogger is accused of communicating with a foreign entity and inciting civil disobedience. The heavy-handed judgement comes after Touati made an interview with an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, which the blogger posted to the YouTube page of independent site al-Hogra in January 2017.

This harsh sentence handed down to Marzoug Touati is a clear attack on press freedom in Algeria and authorities should overturn the conviction on appeal, said CPJ Advocacy Director Courtney Radsch.

Algeria must let its journalists operate without interference and report freely as a signal that it supports and is committed to an independent press, the CPJ official said.

Algerian independent journalists, who criticize government officials and policies, suffer harassment, while publishers, editors, advertisers and journalists face growing pressure.

The Algerian government uses its control over most printing houses and large amounts of public sector advertising to exert undue influence on press outlets and to suffocate the freedom of speech, expression and press.

In its latest report on human rights in the world, US State Department denounced restrictions imposed by Algerian authorities on the freedom of the press, assembly and association.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other NGOs have also condemned on several occasions the systematic violations of freedom of speech, assembly & association despite constitutional amendments guaranteeing these rights.

They have decried the prosecution in Algeria of peaceful critics, including human rights defenders, in unfair trials, and the forced closure of media outlets.

In 2016, Mohamed Tamalt, a freelance journalist with dual Algerian and British nationality, was given a two-year prison sentence for a video he posted on Facebook featuring a poem deemed offensive to Algerias president.

Tamalt died in prison after staging a hunger strike to protest his conviction. Authorities denied mistreatment, but his family insisted that negligence or mistreatment contributed to his death.
NHA TRANG, Vietnam -- Full of sediment from the bottom of the sea, a gray metal basket slowly rose out of the turquoise water. While it appeared to only contain muck, it offered hope to the U.S. military divers waiting to inspect its contents.

The divers --- mainly from the Army's 7th Engineer Dive Detachment -- were archaeologists of sorts. As they sifted through the mud the consistency of wet cement, the divers searched for personal effects or aircraft wreckage to prove they were on the right path.

The ultimate discovery, though, would be the remains of the six Soldiers who went missing after their Chinook helicopter crashed off the coast here during the Vietnam War.

Each year, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency oversees more than 70 joint missions around the world in search of the remains of American service members at former combat zones. In Vietnam, there are still over 1,200 service members who have not yet been found.

Some of those operations are underwater recovery missions, which rely heavily on the Army's small diving force.

"Everybody in the military signs up to go to war. We fight the nation's battles. That's what we do," said Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Kratsas, the agency's only master diver. "But I know if I ever got killed in battle somewhere, I would want my remains brought home to my family and I know they would want the same."

An Army diver holds an umbilical cord near Nha Trang, Vietnam, March 19, 2018. (U.S. Army photo/Sean Kimmons)

ZERO VISIBILITY

As the most senior diver on the recent 45-day mission near Nha Trang in southern Vietnam, Kratsas helped ensure the safety of the divers who plunged 80 feet into the dark waters.

Depending on the weather, four two-man teams from the dive detachment spent about an hour each day on the sea floor. While hidden beneath the waves, they used 8-inch vacuum systems to dredge sediment within specified grids of the archaeological site.

At times, the divers stood on the sea floor buried in thick silt up to their shoulders. Divers sucked out the silt until they reached the hard-packed seabed, where pieces of the helicopter had been resting for decades.

The next day, much of the silt had to be dredged out again due to the sea currents that brought in more.

The painstaking efforts of these underwater missions, especially in the murky waters off the coast of Vietnam, are repeated daily in hopes to reunite those lost in war with their loved ones.

"We do exactly what the land team does," said Kratsas, 46, of Lordstown, Ohio. "We dig a hole in the earth, we put it in a bucket and we screen it. The same exact process that they do, except ours is at 80 feet and we can't see it."

Side-scan sonar and magnetometer work helps pinpoint metal objects on the sea floor to better focus diving operations. But sites can often cover a vast area, particularly if an aircraft or ship has broken into pieces.

A site's depth can also limit how long a diver can safely stay under the water. At 80 feet below, the Army divers only had 55 minutes to work during each dive. Once back on the floating barge, they were rushed into a pressurized chamber to ward off chances of a decompression illness by gradually returning them to normal air pressure.

"Bottom time is definitely a premium," said Spc. Lamar Fidel, a diver with the detachment, which falls under the 8th Theater Sustainment Command in Hawaii. "That's where we make our money."

In a previous mission, Fidel said they were able to dive for about six hours at a time. That site, which was in search of two pilots from an F-4 Phantom fighter jet that crashed in the Gulf of Tonkin near northern Vietnam, was only about 20 feet deep.

It was also Fidel's most memorable diving mission so far.

For 14 years, he said, the agency had gone to the site unable to recover any human remains. Then last year, using the work of past missions, his team discovered a bone that led to the identification of one of the missing pilots.

"As soon as you see that, that hits you right in the heart," said Fidel, 28, of Atlanta. "It makes you realize what you did ... wasn't all for nothing."

A diver with the 7th Engineer Dive Detachment monitors air levels in Vietnam, March 20, 2018. (U.S. Army/Sean Kimmons)

EXCLUSIVE GROUP

While DPAA depends on Army divers for many of its missions, there are only about 150 of them across the service.

The small, elite career field has a high failure rate of roughly 60 to 80 percent for those training to become a diver. Much of the reasoning behind the tough entry course is that lives are always at stake during missions.

"Every time we get in the water, you have a chance of having a diving-related casualty," said Staff Sgt. Les Schiltz, a diving supervisor assigned to the agency.

The deeper a person dives, the more at risk they are to suffer from a decompression illness. The two main problems divers face are decompression sickness, or the "bends," and an arterial gas embolism. While the "bends" results from bubbles growing in tissue and causing local damage, the latter can have bubbles travel through the arteries and block blood flow. It can eventually lead to death.

Divers also need to watch out for sharks, jellyfish and other dangerous marine life.

"There are a lot of things in the water that can hurt you," Schiltz said. "You plan accordingly, you look ahead to where you're going to be, and you try to mitigate all those risks as much as you can."

The thrill of diving often outweighs the dangers for many of the Soldiers. When under the water, Schiltz, 28, of Vernal, Utah, says it is like being in a different world.

"It's probably the same reason someone will explain to you why they skydive or why they snowboard off cliffs," he said. "There's always a danger to it and that just makes it even better."

Army divers are tasked to do a variety of missions that can have them repairing ships and ports or conducting underwater surveys. For many divers, though, the recovery missions have the most impact on them.

"It takes you to a more emotional point in your life," Schiltz said.

While every diver wants to be the one who discovers the remains of a service member, the master diver describes the somber event as a shared win whenever it happens.

"Everybody's out here to do one job and just because you happen to be the one diver on the job when you find something, it's not you that found it," Kratsas said. "It was a team effort."

When not diving, Soldiers have several side jobs to keep operations afloat. They monitor oxygen levels and depth of fellow divers or serve as back-up divers to assist in an emergency. They also tend to umbilical cords that connect divers to the barge or help run a water pump for the suction hose.

When a basket is brought up to the barge, they all scoop out the sediment into buckets and screen it.

Some divers are surprised by the condition of some items pulled from the water. Even if items are buried at sea for a long time, salt water can sometimes preserve them better than at land sites where the acidity of soil breaks them down faster.

"A lot of times the wreckage is in such good condition, you can still read serial numbers," said Capt. Ezra Swanson, who served as the team leader for the recent mission.

Pieces of an aircraft can also put things into perspective for the divers when they hold them in their hands.

"The last time someone was with that, it was the aircrew when they were going down," said Swanson, 30, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. "It's like a connection between you and that crew."

A member of the underwater recovery team inspects a 7.62 mm cartridge, Vietnam, March 20, 2018. (U.S. Army photo/Sean Kimmons)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

Decades of sediment often buries human remains in an underwater tomb. To unearth them, dig sites are properly logged with historical data from previous missions.

Dive teams may pick up where they left off before or continue another team's work at a site. An underwater archaeologist will direct a team where to dredge using grids, typically 2 by 4 meters wide, which are marked off on the seabed.

Similar to the guessing game of "Battleship," if a certain grid has a successful hit with evidence being dredged up from it, divers will concentrate on nearby grids.

Even one fragment, such as a bone or tooth, could solve a case if it can be identified by laboratory staff back at the DPAA headquarters on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

"Sometimes you only find small fragments, but with today's technology and with DNA [testing], we can still get a lot of information even from tiny little bits," said Piotr Bojakowski, an underwater archaeologist with the agency.

Personal effects, such as rings, wallets or dog tags, can also produce a strong case for identification.

Since the recovery process can be slow and methodical, Bojakowski will remind divers to stay patient to ensure no evidence is overlooked.

"Take your time, don't rush the process," he tells them. "It's more important that you do screening properly and find this small piece than to rush it through. Because once you lose it, we will never find it again."

If years of careful research do not provide clues of human remains at a site, the agency may be forced to redirect efforts elsewhere.

"It's a difficult, difficult decision to make," Bojakowski said. "The ideal situation is to find the remains and material evidence. But providing an answer that the remains are not at the site is also an answer to some degree. Sometimes that's the only answer we can get."

Despite the long, hot days that had baskets come up empty during their recent mission, the Soldiers still kept at it for weeks. And when the time comes again, they will likely return to the same spot to do the same work.

To them, the mission is bigger than themselves.

"They know the cost and the sacrifice and have a very high appreciation for the guys who lost their lives," said Swanson, the team leader. "They're willing to push through the challenges and make sure they do everything they can to bring those guys home."
WASHINGTON -- The commander of the USS John S. McCain when it collided with a commercial tanker last year in the Straits of Singapore pleaded guilty Friday to dereliction of duty and acknowledged his role in the deaths of 10 sailors.

Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez appeared somber and tearful during a special court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard for the criminal charge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sanchez pleaded guilty as part of an agreement reached earlier this year and has yet to be sentenced, but could face a letter of reprimand and forfeiture of a portion of his pay for three months.

Sanchez, who has spent more than 20 years in the service, said he will retire as part of the agreement.

"I failed to set" the appropriate crew needed for the crash, Sanchez said. "I should have directed more rigorous training."

A day earlier, Chief Petty Officer Jeffery D. Butler, who was charged with training and use of a navigational system on the McCain, pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and also acknowledged his role in the deaths.

Friday's hearing, which was attended by several relatives of the sailors who died Aug. 21, is one of a series of courts-martial resulting from the McCain collision. For about two hours, relatives read searing and emotional victim impact statements.

"This is a tragedy that should have never happened," said Karen Doyon, mother of Petty Officer 3rd Class Dustin Doyon, 26, of Connecticut.

In January, Navy officials said Sanchez had been charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel.

A charge sheet released Wednesday said Sanchez was facing "a dereliction in the performance of duties through neglect resulting in death." The charge sheet went on to say that Sanchez knew of his duties as commanding officer and was derelict in the performance of those duties.

"He negligently failed to ensure the safe navigation of the said vessel," the charge sheet said, "as it was his duty to do as Commanding Officer to ensure a proper watch was set for transiting a high-density contact environment; take proper action and control of the vessel during system casualty; follow operational Standing Orders during a conceived system casualty, and that such dereliction of duty contributing to the death" of the 10 sailors.

The new details didn't mention the homicide charge or hazarding a vessel. The Navy didn't respond Thursday when asked why the charges details had changed.
This Sikh Marine Is Ready to Sue the Service to Wear a Beard and Turban at All Times

First Lt. Sukhbir Toor applied in March for a religious accommodation to wear a beard and turban and to not cut his hair.
U.S. and coalition forces launched cyberattacks last year to help identify and destroy several command posts of Islamic State leaders, according to the former head of the task force to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

"This is a vignette that actually played out during and after the battle of Mosul and after the battle of Raqqa," said Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commanded Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve in 2017.

Townsend, who now commands Army Training and Doctrine Command, described the multi-domain operation to an audience at the Association of the United States Army's LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Hawaii.

U.S. and coalition forces were scouring the middle Euphrates River Valley, between Al Qa'im in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, in search of command posts used by ISIS leaders, Townsend said.

Friendly forces had located the enemy's primary command post in the area but couldn't find the enemy's alternate sites.

"We knew that the enemy had alternate command posts, but we didn't know where they were," Townsend said.

"So rather than strike the primary command post and then have the enemy be unknown to us for a while while we reacquired where he went to, one of the subordinate units proposed that we use ... capabilities from space and cyber to deny the enemy's primary command post, forcing him to move to and unveil his alternate command posts," he explained.

The plan worked, Townsend said. When the enemy moved, "we struck the alternate command posts kinetically with lethal fires once we identified them, and we worked our way backward to the primary command post."

The coordinated strikes were a clear example of multi-domain operations, formally known as multi-domain battle, a strategy U.S. military leaders stress as the key to surviving future wars with near-peer adversaries such as Russia and China.

"It's a multi-domain operation; it unfolded in air, land, sea, cyberspace and space," Townsend said.

But it took too long to complete -- about three weeks, he said, describing how some of the assets used required authorization from the national level and coalition partner nations.

"The bottom line is it took us a couple of weeks to organize this pretty sophisticated but small, multi-domain operation that lasted less than a week, and it was against an enemy that could not really contest us in any of the domains," Townsend said.

"Let's look to future war against a near-peer threat that can contest us in one or all of the domains. We are going to have to do better," he said.

"When the adversary's combined arms armies come rolling toward our alliance, we are going to have to generate ... sophisticated multi-domain operations in minutes or hours and those operations will have to last days and weeks," Townsend said.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
U.S. Army uniform officials recently asked commercial industry for fresh designs to use in its search for an "Improved Hot Weather Combat Boot."

"The Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center ... is seeking information on novel component materials, and/or designs that may be beneficial to future Army combat footwear systems," the May 23 request for information states.

Natick wants info on "materials/designs optimized for performance and protection in a hot weather environment [where temperatures range from 50 to 120F]," the solicitation says.

It's unclear whether the RFI is related to the Army's ongoing effort to develop a Jungle Combat Boot for soldiers to use in potential operations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Last August, Army officials announced a plan to evaluate improved versions of the Jungle Combat Boot the service developed in early 2017. The plan was to issue about 1,000 pairs of boots -- made by Altama, Bates, Belleville, McRae, and Rocky boot makers -- to soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii at the beginning of this year. Testers planned to return in April or May to collect soldier feedback.

Military.com asked Program Executive Office Soldier to provide an explanation for the new RFI but did not receive a response by press time.

In 2016, the Army began working to develop a new Jungle Combat Boot that's more breathable, dries significantly faster and provides more traction and protection in jungle environments than the current hot weather combat boot.

The Army and Marine Corps retired the Vietnam War-era jungle boots in the early 2000s when both services needed a desert-style combat boot for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Corps has also been working to develop a new tropical-weather boot since late 2015.

Marine Corps Systems Command plans to conduct a test involving two designs of lightweight combat boots: the Danner Reckoning Hot Weather Boot, currently available to Marines for optional wear, and the Rocky Tropical boot, which was tested in recent evaluations of jungle footwear for Marines.

The Corps will issue 700 pairs of each design to recruits at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, for the assessment.

The May 23 Army RFI for the Improved Hot Weather Combat Boot emphasizes that new boot designs must have puncture-resistant soles, breathability and fast drying times. Boot manufacturers have until June 15 to respond to the RFI.

-- Military.com's Hope Seck contributed to this story.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Military members and veterans can get up to four free months of Apple Music through the Apple Music military discount -- but...
The chapel at Hartwick Pines. Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

The first thing you notice is the quiet.

The quiet out here among the trees at Hartwick Pines State Park is unlike the quiet of a typical Michigan forest. It is more like the quiet found in a cathedral: expansive, penetrating, divine. Something little and lightweight, like a twig maybe, tumbles from a branch way up overhead, and you can actually hear it softly land on the ground -- because it's just that quiet here, and because there's nothing to get in the way of that little twig's fall.

And that's the next thing you notice: In between the broad green canopy overhead and the mottled red-brown of the forest floor, there is only empty space. The typical tangle of underbrush so familiar in the Michigan woods is absent. It's just trees. Very tall, very old trees.

This is what Northern Michigan looked like, and probably sounded like, some 200 years ago, which is how long some of these tall, old trees have been standing here -- though some have been here even longer. In fact, Hartwick Pines' 49-acre parcel of old-growth forest -- a rarity in Michigan, and the park's main attraction -- is home to trees that are up to 400 years old. If those trees could listen the way we listen, no doubt they would remember a time when it was not so quiet here, when the empty spaces rang with the sounds of axes and saws, and of wagons dragging staggering piles of lumber, and of the terrible splintering crashes as pine after giant pine was felled.

The lumber boom was a complicated period in Michigan history. Hartwick Pines was established, in part, so that we'd remember it, too.

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A sobering map from the height of the lumber boom in Michigan. The areas shaded brown denote the original pine forests of Michigan from the 1881 census, and the areas shaded green denote the standing timber left in 1895. Map courtesy the Archives of Michigan // Michigan History Center

The age of giants

Back around the time when Michigan joined the Union, in 1837, what we now call "old-growth forest" would have been just simply "forest." In the state's northern reaches, white pines and red pines and hemlocks pushed their big trunks straight upward to heights of well over 100 feet. Except in occasional pockets where one of the old-timers had gone down, saplings and other thin-limbed underbrush would have had only sips of sunshine there below the high, dense canopy; not many grew to join the imposing ranks around them. You could call it the age of giants, and you wouldn't really be wrong.

That age ended when the lumbermen -- who had been steadily clear-cutting inward and upward from the East Coast to the Midwest -- finally hacked their way to the Great Lakes region. They'd come in search of "green gold," and did they ever strike it rich in Michigan. Millions of acres of untouched hardwood and massive pines stood waiting in the silent forests; millions of acres would be cut to the quick, logs piled high like stacks of cash before being milled and shipped to build the burgeoning cities back East. By the late 19th century, Michigan was the nation's largest supplier of virgin timber. The industry raked in four billion dollars between 1850 and 1900.

It's not a coincidence that this era of frenzied deforestation also saw the creation of America's first national park. Some folks knew what we were all at risk of losing.

"Even kind of right after it happened, around 1900, people were looking around and realizing, 'Oh, maybe we shouldn't have done this," says Hillary Pine, Northern Lower Peninsula historian for the DNR and the Michigan History Center.

But for all its destruction, the logging era also had been a boon to growth. For Michigan, the lumber industry was to the 19th century what the auto industry was to the 20th: It created jobs, wealth, technology, entire communities. For better as well as for worse, logging became part of Michigan's collective heritage.

A northerner named Karen Hartwick knew that, and knew it was worth sharing. After all, it was part of her personal heritage, too.

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Karen Hartwick with her son Robert in 1907. Photo courtesy Michigan DNR/Michigan History Center

The lumberman's daughter

Most of Karen Hartwick's life was rooted in those old-growth forests up north.

She was born Karen Michelson in 1872 in Manistee -- at the height of the lumber era in one of Michigan's lumber boom towns. Her father, a founding partner at the Salling-Hanson lumber company, moved the family to Grayling for his work when Karen was a young child. The Michelsons did well for themselves in their new hometown: At its peak, Salling-Hanson operated three saw mills and was one of Michigan's most significant suppliers of virgin timber. Karen graduated as valedictorian of her class at Grayling High School, went to work as a stenographer for her father's company, and met and married a military man named Edward Hartwick, who would also join the family business by partnering with his father-in-law on a retail lumber operation. The forests were their livelihood.

So it was fitting that when her husband tragically died a few years later -- after contracting spinal meningitis while stationed in France during WWI -- Karen Hartwick sought a way to memorialize him in the pines.

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"The Monarch," once the largest living tree at Hartwick Pines. Photo courtesy Michigan DNR/Michigan History Center

A park preserved

In 1927, nine years after her husband's death, Karen Hartwick purchased an 8,000-acre parcel of land from Salling-Hanson. The parcel, near Grayling, included an 85-acre grove of virgin pine trees that had been spared the sawblades because they were deemed not all that profitable by the lumber company. That same year, Hartwick gave the entire acreage to the state of Michigan, naming three specific conditions in the formal agreement: That the parcel's forests be protected, that a road be constructed from Highway 27 to the pines, and that a building be established somewhere on the property in memory of her late husband.

She had one other request, too. Because lumber had been her family's legacy, she asked that the park also house a museum dedicated to Michigan's logging history.

So in 1934 and 1935, the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps not only finished constructing the park's original Memorial Building, dedicated to Edward Hartwick, but also built two log cabins for the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum.

Hartwick Pines State Park was formally dedicated in July of 1935. Karen Hartwick got all of her wishes.

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Photo courtesy Michigan DNR

These days, visitors come to Hartwick Pines for many reasons beyond the museum and the trees. There's mountain bike trails, cross-country ski trails and a section of hiking trail that traverses the Au Sable River. Two lakes, Bright Lake and Glory Lake (named after a pair of logging-era oxen), sit near the park's 100-site campground. Lovers tie the knot in the pretty, rustic chapel. Birders hoping to see as many rare birds as possible in their lifetime come from all over to check off two species from their "life lists:" the evening grosbeak and the Kirtland's warbler.

But the old-growth forest remains the heart of Hartwick Pines. Though the ancient pine grove is considerably smaller than it used to be -- a hurricane-force storm in 1941 leveled half the tract, reducing it to its current size of 49 acres -- it still feels immense. To stand among the trees is to feel, for a short time, what this corner of the world was like before so many of us arrived. You can see it in the way it looks different from the northern forests nearby. You can hear it in the deep, uncanny quiet. It's beautiful, and powerful, and humbling.

For more on Hartwick Pines State Park, scroll for additional photos or click here: 7 reasons Hartwick Pines is a Michigan summer must-see

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Visitors hugging "The Monarch," whose top fell over in the 1990's. Photo courtesy Michigan DNR/Michigan History Center

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Edward Hartwick when he was a cadet at West Point. Photo courtesy Michigan DNR/Michigan History Museum

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Karen Hartwick around the time she donated the land for Hartwick Pines State Park. Photo courtesy Michigan DNR/Michigan History Museum

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The Hartwicks, with Karen Hartwick's father, lumberman Nels Michelson, at right. Photo courtesy Michigan DNR/Michigan History Center

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One of the CCC-constructed buildings that now house the logging museum. Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

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Tree branches seen through the cross-shaped window of the park's chapel. The chapel was built in the 1950's. Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

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Moss grows on a fallen tree on a recent spring day at Hartwick Pines. Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

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A pair of wheels that would have been used for logging in the summertime are on display near the museum. Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

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A bridge where the Au Sable River Trail crosses the Au Sable River. Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

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Photo by Emily Bingham | MLive.com

Related stories:

Jaw-dropping places that people can't believe are actually in Michigan

What one Michigan morel master has learned from a lifetime of mushroom hunting

Meet all 5 (yes, 5) of Michigan's National Parks

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Grand Rapids moved a step closer to allowing licensed medical marijuana facilities Thursday, May 24, when the planning commission established a proposed ordinance.

The proposal was unanimously approved by the planning commission during its meeting Thursday, May 24. Now it'll go to the city commission to be considered.

City planners stressed that the proposed ordinance focuses on medicinal marijuana for the use of card-holding patients, and does not consider recreational marijuana despite a statewide proposal expected to be on the ballot in November.

"Voters in the state of Michigan have classified this as medicine," said planning commissioner Kyle Van Strien. "So why are we treating this medicine different than other medicines, and even more restrictive than alcohol?"

The medical distinction was echoed repeatedly throughout Thursday's meeting as commissioners relaxed portions of the proposed ordinance.

As is, the ordinance would not place a set cap on the number of marijuana facilities allowed within the city. There would, however, be separation distance requirements.

Provisional centers would need to be 1,000 feet from parks, schools, child care centers and other provisional centers. Marijuana grow, processing, safety compliance facilities and transporters would be limited to 1,000 feet from schools and child care centers, and 600 feet from other such marijuana facilities.

No proposed facility would be by-right, and each would require a special land-use permit and the appropriate licensing.

Planning Director Suzanne Schulz initially included more-restrictive measures with anticipation that recreational use would be legalized in November.

The planning commission eliminated proposals that commissioners said would create unfair hurdles, including a $5,000 annual fee and the requirement for business owners to have a voluntary equitable development agreement (VEDA).

City planning officials began considering a medical marijuana ordinance in response to a citizen petition aimed at bringing licensed and properly regulated medicinal marijuana facilities to Grand Rapids through a November 2018 ballot proposal.

The group Smart & Safe GR is attempting to collect signatures from 10,000 residents interested in a city ordinance to opt into the Medical Marijuana Facilities Licensing Act to authorize marijuana dispensaries.

On Thursday, 12 people gave their insight during the planning commission's public comment period. Each of them was in favor of an ordinance, and many asked for more lax regulations that allowed the market to dictate saturation.

"We have a great opportunity to bring in so much business and so many jobs," said Tami VandenBerg, a local business owner and activist who supports the campaign.

"We care about equity, we care about our neighborhoods, and about small businesses, and if we care about those things, we'd be working hard so that as many people as possible can access this opportunity."

MILegalize board member Michael Tuffelmire said a medical marijuana ordinance would bring the market up from underground and into the light, thus reducing crime.

He also spoke for his fellow military veterans, who he said should be considered when establishing separation distances and ensuring accessibility to dispensaries for patients with handicaps.

Dave Overholt, who once owned a medical marijuana dispensary in Grand Rapids, applauded the commission for taking a serious look at allowing facilities. The Gulf War veteran hasn't had a pill in 12 years, and he said access to marijuana could be a big step toward fighting the opioid epidemic.

Commissioners did relax some of the original ordinance language, but kept other language designed to ensure that other businesses weren't negatively affected by a surge of medical marijuana facilities over-saturating the market.

The city commission will review the proposed ordinance in the coming weeks. It is expected to set a public hearing for July 10 before putting it to a vote.
The celebration of the international Africa Day is an occasion to shed light on the South-south cooperation approach adopted by Morocco under the leadership of King Mohammed VI yielding concrete projects that address the continents pressing challenges.

By matching words with action, Morocco geared the bulk of its foreign direct investments to help African countries, becoming the first African investor in west Africa and the second at the continental level.

Speaking at a parliament event commemorating Africa Day, Minister delegate to African Affairs, Mouhcine Jazouli, said that Moroccos trade with Africa quadrupled in the last decade hitting 35 billion dirhams in 2016.

Africa now takes pride of place in Moroccos foreign policy thanks to efforts led by King Mohammed VI who paid 50 visits to 30 African countries, Jazouli said.

Among the projects reflecting the co-development approach of the Kingdom, the Nigeria-Morocco Atlantic gas pipeline project, which will help West Africa bolster its energy security, develop its industrial fabric, improve its economic competitiveness and speed up its social development, while channeling Nigerian gas as far as Europe.

These projects also include the construction of fertilizer plants in Ethiopia and Nigeria as well as human development projects designed to improve the living conditions of African citizens, such as the creation of healthcare facilities, vocational training institutions and fishermens villages.

As soon as Morocco regained its place in Africas institutional family, the African Union, King Mohammed VI was designated leader on the thorny issue of migration. He put forward an African vision for migration with the African Union adopting the Kingdoms proposal to set up a migration observatory.

At the security level, Morocco was elected member of the African Union Peace and Security Council. The Kingdom will thus have a new podium to contribute to Africas stability and security building on a longstanding contribution to UN peacekeeping efforts.
The world needs to know. Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images

After nearly six years, Ecuador may have had it with Julian Assange. CNN reports that while there have been threats to boot the WikiLeaks founder from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London before, his current situation is unusually bad and he could be forced out any day now.

Ecuadors new president Lenin Moreno is reportedly facing increasing pressure from the U.S. to eject Assange. Spain may have also weighed in after Assange tweeted his support for the separatist movements in Catalonia. The embassy recently cut off Assanges internet access and blocked him from meeting with anyone but his lawyers.

If Assange leaves the embassy he could face charges from three different countries. Though Sweden recently stopped investigating the rape allegation that led to Assange hiding away in the embassy, the probe could be revived if he leaves. Since he refused to surrender for extradition to Sweden, hes also facing charges for breaching bail in the U.K.

While President Trump has publicly declared his love for WikiLeaks, last month there were reports that federal prosecutors are preparing charges against Assange. The Obama administration held off on charging Assange because it was unclear how they could charge him for publishing government secrets but not mainstream news outlets. But they may have found a way around that, since Chelsea Manning admitted that Assange helped her figure out how to anonymously gain access to government systems. (That charge could have consequences for journalists too, but the Trump administration generally seems less concerned about that.)

U.S. intelligence agencies also concluded that Russian intelligence used WikiLeaks to publish stolen emails meant to undermine Hillary Clintons presidential campaign, and on Thursday the Wall Street Journal reported that former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone sought access to those emails in September 2016 through an acquaintance who knows Assange. So Assanges relationship with the U.S. government may be about to get even more complicated.
Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS via Getty Images

Earlier this month, when Michael Avenatti reported that Michael Cohens Delaware shell company received half a million dollars from a firm linked to a Russian oligarch, it looked quite shady. But the firm, Columbus Nova, quickly asserted the oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, had only a tangential relationship to it, and had not used it as a conduit to pay Cohen. Columbus Nova released a statement insisting it was owned and controlled by Americans and not Vekselberg, and denied that Vekselberg had ever owned the company or used it as a conduit for payments. So maybe it wasnt a Russian bribe. Maybe it was just an investment firm, which happened to have a large Russian client, looking to get influence with the administration the way many businesses do.

As more information has dribbled out, the innocent explanation has looked less and less plausible. A few days after the report, NPRs Tim Mak found the FBI had warned four years earlier that a foundation controlled by Vekselberg could be a means for the Russian government to access our nations sensitive or classified research, development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial applications. So here was evidence Vekselberg was using entities he controlled to gain secret influence on behalf of Russia.

But that foundation was a different entity than Columbus Nova, and, as Mak noted, Combus Nova maintained it is not controlled by Vekselberg and he exercises no direction over what it does. So maybe it was all still a coincidence?

But then, earlier this week, the Guardian discovered American investment vehicles managed for Vekselberg by Columbus Nova were used to secure $450m in loans that Vekselberg took from the Russian state-controlled VTB Bank. That would seem to suggest Vekselberg had a lot of influence over Columbus Nova. Still, the story noted, Columbus Nova has insisted Vekselberg had no involvement in hiring Cohen.

That brings us to todays New York Times revelation: Vekselberg met with Cohen in Trump Tower 11 days before the inauguration and discussed Russian-American relations. After the inauguration, Columbus Nova awarded Cohen a $1 million consulting contract  or, should we say, consulting contract.

The chance that the firm linked to a Russian oligarch with a record of using his influence for secret state purposes met with Trumps fixer, and then the firm he is linked to gave Cohen $1 million, and that all this occurred without Vekselbergs knowledge seems quite low. The likelihood that their protestations of innocence hold up is lower still given that they forgot to mention the small detail of Vekselbergs meeting with Cohen.

It looks, instead, like a secret payoff from the Kremlin to Cohen. And then the more explosive question is whether any of that money ever made its way into Trumps pockets.
Lenders or the committee of creditors (CoC) need to be more proactive in creative value of the assets under insolvency as they have a higher responsibility, said MS Sahoo, Chairman of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India.

The Chairman regulatory oversight board said, "CoC should be a bit more proactive in creating value. The creditor has the option of both recovery and resolution. For recovery, (there are) many options.

"One can resolve outside as well, but if you have come here, you have a higher responsibility...COC is in a custodian and trustee position," he said.

He pointed out that the objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which became a law in 2016, is that the law wants resolution through a collective approach ensure a going concern is kept going even as it is also to maximise the value of the asset and also balance the interest of all stakeholders.

"The objective is to revive if viable, and if not viable, then close it. you cant directly go to liquidation...If the objective is just to discover a price, get a big value, perhaps we could have had gone to the stock market," the IBBI chief said at a conference.

Progress of IBC so far

Since the code was made into law in May 2016, a total 800 cases have been admitted and about 120 have been either resolved or liquidated.

Giving more statistics, Sahoo also said that 200 cases have opted for voluntary liquidation and as high as 2,400 cases were rejected or dismissed before admission at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the insolvency court.

"Probably we are not making the best use of the Code. The Code is a much more powerful thing, it can be used for much more higher purposes so that the resolution is sustainable," Sahoo said addressing some advocates and stressed asset experts.

Not making the best use of IBC?

Sahoo hit out at the lenders for not making optimal use of the IBC.

"It was left to CoC to create a value. it is their role to tell what is there and what are the possibilities one can look at and create a market for that and bring out what has caused the insolvency so that the resolution plan really addresses that, he said.

Further he stated, "Today, we are not making the optimal use of the law, we are after maximising value because the code says so. But the code says that it is for the maximisation of value of the asessed corporate debtor and not for a stakeholder or set of stakeholders. That is why we moved away from recovery, we went on the path of resolution."

He added that the law did not define what is resolution plan but is "left actually to the imagination of financial creditors as well as the resolution professionals".

Rashesh Shah, CEO and Chairman of Edelweiss Group suggested that the CoC approval to clear resolution process for insolvency accounts should be brought down to 51 percent from 66 percent for large cases.

He believes that "unintentionally good plans are being vetoed out by a minority creditors...revival and resolution should be primary objectives and liquidation should be last."

On the recent amendment in the ordinance to allow promoters of MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) to buy their own assets, though unware of the details, Sahoo said: "MSMEs all over the world are on a different footing. Most of them in India are partnership or proprietorship...Whenever a big company goes into a liquiditaion or resolution, MSMEs will take the maximum hit."

On whether partnership firms and individual defaulters can be tried under the insolvency law, Sahoo said, "Partnership firms and individuals will go to DRT (debt recovery tribunals). We have not yet started individual insolvency, preparatory work is on..."
10. Netherlands | This European country has gold reserves worth 612.5 tonnes. (Image: Reuters)

Sam Nair

Precious metals rallied sharply in US trading as short covering pushed prices higher on news that President Trump has cancelled a summit with North Korea with CME gold shooting above the psychological level of 1300.

The weakness in US dollar index also contributed to the strength in precious metals. Precious metals have opened slightly lower today with gold at Rs 31,362, down 0.36 percent and silver at Rs 40697, down 0.45 percent and is expected to trade steady intraday.

The geopolitical concerns are back on the forefront with the uncertainty surrounding the US-North Korea situation, sanctions on Iran and the trade talks between the US and China which remain unresolved.

On the data front, the durable goods report is at 6.00 pm with analysts calling for stronger growth in durable goods whereas the core figures should come in weaker than March.

For gold, support at Rs 31,300 will be a key level to watch for and for silver, support comes into play at 40,600. Resistance levels are seen at Rs 31,500 for gold and at Rs 40,900 for silver.

Base metals have opened on a negative note with copper at Rs 467.20, down 0.41 percent and nickel at Rs 1012.60, down 0.32 percent. The intraday bias is likely to remain mixed today. Nickel prices shot up sharply last evening as inventories continued to drop in both LME and SHFE warehouses creating a supply deficit whereas the demand from electric vehicles and stainless steel continue to lend broad-based support to prices.

Aluminium extended gains after Rusal CEO and board resigned in order to ease US sanctions along with requests to the Russian government to buy their output in a bid to save the company.

Copper is likely to struggle further and make another attempt in testing support at Rs 464 below which a short term correction can be expected whereas, on the upside, Rs 475 continues to act as a major resistance level.

Oil prices trended lower last evening and may extend losses today as OPEC indicated that it may be ready to ease cuts and supply the market for the loss of supply from Venezuela and Iran.

Crude oil is down 27 points to Rs 4832 and could test support at Rs 4800 intraday. The OPEC is due to meet in late June and reports indicate that the cartel along with Russia is open to increasing the output to cool off prices which hits 4-year highs this week.

The increase in inventories in the US also seemed to weigh on prices in intraday. We maintain a bearish outlook on prices today and the oil rig count from the US should also pressure prices further. Natural gas may extend its consolidation and may trade with a bearish bias today.

: The author is AVP - Commodities at Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management Ltd. The views and ideas expressed above may have been suggested to the clients of Stewart & Mackertich Wealth Management Ltd. It is advised that investors/traders should consult with their Certified Experts before taking any investment decision.
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Lupin, India's second largest drug maker, on Friday said its marketing authorisation application (MAA) for biosimilar Etanercept has been accepted for review by Europe drug regulator European Medicines Agency (EMA).

MAA refers to an application submitted by a drug manufacturer seeking permission from the regulator to sell the drug .

Lupin's biosimilar Etanercept is targeted at treating Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Psoriatic Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Axial spondyloarthritis, Non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis and Plaque Psoriasis.

The application for our Etanercept biosimilar and its acceptance in Europe is a significant milestone for our foray into biosimilars in key developed markets. This is also an encouraging development as we continue building our pipeline of higher complexity products, said Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director, Lupin Limited.

This follows an application that was made to Japans Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) in March this year.

This filing also opens up other key markets like Canada, Australia, the Middle East, South East Asia and Latin America.

The approvals for these markets are expected within the next 12 to 18 months.

Etanercept, the biosimilar version of Pfizer's Enbrel, had global sales of USD 11 billion in 2017. The ex-US market for Etanercept is estimated at USD 4 billion in Japan and Europe, along with other regulated and emerging markets.

Lupin is on course with its plans for biosimilar Etanercept filing in the US and is targeting the same in FY 2019-20.

Lupin has been a late entrant to biosimilars and is trying to catch up with its rivals spending millions of dollars on developing biosimilars.

Etanercept - the company's major biosimilar push is being developed targeting highly regulated markets such as US, Europe and Japan, unlike other Indian drug makers who test waters in India and emerging markets before looking at developed markets.

Etanercept (YLB113) is the first biosimilar developed in-house by Lupin and this makes us the first Indian pharmaceutical company to file for a complex fusion protein like Etanercept in regulated markets," said Cyrus Karkaria, President, Biotechnology at Lupin.

Shares of Lupin declined 0.25 percent and were trading at Rs 740.25 on BSE at 1.06 pm, while the benchmark Sensex gained 0.49 percent to 34,833.66points.
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Mirc Electronics, the maker of popular household electronic goods under the Onida brand, is looking to get into strategic alliances and eyeing 20 percent turnover from non-captive manufacturing in FY19.

In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Vijay Mansukhani, Managing Director, Mirc Electronics, said that the company has been approached by peers for strategic alliances on manufacturing.

We are open to having a step-down company where we will hold 30 percent stake with no additional investment. Interested partners can hold the rest of the stake in the company. We will help them in reaching the market through our distribution reach and they can also use our manufacturing facilities at a cost, he added. This, he added, will bear more fruit money-wise for the company.

Non-captive manufacturing to push revenues

In this financial year, Mansukhani said that Onida is looking to have 20 percent of turnover from non-captive manufacturing. This would mean that the companys manufacturing facility could be used for other companies who do not own such units.. The company had total income of Rs 191.73 crore in the March quarter and Rs 741 crore for FY18.

Mansukhani added that these numbers (from non-captive) will rise further when the volumes pick up from these manufacturing units.

In the March quarter, the company saw a dip in its net profit to Rs 4.01 crore YoY from to Rs 14.06 crore. Mansukhani added that the for the full year, however, they saw the company post profit of Rs 23.49 crore compared to a loss of Rs 19.24 crore in FY17.

There are brands which have approached us to help them use our manufacturing facility. We will be exploring these options, he added.

Pricing pressures due to crude oil, GST

The impact of the rising oil prices as well as depreciating rupee will lead to an increase in prices by 3-4 percent. We have no choice but to increase prices. We are now looking at how to do it, he added.

The brand which kept a low-profile in the consumer appliances space has now entered this segment aggressively. Through their televisions, washing machines, microwaves and air conditioners, Onida is looking to deepen its penetration in the Indian market.

The goods and services tax (GST) which has been fixed at 28 percent and over that is customs duty of 10 percent. Mansukhani added that this takes the effective rate of tax to 40 percent, compared to the 9 percent tax in regions like China.

We are lobbying aggressively to get the GST for consumer durables to be reduced to 18 percent. If that is done, the general public will benefit from the lower rates, he added.

Washing machines revenues to jump

Among the segments, Mansukhani said that they expect to post a 100 percent growth in revenues from washing machines. The air-conditioner segment, he explained, was hit by the new energy ratings from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) that came into force from January 2018. With this, a five-star rated air-conditioner was re-rated as three star one from January 2018 onwards.

New branding strategy

The company is also looking to make changes in its branding strategy by looking at multi-platform advertising to ensure that they reach the target audience across generations.

The Devil, which was a character often used in the Onida advertisements of the 1980s and 1990s has been recently brought back. Mansukhani added that they would want The Devil to be recognised as their brand ambassador.

He explained that they would look at the platforms where the youth is present and the shows they watch and accordingly provide targeted advertising for them.

In rural areas too, it is not just sales that is the focus. We are also looking at the after-sales service which would be the real differentiator for the brand, he signed off.
The Congress-JD(S) coalition has passed the floor test, conducted via voice vote, with Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy asserting that the engineered alliance will have a stable government for the next five years.

Meanwhile, BJP MLAs staged a walkout on the issue of farmer loan waivers. The BJP has announced a state-wide bandh on May 28.

Before the floor test, the Speaker of the House was elected. While the Congress had nominated Ramesh Kumar, the BJP had added Suresh Kumar in the fray. Eventually, Suresh Kumar backed out of the race and Congress Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected as Speaker of the Assembly. Kumar identified BS Yeddyurappa as Leader of Opposition in the House.

Karnataka consists of 224 assembly seats, out of which 222 seats had gone to polls on May 12, the results of which were announced on May 15. The two constituencies that were left out were RR Nagar constituency, where fake voter lists and voter IDs were confiscated, and Jayanagar where the sitting BJP MLA BN Vijaykumar died of a cardiac arrest while campaigning.

The counting day was followed by a loud fracas when BJP had won 104 seats, eight short of the magic number; while the Congress, which had won 78, had immediately announced an alliance with the JD(S), which had garnered 38 seats. The Congress was prompt to realise that garlanding the party that they had earlier called the B-team of the BJP during a campaign was the only way to oust their nemesis.

Both BJP and the Congress-JD(S) coalition had sent letters to Governor Vajubhai Vala staking claim to form the government. Vala, an RSS ideologue and a former member in Narendra Modis Gujarat cabinet, had invited BS Yeddyurappa to form the government.

A frenzied Congress-JD(S) coalition, with 116 MLAs on their side, had quickly knocked on the doors of the Chief Justice of India calling for an urgent hearing on the matter, citing precedents where a post-poll alliance between the BJP and various regional parties was given preference to form the government, even though the Congress was the single largest party. The Supreme Court had then held a midnight hearing, the second such hearing after Yakub Memons death sentence verdict.

The apex court stayed Yeddyurappas swearing-in ceremony, and significantly reduced the 15-day period granted to prove majority on the floor of the House. In subsequent hearings, the top court also added caveats such as 'no secret ballots' and 'live coverage of the floor test' to maintain transparency. The Congress, on the other hand, did a good job of keeping their MLAs together to prevent poaching and defection.

On the day of the floor test, BS Yeddyurappa pulled off a Vajpayee and after a sentimental speech, he quit as Chief Minister. Yeddyurappas resignation, even before the floor test could be conducted, paved a platform on which the Congress-JD(S) alliance stood and glorified their moral victory.
Representative Tom Garrett and his wife, Flanna, reportedly acted like a Lord and Lady to his congressional staff. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP/REX/Shutterstock

It has not been the best week for U.S. Representative Tom Garrett*, a freshman Republican congressman in Virginia and staunch member of the very conservative House Freedom Caucus. Reports had been circulating for some time that Garrett was telling friends that he was probably going to fold his reelection campaign, even though the filing deadline had come and gone. The resignation of his chief of staff and poor fundraising numbers didnt help. But then on Thursday he held a press conference (called bizarre and rambling by The Hill) that eventually led to a belligerent confirmation of his candidacy:

Following a 25-minute speech that jumped from Garretts legislative record to his efforts to help Sudanese refugees, the first-term conservative told reporters he is absolutely, positively running for reelection.

All righty then.

As Jim Newell observed, its not easy to tell whether Garrett is having any particular issues at any particular moment:

How is one to tell when Tom Garrett is in turmoil? Hes an emotional, garrulous personality who could be confused for someone mid-breakdown when hes really just living another day of his life.

But perhaps he had something else on his mind. No sooner had Garrett announced his new determination to stay in Congress than Politico hit him with multiple accusations that he and his wife had been treating professional, taxpayer-compensated staff as personal servants. Heres a taste of the distasteful report:

POLITICO has spoken with four former staffers who detailed a deeply dysfunctional office, where the congressman and his wife, Flanna, often demanded that staff run personal errands outside their typical congressional duties. The couple called on staff to pick up groceries, chauffeur Garretts daughters to and from his Virginia district, and fetch clothes that the congressman forgot at his Washington apartment. They were even expected to watch and clean up after Sophie, their Jack Russell-Pomeranian mix, the aides said.

Now as anyone who has worked on Capitol Hill can attest, this abuse of staff isnt exactly unprecedented. When in 1978 Senator John Glenn famously called Congress the last plantation because it exempted itself from civil rights and other protections against employment discrimination, he wasnt just talking about racial discrimination. Congressional staff have long toiled long hours under unpleasant circumstances, often for low pay, and being asked to do personal chores for the Sun King (or occasionally, Queen) has often come with the privilege of basking in the bright glow of power.

There have been cases much worse than Garretts: viz, the 1979 unanimous House vote to censure Michigan Democratic representative Charles Diggs, who had been tried and convicted for demanding salary kickbacks from his staff. But deploying staff for personal needs clearly violates House ethics rules, and in egregious cases, could lead to prosecution for misappropriations of public funds. At a minimum, the Politico story will undercut any effort by Garrett to depict himself as a humble public servant his own self  instead of a petty despot who humiliates kids.

That could matter this November, even though Garrett represents a pretty solidly Republican district. Just last month the Cook Political Report reclassified his race from Likely Republican to Leans Republican after it became apparent that his Democratic opponent, Leslie Cockburn, was raising more money than he was. Democratic ambitions in the district originally spiked when a photo materialized of Garrett meeting with Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler not too long before white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville  which is in Garretts district  to tragic effect.

Looks like Jason Kessler, the white supremacist who organized the hate march, met with Congressman @RepTomGarrett (R-obviously) not long ago pic.twitter.com/LEKsRGz0m7  Yes, You're Racist (@YesYoureRacist) August 13, 2017

Yeah, Tom Garrett really needs to clean up his act.

*This has been updated with the correct spelling of Tom Garretts name.
Delta Corp | Radhakishan Damani bought 15,50,000 shares of the company at Rs 65.25 each from Derive Investments, NSE data showed. (Image: PTI)

Delta Air Lines, a leading American carrier, today announced launching its nonstop flights between New York and Mumbai beginning next year, almost a decade after it withdrew its services to India.

The airlines was forced to exit Indian market and suspend its non-stop flights to Mumbai in 2009 after subsidised state-owned Middle Eastern carriers made its services economically unviable and hurt its ability to operate in parts of Asia, the airline said in a statement.

"It is exciting to be able to announce Delta's return to India from the US as part of our vision to expand Delta's reach internationally," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said.

The announcement came following agreements between the US and the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to address the issue of subsidies being provided to state-owned carriers.

The framework created by the agreement allows Delta to move forward with service to India, a market long impacted by government-subsidised Middle Eastern airlines.

"We are thankful to the president (Donald Trump) for taking real action to enforce our Open Skies trade deals, which made this new service possible. We are looking forward to providing customers in the US and India with Delta's famously reliable, customer-focused service operated by the best employees in the industry," Bastian said.

Delta said it also intends to expand its existing code-share relationship with partner Jet Airways to provide seamless connections to other destinations within India, subject to government approvals.

Full schedule and details of the New York-Mumbai service will be announced later this year. Currently the United Airlines and Air India operate non-stop services between India and the United States.

It takes around 14 hours of flying time to cover a journey of 7,800 nautical miles from New York.
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Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited today said subsidiary Promius Pharma LLC, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in a US court against Perrigo UK Finco Limited Partnership, Perrigo Israel Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Taro Pharmaceuticals, Inc over its topical spray Sernivo.

In a filing with the bourses,it said the case was filed in the United States District Court for Eastern District of Texas against the three companies "in response to two paragraph-IV notice letters received for its twice daily topical spray Sernivo (betamethasone dipropionate, 0.05%) product."

A notice under Paragrap IV will be issued to a patent holder when a generic company wants to make a similar drug. Promius said it anticipates this lawsuit will trigger a 30 month stay of Food and Drug Administration approval of Perrigo's and Taro's Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA).

Sernivo spray is protected by six Orange Book patents that expire in 2030. The publication Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (commonly known as Orange Book) identifies drug products approved on the basis of safety and effectiveness by FDA under the Federal Food,Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) and related patent and exclusivity information.

Promius will continue to vigorously defend its Intellectual Property Rights against infringement wherever they are challenged, the filing said.
May 26, 2018 / 07:49 PM IST

No achievements, unprecedented assault on India's social fabric in 4 years of Modi: Left

The Left today claimed that the BJP government has nothing to show for its four years at the centre except "failures and rhetoric" and should be ousted from power.

The CPI (M) alleged that these four years had seen an "unprecedented assault" on India's social fabric and the livelihood of the people.

The future of the country and the people can only be safeguarded and improved with the ouster of this government, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.
Supreme Industries Ltd. | In FY21 so far, the stock has gained 132 percent to Rs 2018 on February 24 from 869 on March 31, 2021. MC Technical rating as on February 25shows that on Daily: Very Bullish, Weekly: Very Bullish and, Monthly: Very Bullish. (for more detail click here)

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Astral Poly Technik reported yet another robust quarterly performance, driven by volume growth in pipes business and improved margins across divisions. Operational improvement in the adhesives business and the steady progress in capacity addition projects were the key positives.

The companys foray into new categories and the project execution capabilities are commendable, but the stock price is factoring in the medium term growth prospects, in our view.

Source: Company

Astral Polys standalone March quarter net sales rose 7 percent year-on-year, mainly due to a 10 percent YoY increase in volume sales. EBITDA margins improved 142 bps to 17.7 percent, compared to the management guidance of 14-15 percent.

Lower raw material costs helped, and the margin would have been even better, but for the increase in other expenses. Quarter-on-quarter as well, raw material as percentage of net sales have fallen to 58 percent from 67 percent.

In the adhesives business, overall margin is improving. Quarterly EBITDA margin stood at 20.5 percent (vs. 15.2 percent in Q4 FY17) helped by mainly aided by Resinova operations and economies of scale at its new facilities at Kanpur (UP) and Santej (Gujarat)

International operations (SEAL IT) reported a 15 percent sales growth YoY with the induction of new machinery at its US plants. The US operations are expected to export high margin adhesives products to both UK and India in the current year. While EBITDA margins are still in the high single digits, export of high margin adhesives products are expected to push EBITDA margins towards companys guidance of double digit margins in FY19.

In the current quarter, the company has started trial production at Ghiloth Plant (Rajasthan) which has an installed capacity of 22,700 tons. Here, commercial production will start in July.

Further, construction work for expansion at Hosur facility (15,000 tons) is nearing completion and should start production in September. Together, these projects should help increase companys installed capacity to about 1,75,000 tons. That is a 27 percent increase compared to the installed capacity in FY17.

Additionally, companys adhesive business, Resinova Chemie has launched new products, one of them being Cyanoacrylate under the brand name Resiquick.

FY19 is expected to witness a volume growth of about 15 percent backed by both capacity expansion and better capacity utilization. Further, higher contribution from both Resonova and SEAL IT divisions is expected to aid margins. Along with this company benefits from backward integration in the pipes business.

Source: Moneycontrol Research

On the positive sides, Astral will gain from tailwinds like demand for CPVC pipes backed by capacity expansion and cost savings from backward integration. But the stock is expensive at 53 times 2019 estimated earnings, and the industry suffers from stiff competition. Long term investors can consider accumulating this stock on declines.

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Q1: It originally figured in the work - De finibus bonorum et malorum ("On the ends of good and evil") by the Roman orator, politician and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. Later it was made popular by Letraset is a company based in Kent, UK. It was introduced to the Information Age in the mid-1980s by Aldus Corporation, which employed it in graphics and word processing templates for its desktop publishing program, PageMaker, for the Apple Macintosh. What are we talking about?

Answer: Lorem ipsum. A filler text commonly used to demonstrate the graphic elements of a document or visual presentation. The lorem ipsum text is typically a scrambled section of De finibus bonorum et malorum, derived from sections 1.10.323. Today's popular version of Lorem ipsum was first created in the mid-1980s for Aldus Corporation's desktop publishing program PageMaker for the Apple Macintosh.

Q2: The person is claimed to be a 37-year-old male who lived in Japan. In a 2011 article in The New Yorker, Dr Vili Lehdonvirta and Irish student Michael Clear were considered. In October 2011, the names of Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry were suggested by media. In 2013, Vice listed Gavin Andresen, Jed McCaleb, or a government agency as possible candidates. The most high-profile speculation to date came in a March 6, 2014, article in the magazine Newsweek, when Dorian Prentice, a Japanese American man living in California was identified as the person. Dorian Prentice denies the speculation and has sued Newsweek. What are we talking about?

Answer: The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto - a person or group of people who created the Bitcoin protocol and reference software, Bitcoin Core. It is not known whether the name "Satoshi Nakamoto" is real or a pseudonym, or whether the name represents one person or a group of people.

Q3: Major Robert Loraine was a leading figure in the earliest days of flight and served in the Great War, completing one mission despite having been shot through the neck. What word is credited to him, having been used first in 1909 in his diary to describe aircraft controls?

Answer: Joystick

Q4: 2015 was the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies as per United Nations. As a part of IYL 2015's global campaign, the 1000 year anniversary of a scientist will be celebrated by showcasing his achievements in optics, mathematics and astronomy will be unveiled. Name the scientist.

Answer: Ibn Al-Haytham. He was a pioneering polymath from Basra (in modern-day Iraq) who lived in the 10th century and is often referred to as the father of modern optics.

Q5: Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen in 1935 published an article on quantum mechanics. Another scientist who read this started exchanging letters with Einstein explaining his interpretation of the problem of quantum entanglement which was discussed in the article. Who was the scientist and what resulted from these correspondences? (Reuters)

Answer: Schrodinger and Schrodinger's cat. The EPR article highlighted the strange nature of quantum entanglement, which is a characteristic of a quantum state that is a combination of the states of two systems (for example, two subatomic particles) that once interacted but were then separated, and are not each in a definite state. The Copenhagen interpretation implies that the state of the two systems collapses into a definite state when one of the systems is measured.

Q6: He was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal in India. He remained in his post for 14 years as an Indian National Congress candidate, from 1948 until his death in 1962. In India, the National Doctors' Day is celebrated on the date of his birth (and death) July 1 every year. He was awarded Bharat Ratna on 4 February 1961, India's highest civilian honour. Who?

Answer: Bidhan Chandra Roy

Q7: In the founders words, It was originally inspired three years ago by a conversation I had with my dad, a neurosurgeon at Stanford University. At the time, he was encountering a lot of barriers to publishing one of his papers in a medical journal. The elite peer review and glacial pace was frustrating, and he realized that what he really wanted was to make his paper accessible to as many people as possible and as quickly as possible. What was founded thus? (Image: Reuters)

Answer: Scribd. John R. "Trip" Adler is the CEO and co-founder of Scribd. Adler received inspiration for Scribd from a conversation with his father, who had difficulty publishing an academic paper in a medical journal.

Q8: The origin of this industry in India goes back to the beginning of this century. Around 1910 immigrant Japanese families who settled in Calcutta began making this product with simple hand- and power-operated machines. After the war, factories in Calcutta were unable to compete with imports, and handmade production shifted to southern India. What is this industry?

Answer: Safety Match Industry (Image: Reuters)

Q9: It is an ambitious project with long-term aims, that is being developed in partnership with Swarovski, The Woolmark Company and MATCHESFASHION.COM. The aim is to showcase a wealth of design and artisan fashion talent across its 53 countries. Selected design talent includes major names such as Karen Walker representing New Zealand, Bibi Russell representing Bangladesh and Burberry and Stella McCartney representing the UK. What is it known as? (Image: Reuters)

Answer: The Commonwealth Fashion Exchange (Representative Image: Reuters)

Q10: A company which is into the business of replacements is one among a number of agencies in Japan. The founders goal is to bring about a society where no one needs our service. What are they into?

Answer: Yuichi Ishii is the founder of Family Romance, a company which is into the business of replacements. The founders goal is to bring about a society where no one needs our service.

Q11: It is an alchemical term for the process of creating the philosopher's stone.

It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation, attached to laboratory processes and chemical color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as a device in art and literature. It has 4 stages: nigredo, a blackening or melanosis albedo, a whitening or leucosis citrinitas, a yellowing or xanthosis rubedo, a reddening, purpling, or iosis. What is the term?

Answer: Magnum opus

Q12: It originated in ancient China as early as the Xin dynasty (9 AD). It was reinvented in its modern form in 1631 by a French mathematician. Its use was described in detail in English in Navigatio Britannica (1750) by John Barrow, the mathematician and historian. In some languages, this device is called a nonius. What are we talking about?

Answer: Vernier scale (invented by Pierre Vernier) (Image: Reuters)

Q13: During WW2 engineers used the binary system to label these, with "1" and "0. In 1973, International Electrotechnical Commission vaguely codified this symbol and later IEEE standardised its usage. Which symbol, that is seen in almost all of our devices? (Representative Image: Reuters)

Answer: Power Symbol

Q14: Though the symbol was drawn to resemble an item from Roman mythology, it was later altered adding a circle, a square and a triangle. This was to signify the different peripherals that could be used with this standard. Which symbol are we talking about? (Image: Reuters)

Answer: USB Icon (Image: Reuters)

Q15: The use of the term in its current form was coined in 1985 by Richard Garriott for the computer game Ultima IV. Its usage to mean online virtual bodies was popularised by Neal Stephenson in his cyberpunk novel Snow Crash (1992). Borrowed from Hindu myth, which term are we talking about?

Answer: Avatar (Image: Reuters)

Q16: This term refers to an organized form of theft in which a group of participants enter a retail shop or convenience store en masse and steal goods and other items. Its name originates from another term used in media where a group of people assemble quickly, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act, and then disperse. What are the two terms? (Representative Image: Reuters)

Answer: Flash mob and Flash rob (Reuters)

Q17: It is the de facto sleep state symbol on devices in the United States and Europe. It was originally used to show the state where an electronic device to be neither on nor off. Which symbol?

Answer: Crescent Moon

Q18: A caesura is a musical notation that is believed to have made its way into the world of technology. Which symbol?

Answer: Pause

Q19: In astronomy, with regard to certain nomenclature, what do the following letters - P, C, X, D, A- stand for? (Image: Reuters)

Answer: Comet nomenclature: P indicates a periodic comet (defined for these purposes as any comet with an orbital period of less than 200 years or confirmed observations at more than one perihelion passage). C indicates a non-periodic comet (defined as any comet that is not periodic according to the preceding definition). X indicates a comet for which no reliable orbit could be calculated (generally, historical comets). D indicates a periodic comet that has disappeared, broken up, or been lost. A indicates an object that was mistakenly identified as a comet, but is actually a minor planet. (Image: Reuters)

Q20: Friedrich August _________, was the principal formulator of the theory of chemical structure (185758). He for some reason only used his last name in his works. The need for an international standard for chemistry was first addressed in 1860 by a committee headed by him. The ideas that were formulated in that conference evolved into the official IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry. Identify the scientist. (Image: Reuters)
Delhi High Court sought response and rejoinders from former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others on CBIs plea challenging their acquittal by a special court in the 2G spectrum case, response sought by 10th August, reports ANI.

The Trump administration is planning to end the Obama-era rule allowing spouses of H1-B visa holders to work legally in the US, a move that could have a devastating impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visa holders who have work permits.

H-4 visas are issued to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India.

The move to rescind work authorisation to certain categories of H-4 visa holders is in final stages, the Trump administration has told a US court.

Trump blamed "open hostility" from the North Korean regime for his decision to call off the planned talks with Kim Jong Un, and warned Pyongyang against committing any "foolish or reckless acts."

North Korea said today it is willing to talk to the United States "at any time" after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a summit, a decision that once more casts a pall of uncertainty over the the turbulent Korean peninsula.

May 25, 2018 / 09:27 PM IST That's all for today, readers. Thanks for staying on with our coverage of the day's action. Your enthusiasm encourages us to better our coverage every day. Do come back tomorrow for more news, views and insights.











May 25, 2018 / 08:38 PM IST











May 25, 2018 / 08:13 PM IST Govt notifies 8.55% interest on PF for 2017-18, lowest in 5 years Retirement fund body has asked its field offices to credit 8.55 percent rate of interest for 2017-18, the lowest rate since 2012-13 fiscal, into the PF accounts of around 5 crore subscribers. The Labour Ministry has conveyed approval of the central government to credit 8.55 percent rate of interest for 2017-18 into PF accounts of members, according to an order issued by the EPFO to its more than 120 field offices. The finance ministry had ratified 8.55 percent rate of interest on EPF for the last fiscal. But it could not be implemented because of model code of conduct for Karnataka elections. (PTI)











May 25, 2018 / 07:52 PM IST Cong-JD(S) coalition will be stable for 5 years: Kumaraswamy Seeking the trust vote in the Karnataka assembly, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today asserted that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would complete its five-year tenure. He said he was conscious that he was not running a majority government but promised "a new kind" of coalition

government that would become a model for the country. "You (BJP) may be feeling that this government will go in two or three months, it will not go in two months or one month, but will stay with stability for five years," Kumaraswamy said.













May 25, 2018 / 07:28 PM IST TN violence: CPI demands resignation of CM Palaniswami CPI today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister K Palaniswami, owning moral responsibility for the police firing on protesters in Tuticorin that has claimed 13 lives and left scores injured. The Left party charged the state government with "state sponsored killing" of the protesters and protecting Sterlite's interests". "The Chief Minister should own up moral responsibility for the deaths and step down. Sterlite should also go," CPI National Secretary D Raja said in a statement. (PTI)











May 25, 2018 / 07:15 PM IST Putin says world needs 'trade peace', not trade wars Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the world needs to put a stop to trade wars, in what appeared to be a jab at US leader Donald Trump. "Today we need not trade wars or even trade truces but trade peace," Putin told an economic summit in Saint Petersburg attended by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and French President Emmanuel Macron. (AFP)











May 25, 2018 / 06:57 PM IST TCS m-cap surges past Rs 7-lakh crore mark IT bellwether Tata Consultancy Services' market valuation briefly crossed the Rs 7-lakh crore mark on Friday, making it the first company to achieve this milestone. The market valuation of TCS jumped to Rs 7,03,309 crore during the intra-day session on the BSE today. The m-cap was calculated at the stock's 52-week high price of Rs 3,674 hit today on the exchange. At the close of trade, however, the m-cap of TCS slipped below the Rs 7-lakh crore mark and stood at Rs 6,87,123.96 crore. TCS shares slipped 0.43 percent to settle at Rs 3,589.45 apiece on the BSE. During the day, it had gained 1.91 percent to hit a one-year high of Rs 3,674. The IT major's shares have surged nearly 33 percent so far this year. (PTI)











May 25, 2018 / 06:50 PM IST Modi government's schemes benefitted 22 crore poor families: Amit Shah BJP president Amit Shah on Friday said the Modi government's welfare schemes in its four years have benefitted 22 crore poor families and set an example of how a pro-people dispensation is run. In his brief address to the media on the fourth anniversary of the BJP-led NDA government, Shah claimed that the current dispensation has taken the country's self-pride to the highest level. The party on the occasion also unveiled a new slogan 'Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas' (clean intentions, right development) as it launches a nation-wide drive to highlight the government's works. (PTI)











May 25, 2018 / 06:22 PM IST Tuticorin copper plant issues: Harsh Vardhan says will look into it Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday sought to blame the previous UPA government for issues related to Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin and said his ministry would look into the matter. "I just returned in the morning and I read about it (Tuticorin) in the newspapers. We will certainly look into what is happening. All this happened during the tenure of the last government. I do not want to make an issue out of it," Vardhan said when asked about the issue. (PTI)











May 25, 2018 / 06:02 PM IST Trump welcomes North Korean response to talk cancellation U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was pleased that North Korea said it was still open to talks after his abrupt cancellation of a planned June 12 meeting. "Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!" Trump said on Twitter. (Reuters)










Dana Rohrabacher, defender of minority rights. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Dana Rohrabacher is one of the Republican Partys most vulnerable incumbents. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won Rohrabachers Orange County congressional district. The areas voters are (almost certainly) more progressive on issues of LGBT rights than those in the median congressional district.

Nevertheless, Rohrabacher has decided to take a controversial stand against Californias decades-old prohibition on denying housing to people because they are gay. Every homeowner should be able to make a decision not to sell their home to someone [if] they dont agree with their lifestyle, Rohrabacher told the Orange County Association of Realtors last week.

This led the National Association of Realtors (NAR)  a powerful lobby, especially in California  to rescind its endorsement of Rohrabacher (the NARs code of ethics prohibits the kind of discrimination the congressman endorsed).

Still, Rohrabacher has refused to back down from his principled commitment to making it harder for gays and lesbians to find places to live. Weve drawn a line on racism, but I dont think we should extend that line, the congressman told the Orange County Register Thursday. A homeowner should not be required to be in business with someone they think is doing something that is immoral.

Rohrabacher insisted that he was personally, vehemently opposed to such discrimination against gay people. But, he said, there are some fundamentalist Christians who do not approve of their lifestyle  I support their rights.

This makes a lot of sense. It is totally realistic and reasonable for a fundamentalist Christian homeowner to demand to know that the people he sells his home to will never get divorced, or have adulterous relations  or engage in any sex act that violates his conception of a moral lifestyle. If a Christian cannot be certain that the only kind of sex happening in his old house is missionary-style, heterosexual intercourse between married people who are trying to have a child, then can we really say that freedom of religion is alive and well in the United States?

Its not like this hypothetical Christian would just be arbitrarily discriminating against gays as a class (because he would have no basis for assuming that any heterosexual couple he sells to would share his faiths many rules about sexual conduct) and, in so doing, be perpetuating a significant structural injustice in the housing market.

So, kudos to Dana Rohrabacher for bravely defending the rights of a minority group, and not, in any way, allowing bigots to use their religious affiliation as a pretense for discrimination.
Indian startups have been trying to block European users from buying products or services from their platform to avoid complications after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) kicked in.

GDPR, that kicked in on May 25, requires companies doing business in Europe to give greater control to EU citizens with regard to their own data.

Data Intelligence startup Paper.vc has made changes in its policies to comply with the same.

"We've recently updated our terms of use to disallow services to EU subjects. While we maintain our own high standards for personal information, making laws extra-territorial is a messy business. India is a sovereign nation and we will comply its laws," said Vivek Durai, Co-Founder, Paper.vc.

While Paper.vc has made its stance clear, experts suggest not many startups in India can be called GDPR-compliant for now.

"Very few start-ups in India are likely to be GDPR-compliant as the significant investment in terms of people, resources and technology may not have taken place. Building a mechanism around data preservation policies as mandated under the regulation would take time, but it is important though for the start-up ecosystem to take quick action as substantial fines can be imposed in case of non-compliance," said Arpinder Singh, Partner and Head- India and Emerging Markets, Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services at EY.

Not all Indian startups are expected to see massive impact of the European Union's data protection regulation, companies across sectors such as Software as Services (SAAS) and travel are likely to get impacted given the global reach of their businesses.
Flipkart Walmart

Top executives of Walmart India and Flipkart today met fair trade regulator CCI to explain their activities in the country, days after submitting an application seeking approval for their USD 16-billion mega merger deal. While there was no official word on the meeting, sources said it was a "courtesy call" by the executives of the two companies during which they also apprised the regulatory authority of Walmart's global sourcing from India, including from the farmers, and its work towards kirana stores and supplier development programmes.

Those present in the meeting included Walmart India president and CEO Krish Iyer and the company's senior vice president and chief corporate affairs officer Rajneesh Kumar, besides Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and its group legal head R Baweja, sources said.

In their meeting with CCI member Sudhir Mittal, the officials of the two companies briefly explained about their individual businesses, development programmes and other activities.

The meeting comes days after Walmart approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for approval of its proposed acquisition of a majority stake in e-commerce major Flipkart. In their application filed last week, the two companies have said the acquisition, proposed through Walmart International Holdings, deal doesn't raise any competition concerns.

Mergers and acquisitions beyond a certain threshold require the approval of the CCI.

In their plea, Walmart has told the regulator that Flipkart is a Singapore-based investment holding firm, which along with its direct and indirect subsidiaries, both in India and elsewhere, is primarily engaged in the business of wholesale cash and carry of goods and providing marketplace based e-commerce platforms to facilitate trade between customers and sellers in India.

According to the notice submitted to the CCI by Wal-Mart International Holdings, the proposed transaction will be effected pursuant to the share purchase agreement and the share issuance and acquisition agreement entered into on May 9 by and among Walmart's subsidiary and Flipkart.

Retailers have joined hands to approach CCI against USD 16 billion Walmart-Flipkart deal as they apprehend that it would lead to massive job loss and be a "nightmare for retail trade" of the country.

Earlier this week, traders body CAIT also said it will approach the CCI to file objections on the proposed Walmart-Flipkart deal, claiming that the agreement would lead to an uneven playing field and massive job losses.

On the other hand, an online sellers industry body has already moved the CCI against Flipkart India Pvt Ltd, a wholesale company, for allegedly abusing its dominant position on Flipkart's online marketplace.

Walmart seeks to acquire 77 per cent stake in the homegrown e-commerce firm with a buyout of USD 16 billion.

Opposing the deal, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has also written to Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, seeking to know the steps being taken by the government to scrutinise the deal.

CAIT alleged that the deal involves important issues related to FDI policy, cyber security, apprehension of using e-commerce for entering retail trade by circumventing the law etc.
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A standout feature of this earnings season so far has been the strong performance by companies in the consumer space. Purchasing and spending was affected last year because of the Goods and Services Tax roll out. Consumers have now resumed spending on goods and services and this is feeding into the earnings of companies catering to the demand.

From a portfolio perspective, stocks of consumer companies are a good hedge when the macro picture is bleak, as is the case at present.

We have identified some midcap consumer companies which can deliver consistent growth in earnings.

Sanwaria Consumer, one of the largest integrated food processors in India, reported a 24 percent growth in topline and 133 percent growth in net profit in the March quarter.

Over the past 3-4 years, Sanwaria has changed focus from commodities processing to end-products. It has launched products under its own brand and has also entered the retail segment with the roll out of Sanwaria Consumer Shoppy (Sanwaria Kirana) outlets in Madhya Pradesh. It has also signed a deal with Patanjali to supply soya chunks to it.

High debt remains a concern, though the promoters recently infused Rs 100 crore (at Rs 35 per share) through a preferential allotment to repay a part of the loan. The company plans to raise another Rs 400 crores towards working capital, capacity expansion and acquisitions.

The realisations of rice and soyabean have improved considerably and this bodes well for a company like Sanwaria which derives 75 percent of its revenue from these two products. The company is gradually transforming itself into a branded FMCG company which should improve margins and thereby, earnings.

Gujarat Ambuja Exports (GAEL) is one of Indias leading manufacturers of agro-processed products and cotton yarn. GAELs revenue for the March quarter declined by 18 percent to 881 crores, but net income more than doubled to 79 crores. The topline was subdued as the company has shifted focus to manufacturing from trading of agro processing commodities. The margins improved on the back of higher contribution from manufacturing capacity.

GAEL has recently started operations at its 1000 metric tonnes per day maize processing plant at Chalisgaon (Maharashtra). With this, GAEL is now the largest maize processor in India with total capacity of 3,000 mtpd and a market share of 21-22%.

The company is expected to benefit from the drought in Argentina, the third largest soybean producer in the world. Soybean production in Argentina has fallen 30 percent this year. Lower production in Argentina has resulted in GAEL gaining competitive advantage in processed exports. Besides, GAEL will also benefit from improvement in crushing margins and soybean realisations as soya prices have increased 20-25 percent in the last 6 months.

CCL Products (CCL) is Indias largest manufacturer and exporter of instant coffee. The company has an installed capacity of 30,000 MTs of instant coffee across India, Vietnam and Switzerland. CCL exports coffee and related products to more than 60 countries around the globe.

The companys consolidated revenues for the quarter rose 7 percent to Rs 321 crores and net profit PAT rose 33 percent to Rs 47 crores. Growth was driven mainly by the strong performance from Vietnam operations. As the India capacity is working at nearly full utilisation, CCL is looking to grow its customer base in Vietnam after the commissioning of agglomeration capacity in the region. Vietnams capacity of 10,000 MT is now running at 70 percent utilisation and provides additional scope for revenue and profitability growth. Back home, CCLs new 5,000 MT freeze-dried coffee plant is being set-up at Chittoor and is expected commence operations by H2 FY18.

The prices of green coffee have started decreasing and this might result in growth moderation as the customers have started to delay purchases in a low price environment. Accordingly, the management has given a conservative revenue growth guidance of 10-20% in the current financial year, excluding the new plant capacity. The new plant is a high margin business and will further aid the profitability of CCL as volumes pick up.

Quick Heal Technologies provides security software products and solutions in India, Japan, Kenya, the United Arab Emirates, and other regions. The company has a strong footprint in both the retail and enterprise segments. It has 30,000+ Enterprise and 8.4 million actives licence users and has a 34 percent market share in the retail segment.

Quick Heals quarterly revenues rose 29 percent year-on-year to Rs 118.7 crore in Q4 FY18, and net profit jumped 122% to Rs 49.2 crore. The March quarter is generally the strongest in terms of revenues due to renewal of product and service licence agreements at the start of the year. It contributes around 35-40 percent of its yearly sales.

The company operates in the retail and enterprise segments. It derives around 80 percent of revenues from the enterprise segment and the balance from retail. Renewal rate for retail segment stands at 35 percent while that of the enterprise segment is much higher at 75 percent. The management wants to increase the renewal rates in both the segments to aid long term revenue visibility.

The market opportunity for internet security services is huge as there are more than 50 million mobile and laptops on the retail side. Small and mid-sized enterprises which form a major part of the enterprise segment has a market size of 40 million and these enterprises are gradually integrating technology with their businesses. In general, the cyber security market is vastly underpenetrated and proves ample opportunities for growth amid concerns of data privacy.

Quick Heal plans to replicate the success in the consumer security segment to expand its coverage on the enterprise segment. The business is highly scalable and enjoys high operating leverage and looks well positioned to grow in an increasingly digital world economy.

Amongst the four stocks, Sanwaria and GAEL trading at 7.0x and 11.6x one year forward price-earnings multiple offer attractive risk-reward ratio at current valuations. CCL and Quick Heal are relatively expensive at current prices and can be accumulated on minor corrections.
Indian Railways is considering a proposal to partner with private developers to redevelop its residential colonies spread across Mumbai, according to a report in Mumbai Mirror.

The move may open up over 240 acres of land for the redevelopment.

The move aims to raise Rs 50,000 crore to fund an array of projects in Mumbai including the CST-Panvel elevated corridor, new AC trains, fifth and sixth lines between Borivali and Virar, and third and fourth lines between Kalyan and Badlapur.

The Western Railway has 15 staff colonies in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) while the Central Railway hosts 68 residential buildings in Parel, Matunga, Mumbai Central, Bandra, Andheri Borivali and Virar.

The proposal has been placed before the Convention Committee of the Indian Railways. The committee reviews and recommends action of key railway projects.

Railways has been negotiating with the state government to secure a floor space index (FSI) of four or five for the redevelopment projects. Currently, FSI of four is allowed for various redevelopment schemes, such as slum rehabilitation.

Urban planners, however, are opposing the plan stating that the redevelopment will only worsen congestion in the city. Mumbai is the most populous city in India with an estimated city proper population of 12.4 million as of 2011.

The move has also received resistance from environmentalist. "The railways were given land for providing services to people and it cant act like a private builder. If it thinks it has excess land that can be redeveloped, it should be given back to the BMC or the state government," environmentalist Debi Goenka, who had filed a writ petition against opening up of mill land, told the paper.

Railways had gained 600 acres of land in south and central Mumbai from the sale of mill and is expected to gain another 92 acres from the Bombay Development Department chawls redevelopment.
May 25, 2018 / 03:52 PM IST

Yeddyurappa used impolite words: Kumaraswamy

Replying to Yeddyurappa's speech, chief minister Kumaraswamy said, I have listened to Yeddyurappa's speech carefully. But he has given wrong information and used impolite words in the House. I will not indulge in personal attacks. Listening to him, I feel the people will not give the BJP power and his speech was perhaps a rehearsal for some drama company, according to The Hindu.
Jordan Peterson, standing atop a hierarchy of competence. Photo: Rene Johnston/Toronto Star via Getty Images

In the United States today, the richest 0.1 percent of households command as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent combined; the average CEO collects 140 times as large a salary as his (or, very occasionally her) typical employee; the median white family is 12 times richer than the median black one; and the superrich can expect to live 15 years longer than the poor.

And North Americas most influential public intellectual has convinced himself that one our societys biggest problems is its excessive intolerance for inequality.

Jordan Peterson believes that America is besieged by postmodernists who wish to build an economic system that will guarantee equal outcomes for all individuals. In his book, YouTube videos, lectures, and newspaper interviews, the Canadian psychologist  turned patron-saint of failsons  decries the notion that justice requires total economic equality with such fervor and frequency, youd think he was speaking from a Stalinist gulag.

And yet, he is far from alone in this fixation. His fellow travelers in the so-called Intellectual Dark Web also believe that it is extremely important  and incredibly brave  to say that full communism is a bad idea in Donald Trumps United States. Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan  and just about every other prominent critic of social justice warriors  regularly decry the left for abandoning the American ideal of equality of opportunity for the Marxist dream of equality of outcomes.

While wholly divorced from social reality, the origins of Peterson & Co.s obsession with radical egalitarianism are plain to see. Progressive commentators (and social media users) routinely present racial and gender disparities as dispositive evidence of social injustice. When liberals do this, they do not (generally) intend to suggest that all human beings are equal in aptitude  or that fairness requires total equality in the material and social conditions of all individuals and demographic groups. I do not know any feminists who blame the patriarchy for the fact that no woman has ever played middle linebacker in the NFL. These days, most self-identified socialists in the U.S. seem to want little more than the same suite of social welfare programs enjoyed by their peers in capitalist Western Europe. And even those lefties who are genuinely committed to socializing the means of production are, typically, quite comfortable with the survival of material inequality within a narrow band (to incentivize and reward socially useful labor).

The reason (most) progressives posit the gender-wage gap  or racial disparities in incarceration, or income inequality  as self-evident testaments to injustice is not that they are committed to equality of outcomes. Rather, it is that they believe that in a society as racist, sexist, and economically stratified as our own, it is safe to assume that such inequalities are not solely rooted in meritocracy or social utility.

Jordan Petersons default assumption is that in Western societies such inequalities primarily reflect hierarchies of competence that redound to benefit of the public as a whole. The left, by contrast, assumes that the gender-wage gap (at least partially) reflects the fact that women have been so thoroughly and durably subordinated in the United States, men in Oklahoma and North Carolina still had the legal right to rape their wives as recently as 1993.

Progressives also feel it safe to say that the economic chasm between black and white households might have something to do with the fact that, for most of American history, chattel slavery, Jim Crow laws, and discriminatory housing policies barred the vast majority of African-Americans from the opportunity to accrue wealth. And liberals are also fairly confident that hierarchies of competence do not fully explain the disparate market incomes of the one percent and middle class, in a nation where beloved public school teachers live on the edge of poverty, and Donald Trump lives in the White House.

Is it plausible that, in conditions of total social equality, human beings with lower testosterone levels would be disproportionately interested in care work and child-rearing  while those with higher levels would be overrepresented among mechanical engineers? Sure. But that hypothetical isnt terribly relevant to questions of social policy in a nation where women are still routinely subjected to domestic violence in their homes, sexual harassment in their workplaces, and gender bias at their schools.

Nor would such disparate preferences necessarily justify pay disparities, even in the absence of such social disadvantages.

Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro would be well within their rights to contest these premises. But instead of engaging in an honest debate about whether equality of opportunity exists in the United States, they chose to misconstrue their point-of-contention with SJWs  and proceed to delegitimize concerns over structural inequality by equating them with a totalitarian ideology (i.e. cultural Marxism).

The fact that they voice such unequivocal support for equality of opportunity while executing this move is, itself, a testament to their bad faith. In truth, these conservative thinkers do not actually believe that all citizens of a democracy are entitled to an equal opportunity at economic and social success. In fact, virtually no one believes that  because achieving such equality is impossible to literally realize, absent a degree of social engineering that would make Chairman Mao blush.

Even if we (arbitrarily) confine our concern to inequalities of opportunity rooted in the historic, de jure oppression of African-Americans, the degree of government intervention necessary to level the playing field is massive.

Thanks to state-sponsored residential segregation, black children are far more likely than white ones to grow up in neighborhoods and buildings that expose them to hazardous concentrations of lead. And this exposure can do durable damage to a childs cognitive faculties, including her memory, attention, reasoning, and motor skills. Which is to say: By the time they arrive at kindergarten, many black children will already find themselves at a (potentially permanent) cognitive disadvantage, as a consequence of the inequitable housing conditions that they were born into.

And then, such children will likely find themselves in an elementary school that has lower per-pupil funding  and a higher concentration of poverty among the student body (socioeconomic segregation has been shown to be detrimental to the educational outcomes of individual low-income students)  than their white peers. And those disadvantages are, themselves, products of residential discrimination that the federal government engineered.

One could devote (and many have devoted) whole books to further unspooling the structural disadvantages that African-American young people encounter as they come of age. But if we decide to stop the story here  and pretend that equality of opportunity can be established merely by providing all American children with equal access to housing that wont poison them, and schools that are equally well-funded and socioeconomically diverse  the task before us is already immense. To establish even this impoverished form of equal opportunity, the federal government would need to execute a massive program of lead removal and public housing construction, and then radically restructure how the public education system is financed.

And yet, you will not find the Intellectual Dark Webs many champions of equal opportunity clamoring for such intiatives. In fact, Ben Shapiro has argued that the the idea that black people in the United States are disproportionately poor because America is racist; thats just not true. Peterson, meanwhile, believes that the following argument constitutes a bulletproof case that economic inequalities in the United States are almost entirely meritocratic:

Lets say you want to determine what the best predictors are for lifetime success in a Western society. Well, what would you hope for? How about intelligence. There would be a good one: Lets hope the smart people occupy more positions of complexity. Right, because theyre smarter? Would you want it any other way? The number one predictor of accomplishment in Western societies is intelligence. Whats the number two predictor: Conscientiousness. Well, whats that? Its a trait marker for hard work. So, who gets ahead? Smart people who work hard.

That the socioeconomic conditions a person is born into could limit her opportunity to develop such traits never seems to cross Petersons mind.

This oversight isnt a product of the esteemed professors lack of intelligence or conscientiousness. It merely betrays the fact that, when Peterson champions equality of opportunity, he is not expressing a sincere desire to minimize the anti-meritocratic features of our political economy. Rather, he is seeking to naturalize those features by asserting, without evidence, that the absence of de jure discrimination renders them nonexistent.
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CPI today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister K Palaniswami, owning moral responsibility for the police firing on protesters in Tuticorin that has claimed 13 lives and left scores injured.

The Left party charged the state government with "state sponsored killing" of the protesters and "protecting Sterlite's interests". "The Chief Minister should own up moral responsibility for the deaths and step down. Sterlite should also go," CPI National Secretary D Raja said in a statement.

Alleging that the company was known for looting natural resources and polluting the environment,he said since it could not set up the plant in other states, including Goa, "it established the plant in Tamil Nadu with state support."

Police firing on May 22 and 23 following violence against Vedanta's copper plant in Tamil Nadu's port city of Tuticorin left 13 dead and over a 100 injured.

CPI was among the DMK-led opposition parties which today held agitations as part of a State-wide shutdown call against the police firing and violence,besides seeking the resignation of Palaniswami.
HD Kumaraswamy

Soon after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy proved his three-day-old government's majority on the floor of the assembly, parleys began between coalition partners Congress and JD(S) on cabinet expansion in Karnataka. Within hours after the trust vote, Congress and JD(S) leaders, including Kumaraswamy, met at former Chief Minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah's residence on cabinet expansion, sources said.

Among those who attended the meeting were Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC chief G Parameshwara, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal and JD(S) leader H D Revanna. Both the coalition partners had earlier decided to discuss the cabinet expansion, after the trust vote.

According to sources, Congress leaders are likely to fly to Delhi soon to discuss with the high-command the cabinet expansion and allocation of portfolios. Parameshwara had yesterday said the coalition partners are yet to discuss the modalities on sharing of portfolios between both the parties,as also about Kumaraswamy continuing as Chief Minister for a full five year term.

It has already been decided that Congress will have22 ministers and JDS 12, in the new cabinet. With a growing number of aspirants for Ministers posts inboth parties, especially Congress, the leaders are up for a tough task. Senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar, who emerged as a key figure in keeping party MLAs together before the trust t vote of BJP's Yeddyurappa government, is reportedly upset over not getting the Deputy Chief Minister's post.

He is reportedly seeking a major portfolio along with the KPCC chief post, which Parameshwara is expected to vacate following his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister. Leaders of the coalition parties are also likely to decide on a coordination committee soon, and will form an empanelled group to formulate a common minimum programme for the smooth functioning of the government.
On the fourth anniversary of the Modi government, BJP is celebrating its achievements and preparing for the general elections next year. In the onset of the last year, the party has come up with a new tagline.

The anniversary celebrations will have the tagline - Manzil Aa Rahi Hai Paas, Desh Ka Badhta Jaata Vishwas; Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas. In its condensed form, the theme will be Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas - Clean intent, Right Development, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

Sources close to the party told the paper that this theme will focus on Modis intentions for the country and the progress that has been seen in the past four years. The theme will also acknowledge the amount of work that is still to be done in the one year that is left.

The development and intentions that the tagline mentions, is setting a tone for the 2019 election campaigns. The aforementioned source said, There is no doubt that our biggest asset is PM Modis credibility and there is no doubt about his intentions.

We will also flag both infrastructure and welfare gains to show there is a lot that the government has achieved. But the slogan recognizes that this is a journey and ask citizens to have faith that the direction is right, he said.

Senior leaders from the party are going to hold press conferences to highlight the governments successes during its regime. A social media campaign will take place, along with a planned outreach to more than a lakh intellectuals and a harmony connect day with Dalits.

Congress has attacked the BJP on its celebration of four years and its theme, calling it Vishwasghat Divas or Betrayal Day and it also plans to hold protests in every district of India.
With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections less than a year away, both BJP and the Congress have sounded the poll bugle and are leaving no stone unturned.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to lead the saffron party from the front while Congress President Rahul Gandhi has announced his prime ministerial ambitions.

Also Read: Survey shows 47% don't want NDA in power after 2019 polls

According to the Lokniti-CSDS-ABP News Mood of the Nation Survey (round three) released on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is likely to return to power if the polls are held today, however, with a wafer-thin margin.

The BJP would not get a majority on its own and will have to depend on its allies to retain power, the survey suggests.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the Mood of the Nation survey:

BJP may not get majority on its own

The survey suggests that if the elections were to be held today, the BJP would not be achieve the 272-seat magic number. It would have to rely on its allies to retain power at the Centre.

NDA would get 274 seats while the UPA would win 164 seats. Other parties and regional parties would get 105 seats, the survey has suggested.

In terms of the nationwide vote share, NDA would get 37 percent votes, down from 38.5 percent in 2014. UPA would get 31 percent votes, up from 23 percent, while others would get 32 percent votes.

BJP makes loses in Uttar Pradesh

Out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state  the highest for any state in the country  the saffron party had bagged 71 seats. Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) had won five seats while Congress and Apna Dal (NDA member) bagged two seats each.

NDAs vote share in 2014 in UP was 43 percent while UPAs vote share was eight percent. Other parties put together, had received 49 percent votes.

However, if the polls were to be held today, BJPs vote share would come down to 35 percent, UPA could get 12 percent votes while other parties (including SP and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party) would together account for 46 percent.

BJPs performance dips in southern India

Out of 132 seats in southern India, the NDA is likely to win just 18-22 seats while the UPA could bag 67-75 seats, according to the survey. Other players and region parties could win 38-44 seats, if the polls were to be held today.

In 2014, NDA had bagged 2 seats in the region, UPA had won 21 seats while other parties had clinched 88 seats.

Also read: Advantage BJP in Lok Sabha 2019 polls, Congress might get a boost: ABP-CSDS survey

BJP makes gains in Bihar, Eastern India

The survey has revealed that the NDA would maintain its numbers in the state of Bihar. The NDA is likely to have a 60 percent vote share, far ahead of UPAs 34 percent. Other parties would have a six percent vote share, if the polls were held today.

In 2014, NDA had a vote share of 58 percent followed by UPAs 28 percent. Others had bagged a vote share of 21 percent in the previous general election.

In July 2017, Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, resigned from his post and broke his party's 'Grand Alliance' with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress.

Nitish was sworn in as the new Chief Minister less than 24 hours after he resigned, but this time with the support of the BJP.

The survey has also suggested that the NDAs popularity has remained intact in the east. If Lok Sabha polls were to be held today, NDA is likely to get 86-94 seats out of 142 seats. The UPA would get 22-26 seats while others parties would bag 26-30 seats.

In 2014, NDA had won clinched 58 seats in the region, UPA had won 21 while others bagged 63. East India here includes Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam.

In West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is expected to hold onto the state if polls were held today. TMC is likely to get 44 percent vote share, followed by BJPs 24 percent, Left parties 17 percent and Congress 11 percent.

Congress leads in Rajasthan, MP with clear margin

If the Assembly elections in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were to be held today, the Congress party could trump the BJP in both states.

The BJP is lagging behind in Rajasthan by a 5 percent vote share. Congress is likely to bag 44 percent vote share, followed by BJPs 39 percent, according to the survey.

In Madhya Pradesh too, where Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is fighting the anti-incumbency factor, the Congress is maintaining a comfortable margin of 15 percent vote share over the BJP.

Congress is likely to get a 49 percent vote share while the BJP could come second with 34 percent votes, if elections were to happen today.

Also read: Congress 'open to forging anti-BJP coalition' for Madhya Pradesh polls

Rahul Gandhis popularity rises, PM Modis dips

Around 24 percent of the people who were surveyed preferred Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the prime minister. PM Modi however, retained his lead being the preference of 34 percent of the respondents.

The popularity gap between the two leaders has come down to 10 percent from what was 17 percent five months ago, according to the second round of the survey.

According to the survey, almost 47 percent of the total 15,859 respondents are of the opinion that the Modi government does not deserve to be voted back to power in 2019. Less than two of every five respondents or 39 percent people thought it deserved a second chance, with the rest remained non-committal.

Also read: Survey shows 47% don't want NDA in power after 2019 polls
At the age of 25, Elon Musk along with his younger brother Kimbal founded Zip2, a company which provided online city guide software to newspapers. Call it the Google Maps of the late 90s. Musk sold the company to Compaq Computer in 1999, four years after it was founded for $307 million. Musk personally netted $22 million from the acquisition.

Elon Musk went on a Twitter rant spanning over 60 tweets and three daysWednesday to Fridayattacking the media and its credibility. He also announced the launch of a media credibility rating site Pravda.

He said the site would be bot-proof and will have enough checks and balances to make the ratings accountable. He also laid out the plan how he would do it. Apparently, one of Musk's agents has already incorporated Pravda Corp in California back in October.

Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda, Musk said in a tweet.

Pravda, in Russian, means Truth. A communist newspaper also ran with the same name for eight decades till the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.

Musks tirade started with a tweet linking an Electrek.co article reporting Bairds auto analysts prediction that Tesla stocks could rally as the negative headlines about the company has reached a peak and are increasingly immaterial.



Problem is journos are under constant pressure to get max clicks & earn advertising dollars or get fired. Tricky situation, as Tesla doesnt advertise, but fossil fuel companies & gas/diesel car companies are among worlds biggest advertisers.

 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

Musk said media has a holier-than-thou attitude who lay claim to the truth, but publish only enough to sugarcoat the lie, is why the public no longer respects them.

He also put up a poll asking if he should create such a site. 88 percent of over 681,000 people who voted said, Yes, this would be good. The rest voted for No, media are awesome.

Media organisations, reporters and editors took his accusations in their stride and came out united to defend Musks charge.

The New York Times suggested Musks tirade is a response to a series of unfavourable media reports which have highlighted problems with Tesla Motors, the company he heads. The reportage includes delays in Tesla Model 3 productions, fatal accidents involving Teslas autonomous cars, accidents at Tesla factory injuring workers and financial crunch the company is facing.

The Atlantic said he may have made his career out of creating companies to fill gaps he perceives in various industries and now he eyes news business but if only he knew the first thing about journalism.

The Verges senior transportation reporter, Andrew Hawkins said Musk was slowly transforming into a media-baiting Trump figure screaming irrationally about fake news. Pulitzer Prize-winning Interactive editor at The Post and Courier, J Amory Parker tweeted, Blaming the messenger is the hot new thing everyone's doing.

Sharon Weinberger, executive editor at Foreign Policy said, I was once invited to visit SpaceX's facility on Kwajalein. Following interviews, I was told @elonmusk had to review all articles prior to publication. I explained journalism doesn't work that way. His current tweets come as no surprise.

Narrating a similar incident, a journalist with the Wall Street Journal said, At initial press tour of giga factory, Tesla wanted journalists to sign NDAs. On a press tour. With journalists. whose job is precisely to disclose stuff. They eventually walked it back but its indicative of Musks misunderstanding of press & desire to control his image. (Sic)

Musk, interestingly, replied to as many tweets by media persons defending his stance and at times taunting them. In one of the tweets, he termed journalists for the Center for Investigative Reporting rich kids in Berkeley who took their political science prof too seriously.

The nonprofit journalistic organisation in its April report had catalogued a number of serious injuries experienced by Tesla factory workers
HD Kumaraswamy

M Gautham Machaiah

The HD Kumaraswamy government easily won the trust vote on Friday, but the chief ministers head lies uneasy under the crown: BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa is on the prowl and pinpricks are growing from the Congress party, the junior member of the ruling alliance.

Yeddyurappa, who was earlier invited to form the government though his party did not have a simple majority, had to undergo the humiliation of resigning even before moving the motion of confidence in the assembly as he had failed to shore up the required numbers. He is a man in a hurry and is not known to bide his time till the opportune moment.

Instead of graciously accepting defeat and lying low till the dust settled, the BJP chief had on the eve of Fridays floor test made another last ditch effort to save face by openly appealing to Congress MLAs to revolt. Congress leaders who are hurt with their partys decision to align with JD(S) should join hands with BJP. Let us provide good governance and make Karnataka a model state, he said.

This brazen attempt to encourage defections has not found favour even with senior BJP leaders who believe that Yeddyurappas hurry to become the chief minister again is doing more harm than good to the party. Yeddyurappa stands isolated today as many local leaders have not only deserted him, but are actively working against him.

The fact that the BJP walked out of the assembly during the vote of confidence, thus paving an easy win for the new government only proved that it did not have the numbers right from the start. Even before Kumaraswamys trust vote, Yeddyurappa, in another act of bravado, had pitched S Suresh Kumar for the Speakers post against the JD(S)-Congress nominee Ramesh Kumar. When it became clear that Suresh Kumars defeat would create more embarrassment to the party, his candidature was withdrawn at the last minute.

Yeddyurappas desperation perhaps stems from the fact that he is now 76 and this could be his last chance to become the chief minister. It is speculated that the BJP might not project him as the chief minister during the next election and the only way for him to catapult to power would be by destabilising the current government.

While Yeddyurappa will continue to lurk, Kumaraswamy also has to contend with his own deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, who is known to speak out of turn. Even before the new government has settled, Parameshwara, a Dalit who has been nursing chief ministerial ambitions, announced that the Congress might not support Kumaraswamy for the full five-year term and may demand its pound of flesh mid-way through. Such discordant notes by some over-ambitious Congress leaders while the rest of the party is putting up a united front are likely to put the coalition in jeopardy.

The next big challenge before the new government would be ministry formation. While there is not much of dissent in the JD(S) camp, the Congress claims it has succeeded in calming its many claimants including senior leader DK Shivakumar, who was sulking for not being suitably rewarded. On the common minimum programme (CMP) too, not much by way of fireworks is expected with the chief minister already making conciliatory moves.

Despite the initial problems, the government has got off to a start, and unless somebody rocks the boat from within or out, the sailing promises to be smooth  at least for the time being.

(The author is a political commentator and a senior journalist)
The Canadian flag flutters in the wind in Quebec City, February 26, 2010. According to Environment Canada, an intense low pressure system over New York is causing high northeast wind in the St. Lawrence Valley near Quebec city. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger (CANADA - Tags: ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY) - GM1E62R0HA901

More than a dozen people were injured in explosion on Thursday in a restaurant in Mississauga, a suburb of the Canadian city of Toronto, media reported.

Some 15 people were taken to the hospital after the blast at the Bombay Bhel restaurant. Three people had critical injuries, the Peel Regional Paramedic Service said in a Tweet.

The blast occurred just after 10:30 p.m., media reported. There was no word on the cause.

The blast comes a month after a driver plowed his white Ryder rental van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15.
Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea

China today refuted US President Donald Trump's remarks hinting that President Xi Jinping had a role in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un having a change of mind over Korean peace talks, and said its intentions are "above board".

"I think there was a change in attitude from Kim Jong-un after his meeting with Xi. There was a difference after Kim Jong un left China the second time. President Xi is a world class poker player," Trump said three days ago, casting doubts on China's role leading up to the cancellation of his summit with Kim planned for next month in Singapore.

"Maybe nothing happened, I'm not blaming anybody. But there was a different attitude from the North Korean folks after that second meeting" between Xi and Kim, Trump said stressing that he has a good personal relationship with the Chinese president.

Kim made his first visit to China on March 27 as he warmed up to Trump's overtures with direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

But after agreeing for a summit meeting with Trump, he again made a surprise second visit to China on May 8 and held a Wuhan-style summit with Xi which the US president says has changed the North Korean dictator's mind.

"As for China's role, we said many times that China has always played a positive and constructive role on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said here when asked about Trump's allegation.

"Our intentions are above board. In fact our position is that the parties should stay committed to the denuclearisation of the peninsula, and maintaining peace, stability on the peninsula (by) resolving the issue through consultation. Our position remained unchanged," he said.

"All relevant parties should not lose sight of the consistency of the Chinese position. When holding talks with the US and DPRK (North Korea), China has always stated our position in this regard," he said.

Lu put the onus of failure on the US saying that all parties should reflect on the issue.

"The political settlement of the issue calls on all parties, especially all parties directly concerned, to move in the same direction and demonstrate goodwill. In this aspect, all relevant parties should reflect on themselves and how much they have done," he said.

About the allegation that China is influencing Kim to seek a bigger role in Korean peace talks in order to get a better trade deal with the US in the current trade conflict between the two nations, Lu called it an "over interpretation".

"As for China's bigger role, whether it becomes a bargaining chip for China on other issues, you make over interpretation of it," he said.

China's position on Sino-US trade talks is always "above board," he said.

"The trade ties are mutually beneficial. We hope the US leaders and government can always focus on maintaining the global growth and upholding the interests of US people and the business community. With this in mind they should make concerted efforts with China to resolve the economic issues with China beneficial to both sides," he said.

About the cancellation of the Singapore summit by Trump, Lu said both the US and North Korea had still left the door open for talks.

"The recent easing situation on the peninsula is hard won, the political settlement process is faced with a rare historic opportunity," he said.

"We believe as the parties directly engaged on the issue, the summit of the DPRK and the US can play a crucial role for promoting the denuclearisation of the peninsula," Lu said, using North Korea's official initials.

"Under the current circumstances we strongly hope that both DPRK and the US can cherish the recent positive progress, stay patient, demonstrate goodwill and move in the same direction and continue to stay committed to denuclearisation and resolve each other's legitimate concerns through dialogue and consultation," he said.
A New Zealand minister in charge of the civil aviation affairs in the country offered to resign from his post as, ironically, he made a call while on a plane which is against the civil aviation laws of the country.

Phil Twyford, the transport minister of New Zealand told reporters on Thursday that he made a call to one of his staff on while on a flight from Wellington to Auckland. On May 17, while the call was made, the plane was yet to take off but doors had been closed.

According to domestic civil aviation laws, mobile phone calls are banned after doors of the plane have been closed.

Twyford said he apologised to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for his mistake and offered to resign. Ardern declined his resignation but took away his oversight of the Civil Aviation Authority to another minister, reported Radio NZ. The charge has been given to associate transport Minister Julie Anne Genter.

The New Zealand PM said that if there was an investigation by the authority into the matter, it would not be appropriate for Twyford to be in-charge. Twyford said he had informed the authority about what he had done.

The day of the incident was also the day when the budget of the country was presented. That typically makes it one of the busiest days for ministers in any year. The matter came to the light a week after the incident when an opposition lawmaker raised a question about it.

I made a mistake, and I clearly wasnt thinking straight at the time. And I recognise that, Twyford said. It was unacceptable.

Twyford added that the call had lasted for about a minute and he did not give a thought until the question was raised.

Despite a number of relaxations in rules, passengers are still banned from making phone calls or sending text messages during flight. They can, however, use electronic devices during all stages of flight, so long as they are switched to flight mode.
Its off. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

As the world processes the cancelation of the U.S.North Korea summit scheduled for next month, President Trumps allies are spinning it as an example of his negotiating prowess. On Trump friend told Politico it was about the art of the deal, boasting, hes not taking the guys shit.

But as we learn more about what led to the meetings cancelation, another narrative is emerging: Trump made the call without much planning or deliberation, and wound up generating a lot of unnecessary chaos.

Thats very similar to how the summit was born back in March. After months of careful maneuvering on the part of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader told South Korean officials that he would be up for direct talks with the U.S. Officials anticipated days of deliberations on how to respond, according to the New York Times. But when South Korean official Chung Eui-yong arrived at the White House, he was unexpectedly summoned into the Oval Office and Trump immediately agreed to meet with Kim. Around 7 p.m., just hours later, Chung stepped out onto a White House driveway and announced the news to reporters.

This time, it appears Trump at least slept on the decision, but it was still a dizzying reversal. The Washington Post reports that National Security Adviser John Bolton informed Trump around 10 p.m. Wednesday that North Korea had issued a statement calling Vice-President Mike Pence a political dummy, and warning that the U.S. could either meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

Trump was reportedly worried that Kim was maneuvering to back out of the summit and make the U.S. look desperate. Instead, Trump decided to quit first, making the call the next morning, before hed even emerged from the residence:

As dawn broke Thursday, senior U.S. officials congregated in the West Wing, and by 7 a.m., they were discussing options over the phone with Trump, who was still in his private chambers. The president arrived at a swift decision to cancel the summit.

This sent the officials scurrying between various offices as they finalized their plan, and Trump dictated a bizarre letter to Kim, telling His Excellency that the meeting was off based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed by your most recent statement.

Foreign officials found out the summit was off just before 10 a.m., the same time as the rest of the world, when the White House distributed Trumps letter to reporters. That was intentional; while some advisers were worried about insulting South Korea and other U.S. allies, Trump didnt want to give them a heads-up because he was afraid the news would leak.

The chances of the summit actually happening had been dwindling since last week, when North Korea dropped the diplomatic tone it had been using for weeks and threatened to cancel the meeting if the U.S. kept pushing unilateral nuclear abandonment. (They also complained specifically about Bolton referencing the Libya model, which they viewed as a threat.)

On Thursday we learned that Pyongyang was making other moves behind the scenes that suggested they wouldnt follow through with the summit. During a conference call with surrogates, Deputy Assistant to the President for Asian Affairs Matt Pottinger said U.S. officials were recently stood up by North Korean negotiators during a scheduled planning meeting in Singapore.

There they waited for three days, Pottinger said. The North Koreans never showed up. They never told us anything. They just stood us up.

Over the last six days the United States made numerous attempts to communicate with the North Koreans and they never responded to any of those efforts to communicate and to coordinate in advance of the 12 June summit, Pottinger added.

Advisers had been warning Trump that he should be prepared for the summit to be called off (though hed already publicly mused about his Nobel Peace Prize), and in recent days he started tempering expectations. While meeting with South Korean president Moon Jae-in on Tuesday, Trump warned reporters that the summit may not work out for June 12, but suggested it could happen at a later date.

In private, however, it appears Trump was gung ho on the meeting as recently as Wednesday. Representative Peter King said that while flying with Trump to Long Island, he said he believed the screws had been put to Kim and he was ready to make a deal.

If I had to bet right now, he had no intention of calling it off, King said. He was throwing out different ideas  nothing dramatic, but obviously thinking through what they were going to be doing over the next few days to get ready and make plans for the summit.

Though, it didnt sound like Trump was personally toiling away at summit preparations. Recent reports suggested that Trump was still resisting the detailed briefings on North Koreas nuclear capabilities that were given to previous presidents. A former U.S. official familiar with the administrations planning expressed relief that the summit had been canceled, telling Politico that Trump had intended to wing it in Singapore.

Trump may still get an opportunity to show off his lack of familiarity with North Koreas nuclear-weapons program. On Friday North Korea issued its response to Trumps cancelation of the summit, flipping back to language suggesting it fell victim to the whims of a madman.

The unilateral cancelation of the summit was unexpected and very regrettable, said Kim Kye Gwan, a viceforeign minister of North Korea. But we remain unchanged in our willingness to do everything we can for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and of the humanity, so with a broad and open mind, we are willing to give the United States time and opportunity.

Kim concluded that North Korea remains willing to sit down with the United States any time, in any format, to resolve the problems. Who knows, maybe Trump will suddenly announce that the summit is back on.
Amid a slowdown in the national housing market, with sales falling 3% year-over-year in April and prices growing at their slowest rate in almost 9 years, the Bank of Canada has stated that it will be focusing on smaller lenders to allay potential risk factors.

Chief among the BoCs planned steps is the expansion of its in-house stress testing to cover smaller financial institutions and mortgage insurers in its scope.

The Bank is looking at the possibility of including a larger number of financial institutions in its simulations, a spokeswoman stated in an email to The Wall Street Journal.
Royal Bank of Canadas noticeably larger mortgage and commercial loan growth rates over the past year can be largely attributed to the stellar market and economic performance of British Columbia.

Nationwide, outstanding balances of commercial loans went up by 22% compared to the same time least year, which is unheard of for the bank, RBCs new B.C. regional president Martin Thibodeau told Business in Vancouver.

Its significant, usually, when you are up 8% or 9%. Thats a big year.
The legislation Im signing today rolls back the crippling Dodd-Frank regulations that are crushing community banks and credit unions nationwide, Trump said. These community banks are vital for local lending and have a direct stake in the success of their neighborhoods and their states.

The legislation will free community banks from Dodd-Franks mortgage rules if they make fewer than 500 mortgage loans a year, according to the Times. Banks with less than $10 billion in assets will be exempt from the Volvker Rule, which bars financial institutions from trading for their own profit.

The House of Representatives passed the bill on Tuesday. The legislation passed the Senate in March with support from several Democrats.

This is a great day for Main Street in rural America, and a big testament to whats possible when members of Congress put partisanship aside and work together to help our communities grow and thrive, said Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), one of the Senate Democrats who had a hand in crafting the legislation.
Electronics permeate American life. And if the electricity that powers those devices was lost, so would many Americans.

Today, electricity is the third most important thing for sustaining life, behind only air and water, said State Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood. If the U.S. were to lose all electricity for 11 to 18 months, he told members of the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists, studies show 90 percent of the population would be lost.

Wed go back to the 1800s. No one knows how to plant tomatoes or potatoes anymore, he said.

He explained that the loss of electricity would eliminate everything from transportation and the ability to deliver food, water and medical supplies to communications.

Hall is discussing the subject because he sees a rising threat to electric grids around the world from electromagnetic pulses.

Whats concerning today is the geopolitical atmosphere, and our reliance on electronic technology, he said.

Hall, an Air Force veteran, began his active career as a systems engineer helping develop the Minuteman Missile System. He said the damage EMPs can cause to electric grids was discovered in the 1960s when both the United States and Russia conducted nuclear bomb tests in the atmosphere.

He told his audience that Russia and China both possess electromagnetic pulse technology and that the technology has been leased to Iran and North Korea. All four nations have the use of EMPs to wipe out Americas electric grids as part of their military protocol, he said.

Natural causes, primarily in the form of coronal mass ejections, better known as sun spots, he said. He said Earth narrowly missed a massive event in July 2012 and NASA puts the odds of a future threat at 12 percent.

And yet, he said, few steps have been taken to protect the commercial electric grid from such attacks. The nations military has taken steps, but he pointed out that the military relies on the commercial grid for 95 percent of its electricity.

The technology to protect against such pulses already exists, he said: Neutral grounding, surge protectors and shielding of computers.

Hall authored legislation requiring the states power companies to install technology to protect the grid from such threats. It failed in the last session and he plans to reintroduce it next year.

Id like the power companies to say they recognize the problem and fix it, the way they realized reliability was a problem and stepped up, he said. Its irresponsible of the leaders of the power companies to not address the seriousness of the issue.

Texas electric grid is virtually isolated, with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas covering 85 percent of the state.

If the federal government wont do it, its up to Texas to step up. The cost to Texans is extraordinary, he said

He added, Were always talking about Texas being the place to do business. I cant think of a better situation, if the lights go out, than to say But theyll be back on in Texas. I think businesses would move here if that were the case.
Abandoned oil wells across the nation could get new life as sources of geothermal power if a new company's technology proves commercial.

Eden GeoPower, founded by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is testing new technology that transforms low-grade heat from depleted oil and gas reservoirs into geothermal power while utilizing existing infrastructure, cutting costs for a geothermal project by about 60 percent.

The company's pilot program is expected to begin this summer in California, Ammar Alali, Eden GeoPower co-founder and chief marketing officer told the Reporter-Telegram by telephone from California, where he was setting up the program.

He said the company is in the process of getting the necessary permits and funding for the upfront costs.

"This is new technology that has not been deployed. We don't expect our client to fully fund the project, so we're looking at funding for the upfront costs," he said.

While the company had interest from clients in Texas, he said the company chose California in part because of the east to connect to the electric grid.

Alali said it could take two to three months to obtain the permits and then the pilot program would last about 160 days, which includes time to review the results from the wells.

If successful, the technology could convert abandoned wells into sources of low-cost electricity more affordable than connecting to the power grid or for new oil fields being developed in areas lacking power infrastructure, Alali said. That would put many of the estimated millions of abandoned wells back to work, saving oil and gas operators the costs of plugging those wells or fines for damage caused by plugged wells.

Eden GeoPower's technology addresses a challenge: Geothermal technology dates back to 1904, but current geothermal wells and plants can't compete with cheaper sources of energy for generating electricity.

The system involves a single well acting as both an injector and producer, eliminating the need for the two-well system found in conventional geothermal systems. The hot brine pulled from deep within the reservoir would interact with a second fluid with a much lower boiling point in a downhole heat exchange. As the working fluid changes, it passes through a turbine-generator assembly placed in the well, generating electricity on its way to the surface.

The increase of hydrostatic pressure with depth in the wellbore allows the system to run in a supercritical power cycle with a much higher efficiency than what can be achieved in a traditional, hot brine-to-surface binary cycle design.

The company's system also avoids thermal depletion.

Alali estimates payback on investment in the system would be two to four years, shorter than the timeline for conventional geothermal wells. The fully retrievable system could run for 20 to 30 years, but he said the company anticipates the components would be pulled from the well after about six years.

After it has been proven in California, The company intends to look at other areas, including West Texas.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone! Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Just before Memorial Day weekend, the Trump administration announced that President Trump had signed three executive orders making it easier for federal agencies to fire workers, and weakening the unions that protect those workers.

TPM has a rundown of the changes, which include ordering federal agencies to renegotiate their union contracts, encouraging the firing, rather than suspension, of poorly performing employees, and sharply curtailing the amount of time agency employees can spend on union business at the workplace, among other measures.

The laws were signed under the guise of increasing government efficiency. Andrew Bremberg, the director of Trumps Domestic Policy Council, said it would save taxpayers $100 million a year, and shrinking the size of government was a centerpiece of this years presidential budget.

But regardless of cost savings, the Trump administration has long had an adversarial relationship with much of the federal bureaucracy. An unprecedented number of jobs in government have remained unfilled, and employees at agencies from the State Department to the Environmental Protection Agency have reported being demoted to lesser roles for not showing appropriate fealty to the current president and his policies.

Trumps onetime chief strategist, Steve Bannon, famously called for the deconstruction of the administrative state, and Fridays moves look to be a step toward fulfilling that goal.

The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal union, called the new rules an assault on democracy.
It took mere seconds for a Laredo teenager to spring into action and become a local hero.

On Sunday afternoon, Ozzy Ray Bryand, 17, noticed two people struggling to stay afloat after their kayak capsized in Lake Casa Blanca. Without hesitation, the teen swam out to bring the two men to safety, risking his own life in the process.

"He doesn't even know how he did it. It was a long way to get to them and come back," Linda Casarez, Bryand's mother, told LMTonline.com.

Bryand was with his girlfriend and her family, playing along the shoreline of the lake before the incident occurred.

The two people he saved were his girlfriend's cousins, a 21-year-old man and 16-year-old boy, who had toppled over in their kayak and the elder of them could not swim.

"It just happened so fast," said Claudia Yvette Garza, who witnessed the event. "It was pretty crazy. That kid got to them really fast."

Garza said it was no easy feat as there were strong winds Sunday afternoon that seemed to come in out of nowhere.

READ ALSO: Laredo teen's heartfelt song to mom goes viral on Facebook

Although Bryand was able to swim the two individuals safely back to shore, he was not in good shape. The teen told first responders he felt sick and dizzy and was taken to Laredo Medical Center.

Casarez recalls receiving the phone call that her son was in the hospital. At the time, she was watching a Facebook live video from Laredo citizen journalist "LaGordiloca" on a report that some people had drowned at Lake Casa Blanca.

"I thought, 'I hope they are okay,'" Casarez said.

Seconds later, she received a phone call from Bryand's girlfriend. It was then that Casarez said she realized her son was with her family at the lake.

RELATED: CBP officer saves the life of a 6-month-old female infant

"I was so freaking scared. I don't remember anything until we got to the hospital. I blacked out," Casarez said.

Bryand had fluid in his lungs and was airlifted to a San Antonio hospital, Casarez said. He was released Tuesday morning and his mom said he's feeling much better.

"At first, I was like 'you're so stupid. Why would you do something like that,'" Casarez said. "But I know him. I know he would have done it no matter what. He did something amazing and saved two other lives. I'm proud."

jerilynn.thorpe@lmtonline.com | Twitter: @jerilynnthorpe
Demonstrators protest President Trumps attempts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Photo: Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

President Trump on Thursday nominated Ronald Mortensen, a vocal critic of undocumented immigrants, to serve as assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

The Utah native is the founder of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration and serves as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. The group, which says its mission is to highlight the negative effects of legal and illegal immigration, is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Mortensen currently serves as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigrant hate group thats part of a network founded by white nationalist John Tanton. The Center for Immigration Studies is well known for producing shoddy research that demonizes immigrants with falsehoods. While hes been there, Mortensen has played a role in exaggerating  against all evidence  a link between immigration and crime.

In 2017, Mortensen wrote about this link in a column for The Hill. The headline: Most illegal aliens routinely commit felonies. The felonies Mortensen was referring to were not the grisly sort Trump prefers to highlight, but rather largely paperwork-related.

Mortensen has also been highly critical of Dreamers since DACA was announced in 2012. He insists that Dreamers are not the sympathetic young people theyre often made out to be.

It is important to remember that DACA applies to individuals up to age 31. The result is that many adult Dreamers have long since terminated their studies, and many have committed serious felonies that impact American men, women, and children, he wrote in The Hill last year.

In his writing, Mortensen frequently refers to the myth of the noble, law-abiding illegal alien. He has accused undocumented immigrants of destroying the lives of American men, women, and children. And now Trump wants him to lead the federal agency whose mission is to provide protection, ease suffering, and resolve the plight of persecuted and uprooted people around the world.

Immigration-rights advocates have been quick to criticize Mortensens appointment. Its pretty clear that he really doesnt use facts about immigration when hes talking about his extremely anti-immigrant agenda, Luis Garza, executive director of a Utah-based Latino outreach organization, told the Salt Lake Tribune.  I think its very concerning for somebody like him to be in such an important position that works with immigrants and refugees.

Frank Sharry, founder of the pro-immigrant group Americas Voice, told ABC News that Mortensens appointment would be akin to putting white supremacist Richard Spencer in charge of the Department of Justices civil-rights unit. Its not the fox guarding the chicken coop, Sharry said. Its a monster in charge of the chicken coop.

Ultimately though, its the opinions of the U.S. Senate that matter most here as Mortensen will need to be confirmed before he assumes a post at the State Department.
Boom. Photo-Illustration: Daily Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images

On Monday, the United States minted a garish commemorative coin to celebrate next months planned meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore. On Thursday, the meeting fell apart. Within hours, the coins were put on discount as the White House gift shops deal of the day, the original $24.95 price tag slashed to $19.95.

If youre wondering why the White House would go ahead with the production of the coin given the meetings cancellation, the gift shop attempts to explain: The Coin Will be Made Whether or Not the Summit Occurs as Scheduled, Because the Theme is Coming Closer to Peace and Celebrates the Act of Communication Among Countries. Sounds like the coin maker isnt granting refunds.

Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images

Since its apparently too late to cancel production of these monstrosities, maybe its not too late to make some alterations. Here are six ideas for how it could be repurposed and put to better use:

1. Make it a warning coin. Gone are the peace talks, replaced by a return to the same fire and fury rhetoric that dominated 2017. It makes sense then to replace Kims image on the peace coin with a mushroom cloud, which is what Trump is warning will replace him if he keeps screwing around.

2. Change Kims face to Brian Kilmeades and make it a coin commemorating his latest Fox & Friends interview. Nice way to mark his 23rd appearance on Fox News since taking office.

3. Pretend this was the plan all along and make other coins for events that will never happen. A coin commemorating a meeting that isnt happening seems silly on its own, but if its a part of a collection with the Man on Mars and Trump Releases His Tax Returns coins, then it fits right in.

4. Give them to Dennis Rodman. The former Celebrity Apprentice contestant is probably pretty bummed right now.

5. Tell Don Jr. theyre chocolate coins and see how long he spends trying to open them. Hours.

6. Use it to commemorate a summit with Alex Jones. The conspiracy theorist has interviewed Trump before he was elected, but not since. Since the depiction of Kim already has the same number of chins as Jones, it shouldnt be hard to make the face look like his.
The normally quiet streets of Meredosia were filled with activity Thursday as authorities investigated an apparent homicide involving a man.

Morgan County Coroner Jeff Lair identified the victim as Robert L. Utter, 42, of Rushville, who died of multiple stab wounds at the scene. Lair said an autopsy will be conducted today in Springfield.

Emergency dispatchers were called at 7:26 a.m. about a person in a car on Montgomery Street who was unresponsive.

Meredosia Police Chief Curtis Williams went to the scene and found that the man had obviously died of unnatural causes, according to Morgan County Sheriffs Department Chief Deputy Mike Carmody.

Williams called Illinois State Police and the sheriffs department for assistance.

Later, we found a second location, where we believe the original crime occurred, he said.

The police chief said the body was found in a vehicle in the 300 block of Montgomery Street, three blocks east of the Meredosia Boat Dock, which was cordoned off for the investigation.

Both crime scenes were processed by the state police, Williams said.

Meredosia-Chambersburg High School was placed under a soft lockdown because of the proximity of the school to the discovery, according to reports. The school houses all grades of students, from kindergarten through high school.

Greg Olson can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1224, or on Twitter @JCNews_Greg.
The Jacksonville Rotary Club has donated more than $2,000 in books to students and teachers at South School as part of a Teachers Appreciation event.

Rotary President Ginny Fanning and other Rotarians who regularly volunteer at South School presented baskets of books to every South School teacher for use in their classrooms.
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist. Photos: Retailers

If youre a gentleman who has been noticing a receding hairline or is worried about balding, the first step is to schedule a visit with a doctor or dermatologist and make sure your hair loss isnt a sign of a more serious health issue. Not all hair loss is male-pattern hair loss, explains Dr. Marc Glashofer, a board-certified dermatologist specializing in hair loss who practices in northern New Jersey. A thyroid disorder, an autoimmune disease, or even a scalp issue could be the cause of a hairline resembling Bruce Williss in Die Hard 2. But most hair loss is androgenetic alopecia, also known as male-pattern baldness, and fortunately (or not, depending on your perspective), its just a symptom of getting older.

Once male-pattern baldness starts, its not going to stop, though the rate at which this happens differs from person to person and depends on genetics. And since the grind of hair loss is unending, its important to start treatment as soon as your hairline starts bothering you. If youre looking for a more quantitative metric, Dr. Paul McAndrews, a clinical professor of dermatology at the USC School of Medicine and member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, tells us that you have to lose half your hair before the human eye can tell.

We spoke to McAndrews and 11 other doctors and dermatologists about the most effective products to treat hair loss, from topical and oral medications like minoxidil (Rogaine) and finasteride (Propecia), to more natural methods like scalp serums and laser wands. (Of course, if you dont care about losing your hair and are fine with going full Prince William and shaving your head, go for it. Weve got some recommendations for razors and hair trimmers to help you out on that front.)

As Dr. Douglas D. Altchek, founder of Altchek Dermatology, puts it, there are 1,001 products out there purporting to grow hair, but no definitive cure for baldness. Dr. Corey L. Hartman of Skin Wellness Dermatology adds that there have not been any major recent breakthroughs in this category, and notes that the hair loss space is one where you want to proceed with some caution, because theres a bit of snake oil to the claims that some of these companies make.

Youll want to be especially wary of hair-growth shampoos and vitamins: There is less evidence supporting the efficacy of any hair-growth shampoos that claim to block DHT (dihydrotestosterone), a hormone responsible for shrinking hair follicles, which ultimately leads to hair loss and eventually baldness. Dr. Evan Rieder, a dermatologist in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Langone Health, is skeptical that youre going to see any tangible benefits by rubbing DHT blockers into your scalp. I find it very difficult to believe that something thats applied to the scalp and rinsed off is going to have any appreciable effect, he says. Four experts also say not to put much faith (or money) into hair-growth supplements or vitamins that promise to help promote hair growth or stop hair loss  though a couple hypothesized that vitamins or supplements could lead to hair regrowth if your hair loss was a result of a nutritional deficiency or stress. Otherwise, says Dr. Amy McMichael, a professor and the chair of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centers dermatology department, there is no such thing as a hair vitamin for male-pattern baldness.

For emerging hair-loss treatments like platelet-rich plasma injections, stem-cell activation, and micro-needling, youll need to consult with a specialized dermatologist. But before it comes to that, all of our experts say its worth leaning on reliable standbys like minoxidil and finasteride, ideally in tandem. The former is helpful for preventing hair loss, the latter for promoting growth. Weve deemed both our best overall products for tackling male hair loss.

Best overall product to prevent hair loss

Rogaine Mens Minoxidil Hair Thinning & Loss Treatment Foam, Three Month $54 now 15% off $46 If you decide to start treatment to save your hair, a good place to start is with minoxidil, most commonly sold as Rogaine, which came recommended as the first line of defense by every expert we spoke to. Dont expect this hair-loss treatment to create luscious locks; minoxidil is better at slowing down or preventing more loss rather than promoting hair growth. But, according to McMichael, it is effective if used as recommended, with evidence of improvement seen around six to nine months  a sentiment echoed by hair-loss specialist Dr. Marc Avram, who recommends giving it at least eight months to judge efficacy. Dermatologist Dr. Michele Green agrees, adding that given it takes four months for hair to even grow, you cant possibly know before that. Simply massage the foam or solution into your scalp once or twice daily, and for best results, use a formula like Rogaines with a 5 percent concentration. Dr. Oma Agbai, the director of multicultural dermatology at UC Davis, warns that some people will experience an increase in hair shedding during the first few weeks of treatment, but promises this is temporary and a sign that the treatment is working. (She adds: As long as there is no itching or burning of the scalp associated with applying minoxidil, the treatment can be continued safely.) Three of our experts specifically recommend this Rogaine foam, which Avram says has been around forever and which Dr. Douglas D. Altchek, the founder of Altchek Dermatology, says is very reliable and remains the mainstay of topical treatments for male-pattern baldness. Avram also has this tip: Clinically, it works in the front and back, so feel free to apply the foam to the crown of the head as well as the hairline. $46 at Amazon Buy $46 at Amazon Buy

Best overall product to promote hair growth

Finasteride, 30-Day Supply $26 The other main hair-loss treatment recommended by seven of the dermatologists we interviewed is finasteride, which is taken orally and often called by its brand name, Propecia. The FDA-approved brand-name medication is available only with a prescription, but these days, finasteride is easily found as a generic and can be ordered online after a virtual consultation through start-ups like Hims, Keeps, and Lemonaid. Finasteride restrains an enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT, the hormone that causes hair loss in men, and unlike minoxidil, this drug can actually help hair grow back as well as prevent further loss. All you have to do is take one pill a day, according to Rieder, who says that two-thirds of men taking this treatment will see improvement in hair density over time. Six of the experts we spoke to recommend combining finasteride with minoxidil (Rogaine) for the maximum effect. While minoxidil remains his first recommendation, Altchek told us that adding finasteride may potentiate the effect, seeing as finasteride will help more hair to grow at the same time that minoxidil is helping prevent additional loss. McAndrews calls the combination of orally administered finasteride and topically applied minoxidil a full-court press against hair loss. Thats doing the most you can for preventative medicine. Rieder also notes that taking both drugs together is more effective, as does Hartman, who recommends attacking hair loss from as many angles as you can: Different treatments have different mechanisms of action, so as long as there are no adverse side effects when you employ them individually, you shouldnt have any issues putting them on top of each other for maximum benefit. $26 at Hims Buy

Best liquid product to prevent hair loss

Lipogaine for Men $30 Hartman says that for people with dry or color-treated hair, the alcohol in Rogaines foaming formula can cause breakage. For that reason, he explains, some people may prefer to use a liquid solution. Dermatologist Dr. Michele Green told us she likes the alcohol-free Lipogaine because, on top of containing 5 percent minoxidil like Rogaine, it has 5 percent azelaic acid, which acts as a DHT blocker that inhibits the production of DHT. $30 at Lipogaine Buy

Best product to prevent hair loss on sensitive scalps

DS Laboratories Spectral DNC-N Redensifying Hair Product $38 Nanoxidil is very similar to minoxidil, without the side effects of an irritated scalp that some Rogaine users report, explains Green, making nanoxidil a good bet for patients who have experienced scalp sensitivity or dry skin from Rogaine. She suggests this nanoxidil product from DS Laboratories, which is also formulated with retinol to promote scalp health and azelaic acid to block DHT. While nanoxidil in general is a fairly new product, Green tells us it has proven very effective in treating hair loss because nanoxidil has a smaller molecular weight, which allows it to penetrate the scalp faster, resulting in a better absorption rate, she says. Like finasteride, Green says it has also been shown to increase hair density as well as hair growth. $38 at Walmart Buy

Best natural hair growth product

Pureauty Naturals Biotin Hair Serum $20 $20 While most of our experts expressed doubts that biotin products are effective as a primary treatment against hair loss, Green says her patients have reported a surprising amount of success with this serum, which she recommends for those who dont want to use anything artificial. Its also about as simple and non-invasive as hair-loss treatments get: Just massage two to three drops into your scalp each day, ideally leaving the product to work overnight. The serum is recommended for those who are looking to fill in the edges of thinning hairlines, especially as ingredients like vitamin E and squalene will work to enhance the health of any hair you do have, creating a fuller look. $20 at Amazon Buy $20 at Amazon Buy

Best kit for treating and preventing hair loss

Hims Hair Power Pack $26 $26 For the same price as buying a 30-day supply of finasteride from Hims on its own, you can get the companys hair-loss kit, which comes with both its 5-percent liquid minoxidil treatment and a 30-day supply of finasteride. Keeps has one as well, and according to Dr. Amanda Doyle of Russak Dermatology Clinic, both are great options for a lot of men to address hair loss. Like the dermatologists above, Doyle adds that while it might seem like overkill to take different hair-loss treatments at once, this is one of those rare instances in which more is actually better. But you must start these medical therapies before you lose all your hair. McAndrews likens it to brushing your teeth in that both are preventative measures. The sooner you start doing it, the better at slowing down this aging process, he explains. Is toothpaste perfect? No, youre still getting tooth decay with toothpaste, but youre slowing down tooth decay. $26 at Hims Buy

Best laser comb for treating hair loss

HairMax Prima7 LaserComb $199 Clinical trials, Avram says, have shown that the same wavelength of light that destroys hair in laser hair removal, can actually stimulate growth when used with a hair-loss comb or helmet. Although this treatment appears to be safe and somewhat effective, according to research, its hard to tell who will react well to this low-level light therapy, which is why the doctors we spoke with were hesitant to fully endorse it. The laser comb works by emitting red light [which enhances circulation to the follicles] to the scalp as you brush through your hair, Dr. Joshua Zeichner, the director of cosmetic and clinical Research at Mount Sinai Hospital, told us. This increased circulation, he explains, can help make products like Rogaine and finasteride more effective. But Zeichner cautions that the issue with the combs is that their effectiveness is user dependent: You need to brush your hair slowly and repeatedly in order to get optimal exposure to the light. Rieder adds: Were not sure what the optimal power is, what the optimal wavelength is; we dont even really know the mechanism of action of how this is working. Plus, it doesnt work on everyone. There are subpopulations of patients who do respond to low-level laser light, but this is not easily predictable, explains McMichael, though she adds that the risk of using the LaserComb is low. $199 at Amazon Buy $199 at Amazon Buy

Best laser hat for treating hair loss

Revian RED Hair Growth System $995 If youre looking for a red-light treatment that is less user-dependent, Zeichner recommends this cap, which is pricey but has a far more consistent success rate, according to him. Data from the company shows a 25 percent improvement in hair density after four months of continuous use, Zeichner says. Like the comb, the cap emits red light to the scalp to enhance circulation, amplifying the efficacy of other products you may be using (red lights delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the hair follicles can help optimize your follicle activity, Zeichner says). In addition to red light, this cap from Revian also emits orange light to the scalp, which, according to Zeichner, is thought to enhance production of nitric oxide, which helps dilate blood vessels to improve circulation. Wear the cordless cap for ten minutes a day for six months, and if you havent yet seen results, the company promises to send you a full refund. Avram says that hes a little brand agnostic when it comes to laser treatments, but that hats are worth trying if youre willing to fork out the cash and sit around wearing one on a daily basis. The biggest challenge by far is actually doing it, he says. People have roommates, busy work schedules. What you do in the end depends on what youre comfortable with. Indeed, the trick with all of these hair-loss products and treatments, from Rogaine to lasers, is that theyll stop working as soon as you stop using them. Male-pattern hair loss is a chronic condition, so approach it accordingly. If you stop, your hair isnt going to fall out overnight, but you will just go back to that same process of changes that has led to you experiencing the hair loss that youre treating, says Hartman. People have to be ready for a lifetime commitment, adds Rieder. But, just like brushing your teeth, as long you keep on keeping on with the scientifically proven preventative treatments, those hairs on your head should remain (and even grow back) there. $995 at Revian Buy

With additional reporting by Maxine Builder

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If you travel west on Old U.S. 54 in Pike County, youll come to Summer Hill.

There, just off the road, is a statue. Without reading the inscribed dates, any well-versed American would instantly recognize it as a Civil War monument.

Atop the red granite base is the statue of a soldier, wearing a kepi, standing in a relaxed attitude, his left foot forward, the butt of his musket on the ground. Hes holding the gun by the barrel with both hands. Nothing grand, no overstatement, just a soldier in a casual stance.

Ive seen statues like this all across the eastern half of America. Even in the smallest hamlets, those like Summer Hill, it is not unusual to come across a monument to Americas worst conflict. The list of names on the east side of the monument isnt long, but then one realizes this is Summer Hill, an unincorporated habitation of barely 250 souls.

That a marker to that war exists at all in such a small town reveals the reach of the Civil War. The largest monument in Jacksonville is the Civil War monument on the city square. As far west as farmsteads in western Iowa and Minnesota, and as far east as Maine, over a million men and boys put on the blue to become what was later called the Grand Army of the Republic. They faced a rebel army made up of men from numerous small southern villages and farms.

Many writers have noted that a fair number of those long-ago amateur soldiers left their homes for what they thought would be an adventure, escaping the boredom of the farm. Many never returned.

Civil War historian Bruce Catton noted that even though many left their homes for reasons other than patriotism, while they traveled with the army, they got to see that there actually was an enormous nation beyond the bounds of their small farms and towns; a nation worth preserving, a nation worth fighting for.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, a day when people would decorate with flowers the graves of those who fought in the Civil War. It is not a coincidence that Memorial Day falls in late May. This is when spring flowers are in best bloom.

All who fought for our country and have been laid to rest deserve our respect and eternal gratitude this weekend.

With respect for all who wore the uniform, think about those young men from Summer Hill and from Jacksonville, along with all those who answered the call to fight for the Union. Their efforts held this nation together.

Imagine for just a moment what our lives would be like if they had failed. The statue in Summer Hill, like so many similar monuments across the nation, have become so familiar as to almost disappear from our consciousness. In a sense, they have become relics to a bygone age.

New monuments to more recent acts of valor may capture our attention, as they should, but we must never forget those who left their farms and homes to keep our nation whole.

The soldier statue at Summer Hill stands as a lone sentinel to their memory, and to those in distant battlefields who gave the last full measure of devotion.

Jacksonville resident Jay Jamison writes each Friday for this page.
CNN comment attributed to me is ...
Parliamentary police have stopped the Lands, Housing and Urban Development minister, Betty Amongi from entering the house with placards. The minister had come with the placards to denounce those she claims are soiling her name.



Amongi is being investigated by the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire led Land Commission for fraudulently acquiring four prime properties from the Departed Asian Properties Custodian Board using her private firm, AMOBET.

Betty Amongi (L) with Justice Catherine Bamugemereire during the launch of the Commission of Inquiry into land matters last year in May

Earlier this week, a Ugandan woman based in the United Kingdom, Lillian Akullu dragged Amongi to Lira High court for allegedly grabbing her land measuring 3.5 acres along Erute road in the senior quarters.

The minister had scheduled a press conference on Thursday afternoon in the member's lounge in parliament to explain herself and table some evidence. She instead turned up with placards denouncing those soiling her name including a senior minister. She tried to access parliament through the southern wing but was intercepted by security.



The officers confiscated the placards and allowed the minister to enter parliament but she later stormed out. Chris Obore, the director communications at parliament, says the minister used foul language which is unacceptable in parliament.



"Security stopped it [press conference] because we do not want to set precedents. She (Amongi) says she only intercepted the materials and she only wanted to present it to the press as evidence, but security was concerned that the materials were offensive in nature," Obore told URN.



The minister has not yet commented on the incident as she couldn't be reached by URN. However, a source close to the minister, said they will communicate another date for the press conference.

Today's incident comes just a day after the Aruu County MP, Odonga Otto, wrote to the clerk of parliament expressing his intention to move a censure motion against Amongi.



In his May 23, 2018 notice, Otto says he intends to move a censure motion against Amongi for alleged mismanagement, abuse of office, willfull violation of oath of allegiance and oath of minister in relation to the fraudulent disposal of properties under the Departed Asian Properties Custodian Board.



"Pursuant to rule 108(1) of the rules of procedure, of the Parliament of Uganda, I notify you of my intention to move a censure motion against Hon. Betty Amongi, the Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban development," reads the notice.
Sonora, CA  Steepening gas prices at the pump are not dampening trip plans one bit as this Memorial Day weekend is on track to set a new Golden State record for travel.

The highest gas prices since 2014 wont keep travelers home, confides AAA Northern California spokesperson Michael Blasky. A strong economy and growing consumer confidence are giving Californians all the motivation they need to kick off what we expect to be a busy summer travel season. He adds that Friday afternoon may well be the peak time as travelers and commuters share the roads.

According to AAAs first travel forecast of the summer, nearly 5.2 million Californians are projected to travel over the course of the long weekend. The estimate is up 5.3 percent from last years 4.8 million, which at the time represented a six percent surge from 2016s forecast. This years state estimate  the seventh straight year for the numbers to rise  is also the highest number for travel on record for the holiday. Nationally, it is the fourth consecutive year of growth for the national estimate, which this year is 41.5 million, reflecting a five percent rise. In fact, nationwide, it is stacking up to be the busiest for travel in more than a dozen years.

The Scoop On In-state Road Travel, Gas Prices

Of Californians on the move over the Memorial Day travel holiday  which is considered Thursday through Monday  more than 4.3 million or 88 percent will be road tripping. They will also be paying the most expensive prices over the period that they have seen in four years due to high crude oil costs, record demand, and a shrinking global supply.

Currently, on the myMotherLode.com Gas Prices listings for the lowest gas, the range for Sonora area stations is running between $3.39 and $3.76 per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. Reported prices in San Andreas are ranging between 3.55 and 3.69. As reported here, during last years Memorial Day holiday weekend, recorded prices for Sonora and San Andreas were respectively ranging between $2.81 to $3.19, and $3.04 and $3.29.

Blasky says the good news for travelers this holiday is that prices for car rentals and most mid-range hotels are respectively 11 and 14 percent less than last year at this time.
Finance minister Matia Kasaija

Appearing before the Justice Catherine Bamugemereire-led commission of inquiry, minister of Finance Matia Kasaija said a lot of government money is finding its way into the wrong hands.

There are some ministries where if I am signing off their money, I sign when my hands are shaking because I dont know whether the money will reach where it is supposed to be, Kasaija said, sending commissioners into a bout of laughter.

Asked to name the thieving ministries, Kasaija declined to name any publicly but promised to expose them in camera. The minister further said that despite his efforts to plug the holes, money continues to leak out.

I am struggling hard to raise revenue simply because we want the money to fulfill what should be done. But money continues to leak and leak out, he said.

This problem is a problem that touches all of us. These people who want to be rich quickly by looting the state in broad daylight must be dealt with quickly. If we dont, it will become ugly, he said.

The minister also denied giving his nod of approval to Betty Amongi, the minister of Lands, and the executive director, Departed Asians Property Custodian Board (DAPCB), George William Bizibu, to give away any government properties.

The law states that properties under the DAPCB shall only be allocated or sold using a competitive bidding process which must be approved by the minister of Finance.

Appearing before the commission in connection with the allocation of departed Asians properties and management of the Uganda Land Fund, Kasaija, who chairs the board, said he did not allocate any properties or authorize their sale without board consent.

Humphrey Nzeyi

Meanwhile, the commission this week ordered Humphrey Nzeyi, son of prominent businessman Amos Nzeyi, to grant road access to a neighbour he had blocked for nearly two years.

Nzeyi failed to convincingly explain why he had denied Ms Beatrice Iga Musisi access to her house on top of demanding that she pays him Shs 300 million.

On May 19, Bamugemereire ordered that Iga, who holds dual US and Ugandan citizenship, be given access with immediate effect. The commission police has been deployed to plots 2E and 17A Hanlon road to ensure no resistance to her as she occupies her house.

Two guards who tried to attack the commission police were arrested, detained at Jinja Road police station and later released on bond.

I bought this house from Pamela Asyanut and her ex-husband Michael Etyang who now lives in Indonesia. The house had everything including an access road. There were no encumbrances, Iga had testified.

But the access to my house was changed to Humphrey Nzeyis favour. It surprises me that he can do something like that.

I am a widow, I am trying to make my life. If I have done good to others; why cant I be given access to my house?

When the president comes to the diaspora, he is encouraging people to come back and invest in Uganda, but when you come here, this is what I get, said Iga.

During an on-the-spot assessment on May 21, the commissioners asked Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) director, physical planning, Moses Atwine Kanuniira, why he did not take action in this case.

My lord, I tried my best as KCCA, but I found a lot of resistance from the Nzeyis. At one time they stormed out of a mediation meeting we held at KCCA Atwine said.

The commission also found that Nzeyi had tampered with the initial plans of the area and diverted water drainage pipes to Igas compound.

In his defence Nzeyi said: Yes, I stopped her from accessing her property. But our contention is not the access. After acquiring part of this property, I used a lot of money to put a wall. I used Shs 300 million. I dont know why I should be the one to suffer when I have spent a lot. The only thing that was sensible is to look at the expenses I used that have to be paid.

Nzeyi, reportedly wanted to buy all the six plots including Igas house, but she refused. Commissioner Mary Ochan Oduka wondered why Iga must refund the money.

Why would you want Iga to contribute to a cause that she is not a party to? Why do you think you would push her to pay you? She wasnt party to it, and no reasonable person would ask for it, Oduka said.

Commissioner Dr Rose Nakayi told Nzeyi to go back to his lawyers and be educated on the law. He was represented by Kampala Associated Advocates. Renowned lawyer, Peter Kabatsi, the law firms managing partner, had earlier accompanied Nzeyi but during the hearing, junior lawyer, John Musiime represented Nzeyi.

Your concern is too much on the money, not the access. You need to engage more with your lawyers on questions of law. You dont seem to understand it. It is a clear fact of law that everybody needs access. The facts and plans are clear. Separate the access with the issue of money and making contributions and put the basic logic behind the laws forward, Nakayi said.

The property in question was initialed under one title, formerly belonging to the defunct Uganda Commercial Bank. It was later subdivided into seven different plots and sold off.

Nzeyi bought most of the property, renovated them and rents them out. He also lives in one of the apartments.

Lawyer cons

In another case, the commission heard how lawyer Richard Buzibira of Frank Tumusiime & Company Advocates conned a mother of 10 out of Shs 1.6 billion.

The goons lied to her, used her name, went to the highest offices acting on her behalf, money was paid in her name; very tragic! All the records in government show that she received the money. All Buzibira is doing is to receive the money on her behalf. He got the powers of attorney and conned the poor woman, said deputy lead counsel, Mr John Bosco Rujagaata Suuza.

Buzibira is said to have connived with Denis Musinguzi, the Kibaale district surveyor, and convinced Teddy Nansubuga to surrender her two titles for the land which used to belong to her late father.

Richard Buzibira

He later acquired powers of attorney over Nansubugas land and sold it to government for Shs 1.6 billion. He only paid Nansubuga Shs 80 million and Shs 190 million.

She was forced to sign the documents before the contents were explained. A weeping Nansubuga told the commission how she has never met the lawyer.

Buzibira used to call me on phone most of the time and we would talk about the land. However, I havent met him. Even if they brought him now, I wouldnt identify him, Nansubuga said.

A letter written by Amongi to the chairperson ULC was tendered. In the letter, a request for urgent payment of land compensation is made with Nansubugas name being number three on the list.

Buzibira processed all payments in Nansubugas name after he got powers of attorney on October 7, 2015. Buzibira and Tumwesigye are yet to appear before the commission,

jolanyo@gmail.com
A Beaumont man who sent threatening notes to local authorities and residents has been arrested in connection with two explosive devices found outside heavily trafficked buildings in the past month, federal authorities said Friday.

Jonathan Matthew Torres, 40, is charged with use of an explosive to damage property, mailing a threatening communication and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to an announcement by the U.S. Attorney's office.

Torres, a military veteran, will appear in federal court on May 29, the office said. If convicted, he faces 5 to 20 years in federal prison.

>> Read the affidavit for his arrest here.

Authorities executed a search warrant Thursday afternoon at the man's residence in the 4400 block of El Paso Street in Beaumont, the U.S. Attorney's office said. "Multiple containers of the same type of explosive material" used in the two recent incidents were discovered in the house, the statement said.

Torres sent four threatening notes to the Beaumont Police Department, including immediately after the discovery of explosive devices at the Dowlen Road Starbucks on April 26 and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church May 10, according to the affidavit for his arrest. The device at St. Stephen's exploded. No one was injured.

Few details were available about Torres' personal life, but federal agent Frederick Milanowski confirmed Torres was employed, had a military background and did not live alone.

"Based on what we found inside the suspect's home, this suspect had the resources and the ability to continue building these devices and the incidents were increasing in their destructive impact," U.S. Attorney Joseph Brown said.

Brown said the explosive devices had no connection to international terrorism and no specific racial or religious targets.

Torres did not have any firearms or destructive devices registered to his name, according to the court document, but in November 2016, he reported to Beaumont police the theft of four firearms by his then-roommate, John Hancock.

"There's many different indicators when someone becomes disenfranchised with society before they mobilize toward some type of violence," FBI Agent Ed Michel said. "At this time, we don't know what the specific indicators were, what his intents were."

Brown said the joint effort, which included the FBI, Beaumont PD and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, "saved lives in Beaumont."

"The citizens of Beaumont can sleep better tonight," said BPD chief James Singletary said.

On April 26, an explosive device was discovered outside Starbucks on Dowlen Road. The package, which was left on top of a trash can outside the store, was found just before sunrise by an employee.

The package, which did not detonate, contained explosive material, a mouse trap and a note written in peel-and-stick letters that read, "HAJI DIE USA - JH," according to the affidavit.

The following day, BPD received a similar note, stating,"DO YOU WANT BMT TO BECOME ANOTHER AUSTIN," signed "J HANCOCK."

Other postcards believed to be mailed by Torres were obtained during the investigation, the affidavit said.

The morning of May 10, police called to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church to investigate a complaint of "criminal mischief" discovered an explosive device that had detonated overnight, BPD said.

Remnants of the device, which broke one window and caused minor exterior damage when it exploded, included a mousetrap and small nails and screws. That led authorities to believe the two devices were connected, the affidavit said.

On May 11, BPD received a postcard with a DC Comics image of "V for Vendetta," asking "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME? JH."

Police received a third postcard three days later with an image of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon." The postcard read, "There were two others Did you not get them? JH."

Another postcard mailed on May 17 quoted a BPD news release that stated " 'None of these have been deemed a credible threat' JH" and pictured "The Atom" from DC Comics.

While searching Torres' house on Thursday night, authorities found postal boxes, zip ties and packing tape similar to the type used in the device found at Starbucks, and a receipt for the type of string used in the device.

A similar type of box was used in the device at St. Stephen's, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Torres was arrested "without incident."

Phoebe.Suy@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/PhoebeSuy

READ MORE: Beaumont church resumes services after bomb
The Texas Department of Public Safety has released body camera footage of a woman who claims a trooper sexually assaulted her. Now her lawyer says the officer "should be cleared of any wrongdoing."

On Sunday, Sherita Dixon-Cole, 37, of Grapevine was pulled over by officer Daniel Hubbard in Waxahachie. Dixon-Cole, who is black, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated by Hubbard, who is white.

Dixon-Cole claimed Hubbard sexually assaulted her during her arrest.

TEXAS JAILS: A woman gave birth in a Texas jail cell. She claims guards did nothing to help her

After the accusation spread online, the Texas Department of Public Safety released nearly two hours worth of footage of Dixon-Cole's arrest on YouTube Tuesday. The footage shows Hubbard administering a field sobriety test and taking Dixon-Cole to a police station for a breathalyzer test. The video does not show anything that supports Dixon-Cole's claims.

Dixon-Cole's attorney released a statement on Wednesday affirming the body camera footage directly conflicts with what his client claims.

"Officer Daniel Hubbard seems to comport himself professionally during the duration of the traffic stop and arrest and - without more - should be cleared of any wrongdoing," S. Lee Merritt said in a press release. "I am truly sorry for any trouble these claims may have caused Officer Hubbard and his family."

In the YouTube description of the video, the Texas Department of Public Safety wrote it is "appalled that anyone would make such a despicable, slanderous and false accusation against a peace officer who willingly risks his life everyday to protect and serve the public."

DEADLY PRISONS: Suicide attempts have more than doubled in Texas prisons

The arrest caught the attention of civil rights activist Shaun King, who tweeted about Dixon-Cole. In now-deleted tweets, King believed Hubbard sexually assaulted Dixon-Cole. King changed his view on what happened to Dixon-Cole after reviewing the body camera footage.

"It does not appear to show any verbal threats, sexual assault, or police brutality," King wrote.

King clarified his thoughts on the incident with a post on Medium Wednesday. He said he found Dixon-Cole's situation as "one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard of."

"None of the criminal allegations that Sherita Dixon-Cole communicated very clearly to her family, friends, and attorneys ever took place in this video," King wrote. "Not one. Not the threats. Not the sexual assaults. None of it."

TEXAS SCHOOL SHOOTING: Letter to Gov. Abbott asks, 'Why is our safety less important than the check you get from the NRA?'

Since the death of Sandra Bland, some on social media have given more attention to black women being arrested.

Bland was a 28-year-old black woman who was pulled over by former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Brian Encinia on July 10, 2015 in Prairie View, Texas for failing to signal a lane change. After a verbal exchange, Encinia asked her to step out of the car and charged her with resisting arrest.

Bland was incarcerated in the Waller County jail and found dead in her cell on July 13, 2015. A medical examiner ruled her death a suicide caused by asphyxiation, or hanging. Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, reached a $1.9 million settlement with Waller County and the state of Texas in September 2017 over a federal wrongful death settlement. Criminal charges brought against Encinia over Bland's death were dropped in June of 2017.

'CRIME' IN TEXAS: Spring deputy wrangles Samson the longhorn

Merritt asked people in a Wednesday tweet to not dismiss other accusations of police brutality based on Dixon-Cole's situation. He highlighted numerous other people who have been reportedly mistreated and killed by the police.

"My profession demands swift, zealous and passionate advocacy or lives could be lost," the attorney wrote. "Sometimes we get it wrong and that's a tragedy... but be careful occupants of glass dwellings when throwing rocks."

Get instant Houston breaking news alerts sent directly to your phone by texting CHRON to 77453.

Will Axford covers the news of Texas for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Four of the blazes that ravaged Northern California last October during what became the deadliest series of wildfires in state history were caused by power lines, state officials said Friday.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection completed investigations into four small fires in Butte and Nevada counties, about 100 miles northeast of the lethal flames that overtook the North Bay, revealing the first official sources of ignition in the extraordinary firestorm that involved dozens of burns.

As was widely suspected, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. equipment was behind the wind-driven fires in the Sierra foothills that began on Oct. 8 and 9 when electric lines came into contact with trees or branches, CalFire concluded. In three of the four cases, PG&E had not properly cleared vegetation as required by state law, investigators said.

PG&E officials said Friday they had not seen the basis for CalFires findings and declined to comment immediately on the results of the investigations.

We look forward to the opportunity to carefully review the CalFire reports to understand the agencys perspectives, the company said in a prepared statement. Based on the information we have so far, we believe our overall programs met our states high standards.

The investigations will be sent to the district attorneys of the two counties, who have the power to prosecute.

The four fires with completed probes are: the La Porte Fire in Butte County, which burned 8,417 acres and destroyed 74 structures; the McCourtney Fire in Nevada County, which burned 76 acres and destroyed 13 structures; the Lobo Fire in Nevada County, which burned 821 acres and destroyed 47 structures; and the Honey Fire in Butte County, which burned 76 acres.

We owe it to the public to do this job and get them answers, said Scott McLean, CalFire spokesman.

No fatalities were reported in any of the blazes, unlike elsewhere in October, when fires killed 45 people.

CalFire officials did not say when investigations for the other fires would be completed, only that they would release their findings as soon as theyre done. Because of the large number of fires and strong Diablo winds, experts have suspected that downed trees striking power lines or toppled electric equipment may have been responsible.

The series of fires that broke out in October consumed more than 240,000 acres across Northern California and destroyed nearly 9,000 homes. Gusts of up to 70 mph lifted flames through vineyard-covered valleys and forested hills into rural towns and small cities.

The Santa Rosa area, where the deadly Tubbs Fire blew in from outside Calistoga, was hardest hit. Schools, shopping strips and whole subdivisions were lost. Only recently have residents begun to rebuild. Many have moved away.

Even as the October blazes still roared, state officials began narrowing their investigation to many locations with power lines. Finger-pointing toward PG&E began right away.

The utility already faces dozens of lawsuits seeking compensation for wrongful death, personal injury and property damage. California law allows utilities to be held responsible for the costs of a fire if their equipment is to blame, even when theyre not in violation of safety codes.

Damage estimates for the firestorm have soared above $10 billion.

PG&E, which is a privately held company but heavily regulated, has acknowledged its growing liability, with officials saying privately that the cost of mounting legal claims could prove unaffordable. The utilitys parent, PG&E Corp, reported a $1.66 billion profit last year, but that could fall well short of the bill.

The company has hoped to pass along some of the expected expense to ratepayers, but state law limits what the utility can recoup, and customer advocates and lawmakers have been resistant to rate hikes.

Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators have been discussing stronger regulations for utilities since the October fires. Legislation proposed by state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, for example, would force the utilities to deactivate power lines during high-risk periods.

PG&E officials also say theyve taken measures to improve safety, including increasing inspections of power lines. Last year, the company removed 140,000 trees, and 236,000 trees a year earlier, officials said.

This month, the utility opened a wildfire prediction and response center in San Francisco with plans to staff the facility 24/7 during the height of fire season.

Downed and damaged power lines are one of the top sources of human-caused fires in California. Along with runaway campfires, faulty electric equipment is the most common human source of ignition among the states 20 biggest-ever blazes.

More than 80 percent of Western wildfires are started by people.

The 2007 Witch Fire in San Diego County, which grew into one of the states largest burns at 198,000 acres, was ignited by power lines managed by San Diego Gas & Electric Co., which fell during strong Santa Ana winds. The fire, which killed two people and destroyed hundreds of homes, was among several that autumn caused by downed electric lines.

PG&E equipment was responsible for the 2015 Butte Fire in Amador and Calaveras counties, which killed two people and blackened nearly 71,000 acres. Investigators found that a power line came into contact with a pine tree.

Regulators fined PG&E $8.3 million for failing to keep up equipment before the Butte Fire. In addition, several lawsuits were filed against the utility by homeowners and government agencies, which PG&E officials are now estimating will cost them $1.1 billion.

Chronicle staff writer Catherine Ho contributed to this report.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
The world's largest oil exporter just made quite a policy swerve. Within six weeks, Saudi Arabia has gone from advocating higher prices to trying to stop the rally at $80 a barrel.

The U-turn scrambled the outlook for oil markets, hit the share prices of oil majors and shale producers and set up a diplomatic wrangle with other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

What changed? The supply threats posed by the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Iran oil exports earlier this month and the quickening collapse of Venezuela's energy industry are both part of the answer, but they're secondary to Donald Trump. On April 20, the president took to Twitter to lambaste the cartel's push for higher prices. "Looks like OPEC is at it again," he tweeted. "Oil prices are artificially Very High!"

Trump's intervention gave typically strident voice to a concern held more widely in the U.S. and other consuming countries: oil's rally from less than $30 in early 2016 to more than $80 this month risked becoming a threat to global economic growth.

On Friday, Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih responded, saying his country shared the "anxiety" of his customers. He then announced a shift in policy that all but gave a green light for a market sell-off, saying OPEC and its allies were "likely" to boost output in the second half of the year.

"The tweet moved the Saudis," said Bob McNally, founder of consultant Rapidan Energy Group in Washington and a former White House oil official. "The message was delivered loud and clear to Saudi Arabia."

After al-Falih's comments, made following a meeting with his Russian counterpart in St. Petersburg, saw crude drop more than $3 to below $67 a barrel in New York on Friday. The bullish tone of recent market chatter, increasingly punctuated with talk about oil prices climbing past $100, $150 and even $300, suddenly looks overdone.

It wasn't just the U.S. Other major buyers of Saudi crude also put pressure on Riyadh to change course, albeit a little more diplomatically than Trump. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Indian petroleum minister, said he rang al-Falih and "expressed my concern about rising prices of crude oil."

OPEC officials were in a meeting at the opulent Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jeddah on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast when Trump tweeted his views and they immediately saw it as a significant intervention.

"We were in the meeting in Jiddah, when we read the tweet," OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on Friday. "I think I was prodded by his excellency Khalid al-Falih that probably there was a need for us to respond," he said. "We in OPEC always pride ourselves as friends of the United States."

Diplomats and oil officials in OPEC countries were also worried about the potential revival in Washington of the so-called "No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act," which proposes making OPEC subject to the Sherman anti-trust law, used more than a century ago to break up the oil empire of John Rockefeller.

The bill first gained prominence in 2007 when George W. Bush was president and oil prices were flirting with $100 a barrel and made a comeback several years later under Barack Obama. While it was opposed by those presidents, the risk for OPEC was that Trump "could break with his predecessors and support its passage," said McNally.

In a sign that oil prices were climbing Washington's agenda as gasoline prices approached the $3 a gallon mark, last week a sub-committee in the House of Representatives held a rare hearing on the NOPEC act.

There are also indications that Russia, whose decision to participate in OPEC's cuts helped turnaround the oil market, has decided the rally has run far enough.

"We're not interested in an endless rise in the price of energy and oil," Putin told reporters in St. Petersburg on Friday. "I would say we're perfectly happy with $60 a barrel. Whatever is above that can lead to certain problems for consumers, which also isn't good for producers."OPEC and its allies will gather in Vienna for a policy meeting on June 22 to hammer out a deal. While al-Falih and Russia's Novak have indicated that output will most likely increase, the details -- how many barrels from which countries -- are still a question mark.

"In an environment of low inventories and rising geopolitical outages, raising some supply is prudent," said Amrita Sen, oil analyst at Energy Aspects.

Oil producers are debating an increase ranging from 300,000 barrels a day at the low end, backed by Gulf producers including Saudi Arabia, and a larger increase of about 800,000 barrels a day favored by Russia, a person familiar with matter said on Friday.

"It's too early now to talk about some specific figure, we need to calculate it thoroughly," Novak said.

Even though al-Falih's comments brought about an immediate price reaction, there are still reasons for people to be bullish as traders await the impact of U.S. sanctions against Iran and wider political tensions in the Middle East.

And with global oil demand growing strongly, hedge funds will shift their focus on diminishing global spare capacity as OPEC returns barrels to the market. The U.S. government estimates the cushion at just 1.34 million barrels a day next year, below the 1.4 million reached in 2008 when oil prices surged to nearly $150 a barrel.

In a letter to investors earlier this month, Pierre Andurand, the bullish oil hedge fund manager, warned that if Saudi Arabia needs to "offset production declines from Iran and Venezuela" global spare capacity would decline to perilous levels.

"Oil prices could potentially surge to record high levels to force demand destruction very quickly," he wrote.

- - -

Bloomberg's Wael Mahdi, Nishant Kumar, Grant Smith, Elena Mazneva, Dina Khrennikova and Jack Farchy contributed.
Breathe easy, San Antonio: youre still getting your Ikea  complete with meatballs and baffling-to-assemble furniture  despite the Swedish furniture giant pulling out of a planned store in North Carolina.

The popular furniture chain nixed plans Wednesday to build a store in Cary, North Carolina near Raleigh, The News & Observer reported. Ikea told the Observer that the company is cutting back on some of its expansion aims in favor of other strategies.
Arch-Con Construction

Houston-based Moody National Cos. has reached a construction milestone with the topping out of the 16-story Residence Inn Medical Center near NRG Stadium.

Seven months after breaking ground, Arch-Con Construction reached final height on the hotel, which is on target to open in February in time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo next year. The hotel is at 7807 Kirby, just south of Main Street, around the corner from another Residence Inn which is expected to remain open.
SAN ANTONIO -- Ballet San Antonio announced in a letter to subscribers today that artistic director Willy Shives is no longer with the company.

"We thank him for his service of the past two and a half years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors," the letter states.
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Whether you celebrate "national holidays" or brush them off as pish posh, Friday's festivities are made for winos to wine about.

The National Holiday Calendar marks May 25 as "National Wine Day" and while most glasses of fermented grapes scream relaxing in pajamas, Friday gives connoisseurs a reason to get dressed, get out of the house and celebrate.
Its been many months in the making, but at long last, Dough Pizzeria Napoletana is ready to start tossing pies for the public at its new Hemisfair location.

According to a sign taped in the window, the restaurant is closed to host a private event today. But the doors unlock at noon Saturday and Sunday, and the restaurant will serve until the fresh mozzarella runs out.
The team behind the blockbuster Top 100 San Antonio restaurants Battalion, Feast and Rebelle plans to open a sourdough pizza place called Playland by mid-July at the Maverick Building on East Houston Street downtown.

The name takes on two meanings for restaurateur Andrew Goodman and chef-partner Stefan Bowers. One is a callback to the old San Antonio amusement park called Playland Park, where Goodman went as a kid.

The other meaning? We wanted a name that gave us free reign over the food, Bowers said.

To that end, Playland will offer about 15 pies built on sourdough pizza crusts baked in a 3,500-pound, wood-burning Mugnaini oven. Bowers said hes looking at toppings like shaved beef with balsamic onions, barbecued pork and a classic margherita pizza.

Emphasizing that his pizza wont ride the popular wave of thin, crisp Neapolitan pies, Bowers said, Im not going to be a slave to the European mindset of pizzamaking.

Part of that rebellious spirit comes from Bowers love of sourdough bread, developed from his years growing up in San Francisco.

I was a pretty picky eater. So Id just eat the sourdough with butter, he said. My dad was the adventurous eater. The bread was my salvation.

Eight to nine other dishes will orbit around pizza at Playland, including barbecued pulled pork, salads, pulled mozzarella, General Tsos chicken breast and smoked Buffalo wings.

One caveat about Playland? Theres nothing Italian about it, Goodman said. The team has the Italian restaurant Battalion a few blocks away, and they didnt want to step on the toes of what theyre doing there, he said.

Battalion, for example, doesnt serve pizza. Feast specializes in a progressive American style of food, while Rebelle switched to a full-on seafood menu earlier this month.

Rebelle sous chef Robert Martinez will lead the Playland kitchen, Bowers said.

The bar at Playland will pour wine, a handful of beers on draft and cocktails in the spirit of the teams other properties, including the bar Haunt at the St. Anthony hotel, Goodman said.

Along with 14 to 16 seats at the bar, Playland will seat 100 inside, with another 40 to 60 seats on a sidewalk patio. Goodman said the design will follow the eclectic standards set by the other restaurants, which revolve loosely around Euro-style modern, American pop art and the incorporation of existing historic elements.

msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking
Note: This is a Just a Taste review, which the Express-News does soon after a restaurant or bar opens to give our first impressions.

You can thank Andrew Samia for the gentle air of oak hanging over the Mission Historic District this week. The restaurateur has just opened South BBQ & Kitchen, which joins Dignowity Meats and the Crazy Carls food truck in his culinary portfolio.

South BBQ has rekindled a property thats lied dormant for several years, but barbecue is in the buildings DNA. Samia and his team have refurbished an imposing brick and metal pit anchoring the kitchen and restoked its firebox with a mixture of oak and mesquite.

And that smoke, oh my, how it teases out some fine meats.

RELATED: At last, Dough brings pizza to Hemisfair this weekend

I had a chance to visit for lunch on the second day of business, but the restaurant already was operating with the poise youd expect from a more seasoned venture in both food and service. If the debut is any indicator, South BBQ & Kitchen makes a solid case to be a part of any barbecue enthusiasts regular rotation.

On the menu: The first item listed is High River Angus beef brisket ($20 per pound), and for many, that might be the only order required. Its gloriously fatty with a nice bark and a few burnt ends here and there  not surprising, given Samias affinity for burnt ends at his other smokehouse, Dignowity Meats. The pulled pork shoulder ($16 per pound) was among the best Ive had in San Antonio, juicy ropes of meat served in a well-seasoned tangle.

If youre a sauce person, there is a lone option. Its of the tangy and sweet variety, a little on the thinner side, and a nice complement to the St. Louis style pork ribs ($18 per pound). They deliver big flavor and a payoff worthy of the gnawing required. Smoked chicken leg quarters ($3.50 per order) fall right in line with the rest of the meats, tender, moist and well executed.

Meat is always be the star at any barbecue spot, but that doesnt mean sides ($3 for a cup, $6 for a pint), are an afterthought at this newcomer.

REVIEW: Curry rules at The Roost, the former GS 1221 on Broadway

At South BBQ, green beans are served verdant, crisp and cold in a salad with cherry tomatoes, Cotija cheese and almonds  a refreshing and memorable change.

South Texas potato salad delivered above average results thanks to a mustardy left hook and a jab of sliced green onion on top. But one of the heaviest hitters was another shot of those same onions, this time left whole, wrapped in foil and roasted until buttery soft. A bite of those along with the brisket beats any sauce.

If I have a quibble, its with the vinegar slaw. In my order, ribbons of red and white cabbage and carrots were largely undressed for results closer to a tough raw salad. But I certainly wont complain about the lineup of house pickles  particularly the slivered red onions brined with oodles of oregano.

The pork alone would have been enough to make this one of my favorite recent barbecue experiences. And taken as a whole, South BBQ & Kitchen could easily become an anchor for a burgeoning food and drink scene in its neighborhood.

Location: 2011 Mission Road, Facebook: @southbbqkitchen, no phone or web presence as of yet.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Paul Stephen is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | pstephen@express-news.net | Twitter: @pjbites | Instagram: @pjstephen
"Facts and Fears: Hard Truths From a Life in Intelligence"

By James Clapper with Trey Brown

Viking. 424 pp. $30

- - -

James Clapper has always seen himself as "a 'truth to power' guy," he tells us. The former director of national intelligence, now 77 years old, was born anjd raised in the world of spookery. His father's career in Army signals intelligence included stints at the National Security Agency when it was known as "the puzzle palace." And Clapper grew up with the conviction that the very essence of intelligence work is the collection of carefully analyzed "truths," conveyed in confidence, however unpleasant the conclusions might be for policymakers and politicians.

Then, after more than 50 years in service, just as the avuncular Clapper, a self-styled "intelligence geezer," was planning to retire for good from his post as overseer of America's 17 intelligence organizations, the electoral college named Donald Trump president of the United States. And all the intelligence at Clapper's disposal suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, had made that possible. Clapper, old Cold Warrior that he was, saw his world turned upside down. Suddenly truth, as he understood the term, was out; "alternative facts" were in; and America's old enemy had a far too cozy relationship with its new commander in chief.

So this previously reluctant public figure decided as a private citizen to speak out with a vengeance, appearing regularly on CNN (his shaved head making him look a little like Daddy Warbucks stepping out of the shadows), and with Trey Brown he has written a memoir: "Facts and Fears: Hard Truths From a Life in Intelligence."

The book begins and ends with a bitter appraisal of Trump and the Russian plot to put him in power. "I don't believe our democracy can function for long on lies, particularly when inconvenient and difficult facts spoken by the practitioners of truth are dismissed as 'fake news,' " Clapper writes. "I know that the Intelligence Community cannot serve our nation if facts are negotiable."

This may sound sanctimonious to those aware of the dirty tricks played, covert wars waged and tortures inflicted by the CIA over the years, but Clapper, who worked in other, more antiseptic parts of the intel world - mainly monitoring communications - is quite sincere. And now he feels free to say about the 2016 elections what he did not say when he testified multiple times before Congress as director of national intelligence:

"Of course the Russian efforts affected the outcome. Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches logic, common sense, and credulity to the breaking point. Less than eighty thousand votes in three key states swung the election. I have no doubt that more votes than that were influenced by this massive effort by the Russians."

Was there active collusion between the Trump campaign - or the candidate himself - and Russian proxies or agents? Clapper does not go that far because he doesn't have proof. But what he calls Trump's "aggressive indifference" to the intelligence community's detailed presentation of Russian activities is, in his view, damning enough. "Allegations of collusion and the results of the election were secondary to the profound threat Russia posed - and poses - to our system," Clapper writes, and he does a fair job explaining why.

He begins with Putin's conviction that the United States somehow bore responsibility for undermining his party's victory in Russia's 2011 parliamentary elections, which were followed by protests and widespread charges of fraud.

Clapper admits that in other cases - many other cases - the United States did try to influence elections and change regimes. He cites a report by Carnegie Mellon researcher Dov Levin indicating U.S. efforts to interfere in 81 foreign elections between 1946 and 2000. But Clapper says, "Simplistically, I always viewed us as the 'good guys,' with at least noble intentions."

Putin certainly did not view the Americans as the good guys, and after 2011 he bore a special animus toward then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had expressed "serious concerns" about the conduct of those parliamentary elections. Putin "is not one to forgive or forget a grudge - ever," writes Clapper. "So when Clinton announced her candidacy for president in 2015, Putin remembered."

By then, Russia's annexation of Crimea, its bloody quasi-war in Ukraine and its role in shooting down a Malaysian airliner there had earned Moscow isolation and sanctions, but candidate Trump seemed more than willing to forget and forgive.

Clapper and his colleagues had watched with interest and then horror, and reacted with agonizing caution to what the Russians were doing over the spring and summer of 2016. Then, in November, the results came in, and in December lame-duck President Barack Obama asked for a comprehensive report.

In early January 2017, less than two weeks before Trump's inauguration, Clapper and his colleagues presented the president-elect with the sum total of what they had discovered about the Russian influence campaign. The report was far more detailed than the sanitized versions released to members of Congress and the public.

"I remember just how staggering the assessment felt the first time I read it through from start to finish, and just how specific our conclusions and evidence were," Clapper writes. "We showed unambiguously that Putin had ordered the campaign to influence the election, that the campaign was multifaceted, and that Russia had used cyber espionage against US political organizations and publicly disclosed the data they collected through WikiLeaks, DCLeaks, and the Guccifer 2.0 persona. We documented Russian cyber intrusions into state and local voter rolls. We described Russia's pervasive propaganda efforts through RT [satellite television], Sputnik, and the social media trolls, and how the entire operation had begun with attempts to undermine US democracy and demean Secretary Clinton, then shifted to promoting Mr. Trump when Russia assessed he was a viable candidate who would serve their strategic goals. . . . The Russian government had done all of this at minimal cost and without significant damage to their own interests, and they had no incentive to stop."

This was not the now-famous "dossier" compiled by a former British spy about prostitutes and conniving oligarchs, which Clapper calls "pseudo-intelligence" - this was solid stuff. But Trump set out to discredit the whole report before he'd so much as seen it, claiming that it was all a plot by the Democrats to explain away their loss and casting doubts on the reliability - and abilities - of the intelligence community as a whole.

Unfortunately, on that point, Trump might find plenty of extra ammunition in Clapper's bland but frank memoir. In many places it's a defensive chronicle of private disappointments and public failures by America's intelligence services, from Vietnam to, well, the elections of 2016.

America's spies famously missed the coming collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989; they judged that Saddam Hussein was bluffing about an invasion of Kuwait in 1990; they failed to predict with any actionable intelligence Osama bin Laden's attack on the United States in September 2001; and they completely misconstrued the evidence at hand (much of which was faked) about Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, which gave the George W. Bush administration the pretext it wanted to invade Iraq in 2003, with all the grim consequences that followed.

Clapper dismisses the excuses tendered by die-hard invasion rationalizers. Theydon't "attribute the failure where it belongs - squarely on the shoulders of the administration members who were pushing a narrative of a rogue WMD program in Iraq and on the intelligence officers, including me, who were so eager to help that we found what wasn't really there."

The missteps continued after Obama made Clapper the director of national intelligence in 2010.

The Arab Spring came as a complete surprise, toppling several tyrants in the region who had been reliable partners of the intelligence community.

In September 2012, an attack on an ill-protected diplomatic compound and nearby CIA outpost in Benghazi, Libya, cost the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Clapper concluded that it was largely improvised and that the militant group or groups involved probably had no operational ties to al-Qaeda, but the initial intelligence reports, repeated by Obama officials, suggested that the whole thing had started as a protest, which was not the case.

Internally, on Clapper's watch the intelligence community did not detect or stop the flood of classified documents Chelsea Manning sent to WikiLeaks, which were "embarrassing," as Clapper puts it, and completely missed the much more damaging activities of Edward Snowden, a "traitor" who absconded with vast quantities of America's most closely held secrets about intelligence operations. Then the 17 agencies of the intelligence community failed to anticipate the defeat of the Iraqi army by the Islamic State when it took Mosul in 2014.

So it is perfectly possible for Trump to argue that these tellers of "truths" often do not know what they are talking about. But the situation is actually worse than that for intelligence gatherers under Trump, because the very concept of their basic product is discredited.

As Clapper points out: "Getting its target audience to conclude that facts and truth are 'unknowable' is the true objective of any disinformation campaign. . . . If someone actually believes the falsehood, that's a bonus, but the primary objective is to get readers or viewers to throw their hands up and give up on 'facts.' Do vaccines cause autism? Maybe. Was Senator Ted Cruz's father involved with President Kennedy's assassination? Anything's possible. Is Hillary Clinton running a child-sex ring out of the basement of a DC pizza parlor? Who knows?"

"Could be" and "could have been" are, of course, staples of Trumpian discourse. Maybe the Russians were hacking the Democratic National Committee, maybe it was the Chinese, maybe it was "somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds" or "some guy in New Jersey," he said. Who knows?

Or maybe, just maybe, the problem is "the deep state," which at least one member of Trump's current legal team has suggested.

Given the overall tone and themes of the book, there are some passages by the old hand that readers may find surprising. At several points Clapper writes with considerable emotion about how unfairly LGBT intelligence officers were treated in the past and how pleased he is that they are fully accepted now.

Clapper is generally sympathetic to Obama's leadership - but not always. On the problem of how to deal with North Korea, particularly, he thinks Obama's "policy rationale of not discussing anything else until North Korea agreed to end its nuclear capability and ambitions was flawed." Trump, "surprising everyone," has agreed to talk, and Clapper concedes that as a result the situation is at least "poised for change," although he adds grudgingly: "whether for better or for worse."

Whatever progress is made on the Korea front or elsewhere, as Trump comes under increasing legal pressure from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, allegations of a "witch hunt" and talk of a "deep state" conspiracy will continue to divide the country.

Trump will want to convince his hard-core supporters that people like Clapper, and the men and women of the intelligence community and law enforcement whom Clapper has worked with for so many years - Mueller and fired FBI director James Comey, for instance - were the real power in the country before Trump took over, and it is he, Trump, who is now speaking truth to them.

Could be. Who knows?

- - -

Dickey, the Paris-based world news editor for the Daily Beast, is the author of seven books about war, terrorism and intelligence operations. His most recent is "Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South."
This year Memorial Day weekend isn't just a long awaited three-days off to kick off the summer. It's also the last weekend to get national park passes before a price hike takes effect across the country.

The National Park Service announced fees will increase at a number of parks, including Padre Island and Big Bend, beginning June 1. The increases are necessary because national parks have $11.6 billion in deferred maintenance that needs to be addressed, officials said.

Fees for seven-day vehicle passes are going up $5, while an individual will increase anywhere from $3-$5 depending on the park, according to the release.

RELATED: Park officials' advice for people visiting Enchanted Rock: Get here early

Park-specific annual passes will also increase by $5-$10, depending on the park.

For Big Bend National Park, a park-specific annual pass will go from $50 to $55, a vehicle pass will increase from $25 to $30 and an individual pass will increase from $12 to $15.

At Padre Island National Seashore, a park-specific annual pass will increase from $20 to $40, a vehicle pass will go from $10 to $20 and an individual pass will increase from $5 to $10. Officials said it will be the first increase at the park in 20 years, though another is expected in 2020.

"Every dollar spent to rebuild our parks will help bolster the gateway communities that rely on park visitation for economic vitality," U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said.

Despite the price increase, prices for the annual America the Beautiful National Parks, Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass and Lifetime Senior Pass will remain $80, according to the release.

The increases are expected to bring an additional $60 million to the National Park Service.

A full list of park price changes can be found here.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA
FAIRFIELD  A report of a bomb threat at Fairfield Warde High School was unfounded Friday, police said around 6:40 p.m. Friday.

Around 6:10 p.m., police asked residents to avoid the area of the school as police investigated. The investigation began around 4:20 p.m., after school, police Lt. Robert Kalamaras said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that a juvenile, who is currently in custody at headquarters, fabricated the threat, he said.

As a precautionary measure, the campus was evacuated and remains closed. All evening activities on school property were canceled.

Police cleared the campus around 6:40 p.m.

The threat was deemed not credible, Kalamaras said.

The case continues to be investigated by the Fairfield Police School Safety Unit. As updates become available, Kalamaras said, police will inform the community.
Erin Barnhart, Chief Medical Examiner in Galveston County, has been in her profession for eight years but despite dealing with her fair share of car wrecks, drug overdoses, and other tragedies, nothing could prepare her for what she witnessed inside of Santa Fe High School.

According to USA Today, Barnhart and her forensics team were called to the scene of the May 18 mass shooting as part of a team that included both state and federal investigators.

READ MORE: What Texans think causes mass shootings and what they get wrong

"I am very accustomed to seeing deceased people. It's what I do," Barnhart told the publication."But when you have children in their natural environment, it causes you to think about those victims a little more personally...it was shocking."

In an interview with NPR, Barnhart recalled what it was like to walk into Santa Fe High School in the aftermath of the shooting and the juxtaposition of the art supplies and painting on the walls and the slain students were jarring.

The school was hot because the air conditioner had been turned off, and she remembers smelling clay, paint and other art supplies.

"To be at the scene and see the victims in the positions, you know, in which they collapsed and the way they were in relation to each other," said Barnhart, "and where in the school they were brings a different level of involvement emotionally and psychologically no matter how you prepare yourself for it."

According to the USA Today report, what she found in that classroom was "overturned desks, smashed paint jars, broken ceramics and the crumpled bodies of eight students and a teacher, torn and pockmarked by shotgun shot." The body of another teacher was found shot and killed just outside the school.

Barnhart and her team worked for two days to clean and identify the victims, and by Sunday all the bodies had been identified.

Despite finalizing the autopsy reports that will go into the official investigative file, Barnhart told USA Today that this case won't soon escape her.

"I hope I could make something good out of it, not become a worse person, a more cynical person," she said. "But I guess that remains to be seen."
NEW HAVEN  Police are searching for four male teenagers in connection with a carjacking Thursday, according to a police press release.

The four suspects are described as Latino males between 15 to 18 years old. The male teenagers are between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall. One teenager wore a mask, and another wore a yellow T-shirt, the release stated.

Officers were dispatched to a reported carjacking at Oakley Street and Peat Meadow Road around 9:50 a.m. A 68-year-old victim told officers hed pulled over to make a phone call, and a silver Hyundai pulled up. A male got out of the Hyundai and approached the victim, the release said.

The male suspect then opened the drivers door and tried to steal the victims phone, but the elderly man refused to let the male suspect take it. The suspects three friends then got out of the Hyundai, pulled the victim from his car and drove off in it, the release stated.

The four male teenagers then drove the car to a parking lot on Quinnipiac Avenue, where the victims daughter happens to live. The woman was outside and saw her fathers car being driven by a stranger, the release stated.

The daughter then confronted the carjacker, and a struggle ensued. The male then got out of the vehicle and took off on foot with the three remaining male teenagers, the release said.

The father and daughter were taken to an area hospital with minor injuries. Police took both vehicles for forensic processing. It was discovered that the Hyundai was reported stolen the previous night, the release stated.
Senior bureaucrat Sushil Chandra was on Friday given one-year extension as the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) till May 2019. This is his second extension after taking over as the chief of the CBDT, the apex policy making body of the Income Tax Department, on November 1, 2016.

He was earlier given one-year extension in 2017 till May 31.

The Department of Personnel and Training issued an order, saying that 'the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension in re-employment of the CBDT chairman, Sushil Chandra, for a further period of one year, upto May 31, 2019.

Chandra is a 1980 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service. Reports suggest that that the decision to extend the Chandra's term was taken in order to provide continuity as the CBDT is at the forefront of combating black money.

The CBDT is headed by a chairman and it can have a maximum of six members.

(With inputs from PTI)
A Border Patrol agent shot and killed a woman who had crossed the border illegally near Laredo, Texas, on Wednesday after the officer came under attack, federal authorities said.

The officer was searching for illegal activity in a culvert on a residential street in Rio Bravo, a border town about 7 miles south of Laredo, when a group of unauthorized immigrants started to hit him with blunt objects, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. The officer, whose name was not released, fired at least one shot with his handgun, fatally striking the woman in the head.

A woman who lives next door to the site of the shooting disputed the federal agencys account of the events, saying that the property does not have a culvert and that she did not see any weapons that the group could have used.

RELATED: 3 Mexican soldiers killed, 3 wounded in attack

They were on the very corner on that lot where there was a tree, the woman, Marta V. Martinez, said in an interview Thursday morning. There was no weapon. They were hiding.

The confrontation, which unfolded shortly before 12:30 p.m. on an empty lot about a quarter mile from the Rio Grande, came at a time when the Border Patrol agency is under intense pressure from President Donald Trump to crack down on unauthorized immigration.

Martinez said the gunshot rang out about 10 feet from her house. I didnt hear any yelling or stop or dont run,' she said.

After the gunshot, she ran outside, saw Border Patrol agents swarming her block on Centeno Lane and hit record on her cellphone. She then peered over a chain-link fence to the adjacent lot, she said, and saw an officer flip over a womans body.

She was very young, said Martinez, who estimated she may have been 20 years old.

The left side of her face was covered in blood, said Martinez, who can be heard yelling at the officer in the video.

RELATED: Smugglers abandon tiger cub in bag along Texas border

Why did you kill that woman? she screamed at the officer, who did not respond. You killed her!

The officer began frantically doing chest compressions on the woman, but Martinez said it was clear that she had already died.

The FBI is investigating the shooting, authorities said, and agents on Wednesday spoke with Martinez and reviewed her videos.

On another part of the lot, which is empty except for a few trees, grass and overgrown weeds, an officer caught three men who were believed to be with the woman. As the officer escorted them away, Martinez said she heard him say: See what happens? This is what happens with you people.

Centeno Lane comes to a dead end at a part of the Rio Grande without a fence, making the area and the street a popular route for people who cross the border. Federal agents often zoom down the street, Martinez said, chasing after suspected unauthorized immigrants.

But in the 20 years she has lived there, she said, she had never heard of a Border Patrol agent fatally shooting someone.

Last year, there were 17 use-of-force cases with firearms by Border Patrol agents, a decrease from 55 in 2012, according to Customs and Border Protection. The federal agency does not identify how many of the episodes were fatal.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Two African-American political candidates in Maryland say civil rights leader and gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous attempted to keep them off the Democratic primary ballot to improve his own chances and those of a political ally.

Julian Ivey, a young rising star in Prince George's County, Maryland, politics who has supported Jealous' candidacy, said the former NAACP president called him this year to ask him not to challenge Del. Jimmy Tarlau in the June 26 primary. Tarlau, a 70-year-old freshman lawmaker, is also backing Jealous for governor.

Valerie Ervin, who was a candidate for lieutenant governor until the sudden death of her running mate, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, said Jealous and his campaign manager, Travis Tazelaar, tried to keep her off that ticket by contacting her then-employer, the national Working Families Party, when Kamenetz was recruiting her. The organization and its Maryland affiliate endorsed Jealous for governor months earlier.

Jealous spokesman Kevin Harris denied that Jealous tried to block Ivey or Ervin from running.

Harris said Jealous contacted officials at Working Families after hearing rumors that Kamenetz was considering Ervin as his running mate. Harris said the campaign wanted to know whether the rumors were true and what type of impact it might have on the organization's endorsement.

"Ben didn't try to influence them one way or another," Harris said. "We're not in their HR department. Did we have conversations with them? Yes. But that was normal because they had endorsed us."

The allegations from Ivey and Ervin generated some of the first instances of open mudslinging within the crowded Democratic race to challenge Gov. Larry Hogan, R, in November.

Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker, who has led in early polls and is endorsed by leading Maryland Democrats, took a jab at Jealous on Twitter on Thursday after Ervin's accusation was reported in the blog A Miner Detail.

"Wondering what Shirley Sherrod thinks of this story? Either way, Baker campaign welcomes @ValerieErvin to the #MDGov race," Baker tweeted, posting a link to the story.

Sherrod was an Obama-era official at the U.S. Agriculture Department who lost her job after remarks she made were quoted out of context on a conservative website. Jealous, then president of the NAACP, was among the civil rights leaders who criticized her comments. He later apologized. Sherrod is among the many black officials nationwide backing his campaign,

In a reply to Baker, Jealous tweeted, "Given that she's supporting us, she'd probably be more concerned about this," then linked to articles about the troubled Prince George's school system.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Ervin said she was fired from the Working Families Party after the Jealous campaign called a board member seeking a written assurance that she would not become Kamenetz's running mate.

Ervin, who replaced Kamenetz at the top of the ticket after he died, said she refused. "Basically because of those calls, I was told, 'Don't come back,' " Ervin said.

Joe Dinkin, the communications director for the Working Families Party, said he asked Ervin to "put out a statement to put the speculation to rest" about her being considered by Kamenetz. After learning that the rumor was true, he told her that he "thought it was unwise for her to join an opposing ticket against our endorsed candidate."

"She chose to leave the staff of the Working Families Party in order to run. . . . That was her decision alone," he said.

Ivey, 22, has campaigned for Jealous and worked with him in 2016 on behalf of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. He said he got the call from Jealous in mid-January, after telling Tarlau that he was getting into the race. Jealous urged Ivey to run for a different office, he said.

"I knew that other people would try to persuade me" not to run, said Ivey, who is a member of the Cheverly (Maryland) Town Council. "I didn't think someone like Ben, given the relationship that we had and what he stands for, would try to stop a young, progressive organizer from running for office."

Harris said he did not "know where [the allegation from Ivey] was coming from."

The campaign shared text messages between Ivey and Jealous from March to demonstrate the older Democrat's support, including himencouraging Ivey to "hang in there. . . We are political family. Know that."

Harris said Jealous is friendly with both Ivey - the son of former state Del. Jolene Ivey, D, and former Prince George's state's attorney Glenn Ivey , D - and Tarlau and was often "put in the middle" of the two progressive candidates.

"At no point did Ben try to pressure one or the other to drop out of the race," he said.

But Tarlau said he did ask Jealous to call Ivey because he thought it was a waste of time and progressive resources for the two delegate candidates to compete."What does trying to keep him from running mean - having a conversation?" Tarlau said. "If someone called me or counseled me on whether it's a good idea, I don't see anything wrong with that."
The seeming collapse of the North Korea summit and the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal have led top officials in the Trump administration to once again make veiled references to military action, with President Donald Trump most recently touting American might in a speech Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy.

But beyond the saber-rattling is a sobering reality well known by strategists and planners at the Pentagon: The unlikely, worst-case scenario of sliding into open armed conflict with both Iran and North Korea simultaneously would strain the U.S. military to a degree few Americans could fathom.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has repeatedly warned that an open conflict on the Korean Peninsula alone would be catastrophic, resulting in the sort of warfare the U.S. military hasn't seen in generations. The outside chance of a conflict with Iran at the same time would present Pentagon leaders with logistical, tactical and personnel challenges unenviable for any commander.

Former top Pentagon officials say the possibility of coinciding wars with Iran and North Korea remains extremely remote, and the United States could drift in the space between diplomatic breakthrough and all-out war for years. Still, if the dual wars were to occur, they would test decades of contingency planning that anticipates huge risks to the U.S. armed forces despite ultimate victory.

"Both fights would be costly," said David Ochmanek, a senior researcher at the Rand Corp. and a former top Pentagon strategist in the Clinton and Obama administrations. "In the end you would expect the U.S. and its allies to prevail but at a human and material cost that would be almost incalculable, particularly in the case of the Korea example."

For decades dating back to the Cold War, planners at the Pentagon have grappled with the question of how the U.S. military should prepare for the remote possibility of having to fight two full-scale regional wars at once. The new national defense strategy issued by Mattis, however, emphasizes the need to build up military capability for a possible great-power conflict with Russia and China, and largely backs off the focus on waging two regional wars at once that once consumed the Pentagon.

But as the U.S. military pivots its focus to countering Russia and China, regional challenges from Iran and North Korea continue to consume the administration and the public.

"If you want to ensure the Pentagon can actually plan and prepare and resource for a potential conflict with China or Russia, then getting into conflict with Iran and North Korea is the exact wrong thing to do," said Mara Karlin, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a former Pentagon strategist.

Whereas military planners envision a war with North Korea as primarily a land and air fight, ultimately requiring a massive ground invasion and ending in regime change followed by stabilization, conflict with Iran would more likely be primarily a naval and air battle, focused on crippling specific missile and nuclear sites rather than dismantling the government itself.

Simultaneous warfare in the two countries would stress intelligence and reconnaissance assets such as drone overflights, which the U.S. military has come to rely on heavily, according to former Pentagon officials. Battles in two theaters also would strain Special Operations forces and possibly electronic warfare and tactical air support units, they said. Another challenge would be getting forces and equipment to both theaters in a prompt manner and sustaining them once they arrive.

Amid the attention on Iran and North Korea, Trump has stressed the strength of the U.S. military and his administration's efforts to reverse what military commanders say has been underinvestment in the force.

"We're sharpening the fighting edge of everything, from Marine infantry squads to combat ships to deliver maximum lethal force," Trump said during his Naval Academy address. "We will have the strongest military that we've ever had, and it won't even be close. And when did we need it more than now?"

While Trump has boasted of major increases to defense spending, the impact of greater budgets won't be felt for some time. Meanwhile, the military continues to feel the effects of more than a decade and a half of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"It's still in many respects a tired force - the toll of the wars and constant deployments, the effect on both manpower and equipment, the lack of opportunity to do the right kind of training," said Brian McKeon, who served as acting undersecretary of defense for policy during the Obama administration.

Mattis has regularly emphasized the need for diplomacy for Iran and North Korea, even as other members of the Trump administration have threatened military options.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, suggested Mattis's approach might reflect his firsthand understanding of the potential costs and uncertainties of any conflict, regardless of the Pentagon's many contingency plans.

"There's such an inherent unpredictability to war," O'Hanlon said. "The minute you start to think your beautiful battle plan is going to work the way you designed it, that's where it gets dangerous."
New York

As many of New York's top Democrats gathered on Long Island on Wednesday for the party's state convention, one prominent Democrat was noticeably absent: Mayor Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio, who holds one of the most recognizable political offices in the country, and who has traveled to Iowa and other cities and states around the country to promote progressive Democratic ideals, was apparently not quite as welcome in his home state.

"There was not an invitation to play a meaningful role at the convention," he said Wednesday at an unrelated news conference in the Bronx. "I got a lot of other good things I can do with my time and so I'm not worried about it."

The mayor did not say why he thought he had not been given a significant role, but it seemed likely that it had to do with the main attraction at the convention: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who formally received the state Democratic Party's backing Thursday.

De Blasio did attend the Democratic State Convention in 2014 and had a speaking role, but not a major one, said Eric F. Phillips, the mayor's press secretary. But de Blasio and Cuomo's relationship has grown much more difficult during that time.

Over the last four years, the two men have been embroiled in a very public and nasty feud. As the state's top elected official, Cuomo is considered the head of the New York Democratic Party.

"The governor is in charge of the state party, and the state party drives the agenda," said Carl E. Heastie, speaker of the state Assembly, when asked about de Blasio's absence.

Complicating matters is Cuomo's likely Democratic primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon, the actress and education activist who has hired some of de Blasio's former campaign aides.

Nixon, who has been making some inroads by winning support from more liberal Democratic groups, did appear at the convention Wednesday, as did Hillary Clinton, who delivered the keynote address. Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke on Thursday.

By skipping the convention, de Blasio avoided being confronted by party delegates about whom he was endorsing for governor; he did not, however, escape such questions from reporters at the news conference. (The mayor said it was premature to weigh in at this juncture.)

"Mayors and governors have fought from time immemorial," said Douglas Muzzio, a professor of political science at Baruch College. "But this seems to be unique in the fact that the animus is institutional and deeply personal."

Geoff Berman, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said the convention's program was created with input from many different sources. The party is focused on winning back control of the state Senate and on picking up additional seats in the Assembly.

"The focus for the convention is we are one, strong united Democratic Party," Berman said. "We have a popular, progressive governor and lieutenant governor who are leading New York as a progressive beacon" against the Trump administration.

Bruce Gyory, an adjunct professor of political science at the University at Albany, said de Blasio needs to create better alliances with mayors and county executives from around the state and country.

"He pays a price for going it alone," Gyory said, referring to a failed presidential forum that de Blasio planned to hold in Iowa about income inequality. The event was canceled when no one agreed to attend.

"If he wants to play a larger role in the politics of the New York state and national Democratic parties, he should do what other mayors have done and build alliances with his fellow mayors and county executives," Gyory said.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Russian poetry was quoted. Jokes were made about flying to Mars. One American chief executive noted that his company's relationship with Russia went back further than his marriage with his wife.

Ties between Russia and the West may be at their worst since the days of the Cold War, but that did little to stop a slew of American business leaders from speaking at a panel at the country's annual lavish investment summit Friday.

They were part of the largest international attendance in four years, when Russia was hit with U.S. and European Union sanctions for annexing Crimea from Ukraine. Since then, Moscow's ties with Washington have only further deteriorated over allegations of election interference.

French President Emmanuel Macron jetted in to headline the event alongside his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. On Friday, the two spoke at length to Russia's business and political elite, just moments after the Netherlands and Australia said they were holding Russia legally responsible for the downing of flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine four years ago, killing all 298 people on board. But the forum hummed along, with Macron saying France hoped to become Russia's largest investor.

Encouraged to attend by Washington's ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, himself a businessman, the Americans' optimism in continuing business with Russia underscored the parallel reality which those trying to straddle the fraught U.S.-Russian relationship often find themselves in.

"Mutual isolation will only drive us further apart," Huntsman said in a video address on the embassy's Twitter feed. "That is why I'm going."

Joining the panel was sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, whom special counsel Robert Mueller has taken a recent interest in. Huntsman had originally been scheduled to attend the panel, and it was not immediately clear why he pulled out. "He is here in spirit," Russian foods tycoon David Yakobashvili told the panel.

President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen received payments of a reported half a million dollars after the 2016 election from a company linked to Vekselberg, and the motives for this are under investigation. Vekselberg, one of Russia's richest men, is under intense media scrutiny and spent much of the first two days of the St. Petersburg forum dodging reporters' questions.

On the panel, Vekselberg, who has made his fortune from oil and metals, was wearing one of his many hats as president of Skolkovo, ostensibly Russia's answer to Silicon Valley. Vekselberg appeared wistful as he described current relations between Moscow and Washington. "The number of optimists has declined, though some remain in this room," said the tycoon, whose two children both attended universities in the United States. He quoted a famous song by Soviet writer Bulat Okudzhava, about the futility of military service, and soldiers' feelings of disappointment at not being able to truly change the world.

Vekselberg was not the only one to wax lyrical. Markwart von Pentz, who heads agriculture and turf equipment at the American John Deere Company, cited the 19th century Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev, saying "Russia cannot be understood with the mind alone," before saying the world's largest country has the potential to feed a growing world.

The president of Boeing, Bertrand-Marc Allen, said Russia "is a place for long-term partnership," noting that his company's 25 years in Russia exceeded the time he has been married to his wife. The U.S. aerospace company was recently on the receiving end of the Kremlin's ire when Russia said it would cancel titanium exports to Boeing as part of counter-sanctions. That proposed ban was later rolled back by Russia.

Sitting near the front was Sergey Kislyak, until recently Russia's long-serving ambassador to Washington and once at the center of alleged collusion by Russia in Trump's campaign. The veteran Russian diplomat issued the most measured response to the surge of enthusiasm in the room. "I consider the people who gather here as sort of pioneers in a new environment in bettering American-Russian relations," he told reporters on the panel's sidelines. "There are still a few."
The family of a man who died after being treated with hormone therapy at a Nederland clinic has sued the prescribing nurse and doctors for negligence and malpractice.

Brad Guilbeaux, 47, died in February 2017 "as a result of unsafe doses of hormones prescribed by and under the authority of Defendants," attorney Christopher Kirchmer wrote in the petition, filed in Jefferson County this week.

The suit identifies Guilbeaux as "Patient 1," referenced in a suspension order from the Texas Board of Nursing in October, in which Kevin G. Morgan was accused of failing to meet "the minimum standards of nursing practice."

Morgan, who could not be reached for comment Friday, has denied all allegations in a filing in response to the charges.

Guilbeaux was treated by Morgan under the supervision of Dr. George Brown and Dr. Marian Querry from March 31, 2015 to Dec. 19, 2016. He was prescribed "the thyroid hormone product NatureThroid and various forms of testosterone."

When he died in February 2017, his testosterone levels "were so inordinately high that they were not measurable by the coroner's lab," the suit alleges.

His autopsy report said that "the cause of death of Brad Gilbeaux is hypertensive cardiovascular disease with contributory cause chronic exogeneous hormone therapy," according to the petition.

The suit alleges that Morgan did not run adequate lab tests before prescribing hormone therapy, continued to prescribe testosterone when Guilbeaux's levels were dangerously high and "failed to adequately discuss the risks associated with testosterone and/or thyroid hormone treatment."

Brown, a doctor who practices in Deer Park, and Querry, an osteopathic doctor in Hallsville, are accused of failing "to adequately supervise, monitor or oversee their prescription delegate, Kevin Morgan." They could not be reached for comment Friday.

Guilbeaux's wife and children are seeking damages that include loss of earnings, mental anguish, medical expenses and funeral expenses.

Morgan's clinic, Optimum Medical Weight Control and Family Wellness, was raided by federal authorities in October.

The Board of Nursing filed formal charges against Morgan on Oct. 20, alleging that his prescriptions for testosterone and thyroid hormone put 12 patients at risk and might have contributed to two deaths.

The board alleged that from March 31, 2015 to Jan. 23, 2017, Morgan "acted outside his authorized scope of practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner, in that Respondent does not have sufficient formalized education and/or training in endocrinology to prescribe hormone therapy."

A December order suspending his nursing license said the board found that the charges related to all 12 patients were substantiated.

According to a notice filed last month at the State Office of Administrative Hearings, a hearing on Morgan's license will be held Oct. 8 to Oct. 12 in Austin.

The board also suspended the license of Lou Randall Locke II, a nurse practitioner employed at Optimum.

According to the suspension order, issued in February, Locke inappropriately prescribed hormones to 11 patients between March 2016 and November 2017.

Three patients required hospitalization after they were treated by Locke, the board alleges.

Locke will defend his license at a hearing that was postponed and has not been rescheduled, according to SOAH records.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitz
The letter circulated to dozens of wealthy entrepreneurs in China last week looked official. Topped with the insignia of a real Republican committee raising money for the party and President Donald Trump's reelection campaign, it purported to offer a handshake and a one-on-one photo with the president for $100,000 - a "VVIP" trip "to be remembered for a lifetime."

The invitation, which Republican Party officials say they had nothing to do with, was not the only such offer. At least two other China-based companies have circulated similar solicitations in the past week, offering access to Trump at an official fundraiser in Dallas on May 31, charging two or three times the price of a ticket.

In an interview with The Washington Post, a Beijing man who claims to be an organizer of the excursion to Dallas said he coordinated a previous U.S. trip - bringing members of the Chinese business elite to snap selfies and pose for photos at a swanky Manhattan fundraiser headlined by Trump in December.

As a part of his promotional materials for the Dallas trip, he circulated pictures of wealthy Chinese business leaders, including a businessman known as the country's first owner of a Ferrari, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump in formal wear and giving a thumbs-up.

While U.S. election law prohibits campaign contributions from anyone but U.S. citizens and permanent residents, foreign visitors may attend fundraisers as long as they do not pay their own entry.

But some campaign finance experts say there would be ethical concerns if foreigners are routinely gaining access to the U.S. president through fundraisers. And the solicitations, if offering a legitimate service, raise questions about whether attendees are indirectly paying for their tickets through a U.S. donor, which would be illegal.

Republican Party officials confirmed the presence of Chinese nationals at the December fundraiser, but said they knew nothing about the Dallas solicitations. After being contacted by The Post, they referred the invitations to federal authorities.

"We've never heard of these people nor are we aware of any effort by them to illegally attend our events," said Blair Ellis, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, which helped organize both events. "We maintain strict compliance with the law and have a zero tolerance policy toward anyone who attempts to take advantage of the system in order to attend our events."

Mica Mosbacher, a member of the Trump 2020 National Advisory Board and GOP fundraiser in Texas, said the board had "no knowledge" of the solicitations to the Dallas event and "would not endorse this activity."

A Republican Party official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss individuals at a private fundraiser said the Chinese visitors to the Dec. 2 gathering - which encompassed several events, including a breakfast with Trump - were there as guests of a U.S. citizen donor, whom the official declined to name.

The Chinese guests had "minimal exposure to President Trump. They attended an event with hundreds of individuals and took a photo from a photo line," the official said.

Every guest at an RNC event where the president or vice president is present must go through a rigorous vetting process with the Secret Service, the official said.

Sun Changchun, who described himself as the head of a Chinese cultural exchange company, is promoting the Dallas event on WeChat, a Chinese messaging service. He claims to have arranged both the Dallas and New York trips. He told The Post he plans to give the Dallas ticket proceeds to the RNC, but provided no evidence to substantiate that assertion or any relationship with the RNC.

His understanding, he said, was that the RNC would in turn donate the money to charity.

Sun's invite claims he and his associates had "prior experience participating in three Republican president dinners in 2017," including the New York visit. The Post could not independently verify his involvement in any trips.

In the interview, he said his Beijing-based company aims to raise the profile of Chinese entrepreneurs. The $100,000 per-person price tag includes airport pickup, lodging, meals and translator, the invitation says.

"When I started this company, I thought we could maybe act as a bridge between the two sides [U.S. and China] . . . to provide exchanges," Sun said.

One of the influential Chinese guests who attended the December event was Li Xiaohua, the Ferrari owner and chairman of Huada International Investment Group, according to Chinese media reports, which published photos of him with Trump.

At least three other Chinese visitors attended RNC events that day, and one was photographed with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Chinese media reports say.

The Post contacted several Chinese guests whose U.S. trips Sun claims to have facilitated, including Li, but none agreed to an interview.

The solicitations follow a history of campaign finance controversies involving foreign money and U.S. elections, notably under the Clinton-Gore administration.

Ahead of the 1996 presidential election, federal authorities found the Chinese attempted to direct foreign contributions to the Democratic National Committee and later to President Bill Clinton's legal defense fund. A longtime fundraiser for then-Vice President Al Gore was convicted in 2000 for her role in arranging more than $100,000 in illegal donations to the DNC.

Among the issues being examined by special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation is whether foreign money flowed into U.S. political campaigns.

The legal access that foreigners have to U.S. political fundraisers has long worried some campaign ethics experts.

"Let's assume that it's all actually domestic money being spent here. Then you have a question of access and influence," said Jessica Levinson, election law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. "It's enormously beneficial for people, whether they are from America or whether they are foreign nationals, to show they have a picture with the president."

Matthew Sanderson, who served as a campaign finance lawyer for the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign, said claims such as those in the Chinese invitations might get the attention of authorities. "What a regulator or prosecutor would be interested in is whether this is essentially the foreign national making a donation through a U.S. person," he said.

"That's a problem both because foreign nationals are prohibited from making campaign contributions, and because the campaign finance disclosure reports are supposed to disclose the ultimate source of funds," Sanderson added.

In addition to the invitation crafted to appear as though it was sponsored by the Republican Party, a different solicitation carried the logo of the Chinese Construction Bank, one of China's largest state-owned banks.

That solicitation claimed that representatives from ZTE Corp. would attend the event, according to a copy obtained by The Post. Earlier this month, Trump announced via Twitter that his administration would be taking steps to prevent the Chinese telecommunications company from going out of business due to new trade restrictions.

ZTE officials said this week they have no part in either the invitation or the fundraiser. "There are no representatives from ZTE Corporation or ZTE (USA), Inc., who have ever, or are planning, to attend such fundraisers," Andrew Elliott, vice president of strategic marketing for ZTE (USA), Inc., said in an email.

The invite purports to offer a photo opportunity with Trump and ticket to the dinner for $150,000 - three times the amount charged by the RNC.

"In order to strengthen Sino-U.S. business exchanges, CCB Private Bank extends a special invite to Chinese entrepreneurs to visit the U.S. as VIP guests at the dinner event, for in-depth exchanges with American business tycoons," the invite read.

Officials with CCB's Shenzhen branch released a statement saying it had investigated reports of the invite and found that some employees had been involved. "Our branch did not participate in organization," the statement said.

Bank officials found the invite was organized by a group registered in Hong Kong called the Chinese Commercial Counsellor and Entrepreneurship Association and Shanghai Vvisa Tourism Service Co., a Chinese tourism service.

In a statement, a company affiliated with Vvisa, Weijia Travel Consulting Services, said it was organizing the event with an American foundation.

"The event will still take place under normal arrangements," the statement read. "Shanghai Weijia organises this event with multiple organisations, fees for the event are paid for by clients who participate."

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Rauhala, Denyer, The Washington Post's Amber Ziye Wang, Luna Lin, Shirley Feng and Yang Liu contributed from Beijing. Lee, Narayanswamy and Steven Mufson contributed from Washington.
VIENNA - Iran will decide within weeks whether to stay in a faltering deal to restrain its nuclear program and is pressing Europe to compensate for President Donald Trump's decision to reimpose sanctions, a senior Iranian official said Friday.

The official warned that Tehran could also pull out from a separate treaty that limits the spread of nuclear weapons.

The caution came ahead of the first talks involving all the remaining parties to the landmark 2015 deal since the United States pulled out earlier this month.

An official report Thursday declared that Iran is still in compliance with the stringent controls on its nuclear program.

Iran has long declared that its program is limited to the peaceful generation of nuclear energy and production of medical isotopes. If it were to pull out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and seek nuclear weapons, it could spark an arms race in the already volatile Middle East.

The United States and Israel have also warned that an Iranian nuclear weapons program would be countered with force.

"We have not decided yet to stay in the deal," said the Iranian official, who briefed a small group of reporters under ground rules of anonymity. The official said that Iranian hard-line factions that always opposed the nuclear deal are now pushing for a broader reevaluation of Iran's approach to nuclear issues.

One possibility if Iran withdraws from the deal would be a return to the status quo before 2015, the official said: an intensified uranium-enrichment program that the Iranian government says is for peaceful civilian use, and economic relations with the world that are hobbled by U.S. sanctions.

"Another solution that some promote is for Iran to go out of NPT or at least reconsider and revisit our nuclear doctrine," the official said.

Tehran wants a full package of proposals from Europe by the end of May, after which leaders will decide whether to stay in the agreement, the official said. The aim is to see whether Europe can create enough paths to protect private investment in Iran so that Tehran still feels it is receiving concrete economic benefits from the deal.

"We were always told there is a Plan B," the official said. "But I'm sorry to say we haven't seen the Plan B yet."

Europeans have been working on a suite of proposals, including making it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to invest in Iran, sheltering payments for oil and gas from U.S. sanctions and ordering European businesses to disregard the new U.S. measures. But European diplomats involved in the efforts acknowledge uncertainty about whether that would be enough.

The lead Iranian nuclear negotiator, deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, said afterwards that "the achievement was a united position by all participants" to try to save the deal. "I'm more confident now" than before the talks, he said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week vowed to destroy Iran's economy and "crush" its operatives and proxies around the world, offering a hard-line vision that many analysts said seemed intended to provoke Tehran.

The effort to salvage the deal has America's allies working with its traditional adversaries to thwart White House actions. The negotiations in Vienna were called by Iran and included representatives from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin sounded similar notes in St. Petersburg on Friday, as the French leader finished a two-day visit.

"If the JCPOA is destroyed, then Iran's nuclear program will not be understood by anyone," Putin said Friday. "It will increase the risks." A day earlier, he praised Europe's efforts to save the deal.

A parallel realignment may be underway on the Korean Peninsula, as South Korean President Moon Jae-in tries to salvage a summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after Trump abruptly cancelled it this week.

The Iranian official dismissed any further attempt to work with the United States, saying that the experience of making a deal with one administration only to have it nullified by its successor made new talks impossible.

The official also dismissed European attempts to link further talks on nuclear issues to Iran's ballistic missile program and its role in the Middle East. Due to political pressures inside Iran, linking the issues was likely to further undermine the existing deal and make agreement on other issues even harder, the official said.
FATA merger bill passed after getting two-third majority 25 May, 2018



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Hand Wash and Toiletries in Pakistan And the Role of DUPAS in Reshaping the Industry

Woke Bingo ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and opposition parties  the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)  had to labour for ensuring the presence of at least 228 members (two-thirds of the 342-member house) that is mandatory for passing a constitution amendment bill.



The bill, which will be numbered as the 25th Constitution Amendment Bill, was tabled by Law Minister Chaudhry Bashir Mahmood Virk after a wait for more than two hours.



Dawar Khan Kundi, a PTI dissident from Dera Ismail Khan, was the only dissenting vote after the lawmakers of two government allies  the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP)  which chose to walk out from the assembly ahead of the vote as a mark of protest.



The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which had earlier declared that it would not support the bill, finally voted in its favour after Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the PTI, Railways Minister Saad Rafique and the PPPs Syed Naveed Qamar persuaded it to do so on the condition that Dr Farooq Sattar would be allowed to speak out his partys reservations over the move.



Both JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and PkMAP president Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who have been forcefully opposing the planned merger of the tribal areas with KP, preferred to stay away from the proceedings, perhaps anticipating that they could face the wrath of the majority of the members for their stance.



Maulana Fazl is reportedly in Saudi Arabia these days and there was talk in the galleries that he had been sent there by the government as a face-saving measure.



In the absence of the two leaders, Fata MNA Jamaluddin and Naeema Kishwar of the JUI-F and Abdul Qahar Khan of the PkMAP reiterated their party position and termed the passage of the bill an act that could have dangerous consequences for the country.



Today is a black day as the parliament is about to remove the name of Fata from the countrys constitution, said Jamaluddin, alleging that Fata was being merged with KP as part of a foreign agenda.



Jamaluddin said the PML-N and the PTI curse each other all the time, but today they joined hands to usurp the rights of Fata people.



Qahar Khan said Fata people should be given the right to decide about their own future. He said, The people of Fata want their own province, their own chief minister, their own governor and their own public service commission.



The JUI-F and PkMAP members also targeted Imran Khan and Sheikh Rashid in their speeches, saying those who have been cursing the parliament until now are today sitting here without having any regret.



Dr Farooq Sattar delivered an emotional speech which was frequently interrupted by the PPP members when he called for creation of more provinces in the country on administrative grounds.



The MQM members threatened to stage a walkout from the house before the voting when the PPP members started raising slogans during Dr Sattars speech as he indirectly called for creation of Karachi province. The MQM members, however, were prevented from staging the walkout by Shah Mehmood Qureshi who also requested the PPP members to stay calm and allow the MQM leader to wind up his speech.



Dr Sattar said the MQM was supporting the bill only for the sake of political unity as the party still believed that Fata should be turned into a separate province and a referendum should be conducted in the area to seek the peoples opinion.



Farooq Sattar also called for the formation of 19 provinces  including Karachi  on administrative grounds before recalling that in the past the MQM had put forth bills for creation of provinces of southern Punjab, Hazara and Fata. He said the KP alone should be divided into four administrative units.



We fear that if Fata is merged with KP, it will become difficult to create a new province in the future, he said, adding that the countrys constitution was most difficult one in terms of creation of new provinces.



He also warned of violence and terrorist activities in Karachi in the wake of severe water crisis in the city.



We are the last shield in defending Karachi and the country, he said, adding that they should not be pushed to wall.



Bilal Rehman was the other MNA from Fata who opposed the bill and staged a walkout.



On the other hand, Shah Gee Gul Afridi, an independent MNA from Fata, alleged that Maulana Fazl and Mehmood Achakzai were opposing the merger because they knew that they would not get any funds from abroad after the bill is passed. He said real faces of those who want to keep the people of Fata divided for their political advantages have been exposed in the parliament today.



The bill will now be taken up by the Senate on Friday (today).



The highlight of the days proceeding was participation of PTI chairman Imran Khan in the voting who had appeared in the assembly after about two years.



The long-awaited mainstreaming of the tribal areas had been in the works for four years, pointed out Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. He thanked the opposition parties for their support to the bill and termed its passage a historic occasion.



Imran Khan also congratulated parliament on coming together despite differences between the ruling and the opposition parties.



The bill seeks an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution which defines the countrys territory and mentions Fata as a separate entity along with four provinces. The bill also amends Articles 51 and 59 which specify the number of seats allocated to each of the federating units in the national and provincial assemblies.



Another daunting task for the political leadership is to get the bill passed with a two-thirds vote in the KP Assembly before the expiry of its term on May 28, three days before the National Assemblys dissolution.



As per Article 239(4) of the Constitution, the president cannot assent a constitutional amendment bill which affects geographical boundaries of a province without approval by the assembly of that province.
Europe needs to come up with a package of economic guarantees by June to prevent the crisis triggered by Donald Trump's nuclear deal withdrawal from escalating further, according to a top Iranian official.

Iran expects oil exports to remain at current levels, continued access to international finance and the completion of contracts signed with European companies, according to the person, who asked not to be named in line with diplomatic protocol. The official spoke Friday in Vienna ahead of talks with Chinese, French, German, Russian and U.K. diplomats about the fate of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the 2015 accord is formally known.

President Donald Trump's May 8 order to exit the JCPOA, and reimpose U.S. sanctions, has cast doubt over whether the deal can survive, even as International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors continue to verify Iran is sticking to its part of the bargain. Friday's meeting in the Austrian capital is the first step in the dispute resolution mechanism proscribed by the JCPOA that may lead to a meeting of foreign ministers in June.

The finance ministers from France, Germany and the U.K. are also scheduled to talk about Iranian measures on the sidelines of a European Union meeting in Brussels, according to participants. The EU pledged May 18 it would find ways to maintain the sanctions relief promised to Iran under the JCPOA.

While Iran is willing to allow Europe time to fill the vacuum left by the U.S., the official said his country is skeptical that the 28-nation bloc can exert its independence from Washington. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel should have focused on building alternatives to the accord without the U.S. rather than appeasing Trump with potential compromises, the official said. Both leaders visited the White House in the days before Trump announced his decision in attempts to sway him.

Iran has continued meet its obligations and IAEA inspectors had access "to all the sites and locations in Iran which it needed to visit," monitors said Thursday for an 11th consecutive time in the agency's regular report to member states.

The worst-case scenario in the event of the deal collapsing could see Iran leave the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, potentially casting the Middle East into a new crisis, said the official, who dismissed any possibility of new negotiations unless the JCPOA is saved. Conservative hardliners in Tehran, who all along said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was naive to trust the U.S., have been emboldened by Trump's move.

Friday's meeting chaired by the EU in Palais Coburg -- the same Austrian landmark where the JCPOA was sealed in July 2015 -- isn't expected to yield concrete decisions. It will instead kick off intensive rounds of "shuttle diplomacy" in the weeks before U.S. sanctions resume, according to Ellie Geranmayeh, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Proposals to allow European finance to bypass American sanctions have been met with skepticism by EU states, which are also trying to negotiate trade disputes with the Trump administration that could threaten U.S. exports worth more than $435 billion. By comparison, Iran is the bloc's 66th biggest trading partner with less than $24 billion of goods exchanging hands, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A critical tool the EU may be able to influence is the Brussels-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT messaging service, used by banks to verify international transactions. Isolating Iranian banks from SWIFT in 2012 was key in the run-up to the nuclear negotiations that yielded the deal.

"There's going to be a lot of discussions about SWIFT," Geranmayeh said. "SWIFT is critical."

Iran believes it's within the EU's power to ensure SWIFT remains accessible to Iranian banks since it's domiciled in Brussels and majority-owned by European institutions, according to the official.
Six years ago, two prison cellmates became, to their surprise, college roommates. Donte Small was doing time at Maryland Correctional Institution in Jessup for assault with a handgun. Sanford Barber was in for involuntary manslaughter. Both were looking constantly to improve themselves.

One day, Barber saw a flyer advertising college courses. He signed them both up to apply. They had to interview and write letters to get in. Small wondered: "Could I make it in college? Is this possible? Is this really a thing?"

They were accepted for Goucher College's inaugural classes at Jessup in 2012. The two men proofed each other's papers, talked about assignments, took turns at an improvised desk in the cell with a toilet seat as the chair.

They sought, Barber said, "to motivate each other, uplift each other." In one class they studied the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery and involuntary servitude, and pondered the exception in it that permitted incarceration for a criminal conviction. "Blew my mind when I read it," Small said.

Now out of prison, the two reunited this week on the leafy Goucher campus in the suburbs north of Baltimore to celebrate an unusual prison-to-college story: Small is about to graduate from the liberal arts school with a bachelor's degree in computer science.

The 29-year-old from Baltimore County, Maryland, released in 2014, will don a cap and gown Friday and participate in all the pomp that Goucher bestows on its Class of 2018. He has finished his school work except for a short trip next month to fulfill a study-abroad requirement. Small said he wants to "push, challenge and change the narrative about individuals with a criminal past."

The path Small followed, starting with a college behind bars and finishing on its main campus, is not unprecedented. But experts say very few are able to do it.

"It's tragically rare in the United States," said Max Kenner, executive director of a prison education initiative at Bard College in New York and an authority on the issue.

"It's unusual mostly because of a lack of imagination," Goucher President Jose Antonio Bowen said. "It's the right thing for the country."

In 1994, Congress approved a ban on federal Pell Grant funding for higher education in prison, leading many programs to shrink or shut down. But in recent years, inmates have secured more opportunities to earn college credit.

Goucher started offering courses for credit to men and women at two state prisons in Jessup six years ago, using private money and joining a small group of four-year colleges and universities with similar efforts.

Momentum for these initiatives grew in 2016 with the launch of a federal experiment supporting prison education at dozens of colleges through Pell Grants. Among the participants are Goucher, Bard, Rutgers, Villanova, Auburn and the University of Baltimore.

Advocates hope results from the Second Chance Pell program will spur Congress to repeal the 1994 ban. Their arguments are humanitarian, social and fiscal: They cite research showing that education substantially lowers the probability that prisoners will return to crime after they are released. The state can pay major costs for incarceration of repeat offenders.

"There is a growing bipartisan understanding that the right thing for the country is to make sure that while folks are incarcerated, they have the opportunity to gain additional education and skills," said John King, who as education secretary in the final year of the Obama administration oversaw the experiment's launch.

Education Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Hill said the Trump administration plans to continue the experiment until it yields enough information for the government to set longer-term policy. The New York Times quoted Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in February as saying that reinstating Pell Grants for prisoners was "a very good and interesting possibility."

Villanova has taught inside a state prison in Graterford, Pennsylvania, for decades. Seventy-five men have earned bachelor's or associate degrees since 1986, usually finishing while incarcerated, according to program director Kate Meloney. The diplomas carry no asterisk. "This is not a charity, not something we're doing out of the goodness of our hearts," Meloney said.

Small said he is amazed at how college turned around his life.

Born in the Bronx and raised by a single mother, he attended five high schools in three states before receiving a diploma in 2007 in Baltimore County. College was not unknown to him: His mother is a teacher with a master's degree in special education. But it was far from his mind. "I wasn't offered college tours," he said. "I wasn't put in college prep. I didn't feel confident in my writing, my reading, my arithmetic skills." His last report card shows a string of D's.

Small got a job in a shoe store, but six months after high school graduation, he fell into trouble. He said his neighborhood felt unsafe. His house was broken into repeatedly. He felt a need to protect himself and his family. "It led me to start making bad decisions," he said. One day he pulled a gun, he said, and shot someone in the shoulder.

Then came the arrest, jail, a guilty plea, prison.

"When I got there," Small said, "I was like, 'This has happened. What's next?' "

He stayed busy, working in a mechanic shop, and in graphic arts. He took an anger management program, studied Spanish. He hungered to improve his reading and writing skills and raise his career ambitions.

So he jumped at the chance to take free courses from Goucher. The first two, in English and political philosophy, pushed him hard. He wrote two papers a week in each subject and marveled at how much professors demanded. He was proud to earn a pair of B's.

"They were not playing," he recalled. "Not giving us any kind of break at all."

Goucher cut no slack for Small, Barber and the other students even though they were under tighter restrictions than other freshmen face, with no Internet access, no cellphones and a controlled daily routine behind razor wire. But the professors provided regular office hours inside. Classes were small, discussions intense. Small said a favorite course was introduction to theater, exposing him to texts, playwrights and stage directions. "It made me interested in art," he said.

Barber, 30, who was released last year, said the college courses changed his life, too. "It was definitely a steppingstone," he said. He took his Goucher credits to Pasco-Hernando State College in Florida and plans to earn an associate degree in information technology and then transfer to the University of South Florida. He flew to Baltimore this week to congratulate Small.

When Small left prison after a little more than six years, he had 27 credits toward 120 needed for a bachelor's degree. He enrolled briefly at a community college to aim for a two-year associate degree. But professors he had met at Jessup urged him to come to Goucher to finish a bachelor's. With grants and loans, he did.

He will graduate with about $36,000 in student debt that he expects to pay off after getting a job. He said he believes that his computer science degree, with a minor in sociology, will give him marketable skills. His transcript is loaded with A's and B's.

Jill Zimmerman, a computer science professor who advised Small, said she has never met a student like him. Zimmerman said she was aware that Small had been in prison but that the subject never came up in three years of working with him. He was all business, she said, focused on computer languages, computations, algorithms.

"He always wanted insight from me on what I saw when I looked at a problem," she said. "He did great - in spite of any deficiencies he may have had in his previous education - just because of his work ethic and diligence."

Small said he soaked up everything he could from professors. If he knew that Zimmerman would be available in her office at 8 a.m., he said, he might be there at 7 a.m. waiting outside her door.

After commencement, Small will travel with classmates in June for three weeks to the Caribbean island of Curacao to wrap up his Goucher work. He also wants to provide guidance to a younger brother who's nearing the end of high school. "That's my next task, to get him college-ready," he said.
EDWARDSVILLE  Eighth grade students from Liberty and Lincoln Middle School participated last Friday in a live Skype video conference with two astronauts currently on the International Space Station. The NASA International Space Station In-flight Education Downlink was a part of a full day of NASA Day activities coordinated with volunteers from the Riverbend Astronomy Club, EHS Science Club, SIUE STEM Center, Boeing, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and NASA.

Dan Hartman, International Space Station Deputy Program Manager; Becky Kamas, STEM on Station Activity Manager and Carla Santiago, Deputy Education Director, were all visiting Liberty Middle School from NASA's International Space Station to ensure that the Skype video conferencing logistics were in sync with the Johnson Space Center, which was hosting the live link.

While a gymnasium full of eighth graders watched live, pre-selected eighth graders approached the mic to interact with International Space Station astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel.

The District 7 students spent about 20 minutes asking the astronauts a variety of questions about their daily life and their work aboard the orbiting space station.

Their question and answer Skype session was aired live over NASA TV.

"It was on NASA TV live and over the next couple of days they will replay it on NASA TV. They'll end up uploading it to YouTube where it will be permanently, and they'll send a link out," Hartmann said.

"Typically we maybe do about 20 of these events a year. But since we have the extra crew member on board on, I'll say the American segment, from a crew typically of three, we went to four. That's given us more time and opportunity to do this for the students," Hartmann explained.

Edwardsville District 7 was selected for the NASA downlink from among thousands of other schools who also submitted proposals to be given this opportunity.

"I don't know of any other one in Illinois, but there's a whole selection process that these go through to get this opportunity," Hartmann explained. "Edwardsville submitted a great proposal, got evaluated and got selected."

Hartmann pointed out that there's numerous educational programs that schools can participate in through NASA.

"There's programs where high school kids build hardware that we actually use on board the International Space Station, or they will build hardware and the crew members will use it in training in Houston," he noted. "And the kids love it. It's just a very unique opportunity for them."

Hartmann emphasized how the two astronauts the students spoke to are literally on a working space station and the uniqueness of speaking to them.

"These two guys who were on the screen, Ricky and Drew, were actually outside on Wednesday performing an EVA  which is they are in their space suits and went outside the International Space Station and did some repairs on the space station," he stressed. "That's very tiresome and very grueling. They rested yesterday and got ready for this event."

Following the downlink, the Liberty and Lincoln eighth grade students broke into smaller groups and visited 19 different learning and demonstration stations the remainder of the day where they learned about things such as solar structure, flares, sunspots, black holes and gravity, supernovas, meteors, why the moon has numerous craters, asteroids and lunar mapping.

Volunteers from the Riverbend Astronomy Club, EHS Science Club, SIUE STEM Center, Boeing employees and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency employees led the activities at the stations located throughout the school.

The day-long event supported the eight grade science curriculum, enhanced daily STEM education and increased student knowledge about the International Space Station.
NEW HAVEN  Students at the alternative New Light High School are no strangers to leaving some beauty in the community.

On Thursday, the city Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees installed a community piano on Wooster Street and DePalma Court, covered with New Light students freshly painted design of cherry blossoms, ivy and butterflies. Art teacher Michael Pavano, New Havens 2018 Teacher of the Year, has made such public beautification a focus for the students.

I think its important work. Students are involved in the community and it showcases the unique abilities kids have here in the city, said Assistant Principal Paul Camarco. Its important the kids are valued as members of the community.

Camarco waited on the block outside the school beside Wooster Square Park, greeting students and parents as almost a dozen students trickled inside between 8 and 9 a.m., standard practice, he said. He mused aloud that it was a sunny day, refusing to let uncertainties in the future cast a pall over student morale.

Nine days earlier, the Board of Education voted to close the school as a way to balance its budget, eyeing a consolidation of three alternative schools.

It shouldnt be closed, said New Light junior Jean Carlos Torres, who sat on a bench in the park beside senior Maurice Gordneer minutes before the start of the school day. Kids have got problems. Now its three bad schools in one school. Those are fights waiting to happen.

New Light has been a positive influence for him, Torres said.

Its been helping. I got my grades up. They help us out, he said.

Gordneer said the school is easy.

However, he said he was attending school much more than he did when he attended James Hillhouse High School, keeping him in the classroom.

You do the work and move on, he said.

Both Torres and Gordneer said they are on track to graduate.

Torres said he expects to be put back into a traditional high school next year, such as Wilbur Cross or Hillhouse.

Ive got a lot of problems with other schools. We live in different hoods. My hood doesnt go well with their hood, he said. Im not mixing with New Horizons and Riverside.

According to state Department of Education data, 40 students are enrolled in New Light this year, a number that has bounced between 37 and 64 students in the last three years. New Horizons has 88 students enrolled this year and Riverside has 83, although it enrolled a six-year high of 117 students in 2014.

I like it. Its quiet here, Torres said.

Camarco said New Light had kept the community piano installed Thursday in storage through the winter, during which the students planned and executed the paint job. Resident Lauren Brown coordinated the community piano project, saying she was inspired after seeing pianos in public in Montreal.

I love urban vitality and bringing the serendipitous to the community, Brown said. I thought this would be a good project for the neighborhood.

Brown said she began a journey to find a piano, which turned out to be the easy part when a woman donated one. She then enlisted the help of piano tuning repairman William Harold for the project and contacted the city to help transport the instrument.

The piano was already in the community for a little more than a monthlast year, Brown said, but this year it will be in its location likely until the beginning of October as of Thursday. She said a team of volunteers have arranged it so the pianos cover will be unlocked through the afternoon and evening on most days.

Once October comes around, the pianos winter home this year is unknown, as the school board considers what to do with New Lights building.

Were still working on it. Well have more to say next week, said Will Clark, COO of New Haven Public Schools.

Superintendent of Schools Carol Birks was told she must develop a plan for relocating students, staff and assets at New Light and New Horizons to present to the Board of Education on June 25.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon declined to file criminal charges Thursday against police officers in two controversial killings, including the 2015 shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood, which prompted widespread protests and sweeping reform efforts in the city force.

Gascon said he will not file charges against five officers who fired at Woods and two officers who shot and killed Luis Gongora Pat in the Mission District in 2016, because both men had knives and there was insufficient evidence to prove the officers acted unreasonably in defending themselves and others.

However, the district attorney expressed frustration over the incidents that put a spotlight on how police use force in San Francisco, saying he did not believe officers should have killed the men but was bound by the law not to press charges. In the Woods case, prosecutors said, cell phone videos showed Woods was not directly threatening officers with the knife when they fired 26 rounds at him.

To the Woods family and the Gongora family, there are not enough words that I can say that are going to bring their loved ones back, Gascon said. Im very sorry they lost a son, they lost a brother, a friend, because I dont believe that was necessary.

The killings, four months apart, ratcheted up tension between the Police Department and many of the communities its officers are assigned to protect. Both Woods, 26, and Gongora Pat, 45, were men of color and the shootings followed nationwide upheaval after police killings including the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Attorney John Burris, who sued the city on behalf of Woods family, said he didnt expect criminal charges to be filed but was nonetheless disappointed.

The shooting was excessive and unjustified, Burris said. They shouldnt have been that quick to take a life. They had time to wait. No one was in serious danger.

Gongora Pats family members stood outraged on the steps of the Hall of Justice after Gascons announcement.

This is a very sad day. It is lamentable. It is extremely difficult for us, said Luis Armando Poot Pat, a cousin, with the help of an interpreter. Mr. Gascon is a coward. He is a person who does not represent the citizens. He did not have the courage to do his job.

But Thursdays decision was a huge relief for the officers in both cases, said Tony Montoya, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. He said the announcement was a long time coming and vindicated the officers.

These last 2 years have been an emotional roller coaster ride for them, Montoya said.

All of the officers were placed on paid leave, and upon returning to duty were placed in no-public-contact positions while the investigation went on.

They are all looking forward to getting back to the job they love, Montoya said.

The fatal shootings were among several in the city within a short period in San Francisco, leading to the resignation of Suhr in 2016 and prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the police force and its policies.

Woods, an African American man, was killed Dec. 2, 2015. According to a 28-page report by the district attorneys office, officers were called around 4:20 p.m. to Keith Street near Third Street in the Bayview, to check out a report of a stabbing by an erratic man later identified as Woods.

When police arrived, Woods was holding a 4-inch blade, prosecutors said. Two officers reported that Woods told them, Im not going with you and Youre gonna have to fing shoot me.

Nearly a dozen officers soon arrived to form a semicircle around Woods as he stood against a wall. The officers attempted to disarm him with pepper spray and by firing two beanbag rounds and four foam rounds, but Woods refused to drop his weapon and began shuffling slowly to his right along the wall. He was cut off by Officer Charles August, who later told investigators he wanted to prevent Woods from going toward bystanders who were at a bus stop on the block.

As Woods got within about 10 feet of August, he and four other officers  Winston Seto, Antonio Santos, Nicholas Cuevas and Scott Phillips  opened fire, striking Woods 20 times. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Less than two minutes elapsed between initial contact and the shooting, according to the district attorneys report.

Two days after the incident, Suhr told an emotional town hall crowd that Woods had pointed his blade at August. The district attorneys investigation contradicted that claim, but noted that a suspect with a knife can pose a lethal threat and (officers) do not have to wait for an individual to attack them in order to use lethal force.

The medical examiners report said Woods was under the influence of methamphetamine.

Investigators with the district attorneys office consulted with supervisors at the Police Departments Training Academy as well as an independent use-of-force expert, both of whom concluded the officers acted in accordance with their training.

The city Police Commission began revising the departments use-of-force policy after the shooting, putting more emphasis on de-escalation. In February 2016, Suhr and Lee held a news conference announcing further changes designed to defuse situations with knife-wielding suspects.

But on April 7, 2016, police shot and killed Gongora Pat, a Mexican immigrant, on Shotwell Street between 18th and 19th streets in the Mission District.

The incident began shortly after 10 a.m. when workers from the Department of Public Healths Homeless Outreach Team reported that a homeless man was in the area waving a large kitchen knife.

Two police officers and a sergeant sped to the scene and ordered Gongora Pat to drop an 8-inch knife, according to the district attorneys 35-page report on the incident.

Gongora Pat initially dropped the knife but picked it back up, the report said. The officers commanded him again to drop the weapon in English and Spanish before Officer Michael Mellone fired four beanbag rounds at him, officials said.

Thats when Gongora Pat jumped up, knife in hand, and charged at Sgt. Nathaniel Steger, according to the district attorneys report. Eight witnesses confirmed that account, prosecutors said, but other witnesses gave contradictory statements that investigators said were not supported by the physical evidence.

Steger and Mellone opened fire and hit Gongora Pat six times, including a fatal shot to the head, the report said.

The medical examiners report found he was under the influence of methamphetamine at a level high enough to kill or hospitalize a non-habitual user.

The shooting became more controversial after surveillance video from a nearby building emerged and showed that only 30 seconds passed between the time officers exited their patrol vehicles and when they fired.

In the days and weeks after the shooting, a group of demonstrators known as the Frisco Five began a hunger strike and called on Suhr to be fired. Protesters converged on City Hall, clashing with sheriffs deputies as they flooded the rotunda. The building was damaged in a raucous protest that ended in 33 arrests.

Suhr hung on until May 19, 2016, when a police sergeant shot and killed an unarmed car-theft suspect, Jessica Williams, in the Bayview. Within hours, the chief resigned.

On Thursday, Gascon invited Woods and Gongora Pats families to his office to explain his decisions, but both declined to take the meetings.

Mayor Mark Farrell issued a statement Thursday saying he respected Gascons decision and supported the work of the Police Department, while acknowledging the pain that the decision will cause in communities that have for so long been disproportionately impacted by violence.

Gascon has supported AB931, which would require police to use lethal force only when necessary to prevent imminent death or injury and there is no reasonable alternative.

I want the community to understand that Im very disturbed by these uses of force as well as others, and Im going to do everything that I can in order to move the law in a different direction, Gascon said.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
HAMDEN  Police are searching for two individuals who stole $400 worth of merchandise from a pharmacy, according to a press release.

Police responded to Walgreens, 1697 Whitney Ave., around 7:30 p.m. on the report of a shoplifting, the release said.
WASHINGTON - The Education Department plans to stop using private debt collectors to handle overdue student loans, a practice that had drawn scorn from activists who said the companies stop at nothing in pursuit of tardy loans.

The decision emerged this week in a legal filing, in which attorneys for the department implored the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to dismiss a lawsuit filed by collection agencies vying for a federal contract. The attorneys say the case is no longer relevant because the Education Department is revamping the collection and resolution of overdue student debt.

Instead of having private collection agencies solely dedicated to recouping past-due education loans, the department will add those duties to the responsibilities of companies that service loans. Those companies will try to help borrowers who fall behind on their payments before they end up in default.

The strategy is part of a broader overhaul of the federal student loan program, a project dubbed the Next Generation Financial Services Environment, or NextGen. While the Federal Student Aid office implements its new approach, the 13 private debt-collection companies already under contract will absorb new accounts until the transition is completed. The department has yet to set a completion date.

"Federal Student Aid's need for private collection agency services as a function separate from the work provided by the enhanced servicer(s) will diminish rapidly in the coming months and ultimately become nonexistent," the attorneys said in the court filing.

The private collection agencies involved in the case could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Education Department's use of collection agencies has long been a point of contention among liberal lawmakers and advocacy groups. Critics say the private firms pursue collection at all costs, with no consideration for providing borrowers with sustainable solutions to managing their debt.

"Private collection agencies are expensive, not well incented to help borrowers and complicate the process by taking defaulted students out of one system and putting them into another," said Clare McCann, a former policy adviser at the Education Department during the Obama administration who is a senior policy analyst at New America, a think tank.

ACA International, the trade group representing debt collectors, contends that its members work to ensure that their employees comply with the rules set by lawmakers and enforced by government agencies.

"The accounts receivable management industry is critically important to the overall success of the U.S. economy, and to consumers' ability to access credit," Mark Neeb, chief executive of ACA International, said in an email.

The court filing is the latest turn in a battle rooted in the federal government's attempt to whittle down the number of contractors managing overdue education debt. Companies that lost out on a 2016 debt-collection contract protested the decision to the Government Accountability Office, which faulted the Education Department with mismanaging some of the bids. A few firms filed complaints with the federal claims court, leading authorities to put a hold on assigning new accounts to firms.

A federal judge in December directed the Education Department to complete its selection of loan collectors for the new contract. The agency sought to further shave the number of contractors and decided on just two: Windham Professionals and Performant Financial, a company Education Secretary Betsy DeVos invested in before becoming secretary.

The winners beat out nearly 40 other bidders for contracts valued at up to $400 million for each company. Several losing firms took legal action, with some questioning the selection of Performant, because of its lackluster track record with the Education Department.

Companies also raised questions about Performant's relationship with DeVos, requesting documents related to the appearance of a conflict of interest between her and the company. An Education Department spokesman has said DeVos divested from the firm within 90 days of taking office and had no involvement in the contract decision.

Earlier this month, attorneys for the Education Department notified the courts of the agency's plan to rescind the contracts it awarded to Windham and Performant, because of its new strategy for handling tardy loan payments.

In the latest filing, attorneys reiterated that the current contract solicitation "will not meet the needs and requirements of [Federal Student Aid] for the work to be performed by the enhanced servicer. The new approach will place a greater emphasis on customer service and early outreach to address delinquencies with the full range of early options for borrowers."

A dozen congressional Democrats sent a letter in January urging DeVos to reconsider the use of the collection firms, because of the excessive cost to taxpayers and concerns about their effectiveness. Collection costs, the lawmakers argued, consume roughly 20 cents of every dollar borrowers pay, regardless of whether the amount comes close to the actual cost borne by the debt collector.

Last year, the federal government spent about $700 million on debt collection for fewer than 7 million borrowers in default - nearly the same amount it spent on loan servicing for more than 33 million people paying down their debt, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, a think tank. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that, in some cases, the Education Department pays private collection agencies nearly $40 in compensation for every $1 in cash recovered from some borrowers whose loans are placed back into repayment through a rehabilitation program.

"The Education Department's contracts with private student loan debt collectors are a nightmare for student borrowers and a waste of hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of those who sent the letter to the department, said Friday in a statement. "Many of these companies have a disturbing history of lying to student borrowers and breaking the law. It's time for this gravy train to start coming to an end."
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off perfectly from pad 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base March 30, carrying aloft satellites for Iridium Communications Inc. Video from the vehicle flipped on 2 minutes and 35 seconds later, just in time for webcast viewers to witness the first stage falling to Earth and the second stage light up. "That's gorgeous," said Michael Hammersely, the SpaceX narrator.

The rocket was 90 miles high and the Earth's curvature was coming into focus when Hammersley delivered a buzzkill: "A quick reminder," he said. Video will be cut "due to restrictions placed on us by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

The reason? Paperwork.

SpaceX ultimately received a commercial license from NOAA's remote-sensing office, but the regulatory framework that requires such permits hasn't been updated in decades. The red tape was emblematic of how rules governing 20th century space travel aren't well-suited for the 21st century. That may be about to change.

In a bid to fully commercialize space, President Donald Trump last year convened the first National Space Council in a generation. Now, he's followed up on recommendations the panel issued in February by ordering the aerospace bureaucracy to remake itself, with at least two revolutions in mind: one in information technology and the other in spaceflight itself. On Thursday, Trump signed his second Space Policy Directive, designed to bring government oversight of space travel up to date.

When in 1989 President George H.W. Bush assembled the previous National Space Council, the Soviet Union was still a thing and regulators needed to consider only big, expensive spacecraft that launched periodically and were typically under federal contracts. Large space industry participants such as Northrop Grumman Corp., Lockheed Martin and Boeing have worked with the government for decades and developed infrastructure necessary to comply with existing laws and regulations.

But in 2018, there are many more players. Dozens of space start-ups that don't have the resources of their massive brethren are pushing the Trump administration for relief. Alongside the industry giants, upstarts such as Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Relativity Space, VOX Space and the 3.1-million-pound-heavyweight-in-the-room, SpaceX, now also sit on a National Space Council's advisory panel.

"We just hope this directive translates into action quickly," said Yotam Ariel, chief executive officer of Bluefield Technologies, a start-up backed by the venture capital firm Unshackled Ventures. "We're one of many, many startups seeking commercial access to space right now, so the sooner regulations can be simplified, the better."

Trump's order mandates a broad review of a system that requires companies undergo months of paperwork, and often hire teams of lawyers, to receive necessary permits and licenses. In the case of the SpaceX launch in March, the rule in question was a throwback. A law on "remote-sensing," such as broadcasting pictures of the Earth from altitude, had been put in place in 1992 to protect against foreign snooping. To get past it, there are lots of forms to fill out.

The administration's new directive is pushing two specific agencies to modernize, and many others to weigh in. The U.S. Department of Transportation is required to plan before February 2019 a new system for managing both launch and re-entry-the latter of which didn't exist as a regular category (in a commercial context) until Elon Musk showed his rockets can be recovered.

"When these rules were written, there was never even a thought of re-entry," said Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. Trump's new "rules and regulations were really required, and well overdue."

The text of the directive, which was released late Thursday, calls for a "reorganization of the Department of Commerce." The department, which includes NOAA, will take on new rules for remote sensing. Trump's order gives Secretary Wilbur Ross 30 days to plan a "one-stop shop" for commercial space flight companies, and requires him to consolidate space policy assets under his office, to the extent allowed by law.

The department announced Thursday that Ross would propose Congress establish a "Space Policy Advancing Commercial Enterprise" (SPACE) Administration, drawing into one office activities currently overseen by other Commerce agencies. Commerce is also directed to review regulations for the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act, and revoke, revise or rewrite them in line with Trump's new policy.

Trump's directive also addresses the availability of space radio spectrum and how that will be divided up, and gives the National Space Council 180 days to turn in a report about commercial-space industry export licensing.

While the agencies seek to clear the national launchpad, companies meanwhile are figuring out how to execute their goals in the heavens.

"Now is the time for swift and bold action," SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell told the National Space Council at its first meeting in October. "A permanent presence on the moon and American boots on the surface of Mars are not impossible, and they are not long-term goals."

- - -

Bloomberg's Justin Sink contributed.
WASHINGTON - The face of the nation's opioid epidemic increasingly is gray and wrinkled.

But that face often is overlooked in a crisis that frequently focuses on the young.

Consider this: While opioid abuse declined in younger groups between 2002 and 2014, even sharply among those 18 to 25 years old, the epidemic almost doubled among Americans over age 50, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Because of information like that, the Senate Special Committee on Aging convened a hearing Wednesday on opioid misuse by the elderly.

"Older Americans are among those unseen in this epidemic," said Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., Pa., the top Democrat on the panel. "In 2016, one in three people with a Medicare prescription drug plan received an opioid prescription. This puts baby boomers and our oldest generation at great risk."

RELATED: Study: Opioid addiction could lead to spike in heart infections

Unwittingly, Medicare compounds the epidemic by funding needed opioids that can be abused, but, generally, not funding the care and medicines needed to fight opioid addiction.

"Overall, one in three older Americans with Medicare drug coverage are prescribed opioid painkillers. However, while Medicare pays for opioid painkillers, Medicare does not pay for drug and alcohol treatment in most instances, nor does it pay for all of the medications that are used to help people in the treatment and recovery process," William B. Stauffer, executive director of the Pennsylvania Recovery Organizations Alliance, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said at the hearing. "Methadone, specifically, is a medication that is not covered by Medicare to treat opioid use conditions."

Offering scary statistics and practices involving older folks, Gary Cantrell, a deputy inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, said "our nation is in the midst of an unprecedented opioid epidemic."

He focused on Medicare Part D beneficiaries. Part D is the prescription drug section of Medicare, the government health insurance program covering older people. About a half-million Part D recipients "received high amounts of opioids" in 2016, Cantrell said. Almost 20 percent of that group are at "serious risk of opioid misuse or overdose," he warned, placing the high risk in two categories - those receiving "extreme amounts of opioids" and some "who appeared to be 'doctor shopping.' "

Doctor shoppers "each received high amounts of opioids and had four or more prescribers and four or more pharmacies for opioids," Cantrell explained. "While some of these beneficiaries may not have been doctor shopping, receiving opioids from multiple prescribers and multiple pharmacies may still pose dangers from lack of coordinated care. Typically, beneficiaries who receive opioids have just one prescriber and one pharmacy."

Many elderly get hooked on opiates through prescriptions, rather than street drugs like heroin.

RELATED: DOJ to support lawsuits against companies selling opioids

"Older adults are at high risk for medication misuse due to conditions like pain, sleep disorders/insomnia, and anxiety that commonly occur in this population," said Stauffer, who is in long-term recovery. "They are more likely to receive prescriptions for psychoactive medications with misuse potential, such as opioid analgesics for pain and central nervous system depressants like benzodiazepines for sleep disorders and anxiety. One study found that up to 11 percent of women older than age 60 misuse prescription medications. The combination of alcohol and medication misuse has been estimated to affect up to 19 percent of older Americans."

Sixty-one-year-old Denise Holden is in long-term recovery, too, but she became addicted as a young woman seeking a heroin high. She's been in recovery for almost 25 years, after first using drugs when she was 19. She got clean, then relapsed, as is common, then got clean again. Staying that way, even after decades clean, is not easy.

"I recently had back surgery," the West Melbourne, Florida, resident said in an interview. "I had a spinal fusion and so I had been taking opiates for a period of time. You know, the older we get the more aches and pains we get. . . . We injure ourselves, we have surgeries. So, for people in recovery it's a slippery slope because when you reintroduce that opiate to your system, your mind starts playing all kinds of tricks on you - 'Oh you should take more, oh you should take less, oh you should throw them out. Oh no, take them all at once.' It's very difficult, like it's a mind game. It is very challenging I would say, but it's not impossible."

Holden urged seniors to take medicines only as prescribed, and if they have suffered drug abuse to "work a very strong program of recovery."

Addiction isn't the only risk with opioids. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the committee, said, "Older adults taking opioids are also four to five times more likely to fall than those taking nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs."

That points to a vicious cycle. Taking opioids can lead to falls, falls can lead to pain, pain can lead to opioids and opioids can be abused. On top of that, doctors might not even realize the source of an elderly patient's problem.

"Regrettably," Collins added, "health-care providers sometimes miss substance abuse among older adults, as the symptoms can be similar to depression or dementia."
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump began berating Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in the Oval Office earlier this spring, according to administration officials, griping about her performance and blaming her for a surge in illegal border crossings.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who installed her in the job, jumped in to defend her.

The two men then sparred over Nielsen as she silently watched. At one point, Trump noted the border numbers were lower under Kelly and wondered aloud why Nielsen could not perform as well, according to these officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting.

As illegal crossings are once more on the rise and Trump hears a cascade of criticism from conservative allies, Nielsen finds herself on the receiving end of the president's visceral anger about immigration. He sees the issue as the reason he won the presidency and a key to his politicking ahead of the midterm elections.

The president has chastised Nielsen on several occasions this spring, including in a much publicized meeting this month when he attacked her in front of the entire Cabinet. He has grown furious because his administration has made little progress building the promised border wall, and his most ardent supporters have blamed Nielsen for not doing more to halt the caravan of Central American migrants whose advance Trump saw as a personal challenge.

He has also seen her as a proxy for Kelly, whose relationship with the president has frayed in recent months. Trump has decided, according to several aides, that Nielsen is a George W. Bush kind of Republican - the worst, in his view.

Nielsen has complained that it is almost an impossible task working for Trump, according to administration officials and others familiar with her thinking, and that he doesn't understand the nuances of immigration law.

It remains unclear, according to several people familiar with the situation, how much longer the relationship can last, but the strains illustrate the difficulty faced by Trump subordinates who are tasked with delivering policy solutions to match his most soaring promises.

"The president has a very rudimentary understanding of what the border is all about and how you secure it," said a former Department of Homeland Security staffer who worked closely with Nielsen. "And she's also not one of the border fire-eaters that have his ear right now.

"She's in an impossible, no-win situation."

Tensions between the two could soon flare again - the Border Patrol's May arrest numbers are due to be released early next month, and immigration hawks, including the president, now treat them as a kind of barometer for Nielsen's performance.

"Secretary Nielsen is vigorously advancing the president's agenda to secure this nation's borders against uncontrolled migration, drugs, gangs, terrorism, crime and the theft of taxpayer dollars and American jobs," White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller said in a statement. "She knows the threat, understands the threat, and is undertaking bold action to confront it head-on."

Tyler Houlton, a DHS spokesman, said Trump and Nielsen are "on the same page," adding that "any accusations to the contrary are simply false."

- - -

Nielsen brings a lawyerly, technocratic approach to an issue that animates the president like no other, with a passion dyed into the blood-red MAGA caps of his supporters.

The night before Trump delivered his first speech to Congress in February 2017, he huddled with senior adviser Jared Kushner and Miller in the Oval Office to talk immigration. The president reluctantly agreed with suggestions that he strike a gentler tone on immigration in the speech.

Trump reminded them the crowds loved his rhetoric on immigrants along the campaign trail. Acting as if he were at a rally, he recited a few made-up Hispanic names and described potential crimes they could have committed, such as rape or murder. Then, he said, the crowds would roar when the criminals were thrown out of the country - as they did when he highlighted crimes by illegal immigrants at his rallies, according to a person present for the exchange and another briefed on it later. Miller and Kushner laughed.

A senior White House official said that while the president did discuss the "crowd enthusiasm for crackdowns on criminal aliens," the official disputed that Trump used Hispanic names to illustrate the point.

Around the same time, Nielsen was complaining to colleagues - and her then-boss, DHS secretary Kelly - about how the administration botched its travel ban. She panned Trump's statement about the border wall, saying it was unlikely to ever be built. Kelly agreed. The two sometimes joked about it.

In early 2017, Nielsen told at least two colleagues that the president's rhetoric made it more difficult to run the agency.

Now, five months into her tenure as homeland security secretary, the measures Nielsen has implemented - separating families, boosting arrests, increasing prosecutions - have made her a villain to many Democrats and immigrant rights groups.

But the actions have not delivered the immediate results the president demands. In April, the number of illegal border crossers arrested by U.S. agents topped 50,000 for the second consecutive month. The increase has stripped the president of one of his proudest accomplishments - the sharp drop in illegal migration in the months immediately following his 2016 win.

Trump has been in no mood to hear that migration patterns have returned to historic, seasonal norms this spring, a trend occurring in part because the U.S. economy is buzzing and farms, factories and businesses are desperate for workers.

Instead, Trump has fumed at Nielsen, telling her to "close the border" and growing impatient at her explanations of why that's not possible. He has also blamed her, at times, for not securing enough money to finish the border wall - even though she was not party to the spending deal struck by senior White House aides and that the president signed, current and former administration officials said.

Allies of Nielsen note that some of the president's gripes are with immigration judges who cannot process people quickly enough, caravans that cannot be immediately stopped by DHS because of asylum laws and international agreements.

In fact, Trump has grown more agitated when she has tried on several occasions to describe why she cannot do what he wants - and what laws and budget mandates might prevent it.

Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank whose ideas about the benefits of restricting immigration have broad influence in the administration, said Trump wants Nielsen to deliver a crackdown that looks like "the Iraq War."

"He wants to do shock and awe," Krikorian said. "He doesn't realize this is World War I. It's trench warfare."

- - -

Calling Nielsen "a Bush person" is a label that casts doubt on her loyalty to the president and his immigration agenda. But Nielsen's real problem, current and former colleagues say, is that she is a Kelly person - and that she has few allies in the White House other than the diminished chief of staff.

"It's the same thing we've seen happen with General Kelly. My suspicion is there are rogue people in the West Wing and former officials who got pushed out who are running disinformation campaigns," said Blain Rethmeier, an ally of both.

Soon after Kelly became White House chief of staff, he presented Trump with only Nielsen's name to replace him at DHS, according to three current and former White House officials. He pushed Trump repeatedly to pick Nielsen - even though the president had barely spent time with her and she was a polarizing figure inside the White House. Others pushed candidates such as Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an immigration hard-liner whom the president liked but was told could not be confirmed.

Trump brought Kelly in to tame a wild West Wing in July 2017. Kelly asked Nielsen to be his deputy and trusted enforcer, and she quickly grated on White House staffers who viewed her as a humorless scold who did not communicate with aides. For her part, Nielsen told others she could not believe how disorganized and chaotic the place was. Several White House officials said her only ally in the building was Kelly.

She stayed away from Trump, "maybe visiting the Oval Office five times," according to a former senior administration official. Other aides frequently bad-mouthed her to the president.

Soon after Trump picked her to lead DHS in October, he came to regret it, threatening to renege on her nomination. In an Oval Office meeting last fall, Trump complained about Nielsen to Kelly even as she sat nearby, officials familiar with the meeting said.

"Nobody likes her," he said, telling Kelly he had heard from friends, West Wing aides and TV personalities. He then asked why Kelly had pushed so hard for her nomination and whether he had to stick with the choice, according to the officials.

Kelly defended Nielsen, citing her work ethic and knowledge of the agency. Trump decided to move forward with her nomination.

Many senior staffers at DHS were stunned when Nielsen was appointed to lead the department. She had never led a large organization, let alone one as unwieldy as DHS.

Nielsen, 46, worked as a DHS staffer and adviser under George W. Bush, then spent the Obama years remaking herself as a cybersecurity expert. Her high-level management experience was thin.

When Trump was elected in 2016, Nielsen was running Sunesis Consulting, a firm whose online profile listed her as its lone employee. The company's business address was a condo in Alexandria, Virginia. The firm's phone number, still visible online, is Nielsen's personal cellphone.

Nielsen quickly impressed Kelly with her breadth of knowledge, discipline and willingness to work hard, former colleagues said. When Nielsen fell ill that winter with a respiratory infection, she continued putting in long hours, despite coughing so hard that she cracked a rib.

The Marine general valued her toughness and soldierly sacrifice. Kelly's wife called her "a pit bull."

She has struggled to win support from senior officials at the DHS agencies responsible for delivering an immigration crackdown. One high-ranking DHS official called her leadership style "insular and insecure," saying she has made few allies outside a small circle of trusted advisers, including DHS Chief of Staff Chad Wolf and Jonathan Hoffman, her communications director. Aides say a number of DHS employees have been offended because she micromanages and even grows testy with staff over small matters, such as a misspelling in an email.

During immigration negotiations with congressional leaders this year, Nielsen did not invite the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), all officials with extensive career experience. They viewed it as a slight, according to current and former DHS officials, and when the immigration negotiations failed to produce a deal, it meant even more of the blame fell on Nielsen.

Nielsen has faced the same staffing shortfalls that have afflicted other agencies under Trump, but in the past two months, DHS has filled 10 senior staff-level positions, an official at the agency said.

Still, Nielsen has few friends in the White House besides Kelly and has clashed with Miller, the influential immigration adviser.

When Trump's advisers were writing a report on terrorism this year, Miller had a suggestion: Language saying that children of foreign-born nationals were more likely than non-foreign-born nationals to commit acts of terrorism should be inserted into the report and the accompanying press materials, according to three people with knowledge of his wishes.

But Miller's move was opposed by Nielsen and her top aides, these people said. They said such language was not substantiated in fact and that a report would not go out from her agency claiming such.

- - -

Nielsen got a glimpse of Trump's intense anger over immigration last June when she was present for part of a meeting in which Trump, Kelly, Miller and then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson began yelling and insulting each other, according to former and current administration officials. Miller was pushing for tighter immigration and refugee controls. At one point during the meeting, Miller heavily criticized Tillerson, drawing a rare rebuke from the laconic secretary of state, who said he deserved respect.

Trump sided with Miller and loved his performance, saying Tillerson needed to be tougher, according to these officials.

Nielsen, present for the meeting, was booted by Kelly - who said staff did not need to see such a spectacle.

Kelly grew so angry during the June meeting because he thought the president was uninformed, and he later told associates that it was a staffing problem and a reason he was willing to become the next chief of staff. "The president deserves better," a White House official said, describing Kelly's reaction.

As Trump harangued Nielsen for more than 30 minutes in front of the Cabinet this month, other aides grimaced and fidgeted. Nothing she said seemed to calm the president, according to people familiar with the meeting.

"We're closed!" Trump yelled at one point, referring to the border.

This time, Kelly did not leap to her defense.

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Video: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and President Trump have had a contentious relationship as illegal border crossings increase.(Patrick Martin/The Washington Post)

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An East Texas killer scheduled for execution in June is hoping to evade the death chamber with a last-ditch appeal arguing he's too intellectually disabled to execute.

Defense lawyers for Clifton Williams filed court papers this week fighting the 34-year-old's death sentence based on a groundbreaking Supreme Court decision last year that upended how Texas determines intellectual disability.

In March 2017, the high court ruled in favor of condemned Houston-area killer Bobby Moore, finding that the state had used a dated method of figuring out who qualified as too mentally disabled to execute.

Under a more up-to-date standard, the Tyler man's attorneys argue in a petition filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Williams shouldn't be eligible for the state's harshest punishment.

READ MORE: Judge refuses new attorney for Texas death row inmate who says lawyers abandoned him

Williams - who has an IQ in the mid-60s - was sent to death row for robbing 93-year-old Cecilia Schneider before stabbing her and setting her body on fire.

Last month, the case sparked a spat between the current legal team - Seth Kretzer and Wes Volberding - and another team of lawyers who wanted to get involved. The other legal team accused Kretzer and Volberding of abandoning their client when they didn't visit the condemned man for three years.

But a judge slapped down the request to knock the two Texas lawyers on the case, despite Williams' hand-written request for a new legal team.

The Lone Star State has already executed six men this year and nine more are on the calendar. Williams - the next slated for the death chamber - is set to die on June 21.
About Me Scott Because prophetic scriptures are found throughout the bible, it is obvious that a comprehensive, systematic approach would be useful, if not necessary, for the understanding of prophecy. Past prophecies have been fulfilled in a literal manner, as confirmed by the dating of these writings and historical records of confirmation. These past prophecies also serve as a model of how to interpret future prophecies. A literal view of prophecy clearly indicates a certain sequence of events will occur within a single generation, concluding with the Tribulation and Second Advent and these events will be obvious. The prophetic signs appear to be present in this generation and we believe these signs are revealed in the news from around the world. View my complete profile
A roaming minutes-long gun battle in the streets of southeast Houston left one person dead and another injured Thursday night.

Around 7:20 p.m., several people started exchanging gunfire in the 5100 block of Northridge Drive. One person was struck and hospitalized, said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo.

About six minutes later, another exchange of gunfire was reported near Bellfort Street and Coffee street that left a man dead inside a four-door sedan, Acevedo said.

At least one of the shooters used an AK-47-type weapon, he said. He said detectives believe the shootings appear to be gang related.

"You live by the sword, you died by the sword," Acevedo said, adding that the two victims appeared to have been involved in the shootings. "... It's not just the gang members you have to worry about. It's all the innocents. They're in their apartments, minding their own business. Being a person who may be poor doesn't mean you don't have the same right to live in safety and security. We're going to change that."

One person was taken into custody, Acevedo said. Several others are still being sought by authorities.

Acevedo did not give descriptions of the alleged shooters.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.
Immigration agents found 39 undocumented immigrants in a sweltering stash house during a raid this week south of Eagle Pass, authorities announced Friday.

The temperature in the house was 114 degrees and the immigrants had limited access to water, authorities said. The immigrants, men and women from Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, were arrested on administrative immigration violations, pending deportation.
On Memorial Day weekend 2013, a storm system that originated over Mexico days earlier finally made its way to San Antonio, unleashing a torrential rain that claimed three lives and went down in the record books.

That Saturday, May 25, the city received an official total of 9.87 inches of rain  the second-highest total for any day in history.

The San Antonio River, where it crosses under Loop 410, crested at 34.2 feet at 10 a.m. on May 25, a mark that was more than seven feet above the major flooding stage and surpassed the record of 32.57 feet set Oct. 17, 1998.

Express-News video special: An inside look at how Olmos Dam works

Leon Creek at I-35 rose to 27.5 feet, seven feet over major flood level, but failed to reach the old record of 29 feet. Salado Creek hit 18 feet, four feet over major-flood stage, but six feet shy of the all-time mark.

The water rose so fast on May 25 that it lifted a VIA bus traveling along McCullough Avenue off its wheels. Hours and hours of pounding storms submerged part of U.S. 281 near the Alamo Quarry Market.

The flood reinforced the unforgiving lesson that ones in 1998 and 2002 had delivered: San Antonio has become increasingly vulnerable to nature's fury, and needed to take immediate steps to prepare for the next historic storm.

Some residents remain haunted by that day, recalling wading through 4 feet of water as they fled to higher ground. Read more accounts from that day, and about what the city is doing to prepare for the next historic flood on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com.

Scott Huddleston is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | shuddleston@express-news.net | @shuddlestonSA
Authorities this week found 86 undocumented immigrants in a tractor-trailer near Raymondville and charged the driver and another man with federal smuggling charges.

A tip from a concerned citizen led the Texas Department of Public Safety to pull over the rig driven by Jorge Alfredo Rodriguez, a Cuban national, on a traffic infraction Tuesday near Raymondville, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed in federal court in Brownsville.

Rodriguez, 34, gave officers permission to search the trailer, and they found several people trying to hide, the affidavit said.

RELATED: Trucker involved in deadly smuggling of dozens of immigrants sentenced to life in prison

Some of the immigrants made their way out through the roof of the trailer and were taken into custody. Multiple law enforcement agencies assisted, including a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft. Emergency medical services personnel also responded to provide medical assistance to some of the 86 immigrants found in all, CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Securities Investigations said in a news release.

Rodriguez was arrested, along with Danay Rego Placencia, another Cuban national that had been seen driving another vehicle. Rego, the affidavit said, had been seen meeting Rodriguez at a Stripes gas station near Highway 77 and FM 186 before the rig was pulled over, the affidavit said.

The immigrants were from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua, according to the news releases.

RELATED: ACLU: Misconduct claims by children are widespread at border

Four of the immigrants were held as material witnesses, while the rest were to be deported, according to officials.

Rodriguez and Rego are being held in federal custody without bond, records show. Homeland Security is investigating.

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedland
When a child almost drowns, suffers a serious asthma attack or experiences any sort of catastrophic health emergency, whether they survive can often depend on a handful of seconds.

The margin just got better for critically ill or injured babies and children here and across South Texas, thanks to local philanthropist Harvey E. Najim, who donated $1.4 million toward the purchase of two ambulances for the Childrens Hospital of San Antonio.

The vehicles, outfitted with special equipment to help babies and children who are seriously ill, will be used by the ALL KIDZ Critical Care Transport Team, staffed by specialists. It is the first and only combined neonatal/pediatric ambulance team in the region, said hospital CEO Cris Daskevich.

This will expand access to care for children in San Antonio and beyond, she said at a Thursday news conference announcing the donation. This means lifesaving treatment will be sent out quickly and safely, and we will be able to continue to provide that care in transit.

The two brightly colored ambulances, their sides emblazoned with Najims name, will significantly reduce wait times and transit delays, Daskevich said. Before Najims donation, the hospital had to depend on outside companies with standard ambulances, which then had to be loaded with the specialized equipment, taking up precious time.

Najim, who in March made a $1.3 million gift to the San Antonio Food Bank to buy 10 refrigerated trucks, said the new units will eradicate needless delay.

This could mean the difference between life or death for a child, he said.

The transport teams are staffed by a specially trained registered nurse, respiratory therapist and driver who has also been trained to help in emergencies. The team includes 23 members who are on rolling schedules, so that the ambulances can be staffed up and launched at a moments notice.

The special equipment includes things like a motorized stretcher and a TV to help distract children from possibly uncomfortable medical procedures en route to the hospital, said Kelly Wileman, a registered nurses on the team. A quick ambulance response is critical in life-or-death situations, she said.

And especially the delivery of (premature babies), who need a lot of care right out of the gate, she added.

Over the years, the Najim Family Foundation, in combination with personal gifts from Najim himself, has given the hospital more than $5 million, donations that have renovated the neonatal intensive care unit, purchased medical equipment, created the KidsSTOP and the Child Life Center and funded a pediatric blood and marrow transplant program.

Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | mstoeltje@express-news.net | @mstoeltje
Air Force veteran John Euward Worch had a way of connecting with children in need. While teaching in the Harlandale Independent School District, he encountered students from broken homes, children who had been physically abused or youths who slept outside alone.

Often he would reach out to a social worker trying to get help for those children, said his wife of 25 years, Patricia Worch.

A lot of the kids didnt have father figures, so they looked up to him and they respected him, she said. He just loved them, and the kids loved him. He was just very inspirational to everybody. If anybody needed help, he went above and beyond.

Worch died May 17 after an eight-year battle with brain cancer. He was 53.

The youngest of eight children, Worch grew up poor in Cleveland, Ohio, which taught him the value of a good education. Despite financial hardship his parents sacrificed to send all eight children to Catholic schools, Patricia Worch said.

More Information John Euward Worch Born: Sept. 14, 1964, Cleveland, Ohio Died: May 17, 2018, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents Mary and Louis Worch, sister Karen Worch, brother Louie Worch. Survived by: Wife Patricia Worch; sons Dominic Worch and Tyler Worch; daughter Hannah Worch; five siblings. Services: Visitation at Castillo Mission Funeral Home from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, with a Rosary at 7 p.m.; Mass at 9 a.m. Saturday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 314 Merida St., San Antonio; burial at 11 a.m. Saturday at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. See More Collapse

His parents often told him that education was the key to get out of poverty, she said.

John Worchs family could not afford to send him to college, so after he graduated from high school in 1983, he joined the U.S. Air Force. He served his country for 26 years in the Air Force and the Texas Air National Guard.

He was sent on a six-month deployment to Iraq after 9/11  immediately following the birth of his youngest child.

Worch first arrived in San Antonio in the late 1980s when he was stationed at Lackland AFB. He obtained a bachelors degree in finance at the University of Texas at San Antonio and in 1991 he met his future wife here when he asked her to dance at a club.

He was very respectful, tall, good looking, Patricia Worch said. He was smart ... You could tell he was a very caring person, empathetic, considerate.

He had a great sense of humor. He never worried about anything. Im telling you, everybody loved my husband.

The couple married in 1992 and had three children  sons Dominic, now 26, and Tyler, 23, and daughter Hannah, who is 16.

Around the time his first child was born, John Worch was working for the Air Force assembling computers. But the job required him to be in Austin four days a week, and it put a strain on his wife and family. He obtained a teaching certificate so he could keep his job in San Antonio all week.

He started out as a substitute teacher at Taft High School in the Northside Independent School District, then taught second grade at Vestal Elementary School in Harlandale ISD from 1996 until 2002.

He went on to be vice principal at Kingsborough Middle School in Harlandale ISD from 2002 through 2006, then became principal at Vestal, a job he held until 2012.

Over the years, he obtained a masters degree in education from UTSA and a doctorate in philosophy from Madison University.

In 2010, Worch was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. That led to his retirement in 2012. He maintained a strong faith even as his illness paralyzed the right side of his body, blinded him and disrupted his short-term memory.

He always would tell me its in Gods hands, Patricia Worch said. Of course it was hard for us. It was tough. But his faith kept him going. He always felt like whatever God wanted, thats what was going to happen.

He was so positive all the time. He had a great, great outlook on life.

John Worch died in his wifes arms at Methodist Hospital.

He always believed in helping everybody, she said. He was just an angel.

Peggy O'Hare is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | pohare@express-news.net | @Peggy_OHare
Police on Thursday arrested a 20-year-old man accused of gunning down his older brother's rival in the parking lot of a Northeast Side flea market.

Jonte Turner now faces a murder charge in the death of Michael Williams, 37. Turner was booked into the Bexar County Jail on a $150,000 bond.

Turner is accused of fatally shooting Williams around 1:15 p.m. on April 18 in the parking lot of the Market Center flea market in the 3900 block of Eisenhauer Road.

RELATED: Gunman at large after fatal shooting at NE Side flea market

Police said security cameras captured Turner confront Williams inside the flea market around 12:40 p.m., and then leave some 20 minutes later. According to the affidavit, Turner started pacing around the parking lot, apparently waiting for someone.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said a woman who had come to the flea market with Williams, but had remained sitting in the car in the parking lot, started to get scared when she saw Turner.

She called Williams, prompting him to rush outside and confront Turner, police said.

Security cameras captured Turner gunning down Williams shortly after he walked outside, according to the arrest affidavit.

Turner fled and police did not immediately find him.

After the shooting, Williams' family told police he had been involved in an ongoing feud with a man named Jerod Turner, authorities said.

RELATED: Father, daughter gunned down by estranged relative 'embraced life to the absolute fullest'

"According to the victim's family, Jerod Turner has been after him," the affidavit says.

Police conducted a photo line up with a picture of Jerod Turner included, but witnesses told police he wasn't the shooter.

Later, authorities released security camera footage of the shooting, asking for the public's assistance in identifying the suspect. The received a Crime Stoppers tip identifying Jerod Turner's younger brother, Jonte, as the shooter.

Police then conducted another photo line up with Jonte Turner's image, and witnesses identified him as the man who killed Williams, the affidavit says.

Authorities secured an arrest warrant for Jonte Turner and booked him into jail. If convicted, Turner could face up to 99 years in prison.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
Border Patrol agents stationed in Harlingen seized more than 2,700 pounds of marijuana after a car chase on Thursday, according to a news release.

Agents found several people loading bundles of drugs into a pickup near Los Indios, according to the release.
Seguin police arrested three juveniles for making threats against police and schools in unrelated incidents, according to the department.

All three face terroristic threat charges.

Seguin Deputy Cheif B. Ure said Seguin schools vigilance is "heightened" after the recent threats, according to the Facebook post.

The first incident occurred on May 18, when a 13-year-old student attending the Burges Alternative School allegedly expressed a desire to commit a school shooting. He also allegedly said "we're going to take over this school."

RELATED: Crime Stoppers tip leads BCSO to bleach-haired robbery suspect

When police questioned him, the student said he was "just joking." He was taken into custody shortly after, according to the post.

Then, on Thursday, a 14-year-old boy allegedly told his fellow students at Seguin High School, "maybe I'll do a school shooting," according to the post. Authorities said the boy admitted to making the statements when he was questioned by police.

"He further stated that he would only do it if someone made him 'real mad,'" according to the post.

Later that night, around 11:30 p.m., a 13-year-old boy called the police department three times with different threats, police said.

He first told dispatcher he was going to blow up the station, according to the post.

He allegedly called three minutes later and said, "do what I say or you will be the first to die."

Then, he called 30 minutes later and allegedly told the dispatcher, "are you ready to get blown up, b***h?"

Police found the boy in his home and arrested him, according to the post.

"We continue to ask parents to truly parent because they can make a difference; and if you see something, say something," Ure said in the post.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com | Twitter: @FaresInSA
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Friday identified the 54-year-old woman who police said was fatally stabbed in the neck by her son at a Northwest Side home.

Leticia Barnett was pronounced dead shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday at a home in the 2100 block of West Kings Highway after her son, 29-year-old Ivan Rafael Castro, attacked her with a sharp object, police said.
Probate Judge Tom Rickhoff has mostly characterized Bexar County Commissioners Court as a swirling stew of corruption since he challenged County Judge Nelson Wolff as the Republican nominee.

Wolff, a Democrat, has denied or dismissed all of Rickhoffs claims, and his campaign strategist has referred to the accusations as reckless.

On Thursday, Rickhoff rehashed his arguments  that the county is inundated with debt and the commissioners need to hold themselves to a higher ethical standard  during a speech to the Alamo Pachyderm Club. But this time Rickhoff told Wolff, while turning his attention to a camera near the back of the room, that he would end his candidacy if the court agrees to several changes.

Heres my challenge to you, Nelson. Ill drop out if you do ethics, if you get a program to reduce the deficit to pay off the debt now, while youre awash in money before were in crisis, and quit increasing it, Rickhoff said. Stop buying frivolous stuff that has nothing to do with the countys business.  Properly fund guardianship and the rest of the real duties of Commissioners Court.

On the topic of ethics, Rickhoff wants the commissioners to limit how much money they can receive from individual donors and to stop taking campaign contributions from people whose companies receive county contracts. Under the states jurisdiction, commissioners can accept unlimited contributions and are not barred from awarding contracts to people who donate to their campaigns.

Commissioners are removed from the competitive bidding process, though they do vote to approve contracts. The court sometimes awards contracts to people who donate to commissioners campaigns, such as the decision to partner with the city on a public-safety radio system with Richard Wells Dailey-Wells company. The commissioners say the contributions have no bearing on their decisions.

Christian Archer, Wolffs chief campaign strategist, brushed off Rickhoffs remarks.

The judge isnt going to respond to a second press conference by Tom Rickhoff, but we can probably agree on one thing: that Tom Rickhoff should probably drop out of the race, Archer said, alluding to criticism from Rickhoff in March. At the time, Wolff called the probate judges statements typical Trump lies.

On Thursday, Rickhoff said he would hold off on future news conferences to see if Wolff and the commissioners would act on any of his conditions. He set similar requirements for ending his candidacy in an April 4 Express-News op-ed.

Im going to go cold with my little campaign, such as it is, for about a month and challenge Nelson to do the right thing, he said.

Archer seemed to agree with Rickhoffs characterization of his campaign, which had not raised any money by the most recent filing deadline in January.

Its not a serious campaign. Hes a conflict-of-interest machine, Archer said. If anybody were to take him seriously for a second and look at his record, they would realize hes unqualified to be a county judge.

Rickhoff on Thursday further urged Wolff to properly fund the countys guardianship program, which has become an issue between Wolff and the other probate judge, Kelly Cross. And he said, Im sorry, but Sandis going to have to leave the Linebarger law firm, referring to Precinct 3 Commissioner Kevin Wolffs wife, Sandi Wolff, getting hired by the countys delinquent tax collector.

Though Sandi Wolff was hired not long after the county renewed its long-standing contract with Linebarger, a company spokesperson said she was hired through a very typically rigorous process without influence from the commissioners. Kevin Wolff has said he and Nelson Wolff, his father, would both recuse themselves from future votes on the contract.

Jasper Scherer is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspscherer
STAMFORD  Despite his misgivings, a Norwalk man was sentenced to four years in jail for assaulting a mother, and her two children, who came from San Diego to live with him after meeting him on the internet.

While sentencing Pedro Salinas, 33, to four years in jail and 20 years probation on Friday at the Stamford courthouse, Judge John Blawie said he had left a 2-year-old girl nearly blind.

Last fall, Salinas pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree assault, risk of injury to a child, fourth-degree sexual assault and illegal sexual contact with a child and had a plea agreement that would keep him in jail for four years on the charges. But even though he risked being sent to jail for over 40 years, Salinas told his public defender Barry Butler he wanted to take his guilty pleas back.

During his sentencing Friday, Salinas said no one wanted to look at the evidence he had to prove his innocence, including a letter from the San Diego woman saying she never saw Salinas do anything to her children. But Butler told Blawie that the woman told state prosecutors she offered the statement only because she had been told she would not be able to get her possessions out of Salinas house unless she signed the statement.

Butler said considering the number of years that Salinas was looking at in jail and the evidence the state had against him, he believed the plea agreement was very beneficial to his client even though during those 20 years of probation he could be sent back to jail for as many as eight years if he violates the conditions of his release. He is not allowed to have any unsupervised contact with minors during his probation.

Blawie agreed with Butler, and told Salinas that in past court hearings he had said he was given a chance to talk over the plea bargain with Butler and said he understood what he was doing when he made the guilty pleas. Blawie said he also looked through the transcripts of the hearings and saw Salinas had been warned he would not be able to take his pleas back just because he changed his mind.

Salinas was arrested in July 2016 after the girl and her mother moved into his Lincoln Avenue home. The girl was injured and taken to Norwalk Hospital in June before being diagnosed by doctors at Yale-New Haven Childrens hospital with bleeding on the brain, multiple bruises and retinal hemorrhaging behind and around both eyes that have left her blind in her right eye and with only limited vision in her left.

Several days before bringing her daughter to the hospital, the woman said Salinas, who in 2005 had been convicted of second-degree sexual assault and sentenced to nine months in prison, had asked her to leave her kids at home and get him some beer.

When she returned, she said her daughter was unconscious on a bed next to Salinas and he was yelling at the child to wake up and was violently shaking her head.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
THE business community appears to have lost confidence in President Emmerson Mnangagwas new political dispensation, with the latest Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI)s composite Business Confidence Index (BCI) indicating a negative trajectory, particularly in the first quarter of this year.

Since he took over levers of power in November last year, Mnangagwas administration had been riding on a wave of optimism, but the pessimism later cripped in following the regimes failure to resolve the cash crisis, with industry battling to source foreign currency to import raw materials.

Announcing the BCI results in Harare yesterday, CZI president Sifelani Jabangwe said the composite Business Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2018 stood at minus 14,4 for quarter-on-quarter basis and 20,9 for a year-on-year.

This indicates lack of confidence and pessimism of business leaders for quarter-on-quarter business condition, but optimism of business leaders regarding the year-on-year economic situation, he said.

Jabangwe told NewsDay that all the manufacturers that they surveyed complained mostly about the difficulty in getting foreign currency.

What motivated this pessimistic result was that most manufacturers have been failing to get foreign currency for their operations to a point where their production has been greatly affected. Almost every manufacturer we surveyed complained that they were receiving little or no foreign currency so I would say it has been mainly due to foreign currency shortages, he added.

The negative result recorded in the BCI was on a quarter-on-quarter basis against the last quarter of 2017 while the BCI year on year result was 20,9 showing an improvement compared to the first quarter of 2017.

This comes as foreign currency has remained scarce in the first quarter due to a lack of foreign investment and low exports based on low production.

Manufacturers need between $250 million and $500 million in capital to retool and increase production.

Recently, British American Tobacco described their particular situation as drier than other first quarters in getting forex.

Under the BCI, the Situation Diffusion Index was minus 12,2 for a quarter-on-quarter comparison and 4,5 for year-on-year comparison showing business leaders felt that the situation was worse off in the first quarter of 2018. This was compared to the previous quarter in 2017.

 NewsDay

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- Policemen from Abuja invaded the residence of Kingsley Kuku, former special adviser to Goodluck Jonathan on Nigerians Delta Affairs

- The officers numbering over 20, were said to have invaded the community in Arogbo Ijaw community, Ese-Odo local government area of Ondo state

Some armed policemen allegedly invaded the home town of former special adviser to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku, The Punch reports

Legit.ng gathered that the house which is located in Arogbo community in Ese-Odo local government area of Ondo state was thoroughly searched by the armed policemen on Thursday, May 24, after the officers were shooting into the air.

The invasion by the policemen who were numbering over 20, caused panic among the residents of the town, as many of them ran away from the community during the shooting.

READ ALSO: 7 wells in Niger state 'confirm' existence of crude oil

One of the residents said the police told them that they were searching for kidnappers.

He said: They broke into every room and everywhere in Kukus house, claiming to search for kidnappers. After searching all the rooms in the house in commando-style, they left without finding anything incriminating or any kidnapper in the house."

This is actually a worrisome and a condemnable act exhibited by the Police today. How can the Police, who are supposed to protect the citizens, be the source of panic in a peaceful community by storming a private residence without a search warrant, while shoot menacingly to scare away unharmed citizens, claiming to be in search of kidnappers? This shouldnt be happening in a democratic state, another source said.

Femi Joseph, the police public relations officer of the state command, in reaction to the development confirmed the incident saying, the policemen were from the the force headquarters, Abuja, on lawful mission.

Legit.ng previously reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told a Federal High Court in Lagos how Waripamo-Owei Dudafa, a former special assistant on domestic affairs to ex-president, Goodluck Jonathan, allegedly laundered several billions of naira for a former First Lady, Patience Jonathan.

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Premium Times reports that the prosecution witness, Orji Chukwuma, an investigator with the anti-graft agency told the court that Dudafas alleged fraudulent activities was confirmed by Murtala Abubakar, a Bureau de Change operator, who admitted to have collected several millions in dollars from the suspect.

Jonathan replies to Buhari's allegations on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Senator Jonah Jang has said his being in prison is a great lesson in humility and nobody should take glory in sending him there

- He said he had the privilege of sleeping in the same bed former president Obasanjo slept in at the Jos prison

- In response, Plateau state governor, Simon Bako Lalong, reminded his predecessor that he once spent time in Jos prison too

Governor Simon Lalong yesterday, Thursday, May 24, reminded his predecessor Senator Jonah Jang that he was also a onetime visitor at the Jos prison and had spent 40 days and nights in the facility.

Lalong stated this in Jos while addressing over 200 clergymen at the opening ceremony of the 94th General Church Council of Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), shortly after a speech by Jang was read by his former commissioner of information, Pastor Abraham Yiljap.

Jang, who represents Plateau North in the Senate, had in a goodwill message to the church said his being remanded in prison was a divine intervention and stated that nobody should boast of sending him to prison.

READ ALSO: 7 wells in Niger state 'confirm' existence of crude oil

The message read by Yiljap stated that: For me being in prison is a great lesson in humility. When I was at the EFCC office in Abuja, I slept on the floor, but here in the prison I have the privilege of sleeping in the same bed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo slept in at the Jos prison.

However, while addressing the church, Lalong veered off his speech to reply Jang by saying before I became the governor of Plateau state, as a Speaker of the State House of Assembly I also spent 40 days in prison. While there, I received a lot of revelations and I was ready to face the allegations against me and at the end of the day, I was cleared.

Now as a governor, I know that when I vacate office there will be a time for me to account for my stewardship. But when somebody refused to humble himself to accept his imperfection, then the law takes over."

Jang, who was remanded in prison by Justice Daniel Longji over a 12 count charge of alleged corruption and misappropriation of N6.3 billion as governor, is expected in court on Friday, May 25, for ruling on his bail application.

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Senator Jang recently, reportedly paid off the outstanding electricity bills of Jos prison where he has been locked up since Wednesday, May 16.

He was remanded in prison after his arraignment at Plateau state high court last week Wby the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Lets talk about salaries of Nigerian senators on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seems to be preparing ahead of the 2019 presidential elections

- The opposition party already has a standard for their presidential candidate in 2019

- It is concerned about the national acceptability of whoever will emerge in the election

The PDP has said it does not have any preference for any of its presidential aspirants for the upcoming 2019 presidential election.

The party said it would present an acceptable candidate that would shock the ruling All Progressives Congress (2019) in the presidential contest.

The national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus, told The Punch on Thursday, May 24, that the party was already working out modalities on how to get the best out of its array of aspirants jostling to fly the partys flag in 2019.

Secondus said that the National Working Committee of the party had resolved not to back any of the aspirants, adding that all the aspirants had been given the mandate to market the party to Nigerians ahead of the general election.

READ ALSO: Residence of ex-president Jonathans aide allegedly invaded by armed policemen

His words: We, the national leadership of the PDP, have no preferred presidential candidate for the 2019 election. We have eminently qualified members of the party and other Nigerians who are still aspiring to come to the PDP that can fly the flag of the party come 2019.

While we continue to monitor the activities of these individuals, we want to assure Nigerians that we will present to them a nationally and even an internationally-acceptable candidate that will thrash whoever the disorganised APC presents as its candidate.

The NWC met, and agreed not to either as an individual or as a body, back any of the aspirants because we are like fathers to them all. But I can assure you that, once the aspirant emerges, the party and majority of Nigerians will line up behind him and his running mate.

We are working round the clock to ensure that our members are united and join us and others, to rescue this country from the hands of incompetent individuals and cabal.

Asked what would be the criteria for the picking of the partys presidential candidate, Secondus said that the party would release the guidelines on that soon. He however said that anyone aspiring to lead the country is expected to be a nationalist who is interested in the progress of the entire nation.

READ ALSO: 7 wells in Niger state 'confirm' existence of crude oil

He added: We will field someone who knows Nigeria and Nigerians. We wont field someone who sees himself and his household as the geographical entity of the country.

"We will give Nigerians a candidate that will travel round the entire country not to give promises he cannot fulfil, but someone they can trust. We will give them a candidate who will not upon assuming office; deny any of his campaign promises.

Asked on the progress made concerning the ongoing alliance talks with other political parties, Secondus said the committee set up by the PDP and headed by a former governor of Cross River state, Liyel Imoke, was making progress.

We have a committee that is making steady progress on that. All the opposition parties are working together and as soon as the committee submits its reports, we will swing into action," he added.

Presidential aspirants in the party at the moment include ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar; a former Jigawa state governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido; the Gombe state governor, Ibrahim Dankaambo; and an ex-minister of education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, former chairman of the party, Alhaji Ahmed Makarfi and former minister of special duties; Alhaji Tanimu Turaki.

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Meanwhile, about 7,000 defectors from various political parties were on Monday, May 14, received by the PDP in Kanam local government of Plateau state. Some of the defectors were those that cross carpeted to the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the 2015 general elections.

PDP chairman in Plateau state, Damishi Sango, who received them during the commissioning of Kanam PDP office and inauguration of chairmanship campaign committee and appeal fund raising, said the defectors would be accorded the same privileges as other members of the party.

PDP's Magnificent 7 for 2019 on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
A former governor of Kaduna, Ramalan Yero, spent about four hours at the office of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in the state on Friday, May 25. He was interrogated over an alleged N700 million campaign fund scandal.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Yero was at the EFCC office in Kaduna from around 9am till about 1:30pm when he walked out smiling.

The report said the former governor thanked his supporters who were outside the EFCC office for their solidarity and asked them to go to the mosques for Jumaat prayer. He declined to make comment to the press.

READ ALSO: APC releases list of 77 top members to help Fayemi win Ekiti governorship election

The report added that his spokesman, Mallam Yakubu Lere, however, said that his boss was invited in connection with the N700 million campaign funds released to the state by the People Democratic Party (PDP) headquarters in 2015.

According to Lere, the former governor was at the EFCC office in Kano two years ago over the matter and was granted administrative bail.

At that time, he explained during the interrogation that the N700 million was PDP money sent to him as the then governor of Kaduna state to finance 2015 general election with instructions, which he judiciously followed.

What they are holding against him was that he kept the money in the office of the secretary to the state government instead of in a bank.

Even last week he was here on the same issue, but as you can see, he came out smiling, meaning the commission has found nothing to hold against him for now, Lere said while urging Yeros supporters to remain calm and be law abiding, adding that the struggle to rescue the state from collapse has just began.

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Legit.ng earlier reported that a former deputy governor of Sokoto, Alhaji Mukhtari Shagari, and four chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were recently remanded by a Federal High Court sitting in the state and presided over by Justice Saleh Idrissa.

President Buhari on 2019 presidential election: will you vote for him? | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
- The federal government has declared Tuesday May 29 as a public holiday

- This is to enable Nigerians celeberate democracy day

- Nigeria's federal government has also outlined a four-day activities to mark the 2018 democracy day, from May 25 to May 29

Tuesday, May 29, has been declared a public holiday by the federal government to mark Nigeria's democracy day.

This was disclosed on Friday, May 25, by the ministry of Interior in a statement by its permanent secretary, Dr Muhammed Umar.

Minister of Interior, Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd) congratulated Nigerians on the sustained democracy in the country and reassured them that the federal Ggovernment is committed to entrenching democracy in the polity, Channels TV reports.

Similarly, the federal government outlined a four-day activities to mark the 2018 democracy day, from May 25 to May 29.

READ ALSO: SARS officer killed 10 days after his wedding

Mr Lawrence Ojabo, director press, office of the secretary to the government of the federation made the announcement in a statement on Thursday, May 24, in Abuja.

He said that the celebration would begin with the Friday (Jumaat) prayers at the national mosque, central business district, Abuja, on May 25.

He noted that the theme for this years celebration is: Peace Building and Good Governance for Sustainable Development.

Prayers will be offered for the nation and its leadership at various levels tomorrow (Friday) at the national mosque.

Similar prayers are to hold at the national worship (Ecumenical) centre, central business district, Abuja, on Sunday, May 27.

Former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega will be the guest lecturer at this years democracy day lecture on Monday, May 28 at 10:00a.m at the international conference centre, Abuja.

Ojabo said all the events are expected to draw participation from all arms and tiers of government, including past presidents, heads of state and traditional rulers.

Others are the diplomatic community and non-state actors, members of the National Assembly, ,ministers, permanent secretaries, heads of agencies, extra-ministerial departments and agencies of government, captains of industries, and the general public.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

He noted that the Nigerias democracy day held on May 29 every year to commemorate the return of democratic governance in 1999 after long years of military rule in Nigeria.

He added that the day offers a unique opportunity to celebrate our giant strides as a nation as well as our abilities as a people to triumph over daunting challenges in our journey in nation building.

It also presents an auspicious opportunity to celebrate the return and observance of fundamental human rights.

With the citizens having the sole responsibility of electing their leaders through democratic processes at all tiers of government.

On democracy day, Nigerians celebrate freedom, leadership based on the will of the people, fundamental human rights and accelerated development, he said.

Who should get higher salary - doctors or teachers? - on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- The agitation by some individuals that power must shift to Osun West Senatorial District in Osun state, has been condemned

- The condemnation came from a prominent chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Honourable Akindiya Amos

- Akindiya was of the opinion that power rotation is alien to the APC constitution

A chieftain of the APC Osun state, Honourable Akindiya Amos who is from Olaoluwa local government area of Osun West Senatorial District has condemned the agitation by some individuals from his senatorial district insisting that they must produce the next governor of the state.

Akindiya, a serving commissioner in the Osun state House of Assembly Service Commission, said the argument does not hold water as power rotation is alien to the APC constitution.

He made this assertion while fielding questions from journalists on the preparation of the APC ahead of the September 22 gubernatorial election coming up this year.

His words: When I hear people say it is time for the west to produce the next governor and no other zones should contest for the exalted seat with them, I dare say it is politically wrong to assume such status.

It is not inside the Nigeria or APC constitution that it should be zoned to a particular area, my firm opinion is that the race should be thrown open to whoever wishes to contest, irrespective of senatorial district, the most credible and competent candidate should emerge through a free and fair primaries.

He went further to explain that since the beginning of politics in this era, there has never been a time when the leaders have sat down to decide that they will zone governorship to a particular zone.

The late Senator Isiaka Adeleke came in as governor from the west, though he spent little time but people from other zones contested with him, When it came to the era of Baba Akande, nobody stopped the west or east from contesting with him, he added.

Also speaking about who may likely succeed Aregbesola among the 27 APC aspirants who had shown interest at the meeting with the state leadership during the week, Akindiya opined that whoever will take over from Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola must continue with the good works of the governor.

He encouraged the governor's successor to leverage on the many opportunities in infrastructural amenities to boost the economic situation of the state, drive our IGR and industrialize our agricultural sector.

He continued: The strength of our campaign today is continuity, continuity in good governance, continuity of welfarist policies, continuity in urbanization of our towns, continuity in good education and health programmes, and our template is Lagos state.

Lagos is good today because when Tinubu started, there was continuity through Fashola and now through Governor Ambode.

In his reaction to the insinuation that PDP may likely oust his party in the election, Akindiya dismissed it as a joke.

He said: They are liars and are only joking; the projects we have done are physical and cannot be hidden, our people are grateful to Aregbesola and are ready to partner with APC through the ballot for another four years.

Even people that are indigenes of Osogbo can attest to the simple fact that the city has undergone a complete transformation. Ask around, people in towns and villages of Osun are ready to vote for APC. Our programmes are channeled towards development and are basically for the betterment of lives for our citizens.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, the convener of the group - Coalition of Osun West Youths, Akintunde Adeyemo, recently wrote an article on the Osun West Senatorial District inability to produce a governor in Osun state for almost 2 decades.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola Interview: 'State of Osun' is correct (Exclusive ) | Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
Yves here. PropOrNot is a sore subject with us. See:

Originally published at George Washingtons blog

By George Eliason, an American reporter living in Ukraine.

Preface by Washingtons Blog: Prop Or Not has defamed this website and many other respected American websites by falsely labeling them Russian propaganda. The owner of this website is an American citizen who was born in the US, lived in the US his whole life, and is loyal to the U.S. constitution and the national security of the United States.

We believe that it is those who would subvert American values and promote propaganda who are the traitors.

In addition, a leading cybersecurity expert has publicly said that Mr. Eliasons research as presented in this article and previous articles does not violate the law.

Washingtons Blog does not express an opinion about whether or not the claims set forth in this article are accurate or not. Make up your own mind.



Early in 2018, I pulled back the veil Propornot hid behind and disclosed the groups behind the smear site. Propornot is a product of the Atlantic Councils backers. It is a symptom of the ongoing Information War. People in the groups behind it are waging to destroy Press Freedom in the US by branding dissenting voices as objects of ridicule at best and enemies of the state at the worst. Below, youll see the results of yet another website scan, as well as circumstantial evidence showing the InterpreterMag and the Atlantic Council, are responsible for Propornot. The lawsuits are starting and because of the damage Propornots lists have done, will trickle down to the InterpreterMag staff, the Atlantic Council, and their backers at some point.

For those that dont know, the Atlantic Council is brought to you by the Central and Eastern European Coalition (CEEC), the Ukrainian Congressional Committee of America (UCCA), and the Ukrainian World Congress(UWC). Between these three organizations, there is a constituency of 20 million voting ultranationalist (politically Bandera era nationalists), as well as constituencies across governments in Central and Eastern Europe today.

There are also Levant region US-based Diaspora governments including Oriental Promethean, Syrian, and Gulenite groups that often financially contribute to politicians and gain huge amounts of political backing because all the Diasporas work together in a large bloc when it suits their needs.

The long game behind all of this is to normalize extreme nationalism in the US. If they can get people on all sides of the political spectrum so divided through pure politics people demand a forced normalization, whats offered will be the new US nationalism.

This is done continuously to develop the will and the means to provoke legal action and civil lawsuits AGAINST these same commentary and news websites that make up the Propornot blacklist. It doesnt matter how small a deal Propornot are in reality. Propornot plagiarized their blacklist from spies for hire groups.

This same list is the handout for every war mongering, democracy-hating group in America and across the world. Whatever extraordinary means they need to use, they are determined to force offending websites to get in line or suffer a costly closedown. This latest partnership Facebook has formed with the Atlantic Council is another trial move to a forced normal where news and information are spoon fed.

This is part of a much, much, larger story that starts with Propornot and goes through InterpreterMag to their parents at the @DFRLab of the Atlantic Council. The groups that identify emerging threats and disinformation for Google are the same group members of the Atlantic Council that Facebook will employ. Google has well over $100 million invested in these groups so using them to determine Search Engine Results Pages(SERPs) is simple economics. These core groups supply the fact checking and relevance check for Google. They have the means to take a monopoly on information and deem truth to be whatever the hell they want or get paid for it to be.

All of this starts with the bottom rung at sites like Propornot. For the January article I scanned the website using Iron Wasp. It is one of the best application security scanners available today and is used by hackers and penetration testers worldwide to test for vulnerabilities of a website(web application). What this means is that within a very tiny margin of false positives, scanners like this deliver verifiable, documentable information that can be used in a court of law.

That scan could be replicated by any person, at any time. I didnt reveal the vulnerability scanner I used because it shouldnt matter. If more scans were done by other people using a variety of scanners, it would hammer home the fact Michael Weiss and company are the people behind Propornot everyone was looking for.

The problem remains that the natural curiosity affected parties should feel because they have been damaged is still replaced with inertia. For many news and commentary platform owners, the last few years have overloaded their senses with the shock value of being called a tool for a foreign government and having their reputations called into question or destroyed.

Instead of taking a sober and critical look by doing the scans themselves or interviewing subject matter experts, this inertia has maintained my single scan as the only one that exists publicly for Propornot. It is the only serious effort and scan Ive been able to find. Recently, I set up an online snare that InterperterMags Michael Weiss, Catherine Fitzgerald, and their bit players had the choice to either step in or ignore entirely. The whole thing hinged on him and them not being as bright as I thought they were. Im glad I didnt bet on that. Ill get to that in part 2.

New Scan Results for Propornot

What I didnt say when I published the January Propornot expose was I counted on inertia setting in with damaged website owners even as I wrote the first Propornot article. Inertia has taken the level of proof from having enough confidence to sue Mikey D. Weiss and all the nationalist bastards working to reinterpret and destroy the 1st amendment and civil rights turned it into- The alleged scans that allegedly resemble easily spoofed screenshots allegedly done by the alleged American allegedly living in Donbass. Yeah, after four months everyone is comfortable with that one.

Needless to say, this wasnt the only scan I did. I didnt mention that before though, did I? I did three other scans over the last 10 months using various vulnerability scanners set very light and the results were the same. The 3rd time is the charm and 2nd and 3rd were the scans in January. The problem with Michael Weiss denying Propornot is a part of InterpreterMag is it should never have shown up on any scan in the first place. Why them?

For Propornot to come out consistently in every scan as part of InterpreterMag is outrageous. The two source rule of journalism states that two verifiable independent sources constitute a fact. This separates journalism from rumor mill news. The three source rule was developed by the Washington Post during its coverage of the contentious Watergate scandal. This verifies politically hot facts or scandalous information. How about four sources?

For this 4th scan of Propornot, I needed them to know someone was there. I used Vega. According to the InfoSec Institute, Vega is one of the top 5 web application security scanners in the world today. That means its a favorite tool for hackers everywhere and you can have confidence it produces evidence quality results, just like Iron Wasp did. Guess what happened?

I set the scan a little louder and was caught red-handed. Propornot canceled my scan and that was that. Or was it? The great thing about a top 5 scanner is they are very efficient. If you look at the top left underneath the web address for Propornot, whos name do you see?





Between this scan and the January scan image, you can see three of the scans that were done. The results from all 4 scans completed are the same regarding InterpreterMag. The results from four scans show InterpreterMag in a relationship position BEFORE Propornot links to any websites listed on the webpage. This last scan was done AFTER the Atlantic Council should have tightened up the website security.

We have four separate verifiable sources stating the same obvious fact with 3 shown. Does anybody with a respectable pay grade at the Atlantic Council have any last words? This case is closed.

When the facts are tallied, I am still all for letting the courts decide because of the damage Propornot has done. And rest assured that is starting to happen. This clearly shows lawsuits against Propornot, the Atlantic Council, and the spies for hire are not only possible, but if you arent willing to protect yourself now, there may not be anything left to get recourse against later.

Let The Lawsuits Begin

The first large lawsuit is by three of the Netherlands larger newspapers against East StratCom for false accusations that they were spreading propaganda. The accusation published in East StratComs Disinfo Review was challenged and East StratCom was forced to back down. But, it didnt back down far enough. On February 24th they changed terminology from calling the Dutch Media disinformation outlets to outlet where the disinformation appeared.The response by the newspapers and Dutch politicians says it all.

The Mreast.dk website adds For the Dutch media TPO, which was listed for editorial coverage of a Ukraine debate, a Dutch media expert said that East StratCom and their collaborators were a propaganda club  with amateuristic working methods and added that if you look at their database, There is no substructure [of facts]  .The chief editor of the second largest newspaper in the Netherlands, General Dagblad, stated thatwith East StratCom as a fake news-fighting, we did not need fake news at all and that the best excuse for the group was that they had a translation problem in relative to the Dutch coverage.

Going further, A parliamentarian from the Socialist Party has demanded that the Dutch Interior Minister raise the matter and stop financing the unit, which in his opinion threatens the freedom of the press by listing coverage of a Ukraine-critical meeting as fake news. Therefore, East StratCom has been forced to retreat and change the labeling of their propaganda listings. This move wasnt enough and the lawsuit is going forward on March 14th on the grounds that In a free society it is up to court to judge the matter , not governments or a supreme government.

Heres the fun part. Where does East StratCom get its list of propagandists from? Go back to the top. The people at propornot, the Hamilton 68 Dashboard including former Homeland Security Czar Michael Chertoff, Aaron Weisburd, and Clint Watts, among others are the lists providers will eventually be sued.

This lawsuit is the first of its kind that I know of. Id love to say my previous articles were part of whats behind it because of the timing of the lawsuits. They were filed after I started publishing this series showing what was going on and filing lawsuits is the only way for news and commentary publications to protect themselves. I feel immense satisfaction because publications are suing the European Union for labeling them Russian propaganda outlets. Many thanks to Petri Krohn for sharing the above article link.

If your news or commentary website was damaged because of Propornot, Hamilton 68, or any of the associated spies for hire like Aaron Weisburd, Joel Harding, Clint Watts, etc, you can now see that recourse isnt just possible, its either you or them. Make sure its them.

Over the last 4 years, Ive researched and written many stories that are still breaking in other media today. Ive written stories from the front lines in Ukraine as well as showing snapshots of what life is like here. I broke the story about Russian trolls and what would lead to Propornot in 2015.

If you want to support investigative research with a lot of depth, please support my Patreon page. You can also support my work through PayPal as we expand in new directions over the coming year. For the last 4 years its been almost entirely self supportive effort which is something when you consider I live in Donbass.

This ad will reflect articles that are coming up. A lot of detailed information doesnt make it into articles just because of the sheer volume of webpages it adds or even continuity with the current subject matter.

Ill be adding lots of information as well as a first glimpse of work coming up as we wind our way up from Propornot to Finding Fancy Bear in the near future as well as the Mueller Probes. I will be continuing my focus on Donbass and looking into the politics in play globally.

Next up A circumstantial evidence article tying Michael Weiss and his crew of misfits to Propornot. I baited the trap and waited. Of course he bit.

Thank you for supporting a proven effort thats working.
JAISAL NOOR:Welcome back to the Real News. Im Jaisal Noor, bringing you Part 2 of our discussion with the award-winning author Nancy McLean about her book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rights Stealth Plan for America.

So 64 years ago, Brown vs. Board of Education found that separate and unequal education systems for African Americans was unconstitutional. You argue that many Virginians initially actually accepted this decision, but a public campaign was launched to sway public opinion against it. Can you talk about that? You start off the first chapter of your book with this history, talking about how students and teachers in Virginia, led by students, werent organized to be part of Brown. And then the public response against it.

NANCY MACLEAN:Yeah, in the state of Virginia in 1951 there was an extraordinarily inspiring event that is really, in a way, a precursor to some of what were seeing now with the teachers strikes, and student and teacher mobilizations for good public education. In that strike in 1951 in Prince Edward County, Virginia, a young woman named Barbara Rose Johns joined with her favorite teacher, and the two of them worked together, kind of strategized for a strike, a student strike, to demand a better high school for the black children of Prince Edward County. At that point many of the students were taking classes in tar paper shacks. They did not have indoor plumbing, in many cases, while the white school was the extraordinary state of the art facility. And so the 200 students in this high school went out on a 100 percent solid students strike for a better high school.

It was an incredibly inspiring event with the support of over 90 percent of their parents, the local black clergy, and NAACP. And what they wanted was a chance to learn, to grow, to have the same opportunities as other children in their cohort and their era and their community. And they only went back to school when the NAACP agreed to take their course. Im sorry, to take their case against discrimination to the courts. And at that point the students went back to school, and this case from Prince Edward County became one of the five eventually folded into Brown vs. Board of Education.

Fast forward a bit, and after the Brown decision was issued by the court, Virginias extremely conservative white elite began in 1955 and 56 to do everything it could to undermine the success of that decision, and to deny black children and communities the constitutional rights that had just been recognized by the court. The way that they did this was through a program called massive resistance, and they led the program of massive resistance and goaded the wider white South onto it. And one element of that massive resistance was state-funded tuition grants, what we today would call vouchers, to enable white parents to pull their children from public schools to private schools that would be beyond the reach of the Federal Courts ruling that segregation was unconstitutional.

So thats actually how I got into this story, and it was a story that led me to the surprising discovery that essentially the entire American right, and particularly of interest, this free market fundamentalist right that was just beginning to get organized in those years, supported these tax-funded school vouchers. And even, in many cases, supported the school closures in Prince Edward County to prevent the Brown decision from being implemented.

So that was fascinating to me. And I discovered that Milton Friedman, the Chicago school free market economist, had issued his first manifesto for such vouchers in 1955 in the full knowledge of how it could be used by the white segregationists of the South. And then I also stumbled onto a report by this James McGill Buchanan that we were discussing earlier, who essentially tried to pull the segregationist chestnuts out of the fire in early 1959, when a massive mobilization of moderate white parents had come together to try to save the schools from these school closures, and the bleeding of these tax monies out to private schools. And after the courts had ruled against school closures of schools that were planning to desegregate in Virginia. So thats how Buchanan got on my radar. But what I realized was that this was a much deeper story about the rights radical antipathy to public education precisely because it was public.

And here I think its important to point out that when this was happening in the late 1950s, American schools were the envy of the developed world. We lead the world in the efficacy of our public education system. Our schools were a model for the wider world. And yet this right was attacking public education even then. And as important, teachers were not organized then. There were no recognized teachers unions. There was no collective bargaining structure for teachers in those years. The right was attacking public education as a monopoly, saying that it denied choice, all the kinds of things that they say now against public education, and they were doing this at a time when teachers had no collective power.

So the antipathy that we see on the right toward teachers unions today, toward public education, is not really because of any failing on their part. It is ideological. It is dogmatic. It is an antipathy to public education precisely because it is public.

JAISAL NOOR:Now, we just have a few minutes left, but theres a few things I want to go through quickly with you. So, Buchanan didnt bring up race in his arguments. And its sort of a similar way that the privatization movement today, you know, they say privatization is going to help students of color, its going to help low-income students by increasing choice. Whats your, whats your response when you hear that today? And you say, as someone who is aware and has researched the history of this movement, what are your, how do you respond to that?

NANCY MACLEAN:Yeah. I mean, Im sure there are some sincere people who make these arguments. And yet for the architects of the right I find it deeply disingenuous. We would not face the crisis that we face today, we would not have teachers out on strike in states where they have no collective bargaining rights, by the way, if we had not had this right organizing against public education for decades, now, trying to starve it of resources, trying to hold it to testing standards that they know will undermine the quality of education and lead people to flee the public schools.

And you know, one measure of the lack of good faith, I think, in these arguments is the fact that while theyre holding public education to, that has been deprived of resources, to these high testing standards and so forth, they are actually giving out in my state of North Carolina, for example, publicly tax-funded vouchers to private schools that, as one shocked judge found, are under no legal obligation whatsoever to teach students anything. And in fact, one private school system in North Carolina, a Stanford study found, had taught students nothing in mathematics for 180 days, and very little in English.

So what were seeing, basically, is a kind of ransacking of a precious public resource that has been built up over generations. Nationally, from the early 19th century, our public education system was developed with tremendous investment by taxpayers, and citizens, and teachers, and former students, and so forth. And now in North Carolina what were seeing is this terrible, terrible sad irony that a state that was once one of the poorest in the region, that dragged itself up by investing in good public education, by investing in public infrastructure, is now being dragged into competition with Mississippi and Alabama and other Southern states that have starved their schools for years by a Republican Party that has been turned into a delivery vehicle by the Koch donor network.

JAISAL NOOR:And if you look at these laws passed around the country, they have, you know, the Koch brothers, ALEC, you know, these are all funded by these groups. You know, these groups put out, secret memos released by the Guardian responding to these teachers, and you know, giving lawmakers ways to respond to them. And their, their stated goal in these leaked documents is to destroy-. To take on unions, especially teachers unions, for their opposition to these laws.

Unfortunately were out of time, but well, well definitely have you on again. Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains, professor at Duke University. Democracy in Chains was a finalist for the National Book Prize in 2017. Itll be out in paperback on June 5. Thank you so much for joining us, and well definitely have you on again soon.

NANCY MACLEAN:Thank you, Jaisal.

JAISAL NOOR:And thank you for watching us at the Real News Network.
NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will attend the annual plenary session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NPA) in Warsaw on Monday, 28 May 2018 where he will deliver a speech followed by a Q&A session moderated by the President of the NPA, Mr. Paolo Alli.

Mr. Stoltenberg will also have meetings with the President of the Republic of Poland, H.E. Mr. Andrzej Duda, the Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Mateusz Morawiecki and the Minister of Defence, H.E. Mr. Mariusz Baszczak.

Media Advisory

14:00 Secretary General joint press conference with the President - Presidential Palace Belweder

The NPA speech and the press conference will be streamed live on the NATO website.

Still and video images of the events as well as as delivered transcripts will also be available on the NATO website afterwards.

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress, @NATODepspox and @jensstoltenberg).
(Natural News) It was announced on May 21, 2018, that the current head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has officially given his blessing to the practice of homosexuality.

[Editors note: This website is not opposed to personal liberty when it comes to sexual orientation. However, the Pope is supposed to represent the Roman Catholic Church, which is, of course, openly opposed to homosexual lifestyles. We report on this from the point of view of questioning the veracity of this bizarre Pope, not condemning people for being gay. As far as we are concerned, what you do in your own private life is your own business.]

Claiming to speak on behalf of God here on earth, as all Popes are said to do, Pope Francis reportedly told a male victim of sexual abuse  and one who was abused at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church in Chile, no less  during a private conversation that homosexuality isnt a sin, contradicting centuries of church doctrine.

According to Juan Carlos Cruz, the male victim in question, Pope Francis told him reassuringly: God made you like this and loves you like this  in direct contradiction to the Holy Scriptures. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with you who are, Pope Francis added.

Cruz had apparently been discussing his perceived sexual orientation with Pope Francis in light of having been abused by notorious pedophile priest Fernando Karadima while still a child. And it was perhaps this very abuse that damaged Cruz and altered his sexual preferences as he grew into adulthood.

But rather than address any of this in that context, Pope Francis told Cruz that it doesnt really matter why hes gay because God doesnt really care. Just go with it, was essentially Pope Franciss advice to the man that has sent shockwaves throughout the Roman Catholic community.

After having already taken a left-wing stance on almost every major social issue, ranging from global warming to gun control to LGBT rights, Pope Franciss most recent endorsement of homosexuality isnt really all that surprising to anybody whos been paying attention. According to the Popes new logic, even pedophiles should be excused by the Church because they, too, could claim, God made me this way.

Roman Catholicism: Now the religion of the devil?

Truth be told, theres almost nothing that Pope Francis has said or done since acquiring his position that in any way aligns with the God he claims to represent. You might even say that this religious figure is certifiably antichrist, both in principle and practice.

Its not unlike the rest of the Roman Catholic Church, in fact, which has been covering up egregious sex crimes like pedophilia for many decades. This was the premise of Pope Franciss recent meeting with Cruz, after all, which was supposed to be an apology for the horrific abuse he endured at the hands of Chilean priests.

Some 34 of them have actually announced their resignation now that the cats out of the bag, which The Sun describes as an unprecedented move in the history of the Catholic Church. This all comes roughly seven years after Fernando Karadima, now 87 years old, was convicted by the Vatican of committing horrific sex crimes against innocent minors during his tenure as a Roman Catholic priest.

With every other unorthodox move thats been made by Pope Francis, its almost a bit shocking that he hasnt come out to endorse pedophilia as well. This would be a convenient reinterpretation for the Roman Catholic Church and its pope to take as cover for its filthy legacy of gross sexual abuse.

If the pope speaks for God, he can simply declare that God loves pedophiles and love is love. Its whats already being taught to schoolchildren at some schools where teachers are indoctrinating them to believe that love knows no age.

This would align perfectly with the current trajectory of the Roman Catholic Church, which for all intents and purposes has unveiled itself as the religion of satanism. What Pope Francis and his minions are teaching the world is that anything goes  which is the exact opposite of true Christianity.

For more news about the continued decay of modern civilization, check out Antichrist.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheSun.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Its time for Americans to stop what theyre doing, have a look around, and ask themselves the following question: Are we still living in the United States of America, or are we living in some kind of science fiction novel where the government knows more about us than wed like them to know? At times, the difference between the two isnt immediately obvious.

Take Amazon, for example, which has recently decided to market a powerful face recognition tool called Rekognition to police. This technology would help law enforcement identify and track individuals at their convenience, even if those individuals are not involved in crimes. As you probably can imagine, this has many constitutionalists and privacy advocates extremely concerned.

Even though Rekognition officially launched in late 2016, its still unclear as to how many law enforcement agencies have actually purchased the tool and are using it on the job. Since then, Amazon has added specific features that allow Rekognition to identify individuals in videos and follow their movements almost instantaneously.

Earlier this month, a number of privacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union urged Amazon to stop selling this face recognition technology to government agencies, arguing that they could use Rekognition to easily build a system to automate the identification and tracking of anyone. These privacy advocates also noted that such technology could have an even harsher impact on minorities, illegal immigrants or political protesters, which they claim are already arrested at disproportionate rates.

People should be free to walk down the street without being watched by the government, the groups wrote on Tuesday in an official letter to Amazon. Facial recognition in American communities threatens this freedom. (Related: Here is a list of all the ways in which the federal government is spying on you.)

How much privacy do we still have?

While it goes without saying that our police and law enforcement agencies should be equipped with the tools they need to better serve our communities, there is a very fine line between technology that keeps us safe and technology that infringes upon our rights. As it stands right now, surveillance technology seems to be going to the extreme, and as a result, personal information is being collected without our knowledge or consent.

Back in January, the Waking Times reported on new technology being developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that is capable of accurately reading a persons concealed emotions from a distance. That means that regardless of whether you feel happy, sad or angry, and regardless of how well you are trying to conceal it, this new device will be able to see through even the best poker face and read you like a book. (Related: Yes, your smart TV is really spying on you and collecting your personal information.)

According to the researchers, their device, which is officially called the EQ-Radio, is accurate 87 percent of the time at detecting individuals emotions, and whats even more frightening is that it does not even need to be directly linked to a persons pulse and body to operate. Rather, the EQ-Radio works by sending WiFi signals that bounce off a person to read things like their heart rates and other relevant information that helps it to determine how the person is feeling.

For obvious reasons, and like the Rekognition device, there is a lot of potential for abuse through the use of EQ-Radio. Companies could set them up outside of their shops, for example, in order to gather information on how customers feel both entering and exiting their store. If weve reached a point in our nations history where even our emotions are no longer private, then can we really continue calling ourselves a constitutional republic?

Sources include:

ABCNews.com

WakingTimes.com
(Natural News) The biggest battleship ever built by Nazi Germany hid itself from Allied bombers by deploying an artificial fog made from toxic chemicals. Seventy years after World War II, the effects of this technology are still felt in Norway, where local trees took many years to recover from the deadly air pollution, according to a Live Science article.

The Tirpitz was the second of the Bismarck type battleships. As the war went on, it was sent to Norway, where it was eventually sunk by Allied air attacks despite its ability to create artificial fog.

According to researcher Claudia Hartl, the Norwegian forests bear the scars of a battle between the Tirpitz and Allied air forces. She talked about her discovery at the recent yearly conference of the European Geosciences Union. (Related: Chemotherapy-how did mustard gas from a blown up WWII ship get into your veins?)

Hailing from Germanys Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU), Hartl studies tree-ring dating. War dendrochronology  the study of the timelines of trees during times of conflict  was the furthest thing from her mind when she went to Kafjord, Norway.

Pine trees near mooring place of Nazi warship didnt grow for years

Hartl was reconstructing the annual temperatures in northern Scandinavia during the last two millennia. To that end, she took samples from the long-lived pine trees in Kafjord.

Pines have extensive lifespans that can reach hundreds of years. Stumps have been found in frozen lakes that are more ancient than any living tree in the region.

A tree-ring shows the growth of a tree during a particular year. The temperatures in Scandinavia controlled growth, with cold years marked by narrow rings and warm times denoted by wide rings.

Hartl and her fellow researchers were surprised to find pine trees that didnt create rings during 1945. Trees only failed to produce rings during times of incredible stress.

Their reconstructed climate records didnt show any clues as to why the Kafjord pine trees failed to produce rings. They eventually learned that the fjord used to be the mooring place of the Tirpitz.

The Nazi battleship had been sent to Kafjord to attack Allied supply convoys headed for the Soviet Union. The Norwegians dubbed it The Lonely Queen of the North while Winston Churchill labeled it The Beast.

Nazi battleship used a corrosive chemical to create artificial fog

When it came under attack, the Tirpitz created a smoke screen using chlorosulfuric acid. The chemical gathered moisture from the surroundings and formed artificial fog.

Chlorosulfuric acid is not a well-documented chemical. However, Hartl did learn the substance is so corrosive that soldiers wore gas masks and protective suits while deploying it.

The JGU research team took samples from half a dozen sites near Kafjord. Sixty percent of the pine trees in the site nearest the Tirpitzs anchorage didnt grow rings during 1945.

Some trees suffered so badly that it took up to 12 years before they started growing rings again. In contrast, the pines further away from the fjord and the artificial fog recovered faster.

Hartl and her team believe the chlorosulfuric acid caused the affected trees to lose their needles. Without their leaves, the trees could not photosynthesize food, resulting in stunted growth.

In an interview with Live Science, Hartl said the Tirpitzs impact on Norwegian pine trees is an interesting example of how humans affect ecosystems. A natural drought would reduce growth, but affected trees will recover within five years. However, the trees in northern Scandinavia took as long as a dozen years to recover from the toxic chemical.

Learn more about dangerous chemicals  like the chlorosulfuric acid used by the Tirpitz  at Chemicals.news.

Sources include:

LiveScience.com

Phys.org
(Natural News) Think about this  a significant portion of our country, including a majority of its elite, thinks that its A-OK for a Democrat administration to spy on a Republican candidate. Think hard about that. And think about whether or not we can ever put the pieces of our shattered republic back together again if we cant even agree that using government power against our political enemies is a bad thing.

(Article by Kurt Schlichter republished from TownHall.com)

But the terrifying truth is that liberals and their Never Trump enablers actually think this kind of tyranny is a good thing. You see, they think Normal Americans are so transcendently awful (and, even more importantly, that the elites power so precious) that all is fair in order to stifle their opponents collective voice.

Yeah, I know they have reasons and excuses and elaborate theories about why it was absolutely necessary for a Democrat administration to spy on its designated replacements Republican opponent. And it was also totally cool for the IRS to suppress uppity Tea Party groups because they were getting to successful.

Excuses are always garbage, and theirs are garbage on fire in a dumpster. They know it. Offering them is just going through the motions. They are willing to embrace these tactics because they can.

The question all boils down to this  is it acceptable for the party in power to use the intelligence and law enforcement communities against its rivals? Are these convoluted and often delusional explanations  RUSSIANS TREASON OK NO RUSSIANS THEN UH QATARIS YEAH QATARIS TREASON!  enough to take that step, even if true?

Of course not. Even if Trumps people sought to get the Russians to release the contents of the emails Hillary Clinton should never have had on her literally password password-protected illegal server  and after two years, theres zero evidence they did was that enough to send spies into the campaign, to tap its phones, and leverage the power of FBI et ceterea to surveil them? Does the liberal elite have any concern that maybe, just maybe, it has to be about as serious a situation as you can get to do that? Is a coordinated campaign by the FBI backed up by the NSA and probably the CIA the proper remedy for the unauthorized release of Hillarys yoga dates and wedding plans, because thats all Felonia Milhous von Pantsuit said was on the 33K emails she deleted, right?

Who is the liberal who is shocked and appalled by all this? Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley seem upset, and former Clinton functionary Mark Penn, but thats all. Thats it. Who is the single Democrat politician who stood up and said, Hey, wait a second, we just cant have one partys administration spy on another partys campaign? And that doesnt even address the deep state whitewash of Clintons email crimes that would have put any of us in jail.

No one objected. The Democrat Party is committed to the New Rules. And the New Rules are tyranny.

It cant be a surprise. After all, the Democrat Party has bulldozed every norm, custom, and tradition out there in its quest for undisputed power. It spews hatred at its opponents  hey, everyone reading this is racist, sexist, and a denier of #science and so forth. The Democrats will happily deny you your free exercise of religion  put on your aprons people, because you can bake a cake or be bankrupted. They seek to suppress speech by encouraging fascism both in academia and by online tech companies, and if you think they wont pass laws to limit speech given the chance, youre fooling yourself. Hell, they tried to amend the First Amendment to overturn Citizens United, a case where the government tried to ban a movie critical of Hillary Clinton.

Lets say that again, because its madness. The position of the left-of-center party in the United States is that the government should be allowed to arrest and imprison people for making a film critical of a politician.

As always, they have their excuses  Lets take the money out of politics (so that the only voices are the mainstream media which eagerly and slavishly suckles at our heaving liberal bosom)  but in the end, they desire the consequences of the policies they support. They want to be able to arrest and imprison you for daring to make a film criticizing one of their icons.

Do you note the underlying premise, that they assume it is they who will be wielding the power to oppress?Good luck with that. We cannot have a functioning republic where about half of the population actively supports the trappings of tyranny. We cant. No nation, especially one full of citizens who zealously guard their freedom, can tolerate a double standard for political behavior. It wont be double for long. The New Rules, should they become ingrained in our systems, will inevitably go both ways.

They are going to hate the New Rules.

We need to return to the Old Rules, starting with the rule of law. Its that or split our country in two, one free and one Democrat. Or it could be something even worse.

The United States of America cannot function where one of the two parties effectively recognizes no limits on the use of government power to impose its will upon the other half. We Normal Americans are woke, and we Normals are getting militant. We see whats happening. But do the liberals and their Never Trump lackies? Do they really want to go down this road?

Read more at: TownHall.com
(Natural News) Monsanto is showing some clear signs that theyre getting nervous as their dishonest practices come significantly closer to being brought to light on a grand scale.

Last week, the peer-reviewed manuscripts of the pilot phase of a study known as the Global Glyphosate Study were revealed at a European Parliament press conference, and its all bad news for the maker of the worlds most popular glyphosate herbicide, Roundup.

In the short-term pilot study, glyphosate-based herbicides were shown to change some very important biological parameters in rats at exposure to the level set by the Environmental Protection agency as safe of 1.75 mg/kg per day. Some of the parameters that were altered relate to sexual development, the intestinal microbiome and genotoxicity. The papers will be published in the Environmental Health journal later this month.

One author of the report, Daniele Mandrioli, said that they found glyphosate in the gut bacteria of rats born to mothers who werent affected by it, something he believes is remarkable. He pointed out that gut microbiome disruptions have been linked to problems like diabetes, obesity, and immunological problems.

Another researcher, Professor Philip J. Landrigan, said that these findings should be investigated further in comprehensive long-term studies given their potential to impact a significant number of people around the world.

Monsanto goes on the attack

Monsanto reacted exactly how youd expect them to react, by attacking the scientists and institutions involved in the study. The firms global strategy vice president, Scott Partridge, told The Guardian that The Ramazzini Institute is an activist organization with an agenda that they have not disclosed.

Its an unsubstantiated claim in any event, and its also worth noting that the Global Glyphosate Study was carried out by many other bodies in addition to The Ramazzini Institute, such as the Italian National Institute of Health, George Washington University, the Icahn School of Medicine at New Yorks Mount Sinai, the University of Bologna, and the Genoa Hospital San Martino. Of course, they wont be able to attack all of those institutes, so they decided to single one out.

In fact, The Ramazzini Institute is a well-respected institution manned by expert scientists for more than four decades. Their goal is to protect public health, and their activities relate to finding carcinogens and evaluating the safety and efficacy of drugs and ingredients. Their long-term studies have a lot of clout, with past research on benzene, vinyl chloride, and formaldehyde leading to changes in global regulations.

One thing that makes the Ramazzini studies so respected is the fact their design mirrors humans very closely. For example, they tend to follow rodents from prenatal life and observe them until their natural death; most labs sacrifice rats about two thirds of the way through their lifespan, which equates to around age 60 in humans. Many people develop cancers later in life, so other researchers miss those cancers that tend to show up in old age.

Glyphosate is everywhere

As the most common herbicide in the world, 18.9 billion pounds of glyphosate have been spread across the planet since 1974. Its use has risen 15-fold since the introduction of genetically modified crops, even though they were initially marketed as being able to reduce the need for herbicide. In the last two decades, the levels of glyphosate found in the human bloodstream have risen by more than 1,000 percent.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as a probable human carcinogen in 2015; Monsanto is now trying to campaign against them and stop the American government from funding them. Now, it looks like the respected institutions involved in the latest study to expose the dangers of their products will also be targeted by their smear campaigns.

Read StopEatingPoison.com to stay informed.

Sources for this article include:

SustainablePulse.com

GlyphosateStudy.org

TheGuardian.com
(Natural News) According to President Trumps longtime confidant and veteran political strategist Roger Stone, former CIA Director John Brennan will die in a federal penitentiary for his role in the perpetuation of the phony Trump-Russia collusion scandal.

Stones comments came during an exclusive interview with SiriusXMs Breitbart News Daily on Tuesday morning.

John Brennan should pop the glass capsule and take the cyanide now, Stone said to Amanda House, Breitbart Newss deputy political director and host of Breitbart News Daily. Hes the perp who started the entire Russian dossier matter. Hes lied about it under oath. Hes going to die in a federal penitentiary.

Indeed, the entire narrative that Donald Trump and his team colluded with Vladimir Putin and the Russians to help him defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election has been fake news from the start. There was never any evidence whatsoever suggesting that the allegations were credible, and yet, people like John Brennan (and several others, quite frankly) continued to push the story as if it were based in fact.

How he kept it going

Earlier this week, Breitbart News listed three major ways in which former CIA Director John Brennan fueled the Trump-Russia conspiracy. First, Brennan conducted official briefings with both then-President Barack Obama and President-elect Trump on the Russian dossier, even though the dossier was funded by Trumps political opponents and was clearly less than credible from the start. These briefings were eventually leaked to the media, which kick-started 24/7 coverage on the dossiers unsubstantiated and outrageous allegations. (Related: The bogus Trump-Russia collusion story is nothing but a political hatchet job cooked up by Obama loyalist John Brennan.)

Second, Brennans CIA co-authored an intelligence report that was questionable at best, alleging that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election largely for the purpose of helping Donald Trump defeat his political opponent Hillary Clinton. A subsequent report that came out of the House of Representatives accused the CIA of politicizing intelligence and pushing forward a narrative that wasnt entirely accurate. (Related: Emails reveal that John Brennan is the man behind the witch hunt of journalists who reported unflattering Obama administration leaks.)

Third, reports indicate that John Brennan convened a compartmentalized unit that consisted of analysts from the CIA, FBI and the NSA, with the goal being to conduct operations that later turned into controversial allegations that Putin colluded with Trump and his team to help Trump emerge victorious in the 2016 election. This secretive group was reportedly housed in the official CIA headquarters.

All that being said, what Roger Stone said in his interview with Breitbart News Daily is correct  John Brennan has been and continues to be one of the biggest perpetuators of the Trump-Russia collusion story. As far as whether or not he will end up in a federal penitentiary, however, nobody really knows. There may be a strong case to be made that John Brennan should end up behind bars, but given the fact that so many government officials always seem to get off the hook and are never held accountable for their actions, the chances that Brennan walks away from all this without any legal consequences are still very real.

Of course, the Russia narrative wouldnt be nearly as significant as it is today if it werent for the mainstream media constantly talking about it, using any bit of information they can get their slimy hands on to link President Trump to the Kremlin. A recent study conducted by the Media Research Center found that of the 851 total minutes of airtime devoted to Trumps administration in January and February, evening newscasts from ABC, CBS and NBC covered the Russia investigation for 204 minutes, or roughly one-fourth of the time. Thats a substantial amount of air time to dedicate to a story that lacks any real evidence whatsoever, dont you think?

Read more at Treason.news.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

NewsBusters.org
(Natural News) Austrian researchers have come up with a new way to save millions of trees from paper mills. They can extract cellulose from the dung of cows and other herbivores to make recycled paper, according to an American Chemical Society (ACS) article.

The University of Vienna researchers presented their findings during the 255th National Meeting & Exposition of the ACS. Their unorthodox approach to this form of agricultural waste could be of particular value in regions with few trees, numerous farm animals, and a ton of dung.

According to Dr. Alexander Bismarck, he first chanced upon the concept during a summer vacation in Crete. While watching goats crop grass, he realized that their dung was comprised of partially-digested plant matter, which includes cellulose.

Investigating goat droppings led him to the discovery that a herbivores dung could comprise up to 40 percent cellulose. Furthermore, the animals chewing and digestive processes had broken down the plant matter and exposed the cellulose.

Converting that partially-digested matter into cellullose nanofibers would require less electricity and use fewer chemicals compared to the typical paper-making process that starts with raw wood. Such paper would be cheaper and easier to manufacture.

Dr. Bismarck and his research team conducted preliminary work with goat droppings. From there they investigated dung from increasingly larger herbivores: Horses, cows, and even elephants.

The last two animals are of particular importance. Many nature parks in Africa host herds of elephants that drop tons of dung on a daily basis, while the manure that comes from American and European cattle farms put the mythical stables of Augeas to shame. (Related: When cows are raised naturally, cattle production becomes environmentally friendly and sustainable, producing a healthier product.)

Furthermore, using elephant dung as a model can help raise awareness about the endangered state of these increasingly rare animals.

Manure can be purified and bleached to produce white pulp

To make paper from animal manure, the University of Vienna researchers first applied sodium hydroxide to dung samples. The initial treatment is intended to remove impurities like dead cells, proteins, and some lignin.

Sodium hypochlorite is used to bleach the purified manure, removing the rest of the lignin and producing white pulp. This pulp can be used to make paper, while the lignin can be turned into fertilizer or fuel.

Conventional paper-making processes need to grind wood down into cellulose nanofibers. In comparison, the cellulose from the purified manure barely needs any grinding.

You need a lot of energy to grind wood down to make nanocellulose, says Andreas Mautner, a member of Dr. Bismarcks research team.

According to Mautner, starting off with manure shortens the paper-making process because the animal already ground up and broke down the plant matter. The resulting nanocellulose offers similar or superior properties to conventional paper at a cheaper price by saving on electricity and chemicals.

As soon as the fibers are extracted, the process of papermaking is the same. The pre-treatment can relatively easy being done, perhaps already on existing equipment, he said.

Manure might be able to make biogas plus paper

Dr. Bismark reported that the manure-derived nanopaper could be used for a variety of purposes. It could serve as a material to write on, or it could strengthen polymer composites and filters that are used to treat wastewater.

The research team is cooperating with an industrial consortium to find out novel uses for recycled nanopaper. Theyre also refining the paper-making process to increase its sustainability.

Right now they are testing the residue of biogas produced from animal manure. If the leftover material retains enough cellulose, they could recycle it into paper.

Find out more about cool scientific discoveries at Scientific.news.

Sources include:

ACS.org

ZMEScience.com
Families of some of the sickest children in California are taking legal action against the state. They filed a federal class action lawsuit on Thursday, which challenges Californias failure to deliver what it promised.

More than 4,000 medically-fragile kids have been approved by the state for in-home nursing care paid for by Medi-Cal. But many children arent getting any help. Now some parents have decided enough is enough.

The parents of a 7-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy filed the lawsuit. According to the complaint, the children cannot move, turn, feed, dress, bathe or otherwise take care of themselves. They require round-the-clock care, but they are only receiving a fraction of the nursing hours promised to them by the state. Their families say California has systemically failed to arrange for these nursing services as mandated by federal law.

The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which oversees Medi-Cal, recently found that statewide, home health nurses can only provide 71 percent of the hours needed to care for sick children. The lawsuit specifically names Jennifer Kent, the director of the department.

DHCS has yet to file a formal response to the lawsuit and declined to provide comment, citing pending litigation.

The families are represented by Disability Rights California, the National Health Law Program and Western Center for Law and Poverty. William Leiner, an attorney with Disability Rights California, says the plaintiffs in the lawsuit seek nothing more than for the state to meet its legal obligation to make sure children receive the medical services the state already determined that they need.

The states failure to arrange for in-home nursing also creates an enormous strain on families, which in turn can lead to job loss, broken relationships, and caregiver burnout, Leiner said. Some parents are forced to face the unfathomable possibility that their children may need to leave the family home to obtain needed nursing care.

The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit first exposed in 2016 that the nursing shortage is taking a toll. Weve spoken to families who have had to move out of the Bay Area to find nurses, parents who have had to quit their jobs to stay home full time with their kids, and children who have been on nursing agency waiting lists for years.

Many home health care agencies say they cant find enough nurses because most can make more money working in a hospital. Earlier this year, Governor Brown proposed a wage increase for home health nurses who work with Medi-Cal recipients.

Some advocates hope the pay bump will attract more nurses. But Leiner warns it could take months or even years to see a difference, and many families want the state to fix the problems sick and disabled children are facing today.

If you have a tip for the Investigative Unit email theunit@nbcbayarea.com or call 888-996-TIPS.
Some of the brightest minds in the autonomous vehicle industry were in the Bay Area on Thursday night, talking technology, timing, practicality and safety.

During a panel session at Stanford University, experts predicted driverless cars will be a reality within 10 years but with some caveats.

The panel members, who are involved in creating and financing self-driving vehicle technologies, say passengers will soon be able to get into a car and tell it where to take them.

"High complexity, low speeds, 20 mph downtown, well-mapped areas; well see it pretty quickly," said Alexei Andreev of Autotech Ventures.

The technology may soon be here but industry experts admit the public still has a way to go before feeling comfortable with the idea of driverless cars.

"Some companies are architecting and have very safe vehicles, but someone else that hasnt done the relative due diligence goes in, does something bad, and that affects the entire industry," said Ivan Mihov of Zoox.

Federal investigators on Thursday released their initial findings in a deadly crash involving an Uber driverless test vehicle and a pedestrian in Arizona in March. The onboard computers detected the person, who was pushing, a bike six seconds before the collision. But the system didnt try to make an emergency stop.

Its still unknown how much the public will tolerate this type of accident or any others.

"Clearly, if you have a massive accident with a lot of people dying in one particular event, it will likely have negative impact," Andreev said. "But on the other hand, you have school shootings, and nothing happens."

The aim for the industry, leaders say, is to advance the technology so much that people will feel as safe getting into a driverless car as they do getting into an elevator. One expert says he believes driverless semi trucks might actually be adopted first because there is such a need for drivers.
The man suspected of knocking down a 93-year-old woman and breaking her hip while stealing her purse in Concord expressed remorse for his behavior Thursday during a jailhouse interview with NBC Bay Area.

Otto Halafihi of Oakland, 29, turned himself in to police in Patterson just after 9 p.m. Wednesday and was arrested by Concord police on charges of robbery and elder abuse, police said. He is in custody at Contra Costa County jail in Martinez.

When asked why he committed the purse snatching, initially, Halafihi says he was hungry and thirsty and needed gas.

"I'm very sorry; I wish I could rewind back the days," Halafihi said from jail. "I don't know why I did it, I just wasn't in my right mind state."

When asked why he committed the purse snatching in Concord that injured a 93-year-old woman, initially, Otto Halafihi says he was hungry and thirsty and needed gas. "I'm very sorry; I wish I could rewind back the days," Halafihi said from jail. "I don't know why I did it, I just wasn't in my right mind state."

Ann Pederson was hospitalized with a broken hip after Halafihi knocked her to the ground on May 18 while stealing her purse outside a Bank of America near Sunvalley mall in Concord, according to police.

Halafihi was also found to be linked to a May 9 armed robbery at Lowe's Home Improvement store at Pacific Commons Boulevard in Fremont, police said.

Police said the robbery suspect threatened to shoot store employees with a black semi-automatic handgun before picking up items he had been carrying and exiting the store.

The man suspected of knocking down a 93-year-old woman and breaking her hip while stealing her purse in Concord expressed remorse for his behavior Thursday during a jailhouse interview with NBC Bay Area. Ian Cull reports.

Halafihi denied that he was armed in that incident. But he later admitted to stealing a purse from a woman in San Jose.

When asked whether he's willing to pay the price for his crimes, he said, "Yes."

The May 18 pursde snatching occurred in broad daylight as Pedersen was being escorted by a 63-year-old friend towards the bank.

ConcordPD/Pederson family

Pederson's son Greg reacted Thursday to the interview with Halafihi.

I hope they throw the book at him. Confessions and apologies, those are just words," he said, adding that it's not forgivable behavior. "The actions speak volumes. His actions were to rob a frail and elderly woman in broad daylight. Words are just words. I dont buy it. What he did has lasting effects. Hes only saying this because he got caught.

Police said Halafihi made the mistake of going inside the bank, where there are several surveillance cameras.

Pedersen is a 45-year resident of Concord, according to her son. She remained hospitalized after surgery for her broken hip. Her escort was uninjured.
President Donald Trump on Thursday abruptly canceled his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, blaming "tremendous anger and open hostility" by Pyongyang  a decision North Korea called "regrettable" while still holding out hope for "peace and stability."

In a letter to Kim announcing his decision to back away from the June 12 summit, Trump pointed to America's vast military might and warned the rising nuclear power against any "foolish or reckless acts."

The letter kicked off a day of mixed messages by the president, who declared hours later, "I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do what's right." After that, a senior White House official said the North lacked judgment and had reneged on its promises ahead of the summit. Trump said from the White House that a "maximum pressure campaign" of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation would continue against North Korea  with which the U.S. is technically still at war  but he added that it was possible the summit could still take place at some point.

North Korea issued a statement Friday saying it is still "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks "at any time, at any format."

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan called Trump's decision "unexpected" and "very regrettable," and said the cancellation of the talks shows "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties."

Kim insisted North Korea's "objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged."

Trump's surprise exit capped weeks of high-stakes brinkmanship between the two unpredictable leaders over nuclear negotiating terms for their unprecedented sit-down. The U.S. announcement came not long after Kim appeared to make good on his promise to demolish his country's nuclear test site. But it also followed escalating frustration  and newly antagonistic rhetoric  from North Korea over comments from Trump aides about U.S. expectations for the North's "denuclearization."

The senior U.S. official said the North violated a pledge to allow international inspectors to monitor the supposed implosion of the site Thursday. International journalists were present, but the U.S. government can't verify the site's destruction. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid overshadowing Trump's comments Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a staunch Kim ally, said the North Korean leader had in fact done "everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts" of his country's nuclear testing site. Putin said of Trump's announcement, "In Russia we took this news with regret."

Japan says it understands President Donald Trump's cancellation of the summit with the North Korean leader. Top officials there say talks should be held when progress on the North's denuclearization is achieved.

Trump, in his letter to Kim, objected specifically to a statement from a top North Korean Foreign Ministry official. That statement referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" for his comments on the North and said it was up to the Americans whether they would "meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown."

Underscoring the high stakes, Trump said he had spoken with military leaders, as well as Japan and South Korea, and stressed that the United States was prepared for any threat.

Still, Trump's announcement appeared to surprise South Korea, which had pushed to keep the summit on track as recently as Tuesday, when President Moon Jae-in met with Trump in the Oval Office and said the "fate and the future" of the Korean Peninsula hinged on the talks. The Blue House said Thursday that it was trying to figure out Trump's intentions in canceling the summit.

Trump, who considers himself a master dealmaker, has confounded aides and allies at every turn of the fateful flirtation with the North. He looked past the warnings of senior aides when he accepted Kim's invitation to meet back in March. He unveiled the date and the time with characteristic showmanship. And after initially projecting calm in the face of North Korea's escalating rhetoric, he made a sudden about face, though his letter also waxed poetic about the "wonderful dialogue" emerging between the two leaders.

Wrote Trump: "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

It was unclear whether Trump's move marked a negotiating ploy or a manifestation of mounting internal concerns over ensuring a successful outcome for the summit.

Trump was briefed Wednesday night and made the decision to exit Thursday morning after consulting with top advisers, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton, to whom he dictated the letter, said the senior official.

Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado told The Associated Press that Bolton described the letter as a "wake-up" to Kim, who had shown a change in attitude after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Bolton and Gardner had met at the White House Thursday, hours after the announcement.



The question now is how Trump's maneuvering will be received. His letter could make the situation worse in a society where saving face can be pivotal. Kim might well take offense at the hardnosed U.S. approach after he released American detainees and destroyed a nuclear site.

Trump's aides had warned that merely agreeing to the summit had provided Kim with long-sought international legitimacy and, if Trump ultimately backed out, risked fostering the perception that the president was insufficiently committed to diplomatic solutions to the nuclear question.

U.S. defense and intelligence officials have repeatedly assessed the North to be on the threshold of having the capability to strike anywhere in the continental U.S. with a nuclear-tipped missile  a capacity that Trump and other U.S. officials have said they would not tolerate.

Pompeo, testifying on Capitol Hill, said North Korea had not responded to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the summit. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the lack of response was an additional reason for Trump's decision.

"We got a lot of dial tones, Senator," he told committee chairman Bob Corker.

A White House team was set to fly to Singapore this weekend to continue logistical planning for the meeting.

Pompeo said the North's posture had changed markedly since he returned from Pyongyang earlier this month, a trip during which he met with Kim and oversaw the release of three Americans being held. Trump suggested this week that China was to blame for "a little change" in Kim's attitude. Kim paid a secret visit to his primary ally just before Pompeo's visit, and China is wary of any shift in the balance of power on the Korean peninsula.

Trump's allies in Congress applauded the president, saying he was justified in pulling out of the meeting.

"North Korea has a long history of demanding concessions merely to negotiate. While past administrations of both parties have fallen for this ruse, I commend the president for seeing through Kim Jong Un's fraud," said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida quoted rapper DJ Khaled in a tweet addressed to Kim, saying, "Congratulations, you just played yourself."

Trump was right to withdraw, Rubio said, because Kim was sabotaging the talks and "setting us up to take the blame."

Critics were less impressed.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was clear Trump "didn't know what he was getting into and now he's walking away" in a "very chummy, palsy-walsy letter" that's "kind of like a valentine to Kim Jong Un."

White House officials have privately predicted for weeks that the summit could be canceled once or twice before actually taking place. Trump has seemed to welcome chatter of a Nobel Peace Prize, but that has yielded in recent weeks to the sobering prospect of ensuring a successful outcome with the Kim.

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Lisa Mascaro, Ken Thomas, Darlene Superville, Ted Anthony, Jonathan Lemire and Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report.
Chicago police said dozens of people suspected of participating in gang-affiliated crimes were arrested in a series of raids ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms conducted the "precision raids" alongside Chicago police officers beginning Thursday morning, CPD said in a statement.

Authorities said the "roundups" will continue Friday across the city.

As of 4 a.m. Friday morning, 71 individuals had been arrested with charges - including weapons violations, prostitution, narcotics dealing and possession - pending, according to police.

Thirteen weapons and two vehicles were seized during the raids, over the course of which seven search warrants were executed, officials. Police said officers also recovered $55,650 in cash and one business, a convenience store located in the 900 block of West 31st Street, was closed as a result of the raids.

Officers also raided a child daycare facility in the 1000 block of Marquette Road that authorities said was being used as a "gun stash house." Four handguns and a "large amount of ammunition" were taken from the daycare and a woman was taken into custody for questioning as a person of interest, according to police.

No children were in the facility at the time and police contact the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services regarding the business' license, authorities said.

Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson was expected to speak on the raids and detail final results alongside Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Jeffrey Salette and Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Celinez Nunez at 1:30 p.m. Friday at CPD headquarters.

The raids came as the department deployed more than 1,000 extra Chicago police officers to patrol over the holiday weekend typically marked by an uptick in violence.

Last year, at least six people were killed and 44 others wounded in shootings across Chicago on Memorial Day weekend.
An Illinois man is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl by making her take off her clothes, wear a diaper, and then touching her, WAND reported Thursday.

Darien McKinney, 30, was charged with predatory sexual assault of a victim less than 13 years old.

Police said the abuse happened from May to August 2015 in Effingham.

Police started investigating after the victim posted about the alleged abuse on social media.

Officials said McKinney admitted to having a "diaper fetish" and that he wears them himself. He said wearing diapers calm him, WAND reported.

McKinney said he would have "counseling sessions" with the young victim and have her wear diapers three times a week.

He said he would cradle her, give her bottles, and change her diaper.

When police searched McKinney's home, they found adult diapers, pull-ups, a garbage bag full of used diapers, a bottle, a sex doll and porn, WAND reported.

At the same home and during the same time period, police said another man, 27-year-old Aaron Wilkey was sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty in November, the NBC affiliate reported.

At Wilkey's sentencing, McKinney spoke in support of him.

McKinney is held in lieu of $250,000 bond and is due in court at 10 a.m. June 7.
A male student opened fire in a classroom at a middle school in Noblesville, Indiana, injuring a teacher and fellow student before being taken into custody, authorities said.



Authorities responded to Noblesville West Middle School shortly after 9 a.m. for reports of an "active shooter" at the suburban school roughly 20 miles north of Indianapolis.

The injured teacher, identified as Jason Seaman, and the student, Ella Whistler, were taken to local hospitals with gunshot wounds, officials said at a news conference Friday. Whistler's family said in a statement she was in critical but stable condidition and was doing well.

"We will spend the next days and weeks processing what happened and why," the Whistler family statement said.



According to seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker, the injured teacher had tackled the student firing shots inside the classroom. Stonebraker said the class had been taking a test when the student walked in and started firing. The teacher "immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground."

"If it weren't for him, more of us would have been injured for sure," Stonebraker said.

Stonebraker told ABC News that Seaman threw a basketball at the shooter and ran toward the bullets as screaming students sought cover behind a table.



Authorities confirmed the shooter, who has not been identified, left class and returned armed with two handguns. The suspected male student was detained at the scene and was not injured in the shooting, according to police. A motive was not immediately known, and it was not clear where the guns came from.

Stonebraker also said he knew the suspected gunman, whom he described as "a nice kid most of the times" and said he often joked with the classmates.

"It's just a shock he would do something like that," Stonebraker said.

Officials noted that a threat was later made at nearby Noblesville High School, roughly four miles from the middle school in the same district and the location where students were being taken to be picked up by their parents.

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the high school and were sweeping the area, officials said, adding that police had not received any information other than the communicated threat.

Erica Higgins, who was among the worried parents who rushed to get their kids, told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home.

"I just want to get my arms around my boy," she said.

Higgins said her son was shaken up but knew little about what happened.

"I got a 'Mom, I'm scared' text message and other than that, it was 'come get me at the high school,'" Higgins said.

Another mother was so shaken up that she had to be driven to the school. Jennifer Morris appeared slightly dazed as she arrived at the high school gymnasium to pick up her 14-year-old son Noah.

She said she was at work Friday morning when her son sent a text message about the shooting, stunning her with the message, "I'm OK, please come get me."

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb issued a statement following the shooting saying he and leaders of the legislature were monitoring the situation as they traveled back from a trip to Europe.

"Approximately 100 state police officers have been made available to work with local responders and will offer all assistance needed," Holcomb said. "Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation.

"Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana," Vice President Mike Pence, the state's previous governor, tweeted Friday morning. "To everyone in the Noblesville community  you are on our hearts and in our prayers. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders."

Friday's shooting came one week after a police said a student opened fire at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, killing 10 people and wounding 13 more.
Federal investigators found that a small plane had flipped over before a nighttime crash into a northern Illinois farm field, killing a Chicago-area activist in late 2016.

The National Transportation Safety Board's findings don't give a cause for the crash that killed pilot Rob Sherman since it found no evidence of a plane malfunction during flight. The Chicago Tribune reports an investigator suggests Sherman might have become disoriented before the plane hit the ground near Marengo.

The 63-year-old from Poplar Grove was one of the better-known atheists in the country and an activist for keeping religious and government affairs separate.

Investigators say Sherman's sport pilot's license didn't authorize him to fly at night. He was flying from Poplar Grove to the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg when the crash happened.
A man accused of running his wife over in a driveway in North Haven, killing her, has been re-arrested after he failed to show in court following the prior arrest, according to North Haven police.

Police said they responded to Scrub Oak Road earlier this month after receiving reports that a woman had been hit by a car. When they arrived, the womans husband, Francesco Suppa, told authorities it was an accident, according to police.

As police investigated, they learned the couple had been involved in a dispute before the woman was struck.

They said Suppa started his vehicle, sped in reverse down his driveway toward Scrub Oak Road, hit his wife and dragged her before stopping and driving forward.

Suppas wife was taken to the hospital and later died, according to police. Authorities have not released her name.

Suppa was initially charged with assault in the first degree on the day of the incident. He was released after posting a $50,000 bond and was supposed to be arraigned the next day, but he did not show up in court. NBC Connecticut went to his house and there was no answer.

After his wife died, the state changed the charges from assault to second-degree manslaughter and a judge issued an order for Suppas re-arrest.

Court officials said Suppa has been re-arrested. He is out on bond.

.
A 6-week-old baby girl who had severe injuries, including cranial bleeding and bruising to the brain, his died, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Police arrested the parents.

"We do believe this case is heading to a fatality at this point," Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said Friday morning.

Prosecutors called the case "heinous."

Hartford police officers responded to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center Thursday afternoon to investigate a report of an infant who suffered serious injuries.

Police said the baby girl, who is around six weeks old, had cranial bleeding, severe bruising, rib fractures and a clavicle fracture.

She was listed in grave condition and continued to receive emergency medical care, according to a news release from police.

Detectives from the Special Investigations Division and the Major Crimes Division responded to the hospital and took over the investigation. Police said they interviewed the babys parents, 23-year-old Edwin Babilonia and 20-year-old Ashley Perez and determined that the incident occurred at the familys residence around 6 a.m. Thursday, police said.

In an interview on Friday morning, police said the injuries appeared to have happened over several days and doctors are working on organ donation options.

The baby is a twin and the twin was evaluated. The state Department of Children and Families has taken custody of that baby.

Babilonia and Perez were initially charged with risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons. Officials said neither parent has a prior record and officials from DCF said they had no prior involvement with the family.

Police have also charged Babilonia and Perez with first-degree assault and protective orders have been issued. They are due back in court on June 8.

Babilonia's attorney said his client claims the kids were having trouble sleeping and the injuries were accidental.
Wesleyan University's board of trustees has voted to rescind Bill Cosby's honorary degree after the comedian was found guilty on sexual assault charges.

Cosby was convicted earlier this month on three counts of aggravated assault related to an encounter with a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, in his Cheltenham home in Pennsylvania. He was accused of drugging and molesting Constand in 2004. During the trial, five other women testified to also having been drugged and assaulted by Cosby.

Wesleyan University President Michael Roth announced soon after Cosby was convicted that he intended to ask the Board of Trustees to revoke the honorary degree Wesleyan awarded Cosby in 1987.

A statement from Wesleyan said the board voted unanimously today to revoke Cosby's degree.

[NATL] Bill Cosby Through the Years

Yale University's board of directors voted earlier this month to rescind the honorary degree the university awarded to Cosby in 2003.

In June 2016, the University of Connecticut revoked an honorary degree awarded to Cosby in 1996. It was the first time the school had ever rescinded an honorary degree.

The court case has destroyed the legacy of the once influential comedian. He was originally charged in 2015, but the initial trial ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked.

Cosby now faces up to 10 years in prison on each count. A sentencing date has not been announced. His attorneys said they plan to appeal the verdict.
Get ready for a new attraction to soon make a mark on the Dallas skyline. Plans for an observation wheel, that will stand more than 500 feet tall, were released on Friday.

The wheel will be called Texas Odyssey and will center a new development located in the Cedars West neighborhood.

"We see this as really a gateway to the Trinity," said project manager, David Taggart. "We want to grow with the area. We want the area to grow with us."

The group behind the plans said the wheel will stand more than 500 feet tall, which is almost as tall as reunion tower, 180 feet taller than AT&T Stadium and twice as tall as the Texas Star Ferris wheel in Fair Park.

"The views aren't too bad at ground level," said Taggart. "But when you get up to above 500 feet, the beautiful dallas skyline...360 degree views."

It will take 38 minutes to make your way all the way around the Texas Odyssey.

The development will include retail and dining, an outdoor performance venue and a STEAM education center. A parking garage that can hold 1,000 cars is also included in the plans. There are also landscaping plans that will allow greater public access to the Trinity River.

"At first I was skeptical," said Michael Przekwas of the Cedars Neighborhood Association. Przekwas said he changed his mind after meeting with developers.

"Kind of a downtown Disney," Przekwas remarked. "In conjunction with the development they want to put around it...it would actually be a draw to the area."

The development will be located along the banks of the Trinity River in the Cedars West neighborhood, directly south of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

The group behind the project is hoping for city approval this year. They will then enter development stage. They hope to break ground in August of 2019. Building could take as long as two years, with hopes of a NYE opening celebration in 2022.


The U.S. Border Patrol says an agent trying to detain a group of suspected undocumented immigrants fatally shot a person when he was attacked.



The Border Patrol said the unidentified agent was investigating a report of illegal activity Wednesday in Rio Bravo, just south of Laredo, when he came across the group.

The agency said in a statement Thursday that the agent was trying to take them into custody when some attacked him "using blunt objects."

The agent fired at least once, striking one of his assailants. Three others who fled were apprehended by responding agents.

The FBI and Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.


A Justin man's search for a long lost Army buddy has gone viral. Jim Garvin's search has been complicated by the fact that he only knows the man he served with in Vietnam by his nickname  Louisiana.

Garvin figures he took about 300 photos while serving with the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry from 1970 to 1971. Those pictures, many of fellow soldiers, tell a story.

Nicknames were very common, said Garvin. We have a Worm, a Mississippi, and Arkansas," said Garvin.

And -- a "Louisiana."

He was just a very happy go lucky, positive individual, he said.

One problem  Neither Garvin, or his other Army friends knows what Louisianas given name was, which is why he is now searching -- for Louisiana.

After a reunion of Army buddies in Florida last weekend, Jim's wife Susan posted about her husbands search on Facebook. Response was overwhelming, but produced no answers as to the man in the faded picture.

So why is this search so important, all these years later?

It's important to me, explained Garvin. Because I want to make sure someone welcomes him home."

A warm welcome  something Jim Garvin and so many other veterans did not receive once their service in Vietnam ended. Something he didn't talk about for 40 years. Medals and photos now displayed on his stairway had been packed away for decades.

It was kind of a reminder of what I experienced, he said. And not wishing for anyone to have to go through it."

Only now does Garvin realize, he didn't go through it alone.

It wasnt the best of times, he said. But it was the job we were asked to do."

Which is why it's now his job, to find Louisiana."

I do think ultimately we will identify who Louisiana was, he said. And if he's still alive and if he'll let me, I will be making a trip to go shake his hand and give him a hug."
Survivors of last week's shooting at a high school near Houston told gripping stories of dodging bullets, hiding from the attacker and seeing classmates get shot as they pleaded with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday for more armed security to keep campuses safe.

The emotional three-hour discussion marked the end of three days of meetings Abbott held on school safety and mass shootings. And while the governor has appeared to embrace ideas of boosting security and tracking student mental health, there is little expectation the staunch gun-rights supporter will push for major changes to restrict owning firearms or buying them.

The Republican, who is campaigning for re-election, organized the mostly closed-door meetings shortly after eight students and two substitute teachers were fatally shot inside Santa Fe High School. Abbott said he wanted to find "swift and meaningful" ways to stop future shootings.

He hasn't said when or what he'll recommend, but told the survivors and their families Thursday "we are going to do more than just talk, we are going to act."

So far, the governor has ignored calls from a handful of state lawmakers from both parties to call the Legislature into special session to address gun laws, which is a sharp contrast to the response in Florida after a high school shooting in February killed 17 people. Three weeks after that massacre, Florida politicians, who were already in session, passed a gun-control package after a lobbying campaign led by student survivors of the attack.

Lawmakers aren't scheduled to meet until January 2019 in Texas, a state that embraces its gun-friendly reputation and has more than 1.2 million people licensed to carry handguns. And unlike the students in Florida, several students at Santa Fe High School have been vocal opponents of increased gun control, including some of those who were invited to meet Abbott on Thursday.

The only tweaks to gun safety Abbott mentioned as possibilities were stronger laws on gun storage and reporting of lost or stolen weapons, and quicker reporting to law enforcement when a court order denies someone access to a firearm.

Several of the families who met with him Thursday said they didn't want to talk about gun restrictions or the politics of gun rights.

"This is not a gun thing," said Jay Horn, whose son was injured in the shooting and hospitalized. "Evil's going to happen with anything."

Abbott has signed bills in recent years that reduce the cost and training needed for a handgun license and expanded where handguns can be legally carried. During a National Rifle Association meeting earlier this month, Abbott said the violence problem isn't caused by guns but by "hearts without God."

This week's meetings included representatives of both gun rights and gun control groups. However, Alice Tripp, legislative director of the Texas Rifle Association, an affiliate of the NRA, said her group found "no common ground" on gun restrictions and would be cautious of anything that would deny access to buy or own guns.

Thursday's meeting included more than 30 students, families and staff members from Santa Fe High School. Scot Rice described hiding behind a parking lot garbage bin, hearing bullets whiz by as he could see his wife Flo, a substitute teacher, pretending to be dead after getting shot. She survived. A police officer was able to carry her to safety.

Also attending were two survivors of the November church shooting in rural Sutherland Springs, Texas, that left more than two dozen people dead. Stephen Willeford, the church neighbor and former NRA gun instructor who was hailed as a hero for grabbing a rifle and firing back at the attacker, also was at the meeting.

Several students and parents said schools need more armed security guards and armed teachers to prevent attacks. Texas law allows school districts to arm teachers who pass training courses and they must keep their guns concealed. Others debated whether schools should have metal detectors.

"Arming teachers, and not knowing who is armed, that is what we need," said Grace Johnson, a Santa Fe senior who hid in a band room attic during the attack. "I cannot tell you how much safer I feel in public with my father having a gun on him."

Johnson said her government class wrote to Abbott's office in February after Santa Fe High School had a three-hour lockdown that month, shortly after the shooting at the Florida high school.

"We wrote letters to you, my entire government class, on why is this happening and what can we do to fix it. We didn't get anything back. We didn't get acknowledgement," she told Abbott. "It finally happened to our school and we weren't surprised. ... It's happening everywhere."

Abbott spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said the governor's office has no record of the letters, but that Abbott "appreciates the time Grace took to bring her concerns directly to him today."

Better security, metal detectors and new programs to track student mental health would cost money, and the state's public schools are already living under strained budgets.

The Texas State Teachers Association has resisted calls by Texas Republicans to arm more teachers. Texas Democrats urged Abbott to address gun issues.

"Greg Abbott's track record is that nothing of substance will come out of this that keeps weapons out of the hands of school shooters," said Manny Garcia, deputy director of the state Democratic Party. "Texans need leadership at a time when they are afraid to send their kids to school."

Rhonda Hart, a military veteran whose daughter Kimberly Vaughan was killed in the Santa Fe shooting, has been outspoken this week on the need for more gun control. She wasn't invited to the meetings this week.

"You should have to wait a week, have counseling and walk through lines of protesters who tell you you're a murderer" to buy a gun, Hart said.
State investigators met Thursday with the former USC Student Health Center gynecologist now at the center of growing controversy over decades of alleged misconduct.

Disgraced doctor George Tyndall was seen admitting investigators with California's Department of Consumer Affairs, Medical Board into the condominium building where he lives west of Downtown Los Angeles. The investigators stayed two hours, leaving without comment. Board staff have previously confirmed an investigation is underway.

Tyndall, 71, told a newsman at the lobby door that he is not speaking with reporters. In an earlier comment to the Los Angeles Times, he denied wrongdoing.

"There were lots of things he did that I felt were improper," said Lucy Chi, one of at least half a dozen current and former USC students who have filed lawsuits against Tyndall and the University. Chi said she felt "violated" during a 2012 examination when she was a graduate student.

Tyndall practiced at the campus health center for nearly three decades, but agreed to leave last summer under the terms of a settlement, reached after an internal investigation questioned his examination methodolgy, the University has said.

At the time, the University did not make its concerns public, and did not share its concerns with the Medical Board until March. A report last week in the Times brought forth accusers such as Chi, who said, as individuals, they previously did not think they could challenge a veteran doctor at a prestigious university.

"Defendant USC actively and deliberately concealed Tyndall's sexually abuse for years, continued to grant Tyndall unfettered access to the young female USC students in his care, all to protect Defendant USC's reputation and financial coffers," reads in part the suit filed on behalf of Chi and three other accusers by a team of attorneys led by John Manly and Ronald Labriola.

USC should have contacted law enforcement about Tyndall years ago, Labriola said.

"They paid him to leave," said Manly. "Who does that with this kind of conduct?"

Additional accusers will join the suit next week, the attorneys said.

This week, faculty members presented University administration with a petition calling for University President C.L. Max Nikias to step down, and Wednesday the Academic Senate approved a motion urging his resignation.

Nikias issued an action plan, including creation of a "President's Campus Culture Commission."

The chairman of USC's Board of Trustees, John Mork, Tuesday issued a statement expressing "full confidence in President Nikias' leadership, ethics and values." A day later, the Board's Executive Committee announced a committee will be formed, and outside legal counsel hired, "to conduct an independent investigation into the misconduct and reporting failures that occurred at the USC student health center."

"I thnk that shows they have taken a step back," said law professor Ariela Gross, co-author of the faculty petition. "I hope they have heard our voices to do the right thing."

Chi said she found it odd that Tyndall conducted examinations in his office, and made comments with words such as "pretty" and "tight."

She said he discouraged her from having a chaperone in the room during the examination. Having studied a year of medical school, Chi said it was apparent to her that Tyndall's pelvice and breast examination method was "non-standard," and challenged him, but recalled he "insisted it was better for the exam."

What troubles her even more than her own experience, she said, is the thought of what happened to countless young undergraduate students, many undergoing their first gynecological exams without knowledge of what is proper and what goes beyond.

"I think about those young girls," Chi said. "I want to be a voice for them."
A man who has been on California's death row for more than three decades can't be executed because he's intellectually disabled, the state's highest court ruled Thursday.

In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Robert Lewis Jr., citing "substantial evidence" that the 65-year-old is intellectually disabled, including having low IQ scores and being illiterate.

Lewis was convicted of murder and robbery in the stabbing and shooting death of Milton Estell in Long Beach in October 1983.

Prosecutors had argued that Lewis should remain on death row, saying he managed to successfully gamble in Las Vegas, bantered with police during questioning and has "street smarts."

The court rejected those arguments, citing findings by a lower court judge that Lewis "was not a successful street hustler, having been arrested and convicted numerous times, nor was he adept at deceiving police during his interview."

Jurors deciding Lewis' fate didn't hear evidence of his intellectual disabilities. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states should not execute the intellectually disabled, citing cruel and unusual punishment.

Lewis' attorney, Robert Sanger, said his client's sentence will be reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Sanger, who has argued Lewis' case since 1994, had also sought a new trial for his client but was unsuccessful.

He had argued that Lewis' trial attorney was ineffective and criticized the unusually short length of his trial  just four days. The penalty phase that led to Lewis' death sentence took just over 90 minutes, he said.

"It was a total mess," Sanger said. "The trial was extremely unfair."

Although Sanger believes Lewis deserved a new trial, he said the court's decision overturning his death sentence was a victory.

"I'm very pleased that we can say this: The state is not going to kill Robert Lewis," Sanger said. "It would have been an absolute shame."
A former California Highway Patrol officer has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for embezzling money from a CHP employee club.

Orange County prosecutors say 41-year-old Mark Matthew Linza of Huntington Beach was also ordered Wednesday to pay restitution and to serve three years of informal probation.

In 2014, Linza was named president of The 670 Club, a social organization for CHP employees in the Westminster area.

Prosecutors say he then obtained an ATM card for the account, something that previous presidents had not done.

Linza subsequently made withdrawals and deposited funds into a personal account.
The Los Angeles County jails are run by the sheriff, but the Mexican Mafia wields the power in the underworld behind bars.

The organization made up of leaders from various Latino gangs operated like an illegal government, collecting "taxes" on smuggled drugs, ordering hits on people who didn't follow their rules and even calling the shots on street crimes, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Their clout was diminished as 83 members and associates were charged in a pair of sweeping federal racketeering conspiracies that alleged drug dealing, extortion, violent assaults and even murders.

"We just delivered a blow to a cold-blooded prison gang and their associates," U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said during a news conference.

In an effort to disrupt the gang's stronghold, the suspects will be held in federal facilities, and those already in custody in state prisons will be moved, authorities said.

Sheriff Jim McDonnell acknowledged that others will follow in their wake, as leadership in the gang that operates in most prisons and jails in the state is always changing.

"There will be new leaders, that's kinda how the whole system works. It's hierarchical," McDonnell said. "When one goes to jail or passes away then someone else backfills their spot just like any multilevel organization."

The so-called "gang of gangs"  an organization of imprisoned Latino street gang leaders who control operations inside and outside California prisons and jails  started in the 1950s at a juvenile jail and grew to an international criminal organization that has controlled smuggling, drug sales and extortion inside the nation's largest jail system.

"These Mexican Mafia members and associates, working together to control criminal activity within (LA County jails), have become their own entity or enterprise and effectively function as an illegal government," an indictment said.

The gang was also able to control street crime by using wives, girlfriends and lawyers to help relay orders to be carried out by members who were not incarcerated, an indictment said. In some instances, gang members would deliberately get arrested on low-level charges so they could smuggle drugs into the jail and be released days later.

Because the Mexican Mafia controlled drug trafficking in the jails, they got the first shot to sell their supply of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin or marijuana, prosecutors said. Other groups had to wait and give a third of their contraband to the Mexican Mafia leadership.

The fee, known as a "thirds" tax, gave the name "Operation Dirty Thirds" to the investigation that led to the indictments and arrest of 32 people Wednesday. Another 35 defendants were in custody and 16 were fugitives.

The gang enriched itself through drug sales, taxes on drugs and even collected a share of purchases on candy bars, deodorant and other items at the jail commissary, the indictment said, adding that the gang was able to exert control by threatening and carrying out violence if people didn't pay up or follow the rules.

The gang members were accused of committing vicious beatings, stabbings, kidnappings and murders in retaliation, Hanna said.

The indictment alleges crimes between 2012 and 2016, when a grand jury was convened and before President Donald Trump took office.

Trump has focused on gang violence but has singled out MS-13, pointing to the gang's gruesome crimes in a push for stronger immigration policies.

While MS-13 is associated with the Mexican Mafia, the majority of the crimes listed in the indictments Wednesday are alleged to have been committed by members affiliated with other street gangs.

The jail indictment said Jose Landa-Rodriguez and two now-deceased members of the Mexican Mafia controlled operations in the jail between 2012 and 2016.

Landa-Rodriquez, 55, is accused of sanctioning murders, assaults and the kidnapping and planned murder of a relative of a gang member who defied him, prosecutors said.

Landa-Rodriguez is not a U.S. citizen, though nearly all of the other defendants charged in the indictment are citizens, Hanna said.

A second higher-up, Luis Vega, 33, ordered a murder and directed assaults against those who showed disrespect or didn't obey rules, the indictment said.

One of the group's facilitators was attorney Gabriel Zendejas-Chavez, who was able to carry messages to the gang members while operating under the shield of attorney-client privilege, the indictment said. He is also accused of enabling a plot to extort $100,000 from the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang.

Zendejas-Chavez was arrested Wednesday. A woman who answered the phone at his office was unaware of the arrest and didn't comment.
Millions of Southern Californians will be taking to the roads and airways Friday as the Memorial Day travel crunch goes into high gear, and the large crowds will likely test the patience of motorists and airline passengers.

Los Angeles International Airport officials said they expect 948,000 people to pass through the airport during the Memorial Day travel period, which begins today and continues through Monday. That's up 6 percent from last year.

Today is expected to be the busiest day, with nearly 252,000 passengers expected to pass through the airport. An estimated 117,000 vehicles are expected to descend on the airport to drop off or pick up travelers.

Overall, the Automobile Club of Southern California estimates that a record 3.21 million Southern California residents will be traveling over the holiday weekend. Statewide, 5.19 million Californians are expected to travel, breaking the record of 5.18 million set in 2005.

Among Southern California residents, 2.68 million are expected to travel by car to their destination, while 326,000 people will be traveling by plane. Another 202,000 people will be traveling by recreational vehicle, cruise ship, bus, train or other means of transit.

According to the Auto Club, the most popular destinations for Southern California residents will be Las Vegas, San Diego, the Central Coast, San Francisco and Yosemite National Park.

A joint study by the Auto Club and transportation research group INRIX found that the worst time for Los Angeles residents to hit the road for their vacations will be 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. today, when travel times are forecast to be 1.9 times longer than usual.
A woman has been arrested in connection with the triple murders of an elderly couple and their son in Leimert Park, according to Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department records.

Nancy Jackson, 55, had been sought as person of interest in the case since the three were found dead in the 3900 block of Bronson Avenue Monday night.

She is being held without bail, according to records.

Police said the bodies were found by a relative who went to check on the man who lived at the home, identified as Peter White, 62. The other two victims were identified as White's mother, 77-year-old Orsie Carter, and her husband, 82-year-old William Carter.

"Without being too vivid, it's a case where you have three bodies piled on each other in some way," LAPD Capt. Peter Whittingham said. "...It's just a sad way to spend your last days or your last breath."

According to police, all three victims suffered blunt force trauma to the head, while White and his mother had also been shot.

Police said Wednesday they wanted to talk to a woman named Jackson, who may have been a caretaker for White, who was described as being severely disabled. Reports from the scene indicated that Jackson may have been romantically linked to White and had been living in the home.

Police only referred to her as a person of interest or possibly a material witness, not a suspect. Whittingham even initially suggested that investigators feared she might be in danger.

According to police, a neighbor called one of White's relatives Tuesday after noticing that Orsie Carter's car had been parked at the home for an unusually long time. When the relative came to the home, he spotted the bodies when he looked in a bathroom window.

White's niece, Nashun Carter, told the Los Angeles Times that White's parents lived in Baldwin Hills, and White was trying to evict a woman who lived with him.

"His father and his mother came to try to help him...get the lady out of the house, and I guess it went bad from there," Nashun Carter told The Times.

Friends told the paper White was a retired probation officer and said he had let a friend move in with him because she was down on her luck, but then she refused to leave. Friend Ralph Tilley told The Times that White's mother called him Saturday to ask about the woman, but she called again on Monday and told him the woman had agreed to move out of the home.
What to Know One of the leading voices in the movement, David Hogg, called for the die-in protests Friday afternoon at Publix.

They are protesting Publixs donations to conservative gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, who has been a staunch gun supporter.

On Friday, survivors of the Parkland school shooting protested Publix over the company's donations to politicians - including one top name in the 2018 race for Governor of Florida - that have been endorsed by the National Rifle Association or those who have not been supportive of the gun control movement.

One of the leading voices in the movement, David Hogg, called for the "die-in" protests Friday afternoon inside Publix.

Hogg and around two dozen protesters laid down in one Coral Springs store with the aim of disrupting business. Hogg spoke through a megaphone as pro-Publix and pro-NRA counterprotesters stood nearby.

Some customers walked around the group to pick up items for purchase. The protest lasted for about 12 minutes. Hogg said the 720 seconds represent the number of school shootings in recent history.

The protests started before 6 a.m., when Hogg, parent Manuel Oliver - who lost his son Joaquin in the shooting - were joined by others in drawing 17 chalk outlines of bodies in the parking lot of one location in Coral Springs ahead of the store's opening - one for each of the victims who died at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th.

"This is actually what really happened in Parkland, we lost 17 persons," said Oliver. "One of them was my son. So every time we can show this and make statements out of it, we will do it."



They are protesting Publixs donations to conservative gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, who is pro NRA and anti-LGBTQ, according to the ACLU and the HRC, based on his voting record.

Publix can stand with us. They can pull out their half million dollars from Putnam's campaign and they can double that amount and donate it to the Stoneman Douglas victims fund, said Hogg.

The protest went on as scheduled despite a statement by Publix that they were suspending corporate-funded political contributions.

"At Publix, we respect the students and members of the community who have chosen to express their voices on these issues. We regret that our contributions have led to a divide in our community," Publix's statement read. "We did not intend to put our associates and the customers they serve in the middle of a political debate. At the same time, we remain committed to maintaining a welcoming shopping environment for our customers."



Hogg spoke with several people who came out against the group's actions, with both sides having a peaceful debate.

"From talking to him, I have seen his side and I do agree that mental health is an issue that hes really pushing and that its not about taking away guns from everybody," said Tim Martin, a Republican voter.

"As American citizens, we can sit down and understand that we have disagreements but we can work towards, for example, behavioral health programs," said Hogg.

Im not afraid of big corporations and David is not either, said Oliver. Theres a big group of people that represent one of the biggest corporations ever and its us. And its 97 percent of the nation right now.

Some customers said Publix is not the enemy.

"Publix has a right to contribute to whomever they want to contribute to," said shopper Patrick Johnson. "As a Republican, as a Democrat, as an independent, everyone has that right!"
A former top official for a Long Island town accused of taking bribes from a restaurant owner was acquitted on Thursday of all corruption charges, as a federal jury continued to deliberate on charges facing his two co-defendants, another Long Island politician and his wife.

On its fifth day of deliberations, the jury in Central Islip found John Venditto not guilty of charges including bribery and wire fraud. Venditto had been the Oyster Bay Town supervisor for two decades until his resignation in January 2017.

Deliberations were continuing on criminal charges facing former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and his wife, Linda Mangano.

The indictment against Venditto and Mangano charged them with helping businessman Harendra Singh get guaranteed loans in exchange for bribes. Prosecutors said Linda Mangano had a $100,000-a-year, no-show job.

All three had pleaded not guilty to extortion, bribery and other charges.

Prosecutors said Venditto took $11,400 in limousine services for family and friends from Singh.

Venditto told Newsday as he left the courtroom, "From the very first day I started in law school, I have had nothing but faith in our justice system and the events of today confirm that faith."

As part of his own criminal case, Singh pleaded guilty to paying bribes to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in the form of campaign contributions, in an attempt to resolve a dispute with the city over a restaurant lease there.

The Democratic mayor was not prosecuted. He has denied taking any bribes and suggested Singh pleaded guilty only because he was desperate to get leniency for other corrupt acts.
What to Know Harvey Weinstein is expected to turn himself in Friday on sex-abuse related charges in New York City, a source familiar with the case says

President Trump abruptly canceled his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, blaming "tremendous anger and open hostility" by Pyongyang

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman apologized to anyone who may have felt "uncomfortable or disrespected" by his behavior

Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here.

Weinstein to Face Sex Abuse-Related Charges in NYC, Will Turn Himself in, Sources Say

Movie producer Harvey Weinstein is expected to turn himself in Friday on sex-abuse related charges in New York City, a source familiar with the case says. The revelation comes a day after sources told NBC News that a state grand jury convened to hear evidence in connection with sex abuse allegations against the famed producer. Weinstein is expected to surrender at NYPD's 1st Precinct station sometime Friday morning, according to two sources familiar with the case. He'll be processed, including having his fingerprints and photo taken, and be issued an arrest ID. He will then be transported to 100 Centre St. for his court appearance on a felony complaint stemming from allegations from two women, the sources say. There is no indictment at this time, but it is expected to come in the next week or two. After his court appearance, he's expected to walk out of court on $1 million bail, with an ankle bracelet, sources say.

Trump Cancels Summit With Kim; North Korea Still Wants Talks

President Trump abruptly canceled his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, blaming "tremendous anger and open hostility" by Pyongyang  a decision North Korea called "regrettable" while still holding out hope for "peace and stability." In a letter to Kim announcing his decision to back away from the June 12 summit, Trump pointed to America's vast military might and warned the rising nuclear power against any "foolish or reckless acts." The letter kicked off a day of mixed messages by the president, who declared hours later, "I really believe Kim Jong Un wants to do what's right." After that, a senior White House official said the North lacked judgment and had reneged on its promises ahead of the summit. North Korea issued a statement Friday saying it is still "willing to give the U.S. time and opportunities" to reconsider talks "at any time, at any format."

15 Injured in Explosion at Canada Restaurant; Police Seek 2 Who Detonated IED

Fifteen people were injured after two people detonated an IED in a Canadian restaurant, authorities said. The suspects fled the scene immediately. Police received a call at 10:30 p.m. and responded to reports of an explosion at the Bombay Bhel Restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, Toronto Police Service Constable Iryna Yashnyk said. Twelve people have minor injuries. Three people with serious "blast type" injuries were taken to a Toronto trauma center, according to Peel Regional Police. They are in stable condition. The call came in 30 minutes after the restaurant closed, according to NBC News, but police said patrons are among those injured.

Morgan Freeman Apologizes After Women Accuse Him of Inappropriate Behavior

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman apologized to anyone who may have felt "uncomfortable or disrespected" by his behavior, after CNN reported that multiple women have accused the A-list actor of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior on movie sets and in other professional settings. "Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy," the actor, now 80, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press by his publicist, Stan Rosenfield. "I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected  that was never my intent." The CNN report includes the account of a production assistant on the 2017 heist film "Going In Style," who detailed an incident in which the actor repeatedly tried to lift up her skirt, and asked if she was wearing underwear. She alleged that Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching and comments on a near-daily basis on the film. Several women alleged that he made frequent comments about their bodies, or would stare at them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.

Gwyneth Paltrow Says Brad Pitt Threatened Weinstein After Alleged Sexual Misconduct

Gwyneth Paltrow said ex-boyfriend Brad Pitt threatened to kill producer Harvey Weinstein after an alleged incident of sexual misconduct. The 45-year-old actress shared new details of the encounter during an interview on "The Howard Stern Show." In October, Paltrow revealed the alleged sexual harassment by Weinstein in an interview with The New York Times. The actress claimed she was 22 when Weinstein summoned her to his hotel and placed his hands on her and suggested they go to a bedroom for massages. She said she "immediately left." Paltrow, who was dating Pitt at the time, said she told her boyfriend what happened and Pitt confronted Weinstein at a Broadway opening. Pitt confirmed the incident to the Times. The "Fight Club" actor told the producer that if he ever made Paltrow "feel uncomfortable again, Ill kill you," she told Stern.
Fifteen people were injured after two people detonated an improvised explosive device at an Indian restaurant in Canada late Thursday night, authorities said, as they hunted for the suspects.

Police in Mississauga, Ontario, received a call reporting an explosion at Bombay Bhel restaurant at 10:30 p.m., Toronto Police Constable Iryna Yashnyk said.

Three people with serious "blast type" injuries were taken to a Toronto trauma center, according to Peel Regional Police. They are in stable condition. Twelve more people have minor injuries.

"We have no indication to call it a hate crime or any kind of terrorism act," Peel Region Sergeant Matt Bertram said.

The call came in 30 minutes after the restaurant closed, according to NBC News. Police said patrons are among those injured.

Bertram said police yet cannot say what the device is, adding, "different callers called in and said it was firecrackers or some said gunshot sort of noises. I don't think it was an explosion that was rocking anything."

He said police won't be able to tell what the device was until they can analyze the material.

Both suspects are males, police tweeted. One is described as being in his mid-20s and about 6 feet tall, with a stocky build. He was wearing a dark zip-up hoodie with the hood on over a baseball cap with a light grey peak, and his face was covered with black cloth.

The second suspect is described as being about 5' 10" with faded blue jeans, a grey T-shirt and dark skate shoes. He also had a dark zip-up hoodie pulled over his head and his face covered.

Police expect the plaza where the restaurant is located to be sealed off for the rest of the night, and are seeking the public's help in identifying the suspects who set off the explosives.

The Indian consulate in Toronto tweeted that it opened a helpline for people seeking assistance following the explosion.

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Yashnyk said there are no details available yet on how many people were in the restaurant when the incident took place or what where in the restaurant the blast happened. It is unclear whether any of the injured are employees.

Andre Larrivee, who lives in a nearby condo, said he was watching television and heard a loud explosion.

"It was really loud," he told The Associated Press, comparing the noise to an electric generator that had recently exploded at a nearby construction site.

[[483673181 , C]]

Vikas Swarup, India's High Commissioner to Canada, tweeted that India's Consul General in Toronto visited the injured in the hospital. Additionally, he said the three Indian-Canadians who were reported to be critically injured are stable.



Regarding the bomb blast in an Indian restaurant in Mississauga, while we await details from the police, our Consul General in Toronto has visited the hospital and confirmed that the three Indian-Canadians who were reported to be critically injured are stable now. @HCI_Ottawa  Vikas Swarup (@VikasSwarup) May 25, 2018

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
What to Know The Keystone XL line would begin in Alberta and transport up to 830,000 barrels a day of crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska

The 1,179-mile line proposed by TransCanada Corporation was rejected in 2015 by Obama, but Trump revived the project after taking office

Environmentalists and Native American groups sued to stop the line

Trump administration attorneys were due in a Montana courtroom Thursday to defend the disputed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline against environmental groups and Native American groups that want to derail the project.

The 1,179-mile (1,800-kilometer) line proposed by TransCanada Corporation was rejected in 2015 by former President Barack Obama because of its potential to exacerbate climate change.

President Donald Trump revived the project soon after taking office last year, citing its potential to create jobs and advance energy independence.

Environmentalists and Native American groups sued to stop the line. They're asking U.S. District Judge Brian Morris to overturn its approval by the State Department. They and others, including landowners, are worried about spills that could foul groundwater and the line's impacts to their property rights.

But U.S. government attorneys assert that Trump's change in course from Obama's focus on climate change reflects a legitimate shift in policy, not an arbitrary rejection of previous studies of the project.

"While the importance of climate change was considered, the interests of energy security and economic development outweighed those concerns," the attorneys recently wrote.

Morris previously rejected a bid by the administration to dismiss the suit on the grounds that Trump had constitutional authority over the pipeline as a matter of national security.

Keystone XL would cost an estimated $8 billion. It would begin in Alberta and transport up to 830,000 barrels a day of crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with lines to carry oil to Gulf Coast refineries.

Federal approval is required because the route crosses an international border.

TransCanada, based in Calgary, said in court submissions that the line would operate safely and help reduce U.S. reliance on crude from the Middle East and other regions.

The project is facing a separate legal challenge in Nebraska, where landowners have filed a lawsuit challenging the Nebraska Public Service Commission's decision to approve a route through the state.
An 11-year-old boy is dead after he was hit by an SUV along a South Philadelphia street Friday afternoon, police said. The driver then fled the scene.

Julian Angelucci was riding his bicycle near 10th and Shunk streets just after 3 p.m. when he was struck by a dark colored Mazda SUV, police said.

Witnesses say the boy was dragged several feet before the driver sped away.



Angelucci was rushed to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's trauma center where he died about 30 minutes later, police said.

Ralph Schraber ran to Angelucci's side after the crash and prayed for him to survived.

"I kneeled down and just started rubbing his back and the other gentleman was trying to talk to him," Schraber said.



"He was so young."

Ashley Dambrosia, a neighbor, said drivers often speed through the neighborhood and at times disregard stop signs.

"People need to pay attention when they're driving. There's kids out here playing," she said.

Another neighbor, Dianne Cavaliere, was dismayed that the driver left as the boy lay dying in the street.

"Its just so sad that someone could just do this and run away. I dont understand why they just wouldnt pull over," she said.

Police recovered the vehicle a short distance away. The driver, a 48-year-old woman, turned herself in at the police department's 3rd District a short time later.

She was being questioned Friday night. Charges are pending, Philadelphia police said.

"The death of any child in a hit-and-run is a horrendous and tragic event," Philadelphia District Attorney's Office spokesman Ben Waxman tweeted on Saturday. "[The office] will always aggressively pursue justice in these kinds of cases."


A battle over public use of a stretch of California coast has led to a tentative settlement that would allow only limited access.

The deal involving Hollister Ranch west of Santa Barbara received preliminary approval from a judge who expressed concern the public may not be aware of it and sought to give people an avenue to intervene, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

The settlement would limit access to those who could boat or paddle at least 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) to reach it, visitors with guides and wealthy landowners who have long fought to keep it off limits.

The settlement was signed by the California State Coastal Conservancy and the state Coastal Commission on one side and the Hollister Ranch Owners Association on the other side.

The unusual deal comes as private interests are challenging California's landmark Coastal Act, which enshrines public access to beaches.

Advocates for coastal access were troubled by the terms of the settlement and were taking a close look at it.

"We're about public access for all, not just for some. . This is a lot to give up," said Susan Jordan, executive director of the California Coastal Protection Network. "I'm also troubled by the whole getting there by boat. . Most people don't have boats."

Hollister Ranch has 8.5 miles (13.6 kilometers) of beaches, a 2.2-mile-long (3.5-kilometer) shoreline preserve and 136 privately owned parcels.

The settlement would grant the public less than a mile of beach, accessible only by ocean "via surfboard, paddleboard, kayak or soft-bottom boat." The beach is about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Gaviota State Park beach. The owners association would also expand an after-school tide pool program and organize nonprofit group trips that would bring in about 400 people a year.

The deal also calls for coastal authorities to give up claims to the only land route, which is under legal dispute.

In granting preliminary approval on Monday, Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Colleen Sterne requested that terms of the settlement be published in a local newspaper along with information about how the public may get involved.

"Because the settlement abandons disputed rights of public access, the court raised the issue of whether, and to what extent, notice must, or should, be provided to the affected public," the tentative ruling said.

Attorneys agreed to send a notice to the Santa Barbara News-Press to be published once a week for four weeks.

Coastal Commission executive director Jack Ainsworth said the panel looked forward to public feedback.

He also described Hollister Ranch as "a challenging site with a complicated history."

Monte Ward, president of the Hollister Ranch Owners Assn., said in a statement that the settlement represents a balance of interests including managed public access to the beach, privacy and security of residents, and protection of valuable natural resources.
Some San Diego parents have had it with a controversial sex education program being taught in city schools, and they're prepared to intentionally keep their students out of school in protest of it.

A group called Concerned Parents of San Diego is asking school parents to keep their kids out of school next Tuesday.

The "Sex Ed Opt Out Day" is a one day protest against the San Diego Unified School District boards refusal to remove what the parents call graphic and inappropriate sex education curriculum known as SHEP.

Ashley Bever, a mother and substitute teacher, says the district is simply not listening to parents who are concerned with SHEP.

She showed NBC 7 a book called "It's Perfectly Normal," literature used as supplemental teaching material for the program. The book contains pictures that the station couldnt even show you on TV.

The curriculum talks about things like self-pleasuring, so to have an adult cross that line and talk to children about pleasure, highly inappropriate, Bever said.

Bever supports the movement to keep children out of school next Tuesday in an effort to get the school board's attention.

Take an extra day of vacation on the Tuesday following Memorial Day and let the district know, 'Hey, we're not OK with you not even asking us or including us.

Parents have brought the issue to the school board at least three times in the last year and the board has yet to formally address their concerns.

SHEP is taught to 6th, 8th and 10th-grade students. The district says it's complying with state law and the curriculum is researched-based and increases the overall well-being of students.

Opponents have equated it to pornography, but not everyone agrees with keeping their kids out of school for a day.

I wouldn't support the walkout, I wouldnt' say you shouldnt do a walkout, but I wouldn't join the walkout, parent Heidi Chang said. I saw the curriculum and I was OK with it.

Next Tuesday, Concerned Parents of San Diego has scheduled a rally outside of school district headquarters prior the school board's regularly scheduled meeting.

The SDUSD released the following statement, but did not address the call to keep students out of school for a day:

We encourage all parents to learn the facts about sexual health and how we teach it. Weve created a website to make it easy for parents to get the information they need. Our education program was constructed with input from parents, faith leaders and community residents to comply with the new California Healthy Youth Act. After being informed about the program, less than 1 percent of parents chose to exclude their children from learning about sexual health when the curriculum was implemented districtwide last school year. Anyone who wants more information on sexual health should visit https://www.sandiegounified.org/shep.
The Eagle Scout who says he was berated by an employee of a Virginia hardware store said he was simply exercising what hes learned from Scouting  citizenship, leadership and preparedness.

Daniel Thomas said he was shocked and disappointed by the workers words.

I didnt expect what happened to happen because, just, small town. Everybody is supposed to be nice, he said.

Hes working on a community service project, a kayak shed for a local body of water, and he needed donations.

Lumber, different wood and some hardware, Daniel said.

Nichols Hardware in Purcellville seemed to be a likely option until he and his father encountered one worker.

I approached the counter and I introduced myself, said Im working on my Eagle Scout project, Daniel said.

The father and son said they were thrown out of store.

I asked him if Nichols Hardware would be willing to donate, and he said no and told me to get out, Daniel said.

And I said, Excuse me? said Daniels father, Chip. And at that point he said, You heard me. Leave.

He said, The Scouts have been ruined by the politically correct crowd. Ever since they got a piece of the Scouts and let the homosexuals and the girls in there, its been ruined, Chip Thomas said.

I was kind of shocked, Daniel said. I figured everybody liked the Boy Scouts. We hadnt really done anything to Purcellville to make them hate us.

The Troop 962 scoutmaster issued a statement to News4 reading in part, This incident appears to be an isolated event and does not reflect the broad support that our troop or our fellow troops have received from the citizens of western Loudoun for the last six decades.

The incident is another lesson for Daniel  a tool hes sure to use again in his journey through life.

Dont just give up just because youve been put down, he said.

The store fired that employee this week and issued a statement apologizing for his comments.

The Thomas family said thats sufficient for them.

You dont take that out on a 17-year-old boy seeking a donation for a community service project, Chip Thomas said.

The family accepted the apology and will continue to shop at the store.

Many in the community have offered support to Daniel and Troop 962. You can make contributions to Lovettsville Lions Charities, PO Box 162, Lovettsville, VA 20180 with the memo: Eagle Scouts.
Foreign policy analysts say China is the hidden hand behind the derailment of the United States' summit with North Korea, NBC News reported.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has become increasingly anxious about the potential reunification of the Korean peninsula. After Kim Jong Un's recent meeting in China, there was a noticeable change in Pyongyang's public statements and private actions.

President Donald Trump called off the summit Thursday, telling reporters, "the dialogue was good until recently, and I think I understand why that happened."



"Clearly China wants to position themselves to be a driver in this process," said retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, a former supreme allied commander of NATO and currently the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. "They encouraged Kim Jong Un to step back from the summit."
A nurse practitioner accused of indecently assaulting a patient at an assisted living facility was allegedly caught by a camera hidden by his victim's daughter.

Frank Palin, 67, of Coventry, Rhode Island, was arrested on Sunday by Canton police, according to the Norfolk district attorney's office.

He pled not guilty to a single count of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 65 during his arraignment on Monday in Stoughton District Court.

A Canton police report revealed Palin, a nurse practitioner who works for Old Colony Hospice, was caught on video rubbing an elderly woman's breast and asking her "if it feels good," and saying, "I bet you liked sex when you were younger."

The assault happened at an assisted living facility called Cornerstone at Canton.

In a statement, the Senior Living Resources, company in charge of operations at Cornerstone at Canton, said Palin worked for a third-party hospice agency.

"The alleged violation of a vulnerable elder is appalling beyond words," Bob Larkin, president of Senior Living Resources, said.

"The safety of those entrusted to our care is our top priority," a spokesperson for Old Colony Hospice, Palin's employer, said in a statement. "We are taking this report very seriously and have been working closely with the Canton Police Department as they investigate this case. The employee has been suspended pending further action."

His bail was set at $5,000, and was ordered to stay away from the victim and her family members, his workplace and not work or volunteer with the elderly or disabled. He was also ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device.

At Palin's Coventry home, a family member told NBC10 Boston he wasn't home and refused to comment on the allegations.

He's due back in court on July 30 for a pre-trial conference. It's unclear if he has an attorney.
There have been 152 shootings since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

After that shooting, then-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick convened a task force to make recommendations on how to make schools safer. But more than five years later, and in the wake of two recent deadly school shootings, local school officials say nothing has improved.

Everybody is making a lot of noise, everybody is wringing their hands, the politicians are saying 'We need to do something, we need to do something,' said Brad Jackson, superintendent of the Holliston school system.

We last talked to Jackson right after Newtown.

It is so frustrating that we are back in this room talking about this issue again, he said.

State Representative Tim Whelan, R-Brewster, is a retired state police sergeant and sat on the task force.

One of the 29 recommendations the task force issued in 2014 was to have a school resource officer in every middle and high school in the state.

Whelan is pushing a bill that would let retired police officers take jobs as SROs. He said Massachusetts is way behind in funding school security.

When it comes down to it, there are so many competing interests for money, he said.

The NBC10 Boston Investigators sent surveys to every school district in the state asking how many of the recommendations they had implemented in the last four years. About a quarter answered.

Of the 67 responses:

 30 percent said they dont have enough SROs;

 61 percent dont have a budget line dedicated to school safety;

 61 percent do not have an anonymous threat reporting system;

 36 percent dont have go kits with first aid supplies and emergency procedures in every classroom;

 nearly half have failed to train specific staff members as incident commanders.

Matt Malone has sat on both the state and local sides of the issue. He was the state Secretary of Education and co-chaired the task force.

We have no excuse anymore, he said. We cannot afford to ever not respond.

Now, he is superintendent of Fall River public schools. His district spends about $1 million on school security each year, but he said they still cant afford to adopt several task force recommendations.

Nobody has what they need, he said.

Jackson said it took Holliston two years to save up for door jams for their classrooms. Any security spending comes at the cost of computers, teacher salaries or class sizes. Some call it a civil rights issue.

School safety should not go to the communities that can afford it, he said. Thats lunacy.

Gov. Charlie Baker's office said they couldnt speak to why programs werent funded ...in a bill signed by the previous administration.

But a spokesman for the governor pointed out state agencies do offer services recommended by the task force, including state police assisting schools in assessing threats and providing active shooter training and the state procurement office allowing local school systems to purchase services and goods at discounted rates through existing state contracts.

School systems have prioritized active shooter training, according to the survey, and said the value is immeasurable.

But superintendents called those measures reactive, and said districts need more money to be proactive.

One in six superintendents said they dont have the recommended one psychologist for every 700 students.

My fear is that Im going to miss something, Jackson said. Its the student that showed signs they were unstable and considering doing harm to others. I lay awake at night worrying that we miss that kid.

The state offers grants to address students mental health needs, including for combating bullying and for suicide prevention programs. But that amounts to $500,000 in a $39.4 billion state budget.

I cant even do the mathematics to tell you what percentage that is, Jackson said. But I can assure you its point-oh-oh-oh-something.

In the wake of the Parkland, Florida and Santa Fe, Texas shootings this year, the Massachusetts Senate is set to consider a new budget amendment creating a School Safety Advisory Team, another recommendation from 2014.

That team would focus on advising districts on security issues and providing grants to fund school building improvements.

The recommendations covered things like new door locks, cameras, anti-bullying programs, and at the time the state launched a $250,000 competitive grant program.

But the program was killed the following year when the Baker administration took over. And most of the rest of the recommendations were never funded by the Legislature.
A member of the cleaning crew at a Massachusetts casino has been charged with trying to poison two co-workers she didn't want to work with by pouring cleaning fluid into their sodas.

Alexandria Martel pleaded not guilty Tuesday to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and attempted poisoning.



Police arrested the Attleboro woman Tuesday morning at Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville after co-workers reported that their sodas had been tampered with while left unattended.

A 39-year-old man spit out his drink out after noticing a chemical taste. A 35-year-old woman said her drink tasted bad.

Police said Martel told them she didn't like her co-workers and wanted to make them nauseous so she wouldn't have to work with them that day. The co-workers had reportedly accused her of not cleaning the bathrooms, and she was also said to be angry at not getting invited to eat breakfast with them.

Surveillance video showed Martel standing in front of the woman's cup and raising her arm, appearing to pour something into her co-workers' drink.

A lawyer who represented Martel at her arraignment declined to comment. She is scheduled to return to court next month.

Plainridge Park Casino said it is not allowed to comment, but confirmed that Martel is no longer an employee.


Norfolk missionaries in Cambodia appeal for teachers Norfolk missionaries in Cambodia appeal for teachers

Interserve missionaries Alex and Ellie Hawke, from Norfolk, have made an appeal for Christian teachers to consider the exciting opportunity of moving to Cambodia, to work for a small international school serving missionary families.
How can we feed ten billion people? Professor Cristobal Uauy from John Innes Centre Norwich will speak at St Peter Mancroft church on October 12, organised by Science and Faith in Norfolk group.

How can we feed ten billion people? Professor Cristobal Uauy from John Innes Centre Norwich will speak at St Peter Mancroft church on October 12, organised by Science and Faith in Norfolk group.

People with sight loss welcome in Norfolk churches The Torch Trust will be running a series of taster sessions to help churches welcome blind and partially sighted people. Read more

King's Lynn church relaunches the Welcome Inn A family atmosphere with free drinks and cakes once again awaits lonely people in Kings Lynn as the Welcome Inn reopens its doors. Read more

Do we really understand who Jesus is? Nigel Fox asks if we have an adequate view of Jesus as He is, and challenges some of our pre-conceptions. Read more

Norwich audience hears plea to politicians after Covid Politicians need to rediscover the importance of family, of faith and of place in politics after the Covid pandemic has sparked a change in community and what is possible, argued former Labour minister Ruth Kelly at the latest Newman Lecture in Norwich. Read more

Bishop of Norwich welcomes refugees with picnic The Bishop of Norwich has held a picnic for refugees from Syria and Afghanistan in the garden of his home near Norwich Cathedral. Read more

Ring the bells at N Norfolk Christmas fayre Visitors to Upper Sheringham Christmas Fayre next month will get the opportunity to ring the newly restored church bells. Read more

Eaton quilt of kindness displays bright things from darks times When the pandemic hit last year, community groups were unable to meet in person, but the Quilt Crafters Group from Eaton came up with an idea. Vivien Humber explains. Read more

Norwich Cathedral hosts Benedictine study day All are welcome to join a Benedictine Study Day at Norwich Cathedral on October 16 when Fr Luigi Gioia, an award-winning author and international lecturer on Benedictine spirituality, will speak on Benedicts Rule of Life. Read more

Norfolk charity vacancies for youth team If you have a passion for serving the community and meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of children and young people, ENYP could have the job for you. Read more

Norwich Bishop gives Norfolk honey to Pope Francis Pope Francis has been presented with a jar of honey and a bee facemask from Norfolk by the Anglican Bishop of Norwich, who met him at the Vatican in Rome during a private audience alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury. Read more

Thanksgiving service for brave Norwich preacher A funeral and thanksgiving service for courageous Norwich Methodist preacher Colin Gillett, who died recently in Pakistan, is to be held in Norfolk after his body was repatriated to the UK. Read more

Norwich foodbank braced for winter demand spike Norwich foodbank is bracing itself for a spike in demand this winter as households face a perfect storm of financial pressures with soaring energy costs, the cut in Universal Credit and the end of furlough. Read more

I shall pray for you whether you like it or not! Ian Boughton has been wondering whether or not we should tell people we are praying for them. Read more

Monthly teaching mornings resume online The Way of The Spirit Norwich begins a new cycle of monthly teaching mornings, starting on zoom on Saturday October 9, packed with the Bible and life! Read more

Learn to write creatively at North Norfolk retreat Norfolk writer Jane Walters, who writes a regular column for Network Norfolk, is running a creative writing retreat at the Pleasaunce in Overstrand next month and bookings are now being taken. Read more

Dinosaurs, evolution and religion lecture Beneath the skeleton of a fossilised Diplodocus from the Natural History Museum, Dr Nick Spencer gave a fascinating lecture in Norwich Cathedral about dinosaurs, evolution and religion. Read more

King's Lynn church goes industrial to enlarge its site In a year when many churches remained closed, the Kings Glory Church in Kings Lynn opened a new centre on an industrial estate. Read more
Boss on six-month sabbatical in New Zealand to assess post-Brexit impact on rural economy

Tom Bishop on his fact-finding trip to New Zealand

Farmer and land agent Tom Bishop has jetted off to New Zealand for six months so he can be better informed about farming without subsidies.

New Zealand abandoned its subsidy system overnight more than 30 years ago, with many farmers facing a tough time as a result.

But many others have done well and Mr Bishop, an associate partner at BCM Rural Property Specialists at Sutton Scotney, near Winchester, Hampshire, wants to find out what lies behind the different outcomes.

Here in the UK, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has made no secret that the current English subsidy system will end, possibly as soon as in five years time, with farm payments depending instead on environmental or animal welfare improvements.

Mr Bishop said: I will be talking to a wide variety of farmers, landowners, and investors and following the trail around farming enterprises as my quest develops.

Mr Bishop is also director of a business managing and farming more than 6,500 acres of arable land and a flock of 3,500 flock of ewes split between Southern England and the Welsh Hills of Carmarthenshire.

He said: My farming and land agency in the UK gives me an insight into a wide variety of different problems and Im hoping that what I learn during my six-month sabbatical will equip me to hold a series of small-group seminars when I return, each tailored to a particular audience type.

I will also be blogging and tweeting as I travel and have an open mind about what I may find.

I have arranged to see a range of enterprises, from smallholders who went out of business to international investors and agribusiness companies.

As news of my trip has spread among colleagues and clients, Im getting even more suggestions of people I might visit and offers of introductions.

Many of these may be useful but I want to follow my nose, depending on what I find, and see how the trip develops.
From lions to loungers - travel blog with Triangle Travel's Jessica Munday

Well, what can I say! So very pleased to announce Triangle Travel has won have yet another award.

We are so proud of everything we have achieved, however this one really is the Oscars of the travel industry.

Drum roll...From over 50 other independent agents we have won the Travel Trade Gazette Top Travel Agency (South East) 2018.

Like true celebrities we want to show off our award. Of course we have four branches, so we are taking it in turns - I wonder if the cast of Corrie have the same problem when they win an award, or do they get one each?

Never ones to stand still, we have been on our travels too. Sue has just returned from South Africa, Rachel is currently in Turkey with Mark Warner Holidays, and I am just back from a Royal Caribbean Cruise.

Did you know there are less that 500 white lions left in the world? Well....Sue and her partner were enjoying an early morning coffee stop during their game drive from Pumba Private Game Reserve. Imagine their shock when two BIG (and I've seen the photos) white male lions decided to creep up on the party. Needless to say they did not finish their coffee, and were whisked away by their guide - they can laugh about it now luckily!

Rachel has been making us drool with her fabulous pictures of the beautiful Mark Warner Resort in Turkey. Upon her return, we will be having a "Meet the Expert", Mark Warner Open Day. Do come along and learn about the water sports, and activities you can get involved in on these fantastic family/group holidays. I should also mention there will be some fabulous prizes - Thurday 31st May at our Newbury Branch.

I have just sampled two nights on board Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. She has recently had a major upgrade, and has some fantastic new facilities. We experienced Grease the Musical, and an amazing Take That tribute band. The food is out of this world, and with over 20 years in travel, I can honestly say the best breakfast I have ever eaten. We also sampled sushi in the latest Japanese restaurant and Italian cuisine in the a-la-carte restaurant. We were lucky enough to have some fabulous weather, so also sampled the latest outdoor water slides. You're never too old!

I've had some interesting requests this week. Not all of them travel related either. I've been asked to help with an injured bat, and have also been asked if we appear on Rightmove. We can of course move you; however, generally to an exotic destination, rather than a new home.

We also had a mystery shopper in on Monday. I am pleased to say he was so impressed with our service, he actually came back for a "real" holiday. What a great compliment.

Whether its straightforward or spectacular, close to home, or faraway, Team Triangle have got it covered. Pop in and meet the team in the Market Place, Newbury (opposite Bills Restaurant). Jessica, Sue, Rachel and Rob will give you a really warm welcome.
Roxbury Congregational Church at 24 Church St. will hold a pancake breakfast May 26 from 8 to 10 a.m.

Gluten-free pancakes will be available.
Wendy Wan, 31, said American infant formula is advertised in her native China as the most nutritious food for a newborn.

"It sounds like it's premium," said Wan, who gave birth in early May at Beverly Hospital here. Wan said she was skeptical of the ads and had planned to feed her baby son only breast milk. But when her milk failed to come in quickly, she didn't hesitate to supplement it with formula.

"I prefer breastfeeding, but I think it's almost the same," she said from her hospital bed the day after her son was born.

It's not the same. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life because of the well-known health benefits for both infants and mothers. Women, like Wan, who start with the intention of feeding their babies exclusively breast milk but then supplement it with formula while still in the hospital are nearly three times more likely to stop breastfeeding within two months, according to one study.

California has made significant progress in recent years promoting exclusive breastfeeding in hospitals, but many women aren't sticking with it. All but a small fraction of women start breastfeeding while in the hospital, but nearly one-third introduce their babies to formula before leaving, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.

And significant disparities  both ethnic and socioeconomic  persist. While women of color are exclusively breastfeeding their babies more frequently than in the past, they still lag far behind whites: In 2016, nearly 82 percent of white moms gave their infants only breast milk in the hospital, compared with 60 percent of black moms and 65 percent of Asian and Latina moms, according to the department's data. (Data for individual race groups exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity, who can be of any race.)

Wide gaps also separate California's counties and hospitals. Some facilities reported exclusive breastfeeding rates of more than 90 percent and others less than 25 percent. Some of the hospitals with the lowest rates are in lower-income communities. The statewide average is 69 percent.

"Where you deliver  and what race you are have a huge impact on breastfeeding," said Arissa Palmer, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Breastfeed LA. "Those are barriers that we haven't touched the surface on."

In an effort to diminish the disparities and improve the health of babies, state law requires hospitals to implement concrete measures to promote breastfeeding no later than 2025.

Research shows that breastfeeding babies can reduce their risk of obesity, diabetes and asthma. It can also lessen the chance of heart disease and cancer in mothers.

Nationally, non-Hispanic black babies are significantly less likely to breastfeed than non-Hispanic whites or Hispanics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana and Arkansas have the lowest breastfeeding rates in the U.S. Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Washington have the highest.

About 60 percent of women in the U.S. stop breastfeeding before they had initially intended to, the CDC said. Among the reasons: worries about their infants' weight, problems with latching, unsupportive policies at work and lack of education about the benefits of breastfeeding.

Another factor may be the unintended consequences of patient satisfaction scores, said Carmen Rezak, maternal-child health quality coordinator for AHMC Healthcare, a Southern California hospital chain. Because patient ratings are tied to hospital reimbursement, nurses are sometimes afraid to deny patients wishes. They may not want to tell relatives they cannot visit, for example, even if more privacy and quiet time do encourage breastfeeding, Rezak said.

The publication of statewide data on exclusive breastfeeding rates places "pressure on hospitals" to really look at their policies and practices compared with their competitors, said Jen Goldbronn of the state's public health department.

One of the best-known ways to increase rates of exclusive breastfeeding is by following the "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding." These include helping mothers start nursing within one hour of birth, not giving formula to babies unless medically necessary and informing all pregnant women about the benefits of breastfeeding.

The organization Baby-Friendly USA requires hospitals seeking its "baby-friendly" seal to follow the 10 steps. In California, nearly 100 hospitals have that designation, up from 12 in 2006. The state law requiring hospitals to have breastfeeding support measures in place by 2025 specifically names the 10 steps, but also allows hospitals to adopt alternative practices proven to encourage breastfeeding.

Trish MacEnroe, executive director of Baby-Friendly USA, said hospitals across the country used to discourage breastfeeding inadvertently by whisking babies away to nurseries. Now, newborns typically stay in the room with the mother and start nursing immediately after birth. Urging moms to hold their babies "skin to skin" right after birth helps encourage breastfeeding because of the physical proximity, according to research.

Some of the hospitals with the lowest rates of exclusive breastfeeding in the state are Whittier Hospital, at 20 percent, and Monterey Park Hospital, at 22 percent. The two hospitals, both run by AHMC Healthcare, serve a high number of Asian moms and others who come to the country for the sole purpose of giving birth, Rezak said.

Foreign parents are among the most difficult to convince about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, in part because of cultural barriers or myths about the value of formula, she said. Education is also important, Rezak said. Hospital staff try to teach all new moms to recognize when their infants are hungry or tired.

At PIH Health Hospital Whittier, moms who want formula have to sign a form acknowledging they understand their decision, said Valerie Martin, clinical director of maternity care. The hospital's rate of exclusive breastfeeding is 80 percent, compared with 33 percent at its sister hospital in Downey.

At Beverly Hospital, where Wan gave birth, nurses show patients different positions for breastfeeding and reinforce the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. But they also try not to push new mothers, said Melissa Morita, director of maternal and child health.

Peng Peng, who lives in China, came to the U.S. about a month before giving birth to her daughter, Ella Lang, at the hospital earlier this month. Peng, 34, said that soon after Ella was born, a nurse gave her formula because her blood sugar was low.

Peng said she didn't mind too much but still wanted to breastfeed as much as possible.

"It's natural and it's more nutritious," she said. "But I'm not super against formula."

This story also ran on VICE News' Tonic. This story can be republished for free (details).

KHN's coverage of these topics is supported by Blue Shield of California Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Heart doctors from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Council on Stroke are calling on national health authorities for permission to provide stroke patients with mechanical thrombectomy, a life-saving treatment for acute ischaemic stroke, in regions where there is a lack of trained specialists. Details of the proposal are presented today at EuroPCR 2018.

"We have evidence that after a short period of training on the procedure, interventional cardiologists treating acute ischaemic stroke achieve the same results as traditional interventional neuroradiologists," said Professor Petr Widimsky, Chair of the ESC Council on Stroke.

Acute ischaemic stroke is a severe form of the condition where a blood vessel to the brain becomes blocked. It accounts for up to four in five strokes, or over one million cases in Europe each year.

Without treatment most patients die or are severely disabled and permanently bedridden. Even with clot-busting drugs, 75% of patients die or are severely disabled. With mechanical thrombectomy, a procedure to physically remove the clot and restore blood flow to the brain, about half of patients survive and function normally. If performed within two to three hours of symptom onset, the rate of survival with normal neurological function rises to more than 70% of patients.

In Europe, mechanical thrombectomy is currently provided by interventional neuroradiologists, but there is a severe shortage of these specialists. Even countries with the most specialists, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, only have sufficient numbers to treat around one-third of acute ischaemic stroke patients. In some other countries, less than 1% of acute ischaemic stroke patients can be treated.

Professor Widimsky said: "There are interventional cardiology units in all countries in Europe and the Americas, and in most other continents. The equipment for mechanical thrombectomy is available; it's the trained specialists to perform the procedure that are lacking. This situation could be solved by training cardiologists to perform mechanical thrombectomy."

The ESC Council on Stroke is proposing that interventional cardiologists receive three months of training on how to do mechanical thrombectomy, rather than the typical two years required for other physicians. "Many interventional cardiologists routinely perform stenting of the carotid arteries so three months of training is sufficient to learn intracranial mechanical thrombectomy," said Professor Widimsky. "It is up to health authorities in each country to decide if they will allow this."

The proposals are being put forward by the ESC Council on Stroke and the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions, a branch of the ESC.
A recent article by Kessler Foundation researchers compared two neuropsychological tests for assessing learning in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). The article, "Comparing the Open Trial - Selective Reminding Test results with the California Learning Verbal Test II in Multiple Sclerosis" was published online on April 4, 2018, in Applied Neuropsychology: Adult.

This is the first study to compare the two tests in the same individuals with MS. The authors are Silvana L. Costa, PhD, John DeLuca, PhD, Kristen Costanza and Nancy Chiaravalloti, PhD of Kessler Foundation.

Researchers administered the tests to 112 individuals with MS, 79 women and 33 men. Results showed clear differences in performance on the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-II) and the Open Trial Selective Reminding Test (OT-SRT). On the OT-SRT, all participants were identified as impaired, while only 34 percent were similarly identified on the CLV-TII. Differences in administration of the tests may explain this disparity. With the OT-SRT learning and memory are tested with minimal reliance on other cognitive abilities. With the CVLTII, reliance on other cognitive abilities is more prominent, likely affecting the testing results.

"It is essential that the neuropsychological assessment accurately pinpoint the deficits in MS," said Dr. Costa, the lead author. "This is fundamental to developing interventions to address these deficits, and tailoring cognitive rehabilitation programs for maximal outcomes in this population."
Abusive head trauma (AHT), a medical diagnosis of infants and young children who suffer from inflicted intracranial and associated spinal injuries, is often misrepresented in legal proceedings of child abuse, according to a consensus statement supported by nine pediatric and radiology international organizations published in Pediatric Radiology. The statement outlines consensus of evidence-based medical opinion on AHT to confirm the validity of the diagnosis and serve as a tool for the legal system.

"When pivotal medical testimony on child abuse is contradictory, the message to the courts, the news media, and the general public about infant injuries and safe caregiving can be confusing and inaccurate," said Arabinda Choudhary, MD, chair of pediatric radiology at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE. "Denialism of child abuse has become a significant medical, legal and public health problem. This article will help re-establish the science of abusive head trauma and will undoubtedly help children and their advocates around the world."

The authors of the paper utilized their collective and extensive clinical experience, as well as an empirical review of the medical literature in developing the consensus statement. AHT is the leading cause of fatal head injuries in children younger than two years old and is responsible for 53 percent of serious or fatal traumatic brain injury cases. The statement was supported by the Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR), European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR), American Society of Pediatric Neuroradiology (ASPNR), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR), American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), Swedish Paediatric Society, Norwegian Pediatric Association and Japanese Pediatric Society.

No single injury defines AHT, instead pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists make diagnosis based on information collected through clinical history, physical examination, and laboratory and imaging data. In many children's hospitals, an interdisciplinary team of specialists that includes physicians, nurses, hospital social workers and others works together to evaluate cases.

The consensus statement is intended to help the court system recognize unsubstantiated medical expert testimony in child abuse judicial cases. Key points include:

Abusive head trauma is the current most appropriate and inclusive diagnostic term.

Relatively few infants with AHT have isolated intracranial injury without retinal hemorrhages, fractures or other manifestations of child abuse.

Each infant suspected of suffering AHT must be further evaluated for other diseases that might present with similar findings.

There is no reliable medical evidence that other medical causes could cause injuries mimicking abuse injuries.

There is no controversy about the methodology used to diagnose AHT as a medical disease, unrelated to the legal determination by a judge or jury.

"Abusive head trauma is a medical diagnosis, not a legal determination. Even if medical evidence supports a finding of child abuse, non-medical evidence is required to answer the legal questions," said Choudhary.

Source: https://www.nemours.org/
Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and collaborators have discovered that genetic mutations called epivariations are the cause of certain neurodevelopmental disorders and congenital diseases.

Credit: T-flex/Shutterstock.com

The scientists say the discovery could lead to more advance diagnostic tools for diseases such as autism and congenital heart disease.

Epivariations are changes in DNA that do not affect the DNA sequence, but cause a change in gene function.

Our study suggests that these epigenetic mutations are a significant contributor to human disease." Andrew Sharp, Lead Investigator

Since conventional genetic testing analyzes the DNA sequence, new tests are needed to identify disorders caused by epivariations.

The epivariation observed in this study was caused by excess DNA methylation  the addition of a methyl group to a molecule of DNA.

As reported in Nature Communications, Sharp and team assessed the genetic profiles of 489 individuals with neurodevelopmental or congenital disorders.

All the participants had previously undergone genetic testing that had not identified any DNA mutations.

Scientists have long believed that these disorders have a genetic basis and Sharp and colleagues suspected that epivariations in the DNA could be what is causing the gene dysfunction that leads to disease.

When the team performed methylation profiling to determine the DNA methylation within each patients genome, they found epivariations that could be the cause of disease in around 20% of the cohort.

Furthermore, the researchers also profiled more than 5,000 genomes of people without the disorders and found that epivariations are relatively common and can generally be identified using a blood test.

Currently, conventional genetic testing methods such as whole-genome sequencing are used worldwide to screen thousands of human genomes.

These findings can open up a whole new world in what we know about disease and genetic profiling. Andrew Sharp, Lead Investigator

Sharp says that investigating DNA methylation when profiling genomes for disease mutations could help uncover causative defects in congenital and neurodevelopmental diseases that have eluded researchers for years.
Researchers at Portland State University have developed methods for measuring levels of free-base nicotine in electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) liquids and vapor, the levels of which are associated with harshness upon inhalation of e-cigarette vapors and tobacco smoke.

The study presents the results of analyses of 11 commercially available flavors of e-cigarette liquids from brands including Element, The Mad Alchemist, Adirondack Vapor, and an industry leader, JUUL. Among the samples tested, the free-base proportions for JUUL's "Fruit Medley" and "Creme Brulee" flavors were among the lowest. The JUUL fluids are also set apart by their very high total nicotine levels. The JUUL products are low free-base with high total nicotine, the perfect combination for tolerating inhalation of a vape aerosol in which the particles have a high nicotine concentration. As the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology put it in a tweet, "Nicotine state in e-cigarette liquids by NMR. JUUL: high nicotine+low fraction free base = high dose inhalable aerosol."

According to David Peyton, a Portland State University professor and co-author of the study, in many e-cigarette liquids on the market nicotine is often predominately in its free-base form, which can provide a harsh and unpleasant vaping experience at high nicotine levels. But, JUUL adds benzoic acid to its e-cigarette liquids, which reduces free-base nicotine proportion while maintaining the total nicotine delivery.

While JUUL markets its e-cigarette as an alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes for adults, some say the product's sleek, easily-concealable design, and novel flavors contribute greatly to its growing popularity among youth. The PSU study shows how the high-dose inhalable aerosol is almost certainly critically important.

With more youth reporting using e-cigarettes, products like JUUL are coming under increasing scrutiny. To slow an impending public health crisis related to e-cigarette use, state and federal lawmakers are pushing for regulations. In San Francisco, the public will soon vote on whether to ban the sale of candy-flavored e-cigarette liquids within city limits. However, as Peyton noted, the inclusion of smoothing agents like acids in certain e-cigarette liquids should also be of great concern to community health experts and policymakers.

Source: https://www.pdx.edu/news/how-harsh-your-e-cigarette-portland-state-study-measures-free-base-form-nicotine-electronic
Jodie Dionne-Odom, M.D., assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Division of Infectious Diseases and chief of Women's Health Services at UAB's 1917 Clinic, has been awarded a five-year, $841,000 K23 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. The award will fund a randomized controlled phase II study to determine the efficacy and safety of a new antibiotic regimen to prevent malaria and other infections during pregnancy among women living with HIV in Cameroon.

Currently, more than 3 billion people are at risk of contracting malaria, and pregnant women with HIV in Africa are at heightened risk. In a resource-limited setting, Dionne-Odom's research will hopefully find an effective prophylaxis for these patients that will improve adverse birth outcomes, improve maternal health and combat the spread of malaria in vulnerable populations.

"Women in sub-Saharan Africa are at a very high risk of getting malaria and having complications of pregnancy as a result of infection, and malaria and HIV are leading causes of death in Cameroon," Dionne-Odom said. "We're hoping to identify a successful regimen to prevent common infections in this exposed population that will in turn improve pregnancy and birth outcomes, while helping other at-risk women across the world in the future."

When pregnant women are infected with malaria, a vector-borne disease transmitted through mosquito bites, they can suffer with fevers, malaise and anemia. The disease can also impact the infant, causing prematurity, low birth weight, congenital infection or even stillbirth.

The study, which is currently enrolling patients, will be conducted at two sites -; Mboppi Baptist Hospital in Douala, Cameroon, and Baptist Hospital in Mutengene, Cameroon. As the associate director of the UAB Cameroon Health Initiative (CHI-UAB) team, Dionne-Odom will be working in tandem with in-country experts from the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services and faculty members from the University of Buea for the duration of the study.

While Dionne-Odom is the lead investigator, an on-the-ground team in Cameroon working at four hospital facilities includes a project coordinator, four research nurses, two research assistants, a pharmacist, clinicians and administrators. This malaria project is one of several ongoing CHI-UAB global research projects focusing on improving maternal and child health.

The study will enroll 310 women over a two-year period.

Dionne-Odom was recently awarded the 2018 UAB Pittman Scholar Award for Excellence in Research.

Source: https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/9484-researcher-awarded-k23-grant-to-study-malaria-prevention-in-pregnant-women-in-cameroon
New Delhi: State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Friday reported a net loss of Rs 3,102.34 crore for the January-March quarter of 2017-18 due to higher provisioning for mounting bad loans.

The lender had registered a net profit of Rs 154.72 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2016-17.

Provisions for bad loans jumped to Rs 7,052.53 crore in the March quarter, from Rs 2,425.07 crore in the same period of 2016-17, according to a regulatory filing by the bank.

Total income dropped to Rs 12,735.16 crore in the last quarter of 2017-18 from Rs 12,852.44 crore in the year-ago period.

Asset quality of the bank worsened as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans surged to 12.26 per cent of gross advances as on March 31, 2018, against 10.46 per cent as on March 31, 2017. In absolute value, gross NPAs were Rs 56,480.39 crore, up from Rs 42,718.70 crore a year ago.

Net NPAs were at 5.49 per cent (Rs 23,482.65 crore) as of March 2018 against 4.72 per cent (Rs 18,080.18 crore) in the year ago period.

The bank said its board of directors at the meeting held today did not declare any dividend for 2017-18.

Besides, the board approved to raise additional fund of Rs 10,000 crore until March 2019 and more if needed.

Of this, Rs 6,000 crore is to be raised through common equity capital through various modes and Rs 4,000 crore by way of additional tier I/II capital instruments to be floated in India or overseas in suitable tranches.

Shares of the bank closed 1.80 per cent up at Rs 141.20 on BSE.
Srinagar: The Army has ordered a court of inquiry against Major Leetul Gogoi for his conduct after he was found at a hotel in Srinagar in the company of a young girl. Army chief Bipin Rawat on Friday said he will be given exemplary punishment if he is found guilty of any offence.

Major Gogoi was briefly detained by police in Srinagar on May 23 after an altercation when he was allegedly trying to enter a hotel with an 18-year-old woman.

An MoD spokesperson said, "The Army has ordered a court of inquiry and appropriate action will be taken after the inquiry is finalised."

Top officers of the Jammu and Kashmir police have shared information with the Army about their probe into the incident.

"If any officer of the Indian army is found guilty of any offence, we will take strictest possible action," Rawat told reporters at Pahalgham while on a visit to the Army Goodwill School.

"If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I assure you that he will be awarded punishment at the earliest...the punishment will set an example," the army chief said.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has initiated an inquiry into the incident involving Gogoi, whose decision to tie a civilian to the bonnet of his vehicle in Kashmir last year sparked a row.

According to a police official, the latest incident took place on the morning of May 23 when Major Gogoi along with his driver, also an armyman, and the woman approached the front desk of a hotel at Dalgate to check-in.

The booking was made online in the name of Leetul Gogoi for two guests for one night, the police official, who did not want to be identified, told PTI.

According to the police, which recorded statements of the hotel staff as well as the three persons, the Major was informed that he could not enter the room with the accompanying woman which led to an altercation between the staff and Gogoi's driver.

Immediately, other hotel staff members caught hold of the army officer and his driver and called the police.

Inspector General of Police (Kashmir Range) Swayam Prakash Pani ordered a probe into the incident by Superintendent of Police (North). Pani has directed that the report be submitted at the earliest, the official said.

Police have asked for the hotel's CCTV footage as well as the room reservation form filled by the Major, as part of its probe.

A team of Major Gogoi's Army unit arrived along with Military Police and the two were handed over by the local police after recording their statements, the official said. The Major claimed it was a 'source meeting', the police official added.

The "sobbing woman" told the police that she knew the driver of the army officer and had accompanied him to Srinagar, the official added.

Gogoi had hit the headlines last year in April when he tied a local Farooq Ahmed Dar to his jeep and paraded him through 28 villages in Budgam district apparently to escape the stone pelting. The Army had defended the action and claimed that it was committed in good faith to save lives of many soldiers and polling staff from violent stone-pelters in Utligam village of Beerwah.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Days after it came to light that the initial deaths in Nipah virus cases were due to bats found in a well, doctors on ground in Kerala said that it is yet to be determined if the mammals were the main source. A doctor suggested that a research should be conducted to look into possibilities of re-emergence of the virus from the first outbreak two decades ago.

According to Dr Ajit Bhaskar, a pulmonologist from Kozhikode, the veterinary team conducting tests on ground in Kerala have informed that the bats found in the well were not fruit bats, which cause the spread of Nipah virus.

The team, with members from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), had sent the bat to be tested at National Institute of Virology (NiV), Pune

The visiting national health officials had tied the initial deaths to "many bats" in a well in Kerala from which the victims drew water, the Kerala government said.

Four days have passed since the central health ministry rushed a team to Kerala to contain the outbreak of the rare virus, which has killed 12 people so far and has 13 confirmed cases in the state.

Bhaskar also dismissed that the bat droppings (a rumour which spread in Kottayam) could have led to a more widespread virus.

Certain books mention that the virus can stay dormant in a person for 11 years, he said. This is the new theory doctors are mulling over after Indias first outbreak in Siliguri, in 2001.

The virus could stayed dormant in some of the infected areas, and has now re-emerged, Bhaskar suggested.

The outbreak, he repeated is certainly localised. The ministry is also putting out daily statements regarding it and has said that the outbreak is under control and there is no need to panic.

The outbreak was in Perambra, the patients infected in Malappuram had visited the hospital where the first set of patients were admitted, and the medical staff getting ill had been in close contact with them all.

Though, on Wednesday, two more cases were rumoured to have been found in Mangalore, Karnataka, the virology laboratory in Manipal University did not identify them as Nipah to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which is also monitoring the situation on ground.

The virus, is most likely spreading from close contact, and is not airborne, said Bhaskar.

The way to contain it was to limit movement as much as possible. People must remain in their houses as much as they can and only go to a hospital when it is absolutely necessary. Hospitals being places where others are getting infected, the doctor claimed.

Well know in about two weeks how much it has spread, he said. That is the viruss incubation period, thus, anyone getting infected now will show symptoms by then.

Containment measures are in place, said Dr. R Gangakhedkar, head of communicable disease at the ICMR. Patients are isolated, their close contacts are under watch and the medical staff has been given protective gear. The well in Perambra has been sealed, he told News18.

He echoed Bhaskar in describing how localised the spread was, as all cases till date, were related to the first family that got infected. There were no new cases from the community, he said, unconnected to anyone who had been on contact with the already infected.

Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey on Thursday said the outbreak of Nipah virus in Kerala is a "localised" occurrence and people need not panic, amid reports of dead bats being found on the premises of a government school in Himachal Pradesh.
Bihar: A special NIA court on Friday convicted all five accused in the 2013 Bodh Gaya serial blasts. Judge Manoj Kumar found Haider Ali alias Black Beauty, Imtiaz Ansari, Umar Siddiqui, Azharuddin Quraishi and Mujibullah Ansari guilty of planting bombs around the Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya on July 7, 2013.

A Tibetan monk and a tourist were injured in the blast, which took place in the morning when a large crowd had gathered near the sacred Bodhi tree for morning prayers. Nine blasts within thirty minutes rocked the peaceful city of Bodh Gaya, marking the first terrorist attack on the soil of Bihar.

The terrorists had planted a cylinder bomb under the Bodhi tree as well which luckily did not explode.

The NIA said terrorist organisation SIMI was behind the blasts. SIMI had allegedly hatched a conspiracy to target the Buddhist site to avenge alleged killing of Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar army.

The NIA revealed that Haider Ali, who had been radicalised by SIMI member Umar Siddiqui in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, was the mastermind of the attack. He received explosives from Raipur and came back to Bodh Gaya. After reconnoitring the place a number of times, he entered the temple premises in the guise of a Buddhist monk.

Umar Siddiqui and Azharuddin Quraishi are natives of Chhattisgarh and the rest of the accused belong to Jharkhand.

The five convicts are also suspects in the 2013 October 23 blasts in Patnas Gandhi Maidan, which took place while Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was addressing a rally. Seven people had died and hundred others injured in the seven blasts which became a major political issue in the run up to 2014 general elections.

The court will announce the quantum of punishment on May 31.
Islamabad: Pakistan's ousted premier Nawaz Sharif on Friday demanded an urgent meeting of the high-powered National Security Committee (NSC) to discuss the content of a book co-authored by former spy chiefs of Pakistan and India.

Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from August 1990 till March 1992, along with Indian former RAW chief AS Dulat has written "The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace". The book was released on Wednesday.

Sharif demanded that whatever Durrani wrote in the book should also be discussed in the meeting of NSC, days after a similar meeting was convened by the Committee to condemn his statement over the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, in an attempt to draw a parallel to his remarks.

In an interview to the Dawn newspaper earlier this month, Sharif had said: "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?

The Committee later condemned his remarks, irking Sharif, who is trying to resurrect his image after being disqualified by the Supreme Court on July 28 last year.

Separately, former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani and prominent leader of Pakistan Peoples' Party also criticised the joint book by rival spy chiefs.

"It is shocking that on the one hand Pakistan and India relations are at an all-time low and on the other hand, former spy chiefs of both the countries are teaming up to write a book, the former Senate chairman said.

He said a lot of noise would have been made had a civilian teamed up with the RAW chief to write a book.

"Had a politician done the same thing he would have been labelled a traitor," Rabbani said.
New Delhi: She is very simple, unlike the left wing activists, said the volunteer of Rashtra Sevika Samiti while introducing V Shantha Kumari, who is the pracharika and samitis Pramukh Sanchalika since 2012.

The samiti is the womens wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It was founded by Laxmibai Kelkar in 1936.

In an exclusive interview with News18s Eram Agha, Shantha Kumari spoke about the plans of her organisation and on a host of issues concerning the national polity and society.

Kumari said her organisation worked on creating bonds among different groups by focusing attention on 'Bharat ki Soch'. Speaking about the problem of marital rape, she said that law should not be brought into everything.

Kumari, also known as Shantakka, championed the garbh vigyan sanskar of the RSS, which lays emphasis on having a desirable child through imparting right values while the child is still in the womb. On the controversy surrounding 'love jihad', she said educated girls are being brainwashed.

Here are the edited excerpts from the interview:

Q: Since you have taken charge of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti, what changes have the samiti seen?

Shantha Kumari: Foundation of our work was laid down years ago, we are only building up on that by making the nation stronger. Keeping this view in mind we always stuck to the traditional line and did not digress. Our work is still in progress. Whatever work we undertake we do by building consensus and base it on our observation. We also look into the areas where our work is limited.

So, this time we found those areas where our presence is deficient and started our work there. We realised our work was lacking among college girls, and then pursued it for three years. After starting programs for Taruni or young girls we have had 1,560 sammelans.

We have started having monthly gatherings - Varg, taruni karyakram - in colleges on their goals and career. For this we contacted colleges and around four lakh girls participated across India.

Our reach among working women has also increased. There are regular interactions through intellectual groups like Medhavani Sindu Srijan, which is being headed by Preeti Malhotra of Delhi University. In these programs we tell them what is their role in the development of the nation?

Q: What does women empowerment mean to the samiti?

Shantha Kumari: Whatever we do empowerment is always kept in mind, our focus is on honing their leadership skills, and increasing their capabilities in making the women the nation builders. The issue of women empowerment is looked at from the point of view of society and nation building. That is the difference between sevika samiti and others in pursuing women empowerment.

Q: Who are the others you are talking about?

Shantha Kumari: There are many organisations that are working for women empowerment, I dont have to name anyone, some of them are doing good work but we are not like them. There are so many institutions, everybody should try to work for women empowerment, and we are also trying. But work for it samaj ki drishti se.

There are some who have the divide and rule policy by talking about caste and in many colleges this is increasing, especially after the Rohith Vemula controversy. We observed that in the name of study circles a caste-centric narrative is being created in colleges. There is an attempt to create rift between the castes. Our young girls only tell us how the divide is being created. This needs to stop.

We speak to students on what is Bharat ki soch Jaati me jhagda kyun? We encourage bonds and friendship among different castes.

Our programmes are creating awareness. In one college where we worked, the students told us that in the past they were taught useless India. Leftist or others who write so many articles, woh padhne ke baad the young students thought we, India, are useless, they told us that nobody taught them about the contribution.

Q: There is a demand for criminalisation of marital rape and disenchantment over dilution of Domestic Violence Act. What are your views?

Shantha Kumari: Family plays an important role in inculcating the values in boys for respecting other girls. But marital rape? Swayam ichcha se shaadi hui, so how marital rape? I am not saying it does not exist at all, in some places marital rape can happen. We also have to understand that we cannot hurt family as an institution. In our country marital rape is not rampant. Truth should be investigated but Sanskriti ka sarvanash nahi karna hai. Our country has given good status to women. I am not saying everything is fine. There are problems, we will work for it, but in everything kanoon nahi chahiye.

Q) What about domestic violence?

Shantha Kumari: The Domestic Violence Act is necessary but it is being misused. Any girl can get in-laws arrested. We feel there has been dilution in the laws but the changes made to the Act are fine. This will make sure that punishment happens only if the case is real. When the cases have been genuine we have been able to work in favour of women. False complaint is not correct and we are against it.

Q: What is your idea of working women?

Shantha Kumari: Women should have good careers. But when the family needs arise there should be other options open like work from home, which is a good opportunity. It will give them time to handle home and children.

Recently, I met a very successful doctor, who has been a gold medalist. She told me that she left her practice after having a child. She has taken a break to bring up her son well and will resume work after her son grows up. I believe that husband should also contribute in this role of family. Some homes have good husbands and both contribute. Phir bhi one should not give vyaktigat mahatva. Not dwell too much 'on my career' kind of sentiment.

Q: According to the Garbh Vigyan Sanskar project of the RSSs health wing Arogya Bharati, there are ways to have a desirable child. What are your views on this practice?

Shantha Kumari: I have visited the clinic in Jamnagar. There I met a couple who said the practice of Garbh Sanskar worked  how they got to know? By comparing their two children: the one who underwent the treatment of garbha sanskar exhibited the sanskar and values as compared to the elder one who was not taken to the clinic.

It is a good initiative, if we bring up good citizens and inculcate sajjan shakti it will help in making the nation stronger. We can see what is happening in Syria and Iraq.

Q: Recently, there has been lot discussion on Love jihad in the Sangh circle. There have been books released and films made. How do you look at this problem?

Shantha Kumari: It is a problem. We have met parents who were crying after their girls fell victim to it. Educated girls are being brainwashed. What I think has happened is 'the young got more information or exposure to Islam than their own religion' - apne Hindu dharam ke bare me nahi mila. Love Jihad is a problem and family role is failing, so now we are doing that through Kutumb Prabodhan, with this we take counseling classes to young girls in India.
Kolkata: Police on Friday detained Ratna Chatterjee, the estranged wife of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor Sovan Chatterjee after he lodged a complaint saying she forcibly tried to enter his flat in Golpark area of South Kolkata.

Sovan and his wife had filed for divorce over some personal issues and for the last six months Sovan has been staying alone in his Golpark flat Fort Legend.

He has now lodged a complaint against his wife of trying to disturb his peace as he is suffering from various health issues, including diabetes and hypertension.

Trouble started once when Ratna alleged that Sovan is intentionally delaying the signing of visa papers for their daughter to go Germany for academic purposes. On Thursday, she held a night-long demonstration in front of his flat.

A team of police officers from Rabindra Sarovar police station rushed to convince Ratna to stop her agitation. However, she refused and said that she will only leave without the mayor signing the documents.

I was forced to take the step because as my daughters education is at stake. He is not signing the documents required for my daughters higher studies, Ratna said.

On Friday morning, suddenly a large number of Sovans supporters gathered at the spot and raised slogans against Ratna for her act. Soon, police officers detained Ratna under Section 148/1497341/506 of IPC.

She was detained over a complaint by the Mayor. There is a courts order which restricts illegal gathering outside the Mayors residence, a senior police officer said.

Ratnas lawyer, Subhasish Dasgupta said, It was not an illegal gathering as the night-long demonstration held by Ratna was outside the premises of the Mayors residence. She didnt entered the premises.

Sovan is facing a CBI and Enforcement Directorate probe in an alleged money laundering case after the Narada sting. Ratna's financial assets are also under the scanner in the same case.

On April 17, CBI had filed a chargesheet against 13 Trinamool Congress leaders, including Sovan Mayor Chatterjee in the Narada sting case. All of them were booked under Section 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), Section 13 (2), 13 (1D) and Section of 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act.

On May 11, Sovan told the Alipore Court during a hearing that he will not change his decision of divorcing Ratna.

In November 2017, Sovan filed for divorce after Ratna returned from the UK and questioned his sources of income. Since then, Sovan and Ratna have developed differences and are now fighting for divorce.
New Delhi: Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday sought to blame the previous UPA regime for issues related to Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin and asserted that his ministry would look into the matter after 13 people were killed during protest against the expansion of the plant which, they alleged, was causing groundwater pollution.

Amid allegations of environment pollution at the unit, sources in the ministry said the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had sought a report on the matter. The minister also said that he had asked his officials to study the issue "with seriousness and in-depth".

The Environment Ministry sources said that since there had been agitation and protests, either the district collector or somebody else should have had some consultations.

The protest over Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit took a violent turn recently when stones were pelted by agitators and police vehicles were toppled after they were prevented from marching towards the plant. At least 13 people have been killed in police firing during the protests, evoking criticism from various political sections.

"I have just returned in the morning and I have read something about it in the newspapers. We will certainly look into what is really happening. All this has happened in the tenure of the last government."

"But I do not want to get into that. We do not want to make an issue out of it. We do not want to talk about the nitty-gritty of it right now," Vardhan told reporters here.

Tuticorin district has been witnessing several protests by locals and others against the plant and its proposed expansion and protesters have alleged that the plant was polluting groundwater in the area.

"In a society, people do agitations and protests and I am not saying against or for it. I am just saying that after coming, I immediately told officials to understand the issue in depth and with seriousness."

"All that I have said here is factually correct and when you go into the details, you will be convinced," Harsh Vardhan said.

The Environment Ministry sources said that there were three expansions of different capacities in the unit  first is 2004, second in 2007 and third in 2009, and there has been no expansion since 2009.

The only other communication issued from the ministry was in 2016 which was a "routine technical communication", the sources said.

Elaborating about the process, one of the sources said when environmental clearance was granted in 2009, it was valid for 10 years.

"So the unit is expected to complete the expansion within ten years. If you do not complete the expansion in ten years, you have to apply afresh and seek fresh approval. Approval for that ten years is granted in two parts.

"First seven years is in auto mode. As soon as the seventh year finishes, the company approaches the ministry saying that the expansion is till on so an additional three years approval is sought. So that 2016 communication from the ministry is that three of the ten years. So there is no expansion, it is only continuation," the source said.

"The current situation is that they (the company) is unlikely to complete their expansion. Therefore, they have already put in an application for a fresh Terms of Reference (ToR) and so the whole process will go on afresh," the source said.

The ministry has also sought a report from the district collector and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. "When they applied afresh, we sought a report from the collector and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. That has already happened. The report has not come as yet," the source added.

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had also condemned the recent killings of protesters.

In a statement recently, CSE had said that the 400,000-tonne-capacity smelting plant of Sterlite had been at the centre of pollution controversy since it was proposed in 1995.

This plant was rejected by three states Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra because of its highly polluting nature, before it was allowed to be set up in Tamil Nadu, the CSE said.

While taking environment clearance (EC), the company had flouted norms by misrepresenting facts and giving a faulty Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, it had said.

CSE had said Sterlite stood as a classic case of failed environmental governance. Years of violations and concerns raised again and again by residents of the area seemed to have mattered little.
Uttarakhand: The video of a Sikh police officers bravery went viral on social media when he intervened and saved a Muslim boy from a mob in Uttarakhands Ramnagar.

On May 22, Sub-Inspector Gagandeep Singh was alerted to a possible communal flare-up near Girija Devi temple, which is close to the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve frequented by tourists.

Sikh cop in Dehradun saves a Muslim man from a rabid violent mob https://t.co/Hi5UlNwX67This is doing duty. Instead of letting mob be NoToSilence (@akdwaaz) May 24, 2018

According to local reports, the Muslim boy had been meeting his Hindu girlfriend near the temple when he was accosted by a mob, which objected to their relationship.

With tension building up, Singh reached the spot and shielded the boy from the mob, which had started getting violent. Unable to get their hands on the boy, the mob started chanting anti-police slogans, but Singh had managed to get the boy to safety by then.

Singh took the couple to the police station where the girl was handed over to her parents.

Twitterati were all praise for Singhs diligent discharge of his duty.

Bravo!! Sikh cop confronted a whole Hindutva swarm to save a Muslim from being lynched. https://t.co/HqYnSkHPeG Sanam Sutirath Wazir (@sanamwazir) May 24, 2018

In fact, even former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju took to Twitter to praise the cop.
The HSLC Result 2018, Assam HSLC Result 2018, Assam Class 10 Result declared by the Board of Secondary Education SEBA today at 9 AM. The Board of Secondary Education SEBA published HSLC Result 2018, Assam HSLC Result 2018 and SEBA Result 2018 on its official website resultsassam.nic.in, sebaonline.org.

The Assam SEBA HSLC examination (High School Leaving Certificate) for the academic year 201-18 was conducted by the Board of Secondary Education SEBA from 16 February - 8 March. The HSLC Result 2018, Assam HSLC Result 2018, SEBA Result 2018 will also be available on examresults.net/assam.

ASSAM SEBA RESULTS DECLARED

Number of Students appeared: 3,44,215

Passed: 1,89,191

Distinction: 6477

I Division: 60,987

II Division: 81,853

III Division: 46,351

Results were withheld for 6668 students, while 1,47,944 students failed to clear the exams.

Toppers:

Raktim Bhuyan toppped the exams with 593 marks. Abinash Kalita and Preetpal Bezbaruah stood second with 592 marks Sultana Ayishah Siddique, Jintee Devi, and Arbi Chaliha stood third with 591 marks.

AHM Results

Number of Students: 9343 students

Passed Students: 4604 students

Distinction: 25

I Division: 831

II Division: 2489 students

III Division: 1284

How to Check HSLC Result 2018, SEBA Result 2018:

Step 1: Click on the official website resultsassam.nic.in, sebaonline.org.

Step 2: Look for the link which says HSLC Result 2018, Assam Class 10 Result 2018, SEBA Result 2018

Step 3: Click on the link which says Assam HSLC Result 218, SEBA HSLC Result 2018

Step 4: Enter Your Roll Number

Step 5: Download the SEBA Result for Class 10 and take out a printout for future reference.

Last year, the Assam HSLC Result was declared on 31st May at 10 AM. The Board of Secondary Education Assam (SEBA) will announce the Assam HSLC Results 2018 i.e. the Assam 10th Results, Assam HSLC/AHM 2018 on May 25th. The Assam SEBA HSLC Result 2018 will be declared online on the official website of SEBA.
May 25, 2018 14:05 (IST)

Yeddyurappa Warns of Stir If Farm Loans Not Waived in 24 Hours | Striking an aggressive note, Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa today warned of a state wide stir if the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy did not waive farm loans within 24 hours. Speaking to reporters before Kumaraswamy took the floor test to prove his majority in the assembly, Yeddyurappa said the JD(S) leader had promised to waive farm loans worth Rs 53,000 crore, including those borrowed from nationalised banks. "It was you who had promised waiving farm loans within 24 hours (after assuming office). The farmers will not be ready to buy your stories that you head a coalition government and it has its own compulsions. You have to announce it in this special session itself. Else, we will prepare an action plan to launch our agitation across the state," he said. Yeddyurappa said he would not comment on the Congress as it is already out to "finish" the JD(S). However, he said, the BJP's struggle was mainly against the "anti-farmer, anti-people and corrupt government of Kumaraswamy." To support his claim that the Kumaraswamy government would be corrupt, he quoted JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda's grandson Prajwal's recent reported remark that no work happens without "suitcase" in the party.
Hyderabad: In another big budget scheme aimed at grabbing the mass attention, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday announced life insurance worth Rs 5 lakh for all farmers in the state.

According to the Telangana government, the scheme will commence on August 15.

All farmers in the age group of 18 to 59 years will be provided with the insurance and the government promises to pay the entire premium amount under this scheme.

Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao said, "Irrespective of the reasons due to which a farmer dies, including natural death, the insured amount of Rs 5 lakhs shall be paid to the nominee proposed by the insured farmer within ten days of the claim. The idea behind this is to come to the rescue of the deceaseds family."

The small and marginal farmers in Telangana account for 93%. There are 18 lakh farmers whose holdings are less than one acre. Their livelihood is entirely agriculture and farming and for any reason when the farmer dies, his family will have to face lot of hardships. This is just another step forward by the government, the chief minister added.

The Telangana administration has tied up with the government-run Life Insurance Corporation of India for the implementation of the scheme.

The LIC will provide the insurance certificate to every farmer insured under this scheme. On behalf of the farmers, the government will pay the premium to LIC, for which there will be a budgetary allocation every year.

"This is first time in history that Rs 5 lakh is the insured amount under a group insurance. It is also a record that several lakhs of farmers are members in the scheme. This has never happened in the history of insurance companies in the country. The group insurance scheme to the farmer of Telangana is a record of its own, the CMO said in a release.

On May 10, the Telangana government launched its flagship "Rythu Bandhu Scheme" and distributed cheques worth Rs 4000. Under the welfare scheme, the government promises Rs 4000 per acre to each farmer for their monsoon crop and another Rs 4000 per acre for their summer crop as input subsidy.

The scheme is expected to benefit nearly 58 lakh farmers in the state.

Eyeing a national political role in future, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is aiming to grab the nation's attention with its farmer-friendly policies. Not just this, with state assembly elections scheduled for 2019, the various welfare schemes for the farmers are being seen as a game-changer for the ruling TRS.
New Delhi: The traditional textbooks are set to get a makeover. By 2019, all textbooks are going to be embedded with QR codes and be called Energized Textbooks. It is being perceived that these books will become the anchors of learning for students and enable easy access to digital learning.

The change in the textbooks is intended to provide content to students with ease. The government has envisioned the move to enhance curriculum activities, provide additional information and contextualise content to supplement traditional textbooks with the help of QR codes. The codes will be printed on hardened pages inside the books.

As per the government estimate, around 200 million books embedded with QR codes will be available by 2019-20. These QR codes can be linked to engaging content or assessments of specific topics that are being taught to both equip teachers for better teaching and also students who themselves would have access to all the information regarding the topic for better understanding.

QR codes provide interactive and engaging teaching and learning content and that ability has motivated the National Council of Education and Research and Training to adopt QR code identification and imposition process for their textbooks for the next academic year, said the source from the Human Resource Development ministry.

QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that is readable by smartphones. Discovery of digital content from physical textbooks is made possible by printing a QR code in textbooks and by linking digital teaching and learning content to QR codes placed in textbooks at a chapter and topic level.

New books part of larger tech-based plan.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development and the National Council for Teachers Education have developed a dedicated digital infrastructure called DIKSHA to provide tech-based solutions to teachers.

The scheme was launched in September, 2017 under which state governments and other organisations can seamlessly integrate DIKSHA with other teacher-centric initiatives.

Teaching and learning content, which involves Energized Textbooks is one of the verticals of DIKSHA.

Other tech based initiatives under the scheme include a teacher profile and registry, teaching and learning content, teacher professional development, school leadership platform, platform for teachers to upload content and sections for Innovation, Assessment and Communication.

How would Energized Textbooks help?

The tool is expected to provide teachers with more material to substantiate and expand upon the content in textbooks.

Teachers often face a shortage of time to prepare for classes with children of diverse learning needs. This initiative will enable the teachers to ideate and find more content and material. The classroom engagement will change as well with students listening, watching and learning.

QR Code vs URL

As opposed to QR codes, a URL, which was the second option, is more time consuming  the length of the URL determines the time taken to type it. QR codes are quick and take a uniform time to scan.

QR codes also help prevent errors since they do not involve any manual processes, unlike URLs that have to be manually typed and thus could easily be misspelt. QR codes are more handy.

The parties involved in implementing the QR code include the SCERT, which will be involved in identifying the textbooks that would ultimately be printed with the QR code.

Textbook development teams will be set up for identifying where QR codes are to be placed inside books. The teams will also design textbooks with QR code. The textbook printing division will tender for textbook printing.

The DIKSHA project management unit will provide technical guidance for the endeavour and make the QR code bank available.
Mumbai University M.Com Results 2018 for Semester 1 have finally been released by the varsity on its official website  mu.ac.in. The University of Mumbai had organized M.Com Semester 1 exams in January 2018, earlier this year, for which a total of 11210 candidates had registered and 10854 had appeared. As per the result declared by MU, 6731 candidates have been declared Successful while 4042 failed to clear the exam. The total pass percentage recorded is 62.48 percent. Candidates who had appeared for M.Com Semester 1 exams can follow the instructions below and check their result now:

How to check Mumbai University M.Com Results 2018 for Semester 1?

Step 1  Visit the official results website of Mumbai University - http://www.mumresults.in/

Step 2  Scroll down to the end of the page

Step 3  Click on M.Com.(SEM-I)(CHOICE BASE CREDIT GRADING SYSTEM)

Step 4  CTRL+F with your Seat Number

Step 5  Download the pdf and save it or take a printout of the relevant page

Direct Link - http://www.mumresults.in/C0531.pdf

The results of Master's Degree in Financial Management (Second Year)(SEM.-I)(Choice-Base) and Master's Degree in Information Management (Second Year)(SEM.-I)(Choice-Base) are also available at mumresults.in. Candidates who had appeared for the same can check their result by clicking on the relevant link.
New Delhi: A sub-committee of the National Commission for Minorities, which was looking into whether Hindus can be granted minority status in eight states, has said in its interim report that "Hindus cannot be granted minority status at the national level due to Constitutional boundaries.

The NCM had set up a three-member committee on the question of granting minority status to Hindus in seven states and 1 Union Territory where they account for less than 50% of the population.

The committee, led by NCM Vice Chairman George Kurien, has been given three months to submit its report.

NCM chairman Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi told News18 that the panel has concluded in an interim report that "since the Constitution mandates minority status to be granted to only six communities, there can be no further alteration in that. However, states are at liberty to implement their own minority classification."

The Constitution of India has not defined word minority and only refers to minorities, but speaks of those based on religion or language and rights of minorities have been spelt out in Constitution in detail.

Six religious communities  Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains  have been notified in Gazette of India as minority communities by the Union Government all over India.

The sub-committee has now fixed June 14 as the date to have a full commission to understand the "real picture behind the issue.

The NCM decision to set up the sub-committee was based on a plea filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyaya, whose petition on the matter was rejected by the Supreme Court on November 10. The court had directed him to approach the NCM.

Upadhyay has been invited to take part in the sub-committee meeting on June 14 so that the "points made by the petitioner can be heard in detail, Rizvi told News18.

According to the 2011 Census, Hindus are in monitory in eight states  Lakshadweep (2.5%), Mizoram (2.75%), Nagaland (8.75%), Meghalaya (11.53%), J&K (28.44%), Arunachal Pradesh (29%), Manipur (31.39%), and Punjab (38.40%).

The petitioner has argued that in the absence of minority status to Hindus in these states, benefits meant for minority communities were being given away to majority community in illegal and arbitrary manner.

The petitioner claimed that the "propagation of Islam and the five tenets of Islam was why Hindus were a minority. According to the 3rd tenet, even a Muslim driver honestly donates his 2% annual income to promote and propagate Islam. This is the reason Islam is majority in 62 countries in just 1,400 years. And the world's oldest Sanatan Dharma is not even one country. Now Hindus are minority in eight states," Upadhyay said.
New Delhi: Some passengers of an Air India Delhi-Rajkot flight were left aggrieved on Friday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here after the airline denied boarding to them on the ground that the flight was overbooked.

The airlines did not allow some passengers to board the Rajkot-bound flight scheduled for around 5 pm from here.

Confirming the incident, an Air India spokesperson said it was a "rare occurrence" and that only two passengers were affected. "They are being sent to their destinations through an alternative flight. The passengers are believed to have protested the incident at the airport terminal," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said usually up to 10 percent extra booking is allowed to ensure optimum capacity utilisation and keeping in mind the last minute cancellations. "In this particular sector, 2-3 percent extra booking was allowed and in this particular flight all the passengers reported for the journey, thus leading to this incident," the spokesperson said.
Chennai: The DMK and other opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have called a dawn-to-dusk bandh in the state on Friday over the death of 13 people in police firing in protests against the Sterlite Company in Tuticorin.

The DMK has demanded the resignation of the E Palaniswami-led state government, accusing it of being a BJP puppet. Party MP Kanimozhi accused the Modi government of remote-controlling the Tamil Nadu government and alleged that the Sterlite factory was able to thrive because of the support it received from the central and state governments.

It is important to know who ordered the police firing that killed 13 protesters, the Rajya Sabha MP said.

In a statement, the DMK said instead of the all-party protest, a bandh would be observed to condemn the police action and demand the closure of the Sterlite copper smelting plant in Tuticorin district.

Stating that the people living in Tuticorin and its neighbouring districts were angered by the police action against the agitators, the release said, "The bandh will also reflect the feelings of Tamils."

"The DMK, the All India National Congress, the Dravidar Kazhagam, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the CPI, the CPI(M), the Indian Union Muslim League, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi will participate in the day-long state-wide protest," it added.

The police action in Tuticorin followed mass protests against the factory that locals say was depleting the water table in the region and also causing health hazards.

Tuticorins new collector Sandeep Nanduri said that since the government had ordered an inquiry committee to probe the various incidents, it would be improper for him to comment on the issue.

But he said that power supply to the company was snapped at 5 am on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the authorities have cut Internet connectivity in the districts of Tuticorin, Madurai and Kanyakumari in a bid to prevent rumour mongering and spread of visuals and videos of police action on the social media.
Chennai: If I die, police will be responsible for my death, says Santhosh Raj as he recalls how he was stuck inside the District Collectors office in Tuticorin on May 22 when the anti-Sterlite protests took an ugly turn.

Thirteen people were killed when police opened fire on thousands of protesters demanding closure of the Vedanta Group-run Sterlite Industries for polluting the area and leading to severe health problems for area residents, besides depleting groundwater table.

The 21-year-old, recovering from his wounds, says he was on a phone call while being locked inside the Collectorate near the plant when a lady police officer came up to him and snatched his phone. The officer along with some protesters broke his phone in front of his eyes.

Santhosh tells News18, he was hit by police officials for trying to gherao the Collector's Office and was locked inside the Collectorate for a few hours on the fateful day.

A lady officer snatched away my phone while I was talking to my friend about the horror that was unfolding before my eyes when she and a group of protesters broke it in front of me, narrates Santhosh.

The B.Com graduate, along with his other volunteer friends of Tuticorins self-financed All College Student Federation, took up the responsibility of supplying food and water to the fellow protesters.

Santhosh says it was meant to be a peaceful protest and people were joined by their families for the non-violent demonstrations at parks and other public places. They had decided to not return home until theres a complete ban on the Sterlite plant that has been raising severe pollution concerns in Thoothukudi.

So what happened on Tuesday when police officials opened fire at protesters? Santhosh says, "It was all going peaceful until a point when police stopped us from going any further towards the Collector's Office. We were carrying with us a letter addressed to the District Collector and other government officials stating that the protest is for demanding a permanent ban on Sterlite and that we will not indulge in any kind of violence. However, the police didnt even bother to take a look at it and started attacking us."

He says the police personnel were the first to open fire at the protesters. "We continued to march ahead, forcing our way through the barricades. Thats when the police lobbed tear gas at us. When the crowd reached the Collectorate, police resorted to firing. They were using hand pistols and rifles at first. We thought it must be rubber bullets, so we didnt run. We raised our hands and wanted to explain to the officers that we will just sit and protest. But they werent ready to listen to us and kept firing. The situation went out of hands and thats when people started pelting stones when snipers and high-end guns were used against us, Santhosh says.

He agrees that the protesters, too, turned violent. I wouldnt deny that the protesters indulged in violence but it was initiated by the police, he adds.

Even terrorists will not shoot like that, says Santhoshs mother, who also took active part in the protests against the copper plant.

Santhosh has been protesting against the Sterlite plant from the very beginning along with his entire family. His father works as a security guard while his mother does odd jobs to earn money.

Santhosh works with his brother-in-law in a transport business. The family has collectively been doing all that they can to ensure justice for the people of Tuticorin.

I will get back on the field again, once my stitches are removed and will not stop until theres a permanent solution to this issue, Santhosh promises.
New York: Fallen Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York police on Friday to face sex crime charges, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of assault accusations and triggered the global #MeToo movement.

The former powerbroker -- once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars -- is likely to be charged with raping one woman and forcing another into performing oral sex, US media have reported.

The 66-year-old former studio boss walked into the downtown Manhattan police station shortly before 7:30 am (1130 GMT) wearing a pale button-down shirt, a blue sweater and a dark blazer before a mob of television cameras.

Inside he was expected to have his mugshot and fingerprints taken, before being taken to a Manhattan court, where The New York Times reports that he will put up $1 million in cash and agree to wear a monitoring device.

His travel will be restricted and he will surrender his passport.

The Manhattan district attorney's office and New York police have investigated Weinstein for months, coming under growing pressure from the Time's Up movement to bring the disgraced producer to justice.

A Friday court appearance would mark the first criminal charges filed against the twice-married, shamed former titan.

Lucia Evans, who said he forced her into oral sex in 2004, is thought to be at least one of the women whose cases he will be charged over, according to US media.

DOZENS OF ACCUSERS

Ben Brafman, Weinstein's powerful defense attorney, has declined to comment. Neither the district attorney's office nor the police department has also spoken publicly about his surrender.

Police have, however, previously confirmed an active Weinstein investigation regarding Evans, who was an aspiring actress at the time.

New York police have also confirmed a credible rape allegation against Weinstein after "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta accused him of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010.

The mogul's career went down in flames last October over sexual assault allegations following bombshell articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment watershed across the United States and won both outlets a Pulitzer.

Women around the world came forward with similar cases of sexual mistreatment by men.

More than 100 women have since accused the 66-year-old of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back 40 years.

More than two dozen actresses including Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.

"We are one step closer to justice," McGowan was quoted as saying by Variety. "May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere."

Evans, now a marketing consultant, told The New Yorker that Weinstein approached her in a club in 2004 and that an assistant subsequently set up a daytime meeting at the Miramax office in Tribeca.

"He forced me to perform oral sex on him," she said. "I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,'" she added.

Weinstein has denied any non-consensual sex and has reportedly been in treatment for sex addiction.
Harvey Weinstein is set to surrender himself to New York Police soon, and while the women are celebrating the move as he gets one step closer to justice, actor Gwyneth Paltrow has brought to light a new revelation. In a radio interview with Howard Stern, Paltrow revealed that Brad Pitt once threatened to kill Weinstein when the two actors were dating in the 90s.

Paltrow revealed that Weinstein asked her for a massage while the two were alone in a hotel room and she immediately told her then-boyfriend Pitt about the inappropriate advancements. The actor then confronted the producer when the three attended the opening of Hamlet on Broadway.

"It was the equivalent of throwing him against the wall, she said in the interview. Allegedly, Pitt told Weinstein that he'll kill him if he ever made her feel uncomfortable again.

After the incident, the producer nearly screamed at her but she felt fantastic about Pitt confronting the producer. It was so fantastic. What he did was he leveraged his fame and power to protect me at a time when I didnt have fame or power yet. Hes the best. she added.

Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment, assault, and inappropriate behaviour by more than 50 women, all of which he has denied. Actresses including Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie has said that they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.

"We are one step closer to justice," McGowan was quoted as saying by Variety. "May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere."

The Manhattan district attorneys office is expected to charge Weinstein Friday regarding a case involving allegations of forced oral sex from Lucia Evans.
Recently newspapers have reported that central government is mulling changes in the process of allocation of services and the state cadres.

The present system of allocation of services to successful candidates in civil services exam is based on the marks and ranks awarded to them by UPSC.

These ranks also become basis for allocation of state cadres to those opting for all India services like IAS and IPS. All this is going to change if the new thought process is put in action.

It is proposed that the performances of the selected officers, during the three odd months that they spend during foundation course held in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, and in other academies, be the criterion for determining the service and the state cadres that will be allocated to them.

This proposed change has opened a Pandoras box with many experts arguing that this will finish the credibility and impartiality the UPSC conducted civil services examination enjoys in the eyes of the people of our country.

It goes without saying that Union Public Services Commission has been extremely successful in maintaining the credibility and fairness of the civil services exams (CSE). Hence any proposal to the existing system should be carried out after thorough deliberations and consultations with all the stakeholders.

One should have no hesitation in saying that this one institution, UPSC, has maintained the sanctity and fairness of the CSE exam for nearly seven decades when other major constitutional institutions have floundered and failed to serve the nation impartially.

The question that needs to be asked is why suddenly the government has decided to express more faith in the evaluation capacity of training institutions like Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration and others vis-a-vis UPSC, which is supposed to be epitome of conducting fair evaluation of the capacity and suitability of the various aspirants to man various top level jobs and services in the country. This question needs to be urgently answered by the government before proceeding any further with the proposed reforms.

Let us remember that ill-conceived and hasty decisions by Government of India in tinkering with the civil services examination process in the past have already diluted the credibility of the CSE in the eyes of the public.

The proposed reforms are being perceived by those, who have worked within the system and have interacted with the system over long periods of time, as an attempt to interfere with the fair and transparent process put in place by Union Public Service Commission for allocation of services and state cadres based on merit.

One may argue here that the central government is concerned about the poor delivery of services to people at large and lack of proper governance in our country, so it wants to make it accountable and delivery oriented. No one is denying the fact that systems should not remain static and resist status quo, but one should change the system for the better and not to make it worse.

All the IAS officers are trained in the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. I am sure that many will agree that the LABASNA and other academies are neither tuned nor equipped to take up the task of evaluating the trainee officers to match their suitability to various kinds of job profiles in Government of India.

Apprehensions have also been raised that the officers posted in various Academies, barring their Director, do not possess enough experience to carry out the responsibility of making a fair assessment of the capabilities and suitability of the trainee officers for various kinds of job profiles.

Second, if the assessment done in academy is to decide the career path of trainees to such an extent, then fairness, objectivity and impartiality will be the biggest casualty and sycophancy, nepotism, political pressures, interference by powers that be will have a free run to decide which service and which cadre a particular candidate will be assigned to. This will eliminate fairness and integrity and encourage the probationers to indulge in cut throat competition amongst themselves to curry favour with the powers that be.

At present, the all India officers are judged in their respective academies through exams and extracurricular activities and awarded marks which get added to the marks obtained by them in UPSC exams and the total marks determine their inter se seniority in the batch. So officers' seniority does get affected by their performance during the training period, but marks awarded by UPSC only goes to determine the service allocation and the state cadres that they will be allocated to.

Lastly, we have caused enough damage to our established and functioning systems through our thoughtless reforms in the past like ill-conceived Kothari Commission report recommendations to introduce Preliminary exams to remove non-serious candidates, judging candidates suitability for various services by awarding separate marks in personality tests, putting different  different cut off marks secretly for different subjects in preliminary exams. Similarly, making the CSE exams totally based on general awareness test thus causing great disadvantage to rural based candidates has already cost us dearly by denying talented candidates from entering civil services.

Time has come to reverse these thoughtless experiments. Restoring probity in bureaucracy is long overdue. The moot question is why corrupt and non performing officers have not only been allowed to continue but have been patronised by Central and state governments of every hue in Independent India.

When will we stop this mindless tinkering and stringently punish the corrupt bureaucrats brazenly looting, flouting laws with impunity, and impoverishing billions?

(The writer is a former secretary of the government of India)
What can the Yogis and Biplabs do in a politically sensitive state like Kerala? The star campaigners of the BJP in the upcoming Assembly bypoll in Chengannur constituency are ridiculed and viewed with typical cynicism by the non-BJP populace. Both have been the butt of trolls and cartoons in the media.

So why bother to parade them and hold road shows? Well, the answer is simple. They may not be able to swing votes big time, on the contrary they might even trigger a minority consolidation, but as heroes and winners for the party in their respective strongholds, their words and presence can inspire the BJP cadre.

They might have sparked guffaws with slapstick outbursts. But in trolling these poster boys of the BJP, the Leftists have also ensured a fair share of publicity and familiarisation of these outsiders.

In a state which is the proverbial last frontier for the BJP, the presence of these leaders could go a long way in instilling self-belief in party men who have been stonewalled by the sweeping observation  you cant win Kerala.

Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb wasted no time in taking on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPM once he landed at Chengannur.

After drawing parallels between Kerala and Tripura in food, culture and climate, he pointed out one difference. Tripura is now ruled by the BJP and Kerala by the CPM, which is why development refuses to take a peep at the state.

Rahul Gandhi and Pinarayi Vijayan shared the dais in Bengaluru. Why are they fighting each other here? Both are fooling the people. Modiji does not do that.

Organisers of Biplabs local tour program were careful not to overexpose him to the media for extensive grilling. In the short media interaction, he sought to score a brownie point, announcing Rs 5 lakh from the Chief Ministers relief fund for the family of Sreejith, who died in custody. He blasted the Kerala CM for refusing to visit Sreejiths house.

He compared Pinarayi Vijayan to Manik Sarkar. Vijayan refused to visit the house of the victim who is from the backward class. Manik Sarkar also refused to visit the victims of atrocities in Tripura, mostly from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. Both of them are scared of media exposure and the questions that may arise.

Sarkar led Tripura CPM to disaster, Vijayan will do the same to the Kerala CPM. We managed to win with 1.5 percent vote share. You already have 16 percent votes. We managed to drown them in 1.5 feet of water. You have 16 feet of water to drown them in. You can he exhorted local party men.

With these roadshows and parades even for a bypoll, the BJP is also sending out a strong message  We are serious about Kerala.

Meanwhile, CPM candidate Saji Cheriyan pounced on the opportunity to pronounce that the contest is a strong triangular one and that the BJP would emerge as runner-up. This contradicts the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which claims the contest is a direct one between the UDF and the LDF, and that the BJP is not in the picture.

Saji Cheriyan is obviously fishing for minority consolidation in favour of the Left in the wake of a strong challenge from the Sangh Parivar front. It remains to be seen whether he played his card too early and if it would boomerang.
Mumbai: Days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accused the Shiv Sena of betrayal, the latter on Friday dubbed the BJP as a "mad murderer" that is "stabbing anyone coming in its way.

The Sena also slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for not removing his footwear while garlanding the photo of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji during a public rally in Virar two days back for Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll to be held on May 28.

"The hypocrite chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who visited Palghar for poll campaign, said the Sena has stabbed the BJP in the back. This shows they have not understood the history or Chhatrapati (Shivaji)," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana.

"Today, the BJP has become a mad murderer that stabs anybody coming in its way," it alleged.

Fadnavis had recently said that the Sena had betrayed the BJP by fielding the son of late MP Chintaman Wanaga in the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll.

The Sena said the BJP's act of giving candidature to former Congress leader Rajendra Gavit for Palghar bypoll and speaking against the Sena was actually back-stabbing.

"The language of back-stabbing does not suit Yogi (Adityanath) or Devendra Fadanvis," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said, adding that the BJP was giving an opportunity to those who had back-stabbed Balasaheb (Thackeray) when he was alive.

The Sena said it has decided to fight all the elections alone, be it Palghar bypoll or the recently-held Legislative Council elections.

"This is just the beginning of tomorrow's fight," the Sena said in an apparent reference to the next year's Lok Sabha elections.

"The Sena's victory in Nashik and Parbhani is just the beginning and our win in Palghar (LS bypoll) will be the trailer. The developments that follow will change the course of politics in Maharashtra," it said.

It said although politics was full of selfish people, the Shiv Sena and its saffron flag stands out in the crowd. "Yogi comes here and gives lessons on Chhatrapati. However, while garlanding his statue, he does not even remove his chappals. This is an insult to Chhatrapati Shivaji. What does the BJP have to say on this," the Sena asked.

It alleged that the BJP was damaging the image of Maharashtra, which is known for its "honesty and trustworthiness".
Shamli/Noida: On Monday evening, Samajwadi Partys Kairana MLA Nahid Hassan drove to Gangoh in Saharanpur district to sit down with UP Congress vice-resident Imran Masood. A source privy to the discussion said Masood and Hassan, who do not see eye-to-eye, were brought together by Gujjar-Muslim activists from Saharanpur who were worried that a divide between Gujjar and Sheikh Muslims in Kairana would end up helping the BJP.

Imran is a Sheikh and Nahid is a Gujjar. They have been rivals for a long time. It is an open secret that in 2017, when Imran was the Congress candidate from Nakur Assembly seat, Nahid has asked his supporters to sabotage his chances in the election. This helped the BJPs Dharam Singh Saini win. This was creating a Sheikh-Gujjar divide among Muslims, a source said.

Imran Masood holds sway over Muslim voters in two of Kairanas Assembly segments  Nakur and Gangoh  which fall within Saharanpur district. For the SP and the RLD, the Congress strongman is a valuable asset.

While Masood was initially reluctant to support Nahids mother Tabassum Hassan, who is the joint opposition candidate for the Kairana bypoll, he eventually agreed after the UPCC leadership insisted that he fall in line.

Tabassum, a SP leader, is contesting on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket. She is the only major party Muslim candidate. While this should have given her an edge in the election, sources said it wont be a cakewalk for her to keep all the 5.26 lakh Muslim votes together.

The Nahid-Imran conflict has been sorted after the Congress state leadership intervened. But a complication arose after Kanwar Hassan, Tabassums brother-in-law, filed the nomination from Kairana. We suspect that his campaign is being funded by the BJP to divide the Muslim votes. Since Kanwar also carries the Hassan name, there is a possibility that he may pull some votes away from us. But we have employed our campaigners effectively, said a senior Samajwadi Party leader.

The SP leader added that Nahid and Tabassum are mostly campaigning in Muslim and Gujjar dominated areas while (RLD chief) Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary are going to Jats and Rajputs to appeal for votes.

Kanwar Hassan insisted that Muslims in Kairana would not support Tabassum in this election. During the Muzaffarnagar riots, people saw that there was no difference between BJP and these people (Tabassum and Nahid Hassan). People will never forgive someone who abandons them like this.

Nahid Hassan hit back at his uncles and alleged that they had already struck a deal with the BJP. Earlier this year Anwar Hassan, my elder uncle, became the Chairman of the Kairana municipality. BJP workers had helped him in the election. This time, they have struck a deal with BJP leaders in Lucknow. If they can defeat my mother, they will be given cabinet berths. But the people will not let it happen.

Despite all these caste and community calculations, parties are maintaining outwardly that the election is not about caste. RLD national general secretary Trilok Tyagi said, This is an election about farmers. Every community has farmers and right now, Rs. 13,000 crore are yet to be paid in sugarcane dues to farmers in UP. This vote will be against an anti-farmer BJP government at the Centre and the state.
Bengaluru: Putting an end to the prolonged, yet high-voltage political drama in Karnataka 10 days since the declaration of election results, the three-day old Kumaraswamy government on Friday won the vote of confidence in the Legislative Assembly amid a walkout by the BJP MLAs.

With 37 JD(S) MLAs, 78 Congress MLAs and support of a few others, the JD(S)-Congress post-poll alliance managed to sail through the trust vote on Friday as the House looked half empty with no BJP MLA present.

It turned out to be a smooth sailing for the 58-year-old HD Kumaraswamy as BJP members trooped out of the House after Leader of Opposition BS Yeddyurappa's blistering attack on the "unholy" JD(S)-Congress coalition.

Kumaraswamy's motion seeking the confidence vote was declared passed by voice vote by Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar as the new chief minister declared the walkout to be escapism.

Kumaraswamy asserted that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government would complete its five-year tenure.

He said he was conscious that he was not running a majority government but promised "a new kind" of coalition government that would become a model for the country.

"You (BJP) may be feeling that this government will go in two or three months, it will not go in two months or one month, but will stay with stability for five years," Kumaraswamy said.

Kumaraswamy also expressed his regret for not being able to assume the Chief Minister's post with the complete trust of the people.

Promising to continue the popular schemes of Congress government, Kumaraswamy said the government would not only be stable, but would protect the interests of everyone and provide an honest and good administration.

Earlier in the day, Congress long-time MLA KR Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the House with BJP withdrawing its candidate from the contest at the last minute.

The BJP said that it was honouring the Parliamentary tradition that the presiding officer is chosen unanimously.

The JD(S)-Congress coalition had claimed the support of 117 MLAs in the 224-member House with an effective strength of 221.

Kumaraswamy was sworn-in as the chief minister on Thursday in a major show of unity with a galaxy of political heavyweights like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati standing by his side during his oath-taking ceremony.

Kumaraswamy staked claim to form the Karnataka government after BJP, led by BS Yeddyurappa conceded defeat and quit as the chief minister just two days after being sworn-in as the CM.

BJP was invited to form the government on May 17 by Governor Vajubhai Vala, despite BJP having 104 MLAs, which is less than the majority mark required to form the government.

Following a Supreme Court order, Yeddyurappa was faced with a floor test on May 19 when he chose not to go for it and instead resigned from his post paving way for the Kumaraswamy-led coalition.
Guwahati: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday said that his government is committed to free Assam of all "illegal foreigners".

"Our government came to power on two promises -- corruption-free Assam and illegal foreigner-free Assam. We are committed to fulfilling the promises," Sonowal told the media.

He was interacting with journalists on the occasion of the completion of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government's two years in office.

The state has been witnessing protests against the Central government's move to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 that seeks to grant citizenship to members of the minority community from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India due to religious persecution in those countries.

While the Meghalaya cabinet has unanimously decided to oppose the new citizenship bill, the Assam government is yet to make its stand clear.

"Right now our prime concern is updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is being done in Assam under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court. The complete draft NRC will be published by June 30. We will make our stand clear on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 after the draft NRC is published," said the Chief Minister.

Appealing to the people of Assam not to get carried away by propaganda, he said: "We are not going to hide anything. We will take all decisions only after seeking people's views."

Various organizations in Assam are opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 on grounds that it will legitimize lakhs of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

Sonowal said the government's fight against corruption was on since day one.

"The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption departments have registered 66 cases against government officials since we came to power. Seventy-four government officials including two IAS officers have been arrested for involvement in corrupt practices in the last two years.

"In the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC)'s cash-for-job-scam, 41 officials were arrested including 10 state civil service officers, seven Assam Police Service officers and 11 allied services officers," he said.

The CID had also arrested 15 public servants in the last two years for corruption, he said.

Assam witnessed a six-year-long movement between 1979 and 1985, demanding the detection and deportation of illegal foreigners mainly from Bangladesh.

According to popular belief, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 will violate the clauses of Assam Accord and grant citizenship to illegal immigrants, particularly Hindu Bengalis, who came to Assam till 2014.
OnePlus has brought out its latest flagship killer in the form of the OnePlus 6, launched earlier this month. The device comes with the top-of-the-line specifications and living true to its name, does give the premium smartphones by other companies a run for their money. Earlier, we had listed five aspects in which the all-new OnePlus 6 scores over the flagship smartphones of Apple and Samsung, namely the iPhone X and the Galaxy S9.

Yet, there are some other areas where the OnePlus 6 falls short of matching the prowess of these two flagship smartphones. These are also the reasons why the Galaxy S9 and the iPhone X retail at a higher cost than the OnePlus 6. Focussing on the Samsung Galaxy S9, here we list five reasons why the Samsung device tops the OnePlus 6, justifying its higher price tag and maintaining its lead in the market as a top Android buy.

1. Infinity Display

This is a major factor in Samsungs success in the flagship smartphone segment in the past couple of years. The company, with its S7 Edge, had brought a revolution in the smartphone industry with a curved edge display. Building on it, Samsung proceeded to expand the curved display to cover the maximum play area on the phone and introduced it in its Galaxy S8 as the Infinity Display, which, to this day, stands apart from the rest of the offerings in the market.

One look at the Infinity display and you will know why. The display is just mesmerizing to look at. A complete edge-to-edge display that eliminates the whole purpose of having an edge in a smartphone.

Whats more, Samsung uses its own Super AMOLED displays on these for the maximum resolution. If you go by the numbers, the Galaxy S9 comes with a 2960x1440 pixels resolution. In comparison, the OnePlus 6 is only able to offer a 2280x1080 pixels resolution, highlighting a massive difference in the display quality. This does not even match to the Samsungs Galaxy S7 Edge, which offers a 2560x1440 pixels resolution, and the device was launched back in 2016! Whats up with this OnePlus?

Watch: Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ First Impressions Review: Best Android Flagships of 2018?

Also read 5 Reasons Why You Should Buy The OnePlus 6 Over Apple iPhone X

2. Camera

When Samsung brought out its Galaxy S9 back in February, the smartphone was widely acclaimed to carry the best camera modules on it, even pitting the Apple flagship. Not just with the S9, Samsung has a history of offering the best low-light photography on its flagship smartphones. With the Galaxy S9, it only got better, thanks to a variable focus, variable aperture, super slow-motion and a couple of other such camera-centric features.

Now OnePlus 6 cameras are not to be undermined. But the OnePlus 6, like many other smartphones in the market, relies heavily on AI enhancements to provide good quality images. There is a visible difference in the natural and AI enhanced quality of pictures. This is also part of the reason why the DSLRs are still preferred for photography over any smartphone, even with the top quality camera modules on them.

Watch: OnePlus 6 First Impressions Review: All You Might Need in 2018

Also read OnePlus 6 Review: The Amitabh Bachchan of Flagship Smartphones

3. Water water everywhere, not a drop to fear

Clear, isnt it? The Samsung Galaxy S9 comes with IP68 water and dust resistance to the extent that the device literally comes out unaffected even from the bottom of an average pool (Yes, we have tested this out). Samsung has always taken care of this aspect with its flagship smartphones.

OnePlus 6, on the other hand, offers no such IP rating to guarantee the devices operability after getting submerged in water. The company does, however, mention that the smartphone can take most of the water splashes in real-world scenarios like use with wet hands, under rain and so. In our usage, we found this to be true to the extent and you wont be left with a crashed smartphone until and unless it really falls into a pool.

4. Features Overload

This is what we personally love about the Samsung flagships. The smartphones are just loaded with features through and through. Even after months of using the devices, you tend to stumble across one or the other unexplored feature embedded in the smartphone. The same holds true for the Galaxy S9 as well. To give you a gist of it, the Galaxy S9 offers features like Samsungs own voice assistant Bixby, an edge bar, Dex Pad support, AR Emojis, Gear VR support, super slow-mo GIFs, live translation (super handy), variable aperture, variable screen resolution, dual messenger, blood pressure monitor (yes!), Samsung Pay, blah..blah..blah. You get the point.

OnePlus 6 lacks way behind in this aspect. Though it has all the latest Android features, there is not much on offer apart from the regular Android features which can be found on any premium Android device. Certainly one or two features here and there like hiding the notch or changing the interface but mostly limited to customisations.

Also read Samsung Galaxy A6+ First Impressions Review: A Complete Package

5. The Samsung Ecosystem

OnePlus is still a budding company that is undoubtedly coming up with great products. However, a big plus that established players like Samsung and Apple have over companies like OnePlus is the fact that they are practically everywhere. And buying a premium device from any of these is a sort of a free membership pass to the entire Samsung or Apple ecosystem.

For instance, Samsung has its own voice assistant Bixby in addition to the globally available Google Assistant on androids. It also has its own digital wallet and payment gateway in the form of Samsung Pay, a security assurance in the form of Knox, shopping portal  Samsung Mall, virtual reality platform  Samsung Gear VR, own accessories like the Samsung Gear, Samsung UFlex, Samsung headphones and what not. Its a complete parallel world that would have you hooked on to it.

Also read Honor 7A First Impressions Review: A Great Offer at Rs 8,999
French President Emmanuel Macron called on tech leaders Thursday to invest in France, saying his innovation policies aim to make the country the gateway to Europe. Speaking partly in English in front of CEOs and other tech industry leaders, Macron said: its because France is changing like crazy that we can say that France is back and you could choose France. He said his labour policy changes have boosted investment in the country over the past year. The changes, notably aimed at giving employers more flexibility to hire and fire, have prompted a series of strikes and protests against what unions see as weakening workers rights.

Also Read: GDPR: EU's New Data Protection Rules Come Into Force

The speech at the Vivatech trade show in Paris came a day after Macron met Facebook, Microsoft, Uber, IBM and other CEOs to discuss personal data protection and taxes, among other issues. The French president pushed for tougher EU regulations and a European digital tax. Those who innovate in France, they pay taxes... We are decreasing these taxes. Fine. But its not fair when somebody else pays no tax, he said. Privacy was another issue Macron raised as a tough new European data protection law comes into effect this week. The so-called GDPR regulation will give Europeans more control over what companies can do with what they post, search and click.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a speech Thursday that with GDPR, we will now have to operate recognizing that privacy is a human right. Microsoft said this week it would apply European data rights to all its clients worldwide. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, also speaking at the conference, said GDPR means adding some controls, but he insisted it is not a massive departure from what Facebook does. At a hearing Tuesday in the European Parliament in Brussels, Zuckerberg acknowledged a mistake and apologized for the way the social network has been used to produce fake news and interfere in elections.

Also Read: What Is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), That's Got The World Talking About Europe?

In response to a question Thursday, Zuckerberg said he had not foreseen the huge responsibility Facebook faces today when he was building the company as a college service. We need to do a more proactive job, Zuckerberg said. He cited taking down inappropriate content linked to everything from extremism to bullying. Other mea culpas included failing to spot Russian interference. In 2016, he said, we were slow to identify Russian interference in the U.S. election.

Also Watch: Karbonn Titanium Frames S7 Review: A Decent Budget Deal
Xiaomi is all set to launch its new device in Indian market. The official invite states that the Chinese smartphone manufacturer is hosting an event in New Delhi on June 7 to launch a new device. The invite doesnt really reveal much except details about the launch event date, time, and venue. Meanwhile the invite highlights, the soon to be launched smartphone will be camera-centric. It is also believed that Xiaomi might rebrand the recently unveiled Redmi S2 as Redmi Y2 in India. The Redmi Y2 is likely to be the successor of the Redmi Y1. The Redmi S2, which launched in China earlier this month, has its AI-powered selfie camera as one of its highlights. Xiaomi Redmi S2 will be offered in two variants  the one with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage and a 4GB RAM with 64GB storage variant that will be priced at RMB 1,299 (approximately Rs 13,800). The company is using hashtags like #FindYourSelfie and #RealYou to highlight the alphabet "Y" in the teaser.

Also Read: 5 Reasons to Buy The OnePlus 6 Over Samsung Galaxy S9

The Xiaomi Redmi S2 features a 5.99-inch HD+ display with a resolution of 1440720 pixels. Like many devices in 2018, the S2 offers an aspect ratio of 18:9. The device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 octa-core SoC that is a tried and tested chipset among many budget smartphones.

Also Read: Facebook Wont Financially Compensate For Cambridge Analytica Case

The Redmi S2 comes with dual camera setup at the back, with a 12-megapixel primary sensor and a 5-megapixel depth sensor. Both the cameras work in tandem to produce bokeh effect photos. For selfies, there is a 16-megapixel AI-powered front camera which comes with a dedicated portrait mode as well. The Xiaomi Redmi S2 is loaded with a 3,080mAh battery as well and comes with a fingerprint sensor at the back, and face unlocks feature too. Moving on to connectivity, the Redmi Y2 will support Wi-Fi 802/11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2 Low Energy, GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, micro USB 2.0, an IR blaster and 4G VoLTE.

Also Watch: Karbonn Titanium Frames S7 Review: A Decent Budget Deal
Toronto: Two unidentified men walked into a restaurant on Thursday in the Canadian city of Mississauga and set off a bomb, wounding more than a dozen people, and then fleeing, local police said.

The blast went off in the Bombay Bhel restaurant at about 10:30 p.m local time. Fifteen people were taken to hospital, three of them with critical injuries, the Peel Regional Paramedic Service said in a tweet.

#PRP in the area of Hurontario/Eglinton #Mississauga for an incident. Reports of multiple injuries, no info on the extent. Plaza in the area will be sealed. Call received at 10:32pm. Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) May 25, 2018

In the afternoon, Indian High Commissioner Vikas Swarup said that three Indian-Canadians, who were reported to be critically injured, are stable now.

Regarding the bomb blast in an Indian restaurant in Mississauga, our Consul General in Toronto has visited the hospital & confirmed that the 3 Indian-Canadians who were reported to be critically injured are stable now: Vikas Swarup, India's High Commissioner to Canada (File pic) pic.twitter.com/TyR4JweCq9 ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has listed an emergency number for the Indian nationals in Toronto, and said that she is in constant touch with our Consul General in Toronto and Indian High Commissioner in Canada. "Our missions will work round the clock. The Emergency number is : +1-647-668-4108," she said.

There is a blast in Indian restaurant Bombay Bhel in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I am in constant touch with our Consul General in Toronto and Indian High Commissioner in Canada. Our missions will work round the clock. The Emergency number is : +1-647-668-4108.Please RT Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 25, 2018

The two male suspects fled after detonating their improvised explosive device, Peel Regional Police said in a tweet.

2 suspects attended the scene, detonated an Improvised Explosive Device within the restaurant. Several injured were taken to local hospital and 3 in critical condition were taken to a Toronto Trauma Centre. pic.twitter.com/yzCT59UVN6 Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) May 25, 2018

No one has claimed responsibility, and the motive for the attack was not known.

Police posted a photograph on Twitter showing two people with dark zip-up hoodies walking into an establishment. One appeared to be carrying an object.

Peel Police said one suspect was in his mid-20s, stocky, and wore dark blue jeans and a dark zip-up hoody pulled over his head, with black cloth covering his face. The second was thin, and wore faded blue jeans, a grey t-shirt and a dark zip-up hoody over his head, also with his face covered.

Roads in the area were closed and a large police presence was at the scene, with heavily armed tactical officers arriving as part of the large emergency response, local media reported.

The attack in Mississauga comes a month after a driver plowed his white Ryder rental van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15.

Mississauga is Canada's sixth-largest city, with a population of 700,000 people, situated on Lake Ontario about 20 miles (32 km) west of Toronto.
New York: Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to turn himself in to New York police on Friday to face sex crime charges, nearly eight months after his career collapsed in a blaze of assault accusations.

US media reported that the former movie powerbroker -- once the toast of Hollywood, with his films winning scores of Oscars -- had been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury.

The New York Post said he would surrender to police, where he would likely have his mugshot and fingerprints taken, before being taken to a Manhattan court, where experts predicted he would plead not guilty.

The Manhattan district attorney's office and New York police have investigated Weinstein for months, coming under growing pressure from the Time's Up movement to bring the fallen producer to justice.

Any court appearance on Friday would mark the first criminal charges filed against the twice-married, disgraced former studio boss.

Ben Brafman, Weinstein's high-powered defense attorney, declined to comment Thursday. Neither the district attorney's office nor the police department immediately responded to requests to comment.

While the precise charges he could face remained unclear, The New York Times and New York Daily News said they would relate to at least one accuser, Lucia Evans, who said he forced her into oral sex in 2004.

Police have previously confirmed an active Weinstein investigation regarding Evans, who was an aspiring actress at the time.

New York police have also confirmed a credible rape allegation against Weinstein after "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta accused him of raping her twice at her New York apartment in late 2010.

- 'Tried to get away' -

The mogul's career went down in flames last October over sexual assault allegations following bombshell articles in The New York Times and New Yorker, which sparked a sexual harassment watershed across the United States and won both outlets a Pulitzer.

More than 100 women have since accused the 66-year-old of crimes ranging from sexual harassment to assault and rape going back 40 years.

More than two dozen actresses including Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie say they were sexually harassed by the producer. A few, including Asia Argento and Rose McGowan, said they were raped.

"We are one step closer to justice," McGowan was quoted as saying by Variety. "May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere."

Evans, now a marketing consultant, told The New Yorker that Weinstein approached her in a club in 2004 and that an assistant subsequently set up a daytime meeting at the Miramax office in Tribeca.

"He forced me to perform oral sex on him," she said. "I said, over and over, 'I don't want to do this, stop, don't,'" she added.

Eventually, she said, the burly executive "overpowered" her. "I just sort of gave up. That's the most horrible part of it, and that's why he's been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like it's their fault."

Weinstein denies any non-consensual sex and has reportedly been in treatment for sex addiction.

He is also reportedly under federal investigation by the US attorney's office in Manhattan.

Otherwise, he has been hit by a litany of civil lawsuits and The Weinstein Company -- which sacked him -- has filed for bankruptcy.

- 'Media circus' -

His wife, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, is now divorcing him with police investigations also ongoing in London and Los Angeles.

"It's going to be a media circus," Julie Rendelman, a criminal lawyer and former prosecutor, told AFP, warning that any trial -- let alone a criminal conviction -- would still be a long way off.

Sexual assault cases, particularly those that allegedly happened years ago, are notoriously hard to prosecute particularly as there is often little to no forensic evidence.

Weinstein hired Brafman, one of America's most celebrated criminal defense lawyers, last November, just days after New York police announced they were gathering evidence for a possible arrest warrant.

"You can expect him to fight very hard," said Rendelman of Brafman.

His past clients include former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who ultimately escaped criminal prosecution for alleged sexual assault in 2011.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, whose case against Strauss-Kahn fell apart, has been criticized for failing to bring a criminal case against Weinstein three years ago.

Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez accused Weinstein of groping and harassing her in 2015, but the district attorney ultimately decided that evidence was insufficient to prosecute.

Acting on demand from the Time's Up movement led by top Hollywood actresses, authorities in March vowed to "review" that decision.
Washington/Seoul: U.S. President Donald Trump dangled the possibility on Friday that a June 12 summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, could still take place, just a day after he cancelled the meeting citing Pyongyang's "open hostility."

Trump indicated the summit could be salvaged after welcoming a conciliatory statement from North Korea saying it remained open to talks.

"It was a very nice statement they put out," Trump said as he left the White House to deliver a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy. "We'll see what happens - it could even be the 12th.

"We're talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it."

Earlier on Twitter, Trump had noted "very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea."

After decades of tension on the Korean Peninsula and antagonism with the United States over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, Kim and Trump agreed to what would be the first meeting between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader. The plan followed months of war threats and insults traded between the leaders, as well as advances in North Korean missiles capable of reaching the United States.

Trump scrapped the meeting on Thursday after repeated threats by North Korea to pull out of the summit in Singapore over what it saw as confrontational remarks by U.S. officials. Trump cited North Korean hostility in canceling the summit.

In Pyongyang, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea's criticisms of certain U.S. officials had been a reaction to American rhetoric and that the current antagonism showed "the urgent necessity" for the summit.

"His sudden and unilateral announcement to cancel the summit is something unexpected to us and we cannot but feel great regret for it," Kim Kye Gwan said of Trump in a statement on state media.

He said North Korea remained open to resolving issues with Washington "regardless of ways, at any time."

Trump's latest about-face sent officials scrambling in Washington. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters diplomats were "still at work" and said Trump had just sent a note out on the summit, which could be back on "if our diplomats can pull it off."

North Korea had sharply criticised suggestions by Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence that it could share the fate of Libya if it did not swiftly surrender its nuclear arsenal. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by NATO-backed militants after halting his nascent nuclear program.

Kim Kye Gwan said North Korea appreciated Trump having made the bold decision to work toward a summit.

"We even inwardly hoped that what is called 'Trump formula' would help clear both sides of their worries and comply with the requirements of our side and would be a wise way of substantial effect for settling the issue," he said.

Trump had initially sought to placate North Korea, saying he was not pursuing the "Libya model" in getting the North to abandon its nuclear weapons program. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "This is the President Trump model. He's going to run this the way he sees fit."

SALVAGE THE SUMMIT

U.S. regional allies Japan and South Korea, as well as North Korea's main ally, China, urged the two countries to salvage the summit on Friday.

At an economic forum in St. Petersburg, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan said such a summit was necessary to ensure security on the Korean peninsula, which touched on China's core interests.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the same forum, regretted the cancellation of the summit and said the world should keep doing its bit to make it happen.

In Seoul, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had urged Trump at a White House meeting on Tuesday not to let a rare opportunity slip away, said on Thursday he was "perplexed" by the cancellation.

South Korea also would continue efforts to improve ties with the North, the presidential office said after Moon's top security advisers met for the second time on Friday.

Some analysts worried that canceling the summit could prompt a resumption in hostilities, including renewed shorter-range missile tests or stepped-up cyber attacks by Pyongyang and increased sanctions or deployment of new military assets by Washington.

In his letter, Trump warned Kim of the United States' greater nuclear might, reminiscent of the president's tweet last year asserting that he had a "much bigger" nuclear button than Kim.

While the Trump administration had insisted on North Korea's complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of its nuclear program, Pyongyang had always couched its language in terms of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

It has said in previous, failed talks that it could consider giving up its arsenal if the United States provided security guarantees by removing its troops from South Korea and withdrawing its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.

Before Trump scrapped the meeting on Thursday, North Korea said it had completely dismantled its Punggye-ri nuclear test facility "to ensure the transparency of discontinuance" of nuclear testing.
New Delhi: In a historic development, Pakistans National Assembly passed a major Constitution amendment merging the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The move was marked by an overwhelming majority with a 229-1 vote in the House, with the ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) being supported by Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamat-e-Islami.

The challenge now, as per sources in PTI, is ensuring the complete inclusion of the people in the FATA region. PTI is the ruling government in KP, with Pervez Khan Khattak as the CM. Khattak had hailed the amendment, saying that FATA was now KP. A long struggle has ended today in the most promising future for tribal brothers and sisters. Congratulations Pakistan, Congratulations our tribal brothers.

This entire process of merger will take months. And then there is the general elections. We have asked Prime Minister Abbasi to form a committee to oversee the merger and to ensure that it happens smoothly without any trouble, an official in the know of things told News18, adding that the committee will hopefully be formed as the new government comes into power after the general elections in July.

Khans priority is to ensure inclusivity in the newly merged region. The official added the merger was necessary since many had been locally displaced due to the military operations in the area.

Now the challenge is to take care of the vacuum and to bring the people of FATA into mainstream. KP has a fine, fully functional structure in place. We are very sure that the same will trickle down to FATA region as well. We have managed KP well and there is no question over who will form the government here again. That said, we need local government elections so that people from the FATA side can be engaged more and they feel more inclusive, the official added.

The official further said that the region would exclusively be given a separate fund for its development, thus ensuring that money didnt come in the way of the regions development.

Post the announcement of the merger, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who played a key role in bringing consensus to pass the amendment said in his address to the lawmakers that it was joint effort by all parties, which will "change the 150-year-old system in the tribal areas."

The semi-autonomous tribal region was created by British colonisers as a buffer zone to avoid direct conflict with Afghanistan.

It consists of seven districts  Bajaur, Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand, North Waziristan, Orakzai and South Waziristan  which stretch along the border with Afghanistan and became known in the world due to presence of militants who fled the porous border after US forces invaded Afghanistan post 9/11.

These seven districts are home to some eight million residents, mainly ethnic Pashtuns.

Pakistan forces launched repeated military operations to clear the area of rebels and dismantle their hideouts which were used to launch attack in the country and Afghanistan.
Islamabad: Pakistan's parliament on Thursday passed legislation to merge the country's tribal regions along the Afghan border with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a key step to ending the region's much-criticised colonial era governance system.

While security in the restive region has improved, for years Islamist militants including the Taliban and al Qaeda have used Waziristan and its surrounding tribal areas to train and launch attacks in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, in part because the region has no government writ.

As a result, the region is central to efforts by Washington, Islamabad and others to combat militants.

The semi-autonomous region consists of seven big district and six towns known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and has been governed for over 150 years by colonial era tribal laws.

Rights groups have long argued that residents of FATA to have the same laws as the rest of Pakistan, pointing out that the use of collective punishment and other colonial-era laws against local people tramples basic rights.

"The law this parliament passed today will, God willing, bring positive results," Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said after the 372 member house adopted the amendment with a 229 votes majority supported by ruling and opposition parties.

He said the region will be governed with rights equal to other parts of the country.

The reform bill was delayed for years mainly due to political wrangling but has long been demanded by the local population.

Abbasi said local elections in the region would be held this year to kick start a political process and said future governments will spend 100 billion rupees ($865 million) a year for a decade on development.

Over the past decade Pakistan's military has launched several operations in FATA, displacing many people now forced to live in camps in districts just outside the tribal regions.
Los Angeles: At age 81, and with a terminal cancer diagnosis, U.S. Senator John McCain is looking back on his life, not with rancor or to settle old scores, but with immense gratitude.

"John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls," an HBO documentary premiering on May 28, takes its title from the Ernest Hemingway novel that McCain says he has used as a guide for his life.

"The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for, and I hate very much to leave it," begins the documentary, quoting from the 1940 novel about a young American who fights in the Spanish Civil War for a cause greater than himself.

"You will never talk to anyone who is as fortunate as John McCain," says the six-term senator from Arizona, two-time presidential candidate and Vietnam War hero, summing up his life.

The documentary, and a memoir published on May 22 called "The Restless Wave," were conceived before McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017.

It features home videos, personal photos, interviews with his family and friends and contributions from leading Republican and Democrat supporters and rivals, including former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The film also traces McCain's many political battles, often pitting him against his own Republican party, on issues ranging from campaign finance and immigration reform to human rights, climate change and pleas for civility and compromise rather than partisan politics.

"I am reluctant to call it a last testament, although it has that quality, obviously," said Mark Salter, McCain's aide, speech writer and friend of 30 years.

"More than anything else, it's an expression of his gratitude to his country for the opportunity to live the extraordinary life he has lived in service to it," Salter told Reuters.

While "The Restless Wave" sees McCain criticizing President Donald Trump for a failure to uphold U.S. values, Trump is never mentioned in the documentary.

Salter said the film aims to rise above feuds and provide an "honest look at his life, his imperfections as well as his virtues."

McCain admits on camera that he can be short-tempered and a perfectionist.

As for his health, Salter said McCain fought off an infection a couple of weeks ago "and is working on getting his strength back."

"I know it's a vicious disease," McCain says in the film. "I greet every day with gratitude."
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Dear Newsie Readers,

Newsie has now permanently ceased it's services as of Friday 20th December 2019.

Newsie has been an owner-funded operation since day one.

Coming up to three years old, while we still firmly believe Newsie has a place in the New Zealand media landscape, the cost in both time and money has become too burdensome for the owners to continue alongside other ventures.

With the current government looking to restructure public broadcasting, and seemingly supporting NZME buying a ring-fenced Stuff, the time seems right to call it a day.

Should it happen, the combination of NZME and Stuff will ensure New Zealands national media will die a death by a thousand opinion-based articles.

Newsie has always tried to stick to balanced news, to inform readers of the facts of a situation, amid being largely ignored by government. Hopefully, one day someone else will take up the challenge to fight the good fight.

The good news, however, is that there were no job losses as a result of Newsie closing. Thanks to careful structuring, everyone involved in Newsie will retain their current positions.

We hope you all have a happy Christmas and new year. Stay safe, and stay out of the news.

The team at Newsie
When Luis Lopez came to the United States from Guatemala in 1985, cooking at an exclusive event wasn't even a thought in his mind. In fact, becoming a chef wasn't yet part of his life's plan. But 33 years later, Lopez  alongside restaurateur counterpart Bruno DiFabio  will take to the kitchen of one of the most prestigious dining establishments in the country.

On June 8, Lopez, the Executive Chef at The Village Tavern in Ridgefield, Connecticut, will join Tavern owner and six-time world pizza champion DiFabio for a five course meal tasting and wine pairing at New York City's James Beard House, the former residence of the famed cookbook author and teacher. And, with only 200 of these dinners hosted each year by the facility and its adjoining James Beard Foundation, all by invitation only, Lopez is fully aware of the magnitude of the event.

"This would probably be the best thing that's ever happened to me as a chef," said Lopez on receiving the invitation to cook for JBH. "I'm very grateful and very thankful to God and to the DiFabio family to be here and express myself in the way of cooking."

According to DiFabio, receiving such recognition signifies a high level of achievement.

"I've won cooking competitions around the world, but James Beard is synonymous with being the top of the top, and it's invitation only, so for that to happen was pretty impressive."

Open for just two years, The Village Tavern has featured Lopez's "New American"-style cooking for half that time. Shortly after Lopez debuted a new menu at the eatery, DiFabio recalls an unassuming guest dropping by for what turned out to be a fateful encounter, one that secured their spot at the James Beard House.

"A gentleman came in right after chef introduced a new menu at The Village Tavern...I don't even remember his name, but he was completely blown away," said DiFabio. "He came in by himself, paid his bill quietly and he left his credentials. And we were stunned. It was pretty amazing."

More Living Q&A: Westport chef is a James Beard Award semifinalist

With an infusion of flavors inspired by locales far flung and next door, it's easy to see how Lopez's cooking earned him a place in the kitchen of the James Beard House: in short, it aims to please. Describing his cuisine as a "mutt," Lopez said it is ultimately indicative of the melting pot that is American culture.

"I call my cooking 'mutt' cooking because I use Italian, French influences with fresh produce...the main goal is to please the American palate," he explained. "That's what I try to do. Because that's where I live  the best country in the world."

Lopez says his drive for creating tasty dishes wasn't always prevalent. Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Guatemala, cooking was more about function that it was about flavor.

"Back where I come from, you had to learn how to cook. You didn't have anybody cooking for you if you grew up in a poor neighborhood, which was the case for me," he said. "I think when I came to this country and I was exposed to beautiful food and incredible people, that's when I developed my passion for that."

Now set to make his debut at the James Beard House, Lopez's passion has developed into a purpose, one, he says, that motivates him every day to be the best chef he can be.

"For me, cooking was always a way of living for me and my family," he offered. "That's probably why I'm very good at it, because there's a reason behind it. There's a reason behind my passion. And that reason is my family."

For DiFabio, who also owns Ridgefield's Romolo Gastro-Pizza, his arrival to the James Beard House poses a mix of emotions; excitement over the recognition of his hard work, accompanied by the gravity of such a prestigious honor.

"We have a pretty good reputation and it's definitely chef-driven and chef-forward, so I'm not surprised," he said. "I am however, nervous. It's going to be a nerve-wracking day. We're going to be cooking for so many dignitaries I'm sure in the wine and the food business that attend and embrace the foundation."

What will the duo prepare for their distinguished guests? The five course meal will take diners on a tour of Lopez's signature cooking style, serving up everything from hors d'oeuvres of tuna tartare and braised pork, to dinner ensembles of Spanish octopus and 'sopa de mariscos' (seafood soup).

Lopez and DiFabio won't just be cooking for the who's who of the culinary world, however. The event offers first-come-first-served reservations for both members and non-members of the James Beard Foundation, with prices for the event ranging from $135 to $175 per person, respectively, for the 80-person affair.

Despite the nerves, the excitement and the preparation, DiFabio is ready to take up his position in the kitchen alongside his executive chef because he knows the significance of the moment far surpasses any of the emotions he's felt thus far.

"Not a lot of chefs can say that they've been invited to cook at James Beard," he said. "It's such an honor."
Finding a good doctor is only part of achieving good health. You also need to be vigilant about what you eat, focusing on foods and drinks that fuel a healthy lifestyle, not inhibit it. But, let's be honest, so-called "health food" doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to taste. You want nutritious foods that also please the palate. Here we offer dining locations around the state where the food is both good and good for you. Just remember: You are what you eat.

A post shared by Three Girls Vegan Creamery (@threegirlsvegan) on Aug 27, 2017 at 4:55pm PDT

So big was the buzz behind this maker of nut-derived vegan "cheese" that when it opened a shop in a small plaza in Guilford last summer, people waited for more than an hour to have at the vegan selection. Some of the cheese-but-not-cheese varieties include mozzarella "di Bufala" pearls and nacho cheese sauce, both made from cashews, as well as almond ricotta. Simply put, this is the place for people who love cheese, but can't or won't eat the real thing. Meat lovers, too, likely will find something to their liking, with products such as maple bacon made from coconuts, and smoked pastrami made from beets and mushrooms. Three Girls also offers an array of prepared options such as a meatball grinder, lasagna and biscuits and gravy. In addition to their Guilford space, Three Girls products can also be found at several Connecticut food stores and online. 203-896-0411

New Morning Market, Woodbury

A post shared by New Morning Market (@newmorningmarket1971) on Mar 8, 2018 at 8:53am PST

New Morning Market has been fighting the good-food fight since way back in 1971, long before local and organic was hip. Its current location is a 32,000-square-foot space that serves as an inviting hub of local and sustainable food and culture. The market is also home to The Provender, an award-winning, fresh-food counter, and a full coffee bar that also offers fresh organic juices and smoothies, as well as kombucha tea. A vitality center on the second floor offers yoga classes, hosts special events and provides guests the option of scheduling appointments with a nutritionist, massage therapist and other wellness professionals. 203-263-4868

Bloodroot, Bridgeport

Ned Gerard

Housed in a converted machine shop on the water in Bridgeport, this is a classic Connecticut restaurant with a healthy vibe all its own. Billed as a feminist vegetarian restaurant, Bloodroot has no waitstaff; everyone orders at the counter and clears their own tables. The ultra-political spot is also a bookstore, but its the wide variety of salads and nut-and-seed meat substitutes that make this a must-try for the health conscious. Eating vegetarian food isnt always healthier, but eating more vegetables generally is. 203-576-9168

A post shared by Nature's Temptations (@naturestempt) on Dec 14, 2017 at 7:01am PST

On a wooden sign, just inside the door at Natures Temptation, the words local, sustainable and organic are written in large, bold letters. These words act as the mantra for the natural grocery store, deli and juice bar. In the shop youll find items such as 100-percent grass-fed beef, local milk and a variety of herbs, spices, oils and vinegar all unrefined and organic. These ingredients also power the full-service deli and the juice and smoothie bar. Theres even a naturopathic doctor on staff to help answer nutrition questions customers might have. 203-438-5443

Photo courtesy of Jeff Skerik

Nestled in the crook of East Main and Chestnut streets, G-Zen is a vegan beacon for health-focused and environmentally friendly folks with a taste for award-winning fine dining. But the philosophy of husband-and-wife chefs and owners Mark Shadle and Ami Beach Shadle is that their job isnt over when the meal is finished. Sustainability is of the utmost importance. Their solar-powered family farm in Durham provides organic ingredients for the restaurant and their Gmonkey food truck, and the waste material becomes compost for the next crops. The menu changes daily, but the mission remains the same. 203-208-0443

Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe, Fairfield

Ned Gerard

Specializing in raw (rawking) foods, Catch a Healthy Habit offers fruit- and vegetable-forward dishes with an array of vegetarian and gluten-free options. Superfoods  nutrient-rich foods that are particularly good for us  power many of the smoothies and dishes. Regardless of whether health is your main concern when deciding where to eat, its hard not to have your stomach rumble when you see descriptions of foods such as chia and chocolate pudding, carrot ginger soup and the popular nut-and-seed veggie burger. 203-292-8190

Heirloom Food Company, Danielson

A post shared by Heirloom Food Co (@heirloomfoodco) on Mar 8, 2018 at 8:19am PST

One way to tell if an eatery serves up healthy fare: food with vibrant color. And no, were not talking about the unnatural orange of cheese snacks. One look at the Instagram page of this spot in Connecticuts rural East provides a kaleidoscope of colors. While many dishes at Heirloom are vegetarian or vegan, its this organic cafe and juice bars dedication to local sourcing that should appeal to all tastes. With a chalkboard menu and a website that list the ingredient-supplying local farms, Heirloom offers an array of mostly vegan and gluten-free items (aside from tuna and turkey options). Standouts include the Beta Burger, featuring a patty of lentils, beets, brown rice and almonds, and the Avocado Detox salad with mixed greens, chopped apples and sliced avocado topped with sesame seeds, walnuts, cranberries and lemon juice. 860-7793373

Claires Corner Copia, New Haven

Catherine Avalone

Another institution on this list, Claires has been serving up vegetarian and vegan food to Yale kids and other New Haven residents for 40 years. Claires offers vegetarian dishes with a sort of Tex-Mex twist, from burritos to quesadillas. Tofu abounds. Its also located on one of the nicest street corners in New Haven, diagonally across from the Green at the corner of Chapel and College streets. Big windows offer great people-watching opportunities. 203-562-3888

ION Restaurant, Middletown

Catherine Avalone

Its Only Natural has been on Middletowns Main Street for over a generation, serving up vegetarian and vegan cuisine long before it was cool or in vogue. Perhaps thanks to cohort after cohort of environmentally conscious and hip kids up the hill at Wesleyan, ION has grown and expanded over the years, and is now affiliated with a natural foods grocery store, also on Main Street. A lot of vegetarian and vegan places have fairly limited offerings  some combination of rice, beans and lentils to supplement the veggies and make the dish something other than a salad. But IONs menu is full of adventurous concoctions. Theyve been doing it for some 30 years, so you can bet they have figured out how to keep people coming back. 860-346-9210

The Sweet Beet, Granby

A post shared by @thesweetbeet on Apr 5, 2018 at 7:26am PDT

While not every item on the menu here contains beets, everything at The Sweet Beet is vegan and gluten free. And those with food allergies will be happy to know that neither soy nor peanuts are used. Its all part of a clean eating philosophy that has gained a loyal following at this cafe and bakery near the Massachusetts line. Primarily a takeout spot with a cooler of prepared foods, The Sweet Beet offers a few sandwich options (No Egg Salad with chickpeas, onions, dill and seasonings), made-to-order salads (The Sweet Beet Salad with greens, carrot, shredded beet, cucumber, tomato, pea shoots and house-made shallot vinaigrette), soups such as bean chili, several creative juices (Beetlejuice with beet, cucumber, apple and ginger), and baked goods such as mini cupcakes. 860-653-2338

This article appeared in the April 2018 issue of Connecticut Magazine.
NEW MILFORD  A veteran elected leader and a former National Teacher of the Year who is new to politics each told a group of left-leaning voters Thursday why she is the best candidate to replace U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty in the House of Representatives.

The event at New Milford United Methodist Church was the first time that former Simsbury First Selectman Mary Glassman and former star Waterbury high school teacher Jahana Hayes were in the same room since the dramatic Democratic convention endorsement for the 5th District last week, which saw Glassman narrowly win the partys favor after eleventh-hour vote switching.

I want to go to Washington because I want to fight for you, and I want to fight for your democratic values, said Glassman, a two-time candidate for lieutenant governor who had two multi-term tenures as Simsbury First Selectman. Why I am doing this is to help you, so I need you to help me with your vote.

Glassman and Hayes each addressed the crowd briefly before taking questions.

I am a respecter of people; we need people in Congress who respect everybody, said Hayes, the Waterbury school districts talent and professional development supervisor, who left the classroom after being named the 2016 National Teacher of the Year. That is what representation is supposed to look like.

Glassman and Hayes are campaigning for the Aug. 14 Democratic primary to see which candidate will represent the party in the November election against the Republican nominee.

Democrats were forced to scramble in early April when three-term incumbent Elizabeth Esty announced she would not run for a fourth term as a result of her role in covering up an office abuse scandal involving her former chief of staff.

The race for Connecticuts 5th District is the most competitive Congressional contest in the state. The 5th District, which stretches from Bethel to Massachusetts and from western-most Connecticut to the central part of the state, represents Republicans best chance to break into Connecticuts all-Democratic Washington delegation.

Thursdays forum was sponsored by Western Connecticut Civic Action, a group of 650 voters from greater Danbury who support Democratic values.

We are not endorsing any candidates at this point, said Ann Pratt, one of the groups organizers. This is a very important time for people to get out and hear what candidates stand for.

Glassman and Hayes answered questions about diplomacy, military spending, health care and foreign policy from the crowd of 30.

This idea of America first  we tried that after World War I and it didnt work, because it got us into World War II, said Hayes. We cannot maintain our place as leaders of the free world if we cooperate with no one.

On health care:

The fact that people are going to the emergency room to get basic medical care because they dont have access to preventative care shows our values as a country, Glassman said. I am a big believer in preventative health  there is no question that we as a society need to take care of our most vulnerable.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the state Democratic Party confirmed it had received a formal request from a delegate to investigate the last-minute vote switching at the partys May 14 convention that gave Glassman the endorsement over Hayes.

The party is investigating, a spokeswoman said.

After the mid-August primaries, the civic action group may have a similar forum with the Republican nominee, Pratt said.

The Republican candidates are former Meriden Mayor Manny Santos, who was endorsed at the partys convention at Foxwoods earlier this month; Southbury newcomer Ruby ONeill, and Watertown businessman Richard Dupont.

rryser@newstimes.com
BROOKFIELD  C.D. Pete Peterson considers himself one of the last ones.

The longtime Brookfield resident is one of a dwindling group who can remember growing up during World War II, the turbulence and exuberance of the postwar period and the rise of the suburban middle class.

After attending his 60th high school reunion, Peterson decided to write down his experiences and share those of his peers. He recently published a book, Home Front: A Memoir from WWII, which details his memories from the period and includes an addendum telling the stories of more than 35 others.

Peterson said he was driven by a desire to ensure that the wartime era is remembered.

Its so important, because we are bound to get ourselves in [a similar] position again, he said. You can gain a lot of strength by looking at that.

His classmates from high school and flight training school submitted their own stories for the book and urged their friends to contribute as well. Peterson has posted more than 50 pieces on his website, many written by people he has never met.

Once people realize they are among the last ones, they don't want people to forget, Peterson said.

Peterson, born in 1937, grew up on a farm in Framingham, Mass. The book follows his childhood until his family sold the farm, which the Massachusetts Turnpike now passes through.

The bombing at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 is one of Petersons first memories. He begins the memoir with an account of the attack, describing how it seemed as though a second world had been layered on us.

From then on, he said, everything everyone did was for the war effort. He recalled collecting tinfoil, playing war, singing patriotic songs and writing to soldiers, including his father and uncle, on tissue-thin paper because paper was scarce.

There was such unity  patriotism and unity, Peterson said. You could walk down the street and anyone you brushed against would be with you.

He also remembers his parents still being cautious about spending money after the Great Depression and hearing the phrase make do as sugar, gas, meat and tires were rationed.

We grew up in one of the most incredible times ever...where your whole country mobilizes together, Peterson said.

This would be unheard-of today, he said.

If you ever told some young person today that you couldnt have something, I dont know what would happen, Peterson said. You knew about sacrifice and you knew about working for things and you knew about working together.

But he also recalls his fear while watching footage of thousands of German soldiers marching. He said he could not comprehend why the war was happening.

You wondered when the war was ever going to be over, Peterson said.

But after the war, Peterson said, the shelves filled up again and the GI Bill was passed, so people were able to buy homes and go to college for the first time. But the book also describes the tension when soldiers came home to find that their jobs had been filled by women and black people.

It was an adjustment when people came back, Peterson said.

Peterson enlisted in the Navy in 1955 and flew planes in Cuba before moving to Connecticut in 1964. He returned to Massachusetts to study at MIT in the early 1970s and moved to Brookfield in 1972, serving on the Board of Finance in the early 1980s.

He worked for Fabric Firehouse in Sandy Hook, International Paper Company and finally Danbury Hospital, where he eventually retired as vice president of planning and marketing. He has written a handful of other books, including Challenge and Change - A History of Danbury Hospital.

But he describes the war period as a precious time.

I want to hold that time up and I dont want it forgotten, Peterson said.
KENT - Its been nearly six months since Andre Edness, the father of six young children, was gunned down in a relatives home just south of Kent Falls State Park.

Edness, 30, was killed Dec. 1, but little information has been made public since then about the investigation into his death. Although a man was taken into custody and questioned on the day of the shooting, he was later released and never publicly identified. No arrests have been made.

According to the medical examiners office, Edness was killed by a shotgun wound to the chest and his death was ruled a homicide. Family members and local officials say theyve heard little more from law enforcement since then.

Im sure its very frustrating for those involved who would like to see some kind of closure, said Kent First Selectman Bruce Adams. But who knows whats going on behind the scenes? Maybe the investigation is more complicated then we realize. But it would be nice to finally put the case to rest.

Adams said he spoke recently to the resident state trooper about the case, but added that the investigation is being handled by detectives with the State Police western district major case unit.

I get calls about the case from time to time, but I havent heard anything about the investigation, Adams said.

According to officials in Torrington Superior Court, a search warrant was executed shortly after the shooting. But the warrant was sealed indefinitely by a court on Jan. 10, and there is no way to determine what property authorities searched or what they were looking for.

David Shepack, the States Attorney for the district, declined to comment on the case other than to confirm that no arrests have been made. State police also declined comment, other than to say the investigation is active and ongoing.

Edness lived with his wife, Sarah, a Kent native, and their children in Massachusetts before the shooting. But his wife moved back in with relatives after he was involved in an accident last year.

According to social media posts, Edness was seriously injured when his truck flipped over Aug. 26. He required several surgeries for a broken hip and pelvis and was facing a long rehabilitation.

With that and other injuries, he is looking at a three to six month stay in a rehabilitation facility until he is able to come home, according to a post on a GoFundMe page by his sister-in-law. He was the breadwinner, working full time during the week to support his family. With him out of work my sister is looking at a tough road.

The home where the shooting occurred is owned by Andrew and Mildred Olson. Attempts to reach the Olsons for comment on Friday were unsuccessful. Stephen Donzella is listed as a co-owner of the building.

Relatives of Edness reached by phone this week by The News-Times declined to comment.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
TORONTO - Standing before lawmakers in Canada's Parliament this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would be making an official apology on behalf of all Canadians for an event for which no living Canadian is responsible.

In May 1939, four months before the outbreak of war in Europe, the M.S. St. Louis - a transatlantic luxury liner carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees - left Germany in search of a country that would take in its passengers.

Canada, which had what an immigration official described at the time as a "none is too many" Jewish immigration policy, turned the ship away. And after several other countries followed suit, the St. Louis was forced to return to Europe, where an estimated 254 of its passengers would die in the Holocaust.

"We failed not only those passengers but their descendants and community," Trudeau told Parliament, adding that he hoped the apology, for which a date has not yet been determined, would compel Canadians "to acknowledge this difficult truth, learn from this story and continue to fight against anti-Semitism every day."

The government's apology for turning away the St. Louis will mark the fifth time since being sworn in as prime minister in 2015 that Trudeau has issued an official apology for one of Canada's historical misdeeds.

And its announcement has provoked a strange debate in a country known for its propensity to apologize: Is the prime minister saying "sorry" too often?

"I think it's worth apologizing for it, but you can have dilution in recognition when you start apologizing, apologizing, apologizing," Marilyn Gladu, a Conservative lawmaker, told The Canadian Press. "It makes it less special."

She said that she feared the prime minister's apologies were becoming a "show" and that her constituents were growing suspicious and skeptical of the sincerity of this wave of national self-flagellation.

Other Conservative lawmakers have expressed concern that Trudeau's apologies are tarnishing the country's image and unnecessarily denigrating its achievements.

Last year, after Trudeau delivered a speech before the United Nations in which he spoke of Canada's history of "humiliation, neglect and abuse" of its indigenous peoples, the Conservative Party emailed its supporters to ask, "Are you tired of people apologizing for our country's rich history?"

The email went on to say that the Liberals "only see blemishes in our past, and not the great country that is constantly bettering itself for future generations," according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Even the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, weighed in after the announcement of the planned St. Louis apology, arguing in an editorial that while the apology is warranted, "most of us know from personal experience that someone who says 'sorry' too often usually is not."

It advised Trudeau to space out his apologies at more "thoughtful" intervals "so that their spotlight falls more squarely on their subjects, and less on him."

Trudeau's first official apology for a historical injustice came six months into his term in May 2016, when he said sorry for a 1914 incident in which the Canadian government turned away a ship carrying mostly Sikhs from India.

Since then, he has apologized for abuse at residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador, decades of government-authorized discrimination against LGBTQ public servants, and the hanging in 1864 of six Tsilhqot'in tribal chiefs in British Columbia who were convicted of murder after seeking to stop the incursion of settlers into their traditional territory.

With his commitments to diversity, open borders and repairing the country's relationship with its indigenous population, Trudeau's apologies appear well aligned with his party's modern-day policies.

But ever since political apologies became more commonplace in the latter decades of the 20th century, they have been subjected to criticism.

Jean Bethke Elshtain, a scholar and ethicist, in a 2011 journal article wondered how to distinguish between serious, meaningful acts of public forgiveness and instances of "contrition chic" - situations where world leaders apologize for the sins of their predecessors as "a bargain-basement way to gain publicity, sympathy and even absolution by trafficking in one's status as victim or victimizer."

Other critics argue that once a government starts repenting for historical injustices, it could find itself on a slippery slope with no end in sight to apologies or, in some cases, monetary compensation.

In Canada, one of the most notable critics of such apologies was Trudeau's father, Pierre Trudeau, who steadfastly rejected calls to apologize to Japanese-Canadians for their internment during the Second World War when he was prime minister.

"I do not think the purpose of a government is to right the past," he said during a parliamentary debate on the issue in 1984. "It cannot rewrite history. It is our purpose to be just in our time."

Trudeau has addressed these diverging approaches to righting historical wrongs, telling the Canadian Press that while his father "came at it as an academic, as a constitutionalist, I come at it as a teacher, as someone who's worked a lot in communities."

Several Canadian lawmakers and Jewish groups have for years lobbied the government to officially apologize for turning away the St. Louis and have welcomed Trudeau's announcement.

Others are less enthusiastic.

Sally Zerker, an emeritus professor at York University in Toronto whose family members were among those turned away on the St. Louis, wrote in the Canadian Jewish News that an apology so many decades later will constitute "nothing but a shallow, empty, meaningless act."

It would not offer her "solace," she wrote, and would instead "whitewash a government that did nothing to help the Jews who were fleeing the Nazis and ignored the type of anti-Semitism that was endemic in Canada until the 1970s."
"This event will be unlike any other in the cannabis industry," says Derek Riedle, publisher of Civilized and Co-Chair of the World Cannabis Congress. "Having entrepreneurial and innovative leaders, policy-makers, consumers, supporters and celebrities together in one place is a perfect reflection of where we are right now, as an industry."



Handler joins Canada's Hon. Anne McLellan, Chair of the Canadian Task Force on Cannabis Legalization, and 350 of the brightest minds and biggest influencers in the industry for two days of expert talks, engaging panel discussions, and unparalleled networking opportunities.



The invitation-only World Cannabis Congress is presented by Civilized, a premium media and lifestyle brand that seeks to expand modern cannabis culture, reflecting the millions of adults who choose to enjoy cannabis as part of a balanced lifestyle.

SOURCE Civilized Worldwide Inc. (Civilized)

For further information: Media Contact: Pamela McKay, Senior Director of Communications, Civilized, [email protected], 506-333-4466
Qtum is designed to implement the best parts of the Bitcoin and Ethereum projects, into a business-friendly blockchain. They are implementing the Bitcoin Improvement Protocols and using the Ethereum Virtual Machine, digital currency enthusiasts can finally agree on one platform that will offer stability and direction.

QTUM Hackathon

QTUM is about to launch its first online hackathon which will last for three months and welcomes anyone who aspires to build on or for QTUM to join. The hackathon will accept online submission and promises handsome financial reward in addition to a spot to QTUMs global dev con and other community support.

Recent Developments

At Consensus 2018, Jordan Earls, Qtums co-founder and lead developer, appeared on the On Device Key Management panel moderated by Zaki Manian, executive director of the Trusted IoT Alliance.

Jordan spoke about the unique complexities of storing and staking cryptocurrency on the Qtum blockchain since the token has to be in a hot wallet to take part in validating transactions and securing the network.

QTUM, together with SpaceChain, Energo, and Bodhi, hosted another tech meetup at Columbia University on May 12th.

QTUM co-founder and lead developer Jordan Earls gave a brief introduction of QTUMs upcoming X86 virtual machine and the soon to launch global developer tour and online hackathon. QTUMs X86 virtual machine will enable programmers to write smart contracts with more mainstream programming languages such as Go, Rust, C++, and more. Jordan is leading the team in developing the said VM and currently, it is in the prototyping phase.

April 21st list of development updates

Some Technical Background on Qtum

Qtum is a hybrid blockchain application platform. Qtums core technology combines a fork of bitcoin core, an Account Abstraction Layer allowing for multiple Virtual Machines including the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Proof-of-Stake consensus aimed at tackling industry use cases. This will allow Smart Contracts and Decentralized Applications to run on a familiar foundation while offering a robust environment for developers.

They use the UTXO model which is similar to having an ecosystem built on bank checks (without an actual bank account, the check itself is the money). There is a pay to field which in our example provides instructions to how the money must be spent, and each check has an amount. You can not go to cash the check and say cash half the check and give me half back. Your balance per-se is the sum of the checks which you are capable of spending. This model is more difficult to explain, but because every token is either spent or unspent and there is no in-between, it is much easier to secure in a blockchain environment with less logic required to maintain that security.

With UTXOs however it is simpler to validate a transaction, which can be done simply by verifying that the transaction has been confirmed by the blockchain, in the case of the SPV protocol. The UTXO model also has been tested and proven to be secure by Bitcoin, which has operated for over 7 years with no significant changes to its core model.

White Papers

Smart-Contract Value-Transfer Protocols on a Distributed Mobile Application Platform (27 pages)

Blockchain-enabled smart contracts that employ proof-ofstake validation for transactions, promise significant performance advantages compared to proof-of-work solutions. For broad industry adoption, other important requirements must be met in addition. For example, stable backwards-compatible smart-contract systems must automate cross-organizational information-logistics orchestration with lite mobile wallets that support simple payment verification (SPV) techniques. The currently leading smart-contract solution Ethereum, uses computationally expensive proof-of-work validation, is expected to hard-fork multiple times in the future and requires downloading the entire blockchain. Consequently, Ethereum smart contracts have limited utility and lack formal semantics, which is a security issue. This whitepaper fills the gap in the state of the art by presenting the Qtum smart-contract framework that aims for sociotechnical application suitability, the adoption of formalsemantics language expressiveness, and the provision of smart-contract template libraries for rapid best-practice industry deployment. We discuss the Qtum utility advantages compared to the Ethereum alternative and present Qtum smart-contract future development plans for industrycases applications.



Qtum Blockchain Economy Whitepaper (33 pages)

The Qtum Blockchain (Qtum) is committed to develop an open source ecosystem for the blockchain community different from that of Bitcoin and Ethereum. It utilizes a Value Transfer Protocol (VTP) to achieve the transferring of value from peer to peer and to build up a decentralized application platform, which brings blockchain technology into the financial services, Internet of Things (IoT), supply chain management, social media, gaming and other industries. Innovative technology, comprehensive governance structure and board applications give Qtum advantages over Bitcoin and Ethereum as a public blockchain.

From a technical point of view, the highly qualified Qtum development team brings in the technology of identity, Oracle and Data feeds, and is committed to achieve the first IPoS (Incentive Proof-of-Stake) Smart Contract platform, which is compatible with Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs based on UTXO model). In terms of compliance, Qtum meets the regulatory requirements from different industries.

In terms of governance, Qtum established the Qtum Blockchain Foundation (Foundation), which is committed to develop the Qtum Blockchain, to advocate governance transparency, and to promote safety and harmony of the open source ecosystem. In order to ensure the sustainability, management effectiveness, and fund-raising security of the project in the open source community, the Foundation uses a governance model that considers the various dimensions of the project, including code management, financial management, public relations management, and other dimensions to operate and to deal with general affairs and privileged operations.

Regarding the applications built on Qtum, they bring in the off-chain factors that are used in Decentralized Applications (DApp) and Smart Contracts to connect the real world business logic with the blockchain world. By supporting multiple industries and methods, the applications will follow the Go Mobile strategy. In Qtums open environment, we not only support and promote the Go Mobile strategy, but also provide mobile services with third party developers, including mobile wallets, mobile DApp store, mobile smart contract applications, etc. In addition, we encourage third party developers to join us and help develop mobile blockchain services for Internet users.

by  Nextbigfuture.com

Source -Qtum.org
This morning there is an Intellectual property panel for the AI Forum at the C2 Montreal

The Key highlight  Chinese Universities are patenting everyones research from AI journals. Not just their own research but everyone elses research where the researchers did not file for patent protection. The main countries in the world have first to file patent systems and not first to invent.

Panel: Intellectual Property in AI, presented by Fasken

With AI comes a host of questions surrounding intellectual property. How will copyright work in the age of AI? Who owns that intellectual property? What patents are organizations putting in place from a defensive point of view?

Panelists:

Jeffrey Astle, Director & Intellectual Property Counsel, Pratt & Whitney

Paul Gagnon, Legal Counsel, Element AI

Florent Chandelier, CTO, Imagia

Johann Gest, Patent Agent, Fasken

Ami Shah, Managing Director Intellectual Property Finance Group, Fortress Investment Group

Moderator: Jean-Nicolas Delage, Partner, Intellectual Property Group, Fasken

Imagia is scaling up an AI-driven collaborative discovery ecosystem to deliver impactful products and services for personalized healthcare.

Florent Chandelier, Chief Technology Officer

Member, Intellectual Property, Canadian International Council, 10 years in AI + medical imaging

Fasken is a top law firm with over 700 lawyers, 10 offices and over 1000 employees.

Johann Gest is a patent agent at Fasken. A quote on his company page  When a patent agent applies creative strategies that are customized to unique client needs, the innovation is valorized, and the return on the R&D investment is maximized.

Jeffrey Astle discusses patent strategy at aircraft engine company Pratt & Whitney.

Fortress Investment Group is a $50 billion hedge fund. They take patents as collateral. Ami was head of patents at Intel before her work at Fortress.

Patents are a 20-year instrument.

Patents can be used in business for offense or defense in business.

China is taking published research from around the world and filing for patents in first to file jurisdictions.

Ms. Shah is Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group and a partner of Fortress IP Investment Group, a $70+ Billion dollar hedge fund providing the U.S.s first structured patent debt financing platform, providing companies unique access to capital based upon the asset value of their patent portfolios.

Prior to joining Fortress, she was head of Global Wireless, Patents, for Intel Corporation for over 10 years where she oversaw the companys patent procurement, licensing, transaction and monetization activities for Intel and Intels development partners. Before joining Intel, she was an associate in the law firms of Dorsey & Whitney, and Fish & Richardson. Ms. Shah began her career as an Examiner in the United States Patent Office.

Software is not patentable right now in the USA but it could be in a few years.

You need to know the patent landscape.

Put your kitchen sink in a patent and then go from their with more detailed strategies.

There are business processes that need to be rigorous and precise and part of overall legal and business strategies. These processes must be able to react to dynamic and changing conditions.

Have a plan that is economically efficient. There are high costs to filing and acquiring patents.

Large companies tend to cross license but they need to have a sufficient portfolio of patents.

CB Insights shows the surge in AI patents and surge in China AI patent filing

Tractica forecasts the expected growth in AI revenue
This morning there is another panel for the AI Forum at the C2 Montreal

Panel: AI for good

This panel will survey humanitarian AI applications  how AI is being implemented to help charities and climate change initiatives, for example  and encourage participants to conceptualize their own inspiring humanitarian AI projects.

Panelists:

Stephen Spittle, Emerging Technology Lead in Digital Intelligence at Satellite Applications Catapult

Jonathan Kanevsky, Head of Clinical Innovation, Imagia Cybernetics

Emil Hewage, Founder & Director, Cambridge Bio-Augmentation Systems ltd

Steve Mutabazi, Chief Investment Strategist, Rwanda Development Board

Moderator: Khari Johnson, Staff Writer, Venturebeat

Khari Johnson briefly lists some uses of AI

 AI and cameras can be used to help find lost children and monitor for dissidents

 Computer vision to increase crop yields

All three speakers discussed their companies and projects. Below is information about each of the three companies and their projects.

There was then a panel discussion question about countering the Terminator-Skynet meme with the reality of beneficial AI. The reality is using data and AI.

It was observed that the satellite AI company, neural device AI medicine company and the body imaging company could combine to make something like skynet and a scary implant scenario. But fortunately they are trying to help solve problems.

Stephen Spittle, Catapult Satellite Apps

illegal fishing is a problem. Threatening livelihood of 12% of world population

Catapult satellites can monitor ocean ships

Identify using AIS to see if they trawling or other activities. Other activity can also be identified from watching movement remotely.

They can tell the ports that some ships should be checked or denied services

The Satellite Applications Catapult is an independent innovation and technology company, created by Innovate UK to drive economic growth through the exploitation of space. We work with businesses of all sizes to realise their potential from space infrastructure and its applications.

They are also looking at using technology to remove space debris. Harpoons, magnets and other systems for removing space debris. AI is needed to track and target debris.

Emil Hewage  Cambridge Bio-Augmentation Systems

Attack chronic medical conditions (paralysis, heart conditions etc)

They are trying to correct nerve systems in the body to mitigate chronic conditions using neural devices.

They are solving the complex problems of successfully integrating and communicating with the human body using a combination of applied materials, machine learning and AI, neuroscience, software design, and advanced surgical techniques. Their mission is to create the open standard platform to support high functionality neural & bionic treatments, making it easy for clinicians, engineers and researchers to develop and deliver superior treatments to patients.

Powered by Neural data

The nervous system is the main communications network within our bodies.

Its a system that carries electrical impulses to control virtually every organ and bodily function. Many common chronic conditions often occur as a result of a failure or change in our neural pathways.

If we can understand and correct these signals in real time, for each individual patient, we can treat chronic illnesses in an effective, automated, and personalized way.

In the same way that DNA is biologys hard drive, the nervous system is the biological internet. Our mission is to build the tools to understand and communicate with it.

Cambridge Bio-Augmentation Systems is a full stack neural interface company.

Jonathan Kanevsky, Head of Clinical Innovation, Imagia Cybernetics

Creating a full stack of services for personalized medicine

They are scaling up an AI-driven collaborative discovery ecosystem to deliver impactful products and services for personalized healthcare.

Deep Radiomics

AI designed to deliver clinical actionable imaging biomarkers as robust as those yielded from pharmacogenomic diagnostics

Deep Radiomics is a scaled up discovery process based on proprietary deep learning architectures.

They design AI systems for imbalanced and weakly labeled routine patient data.

The Government of Quebec awards, through the BioMed Propulsion program, a $ 3 million loan to Imagia to support an artificial intelligence project applied to personalized healthcare.

Imagia is a Quebec-based company whose team will soon surpass 50 employees with expertise in both AI research and development, and clinical patient management. Imagia will move its head office to the City of Artificial Intelligence Montreal at the end of this year, to join the researchers of the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) and the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), and other notable companies in the field.

Olympus partners with Imagia

Olympus, a global technology leader in designing and delivering innovative solutions for medical and surgical procedures, among other core businesses, announced today its co-development agreement with ai4gi, a commercial joint venture between Satis Operations and Imagia. Their Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution for real-time clinical decision support during screening and surveillance colonoscopy procedures will be exclusively offered by Olympus America Inc. (OAI). This co-development agreement is intended to raise the bar for all physicians to ultimately improve clinical outcomes, reduce overall costs and enhance quality of life for patients.

The integration of AI into the colonoscopy procedure holds great promise for the future of GI screening for physicians and patients. Ai4gi initially developed this clinical decision support tool using a large volume of unaltered endoscopic colonoscopy videos from global physician experts in combination with deep learning training models. By incorporating AI, Olympus is investing in technology that will elevate all clinicians while unlocking new ways to treat disease for patients. This is the first co-development agreement of its kind in the U.S. market and is the first time an AI proof-of-concept has been demonstrated clinically in real-time in a screening colonoscopy application.

Colon cancer continues to be a major health issue in the U.S. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 140,000 Americansmen and womenare diagnosed with colon cancer every year, and over 50,000 die from the disease. While colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cancer killer in the U.S. among men and women combined, it is the most detectable and treatable form if detected early. Olympus is the leading manufacturer of medical devices used to peer inside the human body to help medical practitioners detect, diagnose, and treat gastrointestinal diseases such as colon cancer.

ai4gis solutions to early colon cancer recognition are going to be a game-changer in the field of Gastroenterology said Dr. Michael Byrne, CEO of Satis Operations and Clinical Lead at ai4gi. These solutions are what the industry needs for more timely and more effective patient care, and Olympus is an ideal industry partner to drive clinical adoption of this technology. As doctors, we all need help to improve our practice, so why not use the best technology available?

We are thrilled to add Artificial Intelligence to our already powerful endoscopy portfolio which we feel is an emerging and essential core competency in this space, said Kurt Heine, Group Vice President of the Endoscopy Division at Olympus America Inc. Our vision is to add Artificial Intelligence to our platform to improve the assessment of colon cancer screening as well as potentially other endoscopic procedures. Better visibility, along with increased efficiency, can bring us closer to our goal of improving quality of care, reducing healthcare costs and enhancing patient satisfaction.
DANBURY  The federal Department of Energy has awarded a $1.5 million grant to FuelCell Energy, which is headquartered in Danbury and has a manufacturing plant in Torrington.

Members of Connecticuts legislative delegation in Washington announced the awarding of the grant Thursday.

U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., along with U.S. Reps. John Larson, D-1, and Elizabeth Esty, D-5, said in a joint announcement the grant is a testament to FuelCell Energys commitment to developing cost-effective and environmentally responsible energy solutions.

These federal dollars to support R&D will keep FuelCell Energy on the forefront of innovation, the lawmakers said in a statement. We remain committed to advancing efforts that support Connecticut jobs and promote a cleaner, more energy-efficient future.

Tom Gelston, FuelCell Energys vice president of investor relations, said the research and development is being done by the companys Advanced Technologies team, which is separate form the companys core business.

Tony Leo, vice-president of Advanced Applications & Technology Development for the company, said the research is designed to develop ways to use excess heat generated by nuclear power plants to produce hydrogen using high temperature electrolyzers

When solid oxide cells are used for electrolysis  using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, the opposite of fuel cell operation  they are capable of producing hydrogen much more efficiently than currently available technology, Leo said. In other words, they need much less power to produce a given amount of hydrogen. A solid oxide electrolysis system can run even more efficiently if it is given thermal heat energy in addition to electricity: The heat can help keep the cells at the right temperature, freeing up electricity that is normally used for temperature management to be used to make more hydrogen.

Federal agencies are looking for ways to better integrate the nations electric grids with increasing intermittent levels of renewable energy, Leo said.

The Department of Energy is promoting the idea of sending excess nuclear power (and heat) to high temperature electrolyzers to produce hydrogen during low demand periods, he said. They need some place to put power when demand is low.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
NORTH HAVEN  Town police will receive special recognition during Saturdays Memorial Day parade, as the community marks the 75th anniversary of the department and considers the role it plays in their lives, particularly after the explosion and standoff earlier this month.

Selectman Sally Buemi said Wednesday she raised the idea of doing something to recognize the department at the parade as part of the January meeting of the Board of Selectmen.

She had organized a similar effort to celebrate World War II veterans in 2015, and recently learned of the milestone the department was reaching.

As 2018 represents the 75th anniversary of the department, the idea seemed appropriate, and it became more pressing after the May 2 incident on Quinnipiac Street, Buemi said.

I just felt more determined to give them a special day, said Buemi. You take for granted that our first responders are on duty 24/7, 365 days a year... theyre always there for us.

Buemi said a banner had been designed to commemorate the anniversary, and, in addition to the contingent of police marching in the parade, retired officers had been invited to ride in convertibles as part of the affair.

She said she hoped people would come out to the parade and participate in recognizing the department.

They deserve their day in the sun, said Buemi.

First Selectman Michael Freda said he was pleased with the idea, both as a supporter of public safety and a member of the Police Officer Safety and Training Council.

I think its a wonderful tribute to our police department, said Freda.

Police Chief Thomas McLoughlin credited Buemi for bringing the idea to fruition in an email Thursday.

He said available retirees had responded positively, including some of the first- and second-generation of officers that helped shape the department, and a number would be participating.

For me, and for the entire department, having our 75th anniversary recognized at the parade is special, said McLoughlin. The police department and the community have a special relationship that is anchored in mutual respect, and the support the town consistently provides our department is not often found.

The North Haven Memorial Day parade will set off from the town green at 10:30 a.m., following the installation and dedication of a Blue Star Memorial Marker at 9 a.m.

This is the 72nd iteration of the parade, according to Charles Morrissey, commander of American Legion Post 76.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  Desmond James was uncomfortable with the idea of dropping his trousers in the courtroom and showing jurors his penis.

But he agreed to do it after his attorneys convinced him it was the only option for disproving the description of his penis by the complainant in James sexual assault trial.

The unusual strategy worked. On Friday, after about three hours of deliberations, the jury found James not guilty on all three counts of first-degree sexual assault.

The complainant told police that her assailant was a black man whose penis was not as black as the rest of his body. Defense attorneys Todd Bussert and Erica Barber said there was direct evidence that this was untrue.

It became clear the only option we had was to just have him stand up and show this to the jury, Bussert said after court adjourned Friday. It was not something he wanted to do. It was humiliating, to have an African American stand up in court and show himself. It had racial issues. But he understood why we made the request. It allowed the jury to see the evidence.

Bussert added, One of the things they taught us in law school is to use the best evidence you have. It is what it is. Obviously it was a very unusual situation. But we felt it was the most persuasive evidence we had.

Bussert said of James, I think it really shook him up. But I think he realizes, having taken that step, that it helped win the day.

Before the dramatic display occurred Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Elpedio N. Vitale tried to prepare the jurors by telling them they were about to see some evidence of a highly sensitive nature.

Were all adults here, Vitale noted.

Approximately one hour beforehand, Bussert said, I personally checked to be certain the complainant was wrong about the color of his clients penis versus the rest of him. I had to make 100 percent sure, he said of his private meeting with James.

Bussert said that when James showed his penis to the jurors, It was for only three to five seconds, tops. I was timing it. I didnt want it to go on any longer than it needed to go. I didnt want to humiliate him any more. The judge left it up to me. I said, OK, were done.

Bussert said he was too preoccupied with keeping track of the time to notice the jurors reactions. But Barber recalled, One of the women looked away. One of the male alternate jurors looked as if he was trying not to have an outburst. Im sure they were shocked but they did a good job of not showing it.

A person who works in the courthouse said word quickly spread about what was about to unfold in the courtroom. The room became packed. It was mostly court employees.

A judicial marshal said he has worked in the courts for decades and Ive never seen that happen before.

Bussert noted that in his closing argument, I argued that his penis is actually darker than the rest of his body: the exact opposite of what the complainant said.

Bussert told the jurors: For that reason alone, you must acquit.

In his remarks after court adjourned, Bussert noted the complainant reported she was forced to engage in sexual intercourse and oral sex in a backyard in Meriden on March 22, 2012. She reportedto police that day that she believed her assailant was Hispanic because he spoke Spanish to her and told her he was from Puerto Rico.

Two years later, in November 2014, the complainant saw James photo in a newspaper story about another crime in which he was a suspect. She claimed she immediately recognized him as the man who had attacked her in 2012.

Bussert and Barber argued during James pretrial proceedings that the identification was unreliable because two years had passed and basing her identification on a single newspaper photo was insufficient and suggestive.

Senior Assistant States Attorney Stacey Miranda, who prosecuted James, could not be reached for comment Friday.

James did not walk out of the courthouse as a free man Friday, despite the not-guilty verdict. He is serving a 65-year prison sentence for a home invasion in Meriden in October 2014 during which he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl.

A New Haven Superior Court jury in December 2016 convicted James, then 25, of Waterbury, on three counts of first-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor and home invasion. Police said he climbed through a window and attacked the girl in her bed.

When James, also known as Jose Diego Gonzalez, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue in February 2017, Miranda called the defendant a monster who makes children and their families forever fearful.

randall.beach@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  The overflow crowd Thursday praised the programs offered by Youth Continuum to help homeless young adults, but the homeowners in the Wooster Square area skewed heavily against adding 20 shelter beds to its Grand Avenue facility.

The model is based on the Y2Y program in Boston, where Harvard University students and other volunteers run a homeless center there in the basement of a church, a facility where there is a similar program for at-risk young adults during the day.

Paul Kosowsky, a vice president with Youth Continuum, said they have been thinking about starting a similar program for some time and were now reaching out to businesses and the residential community for feedback.

They are not going to be adding to the population you are worried about or the police are dealing with, Kosowsky said.

Generally, the complaints were about the residents of the mens shelter several blocks from the 924 Grand Ave. Youth Continuum site and others who congregate at the liquor stores in the area or who end up sleeping or urinating in the residents yards.

That shelter, according to several commenters, is set to close in June.

Kosowsky said his project would be at least a year away if they were able to raise the construction money and cover the operating costs, but they were open to other sites.

Youth Continuum has been at that address for more than two decades and Kosowsky said its clients have not been a source of police complaints.

He said the young people spend a good part of the day at Youth Continuum center and at night they would simply go downstairs to sleep rather than roaming the city looking for shelter, or couch surfing with family or friends.

He said the risk of being targeted by sex traffickers increases exponentially when young adults, ages 18 to 24, take to the streets. He said homeless individuals in this age group generally do not quality for the federally supported solutions for the homeless.

Still, the district managers for the Wooster Square-Downtown area, Lt. Mark ONeill, and Fair Haven, Lt. David Zannelli, said they opposed adding some 20 shelter beds to a district where they have a lot of calls generally and a lack of officers.

We support the program, but not the location, ONeill said.

Anstress Farwell of the New Haven Urban Design League suggested Youth Continuum sell its building and move the program, with the shelter, to a better facility elsewhere.

More than one person suggested that Yale University help out with a piece of property or get involved in finding a solution.

Carmen Mendez, who works for the Livable City Initiative, said the retail businesses are suffering from a lack of clients because they are afraid to come to the area.

We have to revive it. We are killing Grand Avenue with social services, Mendez said.

It is estimated that there are between 550 and 650 homeless young adults in Greater New Haven, according to the most recent count.

Wendy Hamilton, a Wooster Square resident who inherited several million dollars recently but gave most of it away to various causes she followed, said 20 youths out of the large number of homeless young people should not be a problem for the area.

She said the real solution is to reach the remaining hundreds.

Emma Lo, a soon-to-be homeowner in the area and a psychiatric resident at Yale, said she almost exclusively takes care of homeless patients.

She said she strongly supports Youth Continuum, which helped one of her clients get housing through another program it runs.

Lo said she was disappointed with the people in the room who are homeowners, who have money and have a roof over their heads, but are not helping those with less resources.

She said a youth shelter is much different than an adult shelter. She agreed the mens shelter should close, as it is dysfunctional.

David Weinreb, Greg Grinberg and Patrick Dunn also thought the shelter concept was necessary.

Charlie Musser of Lyon Street said security issues are pervasive in New Haven, so the Yale area downtown also is not nirvana.

He supports the Youth Continuum program, which helped his nephew. Musser said an expansion of its offices with a shelter, rather than starting something, makes sense.

Matthew Zwilling said he has put his life savings and sweat equity into upgrading his 176-year-old home that backs up to the Youth Continuum property. He said a shelter would downgrade his property. He said locating on Grand Avenue would be a disservice to the young adults as well as the Yale University students who would be volunteering there.

As Yale owns much of the property in the city, the burden should be on it rather than homeowners like him, Zwilling said.

Sam Greenberg of Y2Y was asked about the citys youth center proposed for Bethel Church and why the city did not work with them. He said city officials have not been responsive and they did not think it was a good site.

Mona Berman said others knew about this proposal before the residents of Lyons, St. John and Williams streets, and she resented it.

She said her taxes have skyrocketed 400 percent since she moved here.

I just think that it is time you folks paid attention to the people that are supporting this city, Berman said.

She said the neighborhood was horrible when she first came there, but they built it up and now they are major contributors to the tax base.

Berman said everybody in the city is benefitting from us and yet they think this is social service alley. ... You are not welcome here, she told Greenberg and Kosowsky.

mary.oleary@

hearstmediact.com; 203-641-2577
This much is clear in Connecticut: there is nothing that gets people more angry and aggravated than the way they are treated by our state Department of Motor Vehicles.

One recurring theme of the complaints about the DMV: the candidate for governor this year who makes this a campaign issue and convinces people that he or she will be able to fix it will easily be elected.

After I wrote a column quoting two New Haven residents about the multi-hour waits they endured while trying to renew their drivers licenses at the Hamden DMV, I then had a much more upbeat follow-up: reporting how I successfully renewed my license in 33 minutes at the new DMV Express Center at West Haven City Hall. (It is open just Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

Ah, but the letters keep coming to me via U.S. Mail or email, describing fresh horror stories at the hands of the DMV.

A West Haven woman sent me a hand-written letter about her experience at the Hamden DMV, where she needed to get a new I.D. and turn in her license plates after selling her car. She wont be driving anymore as of next fall. Why? She is 94 years old.

My son had a doctors appointment, so he dropped me off at 11 a.m., she said. I got my number, then did the Disney line, got to a desk and was told to sit. My son came back and wanted me to cancel. I said, Im here and Im not moving. He went back home to West Haven.

This is how she ended her letter: I finally got my I.D. at 4 oclock, as they were locking the doors. Thats five hours (spent there) and thats the truth.

The problem isnt just at The House of Pain in Hamden. Michael London said in an email to me that he went to the DMV office in Bridgeport to renew his license and I was told it was only a three-hour wait. I came back another day and was told it would be an hour. It ended up being 2 1/2 hours.

Thats not all: London said he has to go back. This time it will be to register a car that had been registered in Florida. Think I can get that done in less than three hours?

Mary Beth Gallagher of Hamden decided to deal with the DMV office in Wethersfield. Well, that didnt quite work out.

I bought a new car, she said in an email. The dealership was fine but the DMV is a mess. When they processed the paperwork for my new car, they spelled my first name wrong, which in turn changed my first name on all of the DMV records, including my tax bill. They just used Mary but my first name is Mary Beth.

Gallagher continued: When I complained in writing, they changed my first name to Maryb, then Marybeth. The latest incorrect first name they have used is May. Their computer system communicates with the insurance companies, so when the insurance company computer listed the wrong first name on my insurance policy, I was not even listed as a driver on my own insurance policy!

Gallagher said when she complained, They sent me a letter with more than 20 spelling, structural and formatting mistakes and told me to go to a DMV office. I wrote back that it is their mistake and they should fix it. Their response was to throw a weird looking license in the mail with one of the wrong names on it. It does not have my correct legal first name, so I cannot use it to open a store charge account and I cannot use it to travel.

Gallagher added, I have filed papers in court to make them correct all of their mistakes and spell my correct legal first name on my license. I will not go to the DMV. One person from the DMV called me and was so rude that I will not speak with them on the phone. They are rude, incompetent and a waste of tax dollars.

Meanwhile, Douglas Pallman of Milford is wondering why, when you get your license renewed, the DMV hands you a temporary new one and mails you the permanent one within a week or two (or maybe more). He recalled in an email that in the olden days, they took your picture, laminated your new license and handed it to you.

Are we trying to bail out the U.S. Postal Service? he asked. Im standing there. Give me the license!

Pallman added, A friend of mine never received the mailed license. He contacted DMV (a couple of hours of phone bouncing) and they wanted $30 for a duplicate license. He wanted the original, not a duplicate.

Pallman told me he has a second home in Arizona and their DMV is amazing. Walk in, walk up to the agent, conduct business, leave. I love it!

Pallman concluded his email this way: Yes, I will be moving there soon and taking all of my assets with me.

But I have to give the DMV credit when somebody contacts me with a positive report. I received two of them. Don Kono said he uses the Wethersfield DMV often for business and Ive never had an unpleasant time there. Theyre wonderful.

John Wilchynski of Hamden said the key to dealing with the Hamden DMV is knowing how to time your visit. Dont go on a Tuesday, he told me. Go in the middle of the month, in the middle of the week, around 10:00. Wednesdays are good.

He said he went there on a recent Wednesday at 10 a.m. to renew his license and was out of there within 40 minutes.

**

More good news on another topic: Chuck DelVecchio, who has revived Hulls beer, now is offering an additional brew, Hulls Libbys Lemon Shandy. He collaborated with Libbys, the Wooster Street pastry shop famed for its Italian ices, to showcase a tart, not sweet, lemon flavor. He is also using RIPE Craft Juices of New Haven to provide the lemon juice. DelVecchio offered me a sample of his one-pint cans. As he said, its a good beach beer.

**

Finally, my thanks to Andrew Adamczyk, who works at Frontier Communications in New Haven and has been watching the early stage of the apartment building construction at the Frontier parking lot, which is the former site of the New Haven Register building (367 Orange St.) During the excavation work in March, he sent me an email noting, Its interesting to see some of the stuff being dug up. There are bricks that you can probably reach through the fence with a grabber, in case you want to snag a souvenir from the old Register building!

Well, I took him up on it. I did my grab on the Sunday afternoon of the St. Patricks Day parade, so I had to dodge the drunks dressed in green coming back from the festivities. But oh yeah, I got my brick! Tis a fine souvenir indeed of fine old days.

Contact Randall Beach at 203-680-9345 or randall.beach@hearstmediact.com
At least two Connecticut universities are on the Kiwi Report's list of 50 schools that are seeing a decline in student applications across the country.

The list ranges from small, little-known colleges to Ivy League institutions like Brown, Harvard and Rutgers.
How would you rate your company's work-life balance? After all, work-life balance is critical for preserving morale, and it might be more important in your own endeavors than you think.

Related: Work-Life Balance Is Simple. To Succeed at Work, Get a Life.

Rather than speculating about what work-life balance changes would be most appropriate or effective for your office, you could simply examine what "the other guys" are doing. Then emulate the work-life balance moves that made them so successful.

Who are those other guys? According to an Indeed survey that analyzed more than 72 million reviews, the following companies were listed, just this past April, as the best at achieving work-life balance:

1. Keller Williams Realty

Keller Williams Realty was founded in 1983, and is currently headquartered in Austin, though it has more than 900 offices around the world (and 139,000 agents). By agent count, that makes it the biggest real estate franchise in the world. Employees value the company because theyre treated as individual contractors, which means they have virtually unlimited scheduling flexibility and unlimited earnings potential.

Because the company also offers a profit-sharing system and ongoing education opportunities, employees are further incentivized to perform -- all without ever sacrificing their freedom.

2. Coldwell Banker

Coldwell Banker is another real estate company that made it into the top five. Founded in 1906 and headquartered in Madison, N.J., the company has more than 90,000 agents around the world and has developed a reputation for social responsibility. In reviews of the company as an employer, one review described Coldwell as not the type of work you need to take home with you.

Related: Chasing the Myth of Work-Life Balance

Employees there arent expected to stay connected 24-7, and they have the flexibility to work from home and adopt varying schedules to handle personal responsibilities, in addition to work responsibilities.

3. Cisco

The tech giant Cisco has established a fantastic reputation for caring about its employees, in part because of its popular Human Network campaign. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., the company is well known for giving its employees flexibility with hours and the power to launch and pursue their own passion projects at work.

Cisco is also known for respecting family life and allowing employees more freedom to address familial concerns. The company sometimes even allows fully remote positions for mothers and fathers looking to spend more time with their young children.

4. Kaiser Permanente

You probably recognize Kaiser Permanente as the largest managed-care company in the United States. Founded in 1945 and headquartered in Oakland, Calif., this is a company, not surprisingly, that values its employees health. Kaiser Permanente actually sponsors many health initiatives for its employees, offering flexibility for doctors' visits, vacations and time off to make sure employees remain in top physical (and mental) condition.

On top of that, Kaiser Permanente encourages professional growth, with in-house development opportunities.

5. Google

Google isnt a particularly surprising entry on this list, given the enormous publicity its gotten for its unique employee perks. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., Google offers a long list of benefits meant to help employees stay healthy and give them ample time to work on personal projects.

Among other bonuses, Google offers free, gourmet, healthy food; free fitness classes and gym equipment; and massage credits employees can use at any time. It also offers flexible hours and scheduling for most employees, as well as an impressive amount of vacation time so workers can reset and stave off burnout.

Other top companies that made the list included Capital One, Century 21, Nike, Northrop Grumman and Pfizer Inc. Lower on the list were American Express, Fidelity Investments, Dell, Lockheed Martin and Johnson & Johnson.

Related: Adopt These 12 Habits for a Better Work-Life Balance

You may not be able to afford the same work-life balance perks as a billion-dollar international enterprise, but you can learn from the strategies and successes these companies have implemented and seen. Clearly, the lesson here is that the more freedom and flexibility you give employees while maintaining a work culture that favors productivity ... the better.

Related:

How the Entrepreneur Behind a Luxury Sleepwear Startup Looks to Her Founder Husband For Mentorship

These 5 Companies Were Rated Best for Work-Life Balance. Is Yours Anything Like Them?

6 Ways Adopting a 6-Hour Workday Boosts Productivity by Fostering a Happier Workplace



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
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What should you do now?

This system could mean rain for New Orleans, but it is still too early to tell exactly how much rain. Now is a good time to:

Clean your gutters.

If you are flying out of the city over Memorial Day weekend, the New Orleans airport advises you to monitor your flight status. The holiday weekend is already a busy weekend for travel, and airport officials say they will be monitoring the storm and coordinating with public safety officials to keep the airport open "as long as conditions are safe," according to the airport's Twitter account.
Dede Biles is the Aiken County government, business and horse industry reporter for the Aiken Standard. Follow her on Twitter @DBethBiles.
 Ireland votes today on legalizing abortion in a referendum that has exposed wide divisions among Irish women, even within families. Women are expected to vote in greater numbers, but turnout among men  who tend to consider abortion a female issue  may be critical.

Irish law bans abortion even in cases of rape or incest, allowing it only if a mothers life is at risk. If the referendum passes, the government has said it would introduce a measure allowing unrestricted terminations during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Thousands of Irish citizens who had moved away returned for the referendum, sharing their stories with #HomeToVote on social media. Above, an abortion rights banner in Dublin this month.

Separately, a woman in Scotland who says she was bullied, bound and gagged at work has taken the Scottish government to court, alleging years of racism, sexism and harassment.
After nearly five days of deliberations, a jury said Thursday that Samsung Electronics should pay $539 million to Apple for copying patented smartphone features, according to court documents.

The verdict, in Federal District Court in San Jose, Calif., brings a feud that has dragged on for years into its final stages.

The worlds top smartphone rivals have been in court over patents since 2011, when Apple filed a lawsuit alleging that Samsungs smartphones and tablets slavishly copied its products. Samsung was found liable in a 2012 trial, but a disagreement over the amount to be paid led to a retrial over damages.

Arguments in the retrial ended last Friday.

Samsung previously paid Apple $399 million to compensate Apple for infringement of some of the patents at issue in the case. If the verdict is upheld on appeal, Samsung will be required to make an additional payment to Apple of nearly $140 million.
During the Italian election campaign, the Five Star Movement, a party founded by a comedian and defined mostly by being anti-establishment, and the far-right, anti-European Union, anti-immigrant League (formerly Northern League) were bitter enemies.

The real danger to Europe is the League, declared the former.

The Five-Star Movement would be the downfall of Italy, proclaimed the latter.

But together they won a majority of the votes on March 4, fueled by the now-familiar anger over large-scale migration, economic stagnation and perceived diktats from Brussels. After arduous negotiations, they agreed to unite around a 58-page contract that promises huge spending and lower taxes; renegotiation of European Union membership; expulsion of a half-million undocumented migrants; and an end to sanctions on Russia, which they amazingly describe as a potential partner for the E.U. and NATO. The contract devotes only four sentences to Italys mountainous, 2.3-trillion-euro ($2.7 trillion) debt  132 percent of gross domestic product  which they say they will eliminate through a revival of internal demand.

For prime minister, the parties agreed on a largely unknown law professor named Giuseppe Conte, whose resumes list of research at famous universities drew a blank at some of them, including New York University, which could find no record of him. His main qualification is apparently his willingness to do the bidding of the party leaders.
The case involved the interaction between two laws, the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 and the National Labor Relations Act, passed 10 years later. The N.L.R.A. gives workers the right to join unions and to engage in other concerted activities for mutual aid or protection. The employees in Mondays case argued that those rights were violated by the arbitration agreements they were forced to accept as a condition of their employment.

No dice, Justice Gorsuch said. The arbitration law was passed to help businesses avoid the cost and delay of court proceedings, and the N.L.R.A. did nothing to alter that. The policy may be debatable but the law is clear: Congress has instructed that arbitration agreements like those before us must be enforced as written, the justice wrote. If Congress wants to change the law, he added, its free to do so.

Justice Gorsuch appears to imagine workers and employers negotiating under Marquess of Queensberry rules, engaged in a fair and equal face-off over working conditions and terms of employment. Its a neat little story, and, If you lived on the moon, with no knowledge of the realities of labor relations or the politics of class actions, youd think it was obviously correct, as Harvard law professor Noah Feldman wrote. In practice, things almost never work this way. For instance, one company in Mondays case sent new hires an email informing them that by accepting the job they were deemed to have agreed to the arbitration clause, and to waive any right to join a class action. If they refused, they could find another job. Thats not negotiation, its extortion.

As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg pointed out in her dissent, which was joined by the three other liberal justices, it was precisely this inequality in bargaining power, and the incentive employers have to exploit it, that Congress was addressing with the N.L.R.A. At the time, yellow dog contracts regularly barred workers from joining unions, but the same collective-action problems arise in litigation over issues like underpayment, which is a widespread problem for low-wage workers. One study found that in three major cities, low-wage employees lost an estimated $3 billion in legally owed wages each year. Following Mondays decision, which could affect as many as 25 million employment contracts nationwide, companies will only have more incentive to stiff their workers, knowing that theyll rarely be sued  and even if they are, theyre likely to fare better in arbitration than in the courts.

No surprise, then, that the use of mandatory arbitration clauses by nonunionized companies has skyrocketed, from 2 percent in 1992 to 54 percent today. Almost one in four nonunionized workers are subject to clauses that bar them from pursuing class actions in arbitration. Why would so many companies go this route? Hint: Its not because they want their employees to have more bargaining power.
Thats what hes done with the Mueller investigation. My instinct is that the Trump campaign never really colluded with the Russians because there never was an actual Trump campaign  at least not in any organized sense of that word. It was a bunch of relatives and hangers-on having random meetings with some vague hope of personal and professional enrichment.

But whatever you think of the underlying crime, its clear that Trump has flipped the Mueller investigation into the central me versus the swamp soap opera of his presidency. There are a bunch of familiar characters in the cast: the witch hunters, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, the media. Trumps tweets drive the daily plot twists. And sure enough, the American people are addicted. If you want cable ratings or page views, you have to cover it, play your role and pump up the hype.

The first problem is you cant beat Trump at his own fantasy game. As Daniel Boorstin understood back in 1962, you cant refute an image with a fact. Every pseudo-event becomes all the more interesting with our every effort to debunk it. Trump gets to monopolize attention ever more comprehensively and deepen his credibility as anti-establishment hero.

The second problem is that when you agree to operate within his fantasy, even if you are motivated by the attraction of repulsion, youve given the man your brain. Sometimes my Trump-bashing friends and I seem like puppets on his string.

There was a fascinating essay in Literary Hub by the book agent Erik Hane. Hane reads through the slush piles of new novel submissions. These days they are often about Trump. The novelists, he writes, have lost control of their own consciousness: These authors are not writing the political moment so much as the moment is writing them.

Hane, who writes at the top of his voice, continues, It is one of fascisms goals to monopolize our attention. It would like to shrink our imagination.  Fascism welcomes our attempts to play logical gotcha with its inconsistencies because it knows we will lose  not because we wont find a fallacy but because the fallacy wont matter.
On Friday, The Globe filed suit against Ms. Sargent seeking to compel her to provide the date of the text exchange and the context in which it was written, a request to which she has yet to respond.

While Ms. Sargent has indicated that the exchange took place while Mr. McGrory was her supervisor, the suit says that an investigation by the Globe had found so far that this exchange did not take place between McGrory and Sargent during the time when Sargent was employed by The Globe.

Ms. Sargent, 39, declined in a phone interview to comment on the record because of possible legal action. But she said in an earlier statement to The Globe: If Brian McGrory truly does not believe he has ever acted inappropriately with anyone at The Boston Globe, then he and I have a remarkably different understanding of what is  and is not  appropriate.

In his statement, Mr. McGrory, 56, said that he and Ms. Sargent had dated years ago but that they were not working together at the time. Mr. McGrory said he had no recollection of the text exchange Ms. Sargent had posted.

Mr. McGrorys lawyer, Martin F. Murphy, said in a letter to Ms. Sargents lawyer, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, that her message on Twitter falsely cast Mr. McGrory as part of that group of men who have, in fact, used their positions, to sexually harass or assault women. He said these false and defamatory statements could lead to legal action.

Late last year, when The Globe was contending with critiques of its handling of the departure of Mr. OSullivan, the political reporter, Mr. McGrory had acknowledged the episodes effect on the newspapers standing. While our discussions on the OSullivan matter were mostly focused on proof, fairness and spectrums of misconduct, Mr. McGrory wrote in his front-page note to readers, theres now a fairly obvious realization that I didnt focus enough on another very important factor: The Globes institutional credibility.

Please know that weve learned vital lessons about holding ourselves to a higher standard, lessons that I pledge will be vigorously applied to our coverage of these and many other issues going forward, he added.
Im trying to direct what everybodys got going on, trying to see whats going on with John; Im already 95 percent certain in my mind that hes been killed, Mr. Slabinski said in the interview. Thats why I was like, O.K., weve got to move.

Mr. Trump acknowledged Sergeant Chapmans death and service as he recognized the entire team on Thursday. But the president did not mention Sergeant Chapmans continued fight after the other commandos left.

It was the third Medal of Honor ceremony Mr. Trump has presided over.

Mr. Slabinski completed nine overseas deployments and 15 combat tours before retiring in 2014. He has also faced scrutiny over accusations that as a command master chief petty officer of SEAL Team 6s Blue Squadron a few years after the firefight in Afghanistan, he gave guidance that allowed every man to be killed in a village that was targeted. He denied the accusations, and the squadron was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

The decision to upgrade Mr. Slabinskis Navy Cross to the Medal of Honor, the militarys highest honor, further highlights the unsuccessful efforts to do the same for Sergeant Chapman, some of his advocates say.

Deborah Lee James, the Air Force secretary under President Barack Obama, said she recommended Sergeant Chapman as a posthumous recipient in 2016 after she ordered an internal review of awards. She had learned of the drone video footage showing Sergeant Chapmans efforts to continue fighting after the SEAL team had left.

So to me, that was slam-dunk evidence, she said.

But the recommendation became bogged down, Ms. James said, in the bureaucratic process. She left her position at the end of the Obama administration with the award recommendation unresolved.

Some military officials believe the award for Sergeant Chapman  who would be the first recipient from the Air Force to be recognized with the Medal of Honor for valor in war after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks  was sidelined in part by officials who want to strike the fact that he had been left behind.
But some of the collaboration is becoming more overt.

Over the last couple of months, network members filed amicus briefs accusing Mr. Trump of overstepping his authority on matters ranging from immigration to his administrations efforts to block a merger between AT&T and Time Warner. And last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to protect the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, for which network members had lobbied.

It was a kumbaya moment, said Lisa Gilbert, an official at the left-leaning watchdog group Public Citizen, which helped coordinate lobbying by groups across the political spectrum.

A coalition involving many of the same groups is working to quickly mobilize mass protests across the country if Mr. Trump acts to impede the special counsel investigation. And next month organizers of a group of leading donors and operatives from the right and left called Patriots and Pragmatists are expecting their biggest turnout yet at a meeting in San Francisco, according to people familiar with the planning.

The Niskanen Center hosts a semimonthly invitation-only gathering of Trump critics called the Meeting of the Concerned, which attendees are asked to keep confidential. While it is attended primarily by a rotating cast of Never Trump Republicans  including the pundit Mr. Kristol and the former Representative Mickey Edwards  meetings sometimes include a Democrat or two presenting research or analysis on relevant issues. Attendees have included Ian Bassin, a former Obama White House lawyer who founded a watchdog group, Protect Democracy, that has sued the Trump administration and that has brought on staff members and advisers  including Mr. Taylor  from conservative or Republican backgrounds.

Other Republicans have been wary to get involved, Mr. Bassin said. There is a troubling dynamic happening where anytime a conservative expresses concerns, they get branded a Never Trumper and are excommunicated from the American right.

But Mr. Edwards, a Republican representative from Oklahoma from 1977 to 1993, said he was not worried about stigma. Party identity really is being set aside. We have bigger fish to fry, he said. He has become involved in a number of cross-partisan coalitions challenging Mr. Trump in recent months, including working with the former Obama administration lawyers Neal Katyal and Joshua Geltzer to file a legal brief in March in a court case opposing Mr. Trumps proposed restrictions on travel from predominantly Muslim countries. Its really a much more free-form kind of resistance. Its a movement more than an organization.
More than two years ago, in two separate episodes just four months apart, two men wielding knives in San Francisco were shot and killed by police officers. The killings spurred calls for police reform and eventually led to the resignation of the citys police chief.

On Thursday, the San Francisco District Attorneys Office, which investigated the episodes, announced that it would not bring criminal charges against the officers involved in either shooting.

Mario Woods, 26, was killed in December 2015. Luis Gongora Pat, 45, was killed in April 2016. In each case, the district attorneys office determined, it was not unreasonable for the officers to have been in fear for their lives, or for the lives of others.

Whether or not the officer could have used another tactic such as nonlethal force, or simply waiting, is not a factor we can even consider under current law, District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement.
SANTA FE, Tex.  Four days after the nations latest school shooting killed eight of her classmates and two teachers, Bree Butler, a senior at Santa Fe High School, climbed into the car and drove three and a half hours to Austin, hoping that lawmakers in the gun-friendly State Capitol might listen to her.

Ms. Butlers drive was a far cry from the caravan of charter buses that set off from Parkland, Fla., about a week after the slaughter there of 17 people by a teenage gunman in February. The Parkland students had reporters on board, meetings on the schedule and the attention of the nation. Ms. Butler drove alone, aware that her support for more gun regulations, such as new requirements for locking up weapons, are not widely supported in her conservative hometown.

But then again, she wasnt entirely on her own. On her phone, in group chats and Twitter direct messages, were words of empathy and advice from survivors of the massacre in Parkland, including Emma Gonzalez, whose impassioned speeches on gun control in the weeks after that shooting made her an icon for Ms. Butler, well before a gunman walked into her own school.

They know what its like not only to have to cope, but also to have the nations eyes on you while youre coping, Ms. Butler said. Like last night, Emma told me not to wear anything to a news conference that you can see sweat stains through. Its very simple advice.
SEOUL, South Korea  Hours after President Trump canceled a summit with its leader, Kim Jong-un, North Korea said on Friday that it was still willing to give Mr. Trump time and opportunity to reconsider his decision, saying that Mr. Kim had held great expectations for the meeting.

The unilateral cancellation of the summit was unexpected and very regrettable, said Kim Kye-gwan, a vice foreign minister of North Korea, in a statement carried by the Norths official Korean Central News Agency. But we remain unchanged in our willingness to do everything we can for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and of the humanity, so with a broad and open mind, we are willing to give the United States time and opportunity.

With its carefully worded statement, North Korea appeared to shift the blame to the United States while trying to create an impression that it was the North Korean leader, and not Mr. Trump, who was the mature statesman trying to salvage the diplomatic process.

Mr. Trump, in a surprise announcement, said Thursday that he was pulling out of the June 12 summit meeting with Mr. Kim in Singapore. The American president cited North Koreas recent expressions of hostility in making his decision, which was delivered to the Norths leader in a letter.
Ms. Fitzpatrick, a fisheries compliance officer who is originally from Canada, has lived in Scotland for more than 20 years, Mr. Briggs said. Under Scottish law, she is prohibited from speaking publicly while her case is under consideration.

But she laid out her case in stark terms at the preliminary hearing in 2017 at the Aberdeen Tribunal Hearing Center to establish whether her claim can proceed. She said she had been mocked for a miscarriage and had endured sexist language, in addition to hearing colleagues use racist slurs, news outlets reported at the time.

Ms. Fitzpatrick told the court that she had received Valentines Day cards from someone at work in which she was called a troll and told, We miss you not. Marine Scotland didnt want a woman, especially a foreign woman, working there, she said she was told; and she said she had witnessed threatening behavior toward female staff members, who were sometimes referred to as prostitutes, according to the BBC.

Because of the statute of limitations, neither the picture nor other evidence from years past will be submitted to the tribunal in June, her lawyer said. When the judge in the case, Nick Hosie, gave the claims against Marine Scotland the green light, Mr. Briggs said, he significantly narrowed their scope to three months in 2017 because of a legal time limit on her formal complaint.

Judge Hosie said Ms. Fitzpatrick could try to make a case for harassment as laid out in Section 26 of the United Kingdoms Equality Act, the lawyer said, adding that the ruling did not invalidate the hostile and degrading environment she endured.

Emails showed that Ms. Fitzpatrick had alerted a manager about the tape episode in the photo, according to the BBC. But her complaints were dismissed by the unidentified manager who is quoted in the emails as saying, I am sure they meant no harm and that was the boys just being boys, the BBC reported.
It was kind of outer-body or supernatural, she said. I would hold a certain movement until Martha Grahams image through the data clicked in to view. Suddenly, we would be doing it together. It was almost like dancing with spirits or the ghosts of lamenters past. It was very emotional.

Next Steps

Youre kind of seduced by the technology, Ms. Eilber said. But pretty quickly I realized, wait a minute  why us? Why dancers, and why Martha Graham dancers? That has to be part of the equation. Otherwise, youre just playing around like youre at a kids birthday party.

In the coming weeks, the company will discuss how the experiments that worked  namely Mr. Henrys Lamentation  can make their way into the real world. A couple of presenters, Ms. Eilber said, including Jacobs Pillow and Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, are interested.

Were trying to put together something that is substantial enough to install somewhere, and we think we have a lot of the elements, she said. Its just the time to think about next steps.

And the question remains: Is it better than just dancing? Its not that were trying to make Lamentation better, by any means, Ms. Eilber said. Were trying to find new ways to consider Grahams art form.

Collaborating with Google has allowed that to happen. My main revelation was that Graham had to be about Graham being integrated with technology, she said, not just playing around with technology. We dont feel like we reached the end of the journey, but we found potential.
LONDON  I dont need to tell you, sir, how great this is, said Sothebys auctioneer Oliver Barker last Wednesday evening, leaning over his rostrum and trying to coax another eight-figure bid out of the New York dealer David Zwirner for Kerry James Marshalls 1997 masterwork, Past Times.

Moments later, Mr. Barker knocked the lot down to one of three telephone bidders for $21.1 million with fees. A wryly updated fete champetre, showing black suburbanites relaxing in a Chicago park, had just set an auction high for any work by a living African-American artist. The painting was bought by the Grammy Award-winning rapper and music producer, Sean Combs, better known by his former stage names Puff Daddy and P. Diddy.

For many, this sale was by far the most significant moment in the latest biannual series of auctions of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art in New York. But what did it signify?

That and other results signaled that finally African-American artists are regarded as having the same historical value and price points as their peers, said Todd Levin, a private dealer and adviser based in New York, who last year curated the exhibition Power, devoted to African-American female artists, at Spruth Magers in Los Angeles. It also signaled an intensification of activity among African-American collectors, Mr. Levin added.
ROCKLAND, Me.  The artist Robert Indiana, who in his final years was the subject of a struggle over who represented him and controlled his work, left behind an estate worth an estimated $28 million, according to a court filing on Friday.

Mr. Indiana, best known for his LOVE sculpture and its many variants, died on May 19 at the age of 89 at his home on the island of Vinalhaven, Me. His will, filed on Friday in Knox County Probate Court, leaves most of his art and property to a nonprofit whose mission is to develop Mr. Indianas home into a museum featuring his works.

[Read the New York Times obituary of Robert Indiana.]

The will said the organization was to be run by Jamie Thomas, Mr. Indianas caretaker in his final years.

The day before Mr. Indiana died, Morgan Art Foundation, a company that says it has long held the rights to several of his best-known works, filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Mr. Thomas and a New York art publisher had isolated Mr. Indiana from the world and produced unauthorized or adulterated versions of his art.
The pianist Dave Burrell sat onstage at Roulette on Wednesday, his sizable frame stooped over the keyboard with a combination of studious grace and earnest fascination. From his hands came a slow, elegant tidewater of chords, unresolved and Impressionistic. The tune was Crucificado, an original that he first performed in the 1970s in Archie Shepps band.

Mr. Shepp, a tenor saxophonist who was one day shy of 81, was perched a few feet away. A standing-room-only crowd filled every crevice of the Brooklyn theater, which was celebrating the kickoff of the 23rd annual Vision Festival.

Mr. Burrell is the lifetime achievement honoree at this years event, which continues through Monday, and Wednesdays concert celebrated his work from various angles. Rarely does the spotlight fall so squarely on Mr. Burrell. He reflects the pianists archetype in some ways  a composer, a historian, an omnivore, a strategist  but not in others. He is uncommonly good at guiding and helping to sustain a group without taking up a lot of space, even in the most hot-blooded flurry of group improvising. Now 77, he remains defined by his sideman work, though his ambitious works as a bandleader and composer has helped connect anarchic avant-gardism with a vast historical family of music from America, Europe and Africa.

On Wednesday Mr. Burrell played three energizing sets  but fittingly, the centerpiece was billed as a performance by the Archie Shepp Quartet. In the late 1960s and 70s, Mr. Shepp  a more well-known figure in jazz, and now a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master  was Mr. Burrells steadiest employer. Together they represented something like an allied force for strong, perceptive memory and compositional vision within the avant-garde insurgency.
In recent years, the vocalist Kyoko Kitamura has been a key collaborator with the composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton, singing in operas from his Trillium cycle and appearing with him in chamber settings. On Wednesday at the Stone, she displayed some striking experimental vocal effects as part of a quartet that also included the guitarist Joe Morris, the brass specialist Taylor Ho Bynum, and the cellist Tomeka Reid (all also Braxton associates).

As on this groups vibrant new recording, Geometry of Caves, issued by the Relative Pitch imprint, Ms. Kitamura occasionally produced dramatic gusts of overtone singing through quick inhalations. By suggesting both harmony and stridency in the same moment, the arresting technique seemed a succinct representation of this ensembles memorable approach  one in which improvisational energy never overshadows the fineness of inner details. SETH COLTER WALLS
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep  and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If youre interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox.

Those Coins Are Probably Worthless Now

Late-night hosts had been airing doubts about the fate of President Trumps meeting with Kim Jong-un for a while, and on Thursday they were vindicated.

Jimmy Kimmel led the victory lap after the talks were scuttled that morning. He said Trump was left acting like a spurned lover, and that his statement to Kim read like a Dear John letter.
For me, with all the riches, it has to be The Counterlife. Thats the one that, though Ive already read it twice (thats true of a bunch of his books), I know Ill have to read it again, to be again entranced by the formal pressure of the conception, by the uncanny power of the structure and how it seems to bend the self-fascination and self-regard of the Zuckerman character into a pretzel shape, and therefore humbling it before itself and the other characters who surround him. It is as if the book is the exact shape of the Rothian Ego, a kind of tesseract, which like Superman, can only be defeated by versions of itself.

My Life As a Man

Daphne Merkin

Image Credit... Tina Turnbow

The minute I heard that Philip Roth was gone  although it is hard to think of so vivid and caustic a figure as being in the past tense  I went to my bookcase to look for my favorite of his novels, My Life as a Man, which I found two copies of, both of them dog-eared and underlined: one, a yellowing and Scotch-taped-together Bantam paperback, published in 1975, and the other a Vintage edition, published in 1993. My Life as a Man, which introduces the character of Nathan Zuckerman, is relatively early Roth but it already plays with the notion of fictions within fictions that he would come to explore at greater depth in successive novels. I warmed to the book from its epigraph  an entry from Maureen Tarnopols diary that goes, heartbreakingly and delusionally, I could be his Muse, if only hed let me, to its final yelp of indignant but also poignant recognition that we are not sovereign creatures in any but our own heads: I turned to Susan, still sitting there huddled up in her coat, looking, to my abashment, as helpless as the day I had found her. Sitting there waiting. Oh, my God, I thought  now you. You being you. And me! This me who is me being me and none other!

It is in some way the essential Rothian predicament: How to live and connect beyond the confines of the narcissistic self. There is a strain of tenderness in this novel that peeks out from between the toughness  one might call it the virility  of the prose and is all the more precious because of its fleetingness. My Life as a Man is a fierce and hilarious tribute to the warping power of love, but also to its possibilities. The man who wrote it saw deeply, with a boldness of vision the likes of which we hadnt seen before and will remain new for decades to come.

The Human Stain

Thomas Chatterton Williams

Image Credit... Kris Graves

Given todays conversation around cultural appropriation, I dont think Im supposed to love  or to admit to love  Philip Roths 2000 novel, The Human Stain as much as I do. Set between Newark, New Jersey, Greenwich Village and a fictional college town in New England, it traces the life of one Coleman Silk, a light-skinned black man disfigured by internalized racism (or is he just too principled to submit to the absurdity of our societys racial caste system?) who is passing for Jewish. In hilarious and all-too-believable fashion, Silk gets devoured for failing to show remorse after running afoul of the dictates of contemporary P.C. orthodoxy.

Like much of Roths oeuvre, the book hits a fair amount of anti-woke buttons. Yet Roth achieves something here that is very difficult to imagine his mostly domesticated descendants even attempting: He steps fully out of his own backyard and dares to imagine what he cannot possibly know by means of his own personal identity. I came to this gem late, as a 33-year-old mixed-race black man whod just become the father of a blond-haired, blue-eyed black daughter who could pass for Swedish. Flipping through my paperback now, I smile as I reread the dog-eared pages, their margins overflowing with comments to the effect of: How can he possibly know that? There are many ways to display brilliance through narrative, but one of the most difficult  and courageous  is to render the I-who-is-not-I as vividly as one can render the self.
Even the closest suns are so distant it could take centuries, at best, to reach them. This barrier leads Kaku to consider the ways humans might alter their own design to achieve approximations of immortality. Genetic engineering could allow us to correct the preprogrammed decay hiding inside every cell. Then there are trans-humanist dreams of liberating consciousness from its biological wetware. Kaku believes we are all reducible to patterns of connected neurons in our brains. Once its possible to fully digitize these connectomes, travel via gleaming spaceships might be unnecessary. By encoding our connectomes into laser light we could beam directly from one star system to the other. Once received, our encoded consciousness would be downloaded in different machine, or perhaps biological, bodies at each new location.

You would be right to think this sounds like science fiction or to be skeptical that some of it is even possible. (Im good with terraforming but doubt that we are nothing but our neurons.) But the strength of Kakus writing is knowing which science fiction ideas are worth following. Kaku grounds his readers in science happening right now, while throwing open the windows to imagine where it might lead in a thousand years. In this effort he is particularly adept at drawing from the lexicon of popular science fiction. From Marvels Iron Man to Christopher Nolans Interstellar, he uses ideas from our shared cultural warehouse as launchpads for questions of the deep future.

But is a future of genetically engineered bodies, or of no bodies at all, the kind anyone would want to inherit? Once, as I extolled the virtues of our cosmic future, a nonscientist friend quipped, Im not sure I want to be a sexless space orb. Its this important question of what we value that Kakus optimism fails to fully comprehend.

The future will be shaped not just by what we can do but by what we will want to do. That pivot is what makes the deep future so hard to imagine. At one point Kaku makes the argument that the genetic divergence of people 75,000 years ago to now is so small that even with genetic engineering we wont be so different as to be inhuman 75,000 years in the future. But this argument misses an essential point about culture and imagination. Seeing the extraordinary cave paintings of Lascaux, for example, it seems clear our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived a dense, rich experience that differs significantly from our own. The remarkable science fiction stories of Cordwainer Smith (a.k.a. Paul Linebarger, a noted East Asia scholar and C.I.A. expert in psychological warfare) are instructive in this regard. The universe of his series The Rediscovery of Man, set tens of thousands of years from now, offers a future rich in symbols and dreams, where technology has irrevocably altered the mythic underpinnings of what it means to be human.

Its also worthwhile to ask whose future were talking about. Most of our popular science fiction visions of the future were written by men (and most of them white). From feminist critiques to the alternative lines of Afrofuturism, Ive spent a lot of time recently wondering what our imagined futures would look like if more kinds of people were encouraged to imagine them.

But these misgivings dont detract from the books pleasures. Kaku does acknowledge many of the issues, ethical and otherwise, the science raises, at least in passing. While those problems are likely to be central to the future, this book is meant to introduce readers unfamiliar with science to the vast horizons it has already opened and where our journeys toward those frontiers might lead.
1. We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you.

Those were the first words Rose McGowan tweeted after the disgraced Hollywood producer was arrested in New York, on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex.

Ms. McGowan, an actress, was one of the first women to come forward last fall about Mr. Weinsteins history of sexual misconduct, setting off a tidal wave of awareness and activism, and prompting the #MeToo movement.

Mr. Weinstein surrendered his passport and posted $1 million bail. Outside the courthouse, his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told a scrum of reporters that he would move quickly to dismiss the charges, calling them constitutionally flawed and factually unsubstantiated.
Theyre always listening. Theyre on the internet. But what happens when digital assistants like Alexa go rogue? Could they share our private conversations without our consent? Privacy advocates have long warned this could happen, and now it has.

A woman in Portland, Ore., told KIRO7, a television news station in Washington, that her Amazon Echo device had recorded a conversation then shared it with one of her husbands employees in Seattle.

Skeptics were quick to say we told you so, as the news rocketed through the connected world.

Now, Amazon says it knows what happened: As the woman, identified only as Danielle, chatted away with her husband, the devices virtual assistant, Alexa, mistakenly heard a series of requests and commands to send the recording as a voice message to one of the husbands employees.

Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like Alexa, Amazon said in a statement. Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a send message request. At which point, Alexa said out loud To whom? At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, [contact name], right? Alexa then interpreted background conversation as right. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.
Misidentification of a wake word by a device  on Amazons, thats Alexa by default  automatically sends data to the companys servers. Why? Because the small speakers dont have the computing power required to make sense of entire sentences, so that must be done on the cloud.

You cant turn off the always-listening feature of these devices, because, if you could, they wouldnt be able to respond to your voice, rendering them useless. But misidentification of words can, according to Amazon, set in motion a chain of events that are troubling from a privacy perspective.

The question: What happens to that data? And what should these devices be able to do with it?

In answer to the first question: It will stay on the servers of tech companies indefinitely. (Unless you choose to delete, which isnt too hard. Heres how.) And once its on those servers, it can be used by engineers to tune their artificial intelligence algorithms so that they can better understand your voice commands in future.

Did you know all that? Maybe not. While companies like Amazon do explain in their terms of service that user data will be stored on servers and used to improve their products, its perfectly possible to start using such a device in your home without being alerted to the fact. Data privacy is weakly regulated in the U.S., and theres no rule that demands Alexa tell you through its speaker what it will do with your data. So many people remain unaware of how their data is being used.

In Europe, that should change Friday, with the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation  a set of strict data privacy rules that will be enforced across the entire E.U., with harsh penalties for organizations that dont comply. In theory, the rules could mean that smart speakers have to somehow tell consumers about their information collectionwhats being recorded, how its being used, where its being stored, and whether its being secured, for instance.

Responding to a request for details about the ways in which Amazon is making its Echo devices G.D.P.R.-compliant, a spokesperson told DealBook:

Protecting the privacy of customers has always been a top priority for Amazon. The Alexa privacy settings give customers insight and control over their data; they can use it to easily manage and delete their audio recordings, configure third-party skill permissions, and opt-out of having their voice data used to develop new Alexa features.

A spokesman for Google told DealBook that any requests made to the companys Home devices are treated in much the same way as the search data that is stored about users. In a blog post about its preparations for G.D.P.R., the company points out that nothing is changing about the way the firm collects or processes such data in order for it be compliant with the new rules.

So, thats Europe. What about the U.S.? Big tech firms  in particular, Facebook  say they are responding to those new European rules with policies that will also apply in America. The same is likely to be true of smart speakers.
Continuing to bet that consumers want to crunch on healthier snack items, the food and beverage giant PepsiCo announced Friday that it was acquiring Bare Foods, a maker of baked fruit and vegetable snacks.

For PepsiCo, which did not make public the financial terms of the deal, the purchase of a company that makes products like salt-and-vinegar beet chips and Granny Smith apple chips is its latest effort to diversify its food and beverage portfolio and move toward the more natural, less-processed foods that are now in favor by an increasingly health-conscious public.

We have been on a journey of broadening the snack portfolio for many years now, said Vivek Sankaran, president and chief operating officer for PepsiCos Frito-Lay North America unit, noting the brands earlier development of Simply Tostitos organic tortilla chips, Simply Organic Doritos and Off the Eaten Path, which makes crispy snacks using vegetables like black beans and green peas. Since 2006, the percentage of revenues coming from healthier food and beverages at PepsiCo has climbed to 50 percent from 38 percent.

The acquisition was one in a string of purchases of healthy snack-food companies by large conglomerates.
More problematically, it is never fully clear what is meant by wasting time. At certain points in the book this appears synonymous with non-goal oriented uses of time, but the chapter extolling the virtue of all forms of play is chock-full of goal-oriented activities. Whats more, one study he highlights used playing the 1990s video games Minesweeper or Solitaire as examples of time wasting that fostered creativity. It is hard to distinguish this activity from much of what is undertaken by those who have become intravenously connected to the grid.

In his chapter on creativity, Professor Lightman instead emphasizes the value of letting the mind wander and spin. His own previous study found the great scientific discoveries of the 20th century were often achieved after first getting stuck on what seemed to be an insoluble problem. The breakthrough came after finding a relaxed environment in which the scientists minds can roam and explore and invent in unfettered freedom.

The vast majority of knowledge is acquired the old-fashioned way: hard, focused acquisition of increasing expertise. Although there is clearly value to unfocused activity  what Professor Lightman calls the free-grazing mind  to get unstuck, there is no evidence that for most people it makes sense to dedicate anything like half our waking hours to such musing. In his flurry of wide-ranging anecdotes, he mixes the examples of the work habits of pure creatives like Gertrude Stein and Federico Fellini with those of research scientists. Just as he fails to adequately distinguish between very different forms of wasting time, Professor Lightman fails to consider the relative applicability of his proposals to different use cases.

Like the provocative title, the hostility to the grid that underpins In Praise of Wasting Time sometimes feels more like a narrative hook than a genuine, deeply held view. During a flattering description of a 10-day Tibetan Buddhism retreat, Professor Lightman was careful to note that he didnt recall seeing any laptops or smartphones. Yet his own free-grazing mental activities included remembering a high school friend who had abruptly stopped answering my letters. The professor mentions in passing that with some sleuthing, I confirmed that he was alive and well. Sounds like someone sneaked a smartphone into the retreat to do a little Googling!

In Praise of Wasting Time is published by TED Books, one of the many spinoff businesses of the wildly popular conferences described by the author Nassim Nicholas Taleb as a monstrosity that turns scientists and thinkers into low-level entertainers, like circus performers. The ubiquity of TED Talks is both a symptom of the grid against which Professor Lightman rails and a source of its popularity. Like the internet itself, they can be neither easily dismissed nor fully embraced. The witches brew of interesting ideas, exaggerated claims and unsatisfying generalizations that make up this volume both reflects and reveals some of the conundrums of our wired age.
If wholesale opposition to President Trump is one litmus test for progressive Democrats, another  as the governors race in California is proving  is health care.

All the leading Democratic contenders in the June 5 primary have pledged support for a single-payer system run by the state. The front-runner, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, has made it the centerpiece of his campaign.

Theres no reason to wait around on universal health care and single-payer in California, he has declared.

Even beyond California, many Democrats are hoping to energize supporters by taking a cue from Bernie Sanderss 2016 presidential campaign, which embraced a single-payer system, Medicare for All. But the idea primarily functions as a rallying cry.
The administration said it would also post union contracts online so that Americans could review its efforts to negotiate better deals with government workers.

The third order aims to cut down on official time, in which government workers who have roles in the union, like helping colleagues file grievances, are allowed to perform those roles during normal working hours for which they draw their usual salary. (An analogous concept exists for private-sector unions.) The order limits official time to 25 percent of their hours during the year.

Administration officials said a subset of federal employees had been able to spend as much as 100 percent of their duty hours on union business, and estimated savings of at least $100 million a year once the order is fully in effect.

Mr. Bremberg, the White House domestic policy official, said the actions would make good on the presidents call to empower every cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers and remove those that undermine the public trust or fail the American people.

The executive order making it easier to fire poor-performing workers was an effort to expand on legislation that Congress enacted last year aimed at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which became embroiled in a scandal in 2014 over the extremely long waits that veterans were enduring for health care.

According to data collected by the American Federation of Government Employees, more than 1,600 workers have been removed under the provisions of the law passed last year, called the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. Among those removed were over 200 housekeeping aides, nearly 150 nursing assistants and nearly 100 food-service workers  representing three of the top four positions with the most removals.

Donald F. Kettl, a professor of public policy at the University of Texas at Austin who is based in Washington, said the number of low-level employees removed suggested the department was not using the legislation to make structural reforms that would improve veterans access to care.
HOUSTON  Oil prices are suddenly slumping again, just as American motorists were increasingly feeling the bite.

The price of crude has dropped by 7 percent since a recent high on Tuesday, a result of seemingly coordinated signals from Russian and Saudi officials that they are ready to increase production.

The abrupt reversal interrupted a surge in the American benchmark from less than $50 a barrel last fall to over $70, largely because of the collapse of Venezuelan oil production, the withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and stronger global demand for energy.

But now Russian and OPEC officials appear concerned that the potential for a price spike similar to one a decade ago could spur another drilling frenzy in the United States as well as robust sales of electric cars and other fuel-efficient vehicles.
Yuriy Shishkov, 54, is a Fender Guitar master builder.

Where did you learn how to build guitars?

In my hometown, Gomel, Belarus, when it was still part of the former U.S.S.R. The government had banned rock n roll, to play or listen to it. But we could hear it on shortwave radio. I fell in love with rock by age 12, and wanted to play guitar so bad.

But you could only buy professional guitars made in the West through the black market for the equivalent of four years of salary. The government allowed some to be made, but they were so bad that now they are sold as examples of terrible instruments. So I taught myself out of necessity.

How did you learn to make them?

I loved Ritchie Blackmore, the guitarist for Deep Purple. I had a picture of him with a Fender Stratocaster. I blew up the image, traced it to paper and measured it all to scale. Thats how I replicated the perimeter design.

Then I figured out the electrical parts. That was not so hard: Most kids in the U.S.S.R. then did not have toys, so we all were pretty good at making our own. Soon I started making guitars for other people, all underground  literally underground, from the root cellar of our house.
LONDON  American news outlets including The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and The Arizona Daily Star abruptly blocked access to their websites from Europe on Friday, choosing to black out readers rather than comply with a strict new data privacy law in the European Union that limits what information can be collected about people online.

The new rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, strike at a core element of businesses that offer free content online but that make money by collecting and sharing user data to sell targeted advertising. The shutdowns came as a surprise to readers of the publications, because companies had two years to prepare for the new regulations.

The most notable blackouts were by news organizations tied to the American media company Tronc. In addition to The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, newspapers including The New York Daily News, The Orlando Sentinel and The Baltimore Sun were also unavailable to readers in Europe. (Tronc announced in February that it was selling The Los Angeles Times.)

We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the E.U. market, the Tronc-owned newspapers said on their websites. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
More than two decades ago, when Melly Barajas Cardenas and her father were on vacation in Mazamitla, Mexico, he told her that he wanted a tequila made in his name. At the time, Ms. Barajas Cardenas was a clothing designer in Guadalajara, where she is from.

I didnt know anything about tequila, Ms. Barajas Cardenas, who declined to give her age, said in a recent telephone interview conducted in Spanish. But it was my fathers wish. So she decided she would find a way to fulfill it. She knocked on doors, asking various tequila producers for help, and eventually found one who produced a line of bottles for her.

Ms. Barajas Cardenas quickly realized she wanted to do more.

At first, it was a goal I had to accomplish, more than something that I wanted to do, she said. My clothing business was very comfortable. I went to the office, went home, it was easy. But once I was in the tequila industry, I loved it. The smell, the taste, it was marvelous.
At a time when too many Walmart workers face stagnant wages and tens of thousands still qualify for public assistance, is paying your C.E.O. 1,188 times the median employee really the best investment for Walmart? said Randy Parraz, director of Making Change at Walmart, a labor group. Instead of pursuing billion-dollar stock buybacks and million-dollar C.E.O. payouts, Walmart needs to make the necessary investment to eradicate poverty within and among its own work force.

Stephen Wynn, former C.E.O. of Wynn Resorts

Total Reported Compensation: $34,522,695

Pay Ratio: 909

In January, Steve Wynn, the casino mogul, was accused of decades of sexual abuse. Within two weeks, he had resigned, and in March, he agreed to sell his stake in the company.

Mr. Wynn remains an extremely wealthy man, and was among the highest-paid chief executives in the country last year. He is worth about $3 billion, according to Forbes, and even though he will not receive severance pay, he was awarded $34.5 million last year  an amount that the median employee at his company would have to work more than 900 years to earn.

Michael Weaver, a Wynn spokesman, pointed out that shareholders fared well last year despite the allegations against Mr. Wynn.

Steve Wynns 2017 compensation should be considered in comparison to the 97 percent shareholder return that same year, he said in an email.

There is another wrinkle in Mr. Wynns pay package worth noting. Mr. Wynn, a major Republican donor, appears to have taken advantage of changes to the tax law. Wynn Resorts paid eligible employees their 2017 bonuses in December, rather than in the beginning of 2018, according to Equilar. Executives who got those bonuses owed more taxes that year, but the company offered them tax equalization payments to cover the charges. The net result of this maneuvering is likely to save the company money on this years tax bill, according to Equilar.

Margaret Georgiadis, former C.E.O. of Mattel

Total Reported Compensation: $31,275,289

Pay Ratio: 4,987

Ms. Georgiadis, a former Google executive, arrived at Mattel with great fanfare last year, a technology executive recruited to turn around a toy business being disrupted by online shopping.
Jordan Peele, the comedian turned horror-movie director, recently made a video meant to give American voters shivers of dread.

It showed President Barack Obama giving a speech he never gave, and uttering sentences that he didnt actually say. The video demonstrated how easy it is to use current technology to create powerful and persuasive lies, now also known as fake news.

When this video magic is coupled with the ability of companies like Facebook to micro-target each of us and select the news we see, the implications for the future of our democracy seem dire. Fake news and microtargeting can be combined to create a kind of advertising thats like an evil version of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and we are being exposed to more of these pernicious morsels every year.

But two lessons from the history of advertising suggest that the fake news phenomenon is likely to change significantly in the years to come. Prospects are gloomy for the near future, as this kind of advertising extends beyond politics. History also suggests, though, that the danger will probably recede over time as people grow accustomed to the ads, which will cease to work as effectively.
The once-robust empire that the restaurateur Ken Friedman and the chef April Bloomfield built together is showing signs of breaking apart, five months after Mr. Friedman was accused of sexually harassing employees and retaliating against those who complained.

The two partners are no longer involved in Salvation Taco, the restaurant they opened in 2012 in the Pod 39 hotel in Manhattan, said Richard Born, an owner of the hotel, which has taken over the restaurant.

As lawyers for Mr. Friedman and Ms. Bloomfield near the end of efforts to dissolve the partnership, the fate of two of their six remaining restaurants  the Breslin Bar and Dining Room and the John Dory Oyster Bar, both in the Ace hotel in Manhattan  is particularly uncertain. GFI Hospitality, the management company that retained the group to provide all food service for the hotel, is renegotiating that contract, three people knowledgeable about the matter said. (The company said, through a representative, that nothing has changed.)

Other restaurants are shedding talent. One of Ms. Bloomfields longest-serving lieutenants, the chef Josh Even, resigned from Tosca Cafe, in San Francisco, last week along with the general manager, Dana Katzakian. The high-profile butchers Erika Nakamura and Jocelyn Guest, who were handpicked by Ms. Bloomfield to run White Gold Butchers, on the Upper West Side, walked away in March.
Una Pizza Napoletana is back.

This news may be, at best, casually interesting to the average restaurant-goer in a city where the number of Pizza Restaurants Worth Caring About is well into the double digits. But for those who know the pizzeria  which has previously operated in three successive locations in New Jersey, the East Village and, for the past seven years, San Francisco  it is something else.

Many regard the pies that the pizzaiolo Anthony Mangieri makes as the fulfillment of a Neapolitan pizzas promise. And now, in a violation of 22 years of convention, this new version of Una Pizza Napoletana is a departure from those that have come before.

The old model had four to six pizzas, few beverage choices and little else but a domed oven with a fire in it. Version Four, which opened last month on Orchard Street, comes with appetizers, desserts and two chef-partners  Fabian von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone, co-owners of the restaurants Contra and Wildair. Those are places where jet-set chefs do pop-up dinners, where elusive bottles of en vogue natural wines are always on offer, where the food is plated, not just put on a plate.
Though the dementia rate has declined in the United States, the growing number of older Americans means more people will develop it. At the same time, gun sales have risen dramatically.

Perhaps not coincidentally, suicide rates have also climbed, up 28 percent from 1999 to 2016. More than 8,200 older adults committed suicide in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among men, those over age 65 are the likeliest to take their lives, and three-quarters of them use a gun.

Suicide risk is elevated in people with dementia, but its more of a factor early in the illness, said Dr. Yeates Conwell, a psychiatrist and director of the Office for Aging at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.

Later on, people are less able to organize a suicide attempt and more apt to be under supervision.

While older adults make many fewer suicide attempts than younger cohorts, they die more often, in part because they use such lethal methods. Yet health care providers who ask older patients about driving and wandering may not ask about guns.

Safety planning for adults with dementia is something every clinician thinks about, but I dont think firearms are often on the radar, said Dr. Donovan Maust, a psychiatrist at the University of Michigan Medical School and co-author of a recent article on guns and dementia in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

They should be. At various stages of dementia, people may grow unable to distinguish loved ones from intruders. Their decision-making ability deteriorates. They can become paranoid, depressed, impulsive, agitated or aggressive.
What issues do you have strong opinions about? Do you share the same opinions on these topics with the majority of your friends, students at your school and people in your community?

In Almost No One Agrees With Us: For Rural Students, Gun Control Can Be a Lonely Cause, Jack Healy writes:

The teenagers in rural Kentucky decided they were fed up after a 15-year-old with a handgun turned their high school into another killing ground, murdering two classmates. Like so many other students, they wrote speeches and op-ed essays calling for gun control, they painted posters and they marched on their State Capitol. The blush of activism made them feel empowered, even a little invincible.

Then came the backlash.

It started with sideways looks and laughter from other students in the hallways, they said. Friends deleted them from group chats and stopped inviting them over. On social media, people called the teenage activists retards and spoiled brats, and said they should have been the ones to die during a shooting in Marshall County High Schools student commons four months ago.

In a more liberal city like Parkland, Fla., or at a rally in Washington, these students might have been celebrated as young leaders. But in rural, conservative parts of the country where farm fields crackle with target practice and children grow up turkey hunting with their parents, the new wave of student activism clashes with bedrock support for gun rights.

Speaking out in a place like Marshall County, Ky., carries a price  measured in frayed friendships, arguments with parents and animosity within the same walls where classmates were gunned down.

The gulf between liberal and conservative Americas responses to mass shootings was on display again in Santa Fe, Tex., population 13,000, after 10 people were killed at the high school there on Friday. Republican leaders expressed no desire to pass gun restrictions. Many residents and students agreed with them, saying that gun control would not stop the bloodshed at Americas schools.

If we had more guns on campus with more teachers armed, wed be a lot safer, said Layton Kelly, 17, a student who hid in a night-black classroom next to the scene of the shooting in Santa Fe.
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Bayleigh Dostie was in kindergarten the year her family received a knock on the door. At 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 30, 2005, a scrolling news ticker reported that a soldier had been killed in Baghdad. Bayleighs mother, Stephanie, hadnt heard from her husband in days and had a foreboding feeling that he was the dead soldier. She refused to leave her bedroom all day; she was afraid that military casualty officers would come to the house. And they did  at 2:30 that afternoon. Stephanie screamed for Bayleigh and her brother, Cameron, not to open the door.

Sgt. First Class Shawn Dostie was killed earlier that day by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

I wonder what kind of things that we would be doing and what kind of adventures we would be having if you were here
Visa, the credit card company that has used Morgan Freemans voice in commercials for several years, announced on Friday that it would stop broadcasting those advertisements after a report that Mr. Freeman had sexually harassed several women.

We are aware of the allegations that have been made against Mr. Freeman, a Visa spokesman said in a statement. At this point, Visa will be suspending our marketing in which the actor is featured.

The Visa statement followed a similar decision by the Vancouver, Canada, transit system to backtrack on a plan to use Mr. Freemans voice for some announcements over its loudspeakers.

It was still unclear on Friday to what degree Mr. Freeman, an Oscar winner who, at age 80, maintains a busy acting and voice-over career, would lose work as some other entertainers accused of misconduct have. But in another sign of his diminished stature, SAG-Aftra, the actors union, told The Hollywood Reporter that the reported allegations were compelling and devastating and that it was reconsidering the lifetime achievement award it had given to Mr. Freeman earlier this year.
The disclosure of emails sent by the mayor of the nations largest city contained no hints of scandal, but offered yet another reminder of the danger of committing private thoughts to a digital record.

His missives provided the most direct look yet at an often private mayor and his insular close circle of advisers. In writing, Mr. de Blasio is by turns sensitive and sanctimonious, aggressive and insecure. He parses political tactics and media strategy with an intensity of a campaign operative who sees public perception as blood sport.

I have no use for these people, Mr. de Blasio wrote in a late 2015 email after a profile appeared in The Atlantic magazine that he hated. Lets just do the work and go right around the so-called referees.

NO ONE say ANYTHING about the M.T.A. publicly without clearing it with me first, he wrote elsewhere in a 2015 email to aides who would have had him recommending more city spending on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, something he did not want to do.

On Friday, Mr. de Blasio sought to explain his remarks, and in doing so, doubled down on them.

His first comments came on his weekly Friday radio interview on WNYC, excoriating the corporate ownership media, and expressing his preference for The Guardian over any local paper, including The New York Times, which he said was not my cup of tea. His saved his harshest words for The New York Post, saying that should it ever close he would not shed a tear.
Time is a funny thing. All minutes are 60 seconds long. But some last longer than others. And there may be no minute that lasts as long or causes as much distress as a minute spent on an unmoving New York City subway train, somewhere in a dark tunnel, bereft of explanation or knowledge when motion will resume.

Scientists who study time and our perception of it have multiple explanations for this phenomenon.

Behavioral economists speak of loss aversion. If I give you $10 and take it away from you, that feels a lot worse than me not giving it to you in the first place, said Mark Dean, an economics professor at Columbia University. When theres a stalled subway train, youve thought you had this time, and you have that time being taken away from you.

Systems-management scholars talk about the difference between filled time and empty time, and the paradoxical finding that how long people expect to wait for something determines how they experience the wait.

In the service industries, one of the axioms is to manage peoples expectations and always provide service at a level higher than expectation, even if that means overstating expected wait times, said Richard Larson, a professor at M.I.T.s Institute for Data, Systems and Society. The thing about the subway is that if the train stops in the middle of the tunnel, if youre not told that the maximum wait time will be, say, one minute, it could be infinity.
Part of the issue, family lawyers said, flows from the guiding principle in family court: all decisions are made to serve the best interests of the children. A parents rights can quickly become secondary in this setting, where overworked judges may pressure parties to settle quickly.

Its almost presumed that whats in the best interest of the child is for the parent to subsume their own personal needs, said Anna Maria Diamanti, the director of the family law and domestic violence unit of South Brooklyn Legal Services. Your need to not be oppressed is not more important than your childs need to have stability.

Some who have left the ultra-Orthodox say that in recent years, the community has become more organized in how it aids the religious parent and ostracizes the parent leaving the fold.

For the parent leaving, the trauma goes beyond the private dissolution of a marriage. Their job gets in jeopardy, their home, said Chani Getter, a program manager at Footsteps, an organization that offers support to formerly ultra-Orthodox Jews. If they are renting from a religious landlord, surveillance goes up, she said. Each child, she said, is considered by the community as a Jewish soul that cannot be lost.

But Mr. Rapaport said it was conspiracy-minded to accuse the community of acting as a monolith. Instead, he said, individual parents suing for custody are relying on their large networks of relatives and friends to help make their case, as anyone would.

Its not that simple, he said. We are the most split-up community you could ever think of. Its very rare to get people together for one cause. Everyone marches to their own drummer here; its like herding cats.

Ms. Weisberger married her husband, Naftali, in 2002 when she was 19. They decided to get a religious divorce in 2008 after she came to terms with her sexuality and revealed to her husband that she was a lesbian. As she came to accept herself, she also began to reject her ultra-Orthodox upbringing, which teaches that homosexuality is forbidden.
Why wasnt Harvey Weinstein jailed ahead of trial? His lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, negotiated a bail package with the district attorneys office in advance of the arrest and Judge Kevin McGrath agreed to it. In New York, the only question a judge may consider in weighing bail is risk of flight, not whether the defendant poses a threat to the community. In this case, prosecutors agreed to let him remain free if he posted $1 million in bail, wore a tracking device, surrendered his passport and agreed not to travel outside of New York and Connecticut. He has no previous record of arrests, and the measures are considered enough to ensure he will show up to his court dates. Defendants who do not have the money or assets to post bail usually end up held on Rikers Island to await trial.



How soon will he go on trial? It is hard to predict, but it could be more than a year. For starters, a grand jury has yet to indict Mr. Weinstein. That must happen within six months. By law, there are deadlines intended to speed things along. But both sides often waive those deadlines in high-profile cases.

What happens now? Mr. Weinstein is set to appear next in Criminal Court in Manhattan on July 30, when hell learn whether a grand jury has indicted him. If it has, then he will be arraigned in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and the long run-up to a trial begins.

Who will the judge be? At his July appearance, one of several criminal court judges covering that day will preside. Afterward, the case will likely be referred to Justice James Burke, who handles most of the cases brought by the sex crimes bureau of the Manhattan district attorneys office. But a final decision about which Supreme Court justice gets the case belongs to the administrative judge, Justice Ellen Biben.
Last week, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that Americas birthrate reached a historic low in 2017, falling to 60.2 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age. For a population in the developed world to replace itself, the average woman needs to have around 2.1 children. In the United States, where fertility has been below replacement for about a decade, the average woman now has 1.77.

Several commentators have described the plunge as a mystery, particularly since were in a period of economic growth. Some on the right have, absurdly, blamed the shrinking birthrate on abortion, even though abortion rates are also as low as theyve been since Roe v. Wade was decided. More thoughtful conservatives, like National Reviews David French, speculated that the baby bust could be a sign of the same sort of sweeping despair that has been linked to Americas decreasing life expectancy.

I have another theory. Perhaps the United States is becoming more like the rest of the industrialized world, where declining birthrates are correlated with a lack of support for working mothers.

Outside the United States, the pattern is pretty clear. Developed countries that prioritize gender equality  including Sweden, Norway and France  have higher fertility rates than those that dont. The worlds lowest fertility rates are in countries that are economically developed but socially conservative, where women have professional opportunities but must shoulder most of the burdens of domestic life. (With its progressive reputation and low birthrate, Germany might seem, on the surface, like an exception, but the country has a tradition of stigmatizing mothers who work outside the home.)
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First, President Trumps cancellation of a planned summit with North Korea follows foreign-policy snafus this week with China and Iran, notes The New Yorkers Susan Glasser. The common thread? Trumps failure to understand that negotiations almost always produce imperfect deals, as Lindsey Ford, a former Defense Department official, explains in The Times. His lack of sophistication is letting Asian countries take advantage of the United States.

Also, Nick Kristof and the editorial board weigh in on North Korea, and an interactive simulation looks at how war can happen  and how it can be avoided.

The new dropout crisis. The decline in the high-school dropout rate has been one of the big educational successes of the last few decades. About 16 percent of high-school students fail to graduate on time, down significantly from previous decades, with the biggest drops among Latinos and African-Americans. Its a sign that progress really is possible in education.
New Yorkers let out a collective gasp this week when the city said that one of the most popular stretches of Rockaway Beach would be closed for the summer because of erosion.

Those who spend their summer at Rockaway Beach know how awful this is. That beach  a beautiful expanse of white sand along the southern coastline of Queens  is one of the crown jewels of New York City, leaving anyone who visits marveling at the idea that such a thing could exist just 20 or so miles from Midtown Manhattan.
Early in her career, Samira Negm, a Cairo-based engineer, programmed self-parking features for cars. But she spent nearly as much time driving a car as she spent programming one. Millions of people moved from home to work every day in her city of more than 20 million; her daily commute to work could at times run to three hours or more.

She started wondering if she couldnt do more useful things with her skills  and her time. Perhaps she could connect co-workers looking for efficient ways to travel to work in Cairos chaotic traffic. Perhaps she could even design a car-pooling app, to provide workers, particularly women, with safer and cheaper ways to travel while helping cut down traffic congestion. Ms. Negm quit her job and Raye7, a car-pooling app, was born.

Ms. Negm is the new face of tech entrepreneurship in the Muslim world. And she is not alone.

The number of women at work across the Muslim world is swelling. Across the 30 largest emerging-market Muslim countries, 100 million women were working in 2002. Today, that number is 155 million. Economic necessity, more education, new technologies and changing social norms have been at the core of this shift. And among these new entrants to the labor force, women like Ms. Negm  a new generation of educated, female, dynamic, tech-savvy, globally connected but locally committed entrepreneurs  hold the most promise for delivering an outsize impact on their countries prosperity.
But the crackdown also raises doubts about the princes commitment to womens equality and freedom of movement. Pro-government media outlets publicized photos of the detained activists and accused them of being traitors, a shocking attack on a group whose only apparent offense was peaceful protest. They should be released immediately.

The episode also calls into question Prince Mohammeds ability to deliver on his promises to bring fundamental change to a patriarchal society where men exert legal control over women.

The clerical hierarchy that administers Saudi Arabias ultraconservative version of Islam, known as Wahhabism, opposes allowing women to drive and other proposals to soften Saudi culture and religion that are part of Prince Mohammeds plans.

If Prince Mohammed cannot take the heat for lifting the driving ban, one can only imagine how much harder it will be for him to deliver on tougher promises. Chief among them is getting rid of the guardianship law, which says that every woman must have a male guardian  husband, father, brother, even a son  who can make critical decisions on her behalf, including applying for a passport, traveling outside the country, studying abroad on a government scholarship and marrying.

This is not the first time Prince Mohammed has undermined the reformist credentials on which he is trying to build a new image of his country. Last year, he oversaw the arrest of dozens of writers, intellectuals and moderate clerics who were seen as critics of his foreign policies.

Prince Mohammed also engineered the detention of about 200 wealthy princes and businessmen, forcing them to surrender significant amounts of their wealth, in exchange for their freedom in a questionable anti-corruption campaign.

By raising doubts about the kingdoms commitment to human rights and the rule of law, such behavior is unlikely to be attractive to the foreign companies the prince is wooing to invest in his country.

Then theres this: Studies show that economies that exclude half the population, which is to say women, cant reach their full potential. It will be impossible for Prince Mohammed to legitimately claim the reformist mantle and achieve his economic goals as long as women are prevented from taking their full and rightful place in Saudi Arabias future.
It has long been common knowledge in farming that antibiotics can help cause animals to grow fatter faster. Time is money, particularly in the food industry, and for many years ranchers used antibiotics not just for treating diseases but also for promoting growth so that animals would be ready for the slaughterhouse sooner. (Mr. Lewis says his grass-fed steers require 27 months to get to market without antibiotics, more than twice as long as it takes cows pumped full of antibiotics.)

In early 2017, the Food and Drug Administration enacted rules banning the use of human antibiotics purely for growth promotion in animals and requiring ranchers to get a prescription from a veterinarian for antibiotics that once could be purchased over the counter. The F.D.A. enacted the restrictions out of growing concern about the breeding of drug-resistant bacteria from antibiotic overuse. Those resistant bacterial strains can be transferred to humans by contact with animals or raw meat and possibly through the consumption of undercooked meat.

The growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics causes some 23,000 American deaths a year and $34 billion in financial losses annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The C.D.C. also estimates that more than 400,000 United States residents become ill with infections caused by antibiotic-resistant food-borne bacteria every year, with about one in five resistant infections caused by germs from food and animals.
Only after becoming a novelist myself did I understand my discomfort. Philip Roth is celebrated for bringing my familys tiny slice of the world into the American pantheon, widening the literary canon to include American Jews. It is hardly news to point out that he accomplished this feat at the expense of Jewish women. What is new is that we now get to decide what that heavy price means  not for Roth, but for us.

Roths three favorite topics  Jews, women and New Jersey  all remain socially acceptable targets of irrational public mockery, and Roth was a virtuoso at mocking the combination of all three. What are they, after all, these Jewish women who raised us up as children? Roths narrator asks in Portnoys Complaint, the 1969 novel that made his reputation. It isnt their fault they were given a gift like speech  look, if cows could talk, they would say things just as idiotic. Yes, yes, maybe thats the solution then: think of them as cows, who have been given the twin miracles of speech and mah-jongg.

One could generously say that jokes like this havent aged well, yet they were just as cruel in 1969  and the misogyny isnt really the problem. After all, if one policed literature for bigotry, there would be little left to read. The problem is literary: these caricatures reveal a lack of not only empathy, but curiosity.

Shakespeare bothered to give the hated Jewish moneylender Shylock a point of view; Mark Twain bothered to imagine emotions for the runaway slave Jim. Both portrayals still reflected popular prejudice, often horribly so. But they also included a glimmer of humanity beyond it, revealing the artists curiosity about lives they could only imagine.

Philip Roths works are only curious about Philip Roth. Of course, most writers lead with characters like themselves, and for Roths contemporary Jewish readers, his warts-and-all portrayal of people like himself was an honor, inviting them into American literature. But that was the outer limit of Roths imagination. His strength lay in those brilliantly rendered characters and voices like his. His weakness was that those voices denigrated just about everyone else. His caricatured women are merely a symptom of this lack of curiosity: It shows up again in Roths religious characters, his Israeli characters, his non-Jewish characters, his anyone-who-isnt-him characters. Thats why Brenda and the many other Jewish New Jersey women in his books, ostensibly so close to home, struck me as so unfamiliar. I didnt know these women at all, because neither did he.
More than five years after a gunman murdered 20 first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., their families still get daily threats and online abuse from listeners of Alex Jones, whose claim that the massacre was a hoax is one of the many bogus conspiracy theories he peddles on his InfoWars radio broadcast and website. The Timess Elizabeth Williamson wrote a moving account of the families effort to hold Mr. Jones legally accountable.

People like Mr. Jones, who says 9/11 was an inside job and the government blew up the Oklahoma City federal building, have been around from the distant days when they were called the lunatic fringe.

Now hes mainstream.

During the last presidential campaign, after Mr. Jones had been spouting vicious nonsense about Sandy Hook for years, Donald Trump appeared on his show to tell him: Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down.

He hasnt.

Mr. Trump, who built his political career by spreading the racist lie that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States, has kept the conspiracy theories flowing now that hes in the White House.
To the Editor:

Re Mueller Is Starting to Scare Me (column, May 23):

Is Frank Brunis problem really with Robert Muellers investigation per se, or with The Timess and other media companies breathless coverage of it?

To Mr. Muellers credit, he seems to have little or no interest in feeding the media circus around his work and is focused on the job of doing a serious investigation. Whether the media focus on this investigation distracts the public from other political harm being done by Mr. Trump, as Mr. Bruni frets, is not a reason for Mr. Mueller to wrap up the investigation.

After all, the investigation is a law enforcement operation, not a political one. Mr. Trump doesnt understand that, but it is true nonetheless.

PETER ASEN, CRANSTON, R.I.

To the Editor:

I believe that, in the end, Robert Mueller will turn over a report to Congress that will prove both collusion and obstruction of justice on the part of the president and his campaign. But like Frank Bruni, I, too, am frightened that the special counsels report may come too late, and be buried under a ton of propaganda spewed from the mouths of Rudy Giuliani, Sean Hannity and Devin Nunes.
In the social media era, stereotyping can lead to fraught encounters that go viral: In recent weeks, people have called the police on innocent black people for doing nothing more than waiting at a Starbucks cafe or napping in a dorm.

The social psychologist Claude Steeles 2010 book Whistling Vivaldi examines stereotype threats  predicaments in which people worry that others are judging them solely because of their race or gender or age. He found that racial stereotypes hindered the academic performance of black children and contributed to persistent segregation.

We wanted to understand more about these encounters.

We asked readers to share stories  often, painful ones  of times that they have made unjust assumptions about others. We asked readers to tell us what role race played in their thinking, how their thoughts affected their behavior, and what they would do differently.

We received nearly 200 responses  many of which described times in which racial stereotypes led to mistakes, misunderstanding and on some occasions, false police reports. Here are a few , condensed and edited for clarity .
From the outside, 304 Troutman Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, looks fairly ordinary. In most ways, it is. But this nondescript three-story, five-unit rental building is part of an experiment in using the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin to transform the New York housing market.

This is going to be a paradigm shift, said Mo Shaikh, a founder of Meridio, a Brooklyn-based company looking to introduce blockchain technology to real estate.

As a secure, decentralized way to register and store payments and transactions online through smart contracts, blockchain technology will give each of the eight investors who currently own the building cryptocurrency tokens that can be traded and secure access to a crypto-protected database that stores individual transaction data. In theory, the technology will make it nearly impossible for hackers to do widespread damage and will protect against the kind of identity theft that conventional investors might be vulnerable to.

Blockchain is just an efficient way of asset exchange: The assets can be cryptocurrency, stocks, bonds, art or real estate, said Corbin Page, Mr. Shaikhs partner in Meridio, an offshoot of a larger company called Consensys.
Ireland has turned into a test case of whether Facebook and Google can thwart foreign groups from influencing elections, and misinformation from spreading. For months leading to Fridays vote on whether to lift a constitutional ban on abortion, online ads on the issue became increasingly common from international groups attempting to sway the outcome. Of the 280 groups that since February had bought ads on Facebook tied to the abortion vote, 14 percent were based outside the country or in an untraceable location, according to Mr. Dwyers group.

How Facebook and Google have responded to these ads is being closely scrutinized because it foreshadows what the companies may try in the United States and elsewhere to keep elections unsullied. Both companies want to show they have improved since the 2016 American presidential election, when Russian agents manipulated Googles YouTube and Facebook to spread divisive messages to voters. On Thursday, Facebook and Twitter rolled out new election transparency efforts.

Critics warn that if Facebook and Google cannot minimize their negative influence in a country the size of Ireland, which has a population of 4.8 million, far bigger challenges will loom with the midterm elections in the United States this November.

Even so, the effectiveness of the companies actions in Ireland has not been clear cut  and it may take months, if not years, to know whether any disinformation campaigns broke through their efforts. Thats especially so since ads are only one part of a larger misinformation problem that also includes organic posts.
Last year, Butterfield & Robinson, the Canada-based travel company founded in 1966, reported a 20 percent average increase in yearly walking tour departures. Yet that growth was part of a broader, ongoing trend: The companys total number of walking trips in 2016 was up 188 percent from 2010.

Backroads, the adventure travel company created in California in 1979, has also reported that walking and hiking tours are its fastest-growing segment, with double-digit growth. In March, the company reported that its walking and hiking segment more than tripled in size over the last five years  and it expects the numbers to continue to climb. This year alone it has new walking and hiking trips in Croatia and Slovenia; the Italian, French and Swiss Alps; Maine, Morocco, Namibia and Zimbabwe, Portugal, Provence and the French Riviera, and Scotland.

Walking will be the ultimate way to explore in 2018, the travel site Booking.com predicted last year, adding that 56 percent of travelers said they wanted to go on walking or hiking trips this year.

Walking, of course, has already been the ultimate way to explore  its a positively ancient way to travel. And the walking tour is an industry classic, predating smartphones, selfie sticks and status updates. Yet its a tour style that appears to be enjoying a bit of a boom, attracting ever more travelers interested in seeing a city in a slow fashion: on foot.
That clear line disappears, though, in the life histories of these former prisoners. Most of them were raised in poverty, in chaotic environments where routines and adult supervision were rare, and where their families were under stress.

Violence was common, not because poor people are more prone to it, but because poverty shapes social interaction in a way that makes violence more likely, research suggests. Anyone dropped into the same environment, Mr. Western said, could be swept up by violence, too.

Studies show that children who experience trauma are more likely later in life to suffer from asthma, depression, unemployment, and theyre also more likely to use drugs. The more trauma a child faces, the higher these odds. Children perform less well on standardized tests right after violent crimes have occurred in their neighborhood  even if they didnt personally witness the violence.

The typical measures of trauma  adverse childhood experiences that include growing up in a household with physical or substance abuse  dont gauge anything quite like witnessing lethal violence. That distress alters the picture of the population the Boston Reentry Study followed: These adults in the criminal justice system were once children exposed to awful things.

What, then, is to be done with the knowledge that four in 10 prisoners typical to the Massachusetts state prison system saw someone killed as a child?

Mr. Western argues that this should force us to reconsider the simplified model of offenders-and-victims, and to allow more second chances to people we peg in the first category.

The whole ethical foundation of our system of punishment I think is threatened once you take into account the reality of peoples lives, he said. In the study, the people who had experienced the most extreme childhood trauma and violence also struggled the most in adulthood with drug addiction and mental and health problems. The line between the two is not straightforward. But its also not irrelevant.
Welcome to Gender Letter  a weekly take on news, trends and culture from The Timess gender initiative. This installment is by Jessica Bennett, gender editor, and Maya Salam, a reporter for the Express Desk. Want future newsletters delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. You can also follow us on Instagram. Tell us what you think at nytgender@nytimes.com.

Dear readers,

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In Harvey Weinsteins case, the image of the former film mogul in handcuffs on Friday, perp walking his way into the New York Police Departments First Precinct, in Lower Manhattan, two words may actually get the job done: Times Up.

On Friday, Mr. Weinstein turned himself in on charges of rape and committing a criminal sex act for incidents involving two women. He walked in with a handful of books under his arm and emerged, an hour later, with three sets of handcuffs fastened to his wrists (they were linked in order to stretch across his back).

He used to be the king of TriBeCa, tweeted Jodi Kantor, the New York Times reporter whose investigation with Megan Twohey broke the news of Mr. Weinsteins abuse. Now hes turning himself in there.
In a column on the areas history for the news website Honolulu Civil Beat, Alan D. McNarie said the risks since then have only become more apparent. The odds may be considerably worse than Dr. MacDonald predicted back in 1960, Mr. McNarie said. Citing figures from the United States Geological Survey, he noted that about 40 square miles of the island were buried in fresh lava between 1983 and 2003 alone.

For many of those who continued to buy homes, the lure continued to be cheap housing in a tropical wonderland.

Hawaii has what may be the highest statewide home prices in the United States, with the median home value in the state at about $605,000, according to the housing website Zillow. And while the unemployment rate is low at around 2 percent, that figure obscures other problems. Hawaii had the highest cost of living of any state in 2017, according to the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness, driven largely by housing prices. Zoning restrictions in parts of the archipelago and the use of private residences as vacation rentals constrict available affordable housing even further.

The result: Even though Hawaiis economy seems to be strong, wage increases have trailed the climb in home prices, fueling an exodus of people from the state. For some who dont want to leave, or for mainlanders seeking to move to Hawaii, the far-flung areas of the Big Island hold allure.

Were 40,000 housing units from anywhere near adequate to easing the need for places for people to live in Hawaii, said Carl Bonham, an economist at the University of Hawaii. Thats why Puna is an option no matter its remoteness or risks.

Many homes in Puna are not built to code, or are built in zones where lava flows have already wiped out previous developments, which some residents attribute to the frontier mind-set here. Others, however, contend that public officials have not enforced existing regulations as strictly as they could have.
A student at an Indiana middle school barged into a class on Friday morning wielding two handguns and firing shots. A teacher and another student were wounded. The boy with the guns, the authorities say, was subdued, then arrested. And on a sunny day that began with the promise of a holiday weekend, yet another American city was left to cope with classroom bloodshed.

Here we go again, and its just really, really, really unfortunate, said Douglas G. Carter, the superintendent of the Indiana State Police. I wish I had the answer.

The shooting on Friday, at Noblesville West Middle School in suburban Indianapolis, came a week after 10 people were fatally shot at a high school in Santa Fe, Tex., an episode that revived a national debate about gun control and gun rights. It came nine days after a police officer in Illinois shot a gunman who interrupted a high school graduation rehearsal. And it came about three months after 17 people were massacred at a school in Parkland, Fla.

Weve had these shootings around the country  you just never think it could happen in Noblesville, Indiana, Mayor John Ditslear said on Friday afternoon. But it did. Our people were prepared.
The Facts

False.

Democrats have neither cheered on Mr. Trumps withdrawal from a summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, nor defended the violent gang MS-13.

Many Democrats called the collapse of talks unsurprising, but unfortunate. They criticized Mr. Trump for a lack of strategy, but urged the administration to continue its efforts. While some Democrats did mock calls for Mr. Trump to receive a Nobel Peace Prize as a result of the diplomatic effort, few if any celebrated or described the scuttled talks as a positive development.

Neither Senator Chuck Schumer of New York nor Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leaders in Congress, expressed glee after Mr. Trumps announcement.
WHAT WAS SAID

We have ended the disastrous defense sequester. No money for the military, those days are over.

THE FACTS

False.

Technically, Mr. Trump did not repeal the defense sequester, which refers to limits placed on military spending enacted in 2011. Congress effectively erased mandated caps in February, but that doesnt mean that the military received no money at all before then.

In 2011, in response to a debt ceiling crisis, lawmakers reached a bipartisan agreement to reduce deficits by at least $2.1 trillion over the next decade. In addition to limits on domestic spending, limits were placed on the Pentagons base budget, but not its wartime spending.

Congress increased spending caps by $32 billion in 2013 and $40 billion in 2015, referred to by budget watchers as partial sequester relief. In February, the cap was blown off entirely, when Mr. Trump signed a budget deal that raised it by $165 billion over two years. Effectively, that ended the sequester without repealing the original law.

From 2012 to 2017, the Pentagons annual budget had decreased as a percent of the economy. But it still hovered around $600 billion  a far cry from no money at all.
President Trump on Thursday sent a letter to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, pulling out of a highly anticipated summit meeting next month and accusing the North Koreans of bad faith. But the next day, he said that his administration was back in touch with North Korea, and that the meeting may be rescheduled.

North Korea had been infuriated over comments from Mr. Trumps national security adviser, John R. Bolton, describing the voluntary disarmament of Libya in 2003 as a precedent for the negotiations with North Korea. A North Korean official later labeled Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy and threatened a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown after he echoed Mr. Boltons sentiments.

Mr. Trump, however, said he was pleased with a conciliatory statement from North Korea that said the country was willing to give Mr. Trump time and opportunity to reconsider his decision.
Mr. Cohens goal for the meeting  and whether it may have been related to his consulting business  remains unclear. His lawyers, and lawyers for Mr. Vekselberg, did not respond to requests for comment when told about video footage from C-Span showing Mr. Vekselberg and Mr. Intrater arriving at Trump Tower on Jan. 9, 2017. Mr. Intrater said the meeting included only a brief discussion about relations between the United States and Russia.

The meetings and Columbus Novas payments to Mr. Cohen have attracted scrutiny from Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the election, as well as federal prosecutors in Manhattan examining Mr. Cohens business activities and finances, the people said.

Early this year, Mr. Muellers investigators stopped Mr. Vekselberg at a New York-area airport after he arrived on a private plane, The New York Times reported in early May. Mr. Muellers investigators have interviewed Mr. Intrater twice, focusing partly on his dealings with Mr. Cohen. Mr. Muellers office has since referred the investigation of Mr. Cohen to the prosecutors in Manhattan. There is no indication that Mr. Vekselberg or Mr. Intrater is suspected of wrongdoing, and Mr. Intraters lawyer, Richard Owens, said that Columbus Nova has cooperated with all requests for documents and information from federal authorities.

The meetings were an opportunity for the three men to discuss shared interests during the presidential transition and early days of the administration, according to interviews and records reviewed by The Times.

Image Andrew Intrater, Mr. Vekselbergs cousin, leads the firm that awarded the contract. Credit... Duane Prokop/Getty Images for the USC Shoah Foundation

Mr. Cohen, who promoted his connection to Mr. Trump, was seeking moneymaking opportunities. Mr. Vekselberg, who has longstanding business and philanthropic ties to the United States and controls a global conglomerate, was interested in Mr. Trumps Russia-friendly stance. And Mr. Intrater, looking for new investors, was drawn to Mr. Cohens Rolodex of rich donors  he is a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee  and the lure of new deals to invest in, prompting Columbus Nova to hire him as a consultant.

By all accounts, it did not work out as planned for any of the men. Mr. Cohen is under investigation; the Trump administration hit Mr. Vekselberg with sanctions last month, making him one of seven Kremlin-linked oligarchs to be punished as part of a response to meddling and other aggressions; and Columbus Nova parted ways with Mr. Cohen after no new deals or investors materialized, despite paying him $580,000 of the $1 million contract.
While the Pentagons base budget was capped in 2011, funding for the military still far outstripped the rest of the world and was still higher than the next seven countries combined.

In the first months of his presidency, Mr. Trump visited the Navys newest aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, and promised to work to upgrade ships and submarines and seek more money for the sailors who operate them.

Well have by far the most powerful nuclear force on earth, and itll be absolutely in perfect shape and condition, Mr. Trump told the sailors on the ship that day. And hopefully, praise be to God, we dont ever have to use it. But there will be nobody thats even close.

In his remarks at the commencement on Friday, Mr. Trump took note of the carrier Ford as he touted the size and strength of the countrys naval forces, including what he said will eventually be 355 beautiful ships in the fleet. He said that is almost a couple of hundred more ships than is currently in the fleet.

In fact, in 2016, the number of active ships was 275, and the Navy plans to increase that to 355 by the 2050s.

Were building that modern fleet, he said. Were sharpening the fighting edge of everything.

As president, Mr. Trump signed a $1.3 trillion government spending bill that drastically increased the amount of money for the military. At the signing, the president complained that he did not want to sign the legislation because it failed to close immigration loopholes or provide enough money for a wall along the southern border with Mexico.

But he said the money for the military was enough to persuade him to sign the bill anyway.

It increases total defense spending by more than $60 billion from last year, and funds the addition of critically needed ships, planes, helicopters, tanks and submarines, he said during brief remarks after signing the spending bill. We have submarines being built the likes of which  theres nothing anywhere in the world like the submarines we build.
Senator Schumer and Obama Administration let phone company ZTE flourish with no security checks, he wrote. I closed it down then let it reopen with high level security guarantees, change of management and board, must purchase U.S. parts and pay a $1.3 Billion fine.

Dems do nothing but complain and obstruct, he added. They made only bad deals (Iran) and their so-called Trade Deals are the laughing stock of the world!

The deal would allow ZTE to once again begin doing business with American companies, including Qualcomm, the chip maker based in San Diego that is a primary ZTE supplier. The Chinese company was recently banned from buying American technology components for seven years as punishment for violating United States sanctions against Iran and North Korea, a penalty that industry analysts say threatened to put the company out of business within weeks.

[Catch up on what ZTE is, and why President Trump wants to help it.]

The collapse of ZTE would be an embarrassing outcome for China, and the companys fate has become a hurdle in trade negotiations between the two countries. President Trump directed the Commerce Department to re-examine ZTEs penalty based on a personal request from President Xi Jinping of China, setting off a fierce pushback from some of Mr. Trumps national security advisers, as well as lawmakers from both parties.

Mr. Trump, however, has appeared unmoved by those concerns and has been pushing to reach some type of trade resolution with China, which has so far proved elusive. The administration has been seeking to cut a deal on ZTE in exchange for trade concessions from China, including purchases of American agriculture and energy products, people familiar with the discussions said. Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, is scheduled to travel to China on June 2 to begin another round of the talks with top Chinese officials.
Meagan Taylor, who is in her 40s and works in the nonprofit sector in Boston, stopped outside the courthouse to watch as members of the news media prepared for a statement by Mr. Weinsteins lawyer. I think this is a historic day  for women, for justice, for equality, she said.

Probably 99 percent of women, at least my age, have been in a situation where they have felt uncomfortable due to a man in power, she said.

For those who have spoken out about their own experiences with misconduct, the day carried many meanings.

Drew Dixon, who was one of three women who accused the music mogul Russell Simmons of rape in a December report in The New York Times, said the news that Mr. Weinstein would be arrested was unexpectedly unsettling.

I started shaking, she said in a phone interview on Friday morning. I was stunned that it had escalated to something with real legal consequences for him.
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo  Dozens of people drowned after a boat tipped over in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Friday.

The vice governor of Tshuapa Province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said the boat was carrying passengers to the city of Mbandaka from Monkoto on Thursday when it capsized just outside Wafania, killing 49 people.

Mr. Iluka said that investigators had been sent to the area to assess the situation and confirm the death toll. He said he did not know how many people had been on the boat at the time of the accident, how many survived, or what might have caused the vessel to sink.

Deadly boat accidents are common in Congo, a vast, forested country that has few roads outside of major towns and that is carved up by a network of rivers that drain the Congo Basin. For most people, these rivers are the only means of traveling long distances.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Duque has said Mr. Uribe, who cannot run for president again because of term limits, is the countrys eternal president.

Alvaro Uribe transformed Colombian politics. His legacy is everywhere, and he remains an important political player, said Michael L. Evans, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive, an investigatory nonprofit that provided The New York Times with the cables after petitioning that they be declassified.

He added: In these cables we learn more about the allegations that most worried the Embassy: the aviation licenses for cartel figures; his financial ties to the Ochoa clan; and above all the possibility that he might be indebted to them.

Mr. Uribe served as president from 2002 to 2010 and was considered Americas closest ally in the region in the war against drug traffickers. He negotiated a deal to demobilize paramilitary groups in 2004 and delivered the blows to leftist rebels that led to a peace deal under his successor in 2016. Both were financed by the cocaine trade.

But questions persist about possible connections between Mr. Uribe and illegal activity.

Colombias Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into a witness-tampering case against Mr. Uribe involving the Bloque Metro, a paramilitary and drug trafficking group based in Medellin. Mr. Uribes brother, Santiago, is awaiting trial on charges that he ran a death squad called the Twelve Apostles from his ranch.

The American cables offer a window into the accusations Mr. Uribe faced during his political rise.

In the 1990s, a time marked by escalating drug violence and corruption in Colombia, Mr. Uribe emerged as a young leader with a rosy future and a bright star on the Colombian political scene, the diplomatic cables say.

However, diplomats also came across accusations that tarnished that reputation.

Mr. Velez, the senator who said Mr. Uribes campaign was financed by the Ochoa drug family, told diplomats about a meeting that was arranged in the 1990s between Mr. Uribe, two other politicians and the wife of Mr. Escobar. The meeting had been secret until Mr. Escobar published a letter about it, and the diplomats wanted to know how it had come about.
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario  Investigators on Friday were looking for two people who detonated a pail filled with projectiles inside a crowded Indian restaurant near Toronto late Thursday, wounding 15 people, three of them critically.

Chief Jennifer Evans of the Peel Regional Police called the bombing horrendous, but said there was no immediate indication that it was related to terrorism or a hate crime.

The blast took place around 10:30 p.m. at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga, Ontario, a large city just west of Toronto. Sgt. Matt Bertram said the assailants had entered the restaurant and put down what appeared to be a pail or a paint can, which then exploded as the two fled down the street.

Rafael Concaceicao, a student from Sao Paulo, Brazil, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that he was on the patio of a nearby restaurant when he heard the explosion at Bombay Bhel. He rushed to help, he said.
NEW YORK, May 24.  The HERALDS Granada (Nicaragua) Correspondent, telegraphing via Galveston, Tex, says: The battle between the Revolutionists and the Government forces near Marsaya began at ten oclock in the morning of the 19th. The Government artillery consisted of five Krupp guns. The battery was stationed a mile north of Nindiri station. The revolutionists planted their artillery on the summit of Coyotepe Hill. From the battery of the Government forces, 240 shells were fired. The Revolutionists fired very effectively sixty shots. After the engagement three carloads of Government soldiers, wounded, were taken from the field and sent to Managua.

The cannonading was renewed at eight oclock on the following morning, and a spirited attack was made at nine oclock. There were 1,300 Government troops, opposed by 1,030 Revolutionary troops, under the command of General Borranca. The Government forces were repulsed with heavy losses, after two hours fighting. The Government forces reformed with 700 men and attacked the enemy. Hot fighting took place until noon all the way from Nindiri Totisma. On the highway around the Coyotipe Hill between 300 revolutionists, under General Catarina, and 450 Government troops under General Masatepe.

The Government forces flanked the volcano and joined the other troops and made another assault on the Nindiri side. After an hours fighting Barrancas forces obtained complete control of the Tisma Road and the Government forces retreated. They were pursued, and desultory fighting was carried on until three oclock in the afternoon, when it ended in the complete success of the Revolutionists. On their retreat the Government troops plundered Nindiri village and then retired in confusion.

The Revolutionists lost twelve killed and eight wounded, nearly all officers. The Government troops lost 120 killed and more than two hundred wounded. Two generals were killed. President Sacaza and his family, in Corinto, prepared for flight. The Government is in disorder, its troops are disbanded and at Managua 200 men with rifles captured were ready to join the Revolutionists at the first opportunity.

 The New York Herald, European Edition, May 25, 1893
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia  Pastor Raymond Koh was driving along a tree-lined suburban street near Malaysias capital 15 months ago when masked men in black SUVs forced his sedan to a halt. Within 45 seconds, they had commandeered his car and taken him away. He has not been seen since.

Family members believe that government operatives were behind the military-style abduction and that, since then, the police have helped cover it up. Mr. Koh, they say, was most likely targeted in the belief that he preached Christianity to Muslims.

Now, with the ouster of Malaysias governing party this month after six decades in power, Mr. Kohs family and supporters are calling for a new investigation into his kidnapping.

Image Pastor Raymond Koh Credit... CK Kwong

It is one of many cases that the new government is being called on to re-examine, including similar abductions, the deaths of prisoners in custody and politically charged murders.
SYDNEY, Australia  The number of Indigenous Australian juveniles in detention, on bail or on parole is increasing, even as the total number of children accused of crimes in Australia is decreasing, a government agency said Friday.

Indigenous Australians are disproportionately represented in the youth justice system and are 18 times more likely than their nonnative counterparts to be under justice supervision, according to a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Of the 5,359 minors aged 10 to 17 under supervision on an average day last year, about half of them came from the countrys Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, according to the report. But children from those same communities made up only 5 percent of the countrys population for the same age group.

We have been tracking the Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids in justice supervision, and the rate for Indigenous kids is falling slower than non-Indigenous kids, said David Braddock, the institutes spokesman.
My books are love letters to Quebec  the language of my characters is French, and I wanted my characters to live in that language, she said, referring to the belated translation of her books into French. Nevertheless, she conceded that her own French had sometimes failed her. She once ordered flaming mice in a Quebec City restaurant, while trying to order flaming cherries, and accidentally praised Quebecers as good pumpkins rather than good citizens at a diplomatic function.

Ms. Penny, who frequently bursts into raucous laughter, says she is still treasuring a literary success that came somewhat late in life  she was 46 when her first novel, Still Life, was published after being rejected or ignored by 50 publishers. Nevertheless, she says that experiencing dark times helps her to conjure the trail of rancid emotions that prompts her killers to kill.

Her streak of rural carnage, she says, was also partly inspired by a line from Herman Melville, a poem by W.H. Auden: Evil is unspectacular and always human. She derived further inspiration, she said, from her years covering crime stories  drug wars, biker gangs and murders  for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The daughter of money managers, Ms. Penny spent 18 years as a radio journalist in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Thunder Bay, Ontario; Montreal and Quebec City. She said that she turned to alcohol to help her deal with a gnawing loneliness, self-loathing and fear that had buffeted her since she was a teenager, and by age 35, had contemplated suicide.

I had developed an unhealthy worldview, which was that the world is a scary place filled with people who want to or are capable of doing harm, she said. I know what its like to hate yourself so much that you have to murder yourself. Coming out the other side gave me a profound belief that goodness exists.

That realization, she said, became the leitmotif of her books.

Ms. Penny credits a call to Alcoholics Anonymous and falling in love with her husband, Michael Whitehead, a pediatric hematologist who died in 2016, for helping to tame her demons. It was a slow, painful process.
DUBLIN, Ireland  Voters in Ireland appear to have overturned the countrys abortion ban, according to two exit polls released on Friday night.

One poll, conducted for The Irish Times, showed wide support  68 percent to 32 percent  for the repeal of a constitutional amendment that essentially outlawed abortion.

A second exit poll, by RTE Television, showed similar results, with nearly 70 percent of respondents saying they had voted to repeal the amendment, The Associated Press reported.

Exit polling is not necessarily predictive, however, and the counting of votes cast in a referendum on Friday began on 9 a.m. Saturday. Official results are expected to be announced late Saturday afternoon.
LONDON  A day after investigators identified the Russian military as the source of a missile that brought down a civilian airliner over Ukraine four years ago, the Netherlands and Australia, whose citizens made up the vast majority of passengers on the jet, said on Friday that they would hold Moscow to account for bringing down the plane.

The Dutch authorities said in a statement that they had asked Russia today to enter a dialogue in order to come to a solution that does justice to the enormous suffering and damage caused by the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was traveling to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

The two countries demand received support later in the day from the State Department, which called on Russia to cease what it called a callous disinformation campaign, but the practical outcome of such diplomacy is unclear at a time of profound strains between Russia and the West.

The disputes cover a broad range of issues, including the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain and suspicions that Moscow has sought to manipulate the outcome of Western elections, including President Trumps victory in 2016.
At the height of a corruption scandal five years ago, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain denied his party had operated a slush fund, shortly after his former treasurer was found to have hidden millions in Swiss banks.

Mr. Rajoy also promised full transparency to stop a scandal based on what he called apocryphal evidence from further undermining his party. This is as far as it will go, the prime minister said at the time in a televised address.

Now, however, the issue of corruption in Mr. Rajoys Popular Party has returned with a vengeance to the top of Spains political agenda, threatening the survival of his minority conservative government.

On Friday, the main Socialist opposition party presented a parliamentary motion to hold a vote of no-confidence to oust Mr. Rajoy, a day after his partys former treasurer, Luis Barcenas, was sentenced to 33 years in prison and fined 44 million euros (about $51.3 million) for benefiting from a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme.
All states but Wyoming now offer some type of 529 plan, as does the District of Columbia. The plans allow families to invest in an account that grows tax-free. The money is also withdrawn tax free, as long as it is spent on eligible expenses like tuition, fees and other costs, including room and board, books and equipment. (A few plans, known as prepaid tuition plans, work a bit differently.) For additional details, a good resource is www.savingforcollege.com.

Rules for 529 plans were established by Congress in 1996, and the plans began growing more quickly after 2001, when withdrawals were made tax-free. Balances in the accounts have reached record levels, according to the latest data from the savings plans network. The number of accounts grew 3 percent in 2017, while total assets in the plans rose to $319 billion in 2017, a 16 percent increase over the prior year. The average account is now worth $24,000.

Yet the publics awareness of the plans remains somewhat muted  hence, the annual spring publicity campaign.

A survey by the investment firm Edward Jones found that fewer than a third of Americans could correctly identify a 529 plan as an education savings tool, although more affluent people were more likely to get it right. The survey of 1,004 adults was done by landline and cellphone in April and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent. (Edward Jones offers adviser sold 529 plans, which include professional advice as well as extra sales fees or commissions. Most states offer plans that consumers can enroll in directly, without paying fees.)

James J. Burns, a financial planner on Long Island and an ambassador for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, says some families have misconceptions about 529 plans. For instance, he said, they may worry about what will happen to their savings if their child doesnt go to college. But the plans are flexible, he said. If a child chooses not to go to college, the money can also be used for vocational schools. Or, the money can be used for another child or relative. (If 529 funds are withdrawn for ineligible purposes, the earnings  but not the original contributions  are generally taxed as income, plus a 10 percent penalty.)
Scott Olson/Getty Images(SANTA FE, Tx) -- The parents of a 17-year-old boy gunned down in the Santa Fe High School shooting are suing the parents of the suspected teen shooter, alleging the suspect's mother and father were grossly negligent for failing to properly secure their guns and keep them out of the hands of a "monstrous murderer."



Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, allegedly burst into the Texas school May 18 with a shotgun and a .38-caliber revolver, both of which are legally owned by his father, where he "coldly and calculating shot and brutally murdered Christopher Jake Stone and numerous other innocent victims," according to the lawsuit filed by Stone's parents, Christopher Stone and Rosie Yanas.



Christopher Jake Stone and the nine others killed had the "innocent but terrible misfortune to be in the same school at the same time as the monstrous murderer who rampaged among them," according to the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Galveston County, Texas. "As each bullet ripped home, gone in an instant were lives not fulfilled, marriages not happening, children not born, the ripple effect of so many good people touching the lives of others stilled forever."



Stone's parents say Pagourtzis' parents were negligent for failing to properly secure the guns, letting Pagourtzis have access to the guns and ammunition, failing to get mental health counseling and services for their son, failing to properly warn the public about their son's "dangerous propensities," as well as "negligently entrusting their weapons" to him.



Stone's parents also claim gross negligence for the parents allegedly letting their son access their guns.



If the suspect didn't have the guns available to him, "his hidden black rage might well have continued to simmer within, but, the life's blood of his teachers and peers... would not have been so horribly, callously and needlessly spilled," the lawsuit said.



The suspect's father, Antonios Pagourtzis told Greece's Antenna TV last weekend that he thinks his son may have been bullied, saying, My son, to me, is not a criminal, he's a victim. He also said his son never showed signs of violence.



While it was Pagourtzis who allegedly pulled the trigger, the lawsuit alleges that "pressed just as firmly were the fingers of his parents who utterly failed to teach their son any respect for life whatsoever and who negligently and grossly negligently failed to secure their weapons in a reasonable and prudent way and put them directly and proximately into use as authors of community-wide tragedy and incomprehensible loss."



"We are as shocked and confused as anyone else by these events," the Pagourtzis family said in a statement Saturday. "We are gratified by the public comments made by other Santa Fe High School students that show Dimitri as we know him: a smart, quiet, sweet boy. While we remain mostly in the dark about the specifics of yesterdays tragedy, what we have learned from media reports seems incompatible with the boy we love."



"We extend our most heartfelt prayers and condolences to all of the victims," the Pagourtzis family said. "We also wish to thank all the first responders from all over Texas that assisted in rendering aid and support."



"We share the publics hunger for answers as to why this happened, and will await the outcome of the investigation before speaking about these events," the family said. "We have been and will continue to cooperate with the authorities conducting the investigation, and ask for the publics patience while it moves forward."



Pagourtzis, who is charged with capital murder, has been held at the Galveston County Jail without bond.



His attorneys filed a motion Wednesday requesting that a "reasonable bond" be set. The attorneys argue that Pagourtzis has a constitutional right to a reasonable bail and they, furthermore, state that his family has the means to post that bail.



Pagourtzis' attorneys did not specify what they consider a "reasonable bond" to be.



Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Unless you have frequent flier status with an airline, you will likely have to pay to choose the following economy seats:
Hopeful IT panel will take up Pegasus; officials may have been instructed to skip last meet: Tharoor

2019 Lok Sabha elections: Crowdfunding could be way out of Congress fund crisis, says Tharoor

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

A day after acknowledging that the Congress party was indeed facing a funding crunch, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that BJP is soaking up most of the political funding, partly because the money goes to those who are in power.

"No doubt that BJP is soaking up most of the political funding, partly because money goes to those who are in power. As a result most of the opposition parties are facing a bit of a crisis - particularly the Congress which has a nationwide presence," he told news agency ANI.

"In Karnataka, while most candidates financed their own campaign, in one case we did crowdfunding effort and it was successful. It can be repeated in general elections," he said.

Congress, in a tweet on Thursday, had appealed people to 'save democracy' and make financial contributions to the party.

The Congress needs your support and help. Help us restore the democracy which India has proudly embraced since 70 years by making a small contribution here, said the tweet.

The Congress needs your support and help. Help us restore the democracy which India has proudly embraced since 70 years by making a small contribution here: https://t.co/PElu5R0mR6 #IContributeForIndia pic.twitter.com/XQ75Iaf7A6  Congress (@INCIndia) May 24, 2018

According to the published news report in Bloomberg Quint, for the past five months, Congress leadership has stopped sending the funds required to run its offices in various states.

To overcome the crisis, Congress has urged members to step up contributions and asked officials to cut expenses, they said.

According to data released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Congress received 2.25 billion Rupees- 14 per cent lesser than last year and one-fourth of BJP's earnings of Rs 10.34 billion- till March 2017. The BJP recorded a rise of 81 per cent in its donations received.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 9:57 [IST]
7th Pay Commission: 26 lakh employees to get arrears, good sign for CG employees

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

At least 26 lakh employees, teachers and pensioners are set to get their arrears under the 7th Pay Commission. This is a welcome development that has been reported from Uttar Pradesh even as the Central Government employees await a pay hike beyond the recommendations of the pay panel.

The UP government took the decision to pay the arrears for 26 lakh government employees, teachers and pensioners. The arrears would be paid in two instalments as per the decision taken by Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath.

According to the order, the first instalment of the arrears up to 50 per cent would be paid on June 30. The UP government is yet to pay the arrears for the period between January 2016 and December 2016.

As per the order the first instalment of 50 per cent arrears will be paid by June 30 2018. The remaining amount would be paid in the financial year 2018-19.

Recently the Madhya Pradesh government announced that it would double the pension amount.

The cabinet also gave its nod to double the monthly honorarium of anganwadi workers. The decisions come months ahead of the state Assembly elections that are due by the end of the year. "The state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved the proposal to provide the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission to the pensioners (including retired government employees and those getting family pension)," public relations minister Narottam Mishra said.

"Effectively, pension would go up by 2.57 times. This would put an additional burden of Rs 850 crore on the state exchequer. This would benefit 4.39 pensioners in the state," he said. The pensioners would get the benefit with retrospective effect starting from January 1, 2016. Mishra said that the state cabinet also gave its nod to the proposal to double the monthly honorarium of anganwadi workers to Rs 10,000 from the present Rs 5,000.

These developments are a welcome signal for the CG employees who have been waiting for good news on pay hike regarding the 7th Pay Commission. The government continues to hold deliberations in this regard and is likely to increase the basic minimum pay and fitment factor soon.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 7:12 [IST]
After Abki Baar Modi Sarkar, will 2019 Mein Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, May 25: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre is all set to complete its four-year rule on Saturday. To mark its fourth anniversary at the Centre, the saffron party will be hosting various events across the country.

On the "happy occasion", the BJP will also launch its re-election campaign for the all-important 2019 Lok Sabha polls, scheduled in April-May next year. However, some reports also say that the elections might be preponed and will be hosted in December this year.

According to various media reports, on Saturday, the BJP will unveil a three-minute video showcasing the government's various achievements over the last four years. It will also release its slogan for re-election during the celebrations of its fourth anniversary.

After wooing voters with "Abki Baar Modi Sarkar" (This Time, Modi's Government) slogan in 2014, for the 2019 elections, the BJP's main campaign slogan will be "2019 Mein Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar" (In 2019, Modi Government Yet Again).

Going by the slogan, it is clear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be once again leading the campaign of the BJP as he did in 2014. The catchy election slogan, "Abki Baar Modi Sarkar", contributed immensely to the BJP's win as it captured the imagination of the voters in a big manner four years ago.

Looking for a change after being tired of a "corrupt" Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, voters in 2014 gave the crown of India to then Gujarat chief minister Modi, whose "development" plank in his home state was something everyone in the country aspired for at that time.

Four years down the line, Modi's big promises of "Achhe Din" (Good Days) or "Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas" (Collective Efforts Inclusive Growth) remained mere slogans as the country is currently reeling under various problems.

Right from prices of fuels reaching an all-time high, lack of job opportunities, rise in the numbers of rapes and murders of women/girls, mob lynching of Muslims and Dalits, saffronisation of educational institutions and subversion of judiciary by the ruling regime at the Centre, to name a few, the Modi government has come under severe attack from various quarters for its manifold failures.

Will the new slogan "2019 Mein Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar" help the BJP to come to power at the Centre, once again? The BJP is confident of repeating its previous performance (it won 282 Lok Sabha seats out of 543 in 2014).

The mood of the country is definitely different, this time. A few polls suggest that the BJP will once again come to power in 2019, despite the opposition parties' latest attempt to join hands together to thwart the saffron party's dream to form the next government at the Centre, once again.

Experts say the saffron party won't be able to sweep the polls in 2019 as it did in 2014. Only time will tell if "2019 Mein Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar" slogan will be able to recreate Modi magic once again or not.
'Committed to environment and people,' says Vedanta group Chairman

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Anil Agarwal, Chairman, Vedanta group condoled the death of protestors in Thoothukudi in a statement issued from London on Friday.

In a video posted on Twitter, Anil Agarwal said, "Sad about what happened in Thoothukudi. The plant is closed because of annual shut down and we are waiting for clearance from the court and the government to restart the plant. We are strictly following the orders of the court and the government."

"We always make sure that community and people of Tuticorin prosper with us. I'm totally committed to people at large and community and with their wish and prosperity, we would like to continue business. I assure you I'm fully committed to environment and people," Agarwal said.

Vedanta is a global, diversified natural resources group of companies in India, Africa, Namibia, Ireland, Australia and Liberia.

Union Mome Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday sought a report from Tamil Nadu government in connection with the violence during Anti-Sterlite protest in Tuticorin which claimed 13 lives.

Tamil Nadu opposition leader MK Stalin has demanded the resignation of the CM and DGP T K Rajendran over the anti-Sterlite violence. He had said Palaniswami and Rajendran should take moral responsibility for the incident and resign.

Saddened by the unfortunate turn of events at Tuticorin. pic.twitter.com/yURUUdlwn3  Anil Agarwal (@AnilAgarwal_Ved) May 24, 2018
HC to hear Teesta Setalvads bail plea on Monday

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand on Thursday moved the Gujarat High Court against a lower court order rejecting their anticipatory bail plea in a fund embezzlement case. Setalvad's petition challenging the lower court order may come up for hearing on Monday in the high court.

The city sessions court had on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Setalvad and Anand in the Rs 1.4 crore alleged fund embezzlement case related to their NGO Sabrang Trust. The duo had moved the plea for anticipatory bail following an FIR lodged against them on March 30 this year by complainant Raees Khan Pathan.

The Supreme Court had last month granted temporary relief to Setalvad and Anand extending their interim protection from arrest and transit anticipatory bail from May 2 to May 31, granted to them by the Bombay High Court. The apex court had said that the duo will not be arrested till May 31, but before that they would have to approach the competent court in the state which will decide the matter on merits.

Opposing the bail plea in the lower court, the crime branch of the Gujarat Police had earlier claimed that the couple had misused the money granted to their NGO Sabrang Trust by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development between 2010 and 2013 for educational purposes, for their "personal and political cause".

In its submission, the crime branch had said that the accused misused the funds "to pay witnesses in serious cases in Gujarat (2002 riot cases) to make false deposition".

During this period, Setalvad worked as field co-coordinator for her NGO Citizen for Justice and Peace, while her husband Javed Anand was the trustee of the Sabrang Trust.

The ministry had granted Rs 1.4 crore between 2010 and 2013 to the NGO for a scheme under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, according to the submission made by the Gujarat Police in the court opposing their plea.

Complainant Raees Khan Pathan, a former aide of Setalvad, had lodged an FIR against them and some unidentified officials of the HRD Ministry under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

In its submission, the crime branch had stated the investigation was at a sensitive stage and the accused were capable of affecting evidences against them if they were prevented from arrest.

Under the 'Khoj project', the Sabrang Trust published literature and pamphlets that spread communal hatred which was against the Constitution and judiciary and "dangerous for the country's unity", the police had alleged. Setalvad pitched for fund by misusing her position as a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education of the HRD Ministry, police had alleged.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 14:12 [IST]
HD Kumarswamy's first speech in Karnataka Assembly after becoming CM

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

In his maiden speech as the chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy congratulated the newly elected speaker Ramesh Kumar and assured that the members will all abide by the rules of the House.

"As leader of the House, I have the opportunity today. We are happy that you (KR Ramesh Kumar) were unanimously elected as speaker of the House," he said.

"When Siddaramaiah proposed your name and filed the nomination yesterday, I should have been present too. Any doubts people had during this time, can now be set aside. The way you conduct the House to uphold the respect of the House, it is in the most fitting manner possible," he added.

"When my father was CM, you were the Speaker. When his son, I, is the CM again, you are the Speaker. I am honoured. Our government will give all the necessary cooperation. All the young MLAs have a lot to learn from you. I strongly believe in your sense of responsibility, fairness in every task carried out by you. I believe we will see good days ahead," Kumaraswamy said.

Addressing Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said: "I had said Speaker's post is an apolitical one. Let us felicitate you (KR Ramesh Kumar) with unanimity. I'm thankful to the BJP leaders and S Suresh Kumar for having agreed to the decision.

"We have seen you as a straightforward politician. You are a role-model and inspiration to all of us. Your earlier experience, we have seen you conduct the proceedings of the House with rules and regulations is a model for us, and for the entire country," he added.

Congress' KR Ramesh Kumar was elected as the Speaker of the House after the BJP withdrew S Suresh Kumar's candidature for the Speaker's post.

The three-day old Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka headed by H D Kumaraswamy is facing a floor test today which it is widely expected to sail through, barring any unforeseeable events, ending the 10-day political uncertainty in the state.

Ahead of the trust vote at noon, HD Kumaraswamy told reporters outside his Bengaluru residence on Friday, that he was sure he was going to win. "I have no tension. I'm going to win clearly," he said.

Both the parties have issued whips to their respective lawmakers to vote in favour of the motion when put to vote.
Army orders court of inquiry into Major Gogoi's conduct

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

A Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been reportedly ordered against Major Leetul Gogoi who has courted a fresh controversy after he was held from a hotel in Jammu and Kashmir with a woman. The major had booked a room for himself in the hotel where a woman was scheduled to come and meet him.

Army Chief Bipin Rawat had earlier in the day said exemplary punishment would be given to Major Leetul Gogoi if he was found guilty of "any offence".

"If anyone in the Indian Army, at any rank, does any wrong and it comes to our notice then strictest action will be taken. If Major Gogoi has done something wrong, I can say that he will be given due punishment and the punishment will be such that it will set an example," said the Army chief two days after a controversy involving Major Nitin Leetul Gogoi cropped up.

Major Leetul Gogoi, who made headlines last year for using a Kashmiri man as a human shield to save his team from stone pelters, was reportedly detained by the police along with a local woman from a hotel in Srinagar.

The Army officer, the woman and another person were detained by the police and later released after questioning.

Reports suggest the major was detained following an altercation at the reception of the hotel. The woman along with a person named Sameer Ahmed had reportedly come to visit the major at the hotel.

The owner denied entry to them, after which an altercation ensued. Some initial reports claimed that the woman was a minor, but later it became clear that she was 19-years-old.

Inspector General of Police, Kashmir S P Pani, has ordered a probe to be conducted by Superintendent of Police, North Zone, into the incident, reported news agency PTI quoting the spokesperson.

Major Gogoi, of the Rashtriya Rifles 53rd battalion, made headlines in April 2017 when he tied one Farooq Ahmed Dar to the front of his jeep in Budgam. Major Gogoi had later defended his action by saying that it saved lives.

At the time, the Army had defended Major Gogoi's action, claiming that he had done this act in "good faith" to save lives of many soldiers and polling staff from violent crowds of stone-pelters in Utligam village of Beerwah.

The officer was then awarded the Chief of Army Staff's Commendation (COAS) card for "sustained efforts in CI (counterinsurgency) operations".
The innocent minorities in Kashmir are bearing the brunt of Pakistans frustration

J&K: Terrorists hurl grenade at Army camp in Kulgam; no casualties reported

India

oi-Madhuri

Terrorists on Friday hurled grenade at a camp of 34 Rashtriya Rifles in Kulgam's Nihama, Jammu and Kashmir. No injuries have been reported so far.

The grenade attack targeted the 34 Rashtriya Rifles camp at Nehama in Kulgam district of south Kashmir, a police official said. He said there are no reports of loss of life due to the explosion.

Earlier in the day, Police on Friday foiled rifle snatching Bid when two militants tried to approach towards Station Grid Wanpoh area of Kulgam district. However the alert sentry fired some gunshots in air and meantime militants escaped from the spot.
Congress likely to hold CWC meet next week, ambiguity over party polls to end

JDS, Congress in huddle before floor test

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Ahead of floor test and election for Speaker's post, both JDS and Congress MLAs held the last round of meeting in Chief Minister's office and in the first floor of Vidhan Soudha respectively on Friday. Congress MLAs were holed up in a Hilton Hotel and held a meeting before they left for the Legislative Assembly. The proceedings in the assembly would begin at 12.15 pm.

The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting presided over by former CM Siddaramaiah. According to reports, the Janata Dal (Secular) has issued a whip to its MLAs and Congress to issue whip shortly.

Bengaluru: Congress Legislative Party meeting underway in Vidhana Soudha pic.twitter.com/IrYD37yo9V  ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018

Former minister and BJP MLA Suresh Kumar filed his nomination for Speaker' post on Thursday. Though the BJP has 104 MLAs, the party decided to give a tough fight for Congress-JDS nominee six-time MLA KR Ramesh Kumar. The Congress-JDS alliance with the support of two independent MLAs has 117 seats in the house.

Ramesh Kumar served as Speaker during the H.D. Deve Gowda and J.H. Patel governments in the State (1994-99).

Pro-tem Speaker G Bopaiah will preside over the election of new Speaker. Later, the new speaker will preside over the floor test.

Meanwhile, legislative party meeting of all 104 BJP MLAs is underway in Shangri La hotel. After the meeting, they will leave for Vidha Soudha in a bus.
Karnataka floor test: CM Kumaraswamy wins trust vote

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

HD Kumaraswamy's Vote of Confidence has been approved unanimously by voice vote after BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly during CM's speech.

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today sought vote of confidence in the Karnataka Assembly for the three-day old Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by him. Kumaraswamy moved the one-line motion soon after the unanimous election of Ramesh Kumar as the speaker of the assembly.

Moving the motion for a floor test, Kumaraswamy said that "the people have not given me a complete mandate. The Opposition feels the mandate is theirs, but I am yet to understand how they believe it to be so. In 2004 also it was a similar situation. I came to the Assembly then and observed the developments and discussions from the last bench. Today, I am being labelled as a controversial politician."

Hitting out at Leader of Opposition BS Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that, being a custodian of democracy, how could the BJP leader make a statement stating he would not allow any other party to form the government.

Citing the 2006 JDS-BJP alliance, CM Kumaraswamy said his early association with BJP had caused a strain in his relationship with his father, H D Deve Gowda. Reiterating the secular nature of his father, Kumaraswamy also underlined that the alliance with the Congress was a natural choice.

"The decision to tie up with the Congress now after tying up with the BJP a decade ago is way for him to cleanse himself of the guilt", he said.

Kumaraswamy rejected allegations that Congress and JDS MLAs were kept away from their families. "Last week, Yedyurappa said we have locked our MLAs and kept them away from their families. No MLA or any family felt that [the MLAs had been kept away]," Kumaraswamy said.

"BJP set a new low in Karnataka by introducing operation lotus says Kumaraswamy. What was the need he asked. He also thanked the Supreme Court for giving Yeddyurappa only a day to prove majority," he added.

A day ahead of vote trust, his deputy G Parameshwara of the Congress cast doubts on his term with a stunning comment. Asked yesterday whether Mr Kumaraswamy would stay chief minister for a full five-year term, Mr Parameshwara said: "We have not yet discussed those modalities."

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday, he added: "We are also yet to decide on what portfolios have to go to them and what should be with us, then five-year term - whether they should be or we should also...all those modalities we have still not discussed."

In the 222-member House where 112 is a simple majority, the JDS-Congress combine has 118 MLAs (JDS 37, Congress 78 and three others), while the BJP has 104 seats.

Congress nominee K R Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected as Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly after senior BJP leader Suresh Kumar withdrew his nomination for the Speaker's post. The new speaker will now preside over the floor test.

The JDS-Congress government replaced the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP government, which assumed office on May 17 and exited two days later after failing to muster the numbers for a simple majority. The JDS-Congress coalition was forged after the Assembly polls of May 12 threw up a hung verdict.
Dr. G Parameshwar, the deputy CM of Karnataka has left everyone guessing. Amidst talk of how long the JD(S)-Congress combine would survive, he said that no decision has been taken on whether the Congress would support the JD(S) for a full five year term. His statement gives the indication that the Congress is likely to seek a term sharing arrangement once the deliberations on the portfolios are complete. After the results were declared on May 15, the Congress offered unconditional support to the JD(S). It even said that it would support H D Kumaraswamy for a full term.
Mysuru gang-rape case: HD Kumaraswamy says 'follow what was done in Hyderabad'

Karnataka floor test: Will win 'clearly', says HD Kumaraswamy

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday said that he is confident of proving his majority in the Karnataka Assembly.

"I have no tension, I am going to win clearly," Kumaraswamy was quoted as saying by ANI ahead of floor test, Kumaraswamy was quoted saying by ANI.

The newly formed JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka under Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will face a trust vote on Friday to prove majority in the Karnataka Assembly.

Both the Congress and JD(S) have kept their MLAs locked at separate resorts and hotels to prevent any 'poaching' by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which failed to form the government despite emerging as the single largest party in the state in May 12 Assembly elections.

According to the reports, Kumaraswamy will expand his council of ministers after the trust vote on Friday which he is expected to win without any hiccups. The Congress, which has 78 MLAs, is likely to get 20 ministerial berths and the JD(S) with 37 lawmakers 12.

In the 222-member House where 112 is a simple majority, the JDS-Congress combine has 118 MLAs (JDS 37, Congress 78 and three others), while the BJP has 104 seats. The Assembly will conduct an election to pick a new Speaker before the vote of confidence is tabled.

The BJP on the other hand which is the single largest party has decided to make the alliance sweat by fielding its candidate for the post of Speaker.

The Congress has nominated former speaker K R Ramesh Kumar as its candidate, while the BJP has picked veteran legislator S Suresh Kumar.

The JDS-Congress government replaced the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP government, which assumed office on May 17 and exited two days later after failing to muster the numbers for a simple majority. The JDS-Congress coalition was forged after the Assembly polls of May 12 threw up a hung verdict.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 10:15 [IST]
Karnataka: Will Congress not allow Kumaraswamy to be CM for full 5-year term?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, May 25: New chief minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy is confident of completing his full term as the head of the state. On Wednesday, Kumaraswamy was sworn in as the new CM in a grand function of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) alliance government at Vidhana Soudha (Assembly building) in Bengaluru.

Kumaraswamy was named as the CM-designate immediately after the Congress and the JD(S) stitched a quick post-poll alliance after the Assembly election results gave a fractured mandate.

Kumaraswamy, on several occasions, told reporters that there won't be any rotational CM, as was the case in previous alliance governments in the southern state. Now, it seems the Congress has a different 'game plan' if the statement made by deputy CM and senior Congress leader G Parameshwara on Thursday has to be taken into consideration.

Parameshwara's statement that "no decision" has been made on the issue of a rotational CM in Karnataka came just a day ahead of the crucial floor test to be faced by the Congress-JD(S) alliance government on Friday.

According to a report by The Indian Express, when reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday raised the question about whether Kumaraswamy will be the CM for a full five-year term to Parameshwara, he candidly said, "No decision yet".

"We have not yet discussed those modalities," the deputy CM was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. He added, "We are also yet to decide on what portfolios have to go to them and what should be with us, then five years term- whether they should be or we should also...all those modalities we have still not discussed."

While both the alliance partners are maintaining that there is no conflict between them over the sharing of ministerial berths, the latest 'revelation' by the deputy CM clearly indicates that a lot has to be ironed out between them before they formally start running the government in Karnataka.

The Congress which won 78 seats in the Assembly elections held in 222 constituencies got the "lion's share" in the new Karnataka cabinet. Of the state's 34 ministries, 22 went to the Congress and 12 -- including the post of CM--were awarded to the JD(S).

Congress' Ramesh Kumar will be the new speaker. The JD(S) has won 38 seats with its alliance partner Bahujan Sanaj Party in the elections held on May 12.
PM to interact with beneficiaries of SVAMITVA scheme in MP

Madhya Pradesh: Fissures in Congress as former MP quits panel

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Congress which is taking on the BJP in Madhya Pradesh suffered a setback as former MP Meenakshi Natarajan resigned from Madhya Pradesh Congress's manifesto committee, apparently peeved by the induction of her 'bete noire' Rajendra Singh Gautam into a party panel.

The development comes ahead of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's visit to Mandsaur district of the state on June 6 to mark the first anniversary of the death of six farmers in police firing.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath sought to downplay the issue, saying he had spoken to Natarajan and a solution will be found.

Natarajan, former Mandsaur MP and a close confidante of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, quit the party manifesto committee yesterday, sources close to her said.

When asked whether she had withdrawn the resignation, she said today, "I would not make any public statement on the party's internal issues. I do not talk about party's issues outside.

"I am preparing for Rahul ji's visit right now," she told PTI.

Talking to the media later, Nath insisted that Natarajan had not resigned from the committee.

"She has not resigned. I had a talk with Meenakshi ji. These sort of things keep happening. Meenakshi is our respected leader. She had been in Parliament. Everyone will be heard and a solution would be found," he said.

"Picking someone for a panel is a small issue. Such things happen," he added.

Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot had on Tuesday announced the formation of various committees as the Assembly elections in the state were due later this year.

Natarajan was appointed chairperson of the manifesto committee, while Gautam was made a member of the state coordination committee.

However, a day after the appointment, Natarajan and her supporters including, Congress MLA from Mandsaur Hardeep Singh Dang and district unit vice president Mahendra Gurjar, resigned from their organisational posts.

Dang told PTI that he had quit as a delegate of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

"Meenaksh ji should be taken into confidence while taking decisions pertaining to Mandsaur-Neemuch," he said.

Notably, Gautam had rebelled against Natarajan in 2009 when she was chosen as the party's candidate from Mandsaur Lok Sabha constituency.

Rahul Gandhi is slated to visit Piplya Mandi village in the district on June 6 and address a rally.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 7:06 [IST]
Not Sanskrit alone, Tamil is also language of Gods: Madras HC

You cannot drive at 120 kmph on highways says Madras HC

Madras HC stays certain sub-clauses of new IT Rules

Madras HC to hear actor Vijay's civil lawsuit against his parents, nine others

Madras HC issues notice to TN govt over plea for CBI probe into Tuticorin firing

India

oi-Madhuri

The Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu govt over plea for CBI probe into Tuticorin firing. The court also directed the government to restore internet services in the area.

The death toll from police firing at Tuticorin on Thursday went up to 13, even as cases were registered against Opposition leaders, including DMK's M K Stalin and actor-politician Kamal Haasan for defying probibitory orders, officials said.

Over 100 people were arrested for protesting police firing on Tuesday and Wednesday in the port city that left 13 dead.

Earlier on Friday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Kanimozhi and other Opposition members in Tamil Nadu were detained in Chennai during a dawn-to-dusk shutdown to condemn the police firing on anti-Sterlite protestors in Thoothukudi, ANI reported. Security was stepped up across Thoothukudi city, and around 20,000 security personnel were deployed in sensitive areas, The New Indian Express reported.

Earlier, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had issued an interim stay on the expansion of the plant. In April, the pollution control board had rejected the Vedanta-owned smelter's application to renew its licence to operate beyond March 31.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 15:19 [IST]
Maharashtra SSC, HSC Result 2018 to be declared before this date

India

oi-Madhuri

The Maharashtra SSC, HSC Result 2018 will be declared soon. The results once declared will be available on the official website.

The board has said that it has not released the date as yet. The exams were conducted in March this year. The Maharashtra Board also asked the Students to not to believe result date being forwarded through whatsapp and social media. Several media outlets were speculating the Maharashtra SSC and Maharashtra HSC results dates since the examinations got over in March 24. The officials say that the results would be declared before June 10.

The MSBSHSE also said that the SSC and HSC results dates will be released through press and board's bulletin board. There have been speculations that the results would be declared either on May 26 or 27. However there is no official update.

According to a statement from Maharashtra Board, a total number of 17,51,353 students have registered for the annual Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or Class 10 Examination 2018 which began on March 1 and concluded on March 24. Out of the 17,51,353 students, 9,73,134 are boys and 7,78,219 are girls. SSC exams were held in 4657 centers across the Maharashtra.

"Results for the Exams conducted in 2018 have not been announced so far. Please look for the announcement at Exam Results Portal (http://results.gov.in)," said a notification posted on the official results portal, mahresult.nic.in.

How to check Maharashtra SSC, HSC Result 2018:

Go to mahresult.nic.in

Click on relevant stream

Enter required details

Submit

View your results

Take a printout

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 7:44 [IST]
BSP to fight solo in UP, Uttarakhand, no tie-up with Owaisi's AIMIM, says Mayawati

'Should not be misled': Mayawati reaches out to Brahmins before UP polls

Why is Congress high command silent over killing of Dalit man in Rajasthan, asks Mayawati

Mayawati writes to Yogi Adityanath to convert her official bungalow into Kanshiram memorial

India

oi-Madhuri

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Yogi Adityanath to convert her govt allotted house '13A Mall Avenue' into Kanshiram Vishram Sthal.

In a written a letter to UP CM Yogi Adityanath Mayawati stated that the bungalow was converted to Kanshi Ram memorial in 2011 itself and that Mayawati only occupies 2 rooms in the bungalow.

The controversy over the bungalow erupted after Supreme Court issued an order that all former CMs from UP will have to vacate their bungalows.

The Supreme Court had on May 7 struck down the amendment to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1981 to provide for allotment of government residence to former chief ministers at his/her request for lifetime, terming it "unconstitutional".

The Sc had on August 1, 2016 ordered cancellation of allotment of government bungalows to former chief ministers, observing that the allotment of houses made to former chief ministers, private bodies and individuals was bad in law. The Akhilesh Yadav government had in 2016 amended the Act, which was challenged by a Lucknow-based non-profit organisation Lok Prahari.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 15:33 [IST]
Now a Shia-Hindu party to counter Sunni-Dalit unity; to contest 2019 polls

India

oi-Vinod

By Vinod

New Delhi: To counter Dalit-Muslim unity that was basically the brainchild of All India Muslim Personal Law Board which passed a proper resolution regarding this in Hyderabad, it seems that Shia community under Indian Shia Awami League (ISAL) is uniting Shia and Hindus against this unity of Sunni and Dalits. ISAL wants to field its candidates during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the ISAL is working in this regard across the country.

Syed Wasin Rizwi said that relations between Hindu and Shia are as old as 12th century. "So we are having very cordial relations with each other from a very long time. He has made president of All India Akhara Parishad Mahant Narendra Giri as the patron of the organisation. He enlisted that 14 Shia states in India had helped Hindu community against Sunni communities' atrocity.

Rizwi told Oneindia that Sunni community has been advocating unity of Dalit and Muslim and some failed attempts were made in the past. But ISAL's resolve is very clear that wherever people of the Awami League will be in such a position they will be strong enough they will contest elections. All preparations are made, president and party organization is well in place in 16 states. They are working hard to strengthen organisation.

Shia community is 20 per cent of the total Muslims in India. Shis community believes that 80 percent radical Sunni Muslims don't give them their right and the community is bereft of social, political and government schemes due to Sunnies only. There are several Sunni parties in India that included All India Ulama Council, Peace Party of India and All India MIM and a conglomoration of Islamic organisation All India Muslim Majlish Mushawarat but this is the first Shia organisation that is politically active.

A Jamiat Ulama e Hind leader said that such kind of gimmick by Rizvi will continue. "We know that in whose hands he is playing and actually he wants to save himself from going to jail. Unity of Muslim is intact," said the Sunni leader. However, Rizvi accused that Sunni Muslims are not ready to accept Shia as Muslim. He said that Shia is the community of follower and it is follower of India and keep on following and serving India.

Rizwi further said, "We have the entire organisation unite in Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Mir Hamid Ali Khan who is very active in Hyderabad and have been challenging politics of Assauddin Owaisi from very long." District president in Uttar Pradesh's 45 districts have been made. There is no plane to hold rally in the recent times but party's focus is to strengthen it first. "We will cover almost all state by December. Candidates will be from all religion Shia mean followers. This is a team of followers," Rizwi added.
PM asks 'naamdar' Cong why 18000 villages remained in darkness even decades after Independence

India

pti-PTI

Sindri (Dhanbad), May 25: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a blistering attack on those accusing him of working for the rich, saying people "neck-deep in vote bank politics" should answer if moneyed people lived in the 18,000 villages where his government had provided power for the first time since Independence.

Repeating his 'naamdar (dynast)' barb at the Congress, he said they did not know the pain of 'kaamdars (ordinary workers)' and were accusing him of working for the wealthy. "Those guided by fashion of showing devotion towards the poor by bad-mouthing the rich should answer, are there any moneyed people living in the 18,000 villages kept in darkness since Independence before our government provided electricity to them," Modi said.

"I wish to question these 'naamdars' about this (why 18,000 villages lived in darkness), who does not know the pain of 'kaamdars'," he said. Those "neck-deep in vote bank politics", who had no time to spare for these 18,000 villages living in darkness even after 60 years of Independence during their time, were accusing him of working for the wealthy, the prime minister said.

Modi had earlier used his "naamdar" barb apparently targeted at Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the campaign for the Karnataka assembly election. The prime minister was addressing a function at Sindri, about 20 km from Dhanbad town, after inaugurating five projects worth Rs 27,000 crore for Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Governor Draupdi Murmu, Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Power Minister R K Singh, Minister of State for Health Ashwani Choubey and Dhanbad MP P N Singh were present at the event. The PM said that besides electrification of these villages, the Union government has set a target to provide power connection to four crore families having no electricity through the "Saubhagya" scheme. Out of the four crore families, 25 lakh hailed from Jharkhand, he said. Modi said in addition to the Rs 27,000 crore worth of projects, works are underway in projects earmarked for the state at an estimated cost of Rs 80,000 crore. Fifty such works are in progress, he added. The five projects which were inaugurated today by the prime minister included revival of closed Sindri urea fertiliser unit, thermal power plant with a capacity of 2,400 MW at Patratu, AIIMS and an airport in Deogarh and taking gas pipeline to households in Ranchi.

The PM recalled that it was Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee who as minister at the Centre had started the Sindri urea unit. Modi said that during campaign for the 2014 parliamentary election he had urged people that if they elected a BJP government at the Centre too along with Jharkhand, the "double engine" would propel development of the mineral-rich state.

"Today this double engine of Jharkhand government and one at Delhi working in the same direction is taking the state to greater heights of development," he said. Saying that in democracy, election is the yardstick to gauge people's satisfaction over performance of governments, Modi cited the saffron party's victory in panchayat polls in Jharkhand to buttress the point.

Modi had flown straight to Sindri from Santiniketan in West Bengal where he addressed the university convocation and also inaugurated Bangladesh Bhawan with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. From Sindri, he flew to Ranchi to have a brief session with District Magistrates of 19 "Aspirational Jharkhand districts" and Chief Minister Raghubar Das. The prime minister recently launched the "aspirational district" programme to ensure all-round development of these areas.

PTI
Sheikh Hasina seeks India's help to repatriate Rohingyas

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said that India should help Bangladesh to interact with Myanmar for repatriation of Rohingya Muslims. Sheikh Hasina, who was speaking at the convocation ceremony in Visva Bharati University, sought India's help to interact with Myanmar.

PM Modi, who is the 'acharya' or chancellor of the Visva Bharati University, inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan, a "symbol of cultural ties between India and Bangladesh", with Hasina. The Bhavan has been constructed by Bangladesh in the campus.

"Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh. We've given them a place on humanitarian grounds. We want them to return to their country as early as possible. I request you to help us to interact with Myanmar so that they take Rohingyas back," said Sheikh Hasina.

Sheikh Hasina claimed greater right over Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore after Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed him as 'a global citizen'.

"Rabindranath Tagore belongs to both the countries because he has written the national anthems of both the nations. He wrote most of his poems in Bangladesh and that is why we can claim a greater right over him, " Sheikh Hasina said.
What are the farmers protesting about? We have stayed the farm laws says SC

Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SC says it is unsatisfied with action taken by UP govt

Sterlite protest: Supreme Court to hear petition on Thoothukudi police firing on Monday

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Supreme Court on Friday refused to hear a plea seeking criminal prosecution of senior police officials for resorting to firing in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu in which 13 people were killed.

Taking cognisance of a petition filed by advocate GS Mani, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the petitioner to mention the matter again on Monday.

The top court said it can't hear the matter today. Mani has sought a court-monitored CBI probe into the Thoothukudi police firing, reports ANI.

The PIL filed by Advocate GS Mani prays for a case of murder under Section 302 IPC to be registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against all concerned officers of the Tamil Nadu Police, specifically the Superintendent of Police of Thoothukudi District and the District Collector. The petition has called this unfortunate incident a "fake encounter or illegal police fire".

The plea has sought registration of an FIR for the offence of murder against Tuticorin collector, Superintendent of Police and other police officials.

The petition termed as inadequate the compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of those killed during the protest. It sought compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the families of those who were killed in the firing, and Rs 25 lakh to those who were seriously injured.

It further sought that internet services in the districts of Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu be restored.

Seeking a court-monitored CBI probe, the plea said state police would not be able to conduct a free and fair investigation into the incident due to the involvement of senior police officials.

In Tuticorin, 13 people were killed when police fired at thousands of protesters demanding closure of the Vedanta Group-run Sterlite Industries for polluting the area and leading to severe health problems for area residents, besides depleting groundwater table.

Hundreds were injured while demanding the closure of the Sterlite Copper smelter plant.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 11:36 [IST]
Traffic hold up: When Mamata made a scene for nothing, here is what really happened

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal created a flutter when she complained about the poor traffic management in Bengaluru. A video showing her gesturing at the Karnataka police chief, Neelamani Raju before the swearing in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy and gone viral.

There are reports that the police chief has been transferred, but government sources confirm that no such decision has been taken. She has now sent out notices to the top brass in the traffic department and has sought an explanation as to what happened on that day.

From what we can gather from our sources, it is clear that Mamata had made a big deal out of nothing. There was no need for her to step out of the car and walk. All arrangements were in place, but there was some hold up due to the sudden downpour.

A source tells OneIndia that an explanation would be given to the DG/IG of Police in which the entire incident would be narrated. There was heavy VVIP movement on the day of the swearing in ceremony. It was more important for the police to ensure that the Governor and Kumaraswamy reached the venue (Vidhan Soudha) first. Zero tolerance was given only to the convoy of the Governor's and Chief Minister's car. This meant that the convoys would pass without being stopped and the traffic would be cleared on priority for them.

However the source says that zero tolerance was not given to the rest of the VVIPs. It would have been madness if this was given to all the VVIPs as this would have brought the entire city to a standstill.

Mamata's convoy was moving smoothly, but it got stopped for less than a minute as the CM's and Governor's car had to move. Everything was as per plan, but the rains came down which become a minor stumbling block the source also said.

The incident occurred near Gate Number 1 of the Vidhan Soudha when the convoy was coming in from the Chalukya circle. The convoy had almost reached the Gate and it was hardly a minute before it would have reached the venue. However Mamata lost her cool, decided to step out of the car and walk to the venue, which was after all just a few steps.

Clearly upset with what had happened, she was seeing gesturing furiously at the police chief. She even walked up to Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda to complain. The police chief patiently replied saying, " I am sorry madam, I will look into this."

Kumaraswamy on the next days sought for an explanation from Neelamani Raju. She has issued notices to the authorities concerned seeking an explanation in this regard.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 10:52 [IST]
Vijay Mallya has applied for another route to stay in the UK, says lawyer

Vijay Mallya set to be declared as Fugitive Economic Offender

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Enforcement Directorate would move a special court to get Vijay Mallya declared as a Fugitive Economic Offender. If the ED's plea is granted then Mallya loses control over all his properties and assets in India.

This would also enable the agency to confiscate all his assets and properties before auctioning them off. The Centre recently introduced the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance which was assented by the President.

The new law is a very stringent one and is aimed at recovering money from fugitive economic offenders. If declared an offender by the Court, Mallya would also not have the right to contest it in court. If he continues to abscond, then the ED could sell off the assets without even waiting for a conviction in the case. In case this has to be contested then Mallya would have to come down to India.

The Cabinet has in March 2018 approved the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill. The move came in the wake of several alleged economic offenders like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya fleeing the country to avoid trial and prosecution.

The law came into effect from April. More importantly, it would apply with retrospective effect.

The Bill states that the properties of those fleeing the country will be confiscated in cases involving more than Rs 100 crore. The Bill was cleared by the Law Ministry with recommendations on reconciliation of provisions with the existing laws.

The Bill also goes on to define a fugitive economic offender as an individual against whom an arrest warrant has been issued and who has either left the country or refuses to come back to face prosecution.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 6:52 [IST]
Parl panel on Science and Technology meets for first time since lockdown

SC pulls up Centre for not filing reply on Jairam Rameshs plea against amended RTI Act

Will Jairam Ramesh lead Congress campaign in 2019 Lok Sabha polls?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi, May 25: The all-important 2019 Lok Sabha elections are likely to take place in April-May next year, but almost all political parties are busy preparing for the polls, these days. Reports even suggest that the big elections might be preponed and will be hosted in December this year.

According to a report published by The Hindu, senior Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh is likely to lead the campaign for Congress in 2019 General elections.

"He successfully helmed two campaigns in 2004 and 2009 and he was also part of the campaign committee in 2014 which was then chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. So it was felt that he would be a good choice," a senior Congress leader was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

However, Ramesh told The Hindu that he is not aware of such a development. Randeep Surjewala, Congress media in-charge, told the English daily it was the Congress president Rahul Gandhi's prerogative to make such appointments.

During the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru on Wednesday, the Congress and several other opposition parties (mostly the regional ones) came together as a mark of solidarity to the Opposition's unity against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre is all set to complete its four-year rule on Saturday. To mark its fourth anniversary at the Centre, the saffron party will be hosting various events across the country.

On the "happy occasion", the BJP will also launch its re-election campaign for the all-important 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

According to various media reports, on Saturday, the BJP will unveil a three-minute video showcasing the government's various achievements over the last four years. It will also release its slogan for re-election during the celebrations of its fourth anniversary.

After wooing voters with "Abki Baar Modi Sarkar" (This Time, Modi's Government) slogan in 2014, for the 2019 elections, the BJP's main campaign slogan will be "2019 Mein Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar" (In 2019, Modi Government Yet Again).

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 11:33 [IST]
Yeddyurappa calls for Karnataka Bandh if CM fails to wave-off farmers' loan

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Opposition leader BS Yeddyurappa called for 'Karnataka bandh' on Monday if Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy failed to wave off farmers loan within 24 hours. After his speech, BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly ahead of the trust vote.

BS Yeddyurappa was speaking in the assembly after HD Kumaraswamy moved confidence motion in the house.

Throughout the speech, Yeddyurappa targeted JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda and his son CM HD Kumaraswamy for forming the government with the Congress.

Yeddyurappa recalled his bitter experience with JDS during 20 month coalition government. He asked, "Why didn't your father Deve Gowda have any problem for 20 months with me. Only when it came to transfer of power he started having problems Yeddyurappa tells Kumaraswamy."

CM HD Kumaraswamy hit back at the BJP saying, he was not deterred by the threats of the bandh. Kumaraswamy alleged that BJP is trying to play with emotions of people with such statements.

"I will not BJP do with Karnataka what they did in Karavali," said Kumaraswamy.
North Korea regrets Trumps decision but will be relieved the moral responsibility will be on US

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

North Korea said US President Donald Trump's decision of pulling out of the June 12 summit scheduled in Singapore was "extremely regrettable" and was assured that it was still willing to sit with the US "at any time in any form". The North Korean response came in a statement from its first vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan which was carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

Trump personally wrote to North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday, May 24, informing him Washington's decision and blamed Pyongyang's "tremendous anger and open hostility" shown recently. He also posed a veiled threat saying he prayed to God that the US would not have to use its massive nuclear power against North Korea.

The summit date and venue were set up after a series of diplomatic parleys involving North Korea, the US and South Korea with China too chipping in to play a considerable role. US sent Mike Pompeo, its current secretary of state twice to hold talks with Kim while Kim himself went to China to meet President Xi Jinping in April and May with the historic Inter-Korean Summit taking place between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in between.

Although the details of the June 12 talks were unclear, it was expected to focus on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and reducing the escalating tension between Pyongyang and the international community.

North Korea even dismantled tunnels at its only nuclear test side in the presence of foreign journalists (including those from South Korea) just hours before Trump made his decision abruptly.

The US administration held North Korea responsible for the negative outcome saying the latter profoundly lacked good faith.

The US also alleged that North Korea did not show much interest over the summit when it sent its deputy chief of staff to Singapore to meet Pyongyang's diplomats ahead of the June 12 summit. According to one White House official, the North Koreans didn't even show up.

There were a series of "broken promises" from Pyongyang, the official told reporters, including when the White House sent the deputy chief of staff to Singapore to meet North Korean diplomats ahead of the summit.

North Korea was particularly upset with remarks flying out from the US administration comparing its denuclearisation process with that of Libya whose nuclear programme documents and materials had been shipped out to the US in the early 2000s. North Korea found it nationally humiliating saying it was a full-fledged nuclear state.

The latest occurrence of Pyongyang reacting sharply against the comparison with Libya was on May 23 when US Vice President Mike Pence spoke of the analogy in an interview. North Korea called Pence's remarks "ignorant" and "stupid" and that perhaps pushed Trump to eventually quit the talks.

But North Korea certainly saved its back by not taking the first step of pulling out of the summit. The moral responsibility now falls on the US, just as it did when Trump scuttled the Iran deal on May 8.
Trumps sudden U-turn on N Korea summit will help China: New York Times

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

US President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to call off his summit with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un with less than three weeks to go could do the biggest favour to China in Asia while disappointing allies like South Korea. Japan will not be unhappy either as it did not feature enough in the Korean peace process and was under fear that reconciliation could make it most vulnerable to North Korea's war rhetoric.

According to a report in New York Times, Trump's sudden announcement to scuttle the scheduled meeting and pledge that America's "very strong sanctions" and "maximum pressure campaign" will continue will help China. According to NYT, the decision now might China to use delays in negotiations with Pyongyang to its advantages in trade negotiations with Washington.

It said although it is not clear how the Kim regime will react to Trump's hasty withdrawal from the summit the world was eagerly awaiting, but he if does not turn belligerent after this point, he will score enough brownie points among his neighbours, especially China - North Korea's closest ally in East Asia even though their relations had dipped in the recent years because of Kim's reckless nuclear ambitions.

China did not object to the UN sanctions imposed on North Korea since it did not approve of Kim's nuclear tests but now if the latter indeed turns a peaceful leader despite the scuttling of the June 12 summit, there is possibility of Pyongyang facing less crippling sanctions and that without even vowing to give up his nuclear arsenal.

"But if he refrains, Kim may have already earned enough goodwill among his neighbours - especially China, his country's main trading partner - to see some softening of the economic sanctions against his isolated nation, without agreeing to give up his nuclear arsenal," the NYT report said.

"Trump walking away from the summit lets North Korea meet all its objectives: public recognition, lighter sanctions, damage to US alliances and continued nuclear advancement," NYT quoted Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, as saying.

Trump's decision will also put South Korean President Moon Jae-in's credibility at stake. The Moon government put in a lot of efforts to see the Korean peace process progress. Starting from the Pyeonchang Winter Olympics in February to the historic Punmunjeom summit in April, Seoul did all it could to see North Korea reconcile with the international community. It even offered to facilitate the Kim-Trump talks even after Pyongyang blasted it recently while protesting US-led air combat drills in the Korean Peninsula.

"Moon Jae-in's people must be panic-stricken by now because they have invested so much in the Trump-Kim summit," NYT quoted Lee Byong-chul, a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Cooperation, Seoul, as saying. Lee even said that the Moon government could now face a "gleeful" opposition who will even "ridicule" them after the giant failure.

The NYT report said China also appeared nervous about North Korea's growing rapprochement with the US for it feared this could put North Korea away from its orbit of influence but now with the meeting getting scrapped, Beijing will have all the freedom to manoeuvre its North Korea policy.

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Story first published: Friday, May 25, 2018, 9:26 [IST]
Would you like to know how many people have read this article? Or how reputable the author is? Simply sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.

POLITICO's party, dubbed Inauguration Hub, for Donald Trump's swearing-in ceremony was bankrolled by Taiwan Civil Government, whose leaders are currently held incommunicado in solitary confinement in Taiwan as alleged fraudsters.

POLITICO calls itself a "global news and information company at the intersection of politics and policy." However, POLITICO silence following the arrests of Roger and Julian Lin, leaders of TCG, does not support its claim to be "more authoritative...than any competitor." POLITICO has neither reported on the Taiwan fraud arrests nor answered questions about its relationship with the Inauguration Hub "supporting sponsor" Taiwan Civil Government.

The big bash, held on the top floor of posh The W Hotel, was a drop-in site for those that were cold or lacked passes to the inauguration ceremony. Complete with bar and laden buffet tables, the festive gathering was full of good cheer and fun while the movers and shakers pressed flesh, laughed and socialized.

Repeated attempts for comment from POLITICO about funding for the Inauguration Hub have gone unanswered. POLITICO refuses to reveal how much the event cost and how much money was provided by TCG as a sponsor. The international media house boast that " We all believe informing readers and holding leaders accountable is and will forever be essential to smart governance" is yet to prove true on its Taiwan Civil Government connection.

In May 2017, the annual POLITCO Playback Powerlist reception was sponsored by TCG. Julian Lin took to the podium and welcomed attendees. The event was to showcase POLITICO ' s list of "The New Guard" who had power in Washington under the new Trump administration.

POLITICO has yet to say if any future events are planned with TCG or what vetting process was used before accepting sponsorship from the group. The POLITICO website continues to keep a link to the TCG website active.

POLITICO declined to comment on the viability of TCG or the validity of their assertions the US has a duty under the San Francisco Peace Treaty for the determination of Taiwan's international status. The exiled Republic of China, now occupying Taiwan, claims TCG is a fraud ring using political ideology as the bait. POLITICO silence on how much TCG spent plays into the hands of the ROC prosecutors putting the media house not only at the crossroads of politics and policy but money as well.

Are Roger and Julian Lin fraudsters or political prisoners? Don't expect to find the answer reading POLITICO magazine.
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From Smirking Chimp

Thousands of teachers and students are walking out of schools, marching in the streets, and raising their hands and signs in protest against the war on education. Most recently, South Carolina has joined the wave of teachers' protests and strikes taking place across the nation. In the age of illiberal democracy and the growing fascism of the Trump administration, the unimaginable has once again become imaginable as teachers inspired and energized by a dynamic willingness to fight for their rights and the rights of their students are exercising bold expressions of political power.

The power of collective resistance is being mounted in full force against a neoliberal logic that unabashedly insists that the rule of the market is more important than the needs of teachers, students, young people, the poor and those deemed disposable by those with power in our society. Teachers are tired of being relentless victims of a casino capitalism in which they and their students are treated with little respect, dignity and value. They have had enough with corrupt politicians, hedge fund managers and civically illiterate pundits seduced by the power of the corporate and political demagogues who are waging a war on critical teaching, critical pedagogy and the creativity and autonomy of classroom teachers.

Since the 1980s, an extreme form of capitalism -- or what in the current moment I want to call neoliberal fascism -- has waged a war against public education and all vestiges of the common good and social contract. In addition, this is a war rooted in class and gender discrimination -- one that deskills teachers, exploits their labor and bears down particularly hard on women, who make up a dominant segment of the teaching force. In doing so, it not only undermines schooling as a public good, but also weaponizes and weakens the formative cultures, values and social relations that enable schools to create the conditions for students to become critical and engaged citizens.

Schools have been underfunded, increasingly privatized and turned into testing factories that deliver poor students of color to the violence of the school-to-prison pipeline. Moreover, they have also been restructured in order to weaken unions, subject teachers to horrendous working conditions and expose students to overcrowded classrooms. In some cases, the dire working environment and dilapidated conditions of schools and classrooms appear incomprehensible in the richest nation in the world. For instance, as South Carolina teachers go on strike, Hiram Lee reports:

"The average salary stands at $10,000 below the national average, while the minimum starting salary is only $30,113 a year.... Working conditions are extremely poor. [In one instance] raw sewage mixed with worms and insects flowed into the hallways of Ridgeland Elementary in Jasper County, where it was tracked into classrooms by students. In other schools, holes in the floors of some classrooms allowed students to see into the classrooms below them. Teachers used old rags and sandbags to prevent a flood of rainwater coming in through cracks in the walls. Libraries were filled with shockingly few books, and those on hand were so outdated that one teacher recalled finding a book that predicted, 'One day man will land on the moon.'"

What the South Carolina mobilization and the other teacher walkouts across the nation suggest is that these expressions of collective resistance are about both the survival of democracy in Trump's America and a challenge to the commanding institutions and organizing ideals and principles that make it possible.

The Reclamation of Education as a Public Good

Fortunately, teachers, students, progressive social movements and others are rising up, refusing to be written out of the script of a potentially radical democracy.

Yet, what has often been lost on those who have courageously charted this growing assault on democracy is perhaps its most debilitating legacy: the long-standing and mutually reinforcing attacks on both public education and young people. Such attacks are not new; rather, they have simply intensified under the Trump administration. As a war culture has started organizing all aspects of society, schools have transformed into zones of economic and political abandonment.

Increasingly modeled after prisons, schools have become subject to pedagogies of oppression and purged of the experiences, values and creativity necessary for students to expand and deepen their knowledge, values and imagination. Moreover, as state and corporate violence engulfs the entire society, schools have been subject to forms of extreme violence that in the past existed exclusively outside of their doors. Under such circumstances, youth are increasingly viewed as suspects and are targeted both by a gun culture that places profits above student lives and by a neoliberal machinery of cruelty, misery and violence dedicated to widespread educational failure.

Instead of imbibing students with a sense of ethical and social responsibility while preparing them for a life of social and economic mobility, public schools have been converted into high-tech security spheres whose defining principles are fear, uncertainty and anxiety. In this view, a corporate vision of the US has reduced the culture of schooling to the culture of business and an armed camp, and in doing so, imposed a real and symbolic threat of violence on schools, teachers and students. As such, thinking has become the enemy of freedom, and profits have become more important than human lives.

Public schools are at the center of the manufactured breakdown of the fabric of everyday life. They are under attack not because they are failing, but because they are public -- a reminder of the centrality of the role they play in making good on the claim that critically literate citizens are indispensable to a vibrant democracy. Moreover, they symbolize the centrality of education as a right and public good whose mission is to enable young people to exercise those modes of leadership and governance in which "they can become fully free to claim their moral and political agency."

Rejecting the idea that education is a commodity to be bought and sold, teachers and students across the country are reclaiming education as a public good and a human right, a protective space that should be free of violence, and open to critical teaching and learning. Not only is it a place to think, engage in critical dialogue, encourage human potential and contribute to the vibrancy of a democratic polity, it is also a place in which the social flourishes, in that students and teachers learn to think and act together.

Under the current era of neoliberal fascism, education is especially dangerous when it does the bridging work between schools and the wider society, between the self and others, and allows students to translate private troubles into broader systemic considerations. Schools are dangerous because they exemplify Richard J. Bernstein's idea in The Abuse of Evil that "democracy is 'a way of life,' an ethical ideal that demands active and constant attention. And if we fail to work at creating and re-creating democracy, there is no guarantee that it will survive."

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Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"There's no dispute that we now live in a hyper-connected, globalized world--but plenty of argument over the type of globalization that's best for our collective future. In this timely work, Rob Kall makes a persuasive case for 'trickle-up' globalization from below and that the truest, best, and most long-lasting fundamental change always comes from the bottom up. Read this bookthen act on it!"



Rory O'Connor, award-winning filmmaker and author of Friends, Followers, and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands, and Killing Traditional Media
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Left to Right: Derek Horne , Moderator, HSDFF Zach Polett, Former ACORN, Political Director John Atlas, Author / Producer Neil Sealy, Head Organizer for Arkansas Community Organizations

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A jazz band was playing like the house band at an old time speakeasy on Central Avenue. I walked into a bar and ordered a whiskey sour from a smoothing talking bartender named Robert. Rob has a way with phrases and reminds you of a young Steve Buscemi. The Ohio Club is one of the old-style taverns in Hot Springs that dates back to the turn of the century. It was a favorite of Al Capone and a life size manikin sits outside. Gangsters and gambling were always associated with the Ohio Club. It originally opened as a speakeasy (illegal gaming house) that fronts as a tavern--after prohibition, it was a speak easy that fronts as a tavern, fronting as a cigar store. So, I was sitting at a bar, eating a bacon double pepper-cheese slider made just like Al Capone had his--drinking whiskey, served by a bartender who sounds like "Nucky Thompson" from Boardwalk Empire. This is the type of experience you have when you attend the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.



Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Program Book

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I attended the 26th Annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival--unlike most film festivals like Sundance or Tribeca, which cater to Hollywood power brokers; here the Documentary Filmmakers are the stars. I was drawn to see the screenings of "ACORN and the Firestorm." This was a documentary about the rise and fall of ACORN--which was originally, Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now. The film is based on a book called "Seeds of Change" written by John Atlas.



Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Poster

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John Atlas is the first journalist that has been given full access to ACORN board and staff meetings. He was imbedded in ACORN for five years. This is unique access to a notoriously secretive organization, but it also makes his reporting susceptible to bias or influence. It is easy to be seduced by Wade Rathke--as a seasoned organizer, that is what he does best. The movie was written and directed by Reuben Atlas (his son) and Samuel Pollard. John Atlas was a Producer--and attended the film festival. He also brought other ACORN acolytes with him to share in Questions & Answers. I like to attend all things about ACORN, because I am a former ACORN Board Member and whistleblower. I also wrote a book about my inside experiences with the association called "ACORN 8--Race, Power & Politics: Memoirs of An ACORN Whistleblower."



Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Ticket Stub

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I watched the movie"

The film starts with Travis from Orlando who is a Confederate Flag owning Republican who joins ACORN to save his home from foreclosure. The film focuses on the exploits of Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe, two conservative activists who orchestrate an elaborate media hoax that ultimately destroys the once venerable association with the help of Andrew Breitbart. The film is a cautionary tale of how easily the media can be manipulated to disastrous ends. And how ACORN became the first casualty of the "fake news" by Andrew Breitbart.

The film juxtaposes the story of Bertha Lewis, an African-American community organizer who rises up and becomes the first Black CEO of ACORN, with the story of Hannah Giles, a wannabe student-journalist who desires to destroy the group. The film also includes interviews with Wade Rathke, the putative "founder" and Chief Organizer of ACORN, Madeline Talbott, Head Organizer for Chicago ACORN, and Maud Hurd, former National President of ACORN.

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The Trump Administration is so dreadful they've made the George W. Bush Administration seem almost acceptable in comparison. Dubya surrounded himself with qualified staff. As awful as Bush Vice President Dick Cheney was, he had notable Washington experience: he'd served as White House Chief of Staff and as Secretary of Defense. In contrast, Mike Pence went from conservative talk-show host to Ineffective congressman (and governor) to Trump's Vice President.

Nonetheless, the primary criticism of Pence isn't that he doesn't possess the cojones to perform the job of President, if need be. The Vice President -- who has touted his "Christian credentials" -- is castigated because he could act as a moral check on Trump. Instead, Pence has chosen to be Trump's primary cheerleader. His fawning buddy. His toady.

When Trump selected Pence as his running mate, none of us expected them to be equal partners in a Trump Administration; it was unrealistic to expect Pence to compliment Trump's imbecility with thoughtful insight. Most observers recognized Pence for what he was intended to be: an empty suit with impeccable conservative Christian credentials who had the blessing of Republican oligarchs such as the Koch brothers and Robert Mercer. (In July 2016, Trump was leaning towards choosing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as his running mate; Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway persuaded Trump to choose Pence -- for the stated reasons plus the fact that Pence would be better as the liaison to congressional Republicans. By the way: Conway got her position because of the influence of Robert Mercer.)

Now, Pence has a limited portfolio within the Trump Administration: he placates big donors, such as the Koch brothers and Robert Mercer, and also reassures the religious right. (In July 2016, the 538 website noted that Pence was the most conservative Republican VP candidate in forty years (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/mike-pence-would-be-a-really-conservative-and-mostly-unknown-vp-pick/ ).) When there's a Trump imbroglio, Pence declares fealty to Trump and the religious right is assuaged -- this first happened with the October 2016 release of the notorious Trump "Access Hollywood" tape and has continued to the present day with Pence's support for Trump in the Stormy Daniels scandal. (Uncharacteristically, on May 21st, Pence spoke out on North Korea, threatening it with "the Libya model." In response, a high-ranking North Korean official called Pence, "a political dummy," characterizing his remarks as "ignorant and stupid.")

Nonetheless, because of Pence's high-visibility Christianity, many political observers believed he would provide a moral framework for Trump; they expected that when Donald Trump became president he would soften his behavior and that Pence would play an important role in this process. That is, they expected Trump would begin to act presidential. This hasn't happened and part of blame must fall on the shoulders of Mike Pence.

In his May 9th Washington Post oped (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-no-longer-the-worst-person-in-government/2018/05/09/10e59eba-52f1-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html? ), conservative columnist George Will criticized the Vice President: "The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for obsequiousness... is the authentic voice of today's lickspittle Republican Party, he clarifies this year's elections: Vote Republican to ratify groveling as governing." George Will noted that Pence frequently claims he is "deeply humbled" to be able to serve in the Trump Administration.

George Will castigated the President: "Trump is what he is, a floundering, inarticulate jumble of gnawing insecurities and not-at-all compensating vanities, which is pathetic." But Will savds his most ferocious commentary for the Vice-President: "Pence is what he has chosen to be, which is horrifying."

Why has Mike Pence become Trump's toady?

There are two possible explanations; neither of which is flattering to Pence. The first is that the Vice President has realized that the only way to work closely with Trump is to continually flatter him; that Trump is so insecure that he only will tolerate close relations with those who proffer their unwavering love. This suggests that Pence -- realizing that Trump threatens the United States -- has decide to dampen his personality and pander to Trump, believing that only this behavior will mollify him.

The second explanation is that Pence actually lacks a moral core; he is a hollow man ("Shape without form, shade without color, paralyzed force, gesture without motion", T.S. Eliot) The Vice President is not able to stand up to Trump because Pence is a weak person; he's playing a part in a political play and only reads the lines that he's been given -- he's been instructed to be Trump's toady and that's what he is doing.

Since Trump became President there have been calls for his impeachment. Many observers have warned that if Trump was removed from office, we'd get Pence as President and he would be worse.

What we know about Pence suggests that if he were to become President he would be different from Trump. Nowhere near as crazy. (No demented early morning tweets.) Pence would be a more conventional Republican President; an actor, content to read the lines written for him by Republican oligarchs. Instead of being Trump's toady, Pence would grovel at the feet of the powerful men who control the Republican Party.

Trump or Pence. Not an appealing choice.
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From Consortium News

Now that the Trump administration has derailed the Iran nuclear deal, the old issue of regime change in Iran is back again. National Security Adviser John Bolton is obviously the chief regime-change advocate in the administration, and there is every reason to believe he has begun to push that policy with Donald Trump in his first month in the White House.

Bolton was part of the powerful neoconservative faction of national security officials in the George W. Bush administration that had a plan for supporting regime change in Iran, not much different from the one Bolton is reportedly pushing now. But it was a crackbrained scheme that involved the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) exiled terrorist organisation that never had Bush's support.

Bolton may find history repeating itself, with Trump resisting his plan for regime change, just as Bush did in 2003.

Trump has appeared to flirt with the idea of Iranian regime change in the past. During the December protests in Iran, he said on Twitter that it was time for a change, noting: "The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years."

Trump's killing of the nuclear deal, however, stopped short of rhetoric signalling the aim of overthrowing the Islamic Republic. Instead, Trump suggested that "Iran's leaders" are "going to want to make a new and lasting deal, one that benefits all of Iran and the Iranian people." He added: "When they do, I am ready, willing and able."

A few days after the Trump announcement, an unnamed National Security Council (NSC) official avoided any hint of regime change, telling the neoconservative Washington Free Beacon: "Our stated policy is to change the Iranian regime's behavior."

Now, Bolton has issued an even more explicit denial, telling ABC News: "That is not the policy of the administration. The policy of the administration is to make sure Iran never gets close to deliverable nuclear action."

And on CNN's State of the Union, he said: "I've written and said a lot of things when I was a complete free agent. I certainly stand by what I said at the time, but those were my opinions then. The circumstance I'm in now is I'm the national security adviser to the president. I'm not the national security decision-maker."

It's not difficult to read between the lines: the implied message is that his views on regime change have not prevailed with Trump -- so far.

Bolton has long been one of the most vocal supporters of such a policy, although he is better known as the primary advocate of bombing Iran. He has been one of the most enthusiastic clients among former U.S. officials who have associated themselves with MEK, which seeks to overthrow the Tehran regime with US backing.

Bolton has not only appeared at MEK rallies in Paris, along with other former U.S. officials on the take from the well-endowed paramilitary organization. In July 2017, he declared that the Trump administration should adopt the goal of regime change in Iran, calling MEK a "viable" alternative to the regime. And his final line, delivered with his voice rising dramatically, noted that "before 2019, we here will celebrate in Tehran."

It appears that Bolton was still pushing the idea within the administration earlier this month. The Washington Free Beacon reported on May 10 that a three-page paper outlining a regime-change strategy from a small far-right organization called the Security Studies Group, with which Bolton is said to have close ties, was circulated among NSC officials. The quotes from the paper in the story make it clear that the strategy is based largely on seeking to exploit ethnic and religious conflicts in Iran.

The paper reportedly makes the point that ethnic minorities -- such as Kurds, Azeris, Ahwazi Arabs and Baloch -- represent one-third of Iran's population, and argues that the Iranian regime's "oppression of its ethnic and religious minorities has created the conditions for an effective campaign to splinter the Iranian state into component parts."

It adds: "U.S. support for their independence movements, both overt and covert, could force the regime to focus attention on them and limit its ability to conduct other malign activities."

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From No More Fake News

A San Francisco lawsuit against Monsanto and its weedkiller, Roundup, is moving forward. And it's just received a new green light from the judge in the case.

Monsanto's lawyers are bracing for a deep level of attack, which they were hoping to avoid. The judge has ruled the jury can hear testimony on this issue: Monsanto suppressed evidence that Roundup causes cancer.

Reporter Carey Gillam has the story (The Guardian, 5/22):

"At the age of 46, DeWayne Johnson is not ready to die. But with cancer spread through most of his body, doctors say he probably has just months to live. Now Johnson, a husband and father of three in California, hopes to survive long enough to make Monsanto take the blame for his fate. "On 18 June, Johnson will become the first person to take the global seed and chemical company to trial on allegations that it has spent decades hiding the cancer-causing dangers of its popular Roundup herbicide products -- and his case has just received a major boost. "Last week Judge Curtis Karnow issued an order clearing the way for jurors to consider not just scientific evidence related to what caused Johnson's cancer, but allegations that Monsanto suppressed evidence of the risks of its weed killing products. Karnow ruled that the trial will proceed and a jury would be allowed to consider possible punitive damages. "'The internal correspondence noted by Johnson could support a jury finding that Monsanto has long been aware of the risk that its glyphosate-based herbicides are carcinogenic ... but has continuously sought to influence the scientific literature to prevent its internal concerns from reaching the public sphere and to bolster its defenses in products liability actions,' [Judge] Karnow wrote. [Yes, the Judge in the case wrote that statement.] "Johnson's case, filed in San Francisco county superior court in California, is at the forefront of a legal fight against Monsanto. Some 4,000 plaintiffs have sued Monsanto alleging exposure to Roundup caused them, or their loved ones, to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Another case is scheduled for trial in October, in Monsanto's home town of St Louis, Missouri. "How the Johnson lawsuit plays out could be a bellwether for how other plaintiffs proceed. If Johnson prevails, there could be many more years of costly litigation and hefty damage claims. If Monsanto successfully turns back the challenge, it could derail other cases and lift pressure on the firm. "According to the court record, Johnson had a job as a groundskeeper for the Benicia unified school district where he applied numerous treatments of Monsanto's herbicides to school properties from 2012 until at least late 2015. He was healthy and active before he got the cancer diagnosis in August 2014. In a January deposition, Johnson's treating physician testified that more than 80% of his body was covered by lesions, and that he probably had but a few months to live."

How will Monsanto proceed? First, they'll argue that Johnson's cancer could have been caused by other factors. They'll throw the kitchen sink at the jury. It could have been genetics. It could have been lifestyle. It could have been causes that are still unknown to researchers. It could have been starlight from a galaxy far, far away. Monsanto's lawyers will try to bury the jury in reams of supposition.

Second, they'll show the jury an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) finding that Roundup does not cause cancer. Like the FDA, the EPA has sided with major corporations in efforts to protect them. Monsanto will claim: "The federal government has asserted Roundup is safe, and that's the end of our responsibility. The federal government is the final arbiter." Which is to say: the truth isn't the final arbiter.

Third, Monsanto will execute a series of acrobatic moves to prove they never suppressed evidence that Roundup causes cancer. They were simply "considering all relevant safety issues." They were "posing various scenarios." Their internal memos were "temporary work product" on the way to making a final judgment about Roundup's safety. They were raising valid concerns about flawed studies that claimed Roundup was dangerous.

If all else fails, Monsanto might try to settle with Johnson -- and then claim the $$ payout was simply a way to show compassion for his unfortunate condition -- and move on -- continuing to offer the public a fine and safe product (Roundup). No guilt admitted.

In the extreme -- and I need to raise this question -- might Monsanto, behind the scenes, secretly and illegally offer Johnson's lawyer and his client a very large sum to present a weak case in court and let Monsanto win the case?

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From Informed Comment

Iran's clerical Leader, Ali Khamenei, weighed in on Trump's violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear accord of 2015, which the US signed off on along with the rest of the UN Security Council and Germany (informally representing the European Union). Speaking frankly to Iran's European trading partners, the ayatollah laid down six requirements for Iran to remain in the JCPOA itself. These demands appear to be a response to those made by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whom Khamenei has dismissed as a mere "spy."

Khamenei expressed his disappointment in Europe's past and present behavior. He noted that some large European firms were already pulling out of Iran (this may be a reference to Total, SA). He said that on several occasions the US has violated its responsibilities under the JCPOA (referring to new economic sanctions slapped on Iran by Congress after it was signed with a promise of sanctions relief). He added that the Europeans had not so much as complained about these US violations. Then he set out his requirements.

1. The US has violated UNSC Resolution 2231 by revoking its signature. The European members of the Security Council (France and Britain), along with non-member Germany must introduce a resolution there condemning the US for this violation.

2. The three Western European Powers must stop pressuring Iran about its ballistic missile tests and its presence in the Middle East. Khamenei said that every time there is a meeting with them they bring up these two issues. (Neither was part of the JCPOA). He insists that they cease and desist. He said that Iran's relationship with Middle Eastern countries is based on Islamic soft power and Iran's strategic depth, and is key its ability to defend itself. It will not give up this element of its strategy.

3. Every time Trump announces a new boycott on Iran, Europe must explicitly reject it and stand against it.

4. If the US manages to damage Iran's ability to export its petroleum (it is now exporting 2.5 mn barrels a day), Europe at Iran's request must make up the shortfall. It may be, Khamenei said, that the Islamic Republic will view a reduction in its oil exports as a positive. If, however, the Iranian government decides it is being harmed by the US ability to strong-arm some of Iran's customers into ceasing their imports of Iranian oil, Europe must agree to hold Iran harmless.

[The line about the benefits of any reduction in Iranian oil sales may reflect a conviction in some circles that it is never bad for an oil state to keep the oil in the ground, since its value will only increase in the future. This line of thinking does not reckon with the rise of electric vehicles, which may make petroleum worthless in 15 years or so.]

5. European banks must guarantee both governmental and private financial transactions (i.e., they must not yield to US blacklisting of Iranian banks. The US has just slapped sanctions on the Bank Melli, a major government institution, in an attempt to make it harder for Iran to buy and sell on the world market).

6. The Europeans must be prompt in responding to these requests.

If France, Germany and Britain will not undertake these guarantees, Iran reserves the right to start back up its enrichment activities, and would go back to enriching to 19.75%.

(That level of enrichment produces fuel useful in medical reactors and nuclear submarines; but Iran only has one of the former, and none presently of the latter, so enriching to that percentage is simply a form of deterrence, since obviously it is easier to enrich a stockpile of 19.75% to the 95% needed for a bomb than it is to start from scratch. -- JC)

Khamenei underlined that since the US plans to make war on Iran via the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assent Control (OFAC), Iran would have to respond with its own economic and financial organs, as well as via the foreign ministry.

Khamenei was firm that Iran reserves the right to start back up its enrichment program if it concludes that the JCPOA is useless to it.

A set of ultimatums of this sort signals that Khamenei wants out of the JCPOA, since he surely knows that Europe is highly unlikely to acquiesce in his demands. He clearly has decided that Europe cannot be depended upon to buck Trump, and that its major corporations will most likely fold and pull up stakes from Iran. He may be underestimating the will of the French in particular to defy Trump, and Paris's willingness to run interference for smaller French firms that do not have significant US business and who want to invest in Iran.

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BOOKMYTICKET INTRODUCES A MOBILE APP FOR ANDROID

http://www.bookmyticket.com/

A device that sits in almost everyones pocket and makes their life easier - the mobile phone.The BookMyTicket app is built for the purpose of ease when booking anything travel related from anywhere. The decision to build a mobile application was made soon after the company noticed the increasing traffic on their website; and so the developers and coders of the company got together to release the app in 2014. The initial step was towards building an app for Android after appraising the operating systems prevalence - they wanted to reach out to the largest mass and found Android to be the most suitable platform. The app is now compatible with 96% of all Android run devices. Since its making, the app has been upgraded several times so attain customer satisfaction and easy first-use handling.About the app and functions:The BookMyTicket app is available on the Android Play Store for free download. Compatible with 96% of all Android run devices, its made in Light Version and has a user friendly design. From multiple upgradations, users will experience smooth, quick login sessions.The app is used to book cheap flight tickets, tour packages and such other travel related services.The app is likely to go through several more upgradations, said the developers of BookMyTicket. The company is happy with how the app is functioning currently but believes theres still room for development and improvement, so the app is expected to be worked on even further.The company has many plans concerning customer accessibility and want to put it out on other forums as well, which includes making it available to people who do not have Android devices. By the end of 2018, a BookMyTicket app for iOS devices will be released according to the app developers. There are more interesting developments that are being prepared for about which we will hear in the coming year.BookMyTicket is a young travel operator in Mumbai that helps traveler prepare before a tour and actually cut down travel expenses. Everyday people inquire for discounts on domestic flights, find hotels and passport registration among many other things, seeking professional assistance with such matters to dodge unaffordable blunders.BookMyTicket Office Address:B/21 Vasudev Chambers,Old Nagardas Cross Road,New Andheri Subway,Andheri East,Mumbai- 400069contact no: 022 -61419999Website:
The affirmative ascension of True Fleet in France continues in April

www.dataforce.de

Frankfurt am Main -- French True Fleets hit a full year growth milestone in April and currently show no overt signs of stopping at the moment. Total Market for France in April stood at a healthy 187,000 registrations, a + 9.0% in terms of growth. The private channel with a 15.5% growth was the biggest contributor, both in terms of growth and volume, but True Fleets certainly pitched in with its own + 8.8% and, unlike the Private Market, has maintained the positive growth for 12 months now. Special Channels finished down 0.5%, but this is not a bad thing for an obviously positive market less in need of the tactical registrations that the channel predominantly provides.Brand performanceOn a top 10 OEM level the overall performance belies the facts that for some it was not so great a month. Peugeot retook the top spot it lost to Renault in March and this came from a 20.1% surge over April 2016 figures, thanks unsurprisingly to the SUVs. The 3008 which was already pretty established last April pushed its registrations up by 27.5% and the 5008 hit its eighth straight month of 4 digit registration volume in True Fleet.Already mentioned Renault were relegated to the 2nd spot with Citroen taking the final podium place of 3rd, while VW in 4th also struggled to reap any major benefit from the overall upswing. Ford in 5th though was a different story, continuing to muscle its way up the rankings it secured the 5th spot with a + 26.1% and its 8th month of positive growth. Its shining star at the moment is definitely the Mondeo and the Hybrid version no less, so while Fiesta had a good month the Mondeos was stellar with a + 409.3%. No doubt the other side of English Channel would certainly like to be getting some of their French counterparts growth percentages. The Germans took the next three places with Audi in 6th, followed closely (only 27 registrations) by Mercedes in 7th while BMW slipped 2 places from April 2017 into 8th.The final two were actually the biggest growers inside the top 10 for April. Fiat recorded a + 42.1% with the 500 and 500X leading their charge. Toyota was #1 in terms of growth with a + 47.7%, their surge led by the Yaris, C-HR, Auris and Aygo, with Hybrids (apart for Aygo) dominating those registrations. It does seem that French True Fleet is really embracing the Hybrid drivetrain, whether this is due to bonus-malus, in preparation for stricter emissions or a bit of both, the fuel type is up 82.5% for April or 45.5% YTD (year-to-date).True Fleets sub channel: Long Term RentalsThe sub channel of Long Term Rentals (LLD - Location Longue Duree) in France continues its growth in 2018 up by 16.1% YTD, while the continuing stream of offers from leasing companies alongside the convenience that LTR provides, means we are unlikely to see this trend abate just yet. Not unusually the French manufacturers play their role but it also seems that foreign players are pushing the channel growth and with some significant gains year-to-date.Inside the top 10 there appears to be four brands that are currently on the ascension, Ford has delivered the highest growth with a + 58.1%, while home brand Peugeot follows with a + 51.2%. Fiat was the next highest with a + 50.7% while the German (albeit French-owned) brand of Opel managed a + 38.6%. The top models from each of these brands were a mixed bag in terms of vehicle segments, Peugeot unsurprisingly was riding the SUV trend  3008, Ford was successful in the Middle Class  Mondeo, Fiat was playing its strength in the Mini Car  500 and Opel was driven by the French love for the Small Car  Corsa.(632 words; 3,583 characters)Publication by indication of source (DATAFORCE) and author (as listed below) onlyDATAFORCE  Focus on FleetsDataforce is the leading provider of fleet market data and automotive intelligence solutions in Europe. In addition, the company also provides detailed information on sales opportunities for the automotive industry, together with a wide portfolio of information based on primary market research and consulting services. The company is based in Frankfurt, Germany.Gabriel JuhasDataforce Verlagsgesellschaft fur Business Informationen mbHHamburger Allee 1460486 Frankfurt am MainGermanyPhone: +49 69 95930-250Fax: +49 69 95930-333Email: gabriel.juhas@dataforce.de
BalanceNG Software Load Balancer Release V4 declared stable

https://www.inlab.net/load-balancer/

www.inlab.net

May 23, 2018: Inlab Networks declared the BalanceNG V4 software load-balancer release branch as stable. At the same time the new development release branch BalanceNG V5 has been split where all upcoming feature enhancements will be applied.About BalanceNG:BalanceNG is a modern, multithreading software load balancer available for Linux, macOS and Solaris operating systems. BalanceNG utilizes its own highly specialized IP stack for IPv4 and IPv6 and implements an independent active/passive cluster environment based on VRRP and the bngsync session table synchronization protocol.Key features are its outstanding packet processing performance and its easy integrability in datacenter networks and OEM product lines which make it the perfect choice for network operators, hosting companies and Telco product designers.More information about BalanceNG:About Inlab Networks:Inlab Networks GmbH  founded in 1991  is an ISV (Independent Software Vendor) located in Gruenwald near Munich, Germany.Inlab Networks focuses on networking system software, load-balancing software, programming languages and security software. Inlab develops software for Linux, macOS and Solaris operating systems and develops both commercial products and Open-Source software.Thomas ObermairCEOInlab Networks GmbHJosef-Wuerth-Str. 382031 GruenwaldGermanyTel: +49 89 64911420Fax: +49 89 64911421Web:Email: info@inlab.de
Easters Lock & Security Solutions and Horton Automatics Announces Strategic Partnership

Serving MidAtlantic for Over 65 years with Lock, Door & Security Solutions.

Locally owned Easters Lock & Security Solutions a 65+ year old company and Marylands largest independently owned provider of physical security announced today that it has been named by Horton Automatics the worldwide leader of commercial & institutional automatic doors and operators as their factory authorized dealer for the Mid-Atlantic Region for the sales, service, and installation of their product line throughout Maryland, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia.We are excited to be partnering with Horton Automatics. Being able to offer our customers more products from a leader and innovator in the in automatic sliding doors industry is a major step for Easters to expand our already stellar service offerings to our customers. Gushed Bob Easter of Easters Lock and Security Solutions.About EastersEasters is the name thats been known and trusted for over 65 years in the Mid- Atlantic region, MARYLAND, WASHINGTON D.C., N. VIRGINIA, S. PENNSYLVANIA, & DELAWARE. Considered to be a one source provider for all your security needs including doors, door hardware, locks, and high security facility solutions. Security and door solutions for any industry including medical and the department of defense. With the largest fleet of full service security technicians in the region, Easters is able to provide quick, reliable service and highly trained professional technicians and installers.About Horton Automatics IncHorton Automatics Inc. was formed in 1960, placing the first commercial automatic sliding door on the market and literally establishing a brand-new industry. Since then, they have been designing, manufacturing and selling automatic doors in America and is recognized as an industry leader with product innovation, superior craftsmanship and outstanding customer support. Horton Automatics is a division of the Overhead Door Corporation.Media Contact: Bob Easter, Owner1717 E Joppa RoadBaltimore, Md 21234
GoodFirms Ranks 10Clouds as One of the Best Software Development Company in Georgia

Top Software Development Company in Georgia

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10Clouds is the fastest growing web and mobile app Development Company. Their 100+ highly experienced team members efficiently combine agile practices and cutting-edge technologies to deliver the work to clients. Today, GoodFirms announces that the 10Clouds achieved the second position in the list of Top Software Development Companies in Georgia for assisting their clients to build their web and mobile applications to create online presence of their businesses.GoodFirms is an ingenious and a worldwide acknowledged B2B research and review company based in Washington, DC. The rigorous methodology and research process of GoodFirms dissects software companies on a multitude of qualitative and quantitative features, ultimately relying heavily on verified client reviews from past and present to rank the companies in the list of top performers.10Clouds is a leading software development company, which has built and designed softwares for more than 90+ businesses globally, including for their key clients that are: Trust Stamp, Iplay Sport, CallerSmart, Zapp RideShare, GlucoseMama. 10Clouds has offered wide range of web services using python, Django, JavaScript, AngularJS, React, Node.js, HTML+CSS and for mobile app using Swift, Kotlin & Java as well as React Native. It has mainly provided the software services in United States, Western Europe and Australia.Take a glimpse what clients have said about the software services offered by 10Clouds:"The team at 10Clouds has developed both our iOS app and website. They're a great team and very reliable." Said by: Kathryn Boudreau - Marketing, Operations & Community Manager at Caller Smart Inc."10Clouds have executed multiple projects for us over a 4-year period. The combinations of expertise, execution, and price have been unbeatable." Said by: Gareth Genner - Co-Founder at Trust StampAbout 10Clouds:10Clouds was founded in 2009 based in Poland as well as in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. 10Clouds is an outstanding software services firm that delivers innovative and creative web and mobile app solutions with the help of their 100+ highly experienced team members. 10Clouds work has been featured on TechCrunch, The Economist, The New York Times, Wired and more.About GoodFirms:GoodFirms is a Washington, D.C. based research firm that aligns its efforts in identifying the most prominent and efficient ecommerce development companies that deliver results to their clients. GoodFirms research is a confluence of new age consumer reference processes and conventional industry-wide review & rankings that help service seekers leap further and multiply their industry-wide value and credibility.GoodFirms4th Floor, St. NWWashington DCContact:Rachael RayEmail: rachael@goodfirms.coVisit us at:
Smart Electric Meter Market 2024: by Key Manufacturers Siemens, Itron, Schneider Electric, Landis+GYR, Icsa, Circutor, Holley Metering

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MarketStudyReport.com Adds New Smart Electric Meter Market Size By Application (Residential, Commercial, Utility), By Technology (AMR, AMI), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy, France, UK, Sweden, Portugal, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Lebanon, Egypt, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina) Application Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 - 2024Smart Electric Meter Market size is set to exceed USD 11 billion by 2024; according to a new research report. Commercial smart electric meter market shipments could exceed 30 million units by 2024. Growing demand for accurate billing coupled with efforts towards energy conservation will augment the global smart electric meter market growth. Rapid development of electricity network along with growing investment in smart grid will further complement the business landscape.Increasing energy prices and growing instances of electricity theft will further boost product demand. According to a 2013 IMF report, global electricity theft was over USD 100 million. Rising concerns towards accuracy in billing among end users may positively influence the industry size.Get sample Copy of this Report:The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) mandating strict regulations towards accurate billing along with increasing electricity demand will stimulate the U.S. smart electric meter market size. The U.S. Department of Energy and ARRA jointly invested USD 30 billion in 2009, to give an impetus to a wide range of sustainable energy projects and upgrade existing smart grid networks in the region.Stringent regulations towards adoption of intelligent systems to precisely track electricity consumption will augment the smart electric meter market share. European Union Directive 2009/72/EC mandates member countries to undertake initiatives which will increase consumer awareness towards the benefits of adopting these products. Directive 2014/724/EU provides guidance to regulators on safeguarding and protecting consumers' consumption data.In 2016, UK contributed to over 20% of the Europe smart electric meter market share in terms of unit shipments. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy along with the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) have directed utility providers to install these products in every household by 2020, with a view to conserve electricity.Get Discount on this Report:Smart electric meter market size from Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) technology is anticipated to exceed USD 4 billion by 2024. Conventional AMR devices were programmed to collect meter readings and match with the utility provider's consumption data. Additional data parameters can be set in these products to control their functionality remotely, owing to technological advancement. These products give warning in case of meter tampering, low battery and leak detection.Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems will grow owing to increasing adoption of the advanced technology in developed nations including the U.S., UK, Sweden, Norway and Japan. These products provide enhanced features like notifications for demand response actions and time-based pricing.Japan smart electric meter market is predicted to witness a paradigm shift owing to adoption of AMI products. In August 2015, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) launched an initiative to install over 2.7 million intelligent systems across the country and offer 24-hour customer support service through a Smart Meter Operation Centre.Notable players in the smart electric meter market include Siemens, Itron, Schneider Electric, Landis+GYR, Icsa, Circutor, Holley Metering, Iskraemeco, Osaki Electric, Honeywell International, Sensus Sentec, Elster Group, Badger Meter and Neptune Technology.More Report At:Related Report:Global Commercial IC Card Electricity Smart Meter Sales Market Report 2018In this report, the global Commercial IC Card Electricity Smart Meter market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study Report4 North Main Street,Selbyville, Delaware 19975USAPhone: 1-302-273-0910US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:Blog:Industry News: news.marketsizeforecasters.com
Men's grooming start ups are becoming threat to FMCG giants operating in men's grooming industry

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In the recent time, there is emergence of start ups offering products specifically designed for men. They are threatening the existing FMCG giants by new products offering and product innovation.In urban India, men are progressively getting to be mindful of the most recent patterns and concerns encompassing one's physical appearance. Because of the rising discretionary money, they are energetically spending some serious money on grooming items. They do not want to use female's products or unisex products besides want products specially designed for them. Over the last decade, the demand for male grooming products has driven companies to sell items beyond shaving gels, razors, and deodorants for men. All these added products are offered mostly by start ups which have emerged in last few years in the country. These start ups includes The Bombay Shaving Company, Happily Unmarried Marketing, Zed Lifestyle, LesShave, The Man Company etc which offer wide range of men's grooming products such as beard oil & balm, moustache oil & balm apart from hair gel, wax, body wash, shower gel, bar soap, deodorant that are offered by FMCG giants.As stated by report on 'India Men's Grooming Market Overview, 2018-2023' prepared by Bonafide Research, total men's grooming market which is comprised of shaving products, beard care products, skin care products, hair care products and fragrance has grown more than 1% of CAGR from 2011-12 to 2016-17. Beard care market is dominated by new start ups and Marico with its set wet beard gel. In shaving products, both razor and shaving toiletries are going to have growth rate more than 7% during forecast period. In fragrance market, HUL, Vini Cosmetic and ITC with their respective brands have controlled 40% of the deodorant market in the year 2016-17. In the skin care market, fairness cream market are going to be the major contributor followed by face wash at the end of forecast period. In men's hair care market, shampoo is the most important products which have highest CAGR among all hair products like hair oil, serum, colour etc.Having seen profitability of start ups, giants have started to invest in these start ups, in a bid to enter the male grooming market online. For example, In March 2017, Marico which already sells Set Wet hair gel for men invested a 45% stake in Beardo of Zed Lifestyle Company based in Ahemdabad. Again, Wipro Consumer Care has invested in Happily Unmarried Pvt Marketing in November, 2017. The investment was close to Rs 50 crore and Wipro has picked up about 20% stake. Later, in December 2017, Emami bought a 30% stake in The Man Company, an e-store which sells premium male grooming products. On the other hand, Emami has also acquired 30% equity stake and invested USD 3 million in The Man Company. Thus most of every start ups operating in male grooming industry has received funding from big FMCG giants.Besides investment, start ups have also funded by some other investors which have made them reachable to consumers through wide distribution network of investors. For example, The Bombay Shaving Company which was founded in the year 2015 has raised USD 2.5 million in pre-series funding from Fireside Ventures and HNIs, including senior McKinsey & Co executives. In addition to this, it has also secured USD 600K in an angel funding round from 25+ investors in August 2016. Zed Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. received USD 500,000 in seed funding in September 2016 at a valuation of Rs 40 crore, led by New York hedge fund manager Raj Vazirani. The Man Company start up which was founded in the year 2015 has originally raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding in September 2015 from a clutch of angel investors, including Karan Bajwa, MD Microsoft India; Amanpreet Bajaj, Country Manager -India at Airbnb and Manish Vij, founder and CEO of SVG Media. Thus all these start ups are flourished by investment made up giants or investor.Major CompaniesMajor companies that operate into the Men's Grooming product market in India are Gillette India Limited, Emami Limited, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL), J.K. Helene Curtis India Ltd, Nivea India Private Limited, L'Oreal India Private Limited, Marico Limited, VI-John India Private Limited, Himalaya Drug Company Private Limited, ITC Limited, Zed Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd., Happily Unmarried Marketing Pvt. Ltd (Ustraa), Visage Lines Personal Care Pvt. Ltd., Man Arden, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Limited.Report: India Men's Grooming Market Overview, 2018-2023Base Year: 2016-17, Estimated Year: 2017-18, Forecast Year: 2022-23Pages: 85, Figures: 17, Tables: 5Bonafide Research is a multi-disciplinary research and consulting company which provides all the information streams required to solve strategic, business and marketing problems. Bonafide is a one of the fastest growing market research and consulting company offering syndicated research reports, custom research solutions and marketing services for a variety of industry verticals. We have already reached a milestone of 200 niche market research studies. Bonafide Research has been closely working with fortune 500 clients by helping them in tracking the constantly changing market scenarios. Not only fortune 500`s, we have served to mid-size companies, small specialists and even start-ups. Our customers do not see Bonafide merely as a research provider, but a long-term partner who can help them maximize the value of information. Our quality of work has ensured repeat business, recognition and recommendations from clients across the world. It is believed that clients come first and we are always willing to take a step ahead to serve them better.Bonafide brings value to its clients through high quality research and helps them to make well-informed tactical strategic moves in the dynamic global market environment. We bring first-hand information and prudent analysis of various industries, economic and non-economic parameters, potential markets and key competitors. We also provide rational forecast for market trends to help clients identify prospective growth areas and gain competitive edge over others. Our strength lies in extracting and analyzing data using credible secondary sources like paid databases, associations, annual reports, government official websites and other public domains. Our analytical reports are clear, concise, timely, comprehensive and highly insightful analysis to help our clients with perfect answers to their important business queries. As we are based in INDIA, Most of our market research reports are focusing on INDIAN industry. We have persistently made efforts to evolve and enhance the report quality with each passing day.CONTACT USBonafide Research & Marketing Pvt. Ltd.Steven Thomas  Sales & Marketing ManagerAddress: T-13/A, Indiabulls Mega Mall,, Jetalpur Road,, Vadodara, Gujarat 390007, IndiaE-mail: sales@bonafideresearch.comTelephone: +91-265-6551309/ +91-7878231309Website:
Isononanoic Acid 2018 Global Industry Key Players - OXEA , BASF , KH Neochem Market Analysis And Forecast To 2023

World Isononanoic Acid Market

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World Isononanoic Acid MarketExecutive SummaryIsononanoic Acid market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Request a Sample Report @The Players mentioned in our reportOXEABASFKH NeochemGlobal Isononanoic Acid Market: Application Segment AnalysisCoating and paintCosmetics and personal careMetal working fluidsLubricantPlasticizerOtherGlobal Isononanoic Acid Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaTable of Content-Key Points CoveredChapter 1 About the Isononanoic Acid Industry1.1 Industry Definition and Types1.2 Main Market Activities1.3 Similar Industries1.4 Industry at a GlanceChapter 2 World Market Competition Landscape2.1 Isononanoic Acid Markets by Regions2.1.1 USAMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.2 EuropeMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.3 ChinaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.4 IndiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.5 JapanMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.6 South East AsiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2012-2022Sales and Growth Rate 2012-2022Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.2 World Isononanoic Acid Market by Types2.3 World Isononanoic Acid Market by ApplicationsCoating and paintCosmetics and personal careMetal working fluidsLubricantPlasticizer2.4 World Isononanoic Acid Market Analysis2.4.1 World Isononanoic Acid Market Revenue and Growth Rate 2012-20172.4.2 World Isononanoic Acid Market and Growth rate 2012-20172.4.3 World Isononanoic Acid Market Price Analysis 2012-2017Chapter 5 Company Profiles5.1 OXEA5.1.1 Company Details (Foundation Year, Employee Strength and etc)5.1.2 Product Information (Picture, Specifications and Applications)5.1.3 Revenue (M USD), Price and Operating Profits5.2 BASF5.2.1 Company Details (Foundation Year, Employee Strength and etc)5.2.2 Product Information (Picture, Specifications and Applications)5.2.3 Revenue (M USD), Price and Operating Profits5.10 KH Neochem5.10.1 Company Details (Foundation Year, Employee Strength and etc)5.10.2 Product Information (Picture, Specifications and Applications)5.10.3 Revenue (M USD), Price and Operating ProfitsContinuedComplete Report Details @Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Healthcare Regulatory Affairs Outsourcing Market Growth Competition Strategy Prophesy 2025

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Global Healthcare Regulatory Affairs Outsourcing Market: SnapshotThe healthcare regulatory affairs outsourcing market is experiencing significant growth owing to services to Clinical Research Organizations. The rising number of patent expirations along with growing costs of research and development activities are the primary factors influencing the growth of the global healthcare regulatory affairs outsourcing market. Healthcare and biopharmaceutical organizations are likely to team up with numerous outsourcing companies for getting their drugs and devices approved in the global market. The approval time of a drug or device is a time taking process, is expensive, and is also a documentation centric procedure.Request Sample Copy of the Report @As a result of the above, the service providers have been shifting their focus to outsource healthcare regulatory activities for reducing costs and focusing on core competencies. These type of regulatory service providers provide several other services as well such as pharmacovigilance, medical writing, and clinical trials to biotech and many different countries. However, the market is expected to be inhibited by the high fluctuations in price along with hidden expenses in the regulatory services delivered by diverse Clinical Research Organizations. Furthermore, high risks pertaining to organizational information security is likely to challenge the productivity of the healthcare regulatory affairs outsourcing market.The service providers of healthcare regulatory affairs outsourcing can gain lucrative growth opportunities from emerging economies in Latin America and Asia Pacific owing to the developing infrastructure of these regions and investments in developing healthcare technologies.Global Healthcare Regulatory Affairs Outsourcing Market: OverviewRegulatory policies are implemented to ensure that companies comply with certain standards of functioning in relation to their businesses. These policies or regulatory affairs in the healthcare industry are aimed at safeguarding the public health and welfare by ensuring the safety of pharmaceutical and healthcare products. An increasing number of healthcare companies lately are outsourcing their regulatory functions to focus on their core competencies instead. Furthermore, due to the advent of an increasing number of drugs in the clinical development process, regulatory affair outsourcing is gaining more importance in the healthcare sector.Request TOC of the Report @Transparency Market Research, in its new report studies the prevalent prospects for the market. Based on in-depth analysis and exhaustive information obtained through proven research methodologies it also presents refined outlook for the market between 2017 and 2025.Global Healthcare Regulatory Affairs Outsourcing Market: Trends and OpportunitiesAn increasing number of healthcare institutes and pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing regulatory affairs to save cost and capitalize on expertise available with the contract research organizations (CROs). Outsourcing healthcare regulatory affairs provides these organizations with the time and resource to focus on their core competencies, which is the chief driver of the global healthcare regulatory affairs outsourcing market.Currently, regulatory support is available for almost every process across clinical trials such as medical report writing, manufacturing and controls (CMC), data management, regulatory chemistry, country regulatory affairs, labeling and liaison, and regulatory strategy. One of the primary benefits of outsourcing regulatory affairs is cost effectiveness. Outsourcing non-core activities to experts can help companies focus more on their marketing and research and development activities. Hence in the long run companies can benefit from optimized reimbursements, product approval, and increased market share and productivity. Spurred by these factors, the global healthcare regulatory outsourcing market is poised to exhibit strong growth over the forecast period.Global Healthcare Regulatory Affairs Outsourcing Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World constitute the key market segments. Among these, North America emerged dominant as the U.S. held lead in the global healthcare regulatory affairs outsourcing market. Europe trailed North America as leading healthcare institutes therein increased their focus on reducing investment cost and capitalize on the availability of cheap labor. Besides this, the rising concentration on the optimum utilization of resources and gain from accelerated focus on faster product approval.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Owing to the high costs involved in clinical development procedures in developed nations, the emerging countries are more preferred for regulatory affairs outsourcing in the healthcare sector. Asia Pacific for instance is exhibiting impressive CAGR and is fast emerging as a lucrative market for regulatory affairs outsourcing. The growth of Asia Pacific market is spurred due to the availability of a large pool of skilled labor at an affordable price and the increasing number of pharmaceutical companies intending to focus on their core competencies.Global Healthcare Regulatory Affairs Outsourcing Market: Vendor LandscapeVarious companies around the world offer comprehensive knowledge in managing healthcare regulatory affairs. These companies mainly intend to help firms overcome challenges and accelerate clinical processes. Some of the leading players in the market identified by the report are Covance Group Ltd., Parexel International Corporation, Pharmaceutical Product Development, Medelis, Inc., Quintiles Transnational Holdings, Inc., Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., KAI Research, Inc., Medpace, Inc., and ICON Plc.The report conducts SWOT analysis on several of these market players to gauge determine their strengths and weaknesses. This analysis also provides insights into the opportunities and threats that potentially lay ahead for these companies over the course of the forecast period.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Digital Storage Oscilloscope Market - Clear picture of current and future trends 2025

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Digital Storage Oscilloscope Market: SnapshotDigital storage oscilloscopes are able to capture and keep a log of electronic events, which has occurred in the absence of anyone or in times when observation is not possible. Thus, they are highly useful devices. Digital storage oscilloscopes are especially used for electronic devices. Since the recent times have seen a massive growth in the electronics industry, the demand for digital storage oscilloscopes is also expected to increase, driving the market towards growth in the period from 2017 to 2025. The report captures the various trends that recently sprung up, which are helping the market for these oscilloscopes to grow. It takes into account the various macroeconomic factors such as the rise in the economy of nations, increase in disposable incomes, technological advancements, and rapid urbanization.While the analog oscilloscopes were unable to store wave forms for later study or even for comparison purpose, digital storage oscilloscopes enable the wave forms to be saves by making use of memory chips. Technicians are able to probe each component within an electronic device to detect malfunctioning of any part. Moreover, digital storage oscilloscopes also allow technicians to measure and detect even the slightest variation in operation of components, thereby alerting the technician to the need for fine tuning or replacement of the component. This prevents the device from working erroneously altogether and also saves cost. Thus, greater risks can be avoided by making use of digital storage oscilloscopes. Players are investing extensively towards improving the accuracy of these devices. This is anticipated to drive the growth of the market further.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Digital Storage Oscilloscope Market: OverviewThe global market for digital storage oscilloscopes is deriving much of its growth from the rising intelligence of electronic devices. Digital storage oscilloscopes are extensively utilized in various electronic devices, such as broadcasting equipment used in radios and televisions, to measure signals for capturing and logging electronic events, which are otherwise impossible to determine.As of now, manufacturers of digital storage oscilloscopes are actively concentrating on extensive research to extend the bandwidth of oscilloscopes to enable then to measure signals with high frequency. Analysts expect this factor to support the worldwide digital storage oscilloscopes market in the long run.This research study offers an in-depth assessment of the global market for digital storage oscilloscopes on the basis of its current and historical performance. The key trends, driving forces, opportunities, challenges, and the future prospects of this market have also been studied thoroughly while leading this research. The prime objective of this report is to assist the market players in gaining a clear insight into this market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Digital Storage Oscilloscope Market: Growth Drivers and RestraintsThe intense competition among the leading vendors to provide additional efficient features, such as user interfaces and integration skills, is creating a ground for innovations, which is likely to boost the global market for digital storage oscilloscopes in the forthcoming years. These players are keeping up with the technological advancements and are constantly investing in research in order to develop and introduce new products. Apart from this, they are also offering additional services, such as installation, warranty, and technical support, to customers, differentiating themselves from their competitors.The market is also anticipated to be heavily influenced by the increased modular instrumentation of oscilloscopes in the coming years since modularization enables advanced inbuilt features in oscilloscopes, such as advanced timing and synchronizations and powerful software automation. However, the limited screen display capacity of hand-held digital storage oscilloscopes, which constrain their applications, will affect the growth of this market in the near future.In addition to this, the economic volatility, such as recession, which restrict the production of oscilloscopes with innovative features, owing to the lack of capital, will also affect this market over a longer period of time.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Digital Storage Oscilloscope Market: End-use AnalysisDigital storage oscilloscopes find a widespread application in the electronics, medicines, and the telecommunications sectors. The accuracy in measurements provided by digital storage oscilloscopes compared to their traditional counterparts has increased their usage in the electronics sector. The demand for these oscilloscopes has also been increased in the medicines industry, thanks to the augmented usage of electrocardiograms, fueled by the rising prevalence of cardiovascular disorders across the world.In the telecommunication industry, digital storage oscilloscopes are likely to gain impetus from growing need for advanced triggers that are utilized to debug a communication problem efficiently at a quicker pace.Global Digital Storage Oscilloscope Market: Companies Mentioned in the ReportTektronix Inc, Teledyne LeCroy, Agilent Technologies, and Rohde & Schwarz GmbH are some of the key players functioning in the global market for digital storage oscilloscopes.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Sunny Sky Solar Is Providing SMA Inverters for Solar Panels

Sunny Sky Solar provides the best solar products from manufacturers of repute and whose products are independently tested and are proven to be trustworthy. The Brisbane based company has succeeded in an industry with fierce competition because they sell quality solar products that are robust and sell at reasonable prices. The Company has a team of qualified experts who work to install the solar products professionally for the client. All solar products sold by Sunny Sky Solar are guaranteed and long lasting.The Sales Manager at Sunny Sky Solar said, Whether one is looking to install a solar system in a new building or wants to switch to solar from the conventional power system, choosing Sunny Sky Solar as the supplier and installer of the safe product is the best choice one can make. With a proven track record in the provision of products and customer service, Sunny Sky Solar is the best thing that has happened to the Australian families and businesses in recent years. Sunny Sky Solar only uses products that are tested and certified to Australian standards. The products we supply to the market are also listed on the Clean Energy Council approved product list. Our range of quality products is sourced from different suppliers that we know are leaders in manufacturing and have been in business a long time. The products we buy from these manufacturers are tested independently, and we are sure they can be trusted.Some customers look for where to buy cheapest solar panels when building their homes or offices or in the event they want to switch to solar energy. Cheap is not always the best, and it behooves the builder to do due diligence to make sure that quality is not compromised. At Sunny Sky Solar, their solar panels are of the best quality, durable and robust at the best possible prices. The panels are sourced from reputable solar manufacturing companies around the world.The Sales Manager also said, We at Sunny Sky Solar offer our customers personal service that is committed to their satisfaction. We assist clients to switch to solar so that they can make their connection to the sun and let the sun pay their bills. With a solar connection, the client is assured of unlimited power supply from the sun. Since we have connections with the best solar manufacturers in the world, and we buy our products in bulk, we can save on purchase and happily pass this to our customers. Our competitive prices are not from buying cheap products in terms of quality, but from the savings, we enjoy because of our purchasing power. As we help our clients grow by providing affordable solar product, we also grow as a company as our client base expands.The level of performance of the solar system is heavily dependent on the quality of solar inverters used. Sunny Sky Solar is a supply of SMA inverters in Australia. Maintaining high quality in all their products is the aim of Sunny Sky Solar. The inverters used by Sunny Sky Solar are sourced from the best manufacturers that are globally believed to be the best. All inverter product lines Sunny Sky Solar deals in are highly reliable an efficient.About Sunny Sky SolarSunny Sky Solar is a provider of a fully comprehensive solar system product in Australia. They offer a full service for installation and maintenance of solar system including panels and inverters. Sunny Sky Solar sources their products from the worlds best manufacturers of the best quality, long lasting and cost-effective products.Office Address: Level 23, 127 Creek Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000Regional QLD Office: 123 Margaret Street Toowoomba, QLD  4350Company Mailing Address: PO Box 4578, Eight Mile Plains, QLD 4113Phone: 1800801347Fax: 0738394649Email: info@sunnyskysolar.com.au
Global Tissue Processing Systems Market: Rapid High Volume Tissue Processors Segment Anticipated to Register Robust Growth Over the Forecast Period, 2017  2025

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The report begins with a complete synopsis of the tissue processing systems across the globe. This study also presents the historical market data and statistics for the period ranging from 2012 to 2016 along with assessment period for 2017 till 2025. Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently included a new report to its market research online repository titled, Global Market Study on Tissue Processing System.Free Sample Copy of Report at-Primary research procedures are carried out to get exact data form the interviews with the company representatives, leading market players and key observer of market. The data and statistics mentioned in the report are verified multiple times and this can be used as reference by the other business operators actively associated with tissue processing system around the world. The relevant market definition and introduction of tissue processing market are also given in the report. The research report presents drivers, restraints and major trends encountered by the key players in global tissue processing market. The trends and opportunities for the new entrants to gain a foothold in the global market are also included in the research publication. This report also provides in-depth insights on several factors impacting the growth of this market. The report also comprises the global and regional level analysis for the report readers dealing with tissue processing systems. Pricing analysis and regional trends are also included in the report.Global Market Study on Tissue Processing Systems: SegmentationThe study segregates the tissue processing system into end user, technology, modality, product type, and region. Regionally, the research report categorizes global market for tissue processing on the basis of Europe, Latin America, North America, APAC, and MEA. Based on modality, the report segregates tissue processing system into bench-top tissue processors and stand-alone tissue processors. In terms of technology, the study categorizes worldwide tissue processing system into vacuum tissue processors and microwave tissue processors. On the basis of end-user, the research publication bifurcates market into diagnostic laboratories, others and hospitals. According to product type, the study segments tissue processing market into rapid high volume tissue processors, medium volume tissue processors and small volume tissue processors.Global Market Study on Tissue Processing Systems: Key Player InsightsThe final chapter of the report presents the competitive assessment of global tissue processing systems. This study also offers information regarding the key players operating in tissue processing system market. The report also profiles the leading players on the basis of financial ratios, overview of the product, business overview, SWOT analysis, recent development in the companies, key strategies, and overview of the company. The study also offers information about the dominating players operating in the tissue processing system across the globe such as Jokoh Co. Ltd., Bio-Optica Milano SpA, MEDITE GmbH, Agar Scientific Ltd., General Data Company Inc., Milestone Srl, Slee medical GmbH, Sakura Finetek Europe B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH. This report helps the report readers to get an exact scenario of the tissue processing system market across the globe.Browse Full Global Tissue Processing System Market Report with TOC :About (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State Street Suite 700Albany, NY  12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
Global Super Absorbent Pet Pad Market: Consumer Buying Preferences Shifting from Brick-and-Mortar Stores to Online

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Manufacturers of super absorbent pet pad are offering novel products that facilitate worry-free training, along with the provision of an easy-to-dispense alternative to outdoor relief for pets. Superabsorbent pet pad are effective pet hygiene and house-free training in pet care industry. The market for superabsorbent pet pad is witnessing a transitional phase, wherein consumer buying preferences are illustrating a shift from brick-and-mortar stores to online platforms. Robust penetration of smartphones and several other digital media platforms that enable access to the internet will further influence the market growth. These insights have been elaborated in the report, titled Global Super Absorbent Pet Pad Market 2018 by Manufacturers, Countries, Type, and Application, Forecast to 2023, which has been recently incorporated in Market Research Hubs (MRH) vast repository.Request here for Free Sample Report@Scrutinized Analysis on Super Absorbent Pet Pad MarketThis report offers accurate forecasts on the market for the period between 2018 and 2023. This report is a definite source of information that imparts intelligence on recent market dynamics, industry trends, potential markets, technology developments & advancements, and product innovation coupled with extensive regional market coverage.A comprehensive data analysis on the super absorbent pet pad market is delivered in the report, in order to help the clients in gaining a competitive edge and attracting potential customers. The report further aid in better understanding of the industry structure, and offers evaluations on the competition intensity attractiveness. Business strategists can leverage the intelligence offered in the report regarding latest opportunities and trends impacting the market expansion to make fact-based decisions for their businesses.Super Absorbent Pet Pad Market: Segmentation AnalysisThis report also offers a scrutinized study on the market for super absorbent pet pad in terms of a segmentation analysis. The market has been divided into 3 key segments, namely, by type, application, and region. These segments have been analyzed in detail, engulfing market forecasts and estimates at a country and regional level. The market has been regionally segmented into Asia-Pacific (APAC), North America, South America, and Europe.Browse Full Report with TOC@The segmentation analysis offered can be useful for the report readers in understanding probable opportunities and potential markets for the target product  super absorbent pet pad. A taxonomy table incorporated in the report illustrates all the market segments in a systematic manner as depicted below.Super Absorbent Pet Pad Market: Competitive Landscape AssessmentIn its concluding chapter, the report quantifies revenues share of prominent companies in the super absorbent pet pad market, and offers an in-depth overview of the markets competitive scenario. A detailed description has been delivered on all the market players profiled in the report, which includes intelligence in terms of their company overview, key financials, product overview, past as well as latest developments.A SWOT analysis has been offered on each market player incorporated in the report, along with information on their new product developments, and market expansion strategies such as collaborations and partnerships. The scope of the report is offer its readers with authentic information and insights on the super absorbent pet pad market, to enable them in making better future decisions for growth of the businesses.About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports of different sector like Retail industry research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of industry reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.ContactUs90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.com
Nucleic Acid Isolation and Purification Market Prophesy by Manufactures,Product,Region,Size 2025

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Global Nucleic Acid Isolation and Purification Market: SnapshotNucleic acid isolation, or DNA isolation, is a procedure that involves the distillation of a given DNA sample using a number of combined chemical and physical processes. Although the first DNA isolations experiments were carried out long back in the mid-1800s, the past few decades have enabled the market to evolve at an extremely fast pace. Key uses of DNA isolation and purification in the modern day include those performed in forensic analysis or in molecular biology.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Chemical processes in DNA isolation and purification involve the use of numerous kits that can be premade for specific processes. One of the more valuable set of data a scientist can know is the use of the specific kits in order to save time and improve efficiency of extraction. Several methods may be used to impart kit optimization to a procedure. The three key steps that are performed during DNA isolation and purification are the collection of cells, the breaking of cell membrane, and the treatment of the extracted DNA with concentrated salt solutions to clean the sample from intrusions and contaminants. There may also be specialized methods being used for specific DNA extractions processes, such as those used to isolate and purify DNA from archaeological samples, or from cells that have an especially thick cellular wall. On the other hand, a large number of DNA isolation and purification kits are also commercially available. Most qualification systems for isolation of DNA imply the successful and efficient extraction of the DNA in quality as well as quantity, meant to be sufficient for the downstream processes that follow.Global Nucleic Acid Isolation and Purification Market: OverviewNucleic acid, also known as DNA is the functional and fundamental component of the body cells. Nucleic acid comprises most of the vital information, which is essential in order to transfer the genetic information from one generation to another generation. The growing focus on research and development activities and the expansion of application base are some of the key factors likely to fuel the growth of the global nucleic acid isolation and purification market in the near future.Request TOC of the Report @The research report offers a detailed analysis of the global market and highlights the key growth drivers, latest trends, opportunities, and limitations. The report further talks about the key segmentation and the competitive landscape of the global market. The leading segments of the global nucleic acid isolation and purification market, along with the predicted growth rate have been discussed at length in the scope of the study.Global Nucleic Acid Isolation and Purification Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe rising government expenditure in research and development activities concerning life sciences and the growing healthcare expenditure are some of the key factors propelling the global nucleic acid isolation and purification market. In addition, the availability of bench-top instruments, technological advancements, and the rising demand from pharmaceutical companies are projected to supplement the growth of the overall market in the next few years. However, the high price of automated instruments is estimated to restrict the growth of the market in the coming years. Nevertheless, the untapped opportunities in the developing economies are likely to contribute extensively towards the growth of the market.Global Nucleic Acid Isolation and Purification Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global market for nucleic acid isolation and purification can be classified in terms of geography into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and the Rest of the World. North America is estimated to witness robust growth throughout the forecast period and is projected to account for a key share of the global market. The high growth of this region can be attributed to the increasing number of applications of innovative nucleic acid isolation and purification techniques. In addition, the growing focus on research and development activities is estimated to encourage the growth of the market in the near future.Furthermore, Asia Pacific and Europe are anticipated to witness high growth in the next few years and register a healthy growth. The growing awareness regarding the utility of nucleic acid in diverse sectors is one of the vital factors anticipated to fuel the growth of the nucleic acid isolation and purification market in Asia Pacific and Europe throughout the forecast period.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Key Players Mentioned in the Research Report are:Some of the key players operating in the nucleic acid isolation and purification market across the globe are GE Healthcare, Bio-Rad Technologies, Inc., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Sigma-Aldrich Co., Inc., and Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. The research study throws light on the key strategies that have been adopted by the leading players in order to guide the new entrants in making appropriate decisions and sustain in the competitive environment.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Global Floor POP Display Market Likely to Register Significant Growth over the Coming Years, 2017  2026

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A new report titled Global Floor POP Display market has been included to the online database of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE). The first section of the report comprises the executive summary for the report readers. In addition, information about the various segments and sub-segments are also highlighted. The report also offers the holistic prospects of the floor pop display market across the globe.Free Sample Copy of Report at-This report also provides the key trends operating in the global floor pop display market. The data and statistics provided in the report are derived from the primary and secondary research procedure. The primary process includes interviews of the companys representatives, interviews with the market analysts, as well as senior executives of the various companies. The market size of the floor pop display market from the period ranging from 2017 till 2026 are also provided in the report. The secondary process involves tapping company websites, press releases and annual data collected from the company reports. The report offers micro and macro-economic factors that are responsible for the growth of the market. The report also offers market period of assessment from 2017 till 2026 and the year 2016 is considered as the base year. The report presents the CAGR of floor pop display market. Additionally, the report also comprises of the pricing analysis, market attractiveness index and value chain analysis, thus offering overall picture of the global market.Global Floor POP Display market: Market SegmentationThe study divides the floor pop display market into packaging format, application, material type, and region. On the basis of region, the report segregates the pop display market into Japan, MEA, Latin America, North America and APEJ. On the basis of packaging format, the study segregates the global market into automotive, electronics, stationary and printing, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics & personal care, food and beverages. In terms of application, the study bifurcates floor pop display market into departmental store, convenience store, hypermarket and supermarket, as well as specialty store. By material type, the study divides the floor pop display market into metal, corrugated board, glass, foam board and plastic sheet. Furthermore, the report also provides market attractiveness index for the report readers along with the key findings.Global Floor POP Display market: Competitive AnalysisThe report presents the competitive assessment of the worldwide floor pop display market. This study also offers information about the key players operating in the floor pop display market. The report also profiles the leading companies on the basis of financial overview, business overview, key strategies, SWOT analysis, overview of the company, product portfolio, and recent development in the companies. This report also provides information about the dominating companies functioning in the floor pop display market such as Pratt Industries Inc, Creative Displays Now, Marketing Alliance Group, U.S. Corrugated, Inc., FFR Merchandising Company, WestRock Company, DS Smith PLC, Georgia-Pacific LLC, Smurfit Kappa Group PLC, and Sonoco Products Company. The report offers a competitive landscape in a dashboard view for the report readers. This portion of the report also helps the established companies and new entrants in the market to plan new strategies and to get better foothold in this market.Browse Full Global Floor POP Display Market Report with TOC :About (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State Street Suite 700Albany, NY  12207 (United States)Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
Pharmaceutical Packaging Market 2018 Global Leading Players Amcor Ltd, Schott AG, AptarGroup, Gerresheimer AG, Berry Plastics Group, Westrock Company

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MarketResearchFuture.com added New Report Named Pharmaceutical Packaging Market 2018: Global Industry Analysis, Market Growth and Opportunity Assessment, Segmentation By Type (bottle & vials, aerosol packs, tubes, blister packs, sachets, ampoules) material (Glass, plastic, Paper) Packaging (Flexible, rigid and semi-rigid) application (Medical tools & equipment, Generic drugs, branded drugs) and Region | Outlook to 2023 to its Database.Recent News :April 20, 2016: Bemis Company, Inc. acquired the medical device packaging operations and related value-added services of SteriPack Group, a global manufacturer of sterile packaging solutions for medical device and pharmaceutical applications.In 2016, Amcor Ltd. (Australia) expanded its Milwaukee plant, Wisconsin (U.S.) with an aim to enhance its flexographic printing.According to PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, the market for pharmaceuticals and medical devices is likely to continue growing over the forecast period. In total, the 2015 pharmaceutical industry produced USD 1.1 trillion in the global sales with medical devices reaching USD 350 billion. Aging population, longer life expectanc,y and a general increase in rare or chronic diseases are impacting healthcare worldwide. Global medicine use is expected to reach 4.5 trillion doses by 2020, up 24% from 2015, emphasizing the opportunity in this market segment.Get Report Sample@Key PlayersMarket Research Future (MRFR) recognizes the following companies as the key players in the global pharmaceutical packaging market Bemis Healthcare Packaging, Gerresheimer, Owens-Illinois, West Pharmaceutical, Westrock, Alexander (James) Corporation, Baxter International, Amcor Limited, Unilife Corporation, AptarGroup Inc, Rexam PLC and othersThe companies that are trying to enter the market need to have a medium capital investment to set up manufacturing facilities and carry out R&D activities. Moreover, low to medium switching costs by consumers, makes the entry of new players moderately easy. Thus, making the threat of new entrants, medium.Pharmaceutical packaging Market - Competitive AnalysisPharmaceutical packaging market appears to be competitive with the presence of several large and small players operating in the Pharmaceutical packaging Market. These Key players compete based upon pricing, quality, Technology and reputation. Pharmaceutical packaging market demonstrates a high growth potential which is likely to attract many entrants to the market resulting in to intensified competition further. The report also considers key trends that will impact the industry and profiles of leading suppliers of Pharmaceutical packaging market. Some of the top companies mentioned in the report are Amcor Ltd., Gerresheimer and Schott AG. The other industry participants include Becton Dickinson & Company, Aptar Group, Capsugel, Owens-Illinois, Berry Plastics Group, Westrock Company and COMAR LLC. Moreover, manufacturers mainly ensure to deliver the best quality products based on innovative technologies, and best practices.Global Pharmaceutical Packaging Market ResearchCommenting on the report, an analyst from Market Research Future (MRFR)s team said: The global pharmaceutical packaging market has witnessed a remarkable growth over the past few years and it has been analyzed that the market growth will keep on increasing during the forecast period. The growth of the market is attributed to the growing pharmaceutical as well as healthcare industry and emerging economies in Asia-Pacific region. The other key driving factor which can fuel the market are the increasing aging population, technological innovations, government initiatives and increasing demand for drug delivery devices. Geographically, North America has witnessed as the leading market for the global pharmaceutical packaging market, followed by Europe. Asia-Pacific, the fastest growing region, is the global market will achieve ample number of growth opportunities.According to the report, the global market has witnessed a humongous growth in the pharmaceuticals as well as healthcare industry particularly in the North America. Owing to the growth of these industries, the pharmaceutical packaging market has seen a remarkable growth across the globe. Geographically, North America is one of the leading region and dominating the overall market. Europe, followed by North America, has gained a strong hold in the market owing to the matured economy, growing aging population and technological advancements.The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to a SWOT analysis of the key vendors.Pharmaceutical packaging Market - Segments:Global Pharmaceutical packaging Market is segmented in to 2 Key dynamics for an easy grasp and enhanced understanding.Segmentation by Types: Bottles, Aerosol packs, Tubes, Blister packs, Sachets, Ampoules and othersSegmentation by Material: Glass, Plastic, Cardboard and PaperSegmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions - North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Pharmaceutical packaging Market - Regional AnalysisNorth America region dominated the overall Pharmaceutical packaging market. One of the main reason for the growth of this market is new product launches with specialized packaging needs is growing rapidly. This is due to increase investment in novel drug delivery techniques, increasing awareness about healthcare sector and high healthcare spending in the region. Asia is expected to experience a high growth rate in the forecasted period. India and China will form the fastest growing markets due to rapidly expanding pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities and the adoption of more stringent regulations aimed at improving the quality and integrity of domestically produced medicines.Browse Full Report@Product Analysis Product matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional Information Regulatory Landscape Pricing Analysis Macroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic Analysis Geographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany Information Profiling of 10 key market players In-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report title Competitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesBrief TOC :1. Executive Summary2. Research Methodology3. Market Dynamics4. Global Market, By PackagingType5. Global Market, By Technology6. Global Market, By Application7. Global Market, By End-user8. Regional Market Analysis9. Competitive Analysis10. Conclusion11. List Of Tables12. List Of FiguresAsk for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Market Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Beauty and Personal Care Packaging Market 2018 Global Leading Players - Amcor Limited, WestRock Company, Saint-Gobain S.A., Bemis Company, Mondi Group, Sonoco Products Company

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MarketResearchFuture.com added New Report Named Beauty and Personal Care Packaging Market 2018: Global Industry Analysis, Market Growth and Opportunity Assessment, Segmentation By Materials (Plastics, Glass, Metal and other), Product (Bottles, Cans, Tubes, Pouches, Others), Application (Skincare, Cosmetics, Fragrances, Hair care and others) and Region | Outlook to 2023 to its Database.According to LOreal/FBIC Global Retail & Technology, the global beauty product market was ~USD 371 billion in 2011 and USD 399 billion in 2014.Key PlayersSome of the key players operating the global beauty and personal care packaging market includes Amcor Limited (Australia), WestRock Company (U.S.), Saint-Gobain S.A.(France)., Bemis Company, Inc. (U.S.)., Mondi Group (Austria), Sonoco Products Company (U.S.), Albea Services S.A.S.(France), Gerresheimer AG (Germany), Ampac Holdings, LLC (U.S.), AptarGroup (U.S.), Ardagh Group (Luxembourg), and HCT Packaging Inc.( U.S. )Get Report Sample@Extensive research in this market has brought to light that expansion is the key strategy adopted by the major players in the global beauty and personal care packaging market. This strategy is widely adopted to spread their geographical presence and achieve operational efficiencies.Market Synopsis:The global beauty and personal care packaging market estimated to grow at USD 9.45 billion in the consumer products market. The market has seen a growth of 4% and will grow over the forecasted period. Innovation in packagings such as vibrant shades and a wide range of shapes, sizes, and materials acting as a major driving factor for the growth of the market. Recent trend shows that companies spend more on packaging innovation rather than on production cost. High demand for packaging solutions and volatile raw material prices directly impact the packaging cost and profit margin of the vendors. Moreover, the packaging industry is fast changing coupling with consumer demand helps the vendors to become flexible with future requirements. Moreover, development of packaging styles and growth potential in emerging economies providing enormous opportunities for beauty and personal care products.Beauty and personal care packaging market are expected to experience rapid growth during the forecast period due to the major driving factors such as demand for creative and innovative cosmetic packaging, demand for luxury and natural cosmetic products, and increased daily use of personal care products. Additionally, advancement in packaging technologies and availability of personal care products in innovative designs, such as pumps, sprays, sticks, pen type, and rollers balls also pushing the market towards growth.The demand for cosmetic products depends on the packaging of the product and the quality. Most of the responsible factor for the growth of the packaged products are creative packaging and increasing the shelf life of the product. Moreover, increasing demand for the advanced packaging materials is driving the growth of the cosmetic industry, which is expected to increase the growth of the packaged products during the forecast period.Beauty and Personal Care Packaging Market, by segmentThe beauty and personal care packaging market is experiencing various changes and evolving customer expectations such as availability of small sizes and speedy technological innovation. On the basis of the materials, it includes plastics, glass, metal and other, by product includes bottles, jars, and cans, tubes, pouches, and others. It shows huge opportunities to plastic packaging manufacturers and focusing on launching innovative pack formats, sizes, and functionality with leading pack types in response to consumer demand for convenience. On the basis of the application, the market is segmented into skincare, cosmetics, fragrances, hair care, and others. In terms of the region, the global market is segmented into four major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and RoW. In terms of the geography, Asia Pacific accounted for the majority market share, and is likely to dominate the market over the forecast period.Regional AnalysisRapid economic growth and increase in disposable income are projected to change the lifestyle pattern. China is predicted to open new growth opportunities in the beauty and personal care packaging market over the coming years. Rapidly growing cosmetic industry, changing packaging and improving the standard of living have amplified the demand for beauty and personal care packaging market, positively. A new trend in research and development carried out by the packaging manufacturers with a focus on advantageous locations for production and short-distance supply to reduce costs acts as a major factor for the growth of the Asia Pacific region.Browse Full Report@Product Analysis Product matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional Information Regulatory Landscape Pricing Analysis Macroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic Analysis Geographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany Information Profiling of 10 key market players In-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report title Competitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesBrief TOC :1. Executive Summary2. Research Methodology3. Market Dynamics4. Global Market, By PackagingType5. Global Market, By Technology6. Global Market, By Application7. Global Market, By End-user8. Regional Market Analysis9. Competitive Analysis10. Conclusion11. List Of Tables12. List Of FiguresAsk for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.Press Release Available @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Market Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Trichlorosilane (TCS) 2018 Global Industry Key Players - Wacker, OCI, REC, GCL, Tangshan SunFar Market Analysis And Forecast To 2023

World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market

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World Trichlorosilane (TCS) MarketExecutive SummaryTrichlorosilane (TCS) market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.Request a Sample Report @The Players mentioned in our reportWacker(DE)OCI(KR)REC(US)GCL(CN)Tangshan SunFar(CN)Henan Shangyu(CN)Wynca(CN)Xuzhou Longtian(CN)Daqo New Energy(CN)Hemlock(US)TBEA(CN)Global Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market: Application Segment AnalysisPolycrystalline SiliconOrganosiliconeGlobal Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaTable of Content-Key Points CoveredChapter 1 About the Trichlorosilane (TCS) Industry1.1 Industry Definition and Types1.2 Main Market Activities1.3 Similar Industries1.4 Industry at a GlanceChapter 2 World Market Competition Landscape2.1 Trichlorosilane (TCS) Markets by Regions2.1.1 USAMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2013-2023Sales and Growth Rate 2013-2023Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.2 EuropeMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2013-2023Sales and Growth Rate 2013-2023Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.3 ChinaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2013-2023Sales and Growth Rate 2013-2023Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.4 IndiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2013-2023Sales and Growth Rate 2013-2023Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.5 JapanMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2013-2023Sales and Growth Rate 2013-2023Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.1.6 South East AsiaMarket Revenue (M USD) and Growth Rate 2013-2023Sales and Growth Rate 2013-2023Major Players Revenue (M USD) in 20172.2 World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market by Types2.3 World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market by ApplicationsPolycrystalline SiliconOrganosilicone2.4 World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market Analysis2.4.1 World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market Revenue and Growth Rate 2013-20172.4.2 World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market Consumption and Growth rate 2013-20172.4.3 World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market Price Analysis 2013-2017Chapter 3 World Trichlorosilane (TCS) Market share3.1 Major Production Market share by Players3.2 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share by Players3.3 Major Production Market share by Regions in 2017, Through 20233.4 Major Revenue (M USD) Market share By Regions in 2017, Through 2023Chapter 4 Supply Chain Analysis4.1 Industry Supply chain Analysis4.2 Raw material Market Analysis4.2.1 Raw material Prices Analysis 2013-20174.2.2 Raw material Supply Market Analysis4.2 Manufacturing Equipment Suppliers Analysis4.3 Production Process Analysis4.4 Production Cost Structure Benchmarks4.5 End users Market AnalysisContinuedComplete Report Details @Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Outpatient Clinics Market Administering Demand for New Trends 2025

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Global Outpatient Clinics Market: SnapshotAn outpatient clinic or a department is one where patients can be treated for their illnesses without having the need to stay at the medical organization conventional outpatient clinics have provided treatment options for common ailments or medical issues that have a swift diagnosis and cure. Modern outpatient clinics have evolved to provide a wide spectrum of treatment and diagnostic options and even minor surgical procedures. The outpatient clinic can form a vital body of any healthcare organization, as they can be places where doctors can perform immediate diagnoses as well as follow-up treatments for regularly visiting patients.Request Sample Copy of the Report @More and more outpatient clinics around the world have started offering additional treatments or services for pain relief as well as rehabilitation. The more common types of additional features that may be found in outpatient clinics today, include surgery centers, imaging centers, lab centers, physical therapy centers, medical equipment rental facilities, GI diagnostic centers, and radiation therapy centers. Outpatient clinics may also provide additional services depending on the specializations held by the medical personnel in the facility. This can include cardiology or orthopedics, for instance. It is not uncommon to find highly trained and skilled medical personnel in modern outpatient clinics, due to the highly demanding job it has become.Many outpatient clinics today also provide added comfort to patients in the waitlist. Clinics can possess comfortable seating arrangements, coffee shops, public telephones, snack shops, gift shops, and quiet rooms.Global Outpatient Clinics Market: OverviewOutpatient clinics or centers are medical facilities that offer medical as well as diagnostic treatments to patients who are suffering from several medical conditions. These clinics provide treatment that does not demand overnight stay the medical facility. The growing initiatives by governments to create an awareness reading the benefits of outpatient clinics and to decrease the number of hospital admissions are encouraging several new players to enter the market and create a niche across the globe.The research study further offers a clear picture of the global outpatient clinics market, providing information related to the growth factors, opportunities, and the latest trends in the market. The study throws light on the key segmentation of the global market and provides the estimated growth rate and market share of the leading segments throughout the forecast period. In addition, a detailed overview of the competitive landscape has been included to offer a clear picture of the market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Outpatient Clinics Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe growing prevalence of chronic diseases and the rising geriatric population across the globe are some of the key factors that are estimated to encourage the growth of the global outpatient clinics market in the near future. In addition, the reducing burden on the healthcare sector due to the significant reduction in the daily patient admissions is projected to supplement the growth of the market in the near future. On the other hand, the strict regulatory framework and the lack of doctors to attend patients are estimated to restrict the growth of the market in the near future. Nevertheless, the robust development of the healthcare sector, especially in the developing economies is expected to generate promising opportunities in the forecast period.Global Outpatient Clinics Market: Region-wise OutlookAccording to the research study, North America is expected to lead the global outpatient clinics market throughout the forecast period. This region is estimated to register a progressive growth rate in the near future, owing to the rising government initiatives to reduce hospital admissions. In addition, the tremendously rising healthcare spending, availability of advanced healthcare infrastructure, and the abundant availability of necessary funds are some of the vital factors that are projected to encourage the growth of the North America outpatient clinics market in the next few years.Furthermore, Asia Pacific is expected to witness substantial growth throughout the forecast period, thanks to the rising lucrative opportunities. The growing focus on the development of healthcare infrastructure and the growing popularity of medical tourism are some of the other factors that are predicted to encourage the growth of the Asia Pacific market in the coming few years.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Key Players Mentioned in the Research Report are:With the rising number of players, the global outpatient clinics market is expected to witness intense competition in the near future. Some of the prominent players operating in the global outpatient clinics market are M D Anderson Cancer Center, Kaiser Permanente, Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale AZ, Davita, University of Maryland Medical Center, National Health Service, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Clevel and Clinic.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Phthalic Anhydride Market Growth and New Market Opportunities Explored - 2019

Phthalic Anhydride Market

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Transparency Market Research (TMR) in its report titled, Phthalic Anhydride Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2013 - 2019, provides a 360-degree view of the global phthalic anhydride market. The report states that the global phthalic anhydride market estimated at US$6.46 billion in 2012, and will reach a value of US$9.58 billion by 2019, with a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period of 2013 to 2019. Volume-wise, the global consumption of phthalic anhydride was over 4.3 million tons worldwide in 2012, and is expected to grow at a 3.6% CAGR during the forecast period.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Increasing Demand from End-User Industries Driving the Phthalic Anhydride MarketPhthalic anhydride (PA) being a chemical intermediate is used as a catalyst for manufacturing of plasticizers. Hence, the demand for PA is driven by high demand for phthalate plasticizers worldwide. The phthalate plasticizers industry led the demand for PA and attributed to 56.5% of the total global volume consumption in 2012. Increasing demand for phthalate plasticizers combined with strong demand from Asia Pacific has been the primary growth driver for the global PA market. Unsaturated Polyester Resins (UPRs) market is another growth driver for PA market, and contributed to 18.1% share of the total volume consumed in the year 2012. Accelerating demand for phthalate plasticizers in the production of polyvinyl chloride and UPRs, in the manufacturing of fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FPR) will further drive the global PA market during the forecast period.The global phthalic anhydride (PA) market according to geography is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). Currently, Asia Pacific is the largest regional market segment for the PA industry. In 2012, Asia Pacific dominated the global phthalic anhydride market with 55.2% of the total consumption of PA. In the past few years, the global PA market was driven by emerging countries such as India, Brazil, and China. However, the PA market experienced a significant decline in demand due to the global economic meltdown of 2008-2009. But, since 2010, the global PA market has witnessed a steady upward growth graph due to the upsurge in the end-user industries following the revival of the global economy. Furthermore, ever rising demand for phthalate plasticizers in PVC applications will further boost the demand for PA in the construction and automobile industry.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @Even though, the global PA market will demonstrate a modest 5.8% CAGR during 2013-2019, it will be suppressed by many factors. Stringent environment policies on the use of phthalates and alkyd resins and development of non-phthalate plasticizers will suppress the growth of the global PA industry. However, the growing paints and coating industry provides a good opportunity for the PA market. Currently, Asia Pacific is leading the global paints and coating market, which is followed by Europe and North America.The global PA market is highly fragmented in nature, and in 2013 the top 5 companies dominated less than one-third share of the market. Some of the key corporations in the global PA market include UPC Technology Corporation, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Polynt SpA, BASF SE, and Aekyung Petrochemical Co. Ltd.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Solvents Market : In-Depth Qualitative Insights 2018

Solvents Market

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The growing demand for organic solvents from end-use industries such as print-ink, pharmaceutical, and adhesive industry, has compelled producers of solvents to innovate their products to meet the needs of the end-use industries, reports Transparency Market Research in a new study. As the global market of solvents is dominated by large multinational companies, the lead manufacturers in the value chain are focused on providing consumers with innovative and environment friendly products. The key companies in the global solvents market are Celanese Corporation, ExxonMobil Corporation, BASF SE, Maruzen Petrochemical, Dow Chemical Company, Sasol Solvents, Solvay Chemicals, and Shell Chemical.The demand for bio-based solvents has intensified in developed as well as emerging economies due to the growing awareness about air pollution control and environment protection. This has provided growth opportunities for manufacturers of bio-based solvents. To meet the requirements of consumers and end users, manufacturers are making high investments in research and development projects for product development. The sales of solvents will be dependent on how exclusively manufacturers innovate their products to make them differentiable from their competitors.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Growth of Manufacturing and Construction Industry in BRICS to Lift Demand for SolventsRecent studies have evidenced that due to the investments made in infrastructural developments in the BRICS countries, the demand for paints and coatings is increasing substantially. The population explosion and strong economic growth has led to the development of residential and commercial infrastructure. As the demand for paints and coatings is increasing due to the development of infrastructure in these nations, the sale of solvents is also set to grow due to their usage in paints and coatings jobs for manufactured products.Paints and coatings is expected to have the maximum share of 61.7% in the global market by 2018, due to which the solvents market is also reported to grow at a steady pace.The demand for solvents is also high in the Asia Pacific region due to the growing demand for paints and coatings in this region. Asia Pacific is expected to account for 41.1% of the global market.Development of Bio-Based Solvents to Provide Future Growth Opportunities to ManufacturersThe growing regulations regarding the use of organic solvents has opened up opportunities for the development of alternative solvents for manufacturers. As consumers are becoming more aware about solvent based products which are lenient toward the atmosphere as well as health, the manufacturers are being presented with lucrative opportunities to develop better environment friendly products such as green or bio-based solvents.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @Price Volatility of Raw Materials to Hinder Global DemandThe fluctuating price of crude oil is expected to hinder the global market of solvents, says TMR. As the downstream derivatives of crude oil are the most commonly used solvents, the volatile price of crude oil is likely to slow down the market growth of solvents. Manufacturers find it difficult to maintain a single price level when the raw material price remains unstable, leading to a backward integration of the sales of the product. This also puts pressure on the profitability of the solvent manufacturers as the intermediate products produced from crude oil are their raw materials.In spite of the price structure drawback of solvents, its demand is anticipated to grow at a steady pace by 2018. Europe is expected to dominate the global solvents market with a share of 26.2% by the end of 2018. By revenue, the global solvents market was worth US$26.15 bn in 2015 and is expected to reach US$29.27 bn by 2018.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Polymer and Thermoplastic Micro Molding Market  Rapidly Growing Dynamic Markets - 2019

Polymer and Thermoplastic Micro Molding Market

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According to a new research report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global polymer and thermoplastic micro molding market had reached a value of US$308 million in the year 2012. It is estimated that this market will reach a value of US$763.60 million by the end of 2019, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 14.2% between 2013 and 2019.The research report, titled Polymer and Thermoplastic Micro Molding Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019, has been prepared after extensive study of the polymer and thermoplastic micro molding industry and presents a quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of the market. The market study provides detailed information about the past performance, current condition, and future prospects of the global market for polymer and thermoplastic micro molding.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Micro molding is a process that requires a particular molding machine with specific shot control, high speed and injection pressure, and extremely fine resolution to mold tiny devices, parts, and tools. This technology is used for the growth of micro products that need precision. Micro injection molding is generally done for parts designed to be of a size less than one millimeter and weight less than one milligram. Utilization of this technique is not only limited to tiny pieces of a device but may also be used for larger products that need micro-sized elements such as diameter hole and thickness.The polymer and thermoplastic micro molding market report includes application analysis and regional market evaluation for both polymer micro molding market and thermoplastic micro molding market.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @Medical and healthcare applications led the global market for thermoplastics micro molding and held around 35% of the overall market share in 2012. The speedy growth of micro fluidics technology, specifically in North America and Europe, is likely to trigger the micro molding industry in medical and healthcare sector during the period of 2013 to 2019. Telecom fiber optics is likely to generate US$95 million by the year 2019.Micro molding industry is estimated to develop at an anticipated CAGR of approximately 14% between 2013 and 2019 owing to the increase in demand for micro molding used for the manufacture of connectors, micro switches, and airbag sensors. The global demand for thermoplastic micro molding in drive systems and control is likely to attain around US$89 million by the end of 2019.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Mobile app development outsourcing

SUMA SOFT

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www.sumasoft.com

Most of the businesses are facing difficulty in building quality apps at an affordable cost. Indian companies are the hot cake for availing quality business services at reasonable cost. Thus, they are attracted to Indias mobile app development outsourcing companies.According to a survey, 80% of US and European companies chose India as their first mobile app development outsourcing destination. This is because India harbors worlds most skilled developers accompanied with relatively lower wages. This has created a great demand for Indian mobile app development outsourcing companies across the world.Top 4 reasons to choose India for mobile app development outsourcingPotential App Development Team: India has a vast pool of skilled and talented people that attract companies with their extraordinary and high-quality work. They are highly talented and speak excellent English while interacting with clients.Wide pricing spectrum: The cost is the major reason for mobile app development outsourcing to India. Mobile app development outsourcing company in India focus on delivering top quality of the product at reasonable price.IT friendly: The Indian mobile app development outsourcing industry supports stable pro-IT government policies on the economy, GDP growth, taxation, power, telecom etc. These are helpful in improved infrastructure. Other benefits of Information Technology Act, recognizes electronic contracts, bars cybercrime, and supports e-filing of documents.Connected Communication: Mobile app development outsourcing company from India, once handle the project ends with your exact requirements and the developer keeps regular communication to deliver a flawless project within assured time frame.Suma Soft is one of the best mobile app development outsourcing company in USA and India. We understand you and your requirements well in every step for the production of great quality end product. Our transparent and agile process is appreciated for being customer-centric. Get your mobile app development now, consult Suma Soft >Contact us:Call : +1 281 764 1825Name: Rick CooperEmail : info@sumasoft.comwebsite:Suma Soft is one of the best mobile app development outsourcing company in USA and India. We understand you and your requirements well in every step for the production of great quality end product. Our transparent and agile process is appreciated for being customer-centric.7880 San Felipe Street,Ste 120,Houston TX 77063-1647
Connected Home Appliances Market Analysis and Forecast Study for 2016-2026

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Connected home appliances are smart electronic appliances having internet connectivity, which can be accessible from any remote location using mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops. In short, any electronic home appliance if provided with internet connectivity would become connected home appliance. Smart home appliances enable users to monitor and control household activities from remote location. Growth of connected home appliances depends upon various factors such as internet infrastructure availability and smart phone penetration rate of the targeted region. If internet infrastructure of any country is robust and efficient, there would be more demand for connected home appliances. Being the more energy efficient solution compared to their traditional counterparts, connected home appliances are being adopted with substantial high adoption rate across the globe.Request for sample Report:Connected Home Appliances Market: Drivers and RestraintsPersonal and family security is the primary factor driving the adoption of connected home appliances by consumers across the globe. Over the last decade, adoption of connected home appliances grown quickly with the evolution of consumers who are more technology enthusiast. Also, with increasing adoption of smart phones, consumers are becoming more familiar with touch controls and world of apps which, in turn driving their attraction towards adoption of smart appliances. As connected home appliances generate more profit for the appliance makers as compared to traditional ones, manufacturers are diverting their focus from simple appliance manufacturing business to this business (connected appliance manufacturing), in order to increase their profitability margin. On the other hand, in various under developed or some of developing regions, lack of internet infrastructure and affordability issue are the factors hindering the growth of global connected home appliances market.Connected Home Appliances Market: SegmentationSegmentation of global connected home appliances market is done on the basis of appliance type, technology and region. On the basis of appliance type, global connected home appliances market is segmented into laundry appliances, security appliances (smart alarms and smart lock systems), water treatment appliances, kitchen appliances and others. These segments can further be sub-segmented into their respective sub-segments. As laundry appliances segment is sub-segmented into smart washers, smart dryers and other connected laundry units. Kitchen appliances segment is sub-segmented into smart refrigeration, smart cooking appliances (ranges, wall ovens, range hoods and vents) and cleaning appliances (dishwashers, disposers, trash compactors etc.). Water treatment appliance is sub-segmented into replacement smart filters, smart water heaters, smart water softeners and water filtration systems. Others appliances type includes smart LED lighting, smart air purifiers & filters, smart compactors etc. Among all the aforementioned appliances type segment, kitchen appliance type is estimated to dominant the global connected appliance market and by the end of forecast period others appliance type segment is expected to gain substantial market share in global market. On the basis of technology, global connected home appliances market is segmented into Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth. Among all these technology segments, Wi-Fi technology is the popular one and expected to remain dominant technology segment throughout the forecast period.Geographically, global connected home appliances market is segmented into seven regions which are ; North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Among all the regions Asia Pacific is the highest contributor in term of revenue in global connected home appliances market followed Europe and North America. In Asia Pacific, china is projected to be the leading market of connected home appliances in near future.Visit For Table of Contents:Connected Home Appliances Market: Market PlayersThe key players of global connected home appliances market include AT&T Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., ARRIS Group Inc., Comcast Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, Samsung Group, Whirlpool Corporation, General Electric and others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature.CONTACT:FUTURE MARKET INSIGHTS616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Sulfuric Acid Market Major Manufacturers, Trends, Demand, Share Analysis to 2023

Global Sulfuric Acid Industry

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Global Sulfuric Acid IndustryNew Study on 2018-2023 Sulfuric Acid Market Global Key Player, Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Forecast added to Wise Guy Reports DatabaseThe global sulfuric acid market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 4.1 % during 2018-2023. Sulfuric is a strong acid manufactured by oxidizing solutions of Sulfur-dioxide. In general, it is colorless, odorless liquid which is soluble in water and corrosive in nature. The market is showing a growth owing to increasing demand of the Sulfur based products, rising demand in industrial and fertilizer sector globally. It is mainly used in chemical manufacturing industry for making phosphate fertilizers automotive and pharmaceuticals. Additionally, sulfuric acid found a considerable utilization for sugar bleaching, paper bleaching, water treatment, cellulose fibers, coloring agents and so forth.Try Sample Report @The global sulfuric acid market has been segmented on the basis of manufacturing process, application, and type. By application, the market is divided into chemicals manufacturing, metal processing, textile industry, paper & sugar industry, automotive industry, fertilizer industry. The fertilizer industry will have a major market share across the globe. The fertilizer industry is increasing due to increasing usage of phosphate fertilizers in crops. By manufacturing processes, the market is divided in to contact process and wet sulfuric acid process. The contact process has a major market share due to wide spread acceptance of the technology. By type of acid, the market is divided into dilute and concentrated. Concentrated acid is expected to possess major market share due to its widespread application in industry such as producing phosphoric acid, in the production of fertilizers and so on.Geographically, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. North America will show a lucrative growth for sulfuric acid in the near future. In Asia pacific, the major countries contributing to the market are China, India, and Japan. China is the largest player in Asia in chemical industry hence anticipated to contribute as a major market for sulfuric acid market. India is expected to show a significant growth in the manufacturing sector in the recent near future and hence expected to have a considerable market in the region.The key players of global sulfuric acid market include: Akzonobel NV, Atul Ltd, BASF SE, Chevron and Solvay, Cytec industries, DuPont and Honeywell International. These companies are focusing on product innovations, expansions, and M&As, finding new market or innovate in their core competency in order to expand individual market share. Siemens is making use of sulfuric acid to make new generation blowers in order to increase the efficiency, reliability in usage, and reduction in space for their turbo-compressors. Similarly, DuPonts innovation is the high performance catalytic converter by using Sulfuric acid, which is named as GEAR to reduce pressure drop and improve performance.The report also includes detailed market overview, strategic recommendations, key company analysis, key findings, analyst insights, predictive analysis, patent analysis, pipeline analysis, market determinants, market segmentation and company profiling of the market.Market Segmentation:Global Sulfuric Acid is segmented on the basis of regional outlook and following segments:Global Sulfuric Acid Market Research and Analysis, By Manufacturing ProcessGlobal Sulfuric Acid Market Research and Analysis, By ApplicationGlobal Sulfuric Acid Market Research and Analysis, By TypeGlobal Sulfuric Acid Market Research and Analysis, By RegionThe Report covers:Comprehensive research methodology of Global Sulfuric Acid Market.This report also includes detailed and extensive market overview with key analyst insights.Exhaustive analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the Sulfuric Acid Market.Insights about market determinants which are stimulating the Sulfuric Acid Market.Detailed and extensive market segments with regional distribution of forecasted revenues.Extensive profiles and recent developments of market players.Some points from table of content:1. REPORT SUMMARY1.1. RESEARCH METHODS AND TOOLS1.2. MARKET BREAKDOWN1.2.1. BY SEGMENTS1.2.2. BY GEOGRAPHY1.2.3. BY STAKEHOLDERS1.2.4. EXCEPTIONS2. MARKET OVERVIEW AND INSIGHTS2.1. DEFINITION2.2. ANALYST INSIGHTS & CURRENT MARKET TRENDS2.2.1. KEY FINDINGS2.2.2. RECOMMENDATION2.2.3. CONCLUSION2.3. REGULATION2.3.1.1. UNITED STATES2.3.1.2. EUROPEAN UNION2.3.1.3. CHINA2.3.1.4. INDIAFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @3. MARKET DETERMINANT3.1. MOTIVATORS3.1.1. INCREASING DEMAND IN AUTOMOBILE SECTOR (BATTERIES AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE)3.1.2. APPLICATION IN INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT3.1.3. USAGE IN PHARMACEUTICALS, FERTILIZER (AGRICULTURE) MARKETS3.1.4. APPLICATION IN BLEACHING (PAPER & SUGAR INDUSTRY)3.1.5. GROWING DEMAND OF THE SULFUR BASED PRODUCTS (IN CELLULOSE FIBER, STEEL MANUFACTURING)3.2. RESTRAINT3.2.1. STRICT GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS3.2.2. ALTERNATIVE OF LEAD ACID BATTERY IN AUTOMOTIVE3.2.3. VOLATILITY IN PRICES OF RAW MATERIALS (SULFUR)3.2.4. SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN3.3. OPPORTUNITY3.3.1. TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT AND INNOVATION IN CATALYST4. MARKET SEGMENTATION4.1. GLOBAL SULFURIC ACID MARKET RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, BY APPLICATION4.1.1. CHEMICALS MANUFACTURING4.1.2. METAL PROCESSING4.1.3. TEXTILE INDUSTRY4.1.4. PAPER & SUGAR INDUSTRY4.1.5. AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY4.1.6. FERTILIZER INDUSTRY4.1.7. OTHER (POWER GENERATION)4.2. GLOBAL SULFURIC ACID MARKET RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, BY MANUFACTURING PROCESSES4.2.1. CONTACT PROCESS4.2.2. WET SULFURIC ACID PROCESS4.2.3. OTHER (METABISULFITE METHOD AND MORE)4.3. GLOBAL SULFURIC ACID MARKET RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS, BY TYPE OF ACID4.3.1. DILUTE SULFURIC ACID4.3.2. CONCENTRATED SULFURIC ACID5. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE5.1. KEY STRATEGIES5.2. KEY COMPANY ANALYSIS6. REGIONAL ANALYSIS6.1. NORTH AMERICAN6.1.1. UNITED STATES6.1.2. CANADA6.2. EUROPE6.2.1. UK6.2.2. GERMANY6.2.3. SPAIN6.2.4. FRANCE6.2.5. ITALY6.3. APAC6.3.1. INDIA6.3.2. CHINA6.3.3. JAPAN6.3.4. REST OF APAC6.4. REST OF THE WORLD7. COMPANY PROFILES7.1. AGRIUM INC7.2. AKZO NOBEL N.V.7.3. ATUL LTD7.4. AURUBIS AG7.5. BASF SEContinued.For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn:
Personal Care Wipes Market, Gain Popularity, Future Forecast 2023

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Personal care wipes are disposable personal care products used for cleaning and hygiene. These wipes are useful for sustaining sanitation of the human skin. Personal care wipes gain popularity worldwide due to their effectiveness as an alternative to the various products used for cleansing, such as soap, facewash, handkerchief, napkin, and cloth.For More Info, Get Sample :Ease to use and prevention of infection, owing to their disposable nature and maintenance of hygiene effectively, specifically when access to water is limited are the factors that drive the growth of the market. Rise in population of the infants and compatibility of baby personal care wipes with infants skin are major demand drivers for baby personal care wipes segment. On the other hand, there is an increase in demand for intimate wipes, owing to rise in consciousness of the consumers toward personal hygiene. In addition, surge in air pollution in urbanized areas and industrial zones also boosts the demand for personal care wipes, as the skin requires to be cleaned quickly after exposure to the air pollutants and dust to avoid skin problems. However, high cost of raw materials such as non-woven fabric, sanitization & sterilization contents, and other chemical ingredients hinders the growth of the market. Moreover, excessive use of chemical content in wipes that leads to skin irritation and allergies also limits the growth of the market. Further, use of natural ingredients in wipes such as coco-glucoside, malic acid, and aloe-vera as a substitute for chemical contents, provides future opportunity for market growth. Penetration of the market in less developed areas, which leads to surge in demand for wipes, due to high number of infants population and lack of availability of hygiene products also make way for different market growth opportunities.The report segments the global personal care wipes market into type, distribution channel, and region. Based on type, the market is classified into baby, general, intimate, and cosmetic. Based on distribution channel, it is divided into online, supermarket/hypermarket, specialty store, pharmacy, and others (individual sellers and general stores). Based on region, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS The report provides quantitative analysis of the current market and estimations through 2016-2023 that assists in identifying the prevailing market opportunities. Major countries in each region are mapped according to individual market revenue. This study evaluates competitive landscape along with value chain to understand the competitive environment across the geographies. Comprehensive analysis of factors that drive and restrict the growth of the personal care wipes industry is provided. Leading players are profiled and their key developments in recent years are listed.KEY MARKET PLAYERS: Procter and Gamble Co. (U.S.) La Fresh (U.S.) Kimberly Clark Corporation (U.S.) Rockline Industries (U.S.) Johnson & Johnson (U.S.) Meridian Industries Inc. (U.S.) Diamond Wipes International (U.S.) Unicharm International (Japan) Edgewell Personal Care (U.S.) NicePak International (U.S.)Enquire About Report :KEY MARKET SEGMENTSBy Type Baby General Intimate CosmeticBy Distribution Channel Online Supermarket/Hypermarket Specialty Store Pharmacy OthersBy Region North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe UK France Germany Italy Spain Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Australia Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific LAMEA Latin America Africa Middle EastOther Key Players* Hangzhou Linan Poem Clean Day Co., Ltd (China) Body Wipe Company (U.S) DUDE Products, Inc. (U.S). Healthy Hoohoo (U.S.)Also Request For Discount :Table Of Content CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 3: MARKET OVERVIEW CHAPTER 4: PERSONAL CARE WIPES MARKET, BY TYPE CHAPTER 5: PERSONAL CARE WIPES MARKET, BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL CHAPTER 6: PERSONAL CARE WIPES MARKET, BY REGION CHAPTER 7: COMPANY PROFILEAbout UsWe have a large database of quality and precise market research reports that will be very beneficial for your organization. Reports that we sell our authentic in nature and from reputed publishers, hence it can definitely help you with your growth opportunities. Research Beam will always make sure to bring most ethical and high quality reports. We value your relationship with us and look forward for a long term relation.Contact UsGlobal Head Quarters5933 NE Win Sivers Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United States+1 (800) 910-6452help@researchbeam.com
Sustainability Management Software Market 2018-2023: Global Key Players  Schneider Electric, IBM Corporation, SAP SE, CA Technologies, Verisae Inc.

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Sustainability Management Software Market, By Component (Software, Service), By Software (Collaboration and Communication Systems), By Service (Implementation Service, Consulting Service), By Deployment (Cloud Based, On-Premise) - Forecast 2023Market Scenario:Sustainability management software can be defined as a software solution adopted by organization to maintain smooth and efficient functioning of operational activities in enterprises. It helps enterprises to enhance their business performance through automated analysis, data management and reporting.The study indicates, increased awareness among enterprise for sustainability management software to improve profit margins by ensuring high return on investment on capital by reducing operating cost is one of the significant factor driving market growth. According to the study, the implementation of advanced technologies by enterprise that includes cloud computing, mobility, big data analytics, and remote connectivity to capitalize profit is fueling the market growth. By deployment segment, cloud based sustainability management software is expected to account for highest market share.The sustainability management software market can be segmented on the basis of component, deployment and application. The component segmented is sub-segmented into software and service. The software includes sustainability performance and project management software, sustainable product development software, collaboration and communication system, infrastructure management software and corporate social responsibility data management software. Sustainability performance and project management software empower organization by establishing project initiatives at corporate or site level, by focusing on executing strategy and increasing returns , it improves enterprise reporting accuracy and usability and minimize time and cost required for gathering data.The sustainability management software market is expected to grow at approximately USD 900 Million by 2023, at 7% of CAGR between 2018 and 2023.Get Sample Report @Study Objectives of Sustainability Management Software Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the sustainability management software market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the sustainability management software market based porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment on the basis of component, deployment and vertical. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the sustainability management software market.Key Players:The prominent players in the Sustainability Management Software Market are  Schneider Electric (France), IBM Corporation (U.S.), SAP SE (Germany), CA Technologies (U.S.), Verisae, Inc. (U.S.), Thinkstep (Germany), Urjanet Inc (U.S.), Accuvio (Ireland), Ecova Inc. (U.S.), Figbytes Inc. (Canada), among others.Segments:Sustainability management software market is segmented on the basis of component, deployment and vertical.Sustainability Management Software Market by Component: Software Sustainability Performance and Project Management Software Sustainable Component Development Software Collaboration and Communication Systems Infrastructure Management Software Corporate Social Responsibility Data Management Software Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Software Others Service Implementation Service Consulting Service Outsourcing and Support ServiceSustainability Management Software Market by Deployment: On-Cloud On-PremiseSustainability Management Software Market by Vertical: IT & Telecommunication Healthcare Automotive Manufacturing Oil & Gas OthersGet Report Details @Regional Analysis:The regional analysis of sustainability management software market is being studied for region such as Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and Rest of the World. North America is one of the leading player in the sustainability management software market owing to major sustainability management software manufacturers present in the region followed by Europe. According to the study, Europe region is expected to dominate the market in the future. Asia-Pacific region is fastest growing region in the sustainability management market owing to increased awareness among enterprises of sustainable software and developing IT infrastructure is boosting the market in the region.Intended Audience Investors and consultants System Integrators Government Organizations Research/Consultancy firms Technology solution providers IT Solution Providers Original Equipment ManufacturersAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst membersContact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Sol-Gel Coatings Global Market Top Key Players  3M Company , Aspen Aerogels , Cabot , Chemat Technology , Prinz Optics GmbH and Forecast to 2025

Sol-Gel Coatings Market

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Global Sol-Gel Coatings MarketWiseGuyRerports.com Presents Global Sol-Gel Coatings Market Research Report 2017 New Document to its Studies Database. The Report Contain 106 Pages With Detailed Analysis.DescriptionGlobal Sol-Gel Coatings market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players including3M CompanyAspen AerogelsCabotChemat TechnologyPrinz Optics GmbHGaema TechHybrid Glass TechnologiesMarkeTech InternationalNanogate AGNTC Nano Tech Coatings GmbHGet sample Report @Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Sol-Gel Coatings in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoDip CoatingSpray CoatingCapillary CoatingSpin CoatingFlow CoatingRoll CoatingOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Sol-Gel Coatings for each application, includingAutomobileElectronic ProductAerospaceConstructionComplete Report Details @Table of Contents -Major Key PointsGlobal Sol-Gel Coatings Market Research Report 20171 Sol-Gel Coatings Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Sol-Gel Coatings1.2 Sol-Gel Coatings Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Dip Coating1.2.4 Spray Coating1.2.5 Capillary Coating1.2.6 Spin Coating1.2.7 Flow Coating1.2.8 Roll Coating1.3 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Segment by Application1.3.1 Sol-Gel Coatings Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Automobile1.3.3 Electronic Product1.3.4 Aerospace1.3.5 Construction1.4 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Sol-Gel Coatings (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)..7 Global Sol-Gel Coatings Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 3M Company7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Sol-Gel Coatings Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 3M Company Sol-Gel Coatings Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Aspen Aerogels7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Sol-Gel Coatings Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Aspen Aerogels Sol-Gel Coatings Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Cabot7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Sol-Gel Coatings Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Cabot Sol-Gel Coatings Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Chemat Technology7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Sol-Gel Coatings Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Chemat Technology Sol-Gel Coatings Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Prinz Optics GmbH7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Sol-Gel Coatings Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Prinz Optics GmbH Sol-Gel Coatings Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview..CONTINUEDAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, Industry research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)
Global Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Market 2018 Industry Trend and Forecast 2023

Global Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Industry

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Global Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics IndustryNew Study on 2018-2023 Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Market Global Key Player, Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Forecast added to Wise Guy Reports DatabaseThe global bone cancer diagnosis market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 7.8% by 2023. Several factors such as exposure towards radiation, factures, treatment for certain cancer related drugs, and genetic disorders cause bone cancer. Robust healthcare expenditure in developed countries, genetic disorder, and development of stem cell transplant technology are some of the major factors that drive the growth of the market. Rising geriatric population is one of the major factors that contribute to the growth of the market as several diseases rise with aging. The increase in the prevalence of the Paget diseases and others are the factors that are driving the market. Major symptoms of bone cancer include pain, swelling, and fractures. When the bone cancer develops in a bone, the bone weakens.Try Sample Report @According to the Cancer Research UK organization, 580 new cases of bone sarcoma were found in the UK during 2014. The occurrence rate of bone sarcoma is anticipated to fall by 5% in the UK by 2035, to 1 case for each 100,000 individuals by 2035. 1 in every 1,140 men and 1 out of 1,660 women will be determined to have bone sarcoma amid their lifetime. The bone cancer diagnosis and therapeutics market has been segmented on the basis of type, therapies and end users. On the basis of type, the market has been segmented into primary bone cancer and secondary bone cancer. The primary bone cancer has been further bifurcated into osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Ewings sarcoma, Spindle cell sarcoma, and chordoma. Based on diagnosis, the market has been bifurcated into MRI scan, X-rays, CT-scan, Radionuclide bones scans, biopsy and others. On the basis of therapies, the market has been bifurcated into radiation therapies, chemotherapy, cryosurgery, surgical treatment, targeted therapy and others. According to end user, the market has been segmented into multispecialty hospitals and cancer research centers.Geographically, the worldwide bone cancer diagnosis and therapeutics showcase is divided into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific market is considered to be the fastest growing market globally. The rise in number of cancer patients in the APAC region is considered to rise eventually enabling bone cancer diagnosis and therapeutics market to grow. North America and Europe are considered to be the dominating markets due to various factors such as high healthcare expenditure, development in technology, support from government, rising key market players fuel the growth of the market.The key players in the bone cancer diagnosis and therapeutics market Include Ablynz, Allergan, Aveo pharmaceuticals, Inc., Amgen Inc., Amura Holdings Ltd., Bayer AG, Catena pharmaceuticals Inc., Celldex therapeutics, Debiopharma Group, Eli Lilly and Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Galapagos NV, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Medivir AB, Merrion Pharmaceuticals Plc., Novartis AG, Pfizer, Inc. These are the key strategic players of bone cancer diagnosis and therapeutics.MARKET SEGMENTATION:Global bone cancer diagnosis and therapeutics market is segmented on the basis of, type, by therapies, by diagnosis, by end user and regional outlook.Global Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Market Research and Analysis, By TypeGlobal Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Market Research and Analysis, By TherapiesGlobal Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Market Research and Analysis, By DiagnosisGlobal Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Market Research and Analysis, By End UserGlobal Bone Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutics Market Research and Analysis, By RegionThe Report covers:Comprehensive research methodology of Global Bone cancer diagnosis and therapeuticsThis report also includes detailed and extensive market overview with key analyst insights.Exhaustive analysis of macro and micro factors influencing the market guided by key recommendations.Analysis of regional regulations and other government policies impacting the Global Bone cancer diagnosis and therapeuticsInsights about market determinants which are stimulating the Global Bone cancer diagnosis and therapeuticsDetailed and extensive market segments with regional distribution of forecasted revenues.Extensive profiles and recent developments of market players.Some points from table of content:1. REPORT SUMMARY1.1. RESEARCH METHODS AND TOOLS1.2. MARKET BREAKDOWN1.2.1. BY SEGMENTS1.2.2. BY GEOGRAPHY1.2.3. BY STAKEHOLDERS2. MARKET OVERVIEW AND INSIGHTS2.1. DEFINITION2.2. ANALYST INSIGHTS & CURRENT MARKET TRENDS2.2.1. KEY FINDINGS2.2.2. RECOMMENDATION2.2.3. CONCLUSION2.3. REGULATIONS2.3.1. UNITED STATES2.3.2. EUROPEAN UNION2.3.3. CHINA2.3.4. INDIA2.3.5. REST OF THE WORLD2.4. PATENT ANALYSISFor Detailed Reading Please visit WiseGuy Reports @3. MARKET DETERMINANT3.1. MOTIVATORS3.1.1. ROBUST HEALTHCARE EXPENDITURE IN THE DEVELOPED ECONOMIES3.1.2. EXPOSURE TOWARDS RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL3.1.3. RISING GERIATRIC POPULATION3.1.4. INCREASING INCIDENCE OF PAGET DISEASES AMONG INDIVIDUALS3.1.5. STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS TECHNOLOGY3.2. RESTRAINTS3.2.1. LACK OF AWARNESS TOWARDS DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPEUTICS IN DEVELOPING AND UNDER DEVELPOED NATIONS3.2.2. HIGH COST OF TREATMENT3.3. OPPORTUNITIES3.3.1. R&D AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT ON THE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY4. MARKET SEGMENTATION4.1. GLOBAL BONE CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPEUTICS MARKET, BY TYPE4.1.1. PRIMARY BONE CANCER4.1.1.1. OSTEOSARCOMA4.1.1.2. CHONDROSARCOMA4.1.1.3. EWINGS SARCOMA4.1.1.4. SPINDEL CELL SARCOMA4.1.1.5. CHORDOMA4.1.2. SECONDARY BONE CANCER4.2. GLOBAL BONE CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPEUTICS MARKET, BY DIAGNOSIS4.2.1. MRI SCANS4.2.2. X-RAYS4.2.3. CT-SCAN4.2.4. RADIONUCLIDE BONE SENSORS4.2.5. BIOPSY4.2.6. OTHERS4.3. GLOBAL BONE CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPEUTICS MARKET, BY THERAPIES4.3.1. RADIATION THERAPIES4.3.2. CHEMOTHERAPHY4.3.3. CRYOSURGERY4.3.4. SURGICAL TREATMENT4.3.5. TARGETED THERAPHY4.3.6. OTHERS4.4. GLOBAL BONE CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPEUTICS MARKET, BY END USER4.4.1. MULTISPECIALITY HOSPITALS4.4.2. CANCER RESEARCH CENTERS5. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE5.1. STRATEGY ANALYSIS5.2. KEY COMPANY ANALYSIS6. REGIONAL ANALYSIS6.1. NORTH AMERICA6.1.1. UNITED STATES6.1.2. CANADA6.2. EUROPE6.2.1. UNITED KINGDOM6.2.2. FRANCE6.2.3. GERMANY6.2.4. ITALY6.2.5. SPAIN6.2.6. REST OF EUROPE6.3. ASIA PACIFIC6.3.1. INDIA6.3.2. CHINA6.3.3. JAPAN6.4. REST OF THE WORLD7. COMPANY PROFILES7.1. ABLYNZ7.2. ALLERGAN7.3. AVEO PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.7.4. AMGEN INC.7.5. AMURA HOLDINGS LTD.7.6. BAYER AG7.7. CATENA PHARMACEUTICALS INC.Continued.For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comAbout UsWise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact Us:Norah Trent+1 646 845 9349 / +44 208 133 9349Follow on LinkedIn:
Smart Lighting & Control - Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis of Top Key Player Forecast To 2020

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IntroductionIntelligent lighting systems are considered to be the future of the whole lightning industry. As the lightning fixtures, such as LEDs and others are coming into the market, the smart lighting industry is expected to reach new heights. Increasing application areas and wide adoptability of smart lighting in commercial and outdoor are driving the market. Also, technological advancement in field of smart lightning is supporting the market. Smart lighting and Control Systems which is anticipated to grow at an unprecedented rate to reach the $60 billion mark by 2020. Power optimization by various methods are the key strategy which the global players are adopting in order to maximize their reach and profit.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Asia-Pacific is leading the market in the year 2015 which and will continue with this trend through the forecast period. APAC region has also emerged as the fastest growing region, anticipated to account for revenue of $24.35 billion by 2020 at a CAGR of 21.26% from 2015 to 2020.North America and Europe were in close competition in 2014.However, it is anticipated that Europe will surpass the revenue generation from North America, growing over $13.54 billion by 2020 at an estimated CAGR of 18.95% from 2015 to 2020.Key PlayersThe leading market players in the global Smart Lighting & Control market are- Aura Lights (Sweden), Cree (U.S.), Crompton Greaves (India), Digital Lumens (U.S.), Eyelighting International (U.S.), GE Lighting (U.S.), Havells Sylavania (India), Koninkiljke Philips NV (Netherlands), LEDZED (Spain), Lemnis Lighting (Netherlands), LIFX (Australia), Lucibel (France), Mpowerd (U.S.), OSRAM GMBH (Germany), Ritdisplay Corp. (Taiwan), TSMC Solid State Lighting Limited (Taiwan), Wisechip Semiconductors (Taiwan).Study Objectives of Smart Lighting & Control Market Development and Demand Forecast to 2022 Market To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Smart Lighting & Control market development and demand market Upcoming technologies, high growth geographies and countries were identified Regional and country specific demand and forecast for Smart Lighting & Control were studied Key segments covered in the report are: Lightning Type, Components, Applications and region Unit breakdown for all different classification was finalized; and same was referred for forecasting, keeping few assumptions into factor For all the regions: forecast demand for all applications were identified and then with historical figure, data collected through primary and annual reports were triangulated to derive the regional market size Historical trend is identified to forecast and estimate the future value dataTarget Audience Lightning Manufacturers Suppliers & Distributors Technology Providers Energy Distributors SMEs Large OrganizationsKey Findings The global Smart Lighting & Control market and is expected to reach $59.97 billion by 2020. Fixture (LED and HID) is expected to grow at US $51.37 billion in 2020 from US $21.67 billion in 2015 with CAGR of 18.8%. By Application of Fixture Market, Commercial is expected to grow at US $24.64 billion in 2020 from US $6.7 billion in the year 2015. Regionally, Asia-Pacific holds 36% of market share in the year 2014 which is expected to grow at 52% by the end of year 2020.Regional and Country Analysis of Smart Lighting & Control Market Estimation and ForecastAsia-Pacific Smart Lighting Fixture and Control Market has been valued at US $9.26 billion in the year 2015 which is expected to grow US $24.35 billion followed by North America which holds second position in the year 2015. Europe is expected to dominate North America by the end of forecast period. Asia-Pacific is also fastest growing market with CAGR of 21.26%.Table of Content: Key Points1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 212 MARKET DYNAMICS 273 SMART LIGHTING MARKET BY LIGHTING TYPE 544 SMART LIGHT MARKET BY COMPONENTS 775 SMART LIGHTING & CONTROL SYSTEM APPLICATION MARKET 94ContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Interactive Whiteboard Market Estimated to Expand at -17% during 2016 to 2026

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Introduction: An interactive whiteboard is a large display designed to be connected to a computer and projector. The projector projects what is displayed on the computer desktop and the image projected on the whiteboard can be manipulated or controlled by the user with the help of a pen, finger or other devices. In case of power outage, interactive whiteboard can also be used as a conventional dry erase whiteboard, on which the user can write on with a simple board marker. The board is typically wall-mounted floor standing, depending on the available space.Market Value and Forecast, Segmentation By Technology and By End-user, Key Regions, Key PlayersThe global interactive whiteboard market was valued at US$ 1,257.3 Mn by 2015 end, which is expected to decline at a CAGR of -17% during the forecast period (20162026). Increasing government support for transformation of conventional chalk blackboard classrooms into digital ones and increasing significance of e-Learning and virtual learning environments across the globe are some of the key trends associated with the interactive whiteboard market currently. Rise in large scale investment projects to integrate technology into education and increasing adoption of interactive whiteboards at a relatively slow rate in the corporate sector as well as by some Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and educational institutions having low budget are major trend in this market currently.Enter Your Information Below to Receive a Sample Copy of this Report @The global interactive whiteboard market is segmented on the basis of digitizing technology, endusers and region. On the basis of digitizing technology, the market is segmented into digital vision touch (DViT) technology, infrared digitizing technology, electromagnetic digitizing technology and others (LASER, resistive, capacitive, ultrasonic, etc.). On the basis of endusers, the market is segmented into education sector and others. Among the digitizing technology segments, DViT technology is the most dominant digitizing technology segment in the market currently. Growth of the DViT digitizing technology segment is mainly driven by its attractive and sleek design and advanced features capable of offering an enhanced user experience within a limited budget. Among the various enduser segments, the education end-user segment is the most dominant one, mainly attributed to low price of interactive whiteboards and the benefits on offer for students in terms of provision of advanced teaching applications. Detailed analysis of each segment and sub-segment is provided in the report to offer an accurate insight into the market.The global interactive whiteboard market is segmented into six major regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Middle East & Africa (MEA). Among these, the APAC market is expected to be the largest contributor in terms of value, accounting for over 60.5% share of the global interactive whiteboard market by 2015 end. This is mainly attributed to rise in government initiatives to enable classrooms with technological equipment such as PCs, projectors, laptops and interactive whiteboards to facilitate easy learning for students in the region.Request For Table Of Content @Key players identified in the global interactive whiteboard market include SMART Technologies Inc., Promethean World plc., Hitachi, Ltd., Panasonic Corporation, Steelcase Inc., Julong Educational Technology Co., Ltd., Touch IT Technologies Inc., Xiamen Interactive Technology Co., Ltd, Turning Technologies, LLC. and Egan Teamboard Inc.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Hirsutism Treatment Market 2018 Top Players Outlook by AbbVie Inc., Allergan, Bayer AG, Pfizer Inc. and Forecast to 2023

Hirsutism Treatment Market

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Global Hirsutism Treatment Market  SegmentsGlobal Hirsutism Treatment Market has been segmented on the basis of type which comprises of idiopathic hirsutism, secondary hirsutism, and others.On the basis of diagnosis, the market is segmented into blood tests, imaging tests, physical examination, and others. Blood tests sub-segmented into testosterone level test, DHEA-sulfate test, and others. Imaging test sub-segmented into ultrasound, CT scan, and others. Physical examination sub-segmented into inspection, auscultation, palpation and percussion, and others.Get Sample Report @On the basis of treatments, the market has been segmented into medications, procedures, and others. Medication is sub-segmented into oral contraceptives, anti-androgens, topical cream, and others. Procedures include electrolysis, laser therapy, and others.On the basis of end user, it is segmented into hospitals and clinics, medical research centers, academic institutes, and others.Global Hirsutism Treatment Market - Key PlayersSome of the key players in this market are:AbbVie Inc. (US)Allergan (Republic of Ireland)Bayer AG (Germany)Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (US)Jubilant Cadista (US)Pfizer Inc. (US)Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (India)Global Hirsutism Treatment Market - HighlightsHirsutism is a condition of excessive, unwanted, and male-pattern hair growth in women. Hirsutism results in unwanted hair growth on body areas such as face, stomach, back, and chest. About 5% of US women have hirsutism. Global Hirsutism Treatment Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of ~13.6% during the forecast period and is estimated to reach USD 5295.0 million by 2023.Increasing procedures, growing awareness of treatments, increasing personal care expenditure, and technological advancement are major factors for the market growth. Increasing R&D and new product development are also important factors for market growth.Global Hirsutism Treatment Market - Study ObjectivesTo provide detailed analysis of the global hirsutism treatment market structure with historical and forecast revenue for the next six years of the various segments and sub-segments.To provide insights about the key drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges affecting the growth of global hirsutism treatment marketTo provide analysis of the market with respect to various countries in the four main geographies the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.To provide detailed analysis of the market segmented by type, diagnosis, treatment, end user, and its sub-segments.Get Discount on Report @Global Hirsutism Treatment Market - Regional AnalysisConsidering the global scenario of the market, America is holding the largest market share. The Americas are second largest hirsutism treatment market, especially developed North America region is holding the largest market share not only in America but also in global hirsutism treatment market. While UK is believed to be the fastest growing market for hirsutism treatment in European region. Factors like technological advancement, and increasing demand for treatments are leading the growth for this region. Europe is the second largest market for hirsutism. Due to Increasing awareness, rising healthcare expenditure, availability of affordable healthcare facilities, Asia Pacific is fastest growing region in global hirsutism market. Middle East and Africa contributes least market share and expected to grow slower than global average growth rate.Global Hirsutism Treatment Market - Intended AudienceHirsutism treatment medicines manufacturersHirsutism medicines and treatment providersHospitals and clinicsMedical Research laboratoriesResearch and Development (R&D) CompaniesMarket Research and Consulting Service ProvidersPotential InvestorsThe report for Global Hirsutism Treatment Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain deeper insight to the market and industry performance. The report gives a clear picture of the current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regionsMajor Table of Contents1 Introduction1.1 Definition1.2 Scope of Study1.3 Research Objective1.4 Assumptions & Limitations1.5 Market Structure:2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research3 Market Dynamics3.1 Drivers3.2 Restraints3.3 Opportunities3.4 Challenges3.5 Macroeconomic Indicators4 Market Factor AnalysisContinuedTo Know More Enquire @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Network Monitoring Tools Industry Applications, Key Developments and Forecast 2025

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This report studies the global Network Monitoring Tools market, analyzes and researches the Network Monitoring Tools development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeManageEngineSysAid TechnologiesSplunkDeep SoftwareWebroot SoftwareNetreoBlack DuckVictorOpsPagerDutyEventTrackerPingman ToolsSonecoHelpSystemsIPHostMonitorZabbixDomotzPulsewayDatadogNetCrunchAuvikEventSentryRequest a Sample Report @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Type, the product can be split intoOn-premisesCloud-BasedMarket segment by Application, Network Monitoring Tools can be split intoSmall and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)Large EnterprisesIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsGlobal Network Monitoring Tools Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Network Monitoring Tools1.1 Network Monitoring Tools Market Overview1.1.1 Network Monitoring Tools Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Network Monitoring Tools Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Network Monitoring Tools Market by Type1.3.1 On-premises1.3.2 Cloud-Based1.4 Network Monitoring Tools Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)1.4.2 Large Enterprises2 Global Network Monitoring Tools Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Network Monitoring Tools Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in Future3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 ManageEngine3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 SysAid Technologies3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 Splunk3.3.1 Company Profile3.3.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.3.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.3.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.3.5 Recent Developments3.4 Deep Software3.4.1 Company Profile3.4.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.4.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.4.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.4.5 Recent Developments3.5 Webroot Software3.5.1 Company Profile3.5.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.5.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.5.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.5.5 Recent Developments3.6 Netreo3.6.1 Company Profile3.6.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.6.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.6.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.6.5 Recent Developments3.7 Black Duck3.7.1 Company Profile3.7.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.7.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.7.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.7.5 Recent Developments3.8 VictorOps3.8.1 Company Profile3.8.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.8.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.8.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.8.5 Recent Developments3.9 PagerDuty3.9.1 Company Profile3.9.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.9.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.9.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.9.5 Recent Developments3.10 EventTracker3.10.1 Company Profile3.10.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.10.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.10.4 Network Monitoring Tools Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.10.5 Recent Developments3.11 Pingman Tools3.12 Soneco3.13 HelpSystems3.14 IPHostMonitor3.15 Zabbix3.16 Domotz3.17 Pulseway3.18 Datadog3.19 NetCrunch3.20 Auvik3.21 EventSentry4 Global Network Monitoring Tools Market Size by Type and Application (2013-2018)4.1 Global Network Monitoring Tools Market Size by Type (2013-2018)4.2 Global Network Monitoring Tools Market Size by Application (2013-2018)4.3 Potential Application of Network Monitoring Tools in Future4.4 Top Consumer/End Users of Network Monitoring Tools5 United States Network Monitoring Tools Development Status and Outlook5.1 United States Network Monitoring Tools Market Size (2013-2018)5.2 United States Network Monitoring Tools Market Size and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)5.3 United States Network Monitoring Tools Market Size by Application (2013-2018)6 EU Network Monitoring Tools Development Status and Outlook6.1 EU Network Monitoring Tools Market Size (2013-2018)6.2 EU Network Monitoring Tools Market Size and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)6.3 EU Network Monitoring Tools Market Size by Application (2013-2018)ContinuedAccess Complete Report @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Pharmaceutical Isolator Market up to 2023 | Top Companies, Growth Factors Details with Growth of 8.1% and Regional Overview by Types & Application

Pharmaceutical Isolator Market

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Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market  SegmentationThe Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market has been segmented on the basis of type, system, pressure differential, and end user.Based on the type, the market has been segmented into aseptic isolators, containment isolators, bio isolators, sampling, weighing, and distribution isolators, active pharmaceutical ingredient & manufacturing isolators, and other.Based on the system, the market has been segmented as closed systems and open systems.Based on the pressure differential, the market has been segmented as positive pressure, and negative pressure.Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as hospitals and diagnostics labs, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries, research and academics and others.Get Sample Report @Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market  Key PlayersSome of the key players profiled in the report areGelman SingaporeCOMECER S.p.A. cf. p.iva, IsoTech DesignLAF Technologies Pvt LtdFedegari Autoclavi S.p.AHosokawa Micron Ltd.Bosch GmbHMBRAUNChamunda Pharma Machinery Pvt. Ltd.Schematic Engineering IndustriesNuAire, Inc.Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market  HighlightsAn isolator is an equipment designed to avoid contamination. Isolators are either open or closed. Open isolators allow for ingress or egress of materials while affording a level of protection from the external environment and thus protect products while allowing materials to enter and exit the workspace. Closed isolators, enable complete separation between the internal and external environment except for filtered air and they offer full protection to the substance being handled. Aseptic isolators differ from containment isolators on account of air pressure. Aseptic isolators use positive pressure to keep contamination out, while containment isolator applies negative pressure to keep contamination out of the workspace.The market drivers for global pharmaceutical isolator market are rising demand due to the growing pharmaceutical and biotechnological industry, increasing regulations and cost of noncompliance, expanding the use of aseptic methods, rising bio labs, growing used of toxic and hazardous materials, advancements in isolator efficiency, and technology. However, the high cost of the isolators, high maintenance, the high cost of operation, the weak regulatory framework in developing regions and lack of inspection, increasing specifications, and stringency of quality control checks disease may hamper the growth of the market over the review period.Isolators are commonly found in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry and are widely used for pharmacy aseptic compounding applications. The global pharmaceutical isolator market is expected to reach USD 39.0 billion by 2023, and the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 8.1 % during the forecast period 2018-2023.Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market  Intended AudienceGlobal Pharmaceutical isolator manufacturers & suppliersResearch and development (R&D) companiesHospitals and clinicsAcademic institutes and universitiesGet Discount on Report @Global Pharmaceutical Isolator Market  Regional AnalysisThe Americas accounts for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care. Additionally, the large research and development base of U.S. is a strong driver of the market. The high concentration of the major healthcare companies, biotech labs, and hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with stringent regulatory and inspection guidelines are adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, the US has a high inspection rate and the growing stringency of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections has fueled the market.Europe is the second largest market in the world due to the growing pharmaceutical and industrial base. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. Germany is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period. The strong presence of the pharmaceutical industry in Germany is a strong driver behind the dominance of this country in Europe. The growing research and development expenditures of the developed regions have stimulated the market for isolators in these regions.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly; China and India are likely to lead this market due to fast growing pharmaceutical sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. South East Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth. The growing penetration of pharmaceutical and biotech industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future pharmaceutical isolator market in the region. The biotech industry is expected to demand for the largest number of isolators among all industries.Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are estimated to drive the Middle East & African market. Other Middle East nations to watch out for are Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Iran. The African region is expected to witness a moderate growth owing to poor economic and political conditions, and poor healthcare development. The poor research and development in the Middle East and Africa region has restricted the market for pharmaceutical isolators market.To Know More Enquire @Major Table of ContentChapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4. Market DynamicsContinued.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: salesteam@marketresearchfuture.com
Decorative Concrete Market worth 12.78 Billion USD by 2022

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The report "Decorative Concrete Market by Type (Stamped, Stained, Colored, Polished, Epoxy Coating, Concrete Overlays), Application (Floors, Driveways & Sidewalks, Walls, Patios, Pool Decks), End-use Sector, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022", The decorative concrete market size is projected to grow from USD 9.26 Billion in 2017 to reach USD 12.78 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.66%.Browse 142 Market Data Tables and 35 Figures spread through 183 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Decorative Concrete Market by Type (Stamped, Stained, Colored, Polished, Epoxy Coating, Concrete Overlays), Application (Floors, Driveways & Sidewalks, Walls, Patios, Pool Decks), End-use Sector, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports.The global decorative concrete market is witnessing a growth in demand, owing to the rise in renovation & remodeling activities, growth in interest of consumers toward interior decoration, and rapid urbanization & globalization. The growth in demand from the residential industry also provides an opportunity for market growth, especially in the emerging Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern & African regions.Stamped concrete segment, by type, to gain maximum share during the forecast periodThe stamped concrete segment is projected to account for the largest share by 2022, mainly due to new residential construction and commercial projects that are increasingly adopting stamped decorative concrete. Decorative concrete is lucrative for several reasons such as aesthetic enhancement, improvement of indoor air quality, and skid resistance. The high demand and rapid growth of stamped concrete are supported by its easy installation and higher strength. The growing construction industry also provides an opportunity to the market to grow further.The floors segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast periodDecorative concrete finds application in floors, walls, patios, driveways & sidewalks, and pool decks. The floors segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The high demand can be attributed to the various benefits it offers to the floors. Decorative concrete improves the aesthetic appeal of the floors as various textures, designs, patterns, and logos can be imparted to it. Decorative concrete is skid-resistant and has high strength which can withstand heavy foot traffic, thereby increasing its demand in floors.Europe is accounted for the largest share of the decorative concrete market in 2016On the basis of region, the decorative concrete market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East & Africa. The European market accounted for the largest share among all regions in 2016, in terms of value. However, the growth in the region is projected to trail behind the global average. Germany accounted for the largest market share in the European region in 2016, followed by France. The U.K. is projected to register the highest growth in Europe during the forecast period due to the upsurge of housing activities in the country. The European market has been a leader with respect to product innovation, in terms of quality and application development.The major players include BASF SE (Germany), PPG Industries, Inc. (U.S.), 3M Company (U.S.), E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), RPM International Inc. (U.S.), Huntsman International LLC (U.S.), The Sherwin-Williams Company (U.S.), Boral Limited (Australia), CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (Mexico), Sika AG (Switzerland), and UltraTech Cement Limited (India). Companies adopted strategies such as acquisitions and expansions to cope with the increase in demand in the emerging markets.MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions.Mr. RohanMarketsandMarkets701 Pike Street,Suite 2175, Seattle,WA 98101, United States1-888-600-6441Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com
Smart Fabrics Market Projected to Garner Significant Revenues by 2026

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Smart fabrics, also known as smart textiles, E-textiles or electronic textiles, are the fabrics that has electronics and digital components embedded in them. These are the fabrics that can sense stimuli from environment and adapt and react to those stimuli in a predetermined manner. Smart fabrics can incorporate actuators/sensors, communication and processing for applications in automotive sector, consumer products and health monitoring. The basic elements of smart fabrics are semi conductive and conductive yarns and threads, Nano electronics applied to yarns, fibres or woven elements. Smart fabrics are even chemically treated to provide distinct and special features. Smart fabrics are traditional fabrics with integrated functionalities, which could include storage or power generation, sensing devices, human interface elements, assistive technology or radio frequency functionality. Smart fabrics are distinct from wearable fabrics in a way that wearable devices are only carried and contained by clothing, whereas smart fabrics has wearable devices integrated into the fabrics. Nowadays, smart fabric technology is developing in the fields of sport, medical, artistic communities, fashion etc. The global smart fabrics market is expected to expand at a healthy CAGR in the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Global smart fabrics market  Drivers and RestrainsThe ever increasing use of electronics devices in day to day life is driving the smart fabrics market due to major application of smart fabrics as an electronics device. The ease of use of smart fabrics and the integration of electronic devices in it, makes it an integrated device for normal use as a simple fabric, which further contributes in the flourishing global smart fabrics market. The rising awareness and multiple applications of smart fabrics such as energy harvesting, sensing, and thermo-electricity is anticipated to bolster the global smart fabrics market.However, the smart fabrics devices require a portable power supply that need to be removed during washing and needs to be charged frequently. Thus this is a factor that can slowdown the growth of global smart fabrics market. Also the initial high cost and the expertise required to manufacture these fabrics can be a hurdle in the path of global smart fabrics market.Global smart fabrics market  SegmentationOn the basis of the product type, the global smart fabrics market can be segmented as follows:Ultra-smart fabricsActive smart fabricsPassive smart fabricsOn the basis of the functionality, the global smart fabrics market can be segmented as follows:Thermo-electricityEnergy harvestingSensingLuminanceOn the basis of the end use industry, the global smart fabrics market can be segmented as follows:HealthcareAutomobilesElectrical & ElectronicsArtichetureConstructionGlobal smart fabrics market  Region wise OutlookThe global smart fabrics market can be divided into seven regions, namely North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan and Middle East and Africa. North America is a leading player in the global smart fabrics market due to the ever increasing electronics market in this region and the booming information technology sector. Asia Pacific is the next upcoming region in the global smart fabrics market owing to the flourishing healthcare industry and construction industry. India and China are the leading countries in this region contributing in the growth of global smart fabrics market. The ever increasing automobiles market in Europe is a driving factor for the growth of smart fabrics in this region, thus witnessing a healthy CAGR in the forecast period. Latin America and Middle East and Africa are at a nascent stage in the global smart fabrics market but are projected to have a significant CAGR in the future.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global smart fabrics market  Key PlayersSome of the key players in the global smart fabrics market are:adidas GroupTextronics, IncOutlast Technologies LLCMilliken & CompanyKCWWInternational Fashion MachinesInteractivewearFibertronicEleksen Group PlcAbout UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb:
Global AC Current Transformers for Electrical Meters Market Forecast 2018-2025 Hioki, VAC, Omega, Falco, Oswell, Yuanxing

AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters Market

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http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-ac-current-transformers-ct-electrical-meters-sales-market-9188

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A comprehensive market study on "Global AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - VAC, Falco, J&D Electronics Co.,Ltd, Shenke, Hioki, Crompton Instruments, Accuenergy, Omega, Electrohms, Yuanxing, Oswell, Electromagnetic Industries LLP, Flex-Core, Nanjing Zeming Electronic Co.,Ltd.The Global AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters Market 2018 report includes AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters market Revenue, market Share, AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters industry volume, market Trends, AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters Market Segmented Based on Application - Residential, Commercial, Industrial.Further, the AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters industry, AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters market revenue worldwide.Finally, AC Current Transformers (CT) for Electrical Meters market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Water Treatment Chemicals Market Forecast 2018-2025 Ashland, Kemira, Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, Ecolab

Water Treatment Chemicals Market

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http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-water-treatment-chemicals-market-9215

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Water Treatment Chemicals Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Water Treatment Chemicals market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Water Treatment Chemicals market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Water Treatment Chemicals market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - The Dow Chemical Company, Ecolab, BASF, Arkema, Kemira, DuPont, GE Water & Process Technologies, SNF Group, Ashland Corporation, Chemifloc, Kurita, AkzoNobel, Baw Water Additives, Lonza Group.The Global Water Treatment Chemicals Market 2018 report includes Water Treatment Chemicals market Revenue, market Share, Water Treatment Chemicals industry volume, market Trends, Water Treatment Chemicals Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Water Treatment Chemicals Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Water Treatment Chemicals manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Water Treatment Chemicals Market Segmented Based on Application - Chemical Processing, Food & Beverages, Power Generation, Paper & Pulp, Municipal, Metal & Mining, Oil & Gas, Others.Water Treatment Chemicals Market Segmented Based on Type - Biocides & Disinfectants, Coagulants & Flocculants, Corrosion Inhibitors, Foam Control, pH Stabilizers, Scale Inhibitors.Further, the Water Treatment Chemicals report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Water Treatment Chemicals industry, Water Treatment Chemicals industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Water Treatment Chemicals Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Water Treatment Chemicals research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Water Treatment Chemicals market revenue worldwide.Finally, Water Treatment Chemicals market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) Market Analysis and Forecast Predictions

MRRSE

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https://www.mrrse.com/picture-archiving-and-communication-system-market

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The market for Picture Archiving and Communication System Market growing with the expansion of this Industry Sector Worldwide. Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE) has added a new report titled Global Market Study on Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS): North America Likely to Remain Dominant Regional Market which offer details about the current trends as well as scope for the near future. This research study also covers information about the production and market share based on different active regions. Furthermore, an anticipated growth at a double-digit CAGR for the concerned Picture Archiving and Communication System Market is highlighted in the report which indicates a prosperous future.Obtain Brochure for Latest Technology Advancements @A cloud-based PACS solution is an online process to store patient data and digital images. In a cloud-based PACS, patient data files are automatically transferred and stored in the cloud at the time of their creation. Users can access the patient data anywhere, and anytime. The cloud based PACS is made from a model which uses house data for virtual storage. PAC system vendor keeps all of the software and hardware at an offsite cloud location. Cloud-based PACS use dynamic provisioning which permits it to grow with the organization (hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centers, and others). Technicians, Physicians, and administrators can access a cloud-based PACS by simply logging in a protected PACS application over the internet. This allows healthcare officials and physicians to work distantly and permits for the easy and quick relocation of patient data during referrals.Market dynamicsFactors such as increasing use of diagnostic imaging, and growing healthcare IT adoption are expected to fuel revenue growth of the cloud-based PACS segment. Further, diagnostic medical imaging use in a large integrated health system is growing at a faster pace. The factors responsible for this rise include rising demand by physicians and patients, favorable reimbursement, wider availability of technology, and improvements in the technology resulting in a lower threshold for using it. Moreover, due to a rising awareness and concern for diseases among consumers, the adoption of diagnostic imaging is rapidly increasing, ensuing a generation of amplified imaging data for picture archiving and thus increasing the demand for PACS. This phenomenon is increasing the demand for storage of all formats of medical data and universalization of medical image archiving market.Currently, diagnostic centers, small hospitals, and clinics are increasingly focusing on their purchases of specialized PACS tools because of the more common use of advanced scanners and CT. New PACS products are now specially designed to keep in mind the changing requirements of small hospitals. Small hospitals are now increasingly adopting PACS as an advanced imaging technology and thus demand for PACS is growing in small hospitals. Moreover, government initiatives encourage healthcare IT adoption. The benefits and importance of healthcare IT have been recognized with various governments across the globe and this is also driving technological advancements in the healthcare sector. The usage of PACS for a detailed and accurate evaluation of patient's health has improved as a result of these initiatives. With increasing government initiatives, the acceptance of connected healthcare solutions, such as PACS, electronic health record, PHR and RIS, have risen with the increase in requirements to improve the overall quality of healthcare services.Access Complete Report With TOC and Company Profiles @However, declining penetration rate of PACS, high installation and operating cost for PACS, complexity of PACS technology and a lack of harmonization are the restraints hampering the growth of the global PACS market.Segment analysisCloud-based PACS segment is expected to be valued at US$ 1090.9 Mn by 2026 and is projected to register a CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast period. Imaging modalities is most demanding component for cloud-based PACS segment across the globe.Hospitals segment is estimated to account for 28.9% value share of the global PACS market by 2016 end and is expected to register a CAGR of 6.3% over the forecast period. Cloud-based PACS segment finds its end-users in hospitals, clinic practices, diagnostic imaging, imaging centers and others primarily for storing, transferring and archiving patient data and images. Approximately 60% of the cloud-based PACS are used by large hospitals and diagnostic centers and organizations.Regional analysisOn the basis of region, North America is projected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period. Cloud-based PACS segment is estimated to account for a significant market share of 32.1% in the North America market by 2016 end. The presence of several PACS manufacturing companies in North America is expected to play an important role in revenue growth of the cloud-based PACS segment in the North America market. Cloud-based PACS segment is expected to witness robust growth in Western Europe and APEJ markets driven by increasing cloud based solutions demand in the region, as cloud-based PACS are mainly used by large hospitals and diagnostic centers in these regions.Key market playersSome of the key market players covered in this report include GE Healthcare, Koninklijke Philips N.V.-(Philips Healthcare), Carestream Health, Agfa-Gevaert Group, FUJIFILM Medical Systems, INFINITT Healthcare Co. Ltd., Siemens Healthineers, Merge Healthcare Solutions Inc. (an IBM company), Sectra AB, and Mckesson Corp.About (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:Read More Industry News At:
A new view to better productivity, with the latest Philips 221B8 and 243S5 Full HD displays

https://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-so/monitors

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 Great features for demanding users: a new 21.5 display ensures a smooth and pleasant viewing experience to work at your best Eco-friendly productivity for your business: a 23.6 monitor perfectto combine performance and convenienceAmsterdam, 25 May 2018  MMD, the leading technology company and brand license partner for Philips monitors, is announcing a new 21.5 Philips Full HD monitor fully packed with a rich feature set. Including a range of advanced technologies and options, the new Philips 221B8LJEB ensures vivid colours and crisp details to help boost user productivity throughout the workday. And when a larger viewing area is needed, the essential Philips 243S5LJMB monitor combines an efficient 23.6 Full HD display with eco-friendly features.The perfect workplace starts hereThe new Philips 221B8LJEB Full HD monitor includes some of the most valued, leading edge features that are essential to a great and productive workplace. Start with the exclusive SmartImage technology, for instance, that continuously analyses the content displayed on the screen in order to optimise its performance. Depending on the task at hand, the user may choose from several different modes - Office, Photo, Movie, Game, and more - and let SmartImage tune contrast, colour saturation and sharpness to provide the best image for the application in use. Moreover, a specially designed Economy mode is available to lower power consumption whilst ensuring that everyday office applications get displayed best.The 21.5 TFT-LCD panel also includes a flicker-free W-LED backlighting system to regulate brightness and reduce eye fatigue, while for more natural and true-to-life images SmartContrast technology automatically adjusts colours and controls backlight intensity, enhancing contrast for richer, darker hues in videos, games, photos and images. And for long-term eye care, Philips LowBlue Mode also reduces shortwave length blue light rays produced by LED displays, averting potential eyesight damage over time.The ergonomically focussed 221B8LJEB would not be complete without additional key features such as the paper-like reading experience of EasyRead Mode and the flexibility allowed by SmartErgoBase, a special monitor base that makes it easier to adjust height, swivel, tilt and rotate the display to suit any individual preference and need.Where efficiency meets reliabilityAlso announced today, the Philips 243S5LJMB is a durable, essential display providing superior picture quality thanks to the vivid colours of its mercury-free TFT-LCD panel coupled with SmartContrast technology. Complete with everything needed to be immediately productive, the 243S5LJMB has a compact design to save space while providing a large 23.6 Full HD viewing experience; its VESA mount option makes it a great solution in every environment where desktop space is at a premium.Connected to the world around usSupporting multiple connectivity options is a must in any digital workplace. For this reason, both these new monitors are equipped with a complete range of digital and analogue options like DVI-D, HDMI, and VGA ports, with the 221B8LJEB also including DisplayPort 1.2 technology, enabling daisy-chaining of multiple displays. An easy-to-reach headphone connector and two integrated high quality, 2W stereo speakers especially suited for multimedia, collaboration and communication applications, are also included.A rich feature set for every needRecognising that each workplace is unique, Philips offers a complete range of professional monitors designed for productivity, ergonomics and compliance needs of today's organisations of all sizes. The new 221B8LJEB belongs to the acclaimed B8 line, which provides eco-friendly display options ranging from 22 TN to 27 IPS panels, screen resolution from Full HD up to Quad HD with 1.074 billion colours, and also USB 3.0 ports with fast charging. On the other hand, the new Philips 243S5LJMB highlights some of the characteristics of the refreshed S5 line where ergonomic options with extended ports and swivel/tilt/height adjustment features are also available. Both display lines share a sustainable design to reduce environmental impact throughout the product lifecycle and help businesses reduce operational costs thanks to compliance with current energy standards and power-saving features.The Philips 243S5LJMB will be available later this month, while the Philips 221B8LJEB will be available in June 2018; both with a RRP of 119.More information on Philips monitors:Technical Specifications: Display Philips 221B8LJEBLCD panel type, size LCD panel type: TFT-LCD (TN)Backlighting technology W-LEDPanel size 21.5 inch / 54.6 cmEffective viewing area 476.64 (H) x 268.11 (V)Optimal resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 60 HzViewing angle 170 (H) / 160 (V), @ C/R > 10Brightness 250 cd/mContrast ratio (typical): 1000:1Display colours 16.7 million coloursColour gamut (typical) NTSC 72% (CIE1931)Convenience  Built-in Speakers: 2 W x 2 Power On/Off, Menu, SmartImage, Input, Brightness, Kensington lock, VESA mount (100x100mm) Plug & Play Compatibility: DDC/CI, Mac OS X, sRGB, Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7Connectivity  Signal Input: VGA (Analogue), DVI-D (digital, HDCP), DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 1.4 - Sync Input: Separate Sync, Sync on Green - Audio (In/Out): PC audio-in, Headphone outSustainability  Environmental and energy: EnergyStar 7.0, EPEAT Gold, TCO edge, RoHS, WEEE, Lead-free, Mercury Free, PVC/BFR free housing Recyclable packaging material: 100 % Post-consumer recycled plastic: 85%Compliance and standards  Regulatory Approvals: CE Mark, FCC Class B, SEMKO, cETLus, CU-EAC, PSB, EPA, UKRAINIAN, ICES-003, TUV Ergo, TUV/GS, RCM, TUV/ISO9241-307Cabinet  Front bezel: Black Rear cover: Black Foot: Black Finish: TextureTechnical Specifications: Display Philips 243S5LJMBLCD panel type, size LCD panel type: TFT-LCDBacklighting technology W-LEDPanel size 23.6 inch / 59.9 cmEffective viewing area 521.28 (H) x 293.22 (V)Aspect Ratio 16:9Optimal resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 60 HzResponse time (typical): 1 ms (Grey to Grey) (SmartResponse)Viewing angle 170 (H) / 160 (V), @ C/R > 10Brightness 250 cd/mContrast ratio (typical): 1000:1Display colours 16.7 million coloursConvenience  Built-in Speakers: 2 W x 2 Power On/Off, Menu, Input, Volume, Auto/Down, Kensington lock, VESA mount (100x100mm) Plug & Play Compatibility: DDC/CI, Mac OS X, sRGB, Windows 10 / 8.1 / 8 / 7Connectivity  Signal Input: DVI-D (digital, HDCP), VGA (Analogue), HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 USB: USB 2.0 x 4 Sync Input: Separate Sync, Sync on Green Audio (In/Out): PC audio-in, Headphone outSustainability  Environmental and energy: EnergyStar 7.0, EPEAT Silver, RoHS, Lead-free, Mercury Free Recyclable packaging material: 100 %Compliance and standards  Regulatory Approvals: CE Mark, FCC Class B, SEMKO, TCO certified, cETLus, TUV/ISO9241-307. BSMI, PSB, RCM. UKRAINIAN, WEEECabinet  Colour: Black Finish: Hairline / TextureAbout MMDMMD is a wholly owned company of TPV established in 2009 through a brand license agreement with Philips. MMD exclusively markets and sells Philips branded LCD displays worldwide. By combining the Philips brand promise with TPVs manufacturing expertise in displays, MMD uses a fast and focussed approach to bringing innovative products to market. MMD serves the Western European, Middle East and African markets from its headquarters in Amsterdam. The Eastern European and CIS markets are served by a local office in Prague. Through its network of local sales teams MMD works with all major IT distributors and resellers. The companys design and development centre is located in Taiwan.Press contact:united communications GmbHElena StrzelczykRotherstr. 1910245 BerlinTel.: +49 30 7890760Philips.Displays@united.deCompany contact Europe:MMD Monitors & Displays B.V.Xeni BairaktariPrins Bernhardplein 200, 6th floor1097 JB AmsterdamTel.: +31 205046945xeni.bairaktari@tpv-tech.com
N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone Market Set to Cross US$ 985.3 Mn by 2020

https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12940

https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/12940

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The global N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) market is expected to observe modest growth over a five-year forecast period, 2015-2020. Expanding at a 5.4% of CAGR during the assessed period, the global NMP market will possibly attain the revenues of US$ 985.3 Mn by 2020 end.The market for NMP in developing Asian countries will be primarily driven by increasing urbanization and industrialization, coupled with rampantly evolving infrastructure development realm. Attributed to its chemical properties, such as higher flame point and lower volatility, N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone finds various applications several end-use industries. This will remain a key factor driving the demand on a global level. Industrial applications in a sweeping range of verticals, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, petrochemical, agrochemical, paints and coatings, and industrial cleaning will also continue to drive the market for N-Methylpyrrolidone over the next few years.Request to Sample of Report @The flourishing consumer electronics sector is likely to generate substantial demand for NMP. With soaring demand for electronics production, the consumption of N-Methylpyrrolidone will also witness a significant hike. Moreover, increasing demand for agrochemicals is expected to elevate the revenue sales in the next few years. Another industrial sector estimated to support the growth of the global N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone market is pharmaceuticals. Growing market in Asia Pacific are expected to play a vital role in boosting the demand throughout the forecast period, eventually fostering the market for NMP globally.Stringent regulations regarding usage of N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone may remain a long-term restraint to market growth. Moreover, the market has been experiencing a rapid setback in certain verticals, such as paints and coatings, and industrial cleaning. This can also be a major limiting factor impacting the market growth by 2020 end.By application, the electronics application segment is expected to remain dominant over other segments, including agrochemicals, petrochemical processing, industrial cleaners, pharmaceuticals, paints and coatings, and others. Electronics application segment will possibly capture around 23% share of the entire market revenues in 2020, witnessing an optimistic CAGR of 6.7% during 2015-2020. Pharmaceuticals will continue to be the second largest application segment that was evaluated at US$ 122.7 Mn in 2015. This segment is anticipated to demonstrate a moderate CAGR of 6.3% by 2020 end, accounting for nearly 15% market value share.According to Persistence Market Researchs regional analysis, Asia Pacific is foreseen to remain the global leader with over 36% share of the market revenues in 2016. This growth is predominantly attributed to lower production costs in Asian countries. The second largest regional market, North America, will contribute around 30% share to the market in 2016.Request for Table of Contents @A few key market players include LyondellBasell Industries N.V., BASF SE, Ashland Inc., Abtonsmart Chemical (Group) Co. Ltd., and Shandong Qingyun Changxin Chemical Science-Tech Co., Ltd. A few other notable companies competing in the N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone marketplace are Zhejiang Realsun Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Hefei TNJ Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Puyang Guangming Chemicals Co., Ltd., and Balaji Amines Limited.Long-term Outlook: The global N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone market is likely to reach a value of US$ 985.3 Mn by the end of the forecast period, 2015-2020.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Battery Free Wireless Sensor Market - Rise In Production of Consumer Electronics and Medical Industries and Increasing Application of Tracking Device

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Wireless sensors use a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) interface which did not require battery. The sensor gathers the radio energy from the RFID reader, then powers-on the sensing circuit, then backscatters (reflects) the digital data back to the RFID reader. The RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a wireless communication technology that enables users to uniquely identify tagged objects. It is composed of two main elements; a reader that is responsible of transmitting the commands and a tag which captures the commands and transmits back the identification and any other extra information requested by the reader.Obtain Report Details @Collections of tiny, inexpensive wireless sensor nodes capable of continuous, detailed, and unobtrusive measurement have attracted much attention in the past few years. Rapid development, rise in production of consumer electronics and medical industries, increasing application of tracking devices, growing demand in defense industries are some of the factors driving the growth of battery free wireless sensor market. The battery free wireless sensor market is a rapidly increasing field as many sensor industrialists are concentrating on technological research and enhancements in wireless sensing technology. Wireless technology has been in the market for over a decade but still the growth of this market has not been up to the mark. There are a number of challenges faced from technical and end user point of view that are proving to be major setbacks for this technology. The battery free wireless sensor market is ready to experience growth in the coming years owing to technological advancements and easy access. Adoption of battery free wireless sensor is expected to increase through growing end user awareness.The market is segmented on the basis of, type of RFID tags, frequency, application, industry vertical, and geographical region. On the basis of type, the market is segmented into active, passive, semi-active tags and others. The advantage of active tags is that its reading range is relatively high: in the order of tenths to hundreds of meters. However, it comes at a price of higher size, weight and cost. On the basis of frequency, the global market is segmented into low frequency (125 kHz to 135 kHz), high frequency (135 kHz to 13.56 MHz), and ultra-high frequency (above 13.56MHZ). By application, battery free wireless sensor market can be segmented into object tracking and tracing, healthcare or environmental monitoring and others.Object tracking dominate the market due to inexpensiveness, stringent safety protocols, and compatibility with all frequency range. In support of industry vertical the global battery free wireless sensor market is subdivided into automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, medical & healthcare defense and others. Rapid development and rising demand in automotive, defense industry, and medical have driven the development in this segment. By geographical region the global battery free wireless sensor market is split up into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and South America. Rapid development in emerging economies such as China and India as well as growth in the electronics industry and increase in production in industries such as automotive will support the growth of the market over the forecast periodGet Sample Copy of this report @Acquisitions and Merger, new product introductions, investments, and corporations & developments are the key strategies adopted by market companies to ensure their growth in the battery free wireless sensor market. The key players are Genesic Semiconductor Inc, On Semiconductor, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Cree Incorporated, Infineon Technologies Ag, Norstel AB, ROHM Co Ltd, STMicroelectronics, Toshiba Corporation and United Microelectronics Corporation, BAE Systems, BSC Computer, Microsemi Corporation, Cardiomems, Chevron, Cymbet, Dust NetworksEmerson, Enocean, , ELTAV,Ember, Gastronics, Greenpeak, Microstrain, and so onTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Packet Networking Solution Market: Growing Demands For Various Kinds of Networking Applications

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Packet Networking is the breaking up of data such as images, email and voice into small formatted units which are called packets. These packets are transmitted across a network to other devices such as smartphones, where the packets are then reassembled to their original form. Businesses use Internet Protocol to monitor delivery of the packets over Ethernet links, which connect devices in a local area network. Packet-based networks are the most efficient, cost-effective and scalable way for delivering content from one position to another. Packet networks are key enablers of todays business and social communications.Obtain Report Details @Packet technologies overcome the disadvantages of circuit-based networks. Using packet based architecture, dedicated end-to-end links are no longer required. Instead, users information is packetized and sent over a shared network to the desired destination. Therefore, the system becomes more effective, which enables various end users to access the network concurrently while optimizing usage of the end-to-end network, creating ample growth opportunities for the packet networking solutions market. Packet networking technologies make most efficient use of the network by balancing the load on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis.Carrier Ethernet, a packet networking technology that extends the connections over a wide area network by integrating technologies which are required to successfully move packets over vast distances. It enables data movement across the wide area network (WAN) that takes into account the unique features of carrying packets over large distances. This allows WAN-based Ethernet services to be more easily managed and compared from both the service provider and end user viewpoints. Carrier Ethernet is expected to dominate emerging network deployments as it supports a variety of use cases and traffic demands. It can carry packets based on IP and any other protocols since these technologies are service protocol agnostic. Enterprises can make use of this technology as it caters to various applications such as to serve various corporate networks, to serve external as well as internal users and to provide data center interconnections.Packet networking technologies have advanced gradually in the last few years, owing to the markets growing demands for various kinds of networking applications. With optical-based services, enterprises and carriers can provide WAN connectivity as easily as LAN connectivity.Get Sample Copy of this report @The global packet networking solutions market can be segmented based on component, technology, application, organization size and region. On the basis of component, the market can be segmented into software (cloud-based and on-premise) and services (managed and professional services), platform and hardware. On the basis of end user the market can be segmented into banking financial services and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, retail, IT and telecommunication, automobile, government and others.The market is segmented on the basis of regions into North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. North America is anticipated to contribute a major share in the packet networking solutions market during the forecast period. The region has a significant presence of prominent technology players to cater to the rapidly growing packet networking solutions market. Adoption rate of packet networking technologies by large and small enterprises in North America is comparatively high compared to other regions. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for packet networking solutions. Rising demand for packet networking solutions in emerging countries such as China and India is driving the market growth. Europe is also expected to show significant growth in the packet networking solutions over the forecast period. South America and Middle East & Africa regions are also expected to contribute toward the growth of the market with lucrative opportunities in the long run.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a next-generation provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Electroretinography Market Report for Period 2018 till 2024 Diagnosys LLC, Metrovision, CSO Italia, Electro-Diagnostic Imaging, Inc. and Others.

Electroretinography Market

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Global Electroretinography market report emphasizes on detailed analysis of companies and manufacturers like Roland-consult, Metrovision, CSO Italia, LKC Technologies, Inc, Diagnosys LLC, Electro-Diagnostic Imaging, Inc., Diopsys, Inc. and Others.An ERG is a device that measures the functional ability of the retina to respond to light; essentially testing to see if it is working properly. A sophisticated contact lens is placed on the eye and connected to a computer. A light is flashed at the eye and every time the light flashes, the retina should react and a wave that is captured on the computer. An ERG is used prior to cataract surgery to ensure that there is enough retinal function to warrant surgery as well as to make the diagnosis of different diseases of the retina.This market study includes data about global market statistics, market share, company performances, historical analysis 2012 to 2016, market forecast 2017 to 2023 in terms of volume, revenue, YOY growth rate, and CAGR for the year 2017 to 2023, etc. The Global Electroretinography market report provides detailed segmentation of Global Electroretinography Market based on product type, application, end user and regional segmentation. The regional segment is further bifurcated on country level.Request for Free Sample Copy of Global Electroretinography Market 2017 @Top Manufactures of Global Electroretinography market:LKC Technologies, IncDiagnosys LLCElectro-Diagnostic Imaging, Inc.Diopsys, Inc.Roland-consultMetrovisionCSO ItaliaOthers(Note: We can profile additional players without extra charges)Global Electroretinography Market: Key Product Type:Clinical UseFor ResearchOthersKey Application Types for Global Electroretinography Market:Fixed ERGPortable ERGothersKey Regions for Global Electroretinography Market:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Others)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Southeast Asia and Others)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia and Others)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Others)(Note: We can provide specific country or region specific report on request)The Global Electroretinography Market analysis report provides detailed value chain for analysis of Global Electroretinography Market. The value chain helps to analyze major upstream in raw materials, major equipments, manufacturing process, downstream customer analysis and major distributor analysis.The report also covers in-depth description, competitive scenario, wide product portfolio of prime players active in this market and business strategies adopted by competitors along with their SWOT analysis. The report also provides Porter analysis, PESTEL analysis and market attractiveness which helps to better understand the market scenario. Side by side, it also explicitly provides information about mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and all the other important activities occurred in current and past few years. The Global Electroretinography Market report explores manufacturers competitive scenario and provides market share for all major players of this market based on production capacity, sales, revenue, geographical presence and other major factors. The report also covers import/export data across all major regions covered in this report. Moreover, import/export data across any particular country as per requirement.The report finally provides detailed research report conclusion, which provides summary of entire report and vital suggestions from analysts particular to Electroretinography Market which will help existing as well as new players who wish to enter this market.Enquire before Buying @ put actual website like for exampleTable of Contents:1 Market Overview1.1 Electroretinography Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Clinical Use1.2.2 For Research1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Fixed ERG1.3.2 Portable ERG1.4 Market Analysis by Regions........................Continue (Global Electroretinography Market Research Industry Report is prepared with the help of extensive primary and secondary sources, directories, journals, newsletters and with the help of third-party application like Hoovers, Factiva, Bloomberg, Businessweek, etc.About Market Reports Company:Market Reports Company delivers high quality precise research studies which include data about top manufacturers and market survey of various industries. We also work as a consulting company and publisher of market research reports. We are specialized in providing customized reports according to clients needs and requirements which ultimately help them grow in industry and beat their competition.What We Offer:Customized Reports: We provide customized research reports on your demand.Region Specific Study: We have resources all over the world so, if you are Interested in region specific study please contact us.How we work: Perfect blend of primary and secondary research to provide best result.Expertise: Team of Industry experienced research associates and experts, primary and secondary sources, 24*7 customer care service and post-sale support.Contact UsJason Smith,Sales Manager, Global Business Development,Website: marketreportscompany.comEmail: jasonsmith@marketreportscompany.comContact us: +1-888-220-3424Address: 20 N State Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60602 United States
Explosive Trace Detection Market Innovation and Current Business Trends by 2024

Explosive Trace Detection Market

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North America is projected to hold a major share in the explosive trace detection market over the forecast period owing to the increasing number of security vendors in the region. Additionally, recent terrorist activities are promoting the demand for these devices in Europe, thus offering opportunities to the industry players.The security agencies and the government officials are using these detectors as a part of the security program to protect the citizens and significant infrastructure from the attacks. With the increasing frequency of terrorist attacks, the explosive trace detection market is likely to gain traction in the coming years.The increase in violence along with political conflicts in different regions is boosting the need for security screening globally. Numerous government legislations are formulated to improve the safety screening at airports, to take care of the surface transportation and supply chain security, to safeguard infrastructure, and to detect and avoid radiological, biological, and nuclear threats worldwide.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Government regulations are playing a key role in the advancement of security screening devices. For instance, in the U.S., major customers are the government agencies and the demand for security detectors rely on state priorities and administrative initiatives. The U.S. has proposed a legislation to enforce 100 percent cargo screening services, which is supposed to boost the explosive trace detection market growth.Advancements in explosive detection products by implementing advanced sample collection techniques have established a substantial trend in the market globally, helping product enhancement and better performing trials. New advanced explosive trace detection devices can gather trace particle from the material, which is to be examined in essential amounts. Technological advancements are helping these devices to perform the tasks efficiently and report the findings of any destructive material. This new development is projected to improve the product penetration and drive explosive trace detection market growth.Rising demand for security, the protection of organizations with national importance along with public safety is projected to create new growth opportunities for the industry participants. In addition, growing Chinese investment in the construction of new airports is also predicted to offer a huge potential for the industry growth.The high cost of installation is expected to restrain the explosive trace detection market growth. The economic downturn has decreased government expenditure on public security, which is likely to hinder the industry growth during the forecast time period.The explosive trace detection market is segmented by technology into thermo-redox, mass spectrometry, chemiluminescence, colorimetric & automated colorimetric, ion mobility spectrometry, and amplifying fluorescent polymer.Make an inquiry for buying this report @ttps://Based on application, the explosive trace detection market is segmented into aviation, transportation security, secured facilities, and defense. The aviation segment is anticipated to lead the market owing to the increasing air cargo and air passengers in the growing economies.By product, the explosive trace detection market is segmented into robotics, vehicle-mounted, handheld, and biosensors. Robotic explosive detectors are expected to gain the maximum market share in the projected period owing to their greater level of control and efficiency. Recent developments in unmanned systems have increased the remarkable market base of robotics-based explosive detectors.Some of the key players in the explosive trace detection market include Biosensor AB, Auto Clear, OSI Systems, Hitachi, Westminster International, ICx Technologies, Smiths Detection, Mistral Security, Scent Detection, Ketech Defence, Nuctech Co., Ltd., L-3 Communications, and Morpho Detection, Inc. These major players are adopting strategies to compete and sustain in the market that include strategic acquisitions and partnerships.In July 2017, OSI systems acquired Morpho global explosive. The acquisition of this ETD segment of Smiths Group is complementary to the current operations and this will enable the company to serve customers unique needs seeking to secure public venues, borders, airports, and critical infrastructure. This acquisition will fill the gap in their aviation checkpoint offerings, which presently includes carry-on baggage inspection, automated tray return solutions, and passenger screening.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Cancer Biological Therapy Industry 2018- By Plan Future Business Decisions Using the Forecast Figures

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Biological therapy treatment is done with the help of living organisms, parts of living organisms or laboratory manufactured version of such content. There are various types of biological therapies, which inhibit specific molecules involved in development and growth of cancer tumor. Such therapies known as; cancer targeted therapies.GET SAMPLE REPORT @The global cancer biological therapy market is expected to reach USD 82,276.8 million by 2023 at a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecasted period.The global cancer biological therapy market is segmented on the basis of phases, types, end users and regions. On the basis of phases, the market is segmented into phase I, phase II and phase III. In stage I & II the real impact of these therapies is seen and giving a success rate of 35% in Phase 1 and 20% in Phase II. The success rate of phase I is 35%.On the basis on types, the global cancer biological therapy market is segmented into monoclonal antibodies, cancer growth blockers, interferons, interleukins, gene therapy, targeted drug delivery, colony stimulating factor, cancer vaccines and others. Monoclonal antibodies accounted for the largest market share of the global cancer biological therapy market. Colony stimulating factor is the fastest growing market at a CAGR of 5.2% during the forecasted period.On the basis on end users, hospitals & clinics dominates the global cancer biological therapy market. Registering USD 26,790.6 million in 2016 and expected to reach at USD 38,471.9 million by 2023 at the rate of 4.4 % from 2016-2023.On the basis of regions, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa. North America has the dominating market for cancer biological therapy. The cancer biological therapy market for North America is estimated at USD 19,481.2 million in 2016 and expected to reach by USD 29,516.9 million by 2023 at a fastest CAGR of 5.10%.Key PlayersThe leading market players in the global cancer biological therapy market include Merck Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Novartis AG, Amgen Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, ELI Lilly and Company, EnGeneIC, and PfizerStudy objectives To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the global cancer biological therapy market To provide insights about factors influencing and affecting the market growth To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to countries To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments based on channels, applications, and regions for the global cancer biological therapy market. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, and comprehensively analysing their market share, core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To provide economical factors that influences the global cancer biological therapy market To provide detailed analysis of the value chain and supply chain of the global cancer biological therapy marketTarget Audience Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Suppliers Cancer Research Organizations Potential Investors Key Executive (CEO and COO) and Strategy Growth Manager Reaserch CompaniesKey Findings North America accounted for the largest market share in the global cancer biological therapy market, USD 19,481.2 million in 2016 and expected to reach by USD 29,516.9 million by 2023 at a fastest CAGR of 5.10% Colony stimulating factor is the fastest growing segment with a CAGR of and 5.2% in the global cancer biological therapy market, by types Hospitals and clinics is contributing remarkable share in the market registering 47.8% in the global cancer biological therapy market, by end users in 2016Table of Content: Key Points1 Report Prologue2 Market Introduction3 Research Methodology4 Market Dynamics5 Market Factor Analysis6 Global Cancer Biological Therapy Market, by phases7 Global Cancer Biological Therapy Market, by Application8 Global Cancer Biological Therapy Market, by End Users9 Global Cancer Biological Therapy Market, by RegionContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Wall Putty: Market Demand, Growth Analysis & Opportunity and Forecast to 2025

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This report studies the global Wall Putty market status and forecast, categorizes the global Wall Putty market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).The global Wall Putty market is valued at xx million US$ in 2017 and is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this reportJ.K. Cement LtdMeichaoBirla WhiteNippon PaintWalplastPlatinum Plaster LtdWeber-Saint GobainDuluxUSG BoralMYK LaticreteLIONSLangoodMapeiAsian PaintsSKShuBauhiniaDuobangMeihuiRequest a Sample Report @Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)The regional scope of the study is as follows:North AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeRest of Asia-PacificEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilArgentinaRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSaudi ArabiaTurkeyRest of Middle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCement-based PuttyGypsum-based PuttyOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingResidential BuildingCommercial BuildingTable of ContentsGlobal Wall Putty Market Research Report 20181 Wall Putty Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wall Putty1.2 Wall Putty Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Wall Putty Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Wall Putty Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Cement-based Putty1.2.4 Gypsum-based Putty1.3 Global Wall Putty Segment by Application1.3.1 Wall Putty Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Residential Building1.3.3 Commercial Building1.4 Global Wall Putty Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Wall Putty Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Wall Putty (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Wall Putty Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Wall Putty Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Wall Putty Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Wall Putty Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Wall Putty Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Wall Putty Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Wall Putty Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Wall Putty Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Wall Putty Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Wall Putty Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Wall Putty Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Wall Putty Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Wall Putty Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Wall Putty Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Wall Putty Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Wall Putty Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Wall Putty Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Wall Putty Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Wall Putty Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Wall Putty Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan Wall Putty Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Wall Putty Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Wall Putty Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.6 Southeast Asia Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.7 India Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.8 South America Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.9 Middle East and Africa Wall Putty Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)5 Global Wall Putty Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Wall Putty Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Wall Putty Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Wall Putty Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Wall Putty Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)6 Global Wall Putty Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Wall Putty Consumption and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6.2 Global Wall Putty Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2013-2018)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesContinuedAccess Complete Report @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.ADDRES:WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Industrial Separators Market Development Strategy, Future Plans Analysis And Outlook 2018 -2027| Global Leaders: Burgess-Manning, Inc. , ProGENTEX, Inc., Eriez Manufacturing Co.

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The global Industrial Separators Market is expected to witness a stagnation in growth during the forecast period. This is due to the considerable growth in the power sector with population boom along with the rise in energy demand in various regions. The growth is primarily attributed to the need for uninterruptible power by major end-user across all the regions.Industrial Separators Market  Overview:The growing demand for oxygen in coal gasification projects and steel manufacturing and the vast nitrogen requirement, demand for energy or alternative power; these are some of the reasons that indicate the alliance between the Industrial Separators Market and the reliant industries. Oil & Gas, Chemical, energy & mining industry are among the biggest contributors for the growth of the Industrial Separators Market.Industrial Separators Market has been experiencing a heightened demand across industries. Mainly from Chemical, Oil & Gas, Power, & Mining, among other industries. Industrial Separators are the equipment used for separation of the non-identical substances from any mixture helping in increasing process efficiency, reducing maintenance cost and lower the energy costs.Get Sample Report @Key Players Burgess-Manning, Inc. ProGENTEX, Inc. GEA Eriez Manufacturing Co. Nippon Magnetics, Inc. GIAMAG Technologies ASIndustry/ innovation/ Related NewsDecember 05, 2017 - ANDRITZ SEPARATION, (Austria) one of the leading separation technology specialists, globally and having a comprehensive product portfolio for solid/liquid separation includes mechanical technologies such as centrifuges. Filters, screens, thickeners, or separators, and thermal technologies such as dryers or coolers. The company recently aannounced that it has developed a new, computer-assisted tool for operator training to maximize machine and process performance with a minimum of training time. ANDRITZ SmartSIM is a sophisticated solution for efficient implementation of new machine control systems or optimized training of new operators. It is available for various models of solid/liquid separation machines and systems with a Metris addIQ control system.November, 2017 - EnerSys, a global provider of stored energy solutions for industrial applications and the manufacturer of ODYSSEY batteries, introduced ODYSSEY Performance Series Group 49 and 94R batteries at this years AAPEX and SEMA Show. The ODYSSEY Performance Series Group 49 battery has a preliminary cold cranking rating expected to be 950 amps and is designed for popular Jeep, Dodge and some BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles introduced over the past 10 years. Both batteries feature Thin Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) technology, as well as Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) separators that hold acid in place to prevent spills, even when installed on their sides.Industrial Separators Market  Report Segments:For better understanding the report Global Industrial Separators Market is segmented in to 3 dynamics of the market.Segmentation By Type : Comprises of Centrifugal Separators, Magnetic Separators, Cyclone Separators, Gas-Liquid Separators, Liquid-Liquid Separators, and others.Segmentation By End User : Comprises of Oil & Gas, Power, Chemicals, Mining, and otherSegmentation By Region : Comprises of Geographical Regions.Industrial Separators Market  Regional AnalysisAsia-Pacific is dominating the Industrial Separators market mainly due to the rapid infrastructural development and shifting focus towards the manufacturing sector. The North American Region is expected to register a high CAGR due to the well-established automotive as well as oil & gas industry.Browse Full report @Market Research Future:MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Digital Movie Cameras Market Forecast 2018-2025 Phantom, Arri, Sony, Blackmagic, Kinefinity

Digital Movie Cameras Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Digital Movie Cameras Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Digital Movie Cameras market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Digital Movie Cameras market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Digital Movie Cameras market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - RED, Blackmagic, Phantom, Sony, Kinefinity, Arri, Canon, Panasonic.The Global Digital Movie Cameras Market 2018 report includes Digital Movie Cameras market Revenue, market Share, Digital Movie Cameras industry volume, market Trends, Digital Movie Cameras Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Digital Movie Cameras Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Digital Movie Cameras manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Digital Movie Cameras Market Segmented Based on Application - Amateur Users, Professional Users.Digital Movie Cameras Market Segmented Based on Type - 4K Resolution, 4.6K Resolution, 5K Resolution, 6K Resolution, 8K Resolution, Others.Further, the Digital Movie Cameras report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Digital Movie Cameras industry, Digital Movie Cameras industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Digital Movie Cameras Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Digital Movie Cameras research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Digital Movie Cameras market revenue worldwide.Finally, Digital Movie Cameras market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Strontium Carbonate Market Forecast 2018-2025 Redstar, Solvay, Honjo Chemical, Zaozhuang Yongli Chemical

Strontium Carbonate Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Strontium Carbonate Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Strontium Carbonate market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Strontium Carbonate market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Strontium Carbonate market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Solvay, Honjo Chemical Corporation, Redstar, Qinghai Jinrui Group, Hebei Xinji Chemical Group, Shijiazhuang Zhengding Jinshi Chemical, Zaozhuang Yongli Chemical, Minle Fuyuan Chemical, Nanjing Jinyan Strontium Industry.The Global Strontium Carbonate Market 2018 report includes Strontium Carbonate market Revenue, market Share, Strontium Carbonate industry volume, market Trends, Strontium Carbonate Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Strontium Carbonate Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Strontium Carbonate manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Strontium Carbonate Market Segmented Based on Application - Electronics, Military Industry, Metallurgy, Light Industry, Medicine, Optics.Strontium Carbonate Market Segmented Based on Type - Industrial Grade Strontium Carbonate, Electronic Grade Strontium Carbonate.Further, the Strontium Carbonate report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Strontium Carbonate industry, Strontium Carbonate industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Strontium Carbonate Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Strontium Carbonate research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Strontium Carbonate market revenue worldwide.Finally, Strontium Carbonate market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Market Forecast 2018-2025 NicOx SA, Bayer AG, Topadur Pharma AG, Boehringer Ingelheim

Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Soluble Guanylate Cyclase market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Soluble Guanylate Cyclase market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Soluble Guanylate Cyclase market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc, NicOx SA, SynZyme Technologies LLC, Topadur Pharma AG, Others.The Global Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Market 2018 report includes Soluble Guanylate Cyclase market Revenue, market Share, Soluble Guanylate Cyclase industry volume, market Trends, Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Soluble Guanylate Cyclase manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Market Segmented Based on Application - Cardiovascular, Ophthalmology, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal, Others.Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Market Segmented Based on Type - BAY-1636183, BI-703704, Hydroxyurea, IW-1701, Others.Further, the Soluble Guanylate Cyclase report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Soluble Guanylate Cyclase industry, Soluble Guanylate Cyclase industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Soluble Guanylate Cyclase research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Soluble Guanylate Cyclase market revenue worldwide.Finally, Soluble Guanylate Cyclase market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Cloud-based Contact Center Market Analysis by Historic Progress, Trends, Strategies and Key Participant Shares to 2023

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http://www.orbisresearch.com/reports/index/global-cloud-based-contact-center-market-segmented-by-solutions-services-end-user-and-region-growth-trends-and-forecast-2018-2023

The study of Global Cloud-based Contact Center Market-Segmented by Solutions, Services, End User, and Region-Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2018-2023) provides the market size information, In-Depth Analysis along with Competitive Insights and Segmentation.The global cloud-based contact center market was valued at USD 7.17 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach USD 26.69 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 24.49%, over the forecast period (2018-2023). This report provides information about the leading players in the market and a corresponding detailed analysis of the top vendors in the market. In addition, the report discusses the major drivers that influence the growth of the market. It also outlines the challenges faced by the vendors and the market at large, as well as the key trends that are emerging in the market.The cloud-based contact center is a deployment model that enables organizations to build their contact center in third-party or remote data centers. It enables scalability, flexibility, and business agility for contact centers, while saving major costs over the long term. With the advent of globalization, many organizations are looking for a cost-effective approach to aid their business expansion and penetration. This can be achieved through cloud-based services, which do not require any distinct and high expenditure installations, thus favoring the adoption of the technology.The Report Splits into Further SectionBy SolutionsAutomatic Call DistributionAgent Performance OptimizationDialersInteractive Voice ResponseComputer Telephony IntegrationAnalytics and ReportingBy ServicesManaged ServicesProfessional ServicesBy Deployment TypeOn-premiseCloudIncreasing Demand for Cloud-based Solutions is Driving Market GrowthIncreased business agility, scalability, faster deployment models, better agent productivity, and better customer experience are driving the demand for cloud-based services and solutions. These solutions provide organizations with data storage and processing capabilities over the cloud. The growing business demand for maximum flexibility of resources and the change in technology requirements are expected to make cloud-based and hosted solutions the dominant model in the future. With the growing adoption of cloud, the movement of solution providers offering full suites of contact center applications is also growing, thus highlighting the benefits offered by the solution.IT & Telecom Industry is Expected to Hold Largest ShareCloud-based contact centers are seeing growing adoption in the IT & telecom industry. The telecom industry currently serves all other industries in the market. With advancements in technology and increasing adoption of modern connectivity systems, the demand for communication services in industries such as automotive, retail, energy and power, government services, IT sector, and other industries employing the technology, has seen an incremental growth over the past decade. The IT & telecom industry serves as a critical link for every industry to operate without interruptions. With the advent of cloud, the dependence on communication services is growing. Many large players in the telecom industry are venturing into this market, providing cloud-based contact centers. Their services also include system integration, security, and customization according to the vendor requirements. Thus, changing consumer requirements in the industry are driving the growth of cloud-based contact centers.Enquiry About Global Cloud-based Contact Center Market 2018 @North America is the Major Contributor to the MarketThe North American market has been the focus for cloud-based contact center companies. This market is the highest contributor to cloud-based contact centers. The United States is the major contributor to the North American market, due to early adoption and huge investment in cloud-based services and solutions. Companies in this region are looking to scale-up their customer services operations to meet the growing demand, thus implicitly impacting the growth of the market. Outsourcing management and expertise are growing constantly, as organizations in this region look to stay focused on their core business.Key Developments in the MarketOctober 2017 - Oracle launched an autonomous cloud database capable of patching cyber security weaknesses on its own accord. Oracle Autonomous Database Cloud uses machine learning to eliminate human maintenance and error, offering self-driving, self-scaling, and self-repairing database functions.The major players include - ORACLE CORPORATION, CISCO SYSTEMS, INC., GENESYS TELECOMMUNICATIONS LABORATORIES, INC., 3CLOGIC INC., INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE, INC., CONNECT FIRST INC., FIVE9 INC., MITEL NETWORKS CORPORATION, ASPECT SOFTWARE PARENT INC., 8X8, INC., and INCONTACT, INC., amongst others.Geographically Report Studies Following RegionNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificMiddle East & AfricaLatin AmericaCustomization of the ReportThis report can be customized to meet your requirements. Please connect with our representative, who will ensure you get a report that suits your needs.Browse Global Cloud-based Contact Center Market @Some of Major Point From Global Cloud-based Contact Center Market 2018 Table of Content1. Introduction1.1 Key Deliverables of the Study1.2 Study Assumptions1.3 Market Definition1.4 Key Findings of the Study2. Research Approach and Methodology3. Executive Summary4. Market InsightsContinued...About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Us:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019Email ID: sales@orbisresearch.com
Advancements in Viscosity Index Improvers Market 2025

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Viscosity offers resistance against internal friction between two surfaces or fluid particles during the flow of fluids. The change in viscosity across temperature variations is arbitrarily measured by viscosity index (VI). Fluids friction reducing ability is closely related to its viscosity.Read Report Overview @Typically, fluids that can force the two moving surfaces apart with the least viscosity are preferred. If a fluid is of very low viscosity, the friction between the surfaces can increase due to their contact with each other. On the other hand, large energy is required for movement if the fluid is too viscous.Based on the scale of viscosity index, fluids can be categorized into low, medium, high, and very high viscosity fluids. The VI scale was set up by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Depending upon the application, fluids with appropriate viscosity are selected to carry out the process.If the viscosity is not at par with the requirements, viscosity index improvers (VIIs) can be added to the fluid to modify its viscosity. For instance, turpentine is added to paints to make the paint thinner and less viscous. In this instance, the low viscosity of the fluid is desirable in order to increase work efficiency.Commonly employed VIIs are polymers, typically olefin copolymers (OCP) of ethylene and propylene. These polymers are employed in the making of diversified products such as lubricant additives, insulation or coating of electrical wires, and automobile trims. When an increase in the viscosity of oils is required, polymer coils can be used as their interaction with oil and each other causes resistance to the flow of oil. In this instance, the high viscosity of the fluid is desirable.The field of VIIs or viscosity modifiers is still advancing; research & development activities are being carried out in chemical technology in order to develop products that can modify the viscosity of fluids without changing their chemical properties and effectiveness.Viscosity index improvers are commonly used in automotive lubricants, especially passenger cars and heavy-duty trucks. They are employed in automatic transmission fluids, multi-grade engine oils, certain hydraulic fluids, gear oils, and greases. These applications dominate the VIIs used in the lubricants market.Engine friction can be reduced by lowering viscosity of lubricants. This can contribute toward fuel economy performance of a vehicle. Improving fuel economy performance is a priority for passenger car OEMs due to the numerous environmental legislations and consumer requirements. Fuel economy derived from redesigning of engines is less cost-effective as compared to advancements in lubricants & their formulations. Hence, R&D in lubricants is gaining prominence for efficiency improvement.Based on type of fluid in which VIIs are employed, the market can be segmented into lubricants, fuels, industrial solvents, hydraulic fluids, chemicals, and others. Based on industry application, the market for viscosity index improvers can be divided into automotive, paints & coatings, oil & gas, marine, food, industrial equipment, and others.Substantial requirement for VIIs exists in developed regions due to their proficient use in order to increase efficiency across various process industries. Rise in industrialization is expected to be one of the factors driving the market for viscosity index improvers in developing economies. Demand for eco-friendly and stable products is on the rise. Several industries are switching to these products. The use of ecofriendly products is anticipated to boost the viscosity index improvers market in the near future.Request to view Sample Report:Key players operating in the viscosity index improvers market include Chevron Oronite Company LLC, Infineum International Limited, Afton Chemical, Functional Products Inc, The Lubrizol Corporation, Evonik, Conco Philips, and Tri-iso Tryline.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Virtual Classroom Market Key Players: BrainCert, SAP SE, Oracle Corporation by Forecast to 2023

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/virtual-classroom-market-4065

Market Scenario:The virtual classroom market is coming up with whole new innovation in experiencing the education and learning system. On the basis of regional analysis, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. North America region is generating highest market share in the virtual classroom market owing to better network infrastructure, digitization and higher technology implementation. Digitization in North America is mainly due to the invention of advanced technology and economies benefitting from it.North America region is leading due to presence of major players from the region in the virtual classroom market. The implementation of virtual classroom solution by both small and medium enterprises is increasing rapidly, especially one into IT sector. The virtual classroom market is gaining demand as organization seek to improve their business growth by shifting from on-premise to cloud based. The initial low cost, saving amount spent on infrastructure, automatic software upgrading and seamless integration is driving the market of cloud based server virtualization market.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players: BrainCert (U.S.) SAP SE (Germany) Docebo (Italy) Saba Software (U.S.) Skyprep (Canada) Oracle Corporation (U.S.) Edvance360 (U.S.) Brainier (U.S.) Bluevolt (U.S.) Canvas (U.S.)The Virtual Classroom Market is expected to grow at approximately USD 12 Billion by 2023, at 10% of CAGR between 2017 and 2023.Regional Analysis:Regional analysis for virtual classroom market is studied in different geographic regions as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World. North America region is mainly dominating the market because of advanced technological implementation in learning methods and increasing number of students migrating to United States for pursuing higher education. The European region is also gaining growth because of increase demand of online education pursued by students. Asia-Pacific market is estimated to be one of the fastest growing market as it is continuously investing into research and development of virtual classroom market and growing adoption of virtual classroom solutions by enterprises in India is driving the market in the region.Increasing population, and growing IT landscape is boosting the market in the region. The region is witnessing high adoption of virtual classroom tools by enterprises. Developing countries such as India and China are adopting virtual classroom software at a large scale owing to increasing competitive advantage, growing IT sector and reduction in travel and human resource cost which is boosting the market in the region. The region is witnessing high growth in virtual classroom market due to growing technological advancement in cloud storage, virtual and mobile technologies.Intended Audience: Investors and consultants System Integrators Government Organizations Research/Consultancy firms Technology solution providers IT Solution Providers Educational InstitutesSegments:Virtual classroom market for segment on the basis of type, service, deployment, application and organization size.Virtual Classroom Market by Type: Teleconferencing World Wide Web Combination of Teleconferencing And World Wide WebVirtual Classroom Market by Service: Managed Service Professional ServiceVirtual Classroom Market by Deployment: Cloud On-PremiseVirtual Classroom Market by Application: Government Enterprise/Business Education Professional Services Healthcare IT & Telecommunication School & CollegeAccess Report Details @Virtual Classroom Market by Organization Size: Small and Medium Organization Large OrganizationTable of Contents1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market StructureContinuedList of TablesTable 1 Virtual Classroom Market, By TypeTable 2 Virtual Classroom Market, By ServiceContinuedList of FiguresFigure 1 Research TypeFigure 2 Virtual Classroom Market: By Type (%)ContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Butyl Acetate (BAC) Market Overview, Growth, Demand and Forecast Research Report 2025

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The market for butyl acetate (BAC or butac), which primarily is a colorless flammable liquid ester with fragrance, is flourishing on the back of the prosperity of its various end-use industries such as building and construction and automotive. In addition to that, butyl acetate is now frequently used as synthetic fruit flavoring agent for the manufacturing of food products such as cheese, ice creams, bakery products, and candles. It also is used as a raw material for the production of cosmetics, industrial adhesives, and certain coating. Consequently, as each of these industries touch new peaks in the near future, the demand in the global butyl acetate market is anticipated to increment at a notable CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.Read Report Overview @This report on the global butyl acetate market is a comprehensive assessment of the current potential and future prospects as far as demand is concerned, providing figurative evaluations and estimations, projecting aspects that the vendors of this market must concentrate on to earn maximum profits. The report comprises of an executive summary on how the demand has evolved in the global butyl acetate market and where it is headed, in-depth analysis of factors that will define the demand during the aforementioned forecast period, segmentations, regional and country-wide demand assessment, and a dedicated chapter on the competitive landscape, wherein several prominent vendors have been analyzed for their product portfolio, market share, business strategies, and geographical presence. The report aspires to act a reliable business tool for its targeted audiences such as manufacturers of butyl acetate, suppliers and distributors, research organizations, and government agencies.Global Butyl Acetate Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe demand for butyl acetate has been swelling consistently, aggressively during peak season for solvents. In addition to that, increasing usage of water-based coatings by the building and constructing industry as well as growing demand for automotive paints are also reflecting positively on the market. A number of cosmetic products and adhesives are now also produced using butyl acetate, which is further providing traction to the market. Butyl acetate is now a common solvent for the manufacturing of textiles, plastics, artificial leathers, as an extractant for oils & pharmaceuticals and as an ingredient for perfumes & synthetic flavors. On the other hand, hazardous issues pertaining to the production of butyl acetate and the need to continuously monitor the exposure level are obstructing the market from attaining its true potential.Application-wise, the butyl acetate market can be segmented into pharmaceuticals, paints and coatings, plasticizers, perfumery and flavors, electrical, and others, whereas end use bifurcation of the market can be done into the industries of homebuilding and automotive.Global Butyl Acetate Market: Regional AnalysisAsia Pacific, driven by the emerging economy of China, is currently the most lucrative region in the BAC market. There are a number of prominent producers of butyl acetate who hail from China and are gaining strong demand from prospering building and constructing industry in the region. As far as the U.S. butyl acetate market is concerned, the Hurricane Harvey has caused significant damage that in turn is expected to provide momentum as transportation logistics improve in the near future. Over in the European region, a number of companies are expected to recover the demand since the end of thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in the near year 2018.Request to view Sample Report:Global Butyl Acetate Market: Competitive LandscapeThe Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, BASF-PETRONAS, Celanese Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, INEOS Oxide Ltd, and Yangtze River Acetyls are some of the key companies currently ahead of the curve in the global butyl acetate market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Starter Culture Market Size, Analysis, and Forecast Report 2016-2024

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Starter cultures comprise of microorganism present either in activated or deactivated mode in liquid, dried, or frozen form. Starter cultures are useful for the metabolic activity and enhance physical and chemical properties of the product under fermentation processes. Fermentation process is one of the most common cost-effective and popular method for food processing and preservation, which is essential now to meet the rising demand for packaged food and beverage products. Starter cultures are used as a major ingredient in different alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to enhance their texture, color, flavor, and quality. Start culture play an important role in breaking down sugars and releasing carbon dioxide.Request to view Sample Report:Owing to several factors including the surging demand for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, the global market for starter culture is projected for a healthy growth rate during the forecast period of 2016 to 2024. This report is a comprehensive analysis of the starter culture market and segments it on the basis of product type, application, and geography, besides profiling some of the key players who are currently active in this market, highlighting their market share, product portfolio, and development strategies. The report also features a complete quantitative and qualitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.On the basis of product type, the market can be segmented into yeast, molds, and bacteria. By application, market is divided into alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic beverages include whiskey, beer, wine, and others including gin, vodka, and tequila. Non-alcoholic beverages include dairy products, kombucha, cereal based products, and fruit based drinks. Currently, yeast start culture dominates the alcoholic beverages segment while bacteria is most commonly used for the non-alcoholic beverages segment.Read Report Overview @Apart from the escalating demand from the food and beverages industry, increasing healthcare awareness among the consumers is another prominent factor fueling the demand in the global starter culture market. Additionally, technological advancements in the start culture industry, for example genetically modified start cultures, are expected to favor the market growth during the forecast period. Conversely, stringent regulations on microorganisms and the conditions pertaining to their growth are expected to challenge the market, apart from volatile raw material prices. The report highlights increasing functional drinks demand coupled with superior nutritive and read-to-drink beverages as two opportunities available for the players.Geographically, the global market for start culture can be divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world. The report picks out Europe as the most lucrative regional market, owing to its significant alcoholic beverage demand. Asia Pacific, with vast population, is projected for a robust growth rate, especially from emerging economies such as India, China, and Brazil. North America too will sustain the demand due to high nutritional requirements.Angel Yeast CO. Ltd, Lallemand Inc, Lesaffre Group, CSK Food Enrichment B.V, Dohler Group, Wyeast laboratories Inc., Lactina Ltd, and Danisco A/S are some of the key players in the global starter culture market. The report observes that the nature of the competition is quite stiff in this market with the leading players constantly investing in research and development to enhance their product portfolio and gain shares. Also, mergers and acquisition with smaller companies is helping them expand their outreach to untapped market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Facial Recognition Market 2018 Global Key Leaders: Safran SA, NEC, Corporation, Cognitec Systems, Aware Inc, Daon Inc

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/facial-recognition-market-1250

Market Synopsis:Facial Recognition is a biometric application which captures image and uses it to identify individuals by applying facial analytics and comparing it with the existing database. Facial recognition systems are commonly used for security purposes, especially in the surveillance field but recently the use of facial recognition in other applications has progressed. The facial recognition market is driven by the increasing criminal activities, globally. Apart from it, the increasing security measures at ATMs and the growing installation of facial recognition systems at airports, and shopping malls drive the facial recognition market.Facial recognition market is segmented on the basis of technology as 3D Facial Recognition, 2D Facial Recognition, Thermal imaging and Skin Texture. To capture information about the shape of a face, the 3D facial recognition technology uses 3D sensors. The skin texture analysis uses visual details of the skin, as captured in standard digital or scanned images and analyzes unique lines, patterns, and spots apparent in a persons skin into a mathematical space. The ability of identifying a suspect from a large viewing angle with a high accuracy, is achieved by 3D facial recognition technology.The global Facial Recognition Market provides two types of services as consulting services and cloud based services. Rising adoption of cloud technologies has resulted in the fastest growth of cloud based facial recognition services. The facial recognition market is classified on the basis of components as hardware and software components. The hardware component holds a larger share in the facial recognition market whereas the software component of facial recognition is expected to grow at a faster rate. The facial recognition technology is still in a developing phase therefore it has technological limitations. Lack of awareness has resulted as a major restrain for the facial recognition market.The global facial recognition market had been valued at USD 3.04 billion in the year 2016, which is expected to reach USD 8.93 billion by the end of the forecast period growing at 19.68% CAGR.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players: Safran SA (France) NEC Corporation (Japan) Cognitec Systems (Germany) Aware Inc. (U.S) Daon Inc. (U.S.) Gemalto (Netherlands) FaceFirst Inc. (U.S.) Ayonix Corporation (Japan) Key Lemon Ltd. (Switzerland) Face++(China)Global Facial Recognition Market Analysis: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next ten years of the various segments and sub-segments included in global Facial Recognition market with analysis of its development and demand in the market Upcoming technologies, high growth geographies and countries were identified Regional and country specific demand and forecast for facial recognition were studied Key segments covered in the report are: technology, services, components and end-user. Unit breakdown for all different classification was finalized; and same was referred for forecasting, keeping few assumptions into factor For all the regions, forecast demand for all applications were identified and then with historical figure, data collected through primary and annual reports were triangulated to derive the regional market size Historical trend is identified to forecast and estimate the future value dataTarget Audience: Technology investors End-user industries Research & consultant organization Market players GovernmentBrowse Full Report Details @Key Findings: The global facial recognition market is expected to reach USD 8.93 Billion by 2022. By Technology, 3D Facial Recognition accounts for the largest market share and is growing with approximately ~23.4% CAGR during forecast period. By End-user, Government industry holds the largest market growing with approximately 22.9% CAGR by the end of forecast period. Geographically, North America has been projected to have the largest market share in global Facial Recognition market, while Asia-Pacific has been projected to emerge as the fastest growing region.Table of Contents1. Introduction2.1 Market Drivers 112.1.1 Increasing Criminal Activities at Government And Non-Government Sector Demanding For Facial Recognition Technology Solutions 112.1.1.1 Increasing Security Measures at ATMs And Other Financial Institutes 122.1.1.2 Increasing Implementation of Facial Recognition System At Airports And Super-Markets 122.1.1.3 High Adoption of Facial Recognition By Law Enforcement Agencies For Better Results In Criminal Investigations 132.2 Market Inhibitors 142.2. Technical Limitation Of The Facial Recognition System Features Dragging Lack Of Accuracy In The Results 142.2.2 Lack of Awareness Dragging Security & Privacy Issues 142.3 Supply Chain Analysis 152.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis 16About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Mobile Front Hauls Market Key Players: Nokia Corporation, OE Solutions, InnoLight Technology Corporation by Forecast to 2022

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Market Scenario:The major growth driver of Mobile Front Hauls Market includes growing deployment of 4G mobile network, growing smartphone technology market, growing demand for efficient and low cost power consumption among others.Hence the market for Mobile Front Hauls is expected to grow at high CAGR (2016-2022).However, lack of technical expertise and complex architecture of access network is one of the factors which are hindering the growth of Mobile Front Hauls Market.Request a Sample Report @Major Key Players: Accelink Technologies Co.ltd. (China) MACOM Technologies (U.S.) Nokia Corporation (Finland) E-blink SA (France) Finisar corporation (U.S.) OE Solutions (U.S.) InnoLight Technology corporation (China) Eoptolink Technologies Inc. (China)Objective Study of Mobile Front Hauls Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 10 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the global Mobile Front Hauls Market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To Analyze the Mobile Front Hauls Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by type, by network, by end-user and sub-segments. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Mobile Front Hauls Market.Segments:Global Mobile Front Hauls Market can be segmented as follows:Segmentation by Type: centralized RAN and Cloud RAN (C-RAN).Segmentation by Network: Passive WDM, Semi-passive WDM, active WDM and optical transmission network among others.Segmentation by End-users: Telecommunications, Networking, Government, and Enterprises among others.Regional Analysis of Mobile Front Hauls Market:North-America dominated the Global Mobile Front Hauls Market with the largest market share in the region, and therefore accounting for more million and is expected to grow over high billion by 2022. .The European market for Mobile Front Hauls Market is expected to grow at high CAGR (2016-2022).Industry News: Nokia Corporation has announced in February 2016 about its expansion of mobile front Haul solution with new WDM modules. This expansion would provide benefit to operators to accelerate the deployment of centralized RAN architecture and thus serve the growing demand for streaming video and downloading HD movies. E-blink has done partnership with Infinera, provider of intelligent transport networks in year 2015. The partnership is done to provide fiber and wireless based solutions to deliver next generation mobile front haul network to Orange companyAmericas:North America: US CanadaLatin America:Europe:Western Europe: Germany France Italy Spain U.K Rest of Western EuropeBrowse Full Report Details @Eastern Europe:Asia Pacific:Asia: China India Japan South Korea Rest of Asia PacificTable of Contents:1 Executive Summary2 Scope of the Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope of the Study2.2.1 Research objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast ModelContinued.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Global Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market Forecasted to Observe an Enormous Growth By 2023

Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market

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Mitochondrial myopathies are associated with mitochondrial diseases which are caused by certain nuclear DNA deletions and mutations. Mitochondrial myopathies affect mitochondria which is responsible for energy production within a cell associated with mitochondrial disease. Thus, they cause low energy and free radical production which results in a variety of symptoms.The factors such as rising number of screening services for mitochondrial disorders, growing number of mitochondrial myopathy cases, increased government funding and incentives for rare genetic diseases are driving the market for mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment. However, poor treatment options and absence of curative treatment have constrained the market.Considering all these factors, Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market is expected to reach $ 33.6 million by the end of 2020, this market is projected to growing at a CAGR of ~ 9.82 % during 2017-2020.Key Findings:Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke-like episodes (MELAS) and Progressive External Ophthalmoplegia (PEO) are the most commonly found conditions in patients with mitochondrial myopathy. The global MELAS diagnosis & treatment market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 19.39% during 2017 to 2020.Genetic tests accounted for the largest market share in 2016, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.11% during 2017 to 2020.Supportive therapy captured the whole market share in 2016, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.82% during 2017 to 2020.Segments:The Global Mitochondrial Myopathy Diagnosis & Treatment Market is segmented on the basis of type, diagnostic tests and therapy. Based on type, the market has been segmented as mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS), progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO), myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibres (MERRF), mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalopathy syndrome (MNGIE), KearnsSayre syndrome (KSS), mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDS), Pearson syndrome, Leigh syndrome, neuropathy, ataxia, and retinitis pigmentosa (NARP). Based on the diagnostic tests, the market has been segmented as genetic tests, muscle biopsy and biochemical test. Based on the therapy, the market has been segmented as supportive therapy and targeted therapy.Key players of Global Mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment Market:Key players profiled in the report are Centogene AG, GeneDx, Ixchel Pharma, Khondrion BV, Mitobridge, NeuroVive Pharmaceutical AB, Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc., Stealth Biotherapeutics and others.Get Sample Copy @Regional analysis:The Americas account for the maximum market share due to favorable reimbursement scenario and greater expenditure on healthcare. The Americas mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment market is expected to reach USD 116.7 million by the end of 2025 at the CAGR of 19.39% during 2017 to 2025. The faster market uptake of new technology in the US is also an important driver of the market for global mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment. Europe is the second largest market due to large disposable income and rising awareness. Asia Pacific region is expected to have the most future potential and it is estimated to be led by China and India. The Asia Pacific mitochondrial myopathy diagnosis & treatment market is expected to reach USD 4.4 million by the end of 2020 at the CAGR of 9.94% during 2017 to 2020. The Middle East & Africa market is led by the gulf nations particularly Saudi Arabia and UAE. The regions of Africa are expected to witness a moderate growth due to poor economic and political conditions and poor healthcare penetration.TABLE OF CONTENTS1 INTRODUCTION1.1 Definition1.2 Scope of Study1.3 Research Objective1.4 Assumptions & Limitations1.4.1 Assumptions1.4.2 Limitations1.5 Market Structure2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2.1 Research Process2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research3 MARKET DYNAMICS3.1 Introduction3.2 Drivers3.2.1 Rise In Number Of Mitochondrial Myopathy Incidence Rate And Growing Number Of Screening ervices.3.2.2 Government Funding And Incentives For Rare Genetic Diseases3.3 Restraints3.3.1 Poor Treatment Options And Absence Of Curative Treatment3.3.2 Lack Of Awareness And Diagnosis Of The Rare Mitochondrial Disorders3.4 Opportunities3.4.1 Faster Market Uptake And Low Marketing Cost3.4.2 Research And Development3.5 Challenges4 MARKET FACTOR ANALYSIS4.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat From A New Entrant4.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyer4.1.3 Bargaining Power Of Supplier4.1.4 Threat From Substitute4.1.5 Intensity Of Competitive Rivalry4.2 Pipeline Analysis4.2.1 Introduction4.2.2 KH1764.2.3 Elamipretide4.2.4 RTA 4084.2.5 IXC 1034.2.6 NV5564.3 Mega Trends Toc ContinuedApply for Discount @About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Biodegradable Plastics Market Plying for Significant Growth During 2015  2023

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The global biodegradable plastics market is gaining momentum on account of the nascent technologies forged by the market vendors. Moderate level of competition is expected to be a key highlight of the market over the coming years. The price sensitivity of the raw materials ensures that the competitors do not engage in intense or cut-throat competition. Moreover, the pricing strategies adopted by market players has also been a defining factor in keeping the level of competition under control. In 2014, 33% of the total market share was collectively held by the following three market players: Corbion, BASF SE, and NatureWorks LLC. It is evident that these market players have attained a plush level of reckon across the market and are expected to influence the growth of the market over the coming years.Request to view sample of this report at:Furthermore, other market players are also expected to introduce key business strategies to enhance their prospects of growth over the coming years. Since the market for biodegradable plastics is closely related to the domain of environmental conservation, the market players are expected to bank on the initiatives of governments and environmentalists to encourage the use of biodegradable plastics.Transparency Market Research (TMR) produced a report that estimates the growth rate of the market over the period from 2015 to 2023. According to the report, the global market for biodegradable plastics is projected to grow at a robust CAGR of 9.90% over the forecast period. The market value is expected to reach US$17.66 bn by the end of 2023 elevating from a value of US$9.10 bn in 2016. The market is currently dominated by the polylactic acid-based biodegradable plastics segment but the starch-based biodegradable plastics segment is expected to outdo the former over the coming years. Starch-based biodegradable plastics segment is projected to reach a value of US$6.36 bn by the end of 2023.Government Initiatives Aid Market GrowthProtection of the environment should be given utmost importance in order ensure a sustainable future for the planet. However, the negligence of the masses along with activities that degrade the natural cover have already placed a negative toll on the environment. Hence, governments and environmentalists have begun emphasizing on the need to put an end to the degradation of the environment. This has given an impetus to the market for biodegradable plastics that serve advantages for the environment as against other plastic wastes. Governments across the world are encouraging the use of biodegradable plastics by imposing restrictions on the use of other forms of plastics. Moreover, the quest of the industrial units to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has also driven demand within the global market for biodegradable plastics.High Price Could Obstruct Affluent GrowthDespite the affluent growth of the market, certain factors act as obstructions for the market. The foremost factor that hampers the growth of the market is the high price of biodegradable plastics. The complex manufacturing processes along with the volatility of raw materials used to manufacture biodegradable plastics is the reason behind the increased prices.Governments in the European countries are making concerted efforts eliminate non-biodegradable plastics from the environment. Several bodies have been established to ensure that there is minimal plastic waste disposed in the environment, and biodegradable plastics are used in majority of the sectors.The review is based on a market research report titled Biodegradable Plastics (Polylactic Acid (PLA), Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), Polybutylene Succinate (PBS), Polycaprolactone (PCL), Starch-based, and Regenerated Cellulose) Market for Packaging, Textile, Agriculture, Injection Molding, and Other Applications  Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015  2023.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Healthcare Mobility Solutions Market will Register at a CAGR of 25.50% through 2023

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Focus on Reducing Healthcare Costs Drives Global MarketThe constantly growing and evolving medical needs have been the driving force behind the evolution of healthcare mobility solutions. The aim of these solutions is to reduce the healthcare costs and to provide the patients an optimum solution in the least possible time.View Report-The simplicity of this objectivity has been successfully achieved by the development of healthcare mobility solutions products and services such as mobile devices, enterprise mobility platforms, and mobile applications. The growing demand for medical attention and increasing usage of smartphones and other personal digital assistants have made the deployment of this technology possible. It has bridged the gap between patients and caregivers by facilitating help through technology.With this strong background, the global healthcare mobility solutions market touched a valuation of US$20.13 bn in 2014. Given the high-impact drivers, this market is expected to see opportunities worth US$148.66 bn by 2023, as the market is expected to progress at a CAGR of 25.50% from 2015 to 2023.Request A Sample-Preference for Home Healthcare Services Keeps North America at the ForefrontNorth America held the leading share in the overall healthcare mobility solutions market, accounting for 53.0% of the total market revenue in 2014. The mHealth application is driving the flourishing healthcare mobility solutions market in North America as more and more patients are opting for home healthcare services.Furthermore, the increasing efforts to save on healthcare costs is also expected to propel the mHealth applications market, which will, in turn, result in the growth of healthcare mobility solutions across North America. Government initiatives along with efforts taken by private establishments across the U.S. and Canada to adopt convenient and cost-effective solutions is also likely to propel this market.Request For Discount-Asia Pacific Shows Promise of Growth as Governments Encourage e-Health SolutionsMeanwhile, Asia Pacific is expected to surge at an unprecedented CAGR of 25.8% between 2015 and 2023. The growing government initiatives to increasing the adoption rate of e-Health solutions and mHealth across countries such as India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and China are expected to drive this regional market. The growing awareness about mobile health options, clinical mobility, and convenience of home monitoring are expected to augment the Asia Pacific healthcare mobility solutions market.m-Health to Remain Leading Application SegmentAmongst the various types of applications offered by healthcare mobility solutions such as enterprise solutions and mHealth applications, the latter is expected to exhibit the fastest growing CAGR of 25.2% between 2015 and 2023. The spiraling usage of smartphones, tablets, and PDAs is expected to propel this application segment in the near future. Supplementing this growth will the rise of the mobile devices segment due to their affordability, accessibility, and convenience. The improving features of mobile applications and the streamlining of information feed and its assessment will work in favor of both these segments to help the overall market prosper in the coming years.The key players rendering the competitive landscape of the global healthcare mobility solutions market fragmented are Cerner Corporation, McKesson Corporation, SAP SE, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Oracle Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., and AT&T, Inc. The majority of the companies in this market are trying to explore the opportunities in the emerging economies of Brazil, Chile, and India to increase their geographical foothold.About us:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendationsContact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Homeopathy Products Market to Develop Rapidly by 2026

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The comprehensive research report on global homeopathy products market by Fact.MR supports the reader by providing incisive insights on the consumption and demand of homeopathy products from a global perspective. This research study also enables the reader in slating key growth strategies in order to maintain tempo with the changing market dynamics in the current and future scenario.Report overview @The research covers data and statistical analysis on the past, the present market condition as well as provides analysis of the market nine years down the line, starting from 2017 till 2026.Comprehensive perspective in a nutshellGlobal homeopathy products market research report focuses on various opportunities, trends, drivers and restraints across important geographies in the globe. This delivers a global perspective by covering all the key areas presenting a holistic view of the market.This assists the reader to get a detailed understanding about the regions with optimum potential in order to slate investment decisions and expansion strategies. The research study eliminates all the biasness giving a more realistic shape to the market acumen.Uniqueness in research processCredibility of the researched data and market statistics lie in the uniqueness of the research process that ensures enhanced accuracy. Weighted assessment of the global homeopathy products market is underlined by an extensive research methodology that entails both high level secondary research and in-depth primary research to acquire relevant numbers.The data collected undergoes several funnels of validation and re-examination at each step of the primary research and this continues till the end of the research process.This ensures delivering value with data having a higher degree of accuracy. Opinions of market observers and the subject matter experts are extrapolated and triangulation of these enables the analysts to arrive at a much accurate global market representation.Get a free sample request @Thorough competitive assessmentThe research study on the global market for homeopathy products covers high level analysis on key players that are involved in the market. Competitive analysis section in the report focuses on product portfolio analysis, strategies applied by the key players, key product developments, their innovations, sales approach and product sales, SWOT analysis, supply chain analysis, future expansion plans, their area wise spread, mergers and acquisitions, market shares, and other key financials, thus offering a complete competition standing in the market at a global level. Competitive assessment has been done in a systematic way to enable the reader to draw necessary conclusions.The comprehensive research report on the global market for homeopathy products provides valuable insights with weighted analysis. Every organization has its own internal research team that strives to gather sufficient research about various facets of the market.Fact.MR aims at doing all the heavy lifting by providing unbiased insights which can be actioned by the research team thus supporting in achieving their research milestones.There are several reasons which reinforce the value of this research report, such as unbiased research approach in data collection, detailed and comprehensive and a weighted segmentation of the entire homeopathy products market, key trends and developments taking/taken place in the market, statistical analysis reaching maximum accuracy, global market forecasts which gives an idea about the future market scenario based on the current and the past market dynamics and assisting the reader in slating important strategies in order to maintain the right rhythm and overcome the challenges caused by the changing market dynamics to achieve competitive advantage.Buy Now Full Report @About UsXploreMR is one of the worlds leading resellers of high-quality market research reports. We feature in-depth reports from some of the worlds most reputed market research companies and international organizations. We serve across a broad spectrum  from Fortune 500 to small and medium businesses. Our clients trust us for our unwavering focus onquality and affordability. We believe high price should not be a bottleneck for organizations looking to gain access to quality information.Contact UsXploreMR111 North Market Street, Suite 300San Jose, CA 95113, United StatesTel: +1-669-284-0108Email: sales@xploremr.comWebsite:
Global Biodegradable Stents Market is expected to reach US$1.7 bn by 2024

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https://www.researchmoz.us/biodegradable-stents-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2016-2024-report.html/toc

Biodegradable Stents are the third generation of stents used in the treatment of coronary artery diseases, which are completely absorbed in the body after the drug is eluted. The biodegradable stents have emerged as a perfect replacement to the standard Drug Eluting Stents having a permanent polymer coating over them. Introduction of biodegradable stents has resulted into reduction in rates of thrombosis, in-stent restenosis, and dual anti-platelet therapy required with the DES and Bare Metal Stents, as the polymer or metal is completely absorbed in the vessel, resulting into efficient drug delivery, and vascular restoration. Players in the stents market are now looking beyond the coronary and peripheral artery disease treatment applications of the biodegradable stents after various clinical trials which have demonstrated the efficiency of these biodegradable stents in other vascular interventions.Global Biodegradable Stents Market: ScopeThe market overview section of the report comprises qualitative analysis of the overall biodegradable stents market considering the factors determining the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints and opportunities, along with Porters five force analysis and market attractiveness analysis. In addition, market opportunity analysis for the stent type, and material types, and key industry developments has also been provided. Key industry developments include the major events occurred in past decade and are expected to occur during the forecast period which are likely to affect the market dynamics.Click to get Sample PDF:The global biodegradable stents market has been segmented on the basis of stent type, material and end users. On the basis of stent type, the global biodegradable stents market is categorized as coronary artery stent, and peripheral artery stent. Moreover, on the basis of material, the biodegradable stents market has been segmented into polymer based, and metal based stent. Furthermore, on the basis of end users, the global biodegradable stents market has been classified as hospitals, cardiac catheterization laboratories, and ambulatory surgery centers.The market for these stent types, material and end users has been extensively analyzed on the basis of factors such as usage pattern, sales revenue, geographic presence and technological developments. The market size and forecast in terms of revenue (USD million) for each of these segments have been provided for the period 2014 to 2024, considering 2015 as the base year. The report also provides the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for each segment for the forecast period 2016 to 2024.Global Biodegradable Stents Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the biodegradable stents market has been classified into five segments namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The market size and forecast for each region has been provided for the period 2014 to 2024, in terms of types, material and applications, along with the CAGR (%) for the forecast period 2016 to 2024.View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:The report also provides a section on the competitive landscape, wherein the market share analysis of leading players in the global biodegradable stents market, in terms of percentage share in 2016 has been discussed. A list of recommendations has also been included for new entrants as well as existing market players to help them establish a strong presence in the market and increase their market share.The report concludes with the profiles of major players in the global biodegradable stents market such as Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific, Inc., Terumo Europe NV, Biotronik, Elixir Medical Corporation, Sahajanand Medical technologies, and Kyoto Medical Planning among others. The major market players are evaluated on various parameters such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies and recent developments.ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Mr. NachiketAlbany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Asia Pacific Flexible Glass Market Poised to Expand at 36.5% CAGR During 2014 - 2020

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Future Market Insights (FMI) announces the release of its latest report titled, Asia Pacific Flexible Glass, Market Opportunity; 2014 to 2020 Forecast." According to the report, the Asia Pacific flexible glass market is expected to account for $612.7 Mn by 2020, registering a CAGR of 36.5% during the forecast period. Incorporation of flexibility threshold in displays is expected to contribute to the growth of the Asia Pacific flexible glass market over the forecast period.Request For Report Sample@In terms of application, Asia Pacific flexible glass market is mainly segmented into display and solar PV (photovoltaic). Currently, display application segment dominates the Asia Pacific flexible glass market. The display segment was valued at US$ 74.2 Mn in 2013, and is expected to reach US$ 417.3 Mn by 2020, exhibiting a CAGR of 33.4% for the forecast period. Moreover, the development of Roll2Roll process is expected to create a demand for flexible glass in solar PV application. As a result, solar PV is projected to be the fastest growing application segment for the forecast period.The display application is further sub-segmented as smartphones and tablets, curved TV, building mounted displays and, wearables. Among all the aforementioned sub-segments, smartphones & tablets segment is expected to dominate the market with 50.1% of the total revenue share by 2020. However, curved TV is anticipated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 37.1% during the forecast period. Additionally, influx of new entrants is predicted to fuel the growth of curved TV application segment over the forecast period.Country-wise, the Asia Pacific flexible glass market is segmented into Japan, China, South Korea and others. Japan is the most lucrative market, followed by South Korea and China. Moreover, Japan is expected to contribute 40.0% market share to the Asia Pacific flexible glass market by 2020. The growth of South Korea market is supported by the strong presence of smartphone & TV manufacturers along with growing number of R&D centres in South Korea.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Assessing the various factors driving this market, FMI lead analyst, Abhishek S. said, Incorporation of flexibility threshold in displays, development of Roll2Roll process for flexible PV and growing R&D investments in flexible glass by key glass manufacturers are expected to fuel the demand for Asia Pacific flexible glass market.Key players in the Asia Pacific flexible glass market are Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., Corning Inc., Schott AG and Nippon Electric Glass Company Ltd.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
System Integration Services Market : Top Manufacturers, Market Growth Analysis, Sales, Revenue, Gross Margin & Trend For Next 5 Years

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Businesses worldwide depend on software and technology integration solutions to achieve seamless operations and drive revenue growth. While innovative IT applications and integrated solutions have enriched business functions, IT departments are implementing relevant measures and upgrades to smoothen the IT and business operations. The companies seek integrated IT infrastructure solutions that are agile, resilient, secure, and cost-effective. It enables rapid integration of different processes, systems, services, information, and devices to enhance the overall business performance.Publisher's analysts forecast the global system integration services market to grow at a CAGR of 8.02% during the period 2017-2021.Get Sample Copy atCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global system integration services market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from system integration services in the global market.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAPublisher's report, Global System Integration Services Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- Accenture- CSC- Fujitsu- HPE- IBMGet Discount on ReportOther prominent vendors- Atos- BT Global Services- Capgemini- CGI- Cisco Systems- CMS IT Services (A Blackstone Portfolio Company)- Infosys- Microsoft- MuleSoft- NEC- WiproMarket driver- Need for converged ICT infrastructure- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- Technical issues and delay in integrating large-scale IT projects- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- Increased adoption of cloud-based integration solutions- For a full, detailed list, view our reportTable of ContentsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: MARKET LANDSCAPEPART 05: MARKET SIZINGPART 06: FIVE FORCES ANALYSISPART 07: MARKET SEGMENTATIONPART 08: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPEPART 09: REGIONAL LANDSCAPEPART 10: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 11: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGESPART 12: MARKET TRENDSPART 13: VENDOR LANDSCAPEPART 14: VENDOR ANALYSISPART 15: APPENDIXFor More Information about This Report:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.Pune, India
Coated Fabrics Market to Represent a Significant Expansion at 4.3% CAGR During 2014 - 2020

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Future Market Insights (FMI), in its latest report titled, Global Coated Fabrics Market Analysis and Opportunities Assessment, 2014-2020, reveals that the global coated fabrics market accounted for US$ 17.3 Bn in 2014. The market is estimated to reach US$ 21.6 Bn by 2020, exhibiting a CAGR of 3.7% during the forecast period.Market segmentsThe global coated fabrics market mainly covers applications, regions and product type. By Application type, the global coated fabrics market is segmented into transportation, Industrial, protective clothing, furniture, commercial tents, and others. Amongst all the applications, transportation accounted for 34% of overall market share in 2014 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 3.7% over the forecast period, followed by Industrial and other applicationsRequest For Report Sample@Region-wise, Asia-Pacific is projected to dominate the coated fabrics market through the forecast period, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.1% over the forecast period, followed by North America and Western Europe. The growth is attributed to growing automobile and industrial sectors.By product type, polymer coated fabrics segment accounted for approximately 87% of total revenue market share in 2014 and is anticipated to hold a significant revenue share by 2020, displaying a CAGR of 3.6% over the next five years. Furthermore, rubber coatings and other segment are expected to demonstrate a significant growth in the near future.Market DriversThe Coated fabrics are widely used in end user industries include transportation due to its various features such as elasticity, water resistance, and ability to drape. Increasing government regulations about health and safety of employees at the workplace, and growing automobile sector in APAC are other factors, driving the global coated fabrics market.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Competitive LandscapeReport profiles top 10 players in Coated Fabric marketplace which include 3M, Valspar Corporation, Saint-Gobain S.A., Sherwin-Williams, Bayer AG, AkzoNobel, PPG industries, Nippon Paints Co. Ltd., BASF coatings AG, and Dupont Coatings & Color Technologies Group. Currently, the key focus of the major players in the global coated fabrics market is on mergers and acquisitions to expand their geographical presence and customer base. Recently, the coated fabric market witnessed a major collaboration between International Apparel Federation (IAF) and Bayer AG aiming at improving innovations in apparel and footwear industry.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales Market 2018-2025: HLL Lifecare, Live Well Brands, Lovehoney Group, Maximuslube, Passion Lube

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales Market Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.In 2017, the global Water-based Personal Lubricant market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major players covered in this reportBioFilmChurch & DwightReckitt BenckiserTopcoAnsellBlossom OrganicsBodywiseClean streamCumming CorporationGood Clean LoveHathor Professional SkincareSensuous BeautySliquidThe Yes CompanyGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The report moreover provides an ideas of the engaged scene in the market for Water-based Personal Lubricant. It does in that capacity by using analytic tools, for instance, Porters Five Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis. It engages it to grasp the openings and entrapments expecting players in the market. It gives information on a comparative with the objective that players can figure winning frameworks carefully using every one of that information. The report moreover gives the regard tie examination to the market for Water-based Personal Lubricant.Table of ContentsGlobal Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales Market Report 20181 Water-based Personal Lubricant Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Water-based Personal Lubricant1.2 Classification of Water-based Personal Lubricant by Product Category1.2.1 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Mens Water-based Personal Lubricant1.2.4 Womens Water-based Personal Lubricant1.2.5 Unisex Water-based Personal Lubricant1.3 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Market by Application/End Users2 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Water-based Personal Lubricant Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)3 United States Water-based Personal Lubricant (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Water-based Personal Lubricant Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.3 United States Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)4 Europe Water-based Personal Lubricant (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 Europe Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales and Value (2013-2018)4.1.1 Europe Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.2 Europe Water-based Personal Lubricant Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.3 Europe Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)4.2 Europe Water-based Personal Lubricant Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Wireless SoC Market Trends and Techniques in 2018: NXP Semiconductors, ON Semiconductor, Qorvo, Qualcomm, Realtek

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Wireless SoC Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Wireless SoC market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Global Wireless SoC market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingCypress SemiconductorDialog SemiconductorEspressif SystemsMicrochip TechnologyNordic SemiconductorNXP SemiconductorsON SemiconductorQorvoQualcommRealtekSilicon LabsSTMicroelectronicsToshibaGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Speaking about growth driving factors and opportunities, the report presents a highly holistic approach on this subject. The driving factors have been given special attention in the report for the global Wireless SoC market. Most trends explore incorporation of new technologies or even a new concept associate with the subject in concern, which is expected to make the market gain extensive growth in future.In case of segmentation, most of the criteria are based on product or service type, application type, end users, and others. However, a lot of focus has been imparted on regional segmentation, wherein every micro-factor has been significantly explained in the report. Every segment has been evaluated on the basis of growth opportunities.Table of ContentsGlobal Wireless SoC Market Research Report 20181 Wireless SoC Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wireless SoC1.2 Wireless SoC Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Wireless SoC Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Wireless SoC Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 802.15.41.2.4 WiFi1.2.5 Bluetooth1.3 Global Wireless SoC Segment by Application1.3.1 Wireless SoC Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Audio1.3.3 Non-Audio2 Global Wireless SoC Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Wireless SoC Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Wireless SoC Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Wireless SoC Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Wireless SoC Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3 Global Wireless SoC Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Wireless SoC Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Wireless SoC Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Wireless SoC Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Wireless SoC Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Wireless SoC Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Wireless SoC Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)Complete table of content is available at:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Linear Bearings Market to Exhibit Impressive Growth During 2017 - 2027

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Bearing are enabled the machines to move at high speeds or carry heavy loads with productivity which components are made with high accuracy. Plain bearings are simplest of the type included a surface with no moving components. Based on design type, the plain bearing market is of three kinds: journal, linear and thrust bearings. Bearing enables devices to roll and helps in reducing friction between the surface of the bearing, and its rolling over. Linear bearings are elements used for translation type motion and enable high precision linear motion on round shafts by utilizing recirculating ball pathways. Linear bearings help to bear heavy loads with high stiffness and less noise. A linear bearing motion along a single axis and provides a less friction. It is used for low friction movements along a smooth rod. Linear bearings are less expensive than classical round ball bearings, but it is easy to integrate into carriage design. The Linear bearing has a wide range of its application for an industrial and automotive purpose. A linear bearing is used to provide free motion in one direction. It helps a device that is used to enable linear or rotational movement and reduces friction and handles stress.Global Linear bearings: Market Dynamics:The global linear bearing market is driven by the increase in demand of motor vehicle all over the world. The defense and aerospace sector leads to a rising in demand for a linear bearing which aids growth to the overall market. Moreover, the rising demand of construction industry in developing regions includes Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa drives the growth of a linear bearing market. Technological advancement, however making linear bearing more durable and this hinders the aftermarket sales. The growing number of counterfeit products hampers the growth of the linear bearing market. Further, the introduction of smart bearings expected to provide opportunities to the manufacturers of linear bearing in the near future.Request For Report Sample@Global Linear bearings: Segmentation:The global market of the global linear bearing market is segmented on the basis of types, end-use industry, and region wise.Based on types, the global linear bearing market is segmented into:Standard Linear BearingSuperball bearingsFlanged Linear BearingsLinear Bearing carriagesCeramic linear bearingsStainless linear bearingsBased on the end-use industry global linear bearing market is segmented into:Automotive IndustryIndustrialChemicalAerospaceAgricultureFood and beverage processing machineryPulp and paperPumps and CompressorMedical devicesMachine toolsGearboxesOffice equipmentRailwaysBased on region, the global linear bearing market is segmented into:North AmericaLatin AmericaEastern EuropeWestern EuropeJapanAsia Pacific excluding JapanThe Middle East and AfricaGlobal Linear bearings: Regional OutlookThe global linear bearing market is segmented into seven regions includes Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, Latin America, Japan, Asia Pacific excluding Japan and the Middle East and Africa. Rising rate urbanization and rise in demand for automobiles in developing countries includes China and India leads to growth in the Asia Pacific Market. Moreover, the falling prices of the linear bearing are well in this region. The growth of automotive industry in Japan and linear bearing manufacturers are opening up in order to cater to the growing demand. The Middle East and Africa has proven to be a lucrative region for linear bearing market owing to thriving automotive and construction industries. Latin America is dominated by Brazil owing to several conductive factors contributes to the linear bearing market in the region.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Linear bearings: Key Players:The prominent key players of the global linear bearing market include:THKNippon BearingKBSSamickMPS MicrosystemNBB-BearingSchaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KGSKFNSK LtdNTN Bearing CorporationNorgren Inc.JTEKT CorporationTHK Co. Ltd.Ningbo Yinzhou Weixing Bearing Co. Ltd.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Credit Insurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 : Euler Hermes, Atradius, Coface, Zurich, Credendo Group,

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Credit Insurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Credit Insurance market, analyzes and researches the Credit Insurance development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeEuler HermesAtradiusCofaceZurichCredendo GroupQBE InsuranceCesce...Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market segment by Application, Credit Insurance can be split intoDomestic TradeExport TradeTable of ContentsGlobal Credit Insurance Market Size, Status and Forecast 20251 Industry Overview of Credit Insurance1.1 Credit Insurance Market Overview1.1.1 Credit Insurance Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Credit Insurance Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Credit Insurance Market by End Users/Application1.3.1 Domestic Trade1.3.2 Export Trade2 Global Credit Insurance Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Credit Insurance Market Size (Value) by Players (2013-2018)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in FutureGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 Company (Top Players) Profiles3.1 Euler Hermes3.1.1 Company Profile3.1.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.1.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.1.4 Credit Insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.1.5 Recent Developments3.2 Atradius3.2.1 Company Profile3.2.2 Main Business/Business Overview3.2.3 Products, Services and Solutions3.2.4 Credit Insurance Revenue (Million USD) (2013-2018)3.2.5 Recent Developments3.3 CofaceContinue...About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on @
Anti-Drone Market is Expected to Reach USD 2,212.4 Million by 2025 & Growing Significantly with a CAGR of over 23% During the Forecast Period

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The global anti-drone market was estimated as USD 334.8 Million in 2016 and is expected to reach USD 2,212.4 Million by 2025, growing significantly with a CAGR of over 23% during the forecast period. Increased security breach incidences by unidentified drones and rising terrorism activities are the major factors driving growth of this marketAnti-Drone or Anti-Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a system, which provides the extreme protection to areas with services of various sizes, forms and functions. It provides security to private houses, commercial venues, government buildings, industrial installations, airports, prisons, border security, critical infrastructure, military facilities, etc. Anti-Drone is a customizable integrated system and is integrated with different kinds of equipment and solutions depending on the application.The different combinations of UAV detection equipment include drone detection radars, acoustic sensors, RF spectrum analyzers and video surveillance systems. Further, the drone neutralization equipment includes mobile jammers, counter-drone lasers, interception systems and drone capture nets. Additionally, security solutions are involved for higher level of protection of the area includes concealed threat detection systems, security-related software, long range acoustic devices, video acquisition and distribution systems, mobile security vans, IT infrastructure, etc. Special integration software in anti-drone technology are used to provide smooth operation of different Anti-UAV solutions within one integrated system while data processing and visualization software helps to access the level of threat and take adequate actions in response.Request For Free Sample Of The Report @Electronics System technology is anticipated to grow at the highest rateThe global anti-drone market is bifurcated based on technology, application, vertical and region. Based on the technology, the market is segmented as laser system, kinetic system and electronics system. Among these technologies, the market for the electronics system technology is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period 2017 - 2025. Huge investment by key players in electronics system-based anti-drones across the globe as well as low cost of components, are the major factors responsible for the growth of this market.Based on the application, the anti-drone market is segmented as, security & detection and detection and disruption. The detection and disruption application is usually adopted in the market and is anticipated to grow at the fastest pace during the forecast period. Detection and disruption systems have foremost applications in the military, defense and homeland security sectors. The system detects the unauthorized drones entering into the prohibited area of any country or region and interrupts them on the spot.Further segmentation of anti-drone market is based on the vertical include military & defense homeland security, commercial whereas, the commercial vertical is sub segmented into public venues, critical infrastructures and households. The military, defense and homeland security vertical dominated the market with the largest share in 2016. The market for the commercial vertical is expected to witness enormous growth during the forecast period, 2017 - 2025. Development of inexpensive drones in the market, increasing threat of intruders and public safety concerns are the major factors fuelling the growth of the segment.North America has the largest market share, whereas Asia Pacific is predicted to grow at the fastest pace during the forecast period.North America region is anticipated to account for the major market share among all the regions over the forecast period. Rising adoption of drones in the aerospace and defense sector across U.S is expected to propel the regional market. The Boeing Company, the U.S. based aircraft major, and Thales Group, a French multinational company, as a part of a project by the French government, have recently demonstrated the progress made in developing the anti-drone technologies.Furthermore, as governments across the globe endure their regulatory approach to counter-UAV technologies, several companies are entering into the market and advancing their platforms. In December 2017, Hensoldt, a German company demonstrated their Xpeller counter-UAV system at the Airbus airfield in Hamburg.Get more Information about this Report @Asia Pacific region is predicted to witness considerable growth over the next few years, owing to increased investment by government in development of aerospace and defense infrastructure in countries such as China, India, and Japan. These developing economies are likely to provide several opportunities for security and surveillance, thereby driving the market growth.Lockheed Martin Corporation launched its software solution for controlling drones.Prominent players involved in the development includes Thales Group, Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd., Lockheed Martin Corp., Dedrone Inc., Raytheon Co., Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., SCG LLC, Droneshield Ltd., Theiss UAV Solutions, BSS Holland BV, Advanced Radar Technologies SA, Department 13 International Ltd., and Northrop Grumman Corp., among all the other players. In March 2018, Lockheed Martin Corporation launched VCSi, a software solution allowing multiple users to simultaneously control dozen of drones during surveillance and investigation Other players are similarly involved in research & development, acquisitions, expansions and collaboration for their strategic growth.About Us-Xpodence Research is a U.S. based Market Research Company and offers the most extensive collection of progressive surveying syndicated and customized research reports of various categories for private and public industries across the globe.We offer the comprehensive market research solution for all the industries by performing the in-depth study of industry trends, verticals globally. We believe in building an eternal bond with our customers through providing them inclusive research study both customized and syndicated based on their specific requirements.The organizations in every industry such as Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Consumable Goods, Food & Beverage and others demands a market-based solutions for various significant decisions based on productivity and output globally. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact Us-Xpodence ResearchUSA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email-sales@xpodenceresearch.com
Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Market Analysis By Experts: ON Semiconductor, IPDiA, STMicroelectronics

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.In this report,the global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025,growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) market competition by top manufacturers,with production,price,revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingSTATS ChipPAC Ltd.ON SemiconductorIPDiASTMicroelectronicsInfineon Technologies AGAmkor Technology Inc.TSMC LtdGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Analysts authoring the report have offered all the necessary data and information required to become familiar with important developments of the global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) market. Moreover, growth trends observed in each region and segments studied in the report have been shed light upon by the analysts. Significant trends impacting market growth have been deeply analyzed in the report. The market has been segregated into various segments, according to different segmentation categories. The overview section of the report may include growth drivers, restraints, and trends and opportunities. The analysts have provided a complete research of the market for the said forecast period.The vendor landscape has also been clearly explained in the report with key focus on company profiling of leading players of the global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) market. Critical aspects such as degree of competition and entry of new players could be largely detailed in the report. Market estimates are said to have been considered based on various factors such as technological, economic, social, and political.Table of ContentsGlobal Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Market Research Report 20181 Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd)1.2 Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 EMS and EMI Protection IPD1.2.4 RF IPD1.2.5 LED Lighting1.2.6 Digital & Mixed Signal IPD1.3 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Segment by Application2 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Capacity,Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Capacity,Production,Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Supply (Production),Consumption,Export,Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Production,Revenue (Value),Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Integrated Passive Devices (Ipd) Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)Read Complete Table of Content @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Organic Wine Market Increasing Demand; Analysis with QYResearchReports : Castel, Accolade Wines, Cantine Riunite & CIV, Concha y Toro

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Organic Wine Market Professional Survey Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringE&J GalloThe Wine GroupConstellation BrandsCastelAccolade WinesCantine Riunite & CIVConcha y ToroTreasury Wine EstatesGrupo PenaflorPernod-RicardBronco WineCaviroTrinchero Family EstatesAntinoriChangyuCasella Family BrandsDiageoChina Great Wall WineGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The report moreover provides an ideas of the engaged scene in the market for Organic Wine. It does in that capacity by using analytic tools, for instance, Porters Five Forces Analysis and SWOT Analysis. It engages it to grasp the openings and entrapments expecting players in the market. It gives information on a comparative with the objective that players can figure winning frameworks carefully using every one of that information. The report moreover gives the regard tie examination to the market for Organic Wine.Table of ContentsGlobal Organic Wine Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Organic Wine1.1 Definition and Specifications of Organic Wine1.1.1 Definition of Organic Wine1.1.2 Specifications of Organic Wine1.2 Classification of Organic Wine1.2.1 Organic Sparkling Wine1.2.2 Organic Still Wine1.3 Applications of Organic Wine1.3.1 Supermarkets and Hypermarkets1.3.2 Specialist Retailers1.3.3 Online Channel1.3.4 Other2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Organic Wine2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Organic Wine2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Organic Wine2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Organic Wine3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Organic Wine3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Organic Wine Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Organic Wine Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Organic Wine Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Organic Wine Major Manufacturers in 20174 Global Organic Wine Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Organic Wine Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Organic Wine Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Organic Wine Sales and Growth Rate AnalysisView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Advanced Energy Market Growth Opportunities 2018  North America, China, Japan and Europe

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Advanced Energy Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Advanced Energy market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Global Advanced Energy market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingENN energy holdings limitedSiemens AGBrammo Inc.Clean Energy fuel Corp.BG groupSilver Spring NetworksFordSchneider Electric SEAlstomGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Following this, it presents answers to following questions pertinent the Advanced Energy market;What is the future market size and revenue projections based on past and current values?What can be said about the overall growth dynamics? What are the demand drivers and restraints influencing the growth trajectory?What are the key product segments of the Advanced Energy market? Which product segments hold maximum potential in terms of revenue? Which ones currently hold impressive market share?Which are the key application segments of the Advanced Energy market? Which ones hold promise over the forecast period?Which regions are key markets for Advanced Energy? What are the factors for their prominence?What is the nature of vendor landscape of Advanced Energy market?How is the competitive hierarchy predicted to change? What are the key growth strategies that leading players are focused on?Going forward, what are the opportunities and pitfalls that top players need to bear in mind to bet right on the market?The report presents answers to these pertinent questions by examining historic and present figures obtained from company websites and online paid databases.Table of ContentsGlobal Advanced Energy Market Research Report 20181 Advanced Energy Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Advanced Energy1.2 Advanced Energy Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Advanced Energy Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Advanced Energy Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Lithium ION Battery Technology1.2.4 Pumped Hydro Storage Technology1.2.5 NAS Battery Storage Technology1.2.6 Caes Energy Storage Technology1.2.7 Flow Battery Energy Storage Technology1.2.8 Super Capacitors Energy Storage Technology1.2.9 Others2 Global Advanced Energy Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Advanced Energy Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Advanced Energy Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Advanced Energy Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Advanced Energy Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Advanced Energy Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3 Global Advanced Energy Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Advanced Energy Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Advanced Energy Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Advanced Energy Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Advanced Energy Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Advanced Energy Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Advanced Energy Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Europe Water Dispenser Market information related to pipeline products, news and deals

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MarketResearchReports.Biz adds Europe Water Dispenser Market Share, Size, Trends and Forecast Market Research Report reports to its database. This report provides a strategic analysis of the Water Dispenser and the growth estimates for the forecasted period.Water Dispenser or water cooler is connected to the mains and provide an instant supply of not only chilled water but also boiling hot and hot water. They are generally broken up in two categories: bottleless and bottled Water Dispenser. Bottleless or plumbed in Water Dispenser are hooked up to a water supply, while bottled Water Dispenser require delivery (or self-pick-up) of water in large bottles from vendors.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Water Dispenser in Europe market, especially in Germany, UK, France, Russia, and Italy. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries, type and application.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversMideaAngelQin YuanLamoHaierAUXCHANGHONGRoyalstarYANGZIMeilingChigoMarket Segment by Countries, coveringGermanyUKFranceRussiaItalyMarket Segment by Type, coversBy Cooler Type:Bottled Water CoolerCooler Connected to the MainsMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoResidentialCommercialRequest For TOC Report @There are 17 Chapters to deeply display the Europe Water Dispenser market.Chapter 1, to describe Water Dispenser Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by countries, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Water Dispenser, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers in Europe, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the Europe market by countries, covering Germany, UK, France, Italy and Russia, with sales, price, revenue and market share of Water Dispenser, for each country, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type and application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, to analyze the key countries by manufacturers, Type and Application, covering Germany, UK, France, Italy and Russia, with sales, revenue and market share by manufacturers, types and applications;Chapter 12, Water Dispenser market forecast, by countries, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and growth rate forecast, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process etc.Chapter 14, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 15, to describe Water Dispenser sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers etc.Chapter 16 and 17, to describe Water Dispenser Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data sourceAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsState Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Website:Email: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Voice Recognition Market By Product, Application, Region - Forecast 2024

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Based on applications, the voice recognition market is classified into artificial intelligence based and non-artificial intelligence based. Artificial-intelligence based solutions segment is expected to gain momentum, owing to the ability of this technology to recognize speech patterns accurately. AI transforms voice into well-structured algorithms in steps such as formulation, representation of speech units, demonstration of correct inputs, and development of recognition algorithms.Voice Recognition Market size is anticipated to witness significant growth over the forecast timeline, owing to the increase in adoption of biometric technologies such as remote authentication using voice verification and growing popularity of voice-activated devices such as thermostats, lights, and other voice-enabled appliances.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Growing frequencies of frauds in various end-user industries such as retail & healthcare and increasing adoption of mobile banking by e-commerce retailers & banks are expected to drive the voice recognition market growth during forecast timeframe. Advancements in infrastructure activities and present-day concepts, such as smart homes are projecting growth opportunities, particularly in countries including U.K., U.S., and France. The technology shows tremendous growth potential in home automation systems, due to its low energy consumption and convenience. Growing demand for home security and home automation systems such as camera systems and door lock systems is expected to drive the voice recognition market growth over the future.The technology is used in array of applications, owing to growing adoption of mobile & cloud technology and continuous advancements in computing power. The healthcare sector is anticipated to witness a remarkable growth over the next eight years, due to the use of the technology to produce health data records, thus propelling the voice recognition market growth. This technology is expected to emerge as effective alternative to devices where typing is difficult due to small displays. Growing inclination towards development of AI based systems is expected to gain traction. Leveraging deep learning algorithm to improve search results is expected to be key growth factor in AI based voice recognition market.Voice recognition is the fundamental technology leveraged in autonomous and semi-autonomous automobiles. Integration of this technology with automobiles is increasingly gaining popularity, owing to growing stringency in regulations pertaining to mobile phones use while driving and implementation of hands free rules. Voice commands enhance driver and passenger safety by enabling them to concentrate on driving. Manual interfaces to enter data in navigation system involves risks. Therefore, voice recognition market growth is anticipated to surge, owing to the ability of speech destination entry to help drivers follow route correctly. Benefits of this technology such as better productivity, easy accessibility, and flexibility are expected to drive demand. The lack of ability to recognize speech in regional accent and high price of AI based systems is expected to challenge the voice recognition market demand.Based on components, the voice recognition market is segmented into hardware, software, and enhanced devices. The software component is divided into speaker verification, automatic speech recognition (ASR), and audio mining. Enhanced devices segment is projected to account for the maximum market share during the forecast timeframe. The growth of this segment is attributed to swelling demand for voice integrated workstations and navigation systems.The industry verticals included in the voice recognition market are BFSI, automobile, government, consumer, retail, home security & automation, and healthcare. The consumer segment is expected to hold significant revenue share, owing to growing penetration of the technology in smart devices such as laptops, smart phones, and tablets. Large corporations such as Microsoft, Google, and Apple are leveraging neural networks and large customer bases to understand, process, and take decisions based on real-time voice inputs.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @In light of growing demand of IoT technology is evolving with the voice recognition technology which is anticipated to be integrated with consumer durables such as ovens, refrigerators, microwaves, and thermostats. This growth is anticipated to be fueled by increasing efforts of OEMs to integrate this technology in their products. The BFSI sector is expected to witness fast adoption of this technology to enhance security to reduce the increasing number of fraudulent activities.North America is expected to dominate the voice recognition market, owing to the deployment of biometric systems on a large scale due to the increasing need of high level security. The industry in the region is driven by increasing government initiatives to deploy biometric systems, particularly in the U.S. The Asia Pacific voice recognition market is expected to grow at fast pace, due to increasing IoT applications and demand for voice technology. Growing requirement of this technology from self-service sectors such as banking and call centers is expected to drive voice recognition market growth in the region.Players in the voice recognition market include Nuance Communications, MMODAL Inc., Apple, Inc., Microsoft Inc., Sensory Inc., Agnitio SL, Advanced Voice Recognition Systems, Biotrust, ValidSoft UK Ltd., VoiceVault, M2SyS LLC, VoiceBox Technologies Corp., Raytheon BBN Technologies, and LumenVox LLC. The voice recognition market is led by innovation and is highly competitive. Major players are increasingly focusing on increasing the accuracy of voice recognition to outwit the competitors.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:
Latest Research on Navigation Satellite System Market 2018 : Growth Opportunities & Investment Analysis by 2025

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Navigation Satellite System Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies Navigation Satellite System in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringQualcommTrimble NavigationBroadcomFuruno ElectricRockwell CollinsTexas InstrumentsCobhamHexagonTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoCore Satellite Navigation SystemsRegional Satellite Navigation SystemsSatellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)By Application, the market can be split intoLocation-Based Services (LBS)RoadAviationRailMaritimeAgricultureSurveyingTime and Synchronisation (Timing & Sync)By Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Table of ContentsGlobal Navigation Satellite System Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of Navigation Satellite System1.1 Definition and Specifications of Navigation Satellite System1.1.1 Definition of Navigation Satellite System1.1.2 Specifications of Navigation Satellite System1.2 Classification of Navigation Satellite System1.2.1 Core Satellite Navigation Systems1.2.2 Regional Satellite Navigation Systems1.2.3 Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)1.3 Applications of Navigation Satellite System1.3.1 Location-Based Services (LBS)2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Navigation Satellite System2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Navigation Satellite System2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Navigation Satellite System2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Navigation Satellite System3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Navigation Satellite System3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Navigation Satellite System Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Navigation Satellite System Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Navigation Satellite System Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Navigation Satellite System Major Manufacturers in 2017Browse Report @4 Global Navigation Satellite System Overall Market Overview4.1 2013-2018E Overall Market Analysis4.2 Capacity Analysis4.2.1 2013-2018E Global Navigation Satellite System Capacity and Growth Rate Analysis4.2.2 2017 Navigation Satellite System Capacity Analysis (Company Segment)4.3 Sales Analysis4.3.1 2013-2018E Global Navigation Satellite System Sales and Growth Rate Analysis4.3.2 2017 Navigation Satellite System Sales Analysis (Company Segment)4.4 Sales Price Analysis4.4.1 2013-2018E Global Navigation Satellite System Sales Price4.4.2 2017 Navigation Satellite System Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment)5 Navigation Satellite System Regional Market Analysis5.1 North America Navigation Satellite System Market Analysis5.1.1 North America Navigation Satellite System Market Overview5.1.2 North America 2013-2018E Navigation Satellite System Local Supply, Import, Export, Local Consumption Analysis5.1.3 North America 2013-2018E Navigation Satellite System Sales Price Analysis5.1.4 North America 2017 Navigation Satellite System Market Share Analysis5.2 China Navigation Satellite System Market Analysis5.2.1 China Navigation Satellite System Market OverviewAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at:
Global Glycerol Diacetate Market to Exhibit Steadfast Expansion During 2017 - 2027

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Glycerol is the by-product obtained during the manufacturing form the biodiesel. Diacetin is one of the Diacetin, also known as glycerol diacetate is an ester compound used as a filler material or diluent in a production of synthetic food color. Glycerol diacetate is produced by the reaction of acetic acid and 1,2- and 1,3-diacetates of glycerol, with mono- and tri-esters in the minority. Its chemical formula is CH3COOCH2CH(OH)CH2OOCCH3. It is an odorless, colorless, hygroscopic, oily liquid which is soluble in alcohol, ether and other organic solvents synthesized from glycerin. The glycerol diacetate is manufactured as per the food standards and is used in vast industrial uses including solvent, softener, and cement additive. It is packaged in the metal container to avoid direct contact with the air and other impurities. It is directed to be stored in cool and dry place to avoid heat exposure. Glycerol diacetate is used as food additive and diluent in the coloring and flavoring agents.Global Glycerol diacetate: Market DynamicsThe global glycerol diacetate market is driven majorly by the pharmaceutical and food industry. The application of glycerol diacetate in the building and construction and other varied industries contribute to the demand for the glycerol diacetate. Its variety of uses in different industries attracts the manufacturers to substitute other compounds with the glycerol diacetate. Due to the variety of the applications of the glycerol diacetate, it is expected to have significant growth in the glycerol diacetate market during the forecast period. Moreover, glycerol diacetate market is also driven by the favorable government policies regarding the use of such synthetic compounds in the food products. The glycerol diacetate market is driven by various other factors such as increase in demand for ready-to-eat products,Request For Report Sample@Global Glycerol diacetate: SegmentationThe glycerol diacetate is segmented intoBased on End-UseFood IndustryBuilding and ConstructionPharmaceutical IndustryOtherFoundryCigarettePaint and Ink IndustryBased on ApplicationsFlavor carrierMoisturizing agentPlasticizerSolventResinCamphorCellulose derivativeFixativeAdditiveCoatingBased on Packaging type,DrumsTanksGlobal Glycerol diacetate: Segment OverviewGlycerol diacetate is the ester compound used in wide range of applications and industrial process. By its end use, it is categorized into food industry in which it is used as the diluent and solvent carrier in coloring and flavoring of the synthetic agents. It is also used in pharmaceutical companies, and for cigarette and foundry manufacturing industries. In foundry manufacturing, it is used for the resins binding. Glycerol diacetin, due to its varied functional uses, is also used in buildings and constructions. Its use extends in paint and ink production.Based on its applications, glycerol diacetate is used as a solvent for cellulose derivatives, camphor, and resin, as an additive, plasticizer, fixative agent and for paint coating in automotive OEM, transportation and various related applications. Due to its hygroscopic effect, it is also used as a moisturizing agent.As per the quantitative requirements, glycerol diacetate is packaged into two segments drums and tanks.Global Glycerol diacetate: Regional OutlookThe global glycerol diacetate market is present in the regions including Japan, Asia Pacific, North America, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Asia Pacific is expected to be the potential market for the glycerol diacetate due to the increasing demand for the pharmaceutical and food industry in India and China. Manufacturers focus on increasing their market value share by targeting the Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Growing demand of automotive industry favors the glycerol diacetate market. The North America and Europe provide impetus to the glycerol diacetate market as it is hugely contented with various large scale pharmaceutical and food industries. The industrial development and availability of large scale industries in the North America and Europe help to have the significant growth rate regarding consumption and revenue generation. It thus showcases favorable market indicators for the glycerol diacetate market.Request For Report Table of Content (TOC):Global Glycerol diacetate: Prominent PlayersSome of the prominent players areBASF SESigma-Aldrich Co. LLCEastman Chemical CompanyMoellhausen S.p.A.Yixing Sunrise Commerce Co., LtdTennants fine chemicalsYixing Tianyuan Chemical Co LtdTetrahedron Scientific IncABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Smart Labels Market  Growth Opportunities, Pitfalls and Challenges 2016-2024

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Smart labels market on the basis of applications segments are equipment, electronic & IT asset, pallet, retail & inventory tracking, security access, perishable goods, smart wrist bands for patient care, and reusable goods. Perishable goods segment is expected to gain traction over the future in the smart labels market. Sensing labels are used in this industry, owing to its ability to track changes in oxygen, temperature, and other environmental factors. These are being widely used in shelf-life monitoring and threshold detection in pharmaceutical and food & beverage industries.Smart Labels Market size is anticipated to witness growth during the forecast period, owing to the increase in applications in retail, FMCG, healthcare, construction, automotive, and packaging. Growing need for streamlined and automated operations in businesses is expected to foster smart labels market growth.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @The technology provides benefits such as simple functioning and reliability. Some other advantages include prevention against counterfeiting and theft protection, which are expected to escalate the smart labels market growth. Companies are increasingly investing to improve anti-theft systems to reduce inventory damage and revenue loss due to theft and shop lifting. Counterfeit is one of the serious issues, which leads to brand deterioration & poor product performance and threatens consumer safety. Increasing focus of the industries to reduce counterfeit problems is anticipated to impact smart labels market demand positively, particularly from manufacturing and automotive sectors.Smart label is an identification slip that contains advanced technologies than legacy bar codes. The enhancements in smart labels include specifically configured RFID tags and electronic article surveillance tags. These are configured with antenna, chip, and bonding wires, which help in tracking of goods and are also designed to record, receive, and transmit digital information, which reduces tracking time significantly. Growing industrial use of this technology minimizes human intervention, reduce errors and, increase efficiency & accuracy, thus propelling smart labels market development.Technological advancements such as simultaneous identification, ability to reprogram and real-time tracking, in addition to growing integration of smart labels with varied applications in retail and logistics are expected to fuel smart labels market growth. It enables high tolerance capability and automated interpretation from distance that helps in eliminating error and enhancing efficiency. Growing penetration of smart labels in assets and merchandises tracking further contributes to the industry growth.Installation cost associated with the smart labels market coupled with the lack of constant standards and low mechanical susceptibility is anticipated to restrain its growth over the future. For instance, different standards are developed for RFID labels by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI).The smart labels market is segmented on the basis of components, technology, applications, and end-use industry. Based on components used, the market is segmented into transceivers, batteries, memories, microprocessors, and antenna. Memories are projected to exhibit considerable growth, owing to its increasing use in asset tracking and inventory management.Smart labels market on the basis of technology, are classified into RFID, EAS, Sensing, NFC tags, and dynamic display or electronic shelf. RFID is projected to grow fast during prediction period, owing to its features such as information accuracy, automatic data capture, flexibility to be applied on several substrates, and real-time tracking. RFID systems are highly chosen to maintain synchronized inventory management and supply chain management systems. These are used in variety of industry sector such as automotive and FMCG, due to high traceability. RFID, combined with asset tracking software, can synchronize process of repairs and maintenance for organizations. Dynamic display in the smart labels market will also witness significant growth, owing to its ability to display product information and pricing for accuracy and easy price management.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Smart labels market end-use industries that uses this technology include retail, FMCG, logistics, automotive, manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare, postal services and construction. Increasing usage of this technology in spoil detection of test samples, hospital goods, drugs, and medical equipment is expected to drive demand across healthcare sector.Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing smart labels market over the forecast timeframe, owing to the rapid industrialization, low labor costs, and increasing FDI opportunities in the retail sector. The growth is attributed to changing economic conditions, rapid urbanization, increasing per capita income, and flourishing industries in automotive and food & beverages sector.Players in the smart labels market include Avery Dennison Corporation, CCL Industries Inc., Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, Inc., Muhlbauer Holding Ag & Co. KGaA., Smartrac N.V., Thin Film Electronics ASA, Advantech US, Zebra Technologies, Metra Blansko, Graphic Label, Inc., Invengo Technology BV, and Checkpoint Systems.Smart labels market players are increasingly focusing on improving product portfolio and production capacity expansion. For instance, Checkpoint Systems launched 16 new products from 2011 to 2016 and signed partnerships and agreements with regional players to expand their business operations. Smartrac N.V. launched 10 new products to increase their customer base and expand product portfolio. As expansion strategy, the company also signed agreements with companies in six different countries including South Korea, US, and Argentina. Major manufacturers are investing in R&D to come up with application-specific products.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:
Digital Signature Market Till 2024 Growth, Key Players, Competitive Strategies and Forecast

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Digital signature market is popular across several industry verticals including education & research, human resource, government & defense, BFSI, real estate, legal, manufacturing & engineering, healthcare & life sciences, energy & utilities, retail, telecommunications, sales & marketing, pharmaceuticals and procurement & operations. Digital signature market demand from legal and financial sectors is anticipated to experience drastic surge due to benefits such as improved compliances, reduced document turn-around time and fast invoice process. The online banking and e-commerce sector growth will also drive digital signature market growth.Digital Signature Market size is expected to witness speedy growth, owing to the need for effective authentication, data security, control and integrity. Authentication of user identity during digital transactions is an emerging aspect increasing the demand for digital signature solutions.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Digital signatures are mathematical techniques used to authenticate a digital document, message or software, using asymmetric cryptography. The technology primarily solves the problem of interference in digital communication and impersonation. Digital signature market is primarily driven by the rising usage across enterprises to approve and certify contents of digital documents such as emails, PDFs and word documents. With proper authentication, organizations can now send business documents and legal contracts at less risk. Electronic documents are protected by encryption at senders end. To retrieve the data in the document, receiver is authorized with digital signature to decrypt data.Increasing occurrences of tempering and forgery in financial transactions and software distribution process across the world are anticipated to fuel digital signature market demand. Growing necessity of verifying digital documents in areas such as patient consents, court documents & records, contracts, cash management documents, policies and claims will also augment the industry growth. Certain jurisdiction authorities such as The Supreme Court of Canada and The Federal Court of USA are increasingly allowing the acceptance of digitally signed documents as evidence for crime, thus giving digital signature market a boost.Stringent regulations pertaining to ambiguities about electronic signatures is anticipated to pose significant challenge to digital signature market developments. Factors such as expiry of technology used in digital signature formulation and incompatibility among different techniques of digital signature generation are expected to hamper the progress.The digital signature market segmented on the basis of deployment type, end-user and solution. By solution, the market is segmented as software, hardware and services. The software solution segment is forecast to witness substantial growth, owing to the reduced costs and less transaction time. The software solution sub segment is expected to contribute to market growth during the forecast period due to implementation across different industry verticals for greater end-user benefit and improved compliance.Based on deployment type, digital signature market is categorized into web-based, on-premise, and cloud deployment. The on-premise deployment model is anticipated to be major contributor to the industry growth, owing to its acceptance by many organizations across verticals. It offers high flexibility & control and can be easily regulated by clients. Cloud-based model is projected to hold largest market share during the forecast period as it encompasses data exchange between signing enabled cloud environment and the signer. It provides solutions to end-users and offers companies multi-channel signatures by reducing implementation and operational costs.Digital signature market solutions are mainly used by large enterprises and small & medium businesses (SMBs). Large organizations are increasingly adopting cloud-based platform for replacing hand-written signatures with their electronic versions for simplifying businesses, thereby increasing the digital signature market development. large enterprises use cloud-based platform, owing to benefits such as greater cost saving, improved customer experience and faster access & processing.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @North America digital signature market is expected to witness tremendous growth opportunities due to growth in financial & legal services sector and stringent cyber laws. Latin America, in addition to developing countries including Philippines have the most unstandardized & weakest cyber laws and is predicted to witness the most sluggish growth during the forecast period. Europe in digital signature market is expected to witness significant growth rate, owing to the electronic signature regulations, that would enhance cross-country trading, recently introduced by European Electronic Messaging Association (EEMA). Adding to it in 1999, European parliament adopted 1999/93/EC Directive for electronic signatures. Growing need for reliable & secure transactions and authenticating user identity over digital network is anticipated to drive digital signature adoption in the region.The stakeholders of digital signature market are digital signature service providers, vendors, consultancy or advisory firms, product manufacturers & developers and system integrators & migration service providers. Key application providers include Secured Signing Limited, Kofax Limited, Adobe Systems, Inc., eSignLive, Gemalto, Inc., Entrust Datacard Corp., DocuSign, Signix, Ascertia, IdenTrust, Inc. and RPost Technologies.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:
Latest Research on Agricultural Testing Market 2018 Overview, Future Prospects, Demands, Insights, Research and Forecast 2025

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Agricultural Testing Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Agricultural Testing market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Agricultural Testing in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Agricultural Testing market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingSGS (Switzerland)Eurofins (Luxembourg)Intertek (UK)Bureau Veritas (France)TUV Nord Group (Germany)ALS Limited (Australia)Merieux (US)AsureQuality (New Zealand)RJ Hill Laboratories (New Zealand)Agrifood Technology (Australia)Apal Agricultural Laboratory (Australia)SCS Global (US)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSoilWaterSeedCompostOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingSafety TestingQuality AssuranceView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Table of ContentsGlobal Agricultural Testing Market Research Report 20181 Agricultural Testing Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Agricultural Testing1.2 Agricultural Testing Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Agricultural Testing Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Agricultural Testing Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Soil1.2.4 Water1.2.5 Seed1.2.6 Compost1.3 Global Agricultural Testing Segment by Application1.3.1 Agricultural Testing Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Safety Testing2 Global Agricultural Testing Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Agricultural Testing Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Agricultural Testing Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Agricultural Testing Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Agricultural Testing Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Agricultural Testing Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Agricultural Testing Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product TypeBrowse Report @3 Global Agricultural Testing Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Agricultural Testing Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Agricultural Testing Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Agricultural Testing Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Agricultural Testing Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Agricultural Testing Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Agricultural Testing Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)4 Global Agricultural Testing Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)4.1 Global Agricultural Testing Consumption by Region (2013-2018)4.2 North America Agricultural Testing Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Agricultural Testing Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.4 China Agricultural Testing Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)4.5 Japan Agricultural Testing Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2013-2018)About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at:
New Report on LED Lighting Driver Market : Industry Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global LED Lighting Driver Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.An LED Driver is an electrical device which regulates the power to an LED or a string (or strings) of LEDs. This report is focused on the LED lighting applications.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the LED Lighting Driver in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversMEAN WELLPhilipsInventronicsTridonicMOSO PowerEagleriseTCIOSRAM SYLVANIALIFUDSELFTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversDALI0-10V DimmingStandard (non-dim)Triac DimmingSmart DriverMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoIndoor lightingOutdoor lightingSpecial lightingView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global LED Lighting Driver market.Chapter 1, to describe LED Lighting Driver Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of LED Lighting Driver, with sales, revenue, and price of LED Lighting Driver, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of LED Lighting Driver, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, LED Lighting Driver market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe LED Lighting Driver sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceBrowse Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 LED Lighting Driver Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 DALI1.2.2 0-10V Dimming1.2.3 Standard (non-dim)1.2.4 Triac Dimming1.2.5 Smart Driver1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Indoor lighting1.3.2 Outdoor lighting2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 MEAN WELL2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 LED Lighting Driver Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 MEAN WELL LED Lighting Driver Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Philips2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 LED Lighting Driver Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 2About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at:
Global Eye Skin Care Market Market Report 2018: Rising Impressive Business Opportunities Analysis Forecast 2025

Global Eye Skin Care Market

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The Eye Skin Care Market Research Report provides a detailed market overview along with the analysis of industrys gross margin, cost structure, consumption value and sale price. The key companies of the Eye Skin Care market, manufacturers, distributors along with the latest development trends and Forecasts are detailed in the Report.Global Eye Skin Care Industry 2018 Industry Research Report is a professional and in-depth analysis of key business trends and covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the Global Eye Skin Care in the market for 2018-2025 .This report studies Global Switch Transistor in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and India with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.It explains the key market drivers, trends, restraints and opportunities to give a precise data which is required and expected. It also analyzes how such aspects affect the market existence globally helping make a wider and better choice of market establishment. The Eye Skin Care markets growth and developments are studied and a detailed overview is been given.Visit on the below link to get a sample of report@The Global Eye Skin Care market 2018 research provides a basic overview of the industry volumes, prices, historical growth and future perspectives in the Eye Skin Care market and further lays out an analysis of the factors influencing the supply/demand for Eye Skin Care, and the opportunities/challenges faced by industry participants. This comprehensive Eye Skin Care Market research report includes a brief on these trends that can help the businesses operating in the industry to understand the market and strategize for their business expansion ,import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.This study is been done in all the major parts of regions of the world and data is been given considering a forecast period of 2017 to 2025 respectively. The questions like why the particular region leads in this particular market, which factors are driving this market, what are major opportunities and many such are discussed in detail.A regulatory scenario that affect the various decisions in the Eye Skin Care market are given a keen observation and have been explained. With such data, this report forms an excellent repository containing all the prime attributes of the companies which are trending in this particular market. Their efficient market strategies are studied in depth and are well explained.It provides a refined view of the classifications, applications, segmentations, specifications and many more for Eye Skin Care market. Recent developments and policies with respect to this market are elucidated with maximum data. It examines the cost structures and pricing regarding the suppliers, raw materials, labors, equipments needed, and many other.Browse full report with Table of Content@This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringEsteeLauderLancomeShiseidoLorealCliniqueOlaySk a!The Body ShopGlamGlowDr.MoritaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoEye CreamEye EssenceEye MaskMassage Essential OilOtherBy Application, the market can be split intoSpecialist RetailersFactory OutletsInternet SalesOtherBy Regions, this report covers (we can add the regions/countries as you want)North AmericaChinaEuropeSoutheast AsiaJapanIndiaVisit on the below link to get a sample of report@Study objectives of Eye Skin Care marketTo provide insights about factors influencing and affecting the market growth.To provide historical and forecast revenues of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to regional and country-level markets.To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments based on types, applications, samples, end users, and its sub-segments.To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their market share, core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the marketThis report focuses on the following aspects of Eye Skin Care :Capacity and output of Eye Skin Care Market and in top ten producers (20122023)Expansion projects of Worldwide Eye Skin Care Market.Production technology development of Worldwide Eye Skin Care Market.Import and export analysis of Worldwide Eye Skin Care Market.Market price of Worldwide Eye Skin Care Market.Downstream demand for Worldwide Eye Skin Care Market (including consumption volume, consumption pattern and lists of some end users)Forecast on supply and demand of Worldwide Eye Skin Care Market (20172021)Cost analysis of Worldwide Market.Financial situation of major Worldwide Eye Skin Care Market.Revenue and profit analysis of Eye Skin Care Market in major producers.Make An Enquiry@About Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:Email- sales@qyresearchgroups.comWeb-
Latest Research on OBD Telematics Market By Key Players, User Demand, Opportunities, Growth & Forecast 2023

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global OBD Telematics Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023" to its huge collection of research reports."""OBD?Telematics is a technology of sending, receiving and storing information via telecommunication devices which can provide details of vehicle for consumer, with a OBD port in vehicles.OBD telematics is mainly composed of three parts: OBD terminal (hardware and plug-in OBD interface), software (mobile phone APP) and cloud platform."""To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the OBD Telematics in global market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversDelphiContinentalBoschLGGeotabDanlawCalAmpAutomaticDashZubieXirgo TechnologiesMojioAutonet.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversSIM Card TypeWifi TypeOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoRepair TechniciansState AgenciesVehicle OwnersVehicle and Engine ManufacturersOthersView Complete TOC with tables & Figures @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global OBD Telematics market.Chapter 1, to describe OBD Telematics Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of OBD Telematics, with sales, revenue, and price of OBD Telematics, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of OBD Telematics, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, OBD Telematics market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe OBD Telematics sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceBrowse Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 OBD Telematics Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 SIM Card Type1.2.2 Wifi Type1.2.3 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Repair Technicians1.3.2 State Agencies1.3.3 Vehicle Owners1.3.4 Vehicle and Engine Manufacturers1.3.5 Others2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Delphi2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 OBD Telematics Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Type 12.1.2.2 Type 22.1.3 Delphi OBD Telematics Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2016-2017)2.2 Continental2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 OBD Telematics Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Type 12.2.2.2 Type 2About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at:
Global E-Paper Module Market- Generate New Insights and Operational Intelligence

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global E-Paper Module Market Professional Survey Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.Changing consumer preferences have left little room for companies but to innovate in order to stay competitive. The scenario is same in the global E-Paper Module market where businesses are operating in a dynamic environment. According to the report, the leading market players are experimenting with various strategies to chalk an upward trending growth curve. Several of them are also investing in diversifying their product portfolio to gain edge over competition.This report focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringE InkOEDQualcommLiquavistarPlastic LogicPervisive DisplaysLG DisplayGamma DynamicsITRIEnter your information below to receive a free sample copy of this report @The report provides valuable market intelligence to consumers as well as companies operating in the global E-Paper Module market. It is intended to offer a holistic overview of the prevailing trends for companies to identify the most lucrative pockets within the market. The report also includes recommendations for companies to strengthen their foothold over the forecast period. To present a detailed analysis, the report includes profiles of some of the key players in the global E-Paper Module market. Their strengths and weaknesses are analyzed and the effect of the strategies they adopted over the years is gauged.On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoStandard (1-3 Inch)Mid-Large (3.1-6 Inch)Large (6.1-10 Inch)Above 10 InchBy Application, the market can be split intoE-ReaderElectronic Shelf LabelTable of ContentsGlobal E-Paper Module Market Professional Survey Report 20181 Industry Overview of E-Paper Module1.1 Definition and Specifications of E-Paper Module1.1.1 Definition of E-Paper Module1.1.2 Specifications of E-Paper Module1.2 Classification of E-Paper ModuleRead Complete Table of Content @2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of E-Paper Module2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of E-Paper Module2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of E-Paper Module2.4 Industry Chain Structure of E-Paper Module3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of E-Paper Module3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global E-Paper Module Major Manufacturers in 20173.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global E-Paper Module Major Manufacturers in 20173.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global E-Paper Module Major Manufacturers in 20173.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global E-Paper Module Major Manufacturers in 2017About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.comBlog:
Business Accounting Software Market Size, Share - Industry Trend and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Marketresearchreports.biz has announced the addition of a new research study on the "Business Accounting Software Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its report database.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "Business Accounting Software" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy of this report @Business accounting software is application software that processes and records the enterprise accounting transactions in functional modules such as payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, trial balance, and general ledger. These software can either be developed in-house by the organizations who want to use it, or can be purchased from third party software providers. The software may be cloud based that can be accessed anywhere on any device connected to internet, at any time, or it may be deployed on desktop. It varies greatly in terms of its cost and complexity.Growing demand for advanced automated finance processes is one of the major reasons propelling the growth of the business accounting software market. Enormous amount of data from sources such as online bank transactions, loan applications, social media, in-stores, and online sales need to be collected and analyzed to gain meaningful operational insights.The trend of adoption of big data analytic solutions by financial organizations is also seen in the market. Big data solutions such as Amazon Kinesis and Amazon Redshift when integrated with business accounting software help organizations to improve the data management processes. It also helps companies to analyze the data more efficiently. The advancements in big data and analytics technologies has made it easy for organizations to transform unstructured data into meaningful and structured data.Another major trend that has gained traction recently in the business accounting software market is the increasing demand for business accounting mobile applications. These applications can handle day-to-day accounting processes, such as accepting payments, sending invoices, tracking receipts, planning budgets, and logging expense.View Full Report @The business accounting software market has been segmented based on component, end  users, and region. Based on component, the market is segmented into software and services. Software segment is further bifurcated on the basis of on-premise and cloud. Currently, on-premise software accounts for the larger share of the market, but significant growth is expected in cloud based software during the forecast period. Services segment is segmented further into operation and maintenance services, consulting services, and training services. The end-user segment in the business accounting software market includes large, small and medium enterprises. Large enterprises are estimated to have major share in the global business accounting software market, as they have to deal with large amount of accounting data, whereas rising awareness of accounting software among mid and small sized enterprises are further supporting the growth of SMEs in the market.In terms of region, the global advanced process control software market is segmented into North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Presently, North America is estimated to dominate the market in terms of its revenue contribution share followed by Europe. Moreover, North America also has a well-established infrastructure that enables higher penetration of business accounting software and ultimately provides enhanced operational processes. This is anticipated to be a major factor propelling the business accounting software market in the region. However, among all the regions, APAC is expected to create significant market opportunity for key players operating in the market due to growth in industrialization in this region during the forecast period.The global business accounting software vendors in the market are increasingly focusing on the development and introduction of software that enables the optimization of accounting processes and require minimum labor attention. To achieve this aim, companies are increasing their R&D expenditure. Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, Sage Group, Zoho Corporation, etc. are some of the major players in the global business accounting software market. Business accounting software enterprises are also focusing on modifying their pricing models to strengthen their position in the global business accounting software market.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Advanced Technologies of Hybrid Electric Vehicle Market in Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Hybrid Electric Vehicle Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Hybrid electric vehicle is a combination of internal combustion engine and electric propulsion system. The electric propulsion system helps achieve either better performance or better fuel economy. There are various types of hybrid electric vehicles available in the market; hybrid electric cars is the most common type. Modern hybrid electric vehicles use regenerative brakes, a type of efficiency-improving technology, which convert kinetic energy into electric energy to recharge the batteries. Some hybrid electric vehicles use their internal combustion engine to generate electricity, either to directly power the electric drive motor or recharge batteries. Hybrid electric vehicle's internal combustion engine is usually smaller in size as compared to a pure gasoline-burning engine. Hybrid electric vehicle shuts down its internal combustion engine when it is idle and restarts it when in need, thus reducing idle emissions.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The global hybrid electric vehicle market can be segmented into powertrain type, hybrid level, vehicle type, and region. Based on powertrain type, the market can be classified into series, parallel, and series-parallel. A series powertrain hybrid electric vehicle is akin to a battery electric vehicle in design, wherein a combustion engine powers an electric generator instead of driving the wheels. The generator charges the battery and powers the electric motor which drives the vehicle. Series powertrain hybrid electric vehicles are also known as range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs), since the internal combustion engine is used to power electric motor and does not directly drive the wheels.A parallel powertrain hybrid electric vehicle is propelled by an electric motor connected to a mechanical transmission as well as an internal combustion engine. There is no separate generator in the system; therefore, whenever the operation of the generator is needed, electric motor functions as a generator. In a parallel powertrain, the vehicle does not run on pure electric mode. A series-parallel powertrain hybrid electric vehicle can be powered by an electric motor, gasoline engine, or both. The engine and motor are designed in such a way that the vehicle can run its optimum operating range as much as possible. Series-parallel powertrain vehicles have complicated systems and are more expensive. The parallel powertrain hybrid electric vehicle segment holds major share of the hybrid electric vehicle market and is estimated to expand at highest CAGR during the forecast period, due to the systems high fuel efficiency.Make An Enquiry @In terms of hybrid level, the hybrid electric vehicle market can be divided into micro, mild, full, and plug-in. A micro hybrid electric vehicle is integrated with an alternator/ starter that employs start/stop technology. Its typical fuel efficiency is around 10% as compared to non-hybrid vehicles. Mild hybrid electric vehicle is integrated with stronger electric components as compared to micro hybrid electric vehicles and has fuel efficiency of around 20% to 25%. Full hybrid electric vehicle is similar to mild hybrid electric vehicle; however, it is equipped with a larger alternator, electric motor, battery pack, and has around 40% to 45% fuel efficiency.Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is more suitable for short trips. Its system comprises downsized combustion engine and large electrical components. Full hybrid electric vehicles holds major share of the hybrid electric vehicle market. However, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles segment is estimated to expand at a significant rate. Based on vehicle type, the hybrid electric vehicle market can be segregated into mid-luxury, SUV, luxury, and commercial. The mid-luxury hybrid electric vehicles segment holds major market share due its wide adoption in North America and Europe.Browse Report @In terms of region, the hybrid electric vehicles market can be divided into North America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. North America holds major market share followed by Europe. New fuel emission regulations and increase in per capita income are projected to boost the hybrid electric vehicles market in these regions. However, the market in Asia Pacific is estimated to expand at a significant pace during the forecast.Key players operating in the hybrid electric vehicle market are Ford Motor Company, Toyota, Honda Motor Company, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, BMW AG, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Infiniti, Hyundai Motor Company, General Motors, Porsche, and Volkswagen.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn @Follow me on Blogger at:
Pet Oral Care Products: Market 2018 Segmented by Manufacturers (Goran Pharma, TropiClean, PetzLife, Greenies, Kane Biotech, Arm Hammer, Burt's Bees) and Forecasts to 2025

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Pet Oral Care Products Market Analysis to 2025 is a specialized and in-depth study of the Pet Oral Care Products industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global Pet Oral Care Products market with detailed market segmentation by product/application and geography. The global Pet Oral Care Products market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the Pet Oral Care Products players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Pet Oral Care Products Market Players: Goran Pharma TropiClean PetzLife Greenies Kane Biotech Inc. Arm Hammer Burt's Bees ...Get Sample Copy of This Report Now @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, and market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into Dental Foods Teeth Cleaning Aids Fresh Breath Aids OtherOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including Dogs Cats OthersMajor regions are as follows: North America Europe China Japan Southeast Asia IndiaThe report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global Pet Oral Care Products market based on product and application. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall Pet Oral Care Products market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South America (SAM), which is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend and provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions.Inquire before Buying @Also, key Pet Oral Care Products market players influencing the market are profiled in the study along with their SWOT analysis and market strategies. The report also focuses on leading industry players with information such as company profiles, products and services offered, financial information of last 3 years, key development in past five years.Reason to Buy- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies.- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Pet Oral Care Products market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies.- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets.- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it.- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.Inquire for Discount @Contact Us:Call: +1-888-236-2744Email: sales@qyresearchgroups.comAbout Us:QY Research Groups is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. QY Research Groups is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the world's most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Room B1510, Shiji Kemao Building,No.66 Zhongguancun East Road,Haidian District, Beijing,100190, China.
Terminal Management System Market Recent Study including Growth Factors, Applications, Regional Analysis, Top Vendors and Forecast to 2023

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Market Scenario:Terminal management system is a combination of hardware & software elements which helps to carry out all data management task which are required to perform while loading terminal. The components are developed and tested to manage and control a system. According to CGI, terminal management system can be explained as an innovative solution which chains the main business functions involved in bulk terminal management.The factors contributing to the growth of the Terminal Management System Market are growing implementation of terminal management solutions in brownfield projects, low operational cost, increasing awareness about security solutions and the increasing awareness about installing automation solutions.Also, the system manages critical issues faced in bulk terminals such as complexity in handling multiple products and regulatory requirements while improving safety and productivity. The benefits of implementing these solutions reduces the risk of loading incorrect quality of product, the solutions are also used to configurable and improves terminal efficiency among others.Geographically, North-America accounted for the largest market share in the global terminal management system market, whereas Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a fast pace over the forecast period, 2017-2023.Request a Sample Report@The global terminal management system market is expected to reach approximately USD 2 billion by the end of 2023 with 13% CAGR during forecast period 2017-2023.Key Players: Honeywell International, Inc. (US), ABB Ltd. (Switzerland), Siemens AG (Germany), Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan), Rockwell Automation, Inc. (US), Schneider Electric (France), Implico GmbH (Germany), Emerson Electric Corporation (US), Endress+Hauser Management AG (Switzerland), General Atomics Corp. (California).Segments:For the purpose of this study, Market Research Future has segmented the market of terminal management into component, project type, vertical and region.Component Hardware SoftwareProject Type Greenfield BrownfieldVertical Oil & Gas Chemicals OthersRegion North-America Europe Asia-Pacific RoWRegional Analysis:Regionally, North-America accounted for the largest market share, owing to increased need for new technological solutions, increasing competition among developers, increasing consumer awareness for security solutions and increasing number of brownfield projects.However, Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow with a highest CAGR over the forecast period, 2017-2023. The reason is attributed to the increasing need for operational efficiency and the integrated safety and better security solutions will enhance the terminal automation. Countries such as India, Malaysia and Philippines contributes largely to the overall market share.Access Report Details@Intended Audience: Device manufacturers Network Operators Distributors Suppliers Research firms Software Developers Commercial Banks Vendors Semiconductor Manufacturers End-user sectors Technology InvestorsTable of Contents1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope of Study1.2.1 Research Objectiv1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market Structure2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Network2.2 Primary Research2.3 Secondary Research2.4 Forecast Model2.4.1 Market Data Collection, Analysis & Forecast2.4.2 Market Size Estimation3 Market Dynamics3.1 Introduction3.2 Market Drivers3.3 Market Challenges3.4 Market Opportunities3.5 Market RestraintsContinues...List of TablesTable 1 Terminal Management System Market, By ComponentTable 2 Terminal Management System Market, By Project TypeTable 3 Terminal Management System Market, By VerticalTable 4 Terminal Management System Market, By GeographyTable 5 North America Terminal Management System Market, By ComponentContinues...List of FiguresFigure 1 Research MethodologyFigure 2 Terminal Management System Market, By Component (%)Figure 3 Terminal Management System Market, By Project Type (%)Figure 4 Terminal Management System Market, By Vertical (%)Figure 5 Terminal Management System Market, By Regions (%)Continues...Study Objectives of Terminal Management System Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the global terminal management system market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the global terminal management system market based porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by component, project type, vertical and region. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global terminal management systemAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune  411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +91 841 198 5042Mail: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
AI in Education 2018 Global Market Net Worth US$ 2580 million Forecast By 2022

AI in Education Market 2018

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  AI in Education 2018 Global Market Net Worth US$ 2580 million Forecast By 2022.The AI in Education industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, AI in Education market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 38.88% from 140 million $ in 2014 to 375 million $ in 2017, The analysts believe that in the next few years, AI in Education market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the AI in Education will reach 2580 million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the manufacturers data, including: shipment, price, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size, volume and value, as well as price data.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment, channel segment etc. cover different segment market size, both volume and value. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the manufacturers.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection (2 3): 1200 USDManufacturer DetailGoogleIbmPearsonMicrosoftAwsNuance CommunicationsCognizantOsmoQuantum Adaptive LearningQuerium CorporationThird Space LearningAleksBlackboardBridgeuCarnegie LearningCenturyCogniiDreambox LearningElemental PathFishtreeJellynoteJenzabarKnewtonLuilishuoMetacogSection 4: 900 USDRegion SegmentationNorth America Country (United States, Canada)South AmericaAsia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Continued..Report Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsSection 1 AI in Education Product DefinitionSection 2 Global AI in Education Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview2.1 Global Manufacturer AI in Education Shipments2.2 Global Manufacturer AI in Education Business Revenue2.3 Global AI in Education Market OverviewSection 3 Manufacturer AI in Education Business Introduction3.1 Google AI in Education Business Introduction3.1.1 Google AI in Education Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.1.2 Google AI in Education Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 Google Interview Record3.1.4 Google AI in Education Business Profile3.1.5 Google AI in Education Product Specification3.2 Ibm AI in Education Business Introduction3.2.1 Ibm AI in Education Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.2.2 Ibm AI in Education Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 Ibm AI in Education Business Overview3.2.5 Ibm AI in Education Product Specification3.3 Pearson AI in Education Business Introduction3.3.1 Pearson AI in Education Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.3.2 Pearson AI in Education Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 Pearson AI in Education Business Overview3.3.5 Pearson AI in Education Product Specification3.4 Microsoft AI in Education Business Introduction3.5 Aws AI in Education Business Introduction3.6 Nuance Communications AI in Education Business IntroductionSection 4 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Region Level)4.1 North America Country4.1.1 United States AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.1.2 Canada AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.2 South America Country4.2.1 South America AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3 Asia Country4.3.1 China AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.2 Japan AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.3 India AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.4 Korea AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4 Europe Country4.4.1 Germany AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.2 UK AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.3 France AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.4 Italy AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.5 Europe AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5 Other Country and Region4.5.1 Middle East AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.2 Africa AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.3 GCC AI in Education Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.6 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Region Level) Analysis 2014-20174.7 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Region Level) AnalysisSection 5 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)5.1 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) Market Size 2014-20175.2 Different AI in Education Product Type Price 2014-20175.3 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) AnalysisSection 6 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Industry Level)6.1 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2014-20176.2 Different Industry Price 2014-20176.3 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 7 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Channel Level)7.1 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Channel Level) Sales Volume and Share 2014-20177.2 Global AI in Education Market Segmentation (Channel Level) AnalysisSection 8 AI in Education Market Forecast 2018-20228.1 AI in Education Segmentation Market Forecast (Region Level)8.2 AI in Education Segmentation Market Forecast (Product Type Level)8.3 AI in Education Segmentation Market Forecast (Industry Level)8.4 AI in Education Segmentation Market Forecast (Channel Level)Continued..For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Market Future : Hybrid Propellants Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Trends, Growth and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Albany, NY, 25th May : Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Hybrid Propellants Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Trends, Growth, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" globally.A hybrid propellant is a form of chemical rocket propellant wherein the fuel and oxidizer are in different physical states. One of the substances is solid, usually the fuel, while the other, usually the oxidizer, is liquid.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The liquid is injected into the solid, whose fuel reservoir also serves as the combustion chamber. Hybrid rocket propellants are environmentally safer than solid rocket fuels, as some solid rocket propellants contain chlorine. The products of combustion are environmentally viable. This is one of the major advantages of hybrid propellants compared to solid and liquid propellants. Hybrids combine some of the advantages of liquids and solids and also exhibit unique advantages. The most important is the inherent safety associated with storing the fuel in the solid phase. Hybrid propellants offer many advantages. They are cheaper, can be shut down easily, throttle control, and are much safer to handle. Fuel used in hybrid propellants can be fabricated at any conventional commercial site with no danger of explosion. Thus, significant cost saving can be achieved in the manufacture and launch operations.Considerable developments have taken place in the hybrid propellants market. This has made the rocket propulsion technology extremely powerful. It has also enabled the launching of various orbiting satellites, missiles, and spacecraft. Hybrid propellant is a material used by a rocket so as to produce in a chemical reaction to provide spacecraft propulsion. Hybrid propellants provide the energy to accelerate the resulting gases through the nozzle. Hybrid propulsion is well suited to applications or missions requiring throttling, command shutdown and restart, and long-duration missions requiring storable nontoxic propellants. The propellant system of choice for large hybrid booster applications is liquid oxygen (LOX) oxidizer and HTPB fuel. Liquid oxygen is a widely used oxidizer in the space launch industry, is relatively safe, and delivers high performance at low cost. This hybrid propellant combination produces a nontoxic, relatively smoke-free exhaust.Advancements in space technology and rocket sciences is the primary factor driving the hybrid propellants market. The hybrid propellants market is also expected to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period. The space industry is becoming more dynamic and the reach of this technology is no longer limited to the U.S., Russia, and some countries in Europe. Developing countries such as India have achieved significant growth in the field of the space technology. This acts as a driver of the hybrid propellants market. Various research labs and institutes are also focused on the development of hybrid propellants that offer high performance, efficiency, and safety. For the hybrid propellants, advancements in the technology are coming into picture as a result of the dedicated research of scientists from across the world.View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @Based on geography, the market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. North America is the dominant region of the global hybrid propellants market due to the highly advanced technology in space programs and orbital launches. Among all regions, countries such as the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, the U.K., India, and Germany are getting more active in space programs and orbital launches. The market in Asia Pacific is also anticipated to expand during the forecast period, as developing countries such as India are emerging as significant players in the space industry. Other countries are also projected to follow similar growth path, thereby resulting in significant demand for hybrid propellants.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.Browse Report @A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.ResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. Nachiket Ghumare,ResearchMoz,90 State Street, Albany NY, United States,Tel: +1-518-621-2074,USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948,Email: sales@researchmoz.us,Follow me on :
Democrats denied that but lamented what they called the chaotic handling of the situation.

This is pretty haphazard process that weve seen, Senator Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN. The president seems to be functioning more along the lines of a high stakes real estate deal with intimidation and pain and then trying to get an agreement.

Diplomacys much more difficult, he added. Its not a win-lose like real estate. Youve got to find a win-win.

Mr. Udall rejected the notion that Democrats hope for failure. Im never rooting against our country and a president reaching an agreement thats in the best interest of the United States of America and I want to see that happen, he said. Im not so sure the way this was approached that they have a strategy, they have the discipline, that they were going to pull it together and do this in a diplomatic way.

In speaking with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday before departing for Annapolis, where he planned to address the commencement of the United States Naval Academy, Mr. Trump deflected questions about the arrest of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul charged with rape.

I dont know, Im not familiar with the case, he said. But its really too bad, its really too bad.

He did not respond to questions about the F.B.I. informant who contacted some of his campaign advisers during the 2016 presidential campaign, but before leaving the White House issued a string of accusatory Twitter messages asserting that it was part of a political plot against him.
Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies : CAGR of 5.40% and Reach US$3.4 bn by 2016 to 2024 | Agilent Technologies Inc., Becton, Dickinson & Company, Beckman Coulter Inc

Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies

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Press Release - 25 May2018Global Research and Development News --. ."Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024" with coming years Industries Trends, projections of Global Growth, Major key player and Case study, Review, Share, Size, Effect.' '~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market: OverviewThis report provides forecast and analysis of the medical microbiology testing technologies market on the global and regional levels. It provides historical data of 2015 along with forecast from 2016 to 2024 in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The report also includes macroeconomic indicators along with an outlook on medical microbiology testing technologies globally. It includes drivers and restraints of the medical microbiology testing technologies market and their impact on each region during the forecast period. The report also comprises the study of current issue and opportunities for medical microbiology testing manufacturers.. . Get Sample Report_' 'In order to provide users of this report with comprehensive view of the market, we have included detailed competitiveness analysis and company players. The dashboard provides detailed comparison of medical microbiology testing manufacturers on parameters such as operating margin, unique selling propositions, collective market share, and geographic concentration. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, by indication, type, technology type, application type, end user type and region.~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market: SegmentationThe report includes usage of Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies and the revenue generated from sales of medical microbiology testing technologies in all regions and important countries in these regions. By indication, the global medical microbiology testing technologies market has been segmented into respiratory diseases, neurological diseases, infectious diseases and others. By technology, the market is segmented into Cell Culture, Microscopy and Serology. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into Diagnostic and Treatment Monitoring. On the basis of end user, the market is segmented into Hospital Labs, Pathology Labs, Research Institutes and others.Market numbers have been estimated based on average consumption and weighted average pricing of medical microbiology testing technologies and the revenue is derived through regional pricing trends and the epidemiology of specific diseases. Market size and forecast for each segment have been provided in the context of global and regional markets. The Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies market has been analyzed based on expected demand. All key end users have been considered and potential applications have been estimated on the basis of secondary sources and feedback from primary respondents. Regional demand patterns have been considered while estimating the market for various end users of Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies in different regions. Top down approach has been used to estimate the Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies market by regions. Market numbers for indication, technology, application, and end user segments have been derived using the top-down approach, which is cumulative of each regions demand. Company-level market share has been derived on the basis of revenues reported by key manufacturers. The market has been forecast based on constant currency rates.~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market: Competitive LandscapeA number of primary and secondary sources were consulted during the course of the study. Secondary sources include FACTIVA, NCBI, Google Books, company websites, journals, press releases, Morningstar, Hoovers, and company annual reports and publications.The report provides detailed competitive and company profiles of key participants operating in the global market. Key players in the global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies market include Agilent Technologies Inc., Becton, Dickinson & Company, Beckman Coulter Inc. (A Danaher Company), Biomerieux SA, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., Roche Holding AG, among others.. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' 'The market has been segmented as below:~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market  By IndicationRespiratory DiseasesNeurological DiseasesInfectious DiseasesOthers~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market  By TechnologyCell CultureMicroscopySerology~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market  By ApplicationDiagnosticTreatment Monitoring~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market  By End UserHospital LabsPathology LabsResearch InstitutesOthers~ Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market  By RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaEuropeGermanyUKFranceItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaIndiaJapanAustraliaNew ZealandRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)Saudi ArabiaUAERSAContinue.....ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
High Capacity Power Banks Global Consumer Electronics Market  Industry Analysis (Trends 2017  2025)

High Capacity Power Banks

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Press Release - 25 May2018Global Research and Development News --. ."High Capacity Power Banks Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" with coming years Industries Trends, projections of Global Growth, Major key player and Case study, Review, Share, Size, Effect.' 'Almost all electronic devices employ the principle of direct current (DC). They also use a transistor for their operation. Major electronic devices such as computers, LED (light emitting diodes) and other flat screen televisions, and mobile phones use a rectifier mounted that converts the AC (alternating current) power into DC power. An AC charger requires AC input. It has its own set of circuitry to convert the AC signal into a convenient signal for charging DC. On the other hand, DC charger, more commonly known as power bank, is the one that takes DC input. A power bank (DC charger) does not require a rectifier circuit to rectify an AC source. Power banks consist of current filtering components that provide stable and smooth output.. . Get Sample Report_' 'Electronic devices accept wide a range of voltages, provided the voltage is above the device batterys voltage capacity. The device can get damaged if the voltage is too high. For instance, the power voltage rating is typically 5V or marginally higher than the devices battery voltage. The difference can extend up to 12 V in some cases. AC signal is more prone to voltage fluctuations because it reverses its direction 120 times per second. The DC cycle is continuous. The device damage caused due to fluctuation is thus prevented using DC charger (power banks).Major electronic gadgets play a vital role in the daily lives of people. Such gadgets include smartphones, cameras, gaming devices, tablets, and MP3 players. These devices require essentially high battery support to run. Battery of any of such a device cannot last very long due to the running of multiple applications and software at a given point in time. The devices battery cannot last very long. This is where power banks play a vital role. A power bank is a portable, easy to use charger for all leading brands of smartphones, cameras, gaming devices, tablets, and MP3 players. High capacity power banks refer to how much charge is inside a power bank battery. It is measured in mAh or milliamps per hour. A power bank provides charging; some of the charge is lost in the transfer of power. It takes energy to transfer energy.Based on type of high capacity power banks, the market can be segmented into economy class power bank (up to 3000 mAh), business class power banks (3,000 mAh to 10,000 mAh), and special class power bank (above 10,000 mAh). In terms of application, the market can be segmented into smartphones, tablets, gaming devices, and others. Based on region, the high capacity power banks market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific accounted for major share of the high capacity power banks market due to the rapid expansion of end-use industries in the region.Modern electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and gaming devices include mobile broadband, high-speed data access through Wi-Fi, web browsers (displaying standard web pages as well as mobile-optimized sites), social networking applications, and high resolution touchscreens are some of the major features that is driving electronics market, globally. With such electronic device singularly performing high functionality tasks, it will require continuous power charge to perform the work efficiently. Thus, the market for high capacity power banks Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a significant pace in the near future.. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' 'Key players operating in the high capacity power banks market include Beijing Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd., Lenovo Group Ltd., Microsoft Corp., Panasonic Corp., and Sony Corp.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.~ The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysis~ The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.~ Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketContinue.....ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
Point-of-care Diagnostics Market is Predicted to Reach a valuation of US$11.7 bn by 2024

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/care-diagnostics-market.html

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The global point of care diagnostics market is expected to record strong growth in the foreseeable future. Factors such as the accelerating prevalence of infectious diseases, rising geriatric population, and growing general awareness about preventive healthcare are expected to drive the point of care diagnostics market.Shift from Curative to Preventive Healthcare to Drive Global PoC Diagnostics MarketPoint of Care (PoC) diagnostics delivers a convenient and cost-effective way to check for diseases at healthcare centers and hospitals. However, PoC testing is not only limited to healthcare institutions. Point of care testing allows diagnoses at home or in an ambulance. The technology of point of care diagnostics empowers clinicians to make decisions at the point of care and has a significant potential to benefit healthcare delivery. The increasing shift from curative medicine to preventive healthcare can help the development of the global point of care diagnostics market.Obtain Report Details @Though the global point of care market is at a nascent stage, it has great potential to transform the preventive healthcare industry. It can help manage multiple chronic conditions. The global PoC diagnostics market is expected to demonstrate a healthy growth rate in the coming few years, as it can deliver immediate results in a non-laboratory environment and support a patient-centered approach to healthcare delivery.Request for Sample Copy of Report @Growing Demand for Cost-effective PoC Testing DevicesAt present, many advanced point of care diagnostics products are in the pipeline. However, more than novel and sophisticated point of care devices, the real need is to deliver cost-effective healthcare solutions, which can be deployed in regions where infectious diseases are highly prevalent.Untapped opportunities for the point of care diagnostics market are present in both developed and developing regions. The number of infectious diseases in Asia Pacific, Africa, and other developing regions is high. Alternatively, the number of cancer, cardiac, and stroke patients in developed regions is high. These factors will provide good growth opportunities for the point of care diagnostics market in these regions.Sensor technologies in the global point of care diagnostics market will enable rapid evaluation of blood samples for many critical care assays, which include blood chemistry, blood gases, electrolytes, and hematology. Product-wise, the global point of care diagnostics market is divided into pregnancy and fertility diagnosis systems, drug and alcohol analysis systems, blood glucose monitoring systems, cholesterol measurement systems, blood chemistry and electrolyte systems, urine chemistry systems, homeostasis measurement systems, and others.Partnership Programs to Augment Growth of Global PoC MarketThough at a nascent stage, the global PoC market already has many challenges it needs to overcome. Several products in the point of care diagnostics market were recalled due to failed testing. In 2011, Kenya recalled one million faulty HIV testing kits due to doubts about their accuracy. As a result of such failed point of care testing products, countries are left on their own to tackle the healthcare-related problems. Hence, there is a great need to strengthen institutions via partnership programs between governments and companies in the point of care diagnostics market.Enquiry for discount on this report @The key players operating in the global point of care (PoC) testing market are Becton, Abbot Laboratories, Dickinson and Company, Nipro Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter, Johnson & Johnson, and Siemens Medical Solutions. Players in this market are focusing on manufacturing the most innovative products that feature advanced technologies such as lab-on-a-chip. However, companies in the point of care diagnostics market also need to focus on providing low-cost diagnostic imaging devices that can be employed at PoC centers for the underserved populations in various regions of the world.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Contact UsTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Wind Turbine Gearbox Global Mining Market - Industry Analysis, Size, (Share and Growth 2017 - 2025)

Wind Turbine Gearbox

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https://www.researchmoz.us/wind-turbine-gearbox-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2017-2025-report.html#table-of-content

Press Release - 25 May2018Global Research and Development News --. ."Wind Turbine Gearbox Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" with coming years Industries Trends, projections of Global Growth, Major key player and Case study, Review, Share, Size, Effect.' 'Increasing demand for clean energy has propelled the market for wind turbines. Majority of wind turbines operating currently use a gearbox system. Rise in the number of wind turbines across the globe has boosted the wind turbine gearbox market. Different components in a wind turbine play an important role in optimizing the speed for maximum efficiency.Thus, a gearbox plays a critical part in a wind turbine, as it accelerates the slower turbine rotations to fast generator rotational speed. Yet, in contrast to conventional gearboxes, a wind turbine gearbox does not switch gears. Rather, it retains a single gear ratio between the generator and rotor rotation.. . Get Sample Report_' 'The global wind turbine gearbox market is expected to expand at a substantial pace in the near future primarily due to the rise in demand for clean energy. This increase in demand for clean energy is encouraging power generation companies and agencies across the globe to construct wind farms. The cost of wind technology has fallen significantly in recent years as wind farms are becoming more and more common.This, in turn, is making the technology reasonably priced for power generation companies. Low cost of technology and government support from various countries in Europe, the Middle East, and North America have augmented the adoption of wind power. Developing countries such as India and China also offer a huge motivation to the demand for wind power as the government of these countries are funding various projects for the growth of the wind energy sector. Thus, growth in the wind power industry is driving the wind turbine gearbox market.High rate of failure of wind turbine gearboxes as a result of wide variability in wind patterns and speeds is the major drawback of the wind turbine gearbox market. Gearbox failures often account for significant part of the cost of repair and restoration of wind turbines. The frequency of occurrence of a gearbox failure is comparatively lesser than the number of failures of sensors, control systems, and electrical units; however, the costs of gearbox repairs are significantly high. Furthermore, the number of days out per failure are considerably higher in case of a gearbox failure. Nevertheless, the need to produce clean energy and the common goal to reduce carbon dioxide gas emission are estimated to boost the wind energy sector, thus augmenting the market for wind turbine gearbox in the near future. Furthermore, to overcome the increasing instances of power supply shortages is estimated to augment the demand for wind energy in the commercial as well as the residential sector. This, in turn, is estimated to propel the demand for gearbox wind turbines.The wind turbine gearbox market can be segmented based on capacity, application, and region. In terms of capacity, the market can be divided into less than 3MW, between 3MW and 6MW, and more than 6MW. Based on application, the market can be bifurcated into onshore and offshore. In terms of region, the wind turbine gearbox market can be segregated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America.Key players operating in the market include GE Energy, Suzlon Energy, Bosch Rexroth, Dana Brevini Power - Transmission SpA, Winergy, and Gamesa.. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' 'The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.~ The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysis~ The regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.~ Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketContinue.....ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
Cloud Workload Protection Market By Services,Assets Type,Solutions,End-Users,Applications,Regions Forecasts to 2022

Cloud Workload Protection Market 2018

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Cloud Workload Protection Market By Services,Assets Type,Solutions,End-Users,Applications,Regions Forecasts to 2022.The Cloud Workload Protection industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Cloud Workload Protection market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 23.11% from 970 million $ in 2014 to 1810 million $ in 2017, The analysts believe that in the next few years, Cloud Workload Protection market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the Cloud Workload Protection will reach 5430 million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the manufacturers data, including: shipment, price, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size, volume and value, as well as price data.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment, channel segment etc. cover different segment market size, both volume and value. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the manufacturers.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection (2 3): 1200 USDManufacturer DetailBracketCloudpassageDome9EvidentGuardicoreHytrustLogrhythmMcafeeSophosSymantecTrend MicroTripwireSection 4: 900 USDRegion SegmentationNorth America Country (United States, Canada)South AmericaAsia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Continued..Report Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsSection 1 Cloud Workload Protection Product DefinitionSection 2 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview2.1 Global Manufacturer Cloud Workload Protection Shipments2.2 Global Manufacturer Cloud Workload Protection Business Revenue2.3 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market OverviewSection 3 Manufacturer Cloud Workload Protection Business Introduction3.1 Bracket Cloud Workload Protection Business Introduction3.1.1 Bracket Cloud Workload Protection Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.1.2 Bracket Cloud Workload Protection Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 Bracket Interview Record3.1.4 Bracket Cloud Workload Protection Business Profile3.1.5 Bracket Cloud Workload Protection Product Specification3.2 Cloudpassage Cloud Workload Protection Business Introduction3.2.1 Cloudpassage Cloud Workload Protection Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.2.2 Cloudpassage Cloud Workload Protection Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 Cloudpassage Cloud Workload Protection Business Overview3.2.5 Cloudpassage Cloud Workload Protection Product Specification3.3 Dome9 Cloud Workload Protection Business Introduction3.3.1 Dome9 Cloud Workload Protection Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.3.2 Dome9 Cloud Workload Protection Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 Dome9 Cloud Workload Protection Business Overview3.3.5 Dome9 Cloud Workload Protection Product Specification3.4 Evident Cloud Workload Protection Business Introduction3.5 Guardicore Cloud Workload Protection Business Introduction3.6 Hytrust Cloud Workload Protection Business IntroductionSection 4 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Region Level)4.1 North America Country4.1.1 United States Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.1.2 Canada Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.2 South America Country4.2.1 South America Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3 Asia Country4.3.1 China Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.2 Japan Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.3 India Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.4 Korea Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4 Europe Country4.4.1 Germany Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.2 UK Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.3 France Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.4 Italy Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.5 Europe Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5 Other Country and Region4.5.1 Middle East Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.2 Africa Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.3 GCC Cloud Workload Protection Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.6 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Region Level) Analysis 2014-20174.7 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Region Level) AnalysisSection 5 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)5.1 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) Market Size 2014-20175.2 Different Cloud Workload Protection Product Type Price 2014-20175.3 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) AnalysisSection 6 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Industry Level)6.1 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2014-20176.2 Different Industry Price 2014-20176.3 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 7 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Channel Level)7.1 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Channel Level) Sales Volume and Share 2014-20177.2 Global Cloud Workload Protection Market Segmentation (Channel Level) AnalysisSection 8 Cloud Workload Protection Market Forecast 2018-20228.1 Cloud Workload Protection Segmentation Market Forecast (Region Level)8.2 Cloud Workload Protection Segmentation Market Forecast (Product Type Level)8.3 Cloud Workload Protection Segmentation Market Forecast (Industry Level)8.4 Cloud Workload Protection Segmentation Market Forecast (Channel Level)Continued..For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Chemical Warehousing and Storage Market Research Study by Industry Size, Share, Opportunities, Analysis and Forecast to 2020

ReportsWeb

http://www.reportsweb.com/global-chemical-warehousing-and-storage-market-2016-2020

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Chemical warehouses are mainly used to store various chemicals used in industries. Most industries produce or use chemicals derived from oil and natural gas. Many intermediate chemicals are also produced during their production processes, which are used in other industries. The storage and handling of different chemicals require trained professionals and highly regulated activities.Publisher's analysts forecast the global chemical warehousing and storage market to grow at a CAGR of 10.80% during the period 2016-2020.For more informationThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global chemical warehousing and storage market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated by the chemical warehousing and storage service providers has been considered to calculate market size.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:-APAC-Europe-North America-ROWPublisher's report, Global Chemical Warehousing and Storage Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors-BDP International-Agility-Americold-DB SCHENKER-DHLRequest Sample CopyOther prominent vendors-Ahlers-Alfred Talke Logistic Services-APL Logistics-BERTSCHI-Bowker Group-ChemLogix-Damco-DACHSER-Jacobson Companies-LeSaint Logistics-Montreal Chemical Logistics-Palmer Logistics-TRANSPLACEMarket driver-Increasing commercial consumption and shipment of chemicals.-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge-Increasing commercial consumption and shipment of chemicals.-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMake an enquiry:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Lead Acid Battery Market will reach at a CAGR of 4.6% from 2014  2020

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Future Market Insights, in its latest report titled,Lead Acid Battery Market: Asia Pacific, Latin America, Japan, Middle East & Africa Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014  2020, states that the target regions lead acid battery market accounted for US$ 24,210.5 Million in 2014, and is expected to reach US$ 31,708.4 Million at a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. Asia Pacific, which accounted for the major chunk in the target regions lead acid battery market, is expected to expand at an estimated CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period.By application type, the target regions lead acid battery market is segmented as transportation, stationary industrial, motive industrial, commercial, residential, and grid storage. Transportation and stationary industrial collectively contributed to around 82.4% of market revenue in 2014. Transportation was the largest end-use application in the target regions lead acid battery market in 2014, and is anticipated to continue its dominance through 2020. Stationary industrial is the second largest contributor to the target regions lead acid battery market, and is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 8.5% during the forecast period.The report finds that grid storage is one of the smallest end-use application segments in the target regions lead acid battery market, but is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR of 7.2% during the forecast period.Lead acid batteries are predominantly used in passenger cars, commercial vehicles and two wheelers. In addition to that, demand for lead acid battery has also surged due to the increasing adoption of UPS, owing to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. Adoption of grid storage technology in developing countries such as India and China is expected to fuel the target regions lead acid battery market. In addition to that, an increase in the demand for electric vehicles is expected to further accelerate the expansion of the lead acid battery market globally.Moreover, key challenges in the lead acid battery market are raw material price volatility and stringent emission regulations. Lead is the essential raw material used in the manufacturing of lead acid batteries. Lead prices account for approximately 49% of the overall cost of the lead acid batteries. Any fluctuations in lead prices affect the overall profitability of lead acid battery manufacturers.Region-wise, Asia Pacific is the largest contributor in the target regions lead acid battery market, and is expected to continue its dominance till 2020. Currently, the Asia Pacific lead acid battery market is valued at US$ 15,995 Million and is expected to reach US$ 19,881 Million by 2020. Latin America and Japan are other major markets contributing 14.4% and 14.1% respectively, to the target regions lead acid battery revenue. Middle East & Africa accounted for the lowest contribution in terms of revenue in 2014, but is expected to register a significant growth at a CAGR of 4.9% over the forecast period.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @The degree of competition in the target regions lead acid battery market has been analysed in the report, which also presents the comparative view of the key strategies and financial outlook of major companies operating in target regions lead acid battery market. These include Johnson Controls INC, Exide Technologies, GS Yuasa Corporation, EnerSys and Yokohama Industries.A sample of this report is available upon request @About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India. FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb:
Global Biobanking Equipment Market will Touch a Value of Nearly US$ 2,000 Mn in the year 2022

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https://www.factmr.com/report/250/biobanking-equipment-market

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Recently, a novel report developed using proven research methodologies at the headquarters of Fact. MR has identified various prominent factors and trends prompting market growth ofBiobanking Equipment Market. The study is titled as Biobanking Equipment Market Forecast, Trend Analysis & Competition Tracking: Global Review 2017 to 2022, which deeply analyses the global market trends, with historical data from 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) during the mentioned forecast of (). For the benefit of the readers, the report concludes with a special focus on the detailed profiles of the major vendors in the global biobanking equipment market.Request For Sample Report @Bio banking equipment are equipment used in the biorepository, which stores biological samples for research purposes. Using biobanking equipment, researchers conduct tests, or perform analysis on specimens stored in a biobank. Along with equipment, consumables, software and services play an important role in helping researchers to study various types of diseases.A major factor driving growth of the biobanking equipment market is growing demand for personalized medicine, which can be attributed to high unmet medical requirements for developing effective therapies. Personalized medicine implies treatments based on preferences, needs, and characteristics of patients. Individuals across the globe have been witnessed to bank their tissues and stem cells, in case any future treatment is required. Development of personalized medicine critically needs individual samples with annotated pathological and clinical data. Several research organizations are focusing on exploring ways for developments in personalized treatments with the help of biological samples. For example, in the previous year, Illumina signed 4 deals, related to biobanking, with the Vanderbilt University, Partners HealthCare, the Montreal Heart Institute, and the University of Colorado, with an aim of developing personalized medicines, and improving the overall healthcare system. This will positively impact growth of the global biobanking equipment market. Other factors influencing the market growth include growing need for discovery and development of cost-effective drugs, rise in private as well as government funding for supporting research on regenerative medicine, surging genomics research activities to study diseases, and advancements in biobanking.Regenerative Medicine - Largest Application of Biobanking EquipmentAlthough regenerative medicine is projected to remain the largest application of biobanking equipment, sales for application in clinical research will exhibit the highest CAGR through 2022. Sales of biobanking equipment for application in life science research will remain relatively lower over the forecast period.Manual storage are poised to remain sought-after in the global biobanking equipment market. However, automated storage is expected to register the fastest expansion in the market through 2022.North America will remain the most attractive market for biobanking equipment, expanding at 7.6% CAGR through 2022. In addition, the markets in Japan and Latin America are estimated to witness a parallel expansion, exhibiting similar CAGRs through 2022.Browse Full Report with TOC @Blood will Remain Most Lucrative Sample in the MarketBlood is expected to be the most lucrative sample in the market, with sales expanding at the highest CAGR and accounting for the largest revenues through 2022. In contrast, sales of tissues are anticipated to exhibit the lowest CAGR through 2022, based on sample type.On the basis of product, equipment will remain dominant in the market, with sales poised to exceed US$ 1,300 Mn in revenues by 2022-end. Between consumables, and software & services, the latter is projected to register a comparatively faster expansion through 2022.Competition TrackingThe report has profiled key players operating in the global biobanking equipment market, which include Becton, Dickinson and Company, Brooks Automation, Inc., Chart Industries, Inc., Greiner Holding AG, Hamilton Company, Merck KGaA, Panasonic Healthcare Holdings, Promega Corporation, Tecan Trading AG, Qiagen N.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., and VWR Corporation.Check Discount @About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized Healthcare Market Research Reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb: https://www.factmr.com/Get More Industry Insights At:
Where Persecution Comes From

In Uzbekistan, both the Uzbek government and Islamic culture are engage in Christian persecution. When former president Islam Karimov died in September 2016, he was succeeded by Shavkat Mirziyaev, leading many to hope that the situation in country would improve for Christians. Sadly, this has not been the case, and the government continues to persecute Christians and other religious minorities through local authorities, secret service agents and police. Christian converts from Muslim backgrounds bear a great deal of persecution from family, friends and community members who are intent on convincing them to return to their former faith.

How Christians are Suffering

All Christian communities in Uzbekistan experience one form of persecution or another, to varying degrees. The Russian Orthodox Church experiences the least persecution from the government, as it generally does not engage in outreach. Converts from Islam and other Christian communities face raids, threats, arrests, interrogation and fines, as well as the confiscation of religious materials. Homes are bugged, phones are tapped, and groups are infiltrated. Converts are also sometimes violently persecuted by their families, friends and communities for refusing to recant their faith.

Examples

In March 2017, state officials raided a flat in Tashkent in Uzbekistan where five Protestant women were meeting together. Authorities confiscated books, a computer and a camera. A month later, a district criminal court fined the groups leader five times the minimum monthly wage for carrying out an unauthorized religious activity.
Vascular Guidewires Market 2020 Analysis, Growth Forecast by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application

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Vascular guidewires are used in interventional procedures in guiding the catheters to target specific site for treatment. The growing older population is a major contributor to the growth of the market. WHO estimates that about two billion people will be aged 60 and above by 2050. The older adult population is susceptible to chronic diseases, and thus requires frequent care at healthcare facilities. The percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is the most widely used procedure in which guidewires are extensively used followed by angioplasty.For more informationPublisher's analysts forecast the global vascular guidewires market to grow at a CAGR of 5.71% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global vascular guidewires market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of vascular guidewires to hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs).The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAPublisher's report, Global Vascular Guidewires Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- Abbott Vascular- Boston Scientific- Cordis- Medtronic- TerumoRequest Sample CopyOther prominent vendors- Asahi Intecc- B. Braun Melsungen- Biotronik- BrosMed Medical- CR Bard- GaltNeedleTech- Gore Medical- JOTEC- Lepu Medical Technology- Merit Medical Systems- OptiMed- VolcanoMarket driver- Growing demand for MI procedures- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- Complications and risks associated with guidewires- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- Rise in demand for soft-tapered and non-tapered guidewires- For a full, detailed list, view our reportTable of ContentPART 01: Executive summaryPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Market research methodologyPART 04: IntroductionPART 05: Global organic personal care marketPART 06: Market landscapePART 07: Market segmentation by typePART 08: Geographical segmentationPART 09: Key leading countriesPART 10: Market driversPART 11: Impact of driversPART 12: Market challengesPART 14: Market trendsPART 15: Vendor landscapePART 16: Explore PublisherMake an enquiry:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Potato Chips Market Trends, Drivers, Strategies, Applications and Competitive Landscape 2020

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The global potato chips market has been witnessing steady growth over the past few years. Initially, potato chips were available only in certain flavors. However, to attract new customers, the market vendors are offering potato chips in different flavors such as cinnamon, cheddar, and jalapeno. This is attracting many customers to try potato chips. Also, the availability of less or no oily chips has resulted in the demand for chips among health conscious people.Publisher's analysts forecast the global potato chips market to grow at a CAGR of 4.42% during the period 2016-2020.For more informationCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global potato chips market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, Publisher takes into consideration the revenue generated from the sale of potato chips in the following geographies:- Americas- APAC- Europe- MEAThe market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- Europe- MEAPublisher's report, Global Potato Chips Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- Calbee Foods- Herr- Intersnack Group- PepsiCo- Snyder's-Lance- UTZ Quality FoodsRequest Sample CopyOther prominent vendors- Burtschips- Golden Flake Snack Foods- Great Lakes Potato Chips- Kettle Foods- Koikeya- Lorenz Bahlsen Snack World- Notions Group- Old Dutch Foods- Pop Chips- Proper Crisps- Shearer's Snacks- Tyrells Potato Crisps- Wise FoodsMarket driver- Availability of different varieties and flavors- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge- Threat of substitutes- For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend- New product offerings- For a full, detailed list, view our reportTable of ContentPART 01: Executive summaryPART 02: Scope of the reportPART 03: Market research methodologyPART 05: Market landscapePART 06: Segmentation by distribution channelPART 07: Geographical segmentationPART 08: Key leading countriesPART 09: Market driversPART 11: Market challengesPART 12: Impact of drivers and challengesPART 13: Market trendsPART 14: Vendor landscapePART 15: Key vendor analysisPART 16: AppendixMake an enquiry:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Indoor Farming Technology 2018 Global Market  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts 2022

Indoor Farming Technology Market

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Indoor Farming Technology 2018 Global Market  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts 2022.The Indoor Farming Technology industry has also suffered a certain impact, but still maintained a relatively optimistic growth, the past four years, Indoor Farming Technology market size to maintain the average annual growth rate of 9.45% from 19370 million $ in 2014 to 25400 million $ in 2017, The analysts believe that in the next few years, Indoor Farming Technology market size will be further expanded, we expect that by 2022, The market size of the Indoor Farming Technology will reach 40250 million $.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis Report covers the manufacturers data, including: shipment, price, revenue, gross profit, interview record, business distribution etc., these data help the consumer know about the competitors better. This report also covers all the regions and countries of the world, which shows a regional development status, including market size, volume and value, as well as price data.Besides, the report also covers segment data, including: type segment, industry segment, channel segment etc. cover different segment market size, both volume and value. Also cover different industries clients information, which is very important for the manufacturers.Sections:-Section 1: FreeDefinitionSection (2 3): 1200 USDManufacturer DetailPhilips LightingEverlight ElectronicsArgus Controls SystemsNetafimLumigrowLogiqsIllumitexVertical Farm SystemsHydrodynamics InternationalGeneral HydroponicsRichel GroupAmerican HydroponicsAgrilutionSection 4: 900 USDRegion SegmentationNorth America Country (United States, Canada)South AmericaAsia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Continued..Report Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsSection 1 Indoor Farming Technology Product DefinitionSection 2 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Manufacturer Share and Market Overview2.1 Global Manufacturer Indoor Farming Technology Shipments2.2 Global Manufacturer Indoor Farming Technology Business Revenue2.3 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market OverviewSection 3 Manufacturer Indoor Farming Technology Business Introduction3.1 Philips Lighting Indoor Farming Technology Business Introduction3.1.1 Philips Lighting Indoor Farming Technology Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.1.2 Philips Lighting Indoor Farming Technology Business Distribution by Region3.1.3 Philips Lighting Interview Record3.1.4 Philips Lighting Indoor Farming Technology Business Profile3.1.5 Philips Lighting Indoor Farming Technology Product Specification3.2 Everlight Electronics Indoor Farming Technology Business Introduction3.2.1 Everlight Electronics Indoor Farming Technology Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.2.2 Everlight Electronics Indoor Farming Technology Business Distribution by Region3.2.3 Interview Record3.2.4 Everlight Electronics Indoor Farming Technology Business Overview3.2.5 Everlight Electronics Indoor Farming Technology Product Specification3.3 Argus Controls Systems Indoor Farming Technology Business Introduction3.3.1 Argus Controls Systems Indoor Farming Technology Shipments, Price, Revenue and Gross profit 2014-20173.3.2 Argus Controls Systems Indoor Farming Technology Business Distribution by Region3.3.3 Interview Record3.3.4 Argus Controls Systems Indoor Farming Technology Business Overview3.3.5 Argus Controls Systems Indoor Farming Technology Product Specification3.4 Netafim Indoor Farming Technology Business Introduction3.5 Lumigrow Indoor Farming Technology Business Introduction3.6 Logiqs Indoor Farming Technology Business IntroductionSection 4 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Region Level)4.1 North America Country4.1.1 United States Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.1.2 Canada Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.2 South America Country4.2.1 South America Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3 Asia Country4.3.1 China Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.2 Japan Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.3 India Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.3.4 Korea Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4 Europe Country4.4.1 Germany Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.2 UK Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.3 France Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.4 Italy Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.4.5 Europe Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5 Other Country and Region4.5.1 Middle East Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.2 Africa Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.5.3 GCC Indoor Farming Technology Market Size and Price Analysis 2014-20174.6 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Region Level) Analysis 2014-20174.7 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Region Level) AnalysisSection 5 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Product Type Level)5.1 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) Market Size 2014-20175.2 Different Indoor Farming Technology Product Type Price 2014-20175.3 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Product Type Level) AnalysisSection 6 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Industry Level)6.1 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Industry Level) Market Size 2014-20176.2 Different Industry Price 2014-20176.3 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Industry Level) AnalysisSection 7 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Channel Level)7.1 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Channel Level) Sales Volume and Share 2014-20177.2 Global Indoor Farming Technology Market Segmentation (Channel Level) AnalysisContinued..For more 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Ultrasound Bone Imaging Scanner Market : Industry Size, Share, Growth, Forecasts 2017 - 2025

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Marketresearchreports.biz has announced the addition of a new research study on the "Ultrasound Bone Imaging Scanner Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its report database.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "Ultrasound Bone Imaging Scanner" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy of this report @A bone scan is a nuclear medicine imaging technique of the bone. A bone scan helps to diagnose a number of bone conditions such as bone cancer, tendon tear, ligament sprain, foreign body of soft tissue, changes in condition of rheumatoid arthritis, ganglion cysts, bone fracture, bone infection. Ultrasound imaging is a noninvasive and painless medical test which is widely used for bone scanning. Ultrasound imaging does not use ionizing component as in X-ray. Ultrasound forms pictures of the inside of the body by using sound waves through the use of transducer and ultrasound gel. Ultrasound imaging is less expensive and less time consuming.Based on product type, the global ultrasound bone imaging scanner market can be segmented into system and accessories. The system segment is expected to grow at a rapid pace due to increase in demand for ultrasound devices for imaging among radiologists and doctors. In terms of application, the market can be bifurcated into osteoporosis and bone fracture. Osteoporosis was the leading segment of the market due to rise in prevalence of orthopedic problems among the geriatric population. Based on end-user, the global ultrasound bone imaging scanner market can be divided into hospitals, radiology centers, ambulatory surgical centers, and others. Hospitals was the leading segment of the market due to increase in number of imaging tests and treatment related to orthopedic disorders. Additionally, hospitals are preferred by both patients and physicians, as these are modernized with all types of equipment for imaging tests of bone. The growth of the ultrasound bone imaging scanner market is driven by the increasing government investment in the healthcare infrastructure development. Moreover, growing awareness about the early diagnosis of bone disease and rise in incidence of orthopedic disorders among the geriatric population is one of the major factors likely to drive the global ultrasound bone imaging scanner market during the forecast period. However, rise in cost of clinical trials of such imaging devices, stringent regulation associated with the commercialization of imaging devices, and product recalls are factors that restrain the market.View Full Report @In terms of region, the global ultrasound bone imaging scanner market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is the leading market for ultrasound bone imaging scanner due to advanced technology in the region. Moreover, rise in prevalence of orthopedic disorders and lower mass density among the population propels the market in the region. Osteoporosis is one the leading causes of bone fractures in Europe. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, nearly 3.5 million new fragility factures occur in the European Union each year. This is one of the major factors projected to drive the ultrasound bone imaging scanner market in Europe. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to register strong growth owing to increase in investments by major companies operating in the region, improving health care infrastructure, and rise in geriatric population. Technological advancements, increase in per capita income, rise in expenditure on personal health care, and surge in incidence of bone related diseases are likely to augment the ultrasound bone imaging scanner market in Middle East & Africa during the forecast period.Major players operating in the global ultrasound bone imaging scanner market are Toshiba Medical System Corporation, GE Healthcare, Siemens AG, Philips Healthcare, Carestream Healthcare, Hitachi Medical Corporation, and Samsung Medison Co. Ltd. among others.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Wireless Ambulatory Telemetry Monitors Market Size & Share - Industry Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025

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Marketresearchreports.biz has announced the addition of a new research study on the "Wireless Ambulatory Telemetry Monitors Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its report database.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "Wireless Ambulatory Telemetry Monitors" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy of this report @Ambulatory telemetry is one of the type of heart monitoring. It uses portable, lightweight equipment to record the electrical activity of patients heart while patient can execute their daily life. Monitoring can be done for few days or several weeks. The objective is to notice if symptoms such as shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting, or chest pain are caused by a heart rhythm problem. If an in-office test like an electrocardiogram doesnt reveal the source of patients symptoms, a longer test needed to monitor heart activities. Telemetry monitors have conventionally been used for monitoring one or two parameters in patients with heart problems. However, recent advancements have empowered these devices to monitor three or four parameters on average. The patient worn monitors allow for continuous monitoring of ambulatory patients in the area of coverage. Signals from this device are transmitted to a central station. At these central stations the nurses can monitor the vital signs of the patient. The wireless ambulatory telemetry is usually found in cardiac care units, stroke units, coronary care units, step up & step down units, where the ability for patients to be mobile is especially vital.During the forecast period, the total market is expected to see moderate growth driven by a prevalent interest of unmonitored lower-acuity hospital settings to invest in patient-worn monitors. Acute care areas where telemetry is seeing increased adoption include the recovery and general care floors, where continuous monitoring helps to reduce avoidable complications, as well as critical care settings, such as the cardiac care unit (CCU). On the other hand, extensive efforts are going on to combat excess strain on hospital resources and alarm fatigue are expected to temper future growth. A wide expansion in the number of technologies that can be and are used for patient ambulatory telemetry and medical device instrument wireless are being witnessed now a days, this is anticipated to drive the wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market growth during forecast period.On the basis of application the global wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market is segmented into emergency department, neuroscience unit, cardiac unit, step down unit, and others. Hospitals have revealed that telemetry systems have broad applications, to neuroscience units where ECG telemetry can be beneficial in caring for stroke patients, the emergency department where incoming patients with alleged cardiac abnormalities can be monitored without necessarily tying up a monitored bed.View Full Report @The global wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. The wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market is currently dominated by the North America attributed to the presence of a large number of global players domiciled in the region. Moreover, technological advancements in the wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors is also expected to boost growth during the forecast period. Similarly, Asia Pacific is expected to witness higher growth in the wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market due to rising awareness among healthcare professionals about the need of wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors, & increasing healthcare expenditures coupled with increasing focus of global players in the countries like China and India. The market is anticipated to characteristically witness a significantly higher growth rate in countries such as Germany, Spain, U.K., Italy and France. The wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market in Germany is well-established and developed, and for new entrants it is comparatively easy to enter in the market, making the wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market in the country stronger than in any other European countries.Major players operating in global wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors include Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Mindray Medical International Limited, Natus Medical Incorporated, Welch Allyn, Omron Healthcare, Nihon Kohden, Spacelabs Healthcare, Nonin Medical Inc., Boston Scientific Corporation. Major players present in the wireless ambulatory telemetry monitors market are involved in technological advancement of the products and services used for patient monitoring.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout UsMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact UsMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Wireless Healthcare Market | Leading Key players Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (U.S.), AT&T

Wireless Healthcare Market

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HTF MI recently broadcasted a new study in its database that highlights the in-depth market analysis with future prospects of Wireless Healthcare market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, industry executives and other key people get ready-to-access and self analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. Some of the key players mentioned in this research are Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (U.S.), AT&T, Inc. (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), Omron Corporation (U.S.), Philips Healthcare (U.S.), Verizon Communications, Inc. (U.S.), Qualcomm, Inc. (U.S.), Aerohive Networks, Inc.(U.S.), Vocera Communications, Inc. (U.S.) & Alcatel-Lucent (U.S.).Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global Wireless Healthcare market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data. It also covers various types of segmentation such as by geography [United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia], by product /end user type [Hardware, Software & Services], by applications [Patient-specific, Physiological Monitoring, Patient Communication and Support, Provider/Payer-specific & Others] in overall market. The in-depth information by segments of Wireless Healthcare market helps monitor performance & make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Wireless Healthcare Market.This study also contains company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of various international, regional, and local vendors of Global Wireless Healthcare Market, some of them are Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (U.S.), AT&T, Inc. (U.S.), Cerner Corporation (U.S.), Omron Corporation (U.S.), Philips Healthcare (U.S.), Verizon Communications, Inc. (U.S.), Qualcomm, Inc. (U.S.), Aerohive Networks, Inc.(U.S.), Vocera Communications, Inc. (U.S.) & Alcatel-Lucent (U.S.). The market competition is constantly growing higher with the rise in technological innovation and M&A activities in the industry. Moreover, many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new vendor entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.** The Values marked with XX is confidential data. To know more about CAGR figures fill in your information so that our business development executive can get in touch with you.Global Wireless Healthcare (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Hardware, Software & ServicesMarket Segment by Type 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022Hardware xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Software xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%Services xx xx xx xx xx Xx xx-Change (%) xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx% xx%The research study is segmented by Application such as Patient-specific, Physiological Monitoring, Patient Communication and Support, Provider/Payer-specific & Others with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Global Wireless Healthcare (Thousands Units) by Application (2017-2022)Market Segment by Application 2012 2017 2022 Market Share (%)2022 CAGR (%)(2017-2022)Patient-specific xx xx xx xx% xx%Physiological Monitoring xx xx xx xx% xx%Patient Communication and Support xx xx xx xx% xx%Provider/Payer-specific xx xx xx xx% xx%Others xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx 100% xx%Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Wireless Healthcare in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringMarket Segment by Regions 2012 2017 2022 Share (%) CAGR (2017-2022)United States xx xx xx xx% xx%EU xx xx xx xx% xx%Japan xx xx xx xx% xx%China xx xx xx xx% xx%India xx xx xx xx% xx%Southeast Asia xx xx xx xx% xx%Total xx xx xx xx% xx%Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Additionally the export and import policies that can make an immediate impact on the Global Wireless Healthcare market. This study contains a EXIM* related chapter on the Wireless Healthcare market and all its associated companies with their profiles, which gives valuable data pertaining to their outlook in terms of finances, product portfolios, investment plans, and marketing and business strategies. The report on the Global Wireless Healthcare market is an important document for every market enthusiast, policymaker, investor, and player.Key questions answered in this report - Global Wireless Healthcare Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate beWhat are the key market trendsWhat is driving Global Wireless Healthcare marketWhat are the challenges to market growthWho are the key vendors in Global Wireless Healthcare market space?What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the Global Wireless Healthcare market?What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the Global Wireless Healthcare market?Buy PDF version of this research report @There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Wireless Healthcare market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Wireless Healthcare, Applications of Wireless Healthcare, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Wireless Healthcare, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast Asia, Wireless Healthcare Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Wireless Healthcare Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Wireless Healthcare;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Hardware, Software & Services], Market Trend by Application [Patient-specific, Physiological Monitoring, Patient Communication and Support, Provider/Payer-specific & Others];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Wireless Healthcare;Chapter 12, to describe Wireless Healthcare Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Wireless Healthcare sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Enquire something new as customization in Report @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact us :HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218
Growth of Liquid Fertilizers Market Trends, Share, Industry Size, Opportunities and Forecast 2017-2024  Research Nester

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Liquid Fertilizers Market: Global Historical Growth (2012-2016) & Future Outlook (2017-2024) Demand Analysis & Opportunity EvaluationLiquid Fertilizers Market OverviewLiquid fertilizers are made of natural ingredients and are used to reduce the plant growth interval and to increase the plant productivity. Further, liquid fertilizers provide extra nutriments to the plants and help them grow healthy.Market Size and ForecastGlobal Liquid Fertilizers Market is anticipated to grow at a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.9% over the forecast period i.e. 2017-2024. The global market of liquid fertilizers is primarily driven on the back of rising food demand across all regions. Further, booming population coupled with increasing need for precise farming in order to improve overall crop production are key factors which are envisioned to augment the growth of global liquid fertilizers market in future.Request Report Sample @In terms of region, Global Liquid Fertilizers Market is segmented into five major regions including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa region. Among these regions, Asia Pacific region is anticipated to lead the overall liquid fertilizer market over the forecast period. Presence of large base population and growing demand for food grains are key drivers which are fuelling the growth of liquid fertilizers market in this region. Additionally, government support and increasing awareness amongst the population regarding benefits of using liquid fertilizers are strengthening the growth of liquid fertilizers market in Asian countries.Apart from Asia Pacific, North America region is showcasing a potential market for liquid fertilizers. Further, North America region is anticipated to showcase a robust growth over the forecast period owing to the increasing demand for organic foods in U.S. and Canada. Furthermore, global liquid fertilizer market is segmented into ingredient type which includes organic and synthetic. Further, synthetic liquid fertilizer segment by ingredient type dominated the global liquid fertilizer in previous years and is predicted to maintain this dominance over the forecast period. However, organic liquid fertilizer segment is likely to grow at maximum pace during the forecast period owing to its environmental benefits.Request for TOC Here @By RegionGlobal Liquid Fertilizers market is further classified on the basis of region as follows:North America (U.S. & Canada) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisLatin America (Brazil, Mexico, Rest of Latin America) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisEurope (U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg, Rest of Europe) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisAsia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia Australia, New Zealand, South Korea & Rest of Asia-Pacific) Market size, Y-O-Y growth & Opportunity AnalysisMiddle East and North Africa (GCC, Israel, Turkey, North Africa, South Africa & Rest of Middle East) Market Size and Y-O-Y Growth AnalysisBuy This Premium Reports Now @Growth Drivers & ChallengesRising demand and consumption of organic foods all across the globe is one of the key growth drivers for global liquid fertilizers market. Population of various developed and developing countries such as U.S., Canada, China, India and others are adopting liquid fertilizers owing to the increasing demand for food. This factor is propelling the growth of the global liquid fertilizers market. Further, governments of various nations are encouraging the use of liquid fertilizers by subsidies and incentive policies. This encouragement is expected to grow the liquid fertilizers market all over the globe. This massive increase in usage of liquid fertilizers is providing many opportunities for the liquid fertilizers manufacturers to grow and diversify their portfolio. For instance, Indian government is promoting liquid fertilizers and has recently announced the initialization of liquid fertilizer plant in Chhattisgarh.The adoption of liquid fertilizers is increasing due to capability of biological organisms to battle weeds, insects and other various diseases that may harm crops and increase chances of soil contaminations. Apart from this, farmers are adopting liquid fertilizers to boost crop production and increase the profit. Rising Food DemandAlthough, presence of alternatives such as bio fertilizers and other chemicals and lack of awareness in rural areas are key challenges which may adversely affect the growth of global liquid fertilizer market in future.For more details visit @Research Nester is a leading service provider for strategic market research and consulting, serving clients from 120+ countries across the globe. We aim to provide unbiased, unparalleled market insights and industry analysis to help industries, conglomerates and executives to take wise decisions for their future marketing strategy, expansion and investment etc. We believe every business can expand to its new horizon, provided a right guidance at a right time is available through strategic minds. Our out of box thinking helps our clients to take wise decision so as to avoid future uncertainties.Contact for more Info:Name:- Ajay Daniel1820 Avenue M, Suite# 1113,Brooklyn, New York 11230Email: ajay.daniel@researchnester.comU.S. +1 646 586 9123U.K. +44 203 608 5919
Global Embedded Systems Market 2018 by Leading Players : Xilinx, Altera, Microchip, Renesas Electronics, Atmel

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Embedded Systems Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the global Embedded Systems market status and forecast, categorizes the global Embedded Systems market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in united States, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan and other regions.Market these days have to function is a dynamic business environment. With consumer preference evolving rapidly, business are required to have winning strategies up their sleeves to gain competitive advantage. This report includes valuable market intelligence for consumers as well as companies operating in the global Embedded Systems market. Besides offering a comprehensive overview of prevailing trends, the report covers round-up analysis of strategies they adopted over the years. The report covers their strengths and weaknesses and presents insights into key opportunities and potential threats for the market players.For More Info Get Free Sample Report :The major manufacturers covered in this reportRenesas ElectronicsSTMicroelectronicsNXP (Freescale)Texas Instruments, Inc.XilinxAlteraInfineon TechnologiesMicrochipIntel CorporationGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringunited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSouth KoreaTaiwanOther RegionsOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingAutomotiveTelecommunicationHealthcareIndustrialConsumer ElectronicsMilitary & AerospaceThe report classifies the global Embedded Systems market based on various criteria. It also studies factors enabling growth in the market across these segments. For the purpose of the study, it also segments the market in terms of region. Share held by these regions in the global Embedded Systems market is also calculated to enable readers have an executive-level blueprint on the global market. Information included in this market study is obtained via in-depth primary and secondary research. Furthermore, key data and statistics are obtained from trusted sources from within the industry. The report also includes expert opinions for stakeholders to have a better perspective about the investment feasibility in the global Embedded Systems market.The effect of prevailing economic and regulatory trends is also studied in detail. Furthermore, the report examines the effect of key strategies adopted by the market players over the last few years. Information thus compiled is presented in coherent chapter-wise format in the report. It therefore provides a birds eye view of the global Embedded Systems market.Browse Table of Content of this Research Report:Table of Contents1 Embedded Systems Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Embedded Systems1.2 Embedded Systems Segment by Type (Product Category)1.3 Global Embedded Systems Segment by Application1.4 Global Embedded Systems Market by Region (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Embedded Systems (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Embedded Systems Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Embedded Systems Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Embedded Systems Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Embedded Systems Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Embedded Systems Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Embedded Systems Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Embedded Systems Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Embedded Systems Market Competitive Situation and Trends3 Global Embedded Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Embedded Systems Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Embedded Systems Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Embedded Systems Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Embedded Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 united States Embedded Systems Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)List of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Embedded SystemsFigure Global Embedded Systems Production (K units) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2013-2025)Figure Global Embedded Systems Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2017Figure Global Embedded Systems Market Size (Million uSD), Comparison (K units) and CAGR (%) by Regions (2013-2025)Figure united States Embedded Systems Revenue (Million uSD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Europe Embedded Systems Revenue (Million uSD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure China Embedded Systems Revenue (Million uSD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Molecular Weight Marker Market Key Insights- Top Vendors (Affymetrix, QIAGEN, Takara Bio)

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The study of the Molecular Weight Marker market by HTF MI provides the market size information and market trends along with factors and parameters impacting it in both short- and long-term. The study provides a 360 view and insights, outlining the key outcomes of the industry. These insights help the business decision-makers to formulate better business plans and make informed decisions for improved profitability. In addition, the study helps venture capitalists in understanding the companies better and make informed decisions. Some of the key players in the Molecular Weight Marker market are Roche, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agilent Technologies, Sigma-Aldrich, Affymetrix, QIAGEN, Takara Bio, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Promega Corporation & New England Biolabs.Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Key Points Covered in Molecular Weight Marker Market Report:Global Molecular Weight Marker Overview, Definition and ClassificationMarket drivers and barriersGlobal Molecular Weight Marker Market Competition by ManufacturersGlobal Molecular Weight Marker Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Global Molecular Weight Marker Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2018-2023)Global Molecular Weight Marker Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeGlobal Molecular Weight Marker Market Analysis by ApplicationGlobal Molecular Weight Marker Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisMolecular Weight Marker Manufacturing Cost AnalysisIndustrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersMarketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersStandardization, regulatory and collaborative initiativesIndustry roadmap and value chainMarket Effect Factors Analysis ..Get the inside scoop of the Sample report @:Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets, product-type and by application/end-user categories:By Product Types: DNA, RNA & Protein LaddersBy Application/ End-user: PCR, Western Blotting & Gel ExtractionRegional Markets: United States, EU, Japan, China, India & Southeast AsiaList of Companies Mentioned: Roche, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Agilent Technologies, Sigma-Aldrich, Affymetrix, QIAGEN, Takara Bio, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Promega Corporation & New England BiolabsMolecular Weight Marker Market Effect Factors Analysis chapter specifically concentrates on Technology Progress/Risk, Substitutes Threat, Technology Progress in Related Industry, Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Changes and Economic/Political Environmental Changes that defines the growth factors of the Market.The highest & slowest growing market segments are outlined in the study to provide valuable insights of each core element of the market. New market players are beginning to emerge and are accelerating their transition in Molecular Weight Marker Market.Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to our Expert @The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the reportResearch Methodology: The Molecular Weight Marker market has been analyzed by utilizing the optimum mix of secondary sources and benchmark methodology along with an irreplaceable blend of primary insights. The real-time assessment of the market is an integral part of our market sizing and forecasting methodology. Our industry experts and panel of primary participants have helped in compiling relevant aspects with realistic parametric estimations for a comprehensive study.Whats in the offering: The report provides detailed information about the usage and adoption of Molecular Weight Marker in various applications, types and regions/country. With that, key stakeholders can find out the major trends, drivers, investments, vertical players initiatives, government initiatives toward the product adoption in the following years, along with the details of commercial products available in the market. Moreover, the study provides details about the major challenges that are going to have an impact on the market growth. Additionally, the report gives complete details about the business opportunities to key stakeholders to expand their business and capture revenues in the specific verticals. The report will help companies interested or established in this market to analyze the various aspects of this domain before investing or expanding their business in the Molecular Weight Marker market.Buy this research @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.comConnect with us at




Former lawmaker of erstwhile CPN Maoist Centre Balkrishna Dhungel has been recommended for waiving his remaining jail sentence despite the widespread criticism. The prison office, Dillibazar, wherein Dhungel is doing time in a murder case, has initiated process for the presidential pardon on Republic Day, which falls on May 29, waiving his remaining about 12 year long jail sentence. Though Dhungel was imposed life term (20-year jail sentence) in a murder case of Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga in 1998, he has served just about eight years in jail. Granting pardon from the head of state is general practice in Nepal and around the world only if the convict meets the criteria for waiver the remaining jal sentence. The general practices exercised in Nepal were that murder convict can get waiver only if the murder was not committed in cruel and violent manner, served 40 per cent of jail sentence and who had shown good conduct in the jail. As Dhungel was imposed life term not only from the lower court but from the Supreme Court (SC) and he challenged the SC verdict by absconding for years, it is used to claim that he does not meet the criteria to get waiver the remaining jail term.





It is revealed that the prison office, Dillibazar, has initiated process to waiver the jail term of about two dozen persons including Dhungel in the recommendation of the government and its allies though the officials at the office have been hesitating to make public the decision and names of recommended prisoners. It is said that the names of 23 persons are forwarded to the District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu, for the waiver process though it has got the list of about 1000 inmates from different prison office of the country. As Dhungel was the influential leader of the then CPN Maoist Center, which is merged recently in the Communist Party of Nepal, the government and its allies would have exerted pressure to the concerned state agencies for the presidential pardon. It is likely that President Bidya Devi Bhandari would not raise question in the case of Dhungel for the presidential pardon as she was not only the former leader of the then CPN UML, which has been running the incumbent government by renaming it as the Communist Party of Nepal. As the government has overwhelming majority in the parliament, it is likely that government and its allies can influence not only the parliament but also the office of the president and other state agencies. But the widespread concern of now is that the provision of presidential pardon should not be misused to release the perpetrators of heinous crimes.




Excellent Growth of Virtual Data Center Market with Key Players VMware, Microsoft, Fujitsu, Huawei

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The study of the Virtual Data Center market by HTF MI provides the market size information and market trends along with factors and parameters impacting it in both short- and long-term. The study provides a 360 view and insights, outlining the key outcomes of the industry. These insights help the business decision-makers to formulate better business plans and make informed decisions for improved profitability. In addition, the study helps venture capitalists in understanding the companies better and make informed decisions. Some of the key players in the Virtual Data Center market are VMware, Microsoft, Citrix Systems, Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems, AT&T, Fujitsu, Radiant Communications, HPE, Huawei, HCL & IBM.Get the inside scoop of the Sample report @:Key Points Covered in Virtual Data Center Market Report:Global Virtual Data Center Overview, Definition and ClassificationMarket drivers and barriersGlobal Virtual Data Center Market Competition by ManufacturersGlobal Virtual Data Center Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2018-2023)Global Virtual Data Center Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2018-2023)Global Virtual Data Center Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeGlobal Virtual Data Center Market Analysis by ApplicationGlobal Virtual Data Center Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisVirtual Data Center Manufacturing Cost AnalysisIndustrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersMarketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersStandardization, regulatory and collaborative initiativesIndustry roadmap and value chainMarket Effect Factors Analysis ..Early buyers will receive 10% customization on reports. Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets, product-type and by application/end-user categories:By Product Types: Advisory & Implementation Services, Optimization Services, Managed Services & Technical Support ServicesBy Application/ End-user: IT & Telecommunication, Banking Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI), Education, Healthcare, Government & OthersRegional Markets: United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia & IndiaList of Companies Mentioned: VMware, Microsoft, Citrix Systems, Amazon Web Services, Cisco Systems, AT&T, Fujitsu, Radiant Communications, HPE, Huawei, HCL & IBMVirtual Data Center Market Effect Factors Analysis chapter specifically concentrates on Technology Progress/Risk, Substitutes Threat, Technology Progress in Related Industry, Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Changes and Economic/Political Environmental Changes that defines the growth factors of the Market.The highest & slowest growing market segments are outlined in the study to provide valuable insights of each core element of the market. New market players are beginning to emerge and are accelerating their transition in Virtual Data Center Market.Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to our Expert @The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the reportResearch Methodology: The Virtual Data Center market has been analyzed by utilizing the optimum mix of secondary sources and benchmark methodology along with an irreplaceable blend of primary insights. The real-time assessment of the market is an integral part of our market sizing and forecasting methodology. Our industry experts and panel of primary participants have helped in compiling relevant aspects with realistic parametric estimations for a comprehensive study.Whats in the offering: The report provides detailed information about the usage and adoption of Virtual Data Center in various applications, types and regions/country. With that, key stakeholders can find out the major trends, drivers, investments, vertical players initiatives, government initiatives toward the product adoption in the following years, along with the details of commercial products available in the market. Moreover, the study provides details about the major challenges that are going to have an impact on the market growth. Additionally, the report gives complete details about the business opportunities to key stakeholders to expand their business and capture revenues in the specific verticals. The report will help companies interested or established in this market to analyze the various aspects of this domain before investing or expanding their business in the Virtual Data Center market.Buy this research @Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.About Author:HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact US :Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.comConnect with us at
Perfume and Fragrance Market Growth Opportunities by Top Key Players|Elizabeth Arden, Inc. ,Loreal ,Shiseido ,IFF ,Chanel ,Estee Lauder ,Avon

Perfume and Fragrance industry research, Perfume and Fragrance Market Size, Perfume and Fragrance Market Share, Perfume and Fragra

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Perfume and Fragrance Market is estimated to spot a considerable growth in CAGR from 2018 to 2025. This report gives an in-depth assessment of current Perfume and Fragrance key market drivers, market size and trends and Global Perfume and Fragrance opportunities, challenges, key market segments and technological developments.MRFR Press Release/- Market Research Future published a Cooked Research Report on global Perfume and Fragrance Market value which is estimated to grow at 6.00% by 2023.Market Forecast:The global perfume and fragrance market is observing a remarkable growth owing to factors such as rapid urbanization, rise in disposable income and changing lifestyle of consumers. With more and more consumers spending on personal care & beauty products is expected to be one of the significant reasons for the rising growth of perfumery products which in turn intensifies the sales of perfume & fragrance products during the forecast period.Moreover, e-commerce has grown rapidly at the global level and still has a lot of growing potential, especially in the developing regions as there are high return rates in the e-commerce space. The trend of retail therapy  effortless, relaxing and ultimately enjoyable shopping is one of the major drivers boosting the sales of perfume and fragrance through e-commerce. Also, gifting culture has provided opportunities for market growth of perfumes and fragrances. The main aim of gifts is preserving harmony within ones family, friends, colleagues, and society. People are ready to invest on expensive commodities owing to the fact that higher price brings a better quality and those qualities properly suit their needs.Request Sample of Perfume and Fragrance Market, Size, Status and Forecast, by Players, Types and Applications @:Competitive Analysis:Elizabeth Arden, Inc.LorealShiseidoIFFChanelEstee LauderAvonVivenzaRoyal Beauty Group Co.Regional Analysis:The global perfume & fragrance market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (ROW). Among these, Europe region is dominating the market over the forecast period. The market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.27% during the review period. This is attributed to the high usage of perfumes, cosmetics, incense, body care products. Among the European countries, France is majorly driving the market of perfume & fragrances in this region. However, Asia Pacific region is expected to grow with a CAGR of 8.0% during the review period. In Asia Pacific region, India is expected to hold 17% market share in the year 2017.Segmentation:The global perfume & fragrance market has been segmented on the basis of type, which includes eau de parfum, eau de toilette, eau de cologne, eau fraiche and others. The eau de parfum segment is projected to account for the maximum market proportion at a CAGR of 6.33% during the forecast period. On the basis of ingredients, the global perfume & fragrance market is segmented as natural and synthetic. Among both, the synthetic segment is estimated to witness the highest growth at a CAGR of 5.69% during the forecast period 2017-2023. On the basis of consumer group, the global perfume & fragrance market is segmented into men, women and unisex. Among all the segments, the women segment is estimated to witness the highest growth at a CAGR of 5.67% during the forecast period 2017-2023. On the basis of distribution channel, the global perfume & fragrance market is segmented into store based and non-store based. Among both, store based segment is estimated to witness the highest growth at a CAGR of 5.71% during the forecast period of 2017-2023.Target Audience:Global perfume & fragrance product manufacturersEnd usersRetailers and wholesalersE-commerce companiesTraders, importers and exportersKey Findings:Europe is estimated to retain its dominance throughout the forecast period at a CAGR of 5.27%. Among the European countries, France is projected to witness a substantial growth at a CAGR of 5.50% during the forecast period of 2017-2023.Global perfume & fragrance manufacturers find massive opportunities in India owing to the huge demand for perfume & fragrance products, especially, cosmetics and toiletries.Regional and Country Analysis of the Global Perfume & Fragrance Market Development and Demand Forecast till 2023As per the MRFR analysis, the global perfume & fragrance market is expected to reach USD 64690.27 million by 2023 at a CAGR of 6.00% during the forecasted period.The reports also cover country level analysis:North AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeGermanyFranceSpainU.K.ItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaIndiaJapanAustralia & New ZealandIndonesiaRest of Asia PacificMiddle EastU.A.E.K.S.A.BahrainKuwaitQatarOmanRest of Middle EastFull report on Perfume and Fragrance Market report spread across 111 pages, profiling 18 companies and supported with tables and figures available @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@Market research future.com
Communications Test And Measurement Market Detailed Analytical Overview by 2024

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Communication test and measurement equipment is integrated test equipment comprising of software and hardware that is used by original manufacturers and network operators in order to deliver superior experience in data, video and voice communication. The communication test and measurement market provides efficient management of internet protocol TV by providing management, repair and deployment of services and networks. As digital communication network is increasing, the need for reliable and accurate test and measurement has increased.Growth in telecommunication industry is expected to grow the communication test and measurement market. Additionally, introduction of next generation cellular and wireless technology, growing demand of mobile phone and increasing bandwidth demand is expected to propel the communication test and measurement market. However, the major restrain of communication test and measurement equipment is, keeping pace with technological advances. The paradigm shift in cloud computing and evolving artificial intelligence technologies is expected to provide major opportunity for communication test and measurement market.Request to Sample Report @Wireless communication test equipment market is expected to grow at fast rate compared to lab analytical instrumentation market and general purpose test equipment market. Increased adoption of 3G and 4G network is expected to drive the wireless communication test equipment market. By end user, the communication test and measurement market is segmented as network equipment manufacturers, mobile device manufacturers, telecommunication service providers, and enterprise. Globally, North America leads the communication, test and measurement equipment market followed by Europe. However Asia Pacific shows bright growth prospects due to increasing R&D investment.Request Report for TOC @The key players of communication test and measurement market include Spirent communications, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co KG, Octoscope, Agilent Technologies, Danaher Corporation, Exfo Inc., JDS Uniphase Corporation, Anritsu Corporation, Calnex Solutions and Yokogawa Electric among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Biometric Vehicle Access Market 2018 Key Players, Size, Share, and Trends Analysis To 2023

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Biometric Vehicle Access Market 2018 - Global Industry Analysis Report published by MarketResearchFuture, explores Global Biometric Vehicle Access Market Key Companies, Size, Share, Trends, Opportunities, Challenges, Competitive Landscape, and Key Country Forecast to 2022. Biometric Vehicle Access Market is segmented by Monorail Type (Straddle and Suspended), Propulsion Type (Electric and Magnetic levitation), Size (Large, Medium, and Compact), and by Region.Global Biometric Vehicle Access Market. Highlights:A Biometric Vehicle Access is one of the most used & preferred equipment all over the world and can be used in wide range of organizations. Biometric technology is a system which is based on behavioral and psychological characteristics and used for verification and recognition of manual access.it is user-friendly, reliable and convenient identification and monitoring method.Key players in global Biometric Vehicle Access market studied are:The major player operating in the market of Global Biometric Vehicle Access are Safran S.A (France), Hitachi Ltd. (Japan), and Fujitsu Ltd. (Japan), Fingerprint Cards Ab, Methode Electronics, Synaptics Incorporated, Voicebox Technologies, Voxx International, Hid-GlobalGet Sample Copy of Report At:Market Drivers:Major auto-brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and Volkswagen are working on this technology and finding innovative ways to strengthen vehicles safety and security system. The need for increasing efficiency and accurate and high protection are encouraging organizations to use biometric vehicle access system. Biometric Vehicle access system refers to numerous versions such as finger print recognition, voice recognition and others. The use of Biometric vehicle access system ensures easy tracking and makes it accurate .Factors such as growing demand for authentication and high security are moving the market towards adoption of biometric vehicle access system. Whereas, moderate attentiveness and training as well as uncertainty hampers the growth of the market significantly.Regional Analysis:Biometric Vehicle Access market is highly application driven and systems are gaining popularity across the end user and technologies like such as Iris recognition, face recognition which is referred as one of the major driving factors for market. Europe is estimated to account for the largest share, in terms of value, of the Biometric Vehicle Access System Market .The automotive industry in Europe has the most advanced technologies in comparison to Asia-Pacific or North American regions. Asia Pacific is referred as fastest growing region for Iris recognition. Increase in the modernization technological advancement, rising vehicle production and cost-effective biometric vehicle access systems will enhance the market for biometric vehicle access system in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.The report for Global Biometric Vehicle Access Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Major Table Of Contents:1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Definition2.2.2 Research Objective2.2.3 Assumptions2.2.4 Limitations2.3 Research Process2.3.1 Primary Research2.3.2 Secondary Research2.4 Market Size Estimation2.5 Forecast Model3 Market Landscape3.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis3.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants3.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers3.1.3 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers3.1.4 Threat Of Substitutes3.1.5 Segment Rivalry3.2 Value Chain/Supply Chain Analysis4 Market Dynamics4.1 Introduction4.2 Market Drivers4.3 Market Restraints4.4 Market Opportunities4.5 Market Trends5 Global Biometric Vehicle Access Market, By Type5.1 Introduction5.2 AIR BIOMETRIC VEHICLE ACCESS5.2.1 Market Estimates & Forecast, 2017-20235.2.2 Market Estimates & Forecast By Region, 2017-20235.3 DAMPER BIOMETRIC VEHICLE ACCESS5.3.1 Market Estimates & Forecast, 2017-20235.3.2 Market Estimates & Forecast By Region, 2017-20235.4 OTHERS5.4.1 Market Estimates & Forecast, 2017-20235.4.2 Market Estimates & Forecast By Region, 2017-20236 Global Biometric Vehicle Access Market, By End-Use6.1 Introduction6.2 OEMs6.2.1 Market Estimates & Forecast, 2017-20236.2.2 Market Estimates & Forecast By Region, 2017-20236.3 AFTERMARKET6.3.1 Market Estimates & Forecast, 2017-20236.3.2 Market Estimates & Forecast By Region, 2017-2023Get Complete Report Information at:About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.com
3D Food Printing Market an Outstanding Growth During 2016 - 2026

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3D food printing is designing and providing 3D shapes to the food ingredients and also maintaining structure, texture and taste of the ingredients. 3D food printing is bringing 3 dimensional digital design into real world object which is edible.3D food printing is healthy and good for environment as it converts proteins from algae, beet leaves or insects into tasty products. One of the most important benefit of 3D printing is that it provides door for food customization according to the preferences and needs of individual. 3D food printing gives rise to new flavors, textures and shapes to provide new and unique eating experiences. 3D food printing is done by machines called 3D printers. 3D printed foods have to please the eyes and mind both at the same time. Even NASA is now looking for ways to 3D print food in space.Request Report for TOC @Global 3D Food Printing Market Dynamics:The market of global 3D food printing is anticipated to be driven by increasing market need for mass customization, ability of 3D printers to prepare food which is convenient and time saving, customization of nutrients required by an individual in their food products, getting the benefit of alternative ingredients and others. Now a days all the microwave made pancakes which are available in Netherlands are printed. As the world is getting more self-centered they are going for more customization and so their food. Market need for mass customization is increasing and is going for different shapes, colors, flavors, nutrition and textures.This customization is done mainly on food products like coffee, hamburgers, ice cream, cake, biscuits, confectionary and others. Technology is also one of the driving force behind 3D food printing market. With the enhancement in technology came up micro oven in every home and now 3D food printing machine is coming up. The market of global 3D food printing is anticipated to have restraints too. Many of the ingredients which are used for 3D printing are converted to paste. There are limited food which can be made into paste. 3D food printing is also a slow process which requires cooling many a times before the food can be consumed. Necessity of 3D food printing is that it can overcome the trend of prevailing food customization techniques which is less effective and at the same time its manufacturing cost is high.Global 3D Food Printing Market Segmentation:The global 3D food printing market is segmented on the basis of application, ingredients and region. 3D printed foods are applied and used to make modern food designs which gives pleasure to eyes before it can be consumed. Another application of 3D printed food is that it serves food for the elderly, for instance, 3D printed carrots are easy to chew and also easy to swallow. Few other applications are domestic cooking, catering services, personalized chocolates and homogeneous snacks. Product types where 3D printing is used are bakery products coffees, ice creams, confectionary and others. Among the product type confectionary segment is expected to grow at a faster CAGR over the forecast period. As chocolate, confectionary products are very popular among the children and it also attract elderly people. Edible ingredients can be segmented into dough, fruits & vegetable, proteins, sauce, dairy products, sugar, carbohydrates, yard, algae and others.Global 3D Food Printing Market Regional Outlook:Geographically, the global 3D food printing market can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. Europe is the market leader in 3D food printing. In Netherlands all the microwave pancakes which are available in supermarkets are printed. In Spain, Natural Machines tried to bring the 3D food printing technology into the household. U.S. is also engaged in 3D food printing because there 3D printer maker 3D Systems along with Culinary Institute of America are setting many projects.Request to Sample Report @Global 3D Food Printing Market Key Players:The major player identified across the value chain for global 3D food printing market are TNO (innovation for life), Philips, Electrolux, Barilla, Nestle, NASA, Hersheys, Modern Meadow, Choc Edge, 3D Systems, Natural Machines, ZMorph, Fab@Home.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Industrial Valves Market 2018 Key Players: Flowserve Corporation, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Emerson electric corp.

Industrial Valves Market

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Industrial Valves Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Industrial Valves Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2023reports to its database.Executive SummaryA comprehensive research report created through extensive primary research (inputs from industry experts, companies, stakeholders) and secondary research, the report aims to present the analysis of Global Industrial Valve Market By Valve Type (Ball, Butterfly, Gate, Globe, Check, Plug, Safety, Diaphragm, Others), By Technology (Manual Valve, Solenoid Valve, Control valve ), By Size (Up to 1, 1.1- 6, 6.1- 25, 25.1- 50, Above 50 ), By End User Industry (Oil & Gas, Water & waste water, Power, Chemical & Fertilizers, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, Building & Construction and Others), By Region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, ROW-Latin America, Middle East, Africa, CIS) and By Country (The global market for Industrial valve is driven by development in energy and manufacturing sector. Growth in industries related to power, oil & gas, chemicals, food and beverages, Textile, Pulp & Paper, Metal etc. is the prime factor which drives the demand of industrial valves for process control application. Additionally, the demand of industrial valves in building and construction space is also rising.According to Analytics research report, global Industrial Valve Market is primarily driven by increasing energy demand and industrial manufacturing activities in developed and emerging region. Asia Pacific region is the biggest market in the current period and expected to lead in forecast period. In the forecast period, APAC region will witness strong growth backed by rising industrialization in emerging countries such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.The report titled Global Industrial Valves Market - By Valve Type (Ball, Butterfly, Gate, Globe, Check, Plug, Safety, Diaphragm, Others), By Technology (Manual Valve, Solenoid Valve, Control valve), By Size (Up to 1, 1.1- 6, 6.1- 25, 25.1- 50, Above 50), By End User Industry, By Region, By Country: Opportunities and Forecast (2018-2023) has covered and analysed the potential of Global Industrial valve Market and provides statistics and information on market size, shares and growth factors. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyses the emerging trends along with major drivers, challenges and opportunities in the Global Industrial valve Market. Additionally, the report also highlights market entry strategies for various companies across the globe.Request Sample Report @Scope of the ReportGlobal Industrial Valve Market, By Value (Actual Period: 2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Industrial Valve Market  Sizing, Growth, Forecast Analysis By Valve Type  Ball, Butterfly, Gate, Globe, Check, Plug, Safety, Diaphragm, Others Analysis By Technology - Manual Valve, Solenoid Valve, Control valve Analysis By Size - Up to 1, 1.1- 6, 6.1- 25, 25.1- 50, Above 50 Analysis By End User Industry - Oil & Gas, Water & waste water, Power, Chemical & Fertilizers, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, Building & Construction, OthersRegional Markets  North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Rest of World-Latin America, Middle East, Africa, CIS (Actual Period: 2013-2017, Estimated Period: 2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Industrial Valve Market  Sizing, Growth, Forecast Analysis By Valve Type  Ball, Butterfly, Gate, Globe, Check, Plug, Safety, Diaphragm, Others Analysis By Technology - Manual Valve, Solenoid Valve, Control valve Analysis By Size - Up to 1, 1.1- 6, 6.1- 25, 25.1- 50, Above 50 Analysis By End User Industry - Oil & Gas, Water & waste water, Power, Chemical & Fertilizers, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, Building & Construction, OthersCountry Analysis - USA, Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, Rest of Asia, Rest of World (Actual Period: 2013-2017, Estimated Period: 2017, Forecast Period: 2018-2023) Industrial Valve Market  Sizing, Growth, Forecast Analysis By Valve Type  Ball, Butterfly, Gate, Globe, Check, Plug, Safety, Diaphragm, Others Analysis By Technology - Manual Valve, Solenoid Valve, Control valve Analysis By Size - Up to 1, 1.1- 6, 6.1- 25, 25.1- 50, Above 50 Analysis By End User Industry - Oil & Gas, Water & waste water, Power, Chemical & Fertilizers, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, Building & Construction, OthersOther Report Highlights Market Dynamics  Drivers and Challenges Market Trends Porter Five Force Analysis SWOT Analysis Company Analysis - Flowserve Corporation, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Emerson electric corp, Crane Corporation, IMI Plc., METSO, VELAN, Spirax Sarco, Forbes MarshallCustomization of the ReportThe report could be customized according to the clients specific research requirements. No additional cost will be required to pay for limited additional research.Table of Contents1. Research Methodology2. Executive Summary3. Strategic Recommendations4. Industrial Valves Outlook5. Global Industrial Valves : Growth and Forecast6. Industrial Valves Market Overview7. Global Industrial Valves Market: By Product Type8. Global Industrial Valves Market: Analysis By Raw Material Type9. Global Industrial Valves Market: Analysis By Form10. Global Industrial Valves Market: Analysis By End Users11. Global Industrial Valves Market: Regional Analysis12. Market Dynamics13. Market Trends14. Porters Five Forces Analysis  Industrial Valves Market15. SWOT Analysis  Industrial Valves Market16. Policy and Regulatory Landscape17. Supply Chain Analysis18. Pricing Analysis19. Competitive Landscape20. Company Profiles20.1 Ansell20.2 Top Glove Corporation29.3 Hartalega20.4 Cardinal Health20.5 Supermax Corporation20.6 Cypress Medical20.7 Halyard HealthContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042
Pigments Market To Attain A Worth Of US$31.9 billion by 2023

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"The Latest Research Report Pigments Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2023 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"Pigments are compounds that impart colors by transmitting or reflecting absorbed light of selected wavelengths. Besides coloration properties, pigments help to improve several functional features such as hiding power, opacity, transparency, light fastness, and durability. Pigments are widely employed in various end-users industries such as paints & coatings, printing inks, plastics, construction materials, personal care, and paper. Synthetic pigments are broadly classified into three major product segments: inorganic, organic, and specialty pigments. Inorganic pigments dominated the pigments market in the recent past. In terms of volume. Asia Pacific accounted for the largest share of the pigments market in 2017, followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest consumer of pigments during the forecast period.The report estimates and forecasts the pigments market on the global, regional, and country level. The study provides forecast between 2017 and 2023 based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments, which provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also offers detailed information about value addition at each stage. The study includes drivers and restraints for the pigments market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The report analyzes opportunities in the pigments market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources.Global Pigments Market: Key Research AspectsThe report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the pigments market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-users and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market. The report includes price trend analysis for inorganic, organic, and specialty pigments between 2017 and 2023.Get Sample Copy of this report @The study provides a comprehensive view of the pigments market by dividing it into product segments such as inorganic, organic, and specialty pigments. These product segments are further bifurcated into various sub-segments. In terms of end-users, the pigments market has been segmented into paints & coatings, printing inks, plastics, construction materials, and others. Product segments and end-user segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated between 2017 and 2023 in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn).Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.In-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Global Pigments Market: Regional AnalysisRegional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for pigments in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for application segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Germany, Italy, the U.K., France, Spain, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual applications in all the regions and countries.Global Pigments Market: Competition MatrixThe report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include The Chemours Company, Huntsman Corporation, BASF SE, Lanxess AG, Clariant AG, Altana AG, and DIC Corporation. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview.Segmentations of Pigments MarketBy Product:Inorganic PigmentsTitanium DioxideIron OxideCadmiumCarbon BlackChromium CompoundsOrganic PigmentsAzoPhthalocyanineQuinacridoneSpecialty PigmentsClassic OrganicMetallicHigh Performance InorganicLight InterferenceComplex InorganicFluorescentLuminescent or PhosphorescentThermochromicBy End User:Paints & CoatingsPrinting InksPlasticsConstruction MaterialsOtherBy Geography:North AmericaEuropeAsiaPacificLatin AmericaMiddle East & AfricaSend An Enquiry Request @Table of ContentsChapter 1 PrefaceReport DescriptionResearch ScopeAssumptionsMarket SegmentationResearch MethodologyChapter 2 Executive SummaryGlobal Pigments Market, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Pigments: Market SnapshotChapter 3 Pigments Market  Industry AnalysisIntroductionValue Chain AnalysisInorganic PigmentsOrganic PigmentsSpecialty PigmentsMarket DynamicsDriversDriver 1  Increasing Consumption of Paints & Coatings in Major End-user SegmentsDriver 2  Augmented Production and Consumption of PlasticsRestraintsRestraint 1  Stringent Environmental and Health Regulations Associated with Pigments IndustryOpportunityOpportunity 1  Emergence of Nanotechnology in Pigment Development ProcessPorters Five Forces AnalysisBargaining Power of SuppliersBargaining Power of BuyersThreat of New EntrantsThreat of SubstitutesDegree of CompetitionPigments: Market Attractiveness AnalysisMarket Attractiveness Analysis, by Inorganic PigmentsMarket Attractiveness Analysis, by Organic PigmentsMarket Attractiveness Analysis, by Specialty PigmentsMarket Attractiveness Analysis, by End-userCompany Market Share  Global Inorganic Pigments Market (%) (2014)Company Market Share  Global Organic Pigments Market (%) (2014)Company Market Share  Global Specialty Pigments Market (%) (2014)Chapter 4 Raw Material and Price Trend AnalysisRaw Material Analysis  Manufacturing/Extraction ProcessPigments Price Trends, 20142023 (US$/Ton)Chapter 5 Global Pigments Market  Product Segment AnalysisGlobal Inorganic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Titanium Dioxide Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Iron Oxide Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Cadmium Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Carbon Black Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Chromium Compounds Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Other Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Organic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Azo Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Phthalocyanine Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Quinacridone Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Others Organic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Specialty Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Classic Organic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Metallic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global High Performance Organic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Light Interference Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Complex Inorganic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Fluorescent Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Luminescent/Phosphorescent Inorganic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)Global Thermochromic Pigments Market, Volume & Revenue, 20142023, (Kilo Tons) (US$ Mn)About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Market 2018 Key Manufacturers : BNC(Taiwan), EDAQ(Australia)

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Market Research Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Arbitrary Waveform Generator market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.The study on the global Arbitrary Waveform Generator market strives to offer critical and in-depth insights into the current market outlook and emerging growth dynamics. The insights cover the analysis of key factors shaping the various trajectories the market has traversed in recent years. To offer a comprehensive assessment of the prevailing dynamics the global Arbitrary Waveform Generator market, the report highlights government regulations in various countries. Moreover, it offers to evaluate their impact on business landscape with respect to current avenues and promising prospects. The analyses offer evidence-based insights into the strategic landscape and the various types of risks emerging in the landscape. The recent strategic moves by various top players seeking to get a higher share of the global Arbitrary Waveform Generator market is also assessed in the study. The report also tries to give a succinct account of key changes of government policies likely to impact the future outlook of the global Arbitrary Waveform Generator market.To Download Free Sample Report with TOC:Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Arbitrary Waveform Generator in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Arbitrary Waveform Generator market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingAMETEK Programmable Power(US)Astronics Test Systems(US)B&K Precision(US)BNC(Taiwan)EDAQ(Australia)EPS Stromversorgung GmbH(Germany)Lilliput Optoelectronics Technology(China)On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoArbitrary WaveformPulsePatternOn the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, includingMilitaryAviationTransportationMarket participants hoping to get a bias-free and fact-based analysis of the various elements of dynamics will find the study an indispensable guide. Stakeholders looking for lucrative avenues and imminent pockets in the global Arbitrary Waveform Generator market to explore latent opportunities will find the insights in the study increasingly helpful. Furthermore, policy makers and business executives of companies of all hues looking for clear signals of emerging avenues and lackluster trends in the global Arbitrary Waveform Generator market will not be disappointed either. The study strives to give an elaborate account of recent deals and agreements, collaborations and partnerships, and ventures entered by emerging and established players. The study takes closer look at major technological advances influencing the competitive dynamics. Furthermore, the analysis offered in the study tries to capture the nuances of regulatory framework.View TOC (table of content) of the Report:Table of Contents1 Arbitrary Waveform Generator Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Arbitrary Waveform Generator1.2 Arbitrary Waveform Generator Segment by Type (Product Category)1.3 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Segment by Application1.4 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Market by Region (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Arbitrary Waveform Generator (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Arbitrary Waveform Generator Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Arbitrary Waveform Generator Market Competitive Situation and TrendsList of Tables and FiguresFigure Picture of Arbitrary Waveform GeneratorFigure Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Production (K Units) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Types (Product Category) (2013-2025)Figure Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Production Market Share by Types (Product Category) in 2017Figure Global Arbitrary Waveform Generator Market Size (Million USD), Comparison (K Units) and CAGR (%) by Regions (2013-2025)Figure North America Arbitrary Waveform Generator Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Europe Arbitrary Waveform Generator Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure China Arbitrary Waveform Generator Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Japan Arbitrary Waveform Generator Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Big Data Analytics in Manufacturing Market 2018 by Key Developments, Major Key Players and Forecast 2023

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Global Big Data Analytics in Manufacturing Market 2018-2023:The Global Big Data Analytics in Manufacturing Market is expected to register a CAGR of 38.62 %, over the forecast period (2018 - 2023).The major players include:SAP, TIBCO SOFTWARE, INC. (ALPINE DATA), MICROSOFT CORPORATION, SAS INSTITUTE, INC., IBM CORP., ORACLE CORPORATION, RAPIDMINER, INC., ANGOSS SOFTWARE CORPORATION, and KNIME AG, amongst others.Companies Mentioned:Alteryx, Inc., Angoss Software Corporation, Fair Isaac Corporation, IBM Corp., Knime AG, Microsoft Corporation, MicroStrategy Incorporated., Oracle Corporation, RapidMiner, Inc., SAP, SAS Institute Inc., Tibco Software Inc. (Alpine Data)Get Sample Copy of Global Big Data Analytics in Manufacturing Market @It is estimated that the data generated in a day in current global scenario is equivalent to the data generated in last decade. To handle such huge amounts of data, Big Data has often proved to be a useful tool. With the concept of Industry 4.0 shaping the production establishments in the modern manufacturing industry, the amount of data produced from the manufacturing sector grew rapidly.Many application in the field of semiconductor, pharmaceutical, and automotive industry where manufacturers have to monitor several variables to ensure the quality of end products, Big Data analytics proved to be more fruitful than the traditional methods. Although the results of Big Data analytics are encouraging, the manufacturing industry has not yet realized the complete potential of the technology. This provides good scope to the Big Data analytics in the manufacturing industry to expand in the future.Evolving Value Chains to Drive Demand in Manufacturing:The manufacturing industry has evolved since the last industrial revolution. Technology has played a critical role in shaping the modern manufacturing industry. With the introduction of Industry 4.0, the production establishments took a step forward and implemented many IoT and IIoT solutions to get live feedback from factories and working environments. With the implementation of Machine to Machine services and telematics solutions in production establishments, the industry has moved from traditional value chain to technology, asset, and engineering-oriented value chain.This shift forced manufacturers to monitor multiple variables to gain a competitive edge over rivals. This led to the data being generated from the modern manufacturing environments to double in the past four years. Since the traditional applications or software are proving to be obsolete to handle or analyze such large amounts of data, Big Data analytics are becoming more popular in the manufacturing industry. According to a study conducted by Forbes, 89% of business leaders in the world believe that Big Data will revolutionize business operations in the same way the internet did and are pursuing Big Data projects in order to seize a competitive edge.Condition Monitoring Stands to be Top Priority:Among all the different applications that Big Data analytics is used for in the manufacturing industry, condition monitoring proves to be growing at a faster pace. Before the era of Industry 4.0, the Big Data analytics were more popular with the product quality management applications in the manufacturing industry. However, with pre proven machine efficiencies, industrial standards, and government regulation the modern industrial machinery are estimated to perform to their maximum capacity if they are in good condition.This is encouraging manufacturing companies, especially in the automotive, energy and metal processing sectors, to invest more on machine condition monitoring applications of Big Data analytics to detect the risk of any potential failure of the machines. According to a recent study conducted by Enterprise Irregulars, a diverse group of practitioners, consultants, investors, and analysts who are specialized in enterprise technology and its application to business, more than 65% of manufacturing enterprises are focused on monitoring assets to identify operating issues. It is estimated that already 58% of the respondents have capabilities to collect operating data and analyzing the data to produce insights, which create huge opportunities for the Big Data analytics in the manufacturing industry market.Request PDF Sample of Global Big Data Analytics in Manufacturing Market Report @Key Developments in the Market:February 2018 - RapidMiner announced the immediate availability of their products RapidMiner 8.1 and RapidMiner Auto Model. These models were released as a new addition to RapidMiner Studio, a prominent machine learning tool.December 2017 - Knime AG announced the release of KNIME Analytics Platform 3.4. The model is set to support machine learning integrations and cloud connectivity. These additional capabilities are expected to give a competitive edge to the company over the rivals.Reasons to Purchase the Report:Current and future Big Data analytics in manufacturing market outlook in the developed and emerging markets.Analyzing various perspectives of the market with the help of Porters Five Forces Analysis.The segment that is expected to dominate the market.Regions that are expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period.Identify the latest developments, market shares, and strategies employed by the major market players.3-month analyst support along with the Market Estimate sheet (in Excel).Customization of the Report:This report can be customized to meet your requirements. Please connect with our representative, who will ensure you get a report that suits your needs.Table Of Content:1.Introduction2.Executive Summary3.Market Overview4.Market Dynamics5.Market Segmentation6.Company Profiles7.Investment Analysis8.Future of the MarketAbout Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Information:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas  75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Email: sales@orbisresearch.com
Magnesium Laureth Sulfate Market to Garner Brimming Revenues by 2024

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Magnesium laureth sulfate is produced from laureth sulfate, which is the ester of laureth and sulfuric acid. It is typically used in the chemical industry in the preparation of baby shampoos and special shampoos for people with delicate skin. Magnesium laureth sulfate is basically a magnesium salt of 2-dodecoxyethylsulfate (laureth sulfate). Magnesium laureth sulfate is primarily used as a surfactant and cleansing agent in a wide range of shampoos and cosmetic products due to its gentle characteristics. It is comparatively lesser irritating than several other types of surfactants. Shampoos containing magnesium laureth sulfate are specially prepared for people with highly sensitive skin. Apart from gentleness, magnesium laureth sulfate has one more important property that it is equally effective in hard water. Due to such advantages, magnesium laureth sulfate is increasingly being used in the preparation of shampoos for babies and people with sensitive skin, and other cosmetic applications. Rising demand in the personal care industry is likely to drive the global magnesium laureth sulfate market during the next few years.View Report Preview:Magnesium laureth sulfate is largely used by major players in the personal care industry such as LOreal. Famous brands of shampoos that contain magnesium laureth sulfate include LOreal Kids Mango Orange Mater Shampoo, LOreal Kids Blueberry Finn McMissile Shampoo, LOreal Kids Extra Gentle 2-IN-1 Shampoo, Strawberry Smoothie, LOreal Strawberry Lightning McQueen Shampoo for Kids, LOreal Kids Smoothie Shampoo, Orange Mango, Blueberry, LOreal Kids Tropical Coconut Smoothie 2-IN-1 Shampoo, LOreal Kids Vanilla Scream Smoothie 2-IN-1 Shampoo, LOreal Kids Passion Fruit Smoothie 2-IN-1 Shampoo, and LOreal Kids 2-IN-1 Extra Gentle Swim and Sport Shampoo. Apart from shampoos, magnesium laureth sulfate is employed in the preparation of facial cleansers, face care products, baby soap, eye makeup remover, makeup remover, liquid hand soap, face wash, and body wash.Asia Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing regional market for magnesium laureth sulfate during the next few years. This growth can be attributed to the rising demand for personal care products, especially baby shampoos and special shampoos, for people with sensitive skin in India, China, and countries in Southeast Asia. The population in these countries, both infants and adults, is increasing at a significant rate primarily due to the rising birth rate and declining mortality rate owing to advancement in medical technology. Moreover, the disposable income of consumers is also increasing, led by the economic development in these emerging countries. Furthermore, awareness regarding the use of skin-friendly personal care products is rising in these developing countries. This has led to growth in the number of potential customers across these developing countries. Additionally, a similar scenario can be observed in other developing economies across the globe such as Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel. The U.S. and countries in Europe are gradually recovering from the severe economic crisis of 2008. All these factors are creating a positive outlook for the growth of the personal care industry globally. This is anticipated to further drive the demand for magnesium laureth sulfate used in the preparation of rapidly consumed products such as shampoos in the personal care industry in the near future.Major companies operating in the global magnesium laureth sulfate market include Akzo Nobel N.V., Alkim Alkali Kimya A.S., Elementis plc, Lenzing AG, and Sirocco Mining Inc.Request to view Sample Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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By Dr. S. Chandrasekharan





On 17th of May, the Chiefs of UML and Maoists Centre, Nepal announced the merger of their two parties and the formation of a new party- called Communist Party of Nepal. The day also marked the 25th anniversary of late Madan Bhandari of UML who died in a car accident though many still believe that he died under suspicious circumstances.





This formal announcement of a merger came after intense negotiations for two hours at Baluwatar between Oli the UML chief and Dahal- the head of the Maoist Centre the previous day.





The following decisions appear to have been taken and it is said that both the chiefs gave in on some issues to allow the merger. Compromises had to be made and it was done. Dahal did not insist on a fifty-fifty proportion of office bearers while Oli agreed to accept the benefits of Peoples War as an ideological line. The details as known from the press are as follows.





-The new party will be headed by both Oli and Dahal as Co. Chairmen of the party.

-The Sun will be symbol of the new party. ( Sun was the symbol of UML)

There is an informal understanding that the prime ministership will be rotated between the two and Oli will step down after three years to make way for Dahal.

-There will be a nine-member Secretariat with Bishnu Paudel as General Secretary and Narayan Kaji Shrestha as the Spokesman. This will include the three senior leaders of UML- Madhav Nepal, Jhalanath Khanal and Bamdev Gautham as well as other members- Ishwor Pokhrel of UML and Ram Bahadur Thapa of Maoist Centre.

-There will be a standing Committee of 45 members to be divided between UML and MC in the proportion of 26 to 19.

-Similarly there will be a Central Committee of 441 members with UML having 241 members and the MC 200 members

-The ideological frame work will include the positive aspects of Peoples multi party democracy and that of the Peoples democracy of the 21st century of the Maoists. The final document is supposed to include the political achievements of the peoples war that ushered secularism and federalism as well as the philosophy of Marxism and Leninism (whatever it means!)

-The structural arrangements of the party will remain till the regular convention that will be held within one year from the formation of the party.





Dahal likened the merger of the two parties as that of the molecules of hydrogen and oxygen getting fused to form water and the implication is that water cannot once again be broken into oxygen and hydrogen molecules! He claimed that the new force will provide for stability, development and prosperity of the people.





The new party will have 174 MPs out of 275 in the Lower house and 39 out of 59 in the upper house. This does not include three members the government can nominate to the upper house.





While the new party will have a significant and comfortable majority to go along with their agenda they will still be short of two thirds majority to make any constitutional amendments. For this, the help of one of the Terain Groups will be necessary and it is heard that Upendra Yadav of SSFN is only too eager to join if he is given the post of Deputy Prime Ministership! That innocent lives were unnecessarily lost in the Terai during the agitation thanks to the Madhesi leaders has been forgotten!





Though there are smaller and insignificant leftist parties, the merger of the two main stream parties is historic and fulfills the dream of late Pushpalal- 69 years after the party was established in the same name in the country. This agreement comes almost 8 months after the initial agreement when the two parties jointly contested the elections.





The general expectation of the public is that the new party will be able to provided political stability to the country that was badly needed for economic development.





The reaction of the Nepali Congress was surprisingly sober and it said that the merger will strengthen democracy. The party is yet to come to terms with the debacle they had and the rise of the powerful leftist alliance which people expect to rule for the next five years. Deuba who should have quit after the debacle continues to call the shots. The Koirala clan is still alive and clicking and courted by the embassies. Ramachandra Paudel who has lost his relevance still believes that he has a great following wants to be heard on all issues! The younger crowd led by Gagan Thapa continues to be marginalised. Gagan who made a fine speech in the Parliament on the day Oli took over should have been nominated to call on Indian PM but was not and he continues to be ignored. Arjun Narsing KC who believes that the Party will have to unite to meet the challenge failed in his efforts to get the leaders together. The Nepali Congress needs to revamp itself against a formidable opponent in the new Communist Parfty of Nepal. But it is yet to show the urgency or the need!





On the new communist party itself, it is difficult to say how it will move along though it is the wish of all those interested in Nepals stability that the new party succeeds. Nepal needs it. The problem is that the decisions on the merger have been handed over from the top to the cadres at the grass roots level and may not be acceptable. The convention which is scheduled to be had within one year will throw up more complications and discontentment as many of the leaders of the present may not have the same status or power.





It is to the credit of Oli that he went out of the way to ensure that Indian PMs visit was a success. Nepal needs the support of both India and China for its economic development and this is being understood in Nepal by all sections of people. This is a good sign.
Oleophilic Materials Market to Reap Excessive Revenues by 2024

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Oleophilic Materials: IntroductionAn oleophilic material is an entity which exhibits a higher affinity for oil than other solvents. The non-polar nature and ability to form cluster-like structures called micelles are the characteristic properties of oleophilic materials. Oleophilic materials are ideally suited to be engineered in formulations of cleaners, detergents, metal plates in printers, separators, and skimmers.View Report Preview:Oleophilic Materials Market: SegmentationThe market for oleophilic materials can be segmented on the basis of raw material, application, function, and region. The market is subdivided on the basis of raw material into polypropylene, polyurethane, and aerogels. In terms of function, the market can be segmented into cleaning agents, separation agents, printing, and others. Oleophilic materials have historically been used in other applications such as skimmers to separate hydrocarbon oils and impurities. Based on application, the market for oleophilic materials can be segmented into oil recovery, detergents, coatings, and others.Based on region, the oleophilic materials market can be divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Most of the key players in the industry are located in the North American region. Among them, oil spillage recovery is the key focused area.Oleophilic Materials Market: DynamicsThe oleophilic materials market is in its incubation phase owing to global dynamics of low demand in terms of volume and low degree of market penetration by materials. Rapid increase in commissioning of crude oil producing operations in the Middle East in congregation to lower costs of manpower and availability of technology is driving the oleophilic materials market. The other historically dynamic North American and the Western European firms are also investing and commissioning their operations in previously untapped market further creating a demand for such materials. The industry has observed low overall growth in the last decade with increase in global oil and gas industries.Oil producing upstream companies and operators are also under pressure from governments and environmental activists to develop damage restraining and remediation protocols in case of oil spills. Recent oil spills have acted as catalysts to the industry with fines and lawsuits affecting the balance sheets of companies by billions of dollars.The application of oleophilic materials in combating damages from oil spills is likely to drive the market during the forecast period. However, absence of large-scale research and innovation over the years has hampered the oleophilic materials market. The recent decline in the prices of crude oil and further value addition in cost due to application of oleophilic materials in the operational regime is likely to hamper the market. Allocation of capital and resources in R&D is likely to increase market penetration and offer new opportunities to the oleophilic materials market in the near future.Oleophilic Materials Market: Key PlayersOleophilic materials has emerged as a niche, untapped segment of the chemical industry across the globe. Key players involved in the market include Miller Environmental Group, Seashell Technology LLC, and International Environmental Products.Request to view Sample Report:The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Vegetable Wax Market Research Report, Industry Analysis, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017-2024.

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The global vegetable wax market can be segmented on the basis of product type which includes the different types of vegetable wax. These waxes can be listed as bayberry, candelilla, carnauba, palm, castor, rice bran, soy, tallow tree, and others such as esparto, japan, and ouricury wax, etc. Bayberry wax is an aromatic product obtained from the surface of the fruit of bayberry and finds its uses in scented candles and other products where distinctive fragrance is desirable. Candelilla is a yellowish-brown, aromatic, brittle and hard wax derived from the leaves of small candelilla shrub. It finds its uses as a food additive for glazing, in cosmetic industry for lip balms and lotion bars, and works as a binder for chewing gums.Global Vegetable Wax Market size is set to witness a high growth during the forecast period owing to its extensive use in the cosmetic, food and processing industry. It is a naturally occurring substance and does not contain any toxins that may result in health hazards.Emphasis on human health and rising environmental concerns are the major drivers for the global vegetable wax market. Being organic in nature, the product is beneficial to human health as it helps in metabolism improvement, decreasing the rate of heart disease and breast cancer. In conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, a wax coating is done to prevent them from moisture loss and also to protect them from bruising during shipping. Wax coating also increases the shelf life of these perishable food products. Some of the non-organic products that are wax coated include oranges, lemons, limes, apples, potatoes, eggplant, bell pepper and cucumbers.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Based on the application, the vegetable wax market can be classified as inks, cosmetics, fruit surface coatings, polymer coatings, polishes, candles, and paper surface coatings to name some. In cosmetics, the product is widely used in the making of baby products, bath products, lipsticks, make up, fragrances, coloring and non-coloring hair products, nail and skin care products, personal cleanliness products and shaving products to name a few. Also, the product is used on a large scale for the preparation of candles that are scented with distinctive fragrances and are used for lighting & decoration in spas, shops, hotels, and other exotic places.Browse complete summary of this report @As per regions, Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region for the vegetable wax market due to increasing use of pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. India and China are the major suppliers in the vegetable wax market. In developed economies like North America and Europe, vegetable wax market demand is driven by expansions in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry owing to the rise in demand for natural cosmetics and pharmaceutical products & medicines.Make an Inquiry before buying @Key players operating in the vegetable wax market include Cargill Incorporated, BASF SE, Akzo Nobel, Koster Keunen, Kemie Industries, Dhariwal Corporation, Megha Group of Companies, Paragon Metachem, Triveni Chemicals, Unichem Polymers Pvt. Ltd., Excel Polymer Industries, Synergy Poly Additives Private Ltd., Petroleum Product Mfg. Society, Australian Wax Co, Kavya Impex, Katyani Exports, Delhi Wax Refinery, Waxoils Pvt Ltd, Shri Ram Sons Wax Pvt Ltd. and Chaitanya Solvex Private Limited to name some.About Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnologyContact UsArun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1 888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.com
Osteosarcoma Market 2018 Major Key Vendors - 3M (US), A-dec Inc. (US), Carestream Health (US) and Danaher (US) AG Forecast upto 2023

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Market ScenarioOsteosarcoma is a malignant tumor of bone in which there is a proliferation of osteoblasts. It is one the common type of cancer leading to the production of immature bones. The tumor is the mostly occurs in children and teens. It is more dominant in males than females. Intramedullary osteosarcoma, juxtacortical osteosarcoma, and extraskeletal osteosarcoma are three types of osteosarcomas, amongst which intramedullary osteosarcoma is the most prevalent.As per studies conducted by American Cancer Society, cases of osteosarcoma accounts for about 2% of childhood cancers, and make up a much smaller percentage of adult cancers.View Reports Sample @Rising prevalence of osteosarcoma among children, increasing demand for new treatment of rare cancers such as osteosarcoma are key the drivers for the growth of the osteosarcoma market across the globe. Furthermore, rising awareness accelerate the development of the market. concentration of key players in developed countries are now engaged in innovative product development and research for offering products and services also boost the growth of the market.Moreover, as per cancer research U.K, bone sarcoma rates increased by 22% in the last decade which is likely to impact positively on the growth of the market.However, high cost of current treatment methods, and unavailability of alternative methods for treatment of osteosarcoma may slow the market growth during the forecast period.According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (U.S.), patients with osteosarcoma typically hospitalized for about a week at a cost of USD 19,600 total, or USD 2,800 per day. This cost may increase in developing economies, which may result in low market growth.The global osteosarcoma market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.40% during the forecast period 2017-2023.SegmentationThe global osteosarcoma market is segmented on the basis of types, diagnosis, treatment, and end user.On the basis of the types, it is further segmented into intramedullary osteosarcoma, juxtacortical osteosarcoma, and extra-skeletal osteosarcoma.On the basis of the diagnosis, the market is segmented into biopsy, X-ray, MRI, CT Scan, bone scan, and others.On the basis of the treatment, the market is segmented into chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy, and others.On the basis of the end user, the market is segmented into hospitals & clinics, cancer research centers, and others.Regional AnalysisThe Americas dominates the global osteosarcoma market owing to the increasing prevalence of bone cancer, and increasing demand for technologically advanced devices for diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases. Additionally, availability of specialty healthcare diagnosis and treatment facilities, and strengthened healthcare system also influence the market growth. Key players in the market are focused on research and development activities for cancer.Europe is the second largest osteosarcoma market. The growth of the osteosarcoma market is attributed to the availability of funds for R&D in the field of oncology. In Europe, Germany is the largest market, While, France and U.K are the second and third largest markets in the Europe. The growth of the market in Germany is attributed to rising awareness about use of medical devices for diagnosis of bone cancer, and increasing focus on R&D activities. Moreover, flourishing growth of the medical device industry and emphasis on product differentiation also influence the growth of the market.Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing osteosarcoma market owing to more number of developing nations in this region. For instance, countries like India and china are encouraging healthcare sector, which will boost the market growth. Increasing patient population in developing countries is directly increasing the demand for treatment methods resulting in growth of the market. There are over 100 types of cancer, which have affected human. According to a survey carried out by Pfizer, in 2012, 6.7 million of cancer cases were registered in Asia Pacific region, which is likely to increase continuously. Additionally, according to the American Cancer Society, in 2015, 4.2 newly diagnosed invasive cancer cases were registered in China.The Middle East & Africa is expected to account for the least market share due to less availability of medical facilities and less development in the healthcare domain. However, countries like Qatar, Kuwait are focusing more on the healthcare domain and increasing medical facilities, which may boost the market growth in this region.Key Findings:On the basis of type, intramedullary osteosarcoma is the fastest growing market and is expected to reach USD 62.19 million by 2023 from USD 36.34 million in 2016 at a CAGR of 6.81% during the forecast period of 2017-2023.On the basis of diagnosis, biopsy is the fastest growing market, which is expected to reach USD 45.86 million by 2023 from USD 26.90 million in 2016, at a CAGR of 6.76% during the forecast period of 2017-2023.On the basis of application, synthetic biology is the fastest growing market, which is expected to reach USDRequest Full Report @Key PlayersSome of the key players in this market are Pfizer (U.S.), Novartis (U.S.), Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (U.S.), Hikma Pharmaceuticals (U.K), Baxter (U.S.), Advaxis Inc., Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (U.S.), and Inc. Isofol Medical AB (Sweden).About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Hemophilia Therapeutics Market Share and Growth Factors Impact Analysis 2016 - 2024

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Global Hemophilia Therapeutics Market: OverviewThe increasing prevalence of hemophilia is by far the leading factor driving the global hemophilia therapeutics market. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that hemophilia occurs in about one in 5,000 live births every year. The increasing focus on prophylactic treatment will be a shot in the arm for the market in the forthcoming years. The approach used in prophylactic treatment prevents spontaneous bleeding, improves the quality of life in terms of physical activities, and maintains the level of clotting.Request Report Brochure @The study conducted on the basis of available primary and secondary resources helps both existing and new players in the global hemophilia market in forming important business strategies. It presents detailed information about the development trends of the market. Market dynamics, regional information, key growth observations, and competitive landscape are included in the report.Global Hemophilia Therapeutics Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe clinical advancements in the field of diagnosis and increasing consumer healthcare expenditure are augmenting the global hemophilia therapeutics market. While increasing use of recombinant therapies is likely to appreciate the revenue generation in developed regions, the improving access to treatment and presence of a large pool of patients are contributing to the growth of the emerging market. Other factors driving the market in developing regions are improving healthcare infrastructure and expanding medical tourism.Furthermore, the growing popularity of gene therapy and the increasing approval of drugs for its treatment coupled with the presence of a large number of effective drugs in the pipeline are expected to augur well for the growth of the market in the near future. On the flip side, the influx of several new recombinant products is expected to lead to a rise in price pressure. This, along with the lack of awareness about hemophilia, is hampering the growth of the global hemophilia therapeutics market.Enquiry for discount on this report @Global Hemophilia Therapeutics Market: Regional OutlookThe regional markets analyzed in this research report are Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. North America and Europe are collectively estimated to command a large share in the market owing to the high awareness regarding hemophilia treatment and the presence of favorable healthcare reforms. These healthcare reforms help in reducing the cost of pharmaceutical drugs and improve the overall quality of healthcare. They also help in reducing the duration of hospital stay, thereby cutting down the overall medical expenses.Asia Pacific is likely to emerge as a promising market for hemophilia therapeutics during the forecast period. The growth of the region can be attributed to the flourishing medical tourism industry, increasing consumer spending power, rapidly developing healthcare sector, and the rising emphasis on wellbeing and healthy lifestyle.Companies Mentioned in the Report:While the majority of the companies in the global hemophilia therapeutics market are striving to improve recombinant factor replacement based on novel technologies and enhance their pipelines, some players are exploring totally different approaches to develop hemophilia drugs. Players are increasingly focusing on capitalizing immense potential present in emerging markets such as India and China to stay ahead in the competition. Some of the leading players in the market are Bayer AG, Baxter International Inc., Novo Nordisk A/S, Pfizer Inc., and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB.Request for the TOC of the Report @About UsTransparency Market Research is a next-generation market intelligence provider, offering fact-based solutions to business leaders, consultants, and strategy professionals.Our reports are single-point solutions for businesses to grow, evolve, and mature. Our real-time data collection methods along with ability to track more than one million high growth niche products are aligned with your aims. The detailed and proprietary statistical models used by our analysts offer insights for making right decision in the shortest span of time. For organizations that require specific but comprehensive information we offer customized solutions through adhoc reports. These requests are delivered with the perfect combination of right sense of fact-oriented problem solving methodologies and leveraging existing data repositories.TMR believes that unison of solutions for clients-specific problems with right methodology of research is the key to help enterprises reach right decision.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Analysis on Global Wearable Sensor Market Booming Trends and Forecast Assessment till 2020

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Wearable sensors are Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMs) based sensors which can sense and process the surrounding environment. Wearable sensors are embedded in wearable devices to monitor bodily activities which include blood pressure, body temperature and heart rate. The market is primarily driven due to the rising awareness of health and fitness, where Wearable Sensors play a major role. Moreover, the falling price of the components used to manufacture the wearable sensors is making the wearable devices affordable. In addition to this, the wearable sensors are also being used to monitor patients in the healthcare industry as it enables remote data access.Visit on the Below Link to Get a Sample of Report @The global wearable sensors market is expected to witness a significant growth during the forecast period. This is due to its increasing demand across various application sectors such as wearable technology for fitness, healthcare and security. The increase in demand of wearable technology is also driving the wearable sensors market. In addition, the growing market of smartphones and tablets is also enabling the integration of wearable devices with the smartphones. Presently, wrist wear segment holds the majority of the market share and is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period. The introduction of smart watches from companies like Samsung, Sony and Nike among others has given a boost to this market. Furthermore, the foot wear application market is also expected to grow rapidly during the forecast period.Adoption of high end technologies such as smart wearables is also creating new opportunities for the wearable sensors manufacturers globally. However, the case of security concerns such as important data being shared is acting as a restraint. The rising awareness and concern over health and fitness is also helping the market to grow. With the introduction of fitness band that can be worn and connected with smart phones to display the data is also supporting the growth of the market. Geographically, North America has the highest penetration for wearable sensors as they are the early adapters of newer technology. However, the Asia Pacific region is expected to show the highest rate due to the presence of developing nations like India and China.This market research study analyzes the bearing market on a global level and provides estimates in terms of revenue (USD million) from 2014 to 2020. It recognizes the drivers and restraints affecting the industry and analyzes their impact over the forecast period. Moreover, it identifies the significant opportunities for market growth in the coming years.The market is segmented on the basis of geography as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Rest of the World (RoW) and these have been estimated in terms of revenue (USD million). In addition, the report segments the market based on the product type, which include motion sensors, pressure sensors, temperature sensor, image sensors, position sensors, medical based sensors and others. Wearable motions sensors are most widely used in wearable technology. On the basis of application, the market is segmented by wrist wear, eye wear, foot wear, body wear and others. All these segments have also been estimated on the basis of geography in terms of revenue (USD million).For better understanding of the wearable sensors market, we have given a detailed analysis of the supply chain. A detailed Porters five forces analysis has been given for a better understanding of the intensity of the competition present in the market. Furthermore, the study comprises a market attractiveness analysis, where the applications are benchmarked based on their market scope, growth rate and general attractiveness.The report provides company market share analysis of various industry participants. The key players have also been profiled on the basis of company overview, financial overview, business strategies and the recent developments in the field of wearable sensors. Major market participants profiled in this report include STMicroelectronics, Texas Instrument, Freescale Semiconductor Inc. and InvenSense, among others.Explore Full Report Description with TOC @Wearable Sensors Market: By geographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the WorldWearable sensors Market: By product typeMotion sensorsPressure sensorsTemperature sensorsImage sensorsPosition sensorsMedical based sensorsOthersWearable sensors Market: By applicationWrist wearEye wearFoot wearBody wearOthersThe report provides a cross-sectional analysis of all the above segments with respect to the following regions:North AmericaEuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)Rest of the World (RoW)About Market Research Reports Search EngineMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
Ammonium Acetate Market Opportunities and Forecasts 2019

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Ammonium acetate is a white solid, derived from the reaction of acetic acid and ammonia. It is commercially available compound which is manufactured either by neutralizing acetic acid with ammonium carbonate or by the saturation of glacial acetic acid with dry ammonia gas. As the salt of a weak acid and base, ammonium acetate exhibits a number of distinctive properties.Request Report Brochure @It is usually consumed as a biodegradable de-icing agent, reacted with acetic acid, for the thermal decomposition of non-ionic products, as a source of ammonia for organic synthesis in the Borch reaction, and as a catalyst in the Knoevenagel condensation. It is also used for the removal of contaminants via diffusion in dialysis as a part of protein purification process. Ammonium acetate is significantly used for replacing cell buffers with non-volatile salts in the preparation of samples of mass spectrometry owing to its volatile nature at low pressures. Besides these applications, ammonium acetate is widely consumed in food additives as an acidity regulator, and in pharmaceuticals in medicines and drug preparation.The global market for ammonium acetate has been witnessing noticeable growth owing to growth of its application industries, such as food additives and pharmaceuticals. The demand for ammonium acetate is anticipated to rise on account of growing consumption of food and beverages coupled with increasing awareness regarding the use of functional food additives. Small, medium and large scale manufacturers of ammonium acetate are operating in the industry with different product and market focus. Key manufacturers have entered into several collaborations and agreements with other companies for the marketing of new products as well as garnering a larger share in the market. Being a functional chemical, ammonium acetate also has significant importance in the pharmaceutical industry. Emerging economies such as China widely consume ammonium acetate in pharmaceuticals including drug preparation, chemical medicine, and Chinese patent drug, which has grown rapidly over the years. Moreover, the government of China has raised concerns over pharmaceutical safety, leading to greater demand for high-grade ammonium acetate in the future.Read Report Overview @Various manufacturers are significantly investing for the development of the pharmaceutical industry on account of its tremendous growth potential. Private research institutions as well as major pharmaceutical companies are looking forward for alternate ways to strengthen their product pipeline. These factors have significantly accounted for the growth of the ammonium acetate market in the pharmaceutical industry.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Isobutene Market by Geographical Analysis and Forecast 2019

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Isobutene or 2-methylpropene is a colorless and volatile liquid and a downstream derivative of crude oil. It is produced during the fractionation process of refinery gasses and by means of catalytic cracking of methyl-t-butyl ether. Isobutene is an important chemical and is used in a variety of applications ranging from fuel additives and polymers to pharmaceuticals and agriculture industries. The annual global production of isobutene exceeds 10 million metric tons.Request Report Brochure @The primary driver for the isobutene market is the growing aerospace market as well as the growing demand for rubber from automotive market. Isobutene is the source of polyisobutene which is the precursor chemical for the production of fuel and lubricant additives. Isobutene is added to methanol to produce MTBE (Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether) and with ethanol to produce ETBE (Ethyl Tert-Butyl Ether) which are the main types of fuel additives in the market. Isobutene is added to isobutene to produce isooctane, which is a fuel additive used in the aviation fuel. It is extensively used in the manufacturing process of rubber used to produce tires and tubes for the automotive industry.Apart from these the chemical is used to manufacture fine chemicals, plastics and anti-oxidants which account for a substantial market demand for isobutene. The growth of the end use markets is expected to drive the market for isobutene. Evonik Industries recently increased the production capacity by three times in their manufacturing facility at Antwerp, Belgium in anticipation of growing demand of the chemical globally and in order to establish themselves as a leading producer of isobutene in Europe.Although isobutene finds application in a range of end use industries, it is susceptible to price fluctuations from source. As it is a downstream derivative of crude oil, the price volatility of crude oil directly affects the isobutene market. Moreover isobutene is highly regulated chemical owing to its toxic properties and stringent measures need to be followed to prevent leakage in the atmosphere. Bio based isobutene has gained acceptance and it is likely to grow at a fast pace, and gradually replace petroleum based isobutene. Global Bioenergies SA is a company which has made significant contributions towards developing bio alternative to the conventional process. The company has developed and patented a process to convert carbohydrates to isobutene through the process of fermentation. Global Bioenergies SA has recently set up their second isobutene manufacturing plant in Germany. With the global paradigm shift towards sustainable bio-based alternatives to fossil fuel, the technology is expected to catch up and reap long term benefits.Read Report Overview @North America accounts for the maximum demand of isobutene in the world followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. However the market growth prospects are the highest in Asia Pacific region, owing to the increasing demand from China. China is also one of the major manufacturers of isobutene in the world. Japan accounts for a substantial volume demand of isobutene. Although MTBE has been banned in few countries such as the U.S. and Japan, its demand is South America and Middle East has witnessed growth amidst concerns over air pollution and ground water contamination threats.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Dialysis Centers Market: Report Explored in Latest Research 2017  2025

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Dialysis Centers Market -OverviewAround 10% of the global population is affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) and over 2 million people suffer from end-stage renal disease (ESRD), which has to be treated by dialysis or kidney transplant. Health care spending on kidney in general and specifically on ESRD is on a rise. In 2014, overall Medicare spending on the treatment of ESRD was over US$ 32 Bn, while the National Health Service (NHS) spends around 3% of its budget on kidney failure services. The burden of kidney diseases is rising in developing countries as well, with nearly half a million patients in China undergoing dialysis (Source: National Kidney Foundation, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, NHS).Download PDF Brochure of Report:Rise in prevalence of ESRD is driven by increase in prevalence of diabetes and geriatric population. According to the International Diabetes Federation, globally, the number of adults with diabetes (diagnosed or undiagnosed) is projected to increase from 415 million in 2016 to 642 million by 2040, while people aged 60 years and above are expected to account for 17% of the global population by 2030, up from 12% presently (Source: WHO and International Diabetes Federation).Based on type of services, the global dialysis centers market can be classified into in-center dialysis, in-center nocturnal dialysis, home hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and other services such as disease management and emergency services. Home dialysis offers benefits such as better outcome and higher level of flexibility over in-center dialysis. However, global statistics indicate that over 85% of the patients prefer in-center dialysis even when health care professionals believe that home dialysis could be a better option for ESRD patients. Preference for home dialysis is lower in the U.S., with over 93% of patients choosing in-center hemodialysis.Request to View TOC of Report In terms of region, the global dialysis centers market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Presently, majority of the dialysis centers are located in developed economies such as the U.S., Germany, Japan, Italy, and the U.K. More than 2,200 of the 3,600 dialysis centers operated by Fresenius Medical Care are located in the U.S. In India, less than 30% of the ESRD patients undergo dialysis due to factors such as high cost and lack of access to dialysis centers. Moreover, developing economies such as India and China are expected to present significant opportunities in the market due to rise in affordability among the population and government initiatives to improve access to dialysis services. Nephroplus, the largest chain of dialysis centers in India, plans to use the US$ 15 Mn raised through Series-C funding in 2016 to expand from 100 centers to 500 centers in five years.Key players in the global dialysis centers market are Fresenius Kidney Care, DaVita, Inc., U.S. Renal Care, Inc., Diaverum, NephroCare (part of Fresenius Medical Care), B. Braun Melsungen AG, Yueda Group, NephroPlus, Apex Kidney Care, Deep Chand Dialysis Center, and Kaikoukai Healthcare Group, among others. The market is expected to continue to consolidate, as larger players such as Fresenius and DaVita acquire smaller companies to reduce price competition and increase market share. In May 2018, DaVita acquired ten dialysis centers of Purity Dialysis, a player based in the U.S.Request to View Discount About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Research Blog:
Point of Care (POC) Data Management Systems Market: Boosting the Healthcare Industry Worldwide 2017  2025

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Point of Care (POC) Data Management Systems Market -OverviewPoint of care testing (POCT) refers to the medical diagnostic tests performed at the site or near patients for immediate clinical decision making. Managing patients test data and recording it for regulatory compliance have been tedious tasks for medical professionals. Several companies have developed POC data management systems in order to help medical professionals overcome challenges while maintaining patient records. POC data management systems facilitate the recording, storage, and viewing of patients medical records from multiple point of care devices at central data management systems. Additionally, these provide a bidirectional interface to both hospitals and laboratory professionals on a single enterprise platform. POC data management systems offer features such as recording of the patients medical records, downloading of POCT device data, and integration of data with the hospital information system (HIS), and laboratory information system (LIS). POC data management systems have several advantages over manual data recording systems such as reduced paperwork, increased work efficiency of testing procedures, continuous monitoring of point of care devices, centralized operator management, and many others.Download PDF Brochure of Report:The global point of care (POC) data management systems market is primarily driven by increase in adoption of POC devices by hospitals and laboratories. Increase in geriatric population, high incidence of chronic as well as infectious diseases, and rise in awareness among people about preventive health care has led to high demand for point of care testing devices across the world. Rapidly improving health care facilities and infrastructure in developing countries, increase in number of hospitals and diagnostics laboratories, and surge in health care budgets are projected to fuel demand for point of care data management systems during the forecast period. Moreover, technological advancements in data management systems such as remote monitoring, data integration into central hospital information systems, wireless connectivity, process automation, ease of use, and web tutorials are factors augmenting demand for POC data management systems. However, high cost of POC data management systems and slow rate of adoption are likely to hamper the market in the near future.The global point of care data management systems market can be segmented based on component, mode of delivery, end-user, and region. In terms of component, the global market can be classified into hardware and software. The hardware segment is expected to account for a leading share of the global market. The software segment is estimated to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period. Based on mode of delivery, the global point of care data management systems market can be divided into web-based systems, cloud-based systems, and on-premises data management systems. The on-premises data management systems segment is anticipated to dominate the global market by 2025. In terms of end-user, the global point of care data management systems market can be categorized into hospitals and physicians clinics and diagnostics laboratories.Request to View TOC of Report Geographically, the global point of care data management systems market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America and Europe accounted for significant shares of the global market and are projected to gain market share by 2025. Large share of these regions is attributed to well-established health care facilities, high health care infrastructure budgets, increase in incidence of lifestyle diseases, and rise in demand for preventive health care. The POC data management systems market in Europe is estimated to expand at a significant pace during the forecast period. The market in Asia Pacific is expected expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period The POC data management systems markets in Latin America and Middle East & Africa is likely to expand at a moderate pace.Key players operating in the global point of care (POC) data management systems market include Siemens Healthineers, HemoCue AB, Abbott Laboratories, Radiometer Medical ApS, TELCOR, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Randox Laboratories Ltd., Esaote SpA, Hedera Biomedics srl, and Seaward Electronic Ltd.Request to View Discount About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Research Blog:
Urea Cycle Disorders Treatment Market: Latest Trends, Demand and Analysis 2017  2025

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Urea Cycle Disorders Treatment Market -OverviewUrea Cycle Disorder (UCD) is an assembly of rare genomic ailment which affects approximately 3,000  7000 people every year in the U.S. UCD is triggered by an alteration in genes, which causes insufficiency of any of the six vital enzymes essential for the urea cycle. Urea cycle includes a sequence of biochemical steps in which one of the waste products of protein metabolism (nitrogen) in blood is removed and progressively converted into a compound called urea. In end, urea in the blood is removed the body as urine. In UCD, nitrogen amasses in the form of ammonia, which is a highly poisonous substance for the body. It results into a precarious condition called hyperammonia (elevated levels of ammonia in blood). If the ammonia enters the brain cells via blood, it can lead to coma, irremediable brain damage, or in serious condition death.Download PDF Brochure of Report:According to reports published by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the anticipated incidence of UCD is 1 in 8500 births. Research findings suggest that many of the cases of UCD persist undiagnosed. In some of the cases, the newborn with UCD dies without a conclusive diagnosis. The precise global incidence of such cases is underrated or unknown. Some of the scientists in Europe suggest that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) cases might be due to an unknown inborn error of metabolism, for example, UCD. These scenarios are anticipated to drive the urea cycle disorders treatment market in the next few years. Additionally, research & development initiatives undertaken by research & academic institutes supported by pharmaceutical companies as well as governments are estimated to drive the global urea cycle disorders treatment market. Consequently, want of diagnosis & treatment options, unavailability of skilled personnel, and lack of reimbursement policies in developing countries are some of the factors hindering the growth of global urea cycle disorders treatment market. The UCD treatment market is less competitive as compared to other markets as UCD is a rare disorder and no conclusive research regarding it has been conducted so far. Government and pharmaceutical companies need to create awareness in the market and collaborative approaches should be undertaken.The global urea cycle disorders treatment market can be divided based on type of treatment, enzyme deficiency type, delivery channels, and region. On the basis of treatment type, the global urea cycle disorders treatment market can be classified into amino acid formulas, phenylbutyrate, sodium benzoate, and others. In terms of enzyme deficiency type, the global urea cycle disorders treatment market can be segregated into Carbamyl Phosphate Synthetase (CPS1), N-Acetylglutamate Synthetase (NAGS), Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC Deficiency), Argininosuccinic Acid Synthetase (AS), Argininosuccinate Lyase (AL or ASA Lyase), Arginase (AG).Request to View TOC of Report Based on delivery channel, the global urea cycle disorders treatment market can be segmented into hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, and online pharmacies.Geographically, the global urea cycle disorders treatment market can be bifurcated into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The urea cycle disorders treatment market in North America is projected to expand rapidly in the next few years owing to the well-developed health care system, appropriate reimbursement scenario, and acceptance of the latest techniques in the region. Following North America, the urea cycle disorders treatment market in Europe and Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand rapidly during the forecast period. Existence of well-established players, rise in investments in research and development by pharmaceutical giants, association of pharmaceutical and biotech companies with research institutes are some of drivers of the global urea cycle disorders treatment market.Key players operating in the urea cycle disorders treatment market include Horizon Pharma plc. Lucane Pharma, Recordati Rare Diseases Inc., and Synlogic.Request to View Discount About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Research Blog:
Regulators are beginning to teach robots who's the boss.

After spending billions of dollars on cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies, Europe's banks and insurers face tougher scrutiny of the tools they use to help root out fraud, check borrowers' creditworthiness and automate claims decisions. New European Union rules stress human oversight and consumer protection, which may hamper companies trying to build the tools of the future.

"Companies developing AI technologies will have to consider and embed the data protection issues into the design process," David Martin, senior legal officer at Brussels-based consumer advocate BEUC, said in an interview. "It's not something where they can just tick a box at the end."

The rules could present an obstacle to coders looking to design ever more sophisticated algorithms. That may handicap EU firms that are competing with rivals in the U.S. and Asia to develop new technologies, according to Nick Wallace, a Brussels-based senior policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation, a nonpartisan and nonprofit research institute.

"For an algorithmic model to be transparent to a human, even a human with a fairly good understanding of algorithms, it needs to be kept within a certain level of complexity," Wallace said. "The more abstractions you have, let alone the more data points, the harder it's going to be for any human being to sit down, read through all of it and scrutinize the decision."

Regulators worldwide are trying to catch up with the financial industry's rush to automate everything from trading desks to lending decisions and customer help-desks. The banking industry will invest $3.3 billion in AI and related technologies this year, making it the second-biggest spender after retail, research firm International Data Corporation estimates. Overall spending on the technologies will grow to $52.2 billion by 2021 from about $19 billion this year, according to IDC.

The EU's General Data Protection Regulation, scheduled to take effect on Saturday, generally requires firms to get consent from people when their personal data is used to fully automate certain types of decisions that have significant effects, such as whether to award a loan. Clients will have the right to demand a firm's human employee intervene and review a decision, and they will have the power to get details about an automated process to help guard against discriminatory practices.

"Major corporations recognize that this is a challenge and that privacy rights and data protection rights need to be given full consideration during the design and development of any kind of product or service," John Bowman, London-based senior principal at IBM Corp.'s Promontory Financial Group subsidiary, said in an interview.

As policymakers ironed out the details of the regulations over the past year, financial industry lobbies including the Association for Financial Markets in Europe and U.K. Finance pressed authorities to tread softly and to acknowledge ways the technologies can benefit consumers. In a 24-page letter to policymakers, the European Banking Federation said "profiling activities should not necessarily be perceived as having a negative impact on customers."

The law is being closely watched by the insurance industry, where four out of five executives say that AI systems will be used alongside human staffers within the next two years, consultant Accenture said in a report this year.

"Much more than just a technological tool, AI has grown to the point where it often has as much influence as the people putting it to use, both within and outside the company," Accenture executives said in the report.

The U.K. arm of Ageas, a Brussels-based insurer, is looking to speed up the handling of thousands of claims for car insurance by using AI software to review images of vehicle damage and help estimate a repair job. GDPR won't affect the current technology, and the insurer has included the law's requirements in its processes, an Ageas spokeswoman said.

Allianz, Europe's biggest insurer, uses data and machine-learning technologies in several areas of its insurance business. That includes automating what was once a paper-based and manual underwriting process for small- and medium-sized businesses.

Automatic decision-making is typically based either on consent or as a condition for entering a contract, according to Philipp Raether, chief privacy officer at Munich-based Allianz Group.

"In scenarios where profiling is necessary for entering into a contract, this will be made transparent to the customer in an understandable way," Raether said.
How's your retirement plan holding up? If you are a woman, you're probably having more difficulty with retirement plans than your male counterparts.

Despite advances, women still face lower average salaries  82% of the average man's salary, according to the Pew Research Center. Fewer working years on average, often due to time off for child care or family responsibilities, adds to the difficulty of earning sufficient income for retirement savings.

The recent edition of the Transamerica Retirement Survey of American Workers reflects the continuing retirement challenges that women face, with eighteen findings that can be sorted into five major categories.

1. Lack of Confidence  Only 12% of women reported being "very confident" that a comfortable retirement is in their future. Perhaps that's because more than four out of five women don't expect Social Security benefits to be available for them when they decide to retire.

2. Working Beyond Retirement  Over half of the women surveyed by Transamerica expect to be working beyond age 65. While 53% of women say they intend to retire beyond age 65 or never retire at all, 54% expect to work after retirement. Most of those women (43%) plan to work part-time, while the remaining 11% plan to work full-time.

The reason for working into retirement or never retiring at all may be financial, since 64% of women surveyed have no alternative plan for income if they have to retire sooner than expected.

Are women taking the proper steps to make a longer career feasible? Job-related factors are not promising. Only 46% of women stay current with their job skills, and only 57% are focused on doing a good job in their current role  effectively reducing their value as retirement nears.

3. Savings Concerns  More women place a priority on paying down debt (68%) than on retirement savings (51%)  but at least they are saving. Seventy-three percent of women contribute to a retirement program, and started saving for retirement at a median age of 27. The median retirement account balance is estimated at $42,000  not as grim as it sounds since this is averaged across age groups.

While 30% of women expect to depend on Social Security, 45% will be drawing from traditional retirement programs [401(k), IRA, etc.] or other separate savings accounts.

The good news  almost two-thirds of working women are offered employee-funded retirement plans, and 77% of those women participate in the programs. The median contribution is 7% of their salary. The bad news  28% of women work in part-time positions where employee-funded retirement plans are less likely to be offered.

Women's emergency savings accounts contain a median of $2,000  which doesn't cover much of an emergency these days.

4. Health  While 63% of women report keeping healthy, only 26% of women consider their long-term health when making lifestyle choices. Are women expecting their good health to continue into their retirement years?

5. Financial Knowledge/Education  Women expect to need $500,000 in retirement  but 55% admit that's a guess. Less than half (47%) of female baby boomers know "a great deal" or "quite a bit" about Social Security benefits  a low percentage given that boomer women are at or near retirement now. Only 28% of women know about the Saver's Tax Credit, a useful tool for lower-income women. Let the free Retirement Planner by MoneyTips help you calculate when you can retire without jeopardizing your lifestyle.

Professionals can fill the education gap  but only one-third of women use professional financial assistance in their retirement plans.

America's women must be proactive with retirement plans. You've spent a lot of time taking care of others. Now it's time to take care of yourself.

Photo iStockphoto.com/PeopleImages
Ian Kullgren, a graduate of H.H. Dow High School who is currently a reporter with POLITICO, is one of 13 journalism students and early-career journalists chosen for the Journalism Program of the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics to participate in a two-week program in Germany and Poland this summer, which uses the conduct of reporters and other media professionals in Nazi-occupied Europe as a way to reflect on contemporary journalism ethics.

FASPE provides an historical lens to engage graduate students in professional schools as well as early-stage practitioners in five fields (business, journalism, law, medicine and seminary) in an intensive course of study focused on contemporary ethical issues in their professions.
"This is the change we need!"

"What an amazing event!"

"Wonderful presentation -- very open to questions."

These were just a few of the comments after gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer's visit with Women of Michigan Action Network. Earlier in May, Whitmer spent over an hour with our group during a light-hearted and informative presentation. She followed with a question and answer session.

Gretchen Whitmer explained that she is running for governor as:

 A candidate concerned about health care in our state.

 A mom who cares about her children's schools and therefore all schools in the state.

 A former prosecutor, someone who has seen the inherent injustice baked into our criminal system.

 A woman concerned with women's health issues.

 A former educator who knows that one thing we can do on behalf of our people is to give everyone a solid education.

 A former Senate Democratic leader who knows how to get things done.

 Someone who listens, someone who grew up in Michigan, someone who loves our state. Someone who believes that our allegiance has to be with Michigan and its people.

 A candidate with 14 years of legislative experience.

When asked about protecting our water, her animated response was to the point. "Water defines our borders and our psyches in this state. Michigan is home to 21 percent of the world's fresh water. It is time for us to act like the Great Lake State and challenge the many threats to our water. We must be better stewards of our lakes."

She also spoke of the "blue wave." But this particular wave has nothing to do with our waters. For some voters, it is the expectation of a Democratic sweep in the mid-term elections. Whitmer warns that we cannot rely on a "wave," as we have to do the work. "We have to fuel the wave by door knocking, phone calling and by our contributions." There will be no wave without voter participation.

The Democratic primaries for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, Secretary of State, and Michigan Legislature will take place Aug. 7. Midterm elections will take place Nov. 6. We have learned that elections have consequences. Let your voice be heard.
Welcome to Meet a Competitive House Race, a Paste feature in which we highlightyou guessed ita competitive 2018 House race from somewhere in America. Between now and election day, well hopefully hit them all. You can see a full list of other House races weve profiled at the bottom of this page.

Whats the deal with todays district? Where is it?

Today, we look into Californias 10th Congressional District, located near the center of the state and encompassing Stanislaus County and portions of San Joaquin County. Here youll find small cities like Oakdale (cowboy capital of the world!) and Manteca.

Who lives there? How do they vote?

The district has a slight and shrinking white plurality at 46 percent, followed by 43 percent Hispanic or Latino (including a healthy immigrant population), and only 3 percent black or African American. Despite California being a traditionally blue state, the 10th district has voted a Republican Representative, Jeff Denham, into office in the past two elections. Before Denham, democrats John Garamendi and Ellen Tauscher held the seat since 1997. The district has a pattern in its house representative history of switching back and forth between Democrats and Republicans.

Is Trump going to screw the Republican?

Definitely. No one fights Trump on immigration reform and remains in office to tell the tale.

Give me some more background

Since Trumps election, Denham has been fighting with the partys leaders for his version of immigration reform, which allows people who entered the country illegally as children to have the option to become a citizen if they serve in the U.S. military. Denham crafted a bill which failed on May 22. Trump isnt one to keep people around who disagree with his ideas on immigration, one of the main platforms of his 2016 campaign.

Whats up with the Republican(s)?

Denham has been the Representative for California since Jan. 3, 2013. According to Ballotpedia), Denham should have lost in the 2016 election. He won, by only 3.4 percent, despite Hilary Clinton beating Donald Trump in the same district.

So far, Denham has raised the most campaign contributions at $2,657,555. He is a Hawthorne, Calif. native who served in the U.S. Air Force and the California State Senate before his seven years in the House. According to his website, Denhams platform includes representing long-term interests in the Valleys agricultural community, creating a solution to the struggle over water storage and transport, improving infrastructure, and fighting for protection and benefits for veterans.

During his time in office, Denham has voted in support of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection (pro-life) Act, No Sanctuary for Criminals (immigration reform) Act, American Health Care Act (reforming Obamacare) and so on. He has consistently voted in favor of everything Trump wants, with his main slip-up being his failed immigration bill. Capitol Weekly publishes a weekly scorecard based on how each state legislature votes so as to determine their political leanings. On the score card, the liberal score is 0 and the conservative score is 100. Denham is currently scored as a 17.

Whats up with the Democrat(s)?

Michael Eggman is challenging Denham for the third time after losing by only three points in the 2016 election. He has raised the least amount of campaign contributions with just $183,464. Eggman is a working-class Turlock native who served as the manager of his familys almond farm and apiary, as well as an employee of a bank and heath insurance company. According to his website, his platform includes affordable healthcare, creating a clean DREAM Act to tackle immigration issues, standing up for womens rights, supporting small businesses with a fair tax code, creating jobs and protecting Social Security and Medicare.

Josh Harder is also a Democrat worth discussing, as he has recently been included among the top candidates. In the midst of the conflict between Eggman and Denham, who have gone head-to-head in the past two elections, Harder is an unexpected but serious challenger. Its Harders first time running for office and so far he has raised $1,277,408 in campaign contributions. He is a Harvard graduate who worked for Bessemer Venture Partners and the Boston Consulting Group, as well as working with nonprofit organizations such as the Gates Foundation.

According to his website, Harders platform includes fighting for Medicare for all Americans, encouraging fair and humane immigration reform including relief for Dreamers, creating jobs for the Valley, building a sustainable water future for the Central Valley, ending Citizens United and instituting electoral reform, defending womens rights and access to healthcare, creating quality public schools, protecting the environment and reducing gun violence.

What do the polls say?

Incumbent Denham is being challenged by seven opponents in the June 5 primary. This race has been declared a toss-up. The polls show Denham ahead of both Eggman and Harder, but reveal Eggman as the only candidate able to defeat Denham in a head-to-head. As of now, the polls predict Denham winning by another narrow margin at 45 percent over Eggman with 41 percent. If the top-two primary (more on that below) is between Harder and Denham, they show Denham winning with 48 percent over Harders 37 percent.

Whats weird about the district?

Californias primary voting system places all candidates, of both parties, on the same ballot. Once the votes are counted, the top two candidates advance into the general election regardless of party affiliation. This system is known as a top-two primary system, and it creates the possibility of a divided field sending two candidates of the same party onto the general election.

Give me a prediction

Due to the probable lack of support from Trump after Denhams failed immigration bill, and the small margin in the polls between Denham and Eggman, we will go with Eggman on this one, hoping the third times the charm.

Past Races

Nebraska 2nd: Don Bacon vs. Brad Ashford or Kara Eastman

California 48th: Dana Rohrabacher, vs. some Democrat, eventually

Florida 26th: Carlos Curbelo vs. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

Colorado 6th: Mike Coffman vs. Jason Crow

Washington 8th: Dino Rossi vs. too many infighting Dems

Iowa 1st: Rod Blum vs. Probably Abby Finkenauer
For Subscribers Get spooked at one of Northern Michigan's haunted attractions

This year a slew of haunted attractions have taken over Northern Michigan with everything from haunted trails to clowns, ghosts and chainsaws.
Trails like this, in Aosta, Italy, are worth a vacation day or three.

Flying is easy with a nice bike bag but you still risk your bike being damaged or lost...and likely $150 each way in baggage fees. #Vanlife is all the rage, and pretty awesome. Borrowing a van is good too, just make sure you return Etta Lou clean, oil changed, and full of fuel.

There's still the good 'ol fashioned road trip in a car that may or may not make it without a mechanical, but there are other less stressful options. You could fly with your bike in style thanks to a host of well made travel cases, or, fly without a bike and rent a near brand new steed from a local shop. Search the forums and Pinterest if you want to get in on #vanlife and build out your own perfect road trip machine, or, just rent a full size RV online just about anywhere in the world. Or you could try hitchhiking, which comes with some added risk, but a near guarantee of a good story.



Once you're at a destination, options for getting out are endless as well. You can choose your own path and explore singletrack that's been mapped out by riders before you, hire a guide, buy a lift ticket, get a shuttle, charter a helicopter...or a float plane to get you out into the backcountry. No matter your desire, it's as easy as ever to get out and have a good time on the bike in a new or favorite spot close to or far away from home.





The start of my first summer riding trip with good friends Steven and Scott fresh out of high school some years back. No GPS, Trailforks, hashtags, or Instagram but we had bikes, a paper map, a Chevy Tahoe full of camping gear, and two months of junk food from Costco.

Where will your mountain bike vacation take you this year? British Columbia (Whistler, North Shore, etc...)

Spain

Italy

France

Switzerland

Germany

The United Kingdom

New Zealand

Australia

South America

Canadia Rockies

Quebec

U.S. Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon)

U.S. Western States (Colorado, Utah, Arizona)

U.S. Northeast (Vermont, Maine, NY, NJ, etc.)

U.S. Southeast (North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, etc.)

South Africa

Iceland

I'm not going anywhere - the best trails are in my backyard.

No vacation for me this year, but hopefully someday.

Other Responses: 6897 Faves: 0 Comments: 9

What's your bike situation? Flying with

Driving with

Shipping

Renting

Borrowing from a friend (you better replace your buddy's brake pads and wash it) Responses: 4342 Faves: 0 Comments: 0

Where are you staying? Who knows? It'll work out somehow...

In the car / van

Hotel

Hostel

With friends

Camping

AirBnB or similar

Other Responses: 4342 Faves: 0 Comments: 0

With snow lines climbing ever higher in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer riding season is finally upon us. While some have traveled during the winter, seeking out warmer trails in drier destinations, others have hunkered down, working away to finish a semester at school, build up vacation time at work, or fasting...all to save up for the highly anticipated summer riding trip.Barely over a decade ago, unless you were a professional athlete or somehow affiliated with the bike industry, it seemed that the most common road trip in North America either involved heading to the Utah desert, or up to British Colombia to ride Whistler and the North Shore. The trails in both diverse locations were the top in the world, and the most common way of getting there was loading your buddies in the car, packing it full of bikes, and scraping together gas funds while living off of ramen, fast food, and whatever else you could find.Times are a changing. Every year, the number of destinations and locales with quality trail systems seems to grow - there's even singletrack worth riding in Kansas, of all places. Along with it, mountain bikers' enthusiasm for exploring new terrain is constantly stoked with a seemingly endless supply of media promoting those places. Whether it's a quick edit on Movies for your Monday, a social media post from a pro rider, an advertisement from a region's tourism board, or a photo montage highlighting an epic trip, it seems that there's an endless supply of bucket-list worthy destinations.The desert and British Columbia are both still at the top of the list for many people, myself included, but options for riding destinations have grown. With mountain biking becoming a little more mainstream and consisting of a wider demographic than your average dirtbag, the ways to get there seem to have multiplied as well. Depending where you want to go or how you want to get there, if you can dream it, you can make it happen.So... let's hear it. Where are you stoked to go ride to this summer? How are you going to get there? Are you bringing your bike with you? Shipping it? Flying it? Renting? Where will you stay?What's on your summer bucket list?
When Kandinsky Effect saxophonist Warren Walker eventually settled in Paris, France, he struck up a friendship with guitarist Federico Casagrande. Between various projects, the two decided to run an experiment. Walker reached out to bassist Sam Minaie and drummer Caleb Dolister (the Kandinsky Effect) back in the States, seeing if they were interested in tagging along. The four of them eventually convened in a studio up in the freezing cold of Chamonix, France, giving themselves one week to see what they could do. They managed to make an entire album made up of modern sounds pulled from the jazz, post-rock, and slightly ambient genres. They named themselves oddAtlas and their self-titled debut finally sees the light of day after a year-and-a-half wait.

Those who have followed the Kandinsky Effect for the last ten years or so will have a pretty good idea of whats in store for them. In his other band, which is a trio, Walker relies on a little bit of electronic manipulation to his saxophone to explore his options. In oddAtlas, he is one of two lead instruments. Casagrande and his electric guitar open up the texture considerably, switching between leads that flow with Walker and expansive chords to provide background. What Dolister and Minaie provide is purely in the spirit of whats going on. Its obvious that these guys dont have any strict musical genre on the brain as they build the rhythms that drive each track.



<a href=<a href= http:= oddatlas.bandcamp.com= album= oddatlas= target=_blank>http://oddatlas.bandcamp.com/album/oddatlas</a>>OddAtlas by OddAtlas



<a href=<a href= http:= oddatlas.bandcamp.com= album= oddatlas= target=_blank>http://oddatlas.bandcamp.com/album/oddatlas</a>>OddAtlas by OddAtlas



High points? Well, each track feels like it was carved out from the same rock. That isnt to say that the songs all sound the same, just that they are all of one mind (that and they were composed within a week). The melody line to Sole could come from a bluesy busker on the street, even if the rest of the band is doing something a great deal more intricate. Dolisters shuffle under Crooked is a welcome change as Walker and Casagrande pursue their deliberately-paced melody together, the latter adding a delightfully arpeggiated solo.

The oddAtlas answer to a funky beat can be found on Creepy Accordion, though Dolister and Minaie cant help but tear little holes in the pocket from time to time. Wooden Box has its deranged saxophone effects and deLappe has its skewed guitar figure. The Guardian seems to combine a little bit of everything mentioned before (and a little more) in just over six minutes. Perhaps The Guardian is the high point after all.

But you shouldnt just take my word for it. An album like oddAtlas is ripe for a deep listening, waiting for all of you to select a favorite track. Or you can just accept the whole package, hook, line & sinker. Either way, its a unique achievement that can stand alongside Kandinsky Effects finest albums.
In January 49BC Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon river with the 13thLegion. At this point in his career, Caesar was a revered warrior (particularly owing to his conquests in Gaul), a famed proconsul and governor over a huge swath of land running from southern Gaul to Illyricum (on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea), a member of the First Triumvirate (an informal but formidable power-sharing conspiracy with Pompey and Crassus), and a cult of personality wildly popular with soldiers and the common people of Rome but held with great suspicion by the senators and aristocracy. His term as governor having come to an end, Caesar was concerned with maintaining some hold on the power he had attained.

A proconsul was usually a former consul, as was the case with Caesar, that has power over a region outside of Rome itself. Thus, he had the authority to lead an army and conduct war. Typically, a proconsul held the position for a year. Caesar was granted five years and then was given another unprecedented five-year extension. Furthermore, a proconsul is immune from prosecution. Caesar had used the prior decade to amass quite a large territory for Rome and he didnt want to lose the prestige he had won to an opponent. More to the point, he had conducted these wars without the authority of the Senate and thus was subject to prosecution the moment he lost immunity and became a private citizen again. He sought either an extension of his governorship or permission to run for consulship despite the fact that he was not present in the city.

By this point, Crassus was dead and Caesars alliance with Pompey had soured considerably; Pompey was in charge at Rome. Because the political situation had fallen into such a distressed state, Pompey was appointed sole consul; usually there were two consuls elected for a one-year joint term but in times of crisis Roman law permitted a temporary dictatorship. Pompey and Caesar were caught in a standoff. Pompey insisted that Caesar disband his army and the Senate refused to allow Caesar to run for consul in absentia. As far as Caesar was concerned (and there were senators and others in support of this point of view), his army served as a necessary counterpoise to Pompey and his army; either they should both dismiss their forces or neither should. Pompey attempted to increase his forces, only to face a general reluctance on the part of the populace.

It was illegal to bring an army into Rome. By crossing the Rubicon with the 13thLegion, Caesar knew he was, in effect, declaring civil war. He had the support of his army and a considerable portion of the populace, but this was not a step to be taken lightly. By all accounts, he temporized. The Greek biographer Plutarch (Lucius Plutarchus) claimed, in his book on Caesar from Parallel Lives, that Caesar was unsure of himself and how posterity would view his next move. He changed his mind continuously, consulted friends, altered his plan of attack, despaired of the possible consequences of his actions, and then threw himself and his army across the river. In his book on Pompeytranslated alongside the books on Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, and Antony by Pamela Mensch in newly released The Age of Caesar: Five Roman LivesPlutarch put the matter more concisely and more poetically:

And when he had reached the banks of the Rubicon, a river that was the boundary of his allotted province, he stood in silence and hesitated a little, reflecting on the magnitude of the adventure he was undertaking. Then, like men who hurl themselves from some cliff into a vast abyss, he shut the eyes of reason, averting them from the thought of danger; and merely calling out in Greek to those near him, Let the die be cast, he led his army across the river (72).

As is often the case in Plutarchs writing, a lot is going on here within the interstices of these seemingly simple assertions.

Destiny and man; the force of political movements and individual choice; the macrocosmic impersonal tendencies of history and the microcosmic moment-to-moment decision making of the individual. On the one hand, as Plutarch makes utterly clear in both of his accounts, the decisive moment at the Rubicon was actually the result of a long stream of events that gradually eroded the republican institutions of Rome and prepared the way for Imperial Rome and the succession of dictators. The Marian reforms that created a standing army, the prolonged and vicious dictatorship of Sulla, and the First Triumvirate all foretold the collapse of Roman government as it had been established. The mere expansion of Roman holdings, the vast territories containing various peoples with their differing languages and customs, had outstripped the Republics ability to govern; the foundation was crumbling and something was going to have to take its place; all things at that time pointed toward autocratic rule as the most feasible solution despite the obvious distaste for dictatorship among the members of the Senate.

On the other hand, the decision of what to do in that moment, of whether or not to proceed with what was essentially a coup detat, fell to a single man, unsure of what that decision would bring, and how it would be understood. Something of this tension between the overriding forces of history and the moment of personal decision can be felt in this brief excerpt. Caesar is faced with the sublime grandeur, the incomprehensible magnitude of that frozen instant when he found himself perched on what Plutarch so aptly describes as a precipice atop an abyss. Notice that ultimately the decision is made through the abnegation (and not as a consequence) of reason. It is as though the choice, in some larger sense, was already made and Caesar simply had to abandon himself to it.

Even the famous line that Caesar quotes from the Greek playwright Menander raises the question of agency within this historical moment. Plutarch claims that Caesar uttered the phrase in the original Greek ( ), which will be a disappointment to all devotees of Latin who, following Suetoniuss account, memorized it as alea iacta est. The difference matters. The Latin is best translated as The die is cast or The die has been cast. It is in the passive voice, suggesting that Caesar has no choice to make here, the matter is out of his hands; events are under way regardless of Caesars volition and the force of history trumps the desires of the individual. The Greek has a different translation (Let the die be cast) and therefore a different set of implications. Here it may still be the case that history marches forth of its own accord but Caesar acquiesces, rather than resists, and embraces his fate. The distinction may seem minimal and yet it strongly impacts how one is to understand this moment of decision.

In neither case does Caesar posit himself as the moving force behind the action but in the Greek his will is not left out of account altogether. He endorses the inevitability of the fall of the Roman Republic and the coming into being of a new order. While Imperial Rome was brought about by forces far exceeding the power and volition of Caesar, his decision to acquiesce was still momentous. In one way of looking at the world, the sort of vision endorsedI would argueby Plutarch, our acquiescence to the call of history and of the mysterious inborn qualities of the self are precisely what constitute our most defining decisions. This is far from being a platitudinous adjuration to Be yourself. For Plutarch, I contend, life and the course of history insist that we face up to who we are and this is as harrowing as it is liberating; it is the source of our destruction as much as it is the springboard for our accomplishments.

As James Romm indicates in his Preface to The Age of Caesar, this tension between man and destiny is precisely the one Plutarch exploited in his distinction between history proper and his Lives. As Plutarch wrote in his introduction to his Life of Alexander:

[I]t is not histories I am writing, but lives; and the most glorious deeds do not always reveal the workings of virtue or vice. Frequently, a small thinga phrase or a flash of witgives more insight into a mans character than battles where tens of thousands die, or vast arrays of troops, or sieges of cities. Accordingly, just as painters derive their likenesses from a subjects face and the expression of his eyes, where character shows itself, and attach little importance to other parts of the body, so must I be allowed to give more attention to the manifestations of a mans soul, and thereby mold an image of his life. (xvii)

Plutarch holds then that history proper addresses events in the sense of the march of history, that seemingly uncheckable tide of development that gives rise to the creation, transformation, and decay of states and civilizations. History investigates the glorious deeds, those outsized moments after which nothing remains the same, the moments that define eras and the concrete situations of peoples. This is the realm of statistics and historical trends. It is less concerned with virtue or vice and more concerned with what happened. The history proper concerns itself with establishing fact and charting the progress of civilizations and governments.

On the other hand, there is the life and this is Plutarchs chosen subject. The life (or biography), for Plutarch, is an ethical venture. It is designed to peer behind the curtain of history toward the ethical core of the Self and its intentions, its hopes and dreams, its potentialities and failings. For Plutarch, intentions matter even when they do not manifest themselves in concrete material events. Facts are brutish and in a very real sense meaningless. They only take on meaning when they are interpreted by a meaning-creating Self; History (in Plutarchs conception) is a meaningless structure upon which meaning is constructed by those who live through it. Living (and the life or biography that charts that activity) is thus an inherently ethical concern that gives rise to and depends upon meaning. Indeed, Plutarch intended his work (and apparently employed his work) as a model for learning right behavior through the careful assessment of the virtuous and vicious in his subjectsand nearly none of them are depicted as predominantly virtuous or vicious (with some possible exceptionsfor example, Plutarch has little sympathy for Antony).

Plutarch excavates that meaning in the seemingly inconsequential: the flash of wit and the turn of phrase as manifestations of the mortal soul. In Plutarchs portrayal of the Age of Caesar, the Roman citizens themselves were ever alert to the slightest indications of a persons inner character as a means of assessing his trustworthiness and his potential as a leader. A common invective in this period, apparently, was to suggest that a man scratched his head with one finger (see p. 58, where Clodius accuses Pompey of this fault; it recurs in most of the lives collected here). This was supposed to be a sign of effeminacy and dissolution. So, in this seemingly most inconsequential of behaviors the inner secrets of a mans soul and his capacity for leadership are revealed.

And yet, for Plutarch the Self is not radically dissevered from the event. Indeed, personalitythat is, the Selfis a kind of event. Events are disruptive; they intercede within the expected flow of the quotidian. An event, having occurred, alters the landscape of the normative. The event is the moment that signals that nothing is or can ever be as it once was. Crossing the Rubicon was an event in this strong sense. It was the irreversible step into the unforeseen. It was an act that served not only as a declaration of war but also served as a marker of the erosion of the old way of doing things; it designated the fall of the Republic and the rise of autocracy. Unless one believes in fate, it was not a given that Caesar would triumph. Ptolemy could have been victorious. But in either case, the Roman Republic was doomeda dictatorship was inevitable with the collapse of the Senates ability to persuade its military commanders to relinquish their armies when approaching Rome.

That moment (the crossing of the Rubicon)Plutarch seems to suggestwas founded on a different manner of event: the advent of Caesar and the force of his personality. We tend to think that our character is not in itself within the category of the deed. We may concede that our deeds derive from our character but modern thought generally holds deeds and character to be ontologically distinct. For Plutarch, things appear to be a bit more complicated. It is true, of course, that Plutarch understands and accepts the distinction. After all, that distinction is the very basis of his differentiation between history proper and the life. And yet, character in Plutarch shares important characteristics with the event. Character is an intercession within the world as it was. If a character is forceful enough (and if it wasnt, Plutarch was hardly likely to devote a Life to it) then it too marks the moment of irreversible change. With the advent of a Caesar, a Cicero, or a Brutus, nothing could remain as it was.

This sets up a crucial dialectic between action and the Self in Plutarch. The Self is more than its actions but action is our best way of seeing the Self-hood of others. The most revelatory actions, however, are not the great deedsthose are too epochal, and involve too many conflicting causal factors, including too many personalities to reveal much about any individual character. The Self is revealed through the small behaviors, casual gestures, unspoken reticence, the turn of phrase. The Self may be revealed by what one doesnt do as much as what one does. Indeed, character can often contravene ones better (rational) judgement: For a feeling of arrogance, coming over Pompey in the course of the great public rejoicing, overrode calculations grounded upon facts (69). Pompey, in Plutarchs account, often found himself at a crossroads between what he understood strategically as the best decision and how he wanted to be seen by others. Unwilling to disappoint his friends by using his own judgment, Pompey made a series of mistakes in his efforts against Caesar that directly contributed to his downfall (80).

Thus, we start to see in Plutarch that the Self is a reservoir of potentialities not fully under our control. This is why, so often in these accounts, the figures rational self-interest comes into conflict with his vision of his ideal social Self. The Self, in Plutarch, is not the result of rational calculation; we do not create our Selves although we cultivate and develop them. The Self recedes from our grasp into an infinity of possibilities. We may chart the probabilities of a certain character behaving in a certain way, and yet the Self can always intervene to surprise us; there is always the possibility of the historical swerveunexpected, unpredictable, cataclysmic. The awesome power of the Self and its unbridled potential for changing the course of history is major component of the theater of life. Plutarch, for instance, depicts a group of people witnessing the crucial battle between Pompey and Caesar:

But a few of the noblest Romans, and some Greeks who were present without taking part in the battle, seeing that the crisis was imminent, considered to what pass greed and contentiousness had brought the empire. Kindred arms and fraternal ranks drawn up under the same standards, the great manliness and strength of a single city now turning against itself, showed how blind and how mad a thing human nature is when possessed by passion. (83)

Notice that detachment from the event is necessary if one is to adequately grasp the meaning of the historical moment, the causal force of the Self, and the vicissitudes of human nature. These observers, perhaps because they do not participate, are the noblest of the Romans. They are the ones that know, that understand. The pageant of war laid out before them, they realize the futility of it all. This passage nicely brings together Plutarchs concern for the event and the Self. The crisis is imminent, it is not to be denied or waylaid. The great force of the city is now turned against itself in civil war; order dissipates into chaos. At the center of it all, in some incalculable form of causality, is the mad, passionate Self, vying for control, following out the mysterious precepts of its being, unchecked by reason, an expression of some unforeseen but palpable force.

Plutarch posits a confrontation of the Self and event. A person cant control the event; it arises from unseen historical forces that far exceed the power of any given individual. The event impedes upon humanity in the manner of fateineluctable and irreversible, the impersonal event establishes a new era, a new social organization, a new manner of thinking. And yet, within those events people act. Those acts are partly rational (dictated by a careful sifting of opinion and fact) and partly something else, something harder to discern that Plutarch seems to consider the hidden reservoir of the Self. In this sense, the Self too is a kind of fate. This is perhaps most touchingly conveyed in Plutarchs account of Brutus. Brutus is almost too honest and too selfless in Plutarchs narrative. It is the fate of his personality that forces Brutus to succumb to the savagery of the event of Caesars murder. Plutarch never endorses the act but Brutus is portrayed as a victim of his own character rather than a villain.

There is a troubling pre-Freudian vision at work in Plutarch. Within each of us lurks a deeper Self to which we only have partial access. It may or may not be activated in its more extreme potentialities by the events of our historical era. That Self may coerce us to behave in a manner that contradicts our better judgment. And yet, to ignore the Self, to resist its blandishments, is not possible. We are forced to wrestle continually with this unknowable force that is ourselves. As was the case with Caesar standing at the edge of the Rubicon, Plutarch suggests, often our only choice when facing the Self is to abnegate, to fall in with the fate that we always already were.
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Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor

Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
CLEMSON  As the three Democratic candidates for South Carolina governor debated a host of major policy issues Thursday night, they dove into the details of their opponents' records and previous statements.

Here's a look at the validity behind some of their key disputes:

NRA

As he has repeatedly done during the campaign, Charleston businessman Phil Noble criticized state Rep. James Smith of Columbia for his previously positive ratings from the National Rifle Association.

Noble accurately said Smith received positive ratings and endorsements from the NRA several times.

But Smith pushed back by noting that Moms Demand Action, one of the country's most prominent groups pushing for gun control measures, has approved of Smith as a gun sense candidate. He said he never sought positive legislative ratings from the NRA and doesn't know how they are determined.

Noble went on to claim that Moms Demand endorsed him "long before" they endorsed Smith. That is not true. The group offered the gun sense distinction to Smith in April and Noble in May.

Firing teachers

Marguerite Willis accused Noble of wanting to fire a third of the teachers in order to pay for his ambitious proposal to double teachers' salaries within five years. Noble claimed he never said that.

According to The State newspaper, Noble did say in an interview that "a third of teachers need to be fired."

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But he told The Post and Courier after the debate he believes any teachers who do not meet a certain standard after five years should be fired. That could be a third, or it could be some other percentage.

He did not say that firing teachers would be directly connected to paying for doubling the salaries of others.

To pay for that massive spending increase, Noble said he would eliminate many sales tax exemptions and Act 388, which shifted the property tax burden for many South Carolina homeowners to business property and vacation or rental homes.

Doing so, however, would need cooperation and approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature responsible for the tax exemption.

Santee Cooper, SCANA

Noble said he would fire the entire Santee Cooper board, a move that some Republican candidates also suggested the night before that poses some potential legal challenges.

He went even further, claiming he would force SCANA, a private company, to remove its executives and board members.

"I will find a way to force out the management, the board of SCANA," Noble said.

That is a power the governor's office definitely doesn't have. There is little leverage the governor can hold over a private company in order to force them to replace their board of directors.

Noble told The Post and Courier he would use the bully pulpit and any other gubernatorial power to try to hold SCANA's feet to the fire until they do what he says.
Political Reporter

Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 09:40:02

Paris, May 25 2018 - Atos and the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) just launched an industrial research chair , co-funded by the National Research Agency (ANR), to develop research and innovation in quantum computing.

Led by Daniel Esteve (1), the industrial research chair, named "Nasniq" (New nuclear spin architecture for quantum computing), aims to contribute to the development of the quantum computer, which can revolutionize how information is processed in the years ahead and can manage the explosion of data driven by Big Data and the Internet of Things. Quantum technologies represent a key factor for sovereignty which now requires a major effort in terms of research and development, bringing together academic teams and businesses.

To address this, Atos and the CEA-CNRS, with the support of the National Research Agency (ANR), will work in synergy and will contribute their expertise to this initiative.

Atos, a global player in supercomputing and European leader, will bring its expertise in high-performance computing and quantum computing to the industrial research chair. Indeed in 2016 Atos launched "Atos Quantum", an ambitious quantum computing program that has already enabled it to bring to market, as of July 2017, the "Atos Quantum Learning Machine" (Atos QLM), the world's first machine capable of simulating up to 40 quantum bits and which now simulates physical Qubits for increased performance.

Daniel Esteve and the "Quantronic "group, from the Condensed State Physics Department (Spec, CEA-CNRS, Paris-Saclay), are pioneers in the knowledge and control of quantum information. This group founded the so-called Cooper pair box circuit that has led to superconducting quantum bits which are used today.

The Nasniq research chair will combine the essential research efforts carried out by the Spec team (CEA-CNRS) with Atos' developments in algorithmic simulation, further reinforcing the synergies between all the activities of the CEA in this field. In addition, the chair will allow to monitor technological developments in the appropriation of this innovative field.

"This research chair marks an important milestone in the emergence of a French quantum computing industry. In a context in which quantum technologies are becoming a real global issue, it allows us to position Atos and the CEA, two leading French actors, as European leaders in quantum computing. Together we are involved in making France a major research center in quantum computing in the world" said Thierry Breton, Chairman and CEO, Atos.

"International competition has accelerated dramatically in recent months in the field of quantum computing. The Nasniq chair is the opportunity for the CEA and Atos to extend their already existing partnership in the field of high performance computing in quantum computing. It will also allow us to position our teams more favourably in future European calls on quantum engineering, within the framework of the European Commission's flagship Quantum Technologies or the 9th Framework Programme", said Francois Jacq, General Manager of the CEA.

A Basic and Applied R&D program

The Nasniq chair must address several challenges:

Design and test new types of qubits and better control quantum coherence: Spec teams are working to control quantum coherence by developing more robust quantum bits;

Quantum software for hybrid qubits: Atos will provide its expertise in quantum software and algorithms, as well as in numerical simulation, for the development of new software relevant for qubits carried by a nuclear spin;

By strengthening the interaction between research teams and industrial teams, the Nasniq chair will also be able to train future engineers and researchers in the field.

Learn more about Atos Quantum: https://atos.net/fr/vision-et-innovation/atos-quantum

To learn more about the Spec (CEA-CNRS) Quantronic group: http://iramis.cea.fr/spec/Pres/Quantro/

Daniel Esteve, member of the Academy of Sciences, is the head of the Condensed State Physics Department (Spec, CEA-CNRS, Paris-Saclay)

###

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 100,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of around  12 billion. European number one in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and Digital Workplace, the Group provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management, Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies, digital expertise and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across various business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Energy & Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications and Transportation. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

Press contact:

Sylvie Raybaud - sylvie.raybaud@atos.net - +33 6 95 91 96 71 - @Sylvie_Raybaud

A propos du CEA

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas: defence and security, low carbon energies (nuclear and renewable energies), technological research for industry, fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences. Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.



The CEA is established in nine centers spread throughout France. It works in partnership with many other research bodies, local authorities and universities. Within this context, the CEA is a stakeholder in a series of national alliances set up to coordinate French research in energy (ANCRE), life sciences and health (AVIESAN), digital science and technology (ALLISTENE), environmental sciences (AllEnvi) and human and social sciences (ATHENA). In 2017, Thomson-Reuters / Clarivate identified the CEA as the most innovative public research organization in Europe. As regards the processing of quantum information, the CEA is developing two main areas of research: qubit-tolerant fault architectures in silicon CMOS technology and the development of qubits of high robustness.

CEA Press Contact

Francois Legrand - francois.legrand@cea.fr - +33 1 64 50 20 11 / www.cea.fr / CEA_Recherche

About the ANR

The ANR provides funding for project-based research in all fields of science - for both basic and applied research - to public research organisations and universities, as well as to private companies (including SMEs). Employing a method based on competitive peer reviews compliant with international standards, ANR provides the scientific community with instruments and programmes promoting creativity and openness, and stimulate new ideas and partnerships, particularly between academia and industry. Its activity also contributes to enhancing the competitiveness and the influence of French research in Europe and across the world.

ANR press contact

Katel Le Floc'h contactpresse@agencerecherche.fr - 01 78 09 80 70 / http://www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr/ @agencerecherche





This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: ATOS via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 14:05:02

Paris, May 25, 2018 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, today announces that it has been identified as a 'Leader' by global research and advisory firm NelsonHall in its latest Vendor Evaluation & Assessment Tool (NEAT) for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Services.

According to the report, Atos' GDPR offering covers data protection impact assessments, governance and business process update, cybersecurity, data protection implementation and control, as well as data breach notification. The report cites Atos' key strengths as strong encryption, IAM and incident response services, partnerships and strong investments in upcoming security technologies and regulations.

The NelsonHall NEAT vendor evaluation study assesses 9 of the most significant service providers that deliver GDPR services against their 'ability to deliver immediate benefit' and their 'ability to meet future requirements'. Atos was positioned as a Leader in both capacities for four categories: Consulting Focus, Implementation Focus, Ongoing Management Focus and Overall.

Commenting on the research, Mike Smart, Senior Analyst and Operations Officer at NelsonHall, said: "Atos' GDPR services are backed by its mature compliance journey that aims to automate DPIAs and reporting, as well as its strong commitment to the technologies required to meet compliance. This will enable clients to become highly compliant to the regulation."

Elaborating on Atos' ranking, Pierre Barnabe, Chief Operating Officer Big Data & Security at Atos, said: "We are delighted to be recognized as a global Leader in GDPR services by NelsonHall. This ranking reflects the expertise of our teams and our commitment to delivering high quality data privacy services to our clients."

Atos GDPR services are based on its data protection solutions, global consulting capabilities, secure payment technologies such as tokenization and strong network of global and local Security Operations Centers (SOC) for continuous monitoring and measurement of security posture and data privacy risks.

For more details about the NelsonHall report, please go to:

https://research.nelson-hall.com/sourcing-expertise/it-services/managed-security-services/?avpage-views=article&id=80265&fv=1

***

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with approximately 100,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of around  12 billion. European number one in Big Data, Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing and Digital Workplace, the Group provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management, Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies, digital expertise and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across various business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Energy & Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications and Transportation. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index. www.atos.net - Follow us on @Atos.

About NelsonHall

NelsonHall is the leading global analyst firm dedicated to helping organisations understand the 'art of the possible' in IT and business services. With analysts in the US, UK, and Continental Europe, NelsonHall provides buy-side organisations with detailed, critical information on markets and vendors (including NEAT assessments) that helps them make fast and highly informed sourcing decisions. And for vendors, NelsonHall provides deep knowledge of market dynamics and user requirements to help them hone their go-to-market strategies. NelsonHall's research is based on rigorous, all-original research, and is widely respected for the quality, depth, and insight of its analysis.

Press contact



Lucie Duchateau | lucie.duchateau@atos.net | +33 7 62 85 35 10 | @Lucie_Duchateau









This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.

The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: ATOS via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 10:12:24

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China Mobile International Limited (CMI) hosts the opening of its new Japan office in TokyoTOKYO, May 23, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - China Mobile International Limited (CMI) hosted the opening ceremony of its Japan office in Tokyo. Attending were Mr. Song Yaoming, Minister of Economic and Commercial Office, Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Japan, Mr. Takagi Seiji, Director General for International Affairs, Global Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Mr. Jian Qin, Executive Vice President of China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., and Mr. Li Feng, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of China Mobile International Limited.Mr. Song Yaoming said, "The 2020 Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, which will predictably bring many business opportunities to Japan. And the number of tourists from all over the world, especially China, will increase significantly. Communications services are becoming one of the key development priorities in Japan's infrastructure construction. The establishment of the CMI Japan office will not only provide convenience for Chinese and Japanese companies to expand their businesses, but also provide the tourists more preferential roaming charges and better services. I hope that Japanese companies will take the opportunity to learn more about China Mobile and explore cooperation opportunities with China Mobile." Mr. Takagi Seiji added, "While government support is important, enterprises are principal in strengthening the telecommunications cooperation between two countries. Japanese telecom companies are actively engaged in China and are working globally with Chinese enterprises. Chinese companies have also been active within Japan. We believe that CMI, a subsidiary of China Mobile with the world's largest subscriber base, establishing its Japan office to strive to move forward in Japan is about the right time." Mr. Jian Qin stated, "This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship. During a visit to Japan earlier this month, Prime Minister Li Keqiang indicated that China and Japan now have many new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation, as both countries are strongly complementary in economies. We should further strengthen collaboration in key areas such as energy conservation, environmental protection, technology innovation, high-end manufacturing, finance, the sharing economy and health care, and we should positively explore possibilities for cooperation in 'the Belt and Road' and jointly develop third-party markets. Trade and economic relations between China and Japan are inseparable from the connectivity of the Internet. The establishment of the Japan office will promote interrelation of information and communications infrastructure, and strengthen cooperation in emerging technologies such as 5G and IoT. This will not only provide localized and high-quality telecommunications services for overseas Chinese enterprises, but also build a communication bridge for Japanese companies to access China, as well as all Asian and European countries along the 'the Belt and Road'."Information and communications technology is developing at a breakneck pace in today's hyper-connected world. In view of this, China Mobile is executing on its "Big Connectivity" strategy, which outlines China Mobile's ambition to globalise its business to meet increasing global demands in data consumption. To provide competitive international telecommunication services to the 890 million China Mobile subscribers, CMI is continuously accelerating its pace in expanding global network deployment and scale of connectivity. The company presently owns 40 submarine and terrestrial cables, 138 PoPs, and expects to complete 10 global Internet data centres (IDC) construction in 3 years. In Asia, CMI has launched 41 PoPs, providing transmission, IPVPN and Internet services. CMI also participated in the construction of the NCP and SJC2 submarine cable systems, and facilitated large capacity connection within Asia Pacific. In future, CMI will continue to participate in the construction of international communications facilities, provide high-quality connectivity services for operators and enterprises, and strive to become a trustworthy partner.About CMIChina Mobile International Limited (CMI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of China Mobile. China Mobile is now the largest telecom operator in the world by network scale and subscriber base and is among the top in terms of market capitalization and brand value. To provide better services to meet the growing demand in the international telecommunications market, China Mobile established a subsidiary, CMI, in December 2010, mainly responsible for the operation of international business. Leveraging the strong support of China Mobile, CMI provides a full range of comprehensive international telecommunications services which includes IDD, roaming, Internet, MNC services and Value-Added Business across the globe. Headquartered in Hong Kong, CMI has expanded its footprint to 20 countries across different regions. www.cmi.chinamobile.com Topic: Press release summarySectors: TelecomsFrom the Asia Corporate News NetworkCopyright  2018 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Asia Corporate News Network.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 05:20:03

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HONG KONG, May 24, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - G2H2 Capital ("G2H2") signed an agreement with AnApp Blockchain Technologies Limited ("AnApp") to purchase an undisclosed amount of IOTW tokens (a new cryptocurrency for IoT applications).G2H2 Capital is a US based digital-asset investment firm with deep Stanford University connections. The majority of G2H2 main funds' portfolio consists of pre-ICOs and ICOs. This strategy attempts to realize the upside potential of early stage investments in this asset class within a relatively restricted time frame. For example, Venture Capital LP cycles stretch 7 to 10 years to capture the early stage exit returns that pre-ICOs can generate in just 6-months' time. G2H2's purchase of IOTWs from AnApp is a confirmation that the upside potential of IOTW tokens is being recognized by the market."The General Partner of G2H2 Capital, Dean Patrick, has an academic background from Stanford University and also has strong connections with students working on blockchain related research and having blockchain investment interests. Dean has personally participated in over 40 pre-ICOs and ICOs. I am glad that Dean decided to purchase IOTWs in view of our clearly groundbreaking growth potential. AnApp's micro-mining software can be loaded on and will not increase the hardware costs of IoT devices in most designs, which is crucial for rapid consumer adoption. In addition, AnApp will work with different IoT semiconductor vendors to embed the IOTW mico-mining software into their chipsets for set top boxes, TVs, white goods, wireless LANs, etc to deploy IOTW blockchain in high volume. Many of these single designs can individually deliver over 10 million chipsets," Frederick Leung, co-founder and CEO of AnApp said.Dean Patrick, General Partner of G2H2 Capital: "The market IOTW enters is among the most exciting growth industries and adds value in the blockchain space. Within the sector, IOTW outpaces competitors in terms of vision as well as execution strategy. IOTW enables IoT devices to receive all blockchain rewards through micro-mining from IOTW network to encourage adoption without adding hardware cost to the IoT devices. This will create end user pull towards adopting IOTW technology. I am very excited to be adding IOTW to our fund portfolio." AnApp is developing the IOTW (IoT World) cryptocurrency and blockchain software which will run on most IoT devices. The micro-mining software can be embedded into different IoT chipsets and also downloaded into existing IoT systems through firmware updates. AnApp is planning an ICO launch in the near future.For more information about IOTW, please visit www.IOTW.io Topic: Press release summarySectors: Daily Finance, Enterprise IT, Currencies, FinTech/ChainsFrom the Asia Corporate News NetworkCopyright  2018 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Asia Corporate News Network.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 15:00:39

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Gamehost Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - Gamehost Inc. (TSX:GH). has issued a press release with the following headline:Gamehost Announces Normal Course Issuer Bid for Its SharesTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Gamehost Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Gamehost Inc.Source: Gamehost Inc. (TSX: GH, OTC Pink: GHIFF, WKN: A1H5MC, ISIN: CA36468B1040)Date: May 25, 2018Time: 9:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Gamehost Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
These generic oncology sterile injectables are used for the treatment of various types of cancer including breast, prostate, colorectal, melanoma, lung, and bronchus.

Generic Oncology Sterile Injectable Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 08:03:22

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Generic oncology sterile injectables are biologics that have the same active ingredients as that of the branded version, with only the inactive contents of the drugs being different. Manufacturers of generic sterile injectables have to adhere to regulations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the process of development of these injectables, which are equivalent to that for branded counterparts. These generic oncology sterile injectables are used for the treatment of various types of cancer including breast, prostate, colorectal, melanoma, lung, and bronchus. These injectables are available at low prices, and therefore, are widely preferred over branded. Furthermore, R&D for generic drugs requires less capital, which increases competition to enter into generic oncology sterile injectable market as soon as the patent for branded injectables expires. However, the emergence of biosimilars has increased in past few years. After Europe, the number of biosimilars approved is increasing in the U.S. market. This is expected to contribute largely towards the generic oncology sterile injectable market growth during the forecast period.The key players in generic oncology sterile injectable market includes, Eli Lilly & Company, Biocon Ltd., Baxter International Inc., Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC, Mylan N.V., Sandoz International GmbH, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., and Pfizer Inc.Rising number of cancer cases is expected to fuel demand for treatment drugs and injectables. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRFI), around 14.1 million cancer cases were reported worldwide, in 2012. As per WCRFI, it is projected that by 2035, around 24 million cancer cases are expected to increase. This is expected to drive growth of the generic oncology sterile injectable market.The global generic oncology sterile injectable market was valued at US$ 8.9 Billion in 2016 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 11.4% over the forecast period (20172025).Request A Sample Copy Including Research Framework:Expansion of manufacturing facilities and mergers between key players to develop strong pipeline product is expected to propel the generic oncology sterile injectable market growthManufacturers in the market are focusing on collaboration and expansion of manufacturing facilities to tap into emerging markets. For instance, In July 2017, India-based Alembic Pharmaceuticals established an oncology manufacturing facility for injectables and lyophilized products in Gujarat. The manufacturing site has a capacity for 60 million tablets and capsules, approximately 20 million vials capacity for liquid injectables and lyophilized product. This new manufacturing facility will develop oncology injectables and lyophilized products for sales in international markets of the U.S., Middle East, North Africa, South Africa, and Australia. Furthermore, in December 2016 the global leader, Baxter International acquired India-based Claris Injectables for expanding its generic injectables product portfolio such as in oncology. This acquisition is expected to strengthen Baxters sales in hospitals in order to gain a leading position in generic injectables market. Also, in August 2017, Hikma Pharmaceuticals increased its additional manufacturing capacity by 70 million units exclusively for oncology injectables, which brings up its total to 550 million units. Therefore, this expansion will help Hikma to maintain its position in the market.In October 2014, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in injectables, acquired Omega Laboratories Limited. This acquisition is expected to aid in creating a robust product portfolio in generic injectables and expand Sagents global presence. Omega has a strong pipeline consisting of 26 generic injectables, planned to be launched between 2014 and 2019 and this is expected to aid Sagent.In October 2017, Eli Lilly & Company received intellectual property rights for the vitamin regimen for Alimta (pemetrexed for injection) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). These rights are expected to aid Eli Lilly & Company for development of next generation medicines.Ask For Customisation:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Coherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email:sales@ coherentmarketinsights.com Visit our news Website: https://www.coherenttimes.org
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 16:40:01

SYDNEY, Australia and MINNEAPOLIS, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medibio Limited (MEB or the Company) (ASX:MEB) (OTCQB:MDBIF), a mental health technology company, today announced a significant contract for Medibio's Corporate Health product with Dallas, TX-based Jacobs Engineering across their Asia Pacific, Middle East, and European divisions.

Through the Mental Health Check-In, companies can offer employees an end-to-end mental health program, direct to their devices, to see how the mind and body are tracking. It's a personalized, private, and objective way to see the unseeable: mental health issues in the workplace.

Employees are provided the opportunity to confidentially check-in on their mental health and receive personalized confidential results from both an objective biometric screening in conjunction with a 12-minute subjective survey. Employers receive a dashboard providing de-identified, amalgamated data on the well-being of their workforce leveraging both the subjective and objective metrics. Employees then have the option to connect their wearable devices, such as Apple Watch, Garmin, and Fitbit, collect heart rate and sleep data.

The first-phase contract extends Medibio's engagement with Jacob's beyond Asia Pacific, to now encompass over 8,000 employees across Asia Pacific, India, the Middle East and Europe. The Check-In will be rolled out to Jacobs' European leadership team alongside the Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern workforces and is projected to generate first-stage revenue of approximately $50,000 for the initial four-week program. Services, including consultancy and delivery of ongoing mental health interventions and programs, will be billed as provided.

The correlation of ANS biometrics and mental health has been the focus of the company for over 20 years. Especially while sleeping, our bodies reflect our mental state through the performance of the autonomic nervous system. Medibio's technology platform detects dysfunction within the areas of the body regulated by the ANS, and through proprietary data processing and algorithms, the technology correlates these anomalies to different mental health conditions. It is a profound discovery that for the first time provides a tangible, objective understanding of mental health.

"We are thrilled to extend our pivotal agreement with Jacobs Engineering, a long-term supporter of Medibio and a leading corporation in driving the way mental health care is delivered to their employee base," said CEO and Managing Director Jack Cosentino. "By leveraging our proprietary technology, in conjunction with Jacobs' strong corporate advocacy, we look forward to establishing a long-term relationship to enable real change in the area of corporate mental health."

Jacobs Engineering Group is one of the world's largest engineering and environmental consultancy groups. With a reputation for innovation, performance, and a human centric approach to employment and consultancy they have sought out programs that align with their values and integrate with their culture. Jacobs currently employs over 70,000 employees in over 250 offices worldwide.

Patrick Hill, Sr. Vice President and General Manager Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities at Jacobs said: "Our partnership with Medibio appears to have been hugely beneficial to date. Their analytical and evidence-based approach is a significant step forward for an organization like Jacobs that is looking to move from awareness to action, and from reaction to prevention. As a company that aims to puts its people first, we are delighted to be extending the Check-in to other parts of our global business."

This contract signed by Jacobs Engineering continues Medibio's rapidly expanding portfolio of global companies participating in the Mental Health Check-in including:

Jacobs Engineering (U.S.)

St. John of God Health Care (Australia's third-largest healthcare provider)

Australian Football League (AFL)

Rio Tinto

Aurecon Jacobs Joint Venture for West Gate Tunnel Project

The Mental Health Check-in Campaign is the entry-level offering to Medibio's Corporate Health products and is rapidly positioning Medibio as the preeminent mental health technology and services provider offering comprehensive mental health solutions for businesses.

About Medibio Limited

Medibio (ASX:MEB) (OTCQB:MDBIF) is a mental health technology company that has pioneered the use of objective biometrics to assist in the screening, diagnosing, monitoring and management of depression and other mental health conditions. The company offers mental health solutions for business through its Corporate Health programs and is developing products to serve both the consumer and regulated healthcare provider markets. The company was founded in Australia, with offices located in Melbourne (Vic), Perth (WA), and U.S. offices in Minneapolis, MN. Medibio is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Ltd and trades on the OTCQB Venture Market. Investors can find additional information on www.otcmarkets.com and www.asx.com.au.

About Jacobs

Jacobs leads the global professional services sector delivering solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With $15 billion in fiscal 2017 revenue when combined with full-year CH2M revenues and a talent force of more than 77,000, Jacobs provides a full spectrum of services including scientific, technical, professional and construction- and program-management for business, industrial, commercial, government and infrastructure sectors. For more information, visit www.jacobs.com, and connect with Jacobs on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Further Information: Website: www.medibio.com.au Media Inquiries:

Josh Purdy

Medibio Limited

josh.purdy@medibio.com.au

T: 952-222-0551 ext. 208

M: 612-695-0168 Investor Relations:

Stephanie Ottens

Medibio Limited

stephanie.ottens@medibio.com.au

T: +61 434 405 400

A video accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dca9e5bd-b9a4-4500-9840-9530068038c8
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 02:00:16

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Point Loma Resources Ltd.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - Point Loma Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture:PLX). has issued a press release with the following headline:Point Loma Resources Announces First Quarter 2018 Financial and Operating ResultsTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Point Loma Resources Ltd., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Point Loma Resources Ltd.Source: Point Loma Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture: PLX)Date: May 24, 2018Time: 8:00 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Point Loma Resources Ltd. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 01:03:17

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Essen, May 25, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - The energy provider innogy and the startup Conjoule are focusing on digitization and are jointly launching the "Community Network" future project in Mulheim an der Ruhr.Conjoule's community network platform, designed specifically for this purpose, allows owners of private photovoltaic systems and neighborhood consumers to share renewable energy. The electricity from next door strengthens the local structures and leads to cost advantages due to the proximity.Consumers include non-self-powered neighbors, local businesses, supermarkets and schools. The blockchain technology allows the exchange of locally generated electricity between the neighbors and creates transparency about the source of each kilowatt-hour generated."We are excited to work on this future project "Community Network" in order to deepen our know-how on platform users and technology," says Sam Warburton, Managing Director of Conjoule GmbH.The prosumer households participating in the project will be equipped with modern measuring devices (smart meters) that measure energy flows in real time. If more electricity is generated within the Mulheim community than can be consumed, the excess green electricity is sold to environmentally conscious customers outside the community. Conversely, the participants are supplied with green electricity from innogy, if the weather does not allow sufficient generation of solar power. Conjoule.de : We are the peer-to-peer market place for locally produced energy.Conjoule GmbH, was founded in 2017 to create a whole new digital, democratised approach for how we all exchange energy. We believe the future of energy is shared, and we are here to build it.We push at the edge of what is technologically possible to break down barriers to choice, freedom, and transparency for our customers. We are focused on their needs first as we build a flexible renewable energy marketplace for them. Our aim is to offer everyone local, clean energy; to offer people greater community, value and personal ownership; and to open a whole new way to think and feel about the role of energy in our lives.The Conjoule team includes leading tech, energy, and blockchain experts and engineers. To find out more about our unique approach and energy solutions, please email us at info@ conjoule.com
The recombinant protein market to surpass US$ 593.4 million threshold by 2025 globally, owing to increasing demand for biopharmaceutical research applications

Recombinant Protein Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 10:25:15

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The global recombinant protein market by Product Type (Hormones, Growth Factors, Cytokines, Plasma Protein Factor, Recombinant Metabolic Enzymes, Immune Checkpoint Regulators, and Others), By Application (Drug Discovery & Development, Biopharmaceutical Production, Basic Research, and Others), By End User (Biopharmaceutical Companies, Academic & Research Institutes, Contract Research Organizations, and Others), and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa) was valued at US$ 347.2 million in 2016 and is projected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.2% over the forecast period (20172025), as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Availability of wide number of innovative recombinant proteins from various sources such as human and animal, lack of suitable alternative for basic protein related therapies research, and increasing demand for biopharmaceutical products is expected to fuel growth of the recombinant protein market.Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1516 Manufacturers are involved in collaborations and acquisitions for drug discovery and development purposes. For instance, in 2017, Crown Bioscience (CBI), Inc. entered into collaboration with Jiangsu Qyun Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to develop CTLA-4 antibody. Moreover, in 2016, CBI acquired PreClinOmics, Inc., an in Vivo preclinical company, which specializes in early research in cardiovascular and metabolic disease and in 2016 CBI introduced six new recombinant cell lines GITR, ICOS, CD137, CTLA-4, OX40, and RANK immune checkpoints and receptors for biological studies, drug discovery, and development. In 2012, ProSpec-Tany Technogene Ltd. and LifeMap Sciences, Inc.a wholly owned subsidiary of BioTime, Inc.announced definitive agreement to offer 1,000 recombinant proteins and antibodies, to be used for stem cell research, drug discovery, and development biology. In 2014, BPS Bioscience, Inc. announced the introduction of 13 different mutant EZH2 complexes and two new assay kits for screening inhibitors of mutant EZH2.Browse 39 Market Data Tables and 40 Figures spread through 151 Pages and in-depth TOC on Recombinant Protein Market by Product Type (Hormones, Growth Factors, Cytokines, Plasma Protein Factor, Recombinant Metabolic Enzymes, Immune Checkpoint Regulators, and Others), By Application (Drug Discovery & Development, Biopharmaceutical Production, Basic Research, and Others), By End User (Biopharmaceutical Companies, Academic & Research Institutes, Contract Research Organizations, and Others), and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and, Africa) - Global Forecast to 2025Browse Research Report At: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/recombinant-protein-market-1516 Key players in the company are focusing on expanding their geographic presence, in order to enhance their market share. For instance, in 2016, Sigma Aldrich Company Ltd. established nine new M Lab Collaboration Centers in Asia, North America, Europe, and Latin America for its life science business. The centers are expected to boost growth of its recombinant protein business. Manufacturers participate in international and national conferences to promote their products. For instance, in 2014, Novoprotein Scientific, participated in AAPS National Biotechnology Conference, which was dedicated to recent developments of protein recombinants worldwide. In 2016, PeproTech, Inc. participated in conference on Advances in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine held at EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany, in 2017. Feldan Bio, Inc. and Elasmogen, a biopharmaceutical company, signed an exclusive partnership for the development of intracellular biologics in 2016. BioVision Inc. introduced Cas9 recombinant protein for genome editing in 2017. Cas9 protein of the CRISPR-Cas9 system is an RNA-guided DNA endonuclease enzyme, which helps in unwinding of genomic DNA complex.Key Takeaways of the Recombinant Protein Market:The global recombinant protein market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 2% over the forecast period (20172025), owing to product launches by manufacturers such as BioVision, Inc., and HumanZyme, Inc.Growth of the recombinant protein market is driven by strong demand for applications such as drug discovery & development and basic researchHormones segment is expected to exhibit high growth over the forecast period, owing to applications in research and development of therapies for various metabolic disorders such as diabetes and othersAsia Pacific region is expected to exhibit strong growth over the forecast period, due to activities such as research, and collaborations in the region. For instance, Amgen, Inc. collaborated with Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, a China-based company, to develop four biosimilars for the Chinese market in 2017.Major players operating in the global recombinant protein market include Crown Bioscience, Inc., ProSpec Tany TechnoGene, Ltd., BPS Bioscience, Inc., Sigma Aldrich Company Ltd., Novoprotein Scientific, PeproTech, Inc., Feldan Bio, Inc., BioVision, Inc., HumanZyme, Inc., and GenScript Biotech CorporationAbout CMICoherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.
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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for RHC Capital Corporation--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (FSCWire) - RHC Capital Corporation (TSX Venture:RHC). has issued a press release with the following headline:RHC Capital Corporation Announces Non-Brokered Private Placement and 2018 Exploration PlansTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on RHC Capital Corporation, or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/RHC Capital CorporationSource: RHC Capital Corporation (TSX Venture: RHC)Date: May 25, 2018Time: 9:58 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of RHC Capital Corporation and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2018 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-25 10:32:01

SIA Acquires Card Processing Businesses in Central and Southeastern Europe from First Data

SIA

Filippo Fantasia - Valentina Piana

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SIA, a European high-tech leader in payment infrastructure and services, and First Data Corporation (NYSE: FDC), a global leader in commerce-enabling technology, have signed an agreement for SIA to acquire First Datas card processing businesses in parts of Central and Southeastern Europe for 375 million. In 2017, these businesses generated a combined revenue of approximately 100 million for First Data.

This acquisition by SIA provides card processing, card production, call center and back-office services, including 13.3 million payment cards, 1.4 billion transactions, in addition to the management of POS terminals and ATMs. These businesses are primarily located in 7 countries: Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

As a result of the transaction, SIA will become a leading player in processing and services in the region. The agreement includes the transfer of about 1,400 First Data employees into SIA.

This acquisition is in line with our strategy to become the leading European independent digital payments platform. SIA is further strengthening its position in the e-payments international market, increasing its market shares in e-money high-growth countries, said Massimo Arrighetti, CEO of SIA.

Thanks to the agreement with First Data, SIA Group continues on its path of international growth, confirming its leadership at European level in a sector like that of electronic payments undergoing continuous consolidation, commented Nicola Cordone, Deputy CEO, Senior Vice President Global Business Solutions of SIA. In particular, in Central and Southeastern Europe we will become the foremost technology provider in a market that in the coming three-year period will see a rise in payment transactions of over 11% per annum, nearly double the growth of Europe at 6%. With this acquisition, SIAs revenues, on a 2017 pro-forma basis, will increase by around 18% with a significant surge in income from outside Italy, which will rise from 20% to 33% of the total.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018 and is subject to normal closing conditions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180525005

SIA acquires card processing businesses in Central and Southeastern Europe from First Data
Short Story Day Africa (SSDA) has announced the shortlist for its $800 2017/18 Prize with three Nigerian writers listed as possible recipients.

The Nigerians are Emmanuel Agugom, Innocent Chizaram Ilo and Tochukwu Emmanuel Okafor.

The Prizes theme, according to brittlepaper.com, is IDmeaning both identity and the psychoanalytic concept of the identityand required innovative short fiction that explores identity, especially (but not limited to) the themes of gender identity and sexuality.

This year, the shortlist comprises nine works rather than the usual six, the release said.

The organisers in a statement said the panel of judges was impressed with the array of works submitted from various parts of Africa. It also explained how it arrived at the shortlist.

We were impressed as never before by the multiple ways in which writers from all over the continent responded, the depth, variety and innovation of their interpretations. From Benin to Ethiopia, from Morocco to South Africa, the stories on the long list reveal uncomfortable and fascinating truths about who we are.

Once the editing was completed, the twenty-one stories were sent to the judges. The decision to edit the stories and to engage with the authors before judging has proven to be invaluable in enabling young writers and raw talent to compete on an equal footing with their more established and experienced peers. The final stories and indeed the shortlisted stories are more evenly balanced between those already making their mark in terms of publication and awards, and extremely talented writers who are new to the adventure of publishing or only just venturing into the terrain of short fiction.

This year, for the first time, we opted for a broad spread of volunteer judges, ably assisted by The Johannesburg Review of Books, rendering the evaluation process flatter, more consultative and democratic. The combination of the new scoring system and the extremely high standard of the stories meant that for the first time, weve produced a short list of nine stories, instead of the usual six, the statement said.

Here are the shortlisted works:

The Piano Player, by Agazit Abate (Ethiopia)

Ibinabo, by Michael Agugom (Nigeria)

The Geography of Sunflowers, by Michelle Angwenyi (Kenya)

Limbo, by Innocent Chizaram Ilo (Nigeria)

Sew My Mouth, by Cherrie Kandie (Kenya)

South of Samora, by Farai Mudzingwa (Zimbabwe)

All Our Lives, by Tochukwu Emmanuel Okafor (Nigeria)

The House on the Corner, by Lester Walbrugh (South Africa)

God Skin, by Michael Yee (South Africa)

The statement noted that some of the stories explore identity through queer sexuality, which SSDA welcomed as an extremely important and necessary creative intervention, given the grim march of homophobia, including in legislative forms, across the African continent.

In Ibinabo, Michael Agugom charts the challenges of negotiating biracial and sexually complex identities in a small and watchful Nigerian island community. In Sew My Mouth, Cherrie Kandie provides a powerful and painful account of the silencing (literally) of lesbian love in urban Nairobi. In The House on the Corner, Lester Walbrugh provides a moving interpretation of the perhaps ubiquitous gay life in Cape Town narrative. In Limbo, Innocent Chizaram Ilo provides a delightfully unusual and fantastical account of heartbreak as experienced by a lesbian scarecrow. Michelle Angwenyis lyrical and hallucinatory The Geography of Sunflowers presents heteronormative love and loss as experiences that both heighten and blur identity.

The winner and two runners-up will be announced on June 21.

The longlisted stories will appear in ID: New Short Fiction From Africa, edited by Nebila Abdulmelik, Otieno Owino and Helen Moffett, an anthology to be published by New Internationalist.
Many South Koreans on Friday, slammed U.S. President, Donald Trump for cancelling the historic summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, feeling they had been cheated of a chance of a lifetime to live in peace.

Trump called off the unprecedented meeting, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, after months of diplomatic progress had silenced bellicose rhetoric from the two sides and eased fears of a return to war.

North Korea was in the process of doing everything that had been demanded of it. They even detonated their nuclear test site, said Eugene Lim, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul.

Trump has no interest in peace in our country. Why cant he just let us, the two Koreas, live in peace?

North Korea on Thursday completely dismantled its Punggye-ri nuclear test ground to ensure the transparency of discontinuance of nuclear tests, after blowing up tunnels at the site.

The detonation, which took place in the presence of dozens of international journalists but no independent experts, came after Kim Jong Un pledged to cease all nuclear and long-range missile tests from April.

Mr Kim also released three American prisoners as a gesture of goodwill.

Dozens of university students and womens rights activists protested in different rallies in Seoul on Friday to denounce Trump, with some punching his face printed on a picket sign and tearing his photograph apart.

Kim Dong-ho, a 38-year-old employee at a blockchain company, said it wasnt right to isolate North Korea again when it was making efforts to join the international community.

After all, those of us living on the Korean peninsula suffer the consequences of your action, you Yankee!, Kim said.

Mr Trump also warned North Korea the U.S. military was ready in the event of any reckless acts, and when asked if the summit cancellation increased the risk of war, he replied: Well see what happens.

South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, who worked hard to help set up the summit and urged Mr Trump at a White House meeting on Tuesday not to let a rare opportunity slip away, said he was perplexed by the cancellation.

North Korea said it remained open to resolving issues with the United States, regardless of ways, at any time.

South Koreans perception of North Korea, especially those in their 20s and 30s, has visibly softened after Kim Jong Un and Moon pledged no more war in their inter-Korean summit in April, according to several polls.

A Gallup Korea survey in early May suggested 88 per cent of South Koreans thought that the inter-Korean summit held was a success, while only five percent said it was a failure.

The remainder declined to comment.

A survey of 106 university students at Kookmin University in Seoul showed 57.3 per cent had a positive image of Kim Jong Un after the summit, compared to 19.8 per cent before.

North and South Korea are technically still at war because their 1950 to 1953 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The United States stations 28,500 troops in the South, a legacy of the war.

It feels like Trump just knocked down all the efforts the two Koreas have put forward for the U.S.-North Korea summit.

For me, it feels like North Korea is more of a normal country, saying it would give the U.S. time and wait, said Yun Hae-ri, a 25-year-old office worker.

I dont think Trump is doing the right thing if he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Other South Koreans had concerns closer to home.

What Im most worried about are my stock holdings, said Chon Jin-young, a 25-year-old Seoul office worker. I hope theyre not hammered too much.

(Reuters/NAN)
The daughter of Martin Luther King has shot down a claim the late icon of the U.S. civil rights movements would have been proud of Donald Trump.

In tweets, Bernice King rejected Steve Bannons claim that King would be proud of Trumps immigration policies.

Mr Bannon has dangerously and erroneously co-opted my fathers name, work and words, Ms King wrote.

The assertion wholly ignores Daddys commitment to people of all races, nationalities, etc. being treated with dignity and respect, she wrote.

Mr Bannon, Mr Trumps former chief strategist, said Wednesday on BBC Newsnight program that if you look at the policies of Donald Trump, anybody  Martin Luther King  would be proud of him, of what hes done for the black and Hispanic community for jobs.

He told BBC that King would have approved of the presidents anti-immigration policies as they stop illegal alien labour forces from competing with black Americans for jobs everyday.

However, Ms King said the claim has ignored many of Mr Kings values, and her father would be extremely disturbed by recent events.

My fathers concerns were not sectional, but global. He was an activist for the civil rights of Black people in America, but he was also an activist for human rights, she tweeted.

Further, he would not refer to people as illegal aliens. The term is degrading and does not reflect his belief that we are all a part of the human family, she added.

Mr Bannon was chief executive of the Trump campaign in its final three months during the 2016 U.S. elections.

He became the chief strategist after Mr Trump took office in January 2017 and left the White House in August.

(Xinhua/NAN)
Senate President, Bukola Saraki Friday met with the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige; and leaders of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), in a bid to end the ongoing strike by health workers.

The strike called by JOHESU is over a month old and has crippled healthcare delivery in many parts of the nation.

JOHESU, the association of health workers apart from medical doctors and dentists, had on April 18, began an indefinite strike over failure of the federal government to honor the agreement it had with the union last September.

Top on the unions demand is salary adjustments, a demand Nigerian doctors have vehemently opposed, warning the government that acceding to such demand would precipitate a crisis that may lead to the collapse of the health sector of the country.

According to a statement on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, the Senate president, listened to the grievances and demands of the JOHESU leadership led by its chairman, Biobelemonye Joseph, and pledged the Senate would ensure that the right thing is done to end the strike.

Mr Saraki noted that it was not in the interest of the country to have its hospitals closed. He assured that the Senate would work with all the necessary bodies to ensure the strike is called off.

I have heard your remarks, I will spend some time to discuss with you and get more details to see how we can put an end to this strike.

On our own part, we will bring all parties involved together to ensure that where commitments have been made, those who made the commitments honour them.

The only thing I can assure you is that we will make sure that the right thing is done and that this matter is resolved, he said.
Almost everything  everything that makes a school a school  is in a state of decay at St. Marys Science College, Ediene Abak, in oil-rich Akwa Ibom State.

The ruins of the old cottages making up the boys dormitory can be seen a few meters away.

Blown-off roofs, partly-collapsed structures, dirty and abandoned buildings surrounded by tall grasses conjure a nauseating atmosphere around the dormitory.

Yet students live within these decrepit facilities, oblivious of the potential safety dangers.

When a PREMIUM TIMES reporter visited the school in April last year, some students were seen still living in one of the dormitories  Cottage Five. A section of the building had fallen down, and the debris were yet to be completely cleared away.

Nothing much has changed one year after, a follow-up visit this April shows.

The ceilings has fallen off in most of the cottages. For one or two that still have their ceilings partly intact, there are visible signs that they are caving in gradually. Yet the students have continued to live in that condition, endangering their lives.

The remnants of the ceilings are covered with graffiti. And the dormitory walls too. It looks like the walls have not been touched with fresh paints for decades.

Standing on the hill where the cottages are situated, this reporter can see some other buildings in the school down a valley, swallowed up by gully erosion which is threatening the school.

You can see the dormitorys pit toilets and also perceive the stench oozing out from there.

Pit toilets in the boys dormitory at St

Empty cans, dirty plates, and papers littered everywhere inside the cottages. The mattresses, as dirty and stinking as they are, have no bedcovers. The pillows too were terribly dirty and nauseating.

Garbage can be seen heaped carelessly at various locations near the dormitories.

As you can see, the whole place is a mess, says UbongAbasi Okon, an alumnus of the college guiding this reporter round the dilapidated structures in the school. It looks more like a place where animals are kept.

Mr Okon and other alumni of the college resorted to flooding Facebook with photos of the school, after making fruitless efforts to get the Akwa Ibom State government to renovate the dilapidated structures.

St. Marys Science College was built 65 years ago by Catholic missionaries. It was initially established for the training of Grade Two teachers before it was converted in 1986 to a senior science college by the government of the then Cross River State in line with the administrations policy of promoting science education.

At the height of its glory, it was one of the most coveted schools in the old Cross River State. Parents from far and near scrambled to push their wards in. But today it is in ruins, and holds little or no attraction for parents, alumni say.

This is disheartening, Mr Okon, the alumnus who guided this reporter round the college, says with a sigh while standing atop the collapsed half of Cottage Five.

This used to be my hostel, he says.

Mr Okon, a web designer, graduated from the college 23 years ago.

He says with its present state of decay, he cannot recommend the school to any prospective student.

David Wilson, an expert in mental health, shakes his head in disbelief when this reporter shows him photos of the schools dilapidated dormitory.

He advises the state government to close down the boarding facilities in the college to save the students from developing mental problems.

Collapsed half of Cottage Five, boys dormitory  Akwa Ibom

It could lead to psychiatric disorder, says Mr Wilson, a medical doctor and senior registrar, Department of Mental Health, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital. It could also lead to conduct disorder.

A school environment should be managed to support the child. If you are living in an environment that is emotionally unrewarding, you could be exposed to depressive illnesses.

Its terrible, he adds. Its degrading.

READ PART ONE OF THIS SERIES HERE: INVESTIGATION: Learning In Tears: Inside the massive decay in public schools in oil-rich Akwa Ibom

Like hostels, like classrooms

The classrooms, library and the science laboratories in the college are also in appalling conditions.

The tables, shelves, and books in the library are all covered in dust, indicating that the place may have been out of use for sometime.

The small hall used as chemistry and biology laboratories are dusty, and without basic science equipment and chemical. And what is left of the Agric laboratory is a building in ruins, with no roof and windows.

The classrooms have only few desks. Graffiti adorns the walls while ceilings have fallen off in some of them. The louvers too are gone, leaving rainwater to splash inside the classrooms whenever it rains. The toilets are non-functional, soiled and smelly.

Physics laboratory, St. Marys Science College, Ediene Abak, Akwa Ibom. (Cletus Ukpong)

A boy and a girl are in one of the classrooms.

The girl, a 16-year old SS 3 student, says she ought to be in the laboratory for physics experiment at that time, but that she was barred because she could not provide the type of battery required for the practical session.

I bought Tiger Head battery opposite the school gate, but the physics teacher rejected it because it wasnt strong enough to power the ammeter and voltmeter in the laboratory, she explains.

She does not have the money to buy the required battery, she says.

The boy, also 16 and in SS 3, had had his own time at the laboratory the previous day.

Both students have just two days to go before their West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

This reporter meets with the physics teacher, Iboro Dickson, in the physics laboratory as he was taking five students through the science experiment.

Mr Dickson, himself a former student of the college, explains that since the school cannot provide the materials needed for the experiment, students must be made to bear the burden.

The physics laboratory, like the other laboratories, is without learning apparatus and other materials. More so, it is dirty. The building has no ceilings and louvers.

Behind where the students are sitting, at one corner of the small hall, is a heap of computer scraps. And that is what the college calls a computer laboratory!

When I was a student here in1996, the laboratory wasnt like this, the physics teacher, Mr Dickson says. I cried the first day I came here as a teacher.

Ambrose Useh, the Principal of the college says a government team came to inspect the school in March 2017 after he wrote to the education ministry.

The condition of the girls dormitory is not as bad as that of the boys, says Mr. Useh who says he assumed duties in August 2016 as principal of the once prestigious college. This reporter, being male, is not allowed to inspect the female dormitories.

One of the dilapidated cottages in the boys dormitory, St. Marys Science College, Ediene Abak, Akwa Ibom (Cletus Ukpong)

The parents-teachers association in the school has been inactive, alumni say.

Successive administrations in the state have consistently claimed that reforming the education sector remained a top priority.

In 2014 and 2015, the government specifically budgeted N500 million and N450 million respectively for the renovation and refurbishing of buildings, and provision of facilities in 124 primary and secondary schools in the state.

The governments plan then, as documented in the budget, was to renovate four secondary schools and four primary schools in each of the 31 local government areas in the state.

Funds were also specifically allocated for the renovation of boarding facilities in secondary schools in the state  N100 million (in 2014) and N200 million (in 2015).

That was beside the N100 million and the N40 million earmarked in 2014 and 2015 respectively for the provision of 2,725 beds for 62 boarding schools and the N100 million and N55 million budgeted for in 2014 and 2015 respectively for the provision of 5,500 mattresses in secondary schools.

Dirty mattresses at the pavement of the boys dormitory at St. Marys Science College, Ediene Abak, Akwa Ibom (Cletus Ukpong)

There was also provision for another N300 million, both in 2014 and 2015 budget, as subvention to 234 secondary schools.

It remains unclear whether these funds were released or whether the projects for which they were meant were executed. Pressed for months for explanations, education ministry officials consistently declined to comment.

What is however clear, is that a good number of schools across the state remain dilapidated and bereft of essential facilities.

Administration insiders, who asked not to be named for fear of being punished by the authorities, say St. Marys Science College, like most of the schools, is a victim of poor management of public funds and corruption among government officials.

Contracts for the renovation of public schools are awarded in most cases as a measure of political patronage to people who will in turn pocket the money, they say. And this, of course, happens in collusion with government officials.

The state government, in a document circulated on Facebook by the state Commissioner for Information, Charles Udoh, claim Governor Udom Emmanuel administration has constructed and renovated 62 school blocks in the state so far.

The government is, however, yet to provide details of the locations of the projects. Several requests by this reporters are yet to be responded to.

Agric laboratory at St. Marys Science College, Ediene Abak, Akwa Ibom (Cletus Ukpong)

Alumni, teacher to the rescue

A member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Aniekan Bassey, who is an alumnus of the college, has stepped in to lobby the state government to save the school.

Mr Bassey, who represents Uruan State Constituency in the House, took some of the aides of Governor Emmanuel on a tour of the college.

He says he was later assured that a new dormitory and classroom blocks would be built during the next round of the state governments Inter-Ministerial Direct Labour Projects.

The lawmaker says he became aware of the state of the school when a fellow House member, Friday Iwok (PDP/Abak State Constituency), raised the matter during a recent plenary.

Another lawmaker Otobong Akpan (PDP/Ukanafun State Constituency), also an alumnus of the college, says it was sad that the school was left to rot away.

Why did the school authorities keep quiet for things to get to that state? What happened to the subventions given to the school by the government? Mr Akpan asks.

Idongesit Reuben, a businessman and an alumnus of the school, tells PREMIUM TIMES his concern is more on the safety of the students.

We dont wish to have another tragedy in this state, Mr Reuben says. Let the government relocate the students out of the hostels immediately.

A repeat visit to the school by this reporter on April 6, 2018, one year after, shows no significant improvement so far; saved for the replacement of the roof on three buildings, the hostels and the main classroom block are still in their decaying and squalour state.

Inside the boys dormitory at St. Marys Science College, Ediene Abak, Akwa Ibom State (Cletus Ukpong)

There are signs of reconstruction work at the library building but the students on campus, who are writing their senior school certificate examination, tell PREMIUM TIMES the contractor abandoned site four weeks earlier.

This reporter had contacted several administration officials on the state of the college as he worked on this story. It is unclear if the government moved in to do some remedial work as a way of preempting this publication.

Patrick Akpabio, a Catholic priest and Chaplain of the college, believes it might be counterproductive waiting for government to tackle the infrastructural deficit in the school.

Mr Akpabio, who also teaches at the school, is, therefore, mobilising personal resources to build a new chapel for the school after the first one collapsed.

This is the only pair of shoes I have, the priest says, pointing to his thick black boots.

If the white missionaries travelled such a long distance to this place to start this college, then I have every reason to do my best to rescue this school.

This is the second in a six-part series on how corruption, poor budget planning and implementation, and outright neglect led to the near collapse of public education in Akwa Ibom, one of Nigerias richest states.

This investigation is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting
Women who live in refugee camps after surviving Boko Haram attacks have narrated how Nigerian and Cameroonian security officials maltreated them.

The women spoke on Thursday in Abuja at an event organised by Amnesty International (AI) to present its latest report on the situation in camps meant for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

PREMIUM TIMES published details of the report which showed several women were raped and blackmailed by soldiers who offered food in return for sex after starving them.

Both the Nigerian government and the military have since rejected the report, saying no such things happen in IDP camps.

Few of the women spoken to by Amnesty International, who were willing to come on record, spoke to journalists on Thursday.

Kella Haruna, one of the victims, said it has been a terrible experience in IDP camps. She said both the military and Joint Task Force (JTF) violated the rights of the women.

Mrs Haruna, who spoke in Kanuri language, said many women were exploited sexually, and forced to trade sex for food.

After liberating Banki, in fact the authorities were in Banki but we in the villages were left in the authority of Boko Haram, she said. We have nothing to do but to resolve to prayers which we continuously did until we were eventually rescued.

So when we were pushed to the Cameroonian territory, we were humiliated there too. Because we were stripped almost naked by the Cameroonian soldiers. We were later transferred to Banki. We were in Banki for four days; no food, no water, until we were eventually transferred to Bama camp.

Mrs Haruna said she believed none of the atrocities she and other women later suffered would have happened if their husbands were present.

It was at Bama that our husbands were blindfolded and then packed into a lorry and brought to Maiduguri, and we were told we would be taken to where our husbands are. And up till today, we have never seen nor heard from our husbands.

The military then announced that where are the women, we are going to take you to where your husbands are. So we just took whatever pieces that we have and then came out. When we came out, they just picked us and then dumped us in the same Bama, in the general hospital at Red Camp.

Nigerian Army on duty

In the Bama Camp, honestly there were no food, no water; and when you complain, they will beat you up and then our money have already been even taken by the soldiers so we were just left with nothing.

It was that situation that the soldiers preyed upon to demand sex from many of the women, she narrated.

Another victim, Fatima Bukar, expressed sadness about the fate of her husband, sons and brothers who she said were detained by soldiers.

She said the families have not been provided with any official information on the detained male relatives.

In fact, before separating us, they brought them out, washed them up and then they tied their eyes and then transported them to Maiduguri before in fact taking us to the Bama Camp, she said.

She pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene and end their sufferings.

The Nigerian military has in the past said arrested men were vetted to confirm if they were part of the Boko Haram or not.

Scores of those who were later found innocent have been released by the military. Hundreds more, who are yet to be tried for any offence, are however believed to still be in detention.

GOVERNMENT MUST ACT

Hamsatu Allamin, founder of Allamin foundation for peace in Borno State, who also spoke at the event, said it is painful that soldiers and members of the Civilian JTF, a government funded vigilante, are abusing the women sexually.

From the right Hamsatu Allamin, Founder of Allamin foundation for peace in Borno state, Sani Zoro, chairman, House of Rep committee on IDPs Refugees and Initiatives on North East, Fatima Bukar, victim, Kulla Haruna, victim.

Even if its just a soldier, or just a JTF that raped any of the women in the camps, he must be brought to book, she said. Even though these women are scared of what will happen to them for speaking out, but I believe all these women have the right to speak out if they are being raped.

According to Mrs Allamin who also translated the Kanuri language spoken by the victims to English, about 1600 women have been molested and beaten in these IDP camps. She said about 437 husbands are missing.

Some of these Nigerian military are worse than Boko Haram. We are not talking about hundreds of husbands, but thousands. The wind of change needs to blow across the nation. I believe the military should not be angry with this, but look for possible ways for solution.

Lots of effort are going on by the human rights commission, military and law enforcement to protect and enhance the lives of people affected with insurgency, she said.

The Director of Protection and Investigation at the National Human Rights Commission, confirmed the receipt of a complaint indicating that 437 men were arrested and have not been seen.

I wrote to the Nigerian Army, forwarded the list to them and they responded saying none of the 437 names are on the list of those in all their facilities in Borno State.

I even called our officers in Borno State to meet with the petitioners, but the army said they do not have the names in detention.

For Saudatu Mahdi, a founding member of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG), the scale of disaster Nigeria is dealing with in the North-east is beyond human imagination.

Recently, we had a dialogue. But we cannot hold Boko Haram accountable at this particular point in time because the war is still going on; they are still in the bushes; and then the government has not initiated any move to declare formal ceasefire with Boko Haram, Mrs Mahdi, whose BBOG has been demanding the release of girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram, said.

When Dapchi girls were abducted, she said, we keep communicating with the non-violent ones who can reach out to the violent ones. Believe you me, one week ceasefire was declared so that Boko Harm will return Dapchi Girls; and they did.

If we can declare one week ceasefire, why cant we declare final ceasefire? So that the war will end and every other person can come out. What is stopping us for goodness sake?

Over 100 of the kidnapped Dapchi girls were released by the terror group. However, one of the kidnapped teenage students, Leah Sharibu, is still with the insurgents who refused to release her after she allegedly refused to rescind her Christian religion.

Mrs Mahdi said she believes this is the right time to seek for accountability for the atrocities committed by the few culpable soldiers and Civilian-JTF members.

In his remark, Auwal Rafsanjani, chairman, Advisory board, Amnesty International (AI) Nigeria, said AI is helping citizens to raise the consciousness and awareness of their rights.

Amnesty International is not in competition with anybody; we are not politicians and we are not there to bring down the government. AI is there to ensure that rights of Nigerians are protected, he said.

He said the protest by some groups against Amnesty International was organised by people who do not want to protect human rights in Nigeria.

Based on the evidences we have, we had to bring in, physically, people who have been abused by this rights violation.

Why will people say we are destabilising the country? We are only calling on the government to be responsible and proactive in promoting the rights of Nigerians, he said.

LAWMAKERS SPEAK

Sani Zoro, the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on IDPs, Refugees and Initiatives on North-east, said all conflicts and wars have always been resolved through negotiation.

Since we have not been able to take these guys down for over five years, we have no option than to embrace the pacifist option, the peaceful option, he said at the event.

He complained about the communication deficiency among institutions that need to work together to resolve the insurgency.

Weve gotten up to 9 to 10 referrals saying there is gender based violence and lack of food in these camps and billions of naira are being appropriated for the survival of these people. We really need to be accountable.

Do you think the generalised violence we are witnessing in Kaduna State, the one consuming Zamfara State does not have a link to Boko Haram? On the map, Nigeria is competing with Syria in terms of displacement, he said.

For a senator, Shehu Sani, the AI report should not be condemned by government.

Senator Shehu Sani

Women are becoming the target for atrocities and it is alarming. This report is not indicting, it is a copy of what we are in this country, the senator representing Kaduna Central Senatorial District said.

He said it is sad that people in power may not even read the report at all as their focus has been shifted to election.,

If a serving governor can say the rate of killings in Nigeria is being exaggerated, then there is a problem.

As far as the North-east is concerned, there is no seriousness on the part of the government at all. If the captives were sons and daughters of a senator, minister or government official, they would have been released even if warrants spending all the money in Central Bank, he said.
Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa on Thursday updated President Muhammadu Buhari on security and socio-economic developments in Bayelsa and the Niger Delta region.

Mr Dickson, who spoke with State House correspondents after closed door meeting with the president, said he stressed the need for change in approach to security management in the Niger Delta during the meeting.

The governor, who described his interaction with the president as fruitful, said the meeting also deliberated on the issue of devolution of power.

So, I thank the president for availing me the opportunity to share perspectives on very serious issues on security, stability and development of Bayelsa and the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

We talked about the need to revisit the Brass energy; we talked about the need for change in approach to security management in the Niger Delta; we talked about the challenges of stabilising the Niger Delta and the need for federal support.

We talked about a whole range of other issues including what we think should be the final response to the ongoing debate about devolution and I believe that we had a very fruitful interaction, he said.

The governor reiterated the determination of his administration to continue to partner with the federal government and security agencies to advance and consolidate security of life and property in the region.

He said: Governors of the Niger Delta region are doing a lot and as governors we will continue to do our best, working with the security agencies, we should be apolitical in supporting constituted authorities in the states.

We expect that this interaction will yield positive results.

Mr Dickson, who stressed that the country was in dire need of devolution, said only devolution or restructuring would guarantee stability in the country.

He noted that the Governor Nasir El-Rufai APC panel on restructuring had done a good job.

The governor, however, stressed the need to expand the scope of consultation, saying that all parts of Nigeria needed to be carried along especially the leadership of Northern Nigeria.

(NAN)
Patients at Asokoro District Hospital, Abuja have lamented the unavailability of doctors at the hospital to attend to patients especially in emergency cases even as the debilitating strike by JOHESU continues unabated.

One of the patients, Hassan Abubakar, who narrated his ordeal to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday said he got to the hospital as early as 5.30 a.m. As at 9 a.m. when he was speaking with the reporter, he was yet to be attended to by a doctor.

He said the doctors are yet to resume.

Narrating his experience, he said there was no doctor at the accident and emergency section as at the time he got to the hospital.

I met an emergency case here when I came, but there was no doctor around to attend to him. The person at the emergency unit kept trying to get the doctor but kept on saying he could not reach the doctor because his number was switched off. This is so bad.

We all know the health workers are on strike and doctors are meant to be available 24 hours at the emergency unit, unfortunately this is not the case. I had to advise the relatives to take the man to a private hospital and not mind the cost since the treatment they seek at Askoro is not forthcoming, he said.

Health activities across many secondary and tertiary health institutions have been crippled due to the ongoing health workers strike.

The health workers, under the Joint Health Sector Union include all health professionals at the hospitals excluding the medical doctors.

It is expected that medical doctors will be on ground to cushion the effect of the strike.

Mr Abubakar, who was eventually attended to around 10.35 am at the GOPD (General Outpatients Department) unit told PREMIUM TIMES that two doctors later came in, one around 9.15 am while the other resumed around 9.20 am.

Only two doctors are around in the consultation rooms. There are eight consultation rooms where there should be two doctors each, unfortunately only two people are on duty as I speak. This is unfair, doctors should always be on ground in the hospital, they come in anytime they like.

The minister health should resign if he cant find a lasting solution to the problem in the health sector. The minister of health and FCT needs to be doing a period unannounced invitations to most of the hospitals. That is the only way they can get this hospitals running effectively, he said.

The reporter noticed that most of the units were not fully functional.

At the family practice unit, a doctor was seen attending to some patients who said they had not spent much time at the hospital. Most of them said they came in around 10 am.

A doctor was, however, overheard telling one of the patients that treatment of patients under the National Health Insurance Scheme has been suspended until after the strike.

Asokoro district hospital

He said if any such patient was to be attended to, she would have to go pay N600 to register and come back with the receipt to see the doctor.

He said the pharmacy operated under the NHIS was also under lock. This the reporter also confirmed.

This implies that the woman would be buying whatever drugs prescribed instead of collection through the NHIS point which is cheaper.

The doctor in his explanation said when the strike started, they were attending to NHIS patients, but there is now a new directive from the management that they should suspend such till after the strike.

While observing activities at the hospital, a staffer who asked not to be mentioned told the reporter that, things are really bad.

The government needs to get things going. There have been lots of cases that have been referred to other hospitals, mostly private. Most of the doctors you see around do not come in until 8.30 a.m. and by 12 p.m., most of them are gone. This is very common with the senior doctors. It is only some of the junior doctors that manage to stay around.

He said the accident and emergency unit is not admitting patients.

He gave an example of a woman who was rushed down to the hospital by military men Tuesday but was referred elsewhere.

He said the soldiers had rescued the woman who was an accident victim and rushed her down only to be turned back.

According to him, the irate soldiers threatened to take the woman back to the point where she was rescued.

When the reporter visited the ward, only three patients were seen on the beds.

The ante-natal section was, however, active, while officials at the radiology unit said they were only doing scan and not any other imaging which might include x-rays.

A mother, who brought her daughter to the paediatric ward, said she spent almost one and half hours before she saw the doctor.

It is not that they are not attending to us, but it is not the way they should. The doctors were stylishly advising us to seek more medical care outside the government hospital because they do not know when the strike will end, she said.

Another staffer who pleaded not to be mentioned because he is a health worker said many patients are being referred to other hospitals, mostly private.

The doctors are using this opportunity to enrich themselves especially those that have hospitals. They now refer patients to their hospitals or those of their superiors. Go to the ante-natal section that is working, you will see fliers of various public hospitals on the doctors tables and some calendars of public hospitals hanged on the wall. This is not right.

While lamenting the situation, he said the doctors have been misleading the system, government and the public that they can function alone.

This strike has shown that they cannot do it alone, he added.

Most patients are complaining that why do they say the hospitals are open when they cannot see the doctors or consultants. Apart from the time the waste, they dont see the consultant. At the end of the day, they get information where they can access good health services.

Buttressing his allegations, he gave examples of three patients, one who had an ectopic pregnancy but had to seek medical attention in a private hospital because there was nobody to do a scan on her.

She needed to be urgently operated to save her life. I dont know if she survived, he said.

He however said, the other two women were not lucky as they died.

Nobody cares to follow-up what is happening. The impression doctors are giving the public is that they are working and they are comfortable with it that way. Killing the system, killing the patient, because their interest is not about the patient but about who we are and who we want to be.

The decision maker, and there are lots of realities on ground, the government is missing. The system is not checked, most people are referred to non-standard hospitals and they are exploiting the system more, he said.

PREMIUM TIMES attempt to speak with the hospital management was not successful as the reporter was told to bring a letter, to that effect.

One of the staff at the general administration office said, the doctors are always on ground.

The emergency unit operates 24 hours and doctors are always on ground. However, if you want the managements position, you will have to bring a letter to that effect, she said.

The reporter noticed some of the doctors leaving the hospital around 12.30 a.m.
The Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a youth vigilante group has told Amnesty international to provide evidence on its recent claims that security operatives in Borno State raped several females in camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

This comes days after AI released a damning report that indicted soldiers and Civilian-JTF of taking advantage of starving women by sexually exploiting them when they requested for food.

The Federal Government and the military had earlier denied the allegations.

Boko Haram has in the over nine years of insurgency in the North-east Nigeria caused the displacement of over three million persons, majority from Borno State.

Most of these IDPs are women and children who have been taking refuge in camps run by the government and secured by the military and the CJTF.

There have been several claims that the security officials manning the camps sexually exploit the vulnerable women.

The AI report, which was published this week, said in part: Scores of women described how soldiers and Civilian JTF members have used force and threats to rape women in satellite camps, including by taking advantage of hunger to coerce women to become their girlfriends, which involved being available for sex on an ongoing basis.

In a statement, signed by the President and Secretary-General of the CJTF, Messrs Babalawan Jaafar and Muhammed Bukar, the vigilante group said its members have conducted themselves well while guarding most camps.

Describing the claims of the AI as laughable, the CJTF officials tasked the rights group to substantiate their claims if they truly have evidence against them (CJTF).

The attention of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) has been drawn to media reports credited to Amnesty International levelling serious allegations of rape and other crimes to the Nigerian Military and members of the Civilian JTF in the North-east. The leadership of the CJTF found the allegation as funny, laughable and embarrassing in its entirety. The CJTF deny all the allegations and call on Amnesty International to substantiate the allegation with facts.

That the CJTF is a law abiding outfit and a respecter of the rights of the citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria particularly the rights of women and children. That the CJTF has over the years arrested and handed over to the relevant security agencies persons who engaged themselves in the commission of crimes against the citizenry.

The CJTF remain focused in the discharge of its responsibilities and calls on all its members to be law-abiding at all times. That this baseless and unfounded allegations will not deter the CJTF in the discharge of its duties to the citizens and the nation at large, the statement read.
The federal government will soon resolve the challenges delaying the completion and delivery of its Igbogbo/Bayeku Housing Scheme in Ikorodu area of Lagos State to Nigerians.

The Minister of State II for Power, Works and Housing, Suleiman Zarma, said this while inspecting the Igbogbo/Bayeku Prototype Housing Scheme on Thursday.

Mr Zarma said that the project was awarded in 2014 but was stalled due to demand for an upward review of the project sum by the contractors.

The aim of this visit is to ascertain what is really happening on site from its managers.

I have heard that the contractors are asking for an upward review of the contract sums, he said.

He said that the ministry was going to weigh the options and take necessary steps aimed at completing and allocating the houses to intending home owners.

He said that the ministry was also discussing with the Lagos State Government on how the state could provide land for more housing estates for residents of the state.

We are going to appeal to the governor of Lagos State and I think he will accede to our request.

Once the properties are developed, anybody that is taking possession of any of the buildings will either be a Lagosian or a resident of Lagos.

So the economic benefits will come to Lagos State, he said.

The minister said that the federal governments houses were for all Nigerians both in the middle and low income earners from the formal and informal sectors of the economy.

He explained that there were different packages to suit different income levels and cultures.

The Federal Controller, Housing, Lagos, Kenneth Abuah, said that there were 12 blocks of two bedroom flats, electricity and water works for the Prototype Housing Scheme.

Mr Abuah who conducted the minister round the project site also gave a rundown of activities there.

Also, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing site coordinator, Peju Fatiye, said that the project was divided into the prototype, public private partnership (PPP) and site and slervices sections.

Mr Fatiye explained that a portion of the PPP had been completed and was in the process of being taken over by the Federal Mortgage Bank.

She said that all the contracts were awarded in November 2014 but that the contractors abandoned the project due to insufficient funding.

She said that the electrification and water supply aspects of the project had been completed.

It is our prayer that these building blocks will be completed so that these facilities can be put into use very soon, she said.

She said that some of the challenges facing the site include security issue and lack of perimeter fence around the site.

She said that with the perimeter fence in place, it would stop unathourised access to the site.

(NAN)
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-- Mark Spain Real Estate, an independently owned and operated, Georgia based residential real estate firm, was featured at No. 22, with more than $440 million gross sales."The fact that we're on a list with real estate firms having far more agents says a lot about the hard work, efficiency and dedication of our agent team. Ten of the 25 companies have between a thousand and 2,500 agents! Just three firms on the list have fewer than the 100 agents we had during 2017," explains Chairman and CEO Mark Spain. "Our goal is not to be the biggest Atlanta real estate company, just the one offering the best service to our clients while selling their home quickly and for the best price possible."That agent team number has since bumped up to more than 125 agents and 35 staff members to effectively run a comprehensive marketing strategy, a quick response system with all client communications, and its recent expansion outside Georgia.Mark Spain Real Estate is based in Alpharetta, just minutes off Georgia 400, at 12600 Deerfield Parkway, #450, but also has three other locations strategically spaced out around the Atlanta perimeter in Marietta, Stockbridge and Buford to serve the entire 20-county metro Atlanta region as well as an office in Athens. In 2018, the firm began its Southeast expansion, opening offices in Charlotte and Raleigh, with another location in Nashville expected to open in a few months.The Top 25 Atlanta Real Estate Company honor came at nearly the same time Mark Spain Real Estate was honored with two Agents' Choice Awards byThe awards are primarily voted on by industry peers who read the residential real estate trade magazine and Mark Spain Real Estate was selected as Best Team in metro Atlanta real estate and Mark Spain was personally selected for the Charitable Service Award.To learn more about Mark Spain Real Estate, visit MarkSpain.com ( http://www.markspain.com/ ), call 855-299-SOLD or follow the firm on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/ MarkSpainRealEstate ) or Twitter (https://www.twitter.com/MarkSpainTeam)###Mark Spain Real Estate is an industry-leading residential real estate firm with offices throughout the Southeast. Prior to forming his own independent firm in January 2016, Mark Spain and his team were annually the No. 1 ranked large team for sales production with the Atlanta Realtors Association for more than 10 consecutive years and annually appeared in the top 10 of thelist of America's top 1,000 agents and teams. Mark Spain Real Estate is the No. 1 most reviewed real estate company on Zillow in the entire United States.MSRE has been honored in 2017 and 2018 as one ofTop Places to Work. It has also earnedPacesetter Award honors the last two years, for being one of 100 metro Atlanta's top fastest-growing privately held companies. It started off this year with being named to the Bulldog 100 Award List, debuting at No. 16 as one of the fastest-growing 100 UGA alumni-owned companies. In July 2017, Mark Spain and his team earned the No. 2 ranking in the U.S. for closed transactions on "The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals,"a national awards ranking, sponsored annually by REAL Trends and advertised in. In September 2017,ranked MSRE No. 2,097 on its annual Inc. 5000 List. Companies such as Microsoft, Domino's Pizza, Pandora, LinkedIn, Yelp and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on Inc. 5000.
Dr. Pressler commented, "The air quality for the vast majority of the Hawaiian Islands is clean and healthy. The emissions from Kilauea volcano are a non-factor for O'ahu, Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaua'i. The weather is beautiful and warm with cooling trade winds everywhere in Hawai'i and is exactly what travelers expect when coming here for a relaxing and fun vacation experience. This includes Hilo, Pahoa and the Kona and Kohala coasts on the island of Hawai'i.

"The areas where precautions are required for people are in lower Puna where lava is flowing and downwind from there on the island of Hawai'i, particularly if they have respiratory problems. Because of heavy emissions of vog, as well as occasional bursts of ash plumes from the Kilauea summit, the southeast portions of the island are also routinely experiencing concerning conditions. Those visiting areas south of Hilo should stay alert for air quality updates, especially when wind conditions change. Fortunately, when trade winds are blowing, the vog and ash routinely move in a southwesterly direction and out to sea away from the Hawaiian Islands."

Governor Ige stated, "Hawai'i's air quality is being closely monitored on a continuing basis by scientists, meteorologists and the Hawai'i State Department of Health. This team of experts says the air quality in the Hawaiian Islands is safe for residents and visitors, except in the affected areas.

"Two other topics that I want to alleviate people's concerns about are laze and the Puna Geothermal Venture plant. Laze is a natural reaction that occurs whenever lava flows into the ocean as it is doing now and has from time to time over the past 35 years. This is all part of nature's way of creating new land for life to grow. Laze is limited to the area where the lava meets the ocean and is not a danger to people who keep a safe distance away.

"At the Puna Geothermal Venture plant, the state is actively directing protective actions to reduce the risk from lava flows moving nearby. The underground wells have been sealed and secured minimizing the threat to the safety of people and communities.

"The bottom line is that there is no reason for travelers to avoid making their vacation plans in the Hawaiian Islands due to safety concerns because of Kilauea volcano.

"Visitors will be welcomed with open arms and treated to the hospitality, aloha, warmth and natural beauty that is found everywhere in Hawai'i. The only area to avoid is lower Puna where the eruption is ongoing."

George D. Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority, echoed the governor's sentiment in welcoming visitors to Hawai'i. "We understand the concern some travelers may have about coming to Hawai'i while Kilauea volcano is so much more active at this time. But we encourage everyone to do their research and rely on trusted federal, state and county resources that are providing truthful, accurate information about what is taking place in Hawai'i. Those who do will find that coming to Hawai'i is a smart decision to enjoy a wonderful summer vacation."

Kilauea has been an active volcano since 1983 and is one of Hawai'i's most popular attractions. Over the years residents and visitors have been drawn to the wonder of seeing nature at work in the creation of new land via tours or visits to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Most of the park is currently closed until further notice.

For the latest update on air quality in the Hawaiian Islands, please reference the State of Hawai'i Interagency Vog Information Dashboard: http://www.ivhhn.org/vog/

For the latest tourism updates please visit the Special Alerts page of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority: http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org/news/special-alert/

Travelers planning a trip to the Hawaiian Islands who have questions can contact the Hawai'i Tourism United States Call Center at 1-800-GOHAWAII (1-800-464-2924).

About the Hawai'i Tourism Authority

The Hawai'i Tourism Authority is responsible for strategically managing the State of Hawai'i's marketing initiatives to support tourism. HTA's goal is to optimize tourism's benefits for Hawai'i, while being attentive to the interests of travelers, the community and visitor industry. Established in 1998 to support Hawai'i's leading industry and largest employer, HTA continually strives to help ensure the sustainability of tourism's success.

For more information about HTA, please visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org. Follow updates about HTA on Facebook, Twitter (@HawaiiHTA) and its YouTube Channel.

SOURCE Hawaii Tourism Authority

Related Links

http://www.hawaiitourismauthority.org


MINNEAPOLIS, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Law, a global legal network that includes more than 65 member firms and approximately 2400 lawyers worldwide, will be holding its 28th Annual General Meeting in London, from 30 May to 2 June 2018. Hosted by member firm Edwin Coe LLP, this marquee event will gather 160 lawyers from 40 countries on six continents to discuss best practices for providing seamless, tier-one legal counsel to clients locally and across jurisdictions.

Said Alfonso Gonzales Uribe, President of Ally Law and a partner in Mexico City-based law firm Cornejo Mendez Gonzalez & Duarte, "The 65 Ally Law member firms are among the top legal providers in their respective countries. Our Annual General Meeting provides an important opportunity for us to strengthen our network and improve collaboration. This year we are honored to welcome six new member firms and three prospective members to our event. We are growing rapidly and this enables us to serve our clients more effectively, at home and around the globe."

New members include firms in Luxembourg, Indonesia, Finland, Israel, Portugal and North Carolina. Prospective members are also attending from the Ukraine, Taiwan and Brazil.

Added Roger Franklin, chair of this year' AGM and a partner at Edwin Coe, "With a full slate of panels, roundtable discussions and presentations on substantive legal issues, practice management and emerging legal trends, this year's AGM promises to be one of our best ever."

In addition to the AGM, Ally Law members regularly meet regionally to focus on jurisdiction-specific business and legal issues. These regular meetings give the members an advantage over law firms outside the network by assuring the most current insights and experiences directly applicable to clients of Ally Law member firms are shared.

About Ally Law

Ally Law firms provide sophisticated legal services to major corporations, with a sharp focus on value and efficiency. Our 60+ firms include more than 2300 lawyers in 100 business centers worldwide. Each has been subject to a rigorous vetting process and many are ranked by respected legal guides, including Chambers, The Legal 500 and Best Lawyers. For more information, visit www.ally-law.com.

Press contact:

Wendy Horn

Ally Law

[email protected]

SOURCE Ally Law

Related Links

https://ally-law.com


CHEYENNE, Wyo., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Argus Worldwide Corp. (www.argusworldwide.com) confirmed today that the Company plans to exploit the design, development, manufacturing, marketing and servicing know-how and industrial experience of Tejovat Technologies Pvt Ltd (www.tejovat.com) in its quest to offer a unique smartphone as a landing platform for its Cyber Junky aggregator. The Company recently announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to acquire India based engineering firm Tejovat in a transaction which is scheduled to close over the next 30 days.

A spokesperson for the Company says that "While it is fully understandable that the Cyber Junky community will be loading the CJ aggregator on a broad range of desktop, portable and mobile hardware, we see our proprietary mobile smartphone as a strategic and cost effective way of building out the Cyber Junky brand."

Adds Santosh Labade, President and Founder of Tejovat Technologies, "Our expertise lies in the design and development of high performance, cost effective dual SIM unlocked phones. Our Basic Feature Phones, Dual SIM Smartphones, Educational Tablets and Kids Mobile Phones will be targeted for India and major International markets." Mr. Labade adds, "We are excited about working with the CJ technical staff on providing the global marketplace with a unique smartphone that will be designed to enhance the Cyber Junky experience and provide many cost effective and performance enhancements for CJs Smartphone customers."

Tejovat Technologies Pvt Ltd was established in 2015 and is headquartered in Pune, India. Tejovat is a leading consumer electronics company, engaged in the field of design, development, manufacturing, marketing and servicing of smart home products, tablets and mobile phones.The Tejovat technical team has broad experience working on cutting-edge products and technologies for various domains including but not limited to ASIC/FPGA, Hardware, Firmware, Software, Mechanical design, development and verification. The Company's Quality engineering team uses best in class knowledge and training in testing hardware and software products along with the necessary certifications in the field of medical and consumer electronics.

Argus Worldwide Corp. is a diversified operating company engaged in the development or acquisition of corporate properties in 'go to' business segments including but not limited to digital/internet products and services and health industries such as generic pharmaceuticals. The Company maintains its registered corporate office in Cheyenne, Wyoming and has affiliated offices in Ottawa, Canada; Warsaw, Poland; and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Shares of Argus Worldwide Corp. are traded on the US OTC Markets; Pink Current (OTC: ARGW).

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "will" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Corporation's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the Corporation. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Corporation is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained here.

SOURCE Argus Worldwide Corp.

Related Links

http://www.argusworldwide.com


SEATTLE, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- autoGraph Inc., a leading provider of privacy compliance and opt-in technology, announced today the launch of autoGraph Connect, a new white-label solution that gives companies a better way to securely conduct information sharing with customers. The launch of autoGraph Connect is timed with the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that also goes into effect today.

autoGraph Connect provides mobile operators with a better way to manage personal data and privacy and find new ways to generate revenues from existing subscribers as they move to 5G networks. 5G is a technological revolution that will allow people to be always connected and will dramatically improve speeds which, in turn, is expected to increase content consumption over mobile devices.

The GDPR is a European Union regulation on privacy and data protection that mandates how companies use and store the personal data of EU residents, as well as the export of the information outside of the EU. All companies (regardless of its location) that retain or utilize data of people inside the EU are subject to these new GDPR regulations. The intent of the rules are to provide individuals with more control over their information and to put pressure on companies only collect data with the proper permissions, and to better store and protect that data.

With autoGraph Connect the need to track user behaviors is effectively eliminated, so they are free to travel the internet and connect with various preferred sites. The solution captures the user's preferences through the opt-in procedure, and then refines those preferences through its proprietary AI. This is done transparently, as the user can view this data, and has the opportunity to adjust their profile data to their specific preferences. autoGraph Connect users engage with user controlled opt-in experience that encourages them to create profiles, and then asks for their permission to utilize that profile data when interacting with publishers, brands and operators. The end result is an improved and more trusted experience for the users, and a significant increase in advertising revenue and content engagement through tailored offers and information.

"The implementation of GDPR, recent privacy scandals, and the rise of 5G are a confluence of factors driving the need for enhanced privacy controls and improved levels of trust between the user and operators," said Henry Lawson, CEO of autoGraph Inc. "'We timed the launch of autoGraph Connect with GDPR because we want to be at the forefront of the new compliance challenges facing companies as well as the hurdles coming with the always-on connectivity of 5G. We're targeting mobile operators because they're the ones that make global networks of communication possible. Through autoGraph Connect we can provide organizations with a great one-two punch of GDPR compliant opt-ins along with improved customer retention and profits."

Users can manage their information through autoGraph Connect by actively adjusting or deleting their profiles. They can also create multiple profiles, for example building one for their work activities and another that reflects their personal social media interests. autoGraph Connect leverages one-time token authentication to enable a site's access to the user's profile information, and this token is eliminated after a single use. A subsequent visit by the same visitor will appear as a new person, because a different token will be presented.

"We've effectively removed the need to track users' actions, so instead of single sign-on services such as Facebook, autoGraph Connect provides them with a safer authenticated experience," continued Lawson. "The user decides which information can be seen, and they receive the benefit of enhanced personalized content and services based on any information they choose to share."

For more information about autoGraph Connect, please visit https://www.autograph.me/autograph-connect-5g/.

About autoGraph:

Aiming to increase customer engagement while keeping privacy its top priority, autoGraph builds and creates a consumer opt-in platform that shares profile information with mobile network operators and business-to-consumer brands. By using artificial intelligence, autoGraph can build unique views of consumers' preferences, interests and brand loyalties without compromising privacy. Overall it makes for a much richer, more rewarding online experience.

The company's customers include top-four mobile operators in the United States and United Kingdom in addition to various premium retail brands in both countries. All use autoGraph to deliver new revenues for their businesses through customer experiences that are personalized and controlled by consumers. autoGraph customers have experienced 85% opt-in rates and increased revenues greater than 20%, improving core customer engagement and loyalty metrics. To learn more about autoGraph Inc., please visit: https://www.autograph.me/.

Media Contact:

Jordyn Comitor

[email protected]

847-504-6935

SOURCE autoGraph, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.autograph.me


"This acquisition represents our first entry into the Canadian market and further expands our sterile processing capability, which is in very high demand," said Timothy C. Tyson, Avara's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "It comes with a world-class development center and a dedicated team of experts that will support us in delivering high-quality pharmaceuticals that meet or exceed customer expectations and regulatory requirements."

The proposed acquisition of Novartis Technical Operations' sterile manufacturing facility and the adjacent Sandoz Development Center located on the Sandoz Canada campus in Boucherville, Quebec, is expected to be finalized in the next few months, following the completion of a number of closing conditions including receipt of anti-trust approvals. It follows Avara's acquisition of another sterile facility in the past year, one from Pfizer Inc. in Liscate, Italy, and one solid dose manufacturing facility from GlaxoSmithKline in Aiken, South Carolina. It will bring the number of manufacturing and development sites operated by Avara worldwide to ten: two in Canada; three in the United States, including corporate headquarters; one in Puerto Rico; one in the UK; one in Ireland; one in Italy; and one in France.

The Boucherville site is the biggest injectables production facility in Canada and provides a number of strategic and lifesaving medicines to the Canadian healthcare system, mostly hospitals. As part of the asset purchase agreement, the parties have committed to sign a long-term supply contract to guarantee continuous supply of products manufactured in Boucherville. No impact on jobs is anticipated at the moment and Avara intends to invest in the site and pursue business development opportunities to optimize the plant's utilization and expand its customer base.

"We look forward to a seamless transition for employees, patients, customers, partners and other stakeholders," added Mr. Tyson. "We are impressed by the know-how at the Boucherville plant and Sandoz Development Center team and intend to leverage their expertise to develop new opportunities in the contract pharmaceutical market, in Canada and elsewhere."

About Avara

Avara Pharmaceutical Services, Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut is an international pharmaceutical services company that delivers world-class contract manufacturing and technical services to the pharmaceutical industry. Avara has primary and secondary manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe and supplies products to all major markets around the world. Avara's broad experience with supply chain, commercialization, product launch and product transfer allow us to sustain exemplary levels of product quality and regulatory compliance. The company is known to exceed customer service level expectations and consistently deliver on time, in full at a fair price. For more information, please visit our website at www.avara.com.

CONTACT: Guy Tiene, (+1) 212-366-4455

SOURCE Avara Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.avara.com


BRISTOL, Conn., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross presented Beekley Medical with the President's "E" Award for Exports at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 21. The President's "E" Award is the highest recognition any U.S. entity can receive for making a significant contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports.

Wilbur Ross, US Secretary of Commerce presenting the President's "E" Award for Exports to Amy Bosco, Global Business Development, Senior Manager, and Martha Flannery, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Beekley Medical in Washington, D.C., May 21, 2018.

"Beekley Medical has demonstrated a sustained commitment to export expansion. The "E" Awards Committee was very impressed with Beekley Medical's use of market research to help identify opportunities in new international markets. The company's record of imports to 48 countries was also particularly notable. Beekley Medical's achievements have undoubtedly contributed to national export expansion efforts that support the U.S. economy and create American jobs," said Secretary Ross in his congratulatory letter to the company announcing its selection.

"At Beekley Medical our focus is to make the lives of everyone we touch a little better and our goal is to help positively impact patients' lives and improve clinical outcomes. To have the opportunity to do this for patients all over the world is exciting and meaningful for us. We were delighted to earn the President's E Award and are excited to continue to serve patients around the world in the future."

In total, Secretary Ross honored 43 U.S. companies and organizations from across the country with the President's "E" Award for their role in strengthening the U.S. economy by sharing American ingenuity outside of our borders.

U.S. companies are nominated for the "E" Awards through the U.S. Commercial Service, part of the Department's International Trade Administration. With offices across the United States and in embassies and consulates around the world, The International Trade Administration lends its expertise at every stage of the exporting process by promoting and facilitating exports and investment into the United States; administering Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duties orders; and removing, reducing, or preventing foreign trade barriers.

U.S. exports totaled $2.33 trillion in 2017, accounting for 12 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Exports supported an estimated 10.7 million jobs nationwide in 2016, according to the most recent statistics from the International Trade Administration.

About the "E" Awards

In 1961, President Kennedy signed an executive order reviving the World War II "E" symbol of excellence to honor and provide recognition to America's exporters. Criteria for the award is based on four years of successive export growth in one or more international markets.

For more information about the "E" Awards and the benefits of exporting, visit www.export.gov.

For more information about Beekley Medical, visit www.beekley.com.

Contact: Mary Lang, (860) 583-4700

SOURCE Beekley Medical
BitUN cold wallet apply the military anti-corrosion technique, completely isolating from the Internet. The hardware CPU adopts the Secure Boot and Efuse mechanisms, combined with data encryption chips, and the security level is recognized by the national-level licensed exchanges. At the same time, the cold wallet also possesses technologies such as NFC and face/iris recognition, and it is verified simultaneously with the smart authorized device for signature. In the signature process, the user can also complete the multi-level approval financial process on the mobile hotspot APP, which is safe, convenient and efficient.

Additionally, the enterprise-level cryptocurrency storage security solution is matched with the enterprise-level cryptocurrency cold wallet, which has been applied to the Hong Kong exchange Coinsuper, which has greatly improved the security of the exchange assets and the convenience of depositing coins. BitUN's enterprise-class solutions integrate multiple security technologies such as hot wallet encryption, hot and cold end separation, 7-fold multi-dimension signatures, multi-siteer encryption and delivery, and are combined with financial process systems, approval and authorization systems to provide comprehensive protection for digital asset security.

It is reported that BitUN's enterprise-level cryptocurrency cold wallet will be officially released in July.

Website https://bitun.io

Telegram https://t.me/BitUNEN

Twitter https://twitter.com/Official_bitun

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bitunglobal

SOURCE BitUN
TAMPA, Fla., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As the European Union implements the much-awaited General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to synchronize data privacy laws for its citizens, most U.S. firms, including healthcare companies, are still working to comply with the rigorous regulation.

GDPR, which containing 99 articles and 173 recitals, has key requirements that directly impact the way organizations implement IT security, thus addressing the key security tenets of confidentiality, integrity and availability of data.

Black Book Market Research LLC

According to the latest forensic data analytics survey, only 48 percent of all industries have a plan to comply with GDPR and only 25 percent of U.S. healthcare industry firms.

"It is imperative for U.S. firms to plan and continue their efforts towards compliance to safeguard the continuity of business within the EU and avoid substantial penalties because of non-compliance," Doug Brown, founder of Black Book Market Research LLC.

For North American companies with operations in the EU, data security measures will now have to work alongside legal and compliance teams to ensure maximum adherence to GDPR.

"With data privacy concerns, particularly medical information on the rise and stringent regulatory requirements like GDPR coming into force, organizations have no choice but to redefine the way they approach data management," said Brown.

Non-compliance with GDPR can result in heavy fines and increased regulatory actions. Organizations that collect personal data must be able to prove that they consistently and reliably comply with GDPR privacy and security principles.

A new study from Black Book Market Research LLC reveals that only 29 percent of U.S. organizations surveyed are embracing the GDPR globally as an opportunity to improve privacy, security, data management or as a catalyst for new business models, rather than simply a compliance issue or impediment.

GDPR is a fairly complex piece of legislation with far-reaching impact not just within the European Union but the United States and the world as well.

U.S. companies operating in the EU will have to change the way they capture, process and use data of EU nationals. "It is a complicated process involving in-depth understanding of healthcare data privacy laws and policies in particular."

GDPR applies to all the personal data of any employee, consumer, patient and/or customer who are in Europe.

"With strong data protection strategies in place, consumers will place greater confidence in businesses and businesses will minimize the financial fall-out of a breach," said Brown.

From a survey of nearly 380 U.S. companies, Black Book reports the top 15 GDPR solutions and services rated on 20 key performance indicators of consultant and client satisfaction.

The U.S.-based advisory firms receiving the top honors from North American clients on GDPR assessment, risk mitigation, readiness, compliance and response actions include (with U.S. headquarters location identified):

Data443 Risk Mitigation (North Carolina)

SailPoint (Texas)

CIPHER (Florida)

TrustArc (California)

DXC Technology (Virginia)

Caserta (New York)

Trustwave (Illinois)

SysArc (Maryland)

FTI Consulting (Maryland)

Templar Shield (California)

TBG Security (Massachusetts)

SecureWorks (Texas)

Microsoft (Washington)

HPE (California)

IBM (New York)

About Black Book Market Research LLC and Black Book Security

Black Book Market Research LLC, its founder, management and staff do not own or hold any financial interest in any of the vendors or public relations firms covered and encompassed in the surveys it conducts. Additionally, Black Book does not contract for, barter, exchange or accept direct services from any public relations firm mentioned in the rankings. Black Book reports the results of the collected satisfaction and client experience rankings in publication and to media prior to vendor/firm notification of rating results and does not solicit vendor/agency participation fees, review fees, inclusion or briefing charges, consultation requirements and/or vendor collaboration as Black Book polls clients.

Since 2010, Black Book Market Research LLC has polled the vendor and service firm satisfaction in the software/technology and managed services sectors around the globe.

For methodology, auditing, resources, comprehensive research, see http://www.blackbookmarketresearch.com or www.blackbooksecurity.com.

Detailed results on the cybersecurity rankings, see: https://blackbookmarketresearch.com/health-data-security-and-privacy or www.blackbooksecurity.com.

Follow us on Twitter at @blackbooksec

For more information, contact Doug Brown at [email protected].

SOURCE Black Book Market Research LLC

Related Links

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After realizing that her peers were using electronic cigarettes at school, Eunice set out to strengthen her school district's tobacco-free policy. As a member of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth's youth-led teen volunteer group Y Street, Eunice kept at it until her district implemented a 24/7 smoke-free policy that includes e-cigarettes.

Eunice has also advocated for a statewide tobacco-free schools bill and, on a national level, pushed for stronger FDA regulation of e-cigarettes and cigars. A two-time Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids National Youth Ambassador, Eunice will attend Johns Hopkins University this fall.

"We are thrilled to honor Eunice Namkoong as a Youth Advocate of the Year," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Young leaders like Eunice are inspiring their peers to be tobacco-free and encouraging elected officials to take action. They are helping create the first tobacco-free generation."

"Y Street volunteers like Eunice are making a difference in communities all across Virginia, building a healthier tomorrow for everyone. We are so proud of everything that Eunice has achieved and the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth is pleased that she is being recognized for her outstanding volunteer work on behalf of Virginia's young people," said Marty H. Kilgore, executive director of the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.

Over 400 public health, business, civic and political leaders attended the Youth Advocates of the Year awards ceremony to recognize Eunice and other youth advocates from across the country. The winners received scholarships to continue their tobacco prevention efforts and will serve as youth ambassadors for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, killing over 480,000 Americans and costing the nation $170 billion in health care bills each year. Tobacco kills 7 million people worldwide each year.

In Virginia, tobacco use claims 10,300 lives and costs $3.1 billion in health care bills each year. Currently, 8 percent of Virginia's high school students smoke and 11.3 percent use e-cigarettes.

Additional information about the youth award winners and the toll of tobacco can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Related Links

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org


Gabby has focused on strengthening smoke-free laws in her town to better protect citizens and visitors from secondhand smoke, regularly presenting at town hall meetings and community events. On a state level, Gabby testified before the Mississippi Legislature in support of a $1.50 tobacco tax increase. As a National Youth Ambassador for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Gabby traveled to Washington, D.C. to advocate for strong FDA oversight of e-cigarettes and cigars. A senior at The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, Gabby will attend Baylor University in the fall.

"We are thrilled to honor Gabrielle Kennedy as a Youth Advocate of the Year," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Young leaders like Gabby are standing up to the tobacco industry, inspiring their peers to be tobacco-free and encouraging elected officials to take action. They are helping create the first tobacco-free generation."

Over 400 public health, business, civic and political leaders attended the Youth Advocates of the Year awards ceremony to recognize Gabby and other youth advocates from across the country. The winners received scholarships to continue their tobacco prevention efforts and will serve as youth ambassadors for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, killing over 480,000 Americans and costing the nation $170 billion in health care bills each year. Tobacco kills 7 million people worldwide each year.

In Mississippi, tobacco use claims 5,400 lives and costs $1.2 billion in health care bills each year. Currently, 15.2 percent of Mississippi's high school students smoke and 22.9 percent use e-cigarettes.

Additional information about the youth award winners and the toll of tobacco can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Related Links

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org


Sara is a fierce advocate for policies to reduce tobacco use. The issue is personal for her  she lost her grandmother, a nonsmoker, to lung disease likely caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. As a leader in the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii's Youth Council, Sara helped pass a law prohibiting smoking in cars with kids throughout Oahu. Sara also pushed for a similar statewide law, contacting lawmakers and testifying before the Legislature in support of the proposal. A senior at The Punahou School, Sara will study biomedical engineering and public health at Dartmouth University in the fall.

"We are thrilled to honor Sara Kay as our National Youth Champion," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Young leaders like Sara are standing up to the tobacco industry, inspiring their peers to be tobacco-free and encouraging elected officials to take action. They are helping create the first tobacco-free generation."

Over 400 public health, business, civic and political leaders attended the Youth Advocates of the Year awards ceremony to recognize Sara and other youth advocates from across the country. The winners received scholarships to continue their tobacco prevention efforts and will serve as youth ambassadors for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, killing over 480,000 Americans and costing the nation $170 billion in health care bills each year. Tobacco kills 7 million people worldwide each year.

In Hawaii, tobacco use claims 1,400 lives and costs $526 million in health care bills each year. Currently, 9.7 percent of Hawaii's high school students smoke and 25.1 percent use e-cigarettes.

Additional information about the youth award winners and the toll of tobacco can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Related Links

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org


ROCHESTER, N.Y., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Care Value, Inc., ("CareValue"), based in Canandaigua, New York, has signed a Field Marketing Organization ("FMO") agreement with Excellus BlueCross BlueShield ("Excellus BCBS").

The agreement authorizes CareValue to appoint external independent insurance agents to market Excellus BCBS individual Medicare Advantage plans. The agreement covers 31 counties total within Excellus BCBS' service area for Medicare Advantage products.

Insurance agents who are licensed in the state of New York are eligible to market these products by appointing with Excellus BCBS and successfully completing Excellus BCBS compliance and product certification. The New York counties eligible for Medicare Advantage marketing include St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, Onondaga, Cayuga, Tompkins, Cortland, Chenango, Broome, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Monroe, Wayne, Livingston, Ontario, Yates, Seneca, Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Hamilton, Herkimer, Fulton, Oneida, Madison, Montgomery, Otsego, and Delaware.

"Excellus BCBS is the market leader in upstate New York with a strong tradition of serving the needs of the Medicare beneficiaries in their service area," said Brian Doyle, President of CareValue. "Not only do they offer high-quality products to Medicare beneficiaries, but they also maintain a 4.5 star overall rating on their Medicare advantage products. The star ratings demonstrate their full commitment to customer service and quality health care for their membership."

"We selected CareValue as a Field Marketing Organization based on its successful track record with other nonprofit Medicare Advantage Health Plans," said Roger van Baaren, Vice-President, Medicare and Individual Sales for Excellus BCBS. "We are confident that CareValue will provide the resources and services that independent agents will need to succeed with Excellus BCBS."

CareValue will be actively engaging in contractual agreements with independent agents in New York. Licensed insurance agents in New York interested in offering Excellus BCBS Medicare Advantage Plans are encouraged to call 1-855-888-8326 or visit CareValue's webpage at CareValue.com

Excellus BCBS is an independent, nonprofit licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. It is part of a $6.1 billion family of companies. Collectively, the enterprise provides health insurance coverage to 1.5 million members and employs about 4,900 New Yorkers. To learn more, visit excellusbcbs.com.

CareValue is a national Field Marketing Organization for Senior Insurance Products. Agents affiliated with CareValue produced more than 10,000 Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D enrollments during the 2018 Annual Enrollment Period from October 15 through December 7, 2017. With more than 20 employees and 2,000 actively appointed agents, CareValue solves the distribution needs of more than 50 insurance companies.

Amanda Raymond

Phone: 855-888-8326

Email: [email protected]

Related Links

Get Contracted with CareValue or Learn More

SOURCE Care Value, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.carevalue.com


"This event will be unlike any other in the cannabis industry," says Derek Riedle, publisher of Civilized and Co-Chair of the World Cannabis Congress. "Having entrepreneurial and innovative leaders, policy-makers, consumers, supporters and celebrities together in one place is a perfect reflection of where we are right now, as an industry."



Handler joins Canada's Hon. Anne McLellan, Chair of the Canadian Task Force on Cannabis Legalization, and 350 of the brightest minds and biggest influencers in the industry for two days of expert talks, engaging panel discussions, and unparalleled networking opportunities.



The invitation-only World Cannabis Congress is presented by Civilized, a premium media and lifestyle brand that seeks to expand modern cannabis culture, reflecting the millions of adults who choose to enjoy cannabis as part of a balanced lifestyle.

SOURCE Civilized Worldwide Inc. (Civilized)
NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) announced that it has named Wahida Plummer as its chief risk officer responsible for all enterprise risk. In addition, the company has promoted its Chief Credit Officer Marisa Harney to an expanded role leading all credit risk. Both leaders will report to CIT Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer Ellen R. Alemany and serve on the company's Executive Management Committee, effective immediately. CIT's former Chief Risk Officer Robert Rowe has elected to leave the company to pursue other career opportunities and will remain with CIT over the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition.

"Both Wahida and Marisa are strong leaders with deep expertise in risk management for larger banking institutions. I'm pleased to have them take on these roles as CIT continues to evolve and deliver on its strategic plan," said Alemany. "I want to thank Rob for his leadership at CIT and for creating a strong risk management foundation. With dedicated leaders for both enterprise risk and credit risk, we will be able to further build on that foundation and support robust risk management processes as we advance our business."

Plummer joined CIT in 2017 as the executive vice president in charge of regulatory matters and enterprise risk. Prior to joining CIT, Plummer had a nearly 20-year career in risk and compliance for financial institutions. She began her career at Citigroup and held a number of risk positions in the Global Transaction Services and CitiCapital divisions. She then joined RBS, Americas and served in several risk, credit and compliance roles. Most recently she served as the head of the risk program office for Wells Fargo's Consumer Lending Group.

Harney joined CIT in 2016 as executive vice president and chief credit officer with responsibility for transaction credit approval and credit policy, process and governance. In this expanded role, she also has responsibility for model development and is co-chair for the Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses Committee. Prior to joining CIT, Harney served as chief risk officer for GE Capital Americas. She previously served as head of corporate credit risk of the Americas for Bank of America after spending 11 years in various roles of increasing responsibility in both the credit and risk departments. Earlier in her career she served as unit head for Chemical Bank's and CIBC World Markets' Media & Telecom groups and as a senior credit executive for Credit Suisse First Boston.

About CIT

Founded in 1908, CIT (NYSE: CIT) is a financial holding company with approximately $50 billion in assets as of March 31, 2018. Its principal bank subsidiary, CIT Bank, N.A., (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender) has approximately $30 billion of deposits and more than $40 billion of assets. CIT provides financing, leasing, and advisory services principally to middle-market companies and small businesses across a wide variety of industries. It also offers products and services to consumers through its Internet bank franchise and a network of retail branches in Southern California, operating as OneWest Bank, a division of CIT Bank, N.A. For more information, visit cit.com.

Contacts:

CIT MEDIA RELATIONS:

Gina Proia

212-771-6008

[email protected]

CIT INVESTOR RELATIONS:

Barbara Callahan

(973) 740-5058

[email protected]

SOURCE CIT Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cit.com


STOCKHOLM, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Notice of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held at the office of Lewis Silkin LLP, at 5 Chancery Lane, Clifford's Inn, London EC4A 1BL on 8 June 2018 commencing at 12.00 pm UK time is set out at the end of this document.

Whether or not you propose to attend the Annual General Meeting, please complete and submit a proxy form in accordance with the instructions printed on the enclosed form. The proxy form must be received by no later than 12.00 pm UK time on 6 June 2018.

17 May 2018

Dear Shareholder.

2018 Annual General Meeting

I am pleased to enclose the notice convening the annual general meeting of the Marketing Group Plc ("Company" or "TMG"), to be held at 12.00 pm on Friday 8 June 2018. The meeting will be held at Lewis Silkin LLP, 5 Chancery Lane, Clifford's Inn, London EC4A 1BL. Accompanying this circular is a form of proxy, and the 2017 Annual report can be viewed on our website www.tmg-plc.com

Method of voting and action to be taken by shareholders

All resolutions put to shareholders will be decided by way of a poll. This will ensure that the votes of all shareholders, including the majority of our shareholders who cannot attend the meeting but submit a proxy form, are counted.

You can use your vote by attending the meeting or by appointing a proxy to attend the meeting and vote on your behalf. This can be done by returning the form of proxy in the post, or by email to the Company Secretary at Enterprise House, Ocean Village, Southampton SO14 3XB or [email protected] The notice of appointment of your proxy should reach our Company Secretary no later than midday on Wednesday 6 June 2018. Further details including the proxy form can be viewed here (www.tmg-plc.com/investor/annual-general-meetings/

Appointing a proxy will not prevent you from attending and voting at the AGM if you so wish.

Recommendation

Your Directors consider that the passing of the resolutions to be proposed at the AGM is in the best interests of the Company and of shareholders as a whole and unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the resolutions as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial shareholdings.

Yours faithfully,

Don Elgie (May 25, 2018, 3:22pm)

Don Elgie

Chairman

PART 1

The Marketing Group Plc

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Notice is hereby given that the 2018 Annual General Meeting of The Marketing Group Plc ("TMG" or the 'Company') will be held at the Lewis Silkin LLP, 5 Chancery Lane, Clifford's Inn, London EC4A 1BL on 8 June 2018 at 12.00 noon UK time to consider and, if thought fit, pass the resolutions below. Resolution 1 to 9 (inclusive) and resolutions 12 and 13 are proposed as ordinary resolutions. Resolution 10 to 11 and 14 are proposed as special resolutions.

Annual Report & Accounts

To receive the Company's Annual Report and Accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2017 , which include the Directors' report, the Strategic report, Directors Remuneration report and the Auditors' report.

Auditors

To re-appoint TGS Taylorcocks as auditors of the Company to hold office from the conclusion of this meeting until the conclusion of the next general meeting of the Company at which the Annual Report and Accounts are laid. To authorize the Board to determine the remuneration of the Company's auditors in respect of their appointment for the period ending at the conclusion of the next AGM.

Re-election of Directors

That Mr. Don H Elgie be re-elected as a Director. That Mr. Adam J Graham be re-elected as a Director.That Mr. Mike McElhatton be re-elected as a Director. That Mr. Martin I Blair be re-elected as a Director. That Mr. Glendon J Fraser be re-elected as a Director.

Renewal of Authority to allot shares

That, in substitution for all existing authorities, and without prejudice to previous allotments or offers or agreements to allot made pursuant to such authorities, the Directors be generally and unconditionally authorised in accordance with section 551 of the Companies Act 2006 to exercise all the powers of the Company to allot shares in the Company or grant rights to subscribe for or convert any security into shares in the Company:

(i) in accordance with section 551(5) of the Companies Act 2006 renewal of up to an aggregate nominal amount of 1,000,000.00, with 824,174.06 remaining to be allotted under this authority valid until 24 February 2021, and

(ii) comprising equity securities (for the purpose of this resolution as defined in section 560 of the Companies Act 2006) up to an aggregate nominal amount of 58,000 in connection with an offer by way of a rights issue.

such power to apply until the end of the Company's next AGM after this resolution is passed (or, if earlier, until close of business on 30 June 2019), unless previously renewed, varied or revoked by the Company in general meeting but, in each case, so that the Company may make offers and enter into agreements before the authority expires which would, or might, require shares to be allotted or rights

to be subscribed for or to convert any security into shares to be granted after the authority expires and the Directors may allot shares or grant such rights under any such offer or agreement as if the authority had not expired.

References to this resolution 9 to the nominal amount of rights to subscribe for or to convert any security into shares (including where such rights are referred to as equity securities as defined in section 560(1) of the Companies Act 2006) are to the nominal amount of shares that may be allotted pursuant to the rights.

For the purposes of this resolution 9, "rights issue" means an offer to subscribe for further securities by means of the issue of a renounceable letter (or other negotiable document) which may be traded for a period before payment for the securities is due:

(a) to ordinary shareholders in proportion (as nearly as may be practicable) to their existing holdings; and

(b) to holders of other equity securities as required by the rights of those securities or, subject to such rights, as the Directors otherwise consider necessary.

and so that the Directors may impose any limits or restrictions and make any arrangements which they consider necessary or appropriate to deal with treasury shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, legal, regulatory or practical problems in, or under the laws of, any territory or any other matter.

Special Resolution

Disapplication of pre-emption rights

That in substitution of all existing powers and subject to the passing of resolution 9, the Directors, in addition to any authority granted under resolution 11, be authorised pursuant to section 570 of the Companies Act 2006, to allot equity securities (as defined in section 560 of the Companies Act 2006) for cash pursuant to the authority granted by resolution 9, to sell ordinary shares held by the Company as treasury shares for cash, in each case free of the restriction in section 561 of the Companies Act 2006, such power to be:

(i) limited to the allotment of equity securities and/or sale of treasury shares up to a nominal amount of 58,000, calculated, in the case of equity securities which are rights to subscribe for, or to convert securities into, ordinary shares by reference to the aggregate nominal amount of relevant shares which may be allotted pursuant to such rights; and

(ii) used only for the purposes of financing (or refinancing, if the authority is to be used within six months after the original transaction) a transaction which the Directors determine to be an acquisition or other capital investment,

such power to apply until the end of the Company's next AGM after this resolution is passed (or, if earlier, until close of business on 30 June 2019) unless previously renewed, varied or revoked by the Company in general meeting but so that the Company may make offers and enter into agreements before the power expires which would, or might, require equity securities to be allotted (or treasury shares to be sold) after the power expires and the Director may allot equity securities and/or sell treasury shares under any such offer or agreement as if the power conferred hereby had not expired.

Special Resolution

Additional Disapplication of pre-emption rights

That, in substitution for all existing powers and subject to the passing of resolution 9, the Directors be authorised, pursuant to section 570 of the Companies Act 2006, to allot equity securities (as defined in section 560 of the Companies Act 2006) for cash pursuant to the authority granted by resolution 9 and/or pursuant to section 573 of the Companies Act 2006, to sell ordinary shares held by the Company as treasury shares for cash, in each case free of the restriction in section 561 of the Companies Act 2006, such power to be limited:

(i) to the allotment of equity securities and/or sale of treasury shares for cash in connection with an offer of or invitation to apply for equity securities (but in the case of an allotment pursuant to the authority granted by paragraph (ii) of resolution 9, such power shall be limited to allotment of equity securities by way of a rights issue only):

(a) to ordinary shareholders in proportion (as nearly as may be practicable) to their existing holdings; and

(b) to holders of other equity securities, as required by the rights of those securities or, subject to such rights, as the Directors otherwise consider necessary.

and so that the Directors may impose any limits or restrictions and make any arrangements which they consider necessary or appropriate to deal with treasury shares, fractional entitlements, record dates, legal, regulatory or practical problems in, or under the laws of, any territory or any other matter, and

(ii) to the allotment of equity securities pursuant to the authority granted by paragraph (i) of resolution 9 and/or a sale of treasury shares for cash (in each case otherwise than in the circumstances set out in paragraph (i) of this resolution) up to a nominal amount of 8,791.29 calculated, in the case of equity securities which are rights to subscribe for, or to convert securities into, ordinary shares by reference to the aggregate nominal amount of relevant shares which may be allotted pursuant to such rights,

such power to apply until the end of the Company's next AGM after this resolution is passed (or, if earlier, until close of business on 30 June 2019) unless previously renewed, varied or revoked by the Company in general meeting but so that the Company may make offers and enter into agreements before the power expires which would, or might, require equity securities to be allotted and/or treasury shares sold after the power expires and the Director may allot equity securities and/or sell treasury shares under any such offer or agreement as if the power had not expired.

For the purpose of this resolution 11, "rights issues" has the same meaning as in resolution 9 above.

Authorities for Off-Market Purchases Resolution

12 THAT the terms of a contract between (1) the Company and (2) Subash Ahgir Yadav for the purchase by the Company of 900,000 Ordinary shares of  0.005 each in the capital of the Company as set out in the contract produced to the meeting and signed by the chairman of the meeting for the purposes of identification (Creative Insurgence Purchase Contract) be authorised and the entry by the Company into the Creative Insurgence Purchase Contract be approved, provided that this authority shall expire on 8 June 2023.

Resolution

THAT the terms of a contract between (1) the Company and (2) Imagine Group Pte Ltd (UEN No. 200817894N), a company incorporated in Singapore and (3) Mr Riaz Mehta for the purchase by the Company of a total of 928,571 Ordinary shares of  0.005 each in the capital of the Company as set out in the contract produced to the meeting and signed by the chairman of the meeting for the purposes of identification (Imagine Purchase Contract) be authorised and the entry by the Company into the Imagine Purchase Contract be approved, provided that this authority shall expire on 8 June 2023 .

Special Resolution

That extraordinary general meetings of the Company (other than Annual General Meetings) may be called by notice of not less than 14 clear days

By order of the Board

Joanna Woolnough Company Secretary

17 May 2018

Registered Office: Enterprise House Ocean Village Southampton SO14 3XB

Registered in England and Wales No. 09604581

Notes to the notice of meetings:

Recommendation

The Directors consider that all the resolutions to be put to the meeting are in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole. The Directors will be voting in favour of the proposed resolutions in respect of their own beneficial shareholdings and unanimously recommend that you do so as well.

Inspection of documents

The following documents will be available for inspection through the Company Secretary at the registered office of the Company in Southampton during usual business hours on any weekday (excluding any public holidays) from the date of this Notice until the date of the AGM and at the place and on the date of the AGM from at least 15 minutes before the AGM begins until the conclusion of the AGM.

Copies of the Executive Directors' service contracts; and

Copies of letters of appointment of the Non-Executive Directors.

The Creative Insurgence Purchase Contract (as defined in resolution number 13)

The Imagine Purchase Contract (as defined in resolution number 14)

Information available on website

A copy of this Notice, and other information required by section 311A of the UK Companies Act 2006, can be found on the company's website. ( www.marketinggroupplc.com )

Issued Share Capital

As at 17 May 2018 (being the last business day prior to the publication of this notice) the Company's issued share capital consisted of 35,165,187 ordinary shares of 0.005 euros each, carrying one vote each. The company holds 627,417 ordinary shares in treasury. Therefore, the total voting rights in the Company as at 17 May 2018 are 34,537,770.

Raising Questions at AGM

Any shareholder attending the meeting has the right to ask questions. The Company must cause to be answered any such question relating to the business being dealt with at the meeting but no such answer need be given if;

(a) to do so would interfere unduly with the preparation for the meeting or involve the disclosure of confidential information,

(b) the answer has already been given on a website in the form of an answer to a question, or

(c) it is undesirable in the interests of the Company or the good order of the meeting that the question be answered.

Contacting The Marketing Group Plc

Shareholders may not use any electronic addresses provided in either this notice of meeting or any related documents to communicate with the Company for any purposes other than those expressly stated.

PART 11

Explanatory notes to the Notice of Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Resolution 1 to 9 (inclusive) and resolutions 12 and 13 are proposed as ordinary resolutions. This means that for each of those resolutions to be passed, more than half of the votes cast must be in favour of the resolution. Resolution 10, 11 and 14 are proposed as special resolutions. This means that for this resolution to be passed, at least three-quarters of the votes cast must be in favour of the resolution.

Resolution 1 (Annual Report and Accounts)

In accordance with section 437 of the Companies Act 2006, the Directors of the Company must present to the meeting the audited Annual Report and Accounts, the Directors' report, the Strategic report, Directors Remuneration report and the Auditors' report for the financial year ended 31 December 2017. The Strategic report sets out a review of the Company's business by addressing key issues such as our business model; strategy; and principal risks and uncertainties facing the business.

Resolution 2 and 3 (Appointment and Remuneration of Auditors)

In accordance with section 489 of the Companies Act 2006, the Company must appoint auditors at each general meeting at which accounts are presented to shareholders to hold office until the conclusion of the next such meeting. Resolution 3 seeks shareholder approval to re-appoint TGS Taylorcocks as the Company's auditors. In accordance with normal practice, Resolution 4 seeks authority for the Directors to determine the auditors' remuneration.

Resolution 4 - 8 (Re-election of Directors)

All Directors will retire and stand for re-appointment at the meeting in accordance with the UK Corporate Governance Code, rather than on a three-year rotating basis.

Biographies of all of the Directors are set out below. The Board is satisfied that each of the Directors standing for election or re-election continues to perform effectively and demonstrates commitment to their respective role.

Don H Elgie was appointed as Non-Executive Chairman on 1 March 17. He has a wealth of experience in public companies and over 30 years' experience in the marketing industry. He was CEO of Creston Plc, an international digital marketing and communications group from 2001  2014, during which he completed a number of successful international acquisitions. Don is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Kape Technologies Plc, the international cyber technology company.

Adam J Graham was appointed as CEO and Executive Director on 2 November 2016. He has over 15 years' experience leading and growing innovative digital marketing and advertising agencies. Adam served as CEO of Weapon7, a digital communications agency within Omnicom's BBDO. Prior to that he co-founded and served as Managing Director of Saint, the digital arm of WPP's Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, which won Revolution's and NMA's creative agency of the year Awards in 2011. Earlier in his career Adam founded the e-marketing agency 3w Media in the UK and was among the pioneers of internet radio, with the founding of iChoose Radio in 1998.

Adam joined the Marketing Group from Cact.us, a leading UK-based agency growth consultancy, where he was Managing Consultant. He was also Chair of the British Interactive Media Association and has previously been a council member of the British Advertising Association and the Institute for Practitioners of Advertising.

Mike McElhatton was appointed as Executive Director and CFO on 1 March 17. He is a Chartered Accountant with more than 25 years' experience in the marketing sector and has a successful track record executing acquisitions for public and private companies. He was also previously held executive and non- executive roles at companies such as WPP, Publicis Media and Havas Media UK.

Martin Blair was appointed as Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Audit on 28 March 17. He is a high-accomplished veteran in the field of Finance, who has accumulated more than three decades' experience in dynamic fast growing organisations across media, technology and life sciences industries. Martin has significant expertise in global corporate transactions for public market listings, acquisitions, joint ventures and disposals as well as strategic restructuring and integration projects. Over the years, he has also accrued a proven track record of managing post-acquisition integration alongside implementation of global IT systems and financial controls.

Glen Fraser was appointed as Non-Executive Director on 28 March 2017. Currently the Principal and Owner of Third Eye, a Sydney-based brand strategy consultancy, and has over 30 years' experience at some of the world's largest marketing and advertising firms, including Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saatchi, Havas Group, Young & Rubicam Group and J Walter Thompson. While occupying senior and leadership roles across various firms and agency set-ups, he has had proven successes and demonstrable experience in growing businesses and revenues, leading and retaining teams as well as ensuring successful execution of creative marketing campaigns across multiple geographies.

Resolution 9 (Authority to allot shares)

If passed, this resolution will renew the Directors' authority to allot shares. Paragraph (i) will authorize the Director to allot shares up to 824,174 nominal value, which is the remaining balance to allot up to

1,000,000.00 over 5 years previously approved (excluding treasury shares) as at 17 May 2018, being the latest practicable date prior to printing this circular.

In addition to the above authority, paragraph (ii) will authorise the Directors to allot 58,000 nominal value but only in respect of a rights issue in favour of existing shareholders.

As at 17 May 2018, the Company held 627,417 ordinary shares in treasury representing 0.02% of the ordinary shares capital (excluding treasury shares) in issue at that date.

Other than to satisfy requirements under the Company's acquisition scheme and to issue a few shares for the purpose of financing the purchases of own shares referred to in Resolutions 13 and 14, the Directors have no present intention to use the authorities but believe that it is in the best interests of the Company to have the authorities in place to provide the flexibility to allot shares without the need for a general meeting should they determine that it is appropriate to do so. This special resolution gives the Directors authority, for a period of 15 months from the passing of this resolution or, if earlier, the date of the next AGM, to (a) allot shares of the Company in connection with an offer or invitation; and (b) to an aggregate nominal value of 824,174 in each case as if the pre-emption rights in company law did not apply.

Resolution 10 &11 (Disapplication of pre-emption rights)

If the Directors wish to allot shares or sell treasury shares of the Company for cash, the Act requires that these shares are first offered to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholdings.

If passed, resolution 10 will provide the Directors with the authority to allot ordinary shares in the Company or sell treasury shares for cash without first offering them to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholdings. This authority is limited to 58,000 which represents approximately 1/3rd of the issued ordinary share capital in the Company (excluding treasury shares) as at 17 May 2018 and can only be used in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment.

Other than in connection with a rights issue, resolution 11, if passed, will provide the Directors with and additional authority to allot ordinary shares or sell treasury shares for cash without first offering them to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholdings. This authority will be limited to

8,791.29 which is approximately 5% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company (excluding treasury shares) as at 17 May 2018 being the last practicable date before publication of this notice.

Other than to issue a few shares for the purpose of financing the purchases of own shares referred to in Resolutions 13 and 14, the Directors have no present intention to use these authorities but believe that it is in the best interests of the Company to have the authority in place to provide the flexibility to allot shares without the need for a general meeting should they determine that it is appropriate to do so.

The Company confirms that it does not intend to issue more than 75% of the Company's issued ordinary share capital on a non-pre-emptive basis over a three-year rolling period without prior consultation with its shareholders, otherwise than in connection with an acquisition or specified capital investment in the circumstances described above.

Resolutions 12 and 13 Authority for Off-Market Purchases

If passed, resolutions 12 and 13 will provide authority for the Company to purchase 900,000 and 928,571 respectively of its own shares from certain of its shareholders. The Company intends to cancel these shares and reduce the Share Capital. These contracts have been negotiated for the return of the subsidiaries to the respective owners and no additional consideration will be paid. These businesses were divested because they were poorly performing and were not a good strategic fit.

Resolution 14 Notice of General Meetings

The Companies (Shareholders' Rights) Regulations 2009 have increased the notice period required for general meetings of the Company to 21 days unless shareholders agree to a shorter notice period, which cannot be less than 14 clear days. Annual General Meetings will continue to be held on at least 21 clear days' notice.

The shorter notice period, would not be used as a matter of routine for such meetings, but only where the flexibility is merited by the business of the meeting and is thought to be to the advantage of shareholders as a whole. The approval will be effective until the conclusion of the Company's next Annual General Meeting, when it is intended that a similar resolution will be proposed.

Shareholders should note that the changes to the Act mean that, in order to be able to call a general meeting on less than 21 clear days' notice, the Company must make a means of electronic voting available to all shareholder for that meeting.

When and Where

This year, the meeting will be held at 12.00 noon UK time on Friday 8 June at Lewis Silkin LLP, 5 Chancery Lane, Clifford's Inn, London EC4A 1BL.

Please note: it is important you inform us of your intention to attend the AGM, so we can ensure your smooth passage through the security procedures.

Email [email protected] should you wish to attend.

Alternatively, you could attend via Zoom (teleconference)

Topic: Annual General Meeting 2018 Time: Jun 8, 2018 12:00 PM London

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/287565422 Or iPhone one-tap :

US: +16468769923,,287565422# or +16699006833,,287565422#

Or Telephone:

Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 646 876 9923 or +1 669 900 6833

Meeting ID: 287 565 422

International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/c22MnVxR5

CONTACT:

For further information please contact:

Adam Graham, CEO

Email: [email protected]

Media

Lydia Oakes

Phone: +44 (0)7710 244573

Email: [email protected]



Investor Relations

Tim Metcalfe

Miles Nolan

Phone: +44-(0)-203-934-6630

Email: [email protected]

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/the-marketing-group-plc/r/correction-the-marketing-group-plc--notice-of-annual-general-meeting--8-june-2018,c2531973

The following files are available for download:

SOURCE The Marketing Group Plc
SALT LAKE CITY, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- C.R. England, one of the nation's leaders in transportation solutions, has announced a multi-million dollar pay increase for drivers in the Over the Road Division (OTR). This represents the largest driver compensation increase in the 98-year history of the company and will impact approximately 60 percent of C.R. England's driver force, now making all C.R. England driving jobs among the most competitive in the industry.

"C.R. England has always had a tradition of providing great jobs and great benefits for our employees," said Chief Executive Officer Chad England. "In an ever-changing and increasingly competitive marketplace, this multi-million dollar investment in our drivers better positions us to attract not only those who come to us for training and are new to the industry, but seasoned and experienced drivers who want a proven career path. Great companies seek to continuously improve and this is another step in that direction for us and our drivers."

The pay increase is just one illustration of the company's position as a long-term career choice for drivers. C.R. England is an industry leader in length of haul and offers benefits such as top detention pay, referral bonuses, and competitive health insurance plans. C.R. England also offers significant long-term career opportunities not only in OTR, but in Training, Dedicated, Regional, and Intermodal Divisions as well.

Additionally, C.R. England drivers and office employees are part of the company's overall commitment to help feed one million children each year through partnerships with local food banks nationwide. Through the One Initiative, every delivered load provides funding to feed a hungry child. Through May, almost 500,000 meals have been provided to food banks.

"This pay increase, along with many other driver-focused improvements, demonstrates our commitment to strengthening our OTR driving jobs and marks a notable investment in our valued driver force," said Brandon Harrison, Chief Sales Officer. "All of our drivers are now among the highest paid in the industry. As our fleet managers have been sharing the news with our drivers, we are excited about how it is being enthusiastically received. It is truly a New Day at C.R. England!"

This pay increase will go into effect Thursday, May 31, 2018.

About C.R. England

Founded in 1920, C.R. England, Inc. is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and is one of North America's largest refrigerated transportation companies. C.R. England services include National, Mexico, and Regional Truckload service in addition to Dedicated and Intermodal services. Visit www.crengland.com.

To learn more about C.R. England's goal of providing one million meals to children each year, visit www.oneagainstchildhoodhunger.com.

SOURCE C.R. England, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.crengland.com


ROHNERT PARK, Calif., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Graduating with a degree requires that a certain amount of coursework be completed with appropriate high marks before it will be awarded. With requirements like general education and some subjects just being fundamentally related, completed degrees can look similar. In doing the coursework for one degree, it is not uncommon to realize that the work won't be ideal in the long road for an individual. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation service company, suggests that students who have changed their mind on what degree they seek choose another degree with overlapping course requirements to minimize time spent and student loans required for college.

An option then for the schools that offer degree-progress trackers is to see what similar or lower-level degrees the student might be close to qualifying for and finishing the work for that before completely transferring over. That way at least something was gained after all the work put in. "No one wants to say something was a waste of effort. If you play smart, very few things have to be chalked up to a lost cause. Finding similarities between courses to capitalize on work completed is just playing smart," says Tom Knickerbocker, executive vice president at Ameritech Financial.

When changing the exact degree that's being aimed for, it doesn't have to be a drastic change. "I've seen the difference between a psychology degree and behavioral sciences degree be as simple as two classes. That two-class difference may also be all it takes to keep a student going without completely changing paths," says Knickerbocker. Ameritech Financial helps student loan borrowers with federal loans apply for income-driven repayment programs that can potentially lower their payments and get them on track for student loan forgiveness. Such programs are not dependent on what degree was sought after or if the borrower had to take some time away from school to find the right path.

About Ameritech Financial

Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education.

Each Ameritech Financial telephone representative has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA).

Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional customer service.

Ameritech Financial Newsroom

Contact

To learn more about Ameritech Financial, please contact:

Ameritech Financial

5789 State Farm Drive #265

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

1-800-792-8621

[email protected]

Related Images

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College Majors Might Have Overlapping Courses

Credit: canjoena/Bigstock

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Related Links

Ameritech Financial home page

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM

SOURCE Ameritech Financial
Minority shareholding to further strengthen the core business of AL-KO Vehicle Technology

NOVI, Mich. and KOTZ, Germany and VARSSEVELD, Netherlands, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DexKo Global Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality chassis technology, chassis assemblies and accessory parts, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a minority shareholding in VB-Airsuspension, B.V. based in Varsseveld (Netherlands). This strategic partnership strengthens the core business of AL-KO Vehicle Technology. This shareholding is the logical next step in the development of their close relationship. The move will allow AL-KO Vehicle Technology to concentrate its know-how and development in the field of high-quality (air) suspension systems for motorhomes and light commercial vehicles.

VB-Airsuspension is a leading manufacturer of professional full air suspension, semi air suspension, coil spring and controlled shock absorber systems. The company's proven expertise has made VB-Airsuspension a leader in the market and a specialist in retrofit components for 25 years. As part of the cooperation, all the know-how and expertise in the development and manufacture of (air) suspension systems will be brought together and concentrated in the Netherlands. The management of DexKo has full confidence in the future collaboration with the management and staff of VB-Airsuspension.

A new company building will be constructed to help support future growth. The existing buildings will continue to be utilized to provide space for Sales, Marketing, Development and the VB Academy to ensure the opening of further sales channels and the development of new products.

Fred Bentley, CEO at DexKo Global: "We are very pleased to have gained a strategic partner in the (air) suspension system sector in VB-Airsuspension. The result is an ideal expansion of our portfolio. The high quality standards of VB-Airsuspension's products, first-class design and development, customer proximity and presence in the after-sales market, including service, are an exact match for the requirements of DexKo. We are continuously working to optimise our range of products and level of service and this partnership is consistent with our strategy."

Harald Hiller, President and CEO of AL-KO Vehicle Technology, emphasises the significance of this strategic partnership: "Thanks to the cooperation with VB-Airsuspension, we are strengthening our position as a leading chassis manufacturer. We are building on the expertise and know-how of VB-Airsuspension, whose (air) suspension systems complement ALKO Vehicle Technology's range of chassis technology. This will allow us to further enlarge our product range. In addition, I am particularly looking forward to working with the existing management team."

Iginio Voorhorst, Managing Director and joint founder of VB-Airsuspension: "We celebrated our company's 25th anniversary on 1st April 2018. Now we are proud to have a strong partner at our side in DexKo. This step confirms our outstanding work as a healthy, growing company with an excellent market position and offers huge opportunities for a successful future. Based on our closeness to the market and our strong customer focus, we know the needs of our customers very well and can offer tailor-made solutions. This is where we can provide dependable support to DexKo. Looked at the other way around, this cooperation with AL-KO Vehicle Technology offers us access to new markets for which we already have a few ideas in the pipeline. We are prepared!"

Gerald Molenveld, Managing Director of VB-Airsuspension, emphasises: "We are going through a further, very important period in the history of VB-Airsuspension. I have been on the board for almost three years now. During this time, the company has developed very positively. VB-Airsuspension and AL-KO Vehicle Technology maintain a long-standing commercial relationship, therefore this strategic partnership is now the next logical step. I look forward to a good, successful future and the opportunities it will yield for us."

The financial details of the partnership are not disclosed. Completion of the transaction is subject to the customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

ALOIS KOBER GMBH

Founded in 1931, AL-KO Vehicle Technology is now a global technology company with sites in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia. A supplier of high quality chassis components for trailers, leisure vehicles and light commercial vehicles, AL-KO is synonymous with ergonomic and functional excellence, superb comfort as well as innovations to enhance road safety. The company specialises in sophisticated innovation processes and has received many awards for this.

VB-Airsuspension B.V.

VB-Airsuspension is a leading manufacturer of professional full air suspension, semi air suspension, coil spring and controlled shock absorber systems. The company, which was founded in 1993 and has its head office in Varsseveld (Netherlands), has a workforce of almost 130 employed in its Dutch headquarters and its international subsidiaries in Germany, France, United Kingdom, North America and Asia. VB-Airsuspension had a total turnover of around EUR 24 million in 2017.

DexKo Global Inc

DexKo Global is the world's leading supplier of advanced chassis technology, chassis assemblies and related components with more than 130 years of experience in trailer and caravan components. DexKo Global was founded at the end of 2015 through the combination of Dexter and AL-KO Vehicle Technology. With its headquarters in Novi, Michigan, the company employs more than 5,000 personnel with 42 production facilities and 25 distribution centres. DexKo Global Inc. has a turnover of more than US$ 1.3 billion.

KPS Capital Partners, LP

KPS manages the KPS Special Situations Funds, a range of investment funds with approximately $5.4 billion in assets. For more than two decades, KPS partners have been working to realise capital growth by investing in manufacturing and industrial companies in various sectors, including raw materials, brand-name products, healthcare and luxury products, automotive components, plant systems and general manufacturing. KPS creates value for its investors by working constructively with the managers of the companies to optimise them and generate investment returns. The focus is not on the use of financial resources, but on the structural improvement of the strategic position, competitiveness and profitability. The portfolio companies of KPS Funds generate an annual revenue of around $7.2 billion, operate 165 production facilities in 31 countries and employ around 50,000 employees worldwide, both directly and through joint ventures. The KPS investment strategy and the portfolio companies are described in detail at www.kpsfund.com.

Please send enquiries to:

ALOIS KOBER GMBH Thomas Lutzel

Phone: +49 8221 97-8239 Ichenhauser Str. 14 Mobile: +49 170 9252099 89359 Kotz [email protected]



AL-KO online: www.alko-tech.com

SOURCE DexKo Global Inc.
At Peking University, Dr. Zhang has led company specific business strategy programs across the world for clients such as Novartis, Nestle, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, and Marsh & McLennan, among others. Dr. Zhang was a permanent faculty member of management at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) from 2008 to 2012 and was the founding director of CEIBS Center for Healthcare Policy and Management. He was also a Distinguished Bing Fellow of Health Economics at RAND (US) in 2008 and has been an adjunct faculty at Peking University School of Government. Dr. Zhang received his Ph.D. in health policy from Harvard University as part of an interfaculty program between the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Business School, Kennedy School of Government, and Medical School; and his M.D. from Peking Union Medical College (founded by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1918).

Dr. Zhang commented, "I am honored and excited to join the Board of Directors for Biostage. The company is working to bring a valuable medical technology to patients in need of better solutions and outcomes. I hope my experience leading and supporting strategy and innovation programs for companies around the world will help guide the company on future strategic decisions, including market expansion into China, which has half of the new esophageal cancer patients worldwide every year."

Biostage CEO Jim McGorry commented, "I and the other members of the company's Board are pleased to welcome Dr. Zhang as a Biostage Board member. His experience leading healthcare innovation at companies around the world will be invaluable as Biostage develops our plans to expand our programs to the China market. We believe that Dr. Zhang's background brings unique qualifications to our Board of Directors, including his broad expertise and leadership experience in business model innovation, leading strategy transformation, non-market strategy, and healthcare innovation."

About Biostage, Inc.

Biostage is a biotechnology company developing bioengineered organ implants based on the Company's Cellframe technology which combines a proprietary biocompatible scaffold with a patient's own stem cells to create Cellspan organ implants. Cellspan implants are being developed to treat life-threatening conditions of the esophagus, bronchus or trachea with the hope of dramatically improving the treatment paradigm for patients. Based on its preclinical data, Biostage has selected life-threatening conditions of the esophagus as the initial clinical application of its technology.

For more information, please visit www.biostage.com and connect with the Company on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Some of the statements in this press release are "forward-looking" and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These "forward-looking" statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to development expectations and regulatory approval of any of Biostage's products, including those utilizing its Cellframe technology, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency or otherwise, which expectations or approvals may not be achieved or obtained on a timely basis or at all; or success with respect to any collaborations, clinical trials and other development and commercialization efforts of Biostage's products, including those utilizing its Cellframe technology, which such success may not be achieved or obtained on a timely basis or at all. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from the statements set forth in this press release, including, among other things, Biostage's ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for its products; Biostage's ability to expand into foreign markets, including China; plus other factors described under the heading "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in Biostage's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 or described in its other public filings. Biostage's results may also be affected by factors of which Biostage is not currently aware. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Biostage expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to such statements to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any changes in the events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Investor Relations Contact:

Tom McNaughton

Chief Financial Officer

774-233-7300

[email protected]

SOURCE Biostage, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.biostage.com


ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 200 Durham School Services drivers and monitors have voted overwhelmingly to become members of Teamsters Local 243 in Plymouth Township, Michigan. The workers are responsible for transporting Ann Arbor Public Schools students.

"These drivers and monitors joined together in solidarity, stood up for one another and demonstrated tremendous bravery during this campaign," said Local 243 President Jim "Cinci" Cianciolo. "We're looking forward to meeting the company at the negotiating table."

Joint Council 43 President Greg Nowak thanked the workers for supporting the Teamsters and welcomed these future members to Joint Council 43.

Equitable pay raises were cited as a big concern for drivers and monitors during the campaign. Drivers received a pay raise two years ago, but monitors received no such increase in compensation. Job security and the right to dispute unjust terminations were also concerns for the workers.

When the company found out about the organizing drive, they mounted an anti-union campaign that including holding an "employee appreciation day," where workers were given free food. Local 243 Recording Secretary Neil Pettit said it didn't make the workers change their mind about joining the Teamsters.

"The company doled out the three Ps  pizza, pancakes and promises," Pettit said. "These drivers and monitors know that the three Ps aren't going to make a difference. The only thing that's going to make a difference is a union contract."

The Ann Arbor workers' vote to become Teamsters came just one week after more than 250 Durham drivers, monitors and mechanics in Chattanooga, Tenn. voted to join the union. The Teamsters' membership continues to grow as the union represents thousands of Durham workers throughout the United States and Canada.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Neil Pettit, (734) 420-6900

[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 243

Related Links

http://www.teamster.org/


ERIE, Pa., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Rob Kepperling will step into the role of Illinois branch manager starting June 7.

Kepperling began his career with Erie Insurance in 2004 in the Claims division. In 2011, he moved into a sales role as a senior district sales manager for Tennessee. In 2014, he held an integral role helping ERIE open for business in the state of Kentucky.

Robert Kepperling

Kepperling earned his bachelor's degree from Eastern Kentucky University. In addition to formal education, Rob has earned several insurance designations including his associate in claims, associate in insurance services, certified insurance counselor and certified professional insurance agent.

About Erie Insurance

According to A.M. Best Company, Erie Insurance Group, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, is the 10th largest homeowners insurer and 11th largest automobile insurer in the United States based on direct premiums written and the 16th largest property/casualty insurer in the United States based on total lines net premium written. The Group, rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best Company, has more than 5 million policies in force and operates in 12 states and the District of Columbia. Erie Insurance Group is a FORTUNE 500 company.

News releases and more information about Erie Insurance Group are available at www.erieinsurance.com.

SOURCE Erie Insurance

Related Links

http://www.erieinsurance.com


MANHASSET, N.Y., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research Professor Bruce Volpe, MD, was recognized this week at a luncheon as a Heritage Healthcare Innovation Award finalist. The award was presented by Heritage Provider Network (HPN) and Crain's Custom Studio, a division of Crain's New York Business, to recognize Dr. Volpe's research using technology to restore limb movement after neurological injury.

Dr. Volpe's lab examines the use of non-invasive technology to increase the restoration of arm/hands and leg/ankle movement after neurological injury such as stroke. Along with collaborators at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he developed interactive robotic assist devices, which move the paralyzed limb when the patient cannot, and knows not to assist when the patient can power the movement. The robots are currently being used at rehabilitation centers around the world as a tool for therapists to train the impaired limb with a reproducible, high-intensity and engaging challenge to maintain the patient's motivation and attention.

Dr. Volpe was honored in the Heritage Research Investigators in Translational Medicine category at the Heritage Healthcare Awards, which recognize innovators who have most improved the access to and quality of affordable health care in the communities they serve in the greater New York area.

"It is an honor to be recognized by the greater New York health care community for my team's research to benefit stroke survivors and other patients with neurological impairment," said Dr. Volpe. "With the use of technology, we can help patients overcome challenges after stroke and help them bring movement back into their lives."

To view a video of Dr. Volpe's rehabilitation robots in action, click here.

To learn more about Dr. Volpe's research, contact Johanna Chang at 516-562-3646.

About the Feinstein Institute

The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is the research arm of Northwell Health, the largest healthcare provider in New York. Home to 50 research laboratories and to clinical research throughout dozens of hospitals and outpatient facilities, the Feinstein Institute includes 4,000 researchers and staff who are making breakthroughs in molecular medicine, genetics, oncology, brain research, mental health, autoimmunity, and bioelectronic medicine  a new field of science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. For more information about how we empower imagination and pioneer discovery, visit FeinsteinInstitute.org.

Contact: Heather E. Ball Mayer

516-465-7917

[email protected]

SOURCE The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research

Related Links

http://www.feinsteininstitute.org/


SAN RAMON, Calif., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The sun is coming out as we get closer to summer, and doctors recommend bringing out the sunscreen as well. There are countless brands of sunscreen, but reports have recently shown that they are not all equal. Financial Education Benefits Center (FEBC), a membership benefits company specializing in health and financial wellness, reminds individuals and parents to pay attention to the type of sunscreen that they use and to ask a medical professional for advice on which ones are most effective.

"Being out in the sun can feel amazing, but that sunshine can do more than cause bright red burns if not protected," said Jennifer Martinez, manager at FEBC. "With the right sunscreen, you can prevent painful burns, awkward tans and more serious health issues."

Sun exposure, particularly UV light, increases the risk of developing melanoma, which is the most serious type of skin cancer. In fact, one in five Americans is at risk of getting some form of skin cancer in their lifetimes. Applying sunscreen can reduce that risk by blocking UV light, but the type of sunscreen used matters.

Recent reports have collected data on a variety of sunscreen products and determined that many do not work as advertised or contain toxic or worrisome ingredients. This can be especially alarming for sunscreens marketed for children. Additionally, federal regulators warn Americans against pills or drinks being advertised as protection from the damaging effect of sunshine. Such products have so far not been approved by the FDA and may not work as advertised.

FEBC urges its members to use quality sunscreen and to follow the instructions for use on the label. FEBC members who are in certain membership tiers have access to certified doctors who can answer questions over the phone about good sun practices. They may suggest limited sun exposure and reapplying sunscreen every couple of hours. Members also have access to discounts on groceries, which may include sunscreen products, though they should be mindful of the type they purchase.

"At FEBC, we care about our members' health and aim to provide benefits that support their wellness, including their financial wellness when it comes to purchasing necessary items like those for skin protection," said Martinez.

About Financial Education Benefits Center

Financial Education Benefits Center is located in San Ramon, California. The membership company has already helped thousands save money and obtain the necessary education required to live a financially healthy life.

Financial Education Benefits Center has partnered with several name brand third-party companies to expand the financial and educational products and services available to its members and to provide a variety of wellness services as well.

Financial Education Benefits Center Newsroom

Contact

To learn more about Financial Education Benefits Center, please contact:

Financial Education Benefits Center

2010 Crow Canyon Place Ste. 100

San Ramon, CA 94583

1-800-953-1388

[email protected]

Related Images

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Sunscreen is Important for Summer Skin Care

Credit: sakkmesterke/Bigstock

image2.png

Related Links

FEBC home page

SOURCE Financial Education Benefits Center
"This was one of my most difficult decisions I have ever made because of my love for Florida, all Floridians and my desire to make a difference for others. It was a family decision made with my life partner, Ali Waldman, and our children," said Bergeron. "It was a great honor for me to serve the citizens of Florida as an FWC Commissioner and I will continue to be fully engaged with all governmental agencies, state and federal. However, my family feels strongly that I should focus on continuing my advocacy of the Everglades as my priority. The Everglades are a source of drinking water for 8 million people and the day we destroy it, our quality of life will change for all of Florida."

Earlier this year, the prestigious Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., honored Bergeron, along with Lee Scott, Jr. (CEO, Wal-Mart), Rob Lowe, Reba McEntire, Jimmy John Liautaud (Jimmy John Subs), and other notables at its 71st annual Horatio Alger Awards in Washington, D.C. That honor was a significant milestone for Bergeron and also contributed to his decision to not enter the race at this time.

"Being inducted into Horatio Alger was a life-changing experience which will allow our family to make a philanthropic difference not only in Florida, but nationwide. I am so humbled to be in the company of such amazing people and by the extraordinary accomplishments of past inductees. Their unwavering financial and personal commitment to the Horatio Alger scholars is inspirational and contagious," said Bergeron.

"Instead of raising millions for a political race, I would rather raise millions helping others." Moving forward, Bergeron will continue his prolific efforts to preserve and protect the natural resources of Florida, especially his beloved Everglades.

"Amendment 1 sent a signal to politicians and government that over 70 percent of voters want conservation and protection of our natural resources," said Bergeron. "The Everglades are the largest restoration project in the world, in one of the largest wetlands in the world. I will stay fully committed to all Floridians and stakeholders to save this wonderful treasure."

Now that he has made a final decision, Bergeron is renewing his focus for the future that will include his conservation, philanthropic and entrepreneurial efforts, saying, "Our economy is built on small businesses. Private citizens and government alike must promote and ensure their success. As long as I live, I will commit my time working hard for the people of Florida as a private citizen, and to save one of the natural wonders of the world, the Everglades, for all Floridians."

As a businessman, Bergeron knows it is important that government is streamlined so small businesses can create jobs. He sees several qualified candidates already in the race and looks forward to supporting a governor who is trustworthy and who has a platform that stimulates economic growth and job creation. He also hopes the next governor's priorities include a focus on education, the environment and quality of life issues.

Bergeron is the founder of the Bergeron Family of Companies, which manages over 60 companies including Bergeron Land Development, one of the state of Florida's largest site development and roadway construction contractors, Bergeron Properties & Investment Corp., a real estate holding company, and Bergeron Emergency Services, a disaster recovery business.

Contact:

Harry Kroll

1-305-443-5454

[email protected]

SOURCE Alligator Ron Bergeron, Sr.
Andy King has been volunteering in Orange County for more than 20 years and generously gives his time, money, and skills to various organizations. King sits on the Habitat For Humanity Orange County Board of Directors and has co-chaired the non-profit organizations' annual Leaders Build Day and supports his local Boy Scout troop.

"It's an honor to be recognized by both Fluidmaster and the OneOC organization," says King. "I love being able to make a positive impact in the community; it doesn't feel like work when you're having fun and making a difference."

The Spirit of Volunteerism Award was established in 1976 and is the oldest awards program in Orange County. It recognizes and celebrates the major involvement of community volunteers, groups, and corporations and is a community-wide celebration. OneOC is the non-profit organization that puts on the awards, which offers a suite of resources to help companies build and grow their volunteer programs.

"One of our Founder's seven goals for a successful business is to 'be a good citizen in the community', and Andy is a great example of this," says Todd Talbot, Fluidmaster President. "We're fortunate to have such a passionate, dedicated individual as part of our Fluidmaster team."

Fluidmaster is also nominated by Habitat for Humanity for the Giving is Living Award, which celebrates the work of influential organizations, families, and businesses that participate in outstanding community volunteerism.

About Fluidmaster

Fluidmaster revolutionized the plumbing industry with its innovative pilot fill valve technology 60 years ago and has continued leading the industry with its commitment to innovating efficient and reliable toilet components. Based in Southern California, Fluidmaster is family-owned and operated and is dedicated to producing products that simplify the flushing and repairing of toilets globally. For more information, visit fluidmaster.com or call (949) 728-2000.

SOURCE Fluidmaster

Related Links

http://www.fluidmaster.com


NORMAN, Okla., May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Frank J. Sonleitner is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Prominent Professor Retiree in the field of Education.

Encouraged to teach zoology after discovering his inherent interest in animals, following a 50 year-plus career in the scientific research and education field, Dr. Sonleitner has recently retired from his role as an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Oklahoma (OU).

Located in the heart of Oklahoma with a faculty of over thirty four members and fifty graduate students, the Department of Biology has contributed to the innovations in Biology throughout the years. The department specializes in various research areas including Aquatic Biology, Biology of Behavior, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geographical Ecology, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.

With over thirty three years of experience in the field of education under his belt, Frank J. Sonleitner is well revered for his outstanding contributions to the industry. Having served as Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Sonleitner joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma in 1965. After four years as an Assistant Professor of Zoology, he then advanced to the role of Associate Professor. Notorious for his expertise in population ecology, Eco genetics, entomology and statistics, Dr. Sonleitner has had a number of research papers published on these subjects and other topics. In 2002, Dr. Sonleitner retired from the university with the title of Associate Professor Emeritus of Zoology.



Early in his career, Dr. Sonleitner attained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago in 1951. After serving for two years in the U.S. Army, he returned to Chicago to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in 1956 and then a Ph.D. in zoology in 1959. Thereafter, Dr. Sonleitner completed a two year post-doctoral National Science Foundation fellowship at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia.



In an effort to further enhance his professional development, Dr. Sonleitner was an elite member of several organizations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the Ecological Society of America, the Entomological Society of America and the Oklahoma Academy of Science. Additionally he served for 19 years on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Science Education and was the first recipient of their Friend of Darwin Award. Currently he is on the Board of Directors of Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education.



In recognition of his professional achievements, Dr. Sonleitner has been featured in several editions of Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World and Marquis Who's Who.



Dr. Sonleitner dedicates this recognition to his Ph.D. advisor, the late Professor Thomas Park of the University of Chicago.



For more information, please visit: http://www.ou.edu/cas/biology/people/faculty/frank-sonleitner.html.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- At Gabriel & Co., the award winning fine jewelry brand and industry leader in customer satisfaction and revolutionary retail, innovation is in their DNA. With bold visionary thinking and cutting-edge technology comes an innovative omnichannel experience for both retail partners and consumers alike. To bridge the gap between the instore and online shopping experience, Gabriel & Co. is proud to announce a new virtual "toolbox" that equips retail partners with the instruments needed to ensure customers enjoy a seamless shopping experience while maximizing sales.

The latest technological accomplishment that the company is releasing is the Gabriel Personal Shopper (GPS) visual search tool which will lead consumers to find that perfect piece of jewelry quickly, making shopping online effortless. The company aims to minimize the pain of the online jewelry shopping experiencesearching, selecting, purchasing, and shippingall on behalf of the retailer. Gabriel will drop-ship purchases to the consumer and apply full payout directly to the retailer. The second exciting feature that will add to the novel Gabriel Personal Shopper experience will be presented at Gabriel & Co.'s booth (S10405) at JCK Las Vegas. What the company can share for the moment is that typing text into search fields to interact with websites and mobile apps for online shopping will be a thing of the past. The future of searching online will go through rapid changes, whereby deep learning and benchmarking human behavior through image recognition will be commonplace.

As technology continues to shape the world around us, Gabriel & Co. strives to provide their retail partners with the expertise needed to succeed. The 21st century omnichannel experience insists that brands be visible to consumers both off and online. However, retail partners face the challenge of stocking the excess number of products that are available to customers digitally. Through the implementation of Gabriel & Co.'s eShopNShop website embed on a retailer's site, the in-store sales staff are able to access Gabriel's entire catalog of jewelry styles through a virtual showcase, resulting in jewelers having a wide variety of options to show their customers without having to invest in physically stocking them.

With the growing demand for luxurious customization, another must-have, state of the art tool is the Gabriel Magic App which puts customers in the driver seat. Immerse yourself in the design process through an augmented-reality headset that allows you to virtually custom create any piece in the collection and see realistic 3-D imagery with 360-degree views of the design on your hand -- all at the touch of a button. While finalizing the order, shoppers can save the image and share their latest treasure with friends and family through social media before their in-store visit to their favorite retailer to complete the order for that perfect engagement ring.

"As technology reshapes the way we do business, the personal touch is becoming more important than ever," says Jack Gabriel, CEO of Gabriel & Co. "Fortunately, it's easier to provideif you have the right tools. At Gabriel & Co., we think beyond the status quo. We keep a close eye on changes in the marketplace, and we develop forward-thinking products as new needs emerge. That gives our retail partners the edge on customer experience."

Consumers will find shopping for Gabriel & Co. jewelry seamless. In addition to free shipping, easy returns and exchanges, delving into the brand's experience is exciting, glamorous and even enlightening. Recognizing the almost limitless choice consumers have when it comes to what, where and how they can buy, Gabriel & Co. continues to create robust content on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and on their website that features valuable style advice, expert insight and monthly Designer Flash series. By powering the brand's retail partners with this vast virtual inventory to effortlessly connect with consumers, the result is the best in jewelry shopping.

PRESS CONTACT:

Kaleigh Kramer

Michele Marie PR

[email protected]

646.863.3923

About Gabriel & Co.:

Gabriel & Co. is a New York City based jewelry design house which was founded in 1989 by brothers Jack and Dominick Gabriel. Family owned and operated, the company began in New York City and has since evolved into one of the most prolific fine jewelry brands in the U.S., sold at more than 1,200 retailers nationwide. The story of Gabriel & Co. is one of passion, integrity, service and trust. Gabriel creates beautifully unique and distinctive pieces that are designed to reflect the true beauty that is unique in all of us. Each piece is passionately designed and created as a crafted personal experience. By infusing human passion into natural elements, Gabriel creates jewelry that enhances and celebrates beauty and personal achievements. Individually numbered, each piece is as unique as the woman who wears it. Gabriel & Co. has consistently won awards since 2011 in both JCK & Instore Magazines for being one of the most innovative and best performing brands in the jewelry industry.

SOURCE Gabriel & Co.

Related Links

https://www.gabrielny.com


PARAMUS, N.J., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, a global pharmaceutical company, today announced the presentation of data from two assets in its immuno-oncology portfolio at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). These presentations include preclinical and translational data on GBR 1302, a HER2xCD3 bispecific antibody, and a Trials in Progress (TIP) poster on GBR 1342, a CD38xCD3 bispecific antibody.

GBR 1302 is Glenmark's lead immuno-oncology candidate, currently in a first-in-human trial to determine maximum tolerated dose (MTD) in an all-comers population of patients with a variety of HER2 positive cancers. This Phase 1 trial is being expanded to explore higher doses of GBR1302 and to examine potential clinical benefit of a once-weekly dosing regimen. Enrollment for the GBR 1302 clinical trial is currently ongoing in the U.S. and Germany.

In parallel, an ex vivo translational study has recently been completed utilizing a fully human, clinically validated diagnostic platform that delivers treatment response predictions to identify responder context to GBR 1302 in metastatic breast and gastric cancer tissue biopsies. The translational study further investigates the novel Mechanism of Action (MOA) of GBR 1302 in a tumor microenvironment and its impact on expansion of memory and effector CD8+/CD4+ T cells to inform precise patient selection. The translational study also addresses the effect of T cell engagers in combination with check point inhibitors (e.g., anti-PD1/PDL1).

"By relying on a combination of translational data and clinical adaptive design, Glenmark is rapidly advancing potential first- -in-class immuno-oncology candidates," said Fred Grossman, President and Chief Medical Officer at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. "We are pleased to share these emerging data and updates on our immuno-oncology pipeline at the ASCO Annual Meeting."

Based on preliminary data from the Phase 1 clinical study, and ex vivo translational studies, a Phase 1b/2 study is currently being designed and will include an expansion cohort of HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer patients. The expansion cohort will evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and antitumor activity of GBR 1302 and is intended to generate robust and comprehensive translational data.

Additional details regarding the date and times of these presentations are below:

GBR1302: Effect of CD3HER2, a bispecific T cell engager antibody, in trastuzumab-resistant cancers

Session: Developmental Therapeutics  Immunotherapy



Monday, June 4 th 1:15-4:45 PM

Phase 1, multicenter, openlabel study of singleagent bispecific antibody tcell engager GBR 1342 in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma

Session: Tumor Biology



Monday, June 4 th 8:00  11:30 AM

About Glenmark's Oncology Pipeline and Proprietary BEAT Technology

Glenmark's pipeline currently includes three immuno-oncology candidates being studied in a wide range of tumor types. These include three bispecific monoclonal antibodies (bsAbs). GBR 1302, a HER2xCD3 bsAb, targets HER2 expressing tumors including those not responsive to standard of care; GBR 1342, a CD38XCD3 bsAb targeting CD38 positive tumors including hematologic malignancies and solid tumors; and GBR 1372, an EGFRxCD3 bsAb targeting EGFR positive tumors including those resistant to standard of care.

BEAT (Bispecific Engagement by Antibodies based on the T cell receptor) is Glenmark's proprietary technology for the production of bsAbs. With BEAT technology, Glenmark's scientists have been able to overcome past production obstacles encountered with bsAbs, and can efficiently manufacture these molecules at clinical and commercial scale. Preclinically, BEAT bsAbs demonstrate the potential for more potent activity compared to existing therapeutic antibodies. Additionally, structural similarity to naturally-occurring antibodies may result in a normalized IgG half-life and less immunogenicity. GBR 1302, GBR 1342 and GBR 1372 are based on BEAT technology.

About Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (GPL) is a global innovative pharmaceutical company with operations in more than 50 countries. Glenmark has a diverse pipeline with several compounds in various stages of clinical development, primarily focused in the areas of oncology, respiratory disease and dermatology. Glenmark has improved the lives of millions of patients by offering safe, affordable medications for nearly 40 years. For more information, visit glenmarkpharma-us.com.

SOURCE Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
DUBLIN, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Global Engineering Plastics Market - Segmented by Product Type, Application, and Geography - Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2018 - 2023)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global engineering plastics market has been estimated at USD 89,893.90 million in 2017.

The market is expected to register a CAGR of 4.99% during the forecast period, 2018 to 2023. PET dominated the global engineering plastics market with nearly 24% share globally, while PEEK segment is estimated to register the fastest CAGR through the forecast period.



Growing Popularity of Bio-Based Pet



PET is majorly used in the packaging industry, primarily for packaging of water (bottled), food and alcoholic beverages. It is a downstream product of crude oils, but with growing environmental concerns, and depleting oil reserves, engineering plastic manufacturers are shifting toward the development of bio-based PET. However, the bio-based PET market is still in its growth stage and is commercially available as a partially bio-based product. With increasing concerns about the reduction of carbon emissions, government and environmental agencies such as US EPA and European Commission are focusing on creating awareness regarding the usage and benefits of bio-based PET.



With the growing demand for engineering plastics, companies are developing products which can be used for new applications. Engineering plastic manufacturing companies, such as BASF, DowDuPont and Bayer, are consistently engaged in R&D activities to develop products that are environment-friendly and comply with regulations. Furthermore, they have been investing in developing new technologies to continually enhance their competitive advantage in the industry.



Asia-Pacific Dominates the Market



Asia-Pacific has the highest share in the market, accounting for nearly 50% of the global market share in 2017. The market for Asia-Pacific is driven majorly because of the increasing demand for engineering plastics by the end user industries including electrical & electronics, automotive & transportation. Also, with the increasing automotive production in the major economies in the region, the market for engineering plastics has benefitted to a great extent.



China is the Largest Consumer



China is the largest producer and consumer of engineering plastics in the region. The demand for engineering plastics is increasing from various end-user sectors including electrical & electronics, automotive & transportation sector in China. Automotive is one of the fastest growing sectors in developing economies like China due to the rise in disposable income among the population and various other factors. The abundant availability of raw materials and low cost of production estimated to boost the demand for engineering plastics market in the country



Key Developments in the Market

February 2017 : Asahi Kasei and Bluestar planned joint venture for mPPE business in China .

: Asahi Kasei and Bluestar planned joint venture for mPPE business in . February 2017 : Chemtura announced merger agreement with Lanxess. This merger is aimed at the expansion of its product portfolio.

Key Topics Covered



1. Introduction

1.1 Scope of the Report

1.2 Research Methodology



2. Executive Summary



3. Market Insights

3.1 Industry Value-Chain Analysis

3.2 Industry Attractiveness - Porter's Five Forces Analysis

3.2.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

3.2.2 Bargaining Power of Consumers

3.2.3 Threat of New Entrants

3.2.4 Threat of Substitute Products and Services

3.2.5 Degree of Competition

3.3 Patent Analysis

3.4 Raw Material Analysis



4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Growing Purchasing Power in the Developing Economies

4.1.2 Growing Popularity of Bio-Based PET

4.1.3 Engineering Plastics Replacing Traditional Materials

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Lengthy And Exhaustive Process For Manufacturing Of Engineering Plastics

4.2.2 Other Restraints

4.3 Opportunity

4.3.1 Innovative Product Applications

4.3.2 Increasing Usage in Aerospace Industry

4.3.3 Accelerating Usage in Green Vehicles



5. Market Segmentation and Analysis

5.1 By Product Type

5.1.1 Fluoropolymers

5.1.2 Polyacetal/Polyoxymethylene

5.1.3 Polyamides

5.1.4 Polycarbonates

5.1.5 Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA)

5.1.6 Polyphenylene Oxide (PPO/PPE Blends)

5.1.7 Polyphenylene Sulfide (PPS)

5.1.8 Styrene Copolymers (ABS & SAN)

5.1.9 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)

5.1.10 Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT)

5.1.11 Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK)

5.1.12 Polyimides (PI)

5.1.13 Liquid Crystal Polymers (LCP)

5.2 By Application

5.2.1 Automotive & Transportation

5.2.2 Building and Construction

5.2.3 Consumer Goods

5.2.4 Electrical and Electronics

5.2.5 Industrial and Machinery

5.2.6 Packaging

5.2.7 Medical



6. Regional Market Analysis

6.1 Asia-Pacific

6.1.1 China

6.1.2 India

6.1.3 Japan

6.1.4 South Korea

6.1.5 Australia and New Zealand

6.1.6 ASEAN Countries

6.1.7 Rest of Asia-Pacific

6.2 North America

6.2.1 United States

6.2.2 Canada

6.2.3 Mexico

6.2.4 Rest of North America

6.3 Europe

6.3.1 Germany

6.3.2 United Kingdom

6.3.3 Italy

6.3.4 France

6.3.5 Russia

6.3.6 NORDIC Countries

6.3.7 Netherlands

6.3.8 Spain

6.3.9 Rest of Europe

6.4 South America

6.4.1 Brazil

6.4.2 Argentina

6.4.3 Colombia

6.4.4 Chile

6.4.5 Rest of South America

6.5 Middle East & Africa

6.5.1 Saudi Arabia

6.5.2 South Africa

6.5.3 Qatar

6.5.4 Rest of Middle East & Africa



7. Future of the Market



8. Competitive Landscape

8.1 Mergers & Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Collaborations, and Agreements

8.2 Market Share Analysis

8.3 Strategies Adopted by Leading Players



9. Company Profiles

9.1 A. Schulman, Inc.

9.2 Advan Six Inc.

9.3 Arkema

9.4 Asahi Kasei Corporation

9.5 Ashland Corporation

9.6 BASF SE

9.7 Celanese Corporation

9.8 Chemtura Corporation

9.9 Chi Mei Corporation

9.10 Chevron Phillips Chemical Company

9.11 Covestro

9.12 Daicel Corporation

9.13 DowDuPont

9.14 Dyneon LLC

9.15 Eastman Chemical Company

9.16 Evonik Industries AG

9.17 Grand Pacific Petrochemical Corporation

9.18 Ineos

9.19 Lanxess

9.20 LG Chem

9.21 Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation

9.22 Nova Chemicals Corporation

9.23 Polyone

9.24 POLYPLASTICS CO. LTD.

9.25 Rochling group

9.26 DSM

9.27 SABIC

9.28 SOLVAY

9.29 TINSEO

9.30 TEIJIN Limited

9.31 ...list not exhaustive



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/st5w7s/global?w=5

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

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RIVERSIDE, Calif., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Compassion & Choices urges the California attorney general to immediately file an appeal with a state appellate court to suspend a lower court judgment today invalidating the End of Life Option Act. Appealing the ruling filed last night by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ottolia would preserve access to the law until the appeals process is completed or future ruling from the courts.

Kevin Diaz, national director of legal advocacy for Compassion & Choices, which filed an amicus brief defending the End of Life Option Act in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the law Matt Fairchild, a 48-year-old, retired Army staff sergeant in Burbank who advocated for the End of Life Option Act and takes 26 medications to manage his symptoms from terminal melanoma

Similar to laws in Washington, D.C. and six other states, the California law gives mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live the option to request prescription medication they can decide to take to end unbearable suffering and die peacefully in their sleep.

Last week, Judge Ottolia granted plaintiffs' motion in the case, Ahn vs. Hestrin  Case RIC1607135, to invalidate the law because he claimed the legislature violated the state constitution by passing it during a special session limited to health care issues. He gave Attorney General Xavier Becerra five days to appeal the ruling, and the attorney general did so on Monday.

On Wednesday, the 4th District Circuit of Appeal denied a separate motion for a stay, but ordered the plaintiffs to show cause why the appellate court should not overturn the ruling in 25 days. Despite the appellate court's denial of the stay, Judge Ottolia's original ruling didn't suspend the law because he had not yet issued a judgment giving effect to his decision reflected in his order last week.

"We urge Attorney General Becerra to immediately file a Notice of Appeal of Judge Ottolia's ruling, and reassure the public that a mandatory stay preserving the law during the appeal is in effect," said Kevin Diaz, national director of legal advocacy for Compassion & Choices, which filed an amicus brief defending the law. "The law should remain in effect until the appeals process ends, but the Attorney General must act today, so dying Californians with only weeks or days left to live still have access to this palliative care option to peacefully end needless suffering at life's inevitable end."

"The enactment fell within the scope of the special session called, in part, to consider efforts to 'improve the efficiency and efficacy of the health care system ... and improve the health of Californians,'" said the attorney general's appeal of Judge Ottolia's ruling last week filed in the 4th District Court of Appeal. "As the Governor indicated, the Act deals with pain, suffering, and the comfort of having the health care options afforded by the Act."

"The California Supreme Court has ruled against these kind of narrow interpretations of the governor's special session proclamations in the past, so there is no reason to believe that would change in this case," said John C. Kappos, a partner in the O'Melveny law firm representing Compassion & Choices, which led the campaign to pass the law. "We are confident that the state constitution  and legal precedents interpreting it  support our position and we ultimately will win this case."

"It is inhumanely cruel that a judge would take away this health care option to enable dying Californians like me to peacefully end intolerable suffering," said Matt Fairchild, a 48-year-old, retired Army staff sergeant in Burbank who advocated for the law and takes 26 medications to manage his symptoms from terminal melanoma that has spread to his bones, lungs and brain. "I am counting on Attorney General Becerra to immediately appeal this ruling and defend this law that other dying Californians desperately need."

Last June, Compassion & Choices released a report estimating that 504 Californians have received prescriptions for medical aid in dying since it took effect on June 9, 2016. Last July, the California Department of Public Health released a report showing 191 terminally ill Californians received prescriptions from 173 doctors for aid-in-dying medication during the nearly seven month period from June 9, 2016 until Dec. 31, 2016; 111 of those individuals (58%) decided to self-ingest the medication.

Polling shows 76 percent of Californians across the political and demographic spectrum support medical aid in dying. This majority support includes 82 percent of Democrats, 79 percent of independents, 67 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of whites, Latinos and Asian Americans, and 52 percent of African Americans.

California is one of seven states  including Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Hawai'i  as well as the District of Columbia, that have authorized medical aid in dying. Collectively, these eight jurisdictions represent nearly one out of five Americans (19%) and have 40 years of combined experience safely using this end-of-life care option.

ABOUT COMPASSION & CHOICES:

Compassion & Choices is the nation's oldest and largest nonprofit organization working to improve and expand health care options at the end of life, with 450,000 volunteers nationwide. For more information, visit: CompassionAndChoices.org

Media Contact : Sean Crowley, 202-495-8520-c, [email protected]

Latino Media Contact : Patricia A. Gonzalez-Portillo, 323-819-0310-c, [email protected]

SOURCE Compassion & Choices

Related Links

http://CompassionAndChoices.org


"Beyond being budget friendly, buying a certified vehicle provides an extra level of comfort, knowing your car has been through a rigorous inspection and is backed by the manufacturer for an extended length of time," said Brian Moody, executive editor for Autotrader. "Sometimes, that warranty is longer than you get with a new car and is certainly better than with a non-certified used car."

Autotrader's 10-Best CPO Programs awards recognizes the best CPO programs available based on a series of factors, including powertrain warranty length (with a minimum of six years or 100,000 miles of coverage from the original sale date), available inventory, bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage, deductible amount, and transferability to future vehicle owners.

About Honda

Honda offers a full line of reliable, fuel-efficient and fun-to-drive vehicles with advanced safety technologies sold through over 1,000 independent U.S. Honda dealers. The Honda lineup includes the Fit, Civic, Accord and Clarity series passenger cars, along with the HR-V, CR-V and Pilot sport utility vehicles, the Ridgeline pickup and the Odyssey minivan.

Honda has been producing automobiles in America for more than 35 years and currently operates 19 major manufacturing facilities in North America. In 2017 more than 90 percent of all Honda brand vehicles sold in the U.S. were made in North America, using domestic and globally sourced parts.

For More Information

Additional media information including detailed pricing, features and high-resolution photography of all Honda models is available at hondanews.com.

Consumer information can be found at automobiles.honda.com.

To join the Honda community on Facebook, visit facebook.com/honda.

SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Related Links

http://www.honda.com


PETALUMA, Calif., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Traveling and living abroad can impact an individual's life in many different ways. CEOs, in particular, who have that worldly experience can add unique value to their company. Brandon Frere, a successful entrepreneur and CEO of Frere Enterprises and other ventures, has traveled and worked abroad at several times in his life and can say it positively benefited his outlook and business decisions.

"Traveling and working in other countries was one of the best decisions of my early life," said Brandon Frere. "I learned how to interact with other cultures and make the best of situations where I'm out of my element. I carry those lessons and more through my life and business decisions."

Traveling abroad can expand networking efforts to new levels. Aspiring small business owners may choose to tap those contacts in other countries for funding, mentorship, or even as a base of operations. Additionally, experiencing other cultures often leads to an appreciation of others' values, which can benefit a small business if they include inclusivity in their company mission.

A recent article described how living abroad for as little as three months is linked to an individual's sense of self. Having a clear sense of self can mean having a greater understanding of one's strengths and values, which can help them make confident decisions about their career. CEOs and other managers who have that sense of self can make more confident business decisions that can affect employees and customers alike.

"Technology allows us all to interact with people globally, so I believe it's important to go into something like that with a global perspective," said Frere. "Traveling around the world has allowed me to learn about other cultures as well as myself. While all of that has led me to where I am today, I look forward to more lessons in the future. And I encourage other business leaders to do the same."

About Frere Enterprises

Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His company website, www.FrereEnterprises.com, is used as a means to communicate many of the lessons, fundamentals, and information he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide.

As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs.

FrereEnterprises.com

Related Images

traveling-abroad.jpg

Traveling Abroad

Credit: Milkos/Bigstock

image2.png

Related Links

Frere Enterprises home page

SOURCE Frere Enterprises

Related Links

https://frereenterprises.com


SHENZHEN, China, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Cross-border finance has become a new growth point of ICBC (Asia)

Cross-border finance is developing rapidly thanks to the opening up of China's capital market, opportunities brought by the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Take Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) as an example. ICBC (Asia) started its cross-border RMB business in 2013. By the end of 2017, the bank had established partnership with more than 500 enterprise customers, supported the settlement of near 20 currencies, processed more than CNY36 trillion RMB settlement, had more than CNY30 billion total deposit, and achieved double-digit growth in relevant businesses.

ICBC (Asia) is a licensed bank incorporated in Hong Kong and now has 57 retail outlets, serving as the flagship of overseas banking business of ICBC Group. The total assets of ICBC (Asia) amounted to HK$898.1 billion at the end of 2017. By persisting in the business strategy of "Taking Root in Hong Kong, Connecting with Mainland China, Spanning Across Asia Pacific, and Facing the World", ICBC (Asia) seizes the favorable opportunities of Hong Kong being the offshore RMB centre, and keenly exploring RMB businesses and cross-border banking services. In the future, ICBC (Asia) will provide diverse low-cost, cross-border financing (covering IPO and bond issuing), all-around cross-border RMB, and cross-border assets management services to promote the establishment of global assets management platforms in Hong Kong.

Technologies serve businesses and create value

Cross-border finance is developing rapidly, and customers' needs on Internet finance and new payment methods increase drastically. This brings great opportunities to ICBC (Asia)'s cross-border finance business as well as challenges to ICBC (Asia)'s business systems and its ICT infrastructures. Customers may require the bank to deliver high-quality cross-border services in different modes.

By adhering to the objective of "Technology Serving Business, Technology Creating Value" ICBC (Asia) gradually explores a path to develop innovative applications using biometric recognition, blockchain, Big Data, AI, and cloud computing technologies. To better serve its customers, ICBC (Asia) understands customers' need with providing VIP recognition service, precise sales and marketing strategies, customized products recommendation, and differential pricing. Smart risks prevention and control helps detecting transaction frauds, credit risks and operating risks. In addition, the "management dashboard" supports decision-making, abnormal capital flows warnings, incidents prevention and risks management.

In 2016, ICBC (Asia) started to plan and deploy innovative systems by using the latest ICT technologies like virtualization, Big Data, cloud computing, and DevOps. With the help of new architectures, ICBC (Asia) secured an advantageous position for future market competition. Based on ICBC (Asia)'s business and technology development requirements, Huawei provided a number of cutting-edge solutions, such as the Digital Multimedia Banking Solution, Safe Financial Cloud Solution, and the CloudFabric Cloud Data Center Network Solution.

Improving customer experience in cross-border finance

To address the cross-border service mode issue, ICBC (Asia) developed "mVTM system" based on Huawei's IP Contact Center (IPCC) Solution, allowing customers to have video conferences with their financial advisors via the ICBC(Asia) apps,and getting professional financial advice anytime and anywhere. The solution has many unique features, such as multimedia access, automated service processes, and an intelligent routing platform that can assign incoming calls to the most appropriate agents. With the above unique features, IPCC will provide text messaging, voice call, and even video interaction services. This not only greatly improves customer experience, but also enables service back tracking to ensure the service provided fulfilled regulatory compliance.



In the future, ICBC (Asia) will develop a 24/7 omni-channel intelligent customer service system to answer customers' enquiries. This Chatbot system will be able to process voice commands in Mandarin, Cantonese (the principal language of Hong Kong), and English, improving ICBC (Asia)'s service operating efficiency and customer service quality.

Focusing on both security and agility

Banks are in constant pursuit of security and agility, while these two needs were somehow conflict in the past. Take document encryption and internet safety as examples, cyber-attacks threaten banks' intranets and sensitive data while daily work data sharing to third party may lead to confidential information leakage that these will bring significant loss to both the bank and its customers. For this case, ICBC (Asia) worked with Huawei to improve employees' working experience and protect internal sensitive information security at the same time. Huawei is the only vendor in the industry to provide holistic ICT solutions that cover from desktop cloud protocol software, to virtualization software, servers, storage units, firewalls and networks. Huawei deployed more than 100,000 desktop cloud accounts internally, served 180,000 of its employees, and accrued extensive experience during the process.

With Huawei's assistance, ICBC (Asia) achieved fine-grained security management (by user, region, and resource), security authentication and verification, as well as sliced data transmission and storage. Huawei's comprehensive "Cloud-Pipe-Device-Control" security protection system improves service systems' reliability in management nodes and user connections. The new O&M system features rich functions and simplified wizard operations, maximizing O&M efficiency and lowering relevant costs.

ICBC (Asia) staffs can back up important files and data to Onebox regularly for easy data protection. This is the first trial of the cloud office infrastructure transformation which dramatically improved security and efficiency of ICBC (Asia)'s office works. In the near future, Huawei will use desktop virtualization technology to help ICBC (Asia) isolate browsers from service systems and the intranet from the Internet. This will effectively protect ICBC (Asia)'s ICT systems from cyber-attacks and prevent disclosure of sensitive data (such as customer cross-border financing data and global assets data).

Building a strong neural network system

The growth of cross-border finance introduced higher requirements on data storage reliability, data center network speed, and overall system stability. Statistics show that China's large commercial banks and insurance companies have an average of more than 100 TB data in their databases. To address the Internet finance challenge, financial institutions are now using data to drive business innovation. Data centers, once served banks as support centers, now shoulder the responsibilities of creating value and profits.

ICBC (Asia) built its service systems based on traditional data centres and classified service sectors by business, formulated complicated security strategies. The rapid increase of service types and capacities brings new requirements on flexible deployment, dispatching, migration, and management of service resource pools. The traditional network architecture becomes a choke point that hinders business development. ICBC (Asia) leverages standard, open network technologies, and new data centre architectures to set a solid foundation for a strong neural network system.

ICBC (Asia) breaks the constraint by replacing non-standard technologies. Its existing data centre and production backbone network used traditional solutions and closed private technologies like EIGRP and PVST+. At the network equipment aspect, Huawei provides CloudEngine, USG Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), and other devices that feature open architectures, standard network control protocols, and standard interfaces.

At the controller aspect, Huawei deploys its Software Defined Network (SDN) controller and Agile Controller based on the open-source architectures, such as Open Network Operating System (ONOS) and OpenDaylight (ODL). ICBC (Asia) used Huawei's Agile Controller to replace its existing private network architecture and protocols. This protects ICBC (Asia) from vendor lock-in and allows more top-notch ICT companies to participate in the bank's network development. ICBC (Asia) is now able to access the OpenStack-based cloud platform, share computing resources and value-added services across data centers, enjoy multi-service convergence, and flexibly expand and upgrade its solution in the near future.

Based on existing equipment, Huawei developed the data center network that supports linkage with virtual platforms and evolution towards cloud-network collaboration. With Huawei's solution in place, ICBC (Asia) can upgrade its network and retain many of its legacy network devices. This maximizes the return on ICBC (Asia)'s historical investment, meeting the bank's requirements on long-term development.

Huawei's solution, based on the spine-leaf architecture, uses the Agile Controller and CE Series Switches to help ICBC (Asia) smoothly complete cloud computing evolution. The project is carried out phase by phase and won't involve mass software or hardware replacement. In the future, ICBC (Asia) can choose to reshape its data centre network and build an SDN. Should this happen, service systems will be able to share network hardware resources. That is to say, these systems will be logically isolated from each other to ensure security, and share IT resources to improve resource usage and service deployment efficiency.

Tang Bin, General Manager of IT department of ICBC (Asia), said that ICBC (Asia) recognized Huawei's technologies and product quality, and was satisfied with Huawei's support and service abilities. "Huawei helped ICBC (Asia) build more open and stable ICT infrastructures", Tang Bin said, "it allows the Bank's business departments to work safer and easier. With Huawei's solution in place, ICBC (Asia) achieved a major breakthrough in the diversity of DC network products, laying a solid foundation for private cloud transformation in the future. ICBC (Asia) looks forward to more extensive cooperation with Huawei in cloud computing, Big Data, and other sectors."

ICBC (Asia) is using scientific innovation and the latest technology to drive business upgrades and development, and promote the extensive convergence of modern information technology, and banking business operations and development. Hong Kong is now actively developing FinTech. ICBC (Asia) will seize this opportunity, work hard to build its ICT systems into its core strength and important support in offering financial services. With Huawei's technological support, ICBC (Asia) is confident to achieve all-around improvement in management, services, and innovation, also to meet the increasing needs on customer services, internal management, and external regulatory compliance. ICBC (Asia) will continue its endeavor on improvement and strives to become your preferred bank in cross-border finance.

SOURCE Huawei
PITTSBURGH, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- "I thought that nail polish could be packaged differently, and that this improvement in bottle design would be more appealing to consumers," said an inventor from Frisco, Texas.

She developed the SPLITTER BOTTLE to provide access to more than one color. It is designed to last longer than typical bottles. The design reduces the need to purchase as many new bottles of nail polish. This makes it easier to paint and style nails. The design appeals to a wide age range. Furthermore, it saves time and effort.

The original design was submitted to the Dallas office of InventHelp. It is currently patent pending and available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 17-DLL-3364, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com.

SOURCE InventHelp

Related Links

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Allergic contact dermatitis happens when your body contacts a substance or material to which you are allergic. You can be allergic to nickel (common in jewelry), black rubber (sporting goods), or shellac (nail polishes) among many other substances. In fact, more than 4,350 known substances can cause allergic contact dermatitis.

How do you know you are allergic? Symptoms range from dry, flaky skin to rash and even blister-like sacs filled with fluid (not pus) that can rupture and leave crusts. Itching can be intense. The only way to obtain a diagnosis is by having a skin patch test given to you by a trained clinician (primary care providers, allergist, or dermatologist).

Patch testing involves the application of panels containing individual test substances to your skin, typically your back. The panels are worn for 48 hours, after which they are removed by your provider. Additional office visits are required to have the results read and interpreted and to receive counseling on avoidance of allergenic substances as appropriate.

Dr. Curt Hamann, CEO of SmartPractice and Medical Director of the Contact Dermatitis Institute, explains the benefits of this approach. "Often, only a patient's symptoms of ACD are treated by prescribing a course of corticosteroids. This approach may offer temporary relief of symptoms but will not resolve the problem. I encourage all clinicians to consider patch testing patients with such rashes or to refer them to patch testing centers to ensure that every patient receives the diagnosis they deserve," said Dr. Curt Hamann, CEO of SmartPractice and Medical Director of the Contact Dermatitis Institute.

If you or someone you know suffers from recurring, unexplained rashes and have only received treatment to control the related symptoms, patch testing may identify the cause of the skin problem. Visit: myskinallergy.com to find a physician who performs patch testing in your area.

Dr. Hamann is available for interviews. High resolution images available, upon request.

SOURCE SmartPractice

Related Links

http://www.smartpractice.com


NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP, has been awarded the prestigious Chambers USA award for team excellence in tax, recognizing the firm's impressive body of work, growth and client service over the previous year.

The award was announced on May 24, 2018, at the annual Chambers USA awards ceremony in New York City. The awards are determined by the agency's year-long research process and interviews with leading in-house counsel. As Chambers USA describes it, the Team of the Year awards "reflect not just a law firm's pre-eminence, but also highlight notable achievements over the past twelve months, impressive strategic growth, and excellence in client service."

"The Chambers USA Tax Team of the Year honor reflects the strength and experience of our firm as well as our strategic growth over the past year, including our expansion into Washington, D.C., the addition of new practice areas, and the personalized experience all our attorneys give our clients every day," said founding partner Robert S. Fink.

Earlier this month, Kostelanetz & Fink was named one of the country's top law firms in the area of tax controversy for the eighth consecutive year and four partners received individual recognitions:

Robert S. Fink ranked nationwide Band 1 for Tax: Fraud.

ranked nationwide Band 1 for Tax: Fraud. Bryan C. Skarlatos ranked nationwide Band 1 for Tax: Fraud.

ranked nationwide Band 1 for Tax: Fraud. Caroline D. Ciraolo ranked nationwide Band 2 for Tax: Fraud.

ranked nationwide Band 2 for Tax: Fraud. Jay Nanavati ranked nationwide as Up and Coming for Tax: Fraud

Kostelanetz & Fink, LLP has built a national reputation as the law firm of choice for clients facing high-stakes negotiations and controversies with government agencies. Because of our experience handling the most challenging, complex and sensitive cases, our attorneys are considered to be some of the country's foremost experts on tax controversies, white collar defense and regulatory matters. An important part of the firm's practice includes tax and estate planning and representation in government procurement and government contracting.

CONTACT: Emily Pierce, [email protected]

SOURCE Kostelanetz & Fink

Related Links

http://www.kflaw.com


To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8336551-linkfluence-search-social-listening/

With 15 years' of experience in social listening and analysis, Linkfluence introduces a new way to access live and historical social data by opening up access to live and historical data of up to 12 months to brands and agencies through a search engine.



Accessing the latest trends, buzz and new influencers from Paris to Shanghai is now possible without any setup or training, with ease of use and immediate results at the heart of Linkfluence Search.

Linkfluence Search allows you to:

# Get a live overview of social conversations on any brand, campaign, or keyword

# Compare the social performance of your brand, your products and campaigns, with your competitors

# Analyse conversations around any topics, news and trends in your industry

# Export data into reports that you can share with your teams and any stakeholders

In addition to live conversations updated up to the minute, brands can get a summary of key demographic and behavioral insights about their audience to improve their marketing and sales strategy. From job titles, age groups, favorite platforms, countries or languages, all will be accessible at a glance in a clear and beautiful dashboard view.

In 1 click, brands can monitor social conversations on any keyword or brand for competitive analysis or market research - compare different topics, hashtags, multiple brands to see key stats like engagement, volume, sentiment, emojis, and more.

About Linkfluence:

Linkfluence transforms the way global brands collect, analyze, and leverage customer insights. With our leading social listening tools and team of local research analysts, we analyze real-time social data to help brands and agencies make better business decisions. Founded in 2006 in France, Linkfluence has more than 200 employees in France, Germany, United Kingdom, China, and Singapore, trusted by more than 500 leading brands worldwide, including Danone, LVMH, L'oreal, and McDonalds.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696550/Mockup_Linkfluence_search.jpg )

Video:

http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8336551-linkfluence-search-social-listening/



SOURCE Linkfluence
NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- L'Oreal, one of the world's largest cosmetic companies, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Pulp Riot Hair Color. Luxury Brand Partners, LLC acted as the lead investor of the brand.

Pulp Riot Hair Color, was founded by the minds behind Butterfly Circus and Butterfly Loft, David and Alexis Thurston. The mission of the color is to "empower stylists to think of themselves as artists while providing them with superior paint to create their masterpieces," says David Thurston.

"We met David and Alexis many years ago when they were embarking on their Butterfly Circus education series  we shared a similar understanding of the importance of learning and the hairstylist as the ultimate hair influencer," says Tevya Finger, CEO of Luxury Brand Partners. "Over the years our teams conducted joint education initiatives and even had many artists from the Pulp Riot education team on our web-based salon industry show, Late Night with Tev Finger. When it came time to launch Pulp Riot it was a natural fit between the cultures of our companies."

Pulp Riot Hair Color has been a true disruptor in the beauty industry. "Even prior to launch  the buzz and demand was something we had never seen before," shared Tevya Finger. "Solely based on their influence and credibility, there was no marketing spend or salespeople, just an avid social media following, incredible content, and top-notch education. Pulp Riot Hair Color will continue to be run by David and Alexis Thurston thereby ensuring the ideals that the brand was founded on stay intact.

"L'Oreal is an outstanding company with an incredible track record and the brand has found the perfect home," said Tevya Finger.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

About Pulp Riot:

Pulp Riot creates innovative products and superior education for the artist community across the world. For more information, visit pulpriothair.com

About Luxury Brand Partners:

Luxury Brand Partners (LBP) develops and nurtures prestige artist-driven beauty brands, with a focus on innovation and a passion for the creative mind. With offices in Miami and New York City, LBP's portfolio of companies offers high-performance products and top-of-the-line education informed by both an artistic and a business perspective. Luxury Brand Partners includes R+Co, Smith & Cult, IGK, V76 by Vaughn and Pulp Riot. For more information, visit luxurybrandpartners.com

SOURCE Luxury Brand Partners

Related Links

http://www.luxurybrandpartners.com


ONTARIO, Calif., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MAG Instrument, Inc., (MAG) has entered into a sponsorship agreement with The American Veterans Center and National Memorial Day Parade to provide resources for the organization and its programs. Among these efforts MAG will assist veterans to attend and be honored at the annual event. MAG has agreed to fund the event with an initial cash donation and to design and offer for sale commemorative MAGLITE flashlight models that will be branded for the event with a percentage of proceeds going to benefit the organization.

"I have deep feelings and great respect for all veterans and I am so pleased that we have been able to partner with The American Veterans Center in their efforts to make sure the greatest generation of World War II veterans are honored and that their sacrifice is not forgotten," said Tony Maglica, president, owner and founder of MAG Instrument.

On Memorial Day in Washington D.C., hundreds of thousands of Americans will line the National Mall to pay tribute to those who have served and sacrificed for our country. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Memorial Day, initially known as Decoration Day when it originated in the years following the Civil War. The parade will pay special tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots in U.S. military history, in recognition of the 75th anniversary of their first deployment which took place in 1943, amid World War II. Several surviving Tuskegee Airmen will attend the parade. The parade will also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI.

This year's Grand Marshals are Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos (Army National Guard veteran), and Spencer Stone (U.S. Air Force veteran), the heroes who stopped the terrorist attack on the French train in 2015 and who recently portrayed themselves in Clint Eastwood's "The 15:17 to Paris." MAGLITE is sponsoring their appearance. Honorary Grand Marshal is famed actor and veterans' advocate Gary Sinise. Also joining the parade are Tony-winning actor Joe Mantegna, Miss America 2018 Cara Mund, and celebrity chef & U.K. Royal Navy veteran Robert Irvine, with musical performances by Trace Adkins, Jerrod Niemann, and Cassidy Daniels.

About MAG Instrument:

MAG Instrument is proud to be a U.S.A. manufacturer. Each flashlight is a result of an obsession with fine engineering, craftsmanship and a commitment to perfection. Founder, owner and president Anthony Maglica has guided his company's growth from a one-man machine shop in 1955 to an enterprise that has proudly employed thousands of American workers since it produced its first flashlight in 1979. For more visit: http://maglite.com/

MAGLITE SALES

Scott Field

Global Vice President

Sales and Marketing

+1-800-289-6241

[email protected]

MEDIA ONLY CONTACT:

Lou Desmond

for Mag Instrument, Inc.

+1-951-258-6466

[email protected]

*LOGO: Send2Press.com/300dpi/17-0907s2p-maglite-logo-300dpi.jpg

This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com

SOURCE MAG Instrument, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.maglite.com


POWELL, Wyo., May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Designer Janet Cozzens, proprietor of the Wyoming-based jewelry company, Mystic Stone Jewels, proudly introduces the upcoming release of her newest line of handcrafted jewelry, the Arkenstone Collection. This collection features a fantasy themed line of wire wrapped jewelry and can be found in her online boutique at www.mysticstonejewels.com.

Pink CZ Stone Wrapped in Antiqued Copper

Stylishly fashioned from cubic zirconia stones in a magical array of colors and hand-wrapped with fine quality jewelry wire, the Arkenstone Collection features an exclusive selection of exquisitely crafted rings, pendant necklaces, bracelets, and drop-style earrings.

The Arkenstone Collection glitters with the magical elegance of old world fantasy, tastefully combining the sparkle of colorful cubic zirconia stones with the rich luster of 14k yellow or rose gold fill, sterling silver, antiqued copper or brass wire, with a variety of custom combinations selected by the buyer for each individual piece.

This 25-piece line of uniquely designed jewelry consists of both individual pieces and coordinating sets. The thematic feature of the Arkenstone Collection is the medieval fantasy world of fairy tales, inspired by the idea of pilfering stone jewels and precious metals from fire-throated dragons residing deep within the heart of ageless mountains shrouded in mists of time.

With a variety of colorful stones and options of fine wire to choose from, each piece will be custom made to order, individually handcrafted with great care and exquisite craftsmanship. Due to the handmade nature of this line of designer jewelry, each piece is graced with its own unique characteristics, just like no two leaves in the forest are identical.

Perfect for gift-giving, each piece in the Arkenstone Collection is lovingly handmade to order and packaged in tissue paper and a woodland-themed gift box adorned with hand-painted designs and topped with nature-themed elements such as moss, leaves, flowers and artistically crafted butterfly wings. A free gift is included in each package, consisting of a short tale written on a scroll of burnt-edged paper, along with a handmade woodland fairy crafted from pine cones, feathers and an acorn cap.

About Mystic Stone Jewels:

Step into the realm of Mystic Stone Jewels where we offer wire wrapped jewelry pieces that are drenched in mystical allure and designed with the essence of nature and the elements in mind. With a rustic and somewhat vintage style approach, we provide unique, handcrafted pieces that can transport you to the deepest depths of fantasy and dreams.

The Arkenstone Collection will be released on June 6, 2018 online at:

Shop: www.mysticstonejewels.com

Mystic Stone Jewels can also be found on the following social media platforms:

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/mysticstones

Instagram: www.instagram.com/mystic_stone_jewels

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/mysticstonejewels

Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/mysticrealm

Mystic Stone Jewels contact info:

Email: [email protected]

Join the Mystic Realm email list for an instant 20 percent off your first purchase:

www.eepurl.com/dsRG-5

Related Images

arkenstone-collection-pendant.jpg

Arkenstone Collection Pendant

Pink CZ Stone Wrapped in Antiqued Copper

arkenstone-collection-bracelet.jpg

Arkenstone Collection Bracelet

Pink CZ Stone Wrapped in Antiqued Copper

arkenstone-collection-earrings.jpg

Arkenstone Collection Earrings

Pink CZ Stone Wrapped in Antiqued Copper

arkenstone-collection-ring.jpg

Arkenstone Collection Ring

Pink CZ Stone Wrapped in Antiqued Copper

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1WivLrjQfI

SOURCE Mystic Stone Jewels

Related Links

http://www.mysticstonejewels.com


WASHINGTON, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected 304 proposals from U.S. small businesses to advance research and technology in Phase I of its 2018 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and 44 proposals for the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, totaling $43.5 million in awards. These selections support NASA's future space exploration missions, while also benefiting the U.S. economy.

"This round of Phase I ideas look very promising and creative, and will enhance innovation throughout the Agency," said Jim Reuter, acting associate administrator for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). "Many of the businesses that go through the SBIR program end up working with NASA on the research and technologies needed to advance our space exploration goals."

Proposals were selected according to their technical merit and feasibility, in addition to the experience, qualifications and facilities of the submitting organization. Additional criteria included effectiveness of the work plan and commercial potential.

The selected proposals will support the development of technologies in the areas of aeronautics, human space exploration and operations, science, and space technology. Awards cover a breadth of research and development needs, including:

Superconducting technology for high-power density motors for aircraft propulsion that are highly efficient and lightweight. The proposed propulsion motors can be used for ships, energy storage devices and wind power generators.

A room temperature electrolyzer for generation of oxygen from carbon dioxide on Mars that can also be used for improving oxygen recovery on the International Space Station, other crewed spacecraft, or for energy storage devices.

A compact high-efficiency (more than 97 percent), high-power density Hall-effect thruster power processing unit that can be used for interplanetary transfers, supporting exploration and science missions.

An oscillating heat pipe -- a passive heat transfer device -- to improve a spacecraft's thermal control system. Other applications include terrestrial vehicles with electrical loads and in large industrial vehicles where the proposed passive solution can replace actively pumped single-phase radiators with air cooled systems.

Onboard autonomous intelligent systems to manage future crewed and uncrewed spacecraft. Other applications include electric aircraft, chemical processing plants and power plants.

The SBIR Phase I contracts last for six months and STTR Phase I contracts last for 13 months, both with a maximum funding of $125,000.

Phase I work and results provide a sound basis for the continued development, demonstration and delivery of the proposed innovation in Phase II and follow-on efforts. Phase III is the commercialization of innovative technologies, products and services resulting from either a Phase I or Phase II contract.

The SBIR and STTR programs encourage small businesses and research institutions to develop innovative ideas that meet the specific research and development needs of the federal government. The programs are intended to stimulate technological innovation in the private sector, increase the commercial application of research results, and encourage participation of socially and economically disadvantaged persons and women-owned small businesses. Since the 1970s, small businesses have created approximately 55 percent of all jobs in the United States.

The SBIR and STTR programs are managed for STMD by NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. STMD is responsible for developing the cross-cutting, pioneering new technologies and capabilities needed by the agency to achieve its current and future missions.

For more information about the SBIR/STTR program, including the selection list, visit:

https://sbir.nasa.gov/

For more information about NASA's investment in space technology, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Saturday, May 26, the USF St. Petersburg Military and Veterans Success Center and Open Partnership Education Network will host the official kick-off for the Veterans Transition Task Force, a nationwide initiative established by U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis. Joined by Rep. Bilirakis, who represents Florida's 12th Congressional District and is Vice-Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, five local veterans will share their stories of transition from military to civilian life at Lynn Pippenger Hall on the USF St. Petersburg campus at 6 p.m.

The galvanizing event "Becoming Civilian: A Warrior's Perspective," is the first in a year-long series established by the task force to promote ongoing dialogue, education for civilians and military service members and research around the veteran transition phenomenon. The task force is made up of a small team of eight nationally recognized leaders in veteran transition based out of Tampa Bay.

"These veterans have extremely compelling stories to tell us of transitioning out of the military and into civilian life," said Ben Smet, U.S. Navy veteran, grant writer for USFSP's Military and Veterans Success Center and co-chair of the task force. "Some stories are really positive and exciting, others are truly heart wrenching."

In April 2017, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Community Salute released a report on the American veteran. The study noted that though there are 22 million veterans across the country, they often go unnoticed by civilians. The report referred to a 2011 Pew Research Center study that found a staggering 71 percent of American civilians do not understand the problems and challenges service members, veterans and military families face.

"The general consensus military service men and women express when they are getting ready to transition into civilian life is that it is the scariest mission they have ever faced," Smet said.

As the task force was being established last year, Rep. Bilirakis asked Smet and Brian Anderson, a U.S. Army Green Beret veteran, to spearhead the task force.

"Improving the [veteran] transition process has been a huge priority for me," said Rep. Bilirakis.

"The congressman saw that Brian and Ben were both dedicated to finding solutions for veterans' transition issues and immediately tapped them to head the task force," said Mike Ciminna, District Director for Rep. Bilirakis and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran.

Smet and Anderson hope to grow the task force through galvanizing events in the region and an open online forum to address the transition phenomenon.

"Our goal is to find solutions through the task force that will lead to legislation so we can help veterans transition into their civilian roles in a peaceful way and better equip them to feel like productive citizens," said Smet.

CONTACT: Matthew Cimitile, 727-873-4840, [email protected]

SOURCE University of South Florida St. Petersburg

Related Links

http://www.usfsp.edu


BROOKLYN, N.Y., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Brooklyn Law School announced today that President and Dean Nicholas W. Allard plans to step down effective June 30, 2018, after leading the law school for six years. The law school will launch a nationwide search in early June for a successor. Professor Maryellen Fullerton has been named the Interim Dean and will serve in that capacity during the search process.

Stuart Subotnick, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Brooklyn Law School, praised Allard's tenure as dean and president. "We were incredibly fortunate to have Nick lead the law school through a volatile period in legal education. His many talents were just what we needed to move the Law School successfully forward. He has a great rapport with our alumni, and our students love his energy and desire to always do what is best for them. He will be difficult to replace, but we are thankful for all that he has done and respect his desire to pursue other opportunities at this time in his professional life." The Board of Trustees is in the process of establishing a Search Committee, composed of BLS trustees and faculty, to lead the process.

Subotnick also noted that in recent years, "the Law School's endowment has quadrupled to nearly $250 million putting the school in an extremely strong financial position." Subotnick will serve as President of Brooklyn Law School until the next President and Dean has been selected.

Allard, who came to the law school from a very successful career in private practice and government, said: "It has been a privilege to serve as President and Dean during this period of change and innovation for the law school. This was a difficult decision that was a long time in the making. I will miss the extraordinary people of Brooklyn Law School who every day have a tremendous, positive impact on law and society. I know the school will continue to grow in prominence in the years ahead and further advance its well-deserved reputation for excellence and innovation." Allard said that he is now pursuing other meaningful opportunities to serve in education, politics, public policy advocacy and long-postponed writing projects that have not been possible for him to fully explore while fulfilling his many responsibilities as dean. Fullerton, a longtime member of the Brooklyn Law School faculty, an expert on refuge and asylum law, also teaches Civil Procedure and Federal Courts. Fullerton will assume her responsibilities as Interim Dean on July 1, 2018.

About Brooklyn Law School

Founded in 1901, Brooklyn Law School offers a vibrant intellectual community emphasizing teaching excellence, leading-edge scholarship, and an innovative academic program designed to prepare students for public service, business, and private practice, nationwide and across the globe. It is an independent institution, unaffiliated with any university or college, and the only law school in Brooklyn. The Law School offers students the J.D. 2-3-4 Program, with degree options that include an accelerated 2-year J.D. program, traditional 3-year program, and extended part-time 4-year program. Visit Brooklyn Law School at www.brooklaw.edu.

About Nicholas W. Allard

Before joining the Law School in 2012, Nick Allard served as chair of the Public Policy Department and co-chair of the Government Advocacy Practice Group at Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, he was a partner at Latham & Watkins, where he chaired the firm's Government Relations Group. His government service includes serving as senior staff to the late Senators Edward Kennedy on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Chief of Staff for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Vice President Al Gore. Allard, a tenured member of the Brooklyn Law School faculty, also serves as Senior Counsel in the Public Policy and Regulation practice at Dentons, a global law firm with presence in more than 50 countries. Under Allard's leadership, the Law School has recruited highly talented, promising scholars who together with an already excellent faculty have had a transformative impact on the institution. He established several dynamic programs and academic centers with the objective of preparing students for a rapidly changing legal field. These initiatives included the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE), which builds on Brooklyn's emergence as a global center for high-tech entrepreneurship; Business Boot Camp, a winter session program offering dozens of students each year intensive training in financial literacy and the basics of the business world; and the Public Interest/Public Service Fellowship that allows students to finish their third year working at a non-profit or government agency with a guaranteed paid legal position the following year at that organization. He built upon the Law School's global reputation to expand its LL.M. program and establish dozens of new partnerships with international universities to create new dual degrees and exchange programs for students and faculty.

About Maryellen Fullerton

Professor Maryellen Fullerton, an expert on asylum and refugee law, will serve as interim dean during the search. A longtime member of the Brooklyn Law School faculty, she also teaches Civil Procedure and Federal Courts. She is a prolific scholar and a frequent speaker in the United States and Europe. Her recent works include two co-authored casebooks, Forced Migration: Law and Policy and Immigration and Citizenship Law: Process and Policy, and multiple articles on migration and statelessness. She is one of the founding editors of the Refugee Law Reader, a comprehensive online resource on international refugee law available in English, Spanish, French, and Russian. Among her many distinctions, she held the Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Trento through the U.S. Fulbright program. Professor Fullerton also was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Louvain in Belgium, was a German Marshall Fund Fellow in Budapest, and was a visiting scholar at the Juan March Institute, Center for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, in Madrid. Prior to joining the Brooklyn Law School faculty, Professor Fullerton served as law clerk to Judge Frank Johnson Jr. of the U.S District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and Judge Francis Van Dusen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

SOURCE Brooklyn Law School

Related Links

http://www.brooklaw.edu


NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced WISeKey International Holding Ltd (SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN;OTCQX: WIKYY), a global cybersecurity company, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market.

WISeKey begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "WIKYY," where each ADR represents 2 ordinary shares. U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

"We are pleased to welcome WISeKey to the OTCQX Best Market," said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "OTCQX provides innovative and entrepreneurial international companies with an efficient market to provide transparency and trading for their U.S. investors. We look forward to supporting WISeKey and its U.S. investors in the public market."

"The establishment of an ADR facility and our inclusion on the OTCQX represent critical milestones of WISeKey's capital market roadmap strategy," said Carlos Moreira, Founder and CEO of WISeKey. "We are now able to provide our U.S. based investors with a direct way of investing, trading and accessing information."

WISeKey was sponsored for OTCQX by BNY Mellon.

About WISeKey International Holding Ltd

WISeKey is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems with a patented process. WISeKey's Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust ("RoT") provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of on-line transactions among objects and between objects and people.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN are operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC and SEC regulated ATS.

Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected]

WISeKey Investor Relations (US): Lena Cati, +1 212 836-9611, [email protected]

SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.otcmarkets.com


BAAR-ZUG, Switzerland, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, is leading a consortium of investors in the acquisition of Techem GmbH ("Techem" or "the Company"), a global market leader in the provision of heat and water sub-metering services. Partners Group, which will invest on behalf of its private equity and infrastructure clients, will be joined in the acquisition by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec ("CDPQ") and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan ("Ontario Teachers'") as well as Techem's management team. The consortium is acquiring Techem from Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 2, which acquired 100% of the Company in 2008. The transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018, values Techem at an enterprise value of EUR 4.6 billion.

Founded in 1952 and headquartered in Eschborn, Germany, Techem caters to a global client base of real estate operators and private home owners from its 150 branches in more than 20 countries. Its principal Energy Services business provides services and devices for the metering and billing of energy and water, plus device sales, hire and maintenance. In addition, its Energy Contracting business delivers heat, cooling, flow energy and light, as well as the planning, set-up, financing and operation of energy systems and energy monitoring and controlling services. Techem is the market leader in Germany, the largest sub-metering market in the world, as well as in an additional 13 European markets. Techem solutions today account for 6.9 million tons of CO2 emission savings per year, thus contributing to global climate protection objectives. In the 2016/17 financial year, Techem's 3,640 employees serviced 11 million apartments worldwide, recording sales of EUR 782.7 million.

Following the close of the acquisition, Partners Group together with CDPQ and Ontario Teachers' will work with Techem's management team, led by Frank Hyldmar, to support the development of the Company in existing markets and expand its presence geographically. One value creation initiative will focus on the introduction of new technologies to Techem's strong existing platform and installed base to enhance the customer experience. There will also be a continued focus on customer services and quality excellence programs as the Company grows.

Frank Hyldmar, CEO of Techem, comments: "A decade after delisting from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Techem can show a solid track record of growth. However, even with our market-leading position today, we believe there is plenty of future growth potential for our Company and look forward to working with Partners Group, an experienced private equity and infrastructure investor, as well as its strategic partners CDPQ and Ontario Teachers', to realize our ambitions and deliver an exceptional service to our customers around the world."

Jurgen Diegruber, Partner, Private Equity Europe, Partners Group, adds: "Techem is a market leader in a growing industry with strong tailwinds. With increasing global awareness of energy usage, Techem's products and services are a key element of the fight against energy waste, enabling heating and energy supplies to be managed in a more precise and sustainable manner. We look forward to working with Frank Hyldmar and his talented team, as well as with our partners CDPQ and Ontario Teachers', to expand Techem's market-leading position."

Stephane Etroy, Executive Vice-President and Head of Private Equity, CDPQ, says: "Energy efficiency, which is at the center of Techem's offering, is key to building a sustainable future. Given CDPQ's desire to support the transition to a low-carbon economy, investing in Techem is a very attractive opportunity for us. Techem's business model positions it to benefit from growing urbanization and demand for housing energy efficiency, over the long term. We are confident that together with Techem's solid management team, Partners Group, and Ontario Teachers', the company will continue on its path of success."

Jo Taylor, Senior Managing Director International, Ontario Teachers', comments: "Techem is a well-positioned business that looks set for continued domestic and international growth. It serves the growing, global need for energy conservation and empowers users in multi-occupancy properties to have greater control over their own energy consumption by providing accurate billing. Ontario Teachers' has a strong track record in the energy and infrastructure sectors, as well as significant experience in the sub-metering space and we are delighted to partner with Techem's innovative management team and with Partners Group and CDPQ."

About Partners Group

Partners Group is a global private markets investment management firm with over EUR 62 billion (USD 74 billion) in investment programs under management in private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt. The firm manages a broad range of customized portfolios for an international clientele of institutional investors. Partners Group is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and has offices in Denver, Houston, New York, Sao Paulo, London, Guernsey, Paris, Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Manila, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm employs over 1,000 people and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (symbol: PGHN) with a major ownership by its partners and employees. www.partnersgroup.com

About Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2017, it held $298.5 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, CDPQ invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. For more information, visit cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter @LaCDPQ or consult our Facebook or LinkedIn pages.



About Ontario Teachers'

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers') is Canada's largest single-profession pension plan, with $189.5 billion in net assets at December 31, 2017. It holds a diverse global portfolio of assets, approximately 80% of which is managed in-house, and has earned an average annualized rate of return of 9.9% since the plan's founding in 1990. Ontario Teachers' is an independent organization headquartered in Toronto. Its Asia-Pacific region office is located in Hong Kong and its Europe, Middle East & Africa region office is in London. The defined-benefit plan, which is fully funded, invests and administers the pensions of the province of Ontario's 323,000 active and retired teachers. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on Twitter @OtppInfo.

SOURCE Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec

Related Links

http://www.cdpq.com/


At each stop on the tour, visitors will be invited to try signature cocktails using Patron's custom cocktail and digital ordering system. By answering a few simple questions on the interactive touchscreen, the interface will help them determine a drink perfectly suited for their palate, including a variety of summer-inspired Patron drinks, on-trend tiki cocktails and a custom cocktail inspired by flavors typically enjoyed in their market.

"Consumer demand for interesting spins on cocktails continues to grow, fueled by an ever-increasing rise in out-of-the-box creativity from bartenders and even the amateur mixologist at home using local ingredients and flavor inspirations," said Lee Applbaum, Global CMO, Patron Tequila. "At Patron, we've recognized that demand and created the 'Patron the Summer' tour to show spirits aficionados across the globe how our tequila's versatile flavor profile enhances the summer drinks they may typically reserve for spirits like gin, rum or vodka. In using a variety of classic and custom cocktails inspired by seasonal and region-specific taste preferences on tour, we look forward to showing drinkers how they can shake up their summer drink repertoire using tequila this summer."

With a cocktail in hand, guests can also check out the "Patron the Summer" House on-site, which includes a virtual reality experience that transports guests to the Hacienda Patron distillery in Jalisco, Mexico, where they'll take a tour through how Patron Tequila is made. Following their journey, those looking to cool off and capture share-worthy moments can enjoy the Bicycle Bar featuring Patron ice pops, or the Splash Room, where a dynamic photo experience creates a memorable takeaway for fans to share on social media.

For Patron Tequila enthusiasts who cannot attend one of this season's events, Patron is making it easy to "Patron the Summer" and learn new cocktail recipes at home. The Patron Bot-Tender, a chatbot bartender service available via PatronTequila.com, Facebook Messenger and Twitter direct message, will connect users with the cocktail prowess and expert recommendations of Patron's own mixology team: David Alan and Stephen Halpin. Users will be able to converse with the Bot-Tender and receive custom summer cocktail recommendations depending on their environment and taste preference at any given moment.

Each event and at-home integration is an extension of the Patron Cocktail Lab, a feature on Patron's website. Patron Cocktail Lab is a library of hundreds of different recipes developed by Patron's in-house team, as well as bartenders around the world. Thanks to an interactive interface, Patron Cocktail Lab tailors recommendations to each visitor to the site. Consumers 21 and over can visit Patron Cocktail Lab and find recipes for new and classic cocktails, and everything in between. For more details on how to "Patron the Summer" with unique cocktail recipes and where you can find Patron throughout the country, please visit PatrontheSummer.com and PatronTequila.com.

About Patron Tequila

From hand-harvesting the highest-quality 100 percent Weber Blue Agave, to the traditional, time-honored distillation process and individual labeling, numbering, and inspection of each bottle, Patron tequila is crafted with meticulous precision and care. Though Patron has grown to become one of the most-recognized and respected luxury spirits brands in the world, it is still exclusively produced in the Highlands of Jalisco, Mexico, in the same small batches and with the same commitment to quality and craftsmanship. For more information about Patron tequilas and liqueurs, please visit www.patrontequila.com.

SOURCE Patron Tequila

Related Links

http://www.patrontequila.com


Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Mostly cloudy with some showers after midnight. Low 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with some showers after midnight. Low 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
NEW YORK, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 24th, 2018, The Economist Events hosted the third edition of Pride and Prejudice, a 24-hour event hosted by The Economist Events across three cities  Hong Kong, London and New York. This year's summit focused on evaluating how governments, companies and individuals can turn the global conversation around lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) diversity and inclusion into meaningful action through advocacy.

The panel of speakers in New York comprised of chief executives, politicians and activists, who spoke to several important issues including:

Where the intersection lies between corporate and moral responsibility and how a meaningful shift in company culture must begin in the boardroom

What it means to be an advocate and how the roles of individuals and businesses have evolved as external conditions continue to change

The implications for executive teams that fail to recognize the importance of their own actions in influencing change within their companies

How policymakers and business leaders can hold back a tide of regressive politics around the world

The role of social media as a vehicle for progress

The Economist Intelligence Unit's new research into the future of advocacy

Where and how to act and invest to ensure continued progress in the recognition of LGBT rights across the world

"Human rights should come first, everything else should come after that. Corporations have a responsibility to take a stand and be a force for good," said Salesforce Chief Equality Officer Tony Prophet during Pride and Prejudice. "There's something powerful about making a public declaration, being someone's ally and using that as a higher purpose to direct your behaviors. You have to challenge people's moral compass. Are we standing on the right side of history or not?"

Also speaking at the event, actor and activist Nico Tortorella shared his perspective as a leading man in Hollywood. Tortorella stated that "because of the way I look, the color of my skin and the [straight] character I play on television, I have the ability to have this conversation [about LGBT issues] in a way that's more digestible for people because of how people see me. That is my privilege. So it's a no-brainer for meI have a responsibility that comes with that privilege to not only share my story, but to also share my platform with as many people as I possibly can."

During the event, The Economist Intelligence Unit also unveiled findings from a global survey of over 1,000 executives across 87 countries to assess different aspects of LGBT inclusion. The research focused on the evolving landscape for public LGBT advocacy, how the environment for it may change in the future and the obstacles that still stand in the way of progress. Key findings include:

Nearly half of executives believe that businesses in their country will take on a bigger role as agents of progress for LGBT rights over the next three years

Almost 60% say current global political climate could undo progress made in LGBT inclusion, although few cite inaction by government in driving corporate advocacy

Business advocacy on LGBT issues is heavily concentrated in North America ; Asia , the Middle East and Africa lag behind

"We've come a long way, but we have a lot further to go as well. There are a lot of people who need to a little nudge to get the conversation going to realize how many allies they actually have. Unless they speak, you don't know that they're there. Don't be afraid to let your voice be heard. Otherwise, you are colluding in the abuse," urged Olympic athlete and LGBT activist Greg Louganis during the event. "Be a voice, be an advocate, and don't back away from standing up for what's right."

To watch a livestream of the event, please visit the website. To access the full research report, please visit Pride and prejudice: the future of advocacy.

Pride and Prejudice was sponsored by AlixPartners, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price, William Blair, Goldman Sachs, ABN AMRO Bank N.V., American Airlines, Biogen, IBM, Nomura, Ogilvy & Mather, Citi, Heidrick & Struggles, Manulife Financial Corporation and the United Nations Development Programme. Porter Novelli and Kreab are the public relations partners.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Ravi Sunnak

Porter Novelli

[email protected]

+1 212 601 8173

Lauren Hackett

The Economist

[email protected]

+1 212 554 0639

About The Economist Events

The Economist Events brings the rigour of informed analysis and intelligent debate that The Economist is known for to life on stage in international forums. They host over 80 events annually in over 30 countries on topics that convene world-class thought leaders on a range of strategic business issues.

Follow @EconomistEvents on Twitter and check #EconPride for event updates

SOURCE The Economist Events
"We are using what we have learned in building 220 fire units and to meet Romania's Patriot fielding schedule," said Tom Laliberty, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business.

Raytheon has already ordered thousands of critical long-lead items from hundreds of suppliers, and begun production of:

Critical electronic components

Machined parts

Circuit card assemblies and cables

Patriot is the backbone of NATO and Europe's defense against ballistic and cruise missiles, advanced aircraft and drones.

NATO Nations with Patriot : The US, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and Spain currently have Patriot. On Nov. 29th, 2017, Romania signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for Patriot, making it the 6th NATO member state to procure Patriot. On March 28, Poland signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for Patriot, making it the 7th NATO state to procure Patriot.

European Interest in Patriot : A congressional notification regarding a potential Patriot sale to Sweden has been completed.

Raytheon's Patriot is a missile defense system consisting of radars, command-and-control technology and multiple types of interceptors, all working together to detect, identify and defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, advanced aircraft and other threats. Patriot is the foundation of integrated air and missile defense for 15 nations.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2017 sales of $25 billion and 64,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 96 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. Follow us on Twitter.

Note to Editors

The 15 Patriot Nations are:

United States of America

The Netherlands

Germany

Japan

Israel

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Kuwait

Taiwan

Greece

Spain

Republic of Korea

United Arab Emirates

Qatar

Romania

Poland

Media Contact

Mike Nachshen

+ 1.520.269.5697

[email protected]

SOURCE Raytheon Company

Related Links

http://www.raytheon.com


CLEVELAND, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Redwood Living, Inc.'s core value, "Be nice and have fun," was very apparent this weekend in Indianapolis. The innovative development and property management company known for its single-story apartment homes showed its fun side, participating in the much-beloved Handlebar Hot Lap at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis.

Redwood employees in the Indianapolis, Indiana area joined together to throw their hats in the ring at this year's multi-passenger pedal pub race. They got in the spirit of the Indianapolis 500 by competing against 47 teams from local businesses in single-elimination one-on-one races (complete with a pit stop for vehicle adjustments!).

"Team Redwood was eliminated early on, but we tried our best, and more importantly, had fun together!" said Charlotte Frazeur, Redwood Community Manager and member of the Redwood Handlebar Hot Lap team. "It didn't matter who actually won the event. It was the camaraderie and spirit of giving displayed by our Redwood Indy team, other race participants and fans that made me proud to be a part of the Redwood family and the larger Indianapolis community."

The race day not only spread fun and team spirit, it also provided a chance for Redwood to give back to the Indianapolis community. All race proceeds went to the beautification of the downtown Indianapolis area. Participants and spectators also donated socks and underwear for Horizon House, a full-service agency that connects homeless neighbors in Indianapolis with integrated, comprehensive services.

About Redwood Living, Inc.

Redwood Living, Inc. (Redwood) is an innovative development and property management company with neighborhoods in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina and South Carolina. The company believes that the growth of the "renter-by-choice" population demands the response that Redwood provides. The success of this approach continues to be validated in new markets.

Redwood is a company that believes in its mission, product and amazing people. It creates a simplified, relaxed lifestyle for residents, and offers a rewarding atmosphere for its employees. For more information, visit www.byredwood.com.

SOURCE Redwood Living, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.redwoodneighborhoods.com


FORT WORTH, Texas, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Abandoned by her owners at a Texas kill shelter, 2-year-old Bliss fearfully awaited her fate.

Friends Of Emma Medical Rescue, a local major medical / critical care canine rescue home in Fort Worth, TX - took Bliss into their medical treatment program - expecting a "hospice situation."

Rescued shelter dog to undergo groundbreaking surgery! A collaboration between a USA canine medical rescue, an Australian medical device manufacturer and a Canadian veterinary surgeon will attempt to give Bliss her life back! "Bliss is a beautiful, trusting young dog - SO deserving of every opportunity that we can offer her! We are of the mindset that - if you CAN help, DO help!"

Diagnosed with an extremely rare skull tumor (multilobular osteochondrosarcoma) - it was found through multiple diagnostics that despite the growing mass inside her skull, Bliss is an otherwise perfectly healthy young dog - presenting with no neurological deficits or other concerns of compromised health.

Bliss quickly went from "hospice case" to "treatable" - and rescuer / founder of Friends Of Emma - Elizabeth Hart, felt she had to find a way to help!

After multiple consults locally and extensive research - with no readily available options to assist  Hart reached out to a skilled veterinary cancer surgeon in Ontario Canada who, through a series of advanced imaging, offered potential solutions to help heal Bliss.

Support BLISS through this incredible transformation!

Initially, Bliss was to undergo a delicate surgical procedure to remove the huge invasive tumor and be fitted with a titanium skull cap (sourced from Brazil).

However, with the extent of complexity and reach of Bliss' tumor (requiring removal of the bulk of the skull as well as multiple affected facial bones) it was decided that a better option will be a 3D printed porous polyethylene implant created by an Australian manufacturer of human surgical devices.

Currently, Hart is planning the 70+ hour round trip journey (driving, since Bliss cannot fly) from Texas to Canada - while the surgeon and the implant manufacturing company work together to design and create the 3D printed implant.

"We expect to make the trip in early-mid June with a return to Texas mid-late June depending on the progress of the implant creation and the length of post-op hospitalization required," Hart says. "We welcome you to contribute to Bliss and the ongoing rescue efforts of Friends Of Emma - and to follow Bliss' incredible journey through this ground-breaking veterinary surgery, her recovery, rehabilitation - and ultimately, in finding a family of her own once she has completed treatment in our care."

Contact:

Elizabeth Hart

Fort Worth, Texas

[email protected]

405-429-0796

SOURCE Friends Of Emma Medical Rescue
NORTHFIELD, Ill., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Medline has signed a new medical-surgical distribution agreement with Sharp HealthCare spanning four acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, 22 ambulatory medical centers, and five urgent care centers throughout San Diego County. The new eight-year agreement, worth more than $75 million annually, will help Sharp drive savings and efficiencies throughout its entire continuum of care.

Medline Market Sales Director Mark Lorman credits not only the implementation of Insight, a component of the company's MetrIQ Spend Management Program, but also Medline's proven distribution expertise and long-term strategic focus.

"Our skilled teams are eager and ready to begin delivering solutions that will help Sharp achieve their long-term supply chain logistics goals. Sharp's supply chain will gain efficiencies as a result of the synergy created by Medline's advanced technology and distribution acumen."

"This is a very exciting partnership," agrees Sharp HealthCare Chief Supply Chain Officer Kevin Thompson. "As a private company, Medline's leadership and staff have more time to spend directly engaging with their customers. We view Medline as a strategic partner, and Medline's on-site team will identify the path to make our supply chain as efficient as possible."

As both a medical supply manufacturer and distributor, Medline tailors solutions across the entire continuum of care. The agreement becomes effective June 2018.

About Medline

Medline is a global manufacturer and distributor serving the healthcare industry with medical supplies and clinical solutions that help customers achieve both clinical and financial success. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., the company offers 550,000+ medical devices and support services through more than 1,400 direct sales representatives who are dedicated points of contact for customers across the continuum of care. For more information on Medline, go to www.medline.com or www.medline.com/social-media to connect with Medline on its social media channels.

About Sharp Healthcare

Based in San Diego, Sharp HealthCare is a not-for-profit health care system with four acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, 22 Sharp Rees-Stealy ("SRS") ambulatory medical centers, five SRS urgent care centers, and the growing SharpCare Medical Group. Every day, more than 2,600 affiliated physicians and 18,000 employees work to provide patients and their families extraordinary levels of care. For more information on Sharp HealthCare, go to www.sharp.com.

SOURCE Medline

Related Links

http://www.medline.com


Cal State LA and the California State University Board of Trustees conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws to Kwoh during an afternoon Commencement ceremony for the College of Natural and Social Sciences. He also delivered keynote remarks.

"Stewart Kwoh is an unwavering champion for educational equity, social justice and civic engagement," President William A. Covino said, moments before presenting Kwoh with a deep purple honorary doctoral hood. "He has dedicated his professional career to building multiethnic and multiracial coalitions and advocating on behalf of historically underrepresented and underserved communities."

Delivering an inspiring address, Kwoh recounted how Advancing Justice - LA successfully challenged racially discriminatory employment practices and unfair immigration laws. The organization has also advocated for stronger protections for low-wage workers, immigrants and victims of hate crimes.

Kwoh urged the graduating students to go into the world and fight for social justice, fulfilling Cal State LA's mission of engagement and service for the public good. He quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: "Every person must decide whether he or she will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."

"So I ask you today, join our causes, keep hope alive, join us to lift up the spirit of immigrants," he added. "And help us fight for justice for all."

California State University, Los Angeles is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 28,000 students and has more than 245,000 distinguished alumni.

Media contact:

Robert Lopez

Cal State LA

(323) 343-3044

[email protected]

SOURCE California State University, Los Angeles
WEST ORANGE, N.J., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Beginning on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28th, Suburban Essex Dental (https://suburbanessexdental.com/) officially kicks off its Smile Ops campaign. Dr. Paul R. Feldman recently announced that he would provide up to $50,000 in complimentary dental care to qualified veterans in Essex County. Veterans who are interested in receiving the free care should call the office of Suburban Essex Dental to make an appointment.

Registration

Smile Ops 50K Complimentary Dental Care for Veterans

Registration for Smile Ops is easy, and Suburban Essex Dental encourages friends and family of veterans in need, or anyone who knows a veteran in need of dental care to first apply for the program online at (https://suburbanessexdental.com/SmileOps/).

SmileOps is open to Essex County, N.J. veterans who are currently serving or who have served in the past. All veterans must go through the registration and qualification process in order to meet requirements for inclusion. After applying online, someone from the office will contact selected applicants to set up a brief phone consultation to confirm eligibility. Dr. Feldman plans to continue giving complimentary care to veterans until the $50,000 cap has been reached.

"Our veterans sacrifice much to watch over us  some of them sacrificed everything. I think it's important to give thanks for this and to offer some help when it's needed. Operation Smile was created to put a smile back on the face of our brave service men and women," Dr. Feldman said.

Suburban Essex Dental

Located in West Orange, near the Turtle Back Zoo, Suburban Essex Dental is easy to find and is even accessible by bus, with a bus stop directly across the street. The office is modern and comfortable, with a friendly staff who are happy to accommodate patients for anything from a routine bi-annual checkup to major dental procedures. Equipped with the most cutting-edge tools and techniques available in dentistry, Suburban Essex Dental strives to make procedures quick, smooth and less stressful for their patients. The office even comes equipped with private dental suites that provide enticing views so that patients feel welcomed and comfortable.

Dr. Feldman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine and completed his general practice residency at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Among his many accolades, he received a Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry in Chicago in 1989 as well as a Fellowship in the International Congress of Oral Implantology, and he and his team have been named "Top Dentist" by N.J. Monthly Magazine for several years in a row (20112018).

One of the oldest and most successful practices in the area, Suburban Essex Dental has been in continuous practice for 75 years: first under Dr. Feldman's father Dr. Bernard Feldman DDS, then under Dr. Paul Feldman who took over the practice in 1983. With a passion for great smiles and healthy teeth, Dr. Feldman has successfully steered Suburban Essex Dental through multiple decades of dental practice.

About:

Suburban Essex Dental was founded in 1943. Staffed by a group of friendly professionals who always make patients their top priority, Dr. Paul R. Feldman's current practice has been providing modern dental services for over three decades. Suburban Essex Dental was listed as one of America's Top Dentists from the Consumer Research Council for multiple years, from 2007 through 2012.

Contact:

Dr. Paul R. Feldman, DMD, FAGD, FICOI. PA

Suburban Essex Dental

Tel: 973-669-0500

[email protected]

SOURCE Suburban Essex Dental
Applying cutting-edge machine-learning techniques to political science, the model combines information from polling, past elections, special elections, fundraising, ideology and factors like the economy and incumbency. It has been trained on every election cycle since 1942 and nearly 6,500 historical district races. The model will conduct 4.35 million simulated elections every day until the vote, live-updating to incorporate up-to-the-minute data.

The Economist's mid-term model currently predicts that Democrats have a two in three (or 65%) chance of taking the House, and holding an average of 222 seats, or four more than is needed for a majority. It shows that there is a 95% chance that the Democrats will hold between 206 and 241 seats.

The Economist's data team plans to launch a similar model to forecast Senate results later in the year once primaries are complete and more polls become available.

Find out more about The Economist's mid-term model here: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/05/26/we-think-the-democrats-will-take-the-house

To find out more or to interview data editor Dan Rosenheck, please contact:

(UK) [email protected] or +44 (0)7715621079

(US) [email protected] or +1 212 541 0583

About The Economist (www.economist.com)

With a growing global circulation and a reputation for insightful analysis and perspective on every aspect of world events, The Economist is one of the most widely recognised and well-read current affairs publications. The paper covers politics, business, science and technology, and books and arts, concluding each week with the obituary. In addition to the web-only content such as blogs, debates and audio/video programmes available at economist.com, The Economist is available to download for reading on Android, Blackberry PlayBook, iPhone or iPad devices. The Economist Espresso, our daily briefing smartphone app, is also available for download via iTunes App Store or Google Play. A recipient of many editorial and marketing awards, The Economist was recently named the most trusted news source in the 2017 Trusting News Project Report.

SOURCE The Economist

Related Links

www.economist.com


CHICAGO, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Great Lakes Protection Fund and American Water Works Association are thrilled to announce the winners of the inaugural Water Utility Energy Challenge (WUEC), an innovative program which engaged water operators in a competition to reduce the emissions sourced in their energy generation.

The inaugural 2017-2018 competition, focused on the Great Lakes Basin, was aimed at connecting the utilities with new innovative software that reduces mercury and other emissions while reducing the utility's operations and management costs.

Michael Culpepper from the City of Ann Arbor accepts the WUEC Emission Champion Award and a $20,000 check. Sarah Mather and Josh Pearson from the City of Bayfield, Wisconsin, accept the WUEC Green Champion Award and a $10,000 check.

"We're really impressed with the breadth of the WUEC winners. They represent a wide range of communities, from small towns to large urban areas, and epitomize the next generation of cutting-edge water utilities. The winners proved that all utilities can use the cleanest energy to deliver safe drinking water to their customers and significantly reduce the associated emissions of mercury, lead, carbon and nitric oxide. It is the sort of thing that makes a big difference," noted AWWA CEO David LaFrance.

The winners are:

Water Utility Emissions Champion, $20,000 Prize - City of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Water Utility Green Champion, $10,000 Prize - City of Bayfield, Bayfield, Wisconsin

Best Pilot Project - Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), Detroit, Michigan

Technical Leader - City of Highland Park, Highland Park, Illinois

Carbon Reduction Leader - Onondaga County Water Authority (OCWA), North Syracuse, New York

David Rankin, the vice president of programs for GLPF, remarked: "By using innovative technologies to protect the Great Lakes, the WUEC winners are a testament to the creativity and innovation needed to run a successful water utility today. We're pleased with the emission reductions from this small pilot program. The carbon reduction alone was 1.5 million pounds and the overall emissions reduction was equivalent to approximately 2,500 houses being removed from the system. With this ambitious start, when they scale up, these water utilities could easily mitigate more than five times that amount."

More information on the challenge can be found by visiting www.AWWA.org/competition.

About the Water Utility Energy Challenge

The Water Utility Energy Challenge (WUEC) is a technology competition focused on water utilities in the Great Lakes Basin. Offering two top cash prizes of $20,000 and $10,000, the Water Utility Energy Challenge is supported by the Great Lakes Protection Fund. It is a collaborative effort of the American Water Works Association, CDM Smith, E2I, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Growth Capital Network and Wayne State University. For more information, www.AWWA.org/competition.

Follow WUEC on Twitter Like WUEC on Facebook

About the Great Lakes Protection Fund

The Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF) is a private, nonprofit corporation formed in 1989 by the governors of the Great Lakes states. It is a permanent environmental endowment that supports collaborative actions to improve the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem. To date, the fund has made 272 grants and program-related investments representing over $81 million to support the creative work of collaborative teams that test new ideas, take risks and share what they learn. www.glpf.org

About the American Water Works Association

Established in 1881, the American Water Works Association is the largest nonprofit, scientific and educational association dedicated to managing and treating water, the world's most important resource. With approximately 51,000 members, AWWA provides solutions to improve public health, protect the environment, strengthen the economy and enhance our quality of life.

For additional details, please contact Lauren Bigelow, [email protected].

Related Links

WUEC Competition Site

Great Lakes Protection Fund

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxNzLXmsEcA

SOURCE American Water Works Association
SALT LAKE CITY, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Humanity Party, a newly established American political party (est. 2015), has published a profound and well-researched Memorandum challenging the humanitarian and missionary efforts of the LDS/Mormon Church. "Worldwide religious charities and NGOs are destroying the local economies and making life worse for the poor that these organizations are trying to help," said Humanity Party spokesperson, Christopher Nemelka. "No one's taken any initiative to point out how charitable organizations ignorantly exacerbate poverty, so we thought we'd take the issue directly to the wealthiest and most conservative church, per capita, in the world: the Mormon Church."

The Memorandum also gives a brief summary of the origins of the Book of Mormon from a completely new and innovative point of view. Nemelka, also the Messenger for the Marvelous Work and a Wonder, points out, "The Mormon people have what they claim to be a companion to the Bible: their Book of Mormon. Yet Mormons do not teach their members, or preach to potential converts, the true purpose of the Book of Mormon, which was originally meant to help the native American peoples of both North and South America, both economically and spiritually." The Memorandum disputes LDS doctrine and demonstrates various religious practices that Nemelka says are "very hypocritical and a detriment to the fight against poverty and inequality."

On Monday, May 28, 2018 (Memorial Day), at 12:00 PM, Nemelka will give an official statement about the Memorandum at the Salt Lake City Cemetery, near the Mormon Church's most prolific memorial: the Hyrum Smith Monument. The statement will be given at the SW quadrant, PARK_14_8_5E (headstone location). See map at this link.

The Memorandum can be viewed and downloaded at the link here.

For more information, visit humanityparty.com.

The original eight founders of The Humanity Party first met in Sept 1987, culminating their research in the official launch of a new political party (also known as "THumP") on June 16, 2016. To avoid party corruption and excessive and abusive authority that might occur, THumP's Board of Directors prefer to remain anonymous. They also will not accept donations of any kind. The Humanity Party claims to have the concise and detailed answers to solve the problems of this world, restoring hope to the people of Earth.

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

Media Contact:

Monica Smith

The Humanity Party

858-848-6787

[email protected]

SOURCE The Humanity Party

Related Links

http://humanityparty.com


 Explaining the sudden resignation last week of federal Bureau of Prisons chief | Main | "Time to rethink probation and parole" 

May 25, 2018

A few juicy SCOTUS relists (to temper the guideline-vagueness denials) for sentencing fans

Over at SCOTUSblog, John Elwood continues his yeoman's work via his "Relist Watch" postings which highlight cases that the Supreme Court considered but did not resolve during recent certiorari review conferences. In this week's installment of "Relist Watch," we get started with a review of the news, blogged here, that cert was (somewhat surprisingly) denied on oft-relisted vagueness challenges to pre-Booker mandatory application of career-offender guideline. But thereafter we get the details on some interesting new additions to the relist watch that should intrigue criminal justice fans (with links from the original):

May 25, 2018 at 11:42 AM | Permalink

Comments

It would be helpful to see a grant on the first issue of Clark merely to clarify some contradictory dicta in earlier cases. There is a lot of debate at state supreme courts and in capital habeas cases about the eligibilty vs. selection question as framed by cases like Ring, Hurst, Marsh, and Carr. Some dicta in Ring and Hurst suggests that any determination that a jury must make before reaching the final decision on imposing death has to be made beyond a reasonable doubt. Other dicta in Marsh and Carr suggests that only statutory aggravating circumstances have to be found beyond a reasonable doubt and that the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances do not have to be found beyond a reasonable doubt even if the state law requires the jury to address that issue before imposing death.

The fourth issue is one that sees a lot of variations in a lot of courts -- the claim that the waiver of counsel was involuntary because of the acts of appointed counsel. Again, it would be useful for state courts to get some guidance on how they should handle this issue.

Posted by: tmm | May 25, 2018 12:54:29 PM

Interesting number of cases regarding double jeopardy.

RBG and Thomas in one case suggested they were open to ending the different sovereign rule. Thomas has voiced concern specifically with Native American tribes are involved and due process concerns in certain contexts.

Posted by: Joe | May 25, 2018 2:23:17 PM

"The third issue involves whether Clark was presumptively prejudiced when a deputy monitoring the trial, within view of other jurors, asked an alternate juror how she thought the trial was going."

This is the Supreme Court defrauding the taxpayer with total lawyer bullshit. All of them need to be impeached. Replace these Justices with students from Life Skills Class, learning to eat food with a spoon.

This profession is ridiculous and pure evil.



Posted by: David Behar | May 25, 2018 10:43:39 PM

Behar

As an illustration that you have no clue what you are talking about, the post related to cases which have not been granted review yet. You talk about the Supreme Court defrauding the taxpayer and the court hasnt done anything.

Do us all a favor and leave

Bruce

Posted by: Bruce Cunningham | May 26, 2018 1:19:56 PM

Bruce. Calm down. How much time and money was spent on that single sentence?

The Supreme Court has an affirmative duty to punish lawyers making such claims. Such lawyers should pay all legal costs related to the frivolous claim. These are per se violations since they violate a Rule of Conduct, and of Supreme Court procedure. The lawyers should be declared vexatious litigants after the first violation, and be permanently banned from Supreme Court practice.

Beyond this one sentence, all judicial review is prohibited by Article I Section 1. Even if Congress allowed it, the non-delegation doctrine, yes, in a case of judicial review, still prohibits this entire claim.

Bruce, if you want fools making decisions about the policies of the nation, or judicial review, go enact an Amendment to the constitution.



Posted by: Dsvid Behar | May 26, 2018 6:10:45 PM

Bruce. Quick civilian question for you. In your career, in the careers of any of you colleagues in the defense appellate bar, has there ever been a case offered that you deemed as not proper to appeal? Does every criminal conviction contain an error of law?

Posted by: David Behar | May 26, 2018 6:59:36 PM

Yes. That scenario is covered by Anders v California

Posted by: Bruce Cunningham | May 27, 2018 7:42:22 AM

Bruce. Thank you. Any idea as to the fraction that would qualify for an Anders Brief? Sounds easier to just take the case, since the work is quite onerous.

From Wikipedia:

Anders brief[edit]

In order to file an Anders brief (also called a "no-merits brief"), the attorney must do the following:

The attorney must file a motion to withdraw as the defendant's counsel.

The motion to withdraw must "be accompanied by a brief referring to anything in the record that might arguably support the appeal." Any and all grounds, even if counsel considers them frivolous, must be raised in the brief. Those grounds include areas such as whether or not a plea of guilty was made voluntarily and freely, or whether the sentence imposed by the court was within the permissible range.

The defendant should be given a copy of the brief and given time to raise any grounds (either pro se or by other counsel) that the defendant so chooses to raise.

The court must then independently "after a full examination of all the proceedings" decide if the appeal is wholly frivolous. If the court decides it is, then it is to grant counsel's motion to withdraw and then (depending on state law) either dismiss the appeal or rule on its merits, but must still allow the defendant to further appeal if desired. If the court, though, finds that there is at least one non-frivolous ground, it must then allow the defendant the right to make the case and appoint counsel if needed. (As part of an Anders brief, an attorney may request that, if the court finds a non-frivolous ground(s) for appeal, the attorney be allowed to withdraw the brief and remain as counsel, whereupon the attorney would then amend the appeal to argue on the ground(s) that the court has found.)

And,

The Oregon Court of Appeals noted an anomaly with the Anders decision: if counsel raises no grounds for appeal, then the court must review the entire record to determine if a ground for appeal may exist, but if counsel raises any ground (even only one), then the court is required to review only that portion of the record pertaining to the ground raised by counsel and is not required to review any portion related to other grounds not raised.[2]

There is the possibility that an attorney may not see the merit in the error assigned by his or her client, and a client may have viable grounds for the client's claim. In State v. Williams, the Ohio Court of Appeals granted an attorney leave to withdraw, but found a potentially meritorious error and designated a different attorney to present the defendant, noting pointedly that an Anders brief is not a substitute for an appellate brief argued on the merits.[3]

Posted by: David Behar | May 27, 2018 1:11:54 PM

Bruce. How many cases have you been offered? How many Anders briefs have you filed? I am interested in an actual fraction.

Posted by: David Behar | May 28, 2018 10:21:58 AM

From brief discussions with attorneys that I know who work for the Public Defender's Appellate Division, it is simpler for them to write a brief that focuses on the one or two issues with marginal merit than to get permission to file an Anders brief. Additionally, filing a "regular" brief preserves claims for federal habeas review. (The desire to preserve cases for habeas review is something of an anachronism from the days when lower federal courts could grant habeas relief based on a mere disagreement with the state courts. Today, if it is meritless in state courts, it will almost certainly be meritless in federal habeas review.)

Posted by: tmm | May 29, 2018 10:14:48 AM

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With two decades in the retail banking industry, Clark brings extensive experience in business development, relationship building and community engagement. Most recently, from WashingtonFirst, she held the position of Vice President, Branch Manager and previously at Virginia Commerce Bank in a similar role  both in the Alexandria market, where she opened new offices.

"We are delighted to have a community banker of Keshaun's caliber join NCB's talented business development team," said Debra Keats, Chief Retail Administration Officer. Keshaun's knowledge and successful track record in developing new business relationships will further strengthen NCB's exceptional service delivery to businesses and individuals in our market."

A long-time resident of Northern Virginia, Clark is a graduate of Northern Virginia Community College and an active member of several community organizations including Project Discovery, Bryce Project and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. She is a former Director of the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce, and previously served as an Ambassador for the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, a Team Lead for BNI in Alexandria and a Financial Educator for the Alexandria Chapter of NAACP.

The National Capital Bank of Washington was founded in 1889 and is Washington's Oldest Bank. NCB is headquartered on Capitol Hill with offices in the Friendship Heights community in Northwest D.C., and most recently the Courthouse community in Arlington, Virginia. NCB also operates residential mortgage and commercial lending offices and a wealth management services division. NCB product and service offerings include personal and business deposit accounts, robust online and mobile banking, sophisticated treasury management solutions, remote deposit capture and merchant processing  all delivered with top-rated personal service. NCB is well-positioned to serve all the banking needs of those in our community. For more information about NCB, visit www.nationalcapitalbank.com. The Bank trades under the symbol NACB.

SOURCE The National Capital Bank of Washington

Related Links

https://www.nationalcapitalbank.com


ROCKAWAY, N.J., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Trend Motors Volkswagen recently earned the 2017 No. 1 Volkswagen Sales ranking in the Northeast. This is the first time that the Rockaway, New Jersey dealership has attained this honor since opening its doors to the Morris County community in 1965.

Just one year prior, Trend Motors Volkswagen claimed the third position in the 2016 Volkswagen Sales ranking for the region. But it wasn't until May 2017 that they claimed the No. 1 spot, a position that they held for the rest of the year. "It was a roller coaster ride, going up and down," says Frank Maher, general manager of Trend Motors Volkswagen. However, Trend Motors Volkswagen ended the illustrious year by beating out 206 other dealerships.

For over 50 years, Trend Motors Volkswagen has worked tirelessly to help customers overcome the negative stigmas of car dealerships through excellent customer service. As a result, customers experience a positive sales process free from high-pressure tactics and impersonal selling techniques.

Trend Motors Volkswagen understands that buying or leasing a vehicle is only part of the customer service equation. Maher emphasizes, "It's not when you're happy leaving the dealership with a new car that makes the difference, it's how you deal with problems and the customers later that counts." Their outstanding service is only further exemplified by their numerous accolades, including the Wolfsburg Crest Club and Customer First Club awards, both of which they've won for five consecutive years.

Between the Komfort Kafe and expert service department, Trend Motors takes care of their customers for the life of their vehicles. VW owners can take out complimentary loaner cars or use the free shuttle while their vehicle's being serviced, or sit back and relax in the spacious lounge, which features free refreshments, Wi-Fi and computer work stations. All the while, certified technicians provide top-notch service that strikes the ideal balance between speed and quality.

Serving Morris County, including Rockaway, Morristown, Parsippany-Troy Hills and Randolph, Trend Motors Volkswagen is the community's go-to dealer of VWs and pre-owned vehicles. Visit their dealership at 221 US-46 in Rockaway, New Jersey, or contact Trend Motors by phone at 973-625-0100.

SOURCE Trend Motors Volkswagen
Throughout the week, several events were held in the home hosted by Victoria's Secret Angels where VIPs, influencers, stylists and more were able to check out the latest collections:

Kicking off with a cocktail party "Logo A Gogo" with Sara Sampaio and Sadie Newman

"Bombshell Body Spa" appointments with facials, spray tans, and manicures

"Slay Then Rose" workout class with Jasmine Tookes and Tone It Up's Katrina Scott & Karena Dawn followed by a rose lunch

Concluding with a "Summer Soiree" with Martha Hunt where guests enjoyed an intimate dinner with special performance by Caroline Vreeland and had their dreams interpreted by Dr. Michael Lennox.

The T-Shirt Bra, Sexy Illusions, Dream Angels, Casual and Sexy Sleep, Bombshell Body, Bombshell Summer Fragrance and Victoria Sport collections are currently available in Victoria's Secret stores and Victoriassecret.com. The new Dream Angels collection will be available on June 19.

Images from the week can be viewed:

https://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/gyipa_public?nav=pr583832211

https://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/gyipa_public?nav=pr583883018

https://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/gyipa_public?nav=pr583883147

https://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/gyipa_public?nav=pr583883147

Facebook.com/VictoriasSecret; Instagram/Twitter/Snapchat @VictoriasSecret

About Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is the leading specialty retailer of lingerie and beauty products, dominating its field with modern fashion-inspired collections, prestige fragrances and body care, celebrated supermodels and world-famous runway shows. A business of L Brands Brands (NYSE: LB), its more than 1000 Victoria's Secret Lingerie and Beauty stores, the catalogue and VictoriasSecret.com allow customers to shop the brand anywhere, anytime, from any place.

SOURCE Victoria's Secret

Related Links

http://www.Victoriassecret.com


HAMILTON, Bermuda, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM) will hold its annual Investor Information Meeting on:

Date: Friday, 8 June, 2018 Time: 10:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) Location: Julliard Ballroom

Omni Berkshire Place Hotel

21 E. 52nd Street

New York NY 10022

Investors and other interested parties can participate either in person or via Webcast. Manning Rountree, CEO, said, "We will discuss White Mountains's operations and our outlook for the Company. Following a short presentation, my partners and I will answer your questions."

For your convenience we have also posted this announcement and the Webcast instructions on the Company's website at www.whitemountains.com. The Company's 2017 Annual Report on Form 10-K, Notice of 2018 Annual General Meeting of Members and Proxy Statement, and 2017 Management Report are available online at www.envisionreports.com/WTM for viewing and downloading. These documents are also available on our website. Please contact Jennifer Moyer, our Corporate Secretary, at the Company's office at 80 South Main Street, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 (Tel: 603-640-2200) for hard copies or further information.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

White Mountains is a Bermuda-domiciled financial services holding company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Bermuda Stock Exchange under the symbol WTM. Additional financial information and other items of interest are available at the Company's web site located at www.whitemountains.com.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. Hosts Investor Meeting

Date: Friday, June 8, 2018

Time: 10:00 a.m. ET

Place: Omni Berkshire Place Hotel  21 E. 52nd Street, New York, NY 10022

To Attend Via Live Webcast:

Please follow these instructions to attend via live Webcast. We recommend connecting 10 minutes prior to the meeting.

1. Audio Instructions  If you plan to listen by phone, please call this number to access the audio portion of the meeting before you log on to view the online portion.

U.S. callers dial toll free: 1-866-763-6861

If outside of the U.S., dial toll number: 1-409-981-0872

When the operator answers the call, give the Passcode 1393358

2. Online Instructions  If you plan to view or view and listen to the live slide presentation via the Web:

Establish your Internet connection and launch your Internet browser

Type the following URL in the address section and press enter: www.whitemountains.com

Click on the "News and Events" link at the top of the home page; select "Events"

On the Events page, click on the hyperlink "Click Here for Webcast"

When prompted, enter the following:

Your full name and email address



Your company name



Your title or position (optional)

You will now be connected to the online portion of the meeting

3. Replay Access : To view a recorded replay of the meeting

Establish your Internet connection and launch your Internet browser

Type the following URL in the address section and press enter: www.whitemountains.com

Click on the "News and Events" link at the top of the home page; select "Events"

On the Events page, click on the hyperlink "Click Here for Webcast"

When prompted, enter the following:

Your full name and email address



Your company name



Your title or position (optional)

You will now be connected to the online portion of the meeting.

CONTACTS: Todd Pozefsky

Tel: (203) 458-5807





Jennifer Moyer

Tel: (603) 640-2210

SOURCE White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.whitemountains.com


The trend for global nomads and teleworkers to cowork is a growing movement now popular around the world. Imagine working from anywhere, especially a destination such as Tofino where you can surf by day and work at night.

"Our town is thriving and looking for ways to diversify while supporting the businesses, residents and visitors already here," adds Josie Osborne, District of Tofino mayor. "Opening an innovation hub and coworking space would help bring in a different business and creative population to complement Tofino's already popular reputation. We want to be known as a place to not only explore nature, but also work within nature. With the increasing numbers of 'working travelers' who want to experience this region while working at the same time, we think coworking is a concept that can be sustained here."

Tofino is currently asking those interested to fill out a survey in order to gauge interest and demand. The results will be written into a report and shared with the public.

For visitors and global nomads, a dedicated coworking space allows them to stay longer and experience more, further investing back into the local economy. In addition, members of The Network Hub-curated Coworking Visa Map will be able to take advantage of coworking spaces in Tofino. Currently, there are 1,243 Coworking Visa Map locations worldwide, 52 in Canada, and 16 in British Columbia alone.

The survey can be taken any time until June 15, 2018.

For more information, please visit www.thenetworkhub.ca/tofino.

About The Network Hub

Vancouver-based The Network Hub has been a founding pioneer of the coworking concept in Canada since 2006. It currently provides virtual office service, meeting room rental, coworking space rental, private office space rental, and event space rental in locations across British Columbia including Nanaimo, New Westminster, Richmond, Vancouver and Whistler. The Network Hub also curates the Coworking Visa Map, a global membership network where members can utilize any partner Coworking Visa location for up to three days.

www.thenetworkhub.ca | Facebook: /TheNetworkHub | Twitter: @TheNetworkHub | Instagram: TheNetworkHub

About Thrive Junction

Nanaimo headquartered Thrive Junction is a consulting team focused on transforming distinctive places into SMART workplace destinations. Building innovation hubs that empower distinctive communities with space, collaboration, technology, events and programs, and workplace destination branding is their focus.

www.thrivejunction.com | Facebook: /ThriveJunction | Twitter: @ThriveJunction

About Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce

The Tofino-Long Beach Chamber of Commerce is Tofino's original and largest business organization, founded in 1929. The TLBCC's mission is to actively represent the vast spectrum of businesses in Tofino by offering a range of programs, services and networking opportunities for our members; through the development of policies on and being strong advocates for social issues; and by promoting the stewardship of the environment of Clayoquot Sound. Our membership is extremely broad and vibrant for a town of Tofino's size, and we are proud to represent some of the most innovative entrepreneurs in Canada. www.tofinochamber.org

SOURCE The Network Hub
NEW YORK, May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EY, Guardtime, A.P. Mller-Maersk, Microsoft and insurance industry leaders Willis Towers Watson, XL Catlin, MS Amlin and ACORD announce members of the marine industry are using Insurwave, a blockchain platform to support marine hull insurance. In an increasingly complex and ever evolving risk landscape, global businesses will use the platform to transform how they manage risk across their organization, and how they work with brokers and (re)insurers.

Insurwave, built by a joint venture between EY and Guardtime, leverages blockchain and distributed ledger technologies Microsoft Azure infrastructure and ACORD data standards. It will support more than half a million automated ledger transactions and help manage risk for more than 1,000 commercial vessels in the first year. By connecting participants in a secure, private network with an accurate, immutable audit trail and services to execute processes, the platform establishes a first of its kind digital insurance value chain.

A.P. Moller - Maersk contributed to the development of the blockchain technology as a pilot client and is continuing on the platform with its marine hull portfolio.

Lars Henneberg, A.P. Mller-Maersk A/S Head of Risk and Insurance, says:

"Our ambition is to drive the digital transformation of the transport and logistics industry and we see this platform as a testament to the value that can be extracted from streamlining areas of our industry that still rely on manual and often complex procedures. Operating around 350 owned container vessels across the world, marine insurance takes up considerable resources for us. Moving it to this platform is helping us automate manual processes and alleviate a range of inefficiencies and frictional costs in the way we have used to trade marine insurance."

Shaun Crawford, EY Global Insurance Leader, says:

"It is a proud moment for a number of heavy weight industry participants to be live with a genuine end-to-end blockchain platform in the specialty insurance market. All parties have worked extraordinarily hard, as a closely knit team, to get to this exciting milestone. To move from proof of concept just a year ago to a fully functioning platform that is delivering immediate value to clients feels exceptional."

The first phase of Insurwave rollout is focused on marine insurance, and EY, Guardtime and Microsoft plan to roll it out to other types of business insurance for the marine cargo, global logistics, aviation and energy sectors.

Mike Gault, Guardtime CEO, says:

"We are very proud of the work we have done with EY in developing this platform, beginning with a proof of concept a year ago and then all the way through to this production release. This represents an important milestone not only for the insurance industry but also for blockchain technology, proving it can deliver real value to enterprise customers."

Blockchain set to disrupt the insurance industry, say industry participants

Bill Pieroni, President and CEO at the global insurance industry organization ACORD, says:

"This solution represents a true innovation for insurance and demonstrates the potential of blockchain for transforming our industry. We are happy to be part of this initiative as it makes an impact across all insurance stakeholders and the entire value chain."

Dr. Paul Taffinder, Director of Strategy and Innovation, MS Amlin, says:

"MS Amlin has long championed a culture of innovation and investing in new technologies. As a business, we are continuously looking to find new ways of doing things to further improve our client proposition. The success of the marine blockchain platform is a concrete example of where this innovative technology is being deployed to drive positive change in the insurance industry."

Matthew Kerner, general manager, Azure blockchain engineering at Microsoft, says:

"Blockchain is opening up new possibilities for how enterprises do business with one another, turning complex processes into cost-saving business efficiencies. Microsoft is thrilled to work alongside EY, Guardtime, Maersk and marine insurance industry leaders to bring this platform into production on Azure, proving the enterprise value of blockchain."

Alastair Swift, CEO, Willis Towers Watson GB, says:

"We are delighted to be at the forefront of blockchain technology which has the potential to revolutionize the insurance industry. This is the first insurance transaction that has been undertaken through blockchain, simplifying and streamlining the transactional process and creating added value for our clients. We strongly believe this is an industry dynamic and that all carriers and brokers should engage in blockchain to drive improved transactional efficiency and innovation for our clients."

Martin Henley, Chief Information Officer, XL Catlin, says:

"With this blockchain, we are bringing together  for the first time  all the parties of the insurance value chain on a single platform. Ultimately, through the use of IoT and smart contracts, policies will be updated automatically to reflect the risks covered; and this combination of technologies will help improve efficiency in claims assessment and payment. Those are tangible wins for our clients, no matter their industry. And with the platform going live, we are now ready to start working on opening it up to other insurance segments."

For more information, please see ey.com/insurance_blockchain.

Notes to Editors

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

About EY's Global Insurance Sector

Insurers must increasingly address more complex and converging regulatory issues that challenge their risk management approaches, operations and financial reporting practices. EY's Global Insurance Sector brings together a worldwide team of professionals to help you succeed  a team with deep technical experience in providing assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The Sector team works to anticipate market trends, identify their implications and develop points of view on relevant sector issues. Ultimately, this team enables us to help you meet your goals and compete more effectively.

About Guardtime

Guardtime is the world's largest blockchain company by revenue, headcount and production customer deployments. The company was founded in 2007 in Estonia and has since expanded to Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. Guardtime federal was established in 2014 to exclusively support the cyber security and related security requirements for the US Defense Department, the US Intelligence Community, other US government departments and industrial communities supporting these US state capabilities. Guardtime Federal conforms to the federal regulations to assure government customers of compliance with US security objectives. This guarantees issues such as FOCI have been successfully mitigated ensuring protection against inappropriate disclosure of export controlled, OPSEC sensitive and classified information. The Guardtime technology stack is optimized for solving problems in enterprise with solutions developed for GDPR compliance as services, physical anti-counterfeit, digital content management, critical infrastructure protection and healthcare interoperability.

About the industry participants

A. P. Mller-Maersk A/S  a major multinational shipping company; ACORD  an international insurance industry data standards body; Microsoft  Microsoft (@microsoft), the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more; MS Amlin  a specialty insurer operating in 25 locations globally; Willis Towers Watson  a global advisory, broking and solutions company with more than 40,000 employees; XL Catlin  The XL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines & specialty insurance products globally.

Lee Ann Farwell

EY Global Media Relations

[email protected]

+1 212 773 5728

SOURCE EY

Related Links

http://www.ey.com


ORLANDO, Fla., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Wyndham Vacation Ownership (WVO), the world's largest vacation ownership company and a member of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies (NYSE: WYN), was the most honored brand at the annual American Resort Development Association (ARDA) conference in Las Vegas.

The ARDA Awards Program is committed to celebrating the best and brightest in the vacation ownership industry in categories including overall professional excellence, outstanding sales and marketing accomplishments, technology implementations, product design, communications and human resources.

The prestigious ACE Spirit of Hospitality Award was presented to Daryl Taketa, general manager of the WorldMark Windsor resort in Windsor, Calif. Taketa was honored with the highest recognition of excellence in hospitality for his leadership during the 2017 wildfires which devastated Northern California. During the worst of the firestorm, Taketa took care of ensuring WVO owners, guests and associates had a safe place to stay, despite not knowing if his own home survived the flames. He also managed his team's ability to accommodate weary firefighters and first responders, offering the resort as a safe place to rest and recharge in between dangerous shifts on the front lines of the fire.

"Our connection to our customers is often a lifelong relationship and our team is committed to changing people's lives in meaningful ways. Daryl and his team are exceptional ambassadors of our organization and our culture of service and I am so proud of their efforts to provide shelter, care and comfort under extraordinary circumstances," said Michael D. Brown, president and CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership. "Even with his own home in danger, Daryl was able to put the welfare of his owners, guests, and team members at the top of his priorities. It's what a great manager does every day, and we are so thankful to Daryl and everyone on his team at the WorldMark Windsor, who deserve this industry recognition."

WVO associates were also recognized for customer service, sales and marketing, communications, and human resources.

"All of the WVO ARDA award winners personify the Wyndham Count on Me! service culture of our global team," Brown continued. "As we move towards becoming Wyndham Destinations, the world's largest vacation ownership, exchange, and rentals company, these awards highlight the very best of our company and validate our position in the industry."

Below is the full list of all WVO award recipients:

ARDA Circle of Excellence Recognition

ACE Spirit of Hospitality Award: Daryl Taketa

Advertising, Promotion & Communications

Owner/Guest/Customer Engagement Campaign: Art of Vacation

Management & Administration

Sales Incentive or Recognition Program: Club Elite

Call Center Individual: Meagan Picard

Technology Project at Resort or Corporate Office: Trip and ION

Inventory Revenue Management Program: Digital Marketing Inventory Promotion

Owner/Customer Relations Administrative Support Professional: Judy House

Owner/Customer Relations Team Member: Dulce Garcia

Communications/Public Relations Team: Corporate Communications Team

Human Resources Team: Corporate Hurricane Response Team

Marketing & Sales

Marketing Management Executive: Mark Wilson

Sales Management Leader: Jason Barnhill

Salesperson: Corporate or Regional Director: Eric Ellis

Salesperson: In House: Simon Saliba

Salesperson: Specialty Sales: Michael Dunham

Sales Team: Specialist Presenter Team

Resort Design

Refurbishment: Unit: WorldMark Scottsdale

Amenities: Margaritaville St. Thomas-Hillside Pool

ARDA is the Washington D.C.-based professional association representing the vacation ownership and resort development industries.

About Wyndham Vacation Ownership

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, a member of the Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN) family of companies, is the world's largest vacation ownership business, as measured by the number of vacation ownership resorts, individual vacation ownership units and owners of vacation ownership interests. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its seven primary consumer brands, CLUB WYNDHAM, WorldMark by Wyndham, CLUB WYNDHAM ASIA, WorldMark South Pacific Club by Wyndham, Shell Vacations Club, Margaritaville Vacation Club by Wyndham and WYNDHAM CLUB BRASILSM. As of December 31, 2017, we have developed or acquired 221 vacation ownership resorts in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, South America and the South Pacific that represent approximately 25,000 individual vacation ownership units and nearly 878,000 owners of vacation ownership interests. Wyndham Vacation Ownership is headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and is supported by more than 18,000 associates worldwide.

Web Resources:

Wyndham Vacation Ownership

WorldMark Windsor

SOURCE Wyndham Vacation Ownership

Related Links

http://www.wyndhamworldwide.com


AEW, on behalf of its Europe City Retail Fund, has acquired a retail-led asset in Helsinkis CBD from Stockmann Plc for 108.5 million, marking its first investment in Finland since the Global Financial Crisis. The landmark property, known as the Atlas building, is located adjacent to Stockmanns flagship department store

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GUEST OBSERVATION

Groundwater being pumped from a highland aquifer, only to be whisked away in tankers and sold in little plastic bottles by a multinational corporation  its a difficult concept for a small farming town to swallow.

Just ask the residents of Stanley, Victoria, whose four-year court battle to stop a farmer bottling local groundwater for Japanese beverage giant Asahi ended in failure last month. They were left with a A$90,000 bill for legal costs.

Locals have clashed with the bottled water industry in many parts of the world, including the United States and Canada, and perhaps most famously in the French spa town of Vittel, where residents have accused Nestle of selling so much of their water to the rest of the world that they barely have enough left for themselves.

These conflicts demonstrate the challenge of balancing the competing demands on water drawn from underground. Compared with surface water, which is less tricky to monitor, groundwater is far harder to govern.

Under the Australian Constitution, water is primarily governed by the states. In Victoria, groundwater in high-use areas is managed using groundwater management plans under the Water Act, and water for commercial or irrigation purposes requires a take and use licence. This licence specifies the maximum volume of water a user is allowed to divert each year and under what conditions - what is often called an entitlement.

If a licence-holder wants to amend their licence, they need to apply to their regional water corporation.

It was one such application that triggered the dispute in Stanley. Local farmer Tim Carey applied to change the source of 19 million litres of his existing licence from surface water to groundwater, and from agricultural to commercial purposes. This would allow him to truck the water to a bottling plant run by Mountain H2O, owned by Asahi.

The changes were approved by Goulburn-Murray Water under the local water management plan. Stanleys residents were concerned about the impact on irrigation and the environment, and tried to challenge Careys operation under local planning laws. But the court said that his approved water licence meant he didnt need planning approval too. With no clear legal options now left for local residents, that may well prove to be the final say on the matter.

How did this happen?

Unfortunately, before about 1980, water entitlements were given away like kittens by various water agencies. As a result, in some areas, users are entitled to much more water than they actually use - sometimes more than is sustainable. And politics generally precludes any intervention to amend these inflated entitlements once the licence-holders have become used to having them.

Extensive droughts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, combined with the Darling Rivers striking algal bloom in the early 1990s, catapulted the importance of effective water management into the public consciousness.

In 1997, this resulted in the cap  limits on surface water diversions in the Murray-Darling Basin. However, the cap didnt limit groundwater extractions, which then increased dramatically. The regulation of groundwater, memorably described in an 1861 court case as too secret, occult and concealed to even attempt, has long lagged behind that of surface water.

It wasnt until the Millennium Drought (2000-09), with the advent of the National Water Initiative and the federal Water Act 2007 that Australian groundwater management underwent significant, large-scale reform. The main thrusts of the reforms were the development of legal and planning frameworks to achieve sustainable management of surface and groundwater, and the restructuring of water markets to be nationally compatible.

The new water governance regime created under the federal Water Act, under which the Commonwealth assumed important powers over waters in the Murray-Darling Basin, allows for groundwater markets and new limits on groundwater withdrawals. Groundwater trading is generally constrained by rules that require the to and from locations to be hydrologically connected to one another.

Stanleys groundwater falls within a new mega-planning area that covers great swathes of northern Victoria. The new management plan for this area is due at the end of the year, but is currently only 30% complete.

Even if the plan is finished on time, groundwater sustainability in regions like the Ovens might elude us. Limits on water extraction are generally based on the entitlements in the area. But as current groundwater usage is less than those entitlements, sleeper licences can still be activated. During shortages, when the economic value of water peaks, people can trade water that would otherwise remain unused. In some management regions, the total entitlement volume is roughly double or more than the actual usage.

The Stanley case shows how communities can mobilise when groundwater moves from one use to another. If new plans further encourage groundwater markets, we should brace ourselves for more of the same  although it is unclear whether other communities would enjoy any more legal success than the people of Stanley.

What are management decisions based on?

High-profile cases like Stanleys highlight the need for a robust scientific basis for licensing decisions. Communities facing change will have a difficult time accepting decisions that are not supported by rigorous science.

Unfortunately when it comes to groundwater, its far from straightforward to work out how much water is down there and where it goes. An expert hydrogeologist retained by Stanleys residents argued that the modelling used to estimate the impact of the bottled water extractions was very simplistic. Mapping groundwater with an overly simplistic model is akin to using an identikit sketch of a smiley face to catch a criminal.

But water corporations have finite resources, and if we want in-depth analysis, then we need to invest in management planning tools such as drilling programs and numerical groundwater models supported by monitoring data and surveys of groundwater-dependent ecosystems. This sort of analysis is time-consuming, expensive and currently a political stretch. Governments only tend to spend serious money on groundwater investigations once people start running out of water.

However, if we want to get groundwater licensing right, it needs to be scientifically robust, environmentally sustainable, and procedurally fair.

As Stanleys residents discovered, there might be no second chance.

Emma Kathryn White, PhD Candidate, Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne

Rebecca Louise Nelson, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Melbourne

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
GUEST OBSERVATION

As politicians raise concerns about immigration straining infrastructure and public services in Australias state capitals, the federal government is considering the idea of binding immigrants to particular regional and rural areas.

The minister for citizenship and multicultural affairs, Alan Tudge, was quoted as saying:

"Were looking at ways that we can effectively bind people to the regions if theyve got a sponsorship to go to those locations."

The idea behind these sorts of policies is also to develop regional and rural economies. But in recent research with co-authors Louise Roos and John Madden, we find that binding migrants on temporary 457 visas to the country is largely ineffective in boosting regional economies in the long run.

The 457 visa program (replaced in April 2017 with a stricter but essentially similar temporary skill shortage visa) allowed employers to bring in foreign skilled workers for up to four years. While employers in any location can apply, the program can be used to direct migrants to non-urban areas, because visa holders are bound to the employers and their locations.

As part of our research, we modelled two scenarios. In the first we looked at what happens with regionally targeted 457 visas, by assigning workers on these visas to non-metropolitan regions. In the second we modelled what would happen if the visa holders were to settle across regions according to their current settlement patterns.

We took into account the labour market and visa details of workers in each capital city and in the rest of each state or territory (except for the ACT, which we treated as one territory). We also factored in the desire of workers to change occupations and regions due to movements in wages.

At the national level, we found that employment and real GDP increase by nearly identical amounts and, likewise, decreases in national wages are the same under programs where immigrants are targeted to rural and regional areas and where they havent been targeted.

At the regional level, in the short run, we found targeted visa programs boost regional activity. But this does not hold in the long run. After five to 10 years, economic variables such as real regional GDP and regional employment start to look the same as the untargeted scenario.

The reason for this largely lies in the regional displacement of workers already in the country. In the short run, the targeted migration program boosts workers in the target region. This causes wages in the region to fall relative to wages in other regions. This discourages workers from other regions from moving to the region, and encourages workers in the region to leave.

We have also examined what would happen with permanent skilled migration programs targeted at regional and rural areas.

There are a number of permanent regional skilled migration programs, such as the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme, the skilled nominated visa and the skilled regional visa. In these schemes visa holders can remain in the country indefinitely, although they must remain in their nominated region for at least two years. This is in contrast to temporary visa holders, who must eventually depart Australia unless, as many do, they transition to a permanent visa.

In investigating targeted permanent visas, we found similar results to temporary visas. The short-run employment and regional GDP gains from regionally targeted migration programs, whether under permanent or temporary visa arrangements, gradually become like those of untargeted programs.

Over time, new immigrants move to other regions, mostly to capital cities, or go overseas. Even if implementable and effective policies could be found to bind new immigrants to regions, the displacement effect weve outlined would continue to weaken the long-run impact on regional populations and economies.

James Giesecke, Professor, Centre of Policy Studies and the Impact Project, Victoria University

Nhi Tran, Senior Research Fellow, Victoria University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
 Prez Trump posthumously pardons boxer Jack Johnson | Main | A few juicy SCOTUS relists (to temper the guideline-vagueness denials) for sentencing fans 

As reported in this post last week, Mark Inch, the director of the federal Bureau of Prisons abruptly resigned on the very day that the White House was having a big event promoting prison reform. Now the New York Times has this big article explaining why under the headline "Turf War Between Kushner and Sessions Drove Federal Prisons Director to Quit." Here are excerpts:

When Jared Kushner hosted a high-profile summit meeting on federal prison reform at the White House last Friday, some in attendance noticed that the man who was ostensibly in charge of the federal prison system, Mark S. Inch, a retired Army major general, was nowhere in sight.

Only Mr. Kushner and a few others knew that Mr. Inch, a genial former military police commander appointed to oversee the Federal Bureau of Prisons and its more than 180,000 inmates just nine months ago, had two days earlier submitted his resignation as the bureaus director to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. By the time President Trump entered the East Room, Mr. Inch had already been ordered to vacate his office and had begun packing up books and memorabilia from his 35-year military career.

Mr. Inch told Mr. Rosenstein he was tired of the administration flouting departmental norms. And he complained that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had largely excluded him from major staffing, budget and policy decisions, according to three people with knowledge of the situation. Mr. Inch also felt marginalized by Mr. Kushner, the presidents son-in-law and senior adviser, in drafting prison reform legislation, the officials said.

He found himself caught in an ideological turf war between Mr. Kushner and Mr. Sessions. Mr. Kushner has championed reforms to the corrections system and more lenient federal sentencing, and Mr. Sessions, a law-and-order conservative and former Alabama attorney general, has opposed significant parts of the bipartisan prison reform bill that Mr. Kushner backs, according to officials.

Mr. Kushner, with the presidents support, has been pushing prison reform legislation meant to reduce recidivism by incentivizing inmates  with the possibility of early release to halfway houses or home confinement  to take part in job training and other rehabilitation programs. Early in the administration, Mr. Kushner and Mr. Sessions came to an agreement, according to a former administration official involved in their talks. Mr. Kushner would press ahead with prison reforms but avoid a politically divisive issue he cared even more strongly about, sentencing reform, which the attorney general and Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, both adamantly oppose.

But Mr. Sessions, not Mr. Kushner, controls the prison bureau. And he has quietly worked to ensure that any reforms that might be seen as excessively lenient toward inmates are put into place only after time-consuming study, according to officials....

But some see Mr. Inchs exit as an opening for Mr. Trump to take a more sweeping approach that would include sentencing reform  one of the few issues that offer him a chance for the kind of big, bipartisan deal he promised during the 2016 campaign. The rap against General Inch is that he wasnt a real reformer. In that sense, his departure is an opportunity, said Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a Washington-based advocacy organization that is broadly supportive of Mr. Kushners reform efforts. Theres a real struggle going on now about whether or not to reform the bureau, and it was increasingly clear that he wasnt in a position to reform that agency....

Two senior White House officials said Mr. Kushner made a point of inviting Mr. Inch to meetings on the proposed legislation, but Mr. Sessions and his staff often sent other officials in his place. The attorney general firmly stands behind the principles of prison reform, said Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for Mr. Sessions. On this specific bill, we have worked closely with the team to offer suggestions that we believe will protect safety and improve rehabilitative outcomes....

For now, the Bureau of Prisons will be run by its former assistant director, Hugh J. Hurwitz, a career bureau official. Mr. Sessions was taken by surprise when Mr. Inch resigned and has not begun his search for a permanent successor, according to a Justice Department official.
GUEST OBSERVATION

Crime and insecurity are deeply entrenched in some cities. While we have rankings of the most dangerous cities in the world, this does not give a clear picture of how and why dangerous spaces develop in cities.

We are analysing case studies from cities in France, Colombia, Brazil and Australia to understand the factors that lead to insecurity, and to examine possible solutions.

Risks of ghettos in Australia

Australian cities arent immune to the dangers. While there is no clear upward trend in crime nationally, the social polarisation and concentration of certain crimes in parts of the cities of Sydney and Melbourne are cause for concern. As a result, New South Wales and Victoria are the states with the highest rates of unlawful entry and armed robbery.

Sydney in particular is experiencing a ghettoisation effect. Social polarisation between suburbs is increasing. Another issue in Sydneys western suburbs is domestic violence.

While crime rates here are much lower than in cities in Latin America and France, we need to be mindful of how neighbourhoods can become dangerous through neglect by planners and policymakers.

What can we do about it?

Social disorganisation theory has dominated research in this field. Central to this approach are neighbourhood mechanisms to reduce crime and disorder.

Some have criticised this theory for not considering the influences on crime of the larger urban political economy. Political and economic decisions may have direct effects by increasing unemployment, residential instability (via planning and housing policies) or population density (via zoning policies).

Reducing crime is also the job of planners. Research has shown, for instance, that better planning can reduce the tragedies of domestic violence.

Incentives at the city scale  such as tax breaks and policies to decentralise public services and promote economic activity in poorer outer suburbs  need to be twinned with strategies to foster social integration at the neighbourhood level.

Latin America: a focus on Colombia and Brazil

Violence and high crime rates have created stark divisions in some Latin American cities. Residents have responded with several strategies to feel safe at home.

In Argentina, crime rates soared after the political and financial crisis of 2001. Citizens started building barricades and fortified their living environments with all types of security devices. Gated communities became the preferred type of housing, especially for upper-middle-class groups who could afford it.

However, gating and security devices have not been successful deterrents to crime. The strategies that have succeeded are linked to encouraging more social integration, shared use of public space, and less opposition to and marginalisation of the other.

Social urbanism policies in cities like Medellin, Colombia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have led to dramatic reductions in crime. The idea of these interventions is not only to physically upgrade housing and public space, but to improve social outcomes.

In Medellin, public space was improved in some of the poorest neighbourhoods, which included new infrastructure. Alleys were upgraded, to make walking easier and increase safety, and the famous escalators were built. The community manages these escalators, which improve access to the upper areas of neighbourhoods and help create safer environments.

Sonia Roitman. Author provided

The installation of aerial public transport (metrocable cable cars) also improved access and helped integrate these areas with the city centre. This in turn led to greater awareness of their existence and less prejudice against them as areas of marginalisation. Residents of other areas who wouldnt normally travel through these poor neighbourhoods became more aware of them while using public transport.

In the case of Brazil, the Favela Bairro program to upgrade slums in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1990s succeeded in integrating favelas with the city to improve living conditions and reduce crime rates.

For such projects to succeed it is essential to have community participation, engagement and buy-in.

Urban policy in France

The 2005 riots in French cities were the results of both structural issues, such as unemployment and police violence, and long-term social and spatial segregation.

Since the 2000s, the action on places paradigm has dominated urban policy. Its goal has been to tackle spatial inequality, with the National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU) playing a central role.

In exchange for state funding, cities had to commit to eradicate old social housing projects and build new residential buildings.

Previously, the policy for deprived neighbourhoods allowed elected officials and local representatives of the state a larger choice of strategies. These included renovation, positive discrimination, mediation, and the development of local community-led initiatives.

The urban renewal policy, launched in 2003, restricted the range of strategies. It is now criticised because it changed the urban form of neighbourhoods without really changing the social issues.

Today, the possible avenues for action are more diverse. Efforts are concentrated in the most deprived neighbourhoods, with employment, education and security as the budget priorities.

Build on existing social ties

Many strong social ties exist in these so-called deprived neighbourhoods. One promising avenue for action, but which currently attracts the least investment, is to focus on the strengths of those neighbourhoods. This can be done by supporting local initiatives, especially those led by women.

In the book Remake the City, two French researchers stress that it is illusory to think that solutions imposed from above can prevent ghettoisation. They see a need to learn from the experiments carried out in Latin America and in the United States. In the US, the rise of the community development corporation has helped to turn negative situations into experiences that foster social integration at the neighbourhood level and present a more positive image of the ghetto.

Even if the contexts are very different, these examples show that the factors at work in places at risk of ghettoisation need to be analysed at different scales. Solutions need to integrate bottom-up actions with strong engagement from communities and a policy rethink on the structural drivers of strong social and spatial segregation in cities.

Sebastien Darchen, Lecturer in Planning, The University of Queensland

Gwendal Simon, Assistant Professor of Planning and Urban Planning, Universite Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallee (UPEM)

Sonia Roitman, Senior lecturer in Development Planning, The University of Queensland

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
The Trbojevic Sea Eagle brothers continue to pour their league earnings into building their impressive property portfolio.

Jake and Tom, set to be included in the NSW State of Origin squad for the upcoming series, had previously accumulated quite the collection of apartments in the northern beaches area.

Now they've committed on a new front altogether.

They have diversified into a new build, each securing a house and land package on a newly constructed street inland at Warriewood on Sydney's northern beaches.

They've each spent $964,000 on two turnkey homes in a new Warriewood development, just three doors along from each other.

The purchases take their spends to over $1.9 million for houses and nearly $3.2 million for apartments.

No building is yet underway on the recent acquisitions but the surrounding streets are certainly tradie heartland judging by the line of utes heading in and out of the neighbourhood when I took a look late one afternoon this week.

The Trbojevic's secured their house and land package from Clarendon Homes in a new Warriewood estate, Fern Creek. Its just up the hill from Shearwater, near the Warriewood Wetlands.

The lots suit a four bedroom home.

The sold signs suggest the sales were through local agent Nik Vuko who declined to indicate if the boys would be moving in as owner occupiers or secured their as investors.

Their property purchasing began in 2014 when Jake, two years older than Tom, spent $680,000 on a two bedroom Narrabeen apartment.

In 2016 Jake then spent $590,000 on a one bedder in Brookvale, a few months before his then 19 year old brother got his foot on the ladder.

Tommy Turbo spent $895,000 on his first purchase, a two bedroom Manly Vale unit, shortly after he signed a $2.7 million contract to keep him with the Sea Eagles until 2020.

He backed the purchase up a year later when he spent $1 million on another two bedroom apartment in the same suburb.

The brother's purchases are now taking over the portfolio of captain Daly Cherry-Evans

Cherry-Evans lives in a $1,335,000 Curl Curl home and owns an investment home in the Gold Coast and an apartment in Freshwater.

The Mona Vale born brothers both played for the Mona Vale Raiders before being picked up by Manly.

Tom is set for his first call up to the NSW Origin side, while former Cronulla Shark Michael Ennis said NSW Blues could pick Jake Trbojevic for the next 10 years.

The 24 year old forward made his debut in the three-match series last year, the same year he was made the Sea Eagles vice-captain.

It's been far from the dream start for the Sea Eagles, who sit 12th on the ladder having lost 7 of their opening 10 games, including thumping defeats against South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Parramatta Eels.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.
EXPERT OBSERVATION

Greater Sydney leads the way in the wages growth test tube, with its annual average unemployment rate falling to the lowest level since 2008, at just 4 per cent in April 2018.

Total employment in Sydney has exploded an ear-splitting +128,600 higher over the past year alone to a record high of 2 million.

Just to put that in some perspective, only three years earlier total employment in Sydney was 2 million, so the harbour city has been creating jobs at a truly thunderous rate.

From an unemployment rate perspective Adelaide now takes out the most improved award, although the underlying labour force metrics in the South Australian capital are a tad uninspiring at best.

In somewhat brighter news for employment hunters, the median duration of job search has improved very steadily over the past year, and that now includes for Greater Perth, after a very lean run.

Finally for today, S&P's Prime SPIN mortgage arrears came in at 1.18 per cent in March 2018, broadly unchanged from 1.16 per cent in February (and from 1.16 per cent a year earlier).

From a macro perspective, then, nothing meaningful to report in terms of mortgage stress.

Around the traps, only the figures Western Australia (2.37 per cent) revealed any actual signs of mortgage stress, with arrears either benign or falling in most states and territories.

Source: S&P Global

Stress at the margin

There's a lot of debate about mortgage stress at the moment, with some people seemingly almost willing the figures to run higher.

The truth is the picture is quite mixed around the regions.

For most homeowners that have been in the market for some years, stress is very low with mortgage rates hitting some of the lowest levels in living memory, and this is reflected the unprecedented level of mortgage buffers that we saw in 2017.

But there are some parts of the country, including Perth, Gladstone, and a number of others, where employment opportunities have either been sparse or very sparse.

Accordingly there have been some marked shifts in internal migration, as workers relocate to cities where employment growth has been stronger, most notably Melbourne in recent times.

In some cases, where households are in negative equity this may not be possible, and in it's in these situations where mortgage stress can become punishing.

Fortunately there are relatively few pockets of Australia where negative equity is widespread, with many of the underperforming high-rise apartments owned by investors (including non-resident investors).

Overall, while the picture remains mixed around the country, it has been consistent with a steadily improving labour market.

PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and blogger.
Estate agents in Sydneys inner west have been fined for underquoting in breach of the law after being caught in a crackdown by the NSW Department of Fair Trading.

Nineteen unidentified agents in breach of the law were fined for underquoting.

Of the 37 agents visited in the area, 27 were deemed non-compliant, according to a statement from the Minister of Better Regulation Matt Kean who noted more than $66,000 was secured in fines.

Agents were found to be pitching expected sales prices far below the final value, or failing to provide mandatory written records on the expected price, Kean said.

The agents targeted for inspection were in the suburbs of Ashfield, Burwood, Canterbury, Croydon Park, Drummoyne, Dulwich Hill, Five Dock, Leichhardt, Marrickville, Newtown, Petersham, Strathfield and Summer Hill.

The government did not name the agencies that were fined.

The inner west is one of the busiest real estate markets in Sydney right now, with more people wanting to live in the area than ever before, Kean said.

Im really disappointed to hear that some real estate agents are taking advantage of consumers, instead of looking out for their best interests.

The Department regularly undertakes compliance programs based on a range of factors, including market research, intelligence and complaints data, the spokesperson said.

Real estate agents on the Northern Beaches had Fair Trade compliance inspections in March, with seven of 17 were fined for underquoting.

Western Sydney agents were checked in February, and 18 of the 24 agents inspected were fined for not meeting necessary standards, including underquoting.
Robotic Buried Pipe Inspection of Auxiliary Service Water Piping Diakonts innovative buried pipeline inspection service provided real integrity data on 300 of coated auxiliary service water lines without having to put personnel in confined spaces

Diakont received an innovation award for robotic buried pipe inspection during this years Nuclear Energy Assembly, hosted by the Nuclear Energy Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industrys policy organization.

As part of the Top Innovative Practice (TIP) Awards, the innovation award was granted to the team for Volumetric Inspections of Inaccessible Piping via Robotic Crawler. The Diakont team tasked with inspecting auxiliary service water (ASW) piping applied an innovative approach to determine the health of certain sections of buried piping. The approach used a robotic crawler to conduct ultrasonic examination inside critical, but uniquely configured, sections of the pipe. These line segments are a pipe-in-pipe configuration. Because these ASW line portions are sleeved, conventional excavation and ultrasonic testing cannot be completed to assure wall thickness meets minimum ASME Code compliance. By using the robotic crawler, the inspection of the ASW piping sections eliminated any human occupancy of the piping while yielding a complete volumetric examination; its use also reduced a cost of up to $3 million, including excavation, to less than $200,000.

Diakonts innovative buried pipeline inspection service provided real integrity data on 300 of coated auxiliary service water lines without having to put personnel in confined spaces Jonny Minder, director of energy services at Diakont, increasing plant safety and efficiency is Diakonts primary goal.

Innovations like the ones celebrated today help ensure nuclear power plants continue to run safely and stay competitive in todays marketplace, Sue Perkins-Grew, senior director of nuclear security and incident response, said at the TIP awards ceremony.

The TIP awards celebrate industry leaders for new practices, enhanced processes, and improved technology. To be considered for an award, the process or practice must be implemented and address one or more of the following criteria: innovations, safety, cost-savings impact, productivity/efficiency, transferability, communications, or vision and leadership.

Diakont was one of 12 awardees recognized at the awards luncheon in Atlanta. The award-winning team includes Exelon Corporation, Tennessee Valley Authority, Exelon Nuclear, North American Young Generation in Nuclear, and more.

Diakont was also nominated for a TIP award for innovative robotic underwater decontamination service provide during Spring 2017 outage. Diakont developed a hybrid ROV-crawler tool with a built-in brush assembly that swam throughout the plants refueling cavity and adhered to floors and walls to decontaminate the surfaces. The cutting-edge method was so effective that no additional manual cavity decontamination was required after drain down. Preliminary surveys indicated that all contamination levels were reduced to <50K dpm/100 cm2, helping the utility meet their INPO/Industry collective radiation exposure goals

About Diakont

Diakont is a leading designer, manufacturer and provider of high-technology products and services for the nuclear power industry, providing radiation-tolerant cameras and robotics, as well as inspection, maintenance and repair services for plants of all designs. With a mission of enhancing safety while improving the overall efficiency of the nuclear industry, Diakont has been deploying state-of-the-art robotics and world-class service to solve inspection and repair challenges for over 25 years.
At Library Journal, Editorial Director Rebecca Miller has a compelling, must-read editorial about the state of library advocacy. In it she points to a recent column from EveryLibrarys John Chrastka, who notes that despite libraries winning local measures at a record rate in 2017, a recent study by OCLC suggests that the library communitys core messaging has actually taken a hit.

Among the findings of concern, Chrastka notes, fewer people think that if the library were to shut down, something essential would be lost, down to 55%, from 71% in 2008.

Miller also points to a recent post by Chrastkas EveryLibrary colleague Patrick Sweeney titled The Data Is Clear, Its Time To Move Beyond Storytelling for Library Advocacy. In that post Sweeney argues that the entire advocacy ecosystem for libraries needs to be updated.

Our industry largely relies on the idea that if we tell good stories, people will stand up and take action on our behalf, he writes. This misguided ideology leaves most of the actual work of true advocacy on the table.

Its disconcerting news for sure. But in her editorial, Miller hits the nail on the head: library supporters need to absorb this reality check, and get back at it. We have some basic work to do here, Miller writes. Its a failure to communicate when potential supporters dont realize their action matters directlyand that inaction puts something beloved, and fundamentally important, at risk.

What a Leading Neuroscientist Thinks About Reading, and Digital Media

Earlier this week NPR reported on a new study that looks at whats going on in your childs brain when you read to them. The study is part of a growing field within psychology, and in nexts week Publishers Weekly, weve got a Q&A with one of the pioneering researchers, neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf. You may know her as the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, which came out a decade ago. She has a new book coming out in August that looks at the effects of digital media on the way people think and empathize, clearly a topic of importance these days.

Interestingly, her new book, entitled Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, is written as a series of letters to the reader. In the Q&A, she explains, the letter format provides an opportunity for the reader to see this is a dialogue I want my thoughts to be an incentive for the reader to give his or her own thoughts.

Her response reminds me of one of the central points R. David Lankes makes in the Atlas of New Librarianship (one of the seminal texts for me at library school), and that is that books, or rather acts of reading books, are like conversations between author and reader and that libraries are about connecting people to those conversations.

There is a lot in Wolfs book that will resonate with librarians. The Q&A is available online now, but you may want to wait to read it in the print edition of the magazine (if youre wondering why... well, thats a topic Wolf has a lot to say about). 

Internet Archive Lands Grant to Digitize and Lend University Press Collections

The Internet Archive this week announced that is has received a $1 million dollar grant from Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, to digitize titles from university press collections, and to make them available via controlled digital lending.

IA officials say the project, called Unlocking University Press Books, will bring more than 15,000 titles online from university presses, and builds upon a successful pilot program with MIT Press, which has already made more than 400 books available for digital learners around the world. The Internet Archive is now seeking university press partners who want to to digitize their publications.

To participate, you can complete signup form, or contact Chris Freeland, Director of Open Libraries, at chrisfreeland@archive.org with additional questions. 

Is This Why E-Books Have Hit the Wall?

A study from the University of Arizona released this week suggests that consumers perceive ownership of e-books very differently from ownership of physical books, and that this could have "important implications" for those in the business of selling e-books.

"We looked at what's called psychological ownership, which is not necessarily tied to legal possession or legal rights, but is more tied to perceptions of 'what is mine,'" said lead study author Sabrina Helm, a UA associate professor who researches consumer perceptions and behaviors.

Among the major themes to emerge from the study:

Participants across all age groups reported feeling a constricted sense of ownership of digital books vs. physical books, based on the fact that they don't have full control over the products. For example, they expressed frustration that they often could not copy a digital file to multiple devices.

vs. physical books, based on the fact that they don't have full control over the products. For example, they expressed frustration that they often could not copy a digital file to multiple devices. Study participants lamented restrictions on sharing e-books with friends, or gifting or selling the books, saying this made e-books feel less valuable as possessions than physical books.

with friends, or gifting or selling the books, saying this made e-books feel less valuable as possessions than physical books. Participants described being more emotionally attached to physical books , and said they use physical books to establish a sense of self and belonging . Participants also said they use their physical book collections to express their identity to others who might be perusing their shelves. E-books did not have these associations.

, and said they . Participants also said they use their physical book collections to express their identity to others who might be perusing their shelves. E-books did not have these associations. Minimalists expressed a preference for digital books because they take up less physical space.

because they take up less physical space. Many participants said the e-book experience feels more like renting than buying .

. While almost everyone expressed strong attachment to physical books, and no one embraced a fully digital reading experience, older consumers, contrary to what one might expect, saw more advantages than younger consumers to reading with an e-reader. They referenced physical benefits that might not be as relevant to younger consumers, such as the lightweight nature of e-readers and the ability to zoom in on text.

Oh, and price came up, no surprise. "A lot of participants pointed out that they see digital books as too expensive for what they deliver," Helm added.

The study, which is published in the journal Electronic Markets, is based on work with four focus groups in different age ranges: one group of baby boomers; one group of members of Generation X; and two groups of millennials.

The Week in Libraries: May 25, 2018

Among the stories that caught our attention this week:

How cool is this: Prior to her career in politics, Stacey Abrams, who made history this week as the first female African American woman nominee for governor, wrote romance novels, via Black Girl Nerds.

At U.C. Berkeley, a gathering of Science, Technology, and Engineering Library Leaders in Action sought to share their experiences and challenges in STEM librarianship.

Theres a great debate in the comments section of this Scholarly Kitchen article on libraries and open access.

And on the subject of open access, UCL Press, the UKs first fully Open Access University Press, is celebrating a milestone: one million downloads.

Atlas Obscura looks at lesbian pulp fiction paperbacks of the 1950s and 1960s.

According to an article in Fast Company, e-mail newsletters are the next great media platform.

Lots has been written this week on Elon Musks misguided attempt to crowd source journalism. Buzzfeeds Ben Smith suggests he spend more time with journalists, but maybe hed be better off hanging out with librarians.

Wait, don't toss that one! A librarian weeding the stacks at Waco High in Texas finds a signed Harry Truman memoir (which apparently hasn't been checked out in over 30 years).

Your online privacy matters. Publishers Weekly's privacy policy has been updated. We invite you to take a look.
Helen DeWitt. New Directions, $22.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-8112-2782-7

DeWitt (The Last Samurai) reasserts herself as one of contemporary fictions greatest minds in this dazzling collection of stories about misunderstood genius. In My Heart Belongs to Bertie, a statistician flees from a lunch with his book agent, preferring instead an imagined conversation with a robot, in which rationality carries no stigma. Literary agents come under fire again in Climbers, about a group of Americans who seek to publish the work of a reclusive novelist. Heedless of the fact that he is a writer who can feel his mind crackling under social pressure, they secure an agent who decides his book may be the next 2666. The writers only response to the bombardment of emails that ensues is to close his laptop and go off in search of a beer or maybe a Sachertorte. The suffering of a brilliant mind is made most accessible by Famous Last Words, wherein DeWitts narrator glumly accepts the degeneration of a stimulating conversation about Barthes into a seduction that leaves her and her suitor stripped of language, indifferent featherless bipeds. DeWitts disdain for those who seek to profit off of genius is sharp and refreshing, and her ability to deliver such astounding prose and thought-provoking stories constitutes a minor miracle. This is a gem of a collection.
Rooftop Immersive Studio has reached an agreement with AMC Networks International Southern Europe to aggregate and distribute the broadcasters VR content.





The move was announced shortly after AMC unveiled plans to start producing virtual reality content for Spains Odisea network together with The VRain.This deal, which is the first step towards consolidating the partnership between the Dutch company and the Madrid-based AMC unit, will see Rooftop to aggregate VR content on a monthly basis from a wide pallet of genres with a focus on documentaries and factual VR experiences for Odisea.The Amsterdam-based international distribution and production group recently announced that it had undergone a major rebrand and launched two new subsidiaries, Rooftop Film & TV and Rooftop Immersive Studio.AMC Networks International Southern Europe is one of the most renowned and respected broadcasters of original programming and we are delighted to be partnering with them to offer VR to a wider audience. As VR becomes an increasingly important part of our business, this deal represents a new step in the companys growth, said Jordi Van Even, founder, Rooftop Content Group
Military drills on the Korean Peninsula are always a source of tension, but this year's Max Thunder exercises were on another level.



They're the drills North Korea called an "intentional military provocation" and cited as the reason for canceling inter-Korean talks. It was first sign of trouble ahead of the planned Singapore summit, which Donald Trump ultimately canceled, depriving Kim Jong Un of his first meeting with a US President.



Max Thunder is conducted annually by the US and South Korean air forces, which regard them as defensive, and necessary for training and maintaining the military alliance.
WASHINGTON (AP)  In a dramatic diplomatic turn, President Donald Trump on Thursday called off next months summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un, calling the cancellation a tremendous setback for peace and stressing that the US military was ready to respond to any foolish or reckless acts by the North.

Trump first announced his decision in a letter to Kim released by the White House, in which he cited tremendous anger and open hostility in a recent statement by the North, adding that it was inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

Speaking at the White House later, Trump said a maximum pressure campaign will continue against North Korea and that he was waiting should Kim choose to engage in constructive actions.

He added that it was possible that the existing summit could take place or a summit at some later date.

The abrupt cancellation of the June 12 meeting withdraws the U.S. for now from an unprecedented summit that offered the prospect of a historic nuclear peace treaty or an epic diplomatic failure. No sitting American president has ever met with a North Korea leader.

In the North Korean statement that Trump cited, a top Foreign Ministry official referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a political dummy for his comments on the North and said it was up to the U.S. whether they will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

Trump said the world was losing a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth.

But he left the door open to the chance that the summit could yet be rescheduled: If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

The question now is how the message will be received. The letter could possibly make the situation worse in a culture where saving face can be pivotal. Kim has both international and internal respect to maintain, and could take offense at Trump making this move after he released American detainees and destroyed a nuclear site.

The North Korean leader is positioned by the North Korean system as the pinnacle of his nation and the venerated heir to the House of Kim.

One U.S. official said the decision to call off the summit was made Thursday morning in response to the statement disparaging Pence and threatening nuclear war. A White House official said it was incorrect to focus solely on the dummy comment, saying that the nuclear threats meant that no summit could be successful under such circumstances. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying on Capitol Hill, said North Korea had not responded to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the summit. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the lack of responses was an additional reason for Trumps decision.

Pompeo said the Norths attitude had changed markedly since he returned from a trip to Pyongyang earlier this month during which he met with Kim and oversaw the release of three Americans being held there.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in played a major role in planning for the summit and sought to keep it on the rails in a visit to the White House this week. His office said Thursday that it was trying to figure out Trumps intentions in canceling the summit.

Pompeo, asked about a report that the South had not been informed before the presidents letter was made public, said simply, We are locked in to the Republic of Korea. We are in lockstep with them.

The cancellation came shortly after Kim made good on his promise to demolish his countrys nuclear test site, which was formally closed in a series of huge explosions Thursday as a group of foreign journalists looked on. The explosions at the test site deep in the mountains of the Norths sparsely populated northeast were supposed to build confidence ahead of the summit. However, the closing of the site is not an irreversible move and would need to be followed by many more significant measures to meet the demand for real denuclearization.

The president had agreed to the historic sit-down in March after months of trading insults and nuclear threats with the North Korean leader. But after criticism from North Korea, Trump cast doubt this week on whether the meeting would happen.

President Donald Trumps letter canceling the summit with North Koreas Kim Jong Un. SOURCE: White House

White House officials have privately predicted for weeks that the summit could be canceled once or twice before actually taking place, owing to the hard-nosed style of the two leaders. Trump has seemed to welcome chatter of a Nobel Peace Prize, but that has yielded in recent weeks to the sobering prospect of ensuring a successful outcome with the Kim.

Trumps allies in Congress applauded the president, saying he was justified in pulling out of the meeting.

North Korea has a long history of demanding concessions merely to negotiate. While past administrations of both parties have fallen for this ruse, I commend the president for seeing through Kim Jong Uns fraud, said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

Critics were less impressed.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, called the development another embarrassment for the country. He added, This is not ding dong school. Its serious.

This spring, scoring a diplomatic win with Pyongyang had become Trumps top focus.

That had been a far cry from his bellicose rhetoric, issued both on Twitter and from the rostrum of the United Nations last fall. Trump threw off ominous taunts of raining fire and fury on the North while belittling its leader as Little Rocket Man, alarming many global capitals and much of Washingtons national security establishment and increasing worries about nuclear war. But Trump believed his outside-the-box behavior would bring Kim to the negotiating table.

Drawn to big moments and bigger headlines, Trump has viewed the North Korea summit as a legacy-maker for him, believing that the combustible combination of his bombast and charm already had led to warmer relations between North and South.

He immediately agreed to the proposed meeting, conveyed by South Korean officials, accepting it before consulting with many of his top national security advisers. And earlier this month, when welcoming home three Americans who had been detained in North Korea, Trump used a televised, middle-of-the-night ceremony to play up both his statecraft and stagecraft.

Some observers raised concerns that Trump was risking legitimizing Kims government by agreeing to meet him on the world stage without evidence of denuclearization or other concessions. But Trump had bet big on the summit, telling one confidant that he believed a deal with North Korea, rather than in the Middle East, could be his historic victory.

White House officials also believed that a triumph on the Korean Peninsula  something that has eluded the United States for generations  could bolster Trumps approval ratings, help inoculate him against the investigations swirling around him and trickle down to help Republicans in this falls midterm elections.

___

Associated Press writers Ted Anthony, Ken Thomas, Darlene Superville and Jonathan Lemire contributed.
Many people love to concoct grand, elaborate conspiracies to explain the world around them. Instead of realizing they made bad decisions, it must have been some malevolent force out to get them. Instead of recognizing they are surrounded by incompetence, there must be some mysterious force pulling the strings working several steps ahead.

Many people sleep better at night convinced of a malevolent conspiracy of sinister forces running government than realizing government is composed of incompetent bureaucrats protecting their turf. Wouldn't it reassure you to know your government functions at the hands of an evil genius pulling strings rather than that it is really an idiocracy just trying to keep afloat?

That brings me to the Russians and our election. We know from various text messages from FBI agents that they felt it their mission to investigate and find evidence to stop Donald Trump from becoming president. For those who dismiss the idea of partisanship, look no further than the IRS, which worked to block conservative groups from getting nonprofit status. An internal investigation revealed partisan motivation.

There were partisans involved at the FBI. The question is how much partisanship was involved, and here both Democrats and Republicans have a vested interest in muddying the water in favor of conspiracies. Democrats believe the Russians stole the election from Hillary Clinton. It is far more convenient for them to believe in an elaborate international conspiracy than to acknowledge they bet on a horse that should have long ago been sent to the political glue factory.

Republicans also believe a conspiracy theory. They want you to believe the Christopher Steele dossier was the trigger for a host of attacks on and investigations within the Trump campaign paid for and orchestrated by Democrats. It is far easier to believe that than acknowledge the guy who claims to only hire the best people hired a bunch of people in bed with Russians who did not have America's best interests at heart.

Barack Obama surrounded himself with people who had so much contempt for their political opponents that every time they made decisions about furthering investigations into Donald Trump, they presumed the absolute worst and made decisions accordingly. Now, Donald Trump has surrounded himself with people who have just as much contempt for the left as Obama's advisors did for the right. The Trump team presumes the worst about the FBI, the DOJ and everyone else. We have reached peak conspiracy.

The truth is that our intelligence community had signal intelligence clearly showing the Russians wanted to interfere in our electoral processes. Our intelligence officials looked around and saw Paul Manafort and Carter Page were working with Trump and both had ties to Russians. They drew conclusions based on that intelligence. Along came Democrats with a dossier of information suggesting Trump was working with or being blackmailed by the Russians, and the Obama political team overseeing the intelligence community presumed the worst they could about Trump.

Manafort and Page did not stay with Trump through the campaign. It is not really believable that they orchestrated a plot within the Trump team to steal the election. There is no evidence they went outside the campaign to execute the plan. But concurrently, it is true that Donald Trump Jr. was happy to meet with a Russian for dirt on Hillary Clinton. That is not illegal, but it is unethical. The Trump team believed the worst about the Clintons and surely believed the Clinton team would pull out all the stops, too.

We are where we are because both sides believed the worst about the other. The Democrats never thought Trump would win and would rather believe a conspiracy theory than believe Clinton was a terrible candidate. Likewise, the Trump fans would rather believe the FBI was really out to get Trump than believe he made some staggeringly stupid hires and people around him made staggeringly unethical decisions. Forrest Gump was right. Stupid is as stupid does.

COPYRIGHT 2018 CREATORS.COM
President Trump has many limitations, to put it mildly, but he is brilliant at the dark art of branding. Those seeking to hold him accountable had better study his technique  and learn to fight fire with fire.

Witness how Trump is trying to use the word spy as a weapon against the FBI, the Justice Department and special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation of Russian interference in the election. The presidents performance this week has been totally dishonest  and, lets be honest, quite effective.

Here is what really happened, as far as we know: In 2016, the FBI saw what it believed were Russian attempts to interfere with the U.S. election, including contacts with three Trump campaign advisers. Alarmed and needing to know more  but not wanting to publicly investigate the campaign, which could be prejudicial against Trump  agents asked a retired college professor named Stefan A. Halper to touch base with those advisers to see what he could find out. Halper did so. Two of the advisers, Carter Page and Sam Clovis, have spoken publicly about the encounters and described them as innocuous.

Here is what happened, according to Trump: Spygate!

Trump has consistently and cleverly referred to Halper as a spy, rather than an informant, which is what he really was. And he has suggested, falsely, that the spy was placed very early into my campaign. Trump alleged in a tweet Wednesday that the Criminal Deep State, which for some reason is apparently persecuting him, has been caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before!

Right-wing media and Trumps political allies have joined the chorus, which is meant to sow doubt on the Mueller probes legitimacy. And I believe the campaign is having at least some success  all because of the word spy.

According to the Associated Press, Trump told one ally this week that he wanted to brand the informant a spy, believing the more nefarious term would resonate more in the media and with the public. He was right. His supporters have gleefully adopted the term. Media outlets have called Trump on his distortion, but in order to refute the word spy it is necessary to use the term  which has the counterproductive effect of reinforcing the word through repetition.

Trumps success in making some people believe his campaign was spied on does not deter Mueller from his appointed rounds. But it can incrementally shake confidence in Muellers findings  unless he completely exonerates Trump, in which case the president will paint him as the noblest and finest public servant in the history of the republic.

None of this should surprise anyone. Trump had early success as a real estate developer, then made a series of foolish investments, especially in Atlantic City, that almost ruined him. He survived by transforming the Trump Organization into what is essentially a branding company that makes deals to put the Trump name on projects whose costs, and risks, are borne by others. He has long understood how perception can overwhelm reality  and how the right turn of phrase can change everything.

As The Posts Karen Tumulty wrote in January 2017 , Trump came up with the phrase Make America Great Again on Nov. 7, 2012, the day after Mitt Romneys loss to Barack Obama. Five days later, Trump applied for a trademark. This was back in 2012 . Hes good at this.

Of course you will recall how he branded his opponents for the Republican nomination with mocking nicknames  Little Marco Rubio, Low Energy Jeb Bush and the rest. It was juvenile and undignified, but it served to lump the other contenders together and diminish them all, while letting Trump set himself apart and above.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) , the ranking minority member on the House Intelligence Committee, is trying to give Trump a dose of his own medicine. What Trump calls Spygate should really be known as Lie-gate, Schiff says, because it is built on falsehoods. Schiff should get points for making the effort, but hes already a bit late.

Trump understands, and seizes, the first-mover advantage that comes from coining definitional terms. Lie-gate is a decent counterpunch. Spygate, by contrast, was a roundhouse sucker punch  not nice, not polite, but effective.

Beating Trump at his own game requires playing that game. This means acting instead of always reacting  it means defining the linguistic terrain before he can. And it means understanding, as the president does, that words dont just describe reality. They shape it.
Every minute, five African children die from diseases like pneumonia, malaria, and AIDS. Most of these deaths could be prevented with timely treatments. Unfortunately, millions of people in Africa and other developing regions lack access to such care.

The World Health Assembly -- the annual meeting of global health ministers that sets direction for the World Health Organization -- is currently meeting in Geneva to tackle such health challenges. Members have already started discussing how to increase access to medicines and vaccines in the developing world. Many of their proposals are practical and could make a real difference. But some are wrongheaded, such as the idea that weakening intellectual property protections for pharmaceuticals will improve health care.

To the contrary, effective protection of patents and other intellectual property is essential to achieving ambitious global health goals. Such protections, like patents, incentivize researchers to create new drugs, thereby increasing people's access to cutting-edge medicines that save lives. Health leaders meeting in Geneva should work to strengthen these protections, even as they tackle the many real barriers to care in the developing world.

This task is formidable, especially given the great health disparity between the developing world and Europe.

Consider that in Somalia, one in 100 children under the age of five dies from a lower respiratory infection like pneumonia or bronchitis. In Sweden, less than one in 100,000 dies from the same infections.

So what are the real obstacles standing between patients and the medicines they need? Part of the problem is a severe doctor shortage in the developing world. Africa has about one doctor for every 5,000 people. Switzerland, where the World Health Assembly convenes, has 21 doctors for every 5,000 people. Sub-Saharan Africa will face a shortfall of 4.3 million healthcare workers by 2035, largely due to a lack of training programs.

Similarly, many developing countries don't have enough hospital beds to adequately care for their populations. Niger has only one hospital bed per 10,000 people. By contrast, the Czech Republic has nearly 90 per 10,000 residents.

Inadequate transportation infrastructure exacerbates these shortages and makes it harder to deliver care to vulnerable communities. Austria, for instance, has 28 times as many kilometers of major roadways as Cambodia. It's a logistical nightmare to ship medicines to remote villages. Without refrigerated trucks, medicines and vaccines often spoil in transit.

Poor sanitation practices make this dire situation even worse. A staggering 35 percent of healthcare facilities in 54 low- and middle-income countries don't have enough soap and water for patients and providers to wash their hands, according to the WHO. Handwashing is one of the best and cheapest ways to prevent the spread of disease.

To improve health care in developing countries, the WHO must address these deficiencies. The developing world needs help training more doctors, building more roads and hospitals, and teaching disease prevention habits.

Revolutionary new medicines can also help end endemic diseases in these countries. Right now, scientists are developing hundreds of medicines and vaccines for malaria, bacterial diarrhea, HIV, and other diseases that primarily afflict the developing world.

The WHO claims it recognizes the importance of this pharmaceutical innovation. The World Health Assembly's recent agenda identifies 11 main challenges, including the need for more "needs-based research, development, and innovation."

Yet global health leaders meeting in Geneva risk getting mired in polarizing disputes about intellectual property protections. Instead of looking for practical solutions, the agenda might get hijacked by ideologues who question the very concept of intellectual property.

This is unfortunate. Intellectual property is the cornerstone of medical innovation. It takes significant resources over many years to develop a new drug. Only 12 percent of experimental medicines that enter clinical trials actually make it to the market.

Protections such as patents allow drug-makers to recoup some of their massive investments while encouraging them to invest in future innovation.

A lopsided focus on patent protections also misses the point. IP rights don't impair developing countries' access to medicines, as some have claimed. Indeed, more than nine out of ten drugs on the WHO's list of "essential medicines" are already off-patent.

To increase access to medicines in the developing world, the WHO must confront all the complex factors preventing better health outcomes, not fixate on IP. It's time for a new approach. We must do more to make sure every patient can get the medicines they need. The lives of millions are at stake.

Jan Fischer is the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. The views expressed are the author's own.
Taiwan's F-16 fighter jet (L) monitors one of two Chinese H-6 bombers that flew over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and the Miyako Strait, near Japan's Okinawa Island, in photo taken and released on May 25, 2018 by Taiwan's defense ministry.

China recently has been threatening Taiwan with artillery drills and bombers flying near the self-governing island.

But according to some analysts a more serious threat to Taiwan may turn out to be Beijings attempts to subvert democracy there.

This would involve, among other things, encouraging splits among the islands people that would work to Chinas advantage.

J. Michael Cole, chief editor of the Taiwan Sentinel, summed this up well when he wrote that instead of trying in vain to win the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese as part of its effort to engineer the unification of China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hasabandoned that strategy.

Instead, Cole said, the CCP is now intensifying efforts to corrode and undermine Taiwans democratic institutions, create social instability, further isolate Taiwan internationally, and hollow out Taiwans economy by attracting its talent.

Beijing regards democratic and self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory, a breakaway province that must return to the motherland.

According to Cole, the key reason for Chinas shift to a subversion strategy is the failure of an eight-year-long attempt by China to shape Taiwanese self identification and support for unification through various economic incentives and various acts self-described as goodwill.

That approach had the counterproductive effect of strengthening a trend in Taiwan for its people to identify themselves as Taiwanese rather than Chinese, an identity that has been highlighted repeatedly in public opinion polls in Taiwan.

And in elections for both the executive and legislative branches of government 2016, Taiwans voters came out in favor of a return to power of what Cole calls the Taiwan-centric Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Chinas unhappiness with Taiwans new president

For eight years, from 2008 to 2016, Taiwans President Ma Ying-jeou pursued a policy of rapprochement with Beijing.

So China was clearly unhappy when Taiwans new president Tsai Ing-wen took power in May of 2016.

Beijing sees Tsai as a proponent of independence for the Taiwan and its more than 23 million people.

Though Tsai has been careful not to speak openly about independence, she hasnt supported the conciliatory China policy pursued by her Nationalist Party predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou.

Tsais ruling DPP has also declined to endorse a so-called consensus reported to have been agreed to in 1992 by China and Taiwan when the island was ruled by the Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party.

DPP supporters contend that theres little documentation to show that any consensus was agreed upon.

At the same time, Tsai has taken a pragmatic approach by calling for a continuation of the status quo with China.

Beijing has cut off contacts with Taiwan that had been established during Ma Ying-jeous presidency and has been using a variety of means to pressure its government and, sometimes under cover, to influence its people.

In 2017, China intensified its efforts to get nations that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan to break off their ties with Taiwan.

These efforts had ceased when Ma Ying-jeou was in power under a kind of tacit agreement by China to ease pressure in the diplomatic realm.

How PRC subversion works

Russell Hsiao, executive director of the U.S.-based think tank Global Taiwan Initiative, has outlined how a policy of subverting Taiwans democratic system might work.

In testimony last month before the congressionally funded U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), Hsiao said that China had already adopted subversion tactics in the 1980s, when Taiwan began moving from a dictatorship under martial law to a democratic system.

He described such tactics as part of the Communist Partys United Front policy of forming alliances with non-communist masses against a common enemy that dates back to the 1920s.

According to New Zealand scholar Anne-Marie Brady, United Front activities incorporate working with groups and prominent individuals in society; information management and propaganda; and it has also frequently been a means of facilitating espionage.

Chinas leader Xi Jinping gave a speech in 2014 on the importance of United Front work, calling it one of the Communist Partys magic weapons.

As Hsiao explains it, given the history of the Chinese civil war between the Communists and Nationalists and the strategic importance of Taiwan for the Communist Partys leaders, Taiwan remains the United Fronts number one priority.

After the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) took the Republic of Chinas seat in the United Nations in 1971, Beijings objective evolved into the incorporation of Taiwan into the PRC under a formula described as One Country, Two Systems.

That formula, rejected at the time by the Nationalist government, was applied to Hong Kong and remains until today the blueprint for the Communist Party since it was first proposed by Chinas supreme leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979, says Hsiao.

In the meantime, Hsiao says, nonmilitary actions by China that take place in a grey zone of conflict falling beneath the level of warfare possess the most coercive potential against Taiwan.

Chinas nonmilitary tools include economic coercion, political influence, clandestine measures, information operations such as propaganda and disinformation, and the use of noncommunist proxies in Taiwan who act motivated by self interest rather than ideology.

Chinas efforts to get Taiwans diplomatic allies to break their ties with the island and switch their recognition to Beijing can have a psychological effect.

Since the election of Tsai Ing-wen as president of Taiwan in 2016, China has intensified its anti-Taiwan diplomatic offensive.

On May 24, the West African nation of Burkina Faso cut its ties with Taiwan, ending a 24-year-long relationship with Taipei only a few weeks after the Dominican Republic severed its relations with Taiwan.

Taiwan now has only 18 diplomatic allies around the world compared with 22 when Tsai was elected president.

In a televised statement, Tsai criticized Beijing for its dollar diplomacy and said that Taiwan would no longer be forbearing and would instead become more determined in seeking international partnerships.

But as Hsiao explains, the continued bleeding of diplomatic allies could lead to lower public confidence and morale in Taiwan.

Beijing is also using its influence to exclude Taiwan from international organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Recruiting Taiwans young people

According to Russell Hsiao, the student-led Sunflower Movement on Taiwan in the spring of 2014 caused a rethink in Beijings approach to United Front work against Taiwan.

Student protesters occupied Taiwans Legislature for 23 days in opposition to a trade agreement which the islands government had drawn up with China without what many considered to be adequate consultation.

Beijing found that high-level exchanges with Taiwan had done little to change pro-independence views on the island. Therefore, Hsiao says, China shifted its United Front strategy to focus on targeting small and medium-sized enterprises, middle to low income people, regions outside of the capital Taipei, and Taiwans youth.

Targeted groups also included aboriginals, distant relatives, fishermens associations, religious organizations, pro-China political parties, Chinese spouses, and retired Taiwan Army military officers, some of whom have been willing to provide sensitive military information in return for bribes provided by Beijing operatives.

In a report written for the U.S.-based Jamestown Foundation, China scholar Peter Mattis wrote that in 2009 then President Ma Ying-jeou opened the flow of people and businesses across the strait without consulting security officials on how to manage the risks.

This brings up another issue: An estimated 300,000 Chinese wives in Taiwan with passports from China are reported to include many who are associated with pro-unification groups.

Chinese businesses go through local pro-China legislators in Taiwan to purchase local fish products, making some local industries beholden to China and its interests, according to Russell Hsiao.

In an effort to attract Taiwanese high school graduates, China offers them subsidies to study at Chinese universities and to stay on and work there if they like.

This can be particularly appealing at a time when wages remain stagnant in Taiwan and openings for well-paying jobs are limited.

At the same time, Chinas economy has been growing much faster than Taiwans in recent years, thus opening up more opportunities to start up small businesses in China.

Michael Holtz of The Christian Science Monitor reported last month from Chinas southeastern city of Fuzhou on Beijings efforts to win over young Taiwanese.

Fuzhou is located on the western side of the Taiwan Strait and only 155 miles from Taipei, Taiwans capital.

According to Holtz, in February Beijing introduced 31 new policies aimed at making it easier for Taiwanese to invest, study, and work on the mainland.

The U.S. Connection

As Russell Hsiao notes, Beijing attempts to use United Front activities to weaken Taiwans relationship with the United States, its main security partner.

Chinese propaganda presents China as Taiwans natural partner for cultural and ethnic reasons, despite the fact that Taiwan and the U.S. share an interest in supporting democracy and human rights.

On March 17, President Donald Trump angered Beijing by signing legislation known as the Taiwan Travel Act, which encourages U.S. officials to visit Taiwan.

The U.S. has unofficial ties with Taiwan and provides the island with defensive weapons.

Trump also upset Beijing by authorizing U.S. companies to sell to Taiwan technology needed to renovate the islands aging submarine fleet, the oldest such submarine fleet in the world.

Perhaps more importantly, U.S. technology will now support Taiwans development of new submarines.

Dan Southerland is RFA's founding executive editor.
Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen blasted a member of his cabinet on Friday for saying that cyanide run-off from Chinese-operated gold mines had caused the deaths of villagers recently poisoned by local water sources.



That explanation, offered to reporters last week by Minister of Industry and Handicraft Cham Prasidh, departed from the government line blaming the deaths on homemade wine and pesticides used by local farms.



The ministers unauthorized comments had embarrassed his government, Hun Sen told Cham Prasidh.



Why did you need to elaborate on this issue without my knowledge? Hun Sen angrily asked.



Your comments caused some controversy among your fellow ministers in other government departments, and this is because you spoke to the media before clearing your report with me.



I have removed ministers from the government before for doing this, he said.



Speaking to reporters on May 17, Cham Prasidh said that toxic substances including chromium and cyanide used to flush gold mines had seeped into a river, killing more than a dozen people and sickening hundreds in northeastern Cambodias Kratie and Mondulkiri provinces.



Government officials had asserted earlier in May that some of the 18 deaths reported in Kratie provinces Cheth Borey district had been caused by the consumption of homemade wine with others caused by the presence of pesticides and herbicides in a local river.



Shortly after the Kratie deaths were reported, 80 indigenous ethnic Phnorng residents of four villages in Mondulkiri province fell ill after drinking contaminated water from a stream that had long been the source of drinking water in the area.



The contamination had been caused by a Chinese mining company that had been drilling upstream near the water source, one area resident told RFA in an earlier report.



Government ministers should be held responsible for the poisoning deaths, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, founder of the Cambodian environmental advocacy group Mother Nature but now living outside the country, told RFAs Khmer Service on Friday.



What happened was the result of those officials allowing the mining companies to operate freely, Gonzalez-Davidson said, adding, On top of that, corruption has been widespread across the ministries.



Those officials need to be punished so this kind of thing wont happen again, he said.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Nareth Muong. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong have detained two prominent dissidents on public order charges ahead of the politically sensitive anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, RFA has learned.



Democracy activists Li Hongwei and Yu Xinyong were taken away and placed under criminal detention on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" earlier this month, sources said.



"Yu Xinyong was taken away on the afternoon of May 15, because he has done a lot of work in the public interest," a friend of the activists who gave only her surname Sun told RFA.



"He was previously held under house arrest for about 20 days from Mar. 3 ... because he made a freedom of information request to his local neighborhood committee," she said. "The neighborhood committee didn't respond to his request; instead they put his name forward for administrative review."



Sun said Yu and Li's detention is likely linked to the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 military crackdown on the student-led pro-democracy movement centered on Tiananmen Square.



"They were locked up for a couple of days last June 3," she added.



Retired Shandong University professor Sun Wenguang said they had carried out a memorial activity in the Shandong provincial capital, Jinan, to mark the anniversary in 2013.



"The reason the police gave for detaining them in June 2013 was commemorating June 4, 1989," Sun told RFA. "They said they had video evidence and everything."



"I think they are just finding a charge to pin on them," he said.



Repeated calls to the Licheng branch of the Jinan police department rang unanswered during office hours on Thursday.



Memorials, discussions banned



The government styled the 1989 student-led democracy protests, sparked in April 1989 by the death of much-loved liberal premier Hu Yaobang, a "counterrevolutionary rebellion."



Public memorials and discussions of the events of June 1989 are banned, with activists who seek to commemorate the bloodshed often detained, and veteran dissidents placed under police surveillance or detention during each anniversary.



Victims' families are permitted to make private memorial ceremonies at the graves of the victims, usually under escort by the state security police.



Outside China, activities are less controlled, however, with U.S.-based cartoonist Badiucao calling on people to imitate the "Tank Man" hero of the 1989 protests on June 4 by standing on a chair in a public place, carrying grocery bags in a manner reminiscent of the famous news photo.



"This is an invitation for everyone who celebrates and defends universal human rights," the cartoonist said in a statement on his website.



"Tank Man has been a visual totem for protests of China since 1989," the statement said. "But it is also fading away due to brutal censorship and sophisticated propaganda from the Chinese government."



"The only way to keep it alive is to represent it creatively," Badiucao wrote, adding that Tank Women were also needed to represent the "significant role" of Chinese feminists in the struggle for human rights.



Participants are asked to download grocery bag designs including Winnie-the-Pooh and Peppa Pig, a sideways dig at the ruling Chinese Communist Party's censorship of the internet, and the "Rice Rabbit," a pun on the #MeToo anti-sexual abuse and harassment social media campaign.



Badiucao told RFA in a recent interview: "The image of the Tank Man has been around for 29 years now, but it has nearly been forgotten in China because of censorship. This year, we want to step up the performance art a bit, and link the image to contemporary struggles for human rights."



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Ng Yik-tung and Sing Man for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has met with the wife of a Chinese rights lawyer detained incommunicado for several months, during her trip to China.



Merkel met with Xu Yan, wife of rights attorney Yu Wensheng, who was initially placed under criminal detention on Jan. 19, on suspicion of obstructing public servants in the course of their duties," Xu and rights activists said via social media.



"The two sides exchanged views on the #HumanRights situation in China," Amnesty International research William Nee translated one tweet as saying.



After his detention, Yu was transferred from Beijing to Jiangsu's Xuzhou city with the addition of the more serious charge of incitement to subvert state power," and has been held since with no access to a defense lawyer, or family visits.



Yu has been identified by London based rights group Amnesty International as being "at risk of torture" while he remains in incommunicado detention.



Repeated calls to Xu's phone rang unanswered on .



Beijing-based rights activist Ni Yulan, a friend and supporter of Xu's, said she may be keeping a low profile while Merkel, who is leading a large business delegation on this visit, remains in the country.



"Xu Yan posted this photograph online, but then she didn't give any other details, such as the time of the meeting, or under what circumstances," Ni told RFA.



"I think it's a very positive development that Merkel is visiting China right now, because she and other German officials are very concerned about the human rights situation in China," she said. "They always meet with human rights workers and lawyers when they come to China, to try to understand the situation better."



Fellow rights attorney Tan Yongpei was less sure, however.



"There is no likelihood that the Chinese government will accede to Merkel's demands, so it's possible that this is going to be counterproductive, especially in the case of Yu Wensheng," Tan told RFA.



"There is no way that the Chinese government is going to let lawyers speak the truth; you will be safe only if you keep your head down," he said.



Concerns about Liu Xia

When Merkel met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on , she also raised concerns about Liu Xia, widow of late Nobel peace laureate and political prisoner Liu Xiaobo.



Although she has never been accused of any crime, Liu Xia has been held under house arrest or close surveillance since her husband's award was announced in , and suffers from severe depression.



She has repeatedly requested permission to leave China to seek medical treatment, but the authorities appear to be reluctant to allow this to happen.



In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Wei said Liu Xia's case isn't a diplomatic matter.



"She is a Chinese citizen and the relevant authorities of the Chinese government will protect her legal rights according to our own laws and properly handle the relevant matters," Lu told a regular news briefing.



The meeting with Merkel comes after Xu received notification from authorities in Xuzhou that they wouldn't make any changes to her husband's status following repeated bail applications from his family and supporters.



"On , I recevied notification of no changes to coercive measures," Xu told RFA earlier this week. "The defense lawyer was expecting this, but it's still very disappointing from the point of view of his family members."



"This means he will not be allowed to go home," she said.



China's embattled legal profession has been targeted with more than 300 detentions, summons, travel bans, and restrictions imposed on rights lawyers, activists and law firm staff since .



Rights lawyers who accept politically sensitive cases, or who are publicly outspoken on behalf of vulnerable groups, have also been prevented from practicing law because their business licenses are being revoked during a newly instituted annual review process.



Lawyers who try to defend clients held on suspicion of crimes ostensibly linked to state security concerns are also denied permission to meet with their clients, or are replaced by government appointed lawyers amid threats and pressure on the people who hired them.



Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Gao Feng for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A dozen fighters have been killed in overnight air strikes against Syrian military sites that a war monitor blamed on U.S.-led coalition jets, though the Pentagon denied the report.

Syrian officials said the bombardment struck bases manned by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, but they said that Iranian and allied HIzballah fighters were not among the dead.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain, said the dead also did not include Syrian government troops, but described them as pro-government fighters, which could include Iraqi Shi'ite militias.

Syrian state news agency SANA said that several military posts located between the Syrian desert and the Iraqi border were hit by U.S.-led air strikes, resulting in only material damage.

But Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Kone Faulkner said: "These reports are false. The coalition did not strike any Syrian Army positions in eastern Syria."

Later on May 24, air strikes hit the Al-Daba air base southwest of Homs, the monitoring group and activists said.

Activists said fighters from Hizballah were gathered on the base at the time of the attack.

The base is about 10 kilometers from Lebanon's border, and the roar of the jets overhead could be heard in areas around Beirut.

Although it was not known who carried out the air strikes, Israel has launched similar strikes in the past on Syrian military targets which also serve as bases for Hizballah fighters and Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Hizballah and Iran have increased their military presence in Syria in recent years, playing a key role in gains made by the government in its seven-year civil war against Sunni rebels.

Israeli leaders have said they won't accept a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria.

Based on reporting by AFP and dpa


The Bahai International Community (BIC) says Baha'is in Iran are facing a new wave of arrests and raids on their homes across different cities in the country.

The community said in a May 25 statement that the "systematic nature" of the arrests in a number of provinces including Isfahan, Alborz and Razavi Khorasan, suggests "a coordinated strategy on the part of government authorities."

"In many cases, detentions have been accompanied by raids on personal homes and the seizure of religious books and writings," the statement said.

Bahais in Iran face state harassment and discrimination and their faith is not officially recognized.

In past years, many Bahais have been banned from higher education and their businesses have been shut down.

Many have been persecuted for their religious beliefs.

The Baha'i International Community called on Iran to ensure the immediate release of all these detained individuals and to end the four-decade long discrimination of its Baha'i citizens.


The remote Pankisi Gorge in northeastern Georgia, home to a Muslim minority, was once the site of a military crackdown against Chechen fighters. More recently, the region has seen some of its young men leaving to fight in Syria and Iraq. But many residents are trying to shake the association with militancy and say all they want for Pankisi is peace and stability.
Another aide of jailed Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny has been jailed over nationwide protests against President Vladimir Putin.

A Moscow court on May 25 sentenced Nikolai Lyaskin, the head of Navalny's Moscow office, to 15 days in jail by for using Twitter to call on Navalny's supporters to participate in the rallies.

Hundreds of people were apprehended on May 5 in Moscow and more than 1,600 people detained across the country during protests ahead of Putin's inauguration to a new six-year term.

Several of Navalny's associates were detained in the Russian capital earlier this week over their roles in organizing the demonstrations.

Navalny's press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, was sentenced to 25 days in jail, and the host of Navalny's YouTube channel, Ruslan Shaveddinov, was handed a 30-day jail term.

Navalny's lawyer, Ivan Zdhanov, who was detained on May 24, faces 10 days in jail, Navalny associate Leonid Volkov said on Twitter.

On May 15, Navalny himself was ordered jailed for 30 days for what the judges said was violating regulations for organizing public gatherings. The anticorruption campaigner called the accusations against him "ridiculous."

Navalny was barred from taking part in the March 18 presidential election because of the convictions that he and his supporters say were fabricated to keep him out of electoral politics.


NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wants Russia "to admit responsibility and also to fully cooperate" with the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine in 2014. Speaking to RFE/RL's Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels on May 25, Stoltenberg said NATO members will also discuss challenges related to "increased military activities close to our borders" at a meeting next week.
BRUSSELS -- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed hope that Greece and Macedonia can find a solution to a decades-old dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav republic so that an invitation to join the alliance can be issued to Skopje.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL on May 25, Stolenberg said that it doesnt "take that long" to become a full member after the invitation has been extended.

Greece, an EU and NATO member, has for years blocked Macedonia's efforts to join both organizations, arguing that its name implies a claim on the Greek province of Macedonia.

Stoltenberg said that it was "extremely important to support the efforts to solve the name issue and I hope that Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are able to find a solution because then we will extend an invitation to Skopje to become a member of NATO.

"Exactly how long time that will take, I think we will be very careful to speculate about but we saw with Montenegro that it doesn't take that long a time after the invitation is extended until they can be becoming a full member," he said.

Montenegro joined NATO in June 2017 after having received the invitation in December 2015 but the NATO secretary-general warned that the timing "differs from country to country" and added: I think it is wrong now to focus on how many months it will take. 

"The important thing now is to focus on the name issue which has been the big obstacle since 2008 where we first decided that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will be invited as soon as the name [dispute] is resolved. The issue is not yet resolved but there is a real effort made both from Skopje and Athens., Stoltenberg told RFE/RL.

The United Nations mediator in charge of resolving the dispute between Greece and Macedonia told reporters on May 25 that the issues "have been narrowed" and both sides are determined to reach an agreement.

UN Envoy Matthew Nimetz told reporters that talks "have been intensified considerably" following meetings that began on May 24 with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and Macedonia Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov.

He said the ministers are heading to Brussels where they will continue their dialogue.

With reporting by AP
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Researchers from the British-based group Bellingcat have published a report that, for the first time, establishes what they say is the involvement of a high-ranking Russian military intelligence officer in connection with the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

The May 25 report comes a day after the Dutch-led international Joint Investigative Team (JIT) said it had concluded the Buk missile that downed the MH17 was fired by Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Dutch government said on May 25 that the Netherlands and Australia will hold Russia legally responsible for shooting down MH17 and the deaths of all 298 people on board.

"The government is now taking the next step by formally holding Russia accountable," Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said, adding that holding a nation-state responsible for a breach of international law would involve "a complex legal process."

Blok called on Russia to "accept its responsibility and cooperate fully with the process to establish the truth and achieve justice for the victims of flight MH17 and their next of kin."

The European Union, NATO, the United States, and other Western countries joined Blok's call, but Moscow continued to deny having anything to do with the downing of the civilian passenger plane, despite mounting evidence of Russian involvement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to Blok's call by accusing the Netherlands of speculation to "achieve political goals."

The Kremlin also insists it has not intervened to support pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, despite compelling evidence that Moscow has provided military, economic, and political support for the separatists in their war against Ukrainian government forces.

'Orion' Calling

But Bellingcat said on May 25 it had "identified conclusively" that 50-year-old Russian military officer Oleg Ivannikov was in charge of military operations in eastern Ukraine when the MH17 was shot down over separatist-controlled territory on July 17, 2014.

The research group described Ivannikov as being on active duty in eastern Ukraine as an officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the Russian Defense Ministry.

Bellingcat said Ivannikov held the post during an "undercover deployment" into eastern Ukraine that began during the first half of 2014 and that he remained in eastern Ukraine until at least 2015.

The research group also said Ivannikov "coordinated and supervised the military activities of Russian militants, pro-Russia separatists," and contingents of a "private army" from "Wagner group" -- a Russian paramilitary organization reportedly associated with Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and close associate of President Vladimir Putin.

"Ivannikov also supervised the procurement and transport of weapons across the Russia-Ukraine border," Bellingcat said. "He held these functions at the time of the downing of MH17" in July 2014.

According to the Bellingcat report, Ivannikov was known by militants and separatists under his command in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region as Andrei Ivanovich and under the radio call name "Orion."

The JIT has been seeking the identity of the person known as Andrei Ivanovich, with the call sign "Orion," in connection with its international criminal investigation into the MH17 downing.

Bellingcat said that in addition to his undercover deployment in eastern Ukraine, Ivannikov had previously worked as a GRU agent to support separatists in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The Bellingcat report said Ivannikov had used the alias Andrei Ivanovich Laptav from 2006 through 2008, when he was the minister of defense and emergencies in the self-declared government of the breakaway region.

"This is somebody who has a long history of operating proxy wars on behalf of the Russian government,"Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins told RFE/RL on May 25. "What this helps us do is...identify the command structure and how heavily involved the Russian government was. And we can see with this report, our earlier reports, and reports on other subjects around Ukraine that the Russian government was extremely heavily involved. And now we have the names of individuals who commanded things."

Russian Denial, Western Condemnation

Russia and pro-Russia separatists deny shooting down MH17 and have offered several other theories to explain the tragedy, all of which have been rejected by the JIT.

The JIT comprises investigators from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had not been a fully-fledged participant in JIT's investigation and could not therefore trust its findings.

WATCH -- The Downing Of MH17: What Happened?

Peskov also said he could not comment about the Bellingcat report, saying he was "not familiar with its materials" and did not know "on what basis those conclusions were made."

But the European Union foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on May 25 both called on Russia to "accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability."

"The downing of MH17 was a global tragedy, and those responsible must be held accountable," Stoltenberg said.

Separately, the NATO chief told RFE/RL that members of the military alliance will address a wide range of issues during a session of the NATO-Russia Council planned for May 31, including "the challenges we see with increased military activity along our borders."

"What happened over Ukraine with the downing of MH17 reflects the dangers we see when there are a conflict and increased military activities close to our borders," he said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said it was time for Russia to "acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign."

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also said Russia "must now answer for its action in relation to the downing of MH17."

"The Kremlin believes it can act with impunity," Johnson said in a statement. "This is an egregious example of the Kremlin's disregard for innocent life," Johnson said, noting that 10 British citizens were killed in the shoot down.

Kurt Volker, the special U.S. envoy for Ukraine, said on May 24 that the JIT's latest report was "very significant" because it underlines "the lack of ambiguity that there is indeed a direct responsibility in Russia."

"We need Russia to turn the corner here and decided to make peace," Volker said.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, RFE/RL correspondent Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels, AP, Reuters, and the BBC
North Korea says it is still willing to talk after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a June 12 summit with leader Kim Jong Un over what he called Pyongyang's "tremendous anger and open hostility."

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan early on May 25 responded to Trump's announcement by saying Pyongyang remained open to resolving issues with Washington "at any time, in any way."

Gwan said Trump's decision was "unexpected" and "very regrettable," and said the cancellation of the talks shows "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties."

"Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the U.S.," he said in a statement carried by North Korea's news agency.

Trump had called off the summit in a letter to Kim on May 24, citing North Korea's threat the day before to cancel the summit in a statement condemning Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy."

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," Trump wrote in his letter to Kim.

But Trump appeared to leave the door open to a new meeting, saying, "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth, Trump said in the letter.

In a later statement at the White House, Trump said he had spoken to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and warned North Korea against any "foolish or reckless act," saying, "Our military is the most powerful in the world."

Asked if the summit cancellation increased the risk of war, Trump replied, "We'll see what happens."

"Hopefully positive things will be taking place with respect to the future of North Korea," he said. "But if they don't, we are more ready than we have ever been before."

"In the meantime, our very strong sanctions, by far the strongest sanctions ever imposed, and maximum pressure campaign will continue," Trump added.

White House officials said Trump viewed as "the last straw" a statement made by North Korean official Choe Son Hui early on May 24 that had dismissed Pence's remark that North Korea "may end like Libya" as "stupid."

Choe repeated North Korea's contention that it is already a "nuclear weapons state," whereas Libya gave up its nuclear program before it had actually developed or tested nuclear weapons.

Choe said her country would not "beg" for dialogue with the United States and warned of a "nuclear showdown" if diplomacy failed.

Trump's announcement came hours after North Korea made good on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in a move witnessed by foreign journalists but not by nuclear experts, as the United States had requested.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korea did not respond to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the now-canceled summit.

Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the lack of response was an additional reason for Trump's decision to cancel the meeting.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by Trump's cancellation of the planned summit.

Guterres told an audience at the University of Geneva that he was urging the parties to keep working "to find a path to the peaceful and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed "deep regret" over Trump's decision, and urged the revival of direct talks, Seoul's presidential office said.

At an emergency national security meeting, Moon said "the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and permanent peace is a historic task that cannot be given up or delayed."

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed regret that Trump called off the summit, noting that Kim had done "everything that he had promised in advance, even blowing up the tunnels and shafts" of his nuclear testing site.

Putin said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron that he had hoped the summit would make a "start toward denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula.

Both Putin and Macron said they hoped the break in dialogue would prove temporary and both sides would agree to reschedule the summit.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States is "talking to" North Korea after he canceled a June 12 summit with leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump told reporters on May 25 that "everybody plays games."

Asked about the summit, Trump said: "We'll see what happens, it could even be the 12th.

Trump, who spoke to reporters at the White House, stressed that both sides would like the summit to happen. He said: "They very much want to do it, we'd like to do it."

Trump had called off the summit in a letter to Kim Jong Un on May 24, citing North Korea's threat the day before to cancel the summit in a statement condemning Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy."

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," Trump wrote in his letter to Kim.

But he left the door open to a new meeting, saying in a letter to Kim Jong Un, "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

Speaking also on May 25, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said the scrapped summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea may still take place if diplomats can pull it off.

"We have got some possibly some good news on the Korea summit, where it may, if our diplomats can pull it off, may have it back on," Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.

Earlier on May 25, North Korea said it was still willing to talk to the United States.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan responded to Trump's announcement by saying Pyongyang remains open to resolving issues with Washington "at any time, in any way."

Gwan said Trump's decision was "unexpected" and "very regrettable," and said the cancellation of the talks shows "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-U.S. relations is and how urgently a summit should be realized to improve ties."

"Our commitment to doing our best for the sake of peace and stability for the world and the Korean Peninsula remains unchanged, and we are open-minded in giving time and opportunity to the U.S.," he said in a statement carried by North Korea's news agency.

White House officials said Trump viewed as "the last straw" a statement made by North Korean official Choe Son-hui early on May 24 that had dismissed Pence's remark that North Korea "may end like Libya" as "stupid."

Choe repeated North Korea's contention that it is already a "nuclear weapons state," whereas Libya gave up its nuclear program before it had actually developed or tested nuclear weapons.

Choe said her country would not "beg" for dialogue with the United States and warned of a "nuclear showdown" if diplomacy failed.

Trump's announcement came hours after North Korea made good on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its Punggye-ri underground nuclear test site in a move witnessed by foreign journalists but not by nuclear experts, as the United States had requested.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on May 24 that North Korea did not respond to repeated requests from U.S. officials to discuss logistics for the now-canceled summit.

Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the lack of response was an additional reason for Trump's decision to cancel the meeting.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says "regime change" is not the goal of President Donald Trumps policy toward Iran, falling in line with recent comments by other members of the U.S. administration.

"Its not about changing the regime," Pompeo told VOA in an interview broadcast on May 25.

"Its about changing the behavior of the leadership in Iran to comport with what the Iranian people really want them to do," he added.

Pompeo's comments come just over two weeks after Trump pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with six world powers and which provided Tehran with sanctions relief in return for significant curbs on its nuclear program.

Trump has long complained about the terms of the deal, although the five other signatories -- Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China -- had urged Washington to remain within the agreement.

The controversy over "regime change" surfaced after John Bolton, considered, like Trump, to be a hard-liner on Iran, was named the president's national security adviser in March to replace H.R. McMaster.

Before taking the position, Bolton told Fox News in January that the United States should increase economic pressure on Tehran and provide support to government opponents and that "our goal should be regime change in Iran."

However, after taking office, he said regime change was not part of the administrations policy, playing down his previous remarks.

"Ive written and said a lot of things over the years when I was a complete free agent," Bolton told CNN.

Pompeo told VOA that, while he supports many Iranian opposition groups in the United States and Europe, he does not back calls for regime change in Tehran.

"We dont want them advocating for regime change, either," he said.

"We want them working on behalf of the Iranian people, ordinary Iranian citizens who want nothing more than to live their lives, to be able to take their hijab off, to be able to go to work and raise their families and worship in the way they want to worship."

Pompeo said he made Iran the subject of his first foreign-policy speech because of the importance Trump places on the efforts to prevent Tehran from getting nuclear weapons and to halt its interference in the affairs of its Middle Eastern neighbors.


Kyrgyzstan appears to be waging a major battle on its own soil against alleged members of "international terrorist organizations."

In less than 12 months, there have been at least 28 security operations that resulted in apprehending suspects who Kyrgyz authorities say were connected to terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

The picture is not at all clear, but the frequency of detentions is striking.

Before diving into the topic, some background.

Kyrgyzstan is widely recognized as being more open than other Central Asian republics. Media are generally able to cover a greater variety of stories, including the apprehension of suspected militants; but that also suggests Kyrgyzstan might be the easiest country in the region for militants or people connected to international terrorist groups to enter.

While there are undoubtedly militants returning elsewhere in the region, it is possible their numbers are more limited outside of Kyrgyzstan, given the more rigorous screening in countries like, say, Uzbekistan or Tajikistan.

All the same, Kyrgyzstan might provide a window on the question: Are Central Asia's militants returning in higher numbers from the Middle East?

We'll look here at reported apprehensions of militants on Kyrgyz territory from October 2016 until March 2018. I keep fairly close records of events throughout Central Asia, but it is entirely possible that I missed some reports -- so more people might have been taken into custody on charges stemming from alleged links to terrorists than are listed here.

I am only including those said to have been connected to terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. This report does not refer to alleged members of groups that could be considered more "local," such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jamaat Tablighi, or Yakyn Inkar, although alleged members of those organizations were also detained during the October 2016-March 2018 period.

Kyrgyz authorities have estimated that some 600 of their fellow citizens left to join extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, including women and children. Some were killed there. But like other Central Asian governments, particularly Uzbekistan and Tajikistan's governments, Kyrgyzstan is concerned about the survivors and where they go once they decide to leave the fighting in the Middle East.

On August 30, 2016, a suicide bomber attempted to ram through the gates of the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek. The bomber was the only one killed, but several people were injured. In early October 2016, a video was posted on the Internet purportedly showing citizens of Kyrgyzstan who had joined the militant group Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Security was heightened in Kyrgyzstan after those events, but security operations do not appear to have netted many suspected terrorists on Kyrgyz territory.

A New Year's Eve attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul that killed 39 people and wounded at least 70 others was initially blamed on a citizen of Kyrgyzstan, but that turned out to be untrue (the suspect, now in custody, is an Uzbek national). By the second half of January 2017, Kyrgyzstan's attention had turned toward the crash of a Turkish cargo plane outside Bishkek's Manas airport that had killed 35 Kyrgyz and claims by the leader of the Ata-Meken opposition party, Omurbek Tekebaev, that some of the cargo aboard that plane belonged to Kyrgyzstan's then president, Almazbek Atambaev.

But terrorism was not altogether forgotten. On February 9, the head of Kyrgyzstan's State Service for the Implementation of Sentences, Taalaybek Japarov, said, "State prisons hold more than 300 people convicted of extremism and terrorism." Japarov said the number of people "convicted of such crimes is growing faster than other crimes," but he did not provide any supporting details for that statement.

On April 3, 2017, Akbarjon Jalilov, a Kyrgyz citizen, boarded a subway train in St. Petersburg and detonated a bomb he was carrying, killing himself and 14 other people, and injuring more than 40 others.

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev was in Moscow at the time. On April 4, he told reporters in the Russian capital, "Kyrgyzstan will do everything it can to fight against the evil of terrorism."

In retrospect, Abdyldaev's statement looks like more than a throwaway line; it appears to have heralded the start of a sweeping counterterrorism campaign back in Kyrgyzstan.

By the end of April, the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) had detained three Kyrgyz citizens who were suspected of having fought in Syria and had returned: one in Osh in early April, another in Osh on April 20, and the third in Jalal-Abat a few days after that, according to TASS and Interfax reports.

Scant Details

There was little information about those taken into custody, and in later reports this would be the pattern of many of the detentions of the next 12 months. The first person detained in Osh was 25 years old and the GKNB accused him of being a member of Jabhat an-Nusra. According to the GKNB, the second "militant" detained in Osh was "born in 1994...recruited in 2013 and sent to Syria," and "it was established the person detained personally took part in mass executions of prisoners by the militants." In February 2016, he was purportedly given a mission "to commit terrorist attacks in the CIS during Victory Day (May 9) celebrations." On April 24, the GKNB said it caught a "member of an international terrorist organization" from Jalal-Abat Province who had joined militants in Syria in 2016. He allegedly returned to Kyrgyzstan to recruit people to go to Syria.

The term "international terrorist organization" is frequently seen in the reports of detentions based on extremism charges.

The GKNB said on June 28 that it caught four citizens of Kyrgyzstan who were from "an international terrorist organization" that was planning a series of attacks in Kyrgyzstan. On July 19, the GKNB said it detained "M.B., born in 1980," in the Kara-Suu district of Osh Province, who it alleged was a member of an international terrorist organization and had "participated in the armed conflict in the Syria-Iraq area."

On August 14, an alleged recruiter for an "international terrorist organization" was caught; on August 19 there was another such suspect, "H.H.," born in 1994 Osh Province; and on September 25, it was "M.M.," born in 1995; on October 23, it was a Jalal-Abat Province man born in 1986 (Interfax); on December 11, "N.Kh." born 1989; on December 28, a militant "who had returned from Syria and was plotting to stage a series of terrorist attacks in Kyrgyzstan (Interfax); on February 16, the "active member of an underground terrorist group," born 1992 who trained in Syria; and a "terrorist" was reported detained on March 12.

All these were alleged members of "international terrorist organizations" who had trained and taken part in fighting in the "Syria-Iraq area." Which groups they purportedly joined or worked with was unclear.

There were also citizens of Kyrgyzstan who were identified as having been members of specific extremist groups active in the Middle East. "Ya.U.," reported detained on June 14, 2017, was said to be a member of Jamaat Tawhid wa Jihad; reports from July 21 said a 22-year-old Osh resident was a member of IS; and two suspected IS members were killed in a shoot-out in Chui Province on August 29; an IS militant detained during a counterterrorism operation on September 2 (Interfax); a "militant" from Osh Province who joined Jabhat an-Nusra and was reported detained on October 12; "U.A.," from Jalal-Abat, who October 13 reports said had joined Ahrar al-Sham (Interfax and TASS); and a 21-year-old resident of Jalal-Abat who a December 14 report said was a member of Jabhat an-Nusra.

Those were all citizens of Kyrgyzstan, but they are not the only people taken into custody in Kyrgyzstan between April 2017 and March 2018.

CIS Recruiters?

Citizens of unnamed countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have also come to Kyrgyzstan to recruit people to go to the "Syria-Iraq area," according to Kyrgyzstan's GKNB.

An August 11 report alleged that a "citizen of a CIS country" who was recruiting for an "international terrorist organization" had been caught; on October 14 there was an Interfax report that a "citizen from one of the CIS countries" was detained for recruiting people to go to Syria; a November 1 TASS report referred to two "citizens of a CIS country" being taken into custody for recruiting people to go to the Syria-Iraq area; a December 15 report said a 25-year-old citizen of a CIS country who came to Kyrgyzstan to "conduct recruiting activities" was caught, according to Interfax and TASS; on December 27, the GKNB said it apprehended a citizen from a CIS country who had arrived from Syria and was trying to go on to Russia to carry out terrorist attacks (Interfax); on January 29, the GKNB said it caught three citizens of a CIS country who all participated in hostilities in Iraq and Syria and were trying to create terrorist cells in Kyrgyzstan; and a February 2 report said the GKNB detained a citizen of a CIS country who had "formed and led" a terrorist group in Kyrgyzstan" on orders from a leader of an international terrorist organization.

Who Are These People?

A number of the reports say that names are being withheld "in the interests of the investigation(s)." In more than half the reports, initials are given, often with age and place of birth or residence. Reports suggest they have been placed in "pretrial detention."

But that is where their stories tend to end.

I found one TASS report from August 10 on the Batken provincial court sentencing three people convicted of being IS members to lengthy prison terms. The report only says the three were caught "several months ago" during a counterterrorism operation. So these three might not be any of those people listed above.

Some of the reports of these detentions mention the suspects (they are never called suspects, they are always referred to as "militants" or "terrorists") had material for making explosives, or possibly some small arms; often extremist literature was also found during these counterterrorism operations. Some, as noted, were in Kyrgyzstan to recruit new cadres. But most had "plans" to carry out terrorist attacks, though the details of these attacks are never made clear.

From October 2016 to the end of March 2017, I can find no report of anyone being detained in Kyrgyzstan for being a member of "international terrorist organizations." Again, it is possible there were such reports; but there could not have been many, as it would they would have shown up somewhere in the thousands of pages of reports I collected during that time.

Yet after the St. Petersburg subway bombing, some 40 people were detained and two killed in less than 12 months.

Were these detained people in Kyrgyzstan unnoticed until authorities started their extended counterterrorism operations? Is Bishkek simply trying to show the Kremlin, and perhaps others, that it is serious about eliminating potential terrorist threats in the aftermath of the St. Petersburg subway bombing? Is there something else happening here?

These are some of the many questions Kyrgyzstan's recent campaign elicits.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL. Many thanks to Noah Tucker, a senior editor for RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, for our conversations about this topic.


Russian investigators have opened a criminal case against top officials at the Ministry of Emergency Situations branch in the Kemerovo region in connection with a shopping-mall fire that killed dozens of people in March.

Russia's Investigative Committee said on May 25 that the head of the ministry's regional branch, Aleksandr Mamontov; the head of its department of oversight, Grigory Terentyev; and other officials were suspected of negligence and embezzlement.

Mamontov has been detained and investigators plan to indict both him and Terentyev soon, the committee said in a statement.

According to the investigation, Mamontov and Terentyev did not conduct any review of the Zimnyaya Vishnya (Winter Cherry) mall's compliance with fire-safety requirements in 2017-18, although an inspection should have been carried out by March 18, 2018, it added.

It has been established that Mamontov and other unidentified persons were involved in embezzling around 2 million rubles ($16,200) from the budget of the Emergency Situations Ministry's regional branch," the committee also said.

Russian officials say 60 people were killed on March 25 in the fire in the regional capital, also named Kemerovo, including many children. It was one of the deadliest blazes in the history of post-Soviet Russia.

Residents, relatives of the victims, and Russians nationwide blamed corruption and government negligence for the high casualty toll in the blaze.

Days after the fire, investigators said that blocked fire exits, an alarm system that was shut down, and "glaring violations" of safety rules before the blaze exacerbated its human toll.

Eight people have already been arrested in the case, including the head of the local building-inspection agency and an executive with the firm that owns the shopping mall.

Longtime Kemerovo Governor Aman Tuleyev stepped down on April 1, following demands by residents for his resignation, but became speaker of the regional parliament.
French President Emmanuel Macron has told Russian leader Vladimir Putin that Europe remains committed to its security and defense alliance with the United States despite recent disagreements over trade, the Iran nuclear deal, and other issues.

Speaking at a business forum in St. Petersburg on May 25, Macron described his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump as strong and said he had a duty to work with the American leader even if there are "issues on which we have differences."

Macron said he would try to persuade Trump to return to talks about Iran's nuclear programme, and also criticized Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a move opposed by Palestinians, most European governments, and many U.S. allies in the Middle East.

Macron also told Putin that European Union sanctions on Russia would not be lifted unless there was progress on Ukraine.



"The ball is in the camp of Russia and Ukraine. It's as simple as that, Macron said.

We won't lift the sanctions if nothing's done. That's what we discussed with Vladimir Putin," Macron told reporters after his meeting with the Russian president.



Macron added that EU leaders will meet in July to consider extending the sanctions slapped on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.

Russia annexed Ukraines Crimea Peninsula and has backed separatists in a bloody war in eastern Ukraine since 2014.

Honored Guest

Despite the differences, Putin welcomed Macron has an honored guest at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, seen as an opportunity for him to woo the French leader with closer business ties.

Economic relations between the two countries "are developing despite all the current complications," Putin said before a three-and-a-half-hour meeting with Macron on May 24.

France has the biggest foreign delegation at the forum, with 170 representatives from 60 French companies, the French Embassy in Moscow said. In all, forum organizers said the event has drawn officials from 1,400 foreign companies and 70 countries.

Putin said Russian trade with France grew by 25 percent last year and has continued at that pace this year.

While Putin's meeting with Macron focused on broad issues such as the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine and efforts to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, it culminated with the signing of a major deal granting French energy giant Total an increased role in Russia's Arctic gas projects.

The Russian deal comes days after Total announced that it will exit its major gas project in Iran unless it can obtain an exemption from U.S. sanctions that Washington announced would be reimposed on Tehran this year.

'Problems Are Arising'

Putin criticized the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying American leaders should not change international agreements after each presidential election.

"We are ready for dialogue with Trump," Putin said during the forum. "[But] for now, it's not working out. Many problems are arising."

Putin also said on the sidelines of the forum that he would "comply" with the constitution and not serve more than two consecutive presidential terms.

"I am going to comply with the rule in the future," Putin told reporters.

Putin, 65, has been president or prime minister since 1999. Facing the limit of two straight terms in 2008, he steered ally Dmitry Medvedev into the presidency and served for four years as prime minister before returning to the Kremlin in 2012.

There has been speculation about Putin's future moves, with many analysts predicting he will seek a way to keep a hold on power after his current term. The most straightforward path would be to change the constitution.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and TASS
Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska has resigned from his position as director of his aluminum firm Rusal, in the latest move that he hopes will persuade the U.S. administration to ease sanctions targeting him and his companies.

Rusal said in a May 25 statement that the resignation in line with "the efforts that have been made by the management of the group to protect the interests of the company and its shareholders" since the U.S. sanctions were imposed last month.

Deripaska still holds a controlling stake in the En+ Group, the company that owns almost half of Rusal and is itself subject to sanctions.

The announcement comes a day after the companys chief executive, Aleksandra Buriko, and half of its managerial board stepped down.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced new punitive measures against Russia in early April in response to Russia's "malign" activities around the world.

The fresh sanctions primarily targeted Russian oligarchs close to President Vladimir Putin, including Deripaska, prompting Rusal shares to tumble while the price of aluminum soared.

To avoid further turmoil on the market, the U.S. government then indicated that Rusal, which produces 7 percent of the world's aluminum, could avoid being caught up in the sanctions by parting with Deripaska.

Deripaska has also stepped down as a director of En+ Group.

Reports say Deripaska is now considering having his En+ Group firm buy some of his shares so his stake is below the controlling level, in a further effort to persuade Washington to ease the sanctions on his businesses. Deripaska holds a 66 percent stake in En+ Group.

Such a move would resemble that of another sanctioned Russian tycoon, Viktor Vekselberg, the owner and president of the Renova Group conglomerate. One of Vekselberg's businesses, the Swiss-based Sulzer engineering firm, bought some of his shares, prompting the U.S. Treasury to say that Sulzer was not at risk from sanctions.
More than 600 positions offered at Cancun job fair

Cancun, Q. R.  A recent job fair in Cancun offered the unemployed more than 600 job options throughout the city.

A Day for Employment was held in Cancun where companies were on site offering jobs that ranged from cleaning and maintenance assistants to cooks, butchers, floor salesmen and sales executives.

The job positions also included lifeguards, security custodians, security chiefs, contract specialists, environmental department chief and a hydraulic coordinator.

According to the State Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, 15 companies participated in the Cancun job fair who were looking to fill jobs in the tourist, commercial, security and sales areas.

A total of 641 job vacancies were open for applicants. The salaries being offered ranged greatly, from 3,800 peso per month to 23,000 peso per month.

The fair was part of Job Exchange of the State Employment and Training for Work Service program that included positions in Playa del Carmen and Chetumal. Fair organizers say about 300 people showed up.
The legalization of marijuana in Mexico on political agenda

Mexico City, Mexico  Mexicos Secretary of Tourism says it is necessary to legalize the use of marijuana to combat security, adding that it is a major topic in the upcoming July 1 elections.

The Secretary of Tourism of Mexico, Enrique de la Madrid, has returned to the topic, insisting that the country legalize marijuana, noting that each state should make its own decision.

It is the second time in which the minister delves into the issue in the middle of the electoral campaign. In January, he proposed to regularize consumption to stop the rampant violence in Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo, a pronouncement that generated huge controversy between the Mexican political class and society.

I think that in Mexico we should move toward a regulation at the state level, he said in an interview with Reuters in which he adds that he does not think it logical to use funds to persecute consumers of this substance when they should be used to combat kidnapping, rape or murder.

Maintaining marijuana in illegality is giving money to drug traffickers, he says. And with that money what these gentlemen do is that they bribe more police, buy more weapons and are more violent, the senior official says.

De la Madrid says, If you want to kill criminal groups you have to weaken them, by eliminating their sources of financial income.

One of the ways is to legalize drug use. Some say it is not true. Yes it is true, it is logical, he insisted.

Enrique de la Madrid said that to combat insecurity in tourist sites, it is necessary to regulate the use of drugs such as marijuana and strengthen police forces.

The legalization of marijuana has become one of the star themes of the upcoming presidential elections. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has always maintained that Mexico and the United States should not pursue divergent policies in this matter.

Many security experts question whether the increase in violence is related specifically to marijuana trafficking, where tourist hot spots such as Los Cabos and Cancun both saw deaths increase last year.
Two more Cancun officers arrested in kidnapping case

Cancun, Q.R.  Two more Cancun police officers have been arrested in a case involving the disappearance of four Colombians last year.

On Wednesday, officers from the Criminal Investigation Agency arrested two more members of the Municipal Department of Public Safety and Traffic related to the kidnapping of four Colombians in December of 2017.

These two latest arrests make a total of five Cancun officers from the same division in what has been an ongoing investigation.

In April, authorities from the Criminal Investigation Agency arrested five alleged kidnappers, three of whom were current Cancun police officers.

The five arrested were found linked to the same kidnapping crime. According to a statement from the Attorney Generals Office, the three Cancun police officers were arrested as they arrived for work. The other two people taken into custody were two Colombian nationals from Mexico City.

The arrests are in relation to the kidnapping of four Colombians in December of last year. The body of only one of the four has ever been found. One of the kidnapped Colombians was found decapitated. The other three remain missing.

The Colombian government has heavily criticized Mexico for not detaining those responsible.
The calendar girls from left to right: co-organiser Kirsty Watts, Lucy Ulley, Claire Hastie, Joanne Hurst, Jo Saddington, Dawn Cousins, Zara Campbell, Joanne Keeling, Jackie Outram, Donna Mitchell, Lisa Wrigley, Ninna Dowell and Jeanie Clarke. Not pictured is co-organiser Suzie Gould.

MORE than a dozen daring darlings bared all to pose for a sold-out, stripped-off charity calendar.

The 13 women met in Wickersley last Sunday to shoot the saucy scenes, which will appear in a Cancer Research UK fundraiser.

They had managed to sell all 100 copies of the Simply the Breast calendar before it was even printed, raising 1,000 for the medical charity.

Mum-of-two Kirsty Watts (44) assembled the group  aged from 29 to 61  with a Facebook post.

After completing several charity runs, the plucky mum was looking for a fresh challenge.

After the shoot, she said: It was absolutely fantastic. The atmosphere when we met up was brilliant.

Everyone said they were scared in the run up, but on the day everyones inhibitions went and we just got on with it.

We couldnt have wished for a better day.

Online and offline sponsorship has raised a further 3,000, pushing the total above 4,000.

Kirsty said: The feedback has been amazing, so weve ordered another 50 calendars.

Were over the moon to have sold them all  we just cant believe it.

Visit bit.ly/2k5Reko to sponsor the plucky fundraisers.
Eloise Unerman

A TALENTED college student has been chosen as the poet in residence at the countrys largest poetry festival.

Eloise Unerman (18), a student at Thomas Rotherham College, will attend the Ledbury Poetry Festival next month which attracts thousands of poets each year from around the world.

Eloise, of Goldthorpe, won the honour of being poet in residence after gaining first prize in last years Ledbury Poetry Competition in the Young People 12-17 category with her poem 04:52 to Bristol. Read her poem below.

Her poem explores femininity and what it is like to be a girl in society today by telling the story of a woman running away from her abusive partner.

Eloise said: It is so exciting to be selected to be poet in eesidence at the festival and means a lot to me to see how far Ive come.

Eloise will attend the first weekend of the festival, from June 29 to July 2, accompanied by her mum, and will be present for the launch showcase, dinner and various workshops. She will also have the opportunity to meet other poets.

Eloises talent for poetry developed through her love of writing at a young age.

As a teenager, she was introduced to HIVE South Yorkshire, a group for young writers which allows members to attend workshops, open mic sessions and explore their interest in writing and poetry.

Eloise, who is studying her A Levels in law, biology and sociology, said she would either like to work in a library or gain an apprenticeship as a teaching assistant after completing her studies.

Competition judge Fiona Sampson said: Its always a pleasure and a privilege to judge youth poetry competitions.

The teenagers are astonishingly frank about their emotional worlds.

Its astonishing how poetically mature the outstanding entries are, and fascinating to see what poetry these young writers might now be exposed to, to help them develop further.

The Ledbury Poetry Festival was founded in 1996 and is considered the largest and best poetry festival in the UK.

04:52 to Bristol

Femininity is wide-eyed, she is covered

in mascara and desperately searching

for a train ticket. Shes in McDonalds at midnight,

giving her last five pounds, to smear rebellion

red lipstick on a big mac. Femininity has taken

her high heels off. She is wandering

the empty dance floor, torn-away sequins,

engagement ring confetti sticking to her feet.

She is travelling across the country, running

from a brown-carpeted flat, and a man

with veins pulsing in the contours of his face.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal

The India-Bangladesh border in Assam will be sealed by December employing technical solutions on the river part of the frontier and smart fencing on the land area, Chief Minister Sonowal has said. The CM, who completed two years in office yesterday, said the move was a part of the state's initiative to curb cross-border infiltration and smuggling.

India-Bangladesh border to be sealed

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In keeping with the promises, the government would be taking effective measures to make the state "economically vibrant" and free from "scourge of illegal migration and insurgency", he told reporters at a press meet here. "While non-physical barriers will be used to seal the riverine areas along the border, the portion on land will be secured with smart fencing," the CM said. Talking about the widespread protests in Assam over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, he said, the state government would never go against the interests of its people.

The Supreme Court of India

The Bill seeks to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan after six years of their residence in India. "Assam has taken initiatives to update the National Register of Citizens (NRC) under the directions of the Supreme Court. Ours is the first and only state in the country undertaking this exercise to document bonafide citizens of the state," Sonowal added.
Modi, Hasina hold talks at Santiniketan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina held talks here today on a host of issues, including security and politics of the region. The half-an-hour-long meeting at the newly-inaugurated Bangladesh Bhawan was held after its inauguration, a senior official of the Bangladesh High Commission said."Although I was not present at the meeting we can say that bilateral issues were discussed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

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Issues related to the security and politics of the region were also discussed," Bangladesh Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam told reporters. Bangladesh and India are on the "same page" with regard to the return of the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, he said referring to Hasina's comments on the refugees, who are now lodged in Bangladesh.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed Shahriar Alam

"Bangladesh is grateful to India because both countries are on the same page - especially the assurances made by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj after she visited Myanmar. Swaraj had expressed India's views regarding a safe and dignified return of the Rohingya refugees," Alam said. Hasina had in her speech said that Bangladesh was ready to "even share its food" with the large number of Rohingyas who have taken shelter at Cox's Bazar but Myanmar should take them back.

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

When asked whether Bangladesh is looking for a joint mechanism to tackle the Rohingya issue and put pressure on Myanmar, Alam said there is no such mechanism. On whether the issue of Teesta water sharing will be discussed in the meeting, Alam said "Our prime minister had said that issues can be solved through discussions. And we have full faith on Prime Minister Narendra Modi ... Track two dialogue is already on regarding this issue.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Kim Jong-un is not a weak leader and he has shown a tremendous capacity to lead North Korea, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the only top US official to have met the reclusive leader twice in recent weeks. Pompeo's statement came after US President Donald Trump canceled his proposed summit meeting with Kim on June 12 in Singapore. Trump described the cancellation of the summit as "a tremendous setback" for North Korea and warned that the US military is ready to act should Pyongyang take any "foolish and reckless" action.

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un

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Pompeo first traveled to North Korea in his capacity as the CIA Director last month and again this month as the Secretary of State. Both the meetings, he said, laid the groundwork for a meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump. "I spoke in English. There was a translator. But our team confirmed that the translator said what I said. "I had two meetings, maybe three hours plus, total, enough that I understood him to have understood what I was saying," the top US diplomat told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.

"When I heard back from him (Kim), there was little doubt in my mind that he understood the scope of what we were asking for, the nature of what would have to take place, the verification that we would need to undertake in order to be comfortable that we could begin to deliver the assurances that he, in return, asked for," Pompeo said when Senators asked him if he was able to convey the message to Kim properly.

US President Donald Trump

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"I think we were having a real conversation where there was a real understanding between the two of us. It's what caused me to recommend to the president that I thought the time would, in fact, permit us to have a real opportunity to do something historic," Pompeo said. He said that he was still optimistic that the US will reach the point. "I know the president is (optimistic) as well," he said. Responding to a question, he said he does not believe that Kim is a weak leader.

"Is it your opinion that this decision by Kim Jong-un is a result of a weak leader who lacks the internal support to go forward with a meeting on denuclearization? Or was this just poor negotiating strategies by Kim Jong-un?" Senator Robert Menendez asked. "I don't think it's the former. I don't think it's a weak leader. In fact, he has demonstrated an enormous capacity to lead his country and his team," Pompeo said soon after President Trump canceled his meeting with Kim.

Trump attributed this to the changing behavior of Kim and North Korea. "I don't really know that I want to speculate as to why it is they (North Koreans) took the actions, because I don't think we know. What I am hopeful is that we can continue to have conversations and put this back on track, so that we can get to a place where we can achieve the outcome. "We talk a lot about summits and deals and the like. It's not about the deal. It's about the outcome.

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Trump and Kim had previously traded insults and threats

It's about achieving this permanent, physical change and transformation that will have the opportunity to change the world," Pompeo said. A corollary to that is a fundamental change in North Korea that would lead North Korea to have this opportunity for prosperity and all the things that their neighbors to the south have, he said. "There will have to be a deal to get us to that point.

But we shouldn't spend all our time thinking about the deal, without focusing on here's what this needs to look like in order to what president has said, to keep Americans safe from the threat that North Korea presents today," Pompeo added. In April, Trump had stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Kim in an unprecedented sit-down. Trump and Kim had previously traded insults and threats.

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The summit would have been the first-ever meeting between a sitting US president and North Korean leader. Trump's announcement coincided with North Korea's move to demolish its underground nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the sparsely populated northeast.
Sarah Louise Faulkner can always find the right music for the right situation  classical for studying, songs with an upbeat tempo for the gym, anything while riding in the car with the windows down. I think that music just transcends the normalcy of life, she says. And a normal part of life is death. Right before arriving at the University of South Carolina, Faulkner lost two close friends. Music helped her cope with her grief. I have always looked to music as that healing agent in my life. I could release my emotions and share it with other people, she says. I recognized that music is a powerful thing. Faulkner decided it would be powerful to merge her passion for music with the compassion that led her to major in nursing. It was a combination of disciplines that sounded perfect to her adviser, music professor Phillip Bush. If youre studying music, you are constantly being challenged to tap into emotional resources within yourself, to draw upon the full range of emotion and feeling, Bush says. Being sensitive to those things within yourself can only help you become attuned and sensitive to what others are going through. Play video Sarah Louise Faulkner: 1:34 The empathy of being a nurse gave Faulkner an idea for her South Carolina Honors College thesis. She interviewed 15 young adults  all of whom had lost a close family member or friend  and asked how music helped with their grief. Her findings showed music allowed people to think of a positive memory of their lost loved one. All of the study subjects found it extremely therapeutic that  at any point  they could listen to a song and it would bring back memories of a happier time. We often hear that music can provide solace in times of grief, but its an interesting question as to why it does so. A lot of the music that we work on as classical musicians is 50, 100, 300 years old or more. Hearing it or working with that music reminds us that, yes, life is fleeting and ephemeral, but the creative spirit can communicate across the centuries, connecting those who have left with those who are here now. In times of grief, that can be a kind of comfort, Bush says. In the end, Faulkner found she had enough material for a song. I also wanted to know, as a musician, if I were to write music to help other people  what would that music need to look like? she says.
ARDS is a rapidly progressive disease that occurs in critically ill patients. The disease's most serious complication is that fluid leaks into the lungs making breathing difficult or impossible. ARDS develops in patients with predisposing conditions such as sepsis, pneumonia, traumatic injury, and aspiration. The elderly population is at particularly high risk of developing ARDS and the ARDS mortality rate for elderly patients has been reported to be around 69 percent to 80 percent.

"While there is growing evidence of the impact on lung health of numerous air pollutants, there have been few studies that have looked at acute respiratory diseases and air pollution across large populations," said lead author Jongeun Rhee, ScD, of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.

Dr. Rhee and colleagues examined data from nearly 30 million Medicare beneficiaries per year discharged from American hospitals from 2000 through 2012. They tracked by zip code admissions due to an ARDS diagnosis. The researchers then computed annual average air concentrations of PM2.5, pollution-causing particles that are about 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair, and annual average ozone concentrations for these zip codes from April through September. They developed statistical models that enabled them to make associations between air pollution levels and ARDS hospitalizations, and adjusted their calculations to compensate for differences in weather, race, socioeconomic status and smoking status.

Dr. Rhee's team found statistically significant associations between yearly change in PM2.5 and ozone concentrations and yearly change in hospital admission rates for ARDS among the nation's seniors. Hospital admissions for ARDS increased with increases in PM2.5 concentrations and increases associated with ozone levels as well. In low pollution regions, associations between chronic exposure to both PM2.5 and ozone had stronger associations compared to the entire U.S.

"We highlighted the importance of air pollution as an environmental risk factor for ARDS, which has not been studied widely but contributed to a previous finding that was limited to ozone," said Dr. Rhee. "Most importantly, we found increased hospital admission rates even when seniors were exposed to levels below current annual National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM2.5 (12 g/m^3).

Dr. David Christiani, the study's senior author, stated that: "Our findings are unique in showing that the adverse health effects of air pollution on our senior citizens now include acute respiratory failure and that an increase in hospitalization for ARDS in seniors occurs at the current U.S. air pollution standards. These results add to the growing body of literature on various adverse health effects at current standards that demonstrate a need to lower our exposure limits."
Music can be the ultimate mood setter. Faster beats ignite excitement, while slower songs help one relax. And that makes all the difference in what we order from restaurant menus.

A study published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences finds the volume of ambient music has a systemic effect on consumers' preferences for healthy vs. non-healthy foods. That's because volume is proven to directly impact heart rate and arousal. Softer music has a calming effect, making us more mindful of what we order. This typically results in healthier choices, such as a salad. Louder environments increase stimulation and stress, inspiring diners to crave a greasy cheeseburger and fries instead.

"Restaurants and supermarkets can use ambient music strategically to influence consumer buying behavior," said Dipayan Biswas, PhD, marketing professor at the University of South Florida Muma College of Business."

Dr. Biswas conducted the study at a cafe in Stockholm, Sweden, which played various genres of music in a loop separately at 55Db and 70Db. The menu items were coded as healthy, non-healthy and neutral, the category used for items like coffee or tea. During the experiment conducted over several hours across multiple days, researchers found 20% more restaurant patrons ordered something unhealthy when exposed to louder ambient music compared to those who dined during a quieter time.

55Db (295 items sold) 70Db (254 items sold)

Healthy- 32% Healthy- 25%

Non-healthy- 42% Non-healthy- 52%

Neutral- 26% Neutral- 23%

While previous studies have looked at varying aspects of ambience's impact on food sales such as lighting, scent and decor, this is the first study to look specifically at how volume dictates healthy vs. non-healthy food choices. These findings allow restaurant managers to strategically manipulate music volume to influence sales.
The rising incidence of sepsis, a leading cause of in-hospital death, has prompted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue protocols known as care bundles to standardize and improve sepsis care. Because of a known association between elevated lactate levels and increased mortality, the guidelines mandate that lactate levels should be tested soon after the onset of sepsis. A new study in the journal CHEST found that a significant proportion of patients with suspected sepsis do not have their lactates measured within the recommended timeframe. These patients experienced delayed antibiotic therapy and IV fluid administration, as well as increased risk of in-hospital death.

According to first author Xuan (Susan) Han, MD, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, "Sepsis continues to be a major public health problem in the US, one with persistently high mortality despite continued efforts to improve care. Our goal with this study was to better understand, on a more granular level, how sepsis bundles affect the patients we apply them to."

The guidelines, issued in 2015 by the CMS, are SEP-1 (Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Early Management Bundle). One of the recommendations is the measurement of serum lactate between six hours before and three hours after severe sepsis presentation, followed by a repeat within six hours of presentation if the initial lactate is elevated.

"Systematic early lactate measurements in patients presenting with sepsis would result in a significant increase in the number of lactates measured on patients but may be of benefit in identifying patients with elevated initial lactates who are at risk for poorer outcomes. Patients with early lactate measurements received earlier interventions such as antibiotic administration, which is known to improve mortality in sepsis," explained Matthew M. Churpek, MD, MPH, PhD, of the Department of Medicine and Center for Healthcare Delivery, Science and Innovation at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

To see what was being done in actual clinical practice, researchers at the University of Chicago reviewed the records of close to 150,000 patients admitted to a single tertiary care academic hospital from November 2008 to January 2016. Information regarding each patient's characteristics, vital signs, laboratory measurements, and medical therapy was analyzed. There was a particular focus on lactate measurements and levels.

They identified 5,762 admissions that met the three SEP-1 criteria for severe sepsis within a six-hour period. Of these, only 60 percent had an initial lactate drawn within the SEP-1 specified timeframe. Fourteen percent had their levels measured between three and 24 hours after the time of first suspicion of sepsis ("delayed lactates"), and more than one quarter had no lactate measurements at all.

Whether lactates were measured promptly varied with where the patient was being treated. Seventy-nine percent of patients treated in the emergency department had levels measured within the specified time period compared with 55 percent in the intensive care unit (ICU) but only 32 percent in hospital wards. "Our study demonstrates that a large number of patients become newly septic on the wards. This is an important population of patients in which to effectively and quickly identify and treat sepsis," commented Dr. Churpek.

Mortality increased with higher initial lactate levels. For example, in the ICU, the mortality rate was 35 percent for patients with a normal initial lactate level compared with 62 percent for those with elevated lactate levels. Most troubling, in patients with elevated lactate levels at the first draw, each hour of delay was associated with a 2 percent increase in the odds of in-hospital death. Importantly, it took approximately twice as long for patients with delayed lactate measurements to receive antibiotics and more than three times as long for them to receive fluids when compared with patients who had lactates drawn within the SEP-1 window.

"The SEP-1 bundle is the most recent national effort at standardizing and improving sepsis care, but the evidence supporting its various measures is mixed or lacking. In addition, SEP-1 has been highly controversial. This study better characterized the patients affected by SEP-1, as well as the impact of one component of SEP-1, lactate measurement, on hospitalized patients. Systematic early lactate measurements when a patient presents with sepsis may thus be useful in prompting earlier, potentially life-saving interventions," added Dr. Churpek.
Students from some of England's worst performing secondary schools who enroll on medical degrees with lower A Level grades, on average, do at least as well as their peers from top performing schools, a new study has revealed.

The research also found that students from poorly performing schools who match the top A Level grades achieved by pupils from the best performing schools, go on to do better during a medical degree.

The authors of the research are now calling for medical school entry criteria to be relaxed for all pupils applying from low-performing schools.

The study, led by academics from the University of York alongside partners at the Universities of Dundee and Durham, analysed data from UK medical degree courses and linked it to information on secondary schools from the Department for Education.

Some universities, such as Birmingham, Southampton and Kings College London, have already trialled A Level 'grade discounting' for medical school place offers for some disadvantaged applicants.

Lead author of the paper, Lazaro Mwandigha, from the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York said: "This study suggests that relaxing A Level grade entry requirements for students from the worst performing secondary schools is beneficial. Although there are important further questions about how to fairly classify schools, the study demonstrates that these students are, on average, just as able to keep up with the pace of a medical degree."

There is fierce competition to study medicine in the UK with normally around 11-12 applications made for each place on offer. Partly as a result of this, entry grade requirements have crept up to AAA or A* AA at A Level. Despite only 5.3% of children in the UK going to private school, around half of medical degree places are currently filled by students who attended selective schools.

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Supervising author Dr Paul Tiffin said: "This study is the first robust evidence that grade discounting for pupils from underperforming schools is justified. At the moment around 20% of UK schools are providing 80% of our medical students so A Level achievement should be viewed in terms of the context in which a pupil learns in order to help increase fairness and widen participation in medicine."

While they acknowledge it is not a "cure all" solution, the researchers argue that lowering entry grades for certain pupils could work as part of a package of measures.

Dr Lewis Paton, another member of the research team at the University of York, said: "Bright pupils from less well performing schools sometimes don't apply to medical school because they or their teachers don't think they'll make the grades required to get in. If medical schools started to contextualise A Level results, it could make access to studying medicine appear more achievable."

The researchers argue that widening access to medical degrees is not just a matter of social fairness; it is also something that would benefit the UK's health services.

Dr Tiffin added, "The NHS needs more doctors from under-represented minority groups. Having doctors from a wider range of backgrounds would enable health professionals to better understand and meet the UK's diverse healthcare needs."

Clare Owen, Assistant Director of the Medical Schools Council, said "This research adds important data to our understanding of how entry requirements relate to subsequent performance. The Medical Schools Council recognises the benefits of admissions which take applicants' backgrounds into account and this year published a guide which collects together the best practice of medical schools as they implement contextual admissions. Each medical school must decide on the best approach for its circumstances and this research will help them by making a significant contribution to the evidence base"

The study looked at data on medical students who had taken the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) -- the admissions test used by most UK universities for admissions to their medical degree programmes. The dataset included information on schools attended by applicants, A level results, admissions to medical degrees and performance on the course.
The world of reptiles may well include creatures that are more spectacular than the Gehyra variegata, but nevertheless, this small nocturnal gecko has managed to make a couple of fascinating new contributions to the discussion about the ecological consequences of climate change.

These geckos are small grey- or brown-skinned lizards that grow to around five centimetres and spend their lives in the deserts of Australia. The hollowed out trunks of eucalyptus trees are their preferred hiding places. After spending the night hunting insects, this is where they seek refuge from the heat in a climate where temperatures can often climb to more than 40 degrees Celsius. And it is in exactly these deserts where climate scientists expect to see even more extreme conditions in the future. They are forecasted to become even hotter and drier, worldwide. So how will the unique animals and plants that live in these ecosystems cope with these new challenges? This was the question the researchers set out to investigate, using this little gecko as a representative of other nocturnal desert inhabitants.

Prof. Klaus Henle, head of the Department of Conservation Biology at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, began collecting data about Gehyra variegata as far back as the 1980s. Working in the Kinchega National Park in Eastern Australia, he and his colleagues have been catching, measuring, photographing, tagging and then releasing reptiles for more than 30 years.

The researchers at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research then collated this information with weather conditions in the National Park, and also with global climate phenomena. Their findings are surprising, to say the least. As biologist Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth said, "We expected the higher temperatures and greater dryness to have a negative effect both on the individual geckos and on their populations." After all, even lizards need a certain amount of moisture to ensure that their eggs develop properly, and to enable them to moult when they need to. If they dry out completely, they will die. And the same is also true if excessive temperatures cause them to overheat. "But our investigations revealed that our geckos grow and survive particularly well in the very hottest years. In fact, they are generally in better condition, and their populations grow rather than fall." But what could be the reason? To discover this, Grimm-Seyfarth carefully observed the lizards' behaviour and measured their body temperature.

At night, she used an infrared thermometer, which can measure temperature at a distance, to locate the creatures while they were hunting. And then, to find where the geckos were hiding during the day, the scientists used tiny passive transmitters, similar to those used as ID chips for dogs. These chips are usually implanted under the skin. But when the tiny reptile is only five centimetres long, this isn't really feasible. So, the scientists created miniature backpacks for the geckos to wear, which keep the chips close to their skin. The researchers then use a radio antenna to locate the chips. The chips not only reveal where each lizard is, but also transmit its body temperature. Despite the tremendous daytime heat in the desert, the scientists discovered that the geckos don't search out particularly cool places to hide. They prefer their refuges to have a temperature between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius. As Grimm-Seyfarth said, "The creatures need these high temperatures so that they can digest their food properly." Consequently, they also crawl around in branches that are particularly exposed to the sun. To her astonishment, Grimm-Seyfarth also found that, in cooler years, the geckos left the safety of their tree and deliberately sat out in the sun to bask in its heat. But searching for enough warmth also takes energy. And, if the search is unsuccessful, the gecko can't digest its food properly. This might be the reason that cooler years had a negative effect on the geckos.

However, even having the perfect temperature range isn't any good if it's also too dry. This doesn't just cause physical problems for these creatures. In particularly dry periods, there are also fewer insects for them to eat. As expected, geckos experience really hard times during periods of drought. But it's not just local precipitation levels that are the decisive factor. Every few years, the La Nina weather phenomenon brings torrential rainfall to the east coast of Australia. Months later, the rivers bring the resulting flood waters to the desert, increasing humidity levels and creating an abundance of insects. As Grimm-Seyfarth said, "These lizards are affected by local conditions and global climate phenomena alike. We need to look beyond the horizon of a particular area if we want to make an accurate prediction about the future of its inhabitants.

Until now, all the evidence indicated that the geckos would face problems caused by drought rather than by heat. But now, we have discovered that they can also compensate for this, to a certain extent. The study shows that, although individual creatures become thinner in years of drought, their population levels remain constant. This is because they scale back their growth and reproduction rates in hard times," explained Grimm-Seyfarth. They can then concentrate all their efforts on surviving into the next year. Thanks to their exceptional longevity (up to 28 years in some cases), these creatures can afford to lose a few reproductive cycles without any particular problem. And when conditions improve again, they can make up for lost time.

Therefore, even if climate change causes deterioration in living conditions for these geckos, they're hardly likely to die out immediately. And, according these evaluations by the scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, these findings could also apply to other long-lived desert dwellers. However, this is in no way a simple carte blanche for letting climate change just happen. "If there are several very dry years in succession, the creatures will no longer be able to cope," said Grimm-Seyfarth. At some point, even the hardiest survival specialists will be overwhelmed.
UBC computer scientists have turned Amazon Alexa into a tool for software engineers, tasking the virtual assistant to take care of mundane programming tasks, helping increase productivity and speed up workflow.

Software engineers use many different tools for any one project. They work with millions of lines of computer code and run their code through various independent tools to help edit, build and test systems and for project management to get their programs running smoothly.

"It can be quite complicated to switch between the different tools because they each use a unique syntax and you have to understand how to put them together," said Nick Bradley, who led this work during his master's research in computer science at UBC. "The idea to use Alexa came out of my frustration from using these different tools and having to spend so much time looking up how to do it and use those tools together."

Bradley and computer science professors Reid Holmes and Thomas Fritz decided to test whether Amazon's virtual assistant could help with this process. They wanted software engineers to use simple, conversational language to ask Alexa to complete some of their tasks, the same way we ask it to give us the weather forecast or play our favourite songs.

Researchers said it was more than just a matter of teaching Alexa some key phrases and mapping different commands to the work, they also had to figure out common multi-step tasks engineers were performing and build a system that could automate those tasks. They then asked 21 engineers from local Vancouver software companies to test out their system and evaluate it. While the engineers found the tool useful and provided lots of positive feedback, there was one challenge.

"The biggest problem was using voice commands in an office environment -- they found it distracting to their neighbours," said Bradley.

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The computer scientists' next development will be to create a chat bot to fulfill a similar function so engineers can type minimal requests and have the system perform their multi-step tasks so they can focus on the more important parts of their jobs.

Holmes says this research is part of a larger effort to understand how software engineers do their jobs.

"The pace of change in the software field is so fast that engineers don't have time to be introspective and think about the way they work," he said. "Our job in academia is to step back and really think about how we can better support engineers to quickly and correctly build the kinds of software we depend upon in our modern society. Systems keep getting larger and more complex and using personal assistants could be one way to help developers be more effective within this fast-paced environment."

The researchers also recognize that these virtual assistants could be programmed for a variety of occupations including medicine, law, or accounting.

"You can imagine a situation where a lawyer is reading a legal brief and asks Alexa to find relevant cases on similar topics to help with research," said Holmes.

The study will be presented next week at the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) in Gothenburg, Sweden: pdf" title="https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rtholmes/papers/icse_2018_bradley.pdf">https://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rtholmes/papers/icse_2018_bradley.pdf

Watch a video of the tool in action: https://youtu.be/Y-LqJaYEDSA
For little Louis, it is the most exciting day of his life: just six or seven weeks ago, the young stork came into the world on a birch tree in Radolfzell on Lake Constance. Up to this day in June 2014, he has only known his parents and three siblings. But suddenly strange beings have appeared at the nest and are holding the four small white storks captive. They are Andrea Flack and Wolfgang Fiedler of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the University of Konstanz. In the coming years, the scientists will learn from Louis and other young storks that, on their migrations south, storks follow other storks who are particularly good at exploiting thermals, allowing them to flap their wings as little as possible as they fly. The efficient fliers migrate to West Africa, while the others spend the winter in southern Europe. From their data, the researchers can tell which storks will fly where just ten minutes after the birds take off.

For days, Andrea Flack and Wolfgang Fiedler have been visiting storks' nests on the western shore of Lake Constance. The aerial ladder of the fire brigade raises them to the stork nests at lofty heights so that they can strap small tracking devices onto the backs of the nestlings. The aim is to follow Louis and 60 other young storks on their migration. The instruments, which weigh less than 60 grams, record the GPS coordinates of the birds' location. They also measure the animals' movements using accelometers. This allows the researchers to determine whether and, if so, how the birds are moving.

For Louis and his nest mates, the harmless procedure is over in just a few minutes. Fully engaged in perfecting their flying skills, it is likely that they very soon forget the strange encounter with the scientists. For the researchers, however, the work has only just begun. From now on, they will collect and evaluate huge volumes of data, because the tracking devices log the storks' GPS coordinates every second for two to five minutes every 15 minutes, and this for weeks. Once a day, the devices send a text message containing the location and movement data via the local mobile network, just like a mobile phone.

The data then flow automatically into an online database called Movebank, a free-to-use online platform developed by researchers led by Martin Wikelski, which allows scientists to log animal migrations anywhere in the world. Because the storks around Lake Constance fly all the way to West Africa for the winter, the mobile network costs would be enormous, given the immense volumes data involved. Andrea Flack therefore follows the birds by car all the way down to Barcelona to download the data once a day using a base station. In Africa, the devices log data at longer intervals to reduce the amount of data generated.

A mobile phone for storks

Louis, too, was fitted with his "mobile phone" on that day four years ago. As it turned out, he was the first among his nest mates to travel south. He joined a group of 27 other tagged storks. After five days of flying, 17 of them were still together.

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Louis first skirted the Alps past Bern towards Lake Geneva and crossed the Rhone south of Lyon. On the evening of 23 August, he reached Montpellier on the French Mediterranean coast and then on the following day flew along the coast towards Spain. He crossed the Pyrenees and spent several weeks on a landfill site a hundred kilometres northwest of Barcelona. He then flew to an area around Madrid and spent the winter there at a landfill. He remained in Spain until the spring of 2016 and returned to Germany in March 2016.

Searching for thermals

Never before have researchers tracked a group flight of storks as meticulously as Louis and his peers. The scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the University of Konstanz have now published the results of Louis' and his peers' voyage. The data from the thousand-kilometre stage show how a bird's flight performance, social behaviour and global migratory route are interlinked.

Thanks to a sophisticated analysis of the GPS data, the scientists have found that there are leader birds within groups of migrating storks. They lead the group to areas with favourable thermals, where the birds are literally sucked up by the rising warm air. This allows them to glide farther and avoid active flapping flight to save energy.

Efficient flyers lead the way

Detailed analysis of the high-resolution GPS data shows that the flight paths of the leader birds are more irregular. "They are the ones who locate the thermals and search out the most favourable areas within them. "As a result, they have to adjust their flight paths repeatedly," explains Mate Nagy, who analyzed the data from the trackers. The follower birds benefit from the leaders' explorations and can soar upward in more regular trajectories. "When travelling to the next thermal, follower birds are a bit slower and lose altitude faster. To avoid falling behind the group, they must flap their wings more and leave the thermals before reaching the top."

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However, a stork's flying skill is not only linked to its position within the group. How much it flaps its wings also predicts where it will spend the winter. Animals that flap their wings a lot do not fly as far as those that flap less. Louis, for example, is a rather mediocre flyer. For him, it is better to spend the winter in southern Spain, especially since he can find enough food at the landfill site there.

Tour group with social structure

The situation is entirely different for Redrunner, another individual of the 27 tagged storks. He is one of the leaders of his group, and, therefore, manages to minimize his wing beats. He overwinters in North Africa. While Louis covered more than 1000 kilometres on his 2014 journey, Redrunner covered nearly 4000 kilometres. "The flight characteristics are so central to the birds' position within the group that we can predict just after a few minutes of migration flight whether it will spend the winter in Europe or fly on to West Africa," explains Andrea Flack.

This is the first time that humans have been able to observe the group behaviour of storks on their journey across Europe to Africa in such detail. The collected data show that storks fly in socially structured groups, which are largely determined by the flying skills of the group members. "A stork's route and destination depend, among other things, on how efficiently it can fly," says Martin Wikelski, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and Honorary Professor at the University of Konstanz.

Back in Germany

Since then, Louis und Redrunner have repeated their journey every year -- and always with the same destination: Louis has remained faithful to Spain and Redrunner to Africa. This year, Louis arrived in Germany on 9 March. Since then, he has stayed in Neudingen near Donaueschingen and has built a nest with a partner on the local town hall. Redrunner also returned from Africa a few weeks ago. He has taken up residence in the town of Munzenberg between Frankfurt and Giessen.

Now four years old, they have both survived the most dangerous phase of their lives, as 75 percent of young storks die in the first year. Now they are past puberty and may breed this year for the first time. If the two storks continue to successfully avoid all dangers, it is likely they will have a long life and will continue to make their long journey for the next 30 years.

Assuming that the two are still migrating, the researchers will no longer have to follow them in a car. The Icarus Initiative launched by Martin Wikelski will be launched in August, after which the tracking devices will transmit their data to scientists around the world via the International Space Station. Researchers will then be able to track the birds around the clock in real time.
MIT researchers have built an ingestible sensor equipped with genetically engineered bacteria that can diagnose bleeding in the stomach or other gastrointestinal problems.

This "bacteria-on-a-chip" approach combines sensors made from living cells with ultra-low-power electronics that convert the bacterial response into a wireless signal that can be read by a smartphone.

"By combining engineered biological sensors together with low-power wireless electronics, we can detect biological signals in the body and in near real-time, enabling new diagnostic capabilities for human health applications," says Timothy Lu, an MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of biological engineering.

In the new study, appearing in the May 24 online edition of Science, the researchers created sensors that respond to heme, a component of blood, and showed that they work in pigs. They also designed sensors that can respond to a molecule that is a marker of inflammation.

Lu and Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MIT's School of Engineering and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, are the senior authors of the study. The lead authors are graduate student Mark Mimee and former MIT postdoc Phillip Nadeau.

Wireless communication

In the past decade, synthetic biologists have made great strides in engineering bacteria to respond to stimuli such as environmental pollutants or markers of disease. These bacteria can be designed to produce outputs such as light when they detect the target stimulus, but specialized lab equipment is usually required to measure this response.

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To make these bacteria more useful for real-world applications, the MIT team decided to combine them with an electronic chip that could translate the bacterial response into a wireless signal.

"Our idea was to package bacterial cells inside a device," Nadeau says. "The cells would be trapped and go along for the ride as the device passes through the stomach."

For their initial demonstration, the researchers focused on bleeding in the GI tract. They engineered a probiotic strain of E. coli to express a genetic circuit that causes the bacteria to emit light when they encounter heme.

They placed the bacteria into four wells on their custom-designed sensor, covered by a semipermeable membrane that allows small molecules from the surrounding environment to diffuse through. Underneath each well is a phototransistor that can measure the amount of light produced by the bacterial cells and relay the information to a microprocessor that sends a wireless signal to a nearby computer or smartphone. The researchers also built an Android app that can be used to analyze the data.

The sensor, which is a cylinder about 1.5 inches long, requires about 13 microwatts of power. The researchers equipped the sensor with a 2.7-volt battery, which they estimate could power the device for about 1.5 months of continuous use. They say it could also be powered by a voltaic cell sustained by acidic fluids in the stomach, using technology that Nadeau and Chandrakasan have previously developed.

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"The focus of this work is on system design and integration to combine the power of bacterial sensing with ultra-low-power circuits to realize important health sensing applications," Chandrakasan says.

Diagnosing disease

The researchers tested the ingestible sensor in pigs and showed that it could correctly determine whether any blood was present in the stomach. They anticipate that this type of sensor could be either deployed for one-time use or designed to remain the digestive tract for several days or weeks, sending continuous signals.

Currently, if patients are suspected to be bleeding from a gastric ulcer, they have to undergo an endoscopy to diagnose the problem, which often requires the patient to be sedated.

"The goal with this sensor is that you would be able to circumvent an unnecessary procedure by just ingesting the capsule, and within a relatively short period of time you would know whether or not there was a bleeding event," Mimee says.

To help move the technology toward patient use, the researchers plan to reduce the size of the sensor and to study how long the bacteria cells can survive in the digestive tract. They also hope to develop sensors for gastrointestinal conditions other than bleeding.

In the Science paper, the researchers adapted previously described sensors for two other molecules, which they have not yet tested in animals. One of the sensors detects a sulfur-containing ion called thiosulfate, which is linked to inflammation and could be used to monitor patients with Crohn's disease or other inflammatory conditions. The other detects a bacterial signaling molecule called AHL, which can serve as a marker for gastrointestinal infections because different types of bacteria produce slightly different versions of the molecule.

"Most of the work we did in the paper was related to blood, but conceivably you could engineer bacteria to sense anything and produce light in response to that," Mimee says. "Anyone who is trying to engineer bacteria to sense a molecule related to disease could slot it into one of those wells, and it would be ready to go."

The researchers say the sensors could also be designed to carry multiple strains of bacteria, allowing them to diagnose a variety of conditions.

"Right now, we have four detection sites, but if you could extend it to 16 or 256, then you could have multiple different types of cells and be able to read them all out in parallel, enabling more high-throughput screening," Nadeau says.
Activists pushing to end fatal police shootings said they were upset but not surprised by the San Francisco district attorneys decision Thursday not to file criminal charges in two high-profile cases: the 2015 shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview and the 2016 shooting of Luis Gongora Pat in the Mission.

Though both shootings drew national attention to San Francisco  backup dancers for Beyonce dangled a Justice for Mario Woods sign at Levis Stadium during the 2016 Super Bowl  the reaction Thursday was one of subdued resignation. Several passerby in San Franciscos Mission and Bayview districts seemed to have forgotten about the two slain men, and some gave puzzled looks when asked for comment.

For people involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, the decision of District Attorney George Gascon underscores what they said is a corrosive relationship between police officers and people of color, even in a city that prides itself as being liberal and progressive.

In a grim news conference held shortly after the 11:30 a.m. announcement, relatives of Gongora Pat described San Francisco police officers as killers.

Those killers are running loose on the street, said Carlos Poot Pat, a cousin of the homeless man who was fatally shot in April 2016 after he allegedly charged at police with a large kitchen knife. Be careful out there because now you know that if the police harm or kill you, you will have no justice.

Oakland attorney Adante Pointer, who is representing the family of Gongora Pat and Woods mother, Gwen Woods, in federal civil rights lawsuits against San Francisco, told reporters that community members will seek justice in other venues and other courtrooms if they cant get it from Gascon.

He also signaled that the district attorneys refusal to file charges against the officers could hurt his re-election bid in 2019. Gascon will fight to retain his seat amid a growing movement to challenge district attorneys who are perceived as being too soft on police shootings.

Cephus Johnson, a Black Lives Matter activist who is the uncle of Oscar Grant, the unarmed BART passenger fatally shot by a BART police officer in 2009, marveled at how rare it is for police to face punishment for these killings.

Even for Oscar, we barely got a conviction, Johnson said, noting that the high-profile case  which sparked riots in downtown Oakland  culminated with an 11-month prison sentence for the officer, Johannes Mehserle, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

On Thursday, Johnson was at the Capitol building in Sacramento with other activists, rallying for two state bills that would raise the legal standard for officers using force against suspects.

AB931 would limit the use of deadly force to situations in which someones life is in imminent danger. SB1421 would release police personnel records to the public after an officer is accused of killing or injuring a suspect, committing sexual assault or lying on the job.

Cat Brooks, co-founder of Oaklands Anti-Police Terror Project, was with Johnson at the state Capitol on Thursday. She called Gascons decision a signal that black lives dont matter.

She and Johnson pointed out that police did not shoot two white teens who were recently accused of high-profile mass killings in high schools in Florida and Texas.

I could list 100 white folks who have committed egregious acts of violence, and law enforcement took them in alive, Brooks said. Someone is going to have to start explaining to us why that is.

Gascon defended his decision, saying he could charge an officer for use of force only if he could prove it was unreasonable for the officer to be in fear of their life or someone elses.

That rationale didnt fly with Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

A hail of bullets is not an appropriate police response to people suffering mental health crises, the public defender said in a statement, in which he accused Gascon of holding police officers to a different standard than average citizens.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Other law enforcement officials stood by the district attorney.

Im sure the district attorneys office did a comprehensive investigation, said former San Francisco Police Chief Tony Ribera, who is now an assistant professor at the University of San Francisco, focusing on public administration.

He said the anger that erupts over these shootings is often a response to how many bullets are fired, but thats not part of the evaluation of whether the shooting is justified.

Mayor Mark Farrell said in his own statement that he respects Gascons findings and that hes confident that San Francisco police officers take very seriously their responsibilities to protect the public and earn the trust of communities.

Farrell said the city is committed to reforms it began two years ago after the Woods shooting and a string of other deadly police encounters. That process is now being overseen by state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Chronicle staff writers

Sophie Haigney and Annie Ma contributed to this report.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
Five of the worlds largest oil producers urged a federal judge Thursday to dismiss lawsuits by San Francisco and Oakland that seek to hold the companies liable for climate change, arguing that the issue is one for Congress, not the courts.

San Francisco and Oakland are among a handful of communities nationwide, including New York City and King County, Wash., squaring off over global warming with the fossil fuel industry, and now the Trump administration. An attorney for the Department of Justice stood with industry lawyers in the federal courthouse in San Francisco, echoing their request that the cases be dropped.

The communities accuse the oil industry of knowingly selling products that emit damaging heat-trapping gases, and theyre suing for billions of dollars to address such problems as sea-level rise. The companies counter that greenhouse gas emissions are regulated under the Clean Air Act and remain the purview of lawmakers.

Global warming is a serious issue, but its not one that can be solved by a lawsuit, said attorney Ted Boutrous, who represents Chevron of San Ramon and also represented ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and ConocoPhillips on Thursday. The plaintiffs are asking the courts to wade into the clear territory of Congress. To say the least, thats a big ask.

Boutrous not only argued that the nations environmental laws are the proper way to deal with industrial emissions, but also said that if a judge takes up the matter of fossil fuels, the court would be reaching too far into issues of national energy policy and national security, topics best handled by Washington.

After nearly three hours of arguments, U.S. District Judge William Alsup did not rule on whether the lawsuits would move forward. He asked both sides for more information. In addition, he authorized the cities to collect information from the out-of-state oil companies, which also argued that liability for California issues shouldnt extend beyond the states border.

The San Francisco and Oakland cases are the furthest along of roughly a dozen similar legal efforts and theyre being closely watched across the nation. The suits have put global warming on unprecedented legal ground and have huge stakes for how the localities will cover the rising costs of climate change.

San Francisco alone estimates that $10 billion of public property and as much as $39 billion of private land are threatened by rising seas. The city wants money to repair its seawalls, control drainage, and relocate streets and infrastructure.

Its hard to know whats going to happen with the suits, said Sean Hecht, co-executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the UCLA School of Law. We have not had a case like this that has gotten beyond the motion-to-dismiss phase.

The attorneys for the oil companies sought to justify their pleas for dismissal with prior court cases. Many of the rulings they cited, including the 2011 decision in American Electric Power Co. vs. Connecticut, found that corporations cant be sued for greenhouse gas emissions because Congress has laws, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, to regulate pollutants.

San Francisco and Oakland, however, are making a slightly different legal case than the earlier suits. Theyre going after the oil companies not for greenhouse gas emissions but for producing and promoting fossil fuels.

Attorneys for the cities said that putting fossil fuels on the market and encouraging their use, when the companies knew they were damaging, constitutes a public nuisance that is within the courts jurisdiction.

Were going to prove that they understood that they were causing global warming and they took actions to harm us, said Steve Berman, one of the attorneys representing the cities.

The cities have likened the actions of the oil industry to tobacco companies, which sought to cover up research into lung cancer and have been held responsible for the health damage caused by smoking.

While Alsup hasnt ruled on whether the cases will proceed, he acknowledged in a March decision, which put the matter in federal court instead of state court, that the suits are different than previous emissions cases. He also held an unprecedented tutorial on climate science to better prepare the court for handling the cases.

But on Thursday, Alsup questioned whether it makes sense to sue the oil industry for a product most people want and need.

If we didnt have fossil fuels, we would have lost that war (World War II) and every other war, he told the courtroom. Planes wouldnt fly. Trains wouldnt run. And wed be back in the Stone Age.

Alsup wrestled aloud with how to reconcile the benefits of fossil fuels with the damage theyre causing, and he wants both sides to provide additional information on the matter.

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In a friend-of-the-court brief filed this month, the Justice Department argued that the importance of oil and gas is one of the reasons the issue is not one for the courts to address.

Balancing the nations energy needs and economic interests against the risks posed by climate change should be left to the political branches of the federal government, the federal attorneys wrote.

The attorneys also argued that if San Francisco and Oakland are successful in their suits, it would invite countless other legal challenges.

If these cities may properly allege injuries from climate change, then so can every person on the planet, they wrote. Federal courts are poorly equipped to handle this multitude of cases and the associated complex scientific, economic, and technical issues.

Most of the communities that have filed suits like San Franciscos and Oaklands are in California, including the cities of Richmond, Santa Cruz and Imperial Beach, and the counties of San Mateo, Marin and Santa Cruz. None have moved to trial. In most of the cases, judges are still deciding whether federal or state court is the appropriate venue.

The lawsuits come as the Trump administration has vowed to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, an international pact aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. President Trump has often downplayed the threat of climate change, even suggesting that the planet is not warming.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
One of the central features of the statewide sanctuary law that has pitted California against the Trump administration is that it seeks to put limits on when local jails may turn over undocumented immigrants to federal deportation officers.

But Marin County Sheriff Robert Doyle, one of the 58 county sheriffs charged with enforcing SB54, provides no sanctuary to inmates in his lockup  and apparently doesnt have to, thanks to an exception in the law.

If U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells Marin County it wants to take custody of an inmate and requests the persons release date, Doyles deputies comply if such a date exists. And if ICE officers show up to the San Rafael jail to take the inmate, they are brought to a private area for the transfer.

Doyle believes this approach avoids potential disturbances between ICE and those waiting for an inmate in the main lobby.

A lot of people think SB54 makes us a sanctuary state. It doesnt, at all, Doyle said in an interview.

Justice by geography has long been a feature in a diverse state where counties differ in how they deal with everything from drug crimes to the death penalty. Now, sanctuary is getting the California treatment, despite the law that went into effect this year  and to the chagrin of immigrants and their advocates.

There are few circumstances in which an undocumented immigrant jailed in San Francisco will be turned over to ICE, thanks to local laws that go much further than SB54, which was written by state Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year. But head north over the Golden Gate Bridge, and the feds can pick up anyone they want, provided the inmate has a release date.

Marin County may seem an unusual place for such cooperation. While some officials have rebelled against the sanctuary law in conservative parts of the Central Valley and Southern California, Doyle presides over a liberal county in a region known for progressive views on immigration.

This month, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to join in defending the states sanctuary legislation from a Trump administration lawsuit.

Doyle, though, hopes the legislation is repealed, explaining, Unfortunately, a lot of laws are made for political reasons, and this is one of them.

Dennis Rodoni, a Marin County supervisor, said the board and the sheriff arent seeing eye to eye on the issue. We obviously disagree with what the sheriff believes in, he said.

Proponents of limiting local cooperation with immigration enforcement say such measures allow all people  regardless of status  to engage with public services, including police protection, education and health care, rather than live in the shadows.

Critics say sanctuary laws encourage illegal immigration and, in freeing inmates who might otherwise be deported, can prove dangerous.

Jails are critical in the debate. While ICE operations on the street tend to command attention, the agency prefers to focus deportation efforts on local jails, where officers can pick up inmates without being forced to use more resources to make arrests in the field.

Having advance notice of a criminal aliens release from detention is exceptionally important to ICEs ability to enforce immigration laws, ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan said in a declaration supporting the administrations lawsuit against California.

When a person is arrested in California, fingerprints are compared with prints in federal databases that alert immigration authorities if the person is wanted. Last year, ICE issued 35,000 notification requests to jails in the state  about a quarter of the requests nationwide.

The county-by-county difference in responding to the statewide sanctuary law can be explained by language in the bill.

In general, county jails are allowed to respond to an ICE request for notification of an inmates release date only if the individual has been convicted of a serious crime or is headed to trial on such a charge. Many counties, including in the Bay Area, have set up complicated flowcharts describing when deputies can respond.

But Sheriff Doyles office points to a carve-out in the law: Counties can notify ICE about an inmate if the county makes the same information available to the public.

From the beginning of the year to May 1, ICE has asked for notification on 61 immigrant inmates in Marin County, and Doyles office has responded with release dates for all but six of them  or 90 percent of the requests, records show. Officials would not say how many inmates were actually picked up.

Thats a higher rate than nearby Alameda County, which said it had complied with 59 of 204 notification requests, 29 percent, as of early May. Conservative San Diego County said it had replied to 256 of 603 ICE requests, 42 percent, as of May 14.

In San Francisco, ICE has made more than 400 requests this year. None has been honored.

Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor and immigration expert at Santa Clara University School of Law, said that what Marin County is doing does not appear to be illegal or prohibited under the sanctuary law, otherwise known as the California Values Act.

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On the other hand, it is the type of disclosure that SB54 intended to, at the very least, disincentivize, and, at best, stop, he said. The pipeline through local sheriffs is the easiest way for ICE to get noncitizens into custody, so there is no doubt that the Marin sheriffs actions run counter to the motivating ideas behind the state law.

Doyle, who has been sheriff for more than 20 years after rising through his departments ranks  and notes he didnt vote for President Trump  said his approach helps protect the public.

I just think as a general rule if you violate the law and you get arrested, you ought to be scrutinized by ICE, he said. Thats always been our policy.

Jeremy Carl, a research fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, agreed, saying that if Marin wants to try to be a bit less on the wrong side of the law, that is probably smart of them.

Immigrant advocates in Marin County, though, say the sheriffs office is working with ICE in ways it shouldnt.

Marin County has 16,000 undocumented immigrants, according to its records  6 percent of the population  and advocates fear that cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE will persuade many people not to come forward if they need police help or witnessed a crime.

The sheriffs willingness to continuing cooperating in these ways with ICE means that the jail-to-deportation pipeline is the primary means of detention by immigration officials in Marin County, said Lucia Martel-Dow, director of immigration legal services at Canal Alliance, an advocacy group in San Rafael named after the heavily Latino Canal neighborhood in that city.

Advocates have paid close attention to counties that began posting inmates release dates on their websites this year, including Orange, Contra Costa, Alameda and Marin. While Contra Costa, Alameda and Marin officials said the move had nothing to do with immigration, Orange County officials said they put the release dates online to help ICE.

Grisel Ruiz, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco, said advocates have shifted their focus from getting the sanctuary law passed and signed to making sure its enforced appropriately.

Its interesting  you work so hard to pass these laws, and then the application of the law is a whole other challenge, Ruiz said.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
Housing

Angela Alioto: Supports the late Mayor Ed Lees commitment to build 5,000 units a year. Backed the general idea of state Sen. Scott Wieners SB827, a bill that would have lessened cities ability to block housing developments near public transit and that died in committee last month  but Alioto said it would have to be amended to include only areas within half a mile of a transit station. Supports raising height and density limits on some transit corridors, including Geary Boulevard in the Richmond and 19th Avenue in the Sunset.

London Breed: Has pledged to continue Lees commitment to build 5,000 units a year. Supported SB827. Has pushed legislation that gives current residents a local preference in affordable housing lotteries. Fought to close down the McDonalds at Haight and Stanyan streets, a property that will be redeveloped as affordable housing.

Jane Kim: Supports expanding rent control to buildings constructed after 1978 and says she plans to introduce a $1 billion housing bond for the 2019 ballot. Opposed SB827, characterizing it as a developer giveaway that would have led to displacement.

Mark Leno: Would work to create 5,000 units a year of low-income, workforce and supportive housing units annually. Supports market-rate housing development only if an equal number of affordable units are built. Supported aspects of SB827 but ultimately opposed it, saying the one size fits all land-use policy wouldnt work. Supports increases in affordable-housing requirements for projects on public land.

Tech

Alioto: Would create groups of city officials, tech industry representatives and residents to propose ways to lessen socioeconomic tensions created by the tech boom without hampering the industry. Says techs financial largesse should be funneled directly into projects that address the citys most pressing problems, such as homelessness and street cleanliness.

Breed: Points to her legislation capping the length of time people can rent rooms through Airbnb as evidence that shell be tough on tech outfits  the company counts wealthy tech investor Ron Conway among its backers. Says the tech industry needs to provide more jobs to young San Franciscans and advocates a program that would provide paid internships for high school students at any company of their choice.

Kim: Says tech companies should raise wages and boost benefits for contract employees such as shuttle drivers and cafeteria workers, to help close the citys wealth gap. Wants ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to pay a per-rider fee to the city as compensation for using public infrastructure.

Leno: Wants to spread the industrys wealth and jobs, particularly to longtime city residents. Has proposed creating local-hiring requirements for the tech industry, saying it would reduce pressure on the housing market and transit.

Transportation

Alioto: Would block off a large stretch of downtown to automobiles and turn the streets over to buses, trolleys, bikes and other alternatives to cars. Thinks the head of the Municipal Transportation Agency, Ed Reiskin, is incompetent, would fire him and order an audit of the agency.

Breed: Has sponsored Muni nuts-and-bolts legislation as a supervisor, such as expanding and replacing the Metro fleet, reconfiguring seating on N-Judah trains, and expanding morning commute service between Cole Valley and the Embarcadero. Supports a city vehicle licensing fee to raise money for transit. Wants the city to analyze the traffic impacts of ride-hailing companies as a possible prelude to limiting the number of cars they can put on streets.

Kim: Was the lead sponsor of a 2014 Vision Zero resolution to add protected bike lanes, crosswalk signals, education for drivers of large vehicles and other pedestrian safety measures. Supports congestion pricing  charging people to drive on busy streets at certain hours  to raise money for transit improvements.

Leno: Wary of newer alternatives to public transit, taxis and cars, such as ride-hailing services and electric scooters, because theyre private outfits using public infrastructure with little or no compensation to the city. Is skeptical of the bus rapid transit line on Geary Boulevard and says the city should look at building a new subway line instead. Is also pressing the city to enact a vehicle licensing fee to raise money for public transit.

Homelessness

Alioto: Would close all city shelters and spend the money on permanent housing for homeless people, with an emphasis on the supportive type that offers on-site counseling to help chronically troubled people overcome their dysfunctions. Wrote the citys 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness in 2004, and though that didnt end the problem, it did help pull 19,500 homeless people off the streets.

Breed: Promises to eliminate homeless camps from streets within a year by moving occupants into low-cost or supportive housing. Says chronically mentally ill street people should be put into court-ordered conservatorship. Says her administration would build at least 5,000 housing units a year.

Kim: Would expand Behavioral Health Court, which steers mentally ill people and addicts into assistance programs instead of jail. Proposes 1,500 new shelter beds and increasing stock of affordable and supportive housing through actions including leasing units and crafting quick-to-build modular complexes.

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Leno: Says he can eliminate street homelessness in two years by quick-starting the creation of 15,000 affordable, workforce and supportive housing units. Would pay for it in part with $100 million from Proposition 63, a 2004 state ballot measure that raised taxes on the richest Californians to improve the states mental health system. The measure is tied up in a court fight.

Budget

Alioto: Would provide tax breaks to small businesses by reallocating money from departments, including Public Works and the Municipal Transportation Agency. Says merchants have suffered from widespread construction, and public works and the MTA are bloated fiefdoms.

Breed: Would raise minimum wage for the citys 22,000 in-home care workers, nonprofit employees and workers at San Francisco International Airport to $15.50 an hour, which would cost around $14 million. Wants to find $4.3 million to provide free legal help to people facing evictions. Backs Proposition D, which would raise taxes on commercial landlords to bring in around $70 million annually for homelessness and housing services.

Kim: After voting against a 2015 proposal to tie the size of the police force to increases in the city population, Kim now supports raising the police budget to hire more officers. Says any growth should be accompanied by more spending on social-welfare initiatives such as after-school programs. Would give more money to City College of San Francisco to expand its free tuition program into the summer sessions. Spearheaded Proposition C, which would raise taxes on commercial landlords to fund early childhood education and care services.

Leno: Wants to move to a zero-based system in which agencies build their spending for the coming year from scratch, instead of using the previous years spending plan as a template.

For complete coverage of the governors contest and other races and measures on the June 5 ballot, go to the Voter Guide.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
The Department of Homeland Security published a draft of its proposal to officially rescind the International Entrepreneur Rule, which the Obama administration created in 2015 to allow some startup founders from abroad a chance to live and work in the U.S. for a limited time.

Under the rule, foreign entrepreneurs who meet certain benchmarks could apply for parole status, which in this case means that people who are not formally admitted into the U.S. may temporarily stay in the country.

The rule  sometimes informally called the startup visa rule  was supposed to be implemented last July, but a week before it was due to take effect the department delayed it, as it planned to revoke it altogether. A few months later, a judge overturned the delay and said the government must begin implementing the rule.

The rule has now technically been in effect for several months and some have applied for the status, but no one is believed to have benefited from the rule yet.

Now, the department is taking steps to rescind the rule. A public comment period will begin next week.

In the 48-page draft published in the Federal Register on Friday morning, the department argued that the rule was not the appropriate vehicle for attracting and retaining international entrepreneurs and does not adequately protect U.S. investors and U.S. workers employed by or seeking employment with the start-up.

The department took issue with the fact that the program was implemented through executive power, rather than through congressional approval, and said it was not worth using limited agency resources to run the program. Instead, according to the draft, the Trump administration is focused on improving existing employment-based visa programs to protect U.S. workers.

Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen believes that limited agency resources that are needed for other adjudications programs should not continue to be expended on this program, especially given the sort of difficult, complex, resource-intensive adjudications that the IE Final Rule requires, particularly in relation to other parole determinations, and the uncertain status that entrepreneurs would obtain, the draft read.

Since parole status is discretionary and can be revoked at any time, the department also said that the rule was not the best way to attract and retain the best and brightest individuals from around the world, and encouraging investment and innovation in the United States.

Recognizing that it is difficult for foreign entrepreneurs to qualify for existing visa categories  such as the H-1B visa, which requires an employer sponsorship  the department said Congress could create a new visa classification to provide legal immigration status to foreign entrepreneurs.

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Therefore, in removing the IE Final Rule, DHS is proposing to defer to Congress on whether, and if so how, to best create a specific immigration pathway that addresses the unique and varied characteristics of foreign entrepreneurs through the legislative process, the draft read.

FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group backed by some technology companies, said it was deeply disappointed by the departments move.

Eliminating this vital policy is a clear step in the wrong direction that will hurt job creation and middle class wage growth in the U.S., the organization said. Letting the private sector invest in foreign-born entrepreneurs who are going to create American jobs is a win-win-win, and rescinding the IER will mean fewer immigrants and a lot fewer American jobs.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ttthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
As Californias Legislature considers two bills to get around the new $10,000 limit on the federal deduction for state and local taxes, the Internal Revenue Service said it will issue regulations about such laws, in a notice seen as a warning.

Specifically, the IRS said Thursday it would issue regulations regarding the federal tax treatment of workaround laws that give residents a state or local tax credit if they make a charitable donation to a fund controlled by state or local governments or to a designated charity. New York and New Jersey have adopted such laws, and one of the California bills passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Friday.

Some people call this a scare notice, said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow with the Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center. It is a strong message that (the IRS) does not look favorably on the charitable-giving solution. That does not mean other solutions wouldnt pass muster.

Taxpayers who itemize can still deduct charitable contributions on their federal tax return, but the previously unlimited deduction for all state and local taxes combined is now capped at $10,000.

The workaround laws basically let taxpayers who exceed the $10,000 limit contribute a potentially large sum of money to certain state funds or charities and get most of it back as a state or local tax credit. Theoretically, they can deduct the donation as a charitable contribution on their federal return. The fund or charity gets to keep a small amount of the donation and the rest goes to the state or local government to offset the credit going out.

The state credit and federal deduction can nearly offset what the taxpayer has lost in state and local tax deductions. For the scheme to work, the IRS must view the donation as a charitable contribution, not a tax payment. The IRS notice issued Wednesday dropped hints as to which way its leaning.

The aim of these proposals is to allow taxpayers to characterize such transfers as fully deductible charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes, while using the same transfers to satisfy state or local tax liabilities, it said.

The proposed regulations will make clear that the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, informed by substance-over-form principles, govern the federal income tax treatment of such transfers, it added.

Substance-over-form is a complicated doctrine used in cases where what the taxpayer has done is, strictly speaking correct, and yet there is something problematic about it. The classic case is a tax shelter, said Darien Shankse, a UC Davis law professor who consulted on the two California bills.

In other words, If this looks likes a tax and walks like a tax, we are going to treat it like a tax and not a charitable contribution, Gleckman said.

It will take months or years for the IRS to adopt the regulations. In the meantime, taxpayers should be mindful that federal law controls the proper characterization of payments for federal income tax purposes, the IRS warned.

One big question is how the IRS regulations will impact existing programs that give taxpayers a state or local tax benefit for charitable contributions. Shanske found 100 such programs in 30 states, both red and blue. One is the California College Access Tax Credit program, which gives people who donate money to a fund for Cal Grants a credit equal to half their contribution.

The notice also did not address other workaround laws, such as a voluntary payroll tax swap in New York and a business-level tax swap in Connecticut that is awaiting the governors signature.

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Gleckman said the IRS is trying to warn California and other states that are still developing workarounds to tread cautiously.

Shanske said hes encouraged that the IRS is taking the legal arguments for these programs seriously and not dismissing them out of hand.

Jared Walczak, a senior policy analyst with the Tax Foundation, said the IRS ultimately will reject them.

No one ever expected the IRS would be fooled by these workarounds or allow them to go unchallenged, he said.

But even if the IRS outlaws them, it could be challenged in court.

We always knew the Trump administration would oppose this effort, so yesterdays memo comes as no surprise, said Dan Reeves, chief of staff for state Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, who wrote one of the bills. Yet, the memo itself essentially conceded that our proposal is in fact legal, otherwise they wouldnt need a new regulation. Were confident that regardless of what they come up with, our proposal passes muster under the economic substance analysis, decades of case law, and will stand up in court, Reeves said in an email.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender
Gavin Newsom cant wait to get back in the drivers seat.

As Californias lieutenant governor for the past 7 years, technically he holds the second-highest position in the countrys most populous state, the one with the fifth-largest economy in the world.

But the job comes with all the power of a windup toy car, and Newsom, polling first in a crowded field for governor in the June 5 primary, is tired of puttering along.

He longs for the top job in California, where his big ideas can come to fruition. Single-payer health care. Fighting President Trump on immigration. Tackling homelessness.

We need specific plans, specific goals  yes, audacious goals, he said in a recent interview, using the word audacious as often as others use the.

If you want to solve a problem, youve got to be audacious, he continued in his famously gravelly voice.

Audacious ideas were Newsoms legacy as mayor of San Francisco from January 2004 until his departure for Sacramento in January 2011. It was the last time he had any real power, and his highs and lows then are likely to foretell how hed operate as governor.

Hes very restless, said Nathan Ballard, a San Francisco Democratic strategist who worked as Newsoms press secretary at City Hall. He loved the executive powers of mayor. To have the potential to make history with the stroke of a pen is an exciting prospect for him.

But coming up with big ideas and executing them is just one part of leading a city. As mayor, Newsom was dismissed by his detractors as the philosopher king, so lost in thought over his next big plans he ignored the day-to-day necessities of the job, such as making sure the buses run on time and that the potholes get filled. He never cared much about getting to know his colleagues, forming coalitions or building consensus.

I had even his allies on the board telling me how frustrating he was to work with because he wasnt really around, said former Supervisor David Campos, who Newsom appointed to a vacant seat. Hes kind of aloof.

I covered Newsom for most of his time as mayor, and when we talked last week, he joked I that probably still have post-traumatic stress disorder from that experience. As mayor, he could be captivating, enigmatic, angry and just plain odd  all in a matter of minutes. But he was certainly never boring.

Well, except in 2008 when he skipped the traditional State of the City address and issued a 7-hour YouTube version instead. Thats right, he had so many ideas he thought he needed almost an entire workday to share them all. Even the one about broccoli on public school salad bars  seriously.

Another example of the policy wonk losing touch with how regular people operate? The accountability matrix he carried around, a thick binder full of documents tracking his ideas and their progress. Interesting to him, maybe  not so much to others.

Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

But mostly, whether for good reasons or bad, Newsoms tenure as mayor was an edge-of-your-seat ride.

Of course, Newsoms most well-known idea came in February 2004, just weeks into his first term, when he turned City Hall into a wedding chapel for 4,000 couples by authorizing same-sex marriage against state law.

The marriage licenses were eventually revoked, but Newsom is widely credited with fast-tracking the movement, which culminated with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear a challenge 11 years later, making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

Other big, significant ideas included universal health care in the city; brushing off homeless shelters in favor of permanent, supportive housing; and requiring composting. Some of his ideas stalled under his tenure but eventually took hold under his successor, the late Mayor Ed Lee. Those included levying a tax on soda and creating public Wi-Fi. He also began work on the controversial Twitter tax break to lure companies to the rundown Mid-Market area that became a reality under Lee.

Plenty of ideas were so weird, they went nowhere. He wanted to submerge giant turbines under the Golden Gate Bridge to harness tidal power. And he wanted to turn parking meters into homeless meters so pedestrians could donate change to nonprofits rather than panhandlers.

We were willing to try new things, Newsom recalled. Thats the spirit I want to bring again  that iterative spirit.

I couldnt quite catch the word he used before spirit so I asked him to repeat it. Iterative, meaning iterating, iteration, willing to adjust, attack, try new things, he said. Willing to take some risks.

Apparently, hes willing to take risks with the English language, too. Perhaps he meant innovative.

As mayor, Newsom was known as the eloquent man with a shock of gelled hair who could command a room of thousands with a great speech. But he could be off-putting one-on-one or in a small group.

Gavin was great in front of 1,000 and terrible in a room with the five people he needed to get things done, said Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

Campos recalled Newsom hosting a party for him to celebrate his appointment to the board.

Even then, he was just so awkward, off to himself in a corner, not really knowing how to interact with people, Campos said.

Katy Raddatz / The Chronicle 2006

Campos, Peskin and former Mayor Art Agnos recently held a news conference in San Francisco to endorse Newsoms main Democratic challenger, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

They all said Newsom is trying to paint himself as a champion of progressive politics when, as mayor, he wasnt. Agnos gave as an example Newsoms support for single-payer health care in California when as mayor he initially distanced himself from then-Supervisor Tom Ammianos universal health care proposal because he didnt want employers to have to pay for it.

Were it not for same-sex marriage, hed be viewed as an appendage of the local Chamber of Commerce, Peskin said.

Ballard said Newsoms business savvy is a good thing and would serve the state well when the inevitable downturn occurs. Newsom opened a wine store in the Marina in 1992 with the backing of the wealthy Getty family, and it has since grown into a thriving hospitality business known as the PlumpJack Group.

During the recession, Ballard said, Newsom was able to keep San Francisco on a socially progressive path while at the same time not laying off any police officers or firefighters.

In 2010, Newsom overcame a historic $483 million deficit in the citys $6.4 billion annual budget without draconian measures like closing fire stations or libraries. Instead, he secured concessions from labor groups, raised fees, slashed overtime and laid off 350 city workers.

From his dealing with the economic downturn to his endless policy proposals, there was no shortage of news to cover about the Newsom administration. And the mayor could be thin-skinned about it.

He got into frequent tussles with reporters and was known to mark up newspaper stories about himself, pointing out what he considered unfair. Weeks after they were published, he would complain to me about stories he didnt like.

Of course, Newsoms worst headlines as mayor came in 2007, when it emerged hed had an affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, his appointments secretary and the wife of his campaign manager, who was also a friend. She entered rehab and received $10,000 in city funds generally reserved for those suffering catastrophic health problems. That money was approved by Newsoms public health director even though it was usually reserved for people near death.

Fred Larson / The Chronicle 1992

At the time, Newsom implied that he, too, had an alcohol problem and was in rehab, which he now says wasnt exactly true. He did have a drinking problem, he said, but he was able to solve it with one-on-one counseling from Mimi Silbert, president of Delancey Street Foundation, and now drinks in moderation.

Asked whether he limits himself to a certain number of drinks at a time now, he said, I dont even think about it in that context.

I also asked him why voters in other parts of California who are just learning of his history in San Francisco should feel confident he wont be similarly distracted as governor.

He said he was honest with San Franciscans back then and that hes a different person now. Hes 50 and has a happy marriage to filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom and four kids: Montana, 8, Hunter, 6, Brooklynn, 4, and Dutch, 2.

I have a completely different life and perspective, he said. I will always have it as the great regret in my life. Im devastated by the people that were hurt over that and by what occurred. I dont know what more I could possibly say.

The Newsom family, by the way, lives in the Marin town of Kentfield. When I asked whether his wife and children will pack up for Sacramento if he wins, he hedged.

I want to have that conversation with you  let me have it after the election, he said.

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Some things about being governor hes sure about. One is that, unlike pretty much any governor California has ever had, he would focus intently on homelessness. That was one of his signature issues as mayor, and his 10-Year Plan to Abolish Chronic Homelessness, which emphasized permanent, supportive housing, helped move nearly 12,000 people off the streets by 2014. That gave him one of the best track records of any mayor in the country.

But his homeless initiatives were controversial, including his Care Not Cash program to cut welfare checks dramatically in exchange for housing. Homeless advocates said the preference given those recipients for housing simply meant others were booted out and that the little cash left each month for food and other necessities meant many were still on the streets every day panhandling.

Newsom, though, considers it a big feather in his cap.

God as my witness, I was down at Glide Memorial Church yesterday, he said. I walked outside, and a guy came up to me and gave me a hug. I almost teared up. He talked about Care Not Cash. He said, I cant tell you how many friends of mine have a key and a door, and it touched me.

As he traverses the state campaigning, from San Francisco to Stockton to Fresno to Los Angeles, he hears about homelessness being the No. 1 issue.

Its absolutely incumbent on the next governor to, with vigor, tackle this issue, he said. Its out of control, and its unacceptable everywhere you go.

He said he wants to confront the problem on a regional basis rather than have each city tackle it on its own. He also wants to leverage tax credits and grants to build more permanent, supportive housing and expand Navigation Centers  pioneered by Ed Lee in San Francisco  around the state.

Asked whether he would support safe injection sites  places where drug users can shoot up under supervision but that are against federal law  Newsom stalled. Pull me into that issue? Well done, he said. Thats the last thing I want to respond to.

He said he understands and supports the concept, but worries about the practical effects the sites would have on the surrounding neighborhoods.

Bevan Dufty, who was a supervisor while Newsom was mayor and directed Lees homeless program for nearly four years, said Newsom has a better grasp of policies and best practices responding to homelessness than any governor nationally. Californias homeless crisis demands bold leadership and big ideas that are a hallmark of Gavins leadership.

Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said shed be pleased if Newsom was successful in building more permanent, supportive housing around California. But she said many of his homeless initiatives, such as backing the voter-approved ban on sitting or lying on sidewalks, were just plain mean  not to mention ineffective  and should not be replicated.

If he focuses on real solutions and getting people housing, it would be a huge win, she said. If he focuses on policies that just move people around, thats going to be a disaster.

Newsom said theres also an audacity we want to bring to the issue of health care. One idea is to expand Healthy San Francisco, the citys universal-access health care program begun during his tenure as mayor, throughout the state. That program started in 2007 as the first of its kind in the country. It provides health care to uninsured city residents who arent eligible for Medicare or Medi-Cal, regardless of employment status, immigration status and pre-existing medical conditions.

Its paid for with a mix of city and state money, participants co-payments and fees, and employer contributions.

Even better for California, Newsom argues, would be figuring out how to pay for a single-payer health care system in which everybody would be covered by publicly funded insurance.

Asked what would be the one, big, seemingly crazy thing hed do akin to marrying same-sex couples, he said it would be about taking on President Trump over immigration. He wouldnt give details.

Theres a lot of audacious thinking, but Ive got to temper my comments, he said, hinting that he greatly admires Oakland Mayor Libby Schaafs decision in February to warn her citys residents of imminent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Weve got to be bold in the face of an administration that refers to human beings as animals, Newsom said. I will certainly, aggressively, push back against any assault on our values. Thats a natural state for me.

All of these ideas, he said, will be tracked in the accountability matrix binder hell bring to the governors office.

Thats habitual, he said. Thats sticking with me.

But I did get him to promise he wont record any 7-hour State of the State videos on YouTube.

That didnt come off so well, did it? he said with a laugh. Youre right. I was wrong. No recovery, mea culpa, never again.

Californians, youre welcome.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Tuesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
There is nothing more Californian than our ability to swim, surf and fish in clean water. And yet, we have fallen behind Kentucky and Texas when it comes to clean water enforcement. With industry advocates in the federal drivers seat, we need state leaders in California to hold polluters accountable for harming our precious water resources.

Two years ago, I hiked the length of California and waded the Kern, Feather and San Joaquin rivers. At their beginnings, these waters are crystal clear, cold, flowing strong and clean. More than 40 years ago, Congress passed the Clean Water Act to protect these national treasures from pollution.

When Californias rivers leave the mountain snowmelt behind, they embark on a difficult journey. Many are diverted, drained and pumped dry before they reach the Pacific Ocean. Those that keep flowing are often polluted with heavy metals, pesticides, bacteria, plastic bottles and runoff from industrial operations. In fact, the number of California rivers that failed to meet basic water quality standards for swimming, fishing and drinking shot up 170 percent from 2006 to 2010, (the last time our state undertook this legally required biannual task).

San Francisco Baykeeper

Like rules designed to prevent drunk driving, environmental laws are only as good as their enforcement. If police in some areas decided that being over the .08 percent blood alcohol level was not a big deal and didnt issue penalties, we would see an increase in traffic deaths and the officers involved could lose their jobs. Unfortunately, this same scenario is playing out when it comes to actions against those polluting Californias waterways.

It used to be that the federal government was a cop on the beat enforcing the Clean Water Act. With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency being subjected to a hostile takeover from polluting industries, the number of environmental enforcement cases and the amount of penalties levied has been cut in half.

At least under the Trump administration, California is going to have to go it alone. We are known internationally as a state that cares deeply about environmental protection, so youd think wed have this covered. California is suing the Trump administration to prevent rollbacks to vehicle emission standards. Frustratingly, this same vigor has not been applied to taking action against those polluting Californias beaches, bays and rivers.

The State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento and the Regional Water Quality Control Boards are charged with protecting our increasingly scarce and precious water resources. These agencies helped us survive a devastating drought, but are falling short when it comes to levying fines against polluters. In 2016, only 1 percent of the illegal industrial and construction storm water pollution cases brought to the state water board resulted in penalties. Six of the nine regional water boards did not issue a single fine in 2016. In 2017, just 2 percent of industrial and construction storm water pollution cases brought to the state water board resulted in penalties.

This means that of the thousands of refineries, trash dumps, auto dismantlers and cement factories from San Jose to the Oregon border, not a single facility was fined by the state for storm water pollution. In California, the polluter doesnt pay. Even repeat offenders and those who are responsible for serious violations face no economic consequences. This puts the majority of companies  which are complying with the Clean Water Act  at a significant competitive disadvantage.

Russian Riverkeeper

The same state agencies that dont seem willing to issue penalties for polluted industrial runoff have a good track record when it comes to issuing fines for sewage pollution, so it can be done. Lets start enforcing clean water laws by taking these three steps:

1 Have the state set clear enforcement goals for all regional water boards that describe the types of pollution to be targeted, the areas of the state that need the most attention, and how many cases each region shall bring, with specific goals for penalties collected;

2 Require all state and regional water permits and policies go through a review to make sure the language is clear enough to actually be enforced; and

3 If the individual regional water boards arent willing or able to enforce pollution laws, then the state should take back the program and run the water enforcement work from Sacramento, where there is less room for interference from polluting industries.

For too long, we have been campaigning for clean water with one hand tied behind our back. By using the states authority to fine serious polluters, we will be giving our rivers, lakes and coast a fighting chance.

Jared Blumenfeld is a member of the Clean Water Accountability Project Blue Ribbon Panel, host of Podship Earth, and the former administrator of U.S. EPA Region 9. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at SFChronicle.com/letters.
The Fourth Estate opens with top editors of the New York Times watching television coverage of President Trumps inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017. Wow, what a story, says Executive Editor Dean Baquet, punctuating it with a profanity as his assembled colleagues nod in agreement. OK, lets go, he says.

And go they did.

The story behind the story is the subject of this riveting four-part documentary directed by Liz Garbus, nominated for an Oscar for her 2015 film, What Happened, Miss Simone? Garbus and crew were given extraordinary access to the reporters and editors covering the first 16 months of the Trump administration.

The documentary, which premieres Sunday night on Showtime, offers an exhaustive examination of the Times often-exhausting pursuit of the story against the headwinds of intense competition from the Washington Post and a White House that was hellbent to dismiss and delegitimize its watchdogs in the news media as it shattered myriad norms of the American presidency.

In the process, viewers who dont work in a newsroom will get an inside look at the rhythms, standards and ever-evolving demands in the business: the fretting over word choices, the unrelenting pressure to meet deadlines while constantly feeding the ravenous beast of social media and, above all else, the due diligence required to get the story right.

Some of the Times reporters, notably Maggie Haberman, Michael Schmidt and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, have become fixtures on cable television. This documentary takes viewers to their decidedly less glamorous day jobs, which often extend into the night as they do the groundwork that gives them and a galaxy of pundits the substance to discuss on the air.

If 4 hours seems a bit excessive for a documentary about a newspaper, its hard to imagine Garbus condensing it to less, so constant and so bizarre have been the twists and turns in a presidency the Times has covered more thoroughly than anyone. As Baquet predicts at the outset, the inauguration of Donald Trump poses a big test for us in a lot of ways. It will be hard, he says, but exciting.

Trumps attacks on the press generally  enemies of the American people  and the failing New York Times provide a thread throughout the four episodes.

One of the chilling sequences is of a Phoenix rally, Trumps first political event after his tepid both sides rationalization of the violence accompanying the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va., drew widespread condemnation. Back before a friendly audience, Trump whipped the crowd into a frenzy, pointing at the very dishonest media he suggests oppose American interests. These are sick people, he says, and the crowd turns toward the press pen.

Oh, my God, you hate our president, a woman screams at reporters amid the chants. Thats so sick.

Yet some of the more revelatory moments about the Trump White Houses symbiotic relationship with the press it claims to loathe emerge in the footage of interviews with Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who, shortly after the inauguration, famously called the media the opposition party that doesnt understand this country and ought to keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.

Behind the scenes, Bannon is shown courting Times reporters in a gracious way in an interview at the Washington row house known as Breitbart Mansion and in chatting with Times political reporter Jeremy Peters in a car on the way to a rally for Judge Roy Moore, the Senate candidate accused of once preying on young women, in Fairhope, Ala.

Good to see you, brother, Bannon says as they pile in the car. They talk on the drive from the airport, then have a chummy off-the-record exchange right before Bannon gets onstage and proceeds to trash the fake news and call out the attending organizations by name to cue the crowd hisses.

Then, immediately after the speech, Bannon invites a few of those ostensible elites backstage to get his spin and insights.

I know Steve doesnt believe that we just make up sources, Peters said. Were a useful punching bag.

The Times was also on top of the other big story of 2017: the outing of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein as a serial sexual predator, which elevated the #MeToo movement and led to the fall of a succession of other powerful men in media and politics. The film captures the reporters and editors putting the finishing touches on an investigation that would generate the societal reckoning about sexual harassment.

Yet the integrity of The Fourth Estate  and the willingness of the Times to put itself under scrutiny, warts and all  comes in its treatment of allegations that one of its star reporters, Glenn Thrush, prominently featured in the initial episodes, engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior at his former workplace, Politico.

It shows editor Baquet going through the painful but necessary deliberation that led to the suspension of Thrush and his removal from the prestigious White House beat. The filmmakers are allowed in the room as Baquet announces his decision on a conference call to the Washington bureau.

Its only fitting that a documentary about journalism would be forthright enough to include a point of such distress for its subject. Baquets handling of the allegations demonstrated his concern for the Times brand and the Gray Ladys commitment to accountability.

In this polarized era, its probably unrealistic to think that this or any other account of a newspapers processes will change the mind of the Trump supporters who have swallowed his contention that even the nations newspaper of record is dishonest and corrupt. If anything, Trump has been stepping up his crusade against the news media and the witch hunt against him.

Baquet notes that the day in and day out attacks against the Times are hurtful, but they are not unprecedented. The Times and other news organizations faced similar vitriol for their reporting on civil rights and Vietnam.

All I can say is, those guys are gone and the New York Times is still here, he notes.

The Fourth Estate helps explain why.

John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. Email: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnDiazChron

Q&A with Liz Garbus, director of The Fourth Estate: I made my pitch  to be a fly on the wall

Q: The access you had is pretty impressive. How difficult was it to persuade the Times to allow you to capture its behind-the-scenes machinations?

A: In terms of the Times brass  it was actually less difficult than I thought. I made my pitch  to be a fly on the wall this year of their Trump coverage  and they immediately understood why I wanted to tell this story. In terms of persuading each individual reporter or editor that we filmed  there were definitely the entire range of reactions. From  when you guys come film Ill go work in a cafe  to, how will my colleagues feel when Im filming with you guys, if they are not? And as time went on, it became easier for some people to relax and trust us, and harder for some others. It was challenging. But I also of course understand why it was such a hard ask.

Q: Did the Times have any input into the editing of the documentary? I can imagine that there were sensitive or uncomfortable moments, as there always are in any newsroom, when sourcing is discussed or there are conflicts in news judgment. Were you given sole discretion to decide what was fair game?

A: The only input they had was a right to review the film to ensure we had not revealed any confidential sources.

Q: Any surprises stand out about what you saw inside the news process?

A: Its hard to say, because I learned so much being in the newsroom this past 16 months. I would say that its pretty incredible, given the amount of incoming information, much of which is garbage, how often they do really actually get it right. The rigor of the confirmation process. I think a lot of that comes from the way people work in teams  looking over each others shoulders, challenging assumptions and word choices. I also found it to be an incredibly addictive environment, for me, personally. I can see why, in this Trump era, when the onslaught of news is so relentless, its impossible to turn off.
Technology giants, including Amazon and Google, are accustomed to maintaining a certain level of secrecy. But thats not going to work when it comes to the growing amount of work they do for and with public agencies. Amazons facial recognition system, called Rekognition, became very public this week.

Amazon has been providing the technology, along with consulting services, to law enforcement agencies in Florida and Oregon, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California under a Freedom of Information Act request.

In the past, Amazon has opposed secret government surveillance, wrote the ACLU in a letter to Jeff Bezos, Amazons chief executive. But Amazons Rekognition product runs counter to those values. ... Amazon Rekognition is primed for abuse in the hands of governments.

Facial recognition technology is not new. The U.S. military and intelligence agencies have used it for years in overseas conflicts; many of the technology companies who provide it are security contractors.

But Amazon is one of the first big technology companies to offer the service. The companys scale  and the fact that its encouraging domestic law enforcement agencies to use the technology  certainly merits an increased level of scrutiny.

There are also problems with the technology itself. Many facial recognition systems have notoriously high error rates for women and people of color.

These failures can translate directly into more stops, arrests and other law enforcement contacts for people who are already marginalized in society.

Through a spokesperson, Amazon said in a statement: Amazon requires that customers comply with the law and be responsible when they use AWS (Amazon Web Services) ... Our quality of life would be much worse today if we outlawed new technology because some people could choose to abuse the technology.

The public deserves a better response than this.

Meanwhile, Googles own employees are confronting the company over its participation in Project Maven, a drone surveillance project with the U.S. Department of Defense.

More than 4,000 Google employees have signed a letter asking the company to stop assisting the Defense Department in developing a drone program based on artificial intelligence. We believe that Google should not be in the business of war, the letter reads.

Google has stood by its participation in Project Maven, even as more than a dozen employees reportedly quit over the matter.

The internet is the product of DARPA, an agency within the Department of Defense, and Silicon Valleys history is deeply connected to origins within the military and the idea of enforcing law.

But Amazon and Google arent military experiments anymore. Theyre public companies, and they must answer to the public when it comes to creating products with the potential to cause harm.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
AFP / Getty Images

The coins preemptively commemorating President Trumps summit with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un could yet be purchased from the White House Gift Shop (at a discount). Trumps Nobel Peace Prize nomination for the tete-a-tete, thanks to a dozen of Congress most obsequious members, had been submitted. All that was missing, at least as of Thursday morning, was the summit itself.

The hypothetically historic meeting evanesced as abruptly and bizarrely as it materialized. Thats regrettable. For all that he is wrong about, Trump was right about the benefits of talking even to our most dangerous, distrusted enemies. Unfortunately, he also reserved the right to go wrong in his fumbling efforts to make denuclearization talks a reality rather than just another reality-television farce.
Californias seemingly perennial problem with youth incarceration is rooted in the everyday decision-making of its 58 counties. Some counties are much more reliant on incarceration than others, choosing to prioritize the use of taxpayer funds for detention over community-based programs that ensure a safer and healthier California. This implementation is out of step with juvenile justice trends and best practices.

Californias counties must adopt a justice reinvestment strategy that repurposes savings from our continued drop in youth arrest and incarceration rates.

In 1996, Californias youth prison system had a population of 10,000. Today, the number of youth arrested and incarcerated has plummeted to historic lows, with just over 600 youth in the state youth prison system.

At the county level, many juvenile halls, including those in the Bay Area, stand more than half empty. While young people certainly do face challenges, such as lack of education, unemployment, violence and trauma, our continued reliance on incarceration is no way to help them meet those challenges.

Despite fewer youth incarcerated, funding available to counties through two major state juvenile justice funds actually has increased, as it is tied to taxes and allocated based partly on a countys population.

In fiscal year 2016-17, counties received nearly $280 million in state juvenile justice funding. Both the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act and Youthful Offender Block Grant programs are meant to address the needs of young people who are in the justice system or have the risk of becoming involved in it in the future.

A new study by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice analyzes how five Bay Area counties use funds from these two annual juvenile justice grants, which are supported through sales taxes and vehicle license fees with little risk of discontinuation year to year.

CJCJs study found that while counties have broad discretion on how to use this money, county probation departments receive the vast majority of it. Even with ample flexibility for spending and little oversight, most of this critical spending is not supporting young people or the communities most affected by youth incarceration.

Of the $280 million, $25 million went to five Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo). Most of the funding benefited county staffing, with only $3.7 million spent to support community-based organizations. Some counties do buck this trend by investing most of their state funding into services that directly support youth in the community  not behind locked doors. For example, San Francisco, which has invested heavily in a continuum of services for youth, spent almost all of its JJCPA funds on community-based organizations. It can and should serve as a model to other counties.

Juvenile justice advocates across California are pushing counties for greater transparency and inclusion in the decision-making processes for funding. This is a promising step as communities should be asking more questions about how these funds are used and ensuring they prioritize the real needs of young people. True criminal justice reform is local and each county in California has the power to transform its priorities away from mass incarceration and toward community-based programs that work.

Brian Goldstein is the director of policy and development with the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco.
SACRAMENTO  Two bills to ensure that California law enforcement agencies dont ignore rape kits passed key committee votes in the state Legislature on Friday.

Advocates say the bills are needed so that critical sexual assault evidence isnt shelved, with many pointing to a case in Berkeley as an example of the harm one forgotten rape kit can cause.

SB1449 by Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino (San Bernardino County), would require law enforcement agencies to submit evidence from a rape kit for testing within 20 days and mandate that labs complete their analysis within 120 days. Current law says law enforcement should have evidence from sexual assaults tested within those time frames, but does not require the agencies to do so.

Leyva said she was thrilled that her bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee during a whirlwind of votes that can make or break hundreds of pieces of legislation. Her measure now heads head to the full Senate for a vote as early as next week.

All rape victims deserve to have their rape kits tested promptly so that we can ensure justice and help to put rapists behind bars, Leyva said after the vote.

Another bill, AB3118 by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would require law enforcement agencies and crime labs to report to the state Department of Justice how many untested rape kits they have on storage shelves. There is no statewide figure on how many rape kits have gone untested, but the Joyful Heart Foundation, an advocacy group that is pushing for the legislation, estimates that California has more than 13,000 such kits.

Assembly Appropriations Chair Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, D-San Diego, said she had received literally thousands of tweets from people urging her to support Chius bill. The measure heads to the full Assembly for a vote as early as next week.

To truly address the backlog, we need to know how many untested rape kits exist in California, and we must test all kits moving forward to ensure we do not increase that backlog, Chiu said. The Assembly sent a strong message today that we stand with survivors.

Supporters of both bills pointed to the Berkeley Police Departments failure to test a rape kit from a 2008 abduction and sexual assault of two young women for more than six years. The suspect in that case allegedly went on to attack a woman in her home in February 2015 and rape and murder another woman in Albany 10 days later.

The woman who survived the first attack, Ann Reidy, told The Chronicle that there is no doubt in my mind that this was preventable. The family of Randhir Kaur, the dental student who was killed in her Albany apartment on March 8, 2015, also expressed dismay about police investigators inaction.

The suspect, Keith Kenard Asberry Jr., who police say is linked by DNA to each of the crimes, was scheduled to enter a plea Thursday, but the hearing was delayed.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
This is Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauers Between Meals column, an update of the restaurants he visits as he searches for the next Top 100 Restaurants. His main dining reviews, which include a ratings box, are written only after three or more visits.

While the food at Henrys in Berkeley consistently received mediocre ratings on crowdsourced reviews, it has long been a major gathering place around college sporting events, since its only a block from the UC campus.

Now, with a remodel of the hotel and restaurant, the place can be cheered as much for its food as for its convenience for celebrating a Cal Bears victory.

The restaurant might be known by locals for a 1990 incident in which 33 people were held hostage and one person was killed and seven injured. Since then, it has had several owners. The newest, the owners of the Graduate Berkeley hotel (formerly the Durant Hotel), smartly brought in Chris Kronner of KronnerBurger to revamp the menu, which debuted last month. Kronner has amassed a group of first-rate veterans, including Jeffery Hayden, the opening chef of Del Popolo in San Francisco.

Not to diminish the art of constructing a hamburger, but Kronner proved himself as a more wide-ranging chef at places like the now defunct Slow Club and Bar Tartine. Equally talented, Hayden has created some of the best salads Ive had in a pizzeria.

Michael Bauer/The Chronicle

All those qualities were on display on my visit to Henrys, where the interior has a kind of old-world look with the traditional redwood bar, dark wood floors and box-beam ceiling. A hundred seats are divided between the tavern and dining room. The result is casual and comfortable, and it feels like this new Henrys could have been around since the original hotel opened in 1928.

Cocktails are first-rate, whether its the exceptional manhattan ($12) that veers toward the spiritous side, or the smoky tattletail ($12) with scotch. These go particularly well with fried maitake mushrooms and flowering broccoli ($14), served with a rice wine vinaigrette.

You can get such bar food as smoked potato chips with vegan French onion dip ($8), spicy chicken wings in Fresno chile hot sauce ($12) and oysters on the half shell ($18).

But the restaurant offers much more than just bar food. I would quickly head back for the asparagus and snap peas ($14), the vegetables both shaved and chunked to give them different textures and flavors before being tossed with roasted fennel, cashews and fried garlic in a vinaigrette with a minty nuance.

Michael Bauer/The Chronicle

And, of course, theres the Henrys Burger ($16)  but not the same one youd find at KronnerBurger. Yet it is practically as good, stacked with pickles, onions, lettuce and a special sauce on a sweet potato bun crafted by Tartine. Its served with excellent fries.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

You can get a glimpse of Kronners sophistication in the coal-smoked roasted lamb neck ($25), a fist-size chunk of gooey meat and bone covered with thickly grated carrot salad with mint and chile oil. Other main courses include pork sausage ($16), rockfish with pistachio salsa ($19) and fried chicken with celery pickles ($16).

The peanut butter and chocolate semifreddo with brown butter caramel ($8) finished dinner on a high note.

If my dinner was any indication, you no longer need to go to Henrys simply to celebrate your favorite team. You can also cheer the food.

2600 Durant Ave., Berkeley; 510- 809-4132. www.henrysberkeley.com. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

Michael Bauer is The San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic and editor at large. Email: mbauer@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michaelbauer1 Instagram: @michaelbauer1
While Jamie North and Becky Neuman are not as well known as the Danish prince, flawed kings and star-crossed Italian teenagers who tend to be the focus in this Shakespeare-centric town, they are leading characters in the story that is lodging and dining in Ashland.

And, possibly, the storys heroes.

To be certain, Neuman and North and the hotels and restaurants each have opened in the past two decades have shaped the hospitality landscape in Ashland, a town whose existence revolves around amenities for Othello-quoting travelers. And though each has her own piece of the scene  and each offers a different approach  one thing is equally certain: If you get good advice on where to go, eat or stay in Ashland, youre probably going to be a guest of one or both of these women.

North apparently appreciates the broad range of experiences. The restaurant owner, entrepreneur and chef  who trained at French Laundry in Yountville  co-opened Amuse restaurant in 2000 when she was 23. It consistently has been one of the most well reviewed (and expensive) dining spots in Ashland.

A few blocks away, at another North establishment, you can get a $6.25 burger. And a $3.25 demi-scoop of ice cream at yet another. Its perfectly logical to North.

Barbara Orsow

In the end, what do you want to eat? Chefs dont want to eat a coursed tasting menu, North said. You cooked that all night and just want a really good hamburger. We are real people at the end of the day that really just want simple.

While North was drawn to simplicity, Neuman by contrast is all about the smallest details. The hotel, spa and restaurant owner has, among other traits, nearly flawless elocution. She pauses just long enough to deliver thoughtful answers to questions while keeping the cadence of the conversation lively.

Her composure skips a beat when she describes the four resorts, three restaurants and two spas she and her husband, Doug, own. We want the freshest ingredients, she says about the restaurants.

Its as if she cant help the emphasis on adjectives, especially when talking about properties in which she had a direct hand designing. Or rebuilding.

The Neumans have a gift for taking rundown historic buildings and turning them in to thriving businesses without losing any of their original soul. It started with the Ashland Springs, previously the Marc Antony, which was built in 1925, when it was the tallest building between San Francisco and Portland. The grande dame hotel, however, fell on hard times, and was closed for a year in 1998 when Doug told Becky he wanted to buy it.

Unfortunately, it was dilapidated, uncared for, and they had sold off a lot of the furniture to keep the hotel open, Neuman said. The Neumans looked past the dust and rumors of it being haunted and saw opportunity. Doug and I stood there and it absolutely spoke to us. It was an exhilarated conversation that we had about what needed to be done, she said.

Six weeks later they bought a down-on-its-luck fishing resort 39 miles away called Lake of the Woods Resort.

Neuman Hotel Group

It was during those simultaneous renovations (spearheaded by San Francisco designer Candra Scott) that Becky Neuman learned to go to the historical society before making any design decisions, to pore over microfiche newspaper articles to create a historical frame of reference for property redesign. Nowhere are these details more apparent or has the transformation been so dramatic as the sprawling 14-acre, midcentury-modern Ashland Hills Hotel and Suites.

Neither Neuman nor North planned to spend the past 20 years building businesses in this small Southern Oregon town. Neuman moved up from Santa Barbara with her husband in 1987 after he showed her a Super 8 video he took of driving the downtown strip. She was excited to raise a family in Ashland and help Doug flip houses, but had no intention of being in the hospitality world  until he bought the run-down Marc Antony.

North grew up just north of Ashland in Medford. She is a third generation restaurant owner  her grandfather started the buffet chain that became JJ Norths Chuckwagon  and she started working in the buffets kitchen in Medford when she was 10.

I grew up with a pretty blue-collar background. We grew up eating meat and potatoes and my dad would go hunt elk and buffalo and we would eat buffalo and elk burgers before that was fashionable, she said.

After starting Amuse, North intended to sell the restaurant and move to a big city to start others.

Fortunately for Ashland, Neuman fell in love with history and North envisioned a future. Their properties are known for quality and consistency, and it seems like every other year, one of them is building something new (North opened another bakery on May 15 and will be opening a creamery in the fall). The story, it seems, is far from the last page.

Joe Jackson is a freelance writer based in Southern Oregon. Email: travel@sfchronicle.com.

Jamie North

Mix Bakeshop: www.mixashland.com

ReMix Coffee Bar: www.remixcoffee.com. Opened in early May.

Flip: www.flipashland.com

North Star Creamery: Set to open next fall.

Amuse: www.amuserestaurant.com. North opened in 2000 and left in December 2017.

Becky Neuman

Ashland Springs Hotel: www.ashlandspringshotel.com. Including Larks Home Kitchen Cuisine.

Lithia Springs Resort: www.lithiaspringsresort.com. Including Waterstone Spa.

Ashland Hills Hotel: www.ashlandhillshotel.com. Including Luna Cafe.

Inn at the Commons, Medford: www.innatthecommons.com. Including Larks Home Kitchen Cuisine.

Waterstone Spa, Ashland: www.waterstonespa.com/downtown

Neuman Hotel Group: www.neumanhotelgroup.com
BART wont go to Livermore, the transit agencys Board or Directors decided after a nearly four-hour hearing in Oakland on Thursday.

On a 5-4 vote, the board sided with those who felt BART should focus on rebuilding and modernizing the existing system before it commits to building more extensions. Directors Bevan Dufty, Nick Josefowitz, Rebecca Saltzman, Lateefah Simon and Robert Raburn voted against building the $1.6 billion extension. John McPartland, Debora Allen, Joel Keller and Tom Blalock voted for the extension.

Supporters of the Livermore extension, who packed the BART board room, seemed surprised by the vote  and disappointed.

The Bay Area lost an opportunity to provide a regional rail transit connection that would have benefited tens of thousands of drivers stuck on Interstate 580, said Livermore Mayor John Marchand. The commuters of the Bay Area lost on this one.

The board also voted against proceeding with plans for a rapid bus system that would have directly connected to the Dublin/Pleasanton Station after Livermore residents said they werent at all interested in the idea.

But the decisions may not be the end of the line for those wanting a transit connection from Livermore to Dublin/Pleasanton BART. The Tri-Valley-San Joaquin Valley Regional Rail Authority, created by state legislation last year, could come up with its own plans, and financing, for a rail connection between the Altamont Corridor Express commuter train, which stops in Livermore, and BART.

The extent of the authoritys power is uncertain, but, as of July 1, it can begin working on a connection to BART. Could that include a conventional BART extension?

I dont know that we can build a BART extension, said Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, a member of the authority board. But there are precedents. Look what San Jose did. But there are other options as well.

He was referring to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authoritys arrangement to build its own BART extension and pay BART to operate it.

Todd Trumbull

While Livermore residents have clamored for a BART extension for decades, the board was considering not only lengthening the existing system, it was also contemplating options for smaller trains, a rapid bus system and a plan to speed up existing bus service.

But, in the end, it chose to focus on upgrading its current system.

More than 150 people, most of them backing what they called the full BART option, filled the transit districts Oakland board room and spilled over into an adjoining room where they watched the proceedings on a big-screen TV as if it were the Warriors playoff game they were missing.

Proponents, most of them Livermore residents, argued that the extension would lure commuters off of I-580 as well as encourage development of jobs and housing in the Tri-Valley region. Critics of the extension said BART needs to instead spend its money on rejuvenating the existing system and expanding its capacity. They encouraged the board to instead back the rapid bus option, which would have a direct link to the Dublin/Pleasanton Station.

The plan for a conventional extension would have taken the BART tracks down the I-580 median to Isabel Avenue in Livermore, where city officials recently approved a plan to develop 4,100 housing units and offices for 9,100 jobs. Without a full-fledged BART extension, city officials argued, those jobs and homes will not materialize.

Several speakers said that BART owed Livermore an extension since residents had been paying sales and property taxes to the transit district for 50 years.

But the majority of the board was apparently persuaded by those who argued that BART needs to clean up, speed up and modernize the existing system and plan for things like a second Transbay Tube.

I just couldnt vote for this project, Dufty said of the extension. because of the effect it would have on the system.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com
Judy George Bretschneider, a sex psychologist who switched to international dance as a means of bringing young people together, died last Saturday at her home in San Francisco after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 63.

Though never a dancer herself, Miss Judy, as Bretschneider was known to her students, was co-founder of the Presidio Performing Arts Foundation, which operates the Presidio Dance Theatre. The company celebrated its 20th anniversary with a gala performance at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater on Thursday. That also would have been Bretschneiders 64th birthday, but she had died five days beforehand.

In her honor, May 24 was declared Judy Bretschneider Day in the city and county of San Francisco by proclamation of Mayor Mark Farrell. She also was issued the Certificate of Honor by the State of California.

Judy was a force of nature who used dance and arts education to introduce children to cultures around the world, said Shauna Marshall, the foundations board chair and a former academic dean of UC Hastings College of the Law.

Judy George was born May 24, 1954, in St. Marys Hospital and grew up in the Sunset District. She discovered her calling at an early age when she was student body president at A.P. Giannini Middle School and created an international day to promote the ethnicity of all her schoolmates. Mayor Joseph Alioto came to the event to thank her for her leadership.

She was the head song girl at Lowell High School, class of 1972, and earned bachelors and masters degrees in psychology at San Francisco State before entering a doctoral program at Stanford University.

In 1974, she married John Bretschneider, whom she had met in Sunday school at Glad Tidings Church in the Fillmore. They moved to Woodside to raise a family. Her breakthrough as a doctoral student was a study called Sex After 80, which was published in Psychology Today and led to a speaking tour.

Shed conducted her interviews at Woodacre Knolls retirement home in Redwood City, which her husbands family ran. But she ultimately left the program to concentrate on her family and her duties as president of the PTA at Woodside Elementary School.

In 1996, at age 42, Bretschneider was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. According to her daughter, Sherene Melania, she pledged that if she survived it she would dedicate herself to arts philanthropy.

The family moved from the Peninsula to Infantry Terrace in the Presidio, and that is where she started her dance foundation, in a building that now houses the Presidio Social Club restaurant.

Over the course of 20 years, Bretschneider built the Presidio Performing Arts Foundation into a nonprofit that offered free after-school dance classes at public schools in San Francisco. The Presidio Dance Theatre, composed of students from the after-school program, has made seven international tours and gives a free performance annually at the War Memorial Opera House, drawing 6,000 students a year.

Disadvantaged kids were given scholarships as early as first grade and on through high school. Many have later earned college scholarships through dance.

Among the programs products are Shane Weurthner, a former soloist with the San Francisco Ballet and now a principal with the Queensland Ballet in Australia, and Ixchel Cuellar, now in the national touring company for the Broadway production Finding Neverland.

In 2006, Bretschneider was given the Jefferson Award, for community service. She served on the San Francisco Ballet Auxiliary and was active in the Assyrian Arts Institute and the Assyrian Aid Society.

She leaves a tremendous legacy behind, said Melania, artistic director for the Presidio Dance Theater. Shes an excellent model for philanthropy, volunteerism and living a life for others. She touched thousands of lives nationally and internationally.

Survivors include her husband, John, as well as Melania and son Arthur Bretschneider, all of San Francisco; her mother, Melania George of Turlock (Stanislaus County); her sister, Julianne Van Leeuwen of El Dorado Hills; and two grandsons.

A memorial will be held Saturday, June 2, at 4 p.m. at St. Johns Presbyterian Church, 25 Lake St., San Francisco. Donations in her honor may be made to the Presidio Performing Arts Foundation, P.O. Box 29066, San Francisco, CA 94129.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF Instagram: @sfchronicle_art
Muni s subway service was blocked Friday morning at Castro Street due to a train derailment and might not resume until the afternoon, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said.

Shuttles will be running from West Portal to Church Station while the delay persists, and officials encouraged commuters to take Muni Metro alternatives, like the F-Market and Wharves, to travel along Market Street.
San Jose police arrested a kindergarten teacher on suspicion of inappropriately touching a 9-year-old student, authorities said Thursday.

Eduard Frerking, 61, of Sunnyvale, was arrested after he allegedly had inappropriate contact with a student at at Dahl Elementary School. In early May, Frerking asked a 9-year-old girl to help prepare the classroom for the day, according to the San Jose Police Department.

He then touched the victim while she assisted him in the classroom, said Officer Gina Tepoorten, a police spokeswoman.

Detectives responded to the school Wednesday and arrested Frerking, who was booked him into Santa Clara County Jail.

Representatives from Dahl Elementary School and the Franklin-McKinley School District did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

ALSO: 'Not your f-ing country': Fremont woman's racist tirade against Asian-American veteran goes viral

The investigation into Frerking is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call the San Jose Police Departments Sexual Assault Investigations Unit at 408-537-1397.

Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney
Michelle Obamas much-anticipated memoir isnt coming out until Nov. 13, but we now know what its cover will look like.

The former first lady shared it on Instagram on Thursday. The cover photo, taken earlier this year by portrait photographer Miller Mobley, showcases Obamas famously big smile as she leans gently toward the camera, her right shoulder bare. (She could be making a subtle statement: When she was first lady, some faulted her for wearing sleeveless dresses.)
Apple once had grand aspirations to build its own electric self-driving car and lead the next generation of transportation. Over time, the ambitions ran into the reality.

So it curtailed its vision, first by focusing on software for self-driving cars and then by working solely on an autonomous shuttle for its employees. Now, it has settled for an auto partner that was not its first choice.

For several years, Apple sought partnerships with luxury carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz to develop an all-electric self-driving vehicle, according to five people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But on-again, off-again talks with those companies ended after each rebuffed Apples requirements to hand over control of the data and design, some of the people said.

Instead, Apple has signed a deal with Volkswagen to turn some of the carmakers new T6 Transporter vans into Apples self-driving shuttles for employees  a project that is behind schedule and consuming nearly all of the Apple car teams attention, said three people familiar with the project.

Apples deal with Volkswagen and the failure of its talks with other automakers reflect the continuing travails and diminished scope of the Cupertino companys 4-year-old car program.

The project has suffered from repeated changes in direction that have hurt morale and led to hundreds of departures from its peak of more than 1,000 members two years ago, five former Apple employees said. They added that the project lacked a clear plan beyond the vans, including any near-term commercial goals.

The fits and starts have most likely put Apple even further behind in the race toward the self-driving future. Waymo, the self-driving business spun out of Google, as well as startups and some carmakers have been testing various autonomous vehicles on public roads for years. Some of the programs have hit hurdles  Uber on Wednesday said it was shutting down its self-driving operations in Arizona and laying off about 300 employees in the area  but many have already gathered extensive data on autonomous driving patterns to improve their technology.

Apple declined to comment.

Apple originally began its car project  known internally as Titan and T172  in 2014. At the time, Apple planned to build a single vehicle that would upend society and industry, in what would be the automotive version of the iPhone. The company set to work on an electric driverless car with a lush interior reminiscent of a lounge or living room, where passengers face each other instead of the road, according to two early employees.

Apple enlisted software programmers, automotive engineers, rocket scientists and the industrial-design team of Apples design chief, Jonathan Ive, to reimagine the car. They entertained a series of unconventional concepts, including augmented-reality or holographic displays embedded in windshields and windows, a sunroof made of a special polymer that reduces heat from the sun, and windows with adjustable tints  like those on Boeings new 787 Dreamliner jets.

Two former employees also recalled how their colleagues built a model of a sport utility vehicle with four seats facing each other, which some employees tested by sitting inside, similar to a design Mercedes advertised in 2015.

As recently as 2016, Apple planned to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build research and development labs around its Cupertino campus, including a machine shop and labs for electric car batteries, according to interviews and documents about the plans viewed by the New York Times.

Late last year, Apple found a partner in Volkswagen. Buffeted by a scandal around cheating emissions tests  and lagging rivals in development of self-driving cars  Volkswagen jumped at the chance, former Apple employees said.

Now, at a lab near Turin, Italy, run by a Volkswagen subsidiary called Italdesign, the companies plan to remake Volkswagens T6 vans as electric self-driving shuttles, these people said.

Jack Nicas is a New York Times writer.
Apple won $539 million from Samsung in the final throes of the companies U.S. court struggle over smartphone technology, seven years after the start of a global patent battle.

Apple sought about $1 billion in a retrial of a case that originally produced a verdict of that amount in 2012, while Samsung argued it should pay only $28 million this time.

Jurors in federal court in San Jose decided only on damages Thursday. It was already established that the South Korean company infringed three of Apples design patents  covering the rounded corners of its phones, the rim that surrounds the front face, and the grid of icons that users view  and two utility patents, which protect the way something works and is used.

Ride services

Uber pursuing

London pact

Uber admitted to making mistakes in London, promising to work closely with authorities as it tries to get its operating license renewed.

The apparent rapprochement appears to be good news for people wanting to get around the British capital cheaply and more safely, but its an unwanted embarrassment for Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservative Party.

Tory lawmakers weighed in to support the app in September when Transport for London said it had failed to meet required standards and that its permit wouldnt be renewed. There were petitions, protests and questions in Parliament in support of Uber, even though the police had also raised doubts about the safety of its cars.

May pitched it as a battle between the San Francisco company and London Mayor Sadiq Khan, accusing him of stifling competition. While Khan  one of the opposition Labour Partys most prominent politicians  always said the decision was made by the transport agency and not him, he now appears to have won anyway.

Earnings

Gap

Gap Inc. reported a first-quarter profit that missed Wall Street expectations, hurt by a deeper slump in demand for its namesake label. Its shares fell 7 percent in extended trading.

The San Francisco chain said that overall sales at established stores rose 1 percent, dragged down by a 4 percent drop at Gap. Old Navy and Banana Republic both saw sales rise 3 percent.

The results underscore how the Gap brand itself is failing to connect with shoppers, even as the company works to overhaul the business. The chain has been shifting its focus to its growing Old Navy and Athleta stores and away from the Gap and Banana Republic brands. Lower-priced Old Navy, in particular, has been a bright spot.

Gap faces the same problems as many other fashion chains as consumers shift their spending away from clothing and more toward experiences. But Gap, in particular, has struggled to differentiate itself from the sea of clothing options from competitors.

The company earned $164 million, or 42 cents per share, in the quarter ended May 5. That compares with $143 million (36 cents) in the year-ago period.

Gap posted revenue of $3.78 billion, topping estimates.

The clothing chain still expects full-year earnings of $2.55 to $2.70 per share.

Autodesk

Autodesk on Thursday reported a loss of $82.4 million in its fiscal first quarter.

On a per-share basis, the San Rafael company said it lost 38 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 6 cents per share, beating Wall Street expectations.

The design software company posted revenue of $559.9 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. For the current quarter, Autodesk expects its per-share earnings to range from 13 to 16 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $595 million to $605 million for the fiscal second quarter.

Ross Stores

Ross Stores said Thursday it has a fiscal first-quarter profit of $418.3 million.

The Dublin company said it had profit of $1.11 per share. Adjusted for pretax gains and non-recurring gains, earnings were 92 cents per share.

Although the results fell short of Wall Street expectations, the discount retailers revenue of $3.59 billion in the period beat Street forecasts.

Ross Stores expects full-year earnings to be $3.92 to $4.05 per share.

Chronicle News Services
GUANGZHOU, China  A day after Juliana Brandy Logbo gave birth to twins this month through an emergency cesarean section in a Chinese hospital, she thought the worst was over. Then the demands for money began.

First, Logbo said, the hospital told her that she had to pay $630 in hospitalization fees if she wanted to see her girls. Three days later, she said, the amount rose to nearly $800.

She didnt have the money. The demands left her weeping outside the newborn department in the hospital.

I want to get my kids discharged because I need to breastfeed them, said Logbo, a 28-year-old Liberian living in Guangzhou. I gave birth to my babies, and I cant even see my babies. Which type of country am I in?

In most developed countries, patients who need urgent care are given it first, regardless of whether they can pay. That isnt always the case in China.

Logbo is living in China on an expired visa and cant speak Chinese. But her experience mirrors that of millions of Chinese people who have to put up with an inflexible health care system that sometimes requires patients to pay up front for treatment.

China has rolled out an ambitious $130 billion package designed to make medical care more affordable. It now has almost universal health insurance for its nearly 1.4 billion people.

But the system is still plagued with gaps in coverage. Depending on the disease, whether the person lives in a city or the country and other factors, many Chinese can face huge out-of-pocket costs.

Then there are the remnants of the countrys pay as you go system. People who cant cough up the money are often denied care  even in life-or-death situations. Some hospitals require patients with particular diseases to pay a hefty deposit first.

While medical reform was supposed to make health care more accessible, industry analysts say the problem persists. In 2015, for example, national health officials recommended that for critically ill patients, hospitals had to first save them and then demand payment later.

New parents are vulnerable, according to Chinese state media reports.

In 2012, a couple in Shenzhen were denied access to their newborn twins for two months because they could not pay nearly $19,000 in fees. In 2011, a 57-year-old grandmother in Nanjing, whose son owed a hospital $2,800 in medical fees for his newborn, knelt and begged doctors and nurses to allow him to see his child. That same year, a hospital in Dongguan told the parents who owed it more than $1,600 that it had sent their newborn child to an orphanage in order to frighten them into paying. While the families inevitably get their babies back, hospital officials can use their demands for faster or fuller payment.

Logbo acknowledged that her situation complicated matters. Her boyfriend, also a Liberian and the father of her twins, has been detained in China since September, she said, accused of lending his Chinese bank account to a friend for a money transfer.

At the Huadu District Peoples Hospital in Guangzhou, the demands for money came early. On May 5, as Logbo was going into labor, she had to pay $130 for an ambulance fee. After her C-section the next day, she had to pay a $790 deposit.

Logbo gave birth at 3 a.m., and the nurses whisked the twins away without letting her hold them. When she asked to see her girls the next day, administrators demanded a $630 discharge fee, she said.

Her friend Salome Sweetgaye helped her raise the money, but they were too late. On May 10, they were told that they had to pay $800, according to Logbo. Logbo told the hospital that she had no money. It reduced the price to $707. Copies of these bills were viewed by the New York Times.

That afternoon, Logbo held her babies for the first time.

Sui-Lee Wee is a New York Times writer.
Former first lady Michelle Obama likes Souvla's fast-casual Greek food so much, she ordered it for a recent plane ride from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. And then she wrote the restaurant staff a letter of thanks and admiration.

"Dear Souvla Staff," begins the letter, dated Dec. 14 and shared on Souvla's Twitter on Thursday, "I wanted to write and thank you for all the delicious food for our plane ride back to D.C."

"Everything was phenomenal," she continued, "and it made our long flight home so much more enjoyable."

Obama closed the letter thanking the team for their support and a reiteration of her gratitude for "the wonderful meal."

It's not clear if Obama made a stealthy visit to San Francisco this month, or if the letter is an expression of belated thanks. Obama's last-known visit to the city was in mid-November, when she spoke at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference.

The folks at Souvla could not immediately be reached to comment, but they told SF Eater that Obama's team ordered "pretty much everything on the menu."

RELATED VIDEO: Must-have San Francisco food experiences

Souvla expanded from its original Hayes Valley location in 2016, opening outposts in the NoPa and the Mission neighborhoods. The restaurant serves spit-fired meats and Greek dishes with a twist, included its much-beloved olive oil and sea salt frozen yogurt concoction.

The order-at-the-counter restaurant is popular not just among the presidential elite; ride-sharing app Lyft says the Hayes Valley Souvla was the most traveled to restaurant in San Francisco this year.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.
Mike Lee was getting onto the Bay Bridge Thursday from San Francisco headed east when he saw something he'd never seen before: two young men, probably in their 20s, with motorized scooters between the lane he was in and the northern wall of the bridge.

The men were running red lights, he said, and caused a traffic jam on the 1st Street ramp at around 2:30 p.m. that day.

"They did some zig-zag motions, passed the gas station on Folsom, then flipped a U-turn and jammed it onto the onramp," he told SFGATE. "From there, they jumped onto the emergency pedestrian walk on the left side of the bridge laughing."

Taking motorized scooters, like those from Bird, LimeBike and Spin currently proliferating on city streets, is illegal, according to California Highway Patrol Spokesperson Vu Williams. Despite that the scooters have a motor, they're not considered motor vehicles.

RELATED: SF begins rental scooter permit process  they could vanish for much of June

"On every highway approach, you'll see these black and white regulatory fines signs," he says, noting that they prohibit the use of bicycles and these motorized scooters on freeways.

This was the first time the police department received calls about these scooters on a San Francisco freeway, and in this case, the riders were not apprehended.

RELATED: Scooters behaving badly: Photos show the worst-parked scooters in San Francisco

"We got calls, we responded, but by the time we got there they were gone," he adds. "If we had located them they would have been detained, transported and issued citation for being on freeway on a motorized scooter."

Williams isn't sure how much a fine for such an offense would be  that's up to the court  but hopes that this case is an anomaly.

Lee would agree.

"I was just really shocked they would think this was cool or funny,"he told SFGATE, "It was causing everyone to drive even slower cause of these idiots."

For many San Franciscans, motorized scooters have become a nuisance and an eyesore on San Francisco streets. This week, the city issued an ultimatum to the companies providing them to riders, mandating that they remove them from San Francisco sidewalks by June 4 while city administrators work on a permitting process.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


Eleven days before the presidential inauguration last year, a billionaire Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin visited Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet with Donald Trumps personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, according to video footage and another person who attended the meeting.

In Cohens office on the 26th floor, he and the oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, discussed a mutual desire to strengthen Russias relations with the United States under President Trump, according to Andrew Intrater, a U.S. businessman who attended the meeting and invests money for Vekselberg. The men also arranged to see each other during the inauguration festivities, the second of their three meetings, Intrater said.

Days after the inauguration, Intraters private equity firm, Columbus Nova, awarded Cohen a $1 million consulting contract, a deal that has drawn the attention of federal authorities investigating Cohen, according to people briefed on the inquiry.

Intrater said in an interview that Vekselberg, his cousin and biggest client, had no role in Columbus Novas decision to hire Cohen as a consultant. When asked about the meeting at Trump Tower during the presidential transition, Intrater described it as a brief and impromptu discussion and said Vekselberg had not originally planned to attend.

Obviously, if Id known in January 2017 that I was about to hire this high-profile guy whod wind up in this big mess, I wouldnt have introduced him to my biggest client, and wouldnt have hired him at all, Intrater said. He agreed to be interviewed about his dealings with Cohen, he said, because he had done nothing wrong.

The disclosure sheds additional light on the intersection between Trumps inner circle and Russians with ties to the Kremlin. The meeting came months after Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr., met at Trump Tower during the campaign with a Kremlin-linked lawyer claiming to have damaging information on the candidates opponent, Hillary Clinton, and a former campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, met with Russian intermediaries in Europe. During the campaign, Cohen himself was pursuing a deal to build a Trump high-rise in Moscow, which did not come to fruition.

Cohens lawyers, and lawyers for Vekselberg, did not respond to requests for comment when told about video footage from C-Span showing Vekselberg and Intrater arriving at Trump Tower on Jan. 9, 2017.

The meetings and Columbus Novas payments to Cohen have attracted scrutiny from Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the election, as well as federal prosecutors in Manhattan examining Cohens business activities and finances, the people said.

Early this year, Muellers investigators stopped Vekselberg at a New York-area airport after he arrived on a private plane, the New York Times reported. Muellers investigators have interviewed Intrater, focusing partly on his dealings with Cohen. Muellers office has since referred the investigation of Cohen to prosecutors in Manhattan. There is no indication that Vekselberg or Intrater is suspected of wrongdoing.

William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Mike McIntire are New York Times writers.
NOBLESVILLE, Ind.  A male student armed with two handguns opened fire at a suburban Indianapolis middle school Friday, wounding another student and a teacher before being taken into custody, authorities said.

Seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker said his science teacher, Jason Seaman, likely prevented even more injuries by confronting the shooter, who he said pulled out a gun and opened fire while the class was taking a test.

Our science teacher immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground, Stonebraker said. If it werent for him, more of us would have been injured for sure.

The attack at Noblesville West Middle School happened around 9 a.m., police Chief Kevin Jowitt said. He said the suspect asked to be excused from class before returning with the guns, and investigators believe he acted alone.

Seamans brother, Jeremy Seaman, told the Indianapolis Star that his brother was shot three times and was undergoing surgery. He said he was conscious after the shooting and talked with his wife, telling her he was OK.

Indiana University Health spokeswoman Danielle Sirilla said the teacher was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital and the wounded student was taken to Riley Hospital for Children. She didnt know the seriousness of the injuries.

The attack comes a week after an assault at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers, and several months after the school attack that killed 17 in Parkland, Fla. The Florida attack inspired students from throughout the country to call for more restrictions on access to guns.

After the Indiana attack, students were bused to the Noblesville High School gym where hundreds of parents and other family members arrived to retrieve them. Noblesville, which is about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people.

Rick Callahan is an Associated Press writer.
Eleven days before the presidential inauguration last year, a billionaire Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin visited Trump Tower in Manhattan to meet with Donald Trumps personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, according to video footage and another person who attended the meeting.

In Cohens office on the 26th floor, he and the oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, discussed a mutual desire to strengthen Russias relations with the United States under Trump, according to Andrew Intrater, a U.S. businessman who attended the meeting and invests money for Vekselberg. The men also arranged to see one another at the inauguration, the second of their three meetings, Intrater said.
An Australian farmer who is accused of killing a man who ran over his dog is blaming an eggplant for the incident, according to reports.

Australian outlet 9News reports that Angelo Russo is accused of fatally shooting David Calandro with a shotgun in 2017 after Calandro allegedly ran over Russo's dog with his car.

On Wednesday, Russo's lawyer, Patrick Tehan, admitted that Russo pointed a shotgun at Calandro, but claims that Russo tripped on an eggplant that was on the ground, causing the weapon fire.

"As he approached [Calandro]'s side, he tripped and fell forward," Tehan said. "[The shotgun] then went off without the trigger having been pressed."

During a police interview, Russo allegedly stated, "There was an eggplant on the ground there and my foot must have rolled on it... It happened in a split second ... it was like I was falling and it went 'bang.'"

Russo claims that Calandro ran over his dog while driving away from Russo's farm after picking up chiles.

Mutual friend Vince Vigliaturo told the court that he and Calandro went to the farm together along with Calandro's two sons. Vigliaturo said that as they were leaving, Calandro accidentally ran over Russo's dog Harry after "swerving towards" the dog in an attempt to "spook" it, according to 9News.

Vigliaturo told the court that after the dog was run over, Calandro simply turned to him and said, "Oops."

The dog was severely injured, leading Russo to call Vigliaturo and demand that Calandro return to the farm. Eventually, Calandro did return to Russo's farm, where he was shot in the head. Both of his sons were in the car when it happened.

Russo has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and the prosecution has pulled the murder charge after they were unable to prove that Russo intentionally shot Calandro.

"Because this is such a serious case I won't make any jokes about it, but it will loom large, this eggplant," prosecutor Nicholas Papas told The Age. "We cannot say that he deliberately discharged the weapon. We have accepted that we cannot prove that."
TROY, N.Y.  Raolik Walls checked into Hudson Mohawk Recovery Center's Supportive Living for Men on Nov. 30 last year, but he never checked out.

The 27-year-old father and aspiring rapper from New Jersey was trying to turn his life around after struggling for years with an addiction to marijuana and the drug Molly, a supposedly pure form of MDMA that's often cut with other drugs, his mother Yvonne Ketter-Walls said.

When he decided last spring that he was ready to get clean, his extended family in Schenectady helped him enroll at the St. Peter's Addiction Recovery Center in Troy to detox, then got him into a halfway house in Troy, and finally into supportive living at the Hudson Mohawk center, which has a men's living facility, in Troy. It was supposed to be his last stop before returning home to his daughter.

But four days after Walls entered the facility no one ever heard from him again. Wondering why he hadn't called, his aunt visited the center on Dec. 9 to see him in person and was told he had packed all his stuff and left five days earlier, said Ketter-Walls. Surprised and worried, his family and friends began asking around town for him. Did he relapse and was hiding out? Did he overdose and die? They called morgues and hospitals. They checked local drug hangouts. They visited a Burger King he frequented and showed his picture to staff. Nothing.

On Jan. 11, 39 days after the family last spoke to Walls, a pest control worker entered his room at the Hudson Mohawk center and found a badly decomposed body on the bed. It was Walls. He had been there the whole time.

How exactly that could have happened is now under investigation by the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, as first reported this week by television station WRGB. The state agency investigates reports of abuse and neglect at state-operated, certified or licensed facilities. Hudson Mohawk Recovery Center, though privately run, is certified through the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).

Its executive director, director of residential services and board president did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

The Justice Center confirmed that an "open and active" investigation is under way, but declined further comment.

OASAS said Friday it was "cooperating fully" with the investigation, and has been monitoring the program since they were notified of Walls' death, including conducting unannounced site visits.

"Due to patient confidentiality laws, we cannot comment further on the details," spokesman Evan Frost wrote in an email.

A medical examiner informed the family this month that Walls likely died of a cardiac arrhythmia the night of Dec. 3, and did not find any drugs in his system beyond legal prescriptions, his mother said.

That her son with the infectious laugh and big dreams is dead is hard enough, she said. That he was left to rot hurts all the more. How is it possible that no one could have checked on his room for that long, she wonders? The facility is designed to offer a supportive environment for men looking to re-enter society after battling drug or alcohol addiction. It's supervised, and has strict rules in place for residents.

"They said he stormed out of a meeting because they told him about the rules and he didn't like them," Ketter-Walls said. "You would think if somebody is upset, especially if they're a new person and this is their first house meeting, you would go check on them to make sure they're OK. Apparently nobody cared because nobody checked on him for more than a month."

The family also wants to know why a staff member would tell them he had left when he clearly hadn't. His body was discovered in his assigned room, surrounded by his belongings.

It's unclear if Troy police ever visited the facility after the family reported him missing Dec. 9. Assistant Chief Daniel DeWolf confirmed a missing person's report for Walls was filed that day, and said one of their detectives was informed by staff that Walls had checked out of the facility on Dec. 2.

"I'm not sure if the detective personally visited the facility or spoke with someone on the phone," he said.

A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed Friday that the case is also under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, which investigates Medicaid fraud, corruption, criminal activity and conflicts of interest, among other things.

Ketter-Walls said her family met this winter with a local Department of Social Services employee, who said they were surprised to hear Walls had died since the center was still receiving state reimbursement for his stay into the month of February  nearly two months after he died.

"I miss him to death," his mother said. "He was just a good person. Even though he had his challenges he always meant the best and was always trying to help everybody around him. He never wanted to see anybody hurt. That's why we never gave up on him. As long as he wanted to help himself, we wanted to help him."
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on May 25, 2018

2018/05/25

At the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia Fernando Huanacuni Mamani will pay an official visit to China from May 27 to 30.

Q: We have noted that on May 24, US President Trump announced the cancellation of the summit with the DPRK, which was scheduled to take place in Singapore on June 12, and that he looked forward to meeting with the DPRK leader Kim Jong Un some day. The same day, the DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said his country is willing to sit face to face at any time and in any way with the US. As we noted, many countries and international organizations are regretful for the cancellation of the summit. What is China's comment?

A: We have noted the latest remarks by the US and the DPRK on their summit as well as the setbacks in the preparations for it. In the meanwhile, we also noted that President Trump said he is still willing to meet with Chairman Kim Jong Un at appropriate time, and the DPRK also said they are willing to sit with the US to resolve the issue.

With the recent hard-won momentum for dialogue and detente on the Korean Peninsula, the political settlement process is now facing a rare historical opportunity. All relevant parties, the US and the DPRK included, have demonstrated their readiness to advance the denuclearization of the Peninsula through dialogue and negotiation and made positive efforts to this end. The Chinese government's position on the Korean Peninsula issue is clear and consistent. We believe that the summit between the US and the DPRK, the two parties concerned regarding the Korean Peninsula issue, is crucial to advancing the denuclearization of the Peninsula. Under the current circumstances, we hope that the DPRK and the US will cherish the positive progress achieved recently, remain patient, send out goodwill to each other and meet each other halfway, continue to commit themselves to resolving each other's concerns through dialogue and negotiation and advance the denuclearization of the Peninsula.

Q: After he announced the cancellation of the US-DPRK summit, President Trump said he knew the reason for the DPRK to call off the meeting, and he also mentioned China's influence on the DPRK previously on many different occasions. Some believe he is suggesting that the DPRK's change of attitude has something to do with China. What is your reaction to this? Second, there are opinions that the cancellation of the US-DPRK summit will give prominence to China's role and help it gain leverage in the next round of trade talks with the US. What is your response?

A: First, as to China's role, like we said many times at this podium, China has always played a positive and constructive role on the Korean Peninsula issue without any ulterior motive at all. China stays committed to the goal of the denuclearization of the Peninsula, upholding the peace and stability on the Peninsula and resolving the Peninsula issue through dialogue and negotiation. This position remains unchanged all along. This is what we said more than 10 years ago and keep saying until today; we said so to the leader of the US as well as of the DPRK. At the same time, the political settlement of the Peninsula nuclear issue through dialogue calls for all the relevant parties, especially the directly concerned parties, to meet each other halfway and send goodwill to each other. Relevant parties shall think about how they are doing in this regard.

Second, as to whether a more prominent role on the Peninsula nuclear issue will enable China to strengthen its hand on other issues, I would say there's no need to read too much into that. China's stance on the Peninsula nuclear issue remains unchanged and its position on its trade ties with the US is also explicit and open. We believe that the China-US trade relations are mutually beneficial in essence, and hope the US leaders and government will bear the global economic growth and the interests of American consumers and business community in mind, work with China for the shared goal to properly resolve the differences and problems in our trade ties. This serves the interests of both sides and of the world at large.

Q: Burkina Faso announced last night that it was cutting off ties with Taiwan. When will the Chinese government open an embassy in Ouagadougou? Will China offer financial aids and preferential loans to Burkina Faso?

A: The government of Burkina Faso yesterday issued a statement on severing the so-called "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has immediately made clear China's attitude. We appreciate this move. We believe that the decision by the government of Burkina Faso is in the interests of its people and testifies to the one-China principle that is universally recognized by the international community. This is a correct decision made by the Burkina Faso government, in keeping with the trend of the times and the world.

China has always stayed committed to developing friendly cooperative relations with countries around the globe on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence and the one-China principle. You may not need to feel surprised if a country that stays committed to the one-China principle in keeping with the trend of the times and the world establishes diplomatic ties with China.

Regarding whether China will offer assistance to the government of Burkina Faso, I would like to stress that this decision made by the Burkina Faso government independently is first of all a political decision, a correct one that conforms to the trend of the world. Speaking of any friendly country, China is willing to conduct mutually beneficial cooperation with it on the basis of mutual respect, equality and win-win results. China and African countries have conducted a lot of mutually beneficial cooperation under the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum. If China and Burkina Faso establish diplomatic ties some day, we will carry out such cooperation under the same framework. We believe this is good to both sides.

Q: According to reports, the DPRK announced on May 24 that it had demolished the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. What is China's comment?

A: You may have learned from television that the DPRK has dismantled the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, a move welcomed by China. It is an important step made by the DPRK towards denuclearization, which is of positive significance to promoting the realization of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and deserves appreciation and encouragement. We hope relevant parties will meet each other halfway and stay committed to advancing the denuclearization of the Peninsula and the political settlement of the Peninsula issue through dialogue and negotiation.

Q: China has said it will stay in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement. Could you please explain what this means? If the US starts sanctioning Chinese companies doing business with Iran, how will China respond? Will it take pre-emptive measures against such sanctions? If the US demands that China reduce its imports of oil from Iran, will China comply and reduce its Iranian oil imports? Perhaps there are other specifics of China's intentions you could give to us?

A: We stated China's position on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) under the current circumstances at this podium before. We believe that the practice over the past three years or so has fully proved that the JCPOA is effective, which plays a positive role in upholding the international non-proliferation regime and safeguarding peace and stability in the Middle East. Under the current circumstances, we encourage all relevant parties to commit themselves to preserving and implementing the agreement and resolve each other's concerns through dialogue and negotiation on this basis. This is China's stance on the JCPOA, and it remains unchanged.

As for the US government's new stance on the JCPOA and its ensuing effects, I can tell you responsibly that China and Iran, as two friendly countries, maintain normal economic and trade relations on the premise of not violating our obligations under international law. China has all along opposed the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US and other countries recently. This is our stance on the Iranian issue and other issues.

Q: 21 Japanese were reportedly detained by Chinese police over religious activities. Are you aware of the relevant information? What is the reason for their detention? How will the Chinese authorities deal with that?

A: I am not aware of the specifics, and I will refer you to the competent department.

As a principle, I would like to reiterate that China is a country ruled by law. The Chinese law-enforcement agencies handle cases and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the persons concerned in accordance with the law. In the meantime, all foreigners in China should abide by Chinese laws and regulations and not engage in illegal and criminal activities.

Q: Can you give us a timetable for when you might establish diplomatic relations with Burkina Faso? Has a Chinese team already gone to Ouagadougou? Can you give us details about your discussions with the Burkina Faso government on establishing diplomatic relations?

A: Like I just said, there is no reason to feel surprised if China establishes normal diplomatic ties with a country that seeks friendly relations with us on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence and adherence to the one-China principle.

Q: New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister met with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi this morning, and this afternoon he will be meeting with Yang Jiechi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee. Could you tell us if any consensus has been agreed with the New Zealand delegation and have any concrete outcomes been achieved from this visit?

A: At the invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters is on a visit in China from May 24 to 27.

China-New Zealand ties are developing with a sound momentum. Last November, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang met separately with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand on multilateral occasions. The two sides agreed to deepen China-New Zealand comprehensive strategic partnership as well as practical cooperation in various fields. We hope that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Peters' visit will help enhance political mutual trust between the two sides, expand mutually beneficial cooperation to a wider range of fields, and move forward China-New Zealand relations. We will release relevant information later.

Q: Given these big changes in the US policies on the DPRK and the Iranian nuclear issue, what does China make of these big turnarounds? Does this give you cause for concern that you will also see some shifts in the US position on trade negotiations with China?

A: You question is rather big. The US is an important member of the international community. We certainly hope that the US government could work alongside the majority of the international community, stick to multilateralism, and resolve issues through political and diplomatic means within the multilateral framework. As for the specific issues you mentioned, whether it is the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, the Iranian nuclear issue, or the global trade issue, including some concrete problems in China-US relations, China's positions on them are quite clear. We maintain that China-US relations shall be moved forward on the basis of mutual trust, equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, and bilateral cooperation shall be strengthened in various fields. We also hope that other members of the international community, including the US, could follow this principle and commit themselves to a right path of forging a new type of international relations.

Q: The past few days have seen the DPRK announce its decision to stop nuclear and missile tests and release three US hostages. Yesterday, the DPRK also blew up the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. Do you believe that the DPRK side has shown enough goodwill for the US-DPRK meeting?

A: I have touched upon this in my answer to that previous journalist. For some time, the Korean Peninsula has been enjoying a hard-won momentum of dialogue and detente, thanks to the concerted and positive efforts made by all relevant parties, including the DPRK side. You just mentioned that the DPRK demolished the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, a decision made on its own initiative. In fact, in the letter to the Supreme Leader of the DPRK, President Trump also recognized these positive and goodwill gestures taken by the DPRK side. Frankly speaking, China fully acknowledges this string of positive measures taken by the DPRK side since the start of this year on its own initiative. We also hope that all relevant parties could meet each other halfway, demonstrate goodwill, and remain committed to resolving the Korean Peninsula issue through dialogue and consultation. What is imperative now is that relevant parties should jointly create atmosphere and conditions for the DPRK-US meeting to happen and to achieve positive progress.

Q: Yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said when meeting with Premier Li Keqiang that dialogues on human rights issues could be carried out on the basis of equality and mutual trust. Can you give us more details?

A: You asked about dialogues on human rights that came up during the meeting between the Chinese and German leaders. In fact, China is engaged in human rights dialogues with other countries on the basis of mutual respect to learn from each other and improve altogether. We always hold an open attitude in this regard.

Q: There was a sentence in President Trump's letter, where he said to the DPRK leader that "if you change your mind, please do not hesitate to call me or write". Is China planning on doing anything towards helping this to happen?

A: You know our position very well. We have been encouraging the US and the DPRK to have direct talks. We are doing that now and we will continue to do so. Like I just said, the DPRK and the US are parties directly concerned in the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. A face-to-face and fruitful meeting between their two leaders will be pivotal in moving forward the Korean Peninsula denuclearization process. China will continue to work on the DPRK and the US in its own way while remaining committed to pursuing a resumption of dialogues on the Korean Peninsula issue.
A 37-year-old woman died this morning in a two-car collision on Bennett Valley Road outside Santa Rosa city limits, the California Highway Patrol said.



The woman was driving a Toyota Yaris east on Bennett Valley Road near Carrithers Road in unincorporated Sonoma County at a speed unsafe for wet road conditions around 7:50 a.m., CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.



The woman lost control of the Toyota which slid sideways into an on-coming westbound Mercedes-Benz, Sloat said. The front of the Mercedes struck the passenger side of the Toyota which overturned onto the driver's side. The Toyota driver was pronounced dead at the scene, Sloat said.



The Santa Rosa woman driving the Mercedes suffered minor to major injuries and was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Sloat said.



The collision closed Bennett Valley Road until around 10:30 a.m.







The California Highway Patrol this morning is reporting a fatal crash on Interstate Highway 80 in Crockett.



The crash, which left one person dead and another injured, occurred on the highway near the Pomona Street off-ramp when a sedan crashed into a big-rig, according to the CHP.



The crash was initially reported at 3:55 a.m., and the fatality was reported at 5:28 a.m.



A victim was initially transported to the hospital following the crash and was later pronounced deceased, according to the CHP.



The crash occurred close to where another big-rig crashed and caught fire earlier this morning on Interstate Highway 80 near the Carquinez Bridge.



There were also injuries reported in that incident.



That crash occurred around 1 a.m. and initially closed all but one lane on the highway.







A bomb threat at the Hayward BART station Thursday turned out to be a false alarm, transit police said this morning.



The station was closed from around 11:58 a.m. to 12:19 p.m. while officers both canine and human swept a train, according to transit police.



The threat came in via the BART Watch mobile app that enables patrons to make reports via cell phone.



BART officers are trained in explosive detection and the department has a K-9 unit whose officers are also trained in explosive detection, transit police said.



The officers searched the train but didn't find a bomb. Normal service resumed around 12:19 p.m. with delays of around 10 minutes.







Santa Rosa police arrested a man on suspicion of domestic violence assault and child endangerment after a brief standoff early Thursday morning, a police sergeant said.



Juan Luis Tovar Develasco, 25, of Santa Rosa allegedly assaulted his girlfriend inside a residence in the 2400 block of Corby Avenue around 1:25 a.m., Sgt. Dan Marincik said.



When his girlfriend called police and said Develasco was armed, Develasco ripped a cellphone from her hands. Develasco and the victim were outside when police arrived and Develasco ran back inside the residence and barricaded himself inside with two children ages 3 and 6, Marincik said.



Police learned Develasco had made vague threats about harming the children, punched his girlfriend and struck her with a blunt object numerous times that evening and tried to grab his girlfriend back into the apartment by pulling her hair and putting her in a chokehold, Marincik said.



Police tried to contact Develasco for 25 minutes until an officer saw him leave with the children through the sliding back door of the apartment, Marincik said.



Develasco tossed the children over the fence, jumped over the fence and fled, Marincik said. Officers found him holding the three-year-old child several houses away and he refused to comply with the officers' commands, Marincik said.



An officer grabbed Develasco, took him to the ground and handcuffed him.



The children were not harmed but the victim suffered minor injuries, Marincik said.



Police found a firearm and ammunition and a high capacity magazine inside the residence, Marincik said.



Develasco was booked around 6:45 a.m. Thursday in the Sonoma County Jail on 12 felony counts that include assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence causing injury, child endangerment, dissuading a victim from reporting an emergency and unlawful possession of a weapon and ammunition. He is being held on $1 million bail.



Develasco is scheduled to be arraigned in Sonoma County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon.







Delays at the Castro station because of a train derailment are likely to continue through rush hour, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reported.



Shuttle buses are continuing to run from the West Portal to Church Street stations. The J-Church and N-Judah lines are not affected, according to SFMTA officials.



The derailment was confirmed by SFMTA officials in a Tweet at 7:40 a.m.



No injuries have been reported. The cause of the derailment is under investigation, according to SFMTA Spokesman Paul Rose.







Good news for Memorial Day weekend - while there may be some lingering showers Saturday, dry conditions are expected in the Bay Area Saturday through Monday, the National Weather Service said.



Light rain is likely to continue today, with scattered showers, but no storms or other high-impact weather are expected over the next week, according to the weather service.



Temperatures are expected to warm up across the area this afternoon, hitting around 66 degrees in Santa Rosa, 60 degrees in San Francisco, 67 degrees in Concord and 68 degrees in San Jose.



The warm weather should continue, the Weather Service said, with unseasonably high temperatures around 5 degrees above normal for the interior by Sunday.



On Monday, Memorial Day, afternoon temperatures are predicted to rise to 83 in Santa Rosa, 66 in San Francisco, 86 in Concord and 80 in San Jose.





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San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon Thursday announced he will not seek charges against officers involved in two high-profile fatal police shootings.



In a report outlining details of the investigations into the fatal police shootings of Mario Woods on Dec. 5, 2015, and Luis Gongora Pat on April 7, 2016, Gascon's office said it could not prove without a reasonable doubt that the officers' actions were unjustified.



"Use of force cases can only be charged if we can prove that it was unreasonable for the officer to be in fear for their life or someone else's," Gascon said in a statement.



"Whether or not the officer could have used another tactic such as non-lethal force, or simply waiting, is not a factor we can even consider under current law," he said.







The Solano County District Attorney's Office Thursday charged a Fairfield father of 10 children with four counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 14.



Jonathan Allen, 29, and the children's mother, Ina Rogers, 31, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Solano County Superior Court to a 21-count, second amended complaint.



Allen is charged with seven counts of torture against six of the children between Jan. 15, 2015, and this March 30, and four counts of lewd and lascivious acts against a child under 14 between March 1, 2017, and March 30.



Both Allen and Rogers also are charged with nine counts of child abuse or endangerment between June 21, 2014, and March 30.



Rogers also is charged with one misdemeanor charge of child cruelty by endangering the health of the children who are between one and 12 years old.







A federal judge Thursday closely questioned claims by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco that global warming and resulting sea level rise are a public nuisance for which they could be compensated.



But U.S. District Judge William Alsup, at a hearing in San Francisco, made no immediate decision on five oil companies' bid for dismissal of lawsuits filed by the two cities.



The two cities allege the world's five largest investor-owned companies are liable under federal common law for creating a public nuisance by producing and promoting oil and natural gas fuels.



They are seeking abatement funds, possibly in the billions of dollars, to build seawalls and other infrastructure to protect people and property from rising seas.



The five companies are Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP PLC, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC.







Exactly a month after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a permit system for electronic scooter share companies, permit applications for the companies became available online on Thursday.



According to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials and the City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who held a joint conference Thursday afternoon, all scooter share companies must turn in their permit applications by 5 p.m. on June 7.



The SFMTA will review the applications and then determine sometime in late June, which, if any, qualify for the permit.



The permit system, called the Powered Scooter Share Permit Program, will allow for the companies to park their scooters on sidewalks or any other public spaces once approved for the permit.



The law goes into effect on June 4 and any scooter share company operating in the city must remove its vehicles off city sidewalks by June 4, or they will be removed by the city's Department of Public Works.







A suspect was arrested Thursday for an armed robbery of a Fremont home improvement store just a day after he turned himself in at a police station for elder abuse and a robbery in Concord, police said.



Otto Halafihi, 29, from Oakland, was arrested by Fremont police on suspicion of robbing a Lowe's Home Improvement store at 43612 Pacific Commons Blvd. May 9 at about 8:40 p.m.



Late Wednesday evening, Halafihi turned himself in at a police substation in Patterson in Stanislaus County after Concord police had put out surveillance photos of him in the robberies that were reported around 4 p.m. last Friday in the 1000 block of Sunvalley Boulevard.



According to police, Halafihi stole the purses of two women, including a 93-year-old woman he knocked to the ground and who had to be taken to a hospital where she remains.



Police said the other victim was 64 years old.







Sonoma County sheriff's deputies rescued a suicidal man on the roof of a Graton residence after a three-hour standoff Wednesday, a sheriff's sergeant said.



The 20-year-old man's mother called the sheriff's office around 4:30 p.m. to report her son was having mental health issues and was feeling suicidal. The man climbed to the peak of the roof of the three-story home in the 8600 block of Quail Haven Lane where he was drinking alcohol and taking muscle relaxants and anti-seizure medication, Sgt. Spencer Crum said.



The sheriff's office's hostage negotiation team responded and talked to the man while other deputies talked to the man's parents about the medications he was using, Crum said.



A doctor on the negotiation team told deputies the man was at risk of becoming unresponsive and that respiratory failure along with a fatal fall from the roof was possible, Crum said.



After three hours of negotiating with the man he became semi-conscious and unable to resist because of his medical state. The sheriff's helicopter Henry-1 responded and a 100-foot long line rescue from the helicopter was made around 7:45 p.m., Crum said.







A San Jose elementary school teacher has been arrested for allegedly engaging a minor in a lewd act before school started one morning earlier this month, according to the city's Police Department.



Sunnyvale resident and Dahl Elementary School teacher Eduard Frerking, 61, was arrested after police were informed of the alleged offense against a 9-year-old student.



On Wednesday, the Police Department learned that Frerking had allegedly requested the minor assist him in preparing his kindergarten classroom for the day. During that time, Frerking allegedly inappropriately touched her.



Detectives responded to the school, took Frerking into custody and booked him into the Santa Clara County Jail, police said.

























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SANTA CRUZ (BCN)



A man sentenced to death for the first-degree murders of two people on the University of California at Santa Cruz campus in 1981 died at an outside hospital on Tuesday, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.



Royal Hayes, 81, was on death row at San Quentin State Prison for the killings of Lauren de Laet and Donald MacVicar.



A Stanislaus County jury found Hayes guilty in August of 1986 for the acts done under the pretense of receiving cocaine for a payment MacVicar had given Hayes, according to the CDCR.



Hayes lured each victim individually to a remote location on the university campus where shallow holes, in which they were to be buried, had been prepared, correctional officials said.



The victims were told that they had to be searched before the delivery of the cocaine was to occur. Hayes shot them both in the back of the head when they leaned against a tree to be searched.



CDCR officials said that Hayes was also convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance and false imprisonment after his two accomplices, Deborah Garcia and Diane Weller, testified against him in court.



Hayes had spent nearly 32 years on death row when he was pronounced dead at 2:34 p.m. on Tuesday. The cause of his death is unknown pending the results of an autopsy, correctional officials said.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A federal judge today closely questioned claims by the cities of Oakland and San Francisco that global warming and resulting sea level rise are a public nuisance for which they could be compensated.



But U.S. District Judge William Alsup, at a hearing in San Francisco, made no immediate decision on five oil companies' bid for dismissal of lawsuits filed by the two cities.



The two cities allege the world's five largest investor-owned companies are liable under federal common law for creating a public nuisance by producing and promoting oil and natural gas fuels.



They are seeking abatement funds, possibly in the billions of dollars, to build seawalls and other infrastructure to protect people and property from rising seas.



The five companies are Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP PLC, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC.



The corporations, together with the U.S. Justice Department, contend the lawsuits' claims are an unconventional and unworkable use of public nuisance concepts that shouldn't be allowed.



Some of Alsup's comments seemed sympathetic to that view.



"I look at the broad sweep of history and see that we have needed fossil fuels, oil and coal, to get from the 1850s to the present," he said.



"If I were using a balancing test, I would normally say we reaped a huge benefit from fossil fuels," Alsup said.



At another point, the judge noted, "If we hadn't had fossil fuels, we would have lost World War II."



Chevron attorney Theodore Boutrous argued, "They extend public nuisance beyond where it's ever gone."



Although other lawsuits in recent years have claimed climate change is a public nuisance, none have gone to trial, either because they were dismissed or because they are still in preliminary stages, according to the oil companies.



But Steve Berman, a lawyer for the two cities, argued, "Federal common law has been around for decades. The principles are decades-old."



He said the companies should be held liable for decisions to "produce carbon materials and fossils fuels at massive levels" while being aware, beginning in the 1980s, that global warming would result.



"They were way ahead of public understanding that they were causing harm," Berman said.



In addition to arguing that a public nuisance theory can't be used, the oil companies contend that allowing the lawsuits would conflict with the U.S. Clean Air Act and violate the corporations' constitutional right of due process.



Four of the companies - all except San Ramon-based Chevron -- also say they should be dismissed from the case because the Northern California federal court lacks jurisdiction over them, since their headquarters are in other states and countries.



Some also say the corporations being sued are mere holding companies that have nothing to do with their subsidiaries' operations in California.



Alsup said he wants to decide the jurisdiction issues first and clarify which companies will remain in the case before deciding on the validity of the legal theories.



He warned the companies' attorneys that lawyers' statements about the roles of the parent companies were not sufficient evidence and that they were opening the door to evidence gathering, or discovery, by the cities about the relationships of the companies and their subsidiaries.



"I want to be fair to both sides. I'm not going to take the lawyers' word for it," Alsup said.



At the end of the hearing, he allowed San Francisco and Oakland 60 days to seek discovery of the corporate information.



He also ordered both sides to submit additional 10-page briefs on whether he should balance the harms and benefits of fossil fuels when considering whether a public nuisance claim is valid.



The additional proceedings mean that it may be several months before Alsup decides whether to dismiss the lawsuits.



Oakland and San Francisco originally filed their lawsuits in September in Alameda County and San Francisco superior courts, but the cases were moved to federal court at the companies' request.





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FAIRFIELD (BCN)



The Solano County District Attorney's Office today charged a Fairfield father of 10 children with four counts of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 14.



Jonathan Allen, 29, and the children's mother, Ina Rogers, 31, pleaded not guilty today in Solano County Superior Court to a 21-count, second amended complaint.



Allen is charged with seven counts of torture against six of the children between Jan. 15, 2015, and this March 30, and four counts of lewd and lascivious acts against a child under 14 between March 1, 2017, and March 30.



Both Allen and Rogers also are charged with nine counts of child abuse or endangerment between June 21, 2014, and March 30.



Rogers also is charged with one misdemeanor charge of child cruelty by endangering the health of the children who are between one and 12 years old.



Judge William Pendergast today granted the prosecution's motion to join the cases against each defendant. Their next court hearing is July 10.



The investigation of the alleged child abuse began when Fairfield police responded to a report of a missing 12-year-old in the 2200 block of Fieldstone Court in Fairfield on March 31. Police found the child and became concerned about the health and welfare of the child and its siblings when they returned the child home.



Police said the children were living in squalor and unsafe conditions and they arrested Rogers for child neglect. The children were taken into protective custody of Solano County Child Welfare Services.



Police investigated further and arrested Allen on May 11 for nine counts of felony torture and six felony counts of child abuse. Rogers was then charged on May 16 with nine counts of felony child abuse or endangerment.





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BERKELEY (BCN)



Police in Berkeley on Wednesday arrested a man in connection with several crimes related to possession of a gun and narcotics.



Lamon Johnson, 54, of Berkeley, was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a loaded and concealed firearm, misappropriation of found property, being a felon in possession of ammunition, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana for sales, possession of cocaine and heroin, possession of a firearm while also possessing drugs and violating the terms of his probation.



On Wednesday at 7:06 a.m., an officer with the Berkeley Police Department conducted a search on Johnson based on Johnson's probation status, police said.



During the search, the officer discovered Johnson was in possession of a loaded revolver, two methamphetamine pipes and identification that did not belong to him.



Johnson was arrested, and during a second search before he entered jail, police discovered he was also in possession of suspected meth.





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The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
PACIFICA (BCN)



A 26-year-old man has pleaded no contest to felony vandalism charges for spinning donuts with his SUV on playing fields at his former school in Pacifica and other places nearby, San Mateo County prosecutors said today.



Angelo Bozin is a former student at Alma Heights Christian School and on six occasions in November 2016, he spun donuts on the school's playing fields in his Toyota 4Runner, according to the district attorney's office.



Bozin also committed similar vandalism acts during the same time period at San Francisco Archers, Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church and Sanchez Art Center, all also in Pacifica, prosecutors said.



In all, the vandalism cost more than $200,000 in damage and losses to the properties, including money the Alma Heights school had to pay to use other facilities while their fields were repaired, prosecutors said.



Bozin was arrested after his Toyota got stuck in the mud at the Holy Cross church.



He pleaded no contest in San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City on Wednesday to four counts of felony vandalism on the condition that he receive a sentence of 120 days in county jail with three years probation, prosecutors said.



Judge Stephanie Garratt ordered him to surrender to jail on July 21 to serve his sentence, which includes credit for two days already served.



His defense attorney Joshua Bentley was not immediately available to comment on the case.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Exactly a month after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a permit system for electronic scooter share companies, permit applications for the companies became available online today.



According to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials and the City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who held a joint conference this afternoon, all scooter share companies must turn in their permit applications by 5 p.m. on June 7.



The SFMTA will review the applications and then determine sometime in late June, which, if any, qualify for the permit.



The permit system, called the Powered Scooter Share Permit Program, will allow for the companies to park their scooters on sidewalks or any other public spaces once approved for the permit.



The law goes into effect on June 4 and any scooter share company operating in the city must remove its vehicles off city sidewalks by June 4, or they will be removed by the city's Department of Public Works.



The scooters were deployed throughout the city in March by companies LimeBike, Spin and Bird. Equipped with GPS tracking that allows users to find them via a mobile app, scooters are allegedly often seen being used on sidewalks and left unattended, oftentimes on their side.



Unattended scooters on sidewalks have drawn the ire of residents, pedestrian advocates and city officials who say they are a public nuisance and create safety hazards.



"San Francisco supports transportation innovation, but it cannot come at the price of public safety," Herrera said in a statement. "This permit program represents a thoughtful, coordinated and effective approach to ensure that San Francisco strikes the right balance. We can have innovation but it must keep our sidewalks safe and accessible for all pedestrians. We can have convenience but it can't sacrifice privacy and equity along the way. This program is a strong step forward. It provides the framework to ensure that companies operating in the public right of way are doing so lawfully and are accountable for their products," Herrera said.



As part of the permit application process, companies will have to provide information about user education, insurance, trip data, privacy policies that safeguard users' information and low-income plans. The companies will also have to submit a proposed service area plan for city approval as well as a plan that addresses sidewalk riding and sidewalk parking.



In tandem with the permit system, the SFMTA established a one-year pilot program to collect data, evaluate and assess whether more scooters would be needed.



During the first six months of the pilot program, a total of 1,250 scooters will be permitted.



If the first six months of the pilot program are successful, the total number of scooters permitted would be expanded to up to 2,500 after the seventh month.



"We support the spirit of innovation that the scooter companies bring to creating sustainable options for getting around and will be holding them to high standards in the public interest," SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin said in a statement.



"The new permit system and pilot program is an opportunity for responsible companies to work with the city in a way that prioritizes public safety, equity and accountability," Reiskin said.



LimeBike officials said in a statement, "We are excited to apply for a permit and will comply with the city's request that all electric scooters be removed by June 4. We applaud the SFMTA and San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera for expediting the permit application and approval process to ensure minimal disruption to riders."



In addition, LimeBike officials said they would use the time that the scooters are off the streets to educate users on safety and proper parking.



"Electric scooters are an integral, emissions-free mode of transportation that can help get people out of cars, reduce congestion and protect the environment - ideals we strive for as a Bay Area-based company," according to LimeBike's statement.



Any scooter that is found on streets or sidewalks after June 4 without a permit will be impounded by public works crews and the companies will be fined $100 per scooter daily, in addition to other city fees and penalties. Furthermore, any scooter company operating without a permit will be denied a permit by the SFMTA.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon today announced he will not seek charges against officers involved in two high-profile fatal police shootings.



Following the announcement that he would not press charges in connection with the fatal police shootings of Mario Woods on Dec. 5, 2015, and Luis Gongora Pat on April 7, 2016, several community members and city officials denounced the decision.



"A hail of bullets is not an appropriate police response to people suffering mental health crises," Public Defender Jeff Adachi said in a statement. "In both the Woods and Gongora killings, officers were not in immediate danger when they fired their weapons. The San Francisco District Attorney's decision not to prosecute any officer on any charge is mind-boggling and fails to hold police to the same laws we, as citizens, are expected to abide," he said.



"To date, not a single officer in San Francisco has ever been criminally charged as the result of shooting a citizen, yet citizens are charged with crimes every day despite prosecutors being unable to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It is clear prosecutors are using a different standard in judging police officers' conduct," Adachi said.



According to Gascon's office, it could not prove without a reasonable doubt that the involved officers' actions were unjustified.



"Use of force cases can only be charged if we can prove that it was unreasonable for the officer to be in fear for their life or someone else's," Gascon said in a statement. "Whether or not the officer could have used another tactic such as non-lethal force, or simply waiting, is not a factor we can even consider under current law," he said.



"Any time we lose a life on our streets, it is a tragedy. This holds true for Mario Woods and Luis Gngora Pat. I continue to offer my condolences to families and friends who continue to mourn," Mayor Mark Farrell said in a statement.



"I respect the District Attorney's decision, and also acknowledge the pain it will cause in communities that have for so long been disproportionately impacted by violence," Farrell said.



Gongora Pat, 45, was killed during a confrontation with police in which he was allegedly armed with a knife near the corner of Shotwell and 18th streets, police said. Police identified the two officers who shot Gongora Pat as Sgt. Nate Steger and Officer Michael Mellone.



Woods, 26, was killed when five officers fired their weapons at him near Keith Street and Fitzgerald Avenue after he allegedly refused to put down a knife, police said. The officers were identified by police as Winson Seto, Antonio Santos, Charles August, Nicholas Cuevas and Scott Phillips.



Following today's announcement, the family of Luis Gongora Pat and their supporters rallied outside the Hall of Justice and called for Gascon's resignation.



According to the family, they had been given a one-day notice to meet with Gascon ahead of today's announcement, but declined the meeting after they were told that their spokeswoman, Adriana Camarena, and a member of the Mexican consulate would not be allowed to attend.



The mother of Mario Woods, Gwendolyn Woods, did not attend today's rally.



Attorney Adante Pointer, who is representing both families in federal lawsuits, attended today's rally and vowed to seek justice in federal court.



"Our next step is to continue what we've been doing, which is to continue to fight, to bring awareness to these tragedies, to continue to proceed with our federal civil rights litigation and if we cannot get justice within these walls then we have to take it to another venue in order to do that, and that's what we're prepared to do," Pointer said.



In a statement, Demarris Evans, racial justice committee chairperson with Adachi's office said, "The failure of the District Attorney to pursue accountability for the police killings of Mario Woods and Luis Gongora Pat is another message to the San Francisco community that black and brown lives do not matter.



"The video footage of Mario Woods' murder clearly showed that killing him was excessive force gone mad."



Evans said, "Both of these killings were completely avoidable and the failure of the District Attorney to let citizens of San Francisco decide whether or not there is criminal liability is nothing more than a cover up for racist killer cops."





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



The California Supreme Court ruled in San Francisco Thursday that criminal defendants seeking evidence for their future trials can require social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to give them copies of posts that have already been made public.



The decision applies to social media accounts that are unrestricted, meaning that users allow any members of the public to see their communications.



But the court, ruling in the case of two San Francisco murder defendants, said the defendants could not subpoena communications from social media accounts whose owners have restricted access.



The two defendants, Lee Sullivan and Derrick Hunter, are awaiting trial on charges of murder and attempted murder with gang and gun enhancements in connection with a drive-by shooting in the Bayview District in 2013.



Sullivan and Hunter said that in order to prepare for trial, they needed information from the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts of the victim and of a woman who drove the shooters. The defendants sought to subpoena both public and private communications.



The media companies argued they were protected by the U.S. Stored Communications Act, which is part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.



The law bars communications service providers from revealing the content of users' posts, but allows exceptions when the message writers or receivers have given permission for release of the communications and when government agencies have obtained court-approved subpoenas.



The state high court unanimously said that defendants can subpoena communications from unrestricted accounts because the owners of those accounts have already given permission for public access.



But the panel did not give Sullivan and Hunter the right to subpoena posts from account owners who have restricted access.



The court sent the case back to San Francisco Superior Court for determination of which accounts of the victim and the driver were public and which were private.



Facebook said in a statement, "We're pleased with the court's decision to uphold the important privacy protections in the Stored Communications Act.



"The court's opinion shows that Facebook and other companies acted properly in refusing to disclose people's private content in response to subpoenas from criminal defendants. We will continue to advocate for people's privacy," the statement said.



The court ruled narrowly and left a number of issues to be decided or clarified later by the trial judge or possible future appeals.



Sullivan and Hunter argued that their constitutional right to a fair trial should give them access to both restricted and unrestricted communications.



But the court said it was ruling only on the basis of the exception in the law and was not addressing the constitutional claim.



The court also declined to decide whether criminal defendants can subpoena posts from accounts that were originally unrestricted but later restricted in access. It left that issue for the trial judge to consider.



Prosecutors can subpoena private communications under the exception in the law for government entities, and prosecutors are required to give criminal defendants any potentially favorable evidence they have obtained.



At an early point in the dispute, Facebook attorneys suggested that Sullivan and Hunter could try to get the communications they wanted by asking prosecutors to obtain them. But the defendants' lawyers said that to achieve a fair trial, they needed to be able to review the full range of content of the communications.





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SAN JOSE (BCN)



Tenants of the Summerwind Apartments in San Jose, many of who lost their apartment units in a five-alarm fire in April, will gather in front of the complex and list demands they feel have not been met by their "slumlord" building owner, according to a nonprofit organizer.



The 120 tenants are demanding that Richard Gregersen "fulfill his legal obligations" which they are declaring he has not since the displacement of mostly low-income renters of color.



The tenants and representatives supporting them through Sacred Heart Community Service said that Gregersen, who owns multiple apartment buildings in the South Bay, has a history of "retaliating against tenants who report habitability issues and unjust rent hikes."



The tenants are alleging that even before the fire affected the complex at 2079 McLaughlin Ave., the building was infested with cockroaches, mice and plagued with countless safety hazards.



Some tenants have experienced abuse since the fire, representatives from Sacred Heart said in the release sent out today.



Tenants were only given five minutes to retrieve possessions the day of the fire, some of them were not translated critical information to and others had to double or triple up in "temporary units" while management continues to offer tours and other vacant units to new people, residents said.



The residents will read letters to Gregersen at the gathering at 5 p.m., both in English and Spanish, with six main demands.



Immediate demands include that residents have two hours to gather the rest of their things from units, that management hire security to protect the units and that management communicate with each tenant in their native language.



By Tuesday, residents want management to offer each family their own temporary unit with fit amenities, inform tenants of being allowed to move back into their old units or which new units will be offered for the same rent and that management will cease to charge fees for parking they cannot use or utilities to families who do not have their own units.



The fire, which took place April 17, began in a second-floor unit kitchen and spread to damage more than 30 units. The American Red Cross arrived at the complex that morning and offered food, emotional support and consultation to evaluate each family's needs.



The Summerwind Apartment management staff did not answer calls for comment from this publication, that day or any day afterward.





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ON BCN62)



UNION CITY (BCN)



A man who struck and killed a 75-year-old woman in a hit-and-run collision in Union City on Tuesday night returned to the scene a short time later and turned himself in to police, authorities said in court documents.



The female pedestrian, identified by police today as Wan Huang of Union City was walking across Alvarado-Niles Road in a crosswalk near Mann Avenue at about 9 p.m. on Tuesday when a red 2004 GMC pickup truck allegedly being driven by 29-year-old Mike Simon Tanios of Fremont hit her.



Huang was pronounced dead at the scene.



Union City police Officer Ronny Ziya wrote in a probable cause statement that the pickup truck driver did not stop to check on Huang and immediately fled the scene.



But about 20 minutes after the collision a police dispatcher received a call from a man who said his brother had "hit a lady and left" and that they were on their way back to the scene, Ziya said.



A short time later Tanios arrived at the scene with several other people and identified himself as the driver of the vehicle that hit Huang, according to Ziya.



Tanios told police that he was driving his pickup truck east on Alvarado-Niles Road on his way home from work and had a green light when he approached the intersection with Mann Avenue but Huang stepped off the center median into his path when he was only 10 or 15 feet away, Ziya wrote.



Tanios "was unable to avoid the collision" and collided with Huang, Ziya said.



After the collision, Tanios "panicked and fled the scene," according to Ziya.



Officers who examined Tanios' pickup truck determined that it had damage to its front hood, grill and front bumper that was consistent with damage that was caused by the collision, Ziya wrote.



In addition, the pickup was missing the "G" from the GMC logo on its front grill, Ziya said. That "G" was found in the debris at the collision scene, he said.



Tanios admitted that he was the driver of the pickup, which was his work vehicle, at the time of the collision and that he left the scene, according to Ziya.



The Alameda County District Attorney's Office charged Tanios today with felony leaving the scene of an accident.



Tanios is being held at the Fremont City Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court in Dublin next Tuesday.





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It had to start somewhere.

Someone had to make the first step, to pave the way, to stick a fork into the ground and say, Here, now. Someone had to be the first so that others could follow, and in the newly updated book Transgender History by Susan Stryker, youll see where we go next.

Opening a history book with a chapter on terms and words might seem odd but, says Susan Stryker, remarkable changes over the last decade demand it. Thus begins this book, with new language for what is an old lifestyle.

Indeed, Americas first recorded intersex individual was Thomas(ine) Hall, who lived in the 1620s, sometimes as a man and sometimes as a woman. Seventy years later, however, the colony of Massachusetts made cross-dressing illegal and it spread: by the 1850s, many U.S. cities had ordinances against dressing in clothing normally worn by the opposite sex.

And yet, it was hard to stop people who wanted to dress as or fully transition to another gender. Throughout the 1800s, records show that women dressed as men for battle, cross-dressers braved the frontier, men ran away from their families to be true to their feminine selves, and Native American cultures embraced transgender people. Says Stryker, after anesthesia was invented and surgeries were safer, individuals began approaching doctors to request surgical alteration of parts of their bodies.

For a time, then, the movement was relatively quiet  by necessity, as the Nazis proved when they torched Dr. Magnus Hirschfelds Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin  until American Christine Jorgensen burst onto the scene in late 1952 when she traveled to Copenhagen for trans surgery. Her ensuing fame didnt signal full acceptance for trans people, but it was a start: Riots in 1959 led to activism in the 1960s, and post-Stonewall groups consolidated to lend support and work through difficult decades of the 70s, 80s, and the AIDS crisis. Today, says Stryker, though we live in interesting times of Trump and turmoil, the news is heartening. Millennials and post-Baby Boomers have expressed more acceptance of trans-gender as part of the anti-heteronormative mix.

Though Transgender History is a revised edition of a book first published a decade ago, it has a fresh feel thanks to that which author Susan Stryker has added. The first chapter, somewhat of a dictionary, schools readers on new ways of talking about LGBTQ issues and individuals, while the last chapter of trans history brings readers up to the present, including topics of politics, potties, and celebrity.

What makes it unusual is that, though its not always chronological, its breezy and casually readable. Theres no stuffiness here, and no air of the scholarly: Stryker makes this history accessible for people who want a story and not a textbook.

And so, this book is a pleasant surprise. Its easy to read, not overly wordy, and there are a just-right number of illustrations here for a readers enjoyment. For anyone who wants a basic, yet lively, overview of trans life in America, Transgender History is a great start.

Transgender History: The Roots of Todays Revolution, Revised Edition by Susan Stryker

c.2008, 2017, Seal Press

$17.99 / $23.49 Canada

303 pages
As NASA shifts human exploration back to the Moon, U.S. commercial partnerships will be a key to expediting missions and building a sustainable presence on the lunar surface.

The agency is orchestrating a robotic lunar campaign with a focus on growing commercial base of partnerships and activity that can support U.S. science, technology, and exploration objectives.

NASA is planning a series of robotic commercial delivery missions as early as 2019 ahead of a human return to the Moon. These missions will deliver NASA instruments and technology to the surface of the Moon to conduct science and prepare for human exploration. Among the instruments to be flown are the instrumentation suite from the former Resource Prospector mission concept.

"We conducted a thorough science and engineering assessment of Resource Prospector and determined all four instruments are at a high technology readiness level, are appropriate for science on the Moon, and will make flights on future Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions," said Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "These tools will provide important scientific data on various landing sites, and will help NASA better understand the lunar environment."

The science potential for each instrument varies with the potential landing site, and most can be enhanced through mobility after landing.

These projects include:

- Near Infrared Volatile Spectrometer Subsystem, or NIRVSS, to monitor the Moon's surface and identify water and other volatiles

- Neutron Spectrometer Subsystem, or NSS, to search for hydrogen below the Moon's surface

- A regolith and ice drill

- Water Analysis and Volatile Extraction (WAVE) instrument to accept and heat samples to quantify water and other volatiles extracted from below the surface

Since the agency announced a draft solicitation for CLPS in April, NASA has hosted an industry day for prospective responders to talk about the agency's broad plans for lunar exploration, and encouraged U.S. industry to respond for the first missions back to the Moon. NASA leadership also recently discussed lunar exploration plans during a public town hall, and discovering volatiles on the Moon was a primary topic of discussion. These early instruments will be an important step to better understanding what's below the Moon's surface.

"We know there are volatiles at the poles on the Moon, and quite frankly, that water ice could represent rocket fuel," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "If we have the capability to generate rocket fuel from the surface of the Moon, and get them into orbit around the Moon, we could use that to build a fueling depot. If we want to make that happen though, we will need commercial partners."

NASA wants to ensure industry is moving with the agency as it pushes human exploration farther into the solar system than ever before, and meets the objectives of Space Policy Directive 1.

CLPS missions will be among the first robotic steps back on the Moon, and NASA will follow the early, small lander missions with the first of two larger lander demonstration missions planned in 2022. These mid-size lander missions will be an important step toward evolution to human landers, and the mid-size landers are expected to be built through public/private partnerships.

NASA's return to the Moon with commercial and international partners is part of an overall agency Exploration Campaign in support of Space Policy Directive 1. It all starts with robotic missions on the lunar surface, as well as a lunar outpost for astronauts in space around the Moon. In addition to purchasing new small lunar payload delivery services, the agency is preparing to develop lunar landers, and plans to conduct more research on the Moon's surface ahead of a human return. And that long-term exploration and development of the Moon will give NASA experience for the next giant leap - missions deeper into the solar system.

"We will renew and strengthen our commitment to American commercial space companies, and NASA will lead the way as we once again explore the Moon and look to Mars, and beyond," said Bridenstine.



Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
Thursday afternoon in the Commonwealth means an all-trot card at Plainridge Park and today was no exception. Highlighted by two late-closer series, favourable weather and a lightning fast track, seven lifetime marks along with two seasonal best efforts were registered during the 10-race program.

Two second division legs of the $10,000 Ralph Waldo Emerson late closer series for non-winners of $35,000 in 2017 went in race one and nine and strong performances were turned in by both winners.

Jericho (Joe Di Stefano) sat third for a half-mile before pulling out at three-quarters to overpower Dominus Hanover (Greg Merton) and My Little Susie (Drew Campbell) at the wire to win by a length in 1:54 flat, which was a new lifetime mark and the fastest mile of the day.

Jericho ($4.40) is owned by Linda Kenney, Robert Kenney and the Di Stefano and Son Stable. John Di Stefano is the trainer.

In the second set, Massachusetts-bred and Sire Stake eligible Pirate (Drew Campbell) showed he will be a contender in that series this year after he was parked for a half-mile and still out-battled The Lindy Treaty (Shawn Gray) all the way to the wire to win by a length in 1:55.1, which was a new lifetime mark.

Pirate ($13.60) is owned by Kathy and Earl Beaman; the latter also trains the winner.

There were also two, second division legs of the $12,500 Highland Light late closer series for three- and four-year-olds who are non-winners of two races or $15,000 lifetime. Those events went in races two and four.

Quicksilver Kemp (James Tomaso) rode the pylons fourth avoiding a breaker and two horses parked-out most of the mile to find racing room late and close strong in deep stretch to catch the favoured Haulin Banc (Shawn Gray) and win by two in 1:56.3, which was a new lifetime mark.

Overlooked by the betting public and sent off at 17-1, Quicksilver Kemp ($37.80) pulled the upset for owner/trainer Joel Wheeler.

The second leg went to Nows The Moment (Mike Stevenson) who took the lead at the quarter and ran off like a loose horse, winning by a wrapped-up five lengths in a lifetime best 1:55.3.

Nows The Moment ($2.60) is owned by Sonya Mac Donald and is trained by Allison Mac Donald.

In the $12,000 overnight feature trot, Nathaniel (Drew Campbell) turned his back on the competition, going gate to wire by a gapped advantage, eventually winning by a length in 1:54.4, which was a new lifetime mark.

Nathaniel ($5.80) is owned by Linwood Higgins and is trained by James Dunn.

Drew Campbell visited the track photographer four times on Thursday as he registered the grand slam for the day. Besides winning with the aforementioned Pirate and Nathaniel, Campbell also rang the bell with Angel Assault (1:56.3, $16.40) and Bruizn (1:55.2, $3.80).

With his four wins on Thursday, Drew Campbell has vaulted both Greg Merton and Shawn Gray (who were both shut-out Thursday) in the standings to take the dash driving lead at Plainridge Park for the meet. Campbell now has 35 wins while Merton and Gray are tied for second with 33 wins apiece.

Racing resumes at Plainridge Park on Friday with post time at 4 p.m. There is a $4,529 carryover pool for the Wicked Hi-5 Pentafecta wager in race six on Friday.

(Plainridge Park)
Back by popular demand is Pacing For Charity. Now in its third year, the popular fundraising event, created by the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association, will take place on Sunday, May 27 at Century Downs Racetrack and Casino.

Current World Driving Champion James MacDonald, two-time World Driving Champion Jody Jamieson and 2017 O'Brien Award winner Doug McNair will be the three celebrity contestants. Jamieson will drive for Autism Canada, McNair for Perky In Pink, and MacDonald will compete on behalf of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Last year, the trio helped raise more than $7,900.

McNair was the big winner last year with five wins over the Century Downs track. He scored with Silent Rescue (trainer Kyle Howard), Blue Eyed Cowboy (Keith Clark), Brighten Your Life (Kelly Hoerdt), They Call Me Rosie (Robert Parish) and Shaleslittlespirit (Jim Marino). The trainers warrant mention as a bunch of them stepped up with horses to compete in the hands of the visitors throughout the card. Thatll be the story again on Sunday.

McNair, 28, is closing in on 3,000 wins. Thats a remarkable achievement, indicative of his skill and the fact he gets to drive some exceptionally good horses. The latest example came last Sunday evening at Flamboro when he scored with Backstreet Shadow and with Western Passage in divisions of the first Ontario Sires Stakes Gold division for three-year-old pacing colts. Western Passage is eligible for the $1 million North America Cup to be contested next month. His five wins on Pacing For Charity day at Century Downs last year were part of a season that produced 325 wins and more than $6.5 million in earnings.

Jamieson, who will drive for Autism Canada, won the world drivers challenge in 2001 and repeated in 2011. Hes closing in on 7,700 career wins and his horses have piled up more than $123 million in earnings. He has a personal connection to autism as does Century Downs regular, Kelly Hoerdt, who plans to supply at least some of Jamiesons horsepower and who will match whatever Jamieson wins with a contribution of his own to the cause. As a matter of fact, most of the Century Downs drivers will contribute to the various charities in their own way.

The accolades havent stopped for current World Driving Champion, James MacDonald. He won the title last August after accumulating the most points across a series of 22 races over five tracks. The streak began August 12 at Century Downs when he drove Lucky Lucka and Barossa Blue Genes into the winner's circle. It ended with the final race six days later at Charlottetown Driving Park.

The win earned him an invitation to the Perth International Drivers Series at Gloucester Park in Australia last December. He drove one winner on that card while finishing sixth overall. Hell defend his world title next year in Sweden. Already this year hes won 67 races, pushing his career total over the 1,800 mark.

The drivers will fly in on Sunday to compete on the Century Downs card, starting at 1:15 p.m. To view the entries for Sunday's card, click one of the following links:

 Century Downs: Sunday Entries -- Sunday Program Pages (courtesy TrackIT)

(with files from HRA/thehorses.com)
VIENNA  Iran will pull out of a landmark deal to stop the country from developing nuclear weapons unless it receives concrete guarantees that the economic incentives of the pact will be protected by the other parties, following the U.S. decision to unilaterally withdraw and Washingtons threat of sanctions against companies who trade with Iran, a senior Iranian official said Friday.

Iran called a meeting Friday in Vienna of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Joint Commission, or JCPOA  the first time the group of Iran, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia has convened since President Trump took the U.S. out of the deal earlier this month.

The subject of the discussion is to consider and address the implications of the U.S. withdrawal, and this will be very important for Iran to come to its own decision, said a senior Iranian official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. We have not decided yet to stay in the deal.

The other nations all have said they want to stay in the 2015 deal, which limits Irans enrichment and stockpiling of material that could be applied to a nuclear weapons program. In exchange, Tehran was granted broad relief from international trade, oil and banking sanctions.

The Iranian official said that for his country to stay in the deal, the relief granted would have to be guaranteed by the other parties involved and that Tehran needs specifics on how that will happen by the end of May. Tehran will make its final decision in a few weeks.

The official said that in theory the deal can survive without the U.S., but acknowledged in practice Im not sure.

He acknowledged the timeline was tight but said European nations had wasted the past few months trying to persuade Trump not to pull out of the nuclear deal over his contention it was not tough enough on Iran. Among other things, Trump said the deal needed to address Irans ballistic missile program and involvement in regional conflicts while the others had argued those issues could be negotiated separately.

New U.S. sanctions are being phased in, but already many non-U.S. companies have said that they will also likely have curtail operations in Iran for fear of losing access to the much more important American market.

Iran is looking for guarantees it can continue to sell its oil on world markets, have international banking access and broad protection for ongoing trade.

David Rising is an Associated Press writer.
1 Baghdad attack: A suicide bomber blew himself up Wednesday in a crowded park in Iraqs capital, killing at least seven people in the first such attack in Baghdad since the start a week ago of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, security officials said. They said police intercepted the bomber as he entered the park in Shoala, a mainly Shiite district, but he managed to set off his bomb before being caught. There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State. Iraq has been plagued by nearly daily attacks blamed on militants for most of the 15 years since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

2 Ebola outbreak: Congos Ministry of Health said Thursday the number of confirmed Ebola cases has reached 30, including eight deaths in the three affected health zones in the countrys Equateur province. The ministry gave the toll after surveillance teams in the capital, Kinshasa, were deployed along the Congo River to monitor people coming in there. Health brigades have also been set up at various entry points to Kinshasa and other cities as part of prevention, said the World Health Organizations Congo representative Allarangar Yakouide.
1 Boat overturns: At least 49 people died after a boat tipped over on Congos Momboyo River, a tributary of the Congo River in the countrys northwest, authorities said Friday. The vice governor of Tshuapa province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said the boat was taking people from Monkoto to Mbandaka city on Thursday and capsized just outside Wafania. He said he did not know how many people were on the boat or how many survived. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

2 Plane crash: A day after prosecutors said they had unequivocal evidence of Russian involvement in the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago, the Netherlands and Australia on Friday announced they were holding Moscow legally responsible for its role in the missile attack. The move opens a new legal front in the long-running process of apportioning blame for the July 17, 2014, missile strike that blew Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 out of the sky and killed all 298 people on board. Russia denies involvement.
WASHINGTON  A day after accusing North Korea of open hostility and calling off a June 12 summit with its leader Kim Jong Un, President Trump said Friday that talks with Pyongyang had resumed and expressed cautious optimism that the meeting could be held after all.

Well see what happens. It could even be the 12th, Trump told reporters as he left the White House to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy. Were talking to them now. They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it.

The about-face was abrupt, even by Trumps standards, and followed a conciliatory statement by Kims government saying it regretted Trumps action and remained willing to talk. The president called it a very nice statement.

The exchange did little to clarify the highly charged situation, however, and instead underscored the mixed messages and unpredictability on both sides. They remain as far apart as ever on the central issue of North Koreas nuclear arsenal: Trump demands Kim completely and irreversibly give up his program, while North Korea considers its weaponry and ballistic missile capability essential for its survival.

Officials cautioned that the latest burst of hopefulness does not ensure the summit will happen.

Asked by reporters Friday if he was optimistic, Defense Secretary James Mattis said, I am optimistic that the diplomats are working, our diplomats are working very hard to make this happen.

The most important factor in salvaging the summit may be the stake that both Trump and Kim have in holding a face-to-face meeting, even if it falls short of achieving a major breakthrough in long-hostile relations.

Kim wants to meet with Trump to give him status. Trump wants to meet with Kim so he will be the center of global attention, said Jon Wolfsthal, director of the anti-proliferation Nuclear Crisis Group and a former Obama administration official.

The possibility that the summit will be saved likely reassured South Korea, whose president, Moon Jae-in, has worked fervently to coax Trump and Kim to the negotiating table. Moon, who had visited the White House only Tuesday to buttress the case for the Trump-Kim meeting, was taken by surprise by Trumps cancellation two days later.

Mattis said diplomats were working to get the summit back on track. A White House advance team scheduled to go shortly to Singapore, the planned location for the summit, has not canceled its trip.

We have got some possibly good news on the Korea summit, Mattis said, calling the confusion between Trump and North Korea the usual give-and-take.

David S. Cloud is a Tribune Co. writer.
TORONTO  An explosion caused by a homemade bomb ripped through an Indian restaurant at a mall in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, wounding 15 people, Canadian police said.

Police said Friday two suspects with their faces covered to conceal their identity entered the Bombay Bhel restaurant late Thursday, dropped the improvised explosive device and fled. Peel Regional Sergeant Matt Bertram said an object resembling a pail or paint can was carried into the restaurant by one of the suspects.

There is no indication that this is a terrorism act. There is no indication that this is a hate crime at this time. We havent ruled anything out as we start our investigation, said Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans. Every police resource is being used right now to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act.

Officials said three Indian-Canadians suffered critical injuries and were taken to the hospital while the remaining 12 victims suffered what Evans described as minor and superficial injuries. Police later updated the condition of the three critically injured patients to stable. The ages of the injured range from 23 to 69. Children under the age of 10 were present but were not hurt.

Nothing was said by these individuals, Bertram said. It appears they just went in, dropped off this device and took off right away.

Rafael Conceicao, a student from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was near the restaurant when the explosion occurred. He said there was a childs birthday party inside at the time.

Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood in the floor. Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant, he said.

The explosion comes a month after a driver of a van plowed into pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 14.

Rob Gillies is an Associated Press writer.
India and The Netherlands agreed to boost bilateral trade and investment and strengthen cooperation across multiple sectors, including agriculture and food processing, water management and science and technology, following a bilateral summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.



Jointly addressing the media with Rutte after attending an India-Netherlands CEOs Round Table that followed the bilateral summit, Modi said that hundreds of Dutch companies have been operating in India for many years now.



"The Netherlands is the fifth largest source of the total foreign direct investment made in India till now," he said.



"And in recent times, it has even risen to become the third largest source."



Modi said that in the same way The Netherlands is a very attractive investment destination for Indian companies.



According to figures released by the External Affairs Ministry, India and The Netherlands have a bilateral trade of $7.621 billion (April 2017-Feb 2018).



Stating that the interaction with the CEOs of the two countries was very productive, the Indian Prime Minister said: "I am happy that the business community of The Netherlands is enthusiastic about the new opportunities arising in India. I have assured them of my strong commitment to the economic reforms."



On his part, Rutte said that ties between India and The Netherlands have become very close both on the economic and the political sides.



"Many Indian companies, which are active in The Netherlands, are helping us to build a more successful and more resilient society," he stated.



According to a joint statement issued following the summit, Modi and Rutte acknowledged the role of the private sector in boosting trade and investment relations and underlined the opportunities for intensive Indo-Dutch collaborations under India's flagship initiatives such as Make in India and StartUp India.



"Highlighting the role of youth in enhancing future collaboration in innovation and startups, the leaders welcomed the launch of the StartUpLink initiative by Invest India and the Netherlands Embassy in Delhi," the statement said.



In his address, Modi said that agriculture and food processing hold special significance for India as these are related to the country's food security.



"At the same, the target of doubling the income of Indian farmers is also of great significance," he said.



Stating that The Netherlands have great experience in these areas, he expressed happiness that the Indo-Dutch Centre of Excellence on vegetables has started functioning in Baramati, Maharashtra.



"We are working on setting up more such centres," Modi stated.



Highlighting The Netherlands' role in urban development in India, he said water management projects in Delhi and Vadodara were progressing well.



The joint statement said that innovation, technology and governance being key-ingredients in Indo-Dutch water cooperation, the respective institutions of the two countries have joined hands in several projects including a waste2wealth approach to solid waste and waste water in the Hindon Basin, in assisting leather industries in Kanpur and Unnao to adopt eco-friendly technologies, and in conservation of water through efficient agriculture practices in the sugarcane industry of Uttar Pradesh.



"Both sides agreed to intensify their resolve to enhance cooperation under the aegis of the MoU (memorandum of understanding) in the field of water management signed in June 2017 with focus on the Clean Ganga campaign," it stated.



Modi also said that Indo-Dutch cooperation in science and technology has completed 10 years and expressed confidence that this will be further strengthened when The Netherlands will participate as the partner country in the Tech Summit to be held in India in 2019.



Following Thursday's summit, the Dutch Prime Minister also signed the framework agreement of the India-initiated International Solar Alliance (ISA) in the presence of Modi.



Launched by Modi and then French President Francois Hollande at the Paris climate summit in 2015, the ISA was conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs and provide a platform to collaborate on dealing with the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach.



It is open to all 121 prospective member countries falling between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.



Modi said that the benefits of technology, experience and mastery The Netherlands has acquired on solar energy should be shared with the whole world.



According to the joint statement, the two leaders also reiterated their strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.



"They deplored the violence caused by Al Qaeda, Daesh/ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammed, HizbulMujahideen, Lashkar-e-Tayabba, and their affiliates as well as terrorist groups threatening peace and security in South Asia and Europe," it stated.



Apart from Rutte signing the ISA framework, India and The Netherlands also signed a wide range of agreements and initiatives across different sectors like knowledge institutions, water, agrifood and horticulture, hi-tech, IT and space, life sciences and health, smart cities, business, and sustainability.

Read more news:



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Workplace automation to double in India: Survey
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Travelers planning on using Ontario's Highway 401 through Cambridge this weekend could require an alternate route as the highway will be closed for a period of time in both directions.

The Franklin Boulevard bridge is coming down on Saturday night. According to the Ministry of Transportation, Hwy. 401 is scheduled to close at Franklin Blvd. at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday (May 26), reopening by 9:00 a.m. on Sunday (May 27).

A signed detour will be in place along Townline Rd., Pinebush Rd. and Hespeler Rd. during the closure.
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A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Foreign banks are circling Australia once more as they bet on resources and infrastructure investment gathering pace at a time when local banks are distracted by a government inquiry following a string of scandals.

Some, like Barclays, are plotting a return to the market, which holds some $4.6 trillion in banking assets and whose banks are among the most profitable in the world, just two years after an abrupt exit.

The royal commission into lenders' misconduct offers an opportunity as it is likely to distract Australia's biggest banks, bankers say. Credit:Ryan Stuart

Besides Barclays, Dutch lender ABN AMRO expected to launch onshore banking operations in Australia in the second half, an executive said, while Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo planned to open a branch, a person familiar with the move said.

Paris-based Societe Generale is also planning to re-open a branch in Australia, several years after winding down its local operations.
The NSW government has officially launched a campaign to sell the controversial Sirius building in the Rocks district with the funds going to investment in new social housing.

Having gone through many issues, the now-vacant property will be marketed locally and internationally to developers and investors.

It has attracted significant public comment, which has prompted the NSW government to placate concerns by issuing height restrictions.

The Sirius building at 2-60 Cumberland Street, The Rocks, is on the market. Credit:Jessica Hromas

To ensure any new development is sympathetic to the area the NSW government will monitor the process carefully and the deal comes with a long settlement.
Two companies linked to prominent Rich List families are out to prove its possible to reduce the energy usage of an ageing Queensland resort by 70 per cent  and make the numbers add up to boot.

The family company of Computershare founder and publican Chris Morris, Morris Group, owns Townsvilles 30 year old Ville Casino-Resort which is undergoing a $50 million makeover and extension.

The company recently hired N-utility, a one-stop sustainability consultant to undergo an audit of the facility and engineer a raft of energy, water and waste improvements.

It's the biggest project to date for two-year old N-utility, which is backed by the Liberman family's Impact Investment Group. Impact owns one of the biggest unlisted renewable energy portfolios.

N-utility managing director Daniel Barber said the Ville resort energy targets were expected to be reached through a combination of small and large measures.
The wash-up from Wesfarmers' ill-fated investment in the British home improvement market was never going to be a win. It was only a matter of how bad it was going to turn out.

Shareholders will now be wanting to see the executives and board responsible for the debacle pay for it.

Expensive act of hubris: Bunnings' Australian strategy didn't transfer to the UK. Credit:Dean Osland

Wesfarmers is selling its UK business for what it describes as a nominal amount - which may only be 1. While this is the best outcome, the company has sustained huge financial and reputational damage.

It was a $1.6 billion foray - an expensive act of hubris. Wesfarmers wrongly believed it had the formulae to replicate its successful Bunnings model in a region and a market in which it had no experience.
The Bank of Melbourne tried to deal with a mistake by one of its bankers by locking up $100,000 of a customer's money in a term deposit that could not be withdrawn, the royal commission has heard.

The bank's decision, made without any consideration of whether it was legally entitled to do so, was an "abuse of the bank's power", senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr said on Friday.

As it continues to probe small business lending, the royal commission heard former policeman and Westfield executive Brad Wallis borrowed $516,000 from Westpac-owned Bank of Melbourne to buy a restaurant and five-star bed and breakfast in 2016.

The banker was keen for the loan to be classified as a residential property, despite the valuer advising it was a commercial property, and Ms Orr suggested this was because the bank would lend more money against residential properties. The banker was under pressure because the National Australia Bank was close to winning the business.
Interventional radiologist Dr Jacqueline Pearce.

Dr Jacqueline Pearce sometimes learns she's required to perform a procedure such as a mesenteric angiography when the on-call surgeon phones her in the middle of the night.

A mesenteric angiography is an often-emergency X-ray of the blood vessels (arteries) in the abdomen to identify where an artery is blocked or bleeding.

Once Pearce confirms with the surgeon shes the right person to fix the likely problem, shell order a CT angiogram to locate the origins of the bleeding and determine if others issues  such as narrowing or blocking of the arteries  need to be navigated.

At the hospital, with the patient under local anaesthetic, Pearce will puncture the artery in the groin, enter flexible catheters up into the abdomen and find the arteries that might be supplying the bleeding part of the bowel, something that can be particularly tricky in elderly patients.
Victorian employers who deliberately underpay their workers could face prison under a re-elected Labor government.

The state will become the first Australian jurisdiction to criminalise wage theft if Labor wins Novembers election, Premier Daniel Andrews will say on Saturday, pledging up to 10 years behind bars for the most serious offenders.

The promised reforms will carry fines of more than $150,000 for bosses and $950,000 for businesses found to deliberately withhold wages, superannuation or other entitlements, or found to falsify employment records or fail to keep the proper paperwork.

Mr Andrews will tell hundreds of delegates to Victorian Labors annual conference at Moonee Valley on Saturday that legal process for ripped-off workers to recover wages will be fast-tracked, with lower court fees, cases heard within 30 days and a simpler process.
It had to happen. After naming and shaming powerful men in Hollywood, the #MeToo movement has been catching up with powerful male writers and publishers.

The latest high-profile author to face the music, Junot Diaz, was accused out of the blue at a session at the Sydney Writers' Festival. A brave woman in the audience (later identified as American writer Zinzi Clemmons) asked him why he'd treated her the way he had six years ago when she was a graduate student and he was a guest speaker at her workshop at Columbia University.

Junot Diaz. Credit:act\rod.quinn

He'd cornered her and forcibly kissed her, she explained later on Twitter. Other women with similar claims joined in. Diaz pulled out of the festival and another engagement in Melbourne. He's facing questions from the people who awarded him the Pulitzer Prize; from MIT, where he is a professor; and a barrage of accusatory media.

This story caught the attention of many Australians because Diaz was "outed" in our backyard. But don't make the mistake of thinking he's an isolated case. It's happening all over.
The happy couple in a more relaxed mode following the wedding. Credit:Alexi Lubomirski/Kensington Palace Ralph and her partner Michael Russo are behind the coveted Ralph & Russo label, with one of their gowns worn by the Duchess of Sussex when her engagement to Prince Harry was announced and official photos of the event were issued by Kensington Palace in December. Aussie designers Michael Russo and Tamara Ralph left out in the cold at last weekend's royal wedding. Credit:Reuters In January PS inquired if Ralph & Russo would comment on their burgeoning relationship with Markle. The labels head of publicity responded: With regard to your query about Meghan Markle, Im afraid that we will politely be declining to comment on this subject. The official engagement photo from December, in which Markle wore a Ralph & Russo gown. Credit:Alexi Lubomirski via AP

There was no denial either when the Daily Mail splashed across its front page in May a story claiming Ralph & Russo would be designing Markles wedding gown, though it is unclear if it was the dress for the actual ceremony or the evening reception party. Adding further fuel to the speculation this month was a shot on social media showing Ralph & Russos haute couture atelier team visiting the Royal School of Needlework, a hand embroidery school in Britain that was responsible for the hand-appliqued lace of Kate Middletons wedding gown by Alexander McQueen. William and Kate with their flower girls and page boys in 2011. Credit:Hugo Burnand And still, no public denial. This week whispers have swirled around fashion circles both here in Sydney and in London that something had gone awry, and that perhaps Ralph & Russo had lost the royal wedding gig because of a leak that resulted in the mounting media reports naming the designers.

Instead it was French house Givenchy and its head designer Clare Waight Keller who designed the wedding dress. Waight Keller was seen outside St Georges chapel fluffing Markles enormous train, later disclosing she had kept the commission a closely guarded secret, not even telling her own husband she was working on the dress. The Duchess of Sussex then wore a Stella McCartney evening gown to the wedding reception, leaving Ralph & Russo well and truly out in the cold. Kennedys' glittering occasion If diamonds are a girls best friend, than James Kennedy is set to make his wife a very happy gal.

Sydney bling heir James Kennedy and his soon to be bride Jaimee Belle at the Silver Party earlier this year. The heir to Sydneys Kennedy jewellery empire is set to marry his fiancee, former Melbourne waitress Jaimee Belle Gardner, now listed as the creative adviser at the bling dynasty, in a spare-no-expense wedding next month in Florence. Gardner has traded in the dining room at Nobu in Melbournes Crown Casino for a world of expensive baubles and designer gowns, throwing herself into charities such as Sydney Childrens Hospital Silver Party and positioning herself on Sydneys social ladder. The couple are hosting guests over a three-day wedding celebration, which starts with a welcome dinner followed by a brunch at Belmond Villa San Michelle, the same venue where Kim Kardashian married Kanye West. However, Kennedy and Gardner will have their wedding at Palazzo Corsini, the grand baroque palace with its gilded chandeliers and marble statues.



Gardner has enlisted celebrity florist Jeff Leatham, the man responsible for the extraordinary flowers at the luxurious George V Hotel in Paris as well as projects at the Palace of Versailles, to decorate the historic palazzo, flying in direct from France for the job. And in a nod to their love of Melbourne food and Australian fare, the couple are taking Melbourne caterer and event specialist Peter Rowland to Florence. But it will be the sparkling tiara atop the brides head that promises to be the real show-stopper on the day, with Gardner donning a diamond tiara from the London jeweller Graff. Jaime Belle Gardner at the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne last year. Credit:Instagram While details of her gown have not been revealed, PS understands designer duo Jacob Luppino and Anthony Pittorino of Jaton Couture have been commissioned to create it.

The pair also dressed Gardner in the floral number she wore to this years Silver Party. "We are so excited to be celebrating this wonderful time in our lives at such a gorgeous and romantic location with our dear family and friends. I feel so incredibly lucky as I not only get to marry my best friend but get to do so in such a special and memorable way, Gardner told PS. James and I hit it off instantly and have that rare synergy of enjoying both a professional partnership and romantic life together. There is much on the agenda for the future, we of course cannot wait to start a family but as an immediate project we look forward to bringing to life our James and Jaimee Kennedy Foundation, which will support families in crisis. Coluzzi cutting ties One of Sydney cafe societys most famous names says he wants out of the war zone that has embroiled the Bar Coluzzi name.

The late Luigi Coluzzi, owner of the original Bar Coluzzi in Darlinghurst. Credit:Jon Reid Luigi Coluzzi, whose late father established the first Bar Coluzzi in Darlinghurst more than 60 years ago that pioneered Sydneys European-style cafes, told PS he had launched legal action against his landlord, Cromwell, after a series of disgraceful episodes at his city cafe. Nearly two years ago Coluzzi and his wife Tatjana, along with business partner, Singapore-based solicitor Colin Miller, opened up Bar Coluzzi in the bowels of a large office tower on Kent Street. We spent around $250,000 fitting the place out, we turned it into a good-looking restaurant and really the business should be perfect, but its anything but, Coluzzi told PS. Luigi Coluzzi and wife Tatjana want out of the "warzone" that has engulfed their Bar Coluzzi on Kent Street. Credit:Brook Mitchell

It wasnt long after they opened their doors that the Coluzzis discovered their restaurant was being used as a thoroughfare for patrons from the neighbouring Portside Conference Centre. We got sick of asking people not to walk through. They would be coming in with their pushbikes, luggage, it was really inconvenient, bumping into tables ... and when we asked people not to do it, some of them got very irate about it, Coluzzi said, adding his wife had been knocked off her chair by one bloke and "physically threatened by another. The Coluzzis have now written a legal letter to the buildings landlord demanding a refund of the $250,000 fit-out bill and terminating their lease, which is not due to expire for another five years. It has ruined it for me, Coluzzi said. There wont be a Coluzzi involved in Bar Coluzzi after this, thats 60 years of history gone. Now mull this

Roxy Jacenkos infamous mullet dress continues to create ripples after PS revealed the over-the-top tulle gown was back on the rack at Five Dock couturier Velani just 48 hours after Jacenko had raised eyebrows in the frock at the Gold Dinner charity soiree. Roxy Jacenko, the mullet dress and her husband, Oliver Curtis, at the Gold Dinner. Turns out a strikingly similar gown featured in Italian fashion designer Giambattista Vallis haute couture collection presented in Paris last July. Back on the rack: Roxy Jacenko's mullet dress in the window of Five Dock "couturier" Velani 48 hours after the Gold Dinner. Credit:Andrew Hornery The similarities between the gowns has set tongues wagging in Sydney, especially since the designer of the Five Dock dress version, Nicky Velani, vented her outrage over PS coverage on social media.

Jacenko, 38, labelled yours truly a bitter old man, telling the Daily Mail that Velani often makes me garments to wear for special occasions and Ill always return them as they are one-offs that we have worked on together. One-off? Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni in her mullet dress in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Credit:Instagram This week Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni, who has more than 12 million Instagram followers, (about 60 times more than Roxy), posted shots of herself posing in her own mullet dress, a near identical pink ball gown by Valli in front of the Arc de Triomphe. It was a far cry from Jacenkos Instagram props at the Gold Dinner: a couple of wheelie bins on the wharf at Walsh Bay.

Magic auction Sydney auction house Lawsons has had an extraordinary collection on sale this week representing a lifetime of magic acts from the last century by the late Sydney illusionist Keith Abson. In his own partially completed biography, The Magician Dreams, Abson wrote about his start as a magician during the Great Depression travelling the countryside doing shows in tents: Those years taught me how to be tough and sleep out in all weathers and go without food, and travel and mix with all sorts of people and how to entertain those people in all sorts of conditions. When World War II broke out, Abson was camped under a tree in Bendigo, with virtually nothing but his scrapbook of magic tricks. He enlisted and began his 1912 days of service in the Australian Imperial Force. The late magician Keith Abson, far left, on the road with his travelling illusion act in the 1950s.
CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (192 minutes) M

Two young women (Dominique Labourier and Juliet Berto) meet in Paris, become friends, and set out to dismantle the laws of fiction in Jacques Rivette's head-spinning 1974 feminist comedy, which borrows from sources ranging from Henry James to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. A great, joyful film, and a completely accessible one for any viewer willing to go along for the ride. Screens as part of the Alice is Everywhere season, with short There's No Such Thing as a Jellyfish and introduction by Melbourne Film Festival director Michelle Carey. Digitally projected. ACMI, Saturday, 6.30pm.

Stills from Cargo starring Martin Freeman, Simon Landers, Susie Porter. Credit:ianroutledge.com

MALCOLM (90 minutes) PG

This 1986 comedy about a gadget-loving savant (Colin Friels) lured into a life of crime is one of the quintessential Melbourne films, a careful balance of zaniness and low-key realism. The first feature from the enduring team of director Nadia Tass and writer-cinematographer David Parker, it remains their defining achievement. Screens with introduction by Parker. Digitally projected. Thornbury Picture House, Sunday, 2pm.
Greens MPs are at war with environmental groups over a NSW government plan to extend protection to feral horses in the Kosciuszko National Park.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro surprised colleagues last weekend by ditching a draft wild horse management plan that would have cut the number of brumbies in NSW's biggest national park from an estimated 4000-8000 to 600 over 20 years.

Unusually for an invasive species, wild horses will be now be protected - in that park alone - for their heritage links dating back to colonial times, according to the bill now before Parliament.

In a first, the NSW Berejiklian government plans to legislate protection for an introduced species, the brumby, in a national park. Credit:Nick Moir

For the Greens, the policy reversal revealed tensions over animal rights versus the environment. The hard-hooved animals now range over about half the national park, damaging delicate upland flora and adding to the threats to endangered fauna, such as native frogs, lizards and crayfish.
CITRINE STATEMENT DROP EARRINGS.

Much-loved Australian fashion brand Zimmermann has expanded its range of accessories. Featuring circles within circles embellished with citrine, shell and more chain-dropped circles, these earrings reflect the brand's love of pattern, repetition and layering. Made with nine-carat, gold-plated sterling silver. CITRINE STATEMENT DROP EARRINGS, $260;

ZIMMERMANNWEAR.COM

Melbourne boutique Miss Louise has been importing international designer brands for more than 50 years, with a focus on shoes, handbags and accessories  not to mention cool sunnies like these, by the late Alexander McQueen.

CIRCLE SUNGLASSES, $695; MISSLOUISE.COM.AU
Depending how you look at it, superannuation funds charging fat fees to cover the cost of complying with new legislation is either a brazen impost on consumers or a model of transparency.

The Commonwealth Bank will raise $25 million from charging "regulatory reform fees" to super members. Credit:Michael Clayton Jones

It emerged this week that the Commonwealth Bank is charging some super fund members a regulatory reform fee of $102.50 for the year, on top of other administration and investment fees.

Financial Services Minister Kelly ODwyer criticised the concept of the fee, describing compliance as a cost of business. She described the $102.50 fee as out-and-out gouge with no justification.

The counter argument is disclosing the fee separately, rather than hiding it in the general administration fee, provides transparency to customers and gives the bank greater flexibility to alter it as circumstances change.
65 Roses Day is part of a month-long national campaign, the 65 Roses Challenges, that raises funds and awareness for cystic fibrosis.

Old Parliament House and Malcolm Fraser Bridge lit up from 5.20pm to show the capitals support for the national awareness day.

Canberra monuments lit up red for 65 Roses Day on Friday, highlighting cystic fibrosis, a debilitating disease that affects about 100 Canberrans.

Cystic fibrosis is the most common life-shortening genetic condition in Australia. It impacts the whole body, including the respiratory, digestive and reproductive systems. The flow on effects include malnutrition and mental health issues.

A child born today in Australia with cystic fibrosis has a life expectancy of just 38 years. There is no cure, only treatment.

Treatment for the illness is daily and as the condition progresses, becomes more intense. It is ongoing and relentless, there is no time off.

There are limited government funds and programs for cystic fibrosis, so CFACT provides support and services to just under 100 people in the ACT region, 63 per cent of them are adults and 37 per cent children. Less than five years ago these numbers were reversed.
ACT Health officials have visited GPs in Canberra this week to seize flu vaccines in the face of a nationwide shortage as Canberrans rush to get vaccinated early in unprecedented numbers.

ACT Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said Canberra had been given about 87,000 doses of the vaccine from the national pool this year for under-5s, people aged 65 and over, pregnant women and others eligible for a free vaccine. Just under 80,000 of those were distributed to GPs and early childhood clinics.

Yarralumla GP and Australian Medical Association ACT president Dr Antonio Di Dio said authorities visited his clinic on Thursday. Credit:Karleen Minney

But this week the Commonwealth told the ACT that other than a small number of doses next week, the territory would get no more vaccines this year. Dr Kelly said as a result, health had taken spares back from GPs to ensure they could be allocated to people most in need.

Canberra GP Thinus van Rensburg tweeted on Thursday that he had tried to stop health officials from removing the flu stock from his Charnwood practice.
The ACT position is basically a concern that if the Federal Government legislates for some overriding religious freedom it would run contrary to other rights set out in the ACTs Human Rights Act because it would enable suppliers of cakes, and more alarmingly leases and other life essentials, to deny supply to gay couples because it might offend the suppliers religion. The conflict is obvious: on one hand, the human right to be treated equally, irrespective of sexuality, on the other, the right not to have ones religious sensibilities offended by being forced, on pain or fine or jail, to provide a gay cake or a lease to a gay couple. You can see which right should prevail here. Would we allow the human right of free practice of religion to permit, say, Christians to deny Muslims a lease, or Muslims to deny Christians a lease? No. The religious freedom is the one to be constricted. By all means practice your religion, but not in a way that denies other more important rights. So the ACT is quite right to point out the conflict between the right to religious freedom and other human rights and to be concerned about which should prevail in circumstances of conflict. But when we open that can of worms, we see that the big clash is not about gay cakes. It is about the fundamental clash between freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

We had a bit of a taste of the clash of human rights over Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. That was a clash between freedom of speech and the freedom from racial vilification. If we are to have Federal legislative action or constitutional change on these matters  religious freedom, freedom of speech and freedom from racial vilification  we are going to have to look at which are more important when they clash. Clearly, the issues are of great importance and cannot be swept under the jobs-and-growth carpet. Australians are concerned about rights. And perhaps the most difficult conflict is between freedom of speech, on one hand, and freedom of religion and freedom from racial vilification, on the other. The resolution of those conflicts must be in the context of human rights. Religious toleration is a right for humans to practice their religion unmolested, but always provided the rights of others are not affected. Childrens rights should not to be abused by parents denying education to girls or education about the theory of

evolution in the name of religion.

More importantly, there is a right not to be vilified personally or discriminated against because of religious belief, but that should not mean that the religion itself cannot be criticised or even vilified by people exercising their freedom of speech. If you deny freedom of speech to people who want to subject religious teaching to scrutiny, it would mean that Christians in the 19 th century could have prevented people pointing out that Darwins theory of evolution puts paid to a lot of bunk taught under religions umbrella. Ultimately, the reason free speech must prevail over freedom of religion is that religion is dogmatic. It accepts no other truth than its own. Yet we know that with so many conflicting religions they cannot all be right. Only if free speech prevails can we determine which, if any, is right. If we are to have a federal Human Rights Act, it may well be that there is no need for a separate head of freedom of religion, beyond personal protection not to be discriminated against on the grounds of religion. Freedom to practise religion should merely come under the head of freedom of speech. Clerics could spout whatever fanciful, parable-laden twaddle or moral direction they liked, provided it did not interfere with the rights of others. They should not be allowed to incite violence against their critics; believers of other faiths; or converts to other faiths. Another important element to permitting scrutiny, analysis and criticism of religion is that it can help prevent the gullible from being swept up by cults or radicalised by extremists. When the contradictions of Scientologys literature, the Koran and the Bible are laid bare and more widely known, fewer people might become ensnared by the radical, literalist followers of those works.
An off-duty police officer who bashed a man unconscious early one morning has shown no remorse for the harm he caused and had tried to falsely downplay his actions, a judge said Friday.

The sentencing judge also said the now former officer had exploited the victim's submission to authority and later minimised his criminal conduct in a police report.

The victim of Wade Howell's assault.

A jury found Wade Joseph Howell, 36, guilty last month of intentionally or recklessly inflicting actual bodily harm after he bashed the victim in Veterans Park early on April 2, 2016.

Howell, who was in Canberra for police training on close personal protection, was out drinking at Civic nightspot Mooseheads when he followed a woman heading back to her hotel at the Medina Apartments.
Which is why I was delighted to see TV vet Dr Chris Brown on the steps of parliament in Melbourne this week, championing the Victorian government's planned rental reforms. One of the changes, hopefully implemented later this year, will readdress the balance by allowing a pet into a rental by default, unless the owner can prove why their property is not suitable, and not the vice versa situation that exists now.

Currently individual states' residential tenancies acts do not actually prohibit renters from keeping a pet, however there is no ban on landlords including a restrictive clause in their individual agreements  and so, most do. Also, most strata schemes have bylaws about the keeping of animals, too, which entails prior written approval of the owners' corporation to allow pets (thankfully and rightfully, assistance animals are exempt).

"This legislation aims to even the pet playing field," Dr Brown said on Tuesday, while congratulating the government for taking the first steps in a change he would like to see implemented nationally. A report from the Australian Veterinary Association in 2016 showed Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world  62 per cent, or about 5.7 million households. Yet Brown estimates more than three million Australians are not allowed to have a pet where they live, something the RSPCA cites as the major contributing factor to pets winding up in shelters.

There are innumerable studies showing the benefits of pet ownership, ranging from lower cholesterol and stress rates to improved mental health and welfare. And, considering the latest census showed one in four households are now single-occupant, that is a lot of potentially lonely people who could benefit from the love and companionship of a furry friend.

Iggy has given me a purpose to get up and out every day in to the fresh air and take time to walk, contemplate and react with others while savouring him ecstatic in his element. Now I am aware what a dog brings to my life, never again shall I be bereft of its magnificence. And neither should anyone else who is responsible and wants a pet in their lives.
Marsha Elimelakh faces a dilemma: Should she send her March-born son Maxim to kindergarten in 2019, when he will be one of the youngest in the year? Or should she wait until 2020, when he will be among the eldest?

It's a fraught decision. If she sends early she will save thousands of dollars on childcare, but a maturity gap could reverberate throughout Maxim's schooling. Plus, the middle-class trend seems to be to delay. "That weighs on my mind," she said.

Marsha Elimelakh has decided to wait a year and send her son Maxim, who turns 5 next March, to school when he is almost 6. Credit:Janie Barrett

Parents have struggled with this decision for decades. But now, one school is making it for them. From 2019, the private school Newington will only accept boys who turn five by January 31, the beginning of the school year.

"We looked carefully at international research, and it consistently shows there is no advantage to children starting 'formal' lessons before they are five," said the headmaster, Dr David Mulford.
Failing to create more medium-density housing throughout Sydneys suburbs will inevitably lead to a more divided city, the Education Minister and former planning minister, Rob Stokes, says.

Mr Stokes delivered a rousing defence of the states controversial missing middle housing policy this week, even as the government continues to grant exceptions from the code to different councils.

Mr Stokes successor as Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts, also continues to publicly champion the code, which makes it easier for residents to subdivide suburban lots into terraces or so-called manor homes.

The former NSW planning minister, and current education minister, Rob Stokes, has championed more terrace housing across Sydney's suburbs. Credit:Anthony Johnson

But Mr Roberts this month started to grant councils temporary exceptions from the policy. Some councils have said they needed more time to determine areas in which the policy should apply.
A hand squeezed around her throat and a sentence uttered by a stranger on an inner Sydney street after midnight signalled a swift end to a carefree working holiday.

"I'm going to rape you, and I'm going to kill you," Jerome Mundine told the Dutch backpacker before he dragged her by the shoulder to the dead-end lane, pressed her against a car and raped her.

Jerome Mundine, 23, pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. Credit:Facebook

When he threw her to the ground and fled minutes later, she was left screaming and sobbing as she hyperventilated on a Surry Hills road. Her knees were scraped and bleeding.

Mundine, 23, of Waterloo, pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse without consent and was sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court on Friday to at least four years behind bars.
Luke Foley, the people in your electorate need to talk.

On a visit to Auburn, where the Herald spoke to more than 60 people - firstly at the local mosque then in the shopping centre - the Opposition leader's controversial comments that "many Anglo families" were fleeing western Sydney as part of "white flight" had barely registered.

Ali Azhar Usman in Auburn. Credit:Janie Barrett

In fact, the Opposition leader had also barely registered.

Among the locals from a wide variety of multicultural backgrounds, some knew Mr Foley was their member of parliament, some even knew he was the leader of the state Labor party, but not a single one was aware of the "white flight" comments to a Sydney newspaper that Premier Gladys Berejiklian called "deeply divisive, dangerous and nasty" and that had forced him to apologise.
So called "portfolio careers when workers hold multiple jobs with multiple employers on a part-time basis are expected to become more common. Remote working and telecommuting could be the norm, rather than the exception, in many more industries. Theres plenty of good news in the long-term projections. On current trends, the states population will be much wealthier in 2039 than it is now. When I think about Harriet and her future, I think the opportunities are endless, says Perrottet. Even so, the greying of the states population will give future treasurers plenty to worry about.

And the trend is already well under way. By the time Harriet is just four years old population forecasts show every NSW region outside of Sydney will have more people aged 65 and over than those aged 15 and under. Perhaps the most striking forecast is the rapid growth anticipated in the number of very old citizens. In 1976 NSW had fewer than 100 people aged over 100 years but by 2056 that figure will be 18,000. As the population ages there will be a shrinking share of workers to support those in retirement. Today there are around four people of traditional working age for every person 65 and over. But state Treasury predicts that ratio will have fallen to fewer than one in three by 2039. And that means growing pressure on the states finances. Dominic Perrottet delivering his first budget in 2017. Credit:Nick Moir

NSW already devotes 29 per cent of annual expenditure to health but thats expected to reach an unprecedented 33 per cent by 2039. State Treasury predicts a growing fiscal gap as revenues fail to keep up with expenses. That gap is currently forecast to reach 2.8 per cent of gross state product when Harriet Perrottet is 21 years old, or about $15 billion when measured against the states economic output in 2015-16. If left unchecked that fiscal gap would result in a huge build up in state debt that would eventually become unsustainable. States need to work together It's 16 years since former federal treasurer Peter Costello released Australias first intergenerational report alerting voters to the economic challenges of an ageing population. It focused on the big picture, especially the long-term impact of demographic change on the federal budget.

But Perrottet says its become increasingly clear how important state government will be in responding to this challenge. In more recent reports to come out from the Productivity Commission a whole lot of the areas where they thought reform could occur were wholly located within the states, he says. Perrottet says the states will need to work together to deal with their long-term financial challenges. You've got to have competitive federalism - that's great, he says. But maybe we should start to have a little bit more some collaborative federalism to go with it and get some reform on the table.

Perrottet hopes a regular meeting of his state counterparts, called the Board of Treasurers, can be a catalyst for change. Some economists think it is inevitable that taxation as a share of the economy will need to rise to fund the growing demand for public services caused by an ageing population. But Perrottet is not convinced by that option. I'm a big believer that the more money you give governments, the more theyll find ways of spending it, he says. Perrottet would rather find ways to boost productivity and make government more efficient rather than increasing the tax burden. I think governments also need to look at better ways of doing things, he says. Dominic Perrottet with his wife Helen and children, left to right, Annabelle, William, Amelia and Charlotte in January 2017. Credit:Peter Rae

With that in mind, Perrottet appointed Peter Achterstraat as the states first Productivity Commissioner earlier this month. Achterstraat has a mandate to bust red tape and shape the NSW governments future productivity agenda. Perrottet inherited an enviable budget position when he became Treasurer in January last year. His second budget, due next month, is expected to deliver a strong surplus and the state's debt levels remain negligible. The best time to actually start driving a lot of these initiatives is when you're in a strong position, says Perrottet. You take your stand and you ensure that that fiscal gap that we're looking into is significantly reduced. Despite the state's economic health, the Berejiklian government has been under political pressure over its infrastructure policies. But Perrottet is convinced the government's strategy will pay lasting dividends. Sure, you want to win the election because that allows you to implement your policies but getting judged at the polls is not as important as being judged by the generations that follow, he says.

You want to look back in and see in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years - what did we do as a government ... what concerns me the most as Treasurer is that the investments that we're making today are building in the state of the future." The ageing of the population is already driving complex changes at the local level, including in Sydney. Sydney's workers on the move Loading A recent analysis of local employment data by economist, Terry Rawnsley, showed the distribution of jobs in Sydney is beginning to shift as the baby boomer generation - born between 1946 and 1961 - moves into retirement.

Rawnsley found the total number of workers in the city's Eastern Suburbs and North Shore fell in 2016. Meanwhile, a large number of workers were added in suburbs a long way from the city's main jobs hubs, especially the Central Coast and south-western Sydney. In the past, life expectancies were lower and many retirees moved out of the city, says Rawnsley. But we are starting to see this trend for many retired baby boomers stay put and occupying well-located housing. This trend will add pressure to the city's creaking transport networks and increase the already significant economic and personal costs of congestion. The ageing of the population also means Sydney suburbs will host far more older people in the future and their needs will become increasingly important in urban design. Perrottet thinks housing affordability will be a major hurdle for his daughter Harriets generation. If housing affordability isnt top of the list it's very close to it in terms of the issues that my generation is facing and certainly the next generation is going to be facing, he says.
Dr Chau Chak Wing. Credit:Sahlan Hayes

The decision of Andrew Hastie MP to accuse Dr Chau Chak Wing in parliament of being the person identified in US court documents over bribes to a UN official has caused a flurry of activity in Canberra and elsewhere which only highlights Australias apparent confusion over its relations with China.

The Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten, has criticised  by implication, at least  Mr Hasties move, asking whether it breached any arrangements between Australia and allied countries security organisations. This is a difficult argument to sustain because the information Mr Hastie revealed was, as he told Parliament, not confidential, and so revealing it has no security implications.

Mr Shorten may be on firmer ground in suggesting that other members of the government, including the Prime Minister, had no forewarning of Mr Hasties revelation, but if the information is unclassified  so what?

His decision to make a political issue of the statement has annoyed other Labor figures, not least members of the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which Mr Hastie chairs. Labor appears to be torn between Mr Shortens desire to score a small political win here, and other MPs concern to continue the bipartisan approach to matters of national security in general.
A north Queensland grandma accused of stealing her seven-year-old grandson has denied any links to a network said to be helping women do the same thing.

The 56-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared briefly in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday after being extradited from NSW.

The 56-year-old woman appeared briefly at the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday, and has been remanded until Tuesday. Credit:Robert Shakespeare

According to court documents, detectives located the pair on Tuesday in Wauchope, near Port Macquarie.

Police allege the grandmother made plans to flee Townsville earlier this year, selling her car and leaving the place where she was living.
Liquidators for Queensland Nickel have won a Supreme Court battle to have Clive Palmer's personal assets frozen.

Mr Palmer's lawyers unsuccessfully sought a 21-day stay on the order, which affects $205 million worth of his assets, and those of his companies.

Clive Palmer was not in court to hear the ruling. Credit:Glenn Hunt/AAP

The temporary freeze, granted by Justice John Bond in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday afternoon, will continue until a final judgment is made on the case, or another order is granted.

Under the "complex" orders, Mr Palmer is also required to provide information about his assets to liquidators within a certain timeframe.
A Malaysian man will be deported after child exploitation material was found on his phone at Gold Coast Airport when he arrived on a flight from his homeland last year.

Sei Wei Lau, 28, was arrested by Australian Border Force investigators on October 11 after landing and a search of his luggage led to child exploitation material being found on his phone.

Mr Lau was charged and remanded into custody. He was sentenced at Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday to 225 days in prison, according to an ABF statement.

However, he had already served his 7 month sentence while waiting for the matter to be finalised in court.

The ABF said he was handed him over to the Department of Home Affairs pending deportation.
The second man allegedly involved in the abduction arrives in Queensland in cuffs and flanked by police. Credit:AAP - David Clark

A second man has been extradited from New South Wales and charged over the abduction of a 12-year-old schoolboy from the Gold Coast two weeks ago.

Yu "Sunny" Zhang, 20, was extradited to Queensland on Friday after handing himself into Cabramatta Police Station on Tuesday.

He was charged with one count each of torture, deprivation of liberty and assault occasioning bodily harm in company.

He was due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on Saturday.
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has denied reports his office is home to a taxpayer-funded Liberal Party dirt unit. The Bulletin magazine reported that the government is running a secretive unit which works on minute-by-minute media management and government response to issues. But Mr Ruddock denied the report. "There is no dirt unit in my office in Sydney or anywhere else," Mr Ruddock told parliament. "There have been many people, from time-to-time have been in my office, and would know and have been in a position to see that there are no extra six to eight people in my office simply because there are none."

Earlier, Labor said it was clear the government was wasting tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money on Liberal Party work. But Labor's public accountability spokeswoman Penny Wong and House of Representatives business manager Anthony Albanese were not able to offer any more evidence beyond The Bulletin report. Mr Albanese said it was necessary for the government to come clean on the extent of its alleged dirt units. "To what extent is market research being done by government department to the tunes of tens of millions of dollars being used to support the Liberal Party in its partisan political campaign for re-election in 2007," Mr Albanese asked reporters. Senator Wong was vociferous in her attack.
An increase in demand for the flu vaccine has affected supplies. Credit:Shutterstock

Victorias supply of flu vaccines is almost exhausted and remaining supplies will be reserved for those at most risk of falling seriously ill until more stocks can be secured.

The Turnbull government said it had sourced 800,000 additional vaccines to meet record nationwide demand this year, however most of these doses will not be available until mid-July.

In the meantime, health authorities in Victoria have told immunisation providers to limit the vaccine to children between six months and five years of age; pregnant women; Indigenous people aged 15 years and over; people with medical conditions that could make them more likely to fall severely ill with flu; and those aged over 65 years.

The shortage has been caused by unprecedented demand, with almost 10 million flu doses released nationwide ahead of this year's influenza season, and almost 1.6 million doses provided in Victoria.
Two men who came to Australia on humanitarian protection visas have been jailed for the "vicious and cowardly" gang rape of a homeless woman sleeping under a Melbourne bridge.

Thwang Za Lian, 22, and Kapling Hlawnceu, 21, found the woman under a Werribee footbridge before they held her down, covered her mouth and raped her one night in August 2017.

The pair had dreamt of new lives after escaping poverty and persecution in their native Myanmar by fleeing to Malaysia and coming to Australia as refugees several years ago.

Instead, they devastated the life of someone else - a 36-year-old woman

who was sleeping rough under Werribee's Bicentennial Bridge.

For more than 20 minutes the woman was allegedly confronted by three men, forced to the

ground and raped with her face covered.
About 3000 homes were still without power following Friday morning's storm front and a second front this evening could mean it wont be restored until tomorrow.

Western Power crews have restored power to more than 7,500 properties following the severe weather front that crossed the south west coast.

A second storm front could cause havoc for Western Power who are still trying to restore power from this morning's front. Credit:BOM

Winds reached an excess of 110kmh in the Great Southern bringing down trees and blowing debris into powerlines.

Perth has recieved 36 mm of rain since 9am Thursday.
Whatever the topic, people have taken to flashing a knowing look. "We're being had" is the subtext of every conversation. All the politicians are in it for themselves. Every institution is corrupt. The system is stacked.

Is there any pleasure left in life? Perhaps only this: the ability to see the whole corrupt, stinking structure for what it is.

Two young people met. They fell in love. They decided to marry. Credit:PA

Cynicism is the new normal.

A recent Deloitte survey of Millennials found that less than half believe business behaves ethically. Two-thirds believe politicians have a negative impact on society. That's not just politicians from one side or the other  that's all politicians.
The navy must defend Australia, he said. But as a trading nation, it also needs to help keep the seas free and open. The ability to move freely within the oceans within the rule of law remains imperative to Australias prosperity. Growing wealth in Asia, rising geopolitical competition and advances in technology mean unsurprisingly, countries are investing in submarines" and other major naval assets. If youve got a submarine, you can create a level of ownership over a water space or the perception of ownership far greater than you can if you dont have a submarine asset. Straightaway a deterrent is created," he said.

Commodore Smallhorn doesnt talk about specific countries - Defence rarely does - but one scenario that strategic scholars often talk about is a hypothetical crisis in which China takes control of the Malacca Strait, one of the worlds most pronounced trade choke points between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. This is precisely the kind of scenario the Romeos trained for off Scotland earlier this month. The new frigates will largely hunt submarines by having Romeos or successor helicopters fly off their decks. Once they suspect there is a submarine somewhere below, a helicopter will go into a hover and dip a sonar device into the water, explained Commander Anthony Savage, who heads the Romeo squadron. They also fire sonar buoys that sit on the surface. Both the dipper and the buoys can listen through passive sonar or ping active sonar pulses and then see what they bounce off. The frigate will drag behind it another sonar device and will have sensors mounted on its hull. A 3D rendering of BAE Systems' Global Combat Ship Australia (GCS-A).

Naturally the quieter the ship is, the lesser the chance an enemy submarine will hear it coming and the more effective are its own sonar sensors because they are not drowned out by engine and hull noise. Often maritime patrol aircraft such as the RAAFs new P-8 Poseidons will also be in the hunt. Everyone talks to each other electronically, sharing eyes and ears, to tighten the net around the submarine or just to frighten it away if they are trying to keep a choke point clear. If there is intelligence on where the submarine might be or what we call a threat axis we will focus our search in that space," Commander Savage said. If we do have some success and get contact, the aircraft and whatever else is there will work together to try and achieve a prosecution. Thats not necessarily destruction. It might be just be, Hey, weve got you, go away, or just putting some noise in the water so they dont come near friendly forces.

But as a rule the advantage is in the submariners court, Savage said. A submarine can hide under boundaries between layers of warmer and colder water, which reflect the sonar pings and therefore provide cover. In Exercise Joint Warrior, the ocean floor topography was particularly rugged, allowing the submarines to hide behind undersea mountains. When the Turnbull governments national security committee meets next month to decide which of the three overseas companies it will choose, it will have to weigh up which offers the best military capability, which has the least risk of cost blowouts and delays, and which will provide the greatest shot in the arm to the governments broader ambition of establishing a globally competitive Australian naval shipbuilding industry. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute released a paper this week that, crudely boiled down, concluded BAE Systems Type 26 Global Combat Ship had the most modern design but was probably the most risky and expensive because it remains a design on paper with no ships yet built. The F-5000 by Spains Navantia was the safest and likely cheapest but was not as well tailored to anti-submarine warfare.

Italian Fincantieris FREMM was somewhere in between - capable but also proven. Fairfax Media spoke to all three companies. BAEs Nigel Stewart said any problems with the Type-26 would be sorted out before the first Australian frigate goes into production because BAE is making three of the same ships first for the British navy. The British have a pedigree  over many, many years in hunting submarines, he said. And the modern design means it can be easily upgraded, including with future technology such as electro-magnetic weapons. The fact Australia, Britain and Canada - for whom BAE also hopes to build frigates - are intelligence-sharing partners will help. Navantia Australia chairman Warren King defended F-5000s capabilities but argued heavily on the industrial advantages, saying all intellectual property would be held by Australia. Thats a really big issue ... That entity can, in conjunction with the governments direction, become fully Australian-owned with the autonomy to operate internationally and in competition with any other supplier in the market. Thats a huge offer, he said.
Catholic schools are set to gain billions while independent schools will lose out under a shake-up of school funding that will significantly change how parents' capacity to pay fees is assessed.

The changes would be a major coup for the Catholic sector, which has waged war on the government over what it believes were unjust changes to the Gonski funding model under Malcolm Turnbull.

Fairfax Media has been told the National School Resourcing Board is considering four main options for reforming the Howard-era socio-economic status model, which determines parents' capacity to contribute to the costs of their children's private school education.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The SES score is based on residential addresses of enrolled students and official statistics. Higher SES scores mean reduced government funding.
A few years ago I visited the Googleplex - the Silicon Valley campus in California that is home to squadrons of bright kiddies who have taken over our lives, stolen our need to use the memories inside our own heads and who lay claim to mapping the future of the universe.

It was as mindblowing and exciting as it might have been to visit Robert Stephensons factory in Britain in the early part of the 19th century as his first passenger steam train rolled down the line.

The Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Credit:New York Times

The design of Googles buildings and the quiet tap-tapping on notebook computers were less impressive than Stephensons shrieking and fire-breathing steam train foundry must have been, but you knew that here, too, were being developed unimaginable means of moving humanity through space and time.

Since that visit to Google, the expanding influence of high-tech has lost a fair coating of its early sparkling promise.
The current commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, will step down in August after a five-year stint and Attorney-General Christian Porter will soon assess applicants to appoint as his replacement. He has dismissed calls not to appoint a successor to Soutphommasane. Soutphommasanes tenure was marked by some controversy. He campaigned strongly (and ultimately successfully) against proposed changes to Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful to "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" on the basis of race. In doing so, Soutphommasane lined himself up against then prime minister Tony Abbott, many Liberal MPs, the Murdoch press and conservative think-tank the Institute of Public Affairs, which took out full-page newspaper advertisements to lobby for the anti-18C cause. Andrew Bolt fell foul of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. Credit:Justin McManus The Murdoch press was particularly opposed to the section because its star columnist, Andrew Bolt, famously fell foul of it.

Later, so did its star cartoonist, Bill Leak. In 2016, Leak drew a cartoon for The Australian depicting a drunken Aboriginal father who had forgotten his childs name. A complaint of race discrimination was made, and later withdrawn, with one of the complainants saying she felt bullied by The Australians coverage of her. When Leak died of a heart attack in 2017, some of his supporters reportedly blamed the stress of the complaint as a contributing factor. Soutphommasanes critics say he tweeted "soliciting" complaints following the cartoons publication, and that he promoted more division than harmony. Attorney-General Christian Porter will soon assess applicants for a new race discrimination commissioner. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Porter seemed to nod to these criticisms when he gave an interview saying the next commissioner would need to have "an understanding and empathy not merely for minority groups but for middle Australian values".

Macdonald is surely capable of forming his own views, but it was an interesting coincidence that his declaration of Australia as racism-free and not requiring a race discrimination commissioner came in the same week the Institute of Public Affairs circulated a "research brief" to parliamentarians arguing "Australia must not appoint a commissioner for racial division". (Macdonald's office said the senator had not read the brief when he made his comments, "however [he had] read some Spectator articles that had been raised with him by constituents, enriched by his own experiences".) The IPA believes the entire Human Rights Commission should be abolished, and asserts that it has abused more human rights than it has redressed. But until that happens, it argues the government should leave the race discrimination commissioner role empty. The IPA paper asserts that "refusing to appoint a new race discrimination commissioner would be an acknowledgement that race has no place in Australias national institutions". This point of view is an interesting one and an increasingly prevalent one among hard conservatives (its worth remembering that the IPA is a feeder for Liberal politics: MPs James Paterson, Scott Ryan, Tim Wilson and Tony Smith were all associated with the institute pre-politics).

People who mention race at all, or note racism, or racist incidents, are told that they are the racist ones. To name race as a factor in social conflict is to stoke social division. To call out the problem is to be the problem. It is a tricky rhetorical move, because it forces us to go back to first principles, as though we were drafting the "affirmative" case in a year 7 debate entitled: "Does racism exist in Australia?" That opens the way for people like Macdonald - who has served in the Senate since the early '90s yet doesnt concede he lives in a "bubble" - to claim that there is no racism because he has never seen it. By that logic you could declare me a bacteria-sceptic, or a gravity denier.

Some people have a hard time accepting the concept of subjective experience, particularly when that subjective experience is very different from their own, as subjective experience so often is. It shouldnt have to be said, but the best witnesses to racism are probably not going to be Anglo-Saxon "lifer" senators who live in largely white communities. Macdonald might ask himself why, if racism was no problem, there was such a strong electoral backlash from ethnic communities over the 18C issue, so strong it turned toxic for the government, which was forced to dump its pledge to amend the section. NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley has been lambasted for his remarks about the "white flight" of Anglo families from western Sydney. Credit:Cole Bennetts Macdonalds comments were made the same day The Daily Telegraph published comments from NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley that an influx of refugees into western Sydney, notably Fairfield, has lead to a "white flight" of "many Anglo families" from those suburbs.
The resulting byelections - particularly in the marginal seats of Longman in Queensland and Braddon in Tasmania - and the national conference, set for July 26 to 28 in Adelaide, are virtually all risk for Labor. The risk factor is why the event used to be staged closer to the middle of a parliamentary term, allowing the negative optics of factional power plays and Labor luminaries openly disagreeing with each other to fade in voters' minds before they head to the ballot box. But since Mark Lathams time, the party's supreme policy-making forum has been used more as a springboard towards the election, with the hope that an imminent poll will act as a sobering force on dissenters. Labor NSW general secretary Kaila Murnain. Credit:Dallas Kilponen Labor's NSW general secretary Kaila Murnain, now a convenor of the right faction nationally, remains upbeat on that question. "All the different groups would agree that it's a chance to to showcase the party's readiness to govern," she says. A prominent left figure differs, predicting the conference would be "untidy" because Labor is "a rambunctious party, but we work things out".

Labor's national secretary Noah Carroll is facing his first conference in the role and describes it as a "huge event for the party". "[It] will contain over 70 stimulating fringe events, important policy debates, Bill's speech and the greatest number of party members and business observers attending in history," he says. Still two months out, the factional carve-up among the 397-plus delegates - of whom 50 per cent derive from direct election in the branches and 50 per cent come from affiliated unions - is incomplete. In Queensland, a ballot for branch delegates is underway. In most other states, these have been completed, with the right generally doing better than it expected. In NSW, the right-left split was 27-18 with two unaligned. In Victoria, the right's performance was even stronger at 27-14 with two unaligned. Victoria holds its state conference this weekend where the 50 per cent union component will be elected. The left is expected to do better here; 25-18 is predicted. Labor's Anthony Albanese voted against asylum seeker boat turn-backs at the 2015 conference. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Another 10 votes come from the federal parliamentary party, comprised of Shorten, his deputy Tanya Plibersek, Senate leader Penny Wong and deputy Senate leader, Don Farrell, and six others: the lefts Anthony Albanese, Linda Burney, and Graham Perrett; and the rights Kate Ellis, Richard Marles, and Jason Clare. State parliamentary leaders are also accredited to vote. According to one old hand: In past conferences, we knew the left had 100-and-something delegates and the right had 100-and-something and those blocs would be reflected in vote after vote, right through the weekend. Now, we might have quite different results turning up on issue to issue and might never be sure if were close or not until the show of hands." It was a view echoed by another left figure who said there were more unaligned candidates than normal meaning "uncertainty was the watchword". A further unknown derives from re-alignments between powerful unions and factional power-blocs. The two to watch here are the Victorian unions dominated by the CFMEU which has broken from the Socialist left to head-up the Industrial left, and another in Western Australia also involving the CFMEU and the Maritime Union of Australia which now calls itself the Blue Collar Alliance. These groupings seem to cross ideological tramlines making their behaviour uncertain. Left-leaning by disposition, they have nonetheless strengthened Shortens defences and are expected to ensure he is not subject to membership revolts on sensitive policies like the strict maintenance of off-shore processing and third-country resettlement, and the perennial issue of Palestine and Israel.

But on industrial relations, their desire to wind back laws against strikes and right of entry to workplaces for union officials could put them at odds with Shorten. As in the previous conference in 2015, asylum-seeker policy again looms as an emotional flash point with progressives eager to have the national platform enshrine a new 90-day limit on off-shore detention along with protections against the resettlement of LGBTQI refugees in countries where discrimination against such minorities exists. Loading Labor frontbencher Penny Wong said the refugee debate was an important one. "We should be advocating for detention for processing purposes to be limited," she said, following a Sky News ReachTEL poll which found half of all voters felt a time limit was appropriate. The first parliamentary speech by the former ACTU president, Ged Kearney signalled left-wing intent on this question as she pledged to work for a "humane" policy on refugees.

I cannot comprehend how a nation that provided a safe home to so many in the wake of World War II  including our large Jewish community of Holocaust survivors  allowed the Tampa and the children overboard scandal to evolve into the shameful policy of indefinite detention on Manus and Nauru," she said. Racist dog-whistling has demonised and vilified a community that has everything to give to Australia and the sacrifice of this human potential has been made solely for political gain. The government leapt on those arguments, suggesting they send a message to asylum seekers and to people smugglers that refugees will eventually be admitted to Australia if only they "wait out" the 90-day detention period. Loading "It's clear that Labor still hasn't learned their lesson, they're still playing with fire, they're still wanting to put people smugglers back into business should they have the opportunity to get into

government," said Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, signalling the Coalition's intention to ruthlessly capitalise on any Labor changes. Another key Shorten ally, Victorian Senator Kimberley Kitching, says it is ridiculous to suggest, as the government does, that important policy questions like indefinite detention should not be debated, but she says the election timing would be prominent in the minds of Labor members. "People will be disciplined because we know an election could happen soon, possibly very soon," she says. "People will be focused on giving us the best chance of electoral success."

Kitching will be attending as a right faction delegate for the Health Services Union. The colossal outbreak of violence on the Gaza-Israel border last week has also escalated tensions within Labor over the pursuit of a two-state solution. Pro-Palestine campaigner and former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr says the decision by Israeli Defence Force officers to open fire on Palestinian protesters killing 60 would harden the resolve of the party to have a future Labor government unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state. "I can tell you, it just makes inevitable, the passage of the motion, using the words of the NSW state conference by the next National Conference, that says an incoming Labor government will recognise Palestine," he says. Labor leader Bill Shorten knows the national conference runs the risk of conveying an image of division for the party. Credit:AAP This looms as a difficult issue for Shorten - a member of the Victorian right which is markedly more pro-Israel than the right in NSW and the rest of the party.

Here as in other areas, Shorten will miss the protection of the former right faction enforcer Stephen Conroy. While that role will be taken by Murnain, along with parliamentary heavies Joel Fitzgibbon and Don Farrell, one left leader described the absence of Conroy as "something of a hole in the right". Shorten is alive to the risk that a rambunctious mood at the triennial national conference could convey an image of division or, worse, could link a future Shorten Labor government to past policy failures such as deaths at sea. Addressing a Labor-aligned McKell Institute function after the release of the draft platform (the document that outlines the topics that will be adopted or amended at the conference) Shorten assured onlookers that the party is "is as united as Ive seen it". "That doesnt mean were all going to agree on every issue," he said. "I have to say my parliamentary party is giving me a great deal of support and Im confident that our policies will be positive and theyll speak to the experiences and lives of working and middle-class Australians both in the cities, the suburbs and the bush. But he also used the appearance to remind his party that Turnbull will go to the polls when he thinks he can survive.

Given the immovables of a Victorian state election in November and a NSW state election in March, the case for a federal poll from August onwards could be strengthened in Turnbull's mind if he believed Labor's presentation in the electorate had been compromised. A senior left figure says it is too early to say whether that risk would act as a dampener on debate, while another argues that the very fact that Labor is in a position to win means the difficult policies must be confronted. Loading Weve been here before, she says. What we cant do is hand the leadership a blank cheque as if winning is everything," she says, predicting spirited debates on a range of prickly policy questions about tax and wealth redistribution, the size and role of government, workplace relations including the right to strike, and the aforementioned questions of Palestine and Israel, and asylum seeker policy. Another MP made a similar point, decrying the idea of making the ALP into a small target and describing the national conference as a chance to set out a road map for a future Shorten government.

Its a fair bet Shorten would prefer a smaller coterie of experts and a less public process to write that road map, but that is not the Labor way. In any case, the expectation of a Shorten government has its own effects. One of those is the return to the Labor fold of the Electrical Trades Union in Victoria. The union's state secretary, Troy Gray, has recently announced his organisation's generous financial support for Greens MP Adam Bandt (amounting to $780,766 since 2010) would now be directed back to Labor, to ensure Shorten sticks to his promise to scrap the much loathed building and construction watchdog, the ABCC. Nows the time ... our members want us in the tent, kicking and screaming to ensure Labor addresses these problems. Changing the rules is far too important to be sitting on the political sidelines, he tells Fairfax Media. Such overt displays of union power make Shorten's strategists nervous because they play one way in Trades Hall but quite another way in an electorate where private sector union membership now hovers around 10 per cent.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was bunkered in the cabinet room, chairing a meeting of those who hold the nations secrets - the National Security Committee - when young Liberal MP Andrew Hastie rose in a chamber two floors above to reveal his own close-held secret. Way across the world, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was flying out of Buenos Aires after working assiduously to try to persuade Chinas leading diplomat, Wang Yi, that the Turnbull governments contentious legislation proposing to limit foreign influence in Australia, including political donations, was not aimed at any particular country. These were delicate diplomatic times, but Andrew Hastie had not breathed a word to either Turnbull or Bishop - or any one of the senior ministers on the National Security Committee - that he was about to use the protection of parliamentary privilege to accuse billionaire businessman and generous political donor Chau Chak Wing of involvement in a major international bribery scandal. Turnbull - surrounded by Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, Treasurer Scott Morrison, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Attorney-General Christian Porter, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Defence Minister Marise Payne, plus officials from Australias intelligence apparatus - was utterly sideswiped. When an aide broke in to tell the Prime Minister of Hasties address upstairs, Turnbull immediately ordered steps be taken to find out whether the backbencher had aired national and international secrets. There is something of the righteous warrior about Andrew Hastie. Its hardly surprising. This son of a hardline Presbyterian fundamentalist preacher spent all the years of his young adulthood in the military, including five years with the take-no-prisoners Special Air Service, before switching to politics in 2015.

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Andrew is ruthless, hardline and focused, one of his Liberal colleagues said this week. He is a steely-eyed man with a mission. That mission is to climb the ranks. Hasties conservative Christian faith, his military background and his cleft chin seemed an attractive combination when Tony Abbott and his supporters were desperately looking for a candidate to stand in the by-election of Canning in Western Australia in September, 2015. Andrew Hastie and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop take a selfie ahead of the 2015 Canning byelection. Credit:Tony McDonough A win by Hastie, the thinking went at the time, might save Abbotts prime ministership. The byelection was a week too late to save Abbott from Turnbulls strike for the leadership, but Hastie won his seat in a canter. Another new MP might have considered it a setback to discover that before he had even been elected, his patron had lost his power. But Hastie linked himself to the conservative West Australian faction led by Mathias Cormann, and prospered. He has proved to be a figure of some enduring fascination for the media. He does not fit a one-dimensional box. He may be a Christian conservative - one fundamentalist enough to believe God created the world in six days, though he will neither confirm nor deny he is a creationist - but he is one who can effortlessly quote the metaphysical poet John Donne in the cause of free speech.

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He may have argued against same-sex marriage on the basis that it is against the natural law, but he has stood in Parliament and declared I believe that all people are endowed with respect and inherent worth and dignity, whatever their race, ethnicity, colour, religion, sex or sexuality. Two and a half years after taking Canning, Hastie remains no more than a Liberal backbencher, but like the SAS soldier he was, he uses what hes got - and so far, that is the chairmanship of the powerful Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security. Andrew Hastie in his army days. Credit:Richard Polden It was in that role that he stood beneath the protection of parliamentary privilege on Tuesday evening and accused Chau, the big-time Chinese-Australian political donor, as a co-conspirator in bribing a former United Nations president in 2013. A fervent anti-communist, Hastie also claimed that Chau had extensive contacts in the Chinese Communist Party, including the United Front. He also said hed got his information from a briefing with United States authorities about espionage and foreign interference legislation. Hastie declared he was making his statement in the national interest. My duty, first and foremost, is to the Australian people and the preservation of the ideals and democratic traditions of our Commonwealth.

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A plainer political interpretation, given his decision to keep everyone, including his Prime Minister, in the dark, might be that he was declaring unambiguously that he now saw himself as a supremely confident operator. He once would have been proud to be called one of Abbotts clan, but hes moved well beyond needing a patron in Parliament, another colleague said. Andrew did this for his own furthering, not to get under the PMs skin. That would have simply been a bonus. Other observers, however, saw Hasties decision to keep his intentions from Turnbull as granting him the favour of plausible deniability if there was political fallout. Besides, his revelations were in accord with Turnbull's publicly stated commitment to laws that would ban foreign interference, even though they might cause diplomatic ructions. Andrew did this for his own furthering, not to get under the PMs skin. That would have simply been a bonus. Others saw it as a strategic move for Hasties own purposes, and few thought it would harm his political trajectory over the longer term.

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Andrew has been angling for a bigger role for some time, a Liberal colleague said. He is a dream for the Right - a SAS soldier with conservative Christian credentials. He wont get much further promotion under Turnbull, but he has hoisted his colours for all the party to see [for the future]. Turnbull later spoke directly to Hastie, though the PMs spokesman did not offer a characterisation of the conversation. It was portrayed by one senior source as the PM issuing Hastie with a stern please explain. All eyes were on Andrew Hastie in Parliament the day after he delivered his bombshell speech. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The official spin on the outcome of the inquiries about the effect of Hasties privileged revelations about Chau was that Hastie had not harmed the Australian-American intelligence relationship. The director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Duncan Lewis, asked about any potential harm, said baldly there was none. At least one very senior government figure privately disagreed, saying that within the five-eyes arrangement, no two countries shared more intelligence than Australia and the US, and careful repair work would be required if full trust was to be regained. Hasties information did not come from the FBI, however, as senior Labor figures claimed.

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Wang put out his own statement stressing that their talk was not a formal bilateral meeting and that he had conceded to take part at Australia's request. His statement noted that Bishop had accepted that tension between the nations was due to the Australian side's reasons. Australia, he said, needed to remove its tinted glasses when it came to the relationship. Loading Then on Thursday night ASIO chief Duncan Lewis told a Senate estimates hearing that foreign [read Chinese] espionage was being conducted in Australia at an unprecedented scale. "Espionage, interference, sabotage and malicious insider activities can inflict catastrophic harm on our country's interests," he said. This is not a theoretical proposition. The reality is that acts of espionage and foreign interference are occurring against Australian interests, both in Australia and overseas." Surveying the carnage at the end of the week Clive Hamilton, the leading China hawk whose recent polemical book Silent Invasion about Chinese influence in Australia has added to tensions, said he was not surprised by Hasties revelations, nor by Wangs terse words.

What shocked him, he told Fairfax Media, was how scattered Australias response to China has been. This is just the start, he said. They havent even done anything to us yet, they have just cancelled a few meetings, we have fallen at the first hurdle. Simmering tensions come to a boil Tensions between Australia and China might have been growing for months - or years - but it is no surprise that they surfaced so publicly over recent days, and to understand that you need to understand why Hastie decided to go public with his accusations about Chau Chak Wing. Loading

Hastie is the chairman of the bipartisan Senate security committee that is currently considering the foreign interference laws, and pressure is mounting on the government to have the laws passed before an election campaign that might politicise them. The committee appears to be divided. Hastie is a champion of the laws and appears to have the backing of Labor MP Anthony Byrne, but not shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus. It gets more complicated. Hastie received his information on Chau in a recent briefing with US intelligence officers. Since he spoke out he has dismissed the suggestion that he leaked classified US information, and the US has come forward to say it has no concerns about Hasties use of the material. This makes sense: the US wants to see Australia toughen its stance against China, and the passage of the foreign interference laws are the next key tussle in this long game. Hamilton believes it is even more crucial than that. After recent briefings in Washington, DC, with officials from the US intelligence community and officials from the State Department, he argues that Australias capacity to stand up to China is seen by the US as a test of the resilience of its diplomatic network in the region. America backs Australias China hawks.

The foreign interference laws also demonstrate what a fiendish domestic political problem the China relationship has become. In the face of Chinas rise all the well-understood boundaries of interest, party and ideology in Australia collapse. Nationalists on the right find themselves at odds with the Coalitions traditional friends in the business community, whose prime objective is easy access to the exploding Chinese market. Old fissures in the Labor Party between sceptics and champions of the US alliance have opened up. Or, some would say, have been ruthlessly exploited by China. Dr Chau Chak Wing has a building named after him on the UTS campus. Credit:Sahlan Hayes

Not even the university sector is immune. As much as 25 per cent of the student bodies of some Australian universities are made up of full-fee paying Chinese students, says Dr James Leibold, a China specialist at La Trobe University. Then there are geysers of donations flowing into universities. It is no accident that the man Hastie accused of bribery this week has one building named after him on the campus at the University of Technology, Sydney, and a museum in his name being constructed at the University of Sydney. Hamilton accuses free speech advocates in the university sector of falling silent about Chinese interference and human rights abuses in the face of a wall of Chinese money. So far the best-known political casualty of the China debate has been the rising NSW Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who quit parliament after it was revealed he had echoed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) positions on the South China Sea after accepting donations from CCP-connected businesses. Other leading Labor figures, including former prime minister Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr, the former foreign minister and NSW premier who now runs the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at UTS, are seen by China hawks as compromised, seduced either by CCP resources or propaganda. Leibold says that in recent months pro-China voices in Australia have been emboldened by the Turnbull government's abandonment of the hawkish tone it adopted on China last year.

These pro-China voices, Hamilton said this week, are - wittingly or not - serving Chinese interests. Fairfax Media understands that view is shared by American observers. Raby rejects this suggestion, saying he lamented that the debate had become so acrimonious. He says he has no problem with the foreign interference laws, nor with Australia standing up to China over matters of national interest or in defence of the current international rules-based order, or over democratic ideals. But he maintains the relationship has been mishandled, and that those laws could have been introduced without needlessly offending China. Chinese President Xi Jinping. Credit:AP In his recent column he argued that China was at the heart of a host of rapidly developing regional issues critical to Australia, illustrated in recent weeks by talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Koreas Kim Jong-un, as well as with the leaders of Japan and India. Australias voice had not been heard in those discussions, he argued, because the government was determined to impress the US by taking a harder line than other nations on the South China Sea.

Carr agrees. He wrote this week that Australias relationship with China is now arguably as bad as it has been since 1972, not because of issues of substance but because of a flamboyant rhetorical shift against China, presumably conducted to impress the Trump administration with our impeccable alliance credentials. In his opinion piece he said that claims that Chinese students in Australia were promoting Communist Party policy were baseless, and that in failing to defend the students Australia had missed an opportunity to help repair the relationship. And he noted that in failing to keep Coalition MPs from further traducing China, the Prime Minister had further tarnished the relationship. A Chinese base under construction on Mabini (Johnson) Reef, one of the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. He wrote: "You cant say to the Chinese 'Oh, thats only Barnaby [Joyce]' or '[Concetta] Fierravanti-Wells is only a junior minister'. Its easy to imagine the nationalist outrage if senior Chinese leaders had directed such rhetoric at Australia. We wouldnt accept comparable insults from any international partner. In foreign relations words are bullets." After Wang released his tepid statement on his talk with Bishop in Argentina, a Chinese English-language tabloid called the Global Times wrote a damning editorial about the episode and Australias conduct.

The Global Times is not a mouthpiece for the CCP, says Leibold, but notes it is telling how well the paper understood the complicated pressure points in the Australian debate. It noted that since the start of the year Australia had sought to soothe China, but declared that it was necessary for China to leave Australia hanging for a while. It even argued that China could cut Australian imports while increasing America's. "$6.45 billion would send cold chills up and down the spine of Australia," the editorial stated. "Of course, it would be an even greater shock if the import reductions totalled $10 billion. It suggested there was no need for the Australian Prime Minister to visit China in the foreseeable future. On Friday Turnbull reiterated his support for the foreign interference laws, telling reporters on the Central Coast: "My job is to stand up for Australian democracy and ensure that it is not interfered with. If there are foreign interests or governments or political parties that wish to have a voice, then they should do so openly and transparently."
Labor's Darling Range candidate has quit the race after intense scrutiny of claims she made about her education history.

Colleen Yates said the intense scrutiny that came with politics "just isn't for me".

Labor's Darling Range candidate Colleen Yates has quit the race. Credit:Twitter

"I am announcing my resignation as the Labor Candidate for Darling Range," she said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

"I'm relatively new to politics," she said.
Almost 200,000 voters in Perth and Fremantle will head to the polls on July 28, in byelections triggered by the resignations of MPs Tim Hammond and Josh Wilson.

The "super Saturday" polls, which include three byelections in the eastern states, will be pushed back by several weeks on the grounds that the Australian Electoral Commission needs time to put in place new regulations to ensure candidates can ensure their citizenship status is in order.

Labor's candidate for Fremantle, Josh Wilson (centre), speaks during a press conference as Labor's candidate for Perth, Patrick Gorman (left), and Burt MP Matt Keogh look on in Yagan Square. Credit:AAP Image/Richard Wainwright

The announcement sparked outrage from Labor figures, who had scheduled their national conference of about 1500 of its members on the same weekend.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he would hold talks with colleagues on whether to move Labor's conference to free up volunteers to work for Labor at the polls.
Washington: "Everybody plays games," US President Donald Trump declared late on Friday as he suggested the potentially historic North Korean summit he had suddenly called off might be getting back on track.

His sights set on a meeting that has raised hopes for a halt in North Korea's nuclear weapons development, Trump welcomed a conciliatory response from the North to his Thursday letter withdrawing from the Singapore summit with Kim Jong-un. Rekindling hopes as quickly as he had doused them, Trump said it was even possible the meeting could take place on the originally planned June 12 date.

"They very much want to do it; we'd like to do it," he said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects the completed Koam-Tapchon Railways in Gangwon-do, North Korea on Friday. Credit:KCNA/AP

The sweetening tone was just the latest change in a roller-coaster game of brinkmanship - talks about talks with two unpredictable world leaders trading threats and blandishments. On Thursday, White House officials had noted that Trump had left the door open with a letter to Kim that blamed "tremendous anger and open hostility" by Pyongyang but also urged Kim to call him.
The risk, though, is that were back to confrontation. I hope that North Korea will respond to Trumps letter in similarly measured, calm terms. But no one has ever made money betting on North Korean calmness. North Korea could decide to create a new crisis, perhaps by conducting a missile test or an atmospheric nuclear test. If such an atmospheric test were conducted in the northern Pacific, that could send radiation toward the US and would be perceived in Washington as a great provocation. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Credit:KCNA/AP Likewise, the US could respond to new tensions by sending B-1 bombers off the coast of North Korea. If North Korea scrambled aircraft or fired anti-aircraft missiles, we could very quickly have an enormous escalation.

So look out. We may be headed for a game of chicken, with Trump and Kim at the wheel. And all the rest of us are in the back seat. In any case, it will be difficult for Trump to return to his policy of strangling North Korea economically. China has already been quietly relaxing sanctions, and South Korea may not have the stomach for strong sanctions either. Kim has met with the leaders of both China and South Korea in recent months, building ties and reducing his isolation, and I expect hell continue the outreach to both countries. Some Republicans have praised Trump for his North Korea diplomacy, and theres been talk about him winning a Nobel Peace Prize. That was always ludicrous, and his North Korea policy is in fact a fine example of ineptitude. John Bolton's discussion of Libya spooked the North Koreans. Credit:Bloomberg Heres what actually happened. Trumps jingoistic rhetoric didnt particularly intimidate North Korea, but it terrified South Korea, which feared it would be collateral damage in a new Korean War. So Moon shrewdly used the Olympics to undertake a careful peace mission to bring the US and North Korea together, flattering each side to make this happen (Moon is a world-class Trump flatterer, and other leaders around the world have noted his success.) This was commendable on Moons part; hes the one who genuinely did have a shot at the peace prize.

As I wrote at the time, however, it was a mistake when Trump rashly accepted the idea of a summit without any careful preparations. The risk of starting a diplomatic process with a summit is that if talks collapse at the top, then its difficult to pick up at a lower level. Thats precisely what ended up happening, and this dynamic creates greater risk than ever of military conflict. With different aides, Trump might have pulled it off. While Trump and his fans were always deluded about the possibility that North Korea would hand over its nuclear weapons any time soon, there was some possibility of a general statement about starting a dialogue about denuclearisation. North Korea would destroy some intercontinental ballistic missiles, tensions would drop, and wed all be better off even if denuclearization never actually happened. Yes, Trump would have been played, but the world would still have benefited from the peace process. Yet John Bolton, Trumps national security adviser, spoke up in ways calculated to unnerve the North Koreans, by talking about the Libya model. When you cite as a model a country whose leader then ended up being executed by his own people, thats not usually persuasive to another dictator. On my most recent visit to North Korea, in September, officials cited the Libyan experience as one reason they needed to hold on to their nuclear weapons. North Korean leaders themselves responded to Boltons comments with harsh, over-the-top rhetoric, including the comment about Pence. This was a major miscalculation on their part, escalating the ineptitude and helping to kill the summit.While the North Koreans didnt get the summit they wanted with Trump, they have managed the process quite well. They used the rush of diplomacy to rebuild ties with Beijing and start discussions about economic integration with South Korea, and to moderate their international image. Theyve also created something of a wedge between Washington and Seoul, as was apparent in the response to Trumps cancellation by a South Korean government spokesman: We are attempting to make sense of what, precisely, President Trump means. In weighing the risks ahead, commentators sometimes note that Kim is rational and doesnt want to commit suicide. Thats true, but doesnt particularly encourage me. Rational actors regularly make awful decisions. Saddam Hussein wasnt suicidal, and neither was George W. Bush, but they both acted in ways in Iraq that were catastrophic.
"They grew because there was too little or any reaction of public opinion. Public figures and perpetrators regarded this as consent, permission. Fifteen years ago, Marek Edelman warned us that even the smallest evil can grow. The first answer should always be to protest and to not remain indifferent." On April 19, in an act of solidarity with survivors and former resistance fighters, Open Republic and a coalition of anti-fascist organisations commemorated the 75th anniversary with a march that took in significant sites of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. April 19, 2018: marchers from a coalition of anti-fascist and anti-racist organisations mark the 75th anniversary of the Ghetto Uprising with song and daffodils, a tradition maintained by Edelman. Credit:Jacek Marczewski/Agencja Gazeta The independent commemoration provided an alternative to the official government ceremony which, said the organisers, was "plagued by  hollow nationalistic pomp" and the stain of its whitewashing legislation. Sawicka was heartened by the number of young people who attended and their awareness of Edelmans life story. They were very engaged. They brought the Bund flags and they sang Di Shvue, the Bund anthem. The young Marek Edelman.

Edelman, whose father and mother died when he was young, was adopted by the Bund, the Jewish labour movement that commanded a mass following in Poland between the wars. All but annihilated during the Holocaust, the remnants of the Bund regrouped in distant communities, among them Melbourne. Its democratic ideals and unwavering struggle for minority rights would sit easily alongside the contemporary ideal of multiculturalism. Unlike many of his Bund comrades, Edelman chose to remain in Poland, even after the communists' anti-Semitic purges in 1968, when he lost his job and his apartment was daubed with racist slogans. When I asked him why he remained, Edelman was emphatic: "All countries face the challenge of racism. The fight for equal rights has to be fought here as elsewhere." His whole life, from his prewar Bund youth to his resistance against Nazism and Stalinism, had been driven by one consistent goal, he insisted: a democratic Poland. Mourners gather in front of Edelman's coffin at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw on October 9, 2009. Credit:Bartosz Bobkowski/Agencja Gazeta

As the deputy commander of the ZOB, or Jewish Fighting Organisation, Edelman was a key figure in a force that numbered 220 fighters, armed with a limited arsenal of pistols, homemade grenades, Molotov cocktails, automatic weapons and rifles. Early on the morning of April 19, 1943, a German task force of about 2000 men entered the ghetto to begin the final deportation. By that time the original ghetto population - upwards of 400,000 people - had been reduced to 60,000 through deportations, disease and starvation. Beginning in July 1942, the inmates had been rounded up and transported to the Treblinka death camp, where they were murdered in gas chambers. Paula Sawicka (centre, holding daffodils) watches as Marek Edelman is laid to rest. Credit:Adam Kozak/Agencja Gazeta Aware of potential resistance, the Germans surrounded the ghetto with armed guards. The fierce fighting continued for weeks. The buildings and bunkers were finally razed street by street to flush out resistance. The ghetto ceased to exist on May 16. All that remained were piles of ashes and rubble. A straight-talking old warrior, Edelman was wary of romanticising the uprising. "We fought to protect the people in the ghetto," he said, and "extend their life by a day, or two, or five."

He preferred to praise parents who tried to buoy their children's spirits and those who chose to accompany their loved ones to Treblinka. "These people went quietly and with dignity. It is an awesome thing, when one is going so quietly to one's death. "Anyone can learn how to shoot. Far more important than the number of fighters was their spirit  and the activists who organised underground schools and theatres, social welfare groups, public kitchens ... who taught the children songs. "Sara, a child of the Warsaw ghetto. Her father painted the flowers on the wall for her." From Roman Vishniac's collection of photos A Vanished World. "In all the filth  the hunger, the humiliation and waste of every kind of human feeling, despite everything, we managed to give these children a little joy. For a few hours daily they lived a normal life, as if the war, the ghetto, didn't exist." Edelman escaped through the sewers on May 10, 1943. He hid in the city and fought in the Warsaw uprising in July 1944, when Polish citizens defiantly defended their city against Nazi occupation.

He survived, but in the early postwar years he lost interest in life and spent days in bed staring at the wall. His wife Alina Margolis - who would later become a paediatrician and co-founder of Doctors of the World - enrolled him in medical school. His friends drew diagrams of anatomy on the wall to encourage him. Slowly he regained a sense of purpose. He became a renowned cardiologist and again helped save lives. Shielding the flame, Edelman called this effort to prolong life or help someone die with dignity. He also resumed his lifelong struggle for a democratic Poland, and was a founding member of Solidarity, the movement that toppled the communist dictatorship in 1989. He was jailed when martial law was imposed in December 1981 and spent time under house arrest. Loading Edelman defended the victims of other genocides, and persecuted minorities. "I think that always, whoever the victim oppressed is, one must be on his or her side," he said. "Shelter ought to be provided  You have to stand with the ones being beaten, with the weak, even when you can't help them." Edelman's sentiments, and enduring legacy, are reflected in the title of his last book: And there was love in the Ghetto. This comprises a collection of tales he told Sawicka in the final years of his life, which the ageing warrior spent in the apartment of the Sawicki family.

"These tales," says Sawicka, "stood alongside tales of terror, threat of deportation, death, fear and hunger. They were not more important, but love allowed you to live and preserve your humanity. For Edelman love was every good feeling directed from one person to another, love of a man and a woman, love between mother and child, friendship, loyalty, faithfulness and tenderness. If you can love, you remain human. "I got to know this side of his personality well," Sawicka adds. "'We must teach at schools, preschools and universities that hatred is evil', he said. 'To hate is easy, love requires effort and sacrifice'." Marek Edelman (left) with Paula Sawicka in Poland in 1993. Among the tales of love that Edelman recalls, one concerns a Mrs Tenenbaum, a nurse in the ghetto's hospital. As someone who was "needed", she was given a "life ticket" - a chit of paper with a stamp allowing her to be spared deportation. She handed it to her 17-year-old daughter Dede and with the words "hold this for a second, I'll be right back", she went upstairs and swallowed a flask of poison. Mrs Tenenbaum wrote in her suicide note that she was leaving her ticket to her daughter.
New Blockchain and AI-based Platform to Revolutionize Drug Discovery

Innoplexus AG announced today a groundbreaking update coming soon to their iPlexus platform that will leverage the power of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence to resolve inefficiencies in early-stage drug discovery.

With an expected launch date of June 30, 2018, the new iPlexus will revolutionize the sharing of research work in preclinical life science research and drug discovery by giving researchers a secure, blockchain-and-AI-based platform for publishing and extending license to use unpublished data from successful and failed experiments. IP will be secured on the blockchain with an immutable timestamp, and AI will analyze all uploaded data to determine its value for ongoing drug development research.

All unpublished data will be searchable alongside the published data available on the current iPlexus platform, which Innoplexus launched in 2016. iPlexus currently uses AI to normalize unstructured published data from over 27 million publications, 1 million dissertations, 375 thousand clinical trials, 127 thousand drug profiles, and more.

Co-founder and CEO of Innoplexus AG, Gunjan Bhardwaj, explained more about their vision for the new iPlexus, ?Our mission at Innoplexus is to democratize the drug discovery process. We believe that cutting-edge technologies like AI and blockchain are the key to making this possible. After over 6 months of research, we believe that the new iPlexus is a major step forward for the preclinical trial industry and will solve many of the problems that are slowing the industry down. By overcoming these challenges, we will make drug discovery more efficient and bring down the consumer price of drugs.?

Innoplexus AG offers Data as a Service and Continuous Analytics as a Service products and solutions helping organisations move towards continuous decision-making by generating insights from structured and unstructured private and public data leveraging cutting edge Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning technologies. Founded in 2011, INNOPLEXUS AG is headquartered in Eschborn, Germany with offices in Pune, India, and Hoboken, USA.
It turns out you can just go to a rocket launch  and, after attending my first, I can say with certainty that everyone should watch a rocket launch at least once in their life.

On Monday (May 21), Orbital ATK's Antares rocket launched a Cygnus spacecraft full of supplies and scientific equipment to the International Space Station from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This mission, OA-9, which followed the November launch of OA-8, sent up clothing, food, sextants, E. Coli and an instrument that will create the coldest human-made spot in the universe.

I was pretty excited about the mission before I even saw Antares launch. But now I know: Actually seeing a rocket launch is truly something else. [Blastoff! How to See a Rocket Launch in Person This Summer]

Seeing a rocket standing vertically on a launch pad is a uniquely breathtaking experience. (Image credit: Chelsea Gohd)

If traveling to a launch isn't possible, however, you can always watch rocket launches live online through webcasts by NASA, SpaceX and other launch providers (and on Space.com, of course).

In my case, I watched from the press site with other media professionals. And every single person in attendance for Antares was ecstatic to be there, regardless of the number of launches they'd witnessed. Everyone I met  photographers, space science enthusiasts, journalists, mathematicians, administrators, social media mavens and even the scientists sending their years of work into space  was equally thrilled.The first thing that struck me about attending a launch was the group of people who watched the event with me. Driving to the press site, I worried that, having never been to such an event before, I would stick out or be left behind by the time-hardened pros who have been watching launches since the birth of human spaceflight. But, boy, was I wrong.

Anyone can attend a rocket launch. Public areas near the launch site and official viewing areas will be full of experienced launch viewers and excited newcomers alike. Some places require you to buy tickets in advance, and others just require viewers to show up early and be ready to wait. (You can read more about specific launch viewing opportunities in Space.com's countdown.)

It was soon clear to me that whether you're watching a launch professionally or you just want to have a great time, the people you meet will be just as excited, and the positive energy only compounds when you find yourself in a crowd of space lovers about to watch a rocket ignite. So, don't worry: If you love space, you will find no shortage of like-minded people at a launch.

You can meet some pretty incredible people at a rocket launch, here I am celebrating the launch with a few friends from #NasaSocial. Chelsea Gohd (front, center), Pumpkinberry (left), Michael May (middle, center), Charlie Garavaglia (back, center), Karen Darlin (front, right) and Wade Bricknell (back, right). (Image credit: Chelsea Gohd)

Those interpersonal interactions colored my experience and shaped it for the better. I thought that my time spent writing about space and the countless launch videos I'd watched had adequately prepared me for the launch. Again, I was wrong. Nothing I had before experienced could have prepared me to witness an object leave the Earth for outer space.

Day of the Launch

The launch began wildly early in the morning. This is not the case for all launches, but for this particular Antares liftoff, I arrived at around 3 a.m. EDT. Having made the mistake of wearing canvas sneakers, I waded through damp, tall grasses to the viewing area with a tall can of bug spray in my hand  be sure to dress appropriately, ticks are not a joke.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness around me, I saw Antares across a body of water, standing vertically on the launch pad, bathed in stage lights and ready for the show. And while we stood a safe distance from the rocket  pretty far, when you look at the pictures  it struck me just how visible the spacecraft was and how close it felt.

Antares standing vertically on the launch pad, with people working on the rocket for scale (Image credit: Chelsea Gohd)

The torrential downpour that had dampened the spirits of the earlier morning hours had finally died down, and doubts about whether the launch would again be delayed faded. Concerns about the weather and my need for coffee soon gave way to the realization of where I was and what was about to happen. The next hour or so brimmed with anxious excitement as the launch window approached.

Behind the gaggle of giddy attendees, voices that were unmistakably from mission control boomed over loudspeakers, stating that liftoff would be pushed further into the launch window. The launch time was now set for 4:44 a.m. EDT.

Looking at my watch, I couldn't believe it was so close. I thought my anticipation had peaked, but it continued to grow as the minutes ticked on. At 4:43 a.m. EDT, the countdown began and my eyes widened. Flashbacks to Apollo documentaries left me feeling emotional as 10 went down to 5, then 4, 3, 2, and 1.

Antares ignited, and the colorful flames beneath the rocket spewed out into billowing clouds. Moments later, the sound of the rocket arrived (as light travels faster than sound): a crackling, vibrating roar that you could feel as much as you could hear. Soon, Antares was in the air, shooting straight up into the sky. Briefly, the entire sky lit up, and it looked almost like daytime.

After Antares' first stage, the second stage appeared, masked by clouds, beaming like a large, soft star in the sky.

The Antares rocket leaves the Earth from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Monday (May 21). Make sure, if you attend a launch, that you leave the launch photography to the pros and enjoy the moment. (Image credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

For what felt like an hour, but was less than a few minutes, the craft grew smaller and smaller, and, all of a sudden, it was gone. The rocket that had once stood so tall on the pad had completed its task, and Cygnus was well on its way to rendezvous with the space station. The moment hung thick in the air as the weight of the event fell upon the crowd. It was over.

Looking around, I saw that I wasn't alone in my reaction, as a fair few of us wiped away solitary tears and collected ourselves. Mission Control piped in over the speakers, cheering now that the job was complete. Another successful launch.

You can see the aftermath of the Antares launch, a still-brightly lit launch pad and a vibrant blue cloud ring. (Image credit: Chelsea Gohd)

What to Do at a Launch

At a post-launch news conference, I spoke with industry professionals who have seen their fair share of launches. They shared some helpful tips and comments for people looking to attend a rocket launch.

Kirk Shireman, NASA's space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, recommended simply that you "enjoy the experience." He said, "Don't try to get your camera out or your iPhone," adding, "Just experience it. If you have to, take a quick selfie."

Shireman is right. Your phone, or even your camera, will never be able to capture the experience or the launch. By putting them away, you allow yourself to really experience the moment.

Kurt Eberly, Orbital ATK Antares deputy program manager, added that "a lot of people have an emotional response when they see a rocket launch." He continued, saying, "I think it's something that it's great to experience, and I think you should have multiple days on your hotel reservation." While this elicited laughs, because of Antares' delay, Eberly has a good point, as launches are often delayed and rescheduled.

Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of Orbital ATK's Advanced Programs Division, added that a launch is "an extremely special event. They don't happen that often, and certainly on this program, we launch a couple times a year." He continued, saying: "If you ever have a chance to go, my suggestion would be do it  go for it."

An important part of the launch team, a wild crab explored the pad post-launch. (Image credit: Chelsea Gohd)

So, to those of you considering attending a launch, follow the expert's advice and go for it. Tackling the logistics of traveling to one of the world's few spaceport locations will be well worth it when you are bathed in the glowing light and Earth-shaking vibrations of some of humankind's greatest accomplishments. So, mark your calendars, plan a trip, and prepare for an unforgettable experience.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her @chelsea_gohd. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
The six--person crew of the International Space Station's Expedition 55 poses for a group portrait on the orbiting laboratory. The astronauts will be working through the Memorial Day holiday on May 28, 2018.

This year for Memorial Day, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station are celebrating and remembering those who've served the same way they do every year  by working.

That's right  astronauts have to work on Memorial Day. The Expedition 55 crew  Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Cmdr. Anton Shkaplerov; Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai; and U.S. astronauts Ricky Arnold, Drew Feustel and Scott Tingle  will not be taking any days off this weekend, NASA spokesperson Dan Huot told Space.com.

The space station crewmembers are simply too busy to take a holiday. Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo ship, which launched on Monday (May 21), reached the space station early Thursday (May 24) to deliver supplies that included equipment for scientific experiments. [What It's Like to Become an Astronaut: 10 Surprising Facts]

And while some of the experiments, like the Cold Atom Lab's "box of lasers," will be operated remotely, many of the other experiments will require fairly regular astronaut maintenance and work. Some of the experiments that flew up consist of "ICE Cube" modules that contain individual experiments, old-fashioned sextants that will be studied for space navigation, DNA- and RNA-sequencing technologies, and E. coli samples. Needless to say, the astronauts will have their hands full.

On top of the numerous experiments that astronauts need to set up, conduct and monitor every day on the space station, they have much more cargo to unpack, haul to its correct location and sort. Room is precious aboard the station, so this is a time-consuming and important process. Luckily, "There's always goodies on board," Kirk Shireman, NASA's space station program manager, said to reporters after Cygnus launched into orbit."We try to fly something that each crewmember likes. So, I'm sure there's something for them to look forward to."

See more

But just because they're busy, that doesn't mean that the crew is not remembering or honoring those who've served in the U.S. armed forces. In fact, many current and former astronauts have been members of the U.S. military. Tingle, for example, is a former Naval officer. In years past, NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told Space.com, "Some crew members have been remembering our troops every Friday by wearing red shirts."

Luckily, NASA still understands the importance of a day off. While the crew will "actually have a full workday on Monday," Huot told Space.com, they "will get a day off in return at some future date to make up for missing the holiday."

Unfortunately, Huot said he does not believe that the crew has gotten a copy of "Solo: A Star Wars Story," which would have been perfect for their day off.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her @chelsea_gohd. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
President Donald Trump holds the signed copy of Space Policy Directive 2 in the Oval Office May 24, 2018 with Vice President Mike Pence, National Space Council Executive Secretary Scott Pace and Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the National Space Council Jared Stout.

The Trump administration's push to ease regulations on private industry is no longer confined to Earth.

Yesterday (May 24), President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-2 (SPD-2), which instructs the secretary of transportation to devise a new regulatory regime for launch and re-entry activities, and to consider requiring just a single license for all such commercial operations.

The document also orders the commerce secretary to review regulations on the commercial remote-sensing industry, and gives the secretary 30 days to come up with a plan to create a "one-stop shop" within the Commerce Department for private-spaceflight regulation. [In Photos: President Donald Trump and NASA]

"The president is committed to ensuring that the federal government gets out of the way and unleashes private enterprise to support the economic success of the United States," White House officials wrote in an SPD-2 fact sheet that was released yesterday.

The thrust of SPD-2 should come as no surprise, experts say. After all, the Trump administration has made it a priority to roll back or streamline regulations in many other parts of the economy, from banking to the energy industry.

"It is certainly consistent with an overall pro-business, deregulation approach of the Trump administration, applied to the space sector," said space policy expert John Logsdon, a professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C.

And SPD-2 started taking serious shape back in October 2017, at the first meeting of the newly resurrected National Space Council (NSC), Logsdon added.

"One of the tasks was to develop a directive on regulatory reform," Logsdon told Space.com. "That's been in process, and it's been on Trump's desk for a while."

Major players in the private-spaceflight industry have been calling for regulatory reform for decades, and some of them  including SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell  reiterated that request during testimony at the October NSC meeting.

"The council could commit to reforming, modernizing and streamlining federal regulations governing space launch," Shotwell told members of the council, which is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence. "Regulations written decades ago must be updated to keep pace with the new technologies and the high cadence of launch from the United States if we want a strong space launch industry here at home."

So Trump's signing of SPD-2 was a popular move in industry circles.

"This is a tremendous accomplishment by this administration on behalf of America's commercial space industry," Alan Stern, board chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said in a statement.

"We've been innovating here at home and competing around the world under the burden of regulations written decades ago, in some cases rooted in the Cold War," added Stern, who's also the principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. "Now we can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space."

As its name suggests, SPD-2 is the Trump administration's second space policy directive. SPD-1, which Trump signed in December, formally instructs NASA to work toward returning astronauts to the moon, as a stepping stone to Mars.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Watch as a camera set up by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls melts in a grass fire after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 22, 2018.

When a SpaceX rocket launches, it's awesome. But when a SpaceX rocket launch sparks a brush fire that melts a NASA photographer's camera, it goes viral. And that's just what happened to NASA photographer Bill Ingalls this week when he shared a photo of his charred camera after it met a fiery doom.

Now, you can see exactly how Ingalls' camera got roasted, in an animated NASA clip using images from the camera itself. The clip shows SpaceX's Falcon 9 launching two NASA satellites and five commercial satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday (May 22).

The next day, Ingalls shared photos of the melted camera, known as a remote, on Facebook. One showed a launch photo taken by the camera; in the next image, flames lick at the lens, and finally, you see the charred, bubbled remains of the camera. Not surprisingly, the photos went viral across Twitter and other social media platforms. [See more awesome photos of SpaceX's launch]

NASA photographer Bill Ingalls posted this photo of his melted Canon camera after it was destroyed by a brush fire sparked by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 22, 2018. The Falcon 9 launched NASA's twin GRACE-FO satellites and five Iridium Next communications satellites. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

But many folks got it wrong, suggesting that  like the mythical Icarus flying too close to the sun  Ingalls must have placed his camera too close to the rocket and got burned. But that's not what happened.

As Ingalls told Space.com Wednesday, the camera was a quarter mile from the launchpad and outside a safety perimeter. It was a grass fire sparked by the Falcon 9's launch that burned the camera. Its memory card survived, and today, NASA unveiled a short video animation of the fire's ominous approach.

"I had six remotes: two outside the launch pad safety perimeter and four inside," Ingalls said in a NASA statement accompanying the new clip. "Unfortunately, the launch started a grass fire that toasted one of the cameras outside the perimeter."

Ingalls also shared a photo of the camera as it was set up. The camera's view looked across uneven terrain covered in vegetation and was mounted on a tripod secured in the ground by spikes.

This photo of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launch was captured by a remote camera set up by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls before a brush fire melted the camera on May 22, 2018 at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

"Once the fire reached the camera, it was quickly engulfed. The body started to melt," NASA officials wrote in the statement. "When Ingalls returned to the site, firefighters were waiting to greet him. Recognizing the camera was destroyed, Ingalls forced open the body to see if its memory card could be salvaged. It could, which is how we can see the fire approaching the camera."

One weird fact: Of the cameras Ingalls set up, the melted camera was the farthest from SpaceX's launchpad. Four other remote cameras photographed the launch from inside the safety perimeter, and one more captured the view outside it. All five were undamaged.

Flames from a brush fire are clearly visible this this final image from a remote camera set up by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launch on May 22, 2018. The brush fire ultimately melted the camera, but its memory card was still accessible. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

Ingalls has been snapping photos for NASA for nearly 30 years. He told Space.com that, in all that time, this was the first camera he's ever had melted by a launch.

NASA officials said the "toasty" camera (as Ingalls calls it) will eventually be placed on display at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

As for Ingalls, he's headed to Kazakhstan soon to photograph the June 3 landing of the International Space Station's Expedition 55 crew.

"He expects that will be a completely normal assignment," NASA officials said.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
A 71-year-old Stamford man, who has owned a trash removal business for 40 years, has pleaded guilty to two counts of willful failure to file an income tax return.

Wayne Margarum or his business is accused not filing tax returns since 2004.

John H. Durham,U.S. Attorney for the Connecticut, and Kristina OConnell, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, announced Margarums guilty Thursday in Hartford federal court.

Margarum has owned and operated Margarum Refuse, providing garbage removal services for customers in the Stamford area and parts of Westchester County, New York.

The business services between 600 to 700 clients with fees ranging from $25 to $60 per month.

In pleading guilty, Margarum has agreed to make $356,330 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury, and to cooperate with the IRS to pay all outstanding taxes, interest and penalties.

Margarum is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on Sept. 19, at which time he faces a maximum prison term two years and a maximum fine of approximately $700,000.

More News Hollywood is making a movie about the Danbury Trashers

Margarum is released on bond pending sentencing.

This matter has been investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher W. Schmeisser.
STAMFORD  Walking through Charles Trudeaus basement is like stepping into a Memorial Day time machine, of sorts.

Upon entry one sees a sprawling miniature display of the Battle of Monmouth from 1778, complete with tiny Revolutionary War soldiers and British Redcoats holding paper flags. Nearby is a scene from further back in history  the Crusades  with 10 millimeter tall figures representing a Middle Eastern army in the shadow of the Krak des Chevaliers medieval castle in Syria. Shelves and cabinets are decorated with Civil War imagery and the like.

Trudeau has 33 military dioramas on display at the Stamford home he shares with his wife, Lee. The collection, which spans from wars fought by the Spartans to scenes from the two World wars uses over 10,000 figures.

Its a personal pleasure, he said. Its self satisfaction. I created something and I have the power of God in changing it.

The 74-year-olds interest in creating military dioramas began at age 9 when his mother bought him a box set of knight figurines from FAO Schwartz on Fifth Avenue.

An only child, Trudeau split his childhood between New York and Latin America. The top floor of his Peekskill, N.Y., home became the battleground for his collection, which grew whenever his grandfather took him to the five and dime store. But when Trudeau went to boarding school as a teen and then onto the University of Arizona, his interest faded, and the figures were lost.

When you go to school and all that, it becomes a memory, Trudeau said.

That is until 1971, when his job at Continental Insurance brought him to London. Trudeau got back into figurines after finding a shop that sold miniature Egyptian figure kits by Rose Miniatures. Trudeau painted little soldiers to pass the time until his family joined him in London.

Figurine work went on the back-burner for Trudeau again for the next decade while he traveled for work. In 1981, he returned to the United States, where he went to a toy solider show on Long Island and got back into collecting.

I got enamored, he said.

Trudeau retired from a career in insurance in 2009, and that was when his hobby began to pick up. Now, he spends hours in his basement studio, which was renovated after Trudeaus three children moved out for soundproofing and the installation of shelving for additional figurines.

Trudeau spends hours researching military uniforms, painting soldiers, setting up landscape and arranging battle scenes based on actual military tactics, which he looks up in one of his 400-plus books on conflict, strategy and uniform. He will spend months setting up a single display, often using the same backdrops for different battles with some creative repainting. A muddy field in one battlefield becomes a pond in another.

One thing I always believe in was the accuracy of the uniform, Trudeau said. You buy the figures, you have to paint it correctly. For me, as a historian, thats very important. I like to research and know everything about what happened.

Awards, relics

Trudeau orders the figures from either the toys and hobby section of eBay or from dealers in the United States and United Kingdom. An unpainted packet of soldiers can go for about $20, but some individual figures can sell for $75 and up. On average, they are about 54 millimeters or about two-and-a-half inches tall. Most of Trudeaus figures are made of pewter while some are plastic. Sometimes, he buys two-dimensional groups of soldiers when he needs larger groups for battle scenes.

You have to look at numbers, he said. If you want a big crowd, you have to do that.

Trudeaus largest diorama ever was of the Battle of Gettysburg, but it was his re-creation of the Battle of Fredericksburg from the Civil War that won third place in an international diorama contest. A diorama of a World War I First Aid Station also took an honorable mention.

Trudeaus basement is filled with military relics accumulated online and from family such as his father-in-laws medals from his military service and a rifle from World War I, which is currently mounted over his fireplace.

When you make a display, you bring it to life by bringing in a relic from it, he said.

Trudeau, a Vietnam veteran and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9617, has long nursed an interest in military history. His father served during World War II as a captain on General Dwight Eisenhowers staff and his great uncle was an interpreter in Cuba for President Benjamin Harrison during the Spanish-American War. His wife, Lee, also has family who served in the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

I love reading history, Trudeau said. When I read about a certain battle, I try to mimic it. Its almost like taking a snapshot of a little corner of the battle.

erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayata
Emma and Liam were the most frequently chosen baby names for 2017.

For the fourth year in a row, Emma was the top girl's name according to the annual list of the most popular baby names released by the Social Security Administration on Friday. Liam pushed last year's champ, Noah, to second to claim the top spot.

The Social Security Administration releases the 1,000 most popular baby names each year. They trumpeted the name reveals Friday with a Facebook Live announcement. The agency uses the announcement to draw traffic to its website, where workers can begin tracking their benefits long before retirement.

When it came to girls' names, Emma was followed by Olivia, Ava, Isabella, Sophia, Mia, Charlotte, Amelia, Evelyn and Abigail.

For the boys, Liam and Noah were followed by William, James, Logan, Benjamin, Mason, Elijah, Oliver and Jacob.

The Times Union sifted through the data and built an interactive tool that allows readers to find out the popularity of their own name beginning in 1910. Take a look:

Other trends last year included a rise in the use of Melania for a girl, likely influenced by first lady Melania Trump.

Pamela Redmond Satran, who blogs about baby-naming and is also co-founder of the baby name site Nameberry.com, said the rise of Liam reflects the large population of Irish people in the U.S. who may not speak Irish, but have ethnic pride.

"I think you see ethnic influences coming into play in a more indirect way. You see more parents looking back and looking for places in their lives that hold meaning that can be translated into names," said Satran, who also co-wrote the books "The Baby Name Bible" and "Cool Names for Babies."

Ethnic pride could also be a factor for parents of Hispanic descent. A lot of new parents "are using Hispanic names rather than trying to pick more Anglo-fied names," Satran said.

She also says Hispanic culture has become more ingrained in the food, music and television that Americans consume. So, names such as Sofia and Ariana become more well-known.

"As cultures of various Spanish-speaking countries become more familiar to mainstream America, I think the names start being used beyond the Hispanic population."
When will liberals learn that barking at nothing makes people not want to listen when you actually have something to say?  Bill Maher

One of the best things about being a columnist whos just a bit inflammatory is the reactions from offended readers. The silliest criticism I hear  and I hear it often  is that Im biased. Its part of the job description. Calling an opinion writer biased is like calling a prostitute promiscuous.

Predictably, I expend more ink mocking the Right than I do those at my own end of the political spectrum; nonetheless, Im usually more annoyed by obnoxious opinions held by those on my side. Because my bias includes the conviction that conservatism is ruining my country, right-wing nonsense rarely outrages or even surprises me  you cant be disillusioned if your expectations are low.

Conservatives often call liberals snowflakes for being oversensitive and politically correct, but neither side is immune. If you think those on the Right are too manly to be snowflakes, say something that calls into question the divinity of Ronald Reagan. For example, insinuate to a roomful of Republicans that selling missiles to Iranian terrorists, then lying about it, could be viewed as treasonous. This is likely to generate the same sort of petulant whining as calling Billy Graham an anti-Semite at a Values Voters brunch.

The response to comic Michelle Wolfs monologue at the White House Correspondents Dinner also showed conservatives acting like what talk show host Bill Maher has described as, the professionally offended. Youd think no one would be shocked by Wolf calling Sarah Huckabee Sanders a liar, yet the Fox & Friends mannequins reacted like Rudy Giuliani being confronted by garlic, a wooden stake or direct sunlight.

The Left has its own touchy areas. Particularly annoying is their fixation on cultural appropriation, one more component of liberal guilt. Wikipedia defines it as the adoption of the elements of a minority culture by members of the dominant culture, including cultural and religious traditions, fashion, symbols, language and songs.

For example, some think white Americas celebration of Cinco de Mayo disrespectfully reduces Mexican culture to tequila, serapes and tacos. But why is it wrong to enjoy some pleasant aspects of a foreign culture? Our vast melting pot has absorbed and normalized waves of immigrants for centuries. Would it be disrespectful for Greek-Americans to put on lederhosen, eat sauerbraten and drink German lager during Oktoberfest? What about wearing tiny, green-plastic derby hats on St. Patricks Day if youre not Irish?

If its wrong for a white American to sport a sombrero while drinking Tecate beer, then its wrong for a Mexican to drink Budweiser wearing a New York Yankees cap. One of the best Mexican restaurants Ive ever been to was in Singapore, where Chinese waiters wore serapes and played Mexican music on guitars between deliveries of nachos. It seemed bizarre in that setting, but no more offensive than Singapores Indian or French eateries, which also had Chinese staffs.

When Utah teenager Keziah Daum wore a Chinese-style dress (a qipao) to her prom, one Asian-American tweeted that her clothes were colonial ideology  an opinion retweeted more than 42,000 times. With 1.5 billion Chinese worldwide, and the rise of globalism, its hard to see them as a minority. More importantly, as Daum put it, Its just a dress. She didnt start a trade war or murder a panda, and certainly did nothing to warrant death threats. If American teens shouldnt wear the qipao, then should Chinese teens be allowed to wear jeans and cowboy hats?

In the music business, accusations of cultural appropriation have been rife since Elvis became a millionaire popularizing black music from people such as Big Mama Thornton. Eric Clapton has been accused of exploiting bluesmen such as Robert Johnson, and white rappers such as Eminem are sometimes criticized for getting rich from hip-hop.

But music is universal and has no race, and no ethnic group can claim exclusive ownership. Should Nat King Cole have profited from his rendition of The Christmas Song (which was written by Mel Torme and Bob Wells)? And is The Wiz, a black adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, an appropriation that disrespects white culture?

The film industry has historically cast Caucasians as Asians (Paul Muni and Luise Rainer in The Good Earth, and Marlon Brando in The Teahouse of the August Moon), as well as Arabs (Lawrence Olivier as the Mahdi in Khartoum, and Alec Guinness as Prince Faisal in Lawrence of Arabia). And considerable controversy was engendered when Olivier, in blackface, headlined the cinematic rendering of Othello.

However, its hard to argue with casting the worlds greatest actor to play the title role of the Moor in a film that received more Academy Award nominations than any other Shakespearean movie. And, if only black actors, such as James Earl Jones or Paul Robeson, should play Othello, then should thespians such as Denzel Washington be blacklisted from playing the vast majority of white Shakespearean roles?

Finally, is it a form of colonialism to appropriate another cultures religion? Do Asians own Buddhism? Should Indians monopolize yoga and Hinduism? Christianity began as a Middle Eastern/Semitic faith that was eventually adopted and adapted by white Europeans, then by Americans, including Mormons.

Im tired of people finding victimhood in no harm, no foul situations. And Im sick of do-gooders who feel the need to speak for people suffering nonexistent persecution that almost no one cares about. They need to find something less trivial to worry about.

Greenwich native Mark Drought (markdrought4@gmail.com) is an editor at a Stamford IT firm and was an adjunct English professor at the University of Connecticut-Stamford.
A ustralias retail giant Wesfarmers on Friday walked away with its tail between its legs after it was forced to sell DIY chain Homebase for just 1, ending its calamitous two-year foray into the UK.

Wesfarmers, which forked out 340 million for the 250-store chain in 2016, is set to lose as much as 230 million in what it described as a bungled takeover.

Homebase on Friday was bought by Hilco, the turnaround specialist, which bought music retailer HMV out of administration in 2013. However, analysts fear that move will lead to store closure and job losses, or even a break-up of the chain. Hilcos typical modus operandi involves downsizing to some degree or another, said Ameet Patel, an analyst at Northern Trust Capital Markets.

The 24 stores that had been rebranded as Bunnings  Wesfarmers brand in Australia  will become Homebase again. The business, which has 11,000 staff, will be run by Damian McGloughlin, a former executive at rival DIY chain B&Q. Wesfarmers admitted to several self-induced mistakes after it dropped popular kitchen and bathroom products or didnt have enough stock.

The investment has been disappointing with the problems arising from poor execution post-acquisition, admitted Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott.

In April, Homebase said that sales fell 13.5% to 211 million for the three months to end of March.

Wesfarmers total losses since buying Homebase come to almost 800 million after the conglomerate wrote down the value of its UK arm by A$1 billion (570 million) in February. The board should have been able to detect that something was not right here, said David Errington, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Where does the buck stop and who pays for losing [the money]?

Wesfarmers, which also owns Australias second-biggest grocer, will be entitled to 20% of any future sale of the business, which has 22 London stores.

But not everyone stands to lose. Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q and Screwfix, could benefit from the disruption at Homebase, one of its biggest competitors. Its shares rose 4% to 309p today after taking a hit from a downbeat trading update yesterday.
M orning all, and as we shift to Bank Holiday weekend mode theres been no let-up in the newsflow coming out of the Small Caps today.

First off some gossip, which is what Im sure you folks most want to hear: Word has it that WH Ireland (WHI.L) has been approached by bidders wanting to buy its corporate broking arm. Such a deal would allow WHI to focus on its wealth management business. Im told that theres a problem, though: nobody is prepared to pay the price theyd find acceptable. Corporate broking has become ever harder to make money from as smaller end brokers suffer from an ever more restrictive regulatory environment. That makes valuations so low as to be unpalatable to WHIs board.

WHI, along with most small and mid-cap firms, has been finding it extremely tough since the Mifid II rules came in and restricted the way they do business. The collapse of Beaufort Securities hasnt helped the reputation of the sector among big corporate clients much either.

In light of that, firms have been calling WHI to try and merge their broking arms in the hope of grinding out cost savings to cope with the shortfall in business. Doesnt seem like its going to happen unless more moneys on the table. As they say, everythings for sale at the right price.

Speaking of the broking world, theres more goss around Luke Johnsons sudden exit from broker Arden (ARDN) yesterday. Word has it the entrepreneur told the firm to take a running jump off the end of his Brighton Pier after a bust up over strategy with chief executive Donald Brown. Thats gossip I cant confirm due to nobody at Arden apparently answering the phones today.

Pity to see such trouble and strife at Arden. Theyve acted for two of my fave smallcaps  the brilliant Zotefoams and Palace Capital. Zotefoams Ive got to love because I tipped it at 346p last October and theyre now 572p and Palace Capital because chief executive Neil Sinclair is about the canniest property guy I know.

I first turned bearish on FastJet (FJET) in 2015 when the shares were 58p. That didnt take a genius  the African low cost airline had already collapsed from 150p. Now theyre just 16.4p and have tumbled another 1% this morning amid broker chat about balance sheet concerns. The company has been restructuring itself in the past year or so, moving its fleet to smaller planes to better fit the smaller numbers of customers it has in its markets. The trouble, as some brokers were saying this morning, is cash. After numerous fundraisers from share issues, in April it tapped just one shareholder, Solenta Aviation, for $12 million, paying $250,000 for the privilege. The money came in the form of a loan facilty.

Im told M&G and other big investors remain supportive of the company under its current management but there are some investors out there talking down its prospects today.

Clean energy group Eqtec (EQT) shares surged  at one stage topping 42% - after a short-seller who had converted some of its debt into shares pledged not to short the stock until after long-running debt financing negotiations were completed. Very generous Im sure.

Keras Resources (KRS) has had a tough year so far but shares were up 15% today. It issued results highlighting the fact that its stake in Aussie-listed Calidus Resources, which has a highly prospective gold exploration portfolio in Australia, is worth some 15.9 million compared to Kerass market capitalisation of 7 million. Go figure.

Keras is also developing its Nayega manganese project in Togo where it is planning on building a high grade, low-capex, 250,000 tpa open pit mine.
T he Evening Standard's David Cohen has found from a Freedom of Information request that the number of people who have been prescribed opioid painkillers in England is twice the total previously released by the NHS: 6.2 million people rather than 3.1 million. Thats a significant figure.

It means the existing information released by the NHS significantly underestimated the scale of opioid use and the consequent opioid addiction.

By omitting three common opioid analgesic compounds, Co-codamol, Co-dydramol and Co-proxamol from the data, the figures seemed less alarming than they were. And it is a problem.

European studies suggest there is a four per cent addiction rate as a result of opioid use. If twice as many people are taking prescription opioids, then the addicts that result may be twice as many too.

That equates to real harm to real people: perhaps as many as 250,000, and their families.

But thats not all. Cohen found that the total number of opioid analgesic prescriptions dispensed to 6.2 million patients in England is also significantly higher than previously thought, at 41.4 million.

This is 17.5 million more than the 23.9 million prescriptions that the NHS admitted to. So the amount we spent on opioids was 350 million, which is 87 million more than we were led to believe.

Again, this was because Co-codamol, Co-dydramol and Co-proxamol were not included in the data.

That means we have been spending tens of millions of pounds more than we previously thought on medication that does significant harm to significant numbers of people.

The first principle of medicine, as articulated by Hippocrates, is: do no harm.

Yet the NHS has spent tens of millions of pounds  money desperately needed elsewhere in the service  providing drugs that do real harm.

The Standard has brought the hitherto neglected problem of opioid addiction into the open; now the Government and the NHS must do more to deal with it.

To read David Cohen's full Opioids Timebomb investigation, visit standard.co.uk/opioids

Trumps big deal in doubt

The letter that President Trump sent to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, cancelling their meeting next month, was, it seems, personally dictated by its author.

So we should take seriously its statement that the US President looks forward some day to meeting Kim Jong-un.

The North Koreans, for their part, have handled the letter in a spirit more of sorrow than anger, declaring that they are ready at any time to meet the President. So while the meeting is off for now, there is still the possibility of it being rescheduled.

President Trump was right that this meeting was important for the world; it offered, as he said, a great opportunity for lasting peace and prosperity, one that had eluded his predecessors.

The reputation of the US will be diminished in this volatile region if the talks do not resume.

In particular, it seems remarkable that the South Korean government was not given advance notice of the letter.

Yet we all have a stake in the outcome of these talks aimed at securing nuclear disarmament by North Korea; we can only hope that both sides recognise that they have a mutual interest in securing a peaceful outcome to this fraught situation.

Its GDPR day

There can be few people who do not feel more loved and wanted today, at least by companies who want to be in touch with them by email to market goods and services.

Many Londoners will have been bombarded by messages of varying degrees of desperation from companies that use their data and are now obliged by the EUs General Data Protection Regulation to seek their consent to do so.

The effect has been to change the way businesses conduct themselves; the upshot of the move may be more swingeing than expected.
It's official: 2018 is the year of bizarre swimwear trends.

First V-bar bikinis dominated our social media feeds, and now a second questionable beach-ready look is setting in...but you could easily have missed it.

How, you ask? Well, because you're not actually meant to see it.

Nude bikinis and cossies are the latest must-have swimwear taking over the 'gram, and whether shown off on the beach, by the pool, or simply on social media, nude swimwear has everyone doing a double take.

The risque look was recently championed by Bella Hadid, who posted a picture of herself lounging on a boat wearing a nude two-piece. And we're not talking about a subtle blush hue, we're talking exact skin-tone colour.

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However, her sartorial statement was no accident; a plethora of fashionistas are opting for "nakey, nakey, nakey" (to quote Rihanna) beach looks this summer.

Nunude and Nudewear have created pieces to suit a wide range of skin tones and sizes.

Both brands promote diversity, inclusivity and body positivity, with the latter giving an interesting extra insight into what they also hope to achieve through their nude range.

On its website, the South African brand explains, "We design and create swimwear with women in mind, constantly exploring the multiplicity of the feminine form".

"Nude Wear aims to explore different aspects of modern femininity. We encourage and invite our customers to break glass ceilings and help us reconstruct hegemonic beauty standards."
W e cant take on Italy and Spain when it comes to quantity but we can when it comes to quality.

Thats the mantra of the Chiavalon family (chiavalon.hr), who sit me down in a custom-built tasting room amid lush green olive trees and tell me to swill a selection of different oils around my mouth as if wine-tasting. Theres no need for bread, or to spit.

Led by brothers Sandi and Tedi, the family is a small olive-oil producer based near the Roman city of Pula on Croatias rugged Istrian peninsula.

When I visit, its Ex Albis extra-virgin oil has been ranked 13th-best on the planet by the Worlds Best Olive Oils organisation. Its the latest medal since the business started 20 years ago after the death of the brothers father and the inheritance of his 30 olive trees. They now have more than 7,500 and export 9,000 litres of oil each year to fans as far afield as America, Japan and Thailand.

Adriatic town of Rovinj

Some 75 oils from Istria were in the 2018 edition of the Flos Olei guide, which ranks the worlds best 500 olive oils. Thats more than any other region. Its not just oil, either. At the latest Decanter World Wine Awards, producers in the region racked up four platinum and gold medals. And later in the autumn the region achieved a Guinness world record for holding the longest truffle festival, spanning 10 weekends.

There are whispers in Livade, where Zigante Truffle Days (sajamtartufa.com) was held, that it might return for longer this year, though Istrias truffle-hunters would do well to find enough to sate the appetites of the 35,000 foodie visitors attracted by the festival as well as the top chefs queueing up for them.

Such is the demand that Istrian white truffles sell for 2,000 a kilo, with their black counterparts not far behind.

Truffles

One of the best ways to experience the region is to find some of your own. I meet the family behind Prodan Tartufi (prodantartufi.hr/en) in Buzet, near the north of Istria, whose clients include chefs Mark Hix, Francesco Mazzei and Nathan Outlaw. Early in the morning, I join them on one of the hunting trips they run most days during peak truffle season (October to January). After a glass of home-made brandy, its off into the hills of the Istrian countryside, accompanied by third-generation truffle-hunter Visnja Prodan and two of her sniffer dogs, terriers Pico and Mel.

The dogs bound across the open grassland, heading for a patch of forest where for about 15 minutes they run, bark, jump, swat flies and roll around in the leaves. Suddenly, one starts digging. We gather round and Visnja rushes to uncover whats been found before an eager jaw gets there first.

The Chiavalon family's olive groves

Weve been lucky. Mel has found us a perfectly formed black truffle, which somehow looks even more decadent covered in dry mud straight from the ground than when shaved onto a dish.

The dogs are rewarded with treats but our prize comes on the return to base, after another hour searching. Visnjas mum  when they say family business, they mean it  is cooking up a breakfast of buttery scrambled eggs and shes ready to toss in freshly sliced truffles. Its every bit as good as it sounds. The dogs get a piece of truffle-infused sausage, which Im told is part of their training. Its all right for some.
O ne minute youre walking down Oxford Street dodging tourists, the next youre in Aleppo, dodging barrel bombs.

As far as fundraising techniques go, it certainly beats a chugger with a clipboard. So its no wonder tech-savvy charities are now using virtual reality headsets to parachute potential donors directly into the worlds of those they could help, whether thats a 12-year-old Syrian refugee or a grandmother living with Alzheimers. Virtual reality is a really innovative way for us to engage new audiences and give them a sense of whats happening inside Aleppo, says Kristyan Benedict, crisis campaign manager at Amnesty International, which has been giving its street fundraisers 14 VR headsets and smartphones as part of its #360 Syria project. A threemonth trial saw 1,935 new donors sign up, worth 170,000 a year.

We now have a specialist tech and human rights unit, which is using real-time satellite technology to show forced displacement of the Rohingya in Myanmar, heat maps to show where a bomb has landed even if authorities are saying nothing has happened, and using geolocation and crowdsourcing to track incidents, such as chemical weapons attacks in Sudan. This technology isnt new  advertising and marketing companies have been using it for a long time  but from an NGO perspective its early days.

Amnesty international

Whether its the recent revelations about the use of prostitutes by senior Oxfam staff in Haiti, the collapse of Kids Company amid allegations of financial malpractice and sexual abuse, or the recurrent controversies over fundraising websites such as JustGiving taking a cut of public donations, trust in the charity sector is at an alltime low. In March, a survey by the not-for-profit research consultancy nfp Synergy found that only 54 per cent of people in the UK said they still trusted charities. Which is why innovative organisations are using technology to win back the support of digital natives who have little time for  or feel cynical about  charitable giving.

I call it dev-tech and its especially happening in London right now, says Rohan Silva, co-founder of the co-working space Second Home, where a number of the charities in question are based. Geneva has the big NGOs headquartered there but barely any tech, whereas San Francisco has a global technology scene without the charities. London meanwhile has the technology, it has the big charities and it also has a community of small non-profit start-ups who are able to use that technology in a really efficient way.

At Second Home there is Videre, a 21st-century Amnesty International, which gives human rights activists cutting-edge hidden recording devices so they can testify to abuse; and Spring, which helps technology companies empowering women in Africa and Asia, such as Safe Boda, an Uber for girls, which organises safe motorcycle taxis for young women in Uganda. The big names in this sector have tended to be notoriously slow on the uptake when it comes to innovation, says Grant Morgan, CEO of Louis Kennedy, a corporate social responsibility marketing consultancy.

Safe "Uber" style Motorcycles for women are launching in Uganda

However,the landscape is changing. Were currently developing a piece of technology using cryptocurrency, which will change the way we give globally  not just giving users the ability to track their donations, but to choose exactly what their money is spent on.

Blockchain is having a huge impact on the third sector, agrees Federico Malvezzi, project manager of AidCoin, a cryptocurrency specially designed for charities. No record can be erased on the blockchain, meaning traceable accountability and zero fraud, and theres no need for middle men or transaction fees. Plus, smart contracts could mean that if certain predetermined conditions arent fulfilled, donors would receive their donations back or be able to redirect them towards more deserving or pressing causes. In 2010, for example, the Red Cross raised $500 million (370m) to provide homes for 130,000 people in Haiti. What would you have done with your donation upon realising that, five years later, only six homes had been built?

Both the Red Cross and Save the Children have been trialling bitcoin donations, which have zero per cent processing fees. But some forward-thinking non-profits are going one step further. Charity: Water, founded by New York-based former nightclub promoter Scott Harrison uses real-time video, GPS mapping and slick online slideshows to allow donors to follow every (virtual) penny. I wanted to reinvent charity. I thought it had become broken and stigmatised, says Harrison, who has the support of the tech worlds glitterati, from Twitters Jack Dorsey to Spotifys Daniel Ek. Harrison runs Charity: Water like a great start-up, says Ek. Hes disrupted the whole charity model.

Bitcoin donations becoming more common

Vinay Nair is the co-founder of Lightful, a digital consultancy that helps smaller charities use social media more effectively. We recently held a hackathon for Comic Relief, worked with the charity Climate Reality using chatbots to answer peoples questions and did a project for Parkinsons UK where people affected by the disease could upload footage of their symptoms to Facebook. Today its about more than just rattling a tin and saying, Please donate now  its taking people on a journey and telling them a story.

Indeed, the days of a teddy shaking a bucket at the Tube station might be numbered  research from YouGov indicated that one in seven people fail to donate because they no longer carry cash. Charitable donations through websites, social media and apps now account for 26 in every 100 donated in the UK and a recent trial of tap and go contactless collection boxes found that supporters making contactless payments parted with three times as much as those fumbling in their pockets for change, potentially earning charities an extra 80m a year.

But its not only money being drummed up via social media. In 2015 the charity Help Refugees used a Twitter hashtag to mobilise grassroots support, and in just a few months went from being a group of friends with no experience in the charity sector to one of the biggest providers of aid in the Calais Jungle. At the start we were raising money and co-ordinating donations and volunteers entirely through Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, says Philli Boyle, a director at Help Refugees. We were aiming for a grand and within a week wed raised 56,000 and were getting 7,000 donations a day. When we got to the camp we were amazed that none of the big aid agencies were helping. They said that the camp wasnt legally recognised or it wasnt in their three-year budget and that kind of bureaucracy was really frustrating to see.

Poster in solidarity of refugees

Three years later and Help Refugees  which is volunteer-run and almost entirely crowdfunded  has helped more than 722,500 people, galvanized more than 25,000 volunteers, raised over 10m and works with more than 80 projects across eight countries. Were trying to fill in the gaps that governments or large NGOs cant, says Boyle. Its about common sense and taking the initiative, whether its setting up a refugee info bus with wi-fi in the camp or giving phones topped up with credit to unaccompanied minors. One of those phones led directly to 15 lives being saved, after a seven-year-old Afghan boy called Ahmed sent a text to one of the charitys childrens workers to say he was trapped in a refrigerated airless lorry running out of oxygen. Help Refugees and local police tracked the phone and found him, along with 14 adults, all still alive, near a motorway service station in Leicestershire. That was down to every person who shared our status updates, followed us on social media or donated to our fundraising pages, says Boyle.

In a 21st-century update of the aphorism, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime, Help Refugees not only gives refugees phones, but teaches them how to code. It funds Old Street-based Code Your Future, founded in October 2016 by German Bencci who was working at Samsung at the time. I really felt like the tech industry should be doing more to help people, so when the refugee crisis happened I reached out to my contacts, says Bencci. Mentored by volunteers from the tech industry, 80 per cent of Code Your Future graduates get employment within a year of graduating. As they train, students work on projects for NGOs, such as developing a searchable database of the local services available to asylum seekers and refugees, from English lessons to sanitary towels. When a student graduates from the course and gets a job, you feel like the trajectory of their life has been changed, says Bencci. It certainly beats my old day job.
I n 1983, a referendum in Ireland made abortion illegal under all circumstances. This is known as the eighth amendment.

Since 1992 women in Ireland have been allowed to travel abroad for abortions, but having an abortion in their own country has remained illegal. Many women can't afford to make the trip to a neighbouring country and have therefore been left with unwanted pregnancies. Those that could make the trip often did so alone, without telling friends or even family.

Today Ireland are holding a referendum on their constitutions eighth amendment. If the majority vote to repeal the eighth, this will allow the government to legalise terminations.

What happens if Ireland vote Yes and repeals the eighth amendment?

Last year, the Irish government held a Citizens Assembly to decide whether they would consider holding an abortion law reform. After hearing extensive evidence, the 99 randomly selected citizens voted in favour of legalising abortions  64 per cent to 36 per cent.

'Yes' vote campaigners in Dublin / AFP/Getty Images

On Friday, voters in Ireland will be asked if they want to repeal the eighth amendment and allow the government to change the laws surrounding abortion. If the country votes Yes, the laws that were made in 1983 and 1992 would be replaced with the following text:

Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy.

This means the government would legislate to allow abortion for women who are up to 12 weeks pregnant, without justification, and after this time period too, if there is a risk of life to the woman, a medical emergency or a fatal foetal abnormality.

What happens if Ireland votes 'No'?

If Ireland vote No, there will be no change to the eighth amendment. It would still be illegal for women to have an abortion under any circumstance that isn't life threatening and she would still need to travel overseas to terminate the pregnancy. While EU flight laws allow Irish residents to fly between Ireland and the UK freely at present, it is unknown what impact Brexit will have on Irish women wanting to travel to the UK to have an abortion.

If the vote is 'No' it is not known whether there would be another referendum or chance to repeal the eighth amendment in the future.

According to an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll dated May 17, 58 per cent of voters will vote Yes and 42 per cent will vote No.

What is the eighth amendment?

Abortion was first made illegal in Ireland under the Offences against the Person Act of 1861. Over a century later, in 1983, pro-life activists (people who agreed abortion should be illegal) worried this act could be overturned so set about making it part of the Irish constitution.

A vote was held on September 7, 1983 which proposed to add an eighth amendment to the constitution. It read:

The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

Two-thirds, or 66.9 per cent, of the population voted Yes, which gave equal rights to the mother and the unborn and effectively banned abortion in all circumstances. It is important to consider that only 53 per cent of the population turned out to vote  just 1.2million people  and 33.1 per cent voted No.

AFP/Getty Images

Were there any allowances made to the eighth amendment?

In 1992, a 14-year-old girl in Ireland became pregnant as a result of rape  known as Case X. She claimed to be suicidal and wanted to travel to the UK for abortion  but was prevented to under law.

However, Irelands Supreme Court decided she had a right to have an abortion because there was a real and substantial risk to hers and the unborn child's life.

This led to three referendums being held in November 1992, one attempting but failing to remove suicide as grounds for an abortion (another referendum in 2002), and the others accepting that a woman could travel abroad for an abortion and that information about services in other countries was allowed to be made available to her.

'No' voters protesting in Dublin / NurPhoto via Getty Images

When did Ireland decide to hold this new referendum?

Eight years ago, in 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Ireland was violating the European Convention on Human Rights and cited there was not enough clarity on the grounds in which women in Ireland would be allowed a legal abortion.

Things started to pick up in 2012 after the devastating death of Savita Halappanavar when she died in a Galway hospital due to complications from a septic miscarriage  despite having requested an abortion when she first fell sick, one which could have saved her life.

Ireland abortion referendum - the key facts

Her death caused the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act to be passed as law in 2013, which stated that abortions could be carried out legally in three scenarios. These were: risk of loss of life from physical illness, risk of loss of life from suicide and risk of loss of life from physical illness in an emergency.

So as it stands today, women in Ireland are only legally allowed to have an abortion if there is a real threat to their life.

A woman campaigns for the 'Yes' vote / AFP/Getty Images

This could all change today, as the Repeal the Eighth movement  led largely by a younger generation of women fighting for rights to their own bodies  made enough strides for the government to listen up and hold a referendum in the first place.
P hilip Hammond today warned European leaders that Britain is ready to go it alone with a rival to the EUs Galileo satnav system as Brexit talks turned sour in Brussels.

At the same time, the UKs top negotiator responded to European Commission taunts that British trade proposals were fantasy, by publicly praising his officials for reacting calmly during the talks.

Ministers were fighting to get on the front foot as tensions rose ahead of a June summit, including over access to Galileo.

Arriving in Brussels for a meeting, the Chancellor demanded either full access to the 8 billion system or a refund of over 1 billion paid by UK taxpayers.

If that proves impossible then Britain will have to go it alone, possibly with other partners outside Europe and the US, to build a third competing [satellite] system, he said.

For national security strategic reasons we need access to a system and well ensure that we get it, he added.

Chancellor Philip Hammond / REUTERS

The EU says Britain will be barred from the system when by law it is a third-party country.

But ministers suspect it is a tactic by senior commission official Martin Selmayr to make Brexit as painful as possible.

The row has divided EU states, however, because of Britains massive defence contribution to European security. Mr Hammond said the jibe about fantasy proposals was not particularly helpful.

Olly Robbins, the Prime Ministers chief Brexit adviser, acknowledged how bruising the talks had become by tweeting thanks to his officials.

Very proud of the x-Government team that worked so hard to support technical talks in Brussels this week, he wrote. UK proposals for a deep relationship, calmly and professionally presented.

MPs noted that he seemed to have cut the usual phrase deep and special to merely deep.

Meanwhile, Mrs May came under blistering attack from a Tory donor who bankrolled the Vote Leave campaign.

Financier Jeremy Hosking, who has given the Tories 375,000 since 2015 and who gave Vote Leave 1.7 million, said: It just resembles a Greek tragedy and it only ends when everyone is dead.

Mrs May should be replaced, he told the Daily Telegraphs Choppers Brexit Podcast, adding: Someone has got to say it  it aint working.

There very definitely needs to be a change and a reset.

His outburst is the latest signal from the Brexiteers that they are running out of patience, as Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns quit as a housing aide last night so she can campaign for a hard Brexit.
B ritons overwhelmingly want Theresa May to relax immigration rules to allow more non-EU doctors into the country to fill empty NHS posts, a poll reveals today.

The Ipsos MORI survey for the Standard found adults believe  by two to one  that a cap on skilled workers should either be ditched or relaxed for medics from outside the European Union.

Almost 2,000 doctors and health professionals had visa applications rejected in the four months to March due to the annual cap of 20,700 on skilled workers from non-EU countries.

Todays poll found that 37 per cent of Britons say there should be no cap on these doctors, while a further 27 per cent believe more visas should be issued. Just nine per cent want fewer visas for this group, and three per cent want no visas for them at all.

37 per cent of Britons say there should be no cap on skilled doctors from non-EU countries / PA

Nineteen per cent say the cap should remain at the present level.

In a sign of how out of step the Tories are with younger voters on immigration, three quarters of 18 to 34-year-olds said the cap should either be axed for doctors or more Tier 2 visas should be issued.

Home Office figures, obtained by the Campaign for Science and Engineering under freedom of information laws, show that more than 6,000 requests for Tier 2 visas were turned down in the four months to March.

They include 1,518 for doctor roles, 1,226 for IT and technology, 392 for engineering, 361 for other health professionals and 197 for teaching.

More nurses from outside the EU are understood to be obtaining visas through this scheme because it is classed as a profession suffering shortages amid the turmoil over Brexit. It means that there are fewer places available for other non-EU skilled workers desperately needed to fill vacancies in hospitals and businesses.

The Ipsos MORI survey also found that 49 per cent of adults want the cap to be either scrapped or eased for engineers, compared with 17 per cent who want it tightened. A similar picture emerged for teachers: 48 per cent compared to 16 per cent.

Gideon Skinner, head of political research at Ipsos MORI, said: Even though most people want overall levels of immigration reduced, Britons have for a long time held different attitudes when it comes to skilled workers, and at a time when public concern about the NHS is high this may be especially acute. Mrs May has also faced criticism over her decision to stick with her goal of cutting net migration to below 100,000 a year. It is understood many Cabinet ministers believe it should be dropped altogether.

The poll also found falling trust in the Prime Minister on the issue of immigration. The proportion of Britons who do not have much trust or none at all in Mrs May was 62 per cent, far more than the 38 per cent in September 2016, just after the EU referendum that year and before the snap election last June.

This gives her a similar rating to Jeremy Corbyn, whose figure is 60 per cent, although more people do not trust him at all  40 per cent, compared with 31 per cent for the Prime Minister.

A Home Office spokesman said: The Government fully recognises the contribution that international professionals make to the UK.

However, it is important that our immigration system works in the national interest, ensuring that employers look first to the UK resident labour market.
A merican websites have blocked readers in the UK and European Union as new data protection rules came into force.

Todays introduction of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) led sites including the New York Daily News, LA Times and Chicago Tribune to become temporarily unavailable to readers in Europe.

The regulations give EU citizens more say on how their personal data is used.

Under the rules organisations must obtain consent to collect information or face huge fines.

The new GDPR laws have left EU readers unable to access American sites / New York Daily News

Other sites including Time Magazine and the Washington Post now ask readers to agree to new terms and conditions before they can enter the site.

Lee Enterprises, which publishes 46 daily newspapers in the US states, put up a statement saying: Were sorry. This site is temporarily unavailable..

USA Today is offering fans a European Union experience.

The Chicago Tribune was among those to block UK and EU citizens / Chicago Tribune

A message posted on the site read: We are directing you to our EU Experience.

This site does not collect personally identifiable information or persistent identifiers from, deliver a personalised experience to, or otherwise track or monitor persons reasonably identified as visiting our site from the European Union.

We do identify EU internet protocol (IP) addresses for the purpose of determining whether to direct you to USA TODAY NETWORKs EU Experience.

NPR media offers European visitors a choice of agreeing to accept US data rules or viewing a plain text version of the news website.

People in the EU can no longer access the LA Times / LA Times

The US-based email unsubscription service unroll.me has also blocked EU users, as has the History.com website. Users of services such Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo were asked to update their privacy settings covering opt-in.

The glitches came amid widespread confusion over the EUs new General Data Protection Regulation, which gives the public far greater control over and access to information that companies and organisations hold on them.

Britain has pledged to comply with the rules beyond Brexit. The threat of huge fines running to millions of pounds for breaches of the rules has also triggered panic among small businesses.

Alan Soady, head of media at the Federation of Small Business, said: Weve had a lot of calls. The threat of fines will play on the minds of small business owners. People are realising data is not just someones credit card details, it can be as simple as their phone number.

Sources said Google held meetings in London and New York to discuss with publishers how to integrate the new rules into their apps.
P rince William is set to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next month despite heightened tensions and outbreaks of violence in the region.

The Duke of Cambridges trip, which was announced on Friday, will mark the first ever official tour of the areas made by a member of the Royal Family on behalf of the government.

He will begin his visit, which starts on June 24, in Amman, Jordan, before travelling to Jerash, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would be "an historic visit, the first of its kind" and said the prince would be welcomed with great affection.

37 Palestinians dead and scores injured 'by Israeli gunfire' ahead of opening of US Embassy in Jerusalem

Just a week ago, 58 Palestinians were killed and 2,400 injured by Israeli troops in clashes over the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

William trip will go ahead in the aftermath of the bloodshed on the Gaza border in recent weeks, the worst outbreak of fighting since 2014.

Some 58 Palestinians were killed and 2,400 injured by Israeli troops in violent clashes over the Donald Trumps decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
F itness fans at a goat yoga class enjoyed an extra surprise when one of the animals gave birth to twins on a mat during a session.

The nanny goat went into labour in the middle of a class in which people perform yoga poses while the farm animals climb on them.

One member of the Red Wagon Goats class was forced to give up her mat to allow Tassi to deliver babies Storm and Sue-Anna during a fundraising event at a park in Suwanee, Georgia.

Megan Kibby, co-owner of Red Wagon Goats, said she was delighted by the new arrivals.

Business partner Jason Lewis told the New York Times he had attempted to take the goat to a trailer to give birth but was too late.

Adorable images posted on the companys Facebook page show the new mum sniffing her kids as they lie on a yoga mat.
A series of stunning heat maps reveal the huge numbers of people who have travelled home to Ireland to vote in the historic abortion referendum.

Voters in the Republic are being asked to decide whether or not to repeal the Eighth Amendment  a part of the constitution which forbids abortion in almost all circumstances including rape and incest.

Campaigners pushing for a Yes vote  in favour of repealing the law  launched a movement calling for people to go #hometovote back to Ireland from around the world.

They estimated that around 30,000 Irish citizens living abroad are eligible to vote and have pinned some of their campaign on the many stories of women having to travel out of the country, often to the UK, to access a safe abortion.

The map shows people tweeting about the movement across the globe / followthehashtag.com

Take one trip home to vote so that the 10 women every day who travel from the Republic of Ireland for an abortion, will no longer have to make that journey, they urged.

Thousands return to Ireland to vote in abortion referendum

In the days leading up to the vote on Friday, thousands of people returned home to Ireland from as far away as Argentina and Asia.

Some people have said they will be travelling from India and Latin America. / followthehashtag.com

Many people took time off work or cut their holidays short to make sure they had a say and #hometovote has been shared and searched thousands of times around the world.

Polls open for Ireland's abortion referendum

A series of images, from followthathashtag.com, maps out the people using the phase on Twitter, sharing their stories of why they have chosen to travel for this historic vote.

Hometovote: An image from the London Irish Abortion Campaign group

They reveal scores of people taking part in the movement from the US, primarily the east and west coasts, as well as the east coast of Australia and New Zealand.

Men and women  from both sides of the debate  have journeyed from India, the Middle East and, of course, Europe, to exercise their electoral right.

Ciaran Gaffney, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, spotted four of his countrymen on a plane home to vote.

He tweeted: "Was actually so humbled and relieved to meet four other Irish people on the flight from Buenos Aires to London, all of them flying onwards to Dublin today or tomorrow to #voteyes."

Aoife Bennett, 25, an editor with a travel magazine based in Dortmund, Germany, will be making the journey to Dublin to vote then making the journey back in less than 24 hours.

Ireland abortion referendum: This is what will happen if the Irish vote Yes
A n exit poll has suggested Ireland has voted by a "landslide margin" to repeal the Eighth Amendment so that abortion can be legalised.

A poll conducted for The Irish Times by Ipsos/MRBI said 68 per cent of voters in the Republic of Ireland have backed changing abortion laws while 32 per cent have opposed it.

Polls closed across the country at 10pm amid reports of a strong turnout in many parts of the country, particularly in urban areas.

Earlier Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a proponent of liberalising Ireland's strict abortion regime, predicted a high turnout would be good for those campaigning for change

Ireland abortion referendum - In pictures 1 /21 Ireland abortion referendum - In pictures Yes voters cheer at a counting centre in Dublin PA Votes are tallied in Ireland's historic referendum PA Two women wait for the results to come in PA Members of the public hold yes placards on Fairview road as the country heads to polling stations Getty Images A woman takes a picture of a mural in Dublin's city centre by art group Subset calling for 'Repeal The 8th' ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution on May 25th PA Sandra Caulfield, whose daughter Hope Rose died at nine days old after she was diagnosed with Edwards syndrome when Ms Caulfield was 14 weeks pregnant, following a Save the 8th press conference ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution on May 25th PA A woman walks past a pro-life poster in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland Reuters A woman sits in front of a pro-life poster in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland Reuters Martin McBreen and his daughter Grace, aged 3, and Monica Hadarean and son Cris, whose children both have Downs Syndrome, and were encouraged to have an abortion as they were told their children wouldn't survive attend a Pro-Life press event ahead of a 25th May referendum on abortion law, in Dublin, Ireland Reuters A man (name not given) arrives at the polling station in Knock National school, Mayo, as the country goes to the polls to vote in the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution PA Garda Alan Gallagher and Presiding Officer Carmel McBride carry the polling box for the referendum on liberalising abortion law a day early for the few people that live off the coast of Donegal on the island of Inishbofin, Ireland Getty Images Election warehouse manager Michael Leonard checks the seals on ballot boxes that are ready for delivery to polling stations ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, in Dublin PA An abortion debate that's inflamed passions in Ireland for decades comes down to a single question: yes or no? AP Pro-life campaigners argue voting 'no' is about safeguarding human rights AFP/Getty Images Activists have been urging people to vote 'no' in Friday's referendum AFP/Getty Images 'Vote yes': Pro-repeal campaigners in Dublin make their message heard with a sign bearing the face of Savita Halappanavar, who died after being denied a termination PA Campaign: a pro-choice mural in Dublin featuring Savita Halappanavar, who died after being refused an abortion PA Pro-Choice activists dress up as characters from the Handmaid's Tale in a City centre demonstration ahead Friday's vote Reuters Protesters hold up placards during the London March for Choice, calling for the legalising of abortion in Ireland after the referendum announcement, outside the Embassy of Ireland in central London AFP/Getty Images Protesters hold up placards as they take part in the March for Choice, calling for the legalising of abortion in Ireland after the referendum announcement, in Dublin AFP/Getty Images Vote: A man and child walk past a sign for a polling station ahead of a 25th May referendum on abortion law, in Dublin Reuters

While thousands of Irish citizens living overseas travelled home in droves to exercise their democratic right on the emotive issue.

Counting will begin on Saturday morning, with the result expected later that day.

The specific question people are being asked is whether they want to see the Eighth Amendment replaced with wording in the constitution that would hand politicians the responsibility to set future laws on abortion, unhindered by constitutional strictures.

If the public votes Yes, the Irish Government intends to legislate by the end of the year to make it relatively easy for a woman to obtain the procedure in early pregnancy.

Ministers have promised to allow terminations within the first 12 weeks, subject to medical advice and a cooling-off period, and between 12 and 24 weeks in exceptional circumstances.

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina cast their votes in Dublin on Friday morning. Around two hours later Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, a vocal advocate for repeal, voted in the city.

"I always get a little buzz from voting, it just feels like it is democracy in action," Mr Varadkar said after emerging from the polling station at Castleknock.

"Not taking anything for granted of course, but quietly confident - there's been good turnout across the country so far and hoping for a Yes vote tomorrow.

"Obviously, I would be encouraging everyone to come out and vote, a high turnout would be to the advantage of the yes campaign."

'Vote yes': Pro-repeal campaigners in Dublin make their message heard with a sign bearing the face of Savita Halappanavar, who died after being denied a termination / PA

Leader of the main opposition party, Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin, voted to repeal in his constituency in Cork while Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald also cast a Yes vote in Dublin.

However, her Sinn Fein party colleague and vocal anti-abortion campaigner Peadar Toibin called on Irish people to vote No to "abortion on demand".

"The irony that the referendum on abortion is being held on International Missing Children's Day will not be lost on many Irish people," he tweeted.

"Those on the margins of society suffer most from abortion. Vote No to Abortion on Demand."

Thousands return to Ireland to vote in abortion referendum

A total of 3.3 million citizens are registered to vote, with 6,500 polling stations open across the country.

The Catholic Church is among influential voices arguing that the life of the unborn should be sacrosanct, but the retain campaign faces a major challenge from a Yes camp which has portrayed itself as modernising and in step with international opinion.

The debate during eight weeks of campaigning has been divisive, with the leaders of all the main political parties, including Fine Gael leader Mr Varadkar, backing change.

They argued that a Yes vote represented the compassionate choice for thousands of Irish women forced to travel to England for the procedure.

A woman casts her vote with her daughter in a polling station on Friday / REUTERS

Opposing them was a vocal No camp, including the bishops, which insisted the life of the child is sacrosanct and interference in that right is immoral.

Around 2,000 voters in 12 islands off the mainland were eligible to vote on Thursday to prevent any delay in counting their ballot papers.

The Eighth Amendment is a clause in the constitution which was written after a previous referendum on the issue in 1983 recognised the right to life of the unborn child.

It protects the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn and effectively prohibits abortion in most cases.

In 1992, women were officially given the right to travel abroad, mostly to the UK, to obtain terminations. Pro-repeal campaigners said almost 170,000 have done so.

The liberalisation campaign gathered momentum after an Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar, died in hospital in Galway aged 31 when she was refused an abortion during a miscarriage.
 Its a once in a lifetime opportunity, says Ruairi Sparks, a 31-year-old TV producer who lives in Peckham. Like many of his fellow London-based Irish expats, Sparks is making the journey home to vote in Fridays referendum on abortion.

"I didnt realise I was registered to vote until Monday when my mother received my polling card," Sparks explains. When he was told he could cast his ballot in the referendum, he immediately made plans to travel to Dublin.

Irelands been exporting this problem for 30-odd years, and it makes things very, very difficult for women. Its out of control. If theres an opportunity to repeal it, Ill be damned if Im going to stay in London and not vote.

Sparks is referring to the tight restrictions on the rights of women to terminate pregnancies in Ireland, in part due to the enduring legacy of the Catholic Church.

Making the trip: Ruairi Sparks is travelling from Peckham

Since 1983, the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution has afforded the same right to life to women and their unborn children. Abortion is therefore illegal in Ireland in almost all cases, including rape, unless the life of the mother is deemed to be at risk, including from suicide.

Since 1992, when another amendment giving women the right to travel abroad for abortions was passed, an estimated 170,000 have done so.

But on Friday, Irish voters head to the polls to have their say on whether the Eighth Amendment should be repealed in order to allow politicians to set abortion laws in the future - paving the way for legalisation. Irelands Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, has backed liberalisation of the laws and has campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum to repeal the amendment.

And while the yes side has enjoyed a consistent lead in the polls, the nerves are palpable. Niamh Cavanagh, a 24-year-old journalist who is travelling from Clapham to vote in Tipperary, says she is "not at all" confident of a win for the pro-choice campaign.

Travelling home: Niamh Cavanagh said she was not confident ahead of the vote

The people I have online are my friends and people I know, and they tend to be pro-choice, she says. But theres a lot of people in Ireland that have been raised by the Catholic Church to be very much pro-life. I just feel like there will be more pro-life support. I could be wrong - I hope to God it passes.

Ireland abortion referendum - the key facts

When the referendum was announced in March, Cavanagh was in no doubt that she would make the trip home.

"Theres been discussions for years about how women have to travel abroad for abortions, so when the action came to legalise it, no matter where I was in the world, I was always going to travel home to vote."

Savita Halappanavar died from suspected septicaemia (The Irish Times/PA)

For others, its a simple matter of safety. A tragic catalyst for the debate on liberalising abortion laws was the death of Indian dentist, Savita Halappanavar, in Galway in 2012.

Aged just 31, she was refused an abortion during a miscarriage, despite repeatedly asking for a termination, because a foetal heartbeat could be detected. She died in hospital.

Other campaigners argue that abortion is taking place anyway in a way which Varadkar describes as unsafe, unregulated and unlawful.

Backing repeal: Irish PM Leo Varadkar / PA

Jane White, 32, who is travelling from Islington to Dublin to vote, said: "My personal view is its about safety. Abortions are happening in Ireland illegally, and they are really a traumatic experience so its really about having safe abortions, and doing it in a safe environment.

"Safe treatments are not available for people who are unable to travel, and thats not what Irelands about."

She added that she had been surprised at how few Londoners were aware of Ireland's restrictive abortion laws.

Jane White said one of the main issues was the safety of women

"Its interesting to see how many people in London weren't even aware of the situation in Ireland - theyre a bit behind the expectations as a country.

The campaign has been an unpleasant one for many in Ireland, with posters showing graphic post-abortion scenes on the streets of Dublin, erected by the No camp. The country is used to major referendums - most recently on the right of same-sex couples to marry, which passed in 2015. But for many, this one has felt different.

Long journeys: a heatmap showing where people have traveled to Ireland from for a say in the referendum

Its the first time in my life Ive seen a vote in Ireland like this, said Cavanagh. The same-sex marriage referendum was such a positive thing, but when you get down to this, its very sensitive and extremely emotional. For a lot of women, its bringing up a range of experiences theyve had.

I feel like a lot of people are really heartbroken. Its causing a lot of stress to a lot of people.

But it is not only those on the yes side who are making the trip from London to vote. Campaign group London Irish United for Life has been leading the drive to encourage Irish people in the capital to go home to vote no.

Activists have been urging people to vote 'no' in Friday's referendum / AFP/Getty Images

The pro-life group, set up by Irish emigrants, believes the Eighth Amendment "protects the right to life of the unborn whilst allowing all life-saving treatment for pregnant women", and claims it protects people with disabilities.

It argues that there are "better solutions than abortion", suggesting that it is better to invest in "positive support" for women and hospice care for babies with life-limiting conditions.

Pro-life campaigners argue voting 'no' is about safeguarding human rights / AFP/Getty Images

Under the hashtag #HometoVoteNo, the group has been targeting potential pro-life voters in London, online and in person, with their message "Protect Ireland's Eighth Amendment".

Campaigner Suzanne Conway, 32, who has been at the forefront of this campaign, believes keeping the Eighth is about safeguarding a human right.

Conway has been working with the group to distribute leaflets, speak to people about returning home to vote and attending rallies, such as the recent 'March for Life UK' event, according to The Irish Times.

Now, she has flown from London to Ireland to vote herself. She told The Irish Independent she has done so because "there is an obvious right to life before before birth".

Eoin told London Irish United for Life he is going home to vote because 'life starts at conception' / Facebook

"I will be voting No because I believe that there is an obvious right to life before birth and the Eighth Amendment is simply the only protection that is safeguarding this right," she said.

"If the Eighth Amendment were to be repealed, the protection for babies in the womb would then be removed."

She added that a No vote may also mean an opportunity to discuss how Ireland can implement better support systems for pregnant women and those facing crisis pregnancies and for babies with life-limiting conditions.

"Leaving abortion aside as a solution to these situations will place Ireland in a unique position, in which we can demonstrate authentic compassion, solidarity and proper social progress," she said.

As part of its drive online to promote a No vote, London Irish United for Life has also been sharing footage of pro-life supporters explaining why they are heading back to Ireland to vote.

In one clip, Eoin, a student from County Clare, said he is going home to vote no because "life starts at conception".

"Nobody has the right to take that away and I don't want anyone else to make that decision for me," he said.

In another, a woman, who was not named, said she thinks women "deserve better than abortions".

"I think women deserve better than being pitted against their babies," she said. "I think babies deserve the right to life, they deserve protection just as anybody else does and I don't believe that this is the best thing for women."

For the 'no' side, the referendum is about protecting "something that we should be proud of", Conways tells the Independent.

Meanwhile, those on the yes side will be hoping Fridays vote will give them something to cheer about on their long journeys home.
Key events

1861: Abortion is banned in Ireland under the Offences Against the Person Act.

1967: A private member's bill brought by David Steel MP led to the UK's Abortion Act 1967, which is still the law governing abortions in England, Scotland and Wales but not Northern Ireland.

1983: A referendum in Ireland led to the Eighth Amendment to the constitution recognising the right to life of the unborn child.

1986: The High Court ruled that the availability to women in Ireland of information on abortion outside Ireland breached the constitution as it undermined the child's right to life.

1992: A teenage rape victim in Ireland who was suffering from suicidal thoughts was prevented by the courts from terminating her pregnancy in England. It was dubbed the X Case and was the subject of a ruling from Ireland's highest court, the Supreme Court, which overturned the decision. Judges said a realistic threat of suicide constituted grounds for an abortion.

Two referendums were held and as a result the constitution was amended to ensure Irish women had the freedom to travel to other countries to seek terminations.

2002: Another referendum was held to decide if the threat of suicide as a ground for legal abortion should be removed. It was rejected.

2010: The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland had not provided clarity on the availability of abortion in cases where a mother's life was at risk.

2012: Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar died in a hospital in Galway after being denied an abortion during a miscarriage. Her husband Praveen Halappanavar claimed she requested a termination but was refused because the baby's heart was still beating.

2013: Abortion law was amended to allow terminations under certain strictly-defined circumstances - the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. For the first time, processes were set out to establish the circumstances in which there was a real and substantial risk to the life, not the health, of a woman, and where the only treatment that would avert that risk was an abortion. It also introduced a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment for having or assisting in an unlawful abortion.

2015: The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed concern at Ireland's "highly restrictive" legislation on abortion and called for another referendum.

2016: The UN found that Amanda Mellet, who had been carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality, had been subjected to discrimination and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment due to Ireland's abortion prohibition. She had to travel abroad for the procedure and was forced to leave the remains of her baby behind before they were eventually delivered by courier. The UN called for the strict prohibition in Ireland to be reversed.

2017: The Assembly recommended that unrestricted access to abortion during early pregnancy be introduced. The Government promised to hold a referendum in 2018.
N orth Korea has said Kim Jong-un is still willing to meet Donald Trump at any time after the US leader scrapped the planned summit between the two countries.

The rogue regimes leader will give the US time and opportunities to reconsider sitting down for the talks that were abruptly scrapped by Mr Trump, the country said in statement.

Its vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan said the Norths "objective and resolve to do our best for the sake of peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and all humankind remain unchanged".

He called Mr Trumps decision unexpected" and "very regrettable," and said the cancellation of the talks shows "how grave the status of historically deep-rooted hostile North Korea-US relations is and how urgently a summit should be realised to improve ties".

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un were expected to meet for talks in June / AFP/Getty Images

His statement comes after Mr Trump blamed Kims recent "tremendous anger and open hostility for his decision to pull out of the planned talks in Singapore in June.

Mr Trump wrote in a letter, published in full by the White House on Thursday, that he feels it is "inappropriate at this time, to have this long-planned meeting."

Donald Trump's letter to Kim Jong-Un / AFP/Getty Images

He wrote that the cancelled meeting, which had been scheduled for June 12, was a "lost opportunity" and a "sad moment in history"

Mr Trump added: "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reads a letter by President Donald Trump to Kim Jong Un

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain was "disappointed" by the cancellation, which appeared to dash hopes of the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Mrs May said: "We are disappointed that the meeting will no longer go ahead as planned. We need to see an agreement that can bring about the completely verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and we will continue to work with our partners to this end."

Kim Jong-un is still happy to meet for talks despite the planned summit being cancelled / Getty Images

Mr Trump told Kim to get in touch with him if he changes his mind about the summit.

There had been speculation that the summit would be delayed for some time.

According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the North has not yet responded to the letter.

North Korea Military - In pictures 1 /33 North Korea Military - In pictures The fourth tunnel of North Korea's nuclear test site is blown up in Punggye-ri, North Korea AP AP News1 via Getty Images Reuters EPA EPA News1 via Getty Images Reuters AP EPA News1 via Getty Images North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversees a target-striking contest of the special operation forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA) Reuters An intermediate range Hwasong-12 missile launched by North Korea earlier this year AP Missiles are driven past a stand with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other high ranking officials during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of North Korea's founding father, Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang Reuters A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army Reuters Commandoes march across the Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade AP North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guides a target-striking contest of the special operation forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA) Reuters A test launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile AP A Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile AP Soldiers on tanks parade across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade AP North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observes the test-fire of the country's Hwasong-15 long-range ballistic missile North Korea tested ballistic missiles such as the Hwasong-14 last year AP North Korean soldiers salute while the national anthem is played during a military parade AP University students carry the national flag and two bronze statues of the late leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il during a military parade AP North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting soldiers AP Navy personnel sit in front of a submarine-launched ballistic missile during a military parade AP North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claps with military officers at the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) Reuters Women in uniform march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade AP Rockets being launched by Korean People's Army (KPA) personnel during a target strike exercise at an undisclosed location in North Korea AFP/Getty Images Soldiers shout as they march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade AP Special operation forces personnel of the Korean People's Army (KPA) conducting a target strike exercise in North Korea AFP/Getty Images North Korean soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of country's founding father Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang Reuters North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army AFP/Getty Images

The North threatened to pull out of the summit earlier this month. The country's vice foreign minister said he had no interest in attending the talks if it was going to be a "one-sided" affair.

In a statement, Kim Kye Gwan also criticised the US Presidents security advisors comments on advice to the Libyan model of nuclear disarmament.

The US had previously offered to help rebuild North Korea if it agreed to give up its nuclear weapons.

Secretary of State Mr Pompeo said America would be "prepared to work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends."
T his is the moment two toddlers were rescued from a second-storey ledge after their "hallucinating" mother had dragged them out there.

Several people called 911 on Saturday to report that a woman and two children, a one-year-old boy and three-year-old girl, were perched on a narrow ledge 15 to 20 feet above the ground in Delray Beach, Florida.

Body cam footage released by Delray Beach Police Department showed the woman - who neighbours claimed was high on the hallucinogenic drug Molly - refusing to listen to officers as they attempted to bring her and the children back to safety.

According to a statement released by police, they arrived at the townhouse just after 4pm (local time) on May 19 to find the woman "acting erratically" on the ledge over the garage.

Body cam footage showed the woman perched on the ledge with two children

Officer Rob Addea positioned himself under the window, ready to catch a child or the woman if necessary, while pleading with her to get the children off the narrow, rain-soaked ledge.

In the footage he is heard saying: "Just get the kids back inside. Please. Please. Thats all we want you to do.

At the same time, two officers went in through the front door, up to the second floor, through a bedroom and out the window onto the ledge.

Worried that the children would fall or be pushed, one officer, sergeant Mike Debree, got hold of each child's arm.

Neighbours claimed the woman was on drugs

Another tried to reason with the "agitated and seemingly paranoid" young woman, police said.

Meanwhile other officers were able to open the window of the house next door, and Sgt Debree walked the frightened children several feet along the ledge and handed them through the window to the waiting officers.

The woman was then lifted through a window to safety.

She was committed to a mental health facility under Floridas Baker Act, police said.

Floridas Department of Children and Families is conducting an investigation and has taken custody of the children. The woman may face criminal charges once released.

Delray Beach Police Department wrote in a statement posted on Facebook: "DBPD officers stepped into a precarious situation after multiple people called 911 to report that a woman and two children were on a roof.

"Officers arrived just after 4pm Saturday, May 19 and quickly became aware of the frightening scenario they faced.

"A 23-year-old woman, acting erratically and refusing to listen to officers commands, was perched on a narrow ledge over the garage of a townhouse about 15-20-feet above the ground. A 1-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl stood with her.

"She was committed to a mental health facility under Floridas Baker Act.
A ctress and campaigner Rose McGowan today said alleged victims of Harvey Weinstein were one step closer to justice as the disgraced film producer was preparing to surrender to New York police over sex allegations.

McGowan said reports that the disgraced Hollywood mogul would hand himself in to authorities gave her and other survivors hope that he would be held accountable by law.

More than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment and assault including rape, in allegations spanning three decades.

McGowan, one of Weinsteins accusers, said: I, and so many of Harvey Weinsteins survivors, had given up hope that our rapist would be held accountable by law.

Twenty years ago, I swore I would right this wrong. Today we are one step closer to justice.

Set to turn himself in: Harvey Weinstein / Getty Images

We were young women who were assaulted by Weinstein and later terrorised by his vast network of complicity. I stand with my fellow survivors. May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere that are telling their truths.

Italian actress Asia Argento, who has accused Weinstein of rape, shared an article announcing his planned surrender on Twitter, writing BOOM with an explosion emoji.

Weinstein is expected to be charged in connection with allegations made by Lucia Evans, who said he forced her to perform oral sex on him as an aspiring actress in 2004, according to reports.

Now a marketing consultant, she was among the first women to speak out about the 66-year-old producer. It is likely the case will include at least one other accuser who has not come forward publicly, according to officials.

Last night Evans confirmed to The New Yorker magazine she was pressing charges. At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind, she said.
23 March 2017

U.S. President Donald J. Trump gets in the driver's seat of an 18-wheeler while meeting with truck drivers and trucking CEOs on the South Portico prior to their meeting to discuss health care at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 23 March 2017. The House of Representatives has yet to vote on the Republican-crafted American Health Care Act, that would replace the Affordable Care Act, as it remained unclear whether Republicans had enough votes to overcome opposition from Democrats and those within their own party. EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

EPA
The temporary dining decks, installed last year to help restaurants keep business during the coronavirus pandemic, will by next month be removed or reconstructed to stretch only along the length of respective eateries' storefronts.
T he death of a pregnant dentist was a tragic catalyst for the debate around legalising abortion in Ireland.

Indian national Savita Halappanavar died in hospital in Ireland after being denied a termination following complications with her pregnancy.

She was 17 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to University Hospital Galway with back pain in 2012. After initially being released, she was readmitted hours later and, after further examination, it appeared a miscarriage was inevitable.

When she asked for a termination, fearing that her life was in danger, she was refused. Within days, the 31-year-old was dead from an infection, having suffered a miscarriage four days earlier.

Her husband Praveen Halappanavar claimed hospital staff had told the couple Ireland was "a Catholic country" meaning an abortion would not be permitted.

Campaign: a pro-choice mural in Dublin featuring Savita Halappanavar, who died after being refused an abortion / PA

A report into Mrs Halappanavar's death found multiple failures in the care she was offered, adding that the lack of clarity on when abortions could be legal were a "material contributory factor" in her death.

The tragedy, in 2012, acted as a catalyst which has helped bring Ireland to the stage where it is voting in a referendum on liberalising abortion laws.

Thousands return to Ireland to vote in abortion referendum

It sparked protests in Dublin, Galway and Cork, as well as prompting Catholic bishops to release a statement saying the church did not believe the right of an unborn child was more important than a womans right to life.

Ireland abortion referendum - In pictures 1 /21 Ireland abortion referendum - In pictures Yes voters cheer at a counting centre in Dublin PA Votes are tallied in Ireland's historic referendum PA Two women wait for the results to come in PA Members of the public hold yes placards on Fairview road as the country heads to polling stations Getty Images A woman takes a picture of a mural in Dublin's city centre by art group Subset calling for 'Repeal The 8th' ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution on May 25th PA Sandra Caulfield, whose daughter Hope Rose died at nine days old after she was diagnosed with Edwards syndrome when Ms Caulfield was 14 weeks pregnant, following a Save the 8th press conference ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution on May 25th PA A woman walks past a pro-life poster in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland Reuters A woman sits in front of a pro-life poster in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland Reuters Martin McBreen and his daughter Grace, aged 3, and Monica Hadarean and son Cris, whose children both have Downs Syndrome, and were encouraged to have an abortion as they were told their children wouldn't survive attend a Pro-Life press event ahead of a 25th May referendum on abortion law, in Dublin, Ireland Reuters A man (name not given) arrives at the polling station in Knock National school, Mayo, as the country goes to the polls to vote in the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution PA Garda Alan Gallagher and Presiding Officer Carmel McBride carry the polling box for the referendum on liberalising abortion law a day early for the few people that live off the coast of Donegal on the island of Inishbofin, Ireland Getty Images Election warehouse manager Michael Leonard checks the seals on ballot boxes that are ready for delivery to polling stations ahead of the referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution, in Dublin PA An abortion debate that's inflamed passions in Ireland for decades comes down to a single question: yes or no? AP Pro-life campaigners argue voting 'no' is about safeguarding human rights AFP/Getty Images Activists have been urging people to vote 'no' in Friday's referendum AFP/Getty Images 'Vote yes': Pro-repeal campaigners in Dublin make their message heard with a sign bearing the face of Savita Halappanavar, who died after being denied a termination PA Campaign: a pro-choice mural in Dublin featuring Savita Halappanavar, who died after being refused an abortion PA Pro-Choice activists dress up as characters from the Handmaid's Tale in a City centre demonstration ahead Friday's vote Reuters Protesters hold up placards during the London March for Choice, calling for the legalising of abortion in Ireland after the referendum announcement, outside the Embassy of Ireland in central London AFP/Getty Images Protesters hold up placards as they take part in the March for Choice, calling for the legalising of abortion in Ireland after the referendum announcement, in Dublin AFP/Getty Images Vote: A man and child walk past a sign for a polling station ahead of a 25th May referendum on abortion law, in Dublin Reuters

And Mrs Halappanavars death increased calls for legalisation, as well as demands from medical professionals for greater clarity in when a termination could be legally committed.

In 2013, partly in response to Mrs Halappanavar's death, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act was passed in Ireland, setting out the circumstances in processes by which abortion can legally be performed. The act also legalised abortion in cases where suicide by the pregnant woman is feared.

Polls open for Ireland's abortion referendum

Almost six years after the tragedy, Irish voters on Friday were casting their ballots in a referendum on whether the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution should be repealed. Mrs Halappanavar's face has appeared widely on posters calling for a change in the law.

If the country votes for the repeal, politicians would be allowed to set abortion laws in the future - paving the way for legalisation.

Mrs Halappanavars father said this week that he hopes voters will remember his daughters death when they cast their ballots.

I hope the people of Ireland remember my daughter Savita on the day of the referendum, and that what happened to her wont happen to any other family, Andanappa Yalagi told the Guardian.
T he Swedish government has introduced new legislation to make sex without consent count as rape.

Sweden joins a small number of countries, including Britain and Canada, where the lack of consent in sex, even without violence, is enough to constitute a crime.

Details about the law on the Swedish government website said there will no longer be a requirement to prove violence or the threat of violence to obtain a conviction.

The law, due to come into force on July 1, stopped short of making expressed consent a condition for consensual sex but stressed passivity was not a sign of agreeing to sex.

Women's rights campaigners said they hoped the law would spark change across Europe where most nations still define rape as an act carried out with the use or threat of violence.

"While there is still a great distance to travel, we are hopeful that today's decision will herald a Europe-wide shift in legislation and in attitudes," Anna Blus, a researcher on women's rights for Amnesty International, said in a statement.

Law and order is likely to be a major issue in Sweden's parliamentary election in September with the populist, opposition Sweden Democrats linking public concern about a rising crime rate to an increase in immigrants.

The government said the incidence of sexual offences was rising in Sweden with young women facing the greatest risk but too few of these offences were reported.

The new law will introduce two new offences, negligent rape and negligent sexual abuse, carrying a maximum prison term of four years.

The new law, as published previously, stated that "in the judgment of whether participation is voluntary, it should be taken into special consideration whether consent has been expressed in words or action".

"If a person wants to engage in sexual activities with someone who remains inactive or gives ambiguous signals, he or she will therefore have to find out if the other person is willing."

Elin Sundin, head of Swedish consent campaign group Fatta, said the move came as women globally were stressing the importance of "bodily rights" in the wake of #MeToo.

She said: "When it comes to sexual consent and integrity and bodily rights it is something close to the heart of many women."
V ladimir Putin has accused Britain of blaming "all their mortal sins" on Russia, saying undue accusations have been placed at Moscow's door for everything from Brexit to the Skripal poisoning and the downing of MH17.

The Russian president scoffed at suggestions that hackers have been interfering in state affairs, saying this was "not in line with our policy".

"They now blame Russia for Brexit... again, tosh. We have nothing to do with it whatsoever. This is the inner matter of the UK," Mr Putin said.

"And I guess we can suspect that those who wanted the UK to leave the EU are Russian agents," he added, noting that UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was among those campaigning to leave the European Union.

"If they want to worsen their relationships with Russia they can blame all their mortal sins on us and this is actually the case nowadays," Mr Putin said.

"Brexit, and Catalonia and the Skripal case, God knows what - and this plane again."

Mr Putin was speaking to the heads of international news agencies - including Press Association chief executive Clive Marshall - on the margins of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Putin at his recent inauguration after winning a fourth term / AFP/Getty Images

International investigators concluded earlier this week that a Russian military unit was responsible for firing the missile which brought down Flight MH17 over war-torn eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago.

Britain has now backed international calls by the likes of the Netherlands and Australia for Moscow to be held accountable for the event - which killed all 298 people on board.

In a statement, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the incident - which claimed the lives of 10 British nationals - was "an egregious example of the Kremlin's disregard for innocent life".

But Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the findings, saying Russia had been barred from taking part in the investigation and did not trust its results.

Putin also questioned the UK's explanation around the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, saying the use of a military grade agent "is not possible" as its victims would have died "immediately".

He said: "I'm not an expert on those military grade toxic agents, but if such substance is used, then the victims die immediately... right on the spot.

"But this was not the case likely, and Sergei Skripal and his daughter are alive.

"They are out of hospital now and as we've seen recently on TV, his daughter looks fine, so thank god everyone is alive, everyone is well.
K im Kardashian returned to her blonde hair to celebrate her fourth wedding anniversary to Kanye West.

Kardashian and West marked four years since they tied the knot in a Florence on Thursday  and Kardashian had the perfect gift, as they revealed her new tresses as Kanyes favourite.

Posting on her Instagram Stories, the reality star showed off her flawless hair, saying: I am back blonde.

Kanyes favourite is blonde so I did it for our anniversary.

Blonde: Kim Kardashian debut her recoloured locks / Instagram / Kim Kardashian

The pair married on May 24 2014 and have three children together, four-year-old North, two-year-old Saint and Chicago, born in January.

Earlier in the day, Kardashian posted a sweet tribute to her rapper husband on their special day alongside an unseen shot from their wedding day.

On Twitter, she wrote: 4 years down and forever to go....

Thank you babe for giving me our family and caring so much about us. Thank you for inspiring me on a daily, Im so lucky. I cant wait for forever...Happy Anniversary.

Happy: Kim Kardashian and Kanye West married in 2014 / ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images

West also marked the occasion as he told his followers: Gratitude and happiness best describe what my wife means to me. Im deeply grateful and purely happy.

Kardashian also shared more photographs from their Italian ceremony on her Instagram story.

The pair, along with members of Kardashians famous family, are set to appear on Family Feud next month.

A trailer released on Thursday shows West going up against Kris Jenner while Kardashians sister Khloe refuses to shake her hand, jokingly ramping up competition before their round.
K ylie Minogue has shared a series of cute childhood throwback snaps as she approaches her 50th birthday next week.

The Australian superstar turns 50 on May 28 and is helping get into the party spirit by taking a trip down memory lane.

Having already posted a shot taken by her Uncle from her childhood, Minogue returned to Instagram once again on Friday to share a high school snap, her early acting career and her first record.

Posting the trio of images, she wrote: 1978-88 - Primary and high school, done!

Started acting and released my first record. #KylieGoldenYears.

The first shot showed a young Minogue with her hair in bunches dressed in her mint green school uniform, alongside a board reading Camberwell High School. Year 7R, 1980.

The next image was of her promo shot from popular soaps Neighbours, in which she starred as Charlene Robinson from 1986 to 1988.

Minogues last image was off her debut album cover, the self-titled 1988 release that reached number 1 in the UK.

Kylie Minogue on being 'very happily single'.mpeg

Speaking to Official Charts Company about her win, she explained: I dont know where to start Thank you to everybody who has been involved in getting Golden to Number 1.

I am so overwhelmed, happy, proud, emotional and very, very thankful and grateful. Much love and many, many, many thanks.
T handie Newton has revealed that she recently had an awkward encounter with Victoria Beckham, who mistook her for US actress Zoe Saldana.

The British star said that she had already met the fashion designer a few times when she ran into her at Soul Cycle in LA and they started chatting.

But after a few moments of conversation, Newton quickly realised that Beckham thought she was pregnant Guardians of the Galaxy actress, Saldana.

Recently I was in SoulCycle in LA and Victoria Beckham who I have actually met a few times was there, she told Graham Norton.

Victoria Beckham got her actresses mixed up / Neil Warner / Splash News

We were chatting away when she said, Its so great that you are here when you are pregnant. I said, I actually had my baby a couple of months ago.

We carried on chatting and it was obvious she thought I was someone else so I said, Do you think I am Zoe Saldana?

Zoe Saldana stars in Guardians of the Galaxy / Getty Images

Newton added: Victoria was absolutely mortified! It was actually okay as Zoe is a rare beauty, but really? up close? Come on! And, I am British!

Newton appears on Fridays show alongside Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, who said she also gets mistaken for Jessica Chastain.

Victoria Beckham mocked at Royal Wedding 2018 for miserable face as she finally cracks a smile inside Windsor Castle

Its very flattering for me. Its odd because it all started long before we were famous, she said.

I went to NYU and she was at Julliard and there were many times  in the likes of Starbucks and other places  that people were certain we were one and the same person. It was a little unnerving, but we could be sisters.

The Graham Norton Show, BBC One, Friday 25th May 10.35pm.
L ove Island bosses used Tinder to find contestants for the new series of the hit show.

The third series of the show made the likes of Kem Cetinay, Amber Davies, Olivia Attwood and Chris Hughes into reality stars as well as propelling the show to ratings success but senior producer Angela Jain has confessed that they have been looking for a whole different cast this time.

Asked if they used the dating app to find suitors, Jain said: We dont want to cast the same characters every time.

Tinder: Senior producers suggested the app has been used to find different contestants (Leon Neal/ Staff /Getty ) / Leon Neal / Staff / Getty

We arent looking for the next Camilla or the next Montana, thats the opposite of what were looking for.

Executive producer Tim Gould, speaking alongside her at the Royal Television Society, added that they look for different ways to test the couples during their time in the villa.

Love Island 2018 - ITV2

He said: If were going to pick a winning couple to win 50,000 at the end, we tell the couples at the beginning that they will be tested.

We look for the different ways to pick out the fault lines in the relationship and test them.

Love Island Series 3 - in pictures 1 /35 Love Island Series 3 - in pictures ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV ITV

The talk comes days after the launch date for the new series was confirmed by the channel, with the show returning on Monday 4 June.

Earlier this month, Love Island officially added a BAFTA to its slew of awards after beating Celebrity Hunted, Old Peoples Home for 4 year olds and The Real Full Monty to win Best Reality and Constructed Drama.

Host Caroline Flack  who will once again return with narrator Iain Stirling  accepted the award on behalf of the show.
T here has been some blowback over the performance of Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal.

The reaction came in two stages. First, the excitement at discovering that Grant could act. Second, a correction: of course he can act. He has always been able to act. So why the fuss?

Its true, of course. Grant has always been a trouper but until recently he has been imprisoned by handsomeness, an affliction he bore with skill in romantic comedies.

Audiences love those films, critics dont (The same rule applies with greater force to Grants sometime co-star Andie Macdowell, still being forced to apologise for how she said Is it still raining? in the damp closing scene of Four Weddings and A Funeral).

Stars: A Very English Scandal on BBC One / BBC/Blueprint/Amazon/Sony

Grant showed the full range of his comic abilities  now including self-parody  in Paddington 2. But his Thorpe is something else. It isnt exactly an impersonation. Grant isnt gaunt enough for that. But he has British bottom teeth  who knew?  and manages to add a note of paranoid cruelty to the politicians glad-handed arrogance, as he melts in an angry cardigan beneath a mocking crown of Vitalis.

This week, Ben Whishaws quivering stable boy, Norman Scott, is to the fore, as Thorpe orders his fumbling associates to assassinate him. Whishaws Scott is mentally vulnerable but likeable and open, even as he is being seduced by lusty Gwen, the village nympho (Eve Myles). Its all done with such a light touch that you can (almost) forget that the story is a political scandal about attempted murder, which was covered up during a time when homophobia wasnt just tolerated, it was the law. Its a matter of tone, and between them director Stephen Frears and writer Russell T Davies have arrived at a place which is almost Ealing.

A Very English Scandal: Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe / BBC/Blueprint Television Ltd

Part three of Patrick Melrose is based on Some Hope, the Edward St Aubyn book about the party attended by an appalling Princess Margaret (Harriet Walter). Its a beauty. Were now in 1990, and Melrose (Benedict Cumberbatch) is fresh out of the psychiatric ward, off the drugs but unconvinced about the merits of Narcotics Anonymous. Ive given up everything, and taken up nothing, he says, flatly. The broad brushstrokes of the tale concern the unrelenting terribleness of the party guests, neatly summarised by Melrose as snobs, social climbers, museum pieces. They are, by and large, snivelling hypocrites, adrift on icebergs of their own self-importance, and the party serves as a hollow reminder of the cruelties of Patricks childhood. Theyre the last Marxists, Patricks friend Johnny (Prasanna Puwanarajah) tells him. The last people to believe class is a total explanation.

Its a carefully constructed episode, with scarcely a second wasted. That scene where Patrick makes a pot of tea, and arranges the sugar into little lines? It has an echo later on. The hallucinated gecko on the bedside table? That will be explained. In terms of the story, this marks the point where Patrick begins to eschew self-obliteration, to try and move beyond cynical isolation. As a strategy, its not without its risks.

The danger, Patrick tells Johnny, is that without bitterness, spite, sarcasm, snobbery and self-loathing, there might be nothing left.

A Very British Scandal - BBC One

Pick of the day

Modern Family- Sky One, 8.30pm

The mockumentary about the everyday life of an extended family in suburban Los Angeles reaches the end of its ninth, and penultimate, series. Gloria (Sofia Vergara) is preparing for Joes birthday by ruining his hair while Manny (Rico Rodriguez) gets ready to go on a cross-country jaunt.

Over at the house which Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) share they are having to look after Cal, Pams son, who is something of a man-mountain, which means hugs tend to evolve into wrestling bouts.

Much of the episodes comedy springs from the Hero-Con that Mitch and Phil (Ty Burrell) attend, dressed as their favourite characters from the fantasy show Clash of Swords. Mitch fully embraces his inner nerd, but Phil causes something of a stir for other reasons. Theres a great turn from Glorias nemesis, Dr Donna Duncan (Jane Krakowski), who is throwing an elaborate dinosaur party next door.

As season nine of the award-winning comedy draws to a close there has been some speculation about what the future holds, and how the show might renew itself for one final run. This episode delivers a few pointers.

Screen time

Generation Grime - Sky Arts, 10pm

This exhaustive documentary serves as an effective primer for those whose exposure to the London-born musical genre is limited to a passing knowledge of Stormzy, but it goes deeper too. There are interviews with most of the main players, and some fierce early footage which conveys the excitement of the underground musical movement more powerfully than the crossover hits.

Stylistically, grime followed from garage, but was more DIY, often being recorded on home computers by non-musicians. Dizzee Rascal, who took a pop version into the charts, says its dangerous image is exaggerated: Theres episodes of EastEnders that are as bad as any grime song, and kids are watching that.

What to Watch/Capital Conversation - Sunday, London Live, from 5pm

Now for the story of a wealthy family who lost everything and have returned for a fifth series of Arrested Development. Jessica Walter and Alia Shawkat, who plays Maeby Funke, appear on What to Watch to talk about the jinxed Bluths.

Then Capital Conversation meets entrepreneur Renee Elliott.

Comedy from Merton to Enfield - London Live, 8pm

Get the District line from Wimbledon, change at Earls Court, take the Piccadilly line, and thats you sorted. That isnt much material to fill half-an-hour of TV  and theres a double-bill of this series  so it features a brief history of comedy, rather than brief travel information.

The opening episode meets a comedian whose side-project will echo around pubs this summer, as the Three Lions perhaps record a plucky victory over international behemoths Panama. David Baddiel is part of the generation of comedians who were dubbed the new rock n roll and his career is reviewed first. The second episode analyses the chameleonic Paul Whitehouse, owner of 53 per cent of the nations comedy catchphrases.

Set the box

How Wars Begin - BBC Parliament, Sunday, 8pm

Historian AJP Taylor delivered these six talks  Sunday to Friday  straight to camera in 1977. He looked at the history of modern warfare from the French Revolution through to the Second World War, via Crimea, the Franco-Prussian war, the First World War and the Cold War. The episodes are followed with talks by Steve Richards, who borrowed Taylors immediate style.

Jonathan Meades on Jargon - BBC4, Sunday, 10.30pm
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Romania's economy is growing very fast, and Bucovina is a region that has its "assets," providing new business opportunities for German investors, German ambassador to Bucharest Cord Meier-Klodt said at a news conference on Friday, on a working visit to the county of Suceava.

''This is not my first visit here, but the first official visit to Suceava. We had very concrete discussions with the chairman of the Suceava County Council, the prefect, the mayor and the chairman of the local chamber of commerce and industry. It was an extremely useful visit for me. I would like to add the strategic element of my visit to identify new investment locations in this area (...) The Romanian economy is growing very fast, and with it and the economy of Germany (...) Many areas [in Romania] already faced with limitations, labour shortage, infrastructure problems. At this point, they began looking in other directions and looking for new opportunities for German business operators. There is a moment when a region like Bucovina can display its assets. We talked about that. It's no secret that I am glad to do this, but we do it on the basis of the Roman-German regional relations that are extremely important to us. It is a trilateral relationship because it also includes the city of Cernauti in Ukraine," said the German ambassador, pointing out that German investment is currently concentrated in the province of Transylvania, and the cities of Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara and Brasov.

In his turn, Chairman of the Suceava County Council Gheorghe Flutur told the news conference that he made a presentation of the local business opportunities, and also a partnership with the German region of Swabia.At the same time, he said that further opportunities in Suceava are also in the medical and industrial fields.Flutur bestowed on the German diplomat the title and the medal "Merit of Bucovina" and invited him to the "Oktoberfest in the East" event at Gura Humorului in the autumn.
Memorial Day, a celebration dedicated to US servicemen who died in the line of duty, was marked on Friday in Bucharest, with Deputy Chief of the US Mission in Romania Abigail Rupp pointing out, during the ceremony, that Romania is one of the strongest allies of the US.

The ceremony took place at the American Heroes Monument in the Kiseleff Park, which pays homage to the 378 US servicemen who died on the territory of Romania during the World War II.

Although in different camps in the first part of the war, the US is now proud that Romania is one of its strongest allies fighting along the US on battlefields everywhere in the world defending common values, Rupp said.In the context, the US official stressed the US commitment to global security.As the new US National Security Strategy states, a strong and free Europe, united by the shared principles of democracy, national sovereignty and the commitment to observe the Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, is vital to the common security, the deputy chief of Mission pointed out.In his turn, state secretary with the Ministry of National Defense Nicolae Nasta pointed out that "shoulder to shoulder, the Romanian and American soldiers prove solidarity against the danger, courage and the spirit of sacrifice."He brought to mind, in this regard, the joint missions in Afghanistan and Iraq."The strategic partnership with the United States of America, together with NATO membership, are the fundamental pillars of Romania's national security and defense," the state secretary said.At the same time, he said that "bilateral cooperation in the field of military procurement is a powerful amplifier for the modernization of the Romanian armed forces"."We have already taken important steps in this direction as a result of the Government's commitment to spending 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product for Defense," Nasta said.Memorial Day is a federal official holiday in the US, marked on the last Monday of May. Also known in the past as Decoration Day, it commemorates American soldiers who died in combat or while on military service.The Monument in the Kiseleff Park was inaugurated on October 1, 2007 and was built with the support of a famous American institution - "The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts." Founded in 1638 to defend the British colonists, the company is considered the first military unit in the Western hemisphere. Over the past 300 years, its soldiers participated in the most important combats involving the United States - the battles of Bunker Hill and Yorktown, the 1812 War, the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, the wars in Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf.
The "Mircea cel Batran" Naval Academy will host, during May 29 and June 1st, the XXI-st Naval Academy Commanders Conference of Europe and NATO, according to a press release, sent Friday, by the General Staff of the Naval Forces.

According to the cited source, the Naval Academy Commanders Conference represents the largest debate forum of navy militar education, its purpose being to harmonize objectives and ways of forming future officers of the Naval Forces in the European Union and NATO, in accordance with the dynamics of geostrategic situations.

The "Mircea cel Batran" Naval Academy has joined this prestigious organization in 2008, succeeding, for the 2018 edition, the Centennial Year of the Great Union, to be appointed, for the first time in its history as an institution, the host of this prestigious event. Furthermore, the "Mircea cel Batran" Naval Academy will take on the chairmanship of the educational naval forum for the next two years, from the Naval Academy of the United States of America, the host of the 2016 edition", according to the press release.Participants from twenty states from the European Union and NATO, with maritime interests, will tackle topics from the three fundamental fields of educating and marine officers training - university education, professional and military leader training - included in the general theme of the conference, the Education Management and Naval Instruction. The three round tables organized will allow marine school leaders of the EU and NATO to present their national perspective and their proposals to efficiently increase the education processes of European allies and NATO members in the Maritime Area.The General Staff of the Naval Forces says that, as a host, the "Mircea cel Batran" Naval Academy will have the opportunity to proudly present the high-quality level of the study programs, as well as the cutting edge educational infrastructure, that serves the training of the officers of the Romanian Naval Forces, the Coast Guard and the maritime industry.Th e"Mircea Cel Batran" Naval Academy is a higher education institution of the Naval Forces, categorized as an university of education and scientific research. In January 2015, the The Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education granted to the Naval Academy the superior rating, with a high-confidence indicator.
Prime Minister Viorica Dancila was welcomed on Friday, within an official ceremony held at the Belweder Palace in Warsaw, by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

After the official photo is taken, the two Prime Ministers are to carry out talks. In parallel, bilateral meetings among the relevant ministers are to take place.

These will be followed by inter-governmental consultations and by the signing ceremony of the Bilateral Agreement on the judicial regime of Romanian military graves located on Poland's soil and that of the Polish military graves located on Romania's soil. The agreement will be signed by National Defence Minister Mihai Fifor and Culture Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski.On Friday afternoon, Romania's and Poland's Prime Ministers will hold joint press statements.Also on Friday, there will be carried out a meeting of Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia Intotero with Romanian servicemen and representatives of the Romanian community of Poland, at the headquarters of the Romanian Embassy in Warsaw.On Thursday, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila stated that these are the first inter-governmental consultations between Romania and Poland in the history of their bilateral relationship."The consultations take place in the context in which both states celebrate this year their National Centennials - the Greater Union in Romania and the regaining of independence in Poland," PM Dancila stated.





Furthermore, the head of the Executive mentioned that the discussions will be aimed at the stage and outlooks of the bilateral relations, as well as the collaboration on European and international level.



The Romanian delegation, who is led by Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, is made up of Deputy Prime Minister for Strategic Partnership Implementation Ana Birchall, Interior Minister Carmen Dan, Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu, National defence Minister Mihai Fifor, Agriculture Minister Peter Daea, European Funds Minister Rovana Plumb, Culture Minister George Ivascu, Tourism Minister Bogdan Trif, Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia Intotero and Secretary General of the Government Andreea Lambru.



"The organization of consultations for the first time in this extended ministerial format reflects the very good level achieved in recent years in the Romanian-Polish co-operation, based on the Strategic Partnership which they signed in 2009," the Government reveals.
The permanent representative of Romania to the United Nations (UN), ambassador Ion Jinga, presented on Thursday, as chairman of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) in the plenary sitting of the UN General Assembly, the PBC's priorities for 2018: reinforcement of the catalyst role of the Commission, its support focus for the Sahel region, partnerships' strengthening and furthering the PBC's commitment in the Republic of the Gambia.

Reminding that in 2017, the Security Council requested PBC to support the Office of the United Nations for West Africa (UNOWAS) in implementing the UN Integrated Strategy for Sahel, Jinga mentioned that this March he took part, as chairman of the PBC, in the 6th reunion of the "Ministerial Coordination Platform for Sahel" in Chad. Ambassador Jinga said that the PBC's Annual Session due 26 June will be exclusively dedicated to this region and will reunite the PBC member states, representatives of Sahel region's countries, UN high-ranking officials, representatives of regional organizations, international financial institutions and civil society organizations.

Jinga also reminded that partnerships' development represents one of the priorities of Romania's mandate at the helm of the PBC, and mentioned that after the Annual Session, PBC will hold a joint event with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated to the role of partnerships in consolidating and entrenching peace, with focus on the partnership with the private sector.The Romanian ambassador underlined that, upon the Republic of Gambia's Government request, PBC will continue to act as a dialogue platform for this state with the international community. In this sense, in April, the Romanian presidency of PBC organized a high-level reunion attended by the President and the Finance Minister of the Republic of the Gambia's gov't, alongside the EU commissioner for international cooperation and development, the chairman of the ECOWAS commission, the permanent observer of the African Union to the UN, as well as UN high-ranking officials.Romania on 31 January took the helm of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, for one year, according to the quoted source.
Political will is needed to implement Agenda 2030, on Thursday said the coordinator of the Department for Durable Development with the Romanian Government's General Secretariat (SGG), Laszlo Borbely, at the Regional Seminar for Durable Development, in Belgrade, Serbia, a gov't release sent to AGERPRES informs.

Romania received the invitation to participate in the said seminar for the parliaments of the Central and East European countries, and the ones in Central Asia, as well, organised by the National Assembly of Serbia, alongside with the Inter-parliamentary Union, our country being represented by Laszlo Borbely.

"I emphasized the parliamentary dimension, in agreement with the reunion's context, that seems very important to me, because political will is needed to implement Agenda 2030. A ceaseless, pro-active dialogue has existed with the Sub-Committee for Durable Development with Romania's Parliament and I'm certain that this will help us to develop harmonious development projects for our country, and in particular to keep unity and balance among the three important components: social, economic and of the environment. (...) I talked to the Inter-parliamentary Union president Mrs. Gabriela Cuevas Barron, also attending the reunion, about a possible collaboration to staging joint events with the Romanian Government and the IPU," Laszlo Borbely said, according to the source.The seminar's target is that the parliaments of the above-mentioned regions share experiences and commit in comprehensive talks on topics linked to poverty eradication, public health's improvement, climate changes' impact. The main goal is to reach a possible consensus regarding these aspects, and also how mechanisms of parliamentary cooperation to contribute to solving problems, could be developed and implemented.
President Klaus Iohannis on Friday signed the decree on the decoration of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain in Bucharest, Ramiro Fernandez Bachiller, informs the Presidential Administration.

The head of the state bestowed the National Order Faithful Service in rank of Grand Duke upon the Spanish Ambassador, as a sign of "special appreciation for his personal contribution to the development and promotion of the bilateral relations between Romania and the Kingdom of Spain on multiple levels."

The decoration was made upon the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Teodor Melescanu.
The management of the 'Gheorghe Asachi' Technical University of Iasi (TUIASI) was present at the European Higher Education Fair - EHEF organized May 19 - 20 in Tokyo and Osaka, to promote the institution's study programs.

TUIASI rector Dan Cascaval told the press that at the EHEF Japan Fair he had several meetings with Japanese universities on cooperation on Erasmus+ projects.

"There were 130 European universities attending the EHEF Japan, and only five from Romania; the 'Gheorghe Asachi' Technical University of Iasi was the only Romanian technical higher education institution and the only university of Iasi represented at this international event. The meetings had two main components, focusing on Erasmus+ partnerships with Japanese universities and on the presentation of the educational offer for the three academic cycles," explained Dan Casaval.He went on to say that TUIASI has three partnerships underway with Japanese universities.Romania's Ambassador to Japan Tatiana Iosiper, an 1990 alumnus of the Polytechnic University of Iasi, was one of the visitors to the Romanian stand, expressing on this occasion her support for TUIASI."The presentation of the educational offer of the European universities was yet another opportunity to confirm the honorable position the Romanian education holds in the varied European landscape and, as we have seen, to prove its attractiveness for candidates from countries as remote as Japan. A host of potential candidates visited our stand, expressing interest in pursuing education programs in electronics, civil engineering, computers, architecture, energy, mechanics, etc. The discussions revealed that they seek courses in English and the possibility of receiving scholarships," Dan Casaval said.
The US Ambassador to Romania, Hans Klemm, recommends that the managers of small and medium-sized companies transfer to the private sector the technology developed in universities.

Attending on Friday the National Forum of Small and Medium Enterprises in Cluj, which is taking place at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, the American diplomat believes that this kind of collaboration may be beneficial for both sides. He explained that the US created, as early as 40 years ago, the legal framework that facilitates the transfer of technology from universities to the private environment.

The best example is Silicon Valley, where most companies had their roots in the University of California or Stanford. A new technology is developed in the university, then moved to private sector to be more easily traded, said Hans Klemm.The US diplomat is of the opinion that a country's economy relies heavily on SMEs, whose success can also affect be felt by the country, which is why transparency of administrative decision-making or predictability are key elements of a state's development.US Ambassador to Bucharest Hans Klemm attended on Friday the National SME Forum in Cluj, where he discussed smart policies for SMEs. The event was attended by the President of the National Council of SMEs, Florin Jianu, Presidential Advisor Cosmin Marinescu, President of the Cluj Association of Business Owners and Craftsmen Augustin Fenesan and Mayor Emil Boc.The 26th edition of the National Forum of Private Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises was organized by the National Council of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
Ambassador of the US in Bucharest Hans Klemm stated in a release sent to AGERPRES that the US diplomatic mission aims to deepen the strong friendship ties between Romanian and the US at this year's edition of the Bookfest.

This year, the US is the honor guest of the Bookfest International Book Salon, which is to take place at Romexpo between 30 May and 3 June.

The focus will be placed on South US authors.The US diplomat brought to mind that the US is a nation with a dynamic literary legacy, and the South is one of the regions with the richest traditions of story-telling. He added that Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor, Alice Walker, Harper Lee or William Faulkner are just some of the greatest US authors coming from the South. He went on saying that only by reading the literature of a country one can learn about that country's culture, history and identity.He also brought to mind that four authors are invited at this year's edition, whose experiences from the South of the US have influenced their writing. The US official added that the four US authors will hold literary presentations and workshops, in order to offer professional advices to Romanian authors and share their stories with the people of this extraordinary country.Klemm says that his objectives as Ambassador of the US are the promotion of security, democracy and prosperity, adding that through this year's edition of the Bookfest he hopes to promote these goals, encouraging the exchange of ideas and information, identity and culture, thus, further deepening the strong friendship ties between Romania and the US.Over 150 publishing houses are set to participate in the Bookfest Book Salon, which is to take place in the Bucharest Capital City between May 30 and June 3, with the US Ambassador Klemm paying a homage, in this context, to his former professor, writer Matei Calinescu.The event dedicated to Matei Calinescu will take place on May 31, with the writer's wife as a special guest and also authors Radu Paraschivescu and Ion Vianu participating, according to an announcement made by the organizers.The US' participation in this year's edition of the Bookfest will have the motto "Celebrating the South", with the Romanian audience having the opportunity to meet authors from the US, from several areas. Thus, the Bookfest visitors will be able to meet novelist and playwright Domnica Radulescu - established in the US since 1983, back then as a political refugee; the poet and author of historic novel Sarah Kennedy; poet Tara Skurtu, established in Bucharest, and Sucheta Rawal - an appreciated writer of travel journals and food books.The 13th edition of the Bookfest International Book Salon will take place in the new B2 pavilion of the ROMEXPO Exhibition Center, and it will cover an area larger by 50 percent than in the previous years. The entry to the event is free of charge.
The horrific plane crash in Cuba last week in which over 100 passengers were killed is testimony to one outstanding fact: American economic sanctions on that country have cost the lives of innocent people.

But this is not just about Cuba. It is about several other nations, including Russia, that are being attacked by American economic weapons, with human casualties. This barbaric US policy must be condemned and halted.

There is little doubt that the aging 40-year-old Boeing 737 that went down shortly after take-off from the capital Havana was a result of the decades-long US trade embargo on the Caribbean island.

That embargo has been imposed on Cuba by successive US administrations despite numerous resolutions at the United Nations abhorring it as barbaric. Its a relic of the Cold War, yet Washington callously pursues this cruel blockade of an impoverished country.

A New York Times report quaintly called the stricken aircraft a hand-me-down plane, which had been used over its many years by a half-dozen operators in the US, Canada, and Cameroon, before ending up leased to state-owned Cuban airlines.

Cut off from international financing and access to modern aviation, the Cuban authorities have had to make do with renting decrepit planes from regional operators with less-than-transparent safety records. Last month, Cuba reportedly had to ground its entire domestic fleet due to safety concerns.

The six-decade-old trade embargo imposed by the US on the country following its socialist revolution in 1959 is the single biggest factor in determining Cubas economic condition. Successive revolutionary governments have coped admirably to give the 11 million population relatively high standards of living despite the economic hardship inflicted by relentless US sanctions. Nevertheless, the US economic strangulation of the country for daring to choose socialist governance has left an onerous toll.

An aging aviation industry struggling to find modern fleets, spare parts and maintenance is one such toll of Americas vicious vendetta. It seems obvious that Washingtons economic hostility towards Cuba is putting lives at risk. The death of over 100 passengers last week is the grim result.

Yet, such a damning connection is not obvious to the New York Times. Its report attempted to fudge the blame with the Cuban governments alleged economic mismanagement. It referred breathlessly to the doomed plane as a powerful symbol of Cubas troubled aviation industry  while playing down the precise reason for why the countrys aviation industry is troubled.

The report went on to declare Cubas economy has long been in shambles which has been bedeviled by economic mismanagement and the United States embargo on the island.

So, you see, Washingtons decades of blockading the island country is relegated by the New York Times to a somewhat lowly, indirect factor after the governments alleged incompetence.

This is an unconscionable white-wash of American culpability for the chronic deprivation in Cuba and in particular the loss of life from economic hardship.

Tragically, the Cuban fatal air crash comes as a timely reminder of the criminality of using economic sanctions to punish declared enemies. Sanctions should be viewed as just another form of warfare, which results in deaths among civilian populations. It should be outlawed.

No other nation uses economic warfare as viciously or as rampantly as the United States. At least six nations are currently being subjected to this low-intensity warfare by the US: Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Russia.

Ludicrous Western news media reported this week with outraged disbelief that Venezuelans re-elected socialist president Nicolas Maduro  despite the country being in economic shambles and facing shortages of food and medicines. Those media barely tell their audiences that the hardships are largely caused by American sanctions. Instead, the blame is shifted on to Maduro as some kind of crackpot dictator crushing his people.

The case of Iran also seems particularly apt. US President Donald Trump is threatening to reimpose and expand sanctions on Tehran that have been in existence for nearly 40 years since the Iranian revolution kicked out Americas client dictator, the Shah, in 1979. Those latest threats follow Trump pulling out of the international nuclear accord with Iran.

Iran, like Cuba, suffers from an aging airline because of US sanctions. Recent purchase orders by Iran from Boeing and Airbus worth about $40 billion in new aircraft are now in jeopardy because of Trumps plan to ratchet up the embargo. Again, Washingtons hostile policies are putting lives in danger.

Economic sanctions are not some sterile policy. They are palpable attacks on the lives of people.

Ahmad Noroozi of the charitable Barakat Foundation, based in Tehran, says countless Iranians have died from US-led sanctions on the country restricting peoples access to cancer drugs and other vital pharmaceuticals.

Iranian writer Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich has said that American sanctions should be called out for what they are: sanctioned terrorism.

It is a disturbing sign of the lawless times the world is witnessing that Washington is resorting more and more to sanctions as a coercive instrument in order to subjugate others to its geopolitical demands.

Any country not doing Washingtons bidding is liable to be slapped with financial and trade penalties. Cuba, North Korea, and Iran have long been in the firing line, joined by Russia and Syria in recent years. But now the Americans are threatening their supposed European allies with similar retribution if they dont toe the US line with regard to trading with Iran, or regarding the Nord Stream 2 gas supply project from Russia.

The criteria used by the US are entirely subjective, arbitrary, and extra-legal, not to say fraudulent. It is the actions of a bully nation that is trying to use sanctions to enforce results which it cannot achieve by fair political or economic means.

As Russias Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently pointed out, the US is using sanctions to project its national interests at the expense of others. Worse, Lavrov, condemned such sanctions as a form of genocide.

The Nord Stream 2 gas supply joint venture between Europe and Russia is a classic example. America wants to obviate market forces by displacing cheaper Russian gas with its own more expensive fuel, and to do this economics gymnastics, Washington is using sanctions to enforce its desired result.

If the US gets its bullying way, gas prices in Europe will rocket. How many people across Europe will lose their jobs, or die from hypothermia from not being able to afford to heat their homes in winter? Again, sanctions cost lives. Not as graphically as with exploding bombs. But nevertheless lives are ruined, deleted, albeit in the guise of anonymous statistics.

The majority of nations need to repudiate the use of economic sanctions by the US as unlawful and unacceptable. The practice should be seen on the same sliding scale of aggression as all-out military force. Indeed, history has shown that sanctions often lead to military war.

In a very real way, sanctions constitute acts of warfare. Their consequences are deadly in terms of the loss of human life, as can be seen from the recent Cuban air crash.

No nation should be allowed to unilaterally wield economic warfare on another without itself being sanctioned as an international pariah state. And the United States reached that pariah status a long time ago.
M.K. BHADRAKUMAR

In an ironic twist, May 12, which was the deadline for US President Donald Trumps decision on the Iran nuclear deal, also happened to be the day the Iraqi parliamentary elections took place.

Yet no one seemed to take note of the symbolism. In the event, the Iraqi election results seriously hinder Trumps agenda of rolling back the Iranian presence in the northern tier of the Middle East comprising Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Of these three countries, Iraq is arguably the most crucial theatre of contestation between the United States and Iran. The fate of the Iranian presence and Iranian capacity to influence the politics of the entire Shiite arc will be critically dependent on its standing and influence in Baghdad. The stakes have never been as high as they are today.

To be sure, the Iraqi election results that were formally announced on Sunday constitute a stunning setback for Trumps containment strategy against Iran. Washington had bet heavily on the alliance led by Prime Minister Heidar al-Abadi to win, but it has been relegated to third place, winning only 42 seats in the 329-member parliament.

Anti-American tilt

Worse still, two staunchly anti-American alliances  led by Muqtadar al-Sadr and Hadi al-Amiri  secured first and second places respectively.

Coalition making will be a long drawn out process, but what is clear is that the next government in Baghdad will have a pronouncedly anti-American tilt and the probability is high that it could evict US troops and contractors totaling 100,000 in Iraq.

While Amiri leads the powerful Iran-aligned militia groups known as the Popular Mobilization Force, Sadrs surge is really bad news for the Americans. Sadrs Mahdi Army has the blood of hundreds of Americans and Brits on its hands.

In the expert opinion of the Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution: His (Sadrs) victory has turned Americas Iraq policy upside down, and Washington now faces a severe political crisis in a country where it has invested substantial blood and treasure  His movement gave rise to many of the Shiite militia groups that committed atrocities against Americans and that today dominate Iraq  as well as the front lines of the war in Syria, where they have fought US forces. These groups have been pivotal to securing the Assad regimes survival as well as enhancing Irans influence in the region.

In the coming weeks and months, Tehran will play a key role in the negotiations for the formation of the next government in Baghdad. During earlier such moments, Tehran and Washington had tacitly agreed on compromise candidates  prime ministers Abadi and Nouri al-Maliki respectively  but the scope for such accommodation is non-existent today.

Western analysts make much out of Sadrs nationalistic outlook to give it an anti-Iranian tweak, but that betrays wishful thinking. Sadr is indeed a mercurial personality and tends to lean toward red Shiism in his outlook on Iraqs political economy. His alliance partners are communists and secularists.

The Iran-Sadr connection

But significantly, he met Amiri on Monday and said later in a statement: The process of government formation must be a national decision and importantly, must include the participation of all the winning blocs.

Again, much has been made out of Sadrs visit to Saudi Arabia last year and his meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but in reality, the warming relationship between Baghdad and the Persian Gulf states  Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar  runs only skin deep.

On the other hand, Iranians and Sadrs family go back a long way. Sadr lived in Tehran in exile for many years. Meanwhile, reports say Tehran is bringing on board the two main Iraqi Kurdish parties  KDP and the PUK  who feel aggrieved that the US connived with Abadis crackdown in Kirkuk last October, to align with Amiri.

All in all, Tehran can afford to weigh the pros and cons of many options open to it.

It is entirely conceivable that Tehran might even choose to settle for another government led by Abadi as the figurehead of a staunchly pro-Iranian power structure. Ever since the regime change in Baghdad following the US invasion in 2003, Tehran has made sustained and intense efforts to cultivate wide-ranging political partnerships with Iraqi groups across the religious, ethnic and political spectrum.

It is preposterous to fantasize that Baghdad is about to move out of Iranian orbit.

The bottom line is that a new coalition government in Baghdad over which Iran enjoys political leverage may well set a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops. The Trump administration must prepare for such an eventuality since it has left Tehran in no doubt that continued US military presence in Iraq poses an existential threat of regime change. Trust Tehran to pull out all the stops  short of directly targeting US troops  to undermine the American influence in Iraq.

On the other hand, a well-grounded military footing in Iraq is an absolute pre-requisite for the Pentagon to conduct its operations at the present scale in northeastern Syria, given the imponderables in Turkeys continued cooperation. In these circumstances, it is hard to see how Trump is going to realize his dream to get Iranians to vacate from Iraq or Syria.

atimes.com
American President Donald Trump has scrapped the summit planned next month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In a letter to Kim, Trump decried the verbal open hostility displayed by North Korea in recent days towards members of his administration.

In particular, North Korean officials had slammed Vice President Mike Pence as stupid and ignorant for comments he had made about nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula. But Pences remarks were arguably far more hostile than anything Pyongyang said in response.

Pence explicitly said in a US media interview earlier this week that North Korea could end up like Libya if it did not comply with American demands for it to give up its nuclear weapons. That was an outrageous threat made in a primetime interview by the second highest US official. It was a staggering declaration of aggression given how American and NATO warplanes had bombed Libya into a failed state which led to the murder of its revered leader Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.

North Korea has often said that Libyas doom was precisely why it had taken the path of developing nuclear weapons. In order to deter American aggression and regime change. Pence was effectively making a criminal threat of war against North Korea and gloating about murdering the countrys leader. And yet Trump complained that Pyongyangs response to that outrageous ultimatum was open hostility.

Moreover, Pence is only the latest senior US official to openly brag about destroying North Korea. Only weeks ago, Trumps National Security Advisor and notorious war hawk John Bolton flouted international law by warning that Washington was looking to the Libya Model as a guideline in dealing with North Korea. Trump himself, in a display of garbled logic, said in the past week that Pyongyang would be decimated like Libya if it did not comply with US demands  and that was immediately after Trump tried to reassure Kim Jong Un that the US was not using the Libya Model.

How can any adversary possibly trust this administration?

The debacle over the historic summit between Trump and Kim  it would have been the first meeting ever between a sitting American president and a North Korea leader  shows that the challenge to find a peaceful resolution to the decades-old conflict is not going to be easy.

A major part of the problem is that the Trump White House evidently has a poorly informed view of what a genuine peace process would involve.

Trump has pushed on with the idea of meeting Kim seemingly under the mistaken impression that North Korea is willing to capitulate to American high-handed demands for its nuclear disarmament. Pyongyang has never said that it is willing to unilaterally give up its weapons. It has always made clear that it could be willing to denuclearize in the context of a multilateral accord in which the United States gives guarantees of security and eschews the agenda of regime change.

The White Houses minting of a commemorative coin to mark the would-be Singapore summit between Trump and Kim on June 12 now looks decidedly foolish. Usually such official memorabilia are always created after an event has taken place. The prematurely minted coins, bearing the names of Trump and Kim, shows an arrogant complacency in Washingtons thinking that American objectives were in the bag.

At no time has the Trump administration shown any awareness of what Americas historic obligations entail in order to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula. Those obligations include signing a treaty to finally mark the definitive end of the Korea War (1950-53) in which US forces killed millions of Koreans while supporting its ally South Korea against the communist North. American obligations also include scaling back its massive military presence in the region, its repeated war maneuvers, and lifting crippling economic sanctions off Pyongyang.

The Trump White House seems to have the arrogant view that any peace process is simply all down to North Korea unilaterally giving up its nuclear weapons. Trump has even encouraged his voter base to demand that he be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Again, this demonstrates how clueless the Trump administration is in its approach to finding a peaceful resolution in Korea.

What is of utmost concern now is that the superficial diplomacy from Washington will be supplanted by a dangerous return to aggression, possibly leading to war. North Korea this week said it was ready for a nuclear showdown if the US did not engage in mutual dialogue.

Recall that only a few months ago, Trump was warning that North Korea would be faced with fire and fury like never before and that he was willing to totally destroy the nation. Such criminal calculations are liable to resume, especially now that Washington feels it has been betrayed by North Korea rejecting its ultimatum to surrender or end up like Libya.

After cancelling the Singapore summit, Trump wrote in his letter that he was leaving the door open for future talks. But those putative talks will not be viable if the Americans do not repudiate their illusions of unilateral nuclear disarmament by North Korea and regime change.

Trump added he was maintaining maximum pressure of genocidal economic sanctions on the people of North Korea. He also made a sinister reference to Americas massive nuclear arsenal and said he prayed to God that it would not be used.

North Koreas self-imposed demolition this week of its only nuclear test site at Punggye-Ri can be viewed as a goodwill gesture that it is willing to seek a disarmament process. But for any process to succeed, the US must be willing to reciprocate.

Bragging about regime change and the criminal destruction of Libya amounts to an act of stupendous vandalism by the US on the fragile diplomatic engagement with North Korea.

An opportunity for peace is being squandered by US leaders who seem to suffer from deep ignorance and criminal entitlement.
With only a few days before Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz completes its tenure, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah are yet to reach a consensus over caretaker setup.

So far, five meetings have been held between PM Abbasi and Khursheed Shah but all of them ended in a deadlock. It is expected that the matter will be sent to the parliamentary committee.

While addressing a press conference on Thursday, PM Abbasi had shared that no consensus could be reached over the names suggested by the opposition, adding that he will again meet Shah either today (Friday) or on Monday in another attempt to reach consensus.

However if there is no consensus then both myself and Shah will send names to the parliamentary committee, which will make the decision, he had remarked.

'Wished to propose judges' names for caretaker PM'

On the other hand, Shah expressed displeasure Thursday night at being told that no judges would be named as candidates for the position of caretaker prime minister, especially considering that the incumbent government, as per sources, put forward the names of two former chief justices.

Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said his party wished to propose the names of certain judges as the caretaker PM. However, it was not clear which names he had in mind.

Earlier, sources had said the current leadership suggested names of Justices (retd) Nasir-ul-Mulk and (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani  both ex-chief justices of Pakistan  whereas the PPP finalised Zaka Ashraf and Jalil Abbas Jilani as its candidates for the position.

Shah subsequently announced that he would not be meeting Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for a consultation on the name of the caretaker premier.

The PPP leader noted that Abbasi has, from time to time, backtracked from his position in consultative meetings with him. The two have met six times to date over the issue but no consensus could be reached.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday said that those defecting from parties can only serve themselves, not the nation.

"Those who are not loyal to the party cannot be loyal to the country either," the premier observed while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a gas project in Sheikhupura.

"Those who defected from Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) will be rejected by the nation," he said, adding that those who had jumped ship would have to pay a price in the upcoming elections.

"Those who cannot respect others cannot respect the vote either," the premier said.

Abbasi noted that those who had leveled [false] accusations and continued to use abusive terms did not represent Pakistan's politics.

In a jibe at political rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the prime minister said milestones outlined in the former's 100-day plan had already been achieved by his party, PML-N.

"Those who have not succeeded in 1,500 days [of being elected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] have presented the 100-day plan today," said Abbasi. "There is a clear difference between ideologies of political parties. What they [PTI] are promising to do now has already been done by PML-N."

Abbasi claimed that only the ruling party could turn the country into an economic power, adding that the next elected prime minister and chief minister [of Punjab] will belong to PML-N.

"No one has implemented development projects in Sheikhupura except for PML-N," he said, adding that the government should decide in the elections on the basis of how the party has served the people.
Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani, former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been summoned to the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters (GHQ) for explaining his position on views attributed to him in his book 'The Spy Chronicles', a Pakistani military spokesman confirmed Friday.

Earlier security sources informed that the Pakistani military has reservations over the book for stating various topics against the facts.

The sources said that Durrani was being summoned to the General Headquarters (GHQ) for clearing his position. They said that the former spy chief would have to clear his position over a violation of the military's code of conduct.

Durrani, who served as the chief of Pakistan's premier intelligence agency from August 1990 till March 1992, co-authored the book titled 'The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' with former Indian spy chief AS Dulat.

Lt Gen Asad Durrani, Retired being called in GHQ on 28th May 18. Will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book Spy Chronicles. Attribution taken as violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable on all serving and retired military personnel.  Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) May 25, 2018

The development comes hours after former premier Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani voiced their reservations over the book.

Speaking to journalists in Islamabad on Friday, Nawaz demanded that an emergency meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) be summoned over the book written by Durrani.

The former premier said that a trustworthy national commission should be constituted to look over such matters.

Rabbani, who formerly served as the chairman of the Senate of Pakistan, also severely criticised the teaming up of former chiefs of Pakistan and Indias spy agencies to write the book.

"A book co-authored by former chief of Indias spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) AS Dulat and ex-chief of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani has recently been published," Rabbani said, while addressing a Senate session on Friday.

"It is shocking that on one hand Pakistan and India relations are at an all-time low and on the other hand, former spy chiefs of both the countries are teaming up to write a book."

Rabbani further lashed out saying that had a civilian or a politician teamed up with a counterpart to write a book similar to Dulat and Durranis, then there would have been a "hue and cry."

"Had a politician done the same thing he would have been labelled a traitor," he asserted.

On May 14, a meeting of the NSC had been called over Nawazs statement on the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In an interview to Dawn newspaper recently Nawaz had said, "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why cant we complete the trial?"

His remarks were played up by the Indian media as an admission of Pakistan's involvement in the terrorist attacks, even though similar questions and statements have been raised from civilian and security officials in Pakistan earlier.

Following the backlash on international and local media, army spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had said on Twitter that the army had "suggested" that the NSC meeting be called to clarify the country's stance on the statement.
The National Centre of Metrologys (NCM) forecast is ruling out that cyclone Mekunu will reach the UAE.

The centre said that the cyclones impact would be restricted to the flow of humid air mass, which will aid in the formation of convective clouds that might result in rainfall in the eastern and southern areas of the country. Wind speed is expected to rise, resulting in dusty weather conditions particularly in the southern areas.

NCM has urged the public to follow reports published by the centre, and not to promote or spread rumours.

The NCM had earlier explained that although the UAE will not be directly affected by Cyclone Mekunu, the weather during the weekend will be impacted.

On its official Twitter page, the NCM said that as of Wednesday night, the tropical storm was raised to a Cyclone Category 1 over latitude 11.4 degree North and longitude 55.9 degree East.

The Cyclones centre was located approximately 570 km from Salalah, and 230 km from Socotra. The wind speed around the center of the cyclone between 120 km/h to 139 km/h. The cyclone moves toward the North - North West with a speed of 11 km/h, said the NCM.

The Abu Dhabi-based weather bureau stressed that the forecast shows that the cyclone will not cause any direct effects in the UAE.

The indirect effects over the UAE will be a continuous mass of moist air, which will enhance the chance of convective developments at times over the eastern and southern regions over the country.

Dubai Municipality's weather forecast system also warned residents of rain, thunder and strong winds, which will affect parts of the UAE on Friday and Saturday.

Some parts of the Sultanate of Oman will be affected by the cyclone from the evening of Thursday, May 24. The cyclone is expected to advance to the north and its impact will extend to the UAE in general, and in particular, to Dubai, announced Dubai Municipalitys Geodetic and Marine Survey Section.

Residents were warned to exercise caution when visiting the mountain region and the sea.

Cyclone Mekunu pounded the Yemeni island of Socotra in the Arabian Sea on Thursday morning, lashing it with heavy rain and strong winds as the powerful storm remained on path to strike Oman this weekend. At least 17 people were reported missing.

With winds gusting up to 155 km/h (96 miles per hour), meteorologists expected the "very severe" cyclone to strike Oman on Saturday near Salalah, the sultanate's third-largest city and home to some 200,000 people near the country's border with Yemen.

"It is very likely to intensify further during next 24 hours," India's Meteorological Department warned in a Thursday morning bulletin. It said gusts from the storm will likely reach 185 km/h (115 mph) by Saturday.

The Yemen high commision declared Socotra as a disaster zone, and called upon the Saudi-led coalition for help. While all communications from the island have been cut, a clear picture of the situation on the ground is not yet available.

Two ships off socotra island have been reported missing this morning, according to a Yemeni newspaper.

According to an Oman Police tweet, the cyclone will hit Dhofar and Al Wusta coasts on Friday. Public have been urged to be cautious and not to go near wadis (valley) because of flash floods.

Oman air issued a statement that flights to and from Salalah, Zanzibar, Nairobi and Dar Es Salam maybe affected in the coming days. Passengers are advised to check through the airline website.

Oman is all set to tackle the impact of cyclone Mekunu. Emergency teams, and police are on the alert and ready. Pateints on critical care have been moved from Salalah hospitals to the capital Mascat.
Collapse of Trump-Kim summit threatens to deepen US-China rift

US President Donald Trump takes part in a welcoming ceremony with China\'s President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China.

Reuters, Beijing :

US President Donald Trump's cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatens further strain on U.S.-China ties amid a trade dispute that had been intertwined with Beijing's pressure on isolated Pyongyang.

The United States and China are also increasingly at odds in the disputed South China Sea. The Pentagon this week withdrew an invitation for China to take part in a major naval exercise in Hawaii, and Beijing has ramped up pressure on self-ruled Taiwan, armed by Washington but claimed by Beijing.

Trump on Thursday released a letter to Kim announcing his withdrawal from the planned June 12 meeting in Singapore, which would have been the first between leaders of the two countries.

Although Chinese state media called for continued engagement between Washington and Pyongyang, Trump's move could mark a split between China and the United States over how to deal with North Korea and its nuclear weapons, experts said.

It also risks adding fuel to simmering trade tensions, just days after China and the United States pulled back from the brink of a full-blown trade war.

"Definitely there are people in the U.S. who want to use this as an excuse for their efforts to push the relationship in the direction of confrontation," said Jia Qingguo, dean of the School of International Studies at China's Peking University, referring to the collapse of the Trump-Kim summit.

"This is one of the lowest points in the relationship since the normalization of relations between the two countries," he added.

China's foreign ministry on Friday said the government would keep encouraging the United States and North Korea to have direct talks, describing such communication as having a "pivotal" role in denuclearisation.

"Rest assured, China will continue, in our own way, to carry out U.S.-North Korea work, so as to promote the resumption of the dialogue process on the peninsula," ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters.

China has long viewed North Korea as a useful buffer between it and U.S. forces in South Korea. The two also have deep emotional ties; Chinese troops fought side-by-side with North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War.

But in recent years, relations between China and North Korea had nosedived to the point of a near diplomatic freeze, as Beijing signed on to ever-stricter United Nations sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

China's willingness to keep up pressure on its neighbor may now wane.

Even with the summit's collapse, China must continue to improve ties with North Korea given Kim's pledge not to carry out nuclear and missile tests, China's widely read state-run Global Times tabloid said in an editorial on Friday.
Under the rays of the glorious summer sunshine, with Sicilian lemon flavoured ice-cream in hand, and factor fifty glossed over my pale, sun-fearing skin, I glide through the streets of Cambridge. On such a splendid day, what ever could I do to occupy my time? (Well, there is that essay deadline that seems to be clouding over my sense of summer relaxation, or those last few lectures to attend, and oh yes, those two plays I still need to read.) But what is there to do?

As a popular tourist destination, Cambridge attracts visitors from far and wide with its universal reputation for scholarly achievement and academic success. Reeling in sightseers from across the globe with its architectural wonders, its endless list of notable alumni and its worldwide status, what more could Cambridge possibly offer? It is often difficult to separate The University of Cambridge from The City of Cambridge. Aside from career prospects, fantastic educational opportunities and individual teaching, I often find myself wondering what more Cambridge has to give. It is certainly not a lifeless or dull destination but spending a vast amount of time indoors, with my head down, book propped up and fingers grazing laptop keys, I rarely have a moment to explore Cambridge through the lens of the tourist.

So, strolling through the market on a bright, cloudless day, I decide to step into my tourist shoes and head to Kings College. Halting at the bridge to absorb the picturesque scene before me, I whip out my phone to capture the classic tourist shot. In reaching for my phone and framing the perfect photo, to capture the river, the punts, the people, I begin to recall one of my first ever experiences of Cambridge. And there I find it, the answer to my question: What more is there to do? Punting!

My best memories of Cambridge thus far stem from floating down the River Cam in a trembling punt, with an untrustworthy steersman and a boatload of laughter. With that, I would like to share my punting experiences with you. Unforgettably, my first day in Cambridge as a fresher coincided with my first official date. Grab your tissues! Upon arrival, I was whisked away to the riverside and swayed into stepping inside the wobbling wooden shell. It is hard to say whether I was more nervous about the unstable punt or the whole first date thing, but I can surely say that that day was a memorable one. Heres a tip for any first-time punters, do what he did (I hope he does not mind me exposing this minor detail): watch a couple of videos on how to punt like a pro, then hide this secret from your friends and to their amusement and surprise, when you nonchalantly request to guide the boat and do so with flair and success, you seem as though youre a punting natural.

Anyhow, to re-visit the memory of my second punting adventure, I will journey towards yet another romantic punting gesture. No, not another date, but not far off. Where better to propose to your college wife than in a punt, on one knee, with a bottle of prosecco? A group of friends and I all banded together and ambled down to the river, in hopes of making it further than Johns College. Unfortunately, this mission was unsuccessful. As hypocritical as it may be, coming from someone who refused to navigate the punt, it was clear to see that, from the giggling of the passers-by, we were useless at punting. Unable to control the rocky boat, we sat spinning in the middle of the river for the majority of time. After over-running by half an hour, we somehow managed to seize the whirling punt and re-direct it back towards our initial starting point. And yet, despite our failed attempts to captain the boat, I can speak for all of us and say that we would not hesitate to hop back into the punt and drift down the River Cam once more.

To return to my present-day self, standing on Kings bridge, with a melted ice-cream in my hands and seemingly sun-burned shoulders, I urge you to gather a group of friends, wander down to the river and jump into a punt. Whether youve been punting before or never tried it at all, it is definitely an experience for everyone; from students to tourists, from families to fellows, punting is a classic Cambridge must-try. Get yourself down to the river now, before the sun retreats!
The Essential Phone got off to a rough start with a price tag equal to flagships but without the polished user experience to come with it. Camera problems and software bugs that needed addressing explain many of the poor sales figures. Now, co-founder and Android creator Andy Rubin is exploring a sale of Essential Products Inc.

For those hoping to see a second Essential Phone, that plan has been canceled. There will not be a second phone produced by Essential as it stands today. Rubin Tweeted out, "We always have multiple products in development at the same time and we embrace canceling some in favor of the ones we think will be bigger hits."

Sprint was a large supporter of the Essential Phone and was trying to get a true flagship device exclusive to its mobile network. Now that T-Mobile has acquired Sprint, Essential had no carrier in the United States as a backer for a second generation.

Credit Suisse Group AG has been hired to advise on the company sale. So far, there is believed to be at least one potential buyer, although all involved in the negotiations have been unwillingly to publicly comment on the matter.

Ongoing discussions to buy the business are headed towards a total sale of all assets. Patents, employees and hardware products including an upcoming camera attachment and smart home device would all be part of the deal.

To date, it is estimated that Essential has sold approximately 150,000 units of its first generation phone. Although the sales are a drop in the bucket compared to Samsung, Apple and Google, the minimalist design philosophy of Essential has not been completely ignored.
The European Union's new GDPR privacy laws are going into effect today, and tech companies everywhere are struggling to adapt to the new rules.

The GDPR, for the unaware, is a set of new regulations that aim to give EU consumers more control over how their data is used online. For example, users can now request that a company delete the information it has stored about them or correct it if it's inaccurate.

At any rate, it seems a few companies aren't adapting to the GDPR as quickly as some would like -- Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems has filed numerous legal complaints against Facebook and Google for allegedly violating the GDPR's new rules.

Specifically, Schrems takes issue with how the two tech giants now require users to consent to their adjusted privacy policies before gaining access to their services. Schrems feels this is a violation of the GDPR rules surrounding "particularized" consent.

The complaints Schrems has filed so far are reportedly worth about 7.6 billion euro, or $8.86 billion.

The complaints Schrems has filed so far are reportedly worth about 7.6 billion euro, or $8.86 billion. These complaints were registered with the CNIL, a French data protection authority, according to the Irish Times.

In a statement to the Financial Times, Schrems said the companies in question "totally know" that they're violating GDPR rules, but both companies have denied this is the case.

Indeed, Facebook reportedly says they've "prepared for the past 18 months" to ensure they comply fully with the GDPR's requirements, and Google says they are "committed to complying" with GDPR rules.

Regardless, if Schrems' complaints have merit, they will be forwarded to the appropriate GDPR authorities for further investigation.
Jurors in a federal court in San Jose, California, on Thursday concluded that Samsung must pay Apple $539 million for infringing on patents owned by the Cupertino-based company.

The case dates all the way back to 2011 and is in regard to three of Apples design patents and two utility patents. According to reports, Samsung is on the hook for $533,316,606 for the three design patents and $5,325,050 for the two utility patents.

It was previously determined that Samsung did indeed infringe on Apples patents; this retrial was simply to determine the amount owed. Apple was originally awarded more than $1 billion in damages in 2012.

Samsung said in a statement following the verdict Thursday that the decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages. The South Korean electronics giant said it will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers.

Samsung lawyer John Quinn told US District Court Judge Lucy Koh that they dont think [the verdict] is supported by the evidence.

Apple, meanwhile, said they believe deeply in the value of design, adding that its teams work tirelessly to create innovative products that delight customers. This case has always been about more than money, Apple said, noting that it ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied their design.

Apple and Samsung in 2014 agreed to drop all litigation outside of the US. It was an agreement that many viewed as a step in the right direction and one that would hopefully set precedent in the overall tech industry.

Tom Engellenner, an intellectual property attorney at law firm Pepper Hamilton, told CNET that this case may stretch on for many more years.
The phase III clinical trial developed by Iran's Pasteur Institute with Cuba's COVID-19 vaccines, Soberana 02 and Soberana Plus, showed excellent results, informed today the Finlay Vaccine... | Read More
News In Brief

Prince William to visit Jerusalem, Ramallah

Reuters, London

Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince William will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah when he becomes the first senior member of Britain's royal family to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next month.

William, second-in-line to the British throne, will begin his trip to the Middle East in Jordan on June 24 before travelling to Tel Aviv the following day, his office Kensington Palace said in a statement on Friday.



Truckers strike puts Brazil on standstill

AFP, Brasilia

Brazil appeared on the verge of a standstill on the fourth day of a nationwide truckers' strike Thursday as road blockades caused severe shortages of fuel and food, despite a move by the state-owned oil company to defuse the crisis.

As the government and transport unions continued to seek a solution-after over five hours of talks-airports and gas stations were running out of fuel, food prices were spiraling and agricultural exports were hit.



Spanish PM to face no confidence vote

Reuters, Madrid

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of no confidence over a graft case involving members of his People's Party (PP) in which a High Court judge also questioned the credibility of his testimony as a witness last year.

It is not yet clear whether the opposition Socialists could secure enough backing to topple the conservative Rajoy, as they would need the support of upstart parties Podemos and Ciudadanos.



7 dead in Benghazi attack

AFP, Benghazi

At least seven people were killed and around twenty others injured late Thursday in a car bomb attack in the centre of Benghazi in eastern Libya, a local security official told AFP.

The bomb exploded close to the Tibesti hotel on a busy road where many people go to celebrate during the month of Ramadan, the official said, adding that the victims were civilians.



Mobs kill at least 3 in India

AP, Hyderabad

Mobs of terrified villagers killed at least three people and attacked several others in southern India after social media messages warned that gangs of kidnappers were roaming the region in search of children, police said Friday.

They said there was no indication that such gangs actually existed.



Indonesia passes new terror law

AP, Jakarta

Indonesia's parliament unanimously approved a tougher anti-terrorism law on Friday, lengthening detention periods and involving the military in counter-terrorism operations, spurred into action by recent bombings that involved children as perpetrators.
There was so much onanism in the novel ("I am the Raskolnikov of jerking off  the sticky evidence is everywhere!") that writer Jacqueline Susann said on The Tonight Show that she'd love to meet Roth but did not want to shake his hand. Roth, who never won the Nobel prize that many predicted for him, once said: "I wonder if I had called Portnoy's Complaint 'The Orgasm Under Rapacious Capitalism', if I would thereby have earned the favour of the Swedish Academy." Below the humane comedy that filled much of Roth's work, and the sense of a longing to both transcend and embrace his lower-middle-class Jewish origins (Roth grew up in Newark, New Jersey's Weequahic neighbourhood), he wrote with enormous insight about bedrock things like one's relationship with one's mother and father. Zuckerman, his alter ego, referred to his mother in The Anatomy Lesson (1983), in a typically poised phrase, as "a breast, then a lap, then a fading voice calling after him, 'Be careful'".

About such women's husbands, he wrote in American Pastoral (1997): "Mr Levov was one of those slum-reared Jewish fathers whose rough-hewn, under-educated perspective goaded a whole generation of striving, college-educated Jewish sons: a father for whom everything is an unshakeable duty, for whom there is a right way and a wrong way and nothing in between, a father whose compound of ambitions, biases and beliefs is so unruffled by careful thinking that he isn't as easy to escape from as he seems. Limited men with limitless energy; men quick to be friendly and quick to be fed up; men for whom the most serious thing in life is to keep going despite everything. And we were their sons. It was our job to love them." American Pastoral, which won a Pulitzer Prize, may be the most realised of Roth's novels. Among other things, the ability he displays in it to write about children, while having had none of his own, is nothing short of mind-shaking. For certain other readers, his greatest novel may be the vastly darker Sabbath's Theatre (1995), about an ageing and priapic ex-puppeteer. Lust and shame were the driving forces behind much of Roth's fiction. In sex, too, talk was central to appeal. Roth wrote about the joys of both "phonetic seduction" and "a finely calibrated relative clause". When it came to writing for and about women, Roth had his critics. Credit:New York Times Roth has his feminist critics. Author Lionel Shriver told an interviewer that his female characters "are not nearly as filled out as his male ones; sometimes his women amount to little more than bodies or, when ex-wives, walking mistakes".

Literary critic and novelist Elizabeth Hardwick wrote: "The novels are prickled like a sea urchin with the spines and fuzz of many indecencies." Memoirist and critic Vivian Gornick was more forceful: "If in Bellow misogyny was like seeping bile, in Roth it was lava pouring forth from a volcano." In an interview earlier this year, Roth replied that he had tried to be uncompromising in his portraits of "a small coterie of unsettled men", even when "these have not been in harmony with the portrayal that a masculine public relations campaign  if there were such a thing  might prefer". The best book on this novelist  its title is Roth Unbound: A Writer and His Books (2013) - was composed by a woman, Claudia Roth Pierpont (no relation). It's a sensitive, probing and uncommonly wise volume that will send you back into Roth's work with fresh eyes and wits. Pierpont processes and never easily explains away the dark impulses of a man who once wrote: "For a pure sense of being tumultuously alive, you can't beat the nasty side of existence." After sex, mortality was perhaps Roth's great subject.

"Old age isn't a battle," he wrote in Everyman (2006). "Old age is a massacre." He wasn't afraid of what his obituarists might say of him. But he was aware that they would unearth some of the harsher notices of his work and pluck quotes from them. You could hear his comic tone as he told Pierpont: "Even in death, you get a bad review!"

Philip Roth at Princeton in 1964. Credit:New York Times Five of Roth's best-known and most important books:

1. The Plot Against America (2004)

This prescient alternative historical novel suddenly became part of the conversation during and after the 2016 presidential election. Roth imagines a world in which aviator Charles Lindbergh, an isolationist known for his "America First" antiwar slogan, is elected president and appeases Nazi Germany. 2. American Pastoral (1997)

Roth won the Pulitzer for this novel about homegrown terrorism. The protagonist is Seymour "Swede" Levov, a New Jersey high school athlete who grows up to inherit his father's glove factory. His American idyll is shattered when his beloved teenage daughter turns radical. 3. The Ghost Writer (1979)

This is the novel where Roth introduces his alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, who returns in Zuckerman Unbound and other works. In The Ghost Writer, it's the 1950s, and Zuckerman is a naive, budding writer who gets a wake-up call when he meets his literary idol. 4. Goodbye, Columbus (1959)

Roth's first book got him noticed and then some. The independent-minded Neil Klugman and daddy's girl Brenda Patimkin, a prototypical "Jewish American princess", become lovers. Happy ending not guaranteed. 5. Portnoy's Complaint (1969)

Made headlines during its time for its frank depiction of masturbation and frustrated sexuality; it's the work that for many years most defined Roth. The humorous novel is told by "a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor" confessing to his analyst.
One of the inspired was novelist Jonathan Tropper, who duly wrote a film script called Kodachrome about a celebrated photographer who, although much weakened by the cancer that will soon kill him, wants to get to Dwayne's before it shuts. The film is directed by Mark Raso, who previously made Copenhagen; Ed Harris plays the photographer.

The New York Times' weekend magazine ran an article about the weird and wonderful types who made the journey to Kansas with their last rolls. It caught the imagination of readers, many of whom would have recognised that they were reading it in another declining stock: newspapers. Here was another thing being seen off by the digital age. At least Dwayne's Photo and The New York Times gave the old tech a decent farewell.

In 2009, Kodak stopped producing Kodachrome, the colour-rich film that had been used to make slides since it was invented in 1935. The following January, there was an international rush on an unlikely target: Dwayne's Photo, the only high-street photographic shop in the world still processing Kodachrome, in a town called Parsons in Kansas.

Harris is 67, so he lived through the golden age of the slide night. "We have so many slides that my dad took on Kodachrome film when I was growing up," he remembers. "We had boxes of them and that was part of my life. Really, a lot of the memories I have are based on those pictures."

Ed Harris and Elizabeth Olsen hit the road in Kodachrome. Credit:Christos Kalohoridis

Harris' character, Ben, is a mean-spirited, razor-tongued man whose only son Matt (Jason Sudeikis) has refused for years to speak to him, feeling he has been punished enough in life. Ben's photographs tell another story, however. They are humane, committed, visionary and will earn him a hero's welcome at Dwayne's. Matt works as an A&R man for a music company, but he is another true believer in art who finds himself out of step with the digital world. Indeed, he is on the brink of being sacked for failing to make any profitable signings, largely because his nervous bosses won't take on any of the rock innovators he brings to the table.

Thus begins the road movie, which Raso has appropriately insisted on shooting on old-school film stock. A young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) arrives in Matt's office announcing she is his father's nurse, that he is dying and that he wants Matt to drive him to Kansas. He is persuaded only because it may give him a chance to meet the band that might save his career. Off they go, carping and sparring. It is clear enough where this dramedy of father, son and attractive, available woman is headed, but they have some obstacles to clear before they get there.

Raso says he always wanted Harris as Ben. It is easy to see why; his stencil-sharp face and piercing blue gaze convey intensity without a word having to be said. That forcefulness has made characters who are very different from each other  his gritty John Glenn in The Right Stuff (1983), his Jackson Pollock (2000), his dying AIDS sufferer in The Hours (2002)  similarly memorable.
The reformed Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, in Paris. Credit:Thomas Girard The film, which charted several tumultuous years in the band's late-'90s "feud" with scene-mates and radio favourites The Dandy Warhols  particularly Dandys frontman Courtney Taylor, a sort of chiselled showbiz natural to Newcombe's dirty DIY brashness  was illuminating in its depiction of Newcombe's toxic genius. In one scene, a messy industry showcase at Hollywood's Viper Room, tipped to launch a million-dollar bidding war for the band, descends into onstage fisticuffs, band members violently wrestling each other in front of label suits. "You f---ing broke my sitar, motherf---er!" goes Newcombe's now iconic line, after he's thrown from the premises and onto a sidewalk by security. Movie poster for the film Dig! about the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It ends years later with Newcombe band-less and alone, playing a solo gig back in San Francisco just weeks after the birth of his first son. A heckler interrupts proceedings, and, accepting Newcombe's request to "come down here and say it", earns a solid boot to the head from the frontman.

The documentary, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004, cemented Newcombe's reputation as a tempestuous talent with a deathly hang-up on commercial success. That the film dropped just as the indie rock world was all but done reckoning with the lagging Gen X politics of "selling out", it painted Newcombe as a ranting lunatic, as hopelessly strung-out as gifted, and out of step with the changing nature of the industry. We have to create the culture we want to see; it won't be provided for us. Brian Jonestown Massacre "You can't really go by the movie," says Newcombe with resigned irritation. "Their problem was they didn't have an ending. When they say, 'Oh, Anton went nowhere ', I got a million-dollar record deal as a producer. I only got locked into the drugs 'cause they were giving me a fantastic amount of money. I was in Laurel Canyon with a Ferragamo model girlfriend  she wasn't doing drugs  sitting in my sauna just doing dope until I pulled myself out of that hole. I wasn't in alleys or anything. "But I'm not ashamed of it. I'm happy that I was able to get out of that," he says, noting two late friends  Dallas Taylor, the drummer from Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Bob Timmins, a Hollywood addiction specialist who also salvaged the lives of members of Motley Crue and Aerosmith  who came to his rescue. "They helped me, they got my head straight  and then I was done with it," he says.

For a musician whose beeline, as painted by the film, was a psych ward or the gutter, and whose DIY stubbornness was depicted as foolhardy, Newcombe's musical longevity has given him reason to boast. Even this far into his career, recording music and producing artists, on his own terms and outside the corporate machine, is his livelihood. "I have employees!" he exclaims. "I have 85 catalogue titles on my label [A Recordings] alone, of my own work and other things, and I own all the music. And it's not a commercial studio, it's not something you can hire. I just talk people into doing records. "A lot of my peers think in the outmoded thing, 'Oh, I need an advance because that's the only money I'm gonna get.' But when I do a record for somebody, in three months they're getting paid by how many records they've sold, which I think is a better thing. It pays for everything; I don't need a day gig. I had to pay 70 grand in taxes in Germany alone last year; this is my only gig." Following his salad day tribulations with record label types ("All mafia dudes," he says, "and scouts that were essentially call girls that would come with coke to get you to sign with them"), his disdain of industry, and the way money-hungry suits interrupt talent, hasn't waned. "It's just the greed of everything," he says. "I have ideas to make movies, a couple of them. If I went to Hollywood and said, 'Look, if you loan me $20 million, at the end of a year-and-a-half I'll pay you back 60.' And they'll go, 'Man, we're not in the million-dollar business, we're in the billion-dollar business.' And that's the attitude with everything, and it's a shame.

"That's a poverty of ambition," he continues. "People are sitting on all this money with no ideas. I don't wanna see your 10 yachts and your Instagram crap, you know what I mean? People used to actually do things, like throw festivals or a really good party, open a restaurant or a club, just because what the hell, you know? So we have to create the culture we want to see: it won't be provided for us." Newcombe says an 18th self-titled slab, what he calls BJM's best record in years, is already slated for October. He also says an "anniversary gig"  the anniversary of what, he can't recall  with the Dandys "and maybe Tame Impala", to be held on a vineyard outside Melbourne owned by the family of Dandys drummer Brent "Fathead" DeBoer's Australian partner, is on the cards for next year. The legacy continues. "I've never been this pop guy trying to chart; I just wanted to make it OK to play music without permission," he says about his misunderstood mission during the DIG! days. "People were throwing money at me left and right, every major label, every A&R were like, 'Blah blah blah, you're gonna be the next Kurt Cobain!', which is exactly what I didn't wanna be. "I didn't need a record label to validate me. I wanted to set an example that you could just record  it doesn't matter if it's perfect, you could get better, you could book your own shows, you could help your friends, you could have a blast, and you don't need permission. It's a goal I've completely accomplished," he says. "My next goal is I want it to be OK for people to play at any age. See, I'm 50  but there's not a big deal with it because I have something to offer. Our concerts are gonna be good, and it has nothing to do with if somebody wants to see if I'm going to lose my shit, like DIG! or some bullshit."
On Monday, May 28 the ACT will be the first Australian state or territory to observe the inaugural Reconciliation Day with a public holiday, beginning National Reconciliation Week.

ACT Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Rachel Stephen-Smith said her predecessor in the portfolio Chris Burke, the first Indigenous Australian elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly, started the campaign for a public holiday to acknowledge the culture, contribution and resilence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

ACT Minister for Aboriginal and Strait Islander Affairs Rachel Stephen-Smith and Deputy CEO of Reconciliation Australia Andrea Kelly outside the Canberra Theatre Centre. Credit:Lawrence Atkin

"It's also an opportunity for Canberrans to reflect on the true history of our nation and of our city and region," she said.

She said Reconciliation in the Park on Monday in Glebe Park from 10am to 2pm was "an opportunity for Canberrans to come together to absorb Aboriginal culture, learn more about the history of the region and enjoy each other's company."
Kim Jong Un not a weak leader says Mike Pompeo

Kim Jong Un has demonstrated an enormous capacity to lead his country, said Mike Pompeo.

PTI, Washington :

Kim Jong-un is not a weak leader and that he has shown tremendous capacity to lead North Korea, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is the only top US official to have met him twice in recent weeks. Pompeo's statement came after US President Donald Trump cancelled his proposed summit meeting with Kim on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump described the cancellation of the summit as "a tremendous setback" for North Korea and warned that the US military is ready to act should Pyongyang take any "foolish and reckless" action. Pompeo first travelled to North Korea in his capacity as the CIA Director last month and again this month as the Secretary of State. Both the meetings, he said, laid the ground work for a meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump.

"I spoke in English. There was a translator. But our team confirmed that the translator said what I said.

"I had two meetings, maybe three hours plus, total, enough that I understood him to have understood what I was saying," the top US diplomat told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.

"When I heard back from him (Kim), there was little doubt in my mind that he understood the scope of what we were asking for, the nature of what would have to take place, the verification that we would need to undertake in order to be comfortable that we could begin to deliver the assurances that he, in return, asked for," Pompeo said when Senators asked him if he was able to convey the message to Kim properly.

"I think we were having a real conversation where there was real understanding between the two of us. It's what caused me to recommend to the president that I thought the time would, in fact, permit us to have a real opportunity to do something historic," Pompeo said. He said that he was still optimistic that the US will reach the point. "I know the president is (optimistic) as well," he said.

Responding to a question, he said he does not believe that Kim is a weak leader. "Is it your opinion that this decision by Kim Jong-un is a result of a weak leader who lacks the internal support to go forward with a meeting on denuclearisation? Or was this just poor negotiating strategies by Kim Jong-un?" Senator Robert Menendez asked.

"I don't think it's the former. I don't think it's a weak leader. In fact, he has demonstrated an enormous capacity to lead his country and his team," Pompeo said soon after President Trump cancelled his meeting with Kim. Trump attributed this to the changing behaviour of Kim and North Korea.

"I don't really know that I want to speculate as to why it is they (North Koreans) took the actions, because I don't think we know. What I am hopeful is that we can continue to have conversations and put this back on track, so that we can get to a place where we can achieve the outcome.
The report describes new local laws to control domestic dogs, but does not use the term "ban". Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch said the government had accepted all the recommendations, which include the tougher controls on domestic dogs. "We are currently working through the development of the strategy, which includes the establishment of a Koala Advisory Council, and we will work with stakeholders on its implementation," Ms Enoch said. "We are confident that this new strategic approach will deliver outcomes to identify and protect priority koala habitats and address all of the threats to the declining koala population in south-east Queensland. Ms Enoch said a new Koala Advisory Council would be formed within six to 12 months.

That new body would faces enormous problems trying to save koalas from extinction in south-east Queensland. The big three threats to koalas - habitat clearing, dog attacks and being struck by cars - are all increasing. Dogs attack and kill about 110 koalas each year, while about 330 each year die after being hit by cars. There is also no improvement in protecting koala bushland, the report finds. Over 10 per cent of koala bushland habitat in the Urban Footprint was cleared between 2008 and 2015, the koala expert panel report finds.

There is also no evidence for a reduction in clearing rates over time in south-east Queensland. The report says action should be taken to [I]ntroduce local laws and incentive programs for reducing threats from domestic dogs. However, there is only a below 50 per cent possibility that this step alone could save koalas, the expert panels report found. The Threatened Species Sub-Committee reported to the federal government in May 2012 that 15,644 koalas in south-east Queensland were killed by dogs, cars and stress-related diseases between 1997 and 2011. The reports chairman, Dr Rhodes, said steps to control dogs close to koala bushland need to be conversations between communities and councils and governments.

I think we need to identify those places where dogs are an issue, then we need to find effective strategies to keep dogs away from koalas and we should adopt those, he said. Dr Rhodes said details had not been finalised. "But they are pretty commonly used to encourage landowners to do restorative work, ecologically sensitive work on their properties and there is a range of schemes around," he said. Dr Rhodes said they were used commonly in rural and semi-rural areas. At this stage he knew of few examples in urban areas. He said he believed it was time to also consider incentives in urban areas close to koala bushland.

"I think there are a range of economic incentives which could be used to get environmental benefits for koalas," he said. The new Koala Advisory Council is yet to be formed but, given the lack of government co-ordination, the koala expert panel report says it should include public servants from many government departments. More than $4 million in Queensland Government koala research over the past 10 years has been largely wasted, the report found. Koalas in cleared habitat near Coomera Credit:Coomera Conservation Group. Koala populations in south-east Queensland are reducing quickly (up to 80 per cent in the Redlands, Pine Rivers and Moreton Bay areas), a 2015 study found.

This steep population decline is largely because humans and koalas occupy the same environment and dogs, cars and poorly-monitored vegetation clearing kills koalas. However, it points out that tackling dog attacks without other steps is likely to see any serious improvement in koala numbers. There is compelling evidence that koalas in SEQ are simultaneously affected by multiple threats that include dog attack mortality, vehicle collision mortality, disease, fire and climate change," the report says. Finally, the expert elicitation revealed a view that the chance of implementing successful strategies to reduce dog attack mortality, vehicle collision mortality or disease threats within five years was well below 50 per cent. The new Koala Advisory Council will set out how the model domestic dog local laws could be shaped, renewed attempts to control koalas killed by vehicles.
A young man who filmed his friend being allegedly unlawfully assaulted by a police officer was told that deleting the footage from his phone would make things "a lot easier", a trial has heard.

Stuart Laird was 17 when he filmed the interaction between Kyan Foster and police officer Simon Mareangareu about 2am on Christmas Day 2014 on a Vermont footpath.

In the footage  which has been shown to a County Court jury and was released by the court on Friday  Mr Mareangareu appears to strike Mr Foster, who was 16 at the time.

The recording also shows another officer, Dennis Gundrill, tell Mr Laird: "Get rid of that video right now." Mr Laird later calls out in pain during what he now says was Mr Gundrill holding his wrist.


Lyndon Quinlivan, 37, (left) and Ben Pascall, 28, (right) were killed in a gas leak at Norske Skog paper mill. Credit:Border Mail

The general manager of the Norske Skog paper mill near Albury has fought back tears while talking about the two men who died at the plant after being overcome by gas.

Lyndon Quinlivan, 37, and Ben Pascall, 28, died at the Ettamogah factory on Thursday and a 22-year-old man is still fighting for life in intensive care.

A fourth man became ill during the incident and others were assessed by paramedics.
Mystery surrounds the identity of a man who was admitted into a Melbourne hospital weeks ago and police are now appealing for the public's help.

The man did not have a wallet or any identifying documents with him when he arrived at hospital, police said.

Police are appealing for public assistance to help identify a man who was admitted into a Melbourne hospital some weeks ago. Credit:Victoria Police

Hospital staff have so far been unable to communicate with him to establish his identity or access his medical history to ensure he receives appropriate care.

He is of average height and build with grey hair, blue eyes and a full beard.
Geelong Grammar students have Timbertop, MLC's have Marshmead and now Victoria's state school kids are set to have more rural campuses of their own.

Once considered a trapping of an expensive private school education, regional boarding during year nine is becoming more accessible for state pupils thanks to the success of the School for Student Leadership.

Year nine student Sarah Cotterell has just returned from a term at the School for Student Leadership. Credit:Eddie Jim

The growing school recently got $6.5 million in the state budget to build a new campus at Don Valley in the Yarra Ranges.

Expected to open in 2020 the site will be the school's fourth, adding to the Alpine School in Dinner Plain, the Snowy River campus in Marlo and Gnurad-Gundidj in Glenormiston in Victoria's west.
It was unthinkable, even just a few years ago, that a government in Australia would introduce laws to make the deliberate underpayment of wages a crime.

Now recalcitrant employers face the risk of going to jail for up to 10 years under proposed changes by the Andrews government.

Unions and workers have been mobilising over issues such as wage theft. Credit:Chris Hopkins

It should send a stern message to employers that do the wrong thing; change or face the consequences.

Whether the stick is too big or whether the criminal law should be this heavily introduced into workplace relations are legitimate questions.
The WA Labor party says it has verification from Fort Lewis College in the United States that its Darling Range candidate attended the university.

Colleen Yates claimed in a LinkedIn profile she studied "petroleum engineering" from 1981 to 1982.

Labor's Darling Range candidate Colleen Yates with Premier Mark McGowan. Credit:Twitter

On Friday morning Labor state secretary Matt Dixon circulated to media a letter from the Fort Lewis College registrar which said Ms Yates attended the university for three months at the end of 1981.

This is at odds with claims she made to Seven West Media on Thursday that she studied at the university for six months.
"But as the meeting between heads of DPRK and US is the first step in solving problems through dialogue, we have done our sincere efforts with the expectation that it will be a meaningful starting point for the peace and security of the region." The letter from Trump to Kim. Credit:Twitter/@WhiteHouse The comments came after Trump cancelled the high stakes summit in dramatic style in a formal letter, not a tweet, blaming "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a recent statement from the North. In the letter, Trump wrote that, based on the North's recent statement, he felt it was "inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting". Trump called it "a missed opportunity" and said someday he still hoped to meet Kim. He said it was "to the detriment of the world" that the summit would not take place.

"You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used," he wrote. In the letter, Trump also politely thanked Kim "for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families" and said some day he looked forward to meeting him. The North Korean statement that he referred to called Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy" for comparing North Korea to Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development program, only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters. Trump has pulled out of the summit with Kim, which was planned for June 12 in Singapore. Credit:AP Speaking after the letters release, Trump appeared to open the door to the summit continuing, depending on Kims response to the US demand to give up nuclear weapons. But he also threatened that the US military was "ready if necessary".

"If and when Kim Jong-un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions I am waiting," Trump said. "A lot of things can happen including the fact that perhaps... the existing summit could take place or at some later date. Nobody should be anxious, we have to get it right." However, Trump said he had spoken to South Korea and Japan and they were ready "if foolish or reckless acts are taken by North Korea" and willing to shoulder the financial cost of any US military operations. The shock cancellation of the meeting appears to have caught South Korea by surprise with the office of President Moon Jae-in, who visited Trump in Washington a day earlier, saying it was trying to understand Trump's intentions. Moon said he was "very perplexed and it is very regrettable" that the summit would not take place.

"Denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed," he said. After the cancellation, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed North Korea's response by phone with South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha on Friday morning. General Vincent Brooks, the commander of US Forces in South Korea, said: "The opportunity is not lost. Its just delayed". Several Western journalists were at the Punggye-ri test site in North Korea, pictured here via satellite, to witness its destruction. Credit:AP Trump's letter was released publicly within hours of Western journalists confirming they had witnessed the demolition of North Koreas remote nuclear test site at Punggye-Ri.

China's spokesman Lu said North Koreas step to dismantle the nuclear test site was an important step taken by the DPRK which was worth acknowledging and encouraging. We recognise the series of positive actions taken by the DPRK this year. That act was supposed to signal North Koreas willingness to negotiate with the US over denuclearisation at the June 12 meeting. But even as North Korea carried out the destruction of the nuclear test site, North Korea and Washington remained poles apart over the pace of any road to denuclearisation, with North Korea wanting a staged approach and the US pushing for complete denuclearisation before any concessions were made.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Washington on Wednesday, had earlier urged the US to attend the summit, saying "if you want peace, now is the time" at a joint press conference with Pompeo. But Trump had recently expressed his suspicion that China had been behind a "change in attitude from Kim Jong-un" and said Chinese President Xi Jinping was a "world class poker player". Kim met with Xi for a second time earlier this month. But Chinese spokesman, Lu Kang said Chinas role had been positive and consistent in the talks.
Punggye-ri: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made good on his promise to demolish his country's nuclear test site, which was formally closed in a series of huge explosions on Thursday as a small group of foreign journalists watched.

A guard stands at the doors of the west tunnel at North Korea's nuclear test site shortly before the tunnel was blown up during a media tour. Credit:AP

The explosions at the test site deep in the mountains of the North's sparsely populated north-east were supposed to build confidence ahead of a planned summit next month between Kim and US President Donald Trump. But Trump cancelled the meeting on Thursday anyway.

The blasts were centered on three tunnels at the underground site and a number of buildings in the surrounding area. North Korea held a closing ceremony afterward with officials from its nuclear arms program in attendance.
Taking a leaf from South Korean diplomatic tactics, North Korea even praised Trump, saying, "We have appreciated the fact that President Trump has attempted to make a courageous decision that no other presidents could have made in the past". So what next? Given the tone of North Korea's response, which breaks the cycle of tit-for-tat fire and brimstone, at least for the time being, it is likely the summit will eventually go ahead, analysts believe. But it is also likely the meeting will be delayed, and it is far from certain that the expectation gap between the US and North Korea can be bridged. The meeting may still take place after Kim Jong-un was surprisingly conciliatory. Credit:AP The main difference remains what exactly denuclearisation looks like.

Pusan University's Robert Kelly told CNN that "postponement is not necessarily a bad thing ... the whole thing was being thrown together too fast". Kelly said the delay would allow experts to work out areas of consensus between North Korea and the US and devise a framework for denuclearisation before Trump and Kim meet. Commemmorative coin minted for the occasion of the now-cancelled Trump-Kim meeting. Veteran North Korea watchers had questioned whether Trump, surrounded by a new circle of top advisers, was prepared for a meeting. The role of US ambassador to South Korea remains vacant, with former Pacific Commander Harry Harris formally nominated by Trump only a day prior to summit's cancellation. Chen Xiaohe of Renmin University's School in International Studies in Beijing agreed that the preparation time for the summit, only three months since Trump agreed to it, was too short.

"The two governments have struggled to iron out their differences and forge a minimum consensus," Chen wrote in the Chinese media. He said ratcheting tensions in the past fortnight had exposed the "awkward diplomatic skills" of both sides. Trump was too eager to make history, even minting commemorative coins, while North Korean diplomats undermined the goodwill gestures North Korea had made  releasing hostages and destroying its nuclear test site  by their bellicose rhetoric in recent days. What went wrong? North Korea said on Friday that its recent anger was "just a reaction to the unbridled remarks made by the US side which has long pressed the DPRK to unilaterally scrap its nuclear program ahead of the DPRK-US summit". North Korean analysts also watched the public comments by Trump's inner circle in the past week with alarm.

The world's TV cameras had captured the moment Kim Jong-un stepped across onto South Korean soil on April 27 at the historic inter-Korean summit, which resulted in a declaration by the two Korean leaders that they would work toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsular and a peace treaty. But a new appointment in Washington, national security advisor John Bolton, known to favour regime change in North Korea, began pushing a hard line  North Korea must completely denuclearise before the summit, similar to the 2003 Libyan model. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and vice president Mike Pence publicly echoed the threat that, unless North Korea agreed to US terms it could also face Libya's end. This is short hand for regime change. North Korea began to cancel meetings. Then on Thursday, North Korean vice foreign minister Choe Son-hui labelled Pence "a political dummy" and threatened a "nuclear to nuclear showdown".

Pusan National University's Robert Kelly says the call for North Korea to agree to rapid denuclearisation was "such an obvious non-starter with North Korea  they'll never go for upfront ... that's how Gaddafi met his end'." MIT nuclear expert Vipin Narang wrote in a tweet on Friday: "If that was the private demand it was sabotage. Was. Never. Going. To. Happen." William Perry, the former US defence secretary who negotiated with North Korea in the 1990s, said the only way to address North Korea's security concerns was a step-by-step approach to giving up the nuclear arsenal that was Kim's only security guarantee, rather than economic inducements. How serious is North Korea? Pompeo said in Washington, after Trump's letter cancelling the meeting was released, that US officials attempting to prepare for the summit had received no response from North Korea, and even a no-show at a recent meeting.
BRU, BAUST sign MoU

Prof Dr Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur and Brigadier General Md Lutfar Rahman of Bangladesh Army University of Science and Technology, Syedpur shaking hands after signing a MoU at the latter\'s office recently.

Campus Report :

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Begum Rokeya University (BRU), Rangpur and Bangladesh Army University of Science and Technology (BAUST), Syedpur at the Vice- chancellor's office of BAUST in Syedpur recently.

Vice-chancellors, Prof Dr Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah of BRU and Brigadier General Md Lutfar Rahman of BAUST, Syedpur signed the agreement on behalf of their respective universities, said a press release.

Signing of the MoU will pave the opportunity for teachers and students of the two universities in exchanging their research, education and cultural activities and organise various workshops.

Registrar of BAUST Dr Md Moazzem Hossain, its Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Dr Md Mamunur Rashid, Director (Finance) AKM Sirajul Islam, Additional Registrar and Proctor Major Md Mizanur Rahman (Retd), Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Ashrafunnahar Pinky, Head of Department of Business Administration Mohammad Bin Amin and Head of the Department of Statistics of BRUR Md Rashidul Islam other officials of the universities, among others, were present.
Washington: A Russian oligarch with links to the Kremlin met US President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen at Trump Tower in New York less than two weeks before Trump's inauguration, a source familiar with the meeting has said.

During a discussion in Cohen's office, located on the skyscraper's 26th floor, 11 days before the inauguration, Cohen and Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg talked about improving relations between Moscow and Washington and arranged to meet again at the inauguration, the New York Times first reported.

Viktor Vekselberg attends the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in St Petersburg, Russia, on Friday. Credit:AP

The paper quoted Andrew Intrater, an American who attended the meeting and manages investments for Vekselberg.

The source, who asked for anonymity as private conversations were being discussed, confirmed the New York Times' account by telephone.
Hair, the classic musical by James Rado, Gerome Ragni, and Galt MacDermot, will be NBC's 2019 musical broadcast, presented on an unspecified date next spring. Hair Live will be executive produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who have executive produced each of NBC's live musicals since The Sound of Music.

With book and lyrics by Rado and Ragni, and music by MacDermot, Hair features a score including musical numbers such as "Let the Sun Shine In," "Aquarius," "Hair," and "Good Morning Starshine."

The musical premiered at the Public Theater in 1967 and tells the story of a group of hopeful, free-spirited young people who advocate a lifestyle of pacifism and free love in a society riddled with intolerance and brutality during the Vietnam War.
Road Trip: New NACS Study; Inside The Car What People Do, Eat and Argue About

SEE ALSO: Edsel Content Archive

Navigating Summer Road Trips

ALEXANDRIA, Va. May 24, 2018; Are we there yet? is a phrase associated with boring summer road trips; however, a new study shatters that myth, as it shows that 69% of people say traveling to their destination is often as fun as the actual vacation destination. The Summer Drive Study by NACS (a trade association that represents the convenience store industry) provides a glimpse into the typical Americans car during a summer road trip  including what they eat, why they argue and how they spend time.

Convenience stores sell 80% of the gas purchased in the country and serve 165 million customers every day for drinks, snacks, meals and other convenience items.

The survey reveals that most vacationers will travel by cars (85%), followed by airplanes (36%) and trains (8%). Long hours dont deter road trippers; of those traveling by car, the highest percentage of Americans plan to travel 12 or more hours round trip (32%), followed by 4-6 hours (24%), 7-11 hours (23%) and 0-3 hours (21%).

Whats going on inside the car?

The tight quarters involved in car travel may promote activities that are more communal in nature. Listening to music, audiobooks or podcasts (78%) and talking with other passengers (62%) are the most popular activities cited by car travelers. Notably, solitary activities such as playing video games or smartphone games (25%) or using social media apps (24%) are much less popular activities, making summer road trips good options for families hoping to spend some quality time together.

Why are they arguing? While most survey respondents enjoy road trips, arguments are inevitable. Most conflicts revolve around the kids -- their arguing or being fidgety accounts for 45% of disagreements. Other areas of conflict include: what to listen to (29%), temperature inside the car (28%), and where or when to stop (27%).

So who wins their arguments? When asked who wins these disagreements, most survey respondents said that they reign victorious. And road trips also are a safe haven from ever-present political discussions: only 16% of Americans say they argue about politics on road trips.

Why do they stop along the way? The top three reasons people stop during summer drives are to use the bathroom (96%), get gas (95%), or buy food or drinks (91%). A distant fourth reason is to see a landmark or attraction (68%).

Theres only one place that can satisfy all three of the top reasons for stopping during a road trip: a convenience store, says Jeff Lenard, NACS vice president of strategic industry initiatives. From restrooms and fuel pumps to indulgent snacks and healthy options, you can stop once and make everyone happy. And that can certainly make a road trip more fun.

Where do road trippers stop? In determining where to stop along the drive, consumers cited several factors: convenient location (93%), clean restrooms (89%), fuel prices (87%), a trusted or known brand (76%), fresh food options (70%), a wide selection of beverages (66%) and a wide selection of snacks (66%).

How are they planning? Overall, 68% of Americans say they are likely to take a trip this summerwith 47% of them planning to take multiple trips. Overall, 58% are already actively planning their vacations.

Consumers are split on the impact of rising gas prices on summer travel. Half (50%) say gas prices have no effect on the amount of travel they expect to do, while 43% say they expect gas prices will cause them to take fewer road trips this summer.

What do people indulge on during their summer drive?

Many Americans break their normal purchasing habits while on vacation. Travelers indicate that when they are on summer vacation, they are likely to splurge on salty snacks (41%), sweets (36%), and drinks (33%) they dont normally consume.

The survey was conducted online by PSB (Penn Schoen Berland); 1,501 U.S. adults who purchase fuel for a vehicle such as a car, truck or van at least once per month were surveyed May 7-11, 2018. Summary results from the Summer Drive Study are at convenience.org/summer2018.
Harvey Weinstein. Photo: Yann Coatsaliou/AFP/Getty Images

Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to the New York Police Department on rape and other charges today.

Per the Manhattan District Attorneys office, Weinstein has been charged with rape in the first and third degrees and a criminal sexual act in the first degree. A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that the criminal sex act charge is related to Lucia Evans, who says that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004.

Weinsteins sexually abusive behavior had been rumored for years, but it wasnt until reports from the New York Times and The New Yorker were published last October that the allegations finally came to light, prompting the NYPD and the Manhattan DAs office to open a criminal investigation. Dozens of women have also since come forward with their own stories about Weinstein.

Weinstein left the precinct smiling a few hours after he arrived on Thursday morning.

This post has been updated throughout.
ULAB, BIAC sign MoU

Prof Imran Rahman, Special Advisor to the ULAB Board of Trustees and Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, Chief Executive Officer of BIAC posing for a photo shoot after signing a MoU at ULAB Chancellery at Dhanmondi in the capital on Wednesday.

Campus Report :

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) and Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC) signs Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday at ULAB Chancellery at Dhanmondi in the capital. Prof Imran Rahman, Special Advisor to the ULAB Board of Trustees and Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, Chief Executive Officer of BIAC signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) tools such as mediation and arbitration are used around the world to enhance Access to Justice by providing an avenue to obtain amicable and expeditious settlement prioritizing party autonomy. Internationally ADR is the default process for dispute resolution after exhausting which the disputes are filed in courts. Given the huge backlog of cases pending in our courts it has become essential to introduce ADR in the country.

By virtue of this MoU, the parties agree to explore areas of making ADR more effective in the country by introducing the students to ADR methods and skills, jointly organizing awareness programs and events and engage in research activities to promote the use of ADR in the country.

This is the first time BIAC is entering into a cooperation agreement with an educational institution in the country and is delighted to be signing with ULAB. BIAC is the country's first and only, licensed and registered not-for-profit ADR institution and ULAB is the country's leading private university.

From ULAB, Prof Dr HM Jahirul Haque (Vice Chancellor) Prof Milan Kumar Bhattacharjee (Treasurer), Prof Akhter Ahmed (Registrar), Asif Uddin Ahmed (Assistant Professor and Director, MBA Program) and Sajid Amit (Director, Executive MBA & Center for Enterprise and Society) were present. From BIAC MA Akmall Hossain Azad, Director, Mahbuba Rahman Runa (Senior Counsel) and Rubaiya Ehsan (Counsel) were present in the signing ceremony.


Shooting at Indiana Middle School, Several Victims Reported

At least two people were injured after gunfire erupted at an Indiana middle school on Friday morning, May 25.

Two victims in the Noblesville West Middle School shooting were taken to hospitals in Indianapolis and families were notified, The Associated Press reported. The suspect is believed to have acted alone.

Police said the victims are a student and a teacher, ABC News reported.

The school is located about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis, the capital and largest city in Indiana.

A secondary threat was reported at Noblesville High School, Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt told ABC. We have not received any information that this has been anything other than a communicated threat, Jowitt said. We are securing the high school and taking steps to make sure that it stays secure.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is from Indiana, was previously the states governor, and tweeted that he is praying for the victims.

To everyone in the Noblesville communityyou are on our hearts and in our prayers, he wrote on Twitter. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.

Gov. Eric Holcomb said hes monitoring the situation closely.

Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation, Holcomb tweeted.

The police chief said the school, attended by more than 1,350 students, has been cleared, but he did not provide details of the incident.

The situation is contained, he said, Reuters reported.

A student interviewed by WTTV said the shooter entered a science class and the teacher swatted a gun away from the shooter.

This is surreal, Chad Lancaster, a parent, told the Indianapolis Star. This happens in high school, not here.

The incident occurred a week after a 17-year-old high school student in Santa Fe, Texas, near Houston shot and killed eight classmates and two teachers.

Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana. To everyone in the Noblesville community  you are on our hearts and in our prayers. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) May 25, 2018

Speaker Bosma, Pro Tem Long & I are monitoring the situation at Noblesville West MS on plane to Indy from Europe. @indstatepolice are working with local responders & will offer all assistance needed. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation.  Eric Holcomb (@GovHolcomb) May 25, 2018

Reuters contributed to this report.

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All Eyes Still on Korean Peninsula

Three generations of Kims have believed that nuclear weapons would ensure their Stalinist monarchys survival. Although successive U.S. administrations have tried to thwart North Koreas dangerous trajectory, two decades of multilateral diplomacy have failed to contain the Kims.

Viewing nuclear weapons as their only means of defending themselves, they violated freezes, andwhen caughtrefused international monitoring and verification.

A pre-emptive attack to take out the DPRKs nuclear program was never likely to succeed; the risk of catastrophic war was also great.

Writing in Time, Victor Cha, former director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, says the party-state in China has played a lengthy smoke-and-mirrors game on North Koreatrapping the United States into pre-doomed negotiations. Beijing, reluctant to enforce sanctions, funded the regime through back channels, allowing its state-owned companies and banks to deal with Pyongyang.

Read More The Enigma of North Korea

Last month, as the world knows, Kim Jong-un announced the conclusion of the nuclear testing program and the intended shuttering of the Punggye-ri complex as part of a phased, synchronized denuclearization.

He then engaged in a preliminary summit with Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon Jae-in at Panmunjom.

Steps to dismantle the nuclear testing site are soon supposed to begin, with journalists from selected countries invited to watch tunnels being collapsed by explosives.

Only when the dismantlement process has been fully verified should the international community consider lifting economic sanctions.

Zhao Tong, a non-proliferation expert at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing writes in the South China Morning Post that Pyongyang could easily disguise its nuclear facilities as regular industrial plants, thus turning the clearing of nuclear weapons into a lethal game of hide-and-seek.

The Trump administration, favoring the Libyan optionquick and total dismantlingsays it will encourage the regime to choose between nuclear weapons and regime survival. Kim Jong-un is unlikely to agree to any state of affairs that will put him behind bars.

Victor Cha urges Washington to:

not re-enter a negotiations as long as Beijing insists on maintaining at least 80 percent to 85 percent of North Koreas trade. The DPRK would be better served by increasing significantly its trade with the West, which means wrestling more of its trade away from China.

persuade Beijing to pay for the denuclearization of North Korea. Chinas payments designed to prop up Pyongyang must be tied directly to nuclear inspections and denuclearization, but not to Chinas economic interests.

name and shame Chinese nationalssuch as four named by the Justice Department in 2016who conspire to evade U.S. economic sanctions and facilitate dollar transactions for a sanctioned entity in North Korea.

Despite setbacks, the historic first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader is still set to occur on June 12, although North Korea has threatened to cancel.

Assuming the meeting goes forward, Donald Trumps and Kim Jong-uns success depends on making changes palatable to a range of mutually incompatible audiences: China, whose decision to support the international sanctions against Pyongyang was a contributing factor in Kim Jong-un seeking talks on the issue; the Republic of Korea (ROK); Japan,; Taiwan; Russia; and Iran, the DPRKs most significant strategic partner.

If the hermit kingdom is finally ready to join the international community, it must also consider human dignity and freedom. Benedict Rogers, a human rights activist specializing in Asia, urges Mr. Kim to renounce his prison camps. People have been jailed, tortured or executed . The atrocities committed by (the Kims) (must not be) swept under the carpet. The U.N. Commission of Inquiry  has recommended that Kim Jong-uns crimes be called to account at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Once Kim ends the prison camps, well know that he is serious about positive change. If an olive branch is offered, it shouldnt be turned away after 65 years of a state of war. A formal end to the Korean War will enable a range of other normalization processes to occur on the peninsula.

A Helsinki-style process would put human rights clearly at the center of discussions alongside denuclearization. True peace without addressing human rights is impossible. Just as with Reagan, Thatcher, and the Helsinki process with the Soviet Union, the issue of human rights should be an equal basket issue alongside security. The 1975 Helsinki Accords helped bring down the Iron Curtain. The same approach could work now in North Korea.

Kurt Campbell, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs writes in the South China Morning Post that Chinese assertiveness, North Korean provocations, Japanese anxieties and South Korean political turmoil have swirled dangerously across Northeast Asia. American leadership, therefore, is vital to the stability and prosperity of the cockpit of the global economy.

A Helsinki approach, no nukes in exchange for trade favors from the West, and support for Korean reintegration, might well be the best way forward.

David Kilgour, a lawyer by profession, served in Canadas House of Commons for almost 27 years. In Jean Chretiens Cabinet, he was secretary of state (Latin America and Africa) and secretary of state (Asia-Pacific). He is the author of several books and co-author with David Matas of Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Lei Zhiqiang, former chairman of the Rural Credit Cooperative (an agency that issues credit) of Gansu Province, China. (New Tang Dynasty Television)

An Official Obtained $1.44 Billion in Illicit Assets in Poverty-Stricken Area of China

A low-level official from Gansu Province had raked in 9.2 billion yuan ($1.44 billion) from his graft crimes, according to a May 14 report by Chinese business publication Caixin Weekly. When his property was confiscated, two truckloads-full of cultural relics and antiquespurchased with money he had obtained illegallywere found in his home.

When investigators from the Chinese Communist Partys anti-corruption agency confiscated his home, they found that Lei Zhiqiang, former chairman of the Rural Credit Cooperative (an agency that issues credit) of Gansu Province, lived a very extravagant life, an insider source told Caixin Weekly.

The source said that Beijings top officials were shocked that such a serious corruption could be committed by a low-level official in Gansu Province, an economically underdeveloped area located in northwestern China.

During the investigation, Lei himself revealed that he had obtained more than 200 million yuan ($31.3 million) of illicit money, which had not yet been investigated by authorities. The grand total of 9 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) was hidden among financial accounts that were not under his name, according to the Caixin report.

Charges against Lei were brought by the Qingyang City prosecutors office in February. The prosecutors office alleged that Lei used his public post to accept huge amounts of bribes, amassing assets of unknown origin.

Lei Zhiqiang, born in February 1958 in Wushan County, Gansu Province, was previously deputy mayor of Tianshui City, secretary of the citys party committee, and director of the finance bureau. The Partys anti-corruption agency announced that Lei was under investigation in April 2017.

NTD staff member Li Ming contributed to this report.

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Armed Civilian Shoots, Kills Gunman Who Opened Fire at Oklahoma Restaurant

Multiple people have been injured after a gunman opened fire at an Oklahoma City restaurant on Thursday, May 24. He was fatally shot by an armed civilian, police have said.

The Oklahoma City Police Department said in a statement that a man walked into a Louies Grill and Bar restaurant at Lake Hefner and open fired with a gun around 6:30 p.m. local time on Thursday. Four people were injured, with two sustaining gunshot wounds.

A civilian with a pistol confronted the gunman outside the restaurant and fatally shot him.

The two victims who were shot have been taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.

Police said the investigation is currently underway. A large number of witnesses have been detained for questioning.

The incident is under investigation. The shooters motive is unknown and his identity is not yet confirmed. The victims are expected to survive. More details will be provided later.  Oklahoma City Police (@OKCPD) May 25, 2018

The shooters motive is unknown and his identity is not yet confirmed, police said in a tweet.

Oklahoma City Police Public Information Officer Bo Matthews said in a press conference after the shooting that two female customers are among the injured, reported ABC News.

Police said there is no longer an active threat.

*UPDATE 1* There is no longer an active threat in the area of Britton/Hefner Pkwy. Officers will be investigating into the morning hrs. Continue to avoid area.  Oklahoma City Police (@OKCPD) May 25, 2018

No further details are immediately available.

This is a developing story. Please check back for details.

From NTD.tv

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People pray in front of figures of Santa Muerte, or Saint Death, condemned by the Catholic church as Satanic, in Mexico on Feb. 7, 2016. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images)

Body Parts Market Tied to Murder, Ritual Sacrifice

Editors Note: This article contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.

There is a billion-dollar market for human body parts that, unlike the organ transplant market, is largely unregulated. Human heads, limbs, torsos, and everything else from arteries to fingernails are being traded by U.S. body brokers internationally.

Most of the bodies originating in the United States are donated and allegedly used for medical, scientific, and military research. The FBI raided several of these broker companies recently, including the Michigan-based International Biological Inc. and the Arizona-based Biological Resource Center, where investigators found diseased body parts being dishonestly bought, sold, and shipped abroad.

In the even darker corners of the trade, however, are issues involving African witchcraft markets, gangs that kill adults and children to sell their body parts, and even baby factories where infants are trafficked and used for human sacrifice.

The BBC reported on April 26 that a baby factory was raided in Lagos, Nigeria, where women were either coerced to give up their infants or raped to be impregnated. It states such factories are not uncommon for Nigerian authorities to raid, and that the babies can be sold for adoption, used for child labor, or trafficked to Europe for prostitution or killed for ritual purposes.

In Kenya, similar issues are surfacing. A May 17 article from Kenyan newspaper The Standard states that gangs are no longer just murdering adults and children to sell their body parts to local witch doctors. Now, even individuals in the fields of medical research are suspected of purchasing body parts of people who were murdered for the business.

Among the cases mentioned is that of former pathologist Moses Njue, who is accused of illegally removing the hearts and kidneys of two bodies that were purchased for research. Njue is accused of destroying the organs, since they are key to tracing poisoning or establishing whether a person died of natural causes.

Kenyans are also being warned by the World Health Organization about certain U.S. companies involved in the human organ trade. It points to a U.S.-based global kidney exchange program, which the article states expressed an interest in securing donors from Kenya, which WHO noted was a move to exploit poor nations.

An April 28 alert from the Council of Europe Committee on Organ Transplantation issues a similar warning against the exchange program, on grounds that the human body and its parts shall not give rise to financial gain or comparable advantage, noting that the programs attempts to source organs from impoverished countries puts vulnerable individuals at risk of exploitation.

The incidents raise many questions not only about how the bodies of murdered individuals are finding their way into markets, but also on the lack of laws and oversight on the trade of human bodies.

According to Robert J. Bunker, adjunct research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute at U.S. Army War College, cases of ritual murder and the use of human body parts in dark magico-religious activities are still relatively common in certain cultures, as well as among Islamic terrorists and some transnational criminal gangs.

According to Bunker, the use of human sacrifice is part of the left-hand path of dark magico-religious activities, which vary in form depending on the group.

These practices are not uncommon in animistic-based cultures in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa, in which witch doctors are considered imbued with great magico-religious power, he said in an email, adding that often the victims are albino children.

In Mexico, many drug cartels and criminal gangs have begun adopting various forms of satanic and dark-occult worship, with the most common being the worship of the recently created Santa Muerte, or Saint Death. The skeleton saint has become the second most popular figure of worship in Mexico, after Saint Judas.

Bunker noted that ritual killings linked to Santa Muerte worship have been carried out in Mexico by the Los Zetas drug cartel. They appear to have focused on the taking of headsalthough questionable homicides have taken place in which the hearts of victims have also been removed, he said, adding that some members of the MS-13 criminal gang has also been tied to ritual killings for Saint Death.

Quite recently, some MS-13 gang members have also engaged in these practices, such as in one incident taking place in Houston in February 2017, he said, noting other ritual sacrifice cases in which heads and spinal columns were recovered.

While body parts sold internationally may be used in dark magico-religious activities, Bunker noted that in the United States, the financial motivation for gangs to kill for the market is still relatively low. He added, however, that the killing of someone for left-handed path rituals would be a different matter, as would deviant sexual and serial killing-motivated types of incidents, as the basis of these actions is of an extreme criminal nature to begin with.
Police Accidentally Gave Evidence to Congress Hacking Suspects Attorney Instead of Prosecutor

The Capitol Police turned over a trove of evidence in the alleged Imran Awan House cyberbreach and theft case to the defense attorneys when they were supposed to deliver it to prosecutors instead, according to court documents and a source.

And hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation asked prosecutors about the disclosure, Awans lawyer said he had learned of the forthcoming story from a source on Capitol Hill. TheDCNF had not told anyone other than prosecutors about it.

The cop came to [Awans defense attorney] Chris Gowens office with a stack of papers  Then he came back and said, I thought you guys were the other party. He was very, very angry. But Gowen made copies, the source, whos familiar with The Awans, told TheDCNF.

Awan, three relatives and a friend ran IT for one in five House Democrats and could read all their emails and files until they were banned on Feb. 2, 2017, for numerous violations of House security policies. The violations alleged by the House Office of Inspector General include logging into the House Democratic Caucus server thousands of times without authorization. This allegedly occurred during the same period in 2016 the DNC was hacked.

Prosecutor Michael Marando alluded to the disclosure of evidence in court on Oct. 6, 2017.

Earlier this week, there was the inadvertent disclosure of law enforcement materials to defense counsel, Marando told the judge. There may be a motion on that.

Another disclosure may have occurred after TheDCNF emailed the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for comment on this story. Three hours after spokesman Bill Miller was contacted, Gowen emailed TheDCNF.

I hear you are writing another article about me  I assume you dont want to fact check it? Gowen wrote. From what I hear, you have it totally wrong as usual.

TheDCNF had not told anyone other than the spokesman about an upcoming story involving Gowen. TheDCNF followed up with Miller to ask if prosecutors had provided that information to Gowen.

Im not going to get into what we do internally, but I really dont know why that would be the case, Miller told TheDCNF. I communicate with the prosecutors regularly when I get media inquiries.

Gowen  a former aide to failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton  said he learned of the story through someone on Capitol Hill. I have been told by my source on the Hill, he said.

If true, this would imply congressional staff, or possibly even members, are feeding information to the attorney of a hacking suspect.

Awan exclusively worked for Democrats, including Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who formerly headed the DNC and whose brother is an assistant U.S. attorney in the D.C. office.

Republicans have told TheDCNF theyve been led to believe they must stay out of the investigation. On Thursday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said, I dont want to get into the details of a police investigation.

Democrats, meanwhile, have publicly underscored the importance of cybersecurity, expressing outrage at what they say is President Donald Trumps involvement with the 2016 hack on the DNC.

Awan and his wife, Hina Alvi, have been charged with bank fraud for gathering $300,000 and wiring it to Pakistan. Prosecutors said based on the suspicious timing of that transaction, Awan and Alvi likely knew they were under investigation at the time they made that transfer.

It could be an offense punishable by jail time for Awan if he sought help from members. Any former senior congressional staffer, who within 1 year after the termination of that employment, communicates with his former office to seek[] action by a Member, officer, or employee can be jailed for a year. Awan and his brothers were among the highest-paid in Congress.

Gowen said the evidence inadvertently disclosed to his office was a copy of a laptop Awans former tenant, Laurel Everly, turned in to the Capitol Police in hopes of seeing whether Awan had hacked her. Everly previously complained of her landlords allegedly suspicious behavior and called him an extortionist.

I was told there was nothing on it and was a giant waste of time, and the laptop was returned, Gowen told TheDCNF.

On Oct. 6, 2017, prosecutors wrote: During the course of this voluminous discovery, the Government might inadvertently produce material that is not subject to the Governments discovery obligations or that was not intended to be produced in a particular form. In such circumstances, the Government requests that the Proposed Protective Order require the defendant to return all copies of such material to the Government.

Gowen didnt say whether he returned all the material when TheDCNF asked.

Nonetheless, prosecutors said in court documents filed on May 3 that the parties are currently exploring a possible resolution of the criminal charges against Imran.

Everly previously told TheDCNF that she believed Awan was a national security threat and that she had a duty to assist in his prosecution by providing evidence, however small. But she also said she worried that Awan would somehow wind up with even more information about her.

Numerous fellow IT aides in the House who say they have knowledge of misconduct involving Awan  and in some cases, his relationship with members  have expressed to TheDCNF reluctance to come forward, citing similar fears. They said they perceive that prosecutors will not pursue the leads vigorously and that the Awans and Democrats will learn about their allegations and become angered.

Id do it if the right thing would happen, one said. But its going to be all risk, no reward  If they actually wanted to pursue this case, they would have approached me.

The director of investigations for conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, Chris Farrell, said the disclosures are disgraceful and amateurish. What were the consequences for this misconduct? Who was disciplined or fired?

Capitol Polices role appears to be to bury, constrain and minimize the Awan case and points to the need for a legitimate, full investigation by a competent law enforcement agency, he continued.

The Houses Inspector General  an internationally renowned cybersecurity expert  found that the Awans made unauthorized access to House servers, were taking data off the House network and were covering their tracks.

But the investigation now is under the purview of prosecutors, the FBI and Capitol Police.

More than a year later, no one has been charged with anything in the IG reports.

The only reason youre not seeing charges is because the Democrats who employed him are not cooperating, a senior Republican congressional official with direct knowledge of the probe told TheDCNF.

Farrell said This matter is too serious to be left to political operatives.

Prosecutors have said they have turned over voluminous discovery to Awan and his lawyers. A court filing shows that documents turned over include a copy of the hard drive of a government laptop with the username RepDWS  placing the contents of a government computer in Awans hands even though he was banned from the House computer network as a security risk.

It is unclear why prosecutors would give over evidence in the House matter because Awan and Alvi have not been charged with any wrongdoing in the cyber probe. Defendants are entitled to evidence to defend themselves against specific charges in court.

Capitol Police declined to execute search warrants on the Awans homes when the chief administrative officer notified the Committee on House Administration in December 2016 that the House Democratic Caucus server  at the time a key piece of evidence in the cybersecurity probe  had disappeared.

Police told Capitol Hill staff in June 2017 that they had no plans to conduct any more interviews  even though many of Awans colleagues in House IT told TheDCNF that they believed they had knowledge of wrongdoing but were never approached. Despite that, Administration Chairman Gregg Harper continued to defer to prosecutors, telling TheDCNF in April 2018 that this is still in the hands of the Department of Justice.

Republicans on Capitol Hill said, despite Democrats publicly saying they abhor cyberbreaches such as the DNC hack, prosecutors may be bowing to Democrats wishes to avoid a trial at which members of Congress would be forced to testify about their relationship with the Awans and the IGs allegation many failed to take cybersecurity seriously in their own offices.

An attorney for Imrans brother, Abid Awan, previously said there was a shocking lack of IT and hardware security on Capitol Hill, while another lawyer for Imran alleged that congressmen wanted the Awans to falsify financial documents.

Gowen said prosecutors have repeatedly asked Imrans legal team to respond to TheDCNFs reporting, according to a May 4 Fox News article.

We are trying to be as helpful as possible to law enforcement to provide them any information or access they need, Gowen told Fox.

After House officials flagged allegedly fraudulent financial records and unauthorized server access, law enforcement began monitoring the Awans in late 2016. During that period, the following occurred, all without triggering arrests or searches of their homes:

A server containing evidence allegedly disappeared;

Awan and his wife both left the country without apprehension  his wife with $12,000 in cash and after refusing to speak to FBI agents at the gate;

Awan left a congressional laptop with the username RepDWS in a phone booth two months after he was banned from the House computer network, according to a Capitol Police report; and

The Awans stepmother called the police on the Awans and said in court documents that Imran had wiretapped her and was trying to use her to gain access to money overseas.

Awan wasnt arrested until July 2017 and was charged only with the alleged bank fraud, which occurred six months prior.

Farrell said the repeated delays in the case indicate that prosecutors may be looking to make it go away as quietly as possible  even if it means accepting a plea deal to far more minor or even unrelated crimes  in order to keep the case out of public court where Democratic congressmen might have to testify.

Kendra Arnold, a lawyer with the Foundation for Accountability & Civic Trust, said: If he was Joe Smith from Idaho this is not how the prosecution would be proceeding.

Follow Luke on Twitter. Send tips to luke@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. PGP key.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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Corrupt Chinese Official Launders Money Through Banks in Hong Kong

Chinas state-run media recently reported on the ongoing trial of a corrupt official and revealed how he was able to launder bribes he received through banks in Hong Kong allowing him to escape scrutiny from the authorities and more easily receive bribes from Chinese businessmen.

Huang Boqing, former deputy mayor of Huizhou, a city in southern Chinas Guangdong Province, had accepted bribes totaling 200 million yuan (about $31 million) during his 23- year-political career in Guangdong, reported the Chinese regimes state-run media Xinhua on May 23.

Huang received his first bribe in 1992 when he was a finance director in the Huizhou government. He received an envelope with 50,000 yuan (about $7,832) in cash while traveling to nearby Hong Kongwhich has a separate legal and government system from mainland Chinafor business. From then until 2014, he had used his positions to provide kickbacks to those who bribed him, including green-lighting projects in real estate development, land acquisition, hydraulic projects, sand mining, and even issuing job promotions within the local government.

He also helped his son, Huang Hui, become a representative of Guangdong for Chinas rubber-stamp legislature, and later a member of a local countys Peoples Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body.

Businessmen also bribed the younger Huang so they curry favor with the elder Huang. In 2003, the younger Huang received 4.4 million HKD (about $560,660) from a businessman, money meant for him to buy a housing unit in Hong Kong. After getting help from the elder Huang with his business, in 2010, Mr. Gu, the owner of a sand mining company, turned over 30 percent of the companys stocks to the younger Huang as a token of appreciation.

The younger Huang eventually was able to obtain permanent resident status in Hong Kong, and opened several bank accounts to help launder money that his father received as bribes.

In April 2015, Huang was placed under investigation for corruption, and four months later, he was disciplined by shuangkai, meaning he had been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and stripped of his official title.

In July 2015, the younger Huang was arrested by police in Shenzhen.

On Nov. 21, 2016, Guangzhous Peoples Intermediate Court opened trial for Huang. It is not known whether Huang and his son have been officially sentenced.

Aside from Huang, two other graft cases involving CCP officials have grabbed headlines this month. On May 14, Zhao Wanchou, former coal bureau chief in northern Chinas Shanxi Province, was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of amassing 100 million yuan (about $17.3 million) in bribes.

On May 19, Chinese media revealed that Lei Zhiqiang, former finance bureau chief and deputy mayor of Tianshui, a city in Gansu Province, had obtained illicit assets topping about 9.2 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion). Leis case has been considered especially stunning given how Gansu is one of the poorest provinces in China.
ORGANIsATION SNIPPET

City Desk :

Debate for Democracy

A debate competition titled "Jukti Aloy Dekhi" for the visually impaired students organised by Debate for Democracy was held at Bangladesh Film Developmemt Corporation (BFDC) in the city's Tejgaon. Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam BSc was present as the chief guest in the programme held recently. While speaking Nurul said the government is working for the well-being of the people with differently able. "The physically challenged people are not burden of state. They should be given equal facilities like normal ones," he added. The minister said, "The people with differently able are more sincere than normal people in their workplaces. So, disabled people can make better contribution to the society, if they are given necessary facilities to unlock their inner talent." He laid emphasis on changing mindset of the society as well as family to ensure their involvement in the mainstream of development. Visually impaired students of Chittagong University and Eden Women College took part in the function. The event was also attended, among others, by Chairman of the organisation Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron, Prof Abu Mohammad Rois and other professionals.




The logo of Barclays is seen on the top of one of its branch in Madrid, Spain, March 22, 2016. (Reuters/Sergio Perez/File Photo)

Foreign Banks Flex Muscles in Australia as Locals Reel From Scandals

HONG KONG/SYDNEYForeign banks are circling Australia once more as they bet on resources and infrastructure investment gathering pace at a time when local banks are distracted by a government inquiry following a string of scandals.

Some, like Barclays, are plotting a return to the market, which holds some $3.5 trillion in banking assets and whose banks are among the most profitable in the world, just two years after an abrupt exit.

Besides Barclays, Dutch lender ABN AMRO expects to launch onshore banking operations in Australia in the second half, an executive said, while Italys Intesa Sanpaolo plans to open a branch, a person familiar with the move said.

Paris-based Societe Generale is also planning to re-open a branch in Australia, several years after winding down its local operations.

Bankers and analysts expect more to follow suit.

Attractions include stronger economic growth, an expected pickup in investment in Australias vast resources sector as commodity prices recover, as well as ongoing infrastructure investment and a strong deals market.

We are seeing a lot of European banks who have expertise in new areas such as renewable energy join the market here, whereas initially some of the Australian banks were slow or the return expectations were not to their liking, said Peter Davis, executive director for Asia Pacific corporate and institutional banking at ABN AMRO.

A high-level government inquiry into lenders misconduct also offers an opportunity as it is likely to distract Australias biggest banks, who as a result of the hearings, have already imposed stricter conditions on retail borrowers, bankers said.

I suspect the primary issue will be potential distraction of senior management towards the inquiry and that may mean that they are not as focused on the business as they might have been, Davis said, referring to the inquiry known as a Royal Commission.

Several senior executives have already resigned at firms including Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and wealth manager AMP. Banks face the prospect of further regulation and more revelations as the inquiry continues.

The four largest banksAustralia and New Zealand Banking, CBA, National Australia Bank, and Westpacdominate the local market, accounting for 79 percent of gross loans, according to data from the banking regulator.

Australias syndicated loan market data shows the share going to foreign banks has been rising, a trend that many now expect to gather pace.

While European lenders took 17 percent of the market last year, up from 15 percent in 2015, Chinese banks including Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, saw their share jump to 11 percent from 4 percent.

So far this year, Australian banks had a 40 percent share of the domestic syndicated loan deals compared to 53 percent in 2015, Thomson Reuters LPC data shows.

Two bankers, who declined to be named due to sensitivity of the matter, said Australian regulators were also encouraging the entry of foreign financial firms to dilute the dominance of the countrys large institutions.

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) declined to comment.

Increasing Competition

Some European banks left Australia in the past few years, either as part of global restructurings or due to softening in commodity prices that hit the domestic resources sector.

Leading Australian banks return on equity (ROE), a key measure of profitability, range from 10-15 percent, while most of the European banks operate at less than 10 percent.

A Societe Generale spokeswoman said the bank constantly reviews its set up in Australia to better serve its clients.

Intesa Sanpaolo said in line with the business plan targets presented last February it was weighing boosting its presence in some countries through the opening of corporate branches and representative offices.

These include Australia, where the bank is currently present with the representative office in Sydney, it said.

The return of the Europeans will add to the pressure from Chinese and Japanese rivals, especially in infrastructure financing  an area that has helped Australias Big 4 to grow their loan books in recent months, said Morgans banking analyst Azib Khan.

If these European banks come in and again put downward pressure on loan margins, the (Australian) banks will continue to focus on those high-ROE customer relationships, he said.

The fallout from the inquiry could curtail lending opportunities for all four major Australian banks and hurt earnings growth, credit agencies S&P Global and Moodys Investors Service said this month.

We also see the possibility of banks facing legal action from customers or other stakeholders based on the information coming out of the Royal Commission, which may lead to disruption in business or significant financial costs, S&P said.

Moodys said that the financial impact from the potential penalties would be manageable given the banks very strong profitability.

Shares in the Big 4 have lost a combined A$36 billion ($27 billion) in market value since Nov. 30, the day government called for the inquiry following a string of scandals across the financial sector.

Australia is going through a phase of change in the financial market. There are some large natural resources and infrastructure projects that are in the pipeline, said Paul Early, co-head of Australia for Barclays Capital Asia.

With loan pricing becoming more disciplined and people focusing on doing business in the right way, there is bigger opportunity for onshore foreign banks to expand their market share.

By Sumeet Chatterjee and Paulina Duran

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German Chancellor Merkel Meets With Wife of Detained Human Rights Lawyer, Yu Wensheng

During German Chancellor Angela Merkels visit to China this week, she met with the wife of a currently detained human rights lawyer, Yu Wensheng, according to a Twitter post by fellow lawyer Yao Jianqing.

Yao posted the message on May 24 along with a photo of the two together, noting that they spoke about human rights issues. The news was first reported by Radio Free Asia and Taiwans Central News Agency, among others.

German authorities have not publicized this meeting. Yao also did not provide further details about the meeting.

Merkel was in China to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and talk trade, particularly about barriers German companies face in the Chinese market, as well as intellectual property theft.

But she apparently made time to visit Yus wife, Xu Yan, a rare show of support for the plight of one of Chinas most prominent human rights lawyers.

Yus Work

Yu has represented cases of petitioners, rights activists, and adherents of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice heavily persecuted by the Chinese regime since 1999. He has been detained by Chinese authorities several times for his legal defense work, as well as his vocal criticisms of the Chinese regime.

Most recently, he was arrested on Jan. 19 while walking his child to school. Later, the prosecutors office in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, charged him with inciting subversion of state powera common charge for dissentersand obstructing government administration. He is now detained at the Xuzhou City Detention Center.

Authorities also disbarred him from the legal profession.

Back in January, Germany called on Beijing to release Yu. The countrys commissioner for human rights, Barbel Kofler, wrote a statement noting that Yus rights were guaranteed in the Chinese constitution.

All Yu Wensheng has done is campaign for democratic reforms in China and support fellow citizens who were harassed for exercising their human rights, he said.

Yus lawyers tried to visit him on May 16, but were denied by the detention center, according to Sound of Hope Radio. Yu has not been allowed access to his lawyers since he was arrested.

Meanwhile, his wife, Xu, has repeatedly applied to local authorities to seek information about his case, but to no avail.

In October 2014, when he was arrested by Beijing police and detained for 99 days, Yu spoke to Amnesty International about the torture he endured, including having his arms handcuffed to the back of his chair for long periods of time. My hands had swollen to the point where it felt like a punishment worse than death. The police would constantly pull at my handcuffs, and each time, I would scream terribly, he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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A Police officer stands watch at the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ont. on May 25, 2018. (The Canadian Press/Cole Burston)

Hunt Underway for Two Suspects Connected to Mississauga Blast

MISSISSAUGA, Ont.Police are actively hunting for two suspects believed to be behind an explosion that rocked an Indian restaurant west of Toronto, sending 15 people to hospital, the chief of the investigating force said Friday.

Jennifer Evans of Peel Region police said the investigation into Thursday nights blast at the Bombay Bhel restaurant in Mississauga, Ont., is still in its early stages, but said the incident is not currently believed to be either a hate crime or an act of terrorism.

This is a really serious investigation, Evans said Friday morning at a news conference just outside the plaza where the restaurant was located. We want to take our time, make sure were very methodical in it. So were putting a lot of resources into this right now.

2 suspects attended the scene, detonated an Improvised Explosive Device within the restaurant. Several injured were taken to local hospital and 3 in critical condition were taken to a Toronto Trauma Centre. pic.twitter.com/yzCT59UVN6  Peel Regional Police (@PeelPoliceMedia) May 25, 2018

Evans said the two suspects believed to be behind the incident allegedly walked into the restaurant, located near Hurontario Street and Eglinton Avenue, around 10:30 p.m. on Thursday as two separate groups were holding birthday parties.

The hoodie-clad men were seen carrying an improvised explosive device at the time and then fled the scene in an unidentified vehicle, Evans said.

The resulting explosion injured 15 people ranging in age from 23 to 69, Evans said, adding they were taken to three different hospitals in the area.

While three of those injureda 35-year-old Brampton man, a 48-year-old Mississauga woman, and a 62-year-old Mississauga womanwere originally listed in critical condition, Evans said their condition has since been upgraded to stable. The other 12 victims have since been treated and released, she added.

Evans said children under the age of 10 were present at the time of the explosion, though none of them were hurt.

The presence of youngsters was particularly shocking to Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who said the brazenness of the incident resonated with her as a mother.

It is a heinous, reprehensible act, committed by cowards who would come into a restaurant where people are vulnerable, celebrating with their families, where children are present, Crombie said, visibly shaking as she spoke. Whoever has committed this heinous act needs to answer for their crimes and be brought to justice.

The area outside the plaza remained taped off early Friday morning as police continued the investigation.

Evans said the restaurant sustained significant damage in the explosion, though none was visible from the outside. She did not offer details as to the makeup of the explosive device or where exactly it was detonated.

Andre Larrivee, who lives in a nearby condominium building, said he had been watching television on Thursday night when he heard an explosion.

It was really loud, he said, comparing the noise to an electric generator that had exploded at a nearby construction site recently.

Police have released photos of the two suspects and urged anyone with information to come forward.

Crombie said the Indian Consulate General has set up a hotline for those impacted by the blast and has been in touch with her directly, but said the names of the victims have not yet been released.

Indias minister of external affairs, Sushma Swaraj, tweeted about the blast, saying she was in touch with the Indian High Commissioner in Canada and the Consul General in Toronto about the incident.
Dutch police officer Wilbert Paulissen, head of the National Crime Squad, is pictured next to a damaged missile as he presents interim results in the ongoing investigation of the 2014 MH17 crash that killed 298 people over eastern Ukraine. (Reuters/Francois Lenoir/File Photo)

Netherlands and Australia Hold Russia Legally Responsible for Downing MH17

THE HAGUEThe Netherlands and Australia said on Friday, May 25, they held the Russian state responsible in part for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July 2014 that killed all 298 aboard, and will seek compensation.

MH17 was shot down over territory held by pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014 as it flew from Amsterdam en route to Kuala Lumpur. The victims were from 10 nations and included 193 Dutch and 28 Australian citizens.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said a possible next step would be presenting the case to an international court, though first the Netherlands and Australia would seek a more substantial reaction from Moscow.

It has now been indisputably proven that there is a direct link between the rocket that hit MH17 and the Russian army, Blok told a news conference in The Hague.

We call on Russia to accept its responsibility and cooperate fully with the process to establish the truth and achieve justice for the victims of Flight MH17, he said.

Russia has always denied any involvement, and said on Thursday none of its missile launchers had ever entered Ukrainedespite photographic evidence presented by prosecutors.

Blok said he had spoken by telephone on Friday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. He described Lavrov as standoffish and said Lavrov had repeated that Russia was not responsible.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Friday that Russia had not been a fully-fledged participant in the Dutch investigation and could not therefore trust its findings. When asked if the Kremlin denied allegations of Russian involvement, he said: Absolutely.

The Dutch cabinet made its announcement a day after an interim report by prosecutors investigating the planes destruction said the Buk missile that shot it down came from a launcher in Russias 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade.

Prosecutors stopped short of saying who actually fired the fatal shot.

Russia has not cooperated at all [with the criminal investigation], Blok said.

He said the Netherlands and Australia would seek financial damages but also compensation in form of cooperation.

Blok said that attempts to hold Russia responsible for the planes downing under international law would be a different, parallel process from the ongoing investigation by prosecutors seeking to establish individual criminal responsibility.

By Stephanie van den Berg and Toby Sterling
North Korea May Be Hiding Nuclear Weapons Near Chinese Border, South Korean Media Says

Just before President Donald Trump canceled his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on May 24, news had emerged from South Korea that the North Korean regime recently designated a province near the border to China a special military zone, in order to hide nuclear weapons there.

Citing a high-level source in Pyongyang, South Korean news site Daily NK revealed on May 23 that during a meeting of national security officials last month, Chagang Province, noted for its rugged terrain, was designated a special military-first revolutionary zone.

Although nuclear weapons can be hidden anywhere if they are interested, it seems that the authorities seemed to consider the place where it is difficult to grasp by satellites, the source said, as they could go undetected in the deep mountains. Hiding the nuclear weapons and material there also means the authorities plan to store them in a highly contained facility.

The source added that the mountains of Chagang also contain underground tunnels for Kim, his family, and his top aides exclusive use should they need to escape across the border to China. This news first emerged in 2015. The tunnels are several hundred meters below the surface, though few know the exact locations of them due to the secrecy under which they were built, an inside source in North Korea told Daily NK in December 2015.

When the workers were transported to the tunnel locations to excavate, the windows were blacked out so they had no clue where they were going. When they emerged to do their work, they were blindfolded until they got to the construction site, according to Daily NK.

The most recent Daily NK report noted that checkpoints have already been set up in Chagang Province to restrict the people and vehicles going through. The regime is also planning more ideological indoctrination for the residents there in order to ensure secrets about the region are protected.

New Developments

The news was revealed as international journalists were invited to witness on May 23 the dismantling of North Koreas Punggye-ri nuclear site in North Hamgyong Province.

Previously, Chinese scientists had confirmed that the site was rendered unstable after repeated bomb tests. A nuclear test in September 2017, North Koreas biggest yet, set off a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that caused parts of the site to collapse. The scientists warned that radioactive dust could escape through cracks in the mountain.

A second site, the Yongbyon facility located in North Pyongan Province, has recently halted activities.

But both the United States and South Korea have said they believe the North has additional sites linked to a uranium-enrichment program, as North Korea is rich in uranium ore.

Hours after Punggye-ri was destroyed, Trump announced that he has called off the upcoming summit with Kim scheduled next month.

Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, Trump wrote in a letter to Kim. Please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.

The week before, after visiting Beijing, Kim exhibited a harsher tone and threatened to pull out of the summit. Kim was also incensed by U.S. national security adviser John Boltons suggestion of using Libya as a model of nuclear disarmament. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development program in 2003. He was killed in 2011 by NATO-backed fighters led by then-President Barack Obama.

South Koreas presidential Blue House appeared taken off guard by Trumps letter and an official said the Blue House was trying to figure out what President Trump exactly meant.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in had met with Trump at the White House on May 22 in an effort to urge him to go ahead with the summit.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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A Tesla dealership is seen in West Drayton, just outside London, Britain, Feb. 7, 2018. (REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo)

Tesla Settles Class Action Lawsuit Over Dangerous Autopilot System

NEW YORKTesla on Thursday reached an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit with buyers of its Model S and Model X cars who alleged that the companys assisted-driving Autopilot system was essentially unusable and demonstrably dangerous.

The agreement, announced in a filing in San Jose federal court late Thursday, still has to be approved by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.

Tesla said in a statement it wanted to do right by its customers and, as part of the proposed deal, agreed to compensate car owners who purchased the 2.0 version of Autopilot and had to wait longer than expected for the driving features to become active.

Since rolling out our second generation of Autopilot hardware in October 2016, we have continued to provide software updates that have led to a major improvement in Autopilot functionality, the company said, adding that the settlement would be offered to customers worldwide.

Class members, who paid an extra $5,000 to get the Autopilot upgrade between 2016 and 2017, will receive between $20 and $280 in compensation. Tesla has agreed to place more than $5 million into a settlement fund, which will also cover attorney costs and other fees.

Steve Berman, a lawyer for the car owners, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case was closely watched in the automotive and legal communities, as it was the only known court challenge Tesla faced with regard to its assisted-driving technology.

The company has come under increased scrutiny over its Autopilot system in recent months after two Tesla drivers died in crashes in which Autopilot was engaged. The most recent crash, in March, is being investigated by safety regulators.

Autopilot, released in 2015, is an enhanced cruise-control system that partially automates steering and braking. Tesla has said the use of Autopilot results in 40 percent fewer crashes, a claim the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration repeated in a 2017 report on the first fatality, which occurred in May 2016. Earlier this month, however, the agency said regulators had not assessed the effectiveness of the technology.

The 2017 lawsuit in San Jose federal court named six Tesla Model S and Model X owners from Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and California who alleged the company had engaged in fraud by concealment, and had violated various state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.

They sought to represent a nationwide class of consumers.

The Tesla owners said they had paid an extra $5,000 to have their cars equipped with the Autopilot software, which promised to provide additional safety features, but in fact was completely inoperable, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs alleged that features such as automated emergency braking, side collision warnings and auto high beams did not work or were unreliable.

They said the system was unsafe to use as it brakes unexpectedly for no reason and fails to brake when approaching large vehicles, such as trucks and buses.

On Wednesday, two U.S. consumer advocacy groups also urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate what they called Teslas deceptive and misleading use of the name Autopilot for its assisted-driving technology.

By Tina Bellon

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A combination photo shows Mike Pompeo (L) in Washington, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) in Pyongyang, North Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump (R), in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., respectively. (Reuters/Yuri Gripas (L) & KCNA handout via Reuters & Kevin Lamarque (R))

Theres Been A Trail of Broken Promises From North Korea, Say US Officials

U.S. officials said on Thursday that the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un had been called off because a successful outcome did not seem possible.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump called off the summit with Kim that was scheduled for June 12, citing Pyongyangs open hostility.

Trump wrote in a letter to Kim: Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.

On Wednesday evening Washington time, North Korea had repeated a threat to pull out of the summit and warned it was prepared for a nuclear showdown with Washington if necessary.

Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States, Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement, according to the Korean Central News Agency. We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us.

White House officials said that statement was the last straw given that the meeting was requested by North Korea.

One senior official said there had been a trail of broken promises from North Korea. That included the North Koreans not showing up to a planned meeting in Singapore last week.

Over the past many days, we have endeavored to do what Chairman Kim and I had agreed to put preparation teams together to begin to work for the summit and we had received no response to our inquiries to them, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a Senate committee on Thursday.

Weve not been able to conduct the preparations between our two teams that would be necessary to have a successful summit.

Pompeo, who met Kim twice in Pyongyang, said North Korea had also not been responding to contacts in recent days and Trump had made his decision after meetings on Wednesday to cancel the summit.

We got a lot of dial tones, Pompeo said, adding it was disappointing but frankly not a surprise.

Pompeo added: I hope we quickly are able to get back to that place [of open dialogue], but ultimately Chairman Kim will have that decision to make for himself.

Pompeo said that despite the cancellation, he did not think that Kim was a weak leader.

In fact, he has demonstrated enormous capacity to lead his country and his team.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said he remained open to dialogue and that the United States would continue its maximum pressure campaign of sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

The outlook for the meeting soured dramatically this month when North Korea angrily backed away from the possibility of unilateral nuclear disarmament as had been agreed to in the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration with South Korea.

Trump has said he detected a change in Kims attitude after the second of two recent visits the North Korean made to China and that he was possibly being influenced by Beijing, with which the United States is currently engaging in major trade discussions.

David Kilgour, a former Edmonton MP and Canadian secretary of state for Asia Pacific, said that according to analysts, it seems that the party-state in China continues to play a lengthy smoke-and-mirrors game on North Korea, trapping the United States into pre-doomed negotiations.

The cancellation came just hours after North Korea blew up tunnels at its main nuclear test site, but failed to allow experts to witness and verify the dismantlement of the site in another broken promise. Only a small group of international media handpicked by North Korea witnessed the demolition at the Punggye-ri site.

North Koreas announcement of its plan to destroy its only known nuclear test site was welcomed as a positive, if largely symbolic, step. Kim has declared his nuclear force complete, amid speculation the site was obsolete anyway.

The Pentagon said it was too early to give an assessment, but U.S. officials and experts say the site could be put back into service or re-established elsewhere.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said Tokyo understands Trumps decision to cancel the Singapore summit, Kyodo News reported.

Its meaningless to have talks that dont achieve results, Kono told reporters on a visit to Mexico City, the news agency said.

Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera also played down the significance of the canceled meeting.

The important thing is not the U.S.-North Korea meeting itself, but that the meeting becomes an opportunity to move forward in the issues of denuclearization and abductions, he told reporters in Tokyo.

Additional reporting by Reuters.

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Forging social movement to prevent corruption stressed

City Desk :

Forging social movement against corruption can be the vital means of building a society free from all injustice and poverty.

Community participation towards the anti-corruption campaign has become an urgent need for building a mass-opinion against the social menace.

The observation came at a view-sharing meeting at restaurant in Rajshahi on Thursday. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and city unit of Corruption Prevention Committee (CPC) jointly organized the meeting.

ACC Divisional Director Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan and Deputy Director Abdul Karim addressed the discussion as chief and special guests respectively with CPC President Yeahia Mollah in the chair.

Former Chairman of Rajshahi Education Board Prof Tanbirul Alam, retired

Chief Medical Officer of Rajshahi University Dr Mirja Wazed Beg, Director of

Barendra Unnayan Prochesta Foyzullah Chowdhury, Additional Public Prosecutor

of Judge Court Nasrin Akhter, CPC General Secretary Rashed Ibney Obayed and

President of Rajshahi Metropolitan Press Club Mominul Islam Babu also spoke.

The discussants unanimously laid importance on creation of awareness among

mass people, especially the young generation, to eliminate corruption from

the society.

They opined institutional corruption have to check first before taking

lawful action against a person who involved with corruption willingly or

unwillingly. It is impossible for the ACC alone to fight corruption. A

concerted effort is crucially important to check bribery.




President Donald Trump speaks at the Susan B. Anthony Lists 11th annual Campaign for Life Gala at the National Building Museum in Washington on May 22. (Lisa Fan/The Epoch Times)

Trump Rallies Pro-Life Advocates to Vote for Republicans

A major pro-life group touts Trump's efforts to cut taxpayer support of abortion

Speaking at the Susan B. Anthony Lists Campaign for Life Gala on May 22, President Donald Trump rallied pro-life advocates to vote for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

For the first time in decades, he said, America has a pro-life president, a pro-life vice president, a pro-life House of Representatives, and 25 pro-life Republican state capitols.

But every day, between now and November, we must work together to elect more lawmakers who share our values, cherish our heritage, and proudly stand for life, he said.

More than 1 million unborn babies lose their lives to abortion every year in the United States, according to Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List, a nonprofit that seeks to end abortion in the country.

SBA Lists canvassers visit homes all around the country to maintain a pro-life Congress by educating voters about lawmakers who advocate for anti-abortion laws. This year, the campaigners aim to reach 2 million voters before the elections in November.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA List, praised Trump at the gala, calling him the most pro-life president in history.

He has been reforming the courts at a record pace with judges who respect life, the Constitution, and the will of the American people, she said.

Trump has taken several actions to support the pro-life cause. Soon after he took office, he reinstated the Mexico City Policy, a Reagan-era rule that prohibits U.S. foreign aid from funding abortion centers overseas.

He also ended U.S. funding of the U.N. Population Fund, after discovering that the organization supports abortion and forced sterilization in China.

The Trump administration has recently proposed a new rule to prohibit Title 10 funding from going to any clinic that performs abortions.

For decades, American taxpayers have been wrongfully forced to subsidize the abortion industry through Title 10 federal funding, he said.

Trump earlier signed a resolution, overturning an Obama-era regulation that forced states to fund certain abortion facilities in their federally funded family planning programs.

He has also backed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which aims to end late-term abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the point where an unborn child can feel pain, according to medical studies. The bill passed the House, but now awaits action by the Senate.

The House just passed the bill, but Democrats in the Senate are doing everything within their power to block it, although some are actually on our side, Trump said. On this issue, like so many other issues, the Democratic Party is far outside the American mainstream.

The Senate fell nine votes short of passing the 20-week abortion bill in January.

The United States is one of only seven countries in the world that allows elective late-term abortions, along with China, North Korea, and others.

Trump criticized the effects of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which ended many state and federal restrictions on abortion in the United States.

In addition, he has taken several actions to support religious liberty and protect individuals conscience rights.

A Gallup poll taken in May 2017 shows that more Americans believe abortion is morally wrong (49 percent) than morally acceptable (43 percent). Of those polled, 18 percent say abortion should be illegal in all cases, 50 percent say it should be legal in only certain circumstances, and 29 percent say it should be legal in all cases.

Susan B. Anthony was an American activist who played a key role in ending slavery and securing womens right to vote in the United States.

We have a chance to honor her legacy and restore the first right in the Declaration of Independence, Trump said. Its called the right to life.
Trump to Save $100 Million by Slashing Use of Government Time on Union Work

President Donald Trump will order a major overhaul of the civil service system on Friday via three executive orders, according to senior administration officials.

One of the orders will significantly limit the amount of time of public employees can spend working for unions while still being paid by the government. The government expects the order to save taxpayers $100 million over the course of a year, according to a senior administration official.

Nearly 1,000 employees spent at least half of their taxpayer-funded time working for unions in 2017, according to a memo by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. American taxpayers paid $177.2 million in 2016 for the time government employees spent performing work for unions, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

Trumps executive order limits the amount of time federal employees can use for union work to 25 percent. Employees will also no longer be allowed to use taxpayer-funded time to lobby Congress on behalf of unions. The order also prohibits the use of government funds on union appeals against the firing of government workers.

The federal government will also start charging union rents for the use of office space as well as travel costs incurred by employees who spend time working for unions on taxpayers dime.

Dentists at the Department of Veterans Affairs, air traffic controllers at the Department of Transportation, and tax examiners at the Department of the Treasury are being paid for work they were not hired to do without doing the work they were hired to do, states a memo from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

For example, an employee at the Department of Transportation spent 100 percent of his or her time working for a union in 2017 and was paid $187,000 by the government. A nurse anesthetist at the Department of Veterans Affairs made over $190,000 while spending all of her time working for a union.

The term used for time government workers use for working for unions is official time. In 2017, 221 government workers spent at least half their time working for unions while being paid over $100,000 per year.

The second executive order will make it easier for government agencies to fire employees for egregious misconduct. A senior administration official cited research showing that government workers were 44 times less likely to be fired after their first probationary year compared to private sector workers.

The order will also eliminate an Obama-era policy required agencies who did not fire one employee for a specific type of misconduct to not fire any other employee for the same type of misconduct.

The order also prohibits agencies from hiding information from each other. A senior administration official explained that departments sometimes make deals with employees who they are firing to not disclose information to other agencies, which results in workers who were fired for misconduct and other issues to go on to secure job in other government agencies.

The third executive order targets union contracts. These contracts often include provisions that make it harder to fire workers. Meanwhile, the unions often negotiate these contracts while being paid by taxpayers, in effect circumventing the democratic process while using taxpayer money to ask for more taxpayer money.

The order directs all government agencies to renegotiate their union contracts and require for all the contracts to be posted online for the public to review. The executive order also creates a centralized government body to review and negotiate the contracts.

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President Donald Trump departs the White House May 25, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump is traveling to Annapolis, Maryland, to participate in the Naval Academy's graduation ceremony. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump Welcomes Warm Statement from North Korea, Hints That Summit May Happen as Scheduled

President Donald Trump praised a warm and productive statement from North Korea on Friday and said that the planned June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un may still happen as scheduled.

Well see what happens. It could even be the 12th. Were talking to them now, Trump said on Friday morning. They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it. Were going to see what happens.

On Thursday, Trump abruptly canceled the planned summit with Kim Jong Un. The White House cited inflammatory comments made by Kims subordinate as the final straw that led to the cancellation.

North Koreas First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kim Kye Gwan, issued a measured statement in response to Trumps withdrawal, devoid of the communist regimes typical name-calling and bravado.

As far as the historic DPRK-U.S. summit is concerned, we have inwardly highly appreciated President Trump for having made the bold decision, which any other U.S. presidents dared not, and made efforts for such a crucial event as the summit, Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement on the state-controlled Korea Central News Agency.

We would like to make known to the U.S. side once again that we have the intent to sit with the U.S. side to solve problem regardless of ways at any time, Kim Kye Gwan added.

Trump wrote on Twitter that he appreciated the statement and expressed optimism for a peaceful outcome.

Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea, Trump wrote. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!

Very good news to receive the warm and productive statement from North Korea. We will soon see where it will lead, hopefully to long and enduring prosperity and peace. Only time (and talent) will tell!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2018

North Korea made several major concessions in the lead up to the meeting. The regime freed three American hostages, committed to the goal of peace and total denuclearization, and destroyed its only nuclear test site.

But Pyongyang began to issue increasingly combative statements in recent weeks, culminating in a tirade from a top official which insulted Vice President Mike Pence and revived the specter of nuclear war.

Trump responded with a letter informing Kim that the United States is pulling out of the summit and issuing a stern warning about threats of nuclear war.

You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used, Trump wrote.

The White House revealed on Thursday that North Korean officials did not show up for a planning meeting in Singapore ahead of the June 12 summit. They stood us up, a senior American official told Fox News. Pyongyang then failed to respond to messages from Washington for a week.

Kim appeared unfazed on Friday as he was photographed at the site of a completed railroad.

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Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 8, 2017. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

What the Use of Counterintelligence Letters Reveal About the Russia Investigation

The New York Times reported on May 16 that the FBI had used national security letters and a top secret source to infiltrate the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, as part of its investigation into the Trump campaigns ties to Russiaties that, if proven, would presumably be criminal in nature.

But the media and politicians frequently refer to the subject as an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

The article itself called it a major national security case and, later, the Russia casethus, in essence, a counterintelligence matter. Mary McCord, a Justice Department national security prosecutor and certainly an expert in such matters, refers to the case as a counterintelligence investigation.

Which is it, criminal or counterintelligence? And why does this matter?

The distinction is critical. In 1976, the Department of Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Edward Levi, promulgated the Attorney General Guidelines. These were comprehensive, encyclopedic instructions regarding all aspects of all classes of investigations with which FBI employees, including special agents, analysts, and lawyers, may be involved. The guidelines cover national security (encompassing foreign counterintelligence), criminal, and terrorism investigations.

But by routinely characterizing the topic both ways, journalists and politicians cloud the publics understanding of the true nature of the investigation. Worse, this dual description makes it difficult to determine which set of rules the investigators are obliged to follow: those that govern criminal investigations, or those applicable to foreign counterintelligence (FCI) investigations.

FCI investigations can be initiated at a lower bar of probable cause than criminal investigations, because FCI investigations typically do not result in criminal prosecutions; thus, the protections guaranteed to individuals by the Bill of Rights are less rigorously applied.

Utilizing national security letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, investigators and informants gather intelligence, and not necessarily evidence. The intel can then be used for countermeasures, such as expelling professional spies working under diplomatic cover, including Russian consular officials who are in reality Russian intelligence agents.

What has emerged as being extraordinarily ambiguous is the underlying nature of the many investigations swirling around the 2016 Republican presidential campaign. The investigative tools utilized by the government would suggest that it is an FCI investigation. But mixed in with the intel theme are both a special counsel and the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District, who by definition are seeking to unearth criminal activity and bring the wrongdoers to justice.

Have the standards for FCI investigations been utilized to circumvent the stricter standards required by the Constitutionas delineated in the Attorney General Guidelinesin order to provide an appearance of legitimacy to what would ordinarily have been unjustified, unauthorized, and potentially illegal uses of the FBIs extensive array of fact-finding tools?

Have the investigators first investigated, and then used, the results as the required probable cause to proceed with criminal investigations? It is well-established jurisprudence that probable cause comes first, hence justifying subsequent law enforcement activity. Otherwise, prosecutors and investigators would be free to engage in what the courts call fishing expeditions, that is, trolling for criminal subjects.

The May 16 article states that relying on FBI information and Mr. Steeles, prosecutors obtained court approval to eavesdrop on Mr. [Carter] Page, referring to former British spy Christopher Steelewho, the newspaper concedes, was paid by the Democrats, but is still highly credible in its estimation. These national security letters and the FISA warrants are tools from the counterintelligence arsenalnot those of the criminal investigatorand they require a minimal articulation of facts to meet the lower bar of probable cause.

Compounding the misuse of the AG guidelines for FCI cases in order to develop criminal cases is the use of selective leaksThe New York Times and The Washington Post articles are replete with references to information provided by current and former law enforcement officials and people familiar with the matter, thereby developing in much of the public the impression that Trump campaign officials engaged in criminal dialogue with Russian spymasters, and that prosecutions may be inevitable.

Democratic legislators point frequently to the number of indictments and convictions obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller, to remind the public that where there is smoke, there must be a conflagration. Nevermind that the cases primarily involve money laundering, fraud, and misstatements to federal officials for unrelated matters.

Crimes, yes. But crimes encompassed by the special counsels mandate? Not likelythough we cant be sure, because the Department of Justice has chosen not to share this essential information with the American peopleevidence that its managers may have more in common with their counterparts in Russia than they realize.

There was additional obfuscation on May 18 when a New York Times headline proclaimed that the FBI Used Informant to Investigate Russia Ties to Campaign, Not to Spy.

Now that is a fine distinction, indeed. What exactly does an informant do, other than to spy? An informants job is the same as that of an undercover agent: to gain the confidence of others, gather information, intelligence or evidence, and report back. The Cambridge Dictionary defines a spy as a person employed by a country or organization to secretly gather and report information about another country or organization. Thus, this informant was, by definition, a spy.

According to The New York Times, the informant cultivated relationships with Trump campaign volunteers George Papadopoulos and Carter Page to lure then into disclosing information. The newspaper then congratulated itself for protecting the non-spy informants identityafter describing him as an American academic who teaches in Britain  [who] is well-known in Washington circles, and providing the names of individuals the non-spy met with. That should protect his identity for as long it takes one to read the article. This, regarding an informant whose anonymity is deemed so critical that, according to The Washington Post, the FBI has been working over the past two weeks  to lessen any danger to associates if the informants identity becomes known.

The notion that an investigation, whether FCI or criminal, would be launched by the surprising news that the Russians were meddling in an election defies credulity. As described in former KGB General Oleg Kalugins memoirs, the Russians have been actively meddling in U.S. elections since virtually the founding of the Soviet Union. Kalugin, as a KGB boss in New York and in Washington, oversaw Soviet interference in our electoral process in the 1960s and 70s.

American politicians, Department of Justice officials, and media representatives who profess to be shocked and surprised by the behavior of the Russians in 2016 are being, at best, disingenuous.

Marc Ruskin, a 27-year veteran of the FBI, is a regular contributor and the author of The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI. He served on the legislative staff of U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Landing barges carry U.S. troops to Leyte Island in October 1944, during the war in the Pacific of World War II. (U.S. Coast Guard)

WWII Veteran Remembers the Pacific Theater

For Memorial Day, author and veteran shares hope the world will remember the war in the Pacific

When World War II began for the United States on Dec. 7, 1941, D. Ralph Young was hitchhiking with a friend on his way to see a movie in Stanford, Kentucky. The two caught a ride, and a broadcast came over the cars radio, announcing that the Japanese had launched a surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Young was just 16 at the time, but the following year, his mother signed her permission for him to enlist in the U.S. Navy. When he turned 18 in 1943, he was sent to war.

For Young and many others, however, World War II was a very different experience from what is often seen in movies. His war wasnt on the beaches of Normandy, nor in the icy forests of Germany; instead, he and others faced jungles and rain, kamikaze pilots, and banzai charges from Japanese forces across the islands of the Pacific.

Now 93 years old and living in Dayton, Ohio, Young is working to ensure that he and others who fought in the Pacific theater of World War II are not forgotten. His recent book, Forgotten Warriors, tells his story.

He shared his hope that on the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, Americans will remember the Pacific and the men who fought there.

I have passion for it, because I feel those of us who served in the Pacific are being overlooked, Young said in a phone interview.

War in the Pacific

While he noted that he wasnt trying to detract from the valor of those who fought in Europe and North Africa, Young mentioned that the U.S. troops in the Pacific were five times more likely to be killed than those in the European theater, three times more likely to be wounded, and twice as likely to be taken prisoner.

He added that while the death rate of American prisoners of war (POWs) in Europe was just over 1 percent, the death rate for POWs under the Japanese was 40 percent.

In the 1943 Battle of Tarawa, Young said, two out of three Marines were killed before they reached the beach. The coral reef surrounding the island was too shallow for the armored landing craft, and the men had to wade ashore under fire from Japanese machine guns.

The Marines had to be offloaded 1,000 yards or more, on the beach, into water over their heads. And with full battle gear, they had to survive gunfire that was awful, from the Japanese, Young said.

Although Young came into the war shortly after the Battle of Tarawa, one of his nephews, from an older brother, fought during the battle. His nephew was armed with a Browning automatic rifle and was forced to wade across the coral reef to the man carrying his ammunition.

He went into overhead water, and, with the weight of his rifle and gear, was forced to sink and jump off the ground to briefly emerge from the water for breaths of air. He reached the point where he said, Lord, I cant make it any longer, and lo and behold, on his next bounce, his feet were on the ground and his mouth was above water, so he could breathe.

The Marines, Young said, were the finest and greatest fighting force in the world  and were committed to winning at all costs.

They were the proudest group of people youd ever face, because they were so highly trained and so motivated from good leadership, he said. That never disappears from a Marine.

The Kamikaze Pilots

When Young was deployed, his job on the USS J. Franklin Bell was to man the amphibious assault ships that brought the Marines to the beach, and to supply the troops already there.

He was also sent to shore on beach parties to ensure the Marines were getting the supplies they needed, and that they werent getting bogged down.

He said, I never saw anyone afraid or breaking down and not able to go forward.

Many scenes from the war were horrible. Young recalls when he and the others first witnessed a Japanese kamikaze attack at the Battle of Leyte: a massive air battle was fought overhead, ships fired and were fired upon, and a Japanese pilot intentionally crashed his own plane into an Australian warship.

Young remembers feeling regret for the sailors on the ship, who were relatively powerless against the method of attack. He said that in that instance, and in the kamikaze attacks that followed, we tried to shoot them down, but its tough to shoot a plane down thats determined to crash land on your ship.

He said that when battles begin and the enemy ships and planes first appear on the horizon, its kind of hard to describe how you feel.

Your adrenaline starts to flow very heavily. Youre anxious and youre excited, and you know that youre in a battle for life or death, he said.

Its a time that you think about things that you love.

Close Calls

Young was the youngest of 11 children. When he was 10 years old, his mother suffered a stroke, and his father put him in charge of cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry, under his mothers guidance. Because of this, he and his mother were very close. She passed away when Young was 18, but before she died, she prayed for him constantly.

There were several times when Young felt his mothers prayers were answered.

On one occasion, an ammunition ship was destroyed by the Japanese, killing many men and women as the force of the blast sunk all ships around it. The ship Young was stationed on had moved away from the ammunition ship just an hour before it exploded.

On another occasion, Young and a group of men were sent to an island to move supplies, and were ambushed by a Japanese soldier who was hiding in a bamboo thicket. The man went to fire on

Young and the others, only to find he was out of ammunition. So, instead, he charged at Young and the others with his bayonet, but they were able to overpower him.

Despite all the horrors he faced in the war, Young said he lived a fantastic life, and that the battles left him with love for his country and admiration for the bravery of the U.S. Marines.

Revisiting History

Young recently returned to the Pacific in December, where he revisited the sites of three of the four major battles he was in, just to see what they looked like now compared to what they looked like during D-Day.

When he arrived in Saipan, he was received with gratitude by the locals, who presented him with a medal to thank him for his service.

I never gave any thought to the fact that not only did we fight for the USA, but we freed a lot of natives that had been under Japanese rule for centuries. And thats why they awarded me a [medal for] valor for the Pacific, from the group of natives who inhabit the Mariana islands, he said. Everywhere I went, people just wanted to shake my hand or give me a hug. It was totally unexpected.

I had no idea they would act that way, and it was a great feeling.

Young noted that, like many other veterans, he rarely spoke about his story. He decided to change this, only recently.

Through sharing his story, Young said, he hopes others will develop a love for the country and its freedoms and that the world will remember those who fought in the Pacific.
Bots are dominating online communication, and most consumers dont even realize the number of times they have interacted with a bot while browsing their favorite website or completing an online purchase.

Bot technology is far from a new concept, though, as its origins date all the way back to 1966 with the invention of Eliza, a bot that managed to mimic a natural conversation through programmed responses. With no sign of slowing down, here are five innovative ways bot technology is advancing.

1. The implementation of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a push toward being able to accomplish things that require human intelligence without needing humans. In the world of bots, the implementation of AI is geared toward creating environments where the bot you are speaking to is indistinguishable from a human being.

The key difference between a bot with AI versus one without is that bots with artificial intelligence are designed to learn and evolve over time. The addition of AI to bot technology opens the door to endless possibilities for human interactions.

Imagine a bot able to learn and adapt to the behaviors of someone with Alzheimers -- identifying when a person has forgotten something and learning to remind them of things as their condition deteriorates.

However, there is a dangerous side to bots -- they have the potential to use learned speech patterns and information about people to impersonate them. With the amount of personal data stored on mobile applications, a bot could potentially use it to steal your personality, as well as your identity. Scary, right?

This has led to a greater push for secrecy in mobile applications, with more decentralized and private messenger services are beginning to emerge like Ravn, which hides every aspect of a persons identity and encrypts every part of a conversation.

Related: Make Chats With Chatbots Work

2. Brand awareness

In the past, if you wanted to advertise your brand, you needed to create a one-off commercial or advertisement to grab the attention of your audience and encourage them to look at your offer.

With bots, this is no longer the case. You can create a bot that represents your brand and spreads information relating to it. Bots can be available instantaneously to provide further information to prospective customers. They can not only raise a broader awareness of your product by being implemented in various mediums, but are also able to respond to millions of customers at once without the expense of manpower.

For example, if you are an online clothing brand, you could have a bot that is programmed to gather information about a customers preferences and then offer to send them daily or weekly updates on fashion trends, with offers specifically catered to their interests.

3. Intuitive programming

The art of the sale is a skill that has been studied over and over for centuries, but what about the art of programming a sale? This is the thought process behind innovative new technologies aimed at guiding customers through a sale without needing a human sales representative.

If you do a lot of online shopping, you more than likely have had a live-chat box pop up offering to help you. Most of the time there isnt an actual human behind the screen -- its a bot. This has led bot developers to make more intuitive bots that aim for comfort as much as convenience, because in order to convert, a customer needs to trust the person they are buying from.

Bots are working behind the scenes as well. PassportRenewal.com is the TurboTax of passport renewals, made possible by its own smart wizard, which the company describes as a feature that seamlessly automates customer information to help them complete many application tasks, including filling out forms. So, not only are bots being used to attract conversions, but they are also being used to help funnel the customer through the entire process faster, post-conversion.

Related: Key Points to Remember While Building your First Chatbot

4. Bots with personality

Whether you want to sell something, gather information or simply entertain, the fastest way to lose your audience is by being boring. In the beginning, bots were clunky, slow and dull.

They responded only to specific questions and only delivered programmed responses. Now, bots are more advanced -- they have personalities. You can have a bot that tells jokes, or replies to kindness with kindness and sarcasm with sarcasm. The more complex bots become, the more they will seamlessly integrate themselves into our daily lives.

5. The bad bots

Not all bots are created to help, and many have become painfully aware of this, especially in the cryptocurrency market. This has brought a popular scam known as phishing to a whole new level.

As described by the Oxford Dictionary, phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information. Previously, phishing was done by people sending emails, texts, etc. -- using various scams looking for bites.

Now, with bots, phishing is interactive. This is a problem that has led to the creation of bots that fight other bots. Companies like Coral Protocols use Telegram bots like Phishnet to catch and alert users to incoming phishing attempts.

Phishnet is able to identify threats by applying trust scores to addresses in a particular blockchain. Millions of dollars in cryptocurrency are lost every day to phishing, and the phishing attempts are becoming more advanced daily.

Related:

5 Innovative Ways Artificial Intelligence Is Advancing Technology

Uber Is Building a Flying Taxi Technology Center in Paris

These 3 Businesses Are Already (and Creatively) Using AI to Automate Key Operational Tasks



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NORWALK  State and local officials celebrated the unofficial opening of summer with the official opening of the new Norwalk Visitor Docks at Veterans Memorial Park on Friday morning.

Terry Marine has largely completed a $1.8 million replacement of the docks, funded in large part by the Connecticut Port Authority.

This project is the perfect example of a partnership between the city of Norwalk and the Connecticut Port Authority, said authority Chairman Scott Bates. The mayor said, we have a need, we want to make sure our people have access to the water, we want to make sure its ready for the summer, and this is about economic development and job creation. The marine trades are attached to every boat that goes into that water.

By late morning, nearly a dozen boats had gone into the water, according to dock master Neil Hershkowitz.

Several dozen people attended the ribbon-cutting for the opening of the new docks, including Bates, Connecticut Port Authority Executive Director Evan Matthews, Mayor Harry Rilling, state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, Norwalk Harbor Management Commission members, Norwalk Harbor Master Gregg Scully and members of the citys Common Council.

The docks look beautiful, the ramps are great, and I think the boaters are really happy about this and, of course, the city is very happy, said Anthony Mobilia, past chairman of the Harbor Management Commission. We certainly appreciate the cost-sharing that the port authority did on it.

Duff thanked Rilling, council and harbor management commissioners, and the port authority for working together to see the project to fruition.

We, a few years ago, put together the port authority, which was designed to do exactly what were doing here today, which was to make sure we have a focus on our ports and using that as an economic tool to grow out economy, Duff said.
Reading the meaning of Section 272 of the Code

High Court Division :

(Criminal Miscellaneous Jurisdiction)

Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury J

Md Abu Zafor Siddique J

Faizur Rahman (Md) Petition

vs

State ..

..Opposite-Party

Judgment

March 13th, 2014

Code of Criminal Procedure (V of 1898)

Section 561A

Penal Code (XLV of 1860)

Section 272

Special Powers Act (XIV of 1974)

Section 25C(a)

Mere mixing wheat with bran by itself cannot constitute any adulteration of any food being otherwise noxious and when the accused person had no direct personal involvement in mixing of wheat with bran, the mischief of Section 272 of the Code and Section 25C(a) of the Act cannot be attracted. .(22)

MV Joshi vs MU Shimpi, AIR 1961(SC) 1494 and Md Nazrul Islam vs State, 1983 BLD 65 ref.

Md Ashadullah with Nasima Akhter, Advocates-For the Petitioner.

Md Fazlur Rahman Khan, DAG with Md Mahmud Morshed AAG-For the State.

Judgment

Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury J : By this application under Section 561 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the petitioner seeks to quash the proceedings of Special Tribunal Case No.217 of 2004 under Section 25C(b) of the Special Powers Act, 1974, arising out of Rupgonj Police Station Case No. 04 dated 10-11-1993 corresponding to GR Case No. 119 of 1993 pending in the Court of Special Tribunal No.7, Narayangonj.

2. At the time of issuance of the Rule on 23-10-2005, all further proceedings of the aforesaid case was stayed for a period of 3 (three) months.

3. Subsequently, by orders of different dates, the period of stay was extended time to time. Lastly, by order dated 4-1-2009, the order of stay was extended till disposal of the Rule.

4. Briefly stated, relevant facts necessary for disposal of the Rule are that the petitioner, an Engineer, was serving as Project Engineer in Northern Refinery (Edible) Limited, Narayangonj, having been appointed on 29-10-1990.

5. An FIR was lodged on 9-11-1993 by one Md Nasir Uddin, Inspector of Police, Criminal Investigation Department, Dhaka alleging inter alia that the informant, along with some other official, visited the factory of Northern Refinery (Edible) Limited, Narayangonj on 7-9-1993. During the inspection, they collected samples and sent the same to the Chief Chemical Engineer, Mohakhali for examination who, later, submitted his report dated 12-10-1993 with the following observation:

????? ?????? ???? ??, ??????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???? ????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ??????? ????

6. Subsequently, on the basis of the said FIR, Rupgonj Police Station Case No.04 dated 10-11-1993 was registered under Section 25C(b) of the Special Powers Act, 1974 against five persons including the petitioner.

7. On 12-9-2004, the petitioner and the other co-accused persons filed an application under Section 241A of the Code of Criminal Procedure before the learned Judge of the Special Tribunal, Narayangonj for discharging them from the case on the ground stated in the said application.

8. Upon hearing the parties, the learned Judge of the Special Tribunal rejected the said application by order dated 17-4-2005 and fixed 2-7-2005 for hearing the charge.

9. In the premises noted above, the petitioner moved this Court and obtained the instant Rule along with an order of stay, as noted at the outset.

10. Mr Md Ashadullah, the learned Advocate appears with Mrs. Nasima Akhter, Advocate on behalf of the petitioner, while Mr Md Fazlur Rahman Khan, the learned Deputy Attorney-General and Mr Md Yousuf Mahmud Morshed, the learned Assistant Attorney-General appear on behalf of the State.

1 l. Mr Md Ashadullah, the learned Advocate appearing in support of the Rule has placed the instant application together with the connected documents. Referring to the provision of Section 25C(b) of the Special Powers Act, 1974, Mr Md Ashadullah contends that the section prescribes punishment for selling or offering to sell any food or article which is unfit for human consumption, knowing the same to be so. However, Mr Ashadullah contends that the operative part of the section relates to "selling" or "offering to sell". Referring to the FIR and charge sheet, the learned Advocate contends that nowhere within the four corners of the F.I.R. and the chargesheet is there any allegation to the effect that the petitioner was involved in the process of selling or had offered to sell the alleged noxious food to the public. Mr Ashadullah submits that the petitioner is an Engineer and is responsible for the maintenance of the machineries of the oil refinery. He is therefore neither involved in the manufacturing process nor with the marketing of the product itself.

12. Referring to the word "adulteration", the' learned Advocate submits that the word "adulteration" has neither been defined in the Penal Code nor in the Special Powers Act, 1974.

13. Mr Ashadullah further submits that the finding of the Chief Chemical Engineer indicates that the seized oil contains moisture above the permissible level. Elaborating his submission, the learned Advocate contends that moisture is a natural product which is present in the environment. It is a natural process over which a person ordinarily does not have any cantrol since it is regulated by the weather conditions.

14. Mr Ashadullah contends that even if the seized oil is found to be unfit for human consumption, then an offence, if any, shall come within the ambit and scope of the Pure Food Ordinance, 1959. Referring to the provisions of the aforesaid Ordinance, Mr Ashadullah submits that the Ordinance is a self contained Act, regulating the quality and condition of the food products that are consumed by the public at large. According to Mr Ashadullah, even if the prosecution's case is taken to be correct, that by itself cannot bring the petitioner within the ambit and scope of the section under which he has been charged.

15. According to the learned Advocate, any case which is covered by the said Ordinance would not be amenable under the jurisdiction of the Special Powers Act, 1974.

16. Mr Md Fazlur Rahman Khan, the learned Deputy Attorney General appearing with Mr Md Yousuf Mahmud Morshed, the learned Assistant Attorney General in opposition to the Rule, submits that the petitioner, being the Project Engineer, was responsible for the overall process of manufacturing and production in the said plant. Mr Khan submits that since a prima facie case appears to have been made out against the petitioner, no interference is called for and the Rule is liable to be discharged.

17. For a proper understanding of the issues before us, let us now refer to Section 25C(b) of the Special Powers Act, 1974 which read as under:

"25C-Penalty for adulteration of, or sale of adulterated food, drink, drugs or cosmetics-(l) Whoever-

(a) .

(b) sells, or offers or expose for sale, as food or drink, any article which has been rendered or has become noxious, or is in a state unfit for food or drink, knowing or having reason to believe that the same is noxious as food or drink; or

(c) .

(d) .

(e) ..

Shall be punishable with death, or with [imprisonment for life], or with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to fourteen years, and shall also be liable to fine."

18. From a plain reading of the section, quoted above, it appears that the section prescribes punishment for the act of "selling" or "offering or exposing to sell" any food product which has become noxious. However, nowhere within the four corners 01 the FIR or the deposition of the witnesses has it been suggested that the petitioner himself was involved with the actual process of selling the product produced by Mill. It is true that the petitioner was serving in the said Mill, but his job description clearly suggests that he was only involved with the functions and maintenance of the machineries of the factory and not with anything else. There is no evidence on record to suggest that he was involved with the process of selling the product in question.

19. Let us now refer to the decision cited at the Bar.

20. In the case of MV Joshi vs MU Shimpi reported in AIR 1961 (SC) 1494, the Court held:

"when it is said that all penal statutes are to be construed strictly it only means that the Court must see that the thing charged is an offence within the plain meaning of the words used and must not strain the words. To put it in other words, the rule of strict construction requires that the language of a statute should be so construed that no case shall be held to fall within it which does not come within the reasonable interpretation of the statute. It has also been held that in construing a penal statute it is a cardinal principle that in case of doubt, the construction favourable to the subject should be preferred."

21. In the case of Mohammad Nazrul Islam vs State, reported in 1983 BLD 65, the Court held:

"Section 272 Penal Code says that whoever adulterates any article of food so as to make such article noxious as food intending to sell such article as food or knowing it to be likely that the same will be sold as toad shall be punished. Section 25C(a) of the Special Powers Act also provides similar language in respect of penalty for adulteration of food.

22. In the foregoing circumstances it clearly appears that apart from the fact that mere mixing wheat with bran by itself cannot constitute any adulteration of any food being otherwise noxious and that when the accused person had no direct personal involvement in mixing of wheat with bran, the mischief of Section 272 of the Penal Code and section 25C(a) of the Special Powers Act cannot be attracted in the present case as disclosed in the FIR of the Police. It can be safely held that the FIR of the Police in the instant case does not disclose or constitute any offence under Section 272 of the Penal Code and Section 25C(a) of the Special Powers Act."

23. During the course of his submission, Md Ashadullah his produced the original certificate issued by the Bangladesh Technical Education Board, Dhaka showing that the petitioner Md Faizur Rahman has obtained Diploma in Engineering (Mechanical Technology) in 1985.

24. Be that as it may, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case and in due deference to the decisions cited above, we are inclined to hold that the instant Rule merits positive consideration.

25. In the result, the Rule is made absolute.

26. The proceeding of Special Tribunal Case No.217 of 2004 under Section 25C(b) of the Special Powers Act, 1974 arising out of Rupgonj Police Station Case No.4 dated 10-11-1993 corresponding to GR Case No. '119 of 1993 pending in the Court of Special Tribunal No.7, Narayangonj is hereby quashed, so far as it relates to the petitioner only.

27. The petitioner Md Faizur Rahman is discharged from his bail bond. The office is directed to communicate the order at once.
NORWALK  As Plymouth Avenue residents enjoyed the summer weather on a July Sunday last year, a gun battle broke out in the middle of the street.

Two men  Alexander Cardone and Marquel Middleton  are already in custody for their alleged roles in the July 9 shooting. A third was arrested Thursday.

Isaiah Genas, 19, of Taylor Avenue, was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, illegal discharge of a firearm, first-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief, first-degree criminal mischief and two counts of carrying a dangerous weapon. His bond was set at $350,000 and he was given a court date of May 31.

Genas, who according to court records was shot during the July incident, was taken into custody on three warrants by Norwalk police at a Bronx, N.Y., jail where he was being held on New York charges.

One warrant with charges of first-degree assault, illegal discharge of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit was related to the July shoting. The other two warrants were for incidents in August 2017, in which Genas is accused of shooting at passing cars and a store window with a BB gun.

Around 11 a.m. July 9, police dispatch received multiple 911 calls about a shooting. Court records said the callers reported several different parties with multiple firearms being displayed and one individual on the ground with numerous gunshot wounds.

Cardone, 19, was charged July 20 with first-degree assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault in the incident.

According to court records, a group of men was seen walking down the street when one of them began firing at the Genas.

According to court records, Cardone had a gun in his hand and pointed it down the driveway and appeared to fire four shots. An arrest affidavit stated that once the Genas was on the ground, another man said to be Middleton stood over him and continued to shoot. Genas, records state, had a handgun and returned fire, striking Middleton in his right thigh.

During the entire time of the shooting, there were multiple people present on the street, mowing lawns, doing yard work, moving furniture and walking about ... this shooting took place on a residential street, in the middle of said street, the arrest affidavit for Cardone states. These people were in the line of fire of the shooters during this gun battle.

Witnesses said the shooters fled.

The man on the ground suffered multiple life-threatening gunshot wounds, police said. A bystander rendered life-saving first aid before EMS arrived.

Middleton, 24, of Groton Avenue, West Haven, was charged on April 19 with criminal attempt at murder, illegal discharge of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit and reckless endangerment. His bond was set at $500,000.
Editors Note: In Up Your Game we scope out the best products, apps and services to help make it easier to take your game to the next level.

Were all busy. In fact, these days, its something people strive for. In a paper published in the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers from Harvard, Columbia and Georgetown wrote that a busy and overworked lifestyle, rather than a leisurely lifestyle, has become an aspirational status symbol. But our task lists keep on growing, and things dont seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The good news: Whether youre looking to break up a long-term goal into smaller, easier-to-digest tasks or you simply have a lot of nagging errands to run, weve outlined the best to-do list apps and why they work. Heres the rundown.

Any.do

Image credit: Any.do | Entrepreneur



Why We Love It: Any.dos clean interface allows for the easy input of tasks, lists and reminders, and you can also set it to ping you based on time or location. Strapped-for-time users will appreciate its Smart Suggest feature, which offers to complete your typing out a phrase based on past tasks. If youre planning a trip with a friend or shopping for groceries for your family, take advantage of its list-sharing or assigning tasks features. Plus, the app is entering the artificial intelligence frontier, planning to release its Any.do Assistant feature soon. The assistant will use AI to mark the tasks on your list that it can perform for you -- then, if you approve, smart robots (or humans) will help you check it off.

What Users Say: One reviewer writes: I don't typically write reviews, but this app is amazing, so you know I genuinely love the app. Another says: My day is very busy, and this allows me to organize and manage it. Would totally recommend it.

Compatible With: iPhone, Android

Cost: Free (Premium version costs $26.88 per year)

Things

Image credit: Things | Entrepreneur



Why We Love It: Things clean, easy-to-understand interface displays your tasks either by timing (Today, Upcoming, Anytime, Someday) or by category (Family, Work, Hobbies, etc.). Another perk? You can also list to-dos under subcategories -- for example, under Family, you could list Trip to Thailand, then tasks like Book Flight or Exchange Currency. If you use the apps calendar feature, each day will have events grouped at the top and to-do list items below. Plus, the app has simplified the process of creating a new task -- you can add tags, deadlines and start dates if youd like, but youre not prompted to do so.

What Users Say: One reviewer writes: Of all the countless apps that I use, and of all the endless, hundreds of apps Ive downloaded over the last eight years since I first got an iPhone, I think this app has improved my quality of life more than any other. Another says: Use is intuitive, and the number of taps to perform an action seems fewer than the other more expensive apps I tried.

Compatible With: iPhone

Cost: $9.99 (One-time fee)

Todoist

Image credit: Todoist | Entrepreneur



Why We Love It: Organization buffs will appreciate Todoists task-creation feature. It allows you to type out your task, add a category (like House), set it to repeat for certain times or days, set a priority level or assign it to another person. You can view to-do list items by category or time (like Today), and in each list, tasks will appear sorted and color-coded by urgency. Another singular feature? The app charts your productivity, shows you the number of tasks youve completed in the tasks and even outlines your longest streak.

What Users Say: One reviewer writes: I like that I can make lists on the computer and view or update them on my phone. Another says: First review Ive actually ever done, because this app deserves it.

Compatible With: iPhone, Android

Cost: Free (Premium version costs $28.99 per year)

Ike

Image credit: Ike | Entrepreneur



Why We Love It: How can Eisenhower help you get things done? Ike is designed with its namesakes priority matrix in mind and outlines the difference between important and urgent tasks. There are four main categories designed in a simple grid layout: Focus, Goals, Fit In and Backburner -- and unlike other to-do list apps, the very first thing you do is prioritize a task. You can also add one-off or repeating due dates and location reminders.

What Users Say: One reviewer writes: To-do lists never worked out for me the way I wanted them to, but this method of handling tasks met my needs exactly. Another says: An intuitive interface coupled with almost perfect functionality make Ike my time-management app of choice.

Compatible With: Android

Cost: Free (Premium version costs a one-time fee of $2)

Clear

Image credit: Clear | Entrepreneur



Why We Love It: Clears revolutionary approach to to-do lists lies in its interface: no buttons, all touch interface gestures (swipes, pinches and pulls). To-do list traditionalists -- who often turn to the Notes app or a pen and paper -- should appreciate the apps simplicity. Every task is color-coded for urgency via heat map colors (shades of red, orange and yellow), and separate lists allow you to map out any area of your life. Since the apps focus is simplicity, it doesnt allow for due dates or recurring tasks.

What Users Say: One reviewer writes: If you want a basic, very customizable, notify-or-dont-notify task manager, and you are not a high-power exec, this app works beautifully across your Apple universe. Another says: I have used it for about 18 months now. Usually I dump a to-do app after a month or so.

Compatible With: iPhone

Cost: $4.99 (One-time fee)

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'Pardahnashin lady' may be represented by authorised agent before Family Court

High Court Division :

(Civil Revisional Jurisdiction)

SM Emdadul Hoque J

Kashefa Hussain J

Aleya Akter .. Petitioner

vs

Md Daulat Patwary ....

..Respondent

Judgment

May 15, 2017

Family Courts Ordinance (XVIII of 1985)

Section 21

Otherwise than as a witness only a 'pardahnashin lady' may be allowed to be represented by a duly authorised agent before a Family Court. The Ordinance, has specifically confined and limited the permission to appear through duly authorised agent to a 'pardahnashin lady' only. The law is also quite transparent on the provision that otherwise than as witnesses, all others, who are required under the Ordinance to appear except a 'pardahnashin lady' have to appear in person before the Family Court. .(13)

Md Atikur Rahman vs Ainunnahar, 7 BLT 241 ref.

Md. Hamidur Rahman, Advocate-For the Petitioner.

Md Hamidur Rahman, Advocate-For the Petitioner.

None Appear-For the Respondent.

Judgment

Kashefa Hussain J : Rule was issued at the instance of the petitioner in this Civil Revisional Application calling upon the opposite party No. 1 to show cause as to why the improved judgment Ltd order elated 17-5-2016 passed by learned Additional District Judge, 5th Court, Dhaka in Family Appeal No. 255 of 2015 rejecting the appeal thereby affirming the order dated 6-8-2015 passed by the learned Additional Assistant Judge, Family Court No.3. Dhaka in Family Suit No. 531 of 2014 rejecting the application dated 14-5-2015 should not be set aside and/or pass such other or further order or orders as to this court may Seem fit and proper.

2. The facts relevant for disposal of the Rule in short is that the plaintiff-petitioner was married to the defendant-opposite party on 10-2-2012 and the amount of dower money fixed was Taka 3,00,001 (three lac one). After marriage, subsequently differences arose between them and the plaintiff-petitioner inter-alia allege that the defendant-opposite party physically tortured her and extorted dowry from the petitioner's family. At one stage the defendant-opposite party husband left for Italy. Eventually she realised that she was pregnant and she left the husband's home for her father's home and the child was born in her father's house and her husband did not contribute towards her maintenance nor did he pay dowry money but which he is bound to give to her under the Muslim Family Laws. For a while she returned to her husband's family but could not stay there long due to misbehaviour of her in laws and again returned to her father's home. At on stage the petitioner as plaintiff instituted Family Suit No. 154 of 2014 for dower and maintenance against the defendant husband.

3. The defendant entered appearance in the suit through a constituted Attorney and contested the suit by filing a written statement.

4. During course of that proceedings, the plaintiff on 14-5-2015 filed an application under Section 21 of the Family Courts Ordinance, 1985 praying for abstaining the defendant from contesting the suit by constituted Attorney contending inter alia that since the defendant is a male person, as per law he cannot contest the suit by his constituted Attorney. On the same day, the defendant filed an application for calling the concern Volume of marriage from the concerned office of Nikah Register.

5. The learned Family Court heard the said applications and was pleased to fix the suit on 6-8-2015 for order and consequently the learned Court, by its order dated 6-8-2015 was pleased to reject the said application dated 14-5-2015 filed by the plaintiff Md was further pleased to allow the said application dated 14-5-2015 filed by the defendant allowing him to he represented by a constituted attorney.

6. Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the aforesaid order, the plaintiff an appellant filed Family Appeal being No. 255 of 2015 before the learned District Judge, Dhaka.

7. Consequently the said appeal was transmitted to the Additional District Judge, 5th Court, Dhaka for disposal and upon hearing, the learned appellate Court by its order dated 17-5-2016 was pleased to reject the appeal thereby affirming the order of the trial Court.

8. Being aggrieved by the order of the learned Appellate Court dated 17-5-2016 the plaintiff as petitioner preferred the instant Civil Revisional application which is before us for our disposal.

9. Learned Advocate Mr Md Hamidur Rahman appears on behalf of the petitioner while none appears for the opposite party though the matter appeared for several days in the list.

10. Learned Advocate Mr Md Hamidur Rahman submits that both the Courts below failed to appreciate the provision of law as contained in Section 21 of the Family Court Ordinance, 1985. He argues that the defendant being a male, cannot contest the family suit filed against him through a constituted attorney only, but he has to appear himself, in person. Elaborating his submissions he takes us to Section 21 Family Court Ordinance, 1985. Drawing our attention to Section 21 he asserts that the provisions of the section express that otherwise than as a witness, only a pardahnashin lady, may be permitted to be represented by a duly authorised agent or duly constituted attorney whatsoever. He further submits that the pre-trial proceeding as per the provisions of law as per Section 10 of Family Court Ordinance have also been concluded and the matter is on the process of proceeding with trial. He takes us to the order of the learned Appellate Court wherefrom he points out that the learned appellate Court has upon misapplication of mind and misinterpretation of facts injudiciously relied upon Section 10 of the Family Court Ordinance, 1985. Learned Advocate further persuades that Section 10 of the Family Court Ordinance contemplates a circumstance and situation during pretrial proceedings only, where the court can after examining the documents filed by the parties, if it so deems fit, hear the parties. He assails that Section 10 of the Family Court Ordinance is not at all applicable in this case, since the pretrial proceeding is over and is trial is about to begin. He further argues that the learned Court below upon total misinterpretation of facts and on mistaken reliance of Section 10 of the Family Court Ordinance, 1985 rejected the application of the plaintiff-petitioner.

(To be continued)

In support of his submissions he cites a decision of this court in the case of Mohammad Atikur Rahman vs Ainunnahar reported in 7 BLT 241. Drawing in analogy from the 7 BLT decision, he submits that in that case the court up held the principle that the defendant being the husband and not a pardahnashin lady he cannot be represented by an agent. Relying upon his submissions and the relevant provisions of the Family Courts Ordinance drawing support, from the decision of the High Court Division in the/ BLT 241 case, he concludes his submissions upon assertion that the Rule bears merit and therefore ought to be made absolute for ends of justice.

11. We have heard the learned Advocate and perused the application and materials on record including the Orders of the learned Courts below. We have also perused Section 21 and Section 10 of the Family Court Ordinance, 1985 and have gone through the 7 BLT 241 High Court Division decision placed before us.

12. Upon plain reading of Section 21 of the Ordinance it is quite evident that as per this section otherwise than as a witness all other persons except a 'pardahnashin' lady are required under the law to appear before the Family Court. Section 21 of the Family Court Ordinance is reproduced hereunder:

If a person required under this Ordinance to appear before a Family Court, otherwise than as a witness, is a pardahanshin lady, the Family Court may permit her to be represented by a duly authorized agent.

13. From a plain reading of Section 21 it is quite clear that otherwise than as a witness only a 'pardahnashin' Lady may be allowed to be represented by a duly authorized agent before a Family Court. The Family Court Ordinance, 1985 has specifically confined and limited the permission to appear through duly authorised agent to a 'pardahnashin' lady only. The law is also quite transpirent on the provision that otherwise than as witnesses, all others, who are required under the Ordinance to appear except a 'pardahnashin' lady have to appear in person before the Family Court.

14. We have also perused section 10 of the Ordinance and after perusal of the section we find force in the submission of the learned Advocate for the petitioner on his assertion that Section 10 is not applicable in the instant case since them out perused dt Section 10 it is also clear that Section 10 contemplates a pretrial proceeding only and therefore, in this case the pre-trial proceeding being concluded with, Section 10 is not at all applicable here in the case before us. We have also perused the 7 BLT 241 High Court Division decision placed by the learned Advocate of the petitioner and since upon perusal it is revealed that the facts in that case and the instant case before us are similar, and upon our own interpretation of the relevant laws, we are in respectful agreement with the 7 BLT 241 case.

15. Under the facts and circumstances and for the reasons stated above we find merits in the Rule. In the result, the Rule is made absolute and the Judgment and order dated 17-5-2016 passed by the Additional District Judge, 5th Court, Dhaka in Family Appeal No. 255 of 2015 rejecting the appeal thereby affirming the order dated 6-8-2015 passed by the learned Additional Assistant Judge, Family Court No. 3, Dhaka in Family Suit No. 531 of 2014 rejecting the application dated 14-5-2015 is hereby set-aside.

Order of stay granted at the time of issuance of the Rule is hereby vacated.
BCL 'kidnaps' CU shuttle train operator Services halted for a day

CU Correspondent :

Shuttle train services between Chittagong University (CU) and the port city were halted since Tuesday night, as a faction of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) at the university abducted the operator of the train.

A BCL faction led by former CU BCL leader Rakib Hossain allegedly abducted the shuttle train operator as part of their blockade programme on the CU campus.

The operator, Ali Riaz, was picked up from Sholoshohor rail station around 9:20pm, said Station Master Shahab Uddin.

Police rescued Ali Riaz from Pahartoli area in Chittagong city two hours later, he added.

Train operators suspended the shuttle operations "fearing recurrence of such incidents," said Jahangir Hossain, divisional manager of Bangladesh Railway (east zone).

Following the vice chancellor's assurance of providing police protection, the operators agreed to resume the shuttle operations from today as per schedule, he told journalists on Wednesday night.

CU Proctor Ali Asgar Chowdhury told journalists that former CU BCL leader Rakib and his sister Rezwana Benazir Bonna on Tuesday had "threatened to enforce a strike at the university" after their demand -- of recruiting 13 people at the university under third and fourth grade categories -- was refused by VC Prof Iftekhar Uddin Chowdhury.

CU authorities are scheduled to hold a syndicate meeting on May 31 to recruit third and fourth grade employees for the university.

They made the demand to the VC after handing over a list of the 13 people in a letter with BCL letterhead, the proctor said, adding that Rakib is accused in a number of cases filed with Hathazari Police Station for various criminal offences.

Rakib hung up a call when he was contacted over phone for comments.




Indigenous youth reflect on identity ahead of Native American Day

Washington High School students share why they're proud to be Native in lieu of Native American Day Parade cancellation this year.
Poet Nazrul's birth anniv celebrated

Marking the 119th death anniversary of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, family members of Poet placing floral wreaths at the Mazar on Dhaka University campus on Friday.

UNB, Dhaka :

The 119th birth anniversary of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam was celebrated in the country on Friday in a befitting manner.

Born on May 25, 1899 at village Churulia in Burdwan district of West Bengal in India, Nazrul through his fiery poems had inspired people to fight against injustice and repression of the colonial rule.

The government and different socio-cultural and political organisations arranged elaborate programmes, including discussions and placing of wreaths at his grave by the Central Mosque of Dhaka University, on the occasion. President Abdul Hamid inaugurated a three-day national programme in Trishal of Mymensingh in the afternoon.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, he urged the young generation to contribute to building a discrimination-free non-communal society by enriching them through practising Nazrul's works and ideals.

Describing Kazi Nazrul Islam as the poet of national revolution and pioneer of Bangla literature and music.
WASHINGTONThe Trump administration has told Congress that its reached a deal that would allow Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. to stay in business, a source familiar with the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential matter said Friday.

A resolution of the ZTE case could clear the way for the United States to make progress in its high-stakes trade talks with China. But news of the agreement drew immediate fire on Capitol Hill.

Under the agreement, ZTE would oust its management team, hire American compliance officers and pay a fine. The fine would come on top of the roughly $1 billion ZTE has already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

In return, the Commerce Department would lift a seven-year ban on ZTEs purchase of components that the Chinese firm depends on from U.S. companies. The ban, imposed earlier this month, threatened to put ZTE out of business.

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a call seeking confirmation of the agreement. On Capitol Hill, one senior congressional source said leaders have not yet received formal notification.

Lawmakers have warned the administration not to go easy on a company that brazenly violated U.S. sanctions against two rogue nations that were pursuing nuclear weapons production.

Read more:

Trumps push to save Chinas ZTE could imperil $150 million for terrorism victims

Trump tweet brings sense of relief, uncertainty at Chinas ZTE

Chinas ZTE stops major operations in wake of U.S. ban

If the administration goes through with this reported deal, President Trump would be helping make China great again, said Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.

Schumer added: Both parties in Congress should come together to stop this deal in its tracks.

ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States  and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact, said Sen. Chris Van Hollen. If President Trump wont put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted: It is a great deal ... for #ZTE & China ... Many hoped this time would be different.

Congress, Rubio said, will need to act.

The Commerce Department last month blocked Chinas ZTE from importing American components for seven years, having concluded that ZTE deceived U.S. regulators after it settled charges last year of violating sanctions against Iran and North Korea. The ban amounted to a virtual death sentence for ZTE, which relies on U.S. parts, and it also hurt ZTEs U.S. suppliers.

On the eve of broad trade talks last week with a Chinese trade envoy, Trump waded into the ZTE case: He tweeted that he was working with President Xi Jinping to put ZTE back in business, fast and save tens of thousands of Chinese jobs.

He later tweeted that the ZTE talks were part of a larger trade deal being negotiated with China.

Word of a reported ZTE agreement comes nearly a week after the U.S. and China suspended plans to impose tariffs on as much as $200 billion of each others goods. In doing two, the two nations pulled back from the brink of a trade war over Chinese demands that U.S. companies hand over some of their technology as the price of doing business in China.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is scheduled to travel to Beijing on June 2 for further discussions over Chinas aggressive push to challenge U.S. technological dominance. Resolving the ZTE case  a company that employs more than 70,000 Chinese  could make the talks go more smoothly.

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Is it a screenplay or a PhD thesis?

Robyn Allan laughs after a nonstop hour during which the economist has elaborated on a previous hour-long conversation explaining why the Trans Mountain Expansion Project should be stopped in its tracks.

Kinder Morgan is just days away from its fish-or-cut-bait deadline by which time  May 31  the company wants to be assured of political alignment on the path forward for the project, or else. Allan doesnt have a crystal ball. Anything can happen, she says. But what she is clear about is that due process has not been followed.

Allan is the former CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and was an expert economics intervenor in the National Energy Board hearing on the Trans Mountain pipeline project. She started looking at the Trans Mountain proposal subsequent to her review of the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project, so shes been picking through the Kinder Morgan file for seven years.

That timeline ties to the Stephen Harper go-go oil era, the passage of Bill C-38 (the emasculation of federal environmental assessments), amendments to the National Energy Board and an electioneering Justin Trudeau promising an overhaul of the devitalized NEB. When asked in the summer of 2015 if his redo of the NEB would apply to Kinder Morgan, Trudeau replied, yes, yes, yes that process needs to be redone.

The prime minister must have been nervous in November 2016, announcing that the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion had been approved after all. The future look: two parallel pipelines, including reactivated existing segments, shipping 890,000 barrels daily of crude oil, primarily diluted bitumen. Asserting that his government would use todays wealth to create tomorrows opportunity, Trudeau championed the 15,000 new, middle class jobs the project would create.

Robyn Allan saw red, and launched into one of those rabbit hole exercises trying to find the data source, only to come up with a Kinder Morgan website reference in which the oil company bizarrely cites a figure from the Conference Board of Canada. Even if you reject Allans description of the jobs number as a scam, the federal government appears to have offered no evidence to support the 15,000 figure, and certainly cant argue long-term job creation when the lions share of the jobs, whatever the number may turn out to be, are short-term pipe, tank and terminal construction jobs. Allan estimates that the true early years number is less than 20 per cent of that 15,000.

Allan is in the business of collecting data and economic modelling. Sitting in a slant of sunlight in a Toronto coffee shop  she has travelled from her home in B.C. to attend a screening and panel discussion for Directly Affected, Zack Embrees documentary take on Trans Mountain and what Embree calls the deeply unsettling hijacking of process  Allan reflects on this new era in which data are less available (Statistics Canada) and data aggregators are less helpful than they used to be. The cumulative effect, she says, has been a climate shift in terms of protection of the public interest.

This was starkly apparent during the NEB hearing into Trans Mountain, during which no oral cross-examination was allowed. We had this situation where cross-examination was not allowed. So you ask yourself, Is this a hearing?What makes economics function is the ability to make sure that the information you are getting is trustworthy. In the absence of that, she says, there arises a denigration of proper oversight.

The NEB recommended approval of the project in May 2016. The report is more than 500 pages, but the attention to project financing is light, and curious. Trans Mountain said that the expected capital cost for the Project is approximately $5.5 billion, the report states.  Financing would be arranged by Trans Mountains parent company, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP). The board noted that growth projects have conventionally been financed by the company on a 50-50 debt-equity basis.

Yet five months earlier, the parent company, Kinder Morgan Inc., announced that it was slashing its dividend for the first time ever, that any debt funding would further impair its slumping investment grade rating and that the stock had taken such a hit that equity was no longer an economic source of expansion capital.

It looked to Canada for help. A new public entity, Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd., was created, rolling in all of the companys Canadian assets. Thirty per cent of that company was sold to the public last spring. In a conference call with analysts last July, Steve Kean, CEO of Kinder Morgan Inc., noted that the parent companys balance sheet was significantly strengthened by using the share issue proceeds of the new company to pay down the parent companys debt.

What happened to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners? That company was delisted all the way back in October 2014, a year and a half before the NEB submitted its report. Meanwhile, the cost estimate for Trans Mountain, which had risen to $6.8 billion months before the NEBs report, was now $7.4 billion.

I filed a motion in November 2014, saying can we please have a stay and look at whether or not this restructuring is in the public interest, Allan says. The board refused to do it.

In its report the NEB does acknowledge the dramatic change of affairs. Some intervenors argued that Trans Mountain had misled the Board by not providing it with market-related evidence that demonstrates significant changes to Trans Mountains source of financing, financing structure and KMIs financial position, stability or ability to finance the Project. The Board is not persuaded by the arguments put forth by the City of Vancouver and others that KMI would not have the ability to finance the Project.

Six months later Prime Minister Trudeau was giving the green light to the project in a speech touting the respect accorded Indigenous peoples and strong environmental protections. Recent reporting by the National Observer, including memos and emails acquired through access to information requests, challenges the degree to which the Trudeau government met its obligations to consult with Indigenous groups under the Constitution Act of 1982.

Theres the due process piece again, Allan says.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bill Morneau is selling a new line that other investors will be eager to step in if an agreement isnt reached by next Thursday. Allan cant see how that could possibly work. As for Kinder Morgan, the company says it is not updating its cost estimate at this time.

jenwells@thestar.ca

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Is it immodest to say that Ottawas rejection of a proposed Chinese takeover of an iconic Canadian company marks a turning point in Chinas relations with the world?

Probably.

But Canada has acted more decisively than others in rebuking Chinas rogue economy.

Consider:

China manipulated its currency for more than a decade to keep its exports priced artificially low, earning worldwide condemnation. But China continued the practice until it decided to change course for domestic reasons.

China continues to dump steel and aluminum in Canada, the U.S. and the European Union (EU), putting jobs in those jurisdictions in jeopardy. U.S. tariffs to curb that practice, applied widely and with many countries exempted, are ineffectual as they allow China to continue dumping in several major markets.

All G-20 economies are victims of chronic intellectual property theft by China. But the most anyone has done about that piracy is an EU threat to debate the matter among its 28 member countries.

The EU, especially, has the jitters about Chinese President Xi Jinpings pet project, his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to recreate the ancient Silk Road trading route from Chinas Pacific coast to London.

Given Chinas ruthless suppression of individual liberty at home and its belligerence toward Japan and others abroad, theres reason for the EU and others to worry that the BRI, the biggest megaproject in history, is an exercise in Chinese imperialism merely disguised as a mutually beneficial economic development plan.

Last month, 27 out of the 28 EU ambassadors to China signed a report that condemns the BRI as running counter to the EU agenda for liberalizing trade and pushes the balance of power in favour of subsidized Chinese companies.

Indeed, Beijings definition of mutual benefit has 89 per cent of BRI infrastructure projects to date assigned to Chinese companies. Bidding for those BRI projects is opaque, in keeping with the non-transparency that is a hallmark of much Chinese activity in the world.

But that report remains unpublished. (Excerpts emerged when the German news journal Handelsblatt got a hold of it). Absent sanctions to back it up, the reports critique will have no impact on Beijing.

China has successfully pressured several countries to cut off diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The West African country of Burkina Faso this month became the most recent to accede to Chinese coercion, leaving Taiwan just 16 remaining allies.

Taiwan is a de facto Western protectorate, and more specifically that of the U.S. But no country or international body has forcefully objected to Chinas ceaseless meddling in the affairs of a sovereign Taiwan.

Finally, EU countries are alarmed about rampant Chinese takeovers of the crown jewels of European industry. But theyve done nothing to put constraints or conditions on those takeovers, even those by Chinese state-owned enterprises, which are the source of greatest concern.

The most worrisome example of unrestrained Chinese foreign investment is the German industrial giant Kuka AG, worlds biggest maker of robotics in the global auto sector. Both Berlin and the EU objected to the proposed Chinese takeover of Kuka and its renowned R&D prowess. But each ultimately proved powerless in blocking the deal.

Indeed, Germany alone has lost eight major high-tech firms to Chinese buyers in recent years, including legendary machine maker KraussMaffei and silicon chip maker Aixtron.

The EU is talking about a framework for more closely vetting future proposed takeovers of EU companies by non-EU buyers. But that discussion has not yielded actual tools for preventing the further loss of strategically important private-sector assets.

By sharp contrast with all of the above, Ottawas decision Wednesday to reject the proposed $1.5-billion takeover of construction and engineering firm Aecon Group Inc. by state-owned China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC) is an iron-fisted response to the way China is acting in the world.

With its usual petulance in such matters, Beijing has reacted by effectively calling Canada a country that needs to grow up. There has been hand-wringing in Corporate Canada over an anticipated dearth of future Chinese investment in the Canadian economy.

And some members of the Canadian commentariat accuse Ottawa of confusion over what sort of relationship it wants with China. Officially, at least, Canada seeks a free-trade deal with China.

Actually, the Trudeau government made clear to Beijing that its planned Aecon purchase was in trouble when it subjected the deal to a national security review, an unusual step, which was greeted by Beijing as a hostile act.

This weeks outright rejection of the deal should not have surprised China, given Aecons role in building critical infrastructure, including military installations, power plants, telecom networks and public-transit systems. And the timing was hardly ideal: Ottawa has made clear to Beijing its anger over continued Chinese dumping of steel and aluminum in our market.

China has cause now to make the connection between, say, cravenly violating one of the most fundamental rules of world trade  namely the prohibition against dumping  and a thwarting of its bid to acquire an infrastructure powerhouse in a country it is abusing.

China needs to look in the mirror. Its own business sector is off-limits to non-Chinese buyers. And its enormous market remains largely closed to Canadian and other exporters.

As to a free-trade deal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remains all for it. But we dont want trade with China at any cost, he said this month.

China might turn out to be the most interesting country of this century. But for the past decade it has been an anti-social actor on the world stage, to say nothing of its abysmal human-rights record at home.

Somebody, somewhere needed to impress on the worlds second-largest economy that theres a price to be paid for its chronic bullying, theft and injurious trade practices, among Chinas other unattractive behaviours.

Canada just did so. And Canada is one of Chinas friends of longest standing in the West. Its now for other countries and international groups like the EU to follow suit.

The goal is a prosperous China that ramps up its already considerable contributions to the world in technological and industrial leadership.

But China should continue to meet obstacles to its remarkable industrial revolution so long as it refuses to truly join the community of nations.

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SAN FRANCISCOApple once had grand aspirations to build its own electric self-driving car and lead the next generation of transportation. Over time, the tech giants ambitions ran into the reality.

So Apple curtailed its original vision, first by focusing on software for self-driving cars and then by working solely on an autonomous shuttle for its own use with employees. Now, the tech giant has settled for an auto partner that was not its first choice.

For the past several years, Apple sought partnerships with the luxury carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz to develop an all-electric, self-driving vehicle, according to five people familiar with the negotiations who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But on-again, off-again talks with those companies ended after each rebuffed Apples requirements to hand over control of the data and design, some of the people said.

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Instead, Apple has signed a deal with Volkswagen to turn some of the carmakers new T6 Transporter vans into Apples self-driving shuttles for employees  a project that is behind schedule and consuming nearly all of the Apple car teams attention, said three people familiar with the project.

Apples deal with Volkswagen, which has not been previously reported, and the failure of its talks with other automakers reflect the continuing travails and diminished scope of the companys four-year-old car program.

The project has suffered from repeated changes in direction that have hurt morale and led to hundreds of departures from its peak of more than 1,000 members two years ago, five former Apple employees said. They added that the project lacked a clear plan beyond the vans, including any near-term commercial goals.

The fits and starts have most likely put Apple even further behind in the race toward the self-driving future. Waymo, the self-driving business spun out of Google, as well as startups and some carmakers have been testing various autonomous vehicles on public roads for years. Some of the programs have hit hurdles  Uber on Wednesday said it was shutting down its self-driving operations in Arizona and laying off about 300 employees in the area  but many have already gathered extensive data on autonomous driving patterns to improve their technology.

Apple declined to comment.

Apple originally began its car project  known internally as Titan and T172  in 2014. At the time, Apple planned to build a single vehicle that would upend society and industry, in what would be the automotive version of the iPhone. The company set to work on an electric driverless car with a lush interior reminiscent of a lounge or living room, where passengers face each other instead of the road, according to two early employees of the project.

Apple enlisted software programmers, automotive engineers, rocket scientists and the industrial-design team of Apples design chief, Jonathan Ive, to reimagine the car. They entertained a series of unconventional concepts, including augmented-reality or holographic displays embedded in windshields and windows, a sunroof made of a special polymer that reduces heat from the sun and windows with adjustable tints  like those on Boeings new 787 Dreamliner jets.

Two former Apple employees also recalled how their colleagues built a model of an SUV with four seats facing each other, which some employees tested by sitting inside, similar to a design Mercedes advertised in 2015.

As recently as 2016, Apple planned to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build research and development labs around its Cupertino, Calif., campus, including a machine shop and labs for electric car batteries, according to interviews and documents about the plans viewed by The New York Times.

Yet members of the car project soon found that even designing and building fundamental parts of a new car was not simple. Apple initially intended to build the car in-house, with preliminary discussions of an Apple automotive plant in the south of the United States, two former employees said. But those plans quickly shifted to finding a manufacturing partner to build  but not design  the cars.

Two former employees said Apples requests of partners gradually evolved. At first, the company asked for help building an Apple-designed vehicle. Then, it began asking potential partners to provide foundational car pieces like the chassis and wheels. Eventually, Apple requested that potential partners retrofit their own vehicles with Apples sensors and software.

In late 2015, Apple bought two Lexus SUVs and hired a Virginia firm called Torc Robotics to retrofit the vehicles with sensors, a project known internally as Baja, one former employee said. Apple now has more than 50 of the SUVs and uses them for data collection and limited self-driving tests. In early 2017, California regulators authorized Apple to run self-driving tests on public roads with three of the SUVs.

But Apple did not partner with Lexus, and it has long sought a formal partner. The company first worked with Magna Steyr, a Canadian-Austrian contract manufacturer that has produced low-volume vehicles for other automakers, like the Mercedes G-Wagen, according to two former employees. A few dozen Magna Steyr employees joined Apples car team in California but gradually left after the partnership ended.

BMW was long Apples top choice, given its focus on high-end but mainstream products, former employees said. Many Apple executives, including the companys chief executive, Tim Cook, also drive BMWs. Cook visited BMW as early as 2014 to discuss a partnership and those on-and-off negotiations continued for years. But a person close to the talks said any deal now appeared dead because both Apple and BMW wanted to own the customer experience and relationship.

Apples other favoured choice was Mercedes-Benz, internally code-named Bruce, according to one former employee. The two companies held partnership talks for more than a year, said three people familiar with the discussions. But those negotiations were halted because of similar disagreements over control of the experience and data, said one person close to the talks.

Apple also met with Nissan in Japan, BYD Auto in China and sports-car maker McLaren in Britain, among other companies, one former employee said. None of the talks resulted in a deal because either the automaker was reluctant to give up control to Apple or Apple was holding out for a more attractive partner.

Late last year, Apple found a partner in Volkswagen. Buffeted by a scandal around cheating emissions tests  and lagging some rivals in development of self-driving cars  Volkswagen jumped at the chance to work with Apple, former Apple employees said. Volkswagens code-name at Apple is Jetstream, one said.

Now, at a lab near Turin, Italy, run by a Volkswagen subsidiary called Italdesign, the companies plan to remake Volkswagens T6 vans as electric self-driving shuttles, these people said.

The frame, wheels and chassis of the T6 vans will remain, but Apple is replacing many components, including the dashboard and seats, said two people familiar with the project. Apple is also adding other computers, sensors and a large electric car battery, they said. The shuttles will ferry employees between two of Apples Silicon Valley campuses, and will include a driver behind the wheel to take control if needed, as well as an operator in the passengers seat tracking the vans performance.

Executives leading Apples car project had told CEO Tim Cook that the shuttle would be completed by the end of 2018, but that deadline will be missed, one former employee said. It is unclear whether Apples partnership with Volkswagen will extend beyond the shuttle.

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BD, India can solve any problem: PM

UNB, Santiniketan :

Terming Bangladesh-India ties beyond strategic, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday hoped that the two countries will be able to solve their any problem maintaining their bonds.

"I hope, we'll able to solve any problem through maintaining friendly atmosphere," she said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of Bangladesh Bhaban at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. Sheikh Hasina further said, "We, the two neigbouring countries, want to move together always. If there's a neighbouring country, there may be some problems with it. We've solved the problems one by one. I don't want to break the excellent momentum of this ceremony raising the rest few problems." The Prime Minister said the multi-faceted and multi-dimensional relationship between Bangladesh and India has reached a new height in the last nine years. "Our relationship is described as far beyond strategic relationship. Bangladesh-India bilateral relationship is often considered as a 'model of bilateral relations' for the rest of the world," she said. Hasina hoped that the two nations will be able to achieve socio-economic development through full utilisation of mutual cooperation.

Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly unveiled the plaque of Bangladesh Bhaban at Vivsa-Bharati University in Santiniketan. The two-storeyed building was constructed at a cost of Rs 25 crore. "Bangladesh Bhavan will be a centre of excellence where students will be able to study and conduct research on the glorious Liberation War of Bangladesh, the life and works of Father of the Nation of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore," she said. Hasina said, "This (Bangladesh Bhaban) will enhance the cultural bond between Bangladesh and India as well. It'll play a significant role in increasing the cultural exchanges and the people-to-people contact between the two countries." Library, auditorium, cafeteria, museum with digital features and archive, and other necessary amenities will be available at Bangladesh Bhaban to facilitate the researchers,

she said. The Prime Minister said Bangladesh will also provide a one-time fund equivalent to Rs 10 core for the maintenance of the building and for conducting its future activities. She said her relationship with Visva-Bharati dates back to quite a few years. This institution awarded her with 'Deshikottom' degree in 1999. "Since then, I had a longing that a separate centre for Bangladesh Studies would be established here." Hasina said Rabindranath Tagore is like a lighthouse in the life of each and every Bengali. "He (Tagore) remains close to our heart - in our joy or sorrow, in love or desertion, in rebellion and peace. We're immersed in the shower of his creations." She said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was often totally immersed in Rabindranath. He used to listen to Tagore songs regularly even when he was in a solitary confinement. She said Bangabandhu was so profoundly influenced by Rabindranath that he selected 'Amar Sonar Bangla, Ami Tomay Bhalobashi' as the National Anthem of Bangladesh. Hasina said her association with the works of Rabindranath started under the guidance of her father. "In our childhood, we used to listen to the recitation of Kabiguru's poems by my father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his nice deep voice. While travelling to Tungipara (our ancestral home) by steamer, he, sometimes, used to recite from Kabiguru's poems."

She recalled that the Indian government and its people stood beside Bangladeshis during the 1971 Liberation War. "Many Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives in the Liberation War of Bangladesh. People of Bangladesh would never forget those supreme sacrifices." She also recalled that then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi provided shelter to her and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana in India after the assassination of the Father of the Nation along with 18 of his family members in 1975. "We'll never forget the support of the Indian government and its people at that time of distress." Sheikh Hasina said Rabindranath nurtured Bangladesh deep in his heart. Although he was born in Kolkata, he spent a considerable time of his life in Patisar, Shilaidaha and Shahjadpur of Bangladesh. Out of attachments, Rabindranath married Bhabatarini from village Daksmindihi in Khulna, Bangladesh. After marriage he renamed her as Mrinalini. Bangladesh established a Rabindra University at Shahjadpur in his memory, she added. Sheikh Hasina extended her heartfelt thanks to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister of West Bengal for their presence in the inauguration ceremony of Bangladesh Bhavan.
TORONTOKbre Hamilton has long worked as a model and a tavern server, but five years ago when he snagged a dresser at a garage sale and gave it a coat of Emperors Silk red paint and some new knobs, he stumbled onto a new way to make money.

The 33-year-old opened Hamilton, Ont.-based custom furnishings business Fresh Furniture Co.  but he didnt bother to set up a storefront to enter the market. Instead he grabbed a phone, snapped photos of his pieces and started selling directly on Facebook and Instagram.

I havent done a storefront because of the cost, said Hamilton. I did have a website, but far more people were engaged in the social media. That is where I get most of my clients and referrals from.

The entrepreneurs decision to sell solely on social media is quickly being embraced by others who want to minimize costs, responsibilities and risk of failure. Social media giants are also hungry to cash in on the trend that provides them with another avenue to drive clicks and, ultimately, profits.

In recent months, social platforms have rolled out a handful of retail-friendly features.

Facebook launched its Marketplace offering that lets people sell items through its platform in Canada last July and earlier this year expanded chatbot capabilities, allowing customers to place online orders, make reservations and get answers to customer service queries through the platforms Messenger tool.

In March, Instagram started offering Canadian businesses a feature that lets users tap on photos of products or people and learn more information about the items or be linked to a spot where they can buy them. It helps companies increase sales because users can easily and instantly make a purchase without having to leave the platform or start searching for the item online or in store. Companies also gain access to data on how many people are tapping to see or buy their products.

Instagram is also experimenting with allowing customers to make reservations or appointments through the app.

We are probably in version one of what shopping can be, Susan Rose, Instagrams director of product marketing, said.

You no longer need a brick-and-mortar store to get off the ground, she said, adding e-commerce businesses can decide later if they want a physical location or pop-up shop.

She didnt offer specifics on how Instagram might try to cater to entrepreneurs like Hamilton next, but noted half of the businesses on the platform dont list a website, making Instagram their mobile presence.

In September 2015, website host GoDaddy research showed 59 per cent of Canadian small businesses dont have a website  with 41 per cent believing their companies were too small to warrant one.

However, within the next few years, a handful of successful online businesses  mattress purveyor Casper, eyeglasses company Warby Parker and apparel brand Frank and Oak  started moving away from their original business model towards opening bricks-and-mortar locations.

UPS Canada Ltd. also released a study saying that 40 per cent of online shoppers in Canada search for products in one channel, but purchase via another. The April study also found that 77 per cent of the 18,000 consumers it surveyed were satisfied with online shopping, but only 59 per cent felt the same way about their in-store experiences.

Most businesses operating primarily or solely on social platforms are small artisans or entrepreneurs drawn to the low cost and ability to experiment with little risk, said David Soberman, a University of Toronto marketing professor.

This doesnt seem like something an $8- or $9-million business would do, he said.

The concept of operating a business solely on social media is still in its infancy, he said, adding that it comes as shoppers have increasingly become more comfortable with online shopping and buying from smaller companies whose credibility cant always be reaffirmed with a Google search or a trip to the mall.

Ottawa-based e-commerce giant Shopify as well as handmade and small goods seller Etsy enabled many such companies. Both started to help small business owners find a cost-effective way to enter the retail market. Etsy charges listing fees around 20 cents and a 3.5-per-cent transaction fee for purchases in Canada and the U.S. Shopify offers access to its platform and technology in packages starting at $29, but that comes with transaction fees between 2.4 and 3.5 per cent plus a 30-cent charge, depending on the credit card used to make a purchase.

Rose wouldnt say if monetizing Instagram entrepreneurs is part of the companys business plan.

But Soberman noted that there is fierce competition to corner the online shopping market because social media giants can use it to generate more traffic for their ads, which is a big chunk of how they make their money.

I think in the longer term all of these social media platforms worry about being overtaken or being made obsolete, like MySpace. If you dont have the functionality or the bells and whistles like the competitors, you risk falling behind.

Hamilton said he has thought little about how social media companies are courting entrepreneurs or what they could do to increase business owners use of the platform, because it brings him thousands more clicks than he got from his website when it wasnt under construction, as it currently is.

It has also driven dozens of people to request custom painting jobs from him and inspired a potential second business idea that taps into another passion of his: selling vintage clothing.

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WASHINGTONShoplifters beware: Closed-circuit cameras in stores might be observing more than you think. As facial recognition software gets better, the battle against retail theft is moving into high tech.

Retail stores with facial recognition systems can spot convicted or admitted shoplifters in about the time it takes to walk two paces into an establishment.

We can match a face against the database of 25 million people in just under a second. Two or three years ago, that was just unheard of, said Peter Trepp, chief executive of FaceFirst, an Encino, Calif., firm that is a leader in retail surveillance tools.

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Civil libertarians are up in arms over widespread use of facial recognition software, fearing that errors could victimize innocent shoppers, but industry experts say the use of the software is here to stay.

Thats because theft remains a bane to the nations 3.8 million retail establishments, which suffered $48.9 billion in losses in 2016, the most recent year for which the National Retail Federation tallied estimates. Average stores lose between 1 and 3 per cent of revenue to theft each year, experts say.

Most people, when they envision what retail theft looks like, they probably envision someone taking something off the shelf and hiding it in their jacket, said Malay Kundu, chief executive of StopLift, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, start-up.

But Kundu said less than half of retail losses come from shoplifters or organized retail crime gangs. More losses occur from employee theft, often at the checkout counter. In this area, too, surveillance technology is advancing.

Kundus start-up provides a service that weds ceiling cameras over checkout lanes with artificial intelligence to send alerts when the system detects cashiers failing to scan products.

If youve got a friend or family member or a fellow employee who is the cashier, they can give you things for free just by not scanning them. It goes right into the bag, Kundu said.

Using the cameras and highly advanced software, Kundu said clients report a reduction in such inventory losses of as high as 40 per cent. His company says its technology has already confirmed more than 2.7 million incidents of scan avoidance.

The use of high-tech anti-theft technology remains in its infancy, experts said.

Its not well-embedded in retail yet, (but) its becoming more affordable, said Karl F. Langhorst, executive vice president of Alto US, a Miami subsidiary of a Chilean company that uses computer analytics to combat theft in 7,000 stores in 100 cities.

Skeptics of facial recognition software say they worry about reports of errors, especially with non-white customers.

These algorithms were less accurate on people of colour and women, said Jeremy Gillula, the tech policy director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco group that advocates for privacy rights in the digital age.

Hundreds of thousands of cameras already gaze on passersby at airports, schools, stadiums, hotels, casinos and at retail outlets like convenience and liquor stores and gas stations.

Youre being recorded almost everywhere you go these days. No ones up in arms about that. No ones marching on Washington, Trepp said.

But major retailers worry about liability and consumer skittishness.

Its true that shoplifters dont engender sympathy, said Jay Stanley, a senior analyst with the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, a group that advocates for individual rights. But Stanley said people convicted once of retail theft could find it difficult to enter retail outlets without intense scrutiny.

Now, instead of being shut out of one mom-and-pop store, you get shut out of hundreds, Stanley said.

Change is washing over retail, as stores adopt self-checkout, employ fewer clerks and watch the experimentation by Seattle-based giant Amazon, which earlier this year opened Amazon Go, a concept store filled with cameras and sensors. Shoppers there grab prepared foods off shelves and walk out without passing a cashier. Computers later notify customers of what theyve been charged.

Other retailers worry about possible glitches in surveillance technology.

If you for some reason have a mistake in your database or someone interprets your information incorrectly and some innocent person all of a sudden comes up that they committed a crime, youre opening yourself up to liability, said Terry Sullivan, president of the Loss Prevention Foundation, a non-profit in Matthews, N.C., that educates retail employees about how to fight theft.

Theres a lot of moving pieces to that, he added.

Among major retailers, only a few acknowledge using facial recognition. Among them is Lowes, the home improvement and appliance chain.

In some stores, we may use facial recognition technologies to identify known shoplifters, the retailers privacy and security statement says.

Cameras have to be placed near entrances for facial recognition software to succeed.

Lighting has to be appropriate. Resolution has to be higher in quality, said Roger Rodriguez, a facial recognition expert who left the New York Police Department after two decades to join Vigilant Solutions, a Livermore, Calif., company that sells platforms of license plate readers and facial recognition to law enforcement.

Retailers still debate whether consumers should be told facial recognition is in use.

Legally, you dont have to have signage, Trepp said. You dont have to say anything to anybody in most of the states of the United States. There is no federal law.

Rodriguez said retailers should tell shoppers anyway to dissipate fears and advertise positive uses, such as for finding missing children or identifying elderly people with Alzheimers.

I do believe it is the wave of the future, echoed Sullivan of the Loss Prevention Foundation.
CALGARYLike many Calgary parents, Kelly Van Webber volunteers on the parents council at his childrens school.

The groups can be found at many schools, organizing penny carnivals, casino nights and other fundraisers to get nice-to-have extras meant to enhance student learning. But Van Webber cant forget the way his council ended up spending money two years ago: on carpets.

Really? We as parents have to raise money and spend $6,000 on carpets? he said. Shouldnt the province and the CBE (Calgary Board of Education) be funding this?

He gives full credit to the staff at the school for making the most of what theyre given to work with, but he worries theyre not being set up for success.

The numbers show that just staying on top of basic maintenance is a growing problem for the Calgary Board of Education. Schools under the care of the CBE are facing over $1 billion in total deferred maintenance costs, according to Danny Breton, CBEs superintendent of facilities and environmental management.

He said the province has pegged the boards deferred maintenance cost closer to $166 million. The province arrived at that number through independent reports that are done by inspectors on every school in the province over a five year cycle.

Breton said their number mainly looks at what needs to be done right away, while the CBE has a much more thorough number based on life cycle replacement costs and expected maintenance. Looking at items that have reached the end of their expected life cycle and need to be replaced, they add an additional $605 million dollars to the provinces estimate.

Breton said theyve also added somewhere between 1-2 per cent of the value of their property portfolio, which is the industry standard for annual maintenance costs. And because theyve fallen behind in those, he added four years at $80 million each to the bill.

All of a sudden youre at the $1.1 billion total cost if we wanted to bring all our real property to essentially brand-new condition, Breton said.

The CBE gets money from the province that is earmarked for maintenance each year. That number has over five years averaged $29 million annually. He said annual stable infrastructure funding of about $80 million annually would allow the CBE to address the immediate problems plus stay on top of the new items that inevitably crop up.

With over 50 per cent of our schools that are 50 years or older, its inevitable therell be new things piling on to the list of things needing to be replaced, Breton said.

CBE chair Trina Hurdman said despite the high potential replacement costs, schools remain safe and ready for students.

Were doing the very best with what we have, Hurdman said. Were making sure were doing everything that is urgent  everything that is a health and safety issue  and were trying to keep on schedule as much as possible.

She believes all school boards across the province would agree that funding for planned operational maintenance and infrastructure maintenance is not keeping up with the costs. She said they can safely defer maintenance by going beyond the industry standard for replacements on many pieces of infrastructure.

Hurdman gave the example of a furnace boiler that has a 40-year life-expectancy. After 40 years, that boilers still going, lets try 41 years, lets try 42 years.

Barb Silva, communication director for advocacy group Support Our Students Alberta, said there is a cost to deferring maintenance in that way.

We call it the 24 Sussex effect, said Silva, referring to the prime ministers residence, which has become nearly irreparable because successive governments have refused to invest in basic maintenance.

Some schools have boilers that are so antiquated theres only a select number of people who can service them, she said. Those people come at a high cost.

Silva believes the CBE could do a better job of budgeting money to address the maintenance shortfall. Shes seen money earmarked for other things get shifted to front-line costs of keeping schools staffed with teachers.

Were forgetting how important it is for students to learn in a safe and clean environment, Silva said. That is a major part of education, but one should not be sacrificed for another.

The province, for its part, says its doing a better job than the previous Progressive Conservative government on making sure schools have funding.

In a prepared statement, Education Minister David Eggen said the province has provided more than $131 million to the CBE since the 201415 school year specifically for maintenance.

We know that a number of the schools in our province are aging and need some work done because the previous government didnt properly fund schools. Were doing things differently, he said. Were building more than 200 schools across the province because we know that investing in education is an important investment in our provinces future.

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EDMONTONInstead of lining Kinder Morgans proposed pipeline route with activists, a climate action group has sent out a call for portraits of protesters to be made into painted cut-outs.

The artwork will be placed along the Trans Mountain pipelines path instead.

Its artivism, said Jenny Kleininger, an organizer with Climate Justice Edmonton.

She said the group wants the project to function as both a project thats in opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline and then also a symbolic and participatory way that people can get involved.

The group hasnt decided how long the installation will be up, but has weatherproofing measures in place and hopes this might only be the beginning.

If were going to be really idealistic about this, it would be really cool to see it across borders and see it go all along the pipeline route, she said.

Dubbed People on the Path, the project will also feature slogans and quotes submitted by the people featured on the cut-outs.

Kleininger said the group will ask youth and community members to join in and help with the painting of the cut-outs, some of which are seven feet tall.

The group is also calling for a transition to renewable energy.

In Alberta, theres this dominant narrative that all Albertans support fossil fuel development, and thats wildly not true, said Kleininger. There are a lot of people in Alberta opposed to this and any pipeline, not just people in B.C.

On Tuesday, the battle over the Trans Mountain pipeline extension flared up between British Columbia and Alberta when Canadas westernmost province sued the oil capital of the country.

The lawsuit came after the Alberta NDP government passed Bill 12 last week, giving it power to regulate the flow of refined petroleum. This means Premier Rachel Notley could turn the taps to B.C. off.

Tuesday afternoon, B.C. Attorney General David Eby told reporters his government continues to issue Kinder Morgan its requested permits at the same process and the same pace as the previous B.C. Liberal government, which backed the project.

However, Eby said Bill 12 is blatantly unconstitutional since it is beyond the powers of the Alberta legislature.

The government is looking for alternative sources for refined products to make sure harm is minimized in B.C., Eby said. Were preparing to file an injunction to stop Alberta  if we need to do that.

Notley fired back, pointing to the hypocrisy of the B.C. governments action.

They have a strange spectre of them quietly and happily building a pipeline under protected wetland in the Lower Mainland so they can facilitate importing jet fuel from Korea, yet at the same time are combating the notion of us increasing our ability to move product to the West Coast, Notley said. Theres a lot of riding two horses at the same time.

Notley also shrugged off a meeting that was taking place in Yellowknife with other western premiers Monday.

She decided to stay in Alberta to work on getting the pipeline deal done.

If we were a long way away from a decision point on the pipeline, I maybe would spend 45 minutes chastising John Horgan in front of other premiers, but quite honestly, right now were very close to a very complex decision with a lot of different moving parts, Notley said of the decision.

With files from Catherine Griwkowsky and David P. Ball.

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EDMONTON  Edmonton must become an export-oriented hub for the tech and resources industries, the mayor said at his annual state of the city address on Thursday.

And that includes getting access to tidewater for energy products.

Fresh off two economic trade trips to tech hubs in the United States and China, Mayor Don Iveson laid out his plan to grow the innovation sector in Edmonton  but not before acknowledging the city needs to get oil and gas projects, such as the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline extension project, to tidewater.

I dont think any Albertan can understate the significance of market access, Iveson said, speaking at the Shaw Conference Centre. Its vital for Albertans, getting a fair price for our resources.

That being said, Iveson added just building the pipeline wouldnt be sufficient.

Although its an incredibly important project for our province and country, the Trans Mountain pipeline alone isnt going to be a silver bullet for future growth in Edmonton, said Iveson. On its own, the Trans Mountain project is not sufficient for long-term economic development.

The pipeline is at the centre of a row between Alberta and British Columbia. While the Alberta government is advocating for the pipeline to get its oil to tidewater, B.C. Premier John Horgan has said he is concerned about environmental risks he says the project could pose to the coastline.

On Thursday, Iveson voiced his support for Alberta Premier Rachel Notleys position on building the pipeline, but said the city needs to look at other avenues for generating growth.

Instead of focusing solely on the energy sector, the city must build its burgeoning tech sector, including growing the number of artificial intelligence companies and startups, said Iveson.

Sometimes, weve relied on being a government town as an economic development strategy and it gives stability and thats very important  I dont want to take anything away from that  but it cant, in and of itself, be a growth strategy, Iveson said.

Among his proposals to grow those tech sectors are partnering with LinkedIn  the employment services website  and possibly getting the city to create an innovation fund.

Were going to understand the kinds of skills were missing to grow our innovation ecosystem, how we might attract these skills to Edmonton and how we might grow more people with the right skills, right here, Iveson said.

With the data gleaned through a LinkedIn partnership, the city hopes to match professionals with available jobs requiring those skills.

Iveson is also toying with the idea of creating an innovation fund. He would not rule out the idea of city council footing the bill for it, but said it would be preferable if the private sector financed and led it.

While such a fund would hinge on council approval, its main purpose would be to support local early-stage companies and would be managed privately.

Edmonton Chamber of Commerce president Janet Riopel commended Ivesons vision to transform Edmonton into an innovation hub, but pointed out the city needs to make some tough decisions during budget discussions later this year.

Council is to table a four-year capital budget in the fall.

Riopel said the chamber has created a task force to bring its operational spending down  spending she said has been growing at an alarming rate.

What we need is a really competitive tax and regulatory environment in order for business to succeed, she said. We have to be faster and better.

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EDMONTONEdmonton police Chief Rod Knecht said he is leaving his post after a dispute over the length of his contract extension.

The police commission confirmed Thursday that Knecht would leave when his current contract concludes at the end of October.

In a statement sent to reporters Friday, Knecht wrote that he proposed an extension through June 2019 to the commission in March so he could complete work on several ongoing initiatives and assist with the selection of a new chief.

He said the commission came back weeks later with a proposed extension to the end of March 2019.

While my preference would have been to stay to progress these initiatives sufficiently, I didnt believe that a five-month extension was enough time to adequately address them. I also felt it wouldnt be in the best interests of the organization or the community to leave in the midst of such significant organizational change given that adjusted time frame, Knecht wrote. No other options were provided by the EPC, and as a result, I will be completing my existing contract, which concludes at the end of October 2018.

Knecht sent an internal memo to the entire Edmonton Police Service on Wednesday to inform officers of the decision.

In his statement to media, Knecht said he plans to spend the last five months of his contract advancing the Edmonton Police Services cybercrime strategy, working on the controversial Operations and Intelligence Command Centre, and preparing the service for cannabis legalization.

Knecht said he is extremely proud of his work at EPS.

Over the past seven and a half years, Ive seen the Edmonton Police Service become, what I believe is, the best police service in North America, he wrote. Ive worked with an outstanding group of professionals, both sworn and civilian, that strive every day to make Edmonton the safest major city in Canada.

Police commission chair Tim OBrien told reporters the commission has struck a five-member subcommittee and has launched a national search for Knechts replacement in conjunction with external consultant Optimum Talent.

OBrien said they plan to have someone new by the time Knecht leaves.

Its a tall order to have a new chief in place by the end of October, but thats the goal, he said.

OBrien said the hiring process is expected to take four to six months, which is why the commission proposed the March 2019 extension to Knecht  that would have been five months after his current contract ended.

OBrien said the commission could not agree to the three extra months Knecht wanted.

Our reasons were to get the search done as expeditiously as possible, and make the switch to the new chief as soon as we could, he said.

The sooner we can make that happen, I think the better off the citizens of Edmonton are going to be.

OBrien said Knecht took over during a tumultuous time in EPS history in 2011, when he was tasked with restoring order and accountability within the service.

He said Knechts work was transformative and exceeded expectations.

Were in a lot better space today than we were when the chief arrived, and thats a credit to him and his leadership skills, OBrien said.

Mayor Don Iveson said Thursday he would have been happy to continue working with Knecht, noting the chief is recognized internationally for his work.

I think he was phenomenal to work with, but those decisions are between the police chief and the police commission, Iveson said.

The mayor added he is hopeful the next chief will be comfortable with community policing and build on the work EPS has done with respect to vulnerable people and reconciliation.

Local activist Bashir Mohamed said he hopes the next chief is more open to criticism when it comes to issues like carding, police accountability and transparency.

Mohamed called for EPS to end its practice of random street checks last year, after data obtained by Black Lives Matter Edmonton showed officers were disproportionately targeting Black and Indigenous Edmontonians.

EPS is in the midst of a street check review, but Black Lives Matter has opted out of participating in protest of the services choice of third-party reviewers.

(Knecht) was good at responding to the Edmonton attack when that happened. But I guess when it comes to understanding issues around carding and community concerns, I feel like that was lacking  especially in his outreach to those communities, Black communities and other communities who face those issues, Mohamed said.

OBrien said the hiring subcommittee will gather input from community stakeholders to help determine the attributes they will look for in a new chief.

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EDMONTONThe Edmonton Police Service has issued a Canada-wide warrant for a suspect wanted in the fatal hit-and-run of a cyclist in 2017.

Officers are on the lookout for Jiduo Luo, 23, of Xiamen, China, who was reportedly attending multiple post-secondary institutions in Edmonton.

Witnesses say the driver of a blue 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer struck the 38-year-old male cyclist on Nov. 5, 2017, near 111 Avenue and 96 Street, police said in a Friday release.

EMS responded, treated and transported the victim to hospital with life-threatening injuries. He died in hospital a short time later.

Luo faces several charges, including manslaughter and impaired driving causing death.

Police believe he left Canada shortly after the incident and may now be in China.

Luo is described as being five feet, six inches tall, and weighing 130 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone who has information about his whereabouts is encouraged to contact EPS at 780-423-4567 or #377 from a mobile phone. Anonymous information can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

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Restaurant critic Amy Pataki and her family decided to rent chickens this summer. This is third in an occasional series on backyard livestock.

Long before our rental chickens arrive in our Etobicoke backyard, my husband registers with Torontos Urban Hens Pilot Program.

He soon regrets it.

Thats because the day after we take possession of three Rent the Chicken pullets, a uniformed city of Toronto animal services officer comes to inspect the setup.

The coop is too small for the number of birds, says the officer.

Unless we get a bigger one, our chickens will be removed.

What the cluck?

Rent the Chicken gave us a coop that meets  nay, exceeds  federal livestock welfare standards.

Yet Toronto sets the roosting bar higher. Each bird in the citys pilot program requires 14 square feet. Our rental setup totals 20 square feet for three birds.

Unfortunately, the bylaws are really not created by anyone with true knowledge of chickens and what they require, Rent the Chickens Kate Belbeck says in an email.

The city gives us two weeks to comply.

Toronto animal care and control officer Paul Michalik is sympathetic.

Youre doing a wonderful thing. Youre learning to work with animals, youre getting fresh eggs. We just want to help you, reassures Michalik.

This is his second chicken inspection ever. His first was earlier that morning at the home of city councillor Joe Mihevc, who has four birds and a massive permanent coop. Michalik shows me pictures on his cellphone.

We weigh our options. A modern new Eglu backyard coop costs more than $1,000 in our required size; none are listed on Kijiji. Amazon lists pages of coops/rabbit runs but doesnt ship fast enough. We would build our own if we were handy, but were not. That leaves either throwing in the towel or keeping just one chicken, neither of which flies. (Going rogue isnt for us.)

So we bite the bullet and hire our favourite contractor for an expansion. Carpenter Peter Pilz converts the cage into a 50-sq. ft. wheeled structure he calls the Taj Mahal of chicken coops. He even shingles the roof to winterize it.

Im embarrassed to say the coop reno cost almost as much as a new Eglu, or $12 an egg up to this point. It feels decadent, like Marie Antoinette on her hobby farm, but the chickens bring us joy.

With that, we cross the line from summer chicken renters to year-round livestock keepers.
OTTAWAToronto Mayor John Tory says hes frustrated by Ottawas lack of response to private and public appeals by the city for federal funding and resources to cope with an influx of refugee claimants that is straining shelters.

Weve been talking to them basically nonstop . . . We just havent had any indication of any help at all. Zero, Tory said in an interview Thursday.

I just dont think thats fair, he said of a growing crisis that is expected to cost municipal taxpayers at least $64.5 million in 2017 and 2018.

Tory said the city has a crisis on our hands as college dorm rooms are transformed into shelter spaces and public buildings like community centres might be next.

Weve had no help from the federal government. Theres been lots of talk and lots of discussions going on for a long time now, he told the Star.

The city has been dealing with a sharp increase in the number of refugee claimants since 2016, part of a growing number of migrants crossing the Canadian border in Quebec and Manitoba from the United States.

By mid-May, there were 2,683 refugee claimants in the citys shelter system making up about 40.8 per cent of the entire system. The city expects that to rise to 4,485 people or 53.6 per cent by November.

Tory said he began sounding the alarm in private conversations with federal officials last fall when refugees began to take up an increasing number of shelter spaces. We could see the numbers rising in our shelter system, Tory said.

In April, the city publicly called on Queens Park and Ottawa to respond and laid out a wishlist that included measures to place new arrivals outside of Toronto, new locations in the city to house refugees and reimbursement of costs.

Tory said hes unfailingly supportive of the historic welcoming attitude of the country and city to new arrivals. Thats not the issue here. The issue is when theyre coming in increasing numbers to Toronto . . . we just need help in looking after them when they get here, he said.

It should not be the sole responsibility of the municipal government and municipal taxpayers, he said.

Tory praised the provinces move to offer up 800 dormitory rooms at college residences in the city  along with a promise to pay half of the $6 million cost, which he said stood in contrast to the lack of help so far from Ottawa.

Immigation Minister Ahmed Hussen and Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who chairs the intergovernmental task force on irregular migration, said Thursday that Torontos requests would be considered but offered little promise of a speedy response.

Hussen, a Toronto MP, said hes talked with Tory several times. The federal government is seized of this and well do what we can to work with them as they deal with the situation, he said on Parliament Hill.

Garneau said that Ottawa will review the demands. I think whats important here is that we all work together. We will hear what Ontario has to say specifically on it, he said.

Toronto is not alone in seeking help from Ottawa. The Quebec government has called on the federal government for assistance in resettling the migrants while they await hearings on their asylum claims. Quebec is seeking reimbursement for $146 million in costs to deal with the influx.

On Wednesday, Quebec Immigration Minister David Heurtel told the Canadian Press that progress between the two levels of government has been made, including on a triage system to ask the asylum seekers where in Canada they hope to live.

Hussen said the federal government has presented several options to Ontario and Quebec to help better distribute the migrants.

One of the solutions is to move people away from Toronto and Montreal into the regions. I know that both provinces are working on that, Hussen said.

Ottawa is coming under increasing political pressure to address the influx of irregular migrants  including the perception that its easy to settle in Canada. The latest is a pamphlet circulated in the Plattsburgh, N.Y. area that offers guidance to would-be refugees on how to cross the border.

The pamphlet, first reported by the French-language television network TVA, even notes that the taxi fare to the border should be no more than $77.50 (U.S.)

Hussen said that foreign officials would be reaching out to the Plattsburgh organization that produced it to give them a complete picture of Canadas immigration system, including the fact that border crossers who dont have a valid refugee claim are likely to be deported.

The contents of the flyer are incomplete. They dont really paint an accurate picture of our asylum system and its unfortunate because people will rely on this, Hussen said.

In 2017, the RCMP intercepted 20,593 people who crossed into Canada outside normal points of entry. The vast majority of them  18,836  were arrested attempting to cross into Quebec.

Between January and April of this year, 7,612 people have been arrested attempting to make the crossing  with 7,307 in Quebec alone.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said the real solution is to close what she calls a loophole in the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement and designate the entire border an official port of entry.

Until the ability for people to illegally cross the border into the Canada from the United States and claim asylum is rectified, all that you will hear for months and years on end is the demand for hundreds of millions of dollars to be poured into strained social systems to support unplanned, disorderly immigration, said Rempel, the Conservative partys immigration critic.

With files from David Rider and Canadian Press

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OTTAWAFour cadets from the Royal Military College in Saint-Jean, Que., have been accused of desecrating a Quran with bacon and bodily fluids during a cottage party over the Easter long weekend.

Military commanders have expressed frustration and disappointment over the allegations, particularly at a time when they are pushing to make the Forces more inclusive, and say they are taking the case extremely seriously.

At the same time, the incident has raised tensions and concerns about the safety of Canadian military personnel, given the violent reactions that such incidents involving desecrated Qurans have provoked in recent years.

In an interview on Friday, Lt.-Gen. Charles Lamarre, the chief of military personnel, said the alleged incident started when eight students from the Saint-Jean college headed out of town to a cottage.

Four of those individuals went to sleep at some point and four other individuals stayed up and unfortunately desecrated a Quran, Lamarre told The Canadian Press in his office at National Defence headquarters.

They actually desecrated it with, if Im not mistaken, bodily fluids, and there might have been bacon involved.

While Lamarre would not comment on the nature of the bodily fluids, sources have told The Canadian Press that it appears to have been semen.

Military commanders became aware of the alleged desecration after videos of the incident were shown to other students who subsequently told college staff, Lamarre said, at which point an investigation was ordered.

After the investigation found reason to believe the four cadets broke the militarys rules, one was told he would be discharged from the Forces.

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A unit within Lamarres office is reviewing the cases of two others, which could also lead to their dismissal.

The fourth was given probation and ordered to counselling, while the other four cadets who were asleep at the time have been reprimanded for not reporting the incident earlier.

Lamarre underscored the importance of following due process when dealing with serious allegations against military members, but added that the desecration of any religious symbol will not be tolerated within the Forces.

Were working very, very quickly while respecting their rights to make sure that we can deal with this issue and communicate broadly within the Canadian Armed Forces to say that this is not on, he said.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan released a statement on Friday saying he supported the militarys response to the alleged desecration.

Diversity and religious tolerance are fundamental Canadian values that our Canadian Armed Forces share, he said.

The behaviour demonstrated by these individuals is deplorable and runs contrary to the ethos of the Canadian Armed Forces. It will not be tolerated.

Desecrating a Quran is considered blasphemous by Muslims and has sparked violent protests in recent years.

Thousands of angry Afghans tried to storm the U.S. military base at Bagram in February 2012 when American forces burned hundreds of old Qurans that had been used by Taliban prisoners.

At least 41 people were killed, including several U.S. soldiers who were shot by Afghan National Army counterparts.

The Saint-Jean allegations did raise questions about the safety of military personnel, Lamarre conceded, particularly given the 2014 attacks that killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

Canada is also preparing to send troops and helicopters to assist the UN mission in Mali and continues to operate in Iraq, both of which are mainly populated by Muslims.

So we did ask for an (threat) assessment to be done, Lamarre said.

And we have come back and Im satisfied with where we are right now on force protection and well continue to be that way.

He also said it was fortunate that no videos of the alleged incident were posted to social media.

Officials said military commanders have not actually seen any recordings and they are believed to have all been destroyed.

Military officials have reached out to prominent Quebec imam Hassan Guillet, who delivered the sermon during the funeral for the victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting in early 2017.

Guillet said in an interview that he was, and still remains, very, very upset about the alleged incident, but that he has also been reassured by the militarys response.

The army is a reflection of society. There are elements in society who harbour dangerous ideas, and the army as well, he said.

But the army, with this incident, they have identified these people, they have taken the necessary disciplinary action and they have sent the necessary message to others that the army does not tolerate this kind of behaviour.

The alleged Quran desecration comes as Lamarre and other commanders have been pushing the Forces to become more diverse in a bid to drive up recruiting and ensure the military reflects Canadian society.

Lamarre insisted that the incident represented an isolated incident and that the military does significant screening before letting anyone put on the uniform.

Every single year, approximately 9,400 young men and women join the Canadian Armed Forces ... and when you start to look at the kind of instances youre talking about, they are very, very few and far between, he said.

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Half of college seats to remain vacant

M M Jasim :

Almost half of the seats in the Higher Secondary educational institutions in the country will remain vacant this year.

A total of 15,74,104 students passed the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations but the number of seats is 28,76, 299 all over the country.

The number of colleges and madrasas under 10 education boards is 7,319.

Education Ministry sources said, there is no seat crisis in higher secondary educational institutions.

Some officials of the ministry admitted that although there are sufficient seats in the higher secondary level, the standard and quality educational institutions are rare.

An official wishing anonymity told The New Nation, "It is indeed that seats are available. But how many colleges and madrasas are actually standard.

Kamrul Hasan, a guardian, said, "My son has passed the SSC examination this year. I have applied at five college in Dhaka but I am in doubt about the admission of my son."

"The government is advertising that there is no seat crisis in higher secondary level institutions. But actually there is tremendous seat crisis at reputed and standard educational institutions," he said.

Another guardian Salma Begum said, her daughter has applied for Viqarunnisa Noon School and College and City College for admission. But it is uncertain. Its depend on luck.

"My daughter passed from a rural school in Norail district. I would like to admit her in a reputed college in Dhaka for better education and result. It is impossible to attain good result from the institution of the rural areas as the rural areas' institutions are being run by the sub-standard teachers and poor facilities," she said.

A total of 110,629 students achieved the highest GPA-5 this year. Of them, 55,701 boys got GPA-5, while 54,928 girls obtained the GPA-5 under the 10 education boards.

But the seat at reputed and standard colleges across the country is about 60,000.

Examination Controller of Dhaka Education Board Professor Harun-or-Rashid said, there are 987 colleges having 4,66,887 seats under Dhaka Education Board. The students crowed at reputed colleges every year. Some seats always remain empty at each academic session. And the scenario of the rural areas' institutions is not good. They are suffering from students' crisis.


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has made great strides in achieving equality for LGBTQ people but theres still work to be done.

Trudeau was greeted with a standing ovation as he took to the stage at a Toronto hotel on Thursday night to accept an award from human rights group Egale Canada for his LGBTQ advocacy.

As he reflected on his efforts to make amends for historic wrongs suffered by LGBTQ Canadians, the prime minister affirmed his commitment to remedying present-day discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

I am on your side, he told the crowd at the Egale Identity Gala. I will fight for you, and I will fight with you.

The prime minister mingled with advocates and allies as he found his seat in the rainbow-hued ballroom at the downtown Toronto Hilton.

Speakers fondly recounted their interactions with the prime minister at Pride events and private meetings, sometimes censoring their accounts to protect his political sensibilities, and teased him about having looks that appeal to people across the sexuality spectrum.

TD Bank CEO Bharat Masrani described Trudeau as the very definition of what it means to be an ally as he presented him with Egales inaugural leadership award honouring his contributions towards advancing rights for LGBTQ people in Canada.

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In his speech, Trudeau recalled his apology last November to public servants and members of the military who had their careers sidelined or ended due to their sexual orientation between the 1950s and early 1990s.

He said he pulled his kids out of school that day so they could to share in what he described as one of the most poignant moments of his political career, just as he watched his father, Pierre Trudeau, patriate the Constitution alongside the Queen in 1982.

Ella and Xav watched their dad stand on the floor of the House of Commons, surrounded by colleagues, and promise that we as a nation will do better, he said.

It was an incredible day that I will never forget, and I certainly dont think they will either. And I am deeply privileged to be a part of this larger moment.

Trudeau pointed out some of the areas where progress still needs to be made, such as the prevalence of homelessness among queer youth and the disproportionate violence suffered by the trans community.

He also expressed disappointment with the persistence of what he described as discriminatory restrictions preventing sexually active gay men from becoming blood and organ donors.

Yes, were working on it, but Im upset too that its not there yet, he said, waving his hand as if to assure the crowd.

Our entire government is committed to full equality for the queer community. You have my word on that.

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ST. JOHNS, N.L. A Newfoundland-born woman has sparked a major political scandal in Scotland, alleging she suffered a decade of harassment after complaining about a sexist, racist workplace culture at her civil service office.

A photo published by the BBC this week shows DeeAnn Fitzpatrick taped to a chair with tape over her mouth  an incident she claims was a response from two male co-workers at Marine Scotlands office in Scrabster for (speaking) out against the boys.

The photo, and Fitzpatricks ongoing case before the Scottish Employment Tribunal, has prompted outcry in the U.K.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Wednesday she was absolutely horrified by the photo, and said she is ordering a review of Fitzpatricks case.

Fitzpatrick, originally from Bell Island, N.L., claims co-workers mocked her for having a miscarriage, used racist language, and threatened female staff members.

Fitzpatrick is unable to speak about the incidents while her case is before the tribunal.

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ST. JOHNS, N.L.  Art thieves have made off with at least a dozen valuable artworks from a home in St. John's, N.L.

Police say the significant quantity of stolen works include American landscape painter Robert Wood's The Maine Coast, prominent Newfoundland artist Christopher Pratt's 6 cents as well as pieces by Newfoundland still-life artist Helen Parsons-Shepherd, Spanish artist Juan Giralt Lerin and French painter Antoine Blanchard.

Numerous pieces of valuable artwork were stolen .... A full inventory list is still being compiled, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary says in a press release.

Const. Geoff Higdon said in an interview Friday police aren't disclosing the value of the stolen art at this time.

The theft happened sometime between April 18 and May 17, when the break-and-enter was reported to investigators.

Police say a full list of the stolen works is still being compiled.

We are still in the early stages of this investigation and it's not clear whether or not the break and entry was centred around the art or not, Higdon said.

There were other items taken during the break and entry, we are still working to finalize a list of those items as well as all of the art taken.

Police are asking members of the public to come forward if they know the whereabouts of the stolen artwork or the identity of the thieves.

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Its the middle of the day on a weekday afternoon, but with the hustle and bustle inside the Muslim Welfare Centre, one could think otherwise.

A line of people, some pulling shopping trolleys, make their way to the large food bank situated in a warehouse in a quiet strip mall at Markham Rd. and McLevin Ave. Some have taken the bus to get here; others have hitched rides with friends for their scheduled visit to collect a months worth of halal meat and non-perishable ethnic groceries. Dozens of volunteers load the shelves and sort through boxes of donated clothes and furniture that has been dropped off.

I heard from people that they are a good charity that helps widows, said Ambio Mahmood, the mother of seven who started using the food bank last year after the death of her husband. She makes the trek from Torontos west end to come here once a month, as all clients are allowed. They help me and my kids, she said. They are really good people.

It was 25 years ago that the Muslim Welfare Centres food bank had a humble start in a small 12-foot by 12-foot rented room in the same strip mall. It was the effort of retiree Major Muhammad Abbas Ali and his wife Sarwar Jahan Begum  who saw a need in their new homeland and wanted to do something to help.

Today, more than two decades later, the organization has become one of the most trusted charities in the Muslim community, running dozens of projects, most of which serve communities in the GTA. The charity also employs 55 full-time and part-time employees, and has a roster of hundreds of volunteers who regularly show up to help.

Its growth has been grasroots, and largely funded by donations from the community. Muhammad Iqbal Ali, whose parents started the charity in 1993, says initial donors were drawn to the organizations mandate of alleviating poverty in Canada first, before trying to solve problems abroad.

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My father was very committed to the idea that anyone who needs help should be helped, regardless of religion, or background, said Ali, who balances his role as vice-president of the board and full-time job as an engineer. His guiding principal was: service to humanity is service to God, Ali said, adding that the motto is still the mission statement of the charity.

His father, known best as Major Abbas, was a retired army officer from Pakistan who began the charitable organization when he was 72 years old. And at that time, when people were focused on donating to programs back home, he felt that there was a need locally that should be addressed first, Ali said about his father.

Today, the Muslim Welfare Centre runs two large food banks in the GTA  one in Mississauga and one in Scarborough  which have become a lifeline for thousands of residents. Over 500 clients visit the food banks every week. And since the Syrian refugees arrived nearly three years ago, the food bank has registered around 1,700 families into a regular rotation.

Our food bank costs went up almost 70-80 per cent since the huge influx of refugees came in. We cater to refugees from everywhere, Ali said.

We anticipated a big increase, but not this big, he said. But thanks to our donors, so far we have not said no to anyone on the basis of capacity.

But the local food banks are just a small part of the charitys work. The organization also runs two weekly restaurant-style lunch programs in Malvern and at the Christian Resource Centre in Regent Park, which have served 80,000 meals over the past four years. They also run a halal meals on wheels program, a before-school breakfast program for nearly two dozen Toronto public schools, a free medical clinic for the uninsured and Durham Regions only women and childrens homeless shelter. They also branched out in 2015, to open a food bank in Inuvik, Northwest Territories in co-operation with the Midnight Sun Mosque, the most northern mosque in Canada.

Last year, according to their 2017 annual report, the Muslim Welfare Centre raised over $3.8 million in donations. The numbers are humbling for Ali, who says that with the money comes immense responsibility.

We try to be as transparent as possible, so that people can see exactly where the money they give us goes, he said. We arent a top-heavy organization. We want most of the money to go back to where the need is.

The seniors and students streaming into the TAIBU Community Health Centre in Malvern for a free lunch program are in for a West-Indian inspired meal: fish, dhaal, potato choka and rice.

The tables fill quickly, as volunteers, including uniformed Toronto police officers, serve food to the guests. The Malvern Eats program, which started in 2016, is a unique partnership between the Muslim Welfare Centre (MWC), Toronto police, the TAIBU centre, the Presbyterian Church, the Malvern Food bank and a neighbourhood organization called 1LoveMalvern.

The lunch program bridges many relationships in the community, said Liben Gebremikael, the executive director of TAIBU. Especially in cases when students from nearby schools are served by police officers, its a very different dynamic that you wont find in many places, he said.

The Muslim Welfare Centre is really a very dynamic organization  their programs touch upon all members of the community, the youth, the seniors, newcomers, Gebremikael said. And when they are out there serving, they are serving everybody. It doesnt matter if you are Muslim or not. And that also builds bridges.

The first major partnership was established early in the charitys history, when Major Abbas used donations to buy a small building in Durham to open a culturally diverse shelter for women and their families fleeing abuse.

In 1996, they reached out to Durham Region for some funding, and eventually entered into the agreement to run the regions only emergency shelter for women and children facing homelessness. The charity also runs the regions motel programs, which provide shelter for families who need accessible care or who have older male children.

We have a good working relationship with them, said Diana Chappell, who works in the social services department in Durham. And they have a really good relationship in the community  they have definitely made their mark in Whitby. Its all very positive.

Major Abbas died in 2009 when he was 87.

It was a real challenge for us. There were people thinking now that the founder is gone, the charity might not last, Ali said. It was during this time that Ali joined the organization in a more official capacity.

And so the work continued. Within a year of Major Abbass death, the charity launched a nutrition program for schools in the Toronto District School Board, and a weekly free medical clinic for the uninsured. I think people realized that the principles the charity had been started on had not been abandoned, he said.

Ali admits the organizations success over the past decade has come from bringing in youth and new ideas. Many charities do not want to really let younger people come up with idea and put those ideas into practice and allow them to run those projects. Many organizations dont want to take that risk. We love to work with younger folk, because we allow them to think and put their ideas into practice  and give them a lot of free reign and liberty, he said.

Engaging social-media-savvy youth has paid off in getting noticed, and support from all levels of government.

Last year, as Ramadan was almost over, the Muslim Welfare Centre received a phone call from the Prime Ministers Office asking if they could host an event making food baskets for some of the citys needy, through Project Ramadan, one of the programs run by the organization. The organizers quickly obliged, setting up the event at a few days notice to accommodate Justin Trudeau, MPs and leaders from across the GTA.

This year, Mayor John Tory, Premier Kathleen Wynne and a number of other MPPs have already participated in Project Ramadan in the GTA. The charity also ran an event on Parliament Hill in April  which brought out MPs and senators from across party lines to help build 100 food baskets for the Ottawa food bank.

Ali says despite the overwhelming amount of programs and projects on the go on any given day, the charity has no plans to slow down. The organizations next two priorities are working with First Nations, and eventually building a nursing home to serve the Muslim community in the GTA.

Its very important to keep the momentum going. The community is eager to give back, so we want to do whatever we can to make that happen.

Correction - May 28, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said 500 families visit the centres food banks in Mississauga and Scarborough every month. In fact, over 500 clients visit the food bank every week.
Andre Rochers first thought upon hearing that his condo building would ban the smoking of marijuana after its legalized was that the move would be very unfair for homeowners.

But Rocher has since changed his mind, after thinking of those homeowners who bought, say, a million-dollar condo or a $2-million condo, and now their rightful enjoyment of their property is going to be affected.

Bracing for impending legalization of marijuana, condominium properties are starting to enact policies around its use. At least one building has essentially banned smoking pot anywhere on its premises, even on balconies.

Rochers building, OneEleven Condos, located on Bathurst St. near King St. W., recently banned all smoking in common spaces, on balconies or inside suites, said condo board president Curtis Priest.

Its not about preventing someone from doing something in their suite, Priest said. Its about putting in place a legal tool that we have to use if issues come up in the future.

Priest clarified thats it not a cannabis ban; its a ban on combustion, including tobacco. Edibles, for example, would be OK upon legalization.

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According to the province, recreational pot, once legal, will only be permitted for use within private homes.

Condo boards can set their own rules around a number of issues and board presidents at OneEleven Condos and another condo, Emerald City One near Don Mills Rd. and Sheppard Ave. E., say rules restricting cannabis use are necessary due to fact that spaces are shared.

Ultimately, its because we live in a multi-dwelling condominium and we share air, said Priest, who noted the policy is meant to serve as a solid baseline once marijuana is legalized, which is expected to happen this summer. He said the board can then re-evaluate what makes the most sense for our community.

Emerald City One board president Andreea Birloncea said the condo is drafting a policy concerning odour transfer.

Its not a ban on marijuana; its a ban on odour, Birloncea said. In high-density living, such as a condo, try as hard as you want, but you will get some odour transfer.

She said the hope is to steer residents, if theres a problem, toward options that are less pungent.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the plan to make recreational marijuana legal this summer will go ahead without delay despite a recent Senate committee report calling for more consultations.

Toronto condo lawyer Denise Lash said condos are moving quickly to limit the amount of smokers, expected to spike with legalization. Right now, pre-existing tobacco smokers, including people who use medical marijuana, can strike agreements to be exempt from new rules.

Since marijuana is not legal yet (unless for medical use), the only smokers that would be grandfathered now would be tobacco smokers, Lash said in a written response to the Star. If corporations wait until after marijuana is legalized, then they would have to grandfather all existing tobacco and marijuana users.

Michael Goldrich, president of Goldview Property Management, which oversees about 80 condos in the Toronto area, including OneEleven, said the policy is to ensure that owners quiet enjoyment is respected and (deal with) issues with second-hand smoke.

Unit owners can always ask for a meeting within 30 days and vote against the rule, Goldrich said.

My understanding is that the majority of the condos are looking at making rule changes, said Goldrich, who added that the rules can vary by board and are not written in stone.

Naomi Matlow has been renting at OneEleven Condos since October.

I would consider it the same as how you shouldnt smoke cigarettes in your unit, she said.

Matlow added that, while sound sometimes goes through the walls, shes never really had a problem with smells.

Rocher owns his unit at OneEleven Condos, and added that he doesnt think theres a perfect answer or solution to what the buildings policy is looking to fix. But, he said, there are plenty of odourless ways to ingest marijuana.

If anybody wants marijuana that badly  and they do, Im sure  there are edibles.
In a controversial last-minute decision at the end of a three-day council meeting on Thursday, councillors voted to streamline the process for installing traffic calming measures on local streets.

Under a motion put forward by Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30 Toronto-Danforth), community councils will now have the option of waiving a 2002 policy that requires local residents to first submit a petition, then vote in a poll conducted by the city clerk, before the city will agree to implement measures such as speed humps, pinch points and chicanes.

Road safety advocates have long argued the requirements are too onerous and discourage communities from taking steps to make their neighbourhoods safer.

All Torontonians want to see Vision Zero move faster in their communities, said Fletcher, referring to the citys road-safety plan.

According to council rules, her proposal required two-thirds of members present in the chamber for it to pass, and it initially failed narrowly in a vote of 22 to 12.

But more than an hour later, as the meeting was about to wrap up, Fletcher moved to reopen the issue, which also requires a two-thirds majority. With some councillors already having left the chamber, the proposal was reopened and just passed on the second attempt, 23 to 10.

Councillor Jaye Robinson (Ward 25 Don Valley West), who voted against the measure both times, called the last-ditch manoeuvre to reopen the issue completely inappropriate.

I want to express my concern about what just happened here in the chamber, said Robinson, who is chair of the public works committee and leads the citys Vision Zero plan.

Im certainly going to use this strategy going forward on other motions and other items, that, when I dont like the outcome I will simply  ask to reopen them a couple of hours later, with a different makeup in the chamber, she warned.

Even some councillors who supported Fletchers proposal said they were uncomfortable with the process. Mike Layton (Ward 19 Trinity-Spadina) said there was some unfortunateness about how the decision came about.

According to a report from city transportation staff, it can take more than two years to install measures designed to slow drivers on local roads. Transportation staff received about 500 traffic calming requestsin 2017, and typically only fulfil about 30 to 45 each year.

Dylan Reid, co-founder of pedestrian advocacy group Walk Toronto, said giving local councils the ability to skip the petition and polling requirements should speed up the process.

Its definitely been a major complaint from a lot of people, is they cant get traffic calming on their street, and its a big complicated process, he said.

Anything that makes that simpler, and this should make it simpler, is great.

Community councils will still have the option of submitting traffic-calming proposals to a petition and poll if they choose.

Under the traffic-calming policy, more than 50 per cent of affected households must cast a vote, and 60 per cent must be in favour, for a poll to be considered valid.

Prior to the controversial do-over, council approved a separate proposal from Councillor Fletcher that would lower the required response rate to more than 25 per cent, as long as the measure is proposed in a school safety zone or community safety zone.

Robinson also successfully put forward a proposal to lift the 18-year moratorium on designating new community safety zones, and allow the general manager of transportation to actively recommend measures in school and community safety zones without requirement of the petition.

The changes to the traffic-calming policy come as the citys efforts to improve road safety are under scrutiny. Council has committed about $90 million to its road-safety plan, but two years after it was approved, the number of road deaths has not declined much.

Seventeen pedestrians and two cyclists have been killed so far this year, according to statistics compiled by the Star.
Job creation is an evergreen campaign promise, but as for your rights on the job  well, they dont tend to be a wedge issue.

Thats what Navi Aujla hopes to change this time around.

I think theres a lot of myths around, if we increase the quality of jobs its going to lead to job loss. I think it puts a fear in folks that asking for what we deserve is going to put us out of work, says the 26-year-old organizer with the Fight for $15 movement.

Low pay and temp-agency work are common in her community, the Brampton native says. Shes experienced it first hand  and wants political candidates to take note.

At one factory we were made to race against each other and you feel like you have no choice to try and win that race because they may not call you back, she recalls. Theres constant threatening going on  if you dont make this many pieces, were not going to call you back tomorrow. 

Around one-third of Ontarios workforce are vulnerable workers in precarious employment, according to a report by two independent special advisers appointed by the province. A study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) found in 2015 that Ontarios low-wage workforce grew by 94 per cent over two decades, vastly outstripping the growth in total employment, which grew by 30 per cent.

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After a two-year review of the provinces labour standards, the Liberals prefaced election season with reforms tackling precarious work, including a pledge to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019, starting with a boost from $11.60 an hour to $14 in January.

Bill 148, introduced in November, represented the most significant changes to Ontarios employment laws in decades. It mandated equal pay for temp, casual and part-time workers doing similar work to permanent employees, provided all workers with a minimum of two paid emergency leave days, and gave them the right to refuse a shift if the request is made with less than four days notice. It also doubled the Ministry of Labours complement of employment standards officers to improve enforcement.

Outgoing labour minister Kevin Flynn says the provinces most vulnerable workers are feeling the difference.

Where youre seeing the changes are the places where it was needed the most, its the places that just stick to the bare minimum or sometimes avoid the bare minimum, he told the Star.

Rising labour costs led some in the business community to warn that wage increases would lead to job losses. So far, Flynn says, that has not come to pass. Employment in Ontario increased by 10,600 jobs in March with a gain in full-time positions.

Jobs are still being created, he said.

If elected, Flynn said his party will continue to review the existing patchwork of exemptions to Ontarios workplace laws that leave some professions without any basic protections, a process that kicked off after Bill 148 passed in November. He says hes also committed to improving occupational disease victims access to workers compensation, and to looking at ways to reduce violence against workers in the health-care and education sectors.

Like the Liberals, the NDP have committed to a $15 hourly minimum by 2019, and say they will remove exemptions for students and liquor servers who currently make a lower minimum wage.

Their platform promises three weeks holiday to every worker. (The Liberals introduced a new three-week entitlement for employees with five years of service at a company.) The NDP has also pledged to set up a task force to remove barriers between injured workers and the compensation they deserve, and to reintroduce card-based certification to make it easier for workers to unionize. Unlike the Liberals, the party says it will not use back-to-work legislation to end strikes.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says prescription drug and dental coverage are also key for workers in an insecure economy.

We need to address the holes (precarious work) creates in the ability of people to stay healthy, she told the Star.

They talk a good game about there being lots of jobs, Horwath said of her rival parties. But is the economy really working for people?

The Greens, meanwhile, note that the provinces social safety nets were not designed for an economy with so many contract, freelance, precarious and temporary jobs and offer up a guaranteed basic income as one solution  an approach advocated by some precarious-work experts and piloted in Ontario by the Liberals.

A Basic Income Guarantee will provide the economic security people need to be entrepreneurs, to be able to afford retraining or to experience gaps in work without falling into poverty, the Green platform says.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford has said he will freeze the minimum wage at $14, and will instead eliminate provincial income tax for everyone earning below $30,000.

Ford declined an interview request but in an emailed statement, spokesperson Melissa Lantsman said folks struggling to make ends meet needed help.

Thats why Doug said that under a PC government, if you are making minimum wage, you are going to pay no income tax at all. Thats our plan for Ontario. Thats our plan to put more money in your pocket. No matter where you work in Ontario, if you are making minimum wage you wont pay a single cent in income tax.

Income taxes are partly levied by the federal government, so Fords plan could only eliminate the provincial portion of low-wage earners income tax.

The partys platform, released Wednesday, also says a Ford government would reform the provinces foreign credential recognition process to help qualified immigrants come to Ontario and contribute to the economy to their fullest potential immediately.

In response to a question asking if the Progressive Conservatives would keep intact the other worker protections introduced in Bill 148  including equal pay for temps and paid emergency-leave days  Lantsman said a PC government will work with businesses and unions to ensure that these changes work for everyone.

According to an analysis by the CCPA, a higher minimum wage as promised by the Liberals and NDP leaves low-wage workers $1,500 richer than they would be under Fords taxation plan.

Economist Armine Yalnizyan, who recently co-authored a report called Race to the Top, which tackles how to make economic growth inclusive, says the Ford platform offers a narrative that may be comfortingly familiar  cut taxes and let businesses generate jobs and prosperity.

But she says the trickle-down growth mantra is a social experiment that failed to deliver on its own terms, given rising inequality and job insecurity across developed economies.

There are a lot of people who are preaching the zombie policies of the 1980s and 90s, Yalnizyan says.

She sees two policies as being the real key to a better life for workers. One is a decent minimum wage  one that is anchored at 60 per cent of the average wage. (By this measure, even the proposed $15 minimum wage would be $1.50 shy of the mark.)

The second is sectoral or broader-based bargaining. In North America, unions have traditionally operated workplace by workplace. In broader-based bargaining, workers and their representatives negotiate with business leaders to set minimum working conditions across an entire sector. This would go farther in providing basic protections for all workers in the sector  and level the playing field among business competitors, Yalnizyan argues.

Sectoral bargaining can become a friend for both workers and businesses, and eliminate the real exploiters in the system who actually make it hard for good employers in those sectors, she says. I see sectoral bargaining as a real promising future if we are to make every job a good job.

Aujla says improvements to basic workplace standards will particularly benefit women, new Canadians and racialized Canadians, who are overrepresented in precarious jobs.

Shes hoping to see stricter regulations around how long workers can be kept in temporary positions before being made permanent, stronger scheduling protections, and an elimination of current exemptions to the Employment Standards Act that mean some workers arent entitled to the minimum wage.

A minimum wage boost will put money back in the pockets of those most likely to spend it locally, she says

Right now workers who are making minimum wage are barely getting by. Even at $15 (an hour). it only puts workers who are working full time at 10 per cent above the poverty line.

Its really important to elect people who are going to have our backs in this election because we could lose all the things that weve won, she adds.

And we know that along with all the things weve won, theres a lot more that needs to be changed.
Two separate birthday parties at a Mississauga restaurant ended in chaos Thursday evening as a bomb explosion described as a mini earthquake rocked a popular Indian establishment.

Glass was broken in the street, said Rafael Conceicao, who was near Bombay Bhel restaurant, on Hurontario St. near Eglinton Ave., when the bomb went off.

Everything was destroyed. Lots of blood in the floor. Many people were screaming. They were trying to run out from the restaurant.

Police said about 40 people were in the restaurant at the time. The blast injured 15 people, all of whom have since been released from hospital.

The probe now turns to finding two male suspects police allege brought an improvised explosive device into the restaurant around 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

Read more:

What we know and dont know

Ontario party leaders condemn Mississauga bombing

The two men can be seen on surveillance footage entering the restaurant wearing dark hoodies pulled over their heads. Witnesses described one of the men as carrying what appeared to be a paint can or pail. The pair later fled eastbound, police said. The Peel police canine unit tried to track them down Thursday night, but without any luck.

Peel Region Paramedic Jason Tremblay was one of about 40 paramedics who responded to the chaotic and fluid scene.

First we heard there was one person injured, and then that number quickly grew to four, then eight, to a dozen and more, he said. When I arrived with my partner there were 15 to 20 people sitting out on the sidewalk. Ive never seen so much blood.

Tremblay said he was especially proud of the way his members managed the chaos of the event, which meant patients got to the hospital quickly and efficiently.

It was what we call organized chaos. The initial scene time was less than 10 minutes, which is exactly what we aim for, he said.

The Preston Meadow Avenue neighbourhood behind the strip mall is a brand new community, according to one resident. The manicured front lawns of the large semi-detached housing are situated opposite empty pieces of land with signs of burgeoning construction.

On Thursday night, Francisco Matute, a resident of the community for two years, was awoken by an explosion at around 10:30 p.m.. He thought it was a transformer.

I didnt pay much attention, Matute said.

Fifteen minutes later, he heard a slew of sirens near his house. When he opened his front door, he saw seven police officers running across the empty plot opposite his house.

Several police cars, ambulances and fire trucks parked at the Indian restaurant, which Matute can see from his house.

They were running eastbound from Bombay Bhel, Matute said. The officers were accompanied by two dogs and carried large weapons.

I couldnt see what they were going after, Matute said.

Around 11 p.m., the officers headed back towards Bombay Bhel.

They came back and told everyone to go back inside their houses, Matute said. They said its not safe. They were saying this in very loud voices.

Neighbours told the Star the officers were running in the direction of a small housing complex just down the road. The access to the complex was cordoned off throughout the day. One resident said that part of the pavement was shut off by yellow police tape too.

The neighborhood is pretty safe, Matute said. We dont even have any fences in the backyard.

This was scary.

Vikram Mann, who said he has been to Bombay Bhel many times with his children, was in a parking lot across the intersection when the blast went off.

It felt like a mini earthquake, Mann said. I thought there was an accident  It was huge thud of noise.

He was horrified to later learn it was a bomb blast. It brings a shiver down my spine, he said.

By Friday morning, the usually lively plaza was cordoned off with yellow police tape, and six police cruisers remained on the scene. The doorway and window of the restaurant were shattered, a white piece of paper stuck at the entryway.

The restaurants owner, Manmohan Singh Nagpal, and his nephew were at the restaurant at the time of the explosion, and remain shocked by the event. Nagpals son-in-law, Ilija Vasic, said they are praying for the speedy recovery of the victims.

Their motto has always been treat every visitor like family, Vasic said. Every time a visitor walks into the restaurant, they are walking into our house.

Peel police say there is no indication an explosion which injured 15 people at a Mississauga restaurant was an act of terrorism or a hate crime. (The Canadian Press)

Speaking to the Star on the phone, Nagpal said he didnt want to talk about the explosion.

I feel bad for the victims and their families, he said. But we all have to wait for the police investigation now.

The restaurant also thanked the community for its support in a Friday morning Facebook post.

It was an extremely horrific and sad incident that happened at our Hwy. 10 location yesterday evening, the post reads. We want to thank you for all of your support and well wishes, especially to the families that were affected. At this time, the police are undergoing a full investigation to ensure the individuals are apprehended.

As to a possible motive, police said there is no indication that this was a hate crime or an act of terror, but nothing has been ruled out at this stage of the investigation.

I want the community to know that every available police resource is being used to locate the people responsible for this horrendous act, Peel police Chief Jennifer Evans said at a Friday morning news conference.

Three people  a 35-year-old Brampton man, and two Mississauga women, 62 and 48  were taken to Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto with critical injuries, but have since been released. A further 12 victims, ranging in age from 23 to 69, suffered what paramedics described as minor or superficial wounds and have all been released from various hospitals.

Dinesh Bhatia, the consulate general of India in Toronto, was woken up at around midnight with the news that there was a bomb blast in an Indian restaurant in Mississauga.

An hour later, Bhatia had informed the government of India and opened a helpline at 647-668-4108, encouraging family and friends to reach out for information. He said all of the 15 injured were either Indian or Indo-Canadian.

Bhatia went to Sunnybrook hospital and met with the victims families in the patients waiting area. He was told that all of the people (have been) living here for a long time.

The families were shattered. They were shocked, Bhatia said. No one expects this to happen here.

Two of the injured were from the same family, Bhatia said. Fortunately, by 4 a.m. the three victims who were critically injured were stable.

By morning, Bhatia said the consulate had received more than 30 calls from concerned family members in India who could not reach loved ones in the GTA in the middle of the night.

The presence of children under the age of 10 in the restaurant at the time  none of them were injured  was particularly shocking to Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who said the brazenness of the attack resonated with her as a mother.

It is a heinous, reprehensible act, committed by cowards who would come into a restaurant where people are vulnerable, celebrating with their families, where children are present, Crombie said, visibly shaking as she spoke.

Omar Alghabra, the local MP, told reporters outside the House of Commons that he was alarmed to hear about the explosion. He lives in a condo unit across the street from the restaurant, has met the owner and frequently goes there for takeout.

I extend my thoughts to the victims and their families and all those who are affected, and I hope that the police are able to apprehend those who are responsible and hold them accountable, said Alghabra, one of many politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to offer their support.

A GoFundMe page, with a $15,000 goal, has also been set up for the victims.

Rhyan Ahmed, a founding partner of KPA Lawyers Professional Corporation in Mississauga, set up the page. Ahmed said none of his friends or family were hurt in the bombing, as far as he knows, but said he can only imagine how the owners and employees must feel after something like this happens.

I live just down the street from that restaurant, Ahmed said in an email to the Star. It felt very close to home.

He said the funds raised will go directly to the victims to assist with medical expenses that OHIP doesnt cover, counselling and therapy, child care, lost wages from time off work and general help and support, Ahmed said.

The investigation is now in its early stages, with police spokesman Sgt. Matt Bertram saying all avenues will be explored. He said police had sealed off a few areas east of the restaurant where footprints, a glove and other evidence was located. He said police believe the suspects fled the area in a car.

Police had not yet entered the restaurant by Friday afternoon, as they were waiting for a search warrant from the courts. Bertram said a warrant was not necessarily required in this case, as police are dealing with an active crime scene.

Were going to play it safe, do everything we can, to make sure were not going to lose this case based on the technicality of a warrant, and to give us proper judicial authorization to enter there and collect evidence, he said.

Police are describing the first suspect as a man, mid-20s, five-foot-10 to six feet tall, light skin with a stocky build, wearing dark blue jeans, a dark zip-up hoodie and a baseball cap with a light grey peak.

The second suspect is described as a man, five-foot-nine to five-foot-10, with fair skin and a thin build, wearing faded blue jeans, a dark zip-up hoodie, grey T-shirt and dark-coloured skate shoes.

The public can contact police at 905-453-2121 x1233 with information. Police are looking for anyone who has dash cam or other video that may help the investigation.

Information may also be left anonymously by calling Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or by visiting peelpolice.ca.

By Friday evening, police said they had finished their forensic investigation of the outside area, although they said the scene around the restaurant would remain closed. All other businesses in the neighbouring buildings were released to the owners.

By 8 p.m., patrons of the restaurant who had left cars there in the chaos were coming to collect their vehicles.

With files from Louie Rosella, Inori Roy, Ilya Banares, Patrick Ho, Alex Ballingall, Tamar Harris and Star wire services

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Toronto is cracking down on fraternity and sorority houses in an effort to close a loophole that allowed these types of student housing to operate unlicensed.

City council voted this week in favour of stripping away an exemption these housing units  multi-tenant shared dwellings mostly rented out by university students  have long held. With the vote, 19 fraternity and sorority houses in and around the Annex neighbourhood will be subjected to the same standards as any rooming houses, a move officials say is strictly about improving safety.

The city licensing bylaw states that if there are more than three people in a shared accommodation, the owner is asked to provide an emergency contact, have an approved fire safety plan, and conduct annual inspections for fire code and safety standards, among other requirements.

But fraternities and sororities have been exempted from these requirements for many decades, which means theyre not accountable to the city or to the University of Toronto, said Councillor Joe Cressy, who put forward the motion for change.

They exist in a legal grey area, he said. Theres a void there.

Last year, city staff conducted a review of the existing fraternity and sorority houses, both to evaluate their compliance with safety standards and to gather feedback from community about any concerns.

According to a subsequent report presented to city council, local residents were worried about parties that sometimes spilled over into the streets and were a source of noise and acts of violence.

The report notes that since 2013, the city has received a total of 166 complaints from residents living near fraternities and sororities, most commonly about waste, noise and property standards.

Data from Toronto Police also showed that between 2014 and 2018, there have been a total of 78 incidents related to theft, assault and sexual assault at or near these fraternity and sorority houses, according to the report.

The University of Toronto, area resident associations and anti-gender based violence organizations wrote letters of support to Mayor John Tory, urging the city to consider scrapping the exemption and hold these fraternities and sororities to the same standards as other rooming houses.

Our concern is that too often fraternities and sororities have a culture of initiation and partying that is highly confidential. When sexual violence occurs in those spaces, there is an added pressure to not speak out, reads part of a letter written by a number of local anti-gender-based violence organizations.

Annemarie Brissenden, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma House Corporation  one of the sororities at 32 Madison Ave.  told the Star she didnt want to talk about this issue. But in a joint letter she and members of other sororities sent to the city in opposition to the proposal say theres no connection between licensing and reduced incidents of sexual assault.

Each of our organizations has a mandatory risk management program that must be completed by every member that includes educational programming on sexual assault prevention and awareness, and once a year, every member reviews and signs a commitment to prevent hazing, they wrote.

Cressy said owners of these fraternities and sororities have no need to worry about the exemption being lifted, because no one is trying to shut them down.

This is simply about ensuring that everybody plays by the same rules, he said. If we have frequent complaints, we can place conditions on their license.
Metrolinx is warning GO Train commuters of possible delays if Canadian Pacific Railway workers go on strike next week.

We just want our customers to be prepared, Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said Friday.

Metrolinx had initially issued a news release saying CP workers would be in a legal strike position as of noon Monday.

That, however, is not the case, said Christopher Monette, Teamsters Canada spokesperson said later Friday.

We are not in a position to go on strike, Monette said. We are still negotiating with the company.

The union hadnt yet issued a strike notice, which requires 72 hours advance notice before taking strike action, he said.

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Canadian Pacific Railway unions serve 72-hour strike notice

Aikins acknowledged Metrolinx had erred in thinking the notice had already been issued.

In April, a strike threat was postponed by a federal order for unionized workers to vote on a contract offer.

The dispute matters to local commuters because the railroad company owns the tracks used by GO Trains to access the Hamilton GO Centre downtown.

Metrolinx says it will be able to continue running its trains on the CP-owned spur into Hamilton even if a strike occurs. But it warned a strike could reduce the number of railroad staff available to deal with signal or switching issues.

The potential for delays on CP-owned track increases during a labour disruption, so we recommend customers plan ahead and keep updated, the agency said in a release.

To check on train progress next week, visit gotransit.com

NOTE: May 25, 8:20 p.m.

Metrolinx previously issued a press release saying CP workers would be in a strike position as of noon Monday. A Teamsters spokesperson later called the newsroom to say that was incorrect; in fact, the union is still negotiating with the company. To go on strike, the workers must give 72 hours notice. This was confirmed with Metrolinx, which has noted the error.

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Govt unwilling to nab drug lord Badi

*No place for drug traders in country: Home Minister *Arrest of MP not possible instantly: AL GS

Staff Reporter :

Ruling Awami League MP from Cox's Bazar-4 (Ukhia, Teknaf) Abdur Rahman Badi has been listed as one of the most influential patrons of drug trade in reports compiled by five state agencies in the wake of a countrywide drive against drug traffickers.

Over 50 people were killed in 'gunfight' by police and RAB over the past week for their alleged involvement in drug trade. Reports said 11 people were killed on Thursday in drug related incidents.

But the government is refusing to arrest Badi saying there is no proof about his involvement in drug trade and therefore he can't be arrested. Moreover arresting a lawmaker is not easy.

Human Rights activist Sultana Kamal raised the question why then police are killing the reported drug killers without verification of the inelegance agency reports. Only the court of law can verify the crime on hearing individual and killing of such suspects is illegal. It violates their constitutional rights.

IT is an open secret and media reports over the past several days made the disclosure again that a section of police throughout the country including major cities; local ruling party leaders and drug traffickers have their

countrywide network to run drug trade.

Killing of some peddlers is not enough to destroy the trade. Patrons will replace their agents immediately to run the trade as it earns them handsome profits to become rich overnight.

Media reports said MP Badi and his five brothers controls Yaba trafficking gate way with Myanmar.

This southern part of the country is considered as one of the most popular routes for drug trade. Despite the government 'war on drug', home minister said he has 'no proof' for Badi's involvement. There are also some other ruling party MPs involved in drug trade.

Meanwhile Badi's position in the party seems to have become stronger in recent time, sources within the party said.

"We haven't got any witnesses that confirm Badi as a drug dealer. Inclusion of his name [in the list] is not sufficient. We must have proofs at hand confirming that he is a criminal," home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the media.

Badi has been enlisted earlier as number one drug dealer in the country by the Narcotics Control Department (DNC) saying, "nothing could be done without his consent in this trade."

Apart from DNC, even a home ministry report enlisted Badi as a top human trafficker. Cox's Bazar drew global media attention in 2014-15 for illegal human trafficking by boats through risky sea routes. He was once arrested by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

More than one member of law enforcement agencies believe the ongoing anti-drug drives might be questioned if Badi was excluded from the list only for being a ruling party MP.

When asked why Badi was earlier arrested, the home minister said, "The ACC released him as it didn't get any evidence. How will we then take action against him, he quipped. Badi holds top position in the list of 'yaba' godfathers and traders for the past 10 years.

But, suddenly in March this year, a state agency dropped his name from the list. The list also included names of Badi's five brothers and one of his cousins and nephews. A total of 1151 people of eight upazilas of Cox's Bazar are also in the list, they said.

When reached for comments, Badi on Wednesday told a Bangla daily, 'If anyone can prove that I've even talked to any yaba trader, I'll step down. He said he was maintaining regular contact with the home minister about what can be done against drug abuses.

When asked why he was named as a patron of drug trade time and again, he called it is a propaganda of Jamaat-e-Islami.

"Jamaat-e-Islami has stronghold in four constituencies in Cox's Bazar. I've kept holding one of the seats. Rumors are spreading in the to prevent me from contesting in election," he claimed.

Top leaders of the ruling party are now full of appreciation of him.

At 12 February rally in Cox's Bazar, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader said there was no substitute for Badi in the constituency.

Former MP from the constituency and upazila AL president Mohammad Ali, however, said Badi was doing the yaba trade in Teknaf with the help of 30-32 persons including his brothers.

Meanwhile, issuing a note of warning, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Thursday said there would be no place for drug traders in the city.

"Actions will be taken against them following the list made by intelligence agencies," he said while inaugurating an anti-drug campaign of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in Farmgate area with slogans "Avoid Drugs, Save Yourself and Save the Next Generation".

In response to a question about Badi, he said arresting a MP immediately is not easy.

Former caretaker government adviser and human rights activist Sultana Kamal said, "If Badi's name is on the list and he still claims to be innocent, he should file a case against the government."

Moreover, the government is now seeking evidence against Badi. Then What evidence does the government had against those who were killed in 'gunfights' every day"?
On the provincial election trail, all three major party leaders weighed in on the Mississauga bombing.

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne called the bombing a shocking and fearful incident and said there is no indication it is terror-related.

We are all shocked and saddened by the news out of Mississauga. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and our thanks go out to the first responders, said Wynne who as premier will receive security briefings from officials.

READ MORE:

Hunt on for two suspects in Mississauga explosion

What we know and dont know about the explosion

She referred to it as a serious criminal incident and said she would receive further briefings throughout the day on the investigation.

Wynne cancelled two morning campaign announcements to be available, and said the province can play a coordinating role for the various police services involved.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford urged the public to contact police if they have any information.

My thoughts are with all those injured in the blast last night in Mississauga, Ford said.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called the attack cowardly and an act of hatred.

We all have a right to be safe in Ontario, and we look forward to those responsible being found and brought to justice, Horwath said.

Read more about:
A Toronto teacher was arrested Friday on 11 counts of charges relating to sexual assault.

A teacher, identified on Friday as from Edgewood Public School, allegedly assaulted eight girls between September 2017 and May 2018, according to police.

Edgewood Public School, near Scarborough Town Centre, is comprised of students from Kindergarten to Grade 8.

The teacher was a French teacher who occasionally worked in Special Education, according to a letter sent to parents of Edgewood Public School students on Friday.

In the letter, Principal Sharon White and Superintendent of Education Shirley Chan wrote that they do not take these allegations lightly.

The safety of our students is a top priority and we are committed to enforcing policies about their well-being.

The school will be cooperating with the police investigation, and will provide support to any students affected, the letter said.

Remy Perry, 53, is charged with three counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual interference, four counts of assault, and one count of assault with a weapon. He appeared in court on Friday at 10 a.m.
Several years ago, Jordan Peterson told me he wanted to buy a church. This was long before he became known as the most influential public intellectual in the Western world, as he was described in the pages of the New York Times a few months ago. It was before he was fancied to be a truth-telling sage who inspired legions, and the author of one of the bestselling books in the world this year. He was just my colleague and friend.

I assumed that it was for a new home  there was a trend in Toronto of converting religious spaces, vacant because of their dwindling congregations, into stylish lofts  but he corrected me. He wanted to establish a church, he said, in which he would deliver sermons every Sunday.

(He) spread his influence across the country and around the world through a combination of religious conviction, commanding stage presence and shrewd use of radio, television and advanced communication technologies.

This could have been written about Jordan Peterson. The language echoes the tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of words, that have been devoted to the man  ranging from fawning adoration to critical dismissals  since his rise to public prominence starting in 2016 when he declared he would not comply with a proposed amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act which was, coincidentally, about the power of words. But that quote is taken from Billy Grahams obituary that appeared in the Times after the American pastor died in February.

Jordan found his pulpit on YouTube and his congregation on social media. His followers have a Bible  12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos  which has sold more than one million copies around the world since it was published in January. He lectures to sold-out crowds, at home and abroad, more like a rock star than a middle-aged academic.

I thought long and hard before writing about Jordan, and I do not do this lightly. He has one of the most agile and creative minds Ive ever known. He is a powerful orator. He is smart, passionate, engaging and compelling and can be thoughtful and kind.

I was once his strongest supporter.

That all changed with his rise to celebrity. I am alarmed by his now-questionable relationship to truth, intellectual integrity and common decency, which I had not seen before. His output is voluminous and filled with oversimplifications which obscure or misrepresent complex matters in the service of a message which is difficult to pin down. He can be very persuasive, and toys with facts and with peoples emotions. I believe he is a man with a mission. It is less clear what that mission is.

In the end, I am writing this because of his extraordinary rise in visibility, the nature of his growing following and a concern that his ambitions might venture from stardom back to his long-standing interest in politics. I am writing this from a place of sadness and from a sense of responsibility to the public good to tell what I know about who Jordan is, having seen him up close, as a colleague and friend, and having examined up close his political actions at the University of Toronto, allegedly in defence of free speech. When he soared into the stratosphere he became peculiarly unknowable. There is something about the dazzle of the limelight that makes it hard to see him clearly. But people continue to be who they are even in the blinding overexposure of success. I have known Jordan Peterson for 20 years, and people had better know more about who he is.

There is reason to be concerned.

I met Jordan Peterson when he came to the University of Toronto to be interviewed for an assistant professorship in the department of psychology. His CV was impeccable, with terrific references and a pedigree that included a PhD from McGill and a five-year stint at Harvard as an assistant professor.

We did not share research interests but it was clear that his work was solid. My colleagues on the search committee were skeptical  they felt he was too eccentric  but somehow I prevailed. (Several committee members now remind me that they agreed to hire him because they were tired of hearing me shout over them.) I pushed for him because he was a divergent thinker, self-educated in the humanities, intellectually flamboyant, bold, energetic and confident, bordering on arrogant. I thought he would bring a new excitement, along with new ideas, to our department.

He joined us in the summer of 1998. Because I liked him, and also because I had put myself on the line for him, I took him under my wing. I made sure he went up for promotion to associate professor the following year, as the hiring committee had promised, and I went to the dean to get him a raise when the department chairperson would not.

When he was renovating his house I invited his family to live with mine. For five months, they occupied the third floor of our large house. We had meals together in the evening and long, colourful conversations. There, away from campus, I saw a man who was devoted to his wife and his children, who were lovely and gentle and for whom I still feel affection. He was attentive and thoughtful, stern and kind, playful and warm. His wife, Tammy, appeared to be the keel, the ballast and the rudder, and Jordan ran the ship. I could not imagine him without her, and indeed I see that she is now with him wherever in the world he goes.

On campus, he was as interesting as I had expected him to be. His research on alcoholism, and then personality, was solid, but his consuming intellectual interests lay elsewhere. He had been an undergraduate in political science in Edmonton, where he had become obsessed with the Cold War. He switched to psychology in order to understand why some people would, as he once told me, destroy everything  their past, their present and their future  because of strong beliefs. That was the subject of his first book, Maps of Meaning, published in 1999, and the topic of his most popular undergraduate course.

He was, however, more eccentric than I had expected. He was a maverick. Even though there was nothing contentious about his research, he objected in principle to having it reviewed by the university research ethics committee, whose purpose is to protect the safety and well-being of experiment subjects.

He requested a meeting with the committee. I was not present but was told that he had questioned the authority and expertise of the committee members, had insisted that he alone was in a position to judge whether his research was ethical and that, in any case, he was fully capable of making such decisions himself. He was impervious to the fact that subjects in psychological research had been, on occasion, subjected to bad experiences, and also to the fact that both the Canadian and United States governments had made these reviews mandatory. What was he doing! I managed to make light of this to myself by attributing it to his unbridled energy and fierce independence, which were, in many other ways, virtues. That was a mistake.

Another thing to which I did not give sufficient concern was his teaching. As the undergraduate chair, I read all teaching reviews. His were, for the most part, excellent and included eyebrow-raising comments such as This course has changed my life. One student, however, hated the course because he did not like delivered truths. Curious, I attended many of Jordans lectures to see for myself.

Remarkably, the 50 students always showed up at 9 a.m. and were held in rapt attention for an hour. Jordan was a captivating lecturer  electric and eclectic  cherry-picking from neuroscience, mythology, psychology, philosophy, the Bible and popular culture. The class loved him. But, as reported by that one astute student, Jordan presented conjecture as statement of fact. I expressed my concern to him about this a number of times, and each time Jordan agreed. He acknowledged the danger of such practices, but then continued to do it again and again, as if he could not control himself.

He was a preacher more than a teacher.

Eccentricities notwithstanding, I didnt regret having worked to secure his position. His students were exposed to new ideas and were as devoted to him as he was to them. I continued to be one of his strongest supporters at the university and thereafter.

In 2001, three years after Jordan arrived, I took early retirement and left the university. I stayed in touch with Jordan and his family, and while our contacts might have been infrequent, they were always familial and affectionate.

Always intense, it seemed that, over time, Jordan was becoming even more so. He had periods of incredible energy when, in addition to his academic work, he ran a business selling the personality assessment tools that he had developed. He actively collected Soviet, and then Mexican art, on eBay. He maintained a clinical practice. He was preoccupied with alternative health treatments including fighting off the signs of aging as they appear on the skin, and, one time, even shamanic healing practices, where, to my great surprise and distress, he chose to be the shaman himself. And he did all of that with the same great fervour and commitment.

At the same time, his interest in political issues became more apparent. We disagreed about most things, but I dont ask of my friends that we agree. What was off-putting was his tendency to be categorical about his positions, reminiscent of his lectures where he presented personal theories as absolute truths. I rarely challenged him. He overwhelmed challenges with volumes of information that were hard to process and evaluate. He was more forceful than I, and had a much quicker mind. Also, again evocative of what I saw in the classroom, he sometimes appeared to be in the thrall of his ideas and would not, or could not, constrain himself and self-monitor what he was saying.

That was OK. He was eccentric. There was, however, something about his growing fierceness that unsettled me. Always a man of extremes, it seemed to me that the highs and the lows of his emotional range had increased. But he was hurting no one and my affection and loyalty for him were undiminished.

That all changed, soon enough.

Jordans first high-profile public battle, and for many people their introduction to the man, followed his declaration that he would not comply with Bill C-16, an amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act extending its protections to include gender identity and expression. He would refuse to refer to students using gender neutral pronouns. He then upped the stakes by claiming that, for this transgression, he could be sent to jail.

I have a trans daughter, but that was hardly an issue compared to what I felt was a betrayal of my trust and confidence in him. It was an abuse of the trust that comes with his professorial position, which I had fought for, to have misrepresented gender science by dismissing the evidence that the relationship of gender to biology is not absolute and to have made the claim that he could be jailed when, at worst, he could be fined.

In his defence, Jordan told me if he refused to pay the fine he could go to jail. That is not the same as being jailed for what you say, but it did ennoble him as a would-be martyr in the defence of free speech. He was a true free speech warrior who was willing to sacrifice and run roughshod over his students to make a point. He could have spared his students and chosen to sidestep the issue and refer to them by their names. And if this was truly a matter of free speech he could have challenged the Human Rights Act, off-campus and much earlier, by openly using language offensive to any of the already-protected groups on that list.

Perhaps this was not just about free speech.

Not long afterwards the following message was sent from his wifes email address exhorting recipients to sign a petition opposing Ontarios Bill 28. That bill proposed changing the language in legislation about families from mother and father to the gender-neutral parents.

A new bill, introduced in Ontario on September 29th, subjugates the natural family to the transgender agenda. The bill  misleadingly called the All Families Are Equal Act  is moving extremely fast. We must ACT NOW to stop this bill from passing into law.

This is not a free-speech issue so Jordan is wearing a different political hat. And what does a transgender agenda have to do with a bill protecting same-sex parents? What is this all about?

Jordan has studied and understands authoritarian demagogic leaders. They know how to attract a following. In an interview with Ethan Klein in an H3 Podcast, Jordan describes how such leaders learn to repeat those things which make the crowd roar, and not repeat those things that do not. The crowd roared the first time Jordan opposed the so-called transgender agenda. Perhaps they would roar again, whether it made sense or not.

But why transgender in the first place? In that same interview, Jordan cites Carl Jung, who talked about the effectiveness of powerful emotional oratorical skills to tap into the collective unconscious of a people, and into their anger, resentment, fear of chaos and need for order. He talked about how those demagogic leaders led by acting out the dark desires of the mob.

If we have a collective unconscious there is a good chance that it would include our primitive assumptions about gender and biology. Transgender people violate those assumptions. There is an historical example of how upset our species gets about gender ambiguity in other species. The female spotted hyena is larger than, and dominant over, the male and has a clitoris so enlarged as to have the external appearance of a penis. In the bestiaries of the Middle Ages they were reviled, described as neither faithful or pagan, brutal thugs, sexual deviants and not to be trusted. Sir Walter Raleigh excluded the hyena from Noahs Ark in his History of the World (written in 1614) because he believed that God had saved only the purely bred. That historical lesson tells us how deeply disturbed many of us might be in response to gender ambiguity in human beings.

Transgender people appear early in human history but in these socially progressive times, which worry Jordan so much, they have become more visible. Consciously or not, Jordan may have understood that transgender people tap into societys collective unconscious and would become a lightning rod for attention loaded with anger and resentment. And it did.

More recently, when questioned about the merits of 12 Rules for Life, Jordan answered that he must be doing something right because of the huge response the book has received. How odd given what he said in that same interview about demagogues and cheering crowds. In an article published in January in the Spectator, Douglas Murray described the atmosphere at one of Jordans talks as ecstatic.

I have no way of knowing whether Jordan is aware that he is playing out of the same authoritarian demagogue handbook that he himself has described. If he is unaware, then his ironic failure, unwillingness, or inability to see in himself what he attributes to them is very disconcerting.

Following his opposition to Bill C-16, Jordan again sought to establish himself as a warrior and attacked identity politics and political correctness as threats to free speech. He characterized them as left-wing conspiracies rooted in a murderous ideology  Marxism. Calling Marxism, a respectable political and philosophical tradition, murderous conflates it with the perversion of those ideas in Stalinist Russia and elsewhere where they were. That is like calling Christianity a murderous ideology because of the blood that was shed in its name during the Inquisition, the Crusades and the great wars of Europe. That is ridiculous.

In Jordans hands, a claim which is merely ridiculous became dangerous. Jordan, our free speech warrior, decided to launch a website that listed postmodern neo-Marxist professors and corrupt academic disciplines, warning students and their parents to avoid them. Those disciplines, postmodern or not, included womens, ethnic and racial studies. Those left-wing professors were trying to indoctrinate their students into a cult and, worse, create anarchical social revolutionaries. I do think Jordan believes what he says, but its not clear from the language he uses whether he is being manipulative and trying to induce fear, or whether he is walking a fine line between concern and paranoia.

His strategy is eerily familiar. In the 1950s a vicious attack on freedom of speech and thought occurred in the United States at the hands of Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. People suspected of having left-wing, Communist leanings were blacklisted and silenced. It was a frightening period of lost jobs, broken lives and betrayal. Ironically, around this time the Stasi were doing the same to people in East Berlin who were disloyal to that very same murderous ideology.

Jordan has a complex relationship to freedom of speech. He wants to effectively silence those left-wing professors by keeping students away from their courses because the students may one day become anarchical social revolutionaries who may bring upon us disruption and violence. At the same time he was advocating cutting funds to universities that did not protect free speech on their campuses. He defended the rights of alt right voices to speak at universities even though their presence has given rise to disruption and violence. For Jordan, it appears, not all speech is equal, and not all disruption and violence are equal, either.

If Jordan is not a true free speech warrior, then what is he? The email sent through his wifes account described Bill 28, the parenting bill, as part of the transgender agenda and claimed it was misleadingly called All Families are Equal. Misleading? What same-sex families and transgender people have in common is their upset of the social order. In Maps of Meaning, Jordans first book, he is exercised by the breakdown of the social order and the chaos that he believes would result. Jordan is fighting to maintain the status quo to keep chaos at bay, or so he believes. He is not a free speech warrior. He is a social order warrior.

In the end, Jordan postponed his plan to blacklist courses after many of his colleagues signed a petition objecting to it. He said it was too polarizing. Curiously, that had never stopped him before. He appears to thrive on polarization. I have no idea why he did that.

I have been asked by some if I regret my role in bringing Jordan to the University of Toronto. I did not for many years, but I do now.

He has done disservice to the professoriate. He cheapens the intellectual life with self-serving misrepresentations of important ideas and scientific findings. He has also done disservice to the institutions which have supported him. He plays to victimhood but also plays the victim.

When he caused a stir objecting to gender neutral pronouns, he thanked his YouTube followers who had supported his work financially, claiming he might need that money because he could lose his job. That resulted in a significant increase in monthly donations. There was no reason to think he would lose his job. He was on a sabbatical, and had not even been in the classroom. The university sent him a letter asking him to stop what he was doing because he was creating an environment which would make teaching difficult, but there was no intimation that he would be fired. I saw that letter. Jordan may have, however, welcomed being fired, which would have made him a martyr in the battle for free speech. He certainly presented himself as prepared to do that. A true warrior, of whatever.

Later, when his research grant was turned down by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Jordan told the world he was being punished for his political activities. There was no such evidence. The review system is flawed and this has happened to other academically renowned and respected scholars. (For instance, Prof. Anthony Doob, the former director of the Centre of Criminology at U of T, a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a recipient of the Order of Canada, was funded continuously from the late 1960s until 2006, when he was turned down by the SSHRC. The next year, essentially the same proposal was funded.) These things happen. Jordan, however, took this as an opportunity to rail, once again, against the suppression of free speech by oppressive institutions and into a public relations triumph in the eyes of his followers.

The Rebel, Ezra Levants far-right online publication, raised the funds to replace that grant.

This past March, Pankaj Mishra wrote in The New York Review of Books an informed and thoughtful critique of 12 Rules for Life, provocatively titled Jordan Peterson and Fascist Mysticism. Jordans immediate response was a flurry of angry, abusive, self-righteous tweets, some in response to Mishras questioning Jordans induction into an Indigenous tribe by referring to it as a claim.

Jordan called Mishra a sanctimonious prick, an arrogant, racist son of a bitch, a peddler of nasty, underhanded innuendo, said fuck you and expressed a desire to slap him. (As it turns out Jordan had not been inducted into that tribe, and his publisher removed references to the claim in promotional materials as reported in The Walrus by Robert Jago in The Story Behind Jordan Petersons Indigenous Identity.)

Jordan is seen here to be emotionally explosive when faced with legitimate criticism, in contrast to his being so self-possessed at other times. He is erratic. One of his colleagues at the University of Toronto, Prof. Will Cunningham, said in a recent Esquire article: Theres my friend Jordan Peterson, who is this amazingly compassionate person who genuinely wants to help people. And then theres Twitter Peterson, getting placards demanding he be fired immediately. Even I want to get a placard.

Jordan exhibits a great range of emotional states, from anger and abusive speech to evangelical fierceness, ministerial solemnity and avuncular charm. It is misleading to come to quick conclusions about who he is, and potentially dangerous if you have seen only the good and thoughtful Jordan, and not seen the bad.

Shortly after Jordans rise to notoriety back in 2016, I emailed him to express my upset with his dishonesty and lack of intellectual and social integrity. He called in a conciliatory voice the next morning. I was reiterating my disappointment and upset when he interrupted me, saying more or less the following:

You dont understand. I am willing to lose everything, my home, my job etc., because I believe in this. And then he said, with the intensity he is now famous for, Bernie. Tammy had a dream, and sometimes her dreams are prophetic. She dreamed that it was five minutes to midnight.

That was our last conversation. He was playing out the ideas that appeared in his first book. The social order is coming apart. We are on the edge of chaos. He is the prophet, and he would be the martyr. Jordan would be our saviour. I think he believes that.

He may be driven by a great and genuine fear of our impending doom, and a passionate conviction that he can save us from it. He may believe that his ends justify his questionable means, and he may not be aware that he mimics those figures from whom he wants to protect us. But his conviction makes him no less problematic. On the contrary.

What they do have in common is  that they have the answers and that their instincts are good, that they are smarter than everybody else and can do things by themselves. This was Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state in an recent interview with the New York Times referring to the authoritarian leaders discussed in her new book, Fascism: A Warning. It sounds familiar.

Currently, Jordan is the darling of the alt-right. He says he is not one of them, but has accepted their affection with relish. Andrew Scheer, the leader of the federal Conservative party, has declined any further appearances on The Rebel, but Jordan continues to appear.

Jordan is not part of the alt-right. He fits no mould. But he should be concerned about what the dark desires of the alt-right might be. He could be, perhaps unwittingly, activating the dark desires of that mob.

I was warned by a number of writers, editors and friends that this article would invite backlash, primarily from his young male acolytes, and I was asked to consider whether publishing it was worth it. More than anything, that convinced me it should be published.

I discovered while writing this essay a shocking climate of fear among women writers and academics who would not attach their names to opinions or data which were critical of Jordan. All of Jordans critics receive nasty feedback from some of his followers, but women writers have felt personally threatened.

Jordan presents a confusing picture, and its often hard to know what he is up to. In one of his YouTube videos, Jordan said that if you are not sure of what or why someone is doing what they are doing, look at the consequences. They could be revealing.

That keeps me up at night.

Given Jordans tendency toward grandiosity, it should not be surprising to learn that he is politically ambitious. He would have run for the leadership of the federal Conservative party but was dissuaded by influential friends. He has not, however, lost interest in the political life.

Andrew Scheer, the current leader of that party, echoed this proposal which appeared with Jordans photo on the front page of the Toronto Sun: Free speech Prof says cut University funding by 25 per cent until politically correct cult at schools reined in. In a Toronto Star profile, Vinay Menon reported that Peterson saw a potential starring role when Patrick Brown stepped down in Ontario: I thought about running when the PC party blew up here, I thought thats a catastrophe and maybe I can bring some depth to the leadership race. Doug Ford won the leadership on March 10. On March 19, Jordan was in the Toronto Sun saying that Premier Kathleen Wynne is the most dangerous woman in Canada. There was nothing new in the article, but those words are signature Jordan, the language of fear. On May 8, the day before the campaign began, Ford announced that he would scrap Ontarios sex-ed curriculum and tie funding of post-secondary schools to free speech. This echoed, once more, Jordans call to make protection of free speech a condition in the funding of universities. Is Jordan involved with Fords political campaign? I have no idea, but its not impossible.

Jordan is a powerful orator. He is smart, compelling and convincing. His messages can be strong and clear, oversimplified as they often are, to be very accessible. He has played havoc with the truth. He has studied demagogues and authoritarians and understands the power of their methods. Fear and danger were their fertile soil. He frightens by invoking murderous bogeymen on the left and warning they are out to destroy the social order, which will bring chaos and destruction.

Jordans view of the social order is now well known.

He is a biological and Darwinian determinist. Gender, gender roles, dominance hierarchies, parenthood, all firmly entrenched in our biological heritage and not to be toyed with. Years ago when he was living in my house, he said children are little monkeys trying to clamber up the dominance hierarchy and need to be kept in their place. I thought he was being ironic. Apparently, not.

He is also very much like the classic Social Darwinists who believe that attempts to reform society through state intervention or other means would  interfere with natural processes; unrestricted competition and defence of the status quo were in accord with biological selection. (Encylopedia Britannica, 2018.) From the same source: Social Darwinism declined during the 20th century as an expanded knowledge of biological, social and cultural phenomena undermined, rather than supported, its basic tenets. Jordan remains stuck in and enthralled by The Call of the Wild.

We should be concerned about his interest in politics. It is clear what kind of country he would want to have or, if he could, lead.

What I am seeing now is a darker, angrier Jordan than the man I knew. In Karen Hellers recent profile in the Washington Post he is candid about his long history of depression. Depression is an awful illness. It is a cognitive disorder that casts a dark shadow over everything. His view of life, as nasty and brutish, may very well not be an idea, but a description of his experience, which became for him the truth. But this next statement, from Hellers article, is heartbreaking: You have an evil heart  like the person next to you, she quotes him as telling a sold-out crowd. Kids are not innately good  and neither are you. This from the loving and attentive father I knew? That makes no sense at all.

It could be his dark view of life, wherever it comes from, that the aggressive group of young men among his followers identify with. They may feel recognized, affirmed, justified and enabled. By validating them he does indeed save them, and little wonder they then fall into line enthusiastically, marching lockstep behind him. That is unnerving. The misogynistic attacks on the British broadcaster Cathy Newman, after she was humiliated and left speechless by Jordan in the infamous gotcha moment of their TV interview, were so numerous and vicious that Jordan asked his followers to back off. These devoted followers are notorious for attacking Jordans critics, but this was different. It was more persistent and more intense. That was not outrage in defence of their leader who needed none; she was the fallen victim and it was as if they had come in for the final kill. Jordans inflammatory understanding of male violence for which the cure ... is enforced monogamy as reported by Nellie Bowles in the New York Times is shocking. This is upsetting and sad if you are, or were, Jordans friend. But it is also frightening.

We would be foolish to not pay close attention and to not take Jordan and his impact seriously. Do I overstate a possible danger? Maybe. I really dont know. But for historical reasons, silence is not a risk I am willing to take.

When someone claims to be acting from the highest principles for the good of others, there is no reason to assume that the persons motives are genuine. People motivated to make things better usually arent concerned with changing other people  or if they are they take responsibility for making the same changes to themselves (and first).

I did not write this, although I might have. Its taken from 12 Rules for Life. These are Jordans words.

I believe that Jordan has not lived up to at least four of his rules.

Rule 7: Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)

Rule 8: Tell the truth  or, at least, dont lie

Rule 9: Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you dont

Rule 10: Be precise in your speech

Heller observed that when Jordan slumped, violating Rule 1 (Stand up straight with your shoulders back), his wife cajoled him to correct that. It may be absurd to take that seriously, but the stakes are real, given Jordans stated obligation to have changed himself first. He has done a poor job of that.

I knew Jordan when it was possible to know him up close. He was always a complicated man. Even then, it was hard to get a fix on what he was doing. But some things were clear and consistent. In retrospect, I might have seen this coming. I didnt.
A regular collection of tales from the campaign trail.

Politics makes strange bedfellows.

So it would appear with former Mississauga mayor Hurricane Hazel McCallion, who endorsed local Liberal MPP Charles Sousa and Doug Fords Progressive Conservatives on Thursday.

Charles is a strong leader who delivers for Mississauga, said McCallion. He has fought hard to protect our waterfront, expand our hospitals and enhance public transit. We need him.

A few hours later, in a video released online as Ford was dealing with accusations of a questionable party nomination in Etobicoke Centre, McCallion took aim at the debt the Liberal government racked up during Sousas tenure as finance minister.

The Liberals have admitted everything hasnt been perfect in Kathleen Wynnes Ontario. Well, thats one way of putting it, she said. Doug has committed to fixing Ontarios finances.

Ford has yet to release a full platform costing out his promises, including $6 billion in government spending cuts, and lower income and gasoline taxes.

Wynne said its no secret she and McCallion didnt agree on some things. She has been asking me for two years to open up the Greenbelt and Ive said a firm no, the Liberal leader said.

I can see why she would find Doug Ford an attractive candidate.

Ford was videotaped promising developers hed open up some Greenbelt land but backtracked after it was made public.

A tale of two economies

Kathleen Wynne invoked Victorian author Charles Dickens during a campaign stop at the modern downtown Toronto offices of Wattpad, a website where writers post their work to be read and critiqued by other users.

"When I came in  the first thing that came to my mind is that this is what Charles Dickens did in terms of writing chapters and capturing peoples imagination," she said Thursday, adding that the 1800s model of publishing novels in instalments was one of Wattpads models, one of the inspirations. Its a beautiful connection from a very old economy to a new economy where we are doing things differently, finding new opportunities.

Wattpad is used by about 65 million people around the world, writing, reading, editing, commenting  and that is an amazing business that we couldn't have imagined even 20 years ago, Wynne added. Thats how rapidly things are changing.

No comment on whether the Liberals think these are the best  or worst  of times.

A tale of too much red tape

Millionaire businessman Doug Ford says he will bring some businesslike discipline to Queens Park.

Ford, who runs the successful label company founded by his father, said if the Progressive Conservatives are elected June 7, the province will offer a new customer service guarantee.

That will mean a single window access point for all provincial approvals to launch a business.

For every ministry and every agency, there will be one phone number and one website that you can access in order to get all of the approvals you need to create jobs  no guesswork or expensive lobbying required, Ford said in Tillsonburg.

And he promised a one-year hard deadline for approvals, so businesses arent left in limbo.

If a project wont be approved, then tell people so they can move on, he said. Dont leave them hanging.

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An NDP candidate accused by the Progressive Conservatives of putting a Hitler meme on her Facebook page five years ago says she has no idea how it got there.

The Conservatives called on New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath to take immediate action Friday against Tasleem Riaz in Scarborough-Agincourt, where she is running against incumbent Liberal Soo Wong in the June 7 election.

Tory MPPs Gila Martow and Todd Smith  whose leader Doug Ford has refused to fire candidate Andrew Lawton in London West over Islamphobic and misogynist views  flagged the 2013 post by Riaz and another one two years earlier accusing Canadian soldiers of war crimes in Afghanistan.

You dont post this kind of thing by accident, Martow said.

When Ontarians pull back the curtains and reveal the true NDP its clear that they wont like what they see, she charged, a reference to what the Conservatives say are several Horwath candidates with views well outside the Canadian mainstream.

Horwath said she finds it hard to believe Riaz, an interfaith activist, would post anything associated with Adolf Hitler.

The meme pictures the former dictator giving his trademark Nazi salute to a crowd over the words if you dont like a rule...change the rule.

Thats not something that I would support, Horwath said outside a Scarborough high school. Im looking into this.

Ive known Tasleem for some time now, she added outside Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute highlighting her promise of $16 billion to fix a backlog of repairs in schools. Shes been an activist in interfaith issues.

Riaz issued a statement saying she is horrified that an inappropriate meme was on my Facebook page. I dont recall sharing it in 2013  and at no point in my life would I have done so intentionally.

I have devoted my life to interfaith religious tolerance and freedom, she added. I find Hitler, the hate he spewed and the genocide he committed to be abhorrent.

Have your say

I cant understand how this happened, and Im devastated that it has.

Ford, who is battling with Horwath for top spot in public opinion polls with less than two weeks until voting day, called the posts totally unacceptable.

Again, thats going to be Andrea Horwath  this is her radical activists that weve seen over and over again, he told reporters at a downtown Toronto hotel.

Horwath said Mr. Ford and his team live in a bit of a glass house.

She was joined at the school announcement by several of her Scarborough candidates but said Riaz and one other were not there because of scheduling conflicts.

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The Liberal party has been in power since 2003, but a recent Forum Research survey shows Kathleen Wynnes party losing momentum, sitting at just 14 per cent, behind the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives. How does Wynne plan to turn that around?

You now have an opportunity to ask her yourself. Wynne will meet with the Toronto Star editorial board at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 28, and well be live-streaming the conversation.

During elections, the Stars editorial board meets with party leaders to find out where they stand on the issues. It helps the Star determine which party, if any, it will endorse.

Email us your questions at electionquestions@thestar.ca or post them to us on Facebook or Twitter. Then tune in live at thestar.com at 1 p.m. on Monday to watch the discussion.

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WASHINGTON  When U.S. President Donald Trump used the word animals last week in a way that left it unclear whether he was talking specifically about members of the MS-13 gang or broadly about unauthorized immigrants, he caused an uproar.

The kind of uproar he likes.

He got to claim that Democrats who called his comment dehumanizing were taking the side of a brutal gang. He got to lambaste the media for allegedly twisting his words.

And he got that same media to devote a few more news cycles to the subject of illegal immigration.

Heading into the congressional midterm elections in November, Trump has returned to the immigration-heavy message that helped propel his own victory two years ago. Even with a roaring economy, he seems to be betting that control of Congress depends on a lot more of his graphic talk about gruesome gang murders of teenage girls.

Democrats hold a consistent (though shrinking) lead in polls of voters midterm intentions. Elections last year and early this year suggest that the Democratic base is far more motivated than the Republican base.

This is a base election, said Republican strategist Ford OConnell. The goal of the midterm is to fire up your base without hacking off independents. The one issue outside of (the threat of) impeachment that fires up Republicans and doesnt hack off independents is discussion about illegal immigration.

Trump launched his 2016 campaign by calling Mexican immigrants criminals, rapists and bringers of drugs. He was widely accused of racism. Talking about MS-13, which is partly composed of unauthorized immigrants and does indeed commit crimes, gives him a way to harness the same fears about dangerous Latino foreigners while also retaining a just-talking-facts defence against the charge of bigotry.

His critics say they are not fooled.

Trump, they say, is not only strategically stoking xenophobia but a xenophobe himself.

It kind of feels like he wants to bring hatred toward the Hispanic community by making everyone, especially his followers, believe that the Hispanic community is full of MS-13 gang members, when its really not that way, said recent university graduate Alejandra Rodriguez, 25, of Houston, one of the DREAMer immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as a child.

Trump is not merely using severe rhetoric on immigration. His policy is notably harsh. He has significantly ramped up arrests of unauthorized immigrants without criminal records. His administration announced in May that it would separate parents crossing the border illegally from their children.

Facing pressure from their left, some moderate Republicans in heavily Hispanic or Democrat-friendly districts are pushing for a gentler stance at least on the DREAMers. After a brief flirtation with positive words about DREAMers, Trump has seemed uninterested.

Doubling down on controversial rhetoric as usual, the White House issued a press release Monday that referred 10 times to MS-13 members as animals. On Wednesday, he returned to Long Island, N.Y., which experienced a spate of MS-13 murders in 2016 and 2017, for another televised roundtable on the gang.

The event was effective political theatre. People of colour emotionally thanked Trump for caring about them. The president sounded tough and empathetic.

One notable remark, more than a half-hour into the discussion, received little media attention. The police commissioner of local Suffolk County said: There has not been an MS-13 murder in Suffolk County since April of 2017.

Experts on the gang say it is indeed vicious. But they say Trump is wildly exaggerating its importance, attempting to turn a manageable menace that plagues a tiny minority of communities into an army-sized national bogeyman.

Its almost like a war, where youre getting rid of somebody thats occupying your nation, Trump said in Long Island.

The U.S. government says MS-13 exists in 40 states, but it is believed to have a major presence in fewer than 10. It is most active in Los Angeles, where it was founded in the 1980s by refugees from war in El Salvador; the New York City area; and the Washington, D.C. area.

Hector Silva, a researcher at InSight Crime who has studied MS-13 for two decades, said other gangs Trump does not talk about are more active and more relevant even in cities in which MS-13 does have a real presence. And MS-13, he said, is not even close to a drug cartel, as Trump described it last year; it does low-level drug selling by controlling street corners.

In a study released in February, the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates a hard line on illegal immigration, found 207 homicide arrests of alleged MS-13 members since 2012. There have been more than 75,000 total U.S. homicides in that period.

In Long Island, Silva said, MS-13 was linked to 17 murders over a year and a half  less, he noted, than the number of murders by lone gunmen in school shootings this year alone. The district attorney of Suffolk County noted to the New York Times that there were 300 fatal opioid overdoses there in 2017, six deaths linked to MS-13.

It is a criminal organization that is very cruel, that uses violence indiscriminately. But it doesnt have close to the criminal impact that the Trump administration is trying to put into them, Silva said. Im not justifying MS-13 violence, of course, but its all relative.

To Trump and his team, such nuanced arguments are political gold.

When Democrats attempt to offer context about a brutal gang, conservative strategist and CNN analyst Scott Jennings said, they lose with average voters. He said such messaging errors explain Democrats shrinking advantage in the midterm polls.

Theres no nuance or statistic or some mitigating detail thats going to make anyone think, Oh, well, in that case I think the president is wrong to go after those poor bastards over at MS-13, said Jennings, a former special assistant to president George W. Bush and campaign adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. So yes, if you find yourself saying anything other than MS-13 is bad and must be eradicated you are doing it wrong, at least politically.

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SEOULHours after President Donald Trump cancelled a summit with its leader, Kim Jong Un, North Korea said on Friday it was still willing to give Trump time and opportunity to reconsider his decision, saying that Kim had held great expectations for the meeting.

The unilateral cancellation of the summit was unexpected and very regrettable, said Kim Kye Gwan, a vice foreign minister of North Korea, in a statement carried by the Norths official Korean Central News Agency. But we remain unchanged in our willingness to do everything we can for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and of the humanity, so with a broad and open mind, we are willing to give the United States time and opportunity.

With its carefully worded statement, North Korea appeared to shift the blame to the United States while trying to create an impression that it was the North Korean leader, and not Trump, who was the mature statesman trying to salvage the diplomatic process.

Trump, in a surprise announcement, said Thursday that he was pulling out of the June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore. The American president cited North Koreas recent expressions of hostility in making his decision, which was delivered to the Norths leader in a letter.

Kim, the vice foreign minister, said North Korea remained willing to sit down with the United States any time, in any format, to resolve the problems.

We have been internally giving President Trump a high score for making a decision any other American president couldnt and for exerting efforts to make a historic summit event happen, he said. Our chairman too has been making preparations, saying that if he meets with President Trump, it will be a good beginning.

Read more:

Trump made a mess of North Korea talks, experts say

North Korea demolishes nuke test site with series of blasts

North Korea slams Pence remark, threatens to back out of summit

The vice minister said the tremendous anger and open hostility that Trump complained about in his letter was the North Korean way of protesting Washingtons demand for a unilateral nuclear dismantlement.

This unfortunate turn of event shows how serious is the deep-rooted problem between North Korea and the United States and why a summit meeting is so urgently needed, the vice foreign minister said. But now North Korea, he said, was left wondering whether Trump lacked a will or self-confidence to deal with the North Koreans.

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THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDSA day after international prosecutors said they had unequivocal evidence of Russian involvement in the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine nearly four years ago, the Netherlands and Australia on Friday announced they were holding Moscow legally responsible for its role in the missile attack.

The move puts further strain on already tense relations between Russia and the West and opens a new legal front in the long-running process of apportioning blame for the July 17, 2014, missile strike that blew Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 out of the sky and killed all 298 people on board.

State responsibility comes into play when states fail to uphold provisions of international law and thats clearly the case, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague.

On Thursday, a Dutch-led international team of investigators said they had strong evidence that the Buk missile system that brought down the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight came from a Russia-based military unit, the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk. It was the most explicit link yet published by the investigators between Moscow and the downing of the flight known as MH17.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Friday called for international support for the Dutch-Australian legal initiative.

If military weapons can be deployed and then used to bring down civilian aircraft in what was essentially a war zone, then international security is at risk and we call on all countries to inform the Russian Federation that its conduct is unacceptable, she said.

The two nations quickly got support from allies including the United States, Britain and the European Union.

Read more:

Russian military missile downed Flight MH17 over Ukraine, investigators confirm

It is time for Russia to acknowledge its role in the shooting down of MH17 and to cease its callous disinformation campaign, U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Russias involvement an egregious example of the Kremlins disregard for innocent life and called on Moscow to co-operate fully with the investigation.

Russia denies involvement in the downing of the Malaysian Boeing 777 that was flying 33,000 feet over war-ravaged eastern Ukraine when it was torn apart by a Buk missile fired from territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

Bodies, debris and burning wreckage rained out of the sky and into a field of sunflowers near the rebel-held village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region about 40 kilometres from the Russian border, where fighting had been raging for months.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that Moscow has co-operated with the criminal probe and sent data including radar images from the day the plane was shot down.

The foreign minister of the Netherlands called me to say they have no doubts that the Buk came from Russia, Lavrov said. I asked him about the facts that would prove it, but he failed to offer any. He said they want Russia to help determine the facts on the basis of those unfounded claims.

Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, rejected the accusations. He said Russia has been barred from the international investigation and thus cant trust its results. He also charged that Ukraine contributed to the tragedy by failing to ban civilian air traffic over the war zone.

Goran Sluiter, a professor of international criminal law at the University of Amsterdam, said the legal move appears aimed at least in part at pressing Russia to co-operate with the investigation, but was not without risks.

Its getting a bit blurred because theres a state responsibility claim now interfering with a criminal investigation, Sluiter said.

He said it would be tough to pursue Moscow in court. The most likely legal venue would be the Hague-based International Court of Justice, which settles disputes between nations. The United Nations top judicial body can only rule, however, if both sides accept its jurisdiction, or if it can be established that Russia breached a treaty to which it is a party and that includes a clause sending disputes to the ICJ.

Ukraine already has gone to the ICJ in a case that, among other demands, seeks compensation for the downing of MH17 from Russia. Moscow argued that the court does not have jurisdiction. Judges have not yet issued a definitive ruling but said in a preliminary decision in April 2017 that they appear to have jurisdiction based on a treaty cited by Kyiv.

Relatives of those killed welcomed the legal developments over the last two days as the fourth anniversary of losing their loved ones approaches.

This is great news, said Hans de Borst, who lost his daughter, Elsemiek. I understand why the government waited, but now the evidence is clear.

Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce and his girlfriend were on board the flight, called the investigations findings an important step forward and the decision to hold Russia responsible two steps forward.

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ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIARussian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that the U.S. exit from the Iranian nuclear deal could trigger dangerous instability and raise new threats for Israel if Tehran resumes a full-fledged nuclear program.

We cant sort things out with North Korea. Do we want another problem on the same scale? Putin asked at a business forum.

The Russian leader said the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 agreement came even as the international nuclear watchdog confirmed that Tehran was fulfilling its obligations. What should it be punished for, then? Putin asked.

President Donald Trumps administration has demanded that Iran stop the enrichment of uranium and end its involvement in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Afghanistan in order to negotiate a new deal.

If international agreements are revised every four years it would offer zero horizon for planning, Putin said. It will create the atmosphere of nervousness and lack of trust.

While Israel hailed the U.S. withdrawal, Putin warned that the move could eventually hurt Israeli security if the deal completely falls apart.

Would it be better for Israel if Iran opts out of the deal or is pushed out of it? he asked. In that case, its nuclear activities would become totally non-transparent. What kind of risks will it entail?

The Iran deal was the first time Russia, France, Germany and others had agreed on a major international issue since relations between Russia and the West chilled over Moscows annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Moscows hopes for better ties with Washington under Trump have fizzled amid investigations into alleged collusion between Trumps campaign and Russia. Speaking at the panel, Putin again denied any meddling in the U.S. election in 2016.

While criticizing the U.S. policy on Iran, Putin had some warm words for Trump and held out hope for holding a summit with him.

We certainly cant be happy with the level and nature of Russia-U.S. relations, Putin said. We are ready for dialogue. It long has become overdue.

He also suggested that Trump might have won a few points domestically by exiting the Iran deal. He fulfilled his campaign promises and in that sense he might have won in terms of domestic politics, Putin said.

The Russian leader also engaged in a tongue-in-cheek exchange with French President Emmanuel Macron, saying with a smile that Russia could help protect Europe if its rift with the U.S. widens over Iran.

Dont you worry, we will help ensure your security, Putin said. Macron responded on a serious note that France and its allies could stand for themselves.

In his speech at the forum and during talks with Putin on Thursday, Macron called for closer ties between France and Russia despite their differences.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also spoke at the forum and called for closer co-operation with Russia.

The presence of Macron and Abe and their statements in favour of co-operation with Moscow were important for Putin, indicating that the U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia face increasing obstacles.

The U.S. and its allies have hit Russia with several waves of sanctions that badly hurt its economy.

Putin sharply criticized the sanctions, saying they signal not just erosion but the dismantling of a system of multilateral co-operation that took decades to build.

In a later meeting with top editors of international news agencies, Putin said he would observe constitutional term limits that would prevent him from running for a new term in 2024. However, some observers have suggested he might seek to have the constitution changed.

On tensions with Britain over allegations that Russia was behind the March poisoning of a Russian former spy in Britain, Putin said there should either be a joint, full-value, objective investigation or simply stop talking about this subject because it doesnt lead to anything except worsening relations.

Russia has repeatedly demanded that Britain let it take part in investigating the case.

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11 more killed : Anti-drug shootout on: 70 killed since May 12

Staff Reporter :

Eleven people were killed in gunfight with either police or Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in the capital and eight other districts on Friday since the anti-drug drive continues across the country.

So far a total of 70 people were killed in 'gunfights' across the country since May 12.

Law enforcers also seized arms, Yaba, phensydil and canbis during the drives, reports our correspondents quoting law enforcers.

In the capital, Quamrul, a listed drug peddler was killed in the gunfight between his cohorts and members of RAB-2 in Tejgaon Industrial area of the capital early Friday.

RAB sources said that Quamrul was wanted in a number of cases. The elite force also recovered a number of firearms, bullets and Yaba pills from the spot after the gunfight.

In Mymensingh, Rajon Mia, 30, a suspected drug pusher and son of Harunur Rashid of Purohitpara area in the city, was killed in 'gunfight' with DB police at Purohitpara in the city around 2:30 am, said Ashiqur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Mymensingh DB police.

Rajon was wanted in five cases, said the OC. Police also recovered 420 pieces of Yaba and a shell of bullets from the spot.

In Netrakona, two suspected drug peddlers were killed in the gunfight with police at Monang in Sadar upazila early Friday. The identities of the deceased could not be known instantly.

Police recovered 750 grams of heroin, 3500 pieces of Yaba pills and two pipe guns from the spot.

In Sherpur, a 'gunfight' with police left Azad alias Kalu Dacoit, 28, an alleged drug peddler and son of Mantaj Ali of Marakandi Khashpara of Sadar upazila, dead at Satpakia

in Sadar upazila early in the morning, said Aminul Islam, Additional Superintendent of Sherpur Police, Azad was wanted in 21 cases, including that of robbery and drugs, he aid.

Kulu's family members, who gathered at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital on Friday morning, claimed that police picked up Kalu from his house on Thursday and killed in the so-called gunfight.

In Cumilla, Kamal alias Fancy Kamal, a suspected drug trader and son of Hiron Mia of Rajmangalpur village in Adarsha Sadar Upazila, was killed in a reported gun battle with police at Mahishmara of Burichang Upazila early today, said Manoj Kumar Dey, Officer-in-Charge of Burichang Police Station.

Police arrested two of his accomplices namely-Hanif and Elias and recovered one LG gun and 50 kgs of hemp from the spot. Kamal was wanted in 12 cases filed under the Narcotics Control Act, said OC.

In Gaibandha, Jewel, a suspected drug peddler wanted in dozens of cases related to drugs, was killed in a gun battle with police at Balashighat in Phulchhari upazila early in the morning, said Khan Mohammad Shahrier, OC of Sadar Police Station.

In Jhenidah, Shamim Sardar, 45, a listed drug pusher was killed in a 'gunfight' between his cohorts and police at Arpara in Kaliganj upazila on Thursday night, said Mizanur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Kaliganj Police Station.

He was wanted in nine cases, the OC added.

Police also recovered one pistol, two bullets and several pieces of Yaba pills from the scene.

In Cox's Bazar, two alleged drug traders were found dead on Friday morning.

They have been identified as Yaba Don Akhter Kamal, 41, and Mostak Ahmed. Akhter Kamal was a relative (brother-in-law of a sister of Bodi) of ruling party lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi.

Police suspect both Kamal and Mostak were killed during gunfights with their rivals.

Moheshkhali police OC Pradip Kumar Das said that Mostak's bullet-hit body was found in Pahartali area under Moheshkhali upazila and Kamal's bullet-riddle body was found in Darianagar Bridge area under Khuniapalang union of Ramu upazila on Friday morning.

A listed criminal, Akhter Kamal was also an elected member of Sabrang union parishad.

Our correspondent from Satkhira reports, a drug peddler was killed in a 'gunfight' between two gangs in Kalaroa upazila at early hours.

The dead was identified as Yunus Ali Dalal. A one shooter gun, two bullets and 70 bottles of phensedyl syrup were also recovered from the spot.

Acting on secret information that two gangs of drug dealers engaged in a gun-battle in the bordering Borali area, police rushed to the scene and fired blank shots.
SEATTLEScientists who track pollution have discovered traces of antibiotics and the pain reliever oxycodone in some Puget Sound mussels.

KIRO-TV reported this week that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife obtained clean mussels from Penn Cove on Whidbey Island and put them different areas to test for water contamination.

Scientists worked with the Puget Sound Institute to analyze the data and discovered three out of 18 locations came back positive for trace amounts of oxycodone.

State Fish and Wildlife biologist Jennifer Lanksbury says the contamination likely comes through waste water treatment plants.

She says the chemicals may be having an impact in fish and shellfish in the areas.

She says mussels at a restaurant or store are healthy to eat because they come from clean locations.
WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trumps personal attorney, Michael Cohen, met at Trump Tower in New York days before the 2017 inauguration with a Russian billionaire who was sanctioned this year by the U.S. government.

The meeting between Cohen and Viktor Vekselberg, who made his fortune in the energy industry, was an impromptu session arranged by Vekselbergs cousin, Andrew Intrater, a New York investment manager who was also in attendance, according to a person with knowledge of the encounter.

Among the topics the three men discussed was Vekselbergs desire for better relations between the United States and Russia, the person said, who added that Vekselberg did not encounter Trump or any of his other advisers. The meeting was first reported by The New York Times.

Later that month, Cohen signed a lucrative consulting contract with Intraters investment firm, Columbus Nova. Company officials have said Vekselberg, who is Columbus Novas biggest client, played no role in Cohens hiring.

The Jan. 9, 2017, sit-down adds to a lengthy list of contacts between Trump associates and Russians with Kremlin ties during the campaign and the presidential transition.

It happened just three days after the U.S. intelligence community released a public report concluding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had directed an effort to interfere in the 2016 campaign with the purpose of hurting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and boosting Trump.

Read more:

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Stormy Daniels lawyers firm ordered to pay $10M

Trumps attorney says special counsel has narrowed questions in Russia probe

About a week after the meeting, Cohen, Intrater and Vekselberg were together again at a dinner in Washington to celebrate Trumps inauguration. Intrater had contributed $250,000 to support the festivities and invited Vekselberg as his guest.

Investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller have sought information about the three mens activities as part of their investigation into Russian interference. Earlier this year, Vekselberg was stopped by agents when he flew into a New York-area airport, the Times has reported. Intrater has also been interviewed by the special counsel team, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Separately, Cohen is under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York scrutinizing his business practices and his efforts to squash negative stories about Trump.

A spokesman for Vekselberg and Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Intrater declined to comment. He told the Times that had he known in January 2017 that I was about to hire this high-profile guy whod wind up in this big mess, I wouldnt have introduced him to my biggest client, and wouldnt have hired him at all.

Intrater and Cohen first met by happenstance, according to a person familiar with their relationship. Intrater was having dinner at a Manhattan restaurant in the fall of 2016 with some friends when one of them pointed out that Cohen was also dining there. The friend introduced Cohen to Intrater, and the two stayed in touch.

The Trump Tower meeting several months later was brief and impromptu, the person said. Cohen and Intrater were discussing setting up a meeting and Intrater noted that he was with Vekselberg near Trump Tower and asked if they could come by.

At the time, there was already growing scrutiny of the relationship between Trump associates and Russia. During the campaign, Trump frequently said that he hoped to rebuild ties between the United States and Russia, even as the U.S. government concluded that Russia had orchestrated cyberhacks of Democrats.

Several days before the Cohen-Vekselberg meeting, The Washington Post had interviewed Cohen about allegations in a research dossier compiled by a former British intelligence officer on behalf of the Clinton campaign that concluded Trump had coordinated with the Russian influence campaign. The dossier alleged that Cohen was part of that effort, which he denied.

Vekselberg made billions in the post-Soviet era in the oil and gas industry. He and the company he founded, the Renova Group, were sanctioned in April by the Treasury Department after the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain that Western intelligence officials have blamed on Russia.

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This week, Google quietly dropped its defining motto, dont be evil. The move comes as Google recently entered into a deal with the Pentagon to develop better artificial intelligence for facial recognition in its killer drone program. That Google is using its massive research capacity for military applications should make citizens and legislators around the world shudder.

We have come a very long way from those heady days of the early digital revolution when edgy startup companies like Google sold us a vision of a democratic digital commons, where people around the globe were brought together by access to knowledge and ease of communication and connectivity. Google even talked about creating the greatest library the world had ever known. What we didnt know was that library was our own personal lives  and the beneficiaries were Googles investors, not the general public.

Nobody paid much attention to how Google was amassing this massive library of our digital lives as its steadily grew into a corporate conglomerate of unprecedented size. But it was our search histories, browsing habits and a meticulous record of  literally  every step we take that transformed Google from a cool search engine into the colossus it is today.

Google is not alone. The domination of the digital realm by an oligarchy consisting of a few massive firms raises many disturbing questions for legislators, regulators, and the public. Their unprecedented control of digital space has the potential to stifle innovation, undermine the rights of citizens, and upend the democratic processes of sovereign countries.

Facebook is currently under fire for its role in the breach of the personal information of millions of users to a sketchy political data firm that may have undermined the most important election in recent memory. In other parts of the world, theyve been raked over the coals by NGOs, journalists and civil society groups for, among other things, the platforms role in facilitating the genocide of Rohingyas in Myanmar.

Amazons controversial bidding process for cities, with its own second headquarters as the prize, can only be called an organized campaign of public extortion, with cities tripping over each other to offer more public dollars to one of the most mercenary companies on Earth. Meanwhile, in Amazons Home Town of Seattle, it is publicly fighting the city council over a modest increase in taxes to address the citys homelessness crisis, driven in part by spiking housing prices thanks to an influx of tech workers.

As an artist, activist, and MP, Ive been a digital idealist for years. I bought into the notion of a deregulated internet because it was supposed to usher in a new frontier of public space and innovation. Instead, we have seen the rise of monopolistic giants that are squeezing out young start ups while showing a disturbing disregard for the right of sovereign jurisdictions to hold them to account.

This is why we see the move toward legislation and regulation. In Europe, there is the landmark General Data Protection Regulation, while the U.S. is home to a rising antitrust movement and savvy legislators, journalists and citizens asking tough questions of their homegrown titans.

But in Canada, the extremely close relationship between the Trudeau government and the digital oligarchy is cause for concern. Good relations with Google, Facebook and Amazon are deeply entwined in the Trudeau agenda, and it is unlikely that such a cosy relationship between the Liberal brand and the Silicon Valley lobby machine will be upended  unless, of course, Canadian citizens begin to demand better of both government and the digital giants.

That day has arrived in Canada. We need to begin a national conversation on creating a rights  and sovereignty-based  approach to personal data regulation, ensuring a fair and competitive economic environment, and reviving the promise of a truly democratic digital commons.

The idea that we should just trust these giants not to simply abstain from doing evil just doesnt cut it anymore.

Charlie Angus is the MP for Timmins-James Bay.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he will apologize in the House of Commons for Canadas none is too many policy. Under that policy, Canada refused refuge to Jews fleeing the Nazis. This included more than 900 refugees onboard the MS St. Louis in 1939, many of whom were killed in concentration camps after Cuba, the United States and Canada all refused to allow the passengers to disembark.

The apology is long overdue. Canadas anti-Semitic hostility to Jewish refugees was an enormous moral, political, and legal failure. When countries like Canada closed their borders, they showed not only indifference to but also complicity in genocide.

Of course, an apology can never repair the damage. Nor will it bring back needlessly lost lives. But it may provide some comfort to the families and communities affected. And, if done properly, it will help shine light on a part of Canadian history that does not get the attention it deserves.

For an apology to be meaningful, however, there must be a sincere commitment not to repeat the offence. It is, therefore, worth thinking about what would happen if a ship with passengers fleeing persecution and threats to their lives came to Canada today.

First the good news. If passengers on a ship like the MS St Louis made it to Canadian territory today, they would get access to Canadas refugee determination system. Passengers meeting the refugee definition would be allowed to stay. They would be entitled to settlement services. They would be put on the path to permanent residence and ultimately citizenship. And if any of the passengers faced anti-Semitic discrimination, they could access human rights processes and constitutional protections.

Now the bad news. Canada continues to do everything it can to prevent asylum seekers from reaching Canadian territory and thereby accessing all these rights.

If a modern-day Gustav Schroder  the captain of the MS St Louis, credited with saving hundreds of passengers  were to bring a similar ship to a Canadian port today, the company running the ship would be fined $3,200 for every recognized refugee who disembarks. For a ship with the capacity of the MS St Louis, this would be at least $2.9 million. In addition, if the refugees paid for the trip, the captain and crew could face life imprisonment and a $1 million fine.

These harsh penalties reflect that Canadian law sees the arrival of every asylum seeker who reaches Canadian territory and makes a refugee claim as a failure of the border control regime  even for refugee claims that succeed.

Canada has long been a world leader in developing and deploying tools to prevent such refugees from reaching Canadian territory. These tools include visa requirements, electronic travel authorizations, carrier sanctions, migration integrity officers posted abroad, working with international partners to detect and stop irregular migration networks, and the controversial Canada-U. S. Safe Third Country Agreement.

The prime ministers expression of regret for the days of none is too many is to be applauded.

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But, if his apology is sincere, he should also explain why his government continues to implement policies to keep modern day asylum seekers out of the country  including those fleeing genocide and humanitarian disasters in places like Syria, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Myanmar.

He should justify the fines that his government imposes on airlines for asylum seekers transported to the country.

He should account for the laws his government keeps on the books that prescribe lengthy jail sentences for knowingly transporting asylum seekers to the country.

And he should explain why he continues to force asylum seekers transiting via the U.S. to cross the border irregularly (thus allowing xenophobic opponents of immigration to castigate such asylum seekers as illegals) instead of suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement  as called for by Amnesty International, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Council for Refugees, and over 200 law professors across the country.

An apology for none is too many is a good idea. But apologies must go beyond nice words. They must be accompanied by actions.

Sean Rehaag is an associate professor at York Universitys Osgoode Hall Law School.

Sharry Aiken is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, Queens University.
If Doug Ford does fall short in what looked only a week or so ago like an easy stroll to the Ontario premiers office, hell have only himself to blame.

Instead of being comfortably ahead of the other parties contending this unpredictable Ontario election, his Progressive Conservatives are now locked in a close battle with the New Democrats, once the provinces perpetual also-rans.

In part this is due to the PC leader himself. He has a solid base of support among devotees of Ford Nation, but the same qualities that attract them repel plenty of other voters.

In part its due to the near-constant eruptions of questionable behaviour, contested candidacies and outrageous statements that continue to plague his party.

The latest involves Ford himself, who in an audio recording released on Thursday by the Liberals is heard approaching customers at a Tim Hortons and trying to get them to sign a party membership on behalf of Etobicoke Centre PC candidate Kinga Surma without actually paying for it  a violation of party rules.

Ford waved off the whole thing off as an old story (the incident took place in October 2016) that has been investigated and dismissed by the party.

But it was notable that he didnt deny any of it, and if as the recording suggests he was out personally flogging what the Liberals call bogus memberships then it will be even harder for him to pin the partys internal ructions on his predecessor as leader, Patrick Brown. Especially now that Brown has emerged publicly (in the Star) to forcefully deny Fords claim that the party he inherited was a mess.

Voters should think long and hard before entrusting the leadership of their province to a bunch like this. And that goes double when the same party has conspicuously failed to spell out what it intends to do if it does win power on June 7.

We should, in fact, be debating the merits of the PC plan for governing versus those of the Liberals (as set out in their last budget) and the New Democrats (who have at least issued a detailed policy platform).

But we cant properly do that because Ford hasnt bothered to come up with a properly costed, comprehensive platform. Apparently he thought he could slow-walk into power at Queens Park without the bother of telling people in any detail what he plans to do.

Its now clear that has backfired on him. The vacuum left by the absence of an actual plan is being filled by the drip-drip-drip of contested party nominations, rogue candidates and alleged fiddling with the rules. The longer it goes on, the more the partys credibility is being eroded.

Ford has promised to release a full policy platform before election day. But the clock is ticking loudly; the vote is now just two weeks away.

The sooner he puts out his plan the better, for both the PCs and voters at large. Well have a clearer way to judge him. And hell have something to talk about other than what he might have been up to in Etobicoke Centre.

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If ever there was a case that underscored the fact that Canada must end the practice of indefinite detention of migrants, its that of Ebrahim Toure.

By now readers will be familiar with his disturbing story. The failed refugee claimant has been languishing in detention for more than five years  even though he hasnt been charged or convicted of a crime  because immigration authorities cant figure out what to do with him.

They want to deport him to Gambia, but that country wont accept him without identity documents, which he claims not to have.

So faced with this catch-22, Canada is keeping him in a Immigration Holding Centre at a cost of more than $90,000 a year.

This is not only indefensible on moral grounds, it is contrary to explicit directions given by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale that the detention of migrants should be a last resort. He even set aside $5 million in 2016 to be spent on alternatives to it, such as electronic monitoring devices for those considered a flight risk.

Still, on Wednesday government lawyers stubbornly continued to argue in court for Toures ongoing detention, though he poses no public threat.

Why they would do so in light of Goodales directive remains a cruel riddle.

More to the point, though a federal court ruled last year that the indefinite jailing of immigration detainees does not necessarily violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it is still unacceptable in any democracy.

Indeed, Canada is one of a shrinking number of democratic nations that imposes no time limit on how long migrants can be detained.

Most countries in the European Union, for example, have set an 18-month limit on immigration detention, while others have a limit of as little as three months.

To be fair, the number of migrants being detained by Canadian authorities has declined dramatically since the Liberal government was elected. In 2013-14, for example, Canada detained 10,088 immigrants. By the last fiscal year it was 6,251. And on average they spend only 23 days in detention.

Still, Toure is far from the only example of a migrant who poses no danger to the public being held for years.

Its long past time that the Trudeau government followed in the steps of other democracies and set a hard limit on how long migrants can be detained.

In the meantime, it should release Toure without delay.
One of a series of editorials on issues facing Ontarios voters:

The big issues in the Ontario election, so the pollsters tell us, are hydro costs, taxes, health care and the economy. The environment and climate change, they say, arent top of mind for most voters.

That may be so, but Ontarians ignore these issues at their peril. Whatever other failings they may have, the Liberals made impressive progress on environmental issues during their decade and a half in office. It would be tragic to see those gains halted or, even worse, reversed.

Thats a real risk with Doug Fords Progressive Conservatives leading among decided voters. Ford has made clear he cares little for the environment and vows to abolish the Liberal governments cap-and-trade plan, a serious effort to fight climate change by putting a price on carbon.

Putting Ford in the premiers chair, in short, would be a huge step back in the battle to head off the potentially devastating effects of climate change. And not just for Ontario, but for all of Canada.

Environment is one of the areas the Liberals can be proudest of when they look back over their years in office, under both Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne.

They phased out coal-generation of electricity, cutting carbon emissions and bringing enormous health benefits in the form of cleaner air. They established the Green Belt around the Toronto/Hamilton mega-region. And they set up the pioneering cap-and-trade scheme with California and Quebec. These were big, bold moves.

Of course, the Liberals stumbled as well. Their green energy program has made little progress at great cost and they bowed to local political pressure and relocated gas plants, at yet more cost. For all this they are paying a huge political cost.

But consider the alternatives before Ontario voters.

The New Democrats would keep cap-and-trade. Disappointingly, though, they have not made environmental issues much of a priority in their election platform. Presumably theyre reading those polls and believe voters have other things on their minds.

The real danger to progress in this area, as in so many others, comes from the PCs.

Under Doug Ford theyve abandoned even the pretence of caring about the environment. They have no published platform on these issues. And judging by what Ford has had to say so far, its clear that protecting the environment would be at best an after-thought for a PC government, at worst an obstacle to accomplishing his goals.

In fact, Ford has used environmental issues as a populist punching-bag, threatening to rip wind turbines right out of the ground. If he does get into the premiers office hell find that terminating green energy contracts will cost taxpayers dearly. But regardless of reality, his rhetoric does underline a mindset hostile to the very notion of environmental progress.

Consider his positions on two of the most pressing issues: reducing carbon usage and protecting the provinces forests, lakes, wetlands and farmland.

On the first, Ford has said hell abolish the Liberals cap-and-trade carbon pricing system, which is designed to reduce carbon emissions by 15 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Thats significant enough, but the program has other benefits as well. It aims to reduce the provinces carbon footprint by funnelling all money raised from emitters into environmentally friendly projects such as home and business energy retrofits, rebates to encourage purchase of electric vehicles, and clean technology projects for large polluters.

The plan has raised $2.4 billion to date, which Environment Minister Chris Ballard says taxpayers would have to pay back if Ford dismantles the program. No word from Ford on where that money would come from.

It would be easier to understand his position if cap-and-trade was a job-killer, as critics suggest. But it isnt. In fact, Ontario added 155,000 new jobs in 2017, the first year of the program. Thats not a fluke. California has outpaced the rest of the United States in economic growth since it launched its cap-and-trade market in 2012.

Ford makes things even worse by also ruling out any form of carbon tax. His predecessor as PC leader, Patrick Brown, at least promised to bring in such a tax and give the money back to taxpayers.

Fords position is deeply problematic since the federal government long ago said it will impose its own tax on any province that doesnt put a price on carbon starting in 2019. If a PC government refuses, it will set up a confrontation with Ottawa that will either mean Ontarians end up paying a tax anyway, or the national effort to limit carbon emissions will suffer a heavy blow.

On the issue of protecting the provinces lands and waterways, Ford has also stumbled spectacularly.

Most notably, readers will remember the backlash that erupted after the Liberals released video of the PC leader telling developers hed open a big chunk of the Greenbelt around the GTA and Hamilton for new single-family homes.

Though Ford quickly flip-flopped on that pandering promise to developers, it was too late. He had made it clear where his heart lies. And its not with protecting a vital part of our environmental heritage.

Contrast that with the approach taken by the Liberals. Back in December they were consulting on a plan to expand the Greenbelt by adding another 345,000 hectares from Simcoe County to Niagara. And in their spring budget they promised $15 million more over three years to protect lands and waters.

These arent big vote-getters at this point, given the overwhelming desire for change at Queens Park. But they are substantive policies that address some of the biggest long-term issues that anyone concerned about Ontarios future should have.

The only thing Doug Fords PCs have demonstrated is that they dont take any of this seriously.

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When Ontarios election campaign began earlier this month, it was enough for Tory leader Doug Ford to be the Anti-Wynne.

A good many Ontarians were sick of Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and ready to support whichever party leader was best-positioned to deny her another term in government.

In those early days, that leader was Ford. His Progressive Conservatives formed the official opposition and, to many voters, represented the obvious alternative to the Liberals.

The fact Ford hadnt cobbled together a coherent platform didnt matter. Nor did his controversial history as a Toronto councillor.

His critics compared him to Donald Trump, but that didnt matter either. He wasnt Wynne and that was sufficient.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the June 7 election. The voters discovered in New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath another alternative to Wynne.

Whats more, to so-called progressive voters, Horwath seemed to offer the best of both worlds.

Her partys platform, with its commitment to pharmacare, child care and denticare was similar to that of Wynne. But Horwath herself was not a member of the discredited governing party.

In effect, she offered voters Liberalism without the Liberals.

For Horwath this is good news. At a meeting earlier this week with the Stars editorial board and others, she was clearly chuffed that people are paying attention to the NDP  even though the increased scrutiny has revealed a $1.4 billion arithmetical mistake in its platform.

But for Ford it means the easy ride is over. He now has to specify exactly what he would do if elected and explain why his solutions are superior to Horwaths.

He has given some idea of where he wants to go. Like the Liberals and NDP, he is not hung up on balancing the budget and says he would run a deficit in his first year of governing.

His broad economic plans, such as they are, reflect the standard Conservative trinity of tax cuts, spending cuts and deregulation.

He has fleshed out his proposed tax moves, which include a 1.5 percentage point cut in the corporate tax rate, a marginal cut in the small business tax rate, a cut in the personal income tax rate for middle and upper income earners and a reduction in gasoline taxes.

But he has not revealed how he plans to cut $5.6 billion in government spending without affecting jobs.

Nor has he revealed what regulations he would scrap in order to encourage more economic growth.

He says he would kill the Liberal cap and trade system, which is aimed at reducing carbon emissions. But he has not offered any other solution to the problems posed by climate change.

His social policy suggestions are bareboned. He would institute a tax rebate for parents to partially offset child care costs. And he would subsidize dental care for poor seniors.

But in neither case are any details provided.

He is more specific in health care, promising 30,000 new long-term care beds over the next 10 years, as well as $1.9 billion over the decade for mental health.

But its not clear where the money needed to accomplish all of this will come from.

Like the Liberals before him, Ford promises to develop the so-called Ring of Fire mining region near James Bay. But like the Liberals before him, he doesnt say how.

Now that public opinion polls show Horwath is a real contender for the premiers job, more attention will be paid to the NDP platform. Voters can legitimately ask whether Horwaths child care plans, for example, make sense.

They can also legitimately ask whether it makes sense to entrust power to a party that makes a $1.4-billion mistake when calculating government finances.

But at least Horwaths NDP has a platform that can be scrutinized. Fords PCs do not. A few weeks ago, that didnt matter. Now it does.

Thomas Walkom is a Toronto-based columnist covering politics. Follow him on Twitter: is a Toronto-based columnist covering politics. Follow him on Twitter: @tomwalkom

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THUNDER BAYThe pizza slices are hot, the crowd is warmed up, the speaker is on fire.

To the throbbing beat of Just On Fire, Kathleen Wynne takes the microphone and launches into her final performance of the day. Inspired by her campaign theme song, the Liberal leader hits every high note:

Doug Fords Tories must be stopped because he sides with the richest people and the richest corporations in the province, she warns, now playing the class warrior.

Andrea Horwaths New Democrats must be exposed as slaves to ideology and captives of big labour, Wynne protests, now playing the pragmatist.

The crowd of more than 100 supporters rises to the challenge with a chant that is music to her ears: Four more years! Four more years!

But like the song that kicks off her campaign events  composed by Pink for the movie Alice Through The Looking Glass  there is an Alice in Wonderland quality to Wynnes campaign tour. Try as she might to gain traction on the chartered jet whisking her across the north on this day, the premier has been losing altitude in public opinion polls  and sinking deeper into a political rabbit hole.

Read more:

Four parties are making big promises on transit. Whats a commuter to do?

Opinion | Editorial: Doug Fords PCs would put environmental gains at risk

In provincial election, battle lines drawn over minimum wage and good jobs

For all the energy at this packed rally, the air has gone out of the Liberal campaign as polls point to a third-place showing. Even in this loyalist redoubt, she is preaching to a shrinking core of Liberal diehards and faithful firefighters in yellow T-shirts.

Far from the march to victory that carried her to a stunning majority government four years ago, the Liberal campaign feels, in the homestretch, like a forced march to the finish  with her rivals benefiting from a seemingly insurmountable head start. It is an upside down world where Wynne is campaigning like a seasoned professional and her team has run an error-free campaign, yet she keeps losing ground.

Ontarians have been tuning her out and writing her off ever since the campaign kick-off. Wynnes attempts to re-introduce herself to a skeptical public have yet to catch on, despite ditching her horn-rimmed glasses for contact lenses and trying to show that she doesnt have horns on her head.

Its an uphill climb, guys, we knew this was going to be a tough election, but we are up to it, Wynne tells the crowd.

Weighed down by the baggage of 15 years in power, there has been unending turbulence. On this whirlwind trip from Toronto to Sudbury and Thunder Bay, she isnt making the customary stop in Sault Ste. Marie  the Tories captured the riding in a byelection and Liberals have no hope. Reporters ask Wynne if she is also avoiding Windsor because local candidates are keeping their distance.

Four years ago, Wynne was the anti-Tory warrior who famously outflanked the NDP on the left to become the provinces proto-progressive premier. Now, her brand seems more toxic than Tim Hortons, and she is raining on the NDPs progressive parade to rein them in.

They are dreamers and we are doers, Wynne says dismissively at her Sudbury stop, reminding supporters of the Liberal track record and the future promises: A $15 minimum wage, free tuition for low-income college students; free pharmacare for young adults and seniors; and free child care for pre-schoolers.

Despite the dismal polls, most Liberal candidates have shown remarkable unity and solidarity in adversity. And Wynnes competitive drive suggests she isnt about to give up.

She still runs most mornings, including a 10-kilometre race last weekend before hitting the campaign trail. Wynne telephones riding presidents and candidates from her campaign bus to deliver pep talks.

I just want them to know that Im thinking of them, she tells me during an airport lull.

Wynne still reads the discouraging media coverage, which is how she came upon a series of effusive columns from normally critical outlets  an admiring column from Christie Blatchford in the National Post, complimentary lines from Margaret Wente in the Globe, and laudatory coverage from ex-Globe columnist John Barber about her years as premier.

It made me feel like, well, at least people are seeing what weve done, she muses.

Unsurprisingly, she cites Mark Twains saying that reports of her political death are premature. Well know in less than two weeks.

But at her last stop in Thunder Bay, a local resident who catches sight of Wynne mutters that he wants to vomit, and muses aloud that her visage will burn anyone who looks at her. It is an offensive but revealing comment. A reminder that even without the horn-rimmed glasses, many Ontarians can still see only horns.

Vote now:

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Reason suggests Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland does not seriously think Kathleen Wynnes Liberals are headed for a triumph on June 7. Justin Trudeaus go-to minister on the Canada/U.S. file predicted a big Liberal election victory at a GTA rally on Thursday. But if Freeland really does believe that, she may have had her hands too full on the foreign policy front to give her rose-coloured glasses a cleansing.

With less than two weeks to go, the polls all suggest the Ontario Liberals will be lucky to avoid a rout of historic proportions.

By the same token, the prime minister who set aside time in his schedule to vote at the Ottawa-Vanier returning office on Friday certainly knows a show of support via a photo opportunity is unlikely to trigger a game-changer of the magnitude Wynnes Liberals need to reverse the tide.

On a strictly rational basis, there is no reason why Trudeaus Liberals would not be content with the election of an NDP government in Ontario next month. From their governing perspective, that would be immensely preferable to a Tory victory.

If he becomes premier, Doug Ford has signalled his intention to go to war with the federal government over its national carbon-pricing strategy. Losing Ontarios support in that endeavour could tilt the provincial balance toward failure.

Trudeau is also more likely to get buy-in from an Ontario NDP government for the national pharmacare program some Liberal strategists see as a centrepiece of the 2019 Liberal platform. And the two at least share a common belief that governments have an active role to play on the social policy front.

Horwath was a keynote speaker at the February NDP national convention. Given the partisan venue and the location of the gathering, just a few blocks from Parliament Hill, her speech was remarkably free of frontal attacks on the federal government.

As events have since demonstrated, that made strategic sense. If the Ontario NDP leader does make it to the premiers office next month, it will be on the strength of the support of scores of Ontario voters who voted for Trudeau in 2015. Many of them still plan to do it again next year.

But politics is not just about reason. For Trudeaus Liberals, little that happens at the provincial level feels more personal than when it involves their Ontario cousins. The current governing parties on Parliament Hill and at Queens Park might as well be joined at the hip.

That goes beyond the well-documented backroom connections between the two, connections that lead all the way to Trudeaus inner circle. For the federal Liberal party, Ontario is as close to an anchor as Alberta has been for the Conservatives.

Without its strong roots in Canadas largest province, the party might not have emerged intact from the decades it spent out in the cold in Quebec.

Ontario was central to Jean Chretiens three majorities.

It largely saved Paul Martin from the indignity of failing to at least once be elected prime minister.

During the subsequent Liberal crossing into the federal opposition desert, Queens Park offered Liberal operatives a rare safe haven. And it was from its Ontario base that Trudeau rebuilt his party.

The dominant Liberal place on the Ontario map allows the party to see itself as a national institution even as it has little provincial presence across the Prairies and a B.C. partner that is less liberal than its label would suggest.

Prime ministers do not normally campaign in provincial elections and Trudeau has stayed out of the Ontario fray. But his caucus  from cabinet members on down  has fanned out to lend Wynnes Liberals a hand.

Many Liberal MPs are rookies who were first elected in 2015 as part of an exhilarating federal Liberal comeback and who have not yet had a first-hand brush with defeat. That is also true of more than a few of the party staffers who have gone home to work on the provincial campaign. Some were not old enough to vote the last time the Liberals were in opposition at Queens Park.

After the Bloc Quebecois suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the NDP in 2011, Gilles Duceppe described the experience as akin to being trapped on a free-falling elevator.

This month many Trudeau Liberals are getting a taste of that stomach-churning feeling. Judging from Freelands over-the-top prediction, it is an unnerving experience.

The June 7 Ontario election comes at a time when Trudeau is no longer walking on water. In Ontario, Andrew Scheers Conservatives have levelled the playing field with the ruling federal party. After this campaign, those poll numbers will likely feel less abstract to many Liberal MPs.

Chantal Hebert is a columnist based in Ottawa covering politics. Follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert

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Loan rescheduling facility must comply with banking laws

NEWS media reported that the commercial banks in 2017 waived Tk 1,753cr interest against bad loans which is blamed responsible for recurring bad loans in the country. Experts warned that such waiver was unethical and had impacts on good borrowers adversely. The interest waiver also encourages regular defaulters as they will think they too can get waivers of interest periodically on their loans.

This huge exemption of interest on bad loans indicates that banks did not follow due diligence while sanctioning the loans, especially in the last few years. The situation deems that the banks are compelled to give exemption so that they can recover the principal amount of loans. The unhealthy condition in the banking sector is long prevailing and the government is allowing freefall of the sector by remaining reluctant and politicizing it.

According to Bangladesh Bank, the banks in 2016 waived Tk 764 crore which jumped to Tk 1,753 crore in 2017, more than double indeed. Private commercial banks waived interest of Tk 1,234 crore last year, up from Tk 451 crore a year earlier while interest waived by the six state-owned banks Sonali, Janata, Agrani, Rupali, BASIC and Bangladesh Development Bank soared 61 percent year-on-year to Tk 319 crore last year. Interest waived by the nine foreign banks increased 4.45 percent to Tk 6.80 crore in 2017. The practice of giving waiver erodes the banks' net profits and also creates a provisioning shortfall. Experts opined that the central bank should strengthen its monitoring on the issue so that no bank can exempt loans or interests willfully.

Banks are allowed to give exemption to borrowers in line with the central bank directives but such facilities are usually managed by the willful defaulters. Banks generally waive interest on grounds of bank-customer relationship to recover the defaulted loans quickly, but the banks should not deduct the cost of fund while waiving the interest. In our view, full interest waiver is not expected for a particular client as it will not bring any good outcome. We ask the central bank to limit the opportunity and loan rescheduling facility for some definite conglomerates blessed by the government, and force them complying banking rule.


What fresh hellfire is this, we ask ourselves, as if it might be just another little hellfire, as is now the norm. But is it the biggest one of all? Witness U.S. President Donald Trumps letter to Kim Jong Un cancelling a meeting in Singapore about North Koreas nuclear capabilities for reasons best known to himself.

We are trying to figure out what President Trumps intention is and the exact meaning of it, said bewildered South Korean officials, the people with the most to lose in a nuclear hit unless thats Californians within reach of Kims erratic missiles.

I note sadly that it is not known what the North Korean people think because they are not allowed to speak, reporters cant get near them, and Kim doesnt care for them anyway. He may well regard them as wall insulation, the expanding kind, or as protein for bears in the nuclear winter.

There is a chain of things that could have created renewed bad blood with the North Koreans, among them national security advisor John Bolton using the phrase Libyan model in reference to Moammar Gadhafi giving up his nuclear weapons in 2003.

But then some guy from Indiana named Mike Pence said North Korea could end like the Libyan model ended, which is a different animal entirely. It ended with Gadhafii being up-knifed in his personal hindquarters as he was dragged about being beaten to death. Every dictator from Bashar-al-Assad to Vladimir Putin fears this now.

I wont do Trump the honour of thinking that he might fear it too. Trump hasnt absorbed any international news since the 1980s unless it was to site a Trump hotel. He feels physically impregnable  he spends most of his life indoors and heavily guarded  although emotionally he is a peeled nerve. This was the break-up letter you dont send, and he sent it.

The Libyan reference angered North Korean officials who called it stupid and made threats of their own, which Trump seems to say made him cancel the summit.

But Trump was turning down his shot at the Nobel Peace Prize, which he is dumb enough to think he could actually get, another bite of Obama.

Back to Trumps letter. It is so badly written that it seems authentic, using adjectives 12 times though theyre best avoided in diplomacy and in life.

It is wordy (negotiations and discussions, prosperity and wealth), overwrought (tremendous anger and open hostility), childlike (ours are so massive and powerful), tacky (a beautiful gesture), and inappropriate (do not hesitate to call me).

Please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit ... will not take place, is boilerplate stuff your local lawyer writes to the pool cleaner who sprung a leak.

So yes, Trump dictated it.

The phrase about nuclear weapons, I pray to God they will never have to be used, is the scariest. He writes as if events might make the decision for him, as if its out of his hands. Nuclear weapons never have to be used. It is a military decision, a sociopathic one.

Am I to be irradiated? is what people around the world are asking at this moment. Must I write notes to family on the good stationery? Yes. Should I plant the oak sapling? Yes. Do I dare to eat a peach? Not after the nuclear wind, no.

Well just have to wait a few months probably, Republican Congressman Steve King said of Trump winning the Nobel, not of our being irradiated, although who knows.

Heres the thing: even if Kim and Trump did talk and agree, Trump is as likely to keep his side of the deal as he was with the Iran nuclear treaty. Neither man can be trusted. It remains to be seen if the U.S. can ever again sign a treaty with any other nation.

European nations say they cannot trust the U.S. on defence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wonders aloud about the link between U.S. national security and car and truck imports. I am  even more than I was with steel and aluminum  trying to figure out where a possible national security connection is, Trudeau said. Taking that a step further into autos seems to me to be on even flimsier logical grounds.

This is the kind of thing you say when you try to get inside the mind of a kidnapper and placate him. Be his friend. Laugh at his brutalities. Your rich parents will pay up.

Now Im wondering if the PM should have accepted Trumps handshake and cartoonishly fallen to the ground at the strength of his mighty grasp.

But it wouldnt have helped. Trump is so insecure that he is said to dislike his own staff for working for him, that Fox and Friends must each morning ladle on the love and be his Oprah, that foreign leaders must come to him, not he to them.

Perhaps Trump couldnt stomach the idea of failing in Singapore, of tripping on his own tie, of Kim Jong Un out-mocking him. Something happened to a young boy once and the wound will not heal.

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VANCOUVERThe invasive Japanese beetle has arrived in B.C. in a big way  about 850 of them were found in Vancouvers David Lam Park.

Inspectors first discovered the beetle in the city last summer, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Adult beetles are voracious feeders and can destroy a wide variety of plants including grass and shrubbery, as well as crops.

But it is the larvae that park board officials will be targeting when they spray pesticide on almost 20 hectares of public land around False Creek this summer. They hope to kill an entire generations worth of the beetle before they mature and cause problems in other parts of the city and province.

We are aiming for eradication, said Dr. Jane Pritchard, executive director of plant and animal health at the BC Ministry of Agriculture.

This is a very serious pest we are very worried about it escaping the area. We are very fortunate that where it was found in British Columbia is a relatively small area in the urban centre.

At the same time, the federal food inspection agency is restricting the movement of plants and soil out of a regulated area, which includes everything north of West 12th Ave., bordered by Burrard St. to the west and Clark Dr. to the east.

That rule applies all year round and people are banned from transporting above-ground plant material such as prunings out of the area from June 15 to Oct. 15. People can still dispose of those materials in the citys green bins.

Individuals who dont follow these rules may face fines anywhere from $500 to $1,300, said Shannon Derksen, an operational specialist with the CFIA. Businesses found in violation could face fines up to $10,000.

In addition to following these restrictions, people can help by checking their vehicles for beetles before they travel out of the area, said Derksen.

The Japanese beetle is a notorious hitchhiker, she said.

The adult beetle can fly and it can catch a ride and just hang on with its little legs to different items and just catch a ride inside the cab or a truck or just in the grill.

The CFIA has already set up 800 traps in the Vancouver area and plans to install 1,500 more from Whistler to Hope, so that officials can keep track of whether any beetles escape the False Creek area.

Officials dont know for sure how the beetle came to B.C. and there are well-established protocols to contain the beetle to the already infested provinces and states on the eastern side of the continent, said Derksen.

Derksen acknowledged that there are no examples in Canada of authorities successfully eradicating the Japanese beetle once it arrived. But her department is consulting with an expert from Utah who successfully eradicated the Japanese beetle in that state, and is currently helping with the beetle problem in Oregon.

If authorities arent able to eliminate the Japanese beetle in Vancouvers False Creek area, the insect could wreak havoc with farmers crops in the Fraser Valley and beyond, said Pritchard. Japanese beetles eat almost 300 different plants including leafy vegetables, blueberries, and other fruits.

Vancouver Park Board staff will launch a comprehensive treatment program of the almost 20 hectares of land around False Creek and downtown Vancouver starting at the beginning of June. Staff will be using the pesticide, Acelepryn, which will kill Japanese beetle larvae, as well as chafer beetle larvae, but will not harm butterflies, birds, or mammals, according to Pritchard.

The treatment will take about three to four weeks to complete and staff will put up fencing and signage to let the public know when they will be spraying the various parks, boulevards, and street medians.

Some parks may be closed for part of the day as the pesticide requires three hours to dry, according to Howard Normann, director of parks at the Vancouver Park Board.

In addition to David Lam Park, staff will spray George Wainborne Park, Charleston Park, Sutcliffe Park, and May and Lorne Brown Park, Crab Park, and Emery Barnes Park.

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VANCOUVERB.C. activists who have protested tooth and nail against the operation of net-pen Atlantic salmon fish farms on the provinces coast were joined Thursday by American supporters in a call to end the practice, which they believe harms the health of wild fish and goes against the Truth and Reconcilliation Commissions calls to action.

Washington state banned net-pen farming of Atlantic Salmon three months ago, following the escape of thousands of Atlantic salmon into the Salish Sea the previous summer. Proponents of the Washington ban have said the effectiveness of the law is limited by the fact that B.C., with which the state shares the Salish Sea coast, allows this kind of farming.

The coalition that gathered Thursday included the advocacy group Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance, First Nations leaders, conservationists, representatives of the Anglican Churchs Diocese of B.C., and American leaders of the citizens movement against net-pen fish farming.

The group announced in a press conference an international collaboration to make the Pacific coast free of fish farms. They raised concerns about the possibility that viruses carried by Atlantic salmon may infect wild fish that interact with the penned fish, and about health risks associated with farmed salmon.

We have this as an international issue that cannot be ignored, said Eddie Gardner, president of the Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance who is also a Sto:lo elder from the Skwah First Nation. We are salmon people ... it is an integral part of who we are.

The first goal the group has is to convince the province not to renew the licences of fish farms located in the Broughton Archipelago, some of which are set to expire this summer.

We have connected with our brothers and sisters on the other side of the invisible border, said traditional leader from the Namgis First Nation Ernest Alfred of the partnership with American activists. We are the fish. We dont give up, like the fish. We dont recognize borders, like the fish, he said.

Shawn Hall, a spokesperson with the BC Salmon Farmers Association, said there remains to be conclusive evidence that Atlantic salmon farmed in the pacific are passing illnesses to wild fish.

The trick really is to farm responsibly, Hall said. The Washington and B.C. industries are different ... we farm to the highest standards here in B.C., each of our members has been certified by a third-party environmental assessment agency.

Underlying the coalitions statements was the conviction that the operation of net-pen fish farms on the traditional lands of First Nations that havent consented to them goes against the calls of action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Hereditary Chief George Quocksister Jr. of the Laich-Kwil-Tach people, who made headlines when he visited fish farms on First Nations land wearing a camera to capture what appeared to be images of unhealthy fish, described what it felt like to witness the farmed fish, considering the important role wild salmon play in his peoples traditions and culture.

There are so many disgusting, deformed fish, he said, taking a long pause and tapping slowly on the table in front of him. Its hard to look at that in person.

Hall said the industry works in collaboration with First Nations, with the majority of B.C. fish-farm operations happening in partnership with First Nations.

Of the First Nations who oppose the industrys presence, Hall said the association would be willing to sit down with them in conversation.

Some of the coalition members have already ruled out such a prospect.

Im sick and tired of debate, Alfred said Thursday. People all over the world are watching us.

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ST. LOUIS  Navy Recruiting District (NRD) St. Louis held a change of command ceremony where an Alton native relieved a commanding officer Thursday.

During the ceremony at the Boeing Company in St. Louis, Cmdr. Nathan Rockholm relieved Cmdr. Matthew Byrne as commanding officer.

Rockholm, a native of Alton, said it was an honor and privilege to be the next commanding officer of NRD St. Louis. I cant begin to tell you how honored and humbled I am to have been given this incredible opportunity to lead this great group of people, said Rockholm.

Capt. Jason Webb, commodore, Navy Recruiting Region West, served as the presiding officer. Webb discussed how important recruiters were to building the nations Navy.

Month after month, year after year without you no one joins the Navy, said Webb. You are the key to our success and always will be.

During Byrnes time as commanding officer, NRD St. Louis successfully contracted 5,637 active duty and reserve personnel.

Immediately following the ceremony Byrne, a native of Columbia, Missouri, retired after 21 years of naval service.

Byrne thanked the command for all of their hard work and support during his tour at NRD St. Louis.

There have been some tough days and long nights, but on the balance Im extremely proud of what weve accomplished and proud to have been your skipper, said Byrne.

He added the command was in great hands going forward with Rockholm.

Rockholm who also served as the executive officer of NRD St. Louis, said he had no doubt the command was ready to meet the challenges of building the Navy in todays strategic environment.

Trust me when I tell you that with the ability, talent, desire courage and commitment I see from each and every one of you on a daily basis, I have no doubt that we are prepared to meet any challenge, accomplish any mission, and that we will make our country and our families proud of the Navy we built, said Rockholm.

NRD St. Louis area of responsibility covers more than 200,000 square miles, which encompasses all of Missouri, parts of Illinois and Kansas, as well as a portion of Kentucky. More than 100 officers, enlisted, and civilian staff comprise 29 recruiting stations, two Navy Officer Recruiting Stations and the headquarters. Additionally, two Military Entrance Processing Stations  one at the headquarters in St. Louis and one in Kansas City  handle applicants processing, classification, and physical examinations.
EDWARDSVILLE  A bill that would automatically appoint the mayor of Granite City to the Metro East Sanitary District board is working its way through the Illinois General Assembly, and some local Republicans are raising questions about it.

Wood River Township Supervisor Mike Babcock, a Republican, who is running against incumbent state Rep. Monica Bristow, D-Alton, in the upcoming November election; Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler and County Board member Tom McRae were among those critical of the bill after details became widespread this week.

The sponsor of the bill in the house is Rep. Jay Hoffman. In the Senate, it is sponsored by Bill Haine. Bristow was among those who voted in favor of the bill.

In addition to taking away the power of the Madison County Board chairman to make the appointment, there have also been concerns raised that it would create an automatic conflict of interest because the Granite City mayor controls the citys wastewater treatment board.

SB2368 started as a bill to allow the exchange of property in St. Clair County, but the bill has been gutted and now amends the Metro East Sanitary District Act of 1974 to immediately appoint the mayor of the largest municipality in the county having the greater equalized assessed valuation as an ex officio member of the board.

That would mean Granite City Mayor Ed Hagnauer would be appointed. At this point he would fill a vacant seat on the board. It would also require the executive director of the district to be a resident of the district.

Under current law there are two members from St. Clair County and three from Madison County. The Madison County board members are appointed by the County Board chairman with the approval of the full board.

McRae, a Republican County Board member from Bethalto, is among those questioning the bill.

Theyre taking it back to back-room politics, he said, referring to the MESDs long-time reputation of corruption as part of Madison and St. Clair countys Democratic political machine.

The district had been previously mismanaged for years under the Democrat machine, he said. They lost $8 million over 10 years, and in an astonishing fact, the very part-time board voted to give themselves a $15,000 salary and free health insurance for themselves and their family.

MESD has been at the center of several controversies, including the question over insurance for board members, something to which McRae has been adamantly opposed.

The issue of appointments to the board has also been controversial.

Prenzler had been attempting to appoint of Charlotte Dixon to the MESD board, but action was delayed until this month, when the appointment was overwhelmingly shot down.

Part of the reason was that a group representing minority interests slammed the Metro East Sanitary District at this months County Board meeting over recent attempts at creating a special service taxing district.

The group, The Leadership Council of Madison County, listed several demands, including rejecting Dixons appointment in favor of an appointment from the Madison/Venice area.

One of the issues over Dixons appointment was whether she would have a conflict of interest because her husband serves on the Granite City Waste Water Treatment Board. The Granite City mayor is the head of that board.

Prenzler said he first heard about the bill late Wednesday afternoon. He said much of the issue is political.

Its no secret that one party has been firmly, firmly in charge of MESD as long as anybody remembers, he said. It has been very insulated from the voters. Youve essentially had the party bosses in St. Clair County appoint two members, and the same in Madison County appointing three members.

The voters have not had a lot of say in this board.

Babcock issued a press release Friday criticizing Bristow for supporting the bill.

Rep. Bristow has shown repeatedly that whether the corrupt democratic machine is from Chicago or from her own backyard in Madison and St. Clair counties, she will support them and stick it to the taxpayers, Babcock said. This backroom, last minute maneuver from Rep. Bristow and others, to reverse the positive trajectory of the MESD and give power back to the patronage kings of the past is an example of where Rep. Bristows priorities lie.

Bristow was unable to be reached for comment ahead of press time.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.
CARLINVILLE  Blackburn College has temporarily filled a leadership vacancy with the naming of an interim president.

Dr. Jennifer Braaten, who spent fifteen successful years as president of Ferrum College in Virginia, will serve in an interim capacity as Blackburn conducts a nationwide search for a permanent president. Braaten assumes her duties at Blackburn on July 1.

She replaces Dr. John Comerford, who is leaving after five years in the position to accept the presidency of Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio.

At Ferrum, Braaten spearheaded two capital campaigns totaling $50 million and led the school in an array of building projects. During her tenure, Ferrum nearly doubled its enrollment while strengthening its academic offerings.

In a statement, Hazel Loucks, chair of the Blackburn Board of Trustees, praised Braatens track record and abilities.

Dr. Braaten brings strong experience to Blackburn as a former college president, said Loucks. She will complement the initiatives already underway at Blackburn, and we are excited to welcome her. The board is confident she will provide the leadership needed at Blackburn while the search for a permanent replacement continues.

In her own statement, Braaten expressed enthusiasm for her new position. It is an honor and privilege to serve Blackburn College as an interim president, she said. The mission, the history, and the outstanding accomplishments of the faculty, staff, and students at Blackburn are extremely impressive.

The Blackburn Promise provides accessibility, added Braaten, and the combination of a liberal arts curriculum, the student-managed Work Program, and high-impact learning creates the optimum student life experience.

A Minnesota native, Braaten received both her masters and doctorate in education from Florida Atlantic University. In addition to her time at Ferrum, she also served as President of Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Neb., and was Academic Dean and Provost / Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where she also served as professor of history.

Braaten will become the 22nd president in the history of Blackburn College, which was founded in 1837.

Tom Emery may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.
EDWARDSVILLE  For Jessica Harris, PhD, associate professor of historical studies and interim assistant provost at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, it is all about payback.

The education, mentorship and love Harris received at Dillard University in New Orleans, is what has prepared and propelled her to be an educator and administrator at SIUE who pours into the lives of students and positions them for success.

Harriss achievements and outlook won her the attention of her alma mater, earning her Dillards 40 Under 40 award. In part, the awards program honors 40 Dillard alumni under the age of 40 who have demonstrated excellence in their professional field, community or the world. Harris was recognized during the second annual awards ceremony on Saturday, May 12 at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel.

I feel honored, privileged and blessed. There would be no Dr. Jessica Harris without Dillard University, said Harris, who graduated with a bachelors in history from Dillard in 2002. She received her masters and PhD in history from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2006 and 2011, respectively.

It felt good to be around my classmates, who are accomplished in their fields and are still grounded, servant minded, and always thinking about community, and how to help the next generation, said the 38-year-old.

While Harris does not know who nominated her, she believes she may know why she was selected. I hope it was because I have lived up to and have demonstrated the values I was taught as a student at Dillard, she explained. We were taught to have pride in our culture, to give back to our community and to be servant leaders.

As a professor and now as an administrator at SIUE, I think it is important to mentor students and pour into them what has been poured into me, Harris continued. The way my career progressed here has been in terms of broadening the scope in which I help students. As a professor, I had students in my classroom who were my priority. As director of Black Studies at SIUE, I was able to expand what I did in the classroom.

Now, Im responsible for working with campus partners to find ways we can create initiatives to support students across the board and give them tools to be successful, Harris stressed. No matter how my title changes, I will always put students first.

It was because of the care and involvement of her mentors, in particular Dr. Alan Colon, that Harris said she became a historian.

It was my first semester at Dillard, that I took an Introduction to African World Studies class with Dr. Colon. I wrote a paper on the Black Panther Party and received an A, recounted Harris.

Dr. Colon submitted my paper to a contest sponsored by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) without telling me, Harris said through tears. I was one of three students who won. In my sophomore year, I was invited to present the paper at their national conference.

It was at the ASALH conference that Harris met two noted historians, the late John Hope Franklin, esteemed for his work on southern history and racial politics, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Darlene Clark Hine, board of trustees member, emeritus professor of African American Studies and professor of history at Northwestern University.

They encouraged me to consider getting a PhD and being a historian, recalled Harris. At the time, I had always wanted to be a lawyer. It was because of those conversations, and what happened when I got back to Dillard, that I decided to pursue history.

If Dr. Colon and my other mentors at Dillard, Dr. Dorothy Smith, Dr. Marshall Stevenson and Dr. Sylvia Ballard-Huete, hadnt looked at me and saw my potential, said Harris, I probably wouldnt be sitting here.

When I look back at my time at Dillard, there was never a doubt that my peers and I would be successful, because our education had prepared us, she continued. We were reminded every day that, to whom much is given, much is required. Our collective mindset was one of giving back and being productive and responsible citizens, no matter where we were and where life would take us. This award means so much.
COTTAGE HILLS  Six people are facing charges after police in combat gear surrounded a home in the 1300 block of Second Street for several hours and persuaded the suspects to come out.

The standoff began Thursday afternoon after suspects entered a home in the in the 1300 block of Eighth Street and attempted to take the residents television. The suspects allegedly fled to a home in the 1300 block of Second Street, Cottage Hills, where the standoff occurred.

Charged with residential burglary were Kenneth J. Barker, 31, of Litchfield; Duane A. Reams, 31, of of Bethalto; Christopher C. Martin, 45, of Bethalto; and Michael L. Eldridge, 24, of Hartford. Bail on each of the burglary suspects was set at $100,000 each.

Also charged with obstructing justice were Brittany Stinnet, 27, of Cottage Hills; and Tasha R. Corn, 27, of Litchfield. Bail for the two women was set at $15,000 each. They were accused of lying to police about the whereabouts of the other suspects.

The victim in the burglary on Eighth Street called 911 at 1:03 p.m. to report that several people came in his home while he was asleep and tried to take his television. The victim told authorities he tried to stop them, but he was battered by one of the suspects. The suspects then fled.

The victim provided a detailed description of the offenders to include the vehicle, and the subjects were seen leaving the area, according to a news release from the Madison County Sheriffs Office.

Witnesses told authorities the suspects fled to the home on Second Street. A vehicle fitting the description of the suspects vehicle was spotted at the Second Street home.

Area units from the patrol division and other surrounding municipalities heard the description provided by the dispatch center and quickly saturated the area, according to the news release. Officers surrounded the residence, and an armored unit from the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System team arrived.

After several hours of failed negotiations, some of the suspects came out of the home. One remained inside for an an additional hour but eventually came out.

Lt. David Vucich said the Madison County Sheriffs Office received help from officers from East Alton, Wood River, Illinois State Police, Bethalto, and the Cottage Hills Fire Department. He said the investigation was also aided by area residents who cooperated.

Reach reporter Sanford Schmidt at 618-208-6449.
Help BD entrepreneurs to invest in India, Hasina to Modi govt

UNB, Kolkata :

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday urged the Indian government to help Bangladeshi entrepreneurs invest in India, particularly in joint ventures, for a win-win situation for both the neighbouring countries.

She said Bangladesh welcomes Indian investment for further development of the country.

The Prime Minister came up with the remarks when Kolkata's business leaders met her at Mandarin Room of Hotel Taj Bengal Kolkata in the evening.

After the meeting, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.

Sheikh Hasina sought support from Indian business leaders for river dredging in Bangladesh. "It'll boost connectivity in the region," she said.

Later, the Prime Minister attended a banquet at Raj Bhaban hosted by West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi. Sheikh Hasina arrived here in the morning on a two-day official visit to India at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Timbuktu is not a place! A know-it-all friend or cousin back in school must have yelled at least once while playing one of those innocuous name-place-animal-thing word games. In the Oxford English Dictionary, as well as in popular imagination, Timbuktu is a "remote or an extremely distant place". English writer and poet D.H. Lawrence once wrote in 1930: And the world it didn't give a hoot/ If his blood was British or Timbuctoot.

Back in 2012, when the historic city of Timbuktu in northern Mali fell to jihadists, who set ablaze two important libraries holding thousands of ancient manuscripts on Islamic culture, people reacted on Twitter: "Omg! Just found out Timbuktu is a real place!" Some of those manuscripts, promptly rescued, have now reached New Delhi's National Museum, for an exhibition titled "Taj Mahal Meets Timbuktu".

India is synonymous with Taj Mahal, a monument to eternal love; in the same way, Mali is inseparable from Timbuktu, an important centre of scholarship and trans-Saharan gold and salt trade from the 13th to 17th century. However, it now lies battered and desolate. Timbuktu seamlessly converged West African and Arab influences with Islam as the binding agent, and even to this day the city is peopled with an eclectic mix of Tuaregs, Songhay, Soninke, Dioula, Fulani and Arabs.

At the exhibition, 25 sets of fragile parchments are inked with exquisite calligraphy in black, red and green. Their themes are wide-ranging: from Quranic science and matters of jurisprudence to agriculture, astronomy and social life. Be it a 19th century treatise in Saharan calligraphy on good social behaviour and moral values to descriptive illustrations of the solar system, a 14th century manuscript on the virtues of work to a 17th century travel account of Egypt, Iraq and Europe in Sudanese calligraphy, an Arabic manuscript on sexology and intimate life to a scientific treatise on mathematical operations, the exhibition delicately encapsulates the golden age of Timbuktu in a series of small, rectangular glass vitrines. Situated in one corner of the Ajanta Hall at the National Museum, the sparse, no-frills display quietly dazzles with an element of mystery.

In 2012, when Islamist rebels seized control of Timbuktu, the manuscripts rescue operation undertaken by Dr Abdel Kader Haidara, who owns a private library in the city, is a story by itself. The precious documents were hidden in metal boxes and secretly evacuated in "cars, carts and canoes", over thousands of kilometers through Mali. "Some 95 percent of all the manuscripts are now in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Timbuktu is a very unsafe place now. There is no security for these documents there," says Traore Banzoumana from a Bamako-based non-profit which has undertaken the preservation and restoration of the manuscripts by signing an agreement with the government of the Republic of Mali.

The exhibition, which is on display till June 6, will travel to Canada and Turkey next.
The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...
Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual assault by number of women, is expected to surrender to the New York police on Friday to face the charges against him.

According to New York Daily, sources said, "Weinstein is expected to be charged with preying on Lucia Evans who told investigators that the former forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004."

The case was probed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office and New York City Police Department, the sources further said, adding that evidence related to Weinstein's possible financial fraud was presented before the jury.

However, it is not clear as of now whether the charges, expected on Friday, will include money mishandling allegations.

More than 50 women, including stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and Angelina Jolie, accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, which the former has denied.
Infiltration is no longer the narrative of militancy in Kashmir; it is the mushrooming of local militants that is worrying the security establishment. Three or four days after a well attended funeral of a local terrorist, ten new terrorists are created. And this figure is not a piece of my imagination, said Lt Gen (retd) Syed Ata Hasnain, a former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of a Corps in the Kashmir Valley.

The decorated officer, now involved with a few prominent think tanks, had expounded what he called the theory of the power of soft power. Simply put, he said conflict was not a static process, but a dynamic one . You can't think that the conflict of 1989 is the same as the one in 2011. You can't use the same methods that you used in 1989, 90 and 91, in 2010 and 2011. You have to change. If you were using 80 per cent hard power in 89, and no soft power at all, perhaps today is the time when you need to use 10 to 20 per cent hard power and the rest of it has to be soft. You have to go to the population, get to them, make them understand, and you have to use your narratives.

At a book launch in the national capital on Thursday, he lamented that in India, everyone thinks that the Army will finish the militancy first, and then everyone will jump in to bring peace. That is not possible, he maintained, describing the ongoing conflict as a hybrid one where everyone has to come together to work towards the larger cause of finding peace.

It is not just all of government approach, it is all of people approach; every person has to be involved in it. Unfortunately, that is not happening in India. You have left it to the Army saying you resolve it. So the Army resolved it the best way that it can understand, and that understanding is limited. said the man who has donned the olive greens and overseen many operations in the Valley.

He said the only issue he has is the Army has not been able to explain, and to bring at the higher level a common narrative that these conflicts are different.

While this kind of a war against militants can carry on, a counter narrative that sinks into the people is essential to end it, he noted. We just think and imagine that something will happen, we think that we will speak in Delhi and something will happen there. It does not happen. You have to create the network, you have to create the situation, that is how it is.

The retired GOC also ruled out the possibility of fighting local militants to an exhaustion. The problem here is that everyone thinks it is an attritional approach and will be taken to its exhaustion. You can kill 400 terrorists in a year, and you will have a 1,000 more. So attrition will never achieve anything. Ultimately it is the narrative which everyone has to understand, and I think that understanding is coming now., he said on an optimistic note.

But that apart, he left the audience with the message that in these kinds of conflicts, there is no victor. And unfortunately the whole world keeps talking about the victors. We have won this conflict, we have won this war, he said, noting how there had once been a media suggestion that the Army should withdraw from the hinterland of Kashmir and give the victory dividend to the people.

Victory dividend, as he saw it, was a horrendous word. You don't win against your own people. All of you are losers if you keep fighting and all of you are winners the day you make peace. he said on a very emotive note.
The Army on Friday ordered a court of inquiry against Major L. Gogoi who was detained along with a local girl by police for questioning from a hotel in Srinagar this week.

"Army has ordered a court of inquiry against Major Gogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles regarding an incident that occurred on May 23.

"If found guilty, appropriate action would be taken against him," defence ministry spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia told IANS.

Sources also told IANS that Gogai's commanding officer is being shifted out for alleged lack of command and control over his subordinates.

They also said Gogoi has been taken off from field duties and attached to headquarters till the completion of the inquiry.

Replying to questions on this incident, Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat said the officer would face "exemplary" punishment, if found involved in any unlawful act.
Rabindranath Tagore brought together Prime Minister Narendra Modi with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, at least for few hours, at Tagores abode of peace in Shantinketan on Friday. The meeting happened at a time when Banerjee has been on the warpath against Modi and relentless in her opposition to the Teesta Water Treaty with Bangladesh.

On Friday, the trio assembled at the convocation of the Visva-Bharati University, set up by Tagore, and later at the inauguration programme of the Bangladesh Bhavan in Shantiniketan.

Hasina sat between Modi and Banerjee. In her speech, televised across West Bengal, Hasina equated the land deal done during Modis tenure as being as significant as her countrys victory in the war against Pakistan in 1971. While Hasina thanked Modi for carrying out such a mammoth task of exchanging enclaves between two countries, which was held back for more than 70 years, she reminded the Indian Parliament also played a role, with all political parties voting in favour of the endeavour of Modi.

The Bangladesh prime ministers mature method of dealing with the political situation in West Bengal nonetheless was exemplary, making even Banerjee, known as a strong Modi baiter, smile.

I cannot control tears from coming out of my eyes when I think of the land deal for the people residing in enclaves on both sides of the border. How Prime Minister Modi and all political parties of India did it in the Indian Parliament. It was as important a victory for us as 1971, Hasina said.

Later, the Bangladesh premier gave a pleasant 'blow' to Tagore aficionados in India when she said Bangladesh has more stake to Tagore than Bengalis or Indians as a whole.

I see Tagore is being portrayed as a legend in this part of the world. But I want to remind people that Tagore is as much important to Bangladesh as India. In fact, we have more claim of Tagore when I say that Tagore did most of his work staying at his property in Bangladesh, said Hasina.

Modi did not hold back either. He reminded the audience in Visva-Bharati, a Central University, about Tagores influence in Gujarat.

Satyendranath Tagore, our beloved poets elder brother, was the first civil servant in India. And he worked for a long period in Gujarat. If I am not wrong, he was also commissioner in Ahmedabad. (Rabindranath) Tagore used to come to Gujarat and take tuition in English from his elder brother, said the Indian prime minister.

Modi was seen calling Banerjee at the Bangladesh Bhavan during a photo session but was reportedly not engaged in much conversation with the West Bengal chief minister. However, the fact that both of them shared the dais speaks volumes itself.

Modi's speech, being chancellor of the university, did not emphasis any grand plan of the government to turn Visva-Bharati into one of the finest centres for studies and traditional education in the world, as envisaged by Tagore.

Visva-Bharati has been suffering from a huge identity crisis. Tagore wanted to turn the university into a place where more than syllabus, experimentation would be the key and application of such learning to society at large would take prominence. But Visva-Bharati today is like any other institution in India, without proper facilities to study art, culture, international relations or even oriental studies and culture.

The prime minister of India felt proud to be the chancellor of such an institution where he is not a guest but an authority. More and more technology-driven education has been pushed to the curricula by the authorities, which has not been the focus of the institution.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had tried to get the university back on track along with Gopal Krishna Gandhi, former governor of West Bengal, who was the rector of the university. But the task was incomplete and should have been sped up. Under Modi, it has not been done. All grand plans at Visva-Bharatilike opening new oriental studies programmes and pursuing art and cultural links with the Asian countrieshave been put on hold.

Many educationalists feel that Visva-Bharati needs an environment having the special courses of education Tagore had thought of. It needs more guest houses and better connectivity, which could be possible only through proper planning and development of Shantiniketan into a full-fledged centre of educational excellence.

Modi said, while walking down the Visva-Bharati, he felt emotional thinking that it was the same place where Tagore once walked and had discussions with other luminaries including Mahatma Gandhi.

But the irony is the sanctity of such a place has to be restored and Modi would have to pursue the need of modernisation of Visva-Bharati like his predecessor Singh had tried to do but was not fully successful.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan here on Friday to symbolically highlight the warm bilateral cultural ties between the two countries.

The inauguration of Bangladesh Bhavan inside the Vishwa Bharti University complex took place in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The Bangladesh Bhavan features a museum that showcases renowned poet Rabindranath Tagore's association with that country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.

It has been built at a cost of Rs. 25 crores, which was provided by the Bangladesh government.

A fund of Rs. 10 crores would be given to help maintain the museum premises.

Reportedly, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will also be signed between Vishwa Bharati University and the Secondary and Higher Secondary Division of the Bangladesh education ministry.

Prime Minister Hasina, who is on a two-day visit to India, on the invitation of Prime Minister Modi, was received by Banerjee.

As per reports, both Prime Ministers will hold a bilateral meeting.

Prime Minister Hasina will return to Bangladesh on Saturday night.
Plans by Congress president Rahul Gandhi to visit Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh on June 6 to mark the anniversary of the deaths of six farmers in police firing there last year, coinciding with a farmers agitation planned for 10 days, has put the state government on the defensive.

Fearing large-scale violence and unrest during the proposed 10-day farmers' protest, which involves a village shutdown or farmers holiday in memory of the police firing incident of June 6 last year, the MP government has gone on high alert. During the 10-day protest, farmers have decided to stop supply of milk, vegetables and daily-need farm produce.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a high-level meeting attended by commissioners and IGs of police of 10 divisions of the state recently. The police and administration of 51 districts in the state have been asked to prepare themselves in view of the agitation, given the precedence of violence last year.

In the meeting, Chouhan asked the officials to maintain calm and ensure that law and order is not disturbed. He asked police officials not to act in haste and resort to extreme steps like firing. The intelligence wing of Madhya Pradesh police has reportedly informed that police is keeping a strict vigil on the activities of farmers. It is also taking preventive steps to stop miscreants from taking advantage of the situation by creating unrest.

Chouhan specifically asked officials to monitor the situation on the Bhopal-Indore highway where several passenger buses were burnt last year during a similar agitation.

He asked officers to keep communication lines open to ensure that any untoward incident is not allowed to happen. Chouhan instructed the administration to ensure that shelters, water and lemon juice were made available in the mandis where farmers were coming to sell their produce.

The proposed visit by Gandhi to the epicentre of the farmers' protest momenttargeting the BJP governments at the Centre and the stateis being seen as an opportunity for the Congress to revive its fortunes in a state where it has been in opposition for the last 15 years. Shortly after last year's firing incident, Gandhi was detained by police when he attempted to visit Mandsaur.

The proposed agitation by farmers has seen unprecedented support on social media.

Several farmers organisations across the country, led by Aam Kisan Union of Madhya Pradesh, have started a hashtag 'gaanv bandh' in Hindi and #village_shutdown on Twitter.

The village shutdown movement was formally started on social media from Harda Kisan Mandi on April 20 by the newly formed Aam Kisan Union. This farmers organisation, within hours, got massive support from peasants not only in Madhya Pradesh but also in Maharashtra and Punjab. This has alarmed the government.

Earlier, farmers' organisations like Bhartiya Kisan Mazdor Sangh, Bhartiya Kisan Union and half-a-dozen other farmers bodies have declared that they will observe a holiday for farmers between June 2 to June 10. This non-cooperation protest will be conducted in the villages itself and farmers will not go out from their villages anywhere.

A farmers leader of Harda, Ram Inaniya, said, Our agitation will be peaceful where we will make people and government realise about our problems by not taking our produce to cities.

This agitation is unique as for the first time, farmers have chosen Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp to reach out to their own community and society at large.
The deadly Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala, which has claimed at least a dozen lives, is spawning not just medical research and operative protocols but also new political revelations.

Days after Gorakhpur 'hero' Dr Kafeel Khan expressed his desire to help treat Nipah victims in Kerala, the Kerala government has apparently had a rethink on welcoming him. The government, which had initially welcomed him, reportedly asked him to cancel his visit on Friday. Khan was touted as a hero for trying to save the lives of infants at Gorakhpur's BRD medical college in August last year before he was jailed by the Yogi Adityanth government.

Reacting to the development, Khan said he is 'deeply saddened' by the Kerala government's request to hold his travel plans. Khan had offered to volunteer in Nipah-affected areas and said he would go back only after ridding the place of the illness.

"Being a socialist is a difficult choice in the current political scenario," Khan told Onmanorama.

The Left Front government in Kerala had responded swiftly to Dr Khan's offer and even sent him two tickets to fly down. The government's act was seen as a political statement of accepting, endorsing and often glorifying things shunned by the BJP government at the Centre and in various states.

Now, it was unclear as to what prompted the Kerala government to ask Khan to cancel the visit.

Opposition parties including the BJP and the Congress had said that the the state government was playing politics by giving 'promotion' to a doctor who was an accused in a BJP-ruled state. Khans opposition to the Adityanath government in UP and his nine-month imprisonment had hit the headlines.

Khan said he had been asked by the Kerala chief minister's office to cancel the visit. Sources said Khan had been asked to wait as experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences were visiting affected areas. Khan said his queries on any probable Central intervention went unanswered.

In a post on Facebook, Khan wrote I have been informed by the Government of Kerala to hold my travel plans to Kochi for 2-3 days. So, I am cancelling my reservations...

I know many of you would be feeling disappointed but I am helpless as I have tried my level best to render help in such crisis...

I know that a state like Kerala has the best healthcare infrastructure and manpower to deal with such crises but I just wanted to add my services as it could be morale boosting for a lot of people. Even, I wrote to the Director General of Medical Education, Uttar Pradesh about my visit. I had written that post after 'sheri' on 22/05/18 when probably all the humans who are observing Roza are at there purest as I just felt bad for people who are suffering from that disease (sic)."

"It had been a real emotional time since that post as I had to convince my family members to expose myself to Nipah virus but my mother finally agreed and said I got u after 9 months and again you are leaving me? I give u permission to go as you are going there to save somebodys life only. I have to think as a Mother (sic)."

(sic)But it seems being a SOCIALIST is a difficult choice considering the current affairs of our country. But in spite of such constraints I will not change my Motto and will keep pitching in with help wherever required."

"I am now on call to go if required, he added.

-Via Onmanorama
Will the sacred city of Allahabad be known as Prayagraj before 2019? The Uttar Pradesh government, led by Yogi Adityanath, is all in favour of the new name and wants the rechristening to happen before the upcoming Ardh Kumbh in 2019.

Behind the move to rename the city is the pressure exerted by Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishadan important religious body comprising seers. Its head Mahant Narendra Giri said the chief minister has, in principle, accepted their demand to rename Allahabad. Recently, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya too confirmed the present governments intention to rename the city.

People of Allahabad find it a welcome move as long as it leads to the development of the city. Manish Malhotra, a local business man who has been residing in the city for over four decades, said Mughals had changed the city's name from Prayag to Allahabad and added that if the government is restoring its old name, there is nothing wrong with it. He, however, said along with changing the name, the government should also ensure the development of the city in terms of infrastructure and other facilities.

This is not for the first time that such efforts are being made. Earlier, such a move was initiated when Rajnath Singh was the chief minister of the state.

Mughal emperor Akbar had changed the name of the sacred city from Prayagraj to Allahabad in the 16th century.

According to Narendra Giri, the state government is undoing the wrong done by the Mughal emperor.

The seers of Allahabad are mostly in favour of renaming Allahabad.

Meanwhile, the Adityanath government is spending lavishly to spruce up the city before Ardh Kumbh.

The Ardh Kumbh fair is held in every six years at Haridwar and Allahabad where million of devotees throng to take a holy dip in the Ganga.

Vinay Mehrotra, an educationist and a resident of Allahabad, said in the past, other governments like the BSP, the Congress and the SP changed the names of cities, memorials, and colonies, and so changing name is not very important. He further said it wouldn't really have any impact unless steps are also taken to develop the city.

Another local resident, Manu Agrawal, is of the opinion that this is a step in the nationalisation of names as even Uttar Pradesh was earlier known as The United Province. He further said there is nothing wrong in changing the names of cities named by the British or the Mughals.
Kim Jong-un is not a weak leader and he has shown tremendous capacity to lead North Korea, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the only top US official to have met the reclusive leader twice in recent weeks.

Pompeo's statement came after US President Donald Trump cancelled his proposed summit meeting with Kim on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump described the cancellation of the summit as "a tremendous setback" for North Korea and warned that the US military is ready to act should Pyongyang take any "foolish and reckless" action.

Pompeo first travelled to North Korea in his capacity as the CIA Director last month and again this month as the Secretary of State.

Both the meetings, he said, laid the ground work for a meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump.

"I spoke in English. There was a translator. But our team confirmed that the translator said what I said.

"I had two meetings, maybe three hours plus, total, enough that I understood him to have understood what I was saying," the top US diplomat told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.

"When I heard back from him (Kim), there was little doubt in my mind that he understood the scope of what we were asking for, the nature of what would have to take place, the verification that we would need to undertake in order to be comfortable that we could begin to deliver the assurances that he, in return, asked for," Pompeo said when Senators asked him if he was able to convey the message to Kim properly.

"I think we were having a real conversation where there was real understanding between the two of us. It's what caused me to recommend to the president that I thought the time would, in fact, permit us to have a real opportunity to do something historic," Pompeo said.

He said that he was still optimistic that the US will reach the point.

"I know the president is (optimistic) as well," he said.

Responding to a question, he said he does not believe that Kim is a weak leader.

"Is it your opinion that this decision by Kim Jong-un is a result of a weak leader who lacks the internal support to go forward with a meeting on denuclearisation? Or was this just poor negotiating strategies by Kim Jong-un?" Senator Robert Menendez asked.

"I don't think it's the former. I don't think it's a weak leader. In fact, he has demonstrated an enormous capacity to lead his country and his team," Pompeo said soon after President Trump cancelled his meeting with Kim.

Trump attributed this to the changing behaviour of Kim and North Korea.

"I don't really know that I want to speculate as to why it is they (North Koreans) took the actions, because I don't think we know. What I am hopeful is that we can continue to have conversations and put this back on track, so that we can get to a place where we can achieve the outcome.

"We talk a lot about summits and deals and the like. It's not about the deal. It's about the outcome. It's about achieving this permanent, physical change and transformation that will have opportunity to change the world," Pompeo said.

A corollary to that is a fundamental change in North Korea that would lead North Korea to have this opportunity for prosperity and all the things that their neighbours to the south have, he said.

"There will have to be a deal to get us to that point. But we shouldn't spend all our time thinking about the deal, without focusing on here's what this needs to look like in order to what president has said, to keep Americans safe from the threat that North Korea presents today," Pompeo added.

In April, Trump had stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Kim in an unprecedented sit-down.

Trump and Kim had previously traded insults and threats.

The summit would have been the first ever meeting between a sitting US president and North Korean leader.

Trump's announcement coincided with North Korea's move to demolish its underground nuclear test site deep in the mountains of the sparsely populated northeast.

-PTI
Major US-media outlets including the LA Times and Chicago Tribune were forced to shutter their websites in parts of Europe on Friday following the roll out of stringent new privacy regulations by the European Union.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect on Friday, forcing companies to be more attentive to how they handle customer data with severe penalties for breaching consumers privacy rights.

Privacy advocates have hailed the new law as a model for personal data protection in the internet era. But opponents say the new rules are overly burdensome and have warned of costly business disruption.

By mid-morning, European readers trying to access the websites of media outlets owned by the US Tronc publishing group were greeted by a message saying they were unavailable in most European countries.

The message did not explicitly name the reason for the problem but included GDPR in the redirected web page address.

Tronc, headquartered in Chicago, owns some of Americas biggest newspapers, including the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and Baltimore Sun.

We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market, said the error message displayed in response to attempts to access the LA Times website in London and Brussels.

We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism
Nations that remain in the Iran nuclear deal meet on Friday for the first time since US President Donald Trump left the pact, but diplomats see limited scope to salvage it after Washington vowed to be tougher than ever on Tehran.

British, Chinese, French, German and Russian officials will try to flesh out with Irans deputy foreign minister a strategy to save the deal by keeping oil and investment flowing, while circumventing US sanctions that risk hurting the economy.

The 2015 accord rests on lifting sanctions and allowing business with Iran in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear programme. The deals proponents say it is crucial to forestalling a nuclear Iran and preventing wider war in the Middle East.

But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday threatened the Islamic Republic with the strongest sanctions in history if it did not change its behaviour in the Middle East.

Pompeo was like taking a cold shower, said a European diplomat. Well try to cling to the deal hoping that there is a possibility of a transaction, but were under no illusions.

At the heart of Fridays talks, chaired by the European Union, Iranian officials will seek guarantees from the Europeans that they can protect trade. They will also want assurances that all parties will continue to buy Iranian oil.

Irans supreme leader set out a series of conditions on Wednesday for Iran to stay in the deal.

This is a very important meeting that will show whether the other parties are serious about the deal or not, an Iranian official told Reuters. We will understand whether, as our leader, said, the European can give us reliable guarantees or not.

Highlighting how difficult it will be, the US Treasury announced Thursday more sanctions on several Iranian and Turkish companies and a number of aircraft in a move targeting four Iranian airlines.

Some Western companies have already quit Iran or said they may have to leave because of US sanctions.

Irans Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said he expected the other signatories to present a new package that would be within the boundaries of the agreement, but did not include any other issues.

Trump denounced the accord, completed under his predecessor Barack Obama, because it did not cover Irans ballistic missile programme, its role in Middle East conflicts or what happens after the deal begins to expire in 2025.

While European nations share those concerns, they have said that as long as Tehran meets its commitments, they would remain in the deal.

The UN atomic watchdog policing the pact said on Thursday Iran continued to comply with the terms of the deal, but could be faster and more proactive in allowing snap inspections.

The European desire to remain in the agreement does not, however, detract from the concerns we have with regard to Iran, Frances foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Thursday.

That is why we proposed to establish a comprehensive negotiating framework with Iran. We want Iran to understand the value of a cooperative approach.

-Reuters
The White House on Friday tended to point the finger at China for the sudden change in attitude of the North Koreans for the proposed June 12 summit in Singapore.

"We can only speculate as to exactly what was discussed or why that might be, but the shift in attitude did not go unnoticed by the President," said a senior White House official, responding to questions on the sudden change in behaviour of the North Koreans.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had said that North Korea changed its approach towards the summit after Chairman Kim Jong-un had his second meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China.

"The President made some public comments about his sense that after the second meeting between the Chinese and North Korean leaders, there was a shift in attitude," the official said.

He, however, exuded confidence that China would play a constructive role in implementation of the international sanctions vis--vis North Korea.

"We do have assurances. China helped co-author and passed unanimously, with the other security council members at the UN, these UN Security Council resolutions that have all come into action over the course of 2017," he said.

"So, all countries, all UN members must abide by those resolutions, and we'll be watching closely to ensure that they do," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States, meanwhile, would continue with its maximum pressure campaign on North Korea, he said.

"The Treasury Department is constantly evaluating intelligence as it comes in to look for targets, that is people and companies and entities and ships that are violating the US law, as well as the UN Security Council resolutions. That is a constant process," the official said, adding that "the goal here is to achieve maximum pressure. We're still short of that".

He said Trump wants to see the issue resolved. "He has made a pledge to the American people to keep us safe from nuclear threat that has been growing and gathering for, now, three decades in the hands of rogue regime. So Trump is willing to pursue diplomacy as far as it can possibly be pursued," the White House official said.

Even as Trump in his letter mentioned that he is open to the meeting, the official said, the June 12 meeting was not possible in the present circumstances and the ball now was in the court of North Koreans.

"I suppose, the ball is in North Korea's court right now, and there's really not a lot of time. We've lost quite a bit of time that we would need in order to There's been an enormous amount of preparation that's gone on over the past few months at the White House, at State and with other agencies and so forth," the official said.

"But there's a certain amount of actual dialogue that needs to take place at the working level with your counterparts to ensure that the agenda is clear in the minds of those two leaders when they sit down to actually talk and negotiate, and hopefully, make a deal. And June 12th is in 10 minutes, and it's going to be... But the president has said that some day he looks forward to meeting with Kim," he said.
The day the trailer of Bioscopewala dropped, a battle raged in a WhatsApp group of childhood friends. Many of my friends hailed from Bengal, and one of them shared the video, questioning whether a timeless tale like Kabuliwala should ever be distorted. In any case, the film was too small, too low on buzz, to have really got the attention from a not-so-film-crazy bunch. The trigger, perhaps, was the fact that Bengalis hold their literature too close to hearts; Bioscopewala is based on Rabindranath Tagores 1892 short story. A contemporary take on it, quite evident in the trailer, seemed like a warped idea.

Tagore's story is a simple tale of unconditional love and longing. Five-year-old Minnie befriends a Pashtun dryfruit merchant, Rahmat, before he gets implicated in a police case and is arrested. Kabuliwala, as she addresses him, is in Kolkata to earn a livelihood. He has left his family behind in Afghanistan. In young Minnie, he sees his own daughter that he left back home. Years later, after release from the prison, he comes back to find Minnie getting married.

First time director, Deb Medhekars Bioscopewala is an extrapolation of Tagore's Kabuliwala. It extends the story from where the original ends. The Afghan merchant, Rahmat (Daany Denzongpa), in this movie, survives by displaying films on his bioscope. He lost a theatre in his homeland to the ravages of Taliban and the the civil war. Rahmat flees to Bengal, and, as in the original, gets close to the five-year-old Minnie (Miraya Suri)daughter of a photographer Robi Basu (Adil Husain).

The debate on whether to rework classics is one that can continue till the end of time. The conversation on my WhatsApp group perked my interest, but before it could peak, what struck me was the twist given to the lead two lead characters.

In Bioscopewala, the flight of imagination soars. It opens in the present time where Minnie Basu (Geetanjali Thapa) flies back from her film course in France and tries to reconnect with her childhood memories after her fathers untimely death in a plane crash. She is reminded of the man who showed her films, who has, as fate would have it, ended up in her Kolkata home with Alzheimers. Denzongpa is fantastic in his portrayal of the Afghan merchant. The character goes through many a transformation in this 91-minute film, and each of those looks and mental state are really convincing.

However, it is Thapa who has the most prominent role to play. She is struck-down by the new developments, is emotional beyond words, and she plays that part so well that you almost feel what she is feeling. After unravelling his past by tracking down various people from the time Rahmat came to India, she wants to reunite the bioscopewala with his daughter in war-torn Afghanistan. She takes the journey head-on to search for her in the troubled country.

This is not the first-time Thapa, in her reel life, puts every breath to track someone down. In her first release, I.D., she in search of a house painter's family after he collapsed and eventually died while working in her house. She travels across the length and breadth of Mumbai to do that. In Liar's Dice that got her the National Award, she travels from Nainital to Delhi in search of her husband who had gone incommunicado. It can't be just coincidence that Thapa ends up with role of a woman whose mission is to track people down. But, not once do you feel that she may have done anything similar previously. The range of emotions on her face while she struggles with varied emotions is something that can give you goosebumps.

With deft direction and pointed cinematography, it brings out the best in a story that was conceptualised by Sunil Doshi, and written by Medhekar and Radhika Anand. And, as the film clarifies in the beginning, its not an adaptation of the classic, just a film inspired by those timeless characters. At that, its moving and an interesting spin-off that never dilutes the emotional quotient of the original story.

Film: Bioscopewala

Actors: Danny Denzongpa, Geetanjali Thapa, Adil Husain, Brijendra Kala

Director: Deb Medhekar

Rating: 4/5
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Canadian Western Bank provides personal and business banking products and services primarily in Western Canada. The company offers current, savings, cash management, US dollar, and chequing accounts, as well as organization, strata solution/condo, general trust, and trust fund investment accounts. It also offers commercial lending and real estate, and equipment financing and leasing products; loans and mortgages; secured and unsecured lines of credit; registered retirement savings plan; consolidation, vehicle, and recreation vehicle loans; and credit cards. In addition, the company offers cash management services; life and disability insurance products; and ATM, mobile, and online banking services, as well cheque order services. Further, it provides investment products comprising guaranteed investment certificates, registered retirement income funds, tax-free savings accounts, registered education savings plans, and mutual funds, as well as personal and business planning services. Canadian Western Bank has a strategic partnership with Temenos AG to support small and medium sized enterprises with financial decision-making and enhancing their businesses. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..
White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. engages in the acquisition of businesses and assets in the insurance, financial services and related sectors. It operates through the following segments: HG Global/BAM, NSM, Kudu, and Other Operations. The HG Global/BAM segment refers to the White Mountains's investment in HG Global Limited, and the consolidated results of Build America Mutual Assurance Company (BAM). The NSM segment comprises of full-service managing general underwriting agency and program administrator for specialty property and casualty insurance. The Kudu Segment provides capital solutions for boutique asset managers for a variety of purposes including generational ownership transfers, management buyouts, acquisition and growth finance and legacy partner liquidity. The Other Operations segment comprises of the Company, its wholly-owned subsidiary, WM Capital, its wholly-owned investment management subsidiary, WM Advisors, and its other intermediate holding companies, as well as certain consolidated and unconsolidated private capital and other investments. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Hanover, NH.

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BALLSTON SPA  A civil jury on Friday concluded that the South Glens Falls school district was negligent in the way it handled the bullying that Jacobe Taras suffered, but that the school's failure to handle the matter was not a significant factor in the 13-year-old's suicide three years ago.

The verdict  announced just over two hours after the beginning of deliberations  were all votes of 5 to 1, with the exception of the finding that the negligence did not cause the boy's death. That was a unanimous 6-0 finding.

"All I'm going to say is that we're pleased that the jury reached the correct result," said Malcolm O'Hara, one of the two attorneys for the district.

Earlier Friday, the plaintiffs' lawyer Ryan Finn told the jury in his closing argument before state Supreme Court Justice Ann Crowell that the case was "about schools being held responsible. It's about preventing the next Jacobe."

As Finn spoke, a blown-up image of Jacobe's suicide note faced the jury.

Jacobe's mother, Christine Taras, sat at the plaintiff's table beside Finn and attorney David Iversen. The family had been seeking at least $9.25 million in damages.

"Whether we received any money or not, that wasn't the point," said the boy's father, Richard Taras, after the verdict. "We now become the brick in the mud that someone else gets to step on. Next time (the district) won't be so lucky, because there's now proof of negligence in the way that they administrate that school."

"This is about our children, my son, having a voice and apparently the kids don't get a voice," said Christine Taras.

Jacobe killed himself with a shotgun on April 13, 2015. It was after he had come home from school at the Oliver W. Winch Middle School, where lawyers say there was overwhelming evidence the boy had been bullied.

In a note, Jacobe wrote: "I'm sorry but I can not live anymore. I just can't deal with all of the bullies, being called gay ... being told to go kill myself. I'm also done with being pushed, punched, tripped. I'm sorry for all that I put you through. I love you."

At the time of the suicide, the family had just returned from a vacation.

His parents sued the district, saying they did know their seven-grader had been ridiculed with anti-gay slurs, been thrown into lockers and had his books tossed into a shower.

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In his closing argument, O'Hara told jurors there was no basis to hold the district responsible.

"School was just one part of Jacobe's life," O'Hara said.

He said the overwhelming evidence showed the boy appeared happy. "Whatever demons Jacobe had, he didn't share them with his friends, he didn't share them with his parents  and he certainly didn't share them with the school district," O'Hara said.

In February, a bill sponsored by state Sen. James Tedisco called "Jacobe's Law" passed the Senate. It would require schools to notify parents or guardians if their child is being bullied.

The bill, co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, is still in the Assembly's Education Committee.
Shortly after he graduated from high school, Shawn Moodie told friends he wanted to own his own business.

The Long Island native was inspired by his uncle, a Jamaican immigrant who worked his way up from entry-level printer at a Brooklyn printing factory to owner of the business.

"I thought it would be glamorous," Moodie said.

It took years and a few setbacks to get there. Moodie worked for KB Toys for 13 years and later as a regional manager for Mosaic Sales Solutions before joining Bank of America in 2005, where he oversaw branches in the Capital Region. He was laid off when the company downsized in 2013, and after taking a month off to decide his next step, Moodie decided he wanted to use his financial and customer service experience to help people improve their credit.

"I was amazed at the lack of awareness with how the credit system works," he said.

He became a franchisee at Prime National Credit Repair and started a consulting business, but after the company shut down in 2016 he struck out on his own. Moodie owns Moodie Bluez Consulting, a credit establishment and repair business.

The Times Union talked to Moodie about financial literacy, credit repair and his advice for people considering launching their own business. Answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Q: In one or two sentences, how important is a credit score?

A: It's basically your financial reputation. It can open up a world of opportunities or prevent you from getting basic things like financing to purchase a home.

Q: How did you rebound after Prime's closing?

A: It took some soul-searching. When Prime shut down, my first thought was my clients  I've got 16 clients in the pipeline right now, and what am I going to do with these people. It forced me to be quick on my feet. I got the email on a Friday evening, and I took all weekend to strategize. I didn't allow myself to dwell on it. It was more, 'I have these clients and I want to make sure there's no interruption in the service they have hired me to do.' That helped me to get on board, and by Tuesday I had freshened my website and talked to the designer, I had Facebook and I had a plan in place.

Q: What was the hardest part of starting your own business?

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A: Understanding where the money is going to come from to get started, because now everything's on you, and transitioning from the corporate employee mindset to the business owner mindset. As I look back, I think early on parts of me were still in that corporate mode and those rules don't necessarily apply when you've got to go out and kill to eat and generate the business.

Q: You're passionate about financial literacy. What does that look like to you?

A: It's empowering people to understand what basic practices and tactics they can use to achieve financial freedom. It starts with information. For example, when I do a credit workshop, I want to make sure people understand the importance of credit and how it affects them, because most of the time people won't care about something if it's not going to affect them. Most people know a bad credit score is going to make it more difficult for them to get a mortgage or a car loan, but they may not know it affects other things. Many employers now are doing a credit check during the pre-screening process. If you have a poor credit score, your car insurance premium is going to be higher.

Q: What advice would you offer for others wanting to start a business?

A: Do your research on whatever business you're looking to get into. Make sure it's aligned with your passions. A Monday should feel like a Friday. You should have a good center of influence and align yourself with people who you aspire to be like. Another thing is continuous learning and make sure you're up to date on whatever industry you're in. Lastly, empathy  you need to really care about your clients.
A Table Hopping reader writes:

A few days ago someone, for some strange reason, brought up the subject of Vichy water. Naturally, the old-timers related their stories of Quevic Vichy and Saratoga Vichy, with rye and Vichy being the concoction most favored by their parents.

As a kid we always had a bottle or two in the house (along with Quink for Tom Collins). I vividly remember the astringent, salty flavor and soon developed a taste for it. My parents and their friends scoffed at club soda and seltzer, saying they weren't the real thing. Putting their tastes into perspective, they also favored Old Fashions, rye and ginger, and Hedrick's beer.

Quevic is long gone and Saratoga stopped bottling Vichy nearly 20 years ago. Do you know of a source for Vichy water, preferably the local variety? It seems to have gone the way of the yo-yo, cap guns, street skates, Pez, and Fleer's Double Bubble Gum.

No rush. It's something from my past I would like my kids and grandkids to at least sample. Heck, after all these years it might taste like crap to me, but it's worth the risk.

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Vichy water, which takes its name from a French resort and spa city famed for its mineral springs, was bottled in Saratoga Springs from 1872 until its producer, now known as Saratoga Spring Water Co., killed off the line in late 2000 as a result of dwindling sales and the surging popularity of neutrally flavored seltzer.

Go to Table Hopping to join the discussion, where Stewart's is the most popular response. Continue viewing the slideshow to see more products that came from Upstate New York.
GREEN ISLAND -- During the Vietnam War, before they graduated from the Heatly School, David J. Carl left the village to join the Marines Corps and Garrett Gary W. Hartshorn entered the Coast Guard.

A half century later, they earned their high school diplomas for their life experience and service to the community. The diplomas were presented during the elementary school students annual Memorial Day celebration.

Flags, poems, readings and songs filled the auditorium as the students honored all of the villages veterans with a special nod toward Carl and Hartshorn.

Its an honor to get it, said Carl, who was a member of the Class of 1966.

Carl served six years in the Marines, reaching the rank of lance corporal. He was in Vietnam for two tours with the 11th Marine Regiment before heading back to Green Island where he eventually retired as the villages fire chief. Right now, the 70-year-old freshly minted high school grad is working from April to November as the assistant fire chief at the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs.

The diploma for Hartshorn, of the Class of 1967, was accepted by his daughter, Kristy Avery. Hartshorn died April 16, 2014. He was 64. He is buried in Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery. He served aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton.

It was wonderful, Sandy Hartshorn said about the decision to award the diploma to her husband.

We are grateful for their service, Green Island school district Superintendent Teresa Snyder said.

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Tom Mullins, a member of the Class of 1968, lobbied the school district to present diplomas to Carl and Hartshorn. He anticipated it might be difficult to convince the district to do so, but he said it sailed through as the Board of Education backed the move.

While Carl and Hartshorn each earned their GEDs, Mullins said there was a strong feeling that they should be remembered and honored by the school. The Pre-K through 12th Grade Heatly School is a village institution.

Carl and Avery said they appreciated Mullins' successful effort to have the diplomas presented.

As a result of obtaining the diplomas for Carl and Hartshorn, Mullins said it was discovered that Hartshorn had been left off the village monument for his service and there was a mistake in the name of another veteran. Mullins said both would be corrected.
Hempstead, Long Island

The giant banner hanging above Cynthia Nixon's head was as clear as it was ominous: "Welcome to the lions' den."

Technically, the sign was for the mascots of Hofstra University, where New York Democrats were gathered for their state convention. But it was a more than fitting welcome for Nixon into a convention hall in the tight grasp of her rival, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

With the sign looming above, Nixon addressed the party's progressive caucus Wednesday without the aid of a microphone, straining to be heard. Nearby, the party's executive leadership was meeting in a space fully equipped for audio amplification.

"This is his turf," Nixon said knowingly.

The two-day Democratic convention, which concluded Thursday with Cuomo's formal acceptance of his party's backing, punctuates the challenge facing Nixon's insurgent candidacy; to win, she must expand her appeal beyond the faction of die-hard activists who despise Cuomo, to the broader Democratic electorate.

From the opening prayer, it was clear just how much this was the House of Cuomo. "Today, under Governor Cuomo's leadership, New York is a true beacon of justice," one of the ministers said as the two-day convocation began.

That was followed by two PowerPoint presentations heralding the governor's varied accomplishments.

Nixon herself sat through the presentations in the second row, alongside a handful of campaign aides and Jumaane D. Williams, the Brooklyn city councilman who is seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, and who, like Nixon, has the Working Families Party's backing.

When Nixon's name was formally put up for nomination, there was only sporadic applause.

"We're here to show that we are not afraid, that this is our party too," Nixon had said as she arrived in Hempstead. Her team pitched that her attendance showcased a fearlessness; it also guaranteed her a share of the media spotlight at an event that drew camera crews from across the state.

In the end, Cuomo was placed on the Democratic ballot for a third term by a landslide with more than 95 percent of the delegates. Nixon had exited the convention hall before the lopsided vote was tallied. She plans to file petitions to make the ballot.

Nixon's poor showing at a convention scripted by Cuomo and his allies was hardly a surprise. Nonetheless, some of the praise from the governor's big-name surrogates would tell part of that story seemed intended to tweak her claim as the only progressive in the race.

Hillary Clinton delivered the keynote speech Wednesday endorsing Cuomo, saying that "now more than ever, we need leaders who will stand up for progressive values." Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered a passionate and meandering follow-up address Thursday.

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"Andrew Cuomo has never backed away from his progressive principles  not one single time," Biden said.

Nixon countered with Carlos Menchaca, a city councilman from Brooklyn, one of the few elected officials in the state to back her insurgent candidacy.

"The fact is, he can rack up all the endorsements that he wants, but at the end of the day, people are going to vote for him or not vote for him," Nixon said in an interview on the train en route to the convention. "It's his progressive record, or lack of it really ... voters are going to judge him on."

As he seeks a third term, Cuomo has tried to sell New York under his governorship as a progressive leader, from gun control to an increase in the minimum wage to closing prisons. After initially avoiding challenging Trump during his first months in the White House, Cuomo has steadily heated up his rhetoric, calling the president's promises "fool's gold."

As Cuomo often does, he cast himself as a leader who gets tangible results. "We strive for the ideal but we live for the real," he said Thursday. "People want and need help now." Once wary to wade into national politics, Cuomo offered his approach as a national model for Democratic success in the future.

A smiling Cuomo spoke to reporters after Clinton's speech and glowed that his 95 percent mandate was "more than I expected" and a ratification of his record. He dismissed talk among Nixon supporters that party officials did not represent the true Democratic grass roots.

"Who are those people in there, conservatives?" Cuomo said, gesturing toward the hall of delegates with a laugh. "Those are the most progressive people in the state."

George Albro, a co-leader of the New York Progressive Action Network, which has endorsed Nixon, argued that party members did not demonstrate the type of grass-roots energy that propelled Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primaries. "I think the people here are really out of step with those forces," he said of Democratic State Committee members.
TROY, N.Y.  Raolik Walls checked into Hudson Mohawk Recovery Center's Supportive Living for Men on Nov. 30 last year, but he never checked out.

The 27-year-old father and aspiring rapper from New Jersey was trying to turn his life around after struggling for years with an addiction to marijuana and the drug Molly, a supposedly pure form of MDMA that's often cut with other drugs, his mother Yvonne Ketter-Walls said.

When he decided last spring that he was ready to get clean, his extended family in Schenectady helped him enroll at the St. Peter's Addiction Recovery Center in Troy to detox, then got him into a halfway house in Troy, and finally into supportive living at the Hudson Mohawk center, which has a men's living facility, in Troy. It was supposed to be his last stop before returning home to his daughter.

But four days after Walls entered the facility no one ever heard from him again. Wondering why he hadn't called, his aunt visited the center on Dec. 9 to see him in person and was told he had packed all his stuff and left five days earlier, said Ketter-Walls. Surprised and worried, his family and friends began asking around town for him. Did he relapse and was hiding out? Did he overdose and die? They called morgues and hospitals. They checked local drug hangouts. They visited a Burger King he frequented and showed his picture to staff. Nothing.

On Jan. 11, 39 days after the family last spoke to Walls, a pest control worker entered his room at the Hudson Mohawk center and found a badly decomposed body on the bed. It was Walls. He had been there the whole time.

How exactly that could have happened is now under investigation by the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, as first reported this week by television station WRGB. The state agency investigates reports of abuse and neglect at state-operated, certified or licensed facilities. Hudson Mohawk Recovery Center, though privately run, is certified through the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).

Its executive director, director of residential services and board president did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

The Justice Center confirmed that an "open and active" investigation is under way, but declined further comment.

OASAS said Friday it was "cooperating fully" with the investigation, and has been monitoring the program since they were notified of Walls' death, including conducting unannounced site visits.

"Due to patient confidentiality laws, we cannot comment further on the details," spokesman Evan Frost wrote in an email.

A medical examiner informed the family this month that Walls likely died of a cardiac arrhythmia the night of Dec. 3, and did not find any drugs in his system beyond legal prescriptions, his mother said.

That her son with the infectious laugh and big dreams is dead is hard enough, she said. That he was left to rot hurts all the more. How is it possible that no one could have checked on his room for that long, she wonders? The facility is designed to offer a supportive environment for men looking to re-enter society after battling drug or alcohol addiction. It's supervised, and has strict rules in place for residents.

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"They said he stormed out of a meeting because they told him about the rules and he didn't like them," Ketter-Walls said. "You would think if somebody is upset, especially if they're a new person and this is their first house meeting, you would go check on them to make sure they're OK. Apparently nobody cared because nobody checked on him for more than a month."

The family also wants to know why a staff member would tell them he had left when he clearly hadn't. His body was discovered in his assigned room, surrounded by his belongings.

It's unclear if Troy police ever visited the facility after the family reported him missing Dec. 9. Assistant Chief Daniel DeWolf confirmed a missing person's report for Walls was filed that day, and said one of their detectives was informed by staff that Walls had checked out of the facility on Dec. 2.

"I'm not sure if the detective personally visited the facility or spoke with someone on the phone," he said.

A source with knowledge of the matter confirmed Friday that the case is also under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, which investigates Medicaid fraud, corruption, criminal activity and conflicts of interest, among other things.

Ketter-Walls said her family met this winter with a local Department of Social Services employee, who said they were surprised to hear Walls had died since the center was still receiving state reimbursement for his stay into the month of February  nearly two months after he died.

"I miss him to death," his mother said. "He was just a good person. Even though he had his challenges he always meant the best and was always trying to help everybody around him. He never wanted to see anybody hurt. That's why we never gave up on him. As long as he wanted to help himself, we wanted to help him."
People throughout the Capital Region are marking Memorial Day this weekend.

Among the Friday observances, students at Rensselaer Park Elementary in Troy honored veterans, military members and their families.

Niskayuna High School planned a wreath-laying ceremony near the west entrance on Balltown Road to honor the lives of three graduates who were killed in the Vietnam war.

Here are some more Memorial Day events:

SATURDAY

Ballston Spa: Parade, 9 a.m. Wreath ceremony at the bridge over the Kayaderosseras Creek, then parade along Milton Avenue.

East Greenbush: Parade, 10 a.m. From Spare Time Bowling to Greenbush Cemetery, 264 Columbia Turnpike or Hays Road Cemetery for memorial services. http://melvinroads1231.org.

Lake George: Parade, 11:30 a.m., ceremony at noon in Shepard Park on Canada Street.

MONDAY

Albany: Annual parade at 10 a.m. on Central Avenue between Partridge Street and the state Education Building. Hosted by the Tri-County Council of Vietnam Era Veterans.

Colonie: Albany Roman Catholic Diocese Bishop Edward Scharfenberger celebrates Mass, 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Angels Cemetery, 1389 Central Ave. Veterans invited to serve as lectors and Eucharistic ministers or participate in the presentation of gifts.

Halfmoon: Annual ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Halfmoon American Legion Mohawk Post 1450, 275 Grooms Road, Halfmoon. Refreshments follow.

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Bolton Landing: Parade, 10 a.m., Rogers Memorial Park, 4928 Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing. 518-615-0446.

Lansingburgh: 22nd annual parade at 11 a.m., starting at 123rd Street and Fifth Avenue, Lansingburgh. 518-221-3428.

Rotterdam: Service, 2 p.m., Rotterdam Town Hall. An open house, hosted by VFW Post 1895 and its auxiliary members, will follow at 609 Draper Ave. http://rotterdamny.org.

Colonie: Wreath-laying, West Albany Memorial Park, Fairfield Avenue, Colonie. Noon. The 19th annual wreath-laying event is hosted by the West Albany Italian Benevolent Society and Ladies Auxiliary.

WEDNESDAY

Warrensburg: Parade, 9 a.m., starts at Warrensburg Firehouse, 18 Elm St., Warrensburg.

Not mentioned here? Send your holiday event listing to tucitydesk@timesunion.com.
ALBANY  A state medical university in Syracuse did not fully research the background of a former chief of staff who resigned earlier this week after a Times Union story raised questions about his apparent fabrications in his professional background.

A member of the school's faculty said the university's president, Danielle Laraque-Arena, recently acknowledged that not all of the past employers of the former chief of staff and senior vice president, Sergio A. Garcia, had been contacted prior to his hiring last year.

A copy of Garcia's resume on file with the State University of New York indicates he was a "chief of staff" from 2004 to 2007 in a role in which he had provided "overall management and evaluations of Bureau's global operations and programs totaling USD $465 million. Aided Secretary of State to promote and ensure inter-agency coordination on policy and programming and further coordinated with congressional leaders and staff."

The Department of State confirmed that Garcia had been employed during that period as a foreign affairs officer, but did not indicate he held a title as a "chief of staff." Two other sections in that portion of Garcia's three-page resume were blacked out.

A spokesman for Upstate Medical University denied that Laraque-Arena had disclosed recently that Garcia's background was not fully vetted. But in a statement issued this week to faculty members, she indicated that the university's hiring practices are under review.

"I want to assure you these recent issues are being addressed vigorously by my office," the president's statement reads. "We are conducting a full investigation into the process by which this individual was hired as well as an internal and external audit of our personnel processes. The results will be reported to you."

The Times Union's story, posted online May 13, revealed that a number of claims Garcia made in a videotaped speech last fall at a university lecture hall do not stand up to scrutiny. Among them were Garcia's account of being present at what he said was the 2011 bombing in Afghanistan that took the life of a young diplomat; that he had been interviewed for a State Department post by then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell; and that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remains his close friend and mentor.

Garcia's account of the bombing  which actually took place in 2013, months after Garcia had left Afghanistan for an academic post in Ohio  was refuted by witnesses who were there, and sources close to Powell and Rice shot down Garcia's assertions about them.

"I misspoke when it came to the bombing," Garcia told the Times Union in an interview earlier this week, following his resignation. "There are people who have done a lot worse things at Upstate."

Garcia also acknowledged that he was not aware that his speech last fall was being videotaped.

Garcia denied allegations that he has regularly claimed to university officials and others that he is an "attorney," including in the presence of Laraque-Arena. His resume indicates he earned a bachelor's degree in international law from the University of the Americas in Mexico, but does not have a graduate-level law degree, which is required in the United States to practice law.

"I am a lawyer," he said. "I do have a bachelors of law but I do not practice law. ... A bachelors of law is a recognized legal degree. ... I never represented myself as an attorney in any meeting."

However, Garcia then acknowledged being identified as an attorney in meetings. "Even the president would go so far as to say that, 'Yes, Sergio is an attorney,' or a lawyer, actually, and we had another member of our senior team who is also an attorney, but we never acted as such," he said.

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Garcia declined to discuss his debunked claims about interactions with Powell and Rice, and his assertion that he had worked in the White House in the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 terror attacks.

At the university, some faculty members have privately expressed concerns about how Garcia, who was initially hired as chief of staff, had his roles quickly expanded to oversee human resources, facilities and the university's police force.

Garcia, 43, had been a $340,000-a-year senior vice president and chief of staff since his appointment in March 2017. The school is the Syracuse region's largest employer, with more than 9,500 workers.

"I am a non-traditional leader," he said. "I did not rise through the ranks of hospital administration or academics or higher eduction. I cut my teeth on operations. ... My view of the world in coming to Syracuse and the other places that I have been is to deliver good, to deliver change, to deliver impact and to deliver efficiencies."

He acknowledged that, despite his claim in the lecture last October  which was titled "Courage Under Fire"  he never received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma.

"I made some misstatements. I did not get my degree from Oklahoma," he said, but added that the college he attended in Mexico "was always tied" to the University of Oklahoma.

"I am not going to go down that slippery slope to relitigate what I said or what I didn't say," Garcia said. "All I know is that I have given that same talk that I gave in October many times, and I probably got some inaccuracies previously, but I know most of the time I was dead-on in dates in remembering who I spoke to."
ALBANY  A female attorney who was terminated from her job at the state Division of Criminal Justice Services for cooperating in a sexual harassment investigation filed a federal lawsuit Friday accusing the agency's leader of covering up the allegations against a former forensics director.

The civil rights lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by Gina L. Bianchi against DCJS Commissioner Michael C. Green and two other agency leaders, general counsel John Czajka and human resources director Karen Davis.

The lawsuit also targets state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, whose office conducted the harassment investigation of former DCJS director Brian J. Gestring, and subsequently turned over Bianchi's confidential testimony to the agency without her knowledge.

The decision by Green last December to terminate Bianchi  after interrogating her for more than two hours with a copy of her testimony from the inspector general's office  has resonated across state agencies and left many workers saying they no longer feel safe cooperating with Leahy Scott's office.

Leahy Scott's decision and Green's actions have not been questioned by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has declined comment.

The lawsuit notes that Green took no action against Gestring, who was found to have engaged in years of sexual harassment, racism, ageism and workplace violence.

A DCJS spokeswoman on Friday declined comment and said they have not been served with a copy of the lawsuit. A spokesman for Leahy Scott also declined to comment.

Bianchi's lawsuit said that Green, who had counseled Gestring in 2012 for workplace misconduct, told her repeatedly during the December interrogation that she should have been more evasive in her testimony to the inspector general's office, "with a statement that was, in sum or substance, 'I do not have a specific fact upon which to base an answer to your question.'"

Bianchi said that in 2012, not longer after Gestring was hired as director of the agency's Office of Forensic Science, that Green removed Gestring from her supervision. The move took place after Bianchi had documented Gestring's alleged misconduct in a counseling memo. When she subsequently reported additional acts of inappropriate behavior by Gestring, the complaint states, Green did nothing and told her to "stay out of OFS"  a reference to Gestring's office.

"The actions taken by defendants have been taken with the intention to chill the speech of plaintiff, as well as the speech of all DCJS employees  and, indeed, all state employees generally  who might consider complaining of, and/or testifying about, civil rights and other violations," the complaint states.

The agency's decision to punish Bianchi and another female employee who testified about Gestring's alleged misconduct was exposed by the Times Union in a story published on March 18. Cuomo's office subsequently issued a statement saying the governor had asked the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics to conduct another investigation  the fourth investigation of the case by a state agency. The probe by JCOPE has languished and Bianchi and the other female employee, Kimberly Schiavone, have not been interviewed by its investigators.

Bianchi and Schiavone, who was transferred out of the forensic science office against her wishes after she filed a complaint against Gestring, were later ordered by DCJS officials to move into smaller offices  including one that was formerly a closet. DCJS then rescinded its directive against Bianchi not long after the Times Union asked what had prompted the decision.

The lawsuit claims that employees who cooperated with Leahy Scott's investigation of Gestring last year "were specifically told, and/or understood, that the sworn testimony they provided would be confidential. ... It is not the standard or routine practice of the office of the New York state inspector general to release tapes or transcripts of state employees' testimony to those employees' supervisors, or to agency heads, or to agency counsels in connection with the inspector general's investigations."

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Gestring was abruptly fired March 23 for what the agency said was an unrelated complaint involving inappropriate comments made at an off-site training seminar in June 2017. Sources familiar with that allegation said the incident took place during a DNA training session at the State Police crime laboratory, where Gestring allegedly had made a vulgar remark as the group examined a rape case involving young children. A female State Police scientist filed a complaint about his remark, but the agency took no action.

The investigation of Gestring revealed a history of offensive and inappropriate behavior that began shortly after he started working for DCJS in July 2012. Records indicate that about four months after Gestring was hired, he received two counseling memos for misbehavior. Gestring signed the memos certifying that he had read them, but added handwritten notes claiming he disagreed with the findings, had been forced to sign them, and that staff at DCJS had "agendas," according to details of the inspector general's investigation shared with the Times Union.

Leahy Scott's investigators, who obtained sworn testimony from multiple DCJS employees, said they were also told that Gestring had once encouraged a female manager to file fraudulent sexual harassment charges against a male colleague in an apparent effort to have him terminated. The woman refused.

In October, Leahy Scott and her deputy inspector general, Spencer Freedman, met with Czajka, DCJS's top legal counsel, and Green to outline the findings of their investigation.

Leahy Scott, who was appointed inspector general by Cuomo in 2013, followed up the October meeting with a five-page letter to DCJS on Dec. 6 outlining the findings of her office's investigation. The letter recommended the agency take action against Gestring and two other officials accused of mishandling the allegations, First Deputy Commissioner Mark Bonacquist and Davis, the human resources director.

The agency did not take action against those employees. Instead, DCJS said it had conducted its own investigation and could not sustain the allegations against Gestring.



Bianchi, an attorney who has worked at DCJS for 24 years, was terminated by Green a day before Leahy Scott's report  in the form of a letter  was sent to Green. It's unclear why Leahy Scott outlined her findings in a letter rather than a report, which are normally made public.

Although Bianchi was terminated, she was able to fall back into a lower-paying job with the agency due to state hiring regulations, but took a $44,000-a-year pay cut.

Schiavone had filed a workplace violence complaint against Gestring last August, but the agency did not follow up and never interviewed her about the complaint, said John W. Bailey, who is the attorney for Schiavone and Bianchi.

In a prior statement, DCJS said its decision last December to terminate Bianchi and transfer Schiavone were "appropriate actions ... to maintain the appropriate work environment at DCJS."
ICSA rural development chairman Seamus Sherlock has said it is time for Minister Flanagan and the Department of Justice to consider amendments to the scheme introduced to help local communities install CCTV systems as a crime prevention measure.

Funding was allocated but the take up has been miniscule. We cannot allow the funding to go unused because of an overly arduous application process, he said.

Recent figures released by the Department of Justice indicated that only 4 per cent of the 3m CCTV funding available had been spent.

Reaching the halfway point in the scheme and with only 120,000 spent indicates a problem somewhere, he said.

An urgent review needs to be carried out at this stage to see how local communities can be further assisted with utilising the scheme. Of particular importance is clarification as to whether the Gardai or local authorities are responsible managing the footage collected, he said.

Mr Sherlock was speaking at a ceremony In Waterford Institute of Technology to mark the official handing over of the Agricultural Crime in Ireland reports to the Luke Wadding library.

The reports were compiled by Dr Kathleen Moore Walsh, a lecturer in Law and Criminology, and Louise Walsh, a lecturer in Accounting and Finance, following the ICSA / WIT Agricultural Crime Survey.

The study examined crimes that occur solely on farms or relating to farming activities.

The significant findings of each of the three reports are: Report 1 provided data on the incidence of agricultural crime in Ireland and found that two thirds of farmers have experienced crime relating to their farming enterprise; Report 2 provided data on financial costs experienced by farmers arising from agricultural crime and indicated an average cost of 4,328 per respondent with experience of an incident(s) of agricultural crime. The report also found that many farmers were reluctant to report thefts due to the risk of rising insurance premiums. It found that on average farmers were willing to take a financial hit of 1,771.00 rather than report the incident; Report 3 provided data on agricultural crime reporting to Gardai and indicated that 45% of such crimes go unreported.

The nature and scale of agriculture specific crime has been well and truly established with this survey and subsequent reports. Rural people want more resources in community policing, stiffer sentences for repeat offenders and closer consultation between rural stakeholders, local authorities and An Garda Siochana, said Mr Sherlock.
The Tipperary International Song of Peace Contest will take place in Tipperary, Ireland, on October 6th, 2018.

The organisers are now looking for entries for the contest (from all over the world) - Songs of peace, love, harmony, in fact anything that one feels constitutes a 'Sense of Peace'. The first prize is a cheque for 1,500 and a Crystal Award.

The closing date for receipt of entries is July 27th, 2018. Entry forms are now available by contacting tipppeace@gmail.com to request an entry form.

Nathaniel Cabanero and his wife Judie Alegarme were the winners of the 2017 Contest. The couple are originally from the Philippines but currently reside in Co. Donegal.

The Tipperary Song of Peace Contest is supported by IMRO (Irish Music Rights Organisation).

Tipperary is famed in song and story from World War 1 when the marching song "It's a long way to Tipperary" was sung by troops as they went to war.

Modern Tipperary is now very much associated with peace through the work of Tipperary Peace Convention and through the awarding of the annual prestigious Tipperary International Peace Award.
[May 24, 2018] SWIFT: A quarter of all cross-border payments now over gpi

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SWIFT announces today that just 15 months after the service launched, 25% of all SWIFT cross border payment traffic is being sent over the global payments innovation (gpi). SWIFT gpi, the most transformational change in cross-border payments in 30 years, dramatically enhances the customer experience by increasing the speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking capability of payments. It is set to be the standard for all cross-border payments made on the SWIFT network by the end of 2020. SWIFT gpi has seen rapid widespread adoption since going live in 2017. More than 165 banks, representing 80% of SWIFT's cross-border payments traffic, and including 49 of the world's top 50 banks, have signed up to the service. To date, 50 million gpi payments have been processed, with hundreds of thousands of payments sent daily across 350 country corridors, in more than 100 currencies. In major corridors, such as USA-China, gpi already accounts for more than 40% of payment traffic. Commenting on the growth in adoption of gpi, Kiran Shetty, Chief Executive Officer & Regional Head, India & Sub-continents, SWIFT said: "It's clear that the global payments industry needs to evolve in order to provide customers with a modern, service that meets their expectations. As a truly global, fast, secure and transparent cross-border service, gpi is delivering real and tangible change, and the increase in its use is testament to the huge benefits it delivers to end customers. With more than 25% of traffic and over $100bn a day now flowing securely over gpi, it is rapidly becoming the new cross-border standard." The strong growth in the adoption and use of SWIFT gpi has been driven by demand for a faster, more transparent cross-border payments service. Already, nearly 50% of gpi payments are completed and credited to end beneficiaries' accounts in less than 30 minutes, many within seconds. In March 2018 SWIFT announced the extension of its gpi Tracker to cover all payment instructions sent across the network, enabling gpi banks to track all their SWIFT payment instructions at all times, and giving them full visibility over all their payments activity. As a direct result of the speed and transparency afforded by gpi, banks using the service have seen a significant reduction in frictions and as much as a 50% fall in their enquiry costs. Shetty added: "As more and more banks see the dramatic enhancements and efficiencies provided by gpi, we're seeing its adoption grow evey day. The rapid delivery of a payment message in less than 30 minutes and the transparency provided by the tracker gives banks' end customers greater visibility and a substantially enhanced service, allowing goods orders and shipments to be commenced much sooner. "



Press Contacts:

Jaime Lee

+852-2107-8860

jaime.lee@swift.com

Notes to editors: About gpi The SWIFT global payments innovation (SWIFT gpi) is the largest change in cross-border payments over the last 30 years and is the new standard. SWIFT gpi dramatically improves the customer experience in cross-border payments by increasing their speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking. Hundreds of thousands of cross-border payments are today being sent using the new gpi standard, and payments are made quickly, typically within minutes, even seconds. SWIFT gpi allows corporates to receive an enhanced payments service, with the following key features: Faster, same day use of funds within the time zone of the receiving gpi member

Transparency of fees

End-to-end payments tracking

Remittance information transferred unaltered As an initiative, SWIFT gpi engages the global banking industry and fintech communities to innovate in the area of cross-border payments while reducing their back-office costs. Since its launch in January 2017, gpi has dramatically improved the cross-border payments experience for corporates in over 350 country corridors. Key features of the gpi service include enhanced business rules and a secure tracking database in the cloud accessible via APIs. Thanks to SWIFT gpi, corporates can grow their international business, improve supplier relationships, and achieve greater treasury efficiencies. Overall, nearly 50% of SWIFT gpi payments are credited to end beneficiaries within 30 minutes, and almost 100% of payments within 24 hours. Those that take longer typically involve more complex foreign exchange conversions, compliance checks or regulatory authorisations. In addition to the more than 160 financial institutions that have adopted gpi, more than 55 payment market infrastructures are already exchanging gpi payments, enabling domestic exchange and tracking. Payment market infrastructures have a critical role to play in facilitating the end-to-end tracking of cross-border payments because as soon as international payments hit the destination country, they are typically cleared through local payment infrastructures. About SWIFT SWIFT is a global member owned cooperative and the world's leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory compliance. Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While SWIFT does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world. As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community's access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. SWIFT also brings the financial community together -- at global, regional and local levels -- to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern. SWIFT's strategic five year plan, SWIFT2020, challenges SWIFT to continue investing in the security, reliability and growth of its core messaging platform, while making additional investments in existing services and delivering new and innovative solutions. Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT's international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. SWIFT's global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres. For more information, visit www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: SWIFT. Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160127/8521600559Logo SOURCE S.W.I.F.T.SCRL

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[May 24, 2018] Alps Electric to Acquire Greina Technologies, Inc. as Part of Sensor Business Strengthening

Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (TOKYO: 6770; President: Toshihiro Kuriyama; Head Office: Tokyo) today announces that on May 14, 2018 the company signed a share purchase agreement with Greina Technologies, Inc. (Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.; President/CTO: Daniel J. Lee) whereby Alps Electric will acquire Greina Technologies, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. Alps Electric signed a share purchase agreement with Greina Technologies on May 14, 2018. Through the agreement, Alps Electric aims to add even greater value to its sensing solutions for the automotive market, as well as the consumer electronics and mobile market, by combining high-accuracy positioning technology based on original algorithms developed by Greina Technologies with Alps Electric's compact, high-performance wireless communication module technology. An engineering firm specializing in positioning systems, Greina Technologies was established in Salt Lake City, Utah, in September 2012. Engaging in such activities as design and development of wireless electronic systems and provision of consulting services, the company has grown rapidly on the back of its technological development, including in the area of high-accuracy positioning based on original algorithms. The acquisition will make it easy to build close-range sensing systems, with positioning accuracy down to tens of centimeters and outstanding security performance, by combining Greina Technologies' ranging technology with wireless communication technology that Alps Electric has built up over many years. Alps Electric will work to strengthen sensor business by deploying this advanced sensing technology in the automotive market as part of efforts to develop highly original products and create business within the rapidly expanding CASE domains - connected cars, autonomous driving, sharing and services, and electric vehicles. The acquisition will have minimal impact on Alps Electric's financial performance for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.







Outline of Greina Technologies Name: Greina Technologies, Inc. (RF Ranging, Inc.) http://www.rfranging.com/ Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A. Established: September 2012 Representative: Daniel J. Lee Main business: Wireless system development and design, consulting, manufacturing, etc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180524006515/en/

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[May 25, 2018] Indian and German Experts Discuss how to Strengthen Data Security and Protection

NEW DELHI, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure organised Industry Interaction on "Protecting Data through Standards and Certification" on the eve of the implementation of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Mumbai it-sa India organized by NurnbergMesse India Recent data breaches have focused the attention of governments, citizens, and companies alike on the same question: How can data be effectively protected? On the eve of the implementation of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), around 30 German and Indian experts from industry and government met in Mumbai to discuss how standards and certification can enhance IT security and data protection. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/555443/it_sa_India_Logo.jpg )

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/696860/Industry_Interaction_GDPR.jpg )

Participants welcomed a closer cooperation between India and Germany, and emphasised the need for consistent data protection regulations across countries. The experts appreciated similarities of the Indian draft Data Protection Bill with the GDPR of the EU. They pointed out that laws and regulations alone will not lead to adequate protection of data. Standards would be needed to ensure their effective implementation. They also highlighted that awareness has to be raised on data protection and capacities strengthened in India. IT security experts from Germany sad that certification can create trust by assessing whether a company can secure its data. However, a multiplicity of different certificates could create confusion for consumers and may lead to market access barriers. In the GDPR, the requirement of mandatory accreditation of certificates is therefore seen as an important step to reduce fragmentation.



The industry interaction took place at the side-lines of it-sa India, India's IT security expo and conference, which opened its doors from 24 to 25 May 2018 in Mumbai. Representatives from the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate of the Ministry of Electronics and Information (MeitY), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Data Security Council of India (DSCI), Quality Council of India (QCI), DSCI - Promoting Data Protection, TeleTrust - IT Security Association Germany, German Engineering Federation (VDMA), the Association for Electrical, Electronic &Information Technologies (VDE), TUVs, NurnbergMesse, and several German companies as well as the German Consulate participated in the exchange. The event was organized on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, by GIZ - the German Agency for International Cooperation - in collaboration with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC). India and Germany cooperate within the Indo-German Working Group on Quality Infrastructure between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Indian Ministry for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. The Working Group has the goal to reduce technical barriers to trade and strengthen product safety through political and technical dialogue of relevant ministries and regulators. As part of the Global Project Quality Infrastructure (GPQI), GIZ has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to support the Working Group in India and ensure that concerns of the industry are taken up within the political dialogue.

About NurnbergMesse India NurnbergMesse is one of the 15 largest exhibition companies in the world. The portfolio covers some 120 national and international exhibitions and congresses and approx. 40 sponsored pavilions at the Nuremberg location and worldwide. Every year, around 30,000 exhibitors (international share: 41%) and up to 1.4 million visitors (international share of trade visitors: 24%) participate in events owned by NurnbergMesse, partners of NM and guest events. NurnbergMesse Group is present with subsidiaries in China, North America, Brazil, Italy and India. The group also has a network of about 50 representatives operating in over 100 countries. For more information, visit www.nm-india.com (NurnbergMesse India) Global Project Quality Infrastructure - India

Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

http://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/32230.html

qi-india@giz.de Media Contact :

Rucheeka Chhugani

rucheeka.chhugani@nm-india.com

+91-1147168828

NurnbergMesse India Pvt. Ltd.





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[May 25, 2018] Ellisys Introduces Groundbreaking Bluetooth Analyzer Supporting Wi-Fi 11ac and WPAN

GENEVA, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ellisys, a leading provider of test, certification, and analysis solutions for Bluetooth, Universal Serial Bus (USB), Wi-Fi, and other technologies, today introduced its latest and most advanced Bluetooth analysis solution, the Bluetooth Vanguard. Vanguard builds on a rich legacy of innovation from Ellisys, adding features that address the recent, rapid evolution of Bluetooth technology and related development complexities, including feature additions for Wi-Fi and WPAN coexistence analysis. Vanguard is an all-in-one, fully integrated system supporting wideband (all channels) capture and analysis of Bluetooth Classic (BR/EDR), Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), plus concurrent Wi-Fi 3x3 11ac, all 16 WPAN (IEEE 802.15.4) 2.4 GHz channels, raw ISM spectrum capture, Bluetooth host controller interface (HCI) protocols (USB, UART, and SPI), Audio I2S, WCI-2, and generic protocols including UART, SPI, I2C and SWD, all visualized over the widely adopted Ellisys software suite.

Bluetooth Vanguard will be on Display at the Bluetooth Asia 2018, Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center, Shenzhen, China, booth 31, May 30-31, 2018. The introduction of the Bluetooth Vanguard further solidifies our position as the leading innovator in this space, stated Mario Pasquali, Ellisys president and CEO. As Bluetooth technology continues to redefine itself with new features designed to expand into new markets, products, and applications, we have to think a few steps ahead and deliver the right tools at the right time. Vanguards deep feature set gives developers a powerful solution designed to meet the broad array of design and testing challenges presented by the latest in wireless technologies, such as mesh technology, increased security features, IoT applications, multi-protocol radios, and coexistence challenges. Comprehensive Design Approach

A recognized hallmark of Ellisys Bluetooth protocol analyzer products is comprehensive hardware integration, borne of properly considered initial design requirements. Such tight integration provides not just user conveniences, but also results in unrivalled precision and predictability for timing synchronization among the multitude of wired and wireless communications captured. Stack and hardware behaviors are dependent on myriad timing relationships, and the ability to precisely characterize these timings is paramount for Bluetooth design and validation teams. For example, characterizations of Bluetooth packet timings relative to Wi-Fi or to HCI traffic can be critical to developers seeking to optimize designs for certification requirements, interoperability, and performance criteria. A Broad Array of Coexistence Capabilities

One of the biggest challenges facing Bluetooth developers is understanding the busy 2.4 GHz ISM (Industrial Scientific-Medical) band associated with Bluetooth communications and other emitters, including Wi-Fi. The Bluetooth specification provides an adaptive channel avoidance feature that can be used to optimize communications by avoiding channels where packets are experiencing a higher error rate, often due to the emissions of other wireless devices, even co-resident radios (on the same SoC). Bluetooth Vanguard provides various features to enable precise understandings of spectrum and channel usage by devices and a host of other features specific to coexistence testing. These features include a raw RF capture of the ISM spectrum that provides precision time and power indications of Bluetooth packets and all other emissions, an Ellisys innovation. Additional features include GPIO logic capture, Wi-Fi protocol capture (IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 3x3), WPAN capture (IEEE 802.15.4, all 16 channels), and support for the Wireless Coexistence Interface (WCI-2) Transport standard, all tightly synchronized to Bluetooth and host controller interface (HCI) packets and concurrently captured. Powerful Hardware-Accelerated Wi-Fi Capture

Central to wireless coexistence testng and characterization are various correlations of Wi-Fi traffic to Bluetooth traffic, including the ability to manage streams of incoming traffic without loss. With implementations that use a software-based capture, such as those that can be done with just about any computer, the Wi-Fi capture is done with a processor involved. This limits the speed and accuracy of the capture  packets can be missed when the processor is outmatched by the incoming streams. With Vanguard, the capture is driven directly with a powerful hardware-accelerated protocol engine, to guarantee throughput and minimize latency.



Cutting-Edge Feature Support

The Ellisys Bluetooth Vanguard is designed with a reconfigurable capture engine, an Ellisys innovation introduced with the Bluetooth Explorer model in 2010. This feature allows for very early addition of analyzer support for emerging Bluetooth features, well ahead of official releases in the Bluetooth specifications. For example, features peculiar to Bluetooth 5, including 2Mbps speed and LE Coded PHY extended range enhancements, were released 18 months prior to the public release of that specification. This approach enables design teams to test and perfect new Bluetooth features at an early stage, allowing for improved development cycle efficiencies and increased confidence in product quality on roll out of new radios and stacks. As the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (www.bluetooth.com) celebrates the 20-year mark from its inception in May 1998, the release of Vanguard offers a solid endorsement of the state of the technology and its future, with hardware and software configured to support both current and next-generation Bluetooth features. Major Features

Bluetooth Vanguard supports one-click concurrent, synchronous capture of the wired and wireless communications technologies listed below. Vanguard is sold in several field-upgradable configurations to meet customer requirements and budgets.

Wireless Capture Bluetooth Low Energy (125kbps, 500kbps, 1Mbps, 2Mbps, all 40 channels concurrently)

Bluetooth Classic (BR, EDR2, EDR3, all 79 channels concurrently)

Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (3x3, 20 / 40 / 80 MHz)

WPAN IEEE 802.15.4 (all 16 2.4GHz channels concurrently)

2.4 GHz Raw Spectrum Energy Wired Capture Bluetooth Host Controller Interface Communications (UART, USB, SPI)

General Purpose Logic Signals

Audio I2S

Wireless Coexistence Interface 2 (WCI-2)

Generic Communications UART, SPI, I2C, SWD Connectivity (Power and Control) USB Power Delivery (30W)

SuperSpeed USB 3.1 (5Gbps)

Ethernet 1GbE

Power Over Ethernet+ (30W) For more information on features in each configuration, visit: http://www.ellisys.com/bv1/purchase.php Availability, Product Photos, and Information

Bluetooth Vanguard is available for immediate purchase with shipments 2-4 weeks from order placement. Various configurations are provided to meet a variety of customer price and feature requirements. These configurations are provided in a series of editions, including Standard, Professional, and Enterprise. For more information, including software downloads, please contact sales@ellisys.com or visit http://www.ellisys.com/bv1 A high-resolution picture of the product is available at the following link:

http://www.ellisys.com/bv1/images/bv1_unit.png About Ellisys

Ellisys is a leading worldwide supplier of advanced protocol test solutions for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, SuperSpeed USB 3.1, USB Power Delivery, USB Type-C, DisplayPort, and Thunderbolt technologies. More information is available on www.ellisys.com. Ellisys | Chemin du Grand-Puits 38 | CH-1217 Meyrin Geneva | Switzerland

World Class Protocol Test Solutions for Bluetooth, USB, and Wi-Fi Ellisys, the Ellisys logo, Better Analysis, Bluetooth Explorer, Bluetooth Tracker, Bluetooth Vanguard, and Type-C Tracker are trademarks of Ellisys, and may be registered in some jurisdictions. The Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Ellisys is under license. Wi-Fi and the Wi-Fi Alliance logo are trademarks of Wi-Fi Alliance. USB Type-C and USB-C are trademarks of USB Implementers Forum. DisplayPort and the DisplayPort logo are trademarks owned by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) in the United States and other countries. Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners. Contact: Ellisys Corporation Attn: Chuck Trefts, VP Marketing Phoenix, AZ, USA Phone: 866-724-9185 Email: chuck.trefts@ellisys.com

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[May 25, 2018]

Raytheon awarded contract to produce Romania's new Patriot system

TEWKSBURY, Mass., May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army has awarded Raytheon Company [NYSE: RTN] a $395.8 million contract for production of Romania's Patriot Air and Missile Defense System.

Announced by the Department of Defense on May 24, the contract calls for Raytheon to build Romania's first brand-new Patriot fire unit.

"We are using what we have learned in building 220 fire units and to meet Romania's Patriot fielding schedule," said Tom Laliberty, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business.

Raytheon has already ordered thousands of critical long-lead items from hundreds of suppliers, and begun production of:

Critical electronic components

Machined parts

Circuit card assemblies and cables

Patriot is the backbone of NATO and Europe's defense against ballistic and crise missiles, advanced aircraft and drones.







NATO Nations with Patriot : The US, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and Spain currently have Patriot. On Nov. 29th, 2017, Romania signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for Patriot, making it the 6th NATO member state to procure Patriot. On March 28, Poland signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for Patriot, making it the 7th NATO state to procure Patriot.

European Interest in Patriot : A congressional notification regarding a potential Patriot sale to Sweden has been completed.

Raytheon's Patriot is a missile defense system consisting of radars, command-and-control technology and multiple types of interceptors, all working together to detect, identify and defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, advanced aircraft and other threats. Patriot is the foundation of integrated air and missile defense for 15 nations.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2017 sales of $25 billion and 64,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 96 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. Follow us on Twitter.

Note to Editors

The 15 Patriot Nations are:

United States of America

The Netherlands

Germany

Japan

Israel

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Kuwait

Taiwan

Greece

Spain

Republic of Korea

United Arab Emirates

Qatar

Romania

Poland

Media Contact

Mike Nachshen

+ 1.520.269.5697

idspr@raytheon.com

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/raytheon-awarded-contract-to-produce-romanias-new-patriot-system-300654852.html

SOURCE Raytheon Company
[May 25, 2018] Oncolytics Biotech Announces Research Collaboration with the Keck School of Medicine of USC Combining REOLYSIN with Keytruda, Velcade and Dexamethasone

CALGARY, Alberta and SAN DIEGO, May 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (TSX:ONC) (OTCQX:ONCYF), currently developing REOLYSIN (pelareorep), an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus turning cold tumors hot, today announced a collaboration with the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California (USC) using pelareorep in combination with Keytruda, Velcade and dexamethasone, to treat multiple myeloma. This study, facilitated by Dr. Kevin Kelly, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, is an extension of the current REO 019 study evaluating pelareorep in combination with Velcade and dexamethasone to treat multiple myeloma and will be conducted at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. It will add Keytruda, Mercks anti PD-1 therapy, to the regimen.

The study continues to build on the Companys I-O program and is now its third combination in human trials after the previously announced second line pancreatic cancer study  also with Keytruda  and the multiple myeloma study in combination with Celgenes Imnovid and Revlimid. Oncolytics will supply pelareorep for the study and Merck will supply the Keytruda. The combination of proteasome inhibitors and pelareorep has been demonstrated to increase PD-L1 expression on multiple myeloma cells and to recruit T-cells to the bone marrow. This study will enroll patients with relapsed-refractory multiple myeloma and will primarily evaluate overall response rate, as well as safety and tolerability. It will also provide important biomarker data determined by analysis of pre- and post-treatment biopsies and blood-based immune markers. Final study design and other details will be announced upon enrollment of the first patient, expected in the second half of 2018. About REOLYSIN/Pelareorep

REOLYSIN, also known as pelareorep, is a non-pathogenic, proprietary isolate of the unmodified reovius: a first-in-class intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus for the treatment of solid tumors and hematological malignancies. The compound induces selective tumor lysis and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers.



About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.

Oncolytics is a biotechnology company developing REOLYSIN, also known as pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus. The compound induces selective tumor lysis and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype -- turning "cold" tumors "hot" -- through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers. Oncolytics' clinical development program emphasizes three pillars: chemotherapy combinations to trigger selective tumor lysis and immuno-therapy and immune modulator (IMiD) combinations to produce innate and adaptive immune responses. Oncolytics is currently planning its first registration study in metastatic breast cancer, as well as studies in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and targeted and IMiD therapies in solid and hematological malignancies. This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities laws (such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Forward-looking statements, including the Company's belief as to the potential and mode of action of REOLYSIN, also known as pelareorep, as a cancer therapeutic; the collaboration between Merck and USC using pelareorep, including the timing, enrollment and potential benefits to the Company thereof; and other statements related to anticipated developments in the Company's business and technologies involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the availability of funds and resources to pursue research and development projects, the efficacy of pelareorep as a cancer treatment, the success and timely completion of clinical studies and trials, the Company's ability to successfully commercialize pelareorep, uncertainties related to the research and development of pharmaceuticals, uncertainties related to the regulatory process and general changes to the economic environment. Investors should consult the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities commissions for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws.

Company Contact

Michael Moore

Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

858-886-7813

mmoore@oncolytics.ca



Investor Relations

Robert Uhl

Westwicke Partners

858-356-5932

robert.uhl@westwicke.com Media Contact

Jason Spark

Canale Communications

619-849-6005

jason@canalecomm.com



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[May 25, 2018] Global $82.61 Bn Video Surveillance System (Software, Hardware, and Services) Market Outlook to 2023

DUBLIN, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Video Surveillance System Market - Segmented by Type (Software, Hardware, and Services), End-User Vertical, and Region - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2018 - 2023)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global video surveillance system market was valued at USD 34,962.3 million in 2017, and is expected to reach a value of USD 82,615.3 million by 2023, recording a CAGR of 15.41% over the forecast period (2018-2023). The use of video surveillance in business is growing significantly, owing to the increasing need for physical security, coupled with the use of cloud-based services for centralized data. Globally, the drive to enhance the safety and security across different industries is adding to the market growth, significantly. With rapid developments in cloud computing and video surveillance software, the surveillance market has transformed, in comparison to the previous decade. The growth of the video surveillance market is expected to be fueled by the introduction of new IP-based digital technologies, to detect and prevent undesirable behaviors, such as shoplifting, thefts, vandalism, and terror attacks. Video surveillance is majorly adopted in manufacturing, banking & financial services, and transportation & retail industries. The incorporation is higher in countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Brazil, owing to the large size of the concerned industries and higher awareness among consumers. Emergence of Video Surveillance-as-a-service (VSaaS) is Driving Market Growth







With the development of smart cameras and different types of associated sensors, there has been a shift toward more in-band analytics. This convergence of factors is laying a strong foundation for VSaaS. For instance, surveillance services are centralized in commercial premises where they use smart cameras, along with in-band analytics and other associated sensors for automating functions that require multiple personnel. These factors have enabled a more proactive approach to perform surveillance and connect the gaps between prosecution models, with a more efficient security system. Though VSaaS has been a prominent choice of commercial and residential users, bandwidth costs have always been a major concern, while sending high-resolution videos onto the cloud. Thus, the emergence of video surveillance-as-a-service has been driving the global video surveillance system market's growth. Video Analytics Software has the largest Market Share







Video analytics for video surveillance have evolved considerably in the pas few years, with growing adoption among corporate, government organizations, small and medium enterprises, etc. Video analytics are employed in various applications, such as facial surveillance, license plate recognition, advanced object tracking, dwell and loitering, people count, queue management analysis, and demographics. Analytics have enabled the end users to leverage specific data insights into actionable intelligence for various functions. The insights can be used to generate heat maps, monitor queues in retail outlets and hospitals, etc. The analytic programs also support IP, analog, and megapixel cameras, and can be integrated within the hardware components. The integration reduces the need for extra hardware, thus making the implementation cost-effective.



North America expected to Dominate the Market over the Forecast Period









In the United States, after the 9/11 terror attacks, there has been a significant rise in the demand for effective security and surveillance systems. Recently, Memphis Police Department (MPD) teamed up with Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, a supplier of innovative video surveillance products, to deploy holistic security solutions, to ensure safety of the residents of Memphis. With the help of video surveillance systems, the Memphis city has also built a Real Time Crime Center, which can be used to monitor live video feeds and provide crucial information to officers, prior to arriving at a crime scene. Recently law enforcement authorities have started the deployment of drones for video surveillance, as they offer an effective real-time solution to track fugitives. Police departments of Arkansas, Little Rock, Miami-Dade, Florida, and Arlington, Texas have reported the use of drones for surveillance. Key Developments in the Market



November 2017 - Schneider Electric acquired Asco Power Technologies (ASCO), a leader in the Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS). The acquisition enhanced Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Power Platform in key markets and segments. Asco is expected to form a part of the group's Low Voltage (Building) business.

- Schneider Electric acquired Asco Power Technologies (ASCO), a leader in the Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS). The acquisition enhanced Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure Power Platform in key markets and segments. Asco is expected to form a part of the group's Low Voltage (Building) business. November 2017 - Honeywell introduced self-monitored smart home security system to safeguard and secure homes. The camera base station is expected to enable enhancements in the future, such as facial recognition and wireless motion viewers, to provide expanded home coverage.

- Honeywell introduced self-monitored smart home security system to safeguard and secure homes. The camera base station is expected to enable enhancements in the future, such as facial recognition and wireless motion viewers, to provide expanded home coverage. September 2017 - Axis Communications AB launched a new network radar detector, AXIS D2050-VE, which is the first product in the market with radar technology. It is powered by the Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) and complies with IP66, IK08, and NEMA 4X protection classes, especially for harsh environments.

- Axis Communications AB launched a new network radar detector, AXIS D2050-VE, which is the first product in the market with radar technology. It is powered by the Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) and complies with IP66, IK08, and NEMA 4X protection classes, especially for harsh environments. January 2017 - Bosch acquired ITK Engineering AG to strengthen the company's business in custom system and software development services in the global market. Key Topics Covered



1. Introduction

1.1 Key Deliverables of the Study

1.2 Study Assumptions

1.3 Market Definition

1.4 Key Findings of the Study



2. Research Approach and Methodology



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Insights

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Industry Attractiveness - Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.2.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.2.2 Bargaining Power of Consumers

4.2.3 Threat of New Entrants

4.2.4 Threat of Substitute Products or Services

4.2.5 Competitive Rivalry among Existing Competitors

4.3 Industry Value Chain Analysis



5. Market Dynamics

5.1 Factors Driving the Market

5.2 Factors Challenging the Market



6. Technology Snapshot



7. Global Video Surveillance System Segmentation

7.1 By Type

7.1.1 Hardware

7.1.2 Software

7.1.3 Services

7.2 By Vertical

7.2.1 Commercial

7.2.2 Infrastructure

7.2.3 Institutional

7.2.4 Industrial

7.2.5 Defense

7.2.6 Residential

7.3 By Geography

7.3.1 North America

7.3.2 Europe

7.3.3 Asia-Pacific

7.3.4 Latin America

7.3.5 Middle East & Africa



8. Competitive Intelligence - Company Profiles

8.1 Axis Communications AB

8.2 Bosch Security Systems Incorporated

8.3 Honeywell Security Group

8.4 Samsung Group

8.5 Panasonic Corporation

8.6 FLIR systems Inc.

8.7 Schneider Electric

8.8 NICE Limited

8.9 Infinova Corporation

8.10 Zhejiang Dahua Technology Company Limited

8.11 Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company Limited



9. Investment Analysis



10. Future of the Market



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/99fxvh/global_82_61_bn?w=5 Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716



View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-82-61-bn-video-surveillance-system-software-hardware-and-services-market-outlook-to-2023--300654924.html SOURCE Research and Markets

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[May 25, 2018] LawLogix Announces Second Annual I-9 Palooza at CommunityLIVE

PHOENIX, May 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LawLogix will host the second annual I-9 Palooza at CommunityLIVE, the premier information management conference, Sept. 11 through 13 in Nashville. Hosted at the Gaylord Opryland, the event offers HR professionals a unique opportunity to participate in educational sessions highlighting best practices for managing new hires, streamlining the onboarding process, and staying compliant with the latest state and federal guidelines. I-9 Palooza sessions will focus on: Recent I-9 and E-Verify trends and legislative updates

Benefits and drawbacks to moving from paper to electronic I-9s

A three-part series outlining strategies related to I-9 auditing

Addressing unique foreign national issues

Understanding adanced E-Verify issues

Managing remote hire I-9s

How to avoid a Department of Justice investigation

Q&A panel with I-9 experts



Ryan Kelly , president LawLogix. Early-bird registration rates for the I-9 Palooza at CommunityLIVE are available through June 30. Register today to reserve your spot.

About LawLogix, a division of Hyland

LawLogix assists millions of people every year through its innovative Electronic I-9 Compliance, E-Verify and immigration case management software. Founded in 2000, LawLogix is a trusted SaaS provider for many prestigious corporations that include over 50 members of the Fortune 500, including 3M, Pfizer, Aon Corp, Cargill, McKesson and two of the world's largest retailers. For more information about LawLogix and our suite of products, visit LawLogix. About Hyland

Hyland is a leader in providing software solutions for managing content, processes and cases for organizations across the globe. For over 25 years, Hyland has enabled more than 19,000 organizations to digitalize their workplaces and fundamentally transform their operations. Named one of Fortune's Best Companies to Work For since 2014, Hyland is widely known as both a great company to work for and a great company to do business with. For more information, please visit Hyland.com. Media contact:

Megan Larsen

+1 440-788-4988

Megan.Larsen@Hyland.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lawlogix-announces-second-annual-i-9-palooza-at-communitylive-300655038.html SOURCE Hyland

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[May 25, 2018] Health Tech startup celebrated for increasing access to healthcare in Canada

CALGARY, May 25, 2018 /CNW/ - Brightsquid Secure Communications Corp. has won the TELUS Outstanding Product Achievement Award to Recognize Mobility Health (M-Health) Innovation Excellence. The award is presented by the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) to a Canadian organization in recognition of a world-class Digital Health Care product. Selection for the award confirms Brightsquid as a leader in digital health technology and highlights the company's contribution to healthcare innovation. Brightsquid's confidential digital communication service service, Secure-Mail, helps healthcare teams collaborate more efficiently and effectively, and allows patients to participate actively in their own care. Clinics using Brightsquid improve access to care by streamlining administrative activities, eliminating fax, reducing reliance on phone, and replacing in-office appointments. "We've increased our capacity to addresspatient concerns by 18% using Brightsquid," explained Shauna Wilkinson, Executive Director at Crowfoot Village Family Practice. Ms. Wilkinson also noted that patients prefer communicating with Secure-Mail over phone or an office visit in three out of six standard interactions.



Specialist clinics using Brightsquid services have reduced wait times from 24 months to 8 weeks. Others doubled the number of patients seen in a day. The importance of Brightsquid's technology was highlighted in a recent Gartner study commissioned by Canada Health Infoway that asserts the Canadian health system can save $1Billion/yr (the equivalent of 155,000 hospital visits) by digitally sharing patient information across the healthcare continuum.

"It's an honour to be recognized for our contribution on this level. It's clear that care coordination software like ours will do more to advance patient health over the next 5 years than any single drug or medical device," said Brightsquid CEO, Rohit Joshi. The Brightsquid user base is growing rapidly in Canada and the USA with over 39,000 practitioners and 56,000 patients on the system. Each month, Brightsquid users securely share over 83,000 patient files. About Brightsquid: Brightsquid was founded in 2009 to enable secure communication between healthcare teams and their patients. The Brightsquid Secure-Mail platform meets the highest patient privacy requirements in the world to deliver compliant communications accessible from any device anywhere. www.brightsquid.com About CATA: As the largest high-tech association in Canada, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) is Canada's One Voice for Innovation Lobby Group. www.cata.ca SOURCE Brightsquid Secure Communications Corp.

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[May 25, 2018] UrtheCast Announces Release of Brokered Private Placement Proceeds from Escrow, Completion of Syndication of the UrtheDaily Facility and the Appointment of Two New Directors

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/ VANCOUVER, May 25, 2018 /CNW/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX: UR) ("UrtheCast") is pleased to announce the release from escrow to UrtheCast of gross proceeds of approximately $16.7 million from the brokered private placement that closed on May 3, 2018 and the completion of the syndication of the US$142 million senior secured credit facility (the "UrtheDaily Facility") by the lender thereunder, an investment vehicle managed by Sound Point Capital Management, LP. The syndication satisfies one of the conditions precedent to the first drawdown of the UrtheDaily Facility, as previously announced by the Company on May 18, 2018. UrtheCast is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Piegza and Adam Vore to the Board of Directors of UrtheCast, subject to customary Toronto Stock Exchange approval. The escrow release conditions for the brokered private placement of subscription receipts were satisfied on May 18, 2018 upon UrtheCast signing the credit agreement for the UrtheDaily Facility and obtaining a receipt for a final prospectus qualifying the distribution of notes and warrants underlying the subscription receipts. The subscription receipts have converted into notes and warrants effective as of May 25, 2018. Under the backstop agreement dated May 3, 2018 between 1112099 B.C. Ltd. (the "Backstop Party") and UrtheCast, the Backstop Party has exercised its right to appoint Messrs. Piegza and Vore to the Board. The Company will include both directors as director nominees in its management information circular for election at its upcoming annual and special meeting of shareholders to be held on June 25, 2018. Mr. Piegza has over 25 years of investment banking and advisory experience in the technology, media and telecommunications industries. Mr. Piegza is the founder and President of Convergence Advisors LLC, an advisory firm serving clients in the telecommunications, media, and technology industries, and the co-founder, Chief Financial Officer and a director of U.S. Space LLC, which offers a broad portfolio of dedicated, commercial space solutions, including MilSatCom, mobile communications and in-orbit servicing. Previously, Mr. Piegza was a Managing Director in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group at Banc of America Securities from 2002 until 2007 where he had global responsibility for the satellite sector. Prior to joining Banc of merica Securities, Mr. Piegza held senior positions at UBS's Media Group, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Credit Suisse First Boston, in each case with a focus on the satellite, media and telecom industries. Mr. Piegza holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois.



Mr. Vore is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Group of Seaport Global. Mr. Vore brings numerous years of experience in Investment Banking. Prior to Seaport Global, Mr. Vore was a Managing Director at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company and, prior to that, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He has received numerous industry awards, including Deal of the Year from The Banker magazine and Most Innovative Deal of the Year from Marine Money. Mr. Vore holds an MBA in Investment Banking from Wake Forest University. About UrtheCast

UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that serves the rapidly evolving geospatial and geoanalytics markets with a wide range of information-rich products and services. The Company operates Earth Observation (EO) sensors in space, through its subsidiary Deimos Imaging, S.L.U., including two satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2, to produce imagery data for partners and customers in multiple markets. UrtheCast processes and distributes imagery data and value-added products on behalf of the PanGeo Alliance, a network of seven satellite operators with a combined 13 medium- and high-resolution EO sensors. UrtheCast is developing a satellite constellation designed to capture high-quality, medium resolution optical imagery of the Earth's entire landmass (excluding Antarctica) every day, called UrtheDaily. UrtheCast is also developing the world's first fully-integrated constellation of sixteen multispectral optical and SAR satellites, called OptiSAR. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker "UR". For more information, visit UrtheCast's website at www.urthecast.com. Forward Looking Information This release contains certain information which, as presented, constitutes "forward-looking information" or "forward-oriented financial information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information involves statements that relate to future events and often addresses expected future business and financial performance, containing words such as "anticipate", "plan", "explore" and "expect", statements that an action or event "may", "should" or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions and includes, but is not limited to, statements relating to: UrtheCast's expected completion of the UrtheDaily financing on the terms set out in this press release, the definitive documentation related thereto, or at all; UrtheCast's expected satisfaction of the escrow release conditions in respect of the proceeds from the non-brokered private placement; UrtheCast's expectations with respect to its ability to raise proceeds from a subordinated debt or equity offering, achieve the required leverage and contracted revenue ratios and otherwise satisfy the first drawdown conditions and the final drawdown conditions under the Credit Agreement in a timely manner. Such statements reflect UrtheCast's current views with respect to future events. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by UrtheCast as at the date of this press release, are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause UrtheCast's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others: UrtheCast's inability to close the UrtheDaily financing on the terms set out in this press release, the definitive documentation related thereto, or at all; UrtheCast's inability to satisfy the escrow release conditions in respect of the proceeds from the non-brokered private placement; UrtheCast's inability to raise proceeds from a subordinated debt or equity offering, achieve the required leverage and contracted revenue ratios or otherwise satisfy the first drawdown conditions or the final drawdown conditions under the Credit Agreement in a timely manner or at all; as well as those factors and assumptions discussed in UrtheCast's annual information form dated April 2, 2018 and UrtheCast's final prospectus dated May 17, 2018, which are available under UrtheCast's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. UrtheCast cautions readers that such factors and uncertainties are not exhaustive and that should certain risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying estimates or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements may vary significantly from those expected. There can be no assurance that the actual strategies, results, performance, events or activities anticipated by the Company will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. UrtheCast undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by Canadian securities laws. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.

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The long-running patent feud between Apple and Samsung took a turn in Cupertino's favor today (May 24), as a federal jury in San Jose, Calif., decided that Samsung needs to pay $539 million to Apple for infringing on five patents involving mobile phone design.

(Image credit: The Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s weren't even on the market when the Apple-Samsung patent fight began. (Credit: Tom's Guide))

The case dates back to 2011, when Apple accused Samsung of violating its design patents with Android phones the latter company had released. A jury sided with Apple in 2012, awarding the company $1 billion. Upon appeal, that judgment was cut down to $339 million.

Samsung successfully argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that the way damages were assessed in the case should be reconsidered, which is what this latest trial was all about. According to Cnet, which reported on today's verdict, Apple had been asking for $1.07 billion, while Samsung argued that it should only have to pay $28 million.

You can guess which of two companies was more pleased by the ruling.

"We believe deeply in the value of design, and our teams work tirelessly to create innovative products that delight our customers," Apple said in a statement provided to Tom's Guide. "This case has always been about more than money. Apple ignited the smartphone revolution with iPhone and it is a fact that Samsung blatantly copied our design. It is important that we continue to protect the hard work and innovation of so many people at Apple."

A statement from Samsung suggested the dispute is anything but settled. "Todays decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages," Samsung told us. "We will consider all options to obtain an outcome that does not hinder creativity and fair competition for all companies and consumers."
Amazon Rekognition in action. (Image credit: ACLU)

Update,6/04/18, 12:30am PT:

We've updated the article to correct a claim that the Amazon Go use facial recognition to identify its customers. A previous TechCrunch article said that the company's own "Go" stores didn't use facial recognition.

The stores seem to be using cameras primarily to track the movement of products that are for sale. Amazon confirmed to Tom's Hardware that its no-checkout stores don't use facial recognition, but didn't reveal more details about how the system works in time for this update.

Amazon also refuted ACLU's claims that its Rekognition technology would be abused by law enforcement.

Original, 5/23/18, 10:00am PT:

The ACLU said that Amazon has created a powerful and dangerous new facial recognition system called Rekognition and is actively helping governments deploy it.

Amazon Enters The Surveillance Business

Marketing materials and documents obtained by ACLU affiliates in three states revealed an Amazon product that can readily be used to violate civil liberties and rights, according to the non-profit organization.

Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), Rekognition can identify, track, and analyze people in real-time, and recognize up to 100 people in a single image. It can then scan information it collects against databases featuring tens of millions of faces. The database could be either provided by law enforcement, or Amazon may use its own, depending on how Rekognition has been configured by whoever's using it at the time.

Amazon recently started opening no-checkout stores, where shoppers have their faces scanned from the moment they enter the store. Those face profiles are then associated to peoples credit cards and Amazon accounts, so the company would know who to charge when shoppers exit the stores. This is supposed to make shopping more convenient, but as the ACLU's findings show, the underlying tech can serve other purposes.

According to the documents viewed by the ACLU, Amazon sees law enforcement agencies deploying its facial recognition technology as a common use case. The documents also say that the person tracking enabled by Rekognition is an easy and accurate way to monitor people.

Amazon said in the documents that its technology can identify people of interest. The ACLU said this could allow the government to track people it labels suspicious, such as black activists or undocumented immigrants. At a time when Americans seem to be joining more (and bigger) protests, Rekognition would allow law enforcement to monitor all faces in group photos, crowded events, and public places such as airports.

Demand That Amazon Stops Selling Surveillance Technology To Governments

The ACLU and a group of other civil rights organizations demanded that Amazon stop selling its Rekognition technology to governments. Amazon lists the city of Orlando, Florida, and the Washington County Sheriffs Office in Oregon among the governmental agencies that use Rekognition.

The ACLU worries that eventually the police body cameras, which were originally meant to be used as a tool of government transparency, could be turned back on the citizens. The technology could the police officers to determine in real-time who has joined a protest, for instance. The police could also see in real-time who of the people they see during their work hours is an undocumented immigrant.

The ACLU believes that free citizens should be able to walk down the street without being constantly monitored and immediately identified by the government. That would be a system similar to the one that has already been implemented in China, and millions of Chinese citizens have already been negatively impacted by it.
It's certainly not news to enthusiasts that sky-high RAM pricing continues, but luckily government agencies and law firms are taking notice.

China is ratcheting up the pressure on DRAM vendors as the memory shortage, and resulting price hikes, continue. The country is also fostering its own domestic DRAM production to head off future supply shortages.

According to a new report from TrendForce's analyst outfit DRAMeXchange, Micron has met with China's Anti-Monopoly Bureau of Commerce to answer questions regarding the continued increase in DRAM pricing. These same concerns are at the heart of a looming class-action lawsuit from the U.S.-based Hagens Berman firm, which contends that the leading memory producers are engaging in DRAM price fixing.

China is the world's largest consumer of memory chips, currently absorbing roughly 20% of the world's NAND and DRAM, which it then turns into products that it primarily exports to the rest of the world. As such, the continuing price hikes for DRAM have a profound impact on many of its bread and butter segments, such as smartphone production.

China has taken notice of the other DRAM players, too. The Micron meetings come after China's meetings with Samsung in December, which was precipitated by requests from smartphone makers to investigate the company for monopolistic practices pertaining to memory pricing. Samsung later signed a new Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) with China, which finds the company investing and cooperating in developing next-gen technologies with the country. Many analysts have speculated the extension of the existing agreement, which had expired, was meant to assuage China's regulatory agencies.

According to DRAMeXchange, China's meetings with Samsung earlier this year should lead to some moderation in increasing prices for DRAM, and the country's intervention may result in increased production.

Micron is the smallest player in the DRAM market, accounting for 22.6% of global supply, while Samsung and SK Hynix both hold larger shares. There haven't been any reports of meetings with South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, but given the current climate, we expect China will soon aim its pointed questions at that company, too.

DRAM production is a capital- and time-intensive exercise, so it could be nearly a year before any changes to the dominant players production plans have an impact on inflated pricing.

Meanwhile, China's own domestic memory production is beginning to take flight. Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. (JHICC) is one of the emerging Chinese memory producers. China is also concerned that Micron is blocking the supply of equipment to JHICC, which has been targeted by Micron in the past for infringing on its patents. Given the country's government-backed initiatives to bolster indigenous chip production, China is taking a keen interest in the dispute.

Most of China's domestic DRAM production is expected to be sold in-country, as it might not pass muster for the international market due to possible patent violations. As a result, we might not see some of the familiar Chinese tactics, such as price dumping in international markets. In either case, the government-backed production is expected to offset some of China's memory imports, which would eventually result in cheaper chips for everyone.